Chapter 957: Chapter 753: Chief Haber’s Worries
Lynn glanced at Chief Haber, whose face was calm but his eyes were filled with concern. He had been seated for a few minutes without inviting Adanko to sit, and as a result, the expression on his face had already transitioned from dissatisfaction to anxiety.
It was obvious that he was worried Agleya City would take out its anger on Longsaddle Town due to its friendly relations with Kelben.
So it seems he was right, as the original geographical advantage of Longsaddle Town was completely nullified by the appearance of that road.
The Haber Family indeed has many excellent mages… but it also means more ordinary people who are barely even apprentices.
To support so many ordinary people, they are actually not as high and mighty as they appear, but rather in great need of those trade caravans… Thanks to their friendly relations with Deepwater City, many caravans traveling between Deepwater City and those city-states on the eastern side of Silvermoon City choose to rest in Longsaddle Town.
It’s still more than ten days’ journey from here to Deepwater City!
For these caravans, no matter how unpleasant Longsaddle Town’s attitude is towards them, it doesn’t matter, nor do they complain about the high prices of the inns and taverns, as this is a place where the noble mage masters act as bodyguards.
And due to the reputation these people spread about Longsaddle Town, even trade caravans coming from farther away try their best to choose Longsaddle Town as a place for rest in the middle of their journey… Long-distance caravans do not travel nonstop, and any leader daring to engage in such behavior would likely have long perished in some dark corner.
For thousands of years, Longsaddle Town has been the only place in the wilderness where travelers trust… but that doesn’t mean these caravans wouldn’t want to save money.
Hill came up with this road, which is safe and wide, and even cuts the travel time to Deepwater City by at least half… If it’s a swift convoy, they could even get there in just a third of the time.
The mages of Longsaddle Town are not fools. They must have realized what kind of outcome would ensue the moment they saw this road… The inns in Longsaddle Town are not cheap… at least not cheaper than those specialized inns for caravans in Deepwater City’s port area.
Caravans that would originally rest in Longsaddle Town for a long time might now only stay a night before leaving… And this means much more than just a decrease in income from inns and hotels… their market for horse gear would also be doomed.
The members of the Haber Family, who don’t even have mage aptitude, rely entirely on being artisans to make a living!
This is the reason Chief Haber hurried over: when the road was built, of course, he wanted to come, but without an excuse, he simply couldn’t visit Agleya City under Kelben’s watchful eyes.
Although it’s said that the two sides have reconciled… who really believes there are no lingering grudges between them? Maybe… well… perhaps goblins might believe?
Just by chance, an undead priest, out of dissatisfaction, attempted to pry off the gems from the beautiful Dusk Tower… Yes, Lynn knew exactly what she was up to as soon as he heard the “Old Age Striking King” mention it.
As the fruit of a 22nd-level archmage’s adventure, the Dusk Tower’s gorgeous dark red facade is reportedly encrusted with tens of thousands of gemstones.
A powerful array constructed from so many gemstones: the Dusk Tower, hidden within a dimensional space, was undetectable even by an archmage of Kelben’s caliber, who is over level 30.
Lynn gave a pleasant smile to Chief Haber, who showed a mix of calmness and a hint of anxiety, and said, “Mage Adanko, please sit!
You are too courteous, you can just sit down… Agleya City never has so many formalities, and relations among elves aren’t that complicated, so I didn’t notice and still need to invite you to sit.
The road leading to the main highway! It was actually built by our lord for convenience!
Agleya has now acquired a territory located in the Hidden Forest… Hidden Town.
Every day, there are plenty of people commuting between the two places, and while the front section can borrow the main road, of course, the latter part can only rely on us to construct.
Fortunately, our lord is quite adept at earth magic, making road construction an easy task for him.
Don’t worry, Agleya City has never actively attacked territories that haven’t offended us… For Hill, with that free time, why not spend it learning more spell techniques?
He has no desire for wealth, to be honest, I’ve never seen anyone in the Ferun Great Land richer than him.
Therefore, the Haber Family has no reason to worry about this… Archmage Kelben shouldn’t cause any trouble for Agleya anymore, right?
Even Deepwater City wouldn’t intervene, let alone just an ally of the Tower of the Black Staff!
Rest assured!
I can even assure you that even if the Haber Family travels to Deepwater City using this highway, Hill would have no objections… He is even less likely to set up any road tolls.
He never troubles himself with such petty profits.”
Lynn spoke a long string of words with a bright smile, resulting in Chief Haber’s face growing increasingly gloomy.
Adanko no longer cared about any matters of etiquette: his initial dissatisfaction stemmed from the fact that after Lynn entered, he sat down directly without even inviting him to take a seat first.
If it were the Archmage Hill that appeared here, Adanko naturally wouldn’t have any complaints, but Lynn, this Municipal Officer, was merely a bard.
Unaware that he was dealing with a Chosen One, Adanko didn’t have a very friendly attitude towards Lynn.
He always believed that bards weren’t fit to be considered a part of the magical profession… Being the Clan Leader of the Haber Family, even though his aptitude as a mage wasn’t great, he surely had plenty of mage pride.
Otherwise, a person with normal thinking couldn’t possibly support a family with such diverse personalities and differing factions as a Mage Family… With Chaotic Neutral living next to Chaotic Good, and Chaotic Evil right beside them, just mediating their relationships could drive someone insane.
That’s why in this world, it’s very difficult to maintain a Mage Family, and this is the reason… mages are confident, and wouldn’t think it’s wrong to choose a different path than the family; any Mage Family that really tries to force its descendants into a unified belief will surely meet a tragic end.
Evil families welcoming beings from the heavens and kind families facing the Gates of the Abyss, those are all natural occurrences… It might even be summoned by a Level 2 or Level 3 mage.
Only those families that believe mages are supreme, and accept any faction choice, can continue to exist, which demands a lot from their Clan Leader.
At the very least, in the Clan Leader’s heart, the continuation of the family must be the most important thing, or else how could anyone sustain it?
Even though Lynn had been giving him a hard time, Adanko used his pride to prop up his dignity and calmly found a good sofa to sit on as soon as he heard the first words inviting him to do so…
But when Lynn finished speaking, Adanko could no longer sit still… he wasn’t foolish and understood the implications of the words: Lynn already knew why he had insisted on coming.
Adanko lowered his head and silently calculated what price he could pay to change Agleya’s dismissive attitude towards this route.
At the very least, not just anyone should be able to take this path!
Then he heard Lynn’s faint voice: “Speaking of which, the waterway between the Riven River and Mirar River has now been opened in the Hidden Forest!”
Adanko suddenly looked up, how did he not know this!
Kelben’s Moonstar Organization had more influence around Sword Bay than the Harpists, rarely could anything escape their eyes!
Why didn’t they have any information at all?
Seeing Lynn’s face, Adanko realized that the Moonstars was a human-majority organization… it wasn’t easy to infiltrate the upper echelons of Agleya City.
Even if some people had followed to Luskan, they couldn’t possibly enter the Hidden Forest.
He did know about the Mithril Elves in the Hidden Forest, but he had no news of what they were doing in the forest.
Even ordinary elves weren’t accepted there… it’s said only the ships of Teraxil Elves could enter that forest.
He should have thought of it earlier… Adanko closed his eyes once… After the Riven River entered the Hidden Forest, there were no more paths, as no one dared to cut down trees under the Wood Elves’ watch!
But the elves excavating a river channel by themselves… they have hundreds of ways to move those immovably large trees aside.
Adanko showed a bitter smile, there was no need to blame Kelben’s Moonstar Organization for reacting slowly… who would dig river channels in winter?
This meant that no matter what happens, Long Saddle Town was bound to lose the large caravans from Silvermoon City… Adanko knew well that the caravans from Silvermoon City, capable of spending heavily in their town, wouldn’t mind paying for hired ships… it was a safe passage to the sea after all.
Previously, sea routes had to consider the trouble with Ambori and pirates, now instead, the coastal route became safer than the land route.
From now on, Long Saddle Town just had to be more welcoming to smaller caravans, and they had to connect with the towns along the main road, no longer oppressing these small caravans… otherwise, they could organize themselves and collectively head down the Silvermoon City waterway, but as long as there’s still land travel opportunities, distrust among the caravans would lead them to choose to act individually.
Adanko quietly gazed at Lynn: all of this was because of the Lord of Agleya, and that lord who’s never shown themselves, was most famous for a pursuit of knowledge and immense wealth… wealth so massive that even dragons ruling their domains would envy it, an amount that even the Temple of Wealth couldn’t compare to.
He was clearly aware that to make Agleya City compromise on land, Long Saddle Town would have to give much more… his bargaining chips were too few.
Lynn rested his chin on his hands, awaiting Adanko’s decision, for the wise need not speak much to understand each other’s needs… One wanted the hub position of Long Saddle Town to not entirely disappear, and the other wanted nothing but knowledge… the wealth of the Lord of Agleya was enough to make any means of throwing money around obsolete.
And Long Saddle Town had to resolve this issue before spring arrived, as those caravans always received news quickly.
Lynn smiled slightly, the information about the Underworld that Hill wanted, he had already captured for himself.