333 Jola’s Request Part 1 (2/2)
Jola replied with a defeated tone in his voice, ”Mister Mage, just tell me what you want from me.”
Saleen replied seriously, ”I'm not kidding. I feel that you will never agree to my requests, so I'll settle for the next best thing and convert you into a strong death creature. You will have the memories of your previous life and you'll retain your swordcraft abilities. Even though your sword aura will disappear, your strength will multiply by leaps and bounds. What do you say?”
”Just tell me what you want. I heard… that death creatures are not allowed to court women,” Jola replied shamelessly, stunning Saleen for a while. After processing Jola's words, Saleen let out a hearty laugh before saying, ”I do need a strong follower. If you're willing to become one, you won't have to become a death creature anymore.”
”I have a request,” Jola said.
Seeing that Jola still had the nerve to negotiate with him, Saleen hesitated for a moment before agreeing, ”Shoot.”
”I'll be your follower, if those four people become my men,” Jola said as he pointed at the four magic beast swordsmen
”Hm? But aren't they your enemies?” Saleen asked, looking at Jola and observing his reaction.
”No, the greatest enemy of any human is themselves. The reason why the four of them are still alive is because I chose not to kill them. I might not have killed them, but the emperor might once they go back empty-handed. If I don't step in, they may just die or become bandits. No one will dare take them in.”
”Then what makes you think that I will dare to take them in?” Saleen asked, putting stress on the word ”I”.
”If you have the guts to accept me, then you will accept just about anybody else,” Jola replied with a frank look on his face.
Saleen nodded in agreement as he said, ”We will need to sign an agreement to make it official. As my follower, you'll have to fight for me, but you'll also get all the benefits stated in the contract.”
Jola tried to pop his neck back into place as he looked around before quipping, ”The people around you are so weird. And you don't even have a single woman. I doubt I'd be satisfied by your benefits.”
Upon seeing how crude his words were and how differently he sounded from a typical Qin, Saleen replied with a blank look on his face, not willing to converse with him any more than he needed to. ”Good, so you agree. We'll sign the contract here.”
”Here?” Jola asked, shocked that the mage would be so anxious to sign the darn thing. He considered himself to be a somewhat trustworthy person. If he agreed, he would keep to his promise for at least… two to three years.
If Saleen had known that Jola's commitments only lasted three years, he would definitely have gotten Aini to convert him into a death creature. However, what Jola did not know was that Saleen still had Aini, and Aini knew how to set contractual traps. Thus, Saleen did not care if Jola went back on his promise later on.
Saleen took out an advanced scroll and began writing down the contents of the contract. His fingers moved deftly, as if he had done this a million times. The fog that surrounded his entire body began scattering again. Without any magical protection, the dragon's blood ink would freeze instantly once he took it out of his ring.
As the advanced scroll floated in front of Saleen, he started writing the terms and conditions of the contract, along with the magic array and magic patterns, swiftly using a magic pen. Technically, all he needed for the completion of the contract was just a normal scroll. However, the failure rate was too high for Saleen to risk anything. Plus, Saleen did not mind wasting a blank advanced scroll on a strong grand swordmaster like Jola. In fact, he thought it was a steal.
Jola did not do anything funny, for he knew that no lie could escape Saleen. He left a few drops of blood on the scroll, signed his name, and stamped his fingerprint. Before the contract became official though, he would have to give up some of his mental power. Yes, people who had managed to become grand swordmasters did possess some mental power. In fact, the amount of mental strength they had easily rivalled that of an ordinary mage.
As soon as everything was done, the scroll suddenly burst into flames and vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind. Jola was taken aback for a second before he quickly regained his composure.
”The four of you, come over and meet your new master,” Jola said as he stood up, his body no longer locked down by Saleen's senses. With a wave of his hand, he signalled for the four magic beast swordsmen to come over.
The four magic beast swordsmen hung their heads in defeat and made their way towards Jola's side.
”Listen up, all of you. Your captain is dead. Even if you did not die here, according to Cloudflow law, you'll be sentenced to death if you don't capture me. Even if you do capture me, since you've lost so many of your comrades, you'll no longer be allowed to serve the royal family. Your days will be miserable either way. I'm giving you a way out. This is Mage Saleen, my… master. I'll be protecting him from now on, and I hope you'll do the same,” Jola said without a hint of emotion in his voice.
”Jola, I still have family back in the Cloudflow Empire,” one of the magic beast swordsmen said sadly, his eyes brimming with tears.
”All of you here are orphans. What family are you talking about? You only have wives and no children. Just think of changing wives like changing clothes. Don't you need new clothes every now and then? It's a good thing,” Jola said, refusing to be shot down by any one of the four magic beast swordsmen. His original status and ranking over in the Cloudflow Empire had already been higher than all of them anyway. Plus, what he said was the truth. Most of the stringent Cloudflow laws had been passed down from the Fourth Dynasty. If the four of them refused to become Saleen's followers, they would really have nowhere else to go.