The Council's Hearing

"The council being convened isn't a common occurrence nor is it a straight forward process." secretary Lan lectured Zhishi Wu as he walked alongside her towards the meeting room, Hanyi had already been sent with one of the employees of the chamber to have her needs attended to.

"The council consists of 4 individuals in addition to boss Zhang, an old man addressed by many as Senior Fang, he has a long beard so It's easy to tell him apart, my mother addressed as Senior Ming, another old man known as senior Lu, his hair is a little weird so you'll be able to tell him apart and lastly an anomaly, a man from down south referred to as Bilal." she continued to feed him information as they walked.

He listened closely to every detail. Carefully compiling the descriptions and names of the individuals into his memory.

"For the sake of answering questions I am going to give you a quick rundown of our situation, the country we currently reside in is know as Tianchi Kingdom."

At this point they had reached the outside of the meeting room and were awaiting summons.

"The kingdom shares a border with the sea on its western end, the eastern border is where most of the military resides as the country bordering the east is in chaos and uprisings constantly a state of civil war, to our south, this kingdom is very important for trade the kingdom of Amman, and the northern border is home to the cultiv-…. Just forget about it for now."

Zhishi Wu took in all the information and processed it quickly. "So right now the most important thing for me to remember is that to our west is the sea and to our south is our primary trading partner." inside his head he remembered the princess mentioning something about a guide from the south, it seemed to make more sense.

Just as he was about to ask her about the north a noise leaked through the door.

"The council's hearing regarding the Fate of the child of the slums known as Zhishi Wu or little Wu to others shall now take place."

The doors swung open and a child exuding an aura of confidence entered the room.

"I Zhishi Wu present my self to the council of the chamber of commerce of Tianchi Kingdom."

The four councilmen and the one councilwomen looked upon him curiously all of them had the signature gaze of a merchant looking at a potentially valuable object, a gaze holding both hopefulness and doubt at the same time.

"Welcome, welcome child, Zhang did say you were 13 but to think you look even younger." The old man known as Fang broke the silence.

"Greeting senior Fang." Zhishi Wu replied with a slight bow, he then proceeded greet and bow to each of the council people present.

"Hahaha, looks like your daughter's a pretty good coach eh old Ming." the man named Bilal said with a smile

"Silence." she said sternly while shooting a sharp gaze over at Bilal who quickly hushed.

"It seems we can forgo the introductions young one, now we are all aware of your abilities in arithmetic and although it is impressive, it is not unprecedented. Why should we give you the station of merchant within our chamber of commerce?" senior Ming did not mind getting directly to business.

Old man Zhang stared at her for a second almost dumbfounded "IT'S NOT UNPRECEDENTED, WHERE ELSE HAVE YOU SEEN A GENIUS LIKE THIS OUT OF THE SLUMS??!!" he thought to himself, "I had no idea she could bluff this hard with a straight face" he sighed and didn't say anything awaiting Zhishi Wu's response.

"It is true I don't have much to show for myself other than my skills within arithmetic, but do not confuse this for incompetence." Zhishi Wu walked closer to the table and sat at the opposite head of the table sitting straight across from old man Zhang.

"My lack of proof is not due to my incompetence but rather the lack of opportunities I have been given to demonstrate said skills." he carefully moved his head in a scanning motion managing to have eye contact with each member of the council at least once.

"A true merchant should be able to make opportunities where none lie, should they not?" this time the weird old man spoke senior Lu the expression on his face that held no semblance of hostility made it obvious that this statement was meant as a probe and not a rebuttal or argument.

"While senior does speak the truth it is not the whole of it." he carefully withdrew the silver coins from his robe, laid them out on the table and signaled to the guard standing at the side of the room to come closer.

"Here these coins are yours." for a moment the guard had a confused expression promptly following up with a quick response.

"I dare not!" and quickly retreated.

Zhishi Wu grinned and looked towards the people of the council once more "opportunities even when created and presented to someone may not necessarily be the best possible choice, much like the soldier didn't dare to take the money fearing that I had some sort of scheme, I did not dare to take any opportunity thus far because my sense warned me against so. Intuition is a powerful tool." he promptly pocketed his coins and awaited the council's response.

"hahaha , he really got you old Lu now you look really dumb." The man named Bilal let out yet another laugh before shutting up quickly after senior Ming's gaze once again hushed him.

Both sides were silent, this may seem random but the members of the council were clearly testing how comfortable his child would be with a situation similar to a negotiation that came to a stall, surprisingly Zhishi Wu did not seem to mind and continued to wait quietly for the council's response.

"What is your opinion on the state of this kingdom?" this time the senior named Fang spoke up.

This statement was met by a confused gaze by all of the fellow council people, they had no idea what a 13-year-old child even a hyper intelligent child could say that could satisfy Fang's question.

"I-." just as old man Zhang was about to dismiss the question, Zhishi Wu responded.

"If this country keeps going the way it has been, it's dead beyond repair." he had made this response while casually leaning back in the one of the throne like chairs surrounding the table.

"Little Wu, mind what you say. Words regarding the fate of the kingdom should not be used alongside absolute terms, some may perceive it as treason." this time to everyone's surprise it had actually been Bilal who had spoken up, he was quiet this whole time and seemed to be laid back compared to the rest but he had the strongest reaction to Zhishi Wu's words.

"Provide reasoning for your opinion," Old man Zhang asked quickly with a serious expression.

"I say this based on three things I've personally seen, number one food is incredibly rare outside the main city even to slums that are located on the edge of the main city like where I resided." he looked directly at old man Zhang who was nodding subconsciously affirming his statement.

"Secondly the food that is available even in the main city is the product of import from the kingdom of Amman, a source of import that can very easily raise prices as time passes and since the kingdom's money is finite it will run out." this time he looked upon Bilal who no longer had a playful expression and now looked serious.

"Do you have any basis for estimating the financial reserves of the kingdom?" senior Ming interjected with a authoritative tone,

Zhishi Wu only smiled and continued "Thirdly and lastly, I've seen desperation even within the ranks of the royal family."

This time a visible shock was apparent on all of the council people present.

"Kid don't try and lie here, it won't help your case." senior Lu said with a concerned expression.

"I'm hurt you'd all think this way, I have no reason to lie here, as for my information, it was a first-hand experience and also verifiable by external sources."

The five council people all shared a gaze with each other trying to figure out what to say next.

"So what are you waiting for? Tell us what you saw." Old man Zhang broke the silence and asked.

Zhishi Wu cracked a large grin and replied "Senior Zhang, surly a merchant of your stature knows that nothing is free right, in exchange for this information I demand a trial period as a merchant within your association."

The council people all looked at each other and nodded in sync.

"Very well you shall have the price you named, now speak the information." before Little Wu spoke old man Zhang dismissed the guard who was present and pressed his hand on the table leading to a sort of fluctuation across the room.

He had inconspicuously activated a formation that prevented the leakage of sound to the outside, the effect was instant but the people in the room had no way to tell it had been activated.

Zhishi Wu proceed to tell them about the encounter with the princess he had in the restaurant. The faces of all the council people were deep in thought, all other than Bilal, he had a clearly concerned expression on his face as if something had gone wrong.

"I must return to my country for a few days, excuse me." Just as he exited the room he stuck his head back and said "I vote for the kid, he's smart enough for sure." following this he quickly left in a hurry.

"I concur." senior Ming added.

"You have my blessings." senior Lu added as well.

"He is deserving." senior Fang stated

"That settles it go to Lan she will lead you to your first assignment and test for your trial period tomorrow." old man Zhang dismissed the council's meeting.

"I thank the senior's for their cooperation." Zhishi Wu said politely before leaving the room.

After the door shut behind him senior Fang burst into laughter "haha haha."

"What's so funny?" senior Ming asked.

"That kid walked into a room with 5 of the greatest merchants within the borders of this kingdom and ended up selling us information, a 13-year-old kid, what's worse is he barely even had to convince us, we were practically at his disposal."

This realization left the 4 people in the room speechless for a second.

"Have we just witnessed the birth of a monster?" they all thought to themselves.