Ashton put his things to the side, looking at the message floating in front of his eyes. That was something new, that he hadn't seen before.
Well, he had heard of this, sure. Constellations formed their own little groups all the time, but it was usually weaker constellations, not ones at the level of those that were with Ashton. Then again, it wasn't exactly common for three such powerful constellations to stick to one person in the first place. The only reason that this was the case here was that Ashton was a unique figure in this world, and thus drew plenty of attention toward himself.
He hadn't really been paying too much attention, but every once in a while, there were some messages from weaker constellations that took an interest in Ashton. They tended to be pretty cocky, and the moment that one of the others revealed themselves, they practically ran away. It was similar to the Eight-Legged Queen. The moment she realised that Ashton was being watched by such powerful beings, they left him be, at least for the time being.
But until now, they were just three separate entities that were trying to get their hands on the brand-new toy in this world first.
The Observer because they were interested in Ashton's magical knowledge, the Daughter because of how skilled a fighter he was, and the Executor... well, Ashton didn't actually know why they were sticking around so much. Maybe they could tell that Ashton experienced death hundreds of times, or found his stance toward life and death interesting. Whichever it was, the three didn't exactly have an overlap in their interests, and from the bits and pieces that he knew about each of them, they weren't exactly known for cooperating with other constellations.
They were likely associated with certain groups, but nothing in a way that actually mattered day-to-day.
So seeing this was... baffling to Ashton.
[[Observer in the Veil] asks you to plead your case]
"... Huh? What, am I on trial now or something?" Ashton scoffed. It wasn't like he did anything wrong until now. Sure, he might have been a bit rude to the constellations here and there, but that wasn't exactly something that these guys seemed to ever care about.
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] points to the beings that you have contracted yourself]
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] asks why you chose an equal contract]
The Daughter was asking that? That seemed like a question that should come from the Observer. Then again, if the Daughter really was a demonic being like Ashton thought, it made sense to some degree.
Demons were known to be beings that put great value in contracts as well, after all. Well, they would generally use contracts to trap people in eternal servitude, or try to use any loophole imaginable to get the upper hand within a contract forced upon them. Demon summoning was also one of those arts that was more widespread than other sorts of summoning, because demons explicitly sought to form contracts. They often spread the methods of summoning demons on their own.
So with that... maybe it really just didn't make sense to the Daughter why Ashton would choose to form a contract without trying to squeeze as much benefit out of it as possible.
He thought about the best way to answer for a moment.
"... I know what it's like to be powerless. To not be in control, and to think you have no way out. I don't want to put other beings like that if I can avoid it. My contracted beings aren't tools. They're figures that I respect and want to befriend. Some of them are actively providing services, like the Backpacker, while others are just happy to be able to live within the material world, like the Pen of Insight and the elementals." Ashton looked inward at his vessel, where some of his summons were currently resting, including the Pen of Insight that still didn't seem to have any hope of waking up after that 'overload' before. "And I think that, because they help me out so much, they deserve the respect of an equal. While I wouldn't be powerless without them, they've made me much, much stronger."
He sat there for a while, waiting for another message to pop up. Maybe they were discussing something again. It took another minute or two until they came back to him, which Ashton used to continue painting the sides of the knives that Sam found for him.
[[Executor of the End] asks why you refuse to let them sponsor you]
"I said it before, didn't I?" Ashton sighed, staring at the message while putting the knife away to the side. "I refuse to become someone's tool. It's called a 'sponsorship', but you guys would practically own me. I know how this whole thing works. Becoming a sponsor, to a constellation, means that you are buying someone. I'm not going to go through that again. Plus..."
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
He wasn't quite sure if he should say it so bluntly, but maybe it wasn't really a bad idea to make this point very clear already. After all, if they disagreed with Ashton's plans, then getting them to leave now, when they couldn't influence the world all that much yet or invested all too much in Ashton, was probably a good idea.
"... if I were to become your lesser, then I would be forever stuck in that position. I would always be at a lower position than you. And I can't afford to be anyone's lesser if I want to destroy the council."
[[Observer in the Veil] blinks in surprise]
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] laughs at your boldness]
[[Executor of the End] leans back in their seat]
Those didn't seem like particularly terrible reactions. Obviously, constellations weren't going to be necessarily enthusiastic about that idea. The council was extremely powerful, more powerful than most constellations were, though that was mostly because there were a few individual entities that were associated with them and gave the council their protection.
It didn't seem like any of these three were those sorts of entities. But that didn't mean that they wanted to bother dealing with someone that claimed they wanted to take the council down. However, soon, the message that Ashton was waiting for came.
[[Observer in the Veil], [Daughter of the Scarlet Heart], and [Executor of the End] are impressed by your spirit]
[[Observer in the Veil], [Daughter of the Scarlet Heart], and [Executor of the End] have each offered you an opportunity]
[You have a New Quest! [Bonus Quest - The Observer's Trial]]
[You have a New Quest! [Bonus Quest - The Daughter's Trial]]
[You have a New Quest! [Bonus Quest - The Executor's Trial]]
Ashton could feel his heart skip a beat. Seriously? Quests? Rather, the Observer was already able to give Ashton another quest? That wasn't exactly something commonly given to someone that the constellation wasn't even sponsoring. Not that he had anything to complain about, it was just surprising.
[Bonus Quest - The Observer's Trial]
[The [Observer in the Veil] is impressed by your broad knowledge of mystics. They are giving you an opportunity to prove that you are worthy of taking a chance on.]
[Goal - By the end of the Second Main Quest: Create a rare magic item (0/1) | Create 5 different rare potions (0/5) | Learn the art of spellcasting]
[Reward - The Observer will agree to a Lowest-Grade Summoner's Contract]
[Failure - The Observer's disappointment]
-
[Bonus Quest - The Daughter's Trial]
[The [Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] is impressed by your combat prowess. They are giving you an opportunity to prove that you are worthy of taking a chance on.]
[Goal - By the end of the Second Main Quest: Offer 500 lives of monsters worth at least 5 coins (0/500) | Offer 10 lives of elite monsters (0/10)]
[Reward - The Daughter will agree to a Lowest-Grade Summoner's Contract]
[Failure - The Daughter's disappointment]
-
[Bonus Quest - The Executor's Trial]
[The [Executor of the End] is impressed by the form of your soul. They are giving you an opportunity to prove that you are worthy of taking a chance on.]
[Goal - By the end of the Second Main Quest: Slay 10 marked humans (0/10) | Directly save the lives of 100 humans (0/100)]
[Reward - The Executor will agree to a Lowest-Grade Summoner's Contract]
[Failure - The Executor's disappointment]
Ashton read through each of the quests. Honestly, it didn't even matter what the goal he had to achieve was. There was no way he was going to let go of this opportunity.
[[Executor of the End] points out that you have the Observer to thank for this]
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] groans at the Observer's persuasiveness]
The Observer convinced them? Was that the suggestion they were talking about? That message, was that message meant for the other constellations, and not for Ashton himself, then?
Whatever it was, Ashton had to thank them. No matter what came out of this, this was great. Sure, he had to adhere to what they asked for in return, but Ashton was the one that actually wrote the contract, meaning that he could drop the constellations whenever he had to, if they were getting too... troublesome in any way.
Frankly, he could see through the ploy pretty easily. It was likely that they were thinking this was a good way to convince Ashton to agree to a proper sponsorship. He didn't want to brag too much, but he was worth quite a lot right now. He was currently one of the most powerful individuals in this world. In a one-on-one, he was confident that he wouldn't lose to anyone. Whether it was because of his experience, his level, or the spirits. Ashton was strong, and he was only going to get stronger. That much was clear to the constellations as well, so it made sense that they wanted to 'acquire' him.
So, by giving Ashton a little bit of their power, the constellations could show just how useful they were going to be. It was likely that these guys didn't quite know the extent of a lowest-grade contract, though. Constellations tended to be pretty damn cocky, so they might think that a lowest-grade contract with one of them would be incomparably more powerful than a lowest-grade contract with something like an elemental. There might be a difference in efficacy, but at the end of the day, a lowest-grade contract was just that.
Well, the Observer most likely knew these things, but the other two might not, which would give Ashton a bit of a benefit in this situation.
The only problem was that he had to figure out how to contract them. If they were like divine contracts, then each one would have relatively unique patterns. Maybe the Salesman could bring him some books related to this.
Whichever was the case, Ashton didn't have to hesitate. He accepted all three of these quests immediately.
He could deal with the Daughter's and the Executor's quests once he went out, but he was in the perfect position to get at least part of the Observer's quest knocked out.
"Damn... you guys made this week even busier than I thought it would be."
