Even to the people who called the Spirit World their home, demons and spirits were considered mysterious and unknowable.

Since time immemorial, spirits had been feared by non-spirits as creatures of ill omens for their mystifying powers. At best, they were seen as a part of nature that should be respected… from a safe distance, of course. While some fanatical tribes that were practically minor cults went so far as to worship a select few spirits, that never seemed to end well. As a result, spirits—and anyone who willingly associated with them—were often labeled ‘dangerous’ and ostracized by everyone else.

That all changed hundreds of years ago with the arrival of humans from ‘the human world.’ Where the Spirit World’s denizens only saw superstition and ages of a tenuous relationship, the humans saw a world of opportunity in the local spirits and demons, mostly thanks to a certain mage named Mao.

The one and only Demon King quickly earned his reputation by uniting demons of all shapes and sizes—some with promises of wealth and power, others with promises of total annihilation. Using his unbelievable knowledge of soul magic, Mao helped develop the ‘formal’ system of summoning and contracting of demons still used by humanity to this day. And after he finally left with his new army to begin his infamous conquest of Gadea, the Spirit World was never the same again.

Apparently there was a lot more to the story than that, but Viela either didn’t know or didn’t want to get into all the details at the moment.

“The thing is, the contract system is heavily biased for humans,” the fox spirit went on. “The way mana gets shared only allows transferring from the spirit to the summoner, and the other restrictions are even worse. Honestly, no human has ever given me an offer for a contract that I actually considered good enough to accept.”

I found myself sighing again; back when I first summoned her, it was basically impossible that I could have sealed a contract with Viela no matter what…

“So what does this have to do with that thing you wanted to try?” I asked.

She blushed and looked away. “That is… I don’t think anyone’s ever done it with a human before.”

Alice, Titania, and even Freya all leaned closer to us.

I gulped. “W-Wait, done what exactly?”

Viela gestured toward the tinier room deeper in the cave. “Let’s get a little privacy first…”

The humans’ initial incursion to the Spirit World forever changed the way its denizens regarded their resident spirits. While many were still wary, many more couldn’t deny the opportunity to work with spirits and benefit from their natural talents for soul magic.

It didn’t take long for the non-spirits to gather their best and brightest to develop their own system of contracting—with a little spiritual assistance. But rather than an unfair business relationship, they created a mutual pact, a ‘soul bond’ where each party would gain some attributes and benefits from the other.

At a bare minimum, spirits gained the ability to shapeshift into a similar form of their soul bonded partner, along with acceptance into their family and society as a whole. The people who bonded with spirits would acquire a taste of their unique abilities…

Especially relating to soul magic.

“Are you really suggesting we try this soul bond thing?” I asked. “While I’m flattered you brought this up, doesn’t that sound kind of, you know, risky on a whim like this?”

Viela rubbed her shoulder, a little less cocky than usual. “I’m just saying it’s an option. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and it’s really not as risky as you think. The effects are designed to add and not subtract, if that makes sense; you’ll still be ‘you’ afterward.”

According to her, soul bonding was a long-term commitment that wasn’t easily broken while both parties remained in the same world. However, there were also no real side effects in the negative sense. Even though a spirit had never soul bonded with a human before, the worst that should be possible was the ritual failing.

I couldn’t help flinching at the word ‘ritual.’ The two of us didn’t exactly have a great history with rituals, but if there were ever a time to change that, it might as well be now.

“This isn’t something I want you to feel pressured into doing,” Viela went on. “That said, I can almost guarantee that you will be able to sense your own soul if we do. In your case, there’s just no telling how long it would take you to develop soul perception otherwise.”

I mulled over the situation. My shortcut to safely casting fire magic was to improve control over my soul-related anti-magic ability, and my shortcut to accomplishing that was by doing a soul bond with Viela. The benefits for me were clear enough, and yet…

“You sound like you know a lot about soul bonds. I have to ask: if this is a semi-permanent thing, what are you hoping to get out of this?”

Viela bashfully played with her hair. “I really do want to help you with this, you know? But, if I’m being honest, I’ve heard that soul bonded spirits are… never forgotten.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders. “Do you really think I could ever forget about you that easily?”

She stirred at my touch, looking away again. “No, it’s more complicated than that. And besides, I… I wouldn’t mind joining your family.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Uh, this isn’t like we’re getting married, right?”

Her cheeks grew a little redder.

“…Right?”

“It’ll be fine!” she said with a smile. “First, I would like some privacy…”

Her fox ears twitched overhead when Viela turned toward the cave’s ‘hallway.’ I followed her gaze to spot three heads poking out from the rocky wall, watching us. As much as our other painfully inquisitive party members wanted to spectate, Titania, Alice, and Freya all gave up after a minute of the fox spirit’s determined stare down.

I caught Alice biting her lip before she turned around, but thankfully she didn’t protest.

With the imminent ritual upon us, I started feeling more nervous than ever. As my mind raced over all the worst outcomes, a concern dawned on me.

“Oh yeah, my anti-magic Divine Gift might get in the way, but I think it’s be powered by my mana. Just give me a minute.”

While I didn’t have much mana left, I wasn’t going to take any chances, so I tried out the third spell the witch gave me.

Light Flare turned out to be another channeled spell that created a flickering spark of light over my palm, casting shadows of us against the cave’s walls. The flare didn’t produce any heat, and the way it wanted to disappear without my total concentration felt like trying to keep a light bulb from burning out without the bulb.

I figured this must have been another simple spell to practice and master the fundamentals, and that was good enough for now. I poured all my mana into the flickering light to make it burn brighter and brighter. I winced when I felt the last bit of mana drain from my body, but I still held the channel for a second longer—just to be sure.

When the light vanished with my spell, I found myself almost gasping for breath, a sudden wave of nausea washing over me. It really did take a harsh toll on the body trying to power magic without any mana…

I noticed Viela stand up from the ground, holding a piece of chalk in one hand that she had produced from somewhere. Beneath her lay a diagram chalked onto the stone cave floor that looked suspiciously like a summoning circle. Thankfully, a bit of inspection confirmed that it was a little different; inside the boundary were two circles surrounded by a series of complex geometry.

The fact that she had memorized the whole ritual diagram made me realize how important to her this soul bond was, and I still wasn’t quite sure why.

Even though it was harder to see from what little light from our campfire made it to this room, Viela looked more beautiful than ever. My heart skipped another beat when she looked at me with a surprisingly innocent, pure smile that I’d never seen from her before. Viela offered me her hands while standing inside one of the diagram’s inner circles, waiting.

I stepped into the other circle and gently took her soft, warm hands in mine.

“Alright,” she said in a whisper. “Let’s begin.”