‘That bastards!’ cursed the Count from the other end, as I explained to him what happened.

I could feel the anger in his voice, and it was bubbling.

They played us, while Count watched. Forget finding out about this gathering. His agents weren’t even able to catch a whiff of it.

If we had, even a small hint, we would have been better prepared.

‘Come back, Remus,’ he said a second later. ‘My lord, that would be a grave mistake,’ I said in a calm tone.

He is angry. This failure to anticipate had bruised his ego. He is also angry, seeing the influence of the Lord of Deerpond can project to bring five cities together for the negotiation.

‘Why? They clearly played us. It would be shameful to stay there further,’ he said, still angry, but not as much as before.

‘Yes, they have played us and have a huge advantage with six of them being together, but my lord, it is we that control the route.’

‘It is for this thing they gathered together. So, whatever their advantage may be, ours is greatest.’

‘It is not like we have to agree with everything they asked. If their demands are too much, we will simply walk away and it will be detrimental to them, as it will be to us,’ I said slowly.

There was no response for a couple of seconds and that made me happy.

‘The bastards will demand huge concessions,’ said the Count, after over ten seconds of silence. ‘Yes, they will, and we will have to give them some, but we will not go below our limit,’ I replied.

‘Go ahead with the negotiations, but remember our limits, Remus,’ he said, and I really should. He will not like it if I go below them.

Still, he gave me a bigger leeway than I had expected. With a limit, I have quite a lot of freedom.

‘I will not forget, my lord,’ I replied. A moment later. The spell disconnected.

I looked at Zela, who was visibly sweating. Live Connection isn’t an easy spell. It is not only heavy on mana, but it would require an immense focus.

The spell is expensive, and this one is of the highest quality. It had come from the Count itself; I had asked him for it.

He resisted at first, before giving it to me a day before inauguration, and today, it had proved its usefulness.

“How are you?” I asked Zela worriedly. “It is a difficult spell. I should practice with it more,” she said, and I smiled, knowing she would be fine.

Click!

I walked back into the room, where six were already waiting and my team was also standing in front of them.

They have not taken their seats.

“Thank you for waiting, gentlemen,” I said to them and took my seat, before turning back to Ida and motioning her to sit to my left.

It surprised her and the rest, everyone knows what she is, and we have designated her as an assistant. Her place is behind with assistants, and should have been, if these bastards hadn’t pulled the trick.

Now, I need every help, I can get. There might be consequences of this, but I will worry about it later.

It had made some of the people sitting in front of me angry, but I couldn’t care less about it and made them understand my actions.

I will be pulled till I want to. If you ask for too much, then there will be no negotiation.

Ida hesitated for a few seconds before sitting to my left, while Locke sat to my right.

“Let’s begin,” I said and opened the file in front of me.

Hun!

I had just touched the file, when I felt powerful skills coming at me. Every person here is above Lv. 25 and I know for sure that old man Statham is Lv. 30 plus.

He is one of the few people of that level in the Deerpond.

All the people I have brought are Lv. 20+.

Ida and I are not; I am not sure about Ida, her main class is at Lv. 25+ and mine over 20+, but both our secondary classes needed for this, hadn’t reached even Lv. 20 yet.

It would have been great if they had been at Lv. 20 because these negotiations would be the hardest, we had ever faced.

These people wouldn’t show any mercy.

As their skills covered me; I felt the skills of my people also activate. Helping me control many compulsions, the six had put on me.

“Let’s start with category 1A goods,” I said to them, and old man Statham smiled. “We want 6% import and export tax on them,” said Statham, and immediately, four more skills hit me.

They are so powerful, especially one from Statham, that I nearly opened my mouth and said, I agree, but I controlled myself, and a few more skills came at me, which helped me bear the compulsive thoughts.

Still, it didn’t make me feel good.

Seeing they have barely started, especially the old bastard Statham. At Level 30+, one becomes quite powerful, and the bastard has barely started to use the power of his arsenal of skills.

“That is too low, Director Statham. 9% is the right amount,” I said, activating Persuasive, which seemed to surprise some of them, but it didn’t seem like it had brought.

“You didn’t tax even Norke and Brimbale that much. I think 6.1% would be right,” he said, increasing the power of skills further.

I am not surprised; they know the terms of the contract; we had signed with the others, despite them being confidential. Deerpond had gathered the members of five cities; they wouldn’t have any problem finding the terms of the contract.

“That wouldn’t be enough to pay salaries for the guards, much less the heavy infrastructure needs,”

“8.9% would be best,” I said, trying really hard to not scratch my head hard. Someone had activated the skill that made me scratch my head badly. If that was not enough, I felt just as strong etch on my ass and my groin.

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“Do you really hate us, that much, adviser? You have given Norke 7.5% and want us to pay 8.9%?” he asked, and I felt the pressure of his and other skills increased, so I opened my mouth and twitched my hand to scratch.

The colleagues had helped me with their skills, but these wily bastards were powerful.

Not a single one of us, are high-leveled as them. The only one who could have helped me was Robin, but he was unavailable.

I was struggling hard when I felt the soft hand of Ida's on mine. Immediately, the mental compulsions become weaker, and itching becomes unconformable from intense.

Hun!

It surprised me because it is a skill not from her secondary class, but from the primary class. The skill wouldn’t be this powerful if it had been from a secondary class.

Even high attributes wouldn’t help if the level of the class is low.

Such skills are not rare for her past profession. Many girls have skills that help them relieve the tension and tiredness of the patrons they serve.

Some of the girls have gained the skill that could even remove minor afflictions.

I nodded at her gratefully before turning to Statham and others, who seemed to realize what had happened and increased the power of their skill.

Ida did the same, but the effects of her skill lessened; she might match some of them, but there were six in front of us. It is hard for her, especially when she is trying to conserve power.

“I do not hate any of you and am willing to offer 7.4%, which is even lower than what Norke pays,” I said with a smile.

“If your offer isn’t a hate for us, then what it is? Norke is smaller than any of our cities. Here we are, six of us, sitting with sincerity,”

“Show us some sincerity, adviser,” he said and increased the power of his skill, with others.

The negotiations continued for another hour before we agreed on the tax, which is 7.15%, lower than any of the city, but above our limit.

I could have gone low as much as 6.8%.

Still, I am not happy, as this is one category of goods and has few goods in it. We took more than an hour to agree on it. If we take such time, then it is going to take days for us to complete the negotiations.

That is not what made me unhappy. What made me unhappy, was that I was tired, just after an hour of negotiation.

It is only an afternoon, and it will be hours before we will be finished. It will be unbearable, while I am not alone. There are Locke and Hanson, but I don’t think, even those two would be alone.

The others wouldn’t be enough; they are barely above Lv. 20, and the bastards will eat them alive.

The only reason I could even contend against those is because I have years of experience. The earth might not have skills, but we know out to use every work with surgical proficiency and employ psychological tricks.

The negotiation continued.

I led for three and a half hours before Rip Hanson took over and managed for four, before it was Locke, who continued for three.

Before, I took over once again.

“2.2%, is the last we could give. We will not negotiate further about this,” I said with finality. Controlling myself not to grit my teeth and twitch my fingers, when I powerful compulsion to agree and scratch all over my body.

The old man looked at me, before sighing.

“We will suffer a loss and agree with it, adviser,” said Statham and wrote down on the file, before sliding toward me. I read it carefully, despite the tiredness, which want to just sign it.

It was really a limit; I couldn’t go down further. Thankfully, it is the only thing they were able to push it to the limit,”

“The caterg,”

“We are finished for today. Mr. Regan. Me and my team are tired and hungry; we cannot continue anymore,” I said to the middle-aged man.

We are not the only ones who have taken turns in leading. They, too, did it. Though they looked much better than us.

“Just one more thing, adviser, and then we will finish it for today,” Statham pressed, and I shook my head.

“No. Mr. Statham, we are done for today,” I said firmly.

“We will start from tomorrow, nine then,” he said and got up, before leaving with others, after shaking hands.

The moment they walked through. All the effects of their skills disappeared, and we got visibly relaxed.

We were under immense strain. So much, so that we couldn’t even breathe normally due to their skills.

“It was the most stressful negotiation I had ever been in. Those bastards have showed us no mercy,” said Locke, as he slumped back in the chair.

“It will be even harder tomorrow. They know our strengths and weaknesses. They will hit where it hurts,” said Rip in a serious tone.

“We should be more prepared. Tomorrow is going to be a long day,” I said as I got up from my chair.

A few minutes later, we were out of the conferring room and moving toward our hotel, which was thankfully quite close to the city hall.

I am hungry.

All the negotiations have taken quite a lot of energy from me and the rest. We all want to eat and then sleep.

I hope they get a good sleep, because today, we have only been able to cover 14%.

Usually, a day is enough, and many of the negotiations with cities have been finished at such time, but we are dealing with six cities who want to squeeze us with everything they have.

I hope the negotiations will be finished today, but it is unlikely that it will happen.