Chapter 2895: Ex Prince Abel Chase & Wanted Criminal Ada Davis

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Western Region, Berg District, Scarlet Berg, Guild Association Mall

"Alright, begin."

Jaya ordered the Seven Knights in Red now that only they remained. However, the group looked at her in confusion, not knowing what exactly she wanted them to begin with.

How were they supposed to know her lord was trying to occupy the southern stretch of the Western Region? All these fuckers ever cared about was playing hooligan and looking cool. What the hell did they know about the geopolitical situation when their families handled everything for them?

Jaya was losing patience and was already prepared to smash a few of their heads into the concrete floor like ostriches burying their heads in the sand. But Aurelia signaled for her to calm down before glancing at the seven and calmly asking, "Who do you truly work for? Your families, or..."

"We work for our families, but our families work for Ex-Prince Abel and the wanted criminal Ada Davis," Zora hurriedly answered now that she finally understood the question.

"Are you sure about that? Because I wouldn’t call someone my family answers to a wanted criminal," Jaya said, finding it strange that they casually referred to the very people they served that way.

"T-That..." Zora’s words trailed off for a moment, but then she doubled down.

"They killed Prince Chris Chase. He was a pure and innocent soul. He never hurt anyone. He was supposed to become the Western Heir and make the west great again, but they killed him out of pure jealousy."

"Wow." Jaya looked at Zora with amusement, finally realizing what kind of person she was dealing with. The girl was clearly a die-hard fan of the late Prince Chris Chase. Jaya knew the type. People who built their entire identity around an idol usually looked meek outside, but were the craziest ones inside.

"Wait, I don’t follow. If they killed a prince, then why the fuck are your families working for people like them?" Aurelia asked in confusion, unable to understand why the local families would submit to an excommunicated prince and someone accused of murdering Western royalty. Most of all, what was the Western royalty doing while those two ran amok and took over the southern stretch of the Western Region?

"It’s because of trade. We don’t know how, but in exchange for the herds from Lux Mountain, they pay with rare and regulated resources that are mostly only found in the depths of the Way Beyond. My family believes they’ve been smuggling them out of the Way Beyond."

Nory Bale’s brother, as well as Ezekiel Cross’s former boss, Kirk Bale answered after realizing Zora clearly had no clue about the actual dealings between their families and the wanted duo.

"Trade?" Aurelia repeated and then asked in disbelief, "You are telling me, they took over the entire southern stretch of the western region using trade alone?"

But then, after thinking it through, Aurelia realized Abel was still a prince. Even if he had been excommunicated, that fact had not changed.

Because of that, he didn’t need to waste time forcing the local families into rebellion. All he had to do was show them the benefits of aligning with him. In the end, he was still royal blood. If the opportunity arose, he could always launch a coup and seize power for himself.

Jaya scoffed at Aurelia’s question, feeling her friend was underestimating the power of trade too much. As the former heir of the Fine Gold Merchant Guild, she knew better than most just how powerful trade could become in the right hands.

Meanwhile, Kirk grimly explained, "The profit margins for us are insanely high. Honestly, it’s like they’re practically giving those rare resources away. Sometimes it even feels like they have a massive stockpile of rare materials and are just using us to offload them as fast as possible.

"At one point, a few families tried to capture the duo to seize their stash and smuggling routes, but the result was disastrous. Overnight, those families were wiped out. They didn’t even spare the children or babies. Every last one of them was slaughtered, and the scene was beyond brutal.

"And they didn’t stop there. They cut off trade with every city tied to those families until the remaining families compensated them for all the so-called losses and broken deals they claimed to have suffered. After that, the entire dynamic changed. We stopped being trade partners and became nothing more than lavishly paid servants.

"They also took over the local merchant companies and guilds. Together with help from local families, they forced the local Guild Association malls into bankruptcy and out of the southern stretch."

The expressions on Aurelia, Jonas, and the rest of his gang gradually turned grave as they learned the extent of Abel and Ada’s takeover of the southern stretch of the Western Region.

Jonas and the others already knew the Seven Knights in Red acted as frontmen for the duo, but they had no idea things ran this deep. Some of them even began wondering why Abel and Ada had never approached their own families.

Meanwhile, Jaya acted as though the outcome was obvious from the start.

"What about the Western royalty? They didn’t intervene at all?" Aurelia asked, unable to understand how Abel and Ada had managed to take over the southern part of the Western Region so smoothly and quietly.

Hell, they hadn’t even known the situation there was this complicated. The revelation had just put a serious dent in the plans their lord had entrusted to them.

"Why would they? The families and merchant groups still pay their taxes to the royal family. Actually, we’re paying even more taxes and spending more now that our incomes have increased drastically, all while expecting nothing in return from the western royal family.

"Have you seen the city? We’re supposed to be a first-rate city, yet it looks worse than some third-rate dump. Before this, it always felt like the royal family would abandon us at any moment, and ever since Abel and Ada took over the southern part of the Western Region, they basically did. Still, it ended up being a win-win for everyone involved.

"If you ask me, I think the royal family is perfectly satisfied with the current status quo. And so are the local families."

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