novelStarting to Take Shape (1)
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Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Located one mile east of the temple was the town hall, and the people from the Williams family had been given lodging in the first story of the town hall. Since the city was just starting to take shape, no hotels had been built yet.
This time around, more than two hundred people from the Williams family had come. Besides a representative from a trading company, there were also one hundred swordsmen and two mages. These two mages, one at grade-3 and the other at grade-4, were not old. They only looked to be around forty or fifty years old. Of the one hundred swordsmen, about one-fifth of them were already at the standard of a swordmaster.
It was evident that the Williams family had invested quite a bit of effort this time around. It needed to be noted that it was extremely difficult for an earl's family to recruit mages, even if the family had a great deal of wealth.
This time around, Irene had brought two mages along, clearly displaying the stance of the Williams family.
Daniel was keeping Irene entertained. In reality, the two mages from the Williams family had been annoyed, but they were astounded when they saw Daniel. Even though it was rumored that the city was related to the Bitter Water County, it only exemplified how profound the city owner was by having a grand mage host the guests. Back in the Qin Empire, even a grade-4 grand mage would be treated like a nobleman. Furthermore, Daniel was a death mage, his offensive abilities would be stronger than that of an elemental mage who was at the same grade as him. On the battlefield, this difference would be even more pronounced.
A death mage could summon any type of spirit. Placing a death mage on the battlefield would definitely boost the morale of the army.
Daniel looked honest and upright, and people who were not familiar with him would definitely be deceived. Daniel did not discuss the city base with Irene, he simply conversed about the customs and practices of the Tanggulasi and Cloudflow Empires. Many a time, Irene wanted information about Saleen, but Daniel managed to covertly deflect those questions.
At the moment, Daniel was completely loyal towards Saleen. Ever since he had learned that the three kings were under the control of Saleen and Aini, he had not formed any other ideas. He had signed a contract with Saleen. He might not have known about the trap in the contract, but he did not want to live the rest of his life like a puppet.
Anyway, Saleen treated Daniel well. This time around, Saleen had even allowed him to establish a camp of soldiers. Even though it was a small matter, it proved that Saleen would provide him with good prospects. As for the threat posed by the Holy See, Daniel did not care about it anymore. If Daniel was captured by the Holy See, he would still be killed. Hence, he decided that he wanted to live an impactful life.
In the past, Daniel had witnessed Saleen killing the Holy See's people without any hesitation at all. Because of that, Daniel had great admiration for Saleen. Anyone else in that situation would have had second thoughts given the massive background of the Holy See.
If Saleen was not afraid, then Daniel further did not need to be afraid since he was Saleen's follower. However, Daniel could not understand why the Holy See would revert to its old path of using violence to make others surrender. People like Saleen and Daniel would never surrender no matter what.
Irene was a little frustrated. When she had calculated her losses after returning home from the frozen sea, she realized that she had lost over two hundred thousand gold coins, and that was not even including the pension of the dead swordsmen. Her ship had been specially made for travel on the northern seas, and small ice cubes would not be able to damage the ship.
If her mother had not been so dominant, the family would have definitely pursued the matter. Fortunately, she had managed to gather intelligence that the Bitter Water Prefecture was expanding its territory to the north. Hence, she had managed to convince her mother of her plans. On this trip, Irene had brought her own savings on top of the investment from the Williams family as she had decided to slog her guts out in this new city.
Irene had confidence in Saleen, and not just because Saleen had many experts around him. Irene was most interested in the fact that Saleen had been able to sell her another ship very easily.
The quality of this ship was not bad. In fact, it could even be used for combat. Irene knew that Saleen would surely have a class of mature sailors, and that the ship was definitely not his best one.
The ocean contained a massive amount of fortune. However, due to the limitations of navigation, most people could only dream of such fortune. The southeastern waters were dominated by Alchemy City, while the waters further south belonged to the Cloudflow Empire. Only the northern waters of Qin were not dominated yet. The location of Saleen's port was excellent. By traveling to the frozen sea from the port, one would be able to save on a huge amount of supplies, and the duration of a hunting expedition could also be lengthened.
If a summer route could be developed, then the city would already be able to conduct long-term business with Sikeqinya. Even though this place was not a frozen harbor, it was already enough for ocean trade to occur. It was only a matter of time before the secret route in the north used by the Williams family was exposed. In the past two years, Irene had always run into pirates whenever she went out to sea. If not for her ship, which was superior to that of the pirates, she would not have been able to continue with the business.
Irene was very touched when Saleen announced that he could provide protection for the hunting ships. The Williams family would never be able to take all the fortune in the frozen sea for themselves. If the other families found out about this secret, they would surely vie for it too. When that time came, Lianyun City would become extremely important. Consequently, their nobles would also interfere in the issue.
Irene would be better off working with the Bitter Water Prefecture than the nobles in Lianyun City.
Before Irene arrived, she had already made up her mind. It was just that even though it had been such a long time since she had arrived, Saleen still had not appeared. Instead, Saleen had sent someone to ask her to wait. Atrocious! It seemed like Saleen did not even give a hoot about this female noble from the Williams family.
The Qin Empire was not like the Cloudflow Empire. The women in Qin had societal status. They could even inherit positions of nobility, become city governors, or join the army. There were quite a number of female dukes throughout the history of Qin, and there had even been a female emperor. In the land of Qin, a noble lady like Irene with such a prestigious family background was not just a flower vase. Her mother was a living example of that.
In the beginning, Irene was still receptive to Daniel's words, but she grew increasingly annoyed towards the end. If Irene had not been afraid of angering a death mage, she might have already acted rudely towards him.
Just as Irene began feeling frustrated, Saleen's voice came from outside the door.
"Irene, sorry to keep you waiting. I have brought a person who you are familiar with." Saleen was all smiles when he opened the door. When Irene raised her head and saw Saleen's smile, her anger dissipated.
Standing beside Saleen was another young mage who was also clad in a grey magic robe. As Irene stared at this handsome mage, she could not help but feel that he looked really familiar.
As Aini looked at the grown up Irene, he felt amused as he recalled the events which had transpired when he was young. The Williams family and the Clyde family were competitors, but they maintained a cordial relationship on the surface. Furthermore, when other commercial entities wanted to set foot in Qin, the four big families would seamlessly cooperate with one another to deal with the outsiders. That was the secret to why the four big families had been able to prosper for such a long time.
Hence, Aini, who was the son of the first wife, had met with his same-aged peers from the other three families in the past. But later on, Aini had been cursed by a holy master from the Holy See, which had resulted in his magic chords disappearing. Then, he was banished by his family to Deep Forest Town, causing him to lose contact with his peers.
Back then, Aini had been fearless, and he had even given Irene a painful beating in the past. Back then, Irene had still been young, so it was unknown whether she still remembered the boy who had beaten her up.
Saleen's warm hospitality made Irene feel much better. However, that mage next to him made her feel uncomfortable. As Irene looked in those callous eyes, she felt a quiver in her heart as a tinge of a memory suddenly appeared in the depths of her mind, but she could not pinpoint anything specific.
"Irene, I am Aini, do you not remember me anymore?" Aini executed a mage's bow, then smiled at Irene.
"Oh!" Irene clenched her fist instinctively, wanting to punch Aini. However, she suddenly remembered that she was not in her family's city and she had grown up. Those events which had happened when she was young were really too embarrassing to be discussed.
"Aini, you are already a grade-5 mage!" Irene saw the markings on Aini's magic robe. There was a hint of sourness in her tone. In truth, Irene was very gifted in business, but she had gone to painstaking efforts to learn swordsmanship because of Aini in the hopes of beating him up one day.
At the moment, Irene was only a high-grade swordsman while Aini was already a grade-5 mage. It seemed like she would not be able to exact her revenge just yet.
But what disappointed Irene were her thoughts that her family had been the first to enter this city. She had completely not expected to see Aini here. This meant that the Clyde family had already...
Seeing that the two of them were behaving awkwardly, Saleen laughed and said, "Irene, Aini is my friend. Even though there is little commercial activity between the Clyde family and the Bitter Water Prefecture, we have already a signed a contract. But, you don't have to worry either. Since you are back, I will definitely arrange a good location for you."
Irene's face turned scarlet. Since Saleen and Aini were so close, it was not convenient for her to say anything else. Plus, she had secretly taken a liking to this mage who was so meticulous in his calculations. According to what Saleen said, the Clyde family had not dominated the city's market yet. At the same time, her spirits were lifted, and the unhappiness from all that waiting had disappeared.
"Master Saleen..."
"You can just call me Saleen." Saleen smiled. He was not interested in Irene even though she was beautiful. After getting used to Lex and Sika's looks, Saleen was now basically immune to beauty. Furthermore, Nailisi, who looked exactly like the Goddess of Myers, was still pestering him every single day.
Saleen simply did not like interacting with the elders in those families, as the elders became more and more astute as they grew older. He wanted to spend most of his energy on magic practice. He could not possibly haggle with them over the issue of profits every other day.
"Saleen, my people..."
"Daniel, lead Irene's men to rest. Mm, allocate the fifth avenue in the east to them. Then, select a site for the construction of their residence in the future."
"Yes, Sir." Daniel behaved respectfully. He performed very well in front of outsiders. Even though Saleen did not really care, Daniel had already begun planning for Saleen's future. A person's majesty could not be built in a day or two. Given his current status, Saleen could no longer behave as he had in the past, when he had been content with commanding just one or two people.
Irene was even more satisfied with this arrangement. Since she was going to stay in the east for now, it meant that Saleen was planning to give her some land which was situated near the port. To Irene, that was the best news ever. Actually, Irene still had a task which had been given to her by the family. However, when she arrived, she had seen the thousands of spirits who were working. After witnessing such a scene, she realized that the Williams family could not afford to trifle with Saleen given his power. Through that, she had actually been relieved of her burdens. The ideas those elders had were already outdated. She did not even need to try and deceive Saleen. As long as she maintained a cordial relationship with Saleen, she would be able to get whatever she desired from the city.
Viscountess Lex could not be trifled with. As Irene smiled, she suddenly saw a beautiful face show up behind Saleen.
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