Chapter 123: The Hearing (4)
The Witch’s Sweet Dream.
It had been recommended by Hera, from the Red Tower of Magic, as the best dessert restaurant in Pentagon. They didn’t take reservations, so there always was a line leading out the restaurant’s doors, but… with status, fame, and money, it was simple to overturn the rule of not taking reservations and secure a private table for themselves.
They were quickly seated by a third-floor window that offered a great view.
“It’s so… so pretty!” Mer gasped in amazement.
Mer’s eyes twinkled like a starry sky as she looked at all the colorful desserts laid out in front of her on different plates.
“And they taste amazing!” Mer squealed upon taking her first bite.
She first tried the macarons stuffed full of cream. The cream, which anyone could tell tasted sweet just by looking at it, had even been studded with chocolate chips, and the smooth surface of the macarons was so brightly colored that it was hard to believe that it was a dessert.
Mer trembled in delight as she munched on the stuffed macaron.
“No one is going to take it away from you, so eat a bit slower,” Eugene nagged.
“Why do I need to eat any slower?” Mer argued. “It won’t get stuck in my throat no matter how fast I eat, and I won’t feel sick either.”
However, Mer still couldn’t do anything about the size of her mouth. No matter how wide the tiny Mer opened her jaws, there was a limit to the amount of macaron that fit inside her mouth.
As such, she was quickly biting, swallowing, and biting again. After all, there was no such thing as being full for her. All the food that she ate was decomposed into mana and disappeared the moment that it passed through her esophagus.
Mer felt a deep gratitude that her body had been constructed this way. This meant that she could eat an infinite amount of delicious and sweet things, and she wouldn’t gain any weight either.
Just as she was happily contemplating the variety of cakes set out in front of her eyes, Mer’s expression suddenly turned cold.
“Stop that,” Mer demanded. Her hand, swinging as fiercely as if it was trying to swat down an annoying fly, struck the back of Melkith’s hand. “I’m the one who ordered these.”
“How stingy!” Melkith shrieked, her eyes widening as she glared at Mer.
“I’m not stingy,” Mer denied. “White Tower Master, you’re just an uninvited guest. Sir Eugene and I didn’t give you permission to accompany us. However, you brazenly and stubbornly insisted on following us here and sat down with us.”
“...I am the White Tower Master, Melkith El-Hayah,” she declared proudly. “In this land of wizards, there is nowhere I am not allowed to go—”
“You really are shameless. Do you really believe that your position as the White Tower Master can just excuse your rudeness? Even if you do have such a status, or at least you think you do, that still isn’t something that you should claim for yourself,” Mer spat out as she cut into a chocolate cream layered cake with her fork. “Of course, I’ve already known that the White Tower Master was shameless ever since twenty-eight years ago.”
“...Twenty-eight years ago?” Melkith asked uncertainly.
“Have you forgotten?” Mer kindly reminded her, “It was in summer, twenty-eight years ago. Right before you rose to the seat of the White Tower Master, when you first entered Akron.”
Melkith’s face turned pale. She quickly manipulated the mana of the space they were in so that none of the conversation at this table could leak out.
Mer continued, “You approached Witch Craft curiously, and exactly six minutes and twenty-one seconds later, you collapsed on the spot with a nosebleed and pissed yourself.”
“...I lasted at least ten minutes.” Melkith attempted to correct her.
“No,” Mer denied it. “It was six minutes and twenty-one seconds. Exactly. The only current Tower Masters to have come into contact with Witch Craft and pissed themselves are you and the Blue Tower Master, Hiridus Euzeland. The Blue Tower Master, at least, managed to last for eleven minutes.”
Melkith was stunned silent.
“As Lady Sienna's former familiar, I feel like I should be proud of the fact that a few Archwizards of the current era were unable to understand Witch Craft and were instead forced to piss themselves. However, you should at least clean up your own secretions. Don’t you agree? The Blue Tower Master cleaned his own mess up. However you, the White Tower Master, just ran away without getting rid of it. How shameless!” Mer pressured Melkith while still munching on her cake, as her shoulders shook in an unconscious response to the violent sweetness.
“I… the White Tower Master, I’ve never…!” As Melkith stammered in embarrassment, her hair floated upward on its own. “It was just one cake! That’s all I wanted! Must I really listen to such disgrace for that!”
“Really, how noisy. I’ll give you one, so please be quiet.” Mer gave in with a frown on her face as she pushed over to Melkith a cake that she had already taken a bite out of.
“Kieeek!” Unable to contain her rage, Melkith let out a scream.
It was a scream that Eugene happened to have heard several times before.
“...Really now,” Eugene sighed. “Did you have to talk about dirty things like pee or bodily secretions when we’re at a dining table….”
“Sir Eugene, you should be proud of yourself,” Mer complimented. “You were granted entry to Akron when you were twenty years younger than the White Tower Master, and you didn’t pee yourself in front of Witch Craft.”
“Can you really bear to swallow the cake while talking about dirty stuff like that?” Eugene asked.
“This cake… is just that amazing,” Mer insisted. “It’s sweet, but not too sweet. It doesn’t cloy the palate and instead disappears with a refreshing aftertaste. Here, take a look at these layers of brilliantly whipped cream! How did they manage something like this?”
“By magic. This store’s patissier is said to have dozens of patents for baking magic. It might look just like ordinary cream, but each of those layers have had magic added to them to give it a different flavor,” Melkith explained with a sulky pout.
“...No wonder,” Mer muttered with a nod as she glanced at Eugene. “So that’s why Sir Eugene keeps glaring at that cake like he wants to kill it.”
“...Isn’t he just glaring like that because he wants to eat it?” Melkith asked in confusion.
The answer to that was no. Eugene had no interest in the sweetness of the dessert that Mer so admired. Ever since his previous life, he preferred greasy, salty, and spicy food over sweet desserts.
The reason why he was glaring despite all this was….
“...Hmmm…” Eugene hummed thoughtfully with narrowed eyes as he stuck his hand in his cloak and pulled out Akasha. “Hmm…”
His mana began to move. Melkith realized what Eugene was trying to do and felt some interest in seeing the spells. Magic whose creators had gone so far as to register a patent wasn’t the kind of magic that they would so easily share with others. The Witch’s Sweet Dream was called the best in Pentagon because its other competitors weren’t able to imitate this shop’s taste.
‘The spell formula has been kept a secret. In the first place, flavor-transformation magic is a non-mainstream magic that people outside of the industry seldom come across , ’ Melkith recalled.
On top of that, it was difficult. If Melkith was forced to classify it, this magic belonged to the enchantment side of things, and unlike tools and weapons which were often used as the base for enchantments, food was a very fragile material. Even a slight fluctuation in mana control or error in the formula could cause the whole form of the spell to collapse or decay, ruining the flavor.
‘As long as you put the practice into it, it’s doable, but compared to the effort you have to put in, there are clear limits on how far you can go with such magic,’ Melkith assessed. ‘In the end, it’s just making some food a bit more delicious… could this brat really have put in the time to learn such magic?’
Indeed, it seemed that Eugene really was young and hot-blooded. Melkith smirked as she sipped her tea.
Curiosity and the desire to experiment were virtues that all wizards should possess. Since there was no way that Eugene could have found out the spell formulas used by this shop, it appeared that he just wanted to try out this new type of formula he had encountered….
‘I’ll get a good laugh out of it,’ Melkith decided.
Eugene would definitely fail. If the spell were that easy to copy, this store wouldn’t have been able to stay perched at the top of this industry for the past ten years. Melkith readied her rounds as she prepared to laugh at Eugene’s failure.
“...Hm,” Eugene hummed once more as his fingers poked the cake.
There was a slight sparkle of light. Melkith’s eyes widened in shock. That slight sparkle was proof that the exact same spell formula had just been applied to the cake. If some other spell formula had been applied, the different formulas would have clashed with each other, causing the cake to collapse.
‘Did he actually apply the exact same formula?’ Melkith wondered in disbelief as she quickly poked the cake with an outstretched finger.
Seeing this, Mer’s face twisted in a horrible scowl as she spat out, “How rude!”
Melkith didn’t hear this criticism, too busy thinking, ‘It didn’t collapse. What about the taste?’
She scooped up some cream with a finger and placed it into her mouth. The taste hadn’t changed all that much, though there was a slight incongruity…. Even so, this was already enough of a surprise. Just how in the world had Eugene done this?
While Melkith analyzed how the ‘flavor’ left in her mouth had differed from the previous taste, she stared at Eugene and asked, “Are you a regular to this store?”
“This is my first time coming here,” Eugene answered.
“Then, the magic you used just now….”
“Well, I just copied what I saw.”
“...You should know just how unbearably absurd that sounds to any wizard, don’t you?”
“It wasn’t as easy as I’m making it sound,” Eugene replied with a smirk, “I underestimated it because I thought it was just infusing a spell into the cake.”
“...From your point of view or mine, you can’t really call this magic all that impressive. However, it’s not a trivial piece of spellwork. This type of magic requires a deep level of proficiency in order to be used properly, even if the actual Circle level is low,” Mer said with a complicated expression as she held her chin. “...You said that you just copied what you saw. There’s now way that you could have seen the spell formula being cast in front of you, so… could it be an ability granted by Akasha?”
“It allows me to understand most magic just by seeing it,” Eugene revealed as he pointed to his own eyes. “I’ve tested it a few times, but I can comprehend any spells between the First and Fifth Circle. It doesn’t really work that well from the Sixth Circle onwards.”
“...It doesn’t really work that well?” Melkith repeated as she laughed in disbelief. “The fact that you can say that means that you can still somewhat sense such magic in the first place. Even if it is a spell that’s of a higher level than your own Circle.”
“That’s right,” Eugene confirmed.
“...That’s not something you should reveal so easily, brat. Is it because you’re not aware of how great an advantage it is to be able to see through higher ranks of magic than your own during a magic battle?” Melkith questioned exasperatedly.
Eugene just grinned instead of replying. Melkith felt a dawning sense of horror from this smile.
This brat wasn’t her opponent right now. No matter how lacking in dignity Melkith was, she was nevertheless a Grand Spirit Summoner who had made a contract with two Spirit Kings, and an Archwizard who had reached the Eighth Circle.
‘...Right now, he’s still only twenty years old. With enough martial talent to be called the second coming of the Great Vermouth, after becoming the Red Tower Master’s disciple, he has managed to reach the Fifth Circle in just three years, and now he’s even inherited Sienna’s legacy,’ Melkith counted off Eugene’s accomplishments.
Now that he had become Akasha’s master as well, Eugene’s achievements in magic were sure to rise even faster. Melkith couldn’t imagine what Circle Eugene might reach in only a year or so.
‘...Even worse, this guy can actually cast spells a Circle above his own. He’s still not up to my level… but perhaps… if it’s not just with magic and instead he used everything that he has, he might even be able to combat a Seventh Circle wizard,’ assessed Melkith.
This might be a bit disrespectful to the Lionheart clan’s reputation, but Melkith couldn’t help but feel that Eugene’s talent was devilish. His young age and such talent… she honestly couldn’t deny her desire for him. Anyone who saw such a gem in the rough[1] would be fascinated by it. Melkith licked her lips with a distressed expression.
‘If only he wasn’t the disciple of the Red Tower Master,’ Melkith thought regretfully.
She couldn’t just steal someone else’s disciple. However, there was nothing wrong with having a close relationship with them. Melkith didn’t have the nasty habit of wanting to trample any junior with overflowing talent — instead, she actually wanted to provide that talent with a bit of help, so that Eugene would owe her a favor in the future.
“I’ll teach you summoning magic,” Melkith declared once she had finished her considerations.
“I’ve already refused your help earlier,” Eugene sighed. “Tempest really doesn’t like you, Lady Melkith.”
“...That… that really… really hurts me… deeply, but—!” Melkith ground out through gritted teeth as she glared at Eugene. “I’m saying that I’lll teach you summoning magic for free! I have no desire to force a contract with a Spirit King who doesn’t like me. I’ll even make you a promise. I won’t even lay a hand on Wynnyd, nor will I try to mess with Tempest if you summon him.”
“....Your poker-face is really good,” Eugene complimented.
Melkith shouted in frustration, “Ah really! I, Melkith El-Hayah, am promising that I’ll teach you summoning magic without asking for anything in return!”
“I don’t really believe in costless favors,” Eugene said with a tilt of his head as he smiled at her.
Like she’d thought, he really was a cheeky brat. Melkith returned his smile and folded her arms.
“...Well, the truth is, that it’s not like I don’t want anything from you,” Melkith admitted. “I’m hoping that as I teach you, our relationship will grow.”
Eugene confessed, “I feel like I’m already pretty close to you, Lady Melkith.”
“So are you going to learn spirit summoning magic from me or not?”
“If you’re offering to teach me, then I’ll make sure to learn with gratitude.”
Eugene had no hesitation in accepting her offer this time around. At Eugene’s reply, Melkith cackled and nodded her head.
“Good,” she said. “Right now is unsuitable, but I’ll make sure to visit you soon.”
“Why is it unsuitable?” Eugene asked.
“My spirit summoning magic focuses on controlling spirits of earth and lightning, and you haven’t contracted those spirits. I feel like you’ll have a better chance of contracting the spirits of lightning instead of earth, but you don’t have any affinity towards lightning spirits,” Melkith judged.
“So what then?” Eugene prompted.
“I said it before, didn’t I? As long as you’ve signed a contract with the Spirit King of the Wind, your affinity with spirits isn’t all that important. Although it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to sign a contract with the Spirit King of the Lightning like me, you should be able to make contracts with lightning spirits up to the intermediate level. As long as I provide a catalyst, you should also be able to finalize a contract,” Melkith assured him.
Instead of replying immediately, Eugene was lost in thought for a few moments.
[Lightning Spirits are powerful. Even if it’s only up to the intermediate level, they should be able to achieve excellent results when combined with your skills.]
With a voice inside of his head, Tempest came to Eugene’s aid.
[Especially when combined with one of the weapons in your possession, the Thunderbolt Pernoa. If a lightning spirit lends its aid to the weapon, its power would be amplified and the mana consumption would be reduced.]
‘That sounds about right,’ Eugene agreed thoughtfully.
[Hamel. In your current list of skills, isn’t there something you once called the Lightning Counter? If that skill is amplified with actual lightning, it won’t just be called ‘lightning,’ you might be able to develop it into a real lightning bolt—]
‘Mind shutting your piehole?’ Eugene immediately interrupted Tempest as his face transformed into a scowl and he thrust Wynnyd back into his cloak.
Once he regained his composure, Eugene addressed Melkith, “...There’s also the fact that I won’t be staying in Aroth for all that long. Since the hearing is over, I was planning to head back either today or tomorrow.”
Melkith snorted, “So what if you’re heading back, why should that matter? You’re just going to stay at the Lionheart clan’s main estate, aren’t you? That works out pretty well. I also happened to be interested in the elves staying at your main estate.”
To be more precise, rather than the elves, Melkith was interested in the trees that were said to have been brought with them. Seeing as how they were transported together with the elves from the depths of the rainforest, those were definitely the fairy trees that only grew in close vicinity to the elven territory.
‘As long as I get close enough, I might be able to snag a branch for myself,’ Melkith thought greedily.
A branch of a fairy tree was a precious material that you might not be able to find even if you had the money to purchase it. Currently it was extremely rare for any branches to be in circulation, and most of those that were had already been processed into items.
“Sir Eugene,” Mer finally spoke up.
While Eugene and Melkith had been focusing on their conversation, Mer had vacuumed up all of the desserts. While she wiped away the whipped cream covering her lips, her eyes were still sparkling up at Eugene.
“Could I please eat some more?” she requested.
“...Aren’t you sick of those yet?” Eugene asked.
“Sir Eugene, I haven’t been able to eat anything for the past two hundred years,” Mer pointed out. “Do you really think that I would get sick of such cakes after only eating a few of them?”
“But that wasn’t just a few cakes…,” Eugene argued as he turned to survey the empty plates in disbelief.
Despite his protest, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t allow Mer to have some more. With a trembling expression on his face, Eugene nodded his head, causing Mer to hug Eugene’s arm with a smile.
“Thanks!” Mer said cheerfully.
Melkith stared at Mer with wide eyes.
Was this really the Wise Sienna’s familiar? The Mer that Melkith recalled wasn’t so lively and cute. Well, this was probably due to Melkith having peed herself in Sienna’s Hall, but in any case, she felt deeply surprised as she saw Mer show such a different attitude towards Eugene.
‘...Since this familiar has the body of a woman… could it be that she likes handsome young men?’ Melkith speculated.
But no, Mer’s current attitude wasn’t like that, it was closer to the way a daughter would pester her father….
Melkith quickly dismissed the thought. ‘...There’s no way… if you count the years that familiar has been in operation, it should be well over two hundred.’
Although her mental age had been fixed by basing it on Sienna’s childhood personality…. Melkith scratched her cheek in confusion as she felt that this was quite a complicated situation.
“So you were here,” a voice interrupted.
Just as Eugene was about to call a waiter over to place another order, someone approached their table.
The sarcastic voice continued, “It’s nice to see you looking so relaxed, Eugene Lionheart.”
It was the Green Tower Master, Jeneric Osman. As he drew closer, Melkith narrowed her eyes and stood up to confront him.
“Green Tower Master, I can’t help but think of some pretty rude assumptions about you right now,” Melkith admitted.
Jeneric accepted her accusation, “I won’t scold you for being rude. Because your assumptions are probably correct.”
“...Ha! Are you being serious?” Melkith scoffed. “The hearing is over and Aroth’s royal family has recognized Eug—”
“But I haven’t recognized him,” Jeneric spat out as he glared at Eugene. “Even if Lady Sienna has recognized you and handed over the ownership of Akasha. As the Patriarch of the Osman family, and the Master of the Green Tower of Magic, I must assess you personally.”
“How disgraceful,” Melkith remarked with a sneer. “I really don’t appreciate your overweening pride, Jeneric Osman.”
The Wise Sienna had taught three disciples during her life.
One of them was Lovellian’s grandmaster, who had served as the former Red Tower Master.
The remaining two had stayed in the Green Tower of Magic, proceeded to marry, and had children together. This was the Osman family. The two’s son had served as the former Green Tower Master, and his son was Jeneric Osman, the current Green Tower Master.
…But now that Eugene had become Akasha’s owner, and thus Sienna’s successor, the Osman family could no longer claim to be the legitimate heirs to her legacy.
“Do you intend to defy Lady Sienna?” Eugene asked without standing up from his seat, simply staring at Jeneric.
However Jeneric refused to back down and just glared back at Eugene.
“I,” Jeneric declared, “believe that if you would claim to be the successor to the Wise Sienna, then you must be the most exceptional wizard of your time.”
“Disgraceful,” Melkith repeated. “And arrogant as well. The greatest wizard of your time? Could it be, are you really saying that you’re confident enough to claim to be such a wizard?”
Crackle.
An electric current began to flow around Melkith.
“You’re really saying that in front of me?”
Without hiding her hostility, Melkith glared at Jeneric as she hissed this question. Although her gaze was fierce, Jeneric didn’t shrink back and just snorted.
“I’m not free right now, but if you so desire, I’ll gladly establish the pecking order between us, Melkith El-Hayah. Although I admit that you’re a worthy and respected wizard, I don’t see you as above me.”
“...Ahaha! Are you so old that you’re going senile? If you really do think that way, then… follow me outside right now!” Melkith finished with a challenging roar.
“I should have already told you, I’m not free right now,” Jeneric said as his eyes coldly looked Eugene up and down. “What I want to confirm today isn’t who is superior between you and I. What I want to confirm is, between Eugene Lionheart and I, which of us two is the best suited to become Lady Sienna’s successor?”
“You have no right to decide such a thing, Green Tower Master,” Mer cut in.
Although she’d been smiling softly just a few moments before, Mer was no longer laughing. She was now confronting Jeneric with a cold and stiff look on her face.
“In the first place, it is ridiculously arrogant for you to even believe that you have the right to decide who has the better qualifications. If I had to say why, then it’s because you're not qualified in the slightest,” Mer coldly pronounced.
“...What?” Jeneric barked out indignantly.
Mer explained, “Both you and your father. I’m saying that neither of you has the right to claim to be Lady Sienna’s successor. Your grandfather, Weiss Osman, and your grandmother, Frilla Hellen, may have been Lady Sienna’s disciples, but that doesn’t mean that their descendants can claim to be Lady Sienna’s successors.”
Jeneric stewed in silence.
“Instead, I believe that the only other person with the right to claim to be Lady Sienna’s successor is the Red Tower Master, Lovellian Sophis. Because Lovellian and his master, at the very least, managed to show respect to myself, Lady Sienna’s familiar,” Mer explained.
Jeneric shouted, “A mere familiar dares to—!”
Mer interrupted him, “Yes, I am a mere familiar. That might just be a fact, but if you truly claim to be Lady Sienna’s successor, then it’s inappropriate for me to look down on you as you are. I remember what happened one hundred and twenty years ago. How your father had me dissected. Just how presumptuous they were in trying to dig into the core of Witch Craft?!”
Jeneric’s face twisted into a scowl as he protested, “My father was doing that for the sake of Lady Sienna. It was in remembrance of Lady Sienna that he was attempting to fully comprehend the Witch Craft that she left behind for us!”
“In remembrance?” Mer repeated mockingly. “Lady Sienna hasn’t died. She’s still alive, and she has recognized Eugene as her successor.”
“Enough,” Eugene spoke up. “So, what the Green Tower Master is saying is… he doesn’t recognize me as Akasha’s master nor as Lady Sienna’s successor…. Have I got that right?”
Pushing his chair back, Eugene stood up.
“Well then… I’m happy to accept such a challenge. Because legitimate or not, it’s that, ‘for now,’ I am lacking in terms or being a wizard when compared to the Green Tower Master,” Eugene easily admitted.
“...For now?” Jeneric ominously repeated.
“You have to consider our ages, of course. Take right now, for example. Isn’t it an ugly and shameful thing that someone who isn’t as talented as me, whose only advantage is having lived fifty years longer, is actually questioning a young man’s qualifications?” Eugene asked mockingly as the corners of his mouth twisted upwards.
“Honestly speaking, I’m not sure what exactly it is you’re trying to achieve, Green Tower Master. Are you really trying to get me to hand over Akasha on the grounds that I’m currently lacking as a wizard when compared to the Green Tower Master? Have you seriously come here thinking that would be accepted? Or else, could it be that you’re so blinded by greed and jealousy that you want to take Akasha from me even if it means defying Lady Sienna, whom you claim to respect?”
As he asked these questions, Eugene reached into his cloak.
“In your opinion, do you really think that such stubbornness is acceptable? The Green Tower Master himself might believe that it is, but no one else who agrees will agree will feel the same way. Do you really think that you’ll be able to convince Aroth’s royal family at this point? When they should currently be busy worrying that Lady Sienna might just drown Abram?”
“...Lady Sienna is also a rational wizard,” Jeneric insisted, his eyes bulging as he glared at Eugene. “Lady Sienna may have met you first, but she hasn’t met me yet. Since my abilities are superiors to yours, why would Lady Sienna still choose you as her successor?”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Eugene challenged.
“Let’s duel,” Jeneric proposed as he looked inside the cloak that Eugene had unfurled.
The staff that he wanted, Akasha, was now in Eugene’s hand.
“Of course, since there is a large difference between your skills and mine, an ordinary duel would be unfair. So I will limit myself and only use magic up to the Sixth Circle,” said Jeneric.
“And me?” Eugene prompted.
“You’re free to use all the abilities in your possession. The Lionheart clan’s martial arts and your magic, both are fine.”
Even if a wizard of the Eighth Circle were to limit themself to using spells within the first six Circles, their skill would definitely not be limited to that of an ordinary Sixth Circle wizard. Even if the spells were from a lower Circle, they could match spells from a higher Circle depending on how they were used.
In the first place, the Eighth Circle wasn’t something that could just be reached only by knowing spells that had a lot of power to them. A wizard’s Circle level depended on how deeply they understood magic itself. That was why the wall of the Eight Circle was so high, and why anyone who crossed that wall was allowed to call themself an Archwizard.
“And if I refuse?” Eugene tested him.
“Are you going to?” Jeneric sneered.
“Of course not,” Eugene snorted as he picked up a crumpled napkin that was on the table. “If I lose, I will place Akasha in Akron and leave.”
“...You should hand it over to me,” Jeneric proposed greedily.
Eugene immediately refused. “Absolutely not. This staff belongs to Lady Sienna, I’m just taking care of it for her.”
Jeneric’s face stiffened at these words. He opened his mouth to say something, but his voice couldn’t come out.
A napkin stained with whipped cream, which Mer had used to wipe her lips, was thrown into Jeneric’s chest.
As he threw it, Eugene said, “I will accept your challenge, Green Tower Master.”
The napkin struck Jeneric’s chest and fell to the floor.
“If I win, I want you to apologize to Mer,” Eugene stated.
“...That’s…” Jeneric hesitated.
Eugene further clarified his request. “And I want you on your knees, with your head bowed, very respectfully.”
Jeneric’s face reddened in anger.