Chapter 97: Negotiation
Shadow King Arcanis!
Jima took a deep breath. The middle-aged man with a horse-like face snapped his fingers, and a black shadow flew out from between his nails, transforming into a pitch-black short sword about the length of his arm. He warned promptly:
“Little succubus, in the blink of an eye, I could slit your throat and make the first word you scream leap out from your windpipe.”
Jima’s heart raced; her memories started to get muddled, as if someone was stirring her deep-seated recollections.
She asked, “What do you want?”
The middle-aged man with the horse face strode towards Jima, casually took a seat at the round table, picked up a scroll, looked around, and whistled:
“Just a man and a woman sharing the same room, guess what I’m here for.”
As his words fell, a strange transformation occurred in him. Black shadows cascaded down from his head, revealing silver hair, a half ear, a pale face, and bright green eyes. He wore tight-fitting gray-black mithril armor crafted by dark elves, draped in a gray-black cloak. Jima felt that his outfit resembled that of a shadow thief.
In less than a second, the short-statured half-elf Arcanis placed his legs on the table, revealing his true self in front of Jima.
This madman. With a dangerous gaze that swept over the room, it felt as if an arsonist was seeking the best spot to ignite a fire.
Jima could only sense that he was contemplating how to design a murder scene to frighten whoever next opened the door.
She slowly exhaled and said:
“You’re here to teach me how to use the magic scroll.”
Shadow King Arcanis was taken aback, leaning back in his chair with a laugh, lifting the front legs of the chair off the ground. He said:
“The last time you reported me, it got me chased down a street by a bunch of adventurers.”
“Post-meal exercise is good for health.”
“Even worse, I had to find their residences and kill them one by one, which wasted a lot of my time and significantly delayed my plans for revenge,” Shadow King Arcanis said. “This is serious.”
On the other side.
George was descending the stairs with a gigantic sword over his shoulder when he suddenly stopped, sensing that something was off.
“Wait, I need to go back to my room.” George immediately turned around.
The male servant hurriedly tried to stop him: “The boss wants you to come immediately.”
“It won’t take long.”
George moved faster than the servant, his long legs covering the stairs quickly, and before long, he reached the door, opening it directly.
Inside, he saw a black-haired girl dozing off, her elbows resting on the table, across from her sat the middle-aged man with the horse face, holding a magic scroll, startled by the sound of the door opening and looking towards the entrance.
Jima lazily turned her head, asking:
“George, what’s wrong?”
“I suddenly felt uneasy.”
“I learn this stuff pretty quickly.”
The middle-aged man with the horse face stood up, bent down, and flashed a flattering smile at George, saying, “She learns quickly; she has already mastered the technique of casting level two magic scrolls.”
It was the truth.
George glanced at the middle-aged man with the horse face, then averted his gaze to close the door.
From behind the door, Jima’s voice came: “Safe travels.”
Once the door closed, the middle-aged man continued, “Now, let’s learn how to cast level three scrolls…”
Until the carriage George rode disappeared from the street.
The middle-aged man then transformed back into Shadow King Arcanis.
Facing Shadow King Arcanis this time, Jima was much calmer.
Earlier, when the sound of George’s footsteps reached her from behind the door, and Shadow King Arcanis immediately switched to the middle-aged man, Jima inferred that Shadow King Arcanis was not there to kill her.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have placed his hopes on her, expecting her to act along with him to deceive George.
Jima speculated that although he could run away in front of George, there would be a risk of getting injured. She didn’t believe that gold could be as plentiful as dogs in a small place like Shalin City.
“Your man is really scary.”
“He’s not my man; he’s just a fool.”
Jima corrected him. Her memories began to resurface; she recalled things she had forgotten to record in her “personal system panel.”
That day, in addition to entering Zhang Bole’s dream, she had also entered Shadow King Arcanis’s dream. It was she who invited Shadow King Arcanis to come.
“You look like you have amnesia,” Shadow King Arcanis stared at Jima’s face, “Is it some sort of aftereffect?”
In front of this man, Jima didn’t want to reveal too many cards.
“Guess what it is; if you get it right, I won’t tell you anyway.”
“I’ll give you one sentence’s time.” Shadow King Arcanis played with a gold coin, “Trade or kill, it’s all in my hands.”
“The Great Benefactor is primarily seeking the Demon Lord’s treasury, and I can let you stop him.”
The gold coin stopped between Shadow King Arcanis’s slender fingers.
“Are you that sure I’ll obediently serve a cunning demon?” Shadow King Arcanis said, “Whatever you tell me to do, I will do?”
“You hate him; you hate this city.”
“That statement only proves you aren’t blind,” Shadow King Arcanis chuckled, “I hate him, but why should I help you deal with him?”
“I entered your dream and saw a fire zone in the middle of a harsh winter, you and your companions gathered around a boiling pot. Suddenly, the guards arrived, and you kids fled into a dilapidated building, hiding in the ditch. A girl came with bread, calling you out, saying she was there to distribute bread. Your brother, lying beside you, wanted to crawl outside when he heard; you grabbed him, telling him not to go out, but he kicked your hand hard and ran out to beg for bread…”
Shadow King Arcanis’s smile vanished, his green eyes fixated on Jima’s neck, looking like he could stab her at any moment.
“Most of your companions were captured. The next day, the fire zone was consumed by flames; your last companion was burned to death, their corpse becoming your last food to survive. You survived and saw the bodies of your dead companions hanging on gallows in the port, their ankles still tied with stones—”
“Enough! Are you seeking death?!”
The pitch-black short sword grazed the tip of Jima’s nose before landing on the round table in front of her. Shadow King Arcanis stomped on the table, glaring intensely at her.
Jima was betting that this was akin to bargaining; whoever first exposed their desire for the trade would be closer to losing. But she had to navigate this delicately. Clearly, Shadow King Arcanis was an impulsive person, and once he crossed the line, he would definitely stab her in the chest.
She sincerely said, “We are both haunted by nightmares from the past; in a way, we are kindred spirits.”
“Stop with the cute talk.” Shadow King Arcanis unsheathed the short sword and said, “What use could you possibly be? I see you, your greatest usefulness is to squeeze the Great Benefactor dry, but sadly that guy has withered away since his wife died, like a eunuch; even succubi are of no use.”
“I can open the door to the Demon Lord’s treasury; I know it like the back of my hand,” Jima said. “The Great Benefactor has found the location of the Demon Lord’s treasury and will likely open it in a few days. By then, he will have a pile of gold, allowing Shalin City to prosper again, paying the guards the overdue wages, and hiring mercenaries to keep an eye on the slaves. By then, perhaps he will even notice the excessive amount of oil in the city.”
Shadow King Arcanis’s gaze grew sharp, “You really know a lot.”
The oil was actually my wild guess.
Jima breathed a sigh of relief, saying:
“Look, we have a common goal; we both wish for the Great Benefactor and his family to perish. If he accesses the treasury, it won’t be a good thing for either of us. How about we split the gold in the treasury evenly, but one item inside must belong to me.”
Shadow King Arcanis stared at her, silent for a long time. Jima speculated this was his tactic, a ploy to cause her panic, and she unflinchingly held his gaze.
After a long while, Shadow King Arcanis pointed the short sword at Jima’s neck:
“Then why don’t I just interrogate you and force you to reveal the secrets of the treasury, keeping it all to myself? You are soft and tender; I could abduct you and give you plenty of unique Shalin City treatment before your man finds you. I guarantee you’ll spill everything, even how old you were when you last wet the bed.”
Arcanis’s words struck at Jima’s greatest weakness, which was a lack of martial power to guarantee her own interests.
Jima took a deep breath and said, “I’ll reiterate, George is not my man. Moreover, having more friends increases your odds of success in your revenge plan. Do you know why the church fears succubi the most among all demons? Because even the youngest succubus can destroy the order of a society.”
“As long as one isn’t blind, everyone in the world can see that demons… especially you, are full of lies,” Shadow King Arcanis replied, “So tell me, should I stab a nuisance and seize the treasury for myself, or trust your deceptive words?”
With that, he extended his hand, palm up, revealing a gold coin. Jima focused on the gold coin and saw the head of a unicorn on it, surrounded by elvish text; it was elven currency.
The surface of the coin was marked with “AD1357” in deep engravings. Even though the coin had weathered time, the etchings were still clear, showing deep resentment, with dried black blood from who knew how many years ago.
AD1357… Jima guessed this was the year. Roughly calculating, it should have been over twenty years ago.
“Head or text.”
“What?”
“Choose the head or the text?” Arcanis said, “Choose correctly, and we trade; choose incorrectly, and you die. Do you dare?”
“And what if I don’t choose?”
“A thief doesn’t leave empty-handed, so you’ll have to hand over everything valuable on you,” Arcanis said, “I quite like you; if it were anyone else, I wouldn’t just rob them, I’d also stab them.”
Jima felt a bit panicked, though she managed not to show it.
Calmly analyzing, if elves were as meticulous and earnest as legends say, then one could assume that both sides of the coin had equal weight. Since the side with the head was engraved so deeply, it would be lighter, shifting the center of gravity more toward the text side.
Thus, from a physics standpoint, the probability of the head facing up was high.
Jima said, “Head.”
Arcanis flicked the coin, and with a thud, it flipped into the air, landing on the table, bouncing a few times before lying flat.
The text side was facing up; Jima had guessed wrong.
The room fell silent.
Arcanis looked at Jima and slowly said, “Since it was destined to be this way…”
Jima looked calmly at Arcanis, showing no signs of fear. A dignified death seemed better.
Arcanis picked up the coin and said, “Then let’s trade; I detest predestined outcomes.”
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No updates tonight, just storing a chapter of manuscript to fix the update time.
