House Slughorn's Estate. Lionhearts Duchy. Edinburgh kingdom.
A wide study room was full of ancient-looking scrolls, worn-out yet precious books, and array disks that contained volumes of information in different formats. Various books were kept open at various locations.
As if somebody was reading multiple books at multiple corners of the room all at once. The mahogany-looking furniture inside the room looked expensive. But that didn't stop the room from being seen as the messy space of a caveman.
The air in that room was stale and reeked of old paper. There was barely any light in the spacious study room that was cluttered with various things. Furthermore, the room contained a distinct presence who was reading from a scroll spread in front of him on a desk at one end of the room.
"Sir, these are the reports you requested."
An attendant in his 30s appeared out of thin air and placed an array disk on the desk in front of the old ranker. This old ranker was reading the content from the scroll. He then lowered his head and waited silently for the old ranker to react.
Sitting at the desk reading a scroll was a man who appeared to be in his 80s. His skin was wrinkled and his eyes looked old and hollow. The hair on his head was white and unkempt. It was as if the man had stopped caring about how he looked.
The man listened to the attendant and nodded. But he didn't raise his head and kept on reading through the scroll. He mumbled a few words to himself as if he was reading through the scroll and trying to remember the contents of that scroll. After that, he sighed and put the scroll away before bringing the array that had been delivered to him by the attendant.
The old man in his 80s activated the array disk using his mana and mana sense. A spectral screen with sheets of data appeared in front of the mana with additional information.
The old man kept looking through the sheet and narrowed his eyes on a particular detail. He scratched his scalp while looking at the attendant before asking.
"Who the devil's tarnation is White Raven guild?"
The attendant was expecting this question. So he cleared his voice before speaking out.
"This is a newly formed guild, Sir. It was registered in the Nightshade duchy not too long ago. It looked like the guild was a solo project of an Ace ranker at first.
But it turns out that the guild leader got the backing of House Derringer and House Montmorency all of a sudden.
Sir, do you remember the news about Minerva's Utopia opening up in Nightshade duchy not too far from the city of New Beginnings?"
The old man scratched some more and processed what his attendant was hinting at. He opened his eyes in shock after he understood the connotation. He then accessed the data from the array disk and studied it a bit before replying.
"Oh? This tiny guild holds the land that features the entrance to Utopia, is it?
Hehe!
I may have gotten old but I'm not senile yet. I bet that his chosen guy is House Montmorency's pawn right from the start. May all those achievements be robbed from me if that turns out to be wrong."
He said this before he started coughing badly. He then took out a potion from his storage before gulping it down in one go. The old man's body started glowing as the potion's effects kicked in. His cough stopped and he breathed a sigh of relief before adding on.
"Be that as it may, we can always remain as bystanders when House Derringer and House Montmorency are making moves. Although the White Raven potions are not meant for regular use yet, they are starting to hurt our niche market."
The old man looked at the data on his spectral screen once again. The attendant was used to the old man's devious schemes in business by now. So he asked vigilantly.
"Sir, do you want me to contact our black market manufacturing line to start making counterfeits for White Raven potions? That would be the easiest way to cut down their growing market presence and hurt them."
The old man chuckled when he heard the attendant's line of thoughts. He had to admit that this thought did cross his mind briefly not too long ago. But then he scraped it away as quickly as possible. He spoke about the reasons for doing so.
"I told you to remain vigilant and not get paranoid over a newbie guild that may or may not survive till the next winter. It is difficult to stay afloat in the business when there are so many competitors. It is especially tougher for someone like White Raven guild who has no previous background or record to speak of.
Don't underestimate Slughorn potions' quality and their market presence either. The name has a strong foundation. We survived the debacle that lass had created for us…"
The old man stopped talking midway and sighed. He didn't want to partake in victim blaming. But he had to admit that Sienna had lost her way in potioning long before that dreadful incident happened to her.
Sienna was sent to LA to learn potioneering from the best. The old man had pulled a few strings and had arranged for her to attend Levine's lectures without having to pass the test.
The old man knew about Levine's state and what she was doing in LA instead of taking charge of her clan. This was a perfect opportunity for him to let one of his clan's scions benefit from her situation.
After all, he knew Levine's teachings would be pristine. Something House Slughorn would never be able to complete them with.
But the girl skipped those lectures and chose the easy way out. Finding a guy of her own and bribing him to pass her potioning tests. Instead of doing many things she could do in LA, she chose to cheat her way out. The incident that had happened to her also occurred because she had wanted to cheat.
Sienna's incident had hurt the Slughorns' market presence directly and indirectly. And it was just starting to recover. But suddenly a new guild had arrived trying to take over the niche market. The old man had to admit that the timing of this new rival was impeccable.
