Vampires were not well liked but they were still more liked than Rethia . They may be monsters but they weren't the biggest ones. So she could start over in Peryana where dragons flew. She wanted to get stronger and ultimately kill the Vampire Slayer. Only after that could she reunite with her sister. That was her goal, her sole purpose in life.
Yet she glanced at this little blue jello on the table. They had talked about him learning her ghost skills. And in a short span they had shared a bed, fought battles and told some secrets. She knew about his previous life. How he was a human trapped in a slime's body.
Most importantly she knew how much this jello loved to save his own skin. He constantly said he'd sacrifice anything for survival yet when she was captured and enslaved. He didn't run away. He fought for her. He put his own life at risk for her freedom.
Of course the slime said it was because of a skill. But she saw in his eyes he had a soft spot for her.
Now she couldn't abandon this little jello.
"I do not accept the Geas."
Jack breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want her to become chained again. But the crowd gasped.
"And I do not accept the travel to Peryana."
Aria tapped Jack's cage.
"My fate is tied to this one," she said.
The slime inside was flustered. This was weird, a declaration of loyalty. But he liked it.
"We'll die together Aria," he joked.
A genuine smile adorned her face, a rare sight. "Perhaps we'll be tortured in hell together."
Of course the judges heard that. They disappeared into their thrones and came back after a minute.
"Ms Voss even if the slime is granted asylum you are not allowed to stay in Vylara unless you bear a Geas." Orrian said.
But Aria didn't cower, she whispered something to Jack which made him freeze.
"Use the slime pact on me."
His core went still. That skill. The skill he wanted to use on Aria but decided against because of her previous reaction.
She faced the judges again, "I will bear a Slime Pact with Mr Der Quiver as the master."
Now Jack was even more flustered. This made even Solana in the crowd gasp so loudly, an entire row of elves got startled. Leena was panicking because her client just lied in the Plantesa Court.
Lyren scoffed, "There is no such thing as a slime pact. Slime are incapable of performing such complex emotionalbonds."
The little girl, glanced at the spider on Jack's bow tie, then to Jack.
"Yet there seems to be a spider-slime that is magically bound to him as we speak," the girl said.
Orrian couldn't believe it.
"What?" He leaned forward from his throne.
But one of the other judges, the old lady with the wrinkles.
"That is indeed a pact," she said.
The crowd murmurs and gawks. The only people in the room not surprised was Jeanne and Solana.
Jack and Aria were smirking, thinking they managed to outsmart the court.
Lyren sighed.
"Nevertheless the court will never trust a pact made by a monster to be upheld."
The little judge raised her hand, "Slime Pacts are not recognized by Vylara."
Jack's stomach sank.
"However should a precedent be established, then perhaps." She stared at Jack.
He thought she was going to ask him to demonstrate the pact. Or have his stats be analyzed completely.
"The precedent I'll be setting forth is that Slime Pact will be recognized if the slime is bound by the Geas of Detritus."Her childish gaze seemed to pierce through Jack.
The slime gulped. That sounded far too ominous.
"The Geas of Detritus will ensure that should the slime commit any violent act to any elf or elven property, they will be immediately executed."
Hearing that, he did not like it at all. Even if he wanted Aria to stay with him, this was too much to sacrifice for her. He would literally be unable to defend himself against elves. For someone who valued freedom like a sailor values a functioning compass, this was akin to cutting his own rudder. And with a Slime Slayer and an Inquisitor breathing down their necks, this was a death sentence, just a more creative one.
Aria of course didn't like this either. He could see it on her face that she was going to accept the Geas herself or go to Peryana.
So he asked the system.
"Is there any way to break a Geas?" Jack asked mentally.
[Geas is a fundamental elven magic bound to Yggdrasil. Therefore only the one who casted the Geas, Yggdrasil, Dyonis the Tree God, or the Deity of Contracts can break it.]
Jack's face deflated like a week-old balloon. His mind spun, a desperate gamble searching for a card to play. But Aria was about to open her mouth.
"I'll take it," he said. A squeak of defiance before the entire court.
"Jack," Aria's whisper was a warning, a flash of protectiveness that almost made him melt.
The little judge seemed to suppress a smile.
"Are you positive slime? This Geas lasts until you perish?" She said, her childish tone a chilling counterpoint to the finality of her words.
He glanced at Aria and Jeanne. The vampire's face was a mask of conflict, her crimson eyes wide. Jeanne was just staring, her lips slightly parted as if to object, her one good hand clenched into a fist.
A sensation of emptiness hit him. A realization hit him. His chances of survival were plummeting faster than a stone in a well not because of this court but because he started to care for these women. He was becoming attached to people that he barely knew for two weeks.
"I'm going to die right System?" he asked the companion in his head. His internal question.
[Probability of death is 100%] the system answered.
He chuckled. He was starting to love this thing's semantics.
"I accept the Geas of Detritus." Jack said.
He didn't add anything more or try to be a smartass like he did with the wine slime.