It was a tall man with ash skin; his eyes were red, and his hair was white. Silas assumed he was a dark elf, a popular race in MMOs, based on the sharp tips of his ears.

"Master Grimdow, please just let me deal with them. I can’t ask you to get your hands dirty by dealing with such lowly peasants." The man knelt down and lowered his head.

"David, I commend you for trying to do your job as I order. Taking over the Rock and all the pix living inside, second was to find out what happened to Se’ky. These humans know something; the situation has changed. Don't you think attacking a group so organized unprovoked is barbaric?"

"Oh, my apologies, master. I failed to assess the situation. I was to focus on the first objective."

"It's fine, David; you’re still getting used to being a Master of Ceremonies, but don’t use a Crimson Hunt lightly. First, let’s discuss with this group; they seem smart enough to use Se’ky as a hostage." They all backed away with a simple wave of his hand. The beasts were caged again, and the elementals settled down.

"Seriously? Now they want to talk things out." Nadine was shocked, but Silas and Emily noticed it.

"That guy is strong."

"Yes, he looks like the real boss. They would reveal everything they had been keeping hidden on that bandwagon if he gave David permission. Emily felt a drop of sweat run down her back. "I don’t feel good about our chances in a fight right now, Silas."

"Me neither. Maybe if we had the Pix Army and everyone else here, including your pet. If things go bad, Silvano will open a portal inside and we run." Abandoning the Rock was bad, but he could tell that Grimdow wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The crimson soldiers prepared a table and put up a tent to make a shadow, along with food and beverages. Grimdow and David took a seat, and the others backed away. They waited for them to send their people.

"I’ll go with Nadine. Emily, Silvano, and Jacob, stay alert."

They still had their weapons, but they were walking with the intention of negotiating. Silas took a seat, and Nadine did the same. Grimdow looked at them kindly.

"Don’t worry, I can tell you only want to fight as a last resort, just like us."

"Really. I think your side has the advantage, old man."

"Well, winning is more than just being the one to survive. You see, for the Crimson Caravan, even if we can defeat a village or take a treasure from a powerful beast, we need to put the balance on our minds and see if using resources to fight is worth the payoff."

"So, you’re saying that taking us as slaves may not be worth the losses on your side?"

"Don’t try to play dumb; look how many System users you have on your side. I can tell this is not all your strength."

A battle with great losses on both sides, It wasn’t surprising that Silas and Grimdow wanted to avoid it. With that said, if push came to shove, both sides were willing to engage in a battle, depending on whether they could reach an agreement or not.

"Then tell me, is it possible to reach a peaceful solution?"

"Of course, the Crimson Caravan is a traveling business after all."

"A business?"

"Let me introduce us formally. I’m Grimdow, master of the fourth Crimson Caravan. This is David, a human like you who was recently promoted to our Master of Ceremonies. It is my responsibility as Master of one of the caravans to conduct business and seek out more valuable items and resources."

"The fourth caravan? Do you mean more than just this army?" In that case, the chances of fighting them here will disappear completely.

"Yes, there are currently four caravans that travel between the worlds of the System. We in the fourth caravan mainly deal with selling slaves, but we can also sell a lot of other things, like special items or materials from other worlds. I assume you know about the other worlds?"

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"Of course." Silas was being careful not to reveal too much. He gave Nadine a look to make sure she did the same.

"Good, is better to sell things when the client knows about his position in the worlds."

"Why do you think we’re willing to buy anything you sell? You tried to take over our territory and killed some of our people."

"Like I say, we are merchants first and foremost. If we can make a profit, then we should try too. Besides, if you don’t have any intention to negotiate and offer us something, then we can just kill you and take over without regard. After all, you'll be the ones who refused our offer."

"What kind of stupid logic of shady seller is that?" Nadine refused to entertain that twisted way of thinking. "That's called extortion from where we came from; you should leave and be thankful we're not trying to kill you."

"Master Grimdow. I don’t think they are intelligent enough to be making deals with us."

"Don’t be impatient, David. You were the same when we found you." He raised three fingers and spoke eloquently. "As a sign of apology for attacking you, I’m going to answer three questions with the best of my abilities."

"Three questions?"

"I told you we deal in a lot of things. Information is just another aspect; I know that coming to a new world is a strange and confusing experience. That’s why I’ll take men and my beasts far away after we make a deal. I’ll sell you information in the form of three questions, and you only have to give us Se’ky back along with fifty pix as payment. A good deal, isn’t it."

"You still want to take the pix as slaves?" Nadine's face was full of anger.

"I say it before we’re a business. We need to supply slaves not only for our caravan but for the others as well. Coming all the way here and not getting slaves would be a failure on my part as the leader. The Crimson Baron would be disappointed in me."

Grimdow’s eyes were serious; he wasn’t going to go empty-handed. Silas tried to come up with a plan.

Selling the pix would be the best-case scenario for the guild, but Cink and the others would never forgive me for doing it. It would destroy the alliance. I only have one card to play here.

"Sorry, that’s unacceptable. We can give you any of our people. They’re part of the Pix-Dawn alliance."

"That’s right, you can’t touch them, or I’ll kill you all."

"If that's so, then I guess we can’t make a deal after all." Before he got up, Silas interrupted him.

"Wait, I didn’t say the negotiations were over. We don’t need information; I want materials."

"What kind of materials?"

"The kind you use to make gates to other worlds."

"I mean, you already have a way to travel between worlds, don’t you?"

"Yeah, just be a smartass; you know exactly that we're using the powers of the System. I want another form of transportation, like the type you use to move that caravan or the kind that the Valein Empire uses on their gates."

"You know about the Valein and their gates? Even if I offered you that, you can’t possibly pay us."

This was the moment to attack; Silas had been planning to push him into this situation. He was going to bait him and try to convince him by playing with his own words.

"Then I guess the Crimson Caravan isn’t worth anything if they can just come and attack as they please. I mean, you killed so many of our pix soldiers, and you went back on your offer to give us information. Is pathetic, I rather fight than having to shake the hand of a rat like you."

"Watch your tongue!"

"David!" His voice shut him up for a moment. "Did you say the Crimson Caravan isn’t worth anything?"

"You have a client and can’t even tell him the price of your goods; that seems like a bad impression. You haven’t asked what we can give you as payment. If you want to let Se’ky die, then be my guest. I was just keeping him alive as a sign of good faith. But you guys can’t even be honest with us. I’ll just kill him after we leave this place."

"You try to talk big, but you aren’t the type to make empty threats. What can your little group offer us?"

"Tell me what you want. No, I don’t have to ask. Slaves, right? Then how about a bet or a game."

"A game?"

Silas was the one lifting three fingers now. "Three games, we compete in three different games of your choosing and bet three different things in each of them. If you want slaves so bad, put them on a list with two other things; we’re going to do the same with your side. That way, we don’t have to lose our soldiers trying to kill each other for the things we want. Or we can just kill each other right now, but I warn you, you’re making enemies for a long time if you choose that option."

Silas made his proposition. He could see Nadine looking at him with insecurity, and David was angry. It was a risky move to settle things with a bet rather than a fight; if Grimm refused, there was no choice but to fight and flee.

Despite all of that, Silas bet on Grimdow’s intelligence and his pride as the Master of the Crimson Caravan. He didn’t notice, but the word "Game" carried weight for the members of the Crimson Caravan. He was also persuaded by the fact that he gave them the authority to select the three games.

"Hahahahahaha, interesting. I have some conditions; you need to give us Se’ky first, and I want to check the things you are going to ask us to bet; is that acceptable?"

"Sure, as long as we also review the things you want. But please don’t put slaves in the three games. That would be so boring, and don’t try to cheat. If we see any cheats, we’re going to drop everything about the bet and start fighting."

"We don’t need to cheat. David, it's time to prepare for tomorrow; we’ll have a party to celebrate our victory. A carnival of games!"

Grimdow said with a giant smile on his face, and David began to glow like a little kid.

"As you wish, Master. Prepare the stands and the food!" he yelled as he walked back to the others, and a roar of happiness filled the desert.

"How about starting tomorrow at sunrise?"

"Sure thing." The negotiations were done, and they had to prepare for the games.