'Seed of Chaos' System

Five days ago, on the Heroes' first night in the Kingdom

Han's room was dim, lit only by the moonlight that came in at an angle through the large windows. The Kingdom had been very generous in the rooms that they'd provided to the Heroes of the Special Class -- each one had been given a spacious room with a large bed, a small living area and gorgeous windows. Earlier, he'd enjoyed checking out the vases and other knicknacks the room was decorated with. Currently, however, he was busily checking his Status Window while seated cross-legged on his bed.

He was so delighted and distracted with that endeavor that he failed to notice when someone else entered the room through a window. A lithe, masculine figure clad entirely in fairly tight-fitting, black clothes snuck soundlessly across the room, approaching Han from behind. Suddenly, he seized the back of Han's neck with one hand and placed a knife at the front of his throat with the other. 

"Make a sound and you're dead," the intruder whispered in a husky voice.

Han raised his hands slowly in the universal sign of surrender. He closed his eyes and mentally shouted, Friedrich!! Help me out here, are you awake?! Someone put a knife against my throat! I don't know what to do!

The figure clad in black shifted in alarm as the Hero's demeanor changed subtly. "What did you do just now? Speak," they commanded.

"Yo assassin, are you here to kill Han?" Friedrich asked in a relaxed tone.

The figure hesitated as if confused by his words. "No, killing you is not my objective. Now answer my question."

After a moment, Friedrich responded with, "Alright then. Han called me because I'm better at dealing with this stuff. Anyway, what's your mission?"

"... Called you? Please clarify before we continue." The figure pressed the knife slightly harder against Friedrich's neck.

Sighing, Friedrich explained, "Han and I share this body. Two souls, one body. Does that help?"

The figure relaxed, stepping back and sheathing his knife. "Yes, it does. Do you have authority to speak for the both of you, then?"

Friedrich nodded and said, "Duh."

"Very well then. I have a message and a deal from the King. Are you ready to hear it?"

Friedrich nodded again, curious.

The figure clad in black took out a faintly glowing, light yellow roll of parchment and unfurled it. He began to read, "Hero Han, we have great need of you, your Class, and your skills. However, it has come to the King's attention that you are in possession of a very dangerous, evil skill known as 'Gluttony.' Possessing such a dark and evil skill is ordinarily enough to be grounds for execution. However, if you are willing to make a Binding Oath to follow the King's orders without question for one day at a future date of His Majesty's choosing, and swear to never intentionally use the skill Gluttony, he will not pursue this matter."

Friedrich tapped his chin. Even possessing 'Gluttony' was enough to be grounds for execution? How did they even know he had it, though? Perhaps they were able to acquire more information during the Appraisals than he expected. Though Han hadn't cared about it at the time, as Friedrich looked back on Han's memories, he realized that a scribe had been recording information about each Hero as the Appraisals were conducted. How sneaky of them.

"How do I know the King won't change his mind after I do what he says?" Friedrich asked.

"The Binding Oath goes both ways," the black-clad man explained. "I have the already-signed contract here."

Looking over the proffered glowing yellow contract, Friedrich searched for loopholes in the wording that would allow the King to go back on his word. He found none. Could this be a farce? Maybe. But in this world of skills and magic that Zorhellian had thrust them into, he thought it was more likely that this deal was real. If what the King wanted them to do was too much for Han, Friedrich could just take care of it for him. That's what he existed for in the first place. 

"Very well, I agree," Friedrich said. "Do you have a pen?"

The black-clad man provided him with a magic feather pen. Going over to a table, Friedrich signed the contract: "Friedrich Han."

After looking over the contract and nodding in satisfaction, the black-clad figure left the way he had come, leaving Friedrich alone in his room.

"Han, you can take over again. It wasn't anything to worry about after all."

Han blinked, back in control. Seriously? Friedrich didn't think an assassin was anything to worry about?

It wasn't an assassin, Friedrich said in his mind. It was just some servant of the King offering a deal. By the way, we'll need to do the King's orders for a day when he chooses, and never use Gluttony. That was the deal.

"Well, alright," Han replied. "I trust you, brother."

Inside his mind, Han could feel how the statement pleased Friedrich. 

"I'm not kidding," he added earnestly. "You've saved my butt more times than I can count. Especially during that last Story," he said with a shiver, clutching both arms to hug himself. Memories of that confusing time tried to surface, but he tamped them down viciously, shoving them all towards Friedrich. There was no need to remember any of that.

Inside Han, Friedrich mentally sighed. His younger brother was too naive and gentle for this, or any, world. That was why he was determined to protect him. Anything that was hard, scary, violent or vicious, Friedrich would take over for him. 

So long as Friedrich had anything to say about it, Han would forever be safe.

Five nights later, the King ordered him to play along with his charade, fooling another Hero into thinking he'd committed violence, then allowing her to use his skill on him. Friedrich had, at first, been confused as to why the King wanted him to do something so simple for their deal. He had wondered what the King was up to. When the other Hero's skill was revealed to be the ability to steal other peoples' skills by sucking their blood, he couldn't help but laugh at the King's genius. He sure was a crafty one. After letting Alesha use her skill on him, he wouldn't be able to use Gluttony, so the King would never have to worry about him using it in the first place. Had this been the King's plan from the start? No wonder the terms of the contract were so lenient.

What Friedrich wondered about was how the King would keep Alesha in check afterwards, since she now had the ability to steal both stats and skills. She was now much more of a potential danger than Han had been. Would the King have her sign a Binding Oath contract, too? 

Whatever the case, it had nothing to do with him. Friedrich had made sure that Han would be safe, and that was enough.