The vow was a simple one, to the point that Dei was suspicious.

"I shall not, in any way, draw attention to Earth's universe for its unique condition of lacking most draconic protection."

He could still talk about the unique laws of physics and Earth in general, just nothing about The Champion.

"Okay, before agreeing to this, I think I'm gonna need a crash course in how vows work because that seems way too simple for me."

"It would, but I promise you, it's as solid an agreement as it gets" Luke assured him. "When it comes to vows, the longer ones are less secure, because of the implicit aspects of it. When someone makes a vow, it's closer to giving their word than their contract. If you add a ton of safeguards, that implies that there is no 'trust' in the deal, it's an unspoken agreement that if you're able to find a loophole, you can safely get out of it.

"When it comes to simpler short vows though, it fully relies on trust. If you tell your friend, 'Yea I won't tell anyone a secret,' you're still a douchebag if you text it to someone else, you're still in the wrong. Sure, you didn't tell anyone, but really?"

"Okay, that makes sense as a concept, but I've made one before- specifically, I made a deal with an affinity, and there was definitely some nuance. If I hadn't had a mediator to hold the Void affinity to its end of the bargain, it wouldn't have kept up its end. Not only that, it felt entitled to making unreasonable demands, and apparently it was correct in assuming that. If I hadn't threatened to leave immediately, I would've had to spend hundreds of years trying to hold up my end of the bargain."

"That, surprisingly, still works with the example, you just have to change how you're thinking. A regular human does not stand equal with an affinity, so an affinity is not all that encouraged to bend to your whims. It would be like a king making a deal with a peasant- or perhaps even less, a God making a deal with a goblin. You're so far below it, that nobody would blame the God for ignoring its end of the bargain. Your mediator, which I'm guessing was another divine-class entity, was responsible for punishing it if it didn't keep to its word- a task which would've fallen to you, otherwise, and something I don't think would've been possible.

"Getting an impossible task is not all bad though, as Void would've been compelled to not only reward you if you completed it, but reward you in relation to how hard the task was. It made the task impossible so, in the end, you'd fail and it could slip out of its payment, not technically giving the mediator justifiable reason to punish it. Perhaps even partially accomplishing it would've given Void something."

'Yes, it would've. I suppose if I'd made thousands or tens of thousands of Void soldiers, then just given up, it wouldn't have punished me nor paid me anything.'

"What was the deal?" Luke asked curiously, and Dei opened his mouth to answer but hesitated.

His brow scrunched as he realized he would be in violation of something to tell anyone. 'Hidden clauses in the Contract? No, it's not that… I agreed to give it five attuned soldiers on Earth. As much as I'd like to attune five people then just tell the U.S. and have those five apprehended, that would go against the spirit of the agreement. I'll need to make five soldiers that Void itself would like, and somehow, I know it wouldn't want me to tell The Champion's church what I'm doing. Not yet.'

Dei sighed, "Alas, I'm afraid telling you would violate the deal."

Luke shrugged and continued nibbling on some fruit, letting Dei think about what his new vow would ask of him.

"Oh hold on," Dei said, "Can't Leviathans peek in on me when I use Connection? They did before, so aren't I already in violation of the contract? I'm saying this rather than running instantly because I think The Champion would've already thought of that, cause I'm not gonna claim to be smarter than him. I just can't see what I'm missing."

Luke laughed, "Nice flattery, but I'm not sure he'll-" his voice cut off as his eyes flashed orange for half a second, causing him to let out a brief grunt of pain.

"Ugh… Nevermind. He said the Leviathans cannot actually see when you use the spell. They can see when the System accesses the Skill because of some agreement between the Leviathans and your previous System. Since the System imposed itself fully in your magic, they could watch you as well. No System, no surveillance."

'Oh… OH! That's right! The System said that it was mostly equal in rank to Gods, oftentimes working alongside them rather than for or above them! How didn't I think of that?'

"Okay, I'm pretty much set on agreeing because this seems perfectly reasonable, but I have one more question about vows. You see, my parents' marital vows are apparently magical, or official, or whatever it is, and my mom has been granted a spell because of her vow somehow despite not having an affinity. How does that happen?"

"Honestly? I'm impressed," Luke nodded approvingly, "Subconsciously created vows, ones made when the person doesn't actually know that vows are magical contracts, are very rare and require hefty dedication. If it actually went through, both your parents must really love each other. Second, the short answer is that I have no idea.

"Vows are not black and white agreements. They're closer to very large blankets, wrapping around each person who is a part of it, and every single point of the blanket that touches the person's skin is another hidden data point. They're a type of construct built atop the Realm of Reality, the place where physics in a particular universe is decided, are you aware of it?"

"Is it… the place between The Mother's Realm, and the Realm of Titans?"

"Yes, it is."

'Ha! I was right. Commune with the Universe taps into this place.' "I'm aware of the concept, but I don't know much about it."

He shrugged, "You don't really need to, but as you can tell by how we're being pulled down by gravity, it has influence over the Realm of Dragons. Well, when you make a contract, it's like making a very small law that only affects those who are part of the deal, again, with caveats. The Champion was able to make a deal with Grim on behalf of the entire planet because he, by right, owns all of us. Because we did not directly agree to being part of it though it is not a solid grip on our souls, so when you tried to wiggle free of the deal after your death and continue utilizing your magic, you were able to do so. Doing that is rather easy, but dying souls lose enough of themselves for them to not put any resistance up at all most of the time. When your parents made that vow, an entity of the Reality Realm might've found their contract and given it some boons somehow, like a hidden blessing. Why and how, I don't know, but contracts are a magic all on their own which few delve deep enough to understand fully."

'Contracts are far simpler to make than I thought, yet they're somehow infinitely more complicated than I'd ever imagined. On a surface level, it's easy to understand as a concept, but functionally anything could happen. At the end of the day, all I need to understand is that I don't want to make a deal I'm not willing to honor. And I'm willing to honor this.'

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Alright, I'm ready to make the vow, but how? Who is the vow going to be between? Me and someone else? The Champion?"

"Noo no, nothing so grand. It'll be a personal vow, where you vow on yourself to not break it. Vows made to yourself are slightly different in that one party or the other does not enforce it, you do to yourself. If you break it, your mana will essentially start rebelling- which I'm told is terrible and oftentimes lethal. We can't do it on my name, as how would I ever enforce it when you leave? And we can't do it on The Champions name, as that would draw attention to this universe when you notify every parallel version of The Champion in every universe you come across. The moment you enter a universe, and the local Champion finds out that it has a contract attached to it it's never made, it would investigate."

"Okay, so… all I say is the vow, then 'on my name' or something at the end?"

"That would work, yes. Either that or, start with 'I give my word that.' A direct statement that you will hold yourself accountable."

Clearing his throat, Dei said "I give my word that I shall not, in any way, draw attention to Earth's universe for its unique condition of lacking most draconic protection."

They stood in silence for a few seconds.

"...Did it work?" Dei asked, not feeling a knot or anything appear."

"Probably yes."

"How do I check?"

"You really shouldn't need to," Luke said, smiling. "You won't feel it unless you break the vow or accidentally get close to doing so. Like I said, it is like a promise, so there aren't many ways to actually see it. If it makes you feel any better though, The Champion would step in if anything went wrong though."

"Well, it's not like I'd want to put Earth in the middle of a war anyway, so I guess it doesn't actually matter to me."

"That works. Now, what did you want as a payment?"

Surprise flashed through Dei's eyes. "Oh yea! I forgot about that part. Hm… I don't know, really. There isn't much I'd want, but I guess I can just tell you everything I might theoretically need. If you have anything that would help with my problems, I'd love to hear em. I don't know enough about your church to say what would be within reason or what would be outside it."

"I will act in good faith to give you what would be a reasonable level of payment."

Thus far, Luke's personality had been quite pleasant, so he didn't doubt the man was telling the truth. "Thanks, I appreciate it. As for what I want… hm, I don't think I'll need anything to help my dad- he's overwhelmed with Wrath mana right now- because I can take care of that on my own, but money in general? For them, not me. When I'm done on Earth, I intend to go universe hopping and I hear the laws of physics can be a bit variable, so perhaps a way to make that transition easier, or even just anything to help me on my travels. If nothing else, rations would certainly help. And… hm, I guess nothing. There's nothing else I'd really want. I mean sure, there are other things I intend to do, but that kind of stuff I'll have to do on my own."

Luke grimaced slightly, "I wouldn't be so sure. Even if it's something you intend to do on your own, we can perhaps give you insights? Maybe rare resources that could help? What do you intend to do?"

"Well, first I intend to create a way for my dad to filter through his Wrath mana, as I do. Partially, at least. Then, I need to start investigating the Earth laws of physics- which I guess you could help me with information on what is already discovered. To investigate it, I'm going to use a spell that allows me to dip my mind into the Reality Realm and poke around there for a bit. Perhaps ask a few beings questions, if they'll listen. Any information you might have of magic on Earth would help."

"That sounds reasonable! All of this together should make for enough of a fair payment. Anything else you'd want to ask? Or are you just going to go on your way?"

"No, I'm good. I guess just take care of my family while I'm gone, make sure they're happy. Really, I'd prefer that to be a guarantee over everything else, even if it meant missing out on information or ways to protect myself from different dimensional laws."

"That sounds like one of the easier requests, so don't worry about it. Either way, I take it you can make it back home on your own? A dimensional hop must be pretty hard compared to going somewhere on the planet."

Shrugging, he said "Oh yea, don't worry about that, I got it."

Activating Roving Gate, he sent the other end down the link of Meditation he shared with his mom, getting a response and disappearing as air replaced where he'd once been.

In the room he left behind, Lukas lounged back in his chair, sipping a glass of wine in silence. After five minutes had passed, the door finally opened and the secretary that'd handed Dei a towl peeked her head in, looking at Luke questioningly.

"It's fine, he doesn't have a way to listen to us."

Nodding, she smiled. "That was almost painful to watch. He really just rolled over and told you everything."

"He wasn't a bad guy, and I do have the best intentions in mind for him. If I didn't, he probably wouldn't have been as cooperative."

The secretary giggled, they both knew that wasn't the full truth. Luke had a Social affinity, and took advantage of the fact that he was handsome. Luke got the impression that Dei was straight as an arrow, but the halo effect could get pretty powerful past a certain point. Rather than try and forcefully take control of the entire interaction with magic though, he relied on it in the most subtle, unnoticeable ways, relying on simple social engineering for the rest.

"Still," Luke insisted, "If I hadn't meant what I'd said, things would've gotten ugly. One of my abilities picked up that he was magically attuned to all body language, so he would've seen through any lies. And if that wasn't bad enough, there was a second being on his person that was- rather rudely- reading my emotions the entire time. I never did figure out who or what it was, but I got the impression that it was some kind of monster, either of the Mind or Heart variety."

"So… he knew? He didn't even ask for anything before giving the vow! We could have absolutely taken advantage of that and kicked him out. Did he just play along?" the secretary asked, confused.

Luke chuckled, "Oh no, he wasn't aware at all. I'm just saying things could've turned sour, if it wasn't for me and my skill. Tooting my own horn a little and making sure my job is secure."

"Well, whatever. Want to give the report here or in the debriefing room? I can summarize most of it but I do need you to tell me what you discovered."

"Here is fine. There's still a lot of food, and the meeting room is so bland."

Shrugging, she sat down and started snacking on the fruits, veggies, sandwiches, and everything else while pulling out and setting up her laptop. When she was ready, Luke started giving all the information he'd gained.

"Alright, for the important bits. As you know, five affinities were detected within him. Wrath and Kindness are confirmed from his previous life, and I found that he has since gained the Fortitude affinity based on how his mind responded to my intrusion. I detected Soul-derivative abilities but no control over them, so it must just be the basic Soul affinity. The last one has to be Void because he didn't actually ask where we were or need any directions to travel in, he could just go home immediately. On top of this, I had to suppress an anti-social effect that would slowly damage his soul in order to keep him comfortable. I believe this is the result of the Soul attunement, but with the rarity of attunements on Earth I do not have a second point of reference to compare it to, simply academic reports from previous cases."

He waited for her to finish typing, then continued.

"His goals are simple and truthful, exactly what he said. He's gonna help his dad, investigate Earth's physics, then leave. Based on what he said though, he's not going straight back to his infected world to be quarantined again, so I wouldn't assume we'll never see him again. For one reason or another, he's going to travel the multiverse for a time, and likely come back shortly before locking himself up once more. I'd recommend we ensure that his family is happy before then, because something tells me he will be a massive threat otherwise, and I don't want The Champion stepping in to pull us out of the fire because of bureaucratic incompetence."

Letting her catch up again, he finally got to the hard part.

"Now, for the payment. I know what I'm going to say may seem ridiculous, but hear me out…"

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