Serpent and the Captain especially wanted to give this lousy teammate of theirs a good beating.

Why didn't Sloth propose this earlier?!

Before they were swayed by their pig teammate Falcon.

At this point, Serpent and the Captain weren't even sure who was the real pig teammate here, both of their lips twitching in dismay as if having been infected by the actions of the other.

Now, more than ever before, the Captain was considering resigning from his awful position of leader, a position that had seemingly no benefits, no power, and no say.

Only endless more work and burdens.

With two lazy bumbs who didn't want to think nor voice their useful thoughts, one schemer and a talkative dumbass in the team dragging the whole ship down, the Captain was surely going to be the first to sink!

And if you still can't tell who the dumb one is, indicated from the Captain's complaint session in the last chapter, then it's probably you...

Falcon's bad play could still be explained by his own stupidity.

Bear, he's just a bored person.

You can rely on him to choose what sounds more fun, but that is oftentimes also what is most idiotic.

In other words, you can't really rely on him.

At least not until your best plan is 'fun', not to mention it also has to be Bear's definition of fun, which once again, is often stupid.historical

Serpent and the Captain couldn't rely on them, nor could they do much about them after everything was said and done.

The only one who could attract all the remaining rage and indignation could only be this last partner, who clearly has the brains to choose the better of the two evils, is easily convinced as he is too lazy to argue, yet still chooses to not intervene as long as it has nothing to do with him, just to watch a good show from the sidelines.

Let us each light a stick of incense for Sloth and hope he changes his ways.

As he is also the weaker of the bunch. You can't be expecting him to work out every day, right?

***

Back to the main storyline.

Master Giovanni was right about to wrap up the negotiations with the person calling him/herself TWO's partner.

Ah, he felt no sincerity.

Master Giovanni wasn't even given the other person's name...

(Emilin simply couldn't think of an appropriate one on the spot. She didn't want to repeat a name, and she didn't want to blurt one out just to regret it later on. Emilin also took into consideration that this would make her identity seem more mysterious and put her on a slightly higher pedestal.)

As for the actual negotiations, Master Giovanni finally felt how it was to be thoroughly suppressed in a conversation while Emilin and Theodore finally felt how it was like to get in with connections.

Emilin listed her proposition and conditions while no matter how long Master Giovanni thought about it, he couldn't think about how to retort nor ask for more.

Even if he tried being shameless, he didn't know how anymore...

Everything that Emilin said seemed favorable to himself, yet he still had a feeling of being tricked.

Emilin's conditions were actually quite simple.

-Master Giovanni would dedicate at least 10 hours of time per week to one-on-one lessons until it was no longer necessary (spread out in a week, it wasn't too much to ask for, not to mention, Master Giovanni would have the honor of teaching such a gifted student. Other students would often times spend a lot more time to groom at the beginning anyway, and this student with solid foundations just dropped down from the skies.)

Theodore also had his own stuff to get to, if they could, of course, more hours could be fit in their schedule, but if they couldn't 10 hours would have to do.

The hours would have to be put in anyways, so Master Giovanni didn't mind the details, he didn't feel like his time was being wasted, so that was mainly why he didn't care about this point.

-TWO would do his best to participate in all group activities and tests (in other words, he was also doing Master Giovanni some free labor.)

-But his real identity would not be questioned.

This point was a must, at least it wouldn't be questioned until Theodore was willing to reveal himself, and to him who was still in college, that step was much too early.

It would do him no good to reveal his identity as he was still meaning to have a normal college life, not to mention revealing his identity may also connect him to M and thus putting his sister's identity in jeopardy.

As well as putting his big brother, who had nothing to do with this, in danger.

They would find a suitable time to fill in the forms to give in to the Master Association, but it was likely to be no time soon.

Emilin however, did promise that TWO would be Master Giovanni's true disciple and act appropriately, meaning Master Giovanni would have seniority over Theodore.

Those matters were rather straightforward.

Emilin directly connected to one of the printers in Master Giovanni's base and printed out a signed and stamped copy of their agreement and Master Giovanni just had to sign it (this is legally binding).

Of course, there were many other details that were ironed out, but none of them are worth mentioning at the moment.

Everyone had their own precautions and so they wouldn't allow themselves to lose out in a deal.

Master Giovanni was really an old fox in this industry and Emilin had dealt with much larger scale negotiations.

They each had an idea of what benefits the other was getting, and an even clearer image of the benefits they were getting and what they were giving.

All in all, no one was losing out.

They also both understood the notion of giving and taking.

They were giving what they were willing to trade for something they found to be more valuable.

They both felt like they were winning in this deal, but that was only because they had different ideas of what was valuable, which was exactly what Emilin was aiming for.

[Good cooperation.]

"Good cooperation," Master Giovanni said with a sigh after the call ended.

He felt like he had just ended a call more stressful than one with Boss Elijah. This was probably because he had a feeling of being watched from all angles.

'F**k! Why did we have to be so thorough with our security?'

They were the ones to install cameras to encompass every corner and edge of the room, yet now it was also them who would come to regret it.

He had chills crawling down his spine when he thought about it.

Emilin had promised that she would leave their system be, thereafter.

Emphasizing that she had better things to do, but Master Giovanni still didn't say anything after the whole thing was over, just in case.

Seeing his group of disciples that were growing puppy eyes, with 'we have something to say' written all over their faces, he pointed to another room to the side.

That was the only room here that had absolutely no electronics, isolated and insulated.

It was conference room number 2.

No sound would come in or out, which also meant that what was said in the conference room, would stay in the conference room.

That was exactly what they needed at the moment seeing as the whole system had been hacked into.

Since Master Giovanni's disciples had so much to say, and they had already made it clear that the other side wasn't meant to hear it with that skit of theirs, this was the natural process of actions.

They each walked in, even Sloth didn't have to be asked as he too had some notion of what was more important at this moment.

They each took a seat after dusting off their chairs.

This conference room wasn't used much as it wasn't good if their whole group was unable to be contacted by the higher-ups, but now they had no other choice.

If it was a usual day, and they needed to use this conference room, there would always be a person who stayed outside.

In the case of an emergency, they would be able to call those inside out.

This was usually, almost always, Sloth.

But since Sloth was coming of his own violation, this was also him telling his uncle the level of importance of what they had to say.

He was coming in so to make sure that the others wouldn't mess up.

Master Giovanni took note of that so as to mentally prepare.

'Just what could these kids have to say?'

'Is this related to that constant nagging feeling in the back of my head?'

Master Giovanni shook his head before naturally sitting at the head of the table.

He didn't say anything as he observed every one of his students first.

Though they all had much to say, they didn't open their mouths in a conference before their teacher did.

That much was expected of them.

Serpent's eyes were sharp as he clearly had some suppressed rage in his heart.

The Captain's eyes were a little misty with doubt and worry.

Falcon was equally upset as he was confused.

Sloth was.. expressionless, but his eyes couldn't hide his worry.

And worse of all, Bear had this smile that told his teacher, something 'interesting', was about to go down.

"So, what do you guys have to say about your new junior brother?" Giovanni finally opened up the topic.

And at that moment, all 5 of them had a wonderous expression on their faces.

Clear of all previous emotions.

This was because, at this time, they were all thinking of one thing in mocking confusion.

'How did our greatest obstacle for the past 7-8 months become our junior brother in less than a day?!'

And the moment one of them open their mouths, all hell broke loose.