Ch 117 – Negotiation With the Reincarnates

High above the sky, if a human were to look up towards the cloudy blue sky, one can see a beacon of light moving through the air at a ridiculously fast pace. The beacon of light's size was bigger than a house, and it moved through the air leaving a trail of cloud behind it. It was a Light Dragon, a relatively rare race of dragons that has the ability to wield the light element. Its scales glow a golden light like gold, and its eyes glow a light-yellow shade.

Atop it, five beings can be seen; four humanoids and one green pig the size of a normal house cat.

"So that's the holy kingdom," Lute muttered, wearing a dark purple cloak nearing the color of black while a snow-white mask covered his face, only showing his pair of dark purple eyes gleaming with intelligence.

Beside him, a man wearing a dark blue scholarly robe stood high and mighty against the harsh winds, "Indeed. I haven't visited this place in quite a few years already."

Standing up, Lute felt the harsh winds blowing against him. Looking back, he saw Kira sitting on the Light Dragon's back while an invisible thread connected his soul to the dragon's. Controlling it, the duo watches as the Light Dragon slowly descended into the middle of the Holy Kingdom.

The Holy Kingdom is the second largest kingdom to exist in the Central Continent. With millions of residents living within it, it can be considered a safe haven for most. With pristine white buildings, clean streets and houses, and low crime rates, it truly was a paradise.

Zapping beside them, crimson lightning appeared as Raiden looked at the Holy Kingdom in the far distance with sparkling eyes. He wore a dark crimson robe, along with a white mask that covers his face, only showing his two dark crimson eyes that were full of child-like innocence.

"Woah!" Raiden exclaimed, the dazzling beauty of the Holy Kingdom would truly leave most people in a daze.

As the Light Dragon rapidly descends into the middle of the Holy Kingdom's capital city, Kira waves his arm, and the Light Dragon flapped its wings outwards, slowly its fall. Landing with a loud thud, dust flew into the air as the guards surrounding the area they landed on shielded their eyes.

"[Dismiss Fog]," Aldrich muttered, his golden eyes gleaming while a gust of air surrounded the whole area. Watching the cloud of dust around them disappear, the four landed on the ground.

After landing on the ground, Aldrich mutters something before a ginormous purple gate appeared the size of which could let the Light Dragon pass through it. Dismissing the Light Dragon and Porky which Raiden reluctantly let go, the four heard someone calling out to them from the side.

"Um… Welcome, dear visitors, to the Holy Kingdom's capital city."

There she was, with shining golden hair, sky blue eyes filled with the innocence of youth, wearing a priestly robe of white, blue, and gold; the Saintess—Holly Grandestine—has appeared.

"Oho? So you're the Saintess, huh?" Lute muttered in a whimsical tone. Nearing the Saintess, many guards immediately pointed their spears at him, causing a small chuckle to escape Lute's mouth.

"Sheesh, uptight much? It's nice to meet you, the name's Lute Stolas, the most talented mage to ever exist," Lute bowed grandiosely, arrogance and pride filling his tone.

"Uh-huh, well… The Reincarnates-sama are already waiting for you at the meeting room," Holly Grandestine announced, bowing her head respectfully.

"Oh? They're already here? I wonder if they set up any traps in there for me," Lute muttered nonchalantly before the four followed Holly Grandestine into the building, leaving behind the many guards to protect the outside.

As they walked through the white halls with luxurious chandeliers above and rainbow windows by the side, Holly Grandestine stopped right in front of a ginormous wooden door.

"The Reincarantes awaits inside," Holly Grandestine bowed, stopping in place.

"Hmm? You're not coming inside with us?" Aldrich asked, raising his eyebrow in interest.

"Yes, Sage-sama," Holly Grandestine replied, raising her head as her blue eyes were devoid of any malicious intentions.

"Rubbish! Come, come, you come with us inside!" Lute said, grabbing Holly Grandestine's arm and slamming the door open with a loud bang.

As the door opened widely and suddenly, they were greeted by the sight of the nine Reincarnates sitting side to side with a tense aura in the air. Their eyes were intrigued and held no fear.

Walking in nonchalantly, the four got to their own seats while Holly Grandestine—the Saintess—stood beside them respectfully.

"I'm sorry, Reincarnates, Lute-san here insisted me to come with them inside the room," Holly Grandestine bowed her head.

Simply nodding his head, Kilt takes a deep and looks straight into Lute's dark purple eyes.

'Lute Stolas, a powerful mage with special points to be careful of; Large mana reservoir, mastery of classic, tier, and rune magic, creation of items with unknown limits…' Kilt thought, listing out the potential points of danger from Lute.

'Raiden, perhaps now Raiden Stolas considering he was adopted by Lute and Kira. A young boy with absurd speed from Honda's reports, at the lowest estimate, is capable of moving at the speed of sound, a dangerous threat to any of us if we can't react fast enough. One wrong move and any of us can get killed by him within less than a second.' Kilt noted, before moving on to Kira.

'Kira Stolas, the husband and lover of Lute Stolas. He's a man of mystery and silence, with a range of abilities with strange properties. From a white substance that he can control, to also a black substance, along with a strange light he can wield. No sense of correlation appears before those three.' Kilt thought, before moving on to the greatest threat in the room.

'Aldrich Stolas, danger level, Demigod.' Kilt thought.

As he was deep in thought, Imerda looks at Lute with a strange gaze, after learning that Lute's son was Raiden from Honda's reports, she couldn't help but think: 'Does that mean… Lute Stolas and Lute are the same person? But they looked so different. No, even the spirits think they are different people, so that's why I didn't think they were the same person even with the same first name.'

'Lute… What are you planning to do?' Honda worriedly thought, tightly closing his fist as he didn't want to fight Lute and his family if possible.

But the outcome of the negotiation fully depends on Lute. He was the one who invented the Akashic System, Akasha, and Meat Plants. He held the knowledge required to invent those things and only him.

"Ahem, so are we going to start now or what?" Lute nonchalantly said, coughing loudly to grab their attention.

"Mmm," Don Will Dead nods his head, before waving his arm and muttering a spell, and a screen pop up in front of Lute.

"With your new technology, we wish for you to share it with the whole world to help us-"

"Help you guys defeat the demons, right? Bring prosperity, reduce casualties, bla, bla, bla." Lute asked, his dark purple eyes squinting while a glint flashed through them.

"Indeed. We also want you to sell us the Dragon Meat and Dragon hearts. Here are the conditions we want to go with," Don Will Dead said, passing Lute a piece of paper he read through swiftly.

"Huh. Great price, great terms, and conditions, great… everything, basically," Lute muttered, his eyes swiftly darting through the paper to read everything carefully.

"Does that mean you wish to accept our deal?" Don Will Dead asked, his red soulfire eyes looking straight at Lute in the eyes.

"Hmm… No," Lute said, directly tearing the paper into two, he chuckled and muttered something before it burst into flames.

"You dare!" Anastasia Melokva stood up, her eyes turning into slits as she pointed her small arm at Lute.

"You know that what you are doing is being a traitor to all of mankind, right? You have the chance to help us finally eradicate the demons once and for all, yet you wish to keep your newfound technology to yourself?" Anastasia Melokva threatened. If Lute rejects, that means he'll become the villain of humanity. If he accepts, then they can deal with the Magic Kingdom however they want. Those two choices would both leave him screwed.

"Well then, let me ask you a question," Lute laughed lightly, before continuing:

"What is the difference between humans and demons?"

Hearing his question, the whole room turned silent before… Before… before nothing.

"You see, the way I see it, both humans and demons are pretty much in the same root. The demons have their own civilizations, social hierarchies, etc. They are a sentient race that definitely has the ability to think as well as any of the major races in this world," Lute said.

"Are you saying you treat those warmongers the same breed as us?" Anastasia Melokva asked, she snickered as if listening to a fool's ramblings.

"Yes. Let's see, the general reason why humans and the other races want to eradicate the demons is simply due to the fact that they want to expand, right? Then, isn't humanity pretty much the same? The want to expand? In fact, shouldn't it be reformed into the need to expand? The sin of greed; the want to have more. The Pendragon Kingdom is also constantly waging wars against other nearby kingdoms to finally reach its grand size, right? So, maybe the demonic people just want to venture into new lands due to overpopulation or something similar. Basically, you can't decide that they are just evil due to their actions," Lute explained, his words were hypnotic as they can't refute his words.

"Who even decided that the demons are evil? Are humans evil due to them slaughtering livestock? No, right? But why? It's because we decided so. The elves deem the harming of nature is evil, yet we do it, so are we evil? The term evil in itself is stupid," Lute laughed.

"Evil is simply a concept decided upon by us. Do we have the right to actually define the term "evil"? Shouldn't a god determine that concept? Or does God even have the right to determine what good and evil are? Essentially, your reasoning is flawed from the very beginning. I simply wouldn't share my groundbreaking technology with the "good" humans to defeat the "evil" demonic people," Lute said, shrugging his shoulders as he shook his head in disappointment.

As a long pause ensued, Don Will Dead opened his mouth to speak, "Then let's negotiate on the basis of logic."

"I can do with that, and the answer is still no. You see, logically speaking, the demonic people killing humans is simply the cycle of life…" Lute started to rapidly speak, leaving no pauses for the Reincarnates to counter.

And so, just like that, no matter what they said, Lute turned the tides in his favor. He was simply putting himself in the "not-wrong" category, meaning he doesn't have to be right, which leaves a lot of leeways for him to refuse their negotiations.

Just like that, the whole situation turned into a stalemate once more.

"Ha! You Reincarnates really are pathetic once it comes to a battle of minds. With your overpowered abilities, you simply left everything to brawns, and now when it finally came into a battle where we are equal in strength, you have no ability to resist and force yourselves upon me," Lute laughed for a long while before he suddenly stopped and his eyes turned sharp.

"Now, let us finally come to the reason why I came here in the first place," Lute said, surprising the Reincarnates.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Kilt asked.

"I want a duel. If the Reincarnates win, you will get the Akashic System and Meat Plants. If I win, then I simply refuse your wants," Lute said, causing the Reincarnates to be surprised how… Stupid it was.

The Reincarnates are the strongest in the world. They wield godly might and unparalleled ability. Nobody can defeat them whatever they may do.

'Wait… If he were to actually defeat any one of us…' Some in the Reincarnates thought, before widening their eyes at what the outcome would be.

If they lose… Then it would mean…

'Is he betting everything on defeating one of us?! If he wins, then our reputation would crumble, losing all the support we have as the whole world will turn to Lute's side! If he can raise himself to be at the level of Reincarnates…' Kilt thought, cold sweat forming on his forehead at Lute's deep schemes.

What seemed like a stupid move turned into a high-risk, high-reward plot that would definitely shake the whole world depending on whoever wins.

If they win, they'll gain everything; if they lose, they'll lose everything.

"Who are you planning to take into a duel?" Kilt asked.

"I plan to have a "friendly spar" with someone I wanted to have a fight with for a very long time, Louis Crawford," Lute said, causing Louis to stand up with a glare.

"Courting death?! Hmph, if you dare fight me, then prepare to face the consequences of your stupidity!" Louis said, his eyes turning into a glare. Unbeknownst to them, they were simply all pawns in a chessboard, and the real mastermind was a man playing in the shadows behind shadows.

AN: This chapter has 2259 words.

Scheming is hard, send some power stones.

(August 11, 2022 – 260th day of writing)