“I assume you have many questions for me.” Ellis spoke. “But before that, let me ask you this: how much do you two know about the Organization?”

Kazuma scratched his head.

“What I know about it? Um… maybe a little bit, but I don’t know that much about it other than what Edrian and Alice had already told me. Based on what I gather… it supposed to be a place where magicians are trained to use their magic for good?”

“There’s also supposed to be a sort of conflict that is going on if I remember… and that I was sent away for that reason.” Alice added.

Ellis clasped his hands together and rested his chin on it.

“Well… yes and no. You are both half right.”

““Half?”” Kazuma and Alice both said at the same time.

“This is information Edrian told you, correct? He’s only told you the core reasons, but that’s not the entire story.”

Ellis looked over towards Alice’s direction.

“Alice, can you remember anything in your time during the Organization?”

“As far as my memory goes…” Alice added, “I remember that most of my life was spent here.”

Ellis nodded.

“Yes, that is correct. You have been with us for a very long time, longer than most members here in the Organization.”

“If that is the case, why are there people in the group that are after me?” Alice questioned.

There was a sudden dead silence after she had asked that question.

“…That’s because of your magic abilities.” Ellis replied.

“Wait.” Kazuma interrupted. “What do you mean the Organization’s after Alice’s magic?”

“Do you remember what Edrian had said about my magic before?” Alice told Kazuma.

“You don’t mean…”

“Correct. She was the best there was, and her ability was no exception. Since magicians are normally able to use one element, and thus they don’t possess the rare ability Alice has. So they intend to use her ability to use any form of magic to their advantage.”

“Is that why you sent me away?” Alice asked.

“One of the reasons at least.”

“And the other?”

“…Project Pact.”

“Project…?” Alice asked.

“What… is that?” Kazuma added.

“It is something… very terrible.”

Master Ellis had gripped his hands tightly as he hesitated to clarify any further. At that moment, Alice noticed that Master Ellis had looked frustrated to tell the information.

(Master…)

“Master… don’t you think it’s time we told them?”

Edrian’s statement broke the silence, and everyone in the room immediately drew their attention towards the sound of his voice. They saw him leaning against the stone walls of Ellis’s study, and Ellis quickly got up from his seat.

“E-Edrian! You—”

Edrian sighed deeply.

“Sorry, Master Ellis. I had to do what I did.”

“But out of all the places you had to lead her here?”

“Things had gotten a bit hectic lately. And it didn’t help when we encountered one of his subordinates while keeping Alice hidden. It was harder for her to stay in the same place, now that she was compromised.”

“But the memory erasure you had used earlier…”

Edrian shook his head.

“It wouldn’t last very long. Even if Galus were to come back with information, he wouldn’t give up that easily. He’d just send another one to double check. I can’t guarantee how that would be able to conveniently work again.”

“…Master.” Alice interrupted. ” You didn’t really want to erase my memory, did you?”

Alice looked at Ellis to confirm, but he shamefully averted his gaze from her instead.

“…Yeah, that’s right.” Edrian confirmed. “We didn’t.”

“Edrian!” Master Ellis said.

“Like I said before, Master Ellis wanted to keep you out of harm’s way.”

The moment after that sentence was said, Ellis abruptly slammed his hands on his desk.

“No more…”

Edrian swiftly moved his arm and escaped from Ellis’s grasp.

“Master we can’t hid it anymore. They deserve to know—she deserves to know.”

“What do you mean?” Kazuma asked.

Edrian turned to Kazuma.

“It’s just like I said. Master Ellis sent Alice away from danger, and I was there to keep watch.”

“But from what? Other magicians? The Organization? Aren’t you all on the same side here? Why are you all treating each other like enemies?” Kazuma added.

“Project Pact…” Master Ellis said.

Everyone suddenly turned their attention towards him.

“It was a Contract experiment.”

Ellis gripped his hands tightly into fist and lowered his head as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

“I… didn’t know any better… I thought helping him create something that was supposed to benefit us all… instead it only drove him to madness…”

“‘Him’?” Kazuma asked.

“Silias.” Edrian replied.

“Who is that?”

“The leader of our Organization… is he not?” Alice remembered.

“Yes,” Master Ellis said, “He was once a proud and respected leader. Until…”

“…Did Silias start all of this?” Alice answered.

Ellis nodded.

“What did this contract experiment have to do with Alice?”

“Alice was originally part of the project. She and others like her.”

“Others…? You mean people like me, Master?” Alice inquired.

“In a sense, yes. But your ability to use any form of magic without any skill is by far the most unique out of anyone here in the Organization.”

“That’s why I told you you’re lucky to have her as a partner.” Edrian explained to Kazuma.

“T-Then… what about the others that were in there with me?”

“There were some survivors… but the others…”

Ellis hesitated to respond Alice’s question. He wanted to tell her, but the words couldn’t come out and instead he shook his head.

“I see…”

At the corner of Kazuma’s eye, he could see that Alice clenched tightly on her dress.

“Can you give us a minute?” Kazuma requested.

Both Ellis and Edrian allowed them to have some time to themselves. While Kazuma and Alice rested at the other side of the room, Edrian had a talk with Ellis by his desk.

“Alice… how are you holding up…?” Kazuma asked her.

Alice didn’t say a word. If anything, she was on the verge of tears.

“All those people…”

Kazuma nodded.

“I know…”

“Is it my fault…?”

“It’s not your fault.”

“But if I did something, they would have been still alive…”

“Don’t think of it that way.”

Alice wiped her tears and suddenly realized something she was forgetting.

While Kazuma and Alice were talking, Edrian covertly had torn a small paper from his stack in his pocket then he put his hand on Ellis’ shoulder with the small paper in between his hand and on Ellis.

(Master, can you hear me?) Edrian telepathically told Master Ellis.

(I hear you.) He replied.

(There isn’t much time left before we being.)

(Are you sure he can do it?) Ellis asked eyeballing at Kazuma’s physique.

(Yeah. I’ve seen him in action. He just might be the one. But what about Alice?)

(…You’re right.)

(You have been holding back on some of the facts, haven’t you?)

There was no response from Master Ellis.

(Master Ellis?)

(Alright… I won’t withhold any information anymore.)

(Are you sure? The entire truth, Master. No more half-truths.)

Ellis nodded as he looked at Alice’s.

(If we don’t end this now, then who will?)

“…Can I ask you a question Master Ellis?” Alice interrupted as she went back over near Ellis’ desk.

Ellis redirected his attention towards her.

“Yes, what is it?”

“You never answered why you sent me to Tokyo. Out of many places why there? And why would you had to erase my memory before that?”

“Hm? Why the memory?”

(She needs to know, Master.) Edrian told him.

Ellis glanced at Edrian’s direction and nodded at him.

(I know.)

Edrian nodded back, and took his hand off of Master Ellis along with the small paper he had stuck on him to telepathically communicate with.

“I sent you there because it would be harder to track you.”

“You mean when Galus was after us?” Kazuma pointed out.

“Precisely. Others like Galus searched elsewhere, but he was the first to even step foot into a non-magical territory.”

“And the amnesia?” Alice added.

Ellis sighed.

“It was to prevent you from knowing that you had lost your magic.”

“My magic… lost?”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. She can use her magic now, can she?” Kazuma replied.

Ellis closed his eyes as he shook his head.

“Her magic was lost even before we sent her out of the Organization.”

“How?” Alice questioned.

“We don’t know. A person with abilities like yours was unlike anything the magicians have seen, but that was more the reason why we didn’t know how your magic could have been lost. We tried everything to restore it, and that was the sole reason the Project was formed.”

“When Alice tried to use magic on me the first time we got away from Galus…” Kazuma remembered.

“It failed, because she had already lost it before we helped her escape to Tokyo. And she wouldn’t have known the difference since she had no memory of the months the Project even began.”

“So the whole Organization knew?” Alice asked.

“Yeah.” Ellis nodded. “Everyone was determined to help, some even volunteered to be a test subject in order to help regain your magic…”

“So why didn’t anyone else have a Contract with Alice?” Kazuma asked.

“It’s not that simple.” Edrian answered. “Since Alice is more compatible with magic, we assumed that your magic would return… but it wasn’t all that simple. All subjects that tried to bond with you using the Contract were incompatible. Meaning, the bonding worked, but for some odd reason, the Contract had become unsuccessful. Silias didn’t care nonetheless, and forced an incompatibility which costed their lives.”

“How horrible…” Alice tightly gripped on her dress.

“Why doesn’t anyone do anything about this?” Kazuma said as he tightly gripped his fist.

“Not many know the truth about this. Since Silias was the one who suggested this, he was also able to convince the members here that it was a benefit to the Organization. We don’t want to start anything. Many people here still believe Silias was the person he still was and will still take his side.”

“But what they don’t know is that Silias is actually going to use Alice’s magic for a different purpose.”

“A… different purpose?”

“They believe that this was all for restoring Alice’s magic, but this was all for his own reason.”

“He wants to bond with Alice in order to take her magic.” Edrian exposed.

“Wait.” Kazuma interrupted. “I have that magic, don’t I? How was that Contract able to form with me and Alice?”

Ellis closed his eyes to recollect his thoughts.

“A Contract can only be formed unless the two people are willing to form a bond. Silias doesn’t know about this… but I had secretly discovered a solution to Alice’s missing magic. When I first sent Alice to Tokyo, I intentionally casted a spell in which Alice would be able to form a Contract with the first person that she would accept from, and accept her.”

“Eh? Accept something? What do you mean?” Kazuma asked.

Alice’s eyes widened when she realized what Ellis had meant.

“I-I see… that’s how…”

“Eh? Hey, Alice, what does he mean?”

“When you first met Alice…” Edrian explained, “Do you remember anything she accepted when you gave her something?

Kazuma widened looked at Alice.

“You mean… when I first gave her that bun and she took it…”

Ellis nodded.

“The Contract was already formed at that time.”

“N-No way… even before?”

“The reason why it had manifested a couple days after because it took time to develop. But even so, the moment you had encountered her would determine whether the Contract would manifest or not.”

Kazuma looked at his right hand.

“I assume there isn’t a way to remove it… is there?”

“…I’m afraid not.” Ellis answered sternly. “I specifically casted it on Alice so that the two users would not be able to break free.”

“I see…”

“But this isn’t the only reason I did this. There is one more reason I went through the trouble of all of this: I need you two to stop Silias and take back the Organization.”

“W-Wait a minute! You want us to fight the leader right off the bat?! I don’t even have any idea how this contract works…”

Edrian put his hand on Kazuma’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. Rest assured, you already know how to control it.”

“…You’re kidding.”

“You wouldn’t be here if I weren’t.”

“But Kazuma has no experience with magic.” Alice added.

“I have confidence in him.” Ellis reassured. “You have a strange aura, Kazuma.”

Kazuma pointed at himself dumbfounded.

“Eh? Me?”

“You seem similar to someone I once knew. Your meeting with Alice, and bonding with the Contract was no coincidence.”

Kazuma felt a tug on his clothing, and looked over to the direction where Alice was pulling. She nodded with determination, and in his mind that told him that she wanted to help them. Kazuma hesitated for a moment on whether he should or not, but then he sighed.

“Alright.” He said. “I’ll help. Can’t really do anything about it now that I’m part of this whole situation…”

Alice’s eyes beamed with hope, and both Edrian and Ellis smiled with relieve.

“Well, now that’s out of the way…” Edrian concluded. “I’ll explain to you what the plan is going to be.”

After Edrian told all the information that Alice and Kazuma needed to know, they were handed two brown hooded cloaks to help disguise themselves as Organization members. Edrian checked to see if there weren’t anyone around so that they could blend in easier.

“Alright, you know the plan right?” Edrian asked.

Kazuma and Alice nodded.

“Good. I’ll meet you there, and be careful. We don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.”

Edrian watched them go off into the hallways before closing the door.

“Good grief…”

“So… this is it.” Ellis said.

“...Master?”

“Hm?”

“...Sorry. I shouldn't have disobeyed.”

“No, it’s my fault. Sending Alice to using an unorthodox method was surely going to come back to bite me. It certainly wasn’t your fault. You were just doing what you thought was the best course of action to take. And I can’t thank you enough for that.”

“So what happens now?”

“The Project has no reason to stay as long it has fulfilled its purpose. I’ve done all I can. Aid them in this coming battle, Edrian. Watch out for those two in case anything goes wrong.”

“What about you Master Ellis? Master Silias will be sure to find out that you’ve helped them all this time.”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be supporting as well. A mentor of magic still has some old tricks up his sleeve.”

“Are you sure?”

“I appreciate your concern, but you do not need to worry. You should be worrying about yourself since have a much more important mission at hand.”

“…I understand. Take care of yourself, Master.”

“You have my thanks, Edrian.” Ellis smiled.

Author’s Note

Hello, Saitou Takumi here. Happy New Year! I am terribly sorry for most of the late chapters, including this one. To fit the pace, I am most likely going to take 2 weeks on each chapter. This will change soon as I learn to write on a better time budget. Nonetheless, thank you for taking the time to read this current chapter Pact! I hope that you will continue to reading even if there are long times between chapters.