I left the tent half angry, half disappointed. I didn't really know what I expected to be honest. But at least I learned one thing - mages here are even worse than I anticipated. Well at least I would finally be able to get to some proper city, not some random forest or fishing village.

I sat back near Goldie and the kid. Both were dozing off currently and didn't even notice me. I leaned back, watching other people wander around the place and waited for Bert to finish his chat.

It took him a long while, maybe an hour, after which he announced that we will be leaving at once. He was also very apologetic towards me for some reason. I mean, right, Harsh did shout a bunch of crap towards me, even after I left the tent I heard some unsavory words that were most likely towards me, but I did not care much. In any case, all four of us left almost immediately after they finished talking, along with three other monks, or rather Blue Mages, that were apparently there to guide us to our destination.

-Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience you were caused.

-Again, stop. I think I said that five times already, I don't mind. Shit happens I guess, let's just forget that and move on. Better tell me how long till our destination.

-About a day's worth of walking, sir - answered one of our guides, or maybe guards. - Would've been faster but roads have been overgrowing lately for some reason.

-Mhm. By the way, what happened to the horses? - I asked Goldie.

-They would be only a problem - answered the guide again - When I say overgrown, I mean it.

-What happened here?

-Don't know. And not my liberty to say anyways.

We spent the rest of the day walking through what apparently was supposed to be a road, but neither Bert nor Goldie could recognize it as such. I honestly don't know how our guides were making any sense of this place and even started thinking that maybe meeting this group was not the worst thing that happened to me in the recent time. For what I knew, if we were to travel alone we would most likely be lost in those woods for a long while. It would be especially hard with the kid slowing us down. Speaking of, since the initial meeting by the camp of those so-called Blue Mages, he was keeping quiet. Once or twice he spoke both to me and Bert, but seeing as he was completely drained and I was not exactly in the mood to talk, he left us alone. I was sure that I was gonna be showered in questions later and I was not mistaken. When we stopped for a break to rest for the night, he approached me and asked all about what happened after we split. I explained that I found Bert who was under attack by the creatures and we both managed to scare them off using torches and some ingenuity, but burned a bit of the forest in the process. I don't know if he bought the last part, but he didn't ask any more questions.

The night was quiet and our rest wasn't interrupted by anything. To be honest, I was expecting to be ambushed again by something, but no. I spent the night lying down and pretending to sleep, watching our "company". Or at least I wanted to.

Later that night, I was joined by Bert, which was unexpected, since I was sure that he would be completely out cold, especially after the events of the previous night and day. He sat next to me and looked like he was contemplating if he should wake me up or not. After a long while I sat up and stopped pretending, which caught him off guard.

-What is it this time?

-I am sorry, I didn't want to wake you up. You have to be extremely tired after… well, all this.

-And aren't you as well? You seem extremely lively considering you have been drained not too long ago.

-I am fine. I can recuperate quickly.

-Is that so? Well then. What do you need?

-Excuse me?

-Well, I don't think you would wake me up in the middle of the night just because.

-Ah. Right. I am terribly sorry. I just wanted to check up on you. It's all I can do after all you have done for me.

-OK - I stretched a bit and looked directly at him. - No. This is not right. What is this all

about?

-I'm afraid I don't understand…

-Oh you do - I sighed, annoyed - Since, ehm, since our little adventure and the talk with Harsh you have been getting more and more polite towards me. What is this all about?

-Is it weird that I am being thankful to the man that saved my life?

-A bit, yes. It's odd that a person who had threatened me is now basically my attorney and now even a bodyguard. What are you playing at?

-Ok. Let me be serious - he looked directly at me. - I take my debts very seriously. I am now riding a thin line here, and I am not so thrilled about that. I do not exactly know who you are, but you definitely are something else. So I will do whatever I have to do to repay the debt.

-Thin line? Debt? What are you talking about?

-You have Stained me.

-I did what?

-Oh. Oh… - he looked like he finally understood something - I forgot. You are not from here are you?

-Well, yes, you already know that I am a traveler. I told you a long while ago. What of it?

-So you are not familiar with the Law of Triple Binding?

-I am afraid I am not.

-As you are one of the Red Mages I assumed you were informed but I guess these things happen - he leaned on a nearby tree, looking tired - especially while you travel. Let me explain then.

-Would be appreciated.

-Where do I start… - he gazed towards the night sky, thinking aloud.

-From the beginning would be best.

-Right… - he smiled. - So. Our country… or rather our whole continent, is ruled by one prevalent law, enforced by an old magic. It binds every single soul to fulfill our deals, whether we like it or not.

-Binds? How exactly…

-”Any promise, be it king's or beggar's, be it written, spoken or bloody, is always a bind that will last forever, until death and beyond. To forget is to Stain yourself. To Stain oneself completely is to forgo one's soul for eternity.”

-What the hell. That’s ominous.

-Right? It’s a piece of an old spell that creates the Law.

-Someone cast a spell like that on a whole country? - I asked, not very convinced about all this.

He noticed my skepticism.

-I must admit, I was not that sure of it myself for a while. Seems far fetched, doesn’t it?

-No shit. “Forgo one’s soul”? The hell is that even supposed to mean?

-Ah, that’s quite simple. You are enslaved. And judging by my Stains, I am not that far from experiencing that first hand. And to a man that I barely know.

-Okay, one thing at a time - I said, raising my hand in surrender. - You keep saying "stained"... What does that…

-This.

He pulled up his shirt, revealing two large, well, stains on his body. It sort of looked like someone spilled black ink all over his chest.

-As far as I am aware, you gain one of those marks when you fail to fulfill your contract. You get three and it's the end of the line for you.

-Uh-uh… okay… I sort of get where you are coming from.

We sat there for a minute in silence.

-You are dumping a lot on me here. Say, the Stains. They always manifest… there? - I pointed towards his chest.

-Yes. As far as I know.

-Hm… can you, er… “wash” them out somehow?

-By fulfilling the deal you made. Or somehow amending it.

-Doesn’t the "deal" have to be some kind of ritual or something?

-Not really. The verbal agreement is usually enough. Usually people finalize it with a handshake, that is a gesture that creates the deal, most of the time, but even without it it is sometimes valid, if the person is strong enough and persistent enough. The amount of the Stains you get at once are connected to the type of a deal you struck.

-That's… unsettling. And inconsistent. What do you mean by persistent?

-You can forcefully create a Stain.

-How?

He smiled at me.

-And why would I tell you? While I am definitely going to try and fulfill the deal, even though we had some… roadblocks… - he gazed towards Goldie and the kid. - I am not going to be that submissive.

-Fair point. Okay. I get the general idea. I don’t really intend on pursuing this, as long as I reach the city in one piece.

-And I am glad to hear that.

-Ehe… - I muttered, thinking of something else. - Well, I don't really want to be responsible for someone else right now, so rest assured that I am not trying to jeopardize our deal. This is all just an unfortunate turn of events.

-Seems like it was fortunate if you ask me. For you at least.

-Think whatever you want. But I do intend to get to the capital. This… detour is not bothering me much. So you can sleep safely. Well, as long as you won't get carried away by a group of bandits or something.

-Thank you.

-You are welcome. Now, if you excuse me, I would like to rest. I recommend you do the same.

-I will.

With that, he left.

When I was sure no one was paying attention, I quickly lifted up my shirt and examined myself. To my relief, I had no black patches on my chest. I instantly felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, but also got angry at myself. Everyone was so trusting. I should've known better than to just assume that they were just so easily swayed. And now, I had at least two looming promises over my head.

-Well, there go my plans of ditching that witch… - I muttered to myself.

Now while thinking about it, my situation shouldn't be that bad. If the Stains on Bert were indeed real, that meant I had at least a two point margin of error. Or two Stain margin of error. Two Stain points? Something like that. How does that work exactly? Or does it even work at all, since by all means I was not a resident of this country. I should've asked him about all this a bit more. With all the questions welling in my head I lied back and started watching the stars, talking to myself.

-This is going to be either interesting or a complete pain in the ass. There is no inbetween.

The sleepless night went by pretty fast. I slowly started getting used to not being able to sleep. Besides it being annoying, it should prove being convenient in the long run anyways.

Sadly, I didn't get any opportunity to talk privately with Bert again, so I decided to leave that for later.

For the first time in however long I was traveling, I was in an actual group that seemingly knew what to do. In the morning I noticed how monks started shuffling around the camp and started preparing an actual breakfast. Although I still was not hungry, my mouth started watering anyway. I wondered what and how they were gonna go about this, since we were still in a total wilderness, so I started pretending like I was waking up. Most of them were paying me no mind, just greeted me with a nod when they noticed me stretching. Others were still asleep, so I quietly stood up and started wandering around our makeshift camp. Well I called it a camp, but it hardly was anything. We didn't even light a bonfire last night, we instead used one of those large glowing crystals. They did not give any heat though. It was not really an issue because nights here were pretty much as warm as days, but now I wondered how they were gonna go about making meals.

I was instantly disappointed, because when I approached the group, I recognized what they were preparing. Besides a bunch of large waterskins that they pulled out of somewhere, they had opened a large box that one of them was carrying the other day. It was full of mana fruit. With a sigh, I was about to turn around and go back to "sleep", when I noticed one of them was making a stake of some kind out of wood and sticking some mana fruit onto it. Curious, sat nearby and started watching him. He filled about four of those sticks with them and started "grilling" them over the glowing crystal. Even without warmth, after a few moments, the fruit started changing colors. While normally green, they slowly were going through the whole array of colors. Blue, purple, red, yellow and back to green. It appeared like it was circling through the whole rainbow, and it was getting faster and faster, to the point where I couldn't even tell which color it was. It was a bizarre sight. There was no smell though.

The guy "cooking" finally noticed me observing him and gestured for me to approach. He broke one of the sticks with the glittering fruit in half and gave it to me with a warm smile.

-Thanks - I muttered, carefully investigating the food, touching it. It was still completely cold. Up close, it was almost hard to look at.

-They're gonna dim soon, so don't wait for too long and wake up your companions.

-Mhm… That's an interesting way of preparing them - I said, sliding one off and examining it under the sun.

-Right? Some prefer it raw, but I always thought eating them like this makes it more interesting.

-I honestly never tried eating them "cooked". How do they taste?

-Ooh, you don't know what you are missing. The taste is different, depending on what color they are currently! You are literally playing the flavor lottery.

-Huh. Interesting. What happens after they dim?

-Usually they come back to their regular color. Sometimes, if you roast them for too long they might permanently change their taste, but that's it.

-Curious.

-Right? People always tell me I am wasting time preparing them, but I don't care.

-Because you are - said some other monk that noticed us talking. - They will have the same amount of mana whenever you waste your time like this or not. Just eat and stop pestering others.

-I don't really mind.

The other guy just shrugged.

-Whatever floats your boat - he grabbed one of the raw fruits and devoured it in one bite. - Wake your companions up. We are leaving as soon as we can.

I nodded and took the fruit on the stick that he shared with me.

-Wake up - I unceremoniously poked Goldie with one end, while sliding the fruit off the other. - Breakfast is ready.

All three slowly started gathering themselves off the ground.

-Shit, it's morning already? - muttered Bert under his breath, glaring towards the canopy.

-Here - I gave each of them one fruit. Courtesy of our guides. Water is by the campfir… I mean by the crystal if you need some.

-Oohh, someone cooked them! - noticed Goldie, immediately taking a bite. - Always better than raw.

-Meh.

-What are those? - asked the kid, staring intently at one of the fruits.

-Ah, right. - Bert finally stood up and stretched.- Let me explain then.

He said more or less the same thing as that monk. Meanwhile, I was considering whether I should leave it as emergency supplies, but couldn't help but to be curious about that so-called "flavor lottery", so I took a bite.

The texture was still the same, basically a hard candy, but it tasted like I just bit into a small, sour apple. It still had the tree sap aftertaste though. Not too bad. I took another bite, finishing the fruit, and the taste was different again, this time, straight up a cherry tomato. Definitely a weird experience, especially confusing when you combine such varied flavors with the same texture. And the aftertaste. Seems like at least that was the same, no matter what you do. I can see why some people like it.

After we finished our "meal", the guy who prepared them handed us each a waterskin and told us to get ready.

In about half an hour we were back on the road.

The weather was beautiful, as always. Now when I think of it, since I woke up in "the bowl", I have not seen any rain, or even a bigger cloud in the sky. It was a nice change of pace, since I was used to it raining every other day.

After a few hours of march the woods started to finally thin out a small bit. I only noticed when we finally started walking on something that was not leaves or grass - a stone paved road. First, it was a bit small, but soon it expanded to being about three, maybe four people's size. According to what I overheard it was still overgrown - it was supposed to be wide enough for two medium sized carriages to ride alongside each other.

Finally, after yet another hour, we arrived.