Wearing a simple white tunic and grey pants, Adrian stood by the large door of Ravenshade’s estate, waiting quietly. After so ti, he turned his gaze toward the mansion, as if trying to spot soone. But the one he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.
He turned away with a sigh.
"Alisardarc, I have a question."
The mont that low whisper escaped his lips, mana began condensing above his shoulder and materialized into a black bird.
A deep abyssal voice entered his ear.
[Feeble one, you have a lot of questions. Just why are you so curious?]
Adrian ignored the small jab from the bird and asked the question that had been on his mind for a long ti.
"Why do Eternarchs make contracts? How does it benefit them?"
The concept of a contract seed like a deal of mutual benefit for both parties, but that wasn’t actually the case. The only one really benefiting seed to be the summoner.
Over the years, Adrian had learned a great deal about Etarnarchs and the Eternal Realm from Alisardarc. While the black bird was incapable of speaking about a lot of things, Adrian had ford a solid picture in his mind from what it actually could tell him.
Eternarchs were immortals in every sense of the world; it was absolutely impossible to kill them. They also didn’t have any necessities required for their sustenance. There was absolutely nothing one could need as an Eternarch.
"From what you told , the Eternal Realm sounds like so sort of paradise. What would even compel a being living in that realm to make those kinds of contracts?"
Apparently, the terms of the contracts were usually very light. Alisardarc’s terms had been a bit on the extre side. Most Eternarchs asked for simple things, like being fed a certain food after being summoned, having to play with it every week, or touring a certain place.
Eternarchs had everything a life form could possibly want, so why would they make such unfair contracts?
On his shoulder, the black bird remained perfectly quiet, not giving an answer.
"Does the answer involve sothing you can’t talk about? If so, just nod once."
But instead of nodding as he had expected, Alisardarc spoke in a low tone. Adrian sensed a hint of vague emotion behind its words.
"...The image of the Eternal Realm in your mind is not even close to the real thing. Besides, if all your desires were fulfilled, what reason would you have to live?"
He was just about to speak, but paused.
He spotted a young girl around his own age skipping in his direction, her long pinkish-purple hair bouncing gently. Stopping only a step away, her violet eyes locked with his own.
She smiled excitedly.
"Sorry for the wait, now let’ssss~ goooo~."
Saying that, she made a strange, exaggerated pose with her hands, causing him to frown. Maybe not getting the reaction she was expecting, her excited smile slowly turned awkward.
Adrian began walking.
"Sure, let’s go."
She hurriedly followed along as they left the Ravenshade estate.
It had been a week since their previous ’adventure,’ as she called it, and it was ti for another ’adventure’.
Walking at an unhurried pace, he calmly asked.
"Where do you wish to go this ti? It would be better to think about it beforehand to make sure that this ’adventure’ doesn’t feel aimless."
"Oh!" she readily nodded. "Great idea!"
Then a thoughtful look appeared on her face as she gazed into the empty air.
"Hmm... I kind of feel like seeing magical stuff or sothing like that. How about so kind of magic shop? So place that sells magical items and such?"
’Magic shop? That’s quite a strange way to refer to them.’
But he had an idea of their destination.
"Those kinds of shops cater to the rich; we would probably find them in the district of the wealthy."
She nodded excitedly. They changed their course, walking toward their new destination. After about half an hour of walking, their surroundings began to change.
The houses and other buildings around them were made entirely of stone, the streets were not as crowded, and the people walking around them wore sowhat luxurious designer clothes, unlike the plain or shabby clothes they had seen other people wear.
Since Adrian had already co here before during the test his mother had given him, he was now sowhat familiar with this place, which was why they were able to navigate here so easily.
Soon, the two of them stopped in front of a shop. Seemingly made from so sort of white stone, the shop seed large and well-maintained.
Adrian turned to the girl beside him.
"This is it. I believe this shop would be the closest to what you described."
She didn’t say anything in reply, but her excitent had clearly spiked after hearing his words. She seed rather eager to go into the shop.
He slowly pushed open the door, and the two of them entered the shop.
The shop’s interior was filled with tal racks and wooden shelves, and various strange items were neatly arranged on them. The interior was larger than they had expected, and with the shelves and racks, the shop felt more like a small library instead.
To the right, near the entrance, was a wooden desk and chair, as if a reception, and a middle-aged woman wearing a bluish black robe sat there, dozing off.
The two of them looked at each other and nodded together.
Adrian walked up to the woman and shook her body gently. Monts later, the woman stirred and rose while rubbing her eyes. Then her gaze fell on the two of them, making her pause.
She altered her gaze between the two of them, but her eyes lingered on Adrian longer.
"Are you two... custors?"
’So she figured it out.’
Judging by the stability of the woman’s presence, she seed to be at least above Phase One, which ant she could see their presence just as they could see hers, and she had quickly figured out that they weren’t ordinary children, but mana users.
Adrian offered her a polite yet minimal bow, trying his best to appear courteous, not wishing for their identity as nobles to be revealed.
"We do not have anything particular in mind and wish to look around. If sothing catches our fancy, we may buy it."
The woman nodded.
"Sure, go ahead. Though be careful while touching things, it could be dangerous."
Adrian nodded to her warning and turned away. But as they entered the maze of racks and shelves, he suddenly felt a pull on his sleeve.
He looked over his shoulder.
"What is it?"
"You talked about buying," Evangeline whispered. "But can we even buy anything here? We didn’t bring any money aside from a few silver coins, so didn’t we lie to that lady?"
Adrian’s brows slowly furrowed as he heard her.
’Is she worried about not having money, or does her problem have to do with my having lied to the shopkeeper?’
He pulled sothing out from within his tunic and showed it to her, causing her eyes to widen in realisation.
"Do you get it now? I didn’t lie. If needed, I can buy this entire shop."
Though actually doing that probably wouldn’t be a good idea.
Evangeline seed to be unable to say anything back.
The two of them separated, each going to look for things that would interest them.
In truth, Adrian was also sowhat curious about the items that were being sold in this shop. Maybe it was because of how much he had studied spell creation, but anything having to do with mana attracted his curiosity now.
He looked around.
Strange objects were arranged on the shelves, and a piece of paper was attached below each of them with sothing written on it.
He focused on the paper stuck below a painting on a shelf, reading through the contents written on it.
{Na: The Dawn of a New Era
Type: Fragnt Relic
Fragnt Relic Grade: Grade Two
Fragnt Relic Age: 72 years
Price: 2,01,500 lux
Description: The famous painter Macheion wished to create a masterpiece, a piece of art that would srize anyone who laid eyes on it. Macheion died without being able to finish his masterpiece, but his painting seems to have inherited his last wish.
Function: If one looks at the painting for longer than five seconds, they will beco entranced and will be unable to look away. The effect is broken if the affected person’s line of sight is blocked.}
Adrian cautiously turned his gaze away, trying his best not to look at the painting, but suddenly rembered that his Origin ability made him immune to such ntal abnormalities.
After reading everything written on the paper, the first thought that ca to Adrian’s mind was...
’Just who wrote that description? It sounds so strange.’
But he had gotten a general idea of how things were in this shop and how he needed to look for things that could grab his interest.
But just when he turned around, he saw Evangeline standing behind him, carrying two identical-looking wands in her hands. Though for so reason, she remained motionless as her eyes were fixed on sothing behind him.
Her violet eyes seed completely srised and entranced.
Adrian pressed his temples.
’Ugh, what a pain...’
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