I hate politics

"Nothing happened, huh?" Homer looked at the man while his face devolved to one of… not anger or obvious disbelief, but just exhaustion. 

"I mean… I felt something strange, but now that it's over, I can't feel any real change," Bjorn replied while putting on a confused expression on his own face. 

"That's…" 

Homer hesitated. 

Or rather, he put on an exasperated look on his face and stared helplessly at his own soldier. 

'At a loss of words, huh?' Leo thought, keenly taking notice of every small detail that could help him figure out what the actual hell was going on. 

'I mean, it's not that hard to figure out… But isn't it too good to be true?'

Negotiating with someone who had strong cards in their hands and a plethora of hidden aces was one thing… But negotiating with someone whose top-priority supporters were engaging in some sort of a factional dispute couldn't be any easier. 

After all, if Homer's own people could go against him so openly and during such an important moment, it spoke wonders of just how powerful was the faction that Bjorn apparently represented. 

'It's a factional dispute for sure, unless…' Leo thought, reluctant to accept such a nonsensical possibility, 'unless it really didn't do anything for him,' he thought only to heave a sigh when he quickly focused and inspected the mana radiating out from the man. 

'Yeah, there's no way.'

The change between how Bjorn was before crushing Leo's stone and after couldn't be any more obvious to anyone… Anyone who was capable of perceiving mana. 

An ability that in this room, with little to no doubt, only Leo possessed. 

"Ha-ah…" Homer heaved a sigh of his own, turning his head back towards the table before leaning it low and shaking it over to the sides. 

A moment later, the mayor raised his face and looked straight at Leo, the look of exasperation and disbelief from before now turning into one of just the slightest anxiety and determination. 

"What am I to take out of this situation?" Homer asked, easily manipulating his facial muscles to turn his expression into one of delicate scorn. "Is this some sort of a scam?" 

Twisting the situation to one that best suited his current circumstance, Homer attempted to change the ongoing narrative… Or rather, given how Leo has yet to address it, impose a certain narrative to establish certain half-truths as a fact and stop anyone from challenging them. 

And for a short moment, Leo considered whether or not to yield the ground to the man. 

Ultimately, the mana cores were nothing more but one of the many cards that Leo prepared to play during this meeting. And if there were enough reasons, he was more than happy to sacrifice it. 

That is if there were any benefits to doing so. 

"Is this some sort of a factional dispute?" Leo asked, opting to go all in instead. 

"Excuse me?" Mayor shook a bit, unprepared for such an abrupt turn to the conversation. 

"I mean, it's pretty obvious, but I want you to articulate it out loud," Leo pressed further. "He's not the first person I've fed this core, so from that fact alone I can tell he's lying."

Leo turned his eyes over to the troublesome soldier. 

"Also, I have at least four ways to prove you are lying. So, stop wasting my time and admit the truth."

Bjorn opened up his mouth, ready to instantly pounce on the inconsistency of what Leo just said. After all, if the young man could force Bjorn to tell the truth, why would he ask the man to admit it instead?

Ultimately, the soldier closed his mouth back before uttering a single word. 

Rubbing this inconsistency would only serve to showcase how he, indeed, was hiding something. A mistake of such a low level that Leo never believed the man would actually commit… But as the age-old adage goes, it's unwise to interrupt your opponent when he's in the middle of making a mistake. 

"If you… No, nevermind," Homer spoke out only to cut his words short as well. 

He wasn't in a position to ask Leo to back his claim with action either. For, while it would be great if Leo could force this man to speak the truth, absolute truth, and only truth… Doing so, given the situation, would also mean having Bjorn admit to what he did. 

Or, in other words, proving beyond any reasonable doubt to anyone in the room that there indeed was some conflict within the city's hall camp. And with how the negotiations have only just started, it would be akin to drawing an ace only to put it right into Leo's hand. 

"Let me put it this way," Leo sighed and shook his head. "You have until the end of this talk to tell the truth, then I'm going to make you reveal it. For now, though," Leo turned his eyes over to the mayor. 

This was the olive branch that he indirectly offered. 

Digging any further into Bjorn's strange betrayal would continue to erode Homer's position. And with how Leo wrestled quite the ace from the mayor's hand so quickly, heavens forbid what other uncomfortable truths and secrets Bjorn would be privy to!

"Back to the negotiations?" Mayor asked, guessing Leo's intention and even nodding his head in a slight appreciation of a kind gesture. 

'I've somehow forgotten just how much I hate politics,' Leo thought, trying not to roll his eyes. 

"Yeah. And since we've wasted enough time already," Leo looked over to Bjorn before turning his eyes back to the Mayor. "My requests are fairly simple. A good, private housing for me and my family, free of any sort of bugs or observation. Stable supply of basic resources so my family won't even notice what's going on the outside. Additionally, free access to any number of portals controlled by you or your military, the small-scale authority of the city hall, and, lastly, direct support off whatever project I shall fancy."

Leo's list stretched out quite a bit, making the silence that followed quite awkward. 

"Ugh, that last part would sound a lot better than someone didn't try to play dirty," Leo glanced over at Bjorn only to share a disapproving look with the man. 

"Wait, that's it?" Homer muttered, more shaken by how down-to-the-ground Leo's wishes were. 

The entire situation played out quite differently from what Leo assumed would happen… But from the looks of things, he revealed enough of his hand to force the mayor's evaluation of his strategic value to rise through the roof. 

"Safety, comfort for me and my kind, authority to push all the official obstructions away, not to mention support for my projects," Leo shook his head, this time directing a disapproving glare over at the mayor. "I will have to reevaluate your worth again if you are immature to disregard just how important and valuable those simple terms are."

Surprisingly, Homer smiled in reaction to Leo's words. 

"Oh, those sure are valuable," he admitted with a nod of his head and a small smile on his lips. 

A smile that cut deep into Leo's consciousness. 

'Shit, that's a point for him…' Leo thought, eager to call the result of this exchange something else rather than his idiotic oversight. 

With how easily the meeting was going, he just couldn't help but feel even more superior over the mayor than he was from the very beginning. And now, he openly admitted that the things he requested were of an actual worth!

'Well, you win some, you lose some,' Leo thought, nearly heaving a long sigh. 'I really forgot just how much I hate politics…'

"Assuming you are telling the truth…" Right as the conversation took a turn to his side, Homer spoke out and changed the topic, "what was the supposed effect of the crystal you offered?" he asked while glancing over at Bjorn. 

"This guy's situation is a bit different, so I can't say for sure," Leo started with a preamble, "but it should give him between three to six levels worth of statistic points."

The rune crystals Leo crafted back in his room and then enchanted with magic directly within a portal were on a whole other level than the first few test ones he activated with his own magic. 

The fact that the magic directly from the atmosphere was doing a better job than the magic Leo stored in another dimension was one of the mysteries the young man only had some theories about, but not an actual answer for. 

Still, regardless if Leo knew the reason or not, the crystals that he painstakingly crafted and then enchanted in the portal allowed him to boost all of his family to a higher level. And while raw power alone could only go so far… It was his family that kept the fiends at bay while he was busy enchanting those stones. 

That's also how he managed to come up with the estimate. By having Carol absorb the freshly minted stone, Leo boosted her level by six. On the other hand, when Rob crushed the crystal in his hand, he only gained three levels. In fact, as he crushed the next few crystals, the gain quickly fell all the way down to a single level per crystal, before capping out at a point where Rob would need more than just one of them to level up. 

In the end, save for Carol, Leo managed to boost both of his brothers, Tina and Millie all the way to level fifteenth, where the mana crystals started to fall off. And while it was still possible to brute-force his way over to higher levels by crafting more and more of those crystals… There were only so many Leo could craft throughout the day. 

And there were also a lot of other things that he wanted to dip his fingers in to build a proper foundation for the future. Ultimately, there was also the problem of the military and some other groups taking over all the portals in the area… 

But from the looks of things, it was a problem Leo finally managed to solve. 

"Let me put it this way, I'm willing to accept your terms," Homer stated after taking his time staring daggers at now slightly anxious Bjorn. "But I cannot do it for free. As you likely observed, I'm not sitting on my throne as firmly as I would like. So…"

The mayor hesitated. 

"What's the favor you need?" Leo asked directly, not fancying to waste more time on this meeting than necessary. 

"The orange portal," Homer revealed without even a second of thought. "We don't know when those portals will turn from just an entrance into a two-way pass for all the monsters inside to come to our world."

Homer shook his head before raising his chin and looking straight at Leo. 

"We don't know if those portals will break, overload, or whatever you will call it. But the possibility, just by existing, makes those things dangerous."

'Isn't it obvious they are gonna break open?' Leo thought, raising his left eyebrow but ultimately opting to stay silent on the topic. 

There was no benefit in him revealing the fact and ascertaining the mayor's worries, after all. 

"So, you want me to clear and close those… orange portals?" Leo asked, focusing on the main topic that the mayor brought up rather than its peripheral aspects. 

"Clear?" Homer opened his eyes wide, before hurriedly shaking his head to the side. "I'm aware of how dangerous the green portals are. I wouldn't ask one man to try to conquer an orange one, although…-" the mayor glanced up and smirked a little, "- I wouldn't complain if you did just that. But yeah, no."

Homer shook his head and then took a deep breath. 

"I made a deal with a few other groups, agreeing to turn my eyes away from whatever they were doing in exchange for their help with those orange portals. I'm also going to send some of my men…" Homer glanced over and, once again, glared at his untruthful subordinate. 

The mayor fixed his position on the chair before leaning over the table and putting his mouth right to the back of his cupped hands. 

"I can't give you those benefits you asked for while asking for nothing in return, else all the other groups will expect the same treatment. That's why, I will agree to your terms and have them arranged within the next two days, but in exchange…"

"Deal," Leo nodded his head and put on a relaxed smile on his face while pulling his legs off the table and sitting up properly. "In exchange, I will join the group that you will be sending over to clear the orange portals," he reiterated the deal before putting a slightly bigger smirk on his face. 

"Oh, and in the meantime, I will take my time clearing all the green portals I will be able to get my hands on, okay?"