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His stay in Lorent had ended up being extended yet again, as the Lorentians wanted a few more days with him to go over various things in order to finalize the deal. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as simple as just signing his name on a dotted line or being handed a land deed. He had meetings with a number of leading figures from the lower Jagwa territory, including mayors, secretaries, real estate CEOs, and bankers.

Those latter ones were decidedly less hospitable than the others. While everyone else seemed pleased to work with the famous "hero" from Atreya, the bankers acted like they didn't even want to be in the same room with him.

Hector wasn't exactly surprised, but still. They could've been a little more polite about it.

"Yes, they are a bit of a surly bunch, aren't they?" said Ravi Zaman as they were having dinner together again. "Not that I can entirely blame them. Your Darksteel National Bank may still be an Atreyan operation at the moment, but would I be incorrect in assuming that you intend to expand into Lorent?"

Hector tilted his head as he slipped a chunk of grilled salmon into his mouth. This wasn't the first time that particular question had popped up over the last few days. Far from it, in fact. It seemed like every businessperson he talked to wanted to know his answer to that, even when it wasn't relevant to the land deal that was supposedly the purpose of their meetings.

And he'd already talked to Amelia Carthrace about it, too. And Garovel, of course.

The Bank only had been meant for Atreya--hence the word "National" in the name. Not to mention, the primary objective of the Bank was to prevent Atreya from being flooded with foreign money and losing financial independence.