∼ Dealings ∼

Chapter - 061

It was silent in the office. Only the loud snores of the old man rocking on his chair and the scribbles of the woman in the corner of the office could be heard. The two pairs of vibrant green eyes clashed with each other, a hint of warning and danger as both Eric and Zechariah displayed how clearly they go to any lengths to protect what was theirs and those they held dear with the intensity of their gazes alone.

"Good, then!" Shank piped up, his glass banging loudly onto the desk and breaking their stare. "Now, are we going to get to the heart of the matter, or are we just gonna keep sitting around and twiddlin' our thumbs? I've got important matters to tend to, and they both start and end with a woman in my bed."

Zechariah sighed, his body falling back into the large chair. "We should," He reached for a small piece of paper and some dried herbs. "So tell me, Eric. Why have you and your friends come here? What is it exactly you need of me and my brother - of us, the Orphans?"

"I thought you said you knew everything," Eric said challengingly.

His keen eyes observed Eric and Aria as he expertly rolled the tobacco and lit it, relaxing as a stream of white smoke lazily escaped the corner of his mouth. "Oh, I have my theories, boy. But I want you to say it out loud. I'm curious to hear how you'll spin your tale." There was a certain threat in Zechariah's voice that made Eric's confidence falter.

Eric paused only briefly. "We took something from the warlock in Aemsburg. Something that The Stained Tooth wanted." Eric said before adding with an expressionless drone; "-The warlock of which I assume you already know."

Zechariah did not remark on that though, he simply took a drag and tapped sine ash into a glass ashtray. "You've got to do better than that."

Eric's jaw before he looked at Aria, nodding to her. Aria hesitated, clearly unsure if what Eric wanted was a good idea. But eventually, she relented and chose to trust Eric. She pulled out the [Collar of Enthrallment]. The twins frowned as they looked at the black half-ring in her hands.

"It's a magical artifact?" Zechariah asked.

"For enslavement," Aria responded.

His frown deepened.

"I-it is undetectable by most and can enslave a great many people of both low and high levels." She continued. "This is just the master band and is the only one created. For anyone to even notice whenever someone is under its influence, it would require a mage in the later stages of their first-class advancement and a warlock of at least the first advancement."

As Aria and Eric just stood there, Nyx's attention affixed to a tray of food nearby, Zechariah looked contemplative. Almost as if he had forgotten they were there as he muttered to himself. "Crowley... what the abyss are you up to?" Snapping back into reality as Shank knowingly bumped his shoulder, Zechariah's distant gaze went back to the trio. "So, you want asylum from The Stained Tooth."

"Yes, until this either blows over or we can fix it ourselves." Eric agreed.

"That would be a costly affair, one you seem quite unfit to pay. Unless..." Zechariah paused. "Give me the collar, and we'll consider the debt of protection settled."

"No," Eric said firmly without missing a beat, even Aria mustering enough up to scowl at the thought.

Both of the twins were frowning now, their expressions turning slightly hostile. "What use do you have with it? And just who said I can't just take it from you, kid?"

Beside Zechariah, Shank cracked his hard knuckles as emphasis, a certain unseen pressure of menace permeating the room.

"I'm offering you quite a generous offer here." He continued. "But I'm not one to shy away from getting another few lives on my conscience. Nor... is my brother."

Eric was tense, yet he looked to be ready to go down trying as usual. However, Aria's hands suddenly lit up with light around the [Collar of Enthrallment]. But contrary to the normal glow of green from her healing magic, this was tainted with a fiery red. Something that filled the room with the light scent of brimstone.

Zechariah got to his feet in alarm, the chair scraping against the wooden floorboards.

"Now you can't," She said once the glow faded only a moment later.

"What did you do?" Zechariah sneered, a clear aversion to magic in his eyes. Something that actually looked more like an aversion to the unknown rather than to what the magic actually was.

"I imprinted on it. No one other than me can use it now. Even if you kill me, only another of my line who has magic can. But I can assure you will not find any." She said with an uncharacteristic hostility in her light voice. Aria was even so sure of it that she walked up and brazenly handed the collar to Zechariah who took it with only a little wary in his bright green eyes.

Looking it over, there was clear frustration in his steely eyes as he seemed not able to make anything of it.

"Eldridge!" He suddenly barked, startling both them and the old man who was snoring in the other end of the room, making him nearly fall back over in his shock as his arms waved wildly.

"By The Mother's salt foam and cockleshells, ye be turning me deaf!" The old man cursed, getting to his shaggy feet that were bare. "Trying to catch me some proper slumber, I be - ye scoundrels!"

Eric and Aria instantly recognized the thick Caper dialect on the old man's tongue. Aria because she was knowledgeable about almost all of Argon, and Eric because there had been descendants of settlers from the Caper Isles in Aemsburg. Miller had been one of them.

However, the sudden thought of the old guardsman and the fate of Aemsburg put an immediate damper on Eric's mood. After all, he didn't even know if the man was still alive. Likely wasn't...

Making his way over to the group, a stench of alcohol and sweat on the old man wafting into their noses, he grumbled. "Now what do you be wanting of me boy?" The wizened caper halted his approach once he finally managed to pull up his worn pants that nearly slipped to the ground, his gait visibly intoxicated with drink and drowsy. "Can't an old man be left alone!?"

"Here," Zechariah said curtly, ignoring the old man's crass words and just throwing the band to him who surprisingly enough caught the thing deftly, despite his groggy movement. "She says it's linked to her somehow and she's the only one who can use it. Is that true?"

The crinkles in the old man's face deepened as held the end of the band with two fingers in front of his face like some dead rat. The pupils of his eyes were dark, nearly black as they often were with the people of the Three Houses. Caper, Draughter, and Erinad. It was generally considered because they had little influence from the mana vein running through Argon, so their eye colors were a lot dimmer than the people inland. But to the people of the waters instead, their eyes are said to be the color of the deep abyss, the eyes of The Mother. The Sea herself.

Aria was then shocked when she suddenly felt the surge of mana within the old man, who had before now showed no indication of possessing mana, which should've been nearly impossible for a mage to do in the presence of another one of their kind. The fact that he could remain unseen in her eyes was a testament to his ability as a mage. Despite him being so unlike any of the pompous and imperious mages that populated Argon. Had he been on the streets begging for coin, no one would've batted an eye.

Nyx felt almost a shrewd kinship to the bedraggled old man whose gaze was still affixed to the uncomfortable-looking Aria. But he also just seemed somehow wrong in the imp's eyes. Like there was some unseen clash between the two on an instinctual level.

"This be... of infernal magic," The old man sneered in disgust, his lips drawing back to reveal rotted teeth and blackened gums.

His eyes went to Aria who shied away from the old man's intensive gaze, black eyes seemingly looking right through her. He definitely saw something that made his bushy grey eyebrows rise in surprise but did not say anything. Rather, his face moved between states of revulsion and mania.

"Frankie," Shank spoke up in his gruff voice, though the enamored old man did not immediately react. "Old fart, you listening?"

Suddenly snapping out of it, the old man looked to be briefly bewildered before he realized where he was. He had definitely seen something in Aria, though what he said next seemed to only be half of it. "Aye, she be connected to this accursed artifact," He spoke slowly, the band pinched in between his finger thrown back to Zechariah who frowned contemplatively as he caught and inspected its matte black exterior.

"Can you erase the bond?" He asked.

"Nay, I'll not be touchin' that thing. Find someone other poor sod to risk their worthless lives cleansin' the demonic taint. I’ll not be the one!" The cynical old man said, muttering something about infernal magics as he looked warily at the collar.

Zechariah just sighed. "I'll be keeping this, but you'll have to offer something else for us to go the length to protect you three."

"Hey! We didn't agree to that," Eric protested, taking a step forward. "You can't just take it while we stand around and watch,"

"I can, and have," Zechariah said testily. "Doesn't matter whether I can use it or not. I will not leave in the hands of you children who haven't got the faintest idea of the mess you've gotten yourselves into."

Eric nearly growled at the man, though Shank's imposing glare stopped him from doing anything rash. Zechariah didn't wait as he merely dropped the collar into a drawer of the desk, closing and locking it with a small metal key that disappeared into his pocket.

The old man burped loudly. "If ye dullards be done, I'll be taking my leave."

"It's fine Eldridge, you can go," Zechariah said. "Just remember to get that thing done by tomorrow. I don't want to wait any longer than necessary."

The old man didn't respond with more than a dismissive wave as he just turned on his heels and stumbled out of the office, taking the stench of alcohol and age with him. He only shared a brief sneer with Nyx as the demon hissed at the old man, who was shameless enough to hiss back at Nyx. They all watched his hunched back as he retreated with a sense of trepidation.

But Zechariah caught the trio's attention once again. "So, to me what worth do you three have? I caution you to play your cards right, as you'd want to give even just enough to simply let you live with the information that you have, let alone make me shelter you."

Eric wanted to punch his stupid glasses in, but he wasn't so reckless to think he'd be able to. That Shank, he had to be at least at the first advancement of his class from merely how he carried himself and the men under him. Meaning that he was at least above level twenty-five and making him a threat that Eric couldn't possibly imagine winning against. No matter the sheer amount of unbridled tenacity that he possessed.

"Boy, I heard about your little incident at the Little Market. It would seem The Stained Tooth already has now taken an interest in this fake identity of yours too. Before, it would seem they had only been looking for a petite warlock and her demon. For other reasons of course, but you seem to be rapidly running out of choices." Zechariah said, some laughter in his voice.

Eric's jaw tightened. "So what, you're just telling me I have no options? Either way? You just want to sit there and mock me?"

"Actually, no. What I'm actually saying is that you, in fact, have gained an option. One option that could benefit us both. Greatly so." Zechariah's smile widened as Eric's frown deepened. "Listen, you have potential. Obviously. The Stained Tooth looks for that. After you beat up those goons, they'll without a doubt pay you a visit soon enough."

"What are you saying?"

Zechariah trailed his finger along the edge of his glass with a conspiratory smile. "Oh - I mean, one can always use someone on the inside. Can't they? Especially when it's that of your enemy."