Year 1023 of the new calendar, Month of the Sun, 12th day.

A yawn came over me, I had woken up pretty late in the day for me. Now, I was stuck in my office with a mountain of paperwork stacked high. A sigh came over me, my assistant came in, “Sir, do you want the new reports?”. I nodded and he, Fester, started to talk, “The scale of our operations have had to slow down with the Iabrun agencies catching on to some of our labs. The output of our species-centric drugs, like the eye-eyes for the Volucris, and Volucris beads for the Vulcrum have been reduced by 34%. The general drugs, cocaine, methamphetamine, and most importantly, mana supplements, have also taken a hit. Their productions are down to only 45% of full capacity after over seven of our laboratories were raided by Iabrun enforcement.”

Dammit, this wasn't the time for our operations to be raided. Fester was someone who had the name because of his sickly green skin, yellow eyes that looked to be rotten, and a tail that was half rotten flesh, half black bone. His real name wasn't something he divulged, and he was too useful for me to be caught up on petty names. A sigh came over me, why must this happen now? Of all times, right when we planned to try to lie low a bit, all of these labs getting raided isn't helping. I waved him off and sat on my lounger, picking up a little worm on the plate and wrapping it around the small spike growing out from my wrist. The spike morphed slightly, wrapping around the purple worm, sucking the nutrients out from it, and leaving a small husk. I felt some energy return to my body, and simultaneously, I wanted to do something more. I walked out from the room, arriving in a long hallway filled with lanterns on the walls, a long red and gold carpet on the floor, and some statues that are put upon the floor in set intervals. I smiled and pulled out a little ball of mana, it was a deep yellow, its appearance was the perfect representation of 'calm', as it rested in my palm.

Mana supplements are a simple drug, made en masse for any mage to buy. Since normal drugs don't work for them, unless they wish to suppress their mana to dangerous levels, new drugs have to be made. Of course, we can't design one for all the little difference in mana, but I had the privilege. The deep yellow ball of mana started to pulsate as it slowly seeped into my skin. Instantly, an intoxicating feeling came from the very depths of my body, a joyous flame rose from within my mana supply. A feeling of slight pain quickly gave way to more pleasure, as the charged mana slowly flowed out from my supply into every part of my body, soothing it, my body felt at peace and calm. This feeling was addicting, it was more than simple pleasure, or even anything primal. There was something more about these drugs, and my team still couldn't crack it, but no matter.

The feeling of pleasure left a minute after, and the temptation to stick another clot of pure mana into my reserve was great, but doing too many in a small period wouldn't be good for it. Fester came up to me again, he looked at me, and said, “Sir, two men came to the front door, asking for you. The two claim they were from the ISE, though I doubt it.” He stopped there, looking at me as I looked down at the floor. The ISE? What were they doing here, they shouldn't have any real reason to be here. Tsk, I should still see them, and not leave it to one of my subordinates. “Alright, I will go meet them, prepare room AC4.”, he nodded and left. The temptation to pop another mana supplement only grew the more I walked towards the front door, but I held the urge in and greeted two men at the front door. They were in white and black suits, humans, I greeted them, “Hello, what's your business here?” The larger of the two said, “We received a few complaints regarding this place.”, and pulled out a permit.

Tsk, that was a bullshit excuse, but they did have a permit. I can't just reject them without antagonizing the entire ISE. Fuck, I smiled at them and invited them into the house, leading them into the room Fester already prepared. They sat down, looking about the entire room. It was a large room, similar in style to the other areas of my home. I liked a more vintage aesthetic for my home, just a part of me. They sat down on an extravagant lounger and looked at me. I sat across from them in an equally exotic chair, taking a sip from a glass of wine that Fester gave me. The two humans looked at him with a thinly-veiled disgust, he left promptly after. It annoyed me, but I didn't say anything and waited for them to speak. The larger of the two started to speak in a mild, sweet tone, “Mr. Yves, let's not put up a charade. We all know what you are up to in these parts, and we also know that you don't wish to oppose us, or the Iabrun government. A wise choice, and I think you would like to hear us out on a deal we are offering.”

I raised my eyes a bit to show my confusion, “We would like for you to move all your operations to Solaria, and not sell through Iabrun anymore.”, a slight frown came over me. “My operations are for smaller countries, I simply can not sustain such a large country like Solaria.” They shook their head a bit, and the larger one continued, “No, we do not mean selling to Solaria, we mean moving your operations to Solaria.” A deep, incredulous look came over me as I looked upon the two men sitting across from me. “That’s suicide, and you know it. Their drug laws and fanaticism about their religion is insane. If their Pope said that drugs were evil, they would try their best to find them and destroy them. Unlike here, selling drugs there is a capital offense, and I'm not looking to anger a superpower.”

The two men looked to be tuning me out, “Look, Mr. Yves, I will try to explain this nicely. You have no choice in this matter, you either do as we say, or we tell your information to Marquis Buesboon. We all know his hard-line stance against drugs, and you wouldn't like that, now, would you?” A cold sweat broke out on my forehead, they were serious. “No, you can't do this to me-”, I started to say as I stood up from my chair, “Do you know how much I have sacrificed? I can't go to Solaria now, that is a death wish.” The larger one stood up and went out to reach my hand. I didn't have time to react, he shook it and a small scroll appeared above it, solidifying the 'deal' that just took place.

“Now then, you're now under our control, Mr. Yves.”, when he finished saying that and turned to leave, another foreign voice butted into the discussion. It was a sweet voice, coming from a woman, “No, you ISE dogs. He isn't under your control.” For the first time, the two looked behind them in fear, I also turned around only to see a woman with small stature, blue skin, orange hair, and some horns. She walked up between me, and the two ISE agents, taking the hand he forcefully shook with mine and opening its palm. In a few milliseconds, a broken seal was on his palm, I couldn't even react to what happened. Visible beads of sweat poured down from their foreheads, the silent smaller one had his eyes opened to the size of disks.

“Mi-Miss Laizi-”, the large man started, stuttering a bit along the way, “This, This is illegal.” She, without missing a beat, replied, “Yes, it is, and? All of us know that even if you could stand against me, which you can't, you can not hold a candle to the power my master has. So, get out, you ISE dogs. You shall not come back here unless the director of the entire ISE comes here to challenge me.” The two, like little puppies running away from a large dog, scattered and left the grounds immediately. She then sat down, unabashed on any cultural proceedings, and looked at me. I sat back down, “Thank you, Ms…?”

“Laizi.”, she replied, “Thank you, Ms. Laizi. Though it does behoove me to ask you such a thing, may I wonder why you are in my quarters?” She did not answer at first, simply looking around the area, “I hope you like it.”, I said, and she nodded. Her eyes looked from the hanging chandelier upon the ceiling, the lounger I was sat upon, the one she was on, the drinks and food on the table, and then finally, upon me. Her gaze never faltered, and a bit of fear was struck into me, “The people who give you some information regularly, I assume you know of them?”, I nodded. Where was she going with this? They were of some importance, but I didn’t really need them, perhaps she was one of them? “Good, they are subordinates of my subordinate. They do not know who they truly work for, the same for the people that work for me. Only I know who I work for, and no one else does.”

A smile crept on my face, but at the same time, a chill rushed down my spine. “Indeed, who do you work for?”, I asked. She smiled and shook her head, clearly signaling to me that she did not wish to disclose who she worked for. There was only a handful of people that could control someone like her, the heir apparent to the Lendenburg fortune, Arianna, is a decent candidate, but it seemed unlikely for her to be the one to control someone like her. As far as I could tell, she was simply lucky to inherit that wealth, nothing about her stood out. Going to the Magic Academy was weird, though, there was nothing unusual about it for the sons and daughters of the smaller Barons and Viscounts. Anyone with the title of Earl should be able to hire private tutors, better than the ones in the academy, it is a bit weird, but it isn’t my problem.

Oh yeah, that interview scheduled later may shed some light, “What do you wish to do?”, she smiled, my line was going through Solaria. That was suicidal for any drug trafficker, that damn country was insane with its zealousness. The average citizen would have enough zeal to make any God proud, just thinking about it made me shudder. “We would like to provide you with a large plot of land, 3,000 square kilometers, and for you to move your operations there. Since this new land is on an entirely different continent than Iabrun or Solaria, and you have no base of operations there, we would like to subsidize you heavily for the first four years. After that, it will have to be from your own pocket.” It sounded a bit too good to be true, a new plot of decent-sized land right when Iabrun was cracking down?

“What’s in it for you?”, she smiled, picked up a wine glass filled with green fluid, and drunk the entire glass down in one go. That was the strongest drink here, wonder if she took it on purpose? She put it back down, looking none-the-worse, and looked down on the floor. “Sixty-five percent of your profits.”, I sputtered out the red wine I was drinking. A small drip of the wine dropped on the floor, “Sixty-five percent? That's a bit too much, don’t you think?” She looked down on the table between us, picking up a small morsel of some sort of meat, the type not immediately obvious to me. She finished that quickly, and said, “Yes, it is a bit too much, but, you don't have a choice.” It was eerily similar to the ISE agents, “You have three choices, really. You could do what I say and accept my offer, I could hand you back to Iabrun Security Enforcement, or even, take you directly to the Marquis. Now, we both know the best one out of the three, so, sign this contract-”, she said while pulling out a piece of paper, “and you will get that new land, and ninety-percent of your expenses the first four years shall be subsidized, as long as you don't go overboard on your spending.”

She finished with that, sliding the piece of paper to me. “You-You’re worse than the ISE.”, she looked a bit surprised, “Whoever said I was better than those two?” I sputtered a bit again, this day wasn't exactly going my way. The contract on normal, white paper started to look more, and more, devilish by the second. The promises, the deals, they all sounded sweet, a bit too sweet, and sixty-five percent of the profits going away did bitter the taste, but over half of my profits here has left already. I looked back up to her, what race was she? Perhaps she was a certain type of Demon? Heh, a deal with a Demon being fairer than with the government. I, begrudgingly, lifted my wrist that had a spike growing out from it. She simply looked, with no changed expression, while I slit part of my wrist and let the blood drip on the contract. “Good, now, come with me. I have a few more things to show you, and they're going to be vital moving on.”, she told me while standing up. I stood up as well, the paper had already exploded into a fine mist, she walked outside the room. I followed her in due haste, something about her just seemed… off to me, and provoking her didn't feel like the best of ideas.

We made our way outside the entire house now, there were rolling hills all around us and a gigantic forest after that. One main road came from my home and led to the city, but otherwise, the nature here was left untainted. She looked upon the rolling hills, “They're beautiful.”, she remarked, “Thank you.”, I said. A slight nod came from her, “Well then, what was your name again?” A sigh came from me, “Eli Yves.”, Laizi nodded once again. “I have to ask, Eli, we both know what the ISE wanted to do with you, but do you have any idea why?” I shook my head, I really didn't have any idea as to why they wanted me to go to Solaria. “They wanted me to go to Solaria, sell my drugs through them. I've no idea why, though, that is both a death wish to me and a great way to antagonize the superpower. Those people at the top of Solaria, the Pope, and her Archbishops should already know who I am, and what I do. Moving me there just feels weird.”

She bit her nail a bit, “Maybe they wanted to antagonize Solaria? But that makes no sense, does it? We are only a few days off from the negotiations, any souring of relations now would be dire. Those two agents of the ISE, why were they picked to handle you, a drug distributor?” A shrugging of my shoulders was all that I could muster in response, “Does the ISE usually go after drug lords?”, she shook her head, “No, Iabrun has a specialized drug enforcement agency for this kind of stuff. I need to see the director of the entire agency soon enough.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”, I inquired. “Can I not? Besides, you can't tell anyone about this, ever. It's stipulated in the contract.” Huh? I didn't read such a thing, “There is no such thing on the contract.”, I said. She pulled out the contract, pointing directly to a line that stipulates whatever she says is to not be spoken to, written down, described, or referenced to anyone besides her, and the people she says are fine. “You-You changed the contract?”, she smiled, but unlike her previous ones, this one felt off. It felt a bit weird, “You can't change the contract.”, I told her. “Why not? After all, this contract is mine, and I can do whatever I want with it. Humans always have this expected honor with contracts, but we don't.”

The small woman in front of me suddenly started to seem much, much, much scarier than before. “I'm effectively your slave now?”, she giggled a bit and nodded. “Yes, you are effectively my slave.” That giggle haunted my thoughts, it was not like any species I knew, it was something else, something other-worldly. Though that can't be possible, she was definitely a species of this world, something about it felt off. What have I signed myself into…? This deal can be changed, twisted into anything. “You're taking it surprisingly well.”, she said. Another shudder rushed down my cold back, “Have you done this to others?”, I asked. Even if I knew the inevitable answer, I still hoped that it would not be that. “Yes, many, many times.”, she said, without a care in the world, her nonchalance scared me as much as it annoyed me. “Of course, you could always try to resist, but should my master see someone of your standing leave the contract. Well, do I need to say the rest?”, she said. “No, you do not.”, I replied to her.

“Get ready for your move, you should be on that land in two days’ time.”, she said, while staring at the rolling hills around my estate. It was indeed a beautiful landscape, tainted by her figure, a figure of a deplorable lady. She smiled back at me, as if she knew my inner thoughts, goosebumps popped up all over my arm. There was something beneath the facade of her, something other than this body she put up as a front. I could sense that, but what she was exactly was what I could not answer. “Stop peering.”, she said, cold and crisp, with an icy overtone. I immediately backed up a little, but before I could take another step back, I felt her hand upon my chest. “I debated on doing this for a while now, but I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry.”, she muttered to no one in particular, and then I felt an intense pain in my chest.

When I peered down, her entire hand punctured my chest and was gripping my heart. I could feel it beating inside her hand, the pain was immense, but I didn't pass out from it. Her hand — still inside my chest — started to burn. That burning sensation traveled to my heart, and then to the entirety of my body. A mark was being engraved on my still-beating heart, I could feel a part of it being slowly molded to fit the shape she desired. What it was, I had no idea, “Pl-Please stop it.”, I tried to tell her, but it fell on deaf ears. After what felt like months, but was only a few seconds, she finally let go.

Her burning white hand cauterized the wound instantly — I lost my balance and fell on my back, only exacerbating my wound. After that, she looked down at me with no emotions on her face, the same way one would look at a rock on the road. Nothing, not even a slight amusement. “Now, then, go pack up your things. I expect to see you at Lendenburg harbor by the end of today.” After she said that, her form teleported away from the area. I stood up slowly, and warily, scanning the surroundings to see if she really left. After a few minutes of no response, I cautiously made my way to the estate. What had I gotten myself into, really, this was definitely the worst mistake I had done in my career. Accidentally signing myself into the clutches of a maniacal woman, truly the worst mistake I had done in my career. Inside the estate, Fester greeted me and stood by my side.

“Fester, bring up the logs, we will need those moving to this area.”, he looked a bit surprised at my statement, “Moving?”, he asked. I nodded, “Yes, we are moving our operations to a wholly new area, the crackdown in Iabrun has been far too strong for us to cope with at the moment. This time, it will be a whole new continent, don’t worry. I have found myself a backer that can help us with this endeavor.” He still looked at me weirdly, but nevertheless, nodded and rushed towards the storage area. After that, I walked briskly towards my second-in-command, Fester was the person to keep tabs on the economic part of the business, along with me. As for my second-in-command, Augustus, he took part in managing the individual sites, killing people detrimental to such a large drug empire. I needed to go and deal with the vast amount of people working under me, I reached the room for Augustus and barged in. He was at his desk, swamped with a stack of papers, and drinking a small glass of whiskey.

He was an older-looking human, with a few white strands of hair on his head full of thick, black hair. He had bushy eyebrows and wore a military uniform, Augustus used to be part of the Iabrun armed forces until he was honorably discharged well over eight years ago. Augustus wore a frown almost all the time, the golden whiskey in his glass was nearly finished. His bushy eyebrows covered up parts of his black, battle-hardened, eyes. “New purge?”, he asked me in a husky, gravelly voice. I nodded, and he nodded, “Who?”, he asked quickly. I pulled up a list of unimportant people, “All these? They’re just normal employees, what are we doing?” I coughed a bit, “We need the officers and managers, we are moving to a new area. The current crackdowns are too hard on us.”, he nodded without thinking for a second. “Consider it done.”, he told me, I nodded and left. Hmm, I need a new list of all the equipment we need. Fester came back to me with stacks and stacks of books, carrying some of them with his rotten tail.

“Get me a list of all the equipment we need, at first we will scale down our operations to a third of our current ones. The managerial and office positions will also have to be rounded up, do that, spend up to 600,000 pounds from the reserve to make sure of this. Anyone who doesn’t comply, add it to the kill list for Augustus.”, I told him, and he promptly nodded. Is there anything else that needs to be done? Hmmm, as far as I could tell, there should be nothing left for me to directly change. I just need to get everyone onto that land, and then contact the woman again. Speaking of her, I wonder what the engraved symbol on my heart is. This situation was wild, but I had no time to whine about it. Tsk, I suppose all I can do is wait until I get a chance to turn the tides.

A white-hot burning sensation came from my chest, the pain dropped me to the floor instantly. Fester came instantly, I noticed him briefly, before returning to flailing around the entire hallway. The pain was like a fire scorching through all my organs, I stuck out my hands onto my chest, doing anything to try to appease this fire. My mana was locked, I could feel that all too well. Fester was too shell-shocked to say anything, he stood there dumbfounded at the current situation. The burning sensation stretched from my chest to my arms; my legs were next, the pain there stopped me from flailing about the place; and finally, my head. I could barely move my entire body, but even that couldn’t stop me from trying to appease the pain in my head. My head felt like it was being burned and turned into a slushy mess, blood dripped out of my mouth and nose. I put my arms onto my head and started to scratch furiously, hard enough to draw blood, but that didn’t help the pain one bit. After another few seconds, the pain subsided, and I stared at Fester, “Don’t talk about this to anyone.”