The four members of the Vritra Family present gazed at him with a stunned expression, clearly not having expected his response. It was truly stunning for a student of the prestigious Elendir Institute of Magic to beckon them as 'highly generous investors' in his business.

Serulia burst out laughing at his words with a mirthful guffaw, earning a glare from her brother while her father Leonul simply gazed at Cæ with a serious expression, ignoring his laughing daughter.

"…You would reject money, but you want us to become 'highly generous investors?'" The man raised an eyebrow. "Why not just accept the money and invest it in your business? I do not wish to get entangled with you once I pay you the money and have you give all the testimony that you must to get that Walyn wench imprisoned for attempted murder."

"The money that I will get from a one-time investment isn't appealing enough nor as large as it would be if I turned you into my investors," Cæ replied with a calm but serious tone. "Investors often invest and reinvest."

"If you think I am just going to give you money to burn in some foolish venture…" The man growled, enunciating the Rs in his words rather aggressively, "you would be sorely mistaken. I would not reinvest in a burning train accident."

Serulia folded her arms, having finished laughing, before glaring at her father. "You have not read the intelligence we collected on him, have you, Athra?"

She said, using the Durmenese word for father. "He has successfully conducted not just a brand new company that has done very well in its first year, but also led the Slum Talent Acquisition Program as its director with even greater success. He is not a bumbling fool who will watch his ventures burn to the ground."

Her father frowned as crease lines formed on his forehead.

He was clearly not fond of how much his daughter was willing to defend a man who clearly wanted to feed on their family's wealth. In fact, he didn't even believe that Cæ cared for her at all. He suspected that his son was correct in that Cæ had only chosen to save her due to her affluent background.

He couldn't be blamed for strongly suspecting this, given that he did not outright believe it. It was something that all too many affluent families dealt with all the time. People who have only tried cultivating a relationship with them for their wealth. Leonul had seen it countless times in his life as the leader of the Vritra Family.

He had seen people try all manner of tricks and strategies, many of which were clinically insane, just to earn his trust to get access to his power, wealth, and influence. Cæ was no different from the rest of them in his eyes. Perhaps the only difference was that he had gone as far as to risk his life to protect Serulia and actually saved his own life.

"It is rather odd for a student of magic with elite-level talent like yourself to be a businessman, especially when you are still in magicademy," the man remarked in his Durmen accent. "I suppose I respect your hard work and perseverance to juggle your magicademics and business."

"Thank you, Your Excellency," Cæ replied with a respectful tone.

"Still…" The older man's red eyes sharpened, bearing deep into Cæ's. "Just because you have business experience and even success doesn't mean that you are worthy of an investment from none other than our Vritra family. Do you have any idea what caliber of businessmen fight for my attention to seek my patronage? Earning the Vritra Clan's support is a dream come true for many ambitious businessmen, not unlike yourself. What makes you special? Why should you choose you over them?"

Several thoughts flashed through Cæ's mind.

'I saved your daughter.'

He had every right to say it, but it would only make him look shameless and without class. He highly doubted that he would earn the respect of this esteemed master mage and head of the Vritra Family. And respect was essential for what Cæ had in mind.

'I have Acquired Savant Syndrome and it gives me divergent thinking… and also pure magic.'

He definitely couldn't say the last part, and even the first part came off as narcissistic and a bunch of bullshit.

"…Because I can offer you a way of getting revenge against the Walyns beyond just imprisoning their daughter for her crime," Cæ replied with a serious tone. "I'm offering you a way to crush them in the healthcare industry within Elendir."

He hoped that Silian's information was right. It would be pretty embarrassing if the Walyns had nothing to do with the healthcare industry.

Thankfully, Leonul didn't bite back based on any factual discrepancy, instead sharpening his red eyes into thin slits. "And what makes you think that we would be interested in even expanding into Elendir…?"

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"Please don't insult my intelligence, Your Excellency," Cæ replied with a composed, yet respectful tone. "I am aware that the Vritra Family has attempted to move into the healthcare industry of Elendir with some hospital projects. You clearly have an interest in expanding into this sector, do you not?"

"…You are well-informed about our matters." The man's tone was suspicious. "Almost as if you were preparing for this moment."

He was basically accusing Cæ of having prepared for all of this with the intention of exploiting the Vritra Family for his business opportunity. And Cæ had to admit that he could understand why he had come to that suspicion. It was rather odd for him to propose a business collaboration right then and there, having already gained foreknowledge of the Vritra Family's actions in his research into them to one day woo them.

"…would you believe me if I told you that I learned of this information around five minutes before I entered this room?" Cæ's tone was light, almost as if he didn't believe himself, even though it was the truth. "I was informed about this when a… acquaintance of mine informed me of the Walyn Family's move."

The air grew more serious at those words.

"I'm sure you're already well aware of this, certainly even more than I am, but the Walyn Family has created fake financial paper trails between the trainers of our Capture The Flag team and some source in the Durmen Principality, trying to make it seem like it is you of the Vritra Family," Cæ continued with a serious tone. "I learned that they were using the fact that the Vritra Family had attempted to enter the country as a motive for targeting the Walyn Family. That is how I came to learn about your interest in Elendir's healthcare industry. I have not researched your family extensively by any means."

"…" The man's sharp gaze bore deep into Cæ's eyes in silence.

It was admittedly quite plausible.

"…It is true that we have attempted to expand into Elendir's healthcare sector, even if quite unsuccessfully." The older man huffed with a hint of frustration. "But that does not mean I'm willing to simply give up and invest in the company of a man who has no background in healthcare. You are not a doctor. Nor a manager in the medical sector, nor someone with the qualifications or the experience you would need. Why in the world would I ever trust you to help me gain a foothold in the medical market in Elendir? If not for the fact that you saved my daughter, I wouldn't even be talking to you, entertaining this nonsense."

Cæ remained calm. "To answer your question. A good reason to trust me is because of the fact that I have a radically revolutionary model of healthcare, one that can dominate the healing surgery industry, for example."

Although Cæ intended to start with the heart, he intended to expand to other internal organs and sensitive systems within the body eventually. He just needed the funding because of the high barrier to entry that trying to take off in the healthcare sector was, especially in the hospital sub-sector.

He had considered going public, selling company bonds, or getting private investors.

For this project, he had hoped to get private investors because he wanted to keep what he was doing a little secretive. Going public or selling bonds would draw too much attention and would risk having copy-cats before he could properly be compensated for his revolutionary ideas. Of course, he also knew that getting a private investor was highly unlikely, even now, so he hadn't had his hopes particularly quite high.

Now, he found himself a perfectly good opportunity to solve the issue, so why wouldn't he explore it?

"You think you can revolutionize healing surgery, do you?" Leonul snorted, folding his arms and gazing at Cæ with dubious distrust. "And just what is your oh-so-brilliant idea?"

Perhaps someone else would eagerly leap to reveal their idea with the hopes of impressing Leonul, but Cæ remained calm. His circumstances were different. He held a lot of power because his testimony was quite important for Miranda's conviction. That gave him great leeway.

From what he had observed of the Vritra Family, they had clearly doted on Serulia their entire life and adored her as the youngest of the family. Hell, from the way they rushed to see her, even when undoubtedly aware that she was unharmed, he could tell that they were extremely protective of her.

They needed his testimony more than he needed their funding.

He could make money from those sources; he was a student of the Elendir Institute of Magic and a member of the Student Council, as well as Director of the Slum Talent Acquisition Program. That was enough to have options open for him that would otherwise be closed without any doubt.

But he was the only shot they had at getting Miranda convicted because he was the one who felt the force of the spell she used and could testify that it was lethal and would have killed Serulia.

Leonul was clearly aware of this, as well. He was simply testing how far he could push back against Cæ. He was a master mage and had the presence of a lion in comparison to a meager apprentice mage like Cæ. The latter could even do anything against the Vritra head, even if he used his pure magic.

"I cannot simply divulge my idea out like this without some… guarantees," Cæ remarked. "The idea that I have alone is quite valuable. I must take measures to protect it."

"Are you implying that I am a thief who would steal other people's ideas?" he sharpened his eyes.

"Not at all, I'm merely taking precautions," Cæ replied. "You wouldn't want the man that you're investing in to be careless, would you?"

Leonul snorted. "…I am willing to give some guarantees. I will have an agreement drafted that I will not have your idea stolen and personally sign it."

"Athra…!" Serulia's brother protested, his eyes widening at the notion that his father would give his signature away like that.

The older man raised his hand, compelling his son to be quiet, before gazing at Cæ with intense eyes. "Is that enough?"

The air grew tense in silence.

"…Very much, Your Excellency," Cæ replied. "However…"

He got up. "I'd like to save it for another time. I do not wish to infringe on your time with your daughter any more than I have. I hope to have this conversation in a more appropriate place and time."

He turned to Serulia with a softened gaze. "We can speak extensively once you have fully been discharged."

Serulia looked like she wanted to insist that he stay, but she remained silent, simply nodding with a smile.

Cæ bowed to the Vritra head, bidding all of them goodbye, before leaving the room.

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