Negotiations were going… well, not well, but at least they were going. Nearly half an hour of insults and rather blatant threats later, we had at least figured out what things each of us found completely unacceptable. It didn’t feel like we were any closer to a deal than we had been at the start, but Miranda had warned me ahead of time not to get discouraged by a lack of immediate progress.

Apparently, proper negotiations between governments and organizations could take weeks and even months, which felt utterly ridiculous to me but what did I know about that sort of thing? The closest I ever got to ‘negotiating’ was simple agreements with my classmates, like the deal I’d made with Janna, and the haggling I’d done with merchants for food and scraps before I made it to Avalon. Miranda also didn’t have much first hand experience with this sort of thing unfortunately, but she was at least much better informed than I was.

“So,” I said slowly, doing my best to keep the growing annoyance and stress I was feeling from bleeding into my voice, “you are provisionally willing to swear some kind of oath of nonaggression with me, as long as I am willing to do the same. You are also willing to help compel Kwesta into doing the same, but nothing more binding than that. Finally, You are willing to offer a modest fee of some sort in exchange for Kwesta’s safe return.” She opened her mouth to interrupt me but I raised a hand in the air. “I’m not saying that we’ve agreed to any of that, I’m just trying to establish a shared understanding of the situation.”

She tilted her head to the side, slowly tapping her bracers against one another as she mulled the question over. The gleaming metal rang like a bell each time the two pieces touched, but I tried not to let it bother me. She’d done the same sort of thing several times before, and while it had put me on edge the first time, I trusted Liam enough to ensure she wasn’t using some sort of subtle auditory magic or the like.

Sitting back in my chair, I was content to let her think in peace. If nothing else, it gave me more time to study the absolutely fascinating armor she was wearing. I was pretty sure it was some sort of royal treasure, I’d seen a painting of one of her ancestors wearing a very similar looking set, and it would explain how she had something so incredible. I imagined she had decided to leave it at the Academy over the summer for some reason, or perhaps it had otherwise ended up somewhere where it wasn’t looted with the rest of her family’s fortune. Lucky.

In a word, the armor was incredible. I’d noticed immediately how it all but shone with mana, but that did not do it justice. It was not simply some form of mana rich material, but rather a staggering number of enchantments layered through the metal so densely that it blended into a single incomprehensible mass. Just from the number of them, the chestplate alone must have taken years to enchant, and the rest of her armor was, if anything, even more densely packed with hundreds of individual enchantments.

The longer I studied it, the more glad I was that I hadn’t been ambushed by her while she was wearing something like that. It seemed like a primarily defensive magic item, but I was pretty sure it had some less passive defensive measures built into it as well. Even if it was purely defensive in nature, I didn’t know if any spell I knew would be capable of scratching the older girl through that kind of protection, much less causing any actual lasting damage. The armor might look rather skimpy and stylistic, but I doubted her exposed belly, upper arms, and thighs were any less protected than the rest of her.

In all honesty, I wasn’t really getting much out of just looking at it with my passive mana sense, everything was too tightly packed to decipher any specific enchantment, but just observing how it all came together was giving me all sorts of ideas. I would have paid a fortune to examine it in depth, but I doubted Clarient would ever go for something like that so I didn’t even bother asking. I certainly wasn’t going to show anyone my equipment, and my best work looked like a child’s drawings compared to that armor.

Eventually she crossed her arms across her chest and leaned backwards in her chair. “Yes,” she answered shortly, “that sounds about right.”

Great. We were making progress. Or at least I was pretty sure this counted as progress. “Very well. In that case it is simply a matter of discussing specific terms?”

She nodded slowly. “I’m listening.”

“Now, I see my initial offer was somewhat outside of the value you place on your friends value. She is a fourth circle mage I suppose, and those don’t come cheap, but not quite as much I had proposed. Perhaps six thousand? It’s slightly more than she would fetch on the open market I expect, but I think there’s more to her value than just her skills, no?”

I could almost see Clarient’s teeth grind together behind the stoic frown she’s been wearing for most of the last half hour. Miranda’s knee nudged mine under the table and I tapped it back in confirmation. Apparently I should pull back slightly on the provocation. On second thought, that seemed like an excellent idea. My bluff had been working so far, but I really didn’t want to push the terrifying girl too far. It was a balancing game, leaving her sufficiently on the back foot to keep the negotiations going but not so much that she just decided to metaphorically, or literally for that matter, flip the table on me.

My eyes momentarily flickered to the fifth year boy who Clarient had brought with her. I still wasn’t sure what the logic there was, a fifth year was a very odd choice since theoretically he wouldn’t be able to do anything if things did devolve into a fight. Was it a threat? Meant to show that she was confident she could take me all on her own, no matter the circumstance. Perhaps simply a matter of convenience, or maybe she hadn’t wanted to risk me getting my hands on another hostage? It was impossible to know. Well, he hadn’t done anything so far. He had just been sitting there in silence the entire time, all but motionless with a placid expression on his face.

I focused back on Clarient, chiding myself for getting distracted, as she responded, “To think that you would price one of my companions as a slave, pathetic. This is no market, Mr. Hunter, and you are no merchant here. I am not purchasing my companion back from you, any fee is simply for the costs incurred due to her reckless actions. I’ve seen the memories of your fight, and it didn’t look like she did much damage. Embarrassing, really.”

Interesting. Was she trying to get me to reveal more about how the fight had gone than she had seen in whatever student had been brave enough to stick around’s recollection? Kwesta had destroyed several of the collars I’d used, which were going to be a pain to replace even if I didn’t create more of the improved design, but I wasn’t actually sure if she’d, or anyone, had seen what exactly I’d been using. The collars did have a weak obscuring field over them and moved rather quickly so their design was hopefully not immediately obvious.

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“Its true that her attempts were merely… inconvenient, and not overly costly, but she still did damage some delicate equipment I was carrying with me,” I answered slowly, “Nothing irreplaceable thankfully, but still something. Additionally, taking care of her and ensuring she did not further injure herself was similarly not without cost.”

Clarient tilted her head to the side again and looked over at Kwesta’s floating form. “Perhaps. I hadn’t realize you were still so untrained that a simple stasis spell would strain you overly much, or were you incompetent enough to have to pay someone to do your spellwork for you.” Though she phrased it like a question, it was clearly a taunt, but one I brushed off easily. I didn’t care what most others thought of my skills, particularly if they chose to underestimate me. I would prefer to look competent, but not so exceptional that others would want to target me for it. This mess certainly wasn’t helping with that, though maybe it would pull the attention of those I did want to impress.

In any case, that was a worry for another time. For now, this absolutely demanded my full attention. Hopefully I would be walking out of this room soon with nothing to worry about. Ha, like it would ever be that easy.

Sitting silently in his seat, Liam smiled pleasantly as he listened to the younger duo argue over the specific wording of their oaths. It had certainly been an interesting few hours so far, not exactly what he would have chosen to do with his time, but a novel distraction. It helped that he was getting a lot more out of this than either of the two thought, there weren’t many activities this easy that could net you a favor from two up and coming mages as promising as Orion Hunter and Jack Baretree.

He had always loved that sort of double dipping, especially when he hadn’t had to exert any effort to get it. Both had approached him after all, and neither had asked for anything other than his impartiality. Cultivating a reputation of honest dealings and friendliness had certainly worked out well for him over the years. Sure he had probably missed out on some opportunities because of it, but goodwill had a value all its own and was much harder to get back once you’d lost it.

His eyes drifted slowly between the two, the layers of perception-enhancing spells he’d cast ahead of time ensuring that he didn’t really need his eyes to ‘keep an eye’ on both of them. He could feel every inch of the room as though he was touching it, see every strand of mana without looking at it. It was probably overkill, neither had tried anything since they’d arrived, but it wasn’t really costing him anything so why not? A half hours effort was much cheaper than if something did happen and he missed it.

Not for the first time, he focused his attention on Orion, wondering how serious his threats had been. It was honestly hard to know, if there was any third year he thought could do it, it was Orion. The younger boy had an almost palpable intensity around him, a constant hum of barely suppressed action that made it hard to tell what he was thinking. He had seemed so serious, so frank and honest about the consequences, that it made even his rather absurd claims seem perfectly reasonable.

Whatever the case might be, he was glad he’d met the boy. He saw a lot of himself in Orion, that same drive to succeed and demand for excellence in everything he did. As long as the boy didn’t do something stupid, he was nearly guaranteed to make it, and integrating yourself with other future powerhouses was only common sense. He still had a semester and a half with him before he graduated, and he planned to ensure Orion was left with a positive impression when he left.

“I think we’re ready,” Orion said simply.

“Yes,” Clarient confirmed.

Despite his lack of focus, Liam responded without missing a beat, “Wonderful, I’m glad you’ve come to an agreement. Now, how would you like to do this?”

Clarient and Orion shared a weary look before Clarient responded. “Orion shall swear first, then I will make my own oath. Once that is complete, Orion shall release Kwesta and I shall convince her to swear her own oath to Mr. Hunter and his companion. Then we can be done with this farce.”

Orion cleared his throat loudly. “And?”

Clarient all but growled, but continued. “If I am unable to convince her, then Mr. Hunter will have full rights to take her back with him and convince her himself, but that will not be necessary.”

“Of course,” agreed Orion easily.

“Very good. And you are both in agreement about the specific wording of your oaths? I shall be using a powerful oath that does work partially with intent alone, but it is always best to be certain.”

They shared another glance. “I’m fine.”

“I as well.”

“Excellent.” Liam took a deep breath and stood up, spreading his arms widely to either side. He exhaled and a veritable tide of mana flowed out of him. A thick band of barely visible mana encircled the table, pushing the two assistants aside before encompassing the three of them in a translucent dome. Hundreds of spectral runes wrote themselves across the surface of the dome even as an impossibly complex spell matrix took form at the center of the dome. “Begin,” he bit out, the majority of his focus on maintaining the hybrid ritual spell he was casting.

“I Orion Hunter, do swear as such. As long as she and those who associate with her do not seek to harm me and those I claim as my associates, as long as they do not compel or convince others to bring harm to me and those I claim as my associates, as long as they abide by the terms of their own oaths, as long as…”

Liam closed his eyes, mostly tuning out Orion’s words. Within the dome, his voice echoed strangely, tendrils of power slowly wrapping around his body as they tensed for the spell's completion. After nearly five minutes, Orion stopped and Clarient began her own oath, but he was too focused to make out anything but an occasional word. The spell he was casting required his full attention, else it would collapse explosively and likely kill everyone in the room. Well, everyone except for him hopefully, and maybe Clarient if the Royal Plate was as impressive as he’d heard.

Thankfully there wasn’t really much risk of that. He might not be a true eight-circle mage yet, but he could cast a few spells of that tier without too much risk. This was something he’d done before and had practiced extensively. Oath spells of this strength were rare and restricted, but Avalon cheerfully taught all of its members that could learn it at least this one spell. It was a very thorough and reliable spell and was often used between graduates in order to ensure that all parties obeyed the terms of their agreements. After all, no one wanted Avalon’s leadership to have to get involved.

He felt the magic shift as Clarient finished and the entire construct pulsed with barely contained power. Mana flared and the tendrils that had slowly wrapped around both parties collapsed into their bodies as the spell completed. The glowing spell matrix at the center of the room burned with a blinding intensity for a moment before vanishing, the mana comprising it fully expended.

Liam sat back down in his chair slowly, doing his best not to show how much that had taken out of him. “Well?” he asked after a moment.

Clarient blinked rapidly, then let out a long breath. “I can feel it settling. Thank you.”

“It’s done. Kwesta?”

Liam directed the bubble holding her frozen body float forward and deposit her in front of Orion’s seat.

“Thank you. Now, let me focus. This will take some time and then we can get on with it.”