Regardless of how the lives of the two had just changed, the fact remained that it was late, so they had to go to sleep. Any further discussion or planning could wait until the next morning.

Nalia had already asked about the preparations the others had made for their guest, so she took Elise back to her makeshift “bed”. A pillow and sheets had been added to it, but more important was the net-like fabric covering that had been placed around the bed like a dome, hung onto the nearby tree.

That covering was made of darker fabric, since it was intended to be used while sleeping, and it had been enchanted to protect against wind, rain, snow or anything else that could potentially hinder Elise’s sleep.

“I guess my sleeping bag is gonna have to wait for its debut.” The girl spoke after sitting on the bed.

“You have something like that?” Nalia asked.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it.” Elise pointed at the right side of her waist.

There was a small brown bag attached to her clothing by a pair of clips.

“… How did I not see that before?”

“It’s not really your fault.” Elise shrugged “This bag has… Something similar to enchantments on it. One of them makes it really difficult for anyone to notice the bag if it is not pointed out to them directly.”

Nalia flew close to examine the bag “Pretty lucky that it didn’t get hit by the acid, unless it has an enchantment for that too?”

“Yes, actually. The bag will automatically turn immaterial if something’s about to damage it.”

“Does it have a size enchantment too?” The fairy asked, still starting fixedly at the bag.

“Sort off.” Elise opened the bag and looked inside “The inside of the bag grows bigger based on the power of my soul.” She reached inside with a hand “Hmm, and it is already a little bigger than it was when I left. Seems like participating in that fight alongside you made me grow a little.”

Nalia shook her head “It’s no use. I can’t feel any magical power from it.”

“That’s why I said that it was only ‘similar’ to enchantments. It’s not actually magic.” Elise closed her eyes in thought “Sister Elen, the one who made them, said that it was ‘manifest will’, but I’m not really sure of the specifics.”

“What do you have inside, besides the sleeping bag?” Nalia asked, resisting the urge to try and look.

“Just a few useful things. There’s two extra sets of clothing for me to use, there’s the tech-bath,” She took out something a small round object, half blue and half white “which I can use to clean myself, but since I was cleaned pretty well during the treatment, there’s no need to use it right now.” She placed it back.

“And those are the food pills.” She took out a small transparent vial that was filled with small white pills “They’re traveling rations, so they’re pretty tasteless, but a single one is enough to keep going for three days, so they’re good to have while adventuring.”

Elise put the vial back in the bag and took out a pot that was only a bit bigger than a cup “Sister Dilira taught me how to make more, so I can use this pot as an alchemy cauldron, and the requirements for ingredients are pretty low, so I could do it pretty much anywhere.”

“You can do alchemy?” Nalia asked in surprise.

“Only a little bit. I never really got too deep into the properties, traits, effects, reactions and everything else that goes on in alchemy, so even an apprentice would be better than me.” She put the pot back inside before taking out a baton-shaped object “And this is just a lantern, but it has a special battery that can last for a very long time.”

“And there’s a few small gifts from my sisters. They have no special functions, they just remind me of them.” She put the lantern back inside and closed the bag.

Nalia looked thoughtful for a few moments before shaking her head and speaking “Err… Do you mind if I spend the night here with you?”

“I don’t mind, but how exactly is it gonna work?”

“Like this.” The fairy flew to a part of the net close to the pillow and grabbed onto it.

“You sleep like that?” Elise asked, being reminded of a butterfly perching on a wall.

“Yep!” She replied without looking back.

“Then we’ll talk more tomorrow.” Elise said before lying down on the bed to sleep.

+0+

When Elise woke up, she found that Nalia had already awoken. The fairy cast a few spells to help her get ready for the day, mostly cleaning her body and mouth, which were just simple modifications to spells Nalia used on herself. Elise also switched to her second set of clothes, a dark blue dress with black stripes on the sleeves and a short skirt decorated with silver embroidery at the edges.

The fairy had also changed her clothes, but considering how little she actually wore, the difference wasn’t that noticeable. Once they were done, the fairy spoke up:

“You know what I just realized?”

“What?”

“Now that we have a contract, I could show you my room.” Nalia spoke excitedly.

She was talking about the ability to sight-share. Elise grinned and agreed to her idea.

“I’m also planning on staying here for a few more days.” Elise changed the subject “So you can set things in order and say goodbye to your friends. We can also start your training during this time.”

Nalia agreed with that idea, and the two got out from under the covering and made their way towards the place the fairy lived. Soon enough, she had gone inside her room and began showing it to Elise.

The first thing that caught Elise’s attention was the light purple net stapled to the wall that appeared to be Nalia’s bed, then she smiled internally upon seeing the immense amount of paper scrolls spread around, all of them recording the fairy’s magical studies and experimentation.

Nalia started explaining about the other things in the room. There were a table and a stool which she used for said studies (there were no writing implements, since she could just use her magic instead), three cabinets where she stored her clothes, food and other miscellaneous things, plus all sorts of paintings, sculptures and other decorations on the walls.

‘I’m a bit obsessed with those things.’ Nalia admitted.

She was sending her thoughts to Elise via their contract connection. It was a way for them to start exploring the bond they now shared.

There really wasn’t that much to show, so soon enough Nalia came back out and the two headed to the village’s administration office in order for the fairy to inform chief Imara of her decision and current plans.

After that, Elise looked at Nalia with a serious expression and spoke:

“Okay, there’s a few things I wanted to ask you. It’s about how you want to be trained.”

Nalia nodded and waited for the questions.

“I said that I would help you achieve your greatest dreams. I’m fairly sure they’re related to magic, but what would be your focus specifically?”

The fairy closed her eyes and thought for a few seconds before answering.

“I want to master all types of magic. I want to be able to use any spell in the world, regardless of how difficult they may be.”

Elise smiled “Understood. That’s going to be a pretty tough path, but we’ll go through it together.

“Next, it’s about your role in battle. Do you want to be a supporter casting from the back, or a front-liner facing enemies head-on?”

“A front-liner.” Nalia did not even had to think before giving her answer.

Elise had gotten hurt protecting her at the end of that battle. Nalia did not want to see anything like that happening ever again.

“Okay. Then I’m going to train you as such.”

+0+

Outside of training, the two spent the next four days mostly separated, Nalia going around to the places she worked regularly at and helping make sure that there would be other fairies ready to take up those jobs, plus also finishing up her work backlog.

Elise, on the other hand, found herself being invited to musical performances and art exhibitions, as well as simply being asked to talk more about her childhood and older sisters, since the news that she would be leaving soon quickly spread.

“Are any of your sisters fairies?” She was asked at one point.

The fairy asking was a very young one, whose body wasn’t actually much smaller than Nalia’s, but her wings weren’t even half as big as those of ‘adult’ fairies.

“Yes. My sister Carolina is a fairy, though she is a different type than you.” Was Elise’s response.

That wasn’t a strange concept, since there were a huge amount of fairy types across the world, and fairies learned about that from young.

“What sort of magic does she use?” Was the next question.

“She knows a few spells, but her specialty is actually shapeshifting.” Elise replied.

“Is her shapeshifting not magic?” The fairy was confused.

Thankfully, the fairy didn’t ask about what kind of things she turned into.

“No, magic means using the power of your soul to create an effect via the medium of a special formula, the spell.” Elise explained “She was able to change her body via soul power directly, without the need for spells.”

And so on. Still, the most fruitful time for the two of them was when they were together, but that was also the time where they were working the hardest.

The first step in Elise’s training plan for Nalia was mastering the spells she already knew, at least to the maximum she would be capable of at that point in time.

And though the training sounded simple, it was incredibly harsh.

+0+

“The right side of the spell shell is warped. Try it again.”

“The flow of energy wasn’t smooth enough. Try it again.”

“Your control of the spell wavered near the end. Try it again.”

Nalia would cast her spells over and over, and Elise would point out the smallest mistake or imperfection and tell her to correct it. And whenever her casting managed to pass muster, the fairy simply had to move on a different spell and begin the whole process again.

Elise wasn’t a magic caster herself, but she knew a lot of theory from speaking with her sisters, so she understood what kinds of optimizations could be done to make the spells better.

And even more importantly, Elise was using her connection with Nalia to perceive the magic from the fairy’s point of view to the point where even her feelings were shared, so she understood the whole process of casting the spell enough to give accurate guidance.

The training was exceedingly draining, both mentally and physically, as the effort of having to focus for so long and to such an extent was far beyond anything Nalia had ever done before. And by the time one of those training sessions ended, the fairy was left unable to fly or even talk.

Yet Nalia did not even consider the possibility of giving up. For one, the training was working, as she already felt that her skills in magic had improved significantly. But there was another, more important reason.

She was not enduring such suffering alone. Elise’s connection with her was such that the former could feel every single scrap of pain or tiredness from the latter, not to mention that Elise also had to remain focused for long periods of time in order to be able to spot any small mistake that had to be corrected.

On the first day they were doing it, the two had actually fainted right at their training spot and needed to be carried to their beds. On the following days Elise stopped their training before they reached such a point, but that perfectly illustrated just how much effort she was putting into it.

There was no way Nalia could resent her newly acquired big sister, regardless of how difficult the training became.

And yes, she would soon find out that it could actually get even more difficult.

+0+

When they were about to start on their fourth day of training, Elise said this:

“We’re starting to get the basics down, so now it’s time for some more practical training.”

“Practical… Training?” Nalia was unsure what she meant.

“Yes, since you decided to be a front-liner, that means you’ll have to face opponents attacking you directly and just generally doing their best to prevent you from casting.” Elise explained.

“Yes… That makes sense.” Nalia replied with a nod.

“There are three main ways to deal with that. The first is simply training to cast your magic quickly and without losing power, even under extreme conditions.”

“I see…”

“The second is preparing spells beforehand and keeping them within your body to be unleashed when necessary.”

“Hm…”

“The third is training to cast multiple spells at once, so that you can already have a second spell ready and a third near completion by the time you activate the first one.”

“Er… So which one of these are we doing?”

“All three, of course.” Elise stated naturally “You want to master all types of magic, right? So that’s just natural.”

Nalia could not argue with that logic, however much she wanted to. And so their training went into a new stage.

In addition to simply mastering her spells, Nalia’s training regiment now included trying to hasten her casting while maintaining the quality, and doing such near the end of a session, when she was already pretty tired.

She also had to train in order to be able to hold complete spells within herself without allowing the magic formulas to deteriorate. And she had to learn how to cast multiple spells in parallel, and then she had to train every spell again, to be able to cast them perfectly even when casting in parallel.

Of course, Elise was with her at every step of the way, experiencing everything along with Nalia, working together to bring her magic abilities into a whole new realm.

Despite how difficult it all was, Nalia could not help but feel that those were some of the most fulfilling days of her life.

+0+

Six days passed, and the fairy finally settled everything she still had to do. The duo bid their farewells (Elise told Nalia’s friends they’d be able to come visit easily once she learned long-range teleporting, but that could take a while) and left the village.

They started moving northwest, as Elise had researched the surrounding areas and had a rough idea on the route she wanted to take for the first part of their journey. And now that they had a lot more free time, the training intensified.

They were still only at the beginning stages, and there was a lot of work yet to be done on every aspect Nalia’s magic training, so the two were busy to the point where their traveling speed was pretty low.

However, regardless of how busy they were, eventually Nalia began to feel homesick.

“Something wrong?” Elise asked the fairy one night, seeing that she looked a bit listless.

“It’s… You know… Thinking about home.” Nalia replied.

“I know how it is.” Elise said.

Even though she had prepared herself mentally over a much longer period of time than Nalia had, Elise still often found herself reaching for one of the gifts she had received from her older sisters.

Her current companion was aware of it, of course.

There were a few moments of shared commiseration, but then Elise remembered something.

“Ah. I was planning to work on it a little more, but I guess I could show it to you now.” She said.

“You were making something?” Nalia asked, surprised.

She hadn’t seen Elise do anything of the sort at any point.

“It actually has to do with my contractor abilities.” Elise clarified.

Nalia looked interested.

“Sometimes, contractors recruit very large beings, or they recruit large numbers of them. Regardless of what the case is, they have to face the problem of where to keep their partners, and sometimes even just keeping them fed is a problem.” Elise spoke.

“That makes sense. So how do they solve this problem?”

“The mindscape.” Elise replied “It is possible for contractors to cultivate a space within their own minds which their partners can occupy. It’s an unreal space, so their size doesn’t matter, plus their metabolism doesn’t advance, so they can wait until food is available.”

“And how is that relevant to us?” Nalia asked.

She had taken to spending her nights together with Elise inside her sleeping bag (holding onto the ‘ceiling’ of the bag), plus they had no trouble with obtaining food, considering Nalia had grown up in that forest.

“Because of the nature of the mindscape.” Was Elise’s answer “The form it takes is created by the contractor. It can just be a dark space where their partners can sleep, but it can also be so much more.”

Nalia thought for a moment, then her expression changed “Is it…?” She was unable to fully vocalize her question.

“You can see for yourself. Come inside.” Elise said.

Nalia felt a gentle pull coming through their bond, and allowed herself to be taken into her big sister’s mindscape.

Inside it was a very familiar sight, a forest area filled with fairy-sized houses both on the ground and among the tree branches. It was Nalia’s village.

Or at least, a reasonable representation of it. The shape of the mindscape village was simpler than the real thing, being more or less rectangular, the shapes of the houses were a bit off, and the same went for their decorative patterns, plus she didn’t really have the best grasp of the way the greenhouse was arranged.

Overall, it was more like a new village built on the style of the real one since Elise didn’t have a good enough memory to faithfully reproduce every detail, and she wouldn’t want to do it anyway, since her goal was to give her partner a place where she could be comfortable and at peace, not to try and replace what she had before.

Of course, there were no fairies on the village besides Nalia herself.

She moved through Elise’s creation, quickly finding her own house (which was in the center, different from how it was like in the actual village) and going inside to find that her room had been reproduced almost flawlessly.

Then, she had a sudden thought and flew out of the house before heading to the part of the village where the trees were denser. The area wasn’t very large, so Nalia quickly found what she was looking for: The Tree of Birth.

It was exactly like Nalia had shown Elise. The fairy landed on the ground next to it before sitting down on the soft grass, closing her eyes and taking in the atmosphere. Elise had taken the time to recreate even the smells and the breeze.

Some time later, Nalia reopened her eyes.

‘You haven’t done the inside of the tree yet, right?’ She asked Elise mentally ‘Because you don’t know what it looks like,’

‘Yes.’ Came the reply.

‘I can share a few memories of it, if you’d like.’

‘That would be nice, I’ll do my best on making the inside as well.’

‘I’ll be waiting to see what it looks like, and… Thank you for all this.’

‘I’m glad you liked it.’

No more needed to be said. They already understood each other’s feelings well enough.