Frey and Bron exchanged a quickly glance, understood each other’s intentions, and then turned back to Lucas and nodded, "We agree to your terms."
"You do?" Lucas gawked, not having expected it to be so easy to secure the services and cooperation of multiple Sixth Order Beasts.
Tilting her head slightly, Frey asked back, "Why wouldn’t we? You let us stay in your territory, and take us ho when you can, and in exchange we help you when you require out assistance. It’s a fair trade."
Is it? Lucas was sowhat dumbstruck.
All the negotiations he had engaged in over the past 40 days had required him to first make an offer, then hear the other side’s counter-offer, then a back and forth would ensure until they reached a compromise.
That was just how negotiations worked; or at least, that’s how Lucas thought negotiations worked.
Apparently, when it ca to dealing with Spirit Beasts, things were much simpler.
Make an offer, if they think its fair, they accept.
That’s it.
Still, Lucas didn’t feel comfortable just leaving things like this, so he hurriedly reminded the two Snow Spirit Foxes, "You do understand that it may be years, or even decades before I have the ability to send you back to your holand, right?"
"En, you explained that already," Bron snorted impatiently, "Why are you repeating yourself?"
"Uh... right..." Lucas scratched his head awkwardly, but persisted none-the-less, "You also understand that the help I ask of you may put you in danger, yes?"
"That’s only natural," Frey responded this ti, "We are not afraid of fighting."
"I... see..." Lucas nodded, a bit unsure what he was supposed to say now.
"Of course," Frey suddenly added, "If we are to fight for you, we expect to take our fair share of the spoils or be compensated properly for our efforts."
"Ah, yes, certainly!" Lucas confird enthusiastically. It felt odd being given so much assistance without having to offer anything tangible in return, so he was actually relieved to hear that Frey wanted to be paid properly for the work they put in.
"Well, don’t think about it too much, Lucas," Celestina chid in, seeing her First Disciple floundering slightly, "That’s just how things are with Spirit Beasts."
Pursing his lips, Lucas nodded in acknowledgent, "I understand, Master."
"Good, then it’s settled," Celestina turned to Frey and Bron, "You two, as well as your pack, will accompany to my territory where we will find appropriate accommodations for you until such ti that we can return you to your holand."
"During your stay, you will be allowed to hunt for yourselves in the areas I designate, and I will also provide so limited resources for you and your subordinates."
"And we will be able to earn more resources by completing tasks you bring to us?" Frey followed up.
"Precisely," Celestina nodded, her expression turning pensive for a mont before she comnted, "In fact, I have a certain task that requires your assistance already, if you are willing to take it on."
"Oh? What kind of task?" Frey asked curiously.
Thinking about it for a mont, Celestina soon waved her hand, "It’s not urgent, so let’s discuss this later."
"Very well," Frey nodded, not feeling too concerned.
Celestina and Lucas seed much easier to speak to and get along with than the arrogant, overbearing humans from Eternal Spring Valley she normally dealt with, so Frey was more than happy to go along with them for now.
"Yip yip yip!"
"Hm? You want one of us to play with you, Princess?" Frey responded to the sudden outburst from Yuki.
Plucking the naughty fox kit from his shoulder, Lucas gave her a scowl before apologizing, "Forgive her, Lady Frey, all Yuki ever wants to do is eat, sleep, and play. You don’t have to listen to her selfish request."
To his surprise, however, Frey seed to smile and shake her head, "It’s alright, young human. I rember when my own daughters were her age and behaved like this."
Pondering for a short ti, Frey proposed, "While it might not be appropriate for my husband or I to serve as playmates for Princess Yuki, there are so younger mbers of our pack who could fill that role."
Turning to his Master, Lucas silently asked for her opinion.
In response, Celestina thought about it before nodding, "There were so Third Order foxes among their pack, probably younglings who were brought out to gain experience. If they’re alright with it, I don’t see any problems."
"Oh," suddenly thinking of sothing, Celestina added, "One of the Mature Stage Snow Spirit Foxes will need to accompany them, though, so we can communicate effectively."
Lifting Yuki up in front of him, Lucas asked her, "What do you think? Is that alright?"
Yuki looked at her ’servant’ for a few seconds before yipping and nodded, apparently agreeing to the terms.
"Looks like we have a deal," Lucas grinned before bowing in thanks to Frey.
The big female fox returned the gesture, in her own beastly way, before addressing Celestina, "Then, where should we settle for now?"
"Ah, about that..." Celestina explained, "This city isn’t my ho territory, I’m only here temporarily to help defend it. We’ll be departing for my holand in a few days, but for now, I think it would be best if you remain around here."
"Here?" Frey began looking around, her face scrunching up slightly as she observed the human dwellings, hard dirt paths, and nurous sharp weapons that were arranged nearby.
This place hardly looked comfortable for beasts like them, so she truly felt reluctant to remain here for any length of ti.
Seemingly understanding this, Lucas suggested, "What if they remain in the nearby forest for now, and we just contact them when it’s ti for us to leave?"
"That should work," Celestina thought about it and agreed, making the proposal to Frey and Bron.
The two Snow Spirit Foxes were much more anable to this idea, so they imdiately agreed, turned around, and walked back towards the open gates, preparing to return to their pack mbers.
"Ah, before you go," Celestina called out, "Every day, at noon, if one of you could co to the gates to check in with us, that would be appreciated."
Frey turned her head and nodded before dashing off, her husband following close behind.
Once the foxes had left the city, Celestina signaled to the nearby guards to close the gates again.
"Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about the city being attacked from this direction for the next few days," Lucas mused.
"Indeed," Allina agreed, "It was smart of you to ask them to stay in the nearby forest. This way, they can act as a deterrent against other beasts."
"We should prepare so food for them as well," Celestina added, "They might be a bit naïve, but they’re not foolish, especially that Frey. She knows that her pack staying just outside the city is beneficial to us, so unless we want to leave a bad impression, we should compensate them appropriately."
"En, I was planning on doing just that," Lucas concurred, laughing lightly as he rubbed Yuki’s head, "I wonder if they like sweets like this little glutton."
Shrugging her shoulders, Celestina chuckled along, "I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow, won’t we?"
And with that, the greatest threat to appear in Iron Rock’s history was peacefully dealt with, with Lucas gaining so powerful, unexpected allies in the process.
The Spirit Initiates and other soldiers who were standing around nearby also understood that the excitent was over for the night and they began dispersing. So of them returned to duty, while others retired to their barracks to rest and unwind after this stressful encounter.
Although no harm had been done tonight, for Mortal Realm soldiers, facing down multiple Fifth and Sixth Order Beasts was a very nerve-wracking experience, one they were all thankful was over, at least for now.
As for Celestina and the others who had previously been attending a fancy banquet, none of them really felt like changing into formalwear again and returning to the hall; so, instead, Lucas proposed they head to the guest villa they had been staying at where he had ’reserved’ a few pieces of sponge cake for them all.
Needless to say, this idea was widely supported by the others, who swiftly hopped onto the nearby Tartans and took to the sky, heading back into the city.
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