"Everyone here is a grown adult, and I don't find it in me to mince words. Although some things have come to our attention, I will allow the opening rights of speech to lie in the hands of Mason, who represents House Exodia."
In a great hall that Leonardo found oddly ordinary in setting and aesthetics, the various representatives of what appeared to be seven kingdoms without accounting for House Sylvia, House Venus, and House Exodia.
For now, he didn't care for the distribution of power and land or the balance of power between these big shots as it truly was something out of his radar for the moment. The only thing he might keep in mind would be the identity of whoever eventually bought his shares.
Exactly, it remains unknown whether he would sell his shares in bulk or distribute them. For now, it depended on the offers provided at the end of the day.
Mason nodded at the representative who broke the ice and stepped out from his seat at the high chair of the hall. To his right sat Andrew, and to his left sat Jeffery, and each of them had expressions that betrayed their misgivings.
Of course, they wouldn't reveal to everyone the gravity or importance of this operation, as that would simply complicate matters. Instead, Mason took the most obvious of excuses and the general conclusion reached by the majority of everyone present; the three ruling powers sought a monopoly over the lands.
"As everyone of you is aware, the land with the ore mines sits upon an energy vein in the depths of the earth. Because of the energy vein, the leylines in the vicinity are overflowing with dense energy, enriching the environment for hundreds of miles." Mason stopped his speech for a moment, allowing the information to sink in.
Thanks to someone, the location of the mines was already compromised, and whatever information Mason spat out now is something everyone could and would eventually find out. Thus, Mason beat down his urges to curse Leonardo outright and simply continued his calm facade.
"Although we won't be selling shares, you are welcome to invest in…"
Leonardo found himself unfocused, lost in his own thoughts instead of listening in on the contents of their conversations.
Why?
It didn't matter much to him. He knew this has nothing to do with his future plans, the only reason he sat here in this meeting today was to offer up the potential of striking it rich within a decade. He had much more important things to do back home, such as Juvia.
While he was contemplating life, someone who sat next to him, Azalea, poked his side with her elbow.
Leonardo snapped back to attention, some focus glimmering in his dull black eyes. Blinking, he tilted his head towards his aggressor with a confused, questioning look in his eyes.
"What is it?" Leonardo asked.
Mason on the high stage coughed to draw everyone's attention before speaking up, "Young master Leonardo, please take up to the stage and proceed with selling, investing, or even providing lease prematurely according to your discretion."
Leonardo realised it must be his turn now or perhaps they wanted him to go up first just to keep the information regarding the sales and investments a secret. However, he didn't care, thus he didn't remind them of his 1% investment in House Sylvia's sheres and collateral property.
Anyway, Jeffery didn't seem to be in the right mindset to clarify this minor misunderstanding either.
A moment later, Leonardo stood in front of the crowd that represented the overwhelming pressure of the human domain. Each of these representatives held unimaginable power behind them or so they thought, but Leonardo thought otherwise.
pαпdα Йᴏνê1,сòМ With his hands in his pockets, he declared, "Alright, what are your offers? Let's start with a fiefdom and a noble title of independence. I won't pay tribute, tax, or servitude to the upper echelons of the territory I occupy."
"Furthermore, I retain the rights to groom my personal forces and expand my region in acts of retaliation and conquest against any and all acts of hostility. This is my bottom line for selling my 10% of private shares, the rest is up to you all to decide."
"Do you have any specific requirements? Such as the overall size of the land, its location, living conditions, territorial threats, and other matters of concern?" Someone from below voiced out their thoughts and patiently waited for a response.
Leonardo didn't give the matter much thought before responding, "I have already stated my bottom line. Everything else is redundant in my eyes, but of course, I will always choose the better accommodation for myself when presented with multiple options."
"Oh, one more thing!" Before anyone could speak, Leonardo looked over towards Pandora and motioned for her to go outside, "Bring me a box and a stack of papers from outside."
The young lady nodded her head, and in front of everyone's eyes, vanished into thin air like a spectre, leaving behind but a gust of wind. Although everyone heard that she was a saint at this point, not everyone had the chance to witness her performance in live combat.
Thus, the speed and agility displayed awed some of the crowd, but that's about it. Although sainthood was something grand, it wasn't something they didn't encounter beforehand, some even encountered saints of higher realms than this fresh one.
A moment later, a gust of wind rushed through the room and settled right next to Leonardo, who took the big box from Pandora before looking back at the representatives with blank pieces of paper presented to each and everyone of them.
"Alright," Leonardo nodded approvingly as he said, "I want everyone to write down their offer on the paper with the name of your house before coming upstage to deposit the papers. I will go through them, and thereafter choose the one to my liking."
"Conniving bastard…" Azalea and Jeffery, albeit unaware, cursed silently in a voice so low nobody else could hear it. Of course, even if Leon heard them, he wouldn't care.
Just as everyone was about to begrudgingly take part in this activity, Jeffery coughed stiffly and spoke up, "Erm, can I have a piece of paper as well?"
Leonardo turned around and gave Jeffery a weird look, did he get that right?
Not only Leonardo, everyone else in the room gave the fat businessman a questioning look. Was House Sylvia openly trying to monopolise even more shares? Everyone knew that none of the seven houses could compare in wealth with a ruling power.
Everyone thought this way, including Mason and Andrew, who in turn also stepped forward with alarmed expressions as they voiced out their willingness to compete.
"Get me a piece of paper!" Mason declared.
"Count me in as well!" Andrew wasn't one to fall behind either.
Only Jeffery felt pained in his heart, knowing that Queen Adeline didn't give two fucks about the shares, she only wanted to keep Leonardo to her region in the human domain.
While everyone saw this as a chance to get a head start, his Queen saw it as an opportunity to rope Leonardo in closer to her.
Jeffery knew that the royal treasury was about to bleed because he couldn't risk offering a price that could be overlooked. Moreover, he should choose a territory far enough from imperial influence so as to not chase Leonardo away with an overwhelming offer.
'Sigh… My Queen, this isn't wise at all…' Jeffery complained inwardly.
Leonardo didn't mind one bit that the three of them took part. From his perspective, this was even better. In fact, according to his understanding of the three ruling powers as reflected from their representatives, he knew his choice would be House Sylvia before they even started.
Luckily for Leonardo, Jeffery didn't read that much into his personality, and the young businessman was about to strike it rich because of it.
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