Ultimatum

'I will take a bath after this…'

Crossing his arms while having his senses heightened to the max, Duke patiently waited for the time to pass. For a moment, he was able to take a moment of breather even though he didn't do much.

Still, it was enough to recuperate a bit of his strength. 

Orelia and Leomord entered the panic room without worry on their faces. They should've escaped from this room right after they ended but they didn't since that doesn't accomplish anything.

Right at this moment, it was time for Duke to handle everything.

"I know there's someone there."

After waiting for a few moments, Duke called out from the air while the Weize family remained unperturbed about it.

They have already counted the men inside the panic room earlier, concluding that there's one survivor who was able to escape. Yet, what they didn't know was that the same person was still staying which only Duke had noticed.

"Ahaha, well, this is awkward."

The same young muscular man was leaning on the bloodied wall without a care in the world, looking at Duke with interested eyes.

"Are you going to attack me?"

"Will you dodge?"

"It depends."

Duke grabbed his revolver, aimed it at the young muscular man, and made a shot which he merely dodged.

"So violent." The young muscular man chuckled while leaning at the same wall once again, "What's your name? My name is Aquama by the way. I'm no Fiend obviously. And speaking of Fiends, are you the one who summon those things earlier? If so, you must be a Technique User. But even if that was the case, summoner users are a lot but not like you."

Instead of entertaining a main member of the gang, Duke merely ignored and waited. 

'Well, isn't it strange? Just a month ago, Kielle was also doing the same thing. Speaking of that girl, I bet she's okay.'

However, the situation is a bit different from the last time since he had people with him. The Weize Family was talking to Aquama but with spite and careful clarity.

"Will you shut up?"

"Ma'am, your voice sounded nice."

"I have a husband."

"Your husband is very lucky then."

It was a very casual and normal conversation that even looked weird to others if they were seeing it, but nobody would since they were all lying on the ground, pale and lifeless.

"Is the husband perhaps the person beside you?"

"You damn right. I'm lucky to have him."

"Well, he appeared to be very calm even though I was trying to flirt with you."

"We're bounded by love. No matter what you do, we'll stay loyal to each other."

Leomord nodded, "Damn straight, my loves."

Instead of mocking the cringe situation, Aquama appeared to be very interested and glad for both of them.

'What's with this situation?'

Duke mused inwardly, feeling strange that enemies were conversing normally with each other not until he felt a bunch of presence on the outside that made him serious and gazed at it.

The Weize Family also stopped chatting with Aquama, who did the same. Not only does Duke feel the presence outside of the panic room but also the three that is with him.

Soon, six people entered the panic room, watching the scene with contempt and alarmed expressions. Then, all of them shifted their gazes at Jezta corpse and their frowns deepened.

"Who are you?"

With his face slightly changing at the repetitive question he kept hearing, Duke replied with a flat tone.

"I came here to talk business."

The same guy, who seems to be the leader and represents the Rez In Pez Gang, scoffed as he looked around.

"Talk business?"

"Well, this is to garner your attention and probably to send a message, Ramsey."

The men of the gang leader readied themselves and even he, Ramsey, prepared each of their weapons. Of course, Duke welcomed it as he slightly adjust the grip of the revolver he was using.

"I advise you to not do it."

Suddenly, Aquama spoke on the side as he joined with the rest of the group. Appearing carefree about the tense situation, he explained.

"The battle already ended half an hour ago. Well, if that was a battle between us and their group," Aquama shrugged, "They could've escaped and left these things as it is, but they didn't. Instead, they seated down here and waited for you. Don't you see, everything was in the palm of their hands? If you fight them, you'll lose."

"You… are you serious? Are you not part of us?"

"Hey, I'm not foolish enough. My life is more important than the so-called comradeship." Aquama chuckled, "And the guy in the middle? I bet he already saw the outcome of this attack right before this happened. So, why don't we listen to what he has to say?"

Ramsey clicked his tongue while the other members talked amongst themselves. Aquama stayed standing in his place as he waited for the verdict.

"Hey, Aquama."

"Yes, boss?"

"We'll talk later."

Aquama nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders before looking forward with a faint smile. Ramsey also looked at Duke's group and flatly replied.

"What business?"

Duke stretched his hand as he held the revolver which made the other group become frantic but to their surprise, he just aimed it at Jezta's head corpse.

Bang—!

Once they saw the corpse in a more sorried state, all except Ramsey and Aquama remained calm. Well, the former grimaced a bit while the latter was amused.

"As you can see, she's dead." Retracting his hand, Duke continued while leaning forward as he interlocked his fingers with each other, "You see, something kept bugging my mind when I received a piece of information that Jezta received protection from your gang."

"…"

"Do you know what's weird about it? It's a gang that is quite famous in the Underworld and not some third-rate. What's wrong with it? Well, that could only mean that Holton, that young brat, has huge connections in the Underworld. Wonderful, right?"

Ramsey's face darkened upon mentioning Holton, the kid from the partnership event, a main member of a royal conglomerate, and the one that tried to control Duke, in this conversation.

"But then, I rethink this train of thoughts of mine. That brat is proud and arrogant. He's not the kind that thinks things very carefully hence made me come to another conclusion. He's just reaping what the others sow from him but that raises a question, who are the others?"

The members of Ramsey grew more confused, unable to comprehend what I was talking about, all except for him. Even Aquama, who was amused, was becoming confused as well.

"A connection to a high-level gang while being controlled by an overlord's ruling and Jezta being protected by one of your skilled members and handful of associates… Someone is controlling that brat behind the back, isn't it?

"Tell me who is it then we can proceed with the real option you had here."

Duke remained silent and waited for Ramsey's reply. The others were also curious as to what the two were talking about, but knowing this involved only the bosses, they had to wait for an answer.

And finally, Ramsey talked.

"What if I don't tell?"

"That's where the real option you had here, will enter the ultimatum you're going to have."

Duke pointed Jezta's corpse.

"Knowing how painful you and the others' face are, you must've understood that Jezta has done a lot of dealings, forming promises and agreements with other people and some of those deals involved are treaties relating to peace pacts between various people from the outside. You can say she's an onlooker of those deals and once she's gone, the pacts are also rendered nullified.

"Every deal she made; every signature she had put on those papers will all be useless. That's how contracts and dealings are made. Now, if there's no overseer to watch those pacts, everyone and everything will go on a full-blown war. Unlike Nobirik, she had some use."

Duke directly stared at Ramsey, "If that were to happen, the person behind the scenes wouldn't like it. The person entrusted you to protect Jezta will be angry obviously… not unless we don't make it that way."

Tired of standing up from his place, Ramsey sat down and expressed with a serious tone.

"Elaborate."

Duke out a piece of paper from his suit and throw it on the ground, "First and foremost, half of your properties, establishment, and riches will belong to me. Name everything on this piece of paper and sign it. Go to the land office by the next day and give everything to me.

"Second, you see, only the people in this room knew that Jezta was dead. All except you and your other men outside of this place are alive. Now, we can make sure that both of us will forget that this ever happened. We'll make it look like this accident never happened in the first place.

"In doing so, we keep the peace pact that the person behind the scenes holds very dearly while not exposing the loss of your force. As of now, when my men saw you retreating here, they had different tasks and destroyed other establishments that also belonged to the East Overlord.

"You'll have to do a lot of renovation and reestablishment honestly but it's doable. Hence this keeps everything stable."

Ramsey nodded, finally understanding what Duke was trying to do, "And what do you get from doing this? To demand half of my own properties, tell your very perceptive meticulous, and knowing person behind the scenes… what are you trying to achieve on doing all these?"

Duke merely shrugged, "Your force. I want you to work for me and… infiltrate the East Territory where the Overlord of the East resides."