Chương 170: Underworld Negotiations XI
'Everything is proceeding according to Jun-kun's scenario it seems . . .'
Once Serafall arrived at this conclusion, she instinctively became assured it was the truth and she was certainly not wrong.
'This is not good at all.' She thought before swiftly entering long distance communication with her her fellow Satans.
'I have some concerning news.' She immediately mentally communicate before explaining what she sussed out from her observations.
'Is that bad news? Does it not mean Haikami Jun was actually aiming to extor us rather than open conflict? That would be good news for us since we already made the decision to let him price gouge us.' Sirzechs communicated back.
'No. Jun-kun is definitely intent on starting something. Best case scenario is that he either does not think we can provide a tempting enough bribe or his wife is not planning on accepting it regardless of what it is.' Serafall responded.
'That is the best case?' Ajuka interjected since the the so called best case scenario did not sound good at all.
'Unfortunately yes. But what I believe, is that Jun-kun is sure that something grave enough to spark conflict will definitely occur even if minor offences are ignored by his representatives. In other words, he can take the bribe in good consciousness because there will be conflict either way.' Serafall explained her thoughts.
Remarkably, she was right on the money still, she was not immune to mistakes and having the conversation through a magical channel was definitely a big one . . .
"This Serafall Leviathan is quite a competent diplomat indeed. She has husband's intentions figured out completely." Morgan commented with praise while the audio from the secret conversation between the four Satans played for the other two to hear it as well.
Predictably, she had used her magecraft to listen in of the magical communication, a feat all to simple for an absolute prodigy like herself.
"Is that not bad?" Jeanne inquired with confusion. She was not worried as her two companions seemed perfectly fine but she wondered why that was.
"The crucial aspect of Jun's plan is that even if they know it, they have no choice other than to act according to it anyway since there are no better alternatives." Artoria explained.
"Can they not give up on bribing us since they know it's useless?" Jeanne asked.
"They cannot because that will give us free reign to do whatever we please. If we take a bribe, even confrontational actions will need to be more subdued since we cannot break our word." Morgan broke it down further.
"So they have to pay us anyway otherwise we will go much further than we need to and make the situation even worse." Jeanned figure it out, obtaining a nod of confirmation from Artoria as the three of them marvelled at Jun's tremendous insight on the whole situation and the way he took advantage of it.
And the follow up of the tapped communications revealed just how right their considerations were.
'Shall we pull back of the bribing attempt then?' Sirzechs suggested.
'No.' Akuka immediately replied.
'I agree.' Serafall also supported him.
'Why?' Falbius interjected for the first time in the current conversation.
'If we move forward with the bribe, we can still work out conditions, even if they are not particularly good ones, it is still better that giving them free reign." Ajuka said.
'Won't they do whatever they want anyway? They have already shown what they think of our authority and thanks to my unfortunate failure, their respect for us is also at an all time low.' Sirzechs questioned.
'They are not the kind of people to go back on their word, regardless of it being official or not so even a spoke agreement is enough to restrain them, even if it will only only be something relatively minor.' Serafall said in response, affirming that the planned bribe was still their best option.
'Though even this path of thinking was probably accounted for by Jun-kun as well . . .' She thought to herself.
'If we make it through this alright and don't turn into enemies, I have to visit Jun-kun. I would love to see what makes such a mysterious individual such as him tick." Serafall added in her mind before pointing her attention to the conversation once more.
However, there was really nothing else to be said and after a short contemplative silence, the four Satans decided to go ahead with their previous plan in spite of the fact that they were all but certainly playing right into Jun's hand.
Back on Morgan, Artoria and Jeanne's side, the former shut down the tap since they were likely to be visited soon.
With things proceeding all according to plan so far, only one thing was left and that was to maximize their profit from the bribe. In other words, Morgan had to feel out the Four Satans' bottom line.
She would let them make their offer first and then try to push it as far as she possibly could so long as she could do so without giving up the absolute condition that had to be put forward for the plan to work without a hitch, the permission for unrestricted reprisal in response to any attack.
However, despite how everything seemed to be under control, Morgan was still destined to be surprised at the negotiations.
As for the reason, it was no doubt the initial offer from the four Satans which was very much unexpected, so much so that she doubted her beloved husband had even considered such a possibility . . .
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