"Why?" Clan head Kyrsun frowned, "Is our offer too little? We can always negotiate."
"It's not that." Felix smiled faintly, "I am seeking only one thing and if you can give it to me, I will assure you that the next ceremony would belong to the white clan."
"What is it?" An official asked with a pleased smile, knowing that the white clan could obtain anything in this galaxy.
"Twenty Ancestral Dragon Scales." Felix answered calmly.
The instant the words came out of his mouth, the atmosphere had gotten tense and heavy all of a sudden.
This was bound to happen when every dragon in the courtroom was eyeing Felix with a frigid stare.
"Do you think this is a game?"
Clan head Kyrsun dropped the kind facade immediately and narrowed his dreadful slits at Felix like a predator watching a tiny prey before him.
'Take it back quickly, Felix!' Anastasia yelled at Felix telepathically with a worried tone, fearing that he may not leave the courtroom in one piece.
"That's my request." Felix crossed his arms together and held his ground composedly, "Take it or leave it."
"This brat sure knows how to run his mouth." One of the officials scoffed, "Twenty scales? You don't deserve to even visit his burial."
The rest of the officials followed along with their own snarkily remarks, feeling insulted by the thought of removing their own worshiped ancestor's scales and hand them over to a human.
They knew that if the news ever gone out, they would be crucified by all the dragons around the universe!
"Do you even understand the severity of your request?" Clan head Kyrsun said coldly, "If it wasn't for my daughter, you wouldn't be standing here anymore."
Felix knew that he was being for real.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWhat he requested was the same as asking a worshiper to remove a piece of his god and hand it to someone's else.
Such a blasphemous request was more than punishable.
"Elders, looks like you are missundertanding something." Felix clarified, "You will be giving me the scales only if I helped sister Anastasia win the ceremony. If we lost, you don't need to give me anything at all...In fact, to pay for your investment, I will hand over all farmed sacred treasures from the dimensional pocket."
Upon hearing so, the clan head Kyrsun and official's expression had softened a little...They got to admit that his terms were quite enticing.
Still, it wasn't enough to let them disfigure their ancestor for their gains.
When Felix saw that they were still not convinced yet, he pushed harder, "Think about it carefully. At this point, which is more beneficial for the white clan as a whole? Twenty scales taken from thousands or restoring your clan's honor and dignity?"
"As you mentioned already, your loss in the upcoming ceremony would suck even more since it would be a battle between clan heads' true heirs." Felix paused, "Many eyes would be on this ceremony, and if the white clan didn't perform adequately yet again, they are bound to think lowly of you."
"I am not too informed about the dragons culture, but even I know that strength is valued more than anything around here." Felix shook his head, "No matter how better you turned the empire for everyone, you know deep down that not a single dragon would respect your clan like the others because of your perceived weak strength."
Clan head Kyrsun, officials, and even Anastasia couldn't help but contemplate his words silently. They wanted to retort back and call him ignorant, but Felix spat nothing but straight facts at them.
In the dragon race, strength rule above all...Period.
Although they could hide behind the fact that their healing attribute was holding them back, no other dragon would bother to listen to them.
That's because attributed dragons already had enough bloodline purity to boost their foundational strength above all red dragons.
To make matters even worse for them, their ceremony teams could include dragons from other clans as long as the leader was a white dragon.
Yet, they still lost almost 99% of their ceremony meetings.
Seeing that he had everyone rethink their decisions, Felix went for the last push, "If you recruited me, we can sign a contract to keep me quiet about our deal. As long as no one here leaks it, no one would bother to think that your portion of the ancestral was missing twenty scales."
Upon hearing so, most of the officials finally had a change of heart. At the start, none of them bothered to even entertain the thought of agreeing to Felix.
Now, they were actually considering doing so for the sake of their clan's future reputation!
'What do you think?' Clan head Kyrsun asked everyone telepathically.
'As much as I hate to admit it, the brat is right.' One of the officials sighed, 'We can't spend the next fifty years with our heads buried in the sand again. I really don't want to meet the elder dragon with another defeat added to our belt.'
'Same...It makes us looks like we have lost our touch in battles.'
'I feel the same.' Clan head Kyrsun agreed, 'I can't deal with the other clan heads if we get our asses swept yet again.'
There was nothing much that mattered to the dragons besides their pride.
'As the dragonslayer said, he will be given the scales only after he wins it for us. If he lost, we will be getting his sacred treasures at least.' An official added, 'It's a win-win situation for us as long as we can part with twenty scales.'
'Honestly, we already defiled the ancestral corpse by splitting it into four portions.' Clan head Kyrsun smiled bitterly, 'Removing twenty scales for a good cause shouldn't matter much to us anymore. We're already going to get beaten to pulp by the ancestor in the spirit realm.'
If the ancestral dragon corpse was still intact, clan head Kyrsun wouldn't have even entertained the thought, regardless of the stakes.
After all, the ancestral corpse would be protected by the four clans, making it impossible to even remove a single scale without causing a scene.
But now?
As long as everyone in this courtroom keep his mouth shut, nothing much would have changed from their lives.
'So, what do you vote?'
'I say let's give it a try.'
'Me too, for the brat to have such a confidence and even attempted to get recruited by prince Domino, he must defintely have something to rely on.'
'I concur.'
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmOne by one, the officials cast their votes in favor of Felix's request.
In the end, only three officials abstained from voting as they still felt that it was a blasphemous action.
Unfortunately, their opinions meant nothing after the majority agreed to go for it.
'Let's test him out first and check his reason for wanting the scales.'
"Dragonslayer...Are you going to f*ck us over?" Clan head Kyrsun narrowed his eyes coldly, applying intense spiritual pressure on him.
Felix was forced to have his knees bent over from the sheer pressure on his shoulders. He felt like a god was placing a palm on him and trying to squinch him like a bug.
"You have my word that I am going to try my absolute best." Felix assured with a stern tone.
Clan head Kyrsun kept staring at him for a few seconds, wanting to see if his resolve was nothing but a gaslight.
Alas, he found no such thing. Felix was in it for real since he knew that there wouldn't be a better chance to get his hands on the ancestral scales.
"We will trust you for now." Clan head Kyrsun removed his pressure at once and said, "But, we still have to test your capablities and see what you are capable off."
"Not now." Felix shook his head, "The ceremony will begin in four years. I prefer being tested before it starts, so I will be at my best shape. If I don't convince you by then, you can always replace me with a snap of a finger."
There was no way Felix would allow himself to get tested at the moment. He knew that his strength hadn't developed much from his last appearence in the event.
In other words, his bluff would be called out after they find out that he had nothing special to rely on.
Thankfully, his reasoning was accepted by the clan head and the officials as they also knew that it was too early to make such preparation.
"Before we conclude this, we need to know your purpose of wanting our ancestral scales...Twenty of them nevertheless." Clan head Kyrsun asked.
"I can't tell you and I would rather not lie as well." Felix guaranteed, "But, I can sign a contract right now to put your minds at ease that the missing ancestral scales won't bring any trouble to you."
Felix refused to expose the fact that elder Cyclope was making him a divine weapon. The fewer people knew about it, the better for him.
Clan head Kyrsun glanced at the officials and saw that most of them weren't pleased with Felix's refusal to share his use of the ancestral scales.
Still, they would rather not cancel the deal because of it.
"Let's sign the contracts."