Meeting the mysterious tower owner (Kat)

I rubbed my eyes open as I felt like I have been sleeping for a really long time. I squint and blink my eyes a few times, trying to adapt to the brightness of the surrounding with my vision.

'What is it that makes it so bright? How is it still so bright out there when I felt like I have been asleep for so long now?' I think to myself, still covering my sight, shading the brightness with my palm while my eyes still not fully opened.

"You are awake," As soon as I hear the voice from behind me, I turned my head so fast to the source of that voice. I see a figure of a man, sitting leisurely with his laid back, one arm on his arm rest and the other on his lips, legs part open. I blinked a few more times and force my sight to focus with my half opened eyes as I creased my brows.

"Who are you?" I asked

"Just a man, who happened to owns this tower" He answered lightly

'Well, that woke me up nicely' I think sarcastically

"You, are the owner of this tower?" I asked

"The name is Civ Beaumont, by the way"

"Th-tha- I know, Mr. Beaumont. I know who you are, I doubt anyone in this kingdom does not know the name of the owner of Arcadia Kingdom" I tried to speak respectfully, but I guess my tired-i-just-woke-up-from-a-wonderfully-long-nap body seems to betray me

"Civ is fine" He said shortly

Confused is underrated, but I am not sure what is best described what I was feeling right then.

"Okay..Mr.Beau- I mean Civ, where exactly is this, if I may ask?"

"In Arcadia Tower. Sorry we have to meet under such circumstance, we could not risk you revealing our exact tower's location when you are not a member just yet"

"I would never do that! But.. I understand, don't worry about it. I will never tell a soul" I said defensively

"Good. That's… reassuring" He replied

If what I was feeling before was confusion, this situation is what I would like to call awkwardness, as now that I am able to see properly. Civ looked domineering even with his laid back attitude, we might sound awkward but I suspect that He is just not very interested in talking to me, which is a wonder since the guards or affiliates before said he wanted to meet me

"Umm.. can I ask about the pills I took? They are… impressive, I will have to say. As poison master I usually have resistant towards foreign consumables, especially poisons. But it is the first time I took pills that can knock me out for the whole day" I said to Civ, trying to break the ice as I exaggerate my impressed gestures.

Civ stare at me for a second longer than what an average person would stare before replying back, with an expression I can not quite read

"You were out for 2 days, Ms. Steel" He said slowly as if it was a matter of fact

"What?" I raised my voice shockingly, almost shouted at one the most powerful person in the kingdom

"You were invited in the noon of the14th, and today is the 16th, although it is not exactly afternoon yet." He explained

"Wha..how..wha..what do you mean? That I slept here for 2 days straight?" I asked in disbelief, trying to justify my question

"I was getting quite worried that you might have died sleeping, but Ivy would never make a mistake with her potions and pills. So I waited" He answer as if he just waited 10 minutes for his food to be delivered

"You mean I slept here for 2 days, in this strange unfamiliar place, while the master and owner of the tower waited for me to wake up? For 2 whole freaking days?" Not gonna lie, I freaked out a little bit over here

"Well, if it make you feel a little better, I will say I can't have you waking up to a strange unfamiliar empty room either, especially not with so much risk and safety hazard. I invited you for a meeting, not kidnapping"

"Right, of course. You were monitoring for safety purposes" I said finally, justifying myself

Another silence engulfed the room, signifying the end of this conversation. But I still have so many questions in my head and so far, and so little answers. So I started asking

"So.. I am not sure why, but I heard you want to see me?" I asked

"Correct, initially we wanted to persuade and invite you into being a ranker in Arcadia Tower. But it turns out you might need a little more than convincing, as you have not even decided to be one of our member it would seem"

'Well, I'll be damned, a tower as big as Arcadia is convincing me to be a member of theirs. This is practically begging' I think while my heart races

"Look, with all due respect, Mr.Beaum-"

"Civ. I told you, you can call me Civ"

'Well, you did told me but I'm not comfortable with calling one of the most powerful individual with such an intimate name but looks like not all of us have such choice to choose, do we?'

"Look, Civ. I appreciate the invitation, heck I am extremely honored, really, with being persuaded by you of all people. I am sure Arcadia Tower is great and all, but I actually came here just to ask you my questions"

"And you think I would be willingly tell you? Come on, you are smarter than this. I know you are, Kat"

"Is there no other way for you to answer my question, then?"

"There is always another way, but I would like it very much if we choose the simplest one. Join Arcadia, and any questions you have will eventually answered"

"You haven't even heard any of my questions yet"

"I know what is it you want to ask. The reason I am doing this? The reason why you get so much help and benefits from Arcadia? Or why is it that I seemed to know so much about you? Even the questions you have about your family"

"What? what is my family has to do with this?" I asked this time, even more confused than before

"I swear it, the answers will eventually revealed itself. Just join me" He said this time really convincingly, I have to say that he is even more convincing than my previous team leader-Leon.

"Fine" I said after a long silence. I quite like that Civ gave me sometime to think and consider my options in silence. Not that I have much choice since the benefits of me joining is tremendous that it makes it look like the deal favors me instead and not Arcadia.

"Good, sign here" Civ speaks suddenly while handing me a membership document for signing

"That was fast. And um… it's said here that.. I can freely sell my uh.. poison? I will have you know that it is actually quite potent" I said while scanning the agreement for any plot to be taken advantage of.

"Sure. As long as you listed the details truthfully, you are free to sell it within the Arcadia member community. After all, we have the best healer and potion maker here in Arcadia. I don't see why you have anything to be worry or nervous about"

"Your healer and potion maker might not have seen this kind of poison, my kind of poison. They might need time to understand my poison to be able to counter them" I said a little too nervously.

"Trust me, there is nothing they have not seen. But I will send your regards to Ivy. She is our second seat, A master of alchemy"

"Yes, I know the second seat of Arcadia- The Infamous Master Chemist Ivy Beaumont. Is she the one who made the pills?"

"She is. We are not married, but I do like the sound of her name with my last name" Civ said while his face softens. I can see his genuine smile as he mentioned his lover Ivy

"If she is able to make that kind of pills, then I guess it should be fine? After all the pills did work on me" I replied lightly, trying not to be bothered too much by it as I finished signing the documents and hand it back to him

"Great. Then with this, I officially welcome you as a new member of Arcadia Tower" Civ said, looking satisfied as he gives me a slight smile and extended his right hand to me. Instinctually, I shake his hand

"The pleasure is all mine, but thank you" I replied back

"Oh no, really, the pleasure is all mine. You have no idea" He said mysteriously

With that done, no matter how I probe Civ to answer some of my questions, he wouldn't even budge. I know it is useless to find out more since all he said is just it will be answered eventually. The key here is 'Eventually' has no time constraint. It could be tomorrow, or the next year, who knows?

In the end, I dejectedly bid him farewell, thinking I might have another chance to meet the owner of the tower, so I walk away from the tower and head home. Tired of all of this happening in a day, well, technically it happened in 3 days, but one might as well said it was a day since I was out for the whole 2 days.

I quickly reached home before what the previous guards said came true. If I am not home after 2 days, the guild might issue an investigation on me dissappearing. Obviously we would not want that, since our purpose of leaving was just an invitation to visit the tower and being persuaded to join. Now that I reached what I called home, I can finally feel relief and relax, letting out a long sigh that I have been holding for a long time.