The Contract

Waking up the next day, the day was already filled with new issues, he was bathed and dressed by a butler and escorted to the lord's office. Upon seeing him the aide bowed low and thanked the kid for healing his lord pain and injuries. "child as the guilds biggest supporters in the city I will sponsor you. You won't have to hide the condition of your race as the beast people and other races can mix together. People still don't completely approve and there are still some resistant nobles who are discriminant, but the people will like you just fine. And since the age to join is 15, I think sending a person to join a party with you who is your protector will appease the guild master." Alfred mulled it over in his mind. If he did that then it would be hard to use his camping function. "I will agree to that as long as the person doing the guarding enters a contract with me. As long as I do not order them to death my orders shall be obeyed. And if they tell my secret their tongue will be immediately removed by the magic contract with a health potion used to keep them alive. If those conditions can be met then I have no opposition. I would also like to use a slave from the battle field. No matter how injured they are I would heal them and give them a life. If they have a sibling then I have a house in a village they can work in." the lord thought the conditions over but soon easily enough agreed, knowing the kid, he probably had even more secrets to keep. "I agree, I will pay for the servants you choose and we will go there before the guild hall, once the registrations done the contracted people show on the guild card automatically, but they have to be updated once the person is added or removed. The guild requests also work from the guild card with the use of mana. Even though it is the same as everyday magic it doesn't take any mana to actually use it. Its just a basic circulation of mana through the item to activate it." Alfred was intrigued by the notion of the Mana Circulation and decided when his body was older that he would research it. "can we go today to where the slaves are?" the lord said yes. The household whose master was going to step out to a slave house was surprised. The household had no slaves of its own, they all thought their master needed none. Getting into the carriage on his own became difficult. So, a new person he had not yet met came up behind him like a dark scary ghost and picked him up by his arm pits and hoisted him in through the door and then closed it and left. The lord who had witnessed the knight picking up the child laughed at Alfred's pale face. "Clore is scarry, but he is a very talented knight. He has a past is the orphanage. He takes a break every week for a day and visits them to help around. He doesn't know., but he is the reason we donate to the branch he is from. They have antonymous donation boxes thankfully, but we know if he sees us or knows it was us, he would break of in tears. We don't want him to feel indebted to us. He's a talent and helped to train my boys in the sword" Alfred who had calmed down looked out the window. The knight who helped him into the carriage was looking at the street, with the children passing by playing. The knight looked like a lost soul. Smiling at the children, his face would light up like a small sun. Alfred looked over to the lord. "I understand. In my last life, I was an orphan. Growing up was hard. Without the help of the orphanage I would never have built a business empire to leave to my wife niece. I miss them so much but I know they are doing good." The lord smiled and kept quiet. The thoughts flying away.

They soon arrived at the slave auction house and entered the doors. The front of the one-story building had the space for the paperwork to be done. It looked like the doors leading to the back was where the auction would be held. Alfred kept quiet, letting the lord talk, his mind wondered. Soon the leader of the house took them to the back of house where the cells were. The cells looked clean. The slaves were taken care of. Unlike the books from his old world where the slave was beaten or dirty, the ones he saw were all clean and pretty healthy. The few slaves he seen that were injured looked like they were war slaves. Coming to a door deeper in the house Alfred saw stairs to the basement. The lord asked the house manager if there were any slaves for battle that were either injured or haven't sold well. The house manager looked at him with a clear expression of doubt. "there are three slaves. Two of them are brother and sister and the other is a slave from the demon country. His body was injured when my guys found him and he wont calm down enough to answer us. He was brought in a week ago. He has not eaten or drank any water in a week and will let no one near him except for the little beast he was protecting. Both have a few wounds. As for the brother sister, they were battle slaves marked by the guild as B rank before the brother was injured and the sister went to debt to try fixing them. Their slavery status is because of an issue with a Lord Elrid's girl. Apparently when the brother refused the lady, she decided to exert power and he ended up hurting her. Even as a defense the boy was imprisoned, once he got there he was beaten. The lady asked to be there with him as if we didn't take her to, she would kill the lord's daughter. We did as she asked so their price is discounted as the girl gave conditions and her money on hand. Conditionally they were to be sold together." I looked at the lord, and as soon as he looked at me, I put 4 fingers up to take all four people. He understood and stated to deal with the price. I first walked to the Demon and asked in his language if he would like to be out of the place. "mister, do you wish to leave this place with your companion?" only slight movement from the demon that was listening. "I wish to free you after a period of time. If you work for me, ill heal your injuries and the companion. And after 1 year of serving me you may do as you wish, either freedom or you may continue as an employee with regular benefits." The demon looked over and looked shocked. "I know I'm young, my appearance is that of a four-year-old child, but I am part of the demon race." The demon again looked surprised but said "I will go. Under those conditions." My look of joy was interrupted by the guards who would take him out for me the lord. "please do not struggle, they are here to help you. When you were found the only treatment, they could give you were anti bleeding treatment. It has since vanished. The lack of food and water will make you dizzy. Please bear with it till we make it to the manor." The demon nodded back, not being a fan of talking. The guards watching the process said nothing as I gave them the go-ahead to remove him safely. "I will see you again soon." Walking back to the lord, I asked him to take them and the battle sibling to my room once home. Before they left the slave, ownership was transferred to Alfred, even when the house manager asked if the lord was sure. The trivial small talk from the lord on the way home was pleasant. We decided to go to the guild tomorrow since I was going to heal 3 of my slaves. Once home I walked to my room and the slaves and a guard were waiting for me. I dismissed the guard and walked to the siblings first. "I have purchased your slave contracts for the sole reason that you are b rank adventurers with the guild. That and the story behind why you were imprisoned. I wish to heal you and employ you if after a year you find a different path you will be free to leave. You will make a percentage of my guild quests. Of course, the ones witch you do not participate will not be accounted for. You will be slaves for a year, but while under me, as long as my conditions are met, I will never ask for your death. The conditions are a contract with me. That is, if you speak of my secrets or write of my secrets or otherwise tell anyone who is not accepted by me, your tongue will be magically erased and healed to prevent regrowth. The magic circuit your body runs on will be broken therefore rendering your body unable to use even the simplest of household mana. If you accept say I do." The siblings at the same time said "I Safrina accept" "I Jade accept" as soon as the confirmation was said. The contract seal etched itself into the center of their necks in what was their blood. The smell of blood made me slightly hungry since it had been 3 weeks since I had any. I walk over to my demon slave. "the contracts stated to Jade and Safrina, do you agree to the same terms. And in year be free to do as you please." "I Ciel agree" there was a small voice in my head. "I Kialla agree" the seal appeared on both the demon and beast as I assumed the second voice was Kialla. "High Heal" the magic used was worth the extra hunger I had felt. Both the Ciel and Jade healed visibly. Safrina ran and hugged Jade as soon as the light disappeared. All four gave me a bow thanking me as their positions deemed necessary. "raise you heads and please don't bow to me like that again. My secrets will be revealed tomorrow at the guild when I go register. Since the Beast here has transformed and is a girl the rooms will be shared between the boys and girls separately. The two rooms on either side will be yours. Bathe and go to bed after dinner. And guys, I want you to feel comfortable with me. Please feel free to come to me for any problem you have. I will do my best to solve them." They said "Yes Master" to which I gave a stink eye. I was meted with grins as they left my room. I knew tomorrow would hold a tone of surprises for those 4 as well as myself. A demon and a beast that transforms already surprised me as I though seeing them hear would be impossible. After updating the lord and eating with everyone we all went to our rooms and slept like logs.