This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
T/N - Dang, I’m suddenly scared of Chinese businessmen. Jesus, that contract is absolutely criminal!
Also, great… We have a dense, unfeeling protagonist over here. I find this trope mildly annoying. Hopefully, it doesn’t get overused by the author. 🙏
"What are you going to do…?"
Elysia's voice carried a distinct tremble, and her azure eyes were filled with fear and stubbornness.
The young woman bit her lip.
She had heard that nobles all had a perverted hobby of torturing witches.
Could the guy in front of her be the same?
Recalling his somewhat beastly display at the pyre earlier, coupled with her confidence in her own appearance...
She could already see the miserable fate she might suffer next.
"Let me see, how do I take this off…? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Lynn sized up the witch, who was inexplicably glaring at him fiercely, and he couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated.
"What's wrong, don't you want to take it off?"
"Absolutely not!"
The young woman hugged her thin chest and retreated, shrinking into a corner.
But Lynn still brazenly leaned closer.
"That won't do, you have to work hard for me to make up for my losses."
It was actually for this kind of reason?
Elysia's body trembled slightly.
Indeed, the other party had factually saved her.
And he had even taken on a huge debt because of it.
That debt related to her had already dragged down one person.
Besides that, as a witch, if she didn’t want to face the endless pursuit and persecution of the Church, then she could only rely on the protection of the lawful lord of this place.
She couldn’t die yet because she had sworn to live on properly.
Thinking of this, crystal-clear tears flowed down from the corners of her eyes.
"Father..."
She murmured between sobs, then she lowered her arms and closed her eyes, determined to accept whatever happened next…
Clang
Accompanied by the sound of metal dropping to the floor, the magic-suppressing collar on Elysia's neck had come off.
"...Eh?"
Elysia, slowly opening her eyes, touched her smooth neck, completely failing to understand what had happened.
"What’re you doing?"
She asked somewhat sluggishly.
"I removed it."
Lynn answered honestly.
"...I’m a witch. I possess terrifying magic that can burn down a house..."
"That strong? That's wonderful!"
Elysia completely couldn’t understand.
She even felt that the thought logic of the person in front of her was simply not like a normal human's.
Looking at Elysia, who completely couldn’t grasp the situation, Lynn also felt puzzled.
"Did you really not want to take it off?"
"Of course I did! But... why did you... why did you do this…? Ughhh!
I completely can't understand this! Are you an idiot? I’m very dangerous!
What if I use my terrifying magic right now to turn you into a roast suckling pig?"
Elysia, somewhat flustered and frantic, stretched out her hands and gestured wildly as she spoke.
"You're the one who’s completely impossible to understand! What benefit would you gain by turning me into a roast suckling pig?
Why would a normal person do something that yields no positive return?"
Seeing Lynn's gaze that seemed to imply that he was looking at an idiot, she was very certain that her thinking and his were completely not on the same wavelength.
"Because witches are dangerous… Everyone says so..."
Feeling somewhat unconvinced, she wanted to continue refuting him, but her voice gradually lowered.
That was right, she was dangerous.
Not only had she done that kind of thing before... she had also caused the only person who protected her to become mentally and physically exhausted.
In the end, that person had passed away from illness amidst worry for her life and the unwillingness of being powerless.
A cursed witch, there was no title more fitting for her than this.
She would only bring disaster to everything around her.
"Then do you think that you’re dangerous? Or rather, do you really want to roast me right now?"
Although Lynn still had that look of viewing her as an idiot, his tone had also smoothed out a lot.
"...No. Not at all... I’ve never wanted to do that."
Her voice grew lower and lower.
"Then it’s fine, you’re just a slightly special normal person.
Since you're not some anti-social element, you just need to dedicate your labor to me."
She didn’t understand the latter part of Lynn's sentence, but she understood the former.
Elysia froze.
Because there was someone else who had also said such words to her.
"You’re just special, my angel.
Dad believes you won't intentionally hurt innocent people, and I’ll absolutely never let others hurt you."
Fragments of past memories flashed in her mind. By the time she recovered her senses, her vision had already been blurred by tears.
Her gaze subconsciously looked toward the fireplace.
To be precise, to the dust-covered portrait hanging above the fireplace.
After that, her crying could no longer be suppressed.
——————————————————
【Favorability: +30 (Treated as a normal person)】
——————————————————
It was too strange for Lynn, her favorability had clearly increased, so why was she crying?
He couldn’t understand her.
Trying to figure out what this woman was thinking of was much more troublesome than studying the market.
However, while her eyes' tear glands were abnormally secreting liquid, he hadn’t been idle either.
After feeling his way upstairs to a place resembling a master bedroom with a desk and bookshelves, Lynn searched carefully.
Soon, he obtained a still-usable fountain pen and two blank pieces of parchment.
No, two pieces weren’t enough.
He thought for a moment, picked up another piece, and then began writing furiously.
Quickly, the three documents were written out, and he examined them carefully.
Combining it with the contents of the ‘Milanese Codex’ in his mind, he confirmed that he at least couldn’t see any loopholes.
After finishing all this, he grandly signed "Lynn Elcasinoreas" in the Party A name column…
...Sure enough, this surname was both long and difficult to write.
He looked at the desk again, discovered a small seal, and immediately picked it up to examine it.
Then, with a wicked smile, he primed it and stamped it onto two of the documents.
"Very good, now it's absolutely foolproof. Hehehe."
By the time he walked back to the living room, Elysia had pretty much finished crying.
Although her head was still lowered, she was no longer letting out the witch's wails that gave him a headache.
He walked up to her, gently lifted her cheek, and said in the softest voice:
"So then, in order to pay off our debts, and also to ensure your future safety, Miss Reinhardt...
Please be sure to sign this agreement."
Elysia sniffled her petite nose, her red and swollen eyes looking in confusion at the parchment that had been stuffed into her hands.
And then, she was stunned once again.
"Is this a demonic contract?"
She pointed at the document titled ‘Blackstone Fief Lifetime Employment Labor Contract’.
"No, this is a labor contract."
The first clause stated that Party A would guarantee Party B's personal safety and assist in providing a forged death certificate to protect her from the Church's pursuit.
Party A ensured to provide long-term asylum for Party B within his capabilities, and Party B would obey Party A's labor dispatch arrangements.
But why did the subsequent clauses seem more and more wrong the further she read?
"Um... Why does it say 'voluntarily give up holidays' here?"
"Because I think you have a good constitution, and resting is a waste of your talent."
Lynn's expression didn’t change.
"And this…"
Elysia pointed to a line of small text, her hands trembling.
"If Party B (me) dies during the contract period, the ownership rights to her corpse and soul still belong to Party A, and Party A has the right to convert her into an undead unit to continue fulfilling the contract...?!"
"Although I don't understand magic, I believe that this kind of spell exists, Miss Reinhardt. You have to believe in possibilities."
"Is that the main point of the problem? Is this legal?"
"The ‘Milanese Codex’ hasn’t legislated against this kind of behavior, so it’s not illegal."
——————————————————
【Favorability: -20 (There's a demon here!)】
——————————————————
Just as Elysia signed the so-called labor contract with a miserable face, Lynn smiled once again.
Then he pulled out a second piece of parchment.
"There's more?"
"Yes, there's more."
——————————————————