Lets Make a Deal

I walked into the grand meeting hall with as much pristine as possible. The reason for that is because signing a business deal is a type of combat that is exponentially more difficult than physical combat. It could be said that one's image makes up fifty percent of the client's decision to sign. The other fifty though, is how you present the product.

I noticed that the king was in a particularly pleasant mood, but my attention drifted to the woman who sat beside him, "It's a pleasure to see you again. How should I call you? I didn't catch your name last time, Melody's mother."

She smirked quite a bit, "My given name is Jade but you can call me Mrs. Grace. Although, i'm quite surprised that you would be interested in inventing."

"I would be lying if I said that I was but who am I to throw away an idea that could help thousands of people?"

When both the king and Mrs. Grace heard this their eyebrows raised indicating that I intrigued their interest. My father and Melody stood by my side awestruck at the different personality I was showing. Even without looking into their thoughts I could predict what they were thinking, 'Who are you?'

Now that I've peeked their interest its time to start, "Now then, I'm grateful for your time, King Vex, Mrs. Grace. I'd like to ask a favor from both of you before I start my presentation."

King Vex spoke, "And what would that be?"

I pointed towards the air behind them, "I would like for the things we discuss here to remain between the five of us."

Mrs. Grace laughed, "I guess you didn't spend those two years doing nothing. Alpha, leave the room."

A man about the same height as my father appeared in the space I was pointing at, "As you wish."

The man left through the doors we entered and there was an awkward filled silence. I spoke up, "Since that has been taken care of, i'll begin."

I took out three small ear pieces and handed one to each of them, "I assume both of you are familiar with sound and song magic. Am I correct?"

King Vex looked proud for some reason, "You are, yes."

"Then this should go over smoothly. The object I handed both of you is called an earpiece. By placing it in one's ear it allows direct communication with another who has an earpiece as well. Would you like me to go further in depth?"

Mrs. Grace looked unimpressed, "I have an idea of what you did. You imbedded your magic into this earpiece so that those with the same magic imbedded earpiece will be able to communicate between themselves over long distances. There are a few problems with that though, it can only be used a few times since the embedded magic will eventually run out and an enemy could jam the signal by using sound magic as well."

Besides Mrs. Grace who had a satisfied expression, everyone else had shocked ones. They were shocked that she could figure out my invention so easily but it wasn't that simple.

"That's very perceptive of you Mrs. Grace," she smiled widely. "However, you're only half right."

Mrs. Grace's smile faltered but she quickly reinforced it, "Is that so? If that's the case than please elaborate further."

"You were correct in that I embedded my magic in the device but the faults you picked out were wrong. In fact, no one can interfere with the connection of the devices unless they are destroyed."

Mrs. Grace looked insulted, "How is that possible? Sound magic that can't be undone without destroying this thing? That's absurd."

"Who said I used sound magic?"

"Don't tell me you...?"

"That's right, it's song magic. The spell I imbedded into the earpiece applies only to me, in other words-"

Mrs. Grace interrupted, "No one can cancel it out with the same spell."

Mrs. Grace had a look of delight on her face but she quickly hid it. Mrs. Grace cleared her throat, "That is quite impressive but I still can't let the low amount of uses go."

I smiled again, "The earpiece can last up to one year by my calculations."

Now Mrs. Grace was a bit more aggressive, "Now that's just preposterous!"

King Vex looked sternly at Mrs. Grace, "Give Nova a chance to explain before you make accusations since you were wrong the last time."

Mrs. Grace blushed from embarrassment and went quiet. King Vex turned back to me, "You may continue."

"It's true that I embedded song magic into the earpiece but my embedded magic is not casting, instead it is transferring."

King Vex looked very intrigued.

"It's not transferring your voice, it's transferring your thoughts and transferring takes less magical energy than casting."

As I said this both the king and Mrs. Grace shot out of their seats in amazement. They looked like they had just found out the gender of their unborn child.

King Vex was the first to respond, "How does such a spell exist?"

"Please, explain further!"

Good, i've caught them, now to reel them in, "Song magic allows someone to manipulate the voice of oneself or others, but that's not all it can do. It allows those with high magical ability to listen to someone's inner voice, or in other words, thoughts."

The both of them were blown away with this thought. There were other uses to song magic that they didn't know? It was a huge discovery about song magic!

Before they got more excited I spoke, "Though, every spell has a weakness. Of course this one does too."

The joyous look on their faces were replaced with serious expressions. King Vex spoke, "What's the weakness?"

I answered with a serious tone, "Electrical magic. In theory, an electrical magic user could alter the electrical flow between nerve cells in the brain by sending a controlled electric current through the user of the earpiece. Of course this is theoretical because I know of no one who can cast such a spell."

The king and Mrs. Grace were relieved that the only weakness was a theoretical spell. This spell was practically unable to be countered.

"Now that you know how it works, why don't you test it out?"

The king and Mrs. Grace looked at each other then placed the object in their right ears. I placed mine in as well and began to think, 'You can choose the thoughts you want transmitted to each other that way you can avoid breeches of privacy.'

I almost laughed at their stupefied faces but I caught myself before I did. The two of them conversed back and forth through thought until they were satisfied. Once they finished, the earpieces were removed.

King Vex was delighted, "This is an amazing invention young lady! If this can be mass produced we can make a huge profit off of this."

Mrs. Grace nodded at King Vex and he continued, "How much are you selling it for?"

I held up five fingers, "I'm selling each individual earpiece for five silvers."

King Vex questioned my price, "Isn't that a bit cheap for such a product?"

My answer was simple, "The target market of this product is not the noble class but adventurers. The real sale price for one of these is about thirty silvers but i'm selling them to you for a discount."

King Vex seemed pleased, "That's quite the generous offer."

"On one condition."

King Vex motioned for me to continue speaking.

I spoke to King Vex through the thought sharing spell, Vocal Link, 'I'd rather we discuss it in private since it has to do with your "issue".'

The King's face grew unpleasant, "We will discuss it in private. If everyone could leave while we discuss the condition, I would be grateful."

Everyone left the room and I sat on a chair next to King Vex, "How long have you known?"

King Vex looked away from me, "Known what? I-I don't know what you're talking about."

I gave him a cold stare, "I know you like men and your flirting act is a cover for it. Don't forget, I can read minds."

The king let out a deep sigh, "So you know. What do you want? Are you blackmailing me?"

I chuckled, "It's quite the opposite actually. I want to help with your problem. It doesn't just affect you after all but the entire kingdom."

"Are you proposing we... you know..."

I chuckled even harder, "I guess i'll tell you a secret of mine since I know one of yours. It's only fair. I'm not into men."

The king made a relieved face, "Is that so? So you understand what it's like."

I winced at the thought but spoke anyways, "I understand. The feeling of debating who you are. The feeling that no one will except you. The feeling of guilt for hiding it. The feeling that you are a defect. I know it all too well."

There was a silence between us but it was a knowing silence. We both knew what it was like and sometimes silence speaks for itself.

The king broke the silence, "So what was the condition you wanted to speak about?"

I handed him an earpiece, "The condition is if you ever need to talk about it, i'm here for you."

The King's eyes welled up with tears but he held himself back, "Nova, I don't know what to say."

I stuck out my hand, "Us defects have to help each other out, right Vex?"

Vex took my hand, "Thank you."