Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento Read online

  Gopi’s eyes went wide and he shouted, “NO!”

  There was a bright flash with a small explosion. Jake reacted quickly and put up a barrier in front of him and Gopi. The light receded after a couple of seconds.

  The two of them stared as they examined the room. Other than the area protected by Jake’s barrier, the room had disappeared. There was a wide hole in front of them.

  Jake continued to gape as he finally turned to Gopi, begging for an explanation as to why his room looked as if a mini black hole had just sucked everything around it and disappeared.

  Gopi replied weakly, “That was a new weapon I was testing. It releases a highly concentrated flash, which incinerates everything around it in a five-meter radius.”

  “And I thought you had made a highly efficient vacuum cleaner.”

  Jake whirled to see the other side of the room, which was in fact the adjoining room.

  Sora was scratching his head and peeking down the hole. He then realized that the others were staring at him. He raised his hand and said, “Hey guys. I’m back.”

  Jake snorted and replied, “Quite a welcome, wasn’t it?”

  Sora grinned and said, “Yeah. I had just entered the room and was just thinking how my room could do with some cleaning when the next second, it’s cleaned, completely.”

  Gopi apologetically said, “It was the new flash bomb I was experimenting with. I’m sorry about your rooms, guys.”

  Jake coolly replied, “Don’t worry. I was thinking of renovating it myself. You saved me the trouble.”

  “And you saved me the trouble of cleaning my room too.”

  “Give me a break guys!” said Gopi, putting his hand on his forehead. “It also put a hole in the floors above and below us.”

  Jake smirked. “Don’t worry. In this kind of situation, any person who notices the hole from the rooms above and below would accuse our little scapegoat.

  Just then a voice came from the room below, “Sora! What did you do?”

  Sora futilely retorted, “It wasn’t me!”

  “See what I mean…”

  They spent half an hour explaining to the enquiring neighbours, the annoyed maintenance staff and finally to an amused guild master. The news of the room being ‘blown up’ spread like wildfire. And the blame still seemed to reroute itself to Sora, one way or the other.

  Sora gave up trying to explain to the others and went back to doing what he did best when he was in the guild headquarters, hogging.

  Gopi was still apologizing as Sora finished his eighth serving of pasta in the cafeteria. Sora waved his hand, telling him to forget about it. Jake said, “Yeah. Sora’s used to being blamed. Being the scapegoat seems to be second nature.”

  Gopi was still looking ashamed. Sora sighed, held his head up and said, “Look. Inventing something that incinerates everything around it is really great. You’ll even get an award for social service; getting rid of Jake’s smelly socks.”

  Gopi smiled wanly as Jake made the plates on the table bang into Sora’s head and said, “My feet sweat a lot, and that’s all! I don’t see anyone else complaining about it.”

  Gopi got up and said, “Well, I have some work to do.”

  Jake said, “See you, Professor.”

  Sora shouted, “Thanks for fixing the watch and giving those modifications. I’ll call you if I need help in anything else, especially in clearing Jake’s socks!”

  Gopi heard the sound of a scraping chair and a small thud followed by a groan from Sora as he left the cafeteria.

  The sun had set and night had arrived. More people took to the streets now that a cool breeze replaced the heat. Jake and Sora were taking a walk in the park not too far from the guild.

  They sat on the swings there and observed the others. There were families and couples spending precious time together as they held hands and sat on the grass lawns and stared into the starry skies. Some had gotten to their feet and were leaving as the clock in the middle of the park struck nine. They were returning to their homes, where they would sit and eat dinner together on a table. Then, they would retire to their bedrooms and lie down on their beds, as they sensed the feeling of warmth and security in a place they called home. And–

  “Cut it out, Sora! It’s not like we were kicked out of our homes and sent to sleep in the streets.”

  Sora said, “Just finding a way to kill time. But seriously, where are we going to spend the night?”

  Jake thought about it and said, “I have no idea. Maybe we can sleep over in someone’s room back in the guild?”

  “Not with your stinky feet–”

  “Will you please stop making derogatory comments about my feet?”

  “Not in this life, no.”

  Jake sighed and said, “Didn’t think so. So, you don’t have any other place to go to, do you, being brought up in an orphanage and all.”

  Sora frowned and coldly remarked, “It’s rude to read other people’s minds without their permission.”

  Jake replied, “Cool down. I don’t know anything more than that. That part of your mind seems to be harder to see than the rest of your mind.”

  Jake was relieved to see Sora smirk as he said, “Well, everyone has dark secrets that they want to hide.”

  “And I’ve been able to read the darkest of secrets of almost every person I’ve met. But yours seems to have some kind of mental barrier to it.”

  Sora smiled meekly and said, “Maybe I did it unconsciously as I didn’t want those memories to appear in my dreams. I forcibly tried to cast them away. But as hard as I try, I can never forget them.”

  As he sat silently, Jake was greatly tempted to look into his mind again. But one look at Sora’s sorrowful expression contained him. Sora seemed to have realized what Jake had attempted to do and said, “Don’t worry. One day, I’ll tell you all about it. But not right now…”

  They stared into the night sky as the silence prolonged. Jake didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t used to being kept in the dark, but he thought that for once, he should respect his friend’s privacy.

  “So, now it’s your turn. Tell me about your family.”

  Sora broke the silence as he directed the question at Jake. Jake was a bit startled but then answered, “I used to live with my mom in Salt Lake City till I left for contractor school.”

  “Salt Lake City? I’ve been there a few times. Pretty peaceful place.”

  Jake nodded and went on, “My dad died when I was pretty young. So it was only mom and I there. She was everything to me. She worked really hard to get me into contractor school soon after I accidentally ended up performing a blood contract when I was six years old.”

  “Accidentally!” exclaimed Sora.

  Jake grinned and said, “Yeah. There was a weird stone among the pebbles on the banks on a small river in the outskirts of the city. I had just tripped and bruised my knee pretty badly. I was covering the bleeding wound with my hand. I placed my hands on the floor as I tried to get up. Just then, there was a flash and the next thing I knew was that I was in a hospital bed with a splitting headache. I looked at my left shoulder and on it was the tattoo of a spiral.”

  Jake rolled up his sleeve and showed the mark of the psychic contract to Sora.

  Sora observed it and let out a low whistle.

  Jake then asked, “So… a whole month training with Mr. Hancock. Did you get any better?”

  Sora said with a confident smile, “You’ll know soon enough. Hell, even I was shocked at what I could do. If I faced that Vikram Arikath right now, he would be licking my feet and begging for mercy.”

  Jake nodded wearily and said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  After a few more minutes of silence, Sora jumped off the swing and said, “Well, it’s getting late. We should head back to the guild.”

  Jake said, “You mean you’re hungry, right?”

  He was answered with a small growl from Sora’s stomach.

  As they entered the guild a few minutes later, S
ean, who still seemed to be very concerned about Sora, greeted them.

  He still felt guilty about what had happened in Vulcan forest.

  Sora said, “Chill out Sean. I’m fine now. It’s been a month already.”

  “Yeah, it’s too late to make amends, you moron,” Jake said.

  Sean said coldly, “I wasn’t talking to you, stinky feet.”

  Jake became flustered as he said, “Wha… How… Wait, It was Professor Gopi, wasn’t it?”

  “Good luck in getting a girlfriend now, Stinky Tyler.”

  Sora laughed and stepped in between them as they tried to get at each other. Just then someone shouted, “Knock it off, you insolent commoners.”

  They turned to see Zack walking up to them. Sora grinned and said, “Seems like you haven’t changed at all, your eminence.”

  Zack’s eyes went wide as he said, “Sora, you’re back! Good to see you. Hope you haven’t slackened off.”

  Sora replied, “Would never do that even if you begged me.”

  “Then you better stop ending up in the infirmary from now on.”

  Kai and Steve walked up to them. Sora exclaimed, “What is this, an ambush? Everyone’s turning up and questioning my strength all of a sudden. Steve, you answer them for me.”

  Steve smirked and said, “Yeah, I can vouch for his strength now. Zack, he would give you a real run for your money now.”

  Kai said, “Really? Well Sora, Steve seems to have high hopes for you. Don’t let him down now.”

  Sora said, “I know that already. And I never plan to do so.”

  Kai nodded and said, “Good. And by the way, you and Jake lost your rooms thanks to Professor Gopi’s new invention, right? Where do you plan to stay now? There are no spare rooms for all I know.”

  Sora shrugged and said, “I have no idea. Maybe the streets would have to do for now…”

  “Wait… you guys don’t have a place to stay?” asked Zack. “You could stay in my mansion if you want.”

  Jake seemed hesitant but Sora said, “Is this some kind of trick question? We’re in!”

  Jake remarked saying, “But is it alright for commoners to stay in a noble’s mansion? Won’t your parents be against it?”

  Zack waved his hand and said, “No. On the contrary, my mother wanted to meet you, after she heard the reason why I was in the guild infirmary for two weeks in a row. My father wouldn’t mind either.”

  “But I don’t think it is our place to intrude on–”

  “Oh shut up, will you!” said Sora. “He just said it wouldn’t be a problem. Why are you so reluctant to go?”

  Jake quickly said, “I’m not reluctant or any–”

  “You heard him, Zack. We’ll be in your care then.”

  “Great! Then get your stuff… or what’s left of it. My car will be here any minute. I’ll inform my parents about your stay.”

  Sean, who was about to leave, said, “Oh, and Sora, I almost forgot.” He took out a black sphere from his pocket and an envelope.

  Sora examined the sphere with a red mark engraved inside it. “Wait… isn’t this the contract we were supposed to retrieve for Mr. Wayne?”

  Sean said, “Yeah. But once I took a look at it, I noticed something was not right with it. I think you’ll realize it yourself.”

  As Sora examined it, he suddenly gave a queer look and said, “Hold on… I’m not sensing any ki from this thing.

  Though a contract’s ki level can’t be sensed from a distance, it is possible to do so when you are in contact with it. But Sora was getting nothing from the queer stone in his hands.

  “It’s not a contract, though it is very identical,” finished Sean. “I handed it to Mr. Wayne and voiced my opinion. He had it tested and the result was the same. In truth it is a very rare and valuable stone worth almost fifty million Zens.”

  “FIFTY MILLION!” shouted Sora, his eyes going wide.

  Sean grinned and said, “Of course, Mr. Wayne was disappointed. But he kept his promise of paying us double and also told me to give the stone to you as an apology. And the envelope had your share of fifty thousand Zens.”

  Sora tossed the stone in the air and caught it again. He said dramatically, “Whoa, I’m rich. Well, I’ll keep the stone as a good luck charm then. Thanks Sean!”

  Sora and Jake left to scrape up their belongings from their razed rooms. Kai turned to Steve and said, “I must hand it to you. You seem to have done a great job, as always.”

  Steve said, “You mean Sora? So you noticed didn’t you? Though the others didn’t seem to realize at all.”

  Kai said seriously, “His whole aura has changed. Before, it had a restless feel to it. But now, it seems more serene than I ever remember. His control over his enormous ki must have improved drastically. Just how strong did he become?”

  Steve smirked and looked away as he said, “Let me put it this way. If you aren’t careful while fighting him, you’ll die.”

  Kai seemed alarmed. “Just what happened to him this past month?”

  Steve looked out of the window and slowly said, “You know I assured you that I’ll make him soar into the skies? Well, he did it, literally…”

  “Jake, define a car.”

  Jake replied, “A car is a wheeled or hovering motor vehicle with its own engine and motor running primarily on solar energy or compressed hydrogen, used generally for transporting people from one destination to another.”

  Sora said, “Right. So with reference to this definition, on what basis is a hovering high class hotel suite called a car?”

  Zack said meekly, “Come on, Sora. It’s only a limousine!”

  Sora was aghast, “Only a limousine? There is a freaking Jacuzzi and a queen size bed in here! Not to mention the home theatre system with a hundred inch 3D flat screen LED TV and a refrigerator with a personal maid for assistance, Oh, and did I forget the luxurious bathroom in the back?”

  Zack leaned back on the soft leather couch he was sitting on and said, “It’s not my fault my mother changed the car that was to pick me up just because I had informed her that you guys are coming.”

  Jake scoffed, “Please, Zack. Your usual car is a golden Rolls Royce. There are only twenty of them in the world.”

  Zack didn’t know what to say to that. He was the type to think that ten million Zens was a seemingly trifle amount. So he was not sure why these minor expenses worked them up. “Must be a ‘commoner’ thing,” he thought to himself.

  Then, out of nowhere, Sora asked, “So, how are things going with Katie?”

  Zack fell off his seat and Jake sniggered. Zack, completely bewildered, asked, “W…Why do you ask such a thing?”

  Sora sighed and said, “Zack, I am not as stupid as I might look.”

  Zack was still staring. But he got back to his seat slowly and said, “W…Well, we’re talking to–”

  “What! You’re kidding!” said Sora, outraged. “After all we did to set you two up? And they’re just talking?” he asked Jake.

  Jake tried to hold in his grin as Zack said, “Yeah. But talking without looking at each other’s faces though.”

  “Oh, well done Zack. And I was expecting you two to be lovey-dovey, having romantic dinners and kissing in public.”

  Zack went so scarlet that he resembled a ripe tomato. He spluttered, “T…That is ab…absurd, Sora! On what basis would I fall in l…love with a common girl when there are so many fine women from noble bloodlines ready to be my bride?”

  Sora said loudly, “On what basis? It’s written all over your goddamn face! Be honest with your feelings for once in your life, Zack. Would you be happy if some other guy starts going out with her?”

  Zack wanted to say that he didn’t care. But the words just didn’t come out of his mouth. He then replied in a weak voice, “No.”

  Sora seemed relieved. He said, “See? It doesn’t matter if she is a noble or a commoner. Love crosses all these barriers, however big or high they are. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”<
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  Zack stared out of the window. He swallowed a little and then with a weird grin said, “Well, seems like I’m in love.”

  Sora gave a sigh of relief and slumped back into his seat. Jake turned to him and said, “I am impressed, Sora. You seem to make a good love doctor.”

  Sora shook his head and said, “Just read the lines on the cover of ‘A hundred ways to win a girl.’ Kai had it in his collection.”

  Jake sniggered again. After he stopped, he asked Zack, “So, when did you get hit by Cupid’s arrow?”

  Zack blushed a little and said, “It’s embarrassing, you know–”

  “Say it, unless you want me to extract the uncensored version from your head.”

  Zack stared at him and said, “Alright, I’ll tell you.”

  Sora and Jake bent closer as Zack started.

  “About a year and a half ago, I was sent on a C rank mission to resolve a hostage situation. Things were going all right till I felt a pair of eyes on me. Then, out of nowhere, a purple ball struck me.

  “I was almost knocked out by it. I got back on my feet to see Katie apologizing and rushing towards me. She was still a newbie then, so she didn’t recognize me immediately. We worked together and completed the mission. But ever since then, my heart started beating crazily whenever I saw her.”

  Sora and Jake looked at each other, confused. Sora asked, “So you started liking her after she hit you with her poison punch?”

  Jake then asked, “Zack… are you a masochist?”

  Zack said furiously, “Wha… NO! Of course not! I don’t know why, but I started liking her after that incident. That’s all.”

  Sora shrugged and said, “Sounds like a masochist to me.”

  They were near the outskirts of the city now. There were more trees and open spaces than buildings and traffic jams. After a while, Zack looked out of the window and said, “Ah, we’ve arrived.”

  Jake and Sora craned their neck to see a large archway in front of them. They caught a glimpse of a golden nameplate, with the name, ‘Titania’ engraved on it.