389 380 Preliminary information is mercilessly important (1/2)

”Mr. Contractor, wake up, Mr. Contractor.

The voice inside my head awakens my submerged consciousness.

The nightmarish scene I had seen earlier.

I fought against that god and lost, and one by one my loved ones fell one by one.

And in the end, I had a nightmare that my child was about to be kidnapped, and even though the president went out, Yukiera was kidnapped.

”Oh, my goodness, did I make you feel a little overwhelmed?

”What?

Hearing that sounds blurred and muffled.

A headache that persists when you see a scene from a viewpoint other than your own.

You can't seem to put your thoughts together.

You struggle to come out of your still blurred thoughts and respond to a familiar voice.

”Mr. Vals, sir?

”Yes, yes, you're right, Mr. Contractor.

A time-space spirit contracted to me riding on the head of a giant white snake, at the tip of my eyelids.

”What in the world? This is...

Looking at the view of that world, I found myself in the same space as the ordeal of yore.

As I recall, I was trying to help my daughter.

What?

”Yes, stop, you're going to see a lot of extraneous things now, so listen to me and put the situation in perspective.

When you try to think about it, the nightmare reappears as if in a flashback, and you get a headache that makes you hold your head in your hands.

I know it was tough to see the future when you're just barely awake, even in an emergency, but you'll have to bear the pain for now. Otherwise, what you saw will come true.

Even if you are in a vise, tightening slowly and intensely, and the pain is constant, Mr. Vals says strictly to be patient.

If you want to be released from this pain as soon as possible, you just have to let go of your consciousness.

But Mr. Vals' words will stop me from making that choice.

What do you mean? The reality is, it's already happened.

Is it because of this pain or because the nightmare and reality are mixed up and you don't know what's going on, I don't understand what Ms. Vals said.

It's going to happen, but it hasn't happened yet. Fortunately, the peony cake from the shelf, the benefit of the injury, whatever words you choose to use, you can consider your choice of action to have created a temporary opportunity.

I'm not sure. What the hell did I do?

Stop using alliteration.

My head already hurts.

My head hurts and I'm in a daze.

Is it selfish of me to wish you'd go on quickly?

”What you have seen as real is what I have shown you with my power in the future. It means that the nightmare hasn't come true yet.

”Really?

'Yeah, don't lick the spirit of space-time! As much as I'd like to say, it's only thanks to your snap judgement that I can use my futuristic vision in this space.

But enough to make me forget the pain, Ms. Vals' words gave me hope.

The fact that the nightmare of Suela and the others being hurt and Yukiera being kidnapped has not yet taken place restores my spirits.

Mr. Valus, who was proud of his abilities, winked mischievously at me along the way.

”Huh!

”Okay, okay, don't panic, don't panic. Time is limited, but you have time.

I'm excited and headache-stricken again, but with a smile on my face.

Just the fact that it's not too late makes my heart skip a beat.

'And how is that? I think I've stabilized my soul in my own way, but I still think it's strange.

What do you mean, the usual: .........!

I looked down at my body in response to Mr. Vals' instructions to check it out, as if to nail the mind that all that remains to do is to act.

What's this?

A white body, or rather, a wavering body that cannot be called a body.

The space between space-time and time, the space where you take refuge from the concept of time, cannot be entered in the flesh. The space I am usually in is a world apart from the world. I'm sure you understand that summoning me from there is no mean feat.

It has been transformed into what can only be described as a vague and fuzzy white body that differs from a ghost when you look at the palm of your hand.

”How does it feel to be only a soul?

You are shocked by the fact that you had to go that far.

But if you're asked, I'll tell you.

”I feel less different than I thought I would. Is this what it's like to be out of the body?

”Well? This is the first time I've invited a human being here like this.

I don't feel as special as I thought I would.

I feel lighter than I would normally feel in a physical body, not having a body.

It's not that I don't have five senses, or that I feel something spiritual, but I just have a vague, fluffy feeling attached to me.

Just a vague, fluffy sensation attached to it.

Valus chuckles and lowers the snake's head to equalize his gaze.

The gazes of me, standing on the snake, and Vals, sitting on top of it, meet.

Now, I'd love to talk to you, but I don't have time for a long talk, so after I explain your current situation in the flesh, I'll tell you what happened and what you can do about it.

I'm a little confused by the situation, but I'm calm, and Mr. Vals gets to the point.

I don't think I should be asking questions right now, so I nod my head silently.

”Let's start with history. I've seen what happened to you in the past. Yes, you were in great shape, but unfortunately, your magical aptitude at the time did not allow you to fully utilize my power to intervene. I apologize for that first.

Then, beginning with an apology, Mr. Vals bowed his head once.

”But it's a blessing in disguise that you made a snap decision and let the dragon's blood, the blood of an ancient dragon, run amok.

He looked up, and Mr. Vals explained how I got my soul situation.

The mineral tree's attempt to make more of the old dragon's blood caused your contractor to undergo a dramatic physical change, as well as affecting his soul. The mineral tree was properly controlled so that it wouldn't adversely affect your personality. Thanks to that, the transformation of body and soul began as you are.

The presence of a buddy now unavailable.

Varrus tells me with a joke that I should praise him later.

The bones of the old dragon in your partner's body, that I knew my blood would make me less human.

That in itself is no surprise.

But that change alone was not enough. Even though my body was strengthened and my soul was reinforced, the wall between my body and the realm in which I could intervene was too great.

But it wasn't enough to bring out the full power of Ms. Vals, she said, and there were other factors.

”It was ironically a divine blow that broke down the wall. That god's divinity gave your soul the final push.

When I heard that the element was an attack from the enemy side, I wondered if it was for real.

That feeling is transmitted to Ms. Vals because she has become a soul only being.

She lets out a wry smile and gives an example of how you never know what will happen, even to the spirits that govern space-time.

'You might think that this is the reason for this, but the coincidence of the overlap has taken you to the next level.

”No way.

After hearing that example, I came up with the idea of a condition for using Vals-san to the fullest extent, so I asked about the possibility.

Is your magic aptitude increased?

To the question, Vals nodded with a smile to indicate the correct answer.

”Yes, congratulations, contractor. Your time to find out is over.

”Really?

That fact made me think differently than a headache.

I wonder if there wasn't a better way to wake up.

The first time I went from eight to nine, I was almost dissolved in the demon's stomach.

The next time, he awakened after being attacked by an enemy, which was a very clumsy way of awakening.

You can't help but complain that you wanted to awaken in a cooler way anyway.

I don't know if I care about .......... It's a good thing I'm not the only one who has a soul, because from what I've heard it sounds like I'm only in my current state of soul because I've reached the magic level of 10.

”You're not wrong. Not while you were fighting. Right after you were hit, your aptitude was painted over. The godd*mn contractor is so battered that he doesn't even seem to know it. That's when I was able to pull your soul into this space on the spur of the moment.

”And that brings us to now?

Yes, your soul was battered, but you hadn't lost your sparkle. Thanks to that, I've recovered to a level where I can regain consciousness. And I showed you the future, because it would be a disaster if I turned it back to normal. Well, the repercussions of just showing it to you for a short time are terrible, but that's bear with me.

Is that what this headache is about? There's one hell of a lot of things going on here. This isn't just power inflation.

”Oh, no wonder.

But it seems that my bad luck is not over yet.