Chapter 112
Chapter 112
Ch. 112 .｡.:✧ Slave Contract (3) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“D-Don’t get the w-wrong idea! J-Just because I f-felt a m-masculine a-attraction t-towards you… It d-doesn’t mean I-I l-like you! It’s not love just because you suddenly get horny while walking down the street! It’s the same thing! Do humans often mistake lust for love? Hmph! Huh! The nerve of you!”
“…”
I was turned on, but she wasn’t my type. I wracked my brain trying to understand her twisted logic, but eventually gave up. It wasn’t something a human like me could comprehend.
It was probably something only rabbit beastmen, perpetually in heat, could relate to.
Racial differences.
That’s what I decided to chalk it up to.
“Sigh. Fine. Whatever.”
“It’s not ‘whatever,’ it’s the truth…!”
Alicia puffed out her cheeks, looking indignant.
Of course, her heavy breathing and the way she kept rubbing her thighs together, as if she needed to pee, didn’t make her very convincing. But I had decided to believe her, so I let it slide.
“We need to find a way to clear up this misunderstanding.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“The misunderstanding that you betrayed Yerina.”
“Ah… Ah, yes. Right… That…”
Alicia clapped her hands in belated agreement, still looking a bit confused. I was a little suspicious.
Did she really want to return to Yerina’s side?
“Let me ask you this. Do you really want to regain Yerina’s trust and pledge your loyalty to her again?”
“Of course! My respect for her hasn’t changed one bit… But once she’s suspicious, it’s almost impossible to erase those doubts, so… I’ve half given up, to be honest…”
Having been close to Yerina, Alicia clearly understood her well. Yerina never let go of her suspicions once they formed.
Even if she accepted Alicia back as her subject, it would be difficult to restore the close, sisterly bond they once shared. Alicia would have to live under constant scrutiny and suspicion.
How could they erase those doubts?
I couldn’t think of any good solutions off the top of my head. If I knew how to erase Yerina’s suspicions, I would have escaped this game long ago.
“Hmm. A way to dispel Yerina’s suspicion…”
“W-Well… There’s also the fact that… some problems don’t have solutions, you know? What if… what if I can’t return as her subject…?”
“That’s ridiculous. There’s always a way.”
“What if, I’m saying! What if I can’t go back to her?! Then… maybe I could join you and be helpful! I could teach Undecided the magic I didn’t get to teach her before! I could also be quite useful in battle! So, if you take me with you…”
While Alicia enthusiastically listed a hundred reasons why I should take her with me, I tuned her out and focused on thinking.
Traveling with Alicia was impossible.
A rabbit beastman’s physical characteristics couldn’t be hidden. And the fact that Yerina was the one pursuing her made it even more dangerous. Besides, rabbit beastmen had a strong scent.
It wasn’t a bad smell, but a distinct, musky odor, particularly potent in rabbit beastmen.
Even I, not particularly sensitive to smells, had learned to recognize Alicia’s scent and could identify her from afar. I could even tell she’d just used the bathroom. If I could smell it, Yerina definitely could.
So, traveling with Alicia was absolutely out of the question. I had to find a way to… ditch her.
No, wait. Not ditch her, but find a way to clear up the misunderstanding with Yerina.
From my perspective, it wasn’t a misunderstanding, but a genuine betrayal. But according to the logic of perpetually-in-heat rabbit beastmen, a momentary attraction didn’t count as coveting someone else’s man.
“What if we said you were being threatened by me?”
“You mean… lie and say you threatened me, forcing me to betray my sister and lie to her…?”
“Exactly.”
“It’s plausible, but… I doubt it would work. Anyone could make up that story, and there’s no way to prove it.”
She was right. It was an easy lie to fabricate, and it could explain the betrayal, but there was no way to prove it wasn’t a lie. We needed some kind of evidence.
“Hey, Bug.”
“Please don’t call me Bug. It’s offensive. It’s because of you that this tin can and that blood ghoul keep calling me a bug!”
“Do you know any curses that can restrict or force someone’s actions?”
“You mean like hypnosis or suggestion?”
“I need something stronger. A curse that works on the conscious mind, not the subconscious.”
“You want a curse similar to a Slave Contract Inscription?”
“Exactly.”
The Slave Contract Inscription. A magic spell that could force or restrict specific actions, formed with the consent of both parties. It was named as such because it was primarily used to control rebellious slaves.
‘Why don’t I just learn it and use it myself?’ you might ask.
Impossible.
The Slave Contract Inscription wasn’t No-Attribute magic, but a common 3rd Circle spell for each attribute. Since I couldn’t even use a 1st Circle spell of any attribute, it was a spell I could never learn.
“Is there a curse that can achieve that effect?”
“Hmm… I think I could use the Demonic Blood Oath.”
“Demonic Blood Oath?”
“Yes. It’s a curse that summons a demon through a blood oath. The demon remains dormant as long as the oath is kept, but if it’s broken, it attacks the target.”
“Perfect. Let’s use that.”
It was essentially the same as forming a contract. Exactly the kind of curse I needed.
‘There are a lot of unfair curses out there, huh?’
While the Slave Contract Inscription could be formed through coercion, it still required some level of conscious consent. But the Demonic Blood Oath could be forced on someone as long as you had their fresh blood.
Even if they were asleep, if a curse user extracted their blood, they were as good as enslaved. This was why curse users were ostracized and suppressed around the world.
They might be few in number and difficult to train, but a powerful curse user was truly terrifying.
“How about we start with the Demonic Blood Oath on you, Bug?”
“M-M-M-Me?! You mean… me?!”
“Yes. I provide you with essence, and you obey my orders. It would be a perfect arrangement.”
“You’re really going to make me your slave?! No! I refuse! I’d rather die! I’m trying to offer you valuable curses, and all you can think about is enslaving me?!”
The centipede… creature… ranted and raved, tears welling up in her eyes.
Well, it couldn’t be helped if she refused.
The centipede… creature… and I already had a strong bond that didn’t require a Demonic Blood Oath. If I ever heard that she had harmed someone to absorb their essence, I would chase her to the ends of the Earth and kill her.
She knew that, so even without the Demonic Blood Oath, there was no way she would betray me.
‘And Undecided… I probably don’t need it for her either.’
I looked at Undecided, who was clinging to my back. She tilted her head and met my gaze.
I didn’t need the Demonic Blood Oath for her either. If she ever betrayed me, it would be for a reason. It was better not to have it.
“Alicia. You met me for the first time in Basel, and I forced the Demonic Blood Oath on you, making you betray Yerina. How does that sound?”
“I-I see… So there was such a curse… Hmm. That solves everything quite neatly…”
Alicia nodded, but her expression was strangely troubled. She seemed a little dejected.
“But wouldn’t this… put you in a bad light?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you do this… my sister will think you’re a shady person who forces curses on innocent people. Well, you are that kind of person… but she seems to think you’re a perfect, kind-hearted person. Are you sure about this?”
“…”
Now that she mentioned it, I was a little concerned about that.
Yerina now possessed memories from the 12th loop. And in the 12th loop, I had played a perfect dating sim.
To Yerina, I was a kind, moral, and upstanding person who was just a little busy. How shocked would she be to learn that, right after regressing, that man had kidnapped her subordinate, cursed her, and turned her into a slave?
“Why are you worrying about me? There’s no problem. It’s fine.”
“Is that so…”
But it couldn’t be helped. The perfect man Yerina remembered no longer existed.
If she was dreaming a sweet dream, she had to wake up eventually. And who knows? Maybe Yerina would be disappointed by my true nature and let go of her obsession.
The chances were slim, but she needed to know who I really was.
I made up my mind and nodded at the centipede… creature, signaling that I was ready for the Demonic Blood Oath.
“I’ll prepare the foundation for the curse. You two can fill in the details of the contract and then finish it with an oath.”
The centipede… creature… placed a small talisman on the table and explained the process.
The talisman was infused with demonic energy, taking shape.
I pricked my thumb, pressed it against the talisman, and was given the authority to write something on the blank space using my blood. I assumed this was where I wrote the terms of the contract.
“I’m not going to write anything. The important thing is that there’s proof that the Demonic Blood Oath was cast. I’m not actually trying to restrict you, so just sign it without worry.”
“Okay.”
Alicia examined the blank talisman, pricked her thumb, and pressed it against the talisman. It burst into flames. A resentful scream echoed, and the smoke seeped into both of our bodies.
‘It feels a little creepy.’
A curse was embedded in my heart.
It was a place that was normally inaccessible from the outside, but since it was a curse formed with mutual consent, it seemed to be able to reach even that deep.
‘And it would be difficult for anyone else to notice.’
After experiencing it firsthand, I realized that there was no way for anyone else to know unless they opened up my heart.
It meant I could lie and say that the Demonic Blood Oath had been in Alicia’s heart all along.
Then, I could pretend that the curse was incomplete, or that I had made a mistake, and Alicia could take advantage of that opportunity to break free from the curse and escape.
She could then go to Yerina, confess that she had been betraying her because of the Demonic Blood Oath, and show her the traces of the curse.
Yerina would surely be shaken. She might not completely abandon her suspicions, but at least Alicia might avoid being branded a traitor. And she might be able to prevent the destruction of the Yevgenia family.
Either way, this was the best course of action.
“Sigh… You’ve marked me with the curse, so… can you release me now? I want to go back to my sister. I don’t know if it’ll work, but…”
“Before you go, there’s something I need you to do.”
“Huh?”
“It would be a shame to disband now that we have a curse user and a mage in one place. Let’s do something together. And then I’ll let you go.”
“Wait… that wasn’t part of the deal…”
I looked around.
A rather impressive force was gathered here. A curse user, the centipede… creature, whose loyalty was questionable but whose abilities were undeniable. And an elite mage from the Magic Tower, Alicia, who lacked combat experience but was still highly skilled.
This was the first time I had seen them together.
‘With this much power, it might be worth trying…’
I was already in the North, and it might be possible to face someone I wouldn’t have even dared to challenge in previous loops.
“We’re leaving tomorrow. We’re going to Cheongna, the pleasure city of the North.”
“What?! Who said I’m going? Why would I go there? I want to go back to my sister and regain her trust as soon as possible…!”
Alicia vehemently protested. She wanted to go back to Yerina… Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work. She had just escaped from Yerina and come to me today.
If she suddenly returned, claiming that the curse had been lifted, Yerina would see through the hastily concocted plan. We needed time to coordinate our stories. And I needed to leave a more prominent trace of the curse in her body, so going back immediately was a bad move.
“Thanks for the offer! But I have to go now! The Demonic Blood Oath doesn’t have any conditions, so I can just break free whenever I want… Gah?!”
Alicia abruptly stood up to leave, but then she suddenly screamed and collapsed.
“Haaaa…”
Seeing her clutching her head in pain, it was clear that the penalty of the Demonic Blood Oath had activated. It must have been triggered when she tried to forcefully break free from the curse.
“W-What is this? There shouldn’t be any conditions in the contract. Why is the penalty being applied?”
“Who knows? How strange. Try kneeling.”
“What? Why should I… Gah?!”
Thud.
Alicia’s legs buckled, and she was forced to kneel in an instant. She still looked clueless, as if she had no idea what had just happened.
“Hey?! Why is my body moving on its own?! The contract was blank when I checked…!”
“Are you sure? It was really blank?”
“Huh?”
“Check again. Carefully.”
Still kneeling, Alicia closed her eyes, seemingly reading the curse embedded in her heart.
“Ah…!”
Her eyes snapped open, and she glared at me with murderous intent. She had finally found it.
On the Demonic Blood Oath, tucked away in a corner, written in tiny, barely visible letters…
– Alicia Yevgenia (Party B) shall obey all orders given by Yoo-jin (Party A).
I had definitely written that.
Alicia’s face contorted, turning red and then blue, and she let out a yell.
“You damn scammer!!!”
“Be more careful next time.”
Life Lesson #1:
Read the terms and conditions carefully.
I decided to waive the tuition fee for this one.
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