Luke listened carefully to what Cervantez had to say and after listening to his second explanation, Luke felt much better about the prospect of joining his guild.
While there were many parts that Cervantez hid, Luke could respect the lack of transparency and consider it to be a trade secret.
He did not mind blindly following a leader if that man was capable enough and Cervantez seemed to be a capable man given his credentials as DarkEmperor.
However, the offer also felt surprisingly too good to be true and after a lifetime of dealing with humans as a race, Luke understood that when something was too good to be true, it usually came with a pretty big catch.
"Leo? What do you think….. Should I join him or not?" Luke asked as he looked towards Leo who was sitting with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.
Based on his behaviour so far, it was clear that he did not like Cervantez much and that feeling seemed to be mutual.
Luke very much expected Leo to suggest against joining Cervantez, However, instead of suggesting that Luke refuse the offer, Leo surprisingly said that he should take it.
" I think you should join the pretty boy's guild.
Don't sign any employment contract, be free to leave the guild at any moment if you feel like you're being asked to perform unreasonable tasks or feel suffocated by its internal environment.
If everything works out, great, join him.
If everything goes to hell, take his MP and leave.
Either way, we walk away with a win" Leo said as both Cervantez and Luke felt impressed by his answer.
Leo had thought of a solution that minimised Luke's risk exposure in a way that both sides were happy with his proposal.
"You can join too if you want, but I'll only pay you half of what I'm paying SkyLion-" Cervantez said, as after taking into consideration the close bond that the brothers shared and the intelligence that Leo displayed just now, he offered a role to Leo in his new guild out of courtesy, however, Leo outright refused the offer.
" No thankyou, I'll be this family's hedge against you-
I'll be trying to gain MP outside your sphere of control so that Luke can quit comfortably if he ever wants to" Leo snapped back as Cervantez shrugged his shoulders and said "Fair".
In the first place, his offer for Leo was only out of courtesy and not something he was too intent upon anyways.
"Fine, I'll join your guild-, but we will have to work out the details regarding my exact pay and duties and like Leo said, I won't sign any employment contract" Luke said as Cervantez nodded his head and extended his hand.
*Clap*
Luke firmly shook Cervantez's hand accepting his offer as this was how the deal between them was finalised.
"We will draft an official offer letter in the coming weeks after the first evaluation is complete and I've set up the framework for the guild.
However, I'll be sending you a friend request in-game and will stay in touch with you in the meanwhile" Cervantez said as Luke nodded his head and escorted him towards the small room's exit.
"To a happy cooperation in the future" Cervantez said as he passed Luke a small bottle of champagne before leaving.
Luke stared at the small bottle of Champagne and how it was "Made in Champagne, France" and could not help but chuckle out loud.
Champagne was destroyed two decades ago by a huge earthquake and every last bottle of it still in circulation was worth at least a few million dollars back on Earth.
On this ship where the scarcity of this product was bound to be even more profound, Luke could not help but wonder just how much it would cost?
"Damn….. that's a filthy rich bastard" Leo said as he stared at the bottle of alcohol and then at the set of paints which he barely carried to this arc ship.
Just what sort of cargo limit did Cervantez have to be able to bring bottles of booze as his cargo to the arc ship? And just how generous was he to share it with Luke just after their first meeting?
"He's a kind man… that much I could see in his eyes" Luke said as he stored the glass bottle in their luggage box with extreme care as he decided to save the thing for some special occasion.
" Whatever….. let's head to work, it's time" Leo said as he brushed off Luke's praise for Cervantez and reminded him that they still had sewage work to do.
**********
( The arc ship, Sector E )
Once Luke and Leo exited their small apartment, they were shocked to see that thousands of sector E residents had gathered outside their room and were looking towards them with nasty gazes.
"Why did someone from Sector S visit you two? What sort of connection do you have with the bigshot?"
"Are you two gigolo? Is that ass on you expensive?"
"What did the bigshot want? Did you two find a way out of sector E?"
"ANSWER US DAMN IT! OR DO YOU WISH THAT WE BREAK YOUR BONES FOR IT"
The other common players started to cause a ruckus outside Luke and Leo's apartment as apparently Cervantez's entry into their apartment had not gone unnoticed.
While they never asked for him to come, or never wanted to be put in such a spot, now that a sector S individual had visited sector E, the wolves had started to smell the scent of blood and wanted to find out what just happened.
" Let's head back inside, not go to work today" Luke calmly told Leo who was sweating profusely looking at the large crowd gathered outside their room as slowly the two retreated back into their apartment.
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
They heard loud banging noises on their apartment door as through the thick metal door they could hear the crowd outside still shouting.
" We have seen your faces, boys…. You can stay holed up inside today, but what about tomorrow? You have to eat someday don't you?"
" Come on now…. I promise we just want to talk-"
" Hey gigolo, I'm horny, give me a piece of that ass"
Luke and Leo shuddered everytime they heard someone demanding their ass as they could not help but feel terrified by the outside environment.
Although Cervantez had come and left with the best intentions in mind, he had created a shit storm for Luke and Leo to clean up by not covering his presence.
" Yep, I don't like him…. He's an idiot" Leo murmured to himself as all the goodwill that Cervantez had created in his heart by sharing the bottle of champagne, disappeared instantly because of the mess he had left.
—--------
/// A/N - Hey guys, I have some good news.
Starting from February I've planned to expand the bonus chapter system from just power stones to also include Golden Tickets and super gift bonuses.
You can also donate to me directly via PayPal if you want to sponsor a chapter.
Although I won't be increasing the release rate to 2 chapters/ day until strongest vampire god ends in February, we will still get 10-12 chapters/ week on this novel ///