The Slave Contract
The Slave Contract. I was stunned by the reward message I never expected to see. If I didn’t have the Composure trait, I definitely would have cursed out loud. That was how absurdly good the reward that had just appeared was.
'I never thought I’d get my hands on that so easily.'
Every archer class, regardless of rank, shares one common skill. It’s none other than Summon Familiar. No matter the job, every archer eventually gains the Summon Familiar skill. Of course, the familiars they can contract with vary by rank, but in the end, every archer ends up with one.
'With this, I might actually be able to contract with a 1st-tier Phoenix, right?'
To summon a familiar, two conditions must be met. The first is obviously the Summon Familiar skill itself. That one’s practically mandatory. The second depends on the tier, but the higher the tier, the more specific materials are required as offerings. For example, to summon a Phoenix—which is essentially 1st-tier—you need to offer that very feather as a sacrifice.
'Even if you summon it, most classes can’t actually form a contract with it.'
But what was my class right now? Wasn’t it the hidden class called Divine Archer, something even I, the developer, hadn’t known about? Considering it was a hidden rank, it might actually be possible to contract with a Phoenix.
'Just how broken is this, seriously.'
As I inwardly wore a smug grin, a voice called out from behind me.
“Baran?”
Lillia, who had been watching from the back, stared at me with a look that asked what on earth I was doing. It seemed I had been lost in thought for too long. Even Miroel was giving me a suspicious side-eye.
Master. If you look at it that way, you’re wounding your disciple’s heart.
“I apologize. I was thinking for a moment.”
“It’s fine. More importantly, let’s hurry and go.”
Since catching Tia was more urgent than retrieving the bracelet from Rael, she began to urge me along. I nodded and replied.
“Yes, understood.”
With those words, I held her in my arms just like before and activated High-Speed Movement. Of course, Miroel naturally clung to me from behind as well, but that wasn’t important.
At the same time.
Tia, who had escaped from the dungeon, was sprinting with all her might to report the current situation to Highrun.
“Haa… haa… I took too long.”
A sweet, metallic taste filled her mouth. Cold sweat poured down her body. She recalled what had happened inside the cave and furrowed her brows deeply.
'What the hell were those criminals resisting so hard for?'
The mercenaries Lillia had hired through her. On the surface, they looked like ordinary mercenaries. In reality, however, they were men who committed crimes without hesitation. They had simply never been caught because there was only circumstantial evidence and no concrete proof. They were criminals in all but name.
Yet those very men had resisted to the very end, far beyond what she expected. As a result, it had taken far more time than anticipated.
'There’s no way Lillia or that blind man could have broken the barrier and escaped… right?'
You never know what might happen in this world. Especially that blind man called Baran—he might possess some kind of power even she didn’t know about.
“Huu. Let’s rest for just one minute.”
Muttering to herself, Tia stopped in her tracks. The moment she turned her head to look back at the dungeon—
“Hmm, what are you looking at, Tia?”
A voice that should never have reached her ears came from right beside her. Tia’s head snapped around stiffly. And there they were.
“You’re later than I expected?”
Lillia waved at her with a playful smile. Not only that, Baran was standing right beside her. The moment Tia saw the two of them, she muttered in disbelief.
“How…?”
“Hmm, well, it doesn’t matter anymore, so I’ll tell you. The person next to me showed me a shortcut.”
A shortcut? She had been investigating this dungeon under Lillia’s orders for the past month. Although she hadn’t entered it herself, she had confirmed one thing for certain—there was only a single passage. Therefore, she had never even considered the possibility of a shortcut. Who would ever imagine a shortcut in a dungeon with only one path?
'But how did that blind man find it?'
He clearly had bad eyes. It was utterly baffling how someone who couldn’t even see had managed to discover a shortcut inside that dark cave.
“Do you have time to be distracted?”
At that moment, Lillia snapped her fingers with a relaxed smile. In the next instant, massive flames erupted from the ground.
-Whoosh!
The surging flames rushed forward as if they would engulf her. Lillia’s magic was something she had seen countless times before. She knew it was an illusion. But—
“Kyaaaaaah!”
The moment the rising flames swallowed her body, that certainty vanished completely. An unimaginable agony engulfed her entire being. They say the most painful way for a person to die is by burning at the stake. This was the moment she truly understood why.
“Hehe, you’re holding up surprisingly well.”
For a brief moment, Lillia looked slightly surprised as she watched Tia endure the illusion. Most people would have given up by now. Yet Tia, knowing full well it was an illusion, was enduring far better than expected.
'Hmm. I was going easy because I still need to get information out of her.'
It seemed she would have to increase the intensity a little. Lillia snapped her fingers again. The flames that had been rising from the ground suddenly froze in place. Tia collapsed, drenched in cold sweat, and let out ragged breaths.
“Huk… huk…”
She had known it was an illusion. Even so, she had seriously considered giving up.
'So that’s why no one has ever been able to resist Lillia’s magic until now…'
She had never imagined it would bring such horrific pain.
“Since you’re holding up so well, shall we move on to the next stage?”
“The next stage?”
“Yes. You’re enduring it so admirably. So please, do try your best to endure this one too.”
“W-wait—!”
Before she could even finish speaking, Lillia cast the illusion magic once more. In the end, Tia couldn’t withstand the next illusion and quickly declared her surrender.
Lillia bombarded the completely surrendered Tia with a barrage of questions. It seemed she was interrogating her to find out exactly why she had betrayed them.
'Still, this reward is a bit disappointing.'
By capturing Tia, I had completed the quest. However, contrary to my expectations, I only received 1,000 points. In truth, that was still an enormous amount compared to what I used to get, but after the massive windfall I had received earlier, it somehow felt lacking.
'Well, I still gained far more than I imagined today, so it’s not bad.'
As Baran was thinking that, Lillia walked over to him.
“Have you finished talking?”
At his question, she slowly nodded.
“Yes. It was exactly as I thought.”
Unlike the relaxed expression she usually showed, she wore a bitter smile. It seemed that realizing a subordinate she had worked with since childhood had betrayed her was quite a shock to her.
'I expected it, but still…'
When asked why Tia had betrayed her, it turned out that Tia had vaguely sensed her revenge plan. Feeling uneasy, Tia had secretly investigated her, and today she had finally gained certainty.
'It’s a good thing the timing worked out.'
If Highrun had been in the capital, her plan would have collapsed today for sure.
'And it’s fortunate that this man was here too.'
Lillia slowly turned her gaze toward Baran. The man who had saved her in her moment of crisis. If he hadn’t been there today, she would have undoubtedly lost Tia.
'I might have even been trapped in the dungeon and starved to death.'
She had tried to make him owe her a debt, but she never imagined she would end up receiving help in this way.
'I’ll have to give him some spiritual medicine or something later.'
That was the least she could do to leave a good impression. Thinking that, she shifted her gaze back to Tia. Then Baran asked a question.
“What do you plan to do with her?”
“Obviously I have to kill her. Oh, of course it will look like a tragic accident inside the dungeon.”
Lillia smiled sweetly as she uttered those chilling words. Well, given what Tia had done, that reaction was only natural. However, killing her like this would be a waste. Wouldn’t using this woman be far more efficient?
“There is a better method than killing her.”
“Pardon?”
At those words, a question mark seemed to float above Lillia’s head. Baran looked at her and gave a sly smile. Then he pulled a single sheet of paper from his spatial pouch.
“Let’s use this.”
“That is…”
The next moment, she looked at the contract before her eyes with a rather surprised expression. She had never imagined that the seemingly benevolent Baran would pull out a document known as a Slave Contract.
“Not bad at all. Hehe.”
“Right?”
Miroel shook her head as she watched the two people smiling slyly at each other.
Slave Contract
◈ The target, Tia, shall become the eternal slave of Baran.
◈ Absolute obedience is enforced. Resistance is impossible.
◈ The contract cannot be canceled by any means.
“Haa… How on earth did I end up taking someone like this as my disciple?”