Supreme Monarch

After a round of negotiations, the meeting between Lix and Xelen, the vice guild leader of the Merchant guild, came to an end with the items brought by Lix and Lilith earning them more than 41,000 DCs not including the Merchant Guild's commission.

That was almost twice the amount they had earned the first time they had visited this place but in comparison to their last transaction of over 2 tones of Gold, worth more than a million DCs, this could be considered to be quite a meager transaction.

However, aside from the Merchant Guild's affiliate companies, no single merchant team was capable of matching a 40,000 DC trade in a single transaction. Even the other VIP merchants were unable to top this.

"That will conclude today's business. The guild will be transferring the necessary payment to your account. Is that acceptable?"

"That's fine."

"Understood. On behalf of Winged city's Merchant guild, I'll like to thank you again for doing business with us."

Throughout their entire discussion, the only person that had engaged in a conversation with them was Xelen. The strange man that had entered the room with her had not spoken a single word since he's been there.

Only silently watching and observing the trade between both parties. It was as though he was playing the role of a silent mediator between both parties.

However, Lix was yet to pay him any attention as his presence itself was completely dismissed.

"Then if that's all, we'll be taking our leave. Do give our regards to the Guild leader."

"Of course. I'll be sure to convey your message."

With that, both Lix and Lilith stood up simultaneously as Xelen hurriedly tried to match their pace. After exchanging brief exchange of goodbyes, they left the room.

Being a courteous host, Xelen escorted them to the door before returning to the office where the young man remained sitted with his legs crossed. He had a more relaxed demeanor now than he did before.

Frankly, he had seemed so tense that Xelen had been panicking the entire time she was discussing with Lix. It seemed as though he would attack at any moment yet Lix hadn't paid any attention to him in the slightest.

"So that's the infamous VIP merchants, Lix and Lilith. I have to admit, I'm quite impressed."

"Is that your honest opinion?"

"Why would I lie? Those two were not only skilled at negotiating deals but they clearly possess strength beyond the norm. Enough to completely disregard the amount of pressure I was putting on them."

"I would've appreciated it if you didn't actively try to antagonize our guild's most important merchant. The Guild Leader will not be pleased."

"Oh relax. I was holding back my aura quite a lot. Anyone that couldn't even resist that clearly doesn't belong on my lord's side."

"That— that has nothing to do with our Guild's interest. The merchant Guild is an independent organization. We only agreed to this for the sake of our missing workers."

"Are you challenging the authority of Lord Nullen lady?"

At this point, the air in the room stiffened up as a beast-like aura exploded from the young man and engulfed the room. The guards standing by the doors were immediately rendered useless as their entire bodies froze in fear.

His was a terrifying aura that none of them had felt before. An aura that even surpasses the strength of the previous lord of this city.

This was the power of a being akin to a demon lord of the highest level and he wasn't even being serious up yet.

However, Xelen remained calm even in such a dangerous atmosphere as she adjusted her posture and sent a hostile questioning look straight at the glaring young man.

"Mr. Fox, are you by chance trying to make an enemy of the Merchant Association?"

Even while chosing her words carefully, her demeanor showed no signs of fear and even though she wasn't strong enough to completely resist such an aura. She was a professional and one with decades of experience dealing with short-tempered customers more dangerous than this.

So naturally, such idle threats were useless against her. Or more importantly, agaist the independent juggernaut that was the Merchant Association.

"Kfufufufu... no no no, there's no need to go that far. I was only kidding."

The young man— Ral Fox, chuckled to himself as he watched everyone's reaction to his antics. He then stopped abruptly and stood up.

"Miss Xelen, your cooperation with my master's sudden request is most appreciated and the Merchant Guild will be free to continue its operations with the city as it always had. I shall now take my leave, do give my regards to the Guild Leader as well."

Without even waiting for a response from Xelen and the others, he quickly donned a hooded cloak and left the room the same way he came.

Xelen could only frown as she watched him leave without saying another word. She didn't appreciate his attitude towards the Merchant guild and even worse. She was angry at the fact that they had been given no choice but to allow him to sit in on her meeting with their most valuable merchant by far.

However, the sudden change in the Lord of this city had caused a ripple effect that none of them could have possibly predicted. That combined with the fact that most of their most skilled workers had gone on a mission to the Farbelt pass and were yet to return had put them in a terrible situation where they could not completely withstand the pressure from the new Lord's regime.

The city's new lord, prince Nullen was also a brilliant individual. He knew the Merchant Guild was not as unified as the Hunter Guild and also did not have the battle prowess to resist him without the aid of the Hunter Guild.

However, both the Hunter Guild and Merchant Guild are currently handicapped due to the lack of their strongest members. Nullen had used the opportunity to push for more control over both organizations, especially the Merchant Guild which was more vulnerable due to their lack of a unified front.

They had been forced to compromise their autonomy into making a deal with him. Even though they knew he didn't really have any interest in controlling a single merchant guild and risking angering the entire Merchant Association.

'Sigh... Guild Leader. You had better be right about this.'

Feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion wash over her, Xelen collapsed on the sofa as though resigning her worries, leaving the rest to her Guild master.

••••••••••••••••••

•••••••••••••••••••

After leaving the premises of the Merchant guild building. Tyler and Nadine headed straight for the Royal borough. With the rapid changes that had occurred in the city in their absence, they no longer needed to take any public transportation just to maintain a low profile.

With the countless fancy carriages moving about in the city, theirs was now even considered plain in comparison, and aside from the occasional glances in Nadine's direction, no one was really paying any attention to them.

With their new found freedom to move, they headed straight for the most expensive hotel in the city, the Blackwing hotel.

This wasn't because Tyler was pressured into it by his subordinate's perception of him, no. Rather, this was simply to satisfy his curiosity about what a 7-Star hotel was like.

He was also into the idea for research purposes of building one such hotel in his city. After all, if he never experiences what a hotel like that was like, how would he hope to create one better than it?

As usual, the trip took them around an hour to complete and they soon came upon the tallest building in the entire city.

The massive structure imposed its will upon the other buildings in the area. A place surrounded by luxurious buildings and mansions, all of which paled in comparison to this structure.

The only other building that could match its glory in the entire city was most likely only the city's lord castle and the Magic institute.

Upon arriving in front of the hotel, they had their carriage valet by the hotel's employees and they were shown to the massive reception hall.

Tyler couldn't help but be impressed by the interior design of the building, frankly, he hadn't expected something that would not only match the pictures he had seen back on earth but even surpass them.

Of course, with Nadine beside him, he couldn't afford to embarrass himself by gawking at the rather modern design of the hotel.

'I think I can do better.'

Taking the impressive hall as a challenge, Tyler proceeded down the hall and approached the receptionist stationed at the end of the hall. To his surprise, the receptionist here was of the dark elf species.

From the little he knew about the race, he hadn't expected to meet his third dark elf in such a place. It seems the Great Five were using them for more than just assassinations.

Their appearance were usually pleasing to the eyes so he supposed using them for a job like this should've been a given.

"Excuse me. I would like a room please."

Raising her head from the Magic device on her desk, the dark elf receptionist took a glance at the hooded man before her and then shifted her gaze to the cute beastgirl beside him.

"Welcome to Wingcity's Blackwing hotel. Would you like to check into a room? We have a vast variety to choose from."

"Can I get a list of your available rooms?"

"Of course."

While the girl speaking to them wasn't being rude and rather professional. Tyler could tell that she was showing some reservations about attending to them. Perhaps because she felt they were not qualified to stay in this hotel simply because Nadine was a beastkin.

However, she had no choice but to do her job unless she felt they were being a nuisance to the other guests.

After going through the list presented before him and noticing that the cheapest rooms here were equivalent to a Deluxe Room, he understand why this place was practically empty.

They were literally driving away commoners with their outrageous prices while pretending to be all-inclusive.

Tyler silently shook his head as choose to stay in a Royal suite. The dark elf seem to be rather skeptical at first but she immediately lightened up when he presented her with his black card.

Due to the nature of his last transaction with the Merchant guild, they had used most of their influence within the city to prepare Tyler, a Black Card. One is generally reserved for only the elites of the elites.

Her expression had suddenly become livelier and more welcoming as she smiled and changed her tone.

"Lord Lix, please pardon my earlier rudeness. How may I be of service to you?"