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Leo

This was far from the ideal position that Leo found himself in, as he thought about how to handle the situation. ‘I could run away, but like hell if I’d abandon Elaria. Bringing her would mean we would be on the run for god knows how long, and I don't want that life. I could flatten Allis like a pancake... Ok, no, my brain needs to take a step back, because that's a horrible idea for two reasons. One, morality. And two, this is not a cartoon. It will be fucking messy and brutal, and I don't fancy traumatizing myself nor my... Girlfriend? Lover? We've only known each other for two days, but I do feel very close to her... Eh… I'll confront that pile of emotions later. I could als- Wait, she didn't immediately turn me in, which means….’

Leo’s expression dropped at the realization. "Alright, the fuck do you want.” He asked irritably, his previous panic vanishing.

Elaria was taken aback, while Allis smiled at his response. “I do like a man who’s direct, but I think we should have this discussion away from prying eyes. I believe you have a room here?” She inquired, and Leo led the way to their room.

On the way to the room, Leo went through his own mental library of d -grade villains and manipulative assholes. ‘Has high social status with plenty of money, yet needs something that she can't manage to get or do on her own. Probably relating to another person of higher or equivalent status, so that leaves what she wants of me to fall into Slay, Steal or Suffer. She wants someone dead, something stolen, or some one to suffer. I could probably work out a deal, but I am not bloodying my own hands.’

When the three of them arrived at the room, Leo stopped at the door and eyed it distrustfully. He then cast a spell to muffle and distort the sound waves that came out of the room for the next few hours.

‘Like hell if I'm going to have any more rumors spreading around.’ Leo thought bitterly as he passed through the door.

Walking into the room Elaria was sitting on the far side of the bed, trying to be as far from Allis as possible while still wanting to be comfortable. Allis was sitting at the bedside table, the second chair seemingly gone.

‘Huh, guess they took it, maybe for the lunch rush? I'm not gonna sit on the bed close to Allis, and as much as I want to comfort Elaria on her side, I don't want to appear weak in front of Allis by sitting so far away. so I'll just stand, maybe it'll even be seen as a power move…’ Leo mentally mused as he just stood a little dumbly in the center of the room.

Allis cocked her head with a raised eyebrow. “You're not going to have a seat?”

“I'm fine right here, so get to the point.” Leo said with an edge while crossing his arms, fully aware of how cliché the move was.

Allis leaned back on the chair, her lower body more laying in it than actually sitting. “Well, I know who you are and what the dragons might do if they find you. So to that end I would like your cooperation in dealing with someone from my past, for keeping your little secret.”

‘Ok, Slay or Suffer.’ Leo deduced, and slightly cursed to himself for it not being as simple as ‘Steal’.

“So you just want someone killed?” Leo probed, not at all okay with being party to murder, but was still curious about her story.

Allis’s face grew dark. “Not just...” She said maliciously.

‘Three things and you had to have picked the worst one.’ Leo thought in frustration, as that could end up being a very dark and very long process.

Leo sighed, still open to helping, but only if her reason was acceptable. “Ok, as long as you keep your word, and you're the one who gets their hands dirty, I have no problems.”

Allis snorted. “You don't need to trust my word, I'll draw up a spell bound contract so we’ll be forced to comply.” She remarked a little condescendingly, but was apparently amused by his ignorance.

Leo raised an eyebrow, as that last part definitely uneased him a bit. “‘Forced to?’ Well that doesn't sound sketchy at all.” He remarked sarcastically.

Allis scoffed. “The contract link’s to the intent of those who initially sign, If the intent of both parties are not aligned then the contract burns up immediately.” She reassured him like she was talking to an idiot.

Leo frowned at her attitude, but if she was a noble or something, then this was to be expected. “What happens when you don't comply after signing?” He questioned skeptically.

“A massive headache and whatever punishments were agreed to in the contract. Then the contract burns up.” Allis simply answered.

“Ah, the ‘being forced to’ part then. So could the contract be terminated if both parties agreed to?” He asked, and Allis nodded.

Leo furrowed his brow, still not wanting to be completely taken advantage of. “Alright, but I'm not just gonna bend over and take being blackmailed. I want something out of it.”

Allis sneered, as if she was being made light of. “You think you're in a position to demand anything? Even if you're a summon, you're still just learning magic. You're as much a threat to me as I am to a dragon, and that's the least of your worries. One message to the capital and every kingdom will be hunting you down for the dragons.”

Leo's eyes went wide. ‘Ah fuck, didn't consider a world wide man hunt.’ He thought with a little panic.

Allis smirked at his reaction. “Now that's out of the way let's talk about what you can do for me, your sleeve can wait outside.” She finished while waving a dismissive hand at Elaria.

Leo's face scrunched up in confusion. ‘Sleeve? Why did... Wait did she just call…’ His expression dropped into outrage. ‘Okay! There is only so much bitchery that I can tolerate, and she just crossed that threshold.’

Leo floated a foot off the air and gestured his hand toward the table next to Allis, and a second later the table was crushed using his gravity magic. Allis flinched and froze, while her eyes darted between Leo and the shattered remains of the table.

Leo pursed his lips as he gave Allis a disapproving look, as if a child broke the one rule they were told not to. “Now you seem to be missing a few key bits of information, so allow me to politely fill you in on how utterly fucking wrong you are.” He ended with a crooked smile.

Raising up a clenched fist, Leo extended a finger. “One, I am not only more than capable of killing a dragon, I can do it with almost no effort. Seriously, how easy it would be for me to do so, and how small a scale doing so is compared to what I am actually capable of, genuinely terrifies me.” He remarked as he crossed his legs mid air to show off his comfort with the flight spell.

Extending another finger, he continues. “Two, because I can do so, doesn't mean I want to. I have a pretty solid moral code, and written near the top of it is to not kill people just because I can. Not only do I believe that its fucked up and down right monstrous, but I know doing so will fuck with my compassion for life. Which I might point out, is the only reason you aren't that table right now.” He finishes the point by gesturing to the shattered remains of the table.

Leo extended his third finger after shifting to lay on his side, one hand supporting his head as the ends of his scarf slacked downward. “Three, the only reason I am afraid of the dragons finding me is because I know almost fuck all about them and magic. So I would prefer to not get into a fight with something that has the ability to rip my soul out and put it into an oversized snow globe, without at least knowing how they do it.”

Floating back a bit, he shifted back up right and extended his arms wide. “Four! My knowledge of the physical world is so far ahead of anything that could be taught on this one, that for me to teach you I literally have to have explanations for my explanations with more explanations of concepts that probably don't even exist in any book on this world. And if you understood any of that, then it should go to explain how I learned to fly In less than ten minutes, and learned healing magic by just asking a question.”

With a wide but hostile smile, he arrived at his last point. “Five... Call her a sleeve again, and you probably will end up as that table.” He stated with a facetious overtone, while he released his flight spell.

‘I hope my little theatrics knocked her down a peg.’ Leo thought with a self satisfied expression.

Silence hung in the air as Allis just stared at Leo while she was as still as a statue, and after a few moments passed, tears started to form on her face.

Leo arched a brow, not at all expecting that kind of reaction from what he thought was a scumbag. ‘Uhh... Did I fuck up?’ He thought self-critically.

Not long after the tears, she fell to her hands sobbing, while pleading frantically for Leo to help her.

‘Oh, I fucked up.’

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