Chapter 378 Catching Up On World Events
Those that were carried away by Daruun now stood inside of a massive open courtyard. The Behemoth Crane carefully laid on the ground and nestled her head within her feathers while the others started conversing.
"Daruun, was that necessary?" Jack asked.
Smiling, Daruun replied, "I told you that if you arrived on time then I would help you, didn't I?"
"This is what you meant by help?!"
"Jack, calm down. Thanks to that show, do you think you'll have any trouble getting elected to the council?" reasoned Daruun. "Just keep a calm mind because step three of your five-step plan is still underway."
Calmer, Jack eyed Daruun. "Then what else remains with step three?"
"Negotiations," Eedaj cut into the conversation. "You'll have to be present, Jack, but I can handle the negotiations should you wish."
"I'd like you there and you're welcome to speak freely, but I'd still like to lead them," Jack replied, then looked back to Daruun. "But I've already spoken with Lyrun and made arrangements with him. Are you saying that's going to fall through?"
"Thanks to us announcing that Eedaj will relocate to Trodar, he'll be forced to renegotiate his side of the terms," stated Daruun. "But what we'll be after isn't really their technology or their magic items, Jack. Those can be created by the greis elves with some practice and the aid of Eedaj."
"Then what are we after?" asked Jack.
Daruun chuckled, "Sterfen, would you like to answer him, or should I?"
"I can answer that." Joining the conversation, Sterfen eyed Jack with a proud smile. "What we're after is friendship."
Curious and confused, Jack asked, "And why's that?"
Sterfen answered, "Because there will come a time that Korten will need more help then they will admit and they'll only come to you if you're on great terms. Also, we can't involve Lyrun in any of this. The relationship we're after must be genuine and created between our nations."
"But why can't we--"
"Because Lyrun is still a member of the Holy Gods," Eedaj cut Jack off. "He can't make certain moves personally, otherwise, he'll face the consequences of the other Holy Gods."
Jack sighed. "Then how am I supposed to do that?"
"In a few days, a messenger from Korten should be arriving," stated Daruun. "They'll try to arrange a meeting between the guild and your pal Gwendon. You must do everything to make sure you can control those negotiations while not dominating it in order to foster this needed relationship."
Taking that in, Jack remembered something else he wanted to ask about. "By the way, I heard something happened in Federal City with the association. What's that about?"
"Right, you've been traveling," Steren sighed. "A large scale fight broke out in the middle of Federal City. The syndicate finally made a move against the association. All the higher-ups were forced to fight and come out of hiding, shocking the world with the amount of secret forces that both organizations had. The champions also duked it out over the city center, destroying it in the process."
"Lorwynn and the other champion fought each other again?" Startled, Jack continued his questioning, "What happened? Who won? And what about the guilds? Also, what about Maura's family? Did--"
"Everything's fine, Jack," Daruun spoke and lifted his hand to demand Jack's attention. "Thanks to Argyle and Tralon hurrying to Federal City, they managed to finish the Fat Goose's teleportation circle just in time. They managed to escape, alongside with Maura's family, with no casualties. Thanks to the sword you returned to Argyle and your tradition of self-destructing circles, the Fat Goose was saved and no one managed to follow them here."
Reaching the end of the first loop de loop of that emotional rollercoaster, Jack heaved a sigh of relief.
"As for the other guilds, you'll be running into Hurmot before the elven messenger arrives," Daruun continued. "What I'm excited to see is how you'll handle Kaldor. Thanks to those councilmen you've captured, he's been waiting outside of the storehouse all this time and has no clue about what happened. In a few more days, he'll get impatient and start waiting in Gilga. That's when he'll learn about the incident and rush back to find his guild and auction house decimated and robbed of everything."
Jack showed a strange smile. "So, because he was greedy and tried to swindle me of the guild items from the vault, he ended up getting robbed instead? That's karma at its finest."
"True, but you'll still have to deal with him in some way," added Daruun. "He'll blame you for a lot of what happened and want you to recompense him. Also, it won't be hard for him to figure out that you were the mystery buyer thanks to your revealed identity."
"Right… I forgot about all of the people who are going to hound me for not telling them sooner," stated Jack.
Daruun shrugged. "Why worry about that? They can't logically blame you for keeping it a secret."
"Wait, you never told me the result of the fight!" Jack looked back to Daruun. "Are you avoiding the question?"
"I just thought you'd like to hear the result from your two newest recruits," chuckled Daruun. The God of Fate waved his had and opened the gate to the courtyard, letting two men enter and lock the gate behind them. "Jack, meet your two newest members."
"I… Lorwynn?! What are you doing here?!" Baffled and left with a jumbled mess in his mind, Jack questioned, "You joined my guild? What happened in Federal City?!"
'Jack, don't ignore your notifications.'
Hearing Daruun's statement in his mind, Jack set aside his confusion enough to notice the blaring red notification.
Turning to the man beside Lorwynn, Jack cautiously asked, "I know you're the other champion, so who are you?"
With a chuckle, the man bowed his head. "I'm Hadurt, the man that Skaryn chose as his champion and the man that Pestro turned into a power-hungry beast."
"Oh, so Pestro was your master… I'm sorry you had to look at his ugly mug for so many centuries," Jack laughed but kept a cautious eye on the chaotic champion.
"Both me and Lorwynn cut our ties to join the guild," added Hadurt, startling Jack further, "but only because you can offer us more than either of the other factions."
While Jack was confused, Sterfen commented, "So you two finally figured out your fate. And instead of facing it yourselves, you want my son to help you out?"
Lorwynn nodded. "Guilty as charged. Who would be better to challenge fate than the champion chosen by the God of Fate, right?"
"I can't say I disagree there," chuckled Sterfen. "That means you've abandoned your blessings and your masters. I'm sure Pestro doesn't know about this since I'm guessing Lorwynn incited it all. But does Lyrun know about this, that's what I want to know."
"No, my master doesn't know about this," replied Lorwynn. "I was unsure how much help my master could give me in his current situation. With that in mind, I felt it was best for him to not know about this, so please keep our secret."
"Can someone please explain what happened?!" shouted Jack.
"Right," Lorwynn sighed, taking a moment to think of the best explanation possible.
But during Lorwynn's pause, Hadurt shrugged and answered, "It's simple. We fought each other and Lorwynn almost killed us both while faking our deaths. The fighting stopped after that, according to rumors, but the city was half destroyed already and the strongest guilds and organizations were raided by the syndicate. That's when we joined the guild and met Daruun, who convinced us by saying you could make us gods, unlike our former benefactors."
"I…" Holding his tongue, Jack looked to Daruun in shock. "I can make them gods?"