Chapter 103: Establishing Contracts

The boy on the ground had long flowing hair similar to his own except that it was blackish-blue. That was a really weird hair color to have.

The young man pulled himself up and patted his shoulders.

“That fox kicks like a Horseram.” He muttered. “I’d know since I’ve been kicked by one before. But cheerio, how are you doing, fellow ALI student?”

Koya blinked. This guy was talking really weirdly and he didn’t recognize him from the manga so he had to be a side character of some sort.

“I’m surprised.” Koya said. “A noble like you is actually talking to me respectfully…”

Since he didn’t recognize this character from Class 5, he had to be a Class 2 person.

“Me? A noble? I guess you could say something like that.” The young man stood up slowly, dusting the rest of his defense suit though it didn’t need dusting. “I’m just a half-noble… my father was the Clan Head of the Sh… uh… a strong noble family, and my mother was his maid so I was born. Sometimes I don’t even feel like a noble.”

’Damn.’ One of the worst fates in this world was to be a half-noble.

It meant you were technically noble but you would never be accepted by noble society after all, you had the blood of a commoner. ’Meh, that has nothing to do with me.’

“I wish you good luck on your endeavors I guess.” Koya walked past him.

“Wait.” The young man reached out and Koya turned back with a twitch in his eye.

Three days sounded like something but it really wasn’t… anything could happen due to 「Fate」. At this point the trait was pulling things out of its ass just to mess with him.

“The Cindervix burnt my Guidebook down so I have no idea what to do now.”

“Didn’t you study it?”

“Uh.” He looked at the ground. “I actually ran over here the moment I got the Guidebook honestly so I didn’t study it one bit. I would be grateful if you would lend me yours.”

“I’m sorry but I’m in need of it, I still have to approach the Cindervix tribe after a—”

“I’ll pay 10,000 Individual Points!”

A book struck the half-noble in the face and he rolled around. It was the manual.

“Ah, you can use it then.” Koya said. “Please be sure to return it as well as the Individual Points before I leave this place.”

With that, Koya advanced closer to the tribe.

’He looks a bit like Shion to be honest.’ Koya thought, glancing back once. However there were no credible sources of her having a half-brother or anything like that so he ignored it, they didn’t even have the same hair.

The half-noble looked at Koya’s back with tears blinking in his eyes.

’Ah… Onee-san really said he was nice.’ He thought while opening the manual and cleaning his eyes with his sleeves. ’Nobody is this nice to me except for Miyuki-chan and Onee-san.’

Koya was not aware of the thoughts of this half-noble and approached the cavern entrance.

The Cindervixes that surrounded the whole place looked at him with eyes resembling that of a hawk.

Their eyes were sharp and completely still, tracking every movement he made without blinking.

Several of them were sitting on elevated rocks on either side of the entrance like sentries and not a single one of them moved as he came closer… they just watched.

’So this is their Hawk Eye ability.’ Koya thought. He had the System expand on the Familiars he had wanted to catch initially and these Cindervixes had several abilities, though they were nowhere near the level of the Embermane Lions.

Apart from the fact that their bites detonated blood vessels directly, they didn’t have much hax though their pack leader was a variation with a ghost-like affinity that let it turn translucent and attack the souls of people directly.

’I would like a descendant of that one.’ He thought.

That was something he would keep as a personal Familiar.

Upon reaching the entrance of the cavern, he put both hands together and bowed slightly.

The same Cindervix that had kicked the half-noble in the face let out a howl and so did the others around it, all of them at once, like an acknowledgment.

It stepped aside for Koya to pass and once he did, it returned to its post with complete seriousness with its eyes forward as if the last five seconds hadn’t happened.

’Huh? That wasn’t in the Guidebook.’ The half-noble thought from behind, watching with the manual open under his arm.

He had seen the whole thing so he walked up to the same Cindervix at the entrance, placed his two knuckles together exactly the way Koya had done, and performed the same bow… matching the angle as closely as he could.

He received a snarl in return. Before he could register it, he was kicked in the face again and sent flying backward into the treeline.

Koya exhaled as he got inside.

’That was pretty easy.’ The Cindervixes were easy to please but they were also cunning since they were somewhat foxes.

To get a chance to pick a good familiar from them, he would not only have to offer food but treasure as well and based on the worth of that treasure in their eyes, they would give him a Familiar of equal value.

The Guidebook hadn’t said that but it was just a guide and meant as a crutch to keep students from dying, and it wasn’t even recently written… it had been the same Guidebook used for several years running. The real one, written this year, was being sold at the bottom of the tower for 3,000 IP.

’Even the Dean is greedy.’ Koya thought as he arrived at the center of the cave.

Cindervixes were everywhere.

The cave was larger on the inside than it looked from the entrance and the ceiling rose high enough that the upper parts of it disappeared into shadow, the walls were honeycombed with formations where the sand mounds sat, stacked in uneven rows, and the glow of crimson-veined fur visible from every one of them.

Within the mounds the Familiars stayed with their children, and every single one of them was looking at him.

Their eyes hadn’t left him since he walked in.

’They look a bit hungry.’

「That is a correct deduction. Familiars like the Cindervix rely on the consumables that students bring each year. Not only ALI but several other Academies visit the Isle yearly as well. Once these consumables run out, they begin hunting other Familiars to survive.」

’So essentially they’re throwing us into the mouths of hungry creatures.’ Koya thought. ’I won’t be surprised if someone dies here today.’

He sighed and kept walking until he was standing in front of the Tribe Leader.

Unlike the rest of them, this one was pure white with milky fur, reclined on a makeshift throne with its back against it while two other Cindervixes blew hot wind from their mouths on either side of it.

It really showed how intelligent these Familiars were and unlike the others that stayed on all fours, this one was clearly capable of standing… it was just choosing not to.

Its claws were longer than the others, curving like hooks, and its fur was so white it was almost luminous in the cave’s dim light.

He stopped a distance from the throne and stood straight.

“My name is Amagi Koya.” He said. Confidence was non-negotiable at this stage… there were several incidents of students feeding Cindervixes only to get driven off immediately because they showed weakness. “I have come here to offer food as well as my most valuable treasure in exchange for two Familiars. For one of them I want a permanent binding and for the other a temporary binding. I have a strong subordinate back at my home that I want to give it to… I assure you we will come back and show you the progress of that one.”

Cindervixes liked when members of their kind who left came back stronger. He just had to convince them… actually coming back was optional.

“Huh huh~” The leader waved one claw lazily toward a large stone platform on the side. It was hard to believe Familiars had made it themselves, but he walked over and waved his hand.

From his storage ring came several large bags filled with the grains they preferred most, each one was heavy and landing on the platform with solid weight.

The moment they hit, the Cindervixes throughout the cave began howling… They were going to feast today and then the second Hereto Dagger appeared in his hand.

He gripped it for a moment.

It was genuinely expensive and he was going to miss having it… he still had the sword and the spear from his treasures, and he had no particular interest in buying a skill scroll for dagger usage, but the dagger had value and that was exactly why he was using it.

He let the change in his expression happen naturally as he placed it on top of the pile.

The eyes of the Cindervix leader lit up. It rose from the throne, fully upright now, and Koya took a step back.

’Let’s see it.’ He thought. He had wanted to see the ghost affinity in action and he got exactly that.

The Familiar turned translucent, its body becoming a pale outline of itself, and moved through the air to the platform.

It returned one paw to normal and cut open one of the bags, letting the grains spill out.

Upon seeing the color of them its expression changed immediately… these were the specific grains that the Cindervix tribe constantly had to raid the Stoneback Tortoise territory to get because students never brought them.

This human had done his research somehow.

It floated back to the center of the room, returned to full form, and let out a long howl.

Every Cindervix still inside a sand mound came out immediately… adults, children, and the leader’s own five silver cubs, all of them gathering in a wide circle and sitting. Koya noticed that the leader’s own cubs were still all-fours.

“Huhuha~”

The leader drew four lines on the ground with one claw and looked up at him.

「It is communicating that you may take any four of your choice… including adults and its children. Naturally, that excludes itself.」

“I personally only want two.” He held up two fingers. “You need as many cubs as possible to grow the next generation. I’ll honor our original deal.”

He wanted variety.

The Cindervix weren’t the strongest Familiars on the Isle but he still wanted one of the clan head’s children for himself and a regular one for Akemi.

Giving Akemi one of the royal cubs would just attract more attention to her and a regular Cindervix suited her fighting style better anyway, especially with her straddling technique.

The leader nodded and howled once.

The adults backed away immediately, leaving only the cubs in the circle… both the regular ones and the five royal ones, all of them looking up with bright eyes, eager to be picked by someone who had just made the whole clan’s day.

’System, done yet?’

「All Cindervix cubs have been scanned. Two final choices have been decided based on their potential to grow beyond the current clan’s capabilities.」

Koya nodded and walked toward one of the cubs at the front of the group. A regular one, smaller than the others around it, but the System had flagged it and he trusted that.

He went down on one knee and pulled out the contract ink, Koya’s eye twitched as he uncapped it.

’I still had to buy skill scrolls just to learn how to draw a temporary and permanent contract seal.’ The entire lower floor of the tower was a money-grab scheme with no shame about it whatsoever.

There was a separate scroll for the temporary seal and a separate scroll for the permanent one and they were priced individually.

The seal itself was just a circle with two dots arranged like a yin-yang which was not complicated at all and then there was the contract ink itself, also sold separately then there was the cleaning cloth for after.

He had spent more IP on administrative nonsense in that tower than he had expected to spend on the entire trip.

“For you, we’ll be going for a temporary contract.” He drew the seal on his hand and looked at the cub. “I have a student who will be very helpful to you. She likes to fight like a crazy person and won’t hesitate to kill, but she’s kind-hearted too and she’ll feed you. So do you accept my temporary Familiar contract?”

He extended his hand and the pup placed her paw in his.

A brilliant white glow filled the room. It cleared and the pup hopped in place with happy yelps. Koya patted her head and brought out a large cookie, handing it over.

She bit into it immediately with a chocolate-smeared smile.

His eyes moved across the remaining cubs.

The big ones that had been pushing the smaller ones aside for food didn’t have much potential… they would most likely end up as average Cindervixes. He crossed the cave toward the leader’s children.

Five of them were there with four puffing their chests out, jostling each other, competing for his attention before he’d even looked at them directly and one in the back that was sitting quietly, watching him with careful eyes, not pushing forward at all.

’I personally prefer the ones puffing their chests out.’ He thought honestly but the potential scan didn’t lie.

He dabbed the permanent seal onto his hand since the temporary circle had already faded and walked to the quiet one.

The Familiar circles worked as a connection between Contractee and Contractor which was a channel that also served as containment… a permanent contract meant the Familiar would enter his soul for storage when not summoned.

Temporary contracts didn’t work that way so there was no point housing something temporarily in your soul.

He crouched down in front of the shy cub.

“As for you… you’re the weakest one of your siblings right now.” He said. “But I assure you, when we return in two years… just two years, you’ll be far stronger than all of them, as long as you give me your all.”

Shy people needed a trigger and so did shy Familiars. The cub extended its paw slowly, placing it in his.

A brilliant white light swallowed the smallest cub of the Cindervix leader whole and it entered Koya’s chest completely as the light faded. He looked at the remaining four and gave them a smile.

“Thank you.” He said, and they all yelped at once… although they were disappointed at not being chosen, they also had a feast waiting and the feeling didn’t last long.

Koya turned back toward the throne.

The Cindervix leader extended one hand outward and the Hereto Dagger that he had placed on the platform floated back across the room and returned to his grip.

He looked at it for a moment, wondering why the Cindervix had given it to him.

“Hee~Haa~Hoo~”

It held up two fingers at him as a reminder that he had two years as he promised. He nodded, and turned for the exit.

He stepped out of the cave with the regular cub on his shoulder finishing the last of her cookie to find the half-noble crumpled on the ground outside with several new bruises across his face.

It was a genuinely sad sight.

“Hey.” He looked back at the cave entrance and waved at the Cindervix head. “Can he get a trial as well?”

The tribe head gave a begrudging nod. The same Cindervix that had been kicking this kid since he arrived grabbed him by the collar and dragged him inside.

“Koya-kun, thank you very much! You’re an angel I say, I’ll pay you 20… no, 30,000 Individual Points when I get back! Just wait for me at the base of the tower!” His voice faded as he disappeared through the entrance.

Koya sighed and looked at the pup on his shoulder. She gave him a chocolate-filled smile with crumbs on her muzzle and her tail wagging against the back of his neck.

He opened his hand.

“Come.” A white stream of light followed his hand down to the ground, cleared, and revealed the other pup sitting in the grass blinking at the sunlight.

She looked around at the Isle like she had never seen open sky before… which she probably hadn’t, having spent her whole short life in the cave.

He tapped his shoulder and she jumped up next to the first one, the two of them shifting around until they found their positions and he noticed something, both of them were girls.

“Alright.” He looked at the two of them settled on either side of his neck. “I need to make not only you but both of you strong when we visit the clan head again. So you have to show me what you can do before I go for another Familiar.”

He had triple-checked… there was no rule anywhere saying he couldn’t hold more than one permanent Familiar for himself.

“Now come on. Show me what you’ve got.”

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