The Blood Contract

"You didn't ask, right?"

Aleshia teased with a smile on her face. She was just very happy right now that she finally got a chance to get her revenge on this man who used her weakness against her.

"You!"

There was fury on Lawrend's face as he looked at her. He didn't think that he would be duped by her. He was just distracted by the slime but he was actually thinking of ways to get closer to her.

It was all to fulfill his daydreams, but it seems that he has been naive for this journey. She was not just gonna let him take advantage of her. She went for the counterattack, and it was so sudden and perfect that Lawrend didn't know what to do.

"Now, I just want a simple deal. Give me enough money to buy a house in the neighboring kingdom after this journey and I will forget that you visited a black market."

Aleshia gave her conditions with a smirk. It felt so good getting back at him after enduring his antics for so long.

"I… Alright. But how can I be sure that you would keep your promise?"

Lawrend wanted to disagree but he gritted his teeth and agreed with her. There's no way he could get out of this now. The only thing he could do now was to minimize the damages to him.

As a merchant, when things go wrong, the next thing you should do is to minimize your damages. It is called preserving yourself for a comeback.

Even though he would lose a lot of gold in the process of this, it would still be better than being sold out to the kingdom that he has been into a black market.

"There are blood contracts sold there."

Aleshia pointed towards a particular stall on the bazaar. It was a black-colored stall full of scrolls and ominous-looking objects.

"A blood contract?"

Lawrend asked her in puzzlement. He has never heard of something like that before. It was his first time encountering the term.

"It is used by people to make contracts that they can't breach. Or otherwise, they would suffer the consequences."

Aleshia explained while making it dramatic by moving her thumb across her neck. She was basically telling him that the consequence would be death if someone breached a contract made with a blood contract.

"D-death?"

Lawrend gulped nervously. He immediately became fearful after knowing that. He glanced at the stall in fear. It was so ominous-looking and it turned out that it was because it was very sinister in actuality.

"Yes. This way, not one of us could breach the contract."

Aleshia smiled at Lawrend. Seeing him look so cowardly satisfied her. She couldn't help but think that he was cute when he was like that.

"I- I would not breach our promise."

Lawrend replied in fear. He didn't want to enter a blood contract. Just knowing that he would die just because of breaching a contract makes him feel that his life was not within his hands but in the hands of the devil.

"I don't trust you."

Aleshia replied seriously. Lawrend could only smile bitterly and accept his fate. Knowing that she was very strong, he knows that he won't be able to escape her grasp.

"Okay..."

Lawrend answered weakly.

"That's more like it."

Aleshia smiled sweetly at Lawrend before leading him towards the stall. Lawrend approached the stall apprehensively. There were many different and odd-looking objects displayed. Most of which look very dark and ominous.

"Mister, we would like a pair of blood contract."

Aleshia spoke to the reddish black-cloaked man. There was a strong feeling of bloodlust coming from him. It was like Lawrend was standing before someone who had slaughtered a whole army.

"200 gold."

The cloaked man replied in a cold voice. It was so cold that one might think that the man was lifeless, but if you look straight into his eyes, you would know that is not the case.

Aleshia glanced at Lawrend and Lawrend looked at Aleshia in puzzlement. Aleshia pointed to the cloaked man with her eyes and Lawrend immediately understood.

"I.. I'll pay for it?"

Lawrend asked her weakly. He felt like he was a sheep on a butchering table. There was nothing he could do to resist her demands.

"Who else?"

Aleshia replied in a mocking voice.

Lawrend was left with no choice but to pull a gold bill inside his pocket. This gold bill is a piece of paper issued by the kingdom's bank. Using it, one could claim their gold at any branch located in any city in the Undrasil Kingdom.

"Here."

Lawrend passed the gold bill to the cloaked man who accepted it. He raised it against the glowing stone on the ceiling and inspected it carefully before nodding his head in satisfaction.

"I received a 200 gold bill."

The cloaked man spoke as cold as before, before crouching and pulling a roll of paper from under.

He passed it to Aleshia who unfurled it after accepting it.

"Hmmm… Yes. This is a blood contract, alright."

Aleshia was satisfied seeing that it was actually a working blood contract. It was very easy to spot something like it for Aleshia who has a lot of experience with stuff like this.

"So? What terms would you like to include?"

Aleshia turned to Lawrend and asked. The blood contract is entirely blank and the users would be the ones to fill it out. This way, anyone could have any terms they want in the contract.

"Can I write it?"

Lawrend asked her as he opened his hands to accept the blood contract papers.

"Yes, you can, but you need to use a special pen."

Aleshia glanced at the cloaked man and the cloaked man pulled out a blood-red feather.

"1 gold."

The cloaked man opened his hand towards Lawrend. Lawrend looked at the cloaked man in disbelief. He was so shameless that he would sell the blood contract papers without the pen and he would charge for it separately.

What a talented man! Lawrend was speechless. He was a great seller.