The previous day.
“Fenrir, Anubis, Nidhogg. I need you to sign these contracts.”
Nathan presented them with the same contract.
‘For 10 Ena, Fenrir will lend the strength enhancement ability for 30 minutes to Nathan. This contract will only be active the moment Nathan wakes up.’
“This is…” Fenrir looked surprised. “The contract looks weird. What does it mean that it will only be active once you wake up?”
“Literally.” Nathan smiled. “After upgrading my contract, I have come to realize that the way I word my contract matters a lot. In fact, this is inspired by that one instance when the three of us signed the contract at the same time.
“I can’t help but think, ‘Is there a way for me to make the contract active at the same time even if we don’t sign it simultaneously?’ I’m worried that I might end up messing with the timing. It will be troublesome if a familiar is stopping one of you, right? Or maybe you are at a distance or something else, which ultimately stops you from signing the contract.
“And the solution is this. I want to see whether this is possible or not. If we add the condition of the activation, I might even be able to make a contract a few days prior and activate it all of a sudden.”
Fenrir and the others were stunned. They never considered this possibility.
“It seems you are utilizing your Soul Contract in a unique way.” Anubis nodded, approving his method. He even signed it immediately.
“Hehe. I’m just thinking about how I can use the Soul Contract to its full potential or even surpass that limit. I mean, this ability is unique, so how do I use it in a way that I’m the only one who can use it like that? Whenever I read novels, I always hate whenever they write stories about them not utilizing their unique power like systems or other abilities.” Nathan chuckled.
Fenrir smiled. This was why he considered Nathan a perfect summoner. If he encountered a problem or found inspiration, that experience would improve the way he handled his power.
Fenrir immediately signed the contract.
Nidhogg was able to see the brilliance of his contractor for the first time. And he was satisfied. It wasn’t a wrong decision to respond to his call because this would definitely be an exciting journey.
After those three signed the contracts, Fenrir couldn’t help but ask, “Still, why do you prepare a contract like this? What do you mean by waking up? How do you know you will need it when you wake up?”
And Sera was also asking the same question.
His response remained the same. With a smile on his face, he simply stated, “Because I made them move exactly like I wanted.”
“!!!” Sera dropped her jaws. “You know everything? You know those villagers are bandits?”
“Not all villagers, but they are indeed related to bandits.” Nathan raised four fingers. “There are four big reasons. I found it suspicious that their stronghold was rather empty when you literally got attacked not long ago.”
Sera took another look at what happened and he was right. Why did she not realize this?
“The second one was the oasis. It was weird for the bandit stronghold to operate without water. Everyone needs water to continue living.”
“Was that the reason you asked whether there was any oasis nearby?”
“Exactly. They only had one water source, the oasis. I didn’t see any wells when we sneaked in.” Nathan smirked. “The third reason was the number of buildings. The village looked big with a lot of buildings, but when I strolled around the village once again, the number of people was simply too low.
That is why they must have additional people living there and there’s only one place that can supply that number.”
“The stronghold!” She gasped.
“Exactly. In other words, the bandits and the villagers should know each other. In fact, some of them might already be a part of the bandit group. I don’t know how many people know this… well, all of them might already be a part of the bandit. They lure the travelers and extort them.”
She looked down. “But what about the fourth reason? Why did you say you made them move according to your will?”
Nathan grinned. “If they are indeed the bandits, then it makes things simple. It’ll be hard to separate them, so I have to throw bait.”
“Bait? The building!” She trembled.
“Exactly. To capture us, they only have two options: encircling us or poisoning us. You have escaped from them once, so it’s clear that it won’t be easy to catch both of us when we are together. They have to be careful, so how do you make them move? That’s easy. Throw the bait and make them lower their guard.
After all, there is nothing easier to defeat than overconfidence pricks.” Nathan grinned.
She realized they looked so confident the moment they built that house. She thought they would definitely succeed.
The bandits must have thought the same and chose to poison them.
In other words, by building that house, Nathan had sealed their second option. It wasn’t wrong for him to say he made them move according to his will.
The only concern she had left was none other than herself. Nathan had been doing everything this whole time. Why did he not tell her about it? She could cooperate with him.
The answer was something she could easily find herself. It was because of her character. There was no way she would follow Nathan’s instructions, especially since they had just met each other.
He considered both her personality and her ideology and used it to his advantage. Instead of telling her it was wrong or just accommodating her like the people from the Holy Kingdom, he completely owned her.
“I’m sorry… I must have made it hard for you.”
“People have weaknesses and make mistakes. I’m no different. However, people will change and they will definitely work hard to solve their weaknesses and avoid future mistakes. Rather than blaming someone, it’s better to use it to my advantage. That’s my motto.” Nathan smiled while extending his hand to help her up.
This was the first time she saw a person like Nathan. The people in church would always force her to change, the nobles were accommodating her, which ended up judging her, and the people were having expectations from her.
She did her best to change, tried to avoid making mistakes, and fulfilled their expectations. But sometimes, she was just tired. The atmosphere in the Holy Kingdom was suffocating.
Nathan was different. He accepted her as she was. Any human would definitely try to improve so that they could always become a better person the next day. He knew it and just accepted the current her. Even her weaknesses and mistakes were useful to him.
Her heart was beating rapidly for some reason. The person before her not only acknowledged her success but also all the efforts she had put into it.
Still, this was not the reason for enabling her. This excitement just made her want to put in more effort to be a better person.
Compared to her, he was more fitting to be the saint.
Sera didn’t even realize that her face reddened as she took his hand.