CH 50.3

“Haaah…”

“Bitter, bitter…”

Litty was moaning, as if she had pushed herself too hard. Kuufa couldn’t stand it any longer and added a lot of sugar and milk. Seira giggled at the sight of the two of them.

The branch manager would soon give them a declaration, asking them if they were ready to perform the summoning. As Seira thought so, there was another knock at the door.

“Excuse me, may I come in?”

“Is someone coming again? No surprise attacks, please.”

This time, several instructors entered. Some of them were ones who had surrounded Catalana and the others during the day. It was clear that they had no hostile intentions this time. Each of them carried a book of some kind.

“We noticed that Seira came to visit you. We were hesitant at first, but let us help you.”

“Some of you seem to be from the Branch Manager’s camp, though?”

“I am sorry about what happened during the day. Everyone is too scared to go against them…”

“Hmmm…”

Despite not trusting them all, Catalana invited them in. She considered the possibility that the branch manager’s faction was coming to probe, but decided to judge them with her own eyes. Especially when she declared that it was an investigation.

After drinking coffee, Litty and Kuufa finally started preparing for the summoning. Under Seira’s guidance, they carefully selected and placed the types of magic stone runes they needed.

“A minor difference in the summoning technique can summon something entirely different. Be especially careful with the magic circle.”

“Ah, I don’t want to summon a demon…”

“By nature, summoning demons is very difficult… Kuufa-san, your talent could have caused a disaster.”

“Be careful, be careful… the water symbol is this…”

Kuufa nervously drew the magic circle, while Litty also made steady progress with her preparations, occasionally getting advice from the other instructors besides Seira… Litty’s respectful attitude towards them made the instructors feel comfortable… 

“Not like that. The position of the mark should be…”

“Oh, yes! I see!”

“There are many options, but for Phantom Beast, the Taspika script would work.”

“Hmmm! That would be very helpful!”

Creating a magic circle was a delicate and difficult task. If the person who created the magic circle had bad handwriting, it may end up being recognized as a different character, which could result in a catastrophe.

Since a magic circle would be ineffective if the person did not create it by himself without any manual help from an outsider, the people around them could only comment about this matter without daring to step in themselves. Eventually, the results of their diligent efforts showed up.

“And that’s about it. Now the preliminary work is done.”

“Thank you all for your help! I’m really learning a lot!”

“You are so honest and diligent. I wonder if the branch manager will change when he sees a straightforward adventurer like you…oops.”

“It’s late, but let’s start the summoning.”

Before they knew it, Seira had taken the charge, and the summoning finally began, and although she was trying to look calm and steady, her heart was filled with anxious thoughts and lots of hopes.

Kuufa’s choice was a top ranking water spirit, which was simply too difficult to manage. Not only that, but the Phantom Beast that Litty was summoning was an unknown entity. It possessed the ability to do exactly what she wanted, but other than that, there was no other information about the summon.

“Suuu~haa~”

“Litty-chan, are you ready to go?”

“Yes…!”

Catalana stopped Litty from taking deep breaths again and again. Seira, seeing Litty like that, still couldn’t understand why she was doing it. So, she simply stopped thinking about it.