Chapter 125
by 
Gambio
What's next?
The contract
Half an hour before midnight.
The entire gang assembled in the living room.
“My Lord! I...I faiiiiiiiiiled you!”
Sanakia’s quest for the holy blade Nikkou was, to little surprise, unsuccessful. Her reaction to my plan were about as expected. Not that the rest of the girls had warmed up much to it either. But while I was fooling around with Sylphid Maria had double checked Femto’s claim and sure enough the devil was absolutely correct. And with that, the last barrier had fallen.
I left most of the negotiations up to Maria and Cassandra. With these two it should be impossible for Femto to sneak anything undesirable into the contract.
“Alrighty then!”, the Devil happily chirped. “Looks like we finally came to a mutual beneficial understanding! Everything mucho bueno as they like to say! You know, this is why I am in this line of work. The pay is nice of course and I love the career opportunities but really, it’s the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes from making people happy which it’s really all about!”
“It goes without saying but nobody was particularly happy about this.
"Hmpf", Fisti gave the contract a look over as well. “Ma heid's mince from all this wee fancy language and all but in the end all it means yer not even promising a victory, right?”
"Of course not! That would violate all manners of labor laws. Do I look like someone who wants the DOI breathing down her neck?", Femto grinned widely. "But, you have my word as a Devil, I will give it one hell of a good shake or your name isn’t Lil Leaky.”
“THAT’S NOT ME NAME!”
“Otherwise it’s fine?”, I asked the huntress and my maid one more time.
Cassandra considered her response for quite a while. “Yeah”, she finally admitted. “There isn’t some double speak language or some trap in it. It’s legit, for all it fucking matters.”
“I can confirm as much as well, Master Beta”, Maria agreed.
“And these two are some shrewd negotiators, I tell you that much! They can give these coked up wall street yuppies a run for their money!” Femto clapped her hands. "So! That’s everything laid out, nice and simple! Shall we get to it?"
Beatrice was silently pleading with me not to. Aiju meowed sadly. Fisti shuffled nervously. Sanakia looked extremely upset. Hebi-san glared at Femto. Cassandra shrugged her shoulders. And Sylphid regarded me with silent determination.
“In that case I have one more thing", I added. "I want to clarify one particular aspect.”
Femto’s customer service smile took on a bit more of an artificial look. “Why, certainly, Sir! What do you wish me to clarify for you?”
“Assuming I end up as Minerva’s ****. I would be unable to fulfill my end of the bargain, resulting in a breach in contract. Am I correct in assuming you will take my soul immediately then?”
This caused another round of protests from the girls but I shut them down.
“As good as immediately”, Femto promptly responded.
That was not good enough for me. “What do you mean? Be specific.”
Femto had a bit of a difficult expression to make on that one. “Well...technically. I mean, it depends on your definition of immediately but it will be very fast.”
“It needs to happen before I can be **** to give an order to the girls, Femto.”
The devil finally sighed. “Come on, Sir. Cut me some slack here. It's not like I can just snap my finger and get your soul, you know? There is a bit of procedure to it and if a Dark Lord interferes..."
It appears the absolute nature of devil contracts are undermined when Dark Lords enter the picture.
“Then how long would it...”
"What nonsense is this even?", Hebi-san interrupted me agitated. "This is the height of foolishness! This should not even be within your consideration! Cease it now!”
“The snakegirl is right, Handsome, Geez!”, Sylphid folded her arms. “Don’t make me knock you out after all. I CAN still do that. Easily. You know.”
"Y-Yes! If my Lord has to make a deal with the devil then losing is not allowed! My Lord! I have not given up yet! I will spend all of tomorrow and I WILL find the Holy Blade! With it your victory will be assured!”
"I crush balls if lose."
...
I suppose this is their way of cheering me up? “Thanks, girls.” I smiled.
“Idiot.”
Beatrice was trembling.
“YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT!”
She then stormed off.
“We agree with the crude girl”, Hebi-san huffed. “We mislike this, Mari Beta. This devil. We must...”
"Ehem", Femto coughed. "Your devotion is heartwarming and all that, but you know what is even more heartwarming? Money, which is time, which is ticking. Mind if we move this shindig along?"
...
Fine. This is not a deal breaker. I can find a way to work around it.
I gave the contract one last read over. Just in case. But I didn’t really find anything out of the ordinary. After making sure there was no small print, or anything written on the back, I took the pen Maria handed me.
All that was left was signing the contract.
Hebi-san Heroine route
Required Locks:
I) Hebi-san night time branch one (two chapters)
II) Hebi-san Date one (all chapters)