We were staying at the border between the Northern and Central regions. If someone asked me why, our answer would be that Lady Aria insisted on visiting it. Her official reason? It was her final vacation. Her real motivation? Saving people as usual. The Northern regions… the only place that received the least support from the main church. It was due to their impoverishment and small population. These regions were also constantly threatened by dangers, including monsters and natural disasters. And their nature… it was a bit too straightforward for the Central region.

  On that note, I was a bit puzzled. Considering her personality, why did Lady Aria not choose to visit this region first? Why did she decide to go to the Eastern region first?

  Perhaps she wanted to prioritize her deal with Marquise Larose and Count Issac. However, I later found that the main church prohibited us from visiting the Northern region. It was their move to bring the Northern region to its knees. The main church has been cutting supplies to this region for over ten years. No wonder they specifically told us to only wander around the Central region for the rest of the time.

  Lady Aria had to do it in a roundabout way. She could only wander around the border between the two regions. That also explained the influx of ‘travelers’ from the Northern region to the areas near the border. She may have coordinated it with Marquise Larose.

  ----------------------

  After a month of constant movement, I was asked by Lady Aria to secretly help her enter the White Forest, the forbidden ground of the Northern region. Her reason? She said she had some place she needed to visit at all costs. I could only carve to her demand. At least, I understand that she knew what she was doing.

  Yet, we found ourselves helping an expenditure force of the Northern region. It was a small detachment force which were on the verge of annihilation. Of course, we did it in secret. I made sure that everyone lost consciousness before revealing ourselves.

  Yet, while Lady Aria was in the middle of healing them, I sensed someone approaching us at great speed.

  “Are you the one who did it?” His roar was imbued with Aura.

  “……” I was momentarily stunned. It was similar to my time with Duke Ellon. So, he was a Swordmaster. While my thoughts were processing, he charged at us. “Die,”

  I could not react in time. Before I could draw my sword, I found myself already within his strike range. Then a loud clicking sound rang through the forest. His sword hit a transparent shield.

  “Step down, you are no match for him.” Lady Aria calmly ordered me from behind.

  Then she walked to my front. I was too stunned to stop her. She was too composed for the situation we found ourselves in.

  As she stood with her back to me, she gave him the priest's salute: “I pray to the goddess for your glory.”

  “hmmm?” That man was also baffled at her action. He began to examine her with great interest.

  “I believe it is the third time we meet. My name is Aria, a saintess candidate.”

  “That fiend’s daughter.” That was how he addressed her.

  Yet, she paid no mind to this great offense. “I believe a conversation is needed to solve this misunderstanding. For starters, shall we sheath our swords first?”

  “What makes you think I will trust you?” He tried to hit that shield again. However, his sword was bound back this time.

  “Trustworthy or not, it is not your main concern here. Your ability to slaughter us in an instant is the guarantee.”

  Although she tried to appear unfazed by this threat, I could see a subtle change in her body. Her back was slightly trembling. I was thinking about how to get us out of this predicament. I tried to observe an escape route in case the time came.

  “I believe it is the north principle always to return favors. But what you are doing now is the opposite.” Lady Aria began to look around. “If you calm down a bit, you can assess the situation.” That man, too, followed her gaze. The monster's carcass, sword marks on the trees, torn armor, dense on the shield, the body lying around near the monster, half-healed personnel, and footprints —with his experience, he was able to deduce the general situation and how we arrived at that point.

  Only then did he sheathe his sword. Only then did we let out a small sigh of relief.

  However, we did not drop our guide. With me standing facing him and my back facing her, Lady Aria began to resume her activities.

  That man did not show any actions as he observed her. Only when Lady finished reaching the last person did he show a subtle change in his emotion.

  “Is he your son?” Lady asked him, as if noticing it too, without looking back.

  “Yes.”

  “I believe you owe me a great deal, right?” Although they started the conversation, Lady Aria did not lose her focus.

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  “….. what do you want?”

  She did not reply immediately as she was too focused on healing him. Only after she finished healing his son did she turn to face that man. “…………….. I am not sure yet.”

  “…………..” I found that the air around us became tense again.

  Unbothered by it, Lady gave her solid response after she pondered for a while, “For starters, I propose we enter the Soul Vow.”

  “Soul Vow? What are you after?”

  “It is for your own good.”

  He did not respond. However, I could sense that he grew more wary of her as his eyebrows knitted together.

  “If word gets out that you attacked your benefactor, and that benefactor, on top of being the only daughter of Duke Ellon, is the saintess candidate, your honor aside, you will become a public enemy.”

  “Are you blackmailing me?” He almost reached the boiling point. Thus, I moved my hand to my sword.

  “Not really, quite the opposite. The oath of silence about what happened tonight. Let's enter it.”

  “……” Upon hearing that, he stopped what he was about to do and stood still as if giving us a chance to prove ourselves.

  “It will work in your favor. If we enter the Soul Vow to keep silent about what happened tonight. I won’t be able to blackmail you, and you don’t have to suffer from this dishonorable conduct.”

  “What are you after, little girl?” With this question, I realized he had reached the critical point.

  “I just want to survive.” However, Lady Aria did not sense it. She pushed him to his limit with her answer.

  “Do you think I believe it?” Clink. He gave another hit on the shield. However, this time too, the shield was not broken, and not even cracks appeared on it. I was holding my sword, preparing for the inevitable. However, it was for naught.

  Lady Aria really did touch his reverse scale. They have strictly followed their codes. To them, honor was more important than their life. To the Northern folk, death was their daily occurrence. When someone talked about death, they did so with pride. However, when someone talked about being afraid of death, they would take it as an insult to them. Additionally, he and I could sense that it was not her honest thought. It was the greatest discourtesy to them to hide the truth from them. I found the need to teach Lady Aria about how the real world worked.

  “Well, how about I add another condition. You will fulfill some of my demands. Of course, it won’t be overbearing. How about this: the additional condition is that you have to listen to my demands. However, you can have an option to refuse it if you do not feel like it. At the very least, we would treat what happened tonight as if nothing had happened. I will not cheat you. I do not mind writing down the demand now,” Lady Aria hastily took out her handkerchief. Then she bit down on the tip of her finger. She began writing down the contract using her blood on her handkerchief. I was too late to stop her. He was too fast.

  However, her action gains his interest. He was impressed by her decisiveness.

  “Hmmm, interesting. You are interesting.”

  “What do you think?” I asked him.

  “Say, if I agree to your proposal, how can we enter the Soul Vow. I won’t go to the royal capital just for this.” He said that as he sheathed his sword. From that moment, I could feel that no matter what, he would let us live.

  “……. You don’t have to worry about it. you just have to agree to it. Now, will you agree to enter the Soul Vow with me with the above proposal or not?” Lady Aria gave her reply after finishing her writing.

  “………………… alright, I agree.”

  “Good, enter the Soul Vow.” As she finished her sentence, a wave of divinity enveloped us. It was the same as it was then. I have already experienced it twice so that I could get used to it. However, the same could not be said for that man.

  “……….This,…….”

  “Please refrain from sudden movement. You and I have agreed to enter the Soul Vow now. My escort will serve as a witness.”

  “You tricked me,” he roared at us. However, he could not move from his spot as invincible chains bound him.

  “…………. I apologize. It was a must to ensure our safety.” Lady Aria gave her an apologetic look at him. At that time, I could feel the effect of Marquise Larose’s teaching. It really saved us big time.

  In the process, he refused to make it easy for us. He kept asking Lady Aria to modify some unnecessary or unimportant clauses. Perhaps because of her guilty conscience, she accepted his requests without much complaint. In the process, she had to bite her fingers multiple times. As a witness, I could only helplessly look at them.

  .

  After we finished our contract, he hastily moved out of the scene.

  The moment we exited, Lady Aria collapsed. Fortunately, I caught her on time. “Milady.”

  “Ah, sorry, my legs gave out.” Lady Aria replied with her face drained of blood.

  I was really concerned about her. It was the first time she showed me her vulnerability. “Are you alright, Milady?”

  “I am fine. I was just relieved. I am sorry. Please give me some time.” Lady Aria weakly replied while fully entrusting her body weight to me.

  “…… I see. I have to say it was too reckless.” Although I knew it was not the right time, I had to scold her. if it was her plan, it was really reckless.

  “It was never my intention. It was truly a coincidence to run into them.”

  “I see. I thought it was your intention. You did deploy the shield without me noticing.”

  “I did it when I was healing them, for a safety measure. I was lucky.” Her voice grew weaker and weaker.

  “… I have to say. It was a good move.” I had to give her credit for it. It really saved my life.

  “I am sorry, Paul. Because of my whim, I placed you in danger. I will try my best to compensate you.”

  “Do not mind it. ……… Is it really true that you did not plan for this?” I could not help but reconfirm it. It was too much for a coincidence.

  “……. I did plan to meet him much later. However, I never thought I would meet this soon; moreover, in this situation, too. Perhaps, this is the punishment from the goddess for trying to reach her without permission.”

  “You mean the Moonlight Daw? Were you serious about it?” Yes, that was our agreed purpose of entering this forest.

  “… I am sorry, Paul. But I have to trouble you more than this. When we get back, just tell them that I fell asleep because I was exhausted from playing too much. No need to make a fuse. I will leave the rest to you.”

  “Milady?” Perhaps all the exhaustion and relief really came to her. She fell asleep as it was.

  I was relieved that it really was not her plan.

  From my observation, Lady Aria had a habit of tensing up when she encountered an unexpected situation. She showed it from time to time during our pilgrimage, especially when dealing with Marquise Larose and the Cardinals. Throughout this whole ordeal, she never relaxed her body at all.

  “Please rest well. You have worked hard.”

  I could not help but look back at the forest. I felt that his presence was still there. I was not sure whether he had heard our conversation. I have not stepped into the Swordmaster realm yet, so I could not tell.

  I could not allow myself to become a Swordmaster yet. However, I had to think about how to deal with Swordmaster with my current strength. I could not allow Lady Aria to fall into another predicament like that day.

  Before I left, I gave one last look in his direction. “I will make you pay for what you did today, Duke Melbon.”

  I swore upon my pride as a Sellsword.