The hall remained quiet for a couple of seconds before the old man that tried to cause problems for Pan Baibao stood up, turned towards the Chief, and asked "How will this haul be divided?"
Pan Xinfa had the same question in his eyes as he turned towards his sister.
Pan Baibao glanced at her granddaughter and patted her shoulder to speak.
Tong Huakun took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and declared "The Haechi Tribe will receive all the meat and bones from the first hunt, while the Immortals' Lament will take the hides and horns."
The faces of most of the elders started to turn dark so she quickly added "All the profits from future hunts will be split evenly between both participating sides."
Jack could see a frown turning even Pan Baibao's face into a mountain range of wrinkled tattooed skin, but he took all the glares and muttered curses in stride and kept a calm face.
'I need to learn a few things from this slick old lady.' He thought as he studied Pan Baibao from the corner of his eye. Jack doubted that Tong Huakun didn't inform her of their deal beforehand.
Pan Xinfa did another one of his loud claps to quiet everyone down, and then asked Tong Huakun "How much would we need the mercenary company's help in future hunts like these?"
Tong Huakun glanced at Jack from the corner of her eye before she said "It would take some time to train up hunters, but it shouldn't take longer than twenty days. We would have more problems with transferring the beasts than with hunting them."
The old man from the first bench stood up once more and asked "What do we need the mercenaries at all then? We should trade this boy over to the White River family for as much as we can get and be done with it."
A good number of the Tribal Elders gave noises of agreement to the proposal, even some of the ones that Pan Baibao invited.
Jack watched them all with calm eyes while his right hand hovered near his Star Bag. If any of the people here tried something, he would fill the entire hall with Haechi beast corpses and try to flee upstairs in the chaos. Earlier he saw a window on the second floor through which he could escape.
Pan Xinfa allowed the noises to run their course this time as he stared at his sister and waited for her response.
To his surprise, Pan Baibao only looked at Tong Huakun and patted her shoulder.
Tong Huakun looked at the Chief, and only when he gave a nod, did she turn towards the Elders and started to speak "Elder Gong's proposal will keep the Tribe alive for the next generation at most. Even with the few hunting trips we sent our warriors on, they have to travel farther away each time."
She looked the furious old Elder in the first row, Elder Gong, in the eyes and asked "What do we do when the beasts move further into the mountain range? The flooding will come soon enough, how long will it take them to return to their habitats this time? Our raiding had some success, but we're losing more and more brave people with each raid. Soon enough, we will not have anyone able to perform them."
Tong Huakun looked at the rest of the Elders and continued "Will we have enough people to protect us against the other Tribes in the Gathering? Even if we do survive, how long can our children remain out of the grasp of the White River family without other means of earning profits?"
Elder Gong couldn't remain quiet anymore as he stood up and shouted "Everyone here knows the issues the Tribe faces! You were called upon to answer why we should honor your deal with the mercenaries and not just give the White River family what they want."
Tong Huakun took a deep breath, released it, and said "Because I believe that by cooperating with the Immortals' Lament we can not only survive but even thrive in the future."
Most of the Tribal Elders frowned in confusion at her words, but just as Elder Gong opened his mouth to berate Tong Huakun, the seated burly Elder from the first row asked "How?"
The rumbling voice seemed quiet, but everyone in the hall heard it and turned towards the Elder in surprise. Usually, he didn't care about much else than hunting and raiding plans so he allowed Pan Xinfa and Elder Gong to fight about politics, but whenever he spoke the others listened.
Tong Huakun glanced at the Chief, and when she didn't see any objection, answered "Everyone here knows that knowledge is the thing that tips the scales of power when all things are equal. The Immortals' Lament promised to share their knowledge with us in return for our cooperation in…"
A *Khm* sound came from Tong Huakun's right and broke her train of thought. Her brows furrowed as she looked at Jack who held his left hand to his neck and said "Apologies, all that talking previously must have given me a sore throat."
He looked at the Chief as he lowered his hand and continued "While I have your attention, do you mind if I say a few things in my own favor since you started deciding on the fate of me and my men?"
Jack didn't try to hide the trace of anger in his eyes as he exchanged gazes at Pan Xinfa.
After a few seconds, Pan Xinfa nodded his head and declared "Proceed."
Jack gave him a thankful nod and turned towards the Tribal Elders.
"I took my people here because I thought that the Haechi beasts had a nice potential for exploitation, but I never thought that you people would need us more than we need you." He said as he scanned the crowd with his eyes.
As the Elders started frowning at him he continued "The reason Tong Huakun agreed to the deal I proposed, and the reason I don't want more, are the same. We want both of our sides to grow in power together."
He saw that none of the Elders cared much for the way he talked about their Tribe, but he didn't care as he explained "My proposal is this; the Immortals' Lament will open recruiting to the Haechi Tribe and I will pick the people I deem passable and teach them everything I know. All the people I take in will get a fair salary every thirty days once their initial training ends."
Jack studied their uncomprehending faces with a serious look as he continued "The payment we receive from the Haechi hunts will be used to cover our fees for the protection of your caravans to and from the Tribal Assembly. Once we have enough men, we will expand our protection to the tribes you're on good terms with, for a fair price of course. After that, we'll have to see what happens."
He stopped his speech and looked at the waiting Elders. They looked at him with uncomprehending faces, as if they expected something more from the declaration that Tong Huakun made.
Even Pan Xinfa frowned at Jack as he asked "Is that all?"
Jack saw that he couldn't explain the subtitle processes that would happen to the Haechi Tribe with his plan in just a few sentences. After all, it took him a few days to explain everything to Tong Huakun, so he shook his head and answered "Of course not."
He pulled out the camouflaged cylinder and a metal ball from his Star Bag and turned towards the burly Elder in the first row to ask "Elder, do you mind helping me display this weapon?"
The old man's brows rose in surprise as he stood up and asked in return "What weapon?"
Jack walked to the farthest corner away from the Elder and said "Just be ready to catch it."
He raised the cylinder to his shoulder and aimed at the pony-tailed tall Elder. Whit a soft *thump*, the Air Blast spell launched the metal ball a bit to the right of the Elder's right shoulder.
In one smooth move, the burly Elder raised his right hand up and caught the metal ball. His relaxed expression turned serious as his hand twitched backwards.
When he brought his right hand up to his face and opened it, he saw a small bloody ball that made a small wound in the center of his tattooed palm. With one squeeze, he reformed the ball into a clump of useless metal and looked even more surprised.
Jack watched his reactions for a couple of seconds before he asked "Elder, what do you think about this weapon?"
The burly Elder looked up at Jack and questioned in return "How far can you hit someone with it?"
Jack thought of the best way to explain it for a second before he answered "From here I can hit someone at the end of the square with decent accuracy."
The Elder nodded his head and declared "At that distance, you could kill grade four cultivators without issue, grade five if they're not careful, and grade six if you take them by surprise."
Jack nodded his head in confirmation as he asked "What about higher grades?"
The burly Elder shook his head as he stated with confidence "Only if they're asleep."
Jack let out a small internal sigh of disappointment, but he expected something like that already so it didn't get to him too much.
He set his disappointment aside and turned to the rest of the intrigued Elders to say "This is the weapon that the White River family wants me to go back and teach their men to use. It would take me two hundred days to train up a unit of men proficient enough to wipe out all of your caravans. I will teach every member of the Immortals' Lament how to use this weapon and other techniques that you don't even know about."
With that, he turned to the Chief and declared "I have stated my requirements and promises. It's up to you now to decide whether you want to accept them.
He looked relaxed on the outside as he waited for Pan Xinfa's decision, but on the inside he prepared himself to run up the stairs and block the passage with a Haechi beast's corpse.
Even before the Chief could say something, the burly Elder stated "I am for honoring Tong Huakun's agreement with the mercenaries."
His proclamation surprised everyone, as he usually sided with the side that promised more militaristic actions. Before anyone could wrap their heads around his reasoning, Pan Baibao finally spoke up as she added "As am I."
Pan Xinfa looked a little surprised at the quick reversal as he locked his gaze on Elder Gong and asked "Do you have any objections?"
Elder Gong nodded his head as he stood up and asked Jack "Why would our caravans need your protection? We have many powerful warriors in our Tribe that did the job so far just fine."
Before Jack could even explain his reasoning, Pan Baibao interjected with "The mercenaries defeated a raiding party from the Lolin Tribe that aimed to attack our last caravan without taking a single casualty. Jack Song himself killed their fourth in command in the Tribal Assembly in the initial clash, and then their third in command in a duel to the death."
Most of the tribe knew that the mercenaries helped their caravan in a defense from a raiding party, but only a few knew the exact details of the affair. Elder Gong of course knew, but many of the other Elders didn't.
As murmurs of surprise spread among the Elders, Elder Gong said "Even still, our warriors are more than capable to repel a mere Lolin Tribe raiding party."
This time Tong Huakun stepped out in front of her grandmother to declare "As the leader of that caravan, I doubt that we would have managed to save even half of the wagons even if we managed to repel the raiders. The act of the Immortals' Lament saved a lot of lives on that day. That was one of the reasons why I awarded the honor of driving the second wagon to their leader, Jack."
Elder Gong opened his mouth to refute Tong Huakun for speaking out of line, but Pan Xinfa overrode the Elder's voice as he announced "I have heard enough! We will take this to a vote."
Everyone walked back to their seats and standing spots as Pan Xinfa stood up from his wooden chair and walked to stand in front of the gathered Elders to ask "Who is against cooperation with the mercenary company?"
Eleven Elders stood up at this question, among them, Elder Gong stood and glared at a few people seated behind him. Most of them avoided his gaze as they still remained seated, but some of them looked back at him with scorn.
Pan Xinfa nodded his head as he signaled for the standing Elders to sit down and asked "Who is in favor of the cooperation with the mercenaries?"
Twenty-five Elders stood up, including the burly Elder and Pan Baibao, while two elders remained neutral in the whole affair.
Pan Xinfa studied the standing Elders for a few seconds before he released a small sigh and said "May the ancestors forgive me, but I agree with you."
He looked at the grinning Jack who stood in a corner of the hall with Tong Huakun and asked "Now, how do we keep the White River family from taking you away, boy?"
Jack lost his smile.