Chapter 839: Acquaintance Hoffman
Although there were only five families left, the Mithril Alliance was still a top force in the Breezy Plains. The middle-aged mage was Joseph Taylor, the current patriarch of the Taylor Family, which was one of the five major families. At the same time, he was also the leader of the alliance for the past 10 years.
Although Joseph didn’t see Lin Li attacking, he could feel the huge tremor coming from his soul when he rushed over just now. They all said that the President of the Tower of Dusk had level-23 powers and abilities. However, Joseph could tell from his personal experience just now that the overwhelming mental strength was definitely beyond level-23.
“Patriarch Joseph, you must avenge us,” said Charles, who had heard Joseph and Lin Li’s conversation, and knew what kind of predicament he and his mages would face. His face instantly turned pale. Although they were not all the mages that the family had, their disability would be a huge loss for them, and causing such a huge loss all of a sudden would definitely make him lose his position as the leader, which he had just been promoted to lately.
Upon sight of the pale-faced mages who were getting up from the ground, Joseph felt as if his heart was bleeding. The five major families today were not living too well, and the decrease in talents was their biggest problem currently. However, the tens of mages whom they had placed high hopes on were now ruined by Lin Li in the blink of an eye. That was adding fuel to the fire and making things worse for the Mithril Alliance. Although the mages were all members of the Dida Family which Charles was from, Joseph understood that the damage done to the mages would implicate him too.
Staring at Charles who was tugging the sleeves of his robe, a look of disgust and abhorrence formed in Joseph’s eyes. If it weren’t for the fact that the former patriarch of the Dida Family had been devoured when he was summoning the Abyssal Demon Dragon, how could Charles have had the chance to take over as the patriarch? The members of the Dida Family who wanted to control puppets probably wouldn’t get the chance to, either. Although useless puppets were easier to control, they were p.r.o.ne to ruining things.
However, there were rules in the alliance, and even the leaders could not intervene with the internal affairs of the family of the members. Joseph took a deep breath, and said, “Don’t worry, I think the Ashen Warlock will handle this matter in a fair and just manner.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect that he actually dared to do that in the territory of the Ashen Warlock. On the account of the relations.h.i.+p between the Ashen Warlock and the Dida Family, he will definitely not let him and his Tower of Dusk go,” said Charles, who seemed to have already thought of the scene of the Tower of Dusk being destroyed by the Ashen Warlock.
Not only did Joseph feel even more contemptuous after hearing Charles’ words, even the mages who had gotten up began to look pale and horrified. The relations.h.i.+p Charles mentioned was actually the request for some special herbs from the Dida Family that the Ashen Warlock had once made. However, the Ashen Warlock had never owed others favors. Hence, after the matter was solved, he gave the Dida Family a magical spell that could summon the Abyssal Demon.
The value of the spell could be said to be far higher than the herbs that he had asked for. As long as it was used well, it would be able to increase the strength of the Dida Family quickly. It did make sense. A Legendary powerhouse actually managed to summon a Legendary-level Abyssal Demon and make him his subordinate. What about two or three of them, then? Of course, the summoning was not easy, and in order to make the summoned Abyssal Demon recognize oneself as its master, one would first have to have the strength to defeat it. Otherwise, it would be courting death.
Unfortunately, Daniel, the former patriarch of the Dida Family, was too greedy when summoning the Abyssal Demons, and he even wanted to summon the powerful Abyssal Demon Dragon. As a result, he managed to summon the powerful Abyssal Demon Dragon, but it was totally unwilling to obey him. Not only did the Abyssal Demon Dragon turn him into ashes, it even nearly destroyed the entire Dida Family. If it weren’t for the Ashen Warlock’s intervention and the capturing of the Abyssal Demon Dragon, there would probably have only been four families left in the Mithril Alliance.
After Daniel’s death, the Dida Family began to fight and vie with each other for power again. As a result, they reached a truce and the outcome was to let Charles, a man who was good for nothing except his magical talent, take the throne of the Dida Family patriarch. However, Charles’ magical talent was now gone, and he could really be considered useless. When he returned, he would probably be thrown off the throne of the patriarch, which he had occupied for merely two years.
Joseph quietly s.h.i.+fted his gaze onto the upper floor of the inn, only to see that the window was closed. Feeling a sense of relief, he turned his head around, and said, “Charles, you can walk, can’t you? For the sake of your safety, you’d better stay in the camp until we meet Ashen Warlock. Don’t provoke the people from the Tower of Dusk anymore.”
“Yes, Patriarch Joseph, I know,” Charles said while hanging his head low with a tinge of resentment in his eyes. After all, he was now the patriarch of the Dida Family, yet Joseph actually called him by his name. Was he really going to be stripped of his position as patriarch once he went back!?
Joseph walked in front and led everyone to the camp outside the town, but he didn’t stop pondering in his head. It was actually not a bad thing for Charles’ magical talent to be ruined. In two years, it will be the Dida Family’s turn to become the leader of the alliance. If the Mithril Alliance was really handed over to Charles the idiot, it would truly be a disaster.
If the Dida Family were to get up to any nonsense again this time, Joseph felt that it would be better to unite with the other three families to get rid of the jinx and troublemaker.
The power of the young President of the Tower of Dusk was indeed extraordinary, and even if he didn’t seem to be level-24, he should be at the peak of level-23. Besides, he also had two Undead servants. Even though the Mithril Alliance could deal with him alone, they would still have to put in plenty of effort. Fortunately, they had roped the other two families in this time…
In the small inn, Lin Li had long been sitting at the table and continuing to read the historical biography quietly when Joseph and the rest left. Due to the fact that he did not know the Ashen Warlock well, he dared not take the risk and read the Book of Eternity there. After all, the Ashen Warlock was a powerhouse who was on the same level as the three arbitrators. His experience in the big rift and fighting Rodhart allowed him to find out how terrifying a Sanctuary powerhouse was. Even if he had all seven pieces of the debris of the stars, it would still be impossible for him to fight them at this time.
During dinnertime, the inn became lively again. However, unlike before, there were new guests at the inn. Lin Li took a seat in the restaurant downstairs and was drinking some juice and eating some barbecue. His two Undead servants didn’t have to eat anything. If Norfeller were to drink fresh blood, he might just end up frightening the civilians in the town. Hence, they decided to just stand behind Lin Li.
Among the new guests of the small inn, there were Warriors, mages, and humans who exuded some slight Menace of the Dragon. However, they all shared a similar characteristic: they had the aura of a Legendary powerhouse. However, after everyone entered, they still couldn’t help but cast a look of surprise at Lin Li. After all, there were two Legendary servants standing behind him, which was absolutely daunting.
However, after seeing the appearance of Lin Li and the two Undead servants, the people suddenly realized that Lin Li was the young President of the Tower of Dusk who had become a Legendary-mage in his early twenties, and had two loyal Legendary-level Undead servants who followed him around. That was no secret in the Breezy Plains.
Lin Li knew without having to guess that those people had to be the leaders of the top forces in the Breezy Plains invited by the Ashen Warlock. However, those people knew each other well, while Lin Li didn’t recognize any of them. He only knew Joseph whom he had a feud with and bore grudges against. Hence, he continued to have his own dinner.
“Haha, Master Felic, I knew you’d be invited this time too.”
All of a sudden, Lin Li heard a familiar voice which made him raise his head and look at the gate, only to see a fat man who was several times fatter than the chubby owner walking towards him. It turned out to be the President of the Glittergold Trade Union, Hoffman.
“Mr. Hoffman, how did you… oh, I didn’t expect to see you here, please have a seat.” Lin Li initially intended to ask Hoffman how he ended up there, but he decided that it would be a little strange to ask that question since the Glittergold Trade Union was also one of the top forces of the Breezy Plains. Hence, there was nothing strange about Hoffman showing up here.
Although Lin Li was not bothered by the numerous hostile gazes that were being shot at him, he was still glad to be able to run into an acquaintance. Lin Li stood up and gave his seat to Hoffman before telling Norfeller to clean up the dishes on the table. He then said to Hoffman, “Mr. Hoffman, I’m really glad to see you here.”
“Haha, I guessed it a long time ago. Roland must have invited you this time. By the way, I heard about you going to the Brilliance Shrine and Darkness Shrine. I’ve also heard that you gave that dead-faced Sendros a pharmaceutics journal…” Hoffman said as he began to chat with Lin Li excitedly.
The leaders of the various top forces were still getting ready to step forward and greet Hoffman when he entered, but no one thought that the fat man who was usually amicable and talkative would simply brush them off perfunctorily and go straight to the President of the Tower of Dusk. Hoffman’s bewildering behavior gave everyone a great shock. They all thought that the Glittergold Trade Union and the Tower of Dusk had merely shared an ordinary cooperative relations.h.i.+p, but it now seemed that things might not be that simple.
In particular, Joseph of the Mithril Alliance was filled with dismay when he saw that scene. He initially planned to unite with the Glittergold Trade Union to suppress the business of the Tower of Dusk, but it now seemed that he ought to be more careful. If the Glittergold Trade Union were to provide a large amount of funds for the Tower of Dusk, it would be even more difficult for him to execute his plan.
“It’s too noisy here, let’s go to the room and talk there instead,” Lin Li said. When he heard Hoffman asking about pharmaceutics, he got up and invited him to the room to talk. Of course, it was not actually noisy, but rather that Lin Li didn’t want to teach his enemies about pharmaceutics—almost everyone present apart from Hoffman was an enemy of the Tower of Dusk.
“Oh, sorry, I was too anxious.” Hoffman stood up with a smile, looked at the people around him, and followed Lin Li upstairs. He then whispered, “Master Felic, I heard that the Tower of Dusk has encountered some problems lately. If you need help from the Glittergold Trade Union, feel free to let me know. I can’t guarantee anything else, but if you need any financial aid, we’ll definitely be able to cooperate.”
Upon sight of Lin Li’s and Hoffman’s silhouettes that were gradually disappearing at the end of the stairs, the people at the bottom finally recovered from the shock. Although the people present were not much weaker than the Glittergold Trade Union, they had to admit that in terms of wealth, no one could compare to the Glittergold Trade Union.
“President Mogadi[1], Patriarch Claus, I’ve already prepared a room for your discussion. I think we have to have an in-depth discussion about the issue of facing the Tower of Dusk,” said Joseph, who was the person in charge of the Mithril Alliance, to President Mogadi of the Blood Moon Clan on behalf of the four other families.
The cooperation of the three forces had already begun long ago. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have resulted in almost all the forces of the Breezy Plains going against the Tower of Dusk. However, things were not ideal, and did not go according to plan lately. Although they had brought certain losses to the Tower of Dusk, the losses were clearly still within the tolerance of the Tower of Dusk.
After seeing how enthusiastic Hoffman was towards Lin Li, Mogadi and Claus had some more doubts about the cooperation led by the Mithril Alliance. In terms of business, the difficulty of destroying the Tower of Dusk would be rather high once the Tower of Dusk had the financial support of the wealthy Glittergold Trade Union.
“What else is there to talk about? We followed your previous plan, but we haven’t gotten any benefits yet. Instead, we lost a lot of money. It seems that the Glittergold Trade Union is going to support the Tower of Dusk this time. I can’t think of any force that might have more money than the Glittergold Trade Union. I’m afraid we might not end up getting anything,” said Mogadi, who was obviously dissatisfied with Joseph’s previous plan.
“Haha, President Mogadi, where has the pride of the dragon in your bloodline gone? They’re just a small force that has just been established for two or three years, yet you’re already losing confidence,” Joseph said in a disdainful tone.
Mogadi, the president of the Blood Moon Clan, had the blood of both wyrm and human in his body, which was the reason Joseph tried to provoke his pride. In fact, Mogadi did not have the ability to transform into a real dragon despite carrying the blood of wyrm. His body would only be covered with solid dragon scales after his wyrm genes were awakened. He would also have strong magical defense and physical capabilities. At the same time, he would also possess strong physical power that was not inferior to that of the wyrm. He would even be able to spit out dragon breath, and thus could be considered a hybrid between a human and wyrm.
“Small force? Would a small force be invited by the Ashen Warlock? Starting three years ago, they developed from nothing to the great force that they are now. They’re so well-developed that you even want to destroy them. I do admire that young man, actually. By the way, I heard that there’s a young, ingenious patriarch in the Mithril Alliance too. Why haven’t I seen him around today?” asked Mogadi, who didn’t fall for Joseph’s spitting, and instead made fun of Joseph using the puppet patriarch of the Dida Family.
[1] No idea why, but the author consistently calls him a president, not a patriarch. Maybe a mistake, maybe not.