Chapter 21: The Soul Contract
“You’re like a damn sponge, little girl, do you know that?” Currently, it is Friday, the final day of the school week, and I just finished learning all the [Basic Projectile Magic] for [Small Weapons]. Jiriko just gave me a test for it, telling me to try different projectile elements for different guns.
At first, he gave me a [Pistol] and told me to fire a [Water Bullet]. I did it. After that, he gave me a [Submachine Gun], and told me to fire [Wind Bullets]. I did that as well. Finally, he gave me a [Magnum] and told me to fire an [Inferno Bullet]. I successfully fired it.
“I’ve never heard of anyone learning the basics of a magic type this fast. Three days, it took you. Three days, to learn the basics of [Projectile Magic]. Everything I said to you, you absorbed it like water, sponge girl. You absorb it, and you embed it into your brain before you squeeze it out to take more.” I have no idea how to take these words, but I assume it’s a compliment in the form of jealousy. Jiriko pinches his forehead, something he commonly does when he’s starting to get irritated.
“You make everything look so damn easy…” He mutters to himself.
“…sorry?” I squeak out.
“Nothing for you to apologize for. Anyway, little girl, for your fourth day here, we’re going to train you in [Gun Knight] combat. The tournament is just around the corner, and I assume that you’ll be joining it.” I nod in reply, confirming that I will participate in it. Not that I found a way to register yet, and today’s the deadline. This may be troublesome.
“Okay then, go the [Arena]. Although there’s a class occupying it right now, I booked one of the underground sparring rooms for you to use. It’s room 2003, which is on the second floor. In there, a specialist in dual-wielding combat will be waiting for you. She’ll help out with the training, because I myself am not capable of teaching you this kind of combat. I’ll follow you after I clean up, so just go on ahead.” I leave after hearing this, and run towards the [Arena].
The campus is mostly empty, due to classes going on, so I sprint over there at high speed. Speaking of the school, I believe I’ve finally become a symbol of fear for the other students. This morning, when I walked through the gates, people completely cleared the path for me and allowed me to walk through without any obstacles. They all would watch me walk by with weird expressions on their faces, and whenever I was about to enter through the door, they’d open it for me.
Did I become some crime boss within the school? They treat me with fear and respect it seems. Also, for some reason, I’ve been getting strange letters placed in my bag whenever I’m separated with it for a moment. I’ve read some of them, and it seems like I’ve become some sort of target for multiple people. Most of them were similar to this;
‘Dear Aria Brynhildr,
I’ve had my eyes on you ever since the first day you removed those bandages. I have something very important to say to you behind the school building at the end of the day. Please spare a moment of your time to come and see me.
Sincerely,
Your Secret Admirer.’
I think it’s a trap for them to jump me, don’t you? I often got letters like these in my previous life, where it lead to several thieves trying to rob me, or groups of mercenaries trying to get rid of me. Never ended well for them, but I’m pretty tired of this kind of stuff. So I didn’t go that day, and just went straight home.
I got them as well, today, but I casually just burnt them during lunch on the roof. No need to read more suspicious letters, so I’ll just dispose of these useless threats. If they have an important announcement, say it to me in person. Is it really that hard to speak it out loud?
Anyway, I arrive at the arena, and enter the giant colosseum. I find a set of descending stairs, and walk down two floors. There’s a sign that tells me which rooms are in which directions, and the room Jiriko told me was at the end of the hall. I proceed to enter through, and as he told me, there is a person already inside, sitting cross legged while waiting for me.
“You’re already here? That was earlier than what the old man told me.” She said, and stood up to walk towards me. She was quite a beautiful girl, with long, flowing black hair and hazel eyes. She looked as young as a 16 year old girl, with a height of 1.6 meters and the figure of a model. If I wasn’t told earlier, I wouldn’t have guessed that she was also an Adventurer.
“What a pretty little thing you are. So you want to become a special [Gun Knight], huh?” She says, examining my body closely. She pinches my cheeks, touches my arms, and looking at my legs. It’s starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, but I have no idea what to do about it. After touching my body all over, she pouts for some reason.
“You’re seriously not reacting to this? What are you, a heartless, emotionless machine?” She suddenly says.
“…?” I tilt my head in response, confused about what she’s talking about.
“Seriously? Such an adorable girl is a total buzzkill…” she mutters to herself. Did I disappoint her already?
“Ah, whatever, let’s get started. Here, catch.” She throws something at me, and when I caught it, I see that it’s a dagger with a blade made with some sort of white metal.
Suddenly, as soon as I catch it, she lunges right at me and swings her own dagger downwards right at me. I sidestep it and thrust mine right at her throat, intending to kill. If someone attacks me without any hesitation, then I will do the same. She deflects my thrust with a second dagger in her left hand. Just like Jiriko told me, she’s a dual-wielding fighter. After deflecting my thrust, she jumps back, and then drops both of her weapons to ground, raising both of her hands up.
“Nice job. So you do know how to fight in close combat, and with a dagger, huh? That makes things easier for me.” She says with a smile.
“…test?” I ask her.
“Obviously.” Her voice comes from behind me, and she suddenly grabs my chest from behind. The woman in front of me suddenly disperses like dust into the air. It seems like she used illusion magic to trick me.
“If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t even have given you a weapon, you know?” I immediately break out of her grip and push her away.
“Completely flat… just like a kid…” She mutters while making strange movements with her hands.
“…I’m 8.” I say to her. It seems that Jiriko hasn’t told her my age, so I say it myself.
“…wait, what!? You’re 8 years old, and look like that!?” She yells suddenly. I nod in reply, and she just watches me with her mouth opened.
“What the heck is going on in here?” Jiriko appears at the door, done with his cleaning.
“Jiriko! You didn’t tell me the adorable little girl was a kid! You’re trying to turn me into a pedophile, aren’t you!?” She suddenly yells at him.
“What, did you try to grope her too, you perverted [Assassin]? You seriously need to get rid of that habit of yours. Besides, you’re supposed to be training her!” He pinches his forehead after saying this, becoming irritated.
“But, but, she’s just so cute! I couldn’t resist you know!? If I had known she was only 8, I wouldn’t have gone down this path!”
“What, the path of a pervert? You’re way deep into that already. Just accept it and move on. I brought you here to train her, not to grope her.” After going back and forth with this exchange, they finally stop and begin with my training.
“Anyway, this perverted woman here is Yuuna, who’s going to help you train with dual wielding a weapon and a gun.” Jiriko introduces me to her. The girl smiles and at me and waves, but I don’t reply.
“Gah, what a killjoy. So let’s start the dual-wielding right away, shall we? Aria, pull out the gun you have.”
“Wait, already? This is way too fast no matter how I see it.”
“It seems like she’s already gotten combat experience somehow, and she already knows how to use the dagger, so we’re going to go straight into it.” She explains to him. I nod in agreement, and pull out the [Magnum] I brought with me. This time, I brought the [BLC-90], the strongest [Magnum] I can handle with one hand.
“So, which hand are you more comfortable with?” She asks me.
“…ambidextrous.” I tell her.
“Wow, weren’t you born with a bunch of talents? Okay then, in that case, we’ll just swap between both hands every now and then. For now, hold the gun in your right hand, and the dagger in your left.” After that, she begins to teach me different stances, and made me spar with her to practice my battle technique.
We continue in this manner until class ends, and I’m able to at least fight with the gun in hand, but nothing as extravagant as using [Gun Magic] in the midst of combat, or immediately changing grips to strike with the handle of the gun. I am learning slowly though, so this will help me greatly in the future.
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“Aria, come here for a bit.” Avin calls for me after [Adventurer Studies] ended. “You’ve been called to the principal office, so just go there right away. Do you know where it is?”
I nod my head. How do I know where it is? Well, I climb by the window every time I go to the roof, an area where I’m usually cautious around so I don’t get caught by him. I leave the classroom, and head to the fourth floor of the school building. In the center of the hallway, stood two large, fancy wooden doors that lead to the principal’s office. I walk up to them, but before I can knock on it, they open by themselves.
Inside the room, there were two sofas in the center of the room with a glass table in between. Several paintings were hung on the wall, a bookshelf in the corner of the room that was completely filled up. There was a desk at the end of the room, where a figure sat in a leather chair, looking right at me. The person was a man with short, brown hair, with brown eyes. His face looked as if he didn’t shave for weeks, and his clothes were casual wear. Is this guy seriously the principal?
“Oh, hey there. You must be Aria, right?” He suddenly says with a smile on his face. I nod in confirmation, and he claps his hands together.
“Alright! Peria told me about you, and your supposedly high status. She also said that you’d probably want to join the tournament but couldn’t, because you wanted to avoid attention.” So she was the one who tattled on me. I’ll pay her back twice fold in the future.
“I want to help, you out, you know? But first, I want to ask a question. Why are you trying to avoid attention?” He went straight to the point already. This is way too fast.
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“…exposure.” I respond quietly, but he heard me anyway.
“Exposure? Of your status? Why are you afraid of that, then? What are you trying to avoid exactly?” He asks far too many questions in one breath.
“…complications.” I reply with one word, again.
“Complications for the future, huh? So basically, you don’t want to be used by others?” I nod in reply to this, confirming his words.
“Such a simple matter, I think I can fix it for you. How about this, I got connections to the royal family, you know? If you fight for our school, and gain us prestige, I will make sure no one tries to touch you in the future.” What a nice sounding offer. Too bad it was way too damn suspicious. Who the hell in their right minds would accept a strange request like this right away?
“…no.” I say.
“I guess it sounded too good, huh? Let me rephrase that.” He suddenly stands up, runs his hand through his hair, puts on a purple mantle with gold linings, and faces me.
A blue aura emerges from him, and hits me head on. I feel his mana pressuring me, and I’m forced onto my knees. This man, he was an [Immortal Tier] adventurer! In order for a mana leak to force it’s pressure on someone else, it required their intelligence to be at least 3 times higher to do so. That means his intelligence was at least over 1,800 to force me to my knees.
“As an [Immortal Tier], [S-ranked] adventurer, I, Rend Nytefoul, the [Royal Wizard of Sykerion] promises in the name of the [System] that I will prevent any kingdom from scouting you out, and that you will have no obligations to anyone during your six years. Upon failure, I will pay the price with my life. Aria Brynhildr, do you accept the [Soul Contract]?” Suddenly, a blue light flashes brightly in front of me, and when it fades, an ethereal, blue screen appears in front of me by the [System]. It read;
‘Soul Contract has been proposed. Do you accept?” Along with that, the exact words he spoke was shown under those words, displaying what he just promised to do. At the end, it displays the penalty of being unable to fulfill this contract. The penalty for this one, was [Death].
The [Royal Wizard of Sykerion], huh? This guy sounds like a powerful figure in this world, and here he was making a life-or-death contract. This was an extremely convenient thing, a promise with the [System] acting as witness. But I only want to know one thing.
“…why?” I ask.
“Hahaha, well, I can’t tell you much at all. The only thing I can say is that someone called in a forced favor for me to do this. If I say any more than that, he’ll probably kill me, hahaha!” He laughs too cheerfully despite talking about the possibility of him dying.
“I can say one thing though. This guy who called in the favor, wants to see how far you can get as an [Adventurer]. If there’s a kingdom that holds you down, then that won’t happen, right? Based on what I’ve been told by Jiriko and Peria, you’re a ‘walking monster in guise of a beautiful human girl.’ If what they say is correct, then you’ll most likely make it to the [Titan Tier], I’d say so myself. Something like this, I myself want to see too, you know?” How much faith do these strangers have in me? They don’t know me very well, yet, they’re trying someone like this. What did I do exactly to have them want to try so hard for me?
“Anyway, just accept it. Then join the tournaments if you’d like. With the [Soul Contract] up, I’ll stop any kingdom from trying to scout you out and complicate your future. So feel free to go wild against these other schools. Show them that you’re a monster no one can handle, and that you’re going to become big in the future.” He’s trying really hard to get me to accept, it did seem very suspicious.
I think about what may happen if I accept. It has everything that I want for the future; no annoying powers trying to stop me, no obligations to the person helping me, and all I pretty much had to do was gain prestige for the school. Also, this man was supposedly a powerful figure, who's risking his life to do this for strange reasons that are most likely untrue. That's the only suspicious part, but I doubt he'll be able to take advantage of me with these kinds of conditions.
Besides, even if he does somehow break this promise, I only avoided exposure because I didn’t want kingdoms to annoyingly stalk and scout me. If it inevitably leads to that, I’ll just kill anyone who bothers my every day life. So, let’s go with this offer. I nod to him, and press the accept button on the screen in front of me. It disappears, and a bracelet appears on the principal’s wrist.
“So, this thing on my wrist will kill me as soon as I break the contract. Now that’s over with, you’re pretty much ready to just do whatever you like. No one will stop you, harass you, or anything like that. Because if they do, they’ll deal with me or I’m the one that’s going to die. Hahaha!.” He laughs as he says. This guy is way too damn cheerful, even more so than Thoth.
“Anyway, just go on with registering into the tournament. No matter what you do, I’ll be backing you up. Even if it’s a forced favor from someone else, I’ll give it my all to help you. So go wild, alright? Beat down anyone that’s unlucky enough to be paired up against you, got it?” He says with a thumbs up. I nod at this, affected by his positivity.
“…Thank you.” I say, and leave the room immediately. I smile to myself as I walk away, heading towards the arena. With something as reliable as the [System] here to create a promise that guarantees my future as a lone adventurer, I can go wild it seems. I won’t have to hold back in the tournament, and I’ll be fighting against Thoth with all my strength when the time comes. A feeling of excitement begins to well up within me, ready for the tournament in three days time.
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Third person perspective:
That night, four people met up at a bar in the middle of the city. Three of them were directly helping Aria, while the fourth was the one who made them do it.
“I got it done. She’s part of the tournament now, and I got the [Soul Bracelet] on me right now. I’m kind of scared of screwing up though, it’s going to kill me, you know? I was hoping I wouldn’t resort to this.” Rend reported this information to the fourth man at the bar, sitting right across him.
“She’s also learnt the basics of [Projectile Magic] for [Small Weaponry].” Jiriko reports as well. Although this was supposed to be a favor called in by the man, Jiriko was honestly having a good time hanging out with the girl. He did feel a bit of fear for the girl, though, due to her prowess in learning new abilities.
“That’s good to hear. What about you, Yuuna?” The fourth man asks. The girl was unusually quiet tonight, sipping her beer in a reserved manner. This was completely unlike of her, who’s usually energetic and commenting about other girls in the bar.
“That girl, what exactly is she? I’ve been told that she was a fast learner, and I was surprised that she was able to learn her dual-wielding in a day. But that girl, she’s dangerous.” She says.
“That’s something I haven’t heard. Explain.” The mysterious man demanded.
“You told me that she was a greenhorn in combat. You couldn’t have been more wrong. That girl, she’s a merciless warrior. When I tested her reaction speed, she side stepped my attack, as anyone normally would. After that, any person’s normal reaction is to step away to put distance between them and their attacker. This is because they usually try and communicate with them to determine the reason of the attack. That girl, on the other hand, took a step forward, and thrusted her dagger right at my neck without hesitation, ready to kill me without a second thought about why I did it.” She explained the events before Jiriko came in, stating her thoughts about Aria.
“Even during the spars, although she didn’t try anything that may have killed me, her every attack would have disabled or maimed me if we were in serious combat. When I look at her eyes, they were void of emotion. It was as if she was put into a state of combat, where she became heartless. That’s not something you’ll see in an 8 year old, but in a veteran soldier who’s witnessed the death of thousands in front of him.” A hint of fear was now apparent in her voice, obviously scared of her next encounter with the girl.
“Ho, is that right?” The mysterious man says with a hint of amusement in his voice.
“Even Jiriko isn’t blind enough to miss something like that.” She turns to the man she just referred to, who had his eyes down at his drink.
“I’ve said it several times myself. She’s a monster in guise of human. Something that cannot be tamed. I’m keeping watch of her to try and positively influence her, so that she doesn’t use her strength against our world. I believe as long as we do not try to chain her, then nothing negative will come out of this. So be careful of what you do, because right now, you’re leading her like a horse. Don’t try and force a horse into water.” Jiriko glares at the fourth man as he says that.
“Like, I, said, don’t worry about that. I know my limitations, and I really only want to repay my favor to Hana.” He says with a playful tone in his voice.
“I’ve only talked with her once, so I can’t say much, but we’re all taking this negatively. Think of it this way, after she graduates from the academy, she’ll go on and conquer worlds as if it’s just a hobby for her. She’ll turn Sykerion from the weakest world to the strongest, and all we have to do is just let her do as she wants, right?” Rend says.
“Which is my intention completely. The two of you are over thinking it. She’s not a weapon of mass destruction that will self destruct. She’s still Human just like us, so she won’t go around randomly killing off other people. Most likely, as Rend stated, she’ll head to other Dungeon Worlds and conquer them herself.” The mysterious man laughs, and Rend follows along.
After that, the man leaves the three of them, heading out into the city. Jiriko and Yuuna are still worried for the future of Aria, and what’s to be expected of it. They decide to try their best to positively influence her, so that she won’t go down a hateful path.
Will she be the new [Hero] of the Humans, or the new [Demon Lord] that slays them? It was a possibility that was stuck in their minds, and they couldn’t get rid of. Fortunately for them, even though they don’t know this, Aria didn’t care about that kind of stuff and was going to just explore different worlds in search of something ‘fun.’
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Chapter 22 coming right up after I proofread it. Please be patient! :)