Leaving the elder behind (1)

This was Theo's first time stepping into the Elder's abode all by himself.

When he entered it for the first time since his reincarnation, he was dragged there by Paichi. His the second time he arrived in the company of the elder's disciple.

In both of those times, he was here to merely report to the elder, to confront the man in order to push his plans forward.

But this time was different. Both in terms of Theo being alone and when it came to his purpose of the visit.

This time, Theo was visiting to bring his contact with the elder to an end.

"This humble disciple reports in," Theo cupped his hands together in front of his chest and bowed his head down a bit the second he appeared before the elder's usual spot.

And just like all the times before, the man was busy with one of the many papers that laid all over his desk, creating a layer of paper and ink nearly thrice as thick as the tabletop.

"So you've selected five disciples, huh?" the elder commented before even listening to the content of Theo's report.

'How does he…' Theo twitched a little, only for his eyes to move up and scan the few bits of the parchment in the elder's hand that he could see from his extremely sharp angle. 'Ah…'

"It's not like I've only selected five of them," Theo replied while bowing his head even further down.

Theo never had any problem with using courtesy and politeness to his own advantage. Especially not when he was in such a precarious position where even the smallest, simplest of mistakes could be detrimental to his future in the sect and thus his entire life in this strange world of cultivators.

'If my outer pride is all it takes to get what I want, then I would have to be a moron not to offer it on a silver platter,' Theo thought, perfectly comfortable with his head lowered down.

His outer pride was just that, the set of gestures he was willing or not to perform to either honor or disrespect his standing within the sect.

A meaningless aspect, something that only vain people would care about.

And ultimately, how he acted towards others, his outer pride, had nothing to do with his true pride, one that he wouldn't allow anyone to ever infringe upon.

"That's strange," the elder countered, clearly unwilling to just let Theo's actions pass. He then raised his hand and waved the parchment in his hand. "It clearly states here, on the report, that you've only picked five of them," the old man stated.

The elder's eyes took a slightly sharper look.

"Do you wish to claim that whoever wrote this report is an utter liar?" the elder then provoked while a small smile crept up on his lips.

"Respectable elder, that's not what I've said," Theo calmly replied, refusing to play the old man's game.

Now that he fulfilled his end of the bargain, allowing the other party to rile him up could only ever bring forth negative effects.

And no matter what the elder could say or do… it wouldn't even come close to the amount of hate Theo faced as the average user of the cesspool called the Internet back in his original world!

"Saying that I've only selected five of the candidates is factually wrong," Theo repeated his statement from before. He then raised his head just high enough to keep it bowed… but make it easy for the elder to see the small smile that formed on his lips. "And that's because I never took an active part in the selection in the first place. It was the disciples that proved whether they were worthy of my tutelage or not."

The elder squinted his eyes.

"Explain yourself!" he ordered.

"Seeing how confident the elder is in the content of this report, I believe there is no need for me to recall all the details of the selection," Theo replied, refusing the straightforward order.

'Just how long are you going to keep me here?' the young man asked himself, already annoyed by the elder's persistence to find some fault with him.

"And what will you do if one of them fails?" the elder then changed his line of attack. "Without a single disciple to spare, a single mistake is all it will take for you to lose our wager."

'I guess that confirms it,' Theo thought, taking a deep breath to mask the emotions that surged in his soul.

Back when he first came to bargain with the elder he only used his own understanding of the situation to force his terms out. Up until this point, Theo believed his ploy worked mostly due to the suggestion rather than the real potential of the threats that he made.

'But judging by that bastard's reaction, he seems to be really interested in keeping the news about my treatment from spreading,' Theo thought, taking a mental note of this seemingly small but potentially massive detail.

"It's in my best interest to not let that happen," Theo then replied to the elder's tricky inquiry. Then, Theo actually dared to raise his face and openly smile right in the elder's face. "I actually consider myself lucky. Now that I can't afford to make even a single mistake while teaching my disciples, it will only ever motivate me to work even harder!"

'Just who do you think you are, trying to talk over a former top salesman of a black company?' Theo struggled to hold back his amusement.

It was only a small part of his employment history, a dark blemish on his employee record that he wished to forget about. Nevertheless, he could still recall all sorts of tricks that he was taught in order to maximize his sales.

And one of them was talking about things that he wanted to happen… as if they were already set in stone.

"Fine," the elder groaned a little before pushing his hands against the edge of his desk only to balance on the back legs of his chair. He reached out to the same drawer he used during his interaction with Theo a day before and pulled out another sack.

"Here," the elder barked as he threw the pouch at Theo before settling his chair back on all four of its legs. "This is the money for grooming the disciples that you accepted. But remember," the elder squinted his eyes again as he looked at Theo with a clear threat in his eyes.

"They all need to advance to the second stage. And it has to happen within the time limit that we agreed upon," he then added.

'That you set, not one we agreed upon,' Theo corrected the elder's lie in his thoughts although he ultimately kept silent about it.

Now that he was about to get rid of the elders looming presence above his head, he had no wish to needlessly prolong his likely last interaction with the man for a long time.

"Now," the elder rolled his eyes before moving them back to his usual task of fiddling with his reports, "get out of my sight!"