The Holts

“Whoa… That’s quite a lot… Each of these business ideas definitely has high potential, Edrick. With the source that you have, you could completely break established markets with goods of high quality and low prices. That is without mentioning those unique ideas that I am fairly certain do not currently exist…”

“...Are you sure you want to partner up with my family and me? We are pretty good cooperators, but… With what you have to offer, you could convince basically anyone”

“I am sure. It is only natural that we pair up, no? We are family now, after all. And besides… I think it is important to develop family businesses”

“Alright then–I’ll be talking with our current partners and such… I am sure you already know, but there is a pretty big market coming up here in Oie, so it will be the perfect place to begin the sale of your products. Plus, with the symbol of my family attached to it, trust in the products will be high from the get-go”

In view of kickstarting his very own businesses, Anoteros had gone and spoken with his noble wives, Jania and Tylia. They were part of a highly respected noble family, and Jania in particular was set to become the next ruler of the city after her father. As such, she was naturally quite knowledgeable when it came to handling money.

Oie was a fairly large hub for traders–Especially during its yearly events, such as the one she had just mentioned, and also due to the presence of the Myriad-Arm Sect there. The disciples made for great sellers of goods, as well as buyers... And with the number of people who were willing to show up to buy products from the secret realm. If it were heard that there was now a city-sanctioned shop selling products from said realm all year round…

It was easy to imagine the sort of attention such a shop would receive. However, too much attention could be detrimental to the business, as too many customers would just empty all the stocks far too quickly, especially since Anoteros was planning on undercutting the entire market with his pricing.

As such, he wasn’t actually going to make the grand opening at the festival. It would instead be a sort of pre-opening–Something that would make people talk, and purposefully make them wait for the real thing to show up, and once it did… Then he would reveal that the shop in question was an Elt-owned shop.

Too many people were frightened of the great clans, and of the Elt in particular. Therefore, it was best to get them interested in the products before they even knew who they were actually buying from. That way, people would talk about the shop, the quality of its products, and its low prices first and foremost.

Potential customers would be too enticed by all of this to let their possible fear of the Elt clan stop them from buying in his shop…

This was all only for the basic products, such as the herbs and other resources. Edrick had many other plans, but he knew that it was best to earn some notoriety and customer trust before launching himself into more niche business ventures.

Though Jania seemed to be quite confident that his ideas were indeed good and had potential, so that was something.

As for Tylia… She wasn’t quite as savvy as her older Alrinir in this regard, but she seemed to quite like the concepts she was hearing about.

Anoteros didn’t mention it, but he also wanted to involve them in the matter because he felt that they didn’t have enough interactions despite being husband and wives. That was the issue with having noble wives. Jania had to remain here to learn and have her education, and as such, Edrick wasn’t going to take Tylia back with him, as it would be a bad look to take one whilst leaving the other behind.

Besides, the two of them were close to one another. It was best not to separate them.

Making the two of them–And the Oie family as a whole–His business partners, was his way of spending more time with them. It was also showing his in-laws, or rather, ‘Holts’, that he was a great man for their Allinas.

“By the way, where is Galdoni?”

Anoteros would have expected to see him by now, but the blond was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, Galdoni was very inspired by what you told him last time. He has decided to go to a sect for some time to learn some techniques and train!”

“Ah, I see”

‘I bet a certain redhead is going to be a bit mad against me for that…’

Of course, Edrick was merely jesting with himself. There was something else that Milerva was far angrier about… And that was the spawnling she was now holding in her arms.

She had given birth to her fourth Allin: A redheaded girl who seemed to share everything with her Valra and nothing with her Valdre.

Milerva looked at Edrick like he had killed someone.

“You have some nerves showing your face here, Edrick!”

“What? I merely paid a visit to my two gorgeous wives, Jania and Tylia… And I thought it was only proper to come and pay respect to my Valra-Holt”

Milerva clicked her tongue.

“You disgust me”

“Anyway, what is her name?”

“...Hilia”

“There is a rather clear naming convention in this house, heh?”

“Shut the fuck up. Don’t you have your own Allins to take care of now? Hilia is not your daughter, you understand? You’re not her Valdre, and you’ll never be. At most, you are her Alrin-Holt, and that’s it”

Anoteros raised his hands in the air with a smile on his face.

“If you insist… I don’t think there is a greater service you can make me than to tell me not to care for my own progeny. She’ll be in good hands here anyway. I heard about Galdoni, too. Are you not mad about that?”

“Why would I be? For once, what you told him wasn’t false, and he can make his own decisions. He’s old enough to do that now”

“I see, I see… Anyway, I know our relationship didn’t start in the best of ways, but I hope we’ll be able to get along, Miss Oie”

“Fuck off”

“You seem to be quite fond of Hilia, you know… If you want, I can give you another-”

“I said: Fuck off!”

“I was merely joking… Though it would be a lie if I said that I wouldn’t like tasting you again”

Anoteros walked away. He needed to fulfil his marital duties with Jania and Tylia anyway. It had been a while since the three of them had spent some time together like this…