72: Bliss This Mess

Since the matter of managing the Blackguards was handed over to Ian Grayson by his father, a lot of money started to flow as the 17-year-old young master displayed a talent for cunning and trickery beyond his years.

Even with their reputation as one of the great houses of Elgard, House Grayson has survived many catastrophes because of their approach to organized crime and racketeering throughout their generation. As the House with the exclusive rights to harvest and exploit many resources around Elgard and its colonies, there was no limit to how this House could grow and thrive but that was only theoretical.

This situation happened 400 years ago during the schism between the great houses as Elgard was about to fall into the chaotic talons of a bloody civil war. The crown almost lost control over the lands and the vassals nearly rebelled until a grand summit was held and the Lords dictated that each of the Great Houses would get an exclusive right that grants it a power that even the crown can't refute but would place them under a strict penalty in return. For House Grayson, which was devastated badly in the conflict, they got the right to harvest resources and sell them to the other houses all across the holdings of the nation.

While it seemed enticing, this only applied to the holdings of the crown and the holding of House Grayson, which were still some large portions of the land. Sadly, many of the other lords can refuse to allow House Grayson into their territories and sell the mining rights to private companies which they can be the owners of in secret.

Especially against House Moore, which owned the right of being the first to call dibs on any manufacturing practice and would always buy resources en masse at cheap prices, House Grayson started to decline badly in the first hundred years. Still, as the previous lords were upholding honor above all else, the latter lords who grew up in the early colonial period discarded this commitment for the sake of survival and established many underground operations while using criminal laborers or slaves to get it done. The purpose of that is to operate some industrial businesses in secret and smuggle raw materials in the shadows to create scarcity and illegally raise prices.

Throughout the following 300 years, House Grayson became widely connected in the underground world and would even intervene with the business of House Moore, sparking a fierce rivalry between the two. Still, some lines could never be crossed especially when the Royal Family and House Black were hounding over any opportunity to put the nobles back in their place.

The colonial and industrial revolution made only the crows on the banner of House Grayson grow hungrier and loom over darker horizons of crime and depravity. Their latest exploit was the Criminal Labor Act and they exploited it well under the guise of the Blackguards mercenaries which operated in all parts of the world. With that, not only did they secure funds for the House to flourish, but also remained unshaken in front of the other great houses.

Now that Ian Grayson was assuming the mantle of the criminal side of the family in order to prepare him for the position of the family head, his methods were considered an evolution compared to his predecessors. His focus was on Arms dealing, Drug trade, and Slave trafficking; a methodology that each part of it complemented the others in the most diabolical way possible. The slaves would forge weapons for the Blackguards, the Blackguards would get more slaves and resources for the drug trade, and the Drug trade would create a whole load of cash, rinse and repeat.

But in a single night, this smoothly functioning machine was disturbed badly and the culprit behind it was none other than the Bloody Swan.

"FUCK IT!"

Anger couldn't be contained as a month's supply worth of opium was burnt with that wagon.

"So you're telling me that this month's funds have been almost halved?"

"Don't you dare gloat!"

"Hey, I am not gloating. I am here to offer a helping hand, really."

Seeing Ian Grayson in a fit of rage, Robert Moore approached him with an easy-going attitude and a smile that he wasn't planning to hide.

Of course he is gloating, why not when he was told to come and cover for the mess Ian can't seem to handle and by none other than Prince Liam himself.

"So, you have any clue on the Bloody Swan?" Robert asked.

"Do I look like I have a clue? Do you think I would be sitting here if I had a clue?" Ian replied with unending anger.

"Fine. Since Edmond Black himself is working on it, we can at least expect something to come out. As for now, I'll help you fix your books. How much do you need?"

"Five Millions!"

"Woah! I am a Moore alright but that doesn't give you the right to rip me off like that." Robert backed off and shook off Ian, "You think I would ask you without knowing the answer, Grayson?"

"Will you help or not?"

"Well, I know a few tricks that can help you. My side of the business is also doing fine so I have an idea or two." Robert said and then looked at the large ledger on Ian's desk, "May I?"

Ian looked at his own ledger then looked at Robert and didn't say anything. He only held the ledger and handed it to Robert but before the latter took it, Ian retracted it away.

"You can ask questions about all you want but when I say it's private, it's private."

"Alright, I won't snoop."

Robert took the ledger with doubtful eyes. He knew Ian had some secret skeletons in some secret closets and the shady business he does isn't that classified inside the Prince's faction. Still, whatever makes him this nervous should be pretty nasty.

As a Moore, Robert's eyes were trained to skim through such financial ledgers with ease. He understood all the funding sources Ian had and took out his notebook to calculate a few things.

"Alright, this is a specialized shipment. As it is a custom delivery, you can make up any bullshit excuse and you and raise the price for it. What is its nature?"

"That one? Ah, a slave and a few magical materials including an ownerless magic ring. The delivery is meant for Ronald Morgan."

"Ronald Morgan? The Morgans have a monopoly over magic crystals and magic rings, why does he need you to supply him?"

"Don't ask me. Probably something he wants to keep out of his family books."

"Well, because you are taking such a huge risk, you can pump it up to double the Price. After all, you are the only supplier he can turn to if he wants to keep some privacy."

"Alright. Sounds good."

"What about this? You are paying a lot of money to someone and not getting something in return."

"This one you must skip. It's my main operation."

"Alright. Whatever you say." Robert agreed but took a few mental notes of the money flow of that project before moving on.

After an hour of checking the books, Robert managed to cover the losses of the month from 50% to almost 77%. Such an increase came at the cost of raising princes, shaking down debtors, and a lot of other extreme methods.

"Better than before?" Robert asked.

"Barely." Ian replied.

"Listen to this… I just saved your operation. The loss you currently have is nowhere near the loss you had before."

"Yeah. If it is over, then fuck off."

"Gentlemen!" As the two were ready to jump at each other, a voice broke the tense situation like water on fire.

The two suddenly turned around and saw none other than Prince Liam standing at the door of the Overseer's office.

""Your Highness!"" The two turned to the door and spoke in unison while bowing their heads to the Crown Prince and their future king.

"Ian, Robert. I trust that you two weren't planning to do anything that would disturb our interests." The Prince spoke as he walked into the office while looking around.

"Not at all, your Highness." Ian spoke right away.

"That's unthinkable, your Highness." Robert followed up.

"Then go easy on each other, will you? I know that you two don't mix well but if my people started biting each other like dogs, I would find you causing more harm than good."

"Yes, your Highness."

"We apologize!"

It only took the owner of the two dogs to speak in such a way for them to stop barking at each other. As it was an impressive show of authority, the Prince's aim was to discipline everyone else, especially those who followed him inside.

This wasn't just one or two individuals, it was four. After the Prince came Edmond Black, Valentine De Clare, Richard Marshall, and Ronald Morgan. In a single scene, the entire 7 charming princes of the game appeared together.

When the Prince was referring to Ian and Robert fighting like dogs, he wasn't only referring to them. That was also meant for Edmond and Valentine as well as Richard and Ronald. There was a reason for every two to hate the other here and it transcended the usual family feuds they all had.

This was no mere situation where the Prince decided to drop on them with the rest, it was a planned meeting they were all going to have and Robert was here to help Ian make the books right before the meeting commenced.

"Last time we all gathered was 4 or 5 months ago. I am glad you're all doing well." The Prince said.

"Thank you, your Highness." Valentine De Clare was the first to reply, "While I find it unbefitting for His Highness to be invited into such a place, I hope that next time we gather in a place more suitable for His Highness."

"Watch your words, De Clare. It is His Highness that chose this place as a location for our meeting." Ian Grayson replied.

"And whose fault is that? None of you, who were tasked to make a profit, has made any decent front to fit His Highness yet." Valentine fired back.

"That's enough, boys. I know you miss each other but let's not play it rough." The Prince had to intervene to stop his dogs from gnawing on each other's tails.

The group wasn't seated in the office but rather moved to the room beside it, the one fit to receive guests and the very same room Voros and Vivian hid in when they snuck into this location. The group seemed familiar with this room as everyone simply took their seat and kept their eyes on the others.

"Let's not make this a long meeting, gentlemen. I believe that all of us here have something to report. Why don't we start with the youngest? Ian."

"Your Highness." Ian bowed his head to Prince Liam and turned to the group, "I'm sure as the main money maker of the faction, I have the right to complain about the performance of each and every one of you but…"

As he said so, the five young lords started to scoff and look away with tired faces.

"… but I won't. Even though I need most of you to get into action rather than being all bark and no bite…"

"Ian, the report." The Prince himself got fed up with how Ian was trying to assert dominance over the others.

"Yes, your Highness." Ian ended his self-centered show and spoke, "Right now, the Blackguards are under constant attacks from this renegade, the so-called Bloody Swan. This caused us a significant loss of 30% of our monthly funds."

"At which point will you mention the fact that it was 50% just ten minutes ago?" Robert asked with a disdainful gaze to Ian.

"Yes. Robert Moore helped a bit." Ian dismissively continued, "I just want to know what will our problem solver do about it?"

This question was forwarded to Edmond who took a comfortable seat and rested his head over his hand.

"Edmond!" Ian called once again and the latter seemed unresponsive.

Almost everyone in the room frowned as Edmond was just sitting there absent-mindedly but it was Prince Liam who reached out to Edmond's shoulder and poked him.

"Hm! What? What did you say?" Edmond spoke while looking at everyone around him.

"I forgot to tell you but it seems that Edmond has developed a way to sleep while keeping his eyes open." The Prince said with a joking smile.

"No, no… I was just… thinking about something." Edmond tried to come up with an excuse for his sleeping at the meeting.

"Mhm! We're all ears." Ian said and looked at Edmond, trying to embarrass him.

"I don't think it is alright to speak about this in public and…"

"No, no, by all means. Something bothering Sir Edmond of the Great House of Black must be of grave importance." Ian interrupted him to force him to speak.

"I agree with Ian. It seems gravely important." Even Valentine helped out in embarrassing Edmond.

Edmond looked at the two young men and with a long sigh, he decided to give them a piece of his mind.

"I was just trying to figure out how to tell His Highness about how you two have fucked up." He said and looked at them with a sly look in his eyes.

They couldn't feel any ease from this situation but now that they have pushed him to speak, it seems that the fixer of the group has something on them to reveal.

"Is that necessary, Edmond?" Prince Liam asked.

"It has to do with Vivian Moore." Edmond replied.

"I thought we agreed to no longer concern ourselves with her. She seems to be doing the same right now." The Prince said.

"Well, it will be a little bit difficult to do that once one insufferable greedy imp realizes that one of his dear Duergar slaves is now in the hands of Vivian Moore." Edmond said.

"That's yesterday's news, Edmond." Ian found his confidence back and scoffed at Edmond.

"Oh, except that somehow, this slave turned out to be a Metallurgist, an Expert Metallurgist at that." Edmond said with his smile growing wider.

It took just that sentence for Ian to look at Edmond with a solemn face yet no one could miss the shock in his eyes. Silent and shaken, Ian did nothing but try to calm down as the room's temperature started to gradually drop.

"Oh, this is a good one!" Ronald Morgan smiled from the side as this dull show finally got exciting enough for him to focus.

"A metallurgist?" Ian finally woke from his daze, "An Expert, you said?"

"One thing I don't question is Edmond's information reliability." Prince Liam said then asked, "How did you find out?"

"One of the tax officers that review Vivian's company's books is a man of ours. Also, a bird told us someone from the Moores' head metallurgist visited their mansion the other day to inspect someone." Edmond replied.

"You have spies in my house?" Robert stood up aiming his finger at Edmond with rage.

"Don't play dumb. If you really didn't know, you'd be even dumber than I thought you are." Edmond looked at Robert and planted the fear of God in him with a chilling glare.

Robert couldn't afford to be seen as stupid by this group so he just put on a chill smile and backed off nonchalantly.

"I assume that one of the Blackguard officers has covered this for Vivian Moore. Check the surviving documents. An Expert Metallurgist is too much of an elephant to sneak out in a small carriage." Prince Liam commanded Ian.

"We had no metallurgists to begin with, your Highness." Ian said, trying to defend himself from embarrassment.

"Edmond said he is a metallurgist. So…"

"I've read the report after she purchased him and all there is to it that he was a coal shoveler… a simple laborer…" Ian tried to explain it but as he got to that part, he realized what he missed.

Why would Vivian Moore buy a simple laborer?

"And here you have it." Prince Liam said while shaking his head, "That's probably how the situation was covered."

So cunning! Ian looked at Edmond and wanted to strangle him.

"Should I go and retrieve the slave with a force of guards? It is against the law to acquire an artisan slave from the Blackguards and forge his documents." Richard Marshall asked.

"That won't work." Ian replied, fully knowing the gravity of the situation now.

"Why?" Richard asked.

Ian closed his eyes and tried to be calm while saying it but Edmond replied for him.

"Because that cunning Vivian didn't purchase the slave. She paid for his freedom which is against no laws. I found it fishy from the start, that's why I started snooping around." Edmond said and had a wide gloating smile directed towards Ian.

"So she made all that success… by taking one of my slaves?" Ian asked with his bowels burning like fire, "All that money?"

"Crazy when you think about it." Edmond was on top of the world seeing how Ian was taking the news, "Don't ask me to cover it up for you, though. I am not into kidnapping."

"I'll take care of it." Ian replied with obvious anger and hate directed towards Edmond.

"I also assume that you haven't gotten any closer to figuring out how those things I stole from her work." Edmond asked.

The whole group turned to Edmond with strange eyes seeing how he was okay with stealing but not kidnapping.

"…" Ian, however, decided to keep quiet and not get provoked more.

"What things?" Ronald Morgan asked.

"Vivian Moore has produced some sort of technology that creates artificial lighting with some weird wires. A bird of mine flew over to the roof of her building and ripped off some of the pieces of her strange machine before sending them here for analysis. We wanted to know what she's up to." Edmond replied.

"So it was you who took down the resistor and those missing bulbs!" Valentine realized, "Vivian had to climb up the scaffolding herself to fix that."

Seeing him riled up, the others frowned but he returned to his coolheaded behavior once again.

"Whatever these are, send them my way. I'll figure them out quickly." Ronald Morgan said.

"They are downstairs in the workshop. I'll make a guard deliver them to you." Ian said while trying to handle his own emotions.

"Then there is you." Edmond turned to Valentine, who seemed to have prepared himself for whatever Edmond was going to throw at him.

"Come at me." He even challenged Edmond.

"That day your dear friend Vivian was making her light show, you were with her, if I remember right. You helped her with her business." Edmond said.

"What's wrong with that?" Valentine replied.

"You do realize that whatever help you offer Vivian is an indirect sabotage to Robert's position, don't you?" Edmond asked.

Everyone turned to him now that this situation was mentioned. While Ian is the current biggest source of funds for the Prince's faction, this should have been Robert, who was staring blankly at Edmond as he said that.

"In case you forgot, I am the first De Clare in a hundred years who hasn't left Elgard as soon as he came of age to make his own fortune out there and all of it was to be a financier to his Highness' faction?"

"Financer? Just because your father is the minister of treasury doesn't mean you get excused for incompetence." Edmond said.

"Well, that's true. But now that I have to do my part without leaving Elgard, I only turned to Vivian for help and she graciously chose to help me start my own business which will eventually serve His Highness." Valentine said.

"As I said, incompetence." Edmond insisted on making Valentine appear this way.

"Sticks and stones, Edmond. Sticks and stones." However, Valentine remained unfazed.

"So… the foreplay is over?" Ronald Morgan asked.

"Hopefully." The Prince said and turned to Richard, "Since you were the quietest, I assume you have something in mind?"

"Yes, your Highness. I assume that the Bloody Swan situation we are facing might be related to the insurgents. I wish for His Highness to allow me to operate alongside Ian's men to capture that renegade. This will be the first step to finally have a prisoner from their side."

"And you want the Knights to act as Blackguards. You sure they won't feel offended?" The Prince asked. 

"I'm not going to make them act, not all of them. I'll simply entice the lower ranks to do so in exchange for rewards while a team of elite silver aura knights will be on standby after giving a signal." Richard explained.

"Ian?" The Prince turned to Ian for his opinion.

"We don't know much about the Bloody Swan's techniques but we assume she has an arsenal of guns and blades and doesn't operate alone. The Blackguards won't do much against her so the knights will be a welcome addition." Ian nodded.

"From experience, the more I know about an opponent's purpose, the more it is possible to predict them." The Prince said and turned to Edmond, "I know you're already overworked but try to paint a profile for our mystery opponent."

"My sister can do that better than me." Edmond replied.

"Great. Now to the next topic." Prince Liam changed the subject and turned to Ronald, "You have requested to be provided a location away from the eyes of your family."

"Yes, your Highness. I have been trying to broaden my horizons lately but my Father won't allow it so I need a place to act freely. While I will miss the family's Magic Formation, I can establish one for our members to benefit from."

"A formation means more Sorcerers in a single perimeter. You can afford that?" The Prince asked.

"I have a few… loyalists." Ronald replied.

"Perfect. I'm curious about what you will do, Ronald." The Prince said and turned to Richard, "You have been doing well, last I heard."

"Yes. I also managed to sway some junior knights to our cause but I'll need some time to focus on training as I was slacking off, your Highness." Richard replied.

"You have shown good results. I think you've earned your time off." The Prince said and turned to Robert, "How about you, Robert? I heard you have already established your own business."

"Yes. I can't let my sister overshadow me while I still have a year to go in the academy. My business is just about entrepreneurship as I invest in newly opened businesses to give them a financial and administrative boost for shares in their enterprises. We are still in the early phases, so it is difficult to generate profit just yet but it will all slowly come together." Robert replied.

"You Moores have these interesting strategies I can't even wrap my head around. You do you, Robert." The Prince said in approval.

"Thank you, your Highness." Robert bowed his head with a prideful smile that made Ian avert his gaze away.

"As for you, Valentine." The Prince turned to the final supporter in the room.

"I have no excuse, your Highness." Valentine said and smiled awkwardly, "I can't do anything outside the family's expertise but I have been hoarding some rare items lately."

"Items like what?" The Prince asked.

"Lost civilizations artifacts, rare herbs, weapons with strange powers, exotic animals even. Most of these things are all auctioned under various aliases to prevent the family from catching my scent." Valentine said.

"I see. It is a good business but I understand it is hard to make a stable income with." The Prince said.

"That's indeed the case, your Highness." Valentine nodded.

"Then report to me in a matter of 30 days. I want to know that you made progress by then." The Prince concluded the conversation with Valentine who slightly bowed in return.

The income for the Prince's faction was being targeted and this meeting was a critical one to reorganize the spread cards and to give everyone their new tasks. The Prince's faction has faced a few hits in their income with the Mithril coins gone, the Bliss business interrupted, and the Blackguards attacked. Of course these hits were directly aimed towards Ian Grayson but the ripple effect has spread to all the other members.

While the situation is indeed turbulent, it can open the way for some to start advancing their own agendas and others to make the best use of the situation.

And this moment was the right moment to kick the badly hurt Ian Grayson.

That kick came in the form of a loud explosion coming from beneath.

BOOM!!!

The Prince and the other six young lords looked around them at themselves, realizing that something had gone amiss. Each of them took their own swords out and put on their masks to not be recognized in case they had to run wild in the Black Market.

Ian immediately headed out first followed by Richard then the rest. Right after it, a few Blackguard officers ran upwards and met the group.

"O… Overseer! A problem… a big problem!" An officer said once he spotted Ian in his unique black and white mask.

"Speak!" Ian took the lead of the group and commanded the officer on the lead.

"Sir… a container exploded, sir. You and the gentlemen need to evacuate, the constables will come to investigate soon, and if this stuff spreads…" The officer said and urged Ian to move.

"Shit!"

Ian panicked and hesitated before turning to the others.

"We should run!" Ian said.

"What's wrong?" The Prince asked.

"It's… bad. This wasn't supposed to happen." Ian said as he was already breaking into a cold sweat.

"Ed, go and interrupt the city constables from getting here. Dick, go with him." The Prince said, commanding both Edmond and Richard to go by calling them different names on the spot.

"How do we do that, sir?" Richard asked, not sure of what to do.

"Beat them, I don't know. Make some trouble." The Prince said and then turned to Ian, "What's down there? Why are you so concerned about it spreading?"

Ian hesitated before lowering his head and trying to find the right words. The Prince knows that his operation is shady business but he doesn't get involved with the details. This one, however… It is bad.

"It is Bliss, sir." Ian replied.

Trading weapons and slaves was already a practice done by the Blackguard globally and nobody concerned themselves with it as long as it didn't go out of control. The narcotics business, however, isn't something common for them.

If the Prince, who likes to keep his glamorous image, starts spouting his idealistic talks about caring for the weak and punishing the bullies, things may go bad for Ian as he distributes Bliss right in Archester.

But all those fears and worries were nothing when the Prince reacted to them.

"Bliss, huh? It is not something that can spread fast, however, it's effective if inhaled." The Prince analyzed the situation and looked at Ian, "Don't worry, Ed and Dick will hold the constables back until Ron and I contain it with magic. Let's go."

The Prince took the lead and the ring on his finger radiated, indicating his ability to cast magical spells. As for Ian, he was shocked by the Prince's behavior, who seemed to be tolerating the narcotic trade that was suddenly revealed.

Ian immediately headed after the Prince but as he did so, he heard a light chuckle coming from behind him which attracted his attention right away. He looked back and could only see three individuals; Valentine, Robert, and Ronald.

One of them just laughed, one of them just made it clear that this was no accident.

One of the three is responsible for this mess.