"Please, master, follow me," yet another maid bowed deeply, almost prostrating herself before handing Ordyntsev off to the next group of servants, who led him even deeper into the Eiko family's palace complex.

Stas was unaware of the directives issued by the head of the family, but both the servants and the Sumada around him exhibited a level of explicit courtesy that left him feeling uneasy.

He didn't understand what the head of one of the powerful families of the great clan was aiming for, but he already disliked it.

Even so, Stanislav couldn't help but acknowledge that the Eiko knew how to use their wealth.

Unlike other families, their main residence was not in the Citadel but in the city, allowing them to expand grandly.

He had not seen such opulence and wealth even in Nobunoro Kato's palace. Sometimes it felt like you were not in someone's home, but somewhere like the Louvre. In any case, Stas preferred more restrained and concise architecture than all these carved facades, colorful tiles, and various sharp roofs.

And overall, there was nothing surprising here. Cooperation with warmasters in this world was a coveted goal for many traders.

Cruel and arrogant warmasters dedicated themselves to war alone. Even the samurai ruled over ordinary people, solving their problems.

But warmasters often considered themselves above that.

Because of such a lifestyle, they spent their enormous fees for missions on literally everything, significantly developing the merchant class.

Also, because of their short lifespan, warmasters often tried to spend money here and now. That's why gaming venues, bars, and red-light districts were open around the clock. Huge money circulated in such establishments, and it was another reason why warmasters were tolerated.

To satisfy a strong warmaster with giant endurance and resistance to any poisons took some effort.

Funny, but perhaps that's why the samurai so despised the merchant profession. In the local hierarchy, as absurd as it sounds, peasants had more honor than traders.

Yet, peasants could die of hunger, while merchants lived for their pleasure.

"We are pleased to see you, master, in the Eiko family palace," another dose of flattery from two beautiful maidservants once again returned Ordyntsev's thoughts to their previous course.

Now, he followed the mincing maidservants across the expensive parquet floor, assessing what he saw. The girls' dresses were so tight they could only step the length of a foot. Stas wasn't sure he could walk even a couple of meters at such a pace.

'Maybe he plans to impress me with his wealth? But to what end?'

The doors were promptly opened, and he saw four seats, three of which were already taken.

Stas immediately recognized tense Mei, and the woman and man, logically, were her mother and father. In front of each was their own small table made of expensive wood.

While one maid stayed at the entrance, the other led Stas to the remaining seat.

"Please, master."

Stas politely bowed first to Master Toshiyuki and then to his wife before taking his seat. To Mei, he merely nodded.

"It is an honor to be invited to your meal," Ordyntsev was the epitome of propriety.

"I'm glad to finally meet one of my daughter's teammates, about whom she has told so much…"

"Dad!" Mei flared up indignantly, casting a heavy glance at her father.

"Oh, your old man misspoke," Toshiyuki waved his hand. "I meant to say, she hardly told us anything."

Stas just smiled softly in response to this speech, supporting the clan head's desire to joke. When a person of his level jokes, everyone laughs, whether the joke is funny or not.

Only if the clan elder thought to make Stas relax this way, he achieved the exact opposite result.

And although Ordyntsev tried to radiate calm and goodwill, inside, everything resembled a compressed spring.

"But what am I talking about? Mei, please introduce us," her father commanded.

"Of course," Mei muttered monotonously and began, "Shiro, allow me to introduce my father, Toshiyuki Sumada, the head of the Eiko family, the founders of Sumada City. And this is my mother, Hiroko Sumada, my father's wife. Father, mother – this is Shiro, my teammate, clanless."

The last part sounded almost accusatory and was clearly not meant for Stas.

'What the...'

"Thank you, daughter," Toshiyuki smirked. Stas remembered that he behaved the same way at the elders' meeting. Constantly joking and always trying to needle his interlocutors. "How do you like our home?"

"Toshiyuki-sama," Stas responded immediately. "I've been to different cities, but I've never seen such beauty."

The doors to the room were opened, and the first dishes were brought in. The maids placed the food on trays on the floor, then shuffled across the threshold on their knees, picked up the trays, and carried them inside.

In front of Stas, they placed some fish, already cleaned, carefully sliced, and in bright spices. Despite the fact that Stas found it a bit too piquant, he was actually glad – he had long been tired of the bland local menu.

"Shiro-kun, if you'll allow me to call you that?"

"Of course, Toshiyuki-sama."

"I look into your eyes, Shiro-kun, and I see real serpent pupils. I know the Kiatto clan and a couple of other clans that also tied their lives to some animals. But I've never heard of serpent lineage. Would you share?"

"Please forgive me, Toshiyuki-sama, but I've lost my memory and don't remember who my family was. The only thing left is the certainty that my clan was destroyed."

"How sad," the family head shook his head. "Perhaps your eyes weren't even related to your clan. Sometimes, lineages have a way of manifesting independently. It's a rare occurrence, but there's a belief that such people are set up by the world itself to do something great. For example, many of them founded new clans. What do you think about that, Shiro-kun? For such an important affair, you would definitely need a suitable wife."

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Mei's chopsticks cracked into sawdust in her hands.

"Oh, how clumsy of me," Toshiyuki's daughter drawled. "Please forgive me."

"Now, now, my daughter," her father lamented gently. "Don't be so formal. After all, teammates are people you sometimes trust even more than your own kin. So you can relax; we're sitting here practically as family."

Is there any need to mention that his words had the opposite effect on Mei? To Stas, it seemed the capillaries in her eyes burst.

"How is your teacher doing?" Eiko changed the subject. "Still drinking incessantly?"

"Do you know Sensei?" Stas clarified. It was one thing to talk about him, but revealing anything about Master Jun could backfire.

"Of course," Toshiyuki snorted. "You should know, we all hung out together as kids. Though I never approved of his madness and hung out more with Io. As far as I'm aware, you've already met him?" Mei looked surprised at her father. Apparently, she didn't know about their connection.

Stas briefly lowered his gaze. He hadn't forgotten the leak of information that forced him to take on a mission to eliminate one actually decent noble.

Mei told her father about their skills, and he passed it on to his friend, Io.

"Yes, Toshiyuki-sama. We've completed a couple of his missions."

"By the way, Shiro-kun, since we're talking about Jun, I can't help but ask about your last fight. Rumors of Kirin the Cutter's defeat spread very quickly. To some extent, it was due to the lack of other news, but thanks to that, many found out about you."

Ordyntsev could say a lot about this, and not all of it would be suitable for polite company.

"I heard that you and that boy, Eiji, was it? Managed to defeat your opponents. Only with my daughter, it was not so simple. Evil tongues even tried to give her the nickname 'Crystal Princess.' You must understand, Shiro-kun, as a father and as the head of our family, I would be very upset by this possibility…"

"Damn Eiji!" Mei roared, earning a displeased look from her mother, which she ignored. "He was the one bragging when we met one of our patrols that he and Shiro supposedly beat two advanced warmasters, and if it weren't for me, they would have defeated the last one, too! I will not forgive that piece…"

"Daughter, that's enough," Toshiyuki said sternly.

"But father, I…"

"Enough," Mei lowered her face. An awkward silence hung in the air. "Shiro-kun, I want to hear from you what happened there. Don't be shy to speak frankly, I'm ready to hear the truth."

"Toshiyuki-sama," Mei wasn't looking at him, but Stas felt her scorching attention. "Perhaps you won't believe me and will think that I'm covering for your daughter, but she wasn't at fault in that battle."

"Really?"

"Yes," Stas confirmed. "For all of us, the encounter with three advanced warmasters was a huge shock. We were working on acting as a team, but Kirin's apprentices split us apart in an instant, and if not for their disdain, everything could have ended quite differently."

The clan head was all ears, refraining from cutting in.

"The problem was that Eiji and I faced fighters focused on developing their techniques and ranged combat, while Mei had to fight one specialized in close combat. She's a talented student, but Kirin's apprentice was no fool. He was simply stronger, faster, and more experienced. Give her another year or two, and Mei will surpass him, even though she'd still be younger then."

"Hmm, an interesting view. I'll think about it. Now, Mei, Hiroko, would you leave us? Shiro-kun and I have something to discuss one-on-one."

"Fine, father," his daughter hissed, casting suspicious glances at both Stas and her father.

At last, they were alone.

Nervously, Stas felt the new fabric of his kimono scratch his skin, raising irritation to a new level.

"Tell me, Shiro-kun, aren't you surprised by Mei's behavior?" Toshiyuki asked with a sly smile, looking at the sweating Stas with interest.

"Yes, I've noticed oddities."

"I'm sure you have some guesses about the reasons, don't you? Be kind, voice them." Ordyntsev felt that with each question he was falling further into the abyss.

"Is it all about... Marriage... Between Mei and me?" he ventured cautiously, unsure of what to expect. He braced for thunder and lightning, but the Eiko head just nodded contentedly.

"You know, Shiro-kun, I actually took the time to learn as much about you as possible," Toshiyuki began amicably. "And the more I discovered, the more unusual the conclusions became. So, I found out that although you had prana when you came to the Sumada, your power level was surprisingly low. Yet, in just under two and a half years, you are fighting advanced warmasters. And winning. This is an incredible success for an ordinary person, but for someone with a powerful lineage, it's not so strange."

The head paused.

"Nevertheless, there's an oddity, because no one remembers you having those serpent eyes from the beginning. It means you awakened your lineage much later. The servants who work on the floors you frequent speak in unison about your perseverance and striving for power. Few can spend so much time on training. That's why I can say that you truly are a promising young man. And I'll ask one question. Do you want to marry my daughter?"

"Thank you for the honor," Stas immediately bowed. "But I'm afraid I must decline."

"Explain." Toshiyuki frowned, piercing the young man sitting opposite him with a stern gaze.

"As your daughter rightly said, I'm clanless. And although I may become strong in the future, that's not what your family needs. As I see it, you're moving not towards brute force, but rather towards trade, arts, and crafts. Moreover, your family is new and needs marriage with someone well-known to solidify its position. I'm not the one your daughter needs."

"You're saying the right words, but what about you yourself? Mei is a beautiful girl, haven't you ever thought about it?" the head asked insistently, demanding an answer.

"I have thought about it, but this life is not for me," Stas shrugged. "I seek power."

'And immortality. And after that, I can think about something else over the centuries.'

Silence reigned in the room.

Suddenly, Toshiyuki laughed and clapped his hands lightly a few times.

"Marvelous, Shiro-kun! Marvelous. Finally, someone who understands their place in this world and doesn't want to grab everything at once. I'm glad that someone like you will be by my daughter's side. There are too many who think they can have a pretty face and call me 'father' in a couple of months!"

Ordyntsev just smiled politely. Why on earth would he upset the man by telling him he had suspected this was all a game?

Not that the head played poorly. Rather, Ordyntsev was the kind of person who looked for a hidden depth, and then a depth beyond that, even in his own sake cup.

On the other hand, he told the head of the Eiko family the plain truth – he had no plans for Mei that involved marriage.

"I'm sure Mei will be furious," Stas allowed himself to hint, eliciting a chuckle and an ironic smile from the father.

The head didn't tell Stas he had crossed the line of decency, and that was good news.

"I bet she will be. You should have seen her when I hinted at the possibility of your marriage to her. She has calmed down by today already. But let's set aside this fuss; we have a couple more important matters to resolve."

"I'm listening," Stas became more serious.

"Stimulants," Toshiyuki reached into his pocket and laid one of Kizashi's pills on the table. "Hideo-san recently visited me and provided the result of your work with Kizashi. I wanted to discuss possible collaboration with him, but he directed me to you."

Ordyntsev did not show that the head's words slightly stung him. The earthling felt a bit ashamed. Mentioning his name in the work on stimulants was like a mockery. After all, because of those damned missions, he hardly appeared in the Citadel, leaving all the work to Kizashi alone.

"I understand," Ordyntsev nodded. "We want these stimulants to be classified on the same level as warmaster techniques and belong exclusively to the three of us: Kizashi, me, and Hideo-sama."

"Hmm, given the circumstances, that can be done," the head nodded. "But in return, I want the sale of these stimulators to be conducted exclusively through the Eiko family. And our percentage will be thirty. In that case, the Eiko family will ensure you have no problems with this business."

"Eiko-sama, that's too much," Stas immediately attacked. "Given the exclusivity of the offer, ten percent is the maximum."

"Well," Toshiyuki smiled coldly. "I'm afraid I can't agree with you, Shiro-kun…"

After thirty minutes of desperate bargaining, Stas employed all his skills in diplomacy and deceit.

"Twenty percent will be a fair price."

"Agreed," Ordyntsev nodded.

The partners shook hands contentedly. They also discussed the prices of ingredients and a few other essential details.

"The second issue," the head of the Eiko family drummed his fingers on the table. "I'm very concerned about your second teammate. Eiji-kun. He has the audacity to tarnish my daughter's good name, spreading terrible rumors about her. It cost me a lot of effort and money to deal with that shameful nickname. I want to know, is he so useful to your team? Or would it be better for him to be... Replaced?"

The last word sounded like the clang of an executioner's axe.

"What do you say, Shiro-kun? Is there a point in giving him a second chance?"

Ordyntsev pondered deeply, and moral considerations were the least of his concerns.