Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 199: Incentives

Uriel sighed and waved a hand. "Sorry, sorry. I don’t expect you to understand my gibberish."

"I often spew nonsense when I’m tired, don’t mind me. This old man is cranky and in dire need of a sweet, rain-swaddled sleep session."

He slicked his hair back. "But, let’s talk about more relevant matters."

Samael let out a shaky breath, his mind returning to the present as he weakly nodded.

Uriel noticed his state, but didn’t comment on it.

"So this is the inn you wanted to stay at, hm? Why?" he asked bluntly.

For some reason, earlier, Samael had insisted they stay at this specific inn, and more specifically, he’d wanted Uriel to stay in the same suite.

It was all strange.

"..."

Samael closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in. Then, he exhaled. When he reopened his eyes, they were sharp.

"The lady who owns the inn, the one you most likely met at the reception, is exceptionally powerful. So much so even the Guardian Order fears her."

Uriel’s ears perked up.

"So, that’s the first layer of security. Beyond that, we’re also in a veil residential zone."

"A veil residential zone is, in simple words, a place where important political figures reside under cover," he explained.

"So the area is packed with sleeper agents, and in terms of security, you can’t get any better. There isn’t a single place in the area not covered in a formation of sorts."

"And finally," he pointed down, "the inn is situated atop the core of a network of underground tunnels that were taken over by a dark middleman organisation."

"So they also have their men in the zone to make sure everything stays calm. In the entirety of Kael, you cannot find a safer place than this inn."

Uriel nodded. "That’s quite something."

"Before we proceed any further, I think it’d be wise we take a couple steps back and set a proper foundation for our exchanges."

Samael silently agreed.

"So, you and I both need each other, presumably. I need information, and you need; protection, services, money, and even more money."

"Yes?"

An awkward expression coloured Samael’s face.

Uriel pressed on. "Let’s begin there. In what way is this deal profitable to me? I feel like I’m being cheated here, in all honesty."

"The information you gave me about the city doesn’t seem very important, albeit rather substantial. I could’ve most likely gotten it myself after spending a couple of weeks here."

He looked around the room. "And while, yes, this inn is very safe, and the lady downstairs is quite charming—as she is mighty—I’m not necessarily scared for my life."

"I may not look like it, but I’m quite mighty myself, you know?"

"So," Uriel slid forward, to the edge of his seat, and leaned in. "Where do I gain anything?"

"What are my incentives?"

Samael’s back straightened, and he seemed to fully submerge himself in the conversation.

"A Merchant Magus... amazing..." Samael muttered, not so discreetly.

Uriel’s lip twitched hearing this, but he didn’t voice anything.

Samael shook his head and refocused. "Right. Incentives."

"So, first of all, there is information. The information I gave you was the most basic of bundles I could give you. But as I stand, I can say that—"

He pointed at the many parchments and scrolls filling the suite.

"—there isn’t a single thing about Kael or the Wildlands I can’t have information on."

Uriel didn’t seem impressed. But this only made Samael smile.

"You want to ascend the spire, no? That’s why you went to probe the Order? I can help you do that."

"I can get you all the information you’d need about the Spire, the Order, and everything else. If you’d come to me first, I could’ve given you a badge that’d let you enter the core ring and freely observe it without having to fight at all."

"I have lists with the names and ages of all Guardians, their strength levels, their weaknesses..."

Samael went on for quite some time. And the more he spoke, the more impressed Uriel became.

Samael was... ridiculously thorough. It was to such an extent that Uriel believed the young man must have a spark attuned to spying, or something of the like.

Otherwise, it made no sense.

But beyond that, through it all, one question remained on his mind.

"That’s great. That’s good. You do not need to prove your worth to me anymore." Uriel cut him off.

It was a simple question.

"The spire. You said I wanted to ascend it, yes?" Uriel looked at him, truly. "What makes you say that?"

"I don’t remember mentioning that."

Samael paused, then threw him a strange gaze.

"You... said that—or rather, you implied that you were a traveller, yes?"

"Yes, that I did indeed do." Uriel nodded.

"And you lied."

Uriel nodded again. "Yes, I did indeed lie," he admitted bluntly.

"How did you figure that out, though?"

His honesty took Samael by surprise, but the young man took things in stride and continued.

"Well, in all honesty, your cover had a truly ridiculous amount of holes. It was quite bad."

Uriel pouted. "Was it? I thought I did a good job."

"You did not," Samael said dryly. "First and foremost, when we were at the café, when I was giving you a rundown of the entire city and Wildlands—"

Samael raised a finger. "Actually, never mind. The fact that you needed a rundown of the city and the Wildlands in general was already strike one."

"Strike two, as I was about to say, was at the café, when you directly told me you didn’t know what horror tides were."

He chuckled. "Traveller or not, caveman or not, anyone living in the Wildlands knows what a Green Horror is."

"This told me you not only weren’t from the Wildlands, but that you were also most likely lost, truly. Since it wouldn’t make sense for you to come to Kael of all places without knowing a thing about it."

"The fact that, as soon as I told you the only way out was the spire, you went on to attack it did not help your case, old man."

Uriel was almost offended by both his own stupidity and Samael’s glee as he pointed out his mistakes, but in the end, he remained silent.

After all, he was right.

"So, from that alone, I know you don’t simply want to ascend the spire, you need to. More than anything."

"Beyond that, there was also the aether crystal. I mean, what kind of idiot uses raw crystals anymore? Crystals are only useful to bankers."

"What?" Uriel was confused.

"Crystals are used to give the Wilderling currency value. Nobody trades it so openly unless you’re a royal."

"The fact that you had one, and that you also flaunted it as if it were a true sign of wealth told me you were not only an idiot, but also not from—"

Uriel raised a hand. With the other, he massaged his forehead. "Alright, I get it."

"You caught me."