Carman, having donned his disguise, left the apartment through the secret passage. Using the shadows, Carman activated his stealth skill. It had been a while since he had used it, and it was odd to feel corrections being made to his stance and movements as he darted through the alleyways.
'Damn, it seems I've let my actual skill in stealth degrade, I should retrain myself in it, it would not be to rely solely on the system for this.' Thought Carman to himself.
It had been months since he had needed to sneak around on his own. Since meeting Ryuzu, Carman had either been masquerading as the Brass Wraith, a persona that did not use much stealth apart from pretending to be a regular or deactivated Gardemek to be overlooked, or had been carried by Ryuzu and relied on her superior senses to avoid being caught. After that time, it was natural that he would get rusty.
Despite the discomfort, Carman could not help but take this precaution as the last thing he wanted was to be followed, it would not do for anyone to find where "Sylvain" was living. After a few minutes, Carman managed to slip into the alley unnoticed. The boxes had been shifted forward, so Ryuzu had already arrived, shifting the boxes back Carman entered the room through the gap.
"Ah Director, you are here" said Clervie, "so what is the situation? Is it safe for me to go about now? It's been a week and I am itching to get out of here."
"Yes, the Hearth seemed to have moved on in their search. Let me touch up on your disguise, and then we must discuss your initiation to our Organization." Said Carman
After having settled on starting an organization, Carman had Ryuzu go around Fleuve Cendre and look for anything that could be useful. Ryuzu had come back with information on an imported item from Liyue, Parchments blessed by the God of Contracts. Apparently some corrupt officials had been paid to sell a few blank sheets from the Ministry of Civil affairs. Contracts written on them would bind the signed parties to the agreement; it was frequently used on criminals to prevent them from running from their charges after being found guilty. It was a rare commodity and was frequently bought up by rich nobles and merchants usually used to bind partners and servants to secrecy.
After hearing of this, Carman had Ryuzu investigate the price, only to find that the merchant had already been bought out by someone else. Not giving up hope, Carman looked into his Item Storage among the items he had raided from Vasher's bases. And surprisingly, he did find a few sheets. Unfortunately, of the 10 sheets he had found, eight of them already had contracts written and signed on them, luckily, there were still two sheets that were still blank.
It was one of these blank sheets that Carman pulled out and placed onto the coffee table after touching up the changes to Clervie's hair and eyes.
"What is this?" Asked Clervie as she looked at the blank piece of parchment.
"This. This is a parchment blessed by the Geo Archon, it is said that any contract written on it will be bound by his authority, ensuring faithfull fulfillment by all parties that sign it." Said Carman. "If you are going to be a part of our organization, I will need you to sign a contract with me. I understand if you are hesitant to sign such a thing, so I waited until now to give you a choice."
"A choice?" Asked Clervie as she took a seat opposite Carman.
"Yes, right now, you do not know much about our organization, we are not tyrants who prey on people when they are at their lowest to recruit them. That would not lead to the loyalty we aim for. If you wanted we could part ways here and now, or, you could come to an agreement with me here and now, and join my organization and help me make it so nobody else has to suffer like you have." Said Carman.
"How so?"Asked Clervie, raising her eyebrow slightly.
"You crave freedom, but you also wish to bring freedom to the other children under your mother's thumb, to do that you need power. Power that I can help you attain, assuming of course you decide to join us. I apologize but despite how well you get along with my Production Manager, it would be foolhardy to just hand out power and resources freely." Said Carman.
"I see, so you are offering me power to gain freedom in exchange for becoming a member of your organization. It is an interesting proposal, but at that point I would just be swapping from one hidden organization to another. What can you do to reassure me that I am not leaving one evil for another?" replied Clervie.
"Ah because, I will give you the freedom to do whatever you wish when not on duty, so long as you don't implicate us, you would be free to use the power you gained in whatever endeavors you wish. However there is one caveat, if you turn evil, use your power to exploit those weaker than you for personal gain, then we will hunt you down." Said Carman.
"I see, and will that be written in the contract?" Asked Clervie.
"It will be one of the three main requirements yes, we hold our members accountable for their actions, we do not condone or overlook evil even if it is conducted by our members. The second requirement is that you assist the Organization in certain projects, taking on tasks you are capable of fulfilling when asked, while being compensated of course." Said carman, taking a breath before continuing, "The final, but most important requirement is secrecy. You would not be able to divulge any of the organization's information to anyone without authorization, not to your subordinates, not even your lover should you have one. Information holds a lot of power and given how prolific and adept at infiltration your mother's organization is, we need to avoid any possible information leaks. The best secret organization is the one that nobody knows exists after all."
"I see, and what if I were to wish to leave your organization?" Said Clervie.
"We can write a clause in the contract for that, apart from obviously having you swear to secrecy and continuing to keep your knowledge of the organization a secret, we may seek compensation in terms of a few favors depending on how much of the organization's resources you use prior to your retirement. Would that be fair?" Replied Carman.
"So long as I am still free to do as I want, to live a normal life I can get behind that. It also feels cool to join a secret organization of the good guys." Said Clervie "I do hope that you won't mind if I add a few requirements of my own in that contract?"
"That is why I didn't come to you with it already written out." Said Carman.
"Then first I want you to agree to continue to proactively help me in first avoiding being caught by my mother, and to help me grow strong enough to face her on my own. Secondly I want to be able to recommend people for the organization to recruit." Responded Clervie.
"Alright I can agree to that, did you have anyone in mind for that second condition?" Asked Carman.
"Yes, I have a friend back in the Hearth, her name is Peruere, she is a bit reserved and acts cold but is really kind. She has white hair with these neat black streaks and these cool eyes with red crosses on them! She is also one of the most skilled people in stealth and combat that I know, so I think she would be a good fit." said Clervie.
"Indeed, Arle.. this friend of yours does seem like a great fit. Well if there aren't any other conditions you want to put forth, let us write them down and sign the contract." Said Carman
"Ok!" Said Clervie.
Carman had Ryuzu write down both of their conditions down onto the blank sheet, after which both he and Clervie read it over to catch any potential mistakes, finding none, they signed it.
As soon as the contract had both of their signatures, it flared in a brilliant golden light. Two orbs flew into the air and migrated towards the two parties, one each. The orbs hovered in front of Carman and Clervie for a moment before circling around each of them and sinking into two places. On Carman the orb circled and sank into his right shoulder, and for Clervie, it sank into her mouth. Both of them felt a tingling sensation where the orbs had settled. Pulling up his sleeve, Carman saw a symbol tattooed on his upper arm, close to his shoulder. Clervie, upon seeing the tattoo, asked for something to see her reflection, breathing a sigh of relief when she didn't see anything on her face, she opened her mouth and found the tattoo printed under her tongue.
With a sigh, Carman took off his mask. It had been stuffy as all heck behind it and now that Clervie was contracted to secrecy, he wasn't as worried that his identity would be leaked.
"Alright, as a token of gratitude for your trust and as a new member of my Organization allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Carman Lepaute, Director of L'équipe de Scène. It is nice to formally meet you Clervie."
-To be continued.
A/N: It should be noted that the contract does not give any protections against things like mind reading, it is not omnipotent, it will just prevent Clervie from accidentally speaking or un/intentionally leaving information laying around for others to find. Carman doesn't know this for sure yet but already has a contingency plan in place to prevent mind intrusion, if you recall some of the things he has gotten, you will know what I am talking about. (Hint: look in Chapter 44/41)