Chapter 14 Claude

I followed Claude into a room in the back, this one was very luxurious. You would never expect these types of jewel littered furniture and expensive paintings to be in a run down building like this.

I took a seat without waiting for him to offer me one.

He smiled stiffly when he saw that I was acting at home but still never said anything. He sat down in the chair behind his desk.

I inwardly chuckled as I saw something that would make this a lot easier. It seems Luna noticed it too as she tugged at my shoulder lightly to indicate it.

"Let's talk business." He said as he glared at me intent on either putting pressure on me or scaring me off.

The pressure he emitted felt like a little baby in front of the presences I had faced in the past so it actually almost made me feel more at ease.

"I have some information to sell to you." I answered simply.

"Hoh, and what is that?"

"Did you know that the eldest child of Duke Renforth, Selena Renforth, is a massive slut? She sleeps around with many men even though she is vying for the position of my little brother Julian's fiancé. I just can't stand to sit by and watch this happen, so I want this information to get out there."

"That does indeed sound troublesome for you. If I may ask just how reliable is this information. Any sources we can confirm it with?"

I started to giggle.

"You already know the answer to the question." I said simply.

"I'm not sure I follow."

"How many rats do you have in the duke's household? At least 1-2, maybe even up to 5?"

He stiffened slightly, it would go unnoticed if you weren't specifically looking for it but I was. He maintained a professional smile and attitude and pretended nothing happened.

"Although I'm not sure what you mean by that. I do indeed believe that this information has no basis." He said with a smile.

I leaned forward. "Oh, but it does. It just has to be confirmed by you, the second largest information guild in the country, Moonlight."

"I don't exactly follow. Why and how would we confirm it?"

"Well, don't you think that as long as one of the biggest and best information guilds confirms some information, it becomes a fact? Let's say that you took this information and started to spread it. No one would doubt a thing. Obviously the duke would deny it, but no one would believe that. You guys already said it's true. So it is true. Now, I know your next question. What about the doubters? Or people who try to refute? We have no evidence at all! Well, that's where your little rats come in. I know for a fact that you have people within the servants of the duke's household. Those are our witnesses. They saw everything, Selena would invite men into her room constantly, and then loud moaning noises would rain in the gardens. The loyal maids and servants would deny it, but then again. They would do that whether it was true or not so their credibility goes out the window. Sure you have to sacrifice a few rats, but they can always be replaced. I will pay them handsomely too."

His face went cold and stiff after hearing my proposition.

"Are you suggesting we lie and fabricate information? This guild is proud of its authenticity and accurate information. I will not be doing anything that risks the reputation of the guild. This is a ludicrous suggestion."

Well, I expected that reaction. I activated the magic circle on my arm and pulled some papers out of my pocket dimension of storage. Truly the most useful thing in the world.

I stood up and plopped the papers down on his desk so that he could read them.

"Those are a few rats in the royal palace. One of them even serves directly under the king. I wonder what my father would say if he knew that you were spying on him so closely? Perhaps he would lop off your heads?"

Claude remained calm and collected. "What evidence do you have other than your own suspicions that I have anything to do with these people?"

I smiled. "Well, I did hear a few interesting things from my ex-maid. You did a really shitty job picking her. It was so easy to get information out of her. All I needed to do was act a little dumb, and she would spill everything. Anna, Anna, Anna, what a foolish little girl she was. She even slept with my brother to try and get some more information. Didn't Icarus teach her anything? She flew a little too close to the sun."

Claude clicked his tongue. "I figured I'd put my trainee on the idiot prince to give her some experience. Seems the information she brought about you was completely wrong. She said you were like a little puppy who had no idea about anything, but it seems you were more like a lion who was lying in wait. Well, no matter. Anna might not have been the best agent we had, but at least she won't talk. You still have nothing against me, Prince Artemis."

"Haaa, must we continue this farce? Just fucking do it already." Luna complained from my shoulder.

"WHAT?!" Claude jumped in his seat, when he heard the talking cat.

"Hahaha! Calm down Claude. We're just getting started. Now, I have a few other things against you but let me just make this quick and easy. If you comply with my demands, I think we can have a lovely partnership going forward. I actually have a great piece of information that can make you a lot of money to offer. But I'll hold that back for a little bit. Now, to get this painful conversation over. Nice ring you got there."

He froze.

"Thank you. What about it?" He asked nervously.

"Alright Claude, fuck off. I know what that ring is, my cat has the same one. You're not gonna fool me."

That's right, Claude was currently wearing the same ring that Luna had on. The one that my father sold and was so desperately looking for. It was also the reason I wasn't focusing too much on his appearance right now, as I was 99% sure it was fake.

Claude slightly smiled and relaxed.

"Alright, you got me. What about the ring?"

"Surely you jest. You must already know how much my father wants that ring to impress his harem. If he finds out that you 'scammed' him into selling it, then your head will be on a stick."

"I'm sure that the king wouldn't be such an unreasonable person."

"Ha! HAHAHAHA! Oh, good one Claude. That was funny. You have no idea how vain my father is. He would send the army at you if he even got a tip that the ring might be here."

"Fine I cave. You said you had more anyway. I just have two questions. One, what is this information? And two, why us? Why my guild?"

Finally we are getting somewhere.