Chapter 170 - You"re Not Qualified
The Primrose and Fischer merchant a.s.sociations weren"t aware of the reasons why Oliver Lucretius decided to give up the prime location, but as far as they were concerned, it was better that way. You don"t want to share the prime location? Good! More shares for us!
They weren"t worried about offending the buyer of the prime location. They had done a rough background check on the buyer "Leon Bradford" or rather, Vigo Primrose had done a rough background check. He was surprised when they found out the boy was a commoner. How could a commoner afford the properties in the Upper District?
Upon further investigation, he was no longer surprised and didn"t place anymore importance on the boy. The boy was related to the Cromwell family through a marriage agreement. It was too easy for the wealthy Cromwell family to fund the boy.
Vigo Primrose was full of disdain when he received this information. Was this the source of the boy"s arrogance that day? The boy was just a parasite leeching off the Cromwell"s wealth. Without the Cromwell"s backing, the boy was nothing. Just a commoner trying to worm his way into the upper cla.s.s.
"Ptui!" Vigo spat on that thought.
What qualifications did a commoner have to marry the Cromwell family"s flower? There better choices for a candidate; like his son for example. As long as he breaks the engagement, the commoner would no longer have any relations with the Cromwell family.
Coincidently, the Cromwell family was hosting a birthday banquet tonight to celebrate Dwight Cromwell turning 70. The exact time of the Normally, Dwight wouldn"t care about it, but Bromley insisted. He was very happy that they had established a connection to the royal family and was planning to publicize it during the event.
Of course, Vigo Primrose didn"t know any of this. Had he dug deeper; he would have learnt of Leon"s ident.i.ty. However, he did not and was too busy planning a marriage proposal for his son during the banquet.
The limited information on "Leon Bradford" was handed over to Porter Fischer, the president of Fischer Merchant a.s.sociation, before he had agreed to the joint venture. Of course, as the president of a merchant a.s.sociation, he did not easily trust the given information.
Although trust was the foundation of a merchant"s success, it didn"t go both ways. He couldn"t trust others blindly. If he had done so, he would not have today"s success.
Porter Fischer did his own investigation on the opponent, but the results were more or less the same as the information he received from Vigo Primrose. Seeing the information matched, Porter finally agreed to the joint venture. A high status was equal to strong power and provides a form of protection. If the commoner had a higher status, why would he hide it? Unless his head was kicked by a donkey?
As such, Porter Fischer didn"t investigate too deeply. If he knew what kind of mess, he was getting himself into, he would have never agreed to it and withdrawn his intentions from the prime location just like the Oliver Lucretius had done.
Oliver Lucretius himself was stood by the windows of his office. He peered into the distance with a big grin. He had been notified when Leon entered the pill store. He a.s.sumed Vigo Primrose and Porter Fischer had similarly been notified. What kind reaction would Porter Fischer have when he finds out the truth the hard way? Would he go crazy and duke it out with Vigo Primrose? He would very much like to see it happen.
If the Primrose and Fischer merchant a.s.sociations destroyed each other or get deported from the kingdom, his Lucretius Merchant a.s.sociation would have no compet.i.tors and have monopoly of the Crawford Kingdom"s market.
"Hahaha!" Oliver Lucretius laughed raucously. "One does not fear a G.o.dlike opponent, only a pig-like teammate!"
"President, what made you so happy?" A lady in neat office attire asked coquettishly.
"Hahaha…" Oliver shook his head and pulled his secretary over. "Come over here. Let"s watch a good show."
…
"Robbing other people"s property? You say some funny things. Does the Primrose and Fischer like to twist black and white? Why don"t you open your eyes and see what this is?" Leon took out the t.i.tle deed and showed it to the store clerk. The name "Leon Bradford" was clearly imprinted on it.
"This... is the t.i.tle deed to this property?" The store clerk widened his eyes surprise. However, it was only for a moment before he recovered his tough stance. He was just a low-level worker, but he was clear which side he stood on. Behind him was two giant merchant a.s.sociations. "Sir, you won"t be able to fool anyone by taking out a forged t.i.tled deed. I"m afraid we can"t let you leave after seeing that. How can we do business if you damage our reputation like so?"
When these words were said, the contemptuous n.o.bles began another round of discussion.
"So, it was a fake t.i.tled deed? Aiyo, this boy is quite the trickster. Had me worried for a second… No wait, this name…. isn"t this the name of the Cromwell"s son-in-law-to-be?"
"How can someone like that have a fake t.i.tle deed? The Cromwell family has monopoly of the real estate business for G.o.d"s sake!"
"The store clerk is lying! If the Cromwell family wanted, they could just gift him any property he wanted! There"s no need to forge a t.i.tle deed! They aren"t lacking that bit of money."
"That"s strange. There"s no way the Cromwell family would have been oblivious to what was going on here. Is there Cromwell family plotting something against the merchant a.s.sociations? Or was the t.i.tle deed really forged?"
The contemptuous n.o.bles grew worried and doubtful at the same time. They weren"t afraid of Leon, but they had to be afraid of the Cromwell family behind him. The Cromwell family was much more powerful and of higher standing than their Baron-level and Count-level families.
They don"t know who the prince was, but they had at least heard who the Cromwell"s flower was engaged to. Would the boy take revenge against them for the slightest grievance? But if even the t.i.tle deed can be forged, then the person may not be who he says he is.
However, without uncovering the truth and the false, the contemptuous n.o.ble no longer threw out careless remarks for fearing of bringing trouble to themselves. Disasters originates from the mouth.
Leon simply ignored the n.o.bles. He did not spare them a single thought. Their words weren"t able affect his state of mind. Given his ident.i.ty, there shouldn"t be a problem with his high-profile approach.
It"s not his problem if the two merchant a.s.sociations didn"t know who they were dealing with. With their resources and network, it shouldn"t have been difficult to figure out his ident.i.ty. There was quite a number of n.o.bles and commoners that already knew his ident.i.ty at this point.
Did they offend him, despite knowing who he was? Or they were that stupid not to investigate him properly? He wasn"t sure what the two merchant a.s.sociations were thinking, but it was quite easy to ascertain the matter from exposing his name.
Seeing how the store clerk reacted to the name "Leon Bradford", it was all too clear to him that it was the latter. The store clerk was just a low-level worker. He would not react that way if he knew. Of course, the merchant a.s.sociations may have chosen to simply not inform their low-level workers in fear of them running away. But if they didn"t know to begin with then the thought wouldn"t even cross their mind.
"You want to keep me here? You"re not qualified to deal with me. Call out your manager." Leon shook his head and said. The clerk had said some funny things. This much was considered damaging their reputation? Once he exposes their inferior and phony products, what reputation could they possibly have? However, he refrained from doing so. It was not the right time to lose all decorum.
When the store clerk heard Leon"s question, his face flushed and inwardly groaned. The manager was very attentive. With the small commotion going on, the store manager should"ve already noticed and stepped forward to deal with it. However, since the store manager had yet to show up, it mean he wasn"t around.
"Hahaha…"
A laughter was suddenly heard from the store"s entrance. The crowd turned and saw two new figures approaching. It was the store manager accompanying a figure of great importance to the pill store. It seems the store manager had disappeared before to inform this person.
"President."
All the store clerks greeted the figure respectably. As one had expected, it was Vigo Primrose, one of the two a.s.sociation presidents of the store.
Vigo acknowledged their greeting before s.h.i.+fting his gaze over to Leon with a big grin.
"Arrogant brat, do you still remember me? If you kowtow and handed over t.i.tle deed as apology, I will spare your dog life." Vigo said smugly. "Did you think we could seize your property so smoothly if you were truly valued by the Cromwell family? You were just a s.h.i.+eld. How could a commoner like you possibly be worthy to be the Cromwell"s son-in-law?"
That being said, only Leon knew why the reason why the Cromwell family didn"t take any action against the two merchant a.s.sociations. The few n.o.bles that were aware of his status also had some faint speculation and began looking at Vigo Primrose with pitiful gazes.
Offending the money-hungry royal family would not end well!