Edea: Hero Summoning Conspiracy 229 Odd One Ou

Kazuya crossed his arms and looked at the current scene with amus.e.m.e.nt. 

All 19 of the servants who joined the exercise were currently laying on the ground without any energy to get back up.

Only Nell, who was not even required to join the skirmish, was left barely standing as Kazuya purposely held back when hitting her because unlike how they first met, her current self was a lot weaker and had experienced far less compared to the Nell Kazuya was most familiar with.

"So, is everyone convinced?" Kazuya glanced at each of the slaves who were struggling to get back up.

"It's not over yet!" Nell shouted back at him and started concentrating her remaining mana towards her legs.

Proving a point was not the only reason Kazuya started this exercise. He also wanted to a.s.sess the combat capabilities of each of the servants he had purchased.

While the majority of them were once kept by Raizer to be later thrown into the slave coliseum, none of them even came close to putting a scratch on the new master that eliminated any restraints from their slave crests when they launched their attacks against him.

Kazuya had even given them the incentive of giving them back their freedom if they were able to defeat him in this exercise.

"I should be saying that there isn't even a point for you to be joining in on this exercise but… from the way you're looking at me, I guess you won't be heeding my advice." Kazuya shook his head and gave her an opening to exploit.

*SWIs.h.!.+*

Nell had taken the bait perfectly and appeared on Kazuya's side almost immediately.

"Not bad!" Kazuya took a light step to the side.

Nell missed the kick she tried to deliver and immediately used the leg that had stayed on the ground to launch herself after the light-footed young man.

*TZZT!*

She felt a sharp pain on the leg that had been used to launch herself in another direction all of a sudden. Gritting her teeth to withstand the pain, Nell glanced at Kazuya's carefree expression and launched another attack.

"Though I admire your persistence…"

Kazuya immediately disappeared from her sight.

"Where!?"

"Behind you."

"Wh!?"

*GRAB!*

To the onlookers, Kazuya simply placed a hand on her shoulder. For Nell on the other hand, it felt as if an unstoppable force was pus.h.i.+ng down on her.

The momentum she had gained was immediately halted. Nell could not even fight back as she fell to her knees due to the force that Kazuya made her experience.

"I admire your determination. You are probably the best combatant amongst—" Kazuya immediately stopped speaking and turned around.

A little girl with long velvet hair stopped her silent steps after Kazuya had noticed her approach.

*stare*

She met his gaze without fear. This action was not what surprised Kazuya the most. What baffled him was the quality of mana that was being gathered around Lucia.

"(This girl's mana…)"

"Icicle… Orb…" the little girl whispered in a tone that was barely audible as she raised both hands towards Nell and Kazuya's direction. 

A white orb floated and left Lucia's hands. It slowly approached Kazuya who was not far from where Lucia had stopped approaching.

"Magic!?"

"The little girl knows how to cast magic spells!?"

"But that thing is moving so slowly…"

None of them had any expectations of the sudden entrance of the youngest slave that had been bought along with them. What was in their minds right now was if Kazuya had been aware of this talent of hers when she was purchased along with them.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Kazuya immediately activated his right to command.

He lowered his stance and covered the kneeling Nell from the orb of ice that had begun showing signs of change.

"You…" Nell was both surprised by Kazuya's action and curious about why he was showing such a serious expression.

It did not take long for her to get her answer.

The concentrated mana that had formed the ice ball expanded at a rapid pace as soon as it started spinning at an increasing rate.

"Tsk!" Kazuya clicked his tongue after seeing that due to their injuries, the slaves had yet to follow his command.

*SLAM!*

"Gaian Barricade!" Kazuya thrust his palm down on the ground.

As Icicles started getting released from the spinning ball of ice, a wall of earth swiftly sprung from the ground to block the ones that were going to hit the defenseless servants that were scattered on the field.

"Wha—!?" Nell was not the only one who was stunned.

It looked like not only was the little girl capable of casting such a spell, their new master was even able to counter it in such a quick and decisive manner!

Those who were confused as to what just happened, turned to see that Kazuya had just used his own body to protect Nell whilst casting a protective spell towards many of their fallen companions.

The slow, yet devastating spell that had activated did not last for very long. The moment it was about to end, Kazuya had risen to his feet and faced towards the little spell caster who had caused all of this.

*drip*

Nell noticed red liquid dropping on the earth in front of her and quickly turned towards Kazuya.

Before she could say anything, his image blurred and appeared on Lucia's side.

*CHOP!*

Without even giving a chance for the little girl to react, his palm had already hit the back of her neck and caused the velvet haired young magician to lose consciousness.

"Clever, but reckless." He caught her small and pet.i.te body before she fell to the ground and was placed beside the kneeling Nell.

"You're hurt…" looking at the icicle embedded on his shoulder.

Kazuya ignored what she said and used his arm to dispel the hard earth that s.h.i.+elded the other servants. The earthen barrier slowly returned back to the ground and Kazuya made sure that none of them were hit with that unexpected ice spell.

"(I did not expect to get my very first unexpected injury this early…)" Kazuya thought about his current state.

He had released 2 levels of the multiple layers of seals that he had placed on himself to be able to handle the first batch of recruits. At his current level, if he had wanted to perfectly defend himself and everyone, he would have needed to release another level of the seal or push his current self to a dangerous limit.

"(Looks like there is a need for further adjustment. I've gotten too used to the limited potential of my body back on earth that I seem to have overdone it with the limitations I've been setting after the effects of the summoning ritual…)" he pondered.

He pulled out the cold icicle that had been numbing his wound and applied healing magic to it immediately.

"(He knows healing magic too!?)" Nell didn't think that she would even be more surprised than she currently was.

Unfortunately for her, it still was not over. As Kazuya's decision to not push himself and take the injury was for the action that he was about to do next.

"Sanctuary!" A soothing light began expanding from Kazuya's vicinity and soon covered all those who had been laying on the ground.

These had been one of the skills that he learned recently. While he already had a grasp of basic spells and techniques for healing, there was not anyone back in his world who could teach him advanced support and healing spells such as this wide area healing spell.

"My injuries…" the pain Nell had been feeling was fading away at a rapid pace.

The fallen slaves rose back to their feet and gathered in front of Kazuya before respectfully kneeling in front of him.

None of them had any doubts about his words earlier and majority of them felt reverence towards this young master of theirs.

They already heard that he had been a victim of betrayal so many of them could only imagine the kind of people who would have the ability to push this young man's former companions to death.

Their confidence in themselves as well as their own capabilities were shaken. It was only at this moment that the warnings about a perilous journey with this young man had hit them. He truly was not lying when he said that the chances were them losing their lives were to be expected.

Nell was hesitating whether to join the kneeling slaves or not. She had already been given back her freedom so she could only remain seated beside Lucia, who slowly began showing signs of regaining consciousness.

"I have seen what you all are currently capable of and have experienced your pride and courage first hand," Kazuya looked at each of them seriously.

"All of you will soon sign a soul contract in addition to retaining your slave crests. This will be until the time that you have either, done deeds to potentially have me consider giving you back your freedom, or showed enough potential to be shared secrets with."

"While many of you might think that I may be being paranoid, by signing the soul contract, once you have done enough to get your freedom back, you will be given a choice."

"(A choice?)" Nell, who had helped Lucia sit up, wondered what Kazuya meant by those words.

"A choice to continue serving me as a free person… or go off on your own at the cost of losing all of the memories that you have under my service. This is non-negotiable and many of you shall understand why it is so, soon enough."

"Losing your memories..." Nell had a serious look.

This was not anything unheard of as such similar spells were required to be cast onto those who would be promoted to sensitive positions in various organizations. The only concern that many of them thought about was that there had been very few who had been capable of such complex spells. 

Nell stared at the confident back of Kazuya who had been informing his slaves about the contents of the soul contract that they would be signing. It had been very similar to the one she had received but there was one thing that she could not get out of her mind.

She read through the magical contract in her hands once more to make sure that she was not seeing what she should have been seeing. 

Nell glanced at Kazuya with a puzzled expression and wondered what was going on as soon as she finished reading everything thoroughly. 

"(Why does my contract not mention anything about losing my memories?)

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