Trust In Me

____________

POV: Astaros

____________

In the midday light, the golden streaks across the surface of the scroll shone with malice. Everything about it screamed and cried out with vile intent. And yet, holding it in my hands I felt a sense of peace knowing that this item would rid me of an issue I had long held within the halls of my home. 

"Raven, allow me to make myself clear, I am planning to enslave a person until I have the chance to kill her. Are you completely sure this scroll will have the power to keep her mind under my control? Because you have seen the power she could bring to bear if she is left unchecked." {Astaros}

The look of shock on her face showed how much the bluntness of my question had surprised her,

"Well, yes. However…" {Raven}

I raised an eyebrow inquisitively at her hesitance. While she was a cautious person, she hadn't made it seem like there were any serious side effects when we had first discussed the idea. Her reluctance had been directed more towards my intentions in the first place.

"There are some restrictions?" {Astaros}

"If the souls are equal it will be very unlikely that you will be able to order her to do anything that goes against her desire for self preservation. Now with the strength of this scroll that shouldn't be a problem, but she is also blessed by a god. I'm worried that Ira might lend her some strength during the process, overturning the contract in its entirety. And-" {Raven}

She then breathed in for a second, her lungs having been emptied by the long winded explanation.

"I'm also worried that if she regains her strength mid-process, she could easily break the contract." {Raven}

I blinked for a moment,staring at the scroll while unsure of what to think. I had hoped it would be easier to use but it seemed that wasn't the case. Not that it mattered, because that simply meant I'd have to put in a little more effort.

I sighed, before looking back down at Raven.

"Alright I'll deal with the fine print issues, just explain to me how it works."

Though for a moment her gaze was skeptical, she seemed to shake off her doubts before meeting my gaze.

"Alright then, I'll begin to explain…"

…

The process that the contract followed was fairly simple.  Pour mana into the contract and the contract will imbue it into the person along with the level of obedience required from the contractee. Now I was going to modify the process to overcome Ira's natural divine defences but that wasn't an issue. The issue was explaining my plan to everyone without explaining my talk with Lydia.

Thus sitting in front of everyone on the main floor in the commune, I described my plans for Aurora.

"I'm going to use this contract scroll to effectively enslave her until I decide that she is no longer a threat, at which point I will execute her." {Astaros}

A blunt unreasonable start, the best way to present such an idea to the unwilling. Laying out the scroll in front of everyone, I saw Dryis shiver slightly.

"Thats a high class contract scroll!" {Christine}

Christine's enthusiastic tone held all the tact of a tank, yet held the mentality of witch. Nikky, however, seemed quite apprehensive in comparison to the now bright eye'd christine.

"I've seen low class contract scrolls before, and it wasn't the best situation when I learned about them either. What do the high class one's do?" {Nikky}

Christine, who I had passed the contract to and was currently engrossed in said contract took a moment to look up, see who she was responding to, and begin explaining it like a child talking about their favourite toy.

"This scroll is what he said it was. It's an enslavement contract, and a high class one is designed for war prisoners at that. It is specifically made to allow the contractor to order the contractee to do and say whatever they want, with minor limitations depending on the strength of the contractee's mind. This is to prevent the contracted from killing themselves by refusing an order and overloading their mind with mana. It also has some measures to prevent lying in any form, such as omission, half truths, and exaggerated truths. It has its flaws of course, I mean it can't do things like make someone talk, but it's still useful in interrogations nonetheless." {Christine}

Her rapid fire speech had left a strong impression on Dryis's companion, while the elf herself didn't look too good either. It didn't take a genius to sense the problem.

"I assume you have all had some bad experiences with this type of contract scroll?" {Astaros}

My voice caught everyone's attention, shifting it away from Christine who had finally realised that not everyone shared her enthusiasm for an enslavement device.

"Well, yes, we did have some problems with contract scrolls in the past. Kamatra had used them on a village we had been in, and when they failed to give him any information he ordered them all to drown themselves in a lake. Though they tried to resist, that only meant his soldiers could push them into the lake themselves." {Dryis}

Dryis's eyes were now slightly wet as Oadry placed a comforting hand on her shoulder while Fillia grimaced.

Even the usually stoic Katia had her brows furrowed. It was obvious that no one approved of my methods here. Not that I ever expected them to.

"Which is why I promise to never use this method again. These circumstances are extreme, and thus require extreme measures. You have to understand, all of you had your way of life threatened by this woman and her patron goddess. I can't allow her to simply roam free, and keeping her in a coma until I can deal with her sounds like a nasty surprise waiting to happen." {Astaros}

I looked up and met Dryis's solemn gaze with my own, my silvery eyes glowing with resolve.

"This is the one and only time. Trust me." Astaros

Those words, "trust me", seemed to resonate with her. She then sighed and closed her eyes, before meeting my determination with her own.

"I'll trust you. Since the day you fought off those assassins, you had my trust." {Dryis}

From Dryis's proclamation, came agreement from the others.

"We will follow you to the ends of the earth, even if you do not demand it." {Christine/Rift}

"Don't even bother asking cause you know the answer." {Fillia}

Raven, Katia, Nikky, Oadry, they all followed suit as their respective companions placed their faith in me once again.

"Good, then lets get started." {Astaros}

The moment I received their approval, I began to march upstair with the others in tow.