43 Chapter 43: Neel Revealed

On the way back to the Jaunice House, Rena was silent in the carriage. Feeling anger and frustration, she tried to control her temper. She went looking for Jean as soon as they went back to Jaunice House. She dashed to his study room with Frei following her. As much as it annoyed her, she couldn't shake him off, so she tried her best to ignore Frei. Jean was standing in front of the bookshelf, holding an open book in his hand.

"Jean, I have something important to talk to you." She said urgently.

"Talk then," Jean said.

Rena glared at Frei who was now standing beside her. She hadn't told him about the matter of Senka being attacked secretly.

"I could go if you don't want me to hear it," Frei said noticing her stabbing look.

Although she was angry at Frei, he probably deserved to know, so she took a deep breath and started talking, "Someone attacked Senka with mind magic today."

The room was silence for a few seconds before Jean spoke, "How did you know?"

Although this news was hard to believe, Jean knew Rena didn't tell a lie.

Using magic in the tournament was strictly forbidden and the tournament's organizer made sure magic couldn't be used in the arena. They also had some magicians to monitor the tournament so the contestant wouldn't cheat. He was actually asked to improve the security in the arena, so it was impossible for just any magician to break the improved security.

Knowing, she couldn't convince Jean without telling the truth. Rena told him how she made a contract with a magical being, a Selkie named Neel.

"Neel, can you come out?"

The frail-looking boy appeared from her shadow, showing himself to everybody in the room. Although he looked weak, there was an erudite air around him, giving an impression that he was a well educated boy. His light blue hair swayed when he greeted them.

"Hello, I'm Neel, a Selkie who made a contract with Serena. Please to meet you all." Neel said in semi-formal way.

Jean closed his book, as soon as he saw Neel. His interest was picked.

After his brief introduction, Neel explained how he met Rena that day. Contrary to his appearance that was of a boy, he brought himself well and his speech was organized. He was like a different person than the Neel who was talking to Rena.

After listening to Neel's story and getting some additional details from Rena, Jean withdrew his conclusion.

"So..." Jean crossed his arms, his finger tapping his arm rhythmically. "You sneaked around someone's private property at night, fought a monster in a secret underground passage, made a summoner contract without your consent, AND you just told me now?"

His red color upturn eyes gleamed as he smiled. The guy who always looked like he was eating a bitter pill, smiled. But that smile was a demon king's smile. A visual trick made it seem like thunderbolt and lightning appeared behind him.

(Mamaaaa, Oooo I don't want to die!!)

Rena heard that song lyrics in the back of her mind. She knew it would become like this when she told him the truth.

She inhaled a deep breath and said, "Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I wanted to figure it out what I should do about him first. Can we talk about that later? More importantly, What do you think about Senka's matter?"

Jean was in thought for a moment and then he said, "This man must be a powerful magician. He could sneak into the barrier set up in the area."

"What else do you know about him?" Jean looked at Neel who was standing in front of Rena.

Neel closed his eyes, recalling the memory when he fought that person. "He was powerful. His mind was guarded by a wall stronger than yours."

Jean's face twitched and his gaze sharpened, he was alarmed. There were only a few magicians stronger than him, someone could count them with one hand.

He bit his finger, deep in thought. This was a serious problem. The winner of the tournament got to meet the king after all. And even more important, his future was on the line.

"I'll come to the tournament tomorrow. We still don't know the aim of this person; depending on the situation I might report this to the king. Meanwhile, I'll ask my father about any notable guest in the tournament."

The room was silent after that. Jean and Frei, each busy assessing the situation in their mind.

Looking at both of them, Rena understood the situation was more serious than what she thought. However, after some time passed, she broke the silence in the room.

"Jean... Could you teach me any mind related to magic? At least, the magic to protect the mind."

Rena had been meaning to ask about mind related magic since she met with Neel, but the current situation made her think how urgent to learn this type of magic to guard her mind. She didn't want to be controlled. She had enough of that.

"I don't think you are ready for it. All of them are high-level magic. Besides, that Selkie of yours... He is skilled at using this type of magic. You could rely on him for the time being."

"Neel?" Rena was surprised, this was news for her.

She looked at Neel and he looked back at her with big blue eyes, blinking a few times.

"Stop pretending. You could sneak into my house and into the match today unnoticed, you must be a high-level being in your clan." Jean said sharply.

"I admit our clan is specialized in using mind magic, and I'm pretty good at it," Neel said calmly.

"Then why did you get caught by the human?"

After being quiet for a while, Frei spoke. He was standing in front of the entrance with his back leaning against the door as if he wanted to make sure that nobody could enter the room. Jean's study room didn't leave much space for them to seat anyway.

He continued his words, "A magic beast who can transform into a human and fluent with magic arts surely isn't easy to be caught."

"Well, it was hard to defeat human since they would do anything for their ambition." Neel glanced sideways at Frei and said, "Don't you agree?"

"Certainly," Frei answered, the corner of his lips curved up. "We have learned a lot from the other races."

Rena looked at both of them and thought Neel and Frei were somewhat similar in the way they brought up themselves. Neel who had that cute innocent look was more mature than what he appeared to be. Frei who had that kind gentleman look was more cunning than what he appeared to be. And how she stuck like a sore thumb between them.

How ironic that she connected to both of them by contract, she smiled bitterly. Then her gaze wandered on the walls of books in Jean's study room.

"Can I look around, Jean?" She said.

"Go ahead, just put it back again in order if you pick a book."

"Understood." She said, walking away from Frei and Neel.

She checked one of the corners, looking at the book placed on the shelves. Some of the titles were Sacred Ruins, Secret of Brewery, Shambala: The First Kingdom, Succubus Magic, …

"Secret of Brewery Book seems interesting…" She muttered to herself.

While she was busy reading the titles, she heard Neel speaking.

"Since we're done talking here, I'm going to nap. Thanks to a certain someone, I didn't sleep last night."

"Oh?" Frei said. "Then why don't you sleep on the bed? Jean, is it alright to open another room for him?"

Before Jean could answer, Neel had replied, "No, it's alright. I'd rather be closed to Rena anytime."

A drop of sweat fell from her forehead.

(Neel, what are you up to?!)

[Well, he irritated me~]

Neel answered shortly before returning to her shadow.

As she continued looking around some book titles, she pulled a title that she wanted to read but hadn't had a chance to read it so far, The Amethyst Wizard's Life.

"Jean, can I borrow this book?" She asked.

"Just make sure you don't drool on it."

"I won't!" She retorted quickly.

Rena grabbed the big book and hugged it with both arms. When she turned around she saw Frei was still standing in front of the entrance, she couldn't go out without passing him. Whenever she looked at him, she got angry again. As if he sensed her anger, he kept sticking on her which made her got even more irritated.

"You can use my lab, it's the tower in the south wing garden. There is an empty room at the top of the tower, I use it to practice or experiment stuff. You don't need to worry to about destroying it since it's warded by magic." Jean said.

"That's great. Thanks for your consideration, Jean." She said.

"No problem." He replied shortly, but his earlobes turned reddish.

Rena saw this slight change, she had noticed that whenever Jean got praised or getting words of appreciation, his ears would turn red. He was weak to praise.

"Alright, Frei, Serena. I need to talk to my father, so I'm going to go to the palace." Jean said.

His hand moved to his pocket, taking an antique key.

"Here, I give you permission to use my lab. Don't touch anything there."

"Un." She nodded, her hand extended, receiving the key. The bronze key had a small ruby decorated on its head.

"Then I'll start practicing now."

She put the key in her pocket while the other hand holding the book, and walked toward the door. Their gaze met, however, Rena kept quiet until Frei moved, opening the door for her, and said, "I'll accompany you."

She turned around when the door opened for her.

"Jean, I forget to ask something."

Then she looked at Frei and said, "Can you leave us for a bit?"

He obediently followed her request and closed the door, leaving Rena and Jean alone.

"What do you want to talk? Make it quick." He said.

"Jean, I have been meaning to ask you this... How does the magical contract work? Is it possible to break the contract?" She asked nervously.

It was a question that she had been wanting to ask when she met Jean, but since he was Frei's friend she couldn't bring that question out from her mouth until now.

Jean looked at her quietly. And when he saw her nervous gaze, he said, "The contract was canceled when one of you died or the owner broke the pact."

"Then, is it possible to force someone to do your bidding?"

His eyebrow slightly raised when he answered, "If you refused the order, your body will be in pain. The longer you disobey, the more painful it will be."

"I see, it's just physical torture." She said, looking relieved. "Thanks for telling me this."

What was she afraid of was being controlled, as she couldn't disobey his order just like a programmed robot. She didn't know how this contract worked, that's why until now she always kept her words and behavior decently good, not to provoke her 'owner'.

She smiled at Jean and walked toward the door. This time, Rena really left the room.

Jean was perplexed, looking at her slender body from behind, closing the door in front of him. He didn't say anything until she was completely gone.

"Just...?" He said.

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