Chapter 322 - 284: The Commerce Alliance’s Plan

Chapter 322: Chapter 284: The Commerce Alliance’s Plan

"I don’t think I’ll be able to resist."

"As long as I have those goblins hide in advance, once the Holy Order Army deals with the Feathered Serpent, my worries will be gone." Jabbar slapped his knee, his voice rising. "At that point, I’ll have these goblins under my complete control. If any of them get disobedient, I can just package them up and sell them to the mine owners for some extra profit."

"I do have a suggestion," Crow said with a smile, continuing when he saw the other man’s questioning gaze. "You could also start a tourism project."

"Tourism? Who would come to the Nightmare Forest for tourism?"

"Those idle rich nobles. Many of them have probably run out of thrills on Perfume Lily Avenue, and ordinary hunting just isn’t exciting enough for them anymore." ℴ

"You mean, let those nobles come here to hunt goblins?" Jabbar’s eyes lit up. "Now that’s an idea. We could set up a luxury ship, a direct route from the Darren River. Wine and women on board, and once they disembark, they can experience a real hunt without any of the danger. If a goblin dares to get close and resist, we just activate the Magic Items."

Crow nodded with a smile, then reached out to pick up his coffee cup from the table again. "But you need to be careful." He took a small sip of coffee before continuing, "Don’t forget the Lord’s mission."

"Isn’t it just finding him a tongue?" Jabbar straightened up, looking unconcerned. "We’ve been searching for thousands of years. He’s probably lying to us. Isn’t it normal for Demon Lords to deceive humans with lies?"

"I’m just reminding you," Crow shrugged. "Once you have those goblins under your control, the Lord is sure to notice."

He paused deliberately here, then gestured with his eyes toward the few Gold Coins sitting on the edge of the coffee table.

Jabbar frowned. He understood the other man’s meaning. "I get it. I’ll be careful. Who else’s fault is it that the entire upper echelon of our Commerce Alliance is made up of the greedy Lord’s people?"

"As long as you understand." Crow’s gaze never left the Gold Coins. Seeing that they weren’t showing any sign of movement—not rolling on their own, nor floating up—he went back to sipping his coffee.

"Well then, I’ll rest for two days and then set off for Plantagenet City." Jabbar also glanced at the Gold Coins on the table, then asked, "By the way, what’s the deal with that ’White Shell’ trading company that’s been all the talk in Yangjiao Town lately?"

"Just a small company. I only heard about it when I came here to handle some bank business." Crow didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. "It’s probably a small company backed by some Church, helping them handle their commercial affairs. These kinds of ’front’ companies are very common."

"But I heard they have orders from all over Yangjiao Town."

"Yes, but only in Yangjiao Town. They haven’t expanded to the surrounding areas at all, not even into Black Lion City." Crow set down his cup. "A small company like this is easy to deal with. Tomorrow, I’ll have someone pay their boss a visit and offer them some low-interest loans. Once they take the bait, I’ll use our connections in Black Lion City to apply pressure, and we’ll have them under our control in no time."

"Of course. The strength of these small companies is nothing special." Jabbar chuckled. "Just like that Small Noble family, the Merlot Clan. Weren’t they also outmaneuvered by the Alliance?"

"It’s best not to speak of this matter in public." Crow coughed, reminding the other man to be careful. "The Great Nobles and the Royal Family are all taking credit for that. If they find out the Commerce Alliance was the one who instigated it, we’ll be in trouble."

"I get it, I get it." Jabbar waved his hand dismissively and said with a smile, "So what kind of loan are you planning to offer this ’White Shell’ company?"

"The old method. The pretense of low interest, with a few traps hidden inside. We wait for something to go wrong, then apply pressure. If the boss is sensible, we’ll leave him a way out. If he’s not, we’ll swallow his company whole, along with his connections to the Church," Crow said casually, completely unconcerned.

"I always thought I was fine just running my lumber business. I can’t compare to you money men." Jabbar gave an awkward smile, grabbing the coffee cup in front of him and gulping it down, not caring in the least that the coffee had gone cold.

Meanwhile, Crow glanced at the all-metal Magic Collar on the velvet cushion beside him, a confident smile spreading across his face.

...

"What are you smiling about?"

Shire was holding a piece of beast hide—from what creature, he didn’t know—and studying the writing on it. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the Naga Prince across the table flash a strange smile.

"It’s nothing." Pazani gripped the cup before him with his webbed hands. The warm broth inside was incredibly comforting. "I can’t swim through the underground river to get here next time. It’s too cold."

He drained the hot drink in a single gulp, then set the cup on the table and pushed it toward Shire, gesturing for a refill.

"Don’t you prefer alcohol?" Shire’s lip twitched as he picked up the teapot and poured the other man another cup of chrysanthemum tea from the Archipelago. "Alright, spill it. Why were you smiling at me just now?"

"I just saw a glimmer of hope, that’s all." Pazani flicked out his forked tongue; he had drunk the hot tea too quickly and seemed to have burned it. "My adult trial... it’s updated again."

"Didn’t you already finish that thing last time?" Shire frowned.

"I thought it was finished too. After I defeated those goblins, the writing on the beast hide changed to ’Return and report to the Elder.’ When I saw that, I figured I just had to go back and report, and it would be over. Who would’ve thought that after I met the Elder and he praised me, I’d take out the hide again only to find the words had changed once more," Pazani said with a dejected sigh.

"So it’s a quest chain." Shire’s mouth twitched. He now had a deeper understanding of Shui Yumo’s Magic Ability. ’What you think is the end isn’t the end. It only ends when Shui Yumo says it ends.’

"What did it change to now?" he asked, putting down the beast hide in his hand.

"See for yourself." Pazani turned and rummaged in the bag beside him for a moment before pulling out the beast hide and placing it on the table.

Shire didn’t immediately reach for the hide. Instead, his gaze locked onto the large bag the Naga Prince had placed on the floor. He couldn’t tell what kind of animal hide the bag was made of, but it was completely waterproof. Pazani had carried it on his back while swimming all the way from the Darren River into an underground tributary, yet the bag looked completely unaffected.

’Makes sense,’ Shire thought, shaking his head slightly. ’The Naga Race has been around for thousands of years; they’re bound to have some good stuff.’ He reached out, picked up Pazani’s beast hide, and took a look. "It’s telling you to go hunting with me?"

"Right," Pazani nodded. "I have no idea what’s gotten into Shui Yumo. Why is this kind of task part of my adult trial?"

’Hunting?’ Shire put down the hide, his fingers starting to tap a rhythm on the table. ’It probably means for him to follow me on my exploration. The previously marked location had a crossed-swords combat symbol on it. As for why it says ’hunting’... could it be that we’ll get some good loot this time?’

"Alright. As it happens, I was planning on taking some men north to check things out tomorrow anyway. Since you need to complete your adult trial, you can come along."

"Okay," Pazani said with a resigned sigh.

Shire picked up the beast-hide letter the Naga Elder had given him from the table and continued reading. As he read, he asked, "Your Elder says you brought me some Shui Yumo?"

"Mhm," Pazani rummaged in his bag again for a while, then took out a rolled-up beast hide and a strange bottle.

The bottle looked simple and ancient, as if it had existed for a very long time and held many stories.

Pazani placed the bottle and the hide on the table, then held out his webbed hands. "It’s all here."

"The bottle and the beast hide?"

"Ah, the hide is the skin of an ancient Sea Beast. The bottle is just a common clay bottle made by humans, but it’s very old," Pazani said with a shrug.

Shire’s mouth twitched. He picked up the bottle, twisted off the cap, and examined the black liquid inside. "Does this stuff require a special pen?"

"Nope, a regular pen will do."

Shire immediately picked up a human-made quill from the table, dipped it in the Shui Yumo, and prepared to write on the beast hide.

He thought for a few seconds, then quickly wrote:

"How can I get rid of my goblin appearance?"

On the beast hide, the ink gradually began to squirm and connect like little black snakes, and soon, the writing began to change.