95 3.7 Two more punishments! - Part 1

"That makes sense. Have you had any other masters in the past?" I asked.

If Flare had been summoned several times in the past, then she must have had other masters. I was curious to know more about them, like what kind of people they were and what kind of strength they possessed.

"No, actually master is my first master. I have been summoned in the past, but that was done through rituals. There are many small tribes that still worship me outside this nation. I am not sure if it still exists or not, but there was a ceremony that could be used to summon me."

"A ceremony?"

"Yes, it was a ceremony performed in a group. Around 100 mages with aptitude for fire magic needed to combine their magic to perform the ritual. In most of the cases, I could tell what kind of person they were just by looking at the purity of their flames. If the flames they produced were through their deep desire for justice, I would help them. And if the flames turned out to be impure and filled with greed, I would just disappear. This is also why I was called the justice bird."

"Yeah, I guess that's basically what I have heard about this bird too," Zagan said in his usual casual tone.

Considering Flare's prideful nature, I was hoping that she wouldn't feel too offended by the way he was just calling her 'bird'. I already had my hands full with handling Flare and Yoru's argument, so adding another conflict between my familiars would just make things worse for me.

As I was thinking along those lines, I realized we were getting late. I didn't tell anyone about this because I wanted to make this discussion private between me and my familiar. But now that I think about it, they must be getting worried about me at this point.

"Hey, I think we should go back now. Everyone must be getting worried since we suddenly disappeared," I said as I stood up from my chair.

Yoru followed me and stood up saying, "Yeah, just sitting here and talking feels boring."

"Okay, see you Kid."

"Wait." Right when Zagan was about to snap his finger, I realized there was something that I wanted him to teach me. "Zagan, can you teach me how to make a space like this one the next time we meet? It looks like it can be handy."

"This whole thing is a bit complicated since you need a constant supply of mana to maintain it. But I guess you might be able to do it as you are now."

"I think we should give it a try and see what happens. Maybe I will drop in this evening for that."

"Okay then, see you in the evening. I will just get back to napping for now."

With those words, Zagan snapped his finger and with that, all three of us were returned back to my room.

Unlike what I expected, there was no one in my room. The bed was as I left so probably no one, not even Sam, had entered my room.

"I am hungry so I will also go down," Yoru said. Like me, she too hadn't had her breakfast.

"Okay, I will join you after I freshen up."

After both of them left, I went to the bathroom and cleaned myself up after which I walked downstairs. Like upstairs, downstairs was quiet too.

"Good morning master. Princess told me not to disturb your sleep. She said she wanted to let you rest for as long as you like today," Sam said when he saw me walk towards the dining hall.

They probably thought I was tired after the journey and needed some rest. It was a good thing that they were considerate of me, but now I was curious as to what everyone else might be doing.

"Thanks Sam, I really needed some rest… By the way, where is everyone else?"

"Oh, everyone left early this morning. Miss Marina and Miss Lucy went with Miss Lilith. They were saying something about training. Miss Arica and the princesses went towards the trading district. As for Miss Sistina and Miss Nina, they are probably in the training room."

Things could easily turn chaotic if princesses were seen walking in the trading district. But since Arica was with them, I guess they probably went there in disguise. Arica was pretty smart when it came to this kind of situation.

I was curious as to what Miss Lilith was training Marina and Lucy, but this was something I could ask them later. For now, I walked to the dining table and sat on the chair next to Yoru.

After I took my seat, Sam served me my lunch. As I was eating, I was thinking about how Yoru would be able to adjust with everyone and live a normal life. Other girls are nice so getting along may not be a big problem, but like every good master, I wanted her to know more about this world.

"Hey Yoru, I think you should try going out with others sometimes. You may find something interesting that you like."

"Oh, don't worry. I already have what I like. He is sitting right next to me."

"No, I mean like the things that you might like doing."

"Okay, but you don't need to worry about me though. I am pretty happy with the way things they are right now."

"Okay, as long as you are happy."

As her master, it was somewhat my responsibility to take care of her. I just didn't want her to be fixed on me, so it might be a good idea to take her on a tour outside.

After finishing lunch, I decided to go to the training room and see what Nina and Sistina were doing. It was my day off so there was nothing else that I could think of doing at the moment.

It had been a while since I saw those two train, so I thought this could be a good opportunity to look at their progress.

When I entered the room, Sistina was training with Smasher. It looked like they were working on synchronizing their punches. The way they were doing it looked a lot better compared to when I saw them last time. I would even go so far as to call their progress exponential. Back when we left, Smasher looked like a kangaroo lost in the forest, and now, he was finally looking like a dark summon.

"Look who decided to show up," Nina, who was resting on a nearby bench, said when she saw me come in.

"Hey, looks like you girls are working hard," I said as I walked towards them.

"Yeah, we don't want to be left behind like last time," Sistina said as she stopped supplying Darkness magic to Smasher and unsummoned him. It looked like she was getting better at her magic control too. She probably worked extra hard during the time we were gone.

"Oh, by the way, Nara"—Sistina grinned—"Yesterday after you slept, we talked with Arica."

"W- what did you guys talk about?" A chill ran down my spine. If it was what I think it was, I knew what was about to come next.

"Oh, nothing special… It was only about the punishments."