Lord Summoner's Freedom Philosophy: Grimoire of Love

"My answer remains the same. It's freedom." Lyan closed his eyes as he replied calmly.

"By freedom, so you mean the freedom of doing whatever you want, including doing evil things?" The one that speak up was the righteous knight, Arturia.

"Hm..." Lyan folded his arms.

"It seems that you have a misunderstanding about the definition of my freedom. Yes, the first part is true, I aim for the freedom to do whatever I want without having heavy chains restricting me. But doing evil things are not amongst it," (Lyan)

"What do you mean?" (Arturia)

"To freely take an opportunity to do what is right could also be called freedom, aren't I right, Arturia? Of course, I have no intentions of doing anything I regard as evil as well," (Lyan)

Not everyone in the world has the freedom to do what is right. When a servant is commanded by a noble to be his sex slave, not every father, brother, or even lover has the freedom to do what is right; which is to save her. Most of them have no ability to do so.

To be able to do what is right, there are several things needed to be possessed.

"I see. So strength, power, and wealth, huh," Arturia uttered with a nod, seeming to be satisfied with his answer.

"Then to the next question," Lilith continued.

"You seem to be saying that it's a waste to summon us for weak enemies and saving the chance to summon us. What is your actual reason for not using our strength?" (Lilith)

The question Lilith asked is a question that occupied not only her mind, but the other spirits as well. It's evident that Lyan is avoiding himself from summoning them too much, and avoiding excessive contact with them.

Responding to the question, Lyan let out a sigh.

"First, your strength is not mine. I don't like borrowing, and I don't like being indebted to anyone either. Summoning you guys made me feel indebted, and I like to avoid making any hostile relations with any of you as much as possible. That's the reason why I tried to avoid too much contact with all of you," (Lyan)

"But you slept with Lilith," Arturia chimes in, but Lyan pretends ignorant to her words.

Lyan is confident that he could take care of one of them in a one-on-one battle by using his full strength, but he doubts he could manage if three or more of them aim for his life. Knowing the danger from the great spirits' strength, Lyan decided to prevent too much contact to make sure no hostilities could be made.

"I believe I have answered enough questions, now it's my turn. Why suddenly interrogate me? Did I do something that triggers your doubts? I believe I've sworn that I won't bother any of you after the contract between us finished," Lyan squinted on the spirits before him.

"Well, you see. We've realized how much strength you possessed, and considering the increasing amount of girls on your arms, the number of monsters under your command will increase as well," (Hestia)

Certainly, it has only been a little bit more than a week, and yet, he already has six summonable monsters with decent strength, six shadow servants, and even 800 powerful skeleton undead. Not to mention he accumulated a lot of wealth in such a short duration.

Judging from his accomplishment in these few days, it's a wonder how much power he might hold in the future.

"And the ferocious girl over there said that it would be trouble if you became a certain villain that might trouble us after the our contract terms end," Hestia jerked her chin towards Griselda.

As Lyan shifted his gaze towards Griselda, he could see her gaze filled with suspicion.

"Hou... Is it because of my encounter with that prince of yours?" (Lyan)

Griselda flinched a little at the moment the prince was mentioned, and narrowed her eyes.

"Yes. Could you fill me out what happened afterward? All of us got knocked out for two straight days after getting summoned. Can you tell me what happened to him?" (Griselda)

A sense of suspicion and worry is being emitted from her.

"I see... Long story short-" (Lyan)

Lyan explained shortly how he woke up only with Rena inside the goblin king's lair, then about the prince's invitation, then about the rewards, and then about the people tailing him until now.

After confirming that Lyan explained without giving any lies to her, Griselda let out a relieved sigh. Mostly because of knowing that the prince is safe.

"I see... It's not strange for him to offer you to join his side. I know it will only sound like I'm taking the his side, but his offer is favorable for you. In the end, you have to either join a faction or create your own faction as long as your name as the summoner is known, and the prince is amongst the ones that you could trust," Griselda unusually gave him a piece of sincere advice.

"I certainly didn't think that you would get noticed in just a week, though," Hestia retorted.

"I know about his trustworthiness. I'll consider it later, but more importantly," Lyan stared straight at Griselda, this time, his gaze overwhelms her.

"Tell me all you know. I believe you're aware of who is after me, and I need the information about the ones that killed you as well. I won't interfere with your matter, but I don't want to step into a landmine mindlessly as well," (Lyan)

Lyan jerks his chin, urging her to answer. With a sigh, Griselda started explaining to him.

"Of course, the first one is the mercenaries. Well, I guess you've handled most of them already. That [Crow] assassin unit that you killed must not be all, there are some doing surveillance from the distance, tasked to only relay information to their owner," (Griselda)

"Considering it's that rotten duke, he must-" (Griselda)

*Knock!* *Knock!*

The sound of knocks cut Griselda's words.

All of them shifted their attention to the source of the sound; the television.

[Excuse me, Mr. Lyan. I'm here to deliver your dinner]

"""Ah...""" Everyone loosed their tension once they heard the voice from the television. There are even some growls from some of the spirits.

(I know I've questioned this numerous times. But aren't they supposed to be incapable of feeling hunger?) (Lyan)

"Wait for a second, I'll take the food first," (Lyan)

Lyan left the grimoire's space and opened the door, revealing to the friendly waitress that he forgot who her name was. No, she never told him who her name is in the first place.

After friendlily took the tray filled with food, Lyan return to the grimoire's space, but this time, he appeared not in the living room, but in the dining room instead.

Not only the scenery has changed, but the attires of the spirits had changed as well. They've changed from their battle attires to their pajamas and are waiting eagerly as they seat at the dining chair.

"I've been waiting for this!" (Lilith)

"Heh! Boozes!" (Griselda)

"Food! I'm super hungry!!" (Azelia)

"You sure changed your clothes fast..." Lyan uttered softly as he take a seat in the middle, while one of the undead skeleton hobgoblin wearing a servant uniform took the food one by one and put it on top of the dining table.

(As expected, they turned them into their servants inside here...) (Lyan)

"Now, Griselda. Please continue," (Lyan)

Griselda that just opened the bottle of the booze and gulp it put down the bottle before clearing her throat.

"Considering that it's that rotten duke that aims for your life, he must have regarded you as a random variable and spread your information to the troublesome powerhouses. So the ones aiming for your life might be from several powerhouses. It could be not only from the Astellia Kingdom, but from other places as well," (Griselda)

"But mainly, it will be the remaining personnel of the [Crows], forces from other nobles trying to manipulate your summoning power, and people that aim for your gold. for the ones who killed me, you can rest assured, they are not within the vicinity of the kingdom," (Griselda)

A hint of bloodlust was emitted for a second when Griselda mentioned about the ones who killed her.

She didn't tell him more information, so Lyan immediately concludes it.

(So she wants to take care of them personally, huh?) (Lyan)

"I see. Thanks for the information, I guess let's just focus on eating now-" As Lyan holds the fork and spoon in his hands, a single hand raises into the air.

"Wait!" The owner of the voice is the girl wearing the priestess attire.

"We want to offer you a new agreement. We've found out that Lilith's summoning duration had increased for an additional three hours after her intercourse with you. So we've come to a certain agreement," (Cynthia)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Gold-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,501,721,000 Elnes / 3501 gold 72 big silver 1 silver

Weapon: None

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 1), Magma Bear (Lv. 1)

Grimoire's Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army