"We've arrived," the employee said. Not a beat later, the elevator's door opened, revealing a single hallway with a door at the end of it.

Seeing that the woman was just standing there like a statue now with her hands clasped at her waist and her head bowed politely, Daz pushed Rose out of the elevator.

Just before the two of them reached the door down the corridor, Rose said, "Let me do all of the talking. If I get flustered or cornered, step in and work your awkward charms, 'kay? Entertain yourself by identifying them or checking their Secret Override secret. I dunno, just look tough."

Daz leaned over and kissed the girl's head. "Sure. Have fun. You're smart, yeah, but I'm interested to see if you actually know how to talk without using any sass or sarcasm."

Rose just snorted. Daz reached out over the top of her head to open the door, a few seconds later, they were in what was presumably the office of the man whom they had come to meet.

Within the room could be seen some mounted katana as well as a handful of full samurai outfits, some black leather seats, a table, and, of course, two Japanese men. One was wearing a full black suit while the other was wearing his admiral uniform. Beyond that, the only other thing of note was the walls.

Half of the room was made of glass and you could see the bright city of Tokyo from almost every angle. Honestly, it was quite the view.

"Ah, Daz-gaikoku-no-ō. It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard so much about you," the suited-man who could have only been Nishikawa Shinichi said as he stepped forward and offered his hand to Daz.

"Nice to meet you too," Daz replied before shaking Shinichi's hand. He noticed that the tip of the man's left little finger had been cut clean off and the wound seemed very old, so Daz guessed he'd had received it decades ago. He gestured to Rose with his free hand and said, "This is my little sister and she'll be handling any negotiations today."

A brief frown covered the Japanese middle-aged man's expression, but he soon wiped it away and beamed a smile. "That's fine. And your name would be...?"

"Rose," she simply replied.

Admiral Fudo frowned. "No family name?"

Rose shrugged. "Why does that matter? We're here to talk about the Overgiant's corpse, right?"

Both Nishikawa Shinichi and Admiral Fudo flinched at that. "Indeed, we are," the former answered before he walked around the room and took a seat behind the central desk. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. Is there anything we can get you both? Drinks? Snacks?"

Rose shook her head. "We're fine."

Daz found a seat while Rose rolled next to him. 'That's one bullet dodged. I'd rather fewer people knew that we're Dad's kids. It'll be helpful in Italy and maybe Europe pretty soon, but so far East? The people in power here only hate him for stealing an entire attack's worth of rewards from them.'

"Is that so?" Shinichi said in a relaxed manner. "Well, I have yet to introduce myself, now haven't I? I'm Nishikawa Shinichi, Emperor of Japan. Please, call me Emperor Nishikawa."

'I wonder how many people he's killed to get that title?' Daz wondered.

"So you're one of the four emperors of Earth along with Davido Hamilio and Xiao Meimei?" Rose asked.

"So it would seem, Ojou-chan," the emperor of Japan replied. "I must say, your Japanese is incredible. You almost sound like a native."

Rose shrugged uncaringly. "It's a beautiful language, so it only makes sense to learn it and respect it when conversing with the leader of its people."

Almost immediately after that light round of ice-breaking, Rose began talking to Emperor Nishikawa and Admiral Fudo in regards to the Overgiant's corpse without explicitly stating that they only owned its head, so Daz decided to do some snooping.

He'd already completely investigated Admiral Fudo during their previous meeting, so this time, he decided to check out who Nishikawa Shinichi really was and how the man's power stacked up against his own.

First, he pulled up the man's status.

Nishikawa Shinichi's Status Basic Information Name: Nishikawa Shinichi Species: Human Age: 35 Sex: Male Class: (Fake) Dagger User | (Real) Assassin Overlord Affinity: Neutral Description An ordinary office-worker who stepped up in the face of adversity to save and protect his nation during the apocalypse. Hidden Description

As the son of a former ninkyō dantai clan leader, Shinichi had grown up in an environment that taught him two things above all else: Honour is more important than your own life, and if there is money to be made, neither the law nor your morals should get in the way so long as you do not violate the ninkyō dantai code of honour.

He separated from the ninkyō dantai lifestyle at the age of 28 and retired into office work with the help of a few connections.

His far younger brother was still heavily involved in the ninkyō dantai as he was the new clan head of their local clan, so often, Shinichi would find himself being dragged back into his old life over and over again to save his little brother from peril.

Using his wit and cunning along with some well-placed assassinations, he has become the undisputed emperor of Japan.

He is the champion of the God of Assassins.

Energies Lifeforce: 15,000/15,000 Stamina: 40,000/40,000 (Hidden) Killing Force: 100,000/100,000 Stats Strength: [LR] 1,500(1,800) Dexterity: [LR] 2,500(3,000) Discipline: [LR] 1,750(2,100) Agility: [LR] 2,000 Endurance: 759 Patience: [LR] 4,000 Luck: 532 Flexibility: [LR] 1,200 Cunning: [LR] 2,400 Charm: [LR] 1,000

'He's strong. I bet he could easily kill me in one attack with the right weapon, couldn't he?' Daz wondered. 'Well, I have three lives per day thanks to my halo, more or less, though the third one is the final one before I'm dead for good. He deserves a medal if he can land three killing attacks on me before I can chain him down and incapacitate him though. Secret Override.'

Randomly selected [Nishikawa Shinichi] secret: He is a huge secret fan of western comics and the entire concept of caped heroes.

'That's odd. I guess since it's kind of like a direct contrast to the yakuza? I don't really know much about the yakuza though... Hmm... how can I use this against him if I need to?' While he wondered that, Daz pulled up the man's crime list.

Nishikawa Shinichi's Crime List 212 cases of unwarranted physical assault. 24 cases of unjustified murder. 2,123 cases of extortion towards innocent businesses and individuals. 1,345 cases of illegal blackmailing. 302 cases of tricking young women into entering prostitution rings. 3 cases of setting up and owning illegal gambling rings. 14 cases of illegally manipulating the Japanese stock market. 28 cases of illegally pressuring or bribing judges to avoid conviction of himself and his clan members. 602 cases of assassination to fulfil his system-given contracts.

'Wow.' Daz was left speechless. 'Aren't the yakuza, like, romanticized here? What a real piece of shit. Who would ever think kindly of someone like this? Also, 602 assassination contracts from the system? That's like, 20 a day...'

Daz watched as the man conversed with his younger sister and thought, 'Well, I guess it is a secret and it's meant to be hidden from prying eyes. I suppose he didn't imagine that both Rose and I possess a Master Identification skill. Still, I'm no crusader of justice. If he isn't evil, I see no reason to end his life. The assassinations are a bit concerning, but my record is hardly spotless either.'

Daz leaned his elbow on his chair's armrest as he held his chin in his hand. 'Since he's willing to get his hands dirty, he could be a valuable ally. Well, let's see how this meeting goes first. I still think I'd do a better job than Rose here, but I'll let the cheeky brat have her moment.'

Admiral Fudo was firmly watching Daz and his floating gems and shovel with a barely hidden wariness in his eyes, but the reaper hardly cared. He knew that the man was aware of how powerful he was, so he could be as wary as he wanted to be, it wouldn't change a thing.

Emperor Nishikawa frowned. "You only retrieved the head?"

Rose nodded. "The system took the entire body except for the head when the Overgiant died. I'm sure you have people under you with Higher Identification, right? You may even have it yourself. We're happy to show you the head so you can confirm for yourself if I'm lying or not."

Emperor Nishikawa tapped his cheek with his index finger a few times before a dark smile crossed his face. "No, no, I believe you."

"Great. Now, about what we'll get in return... Here's a list of things that we won't back down on, and here's a list of things that we need at least two things from. There is no room for haggling. Accept, or we leave with the head in our possession. I'm sure we can find a use for it ourselves," Rose stated sharply as she passed over two sheets of paper to the man.

Before checking the papers, Emperor Nishikawa said, "I beg your pardon? Was your agreement with Admiral Fudo here not that he would withdraw his forces from above Atlantis and surrender the city to you in exchange for the Overgiant's corpse?"

Rose barely avoided snorting in a mocking fashion. "That was Daz's deal with him, sure, but he works for you now, and you want the head." She wore the devil's smile as she said, "You and us don't have a deal, now do we?"

"Hahaha, I suppose not. What a foolish oversight on our part," Emperor Nishikawa said with a light sigh as he masked his fury for being made a fool of by a child.

He then carefully read the papers and immediately started scowling. "'20,000 citizens are to be transferred to King Daz's territories to become his lawful citizens'? 'Ten battleships, of which, at least one must be a flagship-class and four must be destroyer-class, shall have their ownership transferred to King Daz'? 'An S-ranked Building Token will be unconditionally given to King Daz'? 'A pact of non-aggression will be formed between Japan and King Daz's territories'? These are some very high demands, Ojou-chan."

"Well, Tennō, the head can be used for a great deal of things, some of which would commonly be referred to as 'morally unacceptable'. On account of that, us trading the head to you at all is a risk on our front, so please understand that to show you this kindness, we must ask for equal recompense should it come to light that we provided the ingredient that allowed such a 'morally unacceptable' thing to come about," Rose pointedly stated.

Emperor Nishikawa was shocked at how well versed the young girl in front of himself was at not only speaking Japanese and properly addressing him so as to respect his position as the new emperor of Japan, but also at how incredibly devious she was for her age.

"Ojou-chan, what would you do if we simply... took the head from you?" he asked as he smiled dangerously.

Not used to such a threatening tone, Rose's brow creased in momentary-anxiety. Not entirely sure if the emperor was being serious or not, Rose decided to fire back in kind. "What would you do, Tennō, if we simply... took Japan from you?"

Deepening his smile even further, Emperor Nishikawa followed up with, "Can you and your territories survive dozens of nuclear warheads?"

Going for broke, Rose grinned and answered with yet another question. "Can you and your country survive my brother?"

A tension so thick it could almost be physically touched filled the room. Only Daz's gems, Rimmy and Mr Barrier were unaffected by it and were still peacefully bobbing around or lazing about on Daz's head, but their relaxed nature only helped multiply the deep atmosphere that everyone was drenched head-to-toe in.

"Ahahaha," the joyous laughter of Emperor Nishikawa filled the room, dispelling the serious mood. "I'm glad to see someone with a good sense of humour for once, Ojou-san." He smiled warmly like a kind uncle and added, "We can prepare all of these things by the end of November except for the token. That will take extra time."

'You're the only one who's laughing,' Rose privately pointed out. 'Does Daz intimidate you, or were you just sounding me out? What exactly do you want the head for? If you're willing to give up a good chunk of your new fleet as well as accept those other demands, it must be something big...'

Rose exhaled softly and replied, "Good. We'll be back on the 30th next month then."

"Please! Stay a few nights! I insist," Emperor Nishikawa offered with sincerity lacing his words.

At that point, Daz stood up. "And risk assassination? C'mon, I don't want to kill you after having just met you."

Those words of the reaper's sent a chill up both Emperor Nishikawa and Admiral Fudo's spines. The pure matter-of-fact manner in which he had spoken made it seem like Daz would genuinely be upset were he forced to kill Nishikawa Shinichi, and it also seemed like doing so would be as easy to him as taking a stroll would be.

"Assassination? What a specific choice of accusatory words, Daz-gaikoku-no-ō," the emperor replied with a forced smile.

"Right?" Daz responded sarcastically. "By the way, don't threaten my family ever again. Rose is smart, but she's just a kid. Do it once more and I'm going to break your nose. Understood?"

"Daz-gaikoku-no-ō, with all due respect, I was merely teasing your sister. Never would I threaten a child." Of course, he pled ignorance.

Daz shrugged as he grabbed the handles to Rose's wheelchair and began pushing her out of the room, leaving his back wide open to the champion of the God of Assassins. "You're a shitty liar."

Emperor Nishikawa was left speechless at that. Daz raised one of his hands and waved it in a friendly manner before saying, "I look forward to working with you in the future."