The Author's POV

Chapter 210: Proposal & Negotiations [1]

After we met with Amanda, we directly entered the building.

Instantly I was left speechless by the grandeur of the place. The place reminded me of my parent's guild lobby. But a lot more spacious and luxurious.

Standing at the front of a lobby, a young man that looked to be in his mid-thirties came to greet us.

Maxwell Benson, Amanda's personal assistant.

Spotting me, he held out his hand with a warm smile. He gave off a good first impression, like an older brother next door. Competency aside, it was because of the impression he gave off that he was chosen to be Amanda's assistant.

"Ren Dover, right?"

"Yes."

I shook his hand.

"And I'm sure I don't need to introduce myself to Melissa, right?"

Melissa smiled at Maxwell's words. She had already met him before. Turning his attention back to Amanda, he offered.

"Young miss, shall I give the two a tour?"

"Nah, I'm good. I've already been here before. Plus, we've got more important things to do"

Before Amanda could respond, Melissa instantly refused. Maxwell smiled at her response.

"Very well, then I shall escort you to the meeting place"

"Hey wait, I didn't say I didn't want to hear about this place"

I immediately protested. Unlike her, this was my first time here.

"No one asked you"

Unfortunately, I was immediately cut off by Melissa who quickly moved towards the elevator area.

Out of pity, Maxwell briefly introduced me to the place. Together with Melissa, and Amanda, we stood in front of the elevator.

"The first and second floor as you can see are the areas which we attend and greet our guests. From the second floor up, there are the offices for the contracted heroes that are currently working under us…"

Ding—!

The elevator then arrived, and Maxwell hopped in and pressed the button that led to the fifth floor. Amanda who was next to him pressed another button.

She had other things to do and so she couldn't stay with us. She only came to the bottom floor to greet us.

Ding—!

[Fifth floor]

After a brief moment, the elevator arrived on the fifth floor. Bidding Amanda goodbye and exiting the elevator, I saw a large circle-shaped lobby and office doors spaced out along the wall.

Navigating through the fifth floor, Maxwell guided me, and Melissa to a rather spacious office. A large round table stood in the middle with special triangular-shaped devices in front of each seat.

Standing by the side of the office, Maxwell politely smiled.

"Please make yourself comfortable. This is where the meeting will be held. Briefly, the master will contact you. In the meantime, whilst you're waiting for the master and the elders to attend, I'd suggest you set up your presentation. Aside from that, you can contact me if you need anything else"

Maxwell turned his head left and right and checked the room. Seeing that everything was set up, he bid farewell.

"It seems like there's nothing left for me to do here. If you need anything else, please let me know. If you'll excuse me now, I must leave."

"I understand, thank you"

Nodding my head, I politely bid Maxwell goodbye.

Entering the office, heeding his suggestion, Melissa and I got quick to work. We quickly inserted the USB inside of the projector and loaded the presentation up.

After a while, I clapped my hand in satisfaction. Turning the projector on, I curiously asked Melissa.

"Is it ready?"

"Should be"

"Do you remember your lines?"

Prior to today, I had memorized my lines. This was so that I wouldn't screw it up.

"What lines? I don't do lines"

"…Oh, right"

It was then that I remembered that Melissa was the one who built the project from scratch. She didn't need to remember any lines.

Ping—! Ping—! Ping—!

Suddenly, the triangular-shaped devices resting on the table lit up.

One after another, different types of holograms popped up from the devices. A total of twelve holograms appeared before us, depicting men and women of various ages.

In a matter of seconds, all the devices apart from one lit up.

Like a zoo animal, I felt all eyes directed towards me. With keen interest in their eyes, the people behind the hologram scrutinized me from head to toe.

"How young"

"So you must be the ones that we are meeting today?"

"I wonder what they will be presenting us…"

Ping—!

At last, the device at the head of the table lit up. A middle-aged man with obsidian black eyes and a black heir appeared.

Instantly the atmosphere inside of the room changed. Everyone on the table looked at than with hints of respect and awe.

This was Edward Stern, the Demon Hunter guild master, and Amanda's father.

One of the most powerful figures in the human domain. Smiling amiably, Edward Stern looked at me and Melissa before apologizing. I instantly waved it off.

"Sorry for not being able to see you personally"

"It's, okay we understand"

I wasn't offended in the slightest. In fact, I was delighted. This put a lot less pressure on me when presenting.

Plus, this situation was understandable.

With each and every member present here being an extremely influential person, they weren't always going to be at the guild.

Just the fact that they had made time for me and Melissa was enough.

Directing his attention towards the presentation behind us, Edward Stern kicked off the meeting.

"Alright, let's not waste any time. Since we are all busy, let's get straight to the point. Please introduce us to your concept"

"Very well"

Melissa stepped up. Pressing onto a small stick in her hand, the PowerPoint slide switched.

"Today we are going to be presenting you a new concept. It's a new external mana system that can be used to integrate magic circles ranging from…"

Melissa's words flowed like water. They were crisp and pleasant to the ear.

Everything that she said was clear and consise, and with the aid of the presentation, even I could easily understand what she was talking about.

Listening to her, I just stood beside her with a plain smile. On a couple of occasions, I would nod my head.

'She's good, I hope I don't screw it up…'

What I was in charge of speaking was more on the business aspect of the deal.

I was in charge of talking about who our target customers were, what type of strategy we would use to combat competitors, the longevity of the product, how we would expand in the future, and so on…

Fortunately, I had come prepared. Once it was my turn, to my surprise, I didn't stutter once.

Another positive point was that I was comfortably able to answer most of the questions thrown at me by the elders. The longer I spoke the more confident I got. In less than ten minutes, I finished the presentation.

"…and that's the end of the presentation. Thank you"

After a while, with satisfied looks on their faces, the elders whispered amongst each other.

Judging from how reverent their discussions seemed, their interest was piqued.

Watching this scene, Edward Stern suddenly raised his hand and everyone instantly stopped talking.

Turning his attention back to us, he smiled kindly.

"Alright, thank you very much for the presentation. We will contact you shortly after a brief discussion amongst ourselves"

"Sure"

I naturally didn't mind this. Given how big the investment was, it was only natural that they talked over this.

"Thank you, I'll let you know as soon as possible"

Ping—!

His hologram soon disappeared.

Ping—! Ping—! Ping—!

Following his hologram, one after the other, the other holograms disappeared.

…

At the same time, the last floor of the Demon Hunter guild. Amanda sat down and looked at the presentation displayed on a large monitor before her.

Displayed on it were Ren and Melissa presenting.

Melissa's presentation was spotless. Her points were clear and easy to understand. Amanda couldn't find any faults with anything she said.

On the other hand, there was Ren. Although he started roughly, by the end of the presentation he managed to get every single point across perfectly. It was quite good in Amanda's opinion.

Cliiii—!

After a while, the monitor switched, and thirteen different screens appeared on her monitor. For a brief moment of time, no one spoke.

"What do you guys think?"

Edward Stern was the first one to break the silence. He wanted to hear the other's opinion before voicing his. Instantly one of the elders spoke up.

"The concept itself is revolutionary. If we were to do as they proposed in the presentation we would surely make a lot of money. In fact, this could probably help us widen the gap with Starlight guild"

"But what if the project fails? If it fails won't we be losing a lot of money?"

An elder interrupted. Although they were rich, they couldn't just freely give money away. They had to be wise.

"That is true, if it fails we could potentially be losing more than what its worth"

"What is there to worry about? His daughter is here"

Suddenly another elder spoke up. This time, no one followed up.

When the words 'his daughter' fell from the elder's mouths, the room's mood became somber. Even Edward Stern's expression couldn't help but change.

Everyone inside of the room knew who he was referring to. It was Melissa's father.

An existence that everyone feared. Edward Stern included. After a while, Edward Stern shook his head.

"Let's take him out of the picture for a moment. Melissa is in fact a very capable person. She alone is worth the investment. As long as we don't do anything that is out of the line, he won't move."

Once the elders heard this, the discussions resumed. One after the other, the elders offered their opinions.

"I agree"

"Hmm, if we offset the pressure that will come from the other guilds and perhaps the union, I can see a lot of profit being generated in the long term. If we play our cards right we may be able to cement ourselves to the top"

"This is a valid point indeed"

"Once again, the problem is…what if the project fails?"

"It just means we lose money. If we keep this project under wraps all that we lose is money. Plus, there's also that youth"

"Ah, that's right. If we manage to recruit him, even if the project fails, it might be worth the loss"

Ren Dover.

He was one of the main reasons why they chose to listen to the presentation.

Despite him being so young, he showed extreme signs of promise. With them being the number one guild, they naturally knew a lot more about him than the others.

Like the fact that the talent assessment orb doesn't work on him. This point alone was enough to garner the attention of everyone present.

"I agree, if we managed to bring him under our wing then it might be worth the loss"

"But won't the Lock interfere?"

"It's fine, we can sign a pre-agreement that will only come into effect once he graduates. If we do that, the Lock won't argue"

Silently listening to the conversation, Edward Stern had a thought, "Amanda, what do you think?"

As her father's words fell, the whole room became quiet. Everyone's attention shifted towards Amanda.

"That's right, let's hear Amanda's opinion"

"Yes, young misses opinion is important"

"I agree"

Despite being young, Amanda was quite smart. Moreover, with her possibly being the next guild master, it was detrimental to know her opinion and thought process.

Subjected by such intense stares, Amanda was unfazed.

With her brows knit, Amanda thought of her words carefully. After a while, she opened her mouth.

"Hmm, I…"

…

"Haaa…that was tiring"

A couple of minutes after finishing the presentation, I slumped onto one of the chairs in the room.

This was much more mentally draining than I thought.

Reminded me of the days where I had to go to endless amounts of interviews just to apply for one job.

To think I would go through such a situation again.

"Get up, they are going to finish up soon. I don't want them to see your incompetence"

Turning my head to face Melissa, I rebuked her.

"Excuse me? I'm the one who dragged this team-up. If not for me, you would've never been able to come up with the concept"

"Pfft, let's not joke around"

"Who said I was joking?"

Without me, she would've never been able to come up with the concept until well off into the future. I was the reason why she was able to even touch such a topic so early.

"If it wasn't for my idea you would've never been able to get to where you are now"

Melissa rolled her eyes and retorted.

"Do you want me to show you the so-called concept you showed me? Compared to now it's merely some random gibberish you wrote on a piece of paper. In fact, if it weren't for my genius, it would've probably taken someone else another ten years to decipher what you wrote"

What's are you on about? I muttered, but Melissa looked at me with meaningful eyes, then snickered. I instantly had an ominous premonition.

"Kheumm…kheummm…"

Interrupting me, a cough resounded inside of the room. Turning around, my mouth twitched.

'How long has he been there?'

Sitting on the head of the table was Edward Stern. He was obviously still in his hologram form. He had a friendly smile on his face.

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

"I presume that the meeting has come to an end?"

I wasn't sure for how long he was in the room, but I hoped he didn't overhear any of our conversations.

"Yes the meeting came to an end, and we've come to a decision. After I talked it through with the elders, we chose to accept your offer, however…"

Edward suddenly paused. With a solemn expression, he continued.

"We would like to renegotiate the terms of the deal"

Silence prevailed over the room. Melissa turned her attention back towards me. Interlocking my hands together, I propped my chin up. With a solemn expression on my face, I pretended to look troubled, "I see, I understand, let me think…"

Inwardly I smiled.

I was prepared for this from the very start. There was no way such a big guild wouldn't try to negotiate for more favorable terms.

The more profit the better. That's how big guilds operated.

Brushing my hair to the side, I thought, 'I guess it's time for the negotiations to start…'

After a minute of silence, I turned my attention back to Edward Stern.

"Very well, let's listen to what your terms are…"