Chapter 9: CHAPTER 9
One of the most important knowledge in real life is to read and understand contracts. A single piece of paper will make your world go topsy-turvy if you're not careful enough.
In the Magical Contract, I signed with the hostage-taker, the only parties are me, the Royal Guards, and the hostage-taker himself. I intentionally did not give any provision or statement including my Dragonoid Contractor Yehanna. Therefore, Yehanna is the only one not affected by the Magical Contract. She is my endgame trump card.
During the whole negotiation with the hostage-taker, I had Yehanna positioned at the bottom of the castle wall as insurance if ever the hostage-taker tried to jump and do double suicide with the princess. However, it is still necessary for me to execute a Magical Contract to get rid of that Heartstopper Curse that was cast on the princess' heart.
It was already a checkmate when the Magical Contract has been signed. I had to eliminate the hostage-taker as soon as the princess is safe.
I grinned as I looked in the blue skies. "It all fell under the plan, huh?"
All the Royal Guards finally went to the crime scene. The Royal Guard Captain secured the princess, while the other soldiers double-checked for the pulse of the hostage-taker who is soaked with his blood. When they confirmed that the retired knight is dead, they immediately put the cadaver in a body bag.
"Come, Princess Amaryllis. Let us go to your quarters." I overheard the Royal Guard Captain talking to the princess.
"Wait!" The silver-haired royalty ran towards me and stared at me in the eyes. "Are you okay?"
I was forgetting my wounded left shoulder for a while now, and now that she mentioned it, my body and mind remembered. A sharp burning sensation emanates from the gunshot wound, and now my vision is blurry.
"Y-Your grace, with all due respect, a man who has just been shot is never okay." I laughed wryly.
"I-I'm sorry! Let me heal you for a second!" The silver-haired princess touched my shoulder, and her hand glowed goldenly. Light particles started to gather in her hand as she muttered her chant. "With the power of light, I order thee, to heal the wound of this brave man."
I felt a lukewarm sensation on my wound, and the sharp burning pain stopped. I looked at my shoulder under my uniform, and the gunshot wound is no more.
"As expected from the princess of the royal family, they excel at healing people's wounds," I said. "Thank you."
"No." Princess Amaryllis shook her head. "I'm the one responsible for that wound. This is the very least I could do."
I've always thought that the royal family is just a bunch of idiot aristocrats who are swimming with arrogance and power. But the princess right here is the very evidence that I'm wrong. She's acting how a princess should be.
"Mary!" It was a masculine shout.
A young adult with curly silver hair and an athletic tall body build entered the scene. He's wearing a white formal uniform with a long blue cape on his back. He has a badge of a sword and shield, which means that he's a Royal Knight. His red eyes are filled with anxiety as he approached the princess.
"Mary, are you okay?" The white knight gently held the princess' shoulders.
"I-I'm okay now, Ross. There's no need to worry." The princess calmly said.
"Thank goodness." The white knight sighed.
The Royal Knight looked at me, and I looked at him. We had this one-second staring contest until we finally recognized each other.
"Ross?!"
"Ulysses!?"
"Y-You!" The white knight grabbed my shoulders and pushed his face forward. "You're Ulysses Corasell, right? The one true handso- I mean, narcissistic Ulysses!"
"And you're still the idiotic Ross Bedivere, I see." I nodded. "You still fail to attach the word 'handsome' on my name."
"Why would I attach 'handsome' in your name if it's non-existent on your face." Ross smiled.
Somehow, I heard Yehanna's chuckle in my back.
"You know each other?" The cute princess looked at me and the silver-haired knight back and forth. Then she tilted her head like a puppy.
"Oh yes!" Ross hung his arm on my shoulder. "He's my best friend back in the Magic Academy! We used to hang out a lot back then! We always stuck together until we graduated. Ever since then, we had no communication with one another. What happened to you when I applied for the position of a Royal Knight?"
"I became a shut-in and lived in my mother's basement for one year," I said with a dry smile.
"Oh, so that's why you've been missing." Ross visually inspected my body from head to toe. The long black coat and the hexagram dragon badge took his attention. "But look at that! My best friend is a Dragon Sage now!"
"Of course!" I shifted my mood to narcissistic mode. I brushed my hair and flexed my non-existent biceps. "Surely I'm handsome now, right?"
"N-Not really." Ross scratched his face. "Anyway, thank you for saving Mary. I'm very much grateful for your help!"
The white knight Ross Bedivere genuflected. Part of me wanted to kick his face as a friend because he did not call me handsome, but most of my heart felt great for being bowed down by a best friend and a Royal Knight.
"That's nothing." I scratched my head. "I'm just doing this because it's an emergency quest from the Library. I have nothing else to do there except study anyway. Ahaha!"
I felt a gentle brush at the back of my head. It was Yehanna. She moved her face closer to my right ear and whispered something.
"We need to go now."
"R-Right." I nodded. I looked back at the princess and the knight. "I'm sorry guys, I need to report the results to the Library."
"Already?" Ross crossed his arms and his eyebrows curled in disappointment. "Man, they are strict in that Library, aren't they? I wish to have more time to hang out with an old friend."
"Next time, Ross. Next time." I smiled.
"Lord Useless Carousel-" The silver-haired Princess Amaryllis said.
"Ulysses Corasell, your grace." I forced a smile.
"Ah, right! I'm sorry!" The princess shook her head. "Lord Ulysses Corasell, I would like to invite you and your Dragonoid Contractor to a party for my eighteenth birthday. You will be our special guests for the night."
"It is an honor, your grace." I bowed down. "I'll see to it that my schedule is free and I will be able to attend that royal party of yours."
"It's a promise!" The silver-haired girl smiled with tears in her eyes. She even lent out her pinky.
"Promise." I locked pinkies with her.
It felt good when I had that physical contact with a princess like her. Her pinky is so smooth. Her smile is something worth protecting a thousand times over. Her grey eyes are shining like a rare super quasar. She is also so kind and delicate that I'm willing to catch ten more bullets in my shoulders just to save her.
I turned to Yehanna and nodded. "Let's go."
Yehanna nodded back. She approached me with her chest unguarded.
With a magical circle in my hand, I gently touched her heart.
"Dragon Seal Unlock!"
Yehanna transformed back into her Cyber Angel Dragon. I rode on top of her head and then waved goodbye with my rose magic wand.
"This handsome sage shall make his exit! Bye!"
"Bye Lord Corasell!" Princess Amaryllis happily waved her hand. "I'll be expecting you to attend my debut, okay!?"
"Bye Ulysses!" Ross shouted at me too.
...
For some reason, I saw Ross change his expression from happiness to dread. And he seems to be staring at my partner Cyber Angel Dragon.
The wind is already strong when we took off. I could not hear Ross' whispers to himself, but I still managed to decipher with his lips.
"So, he's with that Lancelot woman, huh."
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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