Soul Oath

True, if you can't find the market price of a rare artifact, it must be worth more than a couple dozen boars. I could hunt that many in a few hours at most.

Another answer might be the dragon's hubris. I can imagine him thinking he needs no puny dragonewt's help. But that is such an arrogant take that I find it hard to accept. Would anyone be so stupid? He is a lord ruling over a territory, so maybe… but nothing lasts forever. A single strong and opportunistic invader who decides to play it smart and wait for the right moment to strike could be his end. I would certainly welcome my special supporter's help then.

Well, there's no reason to dwell on uncertainties we will get no answer to, no matter how much we ponder.

"Sounds like you met a very arrogant or simply stupid dragon. Or perhaps there are things we are not privy to. The only thing we can do now is move on. Is there a way for you to regain access to that class? I would happily accept you as my priestess if that solves it."

She stops the stream of her tears and glances at me with uncertainty. "Really?"

"Yeah, I don't see why not. You've already proven yourself trustworthy in my eyes; making you stronger would benefit us both."

She shudders for a moment and then throws herself at me, hugging my front leg. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I thought I had some deficiency that made me worthless to dragons that I wasn't aware of… You made me really happy." She wipes her tears, and her expression turns more grim. "However, that is not enough, My Lord. I'm afraid that once I lose that class, the only way to regain it would be to kill the one who locked me out of it."

Damn. I was hoping for an easy solution. "How strong is he?"

She shakes her head. "I don't know. I've never seen him fight or heard the specifics of his prowess. All I can tell you is that he is twice as tall as you and controls lightning. He has ruled over a vast patch of land for at least three thousand years, so he is definitely strong."

That makes things very troublesome. If he is that tall, he is at least in the Young stage, possibly even Young Adult. Furthermore, the ability to control lightning sounds really strong. We simply can't face such an opponent, even if by some miracle we manage to get a perfect jump on him. I don't feel confident.

"What about his stats?" I inquire. It should give me a better perspective.

"Stats?" She looks at me puzzled.

"You've met him, right? You must've glanced at his status window."

Her confusion visibly grows. "My Lord, you can see others' stats?"

Now it is my time to be perplexed. "Yes?" I question-answer her.

Her eyes widen at the revelation. "I've never heard of that ability before! It is way too strong! No way! Can you really tell my stats without my permission?"

Instead of replying with a simple yes, I read her numbers aloud for her, causing her to gasp with shock.

"Is this perhaps another true dragon advantage? Everyone can glance at their own status window with a simple wish, but this is the first mention I ever hear of someone being able to spy on others'. Even though I've not heard of it before, it's not like dragons like to share their secrets with us lowly dragonewts. Or perhaps this is your unique ability? Now that I think about it, I've never asked about the name of your subspecies, My Lord."

She glances at me curiously, her previous sorrow seemingly almost disappearing. Perhaps she really does like learning about dragons, or is she especially curious about me?

"With that question of yours, we've come to the point I wanted to discuss with you. You've already mentioned a soul oath before; do you know what it is exactly?"

She nods. "Yes, My Lord. A soul oath is a unique, unbreakable contract between a dragon and another party. Well, it doesn't have to be a dragon but someone with an extraordinarily strong soul. Gods can also use it, and there are a few other mutated species that might also have the privilege of using it. Furthermore, there are some classes that allow the formation of such a contract, like the legendary Soulmancer."

I've inherited the idea from my mother, who stated, 'if you ever want to reveal your true nature, have the other party swear a soul oath of silence.' It makes my life a lot easier that Scarlet has knowledge about soul contracts.

"That is correct. I want you to swear a soul oath that you will never reveal my secrets, whether verbally or nonverbally to any third party without my explicit approval."

She doesn't hesitate even for a second. She raises her left hand to her chest where her heart should be and looks me in the eye, utterly determined. "I, Scarlet, distant descendant of Lord Ammorth, born to the Furyfang tribe take a solemn vow never to reveal Lord Valdrakar Nemesis's secrets in any shape or form, verbally or nonverbally unless having received his explicit consent beforehand. May my soul be destroyed upon my breaching of the soul contract."

I feel a strange power link us together once she finishes with her vow. I take a deep inspection of my inner mind and find it after a few seconds of searching. I can easily inspect the soul contract, read through its content and as I'm the one being sworn to I can also abolish the pact with a single thought. I try changing a point in it but it doesn't let me write over any text. It's good to know that such manipulation is safeguarded against, otherwise the contract would be utterly worthless.

"Well then. Have you heard of the name Devouring Dragon?"