“Hah?” Ry gasped in disbelief. The Spirit hadn’t even said a single word, yet the noise he had just made was filled to the brim with a flurry of emotions. Viran didn’t even want to think about that, though.

“You’ve seen my memories haven’t you? Ceru… Ceru Venetus said you were a ‘Primordial Spirit’ whatever that means…” Viran distraughtly spoke, his hands tightening with every word.

Viran could tell that he should drop the matter here. After all Ry would be a foe he wouldn’t even know how to kill! Yet Viran wasn’t willing to be used like this in this so-called ‘cooperation’. The boy could tell that he would be on the losing end of this cooperation. Even if Viran was still alive and far away from the estate, his gut told him he would only feel suffocated and oppressed.

The difference was slim between the contract and living in the estate under his Father.

“... I was willing to forget everything that had transpired between you and that Spirit, but it seems you’re not willing. Are you?” Ry said.

“Spirit? Ceru is a Spirit like you?” Viran inquired with a questioning gaze.

The domineering pressure that held sway over Viran suddenly grew less calm and more chaotic, the pressure made his blood churn and his breath thin.

“No. No. That ‘Ceru’ is simply a whelp of a bastard! I dislike the blessing he had given you and I was willing to overlook it, but it seems I will no longer be able to.” The Spirit roared.

As the yelling commenced within Viran’s head, the boy could not help but cover his ears. Albeit the effect was null because the sound was all in his head, but it was only his natural reaction. With a shaky breath Viran finally relents.

“Fine! Fine! I won’t talk about Ceru anymore! Just…” Viran struggled deeply within. The boy felt as though he had no choice any longer, the Spirit just seemed like an insurmountable opponent. The Spirit seemed omniscient and omnipotent in the eyes of the young boy, after all the Spirit was the source of multiple miracles the boy has seen with his own eyes.

“Just nothing, boy. Our cooperation has already been solidified, if you refuse you’ll die and I will move on to another host. It’s quite simple.” The Spirit demanded. It had already reached its threshold moments ago, somehow it had taken much offence to Viran’s words.

It was clear to him just how much power the Spirit wielded. A being such as Ry could easily be passed off as one of the Gods to Viran, such a thing as beating a God was unheard of within the Empire.

So, Viran gave in as it was his only choice.

“...Fine.” Viran spat out. “Go on, tell me what is our ‘cooperation’.”

The pressure on Viran lifted up immediately and the domineering aura vanished as if it had never been there, yet Viran could tell of its immediate effect. Looking around Viran the grass had already been pushed down completely forming a circle around a boy, such a thing was absurd to the boy.

“To put it simply I will merely be a passenger for wherever you go. Until you turn twelve years old- our agreement will be null and void, that’s all.” Ry said gleefully.

However, the glee filled tone that plagued the Spirit only served to grow Viran's suspicions more.

“I doubt it. You said it was a cooperation, yet you gain nothing!” The boy was naturally unable to trust the words of Ry.

“You’re a liar…” Viran muttered.

“Hoh.” Ry thought for a moment. “Well let me put it this way. You will want to extend our cooperation longer, I bet on it. In fact I dare say that you will. Nothing will change that.”

“So until then I will let you grow faster than your peers, because trust me you ain’t the cream of the crop! You’ll know that better than anyone soon enough.”

Viran walked past the unarmored Knights as they began to clear out a suitable campsite. The entire estate was already in a frenzied move, yet the boy could clearly tell that most, if not all, of the Knights and servants were disgruntled with having to do what they deemed ‘grunt’ work.

Their reactions were, of course, understandable. The servants weren’t meant for such hefty labor and the Knights themselves were of higher pedigree than most people in the Empire, this type of work was something they despised themselves.

Ignoring the scornful glances towards him, Viran spoke once more to Ry.

“Really now. I can’t believe that, to be fair. Rufus himself said I was a genius and so did Sir Renault.” Viran said in a straightforward tone, devoid of any shame in saying such conceitful things.

“Yeah and you still call that Knight ‘Sir’ even though that had been stripped of him because of you. Hahaha!” The thunderous laughter and belittling that came forth from the Spirit caused Viran to gnash his teeth together. “But don’t worry child, the hole of conceit that you have buried yourself in will be destroyed very, very soon. All in a year's time, that is.”

The remarks that came from the Spirit only served to fuel the distrust and plain hate that he felt for the Spirit. The boy’s own emotions took control of him as he hatefully stepped into the carriage that had been waiting for him, all the while without noticing the less than distasteful glances sent his way by his guards and servants.

“Heh.” Ry chuckled softly within Viran’s ears after having noticed this. “How altruistic of you Lord Viran!”

Viran’s nose contorted and his eyes winced as he spat out loud a response.

“Oh and what does that mean!” The boy spat out in an anger that had already topped off his threshold. As the boy waited for a response only to receive nothing in return, a thought popped in his head.

‘Wait… What about the blessing?’ Viran thought.

“The blessing you are referring to has been dismantled by yours truly.” Ry said calmly. “Took you long enough to realize it, seems as though my presence here is distracting you from what’s happening within and around you.”

Viran scoffed lightly at Ry. The boy didn’t want to bother with the Spirit and its crude remarks towards him, just talking to Ry made Viran’s anger flare multiple times.He couldn’t understand what Ry’s problem was and that only served as fuel for the fire that dwelt in Viran’s heart. The boy wished he could spit at the Spirit, except such a thing was simply impossible.

“Idiot…”

The boy muttered softly as his eyes descended into darkness, and into sleep he went.

“That fucking brat.”

The harsh whisper that came outside of the carriage jostled the young boy out of his sleep. There was no light presence within the carriage, and the moon itself did not grant much illuminance onto the soil below. Within the distance the familiar sight of fire embers play in the air among the Knights and servants that did idle work.

Viran’s body moves slightly without making a sound and looks out towards the congregation of tents that surrounded the mansion and the carriage the boy slept in still. Moments pass and again, harsh words are sent forth into the cold wind.

“Truly. We serve Lord Idicium not that brat, yet now we’re here having to do construction work. It’s too… Unbefitting of our stature.” A Knight whispered to his friend as he pokes a stick at the fire.

“Ah come on, he’s just a kid right?” One Knight says lightly in a mocking tone, a tone he didn’t bother to hide at all. “It’s natural for someone like that to merely put all of their work onto us and that damned old man!”

The crude remarks create a sharp glean within Viran’s eyes. The mocking words had reached his ears and a bloodlust entered Viran’s eyes as he reached for his sword.

Only for more mocking words, to be thrown at him.

“Do you really have only this much self control? You’re going to take out your sword and cut through those Knights merely because of some words?” Ry spoke with dissatisfaction.

“Pathetic.”

Viran’s hand goes numb, his hand merely grips the handle yet his arm never slid the sword out of its scabbard. Despite his own self control, his eyes still stare directly at the Knight’s not far away. Hatred and malicious intent practically poured out of the boy as sweat began to dot his forehead.

“Nngh.” A growl came directly from the depths of Viran’s heart, something of which he himself didn’t understand. Just why were they hateful towards Viran? The boy had seen how they pitied him before when he stayed in his Father’s estate, yet those eyes that were once filled with pity were now filled with a loathing hatred. The boy couldn’t decide which one was worse.

Viran couldn’t understand it at all, but he could.

“Boy, you need to understand something. Humans are fickle in their thinking and they wildly change. The pity they won’t share amongst each other about your situation was replaced easily by this one event. Though most of the Knights aren’t like that right now, if you sit idly by they will only continue looking down upon you more.” The Spirit said in a tired voice making Viran wonder whether or not Spirits themselves slept.

“But it’s not my fault… It’s Lord Idicium’s fault for giving us a rundown mansion and estate.” Viran defended himself. The boy could feel his eyebrow still twitching in anger, he felt he was undeserving of all of this hate.

“Sure it is that man’s fault. But what are these Knights supposed to do? Talk about their own Lord? That’s punishable by execution so they would not dare.” Continued Ry with his calming voice, somehow easing the anger of Viran. “You are weak compared to your Father, so they will push all of their hatred onto you. It’s a rudimentary way of relieving their anger, yet it works well.”

Viran’s taut hand slowly eases down as Viran begins to stare at his white knuckles.

“I see… So I’m practically a scapegoat for their anger against Lord Idicium.” Viran whispered to himself aloud.

“How do I fix this then…?”

The fires began to be doused one by one as the night finally came to a close. The mocking words towards Viran ceased completely as the Knights began to drift off into sleep one by one. The silence frightened Viran very little, yet the fear was still there in the bottom of his heart.

“You need to at least take action on your own accord. It cannot, however, be manual labor as that is not fit for your class. You need not demean yourself in such a way, yet fulfilling your duties in an administrative capacity would do nicely.” Ry said. “One thing Idicium did not take was your education in the arts, languages, and arithmetic, correct?”

“Nn.” Viran nodded his head.

“Then it's settled. Tomorrow work on your own accord and the opinions around you will make a change.” Ry’s voice became quieter as it went on, until it finally was only a whisper. “Now go to sleep, child.”

Viran’s hands tightened as he listened to the Spirit, and when its presence finally left so did the pressure he exerted onto his hands.

The boy could not help but wonder that, perhaps, he was wrong about Ry.