In the end, she did not tell him the names of the other five Ruling Houses co-ruling Tartarus Shade. Ikaris got the hint.
Neither he nor his comrades were in a position to turn her down. From the moment she had received them in that hall with no permit to stay, their fate had been set.
They could, of course, go to the city and seek the protection of another House, but that would be a direct slap in the face to House Morgunis. The fact that she had revealed that her House was the most powerful in Tartarus Shade, whether it was true or not, was both an enticement and a threat.
Moments later, when his comrades were done being grilled by Anaphiel, she called them to her office and had them sign a contract to join her House Morgunis.
It was a lengthy contract. The scroll of parchment on which the clauses of the contract were written was several feet long when unrolled, but Ikaris was undaunted and read each clause carefully until the last.
It wasn't as bad as he had anticipated. Most of the contract terms dealt with the sharing of revenues resulting from the use of the House of Morgunis name to his advantage, whether it was for his business or to deter enemy lords. There was also a tribute of 1% of his land's annual revenue to be paid to them, but this was acceptable.
In exchange, House Morgunis would guarantee their safety in Tartarus Shade and from the other Ruling Houses in all the Warring Lands. To avoid any unfortunate incident, a new Lord could even receive a Tartarus Enforcer, a welcome resource pack to establish his fiefdom and a mini Transportation Portal.
It was also possible to borrow money from them at preferential rates much better than the competition and all this with a convenient 3 to 5 year grace period. Ikaris had to concede that it reminded him of the student loan of his past life.
"What is a Tartarus Enforcer?" Asselin inquired politely. Since he also had his own Stele he was also eligible for this freebie.
Anaphiel pointed to the humanoid monsters in armor behind them.
"A specialty of House Morgunis and one of the main reasons we are feared." She revealed matter of factly. "They are hybrid creatures created by combining Dark Magic and Necromancy along with a number of other ingredients we keep secret."
Ellie paled in horror as she learned the origin of these monsters.
"Th-they're Undeads?"
Anaphiel grinned slyly.
"Maybe. Maybe not."
"About the mini Transportation Portal, is it the same as the one here but smaller? Ikaris changed the subject. That seemed far too generous. There had to be some limitations.
"In terms of appearance, yes. In terms of functionality no." The black-robed beauty replied in kind. "For one, you'll have to pay 1 gold coin for each use and this one has only one possible destination, the twin portal stationed in Tartarus Shade, in a dedicated palace belonging to my House. This is just to make it easier for you to get around Tartarus Shade."
"What if we don't have any gold?" The teenager grunted.
"You can work out a loan with the Morgunis clan." She looked at him like she was dealing with an idiot. "But don't worry, the Welcome Pack distributed to the new Lords should be more than enough for you to go back and forth as much as you want for quite some time."
Ikaris and the others went back to reading the contract and at the bottom he found the few really binding clauses. For ten years they could not work for another House, and to end the contract prematurely would cost a fortune enough to ruin a new Marquis.
It should be noted that in the Warring Lands, even Counts were in short supply. The only advantage of this contract was that if they could prove their worth it could be renegotiated.
Once the reading was finished, they took turns signing. Only Radagad settled for the 48-hour stay permit, stating that he had to return to Hadrakin to submit his report.
However, a problem arose when it was Malia's turn. To avoid embarrassment, she had pretended to be perusing the contract like the others, but now she had to sign it, but she didn't know how to write.
"Wait." Ikaris tapped her shoulder, startling her. "Come with me, I want to check how our contracts differ."
Malia, who had been clueless seconds earlier, gave him a grateful look and then let him take her hand to lead her away from the others. Ellie, Asselin and Toby eyed them weirdly, making the Kitsune blush, but the boy ignored them completely.
To keep up appearances, he carefully read her contract while whispering softly,
"What's your full name again?"
"Malia Varalei." She answered honestly unsure of what he had in mind.
Instead of answering her, Ikaris closed his eyes and visualized himself writing Malia Varalei on the contract and then imagined himself transferring that knowledge to the young woman in front of him. He reached for his Divine Spark and magic occurred.
He immediately felt his stamina being sapped and his legs began to tremble, but fortunately it was a short-lived spell with an almost zero stamina cost. The Ikaris of ten days ago might have fainted, but for a Crawling-Thrall it was just a tad tiring. He would recover after a few minutes of rest and a proper meal.
Malia's mouth gaped into a bemused O as she saw the calligraphy of her first and last name flash in her mind.
"Thank you." She mouthed happily.
"You're welcome." He smiled as he handed her back her contract.
He had finished reading it and indeed there were several differences between their respective contracts. Malia and Ellie had both chosen to be his retinue. Basically, the clauses were the same except for the benefits of new Lords.
They also had an obligation of loyalty to him and could not betray the secrets of his future fiefdom. Not that he was worried about being betrayed, but at least this contract saved him some trouble.
Ikaris and Malia joined the group in front of Anaphiel's office, and the illiterate Kitsune deftly and gracefully signed her initials as if she had been practicing her signature for many years. Anaphiel frowned as she scrutinized Ikaris, and then the young woman, but she said nothing.
Once all the contracts were signed, she looked at her white gold watch and calmly ordered,
"Right on time. Follow me."
The group left the Transportation Portal lobby and entered a long, dark corridor that looked like a plain extension of the previous hall. Torches with emerald flames were still the only source of light.
They had barely taken a few steps into the corridor when they heard the leaves of the door at the other end creak open. A sickly-faced, lanky man wearing a long, burgundy red velvet robe appeared before them.
The man was young, in his early twenties, neither handsome nor ugly, but he had a receding hairline and to camouflage his incipient baldness he had let his brown hair grow longer on one side and then swept it back over his head to the other side. Although he was meticulously combed, groomed and perfumed, no one was fooled and it only made him look more ridiculous.
As soon as he saw Anaphiel, his eyes lit up and he subconsciously licked his lips after a long peek at her cleavage with no attempt to hide it.
"Beautiful Anaphiel, it is always a pleasure to see you again." The man complimented, ignoring the other people behind her.
"The pleasure is not mutual, Sanev." She replied stiffly looking right through him.
"Ouch, still as bitter as ever, but you and I both know that your arrogance can't last much longer. Perhaps in the not too distant future, your body will belong to me and then... I can't wait."
He licked his lips again, openly leering at her cleavage.
SLASH!
"Aaaaaarrggh!!!"
One of the Tartarus Enforcers escorting them had just chopped off half of the insolent man's foot, his boot and toes cut cleanly off at the base.
"Ignore it." Anaphiel said indifferently, then walked past the man writhing in pain on the ground, a pool of blood spreading rapidly over the malachite.
Ikaris and the others drew a cold breath and quickened their pace without looking at the Tartarus Enforcer's victim. Seeing that he was being utterly ignored, the injured man stopped whimpering and shrieked in rage,
"You idiots! She told you that House Morgunis was the most powerful in Tartarus Shade, didn't she? She lied to you! They are the weakest, hahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Anaphiel stopped walking, her lips twitching imperceptibly. The Tartarus Enforcer watching the balding asshole swung his cleaver again, this time amputating him at knee level.
"Aaarrrrggghh!
Then Anaphiel smirked and resumed walking, the clicking of her heels echoing in the distance.
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