Chapter 218: Playing Both Sides

Seeing the perfect result of the Bore Shrew's in his hand Lucius felt quite content.

"Now that this is done… all we need to do is wait. The rest of the things will be done by the church of Duran itself." Lucius stated.

Kiana nodded her head and also felt a bit relieved. All this time there was still a tinge of doubt that was hidden in her heart, whether the bore shrews would be able to do this or not, but now she knew for sure that they could succeed.

***

A week had passed since the death of Priest Lyle and no one other than Lucius and Kiana knew about it. Even the Count and the countess were in the dark, as that was what Lucius wanted it to be like.

If they knew about the truth, it would become hard to conceal the truth when the Church of Duran sent another person that could very lie. Rather than that, Lucius would much let it be on himself as he had a workaround the gift.

The Dionysia brewery had been going well and had gotten its next share of profits, which was over twenty five thousand gold coins. The amount that remained after paying off the running costs, material costs and salaries of the workers still left them with over twenty two thousand gold coins.

Today, the entire Inanis family, along with John and his wife had come to the meeting hall to discuss the matter.

"This is incredible, my lord. The number of orders we get only keeps on increasing." Alyssa spoke with excitement.

"Hahaha! I always knew the wine my son made would become popular. It's a shame that the world can't know that it was really him that made it." Gabriel spoke.

"I don't really care for that, father. Rather than that, it's more important that we keep our progress maintained and no problems occur." Lucius replied.

"Of course, Young Lord Asher. We have even started to prepare more workers for the eventual expansion of the brewery. In a month, we should have them all vetted and picked for the time when the brewery is expanded." John spoke.

"Very good. Hopefully, the workers are ready till then and can get to work on the brewery's expansion." Lucius replied.

"The response in the noble circle is also quite well. I keep on getting more and more letters from the noble ladies about the wine and how they want to buy a large amount of it for their parties." Lita added.

Hearing this, and idea appeared in Lucius's mind.

"I think it may be time for Alyssa's Introduction to the noble circle mother." Lucius suddenly spoke.

"Her introduction?" Lita asked.

"Yes. I would like you to introduce her as the owner of the brewery and that she is the maker of it as well. It shouldn't be hard to make up some facts, since I doubt the nobles would have known about her before.

And since Alyssa's parents were traders once as well, it shouldn't be that hard to make a claim that her parents simply obtained the recipe for the wine from some brewer a long time ago." Lucius replied.

Hearing this, Lita nodded her head. "This should help assuage their curiosity a bit I suppose." 

"Mmmhmm… also take several cases of wine when you do the introduction as gifts to the nobles. It should help elevate her reputation." Lucius spoke.

"That's a nice idea. It will help us in the long term too." Gabriel spoke.

"Indeed father," Lucius replied.

The little group discussed a few more things before finally ending their meeting. John and Alyssa went to their homes while Gabriel and Lita went to sleep for the night. Lucius on the other hand had a different task.

He and Kiana left the mansion and headed to the reeducation center.

"Do you have everything ready?" Lucius asked.

"Yes. I got a few of them to gather. It took a few connections but with a little gold to smoothen it out, they agreed." Kiana replied.

"Very good." Lucius said as his eyes flickered.

After reaching the reeducation center, Lucius changed into a different set of clothes and put on a mask. Kiana did the same and the two of them waited until it was midnight before leaving the building.

Their destination this time was quite different from usual. The two of them avoided the guards and spent about twenty minutes reaching the mercenary district of the city. In here they went to one of the more 'indecent' taverns.

Lucius saw the name of the tavern on the board hat hung at its top.

"The Blind Crow… a rather unusual name for a tavern." Lucius spoke.

"If anything, it suits its owner I guess. This place is infamous for illicit deals and is frequented by plenty of criminals and the owner just turns a 'Blind eye' to them. Ever since we launched the initiative for the rewards and bounties, they have stopped coming here. 

But with the greed of gold, they agreed to our meeting." Kiana replied.

"I see. Hopefully, this goes well." Lucius spoke.

Kiana's gaze lingered on Lucius for a bit before she said, "are you sure of this?" 

"I am… it is better we capitalize on this than someone else. At least by playing on both sides we will have a chance to control the situations. It's better if we control them rather than theme wreaking havoc." Lucius answered.

"Alright." Kiana said with a sigh. "We are to head from the stables. There is a separate entrance there." 

Lucius nodded his head and the two of them entered the stables that were currently empty. It was evident that no mercenary that cared for his reputation would want to come here.

As for the ones that didn't, they either couldn't afford a horse or wouldn't wander out in open with them. The stable was just a disguise, and a good one at that. In the stable, Kiana lifted a small hatch from the floor, revealing the passageway that went below the tavern.