"..." Tin Wood listened to Richard speak eloquently, unable to refute for a mont, and after several seconds couldn’t help but speak, "Why, do I feel like you’re deceiving ?"
"I’m not." Richard shook his head, speaking sincerely, "Everything I said is serious, all according to the rules, without deceiving you."
"But—" Tin Wood was still sowhat unwilling to accept, suddenly rembering sothing, and exclaid, "Right, I rembered sothing! You said that my escape caused damage to your property, so you made work to compensate you, right?"
"Right." Richard nodded.
"Then how do you account for the damage to my property?" Tin Wood’s deanor beca strong.
"Your property?" Richard asked.
"Yes, my property." Tin Wood’s voice grew louder, "My property in the Silent Forest—those trees, those animals! It was you shaless invaders, who invaded my place, killed nurous animals in the forest, used flas to burn almost all the plants, and finally captured .
If your property loss requires to work for you for a hundred years to repay, then my property loss would require you to work for for ten thousand years to compensate and still not suffice!"
Listening to Tin Wood’s words, Richard imdiately recalled the mission he executed with the Truth Society people in Silent Forest. Speaking of it, it was indeed he who proposed burning the forest to force out Tin Wood’s true form, so Tin Wood asking him for compensation was quite reasonable.
However, what is reasonable is one matter, whether it can be obtained is another.
Looking at Tin Wood, Richard said calmly, "For the things you ntioned, I don’t deny them. However, several aspects need to be clarified. First, the invasion of your forest causing destruction was led by my organization behind —the Truth Society.
In other words, even if I didn’t go, soone else would have gone. So, your loss should not be sought from , but rather from the Truth Society. As for how you ask them for compensation, that’s not my matter; it’s your dispute with them and shouldn’t involve .
Second, even if your loss is really sought from , there is one crucial matter, do you have evidence, do you have witnesses?"
"Hmm?" Tin Wood was puzzled.
Richard explained, "As I said before, you can’t just work for however long I tell you, there must be proof. Now, the scene you see is proof that can demonstrate the damage you caused. Additionally, I can bring others to verify it once more."
"Pandora!" Richard turned his head and called out.
Pandora, standing nearby, understood and said solemnly, "Yes, I can testify that this tree caused the damage."
"You see, this counts as a witness." Richard said, looking at Tin Wood and asked, "Then can you find evidence and witnesses to prove it? Also, can you prove that you are indeed the owner of that forest, or perhaps that forest never belonged to you, and you are also an invader occupying it secretly, like a hermit crab on a beach."
"I..." Tin Wood opened his mouth, facing Richard for quite a while without making a sound, the strong deanor gradually faded until it disappeared.
"You see." Richard spread his hands, "I said, I’m reasonable. If your loss should indeed be compensated by , I won’t refuse. But if it shouldn’t be compensated by , then I won’t willingly take the loss. So, I also hope you can have this contractual spirit and fulfill the contract properly. Honestly, even though the contract stipulates a hundred years, if you perform outstandingly during this period, I might duly reduce the remaining ti.
For instance, if you can work diligently for a year without mistake and make remarkable contributions, I can reduce a year off your ti. Thus, if you work for fifty years, you can reduce it by fifty years, eventually fulfilling only half of the contract ti and regaining your freedom."
"Really?!" Tin Wood called out in surprise, genuinely not expecting Richard to be so charitable.
"Of course." Richard said, "What I have said, I will implent, and not go back on my word. Then again, if you perform well, there is a reward, if you perform poorly, there’s a punishnt. If you work negatively and sloppily, I have the right to extend the contract ti. If your behavior is more egregious, like attempting to escape again, well, I’m sorry. For the first ti consideration of a first offense, I might destroy the body leaving a Tree Heart. For the second ti, then not even the Tree Heart is left, directly made into a pen holder."
"I won’t." Tin Wood said in a low voice after quite a while.
"I hope so." Richard said, "In that case, the agreent can be considered reached, no problem, right?"
"Do I have the right to choose?" Tin Wood countered.
"Of course." Richard said, "You can choose to accept, fulfill the contract. Or refuse, be made into a penholder."
"I assure you, if you beco a penholder, I’ll make you very pretty." Pandora, nearby, found the opportunity to insert a comnt quickly, hoping Tin Wood would consider the latter sowhat.
"..." Tin Wood heard this, his face twitched, looked at Richard and sighed, "Alright, I agree to your contract."
Pandora heard these words, shook her head lightly in disappointnt and turned away.
Richard saw this, smiled lightly, and looked at Tin Wood again: "You agreed, that’s great. Next, I have so miscellaneous things to handle, like storing the materials brought back, repairing buildings, repairing equipnt and such. So, I’m planning to have Mr. Ah Fu supervise you for a while, and after I’m done, I’ll place you sowhere to grow, recover, and work, how does that sound?"
"Fine." Tin Wood continued to speak with no expression, suddenly as if rembered sothing, his eyes rolled up saying, "I can promise you, I won’t make trouble. It’s just that whether the skeleton called Ah Fu would dare to accept is not my business."
"Hmm?" Richard looked puzzled, "Why wouldn’t Mr. Ah Fu dare to accept?" Saying this, he turned questioningly toward the nearby Witch Demon Elder Ah Fu.
The Witch Demon Elder noticed, turned his head to look, seeing Tin Wood about to speak, his eyes widened in haste, quickly ran towards Tin Wood while saying: "Hey, stupid tree, shut up, don’t talk nonsense!"
The Witch Demon Elder was still a step too late.
Just as the Witch Demon Elder ran over, Tin Wood spoke, full of arrogance to Richard: "Simple, when you hadn’t returned before, during my escape, I brutally beat him, almost killed him. Honestly, if it weren’t for a Skull saving him, he wouldn’t have lived to now!"
"Hmm?" Richard was stunned, his mind filled with doubt.
According to the information Pandora sent him, his guess about the truth was: Tin Wood’s escape was noticed by Witch Demon Elder, then Pandora was called out by him, the two tead up to deal with Tin Wood. But now hearing Tin Wood, the one who actually experienced it, speak, it seed not to be the case, another situation was at play.
Could it be the Witch Demon Elder was indeed beaten very badly?
Then how was Tin Wood subdued?
Pandora alone at most could be evenly matched with Tin Wood, right?
Furthermore, what’s with the Skull ntioned by the opponent, where did a Skull co from, was it made by the Witch Demon Elder?
With a flicker in his eyes, Richard faced with doubt, turned to look at the approaching Witch Demon Elder.
The Witch Demon Elder halted sowhat embarrassed, scratched his head looking over, spoke out, "Well, let explain to you slowly."
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