episode_0092

“……”

As Ermel wrote out a grand soul contract, begging us for her life, Killua-nim and I simply looked at her, speechless, as she bowed her head.

“Well… is Ermel’s temptation over now?”

Killua-nim, who had been alternating glances between Ermel, who remained still with her head bowed, and me, took charge of the conversation.

“Yes…”

Ermel replied to Killua-nim’s question in a tiny, almost crawling voice.

“Jazel, do you have anything to say about the contract Ermel put forth?”

“No, I don’t.”

I quickly skimmed the soul contract Ermel had created and replied briefly to Killua-nim’s question.

Then, Ermel’s name was engraved at the bottom of the contract.

If I engraved my name beneath it, the soul contract between Ermel and me would be complete.

Ermel and I would escape this Soul Prison, and I would gain the Hero’s power.

Killua-nim would also be freed from the Soul Prison soon, as per the soul contract.

According to the contract’s contents, it was a deal with absolutely no downsides.

“Alright… then it’s my turn, isn’t it?”

However, only Ermel had finished her temptation.

I swallowed nervously at the fact that Killua-nim was going to tempt me and looked at her.

As if it were her turn, Killua-nim extended her hand towards me.

“Then I’ll tempt you with a soul contract, just the same.”

Just like Ermel, a soul contract intertwined with Killua-nim’s magic appeared from beyond her outstretched fingertips.

At Killua-nim’s action of trying to tempt me with a soul contract just like hers, Ermel looked at her with suspicious eyes, wondering if she could offer even better terms than herself.

“Alright… this should be enough, right?”

Unlike Ermel, who had dictated the contract’s contents, Killua-nim began to write something directly by hand on the soul contract created from her fingertips.

And then, from beyond the glass wall separating Killua-nim and me, she passed the soul contract to me.

The formless soul contract smoothly passed through the glass wall, and I accepted the soul contract on which she had written something.

“Something… isn’t right, is it?”

As I tried to examine the contract’s contents, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion.

“It seems the writing was erased as it passed through the glass wall.”

Nothing was written on the contract.

Thinking that something had gone wrong with the soul contract as it passed through the magic-infused glass wall, I looked at Killua-nim.

Then, Killua-nim simply pointed downwards with her hand, gesturing for me to check the bottom of the contract.

“Huh…?”

At the bottom of the blank contract, Killua-nim’s elegantly curved signature was written.

“Fill it in as you wish and sign.”

“Aaaargh, you crazy woman!”

It was Ermel who shrieked at Killua-nim’s blunt explanation.

“You… you didn’t actually hand over a blank soul contract, did you?!”

A blank contract.

It meant I could write any clause I wanted.

Furthermore, the fact that Killua-nim’s signature was already engraved on it meant that she would accept any clause I wrote on the contract without her permission.

“Wh… what kind of preposterous thing is that?! That… that means entrusting your very soul to that guy?!”

A soul contract, conducted with each party staking their own soul, was absolute.

If I were to harbor ill intentions and write strange clauses into this contract, Killua-nim would have to fulfill all the strange clauses I wrote without any suspicion or unease.

For example: ‘You must love me,’ ‘You must become aroused when you look at me,’ ‘You must never look at another member of the opposite sex and only look at me.’

If such clauses were written, the clauses themselves would be engraved upon Killua-nim’s soul, and Killua-nim would, as if it were natural and proper, love me, become aroused, and not look at other men according to those clauses.

“Because I trust you.”

At Ermel’s shriek-like cry, Killua-nim, with her arms crossed, stated the reason for her actions in a single word, as if it were the most obvious thing.

“Uwaaaaaaah!!”

At her answer, Ermel let out a strange scream, whether it was a shriek or a lament, and her body trembled.

“So… so delicious. You two! You’d be the rarest delicacy in this world!!! Ju… just let me have one bite… no. Not even one bite. Just let me lick you… please?”

As if she had forgotten her current situation, Ermel drooled, looking back and forth between Killua-nim and me with eyes reddened like a beast’s.

I frowned at Ermel, who was already half-crazed and panting, and picked up the blank soul contract Killua-nim had given me.

By signing my name on this contract, the winner of the temptation duel would be decided, Killua-nim and I would be freed, and Ermel would be trapped alone in the Soul Prison.

“Are you just going to end it?”

As I made up my mind and prepared to sign the contract, Killua-nim, who had been looking at Ermel as if she were pathetic, subtly turned to me and asked.

“It’s a golden opportunity, isn’t it? You can write at least one clause that you want.”

“Huh…”

At Killua-nim’s words, my hand, which was about to write my signature below Killua-nim’s, stopped abruptly.

Looking at me, Killua-nim gave a faint, playful smile and lightly tapped the glass wall with her fingertips, saying:

“If you write one contract clause, I’ll try to guess what you wrote. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

From Killua-nim’s voice, proposing what sounded like a fun game despite having handed me a blank contract that was virtually her entire soul, I felt an unwavering trust towards me.

At her demeanor, as if she would gladly accept whatever clause I wrote, my hand slowly moved to the space for writing clauses on the contract.

And from an angle she couldn’t see, I carefully wrote a single clause on the contract.

“O-ooohhh… what did you write? What clause are you writing?! Are you betraying Killua’s trust? Just let me see a little bit!!”

Ermel, already uninterested in the outcome of the temptation duel, half-shrieked at the fact that I was writing something on the blank contract, frantically scratching the glass wall that separated her and me.

Ignoring Ermel, I finished the clause and engraved my name below Killua-nim’s signature.

Poof!

Then, the soul contract transformed into a brilliant burst of light, seeping into Killua-nim’s chest and mine, engraving the contract’s contents upon our souls.

Rumble…

At the same time, the space of the Soul Prison began to vibrate.

The glass wall where Killua-nim and I were, having won the temptation duel, began to crumble, but the glass wall in Ermel’s solitary space remained solid, slowly narrowing as if to seal her away.

“Ta… take me with you!! I’m curious about your pure love… Kyaaaah!!”

Ermel’s clingy cries to us transformed into screams of agony as she was squeezed by the narrowing glass wall, and at the same moment, we were freed from the Soul Prison she had created.

Killua-nim and I, freed from the Soul Prison, returned to the space we were in just before being trapped in the Soul Prison…

…my bedroom in the Hero’s house.

“With this, the succubus is also finished.”

The Hero had been eliminated, and his advisor, the succubus Ermel, was sealed away in the Soul Prison she herself had created.

Killua-nim, certain that all elements threatening us had vanished, let out a sigh of relief and comfortably sat on the edge of my bed.

“Killua-nim. What in the world were you thinking, handing me a blank contract?”

Handing me a blank soul contract was such an extreme action that it was no exaggeration to say she had entrusted her entire soul and existence to my decisions and choices.

Even if she believed in the unwavering trust between Killua-nim and me, it was too dangerous to attempt so casually.

At first glance, it almost felt like a gamble thrown by Killua-nim, who had felt a sense of crisis from the incredibly beneficial contract Ermel had proposed.

“Do you think I would have made a risky gamble without any basis?”

At my question, Killua-nim gave a meaningful eye-smile and looked at me, who was staring blankly down at her.

“You weren’t even interested in the contract Ermel put forth in the first place, were you?”

“……”

At Killua-nim’s single remark, which hit the mark as if she had read my entire mind, I could only remain silent.

Then, as if she had expected it, Killua-nim subtly curved up the corner of her lips and showed a gentle smile.

“As someone who’s lived a merchant’s life, you’d know well that clauses 2 and 3 were quite ambiguous, weren’t they? The fact that you overlooked them without pointing them out means you weren’t interested in anything Ermel said from the very beginning.”

Killua-nim was right.

Clause 2: The succubus Ermel shall never lay a hand on the human Jazel if Jazel himself does not wish it.

I knew well that the succubus Ermel could tempt and conquer a target not just through physical touch, but also visually, audibly, and olfactorily.

It was impossible to protect myself from the succubus Ermel with a contract clause that merely stated she wouldn’t lay a hand on me.

And Clause 3: The succubus Ermel shall immediately free the human Killua from the Soul Prison, if the human Killua, who is to be trapped in the Soul Prison with the human Jazel’s guarantee, promises not to attack the succubus Ermel.

The condition of ‘promising not to attack’ was too subjective in meaning to be used as a contract clause.

If Ermel were to stubbornly insist that the promise didn’t feel sincere or couldn’t be trusted, then Ermel wouldn’t have to free Killua-nim from the Soul Prison.

Seeing that I had overlooked such uncertain clauses without pointing them out, Killua-nim had discerned that I had no interest in Ermel’s offer itself from the very beginning.

“The blank contract is a reward for your actions, for not being swayed by such temptations.”

“What if… just what if, I had written a strange clause?”

At my words, Killua-nim stroked her chin as if imagining that moment, saying with interest:

“Well… that would be interesting, wouldn’t it? A strange clause written by Jazel…”

Killua-nim looked at me with her characteristic playful eye-smile and asked:

“What did you write?”

“You’ll have to guess that, Killua-nim.”

At my calm reply, as if I wouldn’t give even a hint, Killua-nim let out a small laugh.

“Then this time, I’ll ask you a question. After hearing Ermel’s contract… were you truly not swayed even a little?”

Killua-nim, perched on the edge of the bed, gently bent her upper body, resting her chin on her hand, and asked me in a soft, gentle tone.

“If you had gained the Hero’s power according to Ermel’s contract… it was a golden opportunity to grasp the specialness you so desired, wasn’t it?”

“I wonder…”

I could only answer Killua-nim’s question vaguely.

Thinking about it now, Ermel’s offer to hand over the Hero’s power felt quite shocking, but I felt absolutely no temptation or desire to possess it.

“Do you know why?”

As I answered ambiguously, Killua-nim showed a meaningful smile, as if she already knew the answer.

“Because you were special from the beginning, special enough not to need such specialness.”

“…Huh?”

Unable to understand Killua-nim’s answer, I frowned in confusion and tilted my head.

Then, Killua-nim gestured for me to come closer.

“It’s not good to explain in a hazy dream that feels like it could be forgotten at any moment, so I’ll do it in reality.”

As I approached Killua-nim following her gesture, she then gestured downwards, as if telling me to lower my posture.

Following her instruction, I slightly bent my knees to meet Killua-nim’s eye level, as she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Then, Killua-nim raised her small hands and gently and warmly cupped my cheeks.

“Ki… Killua-nim?”

“Stay still.”

At her sudden skinship, cupping my cheeks, I faintly imagined what was about to happen and took a small breath.

As if my imagination wasn’t wrong, Killua-nim, still cupping my cheeks, slowly brought her face closer to mine.

“Uh… ugh…”

As I felt her warm, quiet breath tickle my lips, my heart immediately began to pound as if it would burst.

Immediately afterward, I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting her warm lips to touch mine, and as I cautiously puckered my lips to meet hers…

Tap.

Instead of my lips, her forehead met mine.