Chapter 170: A Pact!

Chapter 170: 170: A Pact!

The young man smiled faintly again, though his breathing had become heavier. "You are dangerous."

"You are in my way."

"Your way leads through my rabbit."

"Yes."

"That is rude."

Lucard almost laughed at the word.

Instead, he attacked again.

This time, the young man did not meet him head-on. He flicked his wand toward the rabbit. A blue light touched the beast’s collar fur, and the puffer rabbit puffed its cheeks so wide that Lucard’s blood threads slipped slightly against its swollen body. Then it dug.

Fast.

Its claws tore into the ground like a small drill.

Lucard tightened the lower threads, but the rabbit had already half-entered the soil. He pulled, and the rabbit squeaked. The young man shot three crystal needles at Lucard’s hand, forcing him to block instead of pulling harder.

The rabbit almost escaped.

Lucard stamped once.

Blood threads entered the ground and wrapped around the rabbit’s back legs. The beast stopped with only its puffed head and front paws inside the tunnel. It kicked wildly.

The young man’s face darkened. "Do not tear its legs."

"Then stop forcing it to run."

"You are the one trying to steal it."

"You are the one failing to keep it."

The insult landed.

The young man pointed his wand at Lucard’s chest. A magic circle appeared, blue and silver, with four layers. Stronger than the earlier spells. The air around it rang softly.

Lucard felt danger.

He pulled his blood threads back from the rabbit’s legs and formed them in front of him. Blood Spell Formation layered with Bloodfire Lv2. Red circles spun inside each other, thinner than the young man’s magic but more alive.

The young man said, "Crystal Moon Lance."

A long spear of blue-white crystal shot forward.

Lucard answered without words.

His red circle opened, and a bloodfire blade flew out.

The two spells struck between them.

The impact threw dust, carrot pieces, and loose stones into the air. Elowen ducked behind the stone. The puffer rabbit vanished fully into its half-dug hole, but Lucard’s blood mark still clung faintly to the soil near it. The explosion did not break the ground deeply, but it shattered the flat stone where the bait had been.

When the dust cleared, Lucard stood with one sleeve torn and a thin cut across his forearm.

The young man stood with blood at the corner of his mouth and a burn mark on his coat.

Neither had won.

Neither looked pleased.

The silence after the clash was sharper than the sound of the spells.

Small pieces of broken stone rolled between them. The ruined carrots lay scattered across the ground like orange bones from a very foolish battlefield. A few still carried Lucard’s blood lure, and the scent mixed strangely with crystal dust and burned soil.

Elowen stayed behind the stone and did not dare breathe too loudly. She had seen Lucard fight many times in only a short journey, but this was the first time someone near his age had blocked him without falling quickly. That made the young man more frightening than the older mages. Old people being strong felt natural. A young man being this strong felt like a warning about the world she had never known.

Cedric’s eyes moved once to Lucard’s torn sleeve, then to the blood threads still waiting near the ground. He did not look proud of drawing blood. He looked thoughtful. Lucard noticed that too. This was not a boy who became drunk on one successful strike. He measured danger after touching it.

Lucard also measured him.

The crystal magic was clean. The reactions were fast. The rabbit bond was stable. More importantly, Cedric had not shown fear when bloodfire touched his spell. He had retreated at the correct moment, not too early and not too late.

That meant training.

Real training.

A family with deep roots stood behind him.

Lucard looked at him with more interest now. "What is your name?"

The young man wiped the blood from his lip. "You ask after trying to kill my rabbit?"

"You are alive enough to answer."

He laughed once. "Fair. My name is Cedric."

Lucard waited.

Cedric did not give a family name.

That was also an answer.

Cedric looked toward the direction of Deepwell Spring. "You want it for the spring."

Lucard said nothing.

Cedric continued, "Do not bother denying it. You lured a puffer rabbit with carrots and blood magic several kilometers away from Deepwell Spring. You are not hunting dinner. You want to send it through the lower water line and steal the pure water from below."

Elowen’s eyes widened behind the stone.

Lucard’s expression stayed calm.

Cedric smiled. "Good plan. Annoyingly good. I had a similar one."

"Then you should have guarded your rabbit better."

"I was guarding the spring watchers. The rabbit was supposed to gather roots nearby and return. Then you made a carrot festival."

Elowen, despite everything, almost made a sound at that.

Lucard looked toward the rabbit hole. The beast was still inside, trapped between fear of him and loyalty to Cedric. Killing Cedric might let Lucard take it, but Cedric would not die easily. Their fight had already made noise. If they continued, someone from Deepwell Spring might notice. Worse, the old man might sense them again.

Cedric seemed to reach the same conclusion.

"If we fight longer, we lose everything," Cedric said. "The old man will take ninety percent. The rest of the fools will bleed each other for scraps. By the time one of us wins here, the spring water may already be gone."

Lucard’s eyes narrowed slightly. "So?"

"So we make a pact. Your blood magic and my rabbit. My knowledge of its control and your method to hide the theft. We take the deep water from below before the old monster above the spring knows what happened."

Lucard said, "And divide it."

"Fifty-fifty."

Elowen stared at Cedric as if he had gone mad.

Lucard looked at him for several breaths.

Cedric was talented, sharp, and too calm for a common mage. His clothes were plain, but too well-made. His spells were efficient. His rabbit was rare and trained. He hid his family name. That meant he had one worth hiding.

A noble son, then.

Possibly a high noble.

Useful now.

Dangerous later.

Lucard said, "If you betray me before the water is taken, I kill the rabbit first."

Cedric’s smile thinned. "If you touch it after the pact, I freeze your blood vessels before you blink."

"You can try."

"I know. That is why I said it."

The two looked at each other in silence.

Elowen slowly came out from behind the stone. "This is a terrible pact."

Both men looked at her.

She swallowed but continued, "You both look like you are already planning to kill each other."

Cedric smiled politely. "Smart girl."

Lucard said, "Stand behind me."

Elowen’s face tightened. "See? That does not make me feel safer."

Cedric looked between them with amusement, but he did not ask questions.

Lucard stepped toward the rabbit hole and withdrew his blood threads from the ground. Cedric lifted his wand and gave a soft whistle. A moment later, the puffer rabbit’s head appeared from the hole. Its cheeks were still half-swollen, and one carrot leaf stuck to its mouth.

Cedric crouched and held out his hand. "Come here, Puff."

Lucard looked at him.

Cedric glanced up. "What?"

"You named it Puff."

"It is a puffer rabbit."

"That is lazy."

"It is memorable."

The rabbit hopped into Cedric’s arms and glared at Lucard with tiny dark eyes.

Lucard stared back.

Elowen whispered, "I think it hates you."

"It should fear me."

Cedric stood with the rabbit in his arms. "Fear can work. But not for this. If you want it to carry pure water through the lower line, it must move calmly. If it panics, it will swallow mud, surface water, or worse."

Lucard accepted the point.

Cedric stroked the rabbit’s head, and the beast slowly stopped trembling. Then he looked toward the spring’s direction.

"We have little time. When the deep water rises, the pressure below will open small vents. Puff can enter one of the western root tunnels, follow the cold flow, and fill its pouch before the water reaches the main basin. But it needs guidance, protection from pressure, and a way to keep the water pure."

Lucard said, "Blood seal."

Cedric shook his head. "Your blood may corrupt the water."

"Not if it touches only the outside of the pouch."

Cedric thought for a moment. "It is possible."

"You will control the rabbit. I will hide it from sensing and guide it through the blood traces in the underground flow."

"Can you sense that far?"

"I can sense enough."

Cedric smiled again. "Then fifty-fifty."

Lucard held out one hand.

Cedric looked at it.

Neither trusted the other.

That was why the handshake mattered less than the moment after it.

Cedric took Lucard’s hand.

A small pact circle formed between them. Cedric’s mana made the outer ring. Lucard’s blood made the inner line. It was not a deep soul pact. Neither was foolish enough for that. It was only a temporary agreement: cooperate until the pure water was taken and divided.

The circle flashed once and vanished.

Inside his mind, Lucard thought, After the water is secured, I will decide if his blood is worth taking.

Across from him, Cedric smiled with the same polite face and thought something very similar.

Elowen looked at both of them and felt cold.

She did not need magic to understand.

The pact had been made.

The betrayal had only been delayed.