I Made a Contract with a Devil, but the Price is Strange

After one battle ended, we entered a small forest in the field. After scouting and confirming there were no enemies, we settled in a clearing.

“Here.”

Inis took out jerky and a water pouch from her bag. I received them while sitting on a rock.

“Isn’t the bag uncomfortable?”

Considering our respective roles, it would make more sense for me to carry it. She was a frontline fighter who needed to move her body.

“I think it would be better if I carried it.”

“Absolutely not. What kind of slave in this world would burden their master with luggage? Like when you spoke formally to me, if someone sees it, they’ll gossip.”

I had suggested it, but she refused so firmly that I couldn’t push further. If she didn’t want to tarnish my reputation, how could I persuade her?

“You can take off your robe here. It’s fine since we’ve come to a place without people.”

“Yes.”

She took off her robe. As she touched and arranged her hair, I thought it was a shame to cut it. Her long straight hair suited her so well. But it couldn’t be helped.

Munch munch-

We silently ate jerky and drank water. While active in the labyrinth, we needed to regularly replenish food and fluids.

I raised my head and looked at Inis. She was munching on jerky held with both hands, like a squirrel.

Although I had only known her for two days, I could tell what kind of personality she had. She was honest, and her attitude and tone were gentle.

At least that’s what I had felt so far. To think that such a person was betrayed. What could be the reason?

‘I think I might know…’

I was curious about her story, but I didn’t ask. Everyone has a past they want to hide.

“Your swordsmanship is quite impressive. Did you attend a swordsman guild?”

“I tried to, but when they saw my hair, they all either refused or cursed and drove me away.”

“Then you’re saying you trained that swordsmanship through self-study?”

“At first, I stole techniques by secretly watching classes. I paid the tuition by putting money in a pouch and throwing it into the guild.”

“That’s impressive.”

I would never have done something like that. I would have been consumed by inferiority and blamed the world and the guild. Even if I had watched secretly, I wouldn’t have paid the tuition.

“But even if you secretly watched classes, you couldn’t receive explanations or guidance. It doesn’t seem like it would have been very helpful.”

“So I repeated the movements they taught and researched on my own. What thoughts went into a certain stance, and what was the intention. As I kept doing it, I could understand the meaning.”

I swallowed the jerky down my throat and said:

“You seem to have talent for swordsmanship.”

“Me? No. I’m inadequate compared to others. If I truly had talent…”

She stopped there and shut her mouth firmly. Inis pulled down her bangs with her hand. Her eyes were covered and hard to see. The corners of her mouth rose slightly, and then she bit into the jerky again.

The conversation ended there. Perhaps talking reminded her of when she was betrayed.

『’Effort doesn’t betray you. But people do.’』
『Quest Completion Condition』
-Capture the adventurers who betrayed Inis and achieve revenge!
『Quest Reward: The rewards from Inis and Egun will vary depending on the level of completion.』

I quietly looked at the quest I had received last night.

The first quest I had received in this world. The reason it hadn’t appeared until now was probably because I hadn’t contracted with a devil.

The fact that I had black hair. And that I was called Teufel, meaning devil contractor, and faced discrimination. Everything was overtly related to devils.

In the actual game, there were stories about devils, but they weren’t that prominent. Devil contractor related quests were also sub-concepts.

The reason I was put into this world. I suspected it had something to do with devils. Maybe there was no particular reason at all.

“Master…?”

“Hmm?”

I raised my head at the voice that broke my thoughts. I saw Inis, who had pushed her bangs to the side again. She was frowning and biting her lip.

“If I’ve upset you, I’m sorry….”

“Upset? No. Not particularly. Why do you think that?”

“You were frowning and silent for a while… So I thought you were upset because I cut off the conversation.”

“Everyone has their circumstances. I don’t think a master needs to know everything about their slave. So don’t worry too much.”

“…Yes.”

She nodded.

“Let’s get up now. Since there will be two of us living together from now on, we need to earn a lot.”

“Ah, yes!”

We stood up. After peeking outside the forest to confirm there were no other people or monsters around, we came out.

“First, you fought alone. Second, I fought alone. This time, let’s try fighting together.”

“Together?”

“Yeah. I originally intended to use you as my bodyguard. That hasn’t changed. But I was thinking, do we really need to do that even when fighting goblins?”

Unlike orcs, it seemed she could handle goblins. In fact, if I faced goblins alone, it would waste both time and magic power.

“So when fighting goblins, should I also take action?”

“Yeah. We’ll eventually have to fight together anyway, so we need to coordinate. Think of it as a rehearsal.”

“I understand. I’ll try not to disappoint you, Master.”

“You don’t need to try.”

Seeing her swordsmanship, she would do well on her own. It was that impressive.

“Fire.”

I summoned a flame. Inis looked at the blaze with sparkling eyes. Before we fought together, there was one thing I wanted to experiment with.

“Inis. Bring your hand close to the fire. You can stop if it’s hot.”

At my command, she extended her arm toward the flame. Slowly. Very slowly.

Inis’s hand got closer and closer until it went completely into the flame. From the outside, it looked like she was holding the flame in her hand.

“Wow. Master. It’s not hot at all. Rather, it feels warm and cozy.”

“It must be because of the blessing Lady Egun gave you.”

Well, it would be a problem if the fire summoned by her power was hot to someone who had received a devil’s grace.

“This means I can use my ability more actively?”

Enemies can’t easily approach because of the flames. Meanwhile, Inis had no problem being in the fire. If we used this, one-sided offense would be possible.

“Now let’s go into action.”

“Yes.”

Not long after walking across the field, we encountered a goblin group. They must have spotted us too, as they came running with clubs.

Nine in number. The most we had encountered so far. But I wasn’t worried.

“Fire.”

I summoned a flame and then changed it into an arrow shape.

“Fire Arrow.”

I shot the fully formed fire arrow toward the enemy. As the arrow cut through the air and they tried to dodge it, I moved my finger.

Thud!

The arrow suddenly rotated sideways and lodged in a goblin’s face. Fire instantly caught on its body and began to engulf it entirely.

“Fire.”

Seeing their comrade taken down in an instant, the goblins increased their speed even more.

“Kerururuk!”

“I’ll go!”

As the distance narrowed, Inis immediately stepped forward. The sight of her running with her longsword drawn. The sword pointed to the sky. Again, it was a high guard stance.

Slash—!

The first strike beheaded an enemy. Another goblin tried to attack her from the side. I immediately moved the flame.

Whoosh!

“Keraak!”

Startled by the approaching flame, it backed away. Having missed the opportunity to attack, it stomped its feet in frustration. It turned its gaze and looked at me.

“Kerururuk!”

“Ignite.”

I spoke as soon as the goblin tried to come at me. Fire caught in its eye sockets. It tried to grab its melting eyeballs and burned its hands as well.

Whoosh—!

While I was dealing with another one, Inis cut down two more at once. The sight of two heads flying through the air, spraying blood, felt more exhilarating than cruel.

“Fire Arrow.”

As the master, I couldn’t let myself kill fewer goblins. I created a fire arrow and shot it into the head of the goblin chief in the back.

Now we were tied with three kills each, but…

Shunk—!

Inis’s extended longsword pierced a goblin’s abdomen. It wasn’t instant death, but it was a fatal wound that would lead to death if left untreated.

“Ignite.”

I burned the head of a goblin nearby. Normally I would have summoned a flame to kill it, but it was so urgent I had no choice.

As the battle ended, Inis immediately began searching the goblin corpses. She returned after collecting all the magic stones.

“Good work, Master.”

“You too. How did it feel during the battle?”

“Definitely comfortable. In the end, I’m fighting alone, right? Thanks to you, I don’t have to worry about people around me, so I can run wild freely, which is great.”

“What about the flame?”

This was what I was most curious about.

“When there’s fire nearby, I feel strength welling up in my body. Also, it’s really good that I don’t have to worry about my sides since goblins can’t approach due to the heat.”

“So you’re saying there are only advantages?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

To be honest, watching the battle, I also thought we coordinated quite well. Above all, since Inis could fight freely, her attack power was truly tremendous.

“But there’s one thing that bothers me.”

“What is it?”

“It feels like you’re supporting me, Master, and that’s a bit…”

“Ah.”

I was indeed helping from the side.

“As I said before, you don’t need to worry about that. To begin with, others don’t know we’re master and slave. Even if they did, they wouldn’t care because of our black hair.”

“Still…”

“Even though our relationship is master and slave, we don’t need to pursue and maintain inefficiency. In that sense, give me this too,”

I pointed to the bag on her back as I spoke.

“It was uncomfortable for you when fighting, wasn’t it?”

“…Are you really okay with it?”

“I said it’s fine. Don’t make me repeat myself, just hand it over.”

This was actually starting to irritate me. There’s nothing more annoying than having to repeat the same thing.

“Then I’ll impose on you and leave it to you… In exchange, I’ll do better in other areas, Master!”

“Yes, yes.”

I nodded and received the bag. Since we hadn’t brought much to begin with, it wasn’t that heavy.

“Now that we’ve coordinated, let’s start exploring in earnest.”

“Yes!”