Changing dormitories.
After that, things were hectic.
Teacher Neil used his letter-sending magic to let Mrs. Dora know about the transfer, and sent Mariel-chan off early to go back to the Girls’ dormitory to pack her things.
As soon as Carbuncle said, “Well, I’ll be resting in the shadow until then,” it literally jumped into Mariel-chan’s shadow and disappeared.
It’s said that entering the shadow of the contractor is an efficient way to absorb magic power.
… I’m sure it must have run away, since it said that was bad at dealing with kids.
Since Mariel-chan was the last one to try, the remaining time was reserved for students who wanted to try the summoning again, so Sei and I were asked to return to the Special dormitory to greet and help Mariel-chan and Mrs. Dora with the moving.
“I can’t believe Mariel-san is going to be living in the Special dormitory with us. I’m surprised, but delighted.”
“Yeah. But, I wonder if that Carbuncle will be alright.”
I was simply happy because Mariel-chan, who was living in the Girls’ dormitory even though it was close by, was going to transfer to our dormitory, but Sei seemed to be concerned about the Carbuncle.
“By alright, you mean?”
“Well… the Special dormitory is full of Sacred Beasts, including this fella.”
Sei said, turning to look at Byakko-sama, who was in human form and walking slightly behind us.
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, Sacred Beasts are terrifying beings to monsters.
Although she is now completely in the form of a cat, even Kaguya, who was originally a powerful Magic Beast, is afraid of the Divine Beasts that are treated as deities like Byakko-sama and Suzaku-sama… although, for some reason, she somehow manages to ridicule Kurogane and Mashiro who are Sacred Beasts once in a while.
She was afraid when we first met her starving, but I don’t think it’s just my imagination that she looks at them with an exhausted look now.
“Hmm, Carbuncle is closer to being a Sacred Beast than a monster, so it should be fine?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Sei questioned Byakko-sama.
“Sometimes, Sacred Beasts fall for Magic Beasts, and sometimes Magic Beasts turn into Sacred Beasts. We… the Divine Beasts, were born by the descent of the Divine Dragon, though. The conditions for this vary, but sometimes it happens. Thus, sometimes, those that are somewhere between Sacred Beasts and monsters are born.”
“Between?”
“How do I explain this… Whether it’s a Sacred Beast or a monster, they are faithful to its own desires… A monster is one that wants to devour and take everything that is compatible with its magic power. The essence of a Sacred Beast is to want to love and protect it instead. Something like that?”
Byakko-sama folded his arms and continued speaking, trying to choose his words carefully.
“But there are those who have both qualities, those who think that both taking and loving are their right.”
Eh, isn’t that dangerous?
“For better or worse, they are faithful to their desires. They are acting in accordance to their beliefs, so it’s unclear whether they are good or not… well, among those, the Carbuncle are more on the good side.”
Ahh, that’s why they are closer to being Sacred Beasts…
“Will Mariel-san be okay?”
“N~ It said it wanted to form a contract because it found her amusing, so won’t things be just fine?”
You say that so easily, but are you really sure about this!?
“Carbuncle can read people’s minds, so they will only sign contracts with people who are not harmful to them. And even then, they don’t have outstanding combat ability, so they can only read malicious intentions towards their contractor and warn them of such things.”
What? Then, even if someone tries to do something to Mariel-chan in order to get their hands on the rare Carbuncle, all it can do is warn her…!?
“Well, I don’t know how much it evolved since it was a name holder.”
“Evolved…?”
“Some monsters that have acquired their previous contractor’s magic power simply increase their magic power, while others are able to use their contractor’s abilities. I’m not too sure about that, because even if our contractor changes, our original master doesn’t change.”
You mean that even if they have a contract with Sei, it’s still the same for them because it was the original master, Divine Dragon, who formed the contract on their behalf?
Sei seemed to be thinking as he listened to Byakko-sama’s explanation, but then he noticed me watching him and smiled vaguely.
I wonder if he was thinking the same thing I was.