“AHHHH” Aurelius yelled out in horror, jumping on the spot and looking fervently around the room for the source of the voice.

  “Ah, right. I forgot about that.” Sage Yeltz muttered, sipping on her coffee calmly.

  “Can you hear him?!” Aurelius asked the sage, his eyes practically popping out of its sockets from the sheer alarm that he felt in his situation.

  “No.” Sage Yeltz replied simply, leaning back in her chair and innocently staring out of her windows, as if considering what to get for dinner.

  “You knew this would happen?!” Aurelius pressed, the terror he felt from the sage extinguished momentarily in light of his newly found predicament.

  “Yes. An appropriate price must be paid for spirit contracts, Mr. Dog.” Sage Yeltz explained dully, swiveling the chair slightly so as to avoid the questioning glare pointed her way.

  “WHAT WAS THE PRICE?!” Aurelius exploded, unable to deal with the vagueness of the sage any longer.

  “As you know, the blood of the Commission spilt, and you giving that rat, Pultris, a front row seat in your life for a… while.” Sage Yeltz explained calmly.

  “If you had told me that, I would NOT have agreed to that contract!” Aurelius protested, his emotions bubbling up out of the surface.

  “Vennor.” Sage Yeltz said venomously, turning her head slowly to send a piercing glare at Aurelius. This immediately shut the words of protest that were about to stream out of his mouth.

  “Do you know what it means to spill the blood of the Commission?” She asked Aurelius, who was now clammed up into a stiff statue.

  “Through the symbolic process of me surrendering my blood to the djinn, Pultris has now become entitled to a tiny portion of all commission employees for the next year. Not something that I take lightly.”

  “In fact, we’ve paid a damn heavy price to your benefit, and I am sure that you can bear with a pathetic, self obsessed, whiny lunatic in your ear for a few minutes in your day.” The sage growled menacingly.

  Aurelius seriously considered this for a second… But didn’t she make him sign the deal so that she could stand to benefit from having him as a research subject?

  “...I know damn well that you’re thinking rude things again Mr. Dog. Do stop.” Sage Yeltz said irritably, rotating her chair away from Aurelius to look out the window again.

  “Awww, don’t listen to her words my little… eyes.” Pultris whispered, making Aurelius’s skin just about crawl out under his clothes.

  “That blood she’s moaning about is just a formality of the transaction~ I’m not allowed to touch the blood anyway. These bastards won’t allow it, hehe.”

  Sage Yeltz frowned at the exact same time as this comment, undoubtedly picking up on some parts of what this horrid djinn was mouthing in Aurelius’s ears.

  “But the Commission is still quite fair, even to someone like me, who they view as… ah, scum.”

  “Yvette here has given me an excellent gift indeed… Perhaps the Dragon Festival came early for me~” The djinn mused creepily, making Aurelius grimace in discomfort.

  “Haa… You are going to serve as his eyes only as long as the contract is active. And he is only allowed to talk to you when you allow it to happen.” Sage Yeltz explained in more detail, tossing Aurelius something in the process.

  “When you tap that charm 3 times on its surface, you will activate a spell to shut the thing up for the next 12 hours. And for your benefit, I took the extra mile of getting one that can give you one which can block him from seeing through you in that time as well. So structure your… privacy wisely.” Sage Yeltz suggested helpfully.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “You’ll need to get replacements for it every 2 months. And if you do die in this loop, you just need to describe the charm to me in the next. I’ll get it for you within the day.”

  …Did she just sneakily say that Aurelius might die?

  “Alright. That’s all from me. Come back tomorrow Mr. Dog.” Sage Yeltz declared, snapping her fingers and teleporting the dumbfounded Aurelius right back into his room.

  Aurelius stood stiffly in the room just a second longer, questions that he wanted to ask still lingering in his poor, underworked throat.

  “...What a bitch, huh?” Pultris helpfully chimed in, ending another day at the Commission bleakly…

  ???

  Aurelius drew deep breaths, checking the time once again nervously.

  It had been 12 hours since Aurelius had shut the djinn up, and he had taken his reprieve from this possibly evil angel to draft up questions for the new… roommate in his brain.

  “Hello again, my advocate.” The djinn greeted the moment the second hand touched the 12th mark on its face.

  “...Hello, honourable Angel of the Commission, Traitor, vow-breaker, Pultris.” Aurelius replied unenthusiastically.

  “Why so glum? You can be casual with me. It’s been more than 30 years since I’ve had this kind of privilege.” The djinn said innocently, making Aurelius feel just a tad bit worse.

  “How many uses does this thing have?” Aurelius asked, dropping the pretence of politeness and gingerly holding up the charm Sage Yeltz had gifted him.

  “...Oh, that has unlimited uses until the end of 2 months. In fact, the charm over there is an absolute beauty! I dare say that Yvette Yeltz has certainly thought this through~” Pultris sang.

  …Aurelius felt a small amount of relief wash up in his fatigued body. Unlimited uses of the charm for the specified timeframe meant that he could effectively not give up his privacy for the rest of time to this… horrid angel!

  “Oh, don’t judge me so harshly~” Pultris declared leisurely, sending another bout of chills down Aurelius’s worn spine.

  “C-can you read my mind?!” Aurelius blurted out in horror.

  “Sure.” Pultris said confidently.

  Aurelius immediately scrambled with the charm in his hand, removing the clothing from its surface to reveal its red engravings to air once more.

  “Did you really believe that? I’m an angel of the wind, not water.” Pultris snorted condescendingly, making Aurelius feel rather irritated.

  “...But you could be multi-elemental.” Aurelius pointed out blandly.

  “Sure. I could be the very first multi-elemental angel. Or I was lying. Which one sounds more plausible?” Pultris responded sarcastically.

  Aurelius considered this and decided that Pultris had probably been lying…

  “I’ve read about your exploits during your time on the plane of reality.” Aurelius declared to Pultris, puffing out his chest in an attempt to make himself feel better about possibly pissing off an angel.

  “If you said that to a less well-tempered spirit, your head would have exploded on the spot for your insolence.” Pultris replied casually, sounding unbothered by Aurelius’s accusatory statement.

  “I am a spirit. What I had been is not the full extent of what I am, just as how your time as a child would not reflect the you of today, or of the future.”

  “I am a product of what had once been Pultris, one of the most powerful figures of my time, and a child of the spirit realm.” Pultris said smoothly.

  “...So you’re not a corrupt, power hungry, womanising egomaniac?” Aurelius asked curiously.

  “...No comment!” Pultris replied cheerfully, making Aurelius’s stomach churn in the wrongness of it all.

  “Don’t worry kid, I don’t swing that way~” Pultris commented, making Aurelius do a double-take on the spot. When the hell did he say anything along those lines?

  “...What the hell are you talking about?” Aurelius asked in horror.

  “Ah, nevermind. I assumed that you would have those kinds of fun thoughts talking about how many women I pleasured in my life.” Pultris said shamelessly.

  “...” Aurelius blinked, immediately tapping his charm 3 times to send the angel away from him immediately.

  “Haa… What the hell have I gotten myself into?” Aurelius wondered, checking the time on the clock again.

  Aurelius had crawled into bed early after the teleportation over to his room, grabbing a bite from an overpriced cafe downstairs in anticipation for the return of this djinn.

  However, the fatigue that had accumulated in him over the course of that day seemed to cling to him like a parasite, unfortunately yet to be washed away.

  And with a heavy heart, Aurelius decided to tuck himself back in, feeling the dread of the coming day deep in his heart…

  The world spun into a cocoon of darkness and cosy warmth within the protected confines of his bed as Aurelius slipped into a dreamy sleep of the highest quality…

  “...”

  “I lied.” Pultris murmured into Aurelius’s poor, poor brain....