Chapter 11 – The tutors – Part 1
"She," Viper grumbled with a last glance at the Mafia boss' disappearing back, "can be awfully much like Luce at times."
Verde refrained from cursing in agreement at that statement, if only just. She pulled stuff like this and still wondered why Viper and himself never even tried to harmonize with her. Not that she'd let them. She was just like her mother Luce in that regard, desiring the control over them she'd have if they held any hope for a bond, yet having no intention of actually committing.
The Giglio Nero were cruel like that.
The temptation was oh so great, her flames whispering of harmony, of home, of belonging, and of acceptance. They had never met a sky with purer flames, strong enough to coax their own… until Luce, and her daughter.
They had fallen for it, once. They weren't stupid enough to do so again.
It wasn't like they were judging her by her mother's actions either. They had given her a chance, a chance to explain, to trust them, to show them that she actually gave a damn about them, in contrast to her traitorous mother.
She hadn't taken it.
The other holders of the curse, the rest of the Arcobaleno, still clung to that hope. They still chose to keep up the pretense, to care for her, to set themselves up for yet another betrayal down the lane.
Viper and Verde... they were too realistic for that. They would not let the family of Seers take advantage of them again. The future... it was something they did not believe was set in stone. The path the Seers had chosen and pushed upon the whole world as well... wasn't one they had the right to choose in the first place.
The ability of seers was still well regarded to this day. As a warning, as an indication of what could be, if certain actions were taken or not taken. The wizarding communities, ironically enough, generally knew this better than the Giglio Nero, who had had the ability for generations. Seers, arithmancers, and diviners found regular employment there, as advisors to both businessmen and politicians alike. Some ministries even had whole departments just made up of them. They compiled their results, analyzed them, and gave out appropriate advice, which was then taken into account in the decision-making process. They were never taken as gospel though.
No, the Giglio Nero were bad news. They may not necessarily have bad intentions, yet they surely were not good people.
This revelation among many other similar moments had set the two Arcobaleno on the path to true friendship. And meetings like the one they just had with the younger woman just confirmed their stance.
"Their obstinacy seems to be a genetic disease of sorts," Verde confirmed while pushing up his glasses in thought. "It may be worth studying…. I'll set up an experiment or 10…" mumble mumble.
"Mou… As if she could get any information from me without paying. I should double my rate just to make a point"
Verde smirked knowingly. The miser's rates differed from person to person, and sometimes depending on their mood and whims… a fact the others surprisingly had yet to figure out. Really, the only reason anyone still came to them for information was because Viper was simply the best. They could afford to be inconsistent with their pricing just because of that.
"Regardless of how satisfying rebuffing her curiosity was," Verde stated as they were once more sat in the safety of his meeting room, "Her visit worries me."
Viper nodded in understanding. It wasn't the visit itself but rather the timing of it. Had she seen something? Yet, if she had then she would have asked different types of questions… Which meant…
"Mou… either some of her visions changed in a confusing way, or she can't see something anymore that she could before. Something that has to do with you.", Viper grumbled.
The look of grim determination Verde shot them made it clear that he had come to the same conclusion. And while Verde would have been gleeful any other day the seer's visions changed, proving to the control freak that her visions weren't the be-all and end-all she considered them to be…
He suspected that Leo was the cause. The implications, if that were the case, were not something Verde wanted to think about. He did it anyway.
The types of visions the Giglio Nero cared about enough to investigate personally, always involved the Mafia. More specifically, either their own family, the Acrobaleno or some kind of foundation they did not want to change.
Aria had proven especially relentless when it came to actions the Acrobaleno would take that she did not approve of. Her meddling had directly led to the death of most of their fellow Arcobaleno Fon's family, just because she had stopped the man from pulling them out of the Triads' influence.
A fact which Fon did not hold against her. The few survivors sure did, considering they up and vanished one day, only leaving behind a note cutting ties with the man. And wasn't that just all kinds of messed up.
He was just thankful that the woman appeared unable to make sense of what she saw or did not see.
That meant he had more time to prepare possible countermeasures for whatever she cooked up. Coming here and alerting him to her interest had been a mistake on her part. Then again, the woman never HAD taken them seriously, too used to getting her way, so he wasn't all that surprised by her open prying.
It was insulting, really.
Alas, that meant he would have to add even more to his plate than his already overflowing mental schedule already held.
Verde smirked. He so adored the challenge.
He would spare no effort at all in keeping Leo safe and away from the Mafia. A few sleepless nights meant nothing.
As long as he had anything to say about it, the acquaintance of Viper was the closest his grandson would ever come to the corruption of the underworld, he would ensure it. He did not want his now most precious person to make the same mistakes he had. Differently from how it may seem at first, the Mafia gnawed at you, pushed, pulled, squeezed, and prodded until there was no possibility of getting out until it had consumed you without even leaving a speck of dust behind.
Verde himself had only just managed to be considered independent, to not be tied to any one power that could toy with him as it pleased. If he had been able to use magic to its fullest potential, he might have been able to fully ditch the underworld and disappear. But for some reason magic worked differently around flames.
It worked pretty unpredictably when used on flame users and research in the subject was progressing quite slowly, causing him to be unable to ensure magic stayed unknown to the more powerful forces of the underworld should he use it. If the Mafia somehow got their hands on certain magical creatures or even got some less upstanding Magicals to join their ranks… the world would never be the same.
"Mou, it's not like we can get away with looking into her mind to make sure… so just prepare for the worst you can, and let's talk teachers for the Chibi."
Verde nodded.
"You may not be aware of this, since they keep this secret closely guarded, but the goblin race is in fact, one of the most susceptible race to mind magics in existence."
"What!? But… then how come the world thinks they're basically immune!?"
Verde couldn't help but lose his composure at this news, a sight the informant no doubt enjoyed tremendously, judging by their delighted grin.
"Why, it's because of their strong focus on and continuous efforts in mind magics, of course. The best mind healers in the world belong to the goblin race, they just don't advertise that fact."
"Hooo…", Verde knew where this was going already. He had told Viper of the Goblins' blunders just earlier today after all.
"I'm assuming their fixation with tomb raiding has something to do with it", he commented drily, after taking a moment to collect himself and think things over.
"As sharp as ever", Viper commented.
"Then, what other useful things have they hidden?", Verde asked with a cunning gleam in his eyes.
"Mou… In return for this information, I want you to include renting one of their treasures in your conditions."
He would have done that regardless if they had only asked but he understood Viper was more comfortable suggesting deals rather than offering nothing in return.
"Which one?", he asked curiously instead of agreeing.
"One fragment of the chains of heaven."
Verde raised his eyebrows at that. From what he remembered the chains of heaven were said to be able to bind even a god back when they had still been intact. But all efforts to repair them had been in vain and even the fragments of it had been lost to time. Except for historical value, the fragments themselves were barely of any use though. He wondered why Viper wanted them. Regardless, borrowing them shouldn't be hard, the circumstances being what they were.
"Alright."
"Mou, if you concede some oaths of secrecy and non-compete, having them teach their more well-known specialties of smithing, gemcraft, enchanting and curse-breaking shouldn't be too hard of course, just make sure they agree to teach truly everything. Besides those, goblins have connections to many of the best of each field and personally control the most well-renowned warders out there. In addition, every individual royal tutor is well qualified to teach all basic subjects up to international college standards, be they magical or not.", Viper hinted.
"The most useful though would be if you could negotiate for permanent access for Leo to their knowledge archive, to the royal library. Goblins themselves only obtain permission to access it in rare cases and then never permanently or freely, but if you get them to agree to this, Leo will have the best foundation he could ever have."
Verde's doubtfully raised eyebrows were all it took for Viper to elaborate further.
"Mou, while it may not be the most extensive, the goblins have amassed a considerable amount of specialized and forgotten knowledge through excavations which would all be accessible. That isn't why I say that though. The library is built upon a stasis field. Time does not move within. It just gets expanded ever so slightly when additions are made to the collection"
Verde sucked in a sharp breath.
Viper nodded.
"Unlike normal wizarding libraries, it is accessed through an illusion. With the right item in hand, it can be accessed anywhere."
And that opened a lot of possibilities, didn't it.
Verde hummed. He would have to carefully consider how to approach the negotiations later, to receive as many benefits as possible without alienating the Nation.
In this situation, it was inevitable that the negotiations were split. He could only negotiate for compensation properly once the full extent of the screw-up was revealed. Thus, right now he could only argue for things necessary to get Leo to where he should've been without said screw-up.
Leo had not received any sort of education at all until this point… and while that may not leave him too far behind his non-magical peers, it did mean magical children his age had around 3 years' worth of learning on the child.
"Mou, you could also use this chance to create goodwill by hinting that most of your demands will be centered around Leo's future development. It would leave them more at ease knowing you don't plan to ruin them if they choose to agree to a few concessions. While they're a warrior race, they treat the ones who show them goodwill well in turn. We aren't actually planning on asking for a lot in the bigger scheme of things, and nothing of what we ARE asking will cost them anything but some time from only a selected few goblins. They don't even have to trust us, since secrecy oaths and magical contracts will be involved. The biggest hurdle here will be their pride."
Verde nodded, before getting up.
"Well, shall we go?"
Viper stared at him for a second, surprised that his friend would entrust him to come along for such an important family matter.
"Don't be so shocked. You know I trust you and you'll be an integral part of Leo's development. Plus, you are way more experienced in negotiations than me."
'I consider you part of the family already,' Yeah, there was no way Verde could say something cheesy like that out loud… Letting his actions speak for him was more his style.
Viper got it though. They tightly balled their hands into fists under the table. They had known, of course, that Verde trusted them to a degree and had thus shown the other trust in turn, the only way they had known how.
Viper… had never had a family, as far as they could remember. Their poor upbringing had shaped their nature into a cunning and stingy person. They knew they weren't an easy person to like by any means. So… knowing to just what a degree Verde chose to include them in his life, in his FAMILY, not famiglia, but family!... It was startling.
They… had never felt like this before. Not even with the other Acrobaleno. They had thought that that kind of empty camaraderie would be the closest an egotistical cunning person like them could ever get to true family… Yet, here they were…
They quite liked this unknown feeling, they decided as they floated off their chair and joined Verde on his way to his usual departure room.
If Verde saw the small genuine smile on their face, he chose not to comment.
Author's Note:
Hey guys! I came with news! I've recently adopted a puppy! She's super adorable... but also a lot of work. So, basically, this is a heads-up that writing may slow down once again. I still have some chapters of my other story prepared and just waiting to be proofread before posting, but there's no such thing for RoE, since I'm having increasing trouble putting the story that's in my head on paper right now.