Alieya woke up the next morning with the elderly servant already waiting outside her room.
The elderly servant was a woman around 40 to 50 years old. Alieya quickly apologized and asked her to wait inside her room as she rushed to wash her face and made herself look presentable.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Did somebody sent you to pick me up this morning?" She asked in a respectful voice.
"Not at all young miss. I am the maid that was personally assigned to you while you are here. You can ask me for food, clothes or anything that you want. As lady Zaia's guest, it will be provided to you." The servant answered with a kind smile.
"Is that so? Could you send food to my friend's room? You know him right? I will go to him right now, please send food there." She said.
"Of course, young miss. I will have it delivered." The female servant said before turning to leave.
Alieya waited for a few moments until the servant vanished around the corridor before she headed to Fox's room.
She had learned many things about him last night. He told her about how he was convicted in the first place and some of his experiences in the prison. He told her also all the details about his full encounter of the beast that he accidentally made blood contract to.
She walked-half jogged to his room and as she went nearer, she began to feel her face warming up again.
Alieya slapped her face lightly when she was finally on his front door. She took a few deep breath before knocking lightly.
"Hi, I knew you would visit again. Come inside." Fox greeted him with a big smile.
"You knew I come here this morning?" She said, starting to feel embarrassed again.
"I had a feeling you would come, after all it's only me and you who knows each other in this village. And Zaia too of course." He answered calmly.
She raised her eyebrow at him for a second before stepping inside his room.
"Ohh. You already have lots of food in here. Can you finish all of this?" She asked as she saw the food that filled the entire table on the side of his room.
"It's for both of us, I just said that I was expecting you to come, right?" Fox answered with a crisp laugh.
She glared at him, but she did not say anything. She suddenly felt that she was being too direct and comfortable towards him this past couple of days.
Alieya joined Fox with his food as they talk more about small things. A few minutes later and another set of foods arrived. That was Alieya's request to her personal servant earlier.
Fox laughed and teased her about it until they finished eating.
"Shall we go and see Zaia now? I want to ask more details about blood contracts." Fox said when they finished their meal.
They went outside and asked for Zaia. The butler met up with them and instead send them to Zaia's father. They were told that Zaia spends the first few hours of the morning walking with her dogs by the seashore.
"This is as far as I am allowed to guide you. Behind this door is Master Yului's personal quarters. He's expecting you." The old butler said as he knocked the wooden door.
"Send them in." They recognize Zaia's father's voice inside.
The butler bowed to them and left.
"I heard that you were looking for my daughter, yet you were sent here." Yului Lunera started, gesturing them to take the vacant seats on the side.
Alieya lowered her head respectfully so did Fox. They seated themselves in front of Yului Lunera.
"My daughter Zaia has this habit to walk with her dogs near the sea every morning at the first rays of sunset. She has a brother, my first born son that has been under self-isolated training on one of our underwater caves on the sea. Zaia is just missing her brother that's why she goes there every morning. She will return here before noon." Yului explained.
"Sir, If I may, I think that I know more details about my blood contract with the beast. I only realized it yesterday when we got here." Fox said after a few seconds of silence.
"Is that right, young man. Go ahead tell me." Yului said with a kind voice.
"Actually sir, I was with a hunting team tracking a newly discovered beast when I got wounded. The blood of the beast got into my wound on that day. That must be how I got under blood contract. But the beast also died on that same day from multiple gunshot wounds." Fox said solemnly.
"Newly discovered beast? But why did you have to kill it? Tsk! People of Zongco City, totally barbaric with their guns." Yului Lunera exclaimed almost helplessly.
"Yes sir, I believe the people of Zongco doesn't know anything about blood contracting beasts." Alieya said in small voice.
"What happened, already happened. Tell more about the beast. What did it look like? Everything you can remember from its physical appearance. It must be some kind of rare beast." Yului said, fully interested now.
Fox began to explain everything about the beast as accurately as he can remember. Its posture, It's fighting stance and even the sound it made.
Yului Lunera was quiet for a while after Fox told him everything. Alieya was pondering about it too. Most of the details that Fox said was first time to her too.
"You said that the beast was not exceptionally strong and just a little bit taller than a full grown man. It was also able to call for help from other beast species as well?" Yului asked, his eyes was full of curiosity.
"If I am to compare that beast to Zaia's Midnight Dogs, I would say sir that the beast that was contracted to me was weaker by a large margin. It was defeated by three soldiers." Fox answered.
"Don't you think that maybe it was sick and dying already? Or heavily injured even before you tracked it down?" Yului Lunera suggested.
"I don't think it was injured when we tracked it down sir. But I'm not sure, It was the first time we encountered such beast."
"I only suggested that maybe it was sick or injured because you said that it was able to call help from different species of beasts. A weak beast could not do that. Zaia's Midnight Dog can only command other Midnight Dogs that is weaker to it. If what you said was accurate, only beasts with superior bloodline on the even higher emperor bloodline can do that." Yului Lunera said in serious tone. Looking at Fox straight on the eyes.
"I see, It's too bad that it was dead already. That's also the reason we were looking for Zaia this morning, we would like to ask if there is a way to cancel the blood contract or to undo it." Fox said.
"Undergoing a blood contract, specially with beast of superior and emperor bloodline requires a time consuming ritual. I don't know how yours did work but it doesn't normally happen. If someone directly exposed his open wound to a beast's blood, it would lead to serious complications and internal poisoning that most of the time ends up with the person's death. A reversed ritual is needed to undo the blood contract, but the blood of the currently contracted beast will still be required." Yului Lunera explained slowly.
The room fell silent after that statement. Fox looked like his face was doused with cold water and didn't say a word. Alieya felt pity for his situation. She felt suddenly worried for him.
"Sir, will something bad happen to him, now that his contracted beast is already dead? Is there no way that it can be undone?" Alieya asked?
"Losing a contracted beast during battle is not really uncommon. Sometimes the contracted beast gets ill and die or it reaches the end of its life time. Our village has three dominant clans and each clan are privileged to have one beast contractors. Our Lunera clan has Zaia, with her beast Raru. If somehow, a bad thing happened and Raru dies, We will simply extract Raru's still warm blood and do a ritual to cancel its contract with Zaia. It we failed to do it, then Zaia will not be allowed to undergo blood contract ever again."
"But will it affect Zaia in anyway?" Alieya asked carefully.
"Of course it will affect my little Zaia, She would surely be sad and devastated if Raru dies. Perhaps she will not even talk to me for a few days." Yului Lunera answered with suppressed laughter. He intentionally misunderstood the question.
"Sir I meant that--"
"I know what you mean, child. If you are unable to undo the blood contract, Then you will be under it for the rest of your life. It would mean that you will not be able to undergo blood contract anymore." Yului Lunera answered.
"Sir, What happens to your body when you undergo a blood contract?" Fox suddenly asked.
"Aside from being able to communicate to your contracted beast, you will inherit some of its physical attributes. Of course it would also be limited by your physical body. Example, if you are contracted to a flying beast, you will gain enhanced vision and reflexes as it is a common characteristic of birds, but you will still not be able to fly, obviously because you don't have wings."
"Zaia has gained enhanced physical agility when she contracted her Midnight Dog, She can also see better at night. She can run fast and jump high, but she still has just two legs. It's like that." Yului explained.
Alieya observed closely as Fox nodded to himself a few times. He must have realized something new about himself. 'I will ask him later.' She made a mental note to herself.
Yului Lunera seemed to have noticed his silence as well.
"Tell me young man, did you gain some attribute that you didn't have before. We can tell more about the identity of your contracted beast that way." Yului suggested.
"I noticed that my hearing and vision got better, I also seemed to be more agile now and slightly stronger. Also, I noticed that my wounds heal fast." Fox answered, pausing every time he remembers.
"Enhanced agility and hearing are common to land dwelling beasts. That's the first time I heard about this fast healing though, maybe it's a unique ability that your beast had and now has been passed to you. That confirms it, You contracted a beast with a bloodline more superior to Raru. As Raru was intimidated by your blood when he injured you."
"It supports my theory that the beast was already dying when you tracked it down. Let me tell you this , there were lot of times that Raru was attacked by guns and explosives, and the most serious injury it got was a burnt fur." Yului Lunera said.
Alieya and Fox stayed almost another hour inside Yului Lunera's room as he talked more about Zaia and Raru's adventures.
They have no plans at the moment so they roamed around the village. The noticed that the village was larger that they initially thought. It was more like a small town.
The roads was neatly paved, with large trees at every fifty meters or so, acting like a natural shade to the people. They also noticed two different kinds of guards. Some guards with guns were stationed in every few hundred meters, They wore Dark blue colored uniforms. There are also guards that patrol around the streets, they have two short swords behind their backs and wore sets of uniforms with lighter shade of blue colors.
Alieya just followed Fox around until the sun was directly above their heads. Only then they were forced to get back to the mansion.
Zaia was waiting for them when they got back. She was playing tag with Raru on the front lawn and immediately run into them excitedly as soon as they entered.
"Hey Fox, Father told me that it was confirmed that you contracted a superior blooded beast." Zaia said as she grabbed into his arms, almost knocking Alieya aside to the ground.
"Yes, Your father guessed that much. But the beast was already dead, and I can't do anything about it." Fox said, bewildered by the girl's excitement.
"It's fine, I'm not going to rely Raru in this." Zaia said hurriedly.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Fox was really confused now.
"Let's duel, you and me. Unarmed duel only." Zaia beamed at him, her eyes was glittering with anticipation.
Alieya was not sure whether she would laugh or feel sorry about Fox when she understood the little girl's intention.