On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human



Looking at the unconscious Spirit on my palm, I wonder why she showed me a glimpse of her past. I don't think I need to know what happened to her, though, I am not complaining. Turning around, I am in time to see the gigantic tree that Luxia generated crumble. She flies at me and then perches on my head. 

Peering at the unconscious Spirit from above, she says, "This is a weird kind. She acted like she abhorred you, but forcibly created a Contract with you."

"Did she?" I wonder.

"Can't you feel the Spiritual Bond?"

I search deep into my mind and then find Aguanum's familiar presence. "It is very faint. I can barely feel it even when I am concentrating on it."

"Well, she forcibly established it without your consent, after all."

"How do I accept it?"

Luxia looks down at me as if I had grown another head. She crosses her arms and sharpens her gaze when I give her a questioning look. Three seconds pass silently and she eventually sighs. I quirk an eyebrow at that, causing her to scoff and toss her root-like hair.

"Are you going to collect every Spirit you see?" she grumbles.

"I am not a Spirit hunter, so, no," I answer honestly.

"Your action says differently, though."

"I only made two contracts on my own. The rest weren't initiated by me."

Luxia opens her mouth but then immediately closes it. Harrumphing she explains, "Let's wait until this child opens her eyes. We can hear why she did what she did and officially establish your Spiritual Bond when she is awake."

Before I can ask where I can put Aguanum since I can't summon her into my Inner World, Luxia jumps down from my head and disappears with her. Nodding my head in appreciation, I turn to Valeria and the idiotic duo. Before I walk to them, I sense a large number of presences approaching. The Empire's army is coming, so I reapply my disguise.

"Yahoo! You did it, General!" Sofia greets me excitedly when I am in front of them.

"Whom are you referring to?" I ask, slightly bewildered.

"Aren't you a Demon King's General?"

"No."

"Oh… anyway, when are you going to hand out the Contract? I don't want to deal with those bastards anymore."

Sofia jabs her thumb in the direction of the Empire's army. I turn to Andrea to see her reaction and find her grimacing. I feel slightly bad for her. I can tell she cares about this lavender-haired idiot. Unfortunately for her, Sofia is too stupid to care about her feelings.

"You haven't proven your worth, so I can't decide," I state calmly.

"Didn't you see what Noema did? She is already awesome, but I got four more!" Sofia points out vigorously, advertising her Spirits as if they were items.

"That is not enough. Besides, I don't think your Spirits will like you for cooperating with a Demon."

"Your Spirit is very strong and she works with you just fine. Also, I asked my Spirits in advance!"

She is not as stupid as she sounds. Unfortunately, my gaslighting, half-hearted as it was, didn't work. I hum to myself, thinking about a way to get rid of the idiot. It is not that I don't want to take her in. I can tell she is being genuine. I have two Spiritual Hearts to confirm that. Her personality is not fit for our side.

Anyone who decides to join our side has to prepare to kill their fellow humans. It is not that uncommon on Earth, but it is something that the inhabitants of this world rarely do. Human lives are precious here. Sofia doesn't look like she can kill anything other than insentient creatures. Her skills won't be put to good use on my side.

I am sure that she won't do anything on the human side. She doesn't have any loyalty toward the Empire, so she will desert the moment the Empire orders her something that she doesn't want and Andrea will help her. I am not sure of their chance of succeeding, but the fact still stands. She won't fight.

"Why don't we see how determined you are?" I remark with a challenging gaze. "Wiggle your way out of this situation. Face them and tell them a convincing alibi of what happened here."

"That's a piece of cake!"

I blink at the enthusiasm she shows whereas Andrea sighs wearily. With the number of times she has sighed, Andrea might as well sigh out her life force next time. Nodding at Valeria, we erase our presence and conceal ourselves. Sofia doesn't bother looking behind as she drags Andrea with her to meet the Empire army.

Valeria and I leave the place without leaving any trace behind. We would like to roam the city, but we decided to postpone it since the army might scourge the entire city to find the guy who snatched the Spirit the army has been looking for. 

Upon reaching the inhabited area, we hear people talking about the gigantic jellyfish they saw behind the hill. Expectedly, what happened freaked them out. Guatencia has been peaceful since its establishment, after all. The locals talk about how dry the air feels. The difference in humidity is barely noticeable for tourists, yet they can easily tell something is different.

The reason why the air was humid despite the low temperature was the Spirit that resides in my mind. Now that she is with me, the people of Guatencia may never enjoy the humid air that has been nourishing their skin since their birth again.

At least, they still have the hot springs that are enriched with Aguanum's Earth Essence. It will run out in the future, but it won't affect their lives much. Their city already has a good reputation. People will still come here to spend their vacation even without Aguanum's Earth Essence affecting their water.

Arriving at the hotel, we are greeted by the receptionist. He doesn't seem to be perturbed by the happening in the surroundings. We nod our heads and head to our room. As soon as we reach our room, we open the door and find Aurelia and Millonia already awake. They are watching the situation outside from the window.

"I knew it was your doing," Millonia says as she turns to me. "What did you do this time?"

"It wasn't me. Someone else started it. I just finished what she couldn't," I counter.

"Doesn't all your problems stem from women?"

"Now that you said that…"

Some events led me to meet new people of importance. I won't say those instances were problems as they were barely troublesome. Besides, I encountered those instances on my way to achieve my goal. They were coincidentally in the way, so I had no choice but to solve them to achieve my goal. The important parties involved were also coincidentally women.

In short, I don't think that all of my problems stem from women. On second thought, if I had still considered Brianna a problem, that statement might be true. Everything wouldn't have happened if she hadn't played me like a toy. Then again, things would have turned for the better if she didn't do what she did.

"You don't have to think about it deeply. I was just messing with you," Millonia remarks, rolling her eyes playfully.

"I know. I was thinking about a different thing."

"About what?"

I gaze at Valeria, Millonia, and Aurelia before smiling softly. "It has been a harsh journey, but I am glad that I met you guys."

"You are a bastard for proposing to three women at the same time, you know?"

I would have quipped at Millonia's remark as usual if not for the blush present on her cheeks. Unlike Valeria who can barely understand how to react to emotional situations, Millonia is not used to sappy things. She is easily flustered whenever she encounters such situations. As such, I deem it correct to smirk at her.

We talk about what happened behind the hill at the end of Guatencia. At the end of the talk, I check on Aguanum and find her still not awake. The sky begins to darken, so we decide to have a meal at the hotel's restaurant. Upon arriving, the waiters and waitresses greet us and then lead us to our table.

The money that we spent to rent our room gives us some facilities. One of them is to be served like royalty at the restaurant and eat everything it serves freely. It is expected for a room priced that high but still makes the money spent worth it. All of the dishes are soon on our table. We are about to eat when we notice someone approaching.

I inwardly sigh as I note the familiar presence. I am quite thankful that she is being discreet, but I would have been more thankful if she didn't come. She is right by my side by the time I know it. She doesn't say anything but flashes a toothy grin under her hood.

"I told them I lost my Spirits and they cast me away! Now, you have to give me the Contract and let me live under your wings."

Pitter-patter!

Before I can say anything, frantic footsteps resound throughout the whole restaurant. A hooded figure soon joins us, running hastily as her eyes land on the idiotic Spirit Master beside me. I have now two of the most unwanted duo under my wings.

'Why do these troublesome fellows always find their way to disturb my peace?'

I thought this was finally a vacation.