Contract Completed

Contract Completed

Rumi bit her lip hard as she heard Delia barking in front.

‘… Why only that person.’

She thought it was somewhat unfair that they only asked Delia to do such things, when she herself was confident she could do well if given the chance…

As soon as Rumi realized she was having strangely peculiar thoughts, she immediately turned away.

No matter how she looked at it, having such thoughts now was irrational and abnormal.

‘Why… why am I like this?’

It wasn’t a problem since she was used to criticizing herself countless times before.

But her heart was racing excessively because it was the first time she had such thoughts about ‘someone she hadn’t even spoken to’.

As a result, she felt so disgusted with herself that she couldn’t bear it anymore and was about to leave the auditorium when.

“Woof woof! Woof! I said woof!”

Hearing Delia’s voice barking as if angry, she bit her lip again.

‘Why is she getting angry? If only they had asked me instead of that person…’

I was startled by my own attempt to repeat my earlier thoughts and quickly walked out of the auditorium.

If I had continued to observe the situation, I couldn’t even imagine what thoughts might have crossed my mind.

So, as I hurriedly made my way out to calm my mind, I overheard numerous people discussing Deren.

“Deren must be a real genius, right? How did he solve those problems so quickly?”

“Honestly, I couldn’t even understand what he was saying.”

“By the way, Delia is really screwed, isn’t she? How could she pick on Deren of all people?”

While it felt as good to hear people praising Deren as it would if they were praising me,

I felt somewhat irritated hearing people I’ve never even talked to discussing Deren.

As I continued walking forward, my expression hardening due to this strange feeling I’d never experienced before,

I suddenly caught sight of my reflection in a window.

From my unkempt hair due to lack of proper care to the dark circles under my eyes from doing household chores until dawn.

Embarrassed by my appearance, I tightly closed my eyes and ran down the hallway as if escaping.

‘… I’m so ashamed.’

Showing this state to Deren, and my own miserable appearance.

Everything was just so embarrassing that I ran down the hallway for a while as if escaping. Then, in the distance, I noticed a couple walking and laughing together.

“Hey, it’s your treat today.”

“I don’t want to. Are you going to mooch off me again today?”

“You really have no conscience.”

I felt incredibly envious of their relationship, being on equal footing and able to talk so casually.

After staring blankly at them for a while, I sat down on a nearby chair as if collapsing and covered my face with my hands.

‘I also… I also want to approach and talk to Delia like that.’

The reality that I can’t even approach, let alone speak to her because of the Heaven God Cult is painful.

Perhaps hoping that Deren would speak to her after hearing this, she muttered softly.

“… Woof.”

* * * *

After the verification of my test results was completed.

I was able to hear one fact from the professor.

[What happened in the auditorium was done with the consent of the Lercier Family]

Wondering what that meant, I asked again.

I heard that the Lercier Family deliberately created a bigger situation to test me.

While I was laughing bitterly at the fact that the normal family that should have been on my side had actually tried to stab me in the back.

The professor conveyed these words to me.

“The head of the Lercier Family said to student Deren that such incidents will continue to happen, so develop the ability to handle them.”

Of course, there must have been a seemingly good reason.

The problem is the method.

Reminding myself once again that the Lercier Family is keeping a close eye on me so they can abandon me at any time.

I slipped out of the office with a brief greeting.

As I stepped outside like that.

The initially vibrant appearance had completely disappeared, and I saw Delia looking utterly dejected.

Thinking that anyone who saw her would think Delia was the victim, I calmly opened my mouth.

“A promise should naturally be accompanied by a contract. I plan to draw up the contract today, so prepare in advance.”

“Uh… huh? Okay.”

Actually, if she had said it was impossible and tried to run away here, I wouldn’t have had any other way to restrict her.

Maybe because Delia was already in a state of desperation, she obediently follows my words.

Perhaps it’s because she hasn’t had proper social experiences yet and doesn’t know the fear of contracts.

Or maybe it’s due to an optimistic mindset that things will somehow work out well.

While I was sneering, thinking that this might be her worst decision ever,

Delia continues speaking while watching my reaction.

“… You know, I’ll try to be as obedient as possible. Can you just not tell the people from my family…? I think I’ll really be kicked out of the family if this gets found out.”

It was laughable that she hoped for the news not to spread after causing such a big incident.

But I thought it would be good to give her a carrot at least once, so I nodded.

With a more relaxed expression than before, she says ‘Th-thank you’ and lets out a sigh.

As I was shaking my head looking at Delia,

I see someone approaching quickly from afar.

Wondering who it might be, I look closely and see it’s a maid wearing the Lercier Family uniform.

“Young master. I’ve brought the contract you mentioned.”

I think I mentioned it about 30 minutes ago, but they’ve already brought it?

I nod slightly, receive it, and then speak to Delia.

“We’ll write the relevant content in real-time… Do you have anything to say before we make the contract?”

“Um… instead of a contract, can’t we just go with me being obedient?”

“Do you think that would work?”

“… I guess it won’t work after all?”

Just as the moment to sign the contract arrived, she seemed to feel anxious and tried to back out while reading the atmosphere.

But I wasn’t one to let that slide, so I forcefully placed the quill pen in her hand.

‘It might seem a bit excessive, but considering future matters, it can’t be helped.’

Sharing the fact that we’re selling stories of corpses for coins itself carries a considerable risk.

That’s why it was difficult to share the work without making this kind of contract.

I looked at Delia, who was still hesitating with the quill pen in hand, and decided to dangle a carrot in front of her.

“If you do the job well, I’ll make sure to provide appropriate compensation. Don’t worry too much.”

“Compensation…?”

“If you want monetary compensation, that can be arranged. Or… I could help modify your magic, or even tutor you.”

Originally, I was only going to talk about money.

But remembering the reason Delia first approached me – the ‘cheating allegations’ – I thought I’d mention something related to magic, just in case.

Whether she liked this carrot or not, her expression now mixed a hint of expectation with her anxiety as she looked at me.

“… Really? Will you really help me modify my magic if I do well?”

“It depends on how well you do.”

“Is that so? Well, that makes sense.”

Then, with a somewhat greedy expression, she looked at the contract and proceeded to sign her name without hesitation.

After confirming this, I magically locked the contract.

I then made a copy and handed one to Delia.

“In that case, I’ll contact you when work comes up.”

“Uh, yeah. Call me anytime. And don’t forget you promised to help with magic modification.”

“As I said, I’ll help after watching you do it.”

“That’s good enough.”

It’s clearly the worst decision of her life, but why does she look so excited?

Thinking that her mind must have finally snapped due to excessive stress, I hand over the contract to the maid.

The maid speaks to me with a somewhat worried expression.

“… Young master, will you be alright? Magic modification will be quite difficult.”

I couldn’t understand why she said it would be so difficult when it would take at most a few hours.

Not understanding the maid’s reaction, I decided to look into this matter later and nodded.

“It’s fine.”

“If you say so, it’s alright… For now, I’ll make sure this contract is securely stored within the family.”

As I nod, she politely bows to me and walks away.

‘I guess this concludes the contract part for now.’

I decided to work her like a dog as she had said, and looked out the window.

‘With two people working, it shouldn’t take long.’

As I was thinking this and taking a short break, I noticed Rumi down below, burying her face in her hands.

‘Why is she doing that?’

At least now, there shouldn’t be anyone in the Academy who would openly bully Rumi.

I couldn’t understand why she was suffering like that.

‘Are others bullying her behind my back?’

Maybe so.

As I had that thought, I decided to ask Delia to keep watch and turned around.