"…Cash?" Mordir's eyes sharpened.
The air grew tense.
The atmosphere grew perilous.
"…Ah." A chilling tone of recognition escaped him. "That's him, isn't it?"
Mordir's dark eyes sharpened perilously.
"The lad who has been messing with our civil construction gangs."
The Karjakin Representative nodded, unsurprised that the Colohen Mafia was aware of the existence of the director of the slum talent acquisition program. "According to our recent intelligence on him, his company has completed promotion and even sales operations within the slums, selling the so-called 'Haven units' among the people of the slums. Although we have been unable to gather the details on the matter."
Mordir's eyes darkened eerily.
"We have received many complaints from our lads in the construction gangs in the inner districts of the slums that their seasonal revenues have fallen ever since the Trinity Housings company had begun selling micro-housing units within the slums," his tone was intense. "We haven't done anything about it yet, since it isn't that big of a deal and we don't operate heavily in the inner ring of the slums due to its proximity to the inner city where we can expose ourselves to the investigative and law enforcement agencies that are on the hunt for us right now. However…"
His eyes sharpened. "It's infuriating to know that he has infringed on our territory and our operations not once but twice."
The Karjakin Representative nodded. "We were hoping that you would use this opportunity to put pressure on Trinity Housings' business. Just as a warning."
He nodded with a menacing glint in his eyes.
"We will do more than just that."
The Karjakin Representative nodded. "In turn, we intend to pressure the Headmistress in another way."
Mordir raised an eyebrow. "And what other way is that?"
The Karjakin Family smiled. "We have reason to believe that the Headmistress has engaged in acts of corruption."
Mordir raised an eyebrow of interest.
"…Go on."
"Particularly, we believe that the Headmistress has engaged in corruption when it comes to the institute's relationship with Mr. Cæ," the Karjakin Representative smiled coldly. "We have detected the trace of a transfer of a large sum of money from the institute to Mr. Cæ in the name of the Extra-Curricular Sponsorship Program. However, our spies in the institute have alerted us that there is no record of the necessary due process occurring within the Elendir Institute of Magic regarding the case of the Trinity Housings. Since then, our spies have alerted us to frequent visits of Mr. Cæ to the Headmistress' office at a rate that is far beyond what is normal for a student, even before the program was announced…"
Mordir stirred with a hint of vague interest. "What exactly are you suggesting?"
"We have reason to believe that there is an illicit partnership between the Headmistress and Mr. Cæ, solicited by the former where she bribed him with money in order for him to serve as political capital for furthering her power-mongering agendas to gather more talents, under the guise of equitism," the Karjakin Representative spoke carefully. "We believe that Mr. Cæ has been brainwashed and radicalized by her equitist ideals and has been manipulated by money by the Headmistress. An illicit partnership and a highly inappropriate relationship with a student, both in violation of the code of conduct that the board of directors expect from her as a Headmistress of the Elendir Institute of Magic."
Mordir stirred at her words. "You will need more proof than just that to assert such heavy accusations against a headmistress of the Elendir Institute of Magic and a master mage in her own right. Additionally, she has a spotless track record in the past ten years since she was instated as the headmistress."
The Karjakin Headmistress smiled. "That is true, but our family has managed to get our hands on this…"
She waved her hands as one of the assistants drew an intelligence document from within a briefcase, placing it on the table and pushing it forward to Mordir.
The man raised an eyebrow as he opened the file, an intelligence report from a spy in the Elendir Institute of Magic, as he read through its contents.
His eyes sharpened as his expression crumpled with anger.
"What is it…?" Limindir raised an eyebrow as she grew curious about the contents of the document.
"That bastard…" he growled. "He's planning to expand his business deeper into the slums with the protection of the Elendir Institute of Magic."
Limindir's expression also darkened. "The Elendir Institute of Magic protecting a private commercial venture?"
She gritted her teeth. "That's unheard of."
"Correct." The Karjakin Representative smiled. "That is the foundation of our civil lawsuit asserting that Headmistress Lenolia has embezzled funds of the Elendir Institute of Magic, comprising not just investments of the stakeholders but also the fees that the parents of the students have paid up front or scholarship students have paid in their scholarship-debt contracts."
The headmistress of the Elendir Institute of Magic was essentially in the same position as the CEO of a large corporation and was equally liable for violating the by-laws of the institute as CEOs were for violating the by-laws of their corporations.
The Karjakin Family was one of the largest stakeholders of the Elendir Institute of Magic and thus had the legal standing to file a civil lawsuit for embezzlement and numerous other charges related to corruption as a whole.
"Why make it a legal dispute?" Mordir asked with a hint of curiosity. "Why not just call a meeting with the Board of Directors, present this evidence to them in front of her, and have them fire her for embezzlement and corruption? Isn't that much quicker and less tedious to achieve the desired result?"
He had a point.
Legal disputes took much, much longer than a simple meeting with the board of directors. On top of that, the latter produced outcomes that they didn't particularly care for such as getting her arrested if it was pursued by criminal prosecutors.
They just wanted the slum talent acquisition to stop.
The board of directors would definitely fire her if they found out about the corruption, leading to the instation of a new headmaster or headmistress who would instantly scrap the controversial slum talent acquisition program.
This was the outcome that they sought.
"It's not that simple," the Karjakin Representative explained patiently. "The biggest problem is that Headmistress Lenolia has managed to build political support from the Mendel administration in power at the moment, which means that she has three of the stakeholders of the Elendir Institute of Magic on her side, that is the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Magical Affairs, the Elendir Magicarmy."
These were all government stakeholders, which automatically were on her side due to the fact that they were automatically on her side.
"She also has gained support from the Elendir Mage Association, another stakeholder in the Elendir Institute of Magic, which approves of the slum talent acquisition program, much to our chagrin."
The Elendir Mage Association was, as the name suggested, simply a class union that was meant to represent and advocate for the rights and privileges of the mage class in a nation. The greater the number of mages, the greater the power and influence it wielded collectively, thus the Association was very much in favor of the talent acquisition initiatives in the slums which would eventually increase their numbers.
"This makes it so that even if we present the evidence in a meeting with the Board of Directors," the Karjakin Representative explained. "We will be unable to fire her due to the political capital that she has built. Thus, our decision to pursue it the case legally. Doing so will put pressure on all the stakeholders of the Elendir Institute of Magic. The longer they keep her under these circumstances, the more harm will befall the reputation of the Elendir Institute of Magic as a whole. On top of that, we are confident that the courts will find her liable for embezzlement, at the very least."
Mordir nodded thoughtfully. "And how will the litigation proceed? I hope you have access to the big guns if you want this to resolve quickly and successfully."
"Rest assured," the Karjakin Representative smiled coldly. "We have managed to get the best of the best in the business."
She gestured lightly to a man beside her.
Mordir's gaze shifted to him, sizing him up.
The man wore an ostentatious custom-tailored suit with the crest on the circular chest of his suit, with olive branches surrounding a shield with two crossed swords upon it.
It was the crest of the Nelnmont Family.
"We of the Nelnmont Family have the most powerful foundation in the law industry in this city," the Nelnmont representative smiled confidently. "We own a stake in all major law firms in the entire country and are on all their boards of directors. We also have the Nelnmont Legal Services, which is in the top three law firms in the entirety of Colohen City."
The Nelnmont Family was a family that had turned to law when its family ran out of magic talent in its blood.
Both of Melia's parents were lawyers who worked in their law firms and essentially owned the litigation landscape in Colohen City, turning them into one of the most powerful families in the city, second only to the Karjakin Family, which was one of the thirteen great families of the Democratic Republic of Elendir.
Mordir nodded with impressed approval. "With the Nelnmont Family leading the charge, Headmistress Lenolia is sure to be ousted from her position, allowing us to get rid of her and her pesky slum talent acquisition program. But what about…"
His eyes sharpened.
"…the young man himself? Am I to ignore that he's waltzing into our territory and doing business like we don't exist?" Mordir growled. "I am not satisfied with disrupting his business. I want to destroy him and make an example of him."
Representative Karjakin shook her head.
"I would not recommend that."
Mordir snorted. "And why would you not?"
Her eyes sharpened.
The air grew tense.
The atmosphere grew electric.
"Because Archmage Cantor will get involved if he smells other factions responsible for the targeted killing of a student of the magicademy."
Mordir's eyes flew wide open as chills crawled across his skin.
Archmage Cantor was one of sixteen archmages in all of the Democratic Republic of Elendir.
Very, very few people were willing to earn his ill will.
"Although his position as grand chancellor is ceremonial, our profile on him suggests that he's very territorial," Representative Karjakin continued. "He will smell the interference of other power blocs in the death of Mr. Cæ, which will certainly prompt him to investigate and…"
Her expression was one of warning. "Unless you think you can hide from the archmage, I would not recommend it."
Goosebumps ran up Mordir's spine as he shook his head.
"Forget about it then."
He had no intention of picking a fight with an archmage.
Although the Colohen Underworld had its own archmage, it was still not something that he could dare afford to provoke.
"For now, let's stick to the plan that we have established," Mordir continued. "We will handle attacks on their operations here in the slums, which you can help by sending us magicapita and other resources. Meanwhile, we will gather the evidence you need to ensure a smooth legal proceeding with which you can pressure the Headmistress."
The Karjakin Representative smiled. "We are amenable to that agreement."