Next morning in the School City. Drak is sitting on a lounge chair and sees the hired workers repair the outside. While their work might look crude, it shows sturdiness.
In reality the work is more of a sham, as the Mansion is already stable, but to show he made repairs on it he hired workers to make it more believable.
“Master, I heard you heightened my Bounty?”
“Yeah, Raja. You are now worth a hundred Thousand.”
“I am honoured. By the way the preliminary checks are finished. Multiple Drug Fabrications, illegal Slavers and more ‘diverse’ Bases were found.”
“Take note of every move with the Bloodsworn. Next week you should be able to start hunting. Alice you will be in charge of accidents inside the drug labs.”
“Understood~”
While talking the Workers are commandeered by the Servants. Some workers ‘accidentally’ moved into the wrong Rooms, but were ignored by the Servants, until they came back. Those Workers were also not working on the more critical parts of the House, as that was handled by the more trustworthy people of Drak.
-
“Princess Eleonora. The Black Merchant was seen in the Imperial City last night.”
“I knew it. So he already showed his true face without even thinking about laying low. Somewhat disappointing, but easier to have tabs on him. When did he leave the School City?”
“…”
“What is it?”
“Princess. Drak Berklin never left the School City.”
“...what?”
“He is right now in his Garden and looking at the Workers who renovate the Mansion. Our Spies are under them and he was there at seven in the Morning.”
“That can not be. The Shield does not allow basic Teleportation and also has multiple sensing spells to find out if someone flies in or out. Are you SURE he is there?”
“...Yes! He is right now there. Look at the transmission Crystal, Princess.”
Taking the Crystal she sees Drak lounging on a Chair with a hot drink in his hand. His Servants standing around him while looking at how the Workers remove old bricks to set new ones for stability, albeit not high quality ones but sturdy ones for normal Mansions. Normal Nobility would never use such cheap but functional bricks, even if they work just fine. It is a matter of Image!
“He did go to the Imperial City over a Hundred Kilometres away without being noticed and then came back to watch just some workers insert inferior Materials into his Mansion and was not noticed once?!”
“Or, maybe he is not the Black Merchant?”
“Not possible! His description is fitting and albeit my Predictions are a bit vague, they should be about HIM!”
Eleonora threw the Stone over to her Servant. Frustrated with all this, she really wants to go to him and just shake his secrets out of him, but knew it would be a bad Idea. If there are two people with dangerous powers, that would complicate the whole thing.
“Hah… If he is not the Merchant, then we have two calamity class problems. I can not believe he is not the one, but right now, let us just put benefit of the doubt to the front and see them as different entities. What I at least know that someone around Drak might be dangerous, as I feel it when I am near him and his maids.”
“What about in class? You are then alone with him and close. Anything?”
“I…”
Somehow she forgot about that. When she is next to him he is more… docile and pessimistic. Also her predictions do not show any kind of danger from him.
“He might be shielded.”
“But when the Maids are near him, then you notice the danger? It seems one of his Maids is really the calamity and he is just a useless brat after all.”
“That does not make sense, why did the Black Merchant appear here, after he came to the School?”
“To maybe muddle the water?”
“What?”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“To keep spy work running, there are people called ‘sacfifical lambs’. Those people sometimes do not even know, that they are the sacrifices planted. Artisans travelling often are used as those. They are sent to work somewhere to look as if they are the spies, while the actual spies work their magic. If the Artisan dies or is caught, they know the Secret is out and can escape unhindered with part of their reconnaissance.”
“So the Merchant goes from one place to another, if Drak moves?”
“That is possible. And to keep him updated he put someone near him to keep an eye on him and his surroundings.”
“...huh. Then that would mean, albeit Drak is useless, as long as we control his movements…”
“Yes, the Merchant will move somewhat with him. But it must be made subtle enough, to not be found out by his Inside Person.”
“Alice might be the Inside Person. Someone who can read minds would be over the top, but the Merchant is rather sinister.”
-
“Seria, the hidden perception Crystals…”
“Already manipulated into showing false Information. The House is bug free.”
“That is good. Anything else on the Schedule?”
“Nothing at the moment. The old House in the Imperial City got now demolished and reconstruction is under way. The Dungeon is sealed and not possible to be found by the workers. In two weeks the first walls should be already standing.”
“Right at the time, when the first delivery is needed to be made. Well lets relax until the Visit to my ‘Siblings’.”
“No can do, Master. You need to rehearse the curriculum, to have an edge in the Studies.”
“Ugh…”
And with that Drak was banished to the Study to work hard on his theoretical knowledge.
-
Third rest day.
“Are you well, Master?”
“Not particularly, but it needs to be done.”
“It can be made in another way. No need to torture yourself~”
“I know, but… I need to do it myself. They still think they can just go back to being Family, after all this. I forgave them but I am still petty.”
“Master, you are not petty. While you have suffered, they have either looked away or made things hard for you.”
“I did not suffer as much as you four.”
“Does not mean, you can not be hurt!”
“...Thank you, all of you. Let’s go and we will set things straight, so the cut is final… maybe.”
In a way more luxurious Carriage, Drak and his four maids are talking silently. The Coachman is ignoring them and rather annoyed to drive Drak to his Masters home. While it is a Command from Elizabeth and Luke Berklin, he himself would rather bring Garbage to the collection side as doing this job.
Travelling to the middle part of the School City a rather large and pristine Mansion is visible. This Mansion is proudly showing the Emblem of the Berklin Family and the target of the Carriage being driven.
Entering the Estate the horses halt and the Coachman started to take care of the horses. No one came from the main Door or anything and after a short while the door of the Carriage opens where Drak and the Maids started to disembark.
Going to the Front door, at first Claire wanted to knock, but Drak already took the doorknob and opened the Door himself. Entering he looked around and saw the butler sitting far away and was definitely waiting for the knock to very slowly go and open the door.
Seeing Drak rudely entering without even knocking he wanted to say something, but remembered to not be rude to the half brother of his Masters for some reason or another.
Coming forth he walked them silently to the lounge where after arrival Elizabeth and Luke stood up. Seeing Drak frowning, they noticed their small mistake, but were still trying to be as caring as possible.
“Servants you can leave. We will talk to Drak alone. You are just in the way for now.”
Elizabeth was rather rough to the Servants in the Lounge, especially as she saw the eyes of disgust aiming at her half brother. If not for Drak’s Order she would already have re-educated those Servants to not to look down on Drak or at least stop being so obvious.
After leaving Drak sat down. Between the Silence of the Family the four Maids started their work. Elizabeth and Luke had already tea and even Cake, but Drak had nothing. The only thing that was there was hot water and what resembled a similar piece of cake on the catering table but it was a rather old piece definitely not as fresh as the ones in front of the Masters of this Mansion.
Throwing away the Cake, Celia cleaned the plate and draped her self made cookies on it in a decorative way. It looked like a Rainbow out of cookies with different Marmalade drops in the middle extenuating a feeling of happiness.
Raja was carefully blending the tea she brought and putting it in the water while slowly stirring the small kettle until the colour was right. The concentration she uses on every little detail made her look like lives depend on the perfect brewing of the Tea.
Alice uses her slender fingers and massages the shoulders of Drak. Every time she finds a fold or fluff on his clothes she removes the blemish, even if his clothes were way more simple than the clothes his Siblings were wearing.
Seria stands behind the couch to his left and watches over the other Maids through her veil. Her aura gave of a head maid vibe, that can only be gained by long time professionalism in Workmanship.
When the Cookies and Tea were in front of Drak the silence got more stifling, but still not saying anything they sat awkward in front of each other.
“...Alice, Seria.”
With a nod a fluctuation was felt and suddenly a *plop* was heard behind the siblings. Shocked they looked behind and saw a black clad person in the corner of the Room laying unconscious.
“Ah!”
“Who dares! Guards!”
“Be silent. The Room is sealed, no one will hear you.”
While Elizabeth shrieks and Luke commands for reinforcements, Drak just said those words plainly.
“Drak, is this person one of yours?”
“No Elizabeth. He is a spy, and a rather good one. Right now he is knocked out, so let him sleep.”
Drinking a small bit of the Tea, Drak was totally relaxed. His Siblings on the other hand were shocked and confused, about why Drak was so relaxed by an intruder.
“People are surveying me, so he must be here to listen to our ‘talk’.”
“Drak… Did someone find out?”
“No Luke, they seem to touch around in the dark. I would think they have some kind of Seer on their side to notice my… peculiarities, but should not know all of it. At least I hope.”
“Do you know who?”
“It should be the Imperial Family that is tailing me.”