Agreement

[1]

"Now then, cursed sinner, are you trying to make me a sinner like yourself by helping you?"

I knew she wouldn't want to work with me after all, since I was cursed, and nothing ever goes as planned in my cursed life. I sighed, looking up and mumbling, "Ah well, not again."

Imeki stood beside me, getting hot-headed upon hearing the blonde twin-tailed girl's sarcasm.I gestured with my hand to stop Imeki from attacking and to calm her down, and then moved on to the main reason for our meeting.

"So, well, you already know about me, I guess, as the principal told you. May I have your name too miss?" Arnes put on his positive, formal act aiming to build trust and negotiate for the upcoming tournament. If he couldn't use her illusion magic on the dragon puppet that he recently summoned, he would be at a loss, as he had also promised the principal, they would be in the top ten in the inter-academy mage ranking.

"I am Iris De Flaminga," she said, twirling her right twin tail with her pointer finger. Scoffing, she continued, "I am the third princess of the Paloceino Kingdom and the principal's niece, also the class representative of 2-H."

Huh? Doesn't that mean the principal's niece is the queen of that country? Also, she is a princess of real royal blood. I stood up from the chair and knelt to pay respect to the princess.

"For a villain, you are really well-mannered," Iris laughed mockingly as she spoke.

"Master... the tea... it's ready..." The gloomy woman with pink hair poured tea for her.

"Thanks, Vikasha... Arnes, you can take your seat. Also, what will I get for helping you?"

The pink-haired, mature woman who was Iris's maid, Vikasha, had not introduced her full name.

"A deal, huh?" Arnes responded in a serious tone towards Iris but smiled creepily.

"What's so funny? A commoner like you can't even possibly repay a debt equivalent to my help."

"What do you mean repay? Do you know your magic is so weak that I lost interest in it?" Arnes smirked as she suddenly stopped being formal.

"W-what—" Iris got on guard, and her maid Vikasha stepped in front of her, creating a magic circle.

"Certainly, your magic is indeed helpful and vital for the upcoming tournament to conceal my dragon corpse's damage, which has rotted away. But now that I look at it, I think it's more risky to even use your magic on my corpse." I look towards Imeki to give her a hint of why I was acting so haughtily all of a sudden.

"Imeki, I am sure even you can notice it easily."

Imeki, after hearing Arnes, started looking around, and as she looked up, she saw a small-sized magic circle rotating on the shade's ceiling. She created a small shinai with her magic mid-air and controlled it at rapid speed towards the magic circle, completely shattering it.

"M-my magic circ—" Iris's voice cut off, and she disappeared along with her maid Vikasha. The shade and the botanical garden, which looked like part of a royal palace, disappeared, leaving only two wooden chairs and a table under direct sunlight.

"I feel so dumb right now. I couldn't even realize that earlier." Imeki pouted in disappointment.

"Haha, everything up until now was just an illusion, even the meeting place. Good thing we found the source. I mean, the magic circle... it was right above us. Alright, it's so funny, but now we don't even know if the person we talked to was the real illusion magic user."

*Clack, clack, clack.*

Iris's high heels made noise as she suddenly appeared, while we couldn't even hear Vikasha's footsteps or presence before. This time, they were real in person and it wasn't an illusion.

"Alright, you pass the test, Arnes. Also, I am sorry I spoke rudely before... though it was all an illusion."

"It's alright, Your Majesty. I am glad I was able to impress you."

"You don't need to be so formal with me... well, I just wanted to learn more about you, to see if you were capable of understanding your surroundings so working with you wouldn't get me in trouble in future."

Iris told Vikasha to dispel her stealth magic, and they made a deal. She agreed to use illusion magic on the dragon corpse.

"Aren't you scared that I am a cursed mage?"

"Why would I get worked up over a guy like you? You don't even look like someone who would do any harm." Iris shrugged, laughing.

"Iris-sama, right to the business. Are you sure the illusion magic would work on my master's puppet? Just like the magic circle we saw right above us, after I destroyed it, the illusion magic was dispelled. Wouldn't it get us in trouble if they find out it's a corpse if the opponent manages to break the magic circle?" Imeki asked directly to ensure that her magic had potential.

"Nah, not a chance. The magic circle would be placed inside the corpse, but if bad luck is on Arnes's side and by any chance it gets damaged inside the body, right towards the magic circle—"

I nodded as Iris validated our corpse-concealing idea.

"By the way, Arnes, c-can you introduce me to Kerfern Karshatsuha?" Iris wiggled her body fidgeting looking downwards.

"Yeah, sure. But why?" 

"I-I-I just..."

"A princess stuttering while talking to a commoner—what chances are there for a person like her to run a country?" Imeki smirked, making fun of Iris. We felt relaxed as we saw a princess being carefree and showing her innocent side. We chatted for an hour, and agreeing to our demand, Iris put her illusion magic on the dragon corpse, which now looked like a real dragon. Controlling the dragon was easier as he got the hang of controlling the Griffin. The magic circle was placed inside the dragon's body, right inside the rotten intestine. From the outside, the body looked alive, but inside, it was just rotting away. The illusion magic would work for 42 hours and then dispel automatically turning back the corpse to look like a turd. We headed back to the dorm as Iris and Vikasha headed back to the female dormitory.


[2]


"God damn, where the hell are Kerfern and Tsuki..."

"Master, are we lost, or are they lost in this crowd?"

The day had finally arrived, the Inter-Academy-Mage-Tournament. The area outside the kingdom's colosseum was crowded, and people were excited. A battle between prestigious academy students, a death battle, for those who survived would definitely make a name and fame in the country and kingdom in the future.

Arnes and Tsuki were waiting for their friends outside the academy, quite far from the main city. They were waiting at the main gate of the colosseum.

Just like ours, other academies have carriages too. Hmm... the students look fancy... I just want to get inside but am waiting for Tsuki and Kerfern, who are running late. I watched the carriages stopping, the crowd cheering for the academies and students coming out of the carriages. Just looking at them made me nervous.

"Master, didn't we all come in the same carriage? How could they even get lost... let's get inside. I can't take this anymore."

"Well, maybe they went to pee—" Huh? W-what was that? I feel an intense aura.

"Master—" Imeki suddenly got on guard as she felt the same as me. Someone was watching us, and it didn't feel normal. It was a bloodlust that sent shivers down our spines, a bloodlust that made us feel pressure. We could tell this tournament wasn't going to be easy.

Not that easy to hide my real strength hmm.

"Sigh, I hate holding back."

"Master, we've already become a target. Don't underestimate the opponent." Imeki grinned, but I could see her sweat dripping. She was under pressure, but she was enjoying it.

I smiled.

 "Underestimate my opponent? Hah, Imeki, I guess you are the one underestimating me. There is no way in hell I am losing, and I am definitely going to find the cursed user like myself who is participating in this tournament."



To be continued...