He didn’t want to miss out if it truly was something that demanded such urgency.

If there was the slightest possibility that this discussion might turn out to be important to maintain the current status quo, Olaf didn’t want to be the only one not in attendance.

Therefore, once he had confirmed that the leader of the House Davis would be attending, he too departed towards the residence of Hunter family which enjoyed the reputation of being the top most family of Byzantium city.

“What are we doing here? I hope, for your sake, that this isn’t just because of your paranoia regarding the revenge of Windsor family. You look even more terrified than what I had imagined you to be. Is that old Marico so frightening to you? He doesn’t even have any evidence on you. You don’t have to mind him so much.” asked Olaf the leader of the Brown family derisively. 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍．𝒆𝒕

Hogan didn’t say anything before Austin, the leader of House Davis, retorted on his behalf.

“It seems your intelligence gathering system is as useless as ever. You haven’t even heard of such a prominent matter. I suppose that every starving beggar on the streets of Byzantium city knows of this by now and yet the leader of one of the most prominent families is completely unaware like a country bumpkin.” Austin didn’t hold back and mocked Olaf whole heartedly for coming to the conference without even investigating a single thing. He even wondered in his heart how Olaf had managed to keep his family at the same position with that level of intelligence and caution.

“What do you mean by that? I presume you are seeking to go to war with my family based on your attitude. Is that right?” Olaf threatened Austin with a heavy tone of voice.

Austin didn’t intend to trigger Olaf for no reason. Therefore he stopped mocking him and explained the agenda of the conference. Meanwhile, the host of the conference sat to the side waiting for the argument between the guests to finish before stating his purpose.

“I don’t know if you have heard of it yet but a new product has recently become extremely famous among the nobility and the elite families of the city. It’s a solid crystal like product that can be used to make any kind of food taste sweet. It is akin to salt except for the fact that it tastes sweet.”

“Where are you going with this? I doubt it would make much waves. Don’t we already have honey as the sweetening agent? Why would we shift to this low grade powder?” Olaf didn’t find the new product as threatening as the other two leaders did.

“What if the product also became available to the masses and wasn’t a luxury product? What if the Windsor family was the one to push the product into the market and were intending on making it an empire wide supply chain? Would it affect you then? Windsor family is now worth its weight in gold and we can’t afford to touch it carelessly. Are you willing to let the Windsor family lord over you with their increasing influence among the government factions and the masses?” Austin couldn’t help but mock Olaf again.

Olaf didn’t intend to defend his intelligence system this time. He was clearly behind in times compared to his counterparts. Thankfully, they hadn’t forgotten him when they conducted this meeting or he might not have found out about it until it was too late.

“Do you think that new and younger version of Smith is behind all this new development? Think about it. The moment that Smith came to the city, Marico recovered from his life long illness and now the Windsor family is making waves not long after. The Windsor family also helped him lease Greenland soon after Marico claimed to have recovered.”

Since Olaf knew that the cannons were targeting him at the moment, he tried to divert the topic of discussion by shining light on Zach and his achievements.

“What could he possibly do with that piece of land? Didn’t we all at one point try to develop that piece of god forsaken land? There is no way for him to actually pull it off when all of us failed despite all our resources.”

The one to mock Zach was none other than Hogan who had been simmering like a pot at high temperature trying to keep its lid from flying off.

“I don’t think a man capable of making things like this sugar would be so foolish to take up residence in such a dangerous area without any strategy. I believe that there is a huge secret behind his decision. There must be something on that island that we failed to discover previously which is worth the risk he is taking. I don’t know what his intention is but it must not be something foolish considering that Marico is even willing to marry his youngest daughter to him without any regret.”

Olaf believed that there was a conspiracy behind Zach acquiring the lease for Greenland and the old foggy Marico was definitely a part of it considering the amount of resources that he was willing to invest in Zach. Not only had he helped him acquire the lease at a low rate by making some secret deals with the government but he had also sealed his relationship with Zach in cement by marrying his daughter off to him.

Hogan on the other hand didn’t want the focus of the conversation to be the remote island at the edge of the city when he had called the meeting to discuss the countermeasures for the Windsor family’s new business that could potentially change the rankings of the influential families in Byzantium city.

“We don’t have the leisure to pay attention to every little action of that kid when we don’t even have any proof of his strength. All I know is that if we don’t do anything to stop the Windsor family at this critical juncture, then we can all start looking for a new place to call home. Once the benefits from this sugar business start to roll in, we will surely be kicked out of the city.”

Hogan could only rely on manipulation to get what he wanted. He decided to capitalize on their fears to make them move against Windsor family.

Although he was the only one who had actively campaigned to destroy and take over the Windsor family, none of the other families in Byzantium city had tried to stop him from taking action against a half dead family. Not to mention stopping the Hunter family, they hadn’t even come forth to show their support for the Windsor family and Marico surely remembered every single detail.

Those going through hard times rarely forgot timely help rendered to them in their most vulnerable moments. Marico would have surely remembered them had they revealed any form of goodwill to him in his tough moments. Unfortunately, there was nothing these families could do now to get in Marico’s good graces now that his business was about to sky-rocket.

Instead they had to worry about his revenge that could be directed towards all of them. Decades of bottled up anger and frustration could make anyone do criminal things and these families had done more than their fair share to kick Marico when he was down.

Therefore, Hogan was sure that the plan of his would definitely work. Capitalizing on these family heads’ insecurities was the best way to get them on his side.

As expected, there was a noticeable change in Olaf and Austin’s previously cheerful faces. They were now grim and solemn as if they were attending the funeral of their close ones.

They had come to realize the seriousness of the problem from Hogan’s words and felt the need to do something as well. Since they had been called here by Hogan, both of them looked towards him in anticipation that he might have some kind of plan since he had called this emergency meeting to deal with their problems. At the same time, they felt slightly thankful that Hogan hadn’t excluded them from this meeting.

“What do you think we should do then?” asked Olaf who was always a little behind in the intelligence department but knew how to get things done when it was a crucial moment. He had not secured the seat of the family head for so long based on nothing. He could be extremely cruel when he had to. Only through such methods could he have a firm grip on his large family business.

“I do have a figment of a plan in my mind but it depends on you two whether it sees the light of the day or not. If you agree to follow my lead without question, then we might have a way to bring down the Windsor family before they gain enough power to stand up to all of us together. If you don’t then I would have no choice to snuff its life in the darkness so as to think of another survival strategy for my family.”

Hogan was extremely elaborate in his manipulations. Although the other two family heads had a vague idea what Hogan was playing at, they didn’t pay any attention to it. They pretended not to know it in order to maintain the semblance of an alliance that would yield mutual benefits in the long run.

“I have no problem in joining hands with you provided that your plan is based on reason and mutual benefit.”