“Jones, I hope you will not let Count Darrow down,” I said to the middle-aged man softly.

I am in the decorated hall of the mansion, filled with merchants, who will depart for the Navr soon. Their numbers are triple the last time and the goods they are going to buy will be six times.

This time, I have done something; I had not thought I could do.

I was able to get merchants from Norke; three of their merchants are going to Navr, with our merchants.

I have to thank Ina for that; she had a real outcome herself this time. Though it was all planned by me and needed help from Count Darrow, her help in achieving this feat was indispensable.

“You can believe in me, adviser; I will make sure everything goes smoothly,” he said, and I nodded.

Jones is the representative of the city, going with the merchant group. A capable man with connections in the city.

It is the reason I selected him. A favor for someone.

He will be a leader in name, Ina will be the one who will pull the strings through me. He is capable, but it is my reputation riding on this mission; I could not take any risk with an unknown man.

I had already told him to discuss every decision with Ina before executing it.

He didn’t like it, but he agreed. He didn’t have a choice, because if he didn’t, I would have chosen somebody else. After the success of the first trip, there is a line of people who are willing to lead the group to the undead kingdom.

Ina is capable, but she has many things to learn, and working with him will teach her those things.

I talked to him before turning to merchants gathered in the hall. There are eighty-two of them, all of them nervous and excited about the new journey.

Ina appeared beside me, as I mingle with the merchants.

She knew many of them, and I am introducing her to the rest. They all know who she is and many of them didn’t even hide their lust as they looked at her.

I am helping her with what I can, but she will have to face the greatest challenges by herself, and I have complete confidence in her ability to do so.

It is why I am sending her when I could have easily brought the wine through a message and money transfer.

She needs these trips; she needs to gain experience.

Click!

I was mingling with the merchants when the door clicked open, and Lancel walked inside.

“My lord,” Everyone greeted in unison.

“Are they ready to leave?” he asked. “Yes, my lord. We are ready to send them off at your will,” I replied, and he nodded and turned toward the merchant gathered in front of us.

“Dear merchants, Navr is our enemy, but it is also an extremely powerful kingdom, with great bounties.” “We need those bounties for our citizens and you merchants, will bring it here,”

“I will pray that you will succeed in this endeavor and return home safely,” he said.

It is not a good speech; he does not have a talent for that. It is fine, many do not, but he didn’t use the written speeches for the things he considered beneath him.

Like sending off the merchants.

“Thank you for your blessing, my lord,” said Jones, and he bowed along with the merchants.

“Now depart and return with success,” he said to them.

I watched them leave one after another, till only two of us had remained in this big hall.

“What do you think? Will there be any problem?” he asked. A question kind of surprised me, as he rarely asked such questions.

“You have already negotiated everything, my lord. They just need to go there and place their orders; I don’t think they are going to have any problem doing such simple things,” I replied with a straight face.

Of course, a lot of things could go wrong, but he does not need to know that.

A smile appeared on his face upon hearing that. “I would be disappointed if they couldn’t even do this,” he said and walked toward the door and I followed him.

Soon, we reached in front of Count's office and walked inside.

“How did it go?” asked the Count.

“What’s wrong could go in sending off a bunch of merchants,” replied Lancel and sat on the sofa, while Count turned to me with a smile.

“Remus, you have a fantastic job this time, especially in bringing the merchants from Norke,” he said, and he is happy, which is understandable.

He thought it would take months before other cities started to trade with Navr, but I was able to bring the merchant from Norke, and while it was only three people, they were planning on big orders.

Most importantly, if they succeed. More merchants from Norke and other cities would trade with Navr.

I had focused on Norke, because it is a distance away from the port cities or river route, while it is slightly closer to merchant cities than Greltheaven. Those dry hills make a difficult route.

Though it still trades with merchant cities, not as much as us, and thus its lord wants more trade.

He needs to accumulate wealth before he needs to leave and that makes him susceptible to whispers of his merchants.

To accomplish it, I had planned carefully, while Ina executed it beautifully. With its merchants lobbying and Count Darrow’s pressure; its lord had conceded and sent three merchants.

I wanted a little bigger group, but three is fine too. If they succeeded, the bigger group will come next time.

“Thank you for your praise, my lord,” I said, and he shook his head. “It is not praise, Remus. You have done something that would have taken months otherwise,” he said, and I smiled.

“For your work, I appoint you as the assistant director of trade, Navr division,” he said and I couldn’t help, but become surprised.

I am already doing what this post will have me do, but now with it, I will have the official power. Most importantly, I will have the same position as Damon Hardt, Soren, and Tilak.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

These positions are usually filled by higher-ups of merchant guilds; as they have now.

Damon Hardt is responsible for the trade from merchant cities, Vice-Guild-master Soren is for Empire and Vice-Guildmaster Tilak is for western kingdoms, which came from Inam and the three port cities of the Renwell Region.

Damon Hardt is going to get red with envy, knowing it.

Now, he has another competitor for the post of director of trade. This position is empty, and he had been lobbying to get it for months, just like the other two.

It is a very powerful position, and I will try for it.

Usually, I don’t like to get in the way of others, but this position is powerful, and it will help me tremendously in realizing my ambition.

“Thank you for your trust, my lord,” I said and bowed. “It will be a great responsibility. I hope you can handle it well,” he said.

“I will not give you any reason to complain, my lord,” I said, and he nodded and dismissed me.

I bowed once again and walked out of his office.

The moment the door closed behind me. I activated the Rapid Legs and walked toward the exit.

Today, the girls are debuting, and I want to look at all the preparations before that happens. Thankfully, I was able to finish sending off the merchants earlier than I had thought.

Soon, I got out of the palace and reached my carriage; was quite relieved that nobody had stopped me.

“To the establishment,” I said to the driver, and the carriage moved.

While the carriage moved, I took out the book from my bag and begin to read it. It is not history or politics that I usually prefer, but hospitality.

Caena’s ritual enchantments have opened completely new doors for me, and I want to use them as their bests. So, I am studying the things that will help me, from hospitality to architecture.

I had given her the list of ritual enchantments I want and stuff to make them.

I have also created a list of one hundred and two ritual enchantments till now, and the list is getting bigger. I want so many things and I am willing to pay a high price for it.

Little over ten minutes later, the carriage pulled into the establishment, and I walked out.

I looked at all the changes and a smile appeared on my face; these changes are small, but they make one feel like many things have changed.

I looked at everything before entering the hall and the smile on my face had become even bigger. The changes here had cost me a lot, but needed to be done to accommodate the increased number of girls and patrons.

I looked at tables and art before focusing on the bar.

The counter and shelf are dwarven made; it had a less elaborate design compared to the bar before, but it projects an inviting feeling. Anyone wants to sit on its chairs and order a drink.

As I was watching it, Carla appeared beside me.

“How are things?” I asked. “Good. Margaux and the girls have done a wonderful job,” she replied.

I nodded and walked toward the studio with her; I checked it all out before going to the kitchen and then the rooms.

I looked at everything carefully.

It is not only to inspect the work the girls have done but also to test the effects of ritual enchantments. I am still not completely sure of them and till I do; I will keep an eye on every little thing.

Soon, I am in my office with Carla and Margaux.

“Here is the sitting arrangement, Master Silver,” said Margaux and forwarded the file to me.

I looked at it, and a smile couldn’t help but appear on my face. “Good, and it seemed like we will need to pay special attention to Varza. She is leveling at a good speed,” I said, and Margaux nodded.

She was already on the list and now she had moved up higher.

“Tomorrow, a lot of girls are going to make the advancement,” said Carla, and all of them smiled. If the past incidents were to repeat, then tomorrow 90% of the new girls are going to level up.

“It is going to be an exciting night, but a lot of things could go wrong,” I warned.

“We are trying many new things, which we have no experience before, and while we have practiced with actors; the real people are in a completely different league,”

“I understand. I will be keeping an eye on everything,” said Margaux.

I will also not be sleeping till late. I could afford to do that now; with merchants, leaving the tension on my shoulders has lessened a lot.

Since I returned from Namdar; I had been busy, but now I could relax a little and focus on things I wanted to do after the return.

Though there will be work, it wouldn’t be intense as it had been in the past nine days. I would be able to give time to the establishment and could start on my plans.

Those plans will depend upon how the night goes and how much we earn.

I hope the establishment will make me around ten million crowns. It is a realistic target, with more girls, new wine, and fusion food, achieving it shouldn’t be a problem.

I discussed a few more things with them before they left.

I turn to the window, to the Red Fragrance on the other side of the street. My competitor is making good money, more than me, and even expanded further.

He had more than twice girls as me and unlimited resources. So, it is not surprising.

Though, with this expansion, I will reach closer to him. The establishment is still popular and even now, the moment our gates open, the people came running out from the other side.

Making Norman very angry.

So much so that he closes the windows at five. So, his patrons wouldn’t notice the gates opening and come running here.