Meeting #3

Not all families were truly united and the internal struggles were always beneath the surface and away from the public eye.

No matter how stainless a noble family may seem to those around them, most have their own secrets hidden and some can be much darker than the others.

Elders of the family vying for power and trying to get as many benefits as possible while also siding with certain people within to further their own ambitions.

Conflicts between the main wife and the concubines within the household and the same conflicts among their children as they wish to put their child as the next head of the family.

The ambitions of the family heads relatives, branch families, connected families through marriage or friends that wish to use the families success to their own advantage or use it as an excuse to gain more power or wealth.

The servants of the household that are unable to stick to their jobs and get involved within the families drama and schemes.

It did not matter if the family head did not have thoughts of betrayal because those around them would still let their greed cause irreparable harm to their families and this would even come back to harm the Bombyx family.

Should the family heads be defeated and those around them swallowed up all of the benefits, it was unknown if they would turn their eyes to the Bombyx family afterwards.

Although the Bombyx family had the power to deal with them at any time should it become a reality, they had already caught the attention of many people because of their efforts in helping so many people during the flood so they could not afford to be caught up in any battles for power and family fights.

All that could be done was to protect the family heads and let them come to a decision on their own family matters while the Bombyx family slowly begins its operations from now on while trying to not stir up a big storm that would gain further attention.

The Bombyx families image to the outside world was that they were a competent and charitable but weak merchant family who had enough money to hire people to protect them during several dangerous incidents like the attack on the village and the northern invaders attacking the Central Lands.

Not many knew about their true power and the forces they wield yet, all of it would remain hidden until it is safe to expose them and after the events of the flood many would be looking for any kind of suspicious activities in the northern parts of the Central Lands.

Involving any of her hidden cards in a battle between families or taking steps to remove those from within the vassal families would put a stain on the Bombyx families reputation and possibly expose one of Ki's hidden cards or even herself to the public eye or those searching for anything out of place.

Ki turned to face Marilyn and the Reaper next. "How is the situation within the slums and the various gangs? Are there any big problems I should know of? Or anything you have to tell me."

Marilyn replied. "Various criminal groups have been on the rise and the amount of starving people is also on the rise with every passing day within the slums. Although it is well controlled within the three cities, other places are much more chaotic as people become more desperate. We have gained much more information to combat this from many of those starving people but some reports have been found to be false, this is because we have been too lenient recently with punishments for deceiving Nox and its affiliated groups. At the same time, we have gained control of most of the gangs and mercenary groups that have been causing problems within the three cities that have risen during the time of the flood while some have been handed over to the Law Department. There has been many who have sold many rare items and land or home deeds to the black markets or have been put up for auction so what you mentioned before should be much easier to achieve."

The Reaper was silent for a moment after she finished and then he spoke. "There are no problems on my side, more requests come in but we have been focused on training and taking less tasks recently."