Shades of the New World

Chapter 24: The Contract

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Solraheeth," Evin replied quickly.

'Ah, it's that Feline that Aran employed. Who knew that it was Rith's brother. No wonder she didn't think twice when calling him,' Evin figured.

"You too, little child" Abvelgail replied, and continued: "I have told you to call me Abe, is that so much to ask for? No matter, why have you called me? I thought your pendant had fallen to the hands of a stranger, since you never took the initiative to call me before," Abe stated.

"So rude, I simply found most matters possible to be solved with my capacity. But today, I found a matter that I cannot solve myself. Hence, I called you," Rith replied calmly.

"And?" Abvelgail urged.

"It is like this"

Rith then explained my offer to Abvelgail in detail. He did not show any reaction when Rith was describing the two methods to boost investment returns. Though he did frown a bit when Rith mentioned the World Contract that required Evin's safety. After Rith finished describing the whole matter, he thought for a bit then stated:

"State the terms of the contract, child. A World Contract is not something so simple. I may refuse your offer depending on the terms"

Evin's eyes sparkled. They were willing to consider his offer. He calmed himself down and went to explain the details of the contract:

"It's very simple.

First, you must agree to not hurt me in any way.

Second, if the Elmes Group decides to implement my offer, they must offer me ten percent of all revenue they receive in the territory of the Western Kingdom from it yearly. The contract will be deemed breached if your group secretly implements my offer in any way or form mentioned in the information I provided. This includes the previous point. If your kind finds the matter implausible to implement, I will join your Group and never betray it. Hmm, but I would find it hard to focus on other things, so perhaps you can give me a set number of tasks every year and I would be free to do whatever I wish after I have finished them. I am willing to discuss the details of a World Contract regarding this with you.

Third, I wish to receive tutelage from your kind, regarding the usage of the World of Space.

And finally, you must never disclose the information I will tell you after the contract was made.

Of course, you may suggest a change to these conditions"

The first point was essential. Evin was still anxious that the Felines might suddenly abduct him and force him to reveal everything he knew back at their base. But some actions inherently had risks attached to them, and there was nothing Evin could do to eliminate it.

The second point was the whole reason why he was having this conversation in the first place. He knew that one percent was probably too low, but he didn't want to state a number that was too high, as he didn't wish to offend the Cosmics. He was painfully aware that he was a nobody currently. 

The third was added as a little bonus. He wasn't very hopeful about this condition. It would be great if it worked, but even if it didn't Evin did not lose anything. As for the favor, it was just another bait.

The final point was made as another layer of protection.

Evin patiently waited for Abvelgail's answer as he silently watched the light show that was happening on the Feline's body. The feline himself was making a pondering face, fully concentrated on the subject at hand. Rith, on the other hand, was lying on Evin's bed as if the whole matter did not concern her at all. Evin could tell that Rith was slowly accumulating the World's energy inside her, glowing brighter and brighter in Evin's eyes.

Finally, Abvelgail spoke:

"I have considered your offer. We naturally accept the first and last points. Us, Cosmics, we do not scam our customers. The third point, though, requires a certain procedure for it to be implemented. As you probably know, the Elmes Group sometimes offers their knowledge to humans, but only after we have found them trustworthy," Abvelgail explained.

"Do tell" Evin urged in response.

"Similar to your condition, we require you to never disclose the relevant information to other parties. Also, you must understand that even if we do teach you our methods, it does not guarantee that you will be able to channel the Worlds in the same way as we do"

"Of course"

Evin also considered the matter of talent and proficiency. But after thinking about it a little, he could only shrug and say that everyone can dream.

"We will also have to have one of our kin to accompany you and monitor you. The whole process might take a year or a decade. We cannot tell you the details of our monitoring or on what basis we will be judging you on. I can only advice you to not act like differently and live as you would normally live"

This was a pleasant surprise for Evin. He only expected that he would be rejected and that would be the end of it. Being monitored was a bit troubling, but Evin felt that he would not do anything that would warrant negative attention any time soon.

"And finally, for the second point It is quite a tricky condition. On one hand, if your offer is found to be useless, we can simply ignore it and no hair would fall off our bodies. And another set of hands would be quite useful as well. But if we agree to implement it in any way or form mentioned in your talk, we would have breached the Contract. And the amount you are requesting is quite high, even for our standards, so it must be reduced. You should understand this as well. Thinking about it a bit, I've created my two versions of the condition:

If our Elmes Group decides to implement your offer, we must offer a fixed amount of 100 gold yearly. The contract will be deemed breached if our group secretly decides to implement your offer in any way or form mentioned in your information. But, even if your offer is not implemented, we won't require you to work for our company. We will also accept your proposal of tutelage.

Or,

If our Elmes Group decides to implement your offer, we must offer you 0.1 percent of all revenue we receive from every bank branch in Alvox, every month. The contract will be deemed breached if our group secretly decides to implement your offer in any way or form mentioned in your information.

But, if your offer disappoints us, you will have to work as our company's slave. You will have a chance to rise up inside our ranks, but you must know how hard it would be for a single human to rise in a society of Felines. Please tell me your answer in an hour. You may ask Rith for details about the Elmes Group, or anything else you would like to know about" Abvelgail stated slyly.

Rith looked at her brother reprimandingly, as if telling him to not bully little children.

Evin, on the other hand, was very taken aback with the offer.

'What a fucker I offered him a gamble on his side, and he replied with an ultimatum that's basically an even bigger gamble for me'

'Fuck you! That's my move!' Evin cursed at Abvelgail in his head.

Calming down, he started analyzing the situation. He soon found some points he needed clarification on. Such as

'How much worth does a gold coin have in the first place?'

'How many people live in Tower Capital?'

'How many people live in the Western Kingdom?'

'How's life as a slave in the Elmes Group? I might not mind it if the food is good'

'Ugh, I don't wanna thiink. Piece of shit Abvelgail, just change the conditions. Why must you make me suffer through this ultimatum?'

The fact that Abvelgail offered him only ten percent of his initial offer, but for the entirety of Alvox was much better than Evin expected. Some modern international banks made a few hundred billion dollars in a single year, so the Cosmics bank should be making around that amount of money in the entire world of Alvox. So, if he took one percent that he initially proposed, he would be making hundreds of millions every year. So the other hand, Abvelgail's 0.1 percent seemed like not much, but it was still 10000 gold, which equated to ten million dollars a year. Not to mention the fact that he was getting the money doing jack-shit.

Even though Evin was a bit unhappy with the treatment, he could only grit his teeth and smile like he was content. 

'Welcome to the life of shareholders of huge companies, I guess'

After Evin procrastinated for a couple minutes, he started asking Rith some questions.