“If you want me to help you, fine.”
Lilian sat back down on the edge of the large, velvet-covered bed, crossing her legs.
Those knees that once only knew how to kneel on the floor were now held high in a position of power.
She swirled the red wine glass in her hand, the crimson liquid leaving blood-like streaks against the glass.
“Prove your value first.”
“Bell Lucas, didn't you claim to be omnipotent?”
“Then first, dissolve this damn slave contract between us.”
As long as this contract existed for even one more day...
She would forever be that slave who could only kneel and lick her master's wounds.
Even if she sat upon a throne and wore a crown.
With just a single thought from Bell, her soul would instinctively tremble, and her knees would go weak.
It was a brand etched into the depths of her soul.
It was a disgrace.
It was also the thorn in her heart that she could never pull out.
Bell stood where he was, his brows knitted into a deep furrow.
Dissolve the contract?
Easier said than done.
This was a soul master-slave contract of the highest order.
Once signed, the contract would exist eternally unless one party died and their soul dissipated.
This wasn't just a magical restraint.
It was a chain forged at the level of the world's rules.
Never mind his current half-baked level.
Even if he dragged that old monster Headmaster Griffin from the Royal Magic Academy here to study the contract for three days and nights, the man would likely just shake his head and tell them to look elsewhere for help.
It was a complete dead end.
Seeing Bell's silence, the smile at the corners of Lilian's mouth deepened.
It carried a hint of vengeful pleasure.
“What's the matter?”
“Didn't you just say you were going to help me become a true queen?”
“You can't even handle a small thing like this?”
She stood up and walked barefoot to stand before Bell.
She reached out a finger and tapped him on the chest.
“I'll give you time.”
“The room next door has been prepared for you.”
“Stay in there and think until you find a way.”
“My... former master.”
With that, she clapped her hands.
Two werewolf guards pushed open the door and entered, making a gesturing for Bell to leave.
Bell gave Lilian a long, deep look.
He said nothing.
He turned and walked out of the room.
Things had become troublesome.
...
Meanwhile.
Beneath the massive gates of Moon Phase City.
Three figures were moving slowly along with the flow of people entering the city.
Tia wore a gray cloak with the hood pulled low, hiding her conspicuous silver hair.
She gripped her staff tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
Her gaze scanned the surroundings warily.
This was the headquarters of the vampires.
The lair of monsters who, according to legend, drank human blood and were cruel and violent.
However.
When she actually stepped into the city, the sight before her left her completely stunned.
The streets were wide and clean, with streetlights on both sides emitting a soft, warm glow.
There were no corpses littering the ground, and no pungent smell of blood.
Instead... it was excessively lively.
A vampire wearing a tuxedo stood in front of a shop, holding a flyer and flashing a standard eight-tooth smile at passersby.
“Fresh blood plasma pudding! Newly arrived blood! Buy two, get one free!”
Not far away, several werewolves were helping an elderly human woman carry heavy goods.
Their movements were as gentle as if they were doing embroidery.
“This...”
Tia was a bit dazed.
This was completely different from what she had seen in her textbooks.
“Surprised?”
Margaret walked beside her, holding a freshly bought grilled lizard skewer and eating it with gusto.
She glanced at Tia and spoke with a mouthful of food.
“Don't be fooled by the nonsense those bards spout.”
“The vampire race might have a bad reputation, but in reality, they might be one of the most 'civilized' races on this continent.”
“Civilized?”
Tia repeated, unable to believe her ears.
“That's right.”
Margaret swallowed her food and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
“They don't engage in production. All their food sources—that is, blood—are purchased with money.”
“In Moon Phase City, and even throughout the vampire territories.”
“As long as you're willing to donate blood, you can receive a handsome reward.”
“For those poor commoners who are struggling to put food on the table, this place is practically heaven.”
“Furthermore.”
Margaret pointed toward a squad of vampire guards patrolling in the distance.
“Because of their unique constitution, vampires are completely immune to plagues and toxins.”
“Whenever a large-scale war or plague breaks out on the continent...”
“The dead zones that humans avoid at all costs are their restaurants.”
“They act as scavengers of the battlefield, disposing of the corpses that no one else will collect to prevent the spread of disease.”
“While it sounds a bit disgusting...”
“You have to admit, they're a huge help.”
Leon, who had been silent, suddenly let out a cold snort.
He had his hands in his pockets as his arrogant gaze swept over the seemingly friendly vampires around them.
“Not only that.”
“For those desperate outlaws or criminals wanted by their countries...”
“This place is also the best sanctuary.”
“The ten ancestors each govern ten cities.”
“As long as you can pay the 'protection fee'—meaning enough blood...”
“They will provide you with asylum.”
“Even the armies of the great empires wouldn't dare to lightly arrest someone here.”
Leon's tone carried a hint of aristocratic contempt, yet he had to acknowledge the efficiency of this order.
“This is the so-called 'gray zone.'”
“As long as there's profit, even a devil will sit at the same table as a saint.”
Tia listened, completely stunned.
This blatant rule of profit exchange was a bit of a shock to a student like her who had always lived in an ivory tower.
“Alright, stop dazing off.”
Margaret clapped her hands and pointed to a building ahead with a sword-and-shield crest.
“The adventurer's guild branch is right ahead.”
“Let's go in.”
Tia snapped out of it, looking a bit confused.
“What are we going to the adventurer's guild for?”
“Aren't we here to save Bell?”
“Shouldn't we go directly to the palace or find that queen and demand him back?”
Margaret looked at her as if she were an idiot.
“Go directly and demand him?”
“Do you know what that 'queen's' attitude is right now?”
“Do you know if Bell is locked in a dungeon or being treated as an honored guest?”
“Rushing in without knowing anything is just suicide.”
“The adventurer's guild is where information flows most freely.”
“We'll go there first to gather some intel and see if there are any recent rumors about the new queen before making a plan.”
With that, Margaret confidently pushed open the doors of the adventurer's guild.
However.
The moment her foot crossed the threshold, Leon's faint voice came from behind her.
“I say, Headmaster Margaret.”
“Have you stayed in a backwater place like Ventus for so long that your brain has rusted?”
Margaret's footsteps halted.
The veins on her forehead throbbed twice.
She turned around and looked at Leon with a forced smile.
“What do you mean by that?”
Leon shrugged, wearing an expression that said he was looking at a fool.
“This is Moon Phase City.”
“It's the capital of the vampires.”
“Do you really think top-level political secrets regarding the vampire queen...”
“...would appear in a place like the adventurer's guild, which is a mixed bag that only posts low-level tasks like 'helping Auntie Wang find her cat' or 'clearing rats from the sewers'?”
Margaret's expression froze.
She opened her mouth to argue, but found herself speechless.
Leon sighed and shook his head, walking right past the frozen Margaret into the hall.
“Intelligence of this level...”
“Is either on the black market.”
“Or it's at the wine tables of the vampire nobles.”
“Coming to a place like this to ask about the queen...”
“Are you trying to make sure we're exposed as quickly as possible?”
Margaret stood where she was, her face turning the color of pig liver.
Her fists clenched until they cracked.
That damn brat.
With a mouth that poisonous, how has he not been beaten to death yet?
Tia looked at the deflated Margaret and then at the arrogant Leon.
She sighed silently.
Was this temporary rescue team really reliable?
...
Night Rose Palace.
Side hall.
Bell sat on a luxurious bed large enough for three people.
The room's furnishings were extremely extravagant.
Even the fruit on the table had been airlifted from the Elf Forest thousands of kilometers away.
But he was in no mood to enjoy any of it right now.
His mind was filled only with the puzzle Lilian had left him.
Dissolving the contract.
It was a complete paradox.
The essence of a soul contract was to forcibly link two souls together.
One as master, one as servant.
This link was etched into the very origin of the soul.
To dissolve it, one would need an even more powerful force to forcibly erase the link.
But the consequence of doing that...
Was usually that both souls would be severely damaged, turning the people into idiots.
Or...
One would have to find the legendary God of Contracts and have him personally intervene.
But that was obviously unrealistic.
Bell ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
He walked to the window and looked at the two purple moons outside.
Physics?
In the face of these pure magical rules, physics seemed to have lost its utility.
The soul...
It was neither matter nor energy.
It was more like a... concept.
Wait.
A concept?
Bell's eyes suddenly flickered.
If the soul was a concept, then was the contract also a concept?
Since it was a concept, then the possibility of 'redefining' it existed.
Just like how he used to modify code in his previous life.
If he couldn't delete this segment of code, could he...
Modify its running logic?
Bell spun around suddenly, his gaze falling on the silver table knife on the desk.
A crazy idea quietly sprouted in his mind.
If it couldn't be undone, then he would just... trick it.
Rate on N.U.
