At the doorstep, Lorian and Lucien were received by Bistro's personal attendant. He bowed to both with utmost courtesy and guided them towards Bistro's chamber. Every head bowed to them with reverence as they passed; however, Lorian felt as if they were secretly laughing at him, believing he had failed against their master's superior cunning and intellect.
After passing the grand hall, climbing the stairs to the first floor, and traversing through the hallway, they ended up at their destination. The door was closed- a clear sign of arrogance and insult, for the Baron was well aware of their arrival; he himself had invited them after all. To add insult to injury, the servant knocked the door, and kept knocking several times, much to Lucien's irritation.
"Has the Baron fallen asleep?" Lucien asked, in a bit of a loud voice, "or has he forgotten whom he invited?"
The servant bowed and said, "Please do not mind, My Lord, Master is a very busy man, and has a lot in his mind! He must be busy!"
"How dare…. !" Lucien fumed with anger, but Lorian held his hand to make him calm down.
"Come inside!" a baritone voice was heard from inside the room.
The servant opened the door from outside and guided them into a well-decorated, vast room. On the walls, there were huge book racks; from the ceiling was dangling a lavish chandelier. Ornately crafted wooden furniture was well-placed inside the room. In the middle, there was a beautiful table, crafted of ivory it seemed. The grandiosity of the room rivaled that of Lord Elmsworth Thorne himself.
There were four chairs, carved of black wood, on four sides of the round table- each one facing the other. A middle-aged person with a monocle, wearing luxurious clothing, was sitting on the chair that was directly facing the door as the trio entered. The Baron stood up from his chair to invite them, but only partially, bending slightly as his hand still kept holding the armrests of his chair.
"Please come inside, please come inside, the Young Master of the Thornes, His Royal Highness, My Prince Lorian Thorne; and," Baron Bistro shifted his gaze to Lucien, standing behind Lorian, "Commander Lehance! Gilded Spire is enthralled as you step foot on our humble adobe."
"Gilded Spire!" Lorian thought to himself; even the choice of the name was in direct reference to Auric Spire, a clear challenge to the established prowess and dominance of the Thornes.
"Behold my humble home, oh Great Prince," the Baron declared, his voice dipped with arrogance and pride, while circling in proud steps around Lorian and Lucien- the two symbols of Thorne Pride and Power, "I have renovated the entire hold to the glory it deserves, and you can see the earnest brilliance and magnificence of this in this very room itself. I have made it as I had envisioned, and even surpassed it."
Bistro stopped, taking a dramatic pause, and looked back at Lorian. "My Prince, I have a similar vision for our beloved Veridia! I want to reshape it to the glory it truly deserves! I hope you will accept my offer to work together so that we can take our dear city to the stars and beyond. Do not get concerned that this small incident would create any bitterness between us. This is your home as well, My Prince, just like each and every hold in this city." He rubbed his chin and looked at the window. "I believe someone had tipped you wrong, for there are no dearth of people who are jealous of me, and might have wanted to use this to create a wedge between us. But I am not a petty person; I can look beyond immediate action, and am more focused on cause than effect, which is one of the secrets of my success!"
He again looked at Lorian. "So, what do you think?"
Lorian felt relieved as the Baron stopped his boring monologue. He put his pinky finger in his ear as a gesture of cleaning it, "oh, you said something? Sorry I lost you at later point!"
Lucien's lip curved in a visible attempt to control his smile, which further irritated the Baron. He inquired in a mocking tone, "Oh, was His Highness's mind busy in something more important than our discussion?"
"Oh yes, indeed," Lorian retorted, "I was actually trying to gauge your claim about the architectural brilliance of yours in this hold."
This statement surprised not only the Baron but Lucien as well, for he had no knowledge of the Prince having any knowledge of architecture. However, unbeknownst to them, Lorian had just obtained a secret temporary gift, and Lorian had decided to use this now. Although the Mystic Slot Machine had not given him the gift he was particularly looking for, he decided to use the new gift he had obtained, as the situation was right, so was the opportunity.
He used the Temporary Buff 'Architect's Glimmer' and suddenly the world around him went dark. The entire architecture around him was only visible by their golden threadlike outline. It seemed his entire world had become a computer simulation, turned into a grid. And the people had turned to images similar to those that could be seen in heat vision cameras. There were also some strange red spots around. Lorian could not understand what they meant. However, there were glowing red lines here and there which looked like hairline cracks. And then suddenly it struck him. The description had mentioned that the power would enable him to spot weak points, besides efficient layouts or scope of extensions. So, these red spots were weak spots of the building.
Lorian decided to point out the weak spots to the Baron and burst his balloon of arrogance. And suddenly he noticed a big glowing red spot beneath the center table, where they were sitting. It was under their feet, so Lorian had not noticed it before. Lorian looked carefully, and he was astonished. Just beneath their feet, there was a long cylindrical architecture that went deep down, and there was a circular staircase to take people down.
A devilish smile played on Lorian's face. The Mystic Slot Machine had not given him the gift he had wished for, but it had not disappointed him either, for he had obtained another great gift which was going to help him achieve his goal in a spectacular way. He focused his gaze and he could notice a mechanism that had begun from a circular door where the red spot was, and the mechanism ended on the pillar in the far end of the corner.
Lorian looked at the Baron. Although his face was not visible to Lorian in his new special eyesight, but he could sense the Baron was feeling restless.