Josh pulled out his ax slowly, lazily. The hired guns, whoever they were, watched him carefully, but didn't move otherwise. Hou Zheng and Kun gave no indication that they even noticed.

“So,” he said lazily. “Normally, I'd say that we should jump straight to the fighting. But.” He pointed his ax at Kun. “She's the one that's got me thinking.”

Hou Zheng cocked his head. “How so?” He didn't seem at all concerned about confronting a dangerous enemy at the bottom of a pit in the middle of a glowing mushroom forest. By his tone, you'd think that he was taking a casual stroll through a garden.

“She's some sort of sneaky class,” Josh said. “I'm guessing Shadow Assassin, but if she's as high-level as I think she is, she might even be Exemplary-tier by now.” He cocked his head to the side himself, considering. “Hm... you don't have a dark-element class, those are pretty obvious.” And easy to counter. He had plenty of flash bombs from Ruth's runecrafting, in case her aunt returned. “I'm guessing it's a non-elemental Exemplary-tier class. Living Shadow Blade?”

Kun shifted slightly on her feet. Her shadow followed her just a bit too slowly.

“Thought so.” While he didn't show it on his face, Josh cursed internally. Living Shadow Blade was an annoying class to fight. It basically acted like a dark-element class, except it wasn't actually a dark-element class, meaning most of the classic counters were of little use. Of course, on the plus side, an actual dark-element class would be basically invincible down here in this dark pit, so maybe he should count his blessings. “You didn't have her pop out of our shadows and kill us, so you have something else in mind. You going to have your toughs break our kneecaps now, or they just going to stand there looking pretty?”

The six toughs shifted nervously. One of them managed to pluck up enough courage to glare. “You've got a lot of nerve, after what you did. No wonder there's a world quest for you, if you're running around knocking over towns.”

Ah, so some people had started to put it together. Not a surprise.

Beor leaned over and spoke quietly. “I recognize most of these men. They worked with, or for, the former mayor on multiple occasions. Your regime has not been kind to them.”

By which he meant Josh wasn't engaging in rank protectionism and petty bribery. He sighed. “Kids, just because I'm not openly soliciting bribes like the last mayor doesn't mean I'm against working together. I don't know what the other guy is paying you, but I'm sure I can pay better.” Josh grinned. “After all, I'm the one with access to a treasury, aren't I?”

Some of the toughs looked away at that. Most just glared. None took him up on the offer.

Hou Zheng chuckled, a rumbling sound that echoed off the stones. “You are quite intriguing, Mister White.”

Josh froze. “Wot.”

The giant man pressed his fingers together in front of himself, as if he was contemplating murder or preparing to pray. “I have some basic divination spells. Nothing to discover any truly interesting secrets, but enough to at least do a more advanced Identification on you.” He paused. “Joshua White.”

Josh took a long, slow breath before speaking. “Choose your next words very carefully.”

Hou Zheng spread his arms wide. “As you have deduced, I could have sent my companion in to kill you. Even if she failed, she has enough escape spells that her survival would be all but guaranteed, so we would lose nothing in the attempt.” He paused, and Josh could almost hear the smile in his voice. “However, that is not what I want.”

“It's not?”

“No. I am here to negotiate.”

The toughs looked surprised, and one even stepped forward to say something. A knife was suddenly at his throat. Kun held it out as a warning. Other than the arm holding the knife, she hadn't moved. Hadn't so much as looked at him.

He swallowed and stepped back.

Josh rolled his neck, cracking it. “Okay,” he said after a moment. “Let's negotiate. What do you want?”

This was an absolutely invaluable opportunity for new information. Even if he didn't get a single straight answer out of Hou Zheng, the mere chance to speak to someone so powerful about something that was clearly of great importance to him was not an opportunity to pass up.

Besides, if there was a chance to end this peacefully, he had to at least look into it. Josh might be great at fighting, he might even like it, but he didn't want to do it more than he had to. He'd had too many close calls, lost too many close friends, to ever be comfortable diving face first into combat when he didn't have to.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Well, unless the big man was willing to bet it all on a single duel, but Josh wasn't holding out hope for that. As a kid, he had expected most adult problems to be solved by duels, and had trained hard. Instead, it turned out that almost no one wanted to pin all their hopes on one fight.

Hou Zheng nodded. “My mission is very simple. I do not have to fight you. I need to neutralize you and your friends as a threat, no matter the cost.”

Josh furrowed his brow. “A threat to who?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yeah, a bit.” He narrowed his eyes. “Seems like an odd point to dodge, innit?

“Unfortunately, revealing the identity of my employer would be counterproductive in this instance,” Hou Zheng said with an infuriating calm tone.

He scoffed. “Wot's that supposed to mean? You're acting like merely saying his name would be some—” He froze.

There had been one other person who had acted like this. As though Josh had a secret that needed to be kept quiet no matter the cost. That person had killed an entire town to keep the secret.

That person had been working for the dragon currently trapped in a dungeon, just waiting to bust out. Oh, he had also been a seven-foot tall elf who walked around covered head to toe to hide it.

Josh took another long look at Hou Zheng. He was as tall as the elf had been, but also noticeably broader. Mizuno Masahiko had been a tall beanpole, but this man gave the impression of an ancient tree. Or just a hefty linebacker playing American football.

“You're not like Mizuno, are you?” he asked. “You're something else.”

Hou Zheng inclined his head. “An astute observation. Perhaps we can speak somewhere more privately?”

Josh jerked his head at the toughs. “Why'd you bring them if you were just going to ditch them?” He didn't say anything, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Hou Zheng was going to kill them to make a point.

“Mostly to encourage you to speak reasonably,” he said, and he did sound reasonable. Then again, in Josh's experience those were the biggest threats. The giant of a man indicated the tunnels that Josh had opened up. “Why don't we go in there and have a chat? My boys will guard the door, as it were.”

Josh heaved a sigh. “What do you think is going to happen here?” he asked tiredly. “I can't imagine this ending well. Negotiations will fail, and we'll fight. I'll kill you just like I did the last high-level idiot who thought he could bully me, and then I see if your toughs are loyal beyond your death.”

The toughs shifted uneasily. Kun moved into a ready stance.

Josh was confident in handling Hou Zheng. Oh, he was exaggerating his confidence, of course, but he could handle a lone healer, even one with a significant number of levels on him. He already had a plan in mind that should be an instant victory down here. Hou Zheng had some tricks, but ultimately a [Healer] was limited. They were easy to checkmate.

Which, of course, was why [Healers] didn't go anywhere alone. Kun would be a much bigger obstacle, especially combined with a Battle Mender for support. She would probably be able to instantly escape the trap Josh had in mind.

“Hm,” Hou Zheng said. “How about I sweeten the pot?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red stone. A bloodstone. He tossed it over, and Josh caught it on instinct. Hou Zheng made no move to attack or explain, so Josh did the natural thing and inspected the stone.

[Priest (Healer). Primary statistics: Power, Sensitivity. This is a Basic Combat class of the Healer role. Bolster, heal, and inspire allies.]

A new bloodstone. So soon after they had found the Gunner stone. Like Gunner, Priest was hardly a world-changing class. They knew how to get to it from Mender already, and it was a role they already had. In fact, this was slightly worse than a Gunner bloodstone, because Mender and Priest had so many similarities in advancement. It was like already having access to blue and yellow paint, and then being granted green.

But it was still an extra bloodstone. One that Hou Zheng had given without prompting and without reservation. This was a gift that he couldn't take back. Josh was actually impressed.

He forced himself to push that down. The whole point of his anger was that Mizuno had tried to kill an entire village to keep the dragon's secret. It didn't matter how many gifts Hou Zheng handed out if he just planned to kill everyone anyway.

Josh took a breath and tucked the bloodstone away. He inclined his head towards the tunnels. All three of his companions followed him.

“Ah.” Josh turned to see Hou Zheng holding up a finger. “If you want me to leave behind my allies, then it is only fair that you do the same, do you not agree?”

Josh glared out from under his mask. He was tempted to just rip the itchy thing off. “This was your idea,” he said flatly. “If you want to turn this into an ambush, then fine, let's go.” He waved his friends away, as if he was annoyed and uncaring, but this was exactly what he wanted. A [Healer] alone and with no one to boost would be at a severe disadvantage, even if they had far more levels. Combine with Josh's combat experience, and this might even turn into a fair fight.

Josh walked deeper into the tunnel as if he didn't care about anything. He prayed that Hou Zheng didn't see the trick, prayed that Hou Zheng couldn't hear his racing heart or see his perspiring forehead. Josh didn't dare reach up to wipe it off.

Then, after what felt like ten thousand years, Josh heard a single set of footsteps following him. Alone.

Josh smiled to himself. Checkmate.