Chapter 99 Alchemists

"An alchemist?" Aron mumbled to himself as Ben nodded his head. "Yes. Alchemists hold a great deal of power in the kingdom, holding a monopoly over various medicinal pills and elixirs."

"If you can take one as a master. That in itself will be more than enough to alter your fate once and for all." Ben explained his point.

"I think he is right. I know a few experts like that through my master. Each one commands a lot of respect among the society simply because of their skills in refining the elixirs that help people surpass the bottlenecks in cultivation." Chris agreed with the notion.

Aron had seen the effects of the cultivation pill Mrs. Yana offered him, firsthand. It helped to drastically different increase his affinity with the natural mana, allowing him to cultivate at an increased rate.

If someone can provide the same benefits to a powerhouse, it is not hard to imagine the riches that can be exchanged for the same. "But there is a problem in this approach as well." Chris put his hands under his chin in apprehension.

Aron had vaguely anticipated it. "All alchemists without exception are particularly good at manipulating fire. It's an important characteristic to them because fire mana is needed while operating the cauldrons."

Ben scratched his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I almost forgot about that. Absolutely you are right, boss. Fire mana manipulation is a must if you want to explore a career in alchemy."

Chris can see Aron turn to reproach at the revelation so he slapped his back lightly. "Don't think too much about it, brother. Most students invoke two or more types of mana affinities. I am sure you will be one of them. Who knows, you might get lucky?"

Nodding his head, Aron smiled back at him. "Haha.. You are right. There is no use thinking too much about it at this point." He put his luggage bag under his head and snuggled in his recently prepared bed.

"Pardon me brother Chris, but I am still not fully recovered. Please allow me a short nap for a while." He apologized for his distraught body which was still reeling from the stress he put it through during the Gamma trial.

"Sure. Sure. You rest here. I and our new buddy here will go and check out things." Chris put his arm around Ben's shoulders, scaring the boy out of his wits. He can tell Aron was trying to keep a low profile and hence didn't bother him too much.

"What do you say, Ben Gallant?" Chris grinned like a devil. "Man you got to tell me how you guys ended up with this family name." Aron heard Chris's voice as the two boys left him alone in the room.

As soon as that happened, he rushed to safeguard the grimoire in his luggage securely in his bed. Jumping into the mattress he fell asleep not long after that.

***

Away from the hostel area lay one of the tallest buildings on the entire campus of the Greenville Academy. A woman dressed entirely in white approached the residence of the principal on foot, navigating her way inside.

None of the guards stood in her way as she traversed the area. Rather, reverence can be seen on their faces whenever the woman approached them. Most of them can swear they saw a halo around her head as she walked towards and away from them.

The lady traveled ever so meticulously, neither too haughty nor in a servile manner. Her face was like it was carved out of jade while her figure was perfect with no caveats at all.

As she passed through the corridor like an apparition, it felt like she didn't belong to this mortal world. Like she was an angel descended from the heavens, sent as a blessing to mankind.

If not for her shifting away, the people around her would have probably kneeled in the respect that conjured in their hearts. The lady seems to know her destination, ending up at the gates of the principal.

*Knock* With a single tap on the door she didn't even touch it again, her aura itself pushed them open revealing her divine self to the occupiers of the office.

"A very good evening to you, lady Madelyn." The woman in white stepped in, crossing the room to stand next to the wide office table.

The principal sat in her chair, apparently occupied with the paperwork under the strict guidance of her secretary. "Cough.. cough.. Wendy, did you leave the windows open again? Shut them, I am cold."

Madelyn didn't even raise her head, focussing on her task at hand while totally ignoring the lady in white. As expected, Wendy saw a visible twitch at the corners of her lips.

" Ahem.. Mrs. Madelyn.. we have a guest, actually." Fully aware of the identity of the woman, Wendy didn't dare delay. "Saintess Rhine had come to see you." She added when the woman in white turned her gaze towards her.

"Oh my.. Saintess? I am so sorry, I missed you entirely." Madelyn pretended to see the lady standing on the opposite end for the first time. Her expressions were as fake as they can get, further aggravating the woman.

"When did you come in, my lady? Please take a seat..!!" While her tone was respectful, the woman called Saintess can't help but notice that Madelyn's ass had never left her chair.

When was the last time someone disrespected her to this extent? Even the king had to show some face to her. Regardless, that didn't seem to be the case with this principal. "I just came in. But I guess, lady Madelyn was too occupied with her work to notice." She responded in a cold voice. With a light scoff, she took a seat on the offered chair.

"I will bring something to drink." The situation was way outside of Wendy's paygrade, so she simply slipped out on the pretext of bringing in refreshments.

Watching her trusted aide leave, Madelyn sighed in exhaustion. "You have no idea how hard it is, madam Saintess."

The woman in white gave a slight nod. "I guess, the battlefield suits Ms. Madelyn a lot more than this office." Madelyn laughed out without any care for elegance. She was a rough woman, having lived most of her life fighting and this showed in her demeanor.

Compared to her, the Saintess was like a refined wine. "Tell me, Saintess Rhine. Can this subject be of any service to you?" Madelyn asked bluntly without caring to beat around the bush.

Mrs. Rhine had known about it the unpolished nature of the woman and so it didn't surprise her. "I think, Mrs. Madelyn is already aware of my thoughts."

"Haha.." Madelyn chuckled, not bothering to hide her lips behind her hands, like any other civilized lady. She was definitely rubbing the Saintess in the wrong way with her unchecked behavior.

"I do have some idea. But when it comes to Saintess, I dare not make a guess." There was an audible sound of crunch coming from Mrs. Rhine's armrest.

Although annoyed, the Saintess was no hot-headed teenager. She revealed a heartfelt smile. "Then I hope Mrs. Madelyn listens to me for a moment." It was clear that both ladies were pretending to hold a cultured discussion.

"You might have known that I had my disciples recently pass the screening tests of your academy." Madelyn pecked her head as if asking her to move ahead with the details.

"And as you know, the timing is such that more than half of the first year had already passed. Keeping that in mind, I would like to have them join the academy with the ongoing semester and not wait for the next year." Her words were not a request at all.

Madelyn only chuckled a little. "Your words are our command, madam Rhine. But.." Rhine saw the advanced middle-aged lady rise from her seat. "There is an issue on our side."

"What issue?" Rhine was impatient not wanting to waste any more breath than necessary here. Madelyn took her own sweet time coming up with the reason.

"Well, it's not anything on our part. We are rather keen on accepting your talented kids. However, as an esteemed organization we have to keep in mind the public perception as well, you know."

She took a deliberate pause while walking over to the window and peering out of the glass boundary. "And recruiting students mid-semester will be the worst public perception debacle we can think of."

"Hmph.." This was nothing out of ordinary for Mrs. Rhine. She had known about this so-called issue even before entering the room. "You don't need to worry about that, Mrs. Madelyn. Once everyone knows it's my disciples that are being recruited, I am sure you will face no troubles at all from the parents."

Rhine was not stating empty words. Such was the admiration of the institution behind her among the masses, that none will be interested in raising a cry about such small matters.

"Hm.. I know the church has a lot of devout followers, Mrs. Rhine. But you have to know our academy doesn't distinguish between people's religious beliefs. I hope you can see the matter from our perspective as well."

See the matter her ass..! Rhine can tell this woman was deliberately making things difficult for her. "Fuuug.." Releasing a hot breath from her soft cherry-like lips, the Saintess left her seat as well.

"Let's not kid ourselves, Mrs. Madelyn. I hope you can cut this matter short and tell me what exactly you need from me?" She crossed her arms around her chest, raising her bust up in a power pose.

"I am running short on time. So I will appreciate it if you can state your demands clearly." Rhine could not be bothered about this. She can think of the principal demanding a hefty 'donation' out of her, but it seemed the lady had a different game plan.

"Nice.. I like it that way." Madelyn remained unfazed and turned to face the Saintess. "I suggest a mutual compromise." "Go on.. I am listening."

"Just like your young one's lady Saintess, I too got a boy of my own who I want to add in this semester itself. I am sure you must be aware of him. Our suggestion is for you will be to take responsibility for him as well."

Rhine was caught off-guard. She had failed to see the matter developing in such a way. These bastards were planning to use her authority to silence any criticism that might come their way because they admitted a nameless kid midway through the semester.

"That's not possible, Mrs. Madelyn. I have heard about him, he is a nameless brat with no background to speak off. And more importantly, he has no association with the church. There is no way you can convince me to take responsibility for such a person."

Madelyn was no newbie as well, aware that it was going to be an uphill task. "To tell you the truth, he is not only a nameless brat.. he is a slave." Rhine's expression changed for the worse. "I guess your disciples didn't tell you this part.. haha.."

Rhine gritted her teeth, now even more staunchly committed to her stance. "I don't think coming clean about his background with me is going to help your case."

"Oh, it will.. Just listen to what I have to say first, Saintess." Madelyn stepped closer to the woman draped in a gorgeous white dress. A flowery scent prevailed all around her, giving the sensation of morning dew.

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