Aurelius had become completely fed up with Pultris after the marionette incident.

  The angel was a complete amoral asshole, would go to any lengths to fulfil its own desires over anything else.

  He had ignored it for as long as he could, only using its powers when necessary during his training with Mr. Tona, and honing his skills with the spear’s martial arts.

  But the fact that Pultris was shouting into his skull with zero consideration for his well-being, as well as the fact that he was in an uncomfortable amount of pain was enough to test his patience beyond his limits.

  “You’re very impulsive for a… child. That is still an angel contracted to you.” Sage Yeltz muttered in dry amusement.

  “First of all, HEAL ME!” Aurelius nearly screamed, throwing a rather justified tantrum on the couch.

  Sage Yeltz scoffed, and snapped her fingers.

  “Mirae, honourable cherub, heals this idiot of the ailments that has befallen him.” She requested politely.

  Aurelius let out an audible sigh of relief as he felt invisible tendrils of mana start to coat him in its warm embrace.

  There was the sound of popping bones that faded back into his body and molded itself around the structures of his broken ribs.

  And clearly, given the fact that Sage Yeltz had requested the help of a Cherub, an angel, it took less than a minute for his injuries to be healed fully.

  “Haa… Thank you Ms. Yeltz.” Aurelius sighed in relief, and gingerly made his way up to an upright position, steeling himself to face a clueless sage once more.

  Sage Yeltz glared at him in suspicion, watching every move that he made.

  “Please stop looking at me like that… I’m on your side. I swear… I would, however, like to ask how you knew where to find me.” He started, rubbing his tender chest cautiously.

  “You have a tracker.” Sage Yeltz said, accompanied by a snap of her fingers, presumably returning the barriers in the room that she removed to heal Aurelius.

  “It seems that you’ve added more terms to my contract than I thought.” He grumbled under his breath, annoyed by the fact that she felt this information not-so-prudent to tell him. It seemed that he didn’t even have the choice to run away from this madwoman as long as he was under the contract!

  “Ah, before we start, may I ask for a charm to block off Pultris from listening into our conversation?” Aurelius asked, describing the model of the particular charm over to Sage Yeltz.

  “WHAT? Your contract does not allow such things, contractor!” Pultris wailed in Aurlieus’s skull.

  “TONE DOWN YOUR VOLUME. Read through the contract again. It states a minimum amount of time I have to deal with your bullshit.” Aurelius screamed back snidely, getting a refreshing sense of satisfaction from the flustered nature of Pultris’s words.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  However, sage Yeltz looked far from pleased at Aurelius’s request.

  “Such a specific charm requires a payment of 150 gold at the very least. Perhaps 10 or 20 gold higher if we’re talking about getting it made within the week. It’s a custom rush order, after all.” She said, raising her eyebrows at Aurelius.

  “Err… O-Ok.” Aurelius replied, his brain buffering at the sheer ridiculousness of the figure. He had treated the charm with… quite the callousness in the previous loop, and it seemed that the charm had been worth almost as much as his life savings!

  “So we’ll see if you’re worth the cost after you tell me what’s going on.” Sage Yeltz said plainly, crossing her legs and lifting her arms around the cushions.

  “I must first compliment you for your great taste in interior design, Yvette Yeltz. I assume that I will be part of such an important conversation?” Pultris chimed in, a layer of worry underlining his sentiment.

  “Try complimenting me again and I seriously will request to give you a bloody roommate. And I’ll be picking the meanest, most insane spirit I can get my hands on too. If you’re lucky, it could identify as a female and you can sexually harass them as you go insane.” Sage Yeltz growled.

  “...” Pultris responded in silence, a malnutritious silence filled with the scent of his desire to continue talking.

  “I’ll seal him temporarily with my authority in the room, so you won’t have to worry about him.” Sage Yeltz continued, gripping the air with her hands.

  The surrounding noises, ones that Aurelius could hardly have noticed, disappeared in an instant.

  “So, tell me, boy. What was this about a time loop?”

  ???

  Aurelius was rather stunned.

  “Well, is this the right one?” Sage Yeltz asked plainly.

  Sage Yeltz had not asked a single question regarding Aurelius’s story the whole time that he had talked, just nodding along and raising her eyebrows in question at his story.

  While this was not the first time that he had told the sage his story, it felt… immensely different from the last time that he had told the story… Perhaps it was the lack of food in the conversation?

  And more importantly was the fact that she immediately teleported the two of them somewhere right after his story.

  “Yes, that’s the right one, ma’am.” Aurelius said nervously, turning over the charm in his hands gingerly.

  “...Must you seal me away like that? You have no idea how nice I can be! I will be such a great… buddy to you, contractor! Come-” Pultris said, throwing a tantrum like a child in his mind, which he did in fact, lower the volume of.

  “Haa… You’re still restricted, and I’m being watched by Sage Yeltz anyway. I can’t believe you cling onto the false hope of freedom that much.” Aurelius said gleefully, feeling slightly smug for being able to screw with him so much.

  And with a simple tap of his finger, Pultris went silent in his mind, solving the thorny issue of the angel in his head. However, this did leave the problem of where he was.

  It seemed that the charm had been the exact same one from the last loop, and it had come from… Sage Yeltz’s apartment.

  The place was a single bedroom flat, apparently on the outskirts of the city. Aurelius could swear he could see the glowing eyes of nocturnal predators prowling the woods right outside the mid-sized window.

  The bed had a crumpled blanket, the sink with a single glass yet to be washed, and a few crates of books scattered about neatly.

  Most notable was the medium sized desk that took up around a quarter of the living space, apparently a… workstation of sorts, with lights and magnifying glasses.

  Aurelius could make out some gems from the corner of his eyes, and he could swear that there was a monster eye peeking from one of the slightly ajar cabinets…

  However, looking at the small apartment compared to the cost of even the charm in his hand, he was amazed by how frugal it seemed the sage was.

  If this was actually her living space, Aurelius’s accountant brain would advise something he would never do for 90% of the population.

  Spend more!

  As Sage Yeltz picked up another unknown object from her workstation, Aurelius’s nervousness became combined with curiosity that was unable to be suppressed.

  Why was she so calm about this?!

  “Why are you taking my word for it so casually? I sound… insane!” Aurelius asked cautiously.

  Sage Yeltz considered this for a while with a scowl, looking at Aurelius with murderous intent. However, after a short consideration, she did actually… reply with the most unexpected answer.

  “Well, your tracker number is the magi-cell number of my ex.” Sage Yeltz replied nonchalantly.

  Aurelius almost coughed out his lungs in the seconds that followed from the comment.

  “I still have his phone. Stole it after he cheated on me.” She continued, letting Aurelius devolve into another barrage of hacking.

  “And do you know what that number means to me now?” She asked, getting all up in Aurelius’s face with a vague madness surrounding her words.

  “It’s about trust. And trust in… myself.”