“Now let’s inscribe the seal of the contract.”

As the spirit master chanted another incantation, light gathered in their clasped hands. A strangely shaped contract seal appeared and was inscribed on the gnome’s bare hand and on the spirit master’s little finger.

The spirit master’s other fingers already had seals inscribed on them.

The mana-inscribed seal flashed brightly once before disappearing along with the light surrounding them. With this, the contract ceremony was complete.

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“For now, just stand there.”

The spirit master answered while stepping backward, leaving the gnome in the middle of the room.

“But……”

The gnome looked around at the people standing at a distance and brought up the question he had momentarily forgotten.

“Where am I?”

“The royal palace.”

The Marquis, who had kept his mouth shut until now, answered with a vile smile. At the same time, the gnome’s pupils began to shake as if an earthquake had struck.

“T-then you are……”

“This person is the master of the human kingdom.”

The old mage respectfully pointed to the boy nodding off in the chair as he introduced him.

“And this is Marquis Draven. I am Grand Mage Magnus, and this spirit master who has become your master is Apeus.”

These were all notorious names known even to a naive gnome from the deep forest who knew nothing of the world. The gnome turned pale and trembled all over.

“Now, shall we see if you keep your oath?”

Click!

The moment Grand Mage Magnus gestured in the air, a magic circle made of dark red light appeared from the stone floor, and chains and shackles extended to bind the gnome’s limbs in an instant.

“R-release this at once!”

The spirit master approached the struggling gnome. It was finally time to fulfill the original purpose for which even a sacred contract had been used as a means.

“When did you last see the child?”

Among the spirits of this world, there was an implicit agreement. Namely, not to divulge anything about ‘the child.’

Especially not to the humans of the royal palace.

“Guardian of the earth, do you swear to speak only the truth to the contractor until this contract ends?”

“I swear.”

But now the gnome, who had received the name Flint and become a servant of the royal palace’s spirit master, was fated to break the spirits’ agreement according to a mere contract with a vile human.

“A contract cannot be nullified. You know that to end a contract, you must pay the price.”

The spirit master reminded him of this terrifying fact and urged him to speak. Flint glared at the vile man and kept his mouth firmly shut.

If he was obliged to speak only the truth, couldn’t he just not speak at all?

“You won’t open your mouth, is that it?”

Spirit Master Apeus sneered at the gnome trying to be clever, finding him ridiculous.

“Then I’ll make sure you never open it again!”

The moment he brought his arms together in front of his chest and then spread them wide, Big Mouth charged toward the tightly closed window.

Bang! Clatter.

The two window panels flew open, letting sunlight pour in. Morning had already dawned.

“H-how dare you commit such an atrocity!”

Standing in the bright sunlight, Flint twisted his body and screamed. If earth spirits are exposed to sunlight for too long, they can never open their mouths again. They would turn to stone.

“Eek!”

Flint’s face turned pale when he saw his fingertips beginning to harden.

“L-let me go…!”

“I’ll release you if you answer. When did you last see the child?”

Flint squeezed his eyes shut and begged forgiveness from all the spirit kings. Only after muttering curses at the humans before him did he answer.

“O-one week ago.”

The human men, even the boy king who had been nodding off in his chair, gaped in astonishment.

“…So this sylph was telling the truth.”

“See! Didn’t I tell you I was right!”

Apeus drove the reinvigorated Big Mouth out the window and closed it. In the tower’s top floor, now filled with an ominous silence, the interrogation continued.

Everyone frowned and tilted their heads at the testimony that he had been there with a woman and a boy child.

It was the first time the child and that man had been accompanied by others.

“Find out more details about that woman and boy. It might be a crucial clue to locating our prey.”

Marquis Draven ordered the spirit master. Soon, descriptions of the woman and boy flowed freely from Flint’s mouth.

“The woman often came to the forest to gather herbs.”

She often gathered herbs. Did that mean she was an herbalist or apothecary, someone who worked with herbs? The fact that she came to that forest frequently clearly meant she lived nearby.

“Did he set up house with some woman he met on the road? That bastard has some nerve.”

The mage and spirit master blinked, not understanding the unfamiliar expression about having a swollen liver that came from the Marquis’s mouth.

“This is the perfect opportunity while he’s letting his guard down.”

Marquis Draven rubbed his hands together and laughed sharply.

“Finally, the long pursuit is over.”

The interrogation ended like that. Flint was still bound in chains and ranting furiously.

“Release me at once! How dare a spirit master do this to a spirit!”

“There’s always poison in offers that are too sweet.”

Apeus blamed the spirit for being enticed and deceived by forming a contract with a spirit master.

“Release me now! I have no more information for you, so let’s end this contract here!”

Apeus, more than anyone, wanted to end this contract.

He began to chant the spell to dissolve the contract. Just as the contract seal that would soon be erased began to glow, someone struck the back of his hand with the hilt of a dagger studded with fancy jewels.

It was Marquis Draven.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“This fellow has served his purpose, so I’m dissolving the contract.”

Tsk tsk. The Marquis clicked his tongue, looking at him with disapproval.

“Why are you so shortsighted? If that creature is released and warns the child, our plans will come to nothing, and if he spreads word of what you’ve done throughout the spirit realm, you’ll be in trouble too.”

While the first reason made sense, the second was absurd. Since becoming the king’s spirit master, Apeus’s reputation among spirits and spirit masters was already at rock bottom.

Unless they were spirits with evil intentions, spirits had reached the point where they would not contract with a spirit master named Apeus.

“Maintain the contract.”

He meant to keep the gnome bound by the contract.

“…Understood.”

Though he reluctantly obeyed the Marquis’s order, discontent bubbled inside him.

A descendant of elves could command countless spirits. But Apeus was merely human, so there was a limit to the number of spirits he could contract with.

How could he be pleased about wasting one of those precious slots on a low-level spirit as common as an earthworm in wet soil, just for an interrogation?

Moreover, with the spirit so desperate to break the contract now, Apeus could have ended it without paying any price.

Swallowing his discontent, he asked the Marquis.

“Until when, sir?”

“You ask the obvious. Until we catch those rats.”

At the Marquis’s nod, the mage snapped his fingers. At that moment, a large leather scroll appeared in the air and unfurled with a swish.

It was a map of the kingdom.

“Find the town or city closest to the forest.”

Soon, the mage’s wrinkled fingertip pointed to a large city surrounded by high walls.

“Neuburg. This is it.”

* * *

Somewhere in the city of Neuburg, on the third floor of a building that would have collapsed if not for the buildings propping it up on either side.

“Argh! Eric!”

Erica woke up today, as always, to Eric’s kick.

Recently, a new step had been added to this fixed morning routine….

Knock knock knock.

Opening the door to the knocking sound.

“Good morning.”

Greeting Elodie, who stood there with a hair accessory candidate in each hand for what she wanted to wear today.

So, Erica’s new routine was doing another person’s daughter’s hair.

Now without being told, Elodie would scurry in and plop herself down on the dining chair. Then Erica would try to bring to life the hairstyle she had imagined before falling asleep the night before.

“Hmm…. This doesn’t seem right.”

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say she tried to bring it to life.

‘If I could watch YouTube, I’d do it in no time.’

But what could she do without it? Erica tried braiding her own hair, wrapping it this way and that.

The guardian who should have been responsible for Elodie’s hairstyle was useless.

For the first few days, she personally taught Roderick a few simple hairstyles. Single braid, pigtails, braided pigtails. Just these basic styles that anyone could do.