Re-Awakening: I Became a Pay To Win Boss Monster-Chapter 331: The Discussion

Rael sat opposite Halemire and decided to cut straight to the chase.

"I want to fast forward our envoy plans," Rael said flatly. "By that, I mean I want them done by the end of the week."

A moment of silence ensued as Halemire calmly pulled out a teapot and two cups. He placed one on his side and the other right in front of Rael.

He poured the tea into each of the cups and sat back down, flashing a smile.

"That’s a bit sudden. I was expecting some small talk first," he remarked. "But if you wish to jump straight into the big boy talk, then I suppose I will have to indulge you."

He leaned back slightly. "The embassy deal might take a little longer than a week to go through—"

Rael coughed, cutting Halemire off with a perplexed look. "With all due respect, Halemire, I’ve given you a month already. If you haven’t even drafted the paperwork yet, then I’m highly suggesting you start now."

That was the truth, and if no progress had been made in that time, then Rael could only assume Halemire was being insincere.

There was also the problem of the dwarves. That promise had also gone undelivered.

So in the end, Rael couldn’t help but feel like Halemire had been treating him as a pushover, and from his lack of a response, that feeling most definitely wasn’t too far off.

"Hmm..." Halemire brushed his beard. "Truth be told, the paperwork has already been drafted, it only needs my final signature."

"But?"

"But... I’d like to impose some restrictions on the embassy," Halemire finished and raised a single finger. "For one, I’d like to restrict the number of foreign agents stationed within the embassy grounds. A limit of 10, with an additional 10 utility staff."

He raised another finger. "The embassy shall not be treated as foreign soil. All local laws of Yrgon’s capital, Varnak, will apply within its grounds."

Then another finger. "All your staff must be from Celestara. If you so much as recruit one of our locals, I will treat it as a sign of disrespect."

And finally, the fourth and final finger. "You are to remain unarmed while within Varnak. We will provide guards to protect your establishment."

He leaned in and took a sip of tea before flashing Rael a warm smile. "That is all. You may put out your terms now."

Rael sighed. "Correct me if I’m wrong, but we’ve already established the agreement, haven’t we? So tell me, why should I listen to your new terms when the agreement’s already been signed?"

After all, the terms were already established, and the agreement had been signed long ago.

Despite that, Halemire stared at Rael without even a budge in his expression.

But that didn’t last long. The smile stayed on his face, but when Rael met his eyes, the sincerity behind it had vanished.

Halemire picked up the cup of tea and swirled it slowly. Then, without warning, he tilted it, letting the liquid spill onto the table.

It ran across the smooth surface, sliding off the sides and dripping onto the floor. And that was when Halemire once again met Rael’s gaze.

"This table is Celestara," Halemire began. "As you can see, it has no grooves, no edges, no mold to hold what you’re pouring in. Your agreement and your earlier terms... they spill right through. Not because I disagree with them, but I simply don’t believe you have what it takes to fulfil your end of the deal. Not anymore."

He set the cup down, then slowly placed both hands on the table and rested his chin atop them.

"Don’t you agree, Rael?"

Rael said nothing at first, but it didn’t take long to understand what Halemire was really saying.

"So you believe that because the eclipse had killed off a majority of our trees, we will no longer be able to hold up our end of the deal?" Rael asked, making sure he understood it correctly.

"That is correct," Halemire replied calmly. "Trees take years to grow, and unfortunately, winter is going to begin next month. You have a chunk of your forest left, but it is on the south western side of Celestara. That means we’d need to travel several times as far and make the same journey back. All the while, you retain the same deal while we get the short end of the stick."

"In the end..." Halemire trailed off, his expression hardening. "Generosity does not grow on trees, Rael."

With that, it seemed like Halemire had said his piece, and Rael fully understood where he was coming from.

The agreement had been signed with full confidence that Celestara would be able to provide Yrgon some trees for winter. Naturally, Yrgon would choose the trees that were closest in order to save manpower and resources.

But after the eclipse, that was no longer possible, as the majority of Celestara’s forest died out, and only the south western side remained mostly untouched.

So in the end, Halemire wanted to renegotiate the deal, but in a less straightforward manner.

He was content to leave the tree deal untouched. Instead, he aimed to reshape the embassy terms, not out of fairness, but to make it easier to control Celestara’s influence from the inside.

If he were to accept this current proposal, it would open up loopholes. Especially the part where all the staff must be from Celestara.

It seems so innocent... but it’s so fragile... Rael mused. Even if we abide by it, spreading our influence would negatively impact us. So much so, that if Celestara hits the wrong demography, Halemire will have all the authority to enter Celestara’s embassy and perform an inspection.

And that was simply because of another point he brought up: The embassy shall not be treated as foreign soil. All local laws of Yrgon’s capital, Varnak, will apply within its grounds.

If I reject his proposal and force him to sign the embassy papers, I’ll risk turning him into a political enemy. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Ultimately, it all boiled down to two choices.

The first: Rael would accept these new terms and continue. But that was clearly against his initial goal of coming here.

Then the second: Take a net loss, but score big in the long run. He would use the Premium Shop to regrow all the trees, and by doing so, he would keep Halemire happy and himself in a far more advantageous position in the foreseeable future.

Rael made his choice and took a deep breath before meeting Halemire’s patient gaze.

"I..."

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