The Dungeon Lord's peace negotiation.

Luckily, the bloody scene that I imagined next didn't happen.

After the initial scream, the girl did her best to calm herself down. She looked around again and again and finally asked me a question.

"Did he faint on his own?"

!?

What? Why is she asking this??

Quite confused, I nodded.

"Yes."

"I see..."

At this moment, people were already knocking the door, asking if everything was alright.

"Hey Bia, you all right?"

"Bia, what was that scream for? You almost scared me to death!"

"Little Bia, any problem?"

The girl, Bia, goes to the door and opening it just a little answers with a red face.

"I-it was nothing... i-it was just a cockroach... yeah, a cockroach... it jumped on my leg...but brother already took care of it, so everything is fine."

"I see, that's a relief."

"Cochroach!? Lucky I didnt get in, or the screams would multiply!"

"Damn Silver. It seems like he is doing really bad in cleaning his house. That's why I said he should get a wife soon. Single boy's house are always a mess!!"

"But who do you want him to marry? Bia is his sister, Tania already has Rud, Leticia is in love with Josh, there is not a single girl his age in this village who is free to marry him."

"That's why I said he -"

Clock! (closing door sound)

Bia turn back to me and says while lowering her head.

"Sorry, my brother is really bad with pressure, let me take his place."

I nod and answer.

"Hmm, if you can take responsibility, I have no problem."

"Ok, so, mister, how should I address you?"

I really dont want to use this name, but since I already did...sign....

"You can call me Plate. Is it ok, for me to call you miss Bia?"

"Sure, no problem. So mr. Plate, what brings you to our village?"

"Haaaa.... ok, calm down and listen until the end."

Bia nods in answer.

"Yesterday your village hunters invaded my cave."

"Oh!! You are -"

"Please, let me finish!"

"-...ok."

"They came without any warning and shot my subordinate and me with their arrows."

"Seeing they had hurt my subordinate, I got furious and counter-attacked with a fireball."

"You should be aware of the conclusion, one of your hunters died, the others should have being able to run away."

"I came here today to ensure things don't escalate. We are both rational being and we should be able to came into terms."

"On my side, first and foremost, I desire a healer or a priest to accompany me to see my subordinate and treat his injuries until he heals."

"Second, I would like to completely forbid uninvited people from entering my cave."

"Third, I would like a compensation for the troubles your people have caused."

"Those are my terms, now please state yours."

Bia stared at me for a few seconds, her face was a bit pale as well, but not as bad as her brother. She took a long sigh and started speaking.

"Hmm, this is quite a heavy responsibility, no wonder brother fainted.."

"Actually he fainted as soon as I presented myself..."

"Oh!....sorry...."

"No problem, please continue."

"Ok, the report I received from the hunters was a bit different from what you said..."

"Different? how so?"

"They said they met a goblin thief in the cave, so they shot him before he could call the other goblins. After that, they saw an armored demon with four arms, demon wings, 3 meters tall who breathed fire. The evil demon shot them a fireball and laughed while watching them burn... or something like that..."

"That's not entirely wrong, my subordinate is a goblin thief, as for other goblins, there are none, and the so called armored demon was their impression of me...and no, as you can see, I'm not 3 meters tall, I don't breath fire, I don't have four arms and honestly I don't remember laughing at them at all, as I couldn't care less about them at the time and was worried about my subordinate.."

"Hmm, I see, that explains a lot...they got a lively imagination..."

"Yeah, it seems so..."

"Well, I am sorry for our hunter's offence..."

Bia took another break, closed her eyes for a bit and opened them, then continued.

"About your first term, we are unable to give you a healer. All our hunters were hurt and are in need to medical care."

"I won't ask for the healer to stay with me. All I want is for him to visit and treat my subordinate once a day."

"Hmm... if that's how it is, then it can be arranged."

"Good."

"Your second term, there should be no problem at all, as long as you can promise no creature from your...cave...will go out and attack the villagers."

"That's fine as well."

"As for compensation, I understand that we were the offenders on this incident and we should pay compensation, but unfortunately our poor village has nothing of worth to compensate you..."

"Nothing worth it? ...how about some pelts? You should have some stored."

"Unfortunately, yesterday my father took all pelts left to sell in the city..."

"Got any iron? bronze?"

"No, we have no mines here, all our tools are bought from the city..."

"What about a horse? a Cow? Maybe a pig?"

"We got no cows or pigs, as for horse, the only one we have is the one used for our wagon, our livelihood depends on it..."

T_T

T_T

"Hmm....then you got any seed?"

"Well, yes, we got some leftover packs, but there are not many..."

"Ok, then I will take them."

"No problem. Now, I know it's unfair for us to make demands when it was us who attacked you, but one of our best hunters was killed and his family is now left without anyone to feed them..."

She looks at me with pleading eyes. I can't help but admit that I'm weak against these kind of attacks...

"Sigh... here, this should be enough."

As I couldn't take anymore, I threw a ruby to her.

Seeing the precious stone, the girl's eyes shone. She grabbed the gem and stored in her bag, then extended her hand with a big smile.

"It was good doing business with you. Please visit us again."

I did the handshake with her and answered.

"Sure."