Chapter 36: Arc 4: The Burning Port’s Reaper (3)

Ciel only needed to wait for a while in a comfortable guest chair before Hikari walked over to him and bowed.

“Lord Borbonsi will see you now, exalted one,” Hikari greeted him.

“Stop with the ‘exalted one,’” Ciel said. “I’m not Yume or Maximus. Just call me Ciel.”

“Thank you, Ciel,” Hikari said. “Please, follow me.”

…

Hikari led Ciel into an artifact — an elevator.

Ciel watched the metallic door closed, and the escalator ascended with him and the graceful butler ascended.

Silence hung for a while, but it was Hikari who said, “He’s incredibly excited to see you.”

“I’m not surprised,” Ciel answered. “That guy is a sore loser.”

The escalator opened, and both of them walked into the room.

It was a lavished room of black obsidian wall and a golden carpet. From sofas, the massive table, and the crystal chandelier hanging above the room, every finishing was gilded with gold. The entire place was made into the dream of the world's richest pirate — a combination of dark color-scheme and endless wealth.

And there on the black throne with the view overlooking the entire city of Eleanor was the Lord of Commerce — Borbonsi.

He towered above most mortals with a height of two-meters. He looked to be in his thirties, with stubble and a slightly wrinkled forehead. As expected from a port’s pirate, He wore a pea coat — a sailor jacket — with his chest bared to show off his impressive muscle. The hulking man watched Ciel’s entrance with an enthusiastic grin.

“Look who is here!” Borbonsi greeted his old mate. He looked at Ciel up and down. “I see you still love your suit.”

“And you got an ear-ring now,” Ciel noticed the golden jewelry his relative was wearing. “Strange for someone who used to mock Sophia about how girly she is.”

“Can you blame me?” Borbonsi stood from his throne to greet his fellow Lord. “It’s been years and, after my hard work, I believe I’m allowed to parade some of my trophies.” He pointed at an earring. “This used to be an object of worship for the flies who used to settle in this area,” Borbonsi explained. “It was a pain to uproot them, so at least allowed me to enjoy the prize. Things would be much easier if those indigenous little goblins had a Lord to negotiate with, but that guy vanished a long time ago.”

“So is Romulus,” Ciel said.

“Ah, Romulus,” Borbonsi led Ciel to the table and sat on the chair. “Never get along with the guy, but got to respect his honesty.” He noticed Ciel reservation. “Oh, come on, man,” he said. “Ciel, do you think I’m the type who assassinates a guest?” Borbonsi spread his arm. “Hospitality is the first rule of trade. I admit I can play dirty, but for a fellow Lord, I treat hospitality seriously.”

“Glad to see that didn’t change,” Ciel took a seat. “Looking at your city, I’m expecting a band of assassins.”

“Ciel, I’d have a band of assassins, but I’ve standard,” Borbonsi said. “Wouldn’t want to be that freak, Balor.”

“Glad to see we are still united in hating that guy,” Ciel said. “Where is he, anyway?”

“No clue,” Borbonsi shrugged. “Anyway,” he picked up the box Rem bought. “Risk World?”

“I believe you want to even the scoreboard,” Ciel sat opposite him.

“Don’t get cocky, Mr. Reigning Champion.” Borbonsi picked up the dice. “Can I go first?”

“Go ahead,” Ciel said. “I don’t mind.”

While the two Lords talked, Hikari hung by the wall, watching the different side of Borbonsi she had never seen.

…

Risk World was a board game of two six-sided dice and two different decks — Event deck and Unit deck. Both sides would be starting with a twelve-hundred unit worth of coin card.

The game simulates an adventure where pieces move on the board, collecting units (troops and coin), while throwing disaster and troops at each other. The goal of the game is to bankrupt the opposing side. It was a game invented by three Lords—Sophia, Ciel and Anastasia — and it had become a huge hit back when they were hanging out in the void.

This game is how the Lords were ranked in terms of intellect and strategy. There were many stories of both tears and triumphs from this game. Many Lords, including the dreaded Etaceh and Yume, got their ego humbled by this tiny board. To this day, there were only two reigning King and Queen of Risk World — Ciel (2054 Wins, 506 Draws, and 20 Losses) and Sophia (2246 Wins, 228 Draws, and 100 Losses).

Many Lords had tried to unseat those two, but none had succeeded. It was a rivalry before time immemorial. Sophia had more wins under her belt, but Ciel was the master of stalling out the unwinnable situation into a draw.

Nevertheless, the tension between Ciel and Sophia was the stuff of legend.

…

An hour into the game, Borbonsi was sweating.

“And with the flood, your farm is gone,” Ciel said. “Your turn.”

Borbonsi rolled the dice and hit the ‘Draw from Unit Deck.’ He slowly drew from the pile.

“I got you!” Borbonsi roared and showed Ciel the card. “I have a castle now!”

Ciel flipped the ‘Unit Card’ he had been saving from the start of the game. “Tax Auditor,” he clapped his hand, “It forced your asset to go under a tax-fraud. You don’t have any cash to pay the punitive fine. Game over Borbonsi.”

“Damn it!” Borbonsi screamed to the heaven. “You are too good at this game!”

Hikari didn’t say a single thing during the entire game, but deep inside she wanted to play, too.

“Well, now that we’re done with the reunion,” Ciel said. “Let's get to business, I need help.”

Borbonsi knew where Ciel was coming from. “Ahh, Etaceh, right,” Borbonsi said. “Alright. I can help you against her, but I’ll do it on my terms.” Borbonsi then launched a counter offer. “But I also need you.” The Lord of Commerce made an offer. “Join me Ciel. With your Authority and my resource, we can build an unstoppable army and roll over the competition.”

Hikari felt her skin crawling over. She was afraid of where this conversation would go.

“That isn’t how I roll,” Ciel said.

“Come on, Ciel,” Borbonsi said. “Everything has a price.” The Lord of Commerce made a sly smile. “You can voice your reason about respecting the pygmies all you want, but I know you like making conquest,” he said. “I guessed you already bag the Elizabeth girl — quite a catch for a mortal. I can help you get more princesses and quality goods. Think about it, you can sleep with a little army of girls willing to throw themselves at you.” Borbonsi launched the ultimate dream of every man. “You get to live every man's perfect dream. I have my ticket to supremacy, and we go to the top with the Theomachy in our bag. I believe that is quite a pitch.”

Ciel innately groaned. Yep, Borbonsi hadn’t changed a single bit. Beneath the veneer of a friendly man, was the supremacist. Sure, he treated the other Lords as his equal, but to be anything less was trifling. His Authority made him less reliant on worshipers, so he cared little about them as a feeling individual.

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It was why he could suggest tagging an entire army of women on Ciel without considering the emotional disasters or their synergies. Ciel understood his uncaring attitude toward the ‘lesser’ well enough to link him to Eleanor. Only a Lord who gave less than a damn about his mortal residence would allow his power-base to become an unstable, crumbling hell-hole of inequality, one power transition away from erupting into a bonfire. Borbonsi’s Authority allowed to disregard everything but transaction between the ‘lesser’ and that did nothing to correct this wicked attitude.

“Etaceh is a threat,” Ciel tried to appeal to the Lord of Commerce’s self-preservation instinct.

“Yes,” he admitted. “But she would target Maximus first. After that, I can take out the flailing victor.”

Ciel questioned that confidence, “Why are you so—”

Then it hit him.

“You’re the one supplying Etaceh with the raw material to help her takeover,” Ciel said. The Lord of Mechanical Magic couldn’t get the immense remodeling material to modify Hecate out of thin air. Etaceh obviously needed a supplier to help make her ambition possible, and Borbonsi would happily supply it for benefits.

“Well, duh,” Borbonsi admitted without a pang of guilt. “It’s a win-win. Etaceh got the capital for start-up, and I got all the Magic Tower’s shiny artifacts in bulk at a discount price.” Borbonsi smirked. “With how much currency we are raking together, I doubt Etaceh would want to break that revenue stream.”

“You’re convinced everyone else thinks like you do,” Ciel warned. “It won’t end well.”

“My path is the logical options,” Borbonsi said. “I believe this game is rigged from the very start, so instead of punching my way to victory, I settle with the alternative.” Borbonsi made one last appeal. “Ciel, others might look down on your Authority, but I know its full potential. You can elevate trash into an acceptable servant. You can pick any of those puny mortal women you want and turn them into fine tools. It’s quite an enviable way to add value.”

Underneath the table, Ciel’s fist tightened. Okay, the idiot signed his own death sentence. Ciel was open-minded, but the reverse scale had been hit. Borbonsi would never understand Xia and the others worth the world for him. Accidental or not, comparing the Unity Lord’s wives as trash would become the biggest mistake in the history of Eleanor.

“Thanks for the game,” Ciel feigned a good mood. His head spun, the plan to milk everything Eleanor was worth. “May I stay here? I need time to think about your offer.”

“Do you even need to ask?” Borbonsi asked. “You can stay here as long as you want, Ciel.” Borbonsi’s eyes shifted toward the quiet Hikari. “I will even give you some surprise gift to make it easier for us to have another game.”

Ciel stood from the table and walked to the escalator with these last parting words, “All things aside, it is good to see a friendly face in a long while.”

“The feeling is mutual, Ciel,” Borbonsi agreed.

…

Ciel met with the other inside the Residence of Lords. The morale was doubtlessly affected by the recent meeting

“This is a total failure,” Ciel addressed the four ladies. “Borbonsi believes he can smooch out a business deal with Etaceh.”

“Could he?” Xia said. “And what is it between you two? It almost seemed like both of you are good friends.”

“It helps that Borbonsi is one of the more reasonable Lords,” Ciel said. “But he has too many problems. He couldn’t comprehend that people may not think like he does, and he holds himself too high.”

“Yeah, he compares all of us to trash,” Betty gritted her teeth. “I know he’s a god, but this is too much.”

Amy raised another point. “What is his ability anyway?”

“Lord of Commerce?” Ciel snorted. “He has a natural attraction to wealth. Essentially, he could stumble upon hidden treasure and gold mines as easily as breathing.”

Caislean gaped, “Master, why don’t you have that ability too.” Millions of things money could buy flashed through her brain. “I want that.”

“You don’t,” Ciel said sternly. “His Authority also allows him to treat a trade hosted by him as faith. Every coin worth of transaction in Eleanor directly empowered his stockpile of faith power. He can also sacrifice some of his wealth to ‘buy’ items from the Void.” Ciel growled. “If you want to know why he is the top suspect behind Eleanor, it’s because I believe bribes and corruption, trading in favors, also contributed to his stockpile. It is easy to guess he is naturally in charge of the most hyper capitalistic, unregulated, and corrupted place on Acceltra.”

Amy was stunned at how this one fact explained Eleanor’s hellish societal collapse. “This is insane,” Amy said. “I know he benefits from the bribes, but letting a societal order down that much won’t bode well in the long run. He should have put on a break a long time ago.”

“He won’t,” Ciel explained. “Borbonsi couldn’t care crap about human society. He sees everything but fellow Lords as trifles.” He smirked. “Which is a perfect set-up to bring the Onren down on his head.”

“Dear,” Xia tried to back Amy as a voice of reason. “I’m pleased you are this offended for us, but we need to talk about the ambassadors.”

“Yeah, they want an answer,” Elizabeth said.

“That’s not a problem,” Ciel said. “There’s a very simple method to stonewall those two.”

“How?” Caislean said. “Those two have pretty high stations, and Betty doesn’t have her country anymore because she invited Etaceh to the throne.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Caislean,” Betty glared at the black-heart assistant.

“Our answer will be simple,” Ciel said. “We will say: ‘The Unity Lord will wait for his friend, the Lord of Commerce, to arrive at a decision before formalizing his replies.’”

Silences.

“Master,” Caislean said aloud. “You talk like this is a grand strategy, but aren’t you just kicking the ball into Borbonsi’s court.”

“No,” Ciel corrected. “I’m kicking the ball into outer space.” He noticed the confused look. “You four don’t get it. The reason those two ambassadors crawled to Betty, is because they need something to prove they are actually progressing. They are desperate, and this desperation will only grow.”

“Why?” Betty said. “I hang out in a court for most of my life, and I cannot see where you are coming.”

“Dear,” Xia spoke. “Why are you so sure this is the best path?”

“Because that idiot Borbonsi looks down on humans so much he will only negotiate face-to-face with a Lord,” Ciel revealed the biggest secret oppressing Dios Apolline Sfolgorante and Nuan Yulong. “He already refused to negotiate with those two. Unless Nuan and Apolline can summon Mandrake and Maximus out of the air, they are stuck in a political limbo.”

Silence

“Oh,” Betty said. “You mean their negotiation with Borbonsi failed before it even started.”

“Exactly,” Ciel said. “As the only one who can act as neutral intermediaries, I hold all the cards. Those two might act like they have everything under control, but their position is a joke. They boasted all the plans, but those were bluffs. They can’t afford that repercussion of going home a loser, so they need Betty as a consolation prize for failing to meet Borbonsi.” Ciel said. “Give them my answer, and it will be like letting them see heaven, before dropping them back to hell. It will only make them more desperate, and then let them start a bidding war.”

Betty was in awe, “Ciel, that’s evil.”

Amy and Xia turned to each other and knew they fell for one hell of a bastard.

“I can’t believe you can be this nasty, master,” Caislean was impressed.

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