Chapter 380: Contract Magic
Upon his return to camp, Kir found Char waiting for him with Rena, conversing over the equation Kir had been trying to teach the latter when the radio crystal had shattered. Specifically over the role of acceleration, which Rena thought of as the core concept whereas Char was advocating more for displacement as what she should focus on.
Rena seemed annoyed because Char understood the math just by having been in the room. Of course, Kainur had given his daughter an algebraic education, and by her own accounts, Char had performed many essential roles in his government, freeing up her father to seek personal power. She was certainly reliable, as Kir had discovered with each passing day.
He was loathed to break up their argument because a minute in he recognized how Char was subtly leading Rena into understanding the displacement equation better, but the prospect of how he would enthrone Lapins necessitated swift and decisive action.
"Char, may I borrow you for a moment?" Kir asked as soon as there was a pause.
"You have only to say so, Duke Kir," she replied, placing her quill atop a sheet that had been filled with equations.
"Should I go?" Rena asked.
"You don’t have to," Kir answered, before turning back to Char. "Two things. First, what happened to Kainur’s weapon?"
"I thought you had claimed it," Char replied. "No demon would have dared to take it, risking your wrath."
"I don’t have it," Kir said. "In fact, I completely forgot about it until I learned what Kangetsu could do to these Elevated."
After a brief explanation of what he’d discovered, Char held her chin. "I did not know of this. But if Azkrul is missing, it is a potent artifact to have lost." She named her father’s soulbound weapon.
Kir sighed, but there was nothing to be done at this point. "The second thing is: I need to know about contract magic... so that I can form an agreement with the future queen of these lands."