Jay then realized the hundred million part!
"No, no, I don't want money!" He pushed the card back to the younger demon while looking at the older demon. How could he take such a huge amount of money?
The older demon nodded in approval and then spoke, "Kid, I'm investing in you. You can break ancient curses; if this is known by others, they will come here and try to sway you to their side. So this card can serve as protection, too. And another thing is that I want to stay with you so I can learn more and be away from the hustle and bustle of the city."
Jay was still not so sure about it.
"What my grandpa means is that he wants to watch when you undo curses so he can laugh at those old guys."
The older demon glared at the younger one, but he didn't change the answer. Jay never thought that the cat demon was such a kind of cat, a cat who liked to laugh at others.
"And also, we can launch you as our guy. This is your first payment; maybe you can earn more later. But we won't bind you to us."
Jay was so speechless that the ghost answered for him.
"My kid needs to search for his family so he can't stay here his whole life."
"It's okay, we accept that!"
The ghost then nodded at Jay. It was honestly the best deal for him. He won't be bullied here, and he could get paid. How nice was this arrangement? And he could do this without learning magic, that was the best thing; otherwise, he was sure that the sinister kind of guys would capture him once they knew he had no magic powers.
"Okay, grandpa, my sister will stay with you. She is old enough to leave the clan."
___
So, the next day, a kitten arrived and promptly caused chaos. Jay thought that the sister would be an adult, but she was a kid, a nine-year-old kid who liked to smash stuff. She liked to perch on the table and drop things.
"I'm sorry, her cat instincts get the better of her."
The ghost familiar liked to hover near her and watch her so the damage could be minimized, but the kitten doubled it all during the night when the ghost went to rest. It was not concerning Jay as much as it was to the ghost, who liked to keep the house meticulously. This made the cat demon shift his circular home beside their home, and the cats went to live at their place under the happy sighs of the ghost familiar.
Then slowly, people started arriving.
The first one was a wizard who was cursed not to grow hair.
"See, how bad it is! No witch wants to date me!"
He was a tall wizard called Randall, and he was already thirty and hadn't married yet.
"Who cursed you then?"
"I went to a wizard duel, and a lady beside me liked the guy who dueled my favorite guy. She cursed me because I told her he guy would never win a match."
Well, the witches had hot tempers. Jay understood that, but this was abnormal, right?
"What else? Listen, if you don't tell me the complete truth, I can't undo the spell."
"I said that her guy wore wigs and wore height-increasing insoles, and I cut her hair accidentally!"
Oh, so she wanted revenge for her cut hair?
"I think, if you apologize to her, she will take the spell back!"
The guy was incredulous.
"How could that be?"
Ask her to come here, and I will undo the spell for you!"
Jay actually saw a small blue line extending from his hair, and he guessed that the other end was connected to the girl, so only when they came together could he break it.
When he told this to the ghost, the ghost was happy as a kite.
"You can see spell lines? Wow, no one could do that till now. What difference does your nonexistence of powers make? You can just mess up the spells when you see them. I'm so happy."
The ghost flew with happiness. Jay was happy too because arriving in the magical world without any prior powers made him feel weak. And no matter how he tried, he couldn't sense magic. He was scared, but the hairless guy had helped him immensely.
He could see spell lines; maybe that could become his career now. He was already one step closer to finding his sisters.
Jay liked to walk in the forest, hoping he could find more about his powers, and the area was protected by the cat demon, so he wasn't worried about his safety.
He whistled and walked, jumping over the branches, and hummed a song.
A knife flew over his head and lodged in the tree before him. He turned back, and before he could see, he collapsed.
___
Jay woke up with a headache. He opened his eyes to darkness. Where was he?
"You are up!"
It was a girl's voice.
"Where am I?"
"Underground!"
"Who are you? Why am I with you?"
The girl spoke unhurriedly as if they were talking about their favorite movie.
"We are kidnapped, and soon, they will take us out for a blood ritual."
That wasn't a piece of good news. And why was she so calm about it?
"You aren't scared?"
She shook her head, but Jay couldn't see that action in the darkness. He was scared. He didn't know much about blood rituals, but the name suggested sacrifices, and this time the sacrifice included him.
Jay felt dread pooling in his stomach, and before he could speak, the door opened above their heads, and they were pulled. He then noticed a strap all over him. It was as thin as a strand of hair but stronger than any rope.
He saw that he was pulled into the centre of a huge circle, and there were concentric circles inside it. He stood there thinking about how to run away.
"Brothers, why did you bring them so old? We need younger magical people; only their pure souls can run this sacrifice."
"As if it's easy to kidnap kids? They are much easier," a guy answered, pointing in their direction.
So, the kids had stronger anti-kidnapping measures than him?
"Okay, what's the fuss? Today, them and tomorrow, we get more of them!"
These were lunatics who didn't care about the lives of people. Was he going to die here? He spent only a month in the magical world. He didn't see his sisters or parents yet. Even the ghost familiar didn't know this. How sad they would all be when they found that he died in a place they wouldn't find out?
"Okay, start!"
The circles lit up, outside ones first, and then slowly the inner ones one by one. As they continued, their circle lit up slowly, and then, as Jay began to feel lightheadedness, it snuffed out.
"Huh, try again!" Everyone there was puzzled, and no matter how many times they tried, the inner circle refused to light up.
A hooded robe guy walked to the captors in the middle and then watched them. Jay didn't look at him.
"A nature spirit and a mortal, I was wondering why it wasn't working. The nature spirit wants to sacrifice herself for this guy, our diagram wants death by unwillingness, not sacrifice!"
Jay looked at the girl and gasped at her appearance. She was a goddess!
A goddess who came to save him!