"I offer you a deal, I shall give you missions, and if they are completed, I will reward you in the form of giving you magic, knowledge, or in any other way that both of us find agreeable, proportional to the amount of work done and risk taken due to said missions."
Place stared at the Thing, mentally revising the contents of the deal.
"You can choose to accept or deny any of the missions I give you, except for any missions I deem too important to ignore. I can only deem a total of 5 missions as 'too important'. If you accept a mission, you must complete it. Failure after completing will result in a punishment that will at most be of the same intensity as the reward, unless an outside factor that you cannot contend with caused the failure, in which case you shall not be punished, but even given... a 'compensation' reward."
The Thing's voice gained a touch of discontent when it recited that last part, and Place smiled. He had haggled with it for that part, there was no way he was going to take punishments due to things outside his control.
"Excluding special circumstances, I will give at least 1 mission a month, and will make sure that through said missions, you will gain 'power' at a rate that you find agreeable."
The Thing let out a deep breath. Place filed that away in his memory.
"The deal will terminate if the number of missions you fail exceeds the number of missions in which you succeed, and I decide to terminate the deal after that. The deal will terminate if both of us, under sound mind, decide to terminate it together. The deal will terminate in case of the death of either of us, excluding special circumstances. The deal will terminate if either of us 'greatly wrongs' the other intentionally."
"Any of the mentioned terms can be removed, blocked, or temporarily paused only when both of us are in agreement. Terms may be added or changed only when both of us are in agreement. In case of an emergency situation, both of us have the right to change the deal without informing or consulting the other. The change can be reverted freely after the said emergency is over by the other party."
The Thing stopped speaking, and Place mentally revised what it said one more time.
"I do not believe I missed anything." It stated.
"No, you didn't."
"So?" It extended its arm, holding its hand open for Place.
"I still don't know what you are, who you are, what you want, or why you chose me."
The grin returned, and the voice reverted to its previous teasing/non-serious tone.
"Exactly."
"Hmm." Place pretended to be deep in thought.
"As a man who met a strange being that appeared out of nowhere and offered me power through a 'deal' without telling me anything, I suppose there is only one thing for me to do."
Later, Place would think back to this moment, and he would swear that somehow, SOMEHOW, even without eyes, the Thing 'Blinked', as if taken by surprise.
"Obviously, I must agree to the deal!" Place stated with a grin mirroring that of the one on the Thing's face, as he brought his hand to the one it was holding out so fast it produced a crisp clapping sound.
The Thing's body glowed brighter, and blue light flowed from it into Place's body as their deal came into existence.
For such an important thing for his future, Place quietly thought that the disturbance caused by the deal was a bit underwhelming.
"Hn." The Thing softly snorted with interest.
"A bit dramatic, but what is life without a good bit of drama?" It jokingly asked.
Place didn't respond. He was busy trying to see if he felt any different.
The glow faded and the light stopped flowing. Place and Thing let go of each other's hands as Place spoke.
"So, what is my first mission?"
"Obtain admission into Ortis Academy."
Place paused for a moment.
"That doesn't seem difficult, are you sure-"
"Into the elite class."
...
"Of course, I should have expected that."
"I will return when you have done so. Ba-Bye!"
The Thing waved and 'frolicked' away as it faded into nothing.
*A few minutes later*
Place walked out of his room, having spent a bit of time thinking about how to convince his father to get him into the required class.
There was no problem with his theoretical knowledge, he was quite confident that he had more of that than almost all others his age. The problem was that he had no magic.
Despite his physical capabilities and skill, he could not win a fight against a child if the fight took place in an open space and the child had the basic magical ability of 'throwing fire'.
Then there was the problem that the admission period had almost reached an end, he had to convince his father, and his father had to contact the academy, and then he would most certainly have to take a modified test for admission, and he would have to undertake the test tomorrow at the latest.
'Problems upon problems.' Place grumbled internally as he walked through the mansion to find his father.
A figure in red and black carrying a large bag caught his eyes.
'Well, that's good timing.' He called out to her.
"Othmeen."
The middle-aged woman turned around at the call.
"Young sir." She bowed slightly as she greeted him. "How may I help you?"
Place eyed the bag.
"Ooo's and Ahh's new supplies?" He questioned.
"Indeed."
"Well, anyway, I need to speak to you about one of the servants, and may need your help with some supplies, are you free after lunch?"
"Supplies, young sir?"
"You will know if it comes to that."
"Very well then, I shall be available."
"Thanks."
Othmeen bowed again as Place walked away.
He walked to where he knew his father would be at this time of day.
*Knock-knock*
"Father?"
"Place? Come in."
The door swung open, and sitting at the desk in his own study, the head of the Cublue family looked at his third child.
"Is there something you need?"