During this time, they negotiated with a desire for profit in their minds, but in the end, both of them managed to strike a good deal.

  “Do you have proof of having the herb?” Aurelia asked. If he didn’t, it would be harder to finalize this trade.

  “I have some dried stash on me. Here, take it as a gift since we trade quite a lot and will meet each other often.”

  Illyan smiled as he threw her a small pouch with the dried Firestorm Herb. While he didn’t need it, it could still be useful in his blood energy cultivation, so he kept some with him.

  Aurelia looked it over before her eyes shone.

  “It is really a Novice Stage Herb! These are incredibly rare here!”

  After saying that, she hurriedly hid it away as she took note of Illyan’s goodwill.

  “I am very satisfied. Since it came to this, we can finalize our deal with a magical oath. With that, we will be proper allies without a fear of betrayal,” Aurelia said with a small smile.

  She was truly satisfied with how things went with Illyan.

  And so, she made a promise.

  “Since we finally agreed on our terms, we can finalize the trade.

  As long as you fulfill your part of the deal, I will do my best to teach you all I know, guide you properly, as we will be allies until the end of the transaction. I swear on my name, Aurelia Cecile Nyssara, and on my existence.”

  A mysterious wave of energy blew against Illyan’s face when he heard that. Subconsciously, he was already aware that the name was really her true name and not a pseudonym.

  He also suddenly felt as if someone was observing them. Not human or beast, but something much more profound. Not even that god’s eye or the dragon god gave him this feeling.

  This made him serious as he stared at her, guiding the power in her palm and stretching it out towards him.

  In this trade, he would give her the [Blood Feeding Technique] and ter on would give her the Firestorm Herb and teach her how to cultivate this herb.

  In return, Aurelia would teach him the ways of an acolyte. She would teach him the spells, techniques, and knowledge that were needed to truly embark on the path of magic.

  This may seem to be an unfair trade, but they decided to do this as Aurelia was already guiding him a little before ever since their first deal.

  Thus, it was easiest for them to make this oath and turn it into one big mutual transaction.

  This so-called contract was the most basic oath in the world. But since it worked, it was one of the most used magics. It used the true name as the medium to make promises or to make transactions without a fear of being scammed.

  Of course, there were many ways to bypass it, but only the truly strong or gifted could do that. Like demons, for example, as they could py with the power of contracts and true names as easily as lifting their limbs.

  Many also didn’t like the middleman in the contracts that watched over them and knew everything. It was specuted that it was one of the gods or even the world's will, but nobody knew for sure.

  However, people still had new methods to make contracts.

  Korin’s contract was actually a slightly advanced form of this.

  Because there was no impartial observer, he could hide hidden cuses in the contract.

  But it had some disadvantages too. Since he wanted to deceive Illyan, he himself didn’t consider that Illyan could use a fake name.

  In the end, the deceived one was him alone.

  “What is that?” Illyan asked with a serious expression. The will that was surrounding them was giving him chills up and down his spine. At the same time, he felt like he could finally let down his guard since this deal would definitely go through without a hitch.

  “Some call it god, others heaven. I don’t truly know. Does it matter right now?” Aurelia snorted in amusement as she stared at the curious man across from her.

  “I suppose it doesn’t for now.” Illyan also chuckled as he looked at her palm.

  In her palm, there were intertwined energies in the form of strings prepared to connect with something.

  Illyan took a deep breath as he hesitated.

  He didn’t like the fact that he should reveal his name, but since she was the first one to do so, he should proceed as well.

  “Alright then… I, Illyan Ragnar, swear on my name that as long as Aurelia Cecile Nyssara fulfills her part of the deal, I will give her my knowledge and put all effort into helping her when in need, as we will be allies until the end of the transaction.”

  Illyan said quietly but with a strong voice.

  Aurelia was surprised at something but didn’t speak yet as Illyan lifted his arm, which was now also filled with energy.

  Illyan looked at his arm curiously as the energy was intertwining on his arm up to his palm, looking for a connection.

  Once they connected their hands willingly, the oath would be finalized, and their retionship would change into true allies. At least for the duration of this oath.

  Illyan didn’t pn to make any allies in the Vanaras Kingdom at first at all. He just wanted to settle here for a short time to get prepared to see the real world.

  He didn’t expect that so much would happen here. Meeting enemies, studying the constitution, and stealing techniques.

  Now, he has another opportunity. The opportunity to make swift progress and learn the gaps in his knowledge in a short time. With her help, he was sure it would be possible.

  However, he needed to bear the risk of betrayal.

  But he didn’t hesitate for long.

  Illyan looked right into her emerald eyes and nodded at her as he held her hand.

  The interconnection between them suddenly shone as the strings of energy intertwined together and formed a connection between them on a spiritual level.

  Both of them felt it, and the entity overseeing this oath saw it too.

  Soon, the wind calmed down as the lights stopped shining and everything returned to normal.

  Only the two people stood there with hands holding each other.

  Aurelia was calm, but Illyan was very curious. Before, he was solemn and didn’t dare to let his mind wander.

  But now that it finally ended, he was very interested in this magic. It was so mysterious, and he wondered what the principle behind it was and what the being or thing that acted as overseer was…

  “Good. The deal is sealed, Illyan Ragnar. I hope our cooperation will be fruitful.” This time, Aurelia gave Illyan a bright smile as she slowly let go of his hand.

  Illyan also nodded with an indiscernible smile.

  “I hope for the same, Aurelia Cecile Nyssara.”

  .........

  After a while, Illyan left the tent with a soft smile on his face. His deals with Lady Aurelia were so far the best opportunities he had ever had.

  Now, he would have her full support as he continued studying.

  He could take his time as he absorbed all the knowledge he could.

  Only then would he leave the Vanaras Kingdom and start his journey to the south…

  Cnk

  The sudden sound of the main gates resounded as they started to open once more.

  Everyone heard the commotion and turned their attention toward the gate.

  Illyan sighed as he knew that this wouldn’t wait and already went towards the physician’s tent.

  Such scouting would definitely end up with a lot of injured soldiers, so he had to be ready.

  When he looked back at the gate, he knew he was right.

  He was far away, but his eyesight was excellent, so he saw the group who was still inside the city clearly.

  While there were not many casualties, there were a lot of soldiers with external injuries.

  When he looked at the wagons with ballistae, he noticed they were still loaded and guessed that they didn’t meet any troll or other huge creature.

  ‘I guess it would be much worse if that happened.’ Thinking so, Illyan calmly treaded on his way.

  However, the scouting group didn’t leave the gates. Instead, the message from them quickly spread across the camp.

  “Quickly pack up and enter the city!”

  This sentence resounded in every corner of the camp as everyone hurried.

  Illyan furrowed his brow before he changed his direction.

  But he didn’t get far as he encountered Vanda on his way.

  “Oh, Kaoran, here you are! I was wondering where you were! Come quickly, we need to hurry! Korin said he wanted us to look at our assignment today already, and we need to prepare!”

  Vanda smiled as she carelessly closed in on Illyan and locked her hand with his.

  This made him frown as he tried to pry off her hand, but she started to pull him.

  “Hurry up!”

  In the end, Illyan twisted his arm in a way that Vanda didn’t expect as he untangled himself, and with a quick stride, he overtook Vanda as he wiped his hand.

  Vanda, who was slightly behind him, bowed her head. This would make anyone who looked sad seem sad that Illyan didn’t accept her touch.

  However, Vanda was just madly grinning as she stared at the ground. It took her a while to control her facial expression before she turned normal.

  “Wait a minute!” With that, she hurried after Illyan, the man she was interested in…

  …….

  Soon after Illyan reunited with Korin and others, their carriage set off on its way as the convoy slowly but surely passed through the gate.

  Arun, who was restless, was looking outside of the carriage as he gasped at the environment inside the gate. Others giggled at his silly antics, but he didn’t care as he stared at everything.

  Illyan was also curious, but he would rather wait in the carriage than make a fool out of himself. It was not like he cared about their opinion of him, but he simply didn’t like to show weakness in front of others.

  ‘Sigh…’ Some old memories emerged from his mind as he fell into deep thought.

  A quarter of an hour ter, the carriage finally stopped.

  “Let’s get out. We should be at the center of the city. We will stay here for the unforeseeable future, so you need to familiarize yourself with the area.” Korin, who was silent the entire time, suddenly called out to everyone with a calm smile.

  But Illyan could feel that his smile was anything but a smile. Others also seemed to be restless, especially Tami, Neddard, and Mufa.

  Arun was just nervous, while Vanda still had a silly smile on her face.

  When Illyan looked towards her, she noticed his gaze and winked at him.

  He could only roll his eyes in his head as he expressionlessly turned his head away.

  Korin just gave some encouraging speech before everyone started to leave the carriage.

  Illyan also pnned to do the same but was soon stopped.

  “Kaoran…” When Korin called out to him, Illyan stopped and waited for his words.

  Korin looked at him seriously.

  “Come with me. You will have time to look around ter on.”

  When Illyan acknowledged his words, Korin just left with Illyan right behind him.

  Rays of light entered Illyan’s eyes the moment he put the fabric covering the entrance of the carriage away and looked around.

  They were in a big square. Korin mentioned that this square was the center of the city and that the first buildings were built here.

  It was also here where the convoy chose to stay for the duration of the expedition.

  Despite the brightness, the city seemed to be demure and solemn. However, Illyan felt this atmosphere was majestic at this moment.

  The simple structure of the buildings that were built inside the mountain, the dark stone used…

  Everything showed how functional this city was meant to be, as this was no pce to py around.

  People who lived here worked with a huge burden on their backs as they worked hard every day, sometimes even at night.

  But this didn’t mean that the city was ugly.

  In fact, Illyan found the beauty of it. He also noticed how the city was built with certain patterns.

  “Is this a geometrical pattern?” he muttered to himself as he looked at the positions of each building.

  “You noticed so soon?” Korin excimed loudly.

  “Yeah, it is not hard to notice.” Illyan answered half-heartedly as he looked around.

  “Sigh… You are really talented. Thank goodness that I managed to find you in time. Let’s go.” Korin gave a relieved smile as he pointed at the center of the city.

  There, a big structure towered over the rest of the city. It had three towers rising through the clouds with domes at the top.

  Several big statues stood in front of the wide stairs leading to it, acting as monuments showing a piece of history.

  “Welcome to the Citadel of Vas,” Korin smiled brightly.