Chapter 69 69 - Overworked And Bickering
"Mister!" Called Riana, the girl Haruki had left in Moriyana's care.
Rushing towards him from another entrance to the office, she wrapped her hands around the young duke. On one end Haruki was delighted to see her, but on the other, he detested the red and black combination of clothes Moriyana had provided her to wear.
'She looks like a miniature version of her.' Giving her a gentle pat on the head, he turned his attention back to the main topic.
"What happened to your master?" Haruki asked, looking down at the little girl.
Glaring up with puffed-up cheeks, she almost seemed a bit annoyed herself.
"She's been drinking a lot while working, so this is normal," letting go of him, she looked around at all the documents laying on the floor. "And I have to clean up after her too."
As if she was an overworked adult, she huffed out a sigh and began picking things up.
"Do you want me to wake her up completely? I know water magic too you know," further wanting to make him like her, Fay wanted to do yet another favor.
"Go ahead, wake her up," without wasting an ounce of time, Fay sprayed a violent beam of water right out of her hands.
Hitting Moriyana right on the face, it made her flail around frantically as if she was drowning in the deep sea. Finally, when the steam of water stopped, she slammed her hands on the desk and looked down at her wet clothes first.
"I have to clean this up too!" Whimpered Riana.
"What the fuck?! Are you trying to kill me?! And my clothes! GHHHHHRRR" Grinding her teeth in anger, she looked around at the visitors in front. "Wait…this bitch!"
Saying that she climbed over the desk and threw herself onto Fay. Dropping to the ground both of them hit their heads together before squealing out in pain.
"I never thought the slave peddler I've heard so much about would be so immature," insulting Moriyana, Margarette brushed her temples to soothe her nerves.
"Oh, you shut up, you royal slut!" Despite having her head bashed in, Moriyana wasn't willing to back down an inch. "You're the last person I'm gonna take an insult from!"
Thankfully, still trying to recover from the head injury, Fay didn't catch the royal part of Moriyana's insult. Struggling to get up, she grabbed onto Haruki's arms and pulled herself up. Once back on her feet, she glared down at Fay with rage still bubbling in her eyes.
"Next time you do that I'm gonna trap you in a jar," she warned. Unsurprisingly, sharing some history with Fay only the two of them were able to truly understand what Moriyana meant by those words.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Dusting off her clothes, she made sure to get some distance between them. "I won't do it again!"
"Enough…" Irked to the point of anger, Haruki broke the bickering between the two. Moving closer to Moriyana, he grabbed her by the collar of her dress. "And you, answer me, how the hell did you build this place when you didn't have a dime to accommodate a stay in an inn? And why the hell is this place so filthy if it's a recent build?"
"She says she doesn't need more workers to maintain the building," chiming in with her innocent tone, Riana placed her hand on her hips and glared at Moriyana. "And every time I clean something, some other place starts falling apart."
Wanting to save money to the extreme, Moriyana was holding onto gold that could easily afford to use on more help, but the biggest hurdle to that plan was her own stubbornness about not wanting to hire anyone.
"Why don't you use your slaves?" Asked Riley, genuinely confused by the whole thing.
"I've sold them all off," Moriyana replied, making her way back around the desk. "Every one of them, the moment slave trade was legalized everyone in Laria wanted one."
Leaving everyone surprised, Moriyana glanced at them with an uninterested gaze. And although she creepily smiled at Margarette at the fact that Haruki managed to enslave her, she didn't say anything out loud in Fay's presence.
"If you've sold every one, then where the hell is all the gold?" Demanding an answer, Haruki leaned onto the desk. "You need to pay the duchy part of your earnings, and in return, we'll grant you monopoly on the slave trade in my territory, that was the deal, so where the hell is the gold?"
Making sure not to mention the part about her taking over all the crime, Haruki pushed her further.
'Dammit! If she doesn't have any slaves left then how is she controlling the criminal? Is it magic? Like those potions of hers?' Again being flooded with questions, Haruki tried to intimidate her with a glare.
"You promised me accommodation in exchange for the favor, remember?" Smirking devilishly, she sat back down in the wet chair but then grunted from making that mistake. "Anyway…Since you didn't actually make good on it yet, and I needed a place to stay, I decided to use the city's portion of the gold to build my office."
"An office? This place is like a maze with hundreds of rooms!" Riley protested. Right after entering, she had tried to survey the rooms, but with the number of hallways and locked doors, she simply got back with the group.
"So what? I plan to spread my legs a little, you know? Expand into different businesses, isn't that what you want, duke?" Ignoring her innuendo, Haruki knew what Moriyana was hinting at.
"Fay, can you leave us alone for a moment?" He requested.
Being addressed so abruptly, she looked around confused. Fearing she might end up offending the duke, she decided to wait outside until she was allowed back in. Closing the door to the office as Fay went away, Haruki smiled at Riana and told her to give them some privacy for a moment as well.
"The hell are you gonna do with no gold or slaves?" Watching Riana go into the other room, Haruki grunted at Moriyana.
Tilting her head, she once again glanced at his servants before returning back to him. In her mind, all this ruckus was tiresome, especially the way Haruki was trying to intimidate her as he did to the others.
"I told you I wanna branch out, as for your question itself…" opening up a drawer, she pulled out a folder filled with all sizes of paper documents. "Maybe you're forgetting that I'm a lust demon too with my own servants. I don't need slaves when the whole of the criminal brigade in Laria is working under my charm."
Opening up the file, she pushed it forward on the desk for Haruki to have a look through. Taking it in his hands, he began skimming through them to understand what she was talking about exactly.
"Fine, these are records of your exploits and what criminal businesses you're controlling, but I don't see a cent of profit left for the dukedom's treasury," Handing the folder to Margarette so she could have a thorough look, Haruki turned his attention back to Moriyana.
"Well, I told you, didn't I? I've spent it all on this place, but trust me it'd all be worth it," reaching between her breasts, she took out a small note and passed it to him.
"What's this?" He mumbled as his eyes scanned through the note.
'Lie to the public, I have your gold, but keep your mouth shut about it. Make them desperate, fearful, and willing to submit, that's how you'll get your army of servants.' At the end of the note, signed in blood-red ink were a few scribbled-up words. 'The bad is dead, she can hear but can't read. Now laugh so your mind doesn't give it away.'
"By the way, remember that something special I was talking about? Something that you'll be interested in?" Smiling at him, Moriyana distracted him from thinking about the note too much. "Do me a favor, and I might have two very special gifts ready for you."
Despite not knowing that part of Asmodia was housed inside him, Haruki began to chuckle and Moriyana joined soon after.
"What is it then? This favor of yours?" He asked, laughing maniacally.