Today was the day for a special lesson to learn spellcasting. William was overcome with emotion as he stood in the middle of the wasteland of the Rodante territory.

It was not only a day to learn spellcasting, but also the first step in the wasteland reclamation project. As important as this day was…

“Mother, why did you come along?”

“Siod told me to come.”

He wasn’t particularly displeased, but somehow it bothered him. William kept glancing at Guinevere holding Larisa.

‘Larisa will probably get bored here anyway.’

“Let’s begin.”

William put aside his worries and looked at Siod.

Siod summoned a sylph with spellcasting. As soon as the sylph appeared, it suddenly flew in front of William’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

The sylph had a tearful expression. Siod spoke indifferently.

“It knows I’m going to terminate the contract.”

The sylph clung to William’s shoulder, shaking its head repeatedly. William unconsciously cupped his hands around the sylph protectively and asked.

“Why are you terminating it?”

“You can only contract with one elemental attribute at a time. Since it’s a structure where you borrow each other’s power by binding souls, it’s impossible to contract with multiple elementals at once. And today we need an undine.”

“Ah, then can we meet again?”

Larisa interjected.

Siod, who was about to terminate the contract with the sylph without much thought, felt awkward at the children’s reaction. He scratched his cheek with his finger and said.

“We can’t meet again…”

“Why not?”

“Elementals lose their sense of self when they return to the elemental realm. In the first place, when summoning them to this world, the elementalist essentially creates their sense of self with magic…”

The sylph flew over to Larisa with a face that looked like it would burst into tears if it could. Larisa quickly hugged the sylph and asked.

“What’s a sense of self?”

“Will, emotions, things like that.”

“Then we can’t!”

Larisa started to whimper. When her precious daughter-in-law began to cry, Guinevere’s eyes widened.

“Just leave it be.”

“No, to reclaim this wasteland, we first need to make it rain, and an undine is perfect for that…”

“Lala is crying.”

“Vera, didn’t you want to see an undine too?”

“Not necessary.”

William said with a troubled expression.

“Do you really have to terminate it?”

“Children. Elementals aren’t like pets. For example… they’re like consumables. Even though it looks sad now, it’s just imitating human emotions.”

At that, William looked at him with contempt. Larisa also cried out while sobbing.

“Sylph is not a thing!”

Lala completely hid the sylph in her arms. Siod was flustered by the unexpected situation. He began trying to persuade William again.

“William, are you going to leave this wasteland as it is? If you contract with an undine, you can make it rain and dig wells that are essential for forming a village.”

“But…”

William hesitated, looking at the sylph tightly held in Larisa’s arms.

“Losing their sense of self, isn’t that like dying?”

“It’s not dying. They just return to their natural state.”

“That sounds like the same thing.”

Ha. Siod let out a sigh. If he had known it would be like this, he should have terminated the contract beforehand and come.

He thought it would be educational to let them watch the process of terminating a contract with an elemental and forming a new one, but seeing the children’s reactions, he had become the bad guy, education or not.

“Even though the sylph looks sad now, it won’t feel anything once it returns to the elemental realm. And don’t you want to see an undine? Undines are very pretty too…”

“No. I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Larisa said, crying. Guinevere stepped in.

“I can make it rain, that’s nothing.”

“No, to teach William spellcasting, I need to form a familiar contract with him anyway. The contract with an elemental is also a soul contract, so it can’t overlap.”

“You’re going to form a familiar contract with William?”

It was the first time she had heard of making a person a familiar. Guinevere’s eyes widened.

“How can I trust you to form a familiar contract with my son…”

“He’s my son too, you know?”

With a familiar, you not only share power but also consciousness. But since the familiar is unilaterally controlled by the master’s will, Guinevere found it unsettling.

“What’s a familiar contract?”

“If you do that, Siod can control your body.”

After hearing Guinevere’s explanation, William also made a horrified expression.

“No, didn’t you say you don’t know how to pronounce spellcasting? This is the best method there is.”

William pretended to retch.

“Ugh.”

“And while I’m controlling William, my physical body will be defenseless, so I called you, Vera, to protect me.”

Guinevere snorted as if that was out of the question.

“Hmph.”

Siod scratched his head, feeling awkward. Meanwhile, Larisa was still crying loudly while hugging the sylph tightly.

“Don’t send Sylph away. Please?”

“Haaa…”

It was an obstacle from the start. William stepped in.

“Isn’t there a way for me to contract with the undine instead?”

“You want to contract with an undine?”

“Yes.”

William answered resolutely. Siod sighed and tried to persuade him.

“I’ll say it again, but there’s no method as effective in teaching you spellcasting as familiar magic. If we just do it once, won’t you get the hang of it? Kids, let’s just close our eyes and send the sylph away this one time.”

Larisa was completely upset and buried her head in Guinevere’s arms while tightly hugging the sylph.

“I told you to leave it be.”

Guinevere glared at him.

“No, if you just send the sylph away once, you can learn spellcasting! I’m the contractor in the first place, why can’t I do as I please!”

“Can’t you do that much for the kids? As a father?”

“…”

Siod, who had been silently screaming, finally gave up and sat down.

“Fine. Do as you please.”

“I can make it rain, can’t I?”

“Vera, just giving William a fish won’t teach him how to fish. I’m trying to educate him now.”

“It’s your fault for summoning the sylph and letting the kids get attached to it in the first place.”

“Who knew they’d get attached in just one day?”

Guinevere spoke in a gloomy voice.

“That’s how kids are. I was the same. I don’t want to teach my children the feeling of feeding onions to the dogs of the mercenary corps.”

‘Am I the only trash here?’

Siod swallowed those words, unable to speak them aloud. Because he felt the answer “Yes, you’re the only trash” would come back.

With no other choice, Siod sat William down opposite him and let out a sigh.

“Ah, to think we have to go this roundabout way when there’s a faster method…”

“I’ll try my best.”

“You really have to work hard.”

“Yes.”

William nodded firmly, looking at the sobbing Larisa. Larisa started to cheer him on.

“Willy, you can do it! Please protect our Sylphy!”

“Don’t worry.”

“Kids… I told you not to name them…”

Siod said, holding his forehead. Guinevere snapped coldly.

“It doesn’t matter since Larisa isn’t the contractor anyway. Hurry up and teach him.”

Siod looked at the sylph in Larisa’s arms, who was in Guinevere’s arms. He saw the sylph smile gently when their eyes met.

‘That…! Did it just smile?’

Perhaps he had left it with William for too long. The sylph, having quickly learned about humans, was now even manipulating its own master.

As Siod floundered in the swamp of shock, William sat down in front of him and cleared his throat.

“Ahem, shall we start quickly?”

“…Sigh. Alright. But!”

“But?”

“If you can’t summon an undine within a week, we’ll terminate the contract with the sylph.”

“What?”

William’s eyes widened. At the same time, Larisa started crying loudly.

“Waaah, Mother! What about our Sylphy?”

“Don’t worry, Larisa. If Sylphy dies, I’ll kill that dragon bastard too.”

“Oh come on! Vera, just go. You’re not helping at all educationally!”

“You think I’m joking? Know that if you break our children’s hearts, you’ll lose your heart.”

“No, what kind of threat…”

Does she mean to use my heart to turn back time? For just a sylph? Siod was terrified. He thought Guinevere might really do it if she set her mind to it.

‘Haha, what an absurd thought… Surely not.’

That’s not what he meant when he said he’d give his heart. But Guinevere seemed to take it as if she had gained an infinite power to turn back time.

“Ah, let’s start quickly.”

“Alright. Repeat after me.”

Pulled out of his thoughts by William’s urging, Siod let out a big sigh and uttered the spellcasting.

If he had terminated the contract with the sylph, an undine would have appeared just by calling. But now, since he was soul-bound with the sylph, nothing happened.

“Undine?”

“Un, undine.”

“Hundine?”

“This is going nowhere! I told you we need to do a familiar contract!”

Siod cried out in frustration.

“William, if I take over your body and use spellcasting with your body, you’ll get the hang of it after that, I’m telling you! Just listening and repeating like this won’t do any good no matter how long we try.”

William frowned and replied.

“It hasn’t been a week yet.”

Siod clutched his chest in frustration. Spellcasting wasn’t something just anyone could imitate, and it would only be possible if he directly trained William’s vocal cords with his body. But to be so uncooperative like this.

“Undine. Hundine. Unnie!”

“Willy! You can do it!”

They say no parent can win against their child, and Siod could only watch William’s futile efforts with sad eyes.