Zachary was headed toward his father's private study, located in the northwest building of the family estate. Martins walked ahead of him, leading the way with the steady gait of a seasoned butler.
The building itself looked like a mansion in its own right. From the main estate to Neil's private study, the distance was roughly a hundred meters, give or take—well within comfortable walking range. The path connecting the two was shaded, which helped.
The estate's layout had clearly been designed with the climate in mind. Wide walkways, ample cover from the glaring sun, and just enough open space for soft gusts of wind to pass through and cool the skin. Even in hot, humid weather, walking from one point to another never felt unpleasant.
It took less than two minutes for Martins and Zachary to arrive.
Standing before the front door, Martins pressed the bell button to announce Zachary's presence.
"Come in," Neil's voice sounded from a speaker placed low on the wall, only slightly above the bell.
"Please, Young Master," Martins said, holding the door open as he stepped aside.
Zachary walked in without ceremony.
His first impression was space—wide and open. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled every available wall, clearly custom-built from rare hardwoods. A mezzanine ran along the upper level, lining the higher shelves and stretching the length of the room.
Impressive, perhaps, from the perspective of someone unfamiliar with wealth.
To Zachary, it was… fine.
He'd seen far more extravagant places in his past life. This didn't awe him.
What did catch his attention were the collector's items sealed behind climate-controlled glass. Each came with plaques and detailed descriptions. Relics, without a doubt. Objects of historical weight and value, judging by how carefully they were preserved.
His gaze shifted next to the only two other people present.
His father, Neil Bohrson.
And Dr. Alex Dwargo—the private physician who looked like he'd watched far too many science fiction movies and taken the wrong lessons from them.
The two men were seated at the largest table in the room—Neil's personal reading spot.
By the time Zachary stepped fully inside, both of their eyes were already on him. After all, he was the reason this meeting was happening.
"Zachary, sit down," Neil said, gesturing toward a sofa positioned a short distance from the table.
The sound insulation in the building was excellent. No one needed to raise their voice. Even a whisper carried clearly.
Zachary complied and dropped onto the plush sofa with a satisfied breath. It was comfortable—just the right balance of softness and support. Perfect for lying down. Or, better yet, taking a nap.
Dr. Alex sat on the sofa opposite him, both of them facing Neil at the large, luxurious table.
"Dr. Alex, I assume you have some misunderstanding to be cleared." Zachary's father said after a few moments. The silence was meant to let both person in his presence to settle down.
"Ahem..." Dr. Alex cleared his throat. Certainly feeling a bit awkward due to what had transpired earlier, though his pride won't let him go any lower.
"Due to the suddenness of occasion, coupled with irritations at you for being late to attend our morning training session, I have judged the situation poorly. For that, I offer my sincerest apology." Dr. Alex is certainly an eloquent man.
Zachary naturally perceive the doctor's attempt to shift part of the blame to him, but Zachary doesn't mind.
After more than three months, Zachary is well aware of the man's personality.
"Um, doctor... Why are you apologizing to a zombie?" Zachary commented, doing great at pretending to be clueless.
The corner of Dr. Alex lips' twitched a little at that "honest inquiry."
"Listen here, you little shit. You look every bit like a zombie. Even now, I hope to do nothing other than to keep my distance lest that whatever virus turns you into this ugly thing get to me." Was what Dr. Alex wanted to spit out, but he chose against it.
After all, he's in the presence of Lord Malais himself now. He can act nonchalant with Zachary as he's the boy's private instructor.
"Surely you jest, young master. It was a blunder on my part and I perfectly understand your grievance. As a handsome young man, being called a zombie would naturally hurt their confidence." Dr. Alex said. He's trying to appear composed but certainly couldn't help dishing a small jab at the boy, masked with a compliment. Zachary smiled.
"Since my respected doctor and instructor said so, then it'd be childish of me to not accept your heavy and sincere apology. Since it's already a matter of the past, I hope doctor can discard that embarrassing visage of mine from his brain." Zachary put a strange emphasize and tone on the word brain. Dr. Alex doesn't react and only smiled.
Who knows if he catch that or not, but it seems the situation was cleared. Neil almost exhale a tired breath seeing this grown adult fighting with a boy not even half his age.
More than anything, Neil was quite surprised at how sharp his son's tongue were, veiled under a smile and polite tone. Absolutely contrasting his personality from months ago.
'Damn Dwargo being bad influence to my son.' Neil grumbled internally.
"Son, I called you hear not just to sort this minor misunderstanding that happens between you and doctor Dwargo. There's another matter. Where's the Eli's Staffs I gave you yesterday?" Neil inquired.
"Um... You need it?" Zachary asked carefully.
"Sigh... I know I've given them to you, but the situation calls for it. Are you done playing with it? How much of it were left? It's fine even if it's just one left. As compensation for taking what's already given, I'll get you something else later." Neil explained to a length. Taking back what's already given is a bad ethics, and that's why Neil wanted to provide compensation to his son.
"I understand, but Dad... They're gone." Zachary awkwardly scratched his cheek. Neil's eyebrow raised questioningly at that. Clearly not understanding what his son meant by 'gone.'
"I ate them... last night. Raw. In fact, the very reason Dr. Alex saw me in that state earlier today was because of the spice's effect." Zachary chose to come clean as he could sense the tension in the room. Eli's Staffs is a very potent regionally-exclusive spice which was also used as medicinal ingredient for so long in the history of El Malais Kingdom.
"Zachary, while the general public may not know much about the Eli's Staff, the same couldn't be said about certain people. I, for one, certainly knew better. Dr. Alex too was among those in the know." Neil said sternly to Zachary.
"Naturally I'm not trying to lie to you father. I'm telling half truths. As for the other half..." Zachary's eyes drift toward Dr. Alex.
"Now I'm curious. Did your body react differently to Eli's Staffs' properties perhaps?" Dr. Alex asked Zachary, but the latter didn't answer and only maintain eye contact with his father.
Watching this, Neil naturally understood what Zachary's implying. However, it's a hassle to chase the man away when his interest was piqued.
"Sigh... Just break it to us as is, Zachary." Neil said.
"..." Zachary went silent for a few moments, mulling over the options available to him. He couldn't simply backtrack now; doing so would all but jeopardize the trust Neil Bohrson, his father in this lifetime, placed in him as his biological son.
Neil and Dr. Alex waited patiently for Zachary to explain himself, and they receive just that.
"Actually, Eli's Staff is not a spice.... It is elixir. Or at least, the most important ingredient to make an elixir." Zachary said plainly.
"...." Both Neil and Dr. Alex looks surprised, but for entirely different reason.
"So you really do know something. I thought you're just bluffing." Dr. Alex mused. His interest clearly spiking. Neil on the other hand, nodded, like what Zachary said was common sense.
"Okay now I'm confused. Dad, you're the one who told me it's a spice several days ago. What does all this mean?" Zachary deadpanned as he look at Neil.
"It's because some truths are just too ridiculous. Since the people knew of Eli's Staff as spice, letting it remain as such wasn't too bad of a decision." Neil answered curtly.
Zachary really couldn't argue with that reasoning as he's entirely on board. Sometimes, the truth could cause more chaos and bloodshed that it's better to stay silent and let people settle on their own "truth."
"You said elixir just now. What are you implying? What's elixir in your context?" Dr. Alex asked questions that naturally suit an intellectual sense of reasoning. This kind of conversation wasn't Zachary's thing back in his past life.
Mainly because he likes to be solitary and not be in contact even with immortal societies. He finds networking as tedious and involve too much unstable elements.
In this life though, Zachary had yet to have much chances to even do anything much less to socialize. Plus, his mother absolutely forbade him from wandering outside of the family estate without bodyguards. A bit too protective of a mother, but understandable since Zachary had been in a coma for 5 years. She naturally wants to hog him for herself until she's fine with letting go.
Even birds had to leave it's nest eventually.
The conversation were picked up again as Zachary answered the doctor's inquiries.
"Hmm.... Let's say this elixir are entirely capable of turning a regular person into a god-among-men in an instant. On the scale of 1 to 10 : how much of that statement can you accept?"
"Define god-among-men." Dr. Alex stated.
"Capable of producing feats considered humanly impossible, or unlikely? Like having the strength to lift a car with one hand, can fly unassisted, can run at subsonic speed or faster, or can survive a high speed accident unscathed?" Zachary used easy to understand examples instead of going full conceptual mode.
"I haven't seen anyone do that. But the strength and intellect of the royal family are way above average human capabilities.... 7. Even that was pushing it. Though 6 is clearly too low if 5 means 'on the fence.'"
"Understandable. If you ask me, I'd say 11 because what examples I provided had been a bit watered down." Zachary nodded.
"So far, there had been a lot of claims and there weren't any evidence...." Dr. Alex look straight into Zachary's eyes. His statement were sound as so far, it were more empty talk than anything else.
Something that Zachary is about to change. Zachary closed his eyes as he began to focus.
Suddenly, he began levitating from the sofa and stand in the air. Neil's and Dr. Alex's eyes went wide as saucers.
"Congrats doctor. You've guessed it partially correctly." Zachary said, referring to the doctor's inquiry about the Eli's Staff properties reacting differently to him.
~~~~
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