Leon

"How did you end up as the owner of a Dungeon City?" The lead Orc quietly asks me as we walk down the stairs to the entrance hall.

I glance at him before facing forward again as I say, "It was mostly just happenstance."

The Orc laughs at my answer, catching the attention of the mercenaries currently moving about the entrance hall.

Most of the mercenaries instantly become wary the moment they see the Orcs, with some of them even reaching for their weapons as muttered conversations break out throughout the entrance hall.

The Orc leader stops laughing once he notices this.

The other Orcs behind us begin growling in response to the Humans' threatening actions, only for their leader to bark a command at them as a supressing aura spreads throughout the hall, "Halt!"

Interesting.

He seems weaker than Damien but is obviously not Tier 1.

So, this Orc delegate is a Knight then?

"Stop!" I shout, startling every last person in the room except for the Orc leader.

Every Human in the room stares at me as if I had grown a third head, while the Orcs just look at me with annoyance.

Seriously?

So what if I haven't raised my voice in a long time? That doesn't mean that I can't raise my voice!

"These Orcs are guests of Wolfdenn and should be treated as such! If anyone starts a fight with them, they will be banished from these mountains for a year!" I announce without pausing my progress towards the entrance.

I faintly notice the lead Orc nod his head in what looks like approval.

No one says anything as we finish crossing the room and leave the Guild building.

I doubt that we have heard the end of this.

The problems most likely won't come to an end until I make an example of someone.

For now, though...

I glance at the Orcs' leader who smirks and says, "I think The Kingdom of Brimstone will have a good partnership with Wolfdenn with someone like you as the City Lord here."

"Oh? And why is that?" I ask him with a slight tilt of my head.

"Well, for one, there is that," he says while pointedly looking at where my ears are covered by my helmet.

He then faces forwards before continuing, "You also don't seem to care much about the Eternal War."

I face forward as well and say, "That's true. I would prefer to keep Wolfdenn neutral if possible."

The Orc leader laughs again and says, "And that sort of mindset is exactly what I was hoping to find when I came here!"

He then stops walking and turns towards me.

"My name is Narfan Durgrn," he finally introduces himself with a wide smile on his face.

Or at least I think it's a smile.

It's kind of hard to tell with an Orc.

"Hello Narfan, my name is Leon Raizel," I respond in kind.

Narfan's eye twitches at my family name before he says, "It's nice to meet you, Leon."

I nod my head before turning back to continue towards my manor.

Narfan and his men quickly follow behind me, ignoring the looks being sent their way by the Humans we pass by.

"You know that there is going to be at least one Human who doesn't listen to you and starts something," Narfan says as one of the other Orcs closes my office door behind him.

I sit down at my desk before saying, "Yeah, I know. It just means that I will have to banish the ones that don't listen as an example."

I look around my office at Narfan's two subordinates that followed us into the office.

At this point they seem to at least have some respect in me, so that's a good start.

On to the reason why they came here.

"So, why did you come here? I am assuming that you wish to have access to the dungeon?" I calmly ask Narfan.

Narfan looks surprised as he sits in the seat opposite from me before bursting out in laughter and saying, "You sure don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"It's better to be direct," I say without any hesitation.

Narfan laughs one more time before turning serious and saying, "That's true, so let me return the favor. The Orc Kingdom of Brimstone, on behalf of Lord Xurek, would like to enter into a trade agreement with the Dungeon City of Wolfdenn. This agreement would entail sending workers to help build and defend your city, as well as precious metals for you to use however you wish."

That is a pretty good deal, especially since I just made the decision to begin constructing city walls.

"And what would you like in return?" I prompt him to continue.

"All we would like from you is a quota of free, tax-exempt dungeon dives into the dungeon for full parties on a daily basis," Narfan finishes with a surprisingly simple request.

I study his face for a few seconds before saying, "That is agreeable, but first, we will need to decide on the exact quota you will be given."

Narfan sighs in relief and glances at the other Orcs within the room.

Wait, was my decision that important to them?

I wonder what is going on in the Orc kingdom right now.

Narfan looks back at me and says, "Would a quota of two free, tax-exempt dives a day work?"

Just two parties of Orcs a day?

I guess that is okay.

"Make it for a period of two years and we have a deal," I tell him without much hesitation.

Narfan nods with a smile before pulling out a blood contract.

We quickly fill out the contract and sign it.

The instant the contract turns into blood and flows into our fingers, all of the Orcs visibly relax as if an enormous weight was just lifted from their shoulders.

"If you don't mind me asking, why is this deal so important to you Orcs?" I fail to restrain myself from asking.

Narfan's subordinates immediately stiffen, but Narfan raises his hand and says, "It's fine."

He then turns to me with a tired look on his face as he asks, "We weren't really hiding it very well anyways, were we?"

I shake my head.

"Yeah, I thought so. We might as well tell you, seeing as we have already entered a contract with you," Narfan says with a shrug, surprising his subordinates.

Wait, he is really going to tell me?

I didn't expect that.

Narfan leans down and places his elbows on his knees before saying, "Our nation is preparing for a large-scale conflict as of right now, but we are lacking in dungeons. Therefore, securing the ability to use this dungeon was extremely important to our kingdom."

Interesting.

I wonder if I can use this information somehow?

"Stop. Why are you here?" I hear one of the Orcs outside of my office say, drawing my attention towards my office door.

Is it Aidan?

Narfan and the other Orcs hear this as well as Narfan gets up from his seat and says, "We should head out. We have to find an inn to stay the night so that we can head out in the morning to report to Lord Xurek about the deal. I look forward to our next meeting, Leon."

I stand up from my seat and say, "Alright, just follow the river next to my manor south and you will find the inn on the bank."

Narfan nods his head in appreciation before turning to the door to leave.

This meeting went a lot better than I was expecting.