The God of Jesters
Chapter 493 - 8.02.1 Negotiations.

Chapter 493: 8.02.1 Negotiations.

A day was enough for the retaliation to begin. With the spark of a worker’s death, which was used as an excuse. A small war happened in the dark, away from the eyes of common people.

"Brother, something odd is going on, the response, this whole incident, everything feels wrong." Around the evening of the next day, the Azure Dragon family noticed that the response of their enemies was too fast.

The bartender’s guild never even bothered to come to them with a complaint, trying to de-escalate the situation, or at least come for a dialog. There was no attempt at communication at all.

Making it obvious to the Azure Dragon that something else was afoot and the Bartender’s association was just using this small incident as an excuse to get back at them.

"These bastard commoners, they exist because we allow them to. And now they dare to bite the very hand that fed them." And in the discussion hall of the Azure dragons, some of the active elders of the family were having a discussion about how to handle the situation.

A situation where they seemed to have been targeted by two of their allies. Two equally powerful families that came didn’t seem that happy after finding out about the game the Azure Dragons were playing.

"Cursing them won’t do any good. We can deal with them later. The focus should be on dealing with the aftermath."

The chaos in the discussion was not so easily solved, there were many opinions thrown around, most of which were still speaking about retaliation against the Bartender’s association. Some even say to outright strip the right for the bartenders to operate in their area. But the other families will obviously defend those bastards.

However, in the end, they have to accept that they can’t do anything against the bartenders besides taking away the protection they provide to them. Which was in truth, a loss of revenue for the Azure Dragon, but the face still needed to be kept, they won’t provide their protection to a dog that bit his owner’s hand.

And this was the most they could do at the moment. The issues were still starting to crop up, and not much was known about the reason why The bartender’s association played such a dirty game with them.

Some even wondered if there would be a follow-up retaliation.

Which in truth won’t happen.

The Azure Dragon no matter how much competition they were in with the other families, still belonged to the Church of Truthful Deceit. All four families were one when encountering foreign enemies. And as long as things were not taken too far, the families won’t get involved with each other.

Not would the Church try to defend the families using the authority they held in the government. It was all good as long as the retaliation was balanced, anything more and the Bartender’s association would have to face not only the Four families but even the church with the strongest judicial force in the city.

Such an enemy was too powerful for the Bartender’s Guild to handle, which was why their retaliation came to an end as soon as it started.

But their simple attack did cause an infected wound on the Azure Dragons, which was being clawed deeper and deeper by their competition.

This materialized among the public from the way how certain businesses that were still under the Dragon’s protection suddenly suffered random attacks of their own, forcing the shops to close.

And if things would have to end there, it would be enough. But the Vermilion and the White Tigers went for something very close to the Azure Dragons. "They are really leaving us no way out." Although only the fishing boats were hit, it still caused huge damage to Azure Dragon’s reputation among the commoners.

And although it didn’t matter what the commoners think in their daily life. If enough people start to see Azure Dragons as weak, then the strong ones will start to believe this as well. Some small noble families that were eyeing an opportunity started to devour the scraps that were left in Azure Dragon’s calamity.

Causing the names of many shops to change overnight.

When Week three of the retaliation came to an end, a meeting was held in the Temple of Truthful Deceit, with the adjudicator being an old man with white hair who appeared in a simple suit, while asking the other three parties to sit down.

"The True World is active in this room. From this point on, any lies you speak will cause pain. So speak with caution." With the warning, the discussion between the three parties began.

*****

As for what happened during the negotiations, that was of no concern to the commoners, to them, they just lived their lives the way they had till now. Ignoring the chaos and showing pity to the fools that got dragged into the Noble’s spat.

Which did reach Rosso’s ears through his boss Afzani who felt relieved. "And this is why we don’t choose from the Beast families. They might be the biggest, but they are also the cause of too many conflicts."

There were not only the three Beast families involved in the protection business, there were many other small ones, some even backed by families of other districts, but their existence was next to nil and not so noticeable.

Just like the family that backed Afzani’s Butcher shop, who had the backing of Ruzda, a follower of Church of Red Sun, who got lucky enough to create a place for themselves in the Southern district.

"So what if we have to follow some rules during butchering, the payment to them is much cheaper, and they don’t fall in conflict with others, because that is an entirely different church." Afzani boasted his luck, how the ones called auspicious beasts were nothing more than actual beasts, and how better his choice was.

Which of course was just the boasting of a commoner who understood little of the world around him. But was Rosso the same fool as him?

No, of course not.

He could see things others couldn’t. He could notice the oddities others chose to ignore. In the city of ignorance, he could be considered an all-encompassing saint who could see virtually every aspect of this conflict.

Going back to his job, Rosso killed and butchered the sheep that his boss sent his way. A dirty, disgusting, and cruel job to most, but to Rosso, this was the best job for someone in his situation who required regular sacrifices to sustain his strength.

And not to mention, this free time also gave him much to think about. ’Three families in conflict, with the fourth one too high to even bother with such scuffles.’

’And from the looks of it, the whole fight started after the little incident in the bar.’ Although he lacked many details. He was still able to read into what might have happened, or at least ensure what the real cause of it was. ’Bartenders, it has something to do with them.’

The time for visiting them again was around the corner, and he needed to make sure he wouldn’t suffer the same treatment that Azure Dragon did.

’The old man hides his name and lives a carefree life. Exposing himself is the last thing he will do. And as long as he is not exposed, no one will be that interested in me.’

As for the issue with the Radiant Knights?

There was no issue in reality, he had already visited their main branch office in Rudrain, which was outside the central area, specifically the Eastern District of Rudrain. Though it seemed a bit deserted than Rosso had expected, making it seem that no one was working in their office anymore.

’Or they are all active in the field, not so far away.’ He needed that list fast, he needed to ensure that his suspicions were correct or not.

’Hopefully, they are just on a holiday of sorts.’ With those thoughts, Rosso dragged the jerking body of the sheep and then started to skin it.

******

"There had been more and more customers recently... the business is booming." Heroth smiled, reading a book compiled by a bard about the city and its denizens which went by the name "The Arid Folks of the Rainy City."

"Girl, don’t take me for a fool, that sword is obviously a magical instrument, look at how it shines at night."

"And as I said, it’s just the material used that makes it shine in darkness...." there was bargaining going in the counter and Heroth enjoyed watching the little girl haggle with all her might, but she always failed spectacularly due to her sweet and meek voice lacking any force.

But it didn’t mean that she became the reason for any loss on Heroth’s end, instead the girl soon adapted to her own circumstances and used her voice to an advantage.