Saul looked at Fabian and Andrea with glee as it was rare for the two to be so concerned. The two were the most carefree people he knew in the guild, and he wanted to tease them, but he knew this was not the time, "But this is the only chance for us to make a connection with an Executive Administrator. That will open a path for our people to get the Administrator Class."
More than two thousand people of the Fortuna Guild were chosen as Administrator Candidate. Their names were listed in the Admin Helper list, but no administrator picked them, not a single one, and it had been years. They had given up getting an Administrator Class, but they had the chance now.
"The risk is still too big, and we don't know whether The Emperor is willing to protect us or not from the God Order," Andrea still disagreed. She felt like they were fine even without any Administrator from their guild. There was no need to jeopardize their peace for an uncertain future.
Saul looked around, making sure that no one could hear them. He was about to say a secret that he only knew.
"But I think it's worth taking the risk and pulling our guild out from the Etherna Alliance."
Andrea and Fabian were shocked because this was the first time they heard the notion of pulling out from the Etherna Alliance. This came out of nowhere, and it was natural for them to be shocked.
"The Highland Guild might join the Paevell Kingdom, and I think it might happen soon."
Fabian and Andrea could not believe what they heard. They wanted to refute that it was nonsense, but they knew their Guild Leader well. Saul might be playful, but he would not joke around with something .
"Why didn't you tell us about this before? Why tell us now?" Fabian snapped out and questioned Saul. It hurt him that his Guild Leader did not trust him.
"It's a long story. The Highland Guild started to put spies in our guild, and I found out about it three years ago. I investigated why the Highland Guild put spies in our guild. As I investigated further, I found more spies, a lot of them. From the lowest-ranked member, and even three Vice Guild Leaders were bought by the Highland Guild and The Paevell Kingdom."
Fabian and Andrea listened attentively, and they somewhat understood why Saul kept it secret from them. In fact, they felt guilty because their Guild Leader had been fighting by himself.
"I started a full-scale investigation, from each of our God Ranks to our middle-ranked members. You might be hurt because I didn't trust you back then, but I don't have any choice. I don't want them to find out that I already know about them, and yes, I don't trust you two back then. But I have finished my investigation, and I know you and your family are clear from this madness."
Fabian looked around, caressing his chest upon noticing no one heard them. He felt like his heart could not take it. The news was not less scary than potentially fighting an Executive Administrator.
He immediately stood up and pulled his Guild Leader away from this room, "We need to talk about this more in detail. But let's resolve the issue with The Emperor first. I don't think my heart can do this more than it is."
He needed to resolve one of the issues first, and they could resolve the issue with the Tang Empire right away, but not with the betrayal from the Highland Guild and their own people. The latter issue would take a lot of time to resolve, and he did not know if they could resolve the issue unless they worked together with the Tislaris Kingdom.
Tang Shaoyang switched places with one of his spirits right outside the gate. He made sure that no one saw him before using the skill. He entered the city with a frown on his forehead as he received a message from TEID that representatives from the Etherna Alliance wanted to meet him. The timing was impeccable as he was about to start his attack to take over their resource points.
He wanted to ignore this meeting call and started attacking the Etherna Alliance. However, his end goal was to reach a peaceful agreement with the three forces. The attack was to show these three worlds that the Tang Empire was not below them, but stronger than them. That was the only way for The Valuer Empire, The Etherna Alliance, and the Gondar Alliance to listen.
He could not fight them because he did not have that much time. He only had six days left, and he did not think his people would be enough to fight the three forces without him. That was why he decided to come back for the second time to the city to listen to what the Etherna Alliance had to say.
Two TEID members welcomed him and escorted him back to Earth Area. It did not take long for him to return to the same room where he talked with the Valuer Empire's representatives. He recognized the two people in the room because he remembered all the God Ranks who attended the alliance meeting.
Tang Shaoyang did not recognize the one in the middle. A man with brown skin with their signature blue eyes. He had long hair tied into a ponytail, looked like someone in his mid-forties, and a thin beard.
The man stood up and smiled at Tang Shaoyang and offered his hand for a handshake as he introduced his name, "My name is Saul, and I am the Fortuna Guild's Guild Leader. If you don't know the Fortuna Guild, we are part of the Etherna Alliance."
Tang Shaoyang took the hand and nodded. He did not tell his name and sat down, "I don't have that much time, so let's get to the point."
The woman furrowed her brow and did not like the attitude, but Saul maintained his smile. The man in front of him was not just an Emperor, but also the Executive Administrator. He understood the attitude and did not take it as an offense.
"I am here on behalf of the Etherna Alliance. We would like to apologize for what happened before, including the fact that we were trying to take advantage of the Tang Empire with the previous agreement. The Etherna Alliance is willing to compensate for your loss with four resource points one of them being Black Iron Mine."
Saul did not waste the talk with nonsense and immediately got to the main point. They agreed to give up the Black Iron Mine. Even though it was a rare resource, they would find more if they had the chance to keep exploring the tower.
Tang Shaoyang did not like what he heard. The Valuer Empire did the same, and then the Etherna Alliance followed up. This looked like the three forces were trying to do something. The Valuer Empire was willing to share seventy-five percent of their harvested resources, and the Etherna Alliance was giving up four resource points for nothing.
Saul did not expect to see the frown on The Emperor's face and was surprised. He did not understand what displeased Tang Shaoyang. He wondered whether the compensation was rather lacking.
"That's it?" Tang Shaoyang asked, probing further what the Etherna Alliance was up to.
"Oh, no. We also would like to form an alliance that you proposed during the previous alliance meeting. We agreed to your proposal that we should not fight each other, and fight together against the factions that bring harm to our city and also our resource points. There's no resource sharing, no-nonsense. The Etherna Alliance is willing to form an alliance with the Tang Empire and your vassals."
Saul specifically said the Tang Empire, not the Earth Alliance. He was aware of the conflict inside the Earth Alliance, and he could not understand why those factions tried to take advantage of their protector.
The reason Earth was in the same Dimensional Tower with them was because of Tang Shaoyang, and the Tang Empire. Without the Tang Empire those factions could not gain benefit from this tower.
Again, Tang Shaoyang did not like what he heard from Saul. It was the same thing that the Valuer Empire proposed beforehand. Even though there was a big difference in how much the two sides offered. In the end, they had the same objective, wanting to be an alliance with the Tang Empire.
"I see… Is that all?"
Tang Shaoyang was confused, but Saul was getting even more confused too. It felt like The Executive Administrator was expecting something more out of them.
'Does he want more compensation?' Saul thought, 'Or does he have the skill to read minds and know what is in my head right now? This might be my chance.'
"There's one more thing, and I will talk as a Guild Leader of the Fortuna Guild, not as the representative of the Etherna Alliance," Saul looked at Tang Shaoyang straight to the eyes as his smile disappeared, it was replaced by solemness, "This is my last proposal, The Fortuna Guild is willing to be The Tang Empire's vassal."