Chapter 8: Steel Spirit Annerose

John stared at the spirit for a while, trying to assess the situation.

Annerose was hopping slightly with excitement as she floated in the air. Her demeanor struck him to be similar to that of a child.

He wanted to turn down her offer of a handshake but he couldn't bring himself to deny her wish when she looked so happy.

John presumed she didn't get to meet a lot of people, given her excitement to do something as simple as shake a hand. He had so many questions but her eyes which were filled with stars were too overwhelming so in an almost rushed manner he shook her hand.

It was weird, shaking the hand of a spirit. Not only was the hand itself smaller but while her skin felt like that of humans, after letting go he felt a fuzzy feeling. The fuzzy feeling reminded him of lightning, which he had been struck with before.

Despite his thoughts on the sensation though, Annerose was smiling brightly. Mary looked very amused during their whole interaction since John was so clearly uncomfortable.

The fact Annerose was a spirit didn't make John uncomfortable, it was her borderline creepy enthusiasm to simply shake his hand.

However, once Mary started speaking, she lost that amused energy and got serious.

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way. This is Annerose and she's my contracted spirit."

John gave Mary a puzzled look. "I've heard of contracted spirits, but I've never interacted with one before. Could you explain how that system works?"

Mary opened her mouth to answer but Annerose spoke before she could. "So depending on the spirit there are different things they'd require to form a contract but generally, there are conditions. For example, a more sinister-natured spirit might want some of your life force or a body part to use its abilities. While a smaller or weaker spirit might just want to coexist with a human since most weaker spirits either get hunted for sport or don't have long lifespans. Speaking of lifespans though, I've been alive for about 100 years!"

At the mention of her age, she laughed boastfully.

Annerose had her arms crossed proudly with her eyes shut while she was giving the explanation, completely oblivious to the fact she had stopped Mary from speaking.

As she kept going into more and more details John looked at Mary for direction but she simply shrugged with a whimsical look on her face. He assumed that happened often for her to be so unbothered.

Annerose was floating, going around in a circle as she kept explaining everything about contract spirits and John tried his best to keep up with all the different details she spilled.

"So, do you get that, John?"

He gave her an awkward and silent nod as reassurance. John wanted to say not completely but he had a feeling she'd repeat everything all over again and he had a feeling such a process would take equally as long as the last explanation.

Also, he noticed that not only when Annerose appeared, but while she explained everything, Mr. Meyers didn't look very surprised. It was as if he had already known about spirits before or Mary showed Annerose to him while he was passed out.

"Why do you know my name by the way? I haven't introduced myself yet."

Annerose swatted her hand thorugh the air nonchalantly. "It's simple really. While I'm not always corporeal like now, I'm always with Mary so I see and hear what she does as well."

"Oh I see so does making yourself corporeal take a lot out of you then?"

"I wouldn't say that, since I'm naturally a physical being."

She pointed behind her at Mary. "It just means that while I'm separate Mary wouldn't be able to use my powers so I simply stay bonded constantly."

Mary cut in. "Also despite what you may assume from her demeanor she's a very wise and powerful spirit."

Annerose's face turned red with embarrassment. She tried to retort however her voice was flustered.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you seem like a child."

Her mouth dropped open with shock at the woman's words. There was silence. All eyes were on Annerose as she slowly processed what her master had said.

Suddenly- she flew towards her until they were face to face. "H-how dare you! You know that's the one thing I hate being called!"

Mary didn't give her the time of day, looking away from her while wearing an apathetic expression.

"All I said was the truth. It's not my fault you got offended by it."

The two started going back and forth, arguing.

All the while Mr. Meyers and John sat there silently, the two giving each other a look of cluelessness at what was transpiring in front of them.

The two went back and forth for a while. Annerose would hurl a blatant insult and Mary would simply deflect and throw one back albeit more subtly.

"Ahem." Mr. Meyers' interruption brought the two back to their senses.

Mary eyes widened, with her cheeks turning red slightly. She had been so engrossed in one upping her smaller counterpart that she forgot what she was supposed to be doing.

"Sorry about that sir. I've known Annerose for a long time so arguments like these come naturally to me."

Annerose was quiet too, she didn't have the same embarrassed reaction as Mary though.

To be honest, John wasn't sure how Annerose was feeling about their current mission specifically, but he could tell she cared for Mary to an extent. At least enough to quiet up as well, since this was a serious meeting still.

Annerose huffed irritably. "Well that's all I really had to say. It was a pleasure to meet you John but I think I'll be going now."

"Why? So soon?"

John wasn't super keen on Annerose yet, he only asked to be courteous but who knows she might grow on him in time, or so he thought to himself.

"It's because I have a feeling this conversation is going to get pretty boring."

Her response may have been worded in a selfish or brazen way but John had a feeling that wasn't how she really felt, that it was a front.

With those last few remarks, Annerose floated towards Mary swiftly. One minute she was floating toward her chest and the next she completely vanished, slipping past her chest as if it wasn't there. Mary's body shone brightly, symbolizing her connection as the spirit host and Annerose as the spirit being re-hashed.

Mary released a somewhat exasperated sigh now that the event was done with.

"Well, that'd complete what I was hoping to show you at the moment. So, mind telling me any cards you have yet to reveal John?"

He looked away from her, reflecting briefly. Once he gathered the information in his head he turned back with a confident expression.

"Absolutely nothing!"

There was silence…

"What do you mean nothing!?" Mary stood up in shock at his response.

She quickly covered her mouth after getting shushed by a nearby nurse though, choosing to sit down to process what she just heard.

"Could you maybe be more specific?" Mr. Meyers' voice held a curious tone in it.

John scratched his head. "Yeah sorry if I left you clueless with my answer. What I mean is I don't have a blessing that I can control. Long ago, I was severely injured to where I should have died, but somehow I woke up. I don't think it's the type of blessing that can be commanded at will." He glanced down at his bandages, "Evident by my current state. The most reliable things in my skill set would be a sword fighting style as well as hand-to-hand combat. I also have a special habit of picking up fighting techniques quickly."

"I see…" Mr. Meyers had his hands on his chin firmly.

John hated the sort of energy filling the air. It was a very suffocating one as he felt that he had nothing to offer in this current situation. He scratched his head, trying to hold back his frustration towards himself.

Part of his frustration was aimed towards the feeling of his own incompetence while the other was that deep down, he was glad not to be more of an asset. If he was, he would no doubt have more pressure and expectations thrust onto him. In a way, he wanted that, but at the same time, he hated the feeling of failure, of not being enough.

A forced chuckle fell from his lips. "Sorry I don't have a more powerful blessing or ability that can fend off powerful foes."

Mary shook her head adamantly. "Don't worry about it. Most people don't have blessings anyway. There's a saying that in a baker's dozen, there's bound to be one perfect loaf."

"Ah? As in one in every 13 people have blessings, right?"

"Exactly."

Mr. Meyer's voice was heard next, taking over the current back-and-forth dynamic Mary and John shared for a decent length of the conversation.

"I want to say one thing to you, John. In my opinion, it's amazing that you've become as strong as you are now without a super-powerful blessing. Especially since you're so young."

"I second that opinion. After all, most B- Rank adventurers are in their late 20's or 30's and that's including those having blessings. It's a testament to your strength and potential since all B-rank missions require nearly superhuman strength. Requests like monster hunting and hit missions are a dime a dozen."

John was blushing slightly at their praise.

He didn't expect so many compliments to be thrown his way in such a short time, he shifted in his chair. "Thanks for saying that."

However, despite his seemingly happy reaction to being called gifted, his demeanor changed.

With a more serious look and tone, he spoke again. "I still don't think it's enough though. As you could see back there I was barely able to fight back, and those were normal combatants. I'm sure the enemies we'll face are even stronger than that, possibly with their own blessings as well. My current strength just isn't enough."

The room went silent again. Everyone in it, minus Ashur who was still lying in the bed, had solemn looks on their faces.

They knew that John's words were true, if the difficulty kept ramping up, he would simply be dead weight. John's fists clenched tightly.

The silence in the room was a clear acceptance of his words.

A part of him appreciated their honesty, even if it was at the cost of his pride as an Adventurer.

If he was taught one thing by Zubec, it was accountability for the circumstances currently facing him.

It was his own fault for not training as hard, for not focusing as much during combat, and ultimately not having a strength like Ashur's, one that put everyone's mind at ease just with his presence.

Mary was conflicted. She didn't know what to say to set John's mind at ease but she did know that it wouldn't help things if the silence kept dragging on. And so she started to-

"Don't worry about that John." Ashur was slowly rising out of the bed and Mary jolted in her chair with surprise.

She quickly turned to him, reaching out to guide him up gently. A smirk was on his face.

"Let me tell you something."