“So what is your family offering?” Owari asked curiously.

“They want to buy the property for about 10,000 credits.” Noel sighed.

“Didn’t you mention that I sell for shares and not straight credits?” Owari was confused.

“My grandfather said the most shares we can offer is 3%.” She said with some shame.

“I take it he thinks I’m afraid of your family name. Let’s go visit the Orion Tradecenter first and see what they offer us.” Owari waited as Noel let Morgana know. Soon they arrived and Noel was glad she wore business attire today. “I’d like to know if Tristain is available sometime today.” Owari said to the receptionist. She was a bit shocked to see Noel standing there along with a maid, but she dared not ask.

“It seems he is available in about 10 minutes actually. Would you like me to see if he is willing to see you?” Of course she knew the answer but had to ask anyway.

“Of course.” Owari nodded.

She pressed a button and called down the aide and had her check with Tristain. By the time she got back there were only a few minutes until he was ready anyway. “He said you can come up early.” The receptionist was a bit confused as he was very professional and usually didn’t make concessions.

When Owari and Noel walked into the room Noel couldn’t help but chuckle. “Quite the decorations.” She was somewhat amused.

“Thank you, but I didn’t choose them.” Tristan sat in his usual spot with a smile, two chairs were already prepared. “Is this a business visit?” He asked curiously.

“If you didn’t think it was, would you have had us come up early?” Owari asked back.

“Of course I assumed it was. Why else would both of you be here? Plus I dare not treat the Silverblood representative lightly.” He smiled a bit awkwardly, he had been at the party when she established her character for all to see.

“Well it is for business.” Owari said as the two sat down. Morgana stood behind them.

Tristan gave Morgana a curious look to which Noel responded. “She is my aide, she helps me keep track of various things so she tends to stay with me for such talks.”

“I see.” Tristan nodded, he understood the implication. Morgana was there to make sure Noel didn’t mess up. “So what brings you here today?” He got straight to the point.

“We found a number of hot springs. We’re here to talk terms for selling the locations and my maps to locate them.” Owari obviously drew detailed maps as the ones that existed now were too lacking in his opinion.

“Hot springs?” Tristan was a bit caught off guard.

“Of course if the Orion Tradecenter doesn’t deal in such things, I’d hope you could recommend me to someone who does.” Owari said calmly.

“Of course we deal in such things. We have our hands in many markets after all.” Tristain smiled widely. “How many springs?”

Owari passed over some papers. “This is the details of the springs we’re willing to sell.”

“Willing to sell?” Tristain caught on to the important part.

“One is a bit small for a resort so we are gifting it to the Silverblood family, so long as they are willing to buy the property for it.” Owari explained. He was completely taking over the conversation for Noel, to the point where she didn’t know where to jump in. Even Morgana had nothing to say about his actions.

“I see, I suppose that makes sense. In fact that actually ups the value of the property. Who wouldn’t want to visit a spa so close to the personal spa of the Silverblood family?” Tristain gave this out for free on purpose. He could have easily hidden this information but he shared it as a sign of good faith.

“I suppose that makes sense. So what can the Orion Tradecenter offer me? Remember I prefer shares over credits.” Owari reminded him.

“Hm… For this if everything you say is accurate we could give up to 20% shares.” He was being far more conservative this time after the mine incident. Owari owned 30% of that mine because of that deal.

Owari was able to vaguely guess what was going on so he laughed lightly. “Of course that’s quite generous, but you see Noel and I are joint owners. She owns one and I own four. So you have to give enough incentive to please both of us otherwise you’ll only own most of the springs.” Owari smiled widely.

As soon as he heard this Tristain had to suppress a bitter smile. Owari was far more cunning in business than he expected. “20% can go to you and 5% to her then.” He made it an equal share.

“Actually her spring is the biggest so she should get at least 10%.” Owari drummed his fingers against the arm of the chair.

“Is that so?” Tristain smiled. “Alright I think I can make that deal. I’ll get 20% shares, you’ll get 20% shares, and she gets 10% shares. The last 50% goes to the company.” Tristain had to be careful how much he took for himself or else he might get a demotion instead of a promotion. Though he would still make out in the positives because of his joint ownership of such a large enterprise.

“What do you think Noel?” Owari asked her out of curiosity.

“It sounds like a good deal. However we also have already received an offer from the Silverblood family.” Noel said ambiguously. This caused Tristain to sweat a bit.

“Is that so?” He wanted to ask what exactly they were offered, but he doubted he’d get a straight answer. He had to guess. Would the Silverblood family offer a fairer price because of their status as being just? Or would they use their status to cow Owari into making an unfair decision? Owari and Noel said nothing else and just smiled. “You guys are far better than I originally thought. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you learn your skills? I’d like a lesson myself.” He chuckled trying to break his tension up a bit.

“Morgana taught me.” Noel smiled as she bragged about her maid.

“My mother once told me negotiations are just another type of battle. So I studied a bit.” Owari said offhandedly, however to the side Noel felt he was lying when he said ‘a bit’ to him ‘a bit’ meant ‘enough to be good at it in most people's eyes’.

“I see. I’d like to ask just in case but how much did the Silverblood family offer?” He had to try at least.

“If I give the honest answer would I be a good businessman?” Owari asked with a smile.

“Probably not.” Tristain said bitterly.

“Would you be willing to hide my shares in the company if you purchased it from me?” Owari asked curiously.

“You want me to withhold the information regarding your ownership? Why?” Tristain and even Noel and Morgana were confused.

“According to my one-year contract with your organization I’m in an exclusive contract with you. Nobody else knows the details but us two. Which means if you hide my shares nobody would know what I got out of this deal and would assume I made it because I had to.” Owari explained.

“You want to use the Orion Tradecenter to protect yourself from the Silverblood family.” Tristain said with understanding.

“That’s right.” Owari didn’t deny it.

“If we protect you then would you be willing to cut down the price?” Tristain asked with some hope, though he didn’t show it.

“The current price is the way it is because I need you to help me. Otherwise I would have asked for more. After all I still have the Sapphire agency to turn to.” Owari said offhandedly. However Tristain understood that they couldn’t take advantage of Owari anymore. He had contacts among the Orion Tradecenter, Sapphire Agency, Silverblood family, and even the Amber Agency technically.

“I see. Then we would be happy to aid you in this endeavor.” Tristain finally showed his bitterness on his face. He soon wrote out the contract and after checking it both Noel and Owari signed.

“A pleasure doing business with you.” Owari stood up. “Are you free for Lunch?” He asked with some interest.

“Not anymore.” Tristain grumbled as he looked over the contracts with a frown. Owari and Noel obviously had their own copies.

“Here’s the full information you’ll need.” Owari pulled out the package of information he had on the hot springs and surrounding area.

“This is gonna take some work to clean out.” Tristain frowned.

“Not if the Silverblood family goes to deal with it first.” Owari reminded Tristain who smiled knowingly.

After that Noel, Owari, and Morgana left. “You’re quite skilled.” Noel said after they got back into the car.

“I did a lot of research after my first business dealing with him. I also knew a few things from my mother. So now we both have decent shares in this enterprise. I wonder what I should look for next.” Owari was already considering it.

“It’s very like you not to take a break.” Noel just laughed to the side. “Still I hope the Orion Tradecenter does proper damage control for you.”

“They should, this is the second time I’ve brought them something good. If they don’t then next time I really will sell to the Silverblood family if only out of spite.” Owari smiled somewhat cruelly.

“Right.” Noel was somewhat absentminded as she looked at Owari who looked especially savage at the moment. However he fixed his expression a moment later.

“It’s still too bad that my first interaction with your family is screwing them over.” Owari sighed.

“To be fair you did help them out. I made sure to stress in the letter that you were already being very generous by basically giving them one of the springs. I pretty much gave all credit to you on accident.” Noel laughed lightly, clearly she didn’t do it by accident.

“Quite devilish. I hope your family isn’t the type to pay back kindness with cruelty.” Owari didn’t think they would do anything too bad.

“I hope my grandfather doesn’t see this as a slight against the family. I’ll make sure to help with the damage control.” Noel easily promised this, she intended to do it anyway.

“Thank you.” Owari said sincerely.

“No problem.” Noel smiled widely and leaned against him comfortably. “I’d help you out without you needing to ask after all.”

“Same here.” Owari chuckled as he watched her sidle up to him.

The two enjoyed their comfortable ride and eventually separated once again, Owari needed to do some more planning now that this was done. As he poured over what information he could find he was very disappointed. One thing that held him back immensely was the available data. There simply wasn’t enough mapping done in this part of the world. That meant more chances to find stuff, but also that it would be harder.

In the end he had two options, one was only possible if Noel was going to join him because of the distance, the other was to map the forest surrounding the mine for the Orion Tadecenter. He would have to talk to Noel, this trip could take a rather long time so it was best to do the mapping first just to earn some money to buy some tools. With that in mind he wondered if he should tell them that he would map the area for them. In the end he made his way back the next day.

“What is it this time?” Tristain said with some trepidation. He had only just seen Owari.

“I was curious if the Orion Tradecenter had any interest in maps being made of the area surrounding their mining property.” Owari got straight to the point.

“We might be, are you offering?” Tristain knew how thorough Owari was with his mapping.

“For a price obviously. It’s important I make some money to ensure my livelihood.” Owari stressed the fact that he was still an independent hunter.

“Of course we would compensate you. How much ground are you willing to cover and how long would it take?” He was willing to pay a decent price. This would ensure the safety of the workers and make it easier to hire new miners willing to do the work.

“I can cover about a square mile a day if you want a thorough job. As for how long I can do it for…” Owari seemed to think for a bit. “I can work for about two weeks at the longest.”

“14 square Miles?” Tristain did some calculations. “Is it possible to go faster?”

“Of course, as long as you don’t mind the map quality to degrade. I can cover five times as much at the cost of geological data, hunting paths, and herbalist data. I can still do ecology and general traits of the magical beasts in the various areas but it would be a bit sloppier. However if you go for three times the amount then I can add hunting paths and have more accurate ecology data.” Owari laid out the options clearly.

“Three times will do. That should cover a lot of space around the mines. I’d prefer if you did the more dangerous parts deeper in the forest.” Tristain knew it was a lot to ask from a silver rank, but he had faith in Owari’s ability.

“That’ll cost extra.” Owari warned.

“Of course, let’s talk price.” The two soon began their talks and eventually settled on a few thousand credits.

The two separated and Owari began his preparations. He was planning to be gone for two weeks so he visited Noel the next day. “Goin away so soon?” She asked with some disappointment.

“Once I get back I’ll stick around for a week. We can spend a few days together then. I plan on making some money for my next expedition.” Owari needed some funds for the proper tools.

“What do you plan to do next?” Noel asked curiously.

“That depends on whether you would be willing to come with transportation. I have plans for either.” Owari gave her the chance to choose.

“How far is it?” She didn’t refuse right away.

“In total if we go then it would be about a month overall for the expedition. A week to get there, two weeks exploring at most, then a week to get back.” Owari explained.

“That’s a lot of time.” Noel was shocked.

“In order to find the valuable stuff we have to explore uncharted lands.” Owari chuckled, not everything was easy in life.

“Alright, I’ll think about it while you’re gone. Two weeks should be enough for some correspondence with my grandfather. By the time you return I’ll have a response to your deal with the Orion Tradecenter.” Noel decided to talk to her grandfather about it first.

“Okay, I’ll be leaving tomorrow then. I’ll be back in a few weeks after that.” Owari said confidently.

“I’ll be waiting, though I may go out myself.” Noel planned to take another couple missions on to raise her standing in the family. It would help her when she defended Owari in the future for his decisions.

The two spent the day traveling around town and making small talk before Owari went home and got some sleep. When he woke up it was to the sight of snow flailing. It was definitely getting late in winter. Only a week ago it was raining and now it was snowing. The ground was covered in a coat of white. Owari wore padded clothing that was well insulated as he left.

After leaving the town he made his way off towards the forest. Fang was noticeably more lethargic in the cold, however Owari already had him working on evolving to be better in the cold and heat since the temperature range in this part of the continent was quite wide. It would be detrimental to have a magical beast who couldn’t handle the local temperatures. Though that also meant most of the fighting was up to Owari this time. Fang was pulling the cart for collecting materials in.

Owari arrived at the forest pretty quickly and passed through the mine easily. It was quicker to go straight through to the other side. It also gave him a chance to check the progress. The forest was being carefully cultivated to allow the treants to spread to new land, meanwhile they had already begun work cutting into the ground around the existing treants to extract ore. There were machines being run on the mana of the workers that were slowly sifting through to separate out the valuable materials.

Owari observed carefully as he ran through. Obviously as joint owner of this mine it was easy to gain access. As soon as they saw his hunter card they allowed him to pass through respectfully. Everyone had already been told of Owari’s features and knew he was young so they were able to do things smoothly.

When he got to the other side he began work immediately. He was already given the general layout of where to search. He planned the most efficient route and got to work. It was honest boring work. He did run into a few mid silver rank beasts but he usually avoided them as they were too weak to pose a challenge to him as he was currently. They would be about equal to him, what he needed was a stronger opponent.

His wish was granted on the same day he started. About halfway through the day after snacking on some beast meat from a stupid low silver rank beast that attacked him, he met his foe. It was a panther that was prowling about thinking it was stealthy. However it was very visible to Owari who could detect hostility. Even though he wasn’t the focus of its attack it was radiating hostility meaning it was aware of him.

It was definitely high silver ranking, Owari recognized it. It had black fur with golden spots dotting its pelt. It was known as a starlight panther and had the star affinity. It was a rare variant of the fire affinity that was far more powerful at the cost of being more mana consuming. Owari knew they were of high silver ranking and were quite rare. However they were known for being difficult to tame. He decided to fight it to find out.

Owari pulled out his sword and jumped high into a tree. Using a branch as a springboard he shot towards the panther from above. The panther seemed none the wiser as it continued to prowl ahead looking at a deer type magical beast fo the earth affinity. However after a moment it’s ear pricked and it jumped back. Owari slashed his sword barely managing to cut off its ear.

As he landed Owari frowned and turned to face his foe and rushed it without hesitation. He used the blade swarm stream and began slashing his sword towards the enemy. He slashed horizontally first as it ducked. It prepared to counter-attack when it jumped back out of surprise as Owari’s blade shifted paths and swung at it again. Owari didn’t stop and stepped forward reaching the panther again and slashing at it diagonally from above.

The panther dodged to the side and was forced onto the defensive as it dodged Owari’s stream of attacks. Finally it got impatient and its body flashed gold. Owari immediately spun in place using his full momentum for his next attack. The panther suddenly ignited in golden flame, however before it could do anything Owari swung his blade and sliced it’s face open causing it to yowl in pain and cease its ability. At this moment Owari hit it with a palm strike sending it stumbling back and branding it in one move.

Unfortunately he felt it’s resolve over the bond. It would die before submitting. He knew this was true because it felt that way despite knowing Owari was strong enough to kill it and despite the pain it was feeling from the wound that had also taken out an eye. Owari nodded and understood it was difficult to get it to submit. He decided to settle on just defeating it.

Owari pulled his sword back and pointed the tip at the panther before stabbing it forward at a slight angle. The panther went to jump backward to dodge but found Owari had already anticipated this and stepped forward. Owari carefully controlled the sword as it stabbed forward. He used his knowledge of air resistance to minimize it while increasing the sharpness of the point as it stabbed into the panther’s skull killing it instantly. Owari had planned to make a piercing technique in case he ran into an armored foe. This was going to be it.

Owari had made this technique up on the fly just now to maximize his reach and ensure he got the kill instead of relying on the extra range of the moth wing strike or screeching wing. The attack used the concepts of resistance reducing to increase the piercing power, while using the recoil reduction technique to remove the stress on the blade allowing it to dig in deeper without worrying about being snapped halfway through. Overall Owari felt it was a success. The more shocking thing was that Owari had beaten this enemy without the use of mystic arts.

Owari however didn’t care about that, now he had a new technique to perfect so he set his mind to work on that as he dressed and stripped the corpse. It could have gone either way if he hadn’t been so decisive when it flared up and prepared to attack. It likely would have hurt him badly if it connected. Unfortunately for the panther it was foolish to believe it could use fear to cause Owari to hesitate. Instead he would do the opposite and utmost seriousness and speed.

Owari brought the materials back and dropped them in the cart. It was a pain to lug around the forest but not impossible with Fang’s mud manipulation ability allowing it to smooth paths or create bridges over obstacles. After finishing that up Owari set out back on his journey once again. He didn’t run into any other high silver ranking beasts, but he kept a watchful eye out just in case.

The next day was more of the same, because he was in the same general area as before he didn’t run into anything interesting. It wasn’t until the fourth day that he ran into another high silver ranked beast as he was starting to get further away from the mine which had the protection of the treants and presence of powerful humans. This time it was a bear. Owari felt it was nostalgic as he recalled his fight from way back when he first explored the forest.

This bear however wasn’t of the earth affinity. Instead it was wind, something Owari could tell from its green highlighted fur and the fact that when they saw each other it swung it’s claws sending whirling blades of green wind at him. Owari responded by pulling out his sword and using multiple moth wing strike to intercept and disperse the blades. However the force of the impacts was stronger than he expected as he was knocked back and stumbled.

The bear opened its mouth and gathered wind inside before roaring and sending a ball of swirling wind at Owari. Owari did his best to steady his feet as he swung using the screeching wing technique and firing off silver wind to intercept the ball of wind. The silver wind cut the ball in half. Before Owari could celebrate however the ball destabilized and dispersed into many tiny bullets of wind. Some shot at him and he was forced to dodge and intercept a few. However some still nicked him causing some cuts to surface on his body.

After that he learned from his mistake and immediately threw out another screeching wing towards the bear. However the bear’s claws flashed and it struck the wind dispersing it. This was what happened when you fought a high silver rank without taking it off guard and keeping it on the defensive the whole fight. It was able to press the advantage. Unfortunately it was too big and tough to be pushed by the blade swarm stream.

Owari instead decided to use the terrain to his advantage by circling behind a tree as five more blades of wind passed where he had been. He springboarded off the trees to go into the air and started to move through the forest canopy. Occasional shakes of leaves revealed his position to the bear who blindly fired at every shake. Owari obviously was baiting the bear trying to tire it out, however it seemed inexhaustible. This was going to be a tough fight.