RISE OF EROS

Throughout the night, the owners and managers of the pleasure houses near the Heavenly Palace spent the whole time discussing and scrutinizing the dance room, with the intention of deciphering all its secrets, but in the end, they could not find a solution for the music.

Although they were not musicians, nor did they know how to play an instrument, they had attended different events and meetings, so they could be considered music connoisseurs to a certain degree, even so, they could not identify from which instruments the music of the dance room of the Heavenly Palace came from.

A bit frustrated they left and decided to keep coming back with the intention of deciphering the mystery. Although they looked a little strange sitting all night in the dance room and just drinking alcohol and chatting with each other, instead of watching the dancers on stage, no one bothered them, as they were consuming.

All the employees of the Heavenly Palace were clear about their purpose and that was to generate profits. Even the maids and cooks who did not interact directly with the customers, contributed their grain of sand to this objective.

After the Heavenly Palace closed its doors, Andrew and his wives had an exciting exercise at night, so they fell asleep quite late, and the next day they woke up at almost noon.

Although they woke up late, no one reproached them because not only were they the bosses of the place and could do whatever they wanted, but everyone knew that it was thanks to them that they had such a good job and enjoyed peace and quiet.

As Andrew was reviewing the previous day's earnings, a carrier pigeon flew in through the window and landed in front of him on the desk. Andrew immediately knew it was a message from Candice, as the messenger birds they used to communicate with her were unique.

Andrew fearlessly removed the message strapped to the bird's leg and began to read it. While it might be dangerous to take messages in this manner without first checking for traps, this did not apply to Andrew.

His Eros eyes could see the aura of evil intent even from the objects, so he knew the message was safe. In the message, Candice informed Andrew that the Valoid Marquis had accepted the proposal and therefore it was good that he expedited Johan's deal.

She also explained that the Marquis had agreed to offer his distribution channels for Andrew's products, so he should ramp up production quickly.

Andrew had told Candice that in about a month, he would be able to increase production and so the problem that led to his relationship with Johan being damaged would disappear.

This was because according to Carolina's estimates in a month, she would master the manufacture of rejuvenating creams and tissue repair creams. Andrew at first did not believe it was possible, as he had seen Carolina try to refine them several times and always fail, but Fluffy told him that appearances were deceiving.

Andrew could refine these products with relative ease, thanks to his skills, but he didn't really have the knowledge, his body only knew the process, so he couldn't determine if Carolina was making progress, but Fluffy was different.

Fluffy as a divine beast assigned to Andrew was different from him. He had the necessary knowledge to evaluate Carolina's progress even when he did not know how to refine this product and he had told Andrew that, despite the failures, the girl was making great progress.

For this reason, Andrew knew that Carolina would not only learn to refine these products in about a month but that the quantity would increase exponentially, since she was not limited like Andrew, due to his ability to synthesize.

For all this, Andrew disregarded Candice's request to accelerate the growth of the production, everything had to be done in due time. Still, thinking about how things would change, Andrew could not help but laugh internally at Johan's misfortune.

If he had been more patient, all these benefits would have been his, but by revealing his true face, he had suffered a major setback. After laughing at Johan, Andrew called Oliver and Castor into the office, to discuss the Johan issue.

After a few minutes, they both arrived at the office and sitting next to Andrew began to discuss the issue. "How do you think we should approach this matter?", Andrew asked as he sipped a cup of tea in a relaxed manner as if Johan was no big deal.

His calmness was because Andrew knew that Johan was no threat to him. Johan had underestimated Andrew's strength too much. He wasn't the only one observing his enemy's movements. Andrew had also sent several Shadow members to observe Johan's movements, well, Oliver had.

Thanks to this, Andrew now knew that while Johan's strength was not small, it was nothing compared to a single Oliver and if he now added Castor, the difference was even greater.

Johan had many men under his command, but none were as powerful a force as Castor and Oliver. In this world a single expert is worth more than an army and the Heavenly Palace had two.

"Well, I'm not much of a strategist type, so I'll just stick to following orders. I may be good at fighting and commanding men to guard security, but I'll leave the strategy to you," Castor immediately said as if trying to avoid responsibility.

Andrew and Oliver couldn't help but laugh at Castor's words, but they didn't scold him, as they too understood that what he said was true. After the short relaxation, Oliver adopted his serious pose again and said, "Young master, I think we should not be so calculating and face the problem directly and simply."

"Elaborate, please," Andrew said regaining his seriousness and Oliver explained, "I think we should meet with him and express what we want without giving him the option to refuse."

Castor did not understand what Oliver was saying, so he just listened. Andrew for his part understood a little more but still had doubts so he asked, "More specifically?".

"Simple, we can all three of us go to Johan's store and declare our intention that he will receive the same amount of products that he now receives and we will give him the benefit of being able to sell it at whatever price he wants and however he wants," Oliver paused, took some tea to soak his throat and continued.

"In this way, we will give him some benefit and show him that we are not afraid of him. With the company of the two of us, we'll let him see that you can't be intimidated and if he wants to get smart, we can pull the card of our allies, Mistress Candice and Marquis Valoid."

By the time Oliver finished explaining, Andrew was clear about what Oliver was proposing. It really was simple and straightforward, yet effective. Andrew thought it was a good plan. He's not particularly good at dealing with tricks and traps, so he liked this strategy.

Although Oliver had been urging him to be more calculating and think on his own, Andrew was a bit slow, so he still trusted Oliver as his strategist.

Andrew was aware that he needed to mature and learn these kinds of tactics, but it seemed that he was not cut out for them, however, he dared not admit it to Oliver and simply pretended to be trying in order to not anger Oliver.

Although Oliver still called him "Young Master", in reality, their relationship was no longer based on master and servant, they were more like friends, so Oliver now claimed and scolded him more often for his glib attitude and although Andrew didn't mind, he didn't want to be scolded.

With that defined, they began to define when to act and here Oliver spoke again, "I think we should do it in a week," to which Andrew asked wrinkling his eyebrows, "Why wait so long?".

"Well, Young Master, Marie and I want to perform the lover's pact during this week. Although I don't think there will be any problems, I think the increased strength the pact would give us would be beneficial in any eventuality," Oliver replied a little chagrined.

"Lover's pact? What's that?" asked Castor at a loss because while he was one of Andrew's trusted men, he still didn't know about his status as a candidate for Eros god.

At Castor's questions, Andrew and Oliver didn't know how to answer, so an awkward silence spread around the room. Castor being a perceptive man, understood that it was a delicate subject and quickly expressed, "If it's not convenient to tell me, don't worry."

At that moment Fluffy spoke to Andrew, "Master, this friend of yours is trustworthy and loyal, he can become a guardian, why haven't you made him one?", at Fluffy's question, Andrew was more uncomfortable.

It was precisely because Castor was a childhood friend that he found it hard to tell him that, as he felt he had been deceiving his friend by keeping something like that from him, but at Fluffy's insistence that those were stupid thoughts, Andrew sighed and reluctantly agreed.

"Castor, I really have been keeping something from you. As my brother and friend, I feel bad, but you must understand that if I tell you this you can no longer stay in this place as a refugee, you will be in the same boat as us for life."

At the seriousness of Andrew's words and expression, Castor could feel the gravity of the situation and fell into deep thought. However, no matter how much he thought, only one thing came to his mind, "This is your brother, why should I be doubted?".

It was amazing the loyalty Castor had over Andrew. Even he himself did not understand the reason, but not wanting to think more than he should, he simply said nonchalantly, "Tell me."