Book 1: Chapter 87: The Requirements and No One
"Sorry. Peter it is," Lone said. "Uh, what are the two requirements?"
'Please don't be anything weird or creepy. I swear to God, if he asks for something ridiculous like for Sophie to strip or anything like that then I'll lose it. One Daisuke's enough, though this guy is actually powerful and he seems mature. Finger's crossed he doesn't ask for anything strange,' Lone privately thought.
Peter raised one of his digits as he smiled from ear-to-ear and he then said, "First, you must name her."
Lone exhaled in relief mentally. That's a more than ordinary request. "She doesn't have a name yet?" he asked as he looked at the pudgy animal curled up in his arms.
Peter shook his head. "Not one of the world, no. No one has granted her one. Do you have any names in mind?"
Lone furrowed his brow. "I honestly don't know. My naming sense tends to be too edgy or too on the nose."
"When you look at her, what do you immediately think of?" Peter asked as slight hints of excitement wormed their way onto his expression.
Lone frowned. "I dunno. Fox? Golden Fox? Fluffy Sausage? On the edgier scale; Inari, Ketchimanet, Kitsune... Then there're the stupid things that just come to mind like Kurama or Kyubi."
"Kyuu..." the fox lazily yawned.
"Huh?" Lone focused on the soft creature only to find that it was now partially awake and looking right back at him.
"Kyuu?" it grumbled as it rested its chin and neck on Lone's forearm, seemingly trying to get itself comfortable.
"Kyubi with two 'u's perhaps?" Peter suggested. "What does that word even mean?"
"With two 'u's? Fuckin' nothing. Whatever. Sure. Let's go with Kyuubi," Lone said with a sigh. 'Of course it reacts to what my weeby side thought up. Stupid fox. Best not say her name in front of Daisuke if such a situation even comes up in the future. That'd be embarrassing.'
"Tut tut tut, Mister Immortus. Surnames hold just as much importance as forenames, which you should know. In fact, they hold even more import to some particularly entitled individuals, hmm?" Peter asked rhetorically. "Kyuubi Immortus or Kyuubi Vladimirovich?"
"Immortus," Sophie immediately answered in Lone's place. "Our name dies with us, thank you very much."
'She doesn't like her family name?' Lone thought in surprise. 'That's news to me. Well, to be fair, she's never gone into detail about her past with me before. I'm sure she has her reasons just like how I'm not overly attached to my identity as Darren McCullen.'
"Ah, fantastic. Now, onto the second requirement. This one is a slight bit more important, Mister Immortus, and only you can make it, not fair Miss Vladimirovich here," Peter cryptically claimed.
Lone nodded, ready to hear what the man had to say.
"Your remaining unique skill slots, well, you will have to use one of them tonight," Peter said, his smile just as wide as it always was.
"True Contract Magic, huh?" Lone muttered as he held the pudgy Golden Fox over his chest by its armpits as he lay on his bed.
While initially shocked and greatly alarmed by Peter's words, he spoke a lot of sense when he had elaborated on his meaning.
His idea greatly benefited the safety of the fox and it also added a few perks to an existing skill, so it honestly wasn't the worst of uses for a unique skill slot since Lone had yet to find a good use for them.
'I wonder if he has a few skills like Persuasion? He must as an auction host of his renown. It's a damn good skill he got me to make but I or Sophie should have questioned him more on how he knew about my ability to choose unique skills. I only have 2 more chances to create a new unique skill now...' Lone thought.
Kyuubi yawned slightly. She didn't seem to be too surprised to being held the way she was. She didn't even struggle. She just accepted her situation and closed her eyes again.
"You sure are docile and lazy, huh?" Lone asked.
"Kyuu..." the fox responded sloppily before drifting off again.
"Better than being hyper and a biter, I guess..." Lone set the animal on his chest and began gently stroking her head which made her purr like a motorbike engine.
Since he had nothing better to do while he waited for Sophie to finish with her bath, he pulled up the information of his new unique skill to review it once more.
Unique Skill: True Contract Magic
A skill unique to the host, Lone Immortus.
Allows the host to create magically binding contracts that cannot be broken nor removed by anyone, not even the host, once formed.
Contracts must be written with and by the blood of the host and signed using both the host's and the other party's (or parties') blood.
Contracts must offer an exchange of two things (or collections of things) that the involved parties truly believe to be equal in value.
Depending on the scale of the contract, it will be assigned a level. Each contract level has a cooldown. Level 1: 1-day. Level 2: 1-week. Level 3: 1-month. Level 4: 6-months. Level 5: 1-year.
The host may only ever create five Level 5 contracts. 4 remaining.
This skill is bonded to the unique skill: The Summoning Room.
Cost:N/A Mastery:N/A
"Such a complicated skill..." he mumbled. "I wonder if I can override existing contract magic like the magic put into slave collars using this? If so, I can theoretically free more slaves without needing to use Creation Magic to break the collars, which is handy since I can't use MP right now..."
Lone brought up the information sheet for The Summoning Room. He knew how it was linked to his new skill but he hadn't read the specifics on that just yet since he and Sophie had been too busy assuring Gilbert and Grimsley that they were fine before they were escorted back to the guild.
Unique Skill: The Summoning Room
A skill unique to the host, Lone Immortus.
Grants the host the ability to summon and unsummon listed beings at will.
[New!] This skill is bonded to the unique magic skill True Contract Magic, as a result, the host can add beings to the 'Listed Beings' list via a level 5 contract.
[New!] Listed beings may now view the host's actions from within The Summoning Room.
[New!] The host and the listed beings may now initiate unhindered telepathic communications with each other.
Listed beings: Sophie Vladimirovich, [New!] Kyuubi Immortus.
Cost:N/A Mastery:N/A
"If anything else, getting True Contract Magic was worth it just to get this telepathy..." Lone noted aloud. 'Testing. Testing. One two three. Test-'
'Shut up, would you?' Sophie sternly replied. 'Yes, yes, we can talk with our minds now. We do not, however, appreciate you interrupting our bathing with nothing but nonsense.'
Lone chuckled. "As snappy as ever, huh?"
He glanced down at the ball of fluff that was occupying his belly. 'What about you? Can you talk mentally, Kyuubi?'
A few seconds passed and all he could hear was the fox's loud purring. "Guess not. Are you actually just a fox? Did I really use up a unique skill just to get custody of a normal fox?"
Kyuubi's tongue flopped out of her mouth as she snored softly in rhythm with her purring.
"Well, at least you're cute, huh?" Lone said with a smile as he stroked the fox's head and rubbed her ears gently.
"It's so floofy!" Soph yelled, waking Lone.
Lone groggily opened his eyes only to be met with the glaring sun slamming down onto his poor, unprepared eyeballs.
Soph had apparently taken control of her and Sophie's body and woken up before him, quite the uncommon occurrence indeed.
She'd obviously opened the curtains and put on one of her plain dresses, this one, in particular, was a nice shade of purple. The girl was sitting cross-legged on the bed as she cuddled Kyuubi.
"Mmmm... Good morning," Lone groaned before stretching.
"Ah, uh, morning?" Soph replied a bit sheepishly. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"
"No, I'm actually still asleep," Lone joked. "Yeah, you did. What time even is it?"
"I'm not sure?" Soph replied. "I, uh, let my body get enough rest then took control immediately so I could hug this godly creature... Lone... She's so soft! She's just as soft as your tails are!"
"Well, don't squeeze her to death. She's just a baby, big and rotund as she is," Lone said as he pulled his arms across his chest, popping their joints in the process. "They can grow up to be, like, ten metres long if left to live for enough centuries. Back on Earth, her kind would be a mythical species for sure with a lifespan like that despite her being just a fox with golden fur."
For once, Soph seemed to be completely absorbed in one of his factual explanations. 'Of course she'd care when it involves her precious floof. Ha-ah. What will I do with you?'
He leaned over and pecked her softly.
Her cheeks turned slightly red as she asked, "W-What was that for?"
Lone grinned. "I ran out of my coffee yesterday morning and I don't have the MP to make more. That was my morning pick-me-up. Since I'm up already I may as well go take a bath. Wanna join me or are you gonna keep cuddling Kyuubi like some sort of plushie?"
"Kyuubi!" Soph answered instinctually.
"Haha, thought so." Lone clambered off of the bed and said, "Well, you'll still help me dry and manage my tails when I'm done, right?"
Soph nodded something fierce. "Of course I will!"
"Glad to hear it," Lone said in a relaxed manner.
Daisuke's eyes shot open violently when he felt his entire head suddenly get splashed with water cold as ice.
Standing over him was a big man in full-plate armour holding an empty pail. "Ah, looks like sleepin' beauty is awake, Your Majesty."
Daisuke trembled upon hearing that. His memories of the auction flooding his mind like a tidal wave and he realised just how badly he'd messed up.
At the same time, he recognised where he was and why he couldn't quite move his arms as well as he'd perhaps like to.
He was in the castle dungeon and his wrists were chained to the wall. 'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I actually spoke back to that stupid fucking king! Why the fuck did I do something so stupid?! I got too caught up in the moment and I bet that retarded animal used a skill on me or something! He must have!'
"We see you are having fun amusing yourself, Foolish Hero," the king spoke as he entered the cell. "We wonder what it is that has your mind so preoccupied that you would not immediately humble yourself when in my presence as you usually do?"
"I-I meant no disrespect, Your Majesty!" Daisuke pleaded. "I was merely dazed as I reflected on my prior stupidity at the auction. This foolish one sullied Your Majesty's honourable name by acting so unbecomingly of the country's hero!"
"We trust those words come from your heart, Foolish Hero, for if they are the byproduct of your unique skill, we will notice the moment I leave this dungeon and you will not like how we react to such a thing," the king threatened with a calm and collected voice.
Daisuke felt his saliva pooling at the back of his throat. He struggled to swallow it as he nodded slowly. "I-I would never think of such a thing, Your Majesty."
"Of course you would not, for to think, one first requires intelligence," the king stated. "You have a task, oh Foolish Hero, and this is not one you have the luxury to ignore or put aside as you so love to do when my generals try to give you missions to help you build your lacking repertoire of skills."
"I-I'll do anything, Your Majesty! I swear, my impulsiveness at the auction was a one-time incident! What must I do to pay for my sins?" Daisuke asked with genuine fear lacing his every word.
The look in the king's eye sharpened. "Simple. Kill the mongrol who so handily led you by the nose during last night's auction. You shall do it during the annual fighting tourney that is fast approaching. Extinct species or not, he must die for how he spoke to us, needless to say, he must be held responsible for the 20 ruby-gold coins we were forced to part with. Thank your gods that killing you is out of the question given your political value. Fail this task and a life worse than death awaits you, of that, I assure you, Foolish Hero."
His stare penetrated through Daisuke's very soul. "Magic is a wondrous thing, a wondrous thing that you have chosen to ignore. Our mages and Duke Malik will show you personally how wondrous it actually is should the beast still breathe after your match with it during the tourney."
The king then turned his back and began walking out of the cell. "You shall stay here, in the dungeon, for 3 more days, bereft of food. Be thankful this is all we have chosen to punish you with for your abysmal attitude and abhorrent actions last evening."
Daisuke hung there in silence as the king exited the dungeon, his mind fuming. 'That motherfucking slave-stealing inbred golden pile of shit! This is all his fault! Why can't I just live my perfect isekai life in peace?!'
His days of high school in Tokyo then his time at university flashed through his memory. Images of his later years as a shut-in weighed down heavily on his mind.
All at once, he felt his former depression flood into his thoughts. Bitterness surfaced on his face. "I'm finally not the loser freak who only exists to be picked on... I finally matter... You can't take this from me... No one can..."
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