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Chapter 23: Contract

Malachi shook the man\'s hand politely and he hurriedly introduced himself.

"I-I was worried you wouldn\'t come! I\'m Rowan Ivers."

"Good to meet you.." Mal warily took a seat opposite the old man and stared at him as if he was trying to get a read on his intentions.

All things considered the man opposite him seemed harmless.

He was an older man around 65 with wiry gray hair and a pair of crooked glasses.

There were deep black bags under his eyes indicating it had been several nights since he\'d gotten proper rest.

His clothing was wrinkled and disheveled and Mal could smell liquor on the man\'s breath.

\'You seem harmless enough but..\'

Mal took off his glasses and Rowan flinched when he saw those predatory yellow eyes.

"Tell me old man.. why are you taking up space in my girlfriend\'s restaurant looking for me? You don\'t seem like a fan."

"I-I have come with a proposition." Roland stammered.

Ever since Mal had taken his glasses off it was hard to meet his gaze.

He felt as if he was standing in front of a giant beast that was ready to tear his throat out should he tell the slightest lie.

"A proposition? You\'re not about to do something silly like ask me to leave Immortal Moon are you?"

"N-no that\'s not it."

Mal could hear the old man\'s heartbeat rapidly increasing and became increasingly curious as to what sort of proposition could be causing this sort of reaction.

"Y-you see I\'ve been waiting for someone with your particular blessing to come along. Or one of them I suppose."

"My blessing?"

"Only someone with a blessing like yours could pull off what I\'m about to ask you without being caught. " Rowan confirmed.

Mal\'s gaze intensified but Rowan had come too far to back down now.

"I-I\'m an expert on mythology and occult studies and I have the necessary knowledge to help you learn how to use your powers in ways that you never thought possible."

"Bold claim for you to make as someone who\'s not even blessed." Malachi pointed out.

"I don\'t need to be, I\'ve studied your kind ever since the first blessed appeared and I can say with the utmost confidence that I can help you."

"I can simply learn to master my powers from the guild or in the gates."

"True but much of what any of the blessed could teach you would only be feelings based and it would lack much of the technicality. And it\'s not practical to attempt to learn something like that on the fly you know? You should study as much as you can beforehand to decrease the chances of putting your life at risk."

The old man\'s words made sense to Malachi but the uneasy feeling bubbling up in his heart kept him on his guard.

"In addition to helping you…" Rowan placed his briefcase on the table and slid it towards Malachi. "I am also prepared to offer you my life savings provided you listen to my request."

Malachi could tell from the old man\'s struggle lifting the briefcase that it contained no small amount of money.

"This is shady as hell, old man. You\'re acting like you\'re about to ask me to kill someone."

"…"

Seeing the man\'s deadpan expression, Malachi\'s heart dropped.

"You… you\'re fucking crazy. I know I wear sunglasses a lot but do I really look like a fucking hitman?"

The dreaded young man stood up and began to walk away only to be stopped when he felt the man grab his sleeve.

"Please.. he.. he took my daughter from me."

Malachi looked over his shoulder to see the man looking down and tears falling onto the table.

As someone who\'d cried their fair share of tears in life, Mal was naturally weak to the tears of others.

Especially ones that come from loss.

This old man begging him so sincerely was bringing up old memories and tugging at his heart strings.

He was not a person with a hard heart, his sense of empathy was well above most.

\'I\'m too easily manipulated…\'

He gradually sat back down and had the old man wipe his face before he explained to him why he couldn\'t do it.

"Look old man.. I\'m no killer. You\'re better off looking for someone on the dark web for this kind of thing."

Rowan was unconvinced and spoke through muffled sobs. "You.. you are a blessed so that means you kill monsters right?"

"That\'s what they tell me." Malachi hadn\'t even been inside of a gate yet.

"I can promise you.. this man is more of a monster than anything you might find in the gates." The man began rustling through his jacket pocket and pulled out a photo of a man.

"Look old man be that as it may I think maybe you should call the police or…" Malachi\'s words trailed off as he stared at the photo of a man he wouldn\'t forget for even a single second.

"T-this is Arthur Roland. H-He-"

"Fuck everything I just said in its entirety." Malachi interrupted.

The man was confused for a brief second before he saw Malachi\'s eyes shift from an illustrious yellow to an intense orange.

"I\'ll do it."

-

It had been a few hours since Malachi\'s meeting with Rowan and he hadn\'t moved from the table where it took place.

Sei of course noticed his downtrodden air and brought him a drink after the shop closed.

"You kind of looked like you needed something stronger than tea." Sei sat two glasses on the table and poured them both a shot of whiskey.

Malachi knew he couldn\'t get drunk from this with his new body so he did not stand on ceremony and gulped it down.

He thanked her for the drink and afterwards the two simply sat in silence, with her simply holding his hand as they stared out the window.

She knew something was wrong with Mal but she did not want to push him and ultimately decided to wait for him to speak about what was bothering him.

She was also enjoying just spending time together like this.

"Sei?"

"Yes Mala- I mean honey?" She blushed profusely and regretted not dimming the lights before they sat down.

Malachi chuckled at Sei\'s cute sides before he asked the question that had been plaguing his mind.

"If I became a murderer, would you look at me differently?"

Sei\'s eyes widened in shock when she heard Malachi ask a question she never expected.