Traveller Of Two Worlds novel Chapter 9

In the dimly lighted room, besides the steam floating from the tea and bright light from the smartphone, the room was quiet, duke's expressions have turned sour, his fist has turned sour due to his rage upon witnessing the proof of his trusted aide betrayal.

"Is this real?...". (Duke Merrica)

"It is,…..we weren't lying, right now, we even have the baron together with the 2 bandit leader alive in the other room…you can confirm all this by yourself if you want to...but…". (Elijah)

Hearing that the bloody traitor Duke shoots up from his chair and rushes to the door, but Mina was there, obstructing him by holding the doorknob. Duke turned to Elijah with a rage expression, yet the other parties seem completely unfazed by his threatening looks.

"Before you do...there's something you need to realize, we weren't doing this for free…..and this degree of occurrence deserves to be compensated….Please read on to this and sign it….after that, you are free to do what you want to that thrash in the next room..". (Elijah)

Duke picks up the agreement and carefully inspects the content of the agreement. In the agreement, there are only 2 demands, 1. The ownerships of the Keep and the lands around it (5 kilometers radius) shall become the Black Keep Company territory, Duke Merrica and Kingdom Hallerus shall acknowledge the land ownership and views it as an independent land. 2. Any trades are done by Black Keep Company inside Duke Territory, Black Keep Company will only pay half of the tax normally imposed on other businesses. In return, the Black keep company shall prioritize and provide special deals, especially for the duke, not the Kingdom of Hallerus. Although it wasn't much, the agreement surely offends Duke as it looks fairly one-sided, he felt that it was outrageous for the other parties to demand such things.

"....this….is, isn't this just too much?.....you're asking too much!....this Keep and its land was mine!...also, acknowledging that this land was an independent land and paying only half tax in doing business in my territory!!..... this is!!...". (Duke Merrica)

"KNEEL..".

As the table was split into two, a single word shook the entire room, the voice carries a dignified aura and intense killing aura, that broke the duke into a cold sweat and made him kneel on the floor in instant. Right at the end of the room, there's a man (?) sitting comfortably on a chair staring straight at duke. Right at this moment duke could barely keep his consciousness every single second passed, he felt like a reaper scythe coming closer to his neck.

"What a joke…..overbearing?...too much?...what I offered you was a considerably fair...1, this keeps and its land never belonged to you or your nation, it's a rogue territory…..all I ask for you to acknowledge that it was mine, I never asked for it to become part of your country or ask for its protection…2, you should be grateful, I'm only ask for half tax, with me on this region your trade route were already protected from any bandit's in the area….instead of me asking for half tax, maybe I should rob every caravan that comes through from your nations…". (Elijah translated).

The man was still unmoved, while Elijah translated every word he said for the duke. But under the man's calmness, the duke can sense that he just insulted the man, because his last words were definitely a threat. Still, his pride as a duke, to never let him be undermined easily, he tries to raise a counter-argument, but the other parties started to speak once again.

"Like I said this agreement is my offer to you, you of all people have no right to make a deal….. I just saved you and your knight's lives, exposed the conspiracy in your noble ranks, and killed EVERY SINGLE BANDIT IN THIS KEEP...and you think the one who should be thankful for all that was me?... Are you stupid?..... Is Human Noble were always this ungrateful?.....how about you take a good look outside…and tell me, if I should add some more bodies to that pile….". (Elijah Translated)

Duke who still holding on to his noble pride, slowly takes a look at the window and looks at the courtyard. What he saw was a small hill of naked bodies which previously were the bandits, which he and his knight were defeated. By then a sudden thought slapped him, a few weeks ago he came with 150 knights yet were massacred, and this man comes with his handful of Dame and killed every single man, then leave 2 of the bandit leaders alive while he and his half-dead knights still stuck in the basement. In sense, he wasn't in a place to make any offer or deal, instead, he now should be rewarding and compensating the man. Also, he's already gone from his territory for almost a month but no one has sent any reinforcement or search party to find his whereabouts.

The man and his dame hold the fate of his life in their hands, the man can take his life at any time and no one will know. Yet this man decided to offer him a deal that wasn't really impossible for him to fulfill. Suddenly a discussion snaps him from his daze.

"Your excellency….there's no need to ask this ungrateful man for anything….just kill all of them, and take everything…..it's even simpler that way…". (Bina Murook)

"I agree, humans are a greedy race…..we save him and his men from getting killed, they owe us their very lives…..even a little kid knows when you owe someone, you need to pay them….it's not like we ask for money or anything…..we were the one who conquered the keep, of course, it belongs to us.. ". (Mina)

"Silence! Both of you….Mind your manners…only His Excellency can decide on this matter….". (Elijah)

Bina Murook, who suddenly appeared in the room, starts to look irritated the same look appeared on Mina; both of them weren't hiding their hostility toward the duke. Elijah on the other side was still waiting for the man to speak; Duke, on the other hand, starts to break out another cold sweat.

The man still hasn't spoken but suddenly he reached for the agreement paper and before he even touched it, Duke burst out and starts kneeling on the floor and spoke out.

"Sire!!...no...Your excellency, please pardon my previous remarks and unsightly attitudes….. I should never, behave in such manners….to repay kindness with poisons was unbecoming of me…..to atone for it, I shall comply and signed the agreements, and make sure that your excellency company will be excluded from paying any taxes as long as your company doing business in all of Hallerus....umm...I will also pay a handsome price on those three prisoners….. a...And….. I will personally make sure that all Hallerus knows the true heroes of this incident.....um… ". (Duke Merrica)

Duke folded, shriveled in fear. The man said nothing but instead point his finger at the paper, telling him to sign it, duke hastily signs the paper, and hand it back to the man.

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"Isn't better to just sign it the first time, rather than pointlessly fighting for it?..." (Elijah)

"That's how human is, they were greedy and foolish, that's why we need to put up this drama ….either way, now we already have him and this territory in our hands…. now we can start building our lives freely in this place…".

"But….is it fine to leave the information's about the Principality of Light schemes from him?.....in 3 years the Kingdom of Hallerus might be in war..".(Elijah)

"It doesn't matter….it's not my business, I don't even care....who knows we might gain something if that happens….besides, seeing that he can't even see the betrayal of his own aide shows how incompetent he is…..sometimes being nice wasn't really a good thing….".

I decided to not show the full video to the duke just now; I edited the video last night to purposely cut out the part about the Principality of light and the betraying nobles (Aside from Baron Larson ). I don't really care if war is about to erupt, although it may affect me, still, It will be an opportunity for me to benefit from all of this if I play my hand right.

"Duke, sit down…".

"Ah?....yes...".

Elijah as usual starts to translate my words on the spot, I already decided to dismiss my courtesy to him, and he can't even complain now if I decided to call him by name, still, let's just give him some face.

"I supposed now that you have signed the agreement you now have the qualification to know who am I truly….Have you heard about Black Keep Empire and Sai Clan of High Humans?.....".

"…..Y..yes your excellency, these humble humans know…. I will personally make sure it be done as soon as possible…..". (Duke Merrica)