Beatrice was concerned at first after seeing the foot appearing out of the blue. The floating hand made more sense as it could at least grab and punch things. This thing on the other hand was just a floating boot.
To her surprise, the floating body part that was wearing some strange otherworldly boots flew towards the old knight. She knew the old man as a respectful knight that was quite strong, not much weaker than her own father. He would be able to single-handedly take on a monster-infested lair and come out on top.
It was one thing going against Adabelle with her simple snake spirit. The young girl was untested in battle and didn't know how to use her summon properly. Sir Heinrich on the other hand was a trained knight. He was past his prime but he was still more than able.
This same sessioned knight was now slumped forward while leaning up against a wall. His arms were limp and he was foaming at his mouth.
"Oh sorry about that… I thought he would be able to handle it… I guess this world's strength standards are a bit lower than I anticipated, he was at most at a half step foundation establishment realm..."
She heard her summoned spirit rumble around in her head. Apparently, he was even going easy on Heinrich, she wasn't sure what that realm was but it looked to be some power measuring system that this spirit of hers had.
"Is he alright? If you have enough mana I could heal him for you."
"Honorable spirit can use holy magic?"
Beatrice perked up at this revelation. Healing was a secret art that was mostly only possible by devout priests that channeled godly energies. It wasn't something a regular mage could learn but maybe her spirit knew the lesser nature elemental regenerative arts of healing. Those could be performed by other magicians and shamans but weren't as potent as the miracles that a priest could perform.
"Yes… I think you don't really need to summon me for that… could you just walk over towards him and follow my instructions…"
She nodded and quickly moved over to the downed man whose body was twitching around. The sword that he was using had shattered into many tiny pieces as well.
"Beatrice, what are you doing?"
Her father called out from the side as he finally got over the shock of seeing his best knight go down in one hit. He was about to call out to some servants to come help but soon his attention was drawn back to his daughter that placed her hand on the knight's chest.
The summoning crest on her right hand lit up in a blue light that quickly changed its coloring to a more golden shine. He was an experienced summoner himself and someone that had worked with priests before so he could identify this mana pattern as holy healing light. This gentle light washed over Sir Heinrich that started looking better in a matter of seconds, waking up in a flash.
Soon after performing the healing feat, Beatrice started panting out loudly. She felt a familiar headache which signaled that she was running low on mana. The man was healed but the footprint was still denting his steel armor.
"What kind of spirit did you make a contract with… you need to explain everything to me."
Beatrice's father ran up to lend his daughter a shoulder to lean on. Soon the two returned to the house and she was able to rest on a couch. Her mother was already next to her with some mana potions to relieve the head pain. She was quick to explain the situation of meeting the spirit, from how she was pulled into a strange space to his size and to how he was listening to everything they were talking.
"Holy Lightning Emperor Leigong?"
Her father rubbed his chin while trying to remember if there was someone like that named in the past.
"It's not odd for certain powerful individuals with strong mana to be reborn as heroic spirits…I will have to do more research on that name…"
The man looked at his daughter and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Listen well Beatrice, I know that you are happy about gaining such a spirit but this could bring unforeseen consequences."
Beatrice looked up to her father and then to her mother not really sure what he meant by that.
"Consequences? Won't the estate be secured when the main house from Dragonridge hears about this?"
The father furrowed his brows while looking at the mother and soon he spoke out while explaining everything to her.
"Beatrice, you probably don't realize why the main house has stayed in power for all of those years."
"Dear?"
The mother moved in from the side as if trying to stop him from saying more but the man raised his hand to stop her.
"She is a summoner now, one with a powerful spirit dwelling in her. She deserves to know the truth."
"The truth? The truth about what?"
Beatrice asked while looking between her parents, not really sure where this was going. She came here hoping to only get good news but things didn't seem to be heading in that direction.
"It's about your grandfather, his death wasn't an accident..."
"What?"
She jumped up from her seat, her eyes going wide at the revelation, from where the conversation was going there was only one possibility.
"Did the main house have anything to do with it?"
After a moment of silence, her father nodded.
"Yes,he had gotten problematic to handle for the main house. He was very talented… too talented for his own good…"
Her father disclosed what he knew. Her grandfather was considered to be a powerful summoner, he had managed to nourish his spirit into a dragon after many years of progress. Thus the main house which had the name Hohenberg of Dragonridge, started seeing him as a threat.
Zhang Dong listened in from the side, this whole thing sounded similar to how things were run in his own world. It was a similar situation to how he got too powerful in the Dark Palm Sect's eyes. The ones in power couldn't handle the thought of an upstart sect or clan sprouting in their territory.
It was a normal way of living in worlds ruled by the mighty. He wasn't sure if soul binding magic existed in this world. This side family didn't have anything like that attached to them, so maybe that was the reason why this grandfather wasn't turned into a slave. They had to murder him to keep the status quo.
The story wrapped up with the father mentioning that he didn't know how they did it. His father's body was sent back to the main house and it was reported that he died fighting some monsters.
"Yes I remember that day…"
Beatrice moved her head down, now she realized why that story sounded strange. Her grandfather was far too mighty to be slain by normal monsters. She was young then as this had happened over five years ago. Since then the estate had been deteriorating slowly.
"But father, we must avenge grandfather! How can we sit still when something like this happens, we must report it to the other ducal houses!"
Beatrice started screaming out in rage. Something like this was unheard of, they were all nobles from the same kingdom. How could a ducal house kill someone from their branch family because they feared his might?
"We will do no such thing, you will do no such thing either! None of this can leave this room!"
"But father!"
Beatrice protested by her mother and started pulling her to the side by the arm.
"Listen to your father, the other ducal houses won't help us. This is just how things work between the nobles dear…"
"But mother… What about grandfather's death? How can we leave the perpetrators at large?"
The mother looked into her daughter's eyes and Beatrice knew well why there would be no repercussions for those murderers. There was no way for them that were at the lower end of the totem pole to go against a Duke household that was the main Hohenberg line.
"You are a smart child, I think you understand the gravity of this situation. Even though that spirit of yours is strong you can't show off its power… At least not till you are stronger…"
Zhang Dong continued to listen in, he wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into here. He could somewhat feel Beatrice's indignation at the fact that her grandfather perished like that. Even though she was nodding and now promising that she would be careful, but on the inside, she was like a powder keg.
The biggest problem was that he was stuck with her and he would probably be the person having to go against any enemies if this young girl decided to act. He would need to keep her out of trouble as letting a child die under his watch would be unheard off.
"Honorable Spirit…"
'Ah, here it comes…'
The conversation between the family members had now ended. Beatrice had left the room as she wanted to digest this information and her parents let her have some space. Zhang Dong had a suspicion about what she wanted to ask him. Due to this, he was the first one to speak up.
"Don't get blinded by rage child, that path leads only towards destruction."
"But…"
"That doesn't mean that you can't get stronger. I can help you with that…"
Zhang Dong didn't want to use a teenager bent on revenge for his own gains but he also needed to get this girl's mana reserves up. She had to get stronger for him to be able to act in this world. If on the way there he would have to take care of corrupt nobles, then so be it.
"You can, great spirit?"
"Yes, but you will have to listen to my instructions. First, we have to get to that library…"
"Ah, yes."
Beatrice replied as she had almost forgotten about that promise she made. The library that her family had wasn't anything great but there were some books about magical theory here. Almost all noble houses that were related to magic had them.
"What do you wish to do here, great spirit?"
She pushed the large door open and was greeted by a dusty library. The lack of servants was showing.
"Can you go pick up one of the books?"
"Pick it up?"
Beatrice moved forward on a bookshelf and picked up one of the manuals for beginners. It was one that she had studied when she was a child.
"Like this?"
"Yes, just like that… now… do it with all the books in the library…"
Zhang Dong had absorbed the information the moment the girl touched the book. It was now in his system library along with all of his other knowledge. Now he just needed to get the girl to touch all the other books before he could start her training program. With more knowledge about this world's magical system, he was going to produce a fitting training regime and manual for his new host.