Lord of Mysterious Wizard-Chapter 553 - 509: The Dishonest Merchant

The "suggestion" initiated by Tang Qi was agreed upon by both parties involved: the Death God’s Representative and Austin.

The latter agreed in order to save his own mother.

As a powerful wizard in reserve, although just a young boy, Austin possessed the requisite wisdom and intuition. He had already come to understand that truly, Death Gods exist, and according to the rules of the Mysterious Side, even Transcendents should not contest with death.

Therefore, when a "legal" method to save his mother emerged, Austin would not let it pass.

The former agreed in exchange for a strong life force and realistically speaking, the Representative also needed an extra income.

Although El and Lia disagreed, they were powerless to stop what was happening.

They watched as the Death God’s Representative casually summoned a grayish-white sheet of paper entwined with strange symbols, twisting and changing, ancient and chilling, unbearable to look directly at, with a blank space in its center.

The paper slowly floated towards Tang Qi.

In this "Contract Trading" session, Tang Qi would act for the first time as an intermediary and the writer of the contract.

Of course, the highest witness is the "Death God" in the mysterious background.

The eyes of the Representative and Austin both turned towards Tang Qi.

El and Lia also looked at him with fiery eyes; just moments ago, Tang Qi had introduced his own identity. He hadn’t actively mentioned those cringe-worthy secondary titles, only informing them that he was the principal of the Merada Special Education School.

Also, he is currently the sole inheritor of Ralph Witchcraft.

On the contrary, the Representative is quite an excellent "straight man".

As a Transcendent of the Neutral Camp, the Representative was well-informed, at least aware of what kind of existence Tang Qi was, and accepted him to write the contract.

"The Contract is borne on the Death God’s Book Page; no one can tamper with it, even a talented wizard who has killed a demigod cannot manage that."

This thought rose in the Representative’s mind.

Tang Qi let the "Death God’s Book Page" float in front of him, without deliberately hiding it, casually materialized a quill made of magic power.

In front of everyone, he began to write word by word.

The contract comprised two parts.

The first part was simple, just one sentence: Austin or Tang Qi will no longer interfere in the Representative’s work, and as a gesture of sincerity, the Representative must arrange a dignified death for all passengers on "The Silent Crow".

The complex part involved Austin and his mother, Lia.

At the tip of the pen, magic power poured out, delineating each Federation Universal Text.

"The Representative must remove the Death God Curse from Lady Lia and in return, he may claim the remainder of Austin’s life when he turns twenty..."

As the basic terms of the trade emerged, both parties, the Representative and Austin, added conditions to each other.

This was to ensure fairness and prevent exploiting loopholes outside of the contract.

During this process, the wisdom shown by the young boy Austin surprised both Tang Qi and the Representative.

"Perhaps the young Ralph was just like Austin now until he fell into the major pit of the lolita Goddess."

As Tang Qi wrote, his thoughts drifted.

Soon, the contract took shape.

The previously blank "Death God’s Book Page" was now filled with text.

Tang Qi withdrew his magic power, looking at the contract which now presented a different "face," he nodded slightly with an implicit arc.

A normal contract?

Naturally, that was impossible.

Since he had intervened and decided to protect Ralph’s descendant, especially given that Austin was a worthwhile investment, it was only normal to tweak the contract a bit, which differs from how he handled the Misfortune Witch’s secondary personality.

With the Death God’s Representative, a different strategy was necessary.

"Indeed, I could have deceived the Representative with spells like the Soul Splitting Spell or Life Spell, but doing so would likely severely offend this Neutral Camp Transcendent, despite deceit in contracts not being particularly rare in the Mysterious Side."

"Even people from the Bright Church often play little tricks in contracts to deceive those naïve heroes."

"But since there’s a more reliable method, it’s unnecessary to adopt a method that overly offends the other party."

"Um!"

...

In a thought, Tang Qi’s finger lightly tapped; the "Death God’s Book Page" directly floated towards the Representative.

No signal was needed; the eyes of the Representative, materialized in a gray hue, suddenly emitted a chill even colder than before, as if deploying a unique secret technique.

In a moment, the page, now full of content, trembled and emitted the exact same "Light of Death."

Within the light, a series of Federation texts emerged.

"Seems fine."

The Representative murmured, but still flipped the page multiple times, scrutinizing it.

This scene, witnessed by others, might seem overly cautious; yet, in the Mysterious Side, such a sight was all too normal.

Seconds later, one of the Representative’s tentacles drifted over the page, exuding magic power to sign his name, curved and winding like a primary school student’s signature.

Tang Qi nodded, casually waving his hand, letting the page float in front of Austin as the Representative also liberated Austin from his bindings at that moment.

"It’s your turn now, Austin!"

"Good!"

Although the little boy had never signed a contract in the Extraordinary World before, after seeing Tang Qi and the Deputy’s movements, he mimicked them by lifting a finger. A faint Magic Power overflowed, drawing his name stroke by stroke.

The Deputy looked at Austin’s movements, and for some reason, a strong sense of foreboding emerged.

Being an Extraordinary Creature fully integrated with "Death," the Deputy trusted his intuition immensely.

"Is there something wrong with the contract?"

The unbelievable thought caused the non-human body of the Deputy to suddenly undergo dramatic fluctuating changes.

A gray radiance burst forth, and tendrils of tentacles swiftly wrapped around Austin, accompanied by a cold and harsh roar.

"Stop!"

The Deputy’s rare loss of composure, a voice that could freeze everything, but it couldn’t stop Austin from making the final stroke.

Just before the tentacles touched Austin again, his finger left the Death God’s Book Page. At that moment, the resolute and sorrowful expression on Austin’s face suddenly withdrew, replaced by a child’s innate adorable slyness.

Austin blinked at the Deputy and said, "I’ve signed it!"

"What did you do?"

"Boom!"

Realizing he might have been deceived, the Deputy fell into a rage. Instead of targeting Austin, the Tide of Death surged entirely towards Tang Qi. The tentacles, filled with gray light and black spots, proliferated wildly, seeking to drag Tang Qi into the gray abyss.

Tang Qi seemed to have anticipated this scene. Molten Magic formed a sea of fire that blocked the Death Radiance, while a "Five-stage Red" casting, carrying a soothing soul breath, echoed in the Deputy’s mind:

"Mr. Deputy, before you get angry, you should look at the contract."

The soothing air released from the Five-stage Red was enough to pull the Deputy back from his rage.

Although his gray eyes still flickered with a terrible gray light, he instinctively followed the advice and looked at the transforming contract.

Almost immediately after Austin signed his name, the densely packed contents began to disappear incessantly.

The first item was still preserved.

But the second item, the "sacrifice" of the Deputy, to remove the Death God Curse from Lia remained, while other benefits intended for him vanished without a trace.

A more tumultuous rage was about to seize the Deputy’s mind.

As a creature merged with death, his emotional outbursts were even more terrifying.

"Kill this wizard, at all costs..."

Just as this thought arose, the Deputy’s eyes suddenly reflected an unbelievable scene.

It seemed as if a layer of "Illusion" had suddenly been lifted in front of him.

The previously single Death God’s Book Page now split into two.

More precisely, atop the original page, a thrilling and exciting fragment slowly curled up, then left the page itself, heading towards Tang Qi.

The characters on that fragment, ancient and horrifying, flashed briefly.

"Death God’s Rant!"

A voice filled with ecstasy suddenly burst from the Deputy’s mouth.

Anger?

At this moment, it was completely suppressed by joy and greed, with a page of the Death God’s Rant, everything else was secondary.

Although he had now realized how this despicable wizard had manipulated the Death God’s Book Page, successfully deceiving him.

Those disappeared contents, actually written on the Death God’s Fragment now attached to the page, Illusion Spell coupled with Five-stage Red, had erased any traces from the procedure, making the Deputy unaware of any discrepancies.

The true contract left the Deputy only with sacrifices, without any gains.

But these concerns were insignificant to him now; his gaze followed the fragment back to Tang Qi.

Tang Qi did not immediately reclaim the Death God’s Rant, but instead held it in his hand, purposely blocking the various ancient, terrifying spells recorded on it from the Deputy’s sight.

With a smile at the corner of his mouth, he met the Deputy’s gaze.

Because of that page of Death God’s Rant’s emergence, the Deputy’s aura fluctuated violently, those terrifying tentacles of death twitching intermittently.

After a considerable pause, he finally calmed down, his hoarse voice resurfacing:

"Is this one of the fragments of the ’Death God’s Rant’? Is this why you dared to deceive me, planning to compensate me with it to erase your sin of deceiving death?"

When this voice came, Tang Qi couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

What happened to each Deputy being serious and cold?

This was outright robbery?

If Tang Qi really intended to give the Deputy the fragment of the Death God’s Rant, would he need such a roundabout approach?

He could just take out the fragment, no Deputy could refuse it, for that offered a curse removal service, it couldn’t be easier.

Even not just for Lia alone, but for all passengers in the hall, all their curses could be removed, and perhaps some Deputy would be willing to trade.

But Tang Qi, when had he ever made such a losing deal?

He seemed completely indifferent to the Deputy’s words, holding the fragment and revealing a mysterious curve of his lips.

El was standing not far away, watching clearly; his mouth often curved into the same kind of smile known as the merchant’s grin.