Standing about 180cm metres tall, the Shadow King was a Red Tiefling with a trimmed beard, and a peculiar tattoo right beside his right eye. From far, it looked like a turned around cross, but upon closer inspection Jin saw that it was the hands of a clock that made the cross.
The Shadow King continued to smile as he unreservedly asked Jin to sit down, before going over to the cabinet and taking out a black bottle of wine. However, after some consideration for his guest, he put back the glass bottle and went for a silver one.
Jin, on the other hand, was surprised that the Shadow King became this amicable upon the allure of money, yet decided to follow the current development to see where it was going.
In the meantime, Kraft was complaining that this was not the climactic battle they had been waiting for, whereas Rex complimented Jin for using his head. Still, he was also a bit disappointed that there would be no fight between the Shadow King. Eventually, everyone returned to their respective tasks within the War Room and Kraft began to yawn loudly, switching the channel back to Lynn.
"Name's Neil." The Shadow King introduced himself as he poured a drink of a somewhat watered-down version of their Demon's liquor. Jin squinted his eyes as he saw the liquor changing colours the moment he placed some ice in. He thanked Neil and took a sip.
The flavours were explosive and it was certainly unexpected. At first, it tasted like ice lemon tea and later there was a scent of hot chocolate even though it was supposed to be a higher level of vodka. Despite that, Jin already felt slightly lightheaded despite having endured all the forced drinking sessions with his minions.
Fortunately, he had learned a trick how to handle his alcohol. He used his Maqi to regulate his body in case it was a trap by the Shadow King. "Oh, is it still too strong for you?" Neil chuckled seeing how Jin had lost his composure for a moment there.
"Not a fan of drinking, that's all. I only do this for business." Jin smiled back as Neil sat back and his attention towards the Astral Panda Cultivator. "I'll be blunt with you, I didn't really expect you to expect this fast. I was pretty sure that you would kinda reject my idea very readily and even the money."
"Hah! Please, I run this Mafia group because of money and in fact, I'm planning to demand some more from you as compensation considering that you have disrupted our operations so severely. Still, this amount of money is a good start to repair the relationship between the current King and us." Neil explained while he started to calculate the estimated losses Tyr Gauntlets had incurred, to properly bill the King for it.
"Actually, we can brute force our way if we wanted. My sources have informed me that we have already defeated your Elites." Jin commented. "Nevertheless, we want to be amicable too. If we can resolve it with money alone it would be great. Too much fighting will create a misunderstanding."
"Tsk, you say that after defeating them?" Neil grumbled while he leaned backwards on his chair.
"How else were we supposed to convince you that we are a force not to be trifled with. You would really ignore us if we tried to negotiate with you, right?" Jin chuckled as he took another sip of the weird alcohol. The more he drank it, the more he felt that it was oddly intoxicating and addictive but the accompanying lightheadedness was no joke.
"Touche, so what are you proposing? Do you want us to bash up Eld Enclave or Atrocity? I heard that you did quite a number on the latter at the start of the day. Still, I'd like to remind you that whichever side it will be, it won't be cheap, especially since we will have to revive those you've killed." Neil stood his ground that his Elites were still a valuable bunch of people despite their supposed defeat.
He had seen most of it through the magical orb he possessed but he had a number of burning questions to ask especially since his magic orb conveiently broke during one of the clashes between his Elites and the sole enemy. He had seen how his warrior and archer got killed and was wholly convinced that it was possible his entire team of Elites were annihilated. Else, they would be storming through the front door and stop Jin from even communicating with their big boss.
"There's no need for you to attack either one of them. No, I want you to retreat with your group from this city and station yourselves in the outskirts. We have a secret outpost that was built recently which you can occupy for the time being…well assuming that your numbers aren't much greater than our estimate." Jin answered and Neil felt perturbed by his request.
"Not even asking us to join forces for bashing the other Shadow Kings down? You're either very c.o.c.ky… or more powerful than we had anticipated. What exactly are you plotting?" Neil questioned him but Jin refused to say a single word more which made the Shadow King start to ponder the dungeon supplier's actions.
The mass exodus of the Demopolis was a dangerously weird move while the current infighting between the Mafias and the Human Mercenaries was something that was out of the norm. Instead of a coordinated push to flush out the Mafias, it became more of a chaotic situation. It was as if this entire scenario was just a build-up for something else entirely.
And that was when Neil believed he had figured it out.
"Wait a minute…You are using this city as bait?" Neil queried as he remembered how the Demopolis had been conquered by surprise. Jin smiled widely and he nodded his head slowly.
"We know that your group is smaller than the other two Mafia groups but had a stronger force. We're hoping you could at least deal a huge blow to one of the invading cities' armies when they arrived." Jin explained and Neil's eyes dilated.
"You mean you are baiting not just one but more than a few cities at a time?" Neil questioned with disbelief when he heard Jin's answer. "But for the King to use the entire city as his playground, that's rather ambitious. A bold but foolish plan." Neil replied that this was going to backfire quite badly.
"Nah, not really. We honestly don't need your help for this plan to work, but it never hurts having some extra help ready and available. All you need to do is to sign this set of doc.u.ments. I can already promise you that this will not only bring you untold fortunes from the cities but maybe I could even convince the King to bestow a city for you to control if you wish." Jin offered as he pulled the set of paper Neil left one side and waved it beside him.
However, as he did that, the System was already rewriting the doc.u.ment clauses and preparing another set of doc.u.ments. The Dungeon Supplier purposely brought it close to him to adjust the papers but as he did that, Jin secretly swapped them with the brand new doc.u.ments.
Those doc.u.ments were a series of contracts that when signed by Neil, the System would automatically assume control of each and every Mafia member under Tyr Gauntlets. At that particular point, the System was able to share valuable information and sufficient context for Neil to make further decisions. But for now, Jin had to lure him to sign it. "Not to mention, you will have the odds against you. Like insurmountable kinds of odds." Jin's warning felt like an advertis.e.m.e.nt for the crazy.
Oh but Neil was laughing hysterically when he heard it. "Money, a prospect for proper land and killing stuff? Where do I sign on that goddamn paper?"
