Chapter 44: Negotiate

"Don't you stop me, elf!!" shouted Borin in anger as he gave the sword that was blocked by Tristan with even more strength. Alas, it did not budge even one bit.

Instead, Tristan pushed him back a few meters, before proceeding to stand in front of the group of orc younglings.

Layla, on the other hand, rushed towards the one who was hurt by the arrow, which was currently laying on the ground, grimacing in pain. The moment she reached the orc youngling. She immediately began to heal it.

Seeing all this happening right before him, Borin was annoyed, extremely so. The expression that the man had right now was one that Tristan had not seen yet, one that he did not expect would come from the previously easy-going man.

Trying to hold his anger, which was apparent from his gritting teeth, Borin said, "Sir elf, these High orcs.. they are the worst of them all. Please step aside and let me kill these abominations. I.. I will give all my share of the job reward to you. Agreed?"

Tristan put on a firm expression and said, "No! Not children... I will not let you kill these kids."

Upon hearing that, Borin exploded, "You are not being reasonable, sir elf! Those little monsters will not hesitate to kill you in your sleep when they have the chance to do so!"

Alas, the 'persuasion' did not seem to have any effect on Tristan at all. "Maybe they will… maybe they won't…"

For Tristan, who grew up in an orphanage where it was completely filled with kids, this was just something that he could not do or let anyone do it in front of his eyes. Hurting kids earned a red mark in his book.

Borin tried to persuade Tristan one more time, hoping that he would back down, "Sir elf.. I will fight you if I have to."

"Stop talking and start fighting."

When he heard Tristan's words, Borin hesitated. He looked to the others.

"What about you, Seth?! You don't like orcs, do you?"

Hearing the rhetorical question, Seth shot Borin a look, "No one who is sane would like orcs. But I don't like an unwinnable fight even more."

"Dammit Seth! What about you? Barry, captain of the guards. These orcs will endanger the citizens in the future, and you know this! Please help me convince this elf!"

Barry appeared to be thinking about the matter. "Yes, I agree with you, Mr Borin."

Hearing this, Borin smiled triumphantly, thinking that another person finally would help him. Unfortunately, Barry was not done yet.

"But my duty is to complete my mission, and my mission is protecting Sir Tristan here."

"Arrrrggghhhh!" Borin was extremely frustrated that he wanted to rip something apart. He turned towards his last hope and asked, "Piyo! What do you think?!"

"If you ask me this matter yesterday, I would say no.. to fight this elf it is. He's too strong, hence it's too risky. But it appears that he was hurt or something happened in the fight before as his battle power has dropped to 50. We can win against him."

"Alright!" replied Borin as he clapped his hand, seeming excited.

Before Borin could begin the fight, Piyo added, "Just make sure that the captain is not helping him. As for that girl, she's too tired to do anything"

Borin nodded his head, as a sign he understood.

"Seth! You don't need to fight him. If you can just make sure that guard is not bothering us, you can have the whole reward!"

"That actually sounds like a good deal!" said Seth full of enthusiasm as he pulled out his spear and took his stance facing toward Barry.

Seeing the two brothers were preparing to fight him, Tristan secretly became worried. For a moment, he regretted that he did not have enough Blood Essence. He should have extracted more of it while he could.

Tristan was not sure if he could win against these two with the condition he was currently in. Without his overwhelming advantage in battle power, he was sure that anything could happen in the battle.

Time to use his head.

Tristan proceeded to shout at Seth, who was watching Barry's actions closely, "Hey Seth! Are you planning to kill the Erantell guard captain? Really?"

Hearing that, Seth obviously denied the accusation, "No! Of course not! That would be stupid of me. I will be hunted by-"

Before Seth could finish his words, Tristan added, "That's right! What about adding an elf to the list? How much trouble will you get? You can start imagining!"

Realizing Tristan's intention, Borin swiftly intervened, "Don't listen to him, Seth!, we are not planning to kill anyone!"

"Too late Seth! you are in trouble if we died! And If we are alive, I will make sure the Mayor makes your future full of shit!"

Seeing the hesitant expression on Seth's face, Tristan delivered his final blow, " I just need you and Barry to hold down those two for two minutes. Then, I guarantee you will not be in trouble!... I will even give you Borin's share of the reward. How about that? I am sure you are a reasonable guy."

Upon hearing that, Seth decided to change his stance towards the two brothers."

"Seth, you!!"

Tristan smiled when he saw that.

"Now all of you can start fighting."

Barry quickly made the first move as he dashed towards the two brothers, followed by Seth behind him. Maintaining his smile, Tristan observed the four of them fight as he leisurely walked towards the biggest corpse in the area.

Tristan bet on himself that the Orc Champion would have much more Blood Essence compared to others.

[Blood Extraction]

Just like the previous sight, thin reddish mist started to come out of the orc's massive body before it floated towards Tristan, who absorbed it completely. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw the notification appearing in his mind.

[Received 200 Mid quality blood cells]

[100 Blood Essences extracted]

[Use 100 Blood Essences to regain your first stage strength?]

Finally, music to his ear.

"YES!"