"Why are you thanking me?"
"For your understanding …" Summer Night averted her gaze. "I thought that you would at least complain a little."
"Oh, right … Can I complain now?"
"You'd better not."
The two of them exchanged glances again before smiling again.
"Let me introduce you."
Wanhua Summer Night looked behind Seiji Mukai, and Seiji reflexively turned around to look as well.
A legendary creature … whoops, a girl was standing right there!?
A petite little girl with slender limbs and a pair of large cat ears were swaying lightly as she stared silently at Seiji with a pair of mysterious different-colored eyes.
Seiji didn't notice at all when she appeared or when she was standing behind him!
"This is my guard, as well as one of my Spirit-branded Retainers, Kirin Rona Kagura.
On the surface, she's a first-year student who enrolled in school this year, but only her name appears on the student list. She's never shown up in class, and the official reason is that she's on a long-term leave of absence due to illness.
Actually, as my Spirit-branded Retainer, she often patrols the school and occasionally attends classes. Normally, she won't be seen by others. "
Wanhua Summer Night explained.
"Oh … hello." Seiji greeted the little girl named Rona Kagura.
Kagura's ears trembled violently as she wordlessly jumped over and hugged Seiji, rubbing her cheek against his!
Seiji jumped in fright as he smelled a refreshing fragrance from her.
"This … this is?"
"It seems that she likes you." Summer Night blinked in surprise. "There are very few people that Rona would be so intimate with. You're the only one that she's treated like this the moment she met you."
"I should be happy … right?"
Seiji glanced at the girl who was hugging him. She actually hugged him and closed her eyes, as if she wanted to rest!
Seiji tried moving his hands, and then carefully hugged her body. He felt that she was soft and warm.
Rona shrunk her body and hummed like a real cat. She just stayed quiet and didn't move.
"Really …" Summer Night looked surprised. "Although she treats me like this sometimes, it's the first time she's met you …"
Her expression was a little complicated, as if she had seen her beloved daughter acting coquettishly towards a stranger.
"It shouldn't be … our first meeting, right?"
Seiji told Summer Night about how he saw Rona on his first day of school transfer.
"So, she might have been paying attention to you …" Summer Night said thoughtfully. "Why?"
"Can't you just ask her directly?"
"Rona basically doesn't talk. She will listen to my instructions, and sometimes she will act like a spoiled child, but she just doesn't talk." Summer Night smiled bitterly. "I wanted to arrange for her to pay attention to your safety, but now it seems that I don't need to give any orders."
She sounded like a mother who saw her daughter trying to find a boyfriend.
Seiji was confused.
Rona's inexplicable closeness to him didn't seem to be something that could be explained by his appearance … Could it be a hidden effect of his Charm stat?
No matter what, Seiji only felt fatherly love towards this cute girl who was naturally close to him.
Although he didn't want to admit it, he was essentially an uncle!
A moment of silence fell between them.
"Er, what should I do now?"
"You don't need to do anything. I just wanted to introduce Rona to you and end the conversation, but it seems like … you should just sit here for a while." Summer Night said helplessly, and then suddenly glared at him. "I don't think you'll do that, but I'll still give you a serious warning. Rona is my guard and Spirit-branded Retainer, so don't even think about doing anything to her! She's amazing … and I'm amazing as well, understand!? "
"Understood, Grand Mistress!" Seiji couldn't help but respond seriously.
"By the way, what's a so-called Spirit-branded Retainer?"
"A Spiritual Ability user who signs a contract with a Yin-Yang Master … In anime and manga, Spirit-branded Retainers are usually demons, but real Yin-Yang Masters in modern times will sign contracts with people with Spiritual Abilities. They'll summon demons, cast spells, and so on to strengthen the Spirit-branded Retainer, and the Spirit-branded Retainer will fight for them."
"I see." Seiji nodded. "You … don't tell me Kirin only has one Spirit-branded Retainer, right?"
"It's no surprise that you guessed it … That's right, the vice president of the student council, Hitaka Shuho, is another of my Spirit-branded Retainers. With my current power level, maintaining two Spirit-branded Retainers is my limit, "Summer Night told him.
"How many Spirit-branded Retainers can you have at most?"
"As long as your Spiritual Power is strong enough, in theory, you can have countless Spirit-branded Retainers, but in reality … your family's strongest ancestor had twelve high-level Spirit-branded Retainers, seventy-two mid-level Spirit-branded Retainers, and eight hundred and fifty-six low-level Spirit-branded Retainers. This is an unprecedented number that no other Yin-Yang Master has ever broken."
"Spirit-branded Retainers have different levels?"
"Of course, it depends on the Spiritual Ability user's talent, as well as the Yin Yang Master's Spiritual Power, spells, and ability to summon spirits. Spirit-branded Retainers are divided into three major levels: low-level, mid-level, and high-level. The difference in power between levels is basically insurmountable."
"Then Kirin and the vice president are …?"
"… Low-level and mid-level."
Summer Night's expression was rather awkward, but she immediately tightened her expression.
"This … is already quite good! Spiritual Power is lacking in the modern world, and Yin Yang Masters' overall power level is greatly reduced. At my age, having this level of Spiritual Power is already quite outstanding! And my spells and ability to summon spirits are quite good as well, and I'm one of the best amongst my peers in my family … "
"Er … President, you don't need to try so hard to explain." Seiji's lips twitched.
"I know nothing about Yin Yang Masters at all, so I'm completely unable to determine how strong or weak you are. In fact, if you try so hard to explain, it'll make me feel like … you're trying to cover something up?"
Wanhua Summer Night's expression froze over, and her cheeks flushed red.
"O … alright." She seemed rather discouraged. Seiji didn't know if it was because she let it slip or something else, but she seemed rather depressed.
Seiji felt that this side of her was rather interesting. It seemed that the perfect Grand Mistress in the eyes of everyone at school wasn't actually that perfect after all.
Another period of silence fell between them.
"You … would you like some more tea?"
"Give me another cup, please."
A few moments later.
Seiji sat down on the sofa and carefully sipped tea while hugging the sleeping little girl.
'Ah, excellent tea.'
After enjoying the excellent tea, he looked towards the student council president again.
"There's one more question. What are Kirin's ears and eyes?"
"They're all physical objects. This is because Rona has a high fusion rate with the Soul-bonded Cat Demon that I summoned, which is why this strange phenomenon appears. But as long as she wants to, she can lower the fusion rate to remove this phenomenon, but she has to maintain this state, "Summer Night said helplessly.
Then, she suddenly thought of something and glared at him.
"I heard that otakus especially like this type …"
"Er … haha, she's quite attractive because she's cute — but I swear that I won't do anything to her, I swear!"
Seiji hurriedly said as he noticed that the odachi in Summer Night's hand was about to move.
"Strange phenomenon … if I increase the fusion rate to the maximum, wouldn't the degree of the strange phenomenon … be similar to a transformation?" He changed the topic.
"… Yes, but it's quite dangerous to do so, and there's a possibility of damage to your soul, so it's absolutely forbidden," Summer Night said in a low voice.
Seiji nodded.
"One last question."
"I … have already been determined to be unable to become a Yin Yang Master, right? Then, is it possible for me to become a Spirit-branded Retainer? "
Wanhua Summer Night was surprised to hear this.
"In theory, anyone can become a Spirit-branded Retainer. But … you don't have any Mana, so the possibility of becoming a Spirit-branded Retainer is quite low. "
Seiji nodded, indicating that he understood.
"Why are you asking this?" Summer Night countered with a question.
"I'm just asking … Becoming someone's Spirit-branded Retainer and fighting for someone is also a type of romance." Seiji chuckled. "Otakus always have their own fantasies."
Wanhua Summer Night remained silent.
After that, the two of them didn't talk about Yin Yang Masters anymore.
Actually, there were still many things that Seiji wanted to know, but he wasn't able to enter that domain, so knowing too much would only cause him more trouble. Summer Night would definitely take the initiative to tell him what he needed to know.
Actually, Summer Night being honest with him this time was out of principle, and not because she was obligated to do so. After all, he wasn't a member of their circle; he was just an ordinary person, so it was only natural for her to treat him like an ordinary person.
Wanhua Summer Night was worried and apologetic that she took the initiative to tell him some things, which was already an act of kindness. If he didn't stop digging, it would be ungrateful, and it would increase the risk for both of them.
About ten minutes later, Rona opened her eyes, stretched lazily, and licked Seiji's cheek. Then, she jumped onto the floor and disappeared.
'She really is like a cat.'
If Chiaki knew what happened to him, she would probably die of envy! Seiji thought this as he said goodbye to Summer Night and left.
Not long after Seiji left, the red-haired girl arrived at the student council office.
Wanhua Summer Night shifted her gaze away from the documents and looked at her trusted Spirit-branded Retainer with a sharp expression.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
