“He said I had talent! Fuck you! All bullshit!”

Katarina shouted as she ran through the winding dark tunnel. A wolf donning dark gray fur chased after her. Flames rose from the wolf’s forehead, and from its undulating tail made entirely of fire.

Yes.

After all it was an ancient fire elemental, not just any ordinary wolf.

Katarina found the fire elemental in this deep caravan, and she roused herself up to convince it into making a contract, but before she could open her mouth, the spirit transformed into a wolf and leapt.

“Shedia! Help me!!”

She shouted urgently, but Shedia, who had sunk into Katarina’s shadow, did not pop out.

The distance between her and the wolf gradually inched closer.

Shedia remained unresponsive.

That made Katarina more restless. Taking a few hops further, she bit her lips.

‘If I only keep running like this, I would eventually be eaten alive and then everything will be over. If that’s the case…’

Katarina halted on her tracks and turned around. She drew out her curved saber with both hands and glared at the half-flaming wolf scuttling towards her.

Big.

And huge.

That gigantic maw could easily munch her in half.

Katarina’s body stiffened with fear.

Taking advantage of the gap, the wolf pounced on her. Katarina shut her eyes as the wolf lunged for her.

The faces of her mother, her father, and her younger siblings flashed through her mind.

It was Cloud who came at the end.

He was her first love and the man who would be her last.

‘I should have kissed him one more time before leaving.’

She regretted, reluctant to let go.

Moments later, Katarina’s body, pushed by the wolf, was knocked over. She had thought the stone floor to be scraping and rough, but it was… surprisingly soft.

‘..Fluffy?’

Why was the stone floor soft?

Katarina opened her closed eyes. The large wolf was supporting her body with its forelimbs. And before she even got a sense of what had transpired.

– Lick.

“Ugh?!”

The wolf licked Katarina with its large tongue, drowning her in saliva. She stalled and blinked, this dumb cute behaviour was expected of a puppy and not from a freaking grown ass wolf, the size difference was huge.

“Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute. Stop it.”

– Lick.

“Stop it…”

– Lick.

“Stop!!”

Katarina crowed loudly.

The wolf, startled, threw its head back with a sullen expression.

– Eeek…

This time, it was Katarina who was taken aback.

“Uhh… sorry for yelling at you?”

The sullen wolf’s expression softened slightly.

Katarina tentatively questioned the wolf.

“Are you a fire elemental?”

The wolf stared at Katarina without any reaction.

“Th… are you thinking of signing a contract with me? Any chance..? As for the terms of the contract, um… well, there’s an old elf up there? A bit pushy? Yeah. He will arrange it.”

Finding it unresponsive, Katarina continued to speak gibberish.

Don’t you want to go outside, aren’t tunnels and only tunnels so boring, there are many beautiful things outside, and so on.

The wolf just stared, and stared.

Anxiety bloomed in Katarina’s mind.

“You don’t want to sign a contract..? Looks like…we couldn’t reach an understanding. I’m sorry for taking your time. Now, if you would let me go…”

– Lick.

“Ugh!?”

The wolf gawked at Katarina once more and changed its form, flaring up. The huge wolf blossomed into red fire and the fire gathered in one twirl.

The wolf’s forelegs suddenly disappeared, knocking Katarina onto her butt. She looked at the fire elemental as she rubbed her ass.

“Will you sign a contract?”

Sparks spurted slightly from the fire elemental.

Taking that as a sign of acceptance, Katarina experimentally reached out her hand. A thin skein of fire shot from the elemental and licked Katarina’s palm.

“Ah!”

Katarina hurriedly withdrew her hand from the sting. Could she have been burned? She examined her palm.

“”

Instead of burns, her palms had strange, unreadable writing.

As she tilted her head, the fire spirit approached and rubbed itself on her cheek. Although the fireball touched her face, it was strangely… not hot.

“Are we contracted?”

~Yes~

The elemental’s inscriptions had been handed down to her.

Katarina jerked up in surprise at the sudden voice as the elemental perched up to reassure her that it was the elementals’ means of communication.

Then something rose from Katarina’s shadow.

“Shedia?”

“Um.”

“…You didn’t come out when I called for you way earlier.”

“I didn’t feel any killing intent from the wolf. If I had felt it, I would have come.”

“Is that so?”

“Um.”

Katarina let out a small sigh as Shedia nodded her head boldly. Well, she was right. The fire elemental didn’t want to harm Katarina, it was just a prank. A heart whopping prank.

“Okay. Now, let’s go find the other elementals…”

Katarina, who was about to pull her along, hesitated.

Shedia was looking at the lively fire elemental with twinkling eyes.

Katarina recalled how Shedia had stretched out her hand for an elemental, and she sulked as the elemental fled away.

“Do you want to touch it?”

“…Can I?”

“Uh. Are you fine with it?”

Katarina asked her elemental. The elemental was reluctant, but it did not refuse her request.

Taking that as a yes, Shedia reached out, able to touch an elemental for the first time in her life.

Seeing Shedia giggle like a child, Katarina smiled happily, affected by her spirit. Looking at her, she felt like she was looking at her own sister.

“Shedia, how old are you?”

Shedia was puzzled by Katarina’s somewhat unexpected question. But it wasn’t a particularly important question for her, so she just answered.

“Twenty.”

“Really?”

‘She’s only two years older than me, actually..?’