Otome Game Mob Villain

Chapter 656

"Come now, there's no one who'd go out of their way to buy paintings of us. What would even be the point?"

I could understand hiring an artist to paint me wearing traditional children's attire to show my parents. But selling those paintings across the entire continent? That made absolutely no sense.

"Lord Rid and Lord Amon - you two don't seem to grasp your own fame across the continent."

"O-our fame...?"

Emma's answer left me utterly dumbfounded. We're not celebrities or anything.

I glanced sideways at Amon, but he shook his head slightly, equally clueless.

"My my, to think the subjects themselves wouldn't know. Perhaps you should listen to the town gossip more often," Gyobu shrugged. Chris cleared her throat.

"Lord Rid Baldia, who led the victory at the Gap Fortress and earned the nickname 'The Unconventional Maverick.' Lord Amon Grandouk, who parted ways with the old regime with resolve to rebuild the fox-kin. Your exploits have resounded across the continent, making you both centers of attention. Many wish to catch a glimpse of you both - paintings of your everyday attire, or various outfits would surely find buyers. In fact, we're often asked about you both by our business partners."

"Wait, really? I never got any reports about this..."

"First I'm hearing of it too."

As we exchanged bewildered looks, Capella, who had been standing expressionless nearby, gave a slight bow. "If I may... When Lady Chris and Lord Gyobu say 'many people,' they likely refer mainly to imperial citizens and merchants - those without opportunity to meet Lord Rid personally, or residents of other nations. Given how busy you've both been recently, your subordinates probably deemed it low priority and withheld such reports."

"Ah, that makes sense."

It clicked now. Ever since Amon became the new clan leader, we'd been swamped with territory management. I'd also instructed to defer low-priority information to streamline paperwork - that must be why.

"Regardless, whether to sell paintings of us can wait. We should prioritize the talks first," Amon sighed, shrugging his shoulders.

Our time in the tanuki-kin territory was limited, so discussing paintings could indeed wait.

"Right. Then Lord Gyobu, shall we begin?"

"Understood. Let me show you to the conference room."

The room was already filled with what appeared to be influential tanuki-kin nobles. They blinked in surprise at our traditional attire, murmuring amongst themselves.

"My apologies for the wait. They readily agreed to our cultural exchange proposal. Shall we begin?"

The talks proceeded surprisingly smoothly, almost too effortlessly. Maybe Gyobu had done some groundwork - he seemed the type.

The tanuki-kin wanted to establish trade channels through the Christie Trading Company to import Baldia goods. However, they requested direct trade for products from the new Grandouk family.

Zubera's eastern trade sphere was dominated by tanuki-kin, the west by rat-kin. The Christie Company's inherited trade routes were comparatively small. Partnering with tanuki-kin would rapidly distribute Baldia goods across eastern Zubera - highly advantageous.

However, direct trade with the Grandouk family was more complicated. Their products incorporated Baldia technology. Currently, Amon's governance enjoyed strong support from citizens and nobles alike. But inevitably, there would be bad actors - those committing fraud or blinded by short-term gains. History proves such elements emerge even in the best of times.

Material goods being targeted would be one thing, but the risk of technology leaks was more concerning. Technology can save or kill depending on its use and user - especially items reconstructed from my memories. Hence, all Baldia-related products would be exclusively handled by the Christie Company. This would mitigate risks and provide traceability if issues arose. Not foolproof, but better than nothing.

Given these circumstances, we politely declined direct trade with the Grandouk family - using carefully worded diplomatic language, of course.

"...I see. However, both the Grandouk and Yatanuki families hold territories in Zubera. Having the Baldia family involved feels somewhat like... 'interference in internal affairs,' wouldn't you say?"

Gyobu's lips curled into a smirk. His sunglasses made his expression unreadable.

Interference in internal affairs - the same phrase Beast King Sekhmetos had used. But the circumstances differed entirely from last time. I maintained my smile.

"This isn't a blanket refusal of all trade between Grandouk and Yatanuki families. We're only referring to products involving Baldia's proprietary technology."

Technically, any product made using Baldia-developed tools could be claimed as "involving Baldia technology," making this effectively a blanket refusal - a matter of semantics.

Still, the "internal interference" remark particularly grated. Given the context and both families' situations, the accusation was clearly unfounded. Was he trying to corner me or test me? Either way, it was inexcusably rude.

That whole "internal affairs" debacle with Sekhmetos had led to Empress Matilda's displeasure, forcing the Baldia family into a desperate corner. The memory of Sekhmetos' smug grin flashed through my mind, stirring my anger.

Come to think of it, Gyobu had orchestrated that meeting too. Meaning this sunglasses-wearing bastard before me definitely shared some blame.

Also, could he not remove those sunglasses during official talks?

Keeping my smile intact, I responded in a deliberately icy tone: [Response continues...]