The Herb King

138 Conflict

“Hello, Sir Aethelwolf! I’m sorry for not being there to personally invite you to come to the site. I have to be here to ensure the productivity of our workers. I don’t want a mistake to happen in the construction of your clothing shop.” Henry shook hands with Aethelwolf.

“No problem. I’m happy that you are placing great importance on the creation of my clothing shop. I believe that the payment and the contract have already been dealt with by Samira.” Aethelwolf smiled at Henry. The latter has deep eyebags, a clear indication that he hasn’t slept well in the last few days. Henry must have put a lot of work to construct his clothing shop.

Henry nodded his head. “Miss Samira has already sent the advance payment and she already signed the contract on your behalf. I invited you here for a different matter. As you can see, the building is almost finished. You gave us the design of the building, but you didn’t input a detail about the style of furniture that will be placed inside the clothing shop so I let my people design the furniture. I went to find Miss Samira, but she told me to let you choose the design. You just have to choose among the designs here, Sir Aethelwolf.” He handed Aethelwolf a folder.

Aethelwolf took the folder and scanned the designs. Everything looked great so he chose a design that seemed to fit perfectly with the architecture of the building. “This one.” He said as he handed the folder back to Henry. “By the way, Henry. This is Hyacinth and she will be working as my personal assistant. I will be busy in the coming days so if you need anything, just send someone to inform her.”

Hyacinth bowed her head lightly at Henry. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Henry. I’ve heard a lot about you from Sir Aethelwolf.”

Henry grinned when he heard that and he extended his hand to her. “Nice to meet you.” He then turned his head at Aethelwolf and said.

“Sir Aethelwolf, there’s actually one more thing. The Leader of the Merchant Association, Brian Linaza, will be hosting a banquet in his mansion. It’s an annual celebration for the establishment of the Merchant Association. The elites of the empire will be there and it’s a great chance to interact with people in the business circle. Sir Brian told me to give this invitation card to you.” Henry handed him a card with golden edges.

Aethelwolf’s eyes narrowed as he took the invitation card. This was a banquet where the upper echelons of the Leone Empire will gather. It was a great opportunity for him since he would need a lot of support to expand his business in other districts or cities.

“Is there a limit to how many people I can bring?” He asked in a low voice. It would be nice if he could bring some of his subordinates.

.....

Henry nodded his head and replied. “Yes. You can check your invitation card. It varies from person to person. Some can only bring one or two with them, while top nobles can bring more than three people.”

Aethelwolf removed the seal on the invitation card and read the contents carefully. He saw that he can bring five people with him and this left him satisfied. From the looks of it, the Leader of the Merchant Association thought so highly of him.

“The banquet will be held two days after the end of the battle event. I can make some time to go there.” Aethelwolf said while keeping the invited card inside his storage space.

Screech!

Aethelwolf immediately turned his head when he heard Olivia’s enraged cry. He saw that there was a group of noble youths holding stones in their hands and he understood what happened right away.

Olivia was glaring at the kids, but she didn’t attack them. However, there was an overwhelming killing intent suffusing in her eyes. ‘These goddamn humans! If not for my promise I would have swallowed these little bastards right here! Dammit!’ She roared in her heart.

Aethelwolf went to them and he noticed that Rendell and Albert were in verbal conflict with the parents of those children.

A man dressed in luxurious clothes pointed at Rendell’s nose as he shouted. “How uncouth! Is that your tamed beast? How can you let it act so aggressively in Lion City?! Sell it to me and I’ll forget this matter!”

Rendell was enraged by the arrogance displayed by the man. “We already rejected you earlier and now you’re ordering your children to hurt our magical beast to intentionally make it angry? You think we’re blind?!” He yelled at the man. He wouldn’t have done this before, but he was now working for Aethelwolf and he didn’t want his boss to lose face just because of him.

The man’s face contorted in fury when he heard Rendell’s words. “A fucking servant like you actually dares to shout at a noble?! Have you not been taught by your master to respect those with great status?! That’s why I hate speaking with low-class commoners like you pe-” Before he could even say anything, a figure emerged behind him and slapped him hard in the face.

Rendell stared at Albert in shock.

“You can insult us, but not our Lord.” Albert muttered in a cold voice.

The commotion immediately attracted many people and there were even guards who are coming to stop the fight.

“Halt! Fighting inside the city is prohibited!” The guard’s warned them.

The man who had been slapped by Albert immediately went to the guards and pointed at Albert with an angry look. “That guy attacked a noble! Detain him and his companion!”

The guards frowned when they looked at Albert and Rendell. Both men were Espers and they couldn’t even sense Albert’s power. That means the man was a lot stronger than them!

The guards were in a dilemma. The other party was a noble while the opposing side has a high-level Esper. Both parties were difficult to deal with and they would need a high-ranking guard captain to deal with the situation. Unfortunately, no guard captain was present in the area.