All kinds of delicacies were laid out on top of the extremely long rectangular table.
Various mouth-watering fragrances were stimulating the nose, but none of the people were looking at the table.
Every single person in the dining room was looking at Adis Sephia.
Why does that geezer have to talk about it now?! He can’t read the freaking atmosphere!
Of course, Wrath wasn’t a person, and he was solely focused on the food.
The food is better consumed while it’s warm, yet it’s getting cold right now! It must’ve lost twenty percent of its taste and flavor already!
‘Be patient.’
Raon pushed Wrath back as he kept clinging onto him and waited for Adis Sephia to continue his speech.
“Hmm.”
As if he forgot what he was going to say, he cut the steak in front of him and put it in his mouth.
“Delicious.”
He slowly chewed the stake before swallowing it, then nodded his head.
Since the geezer ate it, we should start eating as well! I said this before, but let’s start with the soup…
‘Wait a moment.’
Raon shook his head and stared at Adis.
“An excellent chef can discern better ingredients and create a masterpiece called dish by bringing forth the ingredient’s flavor.”
Adis cut the steak once again to eat before he smiled.
“An excellent carpenter can create an antique table from the blackwood that’s supposed to be too hard to even build a simple shape with.”
He stroked the rectangular table supporting the food and examined the successor candidates one after the other.
“Merchant is an occupation that consists of buying objects for cheap and selling them for a higher price to make a profit. Now, how does an excellent merchant distinguish themselves?”
He asked the question, but no one said anything since they thought he wasn’t looking for an answer.
“Dorian?”
However, Adis was an extraordinary person after all. He spoke like he was going to give the answer himself but called Dorian’s name to answer his question.
“Argh!”
Dorian’s hands on his knees started to tremble because of the sudden question.
“Erm…”
He couldn’t answer the question right away and secretly looked at Raon to ask for help.
“……”
Raon didn’t say anything with his mouth nor with an aura message, instead averting his gaze.
What are you doing right now?! Tell him the answer already! The food is going cold while that slowpoke is thinking about it!
‘I shouldn’t take away his opportunity to grow.’
People’s evaluation of Dorian was about to change depending on the answer.
It was a chance for him to grow, and Raon didn’t want to take it away from him.
“Haa…”
Dorian bit his lip and looked at Adis. A faint light was circling from his trembling eyes.
“I-in my opinion, an excellent merchant is probably someone who can think from the client’s perspective…”
“Do you really believe something like that is more important than making lots of money?”
“Making money is definitely important for a merchant. H-however, if you are only looking for money, you will end up losing people and trust, so I don’t think it’s the most important aspect. I think everyone will recognize the company eventually if one keeps trading while gaining people’s trust.”
“You are living in a dream world.”
Adis heavily lowered his eyebrows while looking at Dorian.
“Ahem.”
“Clients, he says…”
“He’s too immature.”
The subordinates of the other successor candidates rolled their lips into smiles and laughed at Dorian.
“Ugh…”
Dorian hung his head, his face turned red.
“Trust between the client and the merchant is a laughable concept nowadays since money and time are the only important aspects. However…”
Dorian’s shoulders shrunk to the size of a palm, and Adis continued.
“That’s how this company developed.”
“What?”
“Father?”
“President?”
Everyone inside the dining room turned their heads to look at Adis in surprise.
“An excellent merchant needs to know how to satisfy the client’s desire. Suiting other people’s tastes is difficult, annoying, and troublesome. However, the trust and credit you earn that way becomes the company’s name. That’s how the name of the general store Sephia was created.”
Raon nodded while listening to him.
‘I expected no less from the giant who developed Sephia to its current state.’
The reason Sephia was called a general store wasn’t simply because they dealt with all kinds of merchandise, but because they also acquired the requested objects for the clients.
Raon could see that Adis hadn’t changed at all even after he made Sephia one of the five biggest companies.
“Hmm…”
The dining room fell silent. Everyone secretly glared at Dorian with their heads lowered.
Dorian confidently straightened his spine despite their gazes even though he couldn’t stop his body from trembling from fear.
Raon chuckled while watching Dorian.
‘I told you he could grow through this opportunity.’
He’s slightly changed. However…
‘However?’
The food is changing drastically! Every minute and second counts! We have to eat it right away! We need to rescue it into the King of Essence’s stomach!
‘……’
Wrath’s eyes were going insane. Raon decided that he was going to ignore him for a while.
“Hmph!”
Adis wet his throat and looked at the successor candidates sitting at the table.
“We’ve gotten a rather difficult request recently. I would’ve normally taken care of it myself, but I brought it here since I figured it would be perfect for your trial.”
He started by looking at Palen.
“One of you gathered the money.”
The second person he looked at was Dialon.
“One of you gained connections…”
And he turned his head towards Jeser, who was sitting right next to the seat of honor.
“And one of you has both the money and connections. That’s why I thought the result was pretty much determined. However…”
Adis’s gaze was finally directed at Dorian.
“One of you actually brought bonds, instead of money or connections.”
He placidly placed his hand on the table.
“Since it’s getting interesting, I shall bestow upon you all an interesting trial.”
Adis quietly opened his mouth while watching the successor candidates swallow nervously.
“It’s a request from the Gray Hammer guild. Bring a drake’s horn, teeth, claws, and bones. It would be even better if you could bring the entire corpse.”
‘Drake!’
Raon clenched his fist under the table as soon as he heard Adis.
“The corpse of a drake?”
“Drake…”
The successor candidates dropped their jaws because the trial was completely different from their expectations.
“It doesn’t matter whether you kill one by yourselves, buy them from someone else, or even steal them. The one who brings the best drake corpse here in fifteen days will be the winner.”
“Who will decide which one is the best?”
“The Gray Hammer guild will obviously be the judge since they are the client.”
Adis shook his hand, and the eyes of the successors and their subordinates sparkled ferociously.
“May I leave now since we’ve finished the dinner?”
The first son, Jeser, bowed at him without even touching his food.
“Do as you wish.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
As soon as he said that, Jeser and Dialon both stood up.
They left the dining room without hesitation alongside their subordinates.
“Hmm…”
Palen tried to read Raon’s intention instead of leaving.
[Palen Sephia.]
Raon sent an aura message to her while looking in another direction.
[Act like always instead of looking at me. I’ll give you another order soon enough.]
Palen gave an unnoticeably small nod before leaving the dining room.
Argh…
Wrath’s chin trembled as he witnessed the scene.
Y-you aren’t about to leave now, are you? The King of Essence is really going to cry if you do that!
‘……’
He seemed to be threatening him, but it wasn’t scary at all. However, it was obvious that it was going to be annoying if he left without eating since Wrath was really going to start crying and kicking, so he raised his fork and knife.
He said soup! It’s cold now, but still start with the soup! We need the soup first in order to eat more food afterward!
‘Haa…’
Raon shook his head and spooned up some soup.
The truffle’s nutty flavor and the mild taste of the soup formed a perfect harmony.
‘He’s becoming more and more annoying.’
He was cutting the steak while sighing, and Dorian came up next to him.
“Vice squad leader, what are you doing right now?! Everyone left already!”
Dorian made an X sign with his hands with a trembling chin.
“We don’t have time to be eating those right now! Everyone must’ve already started to act!”
“Don’t worry. We will be the fastest.”
Raon casually shook the hand holding his fork.
“How can we be the fastest when they left before us? Why do you love food so much? What are you even raising in your stomach?”
“I’m raising something indeed.”
Raon chuckled while looking at the blue cotton candy’s smile of happiness.
‘I’m raising a demon king, and he’s a useless mouth.’
* * *
* * *
Inside the dining room after the dinner ended, Adis and his butler, Ligwin, were enjoying some drinks after everyone else was gone.
“He’s really changed a lot.”
Ligwin smiled while looking at Dorian’s seat.
“I didn’t expect the young master Dorian to confidently declare his opinion like that.”
“He should be able to tell his opinion at least since he’s grown up now.”
Adis shook his head, saying that it was a natural thing to do.
“But that opinion was so laudable. He almost looked like you back in your youth, President.”
Ligwin shook his head at Adis.
“That’s when the Sephia company started getting direct requests from clients instead of simply reselling the merchandise. I still clearly remember how you were trying to kill monsters by yourself even though you didn’t even know how to fight.”
“You’ve gotten old to be talking about the past like that.”
Adis furrowed his brow while looking at the wrinkles on Ligwin’s forehead.
“I’m old. That’s probably why I’m even more impressed by the young master Dorian’s change.”
“Hmm…”
Adis nodded faintly in agreement.
“I believe that the young masters Jeser and Dialon would be able to manage this company, but the young master Dorian might unexpectedly be able to develop it even further.”
“That might be the case. However, he can’t achieve that on his own.”
Adis put down his glass with a smile. His gaze was directed at Raon’s seat, located next to Dorian’s.
“Raon Zieghart. Might isn’t everything he has. He was perfectly aware of when to interfere and when to not. He’s also amazing at dealing with people. He has the qualities of a tyrant and a wise king at the same time.”
“…That much?”
Ligwin’s eyes widened. He’d never imagined that Adis would say tyrant and a wise king, as he rarely complimented other people.
“You saw how he casually finished his food before he left even though everyone else left in a hurry. He’s just so bold, regardless of his age. Even the great merchants were flinching in surprise.”
He looked at the table in front of Raon’s seat. Unlike the other spots, all the dishes were completely empty.
“A person’s true nature is revealed when they eat. Considering the fact that he didn’t leave any food at all, he’s also extremely greedy. I was honestly getting goosebumps.”
“I agree. I didn’t expect him to eat so much…”
“I believe that the company will either stand at the top over the other four or end up being ruined if we join forces with him.”
The two of them swallowed nervously, but they were gravely mistaken.
* * *
The next day at noon, Raon went to the downtown area of Rokan with Dorian, whose face was completely pale.
“Did you look into it?”
“I did, but I’m worried it won’t go too well. I heard my brothers already made their moves…”
“We have the absolute advantage in this trial.”
‘Moreover, we got the advantage before it even started.’
Raon shook his head with a smile.
‘Because I requested that information a long time ago.’
A drake's heart and a sea serpent’s heart were the materials to fix Sylvia’s energy center.
Since he requested that Denning Rose look for the locations of drakes after Encia told him about those ingredients, he was expecting her to have the answer for him.
“It’s here.”
Dorian pointed at a small shop dealing with dried fish.
“I heard this is the Black Market’s Rokan branch.”
He was apparently not sure about it, since he was tilting his head while looking at the signboard covered in spider webs.
“Do you know the password?”
“Yes, I did get the password…”
Dorian swallowed nervously and entered the shop. They went through a passage brimming with the scent of dried fish and found an old woman, who was leaning back in a rocking chair.
“H-hello.”
“……”
The old woman didn’t respond, and the creaking sound from the rocking chair greeted him instead.
“I-I’m looking for a sea snake that was dried up for ten years. Can I have a salty one without the skin?”
As soon as he finished talking, the rocking chair stopped moving.
“Please come this way.”
The old woman slowly stood up. She raised her eyes, and her gaze and voice were far younger than her appearance. She seemed to be a young woman in disguise.
Tap! Tap!
She guided them into another room and tapped on different locations on the right wall.
Swoosh.
The wall opened up without the slightest sound or vibration, and the stairway to the underground was revealed.
“You can go this way.”
She bowed at them before returning to the rocking chair. She instantly turned back into an old woman who was too drowsy to do anything else. Raon got the impression once again that everyone in the Black Market was remarkable.
They followed the light as they went down the stairs, and they found another market. It was the black market, as the name implied. They seemed to be dealing with all kinds of objects, from peculiar foods to brightly shining jewels.
On the other hand, the bright lighting from the ceiling and the walls made it even brighter than outside.
“Wow…”
Since Dorian usually loved getting supplies, he couldn’t take his eyes off the Black Market’s merchandise.
“It looks like they sell a lot of stuff here, unlike in Cameloon.”
Considering the state of the merchandise, Raon could guess that they weren’t distributed in a normal way. Some of the items still had curses, and a lot of them weren’t even appraised.
“Let’s go. You said you don’t have any time to waste.”
Raon tapped on Dorian’s shoulder and went towards a mansion with a black flag in order to buy information.
“It’s pretty amazing, but I also have most of them.”
“……”
Dorian followed him after saying something ridiculous.
‘I need to check what’s inside that pocket one day.’
Maybe he even has a drake inside his stupid belly.
‘Maybe…’
Raon had the feeling that he really might have one considering what happened so far.
“Hey, don’t tell me you even have a drake in your pocket.”
“Hmm, I did take some kind of claws when I ran away…”
Dorian took out two huge claws that looked like thick and curved spearheads.
“I checked later on, and they were a griffon’s claws, not a drake’s.”
“Griffon…”
Griffons were even rarer than drakes. Raon was dumbstruck by the fact that he even had the claws of such a mysterious creature.
“Haa…”
Raon shook his head and stood in front of a mansion at the end of the black market.
Four warriors with intense gazes were standing in front of the large iron door.
“I’m…”
“Greetings, White Sword Dragon!”
The warriors bent forward to greet him with extreme courtesy.
“Please enter.”
They made way and opened the iron door. They seemed to already be aware of the reason for their visit.
‘Did they already know that I was coming?’
Raon narrowed his eyes and went through the door. He went past a more comfortable dim lightning and luxurious decorations before entering the innermost room, which was where the only presence was located.
“Wow, the White Sword Dragon is amazing!”
Dorian approached him from the side with sparkling eyes.
“Is this another benefit from having the title of a Sword Dragon?”
“Obviously not.”
Raon snorted and shook his hand.
“It looks like someone we know is waiting for us.”
Once he reached the door at the end of the corridor, the door was automatically opened, and the person inside was revealed.
The splendid beauty waiting for them had her red hair flowing to her shoulders like raging fire, and a rose-patterned eyepatch on her right eye.
‘It was Denning Rose, just as I expected.’
Denning Rose was the one who’d drastically helped him during the rescue operation with Eden, and she stood up beautifully before bowing at him.
“Greetings, White Sword Dragon.”
“It’s been a while.”
Raon greeted her and entered the room.
“Please take a seat.”
Denning Rose pointed to the chair opposite her with a faint smile on her face. Raon nodded and sat.
“Did you become Rokan’s branch manager?”
She was in charge of Grand Seville in the past. He didn’t expect to see her in Rokan, since Grand Seville must’ve been busy with reconstruction.
“No, I’m still Grand Seville’s branch manager.”
Rokan and Grand Seville were extremely far apart. Raon couldn’t understand why she was there when she wasn’t even the branch manager.
“I happened to be in charge of you, Sir Raon. That’s why I decided to wait here, as it looked like you were going to visit this city.”
“Did you know…?”
“It’s not even a secret at this point that Sir Raon exerts his power for the youngest son of the Sephia company.”
Denning Rose quietly laughed. Raon got the impression once again that her expression was rather limited despite her flashy appearance.
“Moreover, you requested that we look for a drake a long time ago, so it’s only natural for me to be here.”
She was even aware of what kind of trial Adis had given them.
“I’m guessing that other candidates have visited already.”
Raon figured that Jeser and Dialon must’ve visited the Black Market in order to obtain information.
“……”
Denning Rose simply closed her eyes instead of saying anything. However, that was good enough as an answer.
“Did you manage to find a drake?”
Raon wet his throat with the tea on the table before he asked the question.
“We did manage to find a location that seemed to be an adult drake’s nest. We wanted to tell you after gathering more information, but the situation has changed.”
“Whoa!”
Dorian coughed up the tea he was drinking in surprise.
“H-how did you prepare in advance?”
His eyes were trembling in disbelief as he covered his mouth to prevent the tea from flowing out.
“I knew it was strange! You get stronger way too fast! What’s your true identity, young master? Are you a god? A devil?!”
“Your superior.”
Raon smacked Dorian’s trembling head.
“Uaah!”
He ignored Dorian as he kept rubbing his head and looked at Denning Rose instead. Her gentle smile looked like she was finding their exchange rather interesting.
“Ah, excuse me…”
Denning Rose lowered her head slightly before raising it back up. Her sincere smile disappeared, and her fake smile resurfaced in the meantime.
“So, you managed to find it, right?”
“Yes. The drake seemed to have been outside the nest for a long time, but we have the nest’s location for sure. However…”
Her face hardened like a dried-up plaster figure.
“We’ve obtained information about the Black Tower’s movement towards the location. They seemed to be targeting the drake.”
“The Black Tower…”
“The Black Tower is relatively unknown among the Five Demons. In my honest opinion, it would be better to avoid clashing against them.”
“The Black Tower, I see…”
‘Sounds pretty good.’
As soon as he heard about the Black Tower’s movement, a plan formed in his mind that would allow him to obtain what he wanted without doing anything.
“Do you happen to have a map of that area?”
“Did you get an idea?”
Denning Rose leaned forward with a wide eye.
“Yes.”
A frightening smile appeared on Raon’s face as he watched Dorian rub his head.
“I might be able to catch two fish and even a shrimp as extra.”
While he was devising the plan that would allow him to play both ends against the middle, Wrath’s voice could be heard.
Are you going to grill them?
‘Please stop…’
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