Yua had a million things on her mind that she wanted to tell Rudra , she had rehearsed the script in her mind a thousand times as to how to tell him in the best way possible , painting her involvement as minimal as possible. Yet seeing his cold demeanor , all her plans went down the drain as she frantically began to explain. 

" The azure lotus guild had voted against suppressing the True Elites guild. I never wanted to wage a war of attrition against your guild. I am in an alliance ruled by majority , and the majority vote was 5:2 in favour of supressing the Elites , i was bound to follow them with or without my consent , i had repeatedly made it clear that it was stupid to supress such a small guild without reason .....". Yua was desperately trying to explain when Rudra snapped 

" Ohhh , no reason to supress such a small guild ? You looking down on us now? ". He said coldly 

" No , no , not at all ! If anything its shamefull for 7 first rate guilds to ally and declare hostility towards a single guild ". Yua clarified but only made things worse 

" Why so? Are we not in your league maam, did we not just repell a ten thousand man camp ? Just what more do we need to do to earn some respect in this town? ". Rudra said , anger evident in his tone .

Yua got annoyed too " Seriously Rudra, Maam? Soo we pretending we dont know each other now, also it is not 1950's anymore , nobody uses maam ? ".

" I wish it were u know , to think i actually considered you to be a good friend in this cutthroat world. Seems like i was a fool ". Rudra said 

Now this line just cut deep into Yua , she was exasperated she said almost screaming " Why dont you get it , the alliance all have shares of each others corporations , should i not go with the majority they can seriously hurt the Nakatomi Corporation ". 

Rudra recieved a private message from Orochimaru at this point. It said ' Guild leader , i have insider information , the lady is here to invite you into seven guild alliance , beware of her sweet talks'. 

Rudra did not know , that this message was a plan from the Ambani foundation to plant discord between the guilds and try prevent the True Elites from joining the alliance , as that would seriously hinder Mr Ambani ' s plans. 

Rudra calmed down a little after listening to that , then he asked lightly " Okay ..... I believe you , but then tell me , why did you not even message me? Why are you here , only today , only after the show of strength from my guild , you are here to negotiate terms arent you ??". 

Yua had no retort , she indeed had not contacted Rudra over the weeks that his guild faced supression , even though in her heart she was bleeding , she had no way to prove her innocence here. She was here only when the alliance wanted to invite the Elites to make them one of their own. 

" That .... I really wanted to but my dad wont let me , Well fine , it doesn't matter anyway , i was a fool to think you would beleive me ". Yua said depressed 

Rudra's heart clenched , something about seeing Yua soo down and sad made his heart twist in pain. Then he sighed 

" Fine i believe you ". Rudra said slapping his cheeks.

Yua looked up teary eyed .... " Just like that? ". 

" Yeah , just like that ". Rudra affirmed 

" Soo we are still friends right? " Yua asked meekly. 

" I think so ". Rudra replied. 

Yua beamed , she smiled a very bright smile. 

Rudra felt a burden lifted off his shoulders seeing that smile. Boy was he smitten with this girls charms. 

Yua continued " well i think it will all get better from now on ... Im here to invite you into our alliance , together we can be an unstoppable force in Hazelgroove ". 

Rudra instantly frowned. He wanted to downright reject , however for the sake of courtesy he said " what are the terms ". 

Yua explained " 21% share transfer , each member will hold 3% of your shares , conversly , you will hold 3% of each of them . The majority decision is final , and all guilds must comply , all guilds must open their resource logs and agree on trade of materials , also there is a technology treaty to comply in research of new technologies that can revolutionize the market, finally there is a rule to provide 3 thousand men to the alliance for control over territory purposes , but looking at your guilds special condition it was waved and replaced with surrendering your bomb depot ". 

Viens bulged on Rudra's forehead " how is this beneficial to me?". 

Yua felt exasperated at this point ..... " You get shares worth 21% from 7 first rate guilds , you get a cut from the taxes levied on the masses , when the alliance grows you grow with them , we are absolutely invincible that way ! Not even all the 30 second rate guilds combined can hold a candle to our alliance , we can become absolute overlords of Hazelgroove , how is it not a benefit?". 

Rudra felt mentally exhausted now , he just said " The shares of the elite's are worth a lot more , and there is no way in hell i would exchange them , also i cannot work on the whims of nonsencial guild leaders. I work on my principles and not on majority vote. As for money , my trade firm earns enough dough for my guild to live in luxury. Im sorry but i would like to decline your invitation ". 

Yua stood there blank for a minute ..... Rudra actually rejected the alliance invite? Not out of personal grudges but logic? She could just not wrap her head around it at all. 

" You are making a big mistake you know , think again leader Shakuni ". Yua said 

" I have , sorry i cant join". Rudra remained firm 

" This means we will be at odds you know ". Yua said 

" If you dont let it affect our friendship , i wont " . Rudra said 

" Dont expect me to trade insider news just cause we are friends though ". Yua snorted 

Rudra smiled but said nothing 

" Well if you have made your mind. Its your funeral , ill recruit you once the alliance obliterates your guild ". She said as she stood up to leave. 

Just before leaving however she turned and said " take care ! ". 

Rudra sat there and smiled ... Yep no matter how much smitten he was with Yua , he knew that untill there is friction due to the fight. They both as guild leaders could never truly be friends. 

Rudra knew he would distance himself from her from now .... And yua knew she would too . 

Even though they resolved their fight , they both knew the impending consequences of today's choices. 

Maybe they were just not meant to be! 

However the thing Rudra was now interested in was how did Orochimaru get that piece of information. Coupled with his identity as Rudra remembered in his past life , the entire incident felt extremely suspicious to Rudra. It was worth pondering upon. He called for Orochimaru , as he decided to take the rookie , out in the wild for a little levlling. 

/// 14 chapters this week everyone , 2 chapters a day. I have seen a decline in powerstones being given to me , and i understand the reason behind it. The powerstone bonuses , last week was the first time the target was not met , and we actually slipped in the rankings rather than gaining on. I feel like it is a mistake on my part , and to compensate i will bust myself this week to provide a stable 14 chapter week! Setting no targets for voting. If you guys feel like you enjoy my work , please vote , if not upto you all . 

Shoutout to 

Riley_lewis and 

Raging_silver for the golden tickets . 

Appreciate that guys ///