The seed of darkness was able to evolve because it has chosen the future Dark Lord.

The seed of darkness wishes to bind with the future Dark Lord. Do you accept? Yes/No.

Advantages and obligations of the binding contract with the seed of darkness.

Well, that.

To say I'm dumbfounded is an understatement. Like, four of my twenty minutes have passed while I try to process that the pup says I'm going to be the Dark Lord.

But let's see... this otome was about fights between students from academies of different countries. Sure, dark lords were in the lore, but they were eradicated centuries ago and never returned. It's a world without threat of evil. And now I'm going to be the next Dark Lord?

I refuse. If I didn't play games where you were the bad guy, I'm not going to do it in this world that for now is the only real one for me and will stay that way if I don't figure out how to return to Earth.

But if I don't do it a lever will activate in about fifteen minutes and both the seed of evil and I will be annihilated by a zombie bear or something worse. And yes, maybe part of me thinks that might be better, but another only sees a puppy and my own life that I refuse to throw away. One thing is being overwhelmed by enemies and having absolutely no chance of escape. Like before. But turns out I had it and I have it. So, I extend my arm and touch the words where it says "Advantages and obligations of the binding contract".

Advantages:

1- The seed of darkness will help and follow the future Dark Lord's orders if it sees them reasonable and coherent with their role as future Dark Lord.

2- The seed of darkness can evolve into a shadow wolf.

Cost: 1 mana point from the future Dark Lord per minute

Cooldown: 24 hours.

3- In case of danger, the seed of darkness will put preserving the future Dark Lord's life above its own.

4- The seed of darkness will hide its dark aura and pass as a puppy dog when the future Dark Lord needs to be in human settlements or interact with other intelligent beings without revealing she is bound to a divine-level magical beast.

5- The seed of evil will share its skills and statistics window, both in base and evolved form, with the future Dark Lord when requested. Likewise, it will listen to suggestions when leveling up in its base form. Such suggestions will be considered but don't have to be followed.

Obligations:

1- The future Dark Lord will be responsible for feeding and basic care of the seed of darkness.

2- If the seed of darkness dies defending the future Dark Lord's life, she is obligated to undertake a quest to resurrect it.

3- The future Dark Lord is obligated to obtain resources. Resources include building materials, food, medicine and any others that are needed.

4- The future Dark Lord is obligated to transport resources where specified as necessary, as well as organize all inherent logistics.

5- The future Dark Lord is obligated to perform personnel hiring and management tasks.

6- The future Dark Lord is obligated to perform leadership and organization tasks.

7- The future Dark Lord is obligated to perform construction tasks.

8- The future Dark Lord is obligated to care for and protect the seed of darkness.

9- The future Dark Lord will not harm the seed of darkness.

10- The future Dark Lord is obligated to accept vassalage from all those who wish to swear it and whose intentions are honest.

11- The future Dark Lord is obligated to perform diplomatic tasks if required.

12- The future Dark Lord is obligated to command their armies when necessary.

13- The future Dark Lord is obligated to keep in mind at all times the prosperity of their subjects and lands.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

14- The future Dark Lord is obligated to become the Dark Lord when the necessary requirements are met and so requested. Any advantage or obligation present in this contract with the future Dark Lord will apply equally to the Dark Lord.

Warning:

This contract is binding for both parties. Disobeying it implies breaking the bond, death of the seed of darkness and return to level one with zero experience points for the no-longer future Dark Lord.

Eyes wide open. Just to describe somehow how I'm left after reading this. Many questions crowd my mind. Too many. But time keeps passing, so I can't stop to think about them now. Just one thing... I have no mana left to make the wolf evolve. The pup barks noticing I'm not doing anything. I sigh. Let's go step by step: first, accept.

And no, I don't want to be a dark lord and become evil. I have light magic, that means I'm a good person or they wouldn't give it to you in the otome. Maybe I should just die and that's it, not risk becoming a being that conquers and rules the world. But I don't want to die either.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, not to the pup but to myself, for what I might be doing to my soul.

I touch "accept".

Immediately I feel a prick in my thumb and see a drop of blood come out, which flies toward the translucent window where the contract is. Another crimson drop comes from the pup's claw. It's as if it also has to accept, which makes sense since my advantages are its obligations. When both drops touch the text, they stain it red and the text glows brightly. Then, it disappears, leaving new words, in black, before my eyes.

You have just signed a contract with the seed of darkness. From now on, you are the future Dark Lord.

I tense my muscles unconsciously while reading it. As if I were expecting horns or demonic wings to sprout. But nothing happens. I exhale and try to relax. By the way, if I break the contract the pup dies... I don't see myself capable of doing something like that. I suspect whoever (a god? a demon?) made this knows it.

I look at the counter, just over five minutes left.

"Let me see your skills windows, please," I tell the puppy.

It barks and shares them with me somehow, as two popup windows appear.

Seed of Darkness. Level 1.

Progress to level 2: 20%

Constitution 2

Strength 2

Intelligence 2

Agility 1

Wisdom 1

HP 2

MP 1

Skills:

Not available

Spells:

Healing Lick beginner level: restores half of the future Dark Lord's HP and MP. Not applicable to itself or other targets that aren't the future Dark Lord or the Dark Lord. Cost: 1 MP.

Not available

Not available

Shadow Wolf. Level 30.

As a divine creature, it can exceed the level 20 restriction imposed on mundane creatures.

Constitution 32

Strength 32

Intelligence 32

Agility 31

Wisdom 31

HP 32

MP 31

Skills:

Shadow Jump grandmaster level. Active. Teleport to a shadow within vision range. Instant. No cooldown. No mana cost.

Regeneration grandmaster level. Passive. Heals 6HP per minute. Regenerates lost limbs.

Hard Skin grandmaster level. Passive. +10 points physical resistance.

Magic Resistance grandmaster level. Passive. +10 points magic resistance.

Spells:

Shadow Howl grandmaster level. Paralyzes for 10 seconds all creatures that hear it and don't have the magic resistance skill. If the creature has magic resistance skill at a level lower than grandmaster, will be paralyzed several seconds depending on their mastery in magic resistance. Cost: 2 MP.

Shadow Aura grandmaster level. Decreases enemies' defense and attack by 10x%, both physical and magical. Range: 300 meter radius circular area. Cost: x MP.

Darkness Ball grandmaster level. Ball made of dark mana that explodes in a 30m² area. Range: 300 meter radius circular area. Cost: x MP. Damage: 2.5x damage points to the target on direct hit. 2x damage points to targets within explosion area.

Shadow Claws grandmaster level. Layer of darkness that covers the wolf's front claws with dark mana making claws ignore targets' armor. Physical armor is completely ignored. If target has magical armor or shields, they're also ignored if their value is less than x. Cost: x MP. Duration: 10x minutes. Damage: 5x damage points.

The pup isn't stupid. It can't evolve without a future Dark Lord, so it couldn't defend itself from the other wolves. Me stopping to help it was like winning the lottery: a human it could bind with. Obviously, I don't want to be the next Demon King; but now isn't the time for regrets.

"Give me a healing lick, I need mana for you to evolve."

Without hesitation, before I even finish speaking, I have its tongue on my cheek. All drool. And it still smells bad. However, the moment that tongue touches me I stop caring about its bad breath, because I suddenly feel better, like I just woke up from a deep and restful sleep. I don't even bother checking if half my mana has regenerated, I run towards the nearest lever while casting the evolution spell. The knowledge of how to do it is inside me from the moment I signed the contract. It's very simple, I just have to raise my hand in front of me and say "awaken."

A power that isn't mine floods me. An affinity that isn't mine either makes me tremble. The word comes out strong and powerful from my lips and the pup jumps to the floor. While it's falling, its body changes. I blink. I see it land already transformed into the terrifying and gigantic shadow wolf. Its teeth gleam white and its eyes red.

"You have three minutes," I whisper and activate the second lever.