Continuing to wait besides Iziuel, Shiro waited in the room for two days before she finally showed some signs of waking up.
During the two days, the party had seen Iziuel in Shiro’s bed and could only wonder about her identity with confusion. As for Lyrica, she was a bit more extreme since her face looked like her pet had just died in front of her.
It was only after Shiro explained a little about Iziuel did she finally calm down. For those in the party that knew of Shiro’s identity as the sylph queen, they understood that it was only natural for her to save a fellow spirit.
Seeing Iziuel’s eyelids twitch a little, Shiro had Nimue reappear next to her and wait in patience.
“She should be waking up soon.” Shiro said while gesturing for Nimue to sit down while they wait.
“Mn. Hopefully, her mental state has recovered slightly.” Nimue replied while accepting her offer to sit down on a chair while they waited.
Waiting for a few minutes, Iziuel finally opened her eyes.
“Ss… ouch, I’m not really used to seeing the light with my own two eyes. Ah, where am I?” Iziuel muttered while shielding her eyes.
“You’re in my room. Don’t worry, you’re safe now. So how are you feeling?” Shiro smiled while leaning closer.
“Much better than before but my body feels sluggish.” Iziuel replied with a weak smile.
“That’s fine. You were trapped by the world tree for a long time after all, It’s not too much of a surprise. You want anything to eat?” Shiro asked.
“Mn… just some mana stones please if that’s not too much of a bother.” Iziuel replied.
“Of course not. Here, I always carry some on me.” Shaking her head, Shiro handed her some mana stones.
Allowing Iziuel to eat on some mana stones while Nimue gave her a quick run down of the situation in regards to the spirit race, Shiro pulled out her tablet and started to search for any news in regards to the second prince. During the days after the initial fight, the second prince had gone missing.
Naturally, since he was still dangerous, Shiro tried to keep tabs on him but couldn’t find any information. It was as if he just hid away and didn’t go anywhere.
‘Hmm… nothing again.’ Shiro frowned when there was no more news in regards to the second prince.
Shaking her head, she could only put the tablet away for now.
“So we don’t know where the capital is right now? I see…” Iziuel muttered after hearing about the current state of the spirit race. While she doesn’t remember much, she could still sympathise with the fact that their race is in danger.
“Indeed. Since we don’t know where the city is right now, I was just wondering if it was fine if you entered a contract with Shiro. That way, not only can you get constant nourishment from being in her mana realm, you can also find your way back eventually since she needs to go there anyways.” Nimue proposed.
“I don’t see why not. She is the queen after all. Plus, Shiro is a nice girl.” Iziuel smiled since Shiro was the one that had freed her from her bindings.
Plus, she could barely move her body right now so entering a contract with Shiro would actually be helpful. She’s also the sylph queen so that just makes things easier.
“So I’m just doing the same thing I did with you but to her?” Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Not exactly. I hope she doesn’t need a vow right?” Nimue asked while touching her neck.
When she made a contract with Shiro, it was one that had been enforced with a vow. One that if she was to ever betray Shiro, she’ll be sent into eternal torment.
“Not really. I’ll trust you two.” Shiro smiled softly since she understood that reinforcing vows and rules would just push people away. Sometimes, she just needs to do a leap of faith and trust the other party.
Of course that’s not to say that she’ll trust everyone since there will be people who take advantage of her trust much like the light hero did. But that doesn’t mean she should shut her heart off completely. After all, if she did shut it off completely, Lyrica would just be a person on the side walks that she talked to one or twice. Shiro would be in a different place while Lyrica may still be being bullied without any knowledge of what’s happening in her own country.
Hell, she might not have even gotten the chance to see her family in the trial if not for knowing Lyrica.
Therefore, sometimes it was alright to trust people blindly.
“So for Lady Iziuel, it’s a little different from me. I hadn’t gotten powerful enough yet so I was still stuck with the classification of an item spirit. However, for her, she is much more powerful so she’ll need a different kind of contract. One that’s between a race ruler and her subjects. It wouldn’t be affected by your current contracts so you don’t have to worry about her being similar in power as a phoenix or an angel.”
“Oh? Are you able to tell me more about this type of contract?” Shiro asked since she had no knowledge of such a thing.
“You see, the ruler/subject contract is similar to a party. This contract can be dissolved whenever you want but when it’s active, both parties gain benefits. By using this contract, since you’re the sylph queen and she’s a spirit, you allow her the authority to enter your mana realm and refine your body. Or in our case, we help her heal her body.” Nimue explained.
“Hou… it seems like you know quite a bit about this.” Shiro raised an eyebrow.
“Of course. Back then, it was a spirits dream to become part of a ruler/subject contract since they wanted nothing more than to help their queen. Plus, they also get benefits so it’s a win win. Though it was more commonly known as the Ruler Contract rather than its full name.” Nimue shrugged.
“I see. So how do I do this contract?”
Explaining the contract to Shiro, Nimue stood back and watched.
“By my authority as – Ruler – of the spirit race, I Shiro, offer – Subject – Iziuel, a contract for which she shall gain the authority as my close aide. Do you, – Subject – Iziuel, accept this contract.” Shiro said as a golden magic circle expanded out from under her.
Constructed of runes which she couldn’t understand, she guessed that there was a high chance of it being written in ancient spirit language.
“I, – Subject – Iziuel, accept the contract of Ruler and Subject.” Iziuel kneeled albeit with some difficulty.
[Permission granted. Establishing contract…. Success.]
*BOOM!!!
Light filled the room as it slowly coalesced on the back of Iziuel’s hand.
Forming into a silver blue crest that seemed to depict the silhouette of Shiro holding a sword, the magic circle moved from under Shiro and formed a border around the crest.
Feeling a faint connection being formed between her and Iziuel, Shiro raised an eyebrow.
“Hou… interesting. While my wood attunement didn’t increase in tier, it’s definitely at the peak of tier 3.” She muttered with a smile.
Since Iziuel was the spirit of the great forest, it was only natural that her wood attunement would gain some benefits.
As for Iziuel herself, after entering the contract with Shiro, her mana became much more condensed and powerful. If she needed 10% of her mana to cast a spell previously, she would now only need 5%.
However, that was only if she was in any shape to fight. But with her current situation, it would be a miracle for her to even walk properly.
“You can rest in my mana realm now. Nimue, you can accompany her since you practically live in me haha.” Shiro chuckled as Nimue rolled her eyes.
But despite this, she had a smile on her face since she was happy that Iziuel was now freed and was even on her way to recovery thanks to Shiro.
Holding Iziuel’s hand, Nimue brought her inside Shiro’s mana realm.
{Wow… how many elements do you actually have attunements with? It’s like an archipelago in here.} Iziuel remarked in surprise.
“First off, I’m surprised that you even know the word archipelago. Second, I have 11 attunements so you can pick whichever island suits your taste.” Shiro replied with a chuckle.
Taking her attention away from her mana realm and allowing the two spirits to figure out where Iziuel was going to stay, she messaged Keomi to ask about when her pills were going to arrive.
[Keomi: It should arrive tomorrow give or take. If you come at 2pm, I should have it ready for you.]
Seeing this, Shiro smiled in excitement. Since she was about to get the pills, she should get some samples of Yin’s blood so that she could upgrade them.
“Hehe~ I’ve fed you nice and plump. I believe you owe me some blood now.” Shiro grinned as Yin, who was in a dungeon, suddenly felt a shiver and knew that something was terribly wrong.
