"I am" Bard replied.
"You are what?" Ezra asked.
"I am willing and will henceforth take you as my lord!"
"Huh?"
Ezra was dumbfounded.
Honestly, he only said that to probe his reaction. After all, since when were things so easy? One minute Bard was trying to kill him, and the next, he's saying yes to becoming a subordinate, really? Did he think he was that stupid?
Bard raised his head to see Ezra's expression and said…
"You do not believe me, do you?"
Ezra raised an eyebrow at such a stupid question.
"What do you think?"
"Then, what if I prove it to you?" Bard asked, not wanting Ezra to slip through his fingers.
"Prove it to me?" Ezra didn't understand.
"Yes, I'll prove it to you by opening up all my treasures for you to pick from, except a few…" Bard proclaimed.
Now, while he didn't believe a single word Bard said, it would be a lie if he said he wasn't tempted by the prospect of getting his hands on rare treasures, especially considering that Bard was the head alchemist. But this instead raised his guard even more as he asked…
"What's in it for you?"
"My lord, I want you to share your knowledge of alchemy with me"
"Ah!" Ezra made an exclamation of realization, before looking at Bard with disdain as he said…
"Do you think you have anything worth that much? Worth knowledge of things yet to be discovered?"
Bard realized his blunder, so he hurriedly bowed and apologized.
"My lord, it seems I still underestimated your greatness, forgive me for being so insolent"
He was also inwardly joyful as it meant this knowledge could allow him to breakthrough into the Grandmaster stage, something he had only dreamed of till now.
But, unknown to him, his attitude was only achieving the opposite effect.
Ezra was thoroughly creeped out.
'Was he possessed? Or did something happen to his brain? Did he go mad by any chance?'
All kinds of conjectures popped up in his mind, and he moved to confirm them…
"Mr. Bard, what exactly do you want from me?"
"I want to become your loyal subordinate"
"Why?"
"So that I may have a chance at becoming a Grandmaster"
"Hmm, that's certainly a good reason…but what makes you think I can help you achieve such a thing?"
In front of such a question, Bard stared dumbly for a few moments, before saying…
"Can't you do it?"
"Well, I guess it's possible, but-"
With that confirmation, Bard directly cut him off.
"Then that confirms it, my lord. I'm confident in my chances of becoming a Grandmaster if you give me the chance"
But Ezra wasn't done, he needed to affirm whether or not his intentions were true.
"Why should I give you the chance when there are others? What makes you different? What's to say you won't turn on me the moment you become a Grandmaster?"
A deep silence pervaded the atmosphere as Bard searched inside himself for answers.
Did he really want this? Of course, the chance to become a Grandmaster, even if only a possibility, was too good to pass up. And there was nothing saying he would ever get another opportunity, so he would grab this one with all his might.
"My lord, I have connections, resources and authority for you to use at your leisure. To use to achieve whatever plans you might have, I-"
Ezra cut him off as he asked…
"And how do you suggest I do that? You don't expect me to believe your words, do you? Prove it! Prove that all you say is true!"
At this point, Ezra was already tired of this tirade and simply asked him to act and not talk. Anyone can talk, but only a few have the courage to back it up.
All this while, both Bard and Ezra were standing on the stairs leading to a place covered with green fog. You could be sure that Bard didn't want people in here.
Yet, at this moment, it rapidly dispersed as Ezra found to his surprise that the stairs weren't at all long, only ten steps at most. Soon, he found himself in a small tunnel built entirely with black bricks.
Following behind Bard, they quickly arrived at a room, a hall filled with book shelves of different colors. Bard stopped in front of a reading table made out of stone and said…
"This could be called my secret chamber, my lord"
Ezra looked at the sight, before asking…
"Who else knows about this place?"
"None that I know of except you, my lord"
"Ok, first thing, stop saying 'My lord' in every sentence. And secondly, why do you call me 'Lord' when I haven't accepted you as my subordinate?"
"Ah!" only then did Bard remember that he wanted to get something. Without further ado, he placed his hands on the table and said some words, causing the rune engraved on it to light up in a resplendent green and, immediately, a scroll landed in Bard's palm.
A gold scroll that was releasing white essence.
Ezra wanted to ask, but Bard quickly already scribbled some things onto it and handed it to Ezra, whose first reaction…was Shock!
Unprecedented shock!
How else could he explain what was written here as his eyes alternated between Bard and the scroll, with a bewildered expression on his face as he began scrutinizing the contents.
From letter to letter, word to word, Ezra checked it at least five times, even turning it upside down and sideways, before using mana vision, which turned out to be useless to check for any hidden tricks.
Because…there was none!
One would wonder what could cause such a reaction from the cool and calm Ezra.
It was the contents of the contract! It was almost the same as that of a slave!
Apart from certain things that Ezra couldn't ask him to do, this contract was no different from that of a slave and it was Bard who had written all the conditions. There was even a smile on his face when he saw Ezra's shock.
"My lord, you asked me to prove my words. This is proof of my loyalty!" Bard said with conviction.
Ezra looked at Bard, then at the contract, and handed it back to Bard. Without letting him speak, Ezra said…
"You have done this without hesitation, so I will grant a speck of my trust, but know this. I do not treat my subordinate like slaves, not now, not ever. Adjust the contract accordingly. And before you hand it back to me, think about this long and hard"
"There's nothing to think about, my liege. I agreed to get tied down to the Empire for the chance to become a Sage, or so I naively thought at the time. I grew to realize that the talent I was always being praised for might not be able to take me as far as I wanted"
"After I broke through to Master-rank, it didn't take long for me to notice that my speed of growth had slowed to a crawl. And now, a chance for growth walked through my doorstep. How can I not take this chance?! If I've learned anything my whole life, it's that life changing opportunities don't come twice"
The last sentence hit Ezra on a deep level as he found that this alchemist was actually much more similar to him than he had first taught.
Silence once again pervaded the hall for ten minutes after Bard was done talking. Only the sound of someone writing could be heard.
Two minutes later, Bard sighed in relief as he looked over the written contract and handed it to Ezra once more.
Ezra looked over the conditions and found them to be very acceptable. Overall, Ezra could order Bard around to do things for him, but he could not force it upon him once he used up the remaining fourteen commands. Neither could he forcefully take away any of his treasures once he took the ten from the first deal.
In exchange for Bard's loyalty, Ezra would provide enough knowledge for him to keep improving his rank as an alchemist.
Bard had already signed and also left a blood print. All that was left to do was for Ezra to sign, which he promptly did.
Like the last one, the scroll dispersed and bound their souls.
It was at this time that Ezra recalled a question he wanted to ask.
"Mr. Bard"
As his subordinate, Ezra would rather just call him Bard, but the fact that the head alchemist was supporting the fourth prince could not be made public, else the already agitated Empresses would use drastic measures against him. He wasn't ready for that as he wasn't strong enough, yet.
"Yes, my lie-"
Bard was about to reply as usual when Ezra cut him off.
"Stop saying that, no one must know about this"
"Hmm, but…Ezra, what should I refer to you as? I couldn't possibly call my leader by his name, now can I?"
The current scene was a comical one as an old man with white hair and beard was speaking ever so politely to a boy not reaching up to his waistline.
Ezra knew that was true, for it was one the most upheld form of courtesy. He had to think of something that wouldn't stand out, but then he realized he already had one.
"Mr. Bard, call me 'your highness' from now on"
"I will make sure to do so, your highness"
"Good. With that out of the way, I've been itching to ask…what rank was the soul scroll we used just now? I have never seen anything like it"
"Oh that, it is a soul scroll of Epic Gold-rank. I got it from a deal a while ago" Bard answered nonchalantly, only to see Ezra's mouth agape in a 'o' shape.
Ezra himself had his mind stirring with thoughts as soon as he heard that.
The plan had been that Ezra would bait Bard into intervening in the matters of Black Jaws when they arrived back at the capital. Yet, somehow, he made the head alchemist into a subordinate.
From this alone, one thing was sure…
'There's a need for a change of plans'
But before that…
"Now, let's see what treasures you hid here, shall we?"
"Yes, your highness"
It was time to see what this newest subordinate of his had to offer.