A self-enforcement document is a magic contract used by Caster mages in Clock Tower to make agreements that absolutely cannot be broken. It's the strongest guarantee to prevent someone from breaking their promise.
The contract is like a curse. It binds to the caster's soul. The contract details are written on paper, including the binding spell, who is bound, the exact promise, the conditions for keeping the promise, and the signature of the person making the promise.
This way, the self-enforcement document puts a curse (Geas) on the caster. In theory, its power can't be undone by any means.
Because it's just a curse, anyone who signs it, whether they are a Caster or not, will be affected by the curse and must keep their promise for the document to work.
When Servant Emiya went to Clock Tower to study magic, the first magic he learned was about self-enforcement documents.
Because there are many things in the Caster's field that can't be shared.
To keep participants from leaking secrets, Casters usually use self-enforcement documents beforehand to keep things private.
Once you know how it works, you'll realize that a self-enforcement document is a useful tool.
Of course, this is only for Casters.
If someone who isn't a Caster faces something with this much power, they'll be really scared. It's like making a deal with the devil.
Shirou saw a look of fear in Eris's eyes. He wasn't in a hurry. He calmly walked up to the young lady.
"Don't worry, I'm not a devil. If you sign this contract, I'll rescue you from here. Don't worry too much about the contract. It won't ask you to do anything you can't."
"You..."
Eris listened to Shirou's words in a daze and took the self-enforcement document from him.
The document was simple. It said that Eris had to obey him in the future and couldn't do anything against his wishes. If she did, her soul would be destroyed, or at least she would suffer a serious mental wound that couldn't heal.
"Who would sign something like this? Wouldn't that make me your slave!?"
Eris said angrily. She clearly didn't want to sign the contract.
Shirou was calm about it. "Don't overthink it, you brat. I'm not interested in you personally, and I won't do anything you don't want to do. I'm signing this contract just to keep you from revealing my presence or resisting me, which could lead to situations I can't control."
"That's just what you say..."
"Really? I could just leave you here and leave."
Shirou said this without pausing for even a second, and turned to walk out of the room.
Seeing the man walking away without looking back, Eris finally gave in and hurriedly said, "Wait, wait... I, I'll think about it..."
"Think about it? Heh, looks like you still don't understand your situation. I'm not your parents or your teacher. I'm not obligated to take care of you."
Shirou said coldly.
His words seemed to hit Eris's sore spot, making her realize that she was truly in a desperate situation. None of her family was here, and she didn't have a guard like Ghislaine to protect her.
So, in this situation, she had no choice but to trust the man in front of her.
Even if this was all a setup by him, a plot to trick her into signing this unfair agreement, she had no other option. She had to take a chance.
"I, I understand..."
Eris said, gritting her teeth. At that moment, she felt as if she had gone through a lot of humiliation. Her pride and arrogance were completely crushed.
"Then sign this contract."
Shirou threw the self-enforcement document to her.
He wasn't worried that Eris wouldn't sign it, because she had no choice right now. When people are in desperate situations, they'll instinctively grab the only lifeline, without thinking about whether that lifeline is a real hope or a deeper despair.
Of course, Shirou wasn't evil enough to treat Eris like a slave after she signed the self-enforcement document and order her around.
He wasn't that kind of devil and had no interest in doing such a thing.
He did all of this just to make Eris understand that there's no such thing as free benefits or unconditional kindness in the world.
All kindness and gentleness must be earned.
If you take other people's kindness for granted, you'll suffer a lot of pain sooner or later.
Because the Boreas family can't protect her forever.
"Um, that..."
After Eris took the paper and pen that Shirou had created, she suddenly fell silent. Her hand stopped at the signature line and didn't move.
Shirou frowned, thinking she hadn't given in yet, and said coldly, "What? Do you still think I'm trying to trick you? Even if I was, do you think you have a choice right now?"
"No... I'm not."
Eris said anxiously. She seemed afraid that Shirou would misunderstand and quickly explained, "I, I just don't know how to write my name. I, I can't read..."
"You can't read?"
Shirou was completely stunned. He never expected that this young lady with a bad personality had such a huge flaw.
She couldn't even read.
Was this girl really a noble?
Seeing Eris's unwilling look, her face red with shame, almost crying, Shirou realized she wasn't lying and sighed helplessly.
Anyway, Eris's behavior was completely different from before.
Her fearful and anxious face was completely different from the way she looked when she was beating people.
Now she realized that people won't always be safe, and how to struggle to survive in difficult situations depends on the skills and experience you've built up.
She couldn't even write her name. She was just a useless person who only had the status of a young lady.
"Sigh, give me the pen. I'll teach you how to write."
Shirou had a magical ability when it came to languages. He could understand any language in the world without any problem.
This allowed him to quickly fit into life in the Greyrat home when he first arrived, without being bothered by basic problems.
But this only applied to languages. When it came to writing, Shirou couldn't actually understand all the characters.
At least before he studied, he couldn't understand the writing of this world at all.
So when he was in the Greyrat house, he not only learned magic from Roxy, but also learned most of the common writing systems in this world.
Maybe Roxy was a great teacher, or maybe Shirou was gifted, but he quickly learned the common writing systems of humans and demons.
So, facing Eris's trouble of not being able to write her name, Shirou could easily help Eris write her name.
"Eris Boreas Greyrat, remember, this is how your name is written."
"I, I understand."
"Once you sign the contract, you can't break it. I promise you that what will happen won't be fun."
Shirou said as coldly as possible, and then used magic to heal her wounds.
Whether it was magic or the magic of this world, Shirou knew the basics of healing.
Servant Emiya learned magic from professional Casters when he went to Clock Tower with Tohsaka Rin. He learned magic in this world from Zenith at home.
Although he couldn't completely heal her wounds, he could still heal minor cuts.
However, Eris had been beaten badly. Some of her ribs were broken, and she had serious internal injuries.
Shirou's basic healing magic clearly couldn't completely heal her.
He watched Eris sign the self-enforcement document and put the document in his pocket to make sure it wouldn't get lost.
After signing the contract, Eris felt a stabbing pain in her soul, realizing that she could no longer disobey this man.
Even though she was prepared for it, a boundless fear still came from her heart.
Because she couldn't be sure what the man in front of her would do to her. It was beyond her imagination.
"Okay, let's go."
Shirou saw the fear in Eris's eyes, but he didn't plan to comfort her. After all, he did all of this to destroy her arrogance.
Now, he just picked Eris up. After his dream summon, his tall figure, just like Servant Emiya himself, was enough to gently hold Eris.
"What, what are you doing?"
This was the first time Eris had been treated like this by a man. Even though she was only nine years old, she instinctively felt mixed emotions.
Fear and strange feelings existed at the same time.
Shirou said frankly, "What am I doing? I'm taking you away from here, of course."
"L, leave?"
Eris was stunned and didn't understand what he meant.
Then, to her surprise, Shirou held her in one arm and pushed open the door of the prison cell with the other hand.
The door, which was locked from the outside, was like a weak wooden board in Shirou's hand. It was easily pushed open.
"Boom!"
The loud noise caught the attention of all the kidnappers in the base.
Many kidnappers were startled and angry, looking at the intruder who suddenly appeared!
---
Read 55+ advanced chapters on patreon.com/yeyeqiu
Free member can read up to 4 advanced chapters