“What do you mean you lost your memories? Don’t you still remember stuff about cultivating? Aren’t you supposed to be a sort of guide for me or something?”, Aiden was a bit taken aback about the whole memory-loss thing.

“Well uh, there might have been some teeeeny tiiiny problems while I was transporting my consciousness across worlds and apparently many of the more intricate arts and battle skills have been forgotten by me. I think I should be able to remember them if I just took a look at them or at books referencing them though. And about cultivation, that is basic knowledge that I wouldn’t be able to forget no matter what. It’s like a language that becomes integrated into your memory. IT COMES NATURALLY OK??!!”

Aiden sighed, “Fine nevermind. Do you remember anything else?”

“I also do remember the basics of alchemy, formations, blacksmithing, seal inscriptions and such. And believe me, my foundations in every one of these are strong. However the higher realms and masteries of these occupations have slipped out of my mind.”

But before they could continue the conversation, fatso Jack’s scream could be heard from inside the house. 

“FATHER! AIDEN IS SLACKING OFF YET AGAIN!”

“And that sounds like trouble.” Aiden sighed. He had started sighing way too much ever since Denzel intruded upon his peace of mind.

After a few minutes he was called upstairs by Jack under the summons of Mr. Jefferson.

Entering his room, Aiden found the room dyed yellowish red with the light from the fireplace. The curtains were drawn and the room was relatively dark for the morning.

Mr. Jefferson was sitting on an armchair with his left leg crossed on top of the other. He was wearing loose bluish hued robes and was looking at Aiden with sharp authoritative eyes.

“I heard you were sleeping yesterday in the fields when you were supposed to look after the cows and were even slacking off when Jack clearly told you to chop firewood for the day.” Mr. Jefferson started speaking.

Aiden kept listening quietly while looking down

“IF you keep slacking off like this, you are never going to pay off your debt of life that you owe me for having saved you.”

At this point Denzel spoke in Aiden’s head, “ What a huge farce. Why are you still staying here and listening to this mortal?”

“But”, Aiden spoke in his head as Mr. Jefferson continued to reprimand him, “What else am I supposed to do?”

“Leave of course, what else?”, Denzel said impatiently.

“Oh of course. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?”, Aiden replied sarcastically.

“AIDEN! Are you even listening?”, At this point Mr. Jefferson shouted.

Aiden thought for a bit.’ I have Denzel with me now, and I know I am stronger than I was before. While I think I could fend for myself outside but what if I can’t?’ As contradicting thoughts crept up into his mind, Mr Jefferson’s voice grew louder as he reprimanded him.

‘Oh damn it all. I’ll take my chances.’

Finally Aiden interrupted Mr. Jefferson.

“Sir.”, at this word, Mr. Jefferson went silent, keen to hear what the kid had to say.

“I …..I want to leave this place. You keep telling me I must work to pay off my debts but I’ve been working for 12 years now with no end in sight. What else do you want?”, Aiden’s tone was bold and firm.

“Oh you are gonna leave? You are gonna run away?Ha ha ha.”, Mr. Jefferson replied with a snarl, “And how do you think you are going to survive in the world? Where will you take shelter, find food? If I hadn’t let you stay in the shed and eat from my house then you’d have starved to death long ago.”

“FINE! I’ll repay it all. Tell me how much do I owe you in gold?”, Aiden had learned from Matilda that gold and silver coins were the things used in society for any form of trade. Gold coins had value and they could be used. Aiden understood that.

The landlord looked at him for a while until he voiced out “Ten thousand.”

Jack, who was standing in a corner observing the events with shock, let out a gasp, “But fathe…”, but he couldn’t finish his sentence because Mr. Jefferson had started speaking again.

“If you can gather ten thousand gold coins and pay me this sum by the end of one year’s time, then I’ll consider your debt paid. But if you fail to do so then you will have to work for me for the rest of your life. How does that sound?”.

Aiden was a bit shocked. He knew that 1 gold coin could help cover the cost of 3 decent meals. Taking that as a reference, ten thousand gold coins was in fact, an astronomical sum for him.

“Fine I agree”, Aiden said with clenched fists. He had made up his mind about leaving and he wasn’t going to stop now.

“Very well then I’ll place a seal on your body that will make sure you can’t run away and void this contract.”

Saying this the Landlord proceeded to get up and walk towards Adrian as a glowing green seal formed in the palm of his hand.

“Wait! Stop him, something’s wrong with the seal.”, Denzel exclaimed urgently.

Aiden trusted him and backed away a few steps as he said, “Wait sir!”

“That seal won’t just bind you to the contract but will force you to forfeit your life if you are able to successfully fulfill your part of the contract.”, Denzel explained.

“What? Backing out of your decision now? Not a very grown up thing to do Aiden.”, Mr. Jefferson said while he expressed some obviously fake disappointment.

Aiden gave a slight smile, “Of course not sir. But I was just saying that there’s something wrong with the seal you’ve formed.”

Jack spoke up, infuriated by Aiden’s words to his father. “What would an idiotic brat like you know about seals? How dare you try to accuse my father of such……”, But right there, the landlord interrupted him by raising his hand signaling silence.

All this while his eyes had never left Aiden.

“Fine you win” suddenly a few shapes on the glowing seal on his palm changed and he walked towards Aiden once more.

“Denzel, does the seal look fine this time?”, Aiden asked.

“Yes, it fits your contract. Although I would have preferred just running away without any of this drama, I guess I shouldn’t force you regarding decisions that you take for your peace of mind. If this is how you want it to go then I don’t care.”  Denzel voiced his opinion.

Thereafter, the landlord came and pressed the seal onto the back of Aiden’s palm.

After going back to his seat, the landlord finally said, “You are free to go”

Aiden paused for a moment feeling the seal at the back of his palm. He realized it was imprinted through mana and couldn’t be seen with the naked eye unless he poured mana into the seal, in which case, it'd become a dull green symbol that glowed under his skin.

He looked at the landlord. “Goodbye sir……I’ll see you in a year.”

With this he turned around and walked to the doorway.

Conveniently enough for him, today was the day Matilda had to go for groceries and there was a horse drawn carriage waiting outside to take her to town. Aiden decided to ask Matilda and hitch a ride, to which she gladly agreed.

“You are finally all grown up huh?”, she said. “After 12 years of living here you finally decided to go and experience the world outside. Here’s something for you. I sewed them by hand.”

Matilda passed him a clean set of new clothes. This included a long sleeved, loose white shirt, and brownish black, fitting trousers.

Aiden was a speechless. Sure Matilda had been good to him but he had never expected her to gift him something.

Matilda noticed his expression and said “Now don’t think too hard on it. It’s a huge thing for you to be finally going out. You don’t expect to roam around in rags in the town now do you?”

Aiden stifled a cry. “Thank you Miss Matilda.”

He ran back to the barnshed and changed into his clothes quickly.

When he came back, he had cleaned his face and applied a bit of water on his head to settle his ruffled black hair. His dark brown eyes shone with happiness at having received something new for the first time.

“Looking good, child.”, Matilda gave him a smile, “Well, let’s set off then.” and she climbed onto the back of the carriage.

Just when Aiden was about to board the carriage, Jack’s voice sounded behind him, “Hold up Aiden! Father wanted me to ask you. Who taught you about seals?”

Aiden smiled and his lips parted to utter two words, after which he climbed onto the carriage with Matilda and departed.

The landlord was waiting in his study when Jack returned.

“Well then, what did he say about who taught him about seals?”

Jack took a moment to catch his breath as his fat stomach bobbed up and down, after which he replied.

“He was spouting utter nonsense father; just ridiculous jokes……”

“Did I ask for your opinion? Just tell me what he said.”, Mr. Jefferson interrupted his son.

Finally Jack replied with a confused face, “He said the one who told him about seals was....”

“...a  god.”