The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

”What two requests?” the Earl asked in confusion.

”I won’t specify them now,” Ravian said.

Ravian didn’t know what conditions the System would set for ascending to the Eighth Rank, and Earl Patrick was an opportunity he couldn’t afford to overlook when it came to matters like these.

”So you want me to buy five percent for five thousand gold and, on top of that, grant you two requests whose nature I don’t know?” The Earl’s words pulled Ravian out of his thoughts.

”Yes.” Ravian nodded simply.

”I’ve lowered my share by roughly a sixth. I’m the one making more concessions than you.” Ravian moved his index finger from side to side in a gesture of denial.

The Earl looked at his finger.

”What is that?” the Earl asked, pointing at it.

”I’m negating what you said.”

”You look like an idiot.”

Ravian’s index finger stopped in midair, and his amusement drained away for a moment.

The Earl said:

”Twenty-five percent, three thousand gold, and one request.”

”Thirty percent.”

”Are you going to put it back to thirty every time an offer doesn’t please you?” the Earl finally shouted angrily.

Ravian remained calm in the face of his sudden outburst before continuing.

”Because the price of the five percent is clear. Either you pay it in full, or I keep my share,” Ravian explained.

The Earl leaned forward. The logic was sound, but...

”You’d rather keep the five percent than give up a single request you haven’t even specified?” the Earl asked.

”Yes.” Ravian nodded.

Their gazes met once more.

This time, neither of them raised his voice, but the pressure inside the room had grown heavier than any loud quarrel.

The Earl knew that five percent of a project that might extend to every city in the Empire would, in the long run, be worth many times five thousand gold. It wasn’t the gold that troubled him, but the two requests.

For he didn’t know whether Ravian would ask him to free a criminal, protect an enemy of the Palace, or use his influence in some matter that threatened everything he had built over the course of his life.

As for Ravian, he didn’t yet have any specific purpose for either request, but he knew that Earl Patrick might one day hold the key to a door that money alone couldn’t open.

”Noble houses don’t always fall because of their enemies, Rayan. Sometimes they fall because of a vague promise made by one of their ancestors in a closed room,” the Earl said in a low voice.

”Then it’s your good fortune that I’m asking you for those two promises, not your descendants,” Ravian reminded him.

The Earl’s smile froze for a moment.

’That boy... Is he deliberately getting on my nerves to throw me off?’ A dangerous thought crossed the Earl’s mind.

But he quickly shook his head.

’There’s no way he’d take it that far,’ the Earl thought.

Meanwhile, Ravian thought:

’There he goes, losing his temper.’

Ravian kept a smile from appearing on his face and maintained his serious, focused expression.

”I won’t ask for the impossible or for anything that would directly lead to the ruin of House Viola,” Ravian said, soothing the Earl’s fears.

”That isn’t enough,” the Earl said.

”On the contrary, it’s more than enough as far as I’m concerned, and I don’t think there’s anything else that would keep you from helping me with those two requests,” Ravian said, this time frowning at the Earl’s stinginess.

The Earl drew a slow breath, then looked at the paper in front of him.

”Twenty-five percent, five thousand gold, and two deferred requests,” the Earl agreed.

But Ravian tested his nerves once more.

”I won’t add anything to the price of the five percent. As for the terms governing the project’s execution, we haven’t finished with those,” Ravian said.

The Earl inhaled and exhaled slowly to keep himself from finishing Ravian off in a moment of anger, then picked up the pen.

”Accepted in principle. Let’s see whether the rest of your terms will make me back out,” the Earl said, bringing the previously prepared contract before Ravian.

He wrote a line, then laid out how things would proceed.

”I’ll provide the funding, bear the losses, and assume full responsibility before the Palace, while you’ll risk nothing but your time,” the Earl said.

Then he looked at Ravian, waiting to hear what he would offer in return.

Ravian looked at him for a moment, weighing the matter in his mind before speaking.

”I’ll hand over each phase as its execution begins, and I’ll gradually train the people you choose. Once the network becomes replicable, you’ll have paid its price, and I’ll have secured a position you can’t remove me from with a single decision,” Ravian said.

”And I’m supposed to trust that you won’t disappear for another eight days?” The Earl raised an eyebrow.

Ravian’s smile vanished.

”I didn’t choose what happened,” he said.

The Earl didn’t reply when he saw the sincerity in Ravian’s eyes.

The Earl took out a blank sheet of paper and set it on the desk before him.

”If you die or disappear before you’ve handed over enough to complete the phase we’ve begun, your profit payments will stop until you return or until whoever you appoint hands over the necessary materials,” the Earl said, passing the pen to Ravian.

Ravian looked at the pen in silence for several seconds. Just as the Earl was about to question him...

”I have no heir,” Ravian said in a tone carrying scarcely any discernible emotion.

The Earl looked at him for a moment longer than necessary and understood what he meant, but he offered no comfort; he knew Ravian hadn’t said this because he wanted anyone’s pity.

”Then appoint one,” the Earl said.

”Perhaps later,” Ravian said.

”And House Viola retains everything completed before your disappearance,” the Earl continued as he wrote.

”So long as you don’t use it to expand without accounting for my share,” Ravian said dryly.

”And if House Viola falls behind in providing the money, permits, or workers for long enough to stall the project, our monopoly on it lapses. I assume you were going to ask for that,” the Earl said with a slightly surprised nod.

”I was going to,” Ravian replied with boredom, resting a hand against his forehead and looking drowsy.

”How long?” the Earl asked.

”Forty-five days,” Ravian said in a tone that made it a decision rather than a suggestion.

”Accepted.” The Earl nodded in agreement.