Oreto took a look at the room he found himself in as soon as he teleported over. After noticing two other people, he turned to Jack and asked, “Who might these be?”
“They are part of my civilization,” Jack said curtly before continuing. “You had something you wanted to say, no?”
Oreto gave a cautious look at Erevan and Nova, unsure whether he should speak in front of them about important matters. But he couldn’t back down now, the fate of his civilization and the countless lives within it rested on his shoulders.
So, he ultimately decided to bite the bullet and said, “As you know, the amount of Gold coins set as a bet in our fight was a lot, even for my civilization. Now that I’ve lost, not only will my civilization lose all of its money, but our town will soon be stripped of its protective array to make up for some of it.”
His face looked bleak at just the thought of it. “You should already have a rough understanding of what having no protective array means in this place, right?”
Jack nodded, but those words had no effect on him. Already having an idea of what was happening, he stared Oreto in the eyes and coldly said, “You set the bet yourself, intending to doom us. Now that you’re the one facing ruin, you come here to do what, save your civilization by pleading? Would you have saved my civilization if I had lost the fight? It was your greed who doomed your civilization.”
Oreto lowered his head, unable to meet Jack’s gaze. His hands clenched tightly, so much so that his nails dug deep into his skin, drawing a few drops of blood. “I know. I know I was greedy, and it was my fault that my civilization is now facing the most challenging period of its life.”
Each word was heartfelt, spoken with the solemnity of a leader who truly cared for his people.
“What I came here to ask isn’t for your pity,” he continued. “I came here to make a deal with your civilization, one where both of us can gain something.”
He raised his head, his eyes filled with both complicated emotions and resolve, and said, “Your civilization is new here. Otherwise, with your strength, there’s no way you would be unranked. I know how hard it is to be new in this place and to have only the most basic information. So, if you allow me, I can help you by sharing my years of experience within this portal.”
“And what do you want from us? You can’t be thinking of asking for the 630,000,000 gold coins, right?”
Erevan’s curious voice rang out. If this person had come here to get his money back, then… that was wishful thinking.
Despite being from a higher civilization, Erevan was here to train and earn his own wealth. Aside from a few trinkets, he was nowhere near possessing tens of millions of Gold coins on his person, much less hundreds of millions.
A sum like that would be an enormous boon to him and his training.
There was no way he would agree to give the money back, unless the other party offered something even more valuable, but even then…
The chances of that happening were so slim that he hadn’t even taken them into consideration.
Surprised that someone else had questioned him, Oreto turned around and eyed Erevan for a moment.
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This person can chime in during a discussion I’m having with the leader of a civilization? Who is he… and how dare he? No, no, Oreto. Stop thinking like the leader of a civilization. Remember, you’re here to ask for a favor. Stay humble.
He repeated the last line over and over in his head until he regained his calm. With a polite smile, he shook his head and slowly said, “How could I ask for the Gold coins I willingly bet? No. The deal I have in mind would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience for you, while the benefits would certainly be far greater.”
“Oh?” This time, it was Nova’s turn to exclaim. He side eyed Oreto and said, “Out with it. What’s this so called minor inconvenience?”
Another one interjecting, and this one isn’t even properly looking at me. Is anyone in this civilization able to speak whenever they feel like or what?
Oreto did his best to suppress the growing irritation. When he finally managed to do so, though it took considerable effort, he said, “I’d like to seek refuge in your town and relocate my civilization here. In return, my people and I will do everything in our power to assist you and your civilization in any way you need.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a nervous look appeared on Oreto’s face. “What do you think?”
As much as he tried to act confidently, there was no way he could make such an important request without his expression betraying him.
Erevan raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected the person in front of him, the leader of a civilization similar to Earth’s, perhaps even stronger, to stoop to this level just to protect his people.
It was hard for someone of his status, bound by the ego and pride that came with it, too hard, in fact.
That said, he didn’t care all that much. As long as it didn’t involve the Gold coins, he wasn’t truly opposed to the idea.
After all, the only thing their town had in abundance was space, and there was a lot of it.
Jack’s frown eased as he thought, I can’t blame him now. He’s only trying to save his civilization, and the only way to do that is to seek refuge. On the other hand, we could gain a lot of information and avoid many of the mistakes new civilizations often made. I don’t see a problem with this request.
But then Nova said something that made both Erevan and Jack reconsider their earlier opinions.
“How do we know your information is reliable? And even if it is, how important is it?” His gaze seemed to pierce holes into Oreto’s skull.
“The system has already explained the rules. While I do think there might be hidden rules or loopholes, housing an entire civilization will definitely come with many problems. You do know that, right?”
Oreto locked eyes with Nova but remained silent.
“What problems are you thinking about?” Jack asked.
Moving his gaze away from Oreto, Nova looked up at the ceiling as he relaxed into the sofa and said, “There are many small problems, but one of them could doom us for good, and that is… what if his civilization offended a powerful one in the past?”
He continued softly, though his tone didn’t match the seriousness of his words at all.
“What do you think would happen if that powerful civilization learned we’re now housing them? Obviously, we’d be targeted with the sole objective of making us lose our protective array. Once that’s accomplished, they’d wipe us out alongside them without a second thought.”
“Taking them in is a gamble we shouldn’t take lightly, unless there are some truly significant benefits involved.”
Erevan and Jack’s expressions turned serious as well. They hadn’t considered this possibility, and even Erevan had to admit that the situation would become tricky if what Nova described were to happen.
Knowing that what he had heard was the truth, Oreto stood quietly in the middle of the room. He knew there was no point in telling them whether he had truly offended a stronger civilization or not, they wouldn’t believe him easily, as there was no way to prove it.
Should he ask the other almost hundred thousand civilizations that ranked above him whether he had offended them, right in front of these three? It was unrealistic.
Just as despair began to settle in his mind, he bit his lip and whispered, loudly enough for them to hear, “Fights between civilizations aren’t always randomly drawn. Unranked civilizations can do nothing but wait for the system to match them, and that happens once every week. Ranked civilizations, on the other hand, have another way to fight.”
“That is, they can declare war on other civilizations.”
“The higher the rank, the lower the cost to declare war.”
His crystal-clear words made Nova, Jack, and Erevan look at him in a different light.
None of them had known this, not even Erevan.
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