Reginald

Reginald followed Princess Henrietta and Lady Krysta into the conference room, which, like most of the important buildings in the Forest Cauldron, had been grown out of wood, and was surprised by who was inside.

First and foremost, there was Krysta’s mother, the Alchemist of the Deep Woods, one of the twelve A ranks with the highest potential according to the information of the Vin Clan. Then there was one of the Forest Cauldron’s C rank guard captains, the youngest one with the most talent, Wolfram Gan. And next to Wolfram was an equally large man with indigo reptilian eyes who was likely the guard member who’d been gaining fame over the last several years, Isaiah Kent. Finally, sitting next to the Alchemist of the Deep Woods, was an E rank human woman he didn’t recognize, blond with blue eyes.

When he entered, however, the blonde woman and Isaiah both focused on him, seeming to radiate murderous intent, and this caused his instincts to trigger, his battle axe almost immediately appearing in his hand.

And, in response, Isaiah stood up and summoned a spear and shield into his own hands, the green robe he was wearing flowing over his body, adding a hood and crystalline mask as his aura flared, quite a bit more powerful than even that of Lady Krysta, and well above Reginald’s own.

“Well, this is interesting.” The Alchemist of the Deep Woods smiled as she turned to Isaiah. “I understand your anger, but do you honestly believe either of you could do anything here without my permission?”

“Apologies.” Isaiah bowed slightly and quickly put away his weapons, deactivated his armor, and retook his seat.

Then Reginald, as the alchemist turned her eyes to him, quickly put his battle axe away as well, but, seeing the looks of disapproval even Captain Gan and Lady Krysta were now sending toward him, he no longer felt safe.

“Master, what’s going on?” Princess Henrietta asked, both her aura and face showing confusion.

“Some internal issues concerning my second apprentice and whether he’ll allow you to join his force for the next War of the Chosen.” The Alchemist of the Deep Woods looked over to a far corner of the room, where a spatial portal opened up, like those Krysta usually used in combat but with time magic mixed in as well. “I’ll let him explain.”

Bright amber eyes, almost black shoulder length blue hair, and a nearly perfect face, the aura was wrong, and E rank instead of F, but Reginald recognized the man who stepped through the portal. He was the one who’d knocked him out of the F rank Trial Tower, the one responsible for him having to go off and fight in wars for half his life to have a chance to rise within his clan. But, more important to his current situation, he was a man Reginald had nearly tortured to death, albeit within a simulated reality.

“Reginald has seen me before in the F rank Trial Tower.” The handsome man looked at Princess Henrietta and she nearly swooned, allowing Reginald to know the one ally he’d thought he could rely on was almost certainly not going to be on his side. “And that has created a security concern.”

“You’re my junior apprentice?” Princess Henrietta completely ignored the implications about Reginald, seeming completely uncaring about his fate, and Reginald finally realized who he was dealing with. The man in front of him, the one against whom he’d committed the most horrible act of his life, was the shopkeeper his princess had a huge crush on, yet it seemed he wasn’t just a shopkeeper.

“Yes.” The man took a seat on the other side of the table from the door, next to Isaiah Kent, and indicated for Princess Henrietta, Lady Krysta, and possibly Reginald himself to sit. “And you’re someone who employs sadists, making me want to reconsider the deal my chamberlain made with our master.”

“What did you do?” Without even thinking about the position they were in, or the politics involved, Princess Henrietta turned to look at Reginald with anger clearly written on her face and aura.

Seeing as he didn’t have a single friend in the room and Isaiah Kent and the blonde woman were both still radiating killing intent toward him, Reginald didn’t see any point in lying. “During the F rank Trial Tower I tortured him to near death, though the end result in the real world was my loss and him stealing most of my personal wealth.”

“Interesting.” The second apprentice of the Alchemist of the Deep Woods indicated for them to sit again and this time Reginald complied, sitting across from the man as Lady Krysta moved to sit next to her mother and Princess Henrietta abandoned him to sit next to her friend. “I rather expected you to try and lie.

“Are you willing to answer some questions under oath?”

Reginald looked from the handsome man, to Isaiah Kent radiating anger, to the Alchemist of the Deep Woods, who seemed mildly interested, and then back to the handsome man. “What happens if I say no?”

“I kill you, my master and chamberlain work together to cover up the murder, and your princess loses a 90 plus percent chance of gaining a uniqueness.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Reginald looked at the man, who was somehow radiating an aura of space and time despite obviously having been following the path of the Heavenly Spark as an F rank, and realized he couldn’t read the man’s aura at all. From the aura of others in the room, however, especially Lady Krysta, he was pretty sure the man wasn’t joking.

Still, judging by the man’s words, the issue was more the fact he’d taken off the mask the man had been wearing in the F rank Trial Tower, not that he had tortured him, so, given what he’d done with that information, it was still possible he might be able to live.

“Sure.”

Then, as he agreed, the terms of a contract appeared before his eyes.

The Alchemist of the Deep Woods has sent you a contract request.

Terms:

1. All secrets revealed or realized during your time at the headquarters of the Forest Cauldron will not be shared unless explicit permission is granted by the individual whose secrets they are

2. You must honestly answer every question asked of you by anyone in the room where and when this contract is agreed to other than those which violate term 1 unless the other party explicitly grants you the permission to lie

Punishment:

Death

Do you accept?

Yes/No

Reginald looked at the Alchemist of the Deep Woods and considered whether he wanted to agree to the contract. The second clause gave no time period, effectively forcing him to honestly answer any questions from anyone currently in the room for the rest of his life, yet there were some types of questions outside the line of inquiry this meeting seemed about which he would not be comfortable answering. “Your contract, as written, could force me to betray my clan if asked. Could we change the terms?”

“You could always choose not to answer and the outcome would be the same as if you never agreed to the contract.” The Alchemist of the Deep Woods smiled pleasantly at him, but Reginald realized she didn’t seem to like him much and was very much not on his side.

Torture for absolutely no reason was a pretty sadistic act, however, and the Alchemist of the Deep Woods was no monster, so it made sense.

“Wait.” Princess Henrietta turned away from the handsome man to look at her teacher. “I don’t like the idea of a contract which could force him to reveal my clan’s secrets.”

“Noted.” The alchemist smiled at her student, but then looked back to Reginald, ignoring Princess Henrietta’s complaint, and Reginald realized Princess Henrietta didn’t actually have any power in the room.

So, he agreed to the contract.

In response, the Alchemist of the Deep Woods nodded to the handsome man. “Feel free to ask your questions.”

“Okay then.” The handsome man smiled pleasantly at him, seemingly not actually that angry about the whole torture thing. “Who did you tell about me?”

“No one.” Reginald, just as he would have even without the contract, answered honestly. “I was embarrassed, so I lied and said I lost to a fire mage, not telling anyone about the money you took.”

“Hmm.” The handsome man nodded. “And how many people have you brutally tortured other than me?”

“None.” Reginald bowed his head slightly, feeling both regret at angering such an obviously influential figure as well as actual remorse for his actions. “That’s the only time in my life I’ve done something like that.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” The pleasant smile on the handsome man’s face disappeared and he started glaring at Reginald. “People don’t just do something so unimaginably evil without any gradual buildup.”

Everyone in the room other than Princess Henrietta, Wolfram Gan, and Reginald himself turned to look at the handsome man with incredulous expressions, and the man raised his hands in response, his expression looking a bit guilty. “Sorry. I misspoke. I meant there must be something to trigger such an extreme act.”

He looked back at Reginald. “Was there such a reason? And, if so, what was it?”

Reginald felt very much like he was missing something, and he could tell Princess Henrietta was feeling the same way. Wolfram Gan, however, seemed to have realized why everyone else had turned on the handsome man whose name was most likely not World Guardian, and that led Reginald to believe he was in on the man’s secrets, but not as close to him as the other four.

Still, whatever evil act the handsome man had done, it didn’t really matter. Due to the contract, Reginald had to answer. So, despite it paining him to do so, for the first time in a long while he talked about his dad.

“My father died of old age about a year before the F rank trial tower, as an E rank despite being one of the most talented cultivators the Vin clan had ever produced. And this was because he tried to follow the path of the Heavenly Spark.

“He’d taken out loans he couldn’t afford to try and advance to D rank, putting my family heavily in debt, but he failed. And a lot of pressure was put on my shoulders as a result to try and get a Highgenion flower from the F rank Trial Tower’s rewards.” He pointed at Princess Henrietta and then looked down at the table again. “Due to the princess’s situation at the time, we were hoping to trade it to the main family of the clan to clear our debts.

“When I saw you in the trial tower, I took out the anger I had toward my father on you. It wasn’t fair. And I don’t have any excuse. But that’s the reason.”

“Oh.” The handsome man looked thoughtful for a few seconds, leaning back in his chair. “Alright. I forgive you. I did at least manage to give an awesome one liner before my death.” He started to smile. “And how many times am I going to have the chance to do that?”

The handsome man then rose from his feet, created another portal by seemingly drawing a runic array in the air with just his mind, and stepped through it, leaving Reginald somewhat stunned and causing the Alchemist of the Deep Woods to roll her eyes before looking at the blonde woman next to her. “Why does he seem to think he’s in charge here?”

The blonde woman in turn, an E rank without a terrifying aura like Isaiah Kent, raised an eyebrow at the A rank powerhouse. “Because you let him do things like leave without acknowledging anyone.”

“Oh.” The Alchemist of the Deep Woods nodded. “Right.

“I should probably stop doing that.”

“It would be a good idea.” The blonde woman looked thoughtful for a few seconds. “Though he’ll probably be lording over all of us relatively soon, so it might just be a better idea to explain to him why it’s rude.”

“Hmm.” The Alchemist of the Deep Woods looked thoughtful. “You have a point.”

“Um.” Princess Henrietta raised her hand. “Would you mind explaining what’s going on now, Master?”