Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 94 - 89: Mommy’s here?

[The Same Day, Afternoon]

[The Baron’s Office]

"So, what do you want?"

After the interrogation with the tree girl, I asked the Baron for a ’private talk’ to which he agreed, and thus the question.

"What else could a mercenary ask for other than a deal?", I said before taking out a blank mercenary contract and pen.

Then, with a thought, I used telekinesis to write a few clauses on the contract before handing it out to Baron.

With furrowed brows the Baron accepted the contract and read it.

**

[Mercenary Contract of Employment of Trouble-seekers by Baron Marek Lekin Dena]

1. The mercenary group, Trouble-seekers will work to find and destroy the hidden religion Church of Light.

2. Baron Marek’s forces will aid the group with information and manpower, the group will do the same.

3. Both groups won’t harm each other in any direct or indirect way.

4. Any groups involved with the Church of Light will be judged as hostile or not, depending on the situation.

4.1. The decision will be made by the head of the mercenary group, i.e., by Ray Niger and can only be superseded directly by Baron Marek.

5. Ray Niger will be the owner of the object that the Church of Light worships.

5.1. Whether the object is real or fake, present or absent, intact or damaged, will not oblige the employer, i.e., Baron Marek, to offer extra compensation.

6. Baron Marek will pay 3,000,000 Coles to Trouble-seekers after the Church of Light is destroyed or rendered incapable of operating.

7. An extra amount of 1,000,000 Coles will be given to Trouble-seekers immediately, for their help in suppressing the terrorist attack in Lueurre on 19/11/X953.

8. Any further clauses can be added to the contract by both parties, provided they do not collide with each other.

**

"This is surprisingly fair.", the Baron said, mildly surprised. "Though a little overpriced."

"It’s not your normal job after all.", I said before asking, "Anything you wanna add?"

"Yes. What if you fail? What if destroying this religion is out of your league?"

’Right. For someone who doesn’t know the plot…surely that’s a possibility.’

So, I took the contract from Baron and added another clause to it.

**

9. If the group, Trouble-seekers fails to complete the clause 1 then, the employer, i.e., Baron Marek is exempt from clause 6.

**

"How about this?", I gave the amended contract back to Baron.

"Good enough.", the Baron said, as he signed on the contract without delay.

His sign quite literally got etched on the magical contract before it split itself two identical copies.

"Now, I’m sure you didn’t ask for a private talk only for this.", he said as he handed me one of the copies.

With that the formalities were over.

And so were the arrangements to get the aid I needed, to secure the Tree of Light.

Now, second goal that I wasn’t too sure of accomplishing was…flopping the Demonic Cult’s original plan!

I mean, weren’t those crystals and the tree girl’s reaction to them too suspicious? Not to mention, I got that crystal in the forest near Rabhat, which is more than a solid thousand kilometers away from Lueurre.

So, if I add all the facts, then they don’t make sense…unless I assume that this wasn’t the only city that the Demonic Cult had planned on sabotaging.

(A/N: Do you guys need more explanation over this adding the facts? If so, then comment here, and I’ll add them from the next time. I thought they would bore you.)

Yes, it feels like I am overexaggerating or cooking things up in my mind, but right now my author-senses was tingling too hard for my brain to ignore them.

So, I plan to prepare a failsafe, an alliance to work together, in case they are right.

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Storing the other half of the contract in my bracelet, I said solemnly, "Yes, there is something else I want to talk about."

"What is it?", the Baron straightened up as he asked.

-Tuk

In response, I took out my faction emblem and placed it on his table, causing him to raise his brows.

"It’s an…neutral faction emblem.", he said, mildly surprised.

"Yes.", I nodded.

"Is the neutral faction finally joining the fray?", he muttered, before looking straight at me, knowing all too well that I heard that.

"That’s not something that, I, an normal officer can say.", I shrugged.

"A ’normal officer’, huh? Then the talk’s over.", the Baron abruptly said. "I won’t talk to a kid who can’t accept the consequences of his actions."

Actually, ’abrupt’ wasn’t the correct word here.

Cause the Baron wasn’t abrupt at all. In fact, I would have done the same if I was in his position.

Why?

Cause, what I just did, implied that my words were the words of the faction but the next moment I denied that. Of course, he won’t talk to somebody like that…not until I do a little explaining here.

-Sigh

"That’s the problem with old people y’know. Jumping to conclusions before listening the whole thing.", I shrugged, before continuing, "Yes, I maybe an normal officer but my Master isn’t one."

"And he wants to talk to you."

"A Master, huh? Who is it?"

The Baron asked curiously, and my answer made him narrow my eyes.

"Someone higher ranked than you – an Archmage."

"So, what do you say…wanna hear more about it?", I asked with a smile, knowing his answer all too well.

"Cheeky.", he commented, before he sighed and continued, "Go on, indulge me kid."

"Happily.", I smiled and told him more.

The facts as I knew, and my speculations as if they were my master’s with a little exaggeration of course.

And before you ask me who was this master of mine, let me tell you – there isn’t one.

But it wasn’t a thought on the fly either.

I simply planned to get an Archmage to act as my Master.

Actually, I had talked to the Earl about this before and he agreed to giving me the political say that my position as the Ellsworth family’s heir gave me in the faction’s decision making.

Meaning, I was allowed to make suggestions.

And to follow up my suggestions, power was needed.

Cause in this world which follows – might makes it right…there were somethings that I couldn’t do with wit alone.

A C-ranked young man, who was actually a D-ranked kid…just who the hell would take his words seriously? Especially when he says he is talking on behalf of a whole faction.

Not to mention, I knew nowhere enough about the political states to negotiate and actually establish the alliance. Such things were better left to heavy weights…who would actually decide if those suggestions were actually profitable or not.

And coincidently, those heavy weights or rather Archmages were privately ordered by the Earl to help me in case I needed their help with something…which I needed now.

So, I guess…I’ll make an Archmage my ’master’.

Yes, that was cheating, with both the sides of the coin in my favor…but who cares!

In this magical world destined to doom, a little cheating was nothing if I could change this for better.

The only uncertainty was…if there was really a scheme brewing or it was just me overthinking.

In the end, it took a while but I explained the whole situation to the Baron, and told him that my Master will personally visit him to sort out the details, in a week or so, which was perfectly fine with him.

"Then we are done here.", I said, closing the subject.

To which the Baron nodded quietly, as if contemplating something.

I left him to contemplate whatever it was that he was contemplating, and stood up, aiming to leave.

Before I could though, I heard the Baron question, "What are you going to do now?"

I half turned, and pulled out the list of names that the tree girl gave us, waving towards the Baron as I stated the obvious, "I am going to capture those sneaky critters on name-list, obviously."

Adding a little joke, "Don’t go senile on me, Mr. Marek."

"Oh! And since when do you care about my health?"

"Caring the health of the employer is the least an employee could do.", I laughed, giving him a two finger salute, "’Till the next time!"

***

Silence lingered in the Baron’s office as Rayne left, which should have been normal cause a sane man wouldn’t talk to himself.

But something was different…

It wasn’t the same comforting silence of being alone that engulfed the room, rather there was palpable tension in room that made it hard for someone to speak.

And right now, this someone was the high and mighty ruler of Lueurre, Baron Marek Lekin Dena.

For a while, he didn’t say anything…it looked like he wanted to, but the words just kept dying in his mouth...

It was after a whole minute or two, that felt like hours to the Baron, that he mustered the courage and spoke.

"Um, Lady Amelia…are you there?", the Baron literally croaked. And in response an existence flickered into existence.

An exotically beautiful kitsune adorning a light purple-black armor fully designed for speed.

"That I am Baron Marek.", the woman or rather Archmage Amelia…the fastest Archmage in the world said without being overly submissive, polite or domineering.

Just a perfect blend of everything.

’Just as the rumors say.’, the Baron thought.

"Was my performance satisfactory Lady Amelia?", the Baron asked with a hint of hesitation.

"Don’t worry Mr. Marek, it was good enough. Young Master didn’t suspect a thing.", the lady Archmage said with a slight smile, that Rayne would say was fake, as she reassured the Baron.

"But we should talk about the important things first, shouldn’t we? How was the Young Master?"

"With all due respect, Lady Amelia, was that really Young Master Rayne?"

"I have no reason to lie, Mr. Marek, especially to a ally.", Amelia straightforwardly replied, before repeating herself, "So, how was Young Master? Please answer honestly without sugarcoating it."

"He is good, Lady Amelia. Too good for a 14 yr. old kid, much less for someone dubbed as the ’Crazy Young Master’."

Suddenly, the Baron felt the air getting colder.

’What’s this chill?’, he thought, but continued speaking anyways.

"He knows how to test waters, look for limits, fetch profit, fool even his allies and most importantly he knows when to give up."

’Huh? The air got warmer…this isn’t a coincidence, is it?’, the Baron, internally sweated as the smile on Amelia’s face suddenly got bigger.

"His strength...would be his confidence when he bluffs, which is strange consider how upright he was before. As for his weakness…" the Baron hesitated, "It’s his cheekiness and lack of information."

"He is too cheeky and rough even when talking with nobles.", the Baron eventually said.

But feeling another chill in the room, he screamed internally, ’Trap! This is a trap!’, as he tried his best to put it nicely, "Well, that may be subconscious as he never had to pay much attention to etiquette because of his social standing before, but that won’t work for a mercenary persona. Most nobles would refuse any kind of deal offered by such a cheeky mercenary even if the terms of the deal were pretty good. That’s something he needs to work on, along with his political knowledge."

"He should know that imperialists and neutral faction are already in a loose alliance. So, his suggestion would be interpreted as a formation of a concrete alliance which will disturb the current political status quo of the empire."

With that the Baron stopped talking and hoped that he did a good job.

"Is that all, Mr. Marek?", Amelia asked, with the same balanced tone as before but the Baron wasn’t fooled this time.

’Emotionless and calculating my ass…she is just obsessed with her Young Master.’

Of course, those thoughts would never make it out of his mouth.

"Yes, Lady Amelia. Though, I would like to ask something if you don’t mind."

"Ask anyways."

"Why is Young Master Rayne, posing as a mercenary and getting in dangerous situations? Shouldn’t he…peacefully train in the safety of the Ellsworth estate? And why does he want the ownership of the object that the Church deifies?"

For the first time, Amelia smiled wryly, as she said, "I’m afraid, only the Young Master has the answer of your questions."

Flustered, Baron responded, "Oh!, I see…Sorry to waste your time. You can be on your way to catch those demon cultists now."

"You are misunderstanding something here, Mr. Marek. I am not here to catch those demon cultists. I am here to be Young Master’s shadow, who will protect him only when he is in mortal danger.", Amy said with a strained smiled as she recalled how she had to beg to come here.

’I can’t tell him that I practically begged the Earl to let me go…that too on the orders that I won’t intervene unless Young Master is about to die. Not to mention I only have a week here...’, Amelia thought as she fixed her smile, ’…but what can I do, I miss him too much!!’

For a moment, Baron thought he was hearing things…then the next moment he thought he was seeing things too! For he saw that ’Lady Amelia’, flash a motherly smile!

Dumbfounded and exhausted, in the end Baron simply dismissed the tailed Archmage saying, "I see. I hope you enjoy your stay then."

"Thank you."

After a polite reply, Amelia left. Finally, leaving the Baron alone in his office’s solace, what he didn’t know was, the kitsune’s plan’s on using his words.

’Young Master’s really impressive, as expected! Now, I just need use this video and my influence to increase Young Master reputation and decrease the backlash on Master.’, the kitsune thought with twinkling eyes as she went to stalk- *ahem*, ensure her Young Master’s safety.