Meryl could see that Billy was strong. While she hadn't seen him, she also knew about his exploits. Still, his strength wasn't absolute with his skills and statues alone. She also had a feeling that he had tried to check the third territory if he decided so soon to make an alliance. Only someone who had taken a glimpse of that guy's power would reach that conclusion so soon… that idea wasn't bad, but it seemed that she was taking her strength far too lightly. Unless she makes herself look stronger by refusing some of his proposals, the balance of power will change to his side. Once that happens, it was only a matter of time before he becomes the leader and her people has to obey him.
"We can talk about a temporary alliance, but the relics will stay here," Meryl declared.
"The terms for this alliance to work in the first place is you giving the relics back," Billy said. "You won't need those with our help, after all."
"Our help… You have the cooperation of others like us?" Meryl asked. "I suppose that are those two who were facing the Earth titan… I knew that somehow you guys were coordinating to take them out, but I didn't expect that your alliance would last after the enemies had been defeated..."
"Those two are keeping in check that other guy who is controlling the fallen soldiers," Billy said.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"You must be confident in your skills if you had come here alone…" Meryl said.
"Yes, I am… Do you want to fight now that you know that I am alone?" Billy asked.
Meryl didn't reply. She had met many confident people, but none of those made her feel nervous like Billy did. He more or less took down two titans by himself, after all. While Meryl killed one a lot faster than him, she had to make good use of her powers and circumstances.
"What do you have in mind when you think of this possible alliance?" Meryl asked.
"I want to get rid of all possible troublemakers since I am tired of wars, I don't plan on enjoying a second life filled with death and bloodshed," Billy replied.
"Well, aren't you a sweetheart?" Meryl asked. "What else do you want? Global love and peace?"
"I am fine in just not letting too many conflicts happen around me, as long as they don't involve me and my family, I am fine if stupid people kill greed people and vice versa," Billy replied while shrugging.
Being self-centered wasn't a crime, but Meryl could almost tell that Billy was abusing his privilege. Regardless, she probably wasn't used to making alliances with people of her equal standing, so she was hesitating.
"You can have some time to think about this, you don't need to give me your answer right now," Billy said. "The other factions still are working to amass their power.. probably. I can't tell what the guy in the central part of the continent is doing since I can't approach. Keeping an eye on that area will be a pain in the ass."
"True… It will take a while for me to confirm if the other two truly are on the other side of the continent," Meryl said.
"You can confirm it right now," Billy said and took one of the mirrors that he used to keep an eye on things on the other side of the continent. "I can tell them to approach those areas. Do you want to make them do soemthing in order to confirm that this isn't a recorded video?"
Meryl frowned when she saw the magic circle. It truly seemed like a monitor that was connected to some kind of camera. She was almost certain that such magic items weren't supposed to exist in that world and that kind of thing made her recall some bad memories. Meryl checked his status again and confirmed that Billy's powers were different from his…
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"What is wrong?" Billy asked.
"... It is nothing…" Meryl replied. "One of them is a super fast guy, right? Why don't you call him?"
"I suppose that is possible, but it will take a lot of mana… I will have to do something about that in order to deal with his complaints," Billy asked. "That will cost me something, what are you going to offer in exchange for that?"
"How about some knowledge?" Meryl asked. "It seems that you haven't met the other guys yet, so you don't know a single thing about them. For example, they are like us."
"I already suspected that, rather, it is kind of obvious since few people would be able to cause problem to us," Billy replied.
"I suppose, what about the fact that the guy on the central part of the continent have killed and absorbed the power of five others like us," Meryl replied.
Now that surprised Billy… he had imagined that on the demi-humans continent, some reincarnated would appear, but not so many of them. Regardless, now it made sense why Billy was so wary of them.
"Also, it seems that you have obtained the power of three others… You should stop from killing the others right now because you will lose your sense of self," Meryl said. "That guy was a battle freak from the very beginning, but once he killed his third reincarnated individual, he began to change. Before he liked to fight and win to feel good about himself, now he just wants to keep fighting and doesn't care about anything else, he is trying to control the whole continent so that he could fight as much as possible."
That seemed suspicious, so Billy couldn't help but frown… If that was true, why he didn't feel weird in any way until now. Why such effects would only show up after killing and getting the power of three reincarnated individuals. Still, Billy couldn't discard that possibility since those powers weren't things that they obtained by themselves.