Vale was speechless by the sudden job offer from a student younger than him. It was so unexpected that he didn't know how to react.
'Is this a common thing among Dark Arts Practitioners?' Vale mused as he looked at the young girl with a questioning look.
"I heard your situation from the Headmaster, and you're perfect as my Personal Shadow Knight." Celina added.
"I'm perfect?" Vale repeated. He decided to humor this young girl for now.
Seeing that Vale didn't reject her immediately, Celina nodded and smiled.
"Yes! Your family background can be ignored, so it's good for me. Furthermore, you are just an experimental subject by a mad Alchemist who dreamed of having a new Branch of Dark Arts. You must want to get away from him, right? Then, I'm already at the age where I need a Shadow Knight protecting me in secret. My father has been asking me to select a few from his retainers, but I know that you'll be perfect for the job since you're really strong according to the Professors."
To be honest, it sounded pleasant to Vale's ears how she complimented him at the latter part of her words.
"Really? I'm not strong though… You have to find an older Knight if you want to be protected. Perhaps an eight-year student would do." Vale answered after some consideration.
"Hmph… I don't like them. They're too old for me. You look nice and weren't far from my age, so you'll do."
Vale looked at the young girl as he couldn't help but feel impressed by her confidence in her delusions.
'A typical spoiled brat from a prestigious noble family, huh… I wonder what the Headmaster is thinking. He should know this will happen after this girl started asking for information about me.'
"What would I gain if I become your Shadow Knight?" He asked.
"Of course, you will have the honor of protecting me, the Future Dark Sorceress of the Faction! You will earn a lot of money and access to many Forbidden Dark Arts. Furthermore, I can let you meet my Great Grandfather! Right! I can also bring you to many sacred places that normal practitioners could only dream of entering."
Celina said with a proud look on her face.
'Money and chance for meeting your great grandfather? That's probably enticing to someone else but not to me… Well, unless I can extract him.' Vale thought after hearing Celina's proposal.
As for the offer of getting access to the Forbidden Dark Arts, he already has The Forbidden Practice of the Unlighted, where all the Forbidden Spells of the Darkness Arcane Path are listed, so he didn't even consider it.
"That's quite tempting for the other practitioners, Celina. However, you can't recruit me with that. I also have other plans, so I can't work as your Knight in the Academy. You can probably look for others. How about Maya? Have you asked her?"
Vale replied.
He also prepared himself to be scolded by the spoiled young girl, but he was surprised that she just chuckled after hearing his rejection.
'Am I not clear enough?' Vale thought.
"Hmph… I know that you'll reject me since you weren't from the faction and were recruited outside. You're clearly unaware of your position and how great it is to serve me. That's fine… I know you'll change your mind."
Vale helplessly smiled at this as he was slowly losing his patience. After a sigh, he replied to the young girl.
"I'm an outsider, and I can't see the value of being your Personal Shadow Knight… So isn't it more the reason you shouldn't select me? I also don't think that my decision will change."
Vale replied. He was still trying to recruit this girl into their club, so he decided to calm down and reason with her.
Celina shook her head at this as she looked at Vale seriously.
"Alright, Senior Vale… You can now tell me your price to change your decision. I know that you're just trying to put more value on yourself to make yourself expensive. I heard it from my butler. It's the style of the business-minded commoners who wanted to take advantage of their rich employers."
Vale's mouth twitched after hearing what she had just said.
'Do I look like I'm negotiating? This kid…' Vale was speechless as he decided to just be clear to her.
It seems that entertaining her for too long made his intentions unclear.
"Celina, listen to me. I'm not trying to negotiate with you. I think that your butler just wanted to let you know about the possible intentions of other people. It doesn't mean that all people with humble background you encounter have those thoughts."
Of course, Celina didn't give up as she still tried to entice Vale into becoming her Knight.
In the end, Vale had enough and thought of an idea.
"Are you confident with your Spirit Strands?"
"Of course! Hehe… I already have 21 Spirit Strands. I heard that your Spirit Strand got stuck to 25, right? It is still high but definitely not enough to become an elite. Furthermore, even though you have a decent Power Strand and Life Strand, it's not enough. However, with my help, your Spirit Strand will surely experience massive growth!" Celina said.
As a matter of fact, she wasn't interested in Vale's Spirit Strand. What she wanted was his high Power and Life Strands, which is perfect for a Shadow Knight.
'I see…' Vale gently nodded.
As expected, the others weren't aware of his Spirit Strand's growth because the invasion of the Secret Organization interrupted his assessment. Because of that, no one had seen his Spirit Converging Crystal or how many strands he actually made.
The Professors were also busy with the Academy's reparation and couldn't be bothered to reassess his Spirit Strands. Aside from that, they were also worried about Philip's situation, so they couldn't spare their time to check.
"How about this… If I have my Power Strand and Life Strand twice your current Power and Life Strands, you have to give up on me and also give me a chance to enter the sacred places you mentioned a while ago without being your Personal Shadow Knight." Vale said with a teasing smile.
"No way! I know you have over 15 Strands or more on both Strands! That's not fair! How about you double my Spirit Strands with your Spirit Strand, and I'll accept it, huh?" Celina replied as she raised her chin while looking at Vale.
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