RISE OF EROS

Going back a few minutes, when Johan and Simon left the Heavenly Palace and got into their carriage. The silence inside the carriage lasted only a few minutes until they had driven away from the Heavenly Palace, then Simon said, "Master, wasn't making that proposal arousing their mistrust of us?"

Johan did not answer immediately. He was silent for a few seconds and then said, "Honestly, I didn't want to get on their bad side, so I decided that, if they accepted my proposal, I would just go along with it, but if they refused then I could just snatch the formulas for those products from them."

"And what was the decision?" asked Simon again, although he already knew the answer. Johan was aware that his butler knew the answer, but still replied, "Although they compromised to some extent, they already see us as enemies, so send some spies to see if they can infiltrate."

After that brief conversation, they remained silent until they reached their destination. Unexpectedly, for such experienced men as they were, they made an incredible mistake.

They never suspected that Andrew and Oliver would be so decisive in considering them enemies, to the point of sending spies to follow them. By the time Johan and Simon arrived at their office, there were already 3 members of Shadow secretly watching them.

Since Johan had his own group of spies and guards, it was not possible for them to infiltrate the store, but they were always watching his movements as he left the store.

While Andrew, Oliver, and the others discussed the subject of Johan. "How do you think we should deal with him," Andrew asked and Oliver replied, "Young master, surely Johan is behind the recipes for the rejuvenating and tissue-repairing creams."

He paused and continued, "So we have two options. The first is to strike a deal with him to sell them. The second is to destroy him." Everyone in the office, took a breath of air, as both options generated more trouble than merit.

While the first option was doable, it did not guarantee that Johan would settle, especially when many more products would appear in the future. Although currently, Andrew used his synthesis skills to create these products, as it is faster, he could still do the normal manual process.

When Andrew makes these products, he prepares them as if on autopilot, he is not aware of what he is doing, so describing the process is not possible, but if an expert like Oliver is present while he is making it, it is possible for him to detail it.

Certainly, the recipe would not be perfect, because that was one of the security measures of the system to not allow anyone other than Andrew to have this knowledge, the truth was that as Oliver was not an alchemist either, he would miss some steps.

Even with all this, writing a recipe to some extent was possible and although the resulting product of following such a recipe would be of lower quality than the one produced by Andrew, it would be enough to make Johan happy.

However, that depended on Johan's level of greed. For Andrew and the others, that was not enough. They were sure Johan would compromise, but in the future, he would try to screw them again and they didn't want to have a con man like him around.

The problem was that the second option they had was even worse because eliminating Johan would bring great consequences. Johan is a known merchant with certain connections, more so now thanks to the rejuvenating cream.

A war against him would involve many powerful people, especially many nobles, and that was problematic because they were not yet powerful enough to face such enemies.

Faced with this difficult decision, the office fell silent and you could see the expression of frustration on everyone's face, however, Oliver spoke again, "I think everyone is misunderstanding something."

This comment startled everyone present and seeing that it had gotten everyone's attention, Oliver explained, "Certainly a war against Johan would bring great consequences, but that's only if we oppose him head-on."

"What do you mean?" asked Helena before everyone else and Oliver continued his explanation, "At first, we didn't know Johan's character and while we were working with him we thought he was okay, but now we know he is greedy, so it's very likely that it's not the first time he's done something like this."

Hearing this, it was as if a light illuminated Andrew's thoughts and he exclaimed, "That means he has enemies" "That's right. Not only must he have enemies, but he also must not be as clean as he appears, so, if we find these two things and expose them, other people will do the work for us," Oliver added.

Everyone was happy to hear this possibility, but it was Andrew who asked the question that intrigued everyone again, "But, to do that we would lose any profit, right?".

Everyone turned to Oliver waiting for his answer and he didn't keep them waiting, "That's correct. Still, I think it's the best course of action we have at the moment."

"That's fine, we'll follow your plan. You have more experience than all of us put together in this type of situation, you have total control," Andrew said decisively. Oliver responded with a short, "Yes, Young Master" and then left accompanied by Marie.

Andrew and his wives were left in the office worried, as they had more and more enemies and they had no ability to help they felt helpless, especially Carolina and Helena, as they had no combat skills or similar that would help in the situation.

Aki on the other hand, had a determined look to become stronger, as she wanted to help and Andrew who had noticed the depressed look of Carolina and Helena, approached them and sat in the middle of the two.

He held out his arms and pulled them closer to him, as he comforted them, "Don't make those faces. Everyone has their strengths and yours are focused on running the Heavenly Palace, so don't worry and focus on that."

Although reluctant, the two girls slightly assisted and snuggled into Andrew's embrace. Aki who didn't want to be left out of the romantic moment they shared, quickly sat on Andrew's lap and hugged him as well.

Aki's movement made everyone laugh, as she looked like a small animal looking for affection from its owner and that relieved the depressing atmosphere of a few seconds ago.

While these four were enjoying their moment, a hawk landed in the pleasure house called Paradise. If anyone knew that this was the same hawk that had left the messenger tower of Tripia's royal castle, they would be surprised.

It was correct, Silvio was one of the agents implanted by the kingdom of Tripia in the empire of Cannaris to generate destabilization. This was the reason, why Silvio and Milton murdered Nadila's parents and took possession of the establishment.

To date, the kingdom of Tripia had not given any order for Silvio to act and so he had been playing in the red light district as the owner of the pleasure house he took from Nadila's parents.

However, only Milton knew of Silvio's true identity because he too was an agent of Tripia's kingdom. Silvio, seeing the hawk standing at the window of his office, put on a serious expression rarely seen on him and quickly picked up the message on the hawk's leg and read it.

The message was short and to the point, with just one sentence, "Start the operation". As he read the message, Silvio changed from his serious expression to one of murderous elation, for he had waited for years for this message, and at last he could go crazy.

The vigilant and conservative character that Silvio had shown so far was only a facade, for like his subordinate Milton, he was a maniac of battle and chaos.

While it is true that this would be a problem for any country, Silvio had the ability to mask this behavior too well and that is why he was entrusted with this mission because the plan was too simple, it was just to create chaos and who better than him to do it.

Despite his madness for battle and chaos, he was not stupid and that is why he would not rush headlong into the imperial castle of Cannaris to lose his life. He had a plan, but only now that he received authorization would he implement it. your m,v,l,e,m,p,y,r story

He quickly wrote on the back of the same paper that brought the falcon, "Understood" and tied it back to the leg of the falcon that took flight shortly after. Once the falcon had left, Silvio called Milton and informed him of the situation, causing him and Silvio to get excited.

No one in the imperial capital knew that two bloodthirsty madmen were planning the most heinous of conspiracies. At least that was what they believed, because the Shadow members monitoring the place did not miss the hawk that had come and gone from the pleasure house.