Chapter 146: Spilling the tea

Jovis, Year of Severus, 15, I.R., the 51st day of Fall, Arenfall

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The silence was longer than they expected. Prince Arterius glanced behind him and saw the boredom in his men's eyes. He looked out in the open and saw the sunlight mildly shining across the desolate background.

He took a sip of his tea and silently waited for the other two to talk, but it seemed to be a hopeless effort. Lady Bieroff stared blankly beyond the camp. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere, far away from her earthly bounds and responsibilities. While his former mentor was the complete opposite.

The red-haired slave looked jittery and squinted at everything his eyes laid on. He seemed to be suspicious with everything and everyone around him, trait that Prince Arterius hadn't seen before. Maybe becoming a slave took a toll on his mentor's psyche that it ended up turning him the man that he is now.

"The tea is getting cold, isn't it?" Servus 305-M said as he glanced at the daydreaming Lady Bieroff.

Prince Arterius cleared his throat and answered, "It is indeed." He sighed. "I'm afraid the tea would grow even colder if—"

"If…we…can't…agree…to something…yahdah…yahdah...yahdah." His former mentor sarcastically replied. "What? Not pleased with how I answered the prince, August?" He smirked.

It was then Prince Arterius realized that all the stalling he did was to get to his godfather's nerves. He knew too well that both of these men had butted heads for more than one occasion, but what happened on that castle during Lord Prestonheim's stay drew an even wider schism between the two.

"Don't think for a moment that I wouldn't come there and tear your head off." Lord Prestonheim gritted his teeth.

"See?" 305-M pointed at Lord Prestonheim, "This is why I can't start this…negotiation. That man is—"

"That man is to remain at my side." Prince Arterius interrupted his former mentor. He understood very well what his mentor was trying to do. His mentor thought that he couldn't think well without his godfather. Even if it pained him to admit it, he knew that even his own mentor was underestimating him. "I promise you; he will not interrupt at any point of our conversation. So, if you have wiles about the negotiation, you bring it to me. AND ONLY ME." He adamantly stood his ground.

305-M cleaned his teeth with his tongue while raising his forefinger. "You…Hmmm…we have a lot of catching up to do, you and I." He smiled. "For now, I will place my faith in your word that no one except the two…I…mean…three of us…pardon my Lady…will talk about the negotiations!"

Prince Arterius nodded, "Sounds fair."

"And you Lady Bieroff? Is not like the sky will fall on you if you'd speak your mind…" 305-M sarcastically commented on the silent Lady.

The scornful Lady Bieroff looked at the both of them with piercing eyes, "Yes." She answered as she clenched her jaw.

"Good!" His former mentor said while raising an eyebrow at the Lady of the House. "You might want to fix your stare at our…Majesty. Stare too sharp and others here might carve your eye out from the socket." He glanced at Lord Prestonheim.

Prince Arterius was beginning to see the reason why his former mentor was truly an unwanted company. The old redhead aside from his paranoia was always instigating things between others. It might be possible that he was trying to break his rivals' stratagem, or he was just too much of an ass to care for what he said.

He saw in Lady Bieroff's eyes a hit of fear and doubt. It seemed like his mentor's intimidation worked on the woman very well. She silently nodded while finally taking a sip of her cold tea.

"So, what do you offer?" Prince Arterius asked cutting to the chase.

"Offer? Hmmm…" 305-M drank some tea. "I think the word would be…want." He grinned.

"Very well, what does both sides want on my venture?" Prince Arterius laid his back on the chair.

"I want our land back!" Lady Bieroff angrily shouted. "I want you off my land and I want the rights to the mines!"

Prince Arterius didn't flinch at the Lady's outburst, instead he sat calmly and listened to everything she said. He sipped his tea and was about to do his counter argument when his former mentor beat him to the punch.

"You know that's not possible, Lady Berioff." He said. "I mean…how could you ask someone who technically owns your land out of his own land? Aren't you just usurping this land?" He sipped some tea once more.

"By declaration of the old Imperatur and House Lucresia, the Crescent isles were given to the Bieroff's as a reward for their services along with the title of a lord." Prince Arterius explained. "Now as far as I knew, my ancestors GIFTED that to your husband's ancestor along with their lordship. Just because it was gifted to them doesn't mean we can't take it back." He added.

"Oh, Adrena…" 305-M sighed. "You might've thought of yourself as the clever one, but I am sorry to burst your bubble…you're not." He grinned. "You see they can take the land and title away from your beloved house. Have you not learned that before? For I am certainly sure that as a Lucresia, that wasn't a detail you shouldn't forget or miss."

Lady Lucresia slumped on her chair feeling defeated. All her intimidation and coercion tactic failed her. Her fragile power and ego took a hit at the reality provided to her. She sat silently, biting her fingernails. Prince Arterius knew that his former mentor had just broke her down.

"And what is your take on this?" He asked 305-M. "I mean, what does the House Lucresia want for me?"

"Straight to the point." His former mentor nodded. "I like that." He cleared his throat.

305-M reached out of his dirty pocket revealing a small paper that he slid across the table to his former student.

Prince Arterius took the paper and read it silently. The letter contained nothing more than a bunch of formulae that even he wasn't familiar of. The geometric lines and number equations were too erratic for even him to understand. He looked at his mentor, trying to ask what it meant. But just before he could burst out a word, a wave of nostalgia overflowed in his mind. The formulae were something he saw before. It looked like the formulae his former mentor was researching way back.

"You want to be a part of the research team?!" Prince Arterius asked.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" He pointed at him. "That is what I want!" He smiled and drank the remaining tea in his cup.

"And what good would Senator Lucresia get from that?" Prince Arterius raised his eyebrow.

"Well, my dear former pupil…" He sighed. "When I left you, I thought I left you with enough knowledge to figure things out. I didn't know there was still a little bit of naivete left in you!" 305-M scratched his head.

The redhead stood up and spread his arms out wide. "It is for knowledge, of course!" 305-M began to approach Prince Arterius.

Noticing this, Prince Arterius raised his hand and gestured his men to calm down. Regardless of how threatening his former mentor was, he had faith in him that he wouldn't bother and raised a hand at him.

"Knowledge, you say?" Prince Arterius nodded.

"Yes, knowledge!" 305-M clapped his hands in delight. "The knowing! You know I told you before how important a pinch of knowledge is, right?"

"Just like salt." Prince Arterius stood up to meet his mentor.

"Just…like…salt…" 305-M nodded. "Imagine what this knowledge can do to this world?!" His eyes widened in bewilderment.

"What do you mean?" Prince Arterius asked.

"Oh..Prince Arterius, let's not be so naïve here and not know the potential of the ores that lie beneath here!" 305-M scratched his head. "Senator Lucresia wants to know what you intend to do with those ores once you have it. Would you use it to usurp the throne? That's…highly unlikely! Maybe usurp the world? That's a tad more interesting! With your mind, I know what you can do!" He pointed at Prince Arterius.

305-M held his hand. "You are a lot more than what your brother is capable of…You can change the—"

Prince Arterius yanked his hand away from his former mentor. All the smooth talk his master was saying had an ulterior motive.

"So, this is the price for the Bieroff's and Lucresias to bugger off?" Prince Arterius asked.

His former mentor smiled and nodded. "Yes."

Prince Arterius sat back down on chair and thought about the offer. "Before I answer your offer, would you mind telling me something?"

"Ooohh…I like that!" 305-M sat on the table confidently flaunting at him, "Tell me, what is your question?"

"Why all of this?" Prince Arterius spat. "Why make it all this elaborate? As far as I can tell, you could've just approached us here."

His former mentor burst in laughter as he finally realized that the plan was too simple for his student to see through it all. "Marvelous! I taught you well, haven't I?" He paused to get an answer, but Prince Arterius wasn't having any of it. "Fine, let me spill the tea."

Lady Bieroff's eyes widened as she stood up and violently protested. "W-what are you doing?! DO NOT LISTEN—"

"Shut up, Adrena!" 305-M scolded her. The great Lady Bieroff sat back down on her seat trembling as she waited for him to finally spill the information.

"Well, ahem…The Senator thought of you as nothing more than a nuisance before…" He paused and looked into his former student's eyes. "That was before you made that cannon. But now, well…it's a different story, more than anything else, you my dear ex-pupil is now a threat to him! Which I should say is pretty impressive of you! To get that old man's attention."

"So, you're here to spy on me?" Prince Arterius tried to keep his emotions at bay.

305-M laughed once again, "Oh… dear child, it's much more complicated than just that."