As Loki reached back to his room, the spirit world tore open and from it appeared an eyeball which looked at Loki for a few seconds before tossing out a letter with tiny hands.
Loki looked at the creature as it vanished before he picked up a letter that seemed to have arrived from Bilton Bilmes.
The thin envelope indicated that not much was inside it so Loki quickly opened it to get it over with.
Inside the envelope was a letter that delivered a little shock to Loki.
"Mr. Loki.
I have an interesting offer for you. If it is possible please write to me by the end of this day so that I can arrange for a meeting between you and the Fawley family who are currently developing a secret broom.
I feel your input about runes and their arrangement will be most valuable and hence would like to have you involved in the project.
With Regards,
Bilton Bilmes."
'Huh. A broom? Does he mean a flying broom?'
'I never heard about the Fawleys Family making a broom…so it's their first attempt…'
'A kid's broom?'
'I guess I can take part in it and if I contribute in any significant manner, I can also ask for a share in the profits?'
With a positive response written, Loki troubled Rowely who was more than happy to fly around to send a letter and began to train by himself to get accustomed to his new and old strengthened Beyonder abilities.
'Mione said she got a cat spirit…'
'I hope it's not that ugly one.'
Once it was evening and Loki received a letter from Bilton asking him to meet up in the Leaky Cauldron, Loki with Kreacher's help arrived at the Leaky Cauldron by using side-along apparition.
"Greetings, Tom." Loki said politely while lifting his hat trying to grab the busy bartender's attention.
"Ah! Loki! How are you!?"
"I'm fine Tom, thanks, I was wondering if Mr. Bilmes was here? I have an appointment with him." Loki said with a smile as he inquired about the room Bilton was in.
"Yes, he's upstairs Loki. Room number ten." Tom said and went back to serving the various customers who were waiting for specially mixed cocktails.
Loki nodded in short appreciation and with his cane moved along to the upper floor and walked with a full stride until he reached Room number ten.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Come in." An old but excited voice gave him permission to enter.
Loki stepped in and found himself coming face to face with two old men who had similar white hair on their heads and wore clothes styled in the same manner.
Loki first nodded in Bilton's direction and then held out his hand for the other gentlemen as he spoke in a calm voice, "Hello, you must be Mr. Fawley I suppose?"
"Haha, yes! Your manners are impeccable I say. I didn't believe Bilton here when he said you looked like a little Lord but now that I've seen you myself I think that's the most apt description."
"Haha, thank you. You surely fit well in your style too Mr. Fawley."
"Thank you. Thank you. But leaving all that aside, I would like to work together with you Mr. Loki. I've heard a terrible lot about your skills from Bilton here and I must say I am excited."
"Thank you for holding me up to a high standard but may I ask what exactly we are working on? Mr. Bilmes has been quite secretive and only told me about a broom, is that it?" Loki asked with a patient expression pointing at the broom on the table between Bilton and Fawley.
"Yes! Randolph, my assistant, came up with the original designs of the broom and worked on it in his free time until I caught wind of it one fine day recently. And mark my words, I was shocked! I hadn't seen a broom with a smoother ride before!"
"Mr. Randolph? Where would he be?"
"He-"
*Knock* *Knock*
Mr. Fawley no longer caring for appearances immediately opened the door of the room and pulled closer the man who was standing at the door.
"And I present to you, Randolph Spudmore.", Fawley said with an exaggerated bow.
Loki looked at the man and showed a surprised look, since the man looked almost as if he were approaching forty and Loki had a slightly younger image in his mind when Fawley said he was an assistant.
'An assistant at forty? Isn't he more of an apprentice?'
"You must be Mr. Loki. I've heard quite a bit about you." Randolph said with his hand held out for Loki to shake.
Loki shook his hand and nodded politely and before he could say anything, the two of them were whisked away and made to sit in opposite seats so that they could admire the broom on its holder in the centre of the table.
"You want me to work on improving the broom Mr. Bilton?"
"Yes!" It wasn't just Bilton who answered but all the men in the room.
"How are you so sure I can improve it? You've got plenty of experience above me and I doubt I can be of much use given how I don't know half the things that go into making a broom."
"Bah! You don't need to be so modest Mr. Loki. We've all seen the designs of Arcadia Royale runes! It is something that has left our minds to ascend to the next stage of rune heaven." Fawley said slapping his thigh.
"And I've learnt a lot from your rune arrangements too Mr. Loki. In fact, I had to rewire the broom to make it slightly more displayable to be in front of you. Had I not, I'd be ashamed to show you something I'd worked on." Randolph said with a smile.
Meanwhile, Bilton nodded continuously while stroking his moustache as he agreed with everything his friends were saying.
Loki looked at the three men and felt a little awkward.
'Damn, I didn't know my fluency in the runic language would be this striking.'
'Well, while the ability comes from my Beyonder abilities, I can't be overly modest and offend any of them.'
'*sigh* at least it's an interesting project to spend my summer on.'
Loki nodded under the pressuring gazes of all the people in the room and picked up the Firebolt.
Spreading his spirituality over the broom and blanketing it, Loki caused the runes on it to glow as he immersed himself in this glow and began to use his wand to correct or rewrite parts of the enchantments on the broom himself.
Although Loki didn't know much of what certain enchantments did, he was able to improve their efficiency by arranging them in the proper order, giving the rough runes on a broom his 'professional' touch effortlessly by simply removing the errors he felt in them.
Only after an entire hour with the broom where Loki learnt about the various runes and enchantments from Mr. Spudmore and adjusted the runes on the broom with his help while Bilton and Fawley explained their own tips and tricks did Loki stop for rest.
"I can't believe it!" Randolph exclaimed softly as he looked at the broom that was placed on the table. "I can hardly recognise it anymore."
"True." Bilton said and Fawley appended, "If it is a flying broom now, it was a hand-drawn cart before."
"Haha~ I will take that as a compliment. But you'll have to excuse me for a while Mr. Spudmore. I'm tired and in great need of a little rest." Loki said and stood up from his chair. "Shall we meet again tomorrow?", Loki asked and Spudmore nodded eagerly.
"Come up to my store if you can Mr. Loki, it will be more comfortable there.", Fawley said with a smile as he shook Loki's hand after which he left.
"Can you believe it Fawley?", Bilton asked stroking his moustache.
"It's hard. No, it's impossible."
"Haha~ The younger generation is surely going to take off in the future.", Randolph commented looking at Loki's departing back.
Then they all gave each other the same look that read somewhat like-
'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'
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