"Forgive me for my ignorance, but if I may ask—"

"You are forgiven."

As an elf with a slim body was about to inquire about something, another young elf interrupted him, making many elders in the room chuckle slightly.

Irtuk didn’t take any offense to the interruption as he slightly nodded his head in acceptance of the comment that was meant to insult him.

"I must thank you for your kind heart, sir."

Irtuk’s humble attitude made the young elf who had tried to mock him click his tongue in disappointment.

No matter how disrespectful the comments towards him were, Irtuk had never once lost his cool.

"You were saying something, Master Irtuk."

The assistant spoke, though there was a hint of admiration in his eyes, coupled with respect towards the man whom everyone seemed to be taking lightly.

"I wanted to ask about the deal that the banks had proposed, as I wasn’t made aware of it."

Irtuk spoke while slightly shifting his gaze to the people in the room, who adjusted their seats in displeasure.

"Hm? I think that I had informed you to inform Master Irtuk about the deal, or am I wrong?"

The assistant’s voice grew distant as he stared in the direction of the young man who had insulted Irtuk.

"Huh? I had informed him. Don’t blame me for his ignorance, tsk."

"Don’t click your tongue before the Lord, you fool."

Before the assistant could discipline the elf, the frail elder spoke up, his eyes staring intensely in the direction of the young man.

Under the gaze, the young elf shifted uncomfortably, before—

"I apologize, my lord."

Bowing his head, the elf touched the table, showing his utmost reverence towards the head of the guild, who still had his eyes closed.

"Let’s get to the topic at hand. As for your question, Master Irtuk, the banks had proposed a deal of joint cooperation between us. Summarising their deal, I would say that the banks want us to cooperate together to financially corner Syma, thereby reducing their income and destroying their chain of operations. Though the methods suggested by them are disgusting, I think given the situation we should indeed accept the deal, as that would decide whether we would be able to remain dominant in the market like before."

On the assistant’s explanation, Irtuk nodded his head as he processed all the information.

"If I may ask again... does the deal include using military force to disrupt Syma’s operations?"

The assistant didn’t reply immediately.

He first looked at the head for permission, then sorted out the words in his mind.

"There are many ways to disrupt their operations, but fret not, using force would be our last option as we aren’t barbarians, unlike the individuals who run those banks on the blood of millions."

The assistant uttered the words without hesitation.

It was clear from the tone of his voice that the man didn’t like the way the banks operated.

And... it was the same for all the elders in the room.

Elves were naturally a race that was endowed with the blessing of nature.

That made them the closest to nature, and with such a blessing, the elves naturally didn’t like to use violence unless necessary.

Though the Elven empires had fought many wars over history... it could be debated whether the elves really hated violence, or was it just their way to portray themselves as pacifist to the world.

"I have a suggestion."

After thinking for a while, Irtuk raised his head to look into the assistant’s eyes, while at the same time, he took notice of the reaction displayed by every individual in the room, except the head, who still hadn’t spoken a word.

"Why should we take a suggestion from a failure like you, huh? Surely none of us is interested in turning the guild into a spineless—"

"Silence."

For the first time in the meeting, the head opened his eyes as he stared at Irtuk.

The room went silent the moment the words left the head’s mouth, as none dared to disobey the command.

"Speak."

On the next command, Irtuk cleared his throat as he quickly sorted out the thoughts in his mind.

"My lord, we are an alchemist guild and so is Syma. Both of us share a similar business, so trying to burn a neighbour would surely spark some flames in our own camp. The banks don’t really care for us and would be happy to see our mutual destruction, as that would allow them to control a new sector of the business world. Syma would surely react to any aggressions done by us, so... in my opinion, it would be foolish of us to cut our own routes just because we want to dominate the market."

The head didn’t say anything as he waited for Irtuk to finish his proposal. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"If I may say... we should extend a hand of cooperation towards Syma and work together for mutual development and growth, instead of fighting a battle that will lead to losses on both sides."

Irtuk bowed his head slightly as he finished his suggestion, which received looks of displeasure from all the executives, except the assistant and the head.

The head didn’t comment on the proposal, as he closed his eyes once again, signalling for the rest to begin their discussion.

"Master Irtuk, forgive me for my rudeness, but only because you are scared of a battle doesn’t mean that we should feel the same. We are the representatives of House Elor, and it would be beneath us to extend our hand to some guild of barbarians who had just managed to get a stable footing in the world. We have been in this business for centuries, so... I hope you understand what I am trying to say."

The frail elder was the first to speak.

Many nodded their heads at his words.

Irtuk, despite being the eldest child of House Elor, had none of the capabilities that the royal blood should have been blessed with from birth.

Elves had superior control over mana than the other races. Their mana reserves too were slightly higher than the average mana reserves that many in the world possessed.

Along with that was the ability to better interact with nature and control it.

The Elven royals were the best at it, as their bloodline made them the most superior among their kind.