The Contract

[Host, the total payment is 30 silver coins for this poor man]

'Seriously…what do I do now? This is why I shouldn't be grabbing people at random off-streets and treating them. He doesn't look like the type of person who could pay even a single silver coin to me, thought Han looking at the pitiful man in front of him.

Blade sat on the hospital bed, wondering what would happen now since he couldn't pay. He quickly thought of ways to escape, but that idea soon changed, remembering that he was in a forest.

"Look here, what do you have to offer? What are you good at?" asked Han. 'I'm not just going to leave him; he must be good at something right?'.

"I'm good at doing errands and sometimes clean around the house," said Blade.

"Isn't there anything else? You know if I'm not satisfied then you're not going to be able to go back home", said Han.

Blade nodded fearlessly.

Han scoffed.

Seeing the physician's reactions, Blade thought it would be better to tell him everything. "You see Sir. Physician, I have been kicked out of my house and I really can't offer you anything else except doing your chores or errands", said Blade.

What Blade said surprised Han, but he quickly regained his demeanor.

"Then, why were you fighting with that horse rider when I first met you? By the way, it was stupid to attack him like that when you can't even fight yourself", said Han leaning back in his chair.

Blade flustered and said, "I fought him because he was the horse rider my father hired to kick me out. For some reason, it is shameful for the chief of a village to kick out their weakest child". Tears started pouring down Blade's cheek. 'I really have no idea what to do now since I'm homeless. How am I going to survive?' he wondered, grabbing his head.

The next second, Blade looked at Han and immediately got out of the bed and slammed his head on the floor, bowing towards Han.

"Please take me in. I can do a lot of chores and run a lot of errands, I will try my best to be useful", said Blade.

Half sleepy when dealing with this, Han opened his eyes when he heard what Blade said. "Wha-what?".

'You want to be my follower. Won't I just have an extra mouth to feed? Sophie what do you think?' thought Han contemplating as he saw Blade slamming his head against the floor. 

[It isn't harmful to use him; he can take care of the gardening around here and run some errands. Though you have me, you don't need to worry about cleaning.]

When Sophie mentioned errands, Han's eyes sparkled as an idea appeared.

"Stop slamming your head on the floor and get up," said Han.

Blade nodded and got up, confused.

"I'll take you in as my follower, but I have some conditions---"said Han as he was interrupted by slamming noises.

"I will follow you unconditionally and show full loyalty!" yelled Blade as he slammed his head on the floor again.

"Ok, but here are my conditions first the----, "said Han as he was interrupted again by slamming.

"I won't let you down!" yelled Blade enthusiastically.

"Is that so?" said Han nonchalantly. 'Ahh, I think I'm going to regret my decision,' he thought as he felt like disappearing into nothingness.

A few minutes later, Han held a contract with a mischievous grin. 'He signed this fraudulent contract. Now I can use him as I please', he chuckled evilly as his plan had been successful.

"What should I do from now on?" questioned Blade.

Han flipped two silver coins at him; Blade was shocked and grabbed both in his palms.

"Nice catch…use those coins and go stay at an inn until I have a place for you to stay and use it to buy gardener tools. From now on, come straight here every morning and I will assign some errands; the only chore you have to do is gardening. Is that, ok?" said Han as he explained Blade's job descriptions.

Blade nodded with sparkles in his eyes.

"Now, go on. You can leave now since it's going to be sunset soon", said Han gesturing for him to exit.

Blade exited the building feeling like he had chosen the right master since Han was thoughtful and trusted him with many coins. He finally felt like he had a purpose in life.

"Don't worry master I won't let you down", said Blade as he walked to an inn.

 Meanwhile, inside the Miracle Clinic, on the 3rd floor.

Han lay on his bed and laughed as if he had pulled the biggest scam.

[May I ask the Host why you are bursting my imaginary ears?]

Hearing the machinal voice, Han was amused. "Why do you think I signed a contract with him?"

 [….]

"Since that homeless man had nothing to offer, I agreed to hire him as a maid for the clinic but since you keep the clinic spotless then all that's left for him is gardening and errands. I also figured he could be my tour guide; I won't pay him and all I have to do is pay him for his house at the inn where he can get the food provided to him. Aren't I smart?" said Han.

[That isn't the real reason]

"Che…yeah, I agreed because I thought I could use him to publicize our clinic. Before you say anything there's nothing wrong with my follower talking about his master's expertise. It's best to make use of him since he did make me gain a loss", said Han smiling and thinking he had fooled the System.

[System reevaluating…]

[Reevaluation completed]

[All the loopholes have been removed]

Han sighed, seeing the notifications. "You abide by the rules, don't you."

[Affirmative, Host]

Han scoffed.

After an hour, Han was still in bed, bored. "Sophie, I have nothing to do. I want to go outside but I can't because everything is probably closed."

[Host, can you try going to the Organizations your previous acquaintance mentioned]

"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that. Guess, tomorrow Blade and I will be making a trip to town", said Han as he finally fell asleep.

[2 New quests available]