FVN Chapter 39 The Negotiation
Chapter 39 The Negotiation
This was just like dinner with mafiosos or dragons. It was a social game where my negotiation skills were pitted against his, and whoever's was weaker, lost.
I wasn't about to lose, but I also had no actual way to force him to pay me and uphold his end of the deal. So I did the next best thing. I pretended like I did.
"Then you would be violating Clause 2-C of the contract your lawyers made me sign," I said.
There was no such contract. I had checked the game memories of the character I was playing. It had only been a verbal agreement. But he couldn't prove I was lying. It was midnight. All the lawyers had gone home already.
"Contract? I wasn't told about any contract!" He said.
I used my enhanced vision to scan his cluttered desk for something I could work with. He had a rolodex of business cards on his desk. I started idly thumbing through it looking for something specific.
He looked at me, waiting for a response. Expecting a response. But I didn't give it to him. The reason was because I hadn't thought of one yet. Or I had thought of one, but I was missing one crucial component that I hoped his rolodex would provide for me.
He kind of just stared at me, his face going through different phases of shock and dismay. But he didn't say anything and more importantly, he didn't kick me out.
This was a common mechanic of dialogue in video games between the pc, or player character and an npc, or non-player character. The npc would say something and then wait for a response from the pc. The npc would wait for minutes, hours, days, even weeks to get a response.
And that's what he was doing. I couldn't be certain I had infinite time though, so I hurried through the rolodex as fast as I could until I found what I was looking for.
I casually looked back up as if I'd simply been twiddling my thumbs and said, "Just ask Denise! She'll confirm that I signed a contract to save your daughter and you are legally obligated to pay me for my services."
Denise was a low level law intern in the office. I was surprised she even had a business card, but some offices like to give literally everyone they hire a business card because they're "representing the company" or whatever.
"Ok, let's call her up. She has nothing better to do at this time than answer my phone calls," the corporate president said. He dialed a number on his phone and put it on speaker, because managers always put it on speaker.
"Well, then give it to her now! Save my daughter's life!" Ed said, his voice getting higher pitched.
"What is it worth to you?" I said. "How much would you give up to save your daughter's life?"
"I could just have security take the antidote from you!" He roared.
"I would smash it in my hand before they got to me," I said. "Now, again, how much is your daughter's life worth to you?"
"Please, daddy, just pay him the money!" The president's daughter said. The panic in her voice was pretty convincing. If I didn't know better, she would've fooled me.
"Oh alright. How much do you want for it?" Ed said. He got out his checkbook, like he was just going to write me a check.
"I don't know. How does ten billion dollars sound?" I smiled so devilishly that even the devil himself would be put to shame.
"That sounds outrageous! One billion is the absolute highest I can go!" He said.
"Five billion!" I said.
I was barely even present in this conversation. This was like taking candy from a baby. These numbers were insane and blowing my mind, but I was thinking long term.
Talking with Maven Zengo about her businesses and her charity, made me realize I needed to think bigger if I wanted to change the world. Even just my world. Meaning me, my friends, and my girlfriend. Elder Ravenkin can hang too.
Semi ultimately, I wanted to be on top of the Vampire Association as a whole. Ultimately, I wanted to create the first unified Monster Association. Squabbling over portals was extremely inefficient and had cost people's lives. And it would cost countless more if I didn't bail out the dragons.
How was I to know if this was a dragons only problem? The entire monster world could be about to crumble down around me and I wouldn't know unless I got involved. And to be involved, you had to have influence or the second best thing to influence, money.
That's why I needed to fleece as much money out of this imaginary person in this ultra realistic video game as possible. Could I die from this? Sure. Would I allow myself to? No.