Though many thoughts flashed through Abner's mind, none showed on his face. After a brief hesitation, he made his request:
"What I want in payment is simple. Demonstrate every ability of the Hunter Pathway from Sequence 9 through Sequence 3...
"The rest can wait until you're free, but I want the Reaper's Fatal Attack up front."
What Abner most urgently wanted to know was whether Giuseppe Castiya had come out of these ruins, as he suspected...
After all, that was the foundation of a whole chain of deductions he had made.
But Abner could not show his interest. The Evil Spirit would immediately sense it and use it to seize control of the negotiation.
Then he might get no answers at all.
"A Reader, just as I thought. You even have the same look on your face as someone I know!" The Evil Spirit studied him for a moment, then sneered. "But why should I pay you in advance?"
"Two reasons..." Abner raised two fingers unhurriedly and smiled.
"First, as I said, I can obtain blood from direct descendants of Sauron and Einhorn whenever I like. That puts me closer than anyone else to meeting the conditions for releasing you.
"As for the second..."
Abner paused and glanced at the Evil Spirit's unconcerned expression before continuing. "I don't know if you have another plan for escaping... But if you do, it would be easy enough for me to ruin it...
"So an advance payment is entirely reasonable!"
This sounds an awful lot like a protection racket... Klein couldn't help thinking. Then he added inwardly, Well done, Mr. Tower!
The Evil Spirit glared at Abner for a long moment before giving a short laugh.
"You have a real talent for Provocation!
"Fine. I agree!"
Before the words had even faded, an