Chapter 201 – Intents[1]
After the farm reached Level 21, it had given Zhao Hai many benefits. Zhao Hai, however, was wondering about what would happen when the ranch also reached a high level. At that time, what sort of benefits would they obtain?
Even if they couldn’t get any benefits, so long as they could raise more magic beasts, their overall strength would increase. Just raising the blue-eyed rabbits alone made them earn a profit in gold coins.
Green and the others nodded as they now knew what they should currently upgrade. In their opinion, however, leveling up the ranch wasn’t as important as leveling up the farm. By leveling up the farm, once they reached Level 30 they would be able to detoxify Zhao Hai’s Water of Nothingness.
Right now, Zhao Hai had Cai-er and Zhao Wen by his side. As such, they weren’t worried about his security. Yet they still wished to cure him quickly. Once that happens, he would be able to find a wife and try to sire a child; to sprout branches and scatter leaves[2].
If Zhao Hai knew Green had such ideas, he wouldn’t know if he should laugh or cry. He would just place these issues on hold and say that such matters could be spoken of another day. Zhao Hai just couldn’t bear it. In Green’s view, however, Zhao Hai’s marriage and ability to have children was his greatest concern.
Zhao Hai actually had headaches about the matter. To be honest, he did feel something for Laura. After all, Laura was very attractive and had a very good disposition. Zhao Hai, however, couldn’t just turn down Meg. With regards to Meg, she had accompanied Zhao Hai when he’d confronted Zhao Wen, a Rank Nine expert. This had made a mark in Zhao Hai’s heart.
To say that Zhao Hai had been moved by Meg for only this matter would just be deceiving people. This just wasn’t the case. After all, after Zhao Hai had woken up, Meg had been the one who’d taken care of him. Moreover, the present Meg was interested in him. By adding in that recent incident, asking Zhao Hai to give Meg up would be impossible.
Zhao Hai had been a person who believed in a single love. He was also a perfectionist. His beliefs meant that he did not judge multiple loves as true love, but rather, universal love. However, this term was just sugar-coating the act itself.
When love arrived, it wouldn’t be something he’d be able to control. The more one would try to control it, the less one would be able to. It was almost like a drug. Unknowingly, one would start to sink into it.
When one truly encounters love, their view will start to become completely different than how it had been. At that time, what kind of choice would one make? For a man, it could possibly be a good choice since monogamy wasn’t practiced on the Ark Continent. Instead, marrying several women was the norm.
For an idealist, however, this choice would be difficult. Zhao Hai wanted the perfect love, but he didn’t have any control over his heart.
What was it that restrained a human the most? It wasn’t the law, but one’s own heart. When a human had their own set of standards within their heart, one will then find out how hard it is to cope with new standards.
Zhao Hai was such a human. He had his own views on love. Because of these views, he had been a 20-year-old virgin on Earth[3].
On Earth, a mortal’s world, Zhao Hai could hold true to his heart. Of course, in other people’s views, these were just the collected thoughts of a fool. As for Zhao Hai, what others said didn’t matter to him as he had a firm hold on his set of standards.
This was Zhao Hai’s disposition. He was plain, gentle, and responsible; but he also had an arrogant side.
* * * * *
As he spoke, Zhao Hai re-entered the Space, then travelled to Stony Mountain’s Bluestone Villa which had the same circumstances as Fort Iron Mountain. The area was similar to that of Flower City in that it had turned into a seven-colored flower’s world. Zhao Hai and the others were now accustomed to the change in scenery, so they weren’t that surprised anymore.
Sitting down in the living room of Bluestone Villa, Zhao Hai contacted Laura through his undead. He wanted to know if there had been any matters that have occurred these past few days.
Zhao Hai had expected something, but there really hadn’t been anything going on. Alodia and his followers were unexpectedly staying honest lately. They didn’t cause much trouble. Casa City was also tranquil. Aside from the small sensation that had been caused when Laura brought along the undead the other day, there hadn’t been many incidents occurring.
Such a situation wasn’t something Zhao Hai expected. He thought that those subordinates of Carlo would cause some trouble, or that he’d send people to rescue Alodia. Now, however, there hadn’t been any such movements. Why was this so? Carlo should be a person who wasn’t good to deal with, no?
Zhao Hai told Green about the situation, and Green turned gloomy afterward. He turned his head towards Zhao Hai and said, “Young Master, I fear that this time around, things won’t be good. If Carlo moved earlier, then it meant he didn’t want the entirety of the Markey Dell clan to be involved. If he wanted to do it himself, he has the strength. This was shown with his recent business in the Purcell Duchy. He should have begun a few days ago. Instead, he didn’t make a move. Thus, it is probably safe to say that he has consulted the Markey Dell clan and requested them to solve this matter. In such a case, they wouldn’t be able to start quickly. After all, they would need time to consolidate their own forces.”
Zhao Hai nodded. He understood what Green meant. If this matter was something Carlo wished to solve himself, then they wouldn’t need to worry. With Carlo’s strength, they wouldn’t even need to pay attention. If this matter was handled by the Markey Dell clan, however, then it would be troublesome.
The Markey Dell clan was a formidable commercial clan that stretched across half the continent. Although they had an overbearing conduct, which increased the number of enemies, they had their own means of dealing with them. Furthermore, their strength was also high. They needed such strength, else they wouldn’t have their present status.
Although he was currently in a coalition with Laura and Evan, which allowed them to put up a fight with the Markey Dell clan, the winner at the end was still an unknown.
People on the continent didn’t dare to easily move against a merchant clan. This was due to a basic reason: the merchant clans were really too rich. They could spend a ton of wealth and batter their targets to death with money.
A common respected clan, even if they were rich, wouldn’t be able to spend money the same way as a merchant clan. Because of this, few respected clans would move against a merchant clan. Naturally though, a merchant clan wouldn’t try to go up against a large aristocratic clan.
Although merchant clans were rich, their status was inferior to those of large aristocratic clans. Furthermore, these large aristocratic clans associated with many other merchant clans, and middle or small aristocratic clans. These large aristocratic clans wouldn’t ever have a status lower than any merchant clan.
Simply put, if both sides had scruples, it wouldn’t be an easy thing. The situation right now, however, was related to the stability of the Purcell clan. As such, Evan had tied himself to a pledge with Zhao Hai and Laura, preparing to cope with the Markey Dell clan.
Obviously, Carlo had thought of this point and therefore, wouldn’t make a move because of it. Instead, he reported it to the Markey Dell clan headquarters, asking Sioux to decide.
Almost everyone on the continent knew that one cannot easily please a Rank Nine expert. Even if the clan wanted them to move, they would be required to pay a huge price. Therefore, if two clans were to really fight against one another, they would rely heavily on their Rank Eight experts. This was also something their economic status depended on.
With their economic strength, the Purcell clan and Laura could not beat them. However, would the Markey Dell clan try and fight them to the death?
The answer was no. The Markey Dell clan was an overbearing merchant clan. With regards to the interests of merchants, war was the most stupid way to solve problems. It was just something merchants didn’t like. Letting both the Markey Dell clan and Purcell clan wound one another because of this situation wouldn’t be possible. Sioux, that old fox, just wouldn’t allow that.
Since the Markey Dell clan wanted to deal with them, it wouldn’t start with the Markey Dell clan dirtying their hands. If they were as soft as persimmons, the Markey Dell clan would have directly destroyed them. If they were persistent and difficult to chew, then the Markey Dell clan would find some other means necessary to deal with them.
Now it looked like such things might really happen. So long as Carlo told the Markey Dell clan about this matter, things will start to get messy.
Fortunately, they now had Zhao Wen and Cai-er and thus weren’t worried about the Markey Dell clan attacking. Even if the Markey Dell clan goes all out and desperately asks a Rank Nine deity to get rid of them, they still needn’t be afraid.
Going up against the Markey Dell clan, however, wasn’t something Zhao Hai wanted. Unfortunately, the present situation didn’t allow Zhao Hai a way out. If he tried to run, then the Purcell clan and Laura would still be implicated.
Zhao Hai frowned as he asked Green, “Grandpa Green, what methods do you think the Markey Dell clan will come up with to deal with us? Will they use some sort of business-related means?”
Green shook his head and said, “I fear that won’t be it.”
Zhao Hai was surprised for a moment. He wasn’t able to understand what Green meant. As a merchant clan, they were the best at using business-related attacks. This method would be the best way to deal with the Purcell clan. It won’t only slowly beat down the Purcell clan, but the Markey Dell clan would also gain some advantages from it[4].
Green looked at Zhao Hai’s expression and understood what he was thinking. He smiled faintly and explained, “Business-related actions can make the Purcell clan take some losses, but wouldn’t be enough to extinguish them. Furthermore, if the Markey Dell clan did such a thing, it would be equal to offending the other respected aristocratic clans. The Markey Dell clan can deal with the Purcell clan this way, but how about the other aristocratic clans? If the Markey Dell clan dares to do so, then they wouldn’t be able to do business on the continent. All of the large aristocratic clans would join up and suppress them until they wouldn’t be able to recover. This is how the larger aristocratic clans handle things.”
Zhao Hai hadn’t thought it would really be like this. On Earth, some large financial groups could control the economic direction of a small country, or even control those countries through economic means. He hadn’t thought it wouldn’t be an alright action here on the Ark Continent.
In the end, the Ark Continent still places a lot of respect on strength. Laws, to those large aristocratic clans, weren’t binding and was just used as a tool to restrain others.
Notes:
-This chapter was MTL’ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.
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-Please check out the Editor’s footnotes, thanks.
Footnotes:
[1] 心 – Xīn. Can also mean thoughts, heart, mind, feelings. ↩
[2] Rather easy to see that this means: “Make a family.” ↩
[3] Doesn’t sound like something he should sound so negative about… if he were a girl, he’d be a rare beast. Yet as a guy, he’s a disappointment? Sighs. ↩
[4] Moolah.