Chapter 11: Negotiation

An air of uncomfortable silence enveloped the both of them the moment Silverfox's sentence ended.

Her sarcastic reply had rendered Venn completely speechless with his tongue tied as he had a realisation that his plan had gone awry, and that now the tables had turned on him.

Due to the fact that he rarely got into any fights in the past timeline, being the library rat that he once was, the game mechanism where one's name would be revealed to their opponents whenever they entered into combat had slipped past his mind completely.

He had calculated everything perfectly, but had overlooked this simple fact. 

Heck, he could even see Silverfox's name and status himself as well hovering above her head right now.

With his identity of the sage exposed, Silverfox's had gained the upper hand of this negotiation deal despite him having her life at his mercy. 

There was no use beating himself over that though, the end result would still be the same as his current situation was unavoidable. It was Silverfox that ambushed him while he was taking a break from hunting the mud wolves and it would just plain bad luck. 

The important thing now is to concentrate on how to deal with Silverfox well. He had to seriously rethink his approach with her again.

Negotiation is an action where both parties bargain for what they desire from the other party while simultaneously offering the least they could.

He initially thought that he could blackmail his way to a ticket inside a wild boss expedition group and leeched off innumerable experience points that the wild boss would give, but the situation had seemed to become haywire.

Venn's current situation was akin to having his trump card revealed, or putting it in other words - caught with his pants down while in the midst of a masturbation session. 

It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened to him.

Meanwhile, while Venn was still in deep thoughts, Silverfox, who was observing the dumbfounded Venn the entire time, smiled.

"Before you deny any further. I know that I'm correct." She said with a smug glee on her face. Compared to her teary expression just a moment ago, her face had brightened up tremendously and she appeared to be more at ease.

"I suggest you point your dagger elsewhere if you don't want me to spew my mouth away about your identity. And now that I think about it, it's quite peculiar that the famous sage of Rosewell is just a level 7 player."

"Tell me, how did you attain the title? Who do you work for? It's fine if you don't wish to divulge your secret. Perhaps we can collaborate on the queen quest if there's a possibility. I'm quite sincere about this. I promise I won't tell the others about your identity."

After she offered a chance at a possible cooperation, she placed her index finger on her small lips to indicate to Venn that she will keep quiet about his secret.

However, Venn was sceptical about it. 

There was no guarantee that what she said was the truth, and he had no way of discerning the reliability of her promise, especially when his secret can be used against him. 

Also, the sudden change in behaviour was too suspicious.

From her actions, he deduced that Silverfox must have achieved contact with her guild leader, and that she was instructing her via the in-game friend messages, a logical action to do in her circumstances.

"Alright, tell me more about the wild boss that your guild has info on. Where is its location and the progress you and your guild are making." Venn asked while squinting his eyes. "You have to show me your sincerity before I can trust you."

The malicious glare that Venn was emitting made Silverfox's uneasy. Killing other players and monsters in the game was her strong point, not interacting with the others.

She had rarely spoken to anyone other than the young mistress for almost all her life.

Despite that, she tried to calm herself and reassured herself that carrying out the young mistress's orders was of the utmost importance.

Thus, facing head on with Venn's cold stare, she acted as natural as she could, repeating the instructions given to her in the message log.

"The guild is still searching the inner parts of Maple Leaf woods for the whereabouts of the King Wolf. The chain quest that was given to one of our guild members by a NPC beggar in Storm Kingdom led us to this place. The quest had revealed that the wild boss is most likely hiding in an underground cavern located somewhere here, along with the inheritances of the Grand Mage, Adeonis. We still need more time to successfully search for its location, though."

"If you are interested, you can join our group. Of course, I expect you to let us in on your queen quest as well. It's only fair." 

Silverfox flashed a confident smile at Venn after finishing her piece, she was certain that Venn would accept the offer that she had made.

He had to. Especially when his looks had been recorded in the in-game video.

Though Ivy League only accepts female players, absorbing Venn as part of the guild as an exception for the sake of the legendary celestial quest is still a worthwhile deal. Of course, whether the young mistress abandoned him afterwards doesn't concern her.

***

After decimating the hordes of hobgoblins charging at her expedition party with multiple bolts of purple lightning with her [Elemental] skill, Blue Lotus took off her helmet with both hands and slumped down against the dungeon wall, taking a much needed break.

Panting heavily, her resolve to conquer the dungeon hardened.

The group that consisted of 30 elites of the guild had been fighting non-stop in the dungeon floors for 3 entire in-game days now, clearing 8 out of 10 dungeon floors that made up the Void Worm's nest.

A little bit more, and they could reach the wild boss's heir.