Unfair Deal

Arthas stood up with the sound of the chair with dark monotones as his eyes became dull and dark, it was like he was possessed by something evil. After a short period of silence, he then slapped both his hands on the table with his palms stuck to the surface, he then glared at Francis, before speaking.

"Captain Francis, remember, I am your only resource capable of killing that thing…Choose wisely which resource would you like to use. It's up to you…" His voice was dark, chilling, and sent tingles both to Moltars and Francis's spine.

"...Alright then…" Francis hesitantly agreed to the conditions.

Arthas's smile returned and he gracefully went back to his sit and acted like nothing happened, the room was silent, and as the negotiation was almost done, there was still one thing left to do. And that is to confirm everything and what would be used to ensure that everything would be in place and in order.

"Before we continue, I want to ask a couple more questions to fully…partially…maybe…trust you in this little deal of ours." Francis decided to inquire.

"Sure go ahead, I don't mind" Arthas happily responded.

"First of all, Who exactly are you? what is your goal? what association do you belong to? Why is your timing for everything so coincidental? I know you can lie about every single one of these questions…But I just want answers" Francis with a stern look boldly asked the questions.

It took some time for Arthas to recover from the barrage of questions he was quite surprised but not entirely out of shock to be asked these questions. He was expecting them sooner or later but didn't expect to be asked at the most crucial time.

'I was expecting this, I lose nothing but gain everything, it's kinda weird how he would ask which association I belong to but then again, when I meet someone new, I usually ask them what class they came from so I guess it's normal.'

"No lies, I gain nothing from lying to you. All I speak is the truth is nothing but the truth. I swear on the name of my parents" Arthas raised his right hand indicating a solemn truth to his words.

"Alright, then…"

"So to start off with my answer, I would prefer if you would just call me Arthas, I come somewhere not from here, I actually don't know where it is located I was randomly teleported to the nearby forest" Arthas explained.

"Teleported?!" Both Moltar and Francis's mouth was agape by what they heard.

'Yeah, and then I just arrived and help these guys with their problem, for the association…Well, I would say they are more of tax collectors than my organization."

"Huh?" For anyone listening it was getting hard to follow Arthas as it was getting confusing with whatever he was trying to tell them.

"And my goal is…Well, the mission that was given to me…was to make everything peaceful for at least a century!" With that, Arthas ended his words of explanation. He looked at both of them, their eyes were full of surprise, open mouths.

"HUH? What the actual fuck are you actually talking about?" Francis looked at him like he was a weird animal that was yet to be analyzed.

'Eh?' Now it was Arthas's time to be confused

"Hey, Moltar where did this guy come out? Did you pull him out of your ass? What's going on?" Francis was looking at Moltar like he did something wrong.

"Shut up! I'm more confused than you, Teleporting?" For the first time in a while, Moltar changed his face and expression and his attitude became loose.

They were arguing back at each other trying to make sense while Arthas just stared at both of them, looking at them like they were children trying to make sense of adult stuff. It wasn't a normal thing for Arthas, but it reminded him when the time his classmates bickered about who was fighting about which is which.

It seemed that the room was full of pressure and tension dissipated as Arthas ends his proper introduction. It took a while for them to argue until Arthas called out Francis.

"Hey, Francis, I want Alicia as the last condition," Arthas said in a serious voice.

This stopped the bickering of the two adult men and Francis quickly looked at Arthas with veins bulging from his head, his face contorts to that resembling of a demon that would kill indiscriminately out of pleasure and anger.

"YOU WHAT? YOU ARE GOING TOO FAR WITH THIS ARTHAS? SO THIS WAS YOUR GOAL ALL ALONG TO GET ALICIA?" Francis screamed at the top of his lungs as he was fuming with anger.

"Yeah? What's wrong with that?" Arthas innocently asked.

"I WOULD NEVER GIVE ALICIA TO YOU, YOU BASTARD WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ASKING!" Francis screamed louder than his initial outburst which made Arthas and Moltar deaf for a while with white noise.

"Woah calm down, that's not what I meant okay/ What I meant is that for the conditions to be truly completed and accepted, I would like to get ahold of Alicia until the contract is completed without failure and cheat." Arthas made gestures trying to explain his plan to Francis, even Moltar was in disbelief as he looked at Arthas with strange expressions.

"So Arthas, let me get this straight. What you want is as I enumerate:

The kids and children that were taken by Saroth's son shall be returned and be taken care of to be returned to their parents and the village.

The city will cover all expenses that would be made to further enhance the village, and restore the village for the matter of fact.

The city will acknowledge a new association that would be made by you, Arthas.

The city would provide support to the village whenever their times of need…

And Alicia would be given to you when one of these conditions is not met, she would be enslaved under your name and be free to whatever you do to her… a hostage"

"Hostage is such an unethical trait of words, I would use, a highly protected individual capable of bringing equilibrium to the trade of contracts" Arthas happily smiled as he listened to his terms slowly getting accepted.

"Fucking, bastard, in return what do we get?"

"Yes, it's a mutual benefit. I give you:

Protection and give you reinforcements in terms of strength and labor.

Give you guys the privilege to go around our village or so and uhh…

Promise her safety until the contracts are fulfilled.

So yeah, basically it"

Arthas smiled at him, while Moltar looked at Arthas with disbelief as if he could easily to him without minding status or anything at all.

"It, huh" Francis laughed it off like it was some joke.

"Then that's it right? Good talking with you, how are you gonna convince them anyways? The person with authority in the city?" Arthas asked.

"I can, so a written contract and at least three signs from a captain rank should do it. And we have Frederick as a witness so he could contribute to the situation. The problem is how to convince the citizens…"

"Oh no need to worry about that, I already took care of it" Arthas confidently said so.

"You did? What do you mean by that?" He asked Arthas what he meant.

"I made sure to let them know what I can do, they already experienced it firsthand so I doubt that they would have discord about the terms considering the situation and urgency. Don't worry about that and just go, make it and leave the fighting to me" Arthas made a motion to indicate for him to go first, making a shoo motion.

"Tsk, Alright have it your way" He stood up and quickly left grabbing a piece of paper, quill, and ink.

He slammed the door on his way out, and footsteps began to fade as he walked down the hallway.