...
(2 weeks after Arthur's 'treatment')
In the shady part of the kingdom of Lugnica, three figures where inside a V.I.P. room of a bar drinking. One of the men was wearing pretty expensive clothes as he stared at his wine with a frown. In front of him was a monthly report of how his bussinesses were going.
"Are you playing with me?" The man said coldy as he stared at the people who brought him the reports. "You do know what will happen to your families if you play around right?"
Kneeling in front of him with their heads down where two men. One had a large build and nasty scar going from his ear to his eye.The other however had a pretty small build but had eyes that shined with a unique intelligence.
"Yes sir we do." The smaller man said nervously while the bigger man stayed silent. "That's why I have to say that the report isn't fake sir. I've already checked with the person who sent it to me and 'talked' with them."
"I don't care what he knows." The man with the suit said with irritation as he put down his glass of wine. He then pinched the bridge of his nose with closed eyes and took a breathe to calm himself. "Have you confirmed these results for yourself?"
"Yes sir." The other replied before turning towards the big man. "Howard, can you give the papers to the boss?"
Howard then walked forward with caution before nervously putting down a set of papers in front of the boss. Once done, he carefully took a couple steps back before kneeling once again.
"Let's see....." The boss said to himself as he picked up the stack of papers and started to look through the details. But as he skimmed through a cetain page, his eyes turned serious. "What is this?"
Slapping the paper on the table, he put his hand over his eye and began to show sign of a mix of anguish and frustration. "Who is this company? Why are they so clearly aiming toward us? And why haven't you taken care of the people behind it when it began to overtake us!" Picking up his glass, he took a sip before throwing it towards Howard in rage.
*smash*
Smashing against Howards forehead, the glass had shattered causing blood to flow freely. The man in the suit however did not care in the slightest as he had lost himself in rage.
"Why did you let this happen! Didn't I tell you what would happen for you incompetence? Explain to me why I shouldn't kill you right here!"
"Roswaal L. Mathers." The smaller man suddenly said causing the boss to turn towards him with a face full of red.
"What does he have to do with any of this!" The boss said in a rage as he quickly walked towards the man and pulled out a knife and put it under the smaller mans chin. "Luis, talk now!"
"He's supporting the opposing company!" Luis yelled in panic and fear as he felt the cold metal against his skin.
"..."
Being shocked to silence, the boss stared at Luis with wide eyes. The boss suddenly lowered the knife and put it in his pocket. Turning around, the boss walked back towards the table and sat down with a blank expression.
Falling back onto his but, Luis started to breathe hard as he stared towards his boss in fear and confusion. Howard also stared at his boss with confusion as he began to grab a bottle of wine.
The boss then grabbed three glasses from under the table and set them on the table. Grabbing a hold of the bottle of wine, the boss made a quick tug on the cork.
*pop*
And with the same blank expression, he poured the freshly opened wine inside of the glasses before turning towards the other two. Raising his glass, the boss motioned his hand over towards the two glasses of wine.
"Howard, Luis, come drink." He said calmly as he took a drink with a look of acceptance. "Today may be the last night we get to enjoy our way of life."
.....
(P.O.V. Suburu)
*BOOM*
Closing my eyes and reinforcing my body with mana, I protected myself from the shrapnel thrown out from a rock getting obliberated. And after a couple second I opened my eyes and looked around to see myself in a crater with a length of roughly 25 meters going around with an estimated depth of 10 meters.
Reinforcing the lower half of my body, I jumped the 10 meters with ease and turned to take a better look towards the crater. Comparing it to the ones Garfiel forms when we train together, I can tell I'm currently stronger than him. Well when I'm reinforcing myself with mana at least.
My physical strength alone is still not satisfactory. I'd say my physical strength is on par with when I was in the gas stage of mana using reinforcment.
Garfiel and the others actually had some houses built for them in the village. But unlike the Sanctuary, they are all free to leave and won't have their souls ripped out of their body if they do.
And as Garfiel is right next to me, I asked for him to help me train my physical strength and hand to hand. He was of course against it as I had previously showed him strength comparable to his own. But I managed to convince him with the fact that I used mana strengthening and I could teach him a thing or two.
So in return for him getting better at fighting, he would teach me how he trained his body. Which made getting the training regiment of the sword saint extremely easy since he was a idol to Garfiel. And fans just love to share their thoughts on their idol.
Smiling at my accomplishments, I looked away and started to walk back towards the mansion. I have to start strengthing my plans to take over the rest of the businesses found in Lugnica.
At the rate I am currently taking over the current one I'm after. I can confidently say they can't come back this late into my take over. With how much the company is earning from foreign trade, and from what I will earn after I set my place in Lugnica in stone, I estimate that I should be able to take over Lugnica's economy by the time of Arc 5.
My equipment should be coming in from the old man by next month also. He already has my knives ready, but the armor will take a little bit of time. Andrey also has a tailor he knows working on my other requests that don't require him.
Hearing the beat of wings, I calmly stood still as a pair of talons grasped my shoulder. I then reached a hand up towards the thing that landed on my shouler and pet it. Looking at it's eyes, I just nodded.
The raven seeing my nod stayed still for a couple more seconds to enjoy my grooming until it was satisfied. I then silently watched it fly off towards where It came from before turning towards the mansion.
It seems Otto and the others need me at the mansion.
......