Chapter 291: The Cruelty and Cunning of a Belfor

"Spending two billion Sharn to acquire the Red Obsidian Trading House is impressive. But don’t you have anything to lose? After all, that trading house is now under the supervision of the Imperial Palace."

A curious voice sounded beside him. Nolan glanced over and saw Malverna, who had appeared out of nowhere, walking beside him.

Her expression was a mix of curiosity and confusion.

Nolan smiled faintly. Instead of answering, he asked, "Do you think two billion Sharn is a lot?"

Malverna nodded slowly. "Of course it is. With that much money, I could probably rebuild a quarter of the Demon race’s strength."

In the past, she had taken wealth for granted. The Demon race had once been powerful and, naturally, incredibly wealthy.

She still remembered her imperial palace—magnificent, almost on par with the Great Velmora Empire—decorated with gold and diamonds.

But now, the Demon race had been destroyed, leaving only historical relics. Even those still alive were few in number.

So, two billion Sharn meant a great deal to her—enough, at least, to partially rebuild the Demon race’s power.

"Yes, two billion Sharn is a lot, but the Red Obsidian Trading House is worth far more. By my estimate, the entire trading house is worth at least eighty billion Sharn. So acquiring it for only two billion is an incredibly profitable deal," Nolan chuckled.

Malverna fell silent for a moment, then asked in confusion, "But as I said earlier, the Red Obsidian Trading House is now under the Imperial Palace’s supervision. Do you really think you’ll be able to take control of it, or will the palace simply take it away?"

If anyone understood Nolan best, it was Arnold, with Malverna coming in a close second. That man had a lot of money—after all, he was the force behind the Blue Moon Trading House.

Still, she didn’t want Nolan to suffer any losses. At least, that was her concern as a subordinate—ahem, a temporary subordinate.

"Don’t worry. Investigating this case isn’t something that can be done in a day or two. It may take more than a week. Belfor’s crimes are carefully planned and meticulously executed. But I have a way to prevent the Empire from seizing the Red Obsidian Trading House," Nolan said in a reassuring tone.

"So that’s it..." Malverna nodded in understanding. "In that case, I won’t ask any more questions."

Nolan had a thousand ways to handle matters, and Malverna was fully confident that he could deliver on his word.

"By the way," Malverna added with a playful smile, "you were right. Belfor was willing to sell the Red Obsidian Trading House for two billion Sharn. Come to think of it, he’s kind of foolish, isn’t he? Or maybe he was already in a desperate situation?"

Nolan shook his head. "No, you’ve misunderstood, Malverna."

"Misunderstood?" Malverna raised her eyebrows slightly. "What do you mean?"

Nolan’s expression turned serious as he explained, "Belfor is an exceptionally experienced businessman. The fact that he built the powerful Red Obsidian Trading House shows that he is both strong and intelligent. There’s an old saying:

’Never underestimate someone who can build great power with their own hands. One smile or glance from them can make you lose everything overnight.’

"

"Do you really think Belfor would give up his trading house for just two billion Sharn?" Nolan added with a sarcastic smile. "Even if the gods themselves came down and persuaded me, I still wouldn’t believe it."

If it had been any other trading house, it would have already collapsed under the onslaught of his Blue Moon Trading House—a natural outcome, given that he relied on the advanced systems from his previous world.

Beyond that, he introduced many items previously unknown to the public, such as soap, shampoo, and other daily necessities.

While these items did exist before, they had been reserved for the extremely wealthy, noble families, or the imperial family and were prohibitively expensive.

He asked Shion to create simpler, more affordable versions that still retained the same fragrance and effectiveness as the originals.

Keep in mind, just from the sales of those two items, the Blue Moon Trading House had already dominated the markets in three major regions—the west, north, and south.

And that’s not even mentioning the many other products he introduced based on his memories from the previous world.

On top of that, he collaborated with farmers, ranchers, and merchants to build a mutually beneficial partner system.

This was why the Blue Moon Trading House was able to rise so quickly and push aside its competitors.

Yet among the defeated rivals, only one survived—the Red Obsidian Trading House.

Despite its decline, Belfor managed to hold onto the trading house, even maintaining dominance in the eastern region and preventing the Blue Moon Trading House from operating freely there.

Malverna absorbed his words with a serious expression. She hadn’t expected Nolan to hold Belfor in such high regard.

Then a question struck her, and she blurted it out, "In that case, what exactly is Belfor doing? With his current position, he shouldn’t have anything left to plot against you, right?"

After all, the man was in prison—it seemed impossible for him to accomplish anything significant.

"He really can’t do anything in his current state. But that man has already prepared precautions for the worst," Nolan explained indifferently. "Did you know Belfor has two daughters?"

"No, I didn’t. As far as I know, only Melinda Horven, the Third Concubine, is his daughter," Malverna answered honestly.

"Belfor does have another daughter. Her name is Claire Horven. She’s Melinda Hovern’s younger sister. The reason no one knows about her—literally no one—is that Belfor doesn’t consider her a daughter," Nolan said with a soft sigh. "Claire has a disability—she’s blind in both eyes, her body is weak, and she’s often sickly. Belfor is a capitalist; he values everything by usefulness. Since he deemed her worthless, he exiled her."

Malverna’s face darkened at the revelation. In the past, she had been considered cruel by both humans and demons alike.

Yet when it came to those closest to her, she rarely—almost never—acted with such harshness.

Her disciple, for example, had been someone she loved wholeheartedly, even though he ultimately betrayed her.

Suppressing her irritation, Malverna asked again, "So... what does Claire have to do with our discussion?"

Nolan took back the documents Belfor had signed and casually studied their contents.

"The connection is that Belfor didn’t fully list his own name as the owner of the Red Obsidian Trading House. He put his daughter down as the official owner of about 90% of it," he said, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"He did that?" Malverna was dumbfounded. "Wait—what’s the point? Wouldn’t that work against him?"

Making his estranged daughter the 90% owner of the Red Obsidian Trading House was indeed a strange move, seemingly unreasonable. If she found out, couldn’t she take control and remove Belfor at any moment?

"Hahaha! That’s why I called him sneaky," Nolan laughed. "Don’t think about the past, Malverna—look at the present. The Red Obsidian Trading House will almost certainly be confiscated by the Imperial Palace in the future. Tell me—if the trading house is found guilty of crimes beyond Belfor’s, who do you think will be arrested?"

Malverna froze. Her lips parted as she whispered, "That would be... Claire Hovern..."