Chapter 224.1: Comrade (Part 1)

「...With all that said, I still have to mention the main issue with this method though.」

There was a big flaw with the method of using a Spirit Crystal to form a contract, and it was a rather obvious one. The summon could not be used practically right away, as it would be a newborn spirit.

Essentially the first method would give them a summon that could be used right away, while the second method took much longer while having added benefits. It was up to the summoner to choose between the two.

「By the way, I've raised Undine since she was born. She's really grown to be a fine lady.」

Mira looked at Undine as she said that, talking like a proud parent. Seeing that motherly look on Mira's young face made the adventurers' hearts start beating faster.

「Though well, a summoner's disposition is still the most important. A summoner should enjoy a spirit's company and want to forge a strong bond, that's the most important part. Making a contract is also establishing a bond between summoner and spirit after all. There's some who say summoners control familiars, but I don't like to think of it that way. Summons aren't being controlled, but are companions that travel and work together with us. Just like me and Undine.」

Summoners had to take various limitations, conditions, and rules. But the most important one was the summoner's disposition, their willingness to be friendly to each other.

「I see... I guess there's a lot of depth to being a summoner too.」

One of the female adventurers muttered that. Summoners had become a rather obscure class in modern times, but she was starting to recognize the depth of their abilities. More importantly, she had seen they could be really handy to have.

That female adventurer also had written some notes, where she had noted the different types of water spirits, as well as the water forms they were best at using.

That basically meant if they were best at making waves, whirlpools, or other patterns like that. If they were good at a certain one, it would require less mana to do it, which seemed to be an important detail for that specific adventurer.

She had rain spirits encircled to make them stand out too, as according to Mira's explanation, those would be the best at making showers without much effort.

「Question! What are some places where rain spirits can be born!」

Another female adventurer had reached the same conclusion, and raised her hand while posing that question. That made almost all the other women around there to perk up and pay attention. It was obvious they were all interested in rain spirits.

「Hmm, rain spirits... Well, for those...」

Mira then began detailing places where they could use Spirit Crystals for a rain spirit to be born. She mentioned not just the locations, but how to get to them, as well as the types of monsters that roamed the way there.

While Mira had already formed contracts with all elemental spirits, she had still visited various other places where spiritual power gathered. That was partly out of her own curiosity, but mostly because she wanted to investigate them to help future summoners.

There was also information regarding various such places in the Tower of Summoning over in Silverhorn, but as Mira had personally researched that herself, she still remembered all of them.

While Mira would constantly forget all sorts of things, including the names of people, strangely enough she had nearly perfect memory when it came to summoning. Thanks to that she was able to provide even more information than the adventurers had been hoping for, which they all appreciated greatly.

「Thank you! I'll go search for one right away!」

「Thank you so much for telling us all of this. Summoners are really incredible.」

Once Mira was done communicating all the information she knew, all of the female adventurers that were listening with all their attention thanked her at the same time before running off to the city, heading straight to the Spellcaster's Union.

The Union had a recruitment system to help adventurers find party members, where they could search for others under various criteria, like their rank, class, age, sex, and various others.

All the female adventurers were likely going there to search for summoners who were not part of any party yet. Their main criteria would be a summoner that had a contract with a water spirit, and with a preference for those who also had a fire spirit contracted.

The entire Union would likely be busy processing those requests for summoners for the rest of the day.

「Umm...is it alright if we ask for help with something?」

Hearing that, Mira turned around and saw a group of six female adventurers. Their equipment suggested they were three frontliners, one middle guard, and two for the rear. Those latter two were still young girls.

「Oh? What is this you need help with?」

Mira found herself smirking seeing that group. It always felt nice being able to help women, no matter the situation.

「Leyla here is also a summoner, but she can't use any summons at all..」

Saying that, one of them introduced one of the younger girls, who wore green robes.

「I'm Leyla!」

Leyla also introduced herself energetically, her eyes glistening as she looked straight at Mira, though there was also some envy in them.

「O-Oh, I'm Mira.」

Mira was slightly flustered by the intense stare, which was compounded by the lecherous thoughts that had already flooded her mind once the group of six women asked for her help, even though anyone could tell it would not be anything so impure.

「So, what is it you need help with?」

After gulping and sorting her thoughts, Mira moved on to the main topic. Leyla was a summoner who could not use her abilities, there had to be a reason for her wanting to meet Mira.

「It's quite straightforward actually. Could you teach Leyla how to use Summoning Skills.」

「How to...use them? Not how to learn them, but use them?」

Mira tilted her head in confusion hearing that petition for help.

When they mentioned Leyla could not use any summons, Mira assumed that she lacked the means to obtain Armor Spirits as summons, which were the starting step for any summoner.

That was quite a challenge though, as contracts with Armor Spirits like the Dark Knight and Holy Knight could only be established by defeating them with one's own power first. They only respected a summoner's worth by facing them in combat.

But Armor Spirits were still spirits, making them quite strong. Even the weakest ones were ranked D, just one rank below C which was considered the cutoff for anything high level. That showed just how strong they were.

It was quite difficult for a beginner summoner to beat Armor Spirits like that. Not to mention that Leyla looked like she was still thirteen years old.

Even then, the only way for a summoner to really start a career was to form contracts with Armor Spirits.

Armor Spirits were fundamental to both summoners being able to establish more contracts, and to display their power.

Since they were Man-Made Spirits, Armor Spirits would not grow on their own. They were tools born from the hands of men, and would gain purpose and meaning by being used by people, eventually turning into a spirit. That also meant that summoners had to rear them from the moment they were born, and that was also why their power as summons could show a summoner's ability.

On the other hand, failing to obtain an Armor Spirit also made it much trickier form contracts with other types of summons.

Then again, there were some summoners who were born with a natural affinity for spirits and could make friends with them easily, leading to contracts. But those were largely outliers, and sometimes they would even struggle to form contracts with Armor Spirits instead.

To help with that, many summoners, Mira included, had researched ways for beginner summoners to be able to defeat Armor Spirits without running into much risk. By helping other summoners like that, Mira had gathered a wealth of information, as well as possible solutions.

If Leyla could not obtain her Summoner Skills, then Mira should be able to help her find a solution. But it seemed like her situation was slightly different.

「Umm, it's something that happened around two months ago...」

According to the other female adventurer, Leyla had already gone through the process of defeating an Armor Spirit.

The one speaking was called Sara, who happened to be Leyla's older sister.

She mentioned something that happened two months before. Back then Leyla had not formed a contract with Armor Spirits yet, and that was something that kept bugging her.

Eventually the sisters met a skilled summoner. He was already starting to look old, and claimed he was traveling the world to make summoners popular again.

「Is that so? That's amazing!」

Apparently Mira was not the only summoner trying to revive their class, which brought great delight to her. Mira wanted to know more about him, but all the sisters knew was that he was called Bruce.

But the sisters were a bit wary at first, mostly because it was some stranger who suddenly offered to help them.

「...I guess I can't really blame you for feeling that way.」

Mira muttered that after glancing at Leyla. She still looked really young, so an older man approaching her out of the blue would set off all sorts of alarms.

「He actually turned out to be really kind though.」

「Mhm, he taught me all sorts of things too.」