Endless Evolution: Last Star

In certain situations, for a short period, strangers could find something in common that could bring them together quite quickly.

What mattered was understanding, and a sincere belief that the other person understood your situation.

That's what happened to Franz, who felt how lucky he was that Adam was the one who would fight in The Rule of Power.

"Hah... are you saying you have a little sister too?" Franz said with a short laugh, "What's her name? Does she go to school somewhere?"

Adam shrugged.

"Yeah, her name is Trici, a small, cheerful girl who always wants to bite off more than she can swallow."

"Hahaha, that's good, you should always strive for more if you want to achieve something, you shouldn't stop!" Franz laughed, clapping himself on his knees.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Franz waved his hand, giving the order:

"Rosalind, make our guests tea and join us too. Apparently, these talks will now have a less formal style."

With a slight smile on her face, Rosalind nodded and bowed low.

"Sure, I'll get this done right away."

"I'll help!" Silvana said vigorously, following Rosalind.

No one bothered to stop her or interrupt her, in a way it was good that Adam was now alone with Franz.

Heading for the kitchen, Rosalind breathed a sigh of relief and cast a quick glance at Adam.

'To be honest I didn't expect him to be able to influence Franz so easily. Well, that's good, maybe soon Nelya will be back to normal life, that would be great.'

While Rosalind and Silvana were busy making tea, Adam got back to business and asked his first question:

"You said it was done by waiters at one of the banquets that many nobles attended, but how do you know it was Zarot who did it? I mean, I'm sure other nobles besides him don't have the best relationship with the Balo Family. It's impossible to be friends with everyone at once, you know." Adam shrugged with a calm voice.

Franz nodded, realizing that for any situation, proof was needed and not just words.

"Except for the backstory and his sly smirk when it happened, we questioned whoever did it. As you realize we didn't do it with the most legal and humane methods, but we managed to get them a confession." Franz explained.

Adam raised his hand, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Is there more to it than that? I mean, if you torture and intimidate a person for a long time, at some point they'll confess to anything."

Franz sighed heavily with a slight nod of his head.

"Yeah... Not long after the banquet, I met with Zarot, and in a heap of insults on both sides, he said that this wouldn't have happened if Nelya had agreed to become his concubine."

Adam stared at Franz for a while, though there was a small chance that Franz was lying, Adam just didn't believe it.

'It all seems rather plausible, moreover, isn't Nirosh Marzo doing something similar towards Osana?'

Then, Adam leaned forward, his gaze deep.

"I want to ask you something. Earlier, you said that this was a decision you made in the council. What did Nelya herself think? Did she want to become Zarot's concubine?"

Franz snorted displeased at hearing such a silly assumption.

"Of course not! If that had been her wish, I would not have persuaded her or put so much effort into the council. What young girl would want to be just some bastard's concubine? It's disgusting!" Franz waved his hand, indicating that it wasn't even up for discussion.

Adam nodded, glanced at Silvana and Rosalind, who, though rarely, exchanged a few phrases.

"Fine, so the first two conditions are settled. Nelya must come and watch me fight and you promise to organize the protection of my family, right?" Adam said in a stern voice.

After a long time, they finally came to the point where Franz had started their conversation at the banquet.

Franz closed his eyes and nodded deeply.

"Yes, you don't have to worry about the safety of your family. For the next month after The Rule of Power, they will be under the protection of my men. If nothing happens during that time, or even attempts occur, then that's where the protection will end. No one will wait that long to harm the common people."

Adam's gaze grew darker for a moment as he imagined someone would attack his family.

Step. Step. Step.

Footsteps sounded from outside as Silvana and Rosalind approached them, each holding two cups of hot black tea.

"Tea's ready!" Silvana said vigorously, placing the cup in front of Adam and sitting down next to him.

"Sir, this cup is for you, I also brought a saucer with sugar cubes." Rosalind said calmly and carefully sitting down next to Franz, keeping her back straight and her knees drawn together.

Franz smiled, immediately popping two sugar cubes into his small porcelain cup.

"Thank you, you're back just in time, as Adam and I have already solved two things out of three. Only the slum issues remain, right?" Franz uttered, looking intently at Adam through the steam coming from his cup.

"Yeah, you want to help develop the slums? You said it wouldn't be possible without me." Adam was wary.

"Sure, what I want to offer you is this: I'll commit to improving the infrastructure around the four Yellow Shar stores you've selected to the level of the Third Ring." Franz shrugged, taking the first sip of his sweet tea.

Adam didn't say anything, he wanted Franz to explain his proposal further.

"When I say infrastructure I mean everything, literally everything, from houses and roads, to lampposts, to cleaning up the garbage and changing the sewer pipes as well as updating the assortment in these four stores." Franz waved his hand defiantly, showing that it was in his power to do everything he said.

Adam nodded slowly, taking his time to conclude.

"Well, I won't hide it, I wish life in the slums would improve. I've lived there almost all my life with my family and we weren't living, we were surviving."

Adam folded his hands together, staring at one point with a grim gaze.

"There are good and bad people like everywhere else, and I wish I could help the people who are stuck there and can't get out, the poor families and teenagers who are in the same situation that my little sister and I were in not too long ago."

Now it was Franz's turn to be silent and listen carefully to Adam. It might help him better understand what Adam wanted.

"You said there are four stores around, how big an area are we talking about?"

Franz's corners of his lips curved forming a sly smile. Discover hidden tales at empire

"At least a hundred houses, we can discuss this further later and Rosalind will show you a map with a selected area around the four chosen stores." Franz said honestly. He wasn't going to deceive Adam.

"And... One last question." Adam's eyes grew colder, "Why can't you do this without me? Why can't Franz Balo improve the quality of life in the slums around Yellow Shark stores on any day?"

Franz put his cup down on the table and sighed slightly.

"Because I need a reason and my family's permission to do so. Your appearance at the wedding with our emblem, the Eight Blades, would be enough for an approval of my request."