“You.. you again… why haven’t you left the continent yet?” Snow asked in disbelief, not even stopping to wonder how Kiefer had seemed to appear out of thin air.

“I will leave once I have within my possession what I came here to get. Like I’ve mentioned earlier, I need 2 things from you. The first of which is non-negotiable, the other, I’ll do anything that is required to make it happen,” Kiefer replied calmly, pulling out 2 cushioned chairs from his PD and offering one to Snow.

As Snow cautiously inspected the chair, he finally took a seat facing Kiefer within the small room. He felt somewhat strange, negotiating with a young child whose maturity far outstrips what his appearance might suggest. Just from the manner he held himself, his speech intonation, and the aura he emitted, it all seemed like that of a young adult who had been through the throes of a harsh life.

“To start things off, I’ll be returning this to you,” Kiefer started, procuring a skyrite shard worth ten thousand gold coins. “Earlier in your bid, you were subjected to a price hike by my daughter who is undergoing a certain special training. As such, I’m returning this to you in good stead. In return, I hope you will be flexible in your decisions regarding my requests.”

Elder Snow simply looked at the shard with a dumbfounded expression. He had seen many fragments, but shards came by few and far between. For this person to simply hand it over like some pocket change gave him a glimpse of whom he was actually dealing with, almost as if he had forgotten the display of might several days prior at the outskirts of the city.

“So. What are your requests?” Snow asked after gulping down a lump in his throat and accepting the skyrite shard gratefully.

“I’ll start with the simpler one,” Kiefer replied, pausing to think about how he was going to phrase his request. “I want the freedom to roam this continent without the need for disguise. If you have some sort of special pass or medallion that allows that, it would be great. I want to avoid any sort of inconveniences that my wife, daughter or I will encounter with any guard or official within all 6 major cities of this continent.”

“And… and your second request?” Elder Snow muttered out, already feeling the incoming headache that he will be facing. He was almost too afraid to ask what the second request might be considering the towering demands this first ‘simpler’ request already posed.

“I want the soul flower you have within your possession. I know where it is. I want you to take it off the auction tonight and sell it directly to me. I don’t know how you’ve managed to remove the soul flower from its original spawn location, but I can assure you, by hook or by crook, it will be in my possession by morning. All the difference it makes is whether I go on a rampage within your city or not.” Kiefer replied firmly, staring directly into Snow’s two large round eyes.

Snow gulped even harder. He did not know how information leaked out, but it was true that he was selling the soul flower. He had a hunch ever since his first encounter with Kiefer and co that they were here for the flower. He had been pinning his hopes on this auction to get it out of the city as quickly as possible to avoid collateral damage. From what he had personally seen, he knew that the 3 dragons could level his city in a blink of an eye. What he had not expected was for them to have caught up so quickly.

“ahem…” Snow let out a soft cough after a deliberate period of silence. One could easily tell that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The matter with freedom of movement within Yurza was tedious and highly unlikely to succeed, but the matter of removing the flower from the auction was impossible. He had already handed it over and as per auction rules, regardless of your status, you cannot remove your item from bid. There was really only one way to get the flower, and that is to win the auction.

“I cannot promise anything, but I will try my best to fulfil your first request. Even then, it will take some time since the information and request needs to be sent to the lords of the other cities as well as to the High King himself. Then the news will need to be disseminated down the ranks accordingly and can take anywhere from a week to 3 months for it to happen, if it even gets the approval. I presume I can contact you in some way should I need any additional support or information from you?”

“I understand the predicament I’ve put you in, but I thank you in advance. Do remember to include within your report that should my demands be rejected, I have absolutely no qualms whatsoever just erasing this continent from existence. I do not come from this world, do not belong here and have no intentions of staying here any longer than I need to, so I fear no consequences.” Kiefer added with a sinister smile. “And what of the flower?”

“The matter with the flower is something that is out of my hands. I’ve already submitted the flower to the auction house and it is now in their possession. I get an 80% cut of whatever the flower sells at. The most I can do is to give you my takings and you can attempt to purchase it from the winning bidder,” Snow replied, shaking his fluffy white and grey head slowly. He already had intentions to get rid of the flower, the money from selling it was just incentives to him. As long as no harm came to him or his city, he was more than satisfied getting nothing out of it.

“I see. I may have a way then,” Kiefer reassured him. “I’ll be disappearing for a while, but once I do, I’d like for you to call the staff and ask for Feiyan or her daughter Juhua. Tell them that an acquaintance of Eril would like to see either of them.”

Having said that and affirming a nod from Snow, Kiefer once again melded into nothingness right in front of Snow, who seemed baffled by the strange magic. Seeing a unique magic for the first time was one thing, seeing it done without a chant or incantation was another, and to top it off, Kiefer made it seem so easy and smooth.

Quickly, Snow tightened his grip on the chains around the obedient wyvern’s neck and slid the steel door open. The attendant was waiting several paces to the left of the door, leaning against the wall. He beckoned her over with his hands and watched as she tottered over nervously.

“Sir? Is there something wrong with your purchase?” She asked while fidgeting. It was clear that she was a newly hired staff and had little experience dealing with returned goods. Her mind was in a mess, trying to piece together what she had learnt in her training to handle these kinds of situation. It only made it worse that her client happened to be the Lord from the owl tribe that ruled over the city.

“I actually have some urgent business with the owner of this fine establishment. Could you please get Miss Feiyan or her daughter juhua please? Please tell them that a friend of Eril would like to meet them.” Snow asked politely, handing her a single gold coin as tip. He would normally have a haughty attitude but within a prestigious place such as this auction house, status means nothing if you don’t have the gold to back you up.

Smiling gleefully, she quickly bowed and trotted off to find her manager and inform him of Snow’s request. Within minutes, she came back, walking at a leisurely pace behind Feiyan. For some reason unknown to him, Feiyan seemed to have a scowl on her face though, which made him wonder who this Eril was and whether it was a good thing to have said that he knew him.

“So are you the one who wanted to see me?” Feiyan asked with a frown. She was busy enough handling the midnight auction. She had only come because she heard the name of her ex-husband.

“Actually, no. If you would come inside, I will be able to better explain things to you,” Snow replied gentling, stepping aside to make room for Feiyan to enter the room. However, what he did not expect was for Feiyan to scowl at him and simply stand there with her palm outstretched.

“If you want my time, pay up. Consider it a consultation fee,” She said. Sighing, Snow reluctantly reached into his long baggy sleeves and procured a gold plate worth 100 gold coins. It was an internal currency used only within the auction house and was worth 100 gold coins in the auction but could only be exchanged for 90 gold coins to be taken out.

Snatching the plate from him, Feiyan brushed past him and entered the room, Snow following closely behind and shutting the door behind. She quickly took one of the seats while Snow sat down on the other, facing her.

“Well? Spit it out. You used my Ex-husband’s name to get me here. What do you want? If I’m not wrong, you put up the soul flower for auction tonight didn’t you? You have some more items for sale?” Feiyan asked in a hasty tone, clearly indicating that she had better things to do than be here.

“Actually, the business is not so much his, as it is mine,” Kiefer interrupted, appearing next to Snow. His appearance startled Feiyan, whose firm scowl broke into a short gasp, but quickly returned.

“So you are a friend of Eril’s? I see he still makes the most of mysterious friends even after all these years,” Feiyan commented, trying not to look surprised.

“I’m not so much a friend as an acquaintance. You see, you met my wife and daughter earlier today, together with Juhua and Eril. I was in the same room except invisible. My wife, Isana, sold you some crystals for house credit,” Kiefer explained, at which Feiyan’s eyes couldn’t help but start to sparkle.

“You? Isana’s husband? If you had said you were her adopted son I might believe you. But then again who am I to judge people by their looks. Are you looking to withdraw your sale of the crystals? If so, I’m sorry but I can’t go against house rules, even for you or your family. Rules are what keep this place running. I have a reputation to uphold.” Feiyan quickly answered him sternly.

“Quite the contrary Miss Feiyan, I am willing to offer you more skyrite crystals, if you withdraw Elder Snow’s lot for tonight,” Kiefer corrected her calmly.

“And blemish our reputation and name in doing so? Not worth it even if you offered me a hundred crystals. I’ve built this organisation up through the centuries and I have yet to break any of the rules I’ve set. You can forget about retrieving the auction lot. Even if people don’t know if I removed it, it is still a black mark on my conscience. If you want that lot, you’ll have to win it. If that is all, I have plenty of matters to attend to,” Feiyan replied hastily, preparing to stand up to leave.

Seeing Feiyan leave in a hurry, Kiefer chose not to do anything. The auction house had yet to do anything against him, so he had decided against turning this huge tree into a gaping hole in the ground just for now. There were other ways to get the flower without having to resort to back handed means, but he knew that eventually, it would always come back to that.

“Well then Elder Snow, I guess this concluded our partnership for the time being. I hope to hear from you about my first request soon. As for the flower, do not worry about it. Whatever happens is out of your hands now,” Kiefer concluded his meeting and once again vanishing from the room, taking along with him the two chairs. Had Snow not stood up to see Feiyan out, he would have stumbled and fallen onto his bottom when the chair disappeared into Kiefer’s PD.

Elder Snow was left all alone in the room, his hand still clutching the chains to the lava wyvern. Shaking his head and sighing, he began to foresee the troublesome days he would have to go through in the near future. He begrudgingly left the inspection room and led the obedient wyvern out into the corridor and back to his auction booth where he awaited the end of the auction.