Robins said he raced back to the island and prepared food with the spell that would change our ages.
So that giant bird I saw on the ship was Robins.
Both the drinks and the cakes would activate the spell when consumed.
Adults would be transformed into the age that they could disguise themselves as Ark School students, while children were changed into an age that they could protect themselves. It seemed there was real thought put into the exact ages Dark, Jack, Dum, and Dee ended up as.
“Was Headmaster Caterpillar the one who gave the order to kill the nobleman?” I asked.
“Yes. I can never defy his orders. It’s in our contract.”
He’d entered into the contract with the original lord of the castle, worked for his sake, and stayed in the castle even after the lord’s death. His descendants, who inherited the contract, treated Gryphon as an important guardian.
Gryphon loved humans, and all residents of the island adored him. He could fly freely through the sky on the island full of nature. Robins said it was like discovering Heaven for the first time.
But then famine and a plague came to the island, wiping out the lord’s family and many islanders.
The man who inherited the castle was a distant relative—a pauper Robins had never even heard mentioned by the family before. He didn’t so much as set foot on the island, instead selling it to a man named Caterpillar when he heard the rumors of a monster dwelling there.
Caterpillar arrived at the castle with his subordinates. When he saw Gryphon in such pain over the death of the humans, he offered to enter into a continued contract with him.
Robins’ golden eyes wavered at the memory of it all.
“My luck had run out by the time I agreed to that offer. He turned out to be a demon researcher and made me tell him everything I knew about demons and Hell. The textbooks and models we use in demon studies classes all came from the information I gave him. They made a school to continue their research, beat students with whips like they were disposable, and kept aging with each passing year.”
Caterpillar finally began to fear death when he ended up sick and bedridden. So, he used the contract to give Gryphon an order: “Stop our bodies from aging and make us live forever.”
Death spared no living being.
That was just a law of nature. I bit my lip, thinking how foolish humans were to want more still.
“I knew it was bad, but I couldn’t defy an order from my master. I stopped time for the teachers and their bodies, granted them my life force to make them healthy, and started to help them get by however I could. I’d already told them everything I knew about demons by then.”
Gryphon transformed into a human and pretended to be a student or island native. He didn’t remember who first used the name “Robins,” but it became known as his name when he was in human form.
Robins’ self-sacrifice was what allowed the immortals to maintain their life.
“Are contracts really so binding to demons?” I asked.
“They usually end when the human party dies, but my contract with the castle’s lord was arranged to be inherited by his heirs. I’m like a slave until the contract itself goes away.”
Robins’ voice came out sounding grief-stricken. His island had turned from Heaven to Hell since he entered the contract with such a villain.
“Then it sounds like we just need to terminate the contract.”
Dark stepped out of the tent, clutching his cane and holding up his large top hat decorated with deer antlers. Leeds, with his chain wrapped around his waist over a sweater, and Jack, with his saber in hand, stood beside him.
“Let us introduce ourselves, too. It’s nice to meet you properly, Gryphon. My name is Earl Dark Arland Knightley.”
Dark fired light out of his cane and drew a crescent moon and star seal in the air.
When Robins saw the light blue seal in front of him, his beak fell open in shock.
“The star and moon crest is supposed to belong to a very high-ranking demon… So you’re Lord Knightley, Dark? And a demon, too?”
“Correct. I’d probably be dead right now if it weren’t for your spell. I’m going to help you get out of your contract with Headmaster Caterpillar, as is everyone else here.”
“I’m glad to have you on my side. But these others are just humans. It’s too dangerous to fight him.”
Robins shook his head. That got Dum and Dee to argue back.
“We’re not just humans.”
“We’re not just humans.”
“Don’t look down on the Liddells, damn it,” Jack huffed.
“Despite our looks, we can get the job done when we need to,” Leeds added.
Dum and Dee’s black moles began to run down their cheeks and form the rose seal. Jack raised his hand, and Leeds stuck his tongue out to show Robins the same one.
“You’re all stigmata?”
I understood his surprise. It was probably unusual, even for a demon, to be around so many humans brought back from the dead.
“Yes, we’ve all been branded with a stigma. We can definitely handle a few immortals with these powers.”
Gryphon possessed incredible physical strength, but Dark’s destructive forces were the real deal, too. If it was necessary to carry out our mission, he should be able to fight off the headmaster without any trouble.
But Robins shuddered—not from the cold night wind this time.
“It’s not the immortals you should be scared of. It’s me! If Headmaster ordered me to kill you, I’d…”
“You should be able to resist that order. Didn’t you defy him when he told you to kill the noble who might become the next executive here?”
Robins’ eyes went wide when I said that.
“I’ve been so desperate, I never even thought of that. How did I manage that?”
Dark replied to that after adjusting his hat. “This is just my theory, but I think the effects of the contract might have gotten weaker over time. It was originally supposed to be passed down through the family of the lord who built the castle, but once it reached distant relatives and a stranger like Caterpillar, the contract itself lost its consistency.”
“Does that mean I might be freed?”
A faint but definite hope lit up Robins’ eyes.
I placed my hand on his beak and made a vow to him.
“Gryphon the demon, we’re going to fight alongside you.”
“I understand. I’ll be there to protect you.”
He bowed his head deeply and accepted my offer. I’d been successful in joining hands with a demon.