Chapter 49 - What Can You Offer Me?
The fact that Hal had singled out one of the most unremarkable of the bunch raised the eyebrows of the ladies but they declined to comment.
Of course if they had a talking Grimiore in their head, things might make sense.
While they walked here, Hal shared the events of his soul world with Grimiore and Grimiore in turn decided to highlight a 'very important duty' it had taken upon itself
'You have got to be shitting me' Hal said, his mind voice rising an octave
'What?' Grimiore was confused
'What do you mean what? While I was struggling with the tribulation, you were more focused on keeping it out of sight. Are you insane?'
'It was very important' Grimiore insisted
'If you could do that, why not keep the tribulation away all together?'
'You have to face your tribulations. They make you stronger'
'Bullshit! I almost died'
'But you didn't, and now you're close to a breakthrough'
Hal had to admit, that that was on point, thanks to the mass of Cosmic energy from the tribulation, he was close to the mid stage of the cosmic pearl realm.
If he succeeded in breaking through, even without Executioner. he would have nothing to fear in the Cosmic pearl realm.
'What exactly do you hope to achieve by keeping the tribulation away from public eye'
'Public eye? No. god eye? Yes. I don't Care about those in this city, I do care about those that are after you. I cancel all traces of you, making you invisible to those who seem keen to find you'
'You know this whole tribulation thingy might turn out to be a blessing. Every time I use my Armament I have an opportunity for a breakthrough'
The tribulation that Hal had faced was a Curse Tribulation placed on his bloodline, most probably the result of the Devil Queen's past actions. So basically Hal was being attacked for existing.
However in it, Hal saw a silver lining...
'Actually, the next time you face the tribulation, it will be stronger by five folds'
...for about five seconds.
'Really?' He asked to be absolutely sure
'Yes really. Also, it's completely random and you can't truly prepare for it'
'That's a shame'
They had arrived at the gathered kneeling servants and at Hal's request, Grimiore scanned them all for promising talents but they were all average at best, all except one...
'That girl has a dormant physique, it's so faint that I cannot tell exactly what it is but it is definitely of the Divine grade'
Physiques were generally divided into 5 grades; Aurora, Pagoda, Semi saint, Saint and Divine.
While Divine grade physiques are the strongest they are also the most difficult to master with Mastery levels as follows; Awakened, Vetted, Advanced, Fairly mastered and Fully mastered.
'How can it be awakened?' Hal asked
'Well, it seems to have an affinity with darkness, you can use your Bloodline's energy to awaken it. Mastering it will be entirely up to her though'
Hal mentally nodded and then he used Devil energy to mark the servants. Effectively binding them to him, same as with a contract however Devil marks did not allow administration of boons.
If they pleased him they would be 'promoted'.
If not they should stay satisfied with their status.
Marla stood up a little shakily as her appraiser's black eyes returned to normal and walked forward while Hal's eyes trailed her from top to bottom causing her to feel naked in front of those piercing blues.
When she arrived at his side and retreated towards the back a few steps. Hal spread his arms and as one all the servants rose and bowed
"From now on, you serve me and your first mission is to spread a rumor..."
...
Hal left the servants to their devices while he sought out the Treasury. It was in a large section of the estate and was locked with a seal linked to Corban's soul, which upon his death was already broken leaving his whole content free for perusal.
For one thing, there was quite a large amount of Gold coins and a fair amount of Silver coins, but those were not what caught Hal's attention...
"Pills. Rank 3 pills" Rita gasped as she observed the content of the Treasury which included jars of exotic Rank 3 pills that were well known for their scarcity in a small city such as this.
She was not alone in her surprise. The most pressing concern was how the Holger family got their hands on such expensive stuff.
"They most probably got it from the same source as the beast physique Brysen had" Melinda said and Hal nodded as he had concluded the same after she had told him of her experiences.
"Doesn't matter who it is, they lost their insurance and that's all there is to it" Hal said before covering the entirety of the Holger wealth with cosmic energy and stored it inside his inventory.
The sight caused Marla's mouth to gap while everyone else acted as though they saw nothing noteworthy.
While Hal had never really confided the existence of Grimiore to them, they were already used to weird things like this and blamed it mostly on his strange bloodline and inheritance that must have come with it, which contrary to what he had once told Melinda was definitely not a unique bloodline but something more.
Melinda however could not help but suddenly feel left out, Rita had signed a contract with Hal, so had all her workers and guards, heck even this new girl would most likely sign a contract with him soon. Yet so far, he never thought to try signing one with her.
It was so unfair, she thought and was very determined to hash it out when they returned to the mansion.
After the treasury, Hal went to his last location of the estate. The basements of the now dilapidated auction House where the rest of Hal's men were working on setting the slaves free.
The one hundred slaves stood in the spacious basement and Hal addressed them
"Go on, you're free now. Go to your families" He said and without waiting to hear twice as their soul was no longer bound by the soul locking orb since Corban's death, a large amount of them left leaving only about forty.
Hal surveyed those that remained while he used Devil energy to distort the reality of those that left for a specific reason.
"Why are you still here?" Hal asked noting that majority of those that remained were females with eyes dark with pain, and the men looked weary
"My family is dead"
"My village was destroyed"
"I have nothing on the outside"
This were some of the chorus replies he got.
Hal nodded "I can take you in. I can help you and I can definitely make you powerful but..."
Hal smiled down at them like a wolf
"... What can you offer me?"
The question stumped the gathered. They had nothing to offer him and that should have been glaringly obvious so why was he still asking
"We have nothing that can interest you" one of them finally voiced out
"Oh, I beg to differ" Hal said as he paced back and forth a few times
"You have something to offer me. You see, there will be no half assing of anything. I do not do favors, I cut deals. So if you want my help, you will have to give me all you have in return..."
In a mini-Explosion of Devil energy, Hal drafted a long contract in his blood and held it out for all of them.
"... And by that I do mean your soul"