Just as Leo was busy wondering about his flaws as a warrior and the areas where he could still improve, his training session was interrupted by Captain Kid, who walked towards him with an obvious glee plastered all over his face.
"My apologies for interrupting your training session, Master Skyshard," he began, as Leo paused his training and nodded in acknowledgement.
He had been expecting Kid to visit for a while now and was hence happy to see him arrive.
"I submitted your proposal to the Unity Government, and they have decided to accept it with open arms," Kid said, as Leo raised an eyebrow of confusion.
His demands had been nothing short of outlandish, however, the Unity Government seemed to have accepted it anyway, which came as a bit of a surprise to Leo.
"They have agreed to pay for the cloning of Ben Faulkner, on-top of paying you 500,000 MP, for reducing your current gaming hours to half its level.
However, they have only one small condition in return" Kid said, as Leo gestured for him to explain the condition.
"They have requested that you give up the powers belonging to the Emperor immediately to a regent after assuming the throne.
In other words, they have requested that although you remain the Emperor on paper and in power, you do not act as one in practice, handing over all the practical work to a regent of your choice.
Additionally, they have requested, that in-case the righteous faction starts to fight back, trying to get a piece of the land back after your coronation, that you are to not personally suppress them, until they become a large enough threat to challenge StrongHaven" Kid said, as Leo found this request to be extremely odd.
The Unity Government wanted him to immediately appoint a regent upon coronation and not suppress a righteous faction resurgence till they were considered a big enough threat?
These were absurd conditions with veiled motives hidden beneath that Leo could not see through for now.
"What are these absurd conditions? Do they even make sense?" Leo asked Kid, who merely shrugged his shoulders in indifference.
"I am but the messenger here. The decision is yours" Kid replied, as he did not sell the offer to Leo anymore.
Having already decided that he was going to attach his future with the Mu Clan, Kid was no longer worried about the issues between Leo and the Unity Government, only coming to visit him here today as an official messenger.
In some ways, Kid could already envision the considerations that the Unity Government may have had in mind behind making such a request, as although it seemed absurd it was anything but.
If Leo appointed Luke, Amanda or anyone from his family as his regent, it was sure to upset the uprising leadership, who were sure to be dissatisfied with such a decision.
With the right manipulation behind the scenes done by the game operators, such dissatisfaction could be used to sow discord and create a rift between the uprising guild, making their institutional stability hollow from within.
On the other hand, if Leo did appoint ChaosBringer or some other high ranking official from the guild to the position of the regent, the ship operators could still threaten him/her into a reduced gaming time penalty and various other tactics that would force the regent to work in shadows against their own organization.
While Leo was already penalized to the maximum level possible, the same could not be said for other members of uprising leadership, who could be strong-armed into unfavorable contracts or forced to accept unacceptable in-game missions.
This was probably the play that the Unity Government was hoping for, as once they removed Leo out of the way, they hoped to control his regent and tear down the rebel movement from the inside out.
It was a classic strategy of bringing down an Empire through internal problems and Kid could see it as plain as the day.
However, despite understanding the possible potholes behind such an offer, he did not offer Leo any advice and let him arrive at his own conclusions.
"Hmm…. What about the information pack? Do I get that too?" Leo asked after a while of thinking, as Kid blinked before nodding vigorously.
"Oh yes, yes, you get a very important information pack too, one that's usually reserved for military officers serving in the universal government" Kid replied, as Leo stroked his chin while mulling over the offer.
Halving his already few remaining gaming days did not seem like the best course of action, but the benefits far outweighed the difficulties here.
He had already hit the level cap within the game, meaning that no matter how many enemies he killed anymore, he was going to see no extra boost in stats, making levelling within the game utterly useless.
The only reason he wanted to kill the Demon King and Drogo was to gather enough MP to resurrect Ben Faulkner, but with that procedure becoming an assurance, he could also accept a loss against the Demon King in-case he suffered one, putting a lot of pressure off his shoulders.
Finally and most importantly, he had nothing else left to achieve in the game anymore as he felt confident that he was already the strongest warrior in the Unity Empire by a longshot.
There was not a single player or NPC within the Unity Empire that could rival his strength, and he felt slightly purposeless and lonely at that peak.
He had to wait until landing on planet Terra Nova now to look for new challenging opponents to beat, and although he wanted to enjoy the success he had built through hard work, he somehow felt that even with his remaining gaming days halved, he still had enough time to do it anyways.
"Very well then… I accept your offer" Leo said, as Kid beamed in joy.
He had successfully brokered a deal acceptable to both parties, navigating expertly through tough negotiations.