Marcius looked at himself in the mirror. He hadn't had the time to closely examine his physical appearance for a long period of time since he was reborn. Mostly because he didn't care.
And now that he looked at himself, the person staring back had short brown hair, like his mother; with well-defined muscles from all the physical trainings and a tall structure. His clean-shaven face was clearly in the territory of being handsome. Paired that all with the expensive and stylish clothing he was wearing, it could be said that he looked quite dashing.
"Well, a guy gotta impress."
He was preparing for his important meeting with the owner of the Blue Star Trade Guild, Dina Sabbargh.
"Alright, I look fine. Let's get this show on the road."
As he headed for the Blue Star Trade Guild, he noted some people in blacks following him.
They were his grandfather's personal bodyguards, also called Shadow Guard. They were really strong, with the weakest of them being in the realm of Spirit Master.
They were assigned to him by his grandfather. It was pretty obvious, given the Shadow Guard obeyed only to the head of Aemilia Clan.
When he arrived at the entrance of the trade guild, he turned around and addressed the Shadow Guards.
"Under no circumstances you are allowed to barge into the guild. Unless I activate the signal for help specifically. I know you only take orders from grandfather, but as of today, you are assigned to me. And I won't have you disrupting my negotiations. Do you understand?"
He whispered the words as he watched the two people in blacks guarding him from a distance. He whispered because he was sure they could hear him nonetheless.
The two Shadow Guards looked at each other as if discussing the matter. And then they looked at Marcius and nodded their heads slowly.
"Good. Unless I activate the signal, Do. Not. Take. Action." He confirmed again while holding out a coin for the two people to see.
The coin had a mechanism, when activated, would transmit the signal for help. It was an item commonly used in Aemilia Clan.
After making sure his talk with the Sabbargh family would not be interrupted, he walked into the guild and slowly made his way to the reception area.
"Hello, my name is Marcius Aemilia. I have an appointment with Dina Sabbargh." He told the girl sitting at the reception desk.
"Welcome! Young master Marcius. Lady Sabbargh is waiting for you. If you would follow me this way." The girl hurriedly greeted him and led him through a corridor with many rooms.
"This is our owner's office. Please go in. Lady Sabbargh is in there, waiting for your arrival."
The girl said as she knocked the door. After getting the confirmation to come in, the girl held the door open for Marcius.
When Marcius went inside, he saw two females sitting around a small round table. On the table were tea and some delicious looking snacks.
"Hello, I'm Marcius Aemilia. It is a delightful honor of mine to make acquittance with you, Lady Sabbargh." He greeted towards the older of the two women in the room.
And then, he turned to the other girl. It was the same girl who he met while he was practicing at the lord's keep.
"And I'm afraid we didn't have the chance to introduce ourselves the last time we met. Glad to finally put a beautiful name to a beautiful face, Lady Karla."
Karla replied his greeting with a beautiful smile, while Lady Sabbargh responded with an enchanting voice.
"No, the honor is all ours. To be able to meet the famous heir of Aemilia Clan. Please call me Dina. Lady Sabbargh makes me feel old."
"Of course, Dina, and feel free to call me Marcius."
"And how should I call you?" Karla asked from the side with a hint of smile.
"You can keep calling me 'cute boy.' I like the name." Marcius replied.
"Oh, I don't know, you look more delicious than cute right now." Karla flirted back.
"Please take a seat, Marcius." Dina cut in, gesturing at the unoccupied chair.
Marcius sat down and Karla poured tea into the empty cup in front of him.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you come up with the genius idea like 'green blood?'" The girl started fishing for information.
In negotiations like this, information was key. The more you knew about the person on the opposite side, the better it was.
Before the souls merged, Joseph was a project manager at a pretty large company. So, he knew certain things, like negotiating with coworkers, higher-ups and clients.
"As I always said it was a combination of luck and efforts." He replied without giving anything away.
"Don't sell yourself short, Marcius. The potion is splendid. It is not just something you can create easily." Dina countered.
Marcius took a sip of the tea and carefully considered his next words.
"As both of you may know, I was born without cultivation." He started. "And I tried hard to keep up with the peers of my age. It was difficult but I managed."
Marcius stopped for a moment to gauge expressions the two women. Both of them spotted curious looks.
"But that would only take me too far. At some point I just wouldn't be able to get stronger without cultivation. Hence, I want to rely on alchemy."
Marcius took another sip of the delicious tea.
"After a while, I got a solid foundation on alchemy. I wish I could say how genius I am to create 'green blood,' but it was really just by chance that I discovered it. I was working my way around the potions to restore my stamina. But I got something better out of it. A potion which can both restore stamina and spirit energy."
After Marcius finished his explanation, there was silent in the room. Both of the women seemed to be mulling over the information they obtained.
"Well, that is a way to say both too much and too little. It is good to see someone who got some skills in the art of negotiation." Dina said after a while.
Karla seemed to have something to say but Dina stopped her, before continuing herself.
"I'll be blunt with you then, Marcius. We like the product. It is both cheaper and more effective than any other potions on the market. The 'green blood' could revolutionize the alchemy field."
Dina paused and looked directly at Marcius with a serious expression.
"That is how much we value your 'green blood.' What does your clan want in return for selling the formula and production rights to our guild?"
This was the moment Marcius was waiting for. This was the moment to test his luck.
"Of course, there are certain things our clan would require out of this cooperation. But first," He started.
"I would need your daughter, as a tour guide for my little trip into Flavic forest."
"I… don't understand your request."
Dina replied with a clueless expression. But if one could look closely, they could note a hint of wariness on her face.
'Alright, this is it.' Marcius thought.
"What I mean is, I want to take the test at the ancient temple of Sol inside the Flavic forest. And I want Karla to lead me to it." He replied slowly.
And all of a sudden, he felt a great pressure befell upon him, rendering him immobile. Karla was beside him in a blink of an eye, as she held a sharp thin blade to his throat.
"How do you know about the temple?" Dina hissed out with a stony expression.
It was obvious she was the one making him unable to move, as yellow aura emitted out of her and her eyes flashing bright yellow as well.
"Now, let us discuss this calmly like civilized person, before," He started to reply but Karla inched the blade closer to his neck.
"I will ask again. How do you know about the temple in Falvic forest?" Dina asked again as her frown deepened.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted earlier, I have my bodyguards just outside of this building. The only reason they were not barging through right now is because I explicitly told them not to. If you keep this up, I'm afraid they can no longer afford obey my orders." Marcius calmly declared.
"Of course, you could kill all of us and get out of this city first enough. You have magic, after all. But at some point, my grandfather will find a little note I left behind, indicating the location of a certain hidden village inside the Falvic forest."
Both of the women hissed again at his causal reveal of more of their secrets. But he was beyond care. He was pissed at both of them for their violent display of power.
"Let's say you managed to defeat my grandfather, the duke of Farnese will notice and come after you. And even if you managed to kill his forces, the emperor will come after you next. See the domino effects of your actions?" He continued with a mocking voice.
"Your village is strong, but not that strong to fend off an entire empire. So, why don't we just all calm down before this escalates even further."
The pressure slowly disappeared but Karla was still holding the blade to his neck.
"Karla, stand down." Dina ordered.
"But mother, he knows too much!"
"I said, Stand. Down."
The girl took the blade back reluctantly at her mother's order.
"Now that we are back to being civilized people, let's start the real negotiations, shall we?"
Marcius's smile was predatory.
*** *** ***
Author Notes
Hello again! It's MidnightMK!
I'm really sorry for the late update, but I was sick.
Please leave comments and feedbacks. I really appreciate it.
Please enjoy the chapter! And please vote if you do!