Chapter 34: Dangerous Deal

My mind was very busy as I walked through the school corridors, trying to analyze the situation I was forced to confront. I knew that I wasn't the best when it came to assessing the norms outside the school despite my improved capabilities, but even I could confidently state that finding necromancers close to the school was rather unexpected, and the fact that they were willing to ambush three random students without rhyme or reason suggested multiple possibilities, each wilder than the last. Even worse, they had a bone dragon, something well-above their magical prowess to raise, meaning they were a part of something bigger.

Not a comforting thought.

Still, when I got close to the kitchen door, I let it slide. There was nothing I could do even if I wanted to do anything. Exploring further was impossible before I got stronger. Only luck allowed us to survive their presence, because we already had an extensive defensive entrenchment when they attacked, which greatly limited the impact of their undead horde, and their complete lack of tactical sense handled the rest. There was no way we could have survived if they had summoned their dragon even a moment earlier. I was good, but not that good.

Not yet, at least.

Talking to someone about it was not an option either. Neither I nor the girls had anyone we trusted enough to talk to, and even if the girls had, it was impossible to explain how we were able to defeat a bone dragon without revealing the full extent of my abilities, something I wasn't willing to do until I was much stronger. Being mysteriously strong was attention-grabbing, but not as much as gaining fifteen levels in less than a month, especially combined with my abnormal stat growth.

With the decision taken to have no action, for the time being, I focused on my immediate task, namely, slipping inside the kitchen for some extra food. The bag I had taken before was about to be emptied, and more importantly, I was fed up with all those dried fruits and meats, with only stale bread and plain water to accompany it. I needed something more delicious. With that in mind, I walked into the kitchen, silently but proudly walking toward the pantry. Thanks to my improved acting abilities, no one even paid attention to me until I reached the servants responsible for maintaining inventory.

I stood in front of a burly order man, who looked strong and capable enough to work as a butler for a minor noble family, but he clearly chose to work for Silver Spires instead. "I have a requisition for a wilderness outing," I murmured even as I passed the list I prepared beforehand, with a genuine-looking stamp at the bottom. It was a decent forgery, not enough to pass a magical examination, of course, but no one was about to assess a kitchen requisition, even if it was rather extensive.

"Wine, magically-preserved meat, quail eggs, aged cheese…" the man read the list, bored rather than disbelieving. "Who fucking brings top-shelf wine to a hunting expedition," he murmured grumpily.

"Noble brats are still brats," I answered with a shrug, which earned a sardonic laugh. "Count yourself lucky, at least you don't have to listen to them complaining about the quality of their linen in the middle of the wilderness while we servants struggle to find clean water." I sighed pointedly, doing my best to copy a mentally-exhausted servant. "Do me a favor and give me some good stuff. I don't want to be executed because I snapped and beat that snot-nosed brat with a substandard bottle of wine," I said, earning another laugh.

"Of course, nothing less for our heroic scions, standing between us and the apocalypse," he said in faux-worship before turning to enter the pantry.

"As soon as they figure out how to dress themselves," I added, and the servant disappeared with one last chuckle. When he returned, he was carrying a large bag along. I took the bag, but left only after a few minutes of gossip. It was nice to know people around me. With the bag, I returned to my room and enjoyed a delicious meal, though I doubted that any other mage would have been understanding when I used my elemental abilities to cook myself a delicious steak, and using arcana to clean up afterward. I didn't open the wine, however, as I had other plans for it.

When I left my room, I was once again disguised as a maid, but this time the clothes were just an illusion rather than a full costume. I had a lot of mana, so wasting a few dozen points was nothing.

My destination was Cornelia's room. It was not the evening yet, but I wanted to ambush her earlier with my presence, just to make sure she wouldn't be able to set up a trap. The magical lock on her door didn't even take a breath to unlock even when I had to circumvent a trap that hadn't been there during my first visit. My performance last night clearly spooked her, not knowing my display of competence was merely a trick.

Once I was in the room, I replaced the illusions with a field of invisibility. It wasn't a true invisibility spell, which was ironically too noticeable magically, but a light trick to make me harder to be seen. Only after that, I cast the second spell, and stepped into Cornelia's large living room, which was empty. So was her smaller guest room and her bedroom. I wasn't disappointed, however, because I could hear running water from the bathroom.

Excellent, I thought as I walked to the bar and took out a nice white wine and two champagne glasses. I wasn't being stingy about the wines I acquired earlier, but Cornelia clearly had better stuff than what was available through the general kitchen, not to mention taking her bottle without asking for permission was another subtle powerplay. Cornelia was under my power, and I intended to teach her how fun it was to be on the other side of the coin.

I even got naked before stepping into her bathroom -and removing another magical trap in the process- while doing my best to stay silent, then sneaked inside. I had to hold back myself from whistling in appreciation when I examined the extravagant bath, once again underlining Cornelia's wealth. But gold-plated taps or silver mirrors barely earned a glance from me, not when I was able to see Cornelia resting in the small pool in the center of the room, her body hidden under a thick layer of bubbles, her eyes closed.

Cornelia was not someone that would respond to kindness, so, the more impressive my appearance was, the better. So, I cast a weak silencing charm -weak because I didn't want to alert her with a mana flare- before walking toward the pool, and slid into the water, all without managing to alert her. "How have you been since our last meeting, little lady," I suddenly said as I opened the wine bottle, yet I also infused the water with mana to react quickly to the inevitable violent reaction.

She didn't disappoint. Her eyes popped open in shock, and a wave of flame came targeting me just as quick. However, it took just a flicker of my fingers to extinguish it. It wasn't even an issue of strength, as her hurried spell had a weak internal structure, easy to puncture with a stab of water, destabilizing it so that it faded halfway through.

Cornelia looked at me shocked, though it was understandable. After all, despite the weakness of her initial spell, it wasn't something a regular elemental mage could achieve. It required a strong analytical capability, and was only possible thanks to my extreme stats and high arcana capabilities.

"So rude," I said with a mocking smirk. "I would have expected more from the noble heiress of House Antony. No wonder your uncle is looking for a better alternative."

"Shut up," Cornelia shouted even as she raised her hand, which was glowing dangerously with swirling flames. I didn't react to her threat. Not because her magical ability was to be underestimated, but because despite her explosive anger, she was smart enough to understand what was at stake.

If she hadn't exploded in anger after I took the virginity of her girlfriend in front of her, an offhanded insult wouldn't trigger her as well.

I slowly poured wine into the glasses and sent one to her, ignoring the threat. After a moment, the fire around Cornelia's hand dispelled, leaving frustration in its place. "What do you want?"

I took a lingering sip from the glass instead of answering immediately, just another trick to drive home my superior position. It was a nice feeling to feel superior to Cornelia, the scary noble heiress that even the teachers failed to intimidate. "Delicious wine," I commented casually.

"What do you want?" Cornelia repeated, angrier.

"Come on, sweetie. Let's not act like brutes. Enjoy your wine first, we can always talk business later," I answered, my laziness making her even angrier, which made her just more frustrated because she was not used to keeping her anger contained.

"Give me your glass, then," Cornelia said with a sudden expression of enlightenment, doubting there was an underhanded trick on the glass. Not an unreasonable one, though considering how easily I had penetrated her domicile, rather unnecessary as well.

"As you wish," I said, but upon seeing her smug expression, I decided to pull a little trick. A small application of biomancy later, the wine glass was contaminated with an effective aphrodisiac, enough to make the situation even more uncomfortable for her, the mana flare being masked by the levitation spell I cast to send it to her. A moment later, the other floated toward me. "A delicious vintage," I commented.

"It's from one of our wineries. It's a decent year," Cornelia answered, who used the small break to exchange the glasses to gather her composure.

"I appreciate beautiful things," I answered while keeping my gaze on her face, my smirk widening as Cornelia frowned. She fell silent, and I didn't bother to break the silence, enjoying the bath and the wine at the same time. Cornelia drank slowly as well, but from the distracted expression on her face, it was clear that she was trying to get a handle of the situation. Understandable, considering how much she enjoyed being in control. It was ironic that she was losing control of every aspect of her life, the control of her family due to her uncle, the control of her development due to her level cap…

And the control of her personal relationship thanks to my presence…

For the next few minutes, I asked her several questions, none of them related to her problems, which clearly annoyed her. Then, I decided to push the envelope once more. "So, do you still attend classes after the latest development?" I asked.

Considering her attitude and her situation, I wasn't surprised when her hands started trembling, preluding an explosion of anger. Still, she impressed me by somehow preventing herself from exploding. "I still go to some of them," she answered between her squeezed teeth.

"Good idea, every little bit helps in your condition," I answered.

My dismissive attitude finally managed to trigger her. "Shut up!" she exclaimed even as she jumped to her feet and threw the glass toward me, which missed my face by inches, but I didn't even flinch. I might have annoyed her with my inaction, but since it displayed her beautiful breasts in front of me, I didn't react too badly.

[+50 Experience] 50% Penalty!

"Such a bad attitude," I answered, ignoring her poor assault attempt in favor of shaking my head in disapproval. "It's no wonder your uncle wants to keep you away from ruling the house."

"You're playing a dangerous game," she exclaimed even as two thick coils of flame appeared around her arm, twisting and turning dangerously in a poor attempt of intimidation. Poor, because it wasn't even about the power difference. She was a fire mage currently submerged in water, and I had already shown my water elemental abilities.

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I didn't bother to stop her assault, even crossed my arm to signal just how little her display had affected me. Her answer was to increase the intensity of the flames, colorful shadows dancing on the marble walls. "Calm your tits, firecracker," I said before letting my gaze slide pointedly to her chest. "Not your actual ones, of course. I'm very happy with their virility."

My dismissive attitude was enough to dispel her childish display. She dispelled her flames and sat down, the bubbles hiding her body once more. "What do you need?" she asked in a more subdued tone.

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"I only need a few things, but I want a lot of things," I answered. "However, the real question is, what do you need, and what are you willing to part with?"

Cornelia scowled. "You know that. I need to find a way to break through the level cap."

I smiled softly. "No, that's not true. What you need is to protect yourself against your uncle and to take the reins of the family. Improving your personal strength is not the only way."

"You told me that you can help me on the level cap!" she exclaimed, anger and disappointment warring on her face even as she raised her hand once more, yet again covered with flames. Her tantrums were getting very stale. "You lied!"

"No, I haven't," I said calmly. "I have ways to circumvent the situation to increase your personal power, but as you can guess, they are neither easy to find nor easy to implement. I need to trust you a lot more before I actually teach you how," I said, bluffing shamelessly. I didn't know whether the companion system would help the situation, and I didn't even know that I would be able to trigger it with Cornelia, but since she was my only reasonable source of experience, I was willing to take the risk.

"What do you want in return?" Cornelia asked, excited.

"A lot," I answered without missing a beat. "However, you don't need to worry about it for now, because it's a bit early to actually offer that. I have a more reasonable deal in mind."

"You're playing a dangerous game, revealing the secret but promising to withhold it. Aren't you worried that I would reveal your secrets?"

"Not really," I answered casually, which, for once, was actually accurate. I still didn't want to reveal myself to the wider public, but it was no longer a deadly secret. Moreover, I trusted Cornelia to act true to herself and be a self-serving bitch. She knew only two things about me, that I was apparently much stronger than I had revealed, and I claimed to have secrets of circumventing the level cap. The first part made it a gamble to reveal my secrets, as she had no idea how strong I actually was. For the second part, she only had my words for the moment with no evidence to back it up. She would have been laughed at by everyone if she went to anyone else with it. The only reason she was listening to it at all was her desperation.

The despondent silence that filled the room indicated that she understood my point of view without an explanation. "What do you have in mind if you're not going to help me increase my power?" she asked.

"I'm going to support you against your uncle, of course," I said.

"Why would you do that?" she said in shock. "Training me in secret is one thing, but if you do that, you would be challenging the acting head of House Antony. Since I'm the rightful heir, there's not much he can do against me, but it's not the same for you. He would send an endless number of assassins the moment he discovered your support." She took a deep breath before continuing, her tone bitter. "You read my letters, you know that he already removed or converted most of my supporters. I can't prevent him from targeting you."

"I know," I said, though I wasn't really worried. Yes, House Antony was strong, but even for them, Silver Spires was not easy to penetrate. I doubted that they would risk a lot of their power, and considering I might gain a few more levels until my involvement was discovered, I wasn't afraid of anyone below level twenty-five. House Antony was strong, but definitely not enough to risk losing such a strong warrior while trying to penetrate Silver Spires, risking their ire.

"Then why? You could have gone to my uncle with those letters and revealed my condition. He would have rewarded you greatly."

"No, he would have given me a few shiny trinkets and a few empty titles. However, if I manage to put you on top…" I dragged, leaving the rewards implied. "You can't win big by playing safe."

"Then, what do you have in mind to help me?" Cornelia said, much more interested.

"Simple," I said. "Your biggest challenge is to hide your stagnation from your uncle, while his biggest objective is to understand how strong you have become. By the way, why is that?" I asked, curious. Her letters mentioned the status, but didn't go into detail about the reasons.

"I have six months until my uncle can challenge me for the ruling seat, but since it's a life-and-death challenge, he will only do that if he's sure of his victory," she explained.

"Do you know how strong he is?" I answered.

"I'm not completely sure, but he's likely just below twenty, but definitely stronger than I currently am, not to mention he has access to a lot of magical weapons and treasures," Cornelia explained. Seeing me nodding without alarm, Cornelia relaxed a bit more. Her thought process was clear. Since I was calm on the prospect of facing a well-armed family head bordering level twenty, I must have been quite strong, which was accurate. If forced, I would have taken that bet, especially if I had Aviada's sword in hand. "So, that's my situation. What do you want in return?" she asked.

"I want you to be my maid," I answered. Just like that, Cornelia was on her feet once more, flames covering her arm. But this time, she clearly intended to attack.

Things were getting interesting…

[Level: 16 Experience: 133100 / 136000

Strength: 18 Charisma: 25

Precision: 13 Perception: 14

Agility: 17 Manipulation: 20

Speed: 13 Intelligence: 17

Endurance: 14 Wisdom: 21

HP: 1200 / 1200 Mana: 1484 / 1552 ]

SKILLS

[Master Melee [100/100]

Expert Arcana [75/75]

Expert Elemental [75/75]

Advanced Subterfuge [50/50]

Advanced Biomancy [50/50]

Basic Speech [25/25] ]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

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