Chapter 352: Ch 351: Friends and Enemies - Part 2

The tension in the room skyrocketed after that statement, and it became clear that neither side was willing to back down.

The government representatives began pushing their demands one after another, trying to remind Kael that the guild had been established under their authority and that he was expected to follow their rules.

Kael listened to every demand without interrupting them, but the smile on his face slowly disappeared.

"I understand your concerns, but I think you are forgetting something."

Kael placed his hands on the table and looked at every person sitting across from him.

"You need me far more than I need you. So don’t you think you should be a little more flexible when you deal with me?"

The words immediately silenced the room until one of the ministers frowned before leaning forward.

"That is an arrogant thing to say. When have we ever—"

"You want the guild to succeed because you cannot control the awakened population by yourselves. You want people capable of entering dungeons, defeating monsters, and collecting dungeon cores. You also want someone strong enough to deal with awakened people who refuse to cooperate. And right now, I am the person who can provide all of that. I say you need me plenty."

The ministers exchanged glances, but they were not willing to surrender so easily. They were worse than kids in this regard.

"Then you should understand why we cannot simply allow you to do whatever you want."

One of the ministers spoke up while looking Kael in the eyes.

Kael smiled again at him, but he was starting to get irritated by these double standards he was being subjected to.

"You can establish the laws. You can oversee the guild. You can even decide how much funding you want to provide. However, how we run the guild and what we do here is up to us."

The room became quiet once again after Kael made his position very clear.

He was willing to cooperate with the government, but he would not allow them to put a leash around his neck.

The representatives began arguing with him again, each person trying to force him into accepting their demands. Kael responded to every argument with another one, slowly turning their own concerns against them.

The government wanted control over the dungeon dispatches and core retrieval. They also wanted a monopoly on monster corpses and other materials that came out of the dungeons.

And while it was fine with Kael personally, he did not feel like it was fair to the people working for him. They needed some kind of reward as well.

Besides, relying on the government for timely action was just asking for trouble. He would much rather do it himself than allow them to interfere.

There was a fine line between freedom and control. And currently, neither side was willing to give the other everything they wanted.

At one point, one of the ministers slammed his hand against the table.

"You are forgetting who you are speaking to, boy!"

Kael’s eyes narrowed slightly, causing the minister to flinch in shock.

"And you are forgetting who you are speaking to."

The pressure in the room became almost suffocating.

Then—

BOOM!

The doors suddenly opened, and everyone turned toward the entrance. The argument immediately died.

Leon walked into the room first, followed by Iris. The two of them looked completely exhausted, their clothes covered in dirt and monster blood. But that was not what caught everyone’s attention.

It was the enormous corpse that Iris was dragging behind her.

The monster was easily several metres tall, with thick scales covering its body and enormous claws that had torn through dungeon monsters with ease.

Iris casually dropped the corpse onto the floor, causing the entire room to shake due to the massive weight of the corpse.

"What the hell is that?"

Someone whispered in shock and pointed to the body on the floor.

"A dungeon monster we found on the lower floors."

Leon answered calmly, and Iris wiped some blood from her cheek before looking around.

"It was annoying."

That single statement made several of the government representatives go pale. These two were talking about this monster as if this was an everyday task for them. But most people could not even touch a monster like this.

Kael looked at the corpse before looking back at the people sitting around the table.

"This is what the guild will be dealing with from now on. So unless you want to be responsible for people who can take care of these things, you better cooperate with us here."

He pointed toward the monster, and no one answered any further. The monster’s corpse was more convincing than any argument Kael could have made.

For the first time since the meeting had begun, the people sitting across from him understood that this was not some political discussion where they could simply threaten him into submission.

The politicians were people who had never put their lives on the line and had always given orders from the sidelines. They had no idea just how much danger was involved with this job until now.

Had it only been the strong people, Kael would have been a little more bendable and flexible. But his guild was going to take in both awakened and non-awakened people and reestablish order.

Moreover, he needed to open up more branches in other countries to keep them in check and to retrieve the cores as quickly as possible.

The contract got drafted quickly, and everyone signed it. It was a treaty to help in times of need, and once it was done, Kael headed back to the building that would be used as their headquarters.

It was a huge building that had once housed a lot of mana flowers Kael had grown. And as a result, it had transformed into a mana lair.

From here on, it would serve as the base of his operation, and Kael quickly wanted to get used to this new world.