“Um… Ni Wei, listen to me…”
Facing the girl’s bold and direct confession, His fell silent for a long moment.
Just as he was about to respond, a frantic knock came from outside the door.
“Young Master His, are you there?!”
Rafina’s voice came through the door, dripping with urgency.
His and Ni Wei exchanged a glance, then quickly walked to the door.
The moment they opened it, they saw Rafina’s face written with unease.
“Young Master His…”
“What’s wrong? Take your time, no need to rush.”
“It’s… it’s the Church of Light. They’ve come looking for you, saying they want to see you.”
“The Church of Light?”
His furrowed his brow.
He’d known the Church of Light must have a contingency plan ever since Li Nuo Er told him that the Dawn Trading Company had pulled all their people from around his mine.
But he never expected them to move this fast.
“How many of them are there? Where are they now?”
“About a dozen or so. The one leading them is that Miss Sijina who came with Ni Wei last time. I’ve had them wait in the main hall for now. What would you like me to do?”
“Well done. Take them to the conference room first. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Yes, Young Master His.”
Rafina nodded and hurried off at a light jog.
“Sorry about this, Ni Wei. Once I’ve taken care of this matter, we can talk.”
“Mm. I’ll wait for you.”
Though having her confession interrupted annoyed the girl greatly, she could still tell what was more important.
His turned around, walked back to the desk, picked up his teacup for another sip, steadied his breathing, and only then left the study.
***
“We meet again, His Blackstone.”
The moment His stepped into the conference room, Sijina immediately rose from her chair and greeted him proactively.
Looking at the Sijina before him, His felt momentarily out of place.
The last time he’d seen her, she’d just joined the Church of Light not long ago.
She still carried a mercenary’s aura and habits, and she was much closer to the Feng Aotian from the game that His remembered.
But this time, Feng Aotian had completely transformed.
She wore the Church of Light’s robes, her red hair neatly coiled at the back of her head, and her brows carried a hint of benevolence that didn’t match a girl her age.
“Miss Sijina.”
His nodded politely in her direction, but his gaze settled on the row of people standing behind her.
Clearly, she’d come prepared.
“What brings you here? Don’t tell me someone’s reported me for misconduct again?”
“No, nothing like that. This time, I’m here on behalf of the Church of Light to discuss a partnership with you.”
With that, Sijina pulled a letter from her robe pocket and handed it to His.
His opened the envelope.
The contents made his brows knit tightly together:
[To His Blackstone: Due to the kingdom’s long-standing threat of demon race invasions, and to alleviate pressure on border defense, it has been decided to formally sign the Sacred Contract with the Church of Light. During the contract’s period of effect, the Church of Light shall provide support in combating the demon race, while the kingdom grants the Church priority rights in allocating anti-demon resources and a certain degree of judicial immunity.]
[As gray crystal weapons have been confirmed to effectively slay demons, they are now defined by the Church as a vital anti-demon resource. Per the Sacred Contract, you are hereby ordered to share gray crystal resources with the Church and accept Church oversight in the weapon production process.]
At the bottom of the letter sat the king’s bold signature.
“So, His Blackstone. You’re a clever man—surely I don’t need to spell it out any further for you?”
Sijina watched His’s expression grow uglier by the second, and a flicker of satisfaction rose in her heart.
Still, she maintained that perfectly official face.
His set the letter on the conference table and took a deep breath.
He never imagined the Church of Light would pull a stunt like this.
If they genuinely needed gray crystal weapons to fight the demon race, they could have simply come to him to make a purchase.
Worst case, he’d take a small loss and provide a portion for free—both sides would save face.
But now, they’d found some way to pressure him directly through the king, demanding some “resource sharing” scheme.
And what was this about “overseeing the gray crystal weapon production process”?
That was just their way of trying to learn how to smelt worthless gray crystal into weapons of immense tactical value!
They were practically slapping him in the face with their schemes!
“I recall… you said earlier… you came to discuss a partnership?”
“Correct.”
“Since it’s a partnership, I assume I should have some say in the matter?”
“Of course. But I’ll be upfront with you—the two points in that letter are our bottom line. On those, the Church of Light will not budge.”
Fine, fine. Straight-up robbers, are we?
But you made the first move this time!
“Is there absolutely no room for negotiation?”
His made one last probing attempt.
“His Blackstone, I think you know very well the value of gray crystal weapons in combating the demon race. For the peace of the kingdom, I hope you’ll stop obsessing over your own petty gains. You wouldn’t want the demon race to trample the Blackstone Family’s duke’s mansion flat, would you?”
“Understood. Understood.”
Realizing that continuing to butt heads with Sijina would only lead to a bad end, His switched tactics on the spot.
He took a half-step back, lowered his head slightly, and put on a cowering expression.
“I… I am willing to comply with the contract and fully cooperate with you. It’s just that the duke’s mansion has been swamped with business lately. Could you grant me three days to make arrangements?”
“Three days, then.”
Watching His finally bow his head to her, Sijina felt a surge of immense satisfaction.
“You’d better not try any tricks, or we might just label you a heretic obstructing the Church of Light’s fight against the demon race!”
“Yes, yes, yes. Three days from now, I’ll give you a satisfactory answer.”
“That’s more like it.”
Sijina nodded in satisfaction and waved a hand to the row of people behind her.
“We’ll be heading back now.”
“Won’t you stay at the mansion?”
“No need. We’ll rest at the nearby church.”
With that, Sijina led her entourage and rose to leave.
“Well then, see you in three days, His Blackstone.”
***
“Li Nuo Er!”
After seeing Sijina off, His immediately summoned Li Nuo Er to his side.
“Go to the town right away. Bring Florin and Molis here.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Upon receiving His’s order, the expressionless girl vanished from the conference room in a flash.
His collapsed into his chair, his mind racing at full speed as he began formulating a countermeasure.
He completely failed to notice that Ni Wei had already appeared at the conference room door at some point, blinking her big eyes at him.