16. I expect your finest tea by the time I reach you, SIMOOON.

Late in the night, Master Brian personally made his way towards Liv's workroom after not hearing any news from Luz for a whole day. The girl was drooling on her desk while a few magic hands still crocheted a few things in the air.

Her big ass hat buried her shoulder's beneath it so that one couldn't see her embarrassing face as she muttered in her sleep: "you belong to me… your older sister, hehehe. Who is the best? Exactly! I am the best."

After reaching her door, Master Brian didn't even bother to knock and immediately kicked the door, shouting: "LUZ, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL HERE!?

Screeching, Liv jumped 10 meters high in shock, hitting her head against the roof before crashing back to the ground.

Her Master, on the other hand, merely looked around, wondering where Luz was hiding.
After crashing down, Liv immediately shouted: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY GODDAMN ROOM! EVEN IF YOU ARE MY MASTER, THAT STILL DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO DISTURB MY PRIVACY. YOU KNOW, WHAT IF I WAS CHANGING MY CLOTHES OR…"

Before she could continue with her outburst, Master Brian cut her short, telling her: "I don't really care about that. Remember, you little piece of shit is still living in my goddamn mansion at age 23. By the way, where the hell is Luz, that useless servant?"

"Wait!? He still hasn't come back? Ehe," commented Liv while yawning loudly. With each word she whispered, her voice became softer.

Master Brian slowly touched the young maiden's shoulder and repeated his question with a stern face.

"Gramps… You know teenagers these days tend to go outside and so," hastily replied the elf with a red face while not daring to look into her Master's eyes.

After seeing how her Master didn't buy her bullshit excuse, she merely whispered: "I think I fucked up."

The man merely nodded in agreement, and she asked quietly: "Promise me that you won't be angry with me."

Sighing, with fingers crossed behind his back, Master Brian replied: "Fine. I won't be angry with you. I promise."

The girl took a deep breath and stated hastily: "After finding out about his mana core, I took pity on him and brought him to Master Simon."

Master Brian's expression immediately changed from stern to horrified as he could guess exactly why Luz had not yet returned.

His grip on her shoulder tightened, and he whispered, with grinding teeth: "Liv…What happens if you bring a desperate man who wants to retain his talent with any means necessary to the DEVIL, HIMSELF!?"

Only now did Liv realize how foolish her action really was. Instead of helping the young man, she threw him into the mouth of the dragon himself.

"I-I-I'm so-sor-ry," she replied, aggravated while grabbing her hair.
The man simply touched her chin gently and stared directly into her almost teary eyes before commenting coolly: "Liv. You… my daughter will be taking responsibility for whatever happens to Luz."

Liv gulped, and Brian grabbed her by the hip before teleporting them to Master Simon's doorstep.

Master Simon's mage tower trembled due to the action, and one could hear a mage curse loudly: "JODOC, YOU STUPID BIRD. WE TRULY FUCKED UP THIS TIME. I SHOULDN'T HAVE LISTENED TO YOU. I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE PARROT INSTEAD OF AN EAGLE."

While Master Simon was losing his goddamn mind, Master Brian slowly stepped inside. Each of his steps echoed loudly throughout the tower, sending trembles through the building. Liv got carried under his arm by the man, and she accepted her fate without any fight. Her face was ashen with fright, and time moved at a snail's pace as Master Brian slowly climbed the tower.

Master Brian merely commented coldly: "I expect your best tea by the time I reach you, SIMOOON."

Simon gulped and hastily teleported himself to his herb garden, grabbing a few dried tea leaves before hastily reappearing in the kitchen. Once there, he immediately prepared the tea, using magic to speed up the process.

After passing by Master Simon, Brian unleashed his aura, causing cracks to form on the walls and forcing Master Simon to his knees before continuing to move up.

Master Simon merely heard a cold voice state: "I expect you in your laboratory before I reach it."

Not even a minute later, Master Simon sat in his laboratory with three teacups filled with the finest tea he had. His pet bore its talon deep into his shoulder as if that could calm him. The eagle has, by now, lost his former proud look, and the duo was trembling in anticipation.

Finally, the door opened, and Brian slowly moved towards them while unleashing carnage as each of his steps broke down the tiles below.

He slowly took a seat, and Liv waved with a forced smile while still having a horrified expression.

Before Brian could even say something, Simon hastily stated: "I can explain what's going on."

Master Brian ignored the former and simply gripped his teacup before drinking it in one go. Only then did he talk: "Simon. Is Luz alive, and what have you done with him."

"Well, he's alive. To keep it short, he pestered me for hours to let him join my magical experiment, and I gave in," sighed Simon as he held his cup in a tremble.

"I know. But tell me more about this magical experiment you were talking about. Also, I expect all the measurements data from it," stated Brian coldly before letting Liv go, who dropped to the ground.

"Argh," she whispered before standing up and taking a seat.

"So. We are currently trying to force a symbiosis between Luz and a parasite. I can't really say how successful this experiment will be since we haven't been able to reproduce a successful animal experiment yet," Simon stammered as he felt Brian's furious gaze boring into his soul.

Brian slowly put his cup back while attempting to calm himself. "Simon… Did I get it correctly that you skipped the animal experimentation stage and jumped right into human experimentation without any prior results?"

"Yes…" stammered Simon as he felt the air around him tremble. Before Brian could say anything, he quickly added: "But I only did it because he wanted it."

"SIMON, YOU FUCKING MORON. I DON'T CARE IF HE WANTED IT OR NOT. YOU IDIOT LET A CHILD DECIDE WHO WAS WAY TOO MUCH INFLUENCED BY THE SUDDEN GRIEF. DO YOU THINK I'M TOO STUPID TO REALIZE THAT YOU TWO PREYED ON A MORON!?" shouted Brian in furry while gripping the collar of Simon's coat.

"I'll buy him from you," stammered Simon in fear as Brian raised the latter's body into the air.

Brian simply chuckled before stating in his fury: "It's not about price. It's about your respect for human life and me. I don't remember giving you any permission to do experiments on my employees. ESPECIALLY ON A GODDAMN EXPERIMENT WHOSE SUCCESS RATE WE DON'T EVEN KNOW OF," roared Brian loudly while lifting Simon up so that the two could talk at eye level.

Simon merely gulped and suppressed his anger. This was Simon's first time he got so humiliated in his life by a fellow mage on his level. Unfortunally, he could only grind his teeth as the gap between the two was worlds apart.

Master Brian continued threatening Simon: "You'll pay a hundredfold if Luz wakes up with mental injuries and ten thousand times if he dies during the experiment."

"Isn't the price too high for a simple employee?" Simon stammered.

The answer merely angered him even more, and coldly he stated: "You're not paying the value of the employee. You're paying the price for not asking my permission about experimenting on an unstable employee of mine. By the way, you and Liv will pay a hundred times Luz's daily salary for every day he remains unconscious. I hope the price was worth it for you, Simon."

After stating that, Master Brian left the two alone in the tower.

Author note: I'm so tired, that I can't even proofread, sigh. Hopefully, I haven't overdone it in that scene, hehehe