Ingenious

I spent the majority of the morning in my room, not necessarily doing anything.

Since I hadn't gone to the dining hall, a maid brought my food straight to my room. I ate and just spent the morning in here. Sometime later Shia came in, wearing a rather fancy looking dress. It wasn't the one we bought that day. She was probably going to wear that tomorrow. "Let's go. You still have to give the duke your answer."

She was right. I took a shower, wore some decent clothes and made way for his office. He was already there.

"Oh, and Sol," Shia paused.

"Yeah?"

"Let me take care of this."

After a few knocks I went in. We took our seats and unlike last time, he ordered the doors to be locked and turned on a peculiar device. It was as big as a cereal bowl and had a gem on it. It glowed red.

"What's that?"

"Contingency so no one hears us," the duke said. "Now, I believe you already have your answer ready?"

"Yes."

"Well?"

"Umm… yes, I would like to marry your daughter and take care of her."

He laughed. "Good. But I also have something else I'd like to ask you."

"The elixir," I said.

Shia merely watched. She said she wanted to take care of this but I had a feeling it was going to be a major drag if I let her. However, denying her of the chance might also come back to bite me. Between her family, I trusted her the most. Probably an oversight on my end but for now, I really wanted her to be on my side.

"Yes."

"Why do you want it?" I said.

"I'm sure my daughter has already told you but Zenec has been ill for a while now. We used all sorts of elixirs but even the most potent ones barely eased her pain. Yours however, the purest kind, worked and she is mostly stable now. But its temporary for her condition has no cure."

"I see," I said. Who the fuck was Zenec?

Didn't Gerar say Nisa was Zenec's daughter? And the duke clearly didn't have the name Zenec? But Zenec was the sovereign and… huh?

"She's her mother you idiot," Shia grumbled.

Ahem… made sense. Maybe? "And you would like my elixirs."

"So you do have more." He looked relieved. "Of course, I won't ask you to hand them over for free just because you're about to wed my daughter. But I would appreciate if you didn't charge me extensively."

"I'm sure they won't be that expensive for you."

He laughed out loud. Boy, he had a booming voice for a short man. No calling him short is rude. By earth's standard he was fairly average at almost six feet. But considering all other people here were tall as fuck, I guess he was somewhat short.

"So, how many do you have?"

"Depends."

"I'm offering you five Stellars a bottle," he said. He was utterly serious.

So, about half a million for one bottle? I had like forty more… so- uh- oh, wow!

 Shia stomped my feet. "We have conditions. One, you'd protect him till he reaches adulthood. Two, you will hold onto the money for now and only provide him however much he needs to live alone with your daughter for now with a contract of course, and three, in case of an emergency, you will take his side and declare him as your heir." She spoke in a very practiced manner.

The first two logical propositions aside, what the fuck! Duke Alzania already had a proper heir and a backup one too. He didn't need another one! No, he couldn't get another one! I didn't have any noble blood in me to begin with!

He looked troubled. "That won't sit right with my first born," he sighed. "Although I would have preferred that."

Huh?

Was he even hearing himself? Why the fuck would he prefer having an outsider succeed him rather than his own children?

Shia crossed her legs, more or less giving the duke a dull glare. "In that case, just declare him as an independent noble under your faction. Of course, you can't do that right away but use some stupid excuse like solving a murder case or stopping an assassin or something like that. Doesn't have to be fancy. Maybe just a Viscount or a Baron or even a knight would do for now."

"Why?" The duke said. "He's already slated to be the next head of the Barack family. And Soler himself said he would rather not live as a noble."

"That's what he thinks. And although it shames me to admit it, right now our family's financial background is rather strained." I was surprised she was capable of using those words. I was even more surprised, just how shrewd this young lady was. She was foul mouthed, absurdly cunning and a force to be reckoned with. She just won my respect anew. "So, it would be better if you babied him instead." She spoke some weird shit every now and then though. "Being the first son of a noble family is good but being a noble yourself is better."

"Well, such a young lad does need some love." He cleared his throat. "Very well. I shall aid you however I can and in time would declare you as an independent noble under my faction. In return can I expect a steady supply of elixirs for a period of at least a year? I'm not sure how many you have, and I'm not sure where you even got it from but, but I would really appreciate it if you didn't sell them to someone else just because they promised you more money." He spoke sincerely and without missing a second of eye contact.

"You have my word, I won't sell it to anyone else but you unless I absolutely have to."

He snorted. "Nisa was right, you do have a way with words. Normally, a child your age would just say 'of course!' or maybe try to fool me and then just sell it to the highest bidder later after I gave you my word and protection."

Seriously, their expectations of what a child is in this world is utterly weird!

I chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint but I'm not like that." I cleared my throat. "I have five more bottles with me." I gave him five. "And although I do have more. I need some for myself. I could periodically give you some more. But I don't think they will last a year."

"I need one every ten days if it's the same purity," he eyed the five bottles. Satisfied, he nodded. "I'll need less than 30."

"I think I can provide that many."

Shia's eyes were fluttering. THE duke was fairly surprised as well. I bet they were wondering, how in the world did a kid land on so much damn money! Strangely, neither asked me though.

"That would help!" He laughed. "Come, let us go meet your mother-in-law!"

"Future…" I corrected him but he didn't seem to be bothered.

Meanwhile, Shia leaned in. "Genius, aren't I?" She winked sheepishly.

I snickered. "That you are sis, that you are."