"Have a seat"
Grizel beckons the young man who is stunned at the edge of the door, he seems to be bewitched by the snow fairy in front of him before Levi tapped his stiff shoulder brings him back to his sense.
He was speechless, the Lord of this sadist Butler is not a no-name person, to meet such a big shot beside the Crown Prince and Grand Counselor here is unbelievable.
"Ah! yes. Thank you, Your Highness"
He bowed politely as he sits on the couch in front of the little Lady, for a merchant, the characteristic of important figures especially the upper-class nobles and royalties should never be forgotten because business lives through connections and information.
When he sees her rare combination of oceanic blue eyes and long silver-white hair, he is certain about her identity because these colors are the pride of the Belials.
Since the Belial's aloofness towards the other noble families is widely known, there is only one Belial who is associated with the Royal Family and recently becomes the hottest topic in the Empire, the only daughter of the Belial's main family...
A little lady who suddenly becomes the fiance of the Crown Prince.
The manager called her with 'Highness' added as he sees the Azure heirloom that warped beautifully on her left finger as the symbol of the Empress' authority.
A lot of questions popped up in his head but he didn't dare to ask, all of the things that happened today were too much to handle already, knowing another shocking truth might affect his mental health, he thought sometimes it's better to know nothing when he recalled about the blondie madman earlier.
He discovered that the rumors about the Princess have the heart of a saintess is total bullcrap because somehow he could feel the domineering aura around her, his instinct is screaming inwardly to warn him of a deadly dangerous being, even his wild greed chickened out to grab this extremely good opportunity and chose to observe first.
"Seems like you need no more explanation regarding my identity..."
Grizel said opening the conversation to the wary manager, she shows him a little bit of her angelic smile to lowered the tension in the atmosphere.
"Then I will go straight to the point"
"Do you know the reason as to why you are here?"
As always, Grizel doesn't like beating around the bush, she asked the bewildered manager directly.
"That's..."
The young man stopped as he started to think, at first, he thought it was merely his good luck to have a chance to meet Fortuna's representative, but suddenly he got invited by the owner and get escorted personally by the Butler to this secret place, he even tell him a lot of secret information that shouldn't be told to an outsider, this luck was too good to be true that it smells suspicious.
He can conclude that his visit is not a mere coincidence, it all was carefully planned.
'I was the one who intends to join Fortuna by giving them the information regarding the Goldway Merchant, but...'
'Rather than becoming the one who approaches them, why does it feel otherwise? It looks like they are the ones who lure me in'
He thought inwardly as he racks his brain to recall the beginning of all these suspicious events because sheer luck would never bring him to this hidden place, much less effortlessly met the owner of this enormous secret organization.
'Ah!'
His body freezes as he realized all of this began with the pendant that was brought by the Baron.
He was the only lower-class noble who was given the pendant, that night after the eventful party, Baron Goldway makes a ruckus to gather all of the Goldway's best Craftsmen, he seems to have an urgent thing to craft immediately, but his hope was in vain because the pendant has many layers of seal, and no one is capable enough to unseal the pendant without damaging the core.
Because of this, Baron Goldway's only chance to gain profit from Fortuna is to secure the agreement of supplying the raw materials like the cooperation offered by Fortuna at the party, he has no choice but to send his most talented negotiator to meet Fortuna's representative.
But who knows that the partnership plan was fake.
The manager finally realized that Fortuna is making fun of the Goldway Merchant by raising Baron Goldway's hope as the offer is never truly exists, they never had any intention to cooperate with the Goldway since the beginning, and it confirmed after witnessing the goblin's breedingstock system for the raw materials supply.
Moreover, the biggest den of monsters in the world which is this Forest of Demise belongs to the Belial family even if it now falls under the Imperial Family's jurisdiction.
But the little girl in front of him has both powers, as the only daughter of Belial's main family and the future Empress who'll marry the Imperial Family, she legitimately owned the biggest resources.
'Then what is their real reason to give such a precious pendant to Baron Goldway under the pretext of cooperation?'
'For fun? Nah, it certainly wasn't their main goal'
Looking at how effective this organization of doing things, he doubts they did it solely for entertainment reasons.
But when he recalled how the blondie madman earlier having fun raiding a horse while dragging a certain tattered high noble, he somehow started to doubt their standard of entertainment.
'If their main goal was not for ruining Baron Goldway, then...'
He thinks so hard to figure out the reason, but there is only one thing that comes to his mind, which is the fact that he is the one who sits here being invited to meet the owner of Fortuna.
Their main might be related to him.
'Me? But why? I have nothing but my-'
Gasped!
'Aaaah, I see'
The bewildered face of the young manager changed as the tip of his lip curled upwards, he finally found the reason behind their strangely warm treatment.
"Your Highness wants my talent in business"
He emphasized the word 'wants' confidently to the snow fairy in front of him, he wants to laugh at those stupid rumors that said she is an innocent little girl, what kind of innocent that set a trap this smooth to rob other's merchant talented manager discreetly.
"I like your courageous self"
Grizel smirked at his answer, she indeed needs someone to take care of her Fortuna merchant guild and the budgetary system in Tartarus as the head of the commerce division, there are a lot of people who excel in business, but she wants him.
"But do Your Highness able to put trust in someone who betrayed his previous master?"
This is the crucial question he wants to confirm before deciding to join this secret organization because a relationship without trust is bound to fail, like how he and Baron Goldway treat each other, there was no trust between them, and anyone would find it difficult to trust an ambitious man who has obvious greed like him.
"Levi"
Instead of answering the question, Grizel beckoned Levi who stands behind her to read the report.
"Yes, My Lord"
Replying to the call of his Lord, a piece of paper appears from Levi's ancient ring as he started to read the resume about the manager gathered by the intelligence division.
"He used to live in poverty with his loving parents and 2 precious twin little sisters, in contrast with the harsh environment, his family was living peacefully in harmony, but..."
Levi stopped, he looks at the astounded manager who heard the report of his background check, and seems like it has reopened his old wound.
Unlike the other Tartarus elite members who suffered in their childhood, this man unexpectedly had a peaceful one, he was even blessed with a loving family, but happiness never remains forever.
"At the age of 9, he learned how the world revolves around money, his family died due to a plague spread in the slums, it supposed to be treatable but the temple refused to heal those who have nothing for the offerings to their Gods"
"Tch, those bastards have really rotten to the core"
Levi mumbled by himself while reading the shitty report about the temple, it wasn't the priests that are corrupt but the false teachings of the temple, unlike the priest who works for the Empire, the priests associated with the temple asked quite a large sum of money to heal a single person, they believed that the God's kindness should be repaid equally, even a commoner with a stable job would find it difficult to pay it, let alone beggars.
For them, the physicians are more approachable but unfortunately when the illness is spreading uncontrollably, the excessive demand made the price of the medical herbs prescribed by the physicians skyrocketed in the market, the poor have no choice but to witness their family members fall one by one, blaming their destitution.
Unlike a physician who required herbs and knowledge, a healer can heal as long as one has mana, but it was regrettable that those who awakened in Holy-Class were easily swayed by the temple's good image, less of them choose to work for the Empire, the small number of the Imperial priests makes the handling of the plague running slower causing the larger casualties, and among them was the family of this man.
Levi sighed as he started to read the resume again.
"A year later, he awakened his ability as a Rogue Class awakener specialist in theft and robbery, greedily stealing at the nobles and temple's treasuries, he was the most wanted thief in the empire"
Unexpectedly, this neat young man was the most wanted thief, he looks like a trustworthy businessman yet a professional robber behind his mask.
"He got caught by slave traders in his 14 but managed to run away, unfortunately, they had put a seal to restrict his awakened ability"
This is the first time Grizel heard about the seal to restrict an awakener's ability instead of turning them into a slave, she needs to examine this type of new seal and his ability.
"With a new identity, he worked for a small merchant and started to learn business through experience, thanks to him, in only 2 years the small merchant slowly began to grow excessively, but it leads to another misery..."
"Baron Goldway robbed their business, and he ended up working for him in these 4 years"
Levi ended his report as he closed the paper and put it back in his ancient storage ring, but both the manager and Grizel remain silent.
Unlike Grizel who silently observed the man who sits in front of her, the manager lowered his gazes as he can not stop his trembling hand recalling his past, there is another emotion hidden within his greed.
"You..."
Grizel started to speak again breaking the silence, after all, the real warm talk will begin from here.
"You despised money, don't you?"
She said with a piercing tone, it might sound ridiculous, how could a person who has excessive greed for money despises it, however, Grizel knows about his reason as it was written in the original novel, now she wants him to be honest and declare his real desire.
"Tell me what you really want"
To be continued...