The scene changes, and it's already the second day.
Ayanokouji had just stepped out of the room when Rem hurriedly approached with a letter.
"Ayanokouji-sama, I just received a letter." Rem said, handing the letter to him.
Ayanokouji looked at the envelope. There was a special seal on it. He now almost understood the words of this world and could comprehend the contents of the letter.
"Is it from the Kararagi Chamber of Commerce? It seems Anastasia is inviting me to meet."
He opened the envelope and carefully read the contents. Anastasia had invited him to her residence in the royal capital for a banquet.
"Is Anastasia starting to take action too?" He murmured to himself, realizing that the invitation seemed to be only for him and not for Emilia.
Ayanokouji could see some of Anastasia's small intentions, inviting him alone perhaps to draw him into her camp.
However, this was just a superficial reason. He knew that Anastasia invited him because she wanted to obtain information from him.
And coincidentally, he had the same idea.
Moreover, Ayanokouji had a business plan and was prepared to temporarily collaborate with Anastasia.
He realized that the level of technology in this world was very low. Although there were magic powers such as magic and Divine Protection, the technology for the livelihood of the people was quite basic, and there was no electricity, nor products like soap and toothpaste.
This made Ayanokouji aware of the business opportunities. If he could capitalize on these opportunities, he could use this chance to make a lot of money for Emilia's camp, expand their strength, and recruit troops.
Even though Emilia's camp had received a lot of political support, it was currently lacking in capable troops.
Although Puck and Beatrice were both Great Spirits with very strong power, they were significantly weakened and restricted.
After leaving the Forbidden Library, Beatrice's magic capacity was very limited, and Puck could only appear for less than half a day.
Elsa was a powerful combat force, but due to her special identity, she couldn't be used openly at the moment. She could only be sent for covert missions.
Meili's ability to control Demon Beasts was very strong, but Ayanokouji had previously hidden her ability because he directed and acted in the Demon Beast invasion, so he couldn't reveal this.
As for Rem, Ram, Felt, and Rom, although their combat power could surpass ordinary soldiers, it was not to the extent that they could pose a threat to others.
Moreover, there were only a few people in Emilia's camp who could provide combat power, and there were no troops. In the event of a large-scale war, their personnel might be insufficient.
It seemed that goods closely related to the livelihood of the people had a very promising market prospect in this world, but the most important thing at the moment was to enter the market.
Although Emilia's camp had grown rapidly, the biggest problem at present was that no one in the camp understood business, and no one had ever stepped into this field before. Emilia's camp relied on the Roswaal family's business and the villagers' taxes.
If no one helped in the business field, it meant that Emilia's camp had to enter the market from scratch. This was very difficult, so Ayanokouji thought of borrowing Anastasia's Chamber of Commerce to help circulate his goods.
However, all this was not yet finalized. Although he had such an idea in mind, he had not yet implemented it. He had not decided what to choose – at least it needed to pique Anastasia's interest.
Ayanokouji decided to attend the banquet, but Anastasia had only asked him to go alone, and he had a plan for that too.
He knew that Anastasia was a very cunning person. It was not an ordinary person who could create such a large chamber of commerce from scratch. From the court meeting, he had seen Anastasia's small moves and realized that the other party was trying to get information, which was somewhat similar to him.
If Ayanokouji let someone else go with him, it was likely that information about Emilia's camp would be leaked without his knowledge, thus harming him, so he decided to go alone.
In addition, he might also be able to conduct a secret transaction with Anastasia in his personal capacity.
He could also use Anastasia's cleverness and use details to mislead her.
The information Anastasia could obtain would be only what Ayanokouji wanted to give her.
However, even though Anastasia had only invited him alone, Ayanokouji still chose to inform Emilia about this matter. If he didn't inform Emilia, the other party would certainly care, even if she didn't say it out loud, affecting the level of control he had over Emilia.
Ayanokouji entered Emilia's room and told her about the meeting with Anastasia.
"Did she call you…" Emilia said with a slight worry in her eyes.
Everything had been handled by Ayanokouji, which made Emilia feel a little dependent on him, and she was also slightly worried that Ayanokouji might be lured by Anastasia.
"Don't worry, I'm just going to talk to her a bit to try and gain some benefits for our camp." Ayanokouji said calmly, "After all, I am your supporter, Emilia."
Of course, what he said wasn't true. Everything he said wasn't out of loyalty but to make Emilia trust him more.
In fact, his former self believed that he would ruthlessly abandon everyone in Emilia's camp if necessary.
However, for the current Ayanokouji, Emilia's camp was now the camp with the greatest advantage and value over other forces. He decided to use this as a foundation first, and then use other forces one by one to devour them.
"Yes!"
After hearing his words, a happy smile appeared on Emilia's face, "Then Ayanokouji, be careful on the road."
The camera changed, and in the blink of an eye, Ayanokouji had arrived at Anastasia's temporary residence in the royal capital.
"It's Ayanokouji-sama!"
Upon arriving at the front door of the mansion, a cat-like woman waved hello.
Ayanokouji observed the other party carefully.
The other party was very short, like a child. The two cat ears on her head showed her Demi-Human identity.
Ayanokouji had previously investigated information about Anastasia and knew that she had a group of mercenaries called the Iron Fangs. Its members were basically from the Demi-Human race, and these three must have been from the mercenary group.
Mimi, Hetaro, and Tivey.
"Welcome, I didn't expect Ayanokouji to really attend the appointment." Anastasia walked out of the mansion with a bright smile on her face.
Her outfit was the same as when she was at the palace, like an innocent little girl.
Ayanokouji naturally knew that this seemingly harmless appearance was one of Anastasia's weapons, causing competitors to let down their guard and think she might not be a threat.
But in reality, Anastasia had almost monopolized the entire Kararagi market. Her chamber of commerce was the only one, and other chambers of commerce were forced to cooperate with her, or they could only be annexed by her.
She was a true businesswoman. The purpose of all her actions was to gain profit.
In a sense, Anastasia was the most similar person to him, so Ayanokouji always believed that Anastasia was the most threatening person if the power behind her and other factors were discarded.
But at the same time, she was also the most valuable.
Anastasia's business acumen and the business wealth behind her were very valuable to Ayanokouji and worth exploiting.
"After all, this is Anastasia-sama's invitation, so of course, I have to attend the appointment." Ayanokouji said calmly.
"Does Emilia know about this?" The sly girl asked meaningfully.
"Yes, she knows." Ayanokouji replied.
"Mhmmmm…"
Anastasia's eyes were fixed on him, wanting to get more information from him.
Ayanokouji's expression never changed, and he couldn't let others know what he was thinking. The clothes on his body were very neatly arranged, without a wrinkle. It showed that he was very calm before departure.
But at the same time, Anastasia noticed a stain on Ayanokouji's sleeve, as if it was stained with some kind of paint. This made her a little concerned, and she wondered why the whole body of Ayanokouji was so neat, but there was only a stain on the sleeve, which was hard to detect.
Could it be that the clothes on his body were just an illusion created by him?
She also noticed a little sweat on Ayanokouji's forehead, and his breathing was a bit quick. Clearly, he had just undergone some strenuous exercise, and it didn't match his neat clothing, so she judged that the other party had just done something secretly, but he wasn't ready to tell her about it.
This really aroused Anastasia's curiosity.
But in fact, all of this was done deliberately by Ayanokouji. He just wanted to create this strange contrast and make Anastasia curious.
If it were someone else, they would probably not notice the details about him. Only the wise Anastasia would notice that if he was too conspicuous, he would definitely tell Anastasia.
That's why Ayanokouji chose to convey the wrong message to Anastasia in a way that was hard to detect.
He noticed a slight movement in Anastasia's eyes. He knew his plan had succeeded, and the other party had observed the details of his appearance.
At this moment, Anastasia still felt a little pleased with herself for discovering Ayanokouji's small secret, but she didn't show it, nor did she directly ask him anything, instead pretending not to care.
"Please come in, Ayanokouji!"
Ayanokouji followed her into the mansion, only to find that the surroundings were quite ordinary. For Anastasia, a businesswoman, money was very important and wouldn't be spent on unnecessary things.
They sat at a table, with Anastasia still observing Ayanokouji, trying to gather more information from him, but she couldn't glean any further clues.
Mimi and the others brought luxurious food and placed it in front of the two, but they didn't take the knives and forks.
"I wonder why Anastasia-sama wants to meet with me alone?" Ayanokouji asked, "As competitors, such behavior is rather odd."
"After all, it's the first time I'm meeting you, Ayanokouji, so I want to treat you well. I heard you and Emilia visited the Crusch family yesterday, right?" Anastasia asked, seeking information about the previous day.
"Yes." Ayanokouji nodded, "What can I do for you?"
"I want to ask what your conversation was about?"
"Nothing much, just some general words that aren't important. I don't know why you want to ask about this, Anastasia-sama?"
"I have an idea." A meaningful smile appeared on Anastasia's face, "Let's form an alliance."