Negotiations

"I see," Bill nodded, sipping some of the wine in his glass. "First of all, I'd like to know what exactly happened in Flir."

"So, what are you interested in?" asked Catherine, inhaling tobacco smoke.

"How did you meet Samuel and what did you talk about," the Holy Father replied simply, looking Catherine straight in the eye.

"It was at the time of the Convention, I decided to distract myself from the political controversy and went out on the terrace, admiring the gardens of Her Grace the Baroness, but very soon I was interrupted by him, a man in a half-broken fool's mask," Catherine replied, maintaining eye contact with the interlocutor.

Bill only nodded softly, listening to Catherine, as if confirming these facts for himself.

"He was asking questions about my name and how old I was, even though he didn't even introduce himself, so I quickly interrupted him," the clone continued. "It seemed to me that he left, but after that the gardeners and guards of the mansion began to show strangeness. He put a spell on me."

"I wanted to go back to the meeting, but I started having hallucinations. Outside the door, I heard voices discussing the taste of a certain type of meat."

"Meat?" The man was a little surprised.

"Most likely human flesh," Catherine nodded softly.

Bill grunted thoughtfully, but didn't answer.

"Hallucinations from the very beginning forced and directed me to Samuel. He took me to Her Grace's underground dungeon, after which the events you know happened."

"I see," Bill replied, taking another sip of wine. "What do you think our plans are for you?"

"Hmm?" Catherine raised one eyebrow in confusion. "I think that since you came here after the divination session, it means that your Order wants to follow the path of least resistance. It can be negotiations or an attempt to quietly eliminate the main body, but if it's the second one, then you won't succeed."

"Why do you think so?" Bill smiled, but it was not entirely clear about which hypothesis of Catherine he wanted to get clarification?

"Hmm?" Catherine raised one eyebrow again in confusion. "If you are talking about negotiations, then this is the most peaceful version of events that you can get, if you are talking about a quiet elimination, then I prefer not to reveal my cards prematurely."

"Well, you guessed right," the blond man replied, wiping the grin from his face, "this is really a negotiation."

Despite these encouraging words, Yakov was already preparing to repel a possible attack underground.

"This is very encouraging," the woman replied, continuing to inhale and exhale tobacco smoke. "What are your terms and offers? What do you want to negotiate about?"

"You destroyed a fairly large city, many people died or went missing, even more suffered and were left homeless and destitute, infected with parasites and quarantined," Bill said gloomily. "Get rid of the parasites and rebuild the city with the help of your clones."

"Of course, but on condition that you return the fragment of the soul to me," Catherine replied.

The fragment did not represent anything valuable to Yakov, because even if they decipher it, there will be no important memories there. He just wanted to get rid of the surveillance.

"No," Bill replied, his face unchanged. "The fragment is of key importance in the matter of supervising you."

"In that case, I refuse to help rebuild the city," she replied.

Bill thought for a moment.

"So be it," he said.

It seems that for them the issue of control over me is of paramount importance, rather than the economic and humanitarian component of the question.

"What about Baldem?" the flesh mage asked, continuing to smoke.

"You can stay here, provided you don't inconvenience the locals."

In other words, I can continue to hold the city hostage as a guarantee of immunity, but only as long as I do not cause significant harm to the locals.

In this case, the official mages will no longer have to be afraid to harm people and undermine the situation on the border, because everything will already be bad.

"Very well, but that doesn't mean that I can't leave the city," Yakov nodded in the guise of Catherine, bringing more clarity to this point. "But what about Samuel? At the moment, he's the only one who can have a negative impact on me."

"I'll take care of it," Bill nodded.

"I also care about the fate of my ward, the second infected with Darkness, Alec."

Initially, Yakov wanted to use the boy as his first believer and the spreader of his Honorable Name in order to recover as quickly as possible, but now, after a deal with official magicians, such antics can be fatal.

"What do you want?" Bill asked bluntly.

"I want him to be taken to Baldem, I will personally look after him," Catherine nodded.

"Okay, he will be taken to Baldem, but he will become a church monk, but first we will question him about the Cult," Bill nodded in response.

Yakov didn't mind.

"Well, is the official part completed?" Catherine asked.

Bill nodded grimly.

"Then I would like to learn a little about the magic of Darkness and its effect on the soul," she continued.

"Darkness is a very strong energy, just like Light, but unlike it, it affects living beings in the most terrible way. You can say the same about the soul," Bill replied with a barely perceptible grin.

Catherine didn't show it, but deep under the city, Yakov frowned. He had seen how the Darkness had a devastating effect on his clones and he did not like the prospect of a possible repeat of their fate.

"So this could lead to my death?" the woman asked bluntly.

"Maybe yes, maybe not," the blond shrugged. "Perhaps there will be some mental problems or difficulties in using magic and soul energy."

"Is there a way to get rid of this energy without significant damage to the soul?" Catherine asked.

"Of course," he smiled openly. "If you allow Samuel to access your soul, then he will rid you of the Darkness."

The underground Yakov frowned more. It was obvious that if he trusted Sam, he would simply kill him.

"I see," the woman smiled, smoking a pipe, "perhaps I will refuse such an offer. But what about magic of Light? Will it be able to help me?"

"In a sense, yes, the Light will cleanse you and all the Darkness, but in that case, you will also be 'cleansed', if you understand what I mean," he smiled.

They looked into each other's eyes. Although the negotiations ended with an optimal outcome, the tension only increased.

"It's a pity," she sighed. "What about soul mages? Is there anything they can do?"

The man, clearly indifferent, just shrugged his shoulders. He had no intention of helping him.

"Since you said that Darkness affects living beings in a negative way, what about Samuel himself?" the woman suddenly asked.

"It's a mystery that even I don't fully understand," he replied with a grin.

This may be true, but he certainly knows something that may be close to solving the mystery, but refuses to answer. Yakov also had some clues, but it wasn't enough.

"That's it," Bill said, pulling a small crystal ball out of his coat. "If you need to contact me, just say my full name while holding the ball in your hands. Let me remind you, my name is Bill Nekanon."

After that, he said goodbye, got up from his seat and left the establishment. Catherine put the ball on her stomach and it seemed to fall through her dress and skin, getting inside. The bartender continued to work and did not notice anything, but Catherine started eating her breakfast.

***

At the same time, in the city collector.

Yakov was afraid that irreparable changes could happen to his soul, he needed to do something about it.

Immediately, the thought of the Velgri siblings came to his mind. They, as descendants of an Immortal, have strong spiritual energy. The same can be said about other aristocrats.

Is it possible that they have any ways of fighting the Darkness that will help me? Or at least connections with powerful soul mages?

Right now, the only way out for him would be to get closer to the Velgri family or any other aristocrats.

The Baroness was immediately eliminated from the possible options, since she would never forgive him for such a Disaster. There were no other aristocrats known to him at the moment, so the Velgri were preferable.

There were twins in the city right now, and Yakov could see that through the flowers. They had to go to a certain city of Distwem, where they would have some kind of testing.

Yakov was considering the best way to introduce himself to them, so as to establish at least some friendly relations and at the same time not seem too suspicious.

Several ideas came to his mind right now.