"Ha... Let's have a talk, Yusuf," Gates said to the mysterious man now identified as Yusuf, which caused a halt from him... confirming his identity.
"How do you know my name, boy?" Yusuf responded with a question. Even among the group he led, his name was confidential; he could not allow this kid to live.
"That doesn't matter now, does it? You're probably thinking that you have to silence me for sure now, and so I request we have a little 'chat' before you make a wrong decision," Gates said with unmatched confidence that did not contrast with his situation. Yusuf looked closely at this child, wondering where this confidence came from.
Swiping his hands across the space in front of his eyes, Gates saw a semi-transparent field appear out of thin air around them both, noting the distance between them as nearly 24 meters.
"A sound cancellation field; no one outside of this field will hear anything inside... I wonder, is this good or bad for me?" Gates analyzed his situation. On one hand, if he managed to convince this killer well, he would return alive, and on the other hand, if he couldn't, well, his death was assured without even his cries for help, if he could muster any.
"You know about this too?" Yusuf asked, not surprised but more so confused about the depth of knowledge this kid had. It was no secret that he was talentless in magic and yet knew of a mid-rank spell...
"It's nothing noteworthy to yourself, however, since my life is on the line, I would love to negotiate my coming out of this encounter alive, as well as swearing secrecy to not divulge your identity to anyone," Gates said as he tried his best to keep his composure relaxed.
...This kid, if not for seeing it with my own eyes, I would think that I was speaking with another matured mind.
"You know as well as I do that I cannot let you li—"
"Even if I can double whatever was offered for my puny life?" Gates countered, cutting Yusuf off before he could finalize his statement.
"Oh? Tell me, kid, what makes you think that you have something that can make me spare your life? And what makes you think I will not just take it from you and kill you either way?" Yusuf questioned as well as challenged the certainty of this child's words.
"Of course, I do have such a thing, however, as you can see it is not on my person... and as for your statement, that is why a magic contract will be required between us," Gates said, causing Yusuf to look at him oddly. Of course, Gates couldn't know of this as Yusuf was still hooded, exercising his caution.
Magic Contracts, like their name suggested, were contracts formed from magic; the contents can be anything and its penalty, well, on the low end would be giving a possession of your properties or specified gold or currency or whatever is stated... and on its higher end, death.
What Gates was requesting meant two things to Yusuf: he either had what he said he had to back this all up or he was an ignorant fool who just wanted to live a few more hours or days.
"What makes you think I would rather sign a magic contract with you than just kill you?" Yusuf asked, understanding that it can't be the second option considering how composed and confident the kid was.
"Because, you know as well as I do that signing that magic contract means I have what I say I have. If not, I would rather just choose to die now than live just a bit more to die again, albeit a more painful death too," Gates said, catching the thoughts of Yusuf at a glance. As Yusuf was about to reply, Gates held up his hand, stopping his response and continuing...
"Do you not want to hear what I have to offer before you come to a conclusion? Trust me, what I have to offer would make you return double what you accepted for my head... my only condition, however, aside from keeping my life, is the identity of the one who asked for my head," Gates replied with unparalleled decorum, different from his behavior back on earth.
"Hm, what is it you have to offer? If it is as good as you say it is, I will let you go; the identity of your enemy, however, is against the code of conduct," Yusuf replied.
"Haha, not after you hear what I have to offer. I know you have a younger sister... an incurable disease, huh... one that—"
"Who are you? You cannot be the young Amon," Yusuf questioned as he gripped the neck of Gates, his speech slurred as he couldn't produce any words to continue his negotiation. For the first time since this negotiation started, Gates felt the threat to his life... immensely.
However, he understood that he had to continue; this outburst was within his calculations...
Tapping the wrists of the man who showed such serious murderous intent towards him, he gestured to his throat and then to his mouth, calling attention to the man, who let go of his neck and waited for the kid to catch his breath.
"First, that was very unnecessary; it's not like I can escape. Second, I am Gates Amon. Last, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted..." Gates stood up, rubbing his neck as he spoke those words. He could understand the reaction from the man and honestly thanked inwardly that he hadn't used mana against him; that would be like using a knife to kill an ant... it was overkill, even in anger.
"Have you ever heard of the Life-Jade flower?" Gates asked as he finally let his neck go from his soft massage. It still stung but not as much to make him uncomfortable.
"What did you just say!?" Yusuf asked in shock.