Chapter 76 It Isn’t Almost It Is

(Tick Tock Tick Tock)

The grandpa clock ticked away as Christina and I sat next to a table looking at each other slightly.

It was a bit over midnight right now and most of the people were probably sleeping. But I had asked Christina to meet tonight concerning the ticket, which would bring us all towards the colloseum. I would quickly find the girl and give her the golden pocket watch and be done with this. But the only problem I had for now was to “A” go over there, and “B” find her as fast as possible. I didn’t want to take chances and seeing what kind of state she was in right now, it was highly likely we were slowly running out of time…

I rubbed my temples for a second as I tried to shake the sleepiness out of my head. I had a quick nap after we came here and I actually found myself getting a bit too comfortable. Too comfortable in the silence of no one’s presence to bear, I wasn’t even wearing my mask and just let it sit on the nightstand. I had noticed that Christina had been taking more than enough glances at my face. She seemed to be attracted to it because of the way that she didn’t dare look at me directly. Her slightly flushed cheeks also indicated she was a bit overly conscious about me without the mask on, and I didn’t really like that so I contemplated if I should just put it back on. But decided against it, since she will soon see this face almost every day. I wanted to let her ease up for a moment or get used to it. My plans for the future were still intact, and after this, she would play a certain task in which interaction was key of course.

While we were sitting like that, Christina had actually brought me some food too. It seems like she tried to come earlier to discuss with me but Hestia had told her that I was resting. She decided to come in later after that, she figured that I must be starving so she brought some food while she was at it. I didn’t really taste it since I wasn’t feeling very well, and eating wasn’t going to help me.

-Are you alright?

Christina asked a bit worried. She probably noticed me spacing out for a few moments but it was nothing, I could shrug this off easily and just nodded my head to her. I pulled out the ticket to the colloseum which wasn’t paper to be exact, but some kind of transfer device.

Seeing me pull the ticket from my pocket, Christina looked at it for a moment and you could see a familiar glint in her eyes. She inspected it more closely as I pushed it towards her and asked:

-Do you know how to use this?

Christina was surprised but she got quickly to work. She raised the device carefully, looking at the circle specifically as she muttered:

-Dimensional Gate spell…

She gasped as she looked at the sigils while narrowing her eyes. To be honest, I didn’t have any clues as what she was doing but I didn’t try to question her and just let her do her work. After all, she was an 8th rank mage and that counted as something in my book.

-This is really impressive. I know that it is the ticket to the colloseum and I have seen it in multiple occasions before, but only from a distance and never up close. I’ve never seen these kinds of sigils placed in such pattern without interfering with each other’s circuits. It’s a really difficult and impressive piece of work, which is small and compact with different interfaces and other uses binded together. And…

Christina stopped for a second as she noticed that I was already lost with no idea what she was talking about. She made an embarrassed smile as she looked at me with a flushed face saying:

-What I wanted to say was… this device is a really difficult thing to make. Only people who are an 8th rank mage or above could do create this kind of work. And to answer your first question, yes, I do know how to use it and going there right now isn’t a problem either. The mana consumption is also very small it seems like it’s mostly feeding off from itself…

Good. With that, one problem was out of the way. Now the next one.

While Christina still seemed to be amazed by the ticket, I rummaged through my other pocket and pulled out the golden pocket watch. The shine from the watch immediately caught her attention as she slowly placed the ticket back on the table and looked at it curiously. She was astounded by the faint golden light it was emitting and it’s not something you could physically see. Her eyes were glossed over suggesting that she was using some kind of minor spell to help her sense it, even though she still had the iron collar on her neck. I remembered the time when she mentioned that not all of her magic would be sealed with the collar on. Hmm… interesting.

Even though it was a curious topic to pursue, I didn’t give it a second thought and just threw the watch towards her lightly.

-Catch.

I said as I launched the watch from my palm. The reason I didn’t hand it to her normally was to see if that spell had anything close to enhanced reflexes, or was it just for examining things in detail. This was all just for curiosity’s sake of course.

And without question, while the watch was flying, some kind of glossy glint resurfaced on her eyes as she caught it easily without raising her hand. Personality wise speaking, Christina was a very patient and calculative person; easy to talk to and also polite, but a bit too kind for her own sake.

As I was thinking like that, Christina looked at the watch as she tried to feel the faint essence that was emitting from it. She had a confused look on her face as she obviously had no clue what it might be. She then asked me:

-What is this? This aura is so strange… It’s a bit too pure to be mana or any other fey essences that I have ever felt before. But it’s also too weak to perceive too since I am barely able to keep in touch with it…

Christina was amazed by this simple item which was emitting divine aura. She obviously had never met a God before to know what the essence was. And at the same time, I wasn’t allowed to explain any further as I asked her sharply:

-Can you find the owner of this item?

Hearing me say that in a more serious manner, Christina understood the matter of why she was here and why I was here in the first place. The pieces of the puzzle were quickly coming together in her intelligent blue eyes as she nodded her head slowly.

-Yes… it will take some time but I can do it without a hitch. But to do so, I need you to take off this collar.

The last part was said in a very careful tone and I also understood what that meant. It actually meant for me to allow her magical powers completely free to reign without restrictions. It could potentially be used against me but at that moment, I just stared at her eyes for a second. There was no hesitation to my answer as her blue eyes already told me everything.

-I am alright with that. Get Chase over here and let her…

-Actually, it had been already done.

I froze for a second as I heard Christina say that. What do you mean it’s already done? Seeing my confused look, Christina quickly tried to explain as she pulled out an envelope and giving it to me; her smile never left her lips as she pressed the letter onto my hand. I grabbed the envelope and opened it up…

-This is…?

-The slave contract… it’s our slave contract to be precise. It’s a transfer of ownership made by Chase herself. She had already written her consent on the paper and now only your signature is missing on it. The moment you sign your name on the paper, it will seal itself becoming complete and then vaporize.

While I was listening to Christina’s explanation, I looked through the contract. I read it through 3 times to be sure that I wasn’t selling my soul to some demon or giving myself to slavery to someone else. Seeing my worried face, Christina didn’t say anything and just looked down a bit worried herself for some reason. For a moment, I was put off by her habit of lowering her head. While pulling out a pen and signing the paper for my consent, I told her:

-Stop lowering your head to everyone; it makes you look a bit too unsightly. In my opinion, talking to people face to face makes you much more appealing. And just call me by my name, “master” is too formal for me.

With that said, Christina seemed a bit surprised. Her face grew redder as she made a soft “yes” as a reply, raising her head and looking at me with at the same wavelength. I could literally see some steam about to rise from her ears because of this, making me somewhat amused. I stopped staring at her and just looked at the contract that I had just signed.

(WHOOSH)

Amazingly, the letter had started shaking by itself as it rolled over and slowly started to disappear into thin air. I could also feel a sharp sound ringing in my head… the Clavicula, it was reacting to this?

I shook my head for a moment as I tried to shrug it off, which actually worked pretty well. I looked back towards Christina who didn’t seem to be affected by this transfer at all. No, she was affected, in a happier way it seems. I saw small tear drops forming in her eyes before they started falling down her cheeks… I was confused and baffled at the same time, not knowing what to do or what to say. Christina finally said:

-Thank you… thank you so much. I… no, we… we will not disappoint you I swear, for everyone’s stake.

I sighed for a moment. It was a sigh of relief as I just waved it off and got back to my seat, trying to get comfortable. Uh…? I could feel something off just now… what is it? My senses were tingling for a bit, was it just my imagination?

I wanted to look around for a minute but decided not to and just shrugged it off. There was no way someone would attack me right here in this fortress…

As I was thinking like that, I returned my attention back to Christina who was brushing off her tears. She suddenly stood up from her seat, a bit embarrassed of herself. I could see her trying to hide her face with her hands partially, as she said:

-I… I’ll be going now to see what I can do with the watch. I’ll work fast and tell you when I’m ready. I shouldn’t be bothering you any further mas… I mean… James… and goodnight!

She turned around in one quick motion as she tried to leave but I quickly reminded her for a second about another important thing.

-What about your collar?

She suddenly stopped after hearing my words. She thought about it and turned back to me even more embarrassed than before, forgetting something… Man, she could be dense at times.

-Yes, I forgot, I am sorry. Ehh… to unlock the collar, you just need to touch it and say unlock.

The way of handling the collar was simple and didn’t even have any suspicious thoughts about her suddenly going against me. As I walked up close to her and touched the metal surface of her collar, she kinda flinched seeing me up so close…

I felt it… something was wrong…

At that moment, how do I say it…? Some kind of movement could be detected that didn’t come from Christina or me…

-James…? Uwaah!

As I was thinking about it, Christina suddenly felt her body off balance as she tripped on something and falling onto me. Because I was still holding her neck, my arm stretched over her shoulder. And because both of us were somewhat close in height, her head was moving dangerously towards my own head as I could see her blue eyes coming closer to me. Her breath and face were so close as we fell to the ground resulting in her being on top.

(WHUMP)

Eh… there was wetness spreading through my lips as we were lying on the ground motionless. I quickly opened my eyes to see what was happening and realized that Christina… she was on top kissing me. Her breasts pushed against my chest making me feel the softness spreading warmth on me… What..? How…? At that very moment, Christina’s eyes and mine met. There was complexity and faint uncertainty in her eyes, but I could also see a lot of longing in them…

I was confused and baffled on what to do as I slowly pushed Christina off. My brain was in turmoil… and when both of us parted, our eyes met again. I could see a slight glint of shame in them as she looked down again.

-I… I’m sorry!

She quickly stood up and was about to leave until I grabbed onto her hand, making her even more surprised. She looked at me confused and scared for some reason…

-Unlock.

(Click)

A faint click could be heard as the lock on Christina’s collar became loose, falling down on the ground. I also let go of her hand and turned my back to her as I said in a flat tone:

-Leave…

There was a slight flinch in her movement as she didn’t say anything and just left the room, literally running. At least she closed the door shut. I looked around the room, anger welling inside of me…

-Show yourself intruder, if you don’t…

-What if I don’t?

A pleasant voice could be heard as smoke started to gather in one of the seats forming into a body…

-So continue, what were you going to do to me… James?

I looked towards the young man meeting his grey eyes as I stared at them without flinching or freezing. I could tell he was trying to intimidate me but I was far too sure of myself than to let him get to me. Even Hestia did a much better job than he did, so I answered with a smile:

-Depends on what you want Mr. Valerian…

He also made a small smile as I could see a stroke of surprise appearing in his eyes.

-There is truly more to a man than his outer appearance. And even more so to a person like you James, it’s almost as if I was the mouse in the house…

-It’s not almost, it is…

With that said, I stopped time for a moment.