Virelya was more surprised than scared of Ignatia's threats. After all, the women in front of her were neither stupid nor short-sighted. They clearly knew who stood behind her, and even then, they dared to threaten. Her red eyes scanned both women as she leaned back, and then, she spoke.

  “First of all, you have no proof that I—”

  “Stop.” Ignatia cut in. “We both know the truth. In our domain, who will punish us if we decide on something? Virelya, you are clever. You know that when I speak, I do so on a basis. After all, I have envoys from the Verdant Sanctity Covenant on my side. That should give you enough information to deduce that I know who I am talking to. Even then, I came and spoke such words.”

  Virelya looked at Ignatia and pondered for a while. After thinking, she spoke. “I did not intend to hurt the girl. Those I sent would’ve taken her, asked some questions, and then released her.”

  “We know. We don’t care. You just don’t touch our family, or we’ll touch what you find precious.”

  This time, Flor spoke, her tone cold. If it weren’t for Ignatia telling her that they should not go scorched earth, she would’ve fttened this woman’s fleet. ‘Were my strength not cking to face them without Liu Shu’s direct assistance, you would’ve already disappeared from the Ceperet’s surface.’

  Virelya looked at the fairy with a hint of caution. She, as someone knowledgeable, naturally knew what species Flor was. Both women in front of her, a and a , were two existences that no one could take lightly. Their potential was terrifying.

  Therefore, making an enemy of them was not what Virelya had wanted. ‘I didn’t expect them to react so harshly. It seems that I underestimated not how much the World Tree cares, but how much those around her do.’

  If she knew that Liu Shu’s roots had been twitching quite often tely, wanting to squeeze her like a fruit to shower her children, she wouldn’t have thought as such!

  Thankfully for Virelya, they were the first ones to make contact with them, and therefore the perfect batch to acclimate her society to these foreigners who won’t py by her rules to the letter like the locals.

  Flor looked at her, her red eyes fshing with a touch of battle intent. “Virelya, you are not the only one in your batch who is starting to get too daring. And soon, you’ll know what would’ve happened to you if your intentions to kidnap Luniere were accompanied with harmful intent. Also, don’t warn them, because what they’ve done has long gone beyond our bottom line. They are just running on borrowed time.”

  Virelya’s red eyes fshed, information fshing in her mind, and soon she understood. ‘Darius.’

  She had heard that this man was trying to spread a bck market in some capital cities. The headquarters was in Golden Sap City, but he had not dared to open a bck market there. Instead, he used the city as a proxy to spread to different cities in Nualis and Ceperet.

  ‘The wares he is selling are not that harmful yet. However, some of them had very slightly addictive substances. It’s not much, but in a few years, the small accumution will become a problem. It seems that, somehow, Flor has intercepted this knowledge and is about to act on it.’

  This was the greatest mystery that Virelya had not managed to unravel, even with her information network. ‘The World Tree is aloof, so she can’t be the one who did it. While there are other World Trees, like Lady Fortuna, she also is quite aloof.’

  Speaking of this, Virelya was confused. ‘Why are World Trees living under the Heavenly Willow? Even Life Trees can be found in many cities and even in the wild.’

  There were so many mysteries that she had yet to unravel that Virelya felt her heart itching. Someone in charge of an information network would naturally be gossipy by design.

  “I understand, Lady Flor,” Virelya spoke. “It won’t happen again.”

  Flor’s eyes fshed, and she finally showed her hand. “Alright, let’s move to your punishment then.”

  Virelya blinked, startled. “Wait.”

  Flor ignored her and began listing them. “Your crimes are illegal, intelligent species smuggling, attacking the family of the Heavenly Willow, underhanded methods to gather private information, causing an attack in the middle of the Sacred Golden Sap City, and almost causing civilian casualties, near homicide on a Level 0 citizen…”

  “Wait, wait, wait.” Virelya stopped Flor, her palms slightly sweaty. “Didn’t killing the kidnapper group count as the punishment? Those were top-notch personnel, and losing them is a little worse than a pinch, you understand?”

  Flor’s lips arched coldly. “And who told you we wanted to pinch you? Sorry, but you need to change the letter ‘i’ in that word to ‘u’. It won’t be a light one either.”

  Virelya frowned deeply. “Lady Flor, we both know that our sides can live in peace after our talks. Why strangle our retionship?”

  Flor spoke coldly. “Virelya, you are misunderstanding something very deeply. Not only you, but all the other merchant chains that arrived are doing the same as you are right now. You are not essential. You are not needed for our society to prosper. You are just accelerants, fertilizer, so to speak. Those of you who behave will become flowers in the vast garden that the Heavenly Willow controls. The rest will be devoured and become nutrients for the existing flowers, do you understand?”

  Virelya squinted and said coldly. “You are underestimating us too much.”

  “No.” Flor shook her head. “The one who is underestimating the other side is you. I can probably guess that during our conversation, you have often called our pce a backwater pce or something with a simir meaning, have you not? Just because the Heavenly Willow has not left the Sor System doesn’t mean that she is weak, Virelya.”

  She paused here. “No matter. You will soon understand and make your choice then. Our actions under your power will be a warning sign to the others. Our actions on that person who is starting to become too bold will be our statement to all of you merchant fleets. Now, obediently accept the punishment and move on.”

  Virelya wanted to retort, but she took a deep breath and leaned back, her eyes scanning both of them. “Go ahead. However, I will only fulfill this punishment when you show me your statement.”

  Flor sneered. “Do you think you are in a position to haggle? If you dey until then, it won’t be a warning; you will become the second statement. So, you'd better fulfill these.”

  Then, she threw a document across the table between them.

  Virelya looked at Flor and Ignatia for a few seconds before stretching her matte-bck-colored fingers to pick up the small folder. She read through everything, and when she was done, she pced it down and took a deep breath. “You want me to give you 10% of our revenue for 3 years, to execute the top executives that came up with the idea of the kidnapping, and to give information to your government for free 10 times without any cost?”

  This was, like Flor said, not a pinch but a punch. She spoke. “The first and third ones, I accept. However, I can’t fulfill the second condition.”

  Flor nodded. “I know. You don’t need to fulfill it; we will.”

  “What?”

  Virelya paused, her heart rising to her throat for a second, and she quickly looked outside the door. She used a fog-type skill, a faint bck mist covering the entire building in an instant. Everything within became clear to her, and she quickly noticed the people named in the folder were missing.

  Virelya looked at Flor with stupefaction and faint anger. “Where are they?”

  Flor’s lips arched, a hint of mocking in her tone. “Kidnapped. Didn’t they like to do that? Well, now they are gone. Don’t worry, we won’t make them suffer. By now, they all should be gone.”

  That was a lie. Each and every single one of them had been sent to Ignatia’s nest to feed the young. Paralyzed and without any hope of resisting, becoming nourishment for Ignatia’s future children.

  Virelya tightened her jaw, her legs changing from a solid shape to a fog-like state back and forth. “Alright, among them, I want you to release one of them. Only one.”

  Flor pondered and moved her chin. “Who?”

  “Dary.”

  Flor noticed the simirity in their names and also recalled that they were the same species. She looked at Ignatia, who communicated with her children. “She is still alive and unharmed. She just fainted for now.”

  Hearing this, Virelya felt her heart calm down. “Please, release her. Her identity is a little bit complicated. Her death would do neither you nor me good.”

  Flor pondered and looked at the list. There were a total of 184 people they kidnapped, most of them Level 120 and below. Dary, whom Virelya mentioned, was the strongest, being a Level 150. For her to be so easily snatched, they naturally used many resources they bought in the of the .

  Still, knowing that Virelya wouldn’t say nonsense, she decided to take this step back. After all, 184 and 183 were really not that significantly different. This woman was also not too involved, helping process a few things and not much more.

  “Alright, deal.”

  Virelya nodded, breathing a sigh of relief silently. Ignatia asked, curious. “Is it proper to reveal her background?”

  Virelya shook her head. “No. Excuse me, but I do not want to get into trouble. Even if we are extended family, I am not much compared to her standing.”

  Flor and Ignatia nodded and stood up. “Alright, our warning is given. Whether you follow through or not, that’s your problem. Either way, we won’t take a loss.”

  After speaking, Flor flew to Ignatia’s shoulder, and both women left the room. Once they were gone, Virelya slumped back and took a deep breath.

  “Difficult.” She muttered. She had not expected that the leaders of the Golden Sap Empire were so different from those of other empires. Virelya had met kings, empresses, lords, and many other high and mighty people, but most of them had self-interest as a priority. Not to mention, none of them followed the rules so stringently as those in the Golden Sap Empire.

  “I need to be more careful and leave underhanded matters aside until I get a much, much deeper understanding of what I am dealing with.”

  And she knew that soon, she would have an inkling of the mysterious strength of these people. While she lost quite a few capable subordinates this time, she was not that hurt. Of these over 180 people, she only felt a pang in her heart for about 3 of them. Thankfully, she could save Dary.

  ‘If that woman’s parents knew she died because of me, they might erase this entire sor system together with me out of vengeance. Scary, scary. Let’s make sure that the woman doesn’t grow resentful first. Thankfully, it seems that they didn’t use forceful means and instead pced them in some kind of coma.’’

  With that in mind, Virelya stood up and went to take care of Dary.