Mystery: When the Fool Meets the Masked Fool

Chapter 557 Gold Medals as a Bargaining Chip

“Miss Está?” Sand Gold repeated, his multicolored eyes narrowing slightly. “Oh…I see.”

As he spoke, he sighed somewhat dramatically: "Alas, if that's really the case, then it's a pity I'm destined to never obtain the Holy Grail."

"After all, all I wanted to do in my quest for the Holy Grail was to wish for a paid vacation. If I offended the company's young lady because of that, it would be a bit of a loss."

He made a simple joke, leaned back in his chair, smiled and spread his hands: "But it doesn't matter. I'm sure Miss Estádio didn't use the name of the Strategic Investment Department of Interstellar Peace Company when she made the investment."

"As you know, there's never a unified team within a company; there's always competition. And it's highly likely that Miss Estádio doesn't primarily use the company's name."

“In that case, I can invest in you in the name of the strategic investment department… or even in my own name.”

"In your own name? So you seem to be quite wealthy?" Klein looked at Sand Gold, his gaze sweeping over the tattoos on Sand Gold's neck before quickly looking away.

Although he didn't know what it was, his spiritual intuition reminded him that staring at it was impolite, so Klein only glanced at it briefly before quickly looking away and returning his gaze to Sand Gold's face, staring at those beautiful eyes.

"It seems you already have a certain understanding of the company. Would you be interested in coming to the company to have some fun?" Sand Gold seemed not to notice Klein's gaze and still had a smile on his face.

"Judging from your thoughts, it seems you want to give me special treatment and let me go straight in as a minor leader?" Klein took out two bottles of sweet iced tea from the mists of history and pushed one of them in front of Sand Gold.

“The company’s strategic investment department did have expansion plans recently, and I do indeed lack a capable and courageous project manager.” Sand Gold accepted the sweet iced tea without hesitation and took a sip just like Klein.

"So have you considered joining the company? I can arrange a project manager position for you. You can move into Pierpoint directly, with accommodation, meals, and all travel expenses reimbursed by the company."

"Of course, if you are willing to join the company, I can make it possible for you to become a P35 level project manager directly, and guarantee that you will be able to reach at least P46 in the future, which is one level higher than me now."

"You can mobilize most of my resources. And on your first day, you can directly manage at least seven resource-rich star systems."

"What do you think?"

Klein seemed genuinely persuaded. He lowered his black domed hat and silk top hat, placing it on his lap, and nodded with interest, asking, "How abundant?"

“Yes, it’s much richer than the star system you’re in right now…” Sand Gold answered first, then seemed to feel something was off and added, “If you don’t count the source matter.”

“Of course, none of these are the most important things.” Sand Gold tapped his fingers lightly on the table. “The most important point is the addition of the Strategic Investment Department. I can guarantee that the Market Development Department will not get involved in matters related to the integration of Earth.”

“I know that,” Klein nodded. “I’ve heard some things about the Market Development Department from Miss Está.”

"Oh, looks like I've been beaten to it again." Sand Gold blinked his left eye. "But having an extra layer of assurance is always a good thing, isn't it?"

“That sounds really generous,” Klein said, clasping his hands on the table. “I’m even a little tempted.”

“But I think you must have contacted more than just me, right?” Klein asked.

“Yes,” Sand Gold said without any attempt to hide it. “I also looked for Mr. Amon, Mr. Roselle, Ms. Amanisis and Ms. Lilith… and that ancient sun god whose name I didn’t tell him.”

Then, he rested his chin on his hand, making a troubled expression. "Unfortunately, the others don't seem very interested in joining the company. Only Ms. Amanisis is interested in our company, but even she isn't very willing to work under me."

"It seems my charm has indeed declined a lot recently."

He sounded genuinely troubled, but he still had a smile on his face.

“No, no, no, actually Mr. Sand Gold is very charming, both in appearance and demeanor.” Klein took a big gulp of sweet iced tea. “However, I might need to think about joining the company.”

Klein of Interstellar Peace Corporation learned a general outline of the Strategic Investment Department from Estádio, and his impression of it wasn't bad.

But now he's being asked to make a choice: whether to join the company or cooperate with it. He still needs to think about it.

Although he could be considered a true god, he was not stable and had too little experience. He did not believe he was qualified to make any decisions on behalf of the Earth, so he chose to evade the issue.

“It’s alright, you can take your time to think it over. You and I both have plenty of time.” Sand Gold smiled and nodded. “And for you, as time goes on, your value will only increase.”

After saying that, he took a chip out of his pocket, placed it on the table, and gently pushed it towards Klein.

“My invitation remains valid, and before you accept, you can use this token to do one thing in my name: mobilize all resources available to employees below P45 in the company.”

"At the same time, this token can also be used to contact me. If you need any help, or if you've thought it through and want to join the company or my project team, you can use it to contact me."

"The company hasn't come to this universe yet, so this chip may not be of much value."

"But believe me, once the company actually comes to this universe, the value of this chip will be much greater than you imagine."

Klein picked up the chips and looked at them.

This is a prototype gold chip with gold patterns and three blue hearts inside, and a shield-like pattern in the center with intersecting blue and gold.

"Very nice chips," Klein commented.

After thinking for a few seconds, he accepted the chips and put them in the pocket of his trench coat.

"Okay, I've got it. And thank you for the chip."

Sand Gold's lips curled up even higher. He turned to Colin, shrugging, "See? What did I tell you? I said we'd have a great chat, right?"

"I've always been very lucky."

Colin also shrugged in response to the gold dust.

(End of this chapter)