Jack sighed.
“I’ll humour your offer under one condition,” Jack said to the [Village Chief].
“Yes?” the village chief stared at him.
“You’ll have to trade with us before trading with the elves.”
The chief was shocked. “Demons don’t trade.”
“I’m doing you a favour. I could easily [Summon] a Wyvern to end you all and take everything I want from you.”
“I ACCEPT YOUR OFFER!” the chief quickly clarified. “Please, give us some time to organise the tribute. Do you wish to trade now?”
Jack shook his head, “No, I’ll have a representative negotiate the terms of the trade.”
So Jack waited. The chief organised the tribute quickly. To make things fair, the chief decided a random draw would be the most fair thing to do in order to decide who will be tribute.
And the chief kept his word. Only the physical fit and persons of the age of 19 to 30 will be in a draw. So no tribute would be too old, young or sickly.
In the meantime, Jack created a [Gate Portal]. This portal would lead back to the palace.
After twenty minutes of waiting, the 15 human tribute were decided upon.
The chief approached Jack who was lying next to the Griffin.
“It’s done, the tributes have been selected. And my eldest son and daughter will also accompany you. I hope your anger at us for attacking you will diminish.”
Jack stood up, “Very well. I need not remind you that you won’t trade with anyone until my representative has come here.”
“I understand. Forgive me, but what should we call you from now on. I doubt your name is simply called Demon.”
“Lord Zodark.”
“Then I thank you, Lord Zodark, for your mercy you’ve shown on my people.”
Jack shrugged. He motioned for the 17 people to come closer.
They all looked resigned to their new fate.
“You’ll enter one by one into this [Gate Portal]. Understood?”
They all nodded.
“Excuse me, Lord Zodark. Those two, wearing those silver necklaces are my son and daughter. I beg you to take care of them.”
Most of the tribute wore simple animal hide and leather boots. But the son and daughter of the chief had jewellery on such as the necklace and also earrings made out of gems.
“They’ll be treated no better and no worse than the rest,” Jack informed the chief.
The chief looked hurt. “I understand.”
And one by one, they entered the gate.
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A notification popped in his vision.
[Map Update]!
Jack ignored this notification as he had more pressing matters before him.
“Hurry up!” he shouted at them. They picked up the pace to enter the gate.
Once the last man entered, Jack and the Griffin went through.
Jack found himself in front of the Demon Palace.
[Guards] had surrounded the area, their swords pointed at the tribute.
“At ease,” Jack commanded.
The guards lowered their swords.
General Leofric was among them.
“My lord, who are these humans you’ve brought here?”
“Tribute. I’ll explain the finer details later on. Have Isoldea put them to work immediately.”
“Your order is my command,” Leofric placed his hand over his chest. Then he ordered the tribute to be led away.
“My lord, there is something I need to tell you about the [Scout],” Leofric stared seriously at Jack.
“I didn’t find the [Scout]. They should be considered missing,” stated Jack.
“No, my lord. The [Scout] has returned safely.”
“That’s good news.”
“Indeed. And they’ve found an island covered mostly by snow in the north, about 100 km away from here.”
“Why in the world was she so far away from the palace?”
“She’ll explain the details to you later on. But this island she found by accident has a forest and she also found stones in the hills.”
“Finally some resources.”
“But the island is not empty. There are people that live there.”
“I believe humans are weak in this world. So annexing the island should be easy.”
“No, my lord. The island is not inhabited by humans. But rather Frost Giants.”
…
…
An emergency privy council meeting was called.
An hour later, Isoldea and Leofric took their respective seats. The guest of honour today was the [Scout].
“Introduce yourself, soldier,” Jack demanded.
The [Scout] saluted all three of them. She even saluted Pec even though he was just writing the minutes.
“My name is Kinni, Lieutenant Kinni. My primary class is [Archer lvl 33] and my secondary class is [Scout lvl 12].”
Lieutenant Kinni was an Avian, a humanoid bird creature. Her arms were a mix of a wing and a human arm covered by feathers. Her face resembled a hawk with crown-like feathers on her head.
“Tell us more about this island you found. And how did you find it in the first place?”
“Understood, Lord Zodark. In my eagerness to find something in this New World, I ventured further than was ordered. I went 90 kilometres east then suddenly a storm appeared. I turned around to get back to the palace.”
She continued.
“But my journey back was not easy. The wind was strong and I had to dodge many lightning strikes in poor visibility. In all this, I got lost. I felt I was flying in circles and so I decided instead to find a shelter and wait out the storm. When I saw trees, I knew I found an undiscovered place. I hid in a cave there. After the storm passed, I realised I was on an island. I had flown across a channel without realising. I took in as much information about the island and used my skill [Magnetic Sense] to find my way to the palace.”
Isoldea raised her hand, “Why didn’t you use [Magnetic Sense] in the first place to find your way to the palace?”
“The storm had messed up my sense, Steward Isoldea.”
“I see.”
Jack wanted to ask a question, “How many trees and stones did you see?”
“The island is large. There were Frost Giants around and they seemed to be sustaining themselves well. So maybe the resources of the island are good. I’m not too sure, my lord.”
Leofric took his turn, “And how strong do you think the Frost Giants were?”
“Strong enough for me to feel I should keep my distance away from them.”
Jack looked at Leofric and Isoldea. A new opportunity had opened for them. He’ll be damned to allow Frost Giants to keep him off those resources.