Chapter 191 – Within Two Days
Zhao Hai sat in the Spatial Villa’s living room. Standing behind him was Zhao En[1]. He was once called Raeen[2] before, but his name was changed to Zhao En.
Zhao Hai didn’t want to ask him about anything else since Raeen had already told Zhao Hai what he needed to know. Zhao Hai now understood the strength behind Carlo, as well as his goal.
Markey Dell clan successors were each given their own territory. They were assigned to manage these territories, just like what Laura was doing here in the Purcell Duchy. Carlo’s share was the whole of the Aksu Empire, except for the Purcell Duchy.
The difference between just the Purcell Duchy and the entirety of the Aksu Empire was really large, and one could see the disparity between Karen and Carlo from this point.
Carlo’s days, however, weren’t so good, and it was due to the Purcell Duchy. The Aksu Empire was large, and they had already established their chain of Markey Dell stores. Moreover, the business was doing good. Although this seemed very favorable for Carlo, and he had a great deal of wealth in his hands, one shouldn’t forget that currently, the people working in these stores were all assigned by Sioux. As such, Carlo’s every action and movement were transparent, and he couldn’t fool them.
What’s more, these people held important positions, so Carlo couldn’t just move them easily. If Carlo wanting to fully control his territory, it would be impossible.
In the Purcell Duchy, however, there wasn’t such an issue since the Markey Dell clan didn’t have any stores there. Although Laura had began with a lot of hardships, she could at least control her own territory and wouldn’t allow others to meddle in it.
Carlo also wasn’t ordinary as he was the one who’d taken control of the Markey Dell clan’s chain of stores in the Aksu Empire. His strength grew very quickly. Besides not having a Rank Nine expert, he was still comparable to a middle ranked aristocrat since he had several Rank Eight experts on his side. This was all Raeen knew, and he didn’t know much since Carlo was a very careful person. Thus, he hadn’t even trusted Raeen fully.
The reason why Carlo had noticed the Purcell Duchy was because of the pest crisis. The news of it had since been spread throughout the Aksu Empire. This was a common practice for large businesses, and anyone with some status inside the Aksu Empire knew of it. With regards to the manipulations within the Purcell clan, the other great and powerful aristocrats were against it. Luckily, the Purcell clan had met Zhao Hai.
These people hadn’t placed much emphasis on the pest crisis, but rather, they noted the sudden appearance of Zhao Hai. They all had the same sort of questions, such as where had Zhao Hai come from? Where was he producing his commodities?
When Laura started selling the Taoyuan products, these people soon realized how big an opportunity this was. They were also aware, however, that it was due to the Purcell clan’s kindness that Zhao Hai had a place to call home[3].
This time around, the Purcell clan’s loss wasn’t small, and these people knew that Zhao Hai’s products were a great opportunity. The Purcell clan also knew of this, however. Now, moving against Zhao Hai was tantamount to slapping the Purcell clan in the face. Although the Purcell clan couldn’t be considered a very large clan, after many years of development they could still be recognized as one of the great aristocrats. The clan had two Rank Nine experts, so no one would dare look down on them.
It was due to this that no one had thought of using Zhao Hai as a business opportunity. Going against a respected aristocratic clan wasn’t something that the other established great aristocratic clans were capable of.
Carlo, however, didn’t have such a layer of scruples. He needed this opportunity. Right now, within the Markey Dell clan, he was the weakest among the three top successors. He needed to quickly increase his strength. That was why he had sent Alodia and Raeen. He thought that as long as those two moved, Laura would certainly comply. When the time came, Zhao Hai wouldn’t be able to run freely and would be taken in.
He hadn’t thought that they would fail to coordinate against Laura, even to the extent of shutting Alodia up and confining him. Raeen had known that this matter was bad as they had wanted to kidnap Laura and use her to find a way to take over Zhao Hai.
Naturally, if Laura resisted intensely, then they weren’t afraid of taking her life. So long as Laura dies, the business within the Purcell Duchy would become headless. Perhaps they could even take over the entire Purcell Duchy’s industry without a problem. They hadn’t thought that Zhao Hai would send his Eagle Virtuous Phantasms at the scene of the ambush. All those that died have now become his undead.
This information had some uses for Zhao Hai, but it wasn’t too significant. Therefore, Zhao Hai didn’t care much for it. After having asked Zhao En, he moved back inside the Space. He watched the eagles as they advanced forwards through their route. He didn’t want to make any more mistakes, else he certainly wouldn’t be able to reach Flower City.
Green and the others, whom were sitting in front of Zhao Hai, didn’t speak of anything. After some time, Green said, “Young Master, I think the issue about us telling our identity to Miss Laura wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Miss Laura should have a sense of proportion. Moreover, she took many undead from us. Thus, if Miss Laura does have bad intentions against us, we will know ahead of time.”
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “I’m not worried about Laura betraying us. What I was thinking about is our alliance with the Purcell clan. Although it can be said that Evan was good to us, look at it this way; Evan is a very competent politician. If he became aware of our identities, he might just give us some trouble.”
Green shook his head and said, “That shouldn’t be the case. If Miss Laura indeed won’t betray us, then she won’t tell Evan about our identity. Thus, it’s impossible for Evan to know.”
Zhao Hai nodded. “I do hope so. Also, Zhao En told me things about Carlo’s situation. I don’t mind Carlo’s strength alone, but having understood his portion of strength, I fear that the whole Markey Dell clan’s power is very high. It seems like this time, we might have met with some hard stubble.”
Green coldly snorted and said, “It’s not an extraordinary matter. So long as we are cooperating with the Purcell clan, the Markey Dell clan won’t easily move against us. A Rank Nine expert won’t be easy to get rid of. And then there are the many Rank Eight experts within the Purcell clan. We still have a little power to restrict them with.”
Zhao Hai nodded. He looked at the terrain on the screen and checked the map. Taking a deep breath, he said, “I only hope that Carlo won’t start moving within the next few days. According to the map, we can arrive at Flower City in about two days. I hope Carlo will give us enough time.”
Green also looked at the screen and checked the map. He nodded and said, “Looking at the terrain on the map, we should arrive at Flower City the day after tomorrow. During this period, no one should leave the Space.”
“Well, let’s have Zhao En look at the situation,” Zhao Hai said, nodding. “If there is anything when we go out, he can immediately tell us about it. I’m worried that while we are going to Flower City, there may be Rank Nine magic beasts or undead that might attack us.”
Green frowned and said, “It’s better if they won’t attack us, otherwise it will be difficult for us to go to Flower City. I’m hoping that this time, we can also have the same luck Buffy had last time.”
The people in the room didn’t believe in Green’s words. Green also knew that Buffy had been a Rank Nine expert magician. As such, those other Rank Nine experts didn’t want to annoy him in order to avoid any further confrontation. The Eagle Virtuous Phantasms, however, weren’t Rank Nine. They might be Rank Six, strictly speaking, and them braving through the territory of Rank Nine experts would be very dangerous.
The dignity of Rank Nine experts could not be taken lightly. Those who do would die without a doubt. Due to this, Zhao Hai was a lot more careful.
The people in the room had a few more conversations before he left the Spatial Villa. The Space was now Level 15, and altogether it had a total of 48 mu of land. Radishes were planted in 8 mu of the land, fruit oil trees in 10 mu, and bamboo rice for another 10 mu. He also planted corn in 10 mu of the land, and different plants were planted in the remaining 10 mu. He’d planted cabbages, potatoes that were called tuber blocks here in the Ark continent, sweet peppers, green lettuce, and olives, each on 2 mu of land[4].
Oil fruit and bamboo rice were commodities that Laura normally needed. After keeping several for himself, the cabbages and potatoes were sold to Laura. He had to save up on some of these commodities. After all, the Taoyuan products were very popular on the continent, thus there might come a time when he couldn’t supply the commodities needed.
He only needed to check on things and the Space would handle it all for him. He needed to check, then accept, and then point some things out. In the end, Zhao Hai didn’t need to handle these matters much.
There was also nothing to do at Fort Iron Mountain since there were already people managing the mountain valley. The land near Fort Iron Mountain was also used by the slaves to plant things, so he didn’t need to worry.
The land near Fort Iron Mountain hadn’t been completely improved, only about 700,000 square meters[5] were. Aside from rewarding Chee and Schee the 7000 square meters, the remainder of the land was being planted with some ordinary vegetables by the slaves, not with magic vegetables. Although these ordinary vegetables were inferior to magic vegetables, their maturity time was shorter. As long as one could store them, vegetables like cabbage could be kept for a long time. It was autumn right now, so they would prepare it for the winter.
There was sufficient food, clothing, and food production from the Space for the coming winter. Adding in Laura’s cooperation in terms of selling the blue-eyed rabbit meat, and they’d accumulated a lot of rabbit fur. Furthermore, they also bought a lot of cotton clothing from Casa City. As such, there shouldn’t be any more problems.
Wood fuel wasn’t a problem either. Zhao Hai had saved a lot of fruit oil trees, corn stalks and corn cobs, and bamboo rice. They should have sufficient materials. The issue of drinking water was also mostly solved. Even if the moat[6] were to be frozen, there were mountain lakes, called tarns[7]. Even if the tarns were frozen, there was still Zhao Hai’s Space. Although it wasn’t good, you could also take water from ice[8]. Although they won’t be able to do anything much during the winter, eating wouldn’t be a problem.
In order to alleviate the fear of not being able to eat at all times, Zhao Hai had left behind some blue-eyed rabbits. This could improve their meals during the winter time. If you let the slaves of the other regions know about how the slaves lived, here in Black Waste, he feared that they might commit suicide out of envy.
Notes:
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Footnotes:
[1] The first new person Zhao Hai has named!!! At least for us. His name is 赵恩, or Zhao En. 恩 can also mean Grace, Favor, Kindness. ↩
[2] 雷恩 – Léi ēn. Yes, the author went and changed the name from Reo (Lei Ao) to Raeen (Lei En). The pronunciation should go Lei as in Ray, and then Ao = Oh/En = En. So Ray-en and Ray-oh. Anyways, his name is now Raeen. Or it was Raeen… you get what I mean. The change fits with Zhao Hai’s new name for him, Zhao En, En (恩) being the same as the En (恩) in Raeen. ↩
[3] The kindness of sending an army to assault him, yes. ↩
[4] 48 mu is 32,000 square meters or 7.9 acres. 10 mu is 6,667 square meters or 1.64 acres. 8 mu is 5,333 square meters or 1.31 acres. 2 mu is 1,333 square meters or 0.33 acres. ↩
[5] 1000 mu, exactly 666,667 square meters, or 165 acres. ↩
[6] If you remember, they do have a moat around the fort. It had been poisoned by the magic beast riot that had occurred early on in the story. Since then, it has already been cleaned out. ↩
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarn_(lake) ↩
[8] Not a good idea if you’re trying to save fuel. This includes body energy if you don’t have a fire and wish to melt ice in a canteen kept close to your body or something. ↩