“We put your life in danger, Druid…”
“Oh, is that all? Don’t worry about it. I could’ve run away.”
They both shook their heads. And I agreed that running from the church was difficult, but it wasn’t impossible. I could always get some help from my master.
“No, you couldn’t. Once the church has you as a target… I’m so ashamed of what we’ve done.”
Lange let out a wail.
So they are church assassins. Well, I was pretty sure of that anyway.
After my encounter with the lady assassin, I’d dug around and learned what I could about church assassins while I did my classified work. Everything I learned was too heinous to speak out loud. Had they gone through those hellish trials? Was that what had brought them to this moment in time?
“We’re so sorry, Druid…” Egar croaked, his face strained with anguish.
I gave his shoulder a pat. “Don’t worry. I’m a pretty tough guy, and I know guys even tougher than me.”
“No, you don’t understand. The church bastards, they’ll force us to kill you…”
Ah. So Egar and Lange will come kill me someday. Well, that wouldn’t be so bad… No, don’t go there. I can’t let myself be killed by two people who are already so close to breaking. I have a feeling that really would destroy them.
“Aha! A contract! Let us sign a contract!” Lange exclaimed.
A contract? As in, the same thing the church used to put you in bondage? What would be the point of that?
“Let’s forge a contract right now.”
When I saw the paper Lange produced, I caught my breath. A Life Contract—the sort of contract most went their lives without ever seeing—was the last thing I’d expected. Unlike conventional contracts, it was written on magic paper. That alone made it similar to a magic contract, but if you breached a Life Contract, only one fate awaited you: death. Since it was a contract where you gave your life to someone else, unilateral action by the owner of the life was permissible.
Um…are these two guys okay? Since they’re already contractually bound to the church, forging a Life Contract with me might be problematic.
I looked at Egar and Lange. And when I saw their solemn faces, I nodded quietly.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
I chuckled when I saw the fiery resolve in their eyes.
So assassin eyes can be filled with life after all. These men aren’t like that woman. They want to live.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked.
Hesitation flashed in Egar’s eyes. I wasn’t any more sure about what would happen than he was.
“What? Got cold feet?” I asked.
“Of course not! It’s just we, um…already have…signed contracts.”
Yeah, the Slavery Contracts the church forced you to sign. A contract on top of a contract. Nobody knows what’ll happen.
“I think it’s interesting. We should test it out,” I said.
Egar and Lange both gasped, though it really shouldn’t have been that shocking a proposal.
“What should I write in it?” I asked.
Egar hesitated a moment, then took a pen and wrote something into the contract. Seeing what he’d written, Lange took the pen next and wrote something else.
“This should do it.”
I took the Life Contract from Egar. When I saw what he’d written, I gritted my teeth. What a crazy contract clause it was.
“And here’s mine.”
I took Lange’s addition and had a look at it. It said the same thing as Egar’s. They were choosing to prioritize the life of me, a stranger they had only met today, over their own. That showed just how desperate they both were.
What can I do for them…?
I thought back to the lady assassin taking her final breaths. The look of peace on her face as she came closer to death. I thought I heard her say “I’m free” at the very end.
I know what they really want…
I took the pen from Egar and punched a final clause into the contract.
“This should do it.”
Egar and Lange read the words I’d written. I could see the distortion in their emotions, but I also perceived a faint glimmer of a smile in both of them.
A contract on top of a contract. To be honest, nobody knew what would happen. Unforeseen consequences might indeed befall each of us, but it would all still be worth it.
“Guess this’s a little drunken wager made by a few boys after a job,” I said.
Egar and Lange looked surprised to hear that. Their expressions had certainly shifted quite a bit over the course of the evening. I couldn’t help but chuckle over it.
“So, are you in?”
I signed my name on both papers. Their names were already written on them. All that remained was—
“Yeah.” A grim look on his face, Egar moved his fist toward the contract.
“Sure thing.” Lange took a deep breath and moved his fist as well.
All that remained was for them to send their magic energy into the contract, an action unique to making a Life Contract binding. With that, their lives belonged to me.
What a heavy burden.
As the two contract sheets absorbed their magic energy, they glowed briefly. Then the light vanished.
We all met each other’s gazes. A little relieved that nothing had happened, I looked down at the contract to see a summoning circle etched on it.
“Guess that’s how you do it.”
I took the contract I’d forged with Egar.
“Wait, there’s one more piece of paper.”
Even though there had certainly been only one sheet of paper before, there were now two. I checked the second sheet and saw Egar’s and my names on it, signifying it was a copy.
“Here you go.” I handed Egar one of the two sheets.
“And here you go,” Lange said, handing me the copy of the contract with my name and his.
“Nothing happened, huh?”
Egar gave the contract a conflicted look.
“Yeah, nothing happened—that’s preferable, but it feels kind of anticlimactic,” I agreed.
Not that we wanted anything bad to happen. We’d just figured that with a contract on top of another contract—and with a Life Contract, no less—that something bad would happen. We never would have guessed the ritual would end without incident. Even though that was a good thing, we couldn’t quite accept it calmly. We had mixed feelings about it.
“Well…if something bad had happened, we would’ve regretted it later,” Lange said, and Egar smiled cynically in agreement. I saw his point.