Chapter 62
“On the brink of death.” Part 6
Caranthir could not believe that she had dared to walk away and leave them there to their fate.
Even if it was true that there were no more wounded inside the tent, which he himself had checked before teleporting to where she was.
“What the hell?” He whispered in confusion.
“Caranthir, is everything all right?” Ardrach asked, approaching the place where the saintess had been seconds before.
“What the hell happened here?” he grunted.
And when Ardrach informed him of everything that happened in detail, Caranthir covered his face with the palm of his hand after letting out a curse.
“Shit!...So much I criticize Ettokalr for rushing to judge a situation without knowing all the facts and I go and do the exact same thing to her!” He observed the half-frozen body of the Sajhun, unable to believe that the little Kalysto had been able to destroy and tear out his core.
Because he had no doubt that it was she who had taken the precious crystal.
So she really has an aptitude for magic... Does the queen of the fairies know? He frowned, doubting that this was the case. And he decided not to say anything to his brother for now.
Otherwise, he might insinuate again that he should take advantage of the fact that she wanted to learn potions with him and seduce her.
Caranthir let out a deep sigh and took out a super concentrated mana potion from his inventory and after drinking it, he appeared on the terrace where he himself had drawn the summoning circle that diverted anyone other than himself who tried to teleport to the capital of the kingdom, to that terrace. Hoping that Kalysto had not yet left after sensing that the protections had been activated seconds after she disappeared.
And he let out a sigh of relief when he found her finishing eating a thel.
Just as he was about to apologize for having vented all the bad temper mixed with the enormous worry he felt about the whole situation on her, he noticed that she was drinking a thin bottle of what he was sure was holy water.
“Is that holy water?” He asked, unable to believe that bottles of such precious liquid still existed. Even the saintess the humans had was not capable of producing it unless it was in very small quantities and of very low quality.
Kalysto, instead of answering, arched an eyebrow.
“So what if it is?” she answered in a dry voice. And Caranthir wanted to hit himself in the head for the great stupidity he had done in antagonizing her just because he had been in a bad temper, especially with his brother for ordering him to seduce her when he had finally felt interested in something other than his magical research, or his extensive collection of books.
“I’m sorry," he hastened to say before ruining the situation again. But she didn’t seem convinced by his words.
****
Kalysto watched Caranthir for a few seconds before letting out a long sigh. And as much as she wanted to stay upset with him, she knew it wasn’t practical or convenient for her.
Not when he might know some magical spell to find Alice. And there was a small chance, more a hope than anything else if she was honest with herself, that Alice was also on the same continent as her.
If indeed Alice had gone with Thomas and everything in the book of ‘The Fall of the Hero’, turned out to be true. As it seemed to be so far.
Besides, I would waste a lot of time looking for another wizard to train me. And if I learn potions with him before my contract with the boss ends, I’d have another guaranteed way to make money. Even if I return to Earth, that kind of knowledge would be very useful to me... that and his ability to teleport. Thought the former waitress. Who didn’t overlook the way he looked at the bottle of low quality holy water she had taken a sip from earlier.
And she did her best to hide a smile.
If I play my cards right, I could get what I want from him. She noticed.
“From what I saw, your men seem to be doing very well on the battlefield, if not for those things covered in black.”
“Black goblins and creatures that seem to be made of miasma," Caranthir clarified in a calm voice.
“I can defeat them," she added, mimicking the calmness in his voice.
“What?”
“As you heard, although purifying them would be the exact term. But the result is the same. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Ardrach."
Caranthir frowned and remained thoughtful for a few seconds while she finished eating her thel.
“Purification Ezhil! Purification! Purification Ezhil!” she called out, wiping her hands clean of any remnants of the fruit juice and making sure there were no traces left around her lips either.
Then she gave him a half-sideways smile when he saw her clean hands.
“ You smug!” Caranthir whispered.
Kalysto shrugged, playing it down.
And he let out a long sigh and stared into her eyes, his expression serious.
“What do you want in return?”
Kalysto’s smile widened as she saw him give in, despite his pride.
How the mighty fall. She was delighted. Being aware now, seeing how everyone reacted so negatively to the idea of making a contract with a fairy, or with her despite being human, and of the strong racism that existed in this world.
That’s like me treating Tsuki badly just because he’s not a dog. Or Sakura or Jessica just because we are from different cultures? What matters is not what race you are, but how you behave! That kind of racism was too foreign to her, even when she lived on Earth.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Here it only became even stranger to her, especially because she was helping them.
“Your brother already negotiated with me that you would teach me to make potions with the same level of quality as you have given me so far. But it wouldn’t hurt to write it down in our contract, just to be sure you won’t go back on it later.”
“I would do no such thing!” He defended himself.
“Then explain to me what you did or tried to do a while ago?” She questioned, crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow.
“I apologize... I thought that... forget it, it doesn’t matter now” all traces of guilt vanished from his face, now it was all business. “You know that learning potions is something that takes years, right?”
“You have two years to teach me, but for the moment, I need you to focus on mana potions, as they are the ones I need the most. Later, if we have time, you can teach me everything else. As long as you don’t lie to me again and assure me that you will make the effort to teach me well, there should be no problem.”
“I’m not usually a liar," he commented with a frown, to which she only arched an eyebrow, and he let out a sigh.
“Besides, you will guarantee my safety while I am on the battlefield, otherwise I will impose a penalty.”
Caranthir nodded and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up.
“I apologize for that. You were absolutely right to be upset. I also apologize for my brother’s attitude. Although we hadn’t had much contact with fairies before, we’ve always heard unflattering stories and Ettokalr can be a bit....”
“Controlling, calculating, ill-tempered, quick to judge people and take advantage of them, even though they’ve already been helping his people for hours even though he never deigned to offer me even a glass of water or a slice of bread?” she cooperated.
Caranthir let out a long sigh.
“He can do anything, even things I don’t agree with, in order to protect his people," he excused him.
Kalysto, realizing that this conversation would lead nowhere, decided to change the subject.
“I think it would be much safer for me if, when we meet for our lessons, we do not meet near your brother or his palace.”
“I have a cottage in the forest, I don’t live in the palace,” Caranthir agreed immediately.
“Then I think it would be ideal to have our lessons there. You will teach me magic, as we had agreed before. But you will do it for at least two hours three times a week in exchange for having healed your men in that canopy. Technically, I already fulfilled my part of that deal, but if you assure me that you will teach me how to do the ice spear, those fire attacks I saw you do and how to teleport, I would be willing to go back to healing your warriors, but now I will do it from afar. There is no need for me to take any risks.”
“But..." He tried to speak, but Kalysto raised a hand indicating that he should stop.
“As I said before, there is no need for me to take unnecessary risks. Instead, I will help you purify the creatures in black. You will teleport me to such groups, I will purify them and we will then switch locations, thus finishing them off. And leave only the common monsters on the battlefield for you and your army to deal with," she clarified, “You will take care of the mana potions I need during this and my security. After that I will stay for an hour healing your sick in the back. But not in the tent, it’s too obvious and the perfect place for another ambush.”
“I apologize for that. When the first gate appeared two days ago, it was about half a kilometer further away, so we thought it was a safe place to pitch a tent and treat the wounded.”
“How did two gates appear so close together and in such a short time?” She was surprised, in the few stories she had read, this kind of phenomena always appear randomly.
“Yeah, well, it’s pretty obvious that someone wants us out of the way.”
Considering that there were also many sick fairies, maybe they too were attacked. But unlike the elves, they were mostly only affected by the miasma. And very few had wounds. She thought. Whatever attacked them either died in the process, or didn’t make it very far... maybe the elves are right and the fairy queen is more powerful than I thought.
“Make it two hours and I’ll give you the cores of the monsters I kill“ she was surprised by his offer, and he noticed it. “Do you really think I wouldn’t notice that you kept the core of that Sajhun?”
“I split his core and blocked his airway. And although I wasn’t the only one who attacked him, I was the one who delivered the final blow. I don’t intend to give it back.”
“I’m not judging you. I’m just making a point by saying that I noticed it and that’s why I’m bringing it into the negotiation. You seemed interested in that,” Kalysto nodded her head in acceptance of the offer.
“If you could get me another one of the same, I’d appreciate it. I doubt I could do what I wanted to experiment with a broken core.”
“Would you be willing to trade holy water as well? Do you know how to make it?”
“Yes, we can add holy water to the negotiation and two, I have the saintess class. Of course, that’s within my capabilities” At least that’s what the boss had implied when she gave me the first vial of holy water. “Since I’m going to be needing a lot of high quality mana potions and a few revitalizing potions over the next few months, how about I offer you in exchange three liters of holy water a month along with a half hour to heal your sick?”
“How many liters of mana potions do you need?” He asked, crossing his arms, trying not to show that he was quite anxious to get those bottles of holy water.
But Kalysto could easily recognize the greed shining in his blue eyes.
“That depends on how high quality we’re talking about. Will you add your special super concentrated mana potions?”
“Those take longer to make and the materials are more expensive.”
“Then sell the holy water instead of keeping it for you and yours.”
“Are you out of your mind?“ He was shocked. “Do you know how hard it is to get holy water these days? There are those who would give half their fortune for just one bottle!”
“And that’s why selling half of it will ensure you get the materials you need to make all the potions I want.”
“Add a liter of holy water and I’ll give you thirty liters of high quality mana potion plus two liters of my super concentrated version per month. Plus the three liters of revitalizing potion.”
“Wait, I missed something. Do you know how to track someone?”
“You lost someone?”
“Yes, my friend is missing and I need to find her. Can you help me?”
“Only if during this and next week you come at least twice a week to heal my warriors for an hour. I don’t think these attacks will stop for the time being and I would prefer to have a backup in case we have more cases with the plague.”
“Agreed. But I don’t want that to be part of the deal the queen made with your brother.”
“Weren’t you done with that already?”
“The system hasn’t given me the notification yet, nor the rewards. So I guess either your brother hasn’t notified me about it or he hasn’t finished delivering whatever it is he negotiated with my boss.”
Either that or he wants to take advantage to see who else gets sick to force me to cure him. She thought.
“I’ll talk to my brother later about it.”
“I’d appreciate it. So we have a deal?” As soon as Caranthir nodded, two violet windows appeared before them.
“How the hell can you do that?... I thought the fairy queen was the only one who could do such a thing!” Kalysto shrugged, even she didn’t have an answer for that.
Though she vaguely remembered Artemis saying that fairies didn’t consider being a merchant a valid profession, so she just assumed it was because the violet system allowed them to make contracts.
And now I realize why they prefer to make a soul binding contract with another species instead of simply exchanging services... it’s definitely the only way to be sure that others won’t change the terms of the contract.
[The user wishes to make a soul binding contract with Caranthir, son of Arandh?]
[YES/NO]
Kalysto selected yes, and wrote down all the details they had already agreed upon, making sure to highlight that, if he ever allowed her to be in danger again, he would have a penalty that she would choose based on the severity of the incident. Though in reality it was because she wasn’t sure what to ask of him, so she preferred not to specify.
“Do you accept the contract?” she asked him and watched the moment he selected ‘yes’ on his own screen. And unbeknownst to him, in the same hand with which he had selected yes, a small black crescent moon was drawn on the inside of his wrist.
I hope I won’t be there when he finds out. She thought as she remembered that for the elves, black was a color that brought bad luck. Although it was Kalysto’s favorite color.
And to distract herself, she bent down, taking off her delicate sandals that she was still sure would break at any moment, put them away in her inventory and put on her comfortable black tennis shoes.
“What are you doing?” "he said, suddenly becoming nervous.
“Getting comfortable and getting ready for battle, isn’t it obvious?” She answered him, then stood up and stretched out her hand towards him. “Ready! Now, let’s go to war!”