The music spirit burst into a fit of giggles.

  “Yep~! The idea is, if you ’t muster up the [text] to blow away the giant tree on your own, then why not try to befriend the wind itself and then ask for help?” she asked in a curious tone.

  ……What?

  The little spirit swirled in disbelief, thinking she must have misheard. After all, how could a being, a living breathing individual, bee friends with the wind, a force of nature?

  heless, as if to disprove this notion, the music spirit tio expin further.

  “What I’m saying is to form a [Bond]~! Think about it, [text] is the circumstances in which things occur. So by befriending the wind, it bees reasonable for it to listen to ygestions. After all, friends have the responsibility to help each other out~!” she stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “Of course, I’m only using wind as an example. You try to form a [Bond] with any cept you like, provided it’s a or an essence. In my case, I formed a bond with Music, which is how I became a music essence spirit~!” she procimed proudly.

  So what you’re saying, is that the true magic was the friend we made along the way…? What kind of dumb expnation is that?!

  Does this mean that if I bee friends with money, it will line up to fill my pockets and make me super rich? Isn’t that too ridiculous and too unbelievable?

  Disbelieving remarks bubbled up in Chara’s mind oer another. A, she also couldn’t rule out the idea entirely. After all, at the end of the day, it was an undeniable fact that Music was a music essence spirit, while she wasn’t. If the other spirit cimed that her transformation was a result of her bond with music, then who was she tue? It’s not like she had a bond herself.

  Furthermore, although Curiosity never specifically used the term “text,” she had essentially expihe same idea, even down to describing invocations as a “basis” to activate spells during her expnation of casting.

  In fact, the two spirits’ expnations aligned so perfectly that Chara momentarily suspected if they’d been colluding to trick her. Though the more likely and less paranoid clusion was that they were both simply describing the same thing, albeit from their own uanding.

  “So um, how do I form a bond?” Chara finally asked.

  Pleased by the way things were developing, the music spirit’s mana densed in anticipation. “As far as I’m aware, all you o do is select a subject of i, and then find a way to ect it with magic.”

  Select a subject of i and ect it to magic?

  Feeling that this expnation was too vague, the little spirit asked another question. “Then, how did you bee a music spirit?”

  Music swirling slowed as she drew up memories from long ago.

  “Hehe, when I was young, I discovered some rocks that made a cool whistling sound when the wind blew through them just right. I thought this was fasating and wished to learn how to do it myself. As time went by, I grew really good at it, aually, I became a music spirit~,” she reted fondly.

  Wow! Baby Music was a big dummy… Chara thought. She then asked, “Is that why you are traveling around pying music?”

  “Oh, that?” The music spirit paused slightly, before answering, “I’m doing that for two main reasons. Firstly, to improve my bond. I want to experiehe unique ambienany different kinds of pces, with the hope of capturing it and expressing it through my music. The sed reason is to raise my [Piousness].”

  Piousness?

  The little spirit’s mana rippled at the unfamiliar term.

  “Oh my~. Could it be that you don’t know about faith magic either~?” Music teased. However, before she could eborate further, a furious shout echoed across the cavern.

  “Heeeeeeeey—!!”

  From afar, a glimmering cloud of iridest water mana came rushing towards them like a surging torrent. In the instant, a very angry curiosity spirit had positioned herself protectively between Baby and Music before swirling fiercely.

  “Noisy wind spirit, what do you think you’re doing?!” Curiosity demanded in a childish yet menag tone.

  “Fussy water spirit, we were just chatting. Mind your own business,” Music responded in a dismissive voice.

  “Just chatting? Hmph~! Let me guess, you were trying to trick my cute, smart, and precious student into being a noisy music essence spirit—!”

  “Your ‘student’ huh? You accuse me to trick her, a, aren’t you doing the very same thing? The standards of water spirits are really g!”

  As the two spirits fronted each other, the mana in the air ed restlessly. Around the curiosity spirit, the sery seemed to ripple and blur, the light being slightly dimmer, as if submerged deep uer. Simultaneously, the air around the wind spirit emitted a low hum, like a speaker with power but no sound, the air pressure steadily rising.

  The little spirit, feeling a tad nervous, but uo ignore what she just heard, hesitantly asked, “Um, Miss Curiosity, what does she mean by ‘trick’?”

  “Ahhh—! My gentle spirit!” Curiosity cried melodramatically.

  “You mustn’t listen to what this dummy wind spirit is saying, she’s trying to trick you! She probably didn’t tell you on purpose, but bonds are extremely gy and jealous! Once you form one, you definitely won’t be able to form a sed one or ge it to something else!” she exposed while pointing a mana tendril. “Had I not rushed here to warn you, she definitely would’ve tricked you!”

  “…”

  In other words, one was trying to lure me int a musid, while the other was trying to tempt me into being a curiosity spirit… Is this what they call ‘the pot calling the kettle bck?’

  Sensing the little spirit’s silent accusation, the curiosity spirit hurriedly defended herself. “No, it’s pletely different. Unlike musids, which are so noisy and useless, curiosity bonds help you peer into the secrets of the unknown~!”

  “Okay well, while you have fun peering into your b, ‘secrets of the unknown,’ me and Little Spirit are going to have fun pying music~,” Music stated while reag out a pair of illusory mana tendrils.

  “Noooo—!!” Curiosity reacted quickly and shoved Chara out of the way, only for her to get embraced instead. The pair of essence spirits immediately tried to separate, but the mutual attra between their water and wind element mana caused them to get magized together.

  “Get away from me you dummy wind spirit! How are you going to pensate me if I start dispersing?”

  “Shut up you sloppy water spirit! I already feel the moisture in the air starting to dense—!”

  “Don’t bme me for such a trivial problem. Didn’t that happen because you are too weak?”

  Just as the two were starting up again, an eerie hum swept through the air. Both spirits paused, as a disquieting resonance rippled through the air. It was uling and dissonant, as if someone had pyed three g notes simultaneously.

  The two spirits, like they had reached some kind of unspoken agreement, immediately eheir quarrel and separated, their attention turning somewhere far beyond the hill. At that moment, their swirling gradually ceased, and their mana grew calm as they seemed to fall into a deep, trance like state.

  As the three spirits fell silent, faint vibrations began to stir iillness, rhythmid yered, yet disturbingly out of syn offbeat melody that seemed to disregard every rule of music.

  Chara, deeply uled by the eerie turn of events, looked around anxiously and asked, “Umm, did something happen?”

  The two spirits exited out of their trance like state and exged wary gnces.

  After a short pause, the curiosity spirit approached Chara and spoke, “Little Spirit.” However, before she could give a proper expnation, a haunting, raspy voice echoed through the cavern.

  “A???????r????e???????? ?????y???????o?????u??????? ??????t????????h????e??? ????o???n???e??????? ?????????w??????h?????o???? ????s????????t??????o????????l????????e?????? ????????m???????y????? ????????a????????u???????d???????i?????????e?????n???????c??????e???????”

  maury