“Why would I do that?” Veles looked at Dyon questioningly. The arrogance was something he was accustomed to, but was it really smart to tell a person with diametrically opposed opinions to yourself that you were certain of changing their mind? After all, humans were creatures of pride, and that was even more so for Veles who had fused with Dragon blood. How could he willingly change his mind so easily?
As much as he appreciated his fight with Dyon, it was just his mere instincts that told him his friend was back. There was no tangible proof. Even though he trusted those instincts, even to the point of being willing to bet his life on it, what he wasn’t willing to do was bet the lives of others.
Dyon smiled. “It’s simple. I won’t be appealing to our past friendship was never something I intended to do. That would only waste the both of our times.
“Although I hope to one day repair it, a single day isn’t enough and I wouldn’t insult you like that. So, how about we focus on benefits instead?”
Veles raised an eyebrow. But, he was satisfied with Dyon’s response.
Trust was something built over time, and once shattered, it was nearly impossible to rebuild once again. If it was a normal person, Veles would never provide a second chance. The only reason he did was because he had always found Dyon’s drastic change in personality much too odd to accept. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have never believed it.
For one, Veles was sure that Dyon had never met Luna before. In fact, they were roaming the world together and he was also sure that neither of them knew anything of the marriage reward for the tournament. Secondly, Veles knew more than anyone how in love Dyon was with Amphorae.
As a human who had fused with Dragon Blood, it was an understatement to say that Veles was promiscuous. To top that off, despite his usually virtuous personality, he had no qualms about cheating on his wives and concubines. If a month with by without him adding another woman to his harem, his family might place their hands on his forehead and check to see whether he was sick or not.
Yet, even while having a friend who loved to frequent brothels and chase skirts, Dyon never put any of those women in his eyes.
While it was true that Luna was definitely hundreds of times better than any woman you could find on the streets or in a brothel, wasn’t Dyon’s reaction to her too exaggerated?
It was well within Veles’ expectations for Dyon to take responsibility for Luna. But actually falling so deeply in love that he became a pawn of the Moon family? The Dyon he knew would rather die than essentially marry into his woman’s home. In fact, what man would take such a thing lying down? It was disgraceful! It was only one disgrace point shy of taking your wife’s maiden name for your own. Wouldn’t you be emasculating yourself?!
Because of all of these reasons, it wasn’t a surprise that Veles found Dyon’s sudden change… Fishy. So, in order to understand, he decided to provide this former friend of his with a second chance. Whether this second chance would work out or not… Only time would tell.
“What are these benefits?” Veles finally spoke after his moment of silence.
“A few things,” Dyon responded with confidence. “Well, firstly, I’ll say a few things that you can choose to take as truth or falsehoods.
“Firstly, the spies of the Angel clan have long been expunged by me. The only ones that remain are ones that I have already marked to be observed, and the only person who is aware of this list is myself and no one else.” Dyon’s eyes narrowed as he emphasized his next words. “Including Queen Luna.”
Veles’ eyes widened when he heard this. Unknowingly, he felt like Dyon confirmed his suspicions and a weight in his heard was seemingly released as he leaned back into his chair. He didn’t care about the other things Dyon said because they could neither be confirmed or denied, even by Dyon himself. However, the Queen Luna point… That was interesting indeed.
“Secondly, if you agree to these terms of ours, the one commanding our armies will be me.”
Veles laughed in mock anger. Was this a joke? He was well aware of the strength of the Angel clan, mostly due to the spies he, himself placed.
The Angel clan, at most, had 50 or so thousand warriors at their disposal. The Viserions and their various affiliate clans controlled almost twenty times that! Although their quality wasn’t as high as the Angel Clan due to the fact that many were made up of various low quality clans they have conquered over the years, to allow their chief commander to have only contributed less than 5% of their total forces… Wasn’t that too much a joke?
Dyon shrugged at Veles’ response since he expected it. “You should reserve your laughter for after you hear why I’m so confident that you’ll agree.
“In addition, I should make one other thing clear. Our opponents this time are not to be trifled with. You understand this already, I’m sure. Or else with your arrogance, you would have long since wiped them off the face of this planet.”