Kit looked at the confident Mars and let out another sigh. “Mars, thank you for looking out for me, but I don’t want you to put yourself in harm’s way.” He really was happy Mars thought so highly of him that the young man wanted to sort his problems for him.

It was just, he wasn’t comfortable with Mars getting himself in a position he could be harmed to try to resolve Kit’s own situations. He also didn’t want this side of Mars to be seen by anyone else, he was worried people will alienate his friend if they saw him like this.

Mars raised a brow and smiled. “Kit, I was not in any danger. I told you that I would take care of this situation. You have too much on your plate as it is. Plus, this is something that was easy for me to handle.”

A loud groan from Nutmeg broke their conversation. Chef Nutmeg lifted his head and swung wide frightened eyes around the room, when they landed on Kit the man started crawling over to him. “Please, I won’t do anything to you ever again! Please stop that mad man!” Strong trembles swept over the scared chef as he looked at Mars from the corner of his eyes.

Kit was surprised by Nutmeg’s pleas. What the hell had happened before he entered, he had expected the arrogant man to start spitting profanities at him when he saw him. Kit let out a helpless sigh, then looked at Mars.

When Mars made no move to interfere in the conversation between the two chefs, Kit looked back at the crumpled heap of a man on the floor. “I can take him away for today, but I can’t promise he won’t come back.” Kit watched as tears started to roll down Nutmeg’s cheeks.

This situation was way out of Kit’s league, he wasn’t quite sure what to say so that he could stop Chef Nutmeg from interfering with his market and just let each other be. He didn’t know if Nutmeg would change his mind as soon as they left and plot revenge.

He wasn’t like Nutmeg, he didn’t use violence to solve his problems. Though as far as Kit was concerned if it was this man, he was starting to think that he might be willing to take that step.

But bullying someone wasn’t something he was completely comfortable with, he had experienced too much of that himself to wish it on someone else. He let out an audible sigh, even if he was not comfortable with bullying, he had a feeling Nutmeg was not going to respond to anything bar threats.

Kit scratched his head trying to think about what to say to get the man to permanently back off. He didn’t want Mars running here every time the man caused problems or even worse, for Mars to just kill the man.

“I don’t want us or anyone else to have any problems in the future Nutmeg. So, if you don’t wish to see my friend again then please treat me with respect from now on, also don’t mess with any other chefs that come to your restaurant.” Kit had no clue if the threat of Mars returning would do anything, but he was willing to try.

Chef Nutmeg started nodding frantically. “Please I will do anything you ask, just take him away!” Nutmeg wailed at Kit.

“Ok I will take him away, but make sure I don’t have any more troubles. This includes the market stall I will be setting up, and my employees.” Kit sighed he really had no choice but to believe Mars had done enough to dissuade this man from interfering with him again.

The trembling man just kept frantically nodding his head in agreement. “Yes, yes anything you say.” Kit was getting uncomfortable with Nutmeg’s gaze, the man was looking at him like he was his saviour.

Kit didn’t want to stay here any longer so motioned for Mars to follow him outside. If the arrogant chef changed his mind and wanted to retaliate, he would have to deal with the consequences of today’s decision then.

When they walked into the dining area Milka was still standing there with a worried expression. She noticed Mars following behind Kit and let out a shout. “Kit quickly run!”

He watched in shock as the beautiful girl picked up a large serving platter and descended towards them on trembling legs. A determined look entered her eyes the closer she got to them. Kit started to get a feeling that Milka was about to attack Mars.

“Wait Milka! He is a friend!” Kit slipped in front of Mars and held up his hand in a placating manner. The young girl paused and eyed Mars warily, the serving platter was still held in a defensive posture. “Milka, it is alright, he really won’t hurt me.”

Milka took her eyes off Mars and swept her eyes over Kit looking to see if he was lying. When she noticed he was still in a relaxed state she lowered the platter. “Oh, ok then.” She then stood there looking anxious.

As he looked at the young girl, he was prompted to remember their earlier conversation. Milka had said that her brothers knew him. There weren’t many people in Fairweather town that he had met so he was curious who they were.

“Milka by the way, you said before that your brothers were fond of me. Who are your brothers?” Milka smiled at the mention of her brothers, then became anxious once again.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“My brothers are Cadbury and Dove.” Never in a million years would he have guessed it would be someone working in his restaurant.

Kit thought about the twins, if they found out that their sister was working with a piece of work like Nutmeg, he was sure that they would be angry. He knew if it was his own sister working in a place like this, he would want her to quit.

Kit decided to offer the young girl a job at his own restaurant. He was positive the twins wouldn’t mind her coming to Spartan Fire. “Milka, do you want to come work for me? That way you can be closer to family. What do you say?”

Tears started to form in Milk’s eyes. “Thank you Kit, but that won’t be possible.” He almost missed her words as the came out weakly. A frown pulled at his brow, did she not have a good relationship with her brothers?

That couldn’t be right, earlier she wanted to warn him about danger because of Cadbury and Dove. “Why won’t it be possible?” He really was curious to hear her answer.

Her gaze swung to the closed kitchen door then back to Kit. Her mouth opened but no words came out, a look of frustration sprang up on her face. Then she closed her eyes, when they opened a resigned look replaced her annoyed one.

Kit turned to Mars and they both raised their brows, it was easy to see that whatever the reason was she couldn’t say. Mars then turned back to Milka and pursed his lips in thought. Mars then turned and walked back into the kitchen.

A wail was heard, and Mars returned dragging a petrified Nutmeg. Mars pointed at Milka “Why can’t she come work for Kit!” A strong kick to the man’s stomach accompanied Mars words. Nutmeg trembled, his mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. Mars shook the man. “SPEAK!”

“S-she signed a soul contract.” Nutmeg whimpered at Mars ferocious glare.

“What the hell is a soul contract?” Kit had never heard of it before. Nutmeg turned white as a sheet at Kit’s question.

Mars was the one to answer his question. “It is a forbidden contract, basically she is his slave with no will of her own.”

Kit was horrified at this news, why would anyone sign something like that? He felt that Milka must have thought there was no other way to solve whatever problem she had when she made the deal with Nutmeg. He couldn’t think of any other reason to sign one.

Kit felt his blood boil, this man was absolute scum! If anyone deserved death it was this man. Not only would he send people to torture rivals he also contracted people into slaves! “Break the contract now or I will leave him here!” Kit pointed at Mars for emphasis.

When Nutmeg didn’t make a move to comply, Kit gazed at Mars. “If we kill him, will it break?” Kit was so mad he no longer cared about killing an NPC.

“No, no spare me! I will give you the contract!” Nutmeg took a necklace out hidden under his shirt, with a shaking hand he offered it to Kit.

“What is that?” Kit eyed the glowing stone inside a small cage dangling from the string.

“The contract!” Nutmeg swung the necklace for emphasis.

Kit tentatively accepted the glowing cage.

Ding!

Warning: Soul contracts are illegal in CAL.

Accept: Yes/No

Kit felt like he was holding a hot potato. He looked at the message and felt that something terrible would happen if he accepted the contract. He frowned, what the hell was he supposed to do now? He stared at the object in his hand, then looked at Mars.

“Mars what do I do?” He shared the information with Mars, he hoped that Mars would have a plan to deal with this.

A smile emerged on Mars lips. “Give it back to her.” He pointed at Milka.

“Oh, nice!” Kit walked over to Milka and held out the necklace. Tears dropped from her lashes and her lips trembled, but she didn’t move to accept the necklace. Confusion filled Kit, why did she not take it?

He picked up her slack hand at her side and placed it in her palm. “Here, it is yours.” When the words left his mouth, the necklace flashed then quickly settled back to its original state. Kit thought the glow in the stone might have disappeared considering it was returned to the original owner, but it was still softly glowing in Milka’s hand.

It looked like a soul contract wasn’t easy to disperse. “Make sure you keep it somewhere safe, a place only you know.” Kit didn’t know if someone could take it from her, he was worried that someone could snatch her contract if they had possession of the necklace.

He wondered if Snickers would have more information on a soul contract, she was old after all. He added the soul contract to the list of things he would need to discuss with Snickers upon his return to Spartan Fire.

As Kit was making plans, Milka wrapped her arms around Kit. A wet kiss on his cheek caused Kit to freeze. “Thank you, Kit! I’m so grateful, I will be the best employee you have ever had!” Milka started peppering his face with kisses, Kit felt his cheeks flame.

This was the first time a beautiful girl not related to him smothered him with kisses. Milka finally let him go, Kit felt awkward staring at her eyes, so he avoided contact. “You’re welcome, Milka.” His brain wasn’t working right now so that was all he could manage to say to the stunning girl.

Mars helped him out by throwing Chef Nutmeg away, the man slammed into the wall with a heavy impact. Groans of pain filled the room, Kit could still not muster up any sympathy for the man. Mars then motioning that it was time to leave, Mars took the lead out the front door, Kit and Milka followed.

Curious eyes of the bystanders raked them over, then looked behind them to see if anyone else was coming out. Mars didn’t stop to answer questions from the onlookers, he took them through a few twists and turns in the road before he stopped. He then turned to Milka, “Do you know where the Travellers Bed is?”

Milka nodded her head, then started leading them to their destination. Kit assumed that the Travellers Bed was the Inn Bree had been talking about. When they finally stopped outside a two story building, Kit looked up to see the sign with the name of the establishment engraved.

He pushed on the door with his hand and entered. As soon as he walked inside a friendly greeting came from the middle aged woman behind the counter. “Welcome to the Travellers Bed, what can I do for you?”

Kit plastered a smile on his face, before he could answer, the door behind him opened once again. “Kit why did you take off like that, we could barely catch up. Luckily, I realised you were heading in the direction of the Inn. Oh, hello Venie.” Bree walked in with her children, the mayor and Kettle following behind.

Kit completely forgot there were other people following him to the Fancy plate. “Let’s get a room first Bree, then we can talk.” He didn’t want to explain what had occurred where he could be overheard.

Bree nodded then negotiated with her friend for a discount. Soon they were heading up the stairs to a private lounge Venie had given them to use free of charge.