Emperor's Reckoning

The two of them continued their stroll as Lyon's mind still stuck in his imagination. He occasionally laughed as he saw the possibility of making such an empire in the future.

Meanwhile, the princess was still lost as to his idea. She timidly walking behind him afraid of getting influenced by his perverted nature.

"Oh a pill store?" said Lyon as he suddenly stopped his track.

Unlike the shitty and unmanageable antique store of Old Sean, the building his gaze was on was made out of high material. With the combination of stone and wood, it made the said building looked high-class. From the size that Lyon could see, it was apparent that it had at least three-story floors.

Lyon nonchalantly walked inside the store with confident in which the princess followed after. She didn't know why would he go to such a store at a time like this but she won't question him about it.

The display of pills inside was neatly placed as a stair on the edge of the room was visible. With the commoners couldn't afford the items here and most young nobles were recuperating on their bed, the ground floor felt desolate.

"Good afternoon, young sir, you look handsome today. How can I help you?" said a male clerk as he took a bow in front of Lyon.

"Oh, I'm just strolling around," said Lyon as he gently waved his hand with a smile.

"Feel free to look around sir," said the clerk with a smile.

The clerk stole a glance at his back where he found a beautiful woman stood behind him. She looked around the neatly placed pills in the store as no amazement appeared in her eyes. Seeing her dissatisfied eyes the clerk approached her with his hands rubbing each other.

"May I- ?!" his words stuck in his throat as he finally saw her face.

Their eyes locked each other as one was afraid while the other one was surprised.

"Oh, the woman is with me, I'm sure you recognize her, she is one of the top nobles in Luderia Hahaha!" said Lyon with a burst of hearty laughter.

(The woman you say?!) as he was about to reprimand the frivolous young man, he saw Princess Aelina put a finger on her lips. He gulped as the cold sweat on his forehead dropping at a quick rate. The young clerk knew that the election for the next ruler in Luderia was not far off. If he were to offend one of the candidates, he would perish.

In the end, the clerk put a wry smile as he said, "Yes, yes, pri- Miss Aelina is one of the most powerful nobles in Luderia."

"Yeah, can you believe it, even I cannot believe her identity, hahaha!" said Lyon before he suddenly put his right hand around the clerk's nape and slightly pushed it down with his arm. His expression suddenly changed like that of a devil that wanted to collect his soul as he whispered coldly like a snake, "So show us the good stuff man, I know the ground floor is full of poor grade product that's just business tactic, but you don't want to offend that lady would you?"

The clerk gulped as he actually knew more than him how dreadful it was for him to offend the said lady. "Y-yes certainly, please follow me to the second floor," said the clerk as he led the way upstairs.

"Hmm? Lyon, what did you say to him? He seemed panicked for a second," said Princess Aelina as they walked the stairs.

"Well, nothing you should be worried about," said Lyon with a chuckle.

The clerk who heard their conversation gritted his teeth. (I'm still obliged to show you the second floor if I still want my head on my body, but it still pisses me off when you threaten me).

Unlike the first floor, the pills inside the second floor were treated differently. Instead of putting one pill as a display, they put the whole sum on their stock in the display. Since the pills were rare, the prices were justified.

However, Lyon could see that there was still another stair leading up.

"This the second-floor sir, the pills here-" his words were stuck as he was forcefully turned around into the position once again.

Lyon's devilish expression made an appearance once again as he whispered coldly to the innocent clerk, "Oh, what's this mister clerk, I still see a stair leading up, don't tell me you want to offend the great lady? Hmm?!"

The clerk gulped his saliva as he thought (What are you, a bandit? How could the princess take a stroll with you?!). He carefully pulled a napkin and wipe his cold sweat as he answered with a guilty tone, "Sorry sir, but the top floor is not selling any pills."

"Lyon I could hear you, you know," said Princess Aelina with her arms crossed.

Lyon quickly retracted his arms as he said, "Yeah well, I'm just curious about the top floor, hehe."

The princess sighed as she said, "The top floor is a place to make pills, there are only cauldrons, and a bunch of materials up there to be sold too but no pills."

Lyon mused before he replied, "So one can freely make pills upstairs?"

The princess nodded, "Yes, but you need to pay the materials and the rent of cauldron if you don't have one. After that, if they managed to made a pill or a batch of pills, they can keep it for themselves or sell it in this store, with this store taking twenty percent of the profits."

"I guess it won't hurt to try," shrugged Lyon before heading the third floor leaving the other two.

In the shadowy corner, Kyoko stood silently before Ryona asked, "Overseer, didn't you once said that you used to be a pill-maker?"

With a flick of a finger, she pulled out the smoke pipe from her spatial ring, She calmly sucked the pipe as smoke hiddenly permeating the air. "Yes, I was and still am actually."