Kapitel 36: The Temple (pt.1)

The phoenix flapped his wings around a few times before settling in front of Alastor, the gemstone was still his beak.

"Good job, little phoenix."

Alastor praised Alexander and wondered what he should give the phoenix as a treat. He carefully took the gemstone from Alexander's beak and examined it.

'Mid-tier fire gemstone, I suppose it could work-'

Some of Alastor's chaotic mana touched the gemstone, causing it to glow a weird, dark light.

'No, this is not a Mid-tier gemstone. It is a corrupted High-tier gemstone.'

Discovering some unexpected luck like this pleased Alastor. Now, he was confident that some fire worms surely would not be suitable for this mighty creature.

After securing the gemstone in his pocket, Alastor opted for the most basic answer he could find- and, the answer that will benefit both of them.

He opened his palm in front of the phoenix, who tilted his head curiously at him, making Alastor chuckle in amusement.

'Such a silly thing, I wonder how he will like this new food.'

The phoenix did not know what Alastor was planning to give him, or else, instead of simply standing there, he would have been on Alastor's palm already.

After a few moments of Alastor gathering his chaotic mana, a white spark crackled in Alastor's palm. The spark soon got bigger, and a purplish flame erupted in his hand.

Alexander almost jumped, eating the flame in an instant while letting out a satisfied noise.

"Wait-" Vian yelped and grabbed Alastor's arm.

In return, he carefully shook her grip off. 'She must be nervous due to the eerie feeling of the Chaos Mana.'

Thinking about that made Alastor a bit guilty, he tried to gently comfort her to soothe her worries away.

"Don't worry, the little phoenix isn't going to be hurt-"

"I'm obviously not worried about that!" she took a hold of his hand this time, "You are clearly unwell, stop using mana unnecessarily!"

"Cam down, Vian."

Alastor chuckled. He carefully stood up and picked Vian up, bridal style.

"I am okay, you hear me? This is not my first day like this. It has been around a few years, yet I managed to survive. Using some additional mana for the sake of rewarding the small phoenix is not useless."

'But it is, to me!' Vian wished she could say that. However, she decided to respect Alastor's decision.

She had no right to tell him what to do. Someone like him should be aware of their limits.

'...But my worry is endless.'

Before she could think of the matter deeply, Alastor extended his hand for the phoenix, who obediently jumped on top of him, and started to move again.

"We have wasted enough time here. We need to be quick."

Like that, they started to move again. Albeit being interrupted by a few monsters here and there, they always left unscathed. Alexander made sure that his master and Alastor were out of danger.

Which, if anything, made Vian quite suspicious.

'I can't understand this stupid bird.'

The phoenix did not bother with her much before, however, now he was more than attentive.

'Is this Alastor's effect? Because of his scent?' Vian wondered internally.

But only Alastor knew the real reason.

'My flames were already effective on him since before. Now that he has tried the true taste of it, he is loyal to me.'

In a way, that sounded ridiculous. Why would the phoenix be loyal to Alastor and not his master? Was that not against their contracts?

'Yes, it is not.'

Familiars' Contracts were worse than slavery.

Not only did humans need to give their mana for their familiars, but they also had to provide more protection to their familiar in comparison to what their familiar gave them.

'Should I explain to Vian? And should I offer the method to break it to her?'

But after a second thought, he decided to not do that.

'Not for now, at the very least.'

"Alastor, I think we arrived somewhere?"

Vian, who was in his arms, spoke softly while pointing at the place in front of them. The path, which was filled with grass earlier, was now muddy and filled with rocks instead.

"I think so, but this time, the cave does not seem to take us underground."

Vian nodded, "That's true, it looks more like we are going into some sort of strange building…"

Vian called it a strange building because she was unable to see it. The place was now surrounded by a thick fog.

"Perhaps calling it a cave is wrong, the fog is obstructing your gaze. This looks more like a tunnel."

The fog slowly dispersed, allowing the place in front of them to be visible.

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