"Welcome to… Ohh… The first player I"ve seen in Mule today.
A male player who wore a suit welcomed me with a brilliant smile.
"There may a number of players who visit here, but you"re the first customer we"ve had today.
“Ahaha. Yes, do come in. It"s my pleasure to welcome you since most of the players nowadays are more attracted to Barbara and Kahn. So, how can I help you today?”
“Although this is a shrine, doesn"t it seem like there is something missing here? Anyway, I"d like to report about my expedition and make a contract."
As soon as I mentioned the contract, the man"s face lit up with glee. He probably had imagined that a lot of money was about to roll in. He asked us to wait a moment before running into the Burinake.
Vivian was fidgety and seemed reluctant to stand still. She wanted to look around the shrine, but I released a little of my mana which prompted her to hold still. When she sensed my mana, I noticed that her nerves were taut with the desire to have more of that Elixir that was in my hand. I smiled softly at Vivian"s obedience and waited for the priest to come out.
Soon, “udang -tang” sounds reverberated from the second-floor stairway. It was the sound of someone rushing down the steps. The temple was a few blocks away from the area where the residents and players met up, so both had learned to co-exist and were on equal footing in most matters. Generally, the residents were in positions to communicate with anyone, and everything else was handled by the players. However, most of the work done by the players interfered with the residents.
A female player rushed out from the stairwell, panting really hard. A male priest came down right after she did, with a bitter expression on his face. Do shrines have this much need for money nowadays?
"Oh, Come on in. You came to issue a contract, right?"
"Yes. And about the expedition…"
"The shrines are very busy these days, so we have no one to take any expedition reports, right now, so there is no need for you to do that. Now, what kind of contract are we talking about?"
You don"t want me to make a report on the expedition? I frowned. It seemed that they had been influenced by the Golden Lion Clan, so no matter how I tried to report the expedition, I wouldn"t be able to get the report approved. And here I thought I was going to skip a great deal of work. I looked at her and replied.
"Human to Human. To be precise, it will be a contract between a player and a resident."
The lady priest looked at me for a while before she nodded.
Hmm… Well, generally, players and residents can establish contracts between themselves. Have you thought about the terms contained in the contract?”
“If you hand me the contract now, I can write in the details right away.”
"That"s nice. Min Chol, give him the contract, now."
Min Chol, the male priest, immediately handed me a piece of paper and a pen. I pondered for a while before writing. The content of the contract was simple but effective. I had planned to draft a slave contract. When I was done writing, I reviewed the content, giving it a thorough once-over.
1) The player Kim Su Hyun will pay a price to Vivian, who needs it. Thereafter, Vivian will verify and acknowledge that the payment received is in accordance with the terms agreed in this contract.
2) The resident Vivian will have to listen to player Kim Su Hyun. Naturally, she maintains her free will, but she will still have to obey the requests of player Kim Su Hyun.
3) The resident Vivian will aid the player Kim Su Hyun and his party members, An Hyun, An Sol, and Lee Yoo-Jung—and will display any form of hostility towards any of them.
Although it was a rough draft, when I read it, my lips curled upwards into a dangerous smile. I showed the contract to Vivian who read the contents and nodded. She proceeded to sign the contract and handed it back to me. I took the paper, signed it and handed it to the female priest. The piece of paper almost seemed to glow.
When the female priest received the contract, she read it for a moment and raised a hand to cover her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh. She failed and chuckled for a bit before facing me. I found her expression really funny and couldn"t help grinning.
"Hoho. Do you really want to do this?"
"Hahahahaha. I want you to get this over with as soon as you can."
"That"s not up to me."
I smiled at the female priest who grinned broadly back at me. She chuckled and faced Vivian, asking:
"Are you really fine with this?"
"Yea? Ah, Yes. I just need to listen to him and help them. There"s no need to be so suspicious. Does it take this long to complete a contract? Please, finalize it as soon as possible.”
The female priest"s expression turned stern, however, Vivian stared right back at her, not backing down in the slightest. The female priest, who had spent a long time glaring at Vivian, finally opened her mouth and declared solemnly:
“As of this moment, I have read the contents of this contract and will sign it, confirming that I played witness to the agreement between both parties.”
Immediately after her declaration, the paper crumpled and began to glow resplendently. Popping sounds, like a fire-crackers, rippled through the air as I watched the glowing paper hovering in the air. The contract had been approved. It sure is a spectacular sight. Vivian regained her composure quickly, but the two priests still watched it in fascination. I could clearly hear their hushed whispers.
"Min Hee Noon-nim, isn"t this too much? It"s like popping corn with lightning."
"I don"t care. I"ll soon be rolling in enough money to last a long time; after all, a contract is the highest level of agreement."
"But, still…"
“The resident herself is fine with it. Therefore, I no longer have any need to worry.
Although those two were talking in hushed whispers, my sensitive ears could pick up every word, clearly. I decided not to b.u.t.t into their conversation and continued watching the contract, which was currently in the process of being finalized, with a smile. In the future, I could get Vivian to cook, roast, and… hehe — do anything.
Soon afterward, the light turned dim, and the crumpled contract fell down from the air. “It takes a while for a contract to get finalized,” Lee Min Hee said to me as though she had read my thoughts. I laughed and replied:
"Do not worry, as you can see, she"s not a wh.o.r.e.
I then whispered to Vivian: "The priest in charge of approving players" contracts has been granted a special authority to do so. Naturally, this authority would disappear as soon as she wishes to quit.”
I watched as she picked up the contract, and placed the paper on a scale. The weight of the paper would determine how much I was to pay. Only moments after the contract was placed on the scale, the result came out, and it brought Lee Min Hee and Min Chol great joy.
As I had expected, the weight of the contract was enormous. As soon as the contract was placed atop the scale, a wheel began turning, and soon it was two wheels… three wheels, and finally, 8 wheels were all turning slowly, at the same time. I was not surprised, after all, the result had fallen within the range I had expected. However, Vivian looked worried. I didn"t share her fear. Although I knew I would have to fork over a little more than I"d like, I didn"t think too much about it. After Lee Min Hee looked at the scale for a while, she approached with a satisfied smile and whispered:
"Player Kim Su Hyun, do you know of the effect of a contract between the player and a resident?"
"Roughly. Contracts between players are limited, but the residents are not affected by the < configuration="">… huh."
"Indeed. Residents are not affected by < configuration="">, so contracts with them are much more effective. Even their conscience are bounded with the owners, so they"re very cooperative. Anyway, congratulations on acquiring such a good slave. She is pretty, and I"m sure you"ll enjoy going to bed with her in the future,” Lee Min Hee said as she handed me the contract.
"Haha. She isn"t for that purpose. Please don"t misunderstand."
"Ah… I only said that because of the clothes which she has on. Anyway, the bill is 789 gold, 417 silver, and 216 bronze. Yo do know that you can"t pay in installments in a shrine, right?
I nodded and paid. 800 gold wasn"t too much money to pay for a valuable member of the party. But Vivian, who had stared at the fairly large amount of money, turned to look at me in surprise. She was rather impressed that I had taken out so much money without any hesitation. However, from that moment, the contract became fully effective. Naturally, I still had to pay the price stipulated in the contract.
After saying goodbye to Lee Min Hee and Min Chol, I placed the contract into a box and left the shrine. The female priest watched me fixedly from the moment the contract was finalized till I left the shrine, but I walked away unfl.u.s.tered by her staring.
"Is it done? Is it really done?"
Vivian rushed towards me. I nodded and brought her to a place with few people around, and handed her the elixir outrightly. She sniffed the vial and stared at it in excitement.
"Phew, phew."
Vivian began taking in really deep breaths. It seemed to me that she had been under a lot of stress since she was changed from a human into a spider. She was someone who had a strong will to live, and although her intellect wasn"t that high, I was still looking forward to seeing how much she would change in the future. Those with skills such as hers were few, even amongst residents.
I didn"t know if Seraph would accept this, but the deed had been done. Vivian was a boss monster that I was tasked to capture, but I had turned her into my companion by exploiting the loopholes. However, it was only possible because it had been carried out with the consent of the other party.
Vivian watched the elixir with conflicting emotions, but her hesitation was short-lived.
Bung! She uncorked the vial.
"Hmm. It"s black."
She downed the contents of the vial in one. A cool and refreshing feeling permeated her body. I walked up to her and examined her carefully. I could see that the lacerated part of her skin had begun healing slowly.
Not only that. The skin itself underwent a change; it became more tender and soft. Her hair turned glossy and regained its black color. Her pale face regained its color, and her cold body began to regain its warms, as light-peach blood began to flow within,
One of the best properties of the elixir was its ability to begin healing the body immediately after it"s consumed, rather than after a long time. As its proving its effectiveness, I could feel the powerful mana emanating from the mage who had fully recovered in front of me.
But the person who could fully feel it wasn"t me. Vivian looked down at her two hands and body with an unbelievable face, and soon it became a face with joy and made a fist. How does it feel when you regain lost strength? Is the feeling of falling into the h.e.l.l and then climbing back to the world? But, the person who could completely feel the changes wasn"t me. It was Vivian. She looked down at her hands and her body with an astonished gaze. Her look of incredulity soon turned to Joy, and she squeezed her hands into fists. How does one feel when they regain their lost strength, I wondered. Does it feel like falling into h.e.l.l and then managing to climb back out, and into the word, later?
Vivian revelled in the pleasant feeling for a while before turning to face me with gentle eyes. Although her face was still bruised, it seemed different than it was before. Before, her pupils were dull, revealing her deteriorating will to live. But now, her pupils were lively and filled with confidence. Her lips parted slightly.
"… Su Hyun."
"What?"
"So your name is Su Hyun. Kim Su Hyun."
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Kim Su Hyun. Kim Su Hyun. Kim Su Hyun. Kim Su Hyun."
I scratched my head and watched Vivian repeat my name over and over. The contract in the box seemed to burn hotter. It was showtime. I decided to test its effects with an experiment, and my lips curled up into an evil smile. And at that moment, silver eyes gazed at a brilliant hair. As I gazed at her, I thought, She is an idiot, but she somehow moves me. She"s pretty…no… beautiful. Under the pretext of testing out the contract, I called her.
"Vivian."
"…Su Hyun. Kim Su Hyun."
"Come here… Huh?"
I was just about to say “hold me”, but my words were cut short as Vivian suddenly charged at me and buried herself in my arms, tears dripping down her eyes. Her face was buried in my chest.
Although I felt embarra.s.sed at the sudden development, I patted her back, trying to calm her down as much as I could. I understood her feelings without needing her to tell me. Although the atmosphere was good, I decided to shelve my perverted plans.
I wanted to curse as I hate…… so, I just wanted to test the contents of the contract and the compulsion. I cursed under my breath. I had only intended to test out the effects of the contract, especially the strength of its coercion.
Vivian, who didn"t know what evil thoughts I had in my head, kept on calling my name and thanking me.
"Thank you… thank you… thank you so much."
“It"s not a problem. Anyway, about the contract… Hey… wait a minute… you"re almost naked, right now… this is—”
"I don"t know what I would have to do if I couldn"t return back to being human again… huh… Ok, its okay if I"m with you. I"ll listen to you in the future. I will listen really well."
I mean, this development was ok. Her att.i.tude suddenly turning positive left me feeling embarra.s.sed, so I tried to lightly push her off me; however, the harder I tried, the tighter her arms around me became. Her arms are legs were wrapped around me—maybe a spider"s instinct. So this is how good you feel…
It was difficult to face Vivian who was poking my arm like a crazy version of An Sol, but she didn"t care about the surrounding and hugged me tightly. This was the body of a woman, who was naked. I sighed and just let her have at it. Today, I guess I have a girl for myself.