CHAPTER 107: Contracts
Tom moved the contract display in front of the display with Mr. Rhodes. The man read through it making comments like Tom had when he reviewed it.
“I thought we could…” Tom said to his dad.
“Yes, but if we…” continued his dad.
“Then we would need to…”
“The problem would be…”
“This could solve it…”
“That would mean we have to change…”
“Then if we…”
The two went back and forth while the others showed little understanding of what they were saying. After about ten minutes, and fifteen sword draws later by Adam, they seemed to be wrapping it up. Tom addressed the chief.
“We’ve got a good news bad news situation here, chiefy. Bad news first. We do have to kill you,” said Tom with confidence. The chief nodded to him, having already accepted that conclusion. “The good news is that we don’t have to kill anyone else.”
The chief was shocked with surprise and disbelief at that.
“But they are forced to aid me in defending this base.”
“Only kind of. The Leputi of your tribe are forced to aid you. They can just quit the tribe then they’re free of the contract.”
The chief’s face shifted darkly. “Leputi can’t just quit a tribe. They are who they are.”
“Of course. Right. Except they can. Here, gimme a sec,” said Tom before turning to Jordan’s display, where he was looking at other things. “Yo, Jordy, I need the contract document and waivers we used before the invasion.”
Jordan barely glanced at the display leading to Tom before the chief then did something with his Rift Menu. A stack of papers appeared in his hand.
“These are the contracts we used for employment with the Sentinel Army. You’ll notice here that joining the Sentinels supersedes all previous and concurrent affiliations and ties. Then if you read here, it means that joining the Sentinel Army creates ties to protect our world from invaders. Here is a confidentiality agreement that can prevent any interactions from our people, as well as the Leputi once they sign, from being communicated to those outside of the Sentinels so they never have to report to the Scyrric.”
Tom walked the chief through the more delicate parts of the contracts. The chief clearly didn’t understand most of the contract, since human legalese was way beyond the [System] contract in complexity and loophole sealing. Once they had gone through it enough, the chief spoke up.
“If I may ask a question about it, Lord Tom, I do not see a termination explanation in this clause section,” said the chief.
“It’s right here. The termination clause says you need to notify us two weeks before quitting your position with the Sentinels, and during that time you must continue to uphold the contract. Then you have six months before you can disclose information about the Sentinels to a competitor.”
“That is most generous and very magnanimous to give us a way out, but I mean our termination. If you decide to kill or terminate us,” said the chief seriously.
Alissa choked and even Tom frowned.
“That isn’t how we do things,” she said. “If you join, you are one of us and as long as you don’t betray us or kill someone, we won’t kill any of your people.”
“That is unheard of,” said the chief.
“It’s in the contract here. You just need to follow our laws and you’ll then be held accountable by the same judicial procedures as the other humans,” showed Tom.
“This seems too much to believe. If my people sign this then they will be treated the same as your own?”
“Yes,” said Tom. “I can’t promise every human will, but our leadership will accept it and punish humans who mistreat any Leputi.”
“Will the fighters be shields to protect your own people, sacrificing them?”
“The boss would never allow that. Those who choose to fight will level and become stronger. The others who don’t want to fight will be given jobs to support the community.”
“No Leputi in remembrance has reached Tier 3. It has been a dream of ours to become strong like the other races,” said the chief, not wanting to hope needlessly.
“We’ll see how it goes but as long as you stick with us, I don’t see why you can’t,” said Alissa.
“At the very least we’ll need the help of your fighters to get all these level zero humans back to our base. That’ll take a while,” said Tom.
“Why will that take long? Once you take this base you can open a teleportation array between the two bases in the same network and they can step through without issue,” said the chief with confusion.
On the communication window with Jordan, his face was suddenly fully focused on them.
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“We can do that?!” he demanded.
“Of course. Did you think only objects could be moved?” asked the chief.
“Yes! With you on board we’ll know so much more!” exclaimed Jordan, his excitement boiled over. “Our offensive, defensive, and support capabilities will increase so much. Raids will be so much easier to organize and support!”
“The Leputi might be poor at combat, but we are quite fast and intelligent. While other races focus on fighting, we have made some of the largest breakthroughs in understanding the [System] and the world. It is another reason races resent us and don’t allow us to grow.”
Adam’s eyes, which had been intense and angry, now had a gleam in them and he pushed out orders.
“Alissa, get Andrea. Tom, get the signatures.”
“Righteo, boss,” responded Tom. “Chief, hurry and turn this into a [System] contract and get your people to sign.”
“Yes, Lord Tom,” answered the chief.
Everyone waited as the chief did several things with an invisible window. One by one the waiting Leputi would perk up, nod, and touch the air. After every single one had done it, the chief gave a look to Adam before addressing Tom.
“It is done,” said the chief to Tom. He did a quick run through and then counted almost 600 names who agreed to it.
“Is it everyone?” asked Adam, his voice strained.
“Everyone but me, your Excellency.”
“Great,” Adam breathed out, the strain from fighting his own soul was apparent to all. “I…look forward…to working…with you…”
Then there was a blur. Adam moved so swiftly and with such accuracy that no one could react. Flames burst out behind him as his sword went from his belt to his hand and then through the chief’s lung with so much force that Adam’s hand passed through the Leputi’s body. Adam grabbed the chief’s throat and held it in the air while leaving his arm in the invader’s body, preventing the blood from coming out of the wound.
Adam took a deep breath, as if a weight had come off his shoulder. All the stress of having to hold himself back was released in that action. He brought the chief’s face, shocked expression and blood flowing from his small mouth, close to his own face. Adam stared into the bunny man’s eyes as the life drained from them.
The Leputi had not been expecting this. After how reasonable the discussions were and the hope that they might receive fair treatment that had come from the discussions and Tom’s words, to see Adam act so brutally and mercilessly, they were appalled. Many wondered if they had just put themselves in a worse situation. Most were crying at seeing their beloved chief die. One female had immediately stood and rushed to them, though Tom gently grabbed her to hold her back.
A minute went by. Then two. Adam felt the blood stop flowing, now just a drip. The slight breath he had been feeling from the chief after his attack was gone.
Adam took his own deep breath, then quietly said, “Tom, check the Scyrric contract.”
Tom looked at the window it had been displayed on. At the bottom, where the names of the chief and the Scyrric overseer responsible for it were, the name Lashtam was fading. Below both names was what translated to “complete.”
“It’s done,” said Tom as Lashtam was completely removed from the contract.
“Girls, now!” Adam said and gently put the corpse on the ground.
Abbey pointed to the body and invoked her skills [Get Up!] and then [Walk it Off]. The body of the chief unnaturally stood, as though it was a puppet being pulled into a standing position by strings. Andrea rushed forward and touched where a human heart should be and shouted, “[Jolt]!”
A small bit of electricity came out of his fingers and caused the body to spasm.
“He must have some good vitality for his level,” said Andrea as she invoked [Jolt] again with a bit more crackling.
After ten seconds she did it a third time and then Alissa stepped forward.
“[Give Life],” Alissa announced as she activated her skill.
Andrea kept shocking the chief’s heart and blood began spurting out of the large hole in his right chest that Adam’s sword and arm had caused. Abbey frowned at Adam.
“A smaller wound would have made this easier,” she chided. Her hand then touched the area and she cast [Mid Heal] repeatedly, watching the ribs rebuild and the wound close slowly.
“Sorry,” apologized Adam. “It was really difficult holding back after all that time. I can honestly say I didn’t enjoy the experience.”
Two more minutes passed before the body was fully repaired. Andrea had continued sending low currents through the heart until Alissa announced that the chief’s body was ready. Then she used [Ascending Vitality] on him.
“You’re up, darling,” Andrea smirked at Adam.
“Why me?” he asked.
“You’re the blood drinker,” responded Abbey.
“I’m not touching it,” added Alissa.
Adam sighed and then got on his knees. The three girls backed off as Adam began CPR, breathing into the chief’s bloody mouth and letting it exhale. After the breaths he did some chest compressions, followed by more breaths. He was very careful not to use much strength when he did them.
Only three breaths and chest compression cycles were necessary before the chief began breathing on his own. There was no gasp or shooting up like in the movies. Instead, the chief slowly opened his glassy eyes and turned his head. Then he moaned. Three times.
“Father!” cried his daughter as Adam moved so she could get to him. The chief reached up and touched where the chest hole had been.
Very weakly he asked, “you have resurrection magic?”
“Is that a thing?” asked Adam.
“Not to my knowledge, your Excellency,” the Leputi responded, struggling to speak. “I have never heard of it though many scholars and races seek it.”
“It wasn’t resurrection magic,” answered Adam. “We combined healing skills with a way to resuscitate someone who only just died. It has a limited time it can work, and we weren’t sure if your anatomy was close enough to human.”
“You tried something so unknown on my father’s, our chief’s, life?” scowled the Leputi female, glaring daggers at Adam.
“Yes. He needed to die no matter what, and this way it helps us both,” said Adam.
“How does it help us, making him suffer like that?” demanded the girl. Adam met her eyes, and his intensity caused her to wince and look away.
“For us, it ends your contract with the Scyrric and gets us what we need most, information on the [System] and these Rifts. Even getting that [System Standard] crystal has made it worth coming here, or even accepting your people into our forces. For you, we can broadcast the video of your father being killed in a brutal way so that there is no question that he died at my hands. That way your people won’t be blamed for betraying the Scyrric,” explained Adam.
“Daughter, do not be angry at his Excellency. That is quite a devious plan. His viciousness and decisiveness will help take him far, even if he still has a kind enough heart to come into this enemy base to rescue those of his race and to accept our people among his own. He even found a way to let me live again. I will gladly serve him.”
“Chiefy, I’m kind of surprised that you hitched your wagon with ours,” said Tom, sidling over. The chief clearly didn’t know what his idiom meant. “I would guess most people think we’re going to lose this war.”
The chief’s face drew a blank.
“Many apologize, Lord Tom. I admit to not believing you natives will survive, even though I swear to serve you whole heartedly.”
“Then why do all this?” asked Abbey.
“The [System] rule I mentioned earlier. Even when your forces are killed our breeders will be spared and our tribe will go on.”
“Speaking of tribes,” said Adam with a concerned look and a strain in his voice. “If you have enough strength, I need you to sign the Sentinel employment contracts like the rest of your people, or I might just have to kill you again in the next few minutes.”