System Change

“Ah.” The guard made a noise and his eyes shot open. Using his hands and feet, he backpedaled towards the wall until his back was against it. He stared up at Derek. “Please. Don’t kill me. You let Jared go, can you let me go too?”

“Maybe.” Derek said. “It depends on you.” He clarified.

“Okay, okay. What do I need to do?” The guard asked.

“How much did you see with the other guard?”

“Just the end. I was unconscious for the rest. All I know is you let him go.” The guard answered.

Derek nodded. “Okay.” He said. “First, you are a guard for House Collins, correct?”

“Yes…” The man answered, then spaced out for a moment. “I mean, I was. I’m not anymore.”

“How so?”

“My contract has been voided.” The man answered.

“N-no… Only a fool would go under oath to a family like that. With a contract, you can set your own punishment terms.” The man answered.

“Why did you even sign a contract with them?” Derek asked.

“The free gear and money, of course.” He answered. “The gear…” The guard motioned to the armor he was wearing and the sword laying across the room. “Is provided up front. It is mine no matter what happens. The money will be rewarded at the successful completion of the contract… well… it would have been rewarded at contract completion. Obviously, it won’t be now.”

“Obviously.” Derek agreed. “And what were your penalties for failing the contract?” He asked.

The man smiled at that question. “That is why a contract is always better than an oath.” He said. “I am very cautious when making contracts. I also have my own contract skill, which allows me to negotiate better terms.”

“Oh.” Derek’s eyes widened. Stella was the only person he had met so far that had a contract ability. Alanah probably had one too. “Well, what did you negotiate to be your punishment for failure?”

“It depended on the terms of the failure. As I said, my contract was voided. I will get no rewards or penalties for it anymore. My contract stated that I guard Katrisha to the best of my abilities, and I did so.” He rubbed the back of his head. “There’s not much one can do when you’re unconscious.” He smiled.

“I see.” Derek replied. “What would have happened if you would have run?”

The man was quiet for a time. “Ah, there it is.” He finally spoke. “If I would have fled from an assault where the lady ended up dead, I would lose my contract ability for the next ten years and be forced to work for House Collins for five years. The work would be taken under oath as well…” He said. “I really have to thank you for knocking me out back there.”

“What if she was only injured, but lived?”

“Cut in pay and loss of contract ability for five years.” He answered quickly.

“Interesting.” Derek rubbed the stubble on his chin. “How many different clauses do you have in your contract?”

The man was quiet for a bit before replying. “15 with penalties, and four that voids the contract entirely. There are also some in favor of me. You know, you have to make sure that no harm comes to you from those you are guarding.”

Derek nodded. That made sense. Everything about contracts made sense. Derek’s mother was a lawyer back before everything happened, so he had picked up a few things. He would have to look into the skill later. Unfortunately, there were no contract skills in the General Skills section.

“So, do I get to live?” The man asked, snapping Derek out of his thoughts. Once they began having a civil conversation, the guard’s entire demeanor had shifted.

This guy would have made a great attorney. Derek thought. “What is your name?”

“Rudolph Mckinney, sir. But my friends call me Rudy.”

“And how many friends do you have that call you that?” Derek asked.

The man started counting on his hands. When he got to his seventh finger, he stopped. “Zero.” He said. “It’s not easy to make friends. I have quite a few acquaintances, though.”

Derek didn’t know what to say to that. “Okay, Rudolph. Do you have any allegiances to House Collins?”

“Nope. It was just a job.”

Derek narrowed his eyes. “Contracts are lesser forms of oaths, correct?”

The man slowly nodded.

“Then this is easy. Write up a contract real quick. A nice, simple contract. You will answer any question I have with honesty and to your best ability. You will not answer in half-truths, or otherwise try to limit any information you give me. In return, if your answers are to my satisfaction, for this offense, I will let you live.” Derek explained.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t seem like a very good deal to me. Besides, what are penalties?”

“Instant death for you.” Derek answered.

“What would your penalty be?”

Derek smiled. “How about this? I lose half of my stats for three months. With the people that want me dead, it would basically be me signing my own death warrant.”

Rudolph eyed Derek. “Fine… What is your name?” Derek answered, and the man began drawing in the air. After two minutes, a blue sheet of paper, made entirely out of mana, appeared. Rudolph pushed his thumb to the bottom left of the paper and it glowed. The paper then shot towards Derek.

Derek read over the contract. The man had made it word for word as he had asked. There was no fine print anywhere to be seen, and he couldn’t think of a way that the man could be fooling him. Derek stuck his thumb to the bottom right of the page, under his own name.

A contract with one ‘Rudolph Mckinney’ has been initiated. Would you like to proceed?

Y/N

Just as he did before with Stella, Derek answered yes.

Contract has been completed. Please abide by the terms to avoid any penalties.

“Great. This makes everything much easier.” Derek said. “Now, do you have any allegiances to House Collins?”

“No.” The man answered again.

“Then you were just in it for the monetary gain?”

“Yes.”

“Even though you knew that the family was not to be trusted?” Derek asked.

The man flinched. “Yes.”

“Why risk it then?”

“It was only for three months, and I made sure my contract favored me highly.”

Derek nodded. “Are there any noble houses allied with House Collins that you have any allegiances or contracts with?”

“None that I am aware of. I have had past contracts with some houses that are on decent enough terms with them, but those contracts have all already been either completed or voided.”

“What is the reason you need money so bad that you would contract yourself to Katrisha?” Derek asked.

“I want to start a business in one of the major cities. I’m great with contracts and abhor fighting. To do that, I need money, a lot of it.” Rudolph answered.

“Interesting.” Derek said. “Did contract abilities come with your class, or did you get the skill through a scroll?”

“It is part of my class.”

“Is it a key part of your class?” Derek asked. “Do you get experience for successfully completing a contract?”

The man nodded. “It is. I get experience for each contract completed. The more in favor of myself, or the person I represent, the contract is, the more experience I obtain.”

“What about your fighting skills? Are you a battle attorney or something?”

The man chuckled and shook his head. “I lost most of my fighting skills at level 50 when I changed classes. I still have all my stats, so I’m able to get by with guard duty. I usually do well and am always using temporary contracts, so my level grows at a decent rate, and I usually leave on good terms with my contractors… which leads to more temporary guard work.”

“Do you have any active contracts?”

Rudolph nodded. “Always.”

Derek frowned.

The man quickly explained. “There are none that indebted me to anybody. They are mostly contracts I wrote for others or completed contracts awaiting payment. There are none that will come back to bite me. I’m too careful for that. I would give you all the details if I could, but most contracts are private. I can only share the details of the ones that I am an actual part of. Would you like me to explain them?”

Derek thought about it. The man was already under a pretty strict contract, so he was definitely not lying. Finally, he shook his head. “No, that’s fine.”

Rudolph nodded.

“So…” Derek said. “You have no allegiances to any noble house. This includes House Collins and House Torith. You don’t have any current contracts that could hinder or harm me. Am I correct?”

“House Torith…” He muttered, then shook his head. “No, I am not known enough to have dealings with such a high ranked house.”

“Very well.” Derek said. “Then I have one final question for you.”

Rudolph held his breath, waiting for the question.

“Are you a good person? Would others think of you as a good person?” Derek smiled when he asked the questions.

The guard frowned. “Am I a good person? I’m… not sure.” He said. “Most others would think of me as a good person. I try to put it in all my contracts that I will not do anything blatantly against my moral code. Which is why I did not lay hands on that bartender and did not get involved in their kidnapping.” He nodded towards Brandi.

“I also wasn’t allowed to help them because it would be considered going against my contractor. If I had to answer honestly, I would say that I am a neutral person. I have done bad things, but there is a point where I draw a line. I have also done some good things. Believe it or not, not all nobles are terrible. Unfortunately, the good ones tend to pay much less than the bad ones.” He shook his head.

Derek nodded. “That’s good. I’m not going to kill you. You can consider the contract complete.” As Derek said that, under the contract tabs in his status, the contract status changed to completed. It wouldn’t have changed status if Derek had still planned on harming Rudolph. Derek smiled. “I do have one more question for you, though.”

“What’s that?” Rudolph asked. Clearly relieved now that the contract was complete.

“Do you want a job?”

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