Interlude 01: The Litbeit Family

Interlude 01:
The Litbeit Family

“Dammit!”

Souen Litbeit was in his office, trying to catch up on mountains of paperwork. The issue was that he had many job titles, and was therefore tasked with many duties.

First and foremost, he was head of the Litbeit household. He had inevitably inherited the duties of the Eastern Merchant Union, which came with a hefty amount of work. He also served as secretary to the elder statesmen. He’d been able to leverage his position as the commerce alliance’s leader to establish this, but since his former superior was now imprisoned, all miscellaneous tasks were foisted onto Souen.

“Everyone just dumps their crap on me.” Souen was disgusted. In his opinion, both the merchant union and the council of statesmen were entirely incompetent. He found it astonishing that trade and politics made any headway in the country.

Souen wished he had someone to delegate work to, but that wasn’t an option. To achieve his goals, he had to prove to the elder statesmen that he was useful. He couldn’t risk losing their confidence by slacking off.

“Excuse me, Mr. Souen.” A maidservant opened the wooden sliding door and entered the room.

“What is it? Can’t you see how busy I am?”

“A messenger brought a letter.”

“What messenger? From where?”

“The letter’s from the western monster realm. The messenger was a lamia.”

Souen scowled. The only lamia he knew was that girl who’d lived with them at their estate. His younger siblings were close to her, but he’d never liked her.

“The messenger dropped off the letter and departed.”

“Give it here.” Souen took the message and looked it over. “One thing after another.”

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Just more cumbersome tasks. Now I have to send undercover agents to Lindworm.” Souen pulled at his hair.

The astute maidservant narrowed her eyes. “Because you’ll be going as well?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“I’ll make preparations for the trip.”

Whether or not the maidservant had been listening, it seemed she’d already decided that Souen would go to Lindworm. She closed the sliding door, her footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Souen shook his head. She never listened to him.

“Unbelievable. Why do I have to deal with the Neikeses now?”

The seal on the envelope was a snake wrapped around a medicine bottle. It belonged to the Neikes family, an ally of the Litbeits. They probably sent it to him because he’d taken over as head of the household.

“It’s addressed to Glenn, too… Well, he doesn’t need to know that.”

Souen was already coming up strategies to tackle the task ahead. He always weighed his options and selected the most appropriate one, especially now that he possessed more information than anyone else. But how to use this information? What should he share, and what should he keep to himself?

“Dammit! It looks like I really will have to go to Lindworm.”

It was unavoidable. He had no choice but to leave his multitude of tasks to someone else. If the letter’s contents were true, then trouble was brewing in Lindworm.

“I need to check with the elder statesmen,” Souen sighed.

On the other hand, he decided, maybe a business trip would be more relaxing than being buried in paperwork. And maybe he’d get a chance to see his younger siblings, whom he hadn’t visited in some time.

“I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces.”

Souen chuckled to himself as he imagined the disgust his brother and sister would greet him with.