Date- 31 Mar 2321
Time- 14:09
Location- Sky Blossom City, D-rank Silver Beach gate dungeon
“I’m sorry. Betrayal is my trigger. Whenever I experience it, I lose control. I thought that bitch, and you might have allied and pulled one over me. Clearly, that’s not the case. If so, I would be dead already.” The demon cult card emperor apologized to Anna after taking the pill to suppress his demonization. Emotional triggers are the situation that could rile the hybrids up into entering the demonization. And this particular demon cult card emperor’s emotional trigger was a betrayal. So when he mistook Anna’s calmness as a leak and thought he was betrayed, he was emotionally triggered and entered the demonization state. Thankfully Anna was able to remind him to take the pill in time to suppress it.
“No problem, it happens to the best of us. Who is this bitch you speak about, somebody I know? Hearing you, she seems to hold quite a grudge against me.” An unexpected discovery through an unexpected source, finally something worthwhile after trolling the sucker for so long. Anna wanted to know who was so vindictive towards her that they would be willing to join the demon cult. Anna gave it a thought, but nobody came to her mind.
“I don’t think you know her. If you had, then you would have hunted her down by now. After all, your grudge against her is not small. Forgive me. That’s all I can say about that matter without being called a snitch.” After the demonization incident, the relationship between Anna and the demon worshiper had turned weirdly friendly. Still, the demon cult card emperor knew where to draw the line.
“That’s ok. You said she volunteered for this mission. Does that mean she is here?” Anna recalled all the information tattled by the demon worshiper during his demonization to help her figure out who was the girl who held a grudge against her.
As the southern emperor, Anna had a lot of haters, enemies, and a lot of displeased people. So one more hater was not a big deal for her, but this one was different. She was able to move the demon cult to achieve her goals. Setting her apart from the other haters. This one showed the ability to do some potential damage to her right now. And what about after a decade or two. Then she might as well be powerful enough to come for her head directly. This alone was enough reason for Anna to take this one particular hater seriously.
“No comments. I really cannot talk about it. Forget about that, and let’s negotiate about our current circumstances. Show of cards, I will show you what I got and want, and you show me what you got. I don’t want things to get worse. Let’s discuss and come to an understanding.” The demon cult card emperor suggested to Anna that now that they are at this weird and awkward point, they might as well peacefully settle without any bloodshed. The demon worshiper used the awkward moment to slide into the negotiation deal his higher-up had asked him for. All he hoped for was that Anna would agree and she would not go off the script like the previous times.
“Sure, but you go first. After all, you have spilled most of it anyway.” Anna followed the demon worshiper’s suggestion.
“Fine, all I want is the dungeon relocation apparatus and a copy of Miss Luna’s knowledge about operating the dungeon reputation apparatus. Of course, we will require Ms. Luna to make a soul contract stating that she did not lie or leave out anything in the copy and also there is nothing harmful in it. In exchange, we will spare your soldiers” The demon worshiper finally announced his negotiation conditions. After a thought, he continued, ” please don’t consider my willingness to negotiate as a sign of weakness. If needed, I will not hesitate to summon the devil at the expense of my people too.”
Anna finally understood what the demon cult wanted from Luna. They did not want to kidnap her, but they wanted to make a copy of all her knowledge on demon relocation and its apparatus operation. To make sure that the information given by Luna is correct and complete, the demon cult wanted her to make a soul contract.
Yep, these guys never planned on kidnapping Luna along with the dungeon relocation apparatuses. All they wanted was her knowledge. They chose this despite the easier way available in order to avoid getting on the wrong side of the southern royal family. After the war with the orthodox faction decades ago, the demon cult was near collapse, but thankfully after a few long years, they have finally entered a revival phase, and they did not want to be disturbed right now. So it was in their best interest not to antagonize the southern royal family by kidnapping one of their cubs.
“Wow! Was that a threat? I will take that as a threat. And buddy, sorry, I cannot accept your conditions because your leverage is not enough.” Anna responded without a thought as she already knew what the demon cult card apprentices’ conditions would be. After all, he had mentioned them a few times already.
“What? Aren’t the lives of your soldiers leverage enough? I guess the rumors about you caring for your soldier’s well-being were untrue.” What the demon cult card emperor was afraid of happened again. Anna once again did not play according to the script. In concern for her soldier’s life, she should agree to all his conditions, but she did not do that; instead claimed that the leverage was not enough, which was equal to saying that the life of her soldiers was not as valuable as the dungeon relocation apparatus.
Anna, as the commander of the southern watch, had to be prepared to make tough choices once in a while. If the people get the idea that by holding a few southern watch soldiers hostage, they can shake down the southern royal family, then the soldiers of the southern watch who are meant to protect the southern region will require protection.
