Chapter 52: Erradicate him

Grent looked at Tez, and then he smiled in the same easy way he had been smiling all along.

"I wouldn’t say I advocate for anyone in particular," he said, tapping ash into the tray. "When I hire workers, I don’t have a specific pick. I hire whoever is capable of doing the job, and that is all there is to it."

He leaned back in his chair.

"I don’t care what race someone is or where they come from. If you can work, there is a place for you under my roof. Everyone deserves to get what they truly earn."

It was a smooth speech, the kind he had clearly given many times. It was meant to make him sound neutral, like a man who stood on neutral ground.

Tez knew this type of person.

Back in the world he came from, they called themselves neutralists. They said they were not racist and not biased toward anyone. They only cared about what you valued, what you brought, and what you could help them do.

They hired on merit, not on who you were.

A lot of people in that world hated them. Some felt the minority should take the lead, and others felt the majority should. Tez didn’t care which side he stood on. If anything, he thought their structure was proper.

The only issue was that Grent was lying straight to his face.

’Alright. Let’s play a little game.’

"That’s a fair way to run a house," Tez said, folding his arms. "But I couldn’t help noticing something while I walked through your halls. I counted at least twenty maids on the ground floor, and more than ten of them are purely from other races."

He let that sit for a second.

"In this city, humans clearly outnumber everyone else by a wide margin. So for that many beastfolk to end up working in one house, someone must have made a very conscious decision to hire them."

The air in the room began to tighten.

Peter turned his head and stared at Tez, trying to understand where he was going with this. Amber sat still beside him. Lia stood behind the chairs and did not move.

Grent set his cigar down slowly.

"Are you insinuating that I picked them on purpose?" he asked. "That I gathered them here to give people a certain look, to show everyone that I’m not biased against the other races?"

Tez shrugged.

"I don’t know. It could be a coincidence, a one in a million chance that your household ended up like this."

He tilted his head.

"But a lot of our decisions come from the subconscious, not the conscious. You might have hired more beastfolk without even realizing it, because in your mind that was how you balanced things out."

"You believed it was equality," he went on. "When in reality it could have been a bias of its own. And of course, there can be a bias toward the majority as well."

Grent was quiet for a moment.

Then he let out a slow breath through his nose, and the smile on his face went thin.

"Let me explain something to you, boy," he said.

His voice was low and even, but his eyes had gone cold.

"You walked into my house and you didn’t even greet me, the owner of this house. You said nothing. You simply sat down in my chair, used my toilet, and now you sit here and try to tell me that I carry some kind of bias."

He picked up the cigar again but didn’t put it in his mouth.

"I have been doing business for most of my life. In all those years, I forced myself to accept everyone and anyone who came through my door, because that is how you create balance and prosperity."

"There is no possible way, in all the world, that I’m biased toward a certain group of people," he finished. "The only thing I’m biased toward is money, and how I earn it."

Silence filled the room.

Tez looked at him for a few seconds. Then he smiled and raised his hands a little.

"That’s fine," he said. "I understand, and I’m sorry for overstepping. It wasn’t my place."

Peter took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

He gave Tez a look that said he had been seconds away from dragging the boy out of the house by his collar.

Grent seemed to relax too, though a sharpness still sat at the edge of his face. He took a drag from the cigar and looked at Amber, and the warmth came back into his voice.

"Now then, Your Highness. I have been thinking about your situation."

"Oh?" Amber said.

"It seems to me that it would be safer for you to stay here with me. I have guards, many of them, and plenty of servants and walls. My people can protect you far better than a few travelers could."

He spread his hand.

"I would feel much more comfortable knowing you were under my roof."

Peter opened his mouth. He was clearly working through the offer, thinking about how best to respond to it.

"Nah, that’s where I draw the line," Tez said.

Everyone turned to him.

Grent’s eyebrow rose. "Excuse me?"

"I’ll explain." Tez leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "On the back of one of your maids, there’s a mark. A red line across her skin. It came from a whip."

Grent frowned.

He did not hesitate for long.

"Yes," he said, with a small sigh, as if it were an unfortunate thing that could not be avoided. "It is sad to say, but I am a man who corrects his workers when they step out of line."

"I pay them extremely well," he continued calmly. "Better than anyone else in this city. And I expect good conduct in return."

"When one of them does something truly bad, like disrespecting a noble guest, I have to put them in their place. And I don’t limit that to one kind of maid. It applies to everyone under my roof, whatever they are."

He said all of it without any hint of shame.

"Tez," Peter said sharply, leaning toward him. "That’s enough."

Tez stopped.

He didn’t stop because he was told to. He stopped because the plan could not be rushed, and he knew it. Every piece had to move at the right pace.

He let his shoulders drop and turned away from Grent, toward Amber.

"Amber," he said in a gentler voice. "You’re strong yourself, and I’m strong too. Lia is strong, Mira is strong, and even the old man is more than capable, as you saw."

"I’m pretty sure that together we can defend you from whatever comes," he said. "I don’t feel okay leaving you out there on your own, or in a place where we can’t see what’s happening around you."

"It makes more sense if we all stay together."

Grent was fuming.

He didn’t raise his voice, but his fingers had tightened around the cigar, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. He knew exactly what the boy was doing.

Tez was manipulating the girl, and he was doing it right in front of him.

Amber looked at Grent for a moment. Then she looked at Tez.

A thoughtful line formed between her brows, and she gave a small nod.

"Thank you for your offer, Lord Grent," she said politely. "It is a kind one, and I truly appreciate it. But I’m sure I can handle things with the people I’m with."

"What I would ask of you instead is to help us whenever you come across information about what is happening. If you can do that, we will be very grateful for your assistance."

Grent forced a smile onto his face.

"Of course, Your Highness. It would be my pleasure."

They all got to their feet.

Peter bowed his head and thanked him for his time. Amber did the same. Tez turned to Grent and gave him one more calm, pleasant smile.

Grent’s eyes narrowed.

They walked out of the lounge in a line, and at the door, Tez stopped.

He turned his head and looked at Grent one last time. Neither of them said a word.

Then he stepped through and left.

’Rage bait him enough, and he’ll take action.’

That was the whole plan. If he could force Grent to make a move, he would be able to take the upper hand. A man who moved in anger made mistakes, and mistakes were all Tez needed.

They walked out of the manor and climbed into the carriage. Peter took the reins, and the wheels rolled over the gravel path and out through the gates.

Back in the lounge, Grent stood at the window.

He held the curtain back with one hand and watched the carriage grow smaller down the road. The calm, pleasant face he had worn all afternoon was gone. It was perfectly still now.

A figure appeared in the room behind him.

It was the butler. He stood a few steps away and bowed low.

"Master. You called for me."

"I did," Grent said, without turning around. "I don’t like that boy, the one who came with Peter. Tez. He walked into my house like he owned it, and he spoke to me as if I were some common man."

"I want you to gather every piece of information you can find on him," he said. "Where he comes from, who he serves, everything."

He paused.

"And if it is possible, I want him eradicated as soon as possible."

"Understood, master," the butler said. "I will send Ragnar to take care of it."

Grent let the curtain fall.

"That is a good plan," he said, and a slow smile crossed his face. "Ragnar has been itching for a fight for weeks now. I suppose it’s time we gave him one."

The butler bowed again.

He walked to the door, stepped out, and closed it behind him. The lock clicked softly into place.