System vs Rebirth

"To think I would be meeting you again, Maxwell."

The number one merchant in the Muivell Kingdom, Maxwell, squinted his eyes, looking at the man who dared to come to his office. "You're not welcome here, Matthew."

That was right. The one who visited him was none other than the former number two merchant in the kingdom, who had fallen from his grace.

"I'm just greeting you, not because I like it, but because I want to warn you that this will be the last time you are ahead of me," Matthew snorted.

"You can always try." Maxwell crossed his arms. "No matter what you do, you won't be able to do anything against him. He doesn't have to be present to suppress all of you."

"Heh? You're a fool to think that you're superior to me just because you get a head start. There are still a lot of people wanting all that technology. Once I possess it, I won't let you and the rest live in this kingdom anymore. I will get the monopoly on all trades of this kingdom and in the end, this kingdom will have to rely on me." Matthew harrumphed.

"That's just your wishful thinking. You are good at business, but it doesn't seem your greed has clouded your judgment. There's no way the kingdom will allow you to do such a thing."

"Hmph. We will see that." Matthew smirked. "Well, since you've gone all the way here just to stop me, I guess I will be giving you a little present."

Maxwell frowned. Matthew simply left as though that was the only purpose for him to come.

They had gone all the way to the east of the kingdom, where he had to stop Matthew. Even Matthew should know that going past this point would just isolate him, since he could create a ban on trade, which would stop him from doing anything. Even the other two merchants were ready to create that blockade.

But not long after Matthew left, his assistant suddenly entered his room. "Sir. We've got a situation here. The government is planning to have an inspection today. It's suspected that we have banned goods here."

"!!!" Maxwell raised his eyebrows, realizing what he meant by the little gift.

He didn't expect that Matthew would be making his first move as the underdog.

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"I will handle it." Maxwell stood up.

The rest of the merchants were also experiencing the same thing due to their respective opponents. As they originally expected, Matthew indeed brought a lot of merchants and people to do all the dirty work.

Meanwhile, their main objective was to prevent all these people from continuing their journey to the place where they could use their wealth against the Ardagan family. Even if the Ardagan family was wealthier than them, they could still leave a dent in the Ardagan family's coffer.

…

Ardagan family.

"Mhmm…" Tristan squinted his eyes. "So, they have gone that far, huh?"

"Yes. We are expecting the envoys from the Tower Association to arrive in two days. A few nobles have been recalled to stop Duke Lorelei, but there are still two people coming toward us. They will arrive tomorrow.

"Unfortunately, Harley couldn't find out about their identities yet. They seemed to be trying to hide that fact pretty well so that they could use it to their advantage.

"According to Harley, there's a high chance that the Fire Lord and the Light Lord will be coming to us. Both of them alone are stronger than Howard. We don't have anyone to stop a spirit grandmaster, let alone one who has integrated themselves with the demons," Rose reported.

Tristan squinted his eyes. "That's going to be troublesome indeed. For the time being, we'll stick to the original plan. Howard will be my bodyguard when handling them.

"I know that this is risky, but if I don't put my life on the line, they won't bite the bait."

"I understand." Rose nodded.

Even though she agreed to Tristan's decision, Rose still had a backup plan. She didn't tell Tristan yet because she wasn't sure how the other party would react.

She had sent a letter a few days ago to none other than her former boss.

…

Demon Relief Squad Headquarters.

"Hmm…" Clara crossed her arms.

"Should I go there?" The vice captain of the Demon Relief Squad, Paul, asked. "I might not be as strong as you, but fighting an elder from the Tower Association should be possible. I will also bring the entire Zero Squad. I'm pretty sure they're missing Rose. It's a shame that they can't see Noel and Anna, but I guess catching up with Rose should be good enough. We want to know how Rose has been faring these days…"

Clara pinched the bridge of her nose. On the one hand, she wondered if it was the right move to go to the Ardagan family.

Even though they couldn't fight, if the other parties unsheathed their swords first, they had the right to defend themselves.

On the other hand, the battle this time was much more complicated. One wrong move would cause the Demon Banner Army and the Royal Family to have an all-out clash.

"Well, I believe we should go there. We have benefited a lot from the Ardagan family too… considering this guy, Noel, keeps sending one thing after another." Paul pointed to the window.

Outside, there were a lot of items, such as rune technologies and money. He wanted to thank them for helping him during his time in the Demon Banner Army, so they couldn't really refuse it.

Rose even asked them to accept, considering she ended up leaving the Demon Relief Squad because she wanted to follow Noel.

Clara carefully considered all the pros and cons before saying, "Fine."

"I will immediately inform them!" Paul smiled excitedly.@@novelbin@@

"No." Clara shook her head. "We'll be going together. Just take it as a holiday for the Zero Squad and me."

Paul became even more excited. With Clara around, the people from the Tower Association shouldn't dare to do anything.

"All right. I'll inform them right away!"