I made my way towards the northern side of the Ares Mountains.
Arthur and the others followed closely behind, watching for any surprise attacks.
I had assured them time and again that nothing of that sort would happen, but these guys just seemed to get more paranoid.
I can't really blame them.
If I didn't know Alfred from the game, I would have been equally hesitant to enter the base.
My mind would have preferred attacking them instead of going through some dialogue.
After all, at the end of the day, violence is the only thing that can tame your opponents.
The path was a little bumpy, having to jump here and there.
"Boss, but would that man agree to our terms… umm… your terms?"
Julien caught up to me and began walking by my side.
"He would, don't worry. Even his dad would!"
Not that I knew who it was.
Julien just nodded his head.
In the last three days, Julien had improved by quite a lot. Staying by my side had now made him more… normal.
It's just that he didn't act like a slum boy anymore.
Building confidence in him would still take some time, but I know one thing for sure…
Once my boy gets into the game, he would be an unstoppable force.
I wouldn't be able to look after D.X. while in the academy. It would be up to Julien to handle everything.
I knew it was so much of a sudden weight on his shoulders, but he would be fine.
Arthur would be by his side.
Sigh.
Arthur's presence is the only thing that always reassures me in my crazy plans.
This isn't Earth, where having a gun would save you. Here, power is needed—pure, hard power—if you want to survive and live on your own terms.
As for Alfred agreeing to my deal…
Though I had assured Julien of our success, honestly, I wasn't sure about how things would go!
Alfred wasn't the most sane person. And understanding people like him is a hassle.
All my calculations are based on the knowledge from the game, but…
Only a stupid person would trust something like that.
What I had played was just a game; this wasn't a game.
Here, the stakes were real and… lethal.
Till this moment, everything had been going according to what I had calculated based on my existing knowledge of this world, but that didn't mean things would go smoothly going forward.
Especially when dealing with a lunatic like Alfred Symer.
I couldn't mess things up during the deal; otherwise, Alfred would take it as a weakness.
And once the scale in his mind shifts towards retaliation…
Even with Arthur by my side, I don't think things would be good if something wrong does happen.
Right now, Alfred must have weighed fighting us as unfavourable and more resource-consuming than hearing what we had to say.
And any misplaced words by me could have an undesiring result for us.
The only way to tame Alfred was to show dominance in the talks. I had to make him feel that the power behind me was powerful enough to shrug off any petty tricks that he may try to pull off later.
Petty tricks in the sense of trying to kill us at the base if we do something to anger him.
Alfred was a man of his word, but anger can make any man lose his principles.
The risk was high…
But where there's a risk, there is a reward.
And what's the power behind me…
X.
The head of D.X., someone who is powerful enough to make a being like Arthur Dimitri work for him.
Technically, that omnipotent figure is me, but…
Alfred doesn't need to know that.
A wild, logical, and lunatic dog like him can only be tamed by his logic.
His logic would make him understand the benefits he would derive from our deal, while also fearing the consequences of any form of betrayal.
Yes, fear.
I had to instill the seeds of fear in a madman.
It would be tough, but it wasn't like I had to make him tremble in fear.
It's like knowing what will happen when you put your hand in a pot of boiling oil.
You haven't faced the results, but you still know them, and you subconsciously fear doing some stupid act that could very well make you suffer agonizing pain.
That's what I always call…
A deterrent.
We had reached the gates of the facility, or what had been told to us as the location of the entrance.
But all I could see was a big-ass mountain before me.
I mean, there had to be some secret entrance here, but it was hidden from view.
Sigh.
Couldn't those guys let the entrance be open already after informing us about it?
Did they want to show off their technological prowess?
No. 1!
That bastard must be behind this.
"Connect the channel and ask them to open the damn gates."
"Yes, sir!"
As the soldier pressed some buttons on the device, I waited in silence.
"Have you reached?"
No. 1 asked in a calm voice.
It irked me.
That bastard must be watching us through the cameras, and he had the audacity to ask us.
My displeasure could be seen as a slight frown appeared on my face.
That guy must have surely smirked seeing our reactions.
Was I angry?
No.
I wouldn't lower myself to get upset over such petty reasons.
But I had to maintain the appearance of being disappointed and angry.
It was necessary to make the people on the other side feel that they were still in some control of the situation.
I had to boost their confidence a little, to lower their guard.
If I came off as indifferent to their provocations, it would only make them more wary.
Humans truly are stupid.
"We indeed have arrived, so how about you open your damn doors before I—"
I put a hand on Julien's shoulder.
He sure had caught on with me. Can't believe the docile little Julien had finally grown some balls.
I knew it was an act, and I had to commend him for his skills…
It took me nearly a second to see through him.
Just kidding.
His acting was—
Trash!