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Book 3: Chapter 57: Talk Again and Punishment

The X-ranked looked confused but not angered. Sensing Lone\'s urgency, he glanced down and scanned the contract that had just been prepared for him.

A range of emotions crossed the Restodian Iglaform\'s scaly expression, two of which were most prominent; disbelief and a simply yet pure kind of greed.

"Interesssting. And you can guarantee I will obtain thessse benefitsss if I fulfil my end of thisss bargain?" Master Mezro\'nan inquired.

Lone nodded. "It\'s born of a unique skill. It\'s powerful enough to bind an Arch Devil, so I have no choice but to fulfil the terms. Sign with your blood. I\'m in a hurry."

"It ssseemsss I, too, have no choice in thisss matter. Though I sssee no reassson to try to decline given the offered rewardsss." Master Mezro\'nan put one of his clawed limbs in his mouth then chomped down on it before pressing his now blood-soaked foot onto the parchment.

The contract floated up into the air and erupted into a plume of yellow flames, signifying the binding of a level-1 contract. With that sorted out, Lone walked up to Breena and gently grabbed her shoulders.

"Master Mezro\'nan will take you to get enlightenment on the quest you were supposed to do with Soph and I. He\'ll also be looking after you for the next two months. The latter applies to you guys as well," he said, turning towards Hazel\'s group at the end.

"Wai-wait, what?" Hazel stuttered. "What\'s happening?"

"Something serious happened. Something that I have very strict procedures set up to handle, so handle them in such a way I will. I\'ll see you all in two months," Lone said and then applied his Agility. The next moment, he was gone.

Hazel was incredibly confused. The scattered thoughts of Sophie\'s that she had barely heard past her brother\'s insane mental defences alluded to time travel.

\'She used Minor Time Control, didn\'t she? Why? What happened? D-Did Darren die?\' she feared. Even the X-ranker in their house right now believed himself to be weaker than her brother, so what could have possible killed him if that was what made Sophie reverse time?

Said X-ranker began using his freeform earth magic to pick up Scott and put him on his back. "All of you, come with me. You are now permanent guessstsss at my persssonal Magi Tower. Thisss place isssn\'t sssafe for you anymore consssidering your low ranksss and the aura ssspikesss from earlier. Lord Immortusss\'sss incident will be missstakenly attributed to you all, which isss far from ideal."

\'He\'s going to let us live with him? An X-ranker?\' She was tempted to let go of her active suppression on Mind Reading she\'d just put in place to get answers.

That, however, would be foolish. This powerful creature was a mage, and while he did not have the absurd locks her brother did, he was still a mage with endless experience so taking a needless risk would get her scolded by Lone at best, and leave her dead at worst.

He hadn\'t noticed her attempts to break through her brother\'s mental defences, but that didn\'t mean he wouldn\'t now if she tried to listen in on his own thoughts.

"Do we have a choice?" George asked.

"No," Breena answered in the X-ranker\'s place. "Lord Mezro\'nan has been bound by Master Lone\'s magic. He will protect us with all of his might alongside anything else the contract forces him to do. If it means keeping you safe, he\'ll likely kidnap you all. I am ready to leave, Lord Mezro\'nan, and then complete the adventurer quest as quickly as possible."

\'Why\'s she so chatty all of a sudden? I thought she was supposed to be shy?\' Hazel thought before muttering, "He has a lot of explaining to do the next time I see him."

Lone stared into the campfire he had effortlessly made as he sat on a simple wooden folding chair that had a single piece of fabric holding him up. He was currently lost in thought. \'The last time I did this, I was waiting for a king, not an Arch Devil, and I intended to kill him, something I\'m utterly incapable of this time.\'

\'How can you be so sure he\'ll show up?\' Death asked.

\'That\'s private,\' Lone replied.

What Soph, Sophie, and he, shared via The Summoning Room was for them and them alone. He liked Death the most of his soul\'s prisoners, but he wouldn\'t ever expose that his lover had been forced the reverse time. Darkness had likely already put the pieces together but that Primal was wisely choosing to be quiet.

A portal of hellish flames opened in front of Lone on the other side of his campfire, and out stepped the coal-skinned, multi-horned, and uniquely dressed Arch Devil who was still sporting a full beard of flames.

"This is a surprise. However did you know that I wished to speak with you?" the demonic man asked, mirth in voice as he summoned a chair of flames - likely the same one Sophie had described him sitting in before she had reversed time.

"I was advised you\'d be out here somewhere," Lone answered vaguely but without telling a lie. "How often do you watch me?"

"Vagueness will only earn your vagueness in return, Lone. Not all of the time, but often enough," the Arch Devil chided. "If you\'re in an evasive mood, let\'s go with questions that seek basic answers. How many unique skills do you have?"

\'Soph said that was his second question the first time as well. So, is the answer important to him?\' Lone wondered before replying, "More than zero. How have your dice been rolling for you? I don\'t see them on you."

"I\'ll show you some good-will, so do return the favour, please. The most I\'ve been able to roll regarding our personal issues is a 12 out of 18. Quite a good result, but still very much so to my disliking. How is it that the Primals within you have not become you?"

\'There\'s a new question according to Sophie.\'

Lone shrugged his shoulders. "I don\'t know. I think it\'s to do with how powerful my soul is, but I don\'t have any concrete information. Do you know where I could find any of the other Primals?"

Stolen novel; please report.

This was going well so far despite Lone\'s unwillingness to answer questions that Zel had asked him in the former timeline with any detail. All he had to do was keep this going without bringing up Clicker and the being\'s cohorts for this interaction to end smoothly.

Were it up to Lone, he wouldn\'t have even come here to talk to the Arch Devil given he was the reason Sophie had reversed time, but if the powerful being wanted to talk, it was wiser to just get it over with rather than trying to avoid it and only cause even more suspicion - the very thing he had ordered the love of his life to cripple herself to avoid.

"I do, in fact. I know the locations of two Primals, which is quite lucky for you as they don\'t interest me, but these two\'s circumstances are quite entertaining, enough so to pique my interest. Radiance is within the heart of the Southern World Tree, recovering from its wounds sustained during the attack of the Darkness Dragon Ythmagobla, an Ancient being; and Life is trapped, a prisoner to the Eternal Pope of the Church of the Primals, one of the 36 members of the Divine Watch," Arch Devil Zel answered.

\'I\'ve heard whispers of both that attack on the Southern World Tree and Ancient beings, but nothing concrete. Life though, Death\'s opposite, is the captive of who now? And what the hell is the Divine Watch?\' This was very valuable information. Valuable enough for Lone to fear the coming question.

\'It did seem that Life was absent of late, but a period of inactivity spanning a century or two is not uncommon, much like with Darkness and its dwarven prison prior to you meeting it,\' Death noted. \'Whenever I check in on Darkness, it does always seem to be a captive of some sort.\'

\'Usually of my own design,\' Darkness replied with a chuckle. \'Loney-boy knows as well as I do how useful being imprisoned can, at times, be.\'

"I know you are wary of me and my kind thanks to that book of Archsummoner Ruldso Redmore\'s, but I would like to ask, would you entertain the possibility of entering a deal with me instead of us trying to wiggle around your unique skill to kill one-another? I ask because the threat of me controls your life, and the risks I must take to end yours endanger mine," Arch Devil Zel stated.

That surprised Lone, but only a little bit. He was more shocked that it had taken him this long to suggest such a thing.

He understood why Zel would rather just arrange Lone\'s death. If there was one thing that could get demonkin to drop all other matters and become incredibly driven, it was matters pertaining to their true name. Him knowing Zel\'s without his permission was unacceptable since there were no provisions in place to stop him from spreading it.

Of course, Lone wasn\'t stupid enough to tell Sofia or anyone else Zel\'s true name, that being Tidsear òg. While there were benefits to letting others know the name, it would also paint a very large target on their backs. All of the Arch Devil\'s focus being exclusively centred on him was preferable in his opinion. For now, at least.

"It really depends on the terms, but the short answer is no. I never want to be in a deal with a demonic being not of my own creation," Lone replied. "What would your terms be, out of curiosity?"

"My true name would be wiped from your mind. In exchange, I would do anything you ask of me within reason for a thousand years. There would be fine print, of course, but that is the gist of what I felt you would even stop to consider," Arch Devil Zel said with a shrug. "Do you know how to use my true name?"

"I do. Have you not read Devils and How to Make Deals With Them?" Lone replied.

Arch Devil Zel smiled. "I have not. I am much too young to have been given the pleasure before it was appropriately handled. I merely know the general ins and outs of the tome and why it was cursed."

The seventh king of all demonkin then remained silent for ten seconds. Following that, he got up, nodded farewell with a devilish smile, and then stepped through a flaming portal, leaving Lone on his own.

Not wasting even a moment to stop and think over the conversation - he could do that later, Lone sprinted back to Golden Pass City with his objective being to find and use a teleportation gate, station, anchor, anything really, to head to one of his and Sofia\'s Farwind safehouses.

He also needed to buy some very specific magical tomes. Hopefully, he could get both of those things in the same place and quickly too.

Cuardaigh of the Tower balanced an orange on her forehead as she stared at the ornately carved wooden ceiling.

The stupid old fogies of the enclave to which she was bound were very upset with her for having failed to establish a connection of any sort with the walking sun of mana that had visited this stinking city. As such, they had punished her by assigned her to the enclave\'s lowest level store for the next three years.

Granted, they had left her with the full permissions of a highest level store manager for whatever reason, but she wasn\'t allowed to return to her tower for three whole years. That was more cruel than any other possible punishments, she felt.

In her tower, she could laze around and do what she wanted when she wasn\'t forced to act due to the terms of her agreement, but here she had to actually work. Just the thought of labour of any kind alone made her nauseous.

There weren\'t even any guests this late at night to help or talk to, but no, she wasn\'t allowed to take any breaks or close up the shop during the slower hours. No, of course not. Instead, she had to sit behind this counter for three straight years. No sleep. No breaks. No fun. And most importantly, no lazing around. It was downright barbaric.

Cuardaigh of the Tower was half convinced the senile old fogies wanted her to snap and cause an incident, giving them an excuse to tighten up her contract with them, or worse yet, extend it.

\'I won\'t fall for that though. Trust me, as soon as the contract expires, I\'m staying in the spirit world for at least 100,000 years before I even think of making another contract with mortals again,\' she huffed internally.

So what if fulfilling contracts, agreements, and deals of any sort, gave her power and aided in her growth? It wasn\'t worth the boredom and, quite frankly, the stress that came about as a consequence.

Just then, the door to the store opened, revealing the hallway of the enclave\'s third floor behind a handsome beastkin of some sort. Cuardaigh of the Tower didn\'t really know what species or race he was since she had never bothered to study other beings much. She was barely able to tell a human apart from the rest, so she was honestly a bit proud she\'d could tell his ears and tails meant he was a beastkin.

\'The golden shine and multi-coloured tips are pretty. I wonder if that\'s natural, or does it take a rigorous daily routine to maintain?\' she thought before she plastered on a smile and said, "Welcome to the Lower Emporium of the Madendium Enclave! Are you looking for anything in particular, or would you rather I left you alone to browse?"

"Oh, hi again. We met this morning. I\'m so sorry for how Guildmaster Brux treated you. I\'m Lone Immortus, or Immortus the Immortal, but just Lone is fine too. I love your wings. They\'re very charming," he said, not even a hint of falsehood to be found in his words.

Cuardaigh of the Tower was of the spirit world, so, of course, she was bound to only speak the truth, but the spirits also told her when others lied. This ability supposedly made her a very sought after spirit. Not like the masters of this place treated her in such a way to warrant that supposed reputation.

"Heheh, you\'re more cultured than most mortals to recognise the beauty of them," she said proudly, lowering the orange that was still on her titled forehead to stroke one of her wings. "The stupid old fogies here have never once complimented them. Can you believe that?"

"Nonsense," the man who called himself Lone replied. "They must be blind. They employ you to work for them and don\'t compliment what should be complimented? That\'s almost criminal."

"Hah! \'Employ\'! As if I get paid for my work. Well, I will eventually when the contract is finished, but no mortal currency for me. Anyway, can I help you with anything?" Cuardaigh of the Tower asked, her impression of this particular mortal now being much higher than when he had walked through the door.

She didn\'t remember seeing him earlier as he had claimed, but his words weren\'t lies, so she must have just missed him. She was semi-blinded by the mana sun and outright infuriated by that stupid guildmaster, so it made some sense she had ignored a simple B-ranker during the errand she had supposedly messed up - an impossible feat given the terms of her contract.

Now that she looked at this mortal however, his mana capacity was quite impressive for his rank. It was almost on par with the old fogies of the enclave. Maybe that was normal for his species though, she didn\'t know, nor did she care enough to ask.

"Well, I have two requests. I\'d like to buy some grimoires about enchantments. Specifically, warding enchantments that work on all types of beings, if possible, but just demonic ones will do. And secondly, if it isn\'t too much of a bother, I\'d like to use the Madendium Enclave\'s teleportation platform, please," he requested.