Demon God

"I see. Since the Lion's Forest is made by the King of the Elves, Master would be happy to help them," Desire murmured.

Desire...didn't really know what the Lion's Forest was about, but it seems to be deeply connected with Lionel, which is why he quickly understood why he would be more than happy to help the Elves.

However, it's not like this was confirmed, which is why...

"That's just a rumor, right? That doesn't really say that Master won't get mad at all," Desire said as he looked at Ryu with sharp eyes.

Desire knew that Ryu wouldn't say something like this without evidence, and that is why he was hoping that he would say something else.

However, it seems that...Ryu's confidence about this matter was purely just because of the rumor.

"Yes, it's only a rumor, but...we all believe it. After all, the Lion's Forest is a magical forest. It can only be created with the help of an elf, who is considered to be the guardians of the forest, or a dryad, who is presumably the forest itself, and some other races that specialize with the topic of forests."

"And...within the Lion Clan's records, there was a time when the King of the Elves, Rott visited the Lion Clan and met with the Lord."

"Though, their meeting and conversation are something that we don't know as it was private and the Lord himself prevented anyone from joining."

"Even chefs and maids were not allowed to deliver food," Ryu said all those words with confidence and certainty in his voice.

However...what Ryu said was really vague since it didn't really have anything to do with the Lion's Forest.

"Hah. You're going nowhere, you know? Well, whatever. I only wanted to ask this because I wanted to prepare for it, it's not like I'm really that worried about it, anyway," Desire said and then turned around as he continued to walk.

Hearing what Desire said, Ryu got quite the shock and it was evident on his face.

Nevertheless, Ryu continued to walk as well as he followed right after Desire.

However, not even a second has passed after they both started to walk that Desire spoke again.

"So? What is the problem that you mentioned?" Desire said.

Ryu's face and ears perked up as soon as he heard those words and quickly spoke as if nothing was wrong with him.

Well, there was really nothing wrong with him. It was just a shock that Desire disregarded his opinion, and that was fine since it was, in the end, just an opinion.

"Well...you see...the man that the Young Lord killed yesterday, that guy is called Baho. And it seems that he's the one in charge of the city."

"And...because he's the one in charge, he's the one who does the allocation of the goods that we are selling to the merchants. It's all good since we can just follow what he made so that we wouldn't have any problems with the merchants, but..."

"But?" Desire interjected, wanting to hear the answer quickly.

"There are some merchants that Baho gave special privileges to. There are some merchants who can buy goods at a much lower price. There's even a merchant who is the only one allowed to sell some kind of supply, which is essential in this city."

"Anyway, the point is that...since Baho is gone, the privileges those merchants have are gone as well. And now, those merchants are...protesting at the City Hall, hoping to get answers. They found out about his death during the night, and are hoping to be reassured about their contracts."

"And because they got an official contract with Baho, the representative of the Lion Clan at the time, we can only 'yes' to them as our reputation and connections are on the line."

"After all, we already agreed with it in a way and even made a contract with them. Going back against it would definitely tarnish our reputation."

"Hmmm...but what's the problem in that? You can just go ahead and give the merchants what they want, no? It's not like we'll lose anything by giving them any special rights," Desire said.

"No, this is where the main problem comes in. The privileges that those merchants have are so big and great that we will also be affected by it."

"The corpses of the monsters, which is usually sold at one million silver coins...some merchants can buy it for one hundred thousand silver coins."

"That's not all. There are plenty of other items that the merchants with the privilege can buy at a much lower price."

"It is enough for us to take a hit, and if our calculations are correct, then...the Lion Clan wouldn't have any profit at all from this expedition if we give the privileges to those merchants back."

Ryu said all those words with a serious voice and a serious look on his face.

Well, this situation was certainly serious, and even Desire...could understand why it was serious.

"Hmm...In other words, we only got two options; to save the Lion Clan's reputation and give the privileges back to those merchants or to destroy the Lion Clan's reputation by not giving it back," Desire said as he finally stopped walking.

Why? It was because he reached the main hallway of the mansion now, and there were people standing there.

"Young Master!" The people said as they all knelt down on the ground when they saw Desire.

Of course, it was obvious by now, but these people were Ryu's men.

However, Ryu didn't care about them as he just continued to speak, "Yes, Young Lord. That is indeed the situation."

"The Lion Clan is big enough to ignore the losses and the reputation issue as well, and that is why it isn't really a problem, but...it would still be a serious hit to us and will probably take months for the Lion Clan to recover."

It was then that a sudden shift in the air around them happened. And as if Desire was waiting for this, he spoke with a confident voice.

"Yeah. You're right. This is not a problem. After all, the solution is right in front of me, no?" Desire said...with a scary smile on his face as he looked at the men kneeling down in front of him.