Chapter 109 - Gallery Blackmail.
"Sorry sir, I have kept you waiting for a while now."
A young man with coiled brown horns on top of his head, long goatee on his chin, and hairy goat hoofs, bowed to Felix respectfully. Felix stood up from the lounge couch and bowed back in greeting.
"No need to apologize Mr. Goati," He smiled warmly, "I know that you are working hard to please two types of customers, day and night."
Felix eyed the stiff Mr. Goati with a hidden glint and continued with a respectful tone, "To own such a successful business, yet still head to the fields for a side job. Your hard-working character truly puts me in shame."
He sighed and let go of the sweaty palm of Mr. Goati, who didn't say a word since Felix began dropping hints nonstop.
'What's going on??!! Does this bastard know about my Gallery? Or he is talking about something else?!'
Mr. Goati's mind was in an utter mess from just a few hints. He gulped audibly and played with his goatee nervously. Yet, he didn't say a word in response, he knew that his voice would crack if he spoke when he was this nervous. His customer could easily then infers that he hit the bullseye with his low key threats.
So, it was better to remain as quiet as possible until everything clears out. After all, he didn't know if Felix was only fishing or he truly had evidence of his hidden secret.
Felix smirked slightly at this sight, as he knew exactly what this creepy Goati was thinking about. 'Afraid of your cracked voice giving you away? Heh, you won't be worrying about that soon.'
Embarrassed, Felix rubbed his head and said with a soft voice that only the two of them could hear within the crowded shop.
"Mr. Goati, I came to buy your entire Tier 5 serpent poison bloodline stock. And especially..." He put his arm around the terrified Mr. Goati's shoulder, then whispered softy his reason for building up his blackmailing, "I heard in 7 days there will a private auction happening in the capital city. I always wanted to attend one to broaden my horizons." He sighed, "Sadly, my reputation does not earn me an invitation."
"But my brother Mr. Goati can give a recommendation letter, right? It's not really hard for you to obtain it, based on the large network you built by relying on selling your gallery to powerful personals." Felix said, smiling warmly.
Mr. Goati, who was on the fence whether Felix was fishing or not, now truly knew that he was f*cked big time.
For an unknown person to know his deepest secret that he used tens of safeties to keep it sealed shut, sent cold chills coursing in his back.
'How much does he knows?! It's impossible to find any concrete proof of my connection with the gallery. So he must be hoping that I would get scared and fulfill his requests without too many questions.'
Mr. Goati calmed himself down and removed Felix's arm from his shoulder. Then, he stared at Felix's eyes deeply and instructed him to follow him to a private room away from the ears of the shoppers.
'If you don't have solid evidence backing you up, then you provoked the wrong guy.' Mr. Goati unlocked a small room at the side and closed the door after Felix entered.
Immediately after turning around, he almost pissed himself in fear after seeing his gallery displayed in front of him on a large holographic screen.
"Tsk, you actually managed to take even a picture of Miss. Mia fully nude in the shower." Felix praised him sarcastically while looking at one of the best actresses in the Mariana Empire, fully nude, showing her assets in their glory.
"But still, my favorite is Madam Katarina, the wife of the Lokimia city governor." He glanced at him and questioned him sincerely, "Can you please enlighten me how the hell did you even manage to capture her cheating on her husband?"
Scared shitless by Felix's questions, Mr. Goati's teeth kept chattering out loud while looking at the most prized picture that he took pride in, getting in the hand of a random person, who was not bound by any contract!!
"This is impossible, just impossible! The only ones who own my Gallery are the buyers! And they are heavily bounded by a contract to not let its content public. So how the f*ck did he get it?!!'
Felix closed the gallery while sighing in disappointment after seeing that he wouldn't be getting an answer from this dear friend of his again.
'Alright, enough teasing this creep.'
Felix stood up and approached the terrified Mr. Goati with light steps. He put both of his hands on his shoulder and said coldly, "You have 5 minutes to fulfill my requests. Otherwise, your gallery will be published all around the UVR with your name as an author." He grinned, "Trust me, those hundreds of women won't listen to logic after seeing their nude pictures get spread for everyone to enjoy."
"So if you think you are safe just because the gallery doesn't have single evidence connecting you with it. Then I wish you good luck defending yourself against their assaults." He said, chuckling.
Mr. Goati lowered his head and looked at the ground with a deadpan expression. He already accepted being blackmailed the moment he saw that his gallery was in the hand of Felix without a contract tying him up.
He didn't need Felix to explain anything, as he already knew that the fate waiting for him if those pictures got published was even worse than what Felix anticipated.,
Felix accounted only for the woman's furious reaction, but he didn't take into consideration the reaction of their husbands and boyfriends.
Mr. Goati wiped a tear that was about to drop after recalling that his targets were all popular or authoritative married women to even stronger men.
Just one of them could crush him and his business to the ground without any ability to retaliate. So, he could only lift his head with watery eyes and nod at Felix in agreement with his requests.
"Don't worry; I will not keep this sword above your head forever." Felix smiled and patted his shoulder to comfort him.
Mr. Goati's expression brightened a bit at Felix's mercy. However, that brightness didn't last for even a second, before it got crushed by Felix's gentle words.
"However, I will have a 30% discount on all of your products." He added with a grin, "Plus, you will handle the customs taxes of delivery. I live in Alexander kingdom after all."
"MERCY!"
Mr. Goati cried out loud after dropping on his four, kneeling before Felix.
"What are you talking about? I am still not finished from my terms." Felix eyed him indifferently and continued, "Last, you will prioritize buying serpent poison bloodlines from beast hunters and hold them for me."
"Please enough! You are killing my business!" Mr. Goati sobbed with his forehead on the ground.
Felix didn't even flinch at this miserable sight. How could he show mercy to this bastard who photographed powerful women and sold them as a gallery for creeps in the UVR to enjoy?
Even though the buyers were bound by a contract to keep those pictures to themselves and not use them to blackmail those women, but still, the act itself was despicable.
He only found out about this secret side of his friend when it slipped out of his mouth during a drinking contest between them.
That was also when he saw Goati typing his password to access his data bank in front of him. He wanted to display the gallery to Felix to brag about his achievements.
He was totally wasted, thus he believed that he kept the hologram invisible, but in reality, it was shown in public. Thankfully, they were sitting at the corner table away from the rest.
That's when Felix realized that remembering the password was a good idea and it might come in handy later. Since, the sneaky bastard kept his gallery not hidden in his AP bracelet, but in a public data bank that was 100% secure from hackers!
One just needed to pay a monthly fee and all of his secret data could be preserved inside the bank. After all, AP bracelets were hackable. The Queen inside each bracelet was a mere basic AI of her real self, acting as an assistant to the owner. Nothing more, nothing less. This meant, professional hackers, real good ones, were capable of hacking Goati's bracelet and stealing his data.
Unfortunately for Felix, he was also too drunk to see what he typed exactly and remember them later on. However, with Asna, it wasn't impossible anymore, especially when he stopped hanging out with this ticking time bomb after he found out about his secret. That facilitated Asna's memory reading.
Felix had to break their friendship as he knew that sooner or later Goati would get exposed, and as his close friend, he might get associated as an accomplice.
That's why he was this heavy-handed on him with those terms. Their friendship died at that moment.
'Felix, add another term.' Asna, who was enjoying the pitiful cries of Mr. Goati, decided to lay her hands as well. 'Tell him that he is forbidden from taking those kinds of photos ever again. Plus, to destroy his gallery once and for all.'
"Hmm, That's a good one.' Felix agreed and told Mr. Goati this term, making him sob even louder while hitting his forehead on the floor.
"You devil!! You should have those horns, not me!"
"At least, I am not a creep." Felix said nonchalantly while bringing a holographic contract to his face.
"Sign it now." He ordered.
"Can I at least read it?"
"No, tell the queen to do it for you. I don't have all day long." Felix denied him.
"Devil, you are a devil!" Mr. Goati murmured while signing the contract with a shaky hand.
Asna chuckled at this bastard calling others devil while appearing exactly like one.
"Good, go bring me your stock and write the recommendation letter. I will wait for you here."
Felix retrieved the contract after seeing that it was approved by the Queen and sat down with crossed arms, waiting for the Goati to stop whining and bring him his stuff.
After seeing that sympathy was not working on Felix, he left the room with slumped shoulders, heading to the storage of his shop.
"Boss what wrong with you?"
"You don't look well Mr. Goati."
"Don't worry about me, it's nothing." He waved his hands politely to the customers, who noticed his red eyes and slumped shoulders while heading towards the storage room.
"Sigh, should I ask that devil how did he manage to obtain my gallery?" He wondered out loud alone in the storage room while checking on the bloodline bottles Felix asked for.
"I doubt he will answer me." he shook his head, "Even if he did, that won't change anything. My gallery is still in his hands."
Depressed, he put 4 bottles in a small box and carried them towards the room Felix was at.