“Let’s not get ourselves into an irrevocable alteration; it is bad for business.

How about it, Miss Nisha, we will start the negotiations anew?”

Unfazed by the bellicose declaration, the mediator with the soothing voice still tried to get both parties to head towards a mutual understanding. Sadly, not everyone in the chamber had similar thoughts.

“You really believe the brat after a single threat? I can only laugh at your cowardice.

Do you think a single person can declare war on the [Thieves Guild]? That’s madness.

The terms are simple; she wants something from us, then she has to obey, like everyone else. Otherwise, throw the brat out; we have more important issues to discuss.”

“That is your opinion. Is it also the opinion of the guild?”

Exchanging blow for blow with the agitated Seat, likely one of the more violent branches, Nisha did not deign the situation as dangerous yet and had consequently remained on her throne made of thorns and dark wood. Since his was the only dissenting voice, the dragon generally dismissed his influence and turned towards the mediator, curious to see what he had to offer.

“I’ve had it with you and your disrespect. I oppose your plan and will personally throw you out. We will see how much weight your threats really carry. What will you do now?”

Rising from his seat, the recognition inhibition effect remained on his person, likely caused by an artifact instead of the furniture itself, or so the elf guessed on an offhand thought.

Even with his physical presence swelling to a somewhat oppressive level, Nisha remained unfazed. While he might have reached the fifth aura rank or maybe the beginning of the sixth, he lacked the backing to decide the outcome alone. None of the other Seats had spoken in support of him and his outburst reflected badly on them, too. Even violence seemed unlikely, as Nisha might not be his match in a direct fight, but she had complete confidence in her ability to flee without being entangled by him.

“I already stated my position and listed the consequences for you. I have nothing else to say.”

Nisha, herself, also recognized the glacial edge in her voice. It probably did not a.s.sist her standoff with the brute in front of her, but the dragon did not submit either. It was unbecoming for a king of the beasts to lower her head in front of an inferior creature.

As the irate man stepped towards her, ready to beat his terms into her, a voice, thus far silent, rose among the Seats.

“Stop it, Kale. This is neither the time nor the place to fight it out. Back off.”

Despite uttering the short statement, the deep and somber timbre disarmed the fight completely. Kale, which Nisha suspected to be an alias to go with the position of the Seat, unwillingly stepped back and surveyed his fellow council members.

“Are you on her side as well, Isaac? Have you all gone mad? It’s just a single girl.”

The angered brute still held the position of a Seat. He might have a chance to take his anger out on Nisha, but the numbers were against him. While he might not understand their stance and decision, there was no need to create a rift between them over a single elf.

“Your att.i.tude is noted, Kale. However, you are also outvoted. Why take a risk and face harsher conditions when we can make an investment instead?”

Pointing out the main aspects, the man called Isaac fell silent again. His personal cultivation fell short of the angry man, but apparently, his social position made more than up for it as Kale stormed out of the room angrily, unwilling to take part in the meeting any longer. He did not forget to smash the heavy stone doors into rubble as he went out, leaving two very stunned guards behind who tried their hardest to not peek inside the chamber.

“Again, I sincerely apologize for Kale’s misconduct; he has several issues going on that made him more … irritable as of late.

If the young miss does not mind, shall we return to discussing the terms?

As a matter of fact, the [Thieves Guild] values your proposal quite a bit and is interested in cooperation by a vote of the majority. Since you personally came here to work out the details with us, the Seats, do you have any other requests now?”

Nisha had no means to see through his concealment clearly, yet she believed the mediator wore a strained smile on his face due to the unforeseen interruption by the man named Kale.

“Considering the difficulties you and your fellow members had to go through to defend me from that irritating man, I can agree to work with your guild. Ah, before I forget, the terms stay the same on my side, including my answer to the requirement brought up earlier. Aside from the food distribution, I am ready to alter all other conditions.”

Seeing that the soothing voice confidently stated they had agreed to work together with her by a vote of the majority and earnestly attended to the proposal, Nisha did indeed believe they had the intention to do so from the start, and only Kale acted out after seeing her face to face. The persistence of refusing to deal with any kind of food did not stem from a personal grievance.

“This is a bit troublesome for us. How about this the [Thieves Guild] can agree to take over half of the cost to procure the edibles, they only need to be distributed through you.”

“Just because your side messed up and revealed a key point you agreed on does not mean I have to ignore that and consider your circ.u.mstances.

In fact, as long as you casually mentioned it along with other slight changes, I might not have taken notice at all. Now I really cannot agree to the food distribution without finding out more.”

The dragon told them the truth, she did not decline on a matter of principle either; it had to do with the insistence the Seats placed on the condition.

Charity and free services did not come as a novelty, many minor n.o.bles employed similar tactics in poorer areas and developing new villages to secure the goodwill of the people and procure a political basis.

A Duke family, on the other hand, did not need such measures, as their power stemmed from the t.i.tle itself bestowed by the king. As history remembered, there had never been a case where a house lost their t.i.tle or feared rebellion from their own areas. To be superimposed, the requirement of free edible distribution as the sole deciding factor of their cooperation, especially with the guild offering to take over half of the cost right away, rightfully roused Nisha’s wariness.

“Think about it from my position.

I agree now and import and distribute the goods. Suddenly the royal executioner is waiting for me one day since an important royal died as the result of my trade. I am not stupid enough to write you unconditional authority over my fate.”

The elf’s explanation may have exaggerated the possible outcome slightly, although not by much. Minor adjustments happened every day in thousands of shops all over the city, but a strict requirement on a newly introduced clause, to the point where a Seat of the [Thieves Guild] threatened a major n.o.ble, had to be the only occasion for several turns.

The acquiescent silence from all five seats confirmed her suspicion and caused the dragon to glance at Alestar, who stood next to her dark thorned seat. Apparently, he had no idea either and blankly stared back, just happy that not one of the bigshots paid attention to him anymore. His future still held tribulations, but for now, he was allowed to keep his head on his neck.

“Before you say anything, let me make a counter offer. Explain to me why you need a lot of edibles distributed for free. As long as it does not go against my agenda, I can quickly establish a merchant house who will take care of it. As for the bill, we can share it, half each, which does not sound bad considering you forced the purchase on me for an indefinite amount of time.

That is about as far as I can go. If we can not come to an agreement here, I will need to look for other partners.

Oh, I will also make an offer to release Ser Alestar from your service in that case, along with any subordinates he wants to take. I reckon that an equivalent amount of gold should allow me to buy his services.”

The last part caused strange looks from all directions to fall on the girl, who had nothing to win in that case. Although the man in question had risen in the structure of his branch recently, he still had no major connections and most of the major personnel expected nothing great from the old crook. To absolve him from the guild with gold must eclipse his value by far. Alestar, himself, hesitated for a second to be treated like cattle, before recognizing the opportunity Nisha created for him to wash his hands clean of the situation before a war started between any new partners the elf gathered and the guild. At least Kale would never let him go in that case.

For almost a candle, the obscured figures held some sort of conversation through a silent mean, isolating the eavesdropping guards peeking inside through the rubble of the ruined door and the dragon lounging on her creation while divining the content of their discussion. In the end, the man called Isaac took over and revealed the final verdict.

“The [Thieves Guild] agrees to all aspects of your proposal then, with the addition of the food requirement.

Golden Heels will take you to see someone else, who can explain our need of edibles to you.

We will stay in contact in the future to make adjustments as needed when the districts develop.

It has been a pleasure to make business with you, Miss Dharnas.”

His deep voice strained at some points, whenever he had to continue for more than one sentence. Despite that, the dragon felt a sense of kins.h.i.+p when listening to him and reckoned he had more than one reason to conceal his features through the spell all Seats had access to, not in the sense of appearance or social status, but a more primal instinct.

Acknowledging their judgment and speaking a few pleasantries, the female voice rose from her Seat and motioned Nisha to follow, who said her goodbyes to the remaining council members and Alestar, who was not invited for the next part.

Promptly as the duo left the underground chamber complex, the inhibition spell faded and revealed a good looking female human, who expertly accentuated her beauty with the skilled application of makeup and gorgeous clothing.

“It has been a while since I have seen Kale stew so much in his own juices. My name is Carmen, by the way, and I go by the name given to my seat quite often, Golden Heels. You might have guessed it, my members are most often seen in the redlight district. Forgive me for being direct, but you absolutely must visit me one of these days. It’s such a shame to waste good material like you without the proper knowledge how to dress up and do your makeup.

I will personally give you lessons if you decide to come some day, you know, with us whoring and so on.”

Given by her bright personality and unending chatter, Nisha experienced quite the disconnect with the earlier somber and official atmosphere, compared to the present. She was quite interested in the lady’s skill, though.

“I think I will visit sooner or later to learn from you. You do not need to lie or make up pretenses; prost.i.tution is not something I am concerned about. Rather, isn’t your area of expertise information instead? You gave me neither your real name nor is this your real face. As a spy, you are top cla.s.s indeed.”

Observing the pretty woman through her [Spirit Eyes] the elf spotted an interesting scene, the whole face of the other party lit up brightly as some kind of skill hid her real features. The same applied to her body, as some areas emitted the same glow. Nisha was skilled enough to distinguish from her natural circulation of energy, which leaned to the later end of the fourth rank.

“I knew I was so going to like you. It’s nothing personal, just a habit. Here we go.”

Wiping her hand over her features, a rather ordinary face appeared afterward, which did nothing to distract from her bearing. Even with a scar or a similar flaw, Nisha felt confident to pick her out of a crowd from a single glance with the way she exuded confidence and held herself as someone of importance. In fact, she liked these ordinary features somewhat more.

“You really can’t call it deception if you do not have at least three layers prepared. Don’t you think so?”

Completely glancing over the fact that Nisha discerned her subterfuge instantly, Carmen lead their way through the ca.n.a.lization with a precision that compared to walking through the backstreets of a neighborhood. Chattering on and on about the conference and other matters of a minor importance, the dragon could not quite dislike the verbose woman, and rather, found herself laughing along as the courtesan giggled from time to time.

Only when they arrived in front of an otherwise unremarkable wall did her gossip stop and she returned the false appearance she had donned first.

The elf suddenly realized the third layer of deception mentioned earlier was the sentence itself, which should have led her to believe it was not her true face either.

“Allow me to bring you to the official matter now. We are going to meet another Seat, he did not have the time or opportunity to attend. His seat is called the Alchemist, although some add a ‘Mad’ when he isn’t around to hear it. I’d tell you his name as well, but the problem is I have never heard it. Let’s go.”