Chapter 24

Nene suddenly entered the room.

"Hey, what about the lock? You usually lock it, so if Nene can just come in, you must have forgotten to lock it today, right?"

"Who's there?"

Nene stood frozen, looking bewildered.

"Thief...?"

Well, of course! I look like a girl because of the influence of summoning Crossel. If someone doesn't know me, they would think I'm a thief!

Oh no, what should I do!?

I can't possibly tell her that this happened because of the summoning ritual!

If I say that, she might find out about the demon summoning too!

But what should I do? What excuse can I give!?

"Hey, Crossel! What do you think I should do to get out of this situation!"

I gave up trying to think of a solution and turned to Crossel for help.

"Huh, w-what should I do!?! I-I mean, what should I do... Ah, I have an idea!"

"What is it? Tell me quickly!"

Nene is looking at me with a suspicious eye.

I can't afford to take any more time to think.

"Well, how about saying you're Norman's girlfriend? Hee hee, I said it!"

Crossel said this while blushing for some reason.

But it's not a bad idea!

"I, I'm actually Norman's girlfriend..."

Will this work? Can I fool her?

"Huh!? You're my brother's girlfriend!?"

Nene's eyes sparkled as she came over to me.

It seems to have worked.

"Um, what's your name? Where did you meet my brother? What do you like about him? Do you go on dates with him?"

Nene is really pushing me hard.

"Um, one question at a time, please..."

"Oh, sorry. I got a bit excited."

Encountering my brother's girlfriend is such an exciting thing...

"Still, where did my brother go? To leave such a cute girlfriend behind..."

"Hehe... He said he had some business to attend to."

"Is that so? Still, he should have told us he has a girlfriend."

Nene said this with a pouting tone.

"You and your sister seem to get along well," Crossel commented.

"I don't really think we get along that well," I replied.

"Oh, really?"

Actually, Nene always complains about something whenever we meet. But lately, she has seemed a bit nicer.

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Nene Eslund. I'm one year younger than my brother."

Nene sat down in my room.

She seems to be settling in.

"Um, my name is..."

"What should I do, name?"

"Crossel should be fine, right?"

"My name is Crossel."

"So, you're Crossel. How did you meet my brother?"

"Um, well..."

"What should I say?"

"It was a fated encounter."

"It was a fated encounter."

"Wow, that's so romantic! What do you like about my brother?"

"It's his kindness!"

"His kindness... I didn't know he had that side."

This is basically me praising myself.

Oh, this is so embarrassing.

"So, do you often go on dates?"

"We haven't gone on a date yet," Crossel said in my head, so I repeated it.

"Really!? That's so unfair, my brother!"

"No, um, we just started dating..."

I said this to try to salvage my image.

"Really!? Then this must be the hottest period, right!"

Nene leaned in even more.

"Kyaa! This is the hottest period!"

"Why is Crossel so excited too?"

If this continues, Nene's conversation will never end.

I need to find a way out.

"Um, I just remembered something urgent..."

"Huh, really? You don't have to wait for my brother to come back?"

"Um, I have a meeting with Norman..."

"Oh, sorry! I'm in the way. I'll leave now. See you again, Crossel."

Nene seemed to have figured something out and quickly left the house.

Well, there's nothing for her to figure out.

"Really a good sister, isn't she!" Crossel said cheerfully.

"I guess she's not a bad person."

But I need to think of a way to change back quickly.

"Why did this happen in the first place?"

"Well, it's because Norman summoned me. When you summoned Iam, this didn't happen, right?"

I wondered what happened to the sigil on my left hand and looked at it.

The sigil of Iam was still on the back of my left hand.

There was an unfamiliar sigil on the back of my right hand.

"Is this Crossel's sigil?"

"Yes! The pattern of angel wings inside the circle is definitely my sigil."

So, the sigil appeared on my hand when I summoned Crossel, just like it did with Iam.

Then, what's the cause?

I thought about it and remembered a few things.

Iam had said before:

"Don't try to take in all of me. You'll end up taking over your own self. A tenth, no, a hundredth of my spirit is enough."

Nene had said something similar:

"Summoning is difficult to control. If you take in all of the spirit, you risk being taken over. But if you take in too little, it won't be effective."

So, this happened because I took in all of Crossel.

Summoning is a deep and complex art.

If I had lost consciousness while fighting the magic that was making me spew blood, my body would have been taken over by Crossel.

I'm not sure why my appearance changed, but since I summoned a demon, it's not surprising that something unusual happened.

Anyway, now that I know it's just a matter of control, there's a good chance I can return to my original form by following the ritual in the magic book to exorcise the spirit.

So, I performed the exorcism ritual as described in the magic book.

It wasn't easy, and I failed several times, but after a few hours, I finally returned to my original form.

The path to learning water magic is still a long one.