Floor 37: An Unfair Negotiation

The portal was slowly opening, glowing gold.

Time was life itself.

Before the portal had even finished expanding, I threw myself through the small circle.

The world inverted. I rolled across the floor and sprang to my feet. In the slowed flow of time, I watched in real time as the kings' stunned expressions registered.

Ha Heijeong sat at one end of the desk, a faint smile playing on her lips. When I glanced sideways, I saw Masters filing in through the half-open door.

Good. Plenty of time to spare.

I kicked off from my spot and vaulted onto the desk. The instant I did, I drew lightning up into both hands and released the Translocation.

Time snapped back to normal, and seething lightning crackled and roiled right before the kings' eyes.

"That's enough! Take one more step and every king here dies!"

The Masters, who had just come pouring through the entrance, froze in place. At the same moment, the climbers burst through the portal and sprinted out after them.

Confused eyes darted around, weapons pointing every which way, nowhere to go. Worried that the Masters might attack the climbers, I issued another warning.

"Don't move!"

In that brief window of chaos, the climbers hurriedly seized the kings from behind. They'd clearly rehearsed this beforehand, because they moved with practiced ease.

There we go. Operation successful.

"Oh my, you startled me."

In the tense silence, Ha Heijeong spoke in a tone that betrayed not a shred of surprise. I nearly burst out laughing.

Keeping my eyes on the Masters, I rolled them sideways instead. Three team leaders were looking at me from behind Ha Heijeong, as if asking what they were supposed to do now.

"Leave Heijeong alone."

The climbers who'd nodded moved into position and trained their weapons on the Masters. Even amid all this, the Masters kept staring at me.

"Close the door and get out."

The Masters hesitated, lips parting. Their eyes turned toward their respective kings. They were clearly asking: what should we do?

I had no desire to give them more time. They might try to pull some sneaky maneuver.

"Keep standing there if you want to watch them all die. Or feel free to attack me."

I deliberately drew the lightning up harder.

"If your speed beats lightning, that is."

As the Masters stowed their weapons, one of them spoke up anyway, defiant. A scar ran across his face. He was the Master I'd crossed paths with during the infiltration.

"You... you're that rat from before."

"Doesn't matter. If you want your king to live, you'd better get moving."

"What guarantee do we have that they'll be spared if we leave?"

"I have no intention of harming them. See that elf over there? She's the leader of the elves. I intend to broker a peace between them."

"And how are we supposed to believe that?!"

I obviously wasn't going to kill them anyway. Being interrogated like this was getting on my nerves. Let's see—I'd seen him before, so he had to be a Master of Deleil...

Finding the King of Deleil wasn't hard. His was the strongest kingdom, after all, so he sat alone in a resplendent chair.

"If you don't trust me, then your king dies."

Apparently the lightning wasn't threatening enough. I swung my axe up and rested it above the King of Deleil's head—leaving just enough room for a fist between the blade and his scalp.

The King of Deleil shrieked in terror at the axe nearly falling on his skull.

"Eek! Boryun! Out! Everyone else, out as well!"

"You heard him. Get lost and close the door."

The Master clenched his teeth, face contorted with fury. I could hear his molars grinding. But then he whirled around.

Right. When your king says leave, you leave.

BANG— The door slammed shut with a resounding crack.

Rude bastard. Some of them serve their own kings, you know.

While I was cursing him inwardly, one king worked up the courage to speak.

"W-what exactly do you want?"

"I told you already."

With the nuisances gone, I withdrew the lightning. I looked each king in the face in turn, then pointed at Delina.

"We sign a peace treaty here, today."

"Sign it."

"I-I can't! The wishes of every elf—"

"You want to die?"

So one polite day and the trepidation was already gone. I slammed my dagger down on the desk, and Delina looked up at me with eyes full of betrayal.

I couldn't understand it. She'd known from the start that I was the kidnapper...

I helped you once—why are you looking at me like that?

That was what I thought, but meeting those luminous elven eyes stirred something like a guilty conscience.

No. Forget it. These are people who eat human flesh and tried to drive another race to extinction. They don't deserve my sympathy.

Steeling myself, I tapped the desk with the tip of my dagger. After a long staring contest, Delina signed with a wretched expression on her face.

"Now read it aloud in front of the human kings."

"Th-that's..."

"Read it."

Delina glared at me, eyes brimming with tears. I had no intention of relenting. When she puffed herself up in protest, I simply turned her gaze back to the treaty with a look.

"H-humans are beings that harm nature... n-no, wait. Nature is simply nature. Intelligence must not be placed above nature itself."

"Next part."

"We elves will no longer p-practice cannibalism or launch attacks, and we will not leave the Reveron Mountain Range."

"Keep going."

"Any elf who does such things will be e-executed by their own kin. We will trade regularly with the humans, and when the Supreme Leader of the Elf Coalition dies, her successor will re-re renegotiate this treaty. This treaty is p-protected... p-p-protected..."

"Last sentence. Say it properly."

"This treaty is protected in the name of the Swimming Sky Sea."

"Good. Now rest."

At my final words, Delina collapsed back into her chair as if her strings had been cut. Her eyes had lost focus. I wondered what was going through her mind right now.

Hm... best to just leave her be for now.

I turned to the kings.

"Have all of you signed?"

"Not yet..."

"I said hurry. Who hasn't?"

The kings exchanged uneasy glances, then their eyes drifted toward one white-haired king. The old king glared at me, but the moment I raised my dagger, he dropped his gaze. Then, hands trembling violently, he signed.

Ha Heijeong sat off to the side with her legs crossed, tapping the desk with a bored expression.

That worried me a little.

She's not going to get penalized for just sitting there, is she?

Nah, shouldn't be. The kings' lives were under threat, after all.

And honestly, nothing would have changed even if Ha Heijeong had tried something. I turned back to the kings.

"Now, um... King of Deleil, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you read it as their representative."

"Ahem! Humans shall not hunt the Sky Whales. The Reveron Mountain Range is recognized as elven territory and shall not be developed. Should any one of the kings die, his successor will renegotiate this treaty."

"The last part."

"Any who violate the above shall be severely punished upon the honor of the great Furnace Lords gathered here. This entire treaty is protected in the name of the Ceaseless Hearth."

Unlike Delina, the King of Deleil didn't stumble over his words. The terms were astonishingly generous compared to what the elves had gotten.

Actually, "generous" doesn't even cover it. These were incredible conditions for the humans.

All they had to do was refrain from hunting Sky Whales and leave the Reveron Mountain Range undeveloped. The elf guerrillas who'd been such a thorn in their side were dealt with, and the land available for development had expanded enormously.

Well, the kingdoms out west probably aren't happy...

But we couldn't compensate every single plot of terrorized land. Either way, everything was settled now.

The whole affair had started with a threat and ended with a threat...

And yet we'd led a neutral faction with no realistic chance of victory all the way to triumph. It was an overwhelming feeling.

Truth be told, half the credit belonged to Ha Heijeong. She'd built the plan around the intel we'd exchanged in the Waiting Room.

I'd have to thank her when we got back there.

Just then, something I'd forgotten came back to me. There was still one thing I needed to do before the floor ended. I turned back to the King of Deleil.

"Oh, and one more thing. A favor."

"Wh-what kind of favor?"

"I'll be taking a few of your combat airships."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I was humming to myself by the time I came out of the bath. The achievement points I'd earned as part of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the neutral faction's victory reward had surpassed 45,000.

And there were still additional rewards to come, too.

Wondering when those would arrive, I opened the community.

Once again, the community was pure chaos, right on schedule.

The full story of what had happened seemed to have already spread, thanks to the climbers who'd been with me. I did feel a little guilty toward the climbers who'd chosen the human faction. Plenty of them had probably picked it because I'd painted the elves in such a bad light.

That wasn't my intention, of course... but what's done is done.

Just then, a message arrived from Ha Heijeong.

At her prompting, I gave her a detailed account of everything that had happened across the full-floor trial. We'd crossed paths now and then, but she wouldn't have known exactly what I'd been up to.

Going inside a Sky Whale's mouth to kidnap the elf leader, the neutral climbers joining up with us...

Partway through my story, Ha Heijeong suddenly cut in.

Hm... that wasn't a pleasant thing to hear.

But the future can be changed. If there was any way I could save her, I'd have to help as much as I could.

Chime—!

Just then, a notification window popped up.

The moment the message ended, something resembling a purple die materialized on the desk.

Honestly, I was a bit dumbfounded. A lie detector... for the guy who'd single-handedly dragged the neutral faction to victory?

I couldn't tell whether it was actually useful or whether this was seriously supposed to count as a reward. As I approached it, another notification window appeared.

Wait, so it's not even permanent? Ten uses? This is the reward?

What am I even supposed to use this on?

Checking the description only made it more absurd. I hurriedly fired off a message to Ha Heijeong.