Kayne, Lucian and Sai reached the busy streets of Pantheon. They stopped in front of a white mansion.
"Home!" Sai quickly jumped off the carriage and ran to the house.
"Home." Lucian repeated to Kayne. "You'll be living with us until the end of your task."
Realizing that he'a the only one going in, Sai came back and pulled Lucian's sleeves. "Lucian, home." he repeated. He also glared at Kayne and smiled. "We're home. My sister is sleeping so don't be loud."
The reason for Sai to be this excited is his sister Sera. Although spoiled by his father, Sai looked after Sera as an equal. He always wishes that everyone treats Sera the same as him inside the house and gives her share from his food despite their mother's refusals.
"Sera!" Sai screamed when he saw his sister playing under the supervision of the nannies.
Sera looked at Sai's direction and ran to meet him. "Sa-yee..."
Lucian looked satisfied at the sight of his two children playing with one another. In his eyes, Sai will be a reliable brother for Sera when they grow up.
"You're back." Elina, Lucian's second wife, welcomed them. She's not intimate to Lucian since their wedding is only part of a business but she's doing her part as Lucian's wife very well, even giving birth to Sera.
Lucian also does the same and respects Elina accordingly. For a man who's sought out by social climbers, he never made a relationship out of his wedlock.
"Greetings, Young Master of Lion's Den," she also greets Kayne.
As a wife, Lucian also allowed Elina to know his background, including the Lion's Den.
Kayne blushed at the pretty woman in front of her which gained a smack from Lucian.
"Kayne...," he said. A vein from his head almost popped out from his controlled anger.
Elina courtly smiled and led the two inside the house.
"You'll take the farthest room," Lucian said.
Although he felt stigmatized, Kayne accepted the offer. He's already lucky that the money grubbing uncle of his did not ask for rentals.
"Change your clothes and come down in half an hour, we'll make a tour," Lucian said. "Peony, give comfortable clothes to him and tell him to refuse wearing unnecessary accessories."
"Got it, granduncle," Kayne said nonchalantly.
"You!"
Elina chuckled at Kayne's fresh attitude toward her husband. "Come, the children are waiting," she said, pushing Lucian towards the garden where Sai and Sera are playing.
Lucian clicked his tongue and let his wife take charge of the situation.
"Ba!" Sera said when she saw her parents. She stopped playing and crawled to Elina. To avoid scraping the child's skin, one of the nannies carried her and let Elina pamper her.
Sai also stood up and hugged his mother. "Elina, Lucian and I came with a weird dude today. Don't anger him, he's scary when he is angry." Sai addresses both Elina and Lucian on their first names. No matter how many times the attendants tried to correct him, the way he talked to his parents never changed.
For Elina, this is a trivial matter and she left it as it is. She's sure that when he matures, Sai will learn how to call them mother and father.
As requested, Kayne wore plain clothes similar to what he wore during the fight in the safe wall.
"When are you going to stop wearing the gloves, it's ruining your appearance." Lucian complained when Kayne came down with Peony.
Kayne took off his gloves to explain the situation and touched the tree nearest to him. The tree lost its vitality and withered until it turned into ash. Though he can now control his mana, it is always safer to wear the gloves as a precautionary measure. He's expecting that Lucian would understand how important the gloves are for him but his face turned dark instead.
"That tree..."
Kayne shivered when he heard Lucian's cold tone.
"I planted that tree, Kayne."
Kayne panicked and quickly looked for remaining roots around. He forgot to ask what are the things he could destroy first.
"Forget it. We're already behind the clock."
Thankfully, the lost time for a businessman is more valuable than a tree, Kayne thought.
"But you need to pay me back later for damage to property."
Kayne is wrong to even think about that. Money is still money for Lucian and he won't let go even a piece of it in the hands of other people.
They arrived at the workshop after an hour. The reason why Lucian made him wear comfortable clothes is the incredible heat inside the work area. Lucian owns a store that sells armaments and jewelry. From procuring the materials to manufacturing and distribution, Lucian deals with it, saying that collaborating with other companies will only degrade their products.
"Sir Lucian."
It's Koiren. Kayne recognized his voice right away and when he joined them, the bastard winked at his former partner in crime.
"This is Venalis Koiren. He'll be accompanying you as an advisor. Currently, he's working here as an apprentice as per request of his family."
"I don't need any advice from him," Kayne disapproved.
Koiren grinned and hugged Kayne tightly. "Sir Lucian, do you know? Kayne and I are friends."
"Who said we were friends, you, conniving demon."
"Come on, don't be shy, pretty boy," Koiren persisted.
Lucian took a deep breath to calm down. "Whatever," he said. "The two of you are here to check the inventory. You need to submit a report weekly to ensure that there's no lack of materials. You'll also visit the workshop from time to time to see the conditions of the equipment they are using and see to its maintenance. Since I have other business to deal with, I am leaving you two to tour this place, yourselves. And one more thing, you'll pay for any damaged property."
The two of them shivered on Lucian's demonic smile. Surely, he's hoping that they'll break something and will take the chance to charge them a hefty amount.
"C-copy," Koiren stammered.
Lucian left them to go on a separate business transaction. Workers at the workshop greet the two young masters and Koiren responds positively.
"So, mind telling me the real reason you're fooling around here, pretty boy?" Koiren interrogates. He is sure that it isn't something as simple as studying "how to run a business." He won't buy that alibi, especially from Kayne.
Kayne balanced the pros and cons if he did tell Koiren about the truth and all he can see are negative results coming from it. If someone calls Koiren as the forerunner of misfortune, he'll fully agree to the notion and pay the person a huge amount.