Chapter 19: Amy, The Negotiator.

This world was an extreme one.

I always had this feeling, but now it became quite apparent.

The building we just entered or the security measures we took earlier, all of them were quite high tech.

Surprising me a lot, after all, if the world had such advanced tech, then why is it still in medieval period?

On Earth, this wasn't possible, the world couldn't be too extreme.

No matter how backwater a place was, it still stayed in the same generation, but here such a thing was clearly happening, I wondered why?

But soon, I got an answer.

A simple answer.

Here, not everyone was built the same.

The difference between the Magic users and normal people was just too great.

So great, that higher ranked Magic users couldn't even be called a human.

A Magus Vs all normal humans.

The outcome was so obvious that it was funny.

And this difference, wasn't just in fighting or combat powers, after all fighting was not all that mattered.

Rather, it was in everything.

Any profession, any job, any work, any art you name it, a magic user will always be ways ahead of a normal human.

According to the class system, no normal human has ever crossed the bronze grade of any class ever, and that is counting purely non-combatant classes, classes like a tactician, a merchant or even a gardener.

Even when doing such mundane things, Magic users were on a different league.

As I said, the difference was just too great, be it money, the ability, the standard of living, or even the opportunities.

But this was inevitable, and apparent.

Just like now, in the lobby of this futuristic building, most of the people here were magic users.

The reason for that was simple.

The 'ri~ght' price, wasn't so right for normal people.

The only ones who could afford the services here were either Magic users or some super rich tycoons.

Of course, this didn't matter to us, without sparing a glance to the lobby or anyone else within, we walked past it.

-Step.

-Step.

And directly entered the second floor, these people here, weren't worth my time.

The second floor had several VIP rooms.

You could access any room you liked, after verifying your identity, using the VIP card that the establishment issued.

Naturally, we entered the first room we saw after using my card, all the rooms were the same anyways.

After getting in the VIP room, I simply dropped my disguise.

In split a second golden smoke detached itself from my face and body, before it quickly got absorbed by the robe.

The reason I did this was simple, I needed the power that came with my identity to make my request a high priority one, and second with me using the card, the establishment knew my identity anyways.

Of course, my maid did the same as she sat beside me on the couch.

The VIP room, as it sounded, was quite luxurious, and similarly high tech.

The room itself had a black and white theme, with the main colors of consisting of black, grey, and white.

Most of the furniture was premium stuff, mostly black with white highlights and some gold accents, the walls and carpet were a mixture of grey and silver, while the ceiling was white with a beautiful golden and silver pattern drawn on it.

As a VIP room, it had a cabinet full of good wine, along with some light but expensive snacks, and an enchanted table that could be used to access the free news the establishment provided, only to VIPs.

Though this news was mostly semi-private, but considering it came from all around world, it was a surprisingly good way to pass time.

And that's what I planned to do, but before that, I asked my silent maid something that had been bugging me, "Say…Amy, aren't you curious about the thing I am looking for?"

Hearing my question, Amy gave me a hearty expression as she answered,

"Of course, I am Young Master, but how could I ask something which you clearly don't want me to?"

Though what she said felt cringey as hell, but I still felt a bit bad after hearing her answer, so I just decided to tell her.

She will be there when I file in my request anyways.

"Well, it's not a secret or something, I just want to look for some people."

"People?"

Amy asked as she looked confused, "Umm, couldn't Young Master just ask someone from the estate, to do that?, Why specifically come here?"

"Well, that's the problem I couldn't, the people I want to look for are quite far away, one of them isn't even in the Main World."

I said with a sigh.

Amy's ears perked up at my answer, as her confusion intensified, "Umm, then how does Young Master, know them…?"

Amy asked, but before I could say something, she answered herself,

"So that's what you can't tell me, correct?"

"Correct." I said as seriously as I could.

I knew this conversation would happen sooner or later, so I had prepared myself to not say anything.

After all I couldn't just bullshit here, so, I'd rather refuse to say anything.

"It's okay, everyone has their own secrets, I won't ask you to share yours when I haven't even shared mine with you."

Amy said as she showed me a tender smile, and sneakily took this chance to pat my head.

Of course, I shook off her hand quickly, but she didn't mind that anyways, rather she asked, "That aside Young Master should I call them in?"

"Umm, call them in."

With my reply the maid reached for the table, fiddled with his settings, and just like that the door opened.

Talk about high tech.

I thought, as I crossed my legs and looked at the two new entries in the room.

One was a tall and lean guy, blonde hair, blue eyes, soft facial features and pointed ears, clearly he was an elf.

He wore a white shirt underneath a blue vest with some golden work on it, black pants, and leather shoes.

More or less, he looked like an intellectual person.

As for the other guy, he was a human I knew, a pot-bellied middle-aged man with a luxurious purple tail coat on.

With both of his hands clasped together, he walked towards me while having the best smile he could.

A smile that showed his fake golden teeth.

With rings on all of his fingers, and about half a dozen chains on his neck, he looked exactly like a walking jewelry store.

And that jewelry store along with the other guy, came in front of me and deeply bowed.

Then he stood straight and said,

"Welcome, Young Master Rayne, Lady Amelia, to our humble guild.

This Marvin is relieved to see you in good health, Young Master."

Marvin Adyson, Branch Manager of Blackbeard Searchers Ellesmere Branch, an F rank magic user who became a gold graded businessman despite his low talent in magic.

A shrewd merchant, a gold digger, but someone who knows when to give up.

Just him being posted in Ellesmere as it's Branch Manager shows how good of a businessman he is.

Following his introduction, he sat down on the couch opposite to me and he pointed to the Elf,

"This elf here is Garett Forman, he is the new in-charge of Managing the VIPs.

Of course, I can't let anyone else serve Young Master."

"This is my first time meeting you, Young Master Rayne, Lady Amelia, I'm Garett Forman.

I hope that I can serve you well."

The elf Introduced himself as he too, sat beside the fat merchant.

During the whole time I stayed silent, just nodding in acknowledgement to both of them, while Amy just showed her business smile.

And that wasn't seen as strange.

Marvin clearly knew that Rayne was a man of few words, someone that hated bullshit, so after the elf settled himself, he got straight to the point.

"So, what brings Young Master, in our humble establishment?"

And for that I was thankful, for I wasn't too keen on spending my afternoon chatting with a gold toothed man.

With a whoosh, some documents materialized in hands, and after glancing and confirming that they were the correct ones, I handed them to the Manager.

"Here,"

I said slowly in a deep voice, "These three people, I want them here."

Yes, only three people.

When selecting these people, I had a lot to consider.

First, these people needed to be those who will grab any opportunity they were given.

Second, taking them out shouldn't disturb Eva's growth.

And third, they needed to be a blank slate.

Only three people fit such conditions, at current time and not surprisingly they all were supposed to be villains.

After all, heroes are hard headed, even at their lows.

The Manager took the documents, his eyes flashing with Mana as he quickly scanned them

Once finished he looked at me, with a frown on his face and said,

"Quite the peculiar people you want to look for Young Master, to think you even know someone from Vanzahra."

I raised an eyebrow at him, which quickly made him start laughing as he said, "Of course, that is none of my business, but I will ask Young Master to specify something."

"Do we have to bring them peacefully or we have to convince them?"

This fatty was obviously asking if he can simply kidnap them.

"No, they would be willing to come with you, but their circumstances may not allow them to. In such a case, use money."

"I see, I see, thanks for your wisdom Young Master, then let's talk about money."

Marvin said, while rubbing his hands together again.

And though I was the one who gave him such a quirk, it looked quite disgusting.

As for the price negotiations, "I'll leave that to you." I said to my left.

To Amy, who was quietly watching out exchange till now.

'No way, I was gonna get ripped of by this old man here.', I thought.

Amy looked a bit shocked, a bit troubled, and a bit unwilling, but eventually nodded in response.

A beautiful smile bloomed on her face as she looked at Marvin, asking,

"How about you suggest a starting price Mr. Marvin?"

"Of course, of course, since a wonderful lady such as yourself is negotiating with me, I will naturally suggest something minimal."

He said before pausing a bit, and then said a 'minimal' price.

Or he was supposed to,

But as soon as he opened his mouth, a constipated look appeared on his face.

His mouth was open but it was as if words refused to come out of it, it was just left hanging.

Seeing him like that I didn't understand what was going on at first, but when the scenario repeated itself a few times, and more importantly when I saw Amy smiling so sweetly.

I knew or at least I had an inkling of what Amy was doing.

Though I patted myself in my mind for making such a decision, I kept a stoic expression on my face as I glanced at Garett, who also looked a bit unwell before averting my eyes.

It felt like I was cheating but, that didn't stop me from praising her mentally, 'Good job, Amy, good job'.

Eventually, after opening and closing his mouth for a sixth time, Amy took some pity on him as whatever she did, she lowered its effect, making the businessman speak with an extremely aggrieved expression.

He practically croaked, "A million Coles would suffice, as a complete payment, what do you think?", as he looked at me, not daring to look at the beautifully smiling Amy.

Of course, he would still want at least double the profit, I thought.

Thankfully, Amy brought five times the money, otherwise I would be in a predicament here.

With that thought, I placed 500,000 on the table, and said, "We have a deal then, Marvin."

All while meeting his gaze.

"Treat them well, and bring them here within two months. If you do, you may get a million Coles instead of just the remaining 500,000."

Then, I gave Amy a small gesture and that was enough for the maid to stop doing, whatever she was doing.

This gave them a moment of respite, before I asked, "You don't have anymore problems, do you? If you have any we can always negotiate, right Amy?"

Though the duo inwardly screamed at the nodding lady.

'That's not how you negotiate!!'

Ultimately, they didn't want to experience that again, so, they remained silent.

"So, how about we finalize the deal?"

I said after a short pause.

The elf was the one who responded this time, as Marvin still looked a bit under the weather.

"Of course, of course, just a second."

He said, as he took out a piece of blank contract paper from his storage space.

Then he placed it on the table, injected a bit of his Mana and Mental Power in it, and for a moment the paper glowed in a golden light.

A golden beam of light appeared on top of it, and wherever it passed text appeared.

And within a few seconds our contract was ready.

The elf picked it up, and gave it a read before passing it to the now better Manager, who similarly injected his Mana and Mental Power in it.

The contract lit up again, as the name 'Marvin Adyson' appeared on it.

The Manager looked too exhausted to do anything else, so the elf took the initiative, and gave me the contract while saying,

"Please read and sign it."

I took the contract, did quick read, and finding nothing funny written there.

But for a just in case scenario, I double checked it with Amy.

After getting her approval, I pumped a bit of my Mana and Mental Power in it, causing my name to similarly appear on it.

With both the names signed on the contract, it suddenly lit up, before splitting up in two identical contracts.

Knowing this was normal procedure, I gave one of the contracts back to the Garett, before standing up.

"Nice doing business with you, Young Master Rayne."

The Manager who looked a little better now, somehow managed to say that, as he saw me leaving and that was honestly unexpected if you asked me.

"Good to do business with you too, Marvin. I can see myself contacting you again, if you did your job well, that is."

But I replied as I walked towards the door.

"I hope you keep my visit a secret."

Of course, I didn't forget give him a final reminder, before leaving the guild.

Just like that, one of the three things I wanted to do in the city was done.

***

It was afternoon when we left the establishment.

The time for lunch.

The smell of delicious food wafted through the streets as many restaurants and taverns started serving lunch.

With our disguise back on, we roamed through the busy streets as we talked mentally.

It was me mainly praising Amy though,

'That was really good, Amy, I didn't know you had such a trick.'

'That is clearly your fault Young Master, had you informed me before I would have properly negotiated with him.'

Apparently, Amy doesn't like using brute force in things like this, so she was sulking a bit.

'Well, sorry for that, I will inform you beforehand next time, anyways what was that trick you used?'

'Apology accepted!'

And apparently, she was quite forgiving too, at least to me she was.

'As for what I used back then, it wasn't a trick, just a simple use of Magical Aura. Every Magic user can do that.'

'Huh, really?, But I couldn't feel it even when I tried to.'

'Well, you will be able to do this when you have a higher mastery of Aura.'

'There are no shortcuts?'

'There are no shortcuts in getting stronger Young Master, even if you have a lot of power you will be nothing but a buffoon if you don't have enough mastery over it, always remember that.'

'Yes, yes I will remember it. Say, aren't you hungry?'

'Ohya, so you are finally asking this fine lady out for lunch~'

As much as I couldn't believe how fast she changed her mood, I still replied,

'Yes, would this 'fine lady' give her admirer a chance?'

'Hehe~, you are getting much better at this Young Master, and yes, as a fine lady I won't mind giving you a chance.'

She said as she offered her hand to me, before both of us burst into laughter as I took it.

Hand in hand, I led her somewhere.

Somewhere, where I had to check on a certain someone.

A special certain someone.