The Vicious House Lord Darius

As told, Theian hurriedly went to the meeting hall which was located at topmost floor of the Valarian tower. He was still clueless about the subject of the meeting. He really didn't have a good impression of the Darius, the current House Head, because of the latter's viciousness. However, he was not worried since it's a meeting with many people and everything can be done with talk: If the other side has a bad proposal, he'd simply fight against it if necessary.

Meanwhile, Glin went out of the Valarian residence again. It's only a few days before he's done preparing and set into an exploration, but he wanted to know if he could lessen the difficulty of this planned journey.

Once again, he visited Bartheon Treasures. The building was as before: the room was peaceful, the guards were there, and the old man was sitting behind his table, still looked the same. But this time, he was not the only visitor in this store; one just left when he came and there was still someone at the front talking to the old man.

"15 bottles of Healing Potion, 10 high-grade Mana Stones, 10 bottles of Repellant Fragrance Spray, 10 bottles of Skin Protection Liquid… that's a total of 25 golds and 34 silvers, young miss," the old man showed the numbers on the paper and smiled at a young girl who was wearing elegant blue and silver battle dress.

She nodded and gave the payment to the old man.

The girl was more or less at the same age as Glin. Just by looking at her outside appearance, she must be from a wealthy family. Though she was dressed like a mercenary, she did not seem like it at all. But Glin stayed behind and did not dare disturb, so he didn't see her face.

"Thank you for your purchase, young miss. Please do send my humble regards to the City Lord," the old man smiled.

"Forgive me, Old Sir. But it'd be long 'till I return to the City Hall," replied the young woman calmly.

"Oh, no wonder you bought plenty of stuffs," the old man realized.

"I'll be taking my leave, Old Sir," the young woman bowed before turning around.

"Go on, young miss. Be careful on your journey!"

When the young girl turned around, Glin finally saw her face. Her snow-white face was thin and had a perfect shape, leaving it attractive to any man. But her pace was rather quick, otherwise she would've melted under Glin's gaze. When she left the room, Glin was still looking at her back.

"Hey kid! Don't tell me you came here just to stare at the City Lord's daughter," an old man's voice full of wisdom suddenly pulled Glin back to reality.

"She's the City Lord's daughter? No wonder she can afford to buy some 'overpriced' products," said Glin casually.

"Go to hell kid!" the old man quickly retorted with a red face, "what brings you here again?"

"I want to purchase some little treasures," Glin smiled.

The old man also smiled with an obvious excitement in his face. He quickly got up from his chair and lead Glin to another room.

The room had countless of items displayed in every direction one looks into: The more common items were stored in crates and barrels, rare ones were on chests and well-made containers, whilst the rarest ones and the real treasures were contained in fancy containers with enchantments and magic barriers. One by one, Glin look at them trying to find ones that matches the items on his list. Unfortunately, the Bartheon's Treasures' collection was still too little that he had too small chance to find most of the things he seeks.

"Soul Vein, I'll take it."

After a while, Glin finally found one treasure included in his one-hundred items list. Number 19 on the list, it was a yellow vein-like glass at the size of an index finger. There were three pieces available.

"This item is used to strengthen one's soul so one will not be very vulnerable from spiritual attacks," the old man explained. But Glin never bothered listening to him; he'd already read all about it from the Book of Magic Origin and the explanation took up an entire page.

"No one was interested about these in the city and they've been displayed here untouched for three years already. I'll give you all three for 18 golds, how about it?" the old man offered and smiled.

"Here are 6 golds, I only need one," Glin also smiled but with very slight deceitfulness. He quickly gave the pay to the old man.

The old was rendered speechless. He regretted being too careless to offer a lower price for the whole stock of Soul Vein. He never thought the youth would be quick as to take advantage of his careless offer. In the end, he was embarrassed to raise the price of a single Soul Vein and just let Glin have it for 6 gold coins.

"You have more stuffs?"

"Ah! Yes, of course, please follow me," the old man led Glin upstairs.

The entire second floor of Bartheon's Treasures was actually filled mostly with rare items. Some of them had scary and shocking prices, reaching at least 30 gold coins each. Luckily, these items were not on Glin list otherwise; he would be coming out the ingredient store like a poor goblin who lost his precious gold.

Glin was somewhat lucky today. After he swept his glance on the entire room for a few of times, he found four items that were on his list.

"Flesh-mending Nectar, Skin-blessing Dianthus Flower, Cold Tarragon Herb, Transmutation Pistil…"

The five items he took costed him 14 golds and 15 silvers. Among the items, the Transmutation Pistil was priced the highest, at 7 golds, whilst the cheapest was the Cold Tarragon Herb, at 25 silvers. So far, Glin was very satisfied with the transaction.

He quickly left Bartheon's treasures with a lively smile, humming all the way home.

Back at the old herb garden, Glin once again found himself a hiding spot and opened the Book of Magic Origin. He also took the items he bought and see if they matched the black drawings and figures on the pages. Unexpectedly, the book reacted to the items.

Number one on the list of items was the Flesh-mending Nectar so he took it took it out first, contained in a bottle. But suddenly, the page exerted a strong suction force on the item. He wasn't prepared for it. As a result, the Flesh-mending Nectar was swallowed by the page where there was the image of the item; it made him surprised and quite amazed by book's complexity. At the same time, the drawing of the item on the page, which was initially ink-colored, also lit up and revealed its colorfulness like the real object.

The Flesh-mending Nectar was displayed on the page, unmoving and flat. Shortly, Glin found out that he couldn't take it out anymore. When he did it with the other five items, the same thing happened which made him believe that all the other treasures he is yet to collect should be stored in these pages. Also, it brought him to the conclusion that the book itself will brew the Secret Potion of Magic Origin once the requirements are fulfilled.

...

At the topmost chamber of the Valarian tower, the meeting of the elders and Valarian Lord approached the end. Lord Darius has proposed a new Achievement Rewarding System and Resource Allocation System. It was all about how the younger generations in the family can acquire special Magic Relics from the house's inventory and be given monthly or weekly resources for training. They've talked quite a lot and everyone has agreed without issues…

"Fourth Elder, I heard your son has a magic relic." Darius smiled and said casually at the end of the formal meeting.

When Theian heard him, his face slightly trembled. Does he know already? But any unusual expression in his face never showed.

"Ah, that sword, my lord?" Theian thought about the strange Magic Relic that Glin received. He helplessly chose to reveal a little, because he didn't want to be fishy in front of the old people.

"Oh?" Lord Darius was surprised but quickly recovered. From what his son, Dennis, has told him, Glin has a Magic Relic that looks like a black steel plate. But now Glin also has a sword? Theian does not know about the other thing, Lord Darius inferred quickly. He was excited deep inside; his face was all smiles at the moment. 'Nice!'

"Yes, my lord. She bought from a store in Jevarin city when we went there a long time ago. It was supposed to be a gift by my deceased wife when he awakens his magic," Theian lied and heaved a faked sigh.

"Linlin was indeed a kind mother. Too bad, Glin is… Anyway, it's still a sword and he can still use it even without magic. Or he can just keep it as memory of his deceased mother." Lord Darius pretended as if he cared, and his acting was insanely perfect that the most people in the room didn't notice it was faked.

But of course, Theian was well-aware of how vicious and deceitful is Darius. He just went with the flow.

At this moment, Lord Darius was already harboring ill intentions towards Glin. He grinned secretly. The two relics, he wanted to get his hands on the them!