Chapter 49
“A New Deal”
“I think you are misunderstanding some things," Kalysto commented appearing calm which she was far from feeling as she was surrounded by the tips of the swords of the guards she had healed, with the exception of Jaesia, whose sword pointed towards the ground, but remained firmly in her hand. “According to the contract I have with my boss, my rest times will be respected and I am at complete liberty to refuse to perform a mission. I don’t know all the details of the deal you made with my boss are, but you seem to have forgotten one rather important detail in this negotiation: I am human," she clarified and lifted the sleeve of her dress, revealing the tattoo of her contract. “Which means that my constitution is weaker than yours and my body needs proper rest. I come from a world where mana doesn’t even exist, so my body is still getting used not only to having it, but to its excessive use. Besides, I’m sure that in your contract with the boss, you never specified how much time I had to perform this mission, did you?” She questioned him and seeing the anger flashing in his eyes, she knew she had guessed right. “If you check your contract, you will notice that it says that I will cure only those who live in this city and have the plague. I never agreed to cure an entire race.”
Immediately, the king touched the delicate tattoo on the back of his left hand, and when he did so, a purple screen appeared before everyone revealing the details of the contract where it was not specified what her boss had asked for besides the potions, but that Kalysto would go to cure his people of the plague and that during her stay, he was expected to treat her as an ambassador of the fairies.
The advisor standing next to the king craned his neck, trying to read the contract while the king cursed as he saw that Kalysto’s words were true.
“Damn fairies!” growled the king. “It’s because of this sort of thing that no one, except demons, likes to make deals with you! You always find a way not to fulfill!” As he rose to continue his tirade, his shoulder bumped into the head of his advisor, who had been reading the contract over his shoulder and Ettokalr scowled at him, annoyed at his audacity. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing, Lakyat?”
“I’m sorry, your majesty," the elf immediately retracted, and took several steps back.
“Out! Everyone get out of here except for the saintess and Jaesia!” Ettokalr ordered, and the rest hastened to obey.
“I am sorry to deny the king’s words, but I have fulfilled part of my agreement so far, or are you going to deny that I have spent the last hours healing your people?” The king immediately glanced at Jaesia, who nodded in confirmation of what the saintess had said.
Ettokalr frowned in response.
“Besides, I doubt it is the king’s intention to antagonize my boss or me," she added, stepping forward. Taking advantage of the absence of the other guards, and sensing that unless she attacked Ettokalr, Jaesia would not harm her. “Not when the plague could return at any time and infect someone of your people again in the future.”
Kalysto let the knowledge of this penetrate his mind. So that he would understand how inconvenient it was for him to treat her badly at that moment. However, she could not leave it there. Not when they could find another saintess in the future.
"Much less considering that I’m learning how to build magical barriers to keep monsters away from the cities."
“Impossible!” Refuted Ettokalr. “Making magical barriers requires learning more than one profession. Even we haven’t been able to do it, and it would take a mere human centuries to..." then his eyes widened wildly. “By any chance, is Artemis your teacher?
This time, it was Kalysto’s turn to be surprised.
“Do you know my instructor?”
Then the king’s laughter was heard throughout the room.
“It seems you have a very interesting contract with the queen of the fairies, human saintess.”
His words again took her by surprise.
So my boss is the queen, huh? Good to know. She thought.
“You seem surprised. Didn’t you know the identity of the person you made a contract with?”
“I apologize," she hurried to say, regaining control over her expressions. “The king has been so defensive with me since I arrived and seemed so upset all the time that hearing him laugh like that took me by surprise.”
“I apologize for my earlier behavior..." commented Ettokalr, sitting back in the comfortable chair and crossing his legs, as he tried to downplay his earlier outburst of temper. “And you are absolutely right in saying that there is no need to antagonize each other. Not when we can have a very beneficial relationship going forward. Did I get the impression that you had mentioned something about your poor physical condition?”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Is the king trying to offer me a deal?”
“If the saintess is interested, of course. But first, I need you to cure the elves that came from other kingdoms. I can’t send them away right now because of the situation and having them here could make others get infected. And since your body needs to improve its stamina, I offer you four skill crystals. Each one will raise your endurance by ten points. Which will help your body to better adapt to mana usage. But if you agree to heal my sister and niece right now, I will add a fruit from our holy tree, which will increase your mana points by 500.” That surprised her. “The saintess should eat the fruit before sleeping to give her body time to recover and assimilate the expansion of her limits. Normally it is advised to meditate for a few hours but because the saintess admitted she was tired....”
“If you bring them in at this moment, I could heal them both before retiring to rest.”
“Excellent decision! Then I will order a room to be prepared for you so that you can rest.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll go back to the fairy territory to eat something before I go to sleep. I’m starving right now.” She smiled at him, remembering what his contract said about treating her as a representative of the fairies while she was in their territory.
The king’s cheeks flushed red hearing that.
“Did no one bring lunch to the saintess at noon?”
“No, and it is almost time for dinner. But considering the situation you are in, I simply thought you had overlooked it.”
“Jaesia, bring my sister and niece immediately and find out why the hell Lakyat didn’t comply with my orders about feeding the saintess!”
“Immediately, your majesty.”
“I apologize for such a display of discourtesy. I was sure the saintess’s needs had already been adequately attended to. I assure you that will investigate what happened and add a vitality crystal as a token of my sincerity.”
“I accept your apology. But since I think it best that I return to fairy territory for the time being, I would like to ask if there is any way we can communicate in the future.”
“Of course,” he said. And after opening a leather pouch inside his right pocket, he took out a sky-blue crystal orb. “This is an invention of my brother Caranthir, you will only need to inject some mana and say the name of the one with whom you wish to communicate, since both my siblings and Jaesia and I have one, the saintess will have to specify which of us she wishes to communicate with.” He commented, handing it to her, along with the vitality crystal, which as soon as it touched the palm of her hand, a violet window opened before her.
[Does the user wish to absorb this vitality crystal?]
[YES/NO]
Kalysto set the windows aside and put her new gifts away in her inventory, deciding it was best to wait until she was in her room before absorbing the skill crystal.
“Thank you for the gifts. I will make good use of them.”
“I would think it wiser to keep it close by and not within your inventory, or you will not see the time when I request it in case of an emergency.”
“And I would hope that this emergency would only be during the time I am finishing with the current deal, as I am also performing other missions, and discretion is necessary for them,” she added, remembering that she was supposed to be right now in jail inside the human kingdom.
I needed to help those two escape. She thought. Though she had no idea how she would go about getting them out of prison, not with the dislike her boss had for humans.
“I understand,” Ettokalr commented.
“Also, I would recommend to the king to make a new deal with my boss. Borrowing a small army of soldiers to help him with the situation here would be convenient.”
“Many of the elves you healed are part of my army. I think I will be able to use them again soon.”
“Most of them are resting right now, and I doubt they’ll wake up until tomorrow.” He arched an eyebrow at her words, and a sly half-smile crept across his face.
“Any recommendations the saintess is willing to make to me?”
“I heard that your brother is a great potionist. If he was the one who made the potions that were given to me, I myself would be very interested in learning how to do them.” That immediately caught the king’s attention. "And I’m sure my boss will be able to find other fairies who wish to upgrade their profession. Even if she says no, you would lose nothing.”
“Aside from admitting that my kingdom is vulnerable?”
“Do you really think she hasn’t found out by now?” she replied with an arched eyebrow.
“In that case, I offer you another deal. I will convince my brother to teach you how to make potions and I will give you four more fruits from our sacred tree and two vitality crystals plus two more endurance crystals if the saintess creates a protective barrier against monsters in this city.”
“I am still a student and it could take me months to learn how to make it.”
“I am sure that under the teachings of Artemis in one or two years the saintess will already be able to make one almost the size of this city. And for every year you come to renew the barrier, I will provide you with another four fruits. I think 2000 MP would be a tempting offer for the saintess, wouldn’t it?”
“...Mmmm... I understand that elves are very good archers.”
“According to my older brother, the saintess is a decent archer.”
“However, I do not possess the sight of one.”
“I can give you a crystal that will give you such a skill.”
“If the king is willing to give me the rewards before I finish curing the plague patients who are in the rooms I have been provided for that purpose, then I would also be interested. So, do we have a deal?”
“As long as you cure me tonight, too, I agree.” And at that moment, a purple window opened before her.
[Does the user wish to make a binding soul contract with the Ettokalr son of Arandh?]
And Ettokalr, the king of the elves of the kingdom of Elenium, opened his eyes in surprise at the sight of the purple window that opened before him, asking him if he agreed to the terms of the contract that Kalysto just drew up.
“Impossible!” He whispered, as a shiver ran down his back.