Shades of the New World

Chapter 224: A self-restraining act?

The ensuing night, Evin was suddenly woken by Rith in the middle of the dark, who informed him that the Cosmics were ready to listen to his idea.

"What is wrong with you people?" he asked Rith, but the Cosmic seemed unsure as well.

"I don't know either, Abvelgail just contacted me and told me to fetch you," Rith replied and the two got into the World of Space after dressing up a bit more properly.

Groggy and irritated, Evin surveyed the surroundings to find Abvelgail, to teach the Cosmic some stuff about the moral decency of not waking someone in the middle of the night. He quickly found Abe, but saw two more Cosmics next to him.

The first one seemed to be an elderly Cosmic, with faint blue stars littered throughout its body, a distinct look of deterioration apparent from a glance. Evin looked a bit closer and saw a weird similarity between the old Feline and Rith. 

'Their father?' Evin thought, but pulled his attention to the other newcomer.

The second Cosmic, on the other hand, seemed much slicker and more youthful compared to the elder. But the more noticeable thing that Evin saw, was that the Cosmic's astral body was entirely black. No, black was a bit of an understatement in this situation. 

The Cosmic's body was more resembling of the ever-consuming abyss of a black hole. Although it wasn't distorting space around itself like an actual black hole, Evin was sure he wouldn't be surprised if it started doing so.

One more thing he noticed, was that the Cosmic's iris and pupil was almost completely black with the only white sclera occasionally showing itself on the side, which gave the Cosmic a weird aura of unfathomableness.

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If all this wasn't big enough hint that the Cosmic in front of him was a serious bigshot, then Evin wouldn't know what was. 

"Ah, the Child of the Empress, who put the Elmes Group on its head with a few simple words. It's an honor to meet you, you can call me Devin Elmes, current vice-president of the Elmes Group," the younger Cosmic greeted with a bow.

'Definitely a bigshot. The second biggest of them all, actually. Holy shit' 

"Likewise. Ehm, I'm Eviendra, though you can call me Evin," Evin answered politely. Over the course of his life, he learned that being well-mannered and respectful was the best way to avoid unnecessary trouble. Though lately, he mixed politeness with a bit too much sarcasm. 

"Terribly sorry to bother you in the middle of the night, but unfortunately, it's the only hour I'm free today," Devin apologized.

"Please don't worry about it."

'He speaks with a friendly tone, but it's kind of oppressing how he looks at me,' Evin thought and decided to be very careful of what he decided to speak.

"Am I to understand that you've accepted to listen to my idea?" he then asked.

"Precisely so. But I do have a few suggestions to add on the Contract," Devin said smilingly.

'Sigh, here it comes,' Evin thought as he nodded for the Cosmic to continue. But to his surprise, the changes weren't what he was expecting.

"We won't change the 15% that you've proposed originally, and the fact that we'll still have to pay you the proper amount even if we start planning to implement whatever your idea may be. But you must understand that we might have already developed these ideas before you came to enlighten us, so please be understanding of that. This book here has a list of all the failed projects the Cosmics have tried before," Devin said and put the book in front of Evin.

The boy tried to pick it up, but was stopped by the Cosmic, who continued his explanation.

"If I hear an idea that appeared at one point in our long history, I will open this book and show you. In that case, we will still be eligible to implement the idea 30 years later after we sign the World of Space Contract. Moreover, we will also be able to implement your idea 200 hundred years later, even if it's not inside our long list of failed projects."

'Hmm, guess they're making a safety net for themselves I suppose that's mandatory. After all, no one wants to be tied up by some contract detail forever,' Evin thought, but he felt that 200 was a bit too short for beings that could live up to 300 years.

"Increase the 200 to 300 and you have a deal," Evin said, not noticing Abe's childish smirk on the sidelines.

Devin mused for a bit and slowly nodded his head. 

"One more thing that I suggest adding to the Contract is a clause saying that the members of the Elmes Group must not harm you and your family in any way possible. This will be effective as long as you or any person on your family does not provoke the Group in any way," Devin said slowly.

'What?' Evin thought confusedly, wondering if he was falling into delusion due to lack of sleep.

Devin noticed the Child's confusion and said again.

"You did not hear wrong. The entirety of the group will be banned from harboring any kind of ill intention towards you and your family. This even extends to your future wife and children, mind you," the Cosmic said with an enigmatic smile.

'So I'm not hallucinating here'

"Could you explain to me the reasoning behind this new addition? I have a weird gut feeling that there are countless feral Cosmics ready to rip me apart any moment if I tell you of my... humble ideas," Evin asked unsurely.

"Of course. Currently, there are zero such "Feral Cosmics" waiting to murder you, but after you receive 15% of the Banking profits, you can be sure that the zero will turn to a few dozen thousand very quickly. I personally don't want some members of the Group to be the cause of a tragedy, so I've decided that it's probably best to prohibit the possibility altogether," Devin explained smilingly.

'Wait so they're just enforcing self-restraint on themselves?'