Luke glanced behind himself and strolled forward. He tried not to let his panic show. The elf had cut them off with his silvery wall and his loyal butler was laying beaten on the floor. This was not going to be a pleasant conversation. He suddenly felt glad that he hadn’t taken off his power armor yet.

  “You may not know this, but oaths allow for a very limited form of communication, even at great distances. I can tug on it slightly, just enough for you to know I wish to speak with you urgently.” Lord Edobar said with a dead calm. “But when I asked my supposedly loyal Seneschal to bring me your oath, he told me that he hadn’t made you swear one. A member of my Chosen, working my lands, and you haven’t sworn an oath.”

  Luke looked over to the bruised and broken Cormac. Apparently that oversight had cost him dearly. “You wanted to speak with me urgently? What’s wrong, Lord Edobar?”

  The elf scoffed. “What’s wrong, he says. I have incompetent servants is what’s wrong. I’m so close, so damn close, and you idiots are trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

  Lord Edobar walked to the window. He stared out and gestured to the distant beach. The Titan was just barely visible from their viewpoint. “Did you know the other two lords were visiting? The three of us have perception high enough that we watched the whole thing. A brief entertainment during our negotiations.”

  “No, no one told me.”

  “Good to know your performance wasn’t intentional sabotage. Merely inadvertent.”

  “Shouldn’t you be happy I killed the titan and saved your estate? It means Cormac was right, humans are capable and you are a great leader.”

  Lord Edobar rounded on Luke and slashed his hands down. “No, you idiot. The two people most invested in my downfall were right there and you reminded them just how powerful you were. Not only that, you showed off strength well beyond your low level. If they aren’t already telling the rival faction in the Malamon about this, I’ll sleep in the forest.” He rubbed his temples. “I sent you away from the city so people would forget about you. Why did you think that showing off in front of everyone was a good idea?”

  Luke tsked. He hadn’t thought about how killing the Titan would affect the lord’s plans for the Malamon. In retrospect it was clearly a mistake. He had been focused on his new weapon and if it could kill the titan. He never stopped to consider if that would be a good idea. “I apologize. If you had sent word that you would have your enemies watching today, I wouldn’t have killed the titan. I’m sorry.”

  “What do I care about your sorrys? I need results, not words.” He threw up his hands.

  “Well, what results do you want?”

  “An oath, first of all. I need an oath from you right now so you can continue culling in my lands. After that, I’ll require the titan’s core. I’ll need to increase the bribe to make up for your blunder.”

  Luke put a hand to his waist. That core was worth almost a million dollars to the right buyer. “No, I don’t think I’ll swear any oath. You need me. We aren’t changing the deal just because you realized that your position is more precarious than it used to be. You need me, not the other way around.”

  Lord Edobar’s lone eye narrowed. A deep pressure rolled off of him in waves. It was like the air got heavy and it was hard to breathe. Little silver crystals appeared in the air, hovering there and growing like snowflakes. Luke blinked and the elf was suddenly right in front of him.

  The elf grabbed his helmet and slowly brought it down to his level. “You’ve convinced yourself that my earlier concessions mean that I am weak. That I can be taken advantage of. Let me assure you that I am not. You and I both have platinum classes, but that does not make us equal. You are a child and I am an experienced warrior past my sixth threshold. I could kill you without breaking a sweat.”

  The silver crystals were a foot long now, filling the court and making light bounce strangely through the room. Luke had no idea what the man’s class was, but it was clearly dangerous. He would rather go up against the titan again. But that didn’t mean he was backing down.

  Luke straightened up and looked down on the elf. He shrugged exaggeratedly. “Maybe you could kill me but that’s never going to happen. You are an intelligent man. You know that I set up contingencies in case I die, your secret would get out. You know I still represent your best chance at winning the Malamon. I gather that is very important to you. Why is that? Your own life isn’t in danger, and you clearly don’t care about your staff. Is it related to why your estate is poorer than it should be? Who are you sending bribes to?”

  The one-eyed elf clenched and unclenched his fists, breathing slowly. He stared at Luke unflinchingly. “Fine. The titan core is yours to do with as you will. However, I still need payment for the greater healing potion you stole. You may pay with 400 platinum, or 4000 tier one cores, or one tier eight monster core.”

  Luke cursed internally. He really did owe the man for the healing potion that saved Vanessa’s life. He had risked his life to get this core, but now the elf wanted to take it. Worst of all, Luke didn’t have a better idea. He was in the middle of a power struggle with Edobar, but he wasn’t going to use that as an excuse to renege on the debt.

  Reluctantly, Luke reached into his waist compartment and pulled out the core. He handed it over and said, “Are we done here? I’m still not swearing an oath.”

  The victorious smile on Edobar’s face dropped when Luke said the second sentence. He clenched his fist, moving the crystal stars closer to the human’s head. Luke didn’t flinch. They stared at each other, neither willing to compromise.

  Time stretched.

  Cormac coughed, blood splattering onto the floor.

  Lord Edobar sneered. “Get that useless orc off my floor. Take him to the healers but tell them any healing potions he needs must be paid for by himself. And this floor better be spotless when I return in three days.” He gestured angrily to the privacy wall and it dissolved into sparkles of mana. He stalked out of the court and into his private rooms.

  Luke sighed in relief. The elf hadn’t said it, but he clearly still wanted Luke to fight for him. He hadn’t asked for an oath. It seemed like he had won this little détente.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Or at least he hadn’t lost. Lord Edobar was the type to plan ahead and Luke wasn’t acting like a good little pawn. The elf was probably trying to arrange a backup plan right now. If he found a better option, he would cut Luke loose. Which would be bad.

  Not that Luke wanted to fight in the Malamon, but Lord Edobar clearly hated him now. If the elf no longer needed him, he would bar him from the portal. At least. He might even follow through with his threats.

  Maybe it was time for Luke to start making backup plans of his own.

  But first, Cormac needed help. He walked over to the orc and gently slid his hands underneath him.

  “I’m really sorry about this,” Luke said and stood up. “I know it isn’t really my fault, but you took the beating he clearly wanted to give me.”

  He walked over to the elevator. No way he was carrying an injured orc down that many stairs.

  “I made a mistake. It is only right that our lord punishes me,” Cormac said, blood dripping from his mouth as he talked.

  “We both know that isn’t true. You didn’t give us oaths because those magic parchments are expensive. It doesn’t matter if you wanted to be kind to the humans, Edobar didn’t give you the budget to put us all under oath.”

  “A good Seneschal improvises.”

  “Do you still want to be a good Seneschal? Your life is at risk if you stay under his employ. Why not tell him the truth and tell him about your cracked core? I would hate to see you leave, but at least you would be alive.”

  “He already knows. We discussed it earlier when he asked if there was anything else I was hiding from him. Perhaps if I had mentioned my injury earlier, he might have replaced me without a thought. Now, we are too close to the Malamon. I need to organize the staff and make sure they pass their challenges. Someone new would miss a detail and we would lose before the warriors had the chance to fight.”

  They reached the bottom of the tower and Luke paused. “Where am I taking you? I’ve never been to the healers.”

  “Northwest of here. It is a three story building near the edges of the walls. The alchemist's work has a very astringent smell and they will not allow it close to the lord's tower.”

  As they walked through the estate village, some of the elves looked on curiously and then went along their day. As soon as they left the more affluent part of the village, that changed. Dwarves and orcs rushed up, some of them crying, all of whom wanted to help. Luke was more than strong enough to carry him though, so he only asked for someone to run ahead and warn the healers they were on the way.

  Their destination came into view a short while later, a three story tower made of stone and wood. There was smoke coming out of four different vents in the roof. Luke disagreed with Cormac. The building didn’t smell astringent. It smelled like ass.

  As soon as they arrived, a trio of elves asked him to put Cormac down on their patient table and shooed him away. They bandaged his wounds and gave him a potion.

  Since they seemed to have everything in hand, Luke headed home. He was contemplative on the jog through the forest. He had just killed a titan but it didn’t feel like a win anymore. Losing the core stung. At least he didn't owe anything for the greater healing potion that saved Vanessa's life.

  He was sick and tired of dealing with Edobar and his machinations. Luke wanted an option B, something that gave him the freedom he wanted. And he knew just how to start.

  ???

  “You actually made it? Oh, Luke. Thank you so much!” Vanessa said and gave him a hug. “I thought you were mad at me because I didn’t want to hunt monsters.”

  “I was never mad at you. I’m sorry you had that traumatizing experience. I’ve been trained to handle this type of thing and it’s still hard for me. I wouldn’t think less of you if you never wanted to fight monsters again. You’re worth way more to me than an employee.” He swept his hand towards the new suit he made and said, “Besides, I actually do have a job for you. I hope you weren’t kidding about being our negotiator.”

  He had made her a sleek new set of power armor. Where the others were closer to bulky armored mechs, this new suit was firmly in the Iron Man/Halo category. It was matte black with red highlights, to match Luke’s own Mark IV red armor. The visor was clear bulletproof glass, mana strengthened and runed for more durability. It also slid completely back when not in use. When she was wearing it, she would be about seven feet tall, making this the smallest mech Luke had made.

  Vanessa clapped her hands. “No, I totally want to be the negotiator.”

  “Good, because I spent a lot of time on this,” Luke said with a lopsided grin. “In addition to the new suit’s dashing good looks, I’ve got a state of the art sound system installed you can use with the translator app. It’s got a plug in for your cell phone in the belly with magnetic shielding to keep it from breaking in a week. I also have tabs in the fingers that will help you switching languages.

  “Unfortunately since it’s smaller, I couldn’t fit spell rifles in the forearms. You’ll have to stick to the elemental spells in the palms. But I do have a backup weapon in case you run out of mana. It’s stored in the back plate here, you lift this hatch here and this pops out.”

  A stub nosed air rifle dropped into her hands. It was a spell rifle, but looked like a bullpup machine gun.

  “It’s got acid spells inscribed and holds twenty rounds. I figure if you are using your backup weapon, you want to spread lasting death and destruction. I haven’t figured out how to protect the barrel yet though, so the acid will start eating through the gun after a few shots. It’s basically single use.”

  Luke tucked the gun away again. “Keep it hidden. I don’t want to bother explaining that it’s not a treaty violation. Anyway, on to your first negotiator assignment. Lord Edobar was super pissed at me for killing the titan. He wanted me to be his secret weapon in the Malamon and now everyone knows I’m awesome. He’s probably working on a backup plan now, to cut me out and still win.”

  He didn’t mention the fact that the lord had taken the monster core too. He didn’t want Vanessa to feel guilty that he had used a greater healing potion on her.

  Luke continued, “Your job will be to come up with our own option B. I want you to talk to all the important people in the other two estate villages, Monta Hejmo and Fekundaj Kampoj, and see if we can get a backup plan in case Lord Edobar wants to ban us from the portal. Obviously the two lords are the most important on that list, but talk to everyone you can. There is a lot we don’t know about the political situation here. You might want to talk to the purple coats first, some of those scientists are sociologists and can save you days of work.”

  “I can totally do that. I’ll be your ambassador, everyone will love you before they even meet you,” Vanessa said. She tapped her chin. “What about gifts? Are you ok with me giving out gifts to smooth my way?”

  “You mean bribes? Sure, give out whatever you want. Allen’s got a company credit card, borrow it from him and get whatever you want. Spices are worth a lot over there, but also entertainment and precision made instruments like watches. Don’t bother with alcohol, Earth booze is too weak for anyone over there to enjoy.”

  “Time to go shopping!” Vanessa said and threw up her hands.

  “Go on without me, I’ve got repairs to make and new mechs to build for the new hires,” Luke said.

  “Who said you were invited?” Vanessa said with an arched eyebrow.

  Luke laughed and said, “Come by the warehouse when you are done and we’ll go out to dinner. It’s been too long since we went on a date.”

  “You got it,” Vanessa said and gave him a kiss.

  Luke sighed in contentment and turned to the materials he had prepared for the mech suits. It was time to finally have as many mechs as employees. Just as he got into the grove of things, Allen came out from the office.

  “We have a problem,” Allen said and held up his laptop.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure Vanessa will keep her purchases reasonable.” Luke said without looking up.

  “What? No. She’s more responsible than you are. We have an actual problem, not something that can be solved with spending limits.”

  Luke heard the seriousness in his voice and put down his mana torch.

  Today’s chapter title comes from Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)