Chapter 113 - Close of Negotiations

Anuva eyed the youth on the bed a little warily. It was true that their contract could be considered broad in that the goals were to serve and protect him until the end of his life. There was nothing specifying how she should do so and thus this could give her a lot of leeway in terms of how she interpreted her duties. The fact that Jien would bring this up at the beginning proved to her that he was more methodical than what she considered someone of his age should be.An example of how she could work within the bounds of the contract but also shirk most of her duty would be to "serve" him as a life saving measure. Doing so would cover both her duties to serve and protect him but would not require her to do anything else. She would ensure that if he were to become embroiled in a deadly situation that he would survive and ignore him at all other times.A different side of the coin would be her serving him as any servant or tutor would while protecting him as an average bodyguard. This would also cover the general terms of the contract but would require a lot more of her. This was something that she had been looking to avoid by leaning more heavily onto the previous concept, but it seemed that Jien was smart enough to see the issue, or at least this was the thought that went through her mind as she waited to hear her summoner's first proposal.The truth was only partially what Anuva thought. While Jien knew that there was some flexibility in the contract, he was not sure how much there was due to the clauses that were apparently hidden from him. In the end his goal was to draw at the very least an outline of how they would work together to ensure that any differences in opinion could either be handled up front or in a cordial manner so as to avoid trouble on both of their ends.The two of them sat there in silence for a few minutes looking over the other, one with a wariness that could almost be viewed as bordering on paranoia and the other calm, as though this was just them talking about the weather. Anuva was concerned about being essentially enslaved while Jien just wanted to get this over with so that he could get through the party and go back to the usual routine. It was only after these long minutes that Jien sighed seeing that Anuva was not going to be the first to talk and likely was bound to make this harder than he wanted it to be."You don't have to be so worried, it's not like I want anything more than what the others are getting from their demons." he stated calmly. "From what I can tell their summoned demons are always with them, they communicate, and the demons provide an enhancement when requested. This is the base of what I want from our cooperation." He paused at that point to give the woman some time to think and respond.Despite her careful mindset she was rather baffled by his request. She was much higher up the proverbial food chain than those lowly demons and yet he didn't try to ask her for more or even particularly care how she was different and what she could provide him that those others couldn't for their summoners. She remained silent for a minute before giving a firm nod. "If that's all you want from me I can definitely do so."Her voice was cool when she said this, like this conversation was almost below her to have. The switch from wariness to confusion to an almost languidly relaxed response occurred in moments but she treated it as if she had only ever been calm from start to finish. Jien almost wanted to snicker in reaction, but he kept his reaction to himself so as to not cause any issues with the remainder of the discussion.Now that they had gotten through this part came what he thought would be the easier part. "From what I have seen the other demons usually hide themselves as an accessory and also in an extension as a type of animal or beast. I feel that this would be best for us as well since you are apparently fairly different from all other demons we have heard of."Though Jien felt that this only made sense and had made the suggestion calmly the answer was an angry and adamant "No! I will not lower myself to such a ridiculous standard!" The words were as sharp as knives and for those that did not get the translation from the contract, they sounded akin to the claps of thunder mixed with the screeching of steel against steel. This answer caught Jien completely off guard.He sat there blankly looking at the woman that had just yelled at him like what he had suggested was no less than asking her to strip and then take a walk through the city streets. Wasn't this how all summoned demons operated? This is what he had been told by the other children. Were they playing tricks on him to cause an argument with the demon he summoned or was there something particular about her in this situation? He couldn't tell for sure what the answer was, all he could do was sit down and discuss the options with her from her point of view to try and understand. He wasn't a mind reader and though they were bound by contract and supposedly could talk in a manner similar to telepathy neither had attempted to do so."Can you explain why you are against this idea? From my understanding this is common among all summoned demons as it allows them to complete their contracts with as little exposure to danger as possible." He needed to at least know her reasons to bring these negotiations to an initial close.