Chapter 131 - Meetings, Meetings and Meetings

The royals could not even complain about this move, as Aile's action was on the surface to their advantage. Giving them the authority of two gates and keeping one from the White Clan's side. The White Clan was now in charge of the seafront, leaving them without any land exit on their control.

Aile soon got a visit from another representative of Marquis Andrew. They asked Aile for the reason he was removing his people guarding the town's safety and guards. Aile replied that they no longer had the manpower and that Duke Andrew was celebrating, the two gates were gifts and two additional sources of income for him. With a fake twitching smile on his face the new representative left. This was a response to the demand for the beauties of his merchant union.

Aile had always wanted to deal with Marquis Andrew for his overextending hands, but he never got the opportunity. He was going to teach him a lesson in the sacred mountain, but that did not work out either because of the unexpected situations. Therefore he planned to give him a lesson soon so that he stops with his pointless poaching and fawning over his people. This was just a subtle warning to him.

He sighed, sending a message to One, Two, Three and Four telling them to send more people to the rank of the royals and White Clan. As they will hire people to be responsible for the gates. Due to the fact he reduced his influence, he will need to increase his intelligence department and keep an eye on the three gates not under his control. He did not want to be just blind of what and who enters the town.

After dealing with all of this, Aile took a quick breather and had lunch at the Sun Merchant Hall with Hazel. Soon he would have more meetings as the leader of Moon Merchant Hall with the same group of people. After having the meal, Aile went and hugged Hazel on the other side of the dining table. "I cannot believe you have to deal with these annoying people constantly. I am sorry... You do not need to go through this. If you ever feel tired, let me know, we will dissolve the business and leave for a more relaxed life."

Hazel felt appreciated and nodded in his embrace, "The workload is usually divided up, and it is not bad. I had to deal with more before. Thank you for worrying."

Knock

Knock

Knock

Breaking their intimate time, they got the news that the royal group's representative arrived. He had to represent the Moon Merchant Hall to talk with them in a different building.

The representative of the royal's side came and just created a couple of business opportunities and offered one of the gate's security to them if he wanted, giving him a week to consider. It seems they had noticed Aile's previous distant behaviour in the Sun Merchant hall. Clearly, their relationship with Sun Merchant Hall was dissolving so they had to at least make sure they have a cordial attitude with their rival. They did not want to act as the leaders of the town, losing their relationship with both merchant halls. After the friendly meeting, he left respectfully.

Not long after came Hunter and Violet. Hunter acted friendly, and he too showed appreciation and created incentives for Aile to remain close to them. Then came the topic of the newly formed adventure's union. They offered collaborative opportunities. Aile denied it immediately, saying that the White Clan had shown their support by maiming one of his subordinate's hand. He would not feel comfortable with such an arrangement.

This surprised Hunter he tried to reprimand Aile to not make baseless claims. He thought he was planning to claim for the injuries they got in the Sacred Mountain. However Violet gestured to talk with him.

Soon after Hunter had heard the story, he seemed to be unaware of it, Aile noticed him mouth 'Bastards'. He offered some healing medicine to appease Aile.

Aile accepted the healing ingredients, but was not planning to restore their friendship, he was planning to get more benefits. Aile said, "He understood that it was caused by a guest, but he will need to discuss with his team to find out if they will feel comfortable working with the White clan's side again." Hunter understood that Aile wanted to take advantage of the situation, and he would have offered a pricy compensation. But most of their money and treasures were in the hand of the old man and now lost. He was not willing to use the little money they had left for their expenses as an apology.

Hunter was trying to come up with a solution for their drifting friendship.

Violet too was aware of the situation, so she said, "I was saved thanks to the generous help of your merchant union. As you know the climate of the town is not well, so we can not offer a satisfactory apology at the moment, we will offer it in the near future. However, to show our trust and acknowledgement, I am willing to join your adventure team temporarily, so that we can re-establish our friendship."

Hunter wanted to stop Violet but then realized that she was smart enough to make a decision to leave the sacred mountain and not face a problem. Therefore he understood she had grown up and the few mission would toughen her up.

He also knew that she will be protected, no matter what and with the tools, he had given her, she would be fine. In the end, he decided to not stop it now. But this in no way showed his permission to allow her to take this risk. He will think more about it and decide later.

"Who might the young miss be?"

"I am Violet, Hunter is my father."

"I am sorry, but I have to reject. I appreciate the gesture, but you are too valuable. We would need even a stronger group protecting you."

Humph, "I have been an adventurer for a long time. I do not need protection."

"You might be right. But now many people do not like our collaboration, if something happens to you, they will succeed in creating a rift between us. Therefore I cannot accept this offer."

Violet's fiery attitude died down, and the little bit of happiness that had appeared on her face disappeared too. Hunter noticed this and sighed. He said, "What if I send someone to protect her? We will keep this between us, to prevent the news from spreading to the people that could harm her. I will also add a thank you gift, to my apology later. As this will allowed Violet to grow."

Hazel, who was quiet all this time, sighed. She said emotionally, "I am sure she can get this training with your group, so why bother risking her life for a possible alliance." Hazel was far too aware of how clans and families use their children as bargains to increase their influence and took this as such. She was not willing to take another girl's happiness.

Hunter smiled and said, "I think you misunderstand, we have too many moles and cannot let her grow independently. As she will be targetted. If I am with her, the pressure from adventures will not make her stronger. I do not wish for her to take any risk, but the reality is she has to grow. There is no telling what could happen to me and if another situation like the one in Sacred Mountain happens... I want her to learn how to self preserve. I have to make sure she can protect herself before something happens again. Plus this is the first thing she has shown interest to in a long time."

Violet looked at Hunter happily and nodded.

Hunter smiled back at her.

Aile saw Hazel hand's tremble a little. She had not been treated well by her family. Seeing the extent, Hunter was going for Violet made her compare the different treatment and brought a complex wave of emotions.

Aile extended his hand behind the table and held hers until warm returned to it. Aile thought about Ellie's request to join too. Getting both of them to reunite would be good if nothing else it would make Ellie and more importantly, Diana happy. Ellie is not the type who would appreciate a stationary life. Therefore, Aile was not against this.

If no one finds out about Violet, the additional high-level practitioner could be put to use, and that alone was worth it. Like he had told One, Two, Three and Four, a situation with little risk and a lot of rewards cannot be missed.

After a little more discussion it was decided that she would join disguised as the masked people of Hazel's Adventurer Union, that the Moon Merchan Union now absorbed. After that, Violet requested to go on the same group as the ones from the Sacred Mountain mission. She was smiling and hopeful to be placed in Aile's team, claiming that she has established trust with them. Hazel noticed the glint in her eye, she was yet again, not happy. Then they soon left after.