Shovels In Spades

Daz watched this unknown Asian man as he got off of the black cloud he was sitting on and patiently stood outside of the barrier. The man looked no older than himself, and he had a loose smile on his handsome face.

"Everyone, return to Fort Skip... I'm going to go see if I can talk to him. He hasn't moved for a while now, so here's hoping he can be reasoned with," Daz said.

Crusher snorted. "We should just crush him. Do you really think he can beat me, you, Madison, Barbarossa, Ahab, the squirts, your toy soldiers and the base's weapons? This is stupid."

The ex-cosplayers felt their faces heating up at Crusher's way of addressing them. Lyle was busy mumbling to himself in depression at not being mentioned while Edward and Dorian just sighed. William didn't really care what people other than his Lord called him or his soldiers.

'Barbarossa...? Again, her nicknaming sense never fails to amaze me.' Daz shook his head at Crusher's words. "The system thinks he has a chance, so I'm not willing to take any risks. Just trust me, I have a plan."

"Fine," Crusher huffed before she turned around and heading back into Fort Skip.

Everyone else soon followed her. Madison stayed for a moment a lightly kissed Daz before saying, "Stay, safe."

"I will," Daz replied as he grinned.

Now alone, the young Reaper carefully strode towards the man dressed casually. As he got closer and closer, Daz could make out more of the man's details.

He was wearing an expensive-looking dress-shirt under a thick jacket which Daz didn't doubt was purchased from the system. Oddly enough, he was also sporting a pair of knee-long shorts and some ordinary-looking sandals, both of which gave Daz a bad feeling. The shoulder pad strapped to the man's left arm intrigued Daz, as did his peculiar-looking backpack. The final thing of note was the massive scythe the man was holding without any effort.

Daz only stopped approaching once he was a few feet away from this champion of a higher god. Each man stood on one side of the magical barrier.

"Yo," Shen Mu happily greeting.

"... Yo." Daz's voice was dripping with caution.

"My name is Shen Mu. What is yours?" Mu asked with clear, but overly formal, English.

"... Daz." The young Reaper was surprised at how... pleasant this man seemed to be. Of course, he remained vigilant in case this was some sort of ploy to lower his guard, but still, Mu's behaviour was a far cry from what Daz had expected.

"I need one minute, please," Mu requested before he laid his scythe down on the ground and took his backpack off.

Daz watched in amazement as Mu pulled out a little book titled 'English For Beginners' in both English and what was presumably a Chinese language.

Mu ran his finger across the pages until he had found what he wanted. "I want to fight you. I will use half of my spaghetti... half of my strength. If you win, I will become your citizen. I know about bushes. Wait... bases, not bushes. If I win, I will take the merit points of everyone here. Deal?"

Daz was sweating at these words despite how humorous his mistakes had been. However, he did see the great opportunity that was being afforded to him.

Naturally, he wouldn't be able to just give up and accept these demands without first negotiating.

'Judging from his pitch black eyes and hair, he either has extremely Asian blood, or he's a different race of Reaper than I am. I can feel it. We're the same in some regard... If grey means a normal Reaper and light-grey like mine is a Justice Reaper, then it's safe to assume that he's gone the other direction. Probably a Corruption Reaper or a Death Reaper. It's hard to tell without identifying him first,' Daz concluded.

Of course, if he wasn't so scared that Mu would be able to detect him using the skill, then Daz would have used Higher Identification in a flash. He wanted to try to de-escalate the situation first though before he used that ability on the man in front of him.

"I have a better idea," Daz claimed in a calm and relaxed voice.

Mu raised an eyebrow before he flipped through the book once more. "'I have a better idea...' 'I have a better idea...' Ah! Okay. I am willing to hear you out, my friend."

'He's really trying to learn English properly instead of just using the system to buy a translation skill or something?' Daz was getting increasingly interested in this man's actions.

"How about I give you a base of your own? This entire city is mine. It has two bases in it, the fort you see behind me, and a military camp on the other side of town. If you can follow some basic rules of mine, you're free to do what you want and own that place," Daz offered.

He currently had no use for Camp Waterford, and he was fairly certain that he wouldn't be able to get Mu to just outright leave. Daz wasn't an idiot and he was aware of how badly this man wanted to fight him. He felt it in his blood.

Mu spent about three minutes scouring the book for the words that Daz had said until he finally replied. "Maybe. It would depend on the rules. Also, we still must fish today. Wait, fight, we must fight today."

Daz sighed. "Okay, we can fight, but only if you agree to my terms. I can promise a fight today and twice every resting period. Would that satisfy you?"

A few minutes later, Mu nodded his head with great speed. "Yes! That is acceptable. I will change the rules of the battle. If you do not die, I will do as you wish if I agree to your rules, however, if you somehow win this battle, you are not allowed to kill me."

'So he's not an idiot. Tch, this might be a bit easier if he just looked down on me and assumed victory was his,' Daz lamented internally.

He still thanked his Legendary Gift of the Gab skill for doing its job, but he would rather dispose of such a powerful loose-cannon than have it lying around just waiting to fire off.

"That sounds fair enough. My rules are very simple. Never harm a citizen under my control. You won't need to fight for the city if we eventually enter some sort of city warfare, I respect your freedom, however, you will never be allowed to cause harm to anything I own on purpose or as a result of you refusing to take action that would prevent such harm. Does that sound okay to you?" Daz said very rapidly.

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Mu's eyebrows creased up and his face looked pained. "I need a few minutes, please."

"Take as much time as you need," Daz replied as he used another part of the Legendary Gift of The Gab skill.