Chapter 203 – Cai-er’s Abilities
In all honesty, those large merchant clans within Casa City all had ideas about Zhao Hai. Since their businesses were based in the Purcell Duchy, they knew about the opportunities provided by the Taoyuan products a great deal earlier than Carlo.
Those merchant clans didn’t chase this opportunity as they understood the situation clearly. Their plans during the food crisis had failed because of Zhao Hai’s intervention. Although it could be said that Zhao Hai had done something that had negatively affected them, what he’d done was equal to giving the Purcell clan a large favor. With regards to the Purcell clan, they regarded Zhao Hai with the utmost importance. As such, it was difficult to move against Zhao Hai. Doing so would be the same as slapping the Purcell clan’s face. If they wanted to continue doing business within the Purcell Duchy, then they couldn’t move against Zhao Hai.
In addition, those large merchant clans wouldn’t dare to mess with a black magician. Black magicians were widely known on the continent as tough to handle. If one really messed with them, then one would have to deal with an endless amount of undead. Although they were large merchant clans, if they got entangled with a black magician, losses would be inevitable. Merchants weren’t willing to suffer such unexpected financial losses. They would rather pay attention to harmony and wealth.
To be honest, these large merchant clans didn’t have a very good opinion of the Markey Dell clan. The Markey Dell clan, however, had a great deal of potential and were in the limelight. As such, they didn’t want to offend them.
For this current matter, the large merchant clans just wanted to watch and see what would happen. Although they had made their own preparations, the people from these large merchant clans didn’t think the Purcell clan would be defeated. One side was a large and respectable clan that had a Duchy as their fiefdom. Would they lose against a merchant clan? It was impossible, an unprecedented matter.
Great aristocratic clans had their own circle. This circle wasn’t something the circle of the large merchant clans could compare with. Such a thing was mainly because the aristocratic circle was a great deal more reliable, and had a greater strength behind it. The merchant clans just couldn’t compare.
If the merchant clans had a grasp on wealth, then the aristocratic clans had a grasp on power. Sometimes, even if one could spend their wealth, one wouldn’t be able to buy power. However, if one had power, then it was simple to acquire wealth.
It was precisely because of this that those large merchant clans had made their preparations. They didn’t dare to move against the Purcell clan though. Instead, it was the other way around—they were preparing to deal with the Markey Dell clan.
Don’t just look at them as merchant clans. The actions of the Markey Dell clan had truly been too overbearing and their reputation within the business circle wasn’t good. Unexpectedly, the Markey Dell clan wanted to deal with the Purcell clan at the moment. This was a very good opportunity for the large merchant clans to tidy up the Markey Dell clan. They certainly wouldn’t let such a chance slip by.
* * * * *
The report Laura had sent to Zhao Hai didn’t have such matters written within it. Although Laura’s intelligence network was strong, it was still impossible to pry out such secret matters. While Laura looked like she was spying on those large merchant clans, her actions were just a small trick.
Zhao Hai explained to Green these matters afterward. Green thought that the goal of these large merchant clans couldn’t possibly be to deal with the Purcell clan. They had just recently offended the Purcell clan, so if they moved against them this time, then they’ll have offended them once more. Later on, they wouldn’t be able to do business in the Purcell Duchy. With such thoughts, Green decided that the goal of these clans would possible be to deal with the Markey Dell clan.
Zhao Hai agreed with what Green said. The chatted for a bit, then Zhao Hai wrote a letter of thanks to Laura afterward and readied the eagle.
After setting up the eagle, several Spatial Bags appeared in front of Zhao Hai. He gave a few to Green and the others. These Spatial Bags were the ones Zhao Hai had previously used for storing the seeds bought from before and couldn’t be taken outside[1]. He had used it recently when buying seeds. Since the farmland area in the Space was now larger, Zhao Hai had instructed Cai-er to plant many things. There were many such Spatial Bags. Even with Green and the others each having one, there were still many of them left over.
The Spatial Bags Zhao Hai prepared were all taken out. Naturally, it was impossible for them to use them all, so he was planning to send some to Laura. One must know that spatial equipment was sought after on the continent.
Although the Spatial Bag’s capacity wasn’t that large, the storage space was more than enough for them. If such Spatial Bags were to be marketed on the continent, each bag would cost around a few thousand gold coins.
After he released the eagle, Zhao Hai returned to the Space and went to Fort Iron Mountain. Upon his arrival at the fort, Zhao Hai went out with Green. He intended to look at the area outside Fort Iron Mountain.
Zhao Hai was stunned for a moment after seeing the outside of Fort Iron Mountain. He really hadn’t expected that it would be a great deal more beautiful than what he’d imagined. All of the houses were covered with seven-colored flowers, and the most important thing was that all of the windows had been blocked by vines. During the day, those vines would curl up. When evening came, they would automatically roll back down. It was like an automated curtain, and this made Zhao Hai joyful.
Seeing these small vines, Zhao Hai immediately called out Cai-er. Cai-er liked to stay inside the space. Since she herself was a plant sprite, the Space was the place most conducive for plant growth. Naturally, she liked to stay inside the Space.
She was puzzled as to why she was called out by Zhao Hai, so Cai-er asked, “Young Master, what do you want me to do?”
Zhao Hai pointed towards those fine vines and said, “Cai-er, those thin vines are good, but what about winter? Won’t those vines be frozen when winter arrives?”
Cai-er smiled upon hearing Zhao Hai’s questions. “Young Master, you underestimate me. I came from the Devil World, and the environment there is a lot worse than here. That place is a lot colder throughout the year than here on the continent, and I’m afraid of the cold. Don’t underestimate these flowers. These flowers not only emit light in the evening, but also release a certain amount of heat when it is cold. As such, the castle will not have a low temperature during the winter months.”
Zhao Hai couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment. He really hadn’t known Cai-er had such abilities. Cai-er looked at Zhao Hai’s expression and smiled. “Young Master, you don’t truly understand what kind of situation the Devil World is in. If I didn’t have such abilities, then how would I get the respect of the creatures of the Devil World? I will tell you, this isn’t the limit of my abilities. Some creatures from the Devil World eat my leaves and gain increased longevity. These are the reasons why those creatures give such great respect for me.”
Zhao Hai nodded. An idea appeared in his mind. Since Cai-er had such abilities, then when winter came, couldn’t he use Cai-er to build a greenhouse? If such a thing was possible, then during winter, he wouldn’t be able to just plant in the Space, but outside as well.
Zhao Hai gently shook his head and threw away the idea. Now wasn’t the time to think of such things as winter was still far away. So long as he had Cai-er, thoughts about building a greenhouse would be too simple.
Zhao Hai and Green slowly walked out of the castle. They looked at the castle square and the outside of the castle and found that the slaves were very busy.
The vegetables they planted had now grown to become little seedlings. In addition to looking out for pitifully small ones, there was a need to eliminate the extra seedlings. This was so that they could allow the rest of the vegetables to grow and mature as long as they could and become as big as possible.
Looking at the greenery emerging from the ground, Zhao Hai and Green’s mood became particularly good. Green’s eyes were watery as he thought of the first time they’d arrived here in the Black Waste. They were truly in despair then. During that time, he really had no ideas in mind. He just wanted to keep Zhao Hai’s life safe. Who knew that this would be given to them, and that they would reach their current situation.
The two went to the canyon to have a look. The corn planted there was now tall and long. This was due to the special care given by the slaves, which allowed it to grow well. Zhao Hai was satisfied.
Zhao Hai next went to check the blue-eyed rabbits. These blue-eyed rabbits had a very abnormal maturity speed. This may have possibly been due to the Space’s radish leaves that were given as fodder. Those leaves allowed them to mature faster, and thus have a faster reproduction speed. This made Zhao Hai the happiest.
The Black Waste could now be considered on track. It was now possible to support their current population of people and live on the lands of the Black Waste. This was a very good result.
After seeing all this, Zhao Hai and Green returned to the castle. After they sat down, Meg gave each of them a cup of tea.
Zhao Hai drank the tea and sighed. “Now that the day has passed, we have at least achieved a few of our goals. Haha, Grandpa Green, don’t you also think so?”
Green nodded. He smiled and said, “Yes. Ah, today, we have achieved a few of our goals. Haha, after arriving here in the Black Waste, I never dreamed such a day would come. If not for the Young Master’s Space, our Buda clan would have ended.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly. He turned his head over to Green and said, “Grandpa Green, tomorrow, we’ll go to Casa City and see Laura. I want to give her several Spatial Bags and ask her to buy some fingerlings[2] to place in the moat over there. Now that we have Cai-er, the seven-colored vines can be used as fences for the moat, so we won’t need to worry about placing the fingerlings there. The tarn also has many crystal-horned larvae[3]. As such, we can breed the fingerlings there and, later, we can eat fish.”
Green nodded and said, “Indeed. Anyway, Young Master, will you ask Zhao Wen to go into the Carrion Swamp and capture some magic beasts? In any case, she is very familiar with the Carrion Swamp, so there shouldn’t be a problem with that, right?”
Zhao Hai nodded. “Yes, there shouldn’t be any issues. Still, we should be careful. If we let the other magic beasts know of our situation[4], it will be very troublesome for us. Didn’t Zhao Wen say that there were more than ten Rank Nine magic beasts in the Carrion Swamp? If these magic beasts tried to look for us and cause trouble, then that will mean the people on the continent will know of our existence. Then we’ll be in danger.”
Green nodded. Zhao Hai continued, “We’ll just let Zhao Wen do some small-scale magic beast hunting and see what happens later. Anyway, we’ll soon go to the Beastfolk Prairie. That place will certainly have many magic beasts. I believe that when the time comes, our ranch will level up.”
Green nodded. He had been to the Beastfolk Prairie and had some small understanding of it. He knew that there were many unique magic beasts on the continent that thrived there. If they could get those magic beasts into the Space, then the Space’s promotion won’t be that difficult.
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] When Zhao Hai bought seeds from the Spatial Shop, they were placed in a bag and then stored in the warehouse. When he took out the seeds, they appeared with the bag. Now we know what happened to those bags. ↩
[2] 鱼苗 – Yúmiáo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenile_fish ↩
[3] 晶角虫 – Jīng jiǎo chóng. Crystal. Horn, Lower species insects. ↩
[4] … we’ll brainwash them too.