Keith summarized his “adventure” into three sentences. First he was the sacrificial pawn of his group after they were ambushed. Second, by luck he managed to escape and perhaps due to stress he awakened. It wasn’t unheard of for some to awaken a new Inherent Skill –which wasn’t inherited- when under extreme stress. Lastly, he survived based purely on his instincts and his Inherent Skill; he was on the run after pissing off a bunch of creepy snake-people.
He “accidentally” left out the fact that he was a descendant of a Divine Monarch, as well as the fact he had a woman who liked to harass him fused with his soul, and a system that was so greedy it would use all sorts of unknown excuses to “collect fees” from him.
No matter how much he trusted someone, he would have probably never share his ancestry with them, as well as his one of a kind unique skill that was seemingly evolving. At least not until he was powerful enough that no one could threaten him.
If that was how he thought for someone he did somewhat trust, then this woman whom he had no way of knowing her true identity was at the bottom of the list. This was especially true because of the fact that there was no way she was so simple.
Even if he couldn’t see her, the way she spoke was far too authoritative for her to be a mere employee of Windsor Enterprises. Then there was the fact the Windsor Family was one of the Four Great Families of Wraithos City. This alone put him on edge. If he learned anything from his time with the Silvermoon Family, it was that they were ruthless and not to be trusted. They would throw you away the moment you were useless to them. For all he knew, the other three families were the same.
Keith wasn’t the only one suspicious. When Lara heard his three sentence “story”, she knew he was hiding something. But no matter how much she pressed for answers, Keith wouldn’t say more than a few words which could loosely amount to, “I tried my best.”
No matter what she asked, he just said this statement in differing variations. It was aggravating and got under her skin. No one blatantly disregarded her, and not even Grandpa Windsor had utterly disregarded her in the past three years like this.
It was all trash. He was spoon-feeding her trash and he expected her to believe it…
Lara leaned against her desk. She felt like pulling her hair out. If it wasn’t for the fact this realm was under the Windsor’s jurisdiction, and Keith was the only eyes she had on the inside of the realm, she would’ve just shut off the I.R.C.D and left him to his own devices, completely leaving him to fend for himself.
But… she had no choice, this realm was her problem. Keith was the only one she could possibly get any information from. Even if he wasn’t necessarily strong, he seemed competent enough to survive. Provided he wasn’t someone who hated authoritarian figures, they might be able to work together until this situation was resolved.
She already received one piece of information. There were the Kysansha, which Keith had mentioned in passing. At the time he didn’t know that she heard him. Just this information alone was helpful. It represented one of the forces that were trying to invade Earth through the portal. He said they were snake-people, well that was one of the forces that were trying to invade.
Now she knew their name. Perhaps there were records of them somewhere on Earth; after all, the Kavala Wastelands gateway first appeared roughly one hundred years ago during the year 2150. If Keith could be her eyes and ears on the inside, then maybe the situation could be salvaged and her Scout Team’s deaths wouldn’t be in vain.
Formulating a plan in her mind, Lara turned to the mic once again. She slowly thought of her words one by one. Call it a hunch, but she felt that if she didn’t word this properly Keith would cut off the negotiations and smash his I.R.C.D.
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“Keith. My superiors have listened to our conversation. They would like to propose a deal.”
Keith’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Now he was frowning, and he really meant to this time.
“What kind of deal?” He said icily.
He could roughly guess what Lara and her “superiors” wanted. The question was would the terms be worth it? He didn’t want to be tied down to any one organization anymore. He wanted his freedom.
“Well… They would like you to be a temporary scout. If anyone found out about you then the Windsor Family would claim you as one of their own. The Windsor Family will use all its resources to hide your identity. If you manage to return to Earth, you will know valuable information. Simply the fact that you know of an item left behind by a Divine Ruler is enough to make you a target.”
“The benefits….” Keith said gruffly. What Lara said made sense, but the remunerations would have to be worth it. Also, although Lara hadn’t intended it this way, he took her mentioning that he knew of an item left behind by a Divine Ruler as a threat that she would expose if he didn’t work for the Windsor’s.
“Naturally the Windsor’s own the Heavenly Wind Auction House. If there is anything you want they will get it for you after you return. Also, you will have a direct connection to the leaders of Windsor Enterprises. Surely they would assist as long as you were to ask, provided that you carry out what they request of you while you are in the Kavala Wastelands.” Elena said eloquently.
She tried to sound as graceful as possible when she sensed the hint of disinterest in Keith’s voice. If he didn’t think this was enough, then she didn’t know what she could give him. There were countless people that wanted a direct connection to her. Also, she had never offered to give someone anything they requested for free from the Heavenly Wind Auction House no matter its price.
Keith didn’t answer right away. Instead he turned his attention away from Lara. He chose to ask Elena who had been listening to the conversation for her opinion. She probably had a better idea of what he should do considering she was older than him…. Well he would never ask her age lest she purposely try to give him a migraine.
“Do you think it’s worth it Elena?”
“Yes you should even though this woman is lying. Women will always know other women best. You may suspect it, but I know it. She clearly has ulterior motives. It is fine though as long as you know she has them. You can be on your guard. Right now, it would be beneficial to have a temporary ally from Earth. She should be able to make it easier for you once you finally do return.”
Well, if Elena said it was alright, then he would agree. However, negotiations worked both ways, and he held the advantage.
“Fine I’ll accept your gift, as well as the verbal business card. I’ll temporarily do this ONE thing for the Windsor Family, which is to provide any information I deem pertinent to be shared. However, I have three more conditions.”
Keith thought for a moment before deciding on his three other conditions. They shouldn’t be that difficult for the Windsor’s…
“I want a constant briefing of anything important happening on Earth. Also, I want the party who abandoned me executed. I know the Windsor’s have their methods… It shouldn’t be that hard for them to find out who they are from the records of the Hunter’s Association. Lastly, by now I have definitely been evicted from my apartment, and the Hunter’s Association has probably reported my death. So the third thing I request is this. If I successfully return to Earth, I want help procuring a new identity, as well as another apartment. If you do this, I will agree.”
In hindsight, even if he held the advantage. Keith knew he was requesting a lot, even if the three things he requested were simple for the Windsor Family to accomplish. He didn’t necessarily trust the Windsor’s or Lara, but he should be fine… at least for now.
What he didn’t expect was for Lara to almost immediately reply.
“Yes, that is all easy enough to accomplish. This will be a verbal contract that will be repeated over a recording on our end. It will stipulate the conditions. Do not worry the Windsor’s always hold up their end of a deal, otherwise they wouldn’t achieve the status they had today.” Lara said in a prideful tone.
‘Yeah ok...’ Keith thought. He knew that the Four Great Families dealt in some seriously shady things. They had probably abandoned their fair share of deals and killed people to achieve what they wanted. As far as he was concerned, they were no better than the Silvermoon Family in his eyes.