Chapter 78

Part 3: Contract (2)

The quiet and ordinary park and forest were hostile to me.

Stone walls rose up, encircling the area, and the ground undulated, making it hard to keep my balance.

Swish!

Tree branches lashed at me like whips.

Crack.

Roots burst from the ground, trying to entangle me.

The pollen carried by the wind turned into tiny blades, cutting my skin.

The moonlight, which had illuminated the night, distorted, making it difficult to discern objects clearly.

Before long, Ballea's figure was no longer visible.

She had hidden herself by manipulating the objects within her domain.

It felt completely different from when we fought indoors.

Of course, it couldn't be the same as fighting inside a building.

My feet barely touched the ground.

I kicked off the rising walls, pushed away the roots stabbing at me, and soared upward.

As if I were on a trampoline from my past life, I jumped around in a manner unbecoming of a knight.

"There's no point in running around and dodging. Even if you are a much more skilled knight than I expected, you can't keep this up until help arrives."

Ballea's voice echoed, but I couldn't pinpoint her location.

If she wasn't exaggerating, she had more mana than I anticipated, or creating her domain consumed less mana than I thought.

If it were an elemental or telekinetic inherited ability, the mana consumption would be high, and I would run out of mana much faster than her, but her domain seemed different.

I didn't intend to rely on her exaggeration.

In any case, I was dodging to confirm something.

To see how it differed from what I saw indoors and to understand the limits of this domain.

And now, I had my answer.

Crack!

As I dodged the attacking objects and leaped, I stepped on a rising stone pillar and soared into the sky.

As expected, fragments of stone and broken branches shot at me, floating in the air.

I deflected the incoming objects and looked down.

As I expected.

The range of her domain was much wider than when we were at the noble's mansion, but it didn't extend upward.

Within her domain, objects could change shape according to her will, but outside the domain, she could only launch objects.

If I could escape the domain, I would be safe, but she seemed to anticipate this and surrounded the domain with high stone walls.

Moreover, she left the forest side open, likely to lure me in.

Reaching the highest point, I began to fall.

I could feel the branches, roots, stones, and soil preparing to attack me.

Indeed, Ballea's inherited ability was remarkable.

Turning everything within her domain into weapons.

In a confined indoor space or a battlefield filled with weapons, she might be nearly invincible.

However, in a place like this, her weapons weren't very strong.

Piles of stones and trees. While her ability enhanced their material, they still felt like ordinary stones and trees, not much different from the original.

There was no place in the academy to fight without being seen by others.

She had no choice.

Moreover, with the sky open, I could buy time by jumping around.

Of course, only a highly skilled knight or a person with extraordinary senses could dodge attacks from all directions.

However, having experienced her domain twice, I understood how it worked.

Her mana filled the domain, and the objects within it were deformed and moved by her mana.

When her mana moved and gathered, rising into the sky, the roots would stab at me.

I could see the mana before the roots attacked, so I dodged and used the rising roots to fall.

"Really impressive. How do you dodge all of that? Is it because of your mana cultivation technique? Or is it just the skill of a good knight?"

Ballea spoke, impressed by my dodging.

I don't know. The royal family is said to have 'mana sensitivity,' so maybe they could do it.

Ballea seemed confident that her position wouldn't be revealed.

Moreover, even if it was, she thought she could handle it since objects could be restored within her domain.

However, I could find her position.

Strangely, even within her domain, it was difficult to locate her using my mana senses.

But by following the movement of the mana that filled the domain, I could find her.

Ballea called her domain a kingdom, but to me, it felt more like a body.

The moving objects were her flesh, and the mana that filled the domain was her nerves and muscles.

And at the center of the mana's movement, where all the mana converged, she must be there.

I launched myself toward that spot.

Ducking the incoming branches and deflecting the flying stones, I approached.

Instead of branches and roots, uprooted trees began to move.

She must have been trying to move the trees by continuously uprooting them.

I released a sword aura from my dagger and cut through the trees blocking my path.

Swoosh.

"It's useless. They regenerate infinitely within this domain."

As she said, the trees I cut continued to attack me with their branches.

Swoosh, swoosh.

But I kept cutting.

"It's useless. Why... why..."

With her surprised voice.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The trees fell.

Even if the body could regenerate infinitely, it couldn't move if the nerves and muscles were severed.

The trees stood because of mana. By cutting off the flow of mana, the trees couldn't move until the mana reconnected.

The trees blocking my path fell, and I leaped forward, slashing at one of them.

It was an ordinary tree like the others, but it transformed into a person before my sword touched it.

"I surrender."

Ballea stood with her hands raised.

Thud.

My dagger stopped just short of her neck.

Blood dripped from her raised wrist, cut by the sword aura.

Whoosh.

The moment she said she surrendered, the environment changed.

The swaying trees returned to their original form, and the rising stone walls sank.

The chaotic stone path returned to its original state, and the moonlight regained its clarity.

The domain had disappeared.

The original ordinary park and forest. However, the signs of our battle wouldn't go unnoticed by the academy staff.

"Didn't you say you were avenging your father?"

I asked, still holding my sword.

Did she misjudge and plan to attack again later?

"I am avenging him."

That's not it.

"But I think I can't win. I'm giving up."

Hmph, this woman's mind is hard to understand.

"I've done my part as a daughter. Honestly, if I weren't a daughter, I would have been happy to kill you. You know how happy I was when my father died."

Ballea continued, blood streaming from her arm.

"I don't want to risk my life for someone I don't care about."

"But you tried to kill me."

"Yes, I did."

"Is it over just because you failed and surrendered?"

In the heat of the moment, I didn't mention the misunderstanding. She wouldn't listen anyway.

Moreover, it was becoming harder to kill her. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped my sword.

"It was a dilemma between my duty as a daughter and my desire to live."

She was shameless.

Before coming here, she had been pretending to be beautiful and kind, but seeing her true self, I almost preferred her pretense.

"Should I spare you just because you surrendered?"

I could report her to the academy instead of killing her, but I couldn't do that because of what she knew.

There were too many things I had done, and I couldn't let rumors spread about killing a nobleman at this time.

So, I had to kill her.

Just as I was about to decide to kill her, she spoke.

"I'll be your ally and save your life. As you know, I'm not weak. Because of my position as a bastard of a duke, I had trouble handling things, but I can take care of things you can't reveal."

She said, her eyes sparkling.

Hmm, it sounded like a good deal, but I found it hard to trust her.

"Let's go to the temple and make a contract. If you want, I'll call you 'Master.'"

Her voice became sweet. But the sweet voice didn't move me.

Instead, the word "contract" caught my attention.

"Really?"

"Of course. I was prepared for this. Besides, I don't think you'll make me suffer like my father did."

"I don't need a master."

I sheathed my sword.

"Let's make the contract tomorrow."

"Yes!"

She lowered her arm.

We had decided not to kill her.

I didn't fully trust her, and I didn't know what would happen in the future.

But unlike others, I could reverse this decision.

With the tension easing, I asked her a question.

"What did you plan to do if you killed me? You would have been caught, right?"

That was why I found it hard to kill her.

"I planned to run away. I know a mercenary who works for my father. I would find him and escape to the empire or another country."

It seemed impulsive and thoughtless.

She didn't seem to value her position as an academy student or the daughter of a nobleman.

Was she free?

But her offer to make a contract suggested otherwise.

She was a person I couldn't understand.

Lost in thought, I noticed her raising her hand.

"Actually, I'm feeling dizzy. Can I faint for a moment?"

She fell backward as she spoke.

Her sleeve was soaked in blood, and a pool of blood formed on the ground.

I sighed, took out a handkerchief, tied her wrist, and carried her to the infirmary.

The next day was a holiday.

Ballea and I went outside the academy to find a temple.

There was a priest in the infirmary, but he wasn't a contract specialist, and making a contract inside the academy would be difficult to keep secret.

After a long ride in a carriage, Ballea and I found a priest and made a contract.

It was as favorable to me as possible.

The contract ensured she would keep my secrets and not harm me.

Protecting my life or making her an ally was hard to put in a contract, but the above terms made it a highly unfair contract.

The contract's mana had limits, so it wasn't a lifelong contract, but it was long enough to be binding.

The priest was shocked and asked Ballea several times, but she smiled and signed the contract.

She wasn't an ally, and I found it hard to trust her, but at least we shared a secret.