“This is a contract magic used by the Dark Cult. It is a contract where each party risks their life. Deceit or trickery will not work.”
Standing before the ominously blood-red magic circle, Guildford said this.
The Lady Virgin Saint swallowed hard.
Guildford was right in front of her, and there was no wavering in his eyes. It was a declaration of intent, as if he would ensure that a contract would be made one way or another.
It was a crisis. Realizing this, a cold sweat trickled down the Lady Virgin Saint’s back.
For now, she decided to express her refusal.
“…Do you think I would agree to something like this?”
Despite this, Guildford did not even blink. He immediately retorted at the Lady Virgin Saint.
“Then what will you do?”
Guildford’s words were close to outright threats. Yet, his eyes looked sad.
He gazed at the Lady Virgin Saint as he spoke.
“Can you defeat the hundreds of monsters outside and me? I also have control over the Flesh Seeds. It is my influence that keeps those monsters docile in the cave.”
Calculations began to bounce around in the Lady Virgin Saint’s mind. Hundreds of monsters, an unidentified mage, and even the mythological creatures from the age of myths.
It was not a force to be taken lightly. No, even the level of the knight order would struggle against it.
At the very least, a military force would be needed to handle it. They were only seven, counting only those of significance, excluding the theoretical mages who wouldn’t be much help.
She was being persuaded. That realization made the Lady Virgin Saint curl her lips in mockery at Guildford.
“Yet, those monsters keep increasing in number.”
However, even with her words spat out through gritted teeth, Guildford simply sighed deeply.
“Let’s stop the endless theoretical discussions. Yes, I am a criminal and should go to hell. I have no complaints about that… If someone must go to hell to save the children, I am more than willing to go.”
“Anyone would think you’re making a great sacrifice! Look who’s selling children as materials for monsters. Don’t pretend to be virtuous; it’s disgusting.”
Even in the face of the Lady Virgin Saint’s rebuke, Guildford’s expression did not change. It was clear he was prepared for such accusations.
Deciding that further conversation was meaningless, Guildford shook his head.
He proposed, as if making a final ultimatum.
“Let us all make a contract under the condition of maintaining secrecy. Then I will send you away safely. I ask for nothing else.”
It was not as bad a condition as she had anticipated. The Lady Virgin Saint fell briefly silent.
Showing clear hesitation, she soon glared at Guildford with a dubious look.
“…How can I trust those words?”
“If you don’t trust me, there’s nothing you can do about it, is there?”
That was true. The Lady Virgin Saint chewed her lips.
Guildford’s words came to mind, ‘reality,’ the wall he faced must have been that high and steep. The Lady Virgin Saint could not outright deny that thought in her heart.
She was the same.
Both she, who tried to flee leaving the children behind, and Guildford, who would sacrifice one for the sake of hundreds, were essentially seeking efficiency.
The realization that there was nothing more hollow than sermons with no alternatives stung.
For now, the only path that seemed to promise safety was to accept Guildford’s proposal.
After much hesitation, the Lady Virgin Saint let out a sigh of resignation.
“…Fine.”
She regretted having come to find Guildford alone, trusting in her insight.
Suddenly, she recalled a man’s thoughts. A man with golden eyes, who always seemed to scratch at the Lady Virgin Saint’s heart.
‘If you trust those eyes too much, you’ll get hurt someday. Even if you doubt it a few times, it’s never enough to judge a person’s character.’
That advice rang true. The Lady Virgin Saint suddenly found herself missing that man profoundly.
He was violent, cruel, and a bad person who tormented her, but more than that, he was honest and steadfast.
He treated everyone equally, be they commoners or orphans. That aspect resonated with her. The Lady Virgin Saint had seen those who pity orphans while secretly looking down on them.
But he was an exception. There was no subterfuge in either his goodness or his wickedness. He was fundamentally different from someone like the Lady Virgin Saint or Guildford.
Realizing this brought a hollow smile to her lips.
Until now, she had labeled I-an as garbage, but facing a person like Guildford made her feel she had no right to speak such words.
Slowly walking, the Lady Virgin Saint stood before the magic circle drawn in blood. Guildford took half a step back, yielding the space beside him.
In a low voice, he continued explaining.
“Just drop a drop of blood in the center.”
Sighing deeply, the Lady Virgin Saint raised her hand, her face covered in dissatisfaction, as if it was just a matter of dropping a drop of blood in the center of the magic circle.
It was but a fleeting moment.
With a sharp motion, the Lady Virgin Saint pushed Guildford’s throat with her hand. As a startled Guildford stumbled back, she lunged toward him.
It was such an excellent ambush that it could have been included in the techniques manual of the Holy Kingdom.
Holding onto Guildford’s arms with both her own, the Lady Virgin Saint put all her might into driving him to the ground.
Holy Kingdom’s technique, “Moon Flip.”
If hit properly, it was a powerful technique that would leave someone unable to stand for a time. The Lady Virgin Saint was grateful that her acting skills, honed over time, shone through.
Thanks to that, she succeeded in the ambush. The conversations exchanged until the contract was made had been a ruse.
However, her gratitude didn’t last long.
Guildford’s body showed no sign of budging.
As the Lady Virgin Saint struggled to lift Guildford, her eyes widened in confusion.
The fear of the Moon Flip lay in the fact that no matter how strong an opponent was, they could not resist it.
No matter how strong they were, they could not use strength to stick to the ground. The only factor that could influence it was mass.
Yet he did not budge. Something was off.
At that moment, as the Lady Virgin Saint’s bewildered gaze turned towards her back, a rough, old hand suddenly gripped her wrist. The hand forcefully twisted her wrist and began dragging it slowly toward the magic circle.
The Lady Virgin Saint unintentionally let out a scream.
“Ah, no! Stop it! It hurts!”
“…I’m sorry, please don’t forgive me.”
However, Guildford left only those words of apology, pulling out his knife. Against his brute strength, the Lady Virgin Saint could do nothing to resist.
Her eyes filled with fear.
It was called contract magic, but she had no idea what the contents inscribed within it were. It was possible she might have to live her life as a slave to the Dark Cult.
No, the chances were high. The Dark Cult probably did not create proper magic.
Countless people’s faces popped up and vanished in the Lady Virgin Saint’s mind. Someone who could help her right now, she would have initially thought of Yulen.
Her reliable guardian.
But for some reason, she could not help but visualize the face of a certain man in her mind.
Perhaps it was because Yulen was a similar type of person to her. They could share a mutual understanding, yet she felt no deeper admiration or affection.
If anything, it was more akin to sibling love.
But that man was different. He was straightforward without pretense, brash, and meddlesome, yet.
He never lied. Therefore, she could trust him.
Maybe, for the first time, the Lady Virgin Saint wanted to trust someone in this world.
And so, she let out a cry without thinking.
“P-please help…! Help me, this….”
She should have completed her sentence with “no,” but the Lady Virgin Saint’s eyes widened. A ripping sound echoed in her ears.
Both Guildford’s and the Lady Virgin Saint’s gazes turned simultaneously toward the entrance of the director’s office.
From there, an axe came flying in, aiming for Guildford’s head.
Guildford demonstrated astonishing reflexes, turning his head to the side. Just narrowly, the axe missed him, but his determination showed as he did not release the Lady Virgin Saint’s hand.
If he could bind the Lady Virgin Saint with contract magic, everything else would fall into place afterward. At the very least, he would be able to secure her cooperation.
The conditions of the contract were that “all eight must maintain secrecy,” meaning once the contract was made, the Lady Virgin Saint alone cannot assure it.
In other words, the obligation to manage the mouths of the remaining party members was placed upon the Lady Virgin Saint. Guildford had planned to bind her with a contract first, taking advantage of this fact.
He would have preferred to take a little more time, but that was no longer possible.
It seemed Guildford’s identity had been exposed.
Finishing his judgment, Guildford forcefully twisted the Lady Virgin Saint’s grasp. He then demonstrated a skill that coated his fingernails in a faint aura.
This was a technique that only a master swordsman could showcase. Just then, at the moment when the aura attempted to stab her finger.
Wham.
The axe struck Guildford’s wrist, which was gripping the Lady Virgin Saint’s wrist.
Blood burst forth, and an intense pain seared through Guildford’s brain, white-hot, along his nerve cells. Even at that moment, Guildford’s eyes widened incredulously.
The axe, which had seemed to be aimed at his head, abruptly bent at a right angle and lodged itself into his wrist.
It was a physically impossible trajectory. No matter how skilled a swordsman Guildford was, he could not have accounted for this variable.
“…Graaah!”
Overcome by the unexpected surge of pain, Guildford instinctively released the Lady Virgin Saint as he grasped his wrist. His late scream echoed throughout the director’s office.
Seizing that moment, the Lady Virgin Saint quickly freed herself. Guildford, attempting to catch her late, found that the axe that had lodged in his wrist moved erratically before being returned to someone else’s hand.
As the axe pulled free, blood splattered into the air. Guildford gritted his teeth and stifled a moan.
His eyes turned towards the entrance of the director’s office. There, someone was walking in.
Black hair, golden eyes.
There was no way he could not recognize him. The one who had devoted himself to the orphanage over the past few days.
Upon seeing him, Guildford’s eyes clouded with guilt once more.
Unable to meet the man’s gaze, Guildford let out a deep sigh. He felt no pain from embarrassment.
“…I-an.”
“Guilford.”
I-an merely began with those words. Confirming that the Lady Virgin Saint was hiding behind him, he wore a gentle smile.
A mix of emotions that he could not identify—anger, distrust, compassion—swirled in that smile.
With that sorrowful expression, he spat out his next words.
“Let go of our holy power.”
The story was now racing towards its conclusion.
