Chapter 11: Merchant

Once Azaroth had received Tronte's signal, he got ready and went out of the mansion.

He kept using his Ardor to sense his surroundings as he didn't want to be unaware if someone was following him.

That would be a blunder on his part.

Fortunately, it appeared as if his presence in the Rhodes Family was weak enough to not warrant any followers.

Azaroth wasn't going to Tronte's house but to the Deep Anemone Inn. The symbol of the Deep Anemone Inn was that of a coin with a hole in its center. It was identical to the currency sent by Tronte.

Azaroth was smart enough to connect the dots and understand just where Tronte was calling out for him.

Once he stepped into the Deep Anemone Inn, Azaroth sensed Tronte's Ardor, and he turned his head towards that direction.

He saw Tronte seated with a deathly pale old man at the corner of the Inn. There were three chairs placed right next to the table; Tronte and the old man occupied two of them while one chair remained free.

Tronte turned his head slightly and seemed to have seen Azaroth entering the Deep Anemone Inn. In fact, he had been sitting at such a position so that he could see all those who enter the Inn through the front door.

Azaroth calmly walked towards Tronte.

Meanwhile, Tronte turned his gaze back at the old man and said something to him in a low voice. There was a mixture of relief and fear visible on the old man's face.

The old man frantically stood up and then slightly bowed in Tronte's direction before running out of the Deep Anemone Inn.

He was in such a rush that he crashed into two people while running out of the Inn.

Meanwhile, Azaroth took a seat at the table and spoke to Tronte, "Looks like you terrified that poor old man for no reason at all."

Tronte dryly replied, "That old man isn't some pitiful guy. He betrayed his master by helping the bandits kidnap his child. Naturally, he is scared to know that someone else knows of this secret as well."

"I would like to know how you know this secret, but that's not the point. So, what became of my task? You found someone?" Azaroth got straight to business.

In turn, Tronte smiled back, "If your question is that if I found a wealthy man from the Glerian Kingdom, then yes, I did. But as for whether he will buy your things or not, that is still not clear."

Just when Azaroth was about to ask his next question, Tronte turned his head and raised his arm, "Bring tequila for my man here. And some vodka for me."

The bartender heard Tronte's order and immediately got to work to get those drinks ready.

"It has been quite some time since we last came here and shared a drink. Good thing you still remember my preference." Azaroth said with a small smile.

"Well, it's me who pays off the bill. Haha…" Tronte chuckled a little as he finished speaking.

Sometime later, a waiter brought their drinks.

Azaroth and Tronte raised their glasses and spoke, "Cheers." They gulped down their respective drinks in a single go.

"Yesh. This hits the spot." Tronte said with a delighted expression, and he stared at the waiter, "Bring one more."

Azaroth placed his glass down on the table and spoke, "Alright. Enough about this. Tell me, who is the person? What's his identity?"

"The man's name is Lennox Rees, and he is a rather wealthy merchant from a town named Veninza in the Glerian Kingdom."

"Why did he come here? Also, how could he come here? I don't suppose that the army stationed at the border will let him enter inside. The relations with the Glerian Kingdom aren't exactly neutral." This was Azaroth's next question as he wanted to make sure he was aware of the situation.

"He came for the Auction House that had been held by the League of Amity in Mesenana (The capital city of Sinyalian Kingdom). He entered the Sinyalian Kingdom under the church's cover. He has some contacts within the church and asked the pope of our town to allow him an entry in the Sinyalian Kingdom." Tronte's words surprised Azaroth quite a bit.

"The church is also involved?!" Azaroth was truly stunned by those words.

The church was an organization set up by the celestials to get the faith energy from humans. The celestials would rarely interfere with the internal matters of the humans…

And to hear that the church is involved really was surprising. Were the Celestials thinking of some sinister plan? If so, Azaroth wanted to be ready for it.

"Yeah. Why don't you shout it to the whole world?" Tronte sarcastically said to Azaroth, who realized his blunder and calmed down.

"My bad. But that was surprising. I thought that the celestials won't involve themselves with the humanely matters." Azaroth spoke to Tronte, who just scoffed in return.

"Those arrogant Celestials look down on us. You think the Celestials will interfere at all? It's not like that man named Lennox has something he can use against the Celestials, so it's impossible for the Celestials to be involved." Tronte calmly replied to Azaroth's words.

"I see… That means the pope here in Wrihull City doesn't possess the Celestial Blood. He is still just a human with a slightly higher status than others." Azaroth summarized this from the information available to him.

"Yeah. The pope helped Lennox Rees in return for some benefits. I heard that they are secretly setting some kind of deal." Tronte gave some more information to Azaroth.

Azaroth was still confused by one point, "I see… And what of Lennox Rees. Why did he come here for the Auction House? There was no need for him to come to such a dangerous location just for an auction, right?"

"You see, there was an information leak that someone was selling Demon Bay Leaf. This is something Lennox Rees urgently requires since his daughter has been struck by a demonic curse. Her life force is decreasing day by day, and only this Demon Bay Leaf can help her recover a part of the life force and drive off this curse."

"I see…" Azaroth whispered with a low voice. He started thinking deeply 'A demon's curse that can be cured by Demon Bay Leaf? The one who used this technique is probably just a Mid-Ranked Demon. How daring for a demon of that level to show his face on this continent. Or does this demon know of a portal to travel back to the Purgatory?'

This possibility somewhat excited Azaroth.

It wasn't that Azaroth had some fond feelings about Purgatory, but there were some demons from his time who should have lived until now.

A million years couldn't be considered much to a Demon God. He was sure that some of his underlings have elevated themself to that of a Demon God Rank.

'Well, if I meet those bastards when I am at such a weak power level, I will just be begging to be tormented. I need to grow stronger. If only I had the life rings of Celestials that could store living things, then I could have stored herbs before my death.' Azaroth let out a sigh as he thought of it.

It wasn't that he didn't think of such an idea at that time but more because the Celestials' Life Rings would only work with Holy Ardor. Holy Ardor was something Azaroth didn't possess as a demon, so he couldn't use those rings at all.

'My Triquetra Ardor should allow me to use those rings now.'

Tronte continued ahead with his information, "According to what I know, the reason the pope let Lennox Rees enter the Sinyalian Kingdom is that he wanted to get a rather expensive staff that has been auctioned in this Auction House. The staff's name is Hailstorm Spirit staff."

Azaroth was hardly interested in this staff, "So, did Lennox Rees get this staff?"

"Well, he is certainly living, so that already gives us the answer. If he had failed to get that staff, the pope would have snitched him to the Rhodes Family and dealt with the guy." Tronte replied rather dryly.

By this time, their next round of drinks arrived, and they gulped those down in one go as well.

"Alright. How do we approach this situation?" Azaroth asked this question with a serious look.

"First, tell me, where are those things, and how many do you have?" Tronte asked with a half-serious look.

"Let's say I have a lot and leave it at that. As for where they are stored, I will tell you about it later." Azaroth said with a calm look.

Hearing those words made Tronte's smile wider, "That was a good response. If you had actually answered my question, I would have smacked your head silly and advised you to give up on this."

Azaroth didn't mind his words and asked, "So, how are we approaching this situation?"

Tronte had a smirk on his face as he spoke, "It's pretty easy. Lennox Rees is forced to obey the pope's orders since he wants to return to the Glerian Kingdom. The pope is using his secret and blackmails him into doing his bidding. Don't you think we can do the same?"

Azaroth remained quiet and let Tronte continue, "I already found out where he is living. Just write a letter and come along with me."

"Sure," Azaroth said as he pulled out a letter from his coat.

Tronte looked slightly surprised to see a feather, inkpot, and a letter in Azaroth's hands.

"You seem to have come prepared."

"I considered it for some time and thought that it would be best I bring this along." Azaroth coolly replied to Tronte's words.

"I am impressed. You have become smarter. Is this because of the need to survive? Well, whatever the reason, it was necessary for you, Edwin." There was a smile on Tronte's face as he spoke to Azaroth.

Sometime later, Azaroth spoke up, "Alright, I am done with this letter. Let's go."

"Follow me."