"Alright, do you know about a place called Bull's Coven?" Al asked before he took a sip of the wine in his cup.
['Ahh, the sweet taste of wine. I can get used to this.'] Al thought.
Arabella was stunned that he asked that question. She thought that he was going to ask her questions about herself. She began to feel disappointment and it was evident on her face.
['What kind of friend will make his friend's sister sad? If only you'll let me make her feel good.'] Al muttered.
['It is exactly because she is Camron's sister that I want nothing to do with her. I don't think that I can develop feelings for her neither. Besides, didn't you say that I was getting soft? Now, why are you calling yourself a friend of Camron?'] Alex responded.
['Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against that Camron guy. So far, he hasn't done anything that might warrant me to want to kill him. I said that you were going soft because you were getting attached. You can have friends and still be a hard guy.'] Al explained.
['Don't even imagine killing him.'] Alex warned.
['See, this is what I was talking about when I said that you were going soft.']
"I wasn't expecting that question, but I did say that you could ask me questions so I will answer them to my best." She replied.
Her response snapped Al out of the conversation that he was having with Alex.
"Sorry," Al apologized, he understood what she meant by that. "I'm just really curious. I heard about it when I was on a stroll last night and it seems like a secretive place that a lot of people in the school doesn't know about." He added.
"Yeah, it is. Well, the Bull's Coven is an illegal business that is being run in the school under the tutelage of people with substantial and sufficient authority. This place was created years ago, if I had to estimate I'll have to say, 45 to 50 years ago.
You know that the academy doesn't let the students go out unless it is for a mission, holiday, or an emergency, right?" She asked the obvious.
"Yeah, I do," Al replied and proceeded to refill Arabella's cup with more wine.
"Thanks." She said.
"Back then, students got expelled for breaking those rules and expulsion wasn't enough to stop them from trying to satisfy their desires.
So a group of students with strength, that is the nirvana realm students of that time. They decided to do something about this, then they came up with the idea of the Bull's Coven.
Back then, they tried to get the school to approve of this idea of theirs, but it was denied several times. Can you guess why?" She picked her cup and sipped a little wine.
"No, not really." Al leaned back on his chair and folded his legs.
"I suppose you wouldn't, since you don't know what this Bull's Coven is really all about." She shook her head at herself for asking such a dumb question.
"The Bull's Coven is a place where where you could go and satisfy your desires and not be prosecuted for it."
"What type of desires?" Al asked just for the fun of it. He saw how uncomfortable she was on speaking about what they did in the coven.
"You know" She raised her hands, and shoulders too. She was trying to say it but it wasn't coming out of her mouth. Her lips and hands were just moving but she made no sound.
"Desires, like killing?" He questioned. His expression was serious so Arabella couldn't tell that he was messing with her.
['Mutt, can you stop making her speechless?'] Alex requested.
['Hey, if I don't make her speechless, who will? You?'] Al argued.
"No, not killing. Desires like you remember when I-I. When I offered my body in exchange for that favor?" She stuttered as she spoke.
"Yeah, what about it?" Al smirked.
"The desire has to do with something that intimate." She said lightly.
"Oh!! Sex!?" Al exclaimed.
He made sure that his voice was loud enough for the rest that was residing inside the room, to hear.
"Shh!! Not so loud. They might misunderstand." Arabella put her hands over her mouth.
"Hahaha, nothing wrong with a little misunderstanding." He replied. "Hey, is that offer still up for taking?" Al leaned forward and whispered with a mischievous smile on his face.
['You!! I already gave her my word that I wouldn't ask for anything like that in return, what the hell is your problem, can't you just focus on what's at hand!?'] Alex fumed.
['If only you didn't, I would have demanded it tonight.']
Arabella felt like there was steam coming off her body after she heard that. She quickly downed the cup of wine and refilled her cup by herself.
"Hahaha." Al started laughing at her reaction.
"I was just kidding, Bella."
When he said that it was just a joke, she stopped drinking and looked at him with watery eyes. "Why are you so different tonight?" She questioned.
"Am I?" He grinned at her.
"Yes, you are. I never took you as the person to make jokes like that. And you called me Bella,"
['I wouldn't make jokes like that.'] Alex interjected.
"Maybe because I'm starting to open up to you. You don't mind if I call you Bella, do you?" He said.
"Not at all, I like that better." She shifted her hair to the side and placed it behind her ear.
"If you don't mind, can we continue with the previous conversation that we were having?"
"Yes, yes, absolutely." Arabella took in a deep breath to calm her spiraling emotions down.
"Since you know that Bull's Coven is a place where both males and females go to satisfy their desires, I can go on to the next thing.
The school rejected the idea of having a place like the coven in the school because they were here to raise cultivators, and not people hungry to satisfy their desires. After the school rejected their idea, they decided to still go ahead with the plan.
They had genius runemasters that supported their idea and also wanted a percentage of the profit that they would make from such business. With the help of the runemasters, they were able to build a place that they could carry out their ideas."
She picked the bottle of wine and drank from it directly.
"Wow, you must be really thirsty," Al whispered.
-Pop!
She removed the bottle from her mouth and it made that pop sound.
"Those that started the Bull's Coven, began recruiting girls that were in need of energy crystals. The made sets of rules and regulations in the coven that both the customers and workers must follow. Of course, they couldn't do all these without the school finding out.
They were threatened by the academy staff that found out about that place and were left with two choices. Either they bribe the staff and or get punished by the school. And of course, they chose to bribe the staff. Even the school knew that the staff was bribed and chose not to do anything about it.
After that, other staff in the school came to demand a cut from their profits. But that was also limited, so they decided to make deal with them. They would only give cuts to the staff that can provide something for them, in other words, only those that could grant them protection against others in the school that wants them out of business."
['Typical corrupt schemes.'] Alex commented.
"This has been going on for years, the higher-ups of the Bull's Coven could be said to be the richest students on campus. The amount of energy stones that they get every day is just, ridiculous."
Al frowned. ['There are students richer than me in this academy? Hmph, despicable, unacceptable. Is this girl belittling me? She didn't even include me in that list.'] Al complained.
['You expect everyone to be poor? Delusional prick.'] Alex insulted.
"Of course, excluding you. If I add you to the equation then that wouldn't be fair to them, after all, you are royalty." She added.
A smug smile formed on Al's lips as he picked his cup and drank more wine.
"Is there a reason why the school hasn't shut them down even after they know that they are doing this?" Al asked.
"I don't know for sure, but here's what I think the reasons are. The first is because nothing has gone AWOL since the business started and the rate at which the school expelled students reduced, drastically. The second reason is that, the current leaders are nirvana realm cultivators, 8 of them.
Nirvana realm cultivators in the academy all have masters, and their masters all have high positions in the academy. But I don't have a master yet. And also because nothing bad has actually happened in the coven nor has the coven done anything bad."
"And what will an example of that be?"
"Em, if someone dies in the coven I guess."
An evil grin crawled up his face when he heard that. ['It will be fun to kill those guys and also put others out of business. Can this get any better?'] Al shivered in excitement.
The idea of destroying the source of wealth to those so-called rich students was an exciting thing to him.