A pathetic little creature like princess Marika, who obtained everything she possessed today due to the identity she obtained from her birth, had actually put him, Gaston von Rainerhorn, into such a precarious situation. He had been forced into becoming the enemy of the entire human race by someone like her, just the thought of it was enough to make him lose control of his emotions, even if only for a moment.
And a moment is all that Gaston would allow himself before he swiftly and forcefully calmed himself down and regained clarity. Anger, or even fear due to who his enemies now were, was not something he felt, nor was it something he would allow himself to feel.
If he was to turn his dream of drinking her blood from a cup made out of her skull a reality, he couldn't afford to make such mistakes. The path towards revenge was guaranteed to be a long and difficult one, but that didn't necessarily mean that it had to be dangerous.
With an exceptional cultivation technique like Bone Peak in his possession, his path all the way to the peak of Qi Refining was set. Additionally, he had been thinking of a more concrete method to ensure that his four crew members remained loyal to him, and now that he was in possession of a demonic cultivation technique that was impossible to switch from, he would be a fool not to use it.
As he had quickly found out, for an ambitious individual like him, having his future path forward in cultivation depend on the whims and wishes of someone else was quite an effective blackmailing strategy.
In practical effect, it was the same as a soul contract, except without the means with which to detect it with. And for people like him, Hasso, Siegbert, Ruben and Nicolaus, who had left everything behind in search of something that may or may not even exist, the thing they lacked least was this thing called ambition.
The only remaining concern he had was the exposure of their real identities, but as long as he convinced them to practice the cultivation technique even once, that too would be all but resolved. All that would remain was for him to obtain one of those Soul Contracts and have them all sign it as a way to prevent the exposure of the news even in the event that they were to be soul searched.
Soul Contracts were reliable like that. As long as one was signed, no method was capable of overriding the effect of the contract, save from overwhelming power. Only someone three stages above the quality of the Soul Contract could effectively break it.
This was why Soul Contracts were so widespread among all the civilizations, because as long as one used a Soul Contract made out of Stage 3 material, only one of the three Emperors in the known Cultivation World could forcefully override it.
Mass use of this item, alongside with mass production, ultimately led to the Soul Contracts losing most of their value over time. By now, it had gotten to the point that even Stage 3 Soul Contracts were feasibly buyable by particularly rich Stage 1 beings, even though the item itself was made out of Stage 3 material, which was something that was far and away out of the purchasing power of any and all Stage 1 beings, whether they be Cultivators, Titans or Mages.
Ways to detect whether an individual was bound by a Soul Contract were rapidly developed and now in use by all major and minor powers, which was why princess Marika hadn't opted to force Gaston to sign one himself.
What was particularly troublesome however, and something that was only known to those in the right circles, was that the major powers were also capable of roughly determining the nature of the Soul Contract signed. This news was particularly important for Gaston, as it meant that he had to be very careful with the exact wording on the contract he would make his crew members sign in the future.
For now however, if he wanted to ensure that his four men who were all but guaranteed to be Elites as well, were not exposed before he could gain access to such a soul contract, he would have to make sure that their identities were squeaky clean.
The Stage 1 Soul Contract that he would aim to purchase almost as soon as he arrived into town would do the trick in Count McKinley's territory, considering the fact that he was "just" a cultivator in the Golden Core Stage and therefore couldn't override the effects of even the weakest of Soul Contracts, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.
This was a matter that could determine his life or death, so no amount of caution was too much as far as Gaston was concerned. As long as he had the required amount of funds, four Stage 3 Soul Contracts would be the first thing that he would purchase.
Even then however, simply because someone couldn't pry certain information out of you didn't mean that you were off the hook. Especially when the certain someone suspicious of you was more powerful than you.
A real identity that could stand up to any kind of scrutiny was therefore of extreme importance, and Gaston would stop at nothing to obtain one for himself. Luckily, the little one, Erni Hoover, had truly lived up to the "Golden Ticket" nickname that he had given her. Not only had she been his golden ticket into the village itself, but she would soon become his golden ticket into the whole wide Cultivation World as well!
Before that however, he had to convince his comrades, who had not yet been provided with a reason to be subservient to him outside of their shared time together. Looking around the table and seeing them all engrossed in conversation, Gaston used his middle finger to firmly tap on the table and quieten down the chatter.
"As nice as it is to see all of you here again, alive and well, I'm afraid we don't have the time to be reminiscing." Once everyone turned silent, Gaston steered the topic of conversation to where he wanted it to be, on more serious matters.
Aside from Siegbert, who was laying down on a bed not too far from them due to his injured status, Hasso, Ruben and Nicolaus were all sat around the table with Gaston, most now with serious expressions on their faces, save for one.
Hasso, who didn't think much of the situation, smiled and comforted Gaston, "Ah, no need to be so serious Rainer. Perhaps you're not aware yet, but although this is a village that's been all but abandoned by the Wright Kingdom, it's still officially human territory. The Blue Apes haven't been stupid enough to attack this weak settlement in hundreds of years."
This was all knowledge Gaston had been made aware of ahead of time by his new partner, and it came as no surprise to him that the four of them had learned of this from Cowden, given how eager to please he appeared to be in front of him.
With a light shake of his head, Gaston replied, "The Thurstan Kingdom, Hasso, that's what they're called, not Blue Apes. They are a civilization led by a Stage 5 being themselves, just like the Wright Kingdom is. I would advise caution against using such terms when we're still practically on their side of the border. Of all the ways to die, by the hand of a wandering being that takes offense to such a word, would be a particularly sad one, wouldn't you agree, Hasso?"
The leisurely expression on Hasso's face all but disappeared, "I didn't know Rainer. If that's true, you're right, I apologize." Slightly lowering his head, Hasso's face had now encapsulated the seriousness that Gaston wanted to see.
Not intending to harp on it, Gaston lightly waved his hand to dismiss the matter, "you can't be blamed for that, since even I only found out after extensive conversations with the creatures chasing me. The talks I've held have made me a lot more knowledgeable than I was before, but ultimately some things haven't changed."
Turning his head to Siegbert, he continued, "Sieg, we're going to have to move out an hour or so after midnight. Will you be able to keep up?"
Even though more than enough time had passed for most injuries to heal, there were some injuries that took longer than anticipated even though they were now all Stage 1 beings. Siegbert's injury, one which he was lucky had not turned out to be fatal, appeared to be one such injury.
Using his left hand to prop himself up, Siegbert got himself into a siting position, but the momentary wince he couldn't hide from appearing during this process revealed everything. Despite this, his words were steady and confident, "I'll be just fine Rainer, you don't need to worry."
Giving him a slight nod of acknowledgement, Gaston turned back to the three sitting around the table, "Amery told me that you were waiting for Siegbert to recover, and that you would leave after that. Is that the only reason these people are still alive, or is there another reason you haven't proceeded with the plan we made back then?"
Upon the mention of this matter, everyone gave Gaston a reaction to ponder on, but curiously enough, the slight guilt that he saw appear in Hasso and Nicolaus's eyes varied greatly to the anger he saw written all over Ruben. When considering their characters however, Gaston formed a guess that left him far from pleased.
Before he could say anything however, Hasso took it upon himself to respond, in as confident of a manner as he could fake, "We were waiting for Sieg to recover before moving on, that's all. While we were waiting, we also made sure to gather as much information as we could so that we didn't unknowingly make a mistake."
A slight frown appeared on Gaston's face immediately after hearing this poorly crafted excuse. "Have I been gone for so long that you think you can lie to me now Hasso?"
He could see that Hasso wanted to speak up to defend himself, but he had no interest in hearing him out on the matter and continued berating him, "I thought you were finished with doing disgusting things like this Hasso. And you, Nico, I thought you were better than this. Now that you've had a few weeks of peace to calm down, have you turned into a savior? Do you intend on sparing these people?"
Unlike Hasso who had something to say, Nicolaus admitted to his mistake immediately. "Maybe I just wanted to rest for a while longer, that's why I let myself be convinced into a delay in taking action. It was a mistake to grow so lax Rain, I apologize."
With nothing but a shake of his head in response, Gaston turned his attention back to Hasso. "Back on the Poisoned Continent, you stood up against someone like Siegbert for those civilians, even despite the fact that they were not the Empire's people. I had thought those idiotic days were behind you, but it appears I had been mistaken."
Holding Gaston's gaze, Hasso finally got the chance to defend himself and replied, "We've done unspeakable things in order to survive Rainer, and I have no problem with that. I just wanted to make sure that this was also a necessary step to take before taking it, that's all. I brought it up to the others, and after a tie vote, since Siegbert was injured we used that as the tiebreaker to delay the plan."
Chuckling at what he had just heard, Gaston replied while still smiling, "Let me reassure you then, Hasso, that it is necessary to do what we planned to do."
Standing up from his chair, Gaston made his way over to the injured Siegbert before continuing, "We will proceed with the plan as previously discussed. But we will do it an hour after midnight, so that the place is quiet. In the meantime, I have come to be in possession of a very valuable cultivation technique that I was lucky enough to obtain from one of the Thurstan Kingdom's Blue Apes. Make sure to circulate it at least once before we head out."