Chapter 366 – The Cautious Smith
Zhao Hai quietly sat inside his carriage as it drove towards Sh.e.l.ley 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 relations.h.i.+p 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 Sh.e.l.ley 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 n.o.ble line inside Rosen Empire. With their help, dealing with the Grand Duke would be much easier.
Sh.e.l.ley Family and Grand Duke Lionheart’s conflict exposed the family to their deficiencies. Although they were a powerful merchant family, they were not legitimate n.o.bles. This made their influence much lesser than a n.o.ble 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 n.o.bles 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 n.o.bles. But now that this weapon had gone too disobedient, they were quite mad.
Now, the Royal Clan was willing to exchange this p.a.w.n. 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. n.o.body 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 Sh.e.l.ley Family’s lucky star. Rest a.s.sured, I can promise you in behalf of the family that we would fully cooperate with the Calci Family. Please pa.s.s 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 s.h.i.+p?”
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 a.s.sailants 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 l.u.s.tful 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 chast.i.ty as white as paper. She was the treasure of Calci Family.
Megan’s ident.i.ty 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.