Negotiations (2)

"Out of curiosity, are there other ranks of healing potion above level three?" he inquired.

"Yes, there are two other ranks above rank three, namely rank four and five," Freya answered. "For example, from what I know, a rank four healing potion can regenerate lost limbs and heal someone even if they are at the brink of death."

'I guess my potions can't definitely be judged as rank four potions,' Alex sighed.

"Those two potions are too expensive, though," Freya added.

"How expensive are we speaking about?" Amelia inquired.

Freya thought for a moment before she said, "In all my life, I have only witnessed two level four potions auctioned, and let me tell you, each of them had been sold for millions of gold coins. They are so precious and rare that even families at the level of Earl would have to amass their yearly income just for the chance to sit at the tables of those willing to buy a rank four potion."

"That much?!" Alex, Amelia, and Maya exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yes, that much," Freya nodded. "If I have to say, perhaps only members of the ducal or imperial families could buy this potion."

"What about rank five potions? How much do they cost?" Maya asked.

"To tell you the truth, sweetheart, I have no idea," Freya smiled wryly. "Rank five potions are close to myth. I have never even heard of someone who managed to acquire one. There are rumors that rank five potions can only be concocted by the queen of witches herself. I don't know if that's the truth, but if that is the case, that would explain how people have never witnessed a rank five potion. Those kinds of potions can probably only be bought by kings and emperors."

"In fact, the majority of people, nobles included, don't even know about the existence of rank five potions. Even I had only found out a couple of years back when I was trying to befriend witches in the hope that one of them would be able to heal your eyes completely. Unfortunately, none of them could." Freya sighed in disappointment.

"Oh, I forgot about that," Maya exclaimed, removing her glasses with a sudden realization. "I can see perfectly without them now!" she added, her voice brimming with excitement as she turned to Freya.

To prove her point, Maya glanced around the room, her eyes sharp and focused. She pointed towards a small vase across the room and effortlessly described its intricate patterns—the delicate flowers, the fine cracks in the porcelain, and even the faint shimmer of dust on the surface. "See? Everything is so clear now!" she laughed, her joy unmistakable.

"W-What? How is that possible?" Freya stammered, her usual composure shattered. "I hired the most skilled healers, the most powerful witches, and none of them could fix this. How... how have your eyes suddenly healed?" Her voice trembled in disbelief.

As if she couldn't believe it, Freya made Maya pass a few tests to determine if her daughter really didn't need her glasses anymore, and the result was shocking to her. In the end, she could only mutter, "How?"

"That's thanks to Ame- Amy here! She completely healed my eyes!" Maya exclaimed cheerfully.

"Th-that's thanks to her?" Freya asked, her voice filled with gratitude. She stood from her couch and moved to Amelia's side to hug her for the second time in just an hour.

"Thanks a lot for what you have done for my daughter," Freya said gratefully.

"Don't mention it. It didn't cost me anything, and even if it did, I wouldn't mind it. Maya is a sweet child," Amelia said.

"That she is," Freya nodded as she separated from Amelia and went back to sit next to her daughter. She was dying to know how Amelia had healed Maya but decided that it could wait for later.

Concentrating instead on the potions on the table, she pointed to the opaque white smoke and inquired, "What can this do?"

"It's a smoke potion that can restore one's stamina," Alex answered.

"A potion that can restore stamina?" Freya asked, the twinkles in her hypnotizing orange eyes appearing once again. "Potions that could alleviate exhaustion are quite rare, even more so than rank three healing potions, and very expensive."

"Good to know," Alex nodded.

"Can we test its effectiveness right now?" Freya suddenly asked. "To tell you the truth, at this moment, I'm seriously drained and exhausted. If your smoke potion could alleviate even a bit of that exhaustion, then it will also be added to our auction articles."

"Of course, we can test it now," Alex nodded as he handed the white smoke potion to Freya.

Freya inspected the smoke potion for a while before opening its lid, letting the opaque white smoke escape.

"You should inhale the smoke if you don't want it to disperse," Alex pointed out.

Quite frankly, the need to take a whiff of his smoke potions before it could disperse in the air is actually one of the reasons why Alex was excited at the prospect of controlling the smoke element to make it liquid.

Heeding his suggestion, Freya deeply inhaled the white smoke, and it was as if she had suddenly become lighter. There was a slight sense of being high, as if she had taken stimulants, before the feeling of euphoria disappeared and she felt her mind become clearer as her exhaustion was gradually washed away.

She closed her eyes to concentrate on the feeling before opening them half a minute later as the feeling disappeared.

Staring at the small bottle in her hand, Freya's eyes shone like stars in a starless night.

Looking back at Alex, Freya's eyes gleamed with the same intensity Alex sometimes had when he looked at Scarlett or Amelia. Without needing a single word, Alex knew exactly what she was thinking—right now, Freya was looking at him like he was her golden goose.

His suspicions were confirmed when she spoke. "If you're open to it, I'm willing to sign a contract for an indefinite amount of time with you," Freya said, her voice carrying a business-like edge, though there was a flicker of eagerness beneath the surface.

'At this point, I don't even have to try. She's the one convincing me,' Alex thought, a wry smile creeping onto his face.

"Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "After all, you don't even know if I can continuously produce those potions or if this is just a one-time thing."

Freya's face flushed, caught off guard. "You're right," she admitted, embarrassed . "I may have gotten... overly excited."

Alex stifled a chuckle as he watched her shift awkwardly. 'She's so cute when she's flustered,' he mused, inwardly amused. 'I'm going to enjoy teasing her.'

"So... Is it a one-time thing, or can you continuously make those potions?" Freya asked composedly, her eyes sparkling in anticipation.

Alex chuckled and nodded. "I can make them continuously, and yes, I'm okay with signing a contract for an indefinite amount of time. We will have to discuss the clauses and penalties for both parties though."

"You are right," Freya nodded, the excitement dimming slightly as a more serious look crossed her face. "However… there is one slight issue."

"What is it?"

Freya sighed and explained, "You see, I may be the matriarch of the family, but it doesn't mean that I have absolute power over the family. There are other individuals who are even above me—those individuals are the elders."

Alex nodded, not that surprised about this revelation. After all, there were also elders in the Eswald family, though unlike the Drazen family elders, those of the Eswald family were just respected people. They didn't hold any real power; For Alex, they were just a bunch of old fogies who thought of themselves as wise due to their ages.

"So what, does that mean that you can't sign a contract without them being present?" He asked.

"No, that's not it," Freya shook her head. "Although the elders are the ones that make the most important decisions, if they were needed to participate in every decision that I make, there wouldn't really be a need for a matriarch."

"Then what's the problem?" Alex asked, now more confused.

"Well, If I'm to sign a contract with you for an indefinite amount of time, the least the elders will demand is that at least I know your identity," Freya explained. "Don't worry though, we can use a soul contract to make sure that I won't disclose your identity to someone else."

Alex didn't even think about it before he nodded. Firstly, for some reason, he seemed to trust Freya, and secondly, since they were going to sign a soul contract, there was nothing to worry about his identity being disclosed.

"Good that you agree," Freya nodded before turning to Maya. "Now sweetheart, can you leave us for a moment?"

Maya wanted to say that she already knew Alex and Amelia's true identities, but remembering that in the soul contract she had signed with Grace, there was a clause that stated that unless the person she was talking to was in the know, she was forbidden to even affirm that she knew the identities of any members of Arcane.

She nodded to her mother's request and stood to leave.

Alex glanced at his sister curiously but didn't try to stop her from leaving.

Alex raised an eyebrow, surprised by his sister's sudden interest, but he didn't stop her. He trusted her instincts.

Soon enough, only Alex and Freya remained in the office.

"Are you sure this office is secure?" Alex asked, his voice suddenly low and serious.

"You don't need to worry," Freya replied, meeting his gaze. "No one can eavesdrop on what's discussed here, no matter their abilities."

She retrieved a soul contract and, as she had said, she wrote a clause that made it so that she was forbidden from telling anyone Alex's true identity, otherwise, the fate waiting for her would be death.

After the contract was signed, Alex nodded and snapped his fingers. The instant he did so, his smoke armor dissolved.

From the beginning, he was completely covered by his smoke, so his presence was inexistent, but once the smoke armor dissolved, his presence appeared once again.

At that moment, Freya stiffened as the same wave of emotions Alex had felt when he first saw her surged from the depth of her being.