Chapter 512 - 440: The Solution for Military Expenses (Part 2)

’He held the grain supply. So what if this woman was the Overlord of a dynasty? Wasn’t she completely at his mercy?’

’Besides, he could use this opportunity to maneuver his influence into the heart of the Capet Dynasty. Once the Administrative Region was defeated, he would have the chance to swallow up a huge chunk of the Capet Family’s assets!’

For any Merchant Family, this was an immense temptation.

It was hard not to take the risk.

Hearing this additional condition, Lady Catherine’s smile didn’t waver. She didn’t respond to his proposal immediately. A faint blue light flashed deep within her purple eyes and was gone.

Before long, a male servant, holding a pre-drafted agreement, trotted over to the terrace.

Lady Catherine was the first to sign her name, stamping it with the official seal given to her by the Civil Affairs Department, which represented the authority of the Administrative Region. She smiled. "I accept your condition. You’ve seen the agreement. Sign it."

Ariel had expected her to consider it for a while, or perhaps fly into a rage out of humiliation. The one thing he hadn’t anticipated was that this dynastic Overlord would agree so readily.

It was as if something like spending a year with him didn’t even count as a condition.

Though he regretted not asking for more time, a sense of caution rose within him. Years of navigating the treacherous seas of commerce had given him an intuition, and it was telling him this wasn’t so simple.

But, for the moment, he couldn’t put his finger on the problem.

’Still, does she really think I’ll sign the agreement so easily? Does she really think this is my first business negotiation?’

The inspection step couldn’t be skipped before the official signing.

The thought that this stunningly beautiful, exotic dynastic Overlord would soon be his to play with as he pleased was enough to dissipate most of the resentment simmering in Ariel’s heart.

He let out a hearty laugh. Instead of taking the pen the male servant offered him, he gave Lady Catherine a third insolent look-over. "You’re too eager, my lady. You haven’t shown your sincerity yet. How could I possibly sign the agreement?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the male servant before him and commanded, "Go guard the door. Don’t let anyone in."

However, the male servant seemed not to hear him. He remained standing silently in place, holding the pen with both hands, motionless.

Lady Catherine’s smile gradually faded. A multitude of dark red lines, like magma, flickered beneath her skin. The fine dust on the floor defied gravity and began to rise.

When Ariel looked up,

He was met with a pair of intimidating eyes, and a cold voice filled with menace.

"I’ll ask you one last time. Are you signing or not?"

As a child, Ariel had shown physical abilities far superior to his peers. His family had arranged for him to pursue the path of a Knight, but ten years of arduous training yielded nothing.

Still just a Mortal, at this moment, he faced Lady Catherine, whose combat power was equal to that of an Earth Knight.

He finally understood why, despite sitting on a fortune that could rival a nation’s, he was still just a local merchant, while this woman who ruled the Golden City was a dynastic Overlord!

A drop of cold sweat suddenly trickled down Ariel’s forehead.

After so many years navigating the seas of commerce, the current situation made him realize instantly that Lady Catherine’s invitation to the Golden City wasn’t a negotiation from a dead-end, but a carefully woven honey trap!

At that moment, he suddenly thought of someone—his most trusted vassal.

When he had hesitated to accept the invitation, suspecting it might be a trap, his vassal had repeatedly hinted that the Administrative Region was at a dead end, and that Lady Catherine, being so closely tied to it, would be willing to pay any price for this supply agreement.

’Bastard... Traitor—!’

Ariel trembled with rage in that instant!

Though in his mind he was already grinding the bones of his treacherous vassal to dust, the terrifying methods of the woman before him plunged him into an icy abyss!

Such is the nature of business warfare.

Low-level games are about scheming and plotting, but high-level games are a matter of life and death!

Ariel took a step back, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of the door leading off the terrace. He knew, of course, that Lady Catherine’s body had been modified through Alchemy, but as a mere Mortal, how could he possibly discern the strength of her power from these Energy fluctuations?

Faced with the ultimatum, he didn’t hesitate for a second. He turned and ran.

However, a blur flashed before his eyes, and the next moment, a tremendous force that felt like it could crush his skull seized his face from the front.

In the span of a single breath, Ariel discovered to his utter horror that his body was already dangling outside the terrace, ten thousand meters above the ground.

The strong winds of the upper atmosphere whipped past his body, roaring in his ears.

He struggled desperately, flailing his limbs. Even though he was a two-meter-tall, tower-like giant, his struggles couldn’t move Lady Catherine’s slender arm in the slightest!

「In just one short year.」

The Administrative Region’s Tax Collection Ships had gone from being robbed only occasionally to the current situation, where Interstellar Pirates completely ignored her authority and that of the Administrative Region, brazenly plundering the Tax Collection Ships that came and went.

Lady Catherine had been bottling up this resentment for more than half a year.

If not for the Great Rebellion that split the Empire, if these Interstellar Pirates had dared to so much as touch a Tax Collection Ship, the Dynasty Knights and their fleets would have hunted down these criminals and ground their bones to dust long before the Emperor’s Angels came knocking on their doors!

Unfortunately, she only controlled a small branch of the dynasty, and the Administrative Region was too preoccupied with its own internal and external troubles to manage anything else.

’And now, even a petty local grain merchant dared to negotiate terms with her?’

Lady Catherine’s expression was cold and merciless. She stared into Ariel’s terrified eyes. "You’re not the first merchant to dream of swallowing the Capet Family’s assets, nor will you be the last, Ariel.

Today you stand here negotiating with me not because I am begging you, but as a gift I have bestowed upon you.

Did you really think I didn’t know you were the one funding the Interstellar Pirates who attacked Port Number Nine last month? For that crime alone, I have every right to confiscate all of your property."

"You—!"

Ariel was both shocked and enraged. He had considered that this might be a trap, but he never imagined Lady Catherine would know everything he had done behind her back!

"No... you can’t do this! I’ll sign—! I’ll sign, alright? Just let me go, and I’m willing to do it without making a single cent—no! I’ll provide the Verne Front Line with half a year’s worth of grain for free!

Just spare me, and I’ll agree to any condition!"

"Is that so?"

Lady Catherine’s voice was captivating. Even when threatening someone, it sounded so elegant... an elegance that pronounced death.

The high-altitude wind was as sharp as a blade, whipping up the hem of Lady Catherine’s black evening gown and her long, wavy purple hair, making them dance and leap like flames.

The male servant with lifeless eyes stood mechanically in place, like a statue.

Ariel, strong as an ox, was still struggling desperately, grabbing Lady Catherine’s wrist with both hands. He looked like a maggot, constantly writhing in the air.

"But you are mistaken again, my friend. Your life holds no value to me, because the one who wants you dead is the Lord of Vengeful, Reinhardt."

When Ariel heard this revered name, a symbol of war and slaughter in the Ash Soil Star Zone, a chill instantly coursed through his entire body. His pupils, driven by extreme terror, trembled uncontrollably.

’This is impossible!’

’I’ve never had any dealings with that baleful star. How could it be...?’

However, when he saw with his own eyes the motionless male servant dissolve like smoke and dust, an Imperial Knight in Power Armor emerged from Lady Catherine’s shadow, silent and ghost-like.

His expression became one of ultimate terror!

But before he could beg for mercy, a Knight’s Broadsword had already run him through the chest and heart.

After executing the leader of the Merchant Family who had secretly funded the Interstellar Pirates, the Knight said in a low voice, "The Lord of Vengeful’s fleet has reached the Kesiria Agricultural World. The Vengeful Angels will dispatch a small team to escort the merchant leader Barak to the surface and assist him in taking over Ariel’s assets.

The Tax Collection Ships have also entered low orbit one by one, and I have received confirmed reports that varying numbers of Interstellar Pirates are approaching them."

Lady Catherine tossed the corpse to the ground, turning to stare at the Imperial Knight behind her. Her tone was displeased as she said coldly, "According to the plan, you were not supposed to appear here."

However, whether it was a rebuke or a threat, the only response she received was silence, just like the Battle Group Badge on the Imperial Knight’s pauldron—the Silencers.