While Duke Huguenot was finishing up his secret meeting with Duke Gregory, heroes and royalty alike gathered in King Francois’s office in the castle.
Satsuki, Masato, Hiroaki, Charlotte, Lilianna, Christina, and Francois were there, along with Rio and Aishia—in fact, it was Rio who had called them all there. His purpose was to explain everything regarding upper high class spirits and heroes to them. Sara, Orphia, and Alma, who were deeply acquainted with spirits, were in attendance as well.
Rio and Aishia were the only ones standing as they gave their explanation. Yesterday, during the meeting they had held for the residents of the mansion after the battle, details about the heroes and upper high class spirits had been obscured on purpose. They only explained the situation to the royalty of each nation prior to explaining it to the heroes themselves.
First, they revealed that heroes had upper high rank spirits in them, and that those spirits were constantly assimilated with them. Sara and the other spirit folk were shocked to learn that the upper high rank spirits that had been missing for so long had been right near them. However, they held their tongues, since the explanation was being held for the sake of the heroes.
“Assimilation with an upper high rank spirit...” Satsuki muttered, looking down at her body curiously as she remained seated.
“The six upper high rank spirits were called the transcendent ones along with the Dragon King and Seven Wise Gods. They were beings that protected this world. Satsuki has a wind spirit, Hiroaki has a water spirit, and Masato has a contract with an earth spirit.”
“Contracts are made through mutual agreement. It doesn’t feel right having that choice taken away from me,” Satsuki said with a pout of disapproval.
“Well, it happens all the time in fantasy stories.”
“I know, right?”
Hiroaki and Masato accepted it easily.
“I guess it’s because you’re boys,” Satsuki said with a tired sigh.
“Ha ha. We also know someone who’s got a contract right near us. Haruto and Aishia have a contract too, right? Sara and the others too,” Masato said, looking at Rio, Aishia, Sara, Orphia, and Alma.
“Right. But now we know there are two types of contracts with spirits. The normal spirit contract with a shallow link, and the stronger spirit bond. Sara’s group has normal spirit contracts. The one the other heroes and I have is a spirit bond,” Rio said.
“What’s the difference?” Masato asked.
“Like I already said, they can assimilate with spirits. They can also use Spirit Arms...the Divine Arms that heroes can create. Aishia.”
“Yeah.”
At Rio’s signal, Aishia turned into her spirit form and vanished. Immediately after, they assimilated, and Rio’s Spirit Arms—a sword—materialized.
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✦ ✦ ✦
Hiroaki’s eyes widened. He had seen Aishia vanish during the battle with the golem, but he hadn’t known she was a spirit, so he was shocked.
“Wow!” Masato’s sparkled with pure admiration at Rio’s sword.
“This is my assimilated state with Aishia. In this state, my physical body becomes tough, and my ability to manipulate spirit arts increases too. My self-regeneration also improves, so I won’t die easily from wounds. The more we increase the degree of assimilation, the more this effect increases. The reason heroes can control such strong powers is because of this assimilation.” Rio looked around at everyone as he listed the merits of their abilities.
“Based on that explanation, there’s no difference between you and me...” Satsuki said sagely. “Are you sure you’re not a hero too, Haruto?”
“No, being able to make a Spirit Arms doesn’t make me a hero. There is another reason heroes are called heroes.” A faint shadow fell over Rio’s face.
“We can both assimilate and create Divine Arms. Is there a difference between us?”
“There is. The difference is in the spirit bond I have with Aishia, and the spirit bond you have with your upper high rank spirits. That difference is what makes you heroes.” It was clear from Rio’s expression that the difference wasn’t a good thing.
“And what exactly is the difference?” Hiroaki asked, staring at Rio.
“Whether the contract was made with the spirits’ consent.”
Everyone except the royalty gulped nervously at Rio’s ominous answer.
“The upper high rank spirits were all forced into their contracts with the heroes against their will.”
“Why?” Satsuki asked hesitantly.
“During the era of the Divine War, Six Wise Gods sought the assistance of the upper high rank spirits to defeat the demons. However, their negotiations failed. I don’t know the details myself, but it seemed they tricked them. The Six Wise Gods created a subservient sorcery system in order to unilaterally use the spirits’ power. That is the hero system.”
Rio explained the secret of the heroes’ birth.
The three heroes of the current era all had conflicted looks on their faces.
“Isn’t that kind of awful of the Six Wise Gods?” Satsuki said, giving her honest opinion.
“Are you sure you should be saying that? They’re the gods worshipped across Strahl, no?”
Hiroaki glanced over at the reactions of the royals in the room, worried they were discussing a dangerous topic.
“It definitely can’t be publicized,” Francois said calmly. “I was informed of this in advance, but it was Haruto who requested this meeting so that the heroes could be informed of this issue. I hope you can all swear to never speak of this to anyone else.”
Hiroaki glanced at Rio’s face and ruffled his own hair as he nodded. “All right. I’d rather stay away from religious problems anyway.”
“Let’s get back to the topic. The answer to if I’m a hero is no. Only those with spirit bonds with the six upper high rank spirits are heroes,” Rio said, revealing the definition of a hero.
“But there’s no difference in what you can do compared to us, right?” Satsuki asked.
“If you just look at my abilities, I guess.”
“Sounds like there’s something else...” Satsuki stared at Rio’s face.
“As I’ve already said, the problem is the will of the spirits. Even at this very moment, the upper high rank spirits crave freedom from the restraints of their bonds. If I say that much, you should be able to piece together the rest.”
The heroes must have imagined the spirits sleeping peacefully within them. They all stiffened as they looked down at their own bodies.
“The spirits want to annul their spirit bonds with the heroes and free themselves. But that isn’t possible, as the Six Wise Gods have cast a powerful seal to prevent them from surfacing.”
“We can’t break the contract even if we want to?” Satsuki asked.
“Unfortunately, no. The spirit bond fuses the human and spirit at a near soul level. Once the spirit bond is formed, there is no way of breaking it—unless the contractor dies,” Rio said, hesitantly but clearly.
“I see...”
“Aishia and I can freely cancel our assimilation, but the heroes cannot. You’re constantly forced to be assimilated with the spirits.”
“So that’s one thing you can do that we can’t,” Satsuki said.
“Yes. Because this involves all of you so closely, I want to explain the demerits of assimilation too,” Rio said as preface. “Think of it as becoming a being that is both nonhuman and human while you’re assimilated with your spirit. If the degree of assimilation gets too strong, you really may cease to be human. The effects of this are unknown. At worst, you might be unable to return to being a human.”
“So it’s an ability boost with risks.”
Hiroaki seemed to find that rather cool, as he had a fearless smirk on his face.
“My hair and eye color permanently changed as a consequence of a powerful assimilation. My body also suffers strain relative to the degree of assimilation afterward.”
Hiroaki’s face stiffened faintly when he heard about the actual changes to Rio’s body.
“I don’t know what will happen if I continue to assimilate with Aishia, and I might just be lucky I’ve gotten away with this much until now. The heroes are constantly in an assimilated state, so please don’t think about increasing the degree of assimilation. Weak assimilation seems to have no effect on the physical body.”
“Is it possible to lower an assimilation after raising it?” Satsuki asked worriedly.
“I believe there’s a limit set to prevent you from raising your assimilation degree too high, but I don’t know how far you can change the degree yourself. Aishia and I can communicate freely, so we can adjust our assimilation degree, but the heroes can’t...”
“But that ice hero named Renji in Rodania had a stronger assimilation than us, right?” Hiroaki asked with a frown. During the retreat from Rodania, Kikuchi Renji had taught him a harsh lesson. He was probably recalling that moment.
“Ah, him. Yes, most likely. He seemed a lot more familiar with combat than the last time I saw him, and his skills were much better too.”
“Tch...” Hiroaki clicked his tongue bitterly.