Shortly after the wisps of dark, blue, and purple hues dissipated from the scene, the atmosphere turned solemn.

Karl seemed to be in a trance momentarily, his eyes closed and he sat down with his legs crossed.

"I don't want to be that guy, but if you're going to test some theory. It's best to do so after leading me to the sewer." Damien suddenly interrupted. He had no time to be waiting patiently for Karl to finish his thing.

Startled, Karl snapped out of his daze and realized the current situation. He stood up, bowed, and apologized for being distracted.

"Yes, Master. I'll lead the way right away." He then said, referring to Damien as Master. With the contract signed, it was equivalent to being a servant of him. Thus, he believed the form of address must be changed.

However, he failed to understand that Damien was not the type who wished to seek attention. Although he did make a bunch of flashy orders such as locking down Velgrave or causing a Detective to meet his demise, it was all inevitable.

He might not like the attention, but that didn't mean he was afraid of it. As long as it was required to ensure his survival, then he would do it in a heartbeat.

But the form of address wasn't anything required.

"Don't call me Master in public," Damien warned. "Refer to me as Sir in public and do not reveal the matter of the contract to anyone else. I'm sure you have read the term already before signing it."

Nodding, Karl swiftly corrected his mistake. "That is correct, Sir."

"Recite it for me."

"Yes, Sir."

The term in the contract was rather simple, to be honest.

First, he was not allowed to betray Damien in any form whatsoever. Even having thoughts of doing so or having the knowledge of someone attempting to harm Damien but doing nothing about it was still considered betrayal.

For having the thought of betraying, the pain would be induced upon him, whereas the latter was more severe—potentially resulting in his death depending on the situation. If he was truly incapable of stopping it, then it wouldn't be counted as a betrayal as long as he really did his best.

Second, he was disallowed to divulge the Shadow Contract to anyone unless permitted by Damien himself. If there were ever a circumstance that forced Karl to open his mouth to talk about such content, then he would be eliminated.

Circumstances such as being interrogated by a Transcendent who could possibly control his mind or invade it to search for information.

In other words, the second term was a deadly one in which Karl must prevent himself from getting involved in such a situation.

Finally, the last term was that the Shadow Contract could never be dissolved and shall remain active forever unless Damien dissolved it himself.

The null of the contract must also be willing by Damien. Otherwise, the contract would remain as it was.

After reciting the term, Karl waited for Damien's response.

"Not bad. With the power of the contract, you are capable of constructing a mana core, but you should probably wait till you get admitted to an academy." Damien calmly said.

He had no idea of how to construct one and had been informed about the academies. He believed it would be better suited for him to wait until then.

Meanwhile, Karl's eyes lit up and his admiration for Damien soared to a new height. Others might not know or take a few minutes to comprehend the meaning, but not for him.

'Master is going to recommend me to an academy.' With a Seventh Order personally making a recommendation, it was almost guaranteed to be accepted.

Feeling like there was a bright future ahead of him, Karl clenched his fist.

"The sewer location should be around this path. I've heard from my colleagues previously that there was a bad odor smell when they took on a big client." He explained as he walked forward.

Sometime later, Karl found the opening and was surprised by the manhole cover being slightly shifted. Stunned, he halted his footsteps and knelt down on one knee.

"Sir, the manhole cover lid seemed to have been opened recently," Karl explained, his eyes narrowing at the disoriented dirt. It was clear that the cover lid had been shifted slightly, so unless it had been moved, the dirt would have aligned perfectly with no gap or oddity in between.

"Not bad for a Coachman," Damien commented.

Karl scratched his head awkwardly. He was somewhat embarrassed but proud at the same time.

Having been a Coachman for so long, he developed the conscious to constantly check around the surroundings. After all, any mishap or abnormal things around could become disastrous.

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There was an incident of a fellow Coachman who failed to pay attention and caused discomfort to the customer. The next day, the Coachman was found dead in a dark alley.

Although police officers tried to investigate, the clues led to a dead end. As for passing the case to a TI, it was even more impossible. The dead Coachman showed no sign of having a Transcendent involved.

While Karl was reminded of the past incidents, Damien, on the other hand, was focused on the manhole cover lid.

'Scratch mark.' His eyes narrowed at the three large marks in the lid. With the appearance of the mark, followed by the previous robber's statement of a cat, he found it hard to not believe the two things were linked together.

"Open the lid." He commanded.

"Yes, Sir," Karl heeded the command and mustered his strength to open the lid. However, to his surprise, the lid was surprisingly light. He had thought it would take a lot of strength to open it, but it wasn't.

"These lids were embedded with magic to prevent accidental sabotage. How come it's this light?" Karl's eyes widened in shock. He stared at his palm and wondered when did he become strong?

Could it have been the effect of the Shadow Contract?

But not even a second of joy later, Damien destroyed his fantasy. "Don't act surprised. The magic was shattered because of the scratch mark. You, who don't even have any ounce of mana, couldn't possibly lift it up."

...

Karl's face turned bright red when he thought the contract had somehow caused his strength to increase tremendously.

Alas, the reality was harsh, and it was merely because the manhole cover's magic was shattered already.

Embarrassed, Karl quickly moved the manhole cover aside and was instantly ambushed by a foul odor emitted from the sewer. The stench was so bad—to the point he nearly vomited on the spot.

"My colleague really wasn't lying." He coughed a few times and scooted to the side. Although it was said the bad odor smell was resolved, it appeared that only the surface was cleansed. Within the sewer though, the foul stench actually remained inside.

While Karl felt like dying from the smell, he became surprised when he shifted his gaze to Damien and noticed the latter was unaffected.

'As expected of the Master. This kind of smell is nothing to him.' Karl thought, feeling ashamed of his behavior.

In reality, though, Damien was also affected by the stench. It could be said that the stench was worse than the ones at the crime scene. However, he remained composed because there was a tinge of a familiar smell.

The smell was very faint and hard to distinguish, but Damien was capable of perceiving the difference.

'Indeed, the culprit had gone over to the sewer.' Damien thought. This distinctive smell was the same one that lingered around the crime scene.

Since the clue led to here, Damien knew he had to personally go through the sewer to investigate. He couldn't possibly rely on others, given they were more often or not, incompetent.

"You can head back, Karl. Just tell the guards in the entrance that you had permission to leave from me." Damien calmly said.

Startled, Karl didn't expect to be sent away. 'Could it be that Master was displeased by my reaction earlier?'

The stench was just too strong that he failed to control his emotions. He seriously wanted to do his best to endure and resist, but ultimately failed in the end.

"Please, Sir." He quickly went on his knees and pleaded, "I can handle this smell. Let me accompany you."

The opportunity to work with a TI and earn their impression was extremely difficult to gain.

How could he just give up halfway?

"Enough, this is also a plan," Damien said, lifted him up, and whispered something to him.

Upon hearing the task, Karl's eyes widened. His expression also turned solemn.

"So, do you get it?" Damien questioned.

Karl nodded and clenched his fist. "Rest assured, Sir. I'll accomplish the task."

"Good, then make haste. And take this insignia to be used as proof." Damien uttered and took off his insignia with the label Seventh.

A TI insignia was considered sacred and any replication of it was deemed impossible. Therefore, it served as the greatest proof that Karl was under instruction from him once he went to spread the word.

Without the insignia, it would have been difficult for Karl to convince the police officers otherwise.

Karl held the insignia with a heavy heart, swearing to protect this sacred item with his life. He proceeded to bow slightly, turned around, and made his exit.

Gazing at his silhouette, Damien wondered if he could really succeed. Others might treat the insignia as something special, but Damien knew it was just a deterrence for the weak.

For those who had power or those who couldn't care less about the consequences, the insignia held little to zero value to them.

'The TI are still human at the end of the day.' Damien thought. Humans—even when holding power, were still vulnerable and could be defeated or killed.

He shook his head and no longer bothered to think too far ahead. Whether the TI was something to be idolized or not, would be answered once the case was solved and he could explore the unknown world further.

His gaze shifted to the opening of the sewer, completely filled in a gloomy and eerie darkness. Despite the supposed darkness, Damien was baffled by the situation. His eyes were able to completely perceive the scene as if it had been illuminated.

Not only was he able to see the ground level, but he was able to even see the tiny bugs that were crawling around the sewer.

For some reason, he remained rather calm. Usually, people would have frowned or even be afraid of thinking about venturing the inside of a sewer unless they were a professional.

'Maybe something did change within me.' He placed his hand by his chest, feeling the beating of his heart. It was beating at a normal pace. Yet he still had a sense of loss somewhere.

In the end, he exhaled slowly and leaped down to the sewer. The impact sent a muted splash through the filth-ridden water, but he paid no heed to it. He didn't even bother to use the rusty ladder that loomed beside him to climb down.

Ignoring the rusty ladder, Damien focused his attention on the interior. Without much surprise, the sewer was like a labyrinth of damp. It was filled with moss-covered stone and had its striking feature of arched tunnels that stretched into the supposed darkness.

Except, there was no darkness in his eyes. However, he could tell the air was thick with the stench of decay. Additionally, he occasionally heard the distant sound of sluggish, murky water that echoed like whispers from something unseen lurking in the depths.

Damien narrowed his eyes and tried to find any traces of the cat or some human footprint.

Unfortunately, the environment here made it difficult to trace them down. Most of the traces were either washed away by the sluggish flow of murky water or distorted by the thick layers of moss and grime clinging to the stone.

'Are there not going to be the appearance of a Diamond 3 card?' He wondered silently. It was moments like this when the clues and hints should appear themselves to make things easier for him to resolve.

Having waited for a few minutes, Damien got the gist of the situation.

"Okay, maybe the Shadow Contract used up some fuel so now the hints aren't granted to me." He murmured.