Guildmaster Bradt narrowed his eyes. He understood what Rui meant. Rui did not need an objective set of standards laid out because he was confident in the legitimacy of his map, and confident that the guildmaster would willingly and voluntarily come to an agreement with him regarding all of these matters.

He had to admit that Rui was actually right. As long as the map was legitimate, he had every incentive to cooperate.

"Agreed," He stated.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement regarding this matter," Rui smiled underneath the full-body attire.

"Only if your map is legitimate enough," The guildmaster snorted. "I have high standards. I need to, for my trade."

The intent to fully cooperate had been established, which was a good development according to Rui. The two of them went on to iron out the chinks in their agreement and lay out all the terms and conditions for everything.

It was best not to let anything be undefined or unclear. Rui specifically needed to make sure that he specified all the services that he was demanding from the Bradt Distribution Services, and he needed to make sure that he didn't miss anything that could be used as grounds to screw him over.

Thankfully, he had been quite prepared for this and had spent quite some time studying and researching the Bradt Distribution Services as well as the supplier market of the Shionel Confederation when he was planning everything out back in the Kandrian Empire.

"Well then," Guildmaster Bradt eventually said. "Seems like we've come to an agreement."

"Indeed," Rui nodded.

"I'll initiate our agreement when I've verified the veracity of these maps," He stated.

The two of them had come agreed that guildmaster Bradt had seven days to verify the legitimacy of the map and initiate the agreement by passing the bill that Rui had demanded him to. The bill that would allow Rui to operate ananymously while still being entirely legitimate. Once that was done, Rui could interpret that as the final seal of the deal nd the approval of the maps, and the terms of contract would continue as specified.

According to the terms and conditions of the contract, Rui would be responsible for burying his harvest in a specified location and providing the Bradt Distribution Services of the location of the harvests via a marked letter, as well as the specifications of how he wanted the esoteric harvests to be sold.

The Bradt Distribution Services would dig it up and execute his instructions, ensuring that the esoteric resources that he harvested would be distributed in the manner that he specified.

Another issue that needed to be resolved was how the money earned from Rui's sales would be returned to Rui. Ultimately, an amendment was added to the condition surrounding the bill that Rui got Guildmaster Bradt to agree to, which allowed for the creation of anonymously registered financial accounts where Rui could access his funds anonymously. It was the only leverage that Guildmaster Bradt had over Rui that ensured that Rui would not attempt to screw him in some way.

One thing that the two of them fought over a bit was Rui revealing his true identity, which he refused in a heartbeat. His anonymity was the only reason that the Guildmaster did not have powerful leverage over him. He could not afford to simply give it up with no problems. It would give the guildmaster far too much power, and would slide the power dynamics to his favor.

Guildmaster Bradt pushed for it, yet Rui was willing to not have the deal altogether if he was adamant about this condition.

Inwardly, Guildmaster Bradt approved, he would have to reconsider dealing with Rui if he gave up his true identity so easily.

Eventually, two copies of a contract were drafted that both of them signed, Rui signed with his alias, of course. And finally, the deal was officiated.

"I'll be watching the news very carefully this week," Rui informed him as he left the guild branch. "I look forward to hearing news about the bill. I look forward to doing business with you."

He quickly disappeared into the Shionel Dungeon.

"Fuuu…" Guildmaster Bradt switched off the projection as he exhaled lightly.

"Hm," A small smile emerged on his face.

Although the outcome was not as perfectly ideally in his favor, it was still an extremely good outcome. He could not complain. He found a way to kill two of his biggest problems at once.

('And he knew that,') Guildmaster Bradt's eyes narrowed. ('He knew exactly what he was doing long before he walked into this. He must have long known that he had the potential to disrupt the supplier market, and had also correctly evaluated that rashly doing so was a bad idea. He must have extensively researched the political landscape of the Shionel Confederation before finding the perfect candidate to cooperate with; me.')

His opinion of this individual had risen greatly during their time together. He had come well-prepared. He even had the perfect counter for any threat of capture, with his little trick. It was another show of power, and it was him revealing that he had leverage that he would use if Bradt tried pulling some schemes that would push him too far.

Now, Guildmaster Bradt was far more restrained if he wanted to try and exploit Rui in any way. He always had to know that Rui could ruin the blessing that the dungeon was, and turn into a curse if he wanted.

That threat alone was enough to make Guildmaster Bradt forget any schemes that could potentially push Rui too far.

('It didn't feel like I was talking to a Martial Artist,') He noted.

This was true, he did not treat Rui like he would treat a Martial Artist, he instead treated him as an opponent who was worthy of competing with him, and earning his respect. Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

This was the first time he had met a Martial Artist whose combat prowess was not the most significant trait about them.

***

Author's note:

Dear tier 1 priv readers, I apologize for the delay in chapters that occurred due to a WN priv glitch that caused tier 3 priv to require 8 more chapters against my wishes. I spent the 1st and 2nd of June filling tier 3 priv up. I will publish 6 extra chapters this month to compensate, so you will get what you paid for.

Apologies for the inconvenience again, and than you for your support. :)