Dominic looked at Nathaniel in doubt as he was shivering. His body remained stable but his energy kept shaking as if he was scared. He had to doubt the professionalism of this man and if this Empire was really that great.
Nathaniel smiled and said, "You are a killer."
Dominic nodded. He was a person who led a war. Nathaniel shook his head. Mystery of the self was related to the action of the self. What kind of being would have his personal mystery emanating to the world have appeared to him as KILL! KILL! KILL!.
He knew someone with this kind of mystery should be an evil mage but he does not need to be an evil mage as anyone who is a sage will have nearly unlimited energy as they could corrupt all kind of energy from outside the world. So he does not need to harvest the life of others. He cannot become an evil mage. But he surely was someone who was strong enough physically to kill him and the emperor and get away with it and mentally strong enough to not stop before killing the emperor as his creed was killing. No king could kill the emperor and get away with it except this man.
He had to doubt if it was right for him to choose to stick to this man. What if this man killed him just because he did not like his glass of wine? It would be better to send one of his daughters of the age as if she died, let her remain dead and if she was alive, let him prosper. He planned to help her in all manners except being in front of him.
Dominic looked at the man who had been gone for half a month and said, "It has been long since we met."
Nathaniel nodded. He took a biscuit on the table and ate it. Dominic looked at him in doubt as this was just a sample made for the commoners.
Nathaniel put down the half eaten biscuit on the table. Dominic looked at him and Nathaniel took the half eaten biscuit and ate it wholly. He smiled and said, "After intense discussion, the emperor is willing to grant you the title of an independent king, 20% share of the company that has absolute right to mine the divine essence and you can get the proceedings every year in divine essence or gold. As for your territory…" Nathaniel took a deep breath and spoke, "You cannot be granted a territory as that will cut off the cake given to others. You have absolute right to expand land and claim any land that you conquered as part of your land with absolute right to governance."
Dominic sighed. He poured himself a cup of tea, took a biscuit and blew the powder on it, dipped it in the tea and ate a bite. He slowly finished the biscuit before drinking the tea. After he finished the tea, he smiled at the boy sitting in front of him.
He spoke, "I am supposed to get the 20% as I am already facing the dragon, commanding the army to fight against the dragon-kin, and will have to be named an enemy of the dragon. As for the position of the king, any king level mage will get the title of the king when joining an empire and will get the right to inherit the kingdom if he is going to join a kingdom by marrying the princess. So why should I a king level mage join the empire just for an useless title while the whole world will respect me the same whether I have the title or not. Your title has no value except for the contract. So, if you want me to join the empire, you should pay me something else. If not, I will still talk with your nobles and make deal with them as they do not care if I have the title of nobility of this empire or not as I am an all-human noble by right. As for facing the dragon, go and talk to your emperor before deciding a good gift for me before asking me to do something."
Nathaniel nodded and stood up and left as if he was running. Dominic did not stop him. After all, someone had to pass his words.