Noah looked at Sam with squinted eyes. She is one of the players who understood Sam well. He doesn't care too much about people that are not related to him. It is a waste of time to expect things like compassion, empathy and other useless emotions from him.
So, if he is offering a deal to her, then it would serve in his best interest. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't serve her best interest too, but the deal would definitely be in his favor.
But when he explained the deal, she was a bit confused.
"You want me to go after one of these two powers, this early in the competition and you will help me deal with them. I will get to keep the heirloom and any other treasures that could be found there and you will even give half of the business of the power I chose to deal with.
And even in the businesses, I won't have to do anything but I get fifty percent share in the profits. Is that right?" She asked as she looked at him even more carefully. She looked straight into his eyes trying to find any form of emotion that could deceive his act of dead pan face.
"Yes, that is the gist of it."
"Something is fishy." She said as she looked at the details of the family. Every deal Sam makes would be beneficial to him mostly. It might be a win-win for some people. But it is mostly going to be his advantage. But he is offering so many benefits her and she has to do the least of it.
She couldn't believe that she is that lucky. Lucky enough for this cold guy to offer such a warm deal. Then she thought even more and said.
"I don't believe that you would make a losing deal. You are bound to gain something else from this. Tell me what is it?"
"Why does it matter? I am giving you more than what you want. If you take the deal, you will get a slightly higher level heirloom than what you can acquire at the moment and you can exchange for more resources. You will reach a breakthrough quicker. No matter how I see it, you are gaining an advantage here.
I am the one on the losing end of the deal."
"That is why goddamn problem. You are never on a losing end of the deal. There is something else going on."
"Why are you so talkative all of a sudden? Just tell me if you want the deal or not."
"You are also talkative today. Why are you saying so much nonsense all of a sudden?"
Sam sighed. He also noticed that he became a bit talkative particularly since Watt's marriage. But that is because he is in a good mood.
"I am doing a favor for someone else. It is a monetary gain. It is for my organization. Now are you going to take the deal or not? If not, then I will go and find someone else. I bet Arkiv would be interested."
"No, I am taking the deal."
Noah didn't push it any further. At first she just wanted to know so that she could exploit some more benefits out of him. But now that he said it was a favor, there is not much she could ask for. And there is a good chance that he will indeed cancel the deal.
So, she quickly shook on it.
"Wrap things around here and come to the Crimson reed realm. There the Blood lightning family is kind of a big deal, but they have two more rivals. I will be within the vicinities of the Blood Lightning family. So, come and meet me there."
With that he finished the deal and went to meet Akhil.
This time things were much simpler.
The conversation was much simpler with this crazy brute. He accepted the terms easily without caring or reading too much into it.
"I am going to be done with this as fast as I can, then I will come there. But I won't come and find you directly. It is too troublesome. I will give you a signal that anyone cannot miss, so you can follow it and find me."
"Alright, whatever you say."
With that, Sam went back to get Five-Elemental King and Agar before leaving to the Crimson Reed realm.
The realm that has red soil all over. There is no particular elemental significance, except for the color and for some reason, three organizations that worship the lightning gods based themselves here.
One of them are a Yaksha organization which is also the one under called Crimson Lightning family. The second organization under Zeus, the Blood lightning family is a race of Demi-humans with a Crimson lightning Panther Bloodline and finally the third one which are under Lightning God Raijin. They are semi-elemental beings. They are created because of the Raijin's intercourse with a lesser human.
The three families have an equal occupation in the whole realm. The planets they control are also equal. In fact to maintain that equal control there is a joint ownership of a few planets.
They also have equal power. All three family heads being the Peak-stage Pre-transcendent stage cultivators of Astral Plane.
Even the family member count is almost same.
And they never get along. They have a lot of subordinate realm under their respective controls and they compete in everything. Business, strength, prodigies, subordinates, women. Harems. Particularly the family heads.
And in this competitive life they all agreed on one thing. Imprisoning the Saber Monarch. Because this guy managed to bed all three of their wives and their favorite consorts within their harems.
No matter which world it is, women can cause wars and destroy kingdoms just with their beauty alone and this guy is a sucker for the beauty.
And that led him to this situation.
As soon as Sam entered the Crimson Reed realm along with Agar and Five-Elemental King, they made their way to the Maze.
The Maze although technically a prison, is actually quite a good attraction. This attracted a lot of people which turned the surroundings into the business zone. The three family heads are so sure that they can keep the Saber Monarch inside forever that they occupied the surrounding areas.
There is a hill nearby from the top of which they can get a clear view of the whole Maze and Sam couldn't help but feel marveled as he looked at the massive structure.
All the maze walls are made of energy and they are a result of myriad of formation laid together. It covered a large area. It is almost like a small village.
And they can even see the large Saber rays coming out of different spots.
They stayed there for the night and Sam kept his watch on the Maze every moment and he even saw the maze changing and at this moment, a saber ray attacked the formation which caused a hole and stopped the maze walls from reappearing in their new positions.
In the middle of this large area there is a man who looked like a normal human being sat there. He has crimson red hair and he is indeed quite handsome. He is panting heavily as the formation put a lot of pressure on him to make sure that he doesn't move.
There is a saber in his arms and on the blade of the saber a scroll is resting. He swung the saber with a lot of struggle and the scroll came out of the crack that was almost healed.
The scroll landed on the dome on top and rolled to a side before falling off of the maze.
One of the shop keepers outside the maze took the scroll and passed it to the guards nearby.
The guards are extremely cautious with the scrolls and took it to a nearby empty area and slightly opened it before throwing it away with all their might and it turned out to be a proper decision.
The scroll fell in the middle of trees which were all cut down by the saber rays that came out of that scroll.
This guy is indeed cranky.
After that for the next few days, Sam strolled around the area with the other two.
They observed the surroundings to find vantage points suitable for scouting attacking and also how to defeat the formation.
If they destroy the formation without harming the Saber Monarch inside, they could get him out of it. But before thinking about it, they need to find a way to contact the guy inside.
Otherwise, all of their efforts would be for naught. At least Sam is not ready to believe that this guy would just offer all his services life long as soon as he heard that Sam saved him. Heck, he might not even believe it.
So, Sam's main agenda at the moment is to cut a deal before he did anything with the formation and once the deal is made and the Five elemental King acted as a witness, then he would do any kind of saving and anyway, it would take some time for Akhil and Noah to come here, so he can finish this as fast as he can.