The Beginning of the Beastmasters

A Contract Signed

I thank KatherineOzawa of Wattpad for helping me.

The group was led by Azul to the VIP Room of the Mostro Lounge. Opening a set of double doors, likely mahogany with brass and gold handles, the room itself screamed 'VIP' indeed. Lavender paint coated the upper walls and columns of the bookcases, which were filled with variation g books of all shapes, sizes and topics. A few seashells accents in pink dotted the semi-gray walls along with accented colors of teal, purple and gold here and there. Numerous lamps were placed at the bottoms of the columns to give warm light along with miniature fish tanks, their eerie luminescent glow lighting a bit of the cold marble floor. Most of which was covered by a woven rug, two black leather sofas and a coffee table, also of which was a fish tank embedded in the center. In front of all that, a giant wooden desk, likely Azul's, stood proud and still with the seashell lamp, white feathered quill and ink pot and the office chair. But the elephant in the room: the giant steel vault in the wall.

"What IS this place? Are we really still on school property? Look at that huge vault... It's like some kinda bank." Jack murmured, feeling whiplash from what he was looking at right now. Niho looked and saw it looked like a vault one would typically see in spy movies. Except the handle to open it was a giant captain's wheel. Strange....

"All right, that's enough rubbernecking. Please, have a seat." Azul waved them to the couches, to which they took. Niho on one side and Jack and Kayden on the other. "So, what would you like to discuss with me?"

"I'd like you to free the students you've indentured." Niho turned to glare at Azul, getting to the point almost immediately.

"Ha ha ha! Goodness me. That's quite the demand to make right out the gate." Azul fanned himself. "You would ask me to release all 225 students from their contracts with me?"

"What if we demanded it?" Kayden spat back. But Jack was horrified.

"You bamboozled that many people?! That's nuts!"

Azul shrugged nonchalantly, "Yes, well, Jade and Floyd did a bit of proactive market outreach this year. Thanks to that, I've had no shortage of clients ready to strike up deals with me." His azure gaze went towards the true client. "Now, Niho- as for your request to free these students... I am not forcing them to labor under any undue duress. They made a contract with me, and they willingly consented to the terms laid out in writing. Contracts are ironclad agreements not subject to intervention from outside parties on any emotional basis. "Poor, unfortunate souls" they are not. To put it more bluntly: your protestations will avail you nothing, no matter how much you might kick and scream."

Niho clicked her tongue, "Fine. If that's how it has to be done, let's make a deal."

"Wait, what?! Have you lost it?!" Jack shouted, but she paid no attention to him.

Azul looked a tad surprised at her declaration. "Oho. You want to make a deal with me? Now there's an interesting proposal~."

"But I'm warning you, no tricks. There was a witch who tricked a girl into thinking she was honest, then cheated on the deal. I'm not that naive." She stood up, crossing her arms at him haughtily.

"I never said you were." Azul replied smoothly.

"Aha ha! Little Shrimpy's got some guts!" Floyd cackled, finding Niho's bravery somewhat commendable.

Azul ponders her proposition and then spoke up, "Hm. Now, while your interest is duly noted... There's a wee bit of a snag. You see, Niho, my understanding is that you have no innate magical power. You're not gifted with a beautiful voice, nor are you heir to any kingdom. You're an utterly run-of-the-mill human in every possible way."