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Chapter : 03
The Formation of a Contract
Leon Riffman stared blankly at the scene unfolding before his eyes, unable to erase the look of disbelief from his face.
Whoosh.
Blue flames burned vividly in the air. And at the center of those flames was a small hand.
“Huh.”
Leon inhaled sharply without realizing it.
So that’s how they got past all the traps….
When the traps surrounding the tower began to deactivate one by one, Leon had immediately sensed that something extraordinary had intruded upon it.
In truth, the traps in this tower were not of his own making. The tower had once belonged to an ancient magic knight.
Perhaps because of the spells that man had laid down, traps would spring up everywhere unless one possessed considerable magical power. They were troublesome enough that even Leon himself had had to exert no small effort to avoid them when he first entered the tower.
“What the…?”
And yet, the one who had broken through the traps and appeared before him was… a tiny woman. Someone from whom he couldn’t sense even a shred of magic.
Then the tower must have detected the magic she was concealing and deactivated the traps on its own. Well, with magic this immense….
He could feel a vast, powerful magical presence enveloping the woman. The fact that she had managed to hide such power at all was astonishing.
For a mere maid to possess magic granted only to a select few among the nobility….
Leon took a step back and slowly scanned the woman from head to toe.
Black hair fluttering loosely, shining violet eyes, skin so white it seemed translucent, and slightly protruding red lips.
Once he truly noticed her, everything about her that had felt colorless until moments ago suddenly became vividly colored.
“Whatever it is, I can do it. So please help me.”
Up until then, Lowell had silently endured Leon’s confused gaze. As she withdrew the flame from her hand, she finally spoke.
“I don’t know why, but at some point I became able to use magic. Until now I didn’t feel the need to learn it properly… but now I do. Desperately.”
Leon’s focus, which had momentarily drifted, snapped back to Lowell.
“…And what do I gain by helping you?”
“I’ll give you my magic. You need magic, don’t you?”
Lowell answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“What?”
“You were expelled from the knight order not long ago, weren’t you? For acting independently. And because of that, you were dishonorably cast out of your family as well.”
At Lowell’s blunt words, which struck directly at his sore spot, a flash of anger crossed Leon’s face. Catching that expression, Lowell hurried to continue before he could truly lose his temper.
“So please, make a contract with me. Teach me magic. In return, I’ll give you my magic.”
Just as Leon’s reason was about to be swallowed by anger, Lowell’s final words pulled him back.
“You want revenge, don’t you?”
At that, scenes from the summer a year ago began replaying vividly in Leon’s mind.
“Leon Riffman! Return to your position immediately!”
“Just a little farther and we reach the plains! We can wipe out the monsters in one sweep!”
“Riffman! If you do not return to formation at once, you will be punished under military law!”
“Vice-Captain Riffman! Please stop and come back—!”
Whiiing.
“Ahhh!”
While Leon was lost in those memories, Lowell quietly observed his rapidly darkening expression.
She knew exactly what kind of man Leon was.
After all, you’re a character in my book.
Tall at a glance, a well-built body with just the right amount of muscle, gleaming silver hair, and deep blue eyes.
A man whose every feature formed a perfect harmony—Leon Riffman. The villain of her novel.
Now that she was facing him like this, the information she had forgotten began to resurface one by one.
In the original story, he gathered power for the sake of revenge, eventually resorted to forbidden magic, and after falling into corruption, was executed by the awakened protagonist.
That’s the kind of person you are. Someone who can do anything to achieve his goal.
“You were wronged, weren’t you? It wasn’t even a serious injury—yet just because the knight who was hurt while trying to stop you happened to be the emperor’s cousin, you were expelled in retaliation.”
Leon’s eyes wavered violently. Seizing that moment, Lowell fired off her words without pause.
“So absorb my magic. If you gain merit with strengthened magic, who knows? You might be able to return to the knight order.”
She’s right.
The thought flashed through Leon’s mind. If he absorbed that enormous magic, dealing with a few monsters would be trivial.
Not just returning—I might even be able to aim for the position of captain….
Only then did Leon properly turn his gaze to face Lowell.
A woman surrounded by magic that had yet to be fully reined in, wearing an innocent expression utterly mismatched with such power. As he looked at this strange combination, the chaos in Leon’s mind slowly settled.
“…You want me to teach you magic.”
At long last, Leon spoke.
“Yes!”
Leon looked down into those sparkling violet eyes. It felt as though he were being drawn in, but in truth, there was nothing in this arrangement that disadvantaged him.
Of course, it was hard to believe that someone with such immense magic didn’t know how to use it properly—but that wasn’t his concern. All he needed was her magic.
“What’s your name?”
Leon asked in a flat voice as he stared expressionlessly at the brightly smiling woman.
“Lowell.”
“Your surname?”
“I don’t have one. I was an orphan employed by the Heinstein ducal house.”
“So just Lowell.”
“Yes.”
“Easy enough to remember.”
Snap!
As soon as the brief exchange ended, Leon snapped his fingers. A scroll and a pen appeared in midair.
“Wow.”
“This is a magic contract. An absolute one. Once you sign it, it can never be undone.”
Leon spoke dryly as he looked at Lowell blinking in fascination.
“I don’t mind!”
In contrast to Leon’s monotone delivery, Lowell’s reply overflowed with energy.
“Up—!”
Lowell rose onto her tiptoes to read the floating scroll. Positioned slightly above her—aligned with Leon’s line of sight—the text was hard for her to see.
With an annoyed flick of his hand, Leon lowered the scroll to her eye level.
[A contract is hereby concluded between ‘Party A (Leon Riffman)’ and ‘Party B (Lowell)’ as follows.
Article 1. Party A may absorb from Party B an amount of magic desired by Party A.
Article 2. In exchange for the magic provided by Party B, Party A shall provide knowledge of magic.
Article 3. Both parties shall faithfully fulfill all obligations. If faithful fulfillment does not precede, the transaction shall be deemed nullified.]
“I’m Party B?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Did you think I’d be Party B?”
“Hm. Fine.”
Lowell narrowed her eyes slightly and glanced at Leon before lowering her gaze again. After carefully examining each line, she signed the contract.
Fwoosh.
The moment she set down the pen, the scroll burst into flames.
It was the beginning of an irrevocable contract.
“That settles it. I look forward to working with you.”
As the scroll vanished completely, Leon smiled—uncharacteristically friendly—and extended his hand. To him, it was a gesture of camaraderie. But Lowell, seeing the blue eyes burning with a thirst for revenge behind that curved smile, felt not warmth but a sense of alienation.
“Likewise.”
Still, that discomfort wasn’t enough to undo a contract she had struggled to secure. And so the corners of Lowell’s lips lifted gently as she took his hand.
“Let’s sit and have some tea. To celebrate a fine contract.”
After the handshake, Leon gestured toward one corner of the room.
Where his fingertip pointed stood a Gothic marble table that radiated artistic presence, oddly out of place among dust-laden bookshelves.
“Sure.”
Lowell felt a brief sense of awkwardness at the mismatch between the room and the table, but she said nothing as she headed over.
I didn’t notice earlier because I was being restrained, but this place is pretty spacious.
After Leon left the room, Lowell sat in a plush chair that was just as out of place as the table and looked around.
Bookshelves filled the space layer upon layer, packed tightly with countless spellbooks.
Unlike the dust atop the shelves, the areas where the books were slotted were worn smooth and shiny—clear evidence that Leon had read them over and over.
A moment later, the door creaked open and Leon returned.
“I just brought what I had in storage.”
Sitting across from Lowell, he used magic to brew the tea on the spot.
“By the way, where did you hear about why I was expelled?”
Soon, a sweet aroma filled the room as Leon lifted his teacup and asked.
“Huh?”
Still staring at the spellbooks, Lowell awkwardly turned her head toward him.
“I can understand knowing about the Riffman family, but what happened within the knight order should all be confidential. How did you find out?”
“Uh… the market…?”
She was startled by the question but managed to produce a passable answer without letting her eyes dart.
“The market?”
“Well… all kinds of rumors circulate in the market, you know.”
“So my story was going around the market.”
“…Yes.”
Lowell smiled awkwardly and reached for her teacup handle.
“That’s nonsense.”
Leon immediately shot it down, and Lowell had to withdraw her hand.
“Eh—?”
Her flustered voice cracked mid-syllable.
“Ah, um. Why… do you think so?”
Avoiding Leon’s sharp gaze, she fixed her eyes on the teacup.
“It wasn’t the market. That damn Lanistan must’ve spread it.”
Leon spat out the name of his former knight commander. At the unexpected name, Lowell lifted her head and saw his jaw clenched in fury.
“That petty bastard.”
After muttering that he’d overturn everything one day, Leon fell silent again. For some reason, Lowell felt vaguely sorry for this ‘Lanistan’ person and laughed awkwardly to herself.
“…Haha, I see.”
She swallowed the thought I know everything because I set it up that way along with her sip of black tea.
“Come to think of it, your hair color is unusual.”
After being steeped in anger for a while, Leon finally noticed Lowell lifting her cup and asked casually.
Her jet-black hair gleamed smoothly in the moonlight streaming through the window.
“Oh, this?”
Lowell lifted the tip of her hair slightly.
“Yeah. I was apparently born like this.”
In this book-like world, people had hair colors as varied as a painter’s palette. If anything, black hair was the unusual kind.
If you ask me, your silver hair is far more unusual.
Lowell thought as she looked at Leon’s shining silver hair. Still, his strong eyebrows and straight nose suited the color perfectly.
“……”
After that, the conversation faded, leaving only the clear clinking of teacups against saucers to fill the space.
“Ah, right!”
The long silence was suddenly broken by Lowell’s shout.
“…?”
Leon looked at her in surprise.
“I forgot something important!”
She carefully set her teacup down on the table. A clear ringing sound echoed off the marble.
“Let’s get married.”
“Pff—!”
An immediate reaction burst from Leon’s mouth. The tea he’d been drinking now splashed across the table.
“Eek! Are you okay?”
As Leon choked and gasped for air, Lowell looked around for tissues, worry written on her face.
“W-what did you say?”
“Huh? Oh, I said we should get married.”
What on earth is this woman talking about?
The moment Leon’s flustered, flushed face met the sight of Lowell—who looked calmer than anyone—the contrast burned into his eyes.
