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Book 2: Chapter 33: Level-2 Contract and The Tunnel

"Contract magic? But ah dinnae sense ah lick ah magic on ya, Fox," the dwarf said, scepticism clouding his expression.

Lone shrugged. "I don\'t need any mana for my special brand of contract magic. I\'ll be writing out the details of our agreement here for a little bit. Don\'t move a muscle, okay? If you could, Sophie, deal with him if he doesn\'t listen to me."

At his side, the armoured girl nodded seriously.

Hamish raised an eyebrow. "Ah mean, ah\'m happy tae sign ah sheet ah pap\'r but \'ow will the \'uman \'deal with him\', exactly?"

Lone got to work writing the details of the contract with his bucket of blood and his quill as he replied, "Since you\'re either signing this contract of cooperation or dying, I don\'t see why I shouldn\'t tell you if only to stop any strange thoughts from appearing in your mind."

He paused for a moment to consider the wording of the contract before continuing, "Sophie here can teleport at will, no enchantments or chants or anything needed beyond saying the word \'Teleport\'. She can just \'port on top of your head, \'port you to the roof, let you smash into the floor, rinse and repeat until you die. If that doesn\'t work, she can just keep you out of our way for a second so I can kill you."

"Bold claims," Hamish replied.

Sophie growled. "Move and see just how bold they really are, you pathetic honourless excuse for a dwarf."

The dwarf whispered a word under his breath but even with Lone\'s advanced foxen ears, he couldn\'t pick up exactly what had been said. \'Probably a curse. That\'s dwarves for you.\'

A tense silence consumed the road in the Farwinds they occupied while he continued to write. Hamish seemed relaxed, happy even, while Breena was slowly understanding what was going on and why Sophie was as angered as she was.

The minutes passed and thankfully Hamish hadn\'t made a move while Lone took his time to fill out the contract\'s details.

His True Contract Magic was unbreakable unlike most contracting magic, even the most advanced. However, in exchange each contract he made needed to be absolutely even and fair to both parties. Or at least both parties needed to feel that what the contract gave them was equal to what they were forced to give the other party.

There was also the issue of cooldowns for the higher-tier contracts Lone could make. There was still over half a year remaining before he could create another Level-5 contract, after all.

Not like he was planning to add another resident to The Summoning Room any time soon but with his experience regarding cooldowns from his Creation Magic, caution and carefulness seemed wise.

\'This can\'t be more than a level-2, maybe a level-3 contract at a push. That\'s the difference between a week-long cooldown and a month-long one. The former would be better but if the skill thinks Level-3 is needed to bind a B-ranker, so be it. I rarely use this skill anyway. It\'s forgotten until needed,\' Lone thought.

"I\'m done. I\'ll read out the contract for you first. If you agree, I\'ll walk over there and pass it you. You then sign your name with your blood. If you don\'t agree... Well, just agree, okay?" Lone requested earnestly. \'I\'d really rather not kill another person if I don\'t have to. Please don\'t throw away your second chance. It\'d be a hell of a slap in the face for my new philosophy to be proven wrong at the first possible opportunity. I can already hear Sophie saying \'we told you so\'...\'

Hamish nodded. "Ah can dae at least \'at. Ye ah blood mage ah some kind? Few contracts ah ken ah \'at use blood tae seal the deal."

"Something like that, sure," Lone replied uncaringly. "Anyways, here are the details. You will join us and help us fight the monsters in Urd Grun. Under no circumstances are you allowed to attack, kill or cause any bodily harm to us unless I allow you to do so, mainly for training purposes. You will, at all times, maintain a distance of 50-meters from us unless I say otherwise. I, on the other hand, will provide you with food, shelter, and conversation should you wish for it. Sound good thus far?"

"There\'s more?" Hamish asked with a grimace on his face.

"A little," Lone nodded. "You will never reveal any skills or information I, Breena, Soph, or Sophie, reveal about ourselves. This will apply to us as well. Information is a powerful weapon, or the lack thereof as you\'ve proven."

Hamish furrowed his brow as he considered the contract.

Breena seemed a bit confused too. Probably from the mention of both Soph and Sophie. That, however, was a conversation for another day.

"Just to explain a bit," Lone said, "The contract will also prevent you from writing or trying to communicate the information in anyway shape or form. Also, it includes a gag-order for the intel that I am even able to use this magic. Same goes for her ability to teleport that I mentioned earlier."

"\'At sounds pretty one-sided fae ah contract enlistin\' the \'elp ah ah B-rank\'r, eh?" Hamish argued.

Lone frowned. "Then add some stipulations so I can amend it before passing it to you. Don\'t forget that you were waiting in the middle of this dark road for us, not vice-versa."

"Why don\'t ah just kill ye all?" Hamish before flashing a grim smirk.

Lone sighed. "Try it. The second you move before signing the contract is the last you\'ll ever breathe. Unless you were holding back your speed during our \'duel\', which I highly doubt, then I\'ll be able to make you a corpse before you even close half the distance from there to here."

"... Aye, fine. The more \'elp gettin\' ma brothers\' revenge, the bett\'r," Hamish said with a defeated shrug.

Lone slowly got up from the floor and dusted himself off before storing his bucket of blood with one hand. He then grabbed the contract and his quill with the other.

\'He is lying,\' Sophie sent. \'He will betray us. Tighten the contract. You are no Djinn. You cannot use loopholes to bind him with the current contract but he can use them to harm us!\'

\'No, he cannot. Sophie, I appreciate your caution but it\'s too much. He will not harm us. If anything, he will only make me stronger. I added no clause that says we aren\'t allowed to hurt him. If he somehow wiggles out of the contract, which is impossible, mind you, then I will use Mental Destruction and kill him in an instant,\' Lone replied.

"You had better," she whispered outside of their telepathy in response.

\'I understand where she\'s coming from but I need to be better than just a baseless murderer. Well, not baseless since he did try to kill me but revenge isn\'t the answer. Not immediately, at least. History had proven that more than enough times. Two chances. He fucks up the second one, then and only then will he die. At that point, I can\'t be held accountable,\' he reasoned to himself.

Outside of the murder morality debate, Lone also thought it would be such a waste to simply kill such a fantastic provider of new skills, mainly resistances, after all.

Once he had crossed the distance between his group and Hamish, Lone passed the contract and quill over to the dwarf who was willing enough to receive them.

"Like I said earlier, you need to sign with your own blood. Shall you make the wound or shall I?" Lone asked.

"Ah\'d be surprised if ye could manage," Hamish answered before he brought his thumb up to his mouth and bit on it with enough jaw strength to crush rocks.

\'I\'m pretty sure my tails would cut you to ribbons, pal,\' Lone thought in amusement as he watched Hamish jab the quill\'s tip right into his punctured flesh.

The dwarf then wrote out his full name at the bottom of the parchment, \'Hamish Understone\'. The second the quill left the paper, it burst into brilliant red flames.

\'Red? It was white flames with Kyuubi\'s contract. Maybe the colour of flame signifies the strength of the contract?\' Lone thought as the last part of the contrast disappeared into a puff of smoke along with the crimson fire.

Level-2 contract [Contract of Cooperative Extermination with Hamish Understone] established. Rules of said contract have now been put into place.

Lone nodded. "Try to punch me. I do not give you permission to hurt me, but try nonetheless."

"Is this where ah learn \'at ye\'re actually ah powerful contract mage \'oo far exceeds the boundaries o\' ah D-rank\'r?" Hamish laughed dismissively. "All withoot MP tae boot."

"Try to punch me and find out," Lone goaded.

Hamish shrugged. He then swung his fist as he applyied his Strength and Agility as much as possible. Wind pressure whipped past Lone\'s face but the fist never made contact with his skin, being stopped just short.

"Y\'know, ah was \'opin\' ye were just deluded... \'Ow in the name ah the stone did ye manage tae learn contract magic \'at, one, uses nae magic, an\' two, does shite like this without needin\' ah physical restraint like ah collar, ring, bracket or whatever the feck else?" Hamish asked in sheer shock.

Lone smirked. "You may be bound to the contract to not tell anyone, but that doesn\'t mean I\'ll answer you. Ah, by the way, neither of them signed with their blood," he said as he gestured to Sophie and Breena. "Their promise regarding your personal information is one of trust, not one enforceable by my magic."

"What? But the contract mentioned \'em," Hamish pointed out.

"Yeah, but it doesn\'t bind without blood. Not that it\'s overly important. You want our help, we don\'t want you getting in the way. Anything else is a bit inconsequential," Lone remarked.

Hamish nodded slowly. "Aye, ah suppose ye\'r nae wrong..."

"Well, that\'s that. Fuck off about 50-meters that way before the contract thinks you\'re breaking its rules and decides to blow your head off or something," Lone said casually though he genuinely was worried about just that happening.

Hamish did as he was told and walked ahead, his mind still thinking about the contract. \'World\'s ah big place, huh? Never thought there\'d be contract magic oot there \'at uses nae MP tae bind folk together. Never thought there\'d be one \'at can stop yer actions like \'at without ah conduit either.\'

He was interested in the magic but it didn\'t concern him all that much. His primary reason for meeting them here wasn\'t to kill them, after all. Not directly, at least.

Hamish may have a grudge against Lone but the two girls? He didn\'t know them. What would Ewan think if he knew he was going around killing off random women and children? Nothing nice, Hamish suspected.

His plans were just to use them as bait, a distraction, if you would, so he could safely collect his brothers\' corpses. Whatever else happened, happened. He wasn\'t without morals and not all of his honour was lost, but on the scales, they looked like feathers compared to his family.

The fact he had to help with the fighting was a bit annoying, still, he could deal with that. Hamish had a trick or two up his sleeve to not trigger the contract though revealing himself during the doubtless slaughter wasn\'t going to happen.

\'If they survive, they survive. If they kick the bucket, so be it,\' Hamish thought dismissively. \'Ah wonder if the contract\'ll fizzle oot if the fox dies or dae ah \'ave tae hire ah specialist tae get it removed?\'

The former would be preferable though the latter wasn\'t impossible to handle if it was needed. Hamish knew a good spellbreaker in Krieg Tondoor.

Krieg Tondoor was hardly closeby but a journey might just be what he needed when he was finished with his business here. \'If ah finish... By the Stone ah could just as well join \'em as cold piles ah rotten flesh an\' bones. Gettin\' \'em oot willnae be easy...\'

Half an hour passed in relative silence. In that time, Hamish could vaguely hear the group behind him whispering among themselves but his skills weren\'t geared towards eavesdropping, more to detecting the presence of nearby organisms.

He was a scout, after all, not a spy. Similar but also vastly different professions.

This area of the Farwinds was pretty peaceful, being so close to a main road. Not a thing had entered his range of detection beyond small endemic critters that posed no harm.

Bored, Hamish shrugged and decided to stop walking just to see what the contract would do. It had forcefully stopped his punch. Would it move his legs for him this time instead to enforce the 50-metre distance rule?

It did, in fact, do that. Hamish looked down in amazement as his legs walked without his consent, maintaining a distance of exactly 50-metres from the group he was leading. \'Magic is crazy...\'

He quickly took back control from the contract and walked ahead of the limit imposed by the foxkin by a few paces. He did glance back though at the Golden Foxkin staring daggers into the back of his skull, apparently not very pleased that he\'d tested the contract. \'Can \'e really kill me as quickly as \'e claims?\'

It was a scary thought and it was one he felt more and more inclined to believe after witnessing and experiencing such strange contract magic.

Several hours of travel passed before Hamish shouted down the road, "There\'s ah clearin\' up ahead! Ah say we set up camp an\' turn in fae the night! This part ah the Farwinds are relatively safe, aye, but rest is critical on expeditions!"

"You\'re the expert! Camp it is! You are now allowed within ten metres of us but no closer!" the foxkin declared.

\'Trustin\' idiot, eh? What if ah\'d set up an ambush \'ere made up o\' ah bunch ah \'ired \'elp fae Krieg Moor?\' Hamish wondered.

Immediately after, he felt the bindings of the contract loosen a little. He stretched his shoulders as he got used to the feeling and he then scouted out the clearing in the road.

The foxkin and his two companions were soon by his side, well, 10-metres to his left specifically. "That is a big opening. What do you suppose made such a large hole in the road\'s walls?"

Hamish shrugged as he followed the fox\'s gaze to the massive tunnel that seemed to cut right through the Farwinds. "Basilisk? Dragon? Big feck-off worm? Ah dinnae ken. All ah ken is this \'ole\'s been \'ere fae centuries."

"Soph," the foxkin said, turned to his human companion, "do you mind scouting out both ends of the tunnel? A few kilometres each way should be fine assuming it stretches so far. I\'ll set up camp with Breena in the meantime."

The girl nodded tensely. "A-And him?"

\'Why the feck\'s she nervous now? \'Er disposition\'s all fluffy an\' warm. What \'appened tae the unendin\' bloodlust?\' Hamish wondered as he waited for the fox to answer the question.

"Him?" the fox asked rhetorically as he waved his hand and a tent set-up kit appeared in it.

"Where did \'at come fae?" Hamish asked. "It wasnae yer adventurer\'s pouch, \'at\'s fae certain."

"Magic," the fox answered with a shrug before he tossed the kit towards him. "He\'ll set up his tent for the night. Once that\'s done and we\'ve finished setting up over here for ourselves, he\'s going to train with me."

"Oh, am ah, noo?" Hamish asked, catching the tossed kit with ease. He instantly felt the contract trying to restrict him. He winced a little and sighed. "Guess ah am."

"You heard him. You don\'t have to worry, Soph. I\'ll be keeping a close eye on him and the contract has him by the balls," the fox said as he smiled at the human.

"Fine," she said in a slightly displeased tone before vanishing.

"Invisibility?" Hamish muttered.

"No, teleportation," the fox so helpfully corrected.

"Right... teleportation..." he muttered in response. \'I can\'t detect \'er. How feckin\' far can she teleport? An\' she can bring people with \'er from what the fox threatened earlier, aye?\'

Something inside of Hamish suddenly saw a great deal of potential in this set of strange D-rankers. The Crimson Foxkin may as well have not existed but the Golden Foxkin and the human? Maybe, just maybe, they were more than just fodder to make his plans go more smoothly.