A minute later the door to the throne room opened an old man came in with no surprise it was the head of the Stuart clan Rick Infront him Damien was sitting on the throne this is not the first time that he came here he visited lord Dylan ups usurper Dylan many times to discus business and cooperation but this time he is a prisoner he know that if he doesn't deal with this situation in the most suitable way his clan will not even find a body to bury.
So the first thing he did after entering he kneeled on the ground and said :' your faithful servant rick Stuart is here to answer you summon and receive his punishment for the delay '.
Damien chuckled from the words of Rick in just few words he tried to change himself from a prisoner to a servant from insubordination to delay to answer a summon a shrewd person indeed but anyone who want to lead a clan must have extraordinarily decisive and ruthless personality far higher than your average commoner or clan members and minimum of shrewdness and greed in him it's essential for the clan in order for to survive.
He expected all of this he just didn't care actually he had no intention of truly punishing him he still want ot use him to build a modern bank 🏦 🏧 this the new enterprise that he want the Stuart clan to pioneer this branch of money making for him.
Damien looked at him said:' while this gesture is late it's better than never but still measure has to be taken in order for it to never happen again as if ever it happened again the consequences would be life ending am I clear?'.
With a shivering voice rick answered:' yes lord I swear on my ancestors it will never happen and I will follow any arrangements made by the lord's'.
A smile 😁 so big on Damien face could be seen this man is at least sensible:'first you all the loansharking done to the commoners will be forgiven it will be announced tomorrow second all the debt of those other clans will change from your hand to mine third you will convince the other families to be in line with my administration or they will face my wrath for this you will have help from another big clan the Oakwood clan each of you will be my voice in the town as for composation I will not be stingy with rewards after sorting this I will let each of you two clans handle a new business for me as for the division of profit it will be forty to me thirty for you twenty for the other clan and the remaining ten percent is for taxes and day to day management and expansion and believe me you will make a lot of money 💰 are my orders crystal clear'.
After hearing all of this Rick was in a daze this young baron has though this matter through he will gain the support of the common people by absolving them of their debts at same giving legitimate reason for last night raid second he will have the other clan under his tumble by taking possession of their debts and finaly he masterfully used the tactics of the stick 🍡 and carrot 🥕 first he used my family as a stepping stone and stage for everyone to see what happens when you defy him and at same time by using my family to lead the others clan that he can make anyone the boss thus the others will try to please him in order to gain his favor.
After finishing his inner monologue he said:' my family is ready to follow whatever the baron suggests we will do your beading '.
Happy with what head heard Damien continued:'fourth you will be put incharge to manage a new business a financial one that i intend to start here I call banking and the entreprise name will be Tuscany grand bank 🏦 it role will be to Safe Keeping & Deposit Services money for the people, bankroll new business,Lending & Credit Creation at a low and manageable interest rate for various purposes like buying houses and business financing and most importantly investing as for the clans that will be under you care I am willing to let them in the glass business like before I will take thirty percent and the rest devide them between you '.
Not believing himself not only will his clan be made one of leading clan in the town they will also be given control one of those products that the baron has brought it's technology with him from the main clan this making his family more like a phoenix that grow stronger every time it dies at this moment he swore in his heart that no matter he will serve eternally this baron at this moment in his life he didn't that later on he will be able to keep his vow of eternal servitude to Damien.
Rick then said :' thank you my lord for this opportunity you have my clan eternal gratitude lord'.
After that Damien told him:' now that we got all of this out of the way take a sit and tell me about the dark magician and the lizard assassin that were in your clan residence after all they both were a grade one life form '.
Hearing this even if he knew from the beginning that he will be asked this question ❓ he still felt a shiver when he taught about them after all he is just a peak apprentice wizard Infront of a grade one life form he is insignificant he muster his courage and said :' to answer your question my lord I didn't deal with them directly many years ago the traitor Dylan who was at that time lord reagent of the barrony of Tuscany arranged a meeting between me and mysterious man in which they asked that I will supply them with corpses in exchange I will get a monopoly on loansharking in the town at same time use it to trap people in debt and make them despair as for lord Dylan hinted that I have no choice in the matter either accept or be turned into a corpse puppet the name of the organisation is The green corpse sect from the information I gathered over the years the rule a bunch of islands in the white sea and their is a peak grade two life form or what they call a peak foundation establishment and he also controls a corpse of the same rank as for others things I don't know much but I know those two weren't part of the sect they were more like hired help as only those who could cultivate '.
Damien couldn't believe himself that he just heard a confirmation that cultivator exist in this world and he already enemies but it didn't matter he is destined to make a lot of enemies in his path plus the ones already left by that vampire and this body previous owner :' do you have any idea 💡 how they will react to the death 💀 of those guys'.
Rick took a moment to think 💬 and said:' while I don't know the owner working of the sect I know they will not launch a punitive war over this they may ask for compensation at most but if we keep the shipment of corpses and slave going they may not even care about this plus you are still under the protection of the grand-duchy and the empire so depending on what you chose my lord you may have just to watch out from underhanded attacks '.
Damien :' hmm 🤔 so for the time being keep the shipment of corpses and slaves going but keep them at a minimum but I forbid you from using the citizen of the barony but you could send bandits and death rows to them you this until I send order to stop as for profit try to get some low knowledge from them if possible and I will write some ingredients try to exchange for them'.
Hearing what the baron said Rick was in a daze he taught the baron will ask him to immediately cut relationships with them but he seems able to see the big picture by merging profits and morales at the same time then he answered:' I would as you ask my lord if you could excuse lord of their nothing else that you want from me'.
Damien gestured for him to leave then he sent to Carl in order to leave a battalion to keep order in the town and make necessary arrangements to start recruiting from the ranks of the townspeople people also to buy as much as slave as possible to join the ranks of the army they need us much manpower as available to face their next challenge and by tomorrow morning they will start the journey back to Stonehenge.
Four days later a big colum of legionnaires was entering the town triumphantly lead by their commander Carl and Damien as for the townspeople they were all cheering for the returning heroes.