Deal Secured and Bet Complete?

Kirou smiled as he heard everyone shout. This was the reaction that he was both expecting and looking forward to the most. Kirou waited for a few moments, giving everyone else the time they needed to calm down and collect themselves.

Navi was the one who spoke up, "Before we answer that question, would you mind telling us your reason, Kirou?" Her words reflected the current thoughts of everyone in the room, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

Kirou leaned back in his chair, interlocking his ten fingers before his face, hiding the mischievous smile that he was making. No one could see it, but the group could instinctively feel that he was making such a face as he spoke up, "I don't have a problem sharing my reasons with you guys since I'm asking such an unreasonable request."

His words sounded like they were apologetic on the surface but Navi, Guardian Knight, and the female elf thief could hear the mirth laced within his voice.

"My reasoning for the request is simple; I want materials." The other people in the group wanted to make a comment at this statement but Guardian Knight raised a hand, stopping them from speaking as he expected Kirou to say more, and he was correct.

Kirou retrieved a piece of parchment made from leather and slid it over to Guardian Knight and the rest. When the group looked at the parchment, they saw a drawing for a weird armor design on it. A few people instantly realized what it was while the rest were clueless. Seeing that a few persons were able to identify it, Kirou hid a smirk as he waited for those in the know to share the info with the rest.

After seeing that everyone had a look of realization on their face, Kirou spoke up once more, "As you guys can tell, that is an armor design. To be specific, it's an incomplete design." When the rest heard his words, they revealed shocked expressions, especially the ones who noticed what the drawing was at first glance.

Kirou said nothing as a few people started to quietly discuss amongst themselves. This went on for a few minutes before one of the wizards in the group spoke up, "What do you mean by that when you say that this design is incomplete? Although I'm unable to figure out all the materials needed from a single glance or the level requirement one would need to make it, this design looks complete from what I can see."

Kirou nodded before speaking, "And that's the problem." This caused all those persons to be momentarily stunned, not understanding what Kirou meant. Seeing this, Kirou continued, "On its own, the armor can be built following that design and it would give you armor with a set effect and all. The problem is that even then, the finished product will feel incomplete in the hands of the crafter. And this is just based on the armor being made with average materials, as opposed to their stronger variants. What I want is to use materials from various boss monsters in the designs I use both now and in the future and realistically speaking, the Sanming Sect will not be able to help me achieve this."

Hearing his words caused the majority of the group to silently sink into their thoughts. Thinking about it from that perspective, they could all understand why Kirou asked them to advertise his services for him. And since they are the ones doing the advertising, it would serve as a confirmation of his skill in the craft. Another thing they thought about was the fact that he only asked for them to introduce him to their allies. In that way, it would be just them and their allies benefitting from his services as opposed to him offering his services to all the famous and large sects that would appear in the future.

Out of everyone in the room, only Navi and Guardian Knight were still able to stare at Kirou from the beginning until now without a change in expression. In Navi's case, she figured it was only a matter of time until Kirou had done just this as he wouldn't be able to realistically hunt all of those creatures by himself, especially in the case of a random guild or sect hunting party runs into him mid-fight. While he would be able to escape the aftermath unscathed, that wouldn't sit well with the Kirou that she knew. As for Guardian Knight, he understood the implications from the start and was busy running the numbers and various deals he could make off of this within his head.

Kirou sat back with a smile on his face as he waited for the group to finish thinking. Roughly five minutes later, the group turned towards the boss, Guardian Knight, waiting for his decision on the matter. Not disappointing them, it was here that Guardian Knight spoke up, "For the second condition, the Sanming Sect agrees to fulfill it. How about we work out the finer details of the deal before we draw up the mutual cooperation contract with the system as the witness."

A smile formed on Kirou's face at this moment as he spoke, "I have no problems with this arrangement. However..." As he said this, Kirou took a glance around the entire room, looking at all the players present.

As if understanding the meaning behind Kirou's gaze, Guardian Knight spoke up to the group, "Everyone but Navi and Shiroa, leave the room immediately. Your presences are no longer required for this meeting so you are dismissed."

Hearing his words, while many in the room wanted to protest, they silently left one by one. As she walked by him, the dwarf shaman Small Pebble took a look back at Kirou before finally leaving the room. By the end of it, only four people remained in the room. On one side sat Kirou with a friendly smile on his face while on the other sat Guardian Knight in the center with Navi on his right while the female elf thief now identified as Shiroa on his left.

Seeing that they now had the room to themselves, Kirou was the one who spoke first, "Now, let's get down to business...(*to defeat the Huns- sorry, I couldn't resist)"

*******

Roughly an hour later, Kirou and others walked out of the private room. While Kirou had a gentle smile on his face, Guardian Knight and the others had forced smiles on their faces. From this one can tell that the deal was more successful in Kirou's favor.

As the four players made it to the entrance of the building, Kirou spoke up while maintaining the smile on his face, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, members of the Sanming Sect. Have Ms. Navi here message me when you guys are ready to do your hunts. I'll be sure to pause whatever I'm doing and make my way over. In fact, I'll be sure to put off any plans that require me to be locked away from society for too long within the next few days."

Following those words, Kirou excused himself from the group and went on his way. The three remaining players could only see him off before turning around and walk off in another direction. As the trio walked, each was lost within their own thoughts but the single commonality between all three was the enigma of the player, no, of the person known as Kirou.

After walking for a few minutes, the trio had entered the eastern section of SC Pier City that was very active with players of all classes and types at the moment. They walked by these players, attracting gazes of worship and respect before they entered a very conspicuous building in the center. Once inside, the trio went up to the third floor and entered a room currently occupied by a group of high leveled players sitting in a fashion that showed off the group's hierarchy. The trio split up at the door, with both Navi and Shiroa heading to the side section of the room while Guardian Knight took his seat at the head of the table.

Having taken his seat, Guardian Knight took a look around the room, staring at the faces of all those present. It was only after he was done doing this that he finally addressed the group, "The deal has been established. We'll proceed with the plan within three days."

Hearing his words, there was no look of excitement on the faces of the people in the room. Instead, everyone's expressions turned solemn. After a few seconds, one of the members from the middle of the room spoke, "Was his skill really as good as demonstrated in the video you shared?" Those words echoed the thoughts of a few persons in the room.

Guardian Knight didn't answer the question directly as he said something else, "I advise all relevant personnel to prepare the auxiliary materials from now. We'll need to start the production of the gear as early as possible if we want to stay ahead of our enemies, especially the <Grand Kingdom> and the <Phantom Thieves>."

The words spoken by Guardian Knight caused most of the people in the room to tighten their fists as an expression portraying both solemnity and excitement graced their faces at the same time. As for the one who asked the previous question, he was among those who's faces were filled with pure excitement at the moment.

After the excitement died down, another person stood up and spoke, "How did it go with recruiting this mysterious player into our sect, Chairman?" This question caused everyone in the room to cast their gaze towards Guardian Knight. While this was going on, off to the side and hidden amongst the others, both Navi and Shiroa had wry smiles on their faces as they thought about the answer to this question.

As for Guardian Knight himself, his expression stiffened a bit before he finally articulated his words for everyone in the room to hear, causing them to look at him with a queer gaze, "The player refused to join our sect, opting to remain a free agent only willing to work with us on a conditional basis." The other players in the room were amused at Guardian Knight's words.

A few seconds later, the same person that asked the question spoke up once more, "Could it be that he's already in another guild? If so, why not just offer to match or even slightly increase the benefits he's receiving from that guild? Considering who we are, we can surely match all the benefits he's receiving from any other guild or sect out there as long as it's not too excessive."

Those words caused Guardian Knight to release a sigh in resignation. As for Navi and Shiroa, those two decided to lower their gazes, pretending not to know anything. Seeing that most of the room was looking at him, Guardian Knight could only release another sigh as he clarified, "I did try to match whatever terms he would be receiving. In fact, I offered him the role of branch head for one of our many in-game branches. He refused, saying that he doesn't want to spend his free time dealing with a bunch of other players."

Guardian Knight's words caused a bout of silence to envelop the room. While many were shocked that Guardian Knight went as far as offering the role of branch head towards this unknown player, giving face to his apparent skill, the others were shocked into a silence that this unknown player had refused such generous terms.

Seeing that the room had devolved into an awkward silence, Guardian Knight cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention before he started speaking, "We'll put talks about this player on the back burner for now. As of now, we need to focus on gathering those materials, so put out your best efforts in securing all the materials within the next few days, everyone. Meeting adjourned."

Following those words, everyone in the room started leaving, leaving only Guardian Knight, Navi and an elf archer that was hidden by the masses of the room early. Now that the room was empty, she walked over to Guardian Knight before speaking, "So, Big Brother. I guess this is our win."

Guardian Knight could only form a wry smile on his face at those words.