"Please save my family!"
The dragon girl asked as she bowed her head deeply, her forehead touching the ground.
"Raise your head and tell us what happened first."
I told her in a gentle voice as I pushed her shoulders up.
"Y-Yes..."
She said as she started recounting from her memory.
Apparently, yesterday evening, an unusual event occurred in their village. Since it was related to the village's survival, the majority of the elders went off to check on it. The ones left around the village were the weak dragons, with her being the one with the highest fighting capacity at the 5th level.
"While the elders were out... They... They suddenly came to our village! They outnumbered us! We... We weren't able to even fight back!"
She said as she sobbed.
"They took my brothers and sisters... They even killed my uncle!"
While listening to her story, Fang and Ember felt a little pity for her. They gently patted her back, soothing her sobbing fits.
"... So, who are [they]?"
I already had some ideas, but I still asked just to confirm. And, just like I thought, it was them.
"... The Demon Tamers!"
She said, gritting her teeth. Her fingers were gripped too tightly; they were digging into her palms. Blood was slowly dripping down.
"..."
I just stared at her, thinking about what to do.
We can kill the Demon Tamers for her, but that's only if we can ensure our personal safety. Even the weakest of the Demon Tamers possess strength on par with an 8th-level tamed beast.
I could snipe them from afar, but I'm not too confident with my remaining number of bullets. If at least one or two of their elders could hold the Demon Tamers, then I'm confident I could wipe them out quickly.
As I was thinking about what to do, I saw Fang and Ember staring at me with pleading eyes. I'm pretty soft on this sort of thing too, so I can guess what they were thinking.
Then, as I was about to accept her request, an idea popped into my head.
"You! What's your name, and what elements do you use?"
The dragon girl stopped sobbing for a moment and stared at me with a face full of doubt. "I-I'm Igni, and I can use fire and wind..."
When I heard what she said, I immediately thought, "Jackpot!" as I stood up.
"Your request; consider it done!"
I claimed confidently.
"However, I need to ask you for a favor."
I further added. Hearing my words, Igni wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at me with a serious expression.
"Whatever it is, I'm willing to accept. Just, please, save my family!"
I nodded at her firm determination. I didn't speak another word and instead sent a telepathic message to her, attempting to contract her. However, before I could even wait for her response, it felt like something broke inside me, and I was sent keeling over.
[Warning! The remaining Mental Energy isn't enough to contract a 5th-stage of evolution monster. Taming failed!]
Insufficient mental energy! To think it slipped my mind...
"Master! Are you alright?!"
Ember quickly ran to my side and held my body up. My vision was blurry and my nose was probably bleeding, but I guess I was lucky the backlash was only to this extent.
I've heard of examples where, when one tried to tame a monster outside of their league, their brain turned to mush in an instant. I guess I was lucky that she was pretty close to my level, as the extent of the damage was pretty small.
"I-I'm fine... It's just a failed contract..."
I said as I tried shaking my head. The dizziness I felt didn't go away no matter what I did. I was so dizzy that I started hearing weird system prompts even.
[Em3rg3n(y 4c(es5: At7empt!ng to en481e temp0r4ry tam!n6 c0n7ra(t... Faux Contract en48led.]
[Notice! Reinitiating contracting through the Faux Contract... Success.]
[Contract formed! Contract expires in 167 hours, 59 minutes, and 52 seconds.]
As I was getting dizzier by the minute, Igni suddenly released a brief flash of white light. I was flabbergasted. It was an indication of a successful contract. Igni herself was looking around, similarly confused. She probably didn't receive the contract's contents but still got contracted. If it were me, I would be left scratching my head.
"What the hell... What was that?"
I remember something about a Faux Contract or something, but no such function should exist... No, it didn't exist. I even heard something like a week-long time limit... Did the system bug out or something?
However, I could properly confirm that a connection between me and Igni has formed. I could clearly feel her current emotions, which were dominated by anger, resolve, desperation, and a faint sense of hope.
"...?"
However, I tilted my head as information about her skills wasn't available. It should be the first thing that gets transferred after a successful contract, but I have nothing from Agni.
The two of us stared blankly at each other.
"Uhh... Guess this counts as getting into a contract? Not sure how though..."
I said this while scratching my head. Igni was similarly baffled, unable to wrap her head around the fact that she got contracted even without her agreeing to it.
While she was off to her own world, thinking about how it happened, I inched closer to Fang and asked her about the weird notification.
"... A Faux Contract...? Never heard of it."
However, even she hasn't heard anything related to it before.
For now, we can't do anything about it. I decided to put the unknown aside and face reality first.
"Anyways, Igni, the first thing we'll do is create the ammunition to fight the Demon Tamers. Are you willing to do your part?"
As I called out to her, Igni quickly shook her head, focusing on our conversation, and answered "Of course" with a straight face.
"Great. But first, we need to wait for the shopping team to return."
I said as I sipped the soup from my mug... Hmmm... Did I forget something?
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