Chương 90: 3 - THE DEAL MAKER

"Wait, are you serious?" T'balt couldn't believe his ears. The well-dressed man looked down on him from the truck he sat in.

"I don't joke. Information is quite valuable these days."

"But it's real? You actually know about the Looter's Paradise?"

"I've heard the name thrown around a few times, enough to gather what you might be searching for." It felt like it had been ages searching. He asked dozens of survivors across multiple lives, and now suddenly he's found someone who's heard the name before.

"I guess Monan wasn't full of shit after all," T'balt muttered.

"You sound surprised that it's real," Ellie said.

"It's not that just.. we finally have an actual lead."

"Not quite," the man crossed his legs, letting his knees protrude out of the open car door. He seemed to enjoy sitting above them, as shortly above them as it was.

"As I've implied, that information does not come for free."

"For free?" Ellie scoffed.

"How about for your life? Is that enough to cover it?"

"Might've been, had you healed me under the agreement that I give you this information for it. But I made no such pact. You all helped me because you're good Samaritans. So in that vein, you've already been paid in whatever it is good Samaritans find valuable." T'balt didn't need hypersensitivity to sense Ellie's blood boiling.

"Alright," he said.

"You're technically not wrong. We would've helped you if you had information or not. But that doesn't change the fact that whatever knowledge you have on the Looter's Paradise will help us out a lot."

"As I thought," the man brought his finger to his chin.

"Then I propose a trade. I'll tell you whatever I know about it, if you'd let me take your car."

"The car?"

"Are you out of your mind?" Ellie interjected.

"You want to just take our car and strand us here?"

"No. I just want to take the car. What happens to you after that isn't much of my concern. It's a simple deal. You need information, and since none of these trucks appear to be working, I need a car to get myself to my destination. Unless I'm mistaken, and that information isn't as valuable to you as you said. If that's the case, then I'd have to figure out my own way." T'balt frowned, thinking to himself, but Ellie abruptly pulled him to the side.

"You can't be seriously considering this?"

"I mean, it is the whole reason we're out here in the first place."

"And if it's across the country, what do you want us to do, walk?"

"Hey, we're a bit more resourceful than that. It wouldn't be that hard to find another working car, I don't think."

"Well, I don't want to bet on resourcefulness when we have Acelin with us."

"The man's clearly not gonna tell us anything otherwise. It's our only lead in a whole month. We can't just let that get away. Plus, I wouldn't feel right leaving the man on his own after everything that's happened to his people here." He glanced around at the at least twenty bodies thrown around the area. Ellie growled.

"Why don't we ask Cannon what he thinks?" They both excused themselves to report back to the car, where Cannon and Acelin were eagerly awaiting any news. Once they explained the situation, Cannon equipped one of his thinking faces before saying, "Yep. That's a raw deal."

"I told you," Ellie felt the need to say.

"You don't think it's worth it?" T'balt asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But the guy's obviously haggling. Have you tried a counteroffer?"

"No. But he seems pretty set on his conditions."

"I often wonder how a guy so wise can be gullible." T'balt frowned.

"Maybe you're still not quite as old as me yet." Cannon chuckled.

"But trust me, this guy smells like snake oil."

"I guess my grandparents did used to say I was too trusting." A few moments passed. The man in the tie had found a clipboard, taking a tally of some sort. T'balt approached, this time bringing Cannon with him instead of Ellie.

"I've got a counteroffer. How about we just give you a ride where you need to go?" The man took a measure of the wrestler and rolled his eyes.

"No."

"No?"

"Where I need to go is the location of my employer, and I'm not willing to give his location to a bunch of strangers. You understand." Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. T'balt started to get stressed out.

"You mean that Mitas Corlander person, you mentioned earlier?"

"YOU MEAN THE MITAS CORLANDER!" Cannon burst out in a childlike excitement.

"I knew these trucks were beautiful for a reason." He sensed T'balt's confusion.

"They're Corlander trucks. It's a brand of cars. High-class, comfortable, and powerful. I owned 3 of them."

"Jeez. Were you really that loaded?"

"I did an endorsement deal once."

"Yes. I recognize you," the man said monotonously.

"You're the wrestler."

"Looks like my fame precedes me once again."Cannon chortled.

"You must've been a producer for them or something when I shot my commercial. Say, I never got to see how it turned out."

"Obnoxious and a waste of time." Cannon caught a frog in his throat.

"Now, back to the matter at hand," the man turned to T'balt.

"Will you take the deal or not?" T'balt groaned, putting a hand on his choker.

"How do I know you won't just tell me a fake place and take off with the car?"

"The place is called Graceland. The paradise is just a silly nickname, and I know exactly where it is. It actually isn't far, if you know the way."

"Hmm. Then we have a deal." Cannon raised an eyebrow, prompting T'balt to continue.

"On the condition that we go there together. If we see that you're telling the truth, then we'll let you have the car. Hopefully, we won't have much need of it then." The man didn't hesitate.

"Accepted," And made his way to the car.

"Look at that. You're a top-notch negotiator." Cannon said.

"Hopefully, that means something, here." T'balt made his way after him. Everyone was thrown off when the man jumped into the front seat of the convertible and closed the top.

"I'm driving," he said.

"Wait. Hold on. I'm the driver around here." Cannon inserted himself.

"It's not your car yet. You can't just come in and do what you want."

"I don't want to have to yell directions at you every five seconds. It's more efficient if I drive. Less room for communication errors." Everyone had a problem with that, most of all, Ellie. But in times like these, they looked to T'balt to do something about things. But the Redeemer only shrugged.

"It makes sense." Cannon handed him the keys for the man to start the engine.

"Wait a second," T'balt halted.

"Is it really okay just leaving all these bodies here? I mean, they were a part of your group, too, right?" That was when the man showed the first hint of a smile that they'd seen on him. It was a condescending smile.

"Are you proposing that I toss them all in the trunk and drive them home?"

"No, but something."

"Get in the car," the man said.

"I have a deadline." Looking back reluctantly, T'balt did as he said, and they took off. He knew there was nothing he could do for the dead, but it had been a while since he saw such a deliberate loss of life. The scene reminded him of the first time Nrv attacked the church. A human-led massacre. People weren't always expected to be civil in times of crisis, but it felt like considering survival above all things as a justification for death. And it didn't sit right that death seemed so transactional to this man.

In a colder, calculated way, he sounded just like Monan. They pushed forward using Acelin's psychic power to push the trucks off the road that was blocking their way, including the fallen tree that seemed to spark the ambush. A few miles down the road, T'balt had to prod the man to give them his name.

"German Casas."

"Oh. Then are you German?" Acelin asked.

"If you met a woman named Daisy, would you assume she was a flower?"

"Uhm... symbolically. I think."

"So, Mr. Casas," Ellie said.

"Are you ever going to tell us what happened to your caravan back there or anything about what a convoy of trucks was doing out here?"

"I will not."

"How can you be so stubborn?" Ellie felt especially slighted, having just saved his life. She knew she shouldn't be expected, but it still peeved her how cold the man was.

"I don't see how it concerns you."

"As reassurance that whatever attacked you won't chase after us to finish the job. We do have a kid in the car." German broke his stoicism, but only briefly.

"The threat has passed. The people who ambushed us have got what they were looking for and fled."

"And I'm guessing you're not gonna tell us what they were after."

"No." Ellie scanned around.

"At least I can say it doesn't look like anyone is following us."

"So about this, Graceland," T'balt started.

"Is it really a paradise?"

"I wouldn't know," German said.

"Never been inside."

"See, T'balt, this guy's full of it." Cannon angrily shifted in the backseat, too large to be in the back of a convertible with the hood down. He looked like a packaged potato, trying not to squish Acelin next to him.

"If you'd allow me to finish… I'd heard stories of the place, though. An entire city suddenly appeared just days after the invasion."

"Zero day?" T'balt asked.

"Whatever you like to call it. But they say it was built by a single man. A man with power enough to challenge God. And he uses that power to make a safe haven for anyone inside." Everyone listened closely.

"That sounds like a Redeemer," T'balt concluded.

"Someone being able to build an entire city that early after Zero Day."

"You're right," Cannon said.

"Everyone's usually so disoriented that it's impossible to figure out what's going on that soon.

"Not without extra help."

"So then it's a safe haven?" Ellie asked.

"It sounds like what you did for us at the church."

"Yeah. I'm sure this guy's a lot better at it than I was. But loot can work in any way it wants to, it seems. I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet. It could be a Redeemer, or it could be something else entirely."

"A Redeemer, you say," German sounded curious.

"Yeah. Have you heard of anyone calling themselves that?"

"No," he said, looking at the road.

"Just an interesting name, is all." After about an hour, they came to a stop at an abandoned dock with no boats. There was no one around. Not a demon. Not a body. Not a soul. So, of course, everyone immediately got suspicious when German said, "We're here."

"What do you mean, we're here? I don't see anything but water." German got out of the car and walked up to one of those binocular stands for tourists. He scanned around the water for a while before saying, "There," and inviting the others to come see.

"What is it?" T'balt asked.

"Graceland. It's there."

"Where?"

"Several miles into the ocean."