1780 Shijin
After that one hour, Sam also started thinking about contingencies.
If things really don’t play out as he expected in the new half an hour, he decided to do something else.
But he didn’t have to do that. Because someone walked through that door in that one hour and the whole bar was emptied immediately.
A young man who is wearing a cloak walked towards Sam and behind that young stood a man and a woman.
The young man sat beside Sam and snapped his fingers. The waitress ran over with a jar of the most expensive wine. He poured one glass for himself and another for Sam before he spoke.
Sam didn’t take the glass and looked at him.
“I don’t take free drinks.”
“Don’t think of it as a free drink. Think of it as a part of our negotiation.”
“I don’t negotiate with strangers either.”
…..
“But you did with my idiot brother Chasin.”
“So, you are Shijin?” Sam asked as if he is a bit surprised, he then looked at the two people behind Shijin and asked in a confused tone.
“But…”
“But what am I doing with the leaders of the underground organization? They are a controlled opposition that I created myself.
You know, I never really cared much about this city and its people. All I wanted was its revenue, but I wanted all of the revenue, both white and black, good and bad. So, this is the best method to do that.
Now that your doubt is cleared. Why don’t you clear one of my doubts? What is a guy like you, an expert like you doing with my idiotic brother?”
“I just wanted to fight and he said he will provide the venue. That is it.”
Shijin is taken aback.
“Really?”
“Yes. That is all there is to it. It is just a chance encounter. Ross offered me a mission to assassinate someone, that guy is supposed to be a young master. I went there expecting a fight, but he is dead in minutes.
Chasin then offered a proper fight for me, but before that, he turned out to be a weasel.”
“Pfft…” Shijin burst out laughing.
“My brother. Chasin. You are indeed stupider than I thought.
So, that guy managed to get his hands on you in one day and even managed to get rid of you in just a few hours and he couldn’t make you do anything substantial?
That is actually for my good I guess. Now, this happened to be my chance encounter.”
Sam didn’t say anything.
“How about you fight for me then? From what you saw, you must have already known that I am smarter and I wouldn’t be stupid like him. Why don’t you fight for me? In fact, you don’t even have to fight for me for the whole war.
I just need you for a week and I promise you that I will give you the fight of your life.”
“Fight of my life? I hardly doubt anyone below Divine Plane can do that. I have been looking for that for months. I don’t trust you anymore than I trust your stupid brother.”
“Of course, I expect nothing less. That is why, I will prove it to you that you can get the fight of your life.”
“Before discussing any further, I want to ask a few things.”
“Please.”
“What is this stupid war exactly about?”
“Why do you want to know?” Shijin asked with interest.
“If you want me to give you a chance to make me trust you, being honest with me will be a good start.”
“Fine. They are fighting for a bunch of kids. Who are supposed to be divine talents? My brother had a baby with a Divine oracle and so did the young masters from the remaining 6 clans.
Now the other eighteen clans are trying to get their hands on these babies.
Surely you are not interested in those kids now are you?”
Sam didn’t even bother to answer. He leaned back into his seat and thought for a moment. He acted as if he couldn’t care less about the situation.
“Are you interested in those kids?”
“Of course, I am. I have a plan and in fact, after my meeting with you is over, I am about to implement a big part of that plan. In fact, if you agree with me now, you can get your first big fight there.”
Sam frowned and thought for a moment.
“Why don’t you make a soul contract? I don’t want to deal with another weasel.”
Shijin just smiled and finished the soul contract. He has that smile on his face and internally he is thinking only one thing.
‘Muscle heads are the best.’
Yes, in his mind Sam is just a muscle head.
A person who has not other ambition other than just looking for the next guy to beat. Shijin wholly believed that talent is being wasted on those people.
But at least, they are na?ve enough to be used by him, so he can swallow the pill.
He felt pretty smug about that. If only he knew, if only he knew who Sam is…
“Okay let’s go. You will have your first fight today.”
Sam walked out with those people.
He couldn’t help but shake his head at how ridiculous this whole thing is. In just a few hours, he killed a bunch of people, got in touch with one of the key targets, joined forces, fell out, and joined forces with a different person.
The fact that he appeared in a hot warzone is a big plus. Otherwise, this will never happen in a regular scenario.
It would take days for these people to trust someone like Sam who has so much power and just came out of nowhere. That is why even now they are trying to use Sam just for this war. In their eyes, he nothing more than another mercenary they are hiring.
But Sam has bigger plans in his mind. Even though he didn’t follow a rigid process this time and is playing by ear, improvising every bit of it, he still felt like he is going in the right direction.
Soon, Sam Shijin and two leaders of the underground forces are all on the back of another eagle as they flew in a certain direction.
Sam is pretty surprised by this.
There are two significant things in the direction they are traveling. One is the headquarters of Chasin and Shijin’s clans. The other one is the meeting spot for the current meeting with mercenaries and when the bird slowly started landing, Sam is surprised to find out that they are actually going to the meeting spot.
He knew that the meeting between the leader of the underground and the mercenaries is happening right here. Because of Grin’s memories.
But he didn’t expect that Shijin himself is participating in this meeting. He thought he is still playing from behind the scenes.
Sam followed Shijin into the cave where the meeting is happening at.
A group of people are gathered at the stone table.
They are the mercenary leader and his subordinates.
Sam sat there silently and waited for them to discuss business.
After some pleasantries, the mercenary leader started the actual conversation.
“I didn’t expect the underground forces of your city are also yours. I am surprised you still came to this discussion though.”
“Why?”
“You do know that this discussion is about destroying your clan, right? As part of that, the underground organization is supposed to cause riots in the three cities. Forcing your clan to send out the forces.
At the same time, my boss, the one that hired me will make his father attack one of your secret grounds. Your father must move.
That is going to be the time when we go and capture the kid in your hand.”
“Why are you saying your plan is out in the open?” Shijin asked with the same smile.
“Why are you still here even after knowing that we are trying to harm you? That is the same reason. We are just mercenaries, there are no personal feelings involved, since the operation is not done and you still don’t hold a grudge, then we can discuss business.
Since I have a feeling that our interests are aligned.”
“You are right. Our interests are indeed aligned. I am here to tell you that you can actually proceed with the plan. In fact, I will even put some of my best people on this job to help you. But I need your boss to also join in the cooperation and the kid will stay with me instead of your boss.”
“That is not going to work. The kid is the only thing worth in this.”
“Of course, it is true. But our clan is not the only one that has a kid like that. Our friends, the Magman Clan also has a kid just like this.
So, I have a proposal for you to forward to your boss. The Magman clan and my clan will get into a cooperate. In fact, a marital alliance.
I will marry his sister and he can marry mine. We will forge our bonds with marriage. I will work with you guys to create a situation where the kid from my family will be under my control and the kid from the Magman family will be under your boss, Adin’s control.
Does that sound like a good deal for you?”
