Chương 42: Lord Krosak

Ch 42: Lord Krosak At Fernik's suggestion, I hadn't returned to the school right after finishing selling all two thousand copies of the system plus another two thousand as pre-orders. Instead, he took me to the bank. And we opened an account in my name through my role as a city officer, which offered me a special credit crystal that could handle transactions of more than a million credits.

I was told that just the possession of that large red crystal framed in a smooth golden bezel was a symbol of status, though to me it felt like nothing but a tool to help us get out of this forced adoption. After leaving the bank, Fernik took me to an inn, where an old tailor was brought to take my measurements. The Grey elder promised that he and his family would spend the night preparing a new attire for my meeting with Lord Krosak. The whole thing would cost around ten thousand credits.

But luckily Fernik insisted on filing this as a work expense of a city officer, which meant I didn't need to touch my newly acquired credit crystal. After that, I spent most of the night casually chatting with Sahirah through the communication spell rather than sleeping. And just hours after I fell asleep, the mayor showed up with the tailor, basically dragging my sleepy ass out of the inn and shoving all of us into the back of a floating truck. The tailor worked his magic as we made our way back to school.

And Fernik himself followed us in his own vehicle, claiming we needed to talk before I could attempt to negotiate with Lord Krosak. I was slightly confused by the reason behind all of this. But since Fernik knew much more about how the Grey society worked than I did, I decided to trust his instincts. After all, he had every reason to act in my best interests now, because my system had become an important part of the city infrastructure overnight.

And my gut was telling me the man was somehow even more excited than I was about the widespread translation experiment. Yeah, he was seeing the whole thing as his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rise from his position as mayor to something more important in Grey society. My suspicion was confirmed when the floating truck dropped me off in front of the school gate, and Fernik enthusiastically came to talk to me before I could even see where he had parked his vehicle.

"You look respectable now," he said, already inspecting the fine details of my collar and the large marble buttons of my coat that the Grey found fashionable for some reason.

"Lord Krosak will take you seriously the moment he sees you. But don't rush to give up your translation spell to the Krosak family if he threatens to arrest you. You might have accidentally taken a life, but you're not in as weak a position as you think with the archmage protecting Sahirah. The only mistake you should absolutely avoid is hurting Lord Krosak's ego."

This was the third time Fernik had repeated the same piece of advice, and the third time he mentioned not easily giving up the translation spell for our freedom. I didn't see as much value in it as Fernik did. Despite my precautions, I had no doubt someone would find a way to copy it at some point. But before that, I intended to establish a branding and to keep innovating quickly, to the point the older versions of my system would become obsolete every time someone copied the old one.

Still, it was true I would rather not negotiate with the translation spell. So my plan was to offer Lord Krosak the opportunity to return home with a lot more credits than he had already spent on his attempt to get Sahirah. A generous offer given the fact he was attempting to buy a living being and calling it adoption.

"Thank you, Mayor," I said.

"I won't forget how much you've helped me during this crisis." I was about to enter the school when Fernik stopped me.

"You are forgetting something, Eric." He smiled at me despite his missing teeth. He then turned around and called out, "Hey, come over here!" I had no idea what was happening when I finally spotted the Mayor's floating vehicle parked across the street. From there, four people emerged. Two of them were Zufi and the other two were Driari, both clad in light armor.

It was obvious the armor was not as high quality as the armor of those people the Krosak had sent to capture Sahirah, but it still looked brand new and professional. The only obvious flaw was the Zufi's snouts seemed to fit awkwardly inside the helmets, and so did the pointy ears of the Driari.

"Ah... who are they?" I asked. Fernik smiled.

"Haven't I told you city officers could get protection if their lives were in danger?" replied Fernik.

"They are strong and they know how to fight. I had an easy time hiring them with how happy the community leaders got with your translation spell." Had I really gotten security detail now? My question was answered when the Mayor instructed them to follow me and take orders from me, telling them to avoid conflict with Lord Krosak's people and that their presence was more useful as a statement. Instead of thanking the mayor again, I asked a question.

"Why are you taking so much risk to help me?" No matter how much value he saw in my creation, I just couldn't understand why he was going that far to help.

"I sent my family away from this city," he said.

"Lord Krosak took everything from me, so I have little to lose this time." Instead of thanking him again, I offered him a small nod, which earned me another smile. He wished me good luck, and I finally entered the school's property. This time I didn't rely on the Presence Erasure spell, and instead I deliberately became the focal point of everyone's attention.

"Is that the human?" asked a Grey from the school staff. Another one commented how I was dressed, and yet another one noticed the armored people behind me. Even better was seeing Principal Dickhead's shocked expression as he observed me through the window of his office. I waved at him with a smirk, resisting the urge to simply flip him off. Yeah, the only thing better than seeing that shocked expression would have been Sahirah's reaction to my new look. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road.

If you see it on Amazon, please report it. I was about to continue ahead when suddenly a group of seven heavily armored Greys Hasted themselves in front of us. They stood proud with imposing postures, surveying me and the security detail the Mayor had assigned me through the slit of their helmets. I kept calm, resisting the urge to load an attack spell into the Casting Assistant. The female Grey leading this team took off her helmet.

"You made Lord Krosak wait four days," she said.

"Do you at least understand that not even the royals themselves would have dared to act this pretentious?"

"Well," I said, "it wasn't like we had an appointment scheduled, right?" She wasn't pleased by that comment.

"You'll follow me right now."

To my surprise, the meeting didn't happen in Principal Dickhead's office. That Grey woman led the way, taking me all the way up the stairs that led into the flying ship hovering higher than Elitha's tower. The whole staff stared at me when I stepped into the main deck, stopping their work to observe me as if seeing a rare species individual dressed so nicely broke something in their brains.

Still, the Grey lady didn't stop, telling my security detail to wait on the deck and taking me into the passageway that led to rows of large private cabins. Through the open doors, I noticed a bunch of rich-looking Greys. They seemed to be chatting casually, consuming food, and even partying, something I was seeing in their society for the very first time. The Grey lady paid no attention to any of that, and simply stopped in front of a door.

"Lord Krosak will meet you inside." She opened the door for me, but didn't step inside. I didn't hesitate, crossing the threshold without even glancing back despite being slightly apprehensive. Yet, to my surprise, the image that greeted me wasn't anything I could have prepared for.

"Aaaaahhh!" Lord Krosak moaned as he lay comfortably on a couch. He was smoking something I didn't recognize from a pipe while two Driari women massaged his feet, kneeling on the carpet while facing the couch. I could tell with a glance all three of them had noticed my presence. And yet they pretended they hadn't, not even bothering to look at me. Was this another power play to show that the four days of waiting had not exactly been a bad time for Lord Krosak? Well, it didn't really matter. I cleared my throat.

And when it didn't work, I let out a fake cough, making enough noise that I just couldn't be ignored. Lord Krosak finally looked at me, the two Driari women stopping immediately, though their gazes moved to the ground when their hands stopped, never facing my direction.

"Eric Nevermore, the first human to arrive in Navar in two decades," said Lord Krosak, putting aside his smoking pipe.

"I cannot say I am pleased to meet you." Well, the feeling was definitely mutual. But since Fernik had warned me three times to not hurt his ego, I wouldn't let it show.

"Lord Krosak," I said.

"We should skip the small talk and make it less unpleasant for you then." To my surprise, he smiled at me, rising from his couch. He placed a hand on top of the heads of the two Driari women who were still kneeling in front of him, his fingers disappearing into their hair. His gaze landed on me once more.

"A most regrettable beginning to our relationship," he said.

"I might have overstepped when I sent a team to capture your partner, but you must forgive me. The loss of my son to a Mimic in this backwater city has taken a toll on me, and I might be dealing with it the wrong way by falling into old habits." He raised his hands from the heads of two Driari women, and pointed at the door.

"Get out!" The two women rushed to get up, leaving the room with so much haste that I barely had time to see their faces. I didn't react. What had been the purpose of this? Was it some sort of mind game or just his personality? Because I couldn't tell why he was acting in such an inconsistent manner, alternating between being polite and rude in such a short time span that my head struggled to make sense of it. I tried to introduce a topic.

"About Sahirah–""Yes," he cut me off.

"Your partner. The rarest of all species."

"I was wondering if–""The one who might get near the level of an archmage in a couple of years if cultivated properly," he cut me off again. For a moment, I forgot about Fernik's warning of not hurting Lord Krosak's ego.

"Listen," I said loudly.

"It's very unfortunate how things turned out with your employee when they tried to capture Sahirah. But I'm willing to pay double for all your costs of this unsuccessful adoption." I reached into my pocket and showed him my new fancy credit crystal.

"Is one million credits enough to make up for all the trouble you had in this city because of me?" To my surprise, he barely reacted. He didn't ask me how I got one million credits. He didn't even try to argue that the value I offered was insufficient. Instead, he said something completely unexpected.

"Principal Zorik spent the last three days badmouthing you. Saying negative things about your personality and your disruptive behavior," he said.

"Are you aware of this, human?"

"I'm not, but Zorik is predictable." I had no idea why he brought up this random fact when we were discussing Sahirah. Lord Krosak walked near me, and when our eyes met, he spoke again.

"But I do not agree with him," he said.

"It has not been half a year since you arrived at Navar, and you already have one million credits to throw around casually. Is there any other term for you than unfathomable talent?" I felt a chill rising up my spine until it reached all the way to my neck, locking the words in my throat. Lord Krosak noticed something in my expression, and laughed loudly. Suddenly, he stretched his right arm, one of his rings glowing as mana poured from his body.

Darkness encompassed me faster then I could have reacted, embracing me from every direction. Was this teleportation? Nope. It was an illusion. I quickly reached into my Mind Library, drafting a spell to counter illusions. And since illusions were by far the class of spells I was the most familiar with, all it took was a single attempt. I loaded the spell into the Casting Assistant, and when I activated it, the mana resonance influenced my own mind to prioritize its normal senses rather than external mana stimuli.

When my consciousness returned to reality, I found Lord Krosak smiling at me. Fuck. Had he really attack me with an illusion just to test me? Could that inconsistence in his personality also be a test of my responses?

"See? A first year student breaking illusions with inkless casting? Unfathomable talent is an understatement!" he said.

"And, unlike what that foolish man who runs this school says, you are on par with your partner in terms of how much you are worth as a future investment." I was speechless. There were a lot of things I had prepared myself for mentally before this meeting. Being yelled at. Being threatened with jail. Not being taken seriously. But what should I do now that Lord Krosak actually thought I was valuable? He noticed my lack of reaction, and turned his back to me, slowly walking toward the open window.

"I assume you thought I would be angry when you told my ambassador you and the girl are a package deal." Lord Krosak rested both arms on the window frame.

"I am not. If you two are a package deal, I am gladly taking you both under my wing. Do you think 'rehabilitation of a violent Riftstorm arrival' will look good in your adoption forms?" I finally managed to overcome my shock to offer a counter argument.

"You can be damn sure we don't need this adoption." I flashed my credit crystal.

"As you can see we are doing fine by ourselves, and I'm not that valuable if you can't take Sahirah too." Fernik's warning was out the window now, and I didn't even consider if what I said could hurt his ego. Yet, Lord Krosak simply turned around with a smile, proving that Lord Krosak's ego wasn't that easily hurt.

"I offer one million credits per month for the rest of your lives, for each of you. I offer the high-quality materials required for the two of you to continue your journey through dual cultivation to the very end. And I offer an environment where no one will judge you for your unusual relationship choices." His smile widened.

"As you saw earlier, I am actually fond of the idea of some interspecies fun myself." Greed had no chance of even emerging inside me, as I felt a bad taste in my mouth the moment I heard those words leaving his mouth. Could those two Driari women have also been victims of his adoption? And ignoring the fact that I didn't even know what the hell he was talking about when he mentioned high quality materials required for dual cultivation, I focused on a single question.

Why did this offer feel like it was too good to be true? It took me a few seconds to find an answer. No, that offer was not good at all, it just looked good on the surface. Even if it was a lot of credits, accepting it meant giving up our freedom. And besides, both Sahirah and I had our very own agendas. She hadn't given up on the idea of opening that portal to her homeworld, and I also had my company and that Gate to Earth to worry about.

Which meant there just wasn't any room in our lives to become bound to some noble house even in the unlikely hypothesis that there wasn't anything rotten in this deal.

"I'm sorry, but I can't accept your offer without giving it some thought and talking to Sahirah first." I already knew even before talking to Sahirah that the answer would be no, but I didn't need to say that out loud, did I? Lord Krosak's gaze was fixed on Elitha's tower, staring at it from above.

"That is understandable," he said.

"But before you leave, I must warn you about relying on that archmage for protection." Lord Krosak closed the window, crossing his arms as our gazes connected.

"Elitha Hearthstrong was once powerful, but once she fell from grace with the royal family they turned her into a cripple. I bet that proud woman never told you she would lose even to a master mage in her current state. The royals would have never kept her alive if they believed she was strong enough to become a threat." Out of everything Lord Krosak had said today, this was the one thing I hoped and suspected he was mistaken.

Elitha Hearthstrong was recovering her senses with my help, and she was quite likely doing all kinds of crazy training on her own like that enormous water sphere. Still, I pretended to be shocked. Lord Krosak thankfully believed my reaction, gesturing for me to leave as he sat back on his couch. As I walked out of that room, I realized I had to talk to Sahirah as soon as possible, and that we would need to come up with a new plan.

It had to be something that took into account that she was not Lord Krosak's only goal anymore, and that my own ass was now on the line in the same way as hers.