Chapter is a bit shorter than normal, sorry about that!

The simple fact is that writing a serious business environment for even a thousand words is already too much for me. Anyone who knows me knows that most of my characters are accurate to my personality, Rosa is an exception, she acts with at least a little more thought and nuance to her actions than I would. Personally, if I were in her boots, I would have ignored that 'The Leader' unlock and just buffed myself because I'm a control freak when it comes to that kind of stuff and not having that power for myself would be unacceptable.

And so I'm writing stuff I'm not even remotely experienced in and just hoping it sounds intelligent xD

Chapter 17

Four days passed before she finally received a reply.

The reply itself was simple, setting a venue, a date, and a time. As for who she was meeting, she still didn't actually know, not that it really mattered to her. She told the messenger, who had been waiting for her reply, that it was fine by her and that she'd be there, to which he nodded, bowed a little then left as quickly as he'd arrived. The date was set for the next day, which was a little bit amusing, since it made it likely that her new deal with Mori had somehow been circulated. 30 million Ryo a day was a pretty damn lucrative business deal, so evidently, they wanted to get some of that cash for themselves.

But one thing she still couldn't figure out was what they were thinking of offering her. Would they just give her a trade-deal, buying kunai at a fixed price and a high quantity, or were they intending something else? It was a little scary and at the same time rather exciting to think about. With Vesna backing her up she wasn't really too afraid of going to a meeting in a random restaurant, especially not since she hadn't been idle the past few days.

Asahi and Aoki had both been scavenging for items, and had accumulated quite the assortment of goods that she could sacrifice. Nothing amazing, she would probably have already found the best stuff with her Foraging skill, but they still had a lot of things she could sacrifice to Hestia. On top of that, she intended to branch out and sacrifice to Hephaestus as well, both to see what kind of imposing presence he would have, as well as to try to open a new pathway to ritual points.

Then there was the matter of her quest, which she had actively been ignoring. The requirement was to have a ritual value of at minimum C+3 for three different gods. Hestia was already done, and Hephaestus hopefully wouldn't go too poorly, but, well, her experience sacrificing to Ares still unsettled her even then, and she was wary of sacrificing to a god like Ares again, one who would intimidate her through their presence alone, since she was unsure of what else they could do during the window in which they directly inspected her.

That was why she just put off doing it, because she was quite frankly nervous about the possibility of a deity deciding she was a gnat in need of squishing. Just as her business deal with Mori, she didn't see a major need to 'upset the apple cart' so to speak. Hestia was a perfectly fine deity to perform sacrifices to, she was friendly and kind. That was why she wanted to sacrifice to Hephaestus as well, because he wasn't really a god of violence in any capacity. He produced weapons, sure, but he was the crafter, not the fighter.

Shaking her head, Rosa ran a brush through her hair, amused at seeing Vesna basically fighting his outfit as if it were attacking him. It was painfully obvious he had no idea how to tie a tie or put on a bow-tie or really anything formal, and so she would go help him...after allowing him to entertain her for a while longer. She had performed a ritual with the items Asahi and Aoki had collected, the ritual in question being valued at exactly A-rank, in part thanks to upgrading her ritual circle with better items, and so she had over 20,000 points available.

Had being the key word, since she immediately spent 680 points upgrading Vesna's Charisma and Intelligence to D-2, then 20,860, her largest single purchase, to upgrade every single one of his seven stats to C-3. She had guessed that the letter upgrades would alternate internal and external changes, and said guess was proven correct when externally, Vesna didn't change much, and yet, when she asked him how he felt, his response was a simple, single word: powerful.

Exactly how powerful, neither she nor he knew, but if D-3 was enough to make him pretty much the most impressive man she'd seen in her life, C-3 was putting him in a league even higher. B-3...she didn't even want to contemplate what that would do to him, and she made a very firm mental note to not upgrade him until her Endurance, Intelligence and Charisma were far higher in case it overcame her inhibitions and she jumped him.

She didn't think that would happen, but considering how her Charisma worked, she wasn't going to take chances regarding that. Already she could feel his natural...'aura' attracting her, stronger than it did before, and once again, she berated herself for her hastiness even if she had to admit she knew she wasn't going to be able to hold herself to her own words of slowing the fuck down and doing upgrades slowly. Thanks to the cost of upgrading Vesna, she drained her points balance down to 520 points, exactly a sixth of the points she'd require to upgrade her Charisma to D-3.

Still, she wasn't too concerned about that fact, Vesna was basically the strongest bodyguard she could ask for, and if anyone wanted to make a move on her, they'd have to beat him. She would just have to be sure a good janitor was called afterward to mop up the red stain on the floor he'd leave from caving their skull in. SMiling ot herself, Rosa finished brushing her hair and helped Vesna out with his tie, straightening out the suit that still thankfully fit him even after the upgrade to C-3.

It was a little bit tighter than it should have been, which was why she didn't say anything about his light cursing of the infernal piece of clothing, but that little bit of extra tightness actually helped display his peak condition form. She had no intention of forcing him to wear an uncomfortable suit though, she was going to be taking him to a different tailor shop to get a new suit made for him, another reason to damn-well refrain from upgrading him to B-3 for a while.

Sure, she earned a lot of money, but custom-tailored suits were still bloody expensive.

Arriving at the restaurant, Rosa only had a moment to consider the place before the messenger from before stepped outside.

Allowing him to lead them in, Rosa and Vesna were taken through the quiet but full restaurant and towards a corridor at the back, guarded by two fairly burly-looking men that she inwardly smirked towards, because she could see clearly that Vesna had them outclassed completely. She saw the man leading them turn and open his mouth, looking towards Vesna, and so she merely stepped forwards, forcing his line of sight onto her. "He stays with me." Her tone offered no room for bargaining, staring directly into his eyes as he looked at her, then up at Vesna, before turning and heading into the corridor.

Two doors in, he opened said door and stepped past it, offering her the entrance. Confidently, she strode inside, spying not one, but two men, both sat on the other side of a fairly large but barren table. There was also a woman seated there, and all three appraised her just as she did to them. Remaining silent, she waited as Vesna pulled back the available chair, taking her seat as he moved to stand behind her right shoulder.

Against the back wall were three similarly-suited men, and once again she felt amusement, both at the disparity between those men and Vesna, as well as the fact that they were already trying their power-plays, by attempting to make her leave her bodyguard behind and come alone, a stupid thing to do. "Well, I don't believe I recognize any of you three, but then, I've not been in this circle nearly enough to know. If I may introduce myself, my name is Rosa."

Rosa spoke politely, watching the trio carefully to see any signs of their intentions. To the furthest left was the largest of the three, a fairly portly man with a loose collar and a few wisps of dark hair, who introduced himself as Daichi. In the middle, the thinnest, an average-sized older gentleman with whitening hair and light wrinkles on his face. He introduced himself as Ichiro. Then, on the right, slightly heavy-set and almost a balance between the two men, a young-seeming woman who Rosa could see hid her age behind products as much as possible, who introduced herself as Michi.

Taking the lead, Ichiro spoke to her directly. "Now, do you desire business first, or shall we eat and allow an atmosphere of harmony to form before our discussions?" Nodding inwardly, Rosa considered the two options. Business before food would mean they would not be able to sway her by trying to befriend her during their food, but on the other hand, business after food would mean they in turn would be more likely to...yeah no chance, they were all hardened business-owners who wouldn't let a little food sway their decision-making, whereas she was the abject 'noobie' so to speak.

"Business first, I'd prefer to get it out of the way beforehand." She could see that her brazen decision had surprised all three to some extent, even though it was only faintly shown behind friendly expressions. The way he had worded it, making it seem as though harmony would help their business, made it obvious that it was exactly what he desired, to lull her into a false sense of security, believing she was 'among friends', and other bullshit like that. They were all there for one simple, critical fact: money. "So, I assume we are all on the same page here, but please, enlighten me as to what it is you desire from me."

Smiling, Rosa folded her hands together, planting her chin on them and her elbows on the table as she eyed the three before her. "Well, as you seem to prefer to speak with candor, I shall not hold back. Although you do not know it, Daichi Logistics handles much of the arms shipments for Konoha and the wider Fire Country itself, with branches in Wind and Grass Country. I would like to discuss with you the possibilities of an exclusive trading contract between my company and yourself." Daichi didn't hide his intentions, and in her mind, she gave him a mental tick.

He wanted her business, and to entice her, he pointed out that he covered not only three countries, but also had in-roads towards the 'shinobi capital' of the country. Glancing at Ichiro, he remained silent, allowing her gaze to refocus onto Michi. "Whilst not quite as expansive as my colleague here, Hibi no Mae, my business, specializes in custom-orders for the discerning shinobi, and as it does not interfere with pre-existing contracts, I believe a lucrative opportunity is available to yourself regarding the fulfillment of custom-high quality orders to more rich shinobi than the average rabble."

Nodding lightly, Rosa returned her gaze to Ichiro, waiting a few beats for him to speak. He met her gaze flatly, waiting to speak on his own time, not hers, a subtle power-move that she honestly didn't care much for. When he did speak, it was tinted with subtle amusement and...even a hint of derision if she was hearing his tone correctly. "My company would never turn down an opportunity, however, to branch out into manufacturing arms would be a significant investment of money and effort. However, what I am interested in is your refinement process."

So, his angle was how she could turn iron ore into iron metal so efficiently, something she couldn't sell him no matter how high his offer was. "I'm not interested in selling my refinement process at this time." Rosa's response was short, clean and blunt, the equivalent of a big fuck-no in terms of business-speak. In response, he nodded, and then rose from his seat and bowed.

"As my offer has been so clearly rejected, I have no more reason to spend my time here. Good day to you all." With that, he left, making it pretty clear he knew she'd basically just snubbed him in front of two colleagues who more likely than not had taken great amusement at seeing him get shut out so quickly. He didn't raise a scene or anything stupid like that, but Rosa knew in her heart she'd have to watch out for underhanded methods coming from him, because he definitely valued the process even if he didn't value her.

Returning her attention to the two remaining occupants of the room, she gave them both a polite and half-friendly smile before speaking. "So, Daichi, you desire effectively a larger-scale of my current business plan, whilst you, Michi, would see me produce high-end weapons, perhaps even equipment, to shinobi with vastly deeper pockets. I see no reason why both cannot be fulfilled at once, so, unless either of you have an outstanding issue with the other that would see me take two deals at the same time, which you should bring up now, I think we can be assured of a profitable business relationship."

Neither had any issues with her proposal, though she didn't doubt that both were curious to see what quantities of items she could provide when the time came. Having gotten the initial groundwork for their partnerships out of the way, the trio ate a meal before continuing, discussing miscellaneous and unrelated trivia, for instance, the effects of the recent war, and the effects it had wrought on the markets of practically any kind of tradeable goods.

Of course, in general, prices had gone up, both as recovery efforts began and plundered goods needed to be replaced, so it was beneficial from a business standpoint. Some markets had a glut thanks to said plundering, but the vast majority had major deficits that could be filled. As for Rosa, she didn't have much she could freely talk about, and so she simply discussed random and meaningless events, as well as surreptitiously mentioning her desire to search for rare items related to hearth and home, playing it off as simply a hobby for collecting items of that nature.

Once the three were finished with their meals, they began to discuss more specific information. Since Daichi was first to speak and had the offer she favoured most, she discussed business with him first. Nothing rock-solid, it was only preliminary discussions after all, but after a half-hour of discussion, they had a fairly firm grasp on what the other party desired. Daichi was happy to take practically any quantity of weaponry from her, and Rosa was happy to be paid in Ryo, not wanting to worry about having to hire someone to manage any real estate or whatever else could be offered.

Not to snub Michi, Rosa made sure to give her the exact same focus and attention, even if she was already fighting an uphill battle from the start. Michi was, in particular, very interested in the level of quality that each of Rosa's kunai held, which 'belies a quality that couldn't have a price placed upon it' in her very own words. When Rosa told her that iron was actually a fairly low-quality material to use for making weapons, and that she had materials several tiers better than it from which she could make weapons so long as she had the basic resources, the woman was practically hooked.

Again, nothing solid was laid down, they were meeting for the first time, and it was simply establishing what each party wanted and what they could do for each other. After about two and a half hours of leisure and light business, Rosa departed from the restaurant with a promise from the pair that they would meet again soon to further discuss business. Specifics wouldn't be discussed with another party present, neither Daichi nor Michi would lay out the exact specifications of a business deal in the presence of the other, that was just common sense, but when she asked, the pair seemed, a bit uncomfortable but still accepting of meeting at her home in future for those discussions.

The walk home was uneventful, though Rosa remained wary during the walk. She doubted Ichiro would set up an ambush of some kind in mere hours, but for all she knew, he already assumed she wouldn't sell him the refining process, and had set up precautions in advance. Once they were back inside her house and Vesna told her he didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, that was when Rosa relaxed her shoulders and let herself get more comfortable. It...scratched her the wrong way, doing serious business, but she understood how necessary it was.

Keeping her business to herself and not expanding would draw attention and suspicion in copious quantities. By actually branching out and making business deals, she would make a name for herself, and more importantly, for her organization. She fully intended to hire on shinobi eventually and use them as a cover for how things were produced and brought into the capital in such high quantities, disguising things behind a veil that would hopefully keep anyone away from the truth. Nobody would believe that one young woman with no chakra, or more accurately zero training or any grasp on it if she even had any, could produce several thousand kunai every single day and refine the ore for them at the same time.

It sounded absurd even to her, and she was the one doing it!