“A… contract?” I asked confused on what this moth man was saying.

  The second I uttered the word contract the air around me started to warp. I could feel Mana swirling the two of us as the fabrics of a scroll made of unknown material started to manifest. it practically wrapped around us.

  “What is this?!” I almost panicked, not sure what to make of it. I was worried if it was something threatening but I didn’t feel my kobold instinct’s usual sense of danger from it, so I kept my cool.

  The misty moth man had started to speak, a lot more clearly than before. As if he wasn’t close to losing his life moments ago. “A Daemon contract. We make an equal exchange. Your vitality I will take an I shall provide you something of equal measure.”

  I think I read something like this in a story once. A demon contract or in this case Daemon contract. Things go badly if you accept them usually. But in this case, he’s asking for my vitality. Would it mean that my life would be shortened? Now that I think about it how long do kobolds live in this world? I never really gave it much thought.

  As I dwelled on my own thoughts the misty man continued as if he read my thoughts. “I will not shorten your life. Think of it more like your overall health instead. You will merely feel exhausted for the time being though you may find yourself less able to handle injury”

  Hmm in other words it would be like giving away a percentage of my Health like in a video game or in my case the ranking in my [Health] in my [Game Screen] would lower. I think I could live with that.

  “Alright I think I got it. That would mean you will get to live?”

  He nodded without changing the expression on his glowing eyes.

  “But you say this is an exchange. What exactly would you be giving me then?” I asked, curious to know what he would be offering.

  “…. What do you desire?”

  Seeing an opportunity, I decided on something simple. “Why not work for me for a time. Just long enough that would be equal to my vitality I would give. Afterwards you can decide later whether you want to continue or not. Not a bad deal, right?”

  “…. Very well, that is an agreeable exchange I accept.”

  The scroll that surrounded us started to have words appear. The language of it was unknown to me. Then it started to disappear, it was then that I started to feel an excruciating pain from my chest. It felt like something was being pulled out of me and towards the man before me. Probably should have figured this would happen. Still, not as bad as the other incidents where my life was in danger. I held on and kept myself from losing consciousness as I saw the leaking mist die down completely as the glow in his eyes started to brighten up.

  Moments later I found myself on the ground. Seems I did eventually pass out from losing my vitality. Solidifying the change a notification appeared in before me.

  It looked like my guess was right. Vitality was linked to my [Health] so that would mean I wouldn’t be able to take a beating as easily for now. It shouldn’t take me too long to regain it right?

  I got myself up, I needed to check to see how the Daemon was doing. He was standing, looking around his body in silence before turning to gaze back at me. “…. Thank you. Didn’t know anyone would help a Daemon out here. I…. Think???”

  He was shaking his head, processing the events that had transpired. “…. What exactly happened? Why do I feel compelled towards you?”

  “That probably has to do to the contract maybe. I don’t know how it usually works.”

  “…Yes… I remember forging a contract to take your vitality in exchange for my services for a time. That’s right.”

  The feeling of pain had already started to fade so I stood up and faced him. He took a moment to look at me before he spoke. “I see… you’re a kobold then...”

  I don’t know how he saw through the mask, but since he already guessed my identity, I decided to take it off to confirm it with him.

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  “How fascinating, regardless thank you for saving me.” He brought one of his arms over his chest and slightly lowered his head. “I shall honor the agreement with the contract and work for you for the time being. What is your name?”

  “Vladimir” I answered him, looking eye to glowing dot.

  “Master Vladimir then. Now as part of the Daemon Contract as well as to represent my time of service with you please provide me a name to go by.”

  Oh, that’s interesting. “Why not use your real name?” I asked him.

  “Part of tradition for forging a Daemon Contract requires that the one that was asked to accept the contract to give the name to the one that has asked.”

  I cracked a smile. “Alright then, a name huh. Lucky for you, I happen to be very good at giving names! Now what should I call you? ~”

  I started to rack my brain on some ideas. Since he was a Daemon, I decided to go with a demon name scheme. I thought of some demon names from several of the stories I read that featured them. At the same time, I stared at the Daemon in front of me and kept coming to his moth features.

  Hmm moth… that’s it!

  “I got it, from now on I’ll call you Paimoth!”

  “Paimoth…. yes, I like this name. Thank you, Master Vladimir.”

  “Glad to have you as my newest henchman! Veehahahahaha~”

  “Henchman huh. So that is to be my new role then. Understood.”

  I was ready for the celebration of the addition of a new henchman of mine, but I noticed that it was starting to get late. After that fight as well as ranking down on my [Health] I was extremely tired. I decided to call it and muster up some energy to make a makeshift sleeping tent with whatever materials I could gather for both of us and flop myself in without much thought, letting sleep take over.

  As the morning sunlight started to illuminate the tent my eyes started to stir as I yawned and stretched. I was a lot more exhausted than I thought I was. When I opened my eyes, I was suddenly greeted by two glowing lights right up in my face!

  I freaked out and jumped out alert before realizing that what I saw was my new henchman whose body’s mist was practically dancing in the sunlight.

  “Good morning, Master Vladimir. I take it you had a good rest?”

  “As much as I could from a tent…. uhm why are you close to me like that?”

  Paimoth was standing inches close to me, his head was facing right at me. He was staring really close at me.

  “My apologies, I couldn’t help but to keep watch as you sleep Master Vladimir.” He answered with a bit of enthusiasm that I had felt was rather familiar somehow.

  “Did you not sleep?” I questioned him, choosing to ignore the fact he was watching me sleep.

  He shook his head “The vitality you provided me was enough that I was feeling rejuvenated to last through the night.”

  “I see” I responded, understanding a bit on his explanation.

  After making sure to deconstruct the makeshift tent, I gathered my things. After all I managed to accidentally stumble on the beasts I was supposed to hunt and even met the quota for it. Besides if I spend too long that priestess was going to give me a mouthful and I rather not deal with that.

  There’s a lot to do with the addition of Paimoth, I’ll have to introduce him to everyone and catch him up on a few things. I still don’t know what exactly he could do but I’m sure I could find something.

  I decided to take a quick look and inspect his stats.

  Now these are some interesting stats! This is probably the first time I saw anything with a ranking of A! Even if it’s an A- that’s still something. From looking through his skill and abilities as well it was easy to figure out that he would primarily cast spells! He even has [Advanced Elemental Magic] which is safe to assume is an upgrade version to my [Basic Elemental Magic]! He probably has a lot of knowledge in Mana that I could pick up on.

  “Veehahahahaha I sure snag me a real good henchman~” I said to myself.

  Now I just need to figure out a good role to put him. For now, there were a few matters I needed to know before we continued. I faced Paimoth who was standing waiting for me as I started off by asking him a simple question.

  “I’ve never heard of a Daemon before, you must have come a long way. Why exactly are you all the way here?”