"I agree, but only if they agree on demonstrating a perfect comprehension of fire to me.." Said Daniel with a demanding attitude.
His teacher could clearly see that Daniel was not willing to take no for an answer, yet, he wasn't able to promise that sort of exchange.. Especially the part about demonstrating a perfect comprehension of fire.
Not so many people were capable of demonstrating a perfect comprehension of an essence, and fire was not an exception. In fact, fire was one of the hardest essences to comprehend. If not for the difficulty of learning its many concepts itself, just for the fact that, in order to gain a perfect comprehension of the various types of fire, one needed to be in constant contact with fire itself.
The teacher looked at Daniel with slight annoyance while saying "I guarantee that 'The Poisonous Rose' will not like the demand.." He then looked at Daniel attentively. He wanted to scare Daniel so that he would not create too much of a problem for him, and possibly accept the offer as it was.
Unfortunately, he did not found the changes he hoped to see in Daniel's face, which appeared as confident as he was a few moments earlier.
"My company operates in the comprehension of essences.. By witnessing each concept of fire, I would at least know what to look for in order to make an advancement in our researches.. It is my only offer." Responded Daniel plainly, wanting to look like a relentless businessman than a scared twenty-one year old man.
"Very well," Responded the teacher. "I'll deliver your counter offer.. I'll come and find you by tomorrow." he then added before leaving the greenhouse.
The Poisonous Rose was a relatively powerful company within the galaxy, and operated in various solar systems, but despite their power, they did not possess a perfect fire sphere. Due to this, they had to train their new members into comprehending fire essence individually, and that took a lot of the time of their otherwise busy members.
The reason why the company needed a comprehension of fire essence, was of course, because poison making was the dangerous side of alchemy.. And fire was a big part of it, just like it was for the other better seen parts of alchemy.
Once the teacher left, Daniel turned around, and walked towards Serf, which after seeing him approach, said in a low voice "Did it work?"
"It did."
-----
Two hours later, in the area reserved for platinum-badged students.
*Knock Knock*
"Come in.." said the faint voice of a woman from behind the door. The teacher, which was the one that had just knocked on the door, opened it and entered.
The room was immense, and was filled with expensive-looking furniture. Many well dressed men stood quietly in various spots of the room, and gave the impression of being members of the servitude.
In the middle of the living room, was a table for massages, and on it, was a young girl of about twenty years of age.
She was lying naked on the table, with her large breasts pressed against it, her arms crossed underneath her head, and a towel that covered from the lower part of her back, down to the middle of her thighs.
Next to her, was a thirty year old man that was massaging her back.
The teacher entered the room, and the moment he arrived to a two meters distance from the table, she said without looking up at him. "What did he say?"
Clearly nervous, the teacher said "He said that he will accept the offer, but only if the company demonstrates to him a perfect fire essence comprehension. That is also what he asked during the collective's games.."
"I don't understand why they want to purchase the treasure from him.. It would be so easy to just enter his company, and drop a little vial on the ground.. I could do it myself right now.." Muttered the girl, talking about murdering thousands of people almost as if she was talking about destroying a random colony of ants.
She then took a slight pause, and after thinking it through for a few moments, she said "Very well. Tell him that The Poisonous Rose accepts the deal. My grandma told me that if he had pushed for a better price, it would have been a good sign anyway."
"I will deliver the news tomorrow." Responded the teacher immediately.
The girl clearly had a bad temper. She lifted her head, and while looking at the teacher, she said "I didn't tell you to do it tomorrow, do it now."
"Young Lady, I have already told him that I would have delivered the company's response to him by tomorrow.. If I go now, he might suspect that the company has people within the school.. That would violate your mother's condition.. We can't let people know who you are." Responded the teacher with a hint of worry. He had had to deal with this girl more than once before, and he knew that she was one to do things on a whim.
The irritation didn't disappear from the girl's face, but she was unable to retort again her own mother's conditions.
Unable to release her irritation for more than what she was use to, she found a chance when the man that was massaging her back put too much pressure on his thumbs.
"Enough.." she said while brushing the back of her hand against the man's forearm.
After the girl touched the man's arm, the man entered in a state of deep shock. He turned towards her, and said "Please lady, I'm so sorry.. Please.."
The girl ignored him, and instead unwrapped her towel, and moved it higher on her back.. Covering from her breasts down to the middle of her thighs.
She then got up from the table, and walked away.
The teacher left the room while the face of the massagist started to change color. From a healthy pink, it turned red, purple, and finally, dark grey. He then collapsed on the ground, devoid of life.
The rest of the servants looked at the scene with faces devoid of any sort of emotion. They were clearly used to this sight.
Once the teacher left, the girl walked towards the cabinet which contained a large variety of crystal alcohol bottles, grabbed one that contained a rosy transparent liquid, and poured herself a drink.
She then sat on the couch that was in front of the lit fireplace, and while rubbing the glass with her thumb, she said "Kill the girl.. I don't care what my grandma says. If they can't survive a simple assassination, they will never survive in the poisonous rose."
After she finished speaking, the oldest one between her servants moved from his position, and left the room.
-----
"Do you think they will agree?" Asked Serf curiously, while sinking his teeth into a fatty piece of meat.
"They will." Responded Daniel plainly, before stabbing his fork on a piece of vegetable, and snapping it into two with his teeth.
Serf quietened down for a few minute, while keeping on eating his meal.
During the next couple of minutes, his thoughts were directed at the poisonous rose. It was only after a minute that he noticed how Alesia, that while sitting next to Daniel, lifted her plate and moved it over his.. then, she used her fork to make the parts of the food that she didn't like to fall on Daniel's plate.
By now, Serf had eaten with the two of them for a very long time.. After all, more three months had passed since the two had met. He had gotten used to their eating habits, and the fact that Alesia left the parts that she didn't like for Daniel, was something new.
She would usually leave them on her plate, while now, after she gave him the parts that she didn't like, he accepted them with a smile.
"You two look closer than usual.." He muttered with a mouth full of food.
A faint smile appeared on Daniel's face in response, while Alesia blushed faintly.
Serf immediately understood what those two reactions meant, so, he kept quiet, and finished eating.
After the three of them finished eating, they walked back towards Alesia's room, where they were used to studying alchemy, and waste time together.
This one time, after finding out about the relationship between Daniel and Alesia, Serf stopped a few meters from her room's door, and said "Damn it.. I still have to write a few papers for tomorrow's test. I can't stay.. I will see you tomorrow." He then turned around, and left towards his and Daniel's room before either of them could say anything.
Of course, he couldn't have been more obvious than that.. Daniel and Alesia immediately understood what Serf's intention were, causing a bit of embarrassment between the two.
"I guess I should go as well.." Said Daniel while looking at Alesia enter her room.
Once inside her room, Alesia said "Sure.. unless you want to enter and.. Drink something with me.." She then entered leaving her door open.
A big smile appeared on Daniel's face, as he entered.
Once he stepped through the entrance, he closed the door behind him. He then followed Alesia, but after taking a single step, he felt the sound of paper brushing against the floor coming from behind.
He turned around, and he saw a letter underneath Alesia's door.
The method people received letters within the academy, was thanks to a person that hand delivered them personally to each room, so, Daniel didn't think much of it.
He picked the letter up, and read who the sender was. On the outside of the letter, Daniel could only see the words 'To Alesia' written with a refined handwriting, and feel a faint male fragrance coming from it.
Daniel already knew that Alesia was popular with the young heirs within the academy, and that she received a lot of letters from them, so he did not think that there was anything wrong in it.
He walked towards her, and said jokingly while holding the letter in between his fingers and waving it gently "Do I have another competitor?"
Alesia turned to look at Daniel, and saw the letter in his hands. She then rolled her eyes, and said "I doubt it.. Why don't you check for me?"
Daniel showed a surprised expression, and said after sucking air through his teeth a couple of times in feigned disappointment "How cruel of you! Not even reading a man's intentions personally.."
He then let out a small amount of immortal essence out of his fingertip, and turned it into a dull blade which he used to open the letter.
After letting the blade dissipate, he pinched the sheet of paper into the envelope with two fingers, but before he could even pull it out, he dropped on the ground, completely paralyzed.
Alesia heard the sound of Daniel falling on the ground, and after turning to look at his direction, she dashed towards him with a face covered in worry.
"Dan! What's wrong?!" She asked in panic.
Daniel tried to use his internal immortal essence to heal himself, but there was nothing he could do. His muscles were completely paralyzed, and his organs were barely working.
The first thing that Daniel did, was to count the seconds. After ten seconds passed, he started to feel difficulty in breathing, and after no more than twenty second, his heartbeat started to slow down to a dangerous rate.
Alesia was in shock, and didn't know what to do. She tried to push a healing pill into Daniel's mouth, but she had to fight against his muscles that were tense as rocks in order to make him swallow it.
Daniel knew that he didn't have much time left, so he focused his immortal essence with great difficulty, and pushed it out of his body.
He then moved it towards Alesia's ears, which right before reaching them, turned into sound essence, and brought Daniel's words to her.
The voice sounded like Daniel's, but it was completely made out of sound essence. The phrase it said was brief, and brought a shock in Alesia higher than seeing what was happening to Daniel.
It said "If you want me to live.. Kill me now."