All sense of dignity lost, the lightning around Lyn disappears. Her face completely red, she turns to me and asks in a dead tone, “Can I just blast him? Not enough to kill, but enough to knock him out and make him lose a bit of memory?”

That gets poor Jacob’s attention, as he is able to stop mumbling incoherently, “Wa-wait! It’s ok I won’t tell anybody, I am great at keeping secrets! Right Claire?!” Turning to Claire, he only receives a glare. Maybe I should let Lyn shock him just a bit...

As if sensing my decision he rapidly spits out,  “It-it;s just I don’t want to forget meeting the Divine Crafter and her Spirit Kings!! I mean, you’re the legend they tell crafters to aspire to reach.” 

Still unsure I ask Claire, “What do you think Claire? You seemed to disagree at his declaration of being able to keep a secret.”

Sighing, she responds, “Well, he is decent at keeping his mouth shut for most things, but he likes to brag about things he’s done and seen. We left the mountain together to head to the Elhart Kingdom when we decided to leave, and along the way we stumbled into a goblin encampment. Together we were able to exterminate the camp, but I didn’t want him to brag, since it would affect the opinions of two newbies entering town. We didn’t take a request or anything, so I didn’t want to get in trouble or have other people dislike us for stealing a request.” She glares at Jacob, “But this idiot had to go bragging about it was soooo much easier. But as we didn’t know enough to collect proof of subjugation, it just brought us hatred as if we were just a couple of liars trying to get some fame and to steal credit. I had to travel to a new town to start off my career. So, if Lady Lyn wants to shock him I say go for it.”

Jacob, crestfallen, crumples to his knees, “But to think I will forget that Robin is the Divine Crafter. It’s too cruel a punishment to make me forget.”

A predatory smile appears on Lyn’s face, “Well, if Master agrees, we can do something else. How much are you willing to go to save your memories?”

He looks up warily, but with a glint of hope, “That depends. As much as I wish to live, I won’t do anything suicidal, or something that will harm the village.” 

“Oh, it's nothing like that. See, Spirit Kings have a special ability to give out contracts to humans. Instead of a normal spirit contract where the spirit will serve a mage in return for advancing, we can bestow humans with power in return for their services. So I can give you a little bit of lightning power, but if you ever speak about my master’s revival or us Spirit Kings you will be shocked and your memories of us will be erased.”

He gulps and asks, “What happens if I slip up a long time from now, won’t I forget a ton?”

Lyn shrugs, “I don’t know. You’ll probably just have huge holes in your memory with no explanation.” With a smile like that of a merchant swindling a farmer, she asks again, “So will you accept my offer? Or do you just want to be blasted right now and forget aaaaalll about this. At least you won’t need to worry later when you wake up if I blast you now.”

Gritting his teeth, Jacob accepts, “Alright you win! Between being blasted now and maybe later if I mess up, I will choose later! And I will get lightning powers from a Spirit King!”

Gathering mana, a ball of lightning forms in Lyn’s hand as she speaks, “I shall give my blessing if you never reveal master’s existence as the Divine Crafter and that my fellow Spirit Kings. If you break this you shall be stuck by heavenly lightning and forget everything relating to us. Do you accept?” 

The small ball of lightning leaves her hand and slowly floats to hover about a foot away from his forehead. “I, Jacob, accept!” In response to his shout, the ball darts forward and disappears into his head. Lightning courses from his head and envelops his whole body for a moment, before disappearing. With the disappearance of the lightning, poor Jacob collapses unconscious, falling face first into the forest floor. 

We all turn to Lyn with the same question on our lips, and I voice out, “Weren’t you not going to shock him?”

She sticks out her tongue, “I never said I wouldn’t shock him, but this way he gets a little benefit too!” Trying to escape our accusatory stares, she continues, “It’s not my fault my blessing results in a lightning strike, it's just my nature! You know, at least mine was quick, that arrogant fire spirit has a whole ‘sacred trial’ that ends with the worthy throwing themselves into a giant bonfire!”

Claire and I gasp. In comparison this is not that bad, but now I have to ask, “What do you mean a sacred trial. In fact what have the other spirits been doing?”

Lyn, looking actually angry, spits out, “Those two fire and water idiots went off and formed their own little kingdoms. That fire spirit settled on a volcano chain named the Isle of Fire so he can take the newborn fire spirits there under his wing, raising them and sending them to do his bidding. Ever his rival, that water spirit made the only underwater city and capital of the water races, Atlantis, sending the water spirits to do the same as fire’s.”

Sif, also angry, rants, “Those two arrogant fools, they had to go and be so flashy in their search for master. They now have tons of mortal worshipers who call them Firelord and Oceanlord. What a load of rubbish.”

I cough awkwardly. I don’t know why Lyn and Sif dislike those two so much, but I don’t think they did anything that bad. Except for having people throw themselves into a giant fire, that’s pretty bad. But it doesn’t seem like these two are upset about that part. As curious as I am, we should let Claire and Jacob tell everyone that things are ok, speaking of which, “So, Claire, should we wait for this guy to wake up before meeting everyone else?”

“Oh, no need to wait, I can just shock him again.” Replies Lyn with an evil smile before Claire could respond.

Suddenly, “I’m up! No need to shock me again!” 

We all stare at Jacob, wondering how long he has been awake. Lyn asks, “So how much could you hear? Honestly based on Claire’s story I don’t really trust you to keep your mouth shut even though if you open it you’ll get blasted.”

He opens his mouth but Lyn interrupts, “And if you lie I will blast you right here and now for good measure.”

Jacob freezes, and quietly admits, “I’ve been listening since ‘idiots went off and formed their own little kingdoms.” 

A moment of silence, a flash of light, and a roar of thunder later, Jacob is once again unconscious. Sensing our gazes Lyn guiltlessly replies, “What? I hate eavesdroppers.”