My Ultimate OP System: Summoning All Dragons, Gods, Heroes & Villains-Chapter 35: Valerie, A Con Woman
A few moments after that, Ethan, with some effort and Eduardo’s support, managed to get back to his feet.
As a hybrid, he had control over his nature, which is why he willed the draconic features away. His eyes returned to their normal appearance as the reptilian slits faded back into human pupils.
A few more notification screens appeared before him, but he blinked them away for later.
"You’ll need rest," Valerie began. "Not only did the seal drain you of a lot of mana, but it also took a toll on your stamina."
Of course, the mana drain was meaningless to Ethan, but he could still feel when his body was physically exhausted.
She then turned and said, "Now please transfer the money as agreed."
She walked toward her bag in the corner. Her eyes widened the moment she got closer.
"I don’t understand. Why is this opened?" she muttered, picking up the bag. She looked inside and saw no book.
Her heart dropped.
Then Ethan’s voice called out from behind her. "Are you looking for this?"
His arm was extended to the side as Albedo revealed herself from Stealth, simultaneously placing the grimoire in his palm. The demon assassin grinned deviously before disappearing into blobs of purple light.
Valerie spun around, with a mix of shock and confusion on her face. "I don’t understand, Mr. Stark. What is the meaning of this?"
Ethan met her gaze calmly. "You’ve been dishonest with us, Valerie."
Her eyes widened in terror. "What do you mean?"
Ethan began, "At first, you led us to believe you had no way of undoing my restrictions except if we could get this grimoire."
Valerie quickly interjected, "Yes, and without that grimoire, there was no undoing the sealing spell!" She pointed at it. "What are you driving at?"
"If you’ll let me finish, Valerie," Ethan said, which made her go quiet.
He continued. "After getting my hands on this grimoire, I went through it. Each spell in here is at least Tier 6 complexity, and as such, would take a lot more time for a caster, even with S-level talent, to completely memorize the patterns. The spell you just used to break that seal would take even more time than normal to master. Yet you did it in a few hours?"
Valerie threw her hands up in exasperation. "So? What then is the problem? That I learned how to do a spell a lot faster?"
Ethan’s tone sharpened as he pointed directly at her. "The problem is this. You lied and only used us to get this grimoire from the Le Gris. You didn’t just learn how to do that spell today. You always knew how to do it."
Valerie’s eyes widened.
Before she could speak, Ethan continued. "If this grimoire was the price for undoing the seal, why not just lead with it? Why did you think it was the smarter choice to manipulate us into getting it from Jamen? Which, by the way, could have gone way worse than it did today, leaving us at war with a whole family of brutish werewolves."
Valerie stared, she was dumbfounded while hearing all of this.
Ethan pressed on. "You made us pay a hundred and fifty gold grits for every half hour you spent here, and we did that for at least seventeen hours prior to earlier today. You wanted us to pay you an additional five thousand. But you’ve dealt with us in bad faith, Valerie."
He raised the grimoire. "This is proof." Then he added, "And since you already knew this spell, it’d be foolish not to think you don’t know the restrictions you just undid with it. Which begs the question, can we trust that we truly bought your silence about everything that happened here today?"
There was a brief pause before he added, "Short answer? No, we can’t. For all I know, you could take all that money and still run your mouth out there about it all."
"Okay, fine, fine," Valerie began. She raised her hands in a gesture that was supposed to look apologetic, but her posture too defensive to come across as genuinely remorseful.
"I’m sorry, okay? Yes, you’re right. No use denying it now. I always knew how to cast the spell. More than that, I know who you are, Ethan Alexander Stark. I was right there when Granny Jenner placed those seals on you. I know what your father feared you’d become."
"Hm.." Ethan muttered.
There was a brief pause before she added, "When your butler brought me to you, I immediately knew who I was dealing with. But can you really blame me? I saw an opportunity and I took it. I’m sorry for how you must feel about it, but on the bright side, I did the job. So, I will be needing that grimoire back. Kindly return it."
She stretched her hand forward firmly.
Ethan chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, you poor thing. What makes you think it’ll go that way?"
He looked almost amused now. "I do not renege on agreements, and you’re lucky I think over ten thousand gold grits is still a fair price for undoing the seal." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
He raised the grimoire again, showing it to her. "But see this grimoire? This was never part of the agreement. So it’s mine now, Valerie. Eduardo will pay you the five thousand as agreed, and you can fuck right off."
He motioned toward the exit.
With that, Ethan turned and proceeded to leave while Eduardo followed behind him quietly.
Right after they walked past the visibly distraught Hemilton, she spoke in a solemn voice. "I’m sorry, but I can’t let you keep that."
Ethan stopped in his tracks and tilted his head slightly before turning back toward her. "Oh?"
"The Hemilton family has not been what it used to be," Valerie said, pointing at the grimoire. "But with that grimoire, I may finally be able to bring the family back to what it once was. So no, Mr. Stark. You will not be keeping it. I will not let this opportunity fly past me."
Two magic circles appeared before her hands, glowing red.
"You don’t need to pay the five thousand anymore," she said. "Just return the grimoire, and I’ll be on my way."
Eduardo moved forward, his hand placed on the hilt of his blade. But Ethan held up a hand and said, "Hold on, Eduardo."
The butler turned with a puzzled expression. "Master Ethan?"
Ethan nodded calmly at Eduardo, then walked forward instead with a grin spreading across his face.
"Don’t kid yourself, Hemilton. I know that undoing that spell took a lot more from you than it did me. Even as a caster with S-level talent, you don’t have much mana left to carry on with a fight."
Valerie took a fighting stance in response as her magic circles still glowed.
Ethan sighed. "Very well. If you must insist on this foolishness..."
He stopped mid-sentence.
"Come, Nina."
And right then, a magic circle appeared on the ground before him. A high wave of reddish mana erupted from the circle, swirling violently.
Both Eduardo and Valerie stared with awestruck expressions as the summon materialized before them.
A young woman emerged from the circle, she had long red hair flowing wildly like flames caught in the wind. Two black, curved dragon horns jutted from her head, and her red eyes with reptilian slits gleamed with fierce intensity.
She wore dark armor, which barely did nothing to cover her full, perfectly rounded breasts that seemed to defy gravity.
One of her gauntleted hands held a long sword while the left one gripped the edges of a massive spiked shield nearly as tall as she was.
There was raw power radiating from this legendary class summon.
Ethan extended both hands to the side and said, "Shall we?"
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"BAD FAITH" : A term in law which refers to Dishonesty or Fraud in Transaction. It is an intentional act to mislead and deceive the other party.
