Chapter 687: An agreement

Maya took the opportunity to get acquainted with the two very important ladies, no doubt knowing that Marilyn would be pleased about this.

The others did the same, though without quite as much enthusiasm.

Mayumi, in particular, seemed rather flustered, going a little overboard with the bowing and formalities. It seemed she held royalty in very high regard.

Once the introductions were out of the way, the group sat around a table in a beautiful garden.

The Holy Daughter and the princess had four other people with them, one of whom was the disguised sage, who didn’t seem at all pleased with Elion.

She was a great beauty too, with blonde hair just like the Holy Daughter’s, and since she had removed her helm, Elion was having a good time admiring her face.

’If only she could get rid of that frown, she would look even cuter,’ he thought.

He didn’t know whether he had done something to offend her, though he suspected the way he had been staring at the Holy Daughter was probably the reason.

Either way, he didn’t particularly care. She clearly had a reason to conceal her strength, and if she decided he was worth exposing that secret just to put him in his place, then that would be rather short-sighted of her.

Something more curious then caught his attention. One of the other three attendants addressed the princess as Princess Isla, and Elion immediately interrupted.

"Wait, Princess, your name is Isla?" he asked with a hint of shock.

That seemed to anger one of her attendants. "How insolent! You’re so uninformed that you don’t even know the name of your own kingdom’s princess!"

Isla raised a hand, silencing the attendant. "Yes, Isla is the name my parents gave me. What about it?"

Elion stroked his chin. "It’s just... were you perhaps named after the king’s sister?"

Isla’s expression darkened, and she suddenly gave him a sharp glare. "How do you know about that?" she asked grimly. "Very few people know about my late aunt..."

’So she’s dead, huh?’

Honestly, he didn’t quite know how to feel about that. His Isla was very much alive, and he had never even known the Isla from this world.

Elion shrugged. "I heard from someone in the vampire clan that King Alexander had a sister named Isla. I was just curious whether you simply shared a name or there was more to it."

The princess’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "Is that so?" she asked.

After a short moment, the topic was dropped, and they finally got to the crux of the gathering.

"So she’s the humanoid arachnid who has been giving you trouble for many years?" Isla asked, regarding Kali with narrowed eyes.

Kali either didn’t hear her or simply didn’t care. Instead, she continued to absolutely demolish the food laid out on the table.

Albert nodded grimly, struggling to keep from clenching his jaw.

The fact that Kali had the gall to sit at the same table as though they were friends, helping herself to the food he had prepared for his guests, was driving him crazy.

"Yes," he said. "As I told you, she feeds on human flesh, though I don’t believe she has any need to do so. She could live off wild beasts, I believe, and yet..." He left the rest unsaid, and the princess nodded, understanding his frustrations.

"I do apologise for being so frank," the princess said, "but I’m sure you understand that we can do nothing to help against someone who can fight against a saint like you, even though you offered to give us the information we asked for."

Albert nodded. "I understand, but I believe Elion could do something about it. He has formed a contract with her, after all."

Now it was the princess, Solara, and Althea’s turn to look shocked.

"What?" Althea asked.

She could feel the suppressed yet oppressive aura emanating from Kali, but now she was hearing that this very same woman had formed a contract with someone she had been considering quietly getting rid of without the Holy Daughter’s knowledge. Well, one could understand her dismay.

"If you don’t mind my asking, why did she choose to form a contract with you, Elion?" Solara asked.

"Well... For one, my life was threatened, so I didn’t really have a choice. And she says she wants to leave this place and go to the outside world."

Solara’s eyes narrowed. "You do understand what that means, right? She’s a dangerous entity who eats human flesh for sport. Are you sure you can bear the consequences of her actions? I’m sure you know the church won’t stand by and watch innocent people get hurt because of one person’s foolishness."

Elion ignored the jab and nodded. "I understand perfectly what I’m doing. You have nothing to worry about."

Solara regarded him for a moment, clearly finding his assurance less convincing than he had intended.

The breeze stirred the edge of her veil, but otherwise, she remained still, her attention resting steadily upon his face.

"What kind of contract did you form?" she asked.

"A Bond of Equals."

Althea’s shook her head. Beside her, Princess Isla raised a brow.

"So she isn’t under your command," Solara said.

Elion shook his head. "No. I doubt she would have agreed to anything of the sort."

"And yet you tell us there’s nothing to worry about?"

Elion rested his forearms on the table, taking a moment to consider his answer. He could see where she was coming from, though he would have appreciated it if she stopped speaking as though he had gone looking for a dangerous monster to bring home as a souvenir.

"I didn’t exactly approach her with a contract in my hand," he replied. "By the time she suggested it, we had already discovered that we couldn’t leave without her permission. I negotiated the best arrangement I could."

"That much is true," Maya added. "We weren’t in a position to refuse her."

Her words drew the princess’s attention, and Princess Isla glanced across the rest of the cohort.

Cole had settled Eva beside him, though the little girl remained pressed close to his arm, quietly nibbling at a piece of bread. The others were looking considerably less pleased with the memory than Elion had tried to appear.

Solara’s expression grew more thoughtful.

"I’m not questioning your desire to survive," she said. "I’m questioning whether the arrangement you made is going to endanger other people."

"And I understand that," Elion replied. "Which is why I’ve already started making it clear to her that travelling with us doesn’t mean she can do whatever she pleases."

Albert looked at him with interest. "And she listened?"

Elion glanced toward Kali.

The woman had just finished emptying a small bowl, and she set it down with the satisfied expression of someone who had found at least one part of the gathering worth her time.

"Kali," he said.

"What?"

"They’re concerned that you’ll continue eating people once we leave."

She looked around the table, finding the number of people waiting for her answer rather unnecessary.

"I have something better now," she replied.

Elion felt his brow twitch, understanding what she meant. Across the table, Althea’s attention shifted toward him, and he sincerely hoped she wouldn’t ask what Kali meant.

"That isn’t quite the answer we’re looking for," he said. "Can you agree to leave people alone?"

Kali’s expression soured.

"We already discussed this."

"We discussed the people on your farm. I’m talking about the people we’ll encounter from now on." Elion added.

She leaned back in her chair, regarding him with obvious displeasure. Elion wondered whether she was going to make this considerably more difficult than it needed to be, but then her gaze drifted toward the dishes still occupying the table.

"Fine," she said. "As long as they leave me alone."

Elion nodded. "That’s reasonable enough."

"It’s also very easy to say," Solara observed.

"Then what would you prefer?" Kali asked. "You wanted an answer, and I gave you one."

"We wanted to know whether you intended to stop harming people."

"I just told you that I would."

Elion lifted a hand before the exchange could become any less pleasant. "Then we have something to work with. I’m not asking anyone here to forget what she’s done, but I would rather we gave her a reason to keep that agreement than start another argument."

Albert remained silent for a moment, his gaze fixed on the woman sitting at his table. Elion couldn’t blame him.

Asking the man to feel reassured by a promise from someone who had terrorised his settlement was rather optimistic, especially when she was helping herself to another serving of his food.

"What about the people you took from us?" Albert asked.

Kali paused with her hand above a plate.

"What about them?"

"They’re still in your care, no. Or did you eat them all already"

"Some of them are still alive, yes..."

"Are you going to allow them to leave?"

Elion looked toward her as well. He had stopped her from casually deciding to kill everyone, but that hadn’t answered what would become of them once she was gone.

Kali let out an impatient breath.

"If they want to leave, they can leave. I’ve already told him I don’t need them anymore."

A cold expression appeared on Alber’s face at her choice of words, though he managed to keep his voice level. "Then we will need to make arrangements for someone to go there."

"You can discuss that with her," Elion said. "We know where the entrance is, and I’m sure she can make sure her servants don’t cause any trouble."