Chapter 274 - Disciple

"You—"

"Hahahaha! You want to recruit our Cel? Not on your life, lady!"

Sola only glanced at Lucia before prompting Cecil for an answer, "As you can see from my badge, I represent the Empire, and I'd like to formally accept you as one of our artificers! I'm sure you're aware of the many benefits that you can gain by joining us, no?"

This was too troublesome, Cecil thought. He could only conclude that this lady here wanted to recruit him because of his answers on the assessment. He initially thought that his answers wouldn't draw any attention towards himself, but it looks like he thought wrong.

"Sorry, but I have no interest in joining," Cecil replied. He checked the time and there were about another 2 hours or so before the first assessment finished.

He sat next to Lucia again and was about to rest his head on her lap again before Sola stood up in a hurry to persuade him.

"Boy, do you know what you're missing out on? You just rejected the formal invitation of the Empire!"

"So?"

"The Empire has always gotten what it wanted."

"Not this time."

"You—fine then, we'll stop here, but I do want to know where you learned about this," Sola said as she tossed his answer sheets on the table.

Cecil only glanced at it and shrugged. "Read it in a book."

Sola scoffed at him and probed, "Read it in a book? Knowledge like this is only found within the Empire's Royal Library. An adventurer like you would have no access to the library in District 0!"

"And?"

"We recently had a Prince die out in the field, he was a renowned artificer in the Empire and many targeted his life and the knowledge inside his brain... reports say he died from monster attacks...but I'm not so sure right now," Sola said as she eyed Cecil. She knew for a fact that she was clearly only bluffing. It was a very recent event and it was true that a Prince had died while out exploring, but he wasn't an artificer. In fact the Prince was just the washed-out trash of the Royal Family.

His death was planned by someone higher up and it was indeed caused by monsters and had no connection with Cecil and his party whatsoever, but the knowledge which she glimpsed from the answers that Cecil had provided was something the Empire coveted. If she was right, this boy in front of her had knowledge regarding Ancient Artificing and runes because there was no way a kid at his age would have such a deep and profound understanding of Artificing if not for that.

She was the Head Artificer and didn't need to plead or beg for Cecil to share the knowledge with her. She had already extended an invitation for him to join the Empire and even politely asked about it earlier, but she was met with an unfavorable reply. So, she could only resort to her last method, threatening him using the Empire's name.

Cecil already knew that this woman was lying. She just coveted the knowledge inside his head and wanted him to make a choice, to join or be forcibly conscripted by them. There were little things in Alterna that he feared after gaining his current level of power, he and his party weren't weak and if they wanted to, it wouldn't be impossible for them to level a District or 2.

"Hehehe, I know the laws of the Empire so I'm not afraid of you. Also, you want to pin the blame on me? You're the Head Artificer, so try using your brain a little. My party and I only arrived 4 days ago, the prince died long before I arrived. Oh, and another thing. You wouldn't be desperate to get what's inside my head if your Empire already has it," Cecil replied scornfully.

"Hohoho... pinning the blame is easy for someone of my stature and peerage, y'know?"

Cecil opened his eyes and smirked at the lady. He released a little bit of his Intent and froze the space in the room.

Sola immediately turned pale at the immense pressure weighing down on her. Her breath stifled and she couldn't help but fall to her knees as she broke out in cold sweat while gasping for air.

In his anger, Cecil had forgotten, about the little boy observing on the sidelines. When Ren felt the change around his master, he was immediately blasted with the angry pressure Cecil was exuding. His breath was cut short and he found it difficult to breathe or stay conscious.

This was the first time the young boy saw the mild-mannered Cecil suddenly turn scary and as he was about to faint, Serilla immediately flashed next to him and shielded the boy from the intense pressure Cecil was exuding due to this anger.

"Darling..."

Cecil reeled in the minute amount of anger he had. It was more like a show of strength on his part, but he still felt a little angry that he was being threatened. The woman thought that he, being an artificer and all, was but a weakling that couldn't fight.

Many artificers weren't combatants despite having high magical ability, but Cecil shouldn't be grouped with them. To him, Artificing was only a hobby. His prime interest was always in combat and to obtain even more power through cultivation.

He wasn't a power-hungry villain, but having more power wouldn't be detrimental to him at all. Cecil helped Sola off the ground and sat her on a chair. He sat across from her and eyed the pale and frightened woman before he said.

"I don't mind sharing the information I have, but let's be clear about something. This is a business deal, so both sides have to give and take, alright?"

Sola only nodded at him listlessly. "Good, so that'll be our transaction. I give you the information I have and you give me access to the Empire's Great Library in District 7 and the 1 million gold material rewards, but I'd like to specify which items I want. These are the only 2 things I want."

When Cecil began talking business, Sola regained some color in her face. She thought deeply about his conditions, but she had her doubts.

"How will I know that the information you give me is legitimate? I did just threaten you, after all, so you might try and swindle me out of spite."

Cecil smirked at Sola, "This is why you should have approached me like you wanted to conduct a business deal. Everything in the world can be bought except for family and love, don't you think so?"

"..."

"Don't worry, I don't like swindling others, if you can provide me with what I want, then I won't swindle you."

"...Fine, but is that really all you want? Judging by your skills, I'm sure you can win this competition."

"I probably can, but now, I don't want to."

"Huh? Why?"

"Since from this small test, where I revealed only a fraction of my skills, I was able to attract the attention of someone like the Head Artificer, then if I win the competition, then I'm bound to attract the attention of people higher up in the food chain...I don't want that." Cecil plainly replied.

"..."

"I don't plan on lingering too long in the Empire, so I don't want to attract too much attention to myself."

"...Alright, we'll have it your way."

"Also, this kid apparently seems hung up on having me as his master. I don't particularly mind, but I can tell he's someone of importance so will it be a problem if he were to suddenly leave the Empire?"

"...It... might pose some problems. He's currently under training as the next Head Artificer Candidate. There are others like him, but Ren's the only one who's shown the most promise."

"I see... Ren, where's the book I gave you earlier?"

"Uhm..."

"It's here Cel," Lucia said as she took the book out of her ring and handed over to Cecil.

"Here, that'll be the down payment. Once I've gained access into the library, I'll hand in the rest at that time."

"...Alright. Wait here. Let me get a contract for both of us."

Cecil nodded and simply waited for Sola. It didn't take long before the contract was presented to him. He didn't quite see the need for the written contract, but it was better than a verbal agreement.

According to the laws of the Empire, a court could be held in the case that somewhat breached the agreements stated in a contract. It was insurance on Sola's part, but it wasn't like Cecil was planning on reneging on their deal.

They negotiated the terms for a long while and once they came to a final agreement, it was written that Cecil would hand over information about specific topics regarding runes and artificing while he would also take Ren as his disciple to teach and guide him until the boy reached an appropriate age where he would then come back to take the test to inherit the role of the Empire's Head Artificer. As for Sola, using her authority she would grant Cecil full access to the Empire's Library, grant him free passage to the Empire's Great Workshop, and hand him the following list of materials or their substitutes, if they did not have them. She would also have to keep their agreement and exchange confidential as well as not leak any info about Cecil and his party.

As for the consequences of breaching the contract, it was all omitted, but plainly it had things to do with a huge fine, imprisonment, and etcetera.

Once he read over the terms and made sure that nothing was wrong with it, he immediately signed his name and so did Sola. Cecil shook hands with Sola and looked over at the little Ren.

"You're in luck kid. Looks like you'll be sticking with me as my disciple."

"Awesome! Please take care of me, Master!"

"No probs, kid. Let's get along in the future."

"Yes!"

"Alright, since we're done here, I should get going. I have a competition to 'lose'," Cecil said as he got up to leave the room.

"Do your best Cel~" Lucia cheered.

Seeing that her man was planning on losing the competition purposefully, Serilla chimed in.

"I don't like seeing my darling lose!"

"...shit..."