The right to negotiate?

"I encountered the Lament Siren Princess in the Foreign Races' Prison! Her attack was sky-high, her health pool massive—she was a monster! Even with everything I had, I couldn't defeat her!"

[?]

"This disciple is incompetent! I beg the venerable ancestor to help me!"

[?]

"Save me, great immortal! Give me a hand! Why are you just watching, great immortal?!"

[?]

His Excellency the Harmonic God apparently hadn't expected Herbert to react like this. After sending three question marks in succession, the god hesitated for a long time before finally speaking.

[...Speak like a normal person.]

Please act normal. You're scaring me a little.

I finally found someone I could communicate with, and this is what I get?

Herbert pursed his lips and finally stopped fooling around.

Even if fooling around really was fun.

"Oh, what I mean is, I met a legendary Sea Monster today. She wanted to control my mind, but guess what?"

"Ha! Not only did her singing have no effect on me, she was also very friendly and wanted to give me a loving hug! Amazing, right?"

"So, do you happen to have any idea what that was about?"

[You noticed?]

The lettering grew more ornate, faintly conveying the delighted mood of whoever was behind it.

"Of course. It was so obvious. I'm not an idiot-it would've been hard not to notice."

[Heh heh. It seems you finally understand my greatness.]

"I understand. Oh, I understand perfectly."

Herbert gritted his teeth, veins bulging at his temples, his face set with resolve.

That was so fucking dark.

Making those female minotaurs and goblins pose seductively and charge at me together...

No human could possibly dream up something like that!

So twisted.

Although the Evil God had retained a shred of mercy and hadn't actually gone through with it in the end, sparing Herbert a complete breakdown.

Even so, it had already inflicted irreversible damage on his mind.

My brain has been defiled!

The densely layered folds of his brain were now stuffed with fragments of memory comparable to eldritch corruption.

Herbert shook his head and took a deep breath, shifting his attention elsewhere.

[As long as you understand. Hehehehe...]

[With my protection, a mere legendary Sea Monster is nothing at all~]

Carried away with pride, the Evil God even drew a smug little stick-figure face on the paper.

[Still, her charm having no effect doesn't have much to do with me~ Why not think about what other blessings you have?]

Other blessings... oh!

After a moment's thought, Herbert realized it was precisely the Purity Blessing he had scorned.

A pure mind, impervious to all beguilement.

Herbert had thought this ability would, at most, give him greater resistance to charm. He hadn't expected it to give him antibodies outright.

Immunity to charm!

That also explained why the monastery's higher-ups had dared to put him in charge of the prison alone.

With the Purity Oath Blessing, as long as Herbert didn't deliberately break his oath, no one could beguile him, and the Magical Beast girls in the prison couldn't toy with him.

So, just like corporate drones who drank three cups of black coffee and still brought emergency heart medication to work an overnight shift, did the truly useful pawns all come equipped with their own resistances?

[Correct. Although I think little of that deity, as long as this Holy Mark blessing remains, all powers of charm will fail against you.]

"But that's not right, is it? Didn't you beguile me last night?"

You almost tricked me into leaving my room!

[You're comparing them to me? Just how little do you think of me?]

"Oh..."

Okay, then.

You're an Evil God. You're awesome.

Herbert's mouth twitched. Only with difficulty did he stop himself from retorting-if you're so awesome, why can you only come online after midnight?

Because you don't feel like it?

Or does your mom forbid you from using your phone, so you have to sneak on in the middle of the night?

The two continued their back-and-forth for a while. In the end, Herbert changed the subject first, writing seriously, "Listen, enough of this pointless stuff. Isn't it time we discussed business?"

[Oho? What would you like to discuss?]

"Your objective, what you need me to do, and what compensation you can offer me."

[Are you threatening me?]

"Not yet. At this stage, we're only negotiating. If it comes to threats, that'll be after we fail to reach an agreement."

Once they turned to business, Herbert's languid manner vanished. His expression was calm, utterly unconcerned about the nature of the being he was bargaining with.

After all, even if an Evil God belonged to the realm of evil, no one could ignore the fact that this was a deity looking down upon the mortal world.

The natives of this world might have feared and revered such beings from the depths of their hearts, believing resistance impossible.

But the reincarnated Herbert had no such conditioning branded into his mind. He feared them, but held no reverence for them.

[You're quite confident~ Are you really so certain I'll go along with what you want?]

Herbert's left hand trembled. A drop of ink fell from the tip of his pen and swiftly spread across the paper, gathering by itself into a disturbingly sinister string of words.

[Do you really think you have the right to negotiate?]

Surely you don't actually believe that a mere mortal like you has the right to negotiate with a god?

The Evil God made no attempt to hide the contempt, challenging the mortal's arrogance.

And the mortal... paid it no mind whatsoever.

"Ha!"

He even let out a derisive laugh.

"Of course."

Herbert's expression barely changed. Abandoning their little written spirit-summoning game, he spoke calmly aloud. "Because I'm not the one who needs something from someone else. You are."

He leaned back, lifting the stool's two front legs off the floor and rocking leisurely back and forth.

"Don't rush to argue. Let me lay it out for you."

"You're the one who showed up uninvited. You're the one who keeps dragging me into this boring game. And the one trapped by a seal... is also you."

The room was silent, with only his voice echoing through it.

"Besides, over the course of today, I confirmed one thing-you're much weaker than I imagined."

"Did you really think I spent the whole day doing nothing but hiding in some corner, trembling?"

"Here's a little hint. Take a guess: why did I ask you about the Sea Monster right at the start?"

The boy curled his lips in disdain, sneering at the deity's stupidity and arrogance just as the Evil God had sneered at a mortal earlier.

"Did you really think I was just bored and had nothing better to do?"

Bzz-

A faint buzzing reached his ears, as though some being's fury had interfered with reality.

But Herbert ignored it and continued speaking.

"Your reaction gave me the answer. You aren't omniscient or omnipotent."

"You didn't know about my encounter with the Sea Monster. You didn't know what happened then, much less what we talked about... which means you actually have no way of knowing what I'm thinking."

"Even if you really are an Evil God, you're not as terrifying or as impossible to resist as I first imagined."

"Am I right, my dear Evil God?"

Click.

"Now..."

The rocking chair legs settled onto the floor. The boy crossed his right leg over the other and asked leisurely:

"Do I have the right to negotiate with you?"