System Change

Chapter 363: Soul Contracts

For Derek, the rest of the night went by in a blur. As soon as Callum stepped foot in Indria, he went to work without asking any questions about what exactly was going on. Basically, to the man, what he was seeing seemed to be way above his pay grade. He knew what he was needed for, and thats what he didnot more, and no less.

The process was both simple and elaborate in many ways. It was simple in the fact that when Callum was writing up a contract, it didnt look much different from how Rudy had done many times before. However, once that part was finished, the real fun began.

On one side, every royal in the room had signed it, and Derek was even tasked with going back to Cydaria and bringing back Duke Ryven just for the contract to hold even greater weight for the royal family. Before, with Walter, he had taken the burden of his soul contract on his own, and it would pass down to the next patriarch of the family if it was still active when he gave up his position or died.

However, Edwin wasnt just going to forgive those who initiated a war against his country and his people. This contract affected all the royal families in the kingdom. And by that, it meant that it affected the king and the crown prince, and the duke and his eldest son. Sabrina was added into the contract along with the adviser, general, and the guard named Jerum, that was in the room. They acted more as witnesses to the contract, but were still affected by it.

Callum, though, had limited power, and wasnt able to add everything into a single contract. The first contract hindered the royal familys growth by placing restrictions on the heads and immediate heirs to the family so that they must be either equal or less powerful than the opposite contract holder unless otherwise specified by said holder, which, in this case, was Edward.

That meant that without Edwards direct approval, the heads of the family would undergo a considerable debuff and stay that way unless something came up and Edward needed their power for something.

When the soul contract went into effect, Derek watched as it separated in two. One contract went to Edward, while the other burst into mana and formed multiple sets of chains. The first, and biggest, set of mana chains wrapped themselves around King Osian and slowly sunk into his body before disappearing completely. The same thing then happened with Dukey Ryven, then their sons. Small fragments of chains then shot into Osians wife, the general, his adviser, and Sabrina.

It all happened in the reverse manner of what happened with Walter at the auction. The chains restricting him had come out of his body, and the contract held by Edwin was used as sort of a key to remove them. This meant that the part of the contract that Edward received would also act as the key to Indrias restrictions. It would be a heavy burden to bear.

After the restriction came the other soul contract. It was the one that set forth the terms of Indria becoming a vassal kingdom under the rule of Cydaria. It also stated that the country would aid Cydaria with anything they needed, especially if it came to battle. The laws and new rules of the kingdom would be written later and enforced through regular contracts, though the soul contracts would see to it that they were enforced.

At the end, on his own initiative, Osian even made an oath to the Great System to abide by Cydarias rule as best he could. The oath was just a cherry on top, or icing on the cake. Honestly, it didnt really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. The man knew how to make an oath, and the phrase as best I can that he used could be used to find plenty of outs. But it was still seen as an act of sincerity and loyalty.

Derek could understand that. Cydaria now had all the power, and it wouldnt take much to absolutely decimate Indria and their royal family, yet they had given them a way out of the mess they created. In fact, life wouldnt be too much different for Indria after everything. Sure, they would lose any slaves or servants who didnt want to be there. The royal family did their best to make it clear that the humans werent slave contracts, but servant contracts.

Nobody was really buying it, but Sabrina did produce the contract between her and her personal maidservant, Jessica, and, while the terms werent good for the servants, they really werent slaves. Still, they werent going to let the technicalities slide. He was sure that while they might not be slaves, they were probably still treated as such.

The servants would be one of the first issues that would be taken care of under their new rule. Even though they werent slave contracts, because of the poor terms, Edgar planned to make sure that the current servants would get more favorable contracts if they chose to keep serving at all, and future servants would start with such contracts. He would have Callum created a new template for servant contracts in the future.

The process took the entire night, as Callum had to wait a long time in between each contract he made. By the time everything was finished, the contract maker looked even more ragged and bedraggled than he had before. It was a miracle that the man was able to stand on his own two feet. Derek quickly zipped him back to Cydaria before he fell unconscious in the middle of the palace.

Though the man did still end up falling unconscious in the middle of a palace, at least it wasnt the one in Indria. However, King Edwin didnt mind one bit, and even had some of their servantsones with proper contracts in placetake the man away and see that he got properly rested. The king was in much too good of a mood, even after a sleepless night, to let anything get to him. Though, at their levels, sleep was something none of them really needed to do unless they taxed themselves mentally.

Derek stepped back through the void tunnel and moved back over to Indria. Now that all the contract signing and oaths were taken care of, he would ask the questions that he really wanted to. Technically, Cydarias side of the contract stated that Indria would also be under Cydarias protection since becoming a vassal of it, but that was also limited.

Derek noticed a blush appear on Sabrinas face as she lowered her head, but he ignored her. Is that so? he asked. He wasnt exactly buying it, but the fact that Osian didnt seem wary at all about the line of questioning had him wondering.

It is, Osian continued. Look around, Mr. Hunt. Look in our citieson our streets. Our population is composed of more than eighty percent elves. Rarely will you ever run upon a beggar or homeless person. In the grand scheme of things, even servant-wise, there are few humans. Speaking of humans, do you know where most of our human servants come from?

Where? Derek leaned forward.

Astrus and Cydaria, Mr. Hunt, but mostly Astrus. The tales of how terrible non-elves are treated and how much those of my kind look down on others are spread wide. And all of that is true. I will not deny it, and I will not admit fault with or apologize for it. It has served us well for thousands of years, only coming to an end because of my folly. And for the most part, it keeps visitors out of our lands, other than traders. But when one of your humans is desperate and has nowhere to go and no other options, it is common for them to venture forth into Indria.

And what happens to those people? Derek asked.

It depends on the person, Osian answered. Oathbreakers are killed on sight. Many are offered contracts, others are turned away. But, one thing most who sign a contract have in common is that when the terms of their contracts are up, they willingly sign a new one. They are atrocious contracts, but if you ask a servant, they will tell you that its much better than what they experienced in your human cities.

What about the people who Gerald traded here? What about the citizens of Cydaria? What were you going to do once you took the kingdom?

If you must know, Mr. Hunt. The reason that your vile human conducted so little of his other business over here, and the vast majority of it in Cydaria and Astrus, is because he ran out of elves willing to trade with him. As I said, we do not allow slave contracts or slave trade, and I tend to actually pay attention to what my people are doing. He looked at Edward once again. Though I can see how that is easier with a much smaller population.

So youre saying Derek started.

Those elves are dead or imprisoned. As for the slaves they bought, you will find them in Cordonia. Gerald Torith did what he did for years. Many of the trafficked humans are servants, and the others are taken well care of. Vile man that he was, Gerald Torith was also a well of information, so we couldnt have those people getting back to you, you understand?

Though, in hindsight, we should have paid more attention to the man and asserted more influence on him. I imagine our plans would have worked out much better if he hadnt been captured and caused most of those noble families who were dissatisfied with their rulers to be caught up in everything. It would have helped if we would have had more people on the inside.

So, if you must kill me for not doing your kings job for him and taking advantage of his ineptitude, then go ahead. But dont lump me in with humans. Humans are far worse to their own kind than we are to them.

And for the citizens if you won the war? Derek asked.

It is war, Mr. Hunt. Osian shrugged. It is all speculation now, as it is not going to happen. I suspect many would have died, especially your loyal nobles. Of course, we would also take many in as servants. The population of an entire kingdom is too vast, and our elven population is too small. I imagine most of the citizens would have fallen in line under our rule once the noble houses and royal family fell. As for what Astrus would have done youd have to ask them.

Derek scratched his chin and hummed. It seemed that, though he didnt like their methods, killing them would be too harsh and would screw up everything Edward and Edwin had planned. I guess them practically being controlled by Cydaria is enough punishment for now. This is more politics than anything else, and I dont want to get into it.

So, Mr. Hunt, the king said, breaking Derek out of his thoughts. Was my answer acceptable?