Negotiation

Old Jack returned to Moon Worship City with his men, and the first thing he did was to meet with Ryan and inform him about Karen’s situation.

“What did you say? That kid named Karen is a necromancer?”

Jack hadn’t even finished speaking when Ryan could no longer contain himself.

“One Arm, do you realize what you’re doing? You’re secretly cultivating a necromancer? You even intend to support him, letting him become master of the Goblin Forest? Have you considered what impact this will have on the kingdom if he grows stronger?”

Old Jack argued his case, “He’s a necromancer, yes, but first and foremost he’s human—a human with potential! Even if he grows strong in the future, he’ll still be a human. No matter how bad things get with Goblin Forest in his hands, it won’t be worse than when the goblins rule it!”

“Not worse than in the hands of the goblins? That’s not something anyone can guarantee. Who can say he won’t be devoured by his own undead? Haven’t there been enough undead catastrophes in history?”

Jack slapped the table. “So, you’re saying you’re against my plan?”

“Not only am I against it, but that necromancer named Karen must be eliminated. An uncontrollable force like that cannot be allowed at the southern gate of the kingdom!” Ryan declared, resolute.

Jack’s brow furrowed. “And what about the ghost? How do you plan to handle that?”

“I’ll manage the ghost myself. No matter what, I will not let a necromancer control Goblin Forest.”

Ryan’s words made Jack laugh in anger. “Manage it? How? By military force? Do you believe that if you attack Goblin Forest, that group of goblins allied with the Silver Hand will just sit by and watch? Are you prepared to go to war with the Silver Hand?”

Jack’s words struck Ryan at the heart, immediately deflating his momentum. Jack seized the opportunity. “Right now, the most important thing is not whether Karen controls Goblin Forest, but whether we deal with the ghost! The ghost has already moved into Goblin Forest, even settling directly in the goblin tribe. You understand what that means even better than I do. If we don’t get rid of the ghost soon, it’ll be hard to say who will be able to deal with whom in time.”

Ryan’s brow was tightly knit, his fists clenched.

It was clear Ryan was struggling internally. But no matter the struggle, there is always a conclusion. At last, Ryan unclenched his fists, seemingly conceding as he looked at Jack. “The ghost plus the power of Goblin Forest is formidable; you and I both know that. What about the power of that necromancer?”

“Fifty second-tier undead.”

“Fifty second-tier undead?” Ryan was stunned, then burst out laughing. “He thinks he can help us take down the ghost with that?”

“Of course, his current strength alone isn’t enough. But if his power increases several times and is combined with our forest guardians and your Moon Worship City? Besides, we don’t need him to be overly strong—just his involvement is enough.”

Ryan tapped the table lightly with his forefinger. “What does he want?”

“One million ‘Whispers of the Dead,’ and ten thousand second-tier or higher corpses. They don’t have to be human—beast corpses, orc corpses, any corpses will do.”

Jack relayed Karen’s demands without any reduction, but Ryan immediately shook his head.

“Impossible. Ten thousand second-tier corpses? Not a single one—we don’t keep corpses in storage. To provide that in a short time, we’d have to dig up graves. And to get a large number of second-tier corpses, we’d have to dig up soldiers’ graves.”

Ryan paused, his gaze fixed on Jack. “Can you stomach handing over the bodies of warriors who bled for the kingdom to a vile necromancer, letting him defile and transform them into filthy undead?”

Jack was clearly prepared for this, replying directly, “We don’t have to fulfill all his demands. ‘Whispers of the Dead’ can be gathered by mobilizing the poor—whatever we collect, we give him. As for corpses, doesn’t Moon Worship City’s prison have plenty of dead convicts? If fallen warriors are off-limits, surely criminals are acceptable. Also, over the years, I’ve hunted many magical beasts, some of which are inedible. Their bodies weren’t brought back; I’ll gather those and deliver them to him.”

Hearing this, Ryan glanced at Jack, his expression shifting unpredictably, but in the end, he nodded. “Alright, since you’ve made arrangements, you’ll take charge of this matter.”

Jack paused, then looked deeply at Ryan, responded with a single “Alright,” and turned to leave.

After Jack departed, Ryan’s face grew dark and gloomy.

…

While the confrontation between Jack and Ryan unfolded in Moon Worship City, Karen was hardly idle.

After successfully raising his territory to level three, he began to take action. Though he had already reached an agreement with Jack to cooperate, Karen had no intention of sitting back and waiting for results. Rather than passively awaiting the outcome, Karen preferred to act.

The ghost’s recent movements not only informed Karen that the ghost had moved into the goblin tribe, but also made it clear to him that there was definitely a traitor within Moon Worship City working for the ghost.

Though Karen hadn’t confirmed this with Pux, he was certain that the probability of a traitor in Moon Worship City was extremely high. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain how the ghost knew of his existence or why Moon Worship City’s recent operations failed.

If there was truly a traitor in Moon Worship City, Karen couldn’t guarantee his existence wouldn’t be exposed ahead of time. Thus, he couldn’t afford to wait for Jack’s response; after the territory upgrade, he immediately began to act.

He concentrated his forces and set about slaughtering the goblin tribe.

This served not only to boost his own strength as much as possible, but also as a way to seize the initiative.

Once he acted, his presence would quickly be exposed to the goblins—and that was exactly what he wanted.

With a traitor in Moon Worship City, he couldn’t hide anyway. By exposing himself, he would exert immense pressure on Moon Worship City.

As long as Moon Worship City still wished to use his power, or his existence, to deal with the ghost, they would do everything in their power to support Karen.