RISE OF EROS

The hours passed quickly and Johan arrived at the Heavenly Palace with his trusted butler Simon, in his characteristic low-profile carriage. Although Johan could now visit the Heavenly Palace openly, as he was known to do business with them, he preferred not to reveal this fact openly.

Andrew did not understand Johan's thinking, but neither did he want to. In his thinking, everyone is free to do things as they want. Victor, who was in charge of receiving them, guided them to the office and after informing the office of their arrival, they were allowed to enter.

Johan as usual, greeted them enthusiastically, "Mr. Andrew, long time no see", to which Andrew replied smiling, "Yes, quite a long time". After shaking hands, Andrew offered them a seat and after some small talk, they went into business mode.

"So, Mr. Andrew wants to talk about the scar cream you mentioned to me?" said Johan directly. Andrew didn't flinch at the comment, as he had already told him about it when he went to buy materials and met Baron Castal.

"Yes, it's about that," Andrew replied and added, "Honestly, I don't think we should waste much time with this negotiation since my proposal is to give it the same treatment as the rejuvenating cream."

Upon hearing Andrew's proposal, Johan remained silent without accepting. Actually, Johan had no problem with that proposal, but as a merchant he always wanted to make the best of every opportunity, so after a few minutes of silence he started to ask.

"Mr. Andrew, what amount can you provide?". Andrew narrowed his eyes, as he knew Johan wanted to negotiate other terms, that were within his estimations, but he didn't know what Johan wanted to propose, so he decided to probe a bit by answering his questions.

"It would be the same amount as the rejuvenating creams." Johan again fell into deep thought or at least pretended to because he had already established a plan before coming to the Heavenly Palace.

"If that is the amount, I think we are losing money. I propose that we release the price limit and let me manage it," Johan said, and before Andrew could say anything he added, "This way, we can split profits 60-40 and we would make more money."

When Andrew heard this proposal, he pretended to fall into deep thought as if considering this option. He and Carolina had discussed this issue and were somewhat divided on how to act.

They didn't mind agreeing to it and making more money, but they knew they couldn't produce this cream in large quantities and that worried them, as it could create problems for them and that was the last thing they wanted.

While Andrew was organizing his ideas on how to reject the proposal, Johan spoke again, "Could it be that Mr. Andrew is worried that the demand is too much that it will generate problems for you?".

From Johan's question, Andrew understood that Johan had a way to solve this problem and quickly wanted to hear it, so he replied, "Indeed that is my thought."

"How about we do this, why don't we organize an auction of rejuvenating and tissue repair creams every month with a few limited units? That way it can be treated as a rare and valuable product and it would eliminate the fact that excessive demand would create problems for us," said Johan.

Andrew thought for a moment, but quickly found that this solved nothing and said, "I don't see how that solves the problem, in fact, I think it makes it worse, as it will be even scarcer, as the wealthy would monopolize it."

Johan knew that, but he was prepared and began to explain, "That would be true if everyone had access to the auction. What I propose is to establish a membership for this auction and that the members be rotated so that they can't participate twice in a row, leaving an opportunity for everyone."

Again, Andrew considered the proposal, but still didn't see where this proposal fixed the problem, there would still be dissatisfaction and these supposed rotations could be rigged.

He didn't want to get caught in the middle of it all. As long as the price was not high and handled as it was being handled they could satisfy the minimum product for most customers, but if the market was open, the wealthy and powerful would take all the product, and the dissatisfaction of those who didn't get it would increase. Join the community at m,vlemp _yr.

While that is the free market, Andrew knows that this world is more brutal than his previous world and a situation of dissatisfaction could lead to people seeking him out and forcing him to produce for them, as he was not yet strong enough to defend himself.

"Mr. Johan, honestly, I don't see the solution. Certainly, we will make money, but in your proposal you are safe, but I am not," said Andrew with a stern tone, because for him, Johan's proposal was just screwing him and that annoyed him.

Johan noticed Andrew's disagreement. He was aware that his proposal seemed elaborate, but it could really bring problems to Andrew, even so, he had to raise it, as he felt that such good products were losing money for not being subjected to the free competition of the market.

Although he wanted to push his luck a bit, he didn't want Andrew to get angry and break relations yet, so he sighed listlessly and said, "I'm sorry about this Mr. Andrew, just understand my position. I feel that with such good products, we are losing out here."

Andrew was not fooled by Johan's mock dejected expression. It was clear to him that he was an old fox and wanted to take advantage and it made him reconsider whether this man was to be trusted.

Truth be told, Johan was getting greedy for what Andrew had and wanted to take it away from him, but he still didn't have the confidence to do it, so he was still trying to be on his good side.

Merchants are the most treacherous subjects in existence and although Andrew has treated him as an ally and even helped him with various issues, such as his son's problem, at the end of the day he is a merchant who wants money.

Johan is no saint. He didn't get to the position he had without getting his hands dirty and Andrew had begun to see his true character. Unfortunately, at the moment he couldn't antagonize him, so he decided to make a concession.

"Why don't we join both proposals," Andrew said and Johan raising his eyebrow asked in confusion, "What do you mean?". "It's simple, let's split the product. One part is given the management we have been using, and the other we auction it according to your plan."

Andrew thought about this proposal thanks to what Johan had said, because that way they would both partly meet their objectives and although it increased the risk for him, he felt that it would not be so extreme for the worst situation to arise.

Johan had the same idea when he heard Andrew's proposal and not wanting to degrade his relationship with him, he accepted. They then signed a contract and Johan left after some small talk about unimportant issues.

After he left, Andrew did not look good. Carolina who was also present was also annoyed, because looking at the negotiation from a few minutes ago, she understood that Johan was no longer an ally, but a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Aki," Andrew called in a clearly annoyed voice. Aki appeared from the shadows without understanding the reason for Andrew's annoyance. She had been present during the entire meeting, but as she understood little of these matters, she had not realized that Johan's proposal was focused on harming them.

Andrew didn't bother to explain, he just said, "Find Oliver and Marie." She immediately disappeared again and after a few minutes, she appeared next to the two Andrew sent for.

"Is something wrong?" asked Oliver when he saw that Andrew had a dark expression, but he didn't answer him. It was Carolina who told them what had happened in the negotiation and listening to the whole story, Oliver was visibly upset and with a stern tone told Marie, "Send some members to keep an eye on Johan."

Marie was just like Aki. She didn't understand what had gone wrong in the negotiation based on what Carolina had told them, but Oliver was different and since he was the one who ordered to watch Johan, she didn't ask, she just disappeared to fulfill his order.