"Excuse me?"
Rhoda paused, utterly stunned by the herbalist's serious tone and wondered if she had misheard or misunderstood what he said.
"You heard me right, I want yo-"
Bam!
She stood up with a slam to the table, and pointed to the door.
"Get out."
She said calmly, her voice without any fluctuations.
But when she looked up and faced the surprised duo, they could see the anger reflected in her cold black eyes.
There was a tense silence in the air as Rhoda retracted her outstretched arm, and adjusted her posture, preparing to leave, but-
"I expected better from you."
The herbalist began, and continued once he got no response from Rhoda who was now leaving their midst.
"Won't you at least ask me for my reasons?", He continued speaking in a light carefree tone, acting as though he was just an innocent audience.
Rhoda paused, her fists tightening as realization dawned on her.
That's right, they had said something was wrong with him earlier and she had overlooked that.
Does she turn around now to apologize? Clearly not, that is a wound on her pride and-
"If you keep wasting time like this, he's going to die soon."
The herbalist mercilessly interrupted her thoughts, as he opened his briefcase slightly and pulled out a jar.
"What-", Rhoda turned around in shock, but was interrupted by the herbalist's calm voice.
"Right Talos? The baby is going to get killed by his own mana, right?"
He said slowly while pouring the contents of the jar into the glass of water left on the table, then paused to look up and met Talos' fleeting gaze.
Talos under the subtle coercion of his master, finally spoke up and stepped out of his third party attitude.
"Um, yes, if he doesn't find a way to contain it, his body might break down due to an overflow of mana", Talos, the assistant doctor, unwittingly met Rhoda's stunned but clearly annoyed gaze, as he spoke.
He looked away, and Rhoda, unwillingly spoke up, continuing the conversation and putting a smile on the herbalist's handsome face.
"And how do you plan to help him?", she asked, her gaze settling on the purple stones on the centre table.
'Isn't that a-'
"Again, this is a mana measuring equipment, I plan to use it to measure how much mana he currently possesses."
He said, as he picked up and set the dark purple stone down. Then he continued as Rhoda stared on.
"And this, my dear lady, is a mana stone. It's man-made which means it is rechargeable. And if you would let us, we would drain the excess mana in your son's body and keep him safe for a few more months or so, before coming back to drain his mana once more."
The herbalist had picked up the ominously colored stone, and fiddled with it as he spoke, his voice was high and light, and clearly showed that he enjoyed whatever was happening.
While Rhoda, though shocked, hid that and continued the conversation.
"So for how long would this continue? And what do you truly want in return?"
She asked with fidgety hands, but calmly met the herbalist's gaze.
The herbalist kept his silence, heightening the slight tension in the air, while Talos lowered his gaze and felt guilty at heart.
Even though he wasn't the one making the deals, as long as he was there, the guilt would never leave him.
But as the thought crossed his mind, the herbalist replied, and Talos felt a pang of pain in his heart.
"As I said earlier, your… son."
Rhoda clenched her fists, as her anger dissipated and finally gave a soft anger free smile.
Soft angry but relieved smile.
'I knew it, he's crazy.'
She gently mused to herself, as she expertly kept her laughter from bursting out due to disbelief.
...
Fernand Luchio, the shrewd herbalist was more of a businessman than an herbalist.
Herbalism was a skill he was forced to learn, while business management was a talent he excelled in.
During his travels from the south, he discovered many commoners who sometimes had children who died due to their inability to control their innate mana.
Some of those children were from noble descent, while most of them just got lucky.
He knew Rhoda would never sign the contract, but he did not know how desperate she was. After all, her son had a lot of mana that was even higher than that of a low ranking mage, and he was only a baby.
He would have never suggested the contract and would have extended an apprenticeship instead if Rhoda had not been so scared when he initially said "he had a problem". Because from her reaction alone, he knew she could not feel the Mana that even he, an herbalist who used spiritual energy could sense.
And because of that, he decided to raise the stakes and observe her stance over that matter.
'And that's how you run a business, but then… Is she that hated by mana?', he thought in amusement as he took a small sip from the liquid in the glass cup, and watched Rhoda take a seat after staring at him for a while.
"Explain yourself."
Rhoda said simply, internally applauding the self control she had exercised towards Fernand.
'It was all for her baby, it was all for their son.'
She repeated that in her mind and gradually calmed down, paying more attention to his words than gesticulations.
'I hope she doesn't go crazy when she hears what I have to say', Fernand sighed softly, then spoke.
"I want your son to sign a contract with me. The time period is three years and-"
"What kind of contract?"
Rhoda's eyes turned gloomy as she prepared to leave once more. She felt that if she wasn't careful enough they might kidnap her son and run off to put a slave contract on him.
"It's not what you're thinking… and it's not a slave contract either. It's a mutually beneficial one. I get someone to teach your son how to control his mana, and drain his excess mana, if necessary. But in return, your son needs to travel with me for three years, once he turns twelve."
Fernand calmly explained as he sipped the tampered water once more.
While Rhoda remained increasingly annoyed by his words, and calmness.
"A promise then… so you want my son, my five day old son to sign a promise like some damned exile, when he isn't even old enough to know he's alive?!"
She said coldly, feeling the rage boiling within her.
Knowing she would be at a disadvantage she kept it hidden, and her facade was so perfect the herbalist mistook her trembling for fear.
He thought she might just give in, or at least give them a verbal promise.
All because she appeared to be a proper noble, and he planned to use it against her.
He kept his gaze on hers and they quietly exchanged gazes like that.
Rhoda had never experienced such anger before, even when the Franiel's matriarch had told her such awful things.
But right now, she was weak and could do nothing to save her son if they forcefully took him away.
But if she waited a little longer, Fernand might break and he could arrive.
'But the problem is… baby, can he wait that long?'
She clenched her fists tightly, not wanting to show any signs of nervousness and just stared on while anxiously waiting.
While Fernand stared on in amusement, although he would never miss out on an amazing moneymaking opportunity like this one, he admired Rhoda's resilience and considered giving in, since that wasn't his actual goal but he wanted to know how long she'd last in this stalemate.
He had heard that nobles from the East treated their dignity and pride as a noble better than they treated their children or any other precious thing they owned, and now he wanted to know if that was true.
Curiously, he stared at her wondering what was going on in her head.
'Would she really give in?', Talos thought, sharing Rhoda's anxiety.
His master had never been so cruel before, of course he played a few tricks sometimes, however he would eventually give in.
But this time, he had even gone as far as threatening her and seeing as she had not done anything but defend herself verbally, she probably did not have any way of doing so.
Fernand prepared what to say to her, as he watched her about to give in, but just then…