Chapter 224: I can offer you a princedom

The number of threats I passed through the bodyguard appeared to do a good job. However, before I could even get bored of waiting, the same man that rushed to report my words to Jeff returned with a conflicted look on his face. 

"Mister Jeff invites you for a talk," the mercenary said while averting his eyes. 

"Great, lead the way then," I instructed, not paying any mind to the state of the man's soul. Whether he received scolding, praise, or was just trying to confuse me with his actions, it didn't matter. 

Because Jeff had no way of knowing what I was going to propose to him.

Soon, not only me and the mercenary I tasked with guiding me to Jeff, but the entire group that was sent to get me arrived before the doors. 

One of the mercenaries knocked on the doors. 

"Come in," Jeff's voice sounded, proving that he wasn't anywhere else but in his office. 

A proof of how honest he was with me when we suddenly stood on the opposite sides of the barricade.

"Don't mind if I do," ignoring the mercenaries, I pushed the doors open and waltzed inside, "after all, this entire place belongs to me, so why should I wait at someone's doors?" I asked, ignoring Jeff's slightly annoyed face and sitting in one of the guest chairs. 

"Guys?" Jeff said while sending a meaningful look at his mercenaries. "I don't think bishop will try any funny business. You can wait outside," he informed. If his soul was full of annoyance when I waltzed inside, then he was now seeping with fury at just how incompetent his people were. 

"Yes, sir!" Standing at attention, the mercenaries shouted before leaving the room and closing the doors behind them.

"What a show of incompetence," I threw my observation in the air before putting a broad smile on my lips. "Are those people the ones you want to use to hold power over this place?" I asked with irony seeping through my voice.

"The hell do you want?" Jeff asked, clearly unwilling to play along with my bullshit. "Don't tell me, you came here to joke at the level of... some of my retainers," he stated, putting my intentions into a doubt. 

"Don't worry about it. I'm not someone as petty," I replied, pushing back against Jeff's accusation. 

"Why did you came here, then?" Jeff asked while squinting his eyes. "Are you going to beg for mercy now that I lost my patience with you?" he added, trying to hide a threat in his words. 

"Oh, who do you take me for?" I smiled in response, genuinely amused by how he was wriggling. 

Jeff's situation was not one to be jealous of. While I could see his reasons for making such a drastic move, it didn't mean it was an intelligent decision. If I were to put myself in his shoes, the act of going against me likely appeared as something inevitable, something that Jeff couldn't wait any longer to do. 

After all, with my recent acts at the Town Hall - something that was ancient history for me but recent news for Jeff - it was only a matter of time before my authoritarian influence would sideline him completely. 

"If you are not here to negotiate, then why should I waste my time on you?" Jeff asked, clearly infuriated by my relaxed and laidback attitude. He even removed his hand from his desk, clearly reaching for something underneath it. 

"I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you," I gave my advice while crossing my legs to reinforce the image of total relaxation. "While what I came here with is beyond your ability to understand now, it doesn't mean it's a bad deal for you." I smiled before suddenly standing up and turning my back to the man. 

For a moment, there was nothing but silence between the two of us. I couldn't see the man, but my other senses were sharpened to the point where I could quickly tell that his hand froze. And it didn't take a genius to figure out that there was something he was reaching for.

A panic button? Or was it a gun, maybe? A Sander's stone? While I could track Jeff's movement with my hearing, I couldn't judge what he was reaching for with just hearing. 

"Tell me if anything that I will say now is wrong," I ordered before turning myself back towards Jeff again. "You crave power. Not an administrative one, but an absolute one," I said and immediately turned silent, allowing Jeff to protest. 

But he didn't.

"You believe to be smart enough to induce a rapid growth into any community you will be in charge of," I added another point, only to turn silent again. 

Yet, Jeff didn't protest. 

"And lastly, you can't bear having someone meddle in what you consider to be your affairs, am I right?" This time, rather than turning silent, I asked Jeff to directly confirm my guesses. 

"What, are you trying to find me a new position? I'm sorry, but that won't..." Jeff attempted to ridicule my attempts at calming down our private war, only for me to raise my hand and stop him in his tracks. 

"Can you answer my question first?" I asked politely with a gentle smile on my face. 

For a moment, Jeff simply stared at me with apparent enmity, unwilling to follow my order. But then, he came back to his senses, released a heavy sigh, and nodded his head. 

"You are right, but what about it? It's not like..."

"like I can find you a princedom of which you would become a prince, right?" I asked, trying to finish Jeff's words in advance. 

Once again, a moment of silence ensued. Jeff took this time to relax, sit back in his chair and take a sip of the drink he had saved on his table. "You are correct. Our expansion into this city already brought the patience of the higher powers to its limits. Even if you could carve out a place for me to have an absolute rule for, the government wouldn't allow for it to happen," he explained before shrugging his arms. 

"For now, they consider us just an annoying pest. That won't be the case if we keep irritating them, though," Jeff added, proving that his coup d'etat wasn't something he decided on the spot. For him to pay so much thought into the situation, his actions were something he most likely felt pressured to do. 

"Okay then, I understand everything that you said," I said, nodding my head to reinforce the image of accepting his words. "What if I were to tell you, though, that I CAN give you a whole princedom to rule?" I said with a smile before pulling out a map that Dearie gave to me before I left for the earth. 

"This is slightly problematic land as it's a part of the empire at war, but I believe you could become a prince, not in the act but also in the name there," I added.

I spread my arms wide. "When you said that there is no place on earth that you could rule, I couldn't agree with you more," I acknowledged Jeff's words, only to make my smile even wider. "The thing is, I didn't come here to offer you a princedom in the earth, but in a world that only two people in the entirety of our own world know about."