“What an odd question, Fourth Prince. Could you move the Silencing Stone closer to the center of the table? I’ll answer you, but you’ll have to bear with my paranoia.” Lowell said.

Leonard moved the Silencing Stone to the middle of the table and Lowell was able to confirm it was working.

“To answer your question...The Merchant’s Circle has always moved to where they benefit the most. In this case, I provided the directions and the means of travel.” Lowell stated.

“So you’ve convinced them to set their sights on the Grenitian Kingdom?” Leonard questioned.

“As I said Prince, you appear weak on the outside. Of course, If you can strengthen your Kingdom and prove to everyone else that it isn’t failing the Merchant’s Circle would withdraw its interest.” Lowell spoke while knowing what he suggested was incredibly difficult. To him, it was clear the Grenitian Kingdom was a sinking ship.

“And the Tel’vians? They've shown quite a lot of aggression toward us these past few days? Do they have something to do with it?” Leonard spoke vaguely as to not expose what he already knew.

“Everyone has their part to play, Fourth Prince. You should know this by now, the Tel’vians are just an inevitable problem you’ll face. Whether we interfere or not, they’ll still move against you. The Grenitan Kingdom is the closest and the most vulnerable.” Lowell said.

“I see...I’ll find a way to prepare for it then.” Leonard declared. “I’ll also ruin your plans for the Kingdom, I refuse to let you or the Merchant’s Circle advance any further then you are right now.” Leonard declared.

Lowell laughed, “I look forward to witnessing it, Fourth Prince.”

Leonard grabbed the Silencing Stone and looked as if he was going to stand up, but he placed it back down and slid it closer to Lowell.

“One last thing...Did you kill Irving?” Leonard questioned.

Lowell glanced at the Leonard before checking the Silencing Stone, once he confirmed the Prince didn’t attempt any sleight of hand, he smiled comfortably.

“Yes, your Highness. I arranged for his death, it was necessary to remind you not to overreach.” Lowell confessed.

“So you were the one behind it?” Leonard clenched his fist as his emotions stirred.

“Please don’t phrase it that way, it makes it sound incredibly malicious. It was necessary for you, Fourth Prince. Don’t hold the Merchant’s Circle accountable though, those greedy bastards would never do something that could bring backlash to the Free City.” Lowell looked incredibly arrogant as he spoke. With the Silencing Stone active, he could truly be himself and that was a person who held almost no one in his eyes.

Leonard looked at Lowell hatefully, before he smiled. “Thank you.”

Lowell saw the incredibly calm smile and panicked briefly, he checked the Silencing Stone, but it was functioning just fine. He took a look around at the attendees and saw that they were behaving normally and became confused.

“It works as intended.” Leonard said with a laugh. “That particular one was made with a different intention though. Activating it once will allow it to function as normal, but a second time and another feature will activate. Since it’s a bit flawed, there is a delay in the sound but in this situation, it’s quite good.”

Lowell dropped the Silencing Stone in alarm before he glared at Leonard, “What did you do? You aren’t dumb enough to share our conversation.”

“No, not the entire conversation. Just your confession.” Leonard shook his head.

Suddenly, the Silencing Stone slightly glowed before a loud sound was transmitted throughout the banquet hall.

“One last question...Did you kill Irving?”

“Yes, your Highness. I arranged for his death, it was necessary to remind you not to overreach.”

Lowell’s confession echoed through everyone’s ears causing them to go silent. The only sources of sound were the modified Silencing Stone and Ira eating. Lowell attempted to deactivate the stone, but as an imperfect model, it was quite difficult. After a few moments, he managed to shut if off, but when he looked up, all eyes glued to him.

“You’ve heard it from the culprit first hand, Lowell acted on his own to antagonize me and organized the murder of my aide!” Leonard shouted. The silent spectators had a shift in emotion, distrust, glee, anger, disdain, everything added up to the loss of reputation for the Merchant’s Circle.

“You!” Lowell’s hands trembled as he looked at the judgmental gazes. He had no explanation to shift the crowd onto his side.

“Damn it!” Lowell cursed as he fled the Banquet Hall with an incredible urgency. The Free City guards were confused at what transpired which gave him a window of opportunity.

Leonard watched him leave with an empty expression. Lowell wouldn’t be able to escape the consequences of endangering the Merchant’s Circle.

“Wow. He’s...Yup, he’s gone.” Ira’s voice rang out and with it came the commotion in the hall.

Everyone began lodging complaints against the Merchant’s Circle. The entire reason that the Free City was allowed to exist was due to its neutral stance. The only reason the Summit was hosted in the Free City was that same reason. If the Merchant’s Circle couldn’t prevent one person from exerting their personal agenda, what did that say about it? It would go from the unbiased center of wealth to an immediate threat that each nation would agree on destroying. Except for the Elves, the Elves believed that just about every other nation deserved to be destroyed.

After twenty minutes or so, a messenger appeared in the Hall. “Everyone please listen! The Merchant’s Circle would like to end the Banquet early and as promised to address the situation at the last conference tomorrow.” He shouted.

Of course, calming the attendees was easier said than done. Insults and curses were thrown at the messenger who had nothing to do with Lowell’s crimes. Eventually, much to the messenger’s relief, some semblance of calmness was found and the Hall slowly started to empty.

“How’d you do that, Prince?” Ira appeared beside Leonard, who was watching everyone leave while drinking a cup of wine.

Leonard took a sip before he looked at Ira, “...I’ll let you in on a little secret...I’m the one who created the Silencing Stone.”

“Isn’t that the thing you wanted me to break that day?” Ira asked.

Leonard paused before he began his explanation.“Yes...As for how it functions? I followed the same principle as sound being distorted by wind and applied it to a small array with low consumption. When activated, the array slows the travel of sound by dampening and absorption within a small radius...The one I just used applies the opposite principle–”

“I’ll stop you right there. I have no fucking idea what any of that means.” Ira interrupted.

“...It’s basically sound magic.” Leonard said.

“Much better.” Ira nodded. “Well anyway, see you tomorrow, Prince.”

Leonard chuckled to himself before he replied, “See you tomorrow, Ira.”

…

Elsewhere, Lowell rummaged through his belongings as he gathered everything he could from his Manor. He knew it would be hard to escape the city, but once he did, he would be able to live comfortably. Any city or country with underworld elements would be perfect for someone like him to fit in.

“Leaving so soon?” A shadow appeared behind Lowell.

“It’s you?!” Lowell spun around to see a familiar figure. “Don’t scare me like that!...I’m in need of your help. I need to be escorted out of city no matter what, killing isn’t a problem just as long as I can escape. Of course, I’ll pay three times what I normally pay you.” Lowell was about to turn back around when he noticed the shadow stayed silent. “You want more? Fine, I’ll pay you six times the normal amount.”

“Someone else paid more.” The shadow said as it slowly moved closer to Lowell.

“That’s not possible...Even if news spread there’s no way the Circle could’ve moved that fast…” Lowell stammered as he backed away.

“They didn’t, from the start they’ve been paying me to keep an eye on you.” The shadow rushed up and restrained Lowell before he could say another word. “Even if you had enough money to pay me, I still wouldn’t accept it. You should already know how much danger you brought to the city.”

Lowell found himself unable to breathe as fear and panic ran through his eyes.

“It’s too bad they want you alive…” The Shadowy figure said regrettably.