I played her words back in my head as if they’d change the second time around: “Lady Astorius, would you happen to be a Protagonist?”

“Nnnno?” Crap, crap, crap, crap, that had not been convincing at all! Again, with a bit more conviction! “No.”

The silence weighed heavily on the room, pressing down on me, but far preferable to the alternative.

“Lady Astorius, has anyone ever informed you that you are a particularly unskilled liar?”

Aghhh. I scrunched my hands up into my face. Do I run? If this gets out, I’m absolutely toast. I rapidly, tipsily surveyed my options, not finding a single good one amongst them. My heart started to beat ten times faster than it had been only seconds before.

Before I could figure out what to do, Verin pulled some sort of clear flask out her spatial pouch, unstoppering it and downing half its contents. She thrust the remainder towards me.

“Apologies. That was somewhat unbecoming of me. For this next part of our discussion, however, we should endeavor to have our wits about us.” She forced the flask into my hands before hastily rising from the bed and activating a nearby mirror gem. While I couldn’t notice a single fault with her appearance, she seemed to mime at straightening herself out.

Heart thundering and mind still drawing a blank, I went with the path of least resistance, turning my attention to whatever she’d handed me.

Inebriation Inhibitor

Blocks the cognitive effects of alcohol for one hour

It went down the hatch immediately. Regardless of what I decided to do, I could stand to be more sober.

The taste left something to be desired, as did the thick, almost fuzzy texture. The same could not be said for the effect, however, as my clarity rapidly spiked upwards.

All right. Action plan. I have a recall stone, which means I could flee back to Emer’Thalis. If I used the gem to come back into the city, I could let Suds know that the gig is up. Was a nice run while it lasted, but I do not want to be present when one of the higher levels figures out that I’m a Protagonist. After that, I’d-

“I am assuming you will wish me to be quiet about this, so let us discuss how we will ensure this does not cause you any hardship moving forward.”

Oh.

Or that.

“You’re not going to tell anyone?” There had to be some big bad noble who was fiending for a shiny new mark, didn’t there?

Verin blinked rapidly, a rare look of bafflement on her face. “Naturally not. I imagine that would go rather poorly for you. Furthermore, I would gain nothing from it. Why would I do such a thing?”

That was… not how I’d expected this conversation to go. In fact, in some ways, this was even better than her not knowing! I didn’t have to worry about hiding it as much. Honestly, in retrospect, I wasn’t even sure why I’d been so worried about it in the fir-

“Now, let us discuss how you will be compensating me for my silence so we may draw up an Oath.”

She delivered the line completely deadpan, and I kept waiting for her to say “Just kidding!” Sadly, however, she did not.

“Wait, you’re serious?” Somehow I’d expected this turn even less than the previous. I was going to be paying her off?

“I make a point to stay serious during negotiations, Lady Astorius. As this is a secret of rather great severity, do not expect me to go easy on you due to our friendship, either.” Gone were any traces of the drunken, flustered, and somewhat cuddly Verin. What stood before me now was a consummate noble.

Not waiting for my response, she pulled a thick sheet of vellum from a spatial pouch, along with a sharp, thin-nibbed pen.

Without explaining further, she jabbed the pen into her arm, and I watched, transfixed and in horror as the pen seemed to drink up her blood.

“Verin! Can we stop rapid-fire freaking me out? What the hell are you doing?” Maybe I was still having issues with Trauma Suppression? Had I fallen asleep from partying too hard, and this was all some weird fever dream?

“Apologies. I did not mean to startle you. As one who is mana shifted, my blood is somewhat of a potent reagent, perfectly suited towards writing blood contracts for Oath magic. As such, it a skill I have some passing knowledge of.” Apparently having filled her pin, she began to rapidly scrawl it across the vellum, red lettering starting to fill the page.

“With the revelation that you are a Protagonist, several other things have fallen into place as well. Am I correct in assuming that you are not from the dead zone, but are in fact an offworlder?”

Well, there wasn’t much point in hiding it any longer. Not trusting myself to speak, I uncertainly nodded my head. Was that a big deal too? If someone told me that there was a special mark for killing offworlders too, then I was calling it quits.

“Good. I thought as much. Regardless, as I write out the standard components of the Oath as well as my own vow to silence, let us discuss exactly how you will be remunerating me, yes?” A somewhat predatory grin crossed Verin’s normally inexpressive face, looking frighteningly out of place.

Looking at that grin, my mind immediately went to the worst places. For all that I viewed Verin as a close friend, she still was a scion of the nobility. Would she demand I help her politically? Make me spy on Suds or even try to get dirt on Archmage Callis? I didn’t like my expected success rates with either.

Or what about something less political? I’d scored first on the Perception-based exams for Intro to Dungeon Delving. Would she use her blackmail to poach me from Emin and Alara so I could find her treasure and hidden rooms?

I doubted she needed much money, and I didn’t have much to give, but it was possible I’d need to seal the deal by giving her some gear. I was incredibly attached to both my spatial nightgown and my shower pendant, but begrudgingly I admitted they were worth her keeping quiet.

The very moment her facial muscles even twitched, I found myself hyperfocused on her words, needing to know what the cost would be.

“Here are my initial terms. While I am open to negotiation, do not expect me to budge overly much on this.”

I leaned in, needing her to get it over with before I had a heart attack.

“For the duration of your stay in Sylum or until I release you from the terms of this contract, you will make a best-effort attempt to visit the Sylus mansion at least once every two weeks for a minimum duration of one hour. During this time, you will tell me stories of your home world. I will also demand that by the semester’s end, you visit the other major art galleries with me. Furthermore, you will not directly or indirectly reveal to anyone -- most of all Chamber Head Astorius -- that I have discovered your Protagonist status.”

I waited for the other shoe to drop, and then kept waiting and waiting only for her to nod with satisfaction.

“Wait. That’s it?” That was… that was nothing!

“Hmm. Perhaps you are correct. I could add to the terms if you so desire. Having seen you unclothed, I am reminded that I could use a new model for more sketches. If you’d rather I add that as a clause, I-”

“No! Nope! That’s okay! Great conditions. I accept. No negotiations needed.” I could feel my face rapidly heating up at the mere idea of it. I knew the norms around here were a bit different, but I was not posing for nudes!

With a nearly invisible smirk, Verin finished writing her conditions on the parchment before her before handing it off to me to read. I found myself a bit at a loss, knowing that if there were any secret ways of adding conditions, I’d have no idea how to catch them. Still, it was written in plain Common, and I didn’t spot anything that would give me reason to worry.

“Okay. I agree.” All in all, I could have gotten off infinitely worse.

Trade has reached level 4!

“Ideal. I have already signed. We will need you to do the same with your own blood, and then the Oath will be sealed.”

Euch. Blood magic. My experiences with it hadn’t been stellar so far, but if it was what I had to do, I would do it.

I accepted the freaky vampire pen from her hand and repeated her earlier actions, if perhaps with a bit less aplomb. Right as I started to sign the sheet and I was certain she couldn’t back out, I decided to broach the subject.

“Verin, no take-backs, but you know I would have done all that stuff for free if you’d just asked, right?” For all that this experience had nearly given my superhuman body a few joint aneurysm-cum-anxiety-attacks, I actively did enjoy spending time with her.

At this, she quirked a single brow upwards, making intense eye contact with me. A tense silence built up to a crescendo before she finally opted to break it.

“Lady Astorius, to parrot your words, ‘no take-backs.’ In a similar vein, however, you are likewise aware that I would have remained silent had you but asked, correct? I believe that is part of what 'friendship' entails.”

Judging from the glint in her eyes, I could only assume my absolutely stupefied expression amused her.

“Wait. So all of that stuff about the Oath and the blood magic was just a prank then?” Hell, she’d completely gotten me. Looking back, I couldn’t believe I’d even fallen for something like-

“Ah, no. Apologies. The Oath stands.”

Congratulations! You have signed an Oath!

A decent portion of the night’s remainder had been spent with Verin explaining how Oaths worked at my behest. Ultimately, the answer was kind of freaky: The tenants of the Oath had apparently clamped down onto my soul, not only making it hard for me to try to break them, but also ensuring that I’d face massive penalties if I successfully did.

At Verin’s level of Oath magic, that could constitute loss of levels, stats, minor skills, and even direct physical damage. What exactly would be lost in my case, I wasn’t sure, nor did I have any intention of finding out.

I actually spent some time after that trying to search for my soul, figuring it would be similar to sensing my mana core, but thus far, I’d had no luck. Soul magic would have to wait for another day.

That didn’t mean that all magic would have to wait, however.

Death Magic has reached level 3!

After staying the night -- and delivering on my first round of Oath duties by chatting with Verin about Earth for a while -- I’d done the best to put the Oath completely out of my mind. It frankly just wasn’t that important to dwell on now that it was set in stone.

Instead, after saying goodbye to Verin, I’d taken stock of what I most needed to train up. The end result was that I’d taken a trip to the woods.

Unlike in my previous trips to the forests outside of Sylum, however, I wasn’t here to grab any herbs. Presently, I sat on the forest floor, ringed by a swath of dead and desiccated foliage. A pile of small pebbles lay before me, as did a small cup of remarkably cold water. Were one to look more closely, they would have found numerous corpses of small insects surrounding me as well.

A very cheery work environment.

After thinking it over, I realized I needed to shift my spell training into turbo mode. Sure, I’d ended up unlocking all the basic mana types, and that was great. What I had to remind myself of, however, was that my apprenticeship with Archmage Callis was provisionary. More specifically, he’d only agreed to help me for a single semester, and then reassess after that.

Considering the first semester had already ended, it was completely possible he’d choose to drop me if I wasn’t living up to his expectations.

And thus, the forest. While I could practice most of my cantrips anywhere, death magic required some death. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the archmage had something similar to the minor flesh homunculus he’d given me, but as a training aid for death magic; however, I hadn’t thought to ask for one. As such, I’d sought out the only area where I knew for certain I could level up my Pest-Killing Aura cantrip.

On the flip side, I wasn’t trying to denude an entire forest of its bug ecosystem. Instead of waltzing through the forest going on an insect genocide, I stuck to one spot, channeling death magic into my boots, my armor, my gloves, and a spear as well.

It was a level of continuous mana usage I’d never tried before, and split between five different applications, I could feel my mana core groaning. Despite its protestations, however, it allowed me to keep the cantrip powered alongside my four class skills.

Intermittently, I cast Summon Pebble, Chill Liquid, and Gust as well.

Despite the cup of water I was using Chill Liquid on being nearly ice-cold at this point, I had no intentions of drinking it. Too many dead bugs had fallen in already.

Oop. There goes another one. Sorry bug.

Pest-Killing Aura has reached level 3!

With all that training going on, I’d have liked to say that I settled into some sort of zone or that I reached a type of zen state -- that I became one with the mana, sinking into a deep trance like those monks meditating under a waterfall.

Unfortunately, I did not.

“This is kind of boring, actually.” I’d chosen one of the safer areas of the woods, so I wasn’t even getting attacked by anything either. Not that I necessarily wanted to be, but the end result was just a bunch of sitting.

Go deadly wind blade! Slice down the trees!

Surging out from my hand came… a gentle breeze.

Gust has reached level 2!

I sighed. Couldn’t deny that the leveling was great, but still. Maybe I should have brought a book? I wasn’t sure if I’d have been able to maintain all four of my class enhancements while casting and reading a book, but I could certainly try.

Or maybe like a jigsaw puzzle or something. I wracked my brain trying to find a way to make things less boring, not finding any simple solution. I decided to take a break, instead, walking around and practicing my Herbalism.

Herbalism has reached level 6!

Most level-lucrative outing I’ve been on in ages, I reflected.

I alternated between looking for harvestable herbs and casting death magic for a while, my mind still looking for something less monotonous to do.

And then, after a time, I recalled that I did have something more exciting that I’d been putting off.

No sooner did I have that thought than did fog rapidly encompass me, spitting me out into the familiar armory of my class space.

Probably time to try another class trial, isn’t it?