Bringing The Farm To Live In Another World - Chapter 365
Chapter 365 – Grand Duke Lionheart and The Buda Family
When Zhao Hai’s group returned to Sweet Plum Courtyard, they immediately went to the Space. Upon arriving, Laura and Meg relaxed, Zhao Hai looked at Laura’s appearance and smiled, “Laura, I didn’t think that you’re swordsmanship has become so fierce, haha, that’s great.”
Laure proudly lifted her chin up, “Naturally, did you think that me being a knight is a joke? I feel that I may even break through to 6th rank soon.”
Zhao Hai smiled, “It looks like we need to find you a magic beast mount the next time we go to the prairie. Laura, you could also use a Blood Hark as a mount, what do you think? After the Ranch levelled up, the Blood Hawks became even stronger. I reckon you could already ride them safely.”
Laura smiled, “Forget it, let’s talk about this later. There’s a lot of magic beasts in the Space anyway, I could just choose anytime I want. If I want to fly, I could use a Blood Hawk. If I want to go on ground, we have Moonlight Lions. We also have the Swordfish to travel on water. If all of them are not enough, we still have Little Wen. I could ask Little Wen to be my temporary mount, no problem.”
Zhao Hai couldn’t help but laugh. What Laura said was quite right, there were already quite a lot of magic beasts inside the Space. If it came to the point of choosing mounts, Laura would have a lot to choose from.
A few moments after the group talked a bit, Zhao Hai turned and asked Cai’er, “Cai’er, how many vegetables do we have stored right now?”
Cai’er immediately replied, “Presently, we have about 2 million jin of vegetables, 1 billion jin of grain, around 50 thousand jin of milk wine, and also 20 thousand jin of rations.”
After hearing the report, Zhao Hai nodded, “Reduce the amount of grain planted in the Space and increase the quantity of vegetables. After a batch of Scaleless Fish matures, go and raise some fire fishes, we must make sure to have sufficient supply in both vegetables and fire fishes.”
Cai’er nodded, then went towards the farm to manage it. Even though the Ranch was turned over to Mu’er, Mu’er still listens to Cai’er. This made it so that Cai’er technically managed the entire Space. Zhao Hai directly telling Cai’er about everything is fine.
Now that Zhao Hai’s concerns about the farm were handed over to Cai’er, he nodded and led Laura and the others back to Iron Mountain Fort.
Iron Mountain Fort was already in full blown winter. Snow and ice filled the plains outside the fort while the temperature inside reached 10 degrees. People inside wore thick clothes.
However, the situation inside the fort was generally quite good. Because Cai’er was present, the usage of firewood reduced by a lot. So the majority of bamboo and oil trees were instead used by the slaves to make some furniture.
Although the slaves haven’t done these kinds of things before, don’t forget that Laura already brought in some artisans. So even though the furniture made by the slaves weren’t actually good looking, they were still functional. Thus, there were already a lot of half-step carpenters present inside Iron Mountain Fort.
Zhao Hai was happy when he saw this scene. Those half-step carpenters were already absolved of their slave status. He also told them that if they could improve upon their carpentry, he would reward them with land.
This aroused the enthusiasm of the slaves. After the slaves returned from their work in the factories, they would begin and practice their craftsmanship. This made some of them reveal their talents which Green noticed. Then he made them wholeheartedly train themselves on the trade.
Of course, the other slaves weren’t discouraged to practice. Green expressed that they should still try their best while not being too hasty and not make things focusing on beauty. They should instead focus on quality and functionality, learning to this point is already enough. One should not forget that come spring, a hundred thousand slaves would arrive. And each and every one of these hundred thousand slaves would need their own things to use.
This was also why Zhao Hai really wanted to purchase some artisan slaves upon arriving at Sky Water city. He specifically wanted masons, blacksmiths, as well as artisans who knew how to bake clay bricks.
At the same time, Zhao Hai also wanted to have some craftsmen who specialize in making houses. Building a house wasn’t an easy thing; if the house wasn’t built good enough, not only would it not provide warmth, it also wouldn’t be able to survive winds and rains.
Currently, what Zhao Hai lacked weren’t ordinary slaves, it was skilled slaves. Naturally, skilled slaves were not actually cheap, but money wasn’t something Zhao Hai worried about.
When Zhao Hai returned to Iron Mountain Fort, he went to Green and discussed their current production. He also wanted to see if it was possible to upgrade their milk wine and ration production.
After discussing with Green, Zhao Hai got a specific figure. Currently, their daily milk wine output was 5,000 jin. At the same time, their wool product output was not bad. Every five days, they would be able to make approximately 20 wool blankets. This figure might look very low, but one should think that these blankets were hand-made, it required extreme effort.
The ration production was also going smoothly. Now that their rabbit farm was already settled, they would be able to produce 10,000 jin of rations each month. On the other hand, their mutton rations can also be produced at a rate of 5,000 jin per month.
Another important thing was their rabbit leather processing. While the beastmen tan the leather, the human women can turn these leather into fur covered garments. Since the skins of the rabbits inside Zhao Hai’s Space were red, the garments and cloaks turned out to be very beautiful.
At this rate, Zhao Hai would be able to add another product to his catalogue; this was very good news. After knowing the situation here, Zhao Hai returned to the Space and discussed with Cai’er how much vegetables they could produce each month. This metric was very important, it was going to be used by Shelley Hotel, which was a stable business that provided more income than their growing business back in Purcell Duchy.
After having Cai’er calculate the vegetable output, the figures Zhao Hai got were: 500 thousand jin of vegetables per month without affecting the required grain and fruit oil output. Supplying this figure to Shelley Hotel wasn’t bad at all.
After having all of these counted, Zhao Hai returned to Sweet Plum Courtyard. The current time was already not early, when dinner time came, Smith sent someone to invite Zhao Hai to the mansion’s dining hall to dine.
This time, Zhao Hai put out some milk wine to drink with Smith. Presently, Smith came to like the milk wine’s flavor.
After eating their meal, Zhao Hai returned to Sweet Plum Courtyard to rest. His rest for the rest of the night went very calmly. However, the entire Sky Water City wasn’t.
All nobles and powers inside the city acted, not because they wanted to revolt but instead to look for the suspect. They wanted to check out exactly who actually dared to touch Smith’s daughter.
These powers inside the city don’t have choice but to do so, this way, the suspicions towards them would be washed out. They really feared Smith’s suspicion. If by chance they get the City Lord’s doubt, they wouldn’t be able to keep their livelihood inside Sky Water City. And it would not only be inside Sky Water City, they were afraid that they wouldn’t even be able to re-establish themselves inside the whole Rosen Empire.
In fact, the major reason why these people became so anxious was the fact that the City immediately went into martial law after Megan was attacked. There were people from the urban management bureau everywhere on the streets. Along with them, the city garrison, warriors from Calci Family, and even mercenary companies were seen inspecting everything along the blocks. On this day, the business inside Sky Water City dropped threefold. It was obvious that the effects of the matter were very huge.
Seeing Smith acted very seriously this time, the aristocrats inside Sky Water city as well as the other powers became nervous. At this time, if someone actually offended Smith, they would die a terrible death.
Compared to the others, the Shelley Hotel was very calm. Although they also worked along with the city and also sent their warriors to patrol around, their range of movement wasn’t that large. The people from the hotel only covered two streets near them and made sure that there was nothing unusual going on. The acted very low-key, which was to Smith’s liking.
This action was obviously not being handled by Marriott, much less Might. The two of them were inside an office and discussing the matter.
Marriott looked at Might and said, “You say that this matter is related to Zhao Hai? I heard that when Megan was attacked, Laura and Meg are also present.”
Might nodded and said, “There’s a very high possibility. Except for the arrogant fool Lionheart, I cannot think of anyone else who would dare to act against Megan inside Sky Water City. If Lionheart did it, then his target would be Meg and Laura.”
Marriott thought for a long time and said, “There’s also another group of people who would dare, the Radiant Church. The Church’s influence has been steadily increasing these years. Also, they weren’t dealing with Calci Family, they were going for Zhao Hai; they could also be the likely suspects for today. And if the attack was unsuccessful, they could just plant the blame on Zhao Hai since Megan was the only one implicated. This way, they could create a wedge between Smith and Zhao Hai, which would be great for the Church.”
Might’s complexion went down a single step, “If this really is so, then we’ll be in danger. The Church would likely group us up with Zhao Hai and might deal with us as well. We have to inform the family as soon as possible so they would pay some attention.”
Marriott smiled faintly, “Did you think that the higher ups in the family hadn’t thought up to this point? They may have thought that the benefits Zhao Hai bring are worth it. Moreover, we don’t have any previous connections with the Radiant Church, so in a business standpoint, it would be better for the family to side with Zhao Hai. Now I just hope that Smith wouldn’t get angry at Zhao Hai. It would be really bad for us if Zhao Hai loses Smith as his backer.”
Might nodded, “I also hope so. But I think that when Zhao Hai comes here in two days he would explain the situation to us. On the other hand, if this matter is actually caused by Lionheart, then he would actually be very stupid in offending our Shelley Family as well as the Calci Family. Did he think that he was taking too slow dying?”
Marriott faintly smiled and said, “I think that the present Grand Duke Lionheart was a bit like Aksu Empire’s Buda Clan. Like Lionheart, they were also their King’s sword. Their matter might be casting a shadow towards Rosen Empire’s Emperor. After all, how could the Emperor know that his the sword in his hands would actually go out of control, suddenly acting too arrogant and overbearing.”
Might sneered, “Grand Duke Lionheart isn’t qualified to be paired with the Buda Clan. If the old King didn’t die, it was impossible for the Buda Clan to perish since they acted very obedient and low-key. I heard that their successor, Adam, was a spoiled young master which I think was intentionally made to happen by the Buda Clan. This was so that nobody would suspect that they harbored deep ambition. Nobody would suspect a clan with a useless successor. Even if their family would suffer because of Adam, it would still ensure that their bloodline will carry on. The Buda Clan did a very good job since the old King never held any suspicion towards them. And after the family fell, Adam actually managed to flee. Although they were exiled, the Buda Clan still survived. On the other hand, Lionheart’s son was a rarely seen before martial genius. Not to mention within their clan, he was very famous between the circles of nobility. This brought attention to their family which, regarding Grand Duke Lionheart, wasn’t a great thing.”
Marriott smiled faintly, “In every nation, old aristocrats are always in conflict with the Royal Family. All Royal Families are always thinking of ways of dealing with their old nobles, After all, these families held great power and influence. This was also the reason why our Shelley family didn’t have to fear such actions. Because we are a merchant family and was not as overbearing as the Markey Family, nobody paid any attention to us.”
Might smiled and said, “Speaking of Markey Family, they really had it bad. For Haven products, they unexpectedly had a falling out with Laura and gave her to Zhao Hai for cheap. Hahaha, I must say that Zhao Hai is quite formidable, Laura is a beautiful woman, moreover she’s even taller than Zhao Hai. One could see that Zhao Hai’s appearance isn’t worth someone like Laura. But surprisingly he made Laura like him, she even severed her connection from her family, that guy has my full admiration.”[1]
Looking at Might’s appearance, Marriott couldn’t help but laugh, “What? You want Zhao Hai to teach you his moves? But I think that would be difficult, Zhao Hai is a Space Mage.”
Might also laughed, “Forget it, I don’t have his capabilities. But I truly believe that Grand Duke Lionheart made a grave mistake in annoying Zhao Hai. Not only did he lose a lot of men to Zhao Hai, he was also slapped in the face. I expect him to not last for long.”
Marriott coldly snorted and said, “Even if he manages to stay, we wouldn’t let him feel comfortable. Now that the people from the clan has arrived, our plans could be set into motion. Lionheart staying in his current position would be impossible.”
People be roasting our boi Zhao Hai these past few chapters.
Chapter 366 – The Cautious Smith
Zhao Hai quietly sat inside his carriage as it drove towards Shelley Hotel. When they arrived at the place, the attendants immediately recognized Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai’s carriage was very unique, it was difficult to mistake it with something else.
A hotel attendant immediately invited Zhao Hai inside while another one went and notified Marriott. The hotel’s personnel were very clear about Zhao Hai’s position in Marriott’s heart. They didn’t dare neglect him.
When Marriott received the message, he stared blankly for a moment. He didn’t expect Zhao Hai to come this soon. After all, the matter with Megan hasn’t calmed down, he should not be here at this time.
But Marriott still immediately went and greeted Zhao Hai who was waiting at the hotel’s lounge; Marriott also invited Might over. After the group sat down, Marriott looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, what’s the matter?” After meeting several times, they already treated each others as friends. Marriott already changed how he addressed Zhao Hai from Wales to Little Hai in order to make the other side feel more familiar with him.
Regarding how he was called, Zhao Hai didn’t mind, he just smiled and said, “Did you forget what I told you yesterday? I already have the amount of vegetables that I produce calculated.”
Upon hearing Zhao Hai talk business, Marriott felt relieved. He was really afraid that Zhao Hai had a falling out with Smith and came to ask them for help. Although they would still help Zhao Hai, the family’s gains would become smaller since now they couldn’t use Zhao Hai as a bridge to form a relationship with Smith.
Marriott smiled and replied hastily, “Good, let’s talk about that. I was actually very anxious about it.”
Zhao Hai faintly smiled and answered, “I can give you about 500 thousand jin of vegetables, 10,000 fire fishes, as well as grain and fruit oil every month, you tell me how much you need. Is this sufficient?”
Marriott didn’t think that there would be so much, his eyes couldn’t hide his excitement as he said “Very sufficient, it’s absolutely good enough. Be relieved, we will certainly make the price worth it.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “I’m not afraid that you’ll disappoint me with the price, since these things are mine. If you dare slash the price, I will not supply you anymore. Hahaha”
Marriott and Might also chuckled, then Might looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Brother Hai, can I ask you details about Miss Megan’s attack yesterday?” Might clearly knew that Zhao Hai likes a frank person. If you want something from him, then you should get to the point. Zhao Hai’s temper was like that of a warrior, he prefers if you just ask him directly.
Zhao Hai replied, “The matter was already investigated by Brother Smith. Even if you don’t ask, I’ll still inform you since this is the second reason why I came here today.”
Might and Marriott stared blankly, then their hearts immediately sped up as they looked at Zhao Hai excitedly. The two of them could faintly guess what Zhao Hai came here to say.
Looking the their faces, Zhao Hai could only faintly smile as he continued, “You’re guess isn’t wrong. This time’s attack on Megan was instigated by Grand Duke Lionheart. He wanted to capture Megan to force City Lord Smith to expel me from Sky Water City. But it’s a pity that he didn’t succeed, now City Lord Smith is very angry and is preparing to retaliate against the Grand Duke. I told him that your family also had a grudge with Lionheart, moreover, that you’re already prepared to deal with him. So he said that he wanted to work with you, what do you think? Will you agree?”
Although Might and Marriott faintly knew what Zhao Hai was going to say, they still couldn’t help but get excited. They didn’t expect Zhao Hai to have a high standing inside Smith’s eyes. After all, Megan got in trouble because of him; but Smith actually didn’t blame Zhao Hai.
Nevertheless, this matter was absolutely a good thing for the Shelley Family. Although they were already prepared to deal with Lionheart, it was not easy to do so inside Rosen Empire. They still needed to pay a small price.
But if the Calci Family were to help them, the matter would be completely different. The Calci family was an established noble line inside Rosen Empire. With their help, dealing with the Grand Duke would be much easier.
Shelley Family and Grand Duke Lionheart’s conflict exposed the family to their deficiencies. Although they were a powerful merchant family, they were not legitimate nobles. This made their influence much lesser than a noble like Grand Duke Lionheart. They don’t have much power when it came to a national level. Since their business was too big and spread out in the continent, there was no sense of belonging when it came to the various nations that they operate in; they were just treated like outsiders. This made it very inconvenient when they decided to deal with local powers.
Since Rosen Empire didn’t consider the family as one of them, dealing with Grand Duke Lionheart would make the family cough up a considerable amount of resources. Otherwise, if they don’t pay the nobles enough, they would incur their dissatisfaction, they may even unite against the family at that time, further escalating the problem.
But with Calci Family in the equation, the situation would be different. The Calci family was a formidable power inside Rosen Empire. They were a family that even the Royal Clan would need to think twice before provoking. Fortunately, the Calci Family’s style were to be low-key, so even if the Royal Clan sees them as a thorn in their eye, they didn’t have much resentment for the family.
And just as what Marriott thought, Grand Duke Lionheart was a sword that the Royal Clan uses to deal with these old nobles. But now that this weapon had gone too disobedient, they were quite mad.
Now, the Royal Clan was willing to exchange this pawn. In their eyes everyone was a chess piece, and these chess pieces were divided into those useful and those useless. The useful pieces were also further divided to those who were obedient and those disobedient. Royal Clans generally would be willing to let go of these disobedient pieces, this was because these people could cause instability in the near future; not only to the enemy, but also to themselves. Nobody wanted to have someone who will cause them problems in the future right by their own side.
Marriott laughed as he patted Zhao Hai’s soldier, “We agree! Why would we not agree to such good deal. Brother, you really are our Shelley Family’s lucky star. Rest assured, I can promise you in behalf of the family that we would fully cooperate with the Calci Family. Please pass this message to City Lord Smith for me.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “Good, then I’ll head back and inform City Lord Smith. Right, in the next days I will have people deliver the vegetables. How does 100 thousand jin for the first delivery sound?”
Marriott nodded and said, “Good, how will you deliver it here? Do you have a ship?”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Be relieved, there will be no mistake.” Then he stood up and got ready to leave.
Zhao Hai didn’t know that at this time, Smith was also summoning a family elder to the City Lord’s Mansion. Naturally that elder was also a Dark Mage.
The elder looked over 60 years old. His head was entirely white, he wore a magic robe and his face wasn’t hidden, revealing his pale feature.
Smith looked at the old mage, “How is it, Elder Narro?”
Narro nodded and said, “The same as what Mister Zhao Hai said, the assailants were really sent by Grand Duke Lionheart. It was also true that they were sent to get the young lady and take her as a hostage to make you expel Zhao Hai from Sky Water City. Then they’ll deal with him then.”
Smith relaxed deep inside, but his expression was quite ugly. Smith was not an idiot, he was in complete control of himself and was not sentimental at all. It was impossible for him to just believe Zhao Hai’s words, so he had Elder Narro come and confirm. The elder turned a doomed soldier who attacked Megan into an advanced level undead and asked him the same questions and it turned out to be the same as what Zhao Hai said. Smith was relieved.
At the same time, the fires in his heart ignited completely. Grand Duke Lionheart actually didn’t care about Calci Family’s face. Although Smith was only the second in line, he was still a very important member of the family. Otherwise they wouldn’t have handed Sky Water City over to him. One must know that Sky Water City was Calci Family’s money bag.
Also, although Megan was Smith’s daughter, she was also the family’s most favoured young lady. Historically, the gender ratio between the male and female descendants of the family was mostly skewed towards the masculine side. This was especially true for Megan’s generation. In the entire Calci Family, there were only two girls aside from Megan; one died, while the other was an infamous lustful woman and was treated as nonexistent by the family. In the family’s eyes, Megan was the best, not only was she attractive, she was also a very gentle obedient woman with a chastity as white as paper. She was the treasure of Calci Family.
Megan’s identity was actually even better than Rosen Empire’s princess, she didn’t need to worry about getting married off. Such a person, for Lionheart to actually dare lay his hands on, naturally incurred Smith’s anger. After all, Smith heavily doted on this daughter of his.
But Smith was very calm, he didn’t immediately take action against the Grand Duke. He was a person of the empire, so he knew much better than Marriott about the sensitive status of Lionheart. It was not easy to make a move on him, otherwise they might get the attention of the Royal Clan, it was not worth it. His love for his daughter against the family’s interests, he had to make a few concessions.
Regarding Zhao Hai, on the other hand, Smith was completely relieved that he didn’t lie about this matter. Even after Megan was attacked, he still admitted that it was likely to have been caused by him. He didn’t cover it up and instead told Smith everything clearly. This made Smith feel better about Zhao Hai.
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