Hand over my Spark? Isn’t that supposed to be rude? Chanak looked shocked when I even made the offer, so the fact that Aastor was so blatantly asking me to pass Kel, as though she were just a paperweight, made me a little uneasy.

“Ah, Sir? I may be out of bounds but…” I wasn’t sure how to tell Aastor to stuff it without violating the Formal Conventions the System was so fond of.

“Spit it out, will ya?”

“Yes Sir. I happened to converse with one of Mr. Baldric’s associates last night, and he informed that touching someone’s Spark was…ill-advised.”

“Ah, yeah, it is.” Aastor paused, scratching his head for a second before looking back at me. "Still, I gotta do an examination. So…hand ‘er over anyway.”

I really didn’t want to. Kel, who was still shaking in my pocket, didn’t seem to want to be handed over either, although how much of that was a direct reaction to my own emotional state, I couldn’t say. Maybe Chanak’s words had dug in deep into my subconscious, or maybe having spent a little over a day with Kel, my bond with her had grown stronger. Either way, something inside me was trying to resist Aastor’s orders. I felt compelled to try again, on behalf of Kel.

“Sir, I believe she does not wish to leave my person. Perhaps I could hold on to her while you examine her?”

“Boy, yer bein’ a little difficult, ain’t ya?” He looked oddly satisfied at my insistence, however, and asked me a question I wouldn’t expect. “Between 1 and 10, how much do you wanna hold on ta her?”

“Ah. I would say…9, Sir.” If Aastor ordered me again, I’d relinquish Kel, but I’d be unhappy about it.

“Hmmph.” The old Magus just snorted. “Strong bond then, I see?”

“Sir?”

“Emotional bonds, boy. Ya must have felt it?”

Well, yes. It was how having a Bonded Pet worked! I hadn’t examined it in great detail, but the theory was fairly simple. I’d seen a lot of Packmasters and Beast-tamers in my time, and they’d explained it as a co-dependent relationship. The Pet would get stronger as I did, and we’d eventually work like a single unit. The downside was that if I died, Kel would too. And if Kel died, I’d probably be knocked unconscious or fall gravely sick…or in the case of one Packmaster, fly into a blind rage and slaughter a few men before being felled.

“Yes Sir. I believe I can feel Kel in the back of my mind.”

If I concentrated, I really could. It felt a little bit like having a string that emerged from the base of my neck, and headed towards Kel. I hadn’t really been paying attention to it consciously, but I had been interpreting Kel’s feelings and reactions instinctively. Whenever she felt something, the string would shake or vibrate and the intensity and rhythm of the vibrations were indicative of her emotional state. I wasn’t sure how I had that kind of emotional affinity with a hedgehog, but I never claimed to be an emotionally deep person.

“Yeah, normally it doesn’t take hold tha’ fast.” He squinted at me. “How many Sparks have ya had?”

“…None? Kel is my only Spark, Sir.”

“And how long have ya had ‘er?”

“I first found her during the carriage ride yesterday, Sir.”

If I hadn’t already seen Chanak’s reaction, I’d have thought that Aastor was completely unsurprised by this news. However, since I had already spoken to Chanak and unless the bandit had been bluffing the entire time, I knew that this was at least an unusual if not outright extremely rare occurrence. Aastor evidently had a much better poker face than I had given him credit for so far. Of course, it was possible that he simply didn’t have any more shock to dispense at each new bit of surprising information I passed his way, and had decided to just accept that weird things would happen around me. That had definitely been the mode that everyone eventually operated in around me on the other worlds. Aastor had been an exception to a lot of rules, but surely not all of them?

“Great. So, she acts fast. Or yer lyin’ to me, but at this point, I’m goin’ ta assume you’re not.”

“No Sir. She simply appeared during our journey.”

“Well, the fact that ya don’t want me to hold her means yer both already Bonded, and Bonded strong.” He looked rather disgruntled at that fact. “And I’m guessin’ ya have no idea how to use a Spark? Or how to use Magic at all?”

“No Sir.”

“Yeah, woulda been too much ta hope for. Excelsian magic is certainly unique, takes time ta use. So, what can she do?”

“Sir?”

Kel? She ain’t just around ta look cute right?”

I…actually didn’t know what Kel could do. She didn’t have a Character Profile, and had been acting more or less autonomously. Isekai Hero sometimes did odd things with information though. I attributed it to the software being somewhat buggy, but there were definitely situations where I needed to already know certain bits of information before Isekai Hero would show them to me. In that capacity, it acted more like a diary or a journal than an actually useful System, but I had learned to live with it’s quirks. Perhaps it would one day deign to show me more information on the pet I had been forcibly Bonded to.

“Well, Sir, aside from eating, I’m not sure she knows how to do anything else.”

“Figures. Ya have only had her for a day, don’t get down on yerself.” Somehow, the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind until he said it, and then I actually did feel worse. Note to self: Aastor is terrible at being sympathetic. I was going to tell him that she had eaten whatever psychic attack the Calamity had leveled at me, but his dismissiveness made me hesitate. I needed advice from someone else first, and while I didn’t exactly trust Chanak, he did seem to be a lot less erratic than Aastor.

“Yes Sir. Perhaps, with your permission, I could ask Mr. Chanak for help?”

“Ah. Perhaps. Which one is that?”

“He would be the skinnier man, Sir. He informed me that he is a fully trained Spark Researcher.”

“A piece of information ya fully neglected ta tell me about, hmm? What, is he on tha run from an S.R.C.?”

Ah, dang. I hadn’t neglected it on purpose, it just hadn’t seemed important.

“…Yes Sir. Will that be an impediment to Mr. Chanak’s employment?”

“Nah, ain’t nobody gonna check on backgrounds for any of ya.” On the side of his desk, Aastor made a small note. “If it comes ta it, I can always get him some new papers, won’t be a problem.”

My estimation of Aastor’s status shot up instantly. Not only had he just casually brushed aside the fact that I had brought him a fugitive for employment, but he was well connected enough not to worry about it being a problem. In fact, he was well connected enough to find or forge paperwork for Chanak if that became necessary. Aastor was a Disgraced Archmagus, but clearly the “Archmagus” in his title carried a lot more weight than the “Disgraced” did.

“Still, ya need ta get to a proper S.R.C., and be careful about it. But there’s some problems.”

“Problems, Sir?”

“Ya came here yesterday, and ya have a Spark. All Sparks need ta be registered with the S.R.C as soon as they’re discovered. So, if we go today, they’ll know ya got a Spark within a day of bein’ on Excelsia.”

“Ah, is that unwise, Sir? I was given to understand that it is a rare occurrence.”

“Yeah, all Excelsian’s have Sparks. Most Summoned don’t, and those that do only have ‘em via luck and after bein’ on Excelsia a while.”

“Do you believe it would attract undue attention to me, Sir?”

“To ya? It would attract undue attention to me, ya dolt! Which one o’ us do ya think gets in more trouble when people come poking aroun’ here?”

An admittedly fair point. For most of my time on Isekai worlds, I was the most important person in the room. While I was glad I didn’t have the pressure of that kind of status anymore, it would take a while to snap out of assuming that everything revolved around me. Aastor was the one who was sticking his neck out to overthrow the monarchy and destroy the economic foundation of Excelsia. I was helping, but it was his show.

“Yes Sir. Would it be best not to show Kel out in public?”

“Yeap, keep her hidden and don’t use magic publicly. Far as anyone outside here knows, ya ain’t got a Spark.”

“As I don’t know how to, Sir, I suspect that will not be a problem.”

“Huh? I’m gonna teach ya some of course. No sense in lettin’ her get lazy.”

From my experience, teaching someone magic for free was a rare offer. Especially given his instructions on secrecy, I had sort of assumed that Aastor was going to tell me not to learn any magic, to keep Kel in the same capacity as a particularly emotional pet, and forget that she was a Spark at all. But thinking it through, it made a lot of sense that he didn’t want to waste another potential tool in his arsenal. If I had an unregistered Spark and Aastor trained me to use Kel to her potential, I was going to essentially be a secret weapon for him, especially if the S.R.C. records were public domain. Anyone trying to attack Aastor, or me for that matter, would have no idea that I had a Spark. That could be a nasty surprise for a would-be assailant.

“Not a lot mind ya, but enough ta help with housework, some basic spells.” Aastor had already begun to pull down books from his shelves, and sift through them. “Sweeping, cleaning, mending, all that good stuff.”

Or he was going to exploit the fact that I had magic to make sure I was a more efficient Butler. A much less fun, much less stressful alternative to being a secret weapon for Aastor, and one I was also fully on board with.

“Yes Sir. I am much indebted for your kindness.”

“Don’ be sour, boy. Kel ain’t gonna be able to do anything flashy anyway.”

“Sir?”

“Ugh. Get your bandit friend to explain it. I ain’t any good at explainin’ the theory of it, goes above my head.”

“Yes Sir.” Cryptic. I didn’t really buy that Aastor was too dumb to explain the theory, so he was trying to get out of it. Probably because he didn’t want to say something that offended me. Wise move, since he’d already been toeing the line with Kel, and while I wasn’t particularly angry, I was certainly a little bit annoyed.

“Anyway, we’ll go to an S.R.C. in a month or two if we need ta. If yer scribe friend is sufficient for yer needs, we’ll avoid the bureaucracy.” Sitting back down with a few books, he began to flip through them one more time, a look of disgust on his face. “Paperwork everywhere, as though Annie thinks she can catalog tha whole world.”

“Yes Sir. I am hopeful it will not be necessary, but I shall leave that to your judgment.”

“Damn right ya will. Now take these.”

He pushed two books towards me. One was thick, bound with what looked like leather and had a glossy brown cover, inlaid with gold lettering. The cover made it look a lot more important than it actually was, because the title was “Handel’s First Guide to Home Spark Use.” The other one was a slimmer volume, and it looked like it was a cheap reproduction of a mass produced paperback. It had clearly been well-loved, or at least well-used, since the cover was peeling back and the spine was broken. “Spark Research Notes Volume 1” was written across the front cover, but it had no author.

“Housekeeping magic is important. Good, foundational magic, and Handel goes into the theory and the basics as well. Read it whenever ya can, it’ll be useful for ya.”

“Yes Sir. Thank you.” I must have looked dismayed, because Aastor just shrugged and pressed on.

“Listen, I know it ain’t exciting. But tha easier yer chores get, tha more time you’ll have to do other things.”

Utility magic wasn’t particularly exciting, and it sounded more like homework than anything action heavy. Even though I’d been adamant that I didn’t want anything action heavy, I didn’t want to be on the frontlines…well, a part of me missed the adrenaline rush of casting immensely powerful spells or being in the heat of battle. That part of me was insane, by the way, and needed to be surgically removed. If only I could find a scalpel and a brain surgeon.

“Yes Sir. I do appreciate your generosity.” And I did.

“Good, then this’ll blow ya away.” He patted at the thin paperback. “I ain’t gonna say ya have to read this. If ya get through it, come find me, and I’ll give ya the second one. But we don’t discuss it, and nobody knows ya have it.”

….That was a lot of secrecy for what looked like a rather unassuming book. And Aastor had more or less made it clear that he wouldn’t help me with it. I was going to be on my own, deciphering a book that Aastor clearly rated above my ability level since he had said “If” I got through it, and not “When.”

“Yes Sir. What shall I do if I cannot understand it?”

“There’s a library somewhere in tha manor, use it.” He shrugged. “If ya can’t make it through the book by tha time a month is up, I’ll take it back.”

A challenge. An interesting, off kilter, weird challenge that made no sense to me. At best, I could only imagine that the Research Notes were highly academic in nature, and would be difficult to understand. Or that Kel was too weak to carry out any of the instructions or spells in the notes. The secrecy, though?

“Sir? Are you supposed to have this book?”

“’Course I am, Boy! Ya think I’m a thief?” Aastor was grinning, and before I could say anything else, he jumped back in. “Now, you on the other hand…”

Dear diary, today my Employer told me he was going to overthrow the Queen, break Summoning Magic and lie to a government authority on my behalf, hired my new Bandit friends, and gave me illegal contraband that could only have come from the government authority we’re lying to. I also ate some bread, so I would say it’s an above average day?

“Yes Sir. I shall endeavor to be extremely careful.”

“Good. Dismissed, go see yer friends and hire ‘em. Or set ‘em loose. I’ll call for ya if I need ya.”

An abrupt ending to a conversation that had meandered, twisted and turned until I was dizzy. I didn’t really know what else to say, and after being fully dismissed, all I could really do was follow Aastor’s orders. I also didn’t like the fact that he kept referring to them as my friends, as though we had a history of some kind, but I didn’t know how to make him stop. Instead, I just got up, collected the three books Aastor had given me, bowed, and left.

Kel was clearly glad that the ordeal was over. The poor thing had been quivering even as she was out on my palm, afraid that I would hand her over to Aastor at any point in time. As soon as we left his study and found ourselves back in the hallway, she began to make her way back to my breast pocket, poking her nose out and looking about.

“We’re good, Kel, don’t worry!”

Chirrup! Chirrup!!

She sounded indignant. Poor thing.

“I wasn’t actually going to give you over, silly.”

Chi-chi-chirrup!

One day, maybe we’d learn to communicate properly. But the medical ward was going to have to be my next destination, since I hadn't yet had a chance to see the bandits. Or well, my coworkers?