*Just like its predecessor, very few truly know who created realmcoin. It took both worlds by storm as adventurers found an easier way to transact with each other in a trustless ecosystem whilst in The Realm. The rest was history as it was inevitably adapted into the Guild’s protocols, setting the coin in place as a secondary reserve currency. Just behind the United States Dollar.

  - I don’t like the fact that there’s that huge block of realmcoins that we don’t know who the owner is. @Avareel (Verified, R5)

  ? The money hasn’t moved since realmcoin originated. They’re probably dead. It’s fiiiiiine. At this point even if they dump it everyone will buy it back up. @Malipnos (Verified, R8)

  ? Yeah but doesn’t that make them like… one of the richest people across both worlds? @Avareel (Verified, R5)

  Ryan had half expected Milock to be hovering over him with a marker. Instead his body had been sat down at Seffara’s dining table. Sneaking a look through barely opened eyes, he saw a vaguely familiar figure sitting in front of him. The woman across from him was wearing a full business suit which indicated that she was definitely not Seffara. She spoke.

  “Given the circumstances, I believe this is a fair enough offer.”

  “A fair offer?” Seffara’s voice boomed. “This is going far above and beyond your reach. How much of a mess could I make if I went public?”

  Seffara was sitting next to him, yelling at the woman in front. He was still trying to remember who the hell was in front of him.

  Unfortunately, it seemed the person opposite him had found him out first.

  “I believe the adventurer can speak for himself, especially now that he’s back from The Realm.”

  Ryan stopped pretending to be a soulless body.

  The woman in front of him wore a sleek midnight blue suit with a jet black tie. She was an elf with green hair and glasses that wouldn’t look out of place as a receptionist in a corporate office. Ryan knew who this was. The suited woman stood up and leaned over Seffara’s stupidly large dining room table and offered a handshake.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you. My name is Ella Maizel, you may know me as the Tyrants’ Secretary.”

  Ryan also stood up and stared at the dragonslayer [Secretary] in the eyes. Her eyes were pools of black, they clasped hands as he gave her a firm handshake.

  “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Ryan Robinson, you may know me as Artigan.”

  They broke the handshake and sat down. He ignored the look of curiosity from Seffara and Barry.

  Unlike either of them the [Secretary] didn’t miss a beat.

  “Yes, indeed. I’d like to start with an apology on behalf of the Adventurers’ Guild and the Tyrants’ lack of care with your situation.”

  Ryan crossed his arms.

  “I don’t know what you mean. The Witch Tyrant has been quite accommodating with her actions.”

  “Unfortunately, I cannot speak on any individual Tyrant’s actions. However, I am here to provide you with some assurance and compensation for any actions from an unknown dragonslayer.”

  Of course a [Secretary] would be too good to slip up. He also understood the angle she was going for. Ryan tried to rally himself as he recognized he wasn’t dealing with a talkative adventurer or a Gamielle that was trying to sneak him hints.

  This was a [Secretary], a crazy class for a dragonslayer to have. One of the handful of non combat adventurers that had actually soloed the tenth Trial. Somehow.

  Ryan started with cooperation.

  “That’s quite alright. I am interested in both assurance and compensation that the Guild or the Tyrants are willing to give me for my cooperation.”

  The [Secretary] paused.

  “Apologies, your cooperation?”

  “That’s right, I’ve been cooperating this entire time with what I believed was a dragonslayer from the Adventurer’s Guild. I think that is owed some fair compensation.”

  “I would like to note that you have received an item of quite high value. Something that one could call priceless.”

  She didn’t even register his soulsword, she was talking about the mask. Easily dealt with.

  “An item that was necessary for me to do my work. That’s just providing basic equipment from an employer. I don’t think I’ve been compensated for the risk to life and limb at all.”

  Ella acquiesced. After all, what was money to the damn Tyrants’ Secretary?

  “Considering the number of high impact events that you have gone through… Five million seems like a fair compensation, for your time and future troubles.”

  Ryan tried not to breathe loudly at the five million dollar offer. He tried to remind himself that Seffara probably made that amount just walking around in The Realm.

  “I believe that’s a pittance to the Tyrant’s secretary. I think with everything I’ve suffered I deserve double that amount.”

  “Naturally.”

  The [Secretary] took out an unbranded phone as the elf began typing at blinding speeds.

  “Wait, what are you -”

  “The equivalent of ten million dollars in realmcoin has been wired to your adventurer’s wallet from an unmarked account. I believe that has been a fair compensation for all the suffering you have gone through due to our negligence.”

  Ryan’s eye twitched. Seffara palmed her face and Barry let out a snort. Ryan wanted to slam his face on the table. The [Secretary] had apparently wired ten million dollars to his Artigan account. The one where he had zero idea how to launder money out of.

  He cleared his throat.

  “I never accepted the compensation.”

  “You made an offer and I accepted.”

  For some reason the logic made sense. He could accept a loss here, there were ways to launder money out of public wallets Ryan just didn’t know them yet. Ten million was still ten million, no matter how petty Ella was acting. This wasn’t just a dragonslayer he was dealing with after all.

  She was giving and taking after all.

  Something tugged at the back of his mind. [Lesser Dangersense]?

  The [Secretary] continued before he could think.

  “I also have a contract that you may want to look over. It is quite basic and is similar to what Seffara herself signed along with the United States government. This is partly for your protection and assurance against any dragonslayers operating outside of Guild protocols.”

  Ryan snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Seffara. She nodded at him.

  “It’s a skill based contract. Make sure to read over it carefully.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “You’ve signed it?”

  Ryan had heard of contract skills before but hadn’t heard Seffara ever signing one. Not something this big. Seffara elaborated.

  “Not the same contract. And I can’t talk about it or I’d break the confidentiality clause.”

  Seffara nodded at the [Secretary]. Ella gave a pleasant smile back.

  “Of course. My skill tells me if the contract has been broken. That is all, it cannot compel you to do anything against your will.”

  It was weirdly enough, a Rare skill, almost useless by itself. Unless, of course, you had the Tyrants to enforce the agreement.

  That made him sit up straight as he went through the contract. It was written in fairly plain English and was quite short. He’d be agreeing to keep quiet about anything that he had discussed with the ‘rogue’ dragonslayer, and in response he’d get compensation and support from the Adventurer’s Guild.

  Ryan blinked. Hadn’t he technically already broken the contract multiple times? He started reading the main part out loud.

  “The Tyrants have agreed as a consensus to find a way for Ryan Robinson to appear as a regular adventurer. In exchange I, Ryan Robinson agree to keep any and all information that is beyond the scope of public knowledge secret from others. Information may be shared with parties that have also signed a confidentiality agreement with the [Secretary].”

  Ryan wondered where Valee would fit into this. Would the contract instantly get triggered or would it be grandfathered in? No, that wasn’t important, that problem could be fixed by another contract.

  What was important was that this gave him everything he wanted.

  Everything he had ever wanted was here.

  A chance to be a regular goddamn adventurer going on regular adventures with a team. It was almost enough to make him crumble.

  “What the fuck would be the point of everything I’ve done?”

  It felt cheap, like a quick and easy solution given by a sudden third party. He felt a sudden repulsion, this was wrong.

  “The Witch Tyrant would never let this happen.”

  Ella was kind, she even looked sympathetic.

  “The Tyrants aren’t ever in agreement with what should happen for the future of The Realm. Especially not when the Manager decides to meddle. We have, however, caught this early enough that it isn’t irreversible.”

  Ryan laughed, then he felt a wrongness for laughing at the [Secretary]. Wrong? He’d never felt wrong for laughing at someone offering him a dragonshit deal before. Ryan felt the hairs on his neck rise as he took in her smile and outfit.

  It looked like the Manager’s. Maybe it would have worked on those that saw the entity as some glorious guiding god. For him?

  Something was off.

  The [Secretary] seemed to note his shift in demeanor, she changed tact.

  “This is frankly the best offer you’re going to get. A few of the other Tyrants have expressed interest in taking you under their wing. I’m sure you’ve heard of some of the great dragonslayers that have risen under their tutelage.”

  She was baiting him with something else, trying to change his focus and pushing a lure. She was good, it might have worked. If the Manager hadn’t fucked him royally like this before.

  “The wording.”

  “Apologies?”

  “None of this contract talks about the Witch Tyrant at all.”

  “Well-”

  “No.” Ryan pushed against the wrongness for his rudeness. “This contract won’t stop the Witch Tyrant from continuing to meddle with my life. She doesn’t give a shit about keeping things a secret. All this does is promise me jack shit while forcing me to keep my mouth shut.”

  The more coarse his vocabulary got the more difficult it got to talk, was this aura? Did aura work like this?

  “Hah! I told you he’s not that dumb! You owe me drinks!”

  Pinkie the dragonslayer appeared right next to the seat the [Secretary] was sitting in. She was wearing a skimpy suit with a loose pink tie. The pink haired dragonslayer laughed and poked Ella in the cheek.

  The [Secretary] pursed her lips and glared at her companion.

  “Please scout around the compound for any unfriendlies in the area.”

  “Aw, don’t do that. Your artifact is already good enough.”

  “Go. Scout.”

  “Fine! Fine!”

  Pinkie threw up her hands as she disappeared again. Despite the sudden interruption Ryan had most of his focus still locked in on the [Secretary]. This was a trap. Even the interruption by Pinkie could have been part of the plan to throw him off. From the very start she’d been keeping him off balance. He saw that now.

  The [Secretary] turned around to him, her expression still the same.

  “Yes, even the Tyrants cannot force each other to do anything. Even if six of them disagree with one, ultimately they are, well, Tyrants.”

  “So you offered a dragons- crappy deal.”

  Ella was doing the same thing as the Manager had once done to him, keeping him off balance with reveal after reveal. He narrowed his eyes. He didn’t care that she would notice, she was a dragonslayer, her senses were better than Valee’s with [Enhanced Senses].

  She could probably read him like a book.

  A [Secretary] was just a more sycophantic manager, wasn’t it? Probably worse than dealing with [Mages], her class was all mental.

  “However,” the [Secretary] continued, “agreeing to this will give you more protection than you have now, no matter what, it shows you were truly unwilling to be involved in schemes beyond your own. Finally, we do have methods to register Ryan Robinson as a real adventurer, even lessen the impact of your Epic. The offer is genuine or my contract skill wouldn’t work.”

  She’d researched him, fair enough, that was the minimum he’d expected. Ryan crossed his arms.

  “Give me a better offer.”

  Ella adjusted her glasses, something that she didn’t need at her realm.

  “Shall we look at it from another angle? You are only agreeing to keep highly dangerous secrets that, even if shared, nobody will believe. And in response you are being given support with a great chance to work with a friendly Tyrant. You can become a regular adventurer.”

  The bit about the ‘chance to work with a friendly Tyrant’ wasn’t in the contract. She squeezed that in there like the others would swoop in and teach him.

  Ella Maizel seemed to understand that he was stonewalling her. She changed tact once again.

  “I can help assist you with the ambush and manhunt that’s being planned against you right now. That’s why you fled Sector Two is it not?”

  She had tried the carrot, now was the time for the stick. Ryan pushed hard against the feeling of wrongness and laughed.

  “I can deal with that.”

  The [Secretary] shifted, as if she heard something incorrectly.

  “Sorry?”

  “I don’t need help for an ambush by other thirders. The problems I have are big monsters that I can’t just stab.”

  “I don’t think you quite understand the forces arrayed against you. There are over thirty realm three adventurers at each exit portal. Quite a few of the higher Realms are doing the rounds in the non-leveled zones in Sector Three. They’ve used you as a unifying target for all the Guild’s woes. You won’t find another easy opportunity to enter the next Trial ever again.”

  Ryan whistled.

  “Well, that’s a little more than expected. I really stepped on a few toes huh?”

  “The unprecedented quantity of grouped thirders are there because of preparation against the Realm expansion.”

  “The Tyrants didn’t just tell people it was a false alarm?”

  Ryan felt the eyes of all three people in the room focus on him in confusion. The [Secretary] just adjusted her glasses.

  “Ah, of course you don’t know. Mezhar’s team was the one that attempted to handle the highest Trial.”

  Ryan blinked as he let the words sink in, it took a moment to let all those implications settle. The most important of them?

  “Mezhar’s team failed?”

  Mezhar was supposed to be as powerful as a Tyrant himself. Just from that alone, his team should have been tied for the second most powerful adventurer group in The Realm. The fact that they failed…

  “Indeed, the world has now found out that the highest Trial is significantly harder than your average Trial. Both worlds are realizing that they need the Tyrants should they want to continue with the Trials. This agreement will help you get your foot in the door with the others.”

  And they were back to the contract. He had pieced everything together now. Ella Maizel was apparently representing the largest faction of Tyrants, and somehow that allowed her to try to overrule the Witch Tyrant. She also knew that the Witch Tyrant had told him something but didn’t know exactly what it was.

  Beyond that?

  There was an angle he was missing here. Had she really just come here to force him to sign a silly document of silence? What exactly was her angle?

  Before he knew that, he wasn’t signing.

  “I think we’re done here.”

  “Please sit. There’s a lot that has happened you must catch up on. Once you understand the situation -”

  Ryan gave her the most hostile smile he’d ever given someone. He bared his teeth and grinned harder at her look of surprise.

  “I said we’re fucking done.”

  The push at his mind was less subtle now. It was telling him that there was more to gain with being civil over being a brute.

  A brute? When the fuck had he ever thought of the word brute before?

  Ryan threw his aura at her. It reeked of blood, it poured out like the tide of bodies that had crashed over in the third Trial. It smelled like enchanted steel as it pierced the General’s armor.

  He had just come back from a war and she wanted him to be civil?

  The bloodstained [Aure of Self-Momentum] surged out to drown out the [Guise of Civility].

  Ryan grabbed Seffara’s dining table and flipped it at the Tyrants’ Secretary.

  Just for good measure.

  https://discord.gg/eZcFqyNu4e before the chapter drops tomorrow! Leave a review to go into the draw. Doesn't matter what you star you review. As long as the review is legit everyone goes in the draw.