Legolaz furrowed his eyebrows, still not believing that the person in front of them was the one who created the rune book.
However, Ramuer suddenly spoke out even with Dimitri's blade on his neck. He asked out loud, "Can you prove your identity?"
Noel grinned and raised his hand. In that instant, a rune formed in front of him. It was the basic Strength Blessing Rune, directed to both Legolaz and Ramuer. In that instant, both of them could feel the surge of strength. Although it was quite good, it wouldn't be enough to defeat Noel and Dimitri.
"…" Legolaz fell silent since he could feel the effect of that rune.
"Is that Strength Blessing Rune?" Ramuer examined the effect and the rune's appearance. He was more knowledgeable than Legolaz in the rune because of his position as the second prince.
"Correct." Noel nodded without hesitation. Dimitri didn't know why Noel actually exposed himself like this, but it seemed that he was planning to use these people to escape from this place.
"Still, that doesn't prove your identity. After the rune book is spread, there are already a lot of people learning it. It won't be strange if they manage to use it, especially with the fact that you come from the Muivell Kingdom, the original country of Noel Ardagan."
"I guess so." Noel smirked. "Well, the Greenwood Kingdom is easier to talk to. But I guess I'll show you something even more interesting."
"More interesting?" Ramuer narrowed his eyes.
Noel took out a coin and showed it to them. After that, he tossed the coin into the air and embedded an Enhance Forward Rune on it.
In that instant, the coin flew straight to Legolaz, which he caught easily.
Still, Legolaz felt the impact of the coin. Because the coin didn't have the shape for killing and the weight to crush, it wasn't much to a Spirit Grandmaster like him. But if Noel imbued that power into a sword or something, it would definitely be fatal.
In fact, they could use it in one way or another to suppress the demons.
This was Rune Engineering. He programmed a certain movement into an object.
The Greenwood Kingdom had learned about this through the exchange, but there was no deal about keeping this a secret. So, he could use this as a negotiation piece.
"…" Legolaz had never seen this kind of application. He couldn't help but look back to Ramuer, who was as shocked as him.
A genius might be able to do something like this, but the creator would certainly be a genius himself. Even if Noel turned out to be fake, they could still benefit from him.
After contemplating for a moment, Ramuer said, "Lower your weapons, this is my order as the second prince."
"…" The people were confused, but when they saw Legolaz also sheathed his weapon, the others chose to lower their weapons.
Dimitri then disappeared, returning back to Noel's side.
Ramuer stood next to Legolaz and said, "I don't think this is an appropriate place to negotiate."
Noel nodded and walked to the door he had emerged from earlier and invited them in.
Seeing Ramuer entering it, Legolaz followed suit and was surprised that there was a stair behind this door.
"To think there is a stair leading down in this place…" Ramuer examined the small room that only had endless stairs.
Noel didn't say anything and continued moving to the next floor before opening the door again, showing that this would be a better place to talk.
Although Ramuer and Legolaz were curious about how deep the building was, they still followed Noel.
"So, what do you want to propose, Mr. Noel?" Ramuer asked. "Since you are in danger from the attack, let's skip all the pleasantries."
"Thank you." Noel nodded. "They should have predicted when letting all of you alive that their identities will be exposed. So, let me just reveal their identity. They are from the Supreme Devil Organization."
"Supreme Devil Organization? The Muivell Kingdom's most notorious organization?" Ramuer looked surprised, while Legolaz felt a bit skeptical about their identity. After all, even if they learned about their identity, what could they do?
The Supreme Devil Organization brought powerful people. And it would be hard to survive under their onslaught. While they could report the organization to the Grand Protector, they had to survive first.
Legolaz said, "If you're planning to use us to survive, I will have to let you know that we don't have enough people to guarantee your safety."
"Well, that's fair enough. The enemies have two Devil Saints. Their strength is at the Peak Spirit Grandmaster. The muscular one has a body of steel, and the woman is the best sniper in the world." Dimitri confirmed their identities, showing how powerful the enemies were.
"I was chased by four Spirit Grandmasters and six Spirit Masters. While I could somehow fight them, I'm not sure if I could defeat them." Noel nodded in agreement.
Ramuer made a wry smile. It was already amazing to fight four Spirit Grandmasters as a Spirit Master, but Noel had considered the possibility of him winning against them.
"So, what do you want, Mr. Noel?" Ramuer reminded him of the first question.
"Alright. I have two demands." Noel raised two fingers. "One, I want you to bring a message to a certain place. Second, I want to take the thing this ruin has."
"The second one is impossible. That's the exact reason why we come here!" Legolaz stopped him while glaring.
However, Noel added, "The item that you want to take is actually irrelevant to the creation of an oasis. It is an ice element item that can strengthen an Ice Spirit. It's more beneficial for me to take it since both of your spirits don't have that element. It can't create an oasis."
"Huh?" Legolaz thought he was bluffing, but Ramuer stopped him while asking, "So, you're telling us that we come in vain?"
"Not necessarily. There are people from the previous civilizations, including the demi-humans underneath us. If I take away the item, the freezing will be undone."
Ramuer looked down for a moment and said, "From the previous civilization? Haven't they died? No, wait… Did they…"
Legolaz asked, "Are you going to trust him?"
"It's just… There is one thing that piques my interest. We've learned how to preserve meat, right?"
"Yes."
"There is one method that can actually stop the time of that living being. If we're talking about ice, it must be that method."
"!!!" Legolaz raised his eyebrows. He obviously knew what Ramuer was talking about. He was talking about Cryonics, where the human remains were frozen and stored at a low temperature with the speculative hope that resurrection was possible in the future.
Considering there was an item that had been releasing its energy for a thousand years to solve that problem, it was possible. And Noel even mentioned demi-humans.
"Still, don't you think that we can simply get that from you without this agreement? That's our original objective after all?"
"Indeed. But do you think I will let you?" Noel's eyes became cold. However, the tension didn't rise as Ramuer simply shrugged his shoulders. "Alright. But what are you going to offer us? You should be aware that you're currently standing in Atrecaeca Kingdom's soil."
"I know. In exchange for those two conditions, I will offer you the Rune Engineering Method. You could basically say that this is the advanced method of the basic rune. Rune Engineering can program a certain movement into an object. I'm sure you can see how useful it is for the Atracaeca Kingdom."
"Movement…" Ramuer contemplated for a moment. "Are you sure you're not asking us to protect you?"
"I'm not planning to bring the Atracaeca Kingdom to my conflict."
Ramuer and Noel stared at each other for a while before Ramuer added, "Seeing your current condition, I don't think you will be able to write another book right now. How can we know that you will survive and give us the book?"
"You can only believe in me." Noel shook his head.
"If you die, we will get nothing." Ramuer raised one finger. "Hence, you, the creator of that book, should know a better method to learn runes, right?"
"!!!" Noel raised his eyebrows before falling into deep thought. It seemed that Ramuer was planning to take advantage of the situation. But that was enough because he could see what would happen.
"Fine. I'll give you the method."
"Good. We have a deal." Ramuer glanced at Legolaz as if telling him to stand down. Since Ramuer had agreed to it, Legolaz had no choice but to comply.
"I will bring you to the bottom floor to confirm everything. Make sure you wrap yourself in warm clothes since it's going to be cold."
Ramuer nodded and decided to go back with Legolaz.
When they were away, Legolaz asked, "Are you sure about this?"
"Of course. I don't think he can survive their onslaught with only two people. And it's not like that organization dares to touch us. So, it's better we get something first. Besides, he indirectly implied that he had a connection to the Greenwood Kingdom, right? We could simply strike another deal with them instead of him. And once we leave this place, we can mobilize the army. Also, aren't you curious about the message he wants us to pass?"
Ramuer had calculated that there were numerous methods that he could take advantage of. Unbeknownst to him, his own action was the reason why Noel didn't plan to make another agreement with the Atracaeca Kingdom.
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