Cold Mansion-2
The woman then moved and settled down by Kaisel. "Let me see… Baron Geon…" Adui started mumbling while looking straight at the paper. And then he realized what land they wanted to acquire. "Yes. This is the disputed land of Baron Hubert and Baron Geon. If I am not wrong this is supposed to be a valley." He said as he looked up.
"Ding Ding. That is correct." Sara said and then she snuggled closer to Kaisel while also eyeing him like he was her delicious piece of meat. "You know your maps, Mr. Hampshire"
"Well, Lady Gizelle's shop receives orders from all over the kingdom. So I picked a thing or two about map reading from there… And please Milady, call me Adui" While inwardly he was quite surprised to see Sara snuggling with Kaisel. A part was him felt weird because based on both of their features, he thought that they were siblings, but it seemed he was wrong. It was then he remembered an extraordinary detail, Gizelle when visited the shop also had red pupils like these have, it couldn't be a coincidence that every single one of these people had red pupils.
"So can you do it? Can you settle the matter diplomatically?" Kaisel asked.
"I can try Milord. But that land dispute is very old… And if we take the diplomacy route, then would cost you some serious money to sway these people to hand over this land. And even then there would be no guarantee whether any one of them would step back. But I am sure that if you show those guys your power, they happily hand over their land." Most of the noble houses have huge egos and wouldn't bow down to just about anyone. It is the only power that could sway them.
"That is another one of the problems that I face," Kaisel said while sitting up straight. "I don't want to let people of this country know about my presence. That is why if diplomacy fails, I will make Gizelle get those lands either by hook or crook."
So he wants the land without making his presence known? Why? Is he trying to hide from someone?
So he decided to be straight about the situation, "Milord… I am sorry to inform you but, even with Lady Gizelle's help, there is no guarantee that these two Barons will back down."
"How can you be so sure?" Sara asked while biting her long nails and sizing him from up to down.
"Ah… I have been living in this country all my life. I know how the people of this country think and act. Lady Gizelle would only be able to sway those households to if she showed them power, that they could not even fathom. Or give them something that they can't refuse,"
"You leave that to us. For now, try to convince these to give up that land." Kaisel said in an authoritative voice.
"I will try my best to convince them. Also…" he paused thinking whether he should ask the question that has been bugging him the most. At last, he didn't ask anything. "Yes. I will try my best."
"Is there something troubling you young mage?" Kaisel said.
Then he gave in, he had to ask, "Milord… I may be out of line to ask you this but… I just… Why do you want this land anyway? If solitude or scenery is what you need then I can surely provide you with some options. Why are you interested in this particular land?" A smile bloomed on Kaisel's face as he heard the question.
"You see young mage, that land is important for me because… a long time ago that piece of land belonged to my ancestors. We used to live here even before the Gorgon family conquered this Island. My family was a noble household of Bloodborne mages. And we used to have a mansion in the middle of that land. I believe if you visit that place, you could still find ruins of our old mansion." Kaisel then leaned forward towards him. "I want to build a Mage's tower at that land to honor my family. That is why I want that land."
Shocked as well surprised by the statement of Kaisel, he opened his mouth but no words came out. He was frozen, he truly understood the significance of what what Kaisel had just revealed to him. Then he snapped out of his stupor. He then collected himself and stared into the eyes of Kaisel.
"Milord. I personally go to these noble households and even beg them if I had to. But I will get you that land." He declared with vigor. His eyes which were anxious a moment ago were not burning with passion. He now had decided that he would go to any lengths to get that land from those nobles.
"You seemed pumped up out of a sudden," Sara noted and said.
"Milady… Our Gorgon kingdom is a small country in this world. We don't have any Mage tower here nor we had any mana wielder that was able to surpass Rank-17 in a few centuries. That mage tower may not be anything to people of your caliber, but to us, it is like god sent opportunity. It is very valuable."
"Then work hard and get me that land. The Sooner you finish your job, the sooner the construction of the Mage tower will start… Now for negotiations, I will be giving you 5000 joules of mana stones. Take them as a bargaining chip against those households."
"Ah… Yes of course Milord," he said with a smile.
***
With his eyes closed, Adui enjoyed his moments under the sun. After getting out of the cold embrace of Gizelle's manor, the rays of the sun provided him with comfort; the temptation of lying under the sun without any clothes also lingered through his mind. But he brushed aside the thought as he had an overwhelming amount of work to do.
He had a lot of bigger fish to fry currently and could not afford to get sidetracked. He needed to make plans for his travels as well as he had to safeguard the spatial bag which was nicely tucked in his right breast pocket. He had a lot of work to do…
As he got home, he didn't expect to see a man napping on his doorstep. With his walking cane, he poked the sleeping man who woke the stranger up. It was then he realized the man was none other than Ben, a worker of Gizelle's shop.
"What the hell are you doing here old man?" he asked half asleep Ben.
"Wha…" the half-asleep old man mumbled as he was rudely woken up. But soon a smile bloomed on the man's face as he saw Adui standing in front of him. "Adui! Thanks to the great Tibba I met you here. I thought you left for your journey."
"Well, I am here to pack my bags… Wait how did you know I was going on a journey?"
"That bitch told us while firing me."
He was taken aback, "You got fired?"
"Yeah. Me and some other workers. According to her we were too old and were practically useless. Basically, she wanted to get rid of anyone that had any connections with you."
Adui was furious, "What? That is insane."
"Yeah, tell me about it. She fired half of the staff today."
"That is even more insane. You guys have a ton of experience handling the ingredients and products. What the fuck does she think that skilled laborers grow on a tree?"
"I have been telling you this for years kiddo, that bitch is insane and does not know how to run a business." the old man said, "She is like a trophy Mage that attracts customers to the shop. You are the one who does every other work."
"You don't have to flatter me, old man. I may also get fired."
"You too?"
"Yup. It is not official yet. But there is a high chance I will be fired…" he then continued, "You know what? Would you like to have some tea with me?"
"Sure." Ben then got up and followed him inside the house.