Contract Sealed

Charles refocused his gaze on the negotiation area. As soon as he returned, Elijah, standing nearby, asked somewhat anxiously:

"So? Are you willing?"

Charles continued to look at the drafted contract on the table, then slowly replied to Elijah:

"Elijah, you can go back now. If you stay here, it will alert the Proxy of the Lord of Radiance, and it could cause the Astrology School's efforts of the past century to go to waste."

Elijah's forehead veins bulged, and he roared in a completely outrageous manner.

"Charles, you coward, a puppet who only knows how to obey spells..."

Charles turned to Elijah, chuckled, and said:

"No, Elijah, you're mistaken. I didn't see anything bad. I only saw an image that had nothing to do with the Proxy."

Elijah was somewhat confused by what he heard.

"Since we didn't see anything bad, then why...?"

"Because I cannot confirm whether it was because of what I did that the bad outcome occurred when I made the prophecy to that Proxy last time."

"Elijah, when we finalized the details of the collaboration last time, the Stars already told me it was best not to investigate her."

"But I didn't listen last time, and I got a bad result. You know exactly what it was, but according to the rules of the Astrology School, I can't tell you..."

"This time I saw a consequence that might be caused by my previous actions. It's possible that nothing will happen in the end, but who can say for sure?"

His pupils contracted slightly as he stared blankly at Elijah.

"In this situation, I cannot act according to the instructions of the Stars; I can only act according to my own thoughts."

"All I know is that the Astrology School has waited a century for such an opportunity, and I'm also very curious to know what our School's Legendary has left behind?"

"So, Elijah, you can leave now. Don't make me pay you."

Elijah's face contorted, and he quickly spoke up:

"Wait, Charles, we can wait until three months after this is all over..."

Elijah was asked to leave the room by Charles using his access privileges before he could finish speaking.

"Mentor, what happened?" Ophelia seemed to sense something was amiss; there was a sense of magic being used in the environment.

None of the mages present saw Elijah, because Elijah used a spell to conceal himself, making him invisible to everyone.

All they could see was their mentor, Charles, suddenly seeming to have used some kind of magic; his eyes turned cold, his face tense, as if he had made some momentous decision.

"It's nothing, you can continue preparing..." Charles paused for a moment, then continued:

"If the Proxy asks who I am, just answer truthfully."

Ophelia nodded, but she still had some doubts in her heart, because she remembered that in the past, Charles only asked them to answer that they were guards of the Alliance.

But why is it that now, Charles is asking them to answer truthfully?

This caused them a great deal of doubt, but they quickly put it aside because they had more important things to do next.

"Knock knock!" There was a rapid knocking on the door, but no one tried to push it open. Everyone present knew what that meant.

Just two seconds later, Fran's figure appeared inside the room. Her figure was initially illusory, but then instantly became solid.

The instant her body solidified, Fran spoke directly:

"Where are my Spirit Crystal? I remember bringing them with me."

Ophelia stood up and explained to Fran:

" Within the Law Domain, all large-scale goods are concentrated in another place. As long as you trade with us, this portion of Spirit Crystal will also be transferred to us."

Fran rummaged around on her body for a while and found a token attached to her waist with the words "[Storage Certificate 22387166]" written on it.

Fran glanced at it, then looked up and said:

"Then what about the contract? I need to see it..."

Ophelia handed over the yellowish-white paper she was holding.

Upon receiving it, Fran immediately unfolded it. At the very top of the paper, Fran could see some mysterious patterns. Fran could sense through her senses that this was the meaning of the [All-Spirit Contract].

Before coming, Fran had purchased some research Paper related to the contract from the Northern Lands Society and made many preparations for it.

First of all, Fran's previous method of disguising text as patterns and marking them on the edges is absolutely impossible.

Because only the text you can read is valid in this All-Spirit Contract, and these are the truly binding terms of the covenant. The parts you can't understand are completely worthless.

Because when this clause is binding, even if you can't understand the words on it, the contract will still let you know its meaning.

While this intelligent feature protects the interests of both parties, it also has its drawbacks.

It's not that this contract is expensive; as far as Fran knows, within the Alliance, such a contract only costs 1 Gold Coin.

Its real flaw lies in the punishment of its constraints; the "all spirits" in the All-Spirit Contract refers to all living beings on the continent.

Its only unchangeable, unalterable, and irrevocable cost is that it is hated by all spirits.

The punishment of 'all living beings' refers to all living beings on the continent, meaning that after violating the contract, all living beings on the continent will feel disgust when they encounter you.

This aversion doesn't arise without preconditions; ordinary people will feel aversion whenever they encounter someone who breaks a contract.

However, among Profession, even if you are an apprentice-level Profession, you can somewhat resist this aversion. Once you reach the formal Profession Formal Rank, you will not feel this aversion unless there are other circumstances.

However, this contract has another, even more ingenious aspect: everyone who signs the contract, regardless of their Order, will feel disgust when they encounter someone who violates it.

This is a contract where the more people sign it, the greater the harm; it is also a very popular contract on the mainland.

It's not that there aren't other, more binding contracts; the All-Spirit Contract is popular not only because it's inexpensive, but also because one can judge the other's integrity by whether they have any penalties for violating the contract.

Fran carefully studied the terms, from beginning to end. As she read, everyone else in the room turned to look at her.

Suddenly, Fran raised her head and said, word by word:

"You've neglected your duties; it didn't say you had to occupy that territory..."

After reading through the terms, Fran could easily see that there were many clauses regarding the distribution of Spoils of War, and they were all biased towards Fran's side.

However, Fran still found a problem: the document neither stated that the Alliance was responsible for conquering that territory, nor did it specify a deadline for the Alliance to conquer it.

Ophelia paused for a moment, then immediately realized that this seemed to be their oversight, because in the eyes of the Alliance and the entire Astrology School, such things were always best done as quickly as possible.

There's no need to write this into the contract, since it's something the Alliance needs. I just didn't expect Fran to include it in the contract.

Ophelia thought for a moment, then spoke:

"I'm sorry, we originally planned to take action within a month of signing the contract, but just to be on the safe side, would it be alright to write three months in the contract?"

Fran nodded, then continued to examine the loopholes. Fran found all the things that were not properly stipulated, and Ophelia could only nod in agreement.

Finally, when Ophelia used the magical device one last time to modify the contract, the entire contract had grown more than half again, and Fran finally relented and agreed.

When signing, Ophelia, Tristan, and the other mages present, including Charles, all signed their names and affixed the Alliance staff seal.

When it was Fran's turn, she first took off the necklace around her neck and placed it on the contract. After a while, a pattern similar to the Fran used when drawing runes appeared on it.

Fran then signed her name, but immediately crossed it out so that no one else could see it.

This is a little trick Fran learned from those Paper: although the contract requires her signature to be valid, you can cover up your name if you want.

Then you can black out your name after the contract takes effect, so that others can't see your name, but the contract will still be valid.

Fran's appearance in the Spirit Realm is nothing special, but her name is a different story. Her name is widely known in the Material Realm the Alliance, and it's estimated that even the High-Order Mage in the Alliance know that one of Harbos's disciples is named Fran.

Not only did she not have a surname, but her name was also quite uncommon across the entire continent. Just in case, she kept her name hidden.

After seeing Fran's actions, some of the others in the room didn't understand why such a thing was possible. Just as they were about to speak up to stop her, they felt a gaze coming from the corner of the room.

That was Charles's line of sight; he naturally knew about this tactic, but he frowned slightly at Fran's actions. She was trying to conceal the name, and he hadn't seen anything; Fran had simply blacked it out...

Then he relaxed, because no matter what, the Proxy of the Lord of Radiance had finally agreed to the deal.

He could see the joy on Tristan's face. Reaching this point of signing the contract was enough for him to request assistance from the Alliance, and his contributions would be remembered by the Alliance...