The sound of "knock, knock, knock" echoed in an overly simple office. Upon returning to his room and as he hung his coat on the rack, Magneto's brow furrowed.
Then he heard Shiller's voice coming from outside the door:
"Hello, Mr. Lehnsherr, Professor X has brought a gift for you and asked me to deliver it. May I come in?"
Magneto's expression eased slightly, but he didn't stop what he was doing. Instead, he replied in a low voice, "Please, come in."
Shiller stepped inside, carrying two boxes in his hands. After entering, he looked at Magneto hanging up his coat. Instead of placing the boxes on the coffee table in the neighboring guest area where he sat, he placed them directly on the floor beside his feet.
He then got up, removed his coat and handed it to Magneto, saying, "Could you hang this up for me? Thank you."
Shiller's actions were so natural that Magneto was not given any excuse to refuse.
Magneto was already hanging clothing, and it was only polite to assist a recently arrived guest by hanging their coat. Refusing would seem rather impolite.
Magneto gave a small wave of his hand and Shiller's coat flew into the air, but he didn't accept it right away. Instead, he put on a glove before accepting the coat and hanging it on the rack.
Once hung, the lapels on the coat miraculously flipped correctly into place and the collar was neatly organised. In an instant, all the dust on the coat vanished, and the same applied to all the other clothes on the rack.
Shiller silently observed these actions until Magneto, dressed in a tight black undershirt, turned around.
He was still very tall, standing a centimeter taller than Shiller and nearing one meter and ninety centimeters tall. He could not be described as burly, but he was strong. Just from his physical appearance, one could never tell he was an old man.
Magneto showed no intention of joining Shiller in the guest area. Instead, he returned behind his desk, leaned down, and opened his left cabinet, his voice carrying from behind the table, "What did Charles bring this time?"
"It's some tea leaves." Shiller stood, picking up the two gift boxes. He still didn't place them on Magneto's table. Instead, he held them and inspected their packaging, saying, "They should be from China. Though I am not familiar with this brand."
"And, your son and daughter also sent you a gift. From the packaging, it looks like a Christmas present. Would you like to open it and see?"
"Both are from Charles." Magneto's voice was calm as a deep well. Shiller watched as the two boxes in his hand lifted into the air and flew into the open cabinet.
"Also, I've brought a present for you as well. After all, I'll be staying here for a while. I hope you can be accommodating."
No sooner had Shiller finished speaking than Magneto straightened up, but by this time, Shiller's hands were already empty. Magneto sneered, preparing to reply, when Shiller pulled a small item from his pocket.
This time, he placed the small item on the table and pushed it in front of Magneto.
Magneto initially glanced at it dismissively, thinking it was some kind of gemstone necklace or other bauble. However, upon recognizing the object, his pupils contracted in surprise.
This time, he did not use his magnetic powers. He leant forward and touched its surface with his fingers before speaking slowly, "Red Flag Medal..."
"From what I understand, from my dialogues with Professor X, you too were a warrior against the Nazi's and have made significant contributions. Even though the country that awarded this medal no longer exists, I feel that you deserve this honor."
A slight twitch momentarily appeared on Magneto's cheek, as though he wanted to express something but quickly held himself back. Then he heard Shiller continue, "I'm sorry, I was not on the front lines during the war and therefore could not acquire a higher ranking medal. If I had, maybe you could have added a Venus Medal to your collection?"
Magneto's finger touched the cool surface of the medal. But the moment he felt its temperature, he pulled his hand away and shook his head, saying, "No, I can't accept it."
Shiller did not continue to insist, instead, he regretfully fetched the medal and returned it to his pocket, saying:
"I had originally intended to give it to Captain America, but it turns out, he already had one. Later, I planned on giving it to Natasha, but this female agent prefers military medals. Eventually, I offered it to Nick Fury. Nick admired it for a few days before returning it."
"It seems that I can't give this away. Perhaps, I need to find a safe to store it. Luckily, the quality of this medal's materials is good. It should not rust."
Magneto's fingertips, still placed on the table, twitched slightly. He extended his fingers a little, but retracted them shortly after. Following this, he took his entire arm back, crossed his arms and said to Shiller, "If there's nothing else, please leave."
With these words, he turned his head away and then moved his whole chair sideways, no longer looking at Shiller. It seemed like he was trying to hide his gaze and expression.
"Today's my first day here; don't you plan to brief me on the basic situation here? May I call you Erik?"
"No, you may not." Magneto picked a book from the shelf nearby and began reading, completely ignoring Shiller.
At that moment, Shiller extended his hand and nudged a book on the edge of Magneto's desk with a light touch, moving it a centimeter to the side.
Magneto instantly turned his head to look at the book. Shiller quickly adjusted it back to its original position, saying, "I accidentally touched it, sorry."
Then, when he was adjusting the book back to its original location, he knocked a few more books out of place.
"Erik, I think. I can call you that," Shiller said, standing in front of the desk and nodding, "After all, we should be about the same age, or I might be even older than you and Professor X."
Magneto's eyebrows furrowed deeply. At this moment, Shiller reached out and straightened the books he had disheveled. Magneto's brow relaxed again as he silently turned his head back to continue reading his book.
"Well, it seems you're tired, you must have spent quite a bit of energy causing such a commotion near the sun. Thank you for your fantastic welcome, I'll now proceed to meet the children whom I'll be instructing…"
Having said this, Shiller was about to leave. However, Magneto coughed a few times, furrowed his brows, and took the initiative to speak, "Did Charles say anything?"
Shiller stopped in his tracks, he then started looking left and right as if searching for something. Unable to understand his actions, Magneto asked him, "What are you looking for?"
"Looking for a chair since you don't seem to have a preference for sofas. I don't fancy them much either, they are too soft. I'm getting a little tired and would like to sit down for a chat." Shiller began to look out of the office door, then said, "Or should I bring an office chair from the next room?"
Magneto closed his eyes for a moment, rubbing the side of his nose.
With a "thud", a chair knocked open the office door and flew in front of the desk.
Shiller sat down, placing a hand on the table with his palm facing up and fingers relaxed. He then said, "Professor X did give me a few instructions, but I felt some of them were rather petty and didn't plan on bringing them to your attention."
"What did he say? Tell me." Magneto insisted.
"He said to pacify Lorna and to stop quarreling with her. He also suggested calling Wanda and Pietro as they hadn't been back to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters for a while and they were unaware of their whereabouts or whether they were in any danger…"
"Furthermore, he wanted you to take care of the children who are studying and working here. Considering their young age and the fact that they are far from their hometowns, he was worried they would miss their parents…"
"Oh, and he also wished that you would reduce your coffee intake. Replacing coffee with a little tea now and then is not a bad choice. According to him, your age is not suitable for working until 2 a.m. every day. Even though the renovation project of Sky Island is pressing, it isn't worth your…"
"Stop, don't say anymore." Magneto said as he abruptly closed the book in his hand. Turning his chair to face Shiller, he said, "You don't need to tell me all these trivial matters…"
Unexpectedly, Shiller did not respond with 'but you asked for it'. Instead, he showed a helpless smile, shook his head, and said, "From what I can tell, you're actually younger at heart than he is. As one gets older, it's natural to worry more. You should be understanding towards him…"
The muscles on Magneto's face started twitching complexly once again. As he began to put on a relaxed expression, it was as if something occurred to him causing him to feel uncomfortable. Hence, his eyebrows wrinkled together again.
"You're older than us?" Although the sentence Magneto said was a question, his tone was affirmative. Every question he posed was like this, as if there was no need for anyone to answer.
"Age doesn't matter, the important thing is your state of mind." Shiller shook his head, "Interestingly enough, although you have the most children, you have the best attitude amongst us…"
Magneto's fingertip lightly tapped the armrest, and two cups appeared on the desk. Water appeared out of thin air and filled the cups. Shiller picked up a cup and said, "This is not the time to drink water; do you have coffee or tea?"
Just as Magneto was about to refuse, Shiller said as if he had just realised something, "Oh, didn't Charles give you a can of tea? Shall we give it a try?"
"I've always trusted Charles's taste. If it tastes good, I really must ask him where he gets such good tea from."
Magneto's facial muscles once again began a series of complex movements. At first, his eyebrows furrowed deep, as if he felt dissatisfied. However, hearing the latter part of the sentence, his brows eased up again. Yet, in the next instant, he was troubled once again.
As Magneto bent down to get the tea, he felt a pang of exhaustion— not a physical one, but a mental fatigue brought on by experiencing conflicting emotional swings in a short span of time.
He realised that in just these few minutes, his emotional fluctuations had been more intense than what he had experienced in the past few decades.
Moreover, it would often happen that just as Shiller said something that filled him with indignation or did something that irritated him, the very next second Shiller would say something that would subtly please him or propose something he could not refuse. This left Magneto unable to express his discontent.
Looking at the smile on Shiller's face and holding the can of tea, Magneto's fingers paused slightly as he felt a hesitation in his heart.
Erik Lehnsherr, also known as Magneto, was a man who had experienced the World War, been through concentration camps, hunted NAZIs, and faced off against governments. He had survived great storms and had never been afraid of anyone.
However, the moment the tea was dropped into the water, Magneto unexpectedly felt a sense of reluctance towards the conversation that was about to take place.