Ch.145144. Ulsan Negotiations (3)

It was a painful question.

Clearly, the undead did not consume food, which could be an overwhelming advantage in a long-term battle.

The Balhut Cult was continuously consuming large amounts of food and supplies to carry out operations and endure the cold wave. This consumption of resources had led to claims within the Dragon God Association cabinet that this war was essentially meaningless—arguments bordering on defeatism. That’s how much food and supplies were needed to endure this cold wave.

‘But if that’s our situation, the other side isn’t any different. As long as they’re living humans. They ultimately have to consume supplies too.’

However, while the undead didn’t consume food, the leadership commanding them were all living humans.

In other words, they too needed large amounts of food and supplies to carry out operations and endure this cold wave.

“…I firmly reject the ceasefire. State your other conditions.”

The Cult of Immortality seemed to find Jeong Dong-geon’s logic painful, as they were momentarily speechless. The only resistance the envoy could offer was to reject the ceasefire.

Then, taking a step back, they showed a cautious attitude toward the Balhut Cult, asking them to state conditions other than a ceasefire.

Seeing this, Jeong Dong-geon, as if now certain, called out loudly to the Cult of Immortality envoy.

“Why? Wouldn’t a ceasefire be a cheaper way for you to save your valuable officers than demanding supplies?”

It was true.

The value of supplies was steadily increasing, and the longer the apocalypse continued, reliable food could establish itself as a luxury brand on its own.

Especially since they were waging war—which consumed supplies recklessly—while doing the exact opposite of producing supplies, the Cult of Immortality must also be feeling the great burden of massive resource consumption like the Allied Forces.

Therefore, being able to save valuable officers just by agreeing to a temporary ceasefire could truly be seen as a small price to pay. During this ceasefire period, they could also gain an opportunity to regroup, so when thinking about it carefully, it wasn’t such a bad condition for the Cult of Immortality either.

“Regardless, I refuse a ceasefire! We absolutely cannot have a ceasefire. Only war! If necessary, execute that officer.”

“Is that the opinion of the Cult of Immortality leadership?”

However, the envoy firmly rejected only the ceasefire.

Warning that if there was a ceasefire, this negotiation would be completely meaningless, they even mentioned executing the prisoner captured by the Balhut Cult.

Jeong Dong-geon was momentarily dismayed, not expecting the other side to refuse so strongly, but he still asked the envoy if this was the will of the leadership.

“…Yes. It is the will of one whose name I dare not speak.”

“Well, this is troublesome. Can you really assert that the mage we’ve captured… has no value to you?”

“……”

The envoy sent from the Cult of Immortality couldn’t deny Jeong Dong-geon’s statement.

While they had strongly warned that a ceasefire was impossible, if asked frankly whether they didn’t care about the Awakened captured by the Allied Forces, they would have wanted to shout at the top of their lungs that they were desperate to get them back.

Just as there weren’t many Awakened who had reached that level in the Allied Forces, the Cult of Immortality also had few Awakened who had reached that level.

Could they proudly declare that they would execute such valuable beings just because they couldn’t agree to a ceasefire?

Was that really a rational choice?

“According to our interrogation, the mages’ average levels range from 15 to 17. At this level, they could not only lead a district but also, with a little training, reach the realm of superhumans. Are you really saying they’re not valuable to you?”

“……”

Frankly, if they had reached that level, with proper investment of time and resources from the organization, they could certainly reach the realm of superhumans.

In other words, these Awakened could potentially reach the same realm that Jeong Dong-geon and Jin A-yeon had reached. The immense value these two had demonstrated in this war needed no explanation.

Four people with the potential to reach the realm of superhumans had been captured.

Jeong Dong-geon sharply asked if they could really abandon such individuals lightly, and the Cult of Immortality maintained their silence.

“No answer. Then, what if I order their execution right here and now? What would you do?”

“T-that…”

When he declared that he would really execute them all as the Cult of Immortality had claimed, the envoy immediately responded.

As expected, their claim had been nothing more than an empty bluff, and this hesitation gave Jeong Dong-geon one certainty.

‘It seems this envoy truly regrets the capture of these individuals. Well, if I were in their position, I’d want to accept any condition to get such talented people back.’

Based on the envoy’s attitude so far, they had said they would accept all proposals except for a ceasefire.

In other words, the reason they chose the difficult path instead of the easiest solution was…

‘It seems the one “whose name cannot be spoken” that the envoy mentioned is actively demanding war.’

He guessed that this negotiation was heavily influenced by the opinion of the person “whose name cannot be spoken.”

So the reason the envoy sent by the Cult of Immortality couldn’t accept Jeong Dong-geon’s generous conditions was because the Cult of Immortality leadership—or more precisely, the one “whose name cannot be spoken”—wanted war more strongly than resolving this battle.

“I somewhat understand your situation now. Ah. You continue to want war. How troublesome.”

“Ugh.”

Jeong Dong-geon showed an exaggerated expression as if he had just figured out the situation, displaying confidence to the envoy.

Of course, Jeong Dong-geon couldn’t have known everything from this conversation; he had only guessed the envoy’s circumstances to some extent through intuition.

However, in such negotiations, bluffing and composure were also important, and from the envoy’s perspective, it seemed like Jeong Dong-geon had figured out their internal situation by observing their attitude.

“We don’t want to continue this war. We’d even like to declare an end to the war by dividing North Ulsan and South Ulsan.”

“I’ll acknowledge this victory as belonging to the Balhut Cult… please just state conditions other than a ceasefire or ending the war.”

Jeong Dong-geon mischievously proposed ending the war through division rather than a ceasefire, but the most resistance the envoy could offer was to say they would acknowledge this battle as a victory, so please state other conditions.

“Would information be acceptable?”

“Information? Information. Information… Yes. Except for a few things, I can tell you.”

At that, Jeong Dong-geon demanded information as if he had been waiting for this, and the envoy briefly considered but quickly accepted, thinking it was a better proposal than before.

With this, the envoy could fulfill what the person “whose name cannot be spoken” had demanded, and if the information provided by the envoy was just a plausible lie, there would be no problem.

In fact, if Jeong Dong-geon had no means to verify whether the envoy was lying, that thinking wouldn’t be wrong.

“Then let’s set these as the negotiation terms. For each prisoner of the Cult of Immortality that the Balhut Cult releases, the Cult of Immortality will provide one piece of information. However, you must swear that this information contains no falsehoods.”

“T-that’s good. Yes. Let me tell you what I can…”

“However, to prevent lying, please sign this Geas Scroll swearing to tell only the truth in this negotiation.”

But in the apocalypse, there was a special means to ensure that no lies could be told.

Just as lie detectors existed before the apocalypse, magic that could detect lies could exist in this apocalypse, and Jeong Dong-geon was simply using that means.

For this negotiation, Jeong Dong-geon asked them to swear a Geas—a covenant—to tell only the truth.

“A Geas?”

“Yes. We’ve already prepared it.”

It could be considered a sort of sub-plan.

It was a measure prepared in case the ceasefire negotiations failed, and Jeong Dong-geon showed them a contract and began explaining what he had produced.

“This is a contract imbued with magical power developed by our Balhut Cult. The moment you sign this contract, a magical effect will apply to both signatories, requiring them to faithfully fulfill the contents written in the contract. Oh, of course, it also has magic to prevent double contracts or fraud. In other words, you just need to fulfill exactly what’s written in the contract you sign.”

The important fact that Jeong Dong-geon didn’t explain to the envoy before him was:

‘Of course, this contract is technology directly developed by Lord Bahamut.’

It was that this contract was directly created by the Dragon God Bahamut.

This could also be seen as a byproduct born in the process of developing Mithril, and from Bahamut’s perspective, thinking there was no use for it himself, he handed over the developed technology to the Balhut Cult. The Balhut Cult was using this technology to conclude important contracts that required magical binding.

Of course, there had been no cases of the Balhut Cult using the Geas Scroll so far. Rather, they had distributed downgraded versions of the contract used by the Balhut Cult to civilians, and many civilian companies were using them as a means to prevent potential fraudulent contracts.

‘And this is a Geas Scroll directly made by Lord Bahamut.’

Of course, the contract that Jeong Dong-geon had brought was not an ordinary item but a special one obtained from Bahamut himself.

Especially in Jeong Dong-geon’s case, with a major war looming, there was sufficient need for it in preparation for possible negotiations or mediations.

Thus, Bahamut’s contract was in Jeong Dong-geon’s hands, and the envoy, staring at the contract:

“So, if the contract says to tell only the truth…”

“You must tell only the truth. If you don’t properly fulfill the contract, there are penalties.”

As a mage, realizing that powerful magic was imbued in the document, the envoy thought that Jeong Dong-geon’s attitude might not be a bluff.

If what he said was true… then his threat could very well be real too.

“P-penalties!?”

“Ah. Don’t worry. It’s not a contract that demands death as a penalty. Just… a penalty that’s as good as death for an Awakened.”

Of course, it wasn’t a bizarre contract where you die the moment you break it!

That would have been something Bahamut would be horrified by, and if that were the case, Bahamut himself would not have handed over this contract to the Balhut Cult or distributed it to civilians.

However, it was indeed a fatal penalty for Awakened.

“Level down.”

“What.”

It was a monstrosity that forcibly lowered the level more precious than life to an Awakened.

Of course, contracts distributed to the Balhut Cult or civilians had different penalties due to the potential for abuse, and only contracts directly manufactured by Bahamut had the terrifying effect of imposing level down as a penalty.

“If you break the oath, a forced level down occurs. We’ve already tested it. It’s a structure that causes long-term damage instead of having lethal capability. Oh, and don’t think that even if your level goes down, your stats remain the same. Your stats are also reduced by that level.”

“……”

For reference, the Awakened who participated in the experiment were low-level Awakened for whom level down wasn’t that serious.

Even the Balhut Cult couldn’t find any high-level Awakened willing to participate in the experiment just at the mention of “level down”—their faces turned pale.

Therefore, they couldn’t properly experiment with high-level Awakened, but just the term “level down” was enough to give psychological pressure to the envoy.

In fact, just the mention that levels could be reduced made the other’s complexion turn pale.

“So what will you do? Will you contract? Or not?”

“Ah, damn it all!”

However, from the envoy’s perspective, if they didn’t sign the contract before them, they couldn’t free the prisoners, so the envoy had no choice but to close their eyes and sign the contract…