Chapter 269 (2/2)

”Wouldn't a Sylph be more aligned with that?”

Beatrice listened in while a certain green-haired youth walked over towards Lady Isabella. He was quite handsome and the other people that were chatting took notice. They all moved back slightly, they were clearly making way for this individual that was of higher status than they were.

”Would that be to your liking, your Majesty?”

Isabella smiled at the new arrival and the two started talking. Beatrice turned her head away out of indignation. She knew that the man approaching was one of this country's princes while the blond girl was his fiance. She didn't want to interact with that girl but this was something impossible as she was someone from the main family. To her, she was nothing more than a servant, a useless one if she wasn't able to get a fitting summoned spirit.

The high nobles finally decided to move their butts. Beatrice was in Isabella's camp so she followed behind her. She was the odd person out of this group, mostly her use was in doing troublesome errands. Today was an important day though, so even these nobles were more focused on the summoning ceremony. If they failed their prestige would be put in question even more than hers was.

There was only one chamber to perform this ritual so she needed to wait. First came the more distinguished nobles like the Prince or Isabella. She and some others would need to wait till late at night to get their turn.

She remained outside while waiting for her turn, the people that were from the more pristine noble houses were all able to receive their spirit summons. It was easier to achieve this with some additional items, some summons could be somewhat 'bought' over to form a contract.

The lower nobles like her didn't have enough money for something like that. The items that a person offered during the ritual were a form of tribute to the summoned being. They were there to attract them, more than one spirit could answer your call. The strongest one would then win out over the others and be the one to form a contract.

Time continued to fly and now the youths in the black uniforms were beginning their rituals. Some of them were successful while some failed. With lacking resources, they could only count on their lackl.u.s.ter talent. Soon it was her turn to give it a try, the large doors to the spacious ceremony room opened up and she was left alone there.

She could see the stairs leading up to the summoning platform. The room was dimly lit but rays of light were shining on that platform. In its center was the magical circle that the teacher mentioned before. It had already been used by many other students before, some of the mana used in the ritual was still lingering.

'Time to place the gifts…'

Beatrice took out the items that she prepared. They had some magic in them that was supposed to lure the spirits here. They were just ordinary magical items, the more costly ones were already used during her brother's tries. Even with the higher quality ones he was unsuccessful. Even with moderately good items around there was a big chance of failure, she hoped that this wouldn't be the case for her.

'Please... let this work…'

She went down to her knees in the center of the magical circle. Her hands were clasped together as she went down into a kneeling position. The magical symbols started lighting up in a deep blue color as the ritual started.

”Ego antiquum spirituum te rogamus, occurre obsecro mihi testimonii…”

She started a long chant that she had remembered thoroughly. There was no stuttering and no hesitation in her voice. This was her one and only chance, failure was not an option. Rays of light shone down on her as she continued praying. Nothing seemed to be happening and she couldn't feel the presence of any spirits. Normally they would start to appear the moment she finished the chant but even after going through with it once, there was nothing.

There was still some time left in this ritual, the magic circle was active so she started repeating the incantation over and over again. She couldn't feel anything happening but when she opened her eyes a strange scenery filled her vision.

She wasn't in the ritual chamber anymore, she was in some kind of dark space. When she looked up she could see a strange unfamiliar sky with many stars. Some of them were moving around, it made it look like rain, a rain of stars.

Then she looked behind her and saw him. There was a giant standing before her, his large glowing eyes focused on her small form. This giant was wearing some strange white robes and his body was covered in some kind of otherworldly golden glow. She could also see arcs of lightning bursting forward from his very being.

'Is… that a summoned spirit… I never heard of something like this…'

She racked her brain about an answer while slightly panicking. Then it came to her, in one book there was writing that some special spirits could pull their summoners into their own realm. These spirits were considered legendary ones, the ones that had a humanoid shape were also considered even rarer.

She dropped down to her knees and started bowing the moment she realized that this spirit might have been a rare legendary one. Beatrice wasn't sure why he chose her but this was her big chance, there was a possibility of the ritual failing if the summoned spirit didn't agree. Thus she assumed the kneeling position and did her best to plead her case.

”Honorable heroic spirit, I Beatrice Hohenberg beseech thee to grand me a contract!”

After she spoke those words an uncomfortable silence was all that greeted her. This was only broken by a strange deep groan that this giant gave out. This only made her plant her face deeper into the ground while pleading more.

”Sorry about that little girl, could you raise your head it's hard to talk like that…”

The next time the giant spoke up his voice was much softer sounding. She did as instructed and looked up, her body trembling slightly at the giant before her.

”I think you need to explain a few things here…”

The giant spoke up while moving his large face closer, the time for contract negotiations had begun.