Even while being adamant that the thief was Crane, Zarestia wasn't reckless enough to really wager her light sphere with Orsted.
"All right, I'm in. But, are you even a compatible contractor to be a vessel?" Zarestia gazed at Orsted with a serious expression, as if looking through him.
Signing a contract with a spirit wasn't very easy, and it got harder as the spirit rank grew higher.
Therefore, the compatibility of the contractor was very important to spirits. Since, if they forced the contract otherwise - the contractor's mana gate would crumble like a sand castle.
Due to these reasons, for storing higher rank spirits, an anchor was used most of the time. An anchor was a physical object, such as a special glintstone, used to house a spirit or to help establish a contract, a rare and costly item anywhere.
Zarestia's eyes widened slightly for a moment, before she hid it behind her provocative face.
"Your spirit affinity is quite high, but it still falls short of my requirements! You will need a glintstone or else your mana gate would break..."
Orsted cut her off: "Oh, try checking again."
Orsted truthfully didn't feel how Zarestia appraised his body, concluding it to be a special perception belonging to the spirit race.
He activated [Rewrite] internally.
[Rewrite: -10 years] [Rewrite: -10 years] [Rewrite: -10 years]
Orsted spirit affinity stats jumped to 10.2 immediately.
"W-What...?" Zarestia was baffled as she stared at Orsted.
"It's a protection spell against spirits and shaman. While it's activated, others can only see a portion of me." Orsted randomly pasted an explanation to it.
Zarestia accepted the Orsted's word without much suspicion. There were many weird secret techniques in this world, she had come across many of them in her long life.
At some point, Orsted had walked just a step away from Zarestia, as she appeared to be accepting his words.
"So, do you accept the contract?" Orsted extended his hand towards Zarestia.
"....Do you really want to? You know, if you can't find my light sphere within a year, your mana gate will be destroyed from the contract's backlash." Zarestia questioned while still folding her hands.
'Now she is worried about me? I can already predict how easily she was fooled by her followers in ancient times.' Orsted controlled his expression to be neutral.
"Yeah. Shouldn't you be worried about yourself more? If you break the contract, as a spirit, your soul would take a direct hit." Orsted knew exactly how to respond back.
"There's no way I'm going to break a promise! I won't lay a finger on this city's people, you understand?"
Zarestia fussily held Orsted's outstretched hand, sealing the deal. He instantly felt a connection with her, if he wanted, he could even share his mana with her now.
From the start, Orsted wasn't worried about the contract going awry. He had the light sphere with himself and [Rewrite], in case his gate did take any damage.
[You have completed side quest 2! The rewards can be collected anytime.]
[You have obtained two side quests.]
'Two side quests? I should look into them later.' Orsted gazed up.
The citizens were safely dropped to the ground, alongside Crane. The total damage sustained by the whole city was only 10%, done to mostly movable property.
It was way better than the original plot, where Zarestia destroyed half of the city.
Seeing Zarestia's eyes still locked onto Crane, Orsted decided to speak. Wasting too much time with an 'imposter' wasn't ideal.
"I don't think he stole your light sphere." Orsted pointed at Crane's bloating stomach subtly: "For him to head to Zarestia's bed and travel back to Banan would take around two days. However, I have been meeting him everyday. He clearly didn't have the time to steal your light sphere in between."
Orsted's rational analysis was still met with Zarestia's doubtful gaze.
Knowing that words weren't enough, Orsted glanced around and found Crane's severed hand among the wreckage soon.
Picking it up calmly, he walked to Crane, who was staring at him with fanaticism. It was still nothing compared to the lizardman, who he defeated and made into eternal subordinates though.
"Lay down for a second. I will re-attach it." Orsted spoke in a commanding tone.
"....Okay." Crane laid down obediently, his scaly body covered in scratches and dust.
Placing the severed hand beside Crane, while aligning it, Orsted felt the cut was quite clean - showing the attackers skill.
After making sure it was perfectly aligned, he spread his hand above it.
[Shine-Healing] - an advanced rank healing spell. It could heal major open wounds and reattach freshly severed limbs, but cannot restore lost body parts.
Feeling his hands sensation returning, Crane's mood recovered rapidly too.
"I don't know how to thank you, on behalf of the whole city...."
"Then give me back the light sphere."
They both ignored Zarestia naturally. Which just fuelled her indignation.
"You're looking down on me now!"
Seeing her act stubborn again, which was clearly improper for how she looked, Orsted threw back a response calmly.
"Like I said, what if he isn't the thief? If you are so doubtful, just keep an eye on him until he exposes himself." Orsted spoke and helped Crane stand up.
"That's....Alright! You are right, that lizard would definitely get busted eventually."
Seeing Zarestia accepting his suggestion, Orsted offered Crane to drop him at his house.
"There's no need for that..."
"The magic wouldn't recover your lost blood. So your body must still be very weak, don't strain yourself." Orsted supported him, ignoring his words.
"Alright. This favor, as a warrior of the lizard tribe, I will remember it my whole life." Crane swore seriously.
'Well, I owe him a little too, since he helped me buy many materials before... Either way, I want Zarestia to meet more lizard tribesmen and notice her nose's weakness first.' Orsted thought.
Since he was aware of Crane having a family, Orsted decided to lead Zarestia towards his house.
Zarestia looked around the city curiously while following Orsted's back. It was her first time seeing such an advanced city - the last time she left her dwelling was more than 400 years ago.