Chapter 747 A Prelude To The Agreement
The server, Mickael, took very little time to return with everyone's drinks. For Kary, he brought in a tall glass and a pitcher filled with iced water.
After putting everything on the table, he served her a glass from the pitcher and retook his leave with a wide smile. Part of his job was to know when the clients wanted to be left alone.
And he could tell this was such a moment.
Once he left the room and the door closed, Alex locked gazes with Louis.
Louis took this as his cue to speak.
"Before I explain the details of the request, I will put it simply so you know what to expect. Master Damien wants to fight it out in New Eden and put your guilds at stake."
The words dropped like a bomb on Alex and Kary.
This wasn't just an unreasonable demand. It was inconceivable for anyone even to ask this.
But before either of them could say anything, Louis kept talking.
"He is ready to put Aces High, as well as all its assets, players, base, and treasury included, into one big bet. One single fight. The winner takes all, and the loser vassals under the other guild.
"The format would be base rush, with each guild trying to conquer the other's base in a simulated environment, so no damage to the actual bases is done. Either guild is allowed to recruit outside help, in the form of Natives of New Eden, but excluding other guilds.
"No guardian would be allowed to fight since Aces High doesn't have one as a guild, making this fight fair. The victory condition would be to destroy the base core explicitly created for this event. The first one to destroy the other's base core wins.
"Any means accessible to players for this would be allowed, as this would be a contest of player guilds. As for the rest of the details, I need your agreement to partake in this duel to give you more.
"As I said earlier, Master Damien has allowed me to use money to coerce you into saying yes. I can make a starting bid of five million US dollars. What do you say?"
Kary took a moment to digest all the information he had just given them. This deal seemed too one-sided toward them for something Damien would conduce.
There had to be a catch.
Damien would never make a deal not to his advantage. That wasn't like him.
And since the rest of the details couldn't be heard until they accepted, this was a risky move.
What if they said yes and only learned once in combat that Aces High had subdued thirty smaller guilds, making their player count bigger than Knights of the Sun?
She wanted to think long about this. It would be stupid to rush into a trap like this one, especially with how obvious it was.
"Fifty million," Alex said, breaking her line of thoughts.
"Alex, wh—" Kary blurted out.
"Ten million," Louis cut her again.
"Forty-five," Alex immediately bid again.
"Alex, we ne—"
"Twenty-five, I can't go higher," Louis said with a sour face.
It was his first emotion since talking to them, and Alex knew he was serious.
"Deal," he said, leaning over the table to shake hands.
Kary's face went red with anger.
"No! No deal! Will you listen to me? This is obviously a trap. We can't just walk into it," she shouted, slamming her hands on the table.
"Calm down, Kary. I know that. But I think we can beat his trap. And if we say no, I have a feeling Azamus will do something even stupider that would risk the citizens of Bastion City's lives. I don't want to risk that."
Kary swallowed her fury, understanding what he meant. She didn't want to calm down.
When in the history of anger had saying 'Calm down' ever calmed a person down? Never was the answer.
But what he said made sense. And she could easily imagine Damien taking out his tiny dick anger on the entire city instead of just a simulated version, with simulated lives at stake.
Alex was right. They had to look at the bigger implications.
Yes, the trap was obvious. But what about the results of saying no to this trap?
If Damien decided to start a guild war again while they were away for the Inter-Alliance Military Exercises, who would defend the city?
Half their forces would be away, as well as themselves and Leon. All their power players would be gone.
And with how stringent they were on recruitment, their player ranks still hadn't grown enough to be considered a big guild. At best, they were considered a medium-sized guild.
Their number one position on the guild ranking meant nothing if most of their power was away from the base during an attack.
She loathed the idea of taking this deal. But the risks of saying no were even greater.
"Fine," she growled.
"But if this backfires, it'll be completely on you. I will not be staying under Damien Grimm. Not over my dead body."
Louis chimed in at this moment.
"Of course, anyone that wouldn't wish to stay in Aces High wouldn't be held there against their will. But their chances of joining other guilds would be on the line. That is one of the finer details."
Kary's ears turned red as her blood boiled.
She snapped her head toward Alex.
"You better own up to your word, mister. Or we'll be solo players for the rest of our time on New Eden."
Louis cocked his head to the side a bit, wondering what she meant by her words. But it was irrelevant to the matter at hand, so he tossed the thought aside.
Alex nodded his head solemnly.
"When have I not backed my word with actions?" he asked, smiling cockily.
Kary scoffed as she looked away.
Louis took this as an okay and shook Alex's still-extended hand, sealing this deal. They would, of course, sign a contract to make this legally binding, but the handshake was all he needed to proceed.
Damien had told him the two were sticklers to their words and wouldn't renege after shaking his hand.
"Then let us get into the finer details," Louis said, finally smiling at them.
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