The Guardian Knight of Affection-Starved Young Ladies

22 – Missing (01)

023.

Kallen’s day didn’t change much.

As usual, he finished all the housework and woke Sinat if he had time.

It wasn’t a particularly manly behavior, but considering Sinat’s status, it wasn’t strange.

Kallen was originally taken in as a servant.

The time spent in Lakatus seemed meaningless, as Kallen was regaining his previous life.

Most of the time, he stuck close to Sinat, but he also learned magic from Blamia, did housework, and walked outside with Sinat, ending the day.

Blamia didn’t seem pleased to teach Kallen magic.

Kallen noticed this and didn’t ask first.

From the beginning, the work in Lakatus was also to dilute Sinat’s obsession,

but instead of diluting it, it seemed to have intensified.

While pondering such worries, another day passed.

Kallen could wash away all the fatigue from Lakatus.

“Look at this, Kal!”

Sinat, who could hardly wake up once she fell asleep.

It was familiar for Kallen to head to her room after finishing the morning preparations.

However, the scene in the room he entered was a bit different.

Instead of a girl talking in her sleep in a half-awake state,

There was a girl pointing at something on the floor.

“What is that?”

“My spirit!”

Kallen wondered if Sinat was also suffering from sleepwalking.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be pointing at a dull lump, calling it a spirit out of nowhere.

“Sinat. Spirits are noble and sacred beings. There are no spirits of such dark color…”

Kallen had to stop speaking.

Because a scene flashed through his mind.

The day he had embedded second-rank magic into his body for Sinat.

The day a strange mark was engraved on his heart.

There was a symbol on Sinat’s wrist, representing a contract with a spirit.

“You, don’t tell me…”

“Yes! That’s right!”

Only then did Kallen shift his gaze to the lump.

No, it wasn’t a lump.

Spirits fundamentally take the form of mysterious creatures that do not exist.

Some people say they are a type of animal, but that’s just a simple guess.

That dark lump was the same.

The form of a mysterious creature that does not exist in the world.

However, its features were so famous that it felt familiar, as if it were a real creature.

A dragon.

What people commonly call a dragon was curled up there.

“…A black dragon?”

“It’s my first time seeing one in person too, Kal.”

Sinat carefully lifted the dragon with both hands.

“No, more importantly, the fact that the spirit has taken form…”

“Isn’t it cute?”

The fact that the spirit has taken form means that the intimacy with the contractor is above a certain level.

Until then, it exists only in the form of a thought within the contractor’s consciousness.

Magic, after passing the basic first rank, begins to show characteristics according to attributes from the second rank.

It is at such a time when the suitable person for the contract attribute reaches the beginning of the second rank.

“When did it start taking form?”

“Hmm… About two weeks after Kallen left?”

“Does Master know?”

“Of course. At first, I was as surprised as a knife and ran to Grandpa.”

Sinat was the same age as Kallen.

In other words, it means he reached the second rank before coming of age.

At that time, he forcibly broke the spirit contract, so he was naturally prepared for side effects.

Instead, Sinat reached the second rank contract attribute magic.

He only came to wake him up, but what is this situation?

Originally, after Kallen left, he thought Blamia would have naturally dissolved the contract magic.

It was Sinat’s question that sorted out the mess in his head.

“Hey, it listens well.”

“Listens?”

“Yeah, want to see?”

Sinat put the spirit down again and stretched out his index finger straight.

With one hand on his side in a triangular shape, he shouted firmly.

“Sit!”

But nothing happened.

“…”

“Why, why is it like this? Hey, are you shy?”

The spirit glanced at Sinat, yawned with its mouth wide open, and then closed its eyes again.

The spirit is literally just contracted, not a pet that acts cute according to the contractor’s commands.

Sinat’s actions were clearly not proper.

“…So this is how you’re coming out?”

Kallen felt like he was watching a low-grade play that wasn’t even funny.

A contractor who treats spirits like animals.

When he thought about it, it seemed funny.

But Sinat was serious, adjusting his posture and crossing his arms.

“Kalyong. Attention.”

Kallen flinched and almost answered involuntarily.

The spirit flinched, opened its eyes, and stood at attention.

“Wow! It worked! Did you see that, Kal?”

Kallen, watching the scene, didn’t know where to start asking questions.

So he decided to ask the most absurd thing.

“That name…”

“It’s Kalyong! Cute, right?”

“Hmm.”

Kallen. Kalyong.

It was strange to think there was no connection.

“Is that name perhaps derived from mine?”

“Yes. You got it right away? My friend didn’t think about coming back from wherever he was, so I just named it that.”

Kal, the usual nickname.

The spirit that appeared in the form of a dragon when magic first emerged, as seen by those with contract attributes in the legends.

Combined to form Kalyong…

“…What’s with that strange command?”

“Well~ it didn’t respond when I talked to it, so I was a bit upset. I just made it clear who the contractor is.”

Sinat, who usually expresses friendliness by hugging without warning.

Considering his headstrong personality, it wasn’t hard to guess how the process went.

“The dangerous thing.”

Having finally grasped the situation, Kallen asked the most important question.

Blamia said it was a known fact, so it shouldn’t be a big deal, but just in case.

That spirit almost killed both him and Sinat back then.

It’s amazing that Sinat made it his spirit despite that experience.

Sinat embraced the stiff spirit and glanced at Kalen with a subtle look.

“Are you worried about me now?”

“Actually, that’s the question. Aren’t you still scared of what happened back then?”

“Kalen has a habit of subtly changing the subject.”

Sinat threw the spirit into the air.

The spirit disappeared, enveloped in a brilliant light.

The spirit was sent back to the spirit realm.

At the same time, Sinat stood up and said,

“It’s not certain yet. That monster back then was much bigger and more hideous than Kalyong.”

“It’s hard to think of a spirit of that color other than that guy. Sinat.”

“Heh~ Really?”

Sinat smiled brightly and leaned his face towards Kalen.

With his hands behind his back, his upper body leaned forward.

However, Kalen felt a bit defiant.

Yes.

As Sinat said, he was worried.

There was no guarantee that such a monster wouldn’t appear again.

When Sinat did something a bit excessive, Kalen would take actions like stepping back.

Sinat liked that about Kalen.

It seemed out of place with his cold and calm appearance.

His current actions were also an expression of that feeling.

Of course, he thought Kalen would be flustered and step back.

However, Kalen’s next action was a bit different from Sinat’s expectations.

Kalen did not panic but instead took a step forward.

“Ugh…!”

It was Sinat who was flustered and took a step back, losing his footing.

It was Kalen who caught his falling body.

“Want to make a bet?”

“Huh…!”

“Whether that guy is the one or not.”

“Wa, wait Kallen! Get clos…!”

Kallen didn’t stop there and leaned in.

In the notebook labeled [Kallen] that Sinat had organized, there was a chapter that said so.

-‘Gets very excited when the word ‘bet’ is mentioned (usefulness level: 10!!)’

At that moment, Sinat, recalling that notebook, couldn’t keep his composure as Kallen’s face got close enough to feel his breath.

Kallen, as if Sinat didn’t matter at all, said,

“Bet. Are you in or not?”

“I, I’ll do it…”

It was only after some time had passed that Sinat, who had collapsed to the floor, regained his senses.

*

“Are you saying no?”

“Yes. It’s an unusual case, so it’s not absolute, but the possibility that the two are the same is slim.”

Blamia, clicking his tongue at the slightly cooled breakfast, took a bite of bread and answered Kallen’s question.

“See, see… I told you it wasn’t…”

Sinat, fiddling with his soup for no reason, said in a creeping voice.

“You said spirits are sacred beings, Master.”

“Kid. I’m already proficient in existing magic. I can’t teach you things that were legendary even when I was learning magic.”

“Then…”

“There is an old library managed by the Mage Association. It was fortunate that there was even a little bit of information there.”

When magic first appeared.

The system, which is now classified into five attributes, was not so clear.

Magic inherently has an organic aspect.

It’s hard to argue about such things.

The spirit that Sinat contracted with is an ancient spirit from such times.

Now, no one has contracted with it, and no one even knows if it exists.

Blamia said so and took another bite of bread.

“It was written in the old books. There are spirits called lords among the spirits. And those lord spirits are said to have the role of sealing something.”

“Then, are you saying the spirit Sinat contracted with is one of those lord spirits?”

“Hard to believe, but that’s the case. It matches the description in the old books.”

It was hard to believe that a spirit who trembled at a single word from Sinat could be such a spirit.

I took the risk of not being able to walk the path of magic and started the work,

What came back was a spirit called the lord, a spirit that had never existed before.

“The one you saw back then seems to be the one who was sealing it… For now, it seems that Sinat broke the seal, and the spirit guarding the seal made a contract with Sinat. Give me some milk over there.”

Kallen handed over the milk and asked.

“Is it true that Sinat mastered the second hierarchy, Master?”

“The definition of the second hierarchy is such, so it must be true. I’ve decided to just be happy now.”

Blamia’s bitter smile seemed to recall a certain time.

Kallen turned his head to look at Sinat.

“The bet… I won, right?”

Sinat, still speaking in a crawling voice, glanced at him.

“…Yes.”

“…He.”

The corners of his mouth, eating the soup, were raised.

“This time I won…”

Behind the murmuring voice.

Blamia wiped his mouth and said.

“Anyway, there’s something I need to talk to you about regarding Sinat’s work and the task you asked for. Follow me. Sinat, you stay here.”

Blamia headed straight to the makeshift training ground in the backyard.

Kallen looked down at his plate, where his breakfast was still untouched.