The Cold Mansion

Adui was having a bad feeling he went deeper into the mansion, the knight he was following looked more like a golem than a real human, while the cheerful and warm manor of Gizelle had transformed into a dark and gloomy place. Even the concentration of mana around the mansions was bonkers, he had never felt so much mana in one place. Such high concentration was making him suffocate a little bit.

As they got to the door, the knight pushed the heavy mahogany doors of her mansion with a simple push from its hand. It was pretty impressive considering it usually takes around 4 people to open those doors.

Those heavy doors usually used to open a gateway to a warm, cozy, and large luxurious mansion, today it opened to the gateway to hell itself. Cold winds which could freeze even the fiercest fire came at them at full force when the doors were opened, with breeze also came the thick smell of blood as well which made Adui rethink his decision to come to this place. The smell, mana, and the scary-looking knight were making him feel as though he had come to visit the demon in hell itself.

The knight turned around then started staring at him again. Its brown emotionless eyes felt as though they could see through him. "Shall we go in?" he asked the knight, who in turn chose to remain silent.

'Is this guy mute,' he thought. "Are you standing here because I need to go in alone?" The knight simply nodded his head. After taking one look inside the dark and cold mansion, he hesitated. 'I changed my mind, I don't wanna do this.' It is then he looked at the emotionless eyes of the giant standing beside him. It was then the giant made his move. He pushed lightly and made him enter the manor.

The gate slammed shut as soon as he stumbled inside. Now alone in a very cold manor and with its dark corridor, he started fearing for his life. The smell of blood had gotten stronger since he had entered. He couldn't deny it, he was a little curious about the smell of blood, the whole place was smelling like multiple massacres happened here very recently and this place had bathed in the blood of all its victims. But he knew that wasn't true as he came to this manor not too long ago.

'You are too young to die here Adui. Let's just meet that bitch's master and get out of here.' Looking around the manor, he saw that there were no movements anywhere. "Hello? Is anyone there? Martha! Are you here?" he yelled, trying to call the head maid of the house. But he got no response. 'Where is everyone?'

It was then he felt movements in mana on his right, he turned his head to see nothing there. 'My senses are going bonkers in this place.' He then decided that he should go and look for the bitch's master himself, but before he could take a step, he heard a hoarse and ancient voice from his back "Impressive senses you have young mage." Startled as well as terrified by the voice, he took a wrong step and fell down on the floor. The cold floor of the manor did hurt a little, but the pain was brushed aside when he saw the man that spoke.

The man had pale skin as if blood have never flown through its veins, his body skinny yet filled with muscles, and ruby-red eyes similar to Gizelle's but somehow more terrifying than hers. And his silky white hair which came down to his waist combined with his pale white skin made him look like a terrifying ghost.

The man was standing wearing small undergarments to hide his privates. Other than that the man was completely naked showing off his chiseled statue-like body. "Ara… Did I startle you boy?" the man asked in an emotionless hoarse voice. The voice got Adui out of his stupor. He then collected himself and pushed himself up. "Oh… I am sorry for such an unsightly behavior milord. I get startled very easily."

"Who are you? And why have you come here?" the man asked while observing him from top to bottom.

"My name is Adui Hampshire milord. Lady Gizelle send me here saying that you have a task for me."

"Ah… Gizelle sent you. Good, I was expecting you. Come have a seat and then we will talk." The man said and then started walking towards the sitting area. Adui followed behind him with a word.

'Damn… I peed my pants. It is just a dab but still… Fuck! This is so embarrassing. Let's just get this over with.' The man then leads him to the manor's sitting area. The leather seats of the sofa which were very comfortable and bouncy in past had become hard like a rock, and they were also cold as an ice block. They were very uncomfortable to sit on.

"First let me start by introducing myself. My name is Kaisel Ulaspas and you Adui right?" The man spoke with an emotionless voice.

"Yes, milord."

"Hm… Adui, I will be honest with you. The task that I have is very important to me. And I could go to any lengths to get the task completed… That is why I asked Gizelle to help me. According to her, she could complete the task. But she cannot do it diplomatically. As I insisted on completing the task with diplomacy, she told me that she could try sending a guy to test out the waters. And so here you are." A frown appeared on Adui's face.

"So… In a way, she is sending me to complete an impossible task?"

"Yeah. So if you are not able to get the land, it is okay. But I would still expect you to give your everything to acquire the piece of land."

"I have to acquire a piece of land?" The man nodded his head. "Sara, would be a doll and give the map to Mr. Hampshire over here.", the man said softly.

It was then a cold hand grabbed Adui's right shoulder. It startled him, as he was sure that there was no one in the room except them. He then turned around and saw a woman standing behind his sofa. She had a light see-through silk cloth that she had wrapped around her naked torso, she possessed silky white hair like the man, and also had red eyes like him.

"Oh, I am sorry. Did I startle you?" she said in a sweet voice. She then pushed a rolled piece of parchment to him. Enchanted by the perky and stone-hard nipples of the woman that were peeking from her dress, Adui stared at them as if they were the most beautiful jewels he had ever seen. But then he immediately shook his head and came out of a stupor when he realized she might be the sister of the dangerous man over there.

"Thank you." He said and then immediately grabbed the parchment. He then rolled it open and saw a very familiar map of the whole Gorgon kingdom intricately designed on it. In the middle of the map was a red circle which he figured was the land that the man wanted him to acquire.

"You want this land?" he asked, to which Lord Kaisel nodded his head.

"Do you recognize the land?" Kaisel asked.

The woman then started moving and settled down by Kaisel. "Let me see… Baron Geon…" Adui started mumbling while looking straight at the paper. And then he realized what land they wanted to acquire. "Oh. I recognize it now. This is the disputed land of Baron Hubert and Baron Geon. If I am not wrong this is supposed to be a valley." He said as he looked up.

"Ding Ding. That is correct." Sara said and then she snuggled closer to Kaisel while also eyeing him like he was her delicious piece of meat. "You know your maps Mr. Hampshire" she praised him.

"Well, Lady Gizelle's shop receives orders from all over the kingdom. So I picked a thing or two about map reading from there… And please Milady, call me Adui" While inwardly he was quite surprised to see Sara snuggling with Kaisel. He thought that they would be siblings, but it seems like he was wrong. It was then he remembered a very strange detail, Gizelle when visited the shop also had red pupils like these have, it couldn't be a coincidence that every single one of these people have red pupils.

"So can you do it? Can you settle the matter diplomatically?" Kaisel asked.

"I can try Milord. But that land dispute is very old… And if we take the diplomacy route, then would cost you some serious money to sway these people to hand over this land. But I am sure that if you show those guys your power, they happily hand over their land." Most of the noble houses have huge egos and wouldn't bow down to just about anyone. It is the only power that could sway them.

"That is another one of the problems that I face," Kaisel said while sitting up straight. "I don't want to let people of this country know about my presence. That is why if diplomacy fails, I will make Gizelle get those land either by hook or crook."

'So he wants the land without making his presence known? Why? Is he trying to hide from someone?' No matter how many questions arose in Adui's mind, he could not just ask them. So, for now, he decided that first, he should get out of there as soon as he can, because the cold and mana in the surrounding is getting unbearable.

"Milord… I am sorry to inform you but, even Lady Gizelle is not influential enough to get you that land. That land had seen a blood feud between two noble households for more than a few decades. Even if she is Rank-8 Mage, she won't be able to do anything."

"How can you be so sure?" Sara asked while biting her long nails and sizing him from up to down.

"Ah… I have been living in this country all my life. I know how the people of this country think and would act. Lady Gizelle would only be able to sway those households to give up the land if she offers them something that they could not deny. Or she becomes so powerful that they would not be able to do anything to her."

"You leave that to us. For now, try to convince these to give up that land." Kaisel said in an authoritative voice.

"I will try my best to convince them. Also…" he paused thinking whether he should ask the question or not. At last, he didn't ask anything. "Yes. I will try my best."

"Is there something troubling you young mage?" Kaisel said.

"Milord… I may be out of line to ask you this but… I just… Why do you want this land anyway? If solitude or scenery is what you need then I can surely provide you with some options." A smile bloomed on Kaisel's face as he heard the question.

"You see young mage, that land is important for me because… a long time ago that belonged to my ancestors. We used to live even before the Gorgon family conquered this piece of land. My family was a noble household of Bloodborn mages. And we used to have a mansion in the middle of that land. I believe if you visit that place, you could still find ruins of our old mansion." Kaisel then leaned forward towards Adui. "I want to build a Mage's tower at that land to honor my family. That is why I want that land."

Shocked as well surprised by the statement of Kaisel, Adui opened his mouth but no words came out. He froze in his position to really started thinking about what Kaiser had just revealed it to him. Then he snapped out of his stupor once again. He then collected himself and stared into the eyes of Kaisel.

"Milord. I personally go to these noble's households and even beg them if I had to. But I will get you that land." He declared with vigor. His eyes which were anxious a moment ago were not burning with passion. He now had decided that he would go to any lengths to get that land from those nobles.

"You seemed pumped up out of a sudden," Sara noted and said.

"Milady… Our Gorgon kingdom is a small country in this world. We don't have any Mage tower here nor we had any mana wielder that was able to surpass Rank-17 in a few centuries. That mage tower may not be anything to people of your caliber, but to us, it is like god sent opportunity. It is very valuable."

"Then work hard and get me that land. The Sooner you finish your job, the sooner the construction of the Mage tower will start… Now for negotiations, I will be giving you 5000 joules of mana stones. Take them as a bargaining chip against those households."

"Ah… Yes of course Milord." Adui said with a smile.

***

With his eyes closed, Adui enjoyed his moments under the sun. After getting out of the cold embrace of Gizelle's manor, the rays of the sun provided him with comfort; the temptation of lying under the sun without any clothes also lingered through his mind. But he brushed aside the thought as he had an overwhelming amount of work to do. He had a lot of bigger fish to fry currently and could not afford to get sidetracked. He needed to make plans for his travels as well as he had to safeguard the spatial bag which was nicely tucked in his right breast pocket. He had a lot of work to do…

As he got home, he didn't expect to see a man napping on his doorstep. With his walking cane, he poked the sleeping man which woke the stranger up. It was then he realized the man was none other than Ben, a worker of Gizelle's shop.

"What the hell are you doing here old man?" Adui asked half asleep Ben.

"Wha…" the half-asleep old man mumbled as he was rudely woken up. But soon a smile bloomed on the man's face as he saw Adui standing in front of him. "Adui! Thanks to the great Amala I met you here. I thought you left for your journey."

"Well, I am here to pack my bags… Wait how did you know I was going on a journey?"

"That bitch told us while firing me."

"You got fired?"

"Yeah. Me and some other workers. According to her we were too old and were practically useless. Basically, she wanted to get rid of anyone that had any connections with you."

"What? That is insane."

"Yeah, tell me about it. She fired half of the staff today."

"That is even more insane. You guys have a ton of experience handling the ingredients and products. What the fuck does she think that skilled laborers grow on a tree?"

"I have been telling you this for years kiddo, that bitch is insane and does not know how to run a business. She is like a trophy Mage that attracts customers to the shop. You are the one who does every other work."

"You don't have to flatter me, old man. I may also get fired."

"You too?"

"Yup. It is not official yet. But there is a high chance I will be fired… You know what? Would you like to have some tea with me?"

"Sure." Ben then got up and followed Adui inside the house.