[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 181 - The Proposal

Freddy paused with his hand on the door handle. “Miss Umbra,” he greeted as politely as he could. “I would have preferred you knocked.”

She smirked. “If you wanted me to knock, you should have locked the door.”

“I did lock the door,” he said, pointing to the lock she broke with a kick.

Emily shrugged. “Well, you clearly didn’t lock it hard enough.”

Maybe it was the fatigue from today’s events, or the fact he found her horrifyingly attractive, but that almost made him laugh. Almost. 

But the current situation was no laughing matter. 

Emily Umbra was an extremely powerful individual with an even more impressive background—and she was a bully, at that.

There was no doubt in Freddy’s mind that she was here for one reason—to get her hands on the city of Repentawa. The marriage offer the adjudicator mentioned was nothing but her method of choice. 

Sighing for the umpteenth time that day, he gestured to the chair. “Please, have a seat. I’ll call on the servants.”

“No need for that,” she said as she pointed an open palm at the chair. A shadowy tendril extended towards it, grasping it to pull it over to her. Then, she sat on the chair, crossing her legs and arms. “I’m not the type to waste my time beating around the bush. You know why I’m here.”

Freddy couldn’t resist the low-hanging fruit. “You quite literally waited for everyone else to finish talking to me before you came here. If that isn’t wasting time, then I don’t know what is.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “I obviously can’t come first. I’m not some lowly harlot. Anyway”—she snapped her fingers—”please hurry with accepting so we can arrange a date.”

He stared at her with a good deal of frustration building up. “My answer is no. I have no desire to marry you.”

To his surprise, Emily sighed in relief. “Oh, good. I feared you’d be smitten, which would make things rather annoying. Now out with it, tell me what’s going to change your mind.”

He scowled. “Nothing.” A deep sense of frustration bubbled in his stomach, and he could no longer hold his tongue. “Miss Umbra, if you’re trying to get your hands on this city, then just give me a normal offer. You never know, I might even accept. But if you insist on trying to bully me into a marriage, then I would like you to leave immediately.”

She stared at him for a long moment before breaking into a sudden fit of laughter. “The city!? Are you stupid? Why would I want this squalid settlement? My father is an Overlord—I can get my hands on a proper city if I wanted one.”

Freddy froze. “Then… What?” He pinched his brow. “I’m sorry, then why are you trying to marry me?”

“Hmph,” she snorted. “I was hoping you’d just jump at the opportunity like a good boy, but I guess I could explain it to you since you asked so nicely.” She shot him an all-too-pleasant smile. “To put it bluntly, I don’t want to marry anyone. But my family insists on trying to use me as a political tool. 

“I’d have picked one of the many thousands of men frothing at the mouth to have me, but unfortunately, most candidates my family approves of come from a faction that will, without fail, put political pressure on me to have children. You, on the other hand, are independent, so that won’t happen. And because of your impressive talent that caught the eye of an adjudicator, you just barely cross the threshold of what my family considers marriage material. 

“By marrying you, I ‘secure a valuable connection’ for my family and they leave me alone. By marrying me, you convince me to bring an army to protect my hubby’s cute little shanty town. And you don’t have to be afraid that this is some ploy to wrestle your petty little slum away from you since we are obviously going to be signing a prenup. Any questions? No? Good. And no, you don’t get to take my last name.” 

That was a lot to swallow. Most shockingly, he actually saw no obvious reason to say no to the offer. But just because it wasn’t obvious to him, that didn’t mean there were no good reasons to refuse. 

Perhaps he’d attract the ire of these “thousands of men” she mentioned. Or maybe he’d become a target to Umbra’s enemies. 

And just because she made it seem like it came with no caveats for him, that didn’t mean her family wouldn’t expect something from him. Or worse, act as if they owned him. 

After a few long seconds of silence, he finally shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’ll still have to say no.”

She gave him a blank look before sighing and clicking her tongue in irritation. “Lord almighty. You clearly don’t understand the gravity of what I’m offering here, so let me spell it out to you—you will get the backing of one of the most powerful organizations in the entirety of the empire. 

“Your father in law will be an Overlord. Do you have any idea what kind of status that will grant you in high society? We literally specialize in assassinations. People are keenly aware of this. How many individuals do you think will risk offending you knowing that fact? Not many, I assure you.” 

“You make it seem like I get a whole lot from this deal,” Freddy observed, “but at no point do you mention what will be expected of me. I’m not a fool. Backing like that doesn’t come without a price.”

She smiled at him. “Obviously not. You will be often asked to participate in miscellaneous events as my husband. These will range from tournaments, to dungeon raids, to addressing crises such as the one we find ourselves in right now. Naturally, you don’t have to agree to every little request. But it would be nice from time to time, unless you want to force me to divorce you.” Her gaze darkened. “And I wouldn’t be happy if that happened.”

Again, that didn’t seem that bad. 

But if there was any one thing Freddy had learned to never trust, it was his own judgment. 

Regardless of the practical aspects of accepting her offer, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be tied to a group like this. They were quite literally professional killers. While he would be a hypocrite to make a fuss about killing people, he would at least like to know what kinds of people they killed. 

If they were the type of group to target anyone for the right price, he wanted nothing to do with them. 

So he decided to ask, “Excuse me for my ignorance, but would you be willing to tell me a bit more about the Umbra Clan?”

She groaned, dropping her head back and rolling her eyes. “Just hurry up, please.”

“What kinds of jobs do you guys accept?”

She snorted at that. “If you’re curious about whether you can hire us to kill Basilisk, then I’m sorry to disappoint—we only accept jobs from members of the government, and even then, it’s only after they pass through an ethics committee. Killing a former Lord is absolutely out of the question. Anything else?”

Well, that was at least above the bare minimum. 

While he had other questions he wanted to ask, he knew that asking whether they took jobs under the table or did other nasty stuff would just insult her. And, frankly, he was confident they were up to no good, same as everyone at that level of power. 

If he was being honest with himself, he was already convinced that he would get more than he would lose. But he still hesitated to say yes. Whether he was just being a coward, or if he was afraid he’d be violating some moral principle of his, he wasn’t sure. 

But his emotions on the topic were clear. “I’m sorry,” he said. “While your offer is genuinely quite appealing, I don’t understand enough about politics to know exactly what I’m getting myself into. Besides, this doesn’t sit well with me. Even if it’s just a pretend marriage, it would certainly get in the way of meeting other people.”

“Gasp!” she said with mock scandal. “Not even engaged and you’re already thinking of cheating on me? You dog!”

He gave her a flat look. “You know what I mean.”

Shaking her head, she giggled. “Yes, yes, I get it. Well, I tried.” She got off the chair with a groan. “Bye-bye! It was nice talking to you.” Then, she headed out of the room.

Freddy watched her walk away, and just as she was about to leave, he called, “Wait, hold on!”

“Hmm? Did you change your mind?”

“No, but… You’re really just going to walk away?”

She squinted at him. “Are you playing hard to get or something?” She sighed. “I gave you an offer and you refused. Were you expecting me to beg on my knees?”

“Uh. No. I guess not. Just a quick question—does this mean you’ll be leaving the belt?”

“No, I’m staying,” she said. “Obviously, you don’t get an army, but I’m not gonna miss out on an excuse to get away from my family for a while.” She turned around and waved behind her back. “See you around!” As she left the room, her hair extended to grab the handle and slam the broken door shut. It creaked open a bit as she walked away. 

Sighing, Freddy called the servants over and asked for someone to come fix the door.

Rather than return to the others right away, he found himself grabbing a couple of bottles of whiskey and sitting down at the table. 

His thoughts were an absolute mess. 

It was just now sinking in that he had refused the help of a whole army. While he logically knew that he wasn’t morally obligated to sell himself off, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d betrayed these people a little. Regardless of the details, his choice would result in unnecessary deaths. 

Was it selfish of him to refuse? 

He didn’t want to believe that.

Given that his talks were out of the way, he didn’t hold back. After downing two whole bottles, he poured himself a glass and continued sipping, taking big gulps at a time.

Deep down he knew; if he were just a random citizen of Repentawa and he heard that someone else had made the same choice Freddy did, he would have been angry. He had to take a moment to squash those feelings before they got out of hand. There was plenty he was willing to do for this city. He was being unfair to himself. 

But even besides the extra help, there were other things he was regretting. He could have had political protection from people like Basilisk. Would he have finally been able to live a relatively free life with their name on his back?

And despite feeling a bit ashamed of it, she was absolutely his type, and he could totally relate to the thousands of men frothing at their mouths. The worst part was that he couldn’t even say it was just her looks—even her personality was his type, which was revealing some unpleasant truths about himself.

Overall, this talk had gone nothing like what he’d been expecting. 

He would have to be careful of her perhaps wanting to retaliate, but for what it was worth, she hadn’t promised or threatened any such thing. 

After such a tiring day, there were few things he wanted to do. And he especially didn’t want to go back to dealing with Lucas and Janice. Sadly for him, he had no choice. 

At the very least, he’d gotten all the talks out of the way.

He had a glass of whiskey in silence as he thought about what he was going to do. “You know what? Fuck it.” Still carrying the drink, he got up and barged into the room.

They were all sitting on the bed and talking, and as he entered, they suddenly turned to look at him.

“I decided,” he said. “You two are going to come with us.”

Sophia lit up like a candle, but the other two looked a bit torn. 

Especially Lucas, who gave him a suspicious look. “What’s with the sudden change of heart?”

“To be honest?” He down the rest of his drink. “I’ve had the single most difficult day of my entire life today. You two are coming with me since that is the choice that will make me feel the least bad.”

“Did something happen?” Sophia asked. 

“No,” he said. “Not really, anyway. I’m just fucking tired and I want this to be over. Now get started with the body mods so we can go and get them some equipment.” He paused. “Actually, wait.” Gesturing at Sophia, he pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “Let’s go and see what’s for sale, first.”

“What about us?” Janice asked. 

“What else? Have fucking… sex or some shit.”

The two of them turned beet red and looked mortified. But just as they were about to say something, he cut them off, “Do you two have any idea what’s about to happen? Take it from someone who had to change his name and face before. It sucks. It felt like I lost a part of who I was forever. And I only lost myself. You two are losing each other. Take a long hard look at the person sitting beside you—today is the last time you’re going to see them.”

They looked away. Suddenly, they appeared to be having second thoughts about it. 

“Don’t like it? Too bad. This is the only thing we can do for you now. So I’ll give you some time to say your goodbyes.” He looked at Sophia and gestured with his head. 

She nodded and followed after him. 

Once they stepped into the hallway, she patted him on the arm. “That was nice of you.”

“Thanks… I guess.”

The two of them made their way down the hallway, and before long, Freddy reached the adjudicator’s office. He made Sophia wait as he entered to talk to the man in private. He briefly told the man about his conversations, opting to share as little as possible. 

The adjudicator sighed upon hearing what happened with Emily Umbra. “That wasn’t a bad offer, you know?”

Freddy winced. “Yeah. I thought as much. Still, I didn’t know what I was getting into, so I decided to play it safe.”

“That, at least, was a wise choice. Even though it was a good offer, it would have come with more caveats than she mentioned, and some of them would have restricted your freedom quite a bit.” Despite everything, the man looked visibly calmer now. “That went as well as we could reasonably expect. Thank you for heeding my advice. Now”—he shifted gears as he fixed his tie a little—”I’m assuming you needed me for something else?”

Freddy nodded. “I was wondering where I could buy some stuff to prepare for what’s coming?”

The adjudicator smiled as he pulled a large tablet out of his storage ring. “Here you go,” he handed it to Freddy, who grabbed it with a bit of confusion. “Turn the screen on.”

Freddy did. It lit up with an interface. He spotted numerous categories, both for types of product and individual suppliers. After a few tentative taps, he discovered that way more stuff was being sold than he expected. 

“Surprised?” The adjudicator chuckled.

“Not really,” Freddy said with a lopsided grin. 

Given how many people were coming here, it was hardly surprising that many would seek to capitalize on it. 

After only a brief look over some of the items, Freddy realized he could afford quite a bit of stuff, given his current state of wealth. He had only been hoping to perhaps hire a mercenary or two and to get some basic equipment. 

But after only a brief bit of scrolling, he couldn’t stop a nervous grin from creeping up on his face. 

“This is going to leave a big dent in my wallet…”