As Sian made his way from the training center to the rear courtyard of the hotel, two men intercepted his path. While Sian knew the face of Bardock, one of the hotel guards, he was unaware of the other.
"Good morning, your lordship," Bardock said as he bowed respectfully.
Following his behavior, the black haired, thinly bearded man next to him also bowed as he wished him a good day.
This man's countenance was similar to Bardock's, but he was older. The two were perhaps brothers or cousins.
"That's my older brother," Bardock said, confirming Sian's suspicions. "He has some business to attend to with your lordship. As I have my own business to do, I'll leave you alone."
When Bardock left, only Sian and the man who had a friendly smile on his face remained.
"I heard that your Excellency had taken a trip, I hope it was a pleasant one."
"Yeah, it was nice," Sian said, "But who are you?"
"Oh, of course, how could I have been so careless. Someone busy like your excellency certainly wouldn't remember someone minor like me." Keeping his smile, the man continued, "We met a few days ago, my name is Deron, I am one of the merchants hired to supply your hotel."
According to Deron, when some merchants came, Sian welcomed them along with Illianna. That was just before they went to the Demonic Continent, but since Sian paid no mind to the merchants, he couldn't remember their faces.
"So, what brings you here?" Sian asked the man.
"I have some proposals on products that may be of interest to you," he replied.
Wanting to get rid of Deron, Sian said, "In that case, you can go talk to Illianna, she'll take care of it."
"Please wait," Deron called out to Sian as he was about to leave, "There's still one more thing I'd like to talk to your excellency about."
"Then say it," Sian said.
"I would like to offer you the services of my younger sister, Mirian. As long as you have food and shelter, she does not need payment. She has received a good education and won't give you any trouble."
As the hotel was short of qualified staff, someone who was educated is certainly welcome. But as Sian always sent his hotel-related problems to Illianna, he gave his standard response.
"You can also talk about it with Illianna."
Just as Sian was about to retreat, Illianna's voice came from behind Deron, "If I remember correctly, you're Deron, right? Shouldn't you be waiting with the other merchants?"
Although she was always well-dressed, now Illianna was wearing an elegant dress. It was a long blue dress with gold details that emphasized her waist and her breasts.
Since the meeting with the merchants was about to start, she probably dressed up for it.
The instant he saw Illianna, Deron looked nervous and bowed to her, "S-Sorry for my insolence!"
"It's all right," Illianna said. "You're Bardock's older brother, aren't you? He told me about you and your sister."
"Ah, err, yes, our younger sister, Mirian. She's a dedicated girl and a fast learner."
"All right, we'll accept her," Illianna said. "You brought her with you, didn't you?"
"That's right."
"You can send her later today."
"Thank you, thank you very much."
After bowing respectfully to Sian and thanking him, Deron did the same for Illianna.
"Now you can walk to the meeting hall," Illianna said.
***
"What was that?" After Deron left, Sian teased Illianna, "Is it just me or did he seem afraid of you?"
"I don't know," Illianna replied. "Of all the merchants I've encountered so far, he's the only one who seems afraid of me. He also always acts extremely respectful and bows to me even though he doesn't need to, like he did now."
Since Illianna does not have a position of nobility and represented Sian only by managing the hotel, there was no reason for him to act like that.
Although Sian was puzzled by the reason, it was only something momentary, so he prepared to leave.
"Well, I'm off."
"Don't even think about leaving now," Illianna interrupted him.
"I have some things to do," Sian argued.
"Yes, I know," she said. "One of those things is to go meet the merchants with me."
"It's to avoid doing that kind of thing that I have you, right?"
"Wrong, my job is to do everything within my power to make this hotel an amazing place, and that includes using you," she replied. "There are times when your presence is essential, and one of them is now."
Although Sian didn't like these business meetings and gatherings, according to Illianna, his presence was more than necessary. So, as much as he wanted to avoid those kinds of boring things, he had no choice.
Wherever it is, men are more respected and that is also an important factor when it comes to making transactions. In the previous meetings with the merchants, even though Illianna was the one who was handling everything, she was treated only as Sian's representative.
The merchants believe that all she does is list the products that Sian wanted and that was it, they were happy to receive the money in exchange for the goods. But now it is different, because in addition to receiving the supply, Illianna plans to be a supplier to these merchants.
With the inversion of roles, they would be the ones to give their money in exchange for merchandise. As a woman, they will take Illianna as inferior, making the negotiation process more difficult.
Even if she still uses Sian's name as a bridge, she may still not be taken seriously if he is not present at least one meeting.
Of course, since Illianna also has some unreleased products for the central continent, she will surely get good prices due to that. But with Sian present, that will be even better, as she would be able to persuade the merchants more easily and also gain even better prices.
Having convinced Sian, before they went to meet the merchants, Illianna made him wear a garment befitting his noble position. Refined black leather boots, black trousers, and an overcoat embroidered with gold thread.
After that, Sian followed Illianna into the hotel's meeting room. As they entered the room, twenty-nine people were waiting for them sitting at an extremely long table. All of them were merchants and all of them were men.
Acting respectfully, unlike her usual, Illianna bowed slightly to Sian and gestured for him to sit in the prominent chair that was at the end of the table. Unlike the others, the chair was the tallest and most refined one.
Although he felt strange with Illianna acting like that, Sian followed her cue and sat down. While he waited for Illianna to sit down as well, she stood with her back straight beside him.
At the same moment, a maid whom he did not know by face came and poured him a cup of tea. As if they had been waiting for this, the other maids appeared and served the other merchants simultaneously.
"I ask for everyone's attention."
At Illianna's words, everyone turned their gazes to her and only then did she continue.
"Although many have never seen him in person, I am sure you have heard of him. This respectable man is Sian de Castilho, duke and hero of Hosnein, as well as the owner of this hotel. Some of you may have heard of him for some supposed evil deeds, but I assure you it is all just unfounded rumors. That is obvious, after all, if he were someone evil, he would not be considered a hero of a great nation."
The instant he finished his words, Illianna began to mentally give instructions to Sian.
"In advance, I thank you all for being here."
Continuing as instructed, Sian gestured with his hand to the side Illianna was on.
"I usually leave trivial matters of this sort for Illianna to handle, but since today is a special occasion, I feel I need to be present. With that said, despite my presence, she will still be the one to negotiate with you."
Standing up, a white haired old man full of wrinkles on his face due to age came forward as he bowed slightly.
"It is an honor to meet you, your honor, my name is Teban," the old man said. "Though she presents to be someone capable, I feel that dealing directly with you would be better."
"I trust her judgment," Sian said.
Although the two had their differences, Sian fully trusted Illianna's abilities.
"I'm not doubting your judgment, but-"
"I already said she'll take care of it. Do you have something against my decision?"
Being interrupted by Sian who was throwing him a threatening look, Teban did not continue.
"N-no, none."
Saying those words, he sat back down.
After that, no one else seemed to have an objection, and Illianna led the meeting. As she predicted, at first, the merchants were reluctant to her proposal, since they had gone to sell rather than buy and all of them already had their own suppliers. But when the products coming directly from the demonic continent were mentioned and put on display on the table, everything changed.
The exotic fruits that they ate were especially captivating. According to the merchants, it was only a matter of time before they became a hit among the nobles.
The attractiveness of the fruit was such that merchants began to vie for exclusivity, but in the end, Illianna opted to separate it into a few lots and divide among them. However, given the quantity of fruit, it was not possible to supply all the gifts.
Of course, although Illianna was supplying some goods to the merchants, it was a two-way street. There were still many goods that the merchants will continue to supply to the hotel.
Although everything was going well, when it came time to settle the prices, time ended up dragging quite a bit. This is a normal thing, but as Sian has never been someone with much patience and due to being bored, he complained, 'hey, finish it soon, I don't have all day', everything went smoothly.
At the end of the meeting with the merchants, Sian sensed the presence of the girls in the vicinity of the hotel, which meant that they had already returned from their tour of the city.
Since his stomach was already rumbling, he planned to have lunch with them and then return to his original goal, improving the teleportation array. But then, he barely left the meeting room and was informed that he had visitors.