In the biggest hall of our house, the maids were lined up in the evening. A man dressed in a tuxedo wore glasses, and a lady stood behind him, although she looked awkward.
The moment he saw my parents, he got nervous and bowed. So did the lady behind him, but unlike him, who looked like he was afraid, she looked like she didn't want to be here.
He gave me a deep stare, and I looked at him as well... and there was something akin to a spark between us. I knew who he was because I watched the show. I learned about him, about his son, about his secret basement.
But for some reason... some glimpse of instincts. It was as if he also knew who I was.
Grisha Yeager knelt and patted my head; his hands were shivering.
"Nice to meet you, big man... I am Grisha".
"Nice to meet you, sir. I am Arthur Borg".
For a moment, I saw him pale. The hand he had above my head hovered up and refused to pat my head again. I raised my brows in surprise, took his hand and put it back on my head.
"Is something wrong?" I asked him, his face was a bit unsettling.
"N-No, not at all... such a polite kid~" Grisha stuttered and regained his composure. He shook his head a few times and stood up, making some distance.
"Could you introduce me to this beautiful flower behind you?" I mumbled with interest, sending a glance behind him.
!!!
My words froze the hall, the maids giggled, and Grisha laughed awkwardly. My mother pulled my ears harshly with a glare.
"Ah, Mom!" I complained.
"I'm sorry, this boy's tongue is quite soft" My mom apologised as if I did anything wrong by complimenting our guest.
"It is not a problem, madam" The lady in question knelt in front of me with a smile and patted my head too; she even caressed my ears and won some plus points with me.
"My name is Carla Yeager, Arthur... you look like a very sweet little gentleman~".
"Oooh~".
My parents and Grisha sat down to have their meeting. The maids brought food and beverages; they were on either side of the table, and I was sitting next to Carla, talking to her about Shiganshima.
Carla didn't want to be here, but she had no issue talking to me.
"You're so smart, Arthur~" She giggled, only to hear a desolate demonic voice from the other side of the table that made both of us perk up.
"Arthur..."
It wasn't until my mother gave me the 'glare' that I reluctantly walked to their side and sat next to her. She pulled me and sent a glare to the awkward Carla as if saying, 'he's MY son'.
I reassured my mother that she didn't need to be jealous.
"So, what's the reason you have me here, Mom?" I asked, going into business mode.
She explained to me that Grisha came to them asking for a distribution deal. My mother's company has customers predominantly in Wall Rose and Sheena, mostly in Mitras with Karanes being our most prominent area, we don't extend farther into Wall Maria because of the cost of travel, thievery and all risks associated with it.
Wall Maria's territory is the biggest, and going from one side to the other could take days if not weeks, depending on obstacles and encounters. We have farms and factories around the area; ideally, the closer the branches are to those factories, the better and cheaper it is to do business in that area.
Grisha explained that after a strong disease hit Shiganshima, most of their resources were depleted, and the distribution company that used to serve them had gone bankrupt. He ran a small hospital and was associated with other hospitals in Wall Maria. Through a merchant in Shiganshima, he came to know of my mother and decided to visit us to ask for a deal.
I can already tell why my mother called me. She doesn't want to do it; she has me here to give her reasons to do it. Shiganshima is very far away... our closest factory in Stohess is probably a week's travel away, and that's in the best-case scenario.
"Not only are there remnants of the disease, but the soldiers coming back from their expeditions outside the walls come through Shiganshima most of the time; they come heavily injured and are treated by us. If we don't have the necessary resources, it would affect the legion," Grisha stated. My father interrupted him.
"Then why isn't it the Legion commander coming to me personally to settle this matter? If he comes with a military order, I would have no choice but to restructure my business to supply Shiganshima," My father said.
"..."
He left Grisha out of words. He may be a good man, but he is not very charismatic in my opinion, at least not compared to his son, Eren.
"It is because the legion's recent expeditions have been a failure, and they are currently lacking any military influence", Carla mumbled what Grisha didn't want to say, "We heard this from a friend of ours that's in the scout regiment. Also I used to work at a restaurant, so I have spoken to a lot of them".
"..." My parents looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Military resources are being spent on a division that's not giving any results, so the government is looking for the best way to end the scout regiment. Obviously, their shortage of medical supplies is not a priority... but we still need those supplies in the city, otherwise the disease may get out of control, please".
After his wife spoke, Grisha got some backbone.
"..." My mom looked at me again, and I looked at her and said nothing.
"Say something, Arthur..."
"What do you want me to say, Mom? This is a lose-lose deal," I thought she didn't need my input for this. Right now, we're saving money to open more branches in Mitras and also the underground city, it is not convenient to just come out of our way to deal with Shiganshima.
It is Grisha and Carla, they're Eren's parents... but I don't do what I want, I do what's best for the business.
Grisha paled when he heard me; he thought it meant refusal.
"I thought you said you wanted to be a member of the scout regiment in the future" My mom said.
I lifted my brows, "So you approve that now?".
"Of course not. I was just curious... I wanted to see what you would do in this situation" She rubbed her temples like she didn't know if she should be proud or otherwise that I stuck to myself and made the most 'reasonable' decision.
"Are you sure about this? We will go with whatever you decide this time, Arthur," My father mumbled.
I heard Carla whisper something to her husband, probably wondering whether my parents had some sort of mental health issue since they were entrusting their business to their child, who didn't look older than ten.
I sighed and crossed my arms, then looked at Grisha.
"We can't afford the cost of travel, so we'd have to work harder and create a small branch in Shiganshima along with several farms in Wall Maria. We can accomplish this if we shift twenty-five per cent of our yearly budget, but that's not all. I hope Mr Grisha would also help us hire some cheap labour from within Shiganshima, otherwise we'd incur a losing deal, which we will not do... if you can't move your influence to make this less of a heavy blow, we can't do business with you, Mr Grisha".
Grisha and Carla were astonished by my words. My parents smiled.
I guess I didn't sound like a kid younger than ten then.
"You heard him, Grisha", My mom giggled.
"W-What do you need?" The man asked, "I have some influence, I can come back to town and move some pieces since this deal is going to benefit all of us".
I mumbled to myself for a few seconds, thinking.
"We need at least two hundred men, of which a hundred need to be builders with affordable wages for us to build those farms in Wall Maria. We need accommodation for some of our chemists as well as availability in the market for some of the supplies we require to produce our drugs; it is not a short process. In the meantime, and I mean for the next two months or so, we have a branch in Trost that we can use to transport those resources in a straight line from Trost into Shiganshima. It may not be a long-lasting solution, but it will give you some momentary relief. Make no mistake, the cost of those medical supplies will remain the same, we can't afford to give you any subsidies, so you either pay with cash or with cattle or goods that we can commercialise".
"That's perfect!" Grisha stood up exalted.
I stretched my hand forward, "I guess we have a deal then".
"I must congratulate you, Mr Leon, Mrs Vannir... your son is a genius" Grisha shook my hand compassionately and complimented my parents.
"I know, he is MY son for a reason" Vannir sent a jab to Carla, who laughed awkwardly. Mom, at no point has she tried to claim me. Can you settle down a bit?
Carla came to my side and sat next to me while Grisha and my parents talked about the intricacies of the deal, now with a more enthusiastic mood. She talked to me about the scout regimen, the legion and about how his son also said all the time that he wanted to join, even when she didn't want him to.
My mom perked up and took the chance to say: "You can do a lot better in an office than in the wilderness. It makes no sense for you to try to join the scout regiment, Arthur, with your talent–"
"If he wants to be free, isn't that something admirable?" Carla said.
"You..." My mom thought she was being challenged, but Carla didn't step down.
"I have a son and a stepdaughter, and although I know life is hard out there, I want them to experience it. We all come to different conclusions when experiencing this life inside the murals. I think if he wants to go out... that's something worth of respect and as their parents, shouldn't we support them?".
"..."
Compared to Grisha, Carla does have a lot more charisma for sure... I guess that's where Eren got it from. By the end of it, I was tugging on her sleeve, and she took my hands with a smile.
"Madam, thanks for your words~".
"Just call me Carla, Arthur, that makes me sound old".
"Hmn", I nodded.
"But Arthur, you have so much talent, that's not something we can deny. It would be better for you to sit comfortably in an office... why go out to fight the titans? Aren't you scared of them?" She asked me like she wanted to hear my answer to use it later in a conversation with Eren.
So I thought about helping him a bit.
"Hmn, maybe I am scared... but Carla, if we are all cowards, who is going to save this world?".
!!!
She gasped and engraved my words, then nodded and smiled, "You're right, we need some brave boys like you and Eren once in a while".
"Impressive!" Grisha looked like he wanted to hug me, but then he recalled something, paled, and made his distance again.
'What's wrong with this man...?' I thought in wonder. If you want, you might as well hug me now that I look small and cute, once I am big, I'll tell you to fuck off.
...
After a bit more conversation, Grisha and Carla took their leave. It was settled that we'd go to Shiganshima soon to oversee the situation there and fetch some supplies from Trost, since that was the closest branch to Shiganshima, just enough for it to last a few months. Of course, they'd pay for all those, but Grisha needed to talk to the city mayor first.
"... you did well, Arthur. What do you want as a gift? I will get you anything you want only for today" My mom caressed my cheeks and asked.
"Oh, can I get a week free?".
"... a week out of work? That's no problem".
"No, I want to stay at Historia's for a week", I smiled. I need at least that much to make sure that Alma is doing her work properly... I won't be paying all this money for her to still be treating Historia coldly... I can take the chance to train my powers too.
"... you mean a week without coming back home? You want to leave me for a week?" She frowned.
"Yes, I'll just play with her–".
"No".