A few months had passed since I made my contract with Caster.
Unfortunately, that also ant a few months of him constantly pestering for soul shards.
Honestly, it was getting annoying.
Not that I could refuse. The contract made that painfully clear—no matter how much I complained, I had to supply him. So, after a bit of thought, I decided the best way to preserve my sanity was to give him an allowance.
Two soul shards a day.
Take it or leave it.
(He didn't have a choice.)
On the bright side, I had sohow convinced him to sell all the monster parts I owned at the castle. That alone earned so extra money on the side. Caster sold them cheap—he had a strict don't ask questions policy—but hey, it was still better than letting corpses rot away uselessly.
So overall?
Annoying, but profitable.
Right now, though, I had bigger problems.
Naly, I was trying to learn a new contract from Feltan.
And it was going about as well as you'd expect.
---
"Wait—wait," I said, staring at the sigil etched before . "Did I hear you right? You're saying that if I make this edge even a little narrower, the contract completely changes? Instead of creating a barrier, it locks in place?"
Feltan nodded.
At least, I assud he nodded. I couldn't actually see him—only hear his voice echoing in my head.
"Yup. And if you make the third circle slightly larger," he added casually, "you'd sacrifice… ugh… your manhood instead of just a finger."
I instinctively reached down in pure horror.
"God damnit," I groaned. "And you said this was a simple contract?"
Feltan sighed, the sound heavy with long-suffering patience.
"It is," he said. "About as simple as a self-bound contract gets. Relax, kid. You're doing great. You've morized over a dozen symbols and ford your first contract in what—two months?"
I stayed silent.
"It took two decades to do that." Feltan added
That… actually helped. A little.
I let out a tired sigh and stood up, stretching my aching back.
"Well," I muttered, "thanks for the lesson, I guess."
My spine cracked loudly. Being hunched over sigils for a week straight was doing wonders for my posture. At this rate, I was going to develop scoliosis before I understand even a small bit of sacrificial sorcery.
"I'll see you in a month," I said. "Sa ti. I'll keep working on this sigil in the anti."
With that, I made my way back through the Dark City, stretching as I walked, until the distant glow of the castle's light's finally ca into view.
---
I entered the abandoned building I'd repurposed as a drop point—where I exchanged information with Caster and delivered his allowance.
Co to think of it…
I hadn't checked his letters in a while.
I flipped through the stack.
"Alright," I muttered. "Begging for soul shards. Begging for soul shards. Oh—this one's also begging for soul shards."
Then I paused.
"Huh. Why is this one labeled important?"
That caught my attention.
I opened the letter and began reading.
'Alucard, rember Nephis of the Immortal Fla Clan? The girl I ntioned before—the sleeper with a true na?'
"…Do I?" I muttered.
I rummaged through the clutter until I found a soggy note shoved into a corner. I had used it earlier to wipe up so unidentified liquid that had dripped from the ceiling—sothing I very intentionally refused to touch directly.
I unfolded it.
Yep.
That was the one.
Caster had gone on at length about how talented she was. How strong. How beautiful.
Honestly, he described her like a banshee trying to convince you not to kill her.
"Alright, buddy," I muttered. "Whatever you say."
The only part that actually interested was the true na. Getting one in her first nightmare put her in the sa rare category as .
Strong? Definitely.
Stronger than ?
Ha. No.
I returned to the new letter.
'She's currently in the Forgotten Shore, on the outskirts. Do not harm her yet. She's a valuable asset—possibly the key to escaping this hell. She killed a Pathfinder instantly.'
That made pause.
"…Instantly?"
Now that was interesting.
I could probably do the sa—but it would take a considerable amount of blood. Or… if I sohow triggered that [Fail-Safe] function again.
Strange. It hadn't activated since my eting with Feltan. I had been caught in illusions recently—especially in the past few weeks—but all that happened was my eyes burning before I broke free.
I shook my head.
Focus.
'She's staying with Sunless and a blind girl nad Cassie, near the edge of the outskirts.'
I folded the letter.
"Well then," I said softly. "Let's go pay this Nephis girl a visit."
---
One Week Earlier
When Nephis, Cassie, and Sunny first arrived at the Forgotten Shore, things went mostly as they had in the original tiline.
Mostly.
Until Sunny sat down to eat the food Effie had offered.
Effie stared at him for a long mont.
"You know," she said slowly, "you remind of soone."
Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And who would that be?"
Effie shrugged. "A friend of mine. He's creepy. Has a weird na. Kinda like you."
Sunny frowned. "That's it? That's why I remind you of him?"
Effie sniffed the air.
"Nope. You also sll weird. Sa way he does."
Sunny bristled. Sure, he hadn't showered in months—but that didn't give her the right to say it to his face.
"Oh really?" he said dryly.
Before he could respond further, Effie turned toward Nephis.
"And you," she added, "should stay far away from Al. Trust . Your existence alone is basically a challenge."
Nephis tilted her head. "Why?"
"Well," Effie said, counting on her fingers, "long white hair, pale skin, white eyes. Let guess—white fire too?"
Nephis nodded.
Effie grimaced. "Related to the Sun God?"
After a pause, Nephis nodded again.
"Yeah," Effie said flatly. "Stay away from him. I watched that man kill himself just to take down an enemy—then crawl back from the grave. Three tis."
Nephis quietly committed the na Alucard to mory.
A being like that…
could be very useful.
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