Sam took a deep breath and calmed himself down. It is unlike him to argue with someone else like this, just because he didn't like their worldview and he thought if that worldview is stupid. Maybe the continuous losses are affecting more than he thought they would.
He lost in Gran's hands in the race and he lost in the necromancer battle with Tamas. All the continuous victories over the years he spent in this very world seemed to have really gotten into his head. He is not completely new to losses. But these losses hit him hard and even though nobody judged him until now, he is judging himself.
Throughout his journey, he was invincible in every aspect among his peers. Battle, business, subordinates, status. He maintained his position ahead over the rest of his peers and he managed to defeat all of them in their own fields sometimes crushed their confidence.
Sanjay is a great example of that as he is still recovering from all the damage he took to his mental state because of Sam.
These two losses made him remember that there is a chance that he is not as exceptional and extraordinary as he thought himself or people labeled him to be.
There is a great chance that in fact, he is just like any other person and not that great. And he also realized that subconsciously he is the greatest of all his peers and the sudden losses when the opponents are on the same level even though he is playing the other party's game hit him a bit too hard.
He realized his character flaw and decided that he should work on it slowly and change his thinking.
But the sudden judgment that indicated that he is just like any other man even though with a different context still made him feel a bit sour and he decided to unleash himself on this woman.
He tried to calm himself down and decided to leave the place.
"I will stay in this city for another week. If you want to talk about this deal properly, you can do that. I apologize for being too rash with my words. But most of them are true. Your sect doesn't have a proper organizational structure or the resources to run like a proper self-sustainable organization.
Your lack of experience is not helping either. As much as you believe that your strength can solve everything, that is not enough. In this world of strength, the lack of wit and cunning made many people bite dirt and die in regret in hands of people less than them.
If my estimation and judgment of these demons are right, you wouldn't be able to survive for long. The sale I made in the past few days, is bound to gather their attention and they will use any means necessary to close your sect down and nip the growth when it is still in bud.
And If you want to prevent that, you can discuss the deal with me."
With that, he left.
But before he left, he looked at the volcano one last time. That familiar smell that is imprinted in the genetic memory of the Golden Sun crow bloodline is coming from that volcano and there is a faint scent on Jwala's body.
He is curious to know what that is, but he couldn't do that for now and left the place to calm himself down.
For the next few days, the team laid low. Many people noticed their big presence. It is hard to miss someone who is on the level of family heads of the three families that are ruling the realm roaming casually and the little episode with the woman in the black didn't help.
Some people started paying attention, but Sam didn't care too much, he just stayed put and roamed around in the city and in the forest.
In the forest, he came across some demon bodies to see if any of his beasts are interested and get a quick growth as Yanwu and Raiju did.
But the Forest bear is not exactly interested in Emerald Blood demons and Yanwu completely ignored the crimson blood demons.
The shadow mice also didn't show any particular interest in Black Blood demons.
So, after two days of roaming, he just stayed in the city and ate at different restaurants while drinking with Sia as they exchanged their opinions on liquors.
Even though the team is peaceful. The rest of the city is not. The three families noticed the big sale that happened in the weapon shop and due to that big sale, some people showed interest in the shop.
Most people ignored the shop due to the publicized prejudice of the demon families, but once one person buys things and that too on a large amount even though the families tried to portray it as a shill, it was still impossible to do that.
Some people entered and the weapons are actually not bad. Within the same price range, they might even have the best weapons.
Now that one shop is doing business, they have to help with the other shops, so they offered some minor discounts and made the people go to their other shops.
Once these shops started getting noticed, it is hard for the three families to ignore that.
So, their attacks started immediately.
Their first target happened to be the medicine shop where most pills are sold.
A group of three went in to buy some recovery pills and one of them took the pill right there and then. Instead of his energy being recovered, he started yelling on top of his lungs with his skin turning blue and foam coming out of his mouth.
The two of his friends made a ruckus and took them to the pill master in the shop next to them and the shop belonged to the black blood demon family.
The pill master diagnosed what happened and then gave a pill that cured the person immediately. And the public believed that it is definitely poison.
Then the restaurant. A group went in there and when their food was served they could see that the meat is raw and it is not even cleaned properly.
The weapon shop was visited by someone and when he swung the sword to check right after buying, it broke into two.
The saleswomen and the sect higherups are all amateurs. At first, the three families didn't care because they are not going to have any sales.
But once they do have sales, they can easily deal with them and send them back to a worse position than before they had any sales.
At least to have sales in the first scenario, they just have to establish themselves in the market, but now not only do they have to compensate for the lost integrity they need to establish stronger integrity than before.
When Jwala started getting the reports, Sam's words lingered in her mind. The whole scenario turned out exactly like Sam told it would go.
She also remembered the words about him staying in the city.
When she was hesitating, another report came. Someone attacked the herb shop when the goods turned out to be faulty. The saleswomen almost died.
She became angry and wanted to storm over there and beat the crap out of those people, but she knew the sect's reputation would only turn worse if they did that.
She could only grit her teeth and endure.
The woman in black looked at Jwala's plight and couldn't help but say.
"I think it is better to consider his offer. We don't have to worry about him betraying us, he would be able to come and storm the whole sect if he wants to with his subordinates. No matter how I see it, we are the weaker party in the deal.
So, think about it."
Jwala just stayed silent but the reports kept on coming to her. That night, she couldn't take it anymore and go to the Inn.
When she knocked on Sam's door, he was surprised.
"What do you want?"
"I am here to talk about the deal. But I would like to tell my position on this first."
"Please proceed."
"I want the sect to run stably without worrying about lack of resources. I don't want to leave those helpless women on the streets and subject them to slavery once again. If you can do that, I will work for three decades for you."
"The solution is simple, all you have to do is change the location of the sect. Move to a lower realm and establish it there. The only reason you are being this targetted is that the three families are afraid that you are coming after their stable positions.
And to be fair, I would be too if I was in their position."
"But I cannot move from here."
"May I ask why? If it is a problem I could solve, then I would."
Jwala hesitated for a while and said.
"Come to my sect tomorrow. But before I tell my problem, you must sign a soul contract that you wouldn't reveal the details to anyone."
Sam was surprised, but he agreed.
