Shock stilled the room, as the nine Lords had their gazes locked on Roy, flickering with disbelief.

They had expected his Order to be unique in some aspect, but this? This was far beyond their bounds of imagination.

A police force in Arcana — that felt a little domineering. Now they could finally fathom why their attires and armor were designed as such.

And why they had access to modern military-grade tech.

"Wow, now our intro sounds so lackluster." Noelle chuckled, gazing at Roy in a new light.

The other Lords had to agree — their aspects didn't seem so impressive compared to this man.

While the others were still contemplating the wonderful aspect such an Order could bring, among them a Lord stared at Roy, his eyes squinting in suspicion.

It was Jared.

"Wait… if you have a policing system, wouldn't that require you to plant branches of sorts in other Lords' territories? Meaning you would be putting your own military force in another man's land.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't risk having another man's military force dwelling in my territory."

Eyes widened as the Lords realized they hadn't thought this far. Having another man's force in their territory — that was a big no!

Roy smiled. He had already reasoned that something like this would happen, though he hadn't expected one of them to figure it out so fast.

He expected the resistance to come when he made this fact known.

"Ah, I thought you were the Lord of Contracts and Oaths. Wouldn't it do for you to bind me under one, that way you guys can rest easy?" Roy gestured to Roderick as he suggested.

But Roderick shook his head.

"My contracts don't just bind anyone. There have been scenarios where other parties — Lords, Hunters — have broken through the shackles. Though it wasn't easy, and they suffered backlash, the fact still remains that they worked their way around it."

Scratching his head, Roderick continued, his voice somewhat sheepish.

"And even though I've been trying to explain to these guys that I have reworked my contracting process, promising that the same mistake might not happen again, they still have their doubts.

So no, a contract from me isn't going to give any form of assurance."

Roy caressed his bare chin.

"Hmmm… I see. Negotiating this will be quite a hurdle."

Then he shrugged, waving his hands as stacks of documents landed on the table.

A cunning smile graced his lips. Back before facing his calamity, he had prepared some very enticing offers he would use to bait Lords into accepting him planting a branch in their territory.

Unfortunately, he had been in a coma for quite some time, so he never got to use them. But thankfully, now they would come in handy.

He took out the first, his expression fringed with pity.

"Sigh… here I thought this negotiation, I was planning on offering this."

He slid the first stack towards one of them.

"That is a blueprint for making quite the variety of guns, along with the ammo creation method… It's quite a pity. I was hoping to share this with my friends."

The Lords' defiant expressions stiffened, with Lord Henry swallowing hard as his gaze remained glued to the blueprints…

Roy pressed further, sliding another stack forward.

"This is a blueprint for vehicles of three varieties… What a pity."

Roy shook his head, his pitiful expression exaggerated.

The Lords swallowed hard, staring at the documents, with Lady Sonia almost drooling as her gaze remained fixed on the stack.

"Sigh… and here are blueprints for turret offense mounting systems…

And the remaining are grenade blueprints, some flash grenades, some flight vehicle blueprints… I really thought this would be an eventful exchange… Too bad."

By the time Roy finished speaking, the Lords gazed at the scattered pile of blueprints, staring with bated breaths, every shred of resistance in their gaze long worn down.

Roy smirked as he stared at their hungry gazes with a squint. Time for the final push.

He waved his arm, and the blueprints vanished right before the Lords' eyes.

Their hearts ached as the feeling of loss clouded their minds.

Lord Henry was the first to cave, letting a humble smile tug his lips, his hands clasped together as he began to speak, starting with a feigned cough.

"Cough! Cough! Lord Roy, we haven't completely rejected the idea of an alliance. As I see it, you're definitely a man of great prestige and honor. Things like reneging on contracts will be far beneath you."

Lord Sonia nodded fervently.

"I agree… sigh, we had eyes but couldn't see. How could we hold doubts in our hearts? We were clearly offensive. I ask for pardon."

The others nodded heavily in support of their allies. Before such enticements, did they dare reject?

Having modern techs would provide them all with massive benefits. For Sonia, the vehicle blueprints were just what she needed to take her businesses to another level.

For Henry, it was the opportunity to craft tactical weapons instead of being stuck forging swords, spears, and the like.

To everyone in the room, these blueprints were sure to benefit them one way or another, but mostly they would help strengthen their forces.

Roy smiled.

"You see, it is just like Lord Jared revealed. My Order requires me to plant police outposts in other territories, to keep a watch for crime and other evil happenings.

But you see, they will be restricted, never able to act outside of their duties.

So actually, there is nothing to worry about. This isn't a restriction from me, but something inherent."

Roy's assurance made them even more convinced that this deal wasn't so bad…

"You do understand that we would also be planting our branches in your territory, right?" Brandon inquired. After all, this was a mutual trade.

Roy nodded.

"I am fully prepared for that. We just have to finalize our deal, then we will be official allies."

The Lords glanced at each other, their excitement palpable.

And Roderick got to work drafting the contracts.

"Here, we all sign with blood." Roderick passed the bronze scroll over to Roy to read through it.

And indeed, after scanning through the terms and conditions, Roy found nothing wrong, so he signed.

Passing it to the others to do the same. After the contract passed around, everyone signing with blood, the bronze scroll levitated at the center of the table.

Bursting with a golden sheen before dissolving into ethereal streams of energy flowing into the heads of everyone who signed.

Roy instantly felt a mystical bond or ties to the nine Orders, as a mystical spiral glyph flickered on the heads of them all.

"Good. Next we have to plan the construction of roads linking to each other's territories."

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