Edited by: ASaltedFish
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There was no fear or anxiety in his eyes, even when facing the Marshal who was royalty. Ellery couldn’t care less about who he was meeting. Even though he respected the Imperial family, it didn’t mean that he would cower in awe or disbelief. Not when he and Aster were SS-ranked guides that haven’t been seen in hundreds of years.
Aster didn’t understand their power like he did.
Ellery knew that he and Aster would be able to live a better life than even the Emperor. Most high-ranking sentinels would hope they had compatibility with him, even if average, so they could continue living without the fear of being consumed by chaotic energy. Even if Marshal Caecius refused to protect him, there were other high-ranking sentinels who would bend over backward to do so. With two spiritual seas in this body, he would have twice the chance of having a high compatibility rating with sentinels than your average guide.
In the Zevaria Empire, three out of the five SS-ranked sentinels did not have a permanent guide, who knew if one or all of them were compatible with him.
Not only that, the other countries in the Galaxy would also try to fight to have him come and live in their country.
He would become the most sought-after individual in the galaxy once he got his rank retested.
“To answer Marshal Caecius’ question, no, we didn’t steal those stabilizers that Aster gave you. He created them himself, the ones in the shop were created with my spiritual sea. As you may have guessed, we have two spiritual seas in one body. That means there are two souls in this body.”
“If you need further proof, I can show you.”
Adjutant Ito couldn’t help but mumble to himself while scratching his chin in confusion. “How… How is that possible? Two souls in one body… and that created two spiritual seas…”
“Okay, come on out Sol, Lune!” Ellery summoned the two quantum beasts at the same time.
On his lap, Sol sat down and gave a wave. He was just like Ellery, full of warmth and energy. As for Lune, he popped up on Ellery’s head and didn’t wave. He just stared at Marshal Caecius with curious but cautious eyes. He was just like Aster.
When a sentinel and a guide had high compatibility, the moment one of them unleashed their quantum beasts, the other party’s quantum beast would also be uncontrollably drawn out… So Marshal Caecius’ and Adjutant Ito’s quantum beasts popped out. They were in a much smaller form to fit inside the house, but they were sitting on their laps, staring at Sol and Lune.
Adjutant Ito’s quantum beast, Dusky, was staring at Sol. Marshal Caecius’ quantum beast, Casir, was staring at Lune.
It seemed that Ellery had high compatibility with Adjutant Ito, and Aster had high compatibility with Marshal Caecius.
“Oh… It seems I have a really high compatibility with you, Adjutant Ito. Would you like some of the stabilizers with my spiritual experience before you go?” It was another possible contract!
“Of course! And while you are at it, why don’t you marry me as well?” Adjudicant Ito was so excited he ended up blurting out what he had jokingly told Marshal Caecius about what he would do should he meet someone he had a high compatibility with. This time, though, he was pretty serious!
Well, even if they didn’t get married, he wanted to at least establish a guide contract with Ellery so that even if he fell in love with someone else, he could still have a guide to help him and send him stabilizers when needed.
Luckily, because of the low population of guides, sentinels were not allowed to monopolize their partners or they would be forcefully separated and the sentinel would be re-educated.
Ellery couldn’t help but chuckle. “If I were the main one in charge of this body, I would have considered it. Unfortunately, I no longer have complete control of this body on normal occasions. I will be sure to have Aster give you a discount though, since you are cute and my type. Well, he’s listening right now, but I will make sure he follows through with my promise.”
To be honest, he couldn’t help but feel a little sad. If Ellery had known Adjutant Ito before his rebirth, he would have considered Adjutant Ito instead of that bastard, Leonard. Maybe he wouldn’t have died such a stupid death, and he would have been able to live happily ever after…
Even so, a part of him was glad that he was able to see the true colors of that bastard and his own best friend. He was also extremely grateful to have been able to meet Aster.
Still, he wished they could have two separate bodies so that they would be able to live together as best friends for the rest of their lives.
Adjutant Ito couldn’t help but smile and thanked Ellery. He was prepared for an outright rejection but it made him feel a sense of accomplishment that someone as beautiful as Ellery thought he was cute! It was a victory in his book.
“Anyway, since you two know that there are two souls in this body and two quantum beasts, you understand that Aster and I didn’t steal someone else’s stabilizers, right? Do you have any questions before I begin our negotiations?”
He felt he only had around an hour remaining before control over the body returned to Aster, so it was best to get all the business out of the way before Aster’s soul came back. He felt that… it would take some time for Aster to forgive Marshal Caecius for spiritually attacking him.
Marshal Caecius finally found the chance to jump into the conversation. “Yes… I was wondering, when did you wake up with Aster’s soul in your body, and why did this happen…”
“That’s a good question. Do you remember when I got into that incident during the excursion with the Military Academy and was in a coma for a month? Yeah, Aster’s soul came into my body at that time.
“I theorized my soul had died, but my body was alive so my soul could not leave this body. At the same time, Aster died in his world, and his soul traversed time and space and somehow ended up in my body instead of in a baby in a womb with no soul yet… This is all just theory, though. I don’t know the actual answers to this but I feel like this isn’t too far from the answer.”
He didn’t mention his rebirth though. That was just too much and it was something that he didn’t want to tell anyone. If he had to tell someone about his dark history, he would have to kill them afterward… Except for Aster of course.
Ellery rubbed his chin while crossing his legs. He had a lot of energy, so he was constantly moving.
“Aster has no memories of this universe, so it’s not a lie to say he can’t remember anything about my life. It’s just that he has me, so he’s not completely clueless about the ways of this society.”
“Anyway, does that answer your questions? Have any more?”
“Um… You said Aster was listening, right? Can you tell him that I’m really sorry about earlier? I didn’t mean to do that to him.”
Marshal Caecius could not get over the fact that he not only attacked a guide, but also hurt one who had high compatibility with him. If he accidentally killed Aster… He… Would be sure to kill himself because there would be no point in living after that.
“Hmmm… Mhmm… Okay. I will let him know.” Ellery nodded his head while talking to himself.
If Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito didn’t know there were two souls in his body, they would think he was crazy and delusional.
“Aster said that he can’t forgive you right now, but he’s open to the idea of forgiving you in the future. He has some unresolved trauma that you opened up so he isn’t sure he even has the mental capacity to forgive you at the moment. He is, however, open to the idea of continuing negotiations on the contract for both guiding services and a steady supply of stabilizers.
“In my opinion, you can use the time during guiding services to talk with Aster and maybe he will be able to forgive you as he gets to know you.”
“I understand. Thank you, Aster, for giving me that opportunity. I will be sure to make it up to you as it was my fault that this happened.”
“Aster said okay and he appreciated that you apologized. He may be uncomfortable with you from here on out but he hopes that you won’t take it to heart.”
“I won’t… Thank you.”
Marshal Caecius, for the first time in his 40+ years of existence, felt distressed and didn’t know what to do.
He hoped that he would be able to get along with Aster and, in the future, maybe even consider a romantic relationship. Well, he was sure that this was the hope for most single sentinels who had a high compatibility rating with a guide for the first time.
If only he knew about Leonard and his to-be lover, Darian…
“Alright, now that that is settled, let us draft a contract for guiding services and the steady supplies of stabilizers for both Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito.”
Not only will Ellery and Aster get paid for their services, they will also receive protection from the First Fleet. They would be able to continue to stay in their home, but they would just have guards patrolling the property and escorting them to and from school. If Aster wanted to go out, there would be guards stationed nearby at all times.
Even though Aster was a little uncomfortable with this arrangement, he knew it was necessary, especially because they wanted to get their rank retested and verified. Once their rank was updated, it would be put into the Guide Association’s database that was open to the public.
As someone who doesn’t like to be around a lot of people, minimizing trouble and human interaction was the best thing for Aster as he gets exhausted after just a couple of hours with people.
As for stabilizers, Aster and Ellery were only contracted to make enough for Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito. Other sentinels would have to buy from their store. As for guide services, Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito would come to their house once a week. This was because military folks were often fighting with Ineks who were a threat to the Empire’s safety every day. Getting guided once a week was the best way to prevent accidents.
When Ellery and Aster graduate, the contract will be updated according to the situation.
After creating the contract, it had to be sent to the Guide Association, Sentinel Association, and the military’s legal team to confirm that the Guide signing the contract was in no way being exploited or manipulated into something that would go against their well-being. This process would take two days at most.
Adjutant Ito sent a copy of the contract over to Ellery, “Please look over the contract once more to confirm that everything is correct. If you have any more suggestions or concerns, please let me know now.”
Ellery nodded and looked over the contract once more. It took him a couple of minutes, but he could see that everything was perfect. He also asked Aster who also confirmed the contract. They didn’t need anything else.
“Everything is good.”
“That’s good. We need to have witnesses to sign the contract but that can wait until after it’s been processed through the Guide and Sentinel Associations and the military’s legal team.”
“Perfect, thank you so much.”
“It’s no problem at all. Thank you for today.” Adjutant Ito gave a bow to signal that he was done.
Now that Adjutant Ito was done, Marshal Caecius spoke up. “This isn’t part of the contract, but is it possible to purchase some stabilizers today? It will be for our own personal use. I would like to prevent what happened today from ever happening again.”
Ellery thought about it and asked Aster what he thought. Aster was okay with it. “That’s fine. I can grab what I have in stock right now, but you both will need to come and get it.”
“That’s fine with us.” Adjutant Ito replied and excitedly got up. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on Ellery’s stabilizers and experience what other sentinels experienced!
Marshal Caecius and Adjutant Ito followed Ellery up the stairs to his stabilizer lab. When he was about to open the door, Ellery realized most of the stabilizers left were S and SS ranked.
“What’s wrong?” Adjutant Ito was confused as to why he stopped in front of the door.
Even Marshal Caecius tilted his head in confusion.
“Um, let me ask Aster something really quickly.”
‘Aster, are you comfortable with them knowing? I think it’s fine if they know now, but… maybe I should threaten them a little to keep this a secret until we get our rank tested.”
[Threaten?! Well… I mean… If you think it’s a good idea, Ellery, I don’t mind it. Please keep the threats to a minimum, okay?]
Since Aster was okay with it, Ellery was going to do it! He only had 20 more minutes of control over their body so he might as well make it easier for Aster when he got back.
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Grandpa Marky: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter (especially after that cliffhanger haha). Yesterday, I had a health scare but I’m okay today, which is good. I will keep an eye on my condition though. I really thought I was gonna have to rush my ass to the ER… When you are chronically ill, sometimes ya can’t tell the difference between a really bad flare up or a medical emergency haha…
Anyway, that’s it from me! I will see you all on Friday or Saturday. Have a lovely day/night my beautiful grandchildren :DÂ
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