Side: May.

My, what's up with you?

　We were aiming for the western edge of the Steel Forest, defeating the demons we encountered, but Mai has been acting strange from earlier.

''Yeah, kind of.''

　Saying that, Mai scurries around.

　What is going on?

Do you feel anything about May?

'What is it?　A hint of a demon or something?

No. Just some kind of sign of Master Efreet.

　What in the world is he talking about?
　There is no way Master Efreet would be here.

But the hint is stronger than Ifrito's. And there are several signs of it.

What?

　My sister seems to have finally gone crazy.

　Is she stronger than the four great spirit kings, Efreet-sama?
　And there are several signs of it?
　It's not possible.


'Oh, come here!'

　When Mai said that, I also noticed some huge mass of magical power coming towards us.

　The deeper part of the dimly lit forest gradually became brighter.

　A mass of fire appeared from among the trees.
　The flame took the form of a knight.

''Su, great pure flame.''

　Mai is fawning over it.
　I think I can understand.

　I'm a water spirit, so I'm not really interested in things like fire magic, but even so, there was something about the flame knight, a mass of high purity magic power, that I was somewhat attracted to.

''Ah.''

　The Knight of Fire looked at us for a moment, then turned away and left deeper into the forest.

'Hey, what was that about?'

Demons, huh?　Or is it someone else's magic?　But it was awesome anyway.

Yeah. If it's magic, it's definitely Master Hurt's!

　Mai has started calling her classmate, Hurt-san, 'Hurt-sama' since the recent wall penetration incident at the training camp.

　Of course, I've never called him that, and since we don't talk so closely to the class, I don't think anyone has found out yet.

　At that time, Mai seemed to have fallen in love with the magic that Hurt-san used.

''The knight just now was amazing, but after all, that spear of Halt-sama's was exceptional!

　As a water spirit, it seemed to me that the power was just a ridiculous magic, but to Mai, a spirit that controlled fire, it was enough to destroy her sense of value.

''Halt-sama, would you be willing to use me as well?''
Like Yohko?

　Yoko-san in our class was a demon race. She was a nine-tailed fox, which is said to be a disaster-grade animal. Harut-san said that she was using such a Yoko-san under a subordination contract.

She said, "Because she can create such pure fire.　If I sign the contract, I'm sure I'll be able to become a high-level spirit grade too.

　We, the spirit race, are usually in a place called the spirit world. We make a contract with humans and share our power with them, so that we can appear in their world and help them in return.

　The greater the power we are given by humans and the purer the magic power, the greater the power we can produce.

　For a certain reason, we don't have to make a contract with humans to be able to manifest in this world for a long time.

　But there is a limit to what we can do.

"At first you said you wanted to be used by Luke, but...

　One of the purposes of coming to this school was to find someone to use us in this world.

''Yes, but right now, I'm choosing Halt-sama!　Oh, of course I won't force May to do it. If you're good, Luke, I'll support you.

　Luke, the grandson of a wise man and the grandson of a wise man, who could use ultimate magic at such a young age, was the best candidate for a contractor, but ever since seeing Hurt's magic, Mai has been completely captivated by him.

''Anyway, there are no more demons around here, so let's get back.

'Yes. When you get back, do you want to ask Mr. Hurt about that knight you saw earlier?

'Yeah, if it's really Hurt-sama's magic, I'll ask him to make a deal with me!

　I'm very enthusiastic.

　Mai is a ciscon and was always besotted with me.

　Did I forget that I was talking about how I wanted to be used by the people I was with when I left the spirit world?

　It's a little sad, but let's rejoice that my sister was able to separate herself from her sister.

　However, if Hurt-san can handle water-attribute magic as well as fire-attribute magic, it's a different story.

　If that's the case, I'd like to take care of him along with Mai.

　Well, I don't think it's possible for him to be able to use two attributes of magic at that level, but.......