Chapter 28 The Distressed Jeffery

Leonardo spent the next half an hour feeding his Goddaughter properly and teaching her table manners, simultaneously educating her on the various cuisine the world has to offer. At least according to his limited understanding of the food culture in Arcadia.

News that Leonardo was willing to sell his 10% of private shares for a fiefdom in a good piece of land spread through the intelligence networks of the various intrigued parties.

Although shocked, they were mostly humoured by the silly manner in which Lady Azalea unearthed such information, and many silently complimented the woman's competence in their hearts.

Whether this was genuine or not, only they knew.

As for Leonardo, he knew that such a grand project, especially when needing to tend to the benefits of so many parties, is ought to drag on for years, years he simply didn't have. As such, he would rather sell his private shares for legitimised properties, an identity, and a group of loyal servants to begin his expansions on the human domain's mainland.

Within less than five years, he must somehow lead this small fiefdom into a power strong enough to contend with the three ruling kingdoms in terms of economics, prestige, and military might.

He also planned to help Juvia to reach the necessary heights of power to reclaim the elven kingdom since unlike their human counterpart, they only have one ruling power that holds sovereignty over the domain, much like the beast domain where the law of the jungle reigns supreme.

Thus, it was no surprise that when Leonardo entered the designed venue for the meeting with Pandora by his side, only a select few were interested in him.

After all, they all came to believe that he was but a young man who got lucky with idiots the likes of Mason and Andrew, leaving only Jeffery and Azalea aware of how deep this young man's machinations were.

Unfortunately, the former of the two didn't care as long as he could latch onto Leonardo as a potential investor with the 1% share, whilst the latter's warnings fell on deaf ears.

The infrastructure of Valdmor resembled an old fortress of various layers, each layer of the town is separated from the other with a thick wall and a great gate. This was Leonardo's first time stepping foot into the residential complex that housed the privileged class, as the first gate provided access to inns, bars, and the market street no more.

Jeffery and company tried maintaining a low profile in said district, but someone had to blow their cover in a fit of rage. Since the web of intrigue expanded so much as to include the seven second-rate kingdoms, Leonardo made the wise decision of backing down.

Literally no one needed to convince or provoke him into doing so.

Leonardo and Pandora made their way into an open venue housing a number of handsome men, beautiful women, and impatient servants scurrying around in hopes of tending to everyone's needs.

Such a maid quickly made it to Leonardo's side with a silver plate and a row of spirit drinks of seemingly high cost and value to the young man, a smile on her round innocent face.

Leonardo seamlessly blended into the crowd while Pandora stuck to him like his shadow. Luckily, Juvia recovered last night, allowing the young man to relax with her keeping watch over Leona and Kieran back home.

The only reason Leonardo allowed Pandora to maintain her excessive means of apology was that he needed someone to stay back home protecting the party of three, and not out of the goodness of his heart or compliance to Pandora's guilty conscience.

"Are you serious about selling your shares?" While Leonardo was minding his own business trying out the various delicacies in good faith that no one would he stupid enough to poison the food, Jeffery approached him and asked in a hushed voice.

Leonardo munched away at a particularly sweet cookie, savouring the taste. It has literally been years since he last tasted something so sweet, to the point where he almost forgot sweets exist in this world.

Leonardo didn't immediately respond but rather washed down the cookies in his mouth with a flask of water before sighing in content, expressing his thoughts a moment later.

"I should have brought the kids along if I knew… Sigh, do you think anyone would care if I packed some of these back home? The kids would love them."

Jeffery's eyes twitching, his fat face alternating between white and red. However, when he laid eyes on the young girl standing behind Leonardo like an obedient little thing, he kept his not so well oriented opinion to himself and chose a lax approach instead.

"Do you know what you're missing out on? Ten or even twenty years from now, the forbidden domain will slowly transition into a land of contention between the three domains! The earlier you claim a plot of land, the better you'll have it in the future!"

One could not tell if Jeffery was genuinely concerned about Leonardo's future or had something else in mind. However, like everyone else, the fat man adopted the fatal mistake of assuming where Leonardo's best interest lies.

Although Leonardo wasn't aware of Jeffery's intentions for stopping him from selling, the young man was adamant about it. Jeffery, too, knew that he couldn't do anything about it and felt helpless.

"Too late for that I'm afraid."

Leonardo had yet to respond when Azalea pronounced her entrance with a black gown, a thick fur coat, and sleek elbow length white gloves as pale as her pristine skin. This woman was in a class of her own beauty when compared to Leonardo and company who were overly casual with their getups.

Azalea gave Pandora the wary eye before she returned her focus to the ongoing conversation, scoffing in displeasure before she added to her earlier statement.

"If he were to rescind his statement now, he would make an enemy out of everyone who had a lick of interest in this project. I'm sure a smart young man like him wouldn't make such a mistake. Right?"

The spite in her tone when she emphasised the words smart young man couldn't go unnoticed by any of the intelligent people involved in the conversation.

Leonardo tossed yet another cookie into his mouth before giving Azalea a once over, his eyes a mask of interest as he complimented the woman.

"Well, aren't you looking beautiful tonight?"

Jeffery and Azalea choked. However, before she could protest the shamelessness, Azalea felt a bloody cold killing intent washing over her figure, albeit the extent of it was thoroughly suppressed.

The woman couldn't help but shiver. However, the next moment, Leonardo flicked Pandora's forehead while sounding out a reprimand.

"Behave yourself!"

The young lady saint dejectedly lowered her head in silence, not understanding what her leader found so great about an ordinary human girl. He never dane to compliment someone's looks before, not even that seductive elf.

The crowd looked in absolute bewilderment at how a young man treated a saint powerhouse like no more than a naughty child acting up, not knowing how to feel about the whole situation.

Azalea lost all of her accumulated anger and simply gaped at the scene, questioning the principles of life.

Leonardo cleared his throat and replied to their early statements according to memory, "Am I serious about selling? I am. For me, obtaining territory is much more important than contesting for one, not to mention contesting for an isolated area from the population altogether. That's not healthy for my Godchildren."

"Furthermore, Lady Azalea is right, it is too late for calling back the shots now. Of course, I'm also interested to see who will bid most for my shares, it should be quite the experience."

Azalea's expression went dim and grim recalling how she was used to freely advertise Leonardo's bottom line, while the fat business couldn't help but feel a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

With all his brainpower and experience, Leonardo couldn't for the love of god tell why was Jeffery being so distressed about this. In a sense, they were and will remain partners regardless of who obtained Leonardo's shares.

Thus, the trio continued with their light conversations until the meeting officially started, and everyone involved got summoned into the inner hall.