Bro, I'm not an Undead!

(A/N: Expansive Lore and Exposition ahead)

"You're asking of me quite the hefty request," Silrat said as he scratched his hair, his eyes gazing at the woman who sat before him.

She looked rather different from how she normally looked, her temperament and posture looking more refined than her wild adventurer self.

Even her speech was more formal as she was representing something bigger than herself.

"I understand that. I'm prepared to compensate you heavily for it," the lady said as she sat straight.

Silrat sighed as he tapped his desk.

This setup of this room was for formal requests to the Guilds Association, different from the lavish lounge that he had entertained the City Lord before.

"I don't think you do, my dear. You're getting me and several parties who are contractually bound to my every move, one more than the others, in danger. This move by House EverSword is calling forth Families from different regions to contend. Surely, you can't expect me to believe that you can compensate me after half-stealing my client and exposing them to dangerous opponents in this death game," Silrat said, openly concerned with this arrangement.

The woman before him shifted as she gathered her words.

"Death game is an exaggeration. I can understand your concerns however. I acknowledge the risk of death and I have considered it when accounting for the compensation. As for the issue of joining the Bryne Family, that won't constitute having any duties at all and he can request as much as he wants from it provided that we manage to win a spot. All the participating Families have signed contracts with many other outsiders with the same parameters. It's all specified in the clause," the woman calmly explained.

Silrat once again looked at the papers which were in his hands.

They documented the entirety of the Bryne Family's proposal, no doubt complied and written by this woman herself as she was desperate to keep the Family alive, given the future concerns.

It was a very good deal all things considered and it lined up with all his own plans.

However, what made him anxious was the fact that some of the most powerful Families would be participating with their monstrous prodigies.

Worse yet, a House would be overlooking the entire event.

What was a House and what was a Family?

The creation and distinction of these two entities stemmed from the end of the First Grand War, the period between and into the Second Grand War.

This time was known as the Age of Patkmas Yujgi, which meant 'Emergence of the Pillars.'

As the First Grand War was known for it being a war between everyone and the Giants, it indeed was hailed as the largest scale war in history.

However, the Second Grand War was considered the most brutal, because personal stakes were involved.

This stemmed from the time humans developed and Advanced and Hidden Classes to fight the Giants, spilling into the next years.

During this period, the knowledge that the Giants had imparted onto humanity was not forgotten but embraced.

First, was the notion of Forests.

Sacred Forests, to be exact.

Humans had cut down large forests indiscriminately in their past, slaying the young beasts that grew within and plundering the nature wantonly.

However, the Giants had informed the humans that all forests were not equal. Some were called Sacred Forests, places cultivated by a high form of energy which spawned spontaneous creation.

From this, large Forests would bloom, blessed with heavy amounts of mana that partitioned and created a vast array of powerful beasts and grew massive shoots of vegetation that kept the vast areas around them.

It was because of these places that the space which would sometimes be made unstable and corrupt by the collision of the Deities' powers, would be made stable, keeping away phenomenon like Clusters.

Such places like the Tremur kept the regions around Eofel Cluster free, the temperatures remaining moderate.

This detail had been taken to heart by the humans barring a few, as they decided to leave Sacred Forests alone as it was easy to tell them apart once they began following the paths of mana.

However, many aspiring to become powerful experts to safeguard their families chose to venture into the Sacred Forests to learn different methods to achieve unique ways of manipulating mana and to augment themselves.

Some mimicked the animals.

Some mimicked the plants.

Some delved into mana rich spaces to meditate.

Others took in different herbs and poisons to experiment on their bodies.

Many died in the process but after many years of cultivating different strengths, monsters were born.

Unique humans with peculiar bloodline traits.

Powerful men with terrifying techniques.

Feared families that held the secrets to manipulating aspects of reality but their grew to have conditions that restricted their use.

All these spilled into the time before and after the First Grand War and fuelled the whole premise of the following war.

As for the distinction between Houses and Families, many still mixed up the two if they lived in lesser areas away from major establishments but those from large cities knew the difference.

Families were entities that remained in a certain place because of the long lines of ownership established in the old times due to conflicts over the resource.

Naturally, the use of their strengths was used to establish their dominance.

They held powerful techniques and bloodline traits that could turn anyone into a C rank combatant or higher using the Guilds Association's grading system.

They often owned portions of land that were designated as theirs with even the Royal Family being unable to refute their ownership.

Houses on the other hand, were larger scale entities established in old times purely because of the potency of their technique, bloodline or both being extremely dangerous.

Families could be born in the new age and acknowledged, but Houses were established during the Age of Patkmas and none had ever been accepted to become the next since as they simply couldn't compare.

Till this day from then, only six Houses could be counted in Pelian and the House EverSword was one of them.

All these Houses, had contributed majorly in the Age of Patkmas Yujgi hence earning further distinction from mere Families as their strengths even to this day, were nothing short of profound.

"<Sigh>..." Silrat breathed out.

Taking all of this into account, he couldn't decide whether or not to agree.

The thing was, he had to take into account Festos' curse. Thus, for this to work, he needed to make sure he was the point of contact as he was under a mutually beneficial Tie of Exchange.

Also...

"Festos will be back soon. You and your uncle can try to convince him. If he agrees, then I'll have my answer as well," Silrat said.

An elegant smile formed on the young woman's lips as her red hair moved with her cultured nod.

Unbeknownst to these two, the following day would bring about some worrying news.

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[Author's Note]

Chapter 300! Ahoy!

Thank you all for reaching this goal with me! I appreciate your support and hope you'll continue to do so!