Many things in the world were actually quite simple, as long as you viewed them correctly. Take his exchange with Chalanona, for example. If it had been some self-centered, adolescent-minded brat facing a grandmother who had become hypocritical and affected for the sake of profit, he would naturally have been displeased. He would think, You're my family. Shouldn't you be helping me because of family ties? You only care about profit? Then the brat would become dejected, then angry, and ideally fall out with Chalanona.
But Solam was not an adolescent-minded brat. He saw the world simply and divided everyone into three categories: his people, enemies, and everyone else who did not matter. It was simple and crude, but extremely useful. Chalanona belonged to the "everyone else" category, so naturally, he would handle her accordingly.
Chalanona wanted Ocasuan's knowledge? Solam could only tell her to eat shit! He would grant her access to only part of the Great Library's magical knowledge, and she would have to sign a contract forbidding her from disclosing anything about Ocasuan.
Chalanona was very dissatisfied with this, but Solam went on to say that Ocasuan would inevitably come into contact with the outside world in the future. At that time, there would certainly be matters that required outside assistance. Chalanona could then gain more knowledge by completing commissions.
That satisfied Chalanona. Like Solam, Chalanona acknowledged their blood relationship, but that was all. Perhaps they would offer each other some help for the sake of that blood tie, but never at the cost of their core interests.
Chalanona had never expected to sweet-talk Solam into handing over that precious knowledge with just a few soft words. Of course, if Solam had really been foolish enough to do so, Chalanona would not have refused. But Solam was