Cutting back to Lumina, she has only just reached back to the inn and was sitting down in thought as she waited for a meal from the hostess. He knows.... HE KNOWS!!!! Fuck what do I do, run? But I have nowhere else to go. Calm down let’s think about this rationally. Phew, first off, he doesn't see me as a threat, second, he seems like he wants to make some connections however, I can’t see through his thoughts as he has clearly revealed that he knows in watching him through the spider.
After spending some time in thought, Lumina gets served dinner, and she eats it absentmindedly as she comes up with a solution. Hmm, I could meet up personally but ideally it would be in a setting that everyone can see but not hear. After making that outline of a plan, she orders the spider to reveal itself before Alan, wave at him and return to her shadow. Once that was done, she felt her shadow feel heavier with the spider returned. After this, she went back to her room to fall asleep and prepare herself for a new day.
After an unknown amount of time, Lumina woke up and got back into routine of the usual but started thinking about going on a few missions as she only has four more days at the inn before she has to pay again therefore, she figured it best to head to the hunters guild to find suitable missions to take to increase the amount of money she had on hand.
Once she got to the guild, Lumina headed straight for the mission board looking around before she found a suitable mission about hunting some magic foxes which amounted to five large coppers per fox and found this suitable for the D rank. Ripping the mission off the board, Lumina headed to the receptionist and handed in the mission and documented it in the quest log.
When that was done, Lumina headed to the forest in which they were found, halfway there she called upon the elk and Aethon to get there faster.
Once it has been a while, after looking for the foxes from Aethon's viewpoint they were found a little while away approximately being five of them. Unsummoning the elk shadow, she called upon the rest of her shadows being the basilisks, spiders, bats and rats and got them to attack.
The suddenness of the attack shocked the foxes and before they could get a counterattack in, Lumina struck like lightning with the knife ensuring that they were dead. Coming to a quick resolution within the hour, Lumina placed the fresh corpses into the magic bag and headed back to the hunter’s guild. However, on the way back she was stopped by Alan who looked as if he were waiting for her. Stiffening up, Lumina briskly walked to Alan and said, "Let’s talk." In a stiff tone before heading to a nearby café on the side where it was busy.
Once settling in their seats, Lumina ordered a simple salad to the waiter before focusing a nervous yet steady gaze on Alan. Taking a deep breath she then says in an accusative voice "So 'Knight Commander' what is it you want from me?"
"Well, after your display through your intermediary I assumed you heard what I had to say already but I thought it best to make some clarifications and give you reason to trust me."
"Oh? and how will you be able to prove that I can trust you? How sincere are we talking?" Being a little snappy, Lumina wanted to get the point across that she felt rather untrusting at the moment.
"A mana oath sworn before the gods that must be strictly followed and those who don't follow the terms will be stricken with death." Donning a serious face, Alan revealed one of his cards to show his sincerity by pulling the paper out and handing it to Lumina to read through.
Lumina thoroughly read through the oath to see if there were anything wrong with it, but she furrowed her brows in confusion as she found most of the terms ridiculously good for her. Looking back at Alan, she opened her mouth "Are you sure about this?"
"What's the problem?" After quirking his eyebrow up and giving a disarming smile Lumina answered in disbelief.
"This oath forces you to pay me for my needs such as lodging and classes while giving me direct training in the knights training ground, it also stipulates that you are to in the future, help me gain the trust of the people to ensure my rule and in return all I need to do is ensure that I am fair and just in my ruling. These are serious concessions, why are you helping me so much? what are you truly after?"
After a brief moment of silence, Alan eventually made a response with a question. "Did you know that some of the residents here were unfairly exiled for crimes that they didn't commit? I was one of them." Alan had a faraway look in his eyes before training them back onto Lumina. "I used to be part of the holy order of paladins, serving faithfully but was convicted of a crime I didn't commit. A crime that someone else did but used me as a scapegoat. Due to this, I no longer really believe in the faith, or their system but I still do what I can even though I do not know how to rule."
"..."
"I cannot leave this place of exile to learn to rule either as it would put me in unnecessary danger. Also, there are internal and external threats that need to be dealt with, and I do not have the power to make the change, thus I require someone with power to fill the vacuum that they leave once they are dealt with."
"What do you mean by internal and external threats?"
"We can deal with monsters just fine, but it is rather the monsters disguised as humans I am most wary about. The scavengers are bandits that we normally send punitive forces out to deal with as they rob and kill any who leave the capital, the hawks which are gang members who want protective fees and control the drugs and brothels within the city and then there are the puma's who are a group of assassins in the slums who target anyone for a price."
"..."
"I want help dealing with them making the fight more even as there are three people on my level and I need someone on the playing field to break the status quo."
"Alan, just so we are clear, I have never killed another person before, and I do not know how I'll react under such circumstances... Don't push a situation on me where I'm forced to do so, don't scheme or plot this under your command. So long as you don't do so and they still come after me we'll see what happens then. Add this to the mana oath and I will sign it."
Handing back the oath, Alan grabbed a quill and made the amendments before writing his signature on it and placing a drop of his blood and handing the oath in Lumina's direction. She followed Alan's lead and did the same before letting out a breath of relief and relaxed in this tense situation.
"Thank you, happy cooperation."
"Happy cooperation."