Chapter 51 – Temporary Help

After leaving the house, Asterios asked Miria if she could take him to the Richtenstein’s mansion. She switched forms instantly and reminded him that she was his summon so she would do anything he wanted. 

But, as Ast and Selene mounted her, she was happy to know that he wasn’t completely consumed by the turbulent emotions she could feel from him through their bond and still partially acted like his usual, respectful self. The anger, rage, or even fury, which were oozing into her mind were really powerful.

They made their way through the town at a mediocre speed. Even though Ast’s mind was filled with an urge to deal with the scum who threatened his mother as quickly and painfully as possible, almost overtaking his mind with the sheer intensity of it, he could still try to forcefully tame it down as it wasn’t the first time he had such an outburst.

A very similar thing happened shortly after Mii’s death. It ended quickly because he fainted from spiritual exhaustion, but he could clearly remember the same, hot, scorching, restless force fueling his emotions. If he hadn’t collapsed back then, he felt like him throwing himself at the bear in blind rage was a possibility, seeing how hard it was to control himself right now.

The whole thing about this energy that, on one hand, seemed to empower him, and on the other hand, looked to be making him way more emotional and reckless when compared to how he had been before its emergence, was getting more and more mysterious with each passing day. 

But, he wasn’t able to focus on thinking about it as his mind was constantly redirected to the target of his anger and the resolution of the issue bothering his mother. Thanks to his calm and calculative side fighting against the furious and hotheaded one boosted by the powerful energy, he managed to calm down just a little. It was enough to bring forth a bit of his careful mentality.

“Selene, find an empty alley with your senses, and Miria, take us there before we reach the mansion,” he spoke to them out loud.

Both of the girls responded mentally and got to work. Shortly before they arrived in front of the mansion, Selene notified Miria about a fitting place and she took a turn to dive into the side path. The riding duo jumped off her and Asterios immediately started taking out things from his pouches.

“Miria, bring me the small box with a symbol looking like two butterfly wings on it, a glass jar with glittery dust of… hmm… brown colour, five crystals with condensed spiritual energy, at least yellow ones, and… some flower, preferably the one you think looks the most beautiful,” he looked at the panthergirl and listed the things that were stored in her realm.

Seeing his serious expression, she focused as much as she could to remember all the stuff he mentioned and then quickly recounted it on her fingers. Before she jumped through the portal, Ast grabbed her hand and she turned around to see him smile faintly.

“Don’t worry so much. Just ask me if you forget or can’t find something.”

She felt a bit more at ease and nodded. He let her go and sighed. Selene’s hand appeared on Ast’s shoulder.

“You are allowed to be angry, my Lord.”

He shook his head. “It’s not that I’ve never felt annoyed or furious in the past. It’s just way more heated and persistent than before. And I have way less control over it. I don’t want to see myself taking it out on others. Especially you girls.”

“If you consider not adding ‘please’ at the end of your request towards your own servant as taking it out on them, then I’m really curious how you see issuing an order instead,” she said with a teasing smile.

He smiled in response too. “Guess I may be overthinking it a little. It’s a bit chaotic in there.” He tapped the side of his head a few times. “Now, let’s start here too.”

Asterios crouched down and brought out a piece of chalk. Selene watched as he started plotting a small but elaborate magic circle on the ground. It was different from the one she had seen during her summoning so she wasn’t sure what it exactly was meant to be. 

The circuit consisted of tens of irregular lines and patterns inside an external ring. In various, totally random to her locations inside of it, Asterios made some more, smaller circles, and drew sigils there. 

When it looked like he was finishing up, the whole formation finally began shaping up and started resembling an inwards-facing eye of the storm with all the irregular lines, decorated with runes inside small rings here and there. She was surprised Asterios could create something looking this complex purely from his memory. She felt like every stroke was crucial and every angle the lines took had to be at exact values.

Shortly after he completed the circuit, Miria stepped out of the crimson gate with a handful of packages in her arms. She noticed the magic circle on the ground and the other two could easily discern the curiosity that overtook her face.

“Thank you. Lay them down here and come closer, both of you. It will be faster with your help.”

Miria placed the items on the ground and kneeled on Ast’s right side while Selene took the left. He then picked up the yellow crystals that had a vertically-stretched rhomb shape and handed them to the panthergirl.

“Use your coated blades to cut them precisely in the middle.”

She took the crystals and nodded. Asterios reached for the jar with the glittery sand and opened it. He pulled a smaller, glass jar out of one of his pouches and poured some of the substance over into it, giving the small container to Selene.

“Cover the lines with this so that the chalk is not visible anymore. Don’t worry about damaging them, they are just a schematic to help with setting up the real ones.”

Then, the two of them started sprinkling the brown dust over the patterns until everything was completely covered. Miria finished carefully splitting the crystals and showed them to Asterios, who took them and laid each one down over the small circles, covering the sigils inside with their flat bottoms. They looked like small, spiky towers now.

For the next step, Asterios picked up the wooden box with butterfly-like wings engraved on the lid, opened it, and took out a few different sets of wings belonging to different kinds of insects. The girls easily recognized some of them as coming from a quite sizable wasp, a dragonfly, and most likely an exotic fly. He set each pair at different spots and leant back.

“Alright. This should do. It’s my first time doing it myself instead of just watching.”

“What is this meant to do, Master?” Miria asked.

“It’s a magical structure for Evanescent Summoning, specifically designed to aim at a specific type of entities. I can tell you about it later, but in short, it’s a one-time summoning, without a contract. Way more draining and heavy on one’s spiritual circuits. But I should be fine now.”

He then looked around and picked up a flower Miria brought back. He didn’t recognize it, so it might have been something existing in her realm. Asterios glanced at her and she quickly explained.

“It’s a Crimson-Tailed Lily. From my mom’s garden. I always liked them the most. And the meaning behind it too… It… symbolizes gentle yet deep passion…” she said with slightly rosy cheeks.

Ast petted her ears a little and put the flower in his front pocket. “Perfect. Thank you.”

He stood up and glanced at the finished summoning circle. Everything seemed to be in order. Miria and Selene took a step back to give him more space and Asterios brought out his ceremonial knife, cutting his finger a bit. After a few drops of blood fell onto the circuit, the glittery dust started glowing and burning with a very faint flame, which quickly spread over the whole pattern.

What was left behind after all of it burned out, was a set of glowing, brown lines, now looking like the real base of a magical formation. Asterios joined his hands in a prayer fashion and sent his spiritual energy towards the circle. It flashed and a weird air current began to emerge from the middle of it, forming an earthen tornado that sucked the wings in.

It kept spinning for a few seconds, releasing warm winds into the surroundings. Then, something flashed again inside of it and a hand-sized brown orb flew out of the top of the small cyclone. The air calmed down after the tornado disappeared. The brown ball kept merrily floating in front of their faces.

Miria tilted her head at the weird entity while Selene raised her brows. The orb was of a brown colour and it kept pulsing at regular intervals. Two, fairy-like wings sprouted from the back of its top. She recognized it as a Pixie. She encountered them a few times in her realm and those spirit-type beings were a very mischievous bunch.

~Are you the one who summoned me, Human? Hehehehe~

A joyful, childlike voice resounded in everyone’s heads. The brown orb zoomed through the air and circled Ast’s body a few times before stopping very close to his face.

“Yes. My name is Asterios. May I know yours?”

~Hehehehe, it’s Eru! What do you need from this great Earth Pixie Eru, Asterios the Human? Are we going to dig a hole under someone? Maybe add some mud to their coffee? Or do you want me to restrain those girls behind you so you can tickle them until they collapse? Hehehehe!~

Miria’s fur instantly stood up. She hated tickles wholeheartedly. It was obviously because the slightest brush at her ticklish spots could render her completely defenceless as she would drop down and start wriggling like crazy while laughing her lungs out from the faintest tease.

Ast sensed her uneasiness and squinted his eyes at the Pixie. Eru abruptly stopped flying around and froze on the spot when met with dense spiritual pressure. Asterios didn’t want to threaten the entity so he quickly loosened it.

“Maybe next time. I would like you to alter my appearance. Can you do it?”

Eru started floating in front of his face again, this time in a bit less mischievous fashion and responded with a boastful voice.

~Of course! Who do you think I am? The great Earth Pixie Eru! Something like this is nothing for me! Ah, but I can only make it work for three hours. It’s that long because I’m the best! Hehehehehe~

Asterios sighed. It looked like the records and tales were not exaggerated. Pixies were truly an annoying bunch. Three hours was nothing amazing when it came to such a simple Alteration Magic. 

But, since it was his first time and he was in a hurry, still being urged to take action by the scorching hot sensation inside his heart, he was expecting to not be able to summon some outrageous entity like with Miria and Selene previously. He was actually relieved to see that not all of his new summons had to be literal, humanoid girls, as he was haunted by that possibility for a little while now.

“Good. Will this suffice as your payment?” he said and showed the Crimson-Tailed Lily to the Pixie.

Eru circled his hand a few times and stopped on top of it.

~Hmmm… Hmmmm… It will! This flower smells tasty!~

Then, Eru sucked the lily inside its body and began spinning for a few seconds. After consuming the offering, it flew into Ast’s body.

~Now imagine the change and I’ll make it happen! And remember, it will last only 3 hours!~

Asterios closed his eyes and imagined his face in a much sharper, older and manly style, his white hair as shoulder-long, and wished for a short-trimmed beard of the same colour to appear around his mouth. A few seconds later, the changes took place and the girls watched his face morph into a much older and fierce-looking version of himself.

“You don’t have to worry. I only need it for a moment,” he replied to the Pixie and brought out a small mirror to check his appearance, nodding in satisfaction.

“Woah… Will you look like this when you get older, Master?” Miria asked, gazing at his new face.

Asterios chuckled. “No idea. I just came up with it. What, do you hate it?”

She lowered her head and kept glancing at him slightly anxious. “It’s… not bad… But, I think I like your real one more… It looks… gentler...”

He brushed her hair as he passed her, heading towards the open road. “Then I should pray it doesn’t become like this.”

The trio walked out of the alley and Asterios took a deep breath. Thanks to all the magic and casual interactions with his companions, his mind was now much clearer than before. The influence affecting his emotions didn’t completely disappear and still kept fueling the furious fire in his heart, but he didn’t feel like rushing headlong into his enemies' den and tearing them to shreds now.

Unfortunately, changing Miria's and Selene's appearance would require a bit more complex and longer process as Ast's white hair and red eyes weren't commonly known so he could just alter them a bit, but they walk around with their original appearances all the time, even if they didn't spend much time around Rosewind yet.

Fortunately, Asterios wasn't that worried about this fact. Both of the girls had collars around their necks. Anyone reporting the incident, be it from outside or later from the staff they might encounter, should remember that quite crucial fact as normal and combat slaves weren't usually held accountable due to them not having much of a choice but to follow their master's orders. He decided to bet on that perception.

They soon arrived in front of a metal gate. Two guards in chainmails, covered with yellow tabards having the Richtenstein’s family crest woven into them, stood one by each side of it. The trio was noticed and the sentries lowered their ornamental halberds, crossing them over the locked entrance.

“Halt! You are approaching the residence of Marquess Richtenstein! What’s the purpose of your visit?”

“You should take a leave for today. The Marquess won’t blame you,” Asterios answered.

The guards furrowed their brows.

“If you came here just to joke around, I advise you to turn back right now,” one of the men said in an annoyed tone.

Asterios rubbed his forehead. “Listen. I would like to avoid hurting innocent bystanders, so please, just step away while I still am in control of my emotions. It’s already proving difficult to keep calm while so close to these bastards.”

The guards instantly lowered their weapons from the air and aimed them at him. Ast sighed and glanced at Selene. She got his intention clearly, and in two quick steps, she appeared in front of one of the men. He got hit with her spiritually enhanced punch and crashed into the gate, creating a deep bulge in it.

The other guy’s eyes widened from shock. He was no strong knight but a simple gatekeeper dressed in a fancy outfit whose task was to report the arrivals and escort guests inside. No one in the right mind would assault the Marquess’s mansion from the front gate in the middle of the day.

“Go. No one will be dying today. I’m here just for a short talk. And don’t forget to come to work tomorrow. I’ll let your employer know you did your job properly,” Asterios said to the shaken man in a cold tone.

He seemed to be hesitating for a moment, but in the end, the man ran to the other guard, peeled him off the gate, and started moving away while carrying his colleague. Asterios then glanced at Selene again while Miria made short work of the gate with her mana-sharpened blades.

“Don’t worry, my Lord. I held back as you intended me to and shielded the man’s body. He shouldn’t have even a single broken bone.”

Ast nodded and they entered the courtyard. Even though the Marquess’s residence was located on the edge of the town, he was pretty sure there should have been at least a few people somewhere around that witnessed the commotion, so they shouldn’t waste any time in case someone went and reported the event.

He wanted to make his point by going through the front, but he would rather not get involved with Rosewind’s Peacekeepers if possible. Thus, time was crucial. Hopefully, daddy was home, as well as the unfilial son.