Chapter 352 Negotiating The Deal
After Venedikt shared the remaining few details, the twenty-four hours he gave came to an end, and Alex shared the room location with Alden before ringing the bell to call the hotel staff to place various teas and wines and a few exotic snacks he piked when he rented the room.
After a few moments of silence, figures started entering the room one after another, with several new recognizable names among them.
Besides the seven individuals who attended the previous meeting, there were nine new individuals, with at least one new individual present with each of the five parties.
Alex recognized a few of the new faces, as there was Jerome Gedeon, the current patriarch of the Gedeon family, and beside him stood a beauty with a piercing gaze, her attire accentuating her elegant and graceful figure, and the third member was Alden.
Guild Leader Aster and Lady Rosalba were accompanied by a middle-aged man, whom Alex recognized as Alfred Mendoza, father of Aster and uncle of Lady Rosalba.
The man was the chairman of the Mendoza Corporation, a titan in the field of construction, and beside him was a man in a black and grey three-piece suit.
Vlad and Mike were also accompanied by a female whom Alex didn't recognize by face or name but recognized by her SSS Rank Archer legacy belonging to the Monarch of Astral Archery.
Scarlett was representing the Donatelli family like the last time, and she was accompanied by two figures, one being a middle-aged man named Agostino Donatelli and the second being a young man no older than Alex.
Alex didn't recognize the man named Ignazio Donatelli, whose race was changed to winged human, and who had an SSS Rank legacy belonging to some Monarch of Dark Rage, and seeing his stat panel, it was clear that he was promoted to fourth Rank after reaching closer to 12k points in each stat.
Alex guessed that Agostino was the head of the Donatelli family or someone who held great authority in the family because he was just a third Rank with normal gunslinger class, with no real refined stats.
But he had that authority in his gaze as his eyes met with Alex and Venedikt, a carefree smile on his face, and there were also the two top-tier individuals silently following him like children.
The Ravenglades Guild seemed least impressive among the group in strength and standing, as besides Guild Leader Hecate being an SS Rank legacy holder, accompanying her was a young man who was also an SS Rank legacy holder.
The last person was a middle-aged female, who was also just a third Rank individual, with nothing special about her, but Alex knew she was most likely representing the sponsor of the Ravenglades guilds.
After everyone was seated and introductions and pleasantries were exchanged, Venedikt stood up, and the room turned silent with all eyes set on him.
"As the representative of Shadow Oblivion organization, I express my gratitude for your presence here." Venedikt stood up, his eyes scanning the room, acknowledging the presence of each individual.
"I hope that by the end of this meeting, we can conclude our discussions amicably, and our collaboration will be mutually beneficial in future endeavors," Venedikt said, in his usual cold tone, before he continued.
"I hope that you enjoyed your stay in the Malefis Domain, and over the past few weeks, I trust that each of you has gained a more profound understanding of the value of the domain and understands that the demands we made for what we offered were not excessive."
"Nevertheless, before we finalize this agreement, there are aspects worth discussing, so let's focus on them," Venedikt said after a brief pause.
The room had palpable tension but an unspoken understanding among the factions, and the first person to speak was Lady Rosalba.
"The Domain is indeed every bit as special as you described, and first, I, on behalf of everyone present, would like to express our gratitude to the organization for picking us to do this business among various available candidates,"
"The price that you require us to pay is also fully acceptable. However, to meet this cost, we have certain conditions that we would like the organization to meet." Lady Rosalba said in a calm voice, putting on the prettiest smile she could.
"Please proceed," Venedikt replied, not showing a bit of emotion at all factions agreeing to the deal.
"You should understand that despite all the benefits the domain has to offer, its true value to us is in the unique environment of no presence of players, the situation of the Domain Inhabitant and nonexisting competition,"
"But if even though the land is vast and so are the opportunities it could offer, the prime areas are few in numbers, and even if a small number of big powers contest for resources and territories, then the value we could gain would be affected,"
"We want the organization or the Domain Ruler to not give access to any of the top thirty guilds into the domain, and from thirty-one Ranked guild to the top hundred, only two guilds should be given access and above hundred five more guilds, so seven guilds at maximum,"
"The number of players from the seven guilds in the domain should never be greater than our five factions, so if you give them one entry token, you are required to give us one as well,"
"We want seven of the eight major clan territories to be open to everyone while the organization could keep one major clan territory all for themselves,"
"We like any area of land, such as the Atlas mountain chain rich with ore mines, to be available for everyone and not monopolized by a single group," Lady Rosalba said and went silent, all eyes in the room observing Alex and Venedikt.
"We understand that the Domain would be open to the public sooner or later, but with some research, we know it wo be any time soon,"
"These requirements would last for three years before they end, and our agreement would dissolve in its entirety in three years after the domain is made public, with the percentage of our contributions decreasing by 10% each year and concluding after three years."
"We are willing to give you a trillion dollars in real-life assets every year for three years, mostly in shares of various leading companies that are present and the open that would open in coming years, but 25% of it would be in cash or White flame coins anything that you prefer," Lady Rosalba said, as she sat back down with an eerie silence griping the room.
Alex understood that the guilds wouldn't agree to a lifelong commitment of paying 30% of all their earnings because that would surely cripple them in the following years.
As they learned the value of the Malefis Domain, they would understand that it was the future, and if they kept paying 30% of everything they earned, coupled with their operational costs, it would render the initial years' head start relatively inconsequential.
However, Alex had no intention of letting them go in a few years because such a deal would be unprofitable and stupid to make, and it was not like these five factions were the only ones available to make such a deal, and they also knew it very well.
Alex liked these five factions because they had a great number of players, which would only increase with the reveal of the domain to the common masses, and they had the strength to stand against the titans of the real world.
But the same was true for other big guilds, so even though Alex was willing to lower the percentage of earnings, the duration of the deal would remain indefinite.
"We can discuss the percentage of earnings all your factions would be paying after the domain is made public, but till then, it would stay at 30%, as well as the time that the deal would remain is indefinite, and that is one thing that is not negotiable,"
"If any of you cant get comfortable with the idea of your factions being gifted a gold mine as well as not expect to pay a fee for your lifetime, then you are welcome and save your and ours time," Venedikt said, his voice emotionless and calm yet carrying an edge to it as he scanned the room.
"I can assure you that no big power would accept your deal for an indefinite period, as well as any medium of small guilds that did take the deal would not survive to even repay your investment," Agostino, the Donatelli family head, spoke in a calm yet deep voice and he was about to continue, but he was cut short by Venedikt.
"Maybe you are right, but maybe not,"
"However, this didn't change the fact that if you want to benefit from the Malefis Domain, then you need to accept our demands, as well as if you can't, then it had been a pleasure gathering you, and the door had been right there," Venedikt replied, maintaining his composed demeanor.
Foll𝑜w current novels on fre(e)w𝒆bnovel