Contractbound

Graham was heading towards Oostelijk Bos, the tall forest overlooking the edge of the town. Although he couldn"t go deep into the forest because of the lack of offensive and defensive means, he could still go to the outer area of it, which should be safer. He wanted to familiarize himself with the forest, as well as experiment with how his abilities worked on wild animals.

From his current position, the forest could already be seen in the distance. It was probably only two kilometers away to the outer boundary of the forest. Graham increased his pace in order to reach the forest sooner. The closer he got to it, the more people he saw walking towards the various directions unhurriedly.

"Good afternoon," greeted a middle-aged man as he was walking closer to Graham. He smiled and nodded in a friendly manner while walking in the opposite direction.

"Good afternoon," replied Graham while nodding and smiling back. He would have raised his trilby as well if he had worn one, but it was far too windy to do so.

He kept walking and every time he walked past a person, they would greet him warmly. It was a completely different feeling from walking down the busy street of Sloten where people minded their own businesses most of the time. It didn"t make Graham uncomfortable at all; in fact, it made his mood better.

"Good afternoon young man," greeted a kind-looking elderly lady with mostly grey hair. She was walking with the company of a female caretaker, who also smiled and nodded at him.

"Good afternoon, Ma"am," he replied politely.

The elderly lady and her caretaker walked past Graham slowly. They were not in a hurry to reach their destination, but rather, were out there to enjoy the afternoon, although cloudy and windy. Graham kept walking towards his destination with the same pace and found out why there were more people the closer he got to the forest.

At the entrance of Oostelijk Bos, there was a park build for recreational purposes. Both locals and tourists went there to visit, either to relax or to see nature from up close. The forest was rich in its flora and fauna, so it wasn"t rare to see people going there to study them. However, it was also not a safe place for common people to wander alone in, thus the park was built.

In that breezy afternoon, there were quite a few people gathered at the park. It was easy for Graham to distinguish who were the locals and who were the tourists from the way they moved and the way they dressed up. The locals tended to enjoy life more, hence the relaxed walking pace. On the other hand, the tourists were more inclined to move around faster because they were used to the quick-paced life of the busy big cities. They also dressed up differently; the locals were wearing more pastel-colored warm clothes with a plain design, whereas the tourists were wearing brighter warm clothes with a more complicated design.

The park itself looked very clean and well-maintained. It had a sign at the entrance welcoming visitors there. There were also information boards showing the animals that people might encounter in the forest, as well as warnings about things they shouldn"t do, which include walking out of the boundary of the safety lines the park management had put up. Graham couldn"t see the safety lines from the entrance, which meant that the area of the forest park was probably large.

"This is a nice place to relax, Val. We should definitely come back here again," he said quietly while observing his surroundings.

Since he wasn"t there to chat or to relax while enjoying nature, he walked quickly deeper into the park. He would go and do his business outside of the safe area but not too deep into the forest. The pavement that he was walking on until a while ago started to disappear and was replaced by the natural brown soil of the forest. The trees surrounding him looked even more ma.s.sive from up close, and the sounds of birds and insects were much louder there, although he was sure it was as loud as it would be in summer.

It took him quite some time to reach the safety line marking the end of the safe area of the park. There was a bright yellow line tied around trees forming a barrier, which only served as a reminder for the people, but would most likely be useless to deter wild animals. However, so far he had only seen harmless creatures like rabbits, hedgehogs, and squirrels, so the people in the park could safely enjoy their time. He walked to a secluded area still within the safe zone and made sure that there was no one or dangerous animals around. Once it was safe, sat down with his back leaning against a tree and placed his briefcase safely next to him. He then chanted a spell targeting himself.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order myself to fall asleep!"

Shortly after, he had fallen asleep, and Valentine woke up. The first thing he noticed was the loud noise of the forest, which was caused by his boosted hearing. He concentrated hard to ignore those sounds. Once the sounds were m.u.f.fled by his own mind, he started chanting, still not moving from his original position.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the existence of my presence a secret!"

A thin yellowish mist that made people instinctively neglect his presence enveloped his whole body and then turned transparent. He had concealed his presence in order to sneak in better in the forest. His opponents would be wild animals with an amazing sense of hearing and smell, so he needed to use his own ace card.

Once his Concealment was in effect, he spoke rather loudly.

"G, wake up!"

After saying that, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. He could fall asleep anywhere easier than Graham could, so he needed no help even though his position was not really comfortable. Shortly after Valentine fell asleep, Graham woke up. He felt a slight headache because he was woken up during the wrong phase of sleep, but it was nothing compared to the usual painful headache he got from overusing his power, so he brushed it aside.

Graham got up without forgetting to pick up his briefcase and walked under the waist-high line to cross to the other side. He activated his Supersight and trod carefully. Although the forest was fast, as a divinator, he wasn"t scared of getting lost, but he needed to be careful nonetheless. There was always the possibility of someone or something interfering with his divination.

The ground beneath him was dry, and there were a lot of withered leaves scattered about. He avoided stepping on them to not make too much noise. Although his presence had been concealed, loud noises could still be heard by the target. His aim today was to get close to a deer and used it for his experiment, but deer are known to have very sensitive ears, so he had to be extra careful.

The dense tall trees blocked the sunlight, making it much darker in there. However, there was still enough light for Graham to see, so he didn"t need to use his lighter or the flashlight that he had also brought. After walking for a while, he saw something that looked like a set of hoofprints that seemed to be consistent with the size of a deer"s hooves. He crouched down to get a better view of it and determined the direction where the owner of the hoofprints was heading.

Graham followed the direction and saw more hoofprints along the way, and tree branches that showed evidence of having been stepped on. The hoofprints slowly became clearer, which meant that he was getting closer to his target.

A short distance later, Graham could see a lone deer grazing on the brushes. It had two majestic-looking antlers and brown spots on its fur. It seemed to have been separated from its herd, which gave him a good opportunity. He silently sneaked closer to where the deer was standing, closely watching it and his steps to avoid making noises. The deer didn"t seem to notice his presence at all, which meant Valentine"s concealment was also effective against its sensitive ears.

Once he was close enough, without looking away from the deer, he chanted,

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to stand still!"

The moment his first word was spoken, the deer had detected Graham"s presence, but it wasn"t fast enough to get out of his spell range, so after moving only a couple meters, it stopped in its track. The deer seemed to be trying to get away from its attacker but couldn"t get its legs to move. Graham"s Order had effectively been issued.

He quickly moved in closer to the frozen deer because he felt that his Order was slowly losing effect. He probably only had several seconds left before the deer would be able to move freely again. He swiftly opened his briefcase and took out his spare pants. With a fast movement of the mouth, he chanted,

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to tie yourself tightly around the deer"s hind legs!"

The pants darted like a bullet and wrapped around the deer"s legs. They then coiled around the legs tighter and tighter until it was impossible for it to stand up. The deer fell on its side and the pants tied themselves into a knot, securely immobilizing the unsuspecting animal.

A second later, Graham"s Order wore off and the deer regained its ability to control its own body, but it still couldn"t get away because its hind legs were tied tightly. It could only struggle in vain on the ground. With the deer not being to run away, he could begin the next step of his experiment.

He observed the deer closely and focused on its right front leg. He pitied the animal, but he needed it in order to understand his power better. He started chanting one more time, using his next counter of the day"s quota.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to break yourself!"

He suddenly got a throbbing headache while the deer"s leg remained unchanged. His power had failed.

"So I really can"t use Order to cause anything to inflict harm on itself, even if it"s just a leg," he said, making a mental note.

Graham opened his mouth again to issue his next Order.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to eat the gra.s.s next to you!"

The deer moved involuntarily closer to the gra.s.s with much difficulty because of its tied hind legs. It then started munching on the gra.s.s hungrily. His Order had been successfully carried.

"Ordering it to eat something safe works normally. Now let"s try something else," he spoke with a voice full of curiosity.

He had noticed some mushrooms growing near a tree, and without knowing its kind, it"s always a dangerous move to eat wild mushrooms in the forest. However, as a dweller here, the deer should know if it was safe to eat or not.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to eat that mushroom!"

The deer didn"t move, but instead, he got the same throbbing headache which he quickly disregarded. His spell had failed again.

"The deer knew that the mushroom is poisonous, therefore invalidating the Order because it would have caused it to harm itself? That is an interesting find," he rubbed his chin in thought.

He watched the deer that was still struggling to break free. Its body was wriggling on the ground, trying to shake loose the things binding its legs.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to remain motionless!"

The deer then stopped moving all of sudden against its will. Graham looked at his watch and counted the seconds. Although he would get a spiritual feeling when his spell was about to wear off, he still needed concrete information on the exact duration.

One second, two seconds, five seconds pa.s.sed, and the deer quickly regained control over its body and started flailing its legs again.

"Five seconds is the limit. That is a very important piece of information. Mr. Deer, I have to thank you kindly for that," said Graham with genuine grat.i.tude.

Then he repeated his last order.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to remain motionless!"

Again, the deer lost control of its ability to move and just lied there on the ground without moving like it was dead. Only its eyes showed its life. Graham counted the seconds again and after five seconds, just like last time, the deer could move once more.

"Repeated Orders do not diminish its duration. It"s good to know," he made a mental note.

He started to get a slight headache that usually came when he was almost at his limit. He had used his Order eight times today, so he could only use it two more times, but he didn"t plan to meet his quota of the day, because the could always be an emergency situation where he would need the power.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to fall asleep!"

The deer still moved about, trying to break free, but slowly, its movement slowed down. It seemed to be feeling sleepier and sleepier. Graham looked at his watch and counted the seconds that it took for the animal to completely fall asleep. After three whole minutes, the deer finally stopped moving.

"It takes too long for my Order to make something else to fall asleep than it does for me. This is not really applicable in combat unless I can prepare it in advance. But, the sleep duration should be longer, except if something wakes it up," he concluded while moving closer to the sleeping animal.

He grabbed the pants that were tightly wrapped around its hind legs and untied the knot with difficulty; it was too securely tied. Once he retrieved the pants safely, he nudged the deer gently to wake it up.

"Mr. Deer, thank you for your cooperation," he said while moving away after seeing the deer slowly opening its eyes.

The deer ran away from the man as fast as it could and quickly disappeared from sight. Graham walked away from the spot. He had achieved his goal of coming here.