Taming My Vampire Servant

Ivory avoided his gaze, then at the side of the room, she noticed Sigmund's duffel bag that her foster father lent him. She jumped over the bed quickly, and when she reached for the bag, she opened it.

"Oi, Ivory!" Sigmund yelled, knowing that he hid something in there that his Master shouldn't see. 

Ivory took out a pretty red pouch which was closed with the strings drawn and tied. When she was about to open it, Sigmund lunged towards her, making her lay down on the floor beneath him!

"Sigmund… Get off me!" she said, struggling with her hands held down by the Vampire's big hands. 

Sigmund gripped her hand tightly until the pouch was released from her hands.  "From now on, don't touch my things," he said coldly, then sat on the floor properly.

Ivory also sat and faced her Servant. "You're my Servant, you shouldn't keep things from me. You know that distrust will lower the mana quality and weaken our magic."

"I know, but-"

"And for your information, I already know what's inside," she turned her head to the side, not looking at him, "Thanks to your deal with the shopkeeper, I now have a debt of 100 silver coins per week because of those useless rings."

Sigmund was disappointed by Ivory's words. It was as if his Master was trying hard to move on from him when in fact, she was the one who initially wanted to have a couple rings with him. He knew it was just a facade when she said that the rings could symbolize their trust towards one another. 

The Vampire was not dumb, and he could read through Ivory's actions. But what hurt him was that she's giving up on her feelings, while he's still holding onto it, even though it might seem impossible. Just being with her was what mattered most.

"It is not your debt, Ivory. It is mine," he said. "I bought it, and I will work so I can pay that debt."

"But Sigmund, you're my Servant. Your debt is my debt…" Ivory uttered. She stood up, "Don't bother working. Just help with my tasks in the inventory office. Give me that, I will return it to the jewelry shop."

Sigmund clenched the red pouch tightly since he did not want to return it. 

But he thought, if Ivory had given up on her feelings, why would he bother keeping the rings? 

Ivory took hold of the pouch, and she placed it in her pocket. "I will return this, so you won't have a debt to pay. You can't have a hundred silver coins in just a week anyway, even if you get three jobs a day. Please do not be this impulsive again, Sigmund. I am telling you this as your Master." Then she walked out of the room and closed the door.

"Darn it," he muttered to himself. Could Ivory really forget him that easily? He could already foresee that their mana quality would be compromised because of it. He felt his body weakened as his heart felt like being torn into pieces. 

He cursed himself for having human desires.

When Ivory reached the jewelry store, it was already dark. She saw a purple-haired young man getting out of the store and sliding the door's latch.

As soon as Vernon was done using the iron lock to secure the latch, he turned his head towards Ivory. He widened his eyes as he saw how beautiful Ivory was, and her rare silver hair stood out among the passersby. It was the first time he saw someone as beautiful as the magnolia flower he used to admire when he was a kid. 

"Uhm excuse me," Ivory uttered as she approached him, "I'd like to return a pair of rings."

Vernon noticed the bitterness in Ivory's tone. Did something bad happen to the beautiful woman in front of him? Why would she return the rings with a saddened expression on her face?

"We're already closed, but… why would you return the rings? Is the design not to your liking?" he asked her.

"Oh, no, it's not that. I love the design… It's just that…" she sighed, "The person I was supposed to give this to... we can't be lovers."

Vernon felt her sadness when she saw her in that state. The chilly weather and their thick coats were not helping at all. "I can open the shop for you," he then said with a kind smile, "I am Vernon, the shopkeeper's brother."

Ivory offered for a handshake, "I am Ivory. It's nice to meet you."

The purple-haired young man shook her hands beneath those khaki-colored gloves. He then asked her to wait as she opened the lock once again. He lit the candle with a black metal handler placed on the side of the door, "I will just take a look at the list of jewelry. You can stay here or outside, and you can come with me, too. Whatever you're most comfortable with," and then he walked towards the back door. 

Although Ivory did not know the man, he could sense that Lucius was right about him. The kindness in his eyes and his gestures made her assume that he didn't have anything to do with the missing scrolls, and so she followed him from behind.

Inside the workshop, all the lights were lit, and it gradually became brighter. Ivory was amazed with all the excavated ores displayed on the wall-mounted shelves, and how plenty and varied his tools on the table were. 

Vernon took the rings from Ivory and then went to the table at the farthest back to search for the list of the previously displayed rings. He immediately saw the scroll, and saw which rings were recently purchased. Taking a quill and ink from the side, he wrote that the rings were returned.

A gold coin was given to Ivory, "Here… I am returning the deposit to you."

She took the gold coin, "Thank you, Mister Vernon."

"Just call me Vernon," he said kindly. "Shall we go?" 

"Wait," Ivory figured it might be a big chance for her to ask anything she wanted. Besides, Vica was not around, so it's safe for her to inquire, maybe she could have leads about the missing scrolls. "You're a jeweler, right?"

He nodded at her. He leaned his back on the table while listening to her.

She asked, "How do you get the excavated ores? Where are they bought?"

"Either in the ore processing center or buy them directly from the inventory office," Vernon explained. "In my case, it's my twin sister who's buying directly from the inventory office as raw excavated ores. It's three times cheaper."

"I see… That's interesting," Ivory said. Now, she knew that Vica might be involved in purchasing unprocessed, excavated ores. She panned her sight towards the tools on the table.

Vernon saw the curiosity in Ivory's eyes, so he asked, "Do you want to see how I make jewelry?"

Ivory felt that he could be trusted so she agreed, and the two of them sat behind the long table in front of each other. She looked closely on how Vernon hammered the ore in half. While seeing through a special glass lens he acquired from Omegalion City, he hammered the surrounding surface of the stone and removed some parts of the emerald gemstone very, very carefully.

After deciding on the size of the gem, he polished the piece of emerald. He went towards the back of the room and opened the windows, and placed the materials on a flat surface. Over an oil lamp he also bought from Omegalion, he was about to smelt the gold, but the fire went out.

"Ah, what happened?" Vernon muttered as he looked closely at the lamp. He noticed that the oil inside the lamp was already gone. "Oh, I forgot to refill the oil…"

"I have an idea," Ivory said. "I'll be your fire. How about it?"

He was confused, raising his brow, "What do you mean?"

"I am a Chosen One," she answered.

Vernon widened his eyes in awe. He doesn't know a lot of people, so he felt very fortunate meeting a Chosen One like her at an unexpected time. And at that moment, he admired Ivory even more.

And so she removed her gloves and helped him using her Fire magic. Vernon finally smelted the gold in the crucible held by tongs and after it melted, he poured it into a small container made of porcelain and waited for it to cool down. Once it hardened, he took it out from the container and dipped it into a special liquid. He asked for Ivory's help again to heat the small piece of gold bar before flattening it with a hammer. 

Before forming the ring with a hammer and a mandrel, Vernon took the piece of emerald and measured its size on top of the flattened ring. The heating and hammering process continued after the claws were finally formed on top of the ring where the gemstone would be placed. 

As Ivory watched him carefully, she could say that the jeweler was very skillful with his craft and couldn't help herself to be in awe with the process. 

It took Vernon more than two hours to demonstrate how to create a simple, jeweled ring. He made sure that it was polished before placing the hexagonal-shaped emerald in the claws of the thin flat gold band ring. 

After it was polished, Vernon gave the emerald ring to Ivory. "Here, a gift."

"Uhm, I can't possibly take something so valuable," she said shyly. 

But the young man took her hand and placed the ring on her palm, "It's a gift, for being patient in watching the whole process."

A bright smile appeared on Ivory's face, and she eventually accepted it. She wore the simple, yet elegant-looking ring, and they went out of the workshop.

While Ivory was waiting for Vernon to finish locking the front door of the store, an agitated Sigmund came rushing towards her.

"What the hell, Ivory! I was looking all over town for you!" Sigmund panned his sight towards the purple-haired man, who smiled when he saw him.

"Sig! Hello!" he then glanced at Ivory. He noticed the change in her expression. "Miss Ivory? You know each other?"

"Yes," Ivory crossed her arms. "He's my-"

"I am her lover," Sigmund said, then a playful smile was displayed on his lips.