"Your name will be Rias".
As soon as those words left Satvik's lips, he expected something to happen.
He waited for a while and then said, " Aree, nothing happened!?"
With a confused expression, he looked at the Spirit waiting for her to give some explanation.
The spirit muttered with a downcast gaze, "I had a feeling something like this would happen. You are not eligible for the Spirit contract yet."
"You are yet to receive class, status and your mana capacity is low as well" she completed.
Satvik's dreams of having a strong spirit contracted started to crumble. Who wouldn't like the idea of having a spirit who would call them 'Master'?
He had already imagined fighting a large group of enemies using arrays of spells with his contracted spirit. Sometimes Satvik wondered if he was a 'chuunibyou' or something similar for having grand delusional fantasies.
While he was slowly entering a depressive state, the spirit looked at him with a red face and said while stuttering, "th..tth.. there's a..anot..her ww..aay to for..m a Co...contra..ct with me."
Satvik expression changed to astonishment and he said with excitement, "Really?!"
"Yes, we can do a ritual. I will recite some chants and you just have to yes whenever I give you a gesture" said the spirit in a hushed voice.
Satvik gave her a side stare. It seemed quite fishy. Being a lawyer he could make out this situation similar to signing a contract without reading its terms.
"I will have to reject," said Satvik defiantly. He does not want to start a ritual he has no information about. The stuttering of the spirit only increased his doubts about the whole ordeal.
"What?! Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how many people would have paid anything to have a contract with me?" said the spirit with wide eyes. She could not believe the nerve of this kid who had just rejected her like nothing.
"I'm willing to go out of bounds for you," she said.
"Sorry! Mrs. Popular, but I don't trust you a single bit and you have given me enough reason not to.
Didn't you?" said Satvik while shrugging.
"Look I'm really sorry for what I did earlier. But just give me one more chance to repent" she said with pleading eyes.
Satvik scrunched his eyes and looked directly into her multi-hued eyes for a while.
He was no simp but how could he ignore those pleading eyes, he sighed and said, "Since you didn't completely believe me, I'll not do the same for you."
The spirit puffed her cheeks and started looking the other way.
"So when do we start?" he said.
The spirit moved close to him and bent on one knee, then she held his right hand and cupped them between her hands.
"He he he! It's like you're proposing to me" said Satvik with a smug and a dry laugh. He was feeling quite embarrassed and also delighted at this turn of events.
"Sshh! please concentrate," she said while shushing him with a blush. Then she started her chant and in between gestured Satvik and he said "yes!" in return of every gesture.
After she completed her chant and opened her eyes Satvik waited for something to happen but everything seemed oddly normal.
"Nothing happened. Was it a dud?" he said in confusion.
Then suddenly she cupped his face between her hands and kissed him.
Satvik first enjoyed the sweet sensation as it was his first kiss but then his eyes went wide and he pushed the spirit away while saying. "What are you doing? Pervert!"
"I am not a 'pervert' this was the only way," she said while her face became red as a tomato.
"Yeah sure, that is exactly what they all say," he said while wiping his lips.
"Listen it is embarrassing for me as well, to kiss someone with a child's body, you have no idea. And I already know about your reincarnation so please don't act like a kid, okay?!" said the spirit while flailing her arms.
"What?" said Satvik while his jaw hung low.
The spirit narrated the whole encounter which happened at the peak.
Satvik coughed and said, "Ahem! It's good that you know, but still, women in this world are definitely 'shotacon'. Didn't it feel weird to lock lips with a child?"
"Please get past that already. Our contract is forged now" she said and soon as those words left her lips he felt a burning sensation in his chest where his heart was.
When he removed his shirt in concern, he saw a strange mark on the left side of his chest right above his sternum. He looked at the spirit with a blank face expressing his confusion.
She also slightly revealed her mark, at a similar place on her chest. Understanding dawned on Satvik.
"Is this the mark of our contract?" he asked with excitement.
She shook her head and with a downcast gaze muttered, "It's a mark of our we...."
He could not hear what she said last so he said "please can't you speak clearly."
"It is a mark of our wedding," she said in a shrill voice with a red face.
"Our what?" he shouted in surprise.
"This was the only way, okay? It is not easy to contract a spirit like me" she said with embarrassment.
"Oh really! What are you a spirit of? Spirit of perversion?" he said.
"I'm a Spirit Sovereign. In the perspective of your race, that would make me a Queen of Spirits" she said.
This time Satvik looked at her in a daze.
"Trust me there wasn't any other way," she said.
Satvik was already mulling over the thought that having a queen of spirits was not that bad as the pros were far more than the cons.
'She is a queen that means only one thing, she is the strongest amongst the spirits' he thought.
"So now you are now my contracted spirit and my wife?" questioned Satvik.
"No, I'm just your wife," said Rias.
Satvik was so confused, that Rias sighed and began to further explain the situation.
"Spirits are near-immortal beings with various powers and spell magic hence beings love to forge contracts with them for immense power at their disposal. It is a contract of equal exchange, spirit serves their contractor and in return they siphon mana off of their contractor."
"Till the time a spirit is contracted to a person, they will follow all the commands given to them. But only till the time contractor is alive. Once the contractor dies the spirit can move on to another contractor."
"However things are different when it comes to sovereign. Sovereign is an existence with absolute power over our race, like a demigod. Two spirits can fight each other on their contractor's command but a spirit can never fight a Sovereign Spirit because they can sever any contract of a spirit and their contractor with their authority."
"To prevent such prejudice, the sovereign has to remain neutral and never contract with any person or being for that matter. Don't ask why it's like that, even I don't know."
"But in the case of the Sovereign, they also have the opportunity to form a bond that is similar to contract of equal exchange but there's another condition, to make sure that Sovereigns detest contracting."
"When the contractor dies, so does the Sovereign and the bond with Sovereign is formed not only by contract ceremony but a ritual of paring souls or a marriage as well."
"Your status is locked and you lacked the mana for bonding of souls. Then marriage was the only way. But let me remind you, unlike a contract where the spirit is under obligation to follow each and every order. In marriage, I'm under no such obligations because we are equals and I can even deny any orders from you." Rias finished her explanation with a wink.
"Are you stupid? How can you endanger your life like that? I'm very weak and God forbid if I'm dead before reaching the age of 18, then so are you" said Satvik with wrinkles on his forehead due to the stress all this information is causing him. He can feel himself slipping into a depressive state again.
"Eh, I'm also weak in my current state and could've died at any moment due to my rage and stupidity. At least this will ensure I won't die single like certain someone" said Rias with a grin and a wink.
Satvik scrunched his eyes as he knew very well who she was talking about. 'Wow, even a spirit is taking jibes at his earlier life now. No.. No… not just a spirit, his wife is taking the jibes! This day has turned out to be such a doozy', he thought.
"Don't be like that. Now I have faith in you and faith in us" she said while caressing his face.
"I have to visit a place with lots and lots of soul to regain my drained-out strength. It will take me some time and I will be next to you by the time you gain your class, status and all."
"Through this marriage ritual, I will always be aware of your well-being. It wouldn't be good that after regaining my strength I come to find that my last hope is already dead," she said while sticking her tongue out.
"Haah! Off course you have to leave. OP power's only come to the protagonist at a later stage or in dire need" said Satvik while sighing.
"I don't know what that last part meant, but I have to leave and I'm sorry for that. But, my powers are dangerously low and I lack ma..." but before she could finish her sentence she fell to the ground and her body started to disappear.
"Rias! What happened?" Satvik caught her in his arm and looked at her with concern.
Her gown had almost disintegrated completely leaving her half naked but that was not Satvik's concern for now.
Her body also started to vanish bit by bit.
"Tch! I used my mana to cover for yours in the ritual. The backlash seems to be too much. I am in mana deficiency and for spirit's mana is the building blocks of their life" said Rias with a grim expression.
Satvik laid her head in his lap and his hand reached for his most valuable possession.
He removed the necklace from his neck and put it around Rias's neck. Within a few seconds, her body recovered at a remarkable rate.
"What is this necklace? Is this an artifact?" Rias questioned in surprise while touching the necklace.
"Sort of a present, a nice lady gave that to me to solve my mana problem. Now it can help you out till you're back on your feet" said Satvik while reminiscing about a milf.
"I can't take this, it seems pretty valuable for you. I can already feel your mana dwindling" she said while shaking her head.
"Keep it, it regenerates mana automatically with passage of time and has many other features I don't know. But from now on it will only become a liability for me. This is too valuable for me to protect. You have already sacrificed so much for me and as a husband, I also have some duties, no?" said Satvik while winking and caressing her head in his lap.
Rias smiled and nodded. Then she sat up and said, "Sheesh! It feels weird to listen to such romantic lines from a mouth of a kid"
"He he he"
"So I'll be leaving, Dear Husband!!" said Rias while wiping fake tears.
"Eww, that sounds weird. You can just call me Sati, like my loved one's" said Satvik.
She nodded and kissed him on his forehead and said, "When we will meet again, you will come to know what a true spirit sovereign can do. I hope you won't be left far behind by your wife in terms of strength."
Satvik rolled his eyes at her comment.
"See you soon," said Satvik while waving goodbye.
Rias jumped and then zoomed towards the sky. While she was parting with him for some reason he felt an urge to use his ability at her once more to see any change in her aura.
When Satvik used his sight ability the blinding aura was now replaced with a crimson aura. He felt deja vu, he couldn't place his mind around but someone had a similar aura but he couldn't remember who the person was.
When she vanished from his sight, he thought that it wasn't bad to have a wife with such potential and started walking towards his home.
"Your name will be Rias".
As soon as those words left Satvik's lips, he expected something to happen.
He waited for a while and then said, " Aree, nothing happened!?"
With a confused expression, he looked at the Spirit waiting for her to give some explanation.
The spirit muttered with a downcast gaze, "I had a feeling something like this would happen. You are not eligible for the Spirit contract yet."
"You are yet to receive class, status and your mana capacity is low as well" she completed.
Satvik's dreams of having a strong spirit contracted started to crumble. Who wouldn't like the idea of having a spirit who would call them 'Master'?
He had already imagined fighting a large group of enemies using arrays of spells with his contracted spirit. Sometimes Satvik wondered if he was a 'chuunibyou' or something similar for having grand delusional fantasies.
While he was slowly entering a depressive state, the spirit looked at him with a red face and said while stuttering, "th..tth.. there's a..anot..her ww..aay to for..m a Co...contra..ct with me."
Satvik expression changed to astonishment and he said with excitement, "Really?!"
"Yes, we can do a ritual. I will recite some chants and you just have to yes whenever I give you a gesture" said the spirit in a hushed voice.
Satvik gave her a side stare. It seemed quite fishy. Being a lawyer he could make out this situation similar to signing a contract without reading its terms.
"I will have to reject," said Satvik defiantly. He does not want to start a ritual he has no information about. The stuttering of the spirit only increased his doubts about the whole ordeal.
"What?! Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how many people would have paid anything to have a contract with me?" said the spirit with wide eyes. She could not believe the nerve of this kid who had just rejected her like nothing.
"I'm willing to go out of bounds for you," she said.
"Sorry! Mrs. Popular, but I don't trust you a single bit and you have given me enough reason not to.
Didn't you?" said Satvik while shrugging.
"Look I'm really sorry for what I did earlier. But just give me one more chance to repent" she said with pleading eyes.
Satvik scrunched his eyes and looked directly into her multi-hued eyes for a while.
He was no simp but how could he ignore those pleading eyes, he sighed and said, "Since you didn't completely believe me, I'll not do the same for you."
The spirit puffed her cheeks and started looking the other way.
"So when do we start?" he said.
The spirit moved close to him and bent on one knee, then she held his right hand and cupped them between her hands.
"He he he! It's like you're proposing to me" said Satvik with a smug and a dry laugh. He was feeling quite embarrassed and also delighted at this turn of events.
"Sshh! please concentrate," she said while shushing him with a blush. Then she started her chant and in between gestured Satvik and he said "yes!" in return of every gesture.
After she completed her chant and opened her eyes Satvik waited for something to happen but everything seemed oddly normal.
"Nothing happened. Was it a dud?" he said in confusion.
Then suddenly she cupped his face between her hands and kissed him.
Satvik first enjoyed the sweet sensation as it was his first kiss but then his eyes went wide and he pushed the spirit away while saying. "What are you doing? Pervert!"
"I am not a 'pervert' this was the only way," she said while her face became red as a tomato.
"Yeah sure, that is exactly what they all say," he said while wiping his lips.
"Listen it is embarrassing for me as well, to kiss someone with a child's body, you have no idea. And I already know about your reincarnation so please don't act like a kid, okay?!" said the spirit while flailing her arms.
"What?" said Satvik while his jaw hung low.
The spirit narrated the whole encounter which happened at the peak.
Satvik coughed and said, "Ahem! It's good that you know, but still, women in this world are definitely 'shotacon'. Didn't it feel weird to lock lips with a child?"
"Please get past that already. Our contract is forged now" she said and soon as those words left her lips he felt a burning sensation in his chest where his heart was.
When he removed his shirt in concern, he saw a strange mark on the left side of his chest right above his sternum. He looked at the spirit with a blank face expressing his confusion.
She also slightly revealed her mark, at a similar place on her chest. Understanding dawned on Satvik.
"Is this the mark of our contract?" he asked with excitement.
She shook her head and with a downcast gaze muttered, "It's a mark of our we...."
He could not hear what she said last so he said "please can't you speak clearly."
"It is a mark of our wedding," she said in a shrill voice with a red face.
"Our what?" he shouted in surprise.
"This was the only way, okay? It is not easy to contract a spirit like me" she said with embarrassment.
"Oh really! What are you a spirit of? Spirit of perversion?" he said.
"I'm a Spirit Sovereign. In the perspective of your race, that would make me a Queen of Spirits" she said.
This time Satvik looked at her in a daze.
"Trust me there wasn't any other way," she said.
Satvik was already mulling over the thought that having a queen of spirits was not that bad as the pros were far more than the cons.
'She is a queen that means only one thing, she is the strongest amongst the spirits' he thought.
"So now you are now my contracted spirit and my wife?" questioned Satvik.
"No, I'm just your wife," said Rias.
Satvik was so confused, that Rias sighed and began to further explain the situation.
"Spirits are near-immortal beings with various powers and spell magic hence beings love to forge contracts with them for immense power at their disposal. It is a contract of equal exchange, spirit serves their contractor and in return they siphon mana off of their contractor."
"Till the time a spirit is contracted to a person, they will follow all the commands given to them. But only till the time contractor is alive. Once the contractor dies the spirit can move on to another contractor."
"However things are different when it comes to sovereign. Sovereign is an existence with absolute power over our race, like a demigod. Two spirits can fight each other on their contractor's command but a spirit can never fight a Sovereign Spirit because they can sever any contract of a spirit and their contractor with their authority."
"To prevent such prejudice, the sovereign has to remain neutral and never contract with any person or being for that matter. Don't ask why it's like that, even I don't know."
"But in the case of the Sovereign, they also have the opportunity to form a bond that is similar to contract of equal exchange but there's another condition, to make sure that Sovereigns detest contracting."
"When the contractor dies, so does the Sovereign and the bond with Sovereign is formed not only by contract ceremony but a ritual of paring souls or a marriage as well."
"Your status is locked and you lacked the mana for bonding of souls. Then marriage was the only way. But let me remind you, unlike a contract where the spirit is under obligation to follow each and every order. In marriage, I'm under no such obligations because we are equals and I can even deny any orders from you." Rias finished her explanation with a wink.
"Are you stupid? How can you endanger your life like that? I'm very weak and God forbid if I'm dead before reaching the age of 18, then so are you" said Satvik with wrinkles on his forehead due to the stress all this information is causing him. He can feel himself slipping into a depressive state again.
"Eh, I'm also weak in my current state and could've died at any moment due to my rage and stupidity. At least this will ensure I won't die single like certain someone" said Rias with a grin and a wink.
Satvik scrunched his eyes as he knew very well who she was talking about. 'Wow, even a spirit is taking jibes at his earlier life now. No.. No… not just a spirit, his wife is taking the jibes! This day has turned out to be such a doozy', he thought.
"Don't be like that. Now I have faith in you and faith in us" she said while caressing his face.
"I have to visit a place with lots and lots of soul to regain my drained-out strength. It will take me some time and I will be next to you by the time you gain your class, status and all."
"Through this marriage ritual, I will always be aware of your well-being. It wouldn't be good that after regaining my strength I come to find that my last hope is already dead," she said while sticking her tongue out.
"Haah! Off course you have to leave. OP power's only come to the protagonist at a later stage or in dire need" said Satvik while sighing.
"I don't know what that last part meant, but I have to leave and I'm sorry for that. But, my powers are dangerously low and I lack ma..." but before she could finish her sentence she fell to the ground and her body started to disappear.
"Rias! What happened?" Satvik caught her in his arm and looked at her with concern.
Her gown had almost disintegrated completely leaving her half naked but that was not Satvik's concern for now.
Her body also started to vanish bit by bit.
"Tch! I used my mana to cover for yours in the ritual. The backlash seems to be too much. I am in mana deficiency and for spirit's mana is the building blocks of their life" said Rias with a grim expression.
Satvik laid her head in his lap and his hand reached for his most valuable possession.
He removed the necklace from his neck and put it around Rias's neck. Within a few seconds, her body recovered at a remarkable rate.
"What is this necklace? Is this an artifact?" Rias questioned in surprise while touching the necklace.
"Sort of a present, a nice lady gave that to me to solve my mana problem. Now it can help you out till you're back on your feet" said Satvik while reminiscing about a milf.
"I can't take this, it seems pretty valuable for you. I can already feel your mana dwindling" she said while shaking her head.
"Keep it, it regenerates mana automatically with passage of time and has many other features I don't know. But from now on it will only become a liability for me. This is too valuable for me to protect. You have already sacrificed so much for me and as a husband, I also have some duties, no?" said Satvik while winking and caressing her head in his lap.
Rias smiled and nodded. Then she sat up and said, "Sheesh! It feels weird to listen to such romantic lines from a mouth of a kid"
"He he he"
"So I'll be leaving, Dear Husband!!" said Rias while wiping fake tears.
"Eww, that sounds weird. You can just call me Sati, like my loved one's" said Satvik.
She nodded and kissed him on his forehead and said, "When we will meet again, you will come to know what a true spirit sovereign can do. I hope you won't be left far behind by your wife in terms of strength."
Satvik rolled his eyes at her comment.
"See you soon," said Satvik while waving goodbye.
Rias jumped and then zoomed towards the sky. While she was parting with him for some reason he felt an urge to use his ability at her once more to see any change in her aura.
When Satvik used his sight ability the blinding aura was now replaced with a crimson aura. He felt deja vu, he couldn't place his mind around but someone had a similar aura but he couldn't remember who the person was.
When she vanished from his sight, he thought that it wasn't bad to have a wife with such potential and started walking towards his home.
