"How strange" Bolton muttered to himself.
Two days had gone by, along with the dawn of the third.
To gather information, he postponed the contract signing with Cabrera.
But he didn't find anything tangible.
Well, almost.
'They went on an expedition in the same timeframe Windless Peaks was destroyed and a manite mine was discovered?
Bolton let out a chuckle. He might very well be overthinking things.
Even so, he had to be sure.
*Finger snap*
"You called, Sir?"
"Get me Celler 14"
The guard stiffened briefly, before hastily nodding, and exiting the room.
'I'll find out what it is you're hiding'
His senses were tingling, and they were rarely wrong.
Ten minutes later, two guards escorted a short figure whose clothing was gray, dirty, and filthy, as was the rest of their body.
Their hands were entirely enclosed in metal, as were their eyes.
Long black hair fell to the left shoulder.
Bolton pulled out a sword as the figure spoke.
"It seems you need my expertise" the tone exposed their gender, a female.
*Shin!*
With a clean slash, the metal enclosing her hands were separated, while those covering the eyes remained.
*Cang!*
The metal fell to the floor as the girl felt her hands.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I'm not doing anything for you though"
Bolton told the guards to leave, to which they swiftly complied.
"Name your price"
The girl jerked her head backwards, tapping her chin with her index.
"I haven't seen the outside in a long time, so-"
"That's not happening"
The girl paused.
"Then I guess we're done here" she said angrily.
Cellers were those placed in cells.
Those placed in cells below the castle were criminals on the death row. To make things easy, they're referred to by their cell number, and hers was number 14.
Bolton starred without a word.
'Mind Fox. If it's her, she'll dig it out easily'
Niton had droves of criminals. To be on the death row, your crimes had to be on a different level, or you were deemed too dangerous.
This girl was the latter. As a psychic born in rural areas, she watched as her mother - who was a prostitute - was murdered.
Brewing an endless hatred for men henceforth, she killed all those she deemed as scum, which were approximately seventy five, and none of them was above Advanced-rank.
Compared to the others, it was a relatively low number, but her ability to get into the head of people, specifically men, had her sentenced to the death row.
Her psychic potential was A-rank. Thankfully, she was captured before she could grow.
She wasn't the only psychic on death row, but she was the youngest.
Bolton chose her because of that.
He was also thankful the Emperor postponed their execution till the end of his reign.
"How about a new set of memories?" he asked.
"Well…" she twirled her hair as a creepy smile silently crept onto her lips.
"Give me five"
"Deal"
*Finger snap*
"Sir?"
"Get her cleaned up and some new clothes"
"Hehehe" the girl giggled.
"Stop that, or no memories"
She stopped immediately, and was promptly escorted away.
"Have someone bring me the one called Cabrera"
"Yes Sir"
-Elsewhere-
*Buggum*
"Is this the place?"
The Sentinel reached the mythril mine's location.
He dismounted, looking around for the landmarks Cabrera told him about.
Not long after, he found it. Cabrera had hidden it by placing leaves and stones in systematic order.
Inhaling, he jumped in, and found himself in a cave.
Looking around, he was quick to make out dim glows.
He moved closer to see the gleaming rough surfaces.
The moment he realized what it was…
"Yes!"
He quietly cheered. Immediately, his green boots lit up, and then…
*Crack!*
He placed a kick at the side of the mithril ore, quickly adding another, and another.
Few seconds elapsed and the crack grew bigger, allowing Kogar easy access as he pulled out the mithril ore, and put it in his space ring.
His eyes lit up with determination Cabrera had never seen.
*Crack!*Crack!*
At this moment, the Sentinel embraced his role as a miner, while his mind ran wild.
'With this, I'll surely become a count!'
He would finally fulfill his ambition.
Back in Kingsmere.
Cabrera and Nathan sat with Bolton and the old man.
Their frowns were prominent as they made their dissatisfaction known, same with the old man.
"What are we waiting for?" asked Cabrera.
The sound of footsteps replied his question as a girl came into view, her clothes black all over.
But they were cut off by the metal over their eyes.
"Who is this?"
"A special guest of mine. She'll help me confirm a few things"
'Dammit!' Cabrera grit his teeth. Bolton wasn't taking them seriously.
But what could he do? Cabrera calmed himself and endured.
"Is that him?" the girl spoke.
"Yes it is. Mr Cabrera, stretch your palm"
Cabrera's eyes twitched.
"Why?"
This guy didn't even put them in his eyes.
"Do you want to confirm the contract or not?"
Nathan nudged, and with a grunt, Cabrera did as told.
The girl suddenly gripped his hands.
With a light smile, she said…
"Hold on"
"Wh-"
The next instant, Cabrera's eye turned white, with drool falling from his lips.
Nathan was alarmed.
"CABRERA!"
"SIT DOWN SIR NATHAN!"
Bolton reprimanded him and used his aura to suppress him.
There was nothing Nathan could do.
The girl spoke.
"He's a strong one. I can't hold him for too long"
"This won't take long"
Like so, Bolton began questioning.
"Do you know anything about the manite mine?"
Cabrera lazily replied.
"I don't know"
"The destruction of Windless Peaks?"
"I don't know"
"The death of Rowan Everdust"
"I don't know"
"The…"
Like so, Bolton consecutively fired questions for close to a minute.
At the end of it, he asked…
"What did you find on your expedition?"
"Miiiithriiiil"
Bolton's eyes widened.
"Did you say Mithril?"
"Y…es"
"How did you find it?"
"I…don't…know"
"Where did you find it?"
"Some…where…"
"How did you find it?"
"I don't know"
"Is it with you?"
"N…o"
"Where is it?"
"We-here…we found…it"
"Why did you find it?"
By now, the girl was sweating profusely.
"I can't continue without damaging his mind"
She cut the connection.
Silence reigns for a few seconds as Nathan shook Cabrera out of his grogginess.
"Wha-What happened?!" he abruptly awakes with a mini-scream.
He turned to the girl and pointed a finger.
"You! What were you doing in my mind?!"
The girl lay silent with her chest heaving with each breath.
"Mr. Cabrera"
Bolton's voice resounded.
"You found Mithril?"
Cabrera's hair stood.
Before he could talk, Nathan came to his rescue.
"Is this how you treat your guests?"
Bolton discarded all pretenses as his aura flared.
"You might have a way with words, but I advice that you learn your place"
Once again, Nathan was thoroughly suppressed as Bolton turned to Cabrera.
"You found mithril. Where?"
Cabrera hesitated, but Nathan chipped in.
"Tell him"
"At…"
A minute flew by as Cabrera explained the location.
"Haa…" Bolton exhaled with a grin.
This was just too good.
After, his aura receded and he sat like any ordinary gentleman.
He looked at Cabrera with shining eyes.
"You have done me a great favor. You shall not go unrewarded, state your price"
Cabrera looked back and forth between Bolton and Nathan, the reply was instantaneous.
"Land Proprietorship certificate"
Silence pervaded as all eyes were on Bolton.
Bolton popped a vein.
'Me and my stupid mouth!'
But his pride didn't allow him to reject it.
After a few seconds, he spoke, his tone emotionless.
"Very well then"
Nathan's eyes lit up.
Bolton didn't make his decision out of haste.
Being able to buy land and forking out the amount to do so were completely different things.
Why talk? He'd rather have Cabrera learn from experience.
Only, by then, it would be too late.
'You'll have no choice but to come begging!'
The only variable was Nathan, and if somehow they avoided his pre-planned scenario, they would only be able to buy very little land.
Also, he allowed it because they were of the same faction.
Whereas, Cabrera was running calculations of his own.
'As I thought, he doesn't know about the deal between me and the Sentinel'
Then again, the Sentinel had explicitly written that the deal stayed between both of them, so even Nathan didn't know about it.
Quickly, Bolton exitted, only to appear minutes later with two scrolls, one being the slum's price list and the other, much longer, containing land available for sale.
Cabrera raised a brow.
"We had copies in preparation for this situation, though not exactly" Bolton replied.
Cabrera snatched it and gave it to Nathan.
Quickly, Bolton fished out a scroll, filled its contents, and both sides signed.
This date would be recorded in the history books as the beginning of land sales in Orion.
