After bidding Dyna goodbye at the doorway, he caught a familiar glimpse of two crimson robed figures approaching the clinic from a distance. Exill limped out to meet them and warmly greeted Father Jonas and the Priestess.

“You needn’t have come out to greet us, child. How is your ankle doing?” The Priest earnestly squeezed Exill’s arm, genuine concern painting his tired features. “I would have come by sooner, but I had difficulty getting out of bed after our… little adventure.” He chuckled lightly, lamenting where all the years had gone by.

“My ankle feels a lot better, and I have a lot to be grateful for.” Exill truly meant every word. The amulet had unearthed a great deal of corruption, both within and without.

“That is good to hear, let’s go inside to finish our treatment, shall we?”

Exill led them back to the Clinic, and it was a strange sensation to roll up the hem of his trousers and lie back like a patient in the treatment room. Tsarra hung to one side, and observed the two clerics channel their faith into dispelling the corruption rooted in his ankle.

“That… should do it.” Father Jonas wiped the sweat from his brow in the crowded treatment room, and leaned against the windowsill where the cool evening breeze blew in. Tsarra took over once the subdermal rot was wiped out, and healed his leg with great satisfaction.

“Will you be extending your stay in Virigo? It’s a nice little town you know, I used to always enjoy my postings here.” The genial Priest gratefully accepted the cup of warm tea and leaned back on the stool.

“Tomorrow is our last day, and we will return to Ark the day after.”

“Ah, that’s a shame… you did good work here, and the people like you.” The Father smiled warmly, “I’m afraid I’ll remain here for a week longer. The Church is terribly understaffed in this region, with most of the clergy assigned to the former battlegrounds to fight the spiritual disturbance caused by the war. It is most troublesome.”

“What is it like out there?” Exill asked. Information about the territories that had seen conflict was tightly controlled, and all the rumours he heard had been vague.

“If you thought the Infested Edifice we encountered yesterday was bad, it is much worse out there. Aberrations are a monthly occurrence, and hordes of corpse devouring ghouls roam the countryside. This makes trade and relief efforts difficult, contributing further to human misery.” Father Jonas shook his head sadly, “It is a vicious self-perpetuating cycle.”

The treatment room fell silent as all its occupants grew sombre in thought. The middle-aged Priest sighed loudly and rose to his feet with a groan. He made as if to leave, but paused.

“I nearly forgot, now that the corruption is gone you won’t need the amulet.”

Exill had also stood up alongside the Priest, and now he hesitated, knowing how incredibly valuable the legendary item was. It was the only thing that had warned him of Envy’s manipulation, and he was loathe to give it up. In spite of this, he took the Splinter of the Divine Tree off his neck and handed it over to Father Jonas.

“This is a precious memento from my former teacher, and has saved my life many times… I’m glad it was able to protect you.” He reminisced fondly then gestured for the accompanying Priestess to lead the way. “I’ll try to drop by in a week’s time on my return to Ark.” He bid farewell and stepped out into the darkening evening.

Exill observed the two figures retreat into the encroaching darkness, and his heart felt strangely naked and exposed. Without the amulet to protect against abnormal status effects, the sanctity of his mind was vulnerable to deception. To be unable to trust one’s thoughts and emotions was harrowing torment, and he involuntarily shivered in the cool night air.

“Let’s go in…” Tsarra tugged at his sleeve, concerned that he might catch a cold.

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“Yeah.” Exill turned around and paused at the sight of the Vampire repairing the torn hem of his trousers while seated at the table. They hadn’t exchanged a word since last night and he felt reluctant to talk to her, especially now that he was so vulnerable. In spite of this, he gently turned to his apprentice.

“This is your last night with the books, and you should make of it as much as you can. Do you mind studying in your room tonight? I need to have a private word with Envy.”

“Um… okay.” Tsarra stifled her curiosity and retreated to her room.

Exill reluctantly sat opposite the Vampire and watched her deftly fix up his trousers for minutes on end, unsure of how to begin or even approach such an absurd topic.

What she had unwittingly done to him was incredibly asinine and damaging. Nearly all his troubles had begun the moment her crimson eyes matched his. It was incredibly unfair, and even now, he was confused how much had been his intent, and how much had been hers.

The fact she had offered to rewrite their contract in a gesture of self-sacrifice prior to the duel only muddied the waters. He still remembered her clear amber eyes, unwavering and melancholy when she suggested the revision. ‘How could I forget…’ he breathed lightly in self-deprecation.

“Have you thought about what we discussed last night?”

Envy glanced up from her sewing, her eyes the colour of clear amber and imperceptibly nodded in affirmation.

“What do you think I should do about you?”

Her hands hesitated at his gently voiced question, and the needle accidentally pierced her thumb, causing a glossy bead to well up. She shrugged, and put the sewing off to one side.

Exill was torn by her behaviour. She was outwardly acting as if she didn’t care, but it was obvious from the set of her shoulder that she was tense and anxious. Agonising over this question the whole day, he had tried to measure the treachery against her intent. His impulse screamed at him to nullify the Contract, sell her, or put her far away. It was a reaction borne from fear and deception.

A more moderate, emotional side of him couldn’t reject the genuine interactions they had shared. He desperately wanted to believe that all of it had not been a lie. However even this desire was tempered by the suspicion he was still under her influence. Still undecided, he offered a stopgap measure.

“I’m going to give you another command as a master to his slave, and that is to not [Enthral] anyone without my permission. Do you consent to this?”

Envy furrowed her brows, and she wrung her hands in pain, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“Consent? What kind of question is that?” The Slave bitingly questioned her Master.

Exill had never seen the Vampire so vulnerable, and it hurt him more for what he was about to say, “It wasn’t a question. I was doing you a common courtesy by telling you in advance what I was about to do.”

She bit her lip, tasting the bittersweet irony of what her Master called a ‘common courtesy’, a gesture no one had ever extended, while simultaneously binding her freedom. She softly nodded in acquiescence, and felt his mana infused command wash over her.

“Lastly, I need to know the truth from you. Did you knowingly Enthral me.” He channelled mana again into the command. In the back of his mind, a darker side of him revelled at how easy it was to force the Vampire to do his bidding.

“No.” She immediately replied, her features clear of deceit.

Exill felt a small part of the burden shift from his shoulders, but it did little to excuse the trials and tribulations he had faced since saving her. Neither did it free him from the suffocating shackles of her debt. He was still being pursued by the mysterious figure seeking a default on his loan, and it jeopardized not only him, but his business as well.

They continued to sit opposite each other, wrapped in their own thoughts, and quickly lost track of time. Exill was thinking about the missed opportunity of testing Conman’s [Bluff] against the legendary amulet to see how it compared to Envy’s [Enthral]. He quietly suspected that [Bluff] didn’t apply a status ailment and instead affected the tone and delivery of his speech to be more believable.

“What are these ‘myths’ you spoke of yesterday about vampires?” He reluctantly refrained from injecting mana into the question.

Envy eyed him cautiously, “There are legends… that especially strong vampires are capable of subjugating people.”

The puzzle gradually became clearer in Exill’s mind. Considering the scarcity of vampires, and the difficulty of feeding them proportional to their strength; it went some way towards explaining the rarity of this unique racial ability.

His thoughts then turned to the utility of [Enthral] and how powerful it could be in the right hands. ‘Is it possible to control such a power? What are its limitations?’ These were all urgent questions that had no answers. Instead, he voiced the mystery that had plagued him all this time.

“Was that how you killed your previous master?”

Envy was caught off guard by the sudden enquiry, and she shook her head to indicate ‘no’, but fell further into thought. “Maybe… it could have helped.” She acknowledged in the end. It gave her fresh perspective on the events that had occurred that fateful day.

“Will you tell me what happened?”

She stared at him, knowing he was fully capable of forcing that information with a single mana-laced command. Shaking her head, she denied her final trump card, “I’ll tell you when you set me free.”