Inside the Honeygold mansion, Xander Honeygold, the current head of the Honeygold family skimmed through the documents he held. He stopped and leaned in his chair. It creaked due to his enormous weight. He threw a handful of biscuits into his mouth.
"I've been getting reports you bought devil's breath from the merchant's guild," His spit flew out as he spoke.
"And you expect me to pretend like it has nothing to do with our deal and continue to supply you with high-quality devil's breath?" He chuckled and took a sip of wine from his golden goblet. The representative from the Mercenary Guild tavern chain frowned at the blatantly crude display. The entire city of Bellburn knew how gluttonous and barbaric the head of the Honeygold family was, the sole supplier of devil's breath in Ceva and one of the largest producers of devil's breath's main ingredient, the devil's buttons.
Due to the price hike in devil's breath, the Mercenary Guild imported a container of devil's breath from the merchant guild instead of Xander for a low price. Unfortunately, the entire shipment was destroyed by a vigilante group who calls themselves the angels. Whenever a new booze or liquor makes the citizens addicted and causes harm to their well-being, this vigilante group would track down its supplier and destroy their warehouse. The Angels were the reason why the Honeygolds were the only suppliers of the devil's breath in Bellburn. Everyone who meddled in the devil's breath business was put out of business by the angels except the Honeygolds. Why? Because Xander ran the operation with an iron fist and had powerful connections in the capital city. Attacking the Honeygolds would bring enormous heat to the angels. Plus, the last time they tried to burn the field, Xander executed every single slave who worked the field, just to let the angels know if they mess with him, there would be collateral damage.
Hundreds of slaves were burnt to death that day. As a result, the angels backed off. They didn't want to be the reason for another massacre. But to this day, the angels were working in the shadows to bring Xander to justice by collecting dirt that could incriminate him in the king's court.
Even now, Xander picked a handful of snacks and continued to throw them into his mouth. Every time he spoke, crumbs and spit flew out.
"But Lord Benjamin told us you've prepared the shipment already. It's part of the agreement," said the representative.
"The agreement is only valid if you didn't go over my head and import a shipment of devil's breath from my competition," Xander glared at him.
"Surely, you read the agreement before you came here, no? Or are you too stupid that you couldn't even think something so simple?" Xander slammed his stubby fist on the table. The contents of the table trembled. Pieces of snacks and cookie crumbs flew.
"Tell Benjamin to meet me here himself and apologize to me within the next week. Not a single bottle of devil's breath will reach the Mercenary Guild otherwise,"
"But the Lord is in the valley of goblins right now. It would take at least a month to reach here. He's helping the king fend off the beastmen invasion at the border," The representative refused to yield.
"You know it's impossible to leave his post and come here by himself. That's why he's been sending representatives,"
"Enough of these excuses," Xander snarled.
"I don't plan to supply such a backstabber. If I let this matter go unsettled, everyone in the kingdom will try to make deals behind my back. You've been trying to make deals left and right and still expect me to conduct business with you? Humph," Xander snickered.
"Lord Benjamin is not a backstabber. We tried to make those deals because you raised the price of a bottle by fifty percent without any notice. The war with the beastmen has affected the lives of the commoners. You know that. They can't even afford one meal a day. So how could we expect them to pay not three but six astral coins for a bottle of booze?"
Xander snapped his fingers and the two guards standing next to the wall grabbed the representative.
"Throw him out,"
"You cannot do this!" The guards grabbed him. The representative struggled but was soon thrown out of the mansion. Xander burped and wiped his mouth off with a white silk napkin. A button on his gaudy dress popped off as he breathed in deeply.
"Father," a golden-haired youngster entered the room. He just celebrated his eighteenth birthday last week. Coupled with the round glasses and the book in his hand, he gave off an aura of a scholar.
"How's my genius son doing?" Xander opened his arms to embrace his son in a bear hug.
"Father, what was that all about?' the youngster asked with a concerned look in his eyes.
"Ha, it's just another representative of Benjamin. He was here to beg for devil's breath,"
"Is throwing them out fine?" asked the young man.
"It's Lord Benjamin. He's been fighting with the king to fend off the invaders. They must have in need for the devil's breath,"
"Of course, they are in need. That's why we can't give them what they want. Let them stew in their own desperation for a few days," laughed Xander. Granted the devil's breath was cheap booze for commoners but it was also a great alternative for healing potions which were damn expensive. If Benjamin and the king wanted to give every injured soldier a healing potion, they would go bankrupt before fending off the invasion. Depending on the devil's breath's purity, it could help numb the pain and give the soldiers another day to fight.
The King could try to import the devil's breath from other kingdoms or from the merchant guild. But the shipment would be destroyed the moment it reaches Ceva by Xander's men and the angels would be blamed, simple. Simply put, Xander monopolized the devil's breath and he would kill anyone who dares to disrupt his business.
Xander grabbed the documents on the table and started flipping through them,
"Besides, little birdies told me the attack on the valley of goblins wouldn't escalate until the backup arrives from the capital. The beastmen are currently in a deadlock with Benjamin's army. Will be able to buy two months from just that. It's better to make the Mercenary Guild and beg for help,"
"But father, what if the messages sent by the spies are wrong?" asked the young man.
"Then Benjamin will be history," Xander was nonchalant.
"It's not like there's no one to replace him as the head of the mercenaries. Even if the beastmen cease the valley of goblins, they would think twice before attacking Bellburn city. After all, the duke governing the city is far too dangerous to be an enemy, " The last part was a blatant bluff. Once the valley of goblins gets seized by the beastmen, there would be no hope of stopping the invasion. Even if the two dukes combined their forces, their chance of stopping the beastmen was next to nothing. But Xander knew Benjamin wouldn't lose that easily. As long as that man draws breath, it would be extremely difficult for the beastmen to invade the kingdom.
Jayden was shocked to see his father's relaxed attitude regardless of the looming threat of invasion. Right now, a massive war was breaking out in the southern region. Specifically at the place called the valley of the goblins. The Kingdom of beastmen claimed the valley belonged to their ancestors. Thus, they sent a legion of their army to conquer the valley. But everyone knew it was just a sparse. The reality was the beastmen wanted to invade the kingdom of Ceva. One after another, the villages and the castles in the valley of goblins fell to their military might. If it wasn't for Benjamin to set for the valley to personally stop the beastmen, they would have reached the city of Bellburn by now.
Although Jayden was a genius when it comes to alchemy, he was not so bright figuring out his father.
"I get it. You think I should help Benjamin and his army in any way I can, like the merchant guild. Right? You're thinking, why am I withholding the shipment of devil's breath when the war is about to break out? You're thinking I am a heartless bastard,"
Jayden felt chills crawling down his spine. Everything his father said was spot on.
"No, father,"
"You're not good at lying Jayden," Xander grinned.
"Listen Jayden. You will never survive as anything in this world if you keep being such a compassionate moron. An offer made on the brink of death carries more weight, even if it's from the devil. Remember that,"
When Xander uttered the word devil, Jayden saw someone staring at his father through the window. It was the crippled slave his father bought for two astral coins. Jayden always had a soft spot for the slaves, especially the crippled one. But, unlike the rest of his family, Jayden treated the slaves with mercy. As a matter of fact, Jayden saved more slaves than his family killed for fun. The crippled slave limped toward the field to work before his father could see him.
Someone knocked three times.
"Lord Xander, Young Miss Elisia is home," Xander's face brightened. Among his three children, Elisia was his favorite. She was exactly like him. That was why when Xander died, she would become the next head of the Honeygolds.
"Bring her to me," Xander ordered the guard. After a few minutes, a petite girl with striking blonde hair entered the room. Her beauty was on par with the princess of Ceva herself. But, in stark contrast to the princess, Elisia was cruel, cunning, and ruthless, just like her father. The blood stains on her perfectly white robes clearly indicated her personality.
"Heya, little brother," Elisia smacked Jayden on the back of his head before taking her seat before Xander.
"What's with the blood?" asked Xander.
"The usual. Taught some slaves how to behave. Some of them may have died, so ask Lady Begonia to buy some fresh blood from the market," said Elisia.
Jayden immediately felt saddened by her words. Those poor slaves were really unfortunate to receive Elisia's wrath. But when Jayden thought about some of her favorite toys, the slaves who died were lucky. They didn't have to live through her torture and cruelty anymore.
"Here," Xander slid a parchment toward Elisia.
"A group of idiots has been messing with our customers in the Greenville forest area. Find them and make an example," said Xander.
"With pleasure," Elisia licked her lips.
"I'll go deal with them tomorrow morning after uncle Roger returns from the city," said Elisia. Roger was Xander's personal guard. Yesterday, he went to Bellburn to get his armor forged. No one except Xander's family knew of Roger's departure to the city. If someone heard the wind of Roger, level 32 Sage Warrior had left Xander's side, they might take a shot at Xander's life. After all, being a sole supplier of the devil's breath came up with a few drawbacks, such as assassination attempts.
"I already made sure the defense arrays are in place. When the gates close, no one gets in or out, except for us of course," said Elisia.
"That damn armor better be worth all the coins I am spending on keeping these damn magical arrays," growled Xander.
Meanwhile back on the devil's button field, Hunter formed a plan to end his life as a slave once and for all.