45 Back To The Mission

Stunned at this sudden request, Leo pondered over this for some time. If he were to move forward and team up with Maria, he would potentially be stirring up the whole village and he couldn't afford to do such a thing.

If those within Maria's village were declare him an enemy, he would not be able to stay within and it would negatively impact his mission. Not only that, but he did not have any type of backing, except his other squad members who were still technically arrested and unable to even leave the city.

Not only would his friends be unable to help him in such a situation, but it would give the whole alliance unnecessary worry. In a time like this where internal battles were now escalating quickly, who had the time to watch over an outsider like Leo?

After thinking of all these facts and weighing the good and bad, Leo decided that he would turn Maria down while he could still gain favor from her father later. Plus, he felt that if he did this, her father might give him some type of backing as well. Although it would not be very strong, at least Leo would have more allies at the end of the day!

"Maria, I will have to decline. My squad members are in strong factions back in the city, but I can't come to terms with potentially putting them in an unfavorable position."

"Oh? What if I sweetened the deal then?" hearing Leo's response, Maria was not upset in the slightest and it seemed as if she was already prepared with bonus offers to make Leo accept working with her. She was headstrong and learning from her father how to negotiate properly, Maria was a tough opponent if someone did not give her what she wanted.

"What do you mean by that? I already told you that I do not want to negatively impact my friends and their households. What can you possibly give me to take such a risk?" asked Leo, now extremely curious. He knew from her personality, that Maria would not give in so easily.

"What if I could guarantee that our village will side with whatever faction your friend's households are part of? This will give them even more control over yet another area, and when the time comes for the internal warfare, I am sure they could use all the help they could muster up." Maria now with a grin on her face suggested.

"What do you mean by that?" Leo asked Maria, completely disregarding her offer to side with their alliance. What mattered more in this moment to Leo was how someone in a village so far away knew more about the internal battles each faction of power within the city than him!

"Apparently, a city much further away and closer to our holy lands, was recently taken over by a group of rebels. We are extremely far away from that area and considered weak bumpkins. However, because we are so far away from the true powers, we are a target that those who want to rebel will choose first."

"If you considered it on more military type expansion level, you would realize that any rebel group can easily over take the city you and your friends are in. Plus, I doubt that they are being backed by a rebel group since you are taking on a mission like this alone instead of training hard." Maria explained as a wisp of worry was on her face.

"There are only a few very formidable rebel type groups that have extremely strong backing. They chose to side with other races to subdue us all. Who in their right mind would side with another race in order to destroy our own race? It does not matter how they personally feel towards those within the holy lands, to try to take out their own race is unheard of even with all of these monsters popping up everywhere!"

If Maria was willing to openly tell Leo how bad of a position that the city was in, what was the position like for her village? A city was a juggernaut compared to a small village such as her own. However, she was different than others, she wanted to take part in a big battle and slaughter. She was headstrong, but worried Leo to the point of him having goosebumps.

"Make the smart choice. If we can slay the Spider Queen together, we would be freeing up the manpower and strength of my village, and besides having backup from someone like me who can take care of myself, what could be better?" when Maria said this, she tried to become more flirtatious to get her point across.

"I can possibly slay her by myself. If that is all that it would take to gain your father and village's support, I can simply send some representatives over once I complete my mission here. So please Miss Maria, head back to your village and wait for news from our side." Seeing Maria's presence changing, Leo quickly stood up and started to leave the waterfall. He was not willing to become subdued by a beautiful maiden like Maria!

Seeing Leo heading out, Maria followed him and started to head into the opposite direction. Before leaving, Maria shouted towards Leo as a final goodbye. "If you are able to slay the Spider Queen, I will ask my father to offer me to you in marriage!"

Hearing this, Leo decided to quicken his pace as he headed back towards the spider cave. It took every ounce of mental strength in his body to turn down a woman like Maria. She was stunning and no one back in the city could compare to her in his eyes. However, her personality and love for battle shook his feelings away.