The Oxe family representative started to come up with many reasons he should not sell the Sun Merchant Hall to the Moon Merchant Hall.
"The monopoly will affect the people and business in town, you should be considerate of the people..."
"You can get a better deal elsewhere..."
"We can offer you protection..."
"Your employees will drain on your wealth and where will they find another job in the current town..."
"What? You already sold your mansion to them? Its value will be much higher when the town settles down..."
After a while, he sprang his interest in buying the business. Aile thought about it and made it seem like he was considering many things, especially his arguments. So he told him that as they had been partners, he will give him an opportunity.
In two days, if he can purchase the Merchant Hall and transfer all the money, then he will be willing to sell to him. But he made it clear that he will notify the Moon Merchant Union of his interest. The sooner he can provide the funds, the better his chances of acquiring it. He told him that the Moon Merchant Union will be paying in two days.
It was already clear that the Sun Merchant Hall was lacking funds, so it was accepted by him with ease, and the fact that Aile was in a hurry to leave was also apparent. He cursed himself for making it too tough on Aile, and the pressure of the royals was affecting him negatively now.
He could make things worse for Aile, but he knew that with Moon Merchant Union it was likely he would sell to them. The adventurer union affiliate with him will also prevent him from making another big move in the next two days. So he left to gather funds immediately.
Aile had given him both the carrot and stick. With his interest over the years in Aile's Merchant Hall, it was almost guaranteed that he will do everything to acquire it. After all, it was profitable, and with Oxe family's war stock, the heaps of money was already visualized by him.
So without much consideration to Aile or their conversation. The Oxe family representative's mind was already thinking of ways to provide Aile with the funds so that he could take control of the Merchant Hall, as soon as possible.
Aile let out a long breath after his departure, and the next place he was going to was to meet the bandits and the two vipress girls. Walking towards his mansion, he was thinking of what to do with them.
On the one side, he felt uneasy abandoning them while they were down, on the other side, he could not afford to support an erratic group's action at the moment. While he was thinking, he arrived at the room they were at.
Aile entered and checked on Aurelius, he was going to die. If he survived, he would live as a cripple without power, long-life and the ability to take care of himself. In this world, it pretty much amounted to a torturous death. Especially for him, someone who has made enemies with so many people.
Aile then looked at Beshoy who had some medicinal paste covering his crushed hand like a cast. The heavy smell of medicine and plants was not soothing, and it created a dizzying atmosphere. He would survive physically. But as someone who had tendencies for mass slaughter before his current state, it is hard to say that he will not revert back to his previous persona. Aile had understood him a little and what he learnt was that he was mentally unstable. Because of how his face was burnt, he would act out against everyone to get back on the world for its unfair treatment of him. Beshoy would kill everyone as retaliation. Now that his hand is also damaged, who is to say what he will do.
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Walking away from the unconscious Beshoy into the locked room with a guard, Aile entered after the guard saw him.
"Master Shadow, do you want to enter?"
Aile nodded and unlocked the door. Aile entered and locked the door behind him again. He was aware that one of the vipresses acted violently, and any mistake could lead to the guard outside getting injured. It was not something that Aile wanted to risk in the current erratic situation of the town. He saw the two girls with puffed-up eyes sitting on a large bed. They were dressed casually, and the lethal feeling that they exuded before was nowhere to be seen. Their body's curves stretched the clothing they wore, and their neatly cut shoulder-length hair was glistening when the light rays hit them. They looked at the door and seeing Aile, one of them dropped the knife that she picked up and did not initiate the conversation.
Aile too did not start the conversation he had not made up his mind yet, he took a chair and sat far away from them on the opposite side of the room. He was observing them and at the same time, thinking.
"Why are you sitting so far away? Do you not trust us?"
Aile nodded, "The two of you have not acted very trustable recently, and with so many weapons on both of you, I think it is best if I stay far away."
Aile's straightforwardness surprised her again. She looked at her sister and removed her upper wear, only leaving a bandage covering her mounds that seemed larger than average in size. She then started to remove knives, blades, throwing projectiles, talismans and more, that was placed around her body. While she was doing that, she said, "Maybe you should comfort us, isn't that why you came here? I do not have any weapons now." She said sarcastically, expecting Aile to take advantage of them. After seeing him not go the expected path, her tone changed again as she said, "Come and sit please, we had sat next to each other last time when you came to visit, and I had all the weapons on me then. You are not wary of two defenceless girls, are you?"
The other one also started to follow her sister's path, the same way, showing their defenceless selves. Aile was unsure of what to make of it, the girls never showed interest to anyone and were dressed conservatively. So this behaviour surprised him, were they planning to use their body to make him help them...
The older one that had a bit darker complexion continued, "We have no value anymore in your eyes. Plus you clearly warned us, and we also made you lose a profitable business." Completely removing everything apart from a cloth-like bandage wrapped around their mounts and their upper legs to the waist. They came and span to show that they had no weapons on them. "I have also figured out your identity under that mask. So now I offer you three things, you can kill me here, and we will not fight back. We should be dead already... Sleep with me, I will not stop you or fight you consider it compensation for our stupidity. You can turn me into your slave, helper, subordinate, mistress, and I will not argue. My only request is to keep my sister protected and safe..." While she was saying this, Aile clearly saw unwillingness in her eyes. If she was unwilling, why would she do that? With their strength, they can peacefully leave to another town or village and live without worry.
"Well, you make it sound like I cannot do any of those things anyway, I can kill, take you, sell you. You do not have a background, use to me, or anyone that would care if you went missing. On top of that you made me lose money as you said, so do you think offering all the values you have to me beforehand will get you some benefit?... What I am surprised about is, if you know my identity, why not sell it and use the profit to run away?" To say nothing, Aile was surprised, their behaviour was unusual. Offering themselves seemed very unlikely, and unlike their character that Aile has observed over the year. It was clear to Aile that they would not do something like this for no reason. So there must be a reason for their action.
Looking and observing their bodies, Aile noticed a very faint tread of fire energy around the left side of her body at the start of the older sister's rib cage. Aile realized their intention to strip was to show him this. Inputting a little bit of energy around where the fire energy gathered, Aile saw a complex rune appear. Aile studied it and noticed that it was new and installed in the last 2 days. Which meant it was done here in his house. Someone infiltrated and placed two runes on his people and left without anyone noticing. It was most likely before Hazel arrived.