Subduing the Old And Demanding the Youngs

Huvel did not like slave trading taking place in his territory. He thought of ways to solve the problem in the most peaceful way. Although he could use the spell [Charm] to manipulate someone, his concentration and mana pool were not good enough to maintain the spell continuously for a long the time.

Thus, Huvel planned a few things to make the two merchant groups get into conflict instead of directly controlling them using magic. If the two chiefs lost their trusts to each other, they would not do slave trading together anymore.

However, when Huvel heard that Meoldwyn gathered all his wealth and left Boswel, he had second thoughts.

"How dare you run away with all those profits that you make in my land!" he thought.

He went after the caravan after thinking of plans for the whole morning. His carriage caught up to the slow caravan in the evening and he easily entered Meoldwyn's tent after using [Enchant] on the person in charge. He frightened Meoldwyn using [Fear] + [Hallucination] combo and then casted [Heart-Binding Oath] and made him swear to follow all of his orders.

[Heart-Binding Oath] was a good way to make someone his underling but it was risky move. There was a big chance that the spell would be discovered by a magician of high tier. In fact, there was a mage with 5th mana circle in Boswel itself so Huvel did not want to use that spell if possible. But if he made Meoldwyn live in Boswel without seeing anyone other a few of his subordinates, he could use him at least two or three years before he lost his position as the chief due to his inactivity.

That was the plan Huvel came up with but the horrified Meoldwyn passed out even before he could swear!

"He is more of a scaredy-cat than I thought." Huvel mumbled beside the unconscious Meoldwyn. "Is it because he heard how dangerous monsters are from the soldiers? Then, shall I just scare him like that?"

Huvel casted [False Memory] Meoldwyn. He made up a scene where a big scary monster with black fur casted a strange spell on Meoldwyn and told him that he had to follow Huvel's order from then on and if he disobeys or tells someone about the spell, the spell on his heart would burst and kill him.

Huvel did not if monsters could actually talk or not but he was quite pleased with the false memory he made up. He woke up Meoldwyn after that. When Meoldwyn came to senses, he immediately prostrated in front of Huvel while saying thanks for sparing his life. Seeing the still scared Meoldwyn, Huvel was quite sure that he would keep the secret until his death.

Huvel ordered him to go back to Boswel. After two days, he summoned him to his office.

"My lord, your servant is here to heed your order!" Meoldwyn knelt down once he entered the office and said in an exaggerated manner.

Chance's eyebrows went up when he heard Meoldwyn's speech. He held back his desire to laugh and wondered what his master had done to the old merchant.

Huvel pretended to not notice anything and said, "There are only three things that you need to do. First, inform Winfrey that you have received the 'goods'. Second, the treasury of my castle seems to be quite empty so fill it up with your own wealth."

Meoldwyn's face twitched a bit. It was a big loss for a greedy merchant like him to give up his wealth. However, he successfully held back himself from saying anything keep on listening with a straight face.

"Third, I heard you have several grandchildren. Send adult males to this castle as hostages."

"WHAT?!!"

Meoldwyn who could remain silent even when his wealth was robbed sudden cried in anger.

Initially, Huvel did not think Meoldwyn's grandsons could be use as hostages since hufelids were not that caring towards their kin like hucanises. He only demanded them because he was quite interested in cat-eared boys. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that the cat-eared boys could be used as safety precaution against Meoldwyn.

"What is it?" Huvel sneered at Meoldwyn. "Don't you want to give me your grandsons?"

"I… I…"

Meoldwyn was intimidated.

Meoldwyn knew the rumours surrounding Huvel. He did not believe the rumours of Huvel lusting after men since he could not think of how a man would bed another man like he would do to a woman. However, when Huvel demanded his grandsons, he could not help but become shocked.

Meoldwyn knew what happened to the young and pretty slaves he sold to the nobles. He knew that very well yet he continued trading slaves nonetheless. He understood that he had no right to ask for forgiveness. But when he thought how his beloved grandsons were about to become like the slaves he sold, he prostrated himself to asked for mercy shamelessly.

"My lord, please…"

"Oh, don't worry," Huvel, however, interrupted him. "Since they are your grandsons, I'll give them extra care. I'll give them the 'good treatment' just like the slaves you sold to the esteemed nobles received. Fufufu."

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After being informed that the 'goods' had been received, Winfrey thought that Karl, the knight he bribed, fulfilled his promise. He believed that it was Karl who actually held the authority over the region of Boswel and the lord was also his puppet. With such thoughts, he decided to pay tributes to Karl regularly and continued doing his business as before.

Huvel thought of blackmailing Winfrey by using the records of slave trading. However, he became wealthy in a night after Meoldwyn transferred most of his savings to his treasury. He did not have to worry about money anymore so he decided to leave Winfrey alone for some time.

After making two of the three elders of Black Python Syndicate his pawn, Huvel had a strong control over the black market in his domain. Karl was training new soldiers diligently so he would sure gain all the authority over his domain soon. Since the internal affairs were mostly taken care off, Huvel thought it was about the time to focus on the lords of the neighbouring domains.