Negotiation goes… wrong?

As Marcius slowly walked towards the clan hall as per his grandfather's request, he mulled over the current situation.

He needed to be very careful while dealing with Sergia clan. While the clan itself was not as strong as his Aemilia clan, which ruled over the city of Mediolan, they did have strong backers. And those, who were backing Sergia clan from the shadows, were not someone Aemilia clan could afford to offend.

So, while Marcius could get away with stepping on the toes of Sergia clan to a certain extent, he couldn't take it too far. Because if he did, there was a chance that Sergia clan would rise the stakes high, and the fallout would be bad for Marcius's family and clan.

'Bloody politics.'

Marcius thought bitterly as the entrance to the clan hall came into view.

He calmly walked into the hall as he slowly looked around and observed the occupants.

He observed a group of people led by two old-looking men, in the center of the hall. He noted them as 'old-looking' because you could never guess the exact age of the cultivators.

The group wore matching uniforms. With clothing coloring grey and blue, as well as the crest of Sergia clan; a triplet of grey stars on the blue background, proudly on the uniforms.

One of the two men in the lead also sported the same clothing. So, Marcius could more or less guess he was an elder from Sergia clan.

But it was the other of the two men that made Marcius paused slightly in his steps. The man wore all-purple robes and he had no crest to show his affiliation.

He was a guest elder from the Sergia clan. And in the novel, he was the 'people who you shouldn't offend' that Logan Drakkon offended. And that spelled disaster for Marcius's entire clan and city.

Nevertheless, Marcius walked past the group, towards his grandfather and parents standing at the high end of the hall.

"Greetings, grandfather. I heard you sent for me?" Marcius paid his respect to the clan head of Aemilia.

"Yes, Marcius. A delegation from Sergia clans have arrived with serious… accusations towards you and they are demanding reparations." Titus slowly replied.

And Marcius could see a hint of amusement on his grandfather's face. Obviously, Titus was not against Marcius actions, regarding the one-sided beatdown of Sergia clan's heir.

Marcius turned around and greeted the group in the middle of the hall.

"Greetings to you, people and elder of Sergia clan. I believe this visit is about the fight between Arius Sergia and me a few days ago."

Marcius could see the expressions of the elder and the group were clearly hostile towards him. He scoffed internally and addressed the man in purple robes.

"And I'm surprise to see an elder from the Order of Purple Sun wanting to meet me. May I ask if you are here to represent the Sergia clan?"

The man looked surprise that Marcius recognized him. And the rest of the group also had various kind of shocked expressions.

From the peripheral of his vision, Marcius could also see his grandfather sitting straighter in his chair with a deep frown on his face.

There were several reasons Marcius revealed that he knew the man was from the Order of Purple Sun.

First, Sergia clan was bringing him as a show of power. They would try and leverage a better deal using the influence of the Order. By revealing that he recognized the man's affiliation, Marcius took away some of their leverage power by denying Sergia clan a chance to introduce the elder of the Order by themselves.

Second, the way Marcius worded his sentence was a trap. If the elder admitted that he was indeed representing the Sergia clan, that would diminish quite a lot of influence he could exert because he was not representing the Order of Purple Sun.

If he denied the notion that he was here for the Sergia clan, that would also stop him from applying too much pressure on the issue, because it was between Sergia clan and Aemilia clan.

But at the end of the day, the old man was still an elder from the Order of Purple Sun and he could push the issue in Sergia's favor if he tried.

Still, Marcius didn't think he would risk antagonizing the Aemilia clan, based solely on a petty fight between two young bloods, where no one got hurt.

So, as long as Marcius didn't cross certain lines, he could get away with a lot.

'They would have eaten the old Marcius alive. Damn… I really should be glad for Joseph's cunning mind.'

Marcius silently waited for the man's response.

"Hahaha… young Aemilia really have sharp eyes, to be able to recognize me. And I would like to apologize clan head of Aemilia for my late introduction. I am Vicent Cabra, elder of the Order of Purple Sun."

The old man, Vicent, greeted both Marcius, his parents and his grandfather with a faint smile.

"And to answer young Aemilia question, I'm here as a mediatorto solve the animosity between Sergia clan and Aemilia clan. Please don't misunderstand."

'So, you are playing the role of the observer who want to 'settle' the bad blood between the two clans, huh. Alright. I can work with this.'

Marcius mused as he adjusted his strategies in his mind.

"Before anything, I would like to say I deeply regretted the way the encounter between me and Arius turned out. It had ended not necessarily in a peaceful way." Marcius started calmly.

"Not necessarily in a peaceful way?! You beat up our young master!"

The elder of the Sergia clan interrupted him angrily.

"May I know your name, elder?" Marcius asked the man.

"My name is Lucio Sergia. An elder of Sergia clan." The man replied proudly.

"Elder Lucio, I don't know if you have the full account of what happened. But Arius attacked me first and I have to retaliate."

"Lies! Do you can think you can manipulate us with baseless accusations?!"

"Baseless accusations? Elder Lucio, there were hundreds of people in this city, who could confirm that Arius attacked me first on that day, in broad day light, and in the middle of the city." Marcius slowly replied.

Elder Lucio had a complicated and angry look on his face after Marcius's reply. Maybe he was blaming Arius for being that stupid to attack Marcius in the open public.

"Still, there was no need to retaliate in such an extreme manner! And you even stole young master Arius's spirit weapon!"

"First, I believe Arius was in no mortal danger from my 'extreme manner.' He wasn't even bleeding. Second, I only took his spirit weapon to force the Sergia to come and apologize to my clan for Arius's insult to my clan's dignity. And third, are you seriously suggesting that I stand my ground and retaliate nothing in return as Arius tried to attack me with obvious intent to kill?"

As Marcius countered, his face slowly morphed into a stony expression.

And the hall's temperature was getting colder and colder.

The culprit to the sudden change in temperature to the room was Marcius's mom, Helen. Her killing intent and Foundation Lord realm aura was starting to suffocate the room, while she heard Marcius mentioned the second attempt at his life.

"You dare! You dare try to kill my son! You will pay for this dearly!"

Helen hissed out her words, but somehow, they echoed loudly around the clan hall.

Some of the occupants of the hall were slightly cowering in fear of Helen. Even Lucio was showing visible signs of nervousness.

The only people who were not moved by Lady Aemilia's display of power were Vicent, Titus, Marcus and Marcius himself.

But even Marcius could feel cold sweat falling down his forehead.

'Crap. First is grandfather. And now, mother. This family sure is scary.'

*** *** ***

'Rubrum Trivia'

Cultivation Ranks in the World of Rubrum

Mortal Realm (Major Realm)

Spirit Soldier

Spirit Elite

Spirit Master

Foundation Lord

True Lord

Spirit Born

Spirit King

Spirit Emperor

Immortal Realm (Major Realm)

???

???

???

???

???

???

???

Each minor realm under the two major realms was divided into four stages; early, middle, high and peak.

*** *** ***

Hello! MidnightMK here!

I'm terribly sorry for my short hiatus last week. I was preparing for my scholarship.

And now I'm free again! Kinda.

So, I will be updating semi-regularly.

I also want to address several things here.

I based on my entire world-building and naming on certain themes.

'Rubrum', for example, is Latin for red. And, both Aemilia clan and Sergia clan were based on Roman culture, sort of. Sabbargh family is based on Egyptian theme. Etc, etc.

Next is our protagonist himself. I gave him a system because I want to have a direction in which Marcius grows strong in a unique way with the weapons and techniques not from his world, Rubrum. But the system will in no way dictate the flow and direction of the story. It will just kind of stay in the background, helping Marcius.

And some of you may think, 'Oh no. The protagonist is a Mary Sue who has everything figured out.' But no sir, no. He already had his ass handed to him with his grandfather once. Most of the time, he was relying on luck, future knowledge and a certain amount of... competence?

Yeah. So, expect that luck to run out from time to time.

But he will also be badass and op sometimes. He is, after all, our protagonist.

Anyway, that is all!

Please leave comments and feedbacks. I really appreciate it.

Please enjoy the chapter! And please vote if you do!