Chương 71: Book 2 Chapter 23 - Soul Contract

An hour later, they were relaxing on couches in a large, rented room. Victor was working in a smaller, side room, setting up the magic circle for the soul contract. He painted a large circle on the floor, big enough for multiple people to sit inside. Within the circle, he began painting runes. Kiara wasn't sure what all of it was for, but she trusted that he knew what he was doing.

The food arrived, and while it was a bit early for dinner, everyone began eating to distract themselves from the tier 5 monster in the other room. The new guards were all still very nervous in his presence, as if they were an ant he might step on accidentally without realizing it. Once the magic circle was finished, Victor came out and ate some food as well. Eating with him seemed to calm everyone's nerves, as they hadn't interacted with him much before that. After eating, Victor handed Kiara a piece of paper.

"We can revise this however you'd like, my lady, this is just a tentative version, a standard soul contract. I have Zoey's name listed on this one, but once we determine what the contract should include, I can write one up for each of your new retainers." Kiara read the contract. Soul Contract For Employment: Employment with House Yountal is voluntary, and can be terminated at any time by either party. The employee, Zoey Trellen, swears to serve house Yountal faithfully for the duration of employment.

Zoey will always seek to act in house Yountal's best interest, and will never say or do anything to betray house Yountal's interests or tarnish their good name. House Yountal will pay Zoey a fair wage, agreed upon outside this contract. If at any point, either party wishes to end this contract, they can initiate the dissolution of this contract voluntarily and without any punishment or recourse from the soul oath.

The contract will remain valid for 48 hours after either party initiates its dissolution, giving time for both parties to make any necessary arrangements. If either party initiates the dissolution of this contract, both parties will be made aware of it, in that the magic enforcing the soul oath will inform them. 48 hours later the soul oath will become null and void. Any agreements entered into in this soul oath become null and void the moment the contract ends.

Zoey will follow any and all directions given her during the period of employment, enforceable by the soul oath. House Yountal will not ask Zoey to do anything that goes against her morals or core beliefs. If such a request is made, Zoey is authorized to dissolve the contract on the spot, without the normal 48 hour waiting period. This clause is in place to avoid the employee being forced to do something they would find immoral or wrong at a fundamental level.

The magic enforcing the contract will determine if such a request truly goes against the employee's morals or core beliefs. It looked fine. She handed it to Dustin, who read through it and nodded.

"Let's start with you and Zoey, then," Victor said with a smile. Zoey sat across from Kiara inside the magic circle. Two smaller circles had been painted inside for them to sit inside, with runes connecting the two smaller circles to each other as well as the larger circle. Kiara was very curious if this would work on her. If not, she would have Dustin sit in her place to represent House Yountal.

After they were both comfortable, Victor shut the door to the room to avoid distractions, then stepped inside the larger circle as well. His hands began glowing with a soft, white light, which spread down toward the floor until it connected with the runes. The entire circle, including the runes, lit up with the white light. Kiara made sure not to touch any of it, she didn't want to unravel it by mistake.

Once the circle was alight, Victor read the contract out loud, then closed his eyes and focused intently for about thirty seconds. During this time, the contract paper itself lit up with the same white light, which grew brighter and brighter until it was like staring into a mini sun. A thin line of the white magic ran from Victor's head to the contract paper. Victor opened his eyes, which were now also glowing with that same transcendent white light, and looked at Kiara.

"Shian Yountal, do you accept the contents of this soul contract?" Kiara's circle grew brighter, and a line of white light shot from the contract paper directly into her forehead. Then, Kiara experienced magic. It must not have been mana-based magic, because it affected her dramatically. She instinctively wondered what other magic a tier 5 was capable of that might affect her. Her mind filled with the words of the contract. More than that, it filled with the intent of the contract.

Victor had somehow given the words and even the contract itself what resembled a consciousness, a living will and intent. Kiara realized there would be no way for her to twist the words of the contract into some skewed meaning once she was bound by this oath. It wasn't a legal document that some might interpret differently than others. It was more than that. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The intent of each sentence and phrase was instantly clear in her mind. She realized that if she thought of any unique situation that could hypothetically arise, she already knew what the intent of the contract would be, and how it would be enforced. There were no hidden tricks here, no way for either party to take advantage of the other in a way the contract didn't cover. She felt the intent of the contract resonate within her, and it rang true to how she had understood the words when she read them.

"Yes," she replied simply. Victor turned to Zoey and repeated the question. Kiara watched the white line of magic connect Zoey's head to the paper contract, and Zoey's eyes lit up with that same white light. Kiara wondered if her own eyes were glowing too.

"I do," Zoey replied. The light faded all at once, and a powerful pulse of magic filled the room. Once again, Kiara felt it, this time deep in her chest. She felt it binding her to that contract in a way she hadn't known was possible. Deep inside, she sensed a thin white line, more faint than the ones she had seen with her eyes, but still visible. She mentally followed the line, and realized it was connecting her directly to Zoey. As the light dwindled, Victor smiled.

He stepped out of the magic circle, and clapped his hands softly.

"That's one done, nine more to go. I'll need to meditate for a bit before I do the next one." Kiara noticed the paint on the floor was untouched. She realized it must serve as a sort of mental focus for Victor, helping shape the magic he emanated from his body while officiating in the contract. Twenty minutes later, she sat across from Jaden and repeated the process. True to Victor's word, each one took about five minutes, with a twenty minute rest in between.

It wasn't until the fifth tier 2 that something different happened. Kiara was sitting across from a woman named Tella. When Victor asked if she accepted the terms of the contract, and the line connected her to the piece of paper, she grew agitated. Her eyes lit up the same as everyone else's had, which Kiara took to mean her soul had connected to the contract, giving her the intuitive understanding of what she was agreeing to.

For some reason, the woman felt uncomfortable with the intent of the contract, and couldn't form the words to agree to it. Victor shut down the magic then, and asked her to leave the room.

"What was that?" Kiara asked, curious. Victor shrugged.

"That happens from time to time. She could be a spy, or someone with ill intent towards your house. Or it's possible she just doesn't feel comfortable binding herself in such a way. It's hard to truly know without resorting to some… unsavory means. I can help find out, if you'd like?" Kiara blanched at the thought, and wondered what Victor was capable of that could reveal someone's true inner thoughts.

"No, that's okay, thank you Victor."

"Very well," he said politely.

"Setting up the ritual takes the majority of the mana, so I will need to rest again before the next one." Kiara excused herself from the room and went to talk to Tella, to see if an amended contract might be more amenable to her. Apparently she had left without an explanation, and no one knew where she had gone. Kiara went to the street to see if she could find her, but she was nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes of searching, she returned to the rented room.

The remaining contracts were entered into without any issue. Victor charged her one gold per contract, including the one which had failed, which she gladly paid. Using the soul contract had saved her from at least one employee with potential ill intent, and it was worth every coin. * The horse ride back to Easton was slow, relative to how quickly Kiara was able to make it to Portish by foot. They left Thursday, right after the soul contracts were finalized, and hoped to make it back by Sunday evening.

Kiara's leg wound was still painful, and she didn't mind missing an additional day of her sword class while it healed. While they rode, she picked back up the conversation she'd wanted to have with Zoey earlier in the day. Zoey seemed knowledgeable about magic at a level that not many others Kiara had met were able to match. Kiara wanted to know everything Zoey could teach her.

"So, what was it like, developing a mana core?" she asked, pulling up next to Zoey. Zoey looked at her for a moment.

"You never got the chance to attend a magic academy, right?" Kiara shook her head.

"No. Like I said, my parents are farmers. We could never afford something like that." Zoey looked at her sheepishly.

"Um, forgive my saying so my lady, but certainly you could afford it now?" Kiara laughed.

"You're right. Money certainly isn't the issue now." Silently, she wondered if she should try and sponsor Ava going to an academy, though. Maybe even her parents? Was there an age limit? Zoey answered her original question, "Developing a mana core wasn't actually that hard, at least for me. The instructors showed us how to sense the ambient mana, and how to draw it into ourselves.

You just sort of pull it in, and practice holding it together in a ball inside your chest, and eventually your spirit adapts, and opens up a space to store it." Kiara nodded along with the explanation.

"Fascinating. Is it something you could teach others?" Zoey shook her head sadly.

"I wish. I want my parents to learn, but doing it isn't the same as teaching it. The teaching was very hands-on, the instructors had to use their magic to guide us through the process."

"Oh," Kiara said, a bit disappointed.

"But," Zoey continued excitedly.

"Once you form your core, you advance to tier 1! It's really something too, I immediately felt stronger, in better shape, and my mind even seemed to speed up a bit!"

"How much?" Kaira asked, curious if Zoey had any way to see her stats like she could. Zoey just gave her an odd look.

"How much what, my lady?"

"How much did your stats increase?"

"My stats? Oh! You mean like how much stronger was I?" Kiara nodded. Zoey shrugged.

"I don't know how to quantify it. I just felt stronger and faster. I could run faster, jump higher, move more weight than I could previously."

"Ah," Kiara said with a nod. She took that to mean that mages couldn't see their stats like she could.

"It was quite euphoric," Zoey continued.

"Each advancement feels just as nice."

"So now that you're tier 3, what's next?" Kiara asked.

"Concepts?" Zoey nodded, a serious look of determination on her face.

"Yes. I've already improved my mana meridians considerably, which allows me to move larger amounts of mana through my body more quickly. Now that I've accomplished that, my spirit can handle learning a concept.

"The instructors said we can learn up to three concepts at tier 3, but I have to at least learn one before I can advance to tier 4. Once I've developed some concepts, I'll need to enlarge and compress my core again, which will trigger my breakthrough to tier 4."