Denaiel was quick to pull a piece of parchment, a quill, and–Judging by the audible reactions of the two faux-noble and foxfolk–Stabbed himself with the latter to be able to write. Within just a few minutes, Red Snow was done. He showed the contract to the other two, who groaned in protest, but quickly relented despite their apparent disapproval of some of the terms.

  “Do take a look at it”

  I don’t know for sure how he did, but he somehow managed to throw the piece of paper perfectly. It went floating through the illusory wall directly into my hands… Now, since I had taken over the trading business of my parents after their passing, I had experience writing and reading contracts of all sorts.

  Most of them had intentionally left with exploitable loopholes and grey areas. Whether a contract was a truly binding one or just words on a piece of paper did not matter. No one likes to be restrained in any capacity, and few people are completely honest… After all, when it was so easy to cheat a contract, who in their right mind wouldn’t do it, even a little bit?

  Honesty from someone was something you earned, or that you worked hard to make the best alternative… In any case, the contract I was reading wasn’t the kind I was used to. This thing was too good to be true, too generous… I guess what I was offering was indeed very valuable, though. So I suppose someone with the means would be willing to offer this much to secure the deal. Nonetheless…

  Nara, can you tell me if this contract is legit? What kind of bind does it put? Can I be easily circumvented? Do you see any loopholes that I missed?

  Mmh… There is no deception written on there. This is a kind of soul contract. The way it works is that one or several parties will have their souls torn apart if they don’t respect the terms of the contract… Souls are torn apart in a very brutal and unpredictable manner, so there is basically no chance of being able to endure breaking the contract

  Also, you are sort of the ‘ruling party’ in this scenario, meaning that if you don’t fulfil your own end of the contract, your soul will be left alone, but the contract will be rendered null in its entirety and subsequently destroyed

  This… This is an excellent contract. The terms are very advantageous for you, and the wording is made without deception–It seems like Red Snow really wants to fulfil his original mission, even if the cost is hefty… Though I suppose money isn’t much of an issue as long as it seems like Beelmart will be able to get what it wants

  …Not to say that the contract was fully in my favour, I needed to demonstrate my capabilities before receiving any payment, and I would need to put some effort into it. Still, I quite liked the contract, and Nara was confident it was the real deal and not some cleverly concealed trap.

  “If you are willing to confirm this contract… Merely inject some of your inner mana into it”

  I didn’t respond immediately.

  Mmh… That’s a bit embarrassing. I don’t know how to inject mana into something. I can’t even properly inject negative energy despite it being my thing… Any ideas, Nara?

  Energy manipulation is something that needs to be learned, but your way of using negative energy is completely different from the norm… The only thing I can think of is to simply hold the contract, and try to curse it as you would before unlocking the kitchen–This should count as injecting energy into it

  Right… What sort of contract needs the parties to know how to do this, anyway? Is this a common skill that I am too awful at magic to know about?

  I pressed the contract in between both of my palms as though I was attempting to flatten it. I didn’t try to put any particular curse into it. I just did my thing, and eventually, the contract shone. Dissipating into ominous dark flames.

  It isn’t a problem that I used negative energy when he specifically said inner mana, right?

  I do not detect how this could stop the contract from working as intended

  Denaiel did not seem to notice my usage of negative energy either, or he simply ignored it, as he merely slammed his palms together and thanked me for agreeing to the contract.

  “Aherm… Might we meet face-to-face, now? As you have seen, the contract extends not just to me and those two, but also to their entire organisations, as well as anyone who will be in the know within Beelmart”

  He didn’t mention it aloud, but the contract had prepared much less harsh punishment if the one to break the contract was a member of the royal family, but I didn’t mind that. Denaiel would never be able to write anything which actually endangered his king or another royal. That would be a ludicrous thing to do.

  “Very–ry well”

  I stepped out of the illusory wall, getting to watch their faces scrunch up in confusion as they looked at something they did not understand–My beautiful mechanical self. I would be surprised too if I saw myself for the first time. I am quite the fine specimen.

  “...What the hell are you?”

  Ririlt was looking at me like he had seen a ghost–Which wasn’t too far off.

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  “You can ca–call me Maeve. As you can see–see, I may be made of steel–eel, but I am very much alive”

  I plucked a fleshy growth from my body as I said this, squeezing it to let the bizarre, sticky blood contained within burst out as a demonstration of my ‘liveliness’.

  “Miss Maeve. Might you elaborate on the details of your ability, please? In what ways are we able to allow it to spread to large swaths of a country?”

  Denaiel definitely was the most composed of the bunch–Which made sense. He was something of a legend, after all. I couldn’t quite picture his strength, but he was said to be a real champion, the stuff of heroes, or so they say… Unfortunately for him and Beelmart, powerful individuals weren’t enough to make a nation prosper or to win wars.

  “It–It is very simple–ple… A mere tou–touch of my hand is all that I need to place a… Mark upon someone–one. Once this mark is in place… The being bearing it will emit a spe–special–al aura. Those caught in t–this aura will eventually be infected with my ni–nightmares”

  My plan was very simple. I had already placed ‘Remember Me?’ upon large creatures who often travelled from city to city. This was going to be the same thing, but on a much larger scale, and with deliverers working on my behalf.

  They will bring me creatures, people, or whatever else. I will curse them with ‘Remember Me?’ and then, my dear allies will release those beings into the wild, amidst crowded cities. Wherever it made sense! Countless will have a seed of nightmare bloom within them. I will reap the rewards and eventually awaken the ‘Nightmare Form’.

  All the while, I would be receiving great pay for my ‘work’.

  It was a pure win-win situation for me.

  “Mmh… So it affects everything in its radius, this aura?”

  “Indeed–eed”

  The faux-noble and foxfolk seemed a bit worried. About themselves, perhaps? Or maybe they are concerned about the damage this will do to the population they are hoping to one day rule over? What a shame that they have already been bound by the contract. There is nothing that they can do about this now.

  “Mmh… This is actually quite a simple plan to put into place. We have plenty of prisoners and useless slaves that we can use for this. I take it that the one bearing this ‘aura’ will also be affected by the nightmares?”

  I nodded affirmatively.

  “Great. Then, would you be willing to accompany me back to Beelmart so that we can speak to my king about this topic? I am positive that he will see no issue, but it is necessary to inform him of everything. He takes this mission very seriously, you see…”

  Of course, he does. If he can’t get a new batch of free workers, his kingdom’s economy will suddenly plummet, he’ll have to deal with angry people, and his enemies will immediately begin plotting to take him down and usurp his throne.

  I agreed to his offer, and thus, Red Snow and I soon used the teleporting array to appear in a wide room illuminated by glowing, carved shards of crystals tastefully embedded into the very walls.

  Nara was very worried, but nothing happened on the other side. Denaiel simply led me to his private quarters, where he had a whole battalion of absolutely terrified-looking maids take my measurements and dress me up since I wasn’t wearing anything to cover my metallic bones and fleshy growths.

  As scared as they may be, they couldn’t refuse the order–Literally, they were incapable of not going through with anything they were tasked with performing. Beelmart wasn’t exactly easy on the people they enslaved. All of their free workers were utterly subjugated through the usage of magical means.

  In any case, I ended up being dressed in loose-fitting black garments, and was given a large, violet cloak to put on top of the rest, which could completely wrap around me, and drag against the ground slightly even when I stood with my back fully straight.

  All of this was decorated with silver-coloured patterns as well–All in all, I was looking quite stylish at the moment. When covered by the cloak, I might even be able to pass off as a regular person, as long as my face wasn’t visible, at least. The beartrap-maw was a pretty dead giveaway that I wasn’t your average lady.

  Red Snow was able to get an audience with the king surprisingly quickly. I guess this was one of the perks of being a close confidant of the crown-wearer. I had never been inside a throne room before, but it looked like what I had imagined.

  The room was huge beyond logic. Most of the space wasn’t even being used. On the opposite end of the ornate gates were to be found two thrones, one for the king and one for the queen… The latter lay empty.

  On the sides of the large carpet leading to the thrones, tribunes were to be seen, standing upon them were those whom I presume to be the top advisors of the king, and of course, the place was packed with guards. No one in their right mind would dare to get in trouble with…

  …Their armour looks quite tasty, though…

  “Denaiel, my good friend. You bring me an unusual guest today… Is this the one I heard about?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty. This is Maeve. She has the means to weaken other nations. Everyone present should have received the details of how this would be possible”

  This guy was out of my sight for barely ten minutes, and he did all of this? What a fast fellow.

  “I have personally looked over the words you have written. I will admit–I am intrigued, but I am afraid that some among us feel hesitant about cooperating with a monster. She may have agreed to a contract, but it remains unclear what her true goals are… I mean no offence to Miss Maeve, of course. This is purely for the sake of safety”

  I didn’t need to be told to know that a few in this room weren’t too thrilled. I could feel their negative emotions directed at me–Not much fear for once, but disgust, suspicion, and a tinge of anger… I think someone here is not a big fan of monsters.

  “Then, Yo–Yo–Your Majes–ty-ty… Shall I defend my ca–case?”

  The king of Beelmart was a wizened old man. He was the leader of a rich nation. He should have access to the means to preserve his youth and continue ageing for much longer than normal. This could only mean that he was truly old–If not ancient.

  His face was wrinkled, his longer hair and beard grey. His resplendent crown of gold and jewels was in antithesis with his pale, dusty self.

  Nonetheless, his amber-coloured eyes seemed to–No, it wasn’t just an impression, they were genuinely glowing as though holding an unknown power. There was no doubt about it, he didn’t only wield the power of the crown, he could probably slaughter countless with his mere will…

  The old king thought for a few seconds.

  “Go ahead”