Evening, Snow's villa. Before a low table, Snow had already prepared the ritual to summon a spirit world creature.
He didn't have any thoughts of summoning a lady or a demigod-level messenger. Or rather, the incantation for the messenger he wanted to summon had long since been decided.
He took out a bottle of expensive "Amber" men's perfume and sprayed it lightly. Simultaneously, he mobilized the power of [A White Horse is Not a Horse], equating the perfume to herbs and essential oils, and then distorting it into "a scent that can please all living creatures."
This wasn't because Snow was stingy with the money for essential oils and hydrosols, but because this was his method for filtering the summoning target.
He used the logic: "Spirit world creatures can be pleased by specific herbs and essential oils. Perfume contains herbs and essential oils. Therefore, perfume can please spirit world creatures." This statement distorted the pointing range of the ritual. However, this distortion also meant that the targets he attracted were all entities that could be influenced by the "Stealing the Concept" ability.
Those entities that were not affected would not be attracted by an irregular ritual like perfume and thus would not appear.
In other words, Snow used this method to exclude all spirit world creatures that were not affected by the "Stealing the Concept" ability from the summoning list. This indirectly guaranteed that he wouldn't fall into danger by accidentally summoning some fellow he couldn't handle.
Having made these preparations, he took out the 200-gold-pound contract paper. This paper looked no different from ordinary A4 paper, but in its lower right corner was a golden emblem depicting a sun symbol--that was the mark left by the old gentleman, Eye of Wisdom, using a Sun domain mystical item, and it was also the source of power for this contract paper.
With everything ready, Snow took a step back and chanted in Ancient Hermes, "I! I summon in my name! The spirit that wanders in the groundless, the friendly creature that can be driven, the high-speed mover beyond imagination."
Yes, it was this incantation--the one Klein had used in the original work.
As the ancient and peculiar syllables of Ancient Hermes rippled through the spiritually sealed space, a cold wind appeared out of thin air. The flickering candlelight was dyed with a layer of ghostly green, and a deep, chilling sensation spread along with it.
At this instant, a blurred figure suddenly rushed out, fast almost beyond the limit of what the naked eye could capture.
But Snow had long been prepared. Overdrawing the Respondent ability triggered; almost the same time he saw the shadow, his preset conditional reflex was activated. He threw out the one-penny coin engraved with the "∞" symbol in his hand almost simultaneously.
"The Arrow Does Not Move!"
The Ancient Hermes incantation was uttered, and a peculiar power distorted the rules within the sealed space. Everything became stuttered. Objectively speaking, the high-speed spirit world creature was still very fast, but its speed felt as if it were completely broken apart, causing every instant of its movement to appear as if it were stationary.
To be precise, it was still moving at a speed that humans and even many high-level entities found difficult to capture. However, as long as Snow wished to observe it, he would certainly be able to capture the moments when it was "stationary."
This strange sense of distortion startled the high-speed spirit world creature. It tried its best to complete its acceleration, but all it did was leave more "stationary" versions of itself in this space.
And Snow finally saw its true appearance clearly.
Firstly, this was a typical spirit body. Its entire body presented a translucent bluish-gray color. At first glance, it looked like a snake with an arrow-head-like head, but upon careful observation, one could find that it actually had its arms tucked against the sides of its body.
Its body length was nearly three meters. Although it was slender like a snake, looking at those two arms that were similar to human hands, holding a high schooler's backpack shouldn't be a problem.
"Dodo-do!"
It seemed completely unable to adapt to its current stuttering state. This spirit world creature, which he didn't know how to address, let out a somewhat pitiful cry, its pair of pale-gold eyes looking at Snow pleadingly.
"I wish to find a messenger. Are you willing? Well, a messenger's job is to help me deliver things to others or bring things back from others to me. Yes, you cannot open them secretly or take them away."
Snow felt the incomprehension transmitted back by the other party and could only explain what kind of job a messenger was. He complained inwardly; in the original work, even a fellow like a safe knew what a messenger meant.
"Dodo!" The spirit body nodded its arrow-shaped head, transmitting the thought that as long as it could fly as it pleased, anything was fine.
"Then let's sign a contract. Well, after all, I'm not some kind of devil. Is there anything you want?" Snow picked up a quill and unhurriedly drafted a messenger contract on the contract paper. However, he still looked up and asked democratically.
"Dodo." The spirit body quickly stated its request that Snow shouldn't limit its speed. Snow raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Deal. However, when delivering a letter and when being summoned, you must stay in front of the target for at least ten seconds. Well, you don't have to stop moving, but at least ensure the other party can see you. If you encounter danger, you can ignore this rule."
"Dodo!" The spirit body moved awkwardly and rapidly in the air, pulling out a series of paused images of itself.
"Don't worry. See if there's any problem. If not, sign the contract." Snow wrote this segment into the contract as well. After confirming the format and that no obvious loopholes were left, he wrote the honorific name of "The Traveler from Distant Time and Space; The Contradictory Spiral of Logic and Wisdom; The Reflection of Knowledge, The Reverse of Truth" in the space for "Contract Witness."
As the honorific name was written, the Sun mark in the lower right corner of the contract paper suddenly emitted a burst of light, and then transformed into an emblem of a mysterious eye with "∞" double pupils.
The moment the emblem changed, the bluish-gray spirit body became significantly more behaved. However, it didn't think much further. Right now, it only wanted to break free from this strange restraint. It took a rough glance at the contract and hurriedly left its spiritual imprint.
'It doesn't know what a messenger means, yet it can understand the content of a contract. Ancient Hermes truly is a magical language.' Snow muttered in his heart. As if recalling something, he added, "Do you have a name? How should I call you?"
"Dodo (You can call me whatever you want, just let me go already)!"
"Then I'll call you 'Dodo' from now on." Snow shrugged and wrote his spiritual imprint along with his name on the paper.
A few seconds later, the contract paper slowly turned to ash. A connection was established between the two. Dodo blinked its large pale-gold eyes, looking cute and goofy, not at all like a typical spirit body.
Feeling the eager mood transmitted from Dodo, Snow immediately unraveled the Paradox charm. The space that had been forcibly fragmented became "continuous" once more. Dodo immediately began to accelerate frantically, as if trying to make up for the time it had lost in one go.
Snow, who was now completely unable to capture Dodo's speed, found the scene somewhat humorous. With a thought, he dismissed the summoning. As Dodo disappeared back into the candlelight, a relaxed smile suddenly appeared on Snow's face--
'Well, no demigods, angels, or strange "licker-dogs" showed up. It seems I'm truly not a back-up plan for some big shot...'
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika Kagura]
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A/N: The image of the messenger is based on Dreepy from Pokémon, as Dragapult is a bit too chubby. As for the name, I'll just call it "Dodo". Just in time to match Lily.
T/N: Dodo (多多). Snow's new messenger. The name is also a pun on the Poké-name.
T/N: In line 47, Snow wondered if the backpack would affect Dodo's speed.
T/N: Dodo's thoughts in lines 57, 61, and 65:
- "As long as you let me fly as I please, anything is fine."
- "You cannot limit my speed."
- "Fine, so hurry up and let me go!"
T/N: Licker-dogs (舔狗 - Tiangou).
A Chinese slang term for someone who shamelessly sucks up to someone else, usually for romantic reasons or in a subordinate way. Here Snow is joking about not being a "special" person serving a higher entity.