The mage pricked his finger with a dagger and squeezed a drop of blood onto the earring. Adrian pulled out a needle and did the same thing. The silver metal glowed a bit as it absorbed the blood.

Adrian felt a weird mental link form in his head.

"Just push your mana into the ring and picture the items," the mage said.

Adrian channeled a tiny bit of mana. Four thick books popped out of thin air and dropped into his hands. He checked the spatial space and saw it was completely empty.

He checked the books. One standard knight manual and three spell books. He flipped through the spell books and sighed. Basic offensive spells for the first three magic circles. No alchemy. No mana engineering.

’Beggars can’t be choosers.’ Adrian thought. He tucked the books under his arm.

He looked at the three men on the ground.

"Do you want a job?" Adrian asked.

Claire snapped her head to look at him and the mercenaries stared. The captive bandits looked like their brains just broke.

"You want to hire us?" the mage asked. "We just tried to kill you. How can you trust us with your life?"

"Fair point," Adrian said.

A massive grin spread across Adrian’s face. He looked like a corrupt villain about to scam some peasants. He pulled three dark red pieces of parchment from his pocket and threw them on the dirt.

"I don’t trust you at all," Adrian chuckled. "But I definitely trust a Blood Pact."

He channeled mana into his finger and started writing glowing red words on the paper.

"The rules are simple. You serve me until you die. You never intentionally harm me, my daughter, my family, or my workers." Adrian finished the first paragraph.

"In return, I pay you based on your actual worth. You work hard and you get bonuses and promotions. You aren’t slaves, you’re my employees. I’ll never force you to do anything outside your duties as a knight and a mage."

The three men read the text. It was basically a standard employment contract, just magically binding. They bit their thumbs and pressed their bloody fingerprints onto the paper.

"Welcome to the team," Adrian smiled. "Do you know how to ride a horse?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Good. Ride on the back of the mercenaries’ horses for now. I’ll buy you your own mounts at the next town."

They packed up and got moving. The trip took two days and they crossed the eastern borders and arrived at a massive county.

The local Count was a notorious womanizer who heavily taxed his people. But this city also had the biggest black market in the region. Adrian knew the Count rarely left his mansion so he didn’t really think it would be an issue.

He told the mercenaries to leave their horses at the stables and gave them a few days off. Claire and the new recruits took up guard duty at the inn.

Adrian didn’t book some cheap tavern room. He was a wealthy Baron after all, so he walked into the fanciest inn in the city and bought their best suite. Claire and the guards took the rooms across the hall. Adrian and Aria shared the main bedroom. She was too young to sleep alone in a weird city anyway.

The bumpy carriage ride had completely drained him and without much of a choice, Adrian crashed at six in the evening.

He woke up around midnight and the room was pitch black.

Aria was sleeping peacefully with her head against his chest. Her small hands gripped his shirt. Her face was buried against his chest. She looked incredibly cute. Adrian pulled her close and just hugged her, but a weird weight settled in his gut.

The webnovel plot kept creeping into his brain. The original Aria, that poor kid who was abused, hunted like an animal and finally butchered by the protagonist.

His vision blurred. He was actually crying and it made zero sense. He just felt this massive crushing pity for a girl in a timeline he was actively destroying.

’Why did they have to do you so dirty?’ Adrian thought as he wiped his face. ’Thank god I screwed up the plot by taking you with me.

He just couldn’t imagine her becoming a villain.

He shut his eyes and fell asleep.

Morning sunlight hit him right in the face. A literal heavy weight on his stomach woke him up. He cracked an eye open and saw that Aria was sitting right on his ribs. Her hands pushed down on his chest. She looked wide awake.

"Morning Papa!" Aria giggled.

Adrian smiled and he pinched her cheek. "Good morning, my sweet little angel."

She flopped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Papa, can we go shopping? I really want toys."

Adrian paused. The carriage was basically a moving armory right now. Zero space for chunky wooden blocks.

"I don’t know Aria... the carriage is totally packed. We don’t really have room to carry toys all the way home."

Aria backed off. She dug into her pocket and pulled out a small velvet pouch before she dumped it on his chest. Then she stared at her knees.

She nailed the whole guilty child routine perfectly.

"I’m sorry, Papa," Aria whispered. She looked up with big sad eyes. "I found this in the treasury at home and... I took it without asking."

Adrian raised an eyebrow as he opened the pouch. Two glowing mana crystals rolled onto his palm.

He was genuinely surprised. He had no idea that the count in charge of the territory before he took over, actually left mana crystals in the treasury. He just smiled and patted her head.

"It’s okay, sweetie. Don’t worry about it."

Aria pointed at the shiny crystals. "Can we sell those? Can we use the money to buy an earring like the one you have? Then we will have plenty of space for toys."

She grabbed his hand and started tugging his fingers.

"I want a ring like that, Papa!" Aria pleaded. She bounced on his stomach. "I want a magic ring. Please? Please?"