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Volume 1 Chapter 3-1: Contract

「Umm…why I wonder? Could you tell me the reason?」

Because of the sudden and drastic change in the situation I was quite sure my face looked pretty stupid. Sistina let out a little giggle. Frankly speaking it was amazingly cute. I don’t even care about the reason anymore I should’ve just said ‘OK’ immediately!!

「Alright. It’s not difficult to explain. I have three reasons.」

Eh? That many? Did I leave that deep of an impression after only knowing each other for such a short amount of time?

「First off I wish to return the favor of saving me. You said that you wished ‘to know everything’. It is impossible to teach you all that by the time we reach town.」

Certainly it would be very helpful for me, who knew nothing of this new world, to have a companion who understood the common sense and knowledge of it. Far from being a poor choice, Sistina had a special skill that made her almost ‘game-breaking’. In fact even if it cost me every cent I owned I’d want her as my comrade!

「The second reason is…because I do not want an event like today to ever occur again. For me to have the power to protect…yet be unable to protect those I wish to is ridiculous. I want to be able to fully wield the powers I possess as an Acolyte.」

That’s completely reasonable…if someone was being murdered right before my eyes and I was unable to act…I couldn’t handle that. Trash should be disposed of properly. This world should be one where such actions were possible.

If by entering a contract with me Sistina was able to act more freely then it was definitely beneficial to do so.

「Then finally, the third reason is because you stated that you have absolutely no objectives.」
「Eh? Why!?」
「Fufu…you have such power yet you say you have no objective. I imagine that since you say that you should have little to no current obligations or attachments. If you look at it from another perspective it also means that we can decide on an objective together. I am very interested in seeing what you do as a person who has a job I’ve never heard of before.」
「…I really don’t think it’s a big deal though.」
「I don’t mind. Speaking bluntly, even if you do as you said and simply live life day to day I feel it has its own worth as well.」

Well, she was right when she said I had no current attachments. As long as I didn’t destroy the rules of the world I could live freely.

….un, let’s stop here. There’s no way I can smooth this over or change things now that it’s come to this point.

At the end of the day…Sistina is cute! I wanna be with her. That’s it.

「Hotaru-san it’s alright with you too?」
「Of course noja. If a talented man doesn’t have at least 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 women around him it’d be a waste zo~.」

Oooh!! As expected of Hotaru-san. Her words echo in my heart!!

「Alright Sistina….san. I’ll be in your care from now on. Please enter a contract with me.」

At my words Sistina’s face lit up. She looked quite happy at the development and I was just as happy.

「Thank you very much!」

She said and extended her hand while murmuring something.

「Oh! Something came out!」

Three windows similar to the status menu opened up in front of me.

I looked more closely and saw the one of the left was light blue and contained an 『Employment Contract』. The one in the middle was light yellow and was titled 『Lord Contract』. The one on the right was light red and was titled 『Subordinate Contract』.

「It can’t be that you can’t read these Soujirou-sama?」
「Umm…Employment, Lord, and Subordinate?」
「As I thought you are still able to read them…they should have been written in a language that only Acolytes are taught. The reason for this is any contract with an Acolyte is usually decided upon by the Acolyte themselves.」

Sistina explained and she indicated the three contracts in front of me.

『Contract of Employment』—a contract that requires compensation. If there is a violation of the contract terms the Acolyte is able to one-sidedly revoke the contract.

『Lord and Retainer Contract』—a contract that does not require compensation. A contract that can be invalidated by the agreement of both sides to do so.

『Contract of Subordination』—a contract where the subject devotes their everything to the Master of the contract. The contract is only able to be annulled by the Master.

From left to right the Employment, Lord, and Subordinate contracts put continually harsher constraints upon the Acolyte. However, the more constricting the contract signed, the greater the amount of power the Acolyte obtains.

However, unless there are extenuating circumstances on the Acolyte’s side they will very rarely enter into a Subordinate Contract. Even without asking you can understand why. Without complete trust in someone, entrusting them with complete control over you was impossible. One wrong choice and it would be no different from a slave contract.

On the opposite side the Employment Contract was far too advantageous for the Acolytes. Because of this, most contracts signed were Lord Contracts that were modified to include some form of compensation through a subcontract.

There were also often times when an Employment Contract was used as a type of probation to see if the person was worth entering a more permanent contract with.