Chapter 1031: Brokering a deal with Agar

Chapter 1031: Chapter 1031: Brokering a deal with Agar

"....."

"....."

"Agar are your forces worth anything in this fight?" After glaring at his father’s annoying smiling face Frost turned to question his younger brother perhaps he held some information that would give a more hopeful outlook.

"Against the Church of light with their magic, unique abilities and equipment...No not at all but against the regular chaff yes. My Dungeon is after all quite highly regarded in terms of danger." Unlike Frost and many of his other siblings Agar didn’t rely on passive income. His Dungeon was based around killing as many intruders as possible because he had the ability to turn them into new monsters without using DP, every enemy killed was a new monster gained.

This behaviour certainly had its downsides as with the increased deaths the Dungeon known infamously as the [Deathly Mausoleum] quickly rose to B grade status, slightly surpassing Frost’s [Niflheim] despite him commanding a larger and more expansive Dungeon.

"There’s more than just the Church of Light?" Great more opponents added to an already skewed battlefield.

"Of course, with the Church of Light taking an active role in my Dungeon’s downfall the local chaff have been remiss to let go of a final plunder while at the same time amped at the chance to leave a good impression on the fanatics." Agar spat in disgust. The Church of Light slowly made their way through his many rooms, cutting them off one by one while hundreds of adventurers and soldiers acted as their vanguard, clearing the way ahead.

"But as long as you can take down those from the Church of Light I can manage the rest." Agar while inherently kind -at least to his fellow siblings- was no weakling. According to the last family gathering he was 17th in terms of accrued DP thus making him an eminent leader amongst the hundred.

Seeing a strangely vicious glint in Agar’s soul fire eyes Frost turned back to their father. "You’re really not going to budge on the ten monsters?"

"No." A stern reply that brokered no argument, ten was the set number.

"Haaaaaa." Frost loosed a deep sigh, his heart was already on the verge of choosing to help Agar with his predicament, but his mind held him back, the odds just weren’t stacked in his favour plus he’d yet to hear of any form of reward or payment for services rendered. Only a fool would engage in such risky endeavours without the promise of riches.

"Agar if I choose to help and it’s a very big ’if’ what can you offer me in return?" Perhaps the promise of a hefty paycheck would swing his mind into aligning with a more emotional response.

Hearing Frost ask about a reward quickly brought a smile to Agar’s face; this meant his brother was actually thinking about his proposal.

"DP for starters, we can negotiate a flat rate to be given once my Dungeon’s been liberated but in addition to that I’ll hand over 20% of the proceeds gained from killing the chaff, and 50% from killing members of the Church of Light...I’ll also promise to sell items from my store at cost price until the next family gathering." Agar immediately laid out his proposal which according to Dark who helped him come up with it was pretty reasonable. Frost would gain a lot of benefits from killing a measly hundred or so people but of course the situation was more complicated than that and Frost was not one to be taken advantage of.

"A negotiated flat rate is good, as is the 20% from the chaff as they likely won’t be my focus but the 50% for those from the Church of Light is a bit harsh no? You and your monsters can’t even get close to them so I’d be doing all the work therefore shouldn’t I be getting all the proceeds." A fair assessment in his humble opinion.

"Urgh.... As true as that may be, I need to recoup some of the damage they’ve managed to inflict upon my Dungeon and its forces. And while you may be doing the majority of the work against them my own forces will be holding down the others, and in addition to that if you also include the fact that my Dungeon will be supplying you with enhanced stamina and regeneration capabilities it’ll be more of a combined effort." After a grunt and a mumble Agar quickly explained his reasoning for such a figure, stressing the 50% as he had no desire to offer much more when it came to the bastards from the Church of Light.

"Alright I’ll concede to you on that but what about the particulars, when you say proceeds do you mean everything from the DP gained from their deaths to the items and equipment they hold or just the former?"

"....Just the former." Agar genuinely looked forward to picking clean the corpses of his most hated enemies but now it seems he may be forced to share such trophies. His expression was of course anything but pleasant but Frost’s wasn’t much better.

"How stingy of you brother, perhaps I should leave you to sort out your own mess and instead broker a deal with Hadeok. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to offer more lucrative terms." Frost teased and vaguely threatened in such a convincing manner that cold sweat dripped down Agar’s brow and his innate greed was served a harsh slap.

"Fine, fine, proceeds will include everything on their person not just DP, but I want to lower that 50% to 30%, the value of the chaff can stay the same however." The items held by the Church of Light were likely going to be worth far more than the base DP they’d give out so Agar was really against letting them go.

"40% and I’ll drop the figure I have in mind for the flat rate by 10%." The number in his mind wasn’t too high, just enough to help finish the 18th floor, 50,000 or so, roughly what he’d get over the course of 3 days naturally so 45,000 after the drop.

"Take 20% off and we have a deal."

"Fine 20% so 40,000."

"What 40,000 are you serious!" Agar felt a pain in his chest and had the sudden urge to spit blood, 40,000DP could be taken so far in his hands yet Frost was demanding that in addition to his other very generous rewards.

"Deadly Agar, I’m risking my life here, jeopardising my own safety and the prosperity of my Dungeon so you’re damn right I want 40,000DP on top of everything else."

"It’s a good deal Agar, all things considered." Dark chimed in, hoping to persuade his younger son who’d gotten caught up in profits and losses when his life was literally on the line. To be honest Frost could have asked for a lot more and Agar would have been powerless to refuse, he had no choice after all.

"Father!.....haaaaa fine I agree to your thieving terms brother." Agar wrapped his head around to question his father but upon seeing his stern expression slumped his shoulders and sighed, accepting Frost’s generous offer in a disgruntled manner. At least now he had someone coming to help.

"Pleasure doing business with you little brother." Frost after getting exactly what he wanted nodded his head and revealed a shrewd smile.

His mind was now at peace, feeling as though this endeavour was now somewhat worthwhile despite the evident risks.

’I guess I’ll just have to give it my all and spare no expense.’ If he brought his full roster, Khuno, Findley and Yuna as well as Kiba then perhaps he could overcome the odds stacked so heavily against him.

While Frost ruminated between his promised gains and the risks involved, and Agar bemoaned the loss of profit while at the same time feeling a sense of peace from knowing that his powerful elder brother was coming to help him out, Dark silently gazed at the two of them, his heart slightly disturbed by thoughts of potentially losing two of his sons.

These thoughts continued to eat away at him, sparking a sudden burst of emotion that propelled him to disregard his previous statement at least to some degree.

"Frost, honestly what do you think of your chances?" He asked very seriously as a very mortal expression donned his face.

"....Honestly I don’t know, the odds are stacked against me but as you said people have overcome such odds before, perhaps I’m simply destined to be the next." By this point Frost’s aid was a foregone conclusion and thus he was no longer looking at the situation through such pessimistic eyes. If his father was suggesting his involvement despite the risks then he should believe in the faith he had in him and believe in himself.

"Why? You suddenly going to change your mind and increase the amount of monsters I can bring." Frost lightly teased never thinking for a second that his father would actually relent on his earlier words as he knew the consequences of breaking the accords.

Mortals may fight and slaughter, but the world would always shrug it off given time, centuries pass and those involved in said conflict would have faded into ash but Gods, their lives were eternal and their powers more than enough to rend the planet asunder. A war nay even a mere conflict between Gods could shake the very foundations of Nova, such was the extent of their power.

Dark was forbidden from playing favourites, from abusing his power to protect mortals even if said mortals were his kin thus any aid he could offer would be minimal at best and perhaps even come with an additional cost.

"Not exactly but in a way....yes."