READ WEBNOVEL Chapter 72: Contracts
"This is the Item that you got from the Dungeon Core? I thought it gave items of great power and such?" I asked, a bit puzzled.
I hadn't expected this lamp to be the magical item Kal had been talking about. It did look nice, but nothing about it said magical item of great power.
Milo let out a laugh, and then picked up the lantern.
"Believe me, after all the time I spent inside of the dungeon to get to the final prize, and this is what the glowing red crystal gives me! At first, I didn't even know how to use it. Then one night I was coming back from the dungeon after getting the item. I was using it for a light and I passed a shady-looking man, and when the light from the lantern hit him, something happened to his shadow. It was red and orange, not black, and something told me that this person was anticipating to be aggressive," Milo explained.
"So the lantern can tell feelings? I guess that's useful, but as you said, hardly powerful. I am pretty sure some people specialize in reading other emotions, so this is very lackluster," I said, but I knew there had to be more to the story.
"It gave me more than just the mental emotions, I could sense his pains and aches. I knew that he had been recently stabbed in the shoulder and that the wound was still fresh, so I jabbed two fingers into it, making the man drop his knife, and then I knew that he would try to grab it so I caught his face with a knee and then I slit his throat. The last thing I knew was that he killed three women, brutally."
This was a lot to take in; this lantern could let you know a person's everything just from shining a light on them. This was far more powerful than I could have imagined, but there was a catch. No matter how much skill you have, in a battle with something like a god it would be useless without an equal or greater power.
Knowing that the god was about to wipe you clean from the face of the land would not help you if you couldn't stop it. Now I understood what he meant about the item, but I was unsure if I wanted to give Milo that kind of power over me.
"Why do you want to use that on me, and why would I let you? I am sure you are exceptional, and above your class, but if you were to use that on me or any of my girls, we would leave you a dried husk to be used as fire kindling," I said flatly and without threat.
I wasn't trying to pick a fight, but I didn't like what the thing could do. I already had someone in my head that I couldn't control, but as far as I knew, Drania couldn't affect me in this world. Milo, on the other hand, could cause me serious harm or the girls.
"Hmm, I can see your point, but I need to have some kind of assurance to know that you are faithful to my cause. The next information I tell you could not only put myself at risk but all the people in this Guild, so you can understand why I might need some kind of guarantee," Milo explained.
"K can since a contract just like any other vampire using her blood. That should be worth more than even your fancy candle holders," Candi said speaking up.
"You are a vampire? I thought that you were just something like one?"
This time it was Milo's turn to play the confused one.
"Yes, there is a vampire inside of me, so I guess that would make the contract valid, whatever that means," I said, looking over to Candi for confirmation.
"You will be able to tell once you sign it, look," Candi said as she got up and came over to me. "Look in my eye, do you see the one light in my iris? Each time you sign a contract, you get a small light in your eye. I just have the one contract, but some have glittering eyes."
"What would make you want to sign a contract?" I asked, still looking into Candi's eyes, they were red like mine.
"It gets lonely at the top, and sometimes we want to be around people, it just the urges sometimes are hard to control, no matter how long you have been cursed. The only way to be eager to live around people is to sign a contract saying that you won't hurt them unless they hurt you. The problem is that the curse requires you to sign to each family house that is of different bloodlines, so, if a vampire wanted to live in a large city, they must do mountains of paperwork first," Candi explained and then went back to sit with Lesha and Trinity.
I looked over and found Mie cuddled into Gloria as she stroked her hair while looking into the fire. I could see why they wouldn't want to be alone. After spending so many years with no one by my side, it was hard to even think about life without her now.
"I will sign the document if that will be okay, but I refuse to have the lantern used by me or any of my party, including Corbit and Tim. All the members of my arty are sworn to me, so if you have my word, then you have theirs as well."
"I can live with that, I will call up for some coffee and snacks, we still have a bit more to talk about," Milo said and then got up and left the room.
"He seems honest, and I think we should listen to what he has to say. This sounds like he wants the same things as us," Lesha said while coming over to sit on my lap.
"I hope so, but everyone always has some sort of deviation. All we can do is hope that it's not too dramatic," I said while wrapping my arms around Lesha and pulling her into my chest.