Chapter 15: Stay Like This a Little Longer
Su Cheng touched the side of her neck.
She could still feel it, faintly, as though an invisible chain had once been wrapped around her throat. Now, with the oathbreaker sacrificed, it had shattered into pieces.
The crushing weight pressing down on her chest seemed to vanish all at once.
For the first time in what felt like forever, she could breathe.
The wind elements drifted through the air like laughter only she could hear. She flexed her fingers slightly.
A thin current of wind instantly gathered around them, swirling and coiling between her fingertips. Every so often, flashes of pale green light flickered through the stream.
They clung to her obediently, affectionately.
…Maybe it really was worth it.
The thought surfaced quietly in Su Cheng’s mind.
No.
That was dangerous.
She only managed to pull this off because she knew the story. She knew the “Count’s daughter,” knew her temperament and extraordinary talent, and used it to her advantage.
Otherwise, there would’ve been no way to find a suitable sacrifice before sunset.
But—
Su Cheng stared at the dancing streams of wind around her fingers, feeling the existence of the elemental spirits, and her resolve wavered again.
Every elemental mage must become addicted to this feeling eventually.
If the God of Contracts was willing to grant her even greater power, and the price was only sacrificing oathbreakers… wasn’t that still a profitable trade?
…People like that count’s son, after all. Liars. Traitors. Men who broke promises as easily as breathing.
There weren’t just one or two of them.
There were countless.
Finding people like that wouldn’t even be difficult. As long as they never discovered she was one of the god-blessed, leading them into a trap would be easy enough.
No.
She shut the thought down again.
The facts had already proven that every deal with the God of Contracts came with tyrannical terms hidden underneath.
He would probably hand over the reward first, then decide the agreement had already been made.
Only afterward would he tell her the price.
And if she couldn’t know the cost beforehand, then she would always be trapped in a passive position.
What if the next price wasn’t sacrificing oathbreakers?
What if there were even harsher conditions attached?
This time, she had simply been lucky.
What about next time?
If she failed once, she’d lose her life.
Leaning against one of the pillars beneath the guild’s front corridor, Su Cheng turned the matter over and over in her head before finally making up her mind.
If the God of Contracts ever spoke to her again, no matter what he offered, she absolutely could not agree.
Though… back then, her mental state had been hazy to begin with. She hadn’t been fully conscious at all. She’d practically nodded along in a daze.
The moment she thought about it, her stomach started hurting again.
What was she supposed to do?
If he deliberately muddled her mind first, then sweet-talked her into another deal, how was she supposed to refuse?
“…I hope your problem has been resolved, Miss Mercenary.”
A deep, resonant voice came from above her.
Su Cheng looked up.
The handsome black-haired man stood beside the pillar, brilliant gold eyes gleaming beneath the shadows of the eaves. Darkness slid across the contours of his broad chest, tracing the lines of firm abdominal muscles beneath his clothes.
A heavy fur-lined cloak hung from one shoulder, concealing half of his powerfully built arm. His arms were crossed, his expression obscured by the backlight.
“…Yeah.” Su Cheng pressed a hand to her forehead. “Solved one problem. Then discovered ten more. I have no idea how to deal with any of them.”
“Mhm.” Kai didn’t ask further. “That’s life, I suppose.”
Su Cheng froze for a second.
Once upon a time, she’d thought killing Lin Yun would solve everything.
But that had only been the beginning of the trouble.
And yet, if she had to do it again, she would still make the same choice.
So—
Maybe she really should be more optimistic.
This world had been rotten from the start. No one got to live safely or comfortably anyway.
Especially not her, now that she’d become the “protagonist.”
“You’re right!” Su Cheng suddenly sprang upright. “Then let’s go on an adventure together!”
Kai glanced at her, looking faintly amused. “No problem. But before that, there are still a few things to handle.”
So the two of them returned to the mercenary guild together.
After the paperwork was completed, Su Cheng officially joined the Black Flame Mercenary Corps.
She flipped through her mercenary journal.
A black flame emblem had appeared on the outer cover, symbolizing the mercenary corps she belonged to.
Only then did Su Cheng learn that the Black Flame Mercenary Corps actually had more than twenty members scattered across the continent.
And the corps itself was ranked B-class.
It wasn’t as famous as an S-class giant like Silverwing, but a B-rank mercenary corps was still highly respected. They were already qualified to fly their banner outside any mercenary guild.
If they openly recruited members, countless people would fight for a chance to join.
After all, a mercenary corps’ rank wasn’t determined by one or two powerful people alone. It depended on the difficulty, quantity, and success rate of completed missions accumulated over time.
Strength alone wasn’t enough.
You needed results.
“After I registered the corps, I met a lot of people over the years,” Kai said casually. “I invited some of them to join.”
“I don’t really have strict standards for members. Most of them were just people I happened to meet. Sometimes I’d spend a little time with someone and instinctively feel like I could trust them. It’s always been that way.”
Su Cheng looked surprised.
Lin Yun had practically relied on protagonist halo plus relentless persistence to worm his way into this team.
Thinking about it carefully, she’d felt a little similar herself.
But unlike him, she hadn’t even clung that hard before getting accepted.
According to the captain’s logic, since she’d already called him “Captain” and he hadn’t objected, that meant he’d silently approved of her from the very beginning?
“So you think I’m trustworthy too?” Su Cheng looked delighted. “And not just because I looked like I was about to die and you felt sorry for me?”
“No.” A trace of helplessness surfaced in the captain’s beautiful golden eyes. “First, I never thought you looked like you were dying. Second—”
“New member!”
Someone suddenly hooked an arm around Su Cheng’s neck.
A cold, solid arm settled heavily across her shoulders. Pale fingers enclosed her shoulder possessively.
“So we’re family now, right?”
The silver-haired, red-eyed young man dragged her against his chest, smiling brightly. His beautiful face seemed almost dazzling.
“Shouldn’t we throw some kind of celebration banquet for the newcomer?”
The icy chill wrapping around him instantly swallowed Su Cheng whole. She nearly shivered.
Trying desperately to break free, she blurted out, “Is this some kind of corps tradition?!”
Sasha smiled down at her. He didn’t appear to be using much force, yet his arm remained locked firmly around her shoulders.
“I just think the timing’s perfect right now…”
Su Cheng continued struggling. “You’re freezing!”
“Really?” the silver-haired youth replied lazily. “Then let’s stay like this a little longer. We’ll warm up eventually.”
“…Sasha. Please.”
Kai finally reached over and rescued the new recruit before continuing his explanation about the mercenary corps.
“Some members prefer taking missions alone. Others are scholars or researchers who only do missions on the side.”
He paused briefly.
“Most of the time, I work alone too. This situation is unusual, so I gathered the three of them together.”
Besides Sasha and Camus, there was another teammate currently visiting relatives in the Shadow Forest.
Originally, they had planned to regroup ten days later. But after recruiting an elemental mage, Kai had already sent word for the other member to return immediately.
“Still…” Kai glanced at her. “I think celebrating your arrival with a banquet sounds like a good idea.”
Su Cheng: “…”
Don’t think I don’t know you love drinking too.
She sighed. “Well… I still have to attend an entrance examination.”
She didn’t dislike the idea of attending the academy. There truly was a lot she could learn there.
But unlike Lin Yun, Su Cheng wanted to deal with the curse first. Or at least suppress it somehow.
Otherwise, if she kept having episodes at the academy every other day, it would become a nightmare.
So she wasn’t particularly anxious about enrollment.
Originally, she had planned to wait until Camus finished his work before dealing with it. But since things had already started moving, she might as well finish the process.
Kai wasn’t surprised.
After seeing her enter the Mage Guild earlier, he had already guessed something like this.
Sasha, meanwhile, looked immediately interested, eagerly asking which academy she planned to attend while reaching for her shoulder again.
Before he could finish speaking, a large hand with sharply defined knuckles suddenly cut between them, forcibly separating the two.
“Don’t maintain prolonged physical contact with her. At least not for the next few days.”
Camus had appeared without anyone noticing.
The blond man spoke in an icy tone.
“It may interfere with the curse.”
Sasha rolled his eyes. “Seriously? You think I wouldn’t—”
Su Cheng immediately seized the opportunity to escape and stopped paying attention to whatever they argued about afterward.
She went home, slept for an entire night, and after recovering her energy, headed straight for the Mage Guild.
Inside the lounge prepared for Crossstar Academy, she informed them she was ready.
The archmage who had previously received her stood up with a smile.
“What perfect timing. Lord Han Sheng and Lady Xiao Yun have both returned. They can personally oversee your examination.”
Crossstar Academy had dispatched two recruitment teams in total.
One belonged to the House of Valor and was currently recruiting inside the neighboring Warrior Guild.
The other belonged to the House of Secrets, namely the mages gathered here within the Mage Guild. The two leaders mentioned earlier were the heads of that team.
Su Cheng tried hard to recall this section from the original novel.
One man. One woman.
The man had barely been mentioned in the story.
The woman, however, had received quite a bit of description.
Unfortunately, Su Cheng remembered almost nothing else.
Only that… the woman supposedly had enormous breasts and spent most of her time criticizing the male protagonist.
Before the thought could settle, the door at the end of the hallway opened.
Two mages walked out one after another, conversing quietly as they approached.
Both were tall and dressed in luxurious robes. On their chests were emblems depicting a staff set with an octagonal gem and an unfurled scroll.
Eighth-tier mages.
Grand Magisters.
Su Cheng could feel the overwhelming magical power radiating from them.
Countless elemental spirits clustered tightly around their bodies, like iron filings drawn to a magnet.
The sensation only lasted for a brief instant.
Then it disappeared.
…Inside her perception, they suddenly seemed no different from ordinary people again.
Su Cheng couldn’t help feeling shocked.
This was the first time she had encountered mages of such terrifying strength, and reverence mixed with longing rose instinctively within her chest.
The brown-haired, blue-eyed woman looked over first.
She was beautiful and refined, carrying the elegant air of a scholar. Smiling faintly, she said, “Good luck with your assessment, child.”
Then she left.
The man behind her yawned and strolled forward at an unhurried pace.
His orange-red curls resembled flowing magma, faint sparks flickering at the ends of his hair.
Sleepiness still lingered on his handsome, narrow face.
“So this is the triple-element special-grade? Wind, fire, and lightning?”
His outer robe hung open carelessly. More than half the buttons on his shirt were undone, exposing a broad, muscular chest beneath the light, smooth as carved marble.
Su Cheng: “…”
Yeah.
Those really were huge.
C
