For the Record

The mage seems particularly stimulated over this, whatever just happened.

“You didn’t even use any mana! What did you even do?” he shouts.

Meanwhile Omorth scratches his head and says, “I got a message saying I was offered a blood pact, does that mean anything?”

Ah, peace! Oh wait no, Abaris is talking again.

“A blood pact? You’re absolutely certain it said a blood pact?” he asks.

“That’s what it said,” I interject. “No, I don’t know what it means.”

And then he shouts back, “WELL NEITHER DO I!”

“OK! WHY ARE WE YELLING?”

Ooh, first time mage facepalm. I should be keeping a tally.

Pearl actually seems surprised. “There’s a spell even you don’t know about?”

“OF COURSE –“ Abaris starts, before pausing and taking a breath. “Of course there are. I’ve only been alive for so many years. Books can only be read so fast, you know? Anyway, we need to test it. We absolutely need to test it! We need to know what it does. If its effects are unique, we could be rewarded for documenting it! Also, it could be an asset to us in battle or otherwise!”

So anyway, they spend probably the next half hour, including the travel time to return to my lair for some reason even though they said they needed to report their blah blah whatever excuse not to kill the boss again, going around in a circle saying they didn’t want to be the test subject. After I’m finally bored enough to idly watch Philip, now half asleep after tiring himself out hissing at me from under the mostly-functional remains of a padded chair, it seems they finally came to a conclusion, maybe?

“FINE! Just fine! I’ll do it. If I don’t, you’ll all just keep doing this forever, and of course Abaris is going to start it up again at any opportunity! So fine. I’ll volunteer. Nemesis, hit me!” Izahne shouts.

I tilt my head, and then slap her across the face hard enough to knock her down.

Nyx sighs. (You know that wasn’t what she meant.)

Maybe, but I feel better now, yeah?

(Idiot.)

Izahne stands up quick as a lightning bolt with an unexpectedly hurt expression on her face. “W-what was that for?”

“You said to hit you. I hit you. Was that not what you wanted?” I answer with a shrug.

She grits her teeth while her face reddens, before closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “No, that was not what I wanted. What I wanted, was for you to use your blood pact thing on me.”

“Hey, fine, whatever.” I do as she asks, and promptly get another System message.

[Izahne (Paladin) has accepted your Blood Pact!]

[Izahne (Paladin) is now a subservient being!]

“Well that’s interesting. It says you’re now subservient to me.”

Abaris looks so excited that he’s shaking uncontrollably. “Ah, does it? Does it? Quickly now, we need to know its limits! You need to tell her to do something, something she definitely wouldn’t normally do!”

I channel Omorth and scratch my head. “Uhhh, like what?”

“I don’t know! Use your imagination!”

(I have an idea,) Nyx offers.

“Hey, hang on, Nyx is gonna suggest something,” I say.

(Ok, so. Tell her to cut her hair.)

I don’t really get it, but hey, whatever.

“Cut your hair.”

Everyone around me sharply inhales.

Izahne freezes for a moment and stares at me, and then slowly takes a short sword from a thigh scabbard. She grits her teeth and closes her eyes, and I can feel her strain against our bond, until she finally takes the thick silver braid in her other hand and cuts it off at the base. Her remaining hair falls around her face, now just short of shoulder length.

(Now tell her to give it to you,) Nyx continues.

“Offer it to me.”

The others still appear absolutely fixated. Well, other than Pearl, who seems to be blushing and holding back a smile? Eh.

The paladin grits her teeth even harder, continuing to strain against the bond between us, before finally relenting, sheathing the blade, and holding her cut braid toward me.

(Take it and put it around your neck for a moment, and then store it!)

I do as she says, and Izahne lets out a defeated sigh. The others look deeply concerned. I remain indifferent.

“So, does that give some idea about the limitations?” I ask Abaris.

“Oh, it does, it definitely does! Tell me, how did the link feel to you?” he says.

“Well, I can feel her presence on the edge of my mind… I could probably tell where she is if she wasn’t right here, and I could feel her strain against my will, but not very strongly… are you sure that was something she wouldn’t do?”

“IT WAS!” the paladin shrieks in a higher voice than I’ve heard from her before.

“It definitely was!” Pearl echoes.

“Absolutely,” Omorth further confirms.

“I see. Well, here then.” I press my will toward the shared bond, and pull loose the knot. I feel her presence fade and then vanish. She lets out a sigh of relief.

Clearly this is more than the mage was hoping for, because now he’s rapidly scribbling in a notebook he pulled from nowhere.

(Probably dim –)

Dimensional storage, yes, I know. No, I didn’t ask a question.

(Not intentionally! You don’t have to think the words!) she snaps.

“Alright. Well. That was a thing, then. So, what now?”

Izahne speaks up, her face still incredibly red. “W-we need to go the academy and report our p-progress. You should… sh-should…”

“You should come with us!” Pearl finishes for her.

Abaris chuckles. “You’re unquestionably a member of the party now.”

“Um, sure. What am I supposed to do there? I still need to eat souls fairly frequently, unless we want, uh, that to happen again,” I say.

“Let’s not do that again,” Omorth says.

“We’ll kill you if you do,” Elobahn snaps.

Unexpectedly, Izahne snaps back at him. “Don’t you dare!”

Huh. I didn’t expect to witness a party face-off that didn’t involve me on one side today.

(It does involve you, you’re just an idiot,) Nyx chirps.

Fine, sure. Anyway, the others are currently holding the two apart from each other. Time to pretend to be the adult in the room.

“Knock it off, both of you, or you get the aura.”

That seems to have had the intended effect, since they both finally break eye contact and back away from each other.

“I’m still not wrong, it’s dangerous,” the rogue mutters.

I shrug. “He’s right. But you’re all dangerous too. Clearly all it takes is one argument and you’re ready to draw steel. Maybe work on that.”

(So smug. You’re so damned transparent.)

I also don’t care!

The party stops for another small meal of Omorth’s cooking, and after a feeding for Philip as well, we ready to head out. Meanwhile, Izahne has been standing near me, gripping her hands together and squirming a little bit every now and then as if she wants to say something. I get impatient, so I break the ice.

“You’re just going to stand there? You obviously have something to say.”

“Ah…” she starts.

“Ah?”

“A-ah…”

I furrow my brow.

“I-I look forward to a long and f-fruitful relationship!” she finally shrieks while formally bowing.

I… have no idea what’s going on.

(Well…)

Well?

(Well. You… made her propose marriage. To you. And then you formally accepted it,) Nyx confesses.

…

Eh?