What was he doing?
Godin simply rose and pushed his glasses up, not even bothering to glance at the furious Garton and the hate from the other CEOs whom he had betrayed. He only looked at the slightly surprised Damon and the absolutely confounded Ambrose with a smile on his round face.
"What does Mr. Arnan think?" Godin prompted.
"Of course, we are happy to do business with Trust and Trades Company. Please check the agreement I prepared beforehand and let me know if there are any issues. If not, please sign and let us welcome a new era of prosperity together!" Damon stated happily, sending over a holographic document to Godin.
The Goblin CEO took the document and scanned it seriously from head to toe, utilizing the feature of the overseeing Intion of this conference center to check for any problems or loopholes. Well, he could only rub his forehead as there were many loopholes in favor of the human race and none for their business partners, but they weren't outrageous enough to deny the benefits attached.
Godin eventually signed and sent the document back to Damon, who also did the same, sending it into the IUAS' system for ratification. Right after, Godin sighed with almost palpable relief, like a huge burden had been lifted off him.
"Godin, why would you do this? Why would you sign such a foolish agreement?" Sinokin asked with a deep tone, putting forth the question that everyone wanted an answer to.
Godin glanced at Sinokin and maybe, out of respect for his high status universe-wide and his wisdom, he decided to answer.
"Lord Sinokin, do you know what it is like to be weak? I don't think you do. Much like the Elves, much like the Jorge, the Fae, the Dragons, and your Insect race, none of you know what it means to be weak or pierced as weak."
"All of you entered the IUAS with much fanfare because your races possessed special traits that granted you strengthened favor. The Dragons are ranked first, the Insect races 7th, and so on, all of you being in the top 50, if not the top 20."
Godin glanced at Ambrose. "Even this overseer fellow is from the 28th ranked species, the Vampires."
Ignoring the speechless Ambrose, Godin continued softly. "Do you know where my goblin race is ranked? We are 479th in the universe. We are barely within the top 500 species, but compared to all of you, this means nothing."
"And yet, we run a goldmine like a seventh-ranked company recognized universe-wide. Without the backing of a top species, do you even know how hard it has been to maintain our spot?" Godin shook his head.
Godin smiled thinly. "Lord Garton just now said it best, what am I, a filthy goblin, doing? If the one to agree to Mr. Arnan's proposal had been Lady Talia, Lady Feena, or any one of you, do you think he would have referred to any of you in such a manner?"
Garton's face changed slightly as all eyes fell on him, but he pursed his lips. Godin's words were true, but he wasn't about to be found publicly apologizing to a race like the goblins.
Godin nodded as if he expected this. "So even with a company on par with the six of you, the lack of a high-ranking species-wise has caused endless suppression, disrespect, and humiliation to me and my people."
"The worst part is that it isn't as if we haven't tried to negotiate with top species to give a portion of our shares in exchange for their backing, but precisely because of our low ranking, all of these negotiations fell through because the other party outright requested the most while offering the least, expecting us to be grateful for the offer itself."
Godin took off his glasses and began wiping them. "So here we are."
"So we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We need the backing of a 'superior' species, but all superior species cannot be allied with." Godin checked his lens on both sides of the glasses carefully.
Afterward, he put them back on with a smile. "Thankfully, the Universe Will is always listening. The human race is a top species much like any of yours from the get-go, with far better prospects. Unlike you, they have no prejudice or arrogance and are very suitable to work with."
Godin remained silent after this, indicating that he had given his answer. The other six CEOs had pensive expressions, understanding the key underlying message; this calamity was brought on by themselves, specifically the seeds they had casually sown.
In this way, it would have been better if Godin had outright slapped each of their faces, for that would have been a better feeling than realizing that the problem you were facing today was created by your actions yesterday.
Meanwhile, Damon, who listened to all of this, had his mind whirring crazily. Unfortunately, the young man was not Felicia, nor did he bring her along for this meeting, so he did not have the necessary knowledge of the social history of the IUAS, or he might have already known this.
But now that he knew, he had many ideas he hadn't thought of before coursing through his mind. Even as the room began to heat up as the other CEOs continued to debate among themselves about Damon's agreement, his mind never stopped.
The thing was, their solidarity was the only real bargaining chip they had against Damon. Suppressing the economic growth of a new species, even one that was extremely talented, was a different ballgame from suppressing that same species plus another of the seven top companies.
They had already discussed in meetings beforehand about their stance, using their ensemble to achieve their goals. Even if one of the lower-ranked companies cracked and tried to seek benefits, it would be easy for them to jointly suppress that company as well as the human race.
But never did they think…
"Lord Godin, I have a special proposition for you." Damon suddenly said, interrupting the noise in the room.
All eyes fell on the young man, and they could almost feel the element of seriousness from him. Godin especially shifted his glasses and nodded, willing to listen to the proposition and see what it would bring to the table.
"1 Trillion Essence Coins right now, and your company gains the permanent as well as the exclusive right to transact with humanity, also acting in the capacity of a fiduciary agent. You also gain a 10% return on any transactions passed through you, separate from the base price of the exchange." Damon said quickly, his eyes gleaming.
"What?!" Garton once again lost his cool, because this proposition was even worse than the previous one.
If Godin agreed to this, his company would be the financial representative of humanity, sourcing all goods they needed for the race while selling anything they procured. Worse off, if anyone wanted the ability to hire, livestream, or perform any other service from humanity, they would have to come to this goblin fellow first to negotiate a price!
Godin trembled greatly, opening his mouth to agree when Talia Vritu stood up right away.
"Mr. Arnan, I am willing to sign your contract!" she said hurriedly, her breathing rushed.
"Same here, I will sign!" Carzan almost hastily agreed.
Sinokin and Feena agreed right after, their expressions desperate, while Bertrand's expression was thunderous, looking like he was struggling internally with regard to this choice. As for Garton, he was the worst off as his expression resembled someone who had watched his wife being 'stretched out' by another man with a longer flagpole than his.
Godin's expression was ugly as he glanced at Damon. Since the young man made the offer, he would certainly want to insist on it, which would start a beautiful partnership between the soon-to-be top human race and the downtrodden Goblin race, right?
Damon smiled and relaxed. "Please sign here."
He sent the four the same contract he gave Godin, not even looking twice at the ashen-faced goblin CEO. Even though he had been 'dumped,' the other four did not hesitate to sign because if they caused more trouble, Damon could throw the offer to Godin again, and the goblin would agree a hundred times out of a hundred.
Damon casually glanced at Garton and Bertrand. "This meeting will be terminated in the next 5 minutes, so if you're going to make a decision, do it then."
Bertrand eventually calmed down and sneered. "We won't sign. Anyway, according to galactic regulations, you will have to sell your Chaos Essence to us anyway."
Damon nodded in agreement. "True…"
Then he gave Bertrand a strange smile. "But what if we don't sell? We can just hoard our Chaos Essence and lobby the IUAS when our power grows and eventually surpasses the dragon race. Maybe we can even obtain the right your company has now?"
Damon's words caused Bertrand's face to change greatly. Before the dragonman could argue, Garton—whose eyes were bloodshot—spoke in a gravelly tone.
"I will sign."
Damon smiled.