Became the Unjust Contract Slave of the Archamage’s Book

Veritas said so.  

That meant they had to deal with the demons swarming the Inya’s land.  

“Is there really no other way?”  

– Where else would the souls of the dead reside if not in the land they lived on during their lifetime?  

It seemed there really was no other way.  

“How many demons are there in that place?”  

Binaeril had never seen for himself how many demons had gathered in the Inya tribe’s territory. He had only heard about it from Priya or Inyakan.  

– Wait. The numbers… exceed a hundred. That’s just a rough estimate for the medium-sized or larger ones.  

“Over a hundred medium-sized or larger ones?”  

– They’re all mixed together, so it’s hard to count accurately. But it’s definitely over a hundred. Maybe two hundred? It might be around that.  

If it were small demons, like the ones that live in packs, a number like a hundred wouldn’t be surprising.  

But the Inya’s village was different. It was a place teeming with all sorts of demons, like a bottomless pit of hell.  

Each one was a disaster for ordinary people, and there were more than a hundred of those medium-sized demons.  

At least, Binaeril had never seen such a sight before.  

“Binaeril? What are you thinking about so deeply?”  

As Binaeril was engrossed in his conversation with Veritas, Priya asked.  

“I was asking my fragment.”  

“The book?”  

Priya also knew that Veritas was an intelligent entity capable of conversation.  

“So, what did the book say?”  

“It said we need to hold a memorial ritual.”  

“A memorial ritual?”  

Binaeril had no knowledge of the ‘memorial ritual’ that honored the souls of the dead.  

He had never considered that magic could influence something so spiritual.  

“I see… so there was such a method.”  

But Priya seemed to know something about it.  

“You know about this, don’t you?”  

“The power of lineage is very important to us nymphs too. We have a ritual to honor our mothers, and their mothers before them.”  

“Is that the memorial ritual?”  

She nodded.  

“The name might vary, but the essence is the same. It’s about honoring and remembering the souls of the deceased.”  

It wasn’t just a simple ritual, but one that actually had real effects.  

“A properly performed ritual can unleash a very powerful force. If you have skilled mages, it’s not impossible to even commune with the spirits. But to prepare for such a thing, you’d need more than just a few things…”

“Is that really true?”  

Inyakan, who had been listening, suddenly shouted.  

Priya, who was engrossed in her explanation, was startled by his outburst.  

“Goodness! You scared me! I’m not deaf, you know!”  

“Is it true? You civilized woman.”  

“What exactly are you asking if it’s true?”  

“The part about being able to commune with spirits. Is that really possible?”  

Summoning the souls of the Inya tribe members was a matter far more personal to Inyakan than it was to Binaeril.  

After all, those souls were Inyakan’s own family.  

“Binaeril, let’s do it.”  

“Please, you must do it. I’ll do anything it takes.”  

Inyakan’s eyes were filled with an unusual desperation as he spoke.  

“Hey, baldhead. It’s not that simple. To perform a proper memorial ritual, there’s a lot of preparation involved.”  

“But that’s not the only problem,” Binaeril interjected.  

“We’re looking for the souls of the Inya tribe, right?”  

“Exactly.”  

“The memorial ritual has to be performed where they died.”  

“Well, of course… Wait, what?!”  

Priya shrieked in shock.  

“Are you insane? That’s a suicide mission!”  

“You mean we have to return to the place where the tribespeople died?”  

“After clearing out the demons that have taken over the village?”  

“Precisely.”  

Even Inyakan found himself rubbing his temples in deep thought at this point.  

“Understood.”  

“Understood? What do you mean by that?”  

“If that’s what’s necessary, then that’s what we must do. We’ll hunt the demons.”  

Priya scoffed at Inyakan’s words.  

“You, baldhead? You’re not even a mage! What do you think you can do against so many demons?”  

“I don’t plan to do anything myself. I just trust.”  

“Trust? In what?”  

“Naturally, I trust Binaeril.”  

“I don’t know what needs to be done or how to do it, but Binaeril will. My role is simply to follow Binaeril’s lead. It’s always been that way.”  

“Hah! Unbelievable!”  

Priya was left speechless by his utter confidence.  

“You’re so boldly admitting you don’t have a plan. So, Binaeril, what are you going to do?”  

In the end, as Inyakan had hoped, the decision rested with Binaeril.

“What items are needed to prepare for the memorial ritual?”  

Priya shared bits and pieces of what she remembered.  

But Veritas quickly dismissed her suggestions.  

– None of that is necessary. As long as the formalities are in place, I can summon them with my power.  

“With your power?”  

– Since it’s been revealed that Inya’s blood is connected to the fragment, I can handle it.  

Binaeril relayed Veritas’s words.  

“Then it won’t take much time. The real issue is the demons.”  

“There are over a hundred medium-sized demons in the village,” Binaeril said.  

“And it’s not just one or two types. I’ve seen it myself. It’s like a museum of demons, with all sorts gathered there.”  

“Can we handle them all?”  

“Just the two of us? No way. Maybe if we request reinforcements from Elfenbine, but that’s not an option.”  

That was out of the question. The time it would take to reach Elfenbine was one problem, but the bigger issue was that contacting Elfenbine while they were being hunted by the Order could give away their location.  

“Our only force is the two of us.”  

“Why are you leaving me out?” Inyakan interjected.  

“Hey, baldhead, I understand how you feel, but you yourself said it—you’ve fought demons before. Regular punches won’t work on them. Magic is the most effective weapon, so you’re out of the equation.”  

“Unless…”  

An idea flashed through Binaeril’s mind.  

“What if we split the roles?”  

“What do you mean?”  

“Exactly what it sounds like. You and I will handle the offense, and Inyakan will be on defense.”  

“If Inyakan can distract them long enough for us to prepare a large-scale spell, we could take out a good number at once.”  

Priya pointed at Inyakan.  

“So, we’re using him as bait?”  

“But can this baldhead handle it alone? He’ll be demon food in seconds.”  

“We’ll have to ask for help.”  

“From whom?”  

Binaeril glanced at the Barbaroana warriors, who were still watching them with puzzled expressions.  

It was a classic bait-and-strike strategy.  

Binaeril and Inyakan approached the gathered warriors to request their cooperation.  

Some flatly refused, shaking their heads, while others muttered uneasily under their breath.  

No matter how much Inyakan pleaded, the warriors’ lives were the tribe’s lifeblood, and they couldn’t be treated lightly.  

“Driving out the demons from the northernmost area…”

To be precise, they needed to deal with the demons occupying the Inya tribe’s village, but since that was their stronghold, it was essentially the same thing.  

“Will you help us?”  

“Of course.”  

The ones who nodded in agreement were only a few warriors, including Cherokikan.  

There were fewer than twenty people who agreed to help, excluding Binaeril’s group.  

“You may lose your lives.”  

“For warriors living in this land, that’s part of daily life.”  

“That place is our home too. We should be the ones thanking you.”  

Most of the remaining warriors, including Cheroki, were from the northernmost regions of Barbaroana.  

Even among the Barbaroi, lifestyles varied depending on the region.  

Tribes like the Senega, located in the south, had found ways to coexist with the Empire, while the farther north one went, the more isolated the tribes became.  

The northernmost region of the snowy plains was the harshest and most desolate.  

The Barbaroi from that area had a strong sense of pride and belonging unique to their homeland.  

“Thank you.”  

Inyakan’s gratitude ended there.  

“Is there anything else we need to prepare?”  

“No, we just need to set a departure date.”  

It was decided that they would depart in three days.  

The other warriors needed time to say goodbye to their families.  

Before they parted, Binaeril thoroughly explained the strategy to them.  

Everyone departing for the mission left with the expression of someone prepared to face death as they returned to their respective tribes.  

“We should return to Sir Dominic and come back in three days,” Binaeril suggested.  

Once back at the Border Marquis’s castle, Binaeril immediately secluded himself in a guest room with Priya to prepare the magic that would deal with the demons.  

While Binaeril had always handled everything on his own, preparing large-scale magic was a task that became exponentially easier with more mages.  

This was because the work could be divided: one mage could supplement another’s weaker associative power, and another could provide the mana that the first lacked, creating a sort of division of labor.  

Priya was a mage with an innate talent for constructing spells, while Binaeril boasted some of the highest mana reserves among the mages of the present day.  

After finishing their discussions, Binaeril stepped out into the corridor to clear his cluttered mind.  

Priya, insisting not to be disturbed, had gone off for a bath. Knowing her temperament, she wouldn’t meet with anyone for the rest of the day.  

“I wonder what Inyakan is up to.”  

Since returning to the Border Marquis’s castle, Inyakan had uncharacteristically shut himself in his room, not emerging at all.  

Binaeril hadn’t had the chance to check on him due to the preparations with Priya.  

“Now that I think of it, I should go see him.”  

He knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

As Binaeril opened the door, he was immediately hit by a wave of warm, stale air, and he quickly spotted Inyakan, heavily intoxicated.  

“Is that you, Binaeril?” Inyakan slurred, his speech thick with alcohol.  

“Inyakan? Just how much have you been drinking?”  

“Haha! Just a little…”  

He was so drunk that he could barely keep himself upright.  

“Have you been drowning yourself in alcohol for two days straight? What about preparing for the fight?”  

“What do I need to prepare for? All I have to do is run myself ragged anyway…”  

“Ugh, the smell of alcohol.”  

Each time Inyakan opened his mouth, the stench of strong liquor wafted out, filling the room.  

Seeing the so-called ‘Khan’ wallowing in alcohol while Priya and he were working themselves to the bone only made Binaeril look at him with even more disdain.  

“Why are you looking at me like that?”  

“Just look at yourself right now.”  

“Pfft. I couldn’t take it anymore.”  

“I couldn’t stand the urge to rush out there at any moment.”  

“The desire to kill those damn demons and find the bodies of my son, my family—it wasn’t small.”  

Binaeril realized that he hadn’t truly understood Inyakan’s feelings. He had grown too comfortable, forgetting the depth of Inyakan’s pain.  

“Yeah, my son… My son would have been about your age. When I look at you, I think of him. He looked just like you…”  

“We don’t look alike at all,” Binaeril replied.  

“Hah! What do you know? You’ve never even seen him.”  

Binaeril supported the drunken Inyakan and helped him onto the bed. Then, he began to clean up the scattered bottles of alcohol.  

Inyakan occasionally mumbled things, half-asleep, half-drunk, words filled with longing and grief.  

“I miss them…”  

After tidying the room and opening the window to let in some fresh air, Binaeril chose not to use magic, though he easily could have. For some reason, he didn’t want to take the easy way out this time.  

He looked down at Inyakan’s flushed, sleeping face.  

“Have a good dream, Inyakan.”  

And so, time passed, and the day of departure finally dawned.