Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1209: A good first impression

"Okay, guys, very quickly, look around this cantina and camp and tell me, what do you notice about the people?," Zhen Liu asked Lythero and Antonio, moments after the former had asked him about why he said what he said.

"Uh..."

The two aether warriors from Dozing Salamander did a quick survey of the people around them, not entirely sure about what they should be looking for despite Zhen Liu’s instructions.

Eventually, they sort of gave up and gave a very basic answer.

"They’re all aether warriors?"

"They’re all from the biggest factions in the area?"

"Antonio is a bit closer to the answer I was looking for."

"Woo."

"The actual answer to my question though is that mixed into these crowds, are members of the Goldenbacks and Silver-tongues, right?," Zhen Liu asked in a way that made it clear his question was rhetorical. "All we have to do is to make nice with members of the Goldenbacks, preferably, someone high up on their totem pole so that you have a chance to join them on their next ruins raid, you dig?"

"That... actually makes sense, huh," Lythero answered while being deep in thought about how this plan could work.

"Yeesh, no wonder you pretend to be a deal making demon," Antonio commented at the deviousness of Zhen Liu’s plan.

"I try."

While it was mildly fucked up to manipulate an ongoing conflict for their own benefits, Zhen Liu saw this less as that and more of a...possible win-win situation.

If all went to how Zhen Liu thought this would go, the Goldenbacks would be able to get an ally in the form of an Aether Lord with a Universe class formula while that aformentioned Aether Lord would finally get some factional backing with all the benefits and drawbacks such an association brings.

With their powers combined, they’d be able to retaliate against their enemies...who just so happened to be allied with one another.

Either way though, this entire chain of events was reliant on whether or not they could find such an opportunity in the first place...or possibly manufacture one.

It was times like this that Zhen Liu wished he had the other kaijin and access to the Library, although, this was also an opportunity to possibly find them.

’I am fairly certain the others are somewhere around here, but all of these Buddhists and dragon blooded warriors is making it really hard for me to pick up their [Chaos] signatures,’ Zhen Liu mentally complained. ’I really hope this works though...’

"Okay, so how am I going to make a connection with these Goldenback guys?," Lythero asked. "Do I just start doing odd jobs for them? Walk up to a group of them and say I admire their company or something?"

"No, that’ll just make you look desperate and/or some random schmuck looking for a job," Zhen Liu answered. "What you need, as I said, is an opportunity."

"What kind of opportunity? You can’t just keep saying that."

"Something big," Zhen Liu continued. "Something like...returning a treasure that one of their higher-ups lost, or saving one of their prodigies from a situation that would lead to death. Ya know, the usual."

"How the fuck is any of that considered usual?"

"Well..."

"What about assisting their leader in an escalating brawl?," Antonio suddenly asked while facing away from his companions.

"That would honestly be perfect, yeah."

"In that case, I think your opportunity just appeared," Antonio stated while pointing in the direction he saw staring towards.

"Huh?"

"What the fuck did you just accuse my men of doing, you slimy motherfuckers?!"

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

"You heard me, you unrefined ape! Your men stole from ours!"

"Oh...yeah, that works," Zhen Liu said in agreement before redirecting his gaze towards Lythero. "Well then, it’s time for you to play the part of a gentleman and investigative judge."

"Why...did that statement sound ominous as fuck?"

"Don’t worry about it."

...The reason for all of the yelling...

"How dare you challenge the integrity of my men?! The Golden Gorilla Union has always maintained a reputation for their honesty and integrity!"

"Yeah, back when your daddy was alive. Now you’re just a bunch of thieving old bastards waiting for the grave too."

"You little-!"

"Mistress! Mistress! Calm down! Now is not the time to go berserk!"

Despite the fact that the Golden Gorilla Union and the Silver Jungle Dragon Shipping company had agreed to keep the peace together around the entry pagoda to the [City of Mirrors], that didn’t stop them from verbally throwing insults and leveling accusations at one another.

Regardless of whether or not these accusations were accurate, they all served the same purpose of riling the other up to the point of possibly lashing out.

This allowed either side to essentially claim self-defense, and retaliate as needed, without worsening their reputations in the eyes of onlookers.

Granted, there were some sharp-eyed individuals who knew the score but kept quiet since it was more profitable for them to be in conflict.

Regardless, today’s argument was particularly absurd because it directly involved the current leader of the Golden Gorilla Union, Kidanna Dodorado, the daughter of the late founder.

In terms of raw power, she was more than qualified to lead since she was an Aether Lord, but she also lacked the maturity and wisdom needed to lead the organization by herself. Thankfully, she had the advisory board and her father’s right hand man to help deal with all of the administrative duties.

Unfortunately, this also meant that she had enough free time to check in on her subordinates if they ever got into trouble.

Which was why she was now seconds away from smashing in the head of some mouthy Silver-tongues who had accused her soldiers of having stolen their hard earned loot after they had both exited from the wandering ruin space at the same time.

This was a massive case of hearsay though, so no one knew who was telling the truth.

That didn’t stop them from hurling insults at one another.

"Yeah, listen to your handler, you female gorilla! All muscle and no brains, just like the rumors say," one of the Silver-tongues shouted in Kidanna’s direction.

"Hey! Don’t insult the boss like that, you scaly fucks!," one of the Goldenbacks shouted back.

"Then why don’t you do something about it, huh?! Or have your spines finally broke like-!"

"Keep his name, out of your fucking mouths!"

At this point in time, the tension between the Goldenbacks and Silver-tongues had reached a boiling point, where all it would take was a dropped hat to cause a riot.

But in this case, the spark was a bit more...dangerous.

"Hey, watch this."

While both the Goldenbacks and the Silver-tongues were still verbally arguing, a member of the latter prepared themselves to set off this powder keg of rage by throwing an aether enhanced stone at none other than Kidanna herself.

This cheap shot probably wouldn’t do much damage in the first place, but it was the easy type of provocation needed to make this situation violent.

"Eat rock, you lousy gorilla."

With a flick of the wrist, the pebble flew as fast a bullet towards Kidanna’s forehead.

Once this pebble made contact, all hell would break loose as Kidanna would’ve definitely lead the charge and pound some much needed catharsis into these Silver-tongue goons. This, in turn, would lead to a collapse of the surrounding order and turn their covert war into an overt one.

However, that didn’t happen.

Plink!

"Wait, what?"

"Who the fuck?"

Pathunk!

"Ah, my head!"

Before the rock could make impact against Kidanna’s forehead or hit her eyes, a mysterious young swordsman appeared as quick as lighting and knocked the stone right back at the would-be assailant with a sheathed sword.

Needless to say, everyone was confused at this sudden turn of events, and couldn’t help but to focus on the young swordsman.

"Don’t you know it’s rude to hit a lady with such a cheap shot? How unruly," Lythero said with as much gentlemanly charisma he could muster. "Now then, I will expect you lot to apologize for calling her names. Okay?"

...Meanwhile...

"So we’re not getting involved yet, because..."

"There’s a non-zero chance that those Silver-tongue guys will attempt to jump our boy out of blind arrogance, digging themselves into a deeper hole. If we had shown up alongside him from the get-go, they would’ve backed down and use whatever cheap diplomatic trick to excuse themselves."

"Huh...that’s downright devious."

"Meh, psychology is a bitch."

"Dafuq?"

... Coincidentally...

[What the fuck is going on over there?]

[Sounds like an argument between the powers-that-be...and someone has decided to interject themselves into said conflict.]

[Shot in the dark, you think that the Director is involved in some capacity?]

[Probably, but I also can’t sense him right now. Why are there so many Buddhists in the area?]

[One of the zakos mentioned something about a famous teacher being in the area and they wanted to meet him. Somebody called the Horned Elder.]

[Ah.]