Hank looked at Alex with thankful eyes.
"Hank, I will change your training regime first. You need to acquire Copper body before your cultivation reaches the ninth stage of Body Tempering Realm. Only after that can you form a Dantian and promote to the Early Stage of Dantian Formation Realm. After that, I will give you the Body Cultivation Technique which will change your cultivation path entirely. Therefore, work hard and eat lots of high-Level Demon Beast Meat on a daily basis."
Alex could afford to spend expensive resources like body strengthening pills and Demon Beast Meat that is rich in Qi and give them to his family so that the speed of their cultivation does not slow down and keep on increasing.
Tom and Hank are already at the seventh-stage of Body Tempering Realm, while Anna, Uncle Joe, and Theo are at the eight-stage. Aunt Meg, Julie, and Selena had already reached the Peak stage of Body Tempering Realm. They can start preparing for their advancement to the Dantian Formation Realm very soon. Tom's mother, Lily had also made huge progress. She is now a third stage body Tempering Realm cultivator and is going to promote to the fourth soon.
This speed of cultivation is also because of the resources provided by Alex to his family. The previous Lords could not afford to spend so lavishly like Alex who is now also an Alchemist of Grade 1 and they did not have capable subordinates like the puppets who could regularly bring High-level Demon Beast from the forest and the sea for Alex family's huge consumption.
There are still four days remaining for the wedding but the ladies are already choosing their wedding dress and vows. Alex had many puppets with Tailoring skill. He told them to make his dress and the brides according to the sketch he had drawn. The dresses have been completed but since Alex had given a lot of designs, the ladies are having a hard time choosing between them.
The next day, an envoy of the Count, Nathan Nehmor arrived on a ship. The envoy whose name was Farad got invited to the manor of the Mordrake family where Alex had been waiting.
He came over with a group of guards but only the envoy and two guards carrying a chest were allowed to go inside the manor. the rest had to stay outside.
Farad could only accept this treatment because he was here to pay the ransom and cannot be too arrogant.
When the envoy, Farad, entered the main hall, his sight fell onto the young boy sitting on the biggest chair.
'Alex Mordrake, he is... really a teenager and much handsome than Count Nathan..' No matter how many times he saw the information about the Lord of Seashell Island, he couldn't believe it until he saw the famous young lord personally.
Though the people of the Belmont subcontinent does not recognize these Island rulers giving themselves the status of Noble and being eligible to be referred to as a Lord, Farad had to do it with under forced circumstances.
"Good Morning, Lord Alex Mordrake. My name is Farad Humbert. By the orders of the Count Of Nehmor, I'm here to pay the ransom for our soldiers you have captured. As you have requested, I have brought money." Farad greeted first. He didn't mention any apology or tried to find any excuses like they had a misunderstanding or something like that.
It was like they were the victims who are forced by Alex and his gang, to pay the ransom of their just and honorable soldiers captured without any justifiable reason.
Alex did not need their apology since it would be fake anyway. And no outside person knew what was happening inside the main hall, even if they did, Alex won't care.
"Since you have brought the ransom then give to the guards. After verifying the amount and the authenticity of the gold coins and the Spirit stones, you can go. I will make sure they reach their home in a week." Alex accepted the ransom with a smile. Two soldiers of Alex's clad in a Low-grade black ranked armor came forward and took the chest from the hands of the guards standing behind the envoy.
Without even giving a face to the envoy, those two soldiers opened the chest in front of him and started counting with great scrutiny like they had the fear of getting cheated.
Farad just looked at their actions but didn't say anything. He didn't have time to get offended on things like this. He had another matter which needed to be completed.
"Lord Alex, I have a small request. Please sell the ships belonging to our navy back to us. The count has agreed to pay at the market price. If you can do us this small favor then the Count said he will extend the peace agreement between us from ten to twenty years. Maybe we won't even need this kind of an agreement after a few years when trading starts to boom between our territories and become friends with each other after building trust."
"Count has very large influence on the Northeast coast of the Belmont subcontinent. If you need anything, you can just be sent a letter and the Count will be happy to sell it to your merchants. He is also agreed to give your Merchants preferential treatments over others in the pricing." Fared said everything in one breath because he feared that the boy would not understand all the benefits of getting the friendship of the Count is more important than being greedy about a few ships.
He also gave a veiled threat about the Count's influence over the Northeast coast of the Belmont subcontinent and that he can make it hard for their merchants when they come to trade for strategic and necessary materials like rock salt, iron ore, and whole grains.
'If Alex was smart enough then he should choose to take a backfoot now.' thought the envoy in his heart. They can buy ships from other places but it takes a lot of time to make so many ships. Ships are only made on orders. If there is no buyer then no one will be stupid to keep making them. the cost of maintenance of ships standing at the shipbuilding yard is a lot.
"Unfortunately, I cannot sell you those ships. I will be satisfied enough with the ten-year peace agreement. But your Count can also get my friendship if he stays true to the agreement. Like how your Lord has influence near his territory, I also have a little influence over the sea on the Northeast side of the Belmont Subcontinent. If your Count wants exquisite pelts, meat, and Core of the Demon Beasts then I can give his merchants a preferential treatment over the others. How about that?" Alex said like he really meant it.
Master Clayton shook his head when he heard Alex's tit for tat. He still doesn't know how his disciple's brain works.
"This... Lord Alex, please don't make it difficult for me. I can increase the price of the ships a little bit but please sell at least two-thirds of it to us." Farad tried every means but he couldn't get Alex to sell those ships to him no matter how much he begged.