Equipment Printing School Mage

"This is also recorded in the Tyrian Code—" Bayer said without hesitation, "In a surrender treaty, the services provided by the other party are considered as invitations, not active participation. As for what constitutes an invitation..."

If we continue to interpret it this way, we can really explain the whole year.

And the devil's demands were clearly written at the end of the treaty.

Party B releases the captive, Grand Duke of Avernus, Zariel, who was formerly under Party A's control, and declares that his ownership is no longer in dispute.

When Emiya saw the terms, she couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

——He couldn't even see any problem with this treaty at first glance.

Whether the conditions are sufficient and whether Eltoril is willing to return Zariel are obviously issues that can be discussed.

But at least, Emiya didn't see anything particularly suspicious.

At that moment, the footsteps of the two leaders of the Church of Tyr approached the room like the beat of a drum. Bolias's voice even entered the room before his face did. "I never imagined that the devil would dare to use the Tethyr Codex as a reference!"

Bolias's job title was Keeper of Balance, but he was clearly a fiery man. He slammed the door open and in a few steps stood before Bayer.

He unceremoniously picked up the Codex Tethyr, which was forced to be divided into dozens of volumes due to its ridiculous thickness, but did not browse the contents. Instead, he turned directly to the back cover.

Bayer frowned and stepped aside.

After flipping through a few books, the Keeper of Balance chuckled, "—Sure enough, there's something interesting here."

The Keeper of Balance held up one of the volumes and said, "This one, Volume 7 of the Thirteenth Edition of the Codex Tethyria, has been quite controversial in the long history of the Codex Tethyria. This is because it introduces the concept of 'no longer disputed ownership.' Specifically, this concept states that the relevant party may no longer participate in any activities related to the target. In this case, the activities referred to include persuading, bribing, and forcing the target."

"Our predecessors urgently revised this volume, and we deleted this concept because we were shocked to discover that it was quite popular among demons, as it was successfully interpreted in Hell as a golden ticket to immunity from death." Bolias looked at Bayer coldly and said, "Once this treaty is signed, no one involved will be allowed to persuade Zariel to return to the Church of Lathander. Furthermore, we can't even launch an attack on Zariel, as that could be understood as part of coercion."

"That means we'll anger Lathander, the God of the Morning, because of this treaty. And if Zariel ever makes a comeback, we'll have no choice but to seek outside help to deal with her. Humph!"

The Archbishop of the Tyre Church slammed the old book hard on the table, causing the book in front of Bayer to shake.

Bayer shrugged and simply took out another book from his dimensional bag.

——This is exactly the revised volume 7 mentioned by the Keeper of Balance.

However, Bayer didn't give up. Instead, he said casually, "I must correct one thing—will you offend the Church of Lathander? It's not up to me, nor you, to decide that. If the Church of Lathander truly had any opinion of Zariel, they would have already taken him back to Elysium. The fact that you're here now means that the Church of Lathander hasn't made a decision—all in all, we don't bear the blame."

"Don't give me that nonsense." Bolias didn't intend to be sidetracked and went straight to the point. "First of all, the treaty cannot be drafted by you. We will rewrite it according to our own understanding, and our discussion will be based on our handwritten treaty."

Baier was silent for a moment, then replied, "We have no objection."

However, just as Asul was personally copying the treaty with a pen, Bayer did not wait there, but took the initiative to approach Emiya and others again.

He first found Mars and solemnly placed a document in Mars's hands: "Well, while the Tyr Church is working hard, here are some personal gifts I have obtained."

Mars had no intention of touching it at all and said, "This is bribery and alienation, this is too blatant."

"No, this is some compensation from the devil to the two archdukes. After all, the two archdukes of Baldur's Gate have nothing to do with this matter, so it's inconvenient for them to join the negotiations." Bayer's face showed a hint of a smile again. "In short, this is a topic of devilish research. We haven't verified it yet, but it may be quite interesting."

"Humph." Mars pretended not to hear.

Bayer acted as if he hadn't noticed the cold reception and said simply, "It's simple. After investigation, we were shocked to find that a statue of such great reputation actually had no sculptor and no adequate transportation records. Considering the statue's exquisiteness and lifelikeness, this is simply too bizarre."

"...What good is this news?" Sig swallowed the snack in his mouth. "We are not doing business."

"I'm sorry, but this information is truly useful," Bayer said with a smug look. "This statue depicts a powerful ranger and his companion, a miniature giant cosmic hamster. Centuries ago, this ranger traveled with the world-famous Son of Bhaal, Apodel Adrian, to slay demons and monsters together, establishing a formidable reputation. During this time, he returned to his homeland and, due to a conflict of ideologies, fought and defeated the Iron Lord, King of Leatherman. However, this ranger refused to follow tradition and became the new Iron Lord. From then on, he was known as the Stone Lord.

"Unfortunately, the ranger suddenly disappeared shortly after. The prophecy only revealed that he met with an accident and turned into a stone statue—"

“Cough cough cough cough cough!!!” Not to mention Sig who nearly choked and started coughing non-stop, even Mars who had been as still as a rock just now couldn’t hold back his expression. “You found the petrified Minsk?!”

"Yes," Bayer said calmly, "Let us congratulate the two sons of Bhaal in advance: Thanks to the power of petrification, this hero is still alive today, perhaps even in his prime—otherwise, after a hundred years, Minsk would have truly turned to stone. Being able to reunite with his old human friend after a hundred years can be considered a blessing from Tymora.

"As for the specific location?" Bayer shook his head.

We'll talk about it after the negotiation.

"...Sorry, Emiya, this matter is really too serious...!" Mars almost knocked over the chair when he stood up, "Sieg, please contact immediately..."

"I know I know!"

After a note and a few words had Emiya's two teammates in a panic, Bayer looked at Elaster again.

“Ms. Xingyong, after our investigation, we really didn’t do anything to the Tymora Church—we simply provided usurious loans to the debtor Tymora priests.

"So, if you have any concerns about the church's situation, we suggest visiting the church of Benshaba, the goddess of misfortune. Perhaps you have some connection to them. After the negotiation, you can also try to mention our name..." Bayer shrugged. "We'll give them a heads-up. After all, Benshaba wishes misfortune for her enemies, and there's nothing more unfortunate than encountering the devil at your lowest point. So we've always worked together happily. However, the so-called Benshaba Chosen One seems to be a rumor. We haven't found any potential candidates in Benshaba's church."

"...I understand." Elastrid was the quietest one on the field. After hearing these words, she sighed.

Bayer shook his head and put this unsuccessful persuasion aside.

The full text of the treaty prepared by the devils was quite long, enough for the Tyrian church to copy for several minutes.

A Seraph servant like Zariel is priceless; there's no such thing as an equivalent! Even the most powerful gods might not possess servants like this, and pure resources can't buy them.

But it is impossible for the devil to really spend all his wealth on Zariel.

Therefore, Bayer's original plan was not to make an impossible equal exchange, but to satisfy the other party.

The conditions given do not require to be the most expensive, but rather the ones that can hit the pain points the most.

If you soften your attitude, money will be easier to negotiate. Otherwise, there's no point in negotiating.

In this negotiation, there was only one person who was the biggest devil and gave Bayer the most headaches.

Emia of Lunya.

Where on earth did this guy come from?!

Equally bizarre is the beautiful girl named Yin who is beside him.

The two of them were equally mysterious. While Emiya's veil had been lifted somewhat, Yin was still completely shrouded in shadow.

The devil studied them for a long time, but he still couldn't grasp the personalities of these two extremely unpredictable and moody guys.

So now Bayer can only gamble.

He took out a carefully selected magic book from his dimensional bag. Just as he was about to speak to Yin, Yin took a few steps back with a look of disgust, hid behind Emiya, and continued to read her magic book without even looking at Bayer.

what?

Bayer looked at the ancient book from the Nether era in his hand with some astonishment—

He never expected that there would be a wizard in this world who was indifferent to such things!

As far as he knew, this ancient book would make the eyes of great arcanists shine, not to mention now, even in the Nether era!

Emiya silently put her hand in front of Bayer and said, "Mr. Bayer, enough is enough."

"I'm curious, what's your relationship like?"

"No comment."

"..."

Bayer did not offer any gift or bribe to Emiya.

On the contrary, he turned away without a second thought.

He had a guess about Emiya's character.

This person would never accept gifts for no reason, and bribing him is even more absurd.

At least, when facing Zariel, Bayer didn't notice any panic expression on Emiya's face.

In this case, it is better to make him angry than to please him.

At least, there is still a non-zero possibility of cracking on that unbreakable wall of heart.

Furthermore.

Bayer narrowed his eyes slightly.

If this young man really came from Tianjie Mountain, then he probably values ​​the interests of others more than his own.

This kind of character is of course very troublesome—

But, on the other hand.

As long as the people around him benefit, it is equivalent to bribing him, or setting up such a person so that he has to think more.

Emiya raised an eyebrow, as if unaware of the difference in Bayer's attitude towards the others. She calmly took the treaty from Asur and said, "Sir Asur, have you finished copying it? Shall we officially begin?"

"First, my opinion is that the demons haven't apologized enough for the damage they've caused," Emiya said methodically. "Even if they obtained a map of the crypt, the cost of repairing that area would be enormous—draining, burning corpses, weighing, drying, and reclaiming the land. It's no exaggeration to say that the land has been permanently damaged."

This is not without reason, and even Bayer can't say anything about it. This is also part of the expected compensation.

But the next second, Bayer could no longer sit still.

"So I suggest that Hell compensate according to the land value of the Eltoril Garden District. Mr. Azur, is there a height limit for buildings in the Garden District?"

"Of course," Asul answered without hesitation. "The Garden District is on the mountainside of Eltoril. To prevent overly tall buildings from affecting the administrative area, the height of buildings in the Garden District is not allowed to exceed ten meters. Even the mansion of the Northern Dancer family does not exceed this standard."

"Very good." Emiya borrowed a map from Priest Shantia and gestured. "...The deepest point is thirty meters, and it's about three times the height limit. Mr. Asur, what's the approximate land price for a square meter of housing in the Garden District?"

"That's quite expensive," Asul realized, blinking. "Eighty gold coins per square meter. Almost as expensive as the land in Waterdeep."

"Then, for every square meter of the Devil's Underground Palace," Emiya held up three fingers, "please compensate Eltoril three times the land price of the Garden District. In other words, 240 gold coins per square meter."

Even Bayer couldn't help but shrink his pupils when he heard this opinion.

"You're asking for a fucking exorbitant price!? Selling the wasteland for three times the price of the garden area?! The garden area is less than one-tenth the size of Eltoril. The compensation for the underground palace alone is enough to buy thousands of fucking Eltoril!"

The big devil silently added a label in his heart.

—Emia of Lunya.

Very shameless.

Eighty-eight Everyone's Unexpected (Absolutely No Revision)

Is Bayer angry?

——Quite the opposite.

Baier was just trying hard not to laugh.

If Emiya didn't offer any conditions and just continued to ramble, Bayer would be prepared to go back and accept his punishment—this showed absolutely no sincerity in the negotiation and was simply a test of patience. Avernus was leaderless, and who knew what chaos might ensue in the coming days. Bayer couldn't afford to stay here for years.

But once we start to have concrete numbers, the problem becomes easier!

If you ask for a high price but pay a low price, then we can negotiate.

Not to mention, compensation was completely part of the plan, and he had prepared several response plans.

And the most crucial point.

As soon as people start to fuss over the details, the hidden traps at the very beginning of the article will be forgotten.

Although he was clearly ecstatic, Bayer cried out, then sneered, "You wouldn't ask for such a high price. What's the basis for this price? Why should it be based on the price in the Garden District? And why should the compensation be based on the purchase price of the land?"

Next, we come to the area where the demons are best at.

Copy the treaty and redraft it?

These are certainly not good for the devil, but they are also good for the devil.

——As long as we are discussing details, we are really moving forward.

All the devil really cares about is the final result.

How high is the price?

Are you kidding? It's not Bayer's money that's being spent! And if we save money for Hell, how can Bayer get promoted?

At Bayer's level, promotion no longer depends on the perfect performance of one or two actions. As long as he doesn't make mistakes, the difference between good and bad work is not that big - he even doesn't mind making the treasury of hell bleed.

It is completely unreasonable to buy land at city center prices.

"Twenty million gold coins."

Finally, Bayer said bluntly, "This is the final bottom line for the compensation for the underground palace. If you don't agree, then just cross this price out."

The Great Devil snorted coldly, "Don't you know how ridiculous this excuse for compensation is? There has to be a legitimate reason for compensation. You want us to pay tens of billions of gold coins for this? I'll be investigated for suspected kickbacks the moment I sign the treaty!"

***************************

Bayer believes the negotiations are going smoothly.

While reading the magic book, Yin looked up at the other side of the table and said to himself.

The flow of magic power in his body has been very smooth, and has hardly accelerated. This shows that his emotions are not as excited as he shows.

It would be better to say that trying to observe the micro-expressions and small movements of a big devil of this level is somewhat self-deprecating - pretending to be these things is probably not a compulsory course for most devils.