Book 5: Chapter 3


    Everyone! To think we would run into each other here, I am quite delighted!


    As Ang came running toward the group, her bright smile and entire body emitted evident happiness. The luxurious and abundantly red silk dress she wore looked wonderful on her, and together with her attitude and gestures, she really looked like the type of person that was blessed at birth.


    It has been a while. Kyle greeted Ang with a sight bow.


    In fact, it had been almost half a year since theyst met.


    Ive heard of your great achievements! Especially about the heroic tale of you defeating the evil dragon who had attacked several adventurers in the Country of Eddos! It made my heart quiver in excitement! Ang told of the exaggerated rumors that had reached her with a sparkle in her eyes.


    Seems like its been going around a lot, huh


    Ghrud would probably burn you to cinders if he heard of that.


    Lieze and Shildonia discussed this with each other. After Ang finished praising Kyle, she then moved on to Seran, still cowering behind Kyle. Her smile remained as bright as always, although of a different kind, as she approached him.


    Seran-sama~! Im d you havent changed much. I have heard of your achievements. Ang seemed like a cat excited to y, as she closed in on Seran, with him stepping backward.


    However, Ang didnt let that get to her, ending up in a position where she was about to embrace him.


    No no no, Im just a bonus, really. Kyle is much more


    Of course not! I personally believe in my eyes and intuitionI had assumed my job this time would be boring official work, but when I heard that all of you are here, Im sure it will be a lot more entertaining.


    Kyles group always acted in ways that made them stand out, so following them around was most likely pretty easy. And inside Ang herself, she most likely decided that she would be acting together with the group during her stay here.


    Now, let us go. I heard your destination is the same, after all. Ang clung to Serans arm, and started walking towards the main office of the Business Group.


    Nobody was there to reproach the princess for her attitude, as all the servants and knights simply followed her. Watching the two walk off, Liezemented with a dubious tone.


    Isnt this weird? Being approached by such a cute girl, yet Serans not excited at all.


    Even Seran knows that being liked by the princess of the Galgan Empire is nothing but trouble. Kyle responded with a quiet voice, but Lieze still wasnt too satisfied with that.


    Really? I dont think he really cares about thatand I doubt thats all of it. Lieze seemingly was gued by a feeling of difort, and as she couldnt exin it, she decided to talk to Ang directly. Um She was looking for her words, when Ang turned around with a smile.


    Ahh, dont mind me. Id like to get along with everyone, so speak as lightly as youd like.


    Lieze understood that Ang was serious about that.


    Thenwhat did youe here for?


    As a benevolent ambassador to deepen the positive rtionship between the Empire and Bayone. At least officially.


    I-Is that so


    Hearing that the benevolent part was just a facade, Lieze showed a vague smile.


    OfficiallySo your aim of meeting President us is


    Kyle could imagine why the princess of the Galgan Empire, someone who aimed to be the supreme ruler of the entire humanfolk, would be sent here to an autonomous trading city, but he still asked nheless.


    Indeed, we as the Galgan Empire wish to receive reign over this Bayone.


    Even so, Ang answered without hesitation. Although he had already guessed as much, hearing it from the princess herself, Kyle couldnt help but tense up.


    My brothers also regard Bayone as quite valuable. However, the Marnico Business Group is almost one-fifth of all of Galgans trade business. If they were to merge with Bayone, we would suffer from that, and we would lose valuable profit. Hence, we have to treat this quite carefully, and as us should know of this, we are currently exchanging demands and requirements. What a troublesome city this is. Ang shook her head. As of right now, we are aiming to visit without any warning, hoping for them to mess up in some way that we can use this to threanegotiate with them, basically proceeding with typical diplomatic efforts.


    I-Is that so Kyle judged thatmenting on that would be too honest even for Ang, so he simply shed a vague smile.


    Anyway, were in the middle of trying to grasp any kind of weakness we can find. That means even this visit was with no particr goal in mindalthough I am quite delighted to run into all of you, as that will surely make things more exciting. Ang said with a lot of excitement in her voice.


    Being in a friendly rtionship with the princess of the Galgan Empire was something Kyle treasured, so he couldnt spoil her mood. He didnt know if moving together with Ang, in this case, would be good or bad luck, but it was toote to hesitate.


    They entered the main branch of the Marnico Business Group, immediately greeted by employees forming a beautiful line. One person stood at the end of said line, deeply lowering his head.


    I humbly wee you, Ang-sama.


    It was us Marnico, the man who stood at the summit of all of humanfolks economics. As he was a sailor in his younger days, you could see a few wrinkles on his face, but he stood tall and solid on the ground. He should be around sixty, yet he looked much younger.


    My deepest apologies that I could not greet you directly. If I had known about your arrival, I would have prepared a more official wee. us threw in a sarcasticment.


    He was still smiling as before, but he made it clear that she wasnt wee.


    Oh really? Were so close, you neednt worry about such trivial matters. And, if you would simply ept all of our conditions, I wouldnt be forced toe here over and over again.


    Naturally, Ang didnt sugarcoat her words either, openly facing us sarcasm with a sharpment of her own. And then, they bothughed. Watching this, Kyle quickly realized that having Ange with them was bad luck after all, and sighed.


    I heard that you would be visiting today, but not that you would arrive togetherWee, Kyle-sama. us nced at Kyles group, showing a surprised reaction for a moment, but then politely greeted them.


    Nice to meet you, Im Kyle. Kyle showed a polite bow, naming himself.


    Yes, he is my precious friend. Ang didnt miss a beat to brag.


    I see, as expected of the [Dragon yer] hero. To think you were on good terms with Ang-sama us said, nodding in admiration. Then, if you could just wait a moment


    Please, let them join us. Ang said.


    Butare you sure? I have not heard of them being affiliated with the Empire, no? us seemed a bit bewildered.


    As this discussion practically involved future diplomatic rtionships as equals, letting unrted people join in clearly wasnt a smart move.


    Indeed, my business is the same as always, see. Ang smiled.


    It was as beautiful of a smile as always, but to the people who knew, it looked like a predator licking its lips in excitement.


    The room Kyles group was brought to was spacious and luxurious, once again showing off us wealth. The carpet at their feet stood out, made out of the purple fur from the giant bear-monster called Violet Bear, which was used to give the carpet its evesting beauty even as they stepped on it. Every other piece of furniture was equally well done, which left themoner Lieze utterly baffled, as she simply sunk deeper into the sofa, restlessly looking around. However, she was about the only one who felt this nervous, because Shildonia immediately munched on the snacks previously prepared, and Seran quickly followed after. Urza was sipping on her tea without a single change in expression, acting the same as always. Kyle felt reassured and supported by his strong allies but still apologized to us despite that.


    Im sorry about them, they arent used to this.


    Its fine, its fine, they seem like quite the reliable group you have. us showed a generous smile and reassured Kyle that he was epting of this.


    Ang also enjoyed the sight of that, but she immediately corrected her posture, and brought up the topic on hand.


    So, lets get right to itPresident us, you will surely give us a beneficial answer this time, no?


    I wonder, what might you be talking about? The goal of your visit, Ang-sama, is to deepen the amicable rtionship between us and the Empire. We have been doing our utmost to work towards that. us yed dumb, but Ang continued nheless.


    We guaranteend as a count for you, and you can even use Bayone as your territory, so will you finally ept our request?


    The request of Angor rather, the Galgan Empire is quite simple, asking us to join the empire and hand over Bayone under the control of the Galgan Empire.


    As the first fundamental problem, I am not the ruler of Bayone, we are living under a parliamentary system, as you should be aware of.


    Just as us stated, he was part of a congress consisting of twenty traders, acting as the representative chairman.


    I may be the representative of said congress, but thats about all the power I have. Even if I dered our independence from the Empire, I would be kicked out soon after. us shook his head, stating that he wasnt all that powerful, but Ang didnt buy that.


    No need to feign ignorance like that. You are the one leading Bayone from the shadows, and if you felt like it, you could easily silence or erase the masses who dont agree with you without any difficulty, no? In fact, those who obstructed the direction you proposed had all disappeared <strong>in all sorts of shapes</strong>. Ang oddly emphasized thatst part, covering her smiling mouth with her hand, but her eyes most certainly were not smiling. Well, this tends to happen a lot in Galgan, so we dont n on faulting you for that.


    Youre right, Evenst year, several of these nobles disappeared <strong>in all sorts of ways</strong>. us equally emphasized thatst part, shing a provocative smile.


    FufufuIt really is hard to discernWe have too many people who cant even do something so simple.


    Hahaha, you can say that again.


    Dryughter filled the room.


    Phewtheyre both smiling, and yet theyre giving off pressure like they were fighting on the battlefield.


    So this is a conversation between humanshow terrifying


    As the atmosphere between them felt so tense you could hear the air cracking, Seran and Urza were discussing back and forth.


    In that regard, I believe you are quite wise. We were not asking you to reveal everything to us, but rather that you use your right as the chairman, and forcefully silence any opposition. Of course, this will be of great use for the Empire, but you will also receive great authority, allowing you to move freely. Ang narrowed her eyes, changed the tone of her voice, and continued. To both you personally and as a business, I believe this is quite beneficial. If you swear allegiance to Galgan, yourpetition will be erased, and you gain absolute control over the delivery of goodsYou will not only be the worlds greatest trader, but also the only one. Ang uttered sweet words of temptation.


    However, us slowly shook his head.


    Ang-sama, when ites to trading, its not good for one person to reign supreme over everybody else. Because there ispetition, you yourself can grow. If a country controlled all money and goods, it would stagnate at one point, and lead to a crash. You have to create a natural flow for these sorts of things.


    us truly sounded like he stood at the summit of all economics. However, Ang still cut right through that without any remorse.


    Yes, I am fully awareHowever, that is not important for the direction the Empire wishes to go. Rather than making something flourish, we value control and regtion. Our ideal would be to reign over humanfolk as a whole, just as it happened in the Ancient Magic Kingdom Zaales.


    No, we actually didnt rule all ofMgh. Shildonia was about to add an unnecessaryment, so Kyle stuffed a snack into her mouth.


    However, that wouldpletely half the development of the Empire. How do you feel about that?


    Even if you brought all of humanfolk under yourself, it wontst long. us words made it sound like it was the obvious result.


    Oh my, arent you misunderstanding something? The Galgan Empires policy is to unite all of humanfolk under them, but that isnt all. The ultimate goalis to control even the west of this continent.


    The west of this continent naturally was including the demon territory.


    Dont tell medo you n on waging war against the demonfolk? us facial color changed awfully quickly.


    Wage war against the demonsif it came from anybody else, you would probably regard them as insane andugh it off, but things were different if it was from the Galgan Empires princess. Let alone wrapping up the entire world into that war, itll create an all-out ughter that will remain in history for all eternity.


    However, there has been no interference from the demons for thest hundreds of years. Wouldnt it be foolish to agitate them now?


    Poke the bush and the snake will show its head, as they say.


    Oh my, so you think that leaving the demons, who possess the strength to annihte all of us, is a better idea?


    It may have sounded foolish if you didnt know any better, but Kyle was nodding.


    Well, this is merely our final goal, and we will deal with the demons after weve at least brought all of humanfolk together. For that, we will have to get the economy under control, which makes your strength necessary, President us? Im counting on you. Ang smiled, and took a sip of her tea.


    With this, Ang hadpletely taken the lead in the conversation, and she continued to close in on us with these sorts of arguments. This must be the result of Ang being used to these discussions from a young age. However, us was us all the same, managing to somehow keep a parallel line in their discussion. Finally, Ang made it sound as if they ran out of time.


    It cannot be helped, we shall end this meeting for today.


    Ang had ns after this, meeting the other influential people Bayone had to offer.


    Personally speaking, none of them hold nearly as much value as us, but I also cannot ignore them Ang seemed quite bothered.


    She apparently didnt n on having Kyles group follow her all that way, and since Kyle also made up a meeting with us, she quickly got up and prepared to leave them. Naturally, she regretted this, so she made ns to eat dinner together in the evening.


    President us, well soon stop with thepromises. I personally dont dislike you, but dont forget that the Empire will eventually run out of time to give. Ang gave us a final warning, and left the room while waving her hand.


    For crying out loud, the Empire never fails to give me a headache. us shed a wry smile, but he had already recovered his confident attitude.


    Although this was not their final meeting, it will certainly be soon. Thats why Ang was a lot more aggressive than you would expect, showing that the Empire was serious and ready to do whatever. Considering the rtionship of the Empire and Bayone, Kyle was thinking about what to do. However, the previous meeting ended, so us showed a refreshed smile.


    Now, Ive made you wait. Quite honestly, Ive been looking forward to meeting you. us showed no signs of having gone through a harsh verbal bout with a princess, simply interacting with Kyle with a nonchnt tone.


    Youre a lot younger than I expected. Or, maybe thats whyEither way, its wonderful to be young, so make sure to enjoy that for as long as you can.


    Thank you very much. Its an honor to hear these words from the renowned President us.


    Clearly, it was just us being polite, but Kyle even responded ordingly. This time around, his ultimate goal was to get acquainted with us, soa bit of idle talk should end it perfectlyKyle judged, but that quickly changed when us dropped the following words.


    I definitely had to meet you at least once, after all. us said with an oddly profound meaning, leaving Kyle dubious.


    Um, why is that?


    To Kyle, it was more than convenient, but he didnt understand the reason for that. Of course, Kyle had the desire of all sorts of people, but us shouldnt be as desperate.


    I am a businessman, and doing business means to have connections. us showed his teeth as heughed.


    This smile sent a shiver down Kyles spine. And judging from his experience so far, that mostly hit its mark.


    That being said, that doesnt mean I want to directly do business with you, its more like a request from a regr, acting as the mediator.


    Mediator?


    Yes, they would love to meet you, which is why I arranged the location. They have certain circumstances that prohibit them from meeting out in the open.


    And who exactly


    I believe it would be faster for you to just meet them. In fact, theyve already arrived.


    Before Kyle could evene up with a guess, us ordered his servant to bring the person over. As expected of a trained businessman who fought a hundred battles, us already had the conversation under control, working at his own pace.


    Youve already met each other before, so Im sure itll be a breeze.


    Well


    Kyle was even more puzzled, wondering why that person couldnt reach out to Kyle directly if they had known each other. However, us simply continued tough. After waiting for a moment, the door opened. When Kyles group saw the individual entering the room, they all gasped in unison. She had the looks of absolute beauty, but the single horn growing from her head was the proof of a demon.


    Yeah, we definitely know each other.


    Seran showed aplicated expression, as he looked at the demon womanYuriga.