Chapter 8: A deal with a devil

It didn't take long, at most a few minutes since Tom activated the flier, for a teleportation circle to appear in front of the couch, and a well-groomed, black-haired man sporting a small goatee, appeared in front of Tom.

The man seemed in his late thirties and when his piercing purple eyes landed on Tom, they showed surprise but despite that, his lips stretched into a pleasant smile as he approached him while offering his hand for a handshake.

"I am Sarael Sitri, the head of House Sitri, feel free to call me Sarael, nice to meet you, young man." His words were casual but Tom could feel the pride behind them. The man was simply giving him a warning he would not allow himself to be slighted and that his time was precious.

Being polite was the least Tom could do so he stood up and accepted the handshake before gesturing for him to take a seat on the couch.

"Thomas Prest. I am the newest magician around the block. You can also call me Tom." Tom quipped, causing Sarael's lips to quirk a bit more upwards as they sat down.

"I see... are you looking for a pact or a normal contract?" Sarael asked, going straight to the point.

Tom couldn't fault him. As a Head of his House, his responsibilities were most likely very time-consuming.

That was another reason why getting a Sitri Household summoning flier was hard. They were not distributed very often because neither Sarael nor his wife had too much time to fulfill contracts. They mostly obliged old 'alliances'. That's why influential families could procure these fliers easily... and that's also why Sarael was surprised.

He expected to see the head of House Belgrade, but instead, he was greeted by a totally new face.

"A normal contract." Tom said and also dispensed the pleasantries.

Going for a pact straight away when he didn't know what to expect from the Sitris would be foolish and a waste of time.

Sarael curtly nodded. "Do you know the rules or should I explain?"

Naturally, magicians often informed themselves before doing actual Devil Summoning so that question was totally understandable.

"I'd like to hear the explanation." Tom answered. He knew the gist of it but it wouldn't hurt to hear it again and ascertain he was not missing anything.

Sarael wasn't thrilled he would have to waste time giving a lengthy explanation of how everything worked. Alas, that's how the system worked and the unfortunate man could do nothing about it at the moment.

At the very least, the young human in front of him seemed... adequate. Only time would tell if his House would continue responding to his summoning but Sarael was not about to cut a possible connection just because the boy was not one of his regulars.

To have the summoning flier belonging to the Belgrade family, he would have to get it from them somehow. And the notion it would be through force was ridiculous. Sarael could feel Thomas's magical reserves and while they were admirable for a human of his age, he was no genius. The fact that the Belgrade Head still gave him a flier was enough to vouch for him, in Sarael's opinion.

After Sarael's slightly boring and unenthusiastic explanations, Tom nodded his head, noting that he pretty much had a good gist of it. Nevertheless, he spent the next half hour shooting question after question at the poor Sarael.

Tom made sure his questions were to the point so Sarael couldn't even rebuke him for it.

Basically, the devil's contract was magic similar to prayers. How it worked... even Sarael had no idea, or at least he said he didn't. Tom assumed that similar to Angels being empowered by the prayers of the believers, the Heaven System also produced a similar effect for Devils.

Tom surmised it had something to do with faith. Despite not associating themselves with Heaven, Devils and Fallen Angels still did belong to the Biblical Pantheon and therefore they still were under the influence of the Heaven System.

And people believed devils made deals... hence, this.

Basically, for making contracts and fulfilling the wishes of their contractors, Devils could slightly increase their demonic energy. This increase was nothing much for the stronger devils and that's why they did not do the contracts all that much, but it was godsent for the new or young devils.

Of course, despite already getting a power-up by fulfilling deals, no devil would do it 'for free'. That's why they asked for 'additional' payment from their contractors.

Honestly, Tom had so many ideas about how to abuse that and quickly gain power it wasn't even funny but... he wasn't about to jump at the first opportunity he saw. There was a catch. He was sure of it. There was always some secret catch.

Not that he wanted to become a devil unless he had no other option available to him. He quite liked his status as a human. It grew on him during his two lifetimes.

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With the explanation over and Tom's questions also depleted…

"Let's get to the point." Sarael sighed and spoke with a mild irritation present in his tone.

Tom nodded. "I'd like to buy a bottle of Phoenix Tears."

"Ah..." Sarael apologetically smiled, "I am afraid trading Phoenix Tears is hard. They are a very expensive and important resource for our race."

Tom raised an eyebrow at that. Everyone in the anime and their mother had them. An important resource, his ass... "How much does a bottle cost?" He asked, keeping his tone polite.

After all, Sarael did not say it was impossible. Just that it was hard.

Which in reality meant, expensive.

"One bottle is twenty-five million." Sarael casually shrugged in a 'what-can-you-do' manner, causing Tom to almost choke on his saliva. No wonder Phenexes were wealthy as fuck. "I might be willing to part with one bottle but it wouldn't be cheap. At the very least you would owe me a favor and have to pay thirty million." A glint passed through Sarael's eyes.

And here it was... Tom wryly smiled. The man flawlessly led the focus on the fact he asked for five million more than the original buying price but the important part was the asked 'favor'.

Favors were something intangible. For all Tom knew, Sarael might ask him to do a wide range of things and while they should be proportional to the value of the thing exchanged for the favor, it might not be the case.

With a favor, he could basically make Tom do anything from babysitting Sona for a day to babysitting Sona for her whole life, meaning, joining her peerage.

Considering the item Tom asked for was a bottle of Phoenix Tears, an item that could save the life from almost any injury and completely restore the user, Sarael would really have a massive leeway in what he could ask for in remuneration from Tom.

It didn't matter he would pay an additional thirty million for the item. The term 'favor' was vague enough to simply fuck Tom's life over whenever Sarael wanted. And while Tom doubted the man aimed at getting Tom to join Sona's peerage, owing a favor to a devil was a massive Damocles sword over one's head.

"I don't deal in favors." Tom returned an easy smile to Sarael, causing the man to amusedly raise an eyebrow at him.

He knew Tom said it on purpose, to inform him he will never make a deal with a stipulation that he would owe him a favor. It was an amusing thing for Sarael but he simply shrugged it off. He was in this business for a long time and adopted the mindset that to each their own. Still... worth a try.

"I can give you fifty million for one bottle. If it's still impossible, then that's that." Tom added, his heart secretly bleeding from the words he just uttered.

His account balance right now was fifty-two and a half million pounds. It really hurt his fragile heart...

Sarael seemed to think about it for a moment before he gave a careful nod, "Okay. I think I can accept that." He spoke in a slow contemplative tone as if he was calculating his gains and losses and Tom's eye almost twitched at the easy acting of the bastard.

The Sitri House owned the most important and biggest hospital in the Underworld. They were the only House other than Phenexes that were most likely to have a big stash of Phoenix Tears on hand. There definitely are some agreements between the two Houses too. Important Devils visited the Sitri Hospital almost daily and there was no way for them to not have the miraculous all-healing remedy on hand whenever necessary.

Tom wouldn't be surprised if Sitri House had massive discounts on the Phoenix Tears or if the government paid most of the price for them simply for the hospital to have enough supply of them.

Paying double the price for one bottle? Tom wanted to kick himself into the shin but... he consoled himself that it was worth it. He offered such a price to get rid of the 'favor' in the deal.

Tom was sure that Sarael would accept. The sly bastard could most likely get four bottles for that kind of money and even if money was not a big issue for him, why not accept such a profitable deal? Naturally, Sarael needed to appear a bit reluctant at first to portray a proper image...

"I think this is the beginning of a very profitable relationship, Mr. Prest." Sarael spoke with satisfaction and a wide amused smile on his lips.

This time, Tom's eye really did twitch, much to the devil's rising joy.

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