“H-How? Y-You? How do you have this?” Letti asked, her face filled with surprise as she stared at the special grade doping shot.
“I just do. Now say yes,” Anon replied, a smile playing on his lips as he glanced at Seti and Ren.
“Okay,” Seti responded, signing some papers and handing them to Letti.
“So, you signed it, huh, Ms. Letti? I thought you and your little Anon were going to chicken out,” Seti remarked with an attitude.
“You just lost three blank mana contracts, and you still have that much attitude. You know I can make you dance naked in the middle of this ground, right?” Letti taunted.
Seti’s expression turned tense and serious, but it quickly transformed into a smile as she spoke.
“Want to bet again, Ms. Letti?” Seti asked with a cunning smile on her foxy face.
“What? You want to lose again?” Letti asked, a smile gracing her face.
“Well, we will see about that. Just say, bet or no bet?” Seti challenged Letti with another mocking smile in hopes that letti will bet with her again.
“What do you want to bet now? Another mana contract?” Letti inquired as she looked at seti with a smile.
“Not just one mana contract, but six mana contracts. You destroy all of my previous contracts and give me three new contracts of yours. But if I am defeated, I will give you six more mana contracts instead,” Seti proposed as she wanted to match the score to zero from her side and win some of Letti’s mana contracts.
“Well, we can do that, but-”
“How about twelve mana contracts?” Letti countered swiftly as her expressions turned into a menace.
“What!?” Seti exclaimed, a look of surprise spreading across her face.
“Yes, if you want to bet, why not bet big?” Letti declared confidently.
‘Is she bluffing? Or do they also have doping shots?’ Seti wondered in her mind, her instincts alert.
“What? Do you want to bet or not?” Letti pressed, exerting pressure on Seti to accept it before something comes to her mind.
‘No, she has to be bluffing. How can commoners like them have doping shots? Special grade mana potions are one thing, but doping shots are very expensive and made by the finest alchemists. How can someone like her possess one? Yet, something feels off, my instincts are telling me that i should reject it but my mind is telling me to accept it.’ Seti thought, contemplating the situation.
“Okay, I will take that as a no,” Letti spoke as she began walking back towards Anon.
“Wait, I agree,” Seti halted her, speaking from behind.
“Let’s make a pact this time,” Letti proposed. .
A pact is a mutual agreement signed between two parties by inserting their mana into a mana circle, sealing the agreement. The one who breaks it becomes unable to use magic forever.
“What? Why this time?” Seti asked, puzzled.
“I just want to do it,” Letti replied.
“Okay,” Seti agreed.
“I call upon the gods to witness this promise made between us, with their mana source on the line. May the gods take it away if any of us break it,” Letti chanted, a red magic circle imprinted with mystical symbols appearing between them, suspended in the air.
Letti extended her hand and touched one side of the circle.
[State your terms], a voice emanated from the magic circle.
“If Ren wins, I, Letti, will give Mrs. Seti nine blank mana contracts and cancel her previous contracts that she gave me,” Letti spoke as she grasped a glowing handle-like line within the magic circle.
[Do you accept the terms?] the magic circle confirmed with Seti.
Seti glanced at Letti, pondering for a moment. After a second, she also took hold of the other side of the handle and replied, “I accept.”
[Locking the Pact. The one who breaks the pact will have their mana source destroyed.]
The circle spoke as it transitioned from red to green and vanished.
Suddenly, both Letti and Seti felt a chain binding their hearts.
“Well, let’s meet after the race,” Letti said, beginning to walk toward Anon. However, something crossed her mind.
Letti recalled that she had one of the special grade doping shots in her pocket, taken from Anon.
Without much hesitation, Letti pulled out the bottle of doping shot and let it fall onto the grass as if it had slipped out of her pocket by mistake.
“Oops, I dropped something,” Letti stated, bending down to retrieve the bottle of the special grade doping shot.
Hearing this, Seti turned around to see what Letti had dropped. As her eyes widened in surprise and fear, she exclaimed, “Wait!!!”
“Yes, Mrs. Seti? Is something the problem?” Letti looked at Seti, wearing a mocking smile.
“Do you think this trick will work on me? Hahaha… never. Showing me a fake special grade doping shot? Do you want to prove that a commoner like you can afford an expensive doping shot like that? Even we can’t buy them, Hahaha,” Seti laughed, assuming that Letti was attempting to undermine her confidence before the race even started.
“Well, we can only find out once the race starts, right?” Letti replied, retrieving the doping shot and proceeding towards Anon.
“Do whatever you want, bitch, but this was the worst way for you to make me regret my decision. Ren will definitely win this race. You want me to believe you have a special grade doping shot? Yeah, in your dreams. Only the House of Alchemists produces them, and even they don’t manufacture them in large quantities. Why would they provide one to commoners like you? Nice strategy, but sadly, it failed,” Seti thought, smiling as she returned to Ren and explained everything to him.
“So, which dope shot do I have?” Ren asked Seti.
“Here,” she replied, revealing a small bottle filled with thick red liquid.
“What is this?”
“A doping agent that can erase any pain for two hours and surpass human limits with ease,” Seti explained.