The Devil’s Cage

Kieran had seen a lot of negotiation tactics.

The fight over the smallest trifles during deals in real life; natives trying to outwit each other in the dungeon world and players trying to plot against each other in the big city. All of them had negotiation tactics in play.

Amongst all of those, Kieran was most familiar with the one the imperial envoy, Raulee, was using: overwhelm opponents by showing his advantages, or more precisely, bluffing or frightening.

As long as one has a big title to overwhelm their opponent, everything would turn out smoothly after that but for that to really work, there was a single condition: the title had to be real or have backing, not pure lies!

Therefore, what Raulee claimed should be true, but how true?

It really depended on Kieran’s judgment.

So, Kieran presented a cold reaction and didn’t really care about what Raulee said.

He even tried to push Raulee with his words, in an attempt to find flaws in Raulee’s claims.

“Save me? Save the Burning Family? This isn’t our first meeting, right? The last time you saw me in Shatterstone Town, you were still in your dumb escort disguise and didn’t even state your true intentions. Now, you are telling me you are here to save me? Based on what I see, there is only one explanation, you need Burning Dawn yourself!”

Kieran stared at Raulee as he spoke and the latter smiled bitterly with a nod.

“That’s right, I need Burning Dawn but saving you and your family is also the truth.”

Raulee tried to speak in the most sincere manner possible.

“What happened in Dawn City? The imperial household of Saint Cyanda can’t even protect Dawn City now?” Kieran didn’t really buy what Raulee said.

Just like what he said before, Burning Dawn and the Saint Cyanda imperial household did not exactly get along well.

Even from a certain point of view, both sides could be considered each other enemies as well, it was just that none of them would drop all pretenses in their shallow relationship.

Under such a relationship, an imperial envoy from the Saint Cyanda imperial household claimed that he wanted to borrow Burning Dawn to save the Burning Family?

Not even an idiot will believe him.

Therefore, saving the Burning Family should be a facade and Raulee’s real intention was to save Saint Cyanda instead, while the former was just a step along the way.

“Mm. Something happened in Dawn City and we need to rely on outer forces to solve it and Burning Dawn is the only reinforcements we can think of.”

Raulee’s face looked bitter while being questioned by Kieran but he had to admit the facts.

“I see.” Kieran nodded before he took a hard turn on the topic.

“But… what does that have to do with me? What does the well-being of Saint Cyanda and the Burning Family have to do with me? I’ve used my family name to exchange for what I want, as far as my name is concerned, I am no longer the peasant eldest son of Burning Family. Now, I am just a commoner.”

Kieran laughed coldly as he spoke, as if everything didn’t matter to him.

If anyone was familiar with Kieran was around, they would realize Kieran was demanding a lot more from the bargain but as far as he was concerned, there was no one around Kieran who was familiar with his style.

All the others saw was how cruel Kieran was to his enemies and how cold he was to the people around him, even for the closest ones, he would just show an extra smile out of courtesy.

When all of those were surrounding the fact of how powerful Kieran was, it instantly formed an extremely alluring outlook.

In fact, it was exactly what Kieran needed.

A kind and enthusiastic person in an unfamiliar environment with strangers was always welcomed, including by those bad people.

When Kieran’s third working salary was cheated from by someone with a great smile, he had learned to maintain a certain level of coldness in him.

The same went for in the big city of the game and the dungeon worlds, at most he would add some extra actions to his character out of the necessity to play his role.

“Sir 2567! I am sorry that you left your family but you are still a citizen of Saint Cyanda and when the country’s well-being is at risk, you should stand bravely as her shield!”

Raulee said with a loud voice and a serious face.

“Yes, of course, we need to be Saint Cyanda’s shield, blocking the country from harm’s way. Then, why didn’t you ask Saint Cyanda the VI, why he ordered the transfer of the Grand Duke of Dawn and the Burning Marquis away from this base camp, causing them to die of depression in Dawn City?”

“Why didn’t you ask the VII, why he ordered the siege on Golden City with Burning Dawn soldiers? Each attempt of the siege was suicidal for them and the eventual wounds even killed off the soldiers that had been through many wars!”

“Why didn’t you ask the current king, his Majesty, why he would send some imperial generals to screw up Burning Dawn into this foul state!”

“DID YOU?”

Kieran voiced his questions loudly and was getting louder as he spoke. The last sentence even became a loud growl without holding back, it shook the roof and walls of the building.

The growl shook Raulee’s face, causing him to step back a few steps; the growl also shook Orderfell who was crawling on the ground with his shivering body.

It also shook Aisphany and caused her eyes to shine. It was the first time she heard someone question the king’s statement, the fresh new feeling made her stiffen her ears.

Kieran shifted his gaze between Raulee and Orderfell, his voice then returned to normal, saying, “Raulee, you are no different than Orderfell in my eyes, you know?”

“Both of you used your identities and positions to suck benefits out of others. Do you dare swear that the reason you took up the envoy’s position is just purely for Saint Cyanda’s sake and there wasn’t a bit of thought about getting rewards after you succeeded?”

No answer.

Raulee opened his mouth a few times but not a word came out because what Kieran said was the truth.

The reason why Raulee took the risk to venture around Supreme Road was mostly because after this crisis was over, he would be rewarded. He didn’t truly come here out of compassion and so-called justice.

Did Raulee consider bluffing Kieran?

He did but whenever he saw the gaze Kieran used to stare at him, the thoughts vanished.

Coldness filled Kieran’s gaze and if Raulee bluffed whatsoever, the coldness would materialize and decapitate him without a second thought.

Although it might be just a possible outcome, he dared not take the risk.

Raulee kept taking in deep breaths when he was stared at by the cold gaze.

It wasn’t just because the killer gaze pressured him immensely, he also wanted to adjust his thinking, trying to find more reasons to persuade Kieran.

However, after some deep thought, he didn’t find any effective way to do so, except for…

Raulee, however, didn’t want to resort to that particular matter because he knew if he were to use it against Kieran, the relationship between them would definitely fall below freezing point; he will not have the chance to redeem it anymore.

But…

After many thoughts, Raulee eventually clenched his teeth as he decided to take the final risk.

Raulee himself was actually an adventurous person, otherwise, he wouldn’t have left Dawn City which seemed to be at peace on the outside.

“So you don’t even care about your younger brother now? Sir Starbeck is still in Dawn City! Once Dawn City undergoes drastic changes, as Burning Dawn’s second son, Sir Starbeck will surely be caught in it. However, you don’t have to worry, my men are always around Sir Starbeck, protecting him from harm all the time, you…”

BANG!

Before Raulee even finished, Kieran’s boots landed on his face.

The imperial envoy’s teeth were all broken and he was sent flying outwards, crashing onto the fields outside.

“Gregori, interrogate him for me! I want to know everything that is in his brain!”

Kieran’s voice sounded from the command center when the imperial envoy landed on the field.

Pain and dizziness filled Raulee’s body, he couldn’t believe Kieran would strike him immediately.

He knew it would be dangerous but not to this extent.

“Starbeck is much important than we thought he was!”

Raulee’s heart had such a guess after he suffered the kick but right away, he couldn’t care about that anymore.

Gregori who got Kieran’s order was striding over to him with a vicious smile.