Became the Unjust Contract Slave of the Archamage’s Book

“Archmage?” Priya repeated her sister’s words like a parrot, unable to believe what she had just heard. “Wait a minute, sister. What do you mean by becoming an Archmage?”

– A preserved dream cannot last forever,

Elfenbine replied. 

-This dream has aged so much that it’s starting to crack and creak. Therefore, someone needs to continue weaving the dream. The Archmage is the most suitable person to do this.

“What?” Priya was still trying to wrap her head around it.

-So, you should cheer for Binaeril. If the world is consumed by someone’s dream… Priya, whose dream would you prefer to live in? Binaeril’s or the Book of Truth’s?

Finally, a question she could answer.

Binaeril or the Book of Truth.

In essence, the question was asking which world she wanted to live in—one ruled by Binaeril or by the twisted fragments she’d encountered. The fragments she had come across were all warped, broken, and utterly terrifying. She doubted that anyone, herself included, would want to live in a world ruled by them.

On the other hand, Binaeril…

At the very least, he was better than those cursed fragments.

“Of course, I’d choose Binaeril!”

– I thought you might,.

Elfenbine responded.

“Right?” Priya finally found herself agreeing with her sister, which was a rare occurrence.

-So, cheer for Binaeril.

“Then let’s gather our strength and take down that fragment together… Wait, what?”

-Hm?

“What do you mean by cheering?”

“Not fighting the fragment?”

Elfenbine shook her head.

-That’s not our role.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Priya clicked her fingers a few times, trying to sort out her thoughts. “So, the point of what you’re saying is this: between Binaeril and that thing in the Book of Truth, if I have to choose, I choose Binaeril. But what difference does that make?”

-You can hope for his victory.

“…Hope? That’s all we can do? We can’t team up with Binaeril to fight the fragment?”

Elfenbine shook her head again.

-That’s impossible. Our role is to be judges. That is our calling.

“I never agreed to that!”

-A calling isn’t something you can refuse.

“Then we just need to get support from those outside, right? It doesn’t have to be just us. There’s an enormous army out there, you know? From the Empire to the Allied Nations, soldiers and mages, everyone from the Western Emperor to the Eastern Dwarf King, they’re all gathered and waiting for Binaeril.”

-Such forces are meaningless.

“This is so frustrating! What do you want, sister? What are you trying to achieve?” Priya shouted in exasperation.

“I understand.” 

The calm voice didn’t belong to Priya. It came from Kaya, who stepped forward and approached the slumbering Binaeril.

“So, we just need to believe that Binaeril will win, right? That’s simple.”

Kaya walked up to Binaeril, sat down beside him, and clasped her hands together, gazing quietly at his face.

“What are you doing?” Priya asked.

“Praying.”

“Do you really think that’ll make a difference?”

“Of course.”

“Are you an idiot?” Priya snapped, her tone sharp and dismissive. But Kaya responded with unwavering confidence.

“This is what we’re meant to do.”

“What?” Priya asked, perplexed.

“You know, what we and everyone outside are doing,” Kaya replied.

“And what is that?”

“Earnestly wishing.”

Priya thought her sister was mocking her. She didn’t know her sister well enough to realize that Kaya never joked.

“You mean what a mage does.”

“…A mage?”

“Yes.” Kaya tapped her fingers against her temple. “Earnestly wishing, following through with what you wish for, and believing without doubt that the world will accept your imagination.”

“……”

“Isn’t that what we do?”

Elfenbine nodded slightly, a satisfied expression on her face.

Priya was at a loss for words. Her sister was right.

-Don’t misunderstand, Priya,

Elfenbine added gently. 

-Our wishes aren’t meaningless. As Kaya said, this is what we do.

“Tch. It sounds foolish.”

Despite her words, Priya walked over to Binaeril’s side with a disgruntled step. She sat down with a huff.

“And how is this supposed to help?” she muttered gruffly, though her hands clasped together gently.

Kaya smiled faintly and placed her hands over her sister’s.

Elfenbine continued, 

-Binaeril has had all his mana drained by the fragment.

“What?” Priya immediately extended her senses to scan Binaeril’s body.

It was true. Not a single thread of mana remained.

“You should’ve told me that first! Then there’s no chance he can win!”

-That’s why we sent him into the preserved dream, 

Elfenbine explained. 

-To give him time to prepare for the final battle.

“And how is that any better?”

-Time flows much more slowly inside the dream than it does here. It helps Binaeril break out of his shell.

But even that had its limits.

‘We don’t have much time,’ Elfenbine thought.

She could only keep the Book of Truth contained for a few more hours. Binaeril might have a few days within the dream, but given that they hadn’t heard anything yet, time was running dangerously short.

*Rumble…*

The black crystal vibrated once more.

All three sisters glared at the Book of Truth trapped within the crystal.

*Hum…*

It almost seemed as though the book was speaking to them, taunting them.

-Wait right there. I’ll break these chains, come out, and devour you all. Then it will be my world.

Elfenbine bit her lower lip, anxiety gnawing at her.

Then.

*Hum!*

A low resonance sounded from the opposite side of the crystal.

Binaeril’s body began to levitate slightly.

“W-What’s happening?” Priya exclaimed.

Elfenbine immediately understood what it meant.

Binaeril had done it.

As if triggered by this signal, the chaotic room around the nymphs began to stabilize. The disorienting sense of direction began to return to normal.

At least now, the ceiling wasn’t running beneath their feet and the floor wasn’t hanging over their heads.

Elfenbine offered her sisters a reassuring smile, her eyes soft with relief.

– Binaeril is fighting back,

* * *

“Well, well, what on earth makes you so confident, acting like an arrogant fool…!” 

*Crack! Crackle!*

As if mocking Professor Freud’s scolding, a sound began to emanate from the cube. It wasn’t to the point of shattering the cube entirely as before; it seemed Binaeril didn’t yet possess that level of power. But still, the cube was clearly breaking.

The look on Professor Freud’s face, utterly stunned, was priceless.

With the shocked professor and students as the backdrop, the scene around Binaeril suddenly froze. Everything around him, as if painted on a canvas, receded into the distance, the world once again fading into grayscale.

-First trial, passed. Congratulations!

“Phew.” 

Binaeril finally let out a sigh. The scene had been so identical to his memories that, for a moment, he had felt as though he had truly returned to the past.

“This was just the first one?”

-Yup!

“How many more of these are there?”

-That depends on you.

“……”

It seemed that breaking the boulder (or rather, getting crushed by it repeatedly) and this recent test counted as one and the same. This meant that the upcoming trials would likely be just as challenging.

-So, are you going to give up?

Eden teased him with a subtle tone.

-If you want, I can let you out right now.

“If I leave now, what’s waiting for me…?”

-A fragment drooling at the thought of devouring you, I’d imagine.

Binaeril flexed his fingers, opening and closing his hands a few times, recalling the magic he had just cast with them. 

The first moment of awakening magic is always exhilarating. For Binaeril, this was his second such experience. 

But.

‘I can’t fight Veritas with just the basics. Not even close.’

No one understood this better than Binaeril himself.

-To ease your mind, the upcoming trials will all be based on your memories.

That was somewhat reassuring. It’s better to face something familiar than something entirely unknown.

“Alright. What’s the next trial?”

-If you’ve dealt with inanimate objects, now it’s time to take on something that moves!

The way Eden put it made Binaeril’s previous struggles seem almost insignificant.

‘Just inanimate objects, huh…’

It was those “inanimate objects” that had killed him more than a dozen times.

“By something that moves, do you mean a demon?”

-Yep!

Binaeril felt confident when it came to demons. He had faced countless types before.

‘Wait a minute. Can I really take on a demon by myself right now?’

He realized there was a gap between his past experience and his current abilities. Seeing Eden’s confident expression suddenly made fear creep in. 

In this dream, Eden was more terrifying than even Veritas.

“Eden. Before we start, let me clarify something. You said the trials are all based on my memories. Are you sure about that?”

-Of course! Have I ever lied to you?

“That sounds awfully familiar…”

It was something Veritas often said.

“Can you at least tell me what I’m going to face?”

-You’ll find out soon enough, so why bother?

It was strange how much Eden resembled Veritas in certain ways. Perhaps she had picked up some traits during their time together. With Eden being uncooperative, Binaeril had no choice but to speculate on his own.

The best way to deal with a demon was to identify it and prepare accordingly. 

‘If it’s the demon I fought right after mastering magic, it would be the Dire Wolf. That wouldn’t be too hard. The next one I encountered was the Wild Hound. In the worst-case scenario, it could be a Minotaur or a Gargoyle…’

Binaeril felt that he could probably handle a top-tier medium-sized demon. As long as it wasn’t a large one.

And in the absolute worst case, Binaeril had a last resort.

‘In this dream, I can revive without limit.’

-So, are you ready? Good luck!

“…Luck?” 

Even the mention of luck made him uneasy.

Would he really need luck to face this demon?

His worry soon proved to be more than just baseless anxiety.

*Hisssss—* 

The sound of slick scales slithering across the ground. The stench of damp, oozing slime filled the air. 

Binaeril’s arms broke out in goosebumps.

It was a sensation he could never forget.

“Could it be…?”

No, it couldn’t be.

*Slither… Slither…* 

As Binaeril’s mind raced with fear and doubt, that ominous sound grew closer.

Now, it was visible.

A massive green head, large enough to swallow Binaeril whole.

*Hissss!*

It felt as though a hundred worms were crawling across his skin. The head of the serpent, now close enough to strike, flicked its tongue and fixed its gaze on Binaeril.

But that wasn’t the only head.

As the first head noticed Binaeril, others began to rise from the connected body.

Finally, the last head appeared, far larger than the others, with gleaming golden scales.

Yes, there was no doubt.

It was the last thing Binaeril had ever wanted to face again.

“A Hydra…!”

A fledgling mage, barely taking his first steps, against one of the apex predators in the food chain—a Hydra.

It was a hopeless match, no matter how you looked at it.

“Eden! This is too much!” Binaeril yelled.

But before his desperate plea could even reach her, Eden had already vanished, fleeing to who-knows-where.