Arc | Chapter. 101: Odd Negotiation

Chapter. 101: Odd Negotiation

I raised my brow. The General of Elite Dark Knights immediately turned to me, speaking in a hurry.

“I swear I didn’t speak to her about any of this.”

“No, you didn’t.” Iris shook her head before turning back to me. “So, what do you think, Arc?”

The situation was certainly not one I expected. This woman ⁠— this noble ⁠— was meant to be a guest, but instead she had come representing a hero. The Hero of Spirits⁠, a hero I had never heard of before.

“What is the deal?” I asked.

Ceylon just stared at the noble warily, meanwhile the other knight, Blake, seemed confused at what was going on. But the reactions of the surrounding didn’t seem to matter to Iris as she continued speaking.

“It’s simple, he wants to negotiate for you to fulfill his request.”

“Fulfill his request?” I slightly tilted my head. “Can you get to the point already? I’m not going to agree to negotiate if I don’t know what it is.”

Iris paused as she stared at me, for a moment I saw her golden eyes flicker ever so slightly as her pleasant smile twitched, but she recovered moments later.

“Well… it’s simple enough.”

She tilted her head pensively, pursing her lips. There was a brief silence before she nodded.

“He wants you to leave Draliz.”

I blinked slightly confused.

My mind processed what had happened so far for what it was⁠— an envoy of an unknown hero had come my way. The Hero of Spirits already seemed to know my identity for some reason, which was bothersome, and had even made it known to me.

Did he want to ensure I wouldn’t interfere with his plans of taking over Draliz?

I frowned, I certainly couldn’t do that.

“If he wants to take over Draliz he can forget about it.”

“Oh is that so?” Iris asked in surprise. “Could it be that Miss Arc is planning on rigging the elections of the new king?”

Her question rang in the air as both Elite Dark Knights turned to look at me with surprise⁠. My eyes widened hearing her ridiculous claim.

“No…?” There was a pause before I continued. “I don’t even have the means to do that even if I wanted to; Draliz is my current home, why would I leave?”

Iris, the noble woman raised her brow for a moment before thinking.

“Well see, he just wants you to leave. The reasons for why you want to stay aren’t that important,” she said tilting her head. “He’s willing to pay for travel expenses and anything else⁠— cater to your needs you know?”

I listened to what she was saying and chose to ignore her incredibly casual wording.

“Well, why does he want me to leave?”

“That is…” She frowned looking at the table. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Why wouldn’t I be sure?” I raised my brow.

“Well, I mean what if I tell you and you regret it?”

“Then it will be my own responsibility to deal with?” I asked, confused.

The mood was weird around the table. The General and Commander were just staring at me and the noble girl go back and forth, meanwhile Ceylon seemed to be rather confused by this point. And well, it made no sense to me either. She had kept eye contact with me the entire time though sometimes her eyes would tremble.

And they were trembling right now…

A moment later she nodded.

“Well, it’s not that the Hero of Spirits wants to take over Draliz, it is more so that he wants to help someone take Draliz over.”

“Ah.” Then, a moment later I continued. “I understand.”

“So will you leave?” Iris asked.

“No.”

The noble woman blinked. Her deep purple hair rocked back and her eyes momentarily widened before she asked.

“Did you just say no?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I have no reason to leave Draliz, so I hope the Hero of Spirits can understand that.”

“Right…” She swallowed. “How about not interfering with the selection?”

“No.” I shook my head.

“W-What…?” The girl paused. “Then how about⁠—”

“Enough.” The General coughed. “I’ve let this topic run on for long enough. You cannot discuss such a crude topic in front of the Elite Dark Knights. The elections shall be fair, the only determiner to the new king is wealth.”

Iris frowned and glared at the General but ultimately nodded and crossed her arms dropping the topic. That said, from that point onward she looked fidgety and unsatisfied. Still, I tried to not let it bother me as I carried on with the dinner.

It uneventfully passed, but I didn’t quite get to enjoy my food due to the odd behaviors coming from the woman. Namely giving the General and I side-glares, which were largely unpleasant. After that we all went our separate ways, but not before the noble from that one family called out to me.

“Arc, are you sure you cannot reconsider the request?”

I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at her. She was standing at the entrance of the restaurant. Her eyes were almost shining under the darkness of the night, but I met them without care and shook my head.

“Unfortunately, no.”

And with that we left, leaving her standing there. Minutes passed, and Ceylon looked behind in skepticism before asking me an odd question.

“Are we being followed?”

“No, why?”

Ceylon shook her head. “That woman, Iris Orow⁠— she was odd, very odd.”

“You mean the way she spoke? Yeah it was odd,” I agreed with Ceylon immediately.

“No, not that.” She frowned. “It was the way she made me feel… When she asked if you were sure I got agitated, almost as if I’d actually regret hearing what was being said.”

I blinked, raising my brow. “That is…” and I trailed off giving it some thought.

It seemed like she was doing it on purpose… Perhaps she had a skill to influence people in such ways?

That seemed plausible.

“But why would she think it would work on me?” I tilted my head.

“Maybe because she’s related to the hero? Perhaps he gave her something…” Ceylon suggested. “He did seem very adamant on you listening to his request.”

“He did…” I tentatively agreed with Ceylon.

I continued to think as we returned to the other town. And shortly after we went to sleep.

* * * * *

Iris Orow, she was the first daughter of the prestigious Orow family that held the title of Grand Duke. Her upbringing had been nothing but good, but unfortunately things had changed years ago.

A sigh left her as she inwardly channeled her thoughts towards the person that began everything.

The Hero of Spirits.

Feeling nervous, Iris relayed her thoughts and what had happened during the dinner but contrary to expectations a simple reply came.

‘As expected.’

That was all. She had failed her master’s request, but somehow and in some way the man was unfazed. Considering his past record, Iris found it hard to believe. But still, it’s not like she understood the mind of a hero.

Arc had been a reasonable interaction at least…

Even if her expressions throughout the dinner had been rather odd, especially when she was eating food. But it’s not like Iris had any room to judge, she had been rather brusque with her language in the dinner.

“Not like I can control it…” A sigh left her.

The more time that passed the less she felt like herself. As for that was the case?

She didn’t know.

* * * * *

That morning we returned to Rivas.

Meika had been rather confused by the whole ordeal but Faral had managed to convince her to not ask questions, so transporting her was rather… uneventful aside from knocking her out. The ex-Guildmaster joined us just in time; I had forgotten he existed.

If I was honest, I kind of felt a bit bad given the developments. Meika didn’t know anything about what was going on, but now a couple of adventurers were aware of things. Whether it was Ila seeing Faral’s dragon form, or the other two that had learned I was a hero.

I didn’t know what to make of things, and perhaps I wouldn’t really think about anything. Instead, it was probably better for me to focusing on what I wanted to do. As time passed keeping my identity as a hero secret was slowly becoming a lot less important. Mostly due to the fact that the other heroes seemed to have their own agenda.

That thought alone made me wonder.

Maybe I should just stop caring…

Then I shook my head.

It was too early to tell.

“Arc, are you alright?” Ceylon asked, bringing me back to reality.

I paused. We were currently just sitting in the living room of her family home alone. We were relaxing and perhaps thinking about what to do but nothing came to mind.

“I’m fine, I just don’t really know…” I tilted my head. “Well yeah, is there anything to do until the selection for heroes?”

“Well, I don’t think so…?” Ceylon thought for a moment. “But given what Iris Orow said, perhaps it’s best to begin investigations on certain things⁠— perhaps the elections could be tampered with…”

I thought for a moment. I wanted to believe it wasn’t easy to tamper with such a process, but at the same time in a world of heroes and magic, I wasn’t so sure.

“Right, I think we should definitely look into that…” I paused. “Perhaps we should travel to the capital?”

“Already?” Ceylon paused in surprise.

“I mean why not? Unless you want to level up some more?”

And she blinked before shaking her head. “Leveling up can wait. I’m already D Tier.”

“Well that means that B and such isn’t particularly far away right?” I asked, smiling. “A longer lifespan does not sound bad.”

“Right… let’s not think about that for now.” Ceylon shook her head. “I want to feel like I’m earning this through my own hard work…”

I nodded. “Alright.”

Ceylon pondered for a moment before nodding. “We should head to the capital. We can come back here if anything is needed.”

I nodded in agreement.

And just like that, our departure plans began. However, as soon as it became known almost every single person insisted on coming with the exception of the Dragon of Water. Which meant, Malz, Regis’karr, Faral⁠— they were all coming with us. The old man had left in order to expand his horizons, but Meika would probably be coming along.

With so many people I couldn’t help but wonder if things were alright.

But I decided to keep my intrusive thoughts to myself and instead focus on looking forward to the trip.

* * * * *

That day the Dragon of Earth arrived at an unknown continent. He had barely managed to avoid the attention of other dragons. It had been a difficult journey that had just started, but it didn’t matter for he had one single duty that was of utmost importance.

To warn Arc of the impending betrayal…