Chapter 124
“I, Maxime, wish to conclude a contract with the designated person.”
Then he resumed his normal voice.
“If you’re not speaking of your own free will, that’s your choice. But just so you know, I don’t need your cooperation.”
The light between them suddenly turned into a golden spiral, like a luminous vortex.
“No! What are you doing!? What sorcery is this!? What are you doing to me!?”
The knight struggled, her body tensing under a force she didn’t understand.
But Maxime’s knee held her firmly to the ground.
Then, the spiral seemed to rush towards her, penetrating her back.
She let out a muffled scream, her eyes widening as a similar light emanated from her own heart.
An ethereal contract appeared before them, linking them by an extremely thin golden thread.
The knight felt a phenomenal power seeping into both her body and her soul.
“No! No! No! I don’t want to!”
She resisted with all her might, but in her current state, it was far too difficult to mobilize the slightest strength to fight back against this foreign power infiltrating her body.
After only a few dozen seconds, the floating, dazzling contract vanished in a shower of luminous flashes. Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire
The knight collapsed completely, gasping for breath, her hands clutching her chest as she gasped for air.
Maxime turned to Aveline, who was observing the scene with genuine fear.
“What did you just do?” she asked in a trembling voice.
Maxime clenched his fists, feeling the invisible link that now connected him to the signet ring.
“I’ve just signed a contract,” Maxime replied simply.
At the same time, he looked at Aveline with piercing eyes.
“Know that if you spread a word about what you’ve just seen, I’ll eradicate the Ardan family from this continent.”
This time, Aveline was truly frightened.
Her father was one of the strongest knights in the kingdom.
But she felt that if she dared offend this mercenary, not only she but also her father might die.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day without a doubt.
And that terrified her, completely changing the way she imagined this mercenary who looked so kind and approachable.
“Maybe marrying this guy could be worse than marrying Dorian Valderic.”
This thought came and went immediately from Aveline’s mind.
But from Maxime’s point of view, it was a logical reaction.
Aveline was not one of his mercenaries, and therefore not loyal to him.
Naturally, she mustn’t spread a word about his talents, otherwise it could backfire violently on him in the future.
“Can you stay away, Aveline? I think it’s best for your own good.”
The latter didn’t hesitate in the least and moved away to the edge of the battlefield, while she watched from afar as Maxime and the other mercenaries conducted interrogations.
Other mercenaries also took the weapons and armor of the deceased and placed them in one of the three carts – after all, they were valuable.
For her part, the knight raised her head, her gaze a mixture of rage and despair.
However, she too was truly afraid at this moment.
“You think… that makes me a puppet?” Her voice vibrated with restrained anger.
“I can talk, think, and act however I want. This contract gives you only limited power over me, and you can never force me to betray my faith.”
Maxime frowned, not believing her.
He closed his eyes for a moment, probing their bond.
After a few moments of analysis, he sensed she was right.
Although she was obliged to carry out his immediate orders, her mind remained free, and her thoughts inaccessible.
In short, the contract mainly restricted her actions physically.
Maxime sincerely hoped that when he evolved his talent in the future, this effect would be reinforced, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to execute the ideas he’d originally had, particularly in the field of espionage and infiltration.
Of course, if Maxime gave her an order, she would be obliged to carry it out.
So, to a certain extent, this contract exerted a great influence on the psyche of the person who signed it.
However, the benefits of the contract were soon felt as well.
The knight felt a very comfortable power flowing through her body.
She could even feel the hidden wounds left by the repeated overexploitation of her vital seed healing.
They were healing slowly, but they were healing.
At the same time, she felt that invisible but very present chains in her body were beginning to disappear.
It was as if…her potential had been enhanced.
She had just begun to receive all the blessings of Maxime’s talents, and the reason why his men were both so strong and so loyal.
Although Maxime’s temperament and charisma also played an important role.
Maxime had noticed this, but he didn’t want to discuss it here with the knight, since Aveline was there.
She’d already seen enough of him.
But that wasn’t Maxime’s priority at the moment; he’d talk to his new recruit alone later.
There were more important matters to discuss before that.
“So now let’s talk.” he said in a neutral tone.
“Who gave you the order to attack us?”
She hesitated, then, against her will, her lips moved.
“Duke Devron. He wanted to… capture the young lady of the Arden family.”
Maxime nodded, then asked the question that concerned him most.
“How did you know our route?”
The knight tried to resist, her face twisting under the effort. But the contract imposed itself, and she finally blurted out:
“We had simply sent one of our apprentice knights to monitor your journey.”
He stared at the knight, who seemed exhausted by the effort of having spoken against her will.
And above all, she could only speak the truth.
That a mere apprentice knight could follow them without himself and his mercenaries, including Jean, being able to notice, was truly distressing.
“This apprentice knight must possess a special talent, mustn’t he?”
The knight no longer resisted and now simply answered honestly.
“Indeed.”
But she glanced around and quickly noticed one corpse in particular, albeit a disfigured one.
“But he’s already dead.”
Maxime glanced at the corpse, and sighed slightly.
Perhaps this apprentice knight’s talent might have been worth signing a contract for.
He finally removed his knee from the knight’s back, since having signed a contract with her it was no longer useful.
The latter stood up after feeling the pressure on her back disappear.
Maxime glanced at her again after she had risen.
“In this world, are there any ugly signet rings?” he thought silently, observing the delicate curves of his new recruit.
Then suddenly he felt a cold stare pierce him, which made him sweat.
Without even turning around, he knew it was Laura.
Pretending he’d done nothing wrong, Maxime inquired about this knight in shining armor.
“What’s your name?”
This time she sensed the contract wasn’t working, making her hesitate slightly before finally sighing at her fate.
“I can only obey this young man’s orders from now on, it’s so frustrating.”
“Me, a knight forced to obey a mere mercenary.”
“What kind of world is this?”
The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt.
But she tried to calm herself as best she could.
“My name is Kaite.” she said in a more or less soft voice.