Sir Gawrgaru's brow was deeply furrowed, as if he was thinking seriously about something. After a short period of contemplation, he pulled a red and blue ribbon out of his hair.

"Let's use this then."

Rushial had a blank expression on his face.

"...A hair ribbon? You're going to use a hair ribbon to seal a powerful monster?" The green-haired wizard retorted in incredulous disgust.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember anything from school? All those history lessons warning about the dangers of sealing demons with flimsy pieces of paper? It never turns out well. It just takes one tiny gust of wind or a mischievous child to pull the talisman off, and then the monster is unleashed to terrorize the entire world."

Sir Gawrgaru had a complicated expression on his face.

"Well..."

The seven-foot knight scratched his head, and he seemed to struggle with explaining himself.

"Use something indestructible at the very minimum. Like adamantium chains, a diamond ring, or a blood knife carved into the heart." Rushial continued to berate his liege in exasperation. "It obviously needs to be something sturdy that the monster can't remove. Permanent. Secure. Inescapable. Some monsters live for countless eons, so the sealing vessel need be strong enough to stay intact for a minimum of several thousand years. A million years would be ideal."

"Isn't that kind of sad though?" Sir Gawrgaru asked quietly.

"Sad? What's sad about personal safety?"

"Um... Well... Err... I mean..."

"Gawr, you have to stop being such a pushover," Rushial lectured him sternly. "Even though you're a big guy, you're such a pansy that Lord Erlan from the House of Aerieth is still bullying you years after we graduated from the Academy. Seriously, you have to stop letting him walk all over you. Take a decisive stand, and you won't need Lady Luna to protect you from schoolyard bullies anymore."

"...I wasn't bullied." Sir Gawrgaru protested.

Rushial rolled his eyes.

"Right." The wizard answered sarcastically. "Erlan definitely never extorted your lunch money. And you obviously didn't fall head-over-heals in love with Luna because she actually stood up for you? When the entire class was making fun of your weird name and laughing at your atrocious math skills?"

"...I had other friends who defended me aside from Luna..."

There was a snort in response.

"Just... never mind."

The dark wizard sighed, as if this dealing with his boss was an absolutely hopeless cause.

"Do what you want. Don't come running to me afterwards if it fails disastrously."

+ + +

Sir Gawrgaru had a sheepish expression on his face when he turned back towards Ume. He clutched his hair ribbon in his hands like a nervous schoolgirl, and the imagery was quite jarring since he was a grown man over seven feet tall. It looked like was about to give a love confession, and he seemed to hesitate every few seconds.

"Um... Well... You see..." He began hesitantly.

Ume stared at him with her enormous unblinking dragon eyes.

"...I have a hair ribbon."

The large silver-haired knight swallowed a huge lump in his throat. He averted his eyes nervously.

"Um... it's my favorite colors..."

Yes. Ume could indeed see the red and blue hair ribbon.

The knight was in fact, stating the obvious.

"And... um... it's important to me..."

Sir Gawrgaru was obviously struggling to speak.

"My mother gave to me when I was little... and... and she's not really around anymore... so... so..."

There was somber and sincere expression in his eyes.

"I... um... I would be really grateful it if you didn't break it. Please."

+ + +

Rushial rolled his eyes with his arms crossed.

"You're wasting your time, Gawr," the wizard spoke dismissively. "There's no use trying to reason with a monster. Just force the contract onto the beast and get this hassle over with."

"I think this is a good use of my time though. She — I mean, 'it' or 'they' — might be a friendly snake monster."

"It tried to kill you... I'm pretty damn sure it still wants to kill you."

"Maybe all of this was just one big misunderstanding."

"..."

"With of the power of love and friendship..."

"Please Gawr. Please. For dear gods. No! Don't you dare say it."

Rushial wanted to bang his head on the wall. As a vassal of the House of Getandmark, serving the future heir of Duke Grogar was one of his assigned responsibilities. That said, Sir Gawrgaru was a genuine nightmare to work with. Many of the household retainers struggled to defend Sir Gawrgaru's reputation and dispel all the horrible rumors that appeared every day. The publicity team was responsible for spreading propaganda that Sir Gawrgaru was a fearsome and capable hero, but false advertising and lies could only cover up the surface of a deeply flawed product.

If the public uncovered the truth of Sir Gawrgaru's true nature...

The Getandmark House would probably be ejected from the Warhawk Faction instantly. All of them would get fired from their jobs, and Rushial would have to go back to being an unfunded and homeless wizard earning pennies scrubbing dirty clothes on a washboard.

This absolutely could not be allowed to happen no matter what.

Sir Gawrgaru's reputation must be protected.

+ + +

The silver-haired knight had a solemn expression, and he started to ignore his green-haired advisor entirely at this point. Currently, all of Sir Gawrgaru's attention was focused on the bound dragon in front of him, and he was standing right in front of Ume's nose. With their size difference, it looked a lot like a giant whale face-to-face with a meager human swimmer, and Sir Gawrgaru looked especially small.

"So the way this contract works," the tiny knight explained softly, "...is that you surrender all your powers. I will control them while the contract is in effect, and you will belong to me. As your owner, you cannot harm or think malicious thoughts about me, and you must obey the commands that I give you."

There was a bitter expression on Sir Gawrgaru's face.

"I know... it sounds... really unfair... and I get it. My dad can be a little... unreasonable... at times."

He looked away momentarily.

"Maybe you might hate me right now, and I would understand why. All of this is... sort of my fault... and I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I'm honestly not... brave enough... to go against my father."

He stalled again, and the knight struggled to reformulate his words.

"I don't want to force this magical contract onto you. To me, that's just wrong without consent, even if we're enemies or totally different species. I wouldn't want to do it that way, even if it's a common thing for summoners to do with demons and magical beasts."

He looked down at his feet with his ribbon in his hands.

"You can... refuse this contract... if you want. I guess we would have to keep you chained in the courtyard swimming pool, but I can understand not wanting to be bound by soul magic. It's basically like slavery... except most people don't call it 'slavery' if it's a monster that's being kept as a pet."

There was a wry and pained smile on his face.

"The world is awfully strange, isn't it? How easily things are overlooked with a little bit of hypocrisy."

He seemed to be recalling an old and nostalgic memory.

"This ribbon is the best I can do. I'll tie it to your horns. If it falls off by itself at some point, our contract is over."

Sir Gawrgaru seemed pensive and slightly melancholy.

"Does this sound fair?" He asked quietly.

∎