Kisuke invited the siblings inside the temporary log house and served them warm tea.
Three of the siblings, on the other hand, were silently staring at Kisuke, while the two cats were outright checking the drinks.
Kisuke preferred that they'd be more discreet about their mistrust, but he just let them be. "Well then, shall we discuss our terms? Oh, right, before that, have you decided to rent the place?"
"We'd like to know who built this place." Helmwige made the opening statement.
Although Kisuke was already expecting that question, he didn't think that this would be the first thing she said. Either way, Kisuke remained relatively expressionless and gave her a straight answer, "You're not going to get that out of me, so forget about it."
Surprisingly, Helmwige immediately backed off and let the others do the talking.
Robertina then presented Kisuke with a list of their demands, which boiled down to three main points.
First, it specifies the boundary of the whole underground space, giving them a clear area of usage.
Second, they are free to do anything and everything within that boundary, and Kisuke would maintain the barrier and make sure it operates at optimal condition and efficiency.
Third, only the children born out of the current [Devil King of Lust] or [Red Dragon Emperor of the Blazing Truth], Issei Hyoudou Asmodeus, will be able to use the underground space, but it's possible to bring in another party if both parties agree to it.
If Kisuke can't meet this, he'll have to compensate them and reveal who created the underground space.
Robertina nervously stared at Kisuke. Out of the presented demands, she cared most about the second point since it meant being able to poke around for more specifics regarding the underground space.
Kisuke silently looked at it for a few minutes, but before he agreed to anything, he first presented his own demands, which boiled down to four points.
First, there would be areas that they wouldn't be allowed to touch or enter.
Second, outside of barrier maintenance, the siblings would be the ones responsible for restoring and replacing anything they destroy.
Third, they must keep everything they find out about the underground space a secret.
Fourth and finally, if Kisuke is somehow involved in any of their activities, no matter how small and within the space, they also have to keep that activity a secret. Even if this involves only one of the siblings, this extends to all those who can enter the underground space.
If either of them couldn't follow these, it's an immediate eviction from him and a promise that they would use their position and reputation to block anyone who'd approach the members of the Urahara Shop because of the information leak in return.
Robertina and the other girls found the fourth demand to be a bit confusing, but Ex could only smile wryly at its presence.
"I can accept everything you ask if you can accept mine." Kisuke said after making sure that all of them read it, "We can also add more stipulations or adjust them with both sides' agreement in the future if the current ones prove to be insufficient."
Robertina stared at the agreement for a few more minutes before sighing. She thought that there would be more back-and-forth with Kisuke and thought about various scenarios she could defend her position. But with Kisuke just accepting everything and her also not finding anything she could reject, Robertina only felt mentally tired.
She turned towards her siblings to make sure that they had nothing to add, and once she was able to confirm that they agreed with it too, Robertina nodded at Kisuke. 'The payment is reasonable, and we can adjust the terms later as long as we have sufficient reason. That's enough for now.'
"Let's sign it." Robertina then took out a shiny crimson crystal from her inventory, "You don't mind if I were the one to initiate the contract, do you?"
"I don't mind. Please do it, Robertina-san." Kisuke then remembered that he still 'didn't know' them and introduced himself to the other siblings, "By the way, it's a bit late, but I'm Urahara Kisuke. It's nice to meet everyone."
"Helmwige. Just Helmwige." Helmwige briefly responded with her head held high.
The Nekomata sisters saw this and followed her lead. "Shirayuki. Just Shirayuki."
"Kurobara. Just Kurobara, nya~!"
'They didn't just inherit a Devil's proud visage but also the ego of a Dragon,' Kisuke thought to himself as he tried making sense of their attitudes. But as he saw them as kids, he didn't really care what sort of attitude they displayed at him. As long as they didn't directly insult him or become hostile, he wouldn't do anything to retaliate.
Robertina was concerned about their attitude, but she could understand their pride as part of the next Golden Generation. She was just worried that Kisuke would retract his offer, but thankfully, it seemed he didn't mind it at all.
Kisuke signed his part, and the siblings also signed theirs one by one as both contractors and witnesses. Although only five of them signed, the contract gained enough power from them to extend its effects to the relevant parties, and it didn't take long before the details of its contents were transferred to the rest of the siblings telepathically.
Naturally, Kisuke knew that some of them had probably already leaked the information about the underground space to non-relevant parties in some way or another before the contract had taken effect. However, by not 'noticing' this hole, Kisuke was giving them the wrong impression of him being not too smart.
'But now that it's active, welcome to my world~! I'll enjoy watching them crumble in frustration of not being able to share further information about the dumb me~!' And because Ex is under Great Red's influence, he's not worried that he had revealed any information beforehand. 'Well, he's not as good as Robertina-san, so he probably won't even realize that he could do that.'
He wanted to grin but did his best to maintain a straight face. "Now that that's out of the way, I'll tell you later what corner you can't use, so for now, there's no limit. Go ham." He then turned towards Ex and asked, "How about you? Do you want another round? I think you'd get it this time."