I'm The supreme Fairy King

Chapter 78: Negotiations

"You are playing with a fire kid."

Jim was standing inside the town, while watching that dark cloaked giant standing on the other end of the gate. "Deliver what you took and we can blink an eye off this."

"Humph," Jim harrumphed before saying: "You shouldn't have sent them after me and my team from the start."

"Send them after you? Who do you think you are to be targeted by us?" the giant laughed and despite standing in front of the guards, no one ever dared to move a muscle or question him.

"You sent them after my team and in the end I have to retaliate," Jim simply shrugged.

"Stop giving more value to your worthless self," the giant sneered, "this is just your illusions."

"Really?" Jim sneered back while crossing his arms in front of his chest, "then how come I found the base of these vengeful souls then? Huh?"

The man didn't speak and neither did Jim who kept his stance there motionless while gazing back at the darkness appearing inside the cloak of that giant.

"Don't count too much on the academy fresh disciple," the giant turned around as he added, "there are more ways than you can imagine to dispose of a worthless insect there."

"Humph."

Jim was acting tough but from the inside he was cursing out loud. That was so close and if not for the timely retreat he wouldn't have reached the safe zone of the town in time.

'Don't bother with him,' the old man suddenly said, 'he is part of the academy staff, bound by the unbreakable laws there.'

'But'

'He was just trying to threaten you with empty words,' the old man laughed, 'the best he can do is to wait for you to get out of the academy.'

'Why would I?' Jim inwardly sighed.

'Some tasks might be required from you at some point,' the old man said and his words just scared the sh*t out of Jim. 'But this will happen later on, not now. I think you have a good time to train and get stronger, so don't worry yourself about it.'

'Are you sure?'

'Since when I ever lied to you?'

''

Jim didn't respond back but he wasn't that comfortable after hearing these words. 'We should lay low then.'

'For what?' the old man laughed, 'he won't be able to touch you except by academy rules. I'm pretty sure no team out there will be dangerous for you to handle.'

'Nah,' Jim shook his head before turning to face his team, 'It's better to be safe than sorry.'

"Let's go boys, it's enough suspense for one day."

"What about them?" Gorden suddenly pointed towards a group of those who were freed from the camp. Jim noticed their presence for the first time.

They were a myriad of races he never saw before, and all had weak bodies and small physique. "They can do whatever they want," he simply said, "they are free and have to keep themselves like this from now on."

"But they want to join us," Deno suddenly said, "they aren't that bad."

"And not that good," Jim shrugged while moving towards the hotel, "let's go, I'm not in the mood to waste more time here."

Everyone glanced at each other before they sighed and followed their leader back to the hotel. 'You know, a couple of those races aren't half bad,' the old man said.

'I don't want half assed races with me,' Jim sighed, 'if not for your earlier remark about the Actimos race I would have never cared about them.'

'But he helped you a lot, right?'

'He is,' Jim muttered, 'but they won't.'

The old man didn't speak anymore while Jim returned to the hotel.

He gave his orders that the upper suit was off limits for any of the boys, leaving the four girls up there resting and living well. He stayed inside his room where he was puzzled by a problem he didn't know how to fix.

"This ring why isn't he opening?"

He held the ring he took from the vengeful soul camp and turned it inside his palm with a puzzled look over his face. "Old man can't you do anything to it?"

'There is only one way for it not to open,' the old man said.

"Which is?"

'Its real owner is still alive.'

"Alive?" Jim was speechless for a moment before the old man said:

'If he is still alive, you can't overcome the seal over the ring unless using brute force and'

"Sigh, I got your point," Jim shook his head before tossing the ring high in the air, '"It's quite frustrating to have a treasure and you can't even open it."

He threw the ring inside his storage ring where he closed this page for now and then started to think about his next steps.

"Those sellers will come and ask about more benefits," Jim returned his back to the bed before adding, "are you sure you have what they expect?"

'I have more,' the old man sneered, 'but I won't give them everything. Try to limit the deal with the things related to what they got from us.'

"Sigh, I hope they will agree on that."

'They will,' the old man said, 'after all they only have to pay a small price for this priceless info.'

Jim's wait didn't last longer than a few hours when Rili appeared in his room with a soft laugh. "You really are lucky one, Jim."

"Tell me what happened so I can laugh with you," Jim was just resting on bed when he turned to sit on its edge.

"The two approved of your request and they also suggested providing support and logistic aid inside the academy."

"Logistic? What does even mean?" Jim was puzzled while he noticed the tone of Rili showed how excited he was.

"You seem to know zero thing about the academy, right?"

Jim just shrugged as Rili added, "Expected. It's not everyday for a human to join the academy as an inner disciple."

"Privilege inner disciple please."

"Oh mighty privileged inner disciple," Rili laughed a short one, "but you don['t even know the basics! Each disciple in the academy has his or her own rule in the big war going up between the pantheons and the hostiles."

"You mean the demons, right?"

"Not precisely true, but yeah demons are part of the hostiles," Rili said before adding, "so you will be asked to move to do part of the duties any disciple will have to do. Being a privileged inner disciple means you'll be asked to lead a small army and conquer a post of the hostiles. This my friend isn't something someone without backing and wealth like you can do with no offense."

Jim sighed before saying:

"So they will provide me logistics for such a campaign, right?"

"Exactly and this is something not worth little in my opinion."

Jim waited for a few seconds while glancing over the dark whirlpool of Rili. "What do they ask in return? Huh?"

"Impressive," Rili said before adding, "they ask for their questions to be answered and for any other treasures you know of to excavate."

"Nonsense," Jim sneered and instantly refused, "best I can do is to give them some clue about another treasure site that's all," he paused before adding, "and if they have any question about the new site they have to pay the corresponding price for that."

Rili seemed to be surprised by his answer. "So you plan to only answer their questions now for their support and logistics?"

"And clues about one more treasure site," Jim stressed over this point.

"But"

"This is my deal, go and tell them about it."

"Sigh, why are you so stubborn about this," Rili sighed, "I can't understand you. You are the one in a bad situation and the one needing support."

"But that doesn't mean I should sell a pearl like it was a street rock."

"It's your life man," Rili sighed before vanishing while whispering, "I suggest you think over again over this offer of yours until I return with their refusal."

Jim took a deep breath while squeezing his head with both palms. 'You should give more, you know that,' the old man suddenly said.

'I know but I need to minimize the damage,' Jim muttered before adding, 'is this logistic support something valuable?'

'For others coming from high and mighty clans it's a big no, but for you then f*cking yeah.'

'Do you think they know about my status in the academy?'

'At least they guessed you hailed from a nameless clan.'

'Why is that?'

'Because if you came from a big clan then you would have asked for support from your elders, right?'

Jim sighed as he knew his old man was telling the truth. 'I hope they would be much smarter than Rili and understood my meaning.'

'They will,' the old man laughed, 'but they will ask for more than the price you just gave.'

'I can't say no forever, right?'

'Don't worry,' the old man tried to reassure him, 'the most they will ask is triple the price and you will lower it to double. It's not a big loss for you and me, after all you are too far weak from being able to go and take these treasures by yourself.'