“Truly?” asked Welson, who seemed unconvinced.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself,” said Nolan, feeling a bit of pride as he straightened his back in a self-important manner. “My name’s Nolan, and I’m the Sect Master of the Earth Sect.”

Sean and Ian tried and failed to suppress short bursts of laughter, though Nolan rolled his eyes and dismissed them with a wave.

“Even though I’m the leader, we’re more of a democratic sort of group, and we’re not really well known. We’ve got a handful of other members here in the city, but they’re a bit busy at the moment.”

Welson’s eyes grew wide, like circular cuts of emerald. “You don’t mean to say that you’re the group that just warred with the Falling Rain Sect?”

His friends all smiled at the recognition, including him. “You’ve heard of us?”

“How could I not have? There’s an incredibly large bounty on your heads, both from the Falling Rain Sect and the Nightshadow Sect from the Western Isles. I doubt there’s a governing body on the continent that hasn’t received the kill order yet.” The man cupped his head in his fat hands, appearing defeated. “I’m afraid that I can’t hire you. If anyone finds out that I worked with you lot, I’ll be wishing that Connick and his men were coming for me.”

Nolan’s stomach sank like metal in water. The Nightshadow Sect was worlds away, so he’d already forgotten about the fact that he had killed Keplin, one of their elders, back outside of Ridgerock. May had reminded him of the fact earlier on, but he hadn’t placed any importance on the matter. As for the Falling Rain Sect, he was already anticipating a possible follow-up to their little invasion of their territory.

Forcing a cough, Nolan said, “Just for the record, we were just innocently trying to take part in that tower climb that they’re so famous for when one of their disciples tried to murder me. What was his name, Raisin, or Drasin? Anyway, I killed him, and then my friend killed his master, and that’s how all that started. We’re completely innocent.”

“Does that matter?” said Welson, who seemed to be lost in thought. “No…this might be a good thing. According to my sources, Merchant Lord Kalvin is currently in the capital of the Falling Rain Sect for business. He’s an old friend of their sect master, so it’s likely that they’ll join forces to hunt you down.”

“Which means that this Kalvin guy will have a lot more manpower when he comes here to deal with you.”

Everyone at the table grew quiet, likely realizing that they had no choice but to join forces with one another now that they shared mutual enemies. Welson, most of all, looked like he wanted to cry.

“Hey man, don’t look at us like that. It’s not our fault things shook out this way.”

“Are the heavens playing with me?” pouted the man, who looked anything but the leader of a large city such as Tallgate. “I’ll be honest with you lot, I was nothing but a simple assistant to the consul in Frostport up until a short while ago. Then everything changed when young Kam arrived. It’s on his behalf that I even took this post, else I’d never dare to overstep my office by such a large margin.”

Kam? Recalling his earlier days on Venara, Nolan remembered that he had once had a friend with the same name. Unfortunately, the young man had been butchered by the Bloodhand Sect along with his entire family and everyone on their estate, all because the evil organization had been looking for Nolan.

Suddenly bitter, he examined Welson in silence. The man’s eyes were underlined with heavy crow’s feet, his clothes a bit baggy in a way that suggested that he had recently lost a significant amount of weight. No wonder he was being so informal, and so openly desperate. It seemed that the man truly feared for his life.

“Sometimes I really hate when you’re right,” said Ian, who was frowning down at his cup. “I didn’t think that that Tems fellow would be so hell-bent on hunting us down.”

Working out a scheme within his mind, Nolan shrugged off the bad news and took a satisfying sip of the golden spirits. “If he comes, then we’ll be ready for him.” He had a large stockpile of cultivation resources in his spatial bag, including the condensed spirit essence of the Falling Rain Sect’s founder, over a hundred barrels and crates of heavenly dew, and an untouched supply of divine fruit. “We’ll work with you, Welson. But you need to make it worth our while.”

“I can give you one million spirit stones upfront. Once everything is said and done, I can provide another three million on top of that. In addition,” he said, taking out a golden plaque that was engraved with the sigil of the CMA, “I can make you honorary members of our faction. Anyone with this plaque will be treated as an honoured guest of the CMA. In this case, you would be permitted to visit all of Merchant Lord Kam’s lands, which amount to the entire eastern coast of North Island. Also, you’ll be allowed to buy and sell real estate, and will also be able to conduct business on our island at premium rates while paying the lowest of taxes.”

Nolan snatched the plaque before the man could change his mind. “Alright, we agree. We’ll also need a place to stay while we’re here in town, since Connick commandeered our rooms just before we met."

“That won’t be a problem.” Welson pulled out an interesting piece of golden parchment from which Nolan could sense a great amount of energy. “Before we do anything, however, we must draw up a spirit contract and have everyone involved sign it. This way we can guarantee a certain amount of trust between one another.”

Nolan had read about spirit contracts before, and had noted that they were very similar to the infamous blood oaths that staked one’s life force on the premise of upholding certain agreements. If he or any of his friends were to go against this contract, including Welson, then the unique imprint of spiritual energy that the contract embedded within their bodies would quickly stop their hearts.

“Hold on,” said Nolan, who quickly contacted the girls and told them to abandon their mission at their earliest convenience. “We’ll have the others come meet up so we can all sign the paper.”

“Perfect,” said Welson, who seemed to have regained some of his former calm. Giving it some further thought, he added, “Actually, it’s fine if it’s just you Nolan. We need to be able to trust each other, so I want to make sure you are all comfortable with the deal. Traditionally, it’s only the leaders of certain sects or organizations that represent their people during the signing of such agreements, anyhow.”

Welson took extra care in writing out the contract, and Nolan put just as much caution in reading it. It was short and to the point, and once he had finished reading through its contents he pricked his thumb with one of his many needles and wrote out his name in blood. Welson was quick to do the same, at which point the parchment began to shine. It quickly burned away as if it had been thrown into a fire pit, at which point an identical copy of the contract that was composed solely of spiritual energy remained floating in the air. This was promptly separated into two, one such copy embedding itself into Nolan’s chest while the other did the same with Welson’s.

Huh, thought Nolan, sensing a stream of energy as it trickled out of the Millennial Ring and surrounded the intangible copy of the contract. Does this mean my heart won’t stop if I break the agreement? More than that, would the ring also prevent him from being bound by a master-slave agreement as the subservient one?

The terms of the contract were simple. He and his friends had been hired for the duration of a single month, after which they were free to leave the city even if Merchant Lord Kalvin didn’t end up arriving during this time period.

“Now,” said Welson, who pulled out a pair of golden keys and placed them on the table. “If you take these to the Golden Mare in the western district, you’ll be directed to two of their finest rooms. I’ve rented out most of the property so that I and the others of my faction can have some peace of mind while we prepare for any possible confrontations with Merchant Lord Kalvin’s people.”

“Awesome,” said Nolan, who stowed away the keys and then continued to nurse his cup. “Is it okay if we stay and hang out for a bit? We’ve got to wait for the others, and this is a pretty nice spread.”

“I’d be happy for the company,” said Welson, who lifted a chubby arm and proposed a cheers to the group. “To new friends.”

"To new friends," echoed Nolan and the others.