The Dragon of Dreams

Chapter 118: A One Sided Deal

Late Evening - Early Winter : Northeastern Space Rune

*Vwoosh*

Dashing forward ahead of everyone, I quickly made it to the island.

As I got close, I changed to my humanoid form and grabbed Ilios.

"Brace yourself Ilios, it's gonna be a hard landing!" -Sh*t.. I'm going way too fast..-

*WHAM*

Slamming into the beach, the sand beneath my feet turned to glass and shook the entire island.

-Ow..- I meant to slow down far more than I did so the impact ended up hurting my knees a fair amount.

-But nothing is broken! It should be fine.- I quickly set down Ilios and brushed myself off.

-That's definitely a pirate ship.. But what's with the flag choice..-

Although I was a bit curious about the inside of the ship, with a quick scan with aura I noticed there wasn't anything interesting. Most of the valuables and resources have already been taken.

-But.. Where are the pirates?-

I quickly looked around the beach and saw nothing except some tracks leading down a trail into the forest.

"Well, let's see where it takes us!"

Darting down the trail, it didn't take long till we came up to a large clearing full of tents and bandit looking people.

Of those people, there was one that stood out.

It was a tall, lean-muscular woman with messy brown hair and an oddly familiar black cat on her shoulder. -I must be imagining that though..-

Of the bunch, she was definitely the cleanest and most good looking by far. -She'd turn out really good with a bit of polish..-

As soon as she saw me, just like everyone else in the clearing, she froze.

"So are you the captain?" I looked at the woman.

Snapping out of her trance, she stiffened up and pulled out her sword. "Y..yes.. Who are you?"

"Ah I guess it was a bit rude for me to intrude so abruptly." I slowly gave a small gentleman's bow. "My name is Vasilias Whyte, and I'll give this warning now. If you don't comply with me, you will all die."

I quickly flooded the entire area with aura making everyone fall to the ground or pass out.

Seeing they all understood, I moved away my aura and let everyone breathe. "Now that you all understand, I'd like you to explain.." I walked up to the captain and lightly pulled her chin up so she'd look at me. "What are you doing here.."

She looked at me with a fear filled face and spoke with a shaky voice. "W..we are just.. t..rying to se..ttle here.."

"Oh interesting. So who are you?"

"A b..and of pirates.. sir.."

It was at that moment I got an odd idea. -Hey I can make use of this..- "So how about a deal. I'm not only too lazy to kill you all but I'd like to take advantage of this opportunity."

She stared at me with horrified eyes as she violently shivered.

"If you can truly settle here, I won't stop you, but there are some conditions you need to satisfy."

Seeing where I was going with that thought, she spoke up. "A..anything you want.. is yours.."

"How about this? The temple on this island is off limits and you must protect it once you get the power to.. also.. if you ever get to the point of collecting taxes, I want 10% of it." -Is there anything else I should add?- "Ah, I will have the power to change anything I wish at any moment I wish as well."

"Of c..ouse.. that is fine.."

"Sweet. Ah right, I haven't asked for your name yet."

"C..captain Abbie Lassaar.."

"Well then Abbie, since it seems like we have come to an agreement, I will take my leave for now, my Father will be here in a bit though. He is just going to ask some simple questions like I did so don't panic. Ill step in and keep you guys alright if I need to."

Not questioning my words, she gave a nervous nod.

"One last thing before I go." I looked her up and down. "I will come by every once in a while to see how you're doing, if you need something, ask while I'm around. I want you to succeed too." I quickly flashed a pure smile at her before heading back down the path to shore.

Not long after I got back to shore, everyone finally made it to the island.

"So did you find the pirates?" Mother was the first to ask.

"Yeah, they're just in the forest. I had a short talk with them. They seem to want to settle here."

Father grimaced.

"I figured it was a good opportunity so I said they could as long as they followed some conditions."

"What conditions did you set?"

"That they protect and not touch the temple, give me 10% of taxes once they get there and give me complete power to control them if I wish."

Father looked at me with unbelieving eyes. "Haah.. Vasilias.. settling a nation is much harder to do than just proposing the idea. The chance that a band of pirates will be able to do that is.. unlikely at best."

-I honestly don't see them getting that far either.- "But! If they do manage to do it, I will make a huge profit. Even if they don't and they die trying, it doesn't matter to us."

Father looked at me with wide eyes. "I guess that's sound logic.."

"Of course it is! Did you think I was stupid?" I puffed up my chest and showed confidence.

"Well how about you take me to them, I'd like to talk to their leader to clarify some things." He turned back to Mother and Krystallo. "Go ahead and go to the rune, I will meet up with you there."

Giving a light nod, Mother took off again with Krystallo following suit.

After that, I took Father in his humanoid form to meet Abbie.

Their talk went alright.. Abbie was still terrified of me and was shaking while she talked to Father, but they seemed to get things worked out in the end.

At the end of their talk, Father gave an intimidating look and said, "Just a little advice. If you betray my son, no one will be able to save you."

Pushing away Father, I looked down at her. "I don't like to rule in fear so I tried giving some favorable conditions. I'm not that scary so long as you don't make enemies with me. I'll pay a visit in a few months to see how you all are doing so.. be ready then."

Abbie looked up at me and gulped hard.

Seeing she understood, I turned around again and dragged Father away. "I'll take care of it, Father. You don't have to help me with this.." I looked at Father with a grateful smile. “I'm very thankful that you want to help though.”