The Creation of the Contract
Yubis was actually feeling kind of smug inside. After being eclipsed on his apparition with Ryuji's crazy thought process, at least this guy can still be surprised. Though it was not the reaction he was aiming, he wanted the guy to be shocked but the appropriate time to be shocked has already been gone. Before he could utter another word, a piercing cry from a bird and a gust of wind filled the area. Yubis looked pleased and it seemed inconspicuous sending worked. A large falcon about five feet tall landed near to them.
"Wow…" Ryuji is amazed. He instinctively stepped back. The bird projected majesty and strength as it landed on the ground and flapped its massive wings. The wolves were startled. A bird as big as them exists and they still do not understand what is going on. The bird lifted its right claw to show a parchment tied to it.
The gods from Ancient times used animals or other beings like plants in the past. Zeus loved sending bulls but eventually used them to lure maidens. Apollo and Atermis use animals as mediums to send items whenever Hermes is busy with other stuff. Same stuff is happening during the old Hebrew era but Yaweh was particularly crafty, he sent stuff to men using birds to plants if angels were not available. Nowadays they use the regular service ever since St. Nicolas started sending his deliveries. Tartarus is yet to develop some things being sent to Zariya and the main world. However, they are very short handed with the administration since there are tons of vacancies to fill. Most of the staff are still to undergo approval from the main realm to be promoted so lead deities are in place as they get ratified and approved by the upper realm.
"It's been a while since Horus asked Swift to deliver a parcel…" Yubis exclaimed. He felt nostalgic.
"Horus?" Ryuji asked. He knew Anubis but he never checked on Egyptian mythology. Especially right now he does not have any means to do so. He can only rely on his memories from his previous life. He only met Hades, Sefie, Yubis, Morticia and Vreta-chan. It's not surprising that there are more gods there.
Horus was an ancient deity in Egypt that Yubis pulled over to work for Zariya after the fall of Cleopatra which was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. He had been interested in technology which he could not work on while he was still a ruling god in ancient Egypt. But after the fall of the Egyptian ruling family, he was immediately invited over by Yubis and has been building the infrastructure of Tartarus with its technological realm combining the divinity and technology. Needless to say, he is faring better than to meddle with politics and bless rulers.
"Oh, he is the god of technology, but he always leaves for symposiums or locks himself up when there are new inventions." Yubis gave a brief introduction about him to Ryuji. What he did not mention is Horus usually runs a venture capital which earned him big back on earth and usually has stake in startups and Unicorn companies as he wants to study the technology. He was so into studying that it eats the time for him to implement these ideas unless he was given a deadline by the two boss gods, Hades and Sefie. "He looks the same as me but instead of this wonderful jackal head of mine, he has a falcon head." Yubis added.
When they heard the word god, the wolf brothers flinched. They have a renewed sense of terror and at the same time it's mixed with awe. If they were talking about gods in a casual manner, this jackal man must be a god. While they haven't made a sound since the discussion started, the two wolves looked at each other and as if they were reading each other's mind, got into a tacit understanding: do not do anything unless asked not to upset anyone, especially the jackal man. The younger wolf brother is guessing that the jackal man is a god. They never knew that they would encounter one this casually that even their ancestors would not encounter them in their lifetime.
"So Swift here got us two sheets of papyrus." Yubis pointed Ryuji to pick the parcel. The scroll is actually longer than expected. It was 8 inches wide, but the length is a meter or so long. Its texture is rather crisp and kind of rough to touch. "So how do we do this?" Yubis was excited like a child participating in his first science experiment.
"uhhh… well…" Ryuji is lost for words. He has the idea but with the material in place he does not know the attribute that it can give. The time for dithering has already passed. He can only wish that Yubis might accept this. "Can you make this parchment block magic and the one that I will write shall only pass through."
"That's easy." Yubis confidently replied. Blocking magic is easy as him and if taming familiars has been expanded such as this, probably some species like dragons would not be as rare as it is today. Why he did not think of it before. He is a Zariyan god of knowledge. But for so long he has been busy dealing with administrative work in Zariya due to lack of talents among the divinity in Tartarus. He snapped his fingers and the papyrus glowed. "Ooohhh nice…." Yubis was elated, he can use magic even if he is in this state. His apparition worked and he can still use magic as Horus mentioned earlier. A divine light shrouded the rolls of papyrus.
"Now I shall write several provisions, or should I say clauses…" Ryuji explained. Since he has been a manager before he died, he did experience at least drafting a contract . This time though, he would draft it from scratch. He was using a company template right now. It would need to be simple. He casts the
"second: in case of the tamer's death, the familiar agreeing to this shall be released alive from its duties and be a free creature instead." Ryuji needs to put this because this was the main reason for all this debacle.
"third: once accepted the familiar shall retain its individual sentience and may act according to his own will. If the familiar shall be against his master or opposes him, the master will put a corresponding punishment as the master/tamer seems fit."
"fourth: any of the following provisions can be changed in the future, provided that the familiar agrees to the change. One shall require a mark at that given time." Ryuji needs to put this so he can test it out in a bit.
"fifth as a familiar, the familiar shall jump whenever being called by the master/tamer." This was a test clause that Ryuji will remove later so he will know the fourth clause would work.
"sixth: this agreement will be valid once marked by the familiar." As a previous person employed, Ryuji felt he needed to put this detail because he believed working conditions should be agreed by the other party.
"Is it as simple as this?" Yubis commented. While Tartarus looked like a corporate empire, they never had these kinds of details for employment or working in the realm. It's baffling for him but he does see the point of doing these simple clauses. It will spur a big change in the future protecting both parties. But he thinks forward, whenever there is something new to bring change, it will also have new problems. He might consult Ryuji later.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple but this is what our resources had to settle for now. We are pressed for time and besides, I don't think I have the appropriate things needed to settle for more provisions since this is like a test thing." Ryuji replied though he is unsure how it will turn out. It would be better to try it out right now to see. He was unsure "that's the reason why I have it subject to change."
"Ok. Which one of you wants to go first?" Ryuji turned to ask the two wolves who are still crouching in posture. The wolves looked up to the goblin who in their eyes had already been some being of a higher existence and possibly a demigod. They have never seen a creature with such power as they stayed for a long time in the Onorian Valley.
The older brother slowly stood up with courage and spoke. "I would be honored."