Silvia’s P.O.V

I am Silvia Ver Teres, the 7th Princess of the Kingdom of Teresta a small kingdom by Accursed Misty Forest, and the vast Astel Woods. We aren’t a particularly powerful kingdom, but the great number of powerful beasts, and dangerous areas in our surroundings have attracted a large quantity of adventurers, Mercenaries who mainly deal with monsters.

And thanks to these Adventurers, we've managed to secure a major source of income from Magic Cores and Monster Materials with the help of the Adventurers Guild. And we’ve managed to slowly build up quite a bit of wealth from exporting all these valuable materials.

It's unfortunate that this great fortune, was a disaster in disguise. All the money we received from taxes, and exports allowed us to quickly expand, strengthen ourselves, and improve the general standard of living easily with money to spare. But all this wealth has also attracted some unwanted attention from one of the neighboring kingdoms, the Evile Kingdom.

And to make matters worse the king, my father, has recently grown quite sickly which has spurred all the infighting between all of the powerful factions. Everyone from the minor nobles, to the ministers, and even my siblings have been waging a small war behind closed doors.

This had lead to the decline of health, and living. And increase of unrest among the citizens, and a weakening national security which has lead to a number of incidents related to the neighboring kingdoms. So I knew this would happen, as a part of this kingdoms nobility it was bound to eventually happen.

Yes, I the 7th Princess have been kidnapped. The guards that escorted me were killed, and I tied up and put too sleep inside my own carriage. I expected to find myself being either rescued, or in the bed room of the perverted king of the Evile Kingdom. But in an unusual turn of events, I found myself being woken up by a suspicious man completely covered in a black robe, donning a white mask.

“Hey, wake up…” (Robed Man)

I got up, and looked at him perplexed. He didn't look like any the kidnappers, but he could be one of their associates. Could he be someone from one of the noble factions? Someone from one of my siblings factions? Or Is he a mercenary someone hired? An assassin?

I screamed, and began acting panicked. He’s seemed to be trying to explain something to me, but I ignored him and began planning out my escape. I secretly took out a magic ring whose function was similar to that of a wand. I had it kept in this necklace, it was specially enchanted to have Spatial Storage functions.

I slowly inched towards the back of the carriage, and as soon as I felt my back hit the door, I cast my spell and launched a fireball towards his face.

It’s a beginner spell, so it probably didn't kill him, but that's fine. I wasn't trying to kill him in the first place. It's still enough to incapacitate him, or at the very least slow him down for a while. Though he's probably pretty burnt if that mask of his doesn't have any Magic Protection. But, my safety comes first so I ran into the forest.

I was planning on pulling out a map, and figuring out a way back to the capital, but I heard some unusual sounds behind me. They were footsteps, and as I turned around I was able to see the distant figure of the black robed man running through the forest.

I was shocked, how did he track me? Did he cast a spell on me? He should have only known the general direction I ran, but I made sure not to run in a straight line, and I used to trees and bushes as cover.

At first I thought it was just a coincidence, so I hurriedly crouched down and hide myself in a rather thick bush. And just to be safe I pulled out a small dagger I kept in my necklace for self-defense.

But as I waited silently for him to pass by, I was able to hear his footsteps grow closer and closer. And before I knew it he was right next too me, drawing his sword. And in my panic, I wasn't able to notice the venomous snake that was by my feet.

As I swung my dagger in an attempt to stab his leg, I noticed a flash of silver strike down and a dead snake was by my feet. And as I looked at the man in the black robe, he had already gotten out of arms reach and the dagger I tried to stab him with only struck the air.

I was dumbfounded, he was truly a monster. He managed to catch up to me even after I blasted his face with a fireball, track me down, and simultaneously save me while dodging my dagger.

But this confirmed one thing, this man was not out to kill me. So I held my dagger to my throat and threatened to kill myself if he drew closer. And it seemed to work, he seemed paralyzed, afraid to take a single step forward.

So I began asking him questions, but I wasn't getting anything out of him. And as we talked he took off his mask and robe, and to my surprise a rather young man with black hair was beneath all of that. And his attire matched that of an adventurers.

For a moment I thought, maybe this really was just twist of fate. Maybe I was saved. But, I didn't want to risk it, so I threw a few threats at him to get him to sign a Magical Contract. It's a rather precious magic artifact, and I only have three scrolls on me but my life's on the line.

The Contract works by taking several conditions, and terms and binds two people and hands out punishment to any who break it. I was originally going to use it to secure some loyal subordinates, but this works to.

He seemed to be against it, but after a few questions he surprisingly agreed, and held is hand out saying, “Silvia, it’s nice too meet you.” (Daniel)

And I stood there a little dumbfounded, “Aren’t you deciding this a bit too casually….” (Silvia)

“A little, but no matter what choice I pick my life is still going to be on the line.” (Daniel)

“Yeah, but you could die….” (Silvia)

“Oh, are you worried about me. Besides we all die eventually” (Daniel)

He laughed with a big old smile on his face. Does he think this is a joke? This is contract could seriously kill him if he breaks it.

I pull out a Magic Scroll from my necklace, and infuse it with mana while, “I Silvia Ver Teres hereby create this contract. The first condition is that you, Daniel, shall protect me until I reach the Capital of Teresta. The second condition is you, Daniel, cannot harm me in any form or way, directly or indirectly. The third condition is that I, Silvia Ver Teres, shall compensate you greatly as soon as possible upon your completion of the assignment. And the final condition is that if any of us should break any of these terms or conditions, we will in turn meet death! Do you accept, Daniel” (Silvia)

I bite off the skin of my thumb, and stamp my blood onto the scroll. I roll it up carefully, and throw it too Daniel.

“I accept” (Daniel)

He stamped the scroll with his blood before throwing it back to me. I carefully checked the scroll once, and then I threw it into the air, “With our blood as proof of the agreement, I hereby invoke this contract.” (Silvia)

And the scroll lit up, and disappeared leaving behind two balls of red light. These balls of light shot at each of our hands, and formed identical magic tattoos which served as the proof of the contract. The tattoos quickly vanished, but if I were to pour a little mana on it would become visible again. And if I ever wanted to check the terms and agreements I just had to pour a little more mana into that tattoo me all the contracts contents.

“Well do you trust me now?” (Daniel)

“Well, I’m sure you won’t kill me now.” (Silvia)

“Well once again, it’s nice too meet you Silvia.” (Daniel)

Daniel held out his hand, and I looked at him for a moment for shaking it. I normally would have been more cautious, but I had full faith in the contract. No one's ever broken the contract, and gotten away with it so but it was mistake comparing this man to normal people.

Daniel tightly held my hand, even as I tried to break away.

“Daniel?” (Silvia)

And as I looked up I noticed a dumb ole smile on his face.

“Checkmate” (Daniel)

The magic tattoos in our hands shined, and suddenly began changing. And as I poured mana into them to inspect them, I noticed the terms and agreements had changed!

“You’re quite cunning preparing all this, but you're still a little bit too naive. You put too much faith in this contract of yours.” (Daniel)

I’ve been had!