230 Monke having CIviL talk with Spy

"You called for me?"

"Indeed. Take a seat, Daniel." I gestured towards the innocent-looking chair situated right in front of my desk. With no idea as to why he was called, Daniel hesitantly plopped on the seat, his figure once again rigid and slightly shaking, just like the last time he visited. "Now, as for why I called you here…"

I closed the door behind me and had some primates guard the outside, unseen by Daniel, of course. Making my way to my personal chair, I leaned back on the comfortable cushion as my eyes gazed directly into Daniel's form.

"A detrimental situation just occurred, and the supernatural side of this world is the cause." Daniel tensed up the moment he heard the reason for his summons. "I know, I know, I just called you earlier to talk about this, but at that time, there wasn't anything negative happening. Well, time's changed, and you can guess if I'm going to let you go or not. Spoiler alert: unless I'm satisfied, you won't be leaving."

"… What about your deal with the army?" Daniel pointed that out, beads of sweat dropping from his brows. Chuckling at his response, my fingers kept on tapping the desk, each tap giving off an echo within the silence.

"You do know that I can just tell them the reason why I'm doing this?" I laughed softly, my sadistic nature once again coming into the limelight. "And the moment I tell them that, you could kiss your freedom… Your liberties, goodbye."

Now as pale as a ghost, Daniel fully comprehended the situation he was in. He either tells me what I want to know, without skipping any details, or I go tell the army about the supernatural side of things, which they might just overreact to and chain Daniel like some kind of criminal just so they could get information out of him.

That's what most people in power would do. Anything that is a potential threat needs to be investigated.

Hell, that's what I would do. This damn alliance is just in the way, but if they give me permission, well, that's another story. But I would prefer it if I didn't do that for detrimental reasons that may arise in the future.

Actually, maybe it will do some good. Kickstart my relationship with the president of the United States and have me as an official ally within their inner circle, but that is not set in stone.

I'm not much of a gambling man.

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~ Third Person POV ~

"F-fine… You win. I'll tell you what you want."

Daniel was terrified. Incredibly so. He was terrified of the magical side of this world, but he was more terrified of the Dungeon Master in front of him.

He was closer, after all. Good thing those magic people didn't insert any kind of self-destructing mechanism into his body.

That was part of the contract, after all, and magical contracts were sacred.

There were also dire consequences if a magical contract was broken by a party.

"Good. Now then, first question." Jionni, the human-gorilla hybrid in front of Daniel, stopped tapping his fingers on the desk as he regarded the human with an extremely sharp gaze. "Are there factions within the supernatural world? Yes, or no?"

"… Yes." It took Daniel a second to answer, which garnered a slight smile from the Dungeon Master.

"How many?" The next question was asked quickly, to which Daniel replied without hesitation.

"Too many to count." Daniel grew nervous as Jionni refused to ask more questions as he stared at him. Feeling his anxiety spike, Daniel quickly blurted out an unasked answer. "But there are four major factions."

"Oh?" Seemingly interested, Jionni leaned forward slightly from his chair, a devilish smirk on his face. "Please, do tell me more about them."

'I swear! I'm gonna die with a heart attack at this rate!' Daniel couldn't help but scream internally as Jionni's vague line of questioning kept on bombarding him with stress spikes upon stress spikes. "They are the Rejected, the Purists, the Syndicate, and the Reclused."

"Cliché names, but when are they not?" Jionni couldn't help but sigh at the unimaginative naming scheme. "Continue."

"Right… Well. The Rejected are called that because they are… Uh… Not well-liked by the entirety of the magical side." A raised eyebrow was his only response. "As for the reason… I've only heard about this from other people, but they said that they were like monsters. I don't know anything else about them."

"So, the equivalent of a hated outcast in a societal group." Jionni made an assumption based on the only information he had. Daniel nodded along with him, agreeing with what the Dungeon Master said. "Go on."

"The Purists… To put it briefly, they're assholes. It's where they got the name from." Jionni could only sigh.

"Of course, it's only natural for the holy-sounding to have a stick up their asses." Jionni shook his head. "Are they, perchance, fanatical?"

"They are, very so." Daniel scowled slightly, memories of meeting with one of them leaving a bad taste in his mouth. "I've met with one of them before, and they were just like a goddamn Karen but on steroids."

Daniel has no qualms about telling Jionni about the Purists. They were on his shitlist, so why not put them on the shitlist of a stronger being? Who knows, it just might do something about their holier-than-thou mentality.

Seeing no reaction from the Dungeon Master, Daniel continued. "The Syndicate, is exactly that, a syndicate. Their goal is pretty much the simplest of all the major factions. Rake in the money and gain power."

"So, typical power-hungry rulers and kleptomaniacs." Daniel nodded with Jionni's assessment.

"Well, if you exclude that, they're mostly harmless. If you deal with them, make sure you stick with their contracts; otherwise, you're screwed. Other than that, they're more on the gray side of things."

"And the Reclused?"

"… I hope this doesn't bite me in the ass." Daniel whispered to himself as he braced for the future to come. "That's the faction I'm in, although I'm pretty much a disposable piece. The only thing they told me up till now was that they were trying to maintain the balance of this world. That, and they keep to themselves most of the time, thus the name, Reclused."

"… Does that include war?" Daniel shook his head at that question.

"If war was included, then we wouldn't have had World War 1 and World War 2." Daniel sighed slightly as he leaned back into his chair, his anxiety reducing somewhat at the continuous barrage of his words. "No, they mostly deal with hard to decipher prophecies and try to manipulate them so that the world can continue to exist and not implode on itself."

Daniel then scrunched up his face. "At least, that's what I get from them. They don't give me much to determine what they want in this world."

"Hmm… Last question for the day: Are they zealots?" Daniel raised an eyebrow at the question, but otherwise shook his head.

"No, they don't give me that vibe. The members I met are mostly chill, and most of them just live normal lives for the most part. Until a new prophecy is released, that is." Jionni hummed in thought for a moment before sighing again.

"Alright, thanks for your cooperation." Jionni reached for a black void, causing Daniel to tense up with anxiety once again. The whole room was quiet as the Dungeon Master rummaged through the portal before taking out something of value.

To Daniel, at least.

"Here, as recompense." Jionni handed over a high-quality figurine of Daniel's favorite Vtuber, Rika-chan. "For your concerning anxiety spikes."

Daniel held the piece of art in his shaking hands, his anxiety gone. Made using the cold-casting process and enchanted to boot to make it incredibly durable and long-lasting, it was a work of art that would've probably garnered the attention of rabid fans all around the world.

"This… This…!" Daniel looked at Jionni with a frenzied face. An amused smile was the only reaction from the Dungeon Master.

"As I said before, I do not ask for things without an equal amount of payment." Jionni stood up before heading to the door. "Now, run along now and enjoy that figurine. Be rough with it as you like; it won't be broken anytime soon."

Daniel sat stunned, before looking once more at the figurine. It was high-quality, that was for sure, but the details, the damned details!

'This might be worth a fucking fortune…' Daniel possessively hugged the figurine tight to his chest, but not harshly enough to damage the object, even though it was enchanted, not that he knew. 'My precioooooussss…'

Heading out of the door, Daniel was guided by two primates waiting for him at the front door. Bolting out of the building, he paranoidly glanced left and right, looking like some kind of weirdo to the common populace.

Well, sue him! He was holding something worth thousands in his hands! As an avid figurine collector, he knew an expensive figurine when he saw one.