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Leo

This was far from the ideal position that the unfortunate human had once again found himself in, his thoughts racing on how to handle the situation.

‘I could run away, but like hell if I'd abandon Elaria. Bringing her would mean we would be on the run for god knows how long, and I don't want that kind of life. I could flatten Allis like a pancake- Okay, no, my brain needs to take a step back, because that's a horrible idea for two reasons. One, morality. And two, this is not a cartoon. It will be fucking messy and brutal, and I don't fancy traumatizing myself nor Elaria… I could als-Wait, she didn't immediately turn me in, which means…’

His expression dropped at the realization while any previous panic vanished. “Alright, the fuck do you want.” He asked irritably while gritting his teeth, because blackmail was one of those things he really hated being on the opposite end of, especially when it concerned his life.

Elaria was taken aback, but Allis smiled at his response. “I do like a man who's direct, but I think we should have this discussion away from prying eyes. I believe you have a room here?” She inquired and he led the way, all the while he went through his own mental library of D-grade villains and manipulative assholes.

‘Has high social status with plenty of money, yet needs something that she can't manage to get or do on her own. Probably relating to another person of higher or equivalent status, so that leaves what she wants of me to fall into Slay, Steal or Suffer. She wants someone dead, something stolen, or someone to suffer. I could probably work out a deal, but I am not bloodying my own hands.’

When the three of them arrived at the room he stopped at the door and eyed it distrustfully. He then cast a spell to muffle and distort the sound waves that came out of the room for the next few hours. ‘Like hell if I'm going to have any more rumors spreading around.’ He thought bitterly as he passed through the door.

Walking into the room Elaria was sitting on the far side of the bed, trying to be as far from Allis as possible while still wanting to be comfortable. Allis was sitting at the bedside table, the second chair seemingly gone.

‘Huh, guess they took it, maybe for the lunch rush? I'm not gonna sit on the bed close to Allis, and as much as I want to comfort Elaria on her side, I don't want to appear weak in front of Allis by sitting so far away. so I'll just stand, maybe it'll even be seen as a power move…’ He mentally mused as he just stood a little dumbly in the center of the room.

Allis cocked her head with a raised eyebrow. “You're not going to have a seat?”

“I'm fine right here, so get to the point.” He said with an edge while crossing his arms, fully aware of how cliché the move was.

The serpentine woman leaned back on the chair, her lower body more laying in it than actually sitting. “Well, I know who you are and what the dragons might do if they find you. So to that end I would like your cooperation in dealing with someone from my past, for keeping your little secret.”

‘Okay, slay or suffer.’ He deduced and slightly cursed to himself for it not being as simple as steal.

“So you just want someone killed?” He probed, not at all okay with being party to murder, but was still curious about her story.

Allis's face grew dark. “Not just...” She said maliciously.

‘Three things and you had to have picked the worst one.’ The thought frustrated him, since it could end up being a very dark and very long process. ‘Luckily I hold all the power even if she didn't know it yet…’

Still, he was curious to see where this would go, and was open to helping if her reasons and methods were acceptable. “Okay, as long as you keep your word, and you're the one who gets their hands dirty, I have no problems.”

The healer snorted, her expression smug. “You don't need to trust my word, I'll draw up a spell bound contract so we'll be forced to comply.” She remarked a little condescendingly, but was apparently amused by his ignorance.

It took a bit of effort to bite back a retort, so he raised an eyebrow at the last part instead, as it definitely uneased him a bit. “Forced to? Well that doesn't sound sketchy at all.” He remarked sarcastically.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The galling selain scoffed. “The contract link's to the intent of those who initially sign, If the intent of both parties are not aligned then the contract burns up immediately.” She reassured him like she was talking to an idiot.

Her attitude made him frown, but if she was a noble or something, then this was to be expected. “What happens when you don't comply after signing?” He questioned skeptically.

“A massive headache and whatever punishments were agreed to in the contract. Then the contract burns up.” She answered simply.

“Ah, the being forced part then? So could the contract be terminated if both parties agreed to?” He asked and Allis nodded, glad that she could go ten seconds without being petulant.

Leo furrowed his brow, still not wanting to be completely taken advantage of. “Alright, but I'm not just gonna bend over and take being blackmailed. I want something out of it.”

The mage sneered like she was being made light of. “You think you're in a position to demand anything? Even if you're a summon, you're still just learning magic. You're as much a threat to me as I am to a dragon, and that's the least of your worries. One message to the capital and every kingdom will be hunting you down for the dragons.”

‘Ah fuck, didn't consider a world wide man hunt.’ He thought a little wide eyed.

The overconfident serpentine smirked at his reaction. “Now that's out of the way, let's talk about what you can do for me. Your sleeve can wait outside.” She finished while waving a dismissive hand at Elaria.

His face scrunched up in confusion. ‘Sleeve? Why did... Wait did she just call…’ His expression dropped into outrage. ‘Okay! There is only so much bitchery that I can tolerate, and she just crossed that threshold.’

He floated a foot off the ground and gestured his hand toward the table next to Allis, and it was crushed a second later using his gravity magic. She flinched and froze while her panicked eyes darted between him and the shattered remains of the wooden furniture.

Leo pursed his lips and gave her a disapproving look, as if a child broke the one rule they were told not to. “Now you seem to be missing a few key bits of information, so allow me to politely fill you in on how utterly fucking wrong you are.” He ended with a crooked smile.

Raising up a clenched fist, he extended a finger. “One, I am not only more than capable of killing a dragon, I can do it with almost no effort. Seriously, how easy it would be for me to do so, and how small a scale doing so is compared to what I am actually capable of, genuinely terrifies me.” He remarked as he crossed his legs mid air to show off his comfort with the flight spell.

Extending another finger, he continued. “Two, because I can do so, doesn't mean I want to. I have a pretty solid moral code, and written near the top of it is to not kill people just because I can. Not only do I believe that its fucked up and down right monstrous, but I know doing so will fuck with my compassion for life. Which I might point out, is the only reason you aren't that table right now.” He finished the point by gesturing to the shattered remains on the floor.

He extended his third finger after shifting to lay on his side, one hand supporting his head as the ends of his scarf slacked downward. “Three, the only reason I am afraid of the dragons finding me is because I know almost fuck all about them and magic. So I would prefer to not get into a fight with something that has the ability to rip my soul out and put it into an oversized snow globe, without at least knowing how they do it.”

Floating back a bit, he shifted back up right and extended his arms wide. “Four! My knowledge of the physical world is so far ahead of anything that could be taught on this one, that for me to teach you I literally have to have explanations for my explanations with more explanations of concepts that probably don't even exist in any book on this world. And if you understood any of that, then it should go to explain how I learned to fly In less than ten minutes, and learned healing magic by just asking a question.”

With a wide but hostile smile, he arrived at his last point. “Five... Call her a sleeve again, and you probably will end up as that table.” He declared with a facetious overtone while he released his flight spell.

‘I hope my little theatrics knocked her down a peg.’ Leo thought with a self satisfied expression.

Silence hung in the air as she simply stared at him while as still as a statue, but after a few tense and silent moments tears started to form on her face.

He arched a brow, not at all expecting that kind of reaction from what he thought was a total scumbag. ‘Uhh... Did I go too far and fuck up?’ He thought a bit self-critically.

Not long after the tears, she fell to her hands sobbing, while pleading frantically for him to help her.

‘…?’

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