World Keeper

Chapter 471: On a Whim

“Clover?” The guard asked as he saw me walking over, my turn in the line finally coming. Then, he glanced to Leowynn next to me, nodding his head. “Welcome back.” He gestured for us to enter the town, looking over the next person in line.

How can familiars serve as identification? I asked in confusion. After all, we were already taking advantage of the fact that energy beings like Leowynn and I could change our shape freely.

Most familiars have a more firm body when materialized, and can’t change like that. Accalia explained calmly. Maybe because Leowynn inherited the position of familiar, rather than a natural born one, but she is one of the rare few able to freely change.

Still, couldn’t people simply use a spell to make their familiars look like somebody else’s?

There was a light laugh from Accalia in response to that. That’s true, but couldn’t they also use a spell to disguise their name from an appraisal, or forge documents?

That was… annoyingly true as well. Worse yet, they couldn’t use scanners to detect magic and verify it, because the familiars themselves are the embodiment of magic in Kione. So, it seemed that they had taken to using them in this manner. I felt a bit sorry again for anyone whose familiar was killed.

Either way, I walked into the town, mentally setting my destination as the local butcher shop where I could sell the meat that I had acquired. Thanks to my old navigation perk, I was able to quickly and easily make my way through the streets.

When I arrived at the butcher shop, I stepped inside and found a small girl tending the counter. She could have been no more than twelve years old, with light blonde hair and wearing an oversized set of leather armor. This… can’t be the owner of the store, right? I asked, even as I approached the counter.

It… is now. Accalia muttered in a sad tone.

My expression tightened up a bit at that, and I checked the girl’s information. “Where’s your dad, Lydia?” I asked in a soft tone, causing the girl to look up at me. Her eyes were red, though she was doing her best to hide it.

“Daddy had to go out for a bit today, Mister Kyr. I’m helping run things until he gets back.” Her hands were shaking as she said that, and it seemed obvious that she wasn’t actually expecting him to come back.

“Do you know how to do this?” I couldn’t help but ask, given her young age. She wouldn’t even have her first familiar yet, after all.

“Yeah!” She nodded her head heavily, her fists clenching. “I watched Daddy a lot, and I’m a really good scholar and chef! I promise I can handle the business.”

I gave a small sigh, nodding as I retrieved the meat that I had harvested from the animals. She looked the meat over, testing its toughness and nutritional value with a small spike-shaped tool. Then, she examined the quality of the cut itself. Finally, after doing a bit of math, likely with the aid of the system… “I can give you a hundred and seventy-eight pieces for this. Is that alright, Mister Kyr?”

I wasn’t sure if that was the normal market value, so I just gave another nod. I could feel Leowynn urging me to speak up, but I already planned to do so. “Lydia, would you like to stay with me for a little while? Just until your dad comes back.”

Since I hadn’t set any specific relationship details with my reputation, I couldn’t know just how deep my friendship with her family went. However, she seemed to regard me pretty well. And there was no way that I could leave someone that young to fend for themselves.

Lydia seemed to hesitate at my offer, before nodding her head. “O-okay, Mister Kyr. After I close up tonight, I’ll leave a note for Daddy at the house to let him know.”

I knew that it might complicate things to have to handle a child while doing my mission. I was already prepared to buy a World Host to take over here for me after I left. That way, even if Lydia’s father was already dead, she wouldn’t be left alone.

I offered her a small smile, taking the series of paper money that she handed me in exchange for the meat. It was surprising that Kione used paper money as opposed to precious metals, but that was just another thing for me to adjust to.

After leaving the butcher’s shop, I began making my way home to familiarize myself with it. In this life, I owned a two story house with three bedrooms. More than enough for one person to live alone in, but people with my kind of strength could often afford excess.

The room had white outer walls and a triangular roof, a small window showing the existence of an attic. At the same time, there was a cellar door attached to the side of the house, causing me to nod my head. Once inside, I swept over the area with my world sight before returning to the Admin Room.

My return this time was only long enough for me to buy the World Host, before I once again descended. From now on, how I behaved would influence the host’s personality. At the same time, I was committing myself to descend into this body until it perished.

As soon as I returned, Leowynn and I sat together on the couch in the living room. “Do you think I could play Vision Expanse here?” Leowynn asked, looking towards me. There were two sets of headgear to connect to the game in the house, one of them being specifically for spiritual beings like herself.

That probably meant that we had characters set up as well, so I would look into that later. “Sure, Val.” I made sure to use her alias here, as it would become the foundation for the host’s interaction with its own familiar in the future.

Aside from the Vision Expanse headgear, there was also a pretty standard entertainment center. Not wanting to miss when Lydia came over, I checked to see what was on and waited for night to come.

Roughly six hours later, I heard a faint knock on my door, prompting me to open it. Standing outside was Lydia, wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, her tail drooping behind her. In her hands was a large luggage bag of clothes, so I was able to confirm once again that she expected this to be a long term arrangement.

“T-thank you, Mister Kyr.” Lydia stuttered, her eyes red. I simply offered a warm smile, guiding her into the house.

“It’s fine, Lydia.” Part of me wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to work at the butcher’s shop anymore, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. That shop might very well be the last thing of her father’s. Taking that away from her would be cruel.

Something that I had learned the hard way in my time observing these worlds. Their views on children earning a living were far more lax than the world I came from. After all, if a teenager received a little bit of training and gained some levels, they could easily be stronger than a fully grown man was where I came from.

As such, these worlds valued capability over everything else. They would not force people of Lydia’s age to work, but… if she possessed the drive and ability to do so, they also wouldn’t stop her.

“How long is it until your Binding Day?” I asked out of curiosity, guiding Lydia up the stairs to take her to one of the spare rooms of the house.

“I-It was yesterday, actually.” She admitted, her voice trembling again. “But Daddy left before we could do the ceremony.”

I was surprised when I heard that, shaking my head. Accalia, is there anything that is different about modern familiar summonings that I should be aware of?

A bit. The lycan goddess explained. Certain materials are used during the summoning in order to either boost the effect of the summoning or lock the familiar in as a particular type.

For instance, to summon an Armored Maiden familiar, you would typically have a set of enchanted armor crafted for you. During the ritual, you would use that armor, along with a drop of blood and a circle of lilacs.

There are also modifications to the common ritual incantations that can be used to increase the chance of a familiar being the type you wanted, and other ritual aspects like borrowing power from others and such.

Nodding my head, I glanced over to Lydia, leading her into the room. “When you wake up tomorrow, how about we take care of your Binding? Is there a certain type of familiar you’re wanting?”

Lydia froze up at that, just as she was about to set down her bag. For a moment, I asked if I had said something wrong, before she looked up at me with wet eyes. “Really? You’d help me?”

“Bit late for that, don’t you think?” I asked in a playful tone, lightly knocking on her head. “I’m already helping you, aren’t I? So, like I said, any preferences?”

The girl began to think, seeming aware that this decision could determine her future. “I-If it’s not too much trouble, could I get an angel?”

I closed my eyes, pretending to think it over. Accalia?

Thankfully, the helpful Goddess of Wisdom was helpful as ever. Angels can be summoned. To do so, you need the bark of an ancient tree and feathers of a light-attribute creature. The stronger it is, the better, with a maximum limit of ten feathers. People who acquire angel familiars typically take up positions in the church, or in hospitals.

And what are the odds that I have a few particularly high-level light-attribute feathers lying around in storage, oh Goddess of the Hunt? I asked hopefully, earning a light laugh.

I’ll get them for you by morning, along with the specialized chant and the bark. There are different types among angels, just like there are with demons, so getting the best materials will help guarantee the best results.

I nodded at that, opening my eyes. I was just about to speak when I noticed that Lydia’s eyes had been lowered. Her shoulders were trembling, and I could tell that she was afraid she had asked for too much. “I’ve got just the stuff for that kind of summoning.” I assured her in a gentle tone. “Just had to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything.”

Her head rose up, her eyes went but shining with hope. “Really? I can… I can have an angel?”

“Of course. Did your father teach you about an angel’s abilities?”

She gave a strong nod to my question. “Y-yeah! An angel will automatically evolve to the second tier at adulthood without any problems, and can easily advance to the third! After reaching the third tier, they can gain one of several different abilities. These can be healing lights, holy shields, or anything like that! I always wanted an angel, and Daddy had been trying to save up to get me the feathers…”

Something told me that the group that abducted her father made away with his savings as well. Accalia… I know it’s unlikely, but is her father…?

There was a short delay after my question, before Accalia spoke up. Just going by her tone, I already knew the answer and was forced to close my eyes in solace. I’m sorry, Dale…

No, this isn’t your fault. I assured her. We keep ourselves separate from mortal problems so that they are able to make their own mistakes and get past them. This is all just a part of that. If I didn’t come here on a whim, this girl would be living on the streets soon, or taken in by some local orphanage. But our whims won’t fix everything. They need to be allowed the freedom to do both right and wrong, or else they will not be able to tell the difference between the two.

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