Kithra was sitting down in front of the ever-smiling Harold, she looked and acted like she was calm but deep inside she was a mess. Not only did Harold know of her true ident.i.ty but the butler behind him was not someone she could contend with. Oliver was the worse possible enemy for her, an a.s.sa.s.sin type like him that silently attacks with speed and precision is the enemy of all mages that needed time to formulate a spell. "Still, if they kill me here, then they would be a.s.saulted by the whole might of New Grenton. Not to mention Valdel and Lara, even the Regalcrags can handle these two." When she thought of that Kithra felt a little bit more confident again.
"So what kind of deal, do you want to make?" Kithra spoke while trying to do some chantless delayed spells.
"It"s not something that big or anything. I just want to start a little business here. You see I"m growing tired of the traveling merchant"s lifestyle. I want to take root here in New Grenton, where I feel a lot of opportunities will arise."
"If you want to start a business you could have just done it through the normal procedures. Pay the Merchants Guild the appropriate fee and do the proper paperwork. It"s not really that hard, even if you are a foreigner the Merchants Guild here in New Grenton will gladly allow you to set up shop."
Kithra tilted her head as she answered a bit confused at Harold"s request.
"Why would someone like this ask for help for such a small matter anyone could do? Not only did he show a bit of his hand, he even used my real name. Was all that done for a simple permission to set up shop?"
While Kithra was wondering why Harold was going so far just for such a simple matter, Harold spoke.
"You see Ms. Kithra I want to avoid those little things such as that. If I were to do this the proper way, then I would need to register in New Grenton"s Merchants Guild. For personal reasons, I wish to avoid that, that"s why I need your help. What"s there to think about Ms. Kithra I am simply asking for such a little thing in exchange for giving you the funds you need to fulfill your ideals."
"Why does he want to skip the registration process? What is this guy truly planning? If I make a mistake here I might end up as a training dummy for that guy."
"Is that all you want Harold?"
"Of course that isn"t all, but it"s the most important part. If you don"t agree with that one request of mine then the deal is off. If I were you, I would take it no questions asks. I know you aren"t this indecisive back when you were still Thelia Renia, the hidden witch."
When Kithra heard that name again her anger rose, and killing intent filled the room. Oliver feeling such intense killing intent was about to move but Harold signaled him to stop.
"I wish you would stop calling me that. I no longer possess the power to be called a witch and on that day when my heart broke, was the day Thelia died. There"s no longer a Thelia Renia, only Kithra remains. If you keep on provoking me like this Harold, then I will take it as a declaration of war." Kithra was about ready to attack, now that had stored a few delayed spells she might be able to take on Oliver.
"I apologize if I offended you Ms. Kithra. It"s just that your fame as the hidden witch was phenomenal and hearing the rumor that you"ve died was a shocker. Now that I"m able to see that you are alive and well got me a little bit excited, and for that I am sorry."
Without losing the slight smile on his face Harold bowed his head in apology. Hearing what he said made Kithra click her tongue in dissatisfaction. She really wanted to kill this guy at this very moment, but knowing that he was the solution they"ve been waiting for had her hands tied.
"Fine, but never call me by that name again, understood?"
"As you wish my lady."
"Let"s get back to business then. If I were to allow you to set up shop without going through the proper procedures, then how much are you willing to give us in return?"
Harold then looked at Oliver, the butler nodded in affirmation. Oliver then got something out of his coat and threw it at the table stopping right in front of Kithra, it was a bag full of gold. Kithra quickly opened it and was surprised to see what was inside. It wasn"t simple gold coins, it was white gold coins. It was a bag full of white gold coins, with this kind of money you can pretty much buy every product currently in New Grenton.
"That"s just my downpayment if you agree to help me out with setting up my shop." Harold with his perpetual smile on his face looked at Kithra waiting for an answer.
"What kind of shop are you going to make?"
"Just a simple shop that sells weapons, armor, potions, decor, and other miscellaneous things. You can just call it a shop that deals with all sorts of things."
Hearing Harold"s nonchalant answer made Kithra lick her lips. She was really tempted right now to agree with Harold"s demands. Just doing that one simple thing would at least give them this bag full of white gold coins.
"What if we aren"t able to fulfill your other requests, will you stop supporting us?"
"If you"re able to fulfill this one simple request of mine, then the others don"t really matter much to me. I guess my support will lessen but I will still provide a bit of financial support, even if my future requests aren"t fulfilled."
Hearing that answer just made Kithra even more worried.
"What could he possibly be planning with that shop of his? Why is it so important to create that shop here in New Grenton that he"s willing to give up so much money?... d.a.m.n it! I"ll just deal with one problem at the time. If I don"t deal with our financial problems now, I won"t even need to bother thinking about what this guy is planing since I"ll be dead. I got no other choice... I hope I can deal with whatever he got planned."
"Alright, Harold you got yourself a deal."