＜ 8. Duel is a big deal in town (5) ＞
‘The devil is a spiritual being who has great power, but refuses to submit to the gods. Their power can be handled like a child even by the so-called heroes, and their knowledge is so deep that even scholars who have studied for a lifetime cannot even touch their toes.’
‘However, the gods did not intend to stand by and see demons roaming the world against their will. Most of their abilities were sealed by the gods, and they were only able to manifest in this world through a contract with humans…’
Andrea remembered what she had seen on a note the other day. The fact that the devil was guarding such a warehouse must have been because he had signed some kind of contract with the village chief.
Several questions were answered at the same time. Why the other challengers couldn’t touch the village head’s warehouse, why the villagers were abnormally obsessed with dueling, and why no one felt guilty about enslaving their neighbors.
It’s probably all because this devil did some trick. Andrea even knew what kind of demon this demon was.
Ose, the demon of madness and domination.
It was a demon that often appeared in the ‘Encounter with the Devil’ event.
“If you intend to touch anything here, get out of here. Because it’s the property of the guy I signed a contract with.”
“No, who is this? Aren’t you the demon of madness, Mr. Ose? The reputation has been heard.”
Andrea took a low profile for the time being. The situation was different from when dealing with NPCs like Arfan or Shylock. There was no rule that the demons should not harm the challenger.
The patterns drawn on Ose’s face turned into swirling patterns in his eyes. It was to see through the information about Andrea.
“What, what are you doing? What brought you here?”
Ose seemed very uncomfortable to face the servant of God. Khalisis and Osse shared similar aspects, but basically all demons hated God.
This was the important part from now on. Andrea calmly considered how to deal with the situation.
‘I vaguely guessed that the existence colluding with the village chief might be the devil… but I never thought it was true. Fortunately, everything was prepared for the Encounter with the Devil event. I just need to solve it well through conversation.’
Andrea cleared her throat and spoke in a rather theatrical tone.
“I really want to ask. Why did a great devil like Ose end up guarding the storehouse of such an idiot village chief?”
“It’s none of your business to know.”
“It must be because of the contract, right? What a tragedy. No matter how powerful a demon like Ose-sama is, because of the restrictions of the gods, he cannot intervene in the present world without making a pact with humans…”
Ose let out a small laugh as if it was absurd.
“Aren’t you the pawn of that damn god? If you want to reach the ’embrace of eternal rest’, I can kill you right away.”
If the afterlife of the Sun Bridge is a ‘paradise where the sun never sets,’ there is a ’embrace of eternal rest’ in the Shadow Bridge. Andrea didn’t believe either way.
There was no reason to retreat just because you were threatened. Andrea smirked and decided to respond.
“Thank you for the suggestion, but I think it is still a bit early. I brought up these words because although I am a body that has received God’s grace, my respect for great spirits is not very different from that toward God. Besides, Khalicis is so generous that he doesn’t even care about tidying up for a second.”
When blessed by another god, if you come into contact with the devil, the will of the god will block all conversations. However, when he received the blessing of the Shadow God, he was able to talk and even do other things.
He said it back, but Ose immediately realized what Andrea was talking about. Interested, Ose’s face turned into a spiral pattern of rhombuses.
“What are you? Do you really want to make a contract with me?”
Andrea nodded. Ose rested his chin on his chin and waved his index finger left and right with his other hand.
“Unfortunately, it is impossible. It’s impossible to make contracts with other bastards until you finish the contract with the village chief.”
“The contract with the village chief, of course, must have been a contract to drive the villagers into madness and protect the village chief’s property, right?”
Ose shrugged. It’s like judging what’s best for you. Andrea’s ambiguous attitude gave her confidence.
“A contract is a law that can be covered by a contract. What if I brought this?”
Andrea took out a small scroll from her chest. Ose’s face changed into a pattern of overlapping concentric circles.
“What is it, the miser’s devil’s contract? It’s made by Mamon. I brought you something fun.”
When Andrea asked Trisha to buy the ‘Twenty-Finger Grip’, she asked her to buy this artifact as well.
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Normally, the effect of this artifact is just to earn you a little more gold until you spend it next time. However, in the ‘Encounter with the Devil’ event, this artifact really shines.
Even if it is a demon that has already made a contract, it will allow you to cancel the existing contract and enter into a new contract in exchange for gold.
“But with that alone, we can’t sign a contract. In order to make a contract with the devil, you have to use a lot of blood to seal it. If I used that much of your blood right now, would I die right away?”
This is why the ‘Encounter with the Devil’ event is usually treated badly. Similar to God’s Blessing, you get a hefty price, but instead of eccentricity, demons do lethal damage. If you didn’t raise your max HP steadily, enough to kill you instantly.
However, Andrea has already prepared everything. He took the bloody seal from his bosom and gently shook it.
“You don’t have to worry if it’s a seal to replace blood. I already have it.”
Ose’s face changed into a big mouth. He raised the corners of his mouth and gave a sly smile.
“Are you prepared to meet me in advance? The shadow guy’s henchmen sometimes surprise me. Alright, let’s make a contract with you. What do you want?”
One hurdle passed. Andrea did not relax. Now I had to deal with some more annoying problems.
“I am the village chief.”
“…the village chief?”
“I want to enslave the chief of this village.”
“Hmm, I don’t know what you want to do… There’s no problem with that arrangement.”
Ose seemed to jump out of the treasure chest, but in an instant, he came in front of Andrea and grabbed her neck.
“But if you want to cover my contract with Mamon’s contract, you will have to pay a huge penalty yourself. You don’t seem to have that much of a fortune, do you?”
A very coercive attitude. However, Andrea was not at all discouraged.
“Ose, I have a question for you. If a person becomes a slave, whose property does that person belong to?”
“Well, of course it won’t belong to the owner… Ha, can’t it?”
“I want to make a contract to enslave the chief of this village as a slave. And the penalty will be paid from the village chief’s property.”
Ose froze for a moment. It was a proposal that went beyond common sense, so even the demon in charge of madness was at a loss for words.
After a while, Ose’s mouth was torn open. He burst out laughing so loudly that the ceiling rang.
“ha ha ha! Crazy bastard, you’re going to procure the down payment to enslave directly from the slaves? Do you think that makes sense? If that’s the case, there’s no one in the world who can’t be enslaved!”
Andrea was confused whether it was an insult or a compliment to say that the demon of madness is an insane child. Andrea questioned tremblingly.
“Then is the contract still not working?”
“Of course not! But who am I? Aren’t you the devil of madness? It sounds so crazy that this time is an exception. Let’s make a contract right away!”
Andrea let out a sigh of relief.
In fact, this plan would have failed if Osse had come up with the idea that he had to pay the down payment before signing the contract. However, Ose seemed to like Andrea’s idea very much because it was demonic.
Ose snatched the scroll from Andrea’s arms. As he waved his hand over the paper, the dense writing was revealed.
“The condition of the contract is that the village head make you subordinate to become your slave, and in return, you pay the penalty for breaking my contract and the down payment for this contract. If you agree, put the bloody seal on the blank space below.”
It was written in demonic characters, so I couldn’t read the contents, but demons couldn’t lie about contracts anyway. Although we may not be able to tell you all the details of the terms and conditions of the contract.
Andrea asked cautiously.
“Then… exactly how much is the penalty and down payment combined?”
In the end, to be honest, I was trying to make money, but my belly button shouldn’t be bigger than my stomach. Ose twirled his fingers in the air and looked at the contract.
“Let’s see. It was a contract that gave madness to the entire village, and since the body and soul were pledged to me over there, the penalty was approximately 78,550 gold… plus the down payment of 2,500 gold to enslave one person, it would be 81,050 gold!”
It was a much larger amount than expected. Andrea asked in a trembling voice.
“…then, roughly how much is the property in this storehouse?”
“In terms of gold alone, it is 46,500 gold, and including the value of relics and cards, it is about 86,800 gold!”
Ose burst into laughter. Excluding the down payment and the cancellation fee, there was only about 5,000 gold left. Andrea burst out laughing in frustration.
‘Damn it, the profit is too salty than expected…’
Even 5,000 gold was a huge amount for a challenger who had only climbed the 25th floor, but since he had a treasure much bigger than that in front of his eyes, he had no choice but to be satisfied. But Andrea soon changed her mind.
‘No, if I had gotten that much money anyway, Arpan must have appeared and punished me. Because the Dungeon of Infinity had anti-cheat measures…’
When playing ‘Dungeon of Infinity’, if you have too much money or valuable cards on a floor that is not too high, Arpan will appear.
Arpan confiscated the player’s property, citing fairness, but it was fairness as it sounded good, but in reality it was an anti-cheat measure. To prevent users who play by manipulating numbers with cheat-o-matic.
I didn’t know if that would be the case in real life, but it felt more comfortable to think that way anyway. Andrea put a seal on the contract.
“The contract has been established.”
With the declaration, Ose’s appearance changed. A reddish mist seemed to wrap around it, and then it swelled to a large size, and its tailcoat turned into red armor. In one hand, he also held a cane with a blunt iron at the end.
As Ose waved his hand, the mist seeped through the treasures in the storeroom. After the fog lifted, all that remained in the warehouse was a small pile of gold.
“Then, shall we go and fulfill the contract?”
Ose slammed the warehouse door and came out. The village chief was tucked away in the next corner, still unconscious.
When the demon of madness clicked his fingers, the village chief opened his eyes as if he had fainted at some point. As soon as the village chief saw the armed Ose, he was delighted.
“Oh, Mr. Ose! It looks like you defeated the challenger who entered the warehouse!”
“No, he became my new contractor. And from now on you are the slave of my new contractor.”
The village chief blinked his eyes in a daze. A bewildered face that doesn’t know what the hell this is talking about. Ose thrust his cane into the village chief’s forehead.
“According to the contract, I will carve you with the brand of a slave. As long as you bear this stigma, if you disobey your master’s orders, a pain worse than death will tear you apart.”
The skin on his forehead was ripped red, and a spiral pattern of rhombuses was drawn. The village chief screamed hoarsely from the sudden pain.
Andrea came out of the warehouse belatedly and looked at her slave with a confused expression.
＜ 8. Duel is a big deal in town (5) ＞ End