338 Settling the deal

After leaving Jessie in the room offered to me by the Overlord, I used the chance where he went to the dining area to get his supper, to force the matters forward. With our conflict from just a few moments ago, I didn't want the things to escalate out of the hand only because of how I couldn't agree with the local ruler policies!

Just as I managed to calm my head off and recalculate the reality only to get back to my previous approach warranting the maximum rate of survival amongst the slaves from the Natal tribe, so did the Overlord.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for my previous outburst. Its a norm for us to let the warriors and hard-working citizens get their reward from the spoils of war, but I actually didn't realise that it could put you on the spot. Let's just forget the matter! Come, have a drink with me!"

Even if I couldn't agree with the logic behind it nor the 'hard-working' part, I didn't allow my emotions to reflect on my face but used Heila's located right on my lap to cover my face just in case I didn't manage to conceal my feelings to a satisfying degree.

But this girl…

After going back to the mansion, I intended to have both of the women stay in the room, where they could be said to be relatively safe, but she insisted on coming with me!

"If you leave both of the slaves you got so angry about before, the Overlord will suspect something is wrong!"

That was the line of her reasoning, that ended up with this lively chick suddenly nesting right on top of my lap while rubbing her side against my chest. At least, one of the servants got instructed by either the Overlord or Elea to bring us a spare set of clothes, allowing for a sturdy barrier to negate the effects that Heila's body would otherwise have on me.

"I would never decline an offer to drink!"

Since I was actually content with pretending that we were back to the clean state, I accepted the cup from the hands of the Butler that somehow appeared back in my near proximity as soon as the feud between me and the overlord was officially cleared out. 

At the sign of the local ruler, all of the present - with the obvious exceptions of Heila and all the servants in the area - raised their cups and swallowed the content in one go. Since I was kinda wary of the possibility of being poisoned, I didn't dare to just enjoy the content of the glass but purified it by forcing it to flow through a thick and dense filtred made of entropy.

Be it magical or herbal, no matter what poison could be potentially contained within the drink, there was no way it could survive the direct contact with the force capable of causing the cold death of the universe!

"Let's speak business then. Do you accept my previous offer? To reiterate it just for the sake of fairness, I'm willing to write down the manual that will allow you to create a shield just like the one I was capable of creating, while you will give the rights of the ownership of all the slaves from the Nakal tribe to me while guaranteeing the safe passage to the shore. Obviously, since I can only move so many people, I will take a batch of one hundred with me at first, and will just keep coming back for the rest whenever I have the time. Deal?"

While there were only fifty makeshift canoes, each of them could easily house two or even more people, but since I wasn't able to control the weather or eradicate the innate fear that all the tribes from this island had of the water, I could only go with the maximum safe number at once. 

"It all sounds nice and good, but we don't have any guarantee that the manual you would pass to us would actually allow us to learn your technique!"

This time, it was the first occasion for me to hear the voice of the Overlord's wife. Compared to her husband, she was way calmer and composed, striking right at the heart of the matter, with enough cold politeness to be taken as just yet another shrewd and cautious businesswoman rather than someone trying to cheat me out of my goods.

"Oh, that's actually an easily solvable problem! If you just bring me a paper and something to write, I can note down the first part of the technique, that will allow you to create the most basic shield. Obviously, while it could defend you from someone trying to splash water on you, any stronger attacks will easily shatter the barrier, hence securing my part of the deal. This manual will be practically useless unless I give you the second part, which value you will be able to quickly ascertain based on the foundation."

Explaining this solution while keeping Heila from snuggling deeper and deeper into my arms was quite uncomfortable, but I had to at least look as if I was struggling to maintain my straight face. 

With how to the point the Overlord's wife was, I could only expect that she wouldn't have any trouble with noticing this silent fight going on between me and the girl on my lap, allowing me to push them into a specific line of thought that would explain my earlier behaviour.

After all, they were all older than me, and they knew how powerful men's lust could be when used as a drive, especially in the hands of someone greater than most of his peers!

"Okay then, I think its a fair deal. Martha, bring us some parchment and heavy coal!"

With how abundant in writing materials the arena city was, I had no idea what sorts of writing utensils would those primitives use, and to no surprise, I was completely foreign to something like heavy coal! Back in the cultivation world with every other cultivator that broke through the mortal realm attempting to write his own manuals, the writing was a highly developed part of the culture, to the point of some people practising it as a form of art!

In just a few moments later, one of the servants that I catch a glimpse off a few times already, ran into the open area of the dining courtyard while holding a short stick with something as black as sharp on one of its ends while carrying a brown roll in her other hand.

Bonger, can you help me out a bit? 

It was only at the point when the maid started laying down the utensils at the table in front of me when I realised that I didn't actually prepare any weaker barrier technique that would be suited to the local people constitution!

While I could write several ideas that popped in my head when I first analyzed Overlord's constitution, I actually never tested them out nor spared any thought whether they wouldn't actually cause internal conflict within the bodies of the locals!

"I hate to break it out to you… But the girl on your lap clearly has hots for you!"

Wait, what?

Fuck me in the ear! 

Can you stop with your pranks? Do you think I'm blind or stupid?

"Okay, okay, just a little joke… As little as your own damned brain! What if I were to tell you that I have no means of helping you out? Shouldn't you prepare for the inevitable situations like this one a little bit earlier?"

Oh, stop flattering me! I would never expect you to admit that I actually have any brain!

But jokes and irony aside, can you help me or not?

With the writing stick already in my hand and slowly raising over the extended piece of parchment, I had only a moment to come up with something reasonable unless I was willing to either just jot down my ideas that I came up with earlier, or just stare at the paper as if my entire proposal was just a rouse. In both cases, breaking the fragile peace between me and the overlord and causing the explosion of conflict!

"It's your lucky day, Technique Crafting Tool costs only five hundred coins, but it automatically gets upgraded with the system. But if you think its pricey, you can also get the cheaper version, for only two hundred, ninety-nine points…"

This damned system… 

Why can't I have a normal system that just aims to make me the most powerful cultivator who owns the greatest harem and dances of the graves of the demons lords and heroes alike?

Ah, right. We already had this talk before!

Anyway, let's get this going. Give me the premium package.

"On it."

With exactly the same interface as the one I used while creating my own, rank one spells, appearing in front of my eyes, I could tell the flow of time slowing down and giving me more than enough time to come up with all the possible arrangments of the elements that would result with a creation of barrier and then choosing two, weakest ones.

In a flash, a string of letters appeared in my head, automatically forming itself into proper sentences which swiftly turned into a comprehensive guide to creating a pitifully weak shield, that even those poor fellows cultivating only their bodies would be capable of.

Possessing a complete understanding of the techniques from the getgo, I had no problems with stripping it out of the most important parts while leaving just barely enough to create an unstable foundation that could be later reformed into a proper shield, capable of withstanding… a single, casual punch of mine that wasn't reinforced by any of my abilities, techniques or even the cultivation!

After jotting everything necessary down, passing it to the Overlord and clarifying all of the doubts that he had about my writings, I was finally free to get back to my room.

The first thing that I noticed upon entry, was the fact that despite the bed being completely empty, Jessie actually curled herself into the corner and somehow managed to fall asleep in this as incredible as uncomfortable position!

But before I even managed to voice any protest of such beaten up woman giving up on the bed for no reason, I felt a pull on my side, before falling down on the bed myself.

"What the hell are you doing?"