NOVEL WEB Chapter 361: Deal.
"Are you serious!?" Laura asked with a shocked expression.
Loki nodded without any hesitation as Laura looked at him with a frown.
"Are you serious?" She asked again with her expression turning serious.
Loki spoke in the same serious tone, "I know what I'm asking. But that is the only way I'll agree. And above all, it might be the only safe way you have to save your husband. You're welcome to try if you think otherwise."
Laura kept staring into Loki's eyes for a while until she broke eye contact with a small *sigh*.
"I still remember what you asked me when I first told you about my husband.", Laura said rubbing her nose bridge.
Loki couldn't understand why Laura was bringing that up now, but he remained silent.
"You told me why I would think you would be able to do something like this. Do you remember what I told you then?" Laura asked looking at Loki again.
"....you told me people like me who know a lot of things are more likely to come across things like this…?" Loki said trying to repeat the words he had heard back then.
"I guess I wasn't wrong huh…" Laura said with a frown. "But I don't think you know how dangerous Time Turners are for you wanting to 'experiment' with them."
Loki frowned and explained, "Then you're free to do as you wish with the information I've provided you."
Loki was about to turn away and leave when Laura spoke out in a softer tone.
"It'll take me time."
Loki stopped and slowly turned around. "How long?"
"About a year."
"....? So you agree?"
Laura *sighed* deeply before pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head, "I agree. But I will only allow you to do what you want after you bring my husband back."
Loki's eyes sharpened since he couldn't just trust her word in that case so he asked, "Make a contract with me."
Laura's eyes sharpened too since that meant Loki wasn't bullshitting or lying to her when he said he had a way to bring her husband back.
Loki and Laura looked at each other with an evaluating gaze, like one does when betting on horses, before setting up a quick ritual to form a contract between them notarised by the Sun Goddess.
"Won't the contract be easy to break since you're a saint?" Loki asked just to pretend to be a little stupid about how strong she was, and he even wanted to she how she would respond to the question to judge how he would handle her going forward.
"No. It will be especially harsh on me because I'm a Saint. I work for a Saint of the Bard Pathway and my boss doesn't like people who break their promises. And my own acting for my lower sequence goes against breaking or walking out of my own promises. I'd lose control and turn into a monster before I'd get to see the contract break."
Loki nodded, 'So she works for Bones?'
'That wasn't really a surprise since she's the only other pole in the ministry apart from the Greengrass family and Dumbledore.'
Loki was satisfied with the reasonable explanation and proceeded to accept the golden contract that was hovering in the air in front of him.
A faint hot aura slipped into his body and tied around his soul, just like it did when he'd signed a contract with Helena, and the ritual slowly ended.
With their promises done, Laura looked at Loki and asked him a different question.
"So you've been the source of the rumour? Granting people's wishes?"
"Ah…that was another thing I wanted to ask permission for, that's why I called you here."
"....what are you trying to do?"
"Nothing too important…just trying to get one of my Mystical Items to work. I promise I'm not trying to get an Evil God to descend though." Loki said with a smile.
Seeing he clearly didn't want to reveal much about the situation, Laura only asked another question, "Is it related to your request to defeat the demon at the end of the year?"
"Well it kind of is. I also wanted to warn you that the Ministry is probably corru-"
Before Loki could continue to speak, Laura had whipped out her wand and cast a spell to shut his mouth.
Laura's eyes narrowed dangerously before she spoke after assuring there was no one around.
Loki waved his own wand and lifted the spell as he spoke with an annoyed expression.
"No, no one's around. I checked."
"You don't need to say anymore. I already know about it. I can't make any big moves yet, but my eyes constantly watch them. That's the only reason why I hadn't already come to check you out. Since whatever you've been doing has been hindering whatever they're planning."
Loki's eyes narrowed at the information every so slightly but he didn't let his demeanor be affected by it.
"Thank you I guess?"
"Don't worry about it. As long as you don't do something stupid or really wrong I won't interfere."
"Alright then. Have a good night Madam Drake." Loki said and with a nod vanished from his spot as he apparated in Hogsmeade, from where he sneaked into Hogwarts undetected under the disguise of his illusions.
Back in Hogwarts, Loki first entered his room.
"How much longer until your potion digests Sunny?"
"Hmm…about a couple more weeks if we keep going to Knockturn Alley once every two or three days."
"I see." Loki nodded. "Let's do that then. I need you for my plan in the future."
"You've always needed me. Either way, I'm going to the spirit world to rest."
"Rest?" Loki asked with a dubious smile.
"Arghh. Fine, I'm going there to have fun!" Sunny said with an annoyed huff before he opened a tear in space and entered the spirit world.
After Sunny left Loki left his room to go to the Room of Requirements.
Once inside, Loki walked up to the shelves to pick up the first book he remembered seeing, something that would help him progress immensely with magic.
'Intricacies of Magic. By Rowena Ravenclaw.'
It was a hardcover book with a royal blue silky cloth used as its cover.
Loki had avoided touching the books till now since he was focusing most of his time filling the Disk of Wishes. But now that he was freed of most of his burdens and only needed to go act like a dream stealer just a few times in the week to help Sunny, he finally turned towards Rowena's books.
'Perhaps one of them will have an answer on what price I can pay to make the gods want to accept a grand ritual from me.'
'Besides…'
Loki pulled out the Error Card of Blasphemy, teleporting it to his hand from the Sefirah Castle, and opened it to the Sequence 4 Parasite page.
His eyes landed on the small part of the page titled 'Ritual'.
'Drink the advancement potion at the end of orchestrating a grand event that completely usurps the expectations and dreams of various people involved. The event must involve at least one demigod. The more the better.'
Loki's eyes and fingers, both traced the straightforward lines written in the book.
'I have a vague plan about what I want to do…but I'm still not prepared enough for it all.'
'I could just use you-know-who…'
'But this will be tricky.'
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A/N : Here's your extra chapter! Enjoy!!!! Thank you for reading!! I hope you all had fun!!! Year Four is going to end soon!
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