158 A sympathetic demon

"STOP IT! HAVE YOU GONE CRAZY OVER THE YEARS?" Coming out of an unknown street, a panicked old man rushed to stop the merchant before he could end his action. If the guard only felt that he seemed to be similar to the merchant, the two humans near him immediately recognized the elder. And realized why someone came here. "Good morning to you, Lord Eltritch."

Listening to the young feminine voice, the nobleman began to relax a bit. After all, in his eyes, she had managed to pacify the three types of people that were staying in Archet. As for asking for merchants to come back, he did not dare to hope too much, leading to the current situation. "Good morning to you too, Mayor." After that, he began to discreetly squeeze the arm of the one near him, pressing him to do the same.

"If the sun shines off its glorious light, it is nothing compared to the one emanating from you, Mayor." Unfortunately, for him, the only result he achieved by doing that was his old father blinking two times in a row and suddenly pulling him out of the group. "One moment, please." Excusing himself, he grabbed the neck of his incorrigible offspring and looked at him very seriously. "Donatello, what was that? You remember what I said before you left, right?"

"Yes, I just greeted her. What is the problem?" Sneaking a peek to look at the faces of Andre and Gwendoline that were starring at him, he could only increase the pressure on the neck of the merchant. And murmured all the complaints he had. "You lazy womanizer! The rumors about you had spread in the entire city, and every day I had a young girl knocking on the door saying you took advantage of her. And you are doing it again!"

From afar, all someone could see was just a father and his son having a normal discussion. But if that person would have been facing them, they would have seen the helpless face of the young man and the embarrassed expression of the old one. "But I was telling the truth, you didn't believe me back then and you are still not trusting the words of your own son. I didn't do anything to all those girls, besides a few compliments or drinking with them sometimes."

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Hearing another set of lies, this time Lord Darkwater did not care about his face anymore. Seeing the guard that accompanied the Mayor gone, and because he trusted her, he used enough strength to make the back of his descendant bend. "What about Aria?" "Eh, that was ..." "And Melissa?" "It was just one nigh ..." "Marjolie? Ellena? Elsa?"

Faced with all those names and because he knew very well how much his old father could know about them, the merchant raised his hands in surrender. "I admit about them, alright, you win. But for the rest I ..." Noticing the intense stare of the pair eyes right in front of him, he couldn't finish his sentence. Swallowing his saliva, he tried his best to hide his embarrassment and smiled widely.

TAP

"Ouch! My head, what was this for?" "You trying to fool me another time. Now, I don't care about anything you do, but can you just listen to me once?" Massaging a bit his forehead, the guilty man tried to remember what was the problem. He had done everything his father asked for, he had come here with one of his usual convoys, had entered Archet and had reached the front of the castle, so what was the problem?

"The part where I said do not disturb the one living there but go to the City Hall?" "Ahhhh ... Never heard of it. You wrote knock to enter the castle" Even as he was saying this, he did not fool anyone. Even when for once he said the truth. Because his words were not believed, this time, he was truly annoyed. Searching his pockets, he found out the letter that he received and showed it to the old man. That was surprising, to see that what he wrote was not the same in his memories.

"But, I was sure that I ... Those BASTARDS!" Hearing the spark of anger, even Andre and Gwendoline that were patiently waiting nearby approached. Showing them the letter, he then explained everything that happened as his son was smiling for real this time. Sensing the stare of the Mayor on him, he tried to put up his best appearance, but she only looked between him and the huge castle a few times before hurting his self-esteem greatly.

"Only a fool would do that so confidently. Do you think the Dark Gods are the friendly neighbors that invite you to dinner once in a while?" Her thoughts were shared by the only two other adults present, even if the merchant was a bit older than Gwendoline herself. As for him, when he saw the glance of pity Andre threw to his paternal, he couldn't help but feel exasperated. He was a good merchant, or at least, he was not losing money.

"So, Lord Darkwater, why did you do that? You know very well the situation of Archet, what kind of goods could get the interest of the Republic of Avenio?" She accentuated her voice when pronouncing the word goods, as a way to remind the two to not try anything funny. Everyone knew exactly what could interest them, but it was not something material, it was only information. Without the White Hand present, the city had become a dark zone.

"Of course, of course. I would never think of ... that thing. I still have my family here. No, I was thinking about the trolls. More accurately, their food." Seeing the light shining in the eyes of that old fox, Gwendoline realized that someone still managed to get his hand on something that shouldn't have been known. But even if Andre seemed as impassive as her, she could sense he was a bit surprised too.

"If I am not mistaken, they have brought cattle with them at their arrival, the usual animals one could find in a farm. But they were also eating vegetables bigger than anything I have ever seen. Only something out of the Grey Lands could match it. And if I am not mistaken, they are capable of growing it."

With that, the two realized they had forgotten one thing. When the trolls first arrived and that dark soul appeared, everyone ran away. With the ongoing mess, the nearby citizens that were hiding in their houses couldn't help but take a peek, to see what was happening. One of them must have seen those because she sure didn't on that day.

"You are right, Lord Darkwater. My only worry is the potential reaction of the Demon Emperor, but it seemed it is fine for now." The humans all looked at the skeletons that were behind the woman, but they did not move. "Also next time, warn me first so I don't end up caught off-guard. Now, let's see what he has to say about that."

Leading the way, she directly entered the castle without even knocking. Inside it, the two members of the Eltritch family saw for the first time the sea of white that was permanently moving. Even now, numerous small skeletons could be seen finishing to decorate the castle, carry goods to their final location and such. However, only the Mayor and her assistant could feel that it was far smaller than what they first saw. In fact, in recent days, the number of undead had dwindled considerably.

But they wouldn't say this loudly. After all, they couldn't know if they had been relocated elsewhere or were just not necessary anymore. As they walked, however, a path was always open, like the skeletons knew about them and dodged the group. The old man was a bit fearful, remembering the terrible night where he had seen similar creatures. As for his son, he was not looking any better, visibly not used to travel near so many undead.

" ... pond is not enough. No, I would need an entire pool of blood, maybe even more. But I can't just slaughter everyone, I think?" Probably not used to living in such a building, Ymir never noticed how far his words could travel. Coupled with his usually loud voice and the fact he was alone nearly all day, it's not that he cared at all. However, the four humans that heard those words were not of the same opinion.

One was sending a pleading gaze while cursing inwardly his progenitor to have him die so young before he even had a child. That he recognized, of course. Fortunately, the red demon stopped saying more cruel words when he heard the group arriving. Thinking that it was just those two annoying things that would bother him again, he did not put his helmet on.

Facing directly the evil grin that was harbored by the porcupine face, even Gwendoline had to admit it would be extremely hard to convince someone that he was not here to massacre them. Fortunately, the two had dissipated the misunderstanding, as Meridiana truly worked with him. Therefore, the woman was fully supporting the Akûl. However, he was not making her task easy by any mean.

"What's with that? What are those? Wait, I recognize one but the other is?" Calmly heading toward his throne, his very steps made the merchant jump in fright. Finally noticing the large axes that were near it, his throat began to feel extremely dry all of a sudden. He was just a normal human, why did someone, his own father, wanted to negotiate with such a monster. Truth to be told, he had not really believed all the stories and thought the legends were just that, legends.

"This is a merchant coming specifically to Archet to buy the products of the underground farm." Everyone was fearful that he would notice the fact that someone outside of the city knew about that farm. And if he knew about that, he also knew about the trolls and everything else. But they were largely overestimating the demon, as he only understood one thing. Someone was buying something.

With that idea beginning to walk into his mind, it encountered the memories of he was supposed to do. "Then let him buy, why are you bothering me with this?" His nonchalant attitude shocked everyone, as they really thought it would end badly. Profiting of the occasion, Lord Eltritch immediately began to kneel and was ready to bugger off. "Many thanks, Demon Emperor. We will take our leave." Taking the wave of the large red hand as a yes, he caught the arm of his son and escaped.

"Are you not mad?" Andre was still pondering about the situation. He had lived too long in the world of the merchants of Avenio. And right now, it was similar to something he had experienced many times. Someone discovered a new product but did not know its value. An experienced businessman took notice, bought it at a low price only to resell it later. At the same time, he made sure to secure its secrecy, even resorting to killing if it was too important.

"Mad at what? Ah, yes, you two, you are in charge of this. You need to preserve the interests of Archet." Getting rid of all the work on the two, they could see him beginning to smile. Deciding it was useless to understand this Dark God, as it had already been proven many times in the past, the Mayor quickly left with her assistant. Outside, they could see the two parents drinking something, as a bit of sweat was still visible on their face.

Noticing the approaching woman, the merchant instantly got up and fixed his outfit. As she got closer, he immediately resumed his bad habits. "To be able to converse with this ..." Stopping for a second, he felt the cold gaze of the undead on him."... Demon Emperor every day is a feat only a few could do. But to merge both beauty and bravery in a single soul is truly a gift of the gods. Would you kindly accept my invitation to dinner this evening?"

Hearing this, the two older men, Lord Eltritch and Andre, began to distance themselves slightly, since it was not of their concern. Chatting a bit about the future transaction, they still kept an eye on the exasperating young man, that would probably be refused. But to their surprise, Gwendoline accepted. Leaving with a satisfied smile, the former child of Archet was quickly brought back from his dreams with a question he did not know the answer. "Do you even know where to eat here?"

As for the former Mayor, all he could see was the very clear and bright eyes of his employer. Feeling more and more that someone was getting used, he blurted out his thoughts. "He is the merchant organizing the transaction, so of course I would not refuse a dinner from him. Now, we need to prepare all the papers necessary. And more importantly, check those vegetables."