Meeting the Teacher (2/3)

"I told you! I'm NOT selling the farmland in Berila! That's nearly half our income!" the Duke of Vanteri all but screams into the far speak medallion laying on his desk.

Right now, the man is so agitated that his chair is laying on its side, and he's pacing back and forth in front of his desk.

After he gets the telepathic response from the person he's talking to, the Duke responds with a quick rebuke, "What do you mean, 'I could use the quick cash?' Do you think that I suddenly turned stupid?!"

With an irritated huff, he shuts off the enchantment on the medallion, and he throws it in a corner.

Ever since his family lost most of their power and influence, he'd been getting more and more ridiculous business offers. It's like even the common merchants are itching to insult his face!

Just as he's about to sit down and write a scathing letter to some people he knows, he hears a knock on his door. With his mana senses, he can already tell who's on the other side.

"Come in, Eli."

The door opens, and his youngest daughter walks in the door. Even though this girl had been his adopted daughter for several decades now, he can't quite say that he knows this girl very well.

Still, something about his daughter's eyes soothes the soul, and he can't ever bring himself to act coldly towards her. So, he straightens his clothes and gestures to a chair in the far corner. "Want to have a seat?"

"Yes, Father." She pulls up a chair to his desk and sits down right on the other side of him.

"Is there anything you needed?" Duke Vanteri asks while trying to keep himself calm. Memories of his infuriating conversation with Prella is still lingering on the edge of his mind.

"Oh, I felt you growing very agitated, so I came over to see what was wrong," Eli says with a look of genuine concern.

"'Felt?'" Duke Vanteri questions aloud.

Instead of answering, Eli says, "Anyway, I just thought I'd come over here and see how you're doing. What's wrong?"

Normally, the Duke would keep these business matters to himself, but for some reason, looking into his daughter's eyes makes him feel so at ease that he immediately loosens up and starts talking.

"The merchant's guild in Berila called me and tried buying out all the farmland there for a measly 5,000 ingots of gold." Duke Vanteri can't help but grind his teeth just thinking about the condescending attitude they had with him.

Eli nods her head, "I understand. They probably said a lot of things that made them look like they were the ones doing you the favor. I can understand why you got so angry."

The Duke freezes when he hears this. 'How did she know what they said? There's no way she was listening. Well, it was probably a lucky guess.'

"Father?" she suddenly asks, "Can I have a word with them?"

"Of course!" comes the Duke's immediate reply.

'Wait, why did I just agree? My daughter has no experience in business!' he thinks in alarm. Yet, for some reason, some force coming from within is preventing him from voicing his concerns.

Without hesitation, Duke Vanteri waves his hand in the direction of where he'd thrown the Far-speak medallion, and the thing floats over gently towards Eli.

She picks up the medallion and holds it close to her face. "Hello? Sir Bedavir? Yes. This is Eli Vasil Vanteri. I'm calling on behalf of my father, Duke Enrin Gelt Vanteri."

She goes silent for a few moments as she listens to the merchant guild leader replying telepathically.

"Yes, I have full authorization to speak to you, and no, I won't be talking about your son's proposal. I'm here to talk about your business dealings with the Duke…"

As Eli starts talking more and more to the guild leader, the Duke is stirring restlessly in his chair – trying to figure out what's happening.

He senses that magic is being used somehow, but it's a kind of spell he doesn't recognize. His daughter's magic is so subtle that he can't even tell what Realm of Existence it's working in!

Feeling agitated, the Duke casts every scrying spell he knows, and when he casts Spirit Sight, he sees something rather shocking.

Right now, his daughter has a golden glow about her that's so strong that he can't quite look at it without feeling his soul being sucked in. He then sees several of his own Spirit Threads flowing toward his daughter, and it seems like an invisible hand is tugging on them and weaving them into new shapes.

Even the Duke knows what this means. Somehow, his daughter is using her magic to manipulate his spirit. The scary thing is that despite knowing this, he can't muster up the Will to stop her. In fact, he can't even bring himself to feel that this is wrong.

On top of that, he sees a blackened, almost chain-like thread flowing out of his Spirit and off into the distance, toward the Berila province. No doubt, this is his Thread of hatred toward the guild leader.

Right now, Eli is actively tugging on this Hatred Thread and allowing her consciousness to follow it all the way down to the end of the Thread.

Of course, the Duke isn't sure what she's doing with his Hatred Thread for Guild Master Bedavir…

While the Duke is thinking about what she's doing, she suddenly hands the medallion back to him. "Here, Father. Sir Bedavir wants to talk to you."

Duke Vanteri picks up the medallion, and immediately he feels the other old man's rusty voice in his head.

'Duke Vanteri! I apologize for my earlier rudeness. You and your family had done so much good for my people in Berila. I wouldn't want to destroy our centuries of friendship,' the guild master says, 'so I was wondering if you'd find it acceptable if we build a guild hall in the Vanteri Province. Cutting through your main seat of power saves us a lot of travel time, and it would also bring a lot of business into the duchy from the outside. What do you say?'

Duke Vanteri gulps and barely suppresses the uneasy feeling in his heart. "That sounds mutually beneficial. How about I talk this over with my financing staff, and we'll come up with a more solid plan at a later date. How about we talk again tomorrow at noon?'

'Great! I'll hear from you then!'

As soon as the Far-speak connection is cut off, the Duke turns to his daughter and asks softly, "How did you get him to agree to this?"

"Get him to agree?" Eli cocks her head to the side in confusion. "I never asked him to do this. He suggested it on his own."

Vanteri looks down and puts his forehead on his hand. "Eli… I saw you using Spirit Magic. What did you do?"

Eli smiles at this question. "Oh, Teacher was teaching me how to follow secondary Spirit Threads. You know, using magic on a friend of a friend, or an enemy of a friend… like Guild Master Bedavir."

She shrugs casually. "Then, all I had to do to Guild Master was the same thing I had to do to you. I just twisted your spirit threads until you started doing what I wanted. You're not angry I used magic on you, right?"

Duke Vanteri sighs wistfully. "No. I should be mad, but I guess I can't be mad." He sits up straight and looks at her. "Anyway, what did you want? Why did you really come here?"

With a straight face, Eli starts saying, "Oh, I felt that you and Aunt Prella were getting some nasty feelings towards Teacher. I would've just twisted your Spirit Threads until you didn't want to do anything to him anymore, but I figured it would be more sincere if I just came by and showed you in person that teacher's lessons are valuable."

The Duke leans forward and offers a handshake to his daughter. "Very well. I won't say a word about your teacher anymore. What are you going to do about your Aunt?"

"Nothing. Aunt can't do anything to him without your permission anyway."

"Heh," the duke smiles. "Fine. You win. Also, thank you."

Eli nods respectfully as she stands up to leave. "Goodbye, Father."

Once she closes the door behind her, the Duke looks at his long to-do list on the wall. Suddenly he doesn't feel unfathomably irritated when he looks at it.

Almost cheerfully, the Duke gets on with the rest of his work for the day – no longer being burdened by anger or impatience.