Decision

After that uncanny development, Zach tried to distract himself by looking at other things on the room. He marveled at the new things that he had never seen before. Like what Zach guessed to be a model of a "train", a new and marvelous mode of transportation invented at the Morvit Empire. Just by looking at the small train model, Zach was already fascinated by its appearance. He always wondered what it looked like as he had never seen the actual thing, because unfortunately, people in the slums aren't allowed to even go near the station where it passes by.

'When will I ever see the actual thing? Not in this lifetime I guess.'

He separated his gaze on the train model and saw something.

'Oh… so that is why I've been smelling something rather pleasant ever since I went inside.'

'This room is full of tea leaves packed in paper bags.'

All over the room were 'tea leaves', although Zach lived poorly for the past 5 years, he still knew what they were, as his parents bought tea leaves if there were special occasions and festivities. He could smell all the different teas and concluded that the old man must like to collect rare and expensive tea leaves.

'I miss the taste of tea, especially drinking it with my family.'

As Zach reminisced the heart-warming times he had with his family, he looked around to see if there were more interesting things around the room. And there he found a handheld mirror. The handheld was set on a pedestal, it was encased inside a glass bell, as if to seal a dangerous power that can allure anyone who looks at it. The designs on the side of the handheld mirror was so captivating, it seemed as if it had no real structure, interchanging according to the viewer's desires. When Zach saw his own reflection on the mirror, it was as if centuries had passed and he was seeing his future. He saw countless possibilities that may lead to his future, and yet when he finally gathered his thoughts, it all vanished and he could not remember anything that he saw. He tried to look at the mirror again, but all he saw was his somewhat dazed face.

'What is this place? It's getting more and more bizarre, is that old man a wizard of sorts? How can he have so many weird trinkets? My guess earlier was right.'

'That is enough looking around. Who knows if the one I would happen to look into might finally end my life?' Zach looked down as he shivered at his thoughts. He waited for about 3 minutes before Kale finally went out the room, carrying a bunch of papers in his hand. His face held a complicated look.

Kale looked at Zach, and then he looked at the family portrait on top of his desk. Kale sighed as he went in his desk and took a seat. He looked at Zach and read the information on the papers he was holding.

"You are Zach Mordet, 18 years of age. Your parents died in the 'Great Black Death' 5 years ago. You have a debt of 100 silvers, you are expected to work all your life for the 'Dolus Gang' to pay your debt. It says here that you are thin sickly, yet what I am seeing is a healthy and lean young man. What can you say about that?"

Zach was already mad that the old man had loudly told him his information, added by the question that seemed to judge him of being suspicious even though he did nothing wrong. So he replied harshly.

"If you only brought me here only to remind me of my miserable life, then good for you, I hope you have a miserable life yourself too. Regarding the question you asked, what does that have to do with you? I don't even know what your organization is, what makes you think you can make me answer that question of yours? You think that I killed that person earlier? I can't even kill a rat, much less a human just like me!" As if Zach had enough of all the bad things he had experienced not just today, but also all his life, he stood up and angrily shouted at Kale. It was if he had already forgotten all the fear he had earlier and just wanted to vent his frustrations.

When Kale heard what Zach said, he was shocked, as he thought that the young man was just a foolish and timid person. He listened to the young man's frustrations and only let out a smile, a smile that seemed to contain mysterious meanings that even Zach, who was intently watching what Kale would do, could not understand what it meant.

As if not minding what Zach had said and choosing not respond to him, Kale instead smugly asked another question that made Zach feel that he had just been poured with cold water, making all his anger disappear, replaced by fear and curiosity.

"Did you perhaps experience an excruciating pain? Was it so tortuous that it made you want to die and not continue living anymore? Is that the reason why your body changed drastically?"

'What the h*ck? Why does he know that? Is he the one who did it?'

Zach sat down again, his face showed a shocked look. He then looked at Kale intensely, as if to order him to continue what he was saying.

Seeing Zach's curious eyes, Kale chuckled amusedly and chose to slowly quench the young man's thirst for answer, approaching him with a carrot and a stick.

"If you want the answer to the question let's make a deal first. Believe me, you will thank me in the future because of this."

Zach was thinking hardly about what the deal might be and what the old man could possibly get from him from the deal he would propose. But even racking all his brains to come up with the reason gave him no result. So he chose to remain silent so as not to promise anything might the deal be disadvantageous to him.

'Let's hear what your deal is all about old man.'

"I'll take your silence as you agreeing to listen to the deal then. Here's the deal, in exchange for answering all your questions to the best of my abilities, not including classified information, you will have to work for the Ravens as an undercover spy. You will tell us all information that you will come across, it will help us in investigating the death of the person earlier and so much more. What do you think?"

After asking that, Kale stood up from his seat, took two teacups on top of saucers, and a teapot from a cupboard behind him. He took the teapot and filled it with water, after that he then turned on his stove to boil the water. Next, he took out cookies that were to be paired with the tea later. After just about 30 seconds or so, steam magically came out of the teapot, signifying that it had already boiled. He then selected lavender tea for Zach, to calm him down, helping him in his decision making, and black tea for himself, as he was tired from working for over 2 nights straight. After that, he offered the lavender tea to Zach as he started to drink his black tea, all while enjoying the sweet cookies he took out earlier.

"Take a sip on this lavender tea, it will help you calm down and choose the best decision that you think might be good for you."

Zach looked at the tea that was offered to him, the thought of it being poisoned never crossed his mind because just the smell already made him yearn to taste such exquisite tea that may be more expensive than all the things he had added together. He stretched out his hand and took the tea that was offered to him.

"Thank you old man, I shan't excuse myself then."

"You can simply call me Uncle Kale, I don't like being reminded that I'm old."

Zach couldn't be bothered to reply as the scent was making him want to immediately drink the tea, so he only nodded briefly and drank the lavender tea. Although it had a bland taste, the aroma of it was more than enough to help him achieve total calmness. His mind was like a person who had just climbed a mountain, it was so tired, yet when it saw the view from up top, it gave him a serene feeling.

The lavender tea helped him think of the proposed deal much more clearly than before.

'They might not be that different than the Dolus Gang, nevertheless I'll still choose the lesser devil. And besides this might be the chance to finally change my situation and help me find out the truth to the death of my beloved parents. And the truth of the pain I've experienced earlier is only an added benefit.'

'And if what I'm guessing is correct, the truth to the pain I've experienced earlier is probably related to mysticism. Will this be the beginning of my magical journey? Is this the start to my story of being the protagonist of this world?'

'I guess I don't have anything to lose anymore. I might as well follow what my heart desires, just this once.'

After thinking about it for a long time, Zach finally had the answer.

"Uncle Kale, I have already decided. I agree to the deal. I hope you can take care of me."