"Excuse me.. It's a busy period for us." Said Daniel apologetically.
The old man, which had now turned to look back at his surroundings, while Daniel was taking care of his business, said with a serious tone "You have no small amount of wealth.. What prevents any of your guests to turn this place to dust, and steal all of your toys?" He then turned to look back at Daniel, and added in a threatening tone "That includes me."
Daniel chuckled at the old man's question, and said "You are free to try.. If you are confident of taking them before I throw your family into the empty void.. That is." His tone was casual, and yet it conveyed one hundred percent of Daniel's seriousness.
While Lith was alerted by Daniel's words, and the idea of a possible fight started to creep into his mind, his father said through a newly formed smirk on his face "Good." The reason for his question was not to threaten Daniel, but to know whether he had the guts or the decisiveness to take action in case something happened. After all, he would not allow his grandson to go to a place out of his reach, and where he could easily be kidnapped by any of their competitors or enemies.
"I am truly curious to know who the person behind you is." The old man said with pure curiosity. To him, it was obvious that Daniel could not have created all of this by himself, and in fact, that was the truth. He did not have a backer, but that didn't mean that he hadn't received any help. All he owned had been created out of the collective work of an extremely large amount of driven and motivated people.
Daniel shrugged his shoulders in a refusal to denying or confirming what the old man had said. He did not care if people came to think that he had a powerful backer behind him, as that would mean an additional, yet invisible layer of defence for him.
Suddenly, the three found themselves into a relatively large office inside Daniel's castle. Inside this office, were a desk, and two chairs on which Daniel invited the two to sit before walking to the other side of the desk, and taking his own seat.
The first person to talk, was Lith, who said "What would happen if someone with nothing to lose and enough power came in here to wreak havoc? What could you do to prevent that?"
Daniel expected this question, so he explained what he intended to do in detail "Each student will have a personalized talisman which will connect them to the pocket dimension through their immortal essence. If anyone or anything that isn't allowed comes in, the bridge shatters, and they'll end up in the void.. Or if they are lucky enough, in deep space."
"And what would stop them from hiding in a pocket dimension, and infiltrating with the help of a student?" Asked Lith after nodding in satisfaction with Daniel's previous response. He was a father scouting for a school after all, and he needed to ask these sorts of questions.
"Taking one's possessions into the pocket dimension is prohibited. Students will be allowed to bring in objects after having them controlled by my company team. And if they want to bring money to spend during their stay, they will have to register with my company's bank. The closest an intruder can get into my domain, is what I allow them to." Explained Daniel carefully. He had, of course, thought about each of these possibilities beforehand. He would have never dared to summon someone to make this kind of proposition if he wasn't fully prepared. He used to be a conman and a thief when he was younger, and in order to be successful, he needed to be able to make his words believable, but also have a good answer ready.
Seemingly satisfied, Lith leaned back on his chair, while his father inched forward, and asked "Kid, what is it exactly that you want from us?"
Daniel smiled, as he knew that if someone had to go to the core of the matter, that would be this muscular old blacksmith. He said "A bit of publicity would not hurt.. Small commercial agreements, and your marginal support in matters that you can afford to meddle in."
After hearing Daniel's response, Lith turned towards his father in wait for his decision, who in turn said "Let's hear what Fyro has to say about this." Despite being in a position which usually gave a person the rights to make the decisions for his entire family, the old man was not a tyrannical leader, and would usually hear what his family had to say before making a decision. It was his place to ask about Daniel's motivations just like it was his son's place to worry about his own son's safety, and was his grandson's right to make this decision.
Daniel was hoping to hear this, and in a moment, he opened a portal behind which Fyro and Imblen could be seen visiting the territory and structure placed near the area where the wood and earth elementals lived. Fyro's eyes were opened wide in shock, and he looked at the many adult elementals in surprise, unable to close his mouth.
As the portal opened, Imblen cleared his throat and caught his attention, she then pointed at the portal before walking through it together.
"Father, there are thousands of elementals there!" Said Fyro with in amazement after walking through the portal, and finding himself next to his sitting father and grandfather.
The very moment the portal had opened, the old man had felt the perfect essences of wood and earth emanated from the depth of the territory that Fyro was visiting, which caused his previous idea that Daniel was being supported by someone to reinforce.
From the other side of his desk, after seeing Fyro's enthusiasm, Daniel said "That sounds like an answer already.."
-----
Outskirts of the capital's territory.
The outskirts of the capital were organized jut like those of the majority of the cities. Large cultivated fields, which were in possession of various companies and families.
In one of the fields to the south of the capital, was a relatively big mansion in which the owners of said field lived. This mansion was surrounded by a large wall of hedges, and its walls were made out of precisely placed triangular stones, making its exterior a very unique and interesting sight to watch.
Next to the mansion were many other buildings, as well as a different-looking and smaller one. This building was about five meters in depth and two and a half meters of width and height. Its exteriors were carved in marble, and the only entrance was a thin glass door. On the external part of the walls, the faces of many different individuals were carved from white stone, and placed orderly. The details of these individuals were extremely specific, and from a single look, one would know that the people depicted were real. One of the depiction of these individuals was much cleaner than the others, and it depicted a beautiful looking girl who seemed to be in her mid twenties. Right underneath it, was a small pile of white stone residue.
Anyone that saw this small building would immediately come to the conclusion that this was a family mausoleum, and their guess would be correct.
Resounding in the entire property, was a high-pitched wailing, which traveled through thousands of meters in the distance like the wind. The source of these mournful sounds came from under the mausoleum.
In the depths of this mausoleum, was a middle aged woman. She was currently lying over a glass casket, inside which the body of a young girl in her mid twenties could be seen. Her heavy makeup was covering a large cut on her neck which would never heal again.
At the same time, within one of the rooms in the top floor of the mansion, was a middle aged man who was holding his head in between his hands. He was listening to the mournful cries of his wife.. something to which he had gotten used to for the past few months.
*Knock Knock*
The sound of knocking shook the middle aged man out of his spiral of depression. "Come in.." He said while pressing his back against the backrest of his chair.
"There is a letter for you." Said a teenage girl as she walked into the office. She was carrying an envelope in her small hands. Her expression was saddened, just like that of the middle aged man and woman, as well as a consequence of the continuous state of depression of which the family mansion had been surrounded ever since the young mistress had been killed.
"Put it with the others.." Said the middle aged man with a weak tone.
The young girl was about to leave, but right before taking the step that would have taken her out of the office, she turned to look at the middle aged man, and said "The person who delivered the letter asked me to mention that this letter is from the head of the Golden Karma company.. A certain Mr. Hiel.. She was pretty adamant about telling you this."
The words 'Golden Karma company' entered the middle aged man's ears slowly, and only after a few seconds did he process them, and sprung up on his feet. He then walked towards the young girl while bumping against his desk and a drawer, and once in front of her, he took the envelope from her hands, ripped the envelope, took the sheet of paper out of it, and read it as quickly as he could.
The young girl was shocked by the man's sudden actions.
By the time the middle aged man got to the end of the letter, his fists were shut tight, and were as hard as diamonds. "Go and call your mother.." His tone was as cold as ice, and his daughter had never heard him talk in such a way.
She quickly stepped out of the office, and walked towards the entrance of the mansion, right next to where the mausoleum was, and passing a small a sign on which two words were spelled neatly 'Helvha Mansion'.
-----
"Dan, I'm back." Said Heimart as he approached Daniel, who was busy eating his dinner along with Alesia, and a few others.
Heimart had been sent to talk to the 'A World in the Palm of Your Hand', to tell them that they would be leaving the collective, and go back to operating by themselves. The reason that Daniel had instructed him to provide, was that they hadn't received the necessary support by the collective, and therefore, they had found no reason to continue their collaboration.
"Good, what did they say?" Asked Daniel while biting a piece of vegetable that had been pierced with his fork.
"Not even a 'Good to see you!' or a 'How are you?" Said Heimart in a slightly offended way.
Daniel put down his fork, turned to look at him, and said "You are right, I apologize.. Good to see you.. How are you.. What did they say?" His tone was apparently serious, and yet Heimart could feel the hidden sarcasm clearly.
Heimart was not as playful as his cousin, so, after he saw that his joke hadn't quite gone through the way he hoped for, he dropped the feigned indignation, and sat in the empty chair next to Daniel. He then said "They didn't seem to care about us leaving.. They must have been really afraid of the poisonous rose.. But they did say that they expect us to keep following their marketing rules, and not lower our prices."
"Mhh.. I understand." said Daniel while piercing another piece of vegetable.
"So.. what do we do now?" Asked Heimart with curiosity. He was one of the people in charge of the company, and this matter was a need-to-know matter for him.
Without looking back at Heimart, Daniel said with an indifferent tone "What do you mean 'what do we do now?'.. We lower our prices."