"So, you’re saying this is the same Black Flame Cerberus?" Vanessa asked.
"Yes," Ben replied.
"And you subdued him using a magic contract that you found in an antique shop?"
"Yes."
"You bought it because you thought it looked cool and mysterious..."
"And it turned out to be a powerful master-servant soul contract?"
"Again... yes."
Vanessa stared at him.
"Does any of that even make sense?"
Ben shrugged helplessly.
"I don’t know."
"I just thought it looked cool."
"The words written on it seemed like they could capture magical creatures."
"When I saw Morbius about to bite your head off, I didn’t have many options."
"So I gambled."
"I threw the scroll at him."
"And somehow... it worked."
Of course, the story about the antique shop was completely made up.
Ben couldn’t exactly tell her that the scroll had come from his mysterious Sign-In System.
So he used the oldest excuse every fantasy fan knew.
I found it in an antique shop.
He just hoped she would believe it.
Vanessa frowned.
"Don’t try to fool me."
"The Celestial Association makes sure that no magical artifacts remain in the ordinary world."
Ben smiled awkwardly.
...Or not.
Why does this hidden world have to be so strict?
"Then I honestly don’t know," Ben replied.
"Where else do you think I could have gotten something like that?"
Vanessa fell silent.
She slowly lowered her sword.
As strange as his explanation sounded, she couldn’t think of a better one.
Meanwhile, Morbius remained sitting calmly on the sofa.
He didn’t even bother looking at Vanessa.
To him, Vanessa was no longer worth paying attention to.
"This is bad," Vanessa said with a frown.
"We can’t just leave a creature of his caliber on Earth like this."
Ben waved his hand dismissively.
"Relax."
"Because of the soul contract, he’s nothing more than a harmless puppy now."
To prove his point, Ben picked Morbius up with both hands and held him out toward Vanessa.
Despite the annoyed expression on Morbius’s face, he couldn’t retaliate.
The soul contract prevented him from harming his master.
"See?" Ben said with a grin.
"Does this really look dangerous?"
Vanessa cautiously reached out her hand.
Before she could touch him, Morbius spoke in a cold voice.
"Touch me, and you’ll lose that hand."
"I tolerate this human only because of the soul contract."
"But nothing in the contract prevents me from making you a one-handed woman."
Vanessa immediately pulled her hand back.
"...I believe you."
Ben awkwardly lowered Morbius back onto the sofa.
"Even so," Vanessa said as she rubbed her forehead, "this makes things much more complicated."
She let out a quiet sigh.
"What is even happening today?"
"It was supposed to be a simple mission."
"I was only tracking a creature that slipped through our defenses."
"Instead, I ended up involving an ordinary civilian."
She leaned back against the sofa.
"I don’t know everything that’s going on yet."
"The best thing to do for now is to tell the truth from my side."
"As for you..."
She looked at Ben.
"Wait until you meet the person who gave you the Tester Potion."
"They’ll formally introduce you to the hidden world."
"They’ll also explain the things I don’t know."
Ben nodded.
"That sounds reasonable."
Vanessa stood up.
"I’m going to rest."
"I still need time to recover my Celestial Energy."
"So unless it’s something important..."
She glanced at both Ben and Morbius.
"Don’t disturb me."
With that, Vanessa returned to the guest room and quietly closed the door behind her.
Ben stretched his arms.
"Well, that’s settled."
"I guess it’s time for me to meet the... tester."
He stopped halfway through the sentence.
Wait...
If Morbius learns that Maya was the one who gave me the Tester Potion...
Won’t he try to get revenge on her?
After all, if Ben had never been able to see the hidden world, Morbius would never have ended up as his servant.
Yeah... I’d better keep Maya’s identity to myself for now.
Morbius looked up at him.
"What should I do while you’re gone?"
Ben looked around the living room.
His eyes landed on the large television mounted on the wall.
"I mean..."
"You can just watch TV."
"TV?"
Morbius tilted his head.
Ben picked up the remote control and sat beside him.
"This button turns it on."
He pressed the power button, and the television lit up.
"This changes the channel."
"This adjusts the volume."
"And this opens the streaming apps."
Morbius watched carefully.
Although he had never seen such technology before, he quickly understood how the remote worked.
"Got it," he replied.
Ben smiled.
"Good."
"I’ll be back in a while."
He grabbed his jacket, picked up his car keys, and walked toward the front door.
"Don’t destroy the house."
Morbius snorted.
"As if I would."
The front door closed behind Ben.
Silence filled the mansion once again.
Morbius looked down at the remote in his tiny paws.
"Hmm..."
"What is this strange artifact?"
He pressed a button.
The channel changed.
He pressed another.
It changed again.
For several minutes, he continued flipping through different channels.
News.
Sports.
Cartoons.
Cooking shows.
Nothing caught his interest.
Then...
He stopped.
On the screen, a young wizard wearing round glasses was pointing a wand at another wizard.
Spells flew through the air as the two fought.
Morbius blinked.
"What..."
He stared at the television.
"They made a movie about Celestial Arts?"
His curiosity was instantly piqued.
Without changing the channel again, Morbius sat comfortably on the sofa and continued watching.
Every few seconds, he muttered something to himself.
"That spell formation is completely wrong."
"Why are they shouting the names of their techniques?"
"And why is that dragon so small?"
Despite criticizing everything he saw...
He never changed the channel.
On the other side, Ben arrived at the café where Maya worked.
"I hope I’m not wrong."
"I’d hate to grab the wrong girl," he muttered as he walked inside.
Maya was standing behind the reception counter, taking customers’ orders.
The moment she saw him, a smile appeared on her face.
"Oh, Mr. Parker, you’re back."
"Would you like your usual?" she asked.
Ben nodded.
"Yeah."
He walked over to his usual seat by the window and sat down.
A few minutes later, Maya brought over a fresh cup of coffee and placed it on the table.
"Here you go."
"Thanks."
Ben picked up the cup and took a sip while quietly waiting for the other customers to leave.