It didn’t make sense. It felt like walking into the office and hearing a couple colleagues have a nice chat about balancing work and life. What was this? It didn’t feel right. Something was off. What am I missing? What’s going on? Is this the guy who made the elves into demons?

“—ter? Master Deidre!” Agares shook me gently at the shoulder to snap me out of it. “Are you alright?”

Huh? “Uh, yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Um…”

“Ah, yes.” Agares beckoned Knerog over. “Can you nullify the pacts you made with the elves from my master’s world?”

Again, there wasn’t the slightest bit of hostility. Knerog shrugged. “Quality over quantity, huh? Well, sure, I don’t mind. But what about the elven souls that are already here?”

Agares tapped her chin in thought then looked at me. “I think it best you continue your work as normal on them.” She smiled at Knerog. “So,” she sashayed up to Knerog playfully, “what do you think? We can share masters!”

“Oh,” he rubbed behind his head nervously, “I don’t know, Agares. I haven’t spoken to people in so long th—”

“Oh, don’t worry! You’ll be fine!” She playfully tapped him on his hand.

“That’s it?” I slumped to my knees. “That’s, it? There’s no big battle? No argument? What about negotiating? All I had to do was ask?”

Knerog and Agares looked at each other, then she chortled. “Master, you thought devils were evil creatures that love to make others suffer, didn’t you?”

“Aren’t you? What’s up with that?” So many people died. The real reason I was upset at the ease of this was because of the lengths the demons had to go to in order to protect themselves and mature their young ones. They became predatory because they had no choice, it was a battle for survival. I slaughtered thousands like an imbecile, when all I needed to do was politely ask, and the source of the issue would disappear.

Knerog had a hearty laugh at my antics. “Indeed, we exist to torment the souls of the dead, but there is a reason for that, a rather good reason. So, how’s this?” Knerog transformed into a pale, freckled redhead in a black tank top and tight denim shorts.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

All my reflection halted. It, can’t be, right? “Why this look in particular?” I asked.

“Why?” Knerog smiled. “Because you like th—”

“Okay, okay! I get it!” Way to rub my gayness in my face! Geez! I rubbed my temples and tried to route my thinking back to a more important topic. “Why become my servant? What’s in it for you?”

“Well—”

“At our level of experience and intelligence,” Agares placed her hands on Knerog’s shoulders and walked him – or her, I wasn’t sure – closer to me, “there is a happiness derived from the simplicity of servitude that helps sustain us. It is difficult to explain to beings that have not traversed the lines between life, death, stasis, and beyond. Think of it as our way to relax and unwind. So, would you like to be Knerog’s master? Devils are powerful, and any one of us would be a great addition to your power.”

I stood up finally and folded my arms. “Okay, first off, I’ve gotta ask. Are you really female, Agares? And you,” I pointed to the once purple six-legged devil, “aren’t you male?”

They looked at each other again. “W-we, don’t really have such restrictions as devils. If we transform into something that looks female, then you can genuinely say that we are now female.” Knerog explained kindly to me. “And, you like females more, so we—”

“Yup, yeah, got it. Thank you, Knerog.” I don’t care what any of you say. I’ll get my dick someday. I dangled my arms.

Knerog initiated the contract. Unlike Enthral that reworked a being’s reward system, forming magical contracts with another being instead worked on a system of punishment. Severe pain was inflicted if one party chose to defy the conditions of the contract. But the contract he, no, she, initiated had no downsides whatsoever for me. She was, in essence, a slave to my will.

Mentally, I had enough for one day, it was all too much. I put this journey on pause and returned to my castle. Agares took Knerog on a tour, but I retreated to my bedroom after I kidnapped Tina from her training.

“Well, you’re acting weird,” she commented. “What’s wrong?” She laid on her side on my bed and propped her head up.

I was busy throwing my robe off. “So many things! But,” I flung it over that one chair in everyone’s room that we never mention, “I don’t want to talk about it.” I joined her in bed, snuggled up to her, and closed my eyes.

She scoffed. “I love you, babe, but you stopped my training for this?” Despite her complaints, she still coddled me. Her fingers massaged my scalp, and it was heavenly.

I moaned in pleasure. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“How?” she asked.

I shrugged a little and wiggled closer into her. “You choose.”

She suddenly sat up and my head plopped down on the bed. “Join our party again and let’s do a quest with my mom.”

I stiffened up for a moment. “Huh?”