“Now then, the rest of you mortals, what reason do you want to give for us to spare your lives?” The god on the throne asked the guards.

The guards didn’t answer either out of fear or shock.

“Fine, if you don’t want to answer then you can never speak again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dead mortal speak before.” The god said and raised his hand.

A giant boulder made of rock and ice promptly appeared over the guards.

As it came crashing down a mass of white flames surrounded the guards. When the meteor crashed into the flames, it was quickly destroyed and didn’t proceed any further.

“Ah? Who dared to stop me from getting rid of some pests?” The god questioned the other beings in the fragments.

“That would be me, I find it kind of rude that you didn’t even directly use your Authority but decided to take something from space instead, it feels like you’re not even thinking about my feelings.” The figure in the white flames fragment responded.

“Fine, since it’s the kingdom of my subordinate I won’t continue. I will however, deal with you later.”

“I’d like to see you try. Now then, this illusion is almost over so I suppose I can end it slightly early.” The figure in the white flames said and snapped his fingers causing all of the fragments to fade away.

The flames covering the guards also went away. However, there was a new person among them.

“Hmmm, so that’s how it was done. Mixing illusion with reality to form something that shouldn’t be possible for you.” The person looked around at where the fragments were and where my mana clone had been.

‘Who is this person?’

“Allow me to introduce myself, I am Grau’athame, Demon King of Fortune. I suppose it can be said that I’m here to help you.” The person said.

‘What is a Demon King of Fortune?’

“Hmm, what can I help you with? Ah, I know, all of you guards, you’re all now that wolf’s subordinates.”

“What?! We try to kill a wolf that was trying to kill us, a [Dimensional Mirror] shows a large amount of gods and demons, then a god tries to kill us, and now you want us to serve the wolf who was just trying to kill us?!” The guard who had recognized the spell shouted at Grau’athame.

“First of all, I saved your life, second of all, your kingdom is literally made entirely for the purpose of serving a god who happens to serve the god that tried to kill you. I personally wouldn’t serve someone who agrees with someone who wants to kill me.”

“Just because he wants to kill us doesn’t mean Faler wants to!” The guard continued to shout.

Grau’athame didn’t say anything and merely sighed before waving his hand. The guard was then covered in black flames.

No sound was heard from the guard until the flames eventually faded away revealing nothing but ashes that blew away with the wind.

“Now then, do the rest of you agree with me?” Grau’athame asked the rest of the guards.

All of them nodded their heads without any hesitation.

“Good, now then I have places to be. I’ll give one final gift so that you can actually fulfill your purposes.” Grau’athame snapped his fingers and left without explaining what the gift was.

‘Hm, I wonder what that gift is.’

‘Who’s there!? Why are you speaking using [Telepathy]!?’ A voice shouted in my mind.

‘[Telepathy]? I can’t use [Telepathy] on my own.’ I replied to the voice.

‘Well I’ve never heard of another skill that allows people to directly communicate with their mind.’ The voice calmed down a bit.

‘I wonder if this has to do with the gift that was given.’

‘Jim? Is that you? Any idea what’s going on?’ A new voice appeared in my mind.

‘I am not Jim, I am Salem.’

‘Larry is that you? It’s me, Jim, I think this has something to do with that Demon King.’ The first voice replied.

‘Any idea if the rest of the guards are also here?’ Larry replied.

‘Orry here.’ One voice spoke up.

‘Wod here.’ Another voice replied.

‘Ari here.’

‘Quam here.’

‘Kae here.’

‘Well, good news is that everyone who’s alive is here. Now then, who’s this Salem person?’ Larry asked.

‘Hmm, that’s too many names. How about you be Guard One, you be Guard Two, you Guard Three, you Guard Four, you Guard five, you Guard six, and you Guard Seven. Much easier to remember.’

‘It’s just seven names. How is it difficult to remember?’ Guard Four asked.

‘Hm, what exactly does it mean to serve someone? There were some books in the library but they weren’t specific.’

‘How do you not know what serving someone means? Are you a child? Sigh, serving someone means you have to do what they ask or else there’s usually a punishment.’ Guard Three replied.

‘So all of those guards have to do what I ask? Why do I need them to do anything?’

There was silence and the guards near where my clone had been turned back to look at me.

‘Oh look, they turned around. Hmm, should I start running now?’

‘…’ There was a feeling of something attempting to be said but I didn’t hear anything.

‘This is the being we have to serve? They’re not only a wolf but they’re also clueless. We’re going to die aren’t we.’ Guard Two said.

‘Why would you die? Isn’t dying bad?’

‘Sigh, look wol-, Salem, those guards you’re looking at are us. I would assume that the Demon King put us in a Servant Contract with you. I also assume that based on the personality of that Demon King he made it a Lord-Servant Contract meaning it has the harshest terms for failing to obey orders while still having us retain our free will. If you die we also die, if we disobey your orders you can have the punishment be anything, and if we try and break this contract then we’ll immediately die as well. Based on what I’ve been trying there’s also no way for us to speak normally so I’ll assume it’s a Lord-Silent Servant Contract meaning that unless you give orders for us to speak normally we can only communicate with the other people in this contract and you through your mind. If you give us orders to speak then we have restrictions on what we can say based on your wishes. We have basically lost all freedom.’ Guard One explained.

‘Thank you Guard One for the knowledge. Did I do that correctly? I think that’s how to be polite to people when they are useful. At least that’s what the book said to do. Now then, where would Maria’s house be?’

‘Um, by Maria do you mean Maria Pale the General of the Silver Army?’ Guard Three asked.

‘Yes, do you know where her house is?’

‘Um, it should be a few streets behind you on a corner.’ Guard Three replied.

‘Thank you Guard Three.’

*****

‘Where have you been and why do you have seven guards following you?’ Maria asked using [Telepathy].

‘I was getting a Class and then some gods and demons appeared I think and then a Demon King of Fortune appeared and now I have something called a Contract.’

‘Sigh, first of all why do you think you would be able to get a class? Second of all, why would gods and demons be interested in you? I’ve never even heard of a Demon King of Fortune and if you are now under a Contract I can’t help you escape it.’ Maria told me.

‘Well General there’s a slight issue with what you said. I don’t think any of us know anything about the Class thing but there were a lot of gods and demons who appeared when [Dimensional Mirror] was used and that Demon King of Fortune saved us and then forced us into a Lord-Silent Servant Contract.’ Guard One told Maria.

‘I’m going to assume you have the Lord part of the Contract?’ Maria said.

‘Um, well, not quite. You see, the Demon King of Fortune appeared, said we now served that wolf, killed Nell because he didn’t agree, and then forced the remaining guards into the Silent Servant part of the contract with the wolf as the Lord.’ Guard One explained.

Maria could only stare in surprise at me for some reason.