Chapter 12: The Contract

After Tskuta found out about my memory problem, we went back to the village. Along the way, no one spoke a word. Of course, from time to time, Kina's angry mumbling could be heard, but other than that, it was a silent trip.

Arriving at the gate, the two goblin guards wanted to greet us, but when they saw Kina, They quickly scurried to their post, not daring to leave.

When we entered the village, Kina followed us all the way to our house. She even wanted to come in, but was called by my father, so she had to leave.

Slam

The door slammed closed, and then a coldness spread throughout the house, causing me to shiver.

"Goblin." I finally heard Tskuta's cold voice.

"Yes." I spoke while holding my breath in.

Walking forward, Tskuta enters her room.

Looking at this, several scenes appeared in my head. Of course, most were not very good and could be described as truly terrifying.

I swallowed when I heard noises coming from her room. 

A few moments later, the noises finally stopped, and Tskuta came out holding a white scroll made out of paper, I presume.

"Goblin, do you know what this is?" She asked as she held the scroll out.

Looking at it, I tried hard to remember what it was, but it seems as if my senses don't even work any more. As if I lost all sense of familiarity with the object she held in her hand or just never actually knew what she held.

(It doesn't look familiar or seem familiar. I should have never seen it before, so why did she ask me if I knew what it was??)

Confused by this, the only answer I could find was no, and that I said.

"No, I don't know." I replied nervously.

Hearing this, a frown appeared on Tskuta's face, but it was quickly replaced by coldness.

Stretching out her hand, she dragged the table near me and unfolded the scroll on the table.

"Read this; once you've read it, tell me if you remember it." She said while pointing towards a certain paragraph of the page.

Listening to her made me even more confused, but considering it's her, there has to be something to it.

Looking at the paragraph she pointed at, a problem appeared. 

(How must I read these squiggly things.) I thought with a weird look on my face and then looked towards Tskuta.

"You can't read it?" Not waiting for my answer, she asked while staring at me with narrowed eyes.

Hearing her, I hesitated a bit before nodding, but my action caused a truly terrifying reaction.

Seeing me nod, Tskuta's face became colder and colder. The temperature started decreasing at a rapid rate, causing me to shiver.

Hugging my chest, I slowly start rubbing to warm my body, but the coldness that appeared was not something mere hands could warm.

"Goblin, let me tell you what this is." She said as she pointed towards the scroll on the table.

"This is a Contract Seal. A scroll made with Heavenly Dew. A magical item capable of binding one or more souls together. The Contract Seal inherited this ability..." Pausing, she looks at me and narrows her eyes before continuing.

"Its soul purpose is to bind souls to a contract. If by any chance one does not abide by the terms written on the contract, then their souls will be forever trapped within the contract, leaving their bodies a husk."

"Although there is a chance someone can bypass this, but even if they did, it would not end well for them." She paused again, but this time I can see dead seriousness start appearing in her eyes.

"In order to prevent external influences from interfering with the contract, a spell was cast on it." Saying this, she starts circling around me.

I swallowed at this because I knew what she was about to say next, would probably not be favourable to me.

"All eyes that were not mentioned on the contract are forbidden to see its contents. In its place, multiple ancient characters were written."

Stopping behind me, she leans forward over my shoulders. 

"Goblin." She whispered, causing my ears to twitch.

"You and me signed such a contract, and yet..."

"Shit." I never thought my first swearing word in this world would be in such a situation.

A wide smile appeared on her face when she heard this. "Don't worry, I will not hurt you, goblin."

"Since I'm still bound by this contract, that is." She said as she picked up the scroll.

Hearing this made me breathe a sigh of relief. 

"I don't know who you are and don't care who you are, but because I'm now bound by a contract with a soul that does not exist, We'll have to improvise." Saying this, she reached into her pockets and took out a small pen.

"I have no hope of this working, but since we are already here, let's change the contract, shall we?" She said with a wide smile on her face.

Staring at the pen in her hands, my body trembled. (What must I say when I've been found out like this? Should I reject her? Is there even an option, such as rejecting her? The only option now is signing a contract, but...)

"Don't worry; as I said before, I won't harm you, but if you don't sign the contract, Who knows, maybe tomorrow Kina will find out her precious Kuta has long since changed." 

Listening to her devilish tone, I swallowed in fear. If Kina finds out, I'm sure I won't be getting anything other than a sword to the neck from her.

"Okay, I'll sign." I said in helplessness.

As if a devil just came from hell to seduce me to it, she breathes into my ear before whispering words that cause me to stiffen.

"Then tell me your true name, goblin."

"Gulp."

-1 hour later-

Tskuta, who's real name I just found out through the contract, walked full of satisfaction towards her room before slamming it shut.

Laying on the ground with a listless expression on my face, I couldn't help but think back to how much I lost through this contract.

All the secrets that I knew about the goblin village were exposed; luckily, she didn't go overboard to ask me anything personal. Most of my freedom was also lost. Although not the imprisoning type of thing, but if I were 100 metres away from her without her consent, I would literally fall unconscious.

Also, the previous contract she had with Kuta, which involved three things he had to do in order to complete the contract, was just changed to 10. Of course, not under his name, but mine.

Sade said that the contract with Kuta still exists, but because there was never a mention of actually not harming Kuta's body, which has Kuta's soul inside, she can't do anything to me. So now I'm at least safe.

But why didn't she tell me about the contract last night?? Anyway, whatever the reason, why should I care? All I am now is nothing but a leaf blowing in the fierce winds. 

At least I still have my first wish. She has successfully become my personal experience point grinder, without her even knowing it. The deal we had before was actually not valid, considering it wasn't written on the contract.

Otherwise, why would she just leave me there in the meadow by myself? But now. Now she must truly help me. I even added something in, that she found totally useless.

I added this: Every week, Party A (Sade Lovia) must offer a LIVING high grade Rank one creature to Party B (Conray Darwns)

I was surprised at how readily she accepted the terms, but I quickly regretted saying every week instead of every day. Oh, and by the way, I also finally found out the ranking system.

Sade told me there's about 5 known ranks for creatures. Starting with Rank 1, then 2, and 3, and so on, until reaching rank 5.

Rank 1 is the weakest creature, and unfortunately, I belong to this category. Even that Mutated Swift Rabbit also belonged to this category. I don't know how many levels each rank needs to upgrade, but I got a feeling that reaching level 10 would make me surpass Rank 1.

But that can wait. For now...

(Let's just rest.)