Chapter 20 - Tempting Offer

With Iris being dragged back to the dance floor beside Alice, she found herself unknowingly enjoying her time.

For the next twenty minutes, Iris spent her time like a 'Normal teenager' forgetting the current troubles she is experiencing with the Butcher and everything else, for once she didn't think purely about the stressful situation she is in.

But, after being brought back to the bar and sitting alongside Alice, she suddenly starts to become suspicious of her.

Why?

Well, due to her intelligence increasing by a significant amount lately, she began to pick up many more things than usual she hasn't previously.

One of the reasons is there seemed to be multiple men focussing on Alice at all time, and now this could be considered narcissistic but if it was purely for lustful reasoning due to her being very beautiful, then why didn't they stare at her not even once?

Therefore, with her being superior in looks compared to Alice, you'd think at least one would appreciate her instead of Alice, or even look at the both of them with this sort of look, but they just focused on Alice which is very unusual in her opinion.

Not to mention their looks didn't seem to contain any sexual desire in any way, and purely seemed to be of the 'Professional' kind, meaning that their here for one purpose only, and that is to protect Alice.

Which made Iris conclude, that either they are present to ensure Alice's safety from any possible threat towards her, or she may even be the one they are protecting her from, and if it was the second reasoning then they must have discovered her abilities somehow.

Thinking of possible individuals who may be out to target her, her thoughts suddenly came to the Butcher.

But on further thought, these men don't seem to represent the butcher.

Otherwise, they'd have attempted to kill her long ago when she was even vulnerable against a single armed man without any supernatural capabilities.

Thus they'd have seen through her true prowess long ago if Alice represented such a man, she would have been killed instantly after revealing such weakness.

And looking back to the situation with the threat against that armed man, she suddenly noticed that even though Alice hid it incredibly well and even she couldn't see it within their first meeting, but she was to calm for that situation and didn't seem as if she felt threatened at all.

With all these factors combined alongside how easily they seemed to get in one of the most highly in demand night club within the City, she believed that Alice is definitely not the person she said she is!

But, maintaining the same expression, she whispered in Alice's ear, "Hey can I speak to you about something in private?"

Alice who seemed to be taken back slightly by this recovered, giving her a suggestive look before saying, "Sure, let's go to the private room I booked."

Following Alice, through the club, they soon arrived at one of the private rooms of the club making Iris exclaim, "Woah Alice you must be rich to afford this!"

While carefully observing Alice's expression to witness any changes herself, she saw a twinge of disgust before she reverted back to her usual appearance.

"Yeah, but it is purely my parents. But, it is it not as comfortable as you think to live like a rich girl of a clan, as my parents always plan to control my life all the time constantly. At the moment they are even attempting to force me to marry a man who is famous for being a lustful brat with no other talent except for bedding females!" Said Alice furiously.

But, seeing that she ended up telling Iris too much after being reminded of her current lifestyle, with her current circumstances making her feel as if she is in a hopeless situation.

This passionate reply was pure as a result of Iris's question about her current financial state as a result of her parents.

And as at the moment, she is very touchy on this subject, and she ended up having an outburst as she has been holding this within her for a long time due to her not even daring to share this to anyone else.

However, as a result of being fairly intoxicated alongside believing Iris is a trustworthy person she ended up revealing her life's troubles.

Alice said, "I'm sorry for saying that, I got to carried away while thinking back to my parents. I just feel so angry whenever I'm reminded on not being able to make decisions for myself and having parents who think they are doing what's 'Best for me.'"

Witnessing Alice's outburst caused Iris to think that there is definitely something more that she is not telling her, but at the moment she decided to let it slide.

If Alice knew more about her than she is letting on, then Iris will discover it when the time is right.

Iris smiled before saying, "Want someone to talk to about it?"

So for the next thirty minutes ended up being Alice informing Iris of her current troubles, making Iris discover that it seems that Alice trusts her more as a result of her not being able to determine others impressions towards her were as a result of her rich or genuinely wanting to be friends with her.

And as a result of Iris putting herself in danger to 'save' her and not knowing her identity before now has made her open up to Iris.

But it is not as if she cares about this information being spread anyways as she truly hated the man who is arranged to be her partner's guts and also doesn't care what her parents think about her opinions.

When Iris noticed that Alice is many times more intoxicated and before, therefore making it easier to get information out of her. Thus she decided to test her.

"Alice, I know you know about my abilities. Will you please tell me the truth and don't lie to me?" Said Iris.

Upon hearing Iris, a range of emotions appeared on Alice's face and guilt was included within them.

"Alright yes I know about you being a magician, but did someone set you up to do this to me? I knew you were too good to be true and I originally thought you were a rogue mage, but that surely shouldn't be possible with your talent." Said Alice.

Discovering she was actually right Iris responded, "You know I wasn't sure of knowing about me right? I just did that to test you, may I ask how you discovered I wasn't a normal human?" Said Iris.

Hearing that she has been tricked into revealing what she knew about her, Alice said, "So you don't know about the magicians within the world at all? As, anyone from a top family would know the means of how I discovered you were a mage, but it seems you don't, so I guess I was right about you being rogue after all. You must have awakened your mana suddenly, right?" Alice questioned.

Realizing that it seemed that Alice wasn't as drunk as she originally thought, it seemed Alice must have been wanting to discuss this with her anyway.

"Yes, I have, so can you tell me how you knew?" Asked Iris worriedly.

Laughing at Iris's anxious appearance, Alice responded, "It's alright, not many could discover you as I have. It was only possible because I was from a Top Mage's clan and only those have artefacts to detect mana, so it will be doubtful for another to be able to find you unless they are one of the rare few which is in possession of one."

Even though Alice's words were meant to comfort her, she was still worried in her heart and thought that she would find a means of hiding her mana from detection of these 'Artifacts' as quick as possible.

"Does that mean your family trouble is fake also, Alice?" Iris responded slightly bitter.

But, Alice replied, "Nope, that was all true. Just more troublesome than ordinary human matters, as being forced into marriage into a mages clan is always a troublesome matter to deal with, anyways the reasoning why I invited you is due to you being a rogue mage with possessing high talent, how about you join the school I'm within? I'll even be rewarded for finding such a talented student."

Thinking it over, Iris thought it wouldn't be necessarily a bad thing, but she was always a cautious person, so she said, "So, what's the catch?"

Smiling at Iris's wary behaviour she said, "Well, I can see for myself that your talent is much higher than mine, so in the future I want you to get me out of this situation, and if you do so I'll take care of every problem in your way, including the enrollment fees. Also, it would be nice to have someone I could trust for once, rather than all of these backbiting, venomous girls from the other mages clan who would betray you without a second thought for some benefits. Also, I'll give you a nice salary which you can spend on whatever you desire, and being a regular human before I'm sure there are plenty of nice things you can use it on. So, what do you say Iris?"

Tempted at Alice's words, Iris thought there were no demerits for her in accepting her offer, as even though she would be thrown into a dangerous situation with a bunch of powerful mages.

At the end of it all, she will not only gain more knowledge about spells and fundamental knowledge of magicians but also gain a salary which will go along way in benefiting her parents.

It will also solve her current school predicament, as instead of attending a normal school as if she was a still a regular fifteen-year-old girl, she will attend one which is meant for the unusual.

Thus, it will also solve her problem with returning with such a difference in her appearance, and as Iris would prefer not to experience such a troublesome thing, this will be the better alternative.

Therefore, as Iris knew that risky situations tend to bring about the most benefits she said, "Sure, I'll accept your offer, Alice."