Finally having finished his tea Van Bergen came back out of his relaxed state and looked at his student who had fallen asleep."I guess he is really tired after staying in the wilderness so long."
He then carefully got up and opened the door only to find the waitress standing before it. Touching his lips with a finger he signaled her to be quiet and then closed the door behind him.
"The management came to a decision?"
"Yes, so I have been told to get Mr. Hope as soon as possible."
Van Bergen nodded.
"Can you do me a favor and wait for a bit more? That rascal is currently asleep and he had two strenuous weeks after him."
"Then I"ll wait 30 minutes more. Is that alright?"
"Of course. Thank you."
With that he left, leaving behind his sleeping student.
Exactly 30 minutes later the waitress opened the door and entered the room.
When her gaze fell on the soundly sleeping young man who had his head down on the table and a faint trace of saliva running down his chin she couldn"t help but feel bemused. It was usual to see someone sleeping so deep in one of the rooms of the cafe. After all the price one had to pay for them was astonishing high.
She then closed in on him and proceeded to wake him up, which wasn"t an easy task since Ivan was really exhausted.
As soon as he woke up he let out a huge yawn and looked at the one that had awoken him.
"Oh, it is you. Where is my mentor?"
"He left earlier. Now lets get going the manager is already waiting for us."
She then left the room and he hurriedly ran after her.
In a small office with simple decor a man sat behind a large desk. He seemed completely unremarkable but Ivan was sure that in truth this man must be a formidable expert. Because if not there was no way that he could be the manager of this cafe if the rest of the staff was already as formidable as the waitress seated besides him.
"I"m sure you understand why I have called you here. But I will tell you anyway. It is because you have seen Julias true appearance.", the man made a pause during which he stared at Ivan as if trying to see through him. When he had first heard about what had happend he couldn"t believe it after all even people stronger than him were unable to see through the illusion and during all his time working for the Beluga Corporation he hadn"t heard of any case where something like this had happened.
And even his superiors hadn"t heard of any case, which made the boy in front of him a first.
Of course the two young ones in front of his desk didn"t dare to utter even a slight sound as long as they weren"t asked directly.
"I"m sure the two of you want to now the decision of the superiors as soon as possible so I won"t make it unnecessary suspenseful."
*But aren"t you doing exactly this at the moment?*, Ivan couldn"t help to think in his heart. At the same time he wanted to curse at this guy because of him drawing it out.
After another pause he finally told them what would happen.
"Since it was a unforeseen event and not planned we have decided that Julia will become Ivans servant according to the rules. Of course this will only be implemented fully after Ivan reaches the necessary rank of membership. Until then you will stay here as a waitress like before but you will also be the only one responsible for serving Mr. Hope."
Hearing this Ivan let out a sight of relieve. It seemed like nothing bad would come out of what had happened. Julia too was happy with the decision since for her nothing had really changed and there wasn"t even an punishment like she had feared.
Seeing the expression of relief on the faces of the two the manager couldn"t help but curl up the corners of his mouth.
"Alright that was everything. The two of you can get going now."
He then made a shoo gesture with his hand and the two of them got of from their seats. They then bowed and left the room with steps that had a slight spring in them.
"Then I"ll get going.", Ivan said to the waitress whose name he had only found out for sure.
"Goodbye Mr. Hope.", Julia too said goodbye to him and then skipped away.
Seeing her leave so happily a look of amus.e.m.e.nt appeared on Ivans face and he shook his head. In some ways this girl appeared mature but then she acted like a litte child.
After leaving the cafe he received a message from his mentor telling him to meet him at the training hall tomorrow morning. After sending a short message that he would be there he then went back to his room. He shortly thought about going out to meet his daughter but even though he had slept in the cafe for a bit he still felt very tired and as such decided to postpone it to the next day, after all he had chatted with her every evening so it wouldn"t matter if he only visited her the next day. Of course that were only his thoughts.
As soon as he entered his room he walked over to the bed and let himself fall down on it.
"This softness is just heavenly."
He lay there enjoying the softness of the bed and thought back to the last two weeks. Even though they were filled with dangers and hardships they too were two weeks were he had learned more than during his half of year at school. Of course that was only for the practical aspects and it was only possible because of the foundation created through his studies.
Unknowingly he fell asleep.