After a few days of travel, Ash had finally arrived at the location where the receptionist had mentioned the target was last seen.
"Lunaris, track him."
After ten years together, Ash and Lunaris had obviously developed the ability to communicate well. Hearing the command, Lunaris used her magic to pick up the mana of the target and began leading Ash.
Soon, the tracks stopped. They had arrived in the middle of a forest.
"Looks like the target recognized that he had to hide his tracks around here." Ash then looked around. "It has been 2 days since he was last sighted, which means he either already ran away far, or... stayed right here, in this forest." 'If he ran away, it would make sense, but if he stayed here... it would mean this place is more dangerous-'
Before he could even finish his thought, a beast jumped from hiding to attack him. Lunaris immediately intervened and fought it off.
"If it was able to hide from your senses, its stealth ability must be pretty strong; be careful."
After that, they did no more talking and immediately fought. Although the beast was strong, it was not enough to threaten them, so Ash judged that it was probably a D-ranked beast.
"We should leave."
As they tried to make their way out of the forest, they encountered many powerful beasts.
'Shit, we're trapped.' After about an hour of trying to get out, they were still stuck inside, which meant they were probably being deliberately trapped. And although all the beasts they met were not strong enough to threaten their lives, it would still tire them and make them vulnerable.
Soon, their fighting ability was also noticeably reduced.
Suddenly-
An arrow pierced through Ash's arm.
'Hiss! Where did that come from?' He felt a sharp amount of pain from the wound and clenched his jaw from letting out a sound louder than a hiss.
Then a man appeared. "What is a child doing here?" He was frowning. After all, he spent the last hour watching a 10-year-something-old boy fighting beasts strong enough to massacre normal humans.
Ash could feel there was something wrong with the arrow, "Ha! Probably to kill someone like you!" Ash purposely provoked him.
The man raised an eyebrow, "Kill me? Just give up, you're already poisoned." It was like he had just heard the most ridiculous statement in the world.
"..." Ash knew he was right; he was already starting to have an effect, especially when he couldn't use much of his mana to fight it away. Then he realized something, "Is this that poison?"
The man smiled, "Correct, you must be smart. A pity you have to die today."
"If you can survive it this long, there is no way I won't be able to." Ash was trying to delay fighting to gain as much information about the poison as possible.
"You're right. But that's under normal conditions. You and your little beast there have spent all your mana to fight beasts for the past hour."
"And you think I don't have enough to kill you?"
"If you want to die immediately, sure." The man himself had a backup plan for his poison, which is why he wasn't scared.
"...Leave me alive." He had to admit. Even if he could kill the man in front of him right now, he himself would immediately die from the poison.
"And why would I?"
"If you kill me, everyone that I know will come after you." Ash had a blood bond with a lot of subordinates. If he died, they would know the killer's location and hunt him down.
"Are you that important?" The man didn't really want to risk it if possible. But he knew that if he didn't kill this boy now, he would definitely regret it in the future.
"Yes." He just stated a fact.
"How about this? If you spare me, I'll do you one favor in the future."
"How is that any advantage for me? You're just a kid. What'll happen if I don't agree?" He genuinely thought a kid like Ash wouldn't be much useful.
Ash's stare remained steady, but a cold killing intent quietly seeped from it. "…Then I'll make sure we both die here today."
Victor flinched a little; he hadn't expected a kid that young to be able to look like that, but he quickly relaxed his expression. "Alright then. But you have to agree to this magic contract." He then conjured a magic contract.
A magic contract was an agreement bound by mana, making it impossible to violate without consequence. If either party breached the contract, the punishment specified within it would be carried out automatically.
The magic contract he made was written out,
'A: First mana print.
B: Second mana print.
Terms:
Neither A nor B is allowed to do any harm to each other at any given point in time, unless permitted. In exchange for A sparing B's life, B cannot reject one favor within his capability. B is also not allowed to disclose information about A to anyone. This contract will allow A and B to find each other anywhere. If there is any breach of contract, the one who breaches will die. This contract is void if either A or B dies.'
"Good enough for me." Ash then entered his mana print. "Tell me how to stop the poison from affecting me."
"Why should I? Just because we have a contract doesn't mean we're suddenly friends." Victor then left Ash alone in the middle of the forest.
Ash clicked his tongue and just used mana to stop the poison from spreading, although it was using up quite a lot of his remaining mana. Then, as if sensing Ash's intentions, Lunaris enlarged herself, and Ash rode on her. On their way out this time, they were not trapped, nor did they meet any beasts.