"What did you say?!" The sage suddenly raised his voice, even emitting a portion of his aura pressed against Robin, "You think I'll reward those who head my orders and helped me by killing them? Who do you think I am?!"
"Please calm down, Your Highness, please think about it, whoever gathered my personal information and exposed me to your intelligence network is most likely one of those knights who came to my house from the Bradley family.
Killing a knight or two from another family will not lessen your power and prestige by any means, even Duke Galan himself expressed that he wants to kill them but has no means to identify them... above all of that I'm telling you to do it secretly and not publicly, so your reputation will not be affected."
"... Why?" the sage asked when he noticed that Robin was serious
"Whoever betrayed once will betray twice, that person WILL leak this news about me to other families to make more money, and this I don't want right now...
I'm not ready for *global fame* yet, it's enough for me to deal with your highness and the Bradley family, so please make sure to shut the mouths of those who revealed my secret.
whoever they are, or how many they are... one, two... a hundred, kill them all!
Not only that.. Use your intelligence network to block any information about me from the rest of the families and the rest of the kingdoms, as I'm pretty sure they are all trying to find out my identity just like your highness did.
Please do not take it like I'm giving orders or something, This will be useful to you even more than it is useful to me! I would not be affected much if I had to deal with more business partners, at most, it will mess up my schedule or delay my personal plans a few years...
But if you want fruitful cooperation between us, then we have to make it simple and direct, you do not want me to be exposed and pressured from all sides, right?
I'm not telling you to block my secret forever, I know it is impossible to keep this promise, I just want you to just make it as hard as possible, every second that passes while I'm hidden is a second in our favor...so please extend that peaceful period as long as possible for us." Robin spoke with a smile.
Sage Albert remained silent for a few seconds, 'that boy wants me to dedicate the entire Royal Intelligence Network for his sake!'
But after a little thought, he found that what Robin is asking for would benefit him too, as what really benefited The Bradleys and The Burtons is that they used Robin without anyone else knowing, "Do you have other conditions?"
"Yes, I have, please excuse me and be patient with me.. my second condition is that the relationship with the royal family will be a business relationship and not a dependency one, I'm sure your highness has heard about my relations with the two families, I want that to be extended to the royal family too..."
Signs of anger appeared in the eyes of Sage Albert, "What next?"
"Ahem... I want permanent protection around me, I ask for a couple of high-leveled Saints or so, this will also benefit you! If one of the other kingdoms reaches my residence, they will surely try to assassinate me to stop me from helping my glorious Black Sun kingdom from becoming stronger!
But of course, I know that hiring such high-level figures is not easy, so this condition, in particular, will not be for free... For this very condition, I will give you special discounts compared to any other current or future business partner."
"What else?" asked the sage in a cold voice
Seeing Sage Albert behaving in this way, Robin hesitated a little before continuing, "I want an official certificate that the Burton family has become a Marquess family now, and... and I want a written promise from you that the royal family will not interfere in any internal wars in which the Burton family will be part in for the next fifty years. "
The sage couldn't maintain his cool any longer and shouted, "WHAT DID YOU SAY? You ask permission to wreak havoc in the kingdom without supervision? you think you are too big for us to question now?!"
Actually, if someone else had requested this request, the sage would have agreed directly without many thoughts... as what can one family do with such a written promise? Not even a Duke's family would benefit anything from it!
But the Burton family, who has Robin in their ranks, is another case.
to have such permission for fifty years means...
Robin hastily replied, "Your Highness, during the last thousand years or so, I have been the one who has added to the kingdom the largest piece of land, raising the Black Sun kingdom's flags over a half-duchy of the enemies! Isn't that right?
My contribution to the kingdom whether you consider lands or reputation, goes beyond many of the so-called *duke families*!
apart from our business cooperation, don't you think my request is only normal based on the contributions of the Burton family? What's the problem if you ever try to take some land around the Burton family? This will not harm the royal family in any way, as this will remain your kingdom and your lands in the end...
I honestly didn't anticipate your reaction, internal wars almost never stop, I just wanted to clear things so we don't have to have such a discussion later, why do you mind thin?"
The sage couldn't control his temper any longer and shouted forcefully, "Stop this nonsense! A written promise like that added to the Burton family's infinite amount of talismans, you can control half the kingdom in the next fifty years, you think I'm a fool for declaring the appearance of a second royal family within the Black Sun?!"
"... I think you have a good point, then how about this? The written promise will be limited to those who provoke me personally or the Burton family as a whole, I will give you evidence of these provocations if you need them, but if there is such provocation or enmity, then the royal family will absolutely not intervene
Please note that I have no intention of controlling the kingdom internally, Why do I need to make such plots for your lands?
As you yourself saw, Your Highness, I can double the size of the Black Sun Realm if I wanted to and if I have the time, who knows? Maybe... we'll become an empire one day."
Robin's last words sent a shiver through the whole body of the wise Albert and opened new horizons for him...
Right..why not? Dolivar wanted to expand based on the illusion that they were strong, but now the Black Sun has real, tangible strength.. what prevents them from following the same path?
The sage quickly returned to normal attitude and gave Robin a long meaningful look, "Why would he ask for such a promise in the first place? what do you intend to do with it?"
"There is someone who needs to be disciplined," Robin replied plainly
Seeing Robin refuse to talk more about the matter, Sage Albert also avoided the topic, "Do you have other conditions?"
"If I had more conditions, I would be insensitive. Haha, do I understand from your question that you agreed, Your Highness?"
The sage put one leg on top of the other and spoke confidently, "It depends on what you can provide for me in this... business."
Robin nodded, "That's fair enough...Then let me show you some of my toys."
Robin rose from his seat and put the box he had been carrying all along on the table in front of the sage and began to unpack its contents, first, he took out a crimson piece of beast hide at the size of a balm.
The Sage reached out his hand and received the piece of skin with a big smile, of course, he knew what this was, this little piece of skin was the pride of the Black Sun kingdom!
The Sage nodded and was just about to start negotiating, when Robin took out another piece of darker skin and spoke, "This is called the Darkness talisman, it can hide a person for five seconds, it was the main reason for winning the knights battle.. that is what I was told at least~."
Features of astonishment appeared on the face of the Sage, as he did not know the existence of this talisman!
He had heard about the events of the war, which were full of details about the talismans of fire only, it was the only tangible talisman that the scouts saw and reported, then he heard from his intelligence that the source of these talismans was Robin...
But that was all, he did not know anything else!