[OP: ]
"The first deal would be regarding our adventurer ranks."
They were starting their 'dealings', El had an excited expression, and Nes was confused but since she could see Eva was feeling a little unwell, the two of them were now sitting at the backside with the lion Ken, leaving the important talks to the adults.
"We know you know we know about the rules and regulations already so you cannot give us a starting rank higher than ranker freedom swords. But you have to stay true to your role and stay neutral in political situations."
"Of course~."
Lucy was outright threatening them with a calm smile and even the swordmaster, soone famous throughout the continents, soone who had enough power to slay hundreds of thousands of enemies alone on a battlefield, was intimidated by the obvious threats of a young boy.
And, it wasn't even like the two of them were stronger than him. Yes, they had a more powerful authority but aside from that, they were still just young kids of around a hundred level.
They still had only gone through their first stat awakening while all six of them there had at least gone through their third stat awakening aning, they were above level-300 at that point.
And sir Kevin was even level-400 plus swordsman with more than enough power to take on so powerful rank and above creatures all at once.
The power wasn't the problem here, the authority was.
Power was an abstract concept at the end of the day anyway so it could never be located or asured but, the authority, and in this situation, the authority within the almighty nature, or the system, was the main factor that led whatever was going on here.
Their demand was ridiculous from their point of view and they still accepted it without resistance, seeing no greater loss, and ultimately falling prey to the sches of our smiling Lucy.
"Alright then, moving on to the second thing, we believe you don't know the artificial dungeon simulator you have, Vienna as we call her, can generate Mana crystals which are-"
"Ridiculous!"
"That's absurd, boy!"
The loli witch and old grandpa shouted at once and their shouts were louder than any voice this room had witnessed after their arrival.
And, even the elf lady was confused by his words.
"It is the truth though."
El was smirking at all three of them while saying this. And since it was her turn to lead the conversation anyway, he just rested back on his chair and left them to her rcy.
"What? You don't believe us? Have you ever thought about what power Vienna runs on? How has such an unbelievable technology constantly functioned for hundreds of years without any problem?
Did you think the excessive amount of Mana that the participants use and the excess power this entire building wastes, just vanishes like so illusion?
Isn't there a story about how the early manager of this tower had to spread a certain kind of magic circuit throughout the tower just before this gate started functioning?
If you had ever bothered to think of these simple things, it would have been easy for even a child to tell Vienna recycles all of the excess energies in the surrounding of this tower and inside of it, as well as the Mana from the participants to not only power herself, but, after fulfilling the basic needs, to also store it as a purely condensed form, which we usually call Mana crystals."
She was giving them a lecture on sothing they had possessed for a long ti and still did not know everything about until now, just like a few other things that they possessed.
But, while doing that, there was also a deep smirk on her face that they could tell was not a good thing at all!
"Well, you can ask Vienna if you doubt my words. There should be an extension of her in this office right?"
And after saying this, the smirk deepened even more, giving them the creeps, unlike anything they had felt until now.
However, the branch manager still nodded at her, gulped down a mouthful of saliva, and manipulated so Mana around his desk on the other side as the crystal ball over there suddenly started glowing up.
[Hello Sir Kevin, how may I help you today.]
A voice everyone here was now familiar with answered his calling but, before he could say anything more, Vienna spoke up again.
[And hello to you too Lady El and Lucifer. I see you couldn't live away from even for half of the day.]
This was sothing… strange, and El was the only one smiling proudly here so everyone was looking at her, including Lucy. He knew when he told her to go play with Vienna she must have done many things to her, but the way she just addressed her, the way it sounded like a Japanese neighborhood onee-san calling for a shota-
"Ahem. Hello to you too Vienna. We just got to know sothing very peculiar about you and were curious if you could answer our little doubts."
[Of course Sir Kevin. As long as it is within my powers, I will answer your questions to the best of my abilities.]
None of them wanted to think too deeply about that weird thing so, they moved forward and the branch manager finally asked his question.
"Is it true that you can gather the excess Mana throughout the tower, absorb it, and turn it into mana crystals?"
His way of asking was simple. If it were El, she could have asked a strangely specific question full of many weird details.
But, to his simple question, Vienna answered just as simply too.
[It certainly is true Sir Kevin. However, any further information regarding the power sources is restricted and would require administrative permission to access.]
This ti, her question confused all of them. This administrative permission thing was sothing even he was hearing for the first ti and was just about to question her when El spoke up.
[ "Vienna, open the information access panel." ]
That was Mana speech, a precise and so accurate one that the elf Lady and the witch loli both were taken by surprise.
[Opening information access panel]
And, when the light inside the crystal ball suddenly turned red, and El shot so kind of spell at it, their eyes widened even more.
"H-how can a human…"
"No… are you even a human?"
From the Mana control to the absurd purity she possessed, both were nothing like any human should ever possess.
Even those blessed by Mana and nature like them could barely have that level of control but, she just shot a complex spell that they couldn't even have ti to understand with so much ease they almost felt like this girl was indirectly mocking them.
And, El actually was mocking them. That pretty smirk she gave them at the end showed it all.
[Admin permission received]
[Opening the central information panel]
[Here Lady El. Tell if you need anything more.]
"Yes~. Thanks, Vienna. And here everyone. You can see for yourself."
A red magic screen resembling the status window but filled with different content manifested from the crystal ball and floated to El, and she showed it to them.
[There are currently 12,242 spare Mana crystals in the internal spatial storage each with a 100 Unit of 69% pure Mana.]
Their eyes widened with utter shock this ti, the person in noble clothing was almost about to have a stroke because of it too.
What they were seeing right now on the screen El shared with them was nurical data, and what they understood from this data, almost sparked a wildfire in their tranquil jungle-like innerminds.
"According to the market price here, every one of those hundred unit crystals is worth 1125 Oz. So, that's a free thirteen million seven hundred and seventy-two thousand two hundred and fifty Oz in current market price.
Even after considering many visible factors, you will get a profit of more than ten million Oz. Pretty good right?"
And with those simple words, she caused a roaring wildfire in their already burning forests.
But, but, but! They weren't too shocked after those words anymore. They could tell from the way El was smiling—smiling, not smirking but smiling, that there was a great catch in this whole situation.
And, Sir Kevin had already grapes from how Vienna asked for that admin thing, to which only El had reacted, that this girl smiling at all of them right now… was the administrator that now controlled their precious property.
"What do you want for this?"
He looked at her with a new seriousness, determined to just decline anything ridiculous. However, El's simple smile was still there, which was sending cold shivers down his spine.
"Well, we don't want those crystals or anything. You can have them all. But, you already have guessed I am the administrator now, right? You can't open the place where these crystals are stored without so…
The deal is simple. Every ti you ask to open this special storage, we both take one item from your treasury. Good and simple, right?
You already know about the market so you can't just throw more than a certain amount to keep the prices stable too.
Well, the decision is up to you anyway, you can just take all of it out at once and you would only have to give us two of your beloved items or, you can prolong that and give us more if you feel too generous. We are cute kids anyway, right elders~?"
The way she smiled at him almost made him cringe and on top of that, it looked like so devil smiling at him instead of the cute girl she was.
He was almost horrified for a mont but then he looked beside her, at the sighing boy who at least looked like a human, and nodded.
"We accept. We will do that."
"Yeiiii~!"
She intimidated him, a swordmaster, and made him shiver with fear. Just that much made her happy, but she even made all of them believe they couldn't get this new 'treasure' that had always been under their asses without her.
She was happy, and this second part of their deal was concluded.
"Alright then. As for the last deal-"
"There's more?!"
All six of their hearts snake at once, eyes widened, and chests suddenly beca heavy as the dead eyes fell on the smiling boy.
"So…"
And then he said sothing in a low voice that every single person in this room heard clearly, which made them co back to their senses, and even get serious once again.
"You… can you really do it?"
"You still doubt us after seeing all this?"
The last deal Lucy presented before them was unique and dangerous from even their point of view.
But it was true that they were strong, and knew more than any of them present, and there was sothing even more about them they had not figured out yet.
"Alright… if you do manage to do that, 'it' will be yours."
"We have a deal then."
Lucy held El's hands and extended them together towards them and, though the other five were still hesitant, Sir Kevin accepted these deals on their behalf.
"Right. We also want Levi."
But El still had one last thing to say, and since they were already shaking hands, he had no way to say no to this relatively small demand of theirs.
"Just… keep him alive. As you already know, he is important. My head would be on the line if he dies."
"Of course~!"
So with this, they got everything they were here for today.
Well, at least everything for the basic parts.
They still had the paperwork but, this was it for the dealings. They would now slowly milk the association dry and they wouldn't be able to do a thing even while knowing the wrongness in their contractually correct ways.
Following this day, The association was going to see so of their most prosperous days but at the sa ti, they would lose the blessings that they had always been ignorant of.
It was the end of their first day of this little association eting, Levi was feeling cold for so reason, and the six were having mixed feelings about everything, Nes and Eva were at least in a normal condition, while El and Lu were happily satisfied.
They would enjoy their little break now, and after that… it was ti for the entrance exam of the great academy. And the people that would appear in this exam, just like Lucy, El, and Nes, were preparing for the greatest turning points of their lives…
Still, the three on this top floor of the association tower, were visibly ahead of all of them now so, the rankings that would take shape in that long entrance exam already had candidates for the top spots.
But, well, tomorrow is always a mystery so we don't know anything that might happen after this point.
So new people might cross paths with the ones we are watching, so people might part ways forever, and so people might also beco strangers to each other even while being acquainted.
Uncertainty is what shapes tomorrow, so, with a forever-changing present, let us part ways with joyous mories of the journey until now…
This is a goodbye from one of us, but, there are countless others to narrate this unprecedented journey…
[< Ba-bye then~. See you all if the fate allows it. >]
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