manynovel Chapter 260 – Contract.
Chapter 260 – Contract.
"..."
"Excuse me... But what do you exactly mean by handing owner the ownership of the Mevon territory?" – asked bit worried emperor.
"It is just how it sounds." – said Ariava.
"I want the empire to completely hand over the complete control over Mevon territory."
"No less, no more."
"A total control over this territory."
"This is the second thing that we want."
"..."
"Em... If I may ask." – said the emperor.
"What exactly DO you want?"
"Like you just want the terrain? Or do you also want to have people?"
"Like, do you want to be the lord of this territory, a noble of the empire?"
"Or do you want just the territory to be completely yours?"
"Just territory." – replied Ariava.
"We don’t want any annoyance, so kick out all the people of the empire."
"We don’t want slaves or anything like that."
"We will probably need some people to somewhat manage the territory while it is getting setting up, but that would be pretty much it."
"And that is it."
"The second condition is just territory."
"..."
(That....)
(THAT IS IT?!) - thought surprised yet weirdly confused emperor.
(I mean.... No matter how I look at this.)
(Isn’t this still good?)
(True.)
(Losing a territory isn’t something you can just willy-willy give away.)
(But.... There are two things to take into the consideration.)
(The deal overall is extremely benefaction for us.)
(And this territory alone somewhat SUCK!)
(I’ve looked into it before and while we were traveling, since that territory is where the golem dungeon was located at.)
(Honestly, this territory is somewhat used by the merchants to travel through... But that is it.)
(This territory itself isn’t rich or possess any special products.)
(There are not extremely dangerous monster filled locations, which can be used to harvest high quality materials.)
(Nor there are any mines or spots that can harvest high quality medical materials or magic crafting materials.)
(This entire territory is straight up empty.)
(This territory is peaceful and safe.)
(And the only real thing that provides any income at all here are farms.)
"..."
(However, this territory is also called "CURSED TERRITORY".)
(And this isn’t related to this dungeon per say.)
(Simple put, whenever war broke out, this territory would always end up destroyed and all the people living here would end up either killed or forced into becoming bandits in order to survive.)
(After the empire was established, this territory was rebuild and restored, making the rumors and what just die out.... But according to the vampire’s men, they are saying stuff that the rumors about the "Cursed Territory" are resurfacing again and people are straight up panicking.)
(I can already see trouble brewing it.... So technically speaking, getting rid of this "cursed" territory does sound like a decent part of the offer?)
"..."
(Then again... There is a problem.)
(This blood fucking territory is straight up at the fucking center of the empire.)
"..."
(It is both bad.... And good?)
(I mean, there is really hard way to hide it.... But at the same time, we can defend the dungeon’s territory quiet easily, since it is at the heart of the empire.)
(The location is both good.... And bad per say.)
"..."
"Em.... Is it possible for us two.... Well, to have a private talk?" – asked the emperor.
"Sure. Go ahead." – said Ariava.
"Thauma. Order your golems to move away from the entrance."
Emperor alongside the vampire as well as the three body guards left the boss room through the entrance they used before.
"..."
"Okay. I will be honest here." – said the emperor after making sure that there were no golems in sight.
"I’m honestly considering taking the deal."
"...Are you serious?" – asked vampire leader Korwan.
"Yes! And that is the problem!" – said the emperor Gustav with conflicted look on his face.
"The deal is way too good to be passed by!"
"It. Is. Too. Good!"
"And that is the fucking problem!"
"Is she scheming something?"
"..."
"No." – replied Korwan.
"She has us in her clutches... Honestly, she could take over the empire by.... Well, maybe brainwashing us or just using brute force?"
"So... The fact that she isn’t doing anything EVEN now, when she can pretty much exterminate us on the spot..."
"..."
"..."
(What the fuck do I say?) – thought conflicted Korwan.
(I mean... THE DEAL IS WAY TOO GOOD! JUST AS HE SAID!)
(If the deal DID included slaves, then it would definitely make things beyond complicated for us.)
(But she is saying that she only wants the territory?)
(She could had asked for something like.... I don’t know.)
(One of the "good" territories that are located next to this cursed one?)
(That entire thing does sounds like some sort of extremely weird massive scheme that could possibly fuck us over later.)
(But again....)
"..."
(Do we really have any choice?) – thought both men as they remembered once again that if they don’t take the deal... There is good chance that Ariava could exterminate the empire.
[Ups]
-Getting rid of the "Cursed" territory.
-Obtaining free army over time.
-Obtaining a material producing dungeon.
-Getting support from the overpowered monster named Ariava.
-Dealing with one of the empire problems – Unstability.
-Possible dealing with the second problem – War by idiots.
[Downs]
-Losing a territory – A territory with barely any value at all though.
-Losing a territory located right in the middle of the dungeon.
[Unknown]
-Does dungeon truly wants peace or is it aggressive in reality?
-What is Ariava truly planning and what does she wants to get from this?
(The entire deal is extremely good.... But the only real problem is the last bit.)
(We don’t know her motives.)
(We really had no choice from the start but to accept her deal.... But again.... Too beneficial for us and we still don’t know her hidden motives!)
"..."
"Gustav." – said Kowan.
"Give up." – said the vampire as he realized that not only him but the emperor were stuck in the train of thoughts that was completely unable to move and came up with any proper answer.
"You know what will happened to matter what, don’t you?"
"..."
"Yes." – replied the emperor before moments later the two leaders alongside their escort returned back to the boss room, where the dungeon’s representatives were waiting for them at the table.
"..."
"We came to conclusion." – said the emperor as he sat down alongside the vampire.
"We will be accepting these main terms."
"Great!" – said Ariava as she was writing up the contract before the two leaders even returned to the room.
"Anything else you want? Like I’m almost finished writing down the contract here."
(You were writing this thing before we gotten here!? Bitch!) – thought annoyed emperor who barely stopped himself from cursing at Ariava.
"No.... " – replied the emperor as Ariava went back to writing.
"..."
"Okay, here." – said Ariava as she finished writing up the contract and handed it over to the emperor.
"..."
"..."
(Everything looks.... Okay?) – thought the emperor as he was looking at the contract written by Ariava, trying to find some sort of loopholes or some traps that were set up by the woman... However, the man could not find anything.
(Connection... Methods of communication... Temporarily help after the contract has been finalized....)
(This contract is detailed, including also somethings related to each point.... I don’t really see anything bad at all...)
(....But-)
[Neither sides will be allowed to breach the contract for period of 5 years, they will have no choice but to maintain the contract no matter what and for that to work, both sides will be afflicted by the contract’s curse.]
[After the 5 years period, both sides can decided to cancel the contract, with the party B (Dungeon party) having a right to cancel the contract at any moment.]
[However, if the party B decides to cancel the contract forcefully on their end, they will have to provide a massive compensation to the party A (empire).]
[In case of a breach, the party C (Ariava Byrawa) will directly punish the corresponding party.]
[In case of the forceful termination of a contract or breaking the contract completely, the party C shall punish the corresponding side who broke it.]
[In case of the either sides being destroyed – The dungeon of the party B side getting destroyed or the empire of the party A side getting either destroyed, taken over or shrunken into a kingdom sized nation, the contract will be officially considered null.]
[One side can debate to chancel the contract at the moment notice, if they give logical enough reasons why the contract should be voided. In that case, the party C will be called as mediator and will be forced to give a fair judgment, without showing any favorably to either sides.]
(It is fair.) – thought the emperor.
(There is a part about the dungeon having ability to forceful break the contract on its end, but if it does that, it will have to give us a huge compensation.]
"...This is.... A bounding contract. Yes?" – asked the vampire.
"Yeb. It is one." – said Ariava.
[Bonding Contract]
[Like the name suggests, it a contract type magic tool.]
[This contract is something akin to a mark, where upon finalization, the contract will imprint itself into the involved beings.]
[Depending on the strength of the contract, it could possible either weaker the user or may even result in the death, depending on the context of the contract.]
(I can’t really tell how powerful this contract is.... But I can definitely say this.) – thought the vampire as the emperor handed over the contract to the vampire leader to read through next.
(It is probably strong enough to even bind me to its will.)
(?!)
[All of the members of the specific parties A families will need to sign the contract and the contract will persist through their lives and the lives of their descendants.]
(A bloodline binding contract?!)
(A contract that would affect every single member of our family and those who would be born after.)
(Normally contracts can affect specific beings... But it is hard to affect somebody who wasn’t "there".)
(However, there are powerful contracts out there that can act like a curse, affecting the descendants of the ones who written the contract.)
(Shit... She is throwing THAT powerful contract at us?)
(Not only that, she ain’t leaving us a room to have a loop hole by specifically mentioning that each of our blood relatives needs to sign this contract.)
(That means the emperor and mine families will need to sign that contract in order for it to activate.)
(Dammit.)
(...)
(Still... This isn’t a REGULAR contract where she could just say "JK! I LIED! I GO KILL YOU NOW!")
(No! This thing will BIND HER!)
(True, we won’t be able to fully use her or abuse her according to what is written here... But still! She will help us! She won’t have any choice!)
(There will be an obvious "limit", but still! THAT MONSTER WILL HELP US!) – thought nervous yet excited vampire who could barely control his face anymore.
"So... What is the final verdict?" – asked Ariava.
"Do you want some more time? Or do you want to add something else?"
"..."
The emperor and the vampire leader looked each other and gave the same eye signal to each other.
"No." – replied the emperor.
"We are more than fine enough with these conditions."
"We will be signing this contract."