Exhaustion, I found, didn't agree with me.
I hadn't felt it much since I'd ascended to demonhood. And even when I had, it typically didn't linger for very long. So, I guess it was a true testament to Tibath's abilities that she had managed to drive a Baron into the ground.
Still, after a tiny little twelve-hour nap, I woke up feeling good enough to move on with my plans. That led to me sitting in front of Imthala, a cup of hot chocolate grasped firmly in my hands.
"I swear, if anyone tries to take this from me, I'm going to eat their soul." I took another sip, ignoring the amusement on Imthala's face.
If she didn't want people reacting like that, she shouldn't go around making sinfully good hot chocolate. Though, it did amuse me that the maker of the drink was an ice demoness…
"Not going to fight you for it, don't worry," she said dryly. "But Mia sent an urgent message asking me to clear a slot in my schedule for today. And here you are. So, how can I help you, exactly? You don't need reinforcements or anything like that, do you?"
She frowned, not angrily, but in a manner that suggested she was tired and didn't need another impossible request on her plate.
"No, no," I assured her. "Our apprentices have it. The idiots are climbing in quality. Slowly, but it's nothing Mia and I can't take care of. Or, really, just Mia. We've been spending entirely too much time apart recently…"
Shaking my head, I drew out a bracelet and held it out to her. "Anyway! Here, would you be so kind as to put this on? I promise you'll have the answer to why I'm here if you do."
I hid my smirk behind the rim of my cup as Imthala picked up the bracelet. She hesitated for a moment, glanced at me, then sighed and slipped it on.
I knew instantly that it had worked. She went rigid, her eyes locking onto me in a glare.
"That, Hayden, was rude and uncalled for. However… it's also impressive. Am I right to assume that if I take this off without your permission, it will immediately alert you?"
"Yep. At least, it'll be alerting me for now. Once I'm a bit more rested, I need to tackle another enchantment project, to form a central surveillance point for the whole bracelet network. But that's actually going to be much easier than the bracelets themselves. Especially since we only need one surveillance point…"
I gave a bone-deep sigh, then attempted to drown my sorrows in hot chocolate.
Imthala shot me a confused look. "Why are the bracelets an issue? I mean, I can't imagine that designing them was easy, but at least the job is done now. I can get enchanters on the project as soon as you pass me the relevant schema."
"No, you can't. And this is not some stupid attempt at 'protecting my secrets' or whatever," I added hastily. "I have to be the one to make them."
"How? Why?"
"Because of the way I'm going to set up the surveillance center. The best way to do that easily and reliably will be for me to slot a piece of my soul into the enchantment. That way, the central console I'll make will be able to use my connection to the items I've made, both the crystal and the enchantments, to monitor their location and status."
She leaned back, a sympathetic expression finding its way onto her face. "Are you sure there's no other way? Also, that's a lot of science-y expressions you're throwing around. Our latest invasion affecting you?"
"The world we're invading was a partial inspiration for my solution, yes," I replied dryly, absolutely not about to delve into the multi-world mess that was the origin of my soul. "Still, it should work like a charm. Do you like the contract shenanigans?"
The grin Imthala sent my way was decisively bloodthirsty. "I do. I really, really do."
The contract I'd formed with Tibath's guidance was simple. Once a person willingly put on the bracelet, they accepted a set of restrictions:
They would obey all the laws of Breskwor they were aware of, and would do their best to inform themselves of those laws. (We were going to be handing out pamphlets.)
They would not harm any other demon or Breskwor visitor without explicit permission, or in self-defense.
They were not to take off the bracelet unless in the presence of an authorized official from the Visitor Office of Breskwor. If they did, relevant authorities would be notified by the enchanted bracelet itself.
And that was it. The contract would also engrave its terms into their minds automatically, so there was no room for misinterpretation.
We weren't even asking them not to gather intelligence and report back to the person who'd sent them to Breskwor in the first place. We were not infringing on their rights, their freedoms, or anything else they could think to complain about.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The fact that the 'laws of Breskwor' also kept them confined within a certain geographical area was just a coincidence. No, truly!
I could see Imthala thinking through each clause as she tapped her fingers against her icy chair.
"It's simple, but effective," she eventually admitted. "Though… there are some caveats in it that might be open to exploitation."
"Fewer than you think," I said smugly, sipping on more hot chocolate. I was about to run out, and I was already studying the demoness to gauge how likely she was to give me a refill.
Judging by her eye roll, not very.
"And what if they decide to break the contract in any way?" she asked. "Including, but not limited to, taking the bracelet off?"
"Then they'll receive one hell of a nasty shock. Literally. It would feel like having your soul struck by lightning, followed by paralysis that takes an hour to wear off."
She nodded thoughtfully. "That… could work." Her fingers continued their tapping pattern. "What if they decide to get smart about it and have someone move them from the location where they took off the bracelet? Assuming the 'notification' will let us know where that is?"
"It will, and that would make things simpler for us. Just because I worded that clause that way doesn't mean the bracelet won't be tracking their position even before they try to break the contract. We'll have a clear view of exactly where everyone wearing a bracelet is, at all times. If they try to do the whole alternate bracelet-removal thing, we just need to track people who were close to the spot and then find the idiot dragging a half corpse around."
"Elegant," she teased. "And you don't feel horrible about spying on each and every one of our visitors?"
I just gave her a look, sending her into a bout of wild laughter.
"Fair enough!" The ice demoness shook her head, still chuckling. "So, how long do you think it'll take you to make the 'surveillance center' and enough bracelets?"
"That depends. How many bracelets are you going to need?"
She raised a single eyebrow.
I groaned even before she stated the number.
It took me another two weeks to set everything up. Far, far too much time, if anyone were to ask for my opinion on the subject.
True, I got a brief break from the endless bracelet hell when I made the surveillance console. But that was just a massive wall of crystal, overlaid by the relevant map of Breskwor and with a whole lot of complicated enchantments sunk into it. In other words, it didn't take very long at all.
Recovery from snipping off a large enough piece of my soul would have taken much longer, but then again, I had what made Breskwor so precious to begin with: Divinity. It always made recovery so much easier and more convenient. Which was good, because without the bit of my soul I sank into the final product, I had no hope of making the enchantment work.
Did it feel a little odd, chopping off a piece of my soul and then converting it into what was essentially a very primitive AI that ran all the surveillance? Sure. Yes, it did.
Still, I had all the certainty in the world that the soul piece was not actually sentient. And even if mana saturation and age did ever push it over the edge into developing a rudimentary sentience, then… at least the thing wouldn't really be inside me anymore. Regardless, I firmly decided never to think about the subject, ever again.
A subject I was keen to think about was Imthala.
The demoness hid it well, but whatever had been bothering her when Mia and I arrived on Breskwor was still eating at her. I caught her shooting us wary looks, staring off into space, and showing clear signs of anxiety when she thought no one was paying attention.
I'd even realized that she was actually taking the trouble to shield her soul. I didn't catch on immediately, since I wasn't in the habit of peeking in on the emotional state of everyone around me without reason, but it was there.
The whole thing was frustrating the hell out of me. There was something wrong with one of the few people I considered a friend, and unless she came out and said what it was, I could do nothing about it. I hated that fact.
Not even a chat with Mia produced a solution. In fact, by the time my job was done and we were ready to rejoin Glaustro, neither of us had managed to do anything about Imthala's strange behavior.
The ice demoness put on a brave face when we met by the portal to say goodbye.
"Look after each other, okay? I know there's nothing on that world that can threaten you, but still…" She trailed off, then followed up the warning with a wan smile. "Good luck! I hope the invasion ends soon."
"Thank you. We'll do our best to rejoin you here as soon as possible," I said sincerely, backed by Mia's agreeing hum.
Then we stepped through the portal, out of the frigid world and into a far drier and warmer atmosphere.
We were followed shortly by our apprentices. The pair groaned in relief and annoyance the second they stepped through. Then, to my shock, they swayed and almost collapsed. Only by using mana to support their bodies did they manage to stay upright.
Realization hit me a moment later, and I had to bite down chuckles. Mia and I were demons. Changes in temperature were something we could handle easily. The mortal duo, however? Going from extreme cold to impressive heat must have been a hell of a shock to their system.
"Okay, you two." I rubbed my hands together enthusiastically. "Your training arc is on pause, for now. We're just going to have to assume you've learned enough to handle a bunch of mortals. We got started on improving your reputation through that ad we ran of your raid, but we'll be upping our efforts now."
Mia jumped in, offering a few words of caution about not looking down on mortals unless they had truly moved beyond them. I felt tempted to give examples of how underestimating mortals was a bad idea even then, but honestly? I couldn't think of any.
Besides, I was far too busy taking in the elf and the doggo.
Over the several weeks I had spent buried in work, they had noticeably improved. Gone were the last traces of childhood from their figures. Fat had been trimmed away, not that they had much of that to begin with. Bodies had been hardened and conditioned. Mana had grown and solidified.
In a word, they were ready.
I had every bit of confidence that they would be able to truly shine when we handed them tasks to complete. They would easily draw the eyes of other recruits, and even demons.
Hopefully, that would make the spies and traitors in our midst eager enough to pounce on a recruitment opportunity.