From all that Theo managed to gather by scouring the memories of his past self, Bogdan was a… controversial figure.
A veteran soldier. A hero of the frontier, who found achievement and glory fighting off the invading barbarian tribes. An excellent user of both combat magic and a third school of cultivation that sought not to reach the heavens, but bring all of one's opponents down into the deepest hell.
It was with those achievements and a whole plethora of honorary titles he obtained while in the army that he earned his spot as the academy's teacher, jumping straight to the middle ranks of the cadre, higher than Theo himself could ever hope to get.
For most, that kind of an opening would secure smooth sailing from that point on, merely requiring several years of service to accumulate the academic credits before he could peacefully advance to the high-rank teacher and then, a star teacher.
But this usual, natural for some, way of career growth wasn't something Bogdan could ever be satisfied with. Not after the high-octane lifestyle he led back in the military, not when combat grew more common to him than peace.
It was through constant challenges of the established authorities and relentless pursuit of strength — which baffled many, for he already started as one of the stronger teachers at the place — that Bogdan turned his projected slow but steady and certain growth into a meteoric rise that landed him the vice-principal role in but a third of the time others expected him to take to become a star-teacher.
And that's where he met the wall.
The academy's headmaster.
For Theo, the headmaster's name was nothing more than another position in the list of things he couldn't care less about.
He wasn't qualified to ever meet the man. And given how rarely he graced the academy with his presence to begin with, the chances were he was never going to stumble upon him by pure luck either.
For Bogdan, however, things were different.
How were they different?
That knew only the two men in question, for — besides the result of their clash — no one knew even a single detail about it.
All that people knew was that ever since the results of the duel were announced, Bogdan's relentless pursuit of greater heights finally came to an end.
With an end to one thing came the start of another.
And it was precisely the hobby that Bogdan picked up that made him Theo's best bet for turning the liquid gold of his fancy drink into a solid gold currency.
"You are really putting me on the spot here," Bogdan pressed his lips into a thin line. A look of dissatisfaction flashed in his eyes for a reason Theo knew perfectly well.
It wasn't the achievement of brewing such a novel drink that he was trying to sell, an achievement that the bottle would serve merely as a proof of, allowing the vice-principal to shrug him away with a handful of credits.
No, it was the bottle itself, a treat that a known foodie like Bogdan would never allow to escape his grasp.
Not when the rumors claimed he spent pretty much all of his enormous wages on nothing else but all sorts of delicacies imported from all over the world, often at a cost that would make a normal person faint.
"Fifteen gold coins," Bogdan, after failing to provoke any sort of reaction from Theo, finally offered. "Fifteen gold coins and not one more!" he exclaimed while slamming his hand against the armrest of his chair with a stern expression.
Then, however, the look he mostly reserved for the biggest troublemaker at the academy melted into a much softer expression, almost reaching the territory… of a pleading one?
"I know it's worth much, much more than that, but you really caught me unprepared and at the worst possible timing you could," he revealed before heaving a long sigh. Bogdan then sat deeper in his chair while hanging his head a little. "Just yesterday I used up the last of my wages for the most recent shipment of sweets, leaving just enough not to rely on the academy's dining hall until the next payment day…"
Throughout all of Bogdan's sob story, Theo remained perfectly silent, sitting calmly in his chair as he just… stared back at the man with an outright bored expression.
It wasn't until the vice-principal finally turned silent and then until the silence started to stretch to an uncomfortable length that Theo finally sighed, shook his head with what one could only call disappointment before sharply looking up and pinning his eyes into the vice-principal's face.
"Twenty will be plenty."
At this point, it wasn't about getting five gold coins more.
The materials Theo used to craft that bottle could be easily bought with just two, maybe three golden coins. And with how Theo's wage was as low as just ten gold coins a month?
He drove a really hard bargain for something he crafted, quite literally, overnight.
But again, at this point, it wasn't about the money, even though money was Theo's one and only purpose for today's visit at Bogdan's office.
'If I relent now, it's going to be much harder to squeeze later. If I want to keep milking him out,' Theo thought as he leaned back in his seat with a perfectly calm smile, 'then I need to establish that I'm the one dictating the price, regardless of his circumstances.'
In the end, after twisting his face into a reluctant, then annoyed, and ultimately pained grimace, Bogdan finally reached into one of the drawers of his massive desk and pulled out a small yet heavily stuffed pouch. Then, after picking out exactly two shiny circles of solid gold out of it, he lifted it up… and threw it straight onto Theo's lap.
"Here, satisfied?"
Theo finally allowed a small smile to appear on his face.
'Heck yeah!' he thought, before picking the pouch and weighing it in his hand.
Obviously, he couldn't know whether there were exactly twenty golden coins in it… But what were the chances someone of the vice-principal's standing would try to cheat him out of such a relatively small sum?
"Satisfied," Theo said only to stand up from his chair and instantly turn towards the doors.
His business here was done, leaving him with no further reason to stay, not when he had a cartload of meat to buy and a whole day's worth of things to think through.
"Now that we are clearly done, I just can't help but ask," Bogdan spoke, forcing Theo to turn and look at the man, only to realize he had already grabbed the bottle and cradled it to his chest — pretty much just like Theo did before. "What do you even need this money for?" he asked before shaking his head a little. "It's not like you can buy anything of real value with gold anyway."
Hearing this, Theo merely chuckled.
"What, can't you ask your informants once I spend it all?" he answered with a small jab only to turn right back and leave.
//\\ //\\ //\\ //\\ //\\
"A penny for your thoughts," Bogdan muttered, only for his face to twist into an ugly grimace. "Since I can't really afford to pay much more than that anyway."
Upon those words, a bluish mist suddenly appeared over the other chair opposite the man's desk. Within seconds, several nexuses appeared within for the mist to coalesce around before cracks suddenly connected them all in a messy, chaotic manner…
Crack!
The illusion spell came undone, breaking away the magic film masking the truth and revealing a youthful, perfectly groomed man sitting with his legs crossed and with a relaxed, slightly amused smile.
"My thoughts are never that cheap," the man spoke only to then grimace slightly as he switched from one leg to the other.
All the time he spent perfectly motionless to maintain the illusion now came to bite him with all the blood flowing out of his leg.
"But seeing that guy here, squeezing as much gold out of you as he could?" He shook his head before putting his eyes on the door as his face took on a pondering look. "I wonder what sort of folly did he need it for."