"Dealers will head over to Mr. Griffith's class to learn about the advanced contract. Grims will stay in this class. Lastly, soul mages will head over to Olivia, she'll take you to another room to teach you how to channel without your lantern."
The dealers and the mages stood up and went to their respective spots. The mages went over to Olivia who was standing near the door. The dealers left and went to the fields where Mr. Griffith had his class. The grims just stayed in the seats and watched Ethan with bored eyes.
"Uh, what about me?" Luke asked.
Ethan looked over at Luke and said, "Oh, you can have today off. Just train or something."
He had said that with a clear lack of motivation. It seemed to Leo that everybody in the camp was tired for one reason or another. Well, except for someone. Mr. Griffith stood in the field and watched as his students filed in with a happy expression.
"Good to see not all of you are dead or quitting." He said while stroking the stumble on his chin.
"Well, as much as I'd like to catch up with you all, let's get this over with so you all can receive your next assignments. Once you get these assignments, your stuff will be sent to whatever base you're relocating to. Once there, that will be your new home, and you'll head out on your next mission. Do you all understand?"
"Yes master!" The recruits yelled.
"Good. So, you were all taught the first technique for contracts. Contracts are special tools that aren't used every day. The first of these contracts, you should all already understand completely. These are, of course, voidable contracts. Now, who here among us got to use a voidable contract during your first mission."
Very few people raised their hand, Leo being one of them. Mr. Griffith looked at the crowd and looked at all the people who did. Once he finished, he nodded his head slightly.
"Now, among those who signed a voidable contract, who got to experience what would happen when someone questions its legitimacy and calls upon the judge?"
This time only three people raised their hands, again, Leo was one of these people.
"Would… hmmm…" He paused while thinking about who to pick, "Mathias, would you explain what the Judge is like?"
Leo looked at Mr. Griffith for a moment and thought to himself the best way to describe the Judge.
"Fair, and no nonsense." He answered.
"Yes, a good assessment. The Judge is not biased, so do not assume you will always win your cases. That being said, it is hard to lose your cases if you think about how to write your contracts at all. There are only two ways for people to escape a voidable contract. That is, if they are very attentive to the writing and analyze everything about it. Or, if the demon who wrote the contract is an idiot." He looked around at the group of recruits.
He continued, "Luckily, there is an alternative for the idiot demons. The restricted contract! A voidable contract can have anything in it for a punishment, including death. Meanwhile a restricted contract does not allow for death to be a punishment, but at the same time, it cannot be voided once signed. Keep in mind that is for the signee and draftee. The only way to escape the contract is if you write a clause for it to end."
"Any questions?"
"…" Everyone remained silent while they looked at him with their full attention.
"I see that getting some experience under your belt has made you realize your job isn't a joke. Remember, you all are just tools for the Abyss to point at a direction and say, 'Go!' You don't ask questions, you just do."
Then Mr. Griffith started explaining the differences between summoning a voidable contract and the restricted contracts. After a while, he started getting the recruits to practice on them. He noticed Leo not doing anything, so he walked over to him.
"Still not able to summon contracts easily?"
"No master."
"You've passed the advanced placement test and are a Knight. You still need to go a bit further before I let you call me Augusto, but you can say Mr. Griffith instead of master now. I've recognized your skill, but you still have a long way to go."
Leo nodded.
"As for the contract, hmm… How bad was it when you summoned a voidable contract?"
"I nearly passed out."
"I see…" He tapped on his chin slightly as he thought. "I don't think you'll be able to summon a restricted contract any time soon if that's the case. Keep working on easing the process of channeling your mana through your soul realm. If it gets easier and less stressful on your body, then attempt the restricted contract."
"Yes, Mr. Griffith."
Mr. Griffith turned and stood next to Leo. They stood at nearly the same height and Mr. Griffith began watching the other recruits.
"I read your mission report. Nasty business, but you managed to make it out fine. As for Castille squad, those things happen sometimes, I suggest you don't dwell on it for long. There wasn't much you could do. Just about everyone still here went through something similar on their mission. The angels are getting more and more aggressive towards 'beginner' squads because they want to smother you in your cradles. We recently found a mole sending the angels mission briefs, so it should cool down a bit when you all are out there."
"…"
"I've got a question for you though Mathias. Why'd you do that with the police, reading your report, you and Faust could've head to the drop off point and been fine."
"Things escalated." Leo replied simply while watching the other recruits.
"To the point where you publicly massacre police and burn down a building in the middle of the city live on television?"
"Yes sir." Leo said as he turned to stare at Mr. Griffith in the eyes.
"Then why did you think it was necessary to spray paint that message?"
"Well, why does one write a message?" Leo asked back.
"To tell something to others." Mr. Griffith said without thinking that deeply.
"Exactly, but I wrote the message to tell things to three groups of people. To the angels, I was telling them the city would collapse. To the demons, I was saying the same thing. To the citizens of the city however, they saw it as a call to action. Not everyone of course, but it will cause a domino effect and rise to the point where the demons and angels get involved."
"And you did that for the benefit of the demons?"
"They can use it as an opportunity, or they can squander it and back off. Personally, I would press the advantage and insert my own puppet politicians so that the angels wouldn't be able to fill the government with their own. If the demons don't do anything, it's their own fault. If they fail to do anything, the chances of Myer's Munitions being absorbed by the angel's increases exponentially, despite my efforts."
After a few moments of silence passed, Mr. Griffith said, "Alright, you can head back to your dorm. As long as you understand the concept of summoning restricted contracts, you'll be able to summon them down the line. When your entire squad is finished getting taught, you all will get your new mission."
"Alright Mr. Griffith." Leo bowed slightly and turned to leave.
As he left, Mr. Griffith watched his departing figure and mumbled a prayer under his breath, "Blight help those who encounter that child."
It did not escape Mr. Griffith that Leo had forced the demons to take a charge against the angels. Leo might've completed the mission he was assigned, but he did something that could completely reset their progress in Riftmoor if they didn't act. The higher ups didn't take note of this, at least not as far as Mr. Griffith was aware, meaning Leo successfully forced their hands without them knowing of it. Mr. Griffith, however, was of the belief that the war was coming soon, meaning he'd rather take the fight to the angels now, rather than later.
So, he didn't tell the higher ups what Leo had done. Instead, he found himself thinking of Leo's future. He wondered how much of an impact he'd have on the world. He even considered recommending Leo have a chat with the Major to discuss the war.
As Mr. Griffith's thoughts ventured to this place, the recruits were practicing diligently, but one hurt themselves doing something. Mr. Griffith sighed and walked over to the recruits, shoving the thoughts to the back of his mind.
Leo entered into his dorm room, he saw Luke and Faust both in the room packing their things to move into whatever base they were assigned.
"Oh, hey Mathias." Luke said as he saw Leo enter, "You finished quick. Me and Faust didn't need to attend the classes, so we got the day off."
"I only really talked to Mr. Griffith a bit before he let me have the day off as well." Leo replied as he went to go pack his things too.
"Well, Andrew probably won't take too long. Knowing the royals, they already probably told their kids all about that stuff." Luke said.
"Maybe, there's also the chance that it just won't take him that long to learn." Leo responded.
Leo shoved the few things he cared about in his bag. John had brought him the canvases whenever he asked for them, so Leo didn't really have a way to take them out. He also didn't really want to take them with him, but Faust was trying to fit them into his luggage when he saw Leo's nonchalant attitude.
After talking casually for a while, their door swung open, and a tired Andrew walked in. He collapsed on his bed and immediately fell asleep. The three others looked at him, before going back to their business. Eventually everyone settled down and they heard a knock on their door a few hours later.
Leo got up to answer it and there stood someone dressed in a neat military uniform. The shifted through a folder before pulling out some papers and handing them to Leo.
"The first form is your new mission briefing and the second is for you and your squad to sign to get your luggage sent to your new base." They then turned and started heading to the next door while shifting once more through the folder.
Leo looked at the papers briefly while closing the door. He turned and went to a table in their room. He sat down and pulled out a pen to sign the second paper.
He looked at the name of the base they were being sent to and his eyes slightly widened.
'Iucryae Tower.'
Iucryae was the demon home country, it was a beautiful archipelago. Leo wondered which island Iucryae Tower would be on, but most likely the island of the same name. Iucryae was also the capitol was so it would make sense.
But Iucryae wasn't just the demon's home country. It was where Leo grew up. He grew up on a smaller island by the name of Esma. It was only a few hours away from Iucryae, so Leo hoped he'd have some time to visit it. He didn't have many memories of the place, so it'd be nice for him.
With a slight smile, Leo signed the paper before he looked at the other sheet. The others came over to Leo and looked at the second paper, which he had put to the side for them.
Leo's smile, however, did not last for long. As he read the paper detailing their next mission, his face became grim.
It was because the paper said they'd be heading to Mixilo, the angel's home country, on the opposite side of Lulo, deep in enemy territory. So deep, they were heading directly to their capitol, Breles.
Leo's eyes narrowed as he read the mission briefing.