The Herb King

Julie Irish looked at the confident Aethelwolf in silence. Truthfully, she was surprised by the power controlled by the Lassiter Household. To think that a newly promoted noble family could actually summon five Level 4 Espers in one go! It was shocking! Even her Urgel Household only had four Level 4 Espers, including her father's tamed beast.

"Since you are that confident, I won't ask any more questions." Julie Irish muttered before taking a sip of her coffee.

Aethelwolf smiled at her and narrowed his eyes as he suddenly thought about something. "After the awarding ceremony, let's meet again. I have a business proposal that you might be interested in. It will greatly benefit your Urgel Household. What do you think?" He could handle this business himself, but it would consume a lot of his time.

Hearing this, Julie Irish revealed a look of interest. All the business proposals suggested by Aethelwolf were generating a lot of money for the Urgel Household. From the tone of his voice, she could tell that it was something huge. "Can you tell me more about it?" She couldn't help but ask.

Aethelwolf lowered his cup of coffee and put it on the table. He then smiled at Julie Irish as he muttered. "Do you know about banks?"

"Banks?" Julie shook her head in confusion. She didn't know what he was talking about.

Aethelwolf's smile deepened after seeing her shaking her head. "I want to create a financial establishment that can provide loaning and other services to the people."

"You won't earn much by loaning money to someone and there is also a risk of them running away with your money." Julie Irish said while shaking her head.

"You're right. However, we can add a rule that they can only loan money from us if they offer collateral with equal value. Let's say for instance..." Aethelwolf explained to her the most basic features of how a bank works.

When Julie heard his explanation, her eyes lit up in excitement. This was a genius idea! The only thing that they need to do was to establish a name for the bank that would make everyone feel secure about depositing their money to them. It was a process that requires a lot of planning so she needed to discuss this matter thoroughly with Aethelwolf. The only thing that made her worried was the opinion of the Leone Imperial Family regarding this matter.

***

The next day, inside the estate of the Maynard Household, a man wearing a servant's uniform sneakily headed to the storage room. This place was where the Maynard Household stored the tributes of the people living in their domain.

The man looked to his left and right. When he ascertained that no one was nearby, he took out a jar and splattered its contents to the store room. The liquid inside the jar was a flammable substance!

After emptying the contents of the jar, the man grabbed a matchstick and lit it up. He then threw it into the storeroom.

When the burning matchstick came in contact with the flammable substance, the storeroom was suddenly lit ablaze!

The man smiled upon seeing this and quickly left the scene.

The blaring sound of the Alarm Rune echoed in the estate as soon as the fire spread. Everyone fell into panic and the direct members of the Maynard Household went out of their rooms to check what was happening.

At this moment, the family head of the Maynard Household, Lucas Maynard, stepped out of his room with a dark look on his face. He grabbed one of the running servants and said in a cold voice. "Tell me what's going on!"

The servant was nervous and under the family head's intense gaze, he became even more afraid. "T-The store room is burning! The Espers are trying to contain the fire while the servants are also helping them put out the fire!" The poor guy answered.

Lucas Maynard released the man and he quickly ran towards where the store room was located. He noticed that a huge flame has already engulfed the store room and they might not be able to salvage anything when he saw how fearsome the fire was. 'Why did this suddenly happen?! Did someone intentionally burn the store room?' He thought to himself.

He found this matter odd since it was the first time their estate had caught fire and it was even in the store room. It would have been more understandable if the fire originated from the kitchen or the Alchemy room. The only explanation for this was that there was someone responsible for this mess!

Lucas helped the Espers in putting out the fire.

The old man decided that he would look for the culprit after the fire is gone.

"Father, what is happening?!" Joseph Maynard came running with a stunned look. Behind him were Dave Maynard and Karl Maynard who both looked aghast as they watched the store room covered in flames.

"Stop asking questions and help us here!" Lucas shouted angrily.

Meanwhile, five individuals dressed in tight-fitting black clothes infiltrated the underground prison of the Maynard Household while everyone was still occupied. The group headed straight into the prison where Chris Maynard was locked up.

"Who are you guys?!" The guards responsible for guarding the underground prison immediately grabbed their weapons when they saw the masked intruders.

The masked figures didn't even bother to reply as they engaged in combat with the guards.

Clang! Clang!

"Ahhh!"

Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!

All the guards were killed in just a matter of seconds and they weren't even able to call for help.

When the inmates inside the prison cells saw this scene, they felt horrified. Those guards were all elite Espers and they could even fight against experts of the same level as them without being at a disadvantage. However, they weren't even able to last long under the fierce fighting abilities of the masked individuals.

One of the masked individuals grabbed the key from a dead guard and opened all the prison cells.

"Where is Chris Maynard?" They asked the prisoners.

The prisoners glanced at each other before some of them pointed at a thin man who was tied in chains.

"S-Sir, that man is Chris Maynard!"

The five masked men glanced at the pitiful-looking Chris. They quickly helped him in removing the chains that were tied to his limbs.

Chris weakly raised his head and looked at his saviors in confusion. "W-Who are you people?" The remaining servants of his cousin, Enrique Maynard were all secretly killed so there should be no one left who could help him escape from the underground prison.

"Your questions will be answered soon. Take a rest for now..." One of the masked men muttered.

Chris heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this and he soon lost consciousness.

"He is still alive, but his breathing is weak. Let's go!" It was the voice of a woman! The leader of the masked intruders was actually a woman!

This shocked the prisoners and they didn't dare move carelessly lest they anger these harbingers of death.

When the five masked intruders left, the prisoners glanced at each other before they took their chance to escape.

***

"Sir Lucas, someone infiltrated the underground prison and freed the prisoners! We managed to capture most of the escaping prisoners, but a few of them managed to escape!" A soldier reported to Lucas with an anxious tone.

"What did you say?!" Lucas Maynard's eyes flashed with rage when he heard the report. He finally knew that the burning of the store room was merely a distraction! The goal of the intruders was the underground prison!

The guard nervously wiped the sweat on his forehead as he said. "We searched for Chris Maynard inside the prison cells, but we couldn't find him anywhere. I believe the main objective of the intruders was to get Chris Maynard."

Lucas punched the wall in anger, blasting a fist-size hole. "Tell our men to search for the intruders! Don't let them get away!" He commanded in a loud voice.

"Yes, Sir Lucas!" The guard quickly left after getting his command.

"Dammit! Who is it?! Who is responsible for this?!" Lucas muttered through gritted teeth.

Chris Maynard knew a lot of secrets and once it was exposed to the world, the Maynard Household will be mocked by everyone! Their enemies might even use this chance to weaken them!

"Father, we'll help in searching for the culprits!" Joseph Maynard said with a hint of nervousness. He was the most anxious among everyone present since he played a big role in the death of his brother, Enrique Maynard. If news about it reaches the ears of the emperor, he might be punished severely! He couldn't let that happen!

"Come back here you fool!" Lucas immediately grabbed him by the neck. "There are ten Level 3 Espers guarding the underground prison, but all of them died under the hands of those intruders! You would only make things more complicated if you join the search! Leave this to the elders!"

Joseph could sense the rage in his father's eyes so he could only nod his head.