Although he tried "interrogating" the cat spirit... in the end, he didn't get much information.

Rather, most of her memories were locked or erased, leaving her basically an empty husk.

Only her role as the relay, a guardian for the next contractor, was left in her... and that had been the case for the past thousand years.

"Useless..." Axel grumpily spat.

"You're the one who's useless!" the cat spat back, not backing down.

At least, in spirit, she wasn't losing to Axel at all... well, ignoring her current state, locked in Fenrir's grasp, that is.

"But well, I'm not a demon either." Axel shrugged. "So, I'll give you a chance."

He turned to Navi, who had been quiet since the start, and began pointing at him as he introduced him. "This is Navi, my system spirit. You're a system spirit too, so you must have a name, right?"

"...Mimir."

"Mimir? Then, Mimir, after I get the complete system upgrade here... what will happen to you?"

Axel already had an inkling. However, he still needed to ask to confirm. The little cat went silent for a beat before opening her lips.

"I..." She looked solemn for once, answering in a clear voice. "I'll disappear."

"..."

[N-No way...!]

But more than Axel, it was Navi who reacted strongly.

[Isn't that too cruel?! Disappearing after doing your job?! What sort of brute was your master to leave you like this—]

"DON'T BADMOUTH MY MASTER...!!!"

Mimir growled at Navi's words. She was angry at his choice of words, despite his good intentions. The poor penguin gasped, unable to speak while facing her wrath... until Axel intervened, showing a smile as if he had realized something.

"Alright, that's enough. Navi didn't mean to badmouth your contractor, either," he said. "However, it's true that it's a bit of a waste having you just disappear..."

Right then, Axel raised a finger, grinning as he always did... full of greed.

"Then, how about this? You..." He pointed at Mimir, then to himself. "Move over to my System as a second spirit?"

[T-That!]

Navi gasped at the suggestion.

[That's impossible to—!]

"Why should I? Who would choose to come with a beansprout master like you?"

While Navi was refuting the possibility itself, Mimir was openly averse to the idea.

"If I'm to grade you, I'll give you 1 point out of 100 as consolation... of course, my previous master is a perfect 100~! There's no way in hell I'll come with you!"

"Really...?" Axel smiled... before slowly lifting his hand.

His palm separated from the orb, with only four fingers remaining in contact. Seeing this, Mimir's face turned blue as she shouted in panic.

"S-Stop that, idiot! If you stop the upgrade now, you can't do it again!"

Axel nodded, still wearing the same smile. "I guess it would. That means you'd be failing your previous master's command, right...? Oh~! Another finger left~!" he added, lifting his pinky away.

"Stop!" Mimir gasped.

Seeing this, Axel was convinced.

'Such an experienced System Spirit, despite losing her memories, is definitely useful. I wouldn't step out of here without getting her into my team!'

This little cat treated her master's words as absolute. That's why, even after a thousand years had passed, she was still guarding this place properly... which meant that, no matter what, she would do everything to complete her task.

There was no way she'd let Axel interrupt the update and make her fail her role!

Of course, as he did this, warning windows kept popping into his view. The reduced contact area with the orb was disrupting the update, multiplying the required time by hundreds of times.

The only problem was that, as Navi declared, there was no way to add a secondary system spirit into the system. The fact that he said this so clearly—even when he knew a way to fix Fenrir's broken soul—meant there truly was no way to take Mimir in...

"This thing, this is acting as your core, isn't it?" Axel asked, pointing at the crystal ball.

Of course, this wasn't a random guess. Out of curiosity—and by luck—he had tried to use Repair on it and saw the orb's details. It was labeled as "Fake Core," an item that stored the core data of the Harem Settlement System and acted as Mimir's base of operations.

"That's...!"

Mimir shouted as if to object, but didn't deny it in the end.

As soon as he saw the Fake Core, Axel went straight to the System's help section and began reading the related functions... and found one they could use.

"Then, Navi, can't you assimilate this fake core into yourself?" he said, smiling. "Doing that should allow Mimir to be with us, without any repercussions."

[That's...]

Navi hesitated.

He, who had fallen in love at first sight, wanted to be with Mimir if possible.

However, the "assimilation" Axel referred to wasn't meant to absorb another system core, but energy cores—a method of gaining energy apart from feeding off the contractor's mana.

[Even I can't say for sure if that'd work the way you think...] he admitted, his voice as serious as could be. [I ran simulations, but the chances of success are less than 5%!]

"5%? That's more than enough." Axel remained confident. "So, little Miss Cat? What do you say?"

"I...!"

Mimir looked fierce despite her blue face, and her response sounded like another refusal.

Anticipating this, Axel lifted another finger, leaving only his index and middle fingers touching the orb. One slip, and the upgrade would fail forever!

"Wait, stop! Goddamnit!"

Mimir cursed, struggling as if she wanted to scratch Axel even with her body immobilized.

"I get it! I get it, I'll join as your second system spirit! So just don't cancel the upgrade!" she shouted, her voice mixed with anger and resignation. "Just let me complete my mission in peace!"

Hearing her promise, Axel's lips curled into a moon-like smile... and at the same time, a scroll behind him shone with a bright, blinding light.

"...Eh?"

Everyone except Axel immediately realized what scroll it was.

"I've got your promise, alright~?"

Only when he showed her—a magical binding contract—did she understand what happened. "You... set me up...!"

"What? No. That sounds wrong. I'm just making sure you won't back out at the last minute!"

From his experience with Navi, system spirits were never entirely truthful. They lied often and laughed at his struggles... mostly Navi did.

Thus, he wouldn't rely on verbal promises without solid proof.

Axel smiled as he firmly placed his hand back on the orb, returning the upgrade time to its original duration. He raised his legs, crossing them, trying to get as cozy as he could in his chair.

After all this, he would be getting his second system spirit!

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