Talking with a Demon (Part 2)

The demon could not quite figure out what Fran was up to.

By all rights, Fran seemed to admire making deals with demons. Even if it had asked her to do some work first as a buffer, she should not have immediately turned hostile and demanded payment.

By now, the demon could not help wondering whether Fran was toying with it, whether she had actually planned from the start to use it as experimental material.

"Isn't this how dealing with demons works? According to basic contract theory, if one party helps the other, shouldn't the party receiving that help provide compensation?"

Fran gave her explanation. Though hesitant, the demon chose to keep playing along. It had no choice—if it stopped, it would definitely die even faster.

"What do you want?"

"What can you offer me?"

Fran tossed the question back. She could have directly demanded knowledge of the Abyss to lay the groundwork for obtaining Abyssal Script later, but that would have been too obvious.

She needed to obtain the Abyss's writing in a more discreet way.

This time, the demon hesitated. Without intending to make a direct trade, there was almost nothing it could offer.

If a demon in this state had no connection in the continent, it could not even lie on the ground and block someone's path.

Because at the moment, all it could do was speak with others.

But it soon thought of something that could be conveyed through conversation and was also highly valued by mages—knowledge.

If it offered some precious knowledge from the Abyss as payment, there was a high chance Fran would help it.

But should it really do that? What if her goal was Abyssal knowledge all along, and she was merely pretending?

The demon was deeply hesitant. It was not because