"Stupid plaything..."
The faint voice emanating from the Philosopher's Scepter echoed endlessly in Leti's ears and mind.
Though the voice was weak and mostly drowned out by the clamorous players, to Leti, it rang like a great bell.
"That is..."
"That is!"
"That is!!!"
Leti cried out in shock, seemingly unable to believe what he had just seen.
He rubbed his eyes hard, then suddenly poked his head out from behind the counter. His gaze locked onto the Philosopher's Scepter in the Storyteller's hand, and he finally confirmed that what he had seen was no illusion.
The next moment, he vaulted over the counter without hesitation and loudly tried to call out to the Storyteller, who was gradually walking away.
However, to his astonishment, he found that he could not make a single sound.
The power of Warfire spreading from him, intending to stop the other party, also abruptly froze.
At the same time, a voice suddenly sounded behind him.
"Mr. Leti, you seem very agitated."
"You would even break our agreement over this."
Rogue spoke slowly, his hands clasped behind his back.
Yet Leti, swept up in his excitement, did not care about that at all. He turned around and looked anxiously at Rogue, utterly stripped of his former sly and treacherous demeanor.
"Candle Keeper, stop him. That scepter in his hand!"
Despite his overwhelming excitement, Leti quickly regained his composure. After taking a deep breath, he began negotiating with Rogue.
"That scepter... is very important to us."
Revealing one's needs too early during negotiations and trades was clearly unwise, as it gave the other party more bargaining chips and tipped the scales.
But Leti seemed utterly unable to worry about such things now. Or rather, his previous reaction had already exposed it all.
"Interesting."
Seeing this, Rogue was