The Martial Unity

Chapter 3383: Tentative Compromise

”Of course not, what would I—”

”That’s a lie.” Rui stopped her right in her tracks.

His pitch-black eyes bore deep into hers.

”Don’t try to pass blatant lies like that,” Rui remarked. ”I can discern them right away.”

With his mind sense, he could detect pure fabrication on the spot. It became more complicated when the person he was speaking to relied on half-truths and misrepresentations to lie rather than to lie directly, so the method wasn’t absolutely reliable by itself.

She heaved a sigh, raising her hands. ”You got me. I do have something to gain. My intel surveillance is limited to Grinolia Island. I can’t directly spy on other continents. The way I get information about other continents, including the information you want from me, is by spying on all the members they send to our continents. However, if we break our neutrality position as Empress Schlieffen wishes to do so, then we will inevitably lose alignment with pro-Panama civilizations like the dark elves. That will be bad for my business.”

”...Honesty is the best policy,” Rui remarked as he fell into thought. ”I think your motives are rather reasonable. I would be concerned if I were in your spot as well.”

”That doesn’t mean what I said earlier wasn’t true either,” she insisted. ”I do not wish to be dragged into a war. No one in this country wishes to be dragged into war. That is why she needs to die before she can commit to this insane idea and drag us all into her madness.”

Rui pondered the matter as he fell into thought.

The first thing that came to his mind was that he needed to verify her information. It would be foolish to simply trust what she had to say and then accept her mission based on that. Even if she didn’t explicitly lie, she could have easily woven partial truths together to create a narrative that simply wasn’t true. He was wary of intelligence brokers because they were really good at these sorts of things.

The silence in the air was deafening as the Whisperer simply gazed at him with an intent expression. The remnants of the hallucinogen she used to control all her animals hung in the air, leaving a rather sweet odor to tickle his nose, even if it was too weak to have any effect on him.

The dim lights of her office allowed the darkness in the atmosphere to fester as she simply waited for his response.

”What were you planning to do if not for me?” Rui raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged. ”Nothing. I can’t possibly undertake the mission by myself. And I don’t have the capital to acquire a warrior as powerful as you to do the mission. I may be the top information broker in the country, but there are hard limits to what I can make happen. The death of the Empress is beyond me, so I didn’t even consider it until you broke in here and said you were willing to trade your services for mine.”

”And what of the value of what you are offering?” Rui raised an eyebrow. ”The death of a monarch who is protected by powerful people is something great value. Just what is the information that you’re offering me? How much is it worth? Will it make a difference with the objective that I’m trying to achieve?”

”...it will undoubtedly help.” The Whisperer promised. ”Especially for you. Perhaps only for you.”

Rui frowned. ”Let’s hear it then.”

”How can I guarantee that you will complete the mission I have for you if I complete my end of the bargain ahead of time?” she raised an eyebrow. ”I don’t have any power over you. If you wanted, you could just leave after I told you, and I would have no way of stopping you.”

”I have no idea if the information you’re giving is worth what you’re asking,” Rui replied.

”Maybe not to me, it isn’t. But it surely is to you,” she replied, maintaining her ground. ”Whether Kiriket Continent is a friend or enemy to the Panama Continent is a matter of life and death, is it not? Something that can tip the balance in favor of a friend is worth the price of a mission for someone as powerful as you. I’m sure you can kill Empress Schlieffen quite easily if you managed to defeat Supreme Commander Anthea.”

”I can’t just run over and mount an assault upon the Empress.” Rui shook his head. ”I need to ensure that not only does nobody trace her death back to me, but also that nobody realizes that her death was not natural. Ideally, I’d rather have her die of a heart attack or something of the sort, but that’s much more complicated than simply overpowering her bodyguards and killing her, which I can do.”

”...Even then, as you yourself stated, the power dynamic between us is in your favor,” she pointed out. ”If I lie, you can use your Authority of Alpha to exert control over me and extract any information that you are due. If you lie, however, there’s nothing that I can possibly do. I believe that you desire Kiriket as an ally more than I desire the Empress dead, do you not?”

Rui simply stared at her with sharpened eyes before heaving a sigh.

”I will need to verify everything you said, but if what you’re saying is true, then...”

His tone grew more serious.

”Then I accept your commission. I would ask you to reconsider whether the information you have to offer is truly worth what you insist it is. If it turns out that the information you have is not worth all that much, then...”

His eyes grew perilous.

”There will be consequences.”

She broke into a cold sweat as every instinct of her beast side warned her of danger. ”I understand... I have no intention of deceiving someone as powerful and dangerous as you, Prince Rui Quarrier.”