Chapter 309 C309. Negotiations?

In the Lord's mansion, located at the central district of Paragon City.

—Situated in a small office next to his asigbed one. Tyler sat accross from the Dragonkin Levi, who currently had a troubled expression on her face.

In front of her was her two most loyal student who had let their emotions get the better of them and attempted to attack a being that was beyond their comprehension.

Lucky or perhaps unlucky for them, they had been stopped almost immediately, by the shadoe rogue that served as this Great Demon Lord's body guard.

Left with no other option if she wanted to keep her students alive after they had been lured to commit such a grievous crime agaist the ruler of this region. She had no choice but to dance according to the tune being played for her as she no longer held much hands to play agaist someone as powerful as he was.

"I understand. However, I hope you can be lenient in regards to their punishment. I will also be more willing to listen to a reasonable request if you grant me this favor."

At this point, it was already blatantly obvious to Levi that things so far had gone exactly as this demon had wanted it to. The thought of having someone predict and manipulate all her actions at his whims was completely terrifying.

Such a being should not exist and yet, here he was smiling at her. As she was unable to sense either his aura or presence, she found it difficult to sense his emotions and was unable to tell what his state of mind was right now.

No matter how hard she thought there was no way she could picture herself getting out of this without having to break the promise she made to those six all those years ago.

'*sigh... well whatever. I'm technically retired now ain't I.'

It didn't take long for her to get over those troublesome thoughts as she decided not to think too deeply into it. She may have made a promise to the other six original primordials that none of them would interfere with each other nor divulge any of their secrets.

However, they had not entered a contract or used a pact so it was still fine as long as she wasn't the one personally acting against them and was no longer even part of them.

"Very well."

With a casual smile, Tyler snapped his fingers and the pair of predatory beastmen disappeared completely from the room along with Zelda.

Their sudden disappearance had caused Levi to frown a bit but that was all. She had simply reacted instinctively but knew Tyler would not go back on his words so it was best she did not react so as not to fall into any more of his traps.

"There's no need to fret. I had simply sent them into an isolated room in the basement of this mansion as their punishments. Getting the guards involved may prolong things so let's get straight to the point."

Hearing his casual explanation that almost completely disregarded the existence of her students. Levi did not react to his words and simply answered with a steady tone.

"Understood. However, while I promised to heat you favor for showing mercy to my students. I'm afraid that even with that promise, o cannot reveal much of the secrets of the seven primordials to you without getting the soul of Mammon or a soul from another demigod of his level or higher."

"Please do not worry about that. As I said, I no longer possess the soul of Mammon but, correct me if I'm wrong. The only reason you need Mammon's soul is to recover yours and nothing more right?"

Tyler casual waved an arm to dismiss Levi's concern as he proceeded to ask a question instead of providing her the answer she wanted.

Hearing that, Levi could vaguely understand what he was trying to confirm so she decided to provide an honest answer.

"If you're asking if I desire to steal his skills and abilities in order to strengthen myself to regain my lost title, then no. Besides, I do not have the ability to gain skills from absorbing a soul. I just require the lifeforce energy in the soul to recover mine."

Indicating that he understood her explanation with a gentle nod, Tyler decided to reveal his offer to Levi as he spoke in a confident tone.

"Very well. Then there is no problem. While I do not have the soul. I do possess a way for you to recover your missing life force."

"That's possible?"

A look of confusion was plastered all over Levi's face. After all, she had spent centuries looking for a way to heal her soul to no avail. The only method she had learnt about was by taking in the souls of an individual that rivaled hers.

Yet, this man just uttered something that completely rendered all her hardworking useless yet again without even batting an eyelid. She was beginning to think this was a joke and it wasn't funny.

However, Tyler didn't seem interested in her skepticism at all as he disregarded her concern and continued.

"Naturally, such a simple task is mere child's play. Still, the question remains, are you satisfied with this instead of the soul of a demigod?"

Hearing Tyler ask that question with a look of absolute confidence that left no room for doubt, Levi fell silent yet again as she thought deep and hard about his offer. Gaining the soul of a demigod was something special as there was a lot one could do with it.

However, she truly didn't need it for anything other than her health. Of course, she had thought about using part of it to strengthen herself against Levian for when he eventually found her.

So, the question lies, what the hell should she do. In front of a man who had conquered the rich Darknar region and owns his own freaking city, the pennies she had spent so many years saving had suddenly become worthless and the only thing she had to trade with was the information in her head.

Naturally, as a high-ranking Behemoth, her mind was well protected against mind-manipulation and even the remains of her souls could not be forced into revealing any information even to the terrifying gazes of devils.

"Fine then. I'll accept your offer on one condition."

With a renewed and determined smile, Levi raised her head to stare straight at Tyler's domineering gaze without backing down. Her tail slowly moved from side to side in anticipation of the negotiations that was to come.

However—

"Oh... a condition eh... Interesting. Very well, I accept."

"Huh?"

In an instant, this man had completely dumbfounded her as her head subconsciously tilted to the side in utter shock and confusion. Despite all her calculations, this response was not what she had expected.

"What do you mean you accept? You haven't even heard my condition yet."

"Hmm. There's no need for that. I'm already aware of what you require."

"..."

Levi was at a total loss for words as she just stared at Tyler dumbly.

"is something wrong?"

Seeing his guest suddenly grow quiet, Tyler naturally got worried as he decided to check up on jer

"Wait wait wait wait. Can you by any chance manage to read my mind?"

"Uh? I haven't attempted yet but it seems like you're well-defended against mind invasion as well. You're quite skilled even in such a state."

"Huh? So how can you—"

"If you're still referring to how I can possibly know what condition you would decide on then it's pretty easy. Just some simple deductions. Giving as you're being hunted by Levian and how you've already lost to him before and he had gotten stronger since then."

Noticing that Levi couldn't just let this go, Tyler decided to provide a summarized breakdown on what had led him to that conclusion as he spoke to Levi, snapping her off her daze.

"Even recovering your peak strength will not be enough to save you. However, you mentioned you were quite comfortable in this city than you have been in centuries so it means you feel a sense of security being here giving as Levian would be a fool to attack me without proper preparation so it was easy to deduce that you wanted to be allowed refuge inside my city in exchange for breaking something like an oath to the other original primordials."

Hearing Tyler's calm explanation that had fully explained the reasoning behind her choosing a condition for him had completely stunned Levi. Of course, with the way he explained her situation, it would seem as though it was only common sense but that's not something a normal person would consider in such details after only hearing it once.

Of course, this was all based on Uriel's predictions but there was no reason for Tyler to tell her that.

"So was I mistaken?"

"Uh, no, not at all."

As she heard Tyler ask for confirmation, Levi chuckled inwardly to herself as she gently shook her head.

"That's good. I find your ability to sense and manipulate emotions to be something that would be quite valuable. We can discuss offering you a job at a later date but for now, let's get back on topic."

"Very well. As you know I was only a behemoth for about a century before losing to Levian and spending the next 300 years in his prison and being used as a lab rat. Why I did manage to escape after enduring through 300 years of his failed attempts at absorbing what remains of my soul, I managed to recover a little and escape. And as I've told your subordinates, I was then taken in by a few freemen settlements over the years, two of which were destroyed by Levian so I'm not exactly versed on the current state of all the Primordials."

Levi suddenly stopped taking as she remained silent for a while seemingly in deep thoughts about something before deciding to speak again.

"I'm also not sure if what I'm about to tell you had changed over the years. I also don't know much about Levian himself apart from the abilities he had used when chasing me down. Of course, every single one of them had been mine, to begin with."

"Do not worry about that. I only require a starting point about these Primordials I know almost nothing about. It matters not if the information is outdated, there is bound to be a constant amongst them."

"I see... you really are a strange one."

"Really? How so?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was thinking out loud. Never mind that let's just get back on topic, fufufu..."

Tyler couldn't tell if Levi was serious or not, but he didn't let himself get dragged in by her strangeness as he simply shrugged off the slight irritation he had felt and moved on.

Following that, Levi finally told Tyler the information he was looking for including a detailed description of the layout of each and every Primordial behemoth's region. She also described the structures of their kingdoms as well as the power dynamics and society.

Their talk had gone on longer than expected but with that out of the way, it quickly came to an end and Tyler took down the barrier he had set up around the room.

Immediately, a knock came from the door to this office and by his command, Erin entered the room after being summoned by him via telepathy a while earlier.

As the doors swung open, the graceful figure of a God-Tier beauty that even stunned Levi walked elegantly into the room as the atmosphere seems to surrender to her divine presence.

The High Hydriad in the corner— who had simply lowered her head when Tyler had walked in early— had immediately dropped to one knee the moment Erin took a step into the room and in Levi's current weakened state, even she could not stop herself from lowering her head in the presence of an actual goddess.

Arriving before Tyler with a beautiful smile on her face as she tried her best not to get nervous. Erin lowered her head and bowed to Tyler, awaiting his instructions.

"Raise your head."

Adhering to his request, Erin raised her head and turned her gaze to meet the stranger in the same room as her master with a questioning gaze that caused Levi to freeze up.

"This is Leviathan, the former Primordial Behemoth of Envy. She is currently in a weakened state as her soul has been damaged and her lifeforce is almost at an end. Do you think you can help her to fully recover?"

"Easily."