The garden at the back of Victoria's mansion may as well have been a park. Every part of it was so green and colourful with the flowers from different regions of Tera. Mikel knew they had to be expensive, because some of the flowers are from regions that are only present outside the Dome. They looked beautiful.
"Some of these flowers," Mikel said with intrigue, "I have never seen them before."
"They are from Wildzones."
"W-wildzones? You mean to say flowers grow there too?"
"Of course, although you have to go a bit further into the high grade zones- where the Nether saturation is thicker."
The whole place of Tera was protected by a wall with an invisible dome, functioning almost like an island with a deserted land instead of the sea. In actuality, the 'Tera' as a country name was slowly fading away, as more and more younger people just refer to the current Tera as the 'Dome'.
After the 'gates' have opened many civilisations went extinct, and only those who have been 'awakened' could step foot outside the walls, as an ordinary person who does so would explode in a literal sense as they cannot deal with the corruption of the air by the Nether realm.
C-grade creatures lurked not all that far outside Dome, and Mikel could deal with that amount of saturation, but he never saw a single bit of plant life in his hunt, metal scraps, the bones of the cars and broken down buildings the only view he could get through the sands.
"Exactly how far did you have to go to get these flowers?"
Purple, red, blue and yellow, the petals oozed of mana and sometimes they'd glow. They probably evolved to survive in the Nether saturations, and the view was almost mystical.
"Just the A-grade zones, possibly further."
"A…A-grade zone?!"
"Indeed. Is there a problem?"
So you're telling me you go to A-grade zones and can come back without a single bit of dirt on you? Mikel thought, but didn't speak it, as the answer was obvious from her arrogant demeanor.
"...What did you want to show me anyway?"
In an instant Victoria snapped her fingers, and a maid suddenly appeared by her side. Short hair with glasses of round lenses, the face of the maid was stern and without much emotion.
"Yes master."
"Get this boy yesterday's share."
The air changed and the maid showed a face of confusion.
"Y-you mean, all of it?"
"All of it."
"B-but…"
"Are you talking back to me now?"
A sudden silence.
"O-okay."
Immediately, Mikel and Victoria felt a breeze, and the leaves fell from the trees in the garden as the maid stood again in front of Victoria almost instantly, with the card that contained the credit that Victoria earned from the exchange center the day before.
"Her gift is super speed. Not bad don't you think?"
"S-sure."
Snatching the card from the maid, Victoria presented the card in front of Mikel like a master with a bone for her dog.
"You said you became a hunter for money? Then take this. It'll contain enough for you to live for a year or two, depending on how you spend it of course."
Mikel stared carefully at the black card, with blue digital veins pulsing through it.
"Enough for a year huh." Mikel said in a matter of fact way. He thought to himself for a while, looked up at Victoria's eyes and said: "I don't need it."
Nether witch was never quite the type one can catch off guard, but Mikel's refusal did. Even the maid, who was deeply against this rugged man taking the treasure from her master, looked at Mikel with wide eyes.
"Then you didn't become a hunter for money."
"You have no business knowing why I became a hunter."
"Yes I do," Victoria cut him off, and said pointing to the bandages that wrapped Mikel. "You are indebted to me now."
"I do thank you for taking care of me, but I wouldn't have been this injured if you didn't crash me in the bar for no reason while I was minding my own business!"
"Ah, do not raise your voice." Victoria put her index finger on her lips in a hush motion, and her blue eyes started to glow, and the aura about her got heavier. "I'm being rather patient with you right now."
'The audacity of this bitch.' Mikel thought. In his eyes Victoria was nothing short of a dictator.
"Sure. I will repeat with this tone then. I have no business with you." Mikel hissed this time, the attitude which the maid wanted to stop.
"Sir, you may want to—"
"Shut it, Maria." Victoria snapped, and then looked directly at Mikel.
"You do have an attitude, don't you?" She smirked. "Pride is for those who have the power to have it, don't you know?"
"Pride is all I have right now."
It was the truth.
"Then do you not have the ambition to have more than that?" Victoria asked. She touched Mikel's chin, her soft white hands patting him a little, and her smile softened a little.
But Mikel knew better than to fall for that. There is no way an S-grade would provide charity to a C-grade out of nowhere. He felt like it was a trap.
"Cut it and get to the point." Mikel said with a degree of hostility. "What is it that you want from me?"
"Obedience." Victoria said without hesitation. "Obedience is all I need."
"...Why? Why me?"
That question, Victoria didn't answer, because there was no answer to it.
Since she was little, she'd always collect things that people deemed useless. The clockwork that is thrown away, the toy that has been ripped to pieces, and the doll that's all broken down. She could get everything she wanted, a girl who had been spoiled rotten, but for some reason, she would be fixated on the weirdest things and simply won't let go about it.
'There is a certain beauty in useless things that people don't want.' She always thought.
'Besides, if I get bored of them, they can just return to what they once were; a piece of trash.'
Same set of thought process applied here.
Perhaps the Nether witch simply needed a new toy to spice up her otherwise mundane, boring life.
"You have potential to become something great."
It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth either. It was a flip of a coin, a gamble, where only she'd get a guaranteed prize of enjoyment.
"Are you being serious?" Mikel asked, still with hostility, but it was softening up and Victoria could tell.
"Of course." Her voice was down to almost a whisper. "You have a lot of room to grow."
I'll throw you to the tigers and see if you grow or not.
"I believe your gift is weapon mastery, which means that you can be a jack of all trades if you use it right."
And useless at everything if you use it wrong.
"I will help you get more powerful, and give you a purpose in becoming a hunter."
Then I'll have my fun, and throw you away when it starts becoming boring.
"So believe me, won't you?"
Victoria held out her hand so Mikel could shake it.
The maid - Maria - knew what was going on, and wanted deep in her heart to intervene, but knew that doing so wouldn't be wise on her part.
Mikel was still skeptical, but one thing was for sure; he was lost. He had nowhere to go, and in all honesty even if he did quit being a hunter he had no idea what else to do. So even when in his mind the wheels were turning, with his instincts telling him that Victoria was a dangerous woman, it was also true that he had no alternative.
It was a choice between being guaranteed to stay in the low or take the risk for the slim chance of becoming something else. There was no such thing as a rational choice in such dilemma.
"Fine." He said, and through all his pain and agony, as well as the skepticism towards the witch, he mustered up the most innocent smile as if the hostility he had was no longer there. It wasn't exactly that he trusted Victoria, but he just came to terms with the fact that he had no other choice and nothing to lose.
He reached out his hand and shook it.
"I'll leave myself in your capable hands, then."
Victoria felt a burning passion running throughout her body, she was ecstatic. The smile aroused something deviant inside her and her heart beat faster, knowing full well that he had only her to rely on now.
His friend has died. Judging from the fact that his last name was obscured when he was being analysed in the bar Victoria deduced that he was probably an orphan, and best of all, he was a weak Ceebee that nobody cared about.
Flesh that was free, trash that nobody wanted.
She imagined what it'd be like to make him completely cling onto her.
Victoria returned the innocent smile towards Mikel. It looked so gentle, hiding the venomous thoughts.
"Of course, when you get better, we'll go straight to training."
Mikel in his mind, at that moment, thought that Victoria could be a nice person after all.
Victoria in her mind, at that moment,
Wondered how much pain he could endure before he breaks.
Nostalgia filled her up, and she felt a feeling that she hadn't felt in a long time since she was a kid:
The joy of finding a new toy.