Chapter 19: Chapter 19 – Negotiation

Opparu was standing before his main worktable, leaning against it with crossed hands. He looked at the group of youngsters, his face dark and his eyes spewing flames. Keily and Ceiline tried to look invisible, while Koadriana, Aurora, and Raufon acted like nothing had happened. Lia was still sitting in the reclining chair, nonchalantly smiling at him.

"We will replace the door, of course." Sion spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"That is the minimum!" Opparu scoffed, "It was only ONE person, kid! ONE. Did I miss the day when the Six Houses decided that from now on, ONE can mean SEVEN?"

"We can do that?" Lia asked Ceiline. She did it whisperingly but loud enough so everyone could hear it.

"Don't know!" She answered but flinched when Opparu looked at her, knowing fully who she was. Even though Ceiline was from one of the Houses, Opparu showed no real fear toward her or Lia. 

He agreed to meet with Lia in the first place because she was the daughter of Reyra. Learning about her background, he nodded at Sion's request to introduce the two to each other. But then, seeing a group appear, he felt like he was being taken advantage of and immediately backed out of it. Or at least he wanted to back out of it. The last time he let a deal be altered like this resulted in him burning his hands. He was still a student like them when it happened, but it taught him a lesson to never give an inch when it came to deals and promises.

"They are my friends!" Lia spoke to Opparu, slowly introducing them one by one. "Sion did not know I would bring them along!"

"And? Should I care?" The old man answered, his voice cold and unfriendly. 

"I'm here to buy artifacts!" Lia said, standing up, but then Opparu interrupted her with a wave of his hand.

"I'm not after money. I'm old already; it has no meaning for me!"

"I have more things than money!" Lia answered with a happy smile, clapping. "Like Koa!"

"Wait, what?!" Her cousin screamed out while Opparu looked at the tanned beauty with a bit stumped look. "Hey, kiddo!" Koa stepped behind Lia, grabbing her cheeks, pulling them wide apart, twisting and turning her skin, "I'm not a prostitute you can throw out just like that! I have standards!" 

"You do?" Sion asked, receiving a splash of cold water from nowhere, landing straight in his face. "Okay, I deserved that." He said, unflinching, wiping his eyes.

"Oh boy…" Ceiline sighed while Keily pulled his long, floppy ears before his face, trying to hide away. 

“Thofe juf somf piffufers!” Lia said something completely unintelligible. After Koa finally let her face go, she could repeat it with a moaning voice, tears in her eyes. "I meant some pictures, nothing more!"

"Hmph!" Koa snorted, knocking against her head.

"Khm!" Opparu interjected, "Don't take me as an old pervert who goes around looking up students' skirts! I have standards!"

"You do?" Sion repeated the same sentence, now receiving a stack of stapled paper thrown at his face. "I did not deserve that." He replied, squinting at Opparu, pointing at the walls filled with images of naked women.

"That is what I said!" Opparu replied, looking extremely proud, "I have standards! You lot are still unripe for the taking!" 

"Bwahahahaha!" Raufon laughed out loudly, pointing a thumbs up at the man. "I like you, ancient looking one!"

"..." The rest of the girls looked at each other, not knowing if they should be angry or not. It was… a weird feeling. 

"I want to go home…." Keily added, feeling this was the most embarrassing moment of his life.

The only one who remained unbothered was Lia, tilting her head left and right.

"So not everyone is like Dad…." She murmured as if she was coming to a sudden realization, making her sisters' mouth twitch as they looked at each other. "Mom was lucky… Khm! I can still make a deal with you! I know Sion promised something else to you!" She shook her head, trying to refocus herself and the conversation, "I am not a naive kid!"

"You-" Sion opened his mouth again but then stopped, "Never mind. Continue."

"We can come to a deal!" Lia grinned, watching Opparu, whose face slowly calmed down as his mind was already relaxed. By the time he was dug out from under his own trash, he had thought about many things. He saw countless groups forming throughout his years and knew that this was such an occasion… but he never saw four people in one who came from the Six Houses. This group could be something else. Being on friendly terms with an association like that was highly beneficial in the long run.

"Maybe," Opparu replied after a long pause, not denying it. "But I am not cheap. I am EXTREMELY expensive! Especially after this abysmal morning! Got that?"

"Roger!" Lia laughed, grinning from ear to ear.

"Who is the group leader?" He looked at them, and everyone immediately pointed at Lia.

"Can't take it back!" She exclaimed, watching her friends. “Teehee, I am the leader!” She puffed out her flat chest, saying it happily. 

"Good." Opparu nodded, "The rest, out! I'll talk with your leader one-on-one. No interference, no bullshit! It will depend on her if she can persuade me. The rest, move, and get me a new fucking front door!"

"No." Aurora stepped forward, signaling with her hand, and to her surprise, Opparu could read it.

"It will be either one-on-one or fuck off!" 

"It will be fine!" Lia laughed, shooing away the rest. "Here!" She transferred 8000 CP over to Ceiline.

"Eeep?!" She screamed out, suddenly receiving a significant amount of wealth. "Ceiline is our overseer; she will handle the money! Go, get Master Opparu a new door and someone to install it as soon as possible!"

"I know a place for that." Sion nodded, happy to just go and air his head out from the chaotic nonsense they went through. "Let's go!"

When everyone left, Lia smiled with a friendly gaze, waiting for Opparu to say something. He watched the young girl before him with her red and blue eyes, trying to figure out something by looking into them, trying to see her true self.

"You are not as simple as you look at first." He said, and Lia just chuckled. 

"I just know what I want!" She replied innocently. 

"Like?" He asked, walking to a cabinet and pouring a bottle of wine into a cup for just himself. 

"The best holding bags possible! For now!" She replied, watching him, "And not just for myself, for my whole team! I want them personalized, one that can be only opened by them and not by anyone!"

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"I should have guessed someone from a House knows about those kinds of artifacts," Opparu replied, sighing softly, taking a big sip. 

"I also know they are much harder to make, and you have to see the recipients so you can sync the artifact to their individual mana! Well, you already experienced some of theirs, so if you make those first, I'm good with that!"

"Who said I will make them?" Opparu laughed with a sarcastic tone. 

"I'm still here, no?" Lia answered, sticking her tongue out, "I always tell everybody I'm not stupid! They just don't believe me most of the time." She sighed, "I know what I want and how to get it!"

"Confident, are you not?"

"Learned it from my Mom!"

"Reyra Amarin… heard a lot about her!" Opparu said, refilling his cup, "They say she is becoming the number one figure in the whole Realm. Maybe one who will reach a level that no others did for 4000 years? She is still considered young… Yet she already broke through the threshold, so she has unlimited years to pursue the level of Ascendri."

"I know; she is my Mom!" Lia replied, hands on her hips, looking incredibly proud. Watching the girl who waited for him to continue with crystal clear eyes, he couldn't help but feel a bit weird. It was as if she already knew what he was going to ask for.

"Someone like that may be able to help me." Opparu started, trying to find the correct words and not rush them.

"Is it about descendants of the Kalabas royal bloodline?" Lia asked, seeing him fall into another pause, trying to form his thoughts into words.

"How do you know?" Opparu flinched, furrowing his brows. An outlawed bloodline... This should not be known by others. Besides him, very few in the world knew that their line had living descendants.

"A guess," Lia answered, turning the reclining chair towards him, sitting back, rocking back and forth. "When Sion told me about it, it was an interesting story. But the part where he mentioned your undying loyalty… even going as far as killing off the prince…."

"I presented his head to the Headmaster back then." Opparu nodded, "I hoped it would be enough of an appeasement."

"But it was not." Lia said, watching his clouded, old eyes, "The other clue was that Sion warned me that you are still angry about it. After more than 400 years? That's odd… there had to be something else. Something that still actively attaches you to that story, not letting time chip away at the edges that can hurt you. A detail that makes you mad and angry… So my honest guess was that some people still suffer because of that incident. Those people can only be connected to the same bloodline from where the spoiled prince came from to be still targeted."

"That is a wild guess…." Opparu replied but also nodded, as she was right.

"It was. Then I saw the posters." She nodded toward the many naked women on the walls. This time, her words truly shocked him. "The dates on every one of them are signaling the same month and day… A birthday maybe." Listening to her, Opparu gently twitched his mouth because she was right again… it was indeed tied to a birthday. "After flipping through the journals, there are many mentions of the sister of the last King! With many flowery words and even a poem is recited! You had an affair with her? That is my bet. I just don't know why wouldn't you take the kids to your name…."

"You are a smart one," Opparu said in the end, letting out a long breath filled with the scent of wine. 

"Ehehe~" Lia giggled, sticking out her tongue.

"Let me tell you then!" He wiped his mouth. "I had an affair with her, yes. But Cassia and I never had children. At least she couldn't have any with me. She was bound to a then-local, high-ranking noble. In the court, only I had ginger hair. A kid with that hair color… would have been scandalous." He chuckled, remembering those days when he was still young and vigorous. 

"Ah… that is true!" Lia nodded rapidly, seeing his point. 

"But she did have children from her husband. It was her duty, as she was promised to him from a young age. Never had a choice in the matter. And it does not matter now! I loved her. My homeland. My country. It hurt to see them go up in flames just because of the King, who was a good friend of mine! He just had to spoil his only son rotten! That ungrateful bastard ended a 1500-year-old kingdom! I pitied my friend when I killed his son… but I tried everything to save my homeland! I pleaded with his head in hand, but it was futile. I was granted asylum, but nobody else. The royal line became an open game when branded as 'Traitors.' Anybody could hunt them and kill them without penalty!"

"So you escaped with Cassia and her family?" Lia asked, her thoughts swirling in her head.

"Yes. Only with her and her kids. They changed names, but their appearance is still very telling to this day. They have a bluish tint in their black hair, which is a distinct telling sign of the royal line of Kabalas. It is still present in the living descendants to this day. When Cassia died, I promised her I'll look for a way, so their name was cleared, and they could continue existing without fear of being found out and killed."

"They are still in danger? After this much time has already gone by?" Lia asked, honestly surprised.

"After a certain level of power, these many years are still part of one's life." Opparu sighed, "Some strong people from that time still live, just like me. The two new countries are still remembering it and some high-level leaders are still afraid. They know there are descendants of the old royal blood out there. If they ever resurface and try to come back… They could pose a threat!"

"Would they?" 

"Nah!" Opparu waved his hand, "They would not. They have their own lives! It just… still overshadowed by unnecessary fear. The fright that someone makes the connection and then kills them! It is an ugly and infuriating business!"

"So you want my family's help to clean their name and reestablish them as normal citizens of the Realm!"

"Yes." Opparu nodded, looking into her eyes, while Lia just laughed.

"Sure! I'll ask Mom, no problem! It was a long time ago already! It is stupid to punish those who didn't even live back then! It's nonsense!" 

"I agree." Opparu murmured, “And thanks…”

"Ahaha, sure! Um… what about my guess of the pictures? Is it the birthdate of Cassia? Do you go out and buy some magazines that remind you of her?" She asked with a sly grin on her face.

"Ahahaha! Nope!" Opparu answered with a smug look, enjoying her crestfallen look that she had made a mistake. "You are half right only! Those dates? Yep, those are birthdays! MY birthdays! I just go out, buy some porn magazines and staple the posters to my wall! Bwahahaha!"

“Eh… Close enough…” Lia shrugged, pursing her lips, "I'm still not as good as Mom…."

"Anyway, that wasn't half bad, girl! One day you may become a detective, eh? Or some kind of mystery solver?" 

"I love mysteries!" Lia clapped, exclaiming proudly, "That is a good idea, Master Opparu! I'll become the best mystery-solving mage ever!"

"Sure!" He shook his head, laughing a little, "First, I'll let you solve the mystery of where the fuck my door went and where the hell your friends are? Why aren't they already back, replacing it, hm? When my workshop is free of natural light again, we can start working on your… holding bags."

"Sunlight is bad?" Lia asked, a bit confused but curious.

"It is." Opparu nodded, his voice speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. "Some ingredients are light sensitive. Expose them to it; they go up in flames or explode violently. So… no work will be done until my workshop is sealed again!" He smiled, watching the small girl swaying back and forth with his reclining chair, already feeling she would not swindle him and could solve the centuries-old problem plaguing his subconscious every day.