“Cough, cough… gah! Phew. Well now, I apologize for showing you such an unsightly display. But rest easy—I won’t die from something of this level.”
Edward boasted as much while vigorously wiping his mouth.
Even after taking the full brunt of super-high-intensity flames, the quality of his clothing was so exceptional that he had managed to survive. Though, even without the enchanted fabric, I had a feeling the man was simply too stubborn to stay down.
Edward began applying Recovery Magic to himself as he addressed Wednesday.
“Now then, what will it be? I shall ask you once more: if you are truly as capable as you seem, there should be no need to even think about which side to choose, correct?”
He snapped his Robe of Concealment with a flourish and made his declaration.
“Ours, naturally.”
“Why are you deciding that on your own?” Wednesday asked, tilting her head at Edward’s forceful tone.
It was a perfectly valid question.
“I have no use for weaklings,” she continued. “If I am to be bound by a blood contract, the heir of House Brave is at least more trustworthy, given that his strength serves as collateral.”
“Ah, sorry, but I’m not interested.”
As long as she didn't interfere while Edward played his games, I didn't care what happened to her. I certainly wasn't going to go out of my way to create a servant bound to my will.
House Brave took pride in standing on the absolute front lines. Our way of life was simple: anyone offering to "risk their life to fight in our stead" was told to get out of the way because they were a nuisance.
“……”
I couldn’t see much of her expression besides her eyes, but she radiated an aura of blatant dissatisfaction. It seemed she was actually leaning toward Edward’s deal.
But there was a problem: she was a girl.
In a situation where Alicia and I hadn't even reached a formal milestone in our relationship yet, signing a blood contract with another woman felt like it would look incredibly bad on my record. Even Onyx had gone out of his way to give Mariana one of his scales instead of a more intimate bond, purely out of consideration for my relationship with Alicia.
If even a dragon was that careful about social boundaries, there was no way I could go around forming blood-ties with some random girl from the criminal underworld. No way.
I pride myself on being a devoted man.
“Look, if you want to defect, feel free to do it. Otherwise, I’ll put my heart and soul into—”
I cut off my words and surrounded the area with a Barrier, pushing my bloodlust to the forefront.
During the summer break, I had come up with a new technique inspired by the demons I’d killed and the idiomatic nonsense I’d heard from the more talkative ones. By drawing the Mana filling the atmosphere directly into my body, I no longer required my own internal stores once the Barrier was established.
By having the deployed Barrier absorb ambient Mana, I had created a self-sustaining system that maintained itself regardless of my own Magic Power. I could even restructure it on the fly to absorb an opponent's spells.
Furthermore, I’d been dragged into a Mental World by the demon possessing Jelasis, hadn't I? Taking inspiration from that experience, I was now able to project a pseudo-Mental World inside my Barrier. It was a natural progression; since the Barrier was constructed from my will, everything inside it was an extension of my domain.
“...Gh, ghhh!”
“This is... a realm so refined it makes me feel ashamed for ever thinking I could catch up if I just worked hard enough...”
I could even freeze a target's movements entirely. Wednesday writhed as if she were under a paralysis spell, while Edward, realizing he was pinned, let out a gasp of genuine admiration. Naturally, only someone on the level of a high-ranking demon could hope to use magic inside this space.
“—I’ll simply kill you.”
“Gah!”
Using my Magic Power Sight to peer through her, I used my magic to manifest the shape of a palm and gripped a vital point. Wednesday spat out a mouthful of blood. For a demon, it would have been the core; for a human, it was the area surrounding the heart.
The hood of her black outfit, which had concealed everything but her eyes, tore away. From beneath it emerged a beautiful girl with red hair and freckles. Her eyes were a deep, piercing crimson.
“You don't have the luxury of being picky,” I told her. “If you want a blood contract, go sign one with the Bald Robe over there. If you get in my way, I’ll kill you. As long as you don’t, I don't care what you do.”
The two of them could play at being shadows together for all I cared.
“Gah... forgive me. I seem to have vomited blood out of sympathy.”
...Honestly.
They could spend the rest of their lives vomiting blood together; they were a perfect match.
“This has become a hassle. Just get it over with.”
Judging by the feel of her magic, her situation was remarkably similar to Jelasis’s after he’d contracted with that demon. A Blood Contract was truly a taboo magic. I tried to analyze the structure to see if it could be unraveled, but the strands were so complexly intertwined that it was beyond my current ability.
I wondered how Edward planned to overwrite it. Since he claimed the method was passed down through the royalty, there was no doubt it had been created by the Ancient Sage. Perhaps it was a system designed so that only those of the high ducal families who carried the Sage’s blood could use it, meaning a direct descendant of House Etherdam could manipulate it at will.
Given that his personal talent was already head and shoulders above his peers, I assumed he was making it work through a combination of lineage and raw genius.
“Very well... hnghhhhh!”
Forcing himself to move through the paralysis of my domain, Edward reached out and held his hand over Wednesday’s chest.
“—This is a Royal Command. In the name of Edward Gran Etherdam—no, in the name of Etherdam V—I shall renew the ancient blood contract!”
His words carried the weight of magic, and Edward’s head began to glow with light.
Not his hand. His head. I wondered what the point of reaching out had been.
Actually, whatever. I didn't care about the details anymore.
“You’re not going to offer your blood or anything?” I asked.
“Naturally not. I am simply overwriting it with my name, so there is no issue.”
Edward spoke with a smug look on his face, but Wednesday was staring at him with an expression of pure horror.
“This is impossible. You’ve done something catastrophic.”
“Did it fail?” I asked.
If it had, I figured I’d just kill her and be done with it, but Wednesday shook her head.
“The current King is Etherdam IV. You falsified your identity to overwrite the contract. If a blood contract of this level is violated, only death awaits both parties.”
“Meaning?”
“It means that if I don’t become the King, we both die. Well, since the alternative was obeying her old masters or dying right now, isn’t it basically the same thing?”
Edward said this absolutely casual, outrageous thing as if he were discussing the weather.
“Besides, this was the only way I could think of to overwrite that contract.”
He tilted his head, apparently unable to come up with any other solution.
“Well, as long as I become King, everything will be fine. Father will probably live for another forty years anyway. If you’re going to spend your life as my Shadow, there’s no guarantee you’d live that long regardless. There are no real downsides.”
From what I could tell, he had forced the overwrite by claiming to be the next monarch, Etherdam V. I had no idea why that actually worked, but what was done was done. It was no use crying over spilled milk.
Wednesday had only one thing to say to Edward’s cheerful explanation.
“You are insane.”
Personally, I didn't think he was crazy—just a complete moron.
“Hey, Edward.”
“Incorrect. You must call me Shadow, oh Recklessness.”
God, he was tedious.
“You haven't decided the specific terms of the contract yet, have you? How does it work?”
“Everything is as I desire. If I tell her to die, she dies.”
“……”
“Now, don’t glare at me like that, Bloody Wednesday.”
“I would prefer you didn't use such a bizarre nickname,” she muttered.
It was her own fault for operating under that alias in the first place, but I kept that to myself. Ignoring her protest, Edward continued.
“I acknowledge the skill you used to snuff out my consciousness in an instant. All that matters is that you do not become a nuisance to the Empress or the Recklessness whom I serve. Recklessness, you may release this Barrier now. My life has also become her collateral.”
“Understood.”
I deactivated the Barrier. Freed from the paralysis, Wednesday made no move to resist. She simply stood silently before Edward. I didn't sense any bloodlust from her, so it seemed she really wouldn't take any hostile action.
“Now then, why don’t you spill every last detail about the enemy’s side?”
“Understood, My Master...”
“My Master? No. Call me Shadow. From this day forward, I am the shadow that rules the darkness of the Royal Capital. When you answer, you say: Yes, My Shadow.”
“...Yes... My... Shadow...”
She repeated the phrase with an aura of immense reluctance, but honestly, was it really that much worse than "My Master"? Edward looked satisfied, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Hmm, ‘Wednesday’ is a bit of a mouthful. From today, you are Wendy... no, since you are the first subordinate of the Shadow, you are The First—”
“—Wendy is fine.”
Wednesday cut him off instantly. I agreed with her from the bottom of my heart.
“If you like that name, I shall use it. I’ll have to craft a mask specifically for Wendy later, won’t I? I only have this one Robe of Concealment, but I shall prepare something similar for you.”
As Wendy—formerly Wednesday, now Wendy (The First)—turned a pleading gaze toward me as if begging for help, I chose to look away. I’d let her take over the job of looking after this idiot. As long as she gave us the information we needed, she could live however she wanted under Edward's protection.
Still, the fact that the nobility possessed magic that could unconditionally bind others... I had a feeling the people at the top were still hiding some truly terrifying secrets.
I needed to rethink my countermeasures. If I didn't, the higher-ups might just pull the rug out from under me.
“Brave, I have one question,” Wendy said. “Which head of the family are you?”
“Uh, the thirteenth, I think.”
“Wendy, show proper respect to one who ranks above me,” Edward chimed in. “While I may call him Recklessness, you must address him as Lord Reckless—”
“—Brave is fine.”
Brave was more than enough.