Hector turned to see his surroundings just to make sure there was no one besides the members of the elite class and him.
After confirming it, he sighed and then bowed his head.
"As long as it is within my possibilities, I'm willing to compensate… just don't take it against my friends, the idea was mine and mine alone".
Daimon didn't want to stay outside when it was this cold, as members of the elite class they could bring others inside their class, so he opened the door and everyone entered followed by Hector.
Aisha approached the girls just to make sure they were alright, although it hasn't been that much since they met, they already treated each other as friends.
So, while Aisha and the other girls were chatting, Daimon, Calvin and Michael confronted Hector.
"Class rep, shouldn't we teach them a lesson… luckily, I was cautious enough to go pick Loren at her dormitory for safety reasons".
Listening to Calvin's shameless words Michael snorted.
"Safety reasons my ass, you just wanted to wander around at the campus to enjoy the frozen lake scenery".
Hector was perplexed, according to the rumors the whole elite class was filled with bloodthirsty individuals, that's why he specifically told everyone to be careful with the words they used, to make it seem credible but to not really offend them at the same time.
In fact, he was so worried to incur in Daimon's wrath that he made sure to arrive at the 1S classroom way early, since it was said that he always arrived late, but to his bad luck today that wasn't the case.
Daimon's voice interrupted Hector's thoughts.
"The way I see it you have two choices now, I force a duel with you and then you disappear from my sight, or you work for us, you have ten seconds to decide".
"10"
"9"
Hector's eyes widened; in his mind he was ready to request to be transferred back to the blue-sky academy and give up on the chance of participating in the exploration, but apparently there was a different path opening for him.
Still it wasn't as easy as just nodding, if he decided to accept then… it would be the same as saying that he was now an enemy of the Ascott family.
"I can't miss the chance to enter the magic ruin that is said to be an era changing event… fuck the Ascott, that asshole wanted to use us a cannon fodder anyway".
Hector's eyes glowed with a resolute light and then he kneeled down.
"Hector Damascus is willing to obey".
Daimon nodded, "Are you sure, that means you'll have to sign a soul contract, I don't trust you after all".
Hector sighed, "I know it, but I can't allow myself to be returned to the blue-sky academy, I'm not talented enough to get a spot for myself in the next exploration, my hope was to enter as a part of Leir's entourage".
"Those guys you saw previously and me, are the ones who were left behind without any warning… just because we come from the families who doesn't have an Arch rank in their files, in other words in their eyes we are disposable pawns".
When Leir left the planet, he only contacted those who he considered important for his plans, and those with a poor backing weren't among them, so instead he gave them one last task, a petty revenge on the ones who humiliated him.
Of course, Leir knew they won't succeed but he didn't care, if he as the master was humiliated then why would his servants should be any better.
Hector looked at Daimon's eyes directly and the gave his final answer.
"Even if I have to make a deal with the devil himself, as long as I'm allowed to grow stronger that is fine by me".
"What a good choice of words", thought Daimon as he took out a scroll from his storage ring.
"Sign it, then you are free to leave I will think on what to do with you… as for the exploration that will depend on your performance".
Hector gave a quick read to the terms of the contract, contrary to what he expected the only condition was "loyalty", as long as he didn't try to harm Daimon nor the ones around him, then he was basically free to do whatever he wanted.
"Compared to the contract needed to become a part of the "trusted" henchmen of the Ascott, this is way better", he thought before biting the tip of his finger and letting a drop of his blood to fell on the contract thus signing it.
To get the "protection" of the Ascott family, others submitted to them, the treatment varied depending on what they had to offer, those with Arch ranks were not that bad, besides some tribute they didn't have to act as servants.
But the families without an Arch rank were accepted only if they accepted to become practically slaves of the Ascott, with the help of the Ascott they will probably produce an Arch rank, but in exchange their fates will be linked to their masters, in other words if the one with whom they signed the contract died… the contract will kill them too.
Not only that but they will have to follow all the orders given to them, even if that implied, they will have to do things they didn't want, or simply die if they were ordered to, in comparison what Daimon asked was only loyalty, the difference was clear.
Hector handed Daimon the contract and then left without saying anything else, he knew it was pointless since the one he will be working for is the disciple of the principal anyway, so any information about him will be delivered in a matter of seconds if needed.
"Heh, if this guy knew you are also a terror contractor, I think his reaction would have been way different", said Evangeline in an amused voice.
Daimon shook his head.
"Maybe, but this guy doesn't deserve that, someone that is willing to protect his friends and take all the blame is decent enough to be my first proper subordinate, besides I now will have ears and eyes at the Ascott family, two birds one stone".
Now that Hector was gone, the girls joined them, although Ivonne wasn't as talkative as Leslie, this time it was clear she had something to say.
"I… I'm sorry, we dragged you all into our problems".
Leslie and Liliana remained silent, but they were aware that it was true, today was nothing serious and they were relatively safe in the territory of the beast faction, but no one could say what would happen in the future.
Daimon shook his head, he sat down with Aisha and Liz at his sides.
"That day the idiot from Gladius family wasn't only targeting Leslie, so in any case I would have interfered, the same happened with Leir, the old man told me to watch over the teacher, the impact of something throwed with all the strength of a four-star ranked knight, is no joke after all".
"As for that George guy, he attacked me first and with a poisoned weapon too, so I kicked his ass, nothing would have changed even if you three weren't involved", he said as he looked at the Risha sisters.
"Humph, what does a mere Ascott family amounts compared to my Ghrish family, my old man has fought against their half emperor before so our relationship isn't harmonious anyway".
"I'm not fond of humans and my master hates them anyway, we were bound to be enemies".
Both Calvin and Michael made their stances clear, in this world you were destined to have enemies no matter what you do, there will always be someone that wants what you have, or simply doesn't like you, so aggrupation is a must in order to survive, unless you can outpower a whole faction alone, but no one has achieved something like that… yet.
The Risha sisters smiled, besides their mothers they never got along with anyone, Yvonne even had a lot of troubles with her father, so having people they could call friends was something new for them.
Leslie looked at Loren and chuckled.
"I can trust Daimon and Michael, but I bet Calvin only said it to look cool in front of Loren".
Their conversation was interrupted when the door of the classroom opened, surprisingly Aliya wasn't accompanied by Boris or Richard as usual, instead it was Yvonne's mother who tagged along.
"Good morning, everyone stand up today we will have an outdoor class".
Aliya saw the unconvinced expression on the faces of her students and she laughed.
"Don't worry, with "outdoor" I mean in the campus, more accurately near the frozen lake".
Everyone let out a sigh of relief, after yesterday's adventure they didn't want to be dropped in some faraway place to train, a regular class was all they wanted for today.
The only one who had a bad premonition was Yvonne.
"Mom didn't you return to the family grounds?".
Irina smiled at her daughter.
"Of course, I returned because your father organized a meeting for all the ones with elder rank, but now that it finished of course I came here to make sure you three are properly studying, in fact your aunts will pay a visit later because we have something to discuss".
This time not only Yvonne, Leslie and Liliana also had a somewhat worried expression.
"Come one give me a break", they thought.
