“…and simply leave.”
Mo was expecting such a situation to happen. He nodded his head and replied to Lith,
“Please don’t worry Mr. Ray. We definitely won’t get things done for free. For starters, would you like a stake in our best anime studio?”
This may seem like a serious benefit and Mo kind of expected the three to have a surprised reaction as they heard what was in starters.
But to his disappointment, the three people didn’t have any change in their expression, except for Dennis who seemed just a tiny bit interested.
This was bound to happen as these three weren’t some ordinary street rats looking to make some money.
Leaving aside Lith, Dennis and Ralph’s individual background was so strong that they could run the entire beast kingdom if they so wanted.
Dennis wasn’t much interested in having a stake in the studio as well because it really wasn’t much money. The best it would work would be as pocket change and nothing else.
Mo, noticing the disappointed gazes of the three, couldn’t help but ask, “Sirs, is there any problem? Do you not like the offer?”
Dennis was the first to speak and he said, “that’s really a cheap offer.”
Even he couldn’t help but say this.
“What!?” Mo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How was this cheap? He was offering a stake in the most popular production studio in the entire world!
Lith laid back on his chair as he noticed Mo’s response. It seems this was the best Mo could do.
Lith did have the intentions of making money when he came here but he knew he wouldn’t get much out of the beastkins. It was alright with him since from the start, he wasn’t going to rely on them.
A job would never pay as much as a business would. No matter how many people he helped in doing things or how many jobs he did, it wasn’t going to make him enough money.
To make money, Lith had his plans. In any case, he was helping the beastkins because of Dennis.
Lith had work in the Elven Continent and helping these people was something he could do on the side while doing his work.
The work he had, it was on hold for now as he wanted to spend some time with his friends.
After Mo’s initial shock, he started blabbering about how big of a deal having a stake in the world’s most popular anime studio was and how much it would profit the three.
Of course the profit was good and only Mo knew how much he was cutting his pockets to seek help from these three. But sadly, no matter how much he explained, it just wasn’t enough of an attraction to the three.
Mo and Dennis had a discussion on this topic for a while until Ralph stopped Dennis by tapping on his shoulder and gesturing him to be quiet for a while.
Ralph then interjected and said to Mo, “We don’t want the stake. It isn’t enough. However, we would like something else.”
Mo raised an eyebrow. “What is it?” He knew Ralph would raise the bar and he just hoped that it wasn’t something too much.
Ralph answered calmly, “we need your best animators and artists. A simple deal.
“WHAT!?” Mo slammed the table in shock as Ralph made that comment.
Even Dennis was surprised with Ralph’s demands.
Dennis tugged on Ralph’s sleeves and whispered from the side,
“Isn’t this too much?”
Ralph shook his head and answered, “No.”
He then turned towards Mo and said, “sir down. I haven’t finished yet.”
Mo could only swallow his frustration and keep quiet until the other party had finished speaking.
He sat back down and said, “my apologies for my misconduct.”
? Ralph ignored it and continued, “we don’t want a part of your famous studio, we’ll be opening our own. All we need are your best animators and artists to work in this studio. Of course, the studio would be based in the beast kingdom and anything it makes, it’ll be taxable under the laws of the beastkins.”
“And you don’t have to worry. We won’t be making the people work for free.”
Mo was silent as he heard that. This didn’t sound… bad.
As for Dennis, he suddenly became excited as he heard Ralph.
Having a studio of your own!? It means he could make any manga into anime he wanted! How good would that be!
Dennis wanted to hug Ralph for this genius idea and say he was the best. But he refrained from doing so as he the meeting with the beastkins still wasn’t over. If he fucked up, the idea of owning a studio might never happen.
The beastkins were really serious when the talk was about anime and they owned the copyright. The animators and artists couldn’t go elsewhere because all the studios were here and they also couldn’t make anime outside of the beast kingdom as that would be illegal and they would be charged heavily.
Thus, owning a studio was something not everyone had the chance to do.
Now that they had an opportunity, Ralph didn’t let it go.
As for Lith, he was thinking of something similar and if Ralph hadn’t said it already, he would’ve done on his behalf.
He smiled and continued to listen.
Mo, after thinking about this, said, “not to offend you or anything, good sirs, but do you have the capital to pay the people? The famous animators and artists would need a lot of money to be paid. I don’t think it’s something anyone can afford.”
Ralph had a calm expression even as he heard that. “That’s not something you need to worry about. We have our ways.”
Mo shook his head. “I am sorry, but if I don’t know you can do it, I cannot make amendments and it’ll also be difficult to convince the higher ups. There will also be–”
A card came flying towards Mo speedily but he somehow caught it despite being surprised.
‘That was fast!’ Mo said inwardly. He was a Saint Rank but how was he not able to see something coming like this?
“What is the meaning of this?” Mo, holding the card in his hand, asked the three.
Lith, who had just thrown the card, said relaxedly, “go to your nearest auction house and bring me the most priced treasure from it.”
Mo looked at Lith as if he was an idiot. “That’s not something I can do. Also, the auction treasures can only be brought at the auction and on a particular date and time. You also need to be a vip to see the most priced treasure.”
Lith didn’t get offended. He simply said, “just go and show the card in your hand to them.”
Mo still was in disbelief. He looked at the card in his hand and it was a black card with roses engraved on it.
‘It looks slightly premium.’ Mo thought as he looked at it.
There was the name Ray inscribed on the card and he was surprised to know that there wasn’t any card number, date, or any other thing inscribed on it apart from the name and the roses.
It was a bit weird how a card could only have that. He looked at Lith and said, “Sir Ray, if this a joke, I hope you can tell us right now. Because going to the auction house won’t be funny. Not only would you–”
“Mo.” Lith leaned forwards and looked Mo in the eyes with a smile. His relaxed posture to have gone.
Mo felt chills as he looked at Lith’s smile and he had no idea why that was the case. He simply stopped speaking and asked,
“Yes?”
“Go to the auction house.” Lith said simply.
“Okay.” Mo didn’t question further. He didn’t want to. His instincts told him to not escalate this topic futher.
In any case, if the card didn’t work out, it would be the three people who would be making a fool of themselves and not Mo.
Mo had nothing to lose and his reputation won’t take a hit anyway if the card didn’t work.
Mo got up and left with his companions towards the auction house, doing what Lith asked him to do.
As he left, Dennis couldn’t help but ask, “Your Highness, what was that?”
Lith looked at him and said with a chuckle, “Nothing. Just some mild slap on the face.”
“What?”
