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

The sound of people talking and carriage wheels rolling. With the continuous noise, I slowly opened my eyes.

“Ugh…”

Pain immediately hit me as I regained consciousness. My skin stung as if my entire body had been burned.

I struggled to get up from the bed. There was a wooden basin on the drawer. Using the water inside as a mirror, I checked my face, the back of my hands, and arms one by one. There were no signs of burns.

This meant that both the burning sensation I felt yesterday and the fiery pain I was feeling now were all phantom pains.

“Ha.”

I washed my face with the water from the wooden basin. The lukewarm water helped the pain gradually subside.

‘I’d go insane if I had to contract twice.’

Sitting on the edge of the bed and waiting, the pain slowly faded. Relieved, I called up my status window.

『Name: Romon』
『Level: 3』
『Job: Contractor of Egun』

My job had changed from Devil Contractor to Contractor of Egun.

I wasn’t sure if this meant I couldn’t contract with other devils, or if I could still do more. I’d have to try later to find out.

“Egun…”

It seemed that Egun was the name of the devil who appeared through the red portal yesterday. A truly unrealistically beautiful woman, no, devil.

The moment I recognized the devil’s name, a piece of knowledge appeared in my mind. I took out a piece of paper from my bag and said:

“…Burn.”

A feeling like something was leaving my body. This must be what they call magic power.

Fwoosh—

When I uttered the command, the paper really did catch fire. In an instant, it turned to ash and scattered.

“Flame…”

Fwoosh-

A small flame appeared before my eyes. Even when I put my hand in it, it wasn’t hot at all. Rather, it was just warm and cozy.

I didn’t know what powers and abilities Egun possessed. However, I did know that right now I could control fire.

My lips curved up involuntarily.

Fire. Wasn’t it one of the most powerful means of attack? An element that existed solely for destruction. That was fire. It would be a great help in exploring the labyrinth.

‘Though the price is somewhat frightening…’

Devil contractors borrow power by contracting with devils. They can manifest the abilities they receive through magic power. Magic power acts as a kind of medium.

In the case of magic devils, they reportedly allow the use of magic with just magic power itself as the price. I wondered if Egun might be the same?

‘That’s unlikely.’

When we made the contract, she said she wanted everything as payment. I didn’t know exactly what she wanted, but it definitely wouldn’t be trivial.

I tried to push away the worries and anxieties that came to mind. For now, I needed to figure out how I could use the abilities I had gained.

‘Can I burn everything I see?’

I looked around. There was a small mouse crawling in the corner of the room. I looked at the mouse and said:

“Burn.”

Fwoosh—!

At my command, it started to burn. The mouse made a frantic crying sound as it ran around the room. I stepped on the mouse, turning it into a corpse along with the fire.

‘Can I burn any target I want?’

I went to the window. Looking at one of the people outside, I said:

“Burn.”

This time there was no reaction at all. I didn’t even feel magic power moving.

I didn’t know what the conditions were. If it was because it was a living being, then the mouse shouldn’t have burned. Was it simply impossible because it was human?

“Flame.”

This time I summoned a flame.

A small flame burning in front of me. It moved from side to side like ripples according to my will. The speed was neither too fast nor too slow.

Fwoosh—!

When I thought about making the flame bigger, I felt magic power leaving my body and the size gradually increased. When it reached about the size of a soccer ball, it stopped growing.

‘This seems to be the limit.’

As I continued to maintain the flame, my head started to hurt more and more. Curious about what would happen if I pushed to the extreme, I continued the situation.

“Ugh…”

After about 5 more minutes, I felt a headache as if my head was going to split. Cold sweat ran down my entire body, and I felt a burning sensation. Feeling like I might faint if I pushed any further, I had no choice but to extinguish the flame.

I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes. I felt as drained as if I had run a full marathon. It seemed like I might fall asleep at any moment.

Just before falling into a deep sleep, I forced myself to get up. I took out a piece of paper from my backpack and organized what I had just learned.

‘The power itself is definitely good.’

The firepower was so good that it was hard to believe I had just made the contract. However, I was still unsure how effective it would be in the labyrinth.

Today, I would spend the day testing the abilities I had received.

‘The price is the issue.’

I had already used the flame I received from Egun. If she wanted to collect the price, she might come tonight.

Would she come tonight? And if she did, what would she take as payment? I was curious about that.

I knew I shouldn’t be thinking this, but I wanted to see Egun’s face once more. I had never seen such a beautiful woman before.

‘Though she’s not human…’

I got up from the bed. I put on a robe to cover my hair and went out into the corridor. When I went downstairs, the inn was very quiet.

“You’re up early.”

The server who had guided me yesterday approached first. Looking at the clock when she spoke, I saw it was only 10 AM.

“I thought I had come down late.”

“Miners usually wake up late, you know.”

Miners.

It was a derogatory term for adventurers who explored the labyrinth. It also referred to those who had no intention of reaching the end of the dungeon, but only made a living in the lower floors.

Probably most adventurers in the Labyrinth City would fall into the miner category. Although the cost of living was a bit expensive, there was no other city with as good an income or developed infrastructure.

“You don’t openly call others ‘miners’ to their faces, do you?”

“I only said it because it’s just you and me right now. Besides, you just arrived in the Labyrinth City yesterday. So it’s unknown whether you’ll become a miner or an adventurer.”

I wasn’t sure if this was a compliment or an insult.

“Would you like breakfast?”

“Yes.”

“My mom will be disappointed. Until now, not a single person who purchased lodging with breakfast included has actually come to eat. You’re the first.”

“How delightful.”

“…I’ll bring your meal.”

She turned and went into the kitchen. Soon, the food was served. Stew and bread. Judging by the familiar smell, it wasn’t much different from what I ate yesterday. The hard bread was meant to be dipped in the stew.

‘It’s edible.’

After finishing my meal, I went upstairs to gather my equipment and came back down.

“Have a good day.”

The server spoke to me as I left the inn. I also greeted her and went out into the street.

This time, I didn’t look at the map while walking. There was no need. After all, the tall wall in the distance was clearly visible.

The Labyrinth.

A den where evil things gathered. The deeper you go, the more powerful monsters appear, and at the end, they say, is a god. A god who grants wishes, or something like that.

‘Even when playing the game, I never saw the ending.’

The difficulty was so hellish that though I’d reached the deep levels, I couldn’t go any further. And even that was achieved by using some cheats.

If it were up to me, I wouldn’t want to go to the labyrinth at all. Who would want to enter such a dangerous place?

But more than that, I didn’t want to live in this world. How much discrimination and humiliation had I suffered until now? Just thinking about it made me grind my teeth.

Even apart from that, compared to the modern world, this place was unreasonably dangerous and inconvenient.

‘I will definitely return.’

Gritting my teeth, I continued walking. As I got closer to the wall, more shops related to the labyrinth began to appear.

“Jerky and water.”

I walked around and found the cheapest store to buy supplies. I didn’t expect quality. As long as it was edible and drinkable, that was fine. I planned to return quickly today anyway.

“Did you hear? They say a hobgoblin has appeared in the goblin tribe on the third floor.”

“Really? I should avoid the third floor for a while then.”

The closer I got to the wall, the more adventurers appeared. It was relatively quiet because it was morning. The people out now were probably in the top 10% of adventurers.

Of course, they hadn’t come out like this voluntarily. Most had probably gambled, fallen into debt, and had no choice but to come out.

I climbed the uphill path, eavesdropping on knowledge related to the labyrinth. At the end, I could see a giant door and a high wall.

‘It’s not open yet.’

The door opens at 11 AM and closes at 11 PM. It operates for exactly 12 hours. After it closes, you can neither enter nor exit.

Dong dong—!

While I was waiting, I heard the sound of bells. It was the church bell announcing 11 o’clock. As the bell stopped, blue light emanated from the huge door. The dungeon gate began to slowly open.

“Don’t push, you fuckers!”

“Move aside, you bastards!!!”

“I was here first!”

Numerous adventurers rushed through the gate. They acted as if their feet were on fire.

‘Why are they acting like that?’

Wondering, I walked in. Beyond the gate was a large pit with stairs. There were no portals or anything like that; you had to go down manually.

There was a dungeon elevator, but you could only use it after going down a certain number of floors.

“Huh.”

I looked down for a moment at the many adventurers descending the stairs.

They ran down in a disorderly manner, without any semblance of order. Some were even pushed over the railings and fell. If they were unlucky, they would die.

“Let’s go.”

With a feeling somewhere between expectation and fear, an ambiguous emotion, I descended the stairs.