"How is it? Tastes good, right?" Retsu asked with a smile, leaning in as he watched Karan eat with her head down, her mouth covered in grease.
"Mhm, mhm!" Karan nodded vigorously while happily munching on the grilled fish, her cheeks bulging as she focused intently on her meal.
"Then... do you agree to sign the Summoning Contract?" Retsu asked, feigning nonchalance while his tone held a hint of testing.
"Uh..." Karan's movements suddenly froze. She looked longingly at the half-eaten grilled fish in her hand, a clear struggle flashing in her red eyes. "No way! I don't want to lose my freedom!"
"Don't worry, I won't make you lose your freedom," Retsu explained, caught between laughter and tears. "After signing the contract with me, I'll only use the Summoning Technique to call you over when I need help."
"Once the battle is over, you can release the Summoning Technique and go back at any time. It won't affect your daily life at all."
"Huh? Really? You're not lying to me?" Karan immediately looked up, staring at him with wide, round red eyes, her face full of wariness.
"I absolutely won't Retsu to you," Retsu raised his hand and promised solemnly. "Besides, this contract is mutual. In the future, if you encounter danger or need help, you can also use the Summoning Technique to summon me, and I'll fight for you."
"Really?" Karan tilted her head. Seeing his earnest expression, she struggled for a moment before finally gritting her teeth and nodding.
"Alright, I agree! But..."
She looked down at the grilled fish in her hand, her voice softening. "Next time we meet, you have to make grilled fish for me again."
"No problem!" Retsu rejoiced inwardly and agreed with a smile. "From now on, whenever I summon you, I'll bring fresh fish—all you can eat!"
As he spoke, he took down the scroll he had been carrying on his back. This was a Summoning Scroll he had specifically prepared for signing the contract, and he had been carrying it with him for a while.
"Let's sign the Summoning Contract now. Once the contract is complete, I'll teach you how to use the Summoning Technique."
He unrolled the scroll on the ground, explaining as he demonstrated.
"I've already prepared this scroll. You just need to write your name with your own blood, then smear blood on your five fingers and leave a blood print."
Retsu pointed to one side of the scroll: "As the summoned one, you sign here; as the contractor, I'll sign on the other side."
While speaking, he bit his finger and began signing the contract on the scroll.
Interestingly, while an Edo Tensei body has no blood when damaged, it can bleed normally when using special techniques like the Summoning Technique or signing a contract.
One could only say that, as expected of a Ninjutsu that can pull the dead back to the living world, its wonders far exceeded the imagination.
Retsu quickly wrote his name on the scroll, pressed his blood print, and then handed the scroll to Karan.
Karan followed his lead, extending a sharp claw from her fingertip to cut her finger. She wrote her name in blood on the scroll, hesitated for a moment, and then pressed her five-finger blood print.
"Is... is this okay?" She handed the scroll back, her eyes filled with a bit of apprehension and curiosity.
"Perfect." Retsu checked it over, confirmed the contract was in effect, and slung the scroll back onto his back, eager to try it out. "Shall we test the effect now?"
"Okay!" Karan also grew interested and nodded quickly.
"Stay here and don't move. I'll go further away to summon you." Retsu also wanted to confirm if signing a Summoning Contract with a demon from this world would succeed, so he walked quickly to an open space over ten meters away.
He bit his finger again, smeared blood on his palm, quickly formed hand seals, and slammed his palm onto the ground: "Summoning Technique!"
A black Summoning Circle instantly expanded on the ground, emitting a faint ripple of Chakra. At the same time, Karan by the campfire suddenly felt a strong connection, and the thought of "agreeing" instinctively arose in her mind.
In the next second, two clouds of white smoke exploded simultaneously, one at Karan's feet and one in the center of the Summoning Circle. As the smoke cleared, Karan, who had been standing by the campfire, appeared in front of Retsu.
"It worked!" An uncontrollable smile appeared on Retsu's face; he hadn't expected it to actually take effect.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Karan looked down at her hands and then at the distant campfire, her eyes wide with surprise. Her cat tail stood straight up, swishing back and forth in excitement. "I actually moved here in an instant!"
"Why don't you try releasing the Summoning Technique? I'll teach you how." Retsu reminded her, explaining the method to release the technique.
"Mhm... I think I feel it." Karan closed her eyes, carefully sensing the connection within the contract and focusing her intent according to the method he described.
*Poof!*
With a soft sound, her body turned into smoke and disappeared. Simultaneously, smoke condensed again by the campfire, and Karan's figure reappeared.
"This is so much fun! It's way more interesting than the smoke bombs I used before!" Karan shouted excitedly, her cat tail swishing even more vigorously.
She ran quickly to Retsu, pulled his sleeve, and said urgently, "Quick! Teach me how to summon you! I want to try too!"
"Don't rush, I'll teach you." Retsu was amused by her enthusiasm. He feigned nonchalance as he reached out to pat the Cat Demon's head; her soft, short hair felt wonderful to the touch.
"Mhm, let's go, let's go!" Karan was immersed in the excitement of her new ability and didn't notice his small gesture at all, dragging him toward the wooden building.
"Hehe, the cat head feels really good." Retsu felt secretly pleased. He used Earth Release to extinguish the campfire and followed Karan toward the small wooden building.
Soon, the two of them arrived in front of the wooden building.
"Eh? Why is there a house in this forest?" Karan ran around the wooden building in surprise, poked the wooden wall with her finger, and turned to ask curiously, "Did you build this?"
"I built it using a technique to stay here temporarily," Retsu pushed open the door and looked back to urge her. "Come in, I'll teach you slowly."
"Oh!" Karan followed quickly, not forgetting to close the door behind her, and followed him up the wooden stairs to the second floor.
Retsu pushed open a door next to the bedroom. "This room is for you. Stay here for now, and you can leave once you've learned the Reverse Summoning Technique."
When he built the wooden building, he had specifically prepared an extra room for Karan. As for whether she would cooperate?
He had never been worried. After all, he had prepared Catnip, a Cat Teaser, Yarn Balls, and a whole bunch of things cats like. He hadn't expected a single meal of grilled fish to settle it; it was much smoother than imagined.
Of course, if the Cat Demon really refused to cooperate, there wasn't much he could do.
"Oh..." Karan nodded. Just as she was about to step into the room, she suddenly paused. Snapping back to her senses, she shook her head and said,
"Wait! I can't stay here forever! I still have to complete Big Sister Leader's mission and get information about the shards of the shikon jewel!"
She smacked her head, a look of frustration on her face. She had actually forgotten the mission Big Sister Leader assigned to her!