Contract Closed

When Shin returned with Char, Ase had already finished grilling the meat. The sweet smell of freshly roasted meat filled the air, even Char looked at it for a second before switching her attention back to the severed lizard tail Shin carried for her.

"What should we do now?" Ase asked, leaning on the tree behind her. She had long finished eating before Shin and Char returned, now, she only worries about the future.

"Eat, rest, travel, find a city, get in, work, and get some money and more money until we got a stable living." Shin looked at her, "After that, we can look into more things, like getting you back to your beast clan." He pointed at her with a spotless bone, he hadn't eaten in weeks, not that he could eat, he was shoving everything down his throat, with a lot of water.

"Don't have one." Ase replied, tapping the back of her head on the tree. "Got kicked out 'cause can't take a beast form." Even though her voice held a hint of sadness, her expression was one of exhaustion, she was done with her clan.

"Want to go back?" Shin asked, keeping a close eye on her face.

"No, to get kicked out, it was a blessing." She looked at Shin, "I'm not mad at them for kicking me out, I'm mad at them for something else."

"You gave the dragon a strange look, was he involved?" Shin had just finished shoving meat down his throat. With how rock solid his stomach feels, he probably won't need to eat for another decade.

"Should've expected no less, you're smart." She smiled, "Dragon burned the forest, our village alongside it. My mother was weak, got ill often, she died in the fire." Ase looked at Shin, "I was kicked out kicked out since the clan can't afford to feed too many mouths, of course, the one who can't transform is the first to be chopped off."

"All beasts can transform, the beast form is their true self." Shin looked at her with a gentle smile, "I'm certain you can take a beast form, you just don't know how or don't understand it. I can help you understand it."

"Not…" Ase shook her head, "You're the one who can't understand, I've got a reason why I can't transform. No, it's not that I can't transform, it's impossible for me to transform."

Shin looked at her with a passive face, "Because of your human blood?" His words roared at her ears like thunder. Ase immediately lunged at him, grabbing him by the neck. "How do you know? Who told you?!" She growled at him.

"Calm down." He nonchalantly tapped her hand, unfazed by her attack, he glared straight at her eyes, "I could sense it when I shrunk your aura in the water."

She let go of him, and he dropped down. As she stood for a second before returning to her seat, "Sorry…been trying to keep it a secret for a while now…can't believe I got exposed without even knowing it."

"Your father or mother was human. But you aren't half-bred, you're a full-blown beast. It shouldn't affect whether you get a beast form or not." Shin was already getting hungry again so he pulled another chunk of meat, "Care to tell me the story?"

"No." Ase replied immediately and he sighed. "Fine, don't need to know it to help." He pointed at her with a roasted rib.

"To get a beast form you have to either be tamed or develop it on your own, the latter is much harder." He munched on the ribs, "Let's explain the latter. There are two ways for a beast to unlock their beast form, either by instinct at a young age or with meditation and training at a later age. Imagine it like…learning to write with your off-hand."

"Tamed…you mean enslaved?" She sighed but Shin shook his face, "No, a taming contract is different. It's a mutual agreement between two parties. The tamer and tamed both must agree on a set of rules that both follow, breaking any of those rules would lead to the contract being broken."

"Like what?" Ase looked at Shin, "I bet that would be faster than me trying to learn how to transform on my own."

"The contract must only include terms that both parties fully understand, so if it's between you and me it might be something like this. We hunt together and split the rewards fifty-fifty, if I had to take command and stir the fight, I take seven-tenths of the reward, if I wasn't involved, it's all yours." Shin looked at the spider, "For example, I have a contract with her."

"We have one?" Char didn't know and was just as confused as Ase was.

"This is the catch, you don't need a contract when taming a creature of a lesser rank." He extended his hand to Char, "Animals, monsters, and demons are considered lesser unintelligent creatures because they don't have the mental capacity to understand contracts on their own. Humans, beasts, and devils are considered higher creatures that are intelligent, taming between them requires contracts."

"You can tame a devil?" Ase gasped but Shin burst laughing, "Devils are known to tame humans and beasts, not the opposite. Since demons are quite cunning, you can never beat a devil in a contract war." He looked at Ase.

"Think of it like this. Demons are stronger than monsters, and monsters are stronger than animals. Devils are stronger than beasts, and beasts are stronger than humans. Taming down is easy, but taming up is quite hard." He looked at her, "Me taming you is quite the dangerous ordeal to me, not you."

"It makes more sense for me to tame you… instead of you taming me…" She gasped, "Wait, do you mean I must find a devil to tame me so I can get my beast form?"

"No…what I mean is that you should let me tame you. Since you're stronger and higher rank than me, you should be able to figure a way out of the contract and have the upper hand in it." He extended his hand to her. "Simple contract, you fight as I say, and I'll do my best to attain your beast form."

"And when I get my beast form? What after, the contract ends?" She tilted her head.

"Yes, we can renew it, but that would require a whole new contract." She stood, "Shall we look for a place to sleep in?"

"Wait." Ase stood, looking at her hand, "Let's get a contract first."

"You want me to tame you? Here and now?" Shin tilted his head, "You should think it over, take a few days. When you make up your mind, we can get it done."

"No!" Ase gasped, "I tend to change my mind often, so I want to get it done." She extended her hand to Shin.

"Fine, just look into my eyes." He said and his eyes burned with arcane magic. His thoughts quickly flashed in Ase's head, the terms of the contract where as he stated before, plain and simple. She agreed, and it was sighed with magic in seconds.

"It's really quick…" She looked at her hands, tail and back, "I don't feel any different."

"Now." Shin put his hand on her head, "Close your eyes, this will feel weird. I'll check your body and see what prevents you from taking a beast form."

Ase closed her eyes with a worried face, "How weird."

"You'd rather jump in water…so get ready."

In a second, Ase cried, feeling like worms were crawling beneath her skin, something wiggled inside her chest and her body started getting hotter. From deep inside her mind she started to feel a sharp urge to cry, not out of pain, but frustration, like an itch beneath her fangs, something burned inside her stomach.

"Shin…Is this what you meant by weird?" She growled… "You might feel some strange emotions coming out of nowhere, like anger, shame, happiness, or frustration. It's because I'm flipping and turning your core trying to find if something is jammed."

"Ah! Careful Ase, this might be a sharp one. Try your best to stay still." Shin warned her.

"Yeah…HISSSSSSSSSSSS!" She immediately opened her eyes, slashing at him with her claws, lucky he expected her to lash out and dodged beforehand.

Right after swinging her arm, the deep horror, anger, and vile rage she felt disappeared like nothing had happened. She looked at Shin, "Wait! I moved?"

"Yep. But it's all good now, imagine a black cat. A normal house cat, not too big, not too small. Don't focus on the details, just relax." He approached and looked at her, "I'm watching, just try it."

"Fine…all of this is a bit too weird…" She closed her eyes and could feel a strange itch on her back, her body felt warmer and she could sense her claws and fangs. When she opened her eyes, she was looking up at Shin's knees.

"Seem to have worked." Shin said with a smile and bent down, lifting the black cat. "Contract closed."

"Meow?" Ase looked at Shin's face, then down at Char who gave her a thumb up with her thumbless limbs. "MEOW!"