Chapter 11 A Businessman

In a dimly lit room swamped with thick stench of smoke and clouds of sulfur, Leonardo sat at the end of a rectangular table. To either sides of his left and right sat two middle aged men, and directly opposite to his seat was the old man from earlier.

Goes without saying, everyone seated by the table was a regular human without any powers with the exception of Leonardo. However, to the bodyguards standing at attention behind their patrons, Leonardo seemed like nothing more than an ordinary young master under the protection of two mysterious servants; courtesy to his desolate martial intent's newly discovered functions.

Leonardo wasn't spending his week wallowing in self blame after the encounter with the exotic beast. In fact, he was busy engineering flexible ways to utilize his unique martial intent, and he realised that he could infer from the world order of the Exiled Paradise and operate his intent in a similar manner.

He began to display rudimentary signs of assimilation between his internal energy and his martial intent, positive signs towards comprehending the essence of his own energy, and a crucial element to achieve sainthood. For now, he could delude everyone's perception of his internal energy as long as they weren't saints themselves. This way, to everyone in the room, Leonardo was nothing short of a curious yet harmless young master.

A maid to the side brought a fat cigar to the fat man. Then, he reached into the inner sleeves of his shirt before pulling out an exquisite black long barrel revolver. What caught Leonardo's attention was the intricate designs of enchantments itched into the metal, that was until the fat man aimed at the ceiling before firing a random shot.

Three rings of light surfaced and overlapped the muzzle before a silent, thin beam of light penetrated the roof. The beam was so intense, a wave of heat washed over Leonardo and his two followers stabilized behind him.

The fat man gave Leonardo a look that translated to 'I could have easily killed her if I wanted to.'

Then, he attached the crown of his cigar to the muzzle. The faint touch lit the cigar ablaze almost immediately, and he then tossed the heavy revolver on the table before taking a deep drag of smoke.

"So you were ultimately curious about her motive, hence you allowed her to lead you back to me?" Leonardo asserted with a faint smile on his face. "What do you think?"

The fat man closed his eyes as the smoke wreaked havoc in his lungs. A moment later, he exhaled with a sigh while responding, "I know a fat sheep when I see one. You're definitely fat, but you're definitely no sheep either." The man hinted at the intricate inscriptions decorating Leonardo's plain white clothes and the inconspicuous space ring on his left ring finger.

This was probably the first native on this planet to recognize the origins of the ring, which surprised even Leonardo. Obviously, the waters in this room ran deeply, almost dangerously deep.

The fat man continued, "Take my advice, leave the woman behind, and go as far as you can from Valdmor. That girl heard something she shouldn't have, and I can only say you're lucky she didn't disclose anything to you yet."

Pandora felt tense at the moment because she wasn't sure if Leonardo would take this chance to dispose of her. With her strength, taking care of two or three level 21 bodyguards is simple. However, if each bodyguard had a similar weapon like that revolver…

"What if I want to monopolize the profits as well?" Leonardo responded in a calm voice, "I may not be a sheep, but I am indeed fat, and I'm currently looking for business partners."

The fat man's eyes constricted, and Pandora looked at Leonardo's back in astonishment. How could he have known the content of their meeting? She didn't have the chance to disclose any information, but he nailed the topic of their discussion.

These four men might share an agenda, but they each serve a different Lord from the human domain. How could Leonardo deduce that they were partners and not colleagues?

Leonardo could see the shock in the fat man's eyes and so he leisurely laid back into the leather chair before speaking flatly, "Don't let your thoughts wander too far, my subordinate didn't tell me anything yet. In fact, you told me everything by yourself."

Under Leonardo's sharp gaze, the fat man finally realized that this was Leonardo's retaliation. Still, he was quite intrigued by what the youth meant, and thus he ignored the piercing glares of the two middle aged men before asking with interest, "Oh? What did I possibly tell you? I'm interested."

Leonardo spread his fair left hand, casually inspecting his spatial ring while recounting in a flat tone, "I am not a sheep, I am a businessman. Although I don't know what kind of secrets my subordinate listened to, ever since we arrived from the far west, I gave her the simple instructions to investigate the situation of this town; specifically the local lords and their business. I can already guess that while she was investigating the interrelations, she stumped upon this secret meeting."

"Another point of suspicion is that." Leonardo gestured with his eyes at the heavy revolver, "You're just a normal human, yet you're carrying such a powerful weapon. Obviously, the bodyguards behind you are nothing but mirage and smoke, perhaps you hired them from the local forces since you arrived in Valdmor with the intentions of maintaining a low profile, hence the lack of professional bodyguards."

"If my suspicions are correct, the forbidden domain is about to transition from a neutral domain to a battlefield of conflicting interests. The question is, what is it that is so valuable to shatter the pretentiousness and facade of neutrality that the three ruling domains struggled to maintain."

At this point, even the two middle aged men who thought that the fat man sold them out were shocked, staring at Leonardo as though they'd encountered a ghost in daylight. Honestly, they weren't sure how much of their conversation did the female ranger spy, hence they were stressed about silencing her.

However, it seemed as though by trying to bait out her master, they've invited a demon into their midst.

"You've got a keen eye for fat sheep," Leonardo spoke again, a flat smile on his face that complemented his lifeless eyes as he spoke out the last nail into the coffin, "But I've got a keen eye for business."

"So… Do you want me as a business partner, or a business rival? Oh, trust me when I say that if I wished to investigate this business opportunity on my own, although it might prove to be a hassle, it wouldn't take long with a Saint on my side." Leonardo's words shocked the three men, their bodyguards, and the two beautiful ladies behind him.

Especially Juvia who, if guessed the implications of her leader's words, was intending to put his reservations aside and help her attain sainthood as soon as possible. She was only lacking a martial intent, she only lacked a single enlightenment.

She didn't know how to feel at this point.

Pandora glanced briefly at the trembling female elf with unconcealed envy in her eyes. However, no one in the room cared about that.

The fat man stared hard at Leonardo before speaking, "You said you came from the west? Did you cross the sky's mountain range?…"

"Something like that." Leonardo replied faintly. Not everyone in Arcadia was aware of the existence of a higher realm. Unless they were a force like the Interstellar Supreme Court who advocated human rights throughout the realms, noble houses like House Hestia wouldn't bother decimating the knowledge of immortals to the public.

Juvia was an exception due to her royal lineage. However, according to her, there are only three kingdoms in each of the governing domains in Arcadia.

Leonardo wasn't going through this hassle for no reason. Of course, he knew if he left Pandora behind and decided to leave Valdmor, he'd be dead before crossing a kilometer out of town.

What he needed to do now was buy time, and as much as he didn't wish for it, he had to help Juvia attain sainthood without leaving the surveillance circumference of Valdmor.

As expected, the fat man said, "Give us three days to discuss this matter, we will reach out to you at the end of the week."

Of course, this was another way of telling Leonardo to not leave town, not that he even cared. Thus, he silently nodded without saying a word before standing up for the door.

He completely kept his back wide open for the fat man as though he didn't care whether or not he took the golden opportunity to shoot at his back. The fat man's hand kept trembling, and it remained like so even after Leonardo's silhouette completely disappeared into the dark lobby.