I Became the Master of the Empress

207 – 211

The Intelligence Department’s laboratory.

Such an important experiment warranted a personal visit to hear the results.

“Your Grace, please come this way.”

Guided by Karl, I descend into the basement of the Intelligence Department.

-Thud… Thud.

I walk through the basement corridor, walled in by thick bricks, and ask.

“How’s it going? Did you find out anything?”

“I found something more interesting than I expected.”

“It really needs to be interesting. We’ve staked our lives on this.”

Literally, our lives are on the line.

If we can’t disrupt the blood contract, it will be difficult to leave the empire.

At my words, Karl’s face twisted into an expression of discomfort.

“Ha… You might be somewhat satisfied with the results this time.”

-Creak.

The door opens, and inside, behind a thick glass window, three people are seen looking at a blood contract placed in the middle.

“Are they death row inmates?”

Karl nods in response.

“They should have been executed a few days ago, but for now, they are being used for experiments. Please, take a look over there.”

One of them dips his blood from his own hand onto the contract and passes it to the person in front.

“The current experiment is to see what happens when one of the people bound by the blood contract uses someone else’s blood.”

Then another man spreads blood from a glass bottle onto his thumb and smears it on the blood contract…

There’s no reaction.

“What? Is it sealed?”

Karl shakes his head at my question.

“No, it hasn’t been sealed. But what comes next will interest you.”

The man sitting quietly in the center starts to clasp his hands and begins to pray.

And the three people start to converse about something.

Then, once again, the man spreads the blood from the glass bottle onto his finger and stamps it on the contract.

“Huh?”

A purple glow begins to emanate from the contract.

What’s happening?

“Is this? Is the contract sealed?”

Karl nods in response to my question.

“Yes, it’s sealed.”

“How? It clearly didn’t work at first, did it? How is it sealed now?”

Honestly, I can’t grasp the principle behind it.

It doesn’t seem much different from the first and second time, does it? What happened?

As if to clear my doubts, I urge Karl to speak, and he opens his mouth.

“I formulated a hypothesis during the experiment. About what would happen if we changed the blood when making a blood pact.”

“I know that. So, how is the first different from the second?”

Karl continues at my question.

“When you make a pact with a third party’s blood, the pact does not activate. However, if the original owner of the blood is aware of the pact’s terms and has a strong desire to consent, the pact activates.”

Ah? Could it be?

“So, if the blood pact is broken, does the owner of the blood pay the price?”

Karl nods at my question.

“Yes, it seems the owner of the blood must have the intention to make the pact for it to be possible.”

At Karl’s words, I fall into thought.

“What about testing the content of the contract?”

Since it’s a wicked demon race, it’s hard to believe the contents listed in the contract are normal, so I had requested confirmation on how the contract terms are processed.

“Well… it’s processed more sensibly than I thought.”

“Huh?”

I ask, surprised by the unexpected response…

“We added various clauses and drafted the contract, but as long as the terms are met, there are no issues.”

What? It’s more normal than I thought? Usually, when you think of demons making a pact, you think of something malicious.

“Isn’t there usually some kind of deceit when making a pact with demons?”

Demons are typically seen as faithless swindlers, so it seemed natural to expect some trickery.

“I’ve reviewed it and checked several times, but it’s judged to be extremely normal. Like a fair judge,” he says.

At that, I can’t help but chuckle.

“I thought there would be deceit with demons. But it’s surprisingly normal?”

“Yes. It is, but there’s a problem.”

I respond to Karl’s words.

“What is it?”

“Firstly, human blood coagulates quickly, making it difficult to preserve. Also, when making a pact, the owner of the blood must be clearly aware of and agree to the contract’s terms. And unless the demon is a fool, His Grace the Archduke wouldn’t just watch someone smear another’s blood.”

Karl’s words are entirely reasonable.

“Can’t magic solve that?”

Karl shakes his head as if it’s out of the question.

“I wonder if using magic to deceive a demon with exceptional mana sensitivity would immediately give us away.”

“Hmm… What about using heparin to prevent the blood from clotting?”

The method to prevent blood clotting came to mind instantly. It’s common knowledge I learned back in middle school that leech saliva has an effect that prevents blood from clotting.

“What’s heparin?”

Ah… I guess the people here wouldn’t know.

“From what I’ve heard, leech saliva can prevent blood from clotting. How about we use that?”

Karl silently pondered before nodding in agreement, finding the idea plausible.

“Now that I think about it, when I was bitten by leeches in the swamp, the bleeding did not stop easily.”

Was it because of his experience wandering around as a mercenary? He caught on to my idea right away.

“We’ll consider that part and experiment with it. But there’s another problem remaining. How do we know the contents of the contract and how to apply blood to the paper without the Locust’s eyes catching us?”

I nodded at his words.

“Yes, that’s the problem.”

Unless the Locust is blind, there’s no way it would just watch me draw someone else’s blood.

“Let’s think about it slowly, the experiment went well. But it seems we need to add a few more things.”

Karl nodded at my words.

“Command me.”

“First, test whether the contract still applies even if the owner of the blood is far from the contract, and whether a contract can be made with blood mixed with leech saliva.”

“That’s certainly doable. I will submit a report by next week.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

With that, I left the intelligence department.

***

“Your Grace, have you been looking for me?”

I asked Maximilian as I saw him.

“Yes, sorry for calling you when you’re busy.”

“Haha, not at all.”

Maximilian said it was nothing, but his face didn’t look too good.

I heard there’s been a lot going on recently. Apparently, I’m told that it’s becoming difficult to continue supporting the investment fund.

“It’s nothing much. Just that we need a new material.”

“New material?”

I said to Maximilian, who looked puzzled.

“It needs to be a color similar to human skin, and it has to contain a small amount of liquid. Is there a material thin enough to cover a thumb that won’t be noticeable to the naked eye?”

I would have asked Maximilian, the technician, for a processing method using human skin as in martial arts novels if such a thing existed here, but since it doesn’t, I called him over.

However, Maximilian’s face fell at my words.

With a voice of despair, he responds, “Why do you suddenly need such a thing?”

“That’s…”

Maximilian’s face almost crumples into tears, and I can’t help but feel sorry for him.

“It’s for an important espionage operation at the intelligence department. It’s a necessary item for the mission, you see?”

“Why don’t you leave that to the intelligence department? I feel like I’m dying here. Do you have any idea how much the professors have been hounding me lately?”

I had already passed on various tasks to the intelligence department, so Maximilian was the only one I could think of for this job. I apologize with a guilty expression.

“Sorry, sorry. But once this is over, I’ll make sure you get a generous vacation.”

It’s no joke; it’s true.

If we manage to eliminate the Locust this time, I’ll retire, and it’s likely that they won’t have to work overtime like they do now.

That would be similar to a vacation, wouldn’t it?

As I think this, Maximilian asks with a half-doubting expression, “Really?”

But Maximilian, squinting his eyes as if he can’t believe it, prompts me to answer.

“Of course, it’s true. Oh, it’s this kind of device.”

I show him a sketch of a device I saw in a spy movie before.

“It’s a thin membrane like this. It will contain a liquid, so when it’s cut with a knife, the liquid will come out. It has to be made as similar to human skin as possible so that no one can tell someone is wearing it. Is there a way to do that?”

Maximilian looks at the sketch for a long time.

After pondering over the sketch, he says, “We could use rubber to make something similar… but it might be a bit difficult to make it undetectable as His Highness wishes.”

Rubber? Was there rubber here too?

Curious, I ask, “Is there rubber?”

Maximilian nods at my question.

“Yes, it comes from rubber trees in the New Continent and is imported in small quantities for alchemy. If we dye it, we might be able to make it look somewhat similar… but it seems like it will be quite noticeable?”

Since there’s no other way.

“Could you make a prototype to start with?”

Maximilian nodded as I spoke.

“I’ll tell the alchemist to prepare a few samples for next week. But what’s really on your mind?”

“Yes, then. I’ll bring some samples next week. Ah, yes! And congratulations on your wedding.”

“Heh-heh. Thank you.”

As I spoke, I nodded and turned away, leaving Maximilian behind, lost in thought.

Getting married to Princess Eria?

Life is indeed unpredictable.

I’ll get her a wedding gift, perhaps a staff and cloak from Benian?