Chapter 531 – Evan’s Hesitation, Robert’s Decision
Evan still hasn’t received the information about the Iksa Family. After all, it just happened, if people died, it would be impossible for him to know.
After Zhao Hai returned to Casa City, he directly went to the City Lord’s Mansion. Evan didn’t expect Zhao Hai to come back this quickly. But he knew that Zhao Hai had a lot of secrets, so he just disregarded it and invited him over to the living room.
After they sat down, Zhao Hai told Evan everything regarding the happenings in the Iksa Domain. Evan was startled, he knew that even if the Iksa Family didn’t hold the t.i.tle of Grand Duke, their might wasn’t much worse compared to the Purcell Duchy. But now, their clan was almost equal to being eliminated, the Radiant Church was truly ruthless.
After relaying the event, Zhao Hai didn’t immediately ask Evan to spread the information. He looked at Evan’s expression first. He knew that Evan cannot just leave his properties here. If he tells everything straight to Evan, even if he didn’t understand the choices, Zhao Hai was afraid that he would follow in the steps of the Iksa Family.
Zhao Hai hadn’t given up in drawing the Purcell Family into the Buda CLan. The Buda Clan badly needed talents right now. As the Clan gets bigger and bigger, the talents that it needed would also get more and more.
The Markey Family’s people were now helping to manage Golden Island. In addition to their prior businesses, not too many of them were free to help the Buda Clan.
The Buda Clan itself had a few number of people. But even if the Iksa Family were added to their numbers, don’t forget about the 100 thousand Beastman slaves that were still coming as well as the 100 thousand slaves that he bought from Carson City. With over 200 thousand slaves, how much people does the Clan need in order to manage them? The slaves who became citizens and can now write aren’t fit for the job, they still needed prior managerial skills. If the Purcell Family were to join, then their number of talents would surely increase.
However, the Purcell Family’s situation was much complex than the Iksa Family. The Radiant Church had already seeped into the Purcell Family. Therefore, even if Zhao Hai wanted to take them in, he still needed to be careful in doing so.
Evan had told Zhao Hai about the existence of Radiant Church fanatics inside the family. However, he didn’t tell Zhao Hai how he plans to deal with them, nor did he express his intention to. Maybe Evan wanted a way back if he cannot take the pressure. He may look for the Radiant Church for help, so he decided to keep those people as insurance.
Zhao Hai told Evan about the Iksa Family’s situation because he wanted Evan to see what the Purcell Family might become. It was so that Evan wouldn’t dream of going to the Radiant Church in the future.
After Evan heard him, his expression changed. He didn’t think that the Radiant Church would be this ruthless. If the Radiant Church would deal with him the same way, what would happen to the Purcell Family?
Zhao Hai stayed silent, he just calmly sat there while looking at Evan. He wanted to know what Evan would do. Now that the pieces were laid down in front of Evan, Zhao Hai wanted to know which one the Purcell Family would choose, the Radiant Church or the Buda Clan.
Evan stayed silent for quite some time, he was deciding on a hard choice. He knew that if he chose the Buda Clan, then the Purcell Family would lose everything that they had in the Purcell Duchy. After then, the Purcell Family would become the va.s.sals of the Buda Clan, this was not the best outcome.
But if he sided with the Radiant Church, then he was afraid that the Radiant Church might renege on their agreement. At that time, he would lose literally everything.
Most importantly, this matter wasn’t something that he could decide along. Even though the Purcell Duchy had undergone changes and he has now acc.u.mulated a lot of influence, he still needed to ask for the Elder a.s.sembly’s opinion regarding their stance against the Radiant Church.
In truth, Zhao Hai was now disappointed with the Purcell Family. The way they handled matters was both overcautious and indecisive. Even if Zhao Hai had told them about what happened to the Iksa Family, they were still hesitating.
Evan clearly expressed his support for Zhao Hai since the beginning. But even if the Purcell Family supported Zhao Hai, they still left behind a leeway for themselves. They wanted to support two sides, which was utterly impossible.
Zhao Hai sighed inwardly, then with a serious tone, he said, “Uncle, I’ll be leaving this matter for you to think about. I won’t be disturbing you. I shall stay here for a couple of days, if you have any matter to tell me about, you can just go to Laura’s original place. As long as you go there, I will go and meet you.”
Evan didn’t expect Zhao Hai to leave, he wanted Zhao Hai to stay here. He didn’t know what to say right now and couldn’t open his mouth. In the end, he can only sigh and then escorted Zhao Hai out.
He also knew that for Zhao Hai to be able to bring the Buda Clan into this height in just one year, he surely had some fortuitous encounter. He wasn’t someone to be underestimated. Zhao Hai certainly knew about what was going on in his mind, therefore Zhao Hai wanted to leave.
Regarding this situation, Evan felt helpless. In his heart, he wanted to aid Zhao Hai. But as a Patriarch, he needed to compromise with the world. A matter that decides the family’s fate wasn’t something that he can just decide on his own.
After Zhao Hai boarded his carriage and left the City Lord’s Mansion, he found a desolate place and then flashed to the s.p.a.ce. He didn’t go to Iron Mountain Fort, he just stayed in the s.p.a.ce and looked at the responses of both the Iksa Family and the Purcell Family.
It was a.s.sured that the Iksa Family would side with Zhao Hai. From today’s events, they had lost all of their 9th rank experts. And with their enmity with the Radiant Church, it was impossible for them to return to the continent.
If they did return, then the Radiant Church wouldn’t even need to move. Other jealous Aksu Empire n.o.bles would certainly be interested in their properties and their lives.
Therefore, the choices that the Iksa Family needed to decide on was simple. It was either to stay in the Black Wasteland or to go to Golden Island.
Zhao Hai knew that the Iksa Family would want to convene in order to decide on this matter. He wanted to have a look about what the Iksa Family decided on.
On the other hand, Zhao Hai can almost correctly guess what the Purcell Family’s decision would be. The Elder’s a.s.sembly still held great influence, their authority was too big. There were even times where Evan cannot do anything about it. And it would be impossible for these elders to discard all of the properties that the Purcell Family had acc.u.mulated just to side with the Buda Clan.
However, Zhao Hai still hoped that they would come up with a satisfactory response. So he wanted to pay attention to their decision.
Naturally, he couldn’t let those people take care of spreading the Iksa Family’s matter to the continent anymore. Therefore, the immediately wrote a letter and sent it over to Kun. Kun would then hand the letter off to Randolph and then in turn hand it over to the Rosen Emperor. With their combined efforts, it would only take a short time before this matter would be spread around the continent.
While Zhao Hai was thinking about this, the Iksa Family had truly gathered together and discussed what to do. Green was very good towards the Iksa Family, he handed a region of the fort for their own use. The place was still unoccupied, so the Iksa Family can use it in the meantime.
Robert was now accompanied with some core members of his family. Besides Robert, there were ten other people present, Fernand wasn’t qualified to partic.i.p.ate in this meeting.
Robert looked at the eyes of those present and sadi, “Our Iksa Family had truly experienced a disaster. We’re almost to a point of being extinguished. It was fortunate that Little Hai was able to save us, allowing our further survival. But for Little Hai to save us, he had exposed the Buda Clan’s biggest secret. Leaving the Buda Clan would be impossible.”
The other people present weren’t surprised, they weren’t stupid. Even if Zhao Hai hadn’t told them about the s.p.a.ce, they can still guess what it was. Therefore, Robert’s words didn’t startle them, it was completely expected.
When Robert saw their expressions, he couldn’t help but nod. These people didn’t disappoint him, then he continued, “Little Hai has now given us two choices. First is to stay here, in the Black Wasteland. Second is to go to Golden Island. I want to hear everyone’s opinion.”
The people present looked at each other and then one of them said, “Patriarch, can’t our family divide our members between the Black Wasteland and Golden Island?”
Robert thought for a moment and said, “It should be possible. But from what I can see, our Iksa Family needs to have a focused direction. We can only look and see which situation is better for us.”
Then the elder who talked earlier said, “What is the difference between the two places? Now that we know about the Buda Clan’s secret, wouldn’t Zhao Hai have any methods to silence us? In that case, I think we need to consider those before deciding.”
Robert nodded and said, “Naturally there are. Everyone knows about the Black Wasteland. Once we enter the wasteland, then exiting would be difficult. Therefore, he can just leave us to freely live here, n.o.body would be monitoring us. Moreover, once Zhao Hai brings his slaves here, we can help him manage them. If we go to Golden Island, an undead would accompany us in order to ensure that the Buda Clan’s secret get exposed.”
The people in the room frowned and felt embarra.s.sed, this matter was surely hard to decide on. Then the elder thought for a while before turning to Robert and said, “Patriarch, your opinion?” Then the other people also turned their attention to Robert, they wanted to hear his thoughts.
Robert wasn’t polite and directly said, “I want our family to focus on the Black Wasteland. The Black Wasteland might be inferior to the continent, but everyone here certainly knows what would happen if it were to be cultivated. With so much land, can the Buda Clan manage it alone? The Black Wasteland’s size is enough for it to be a country. If we help the Buda Clan set this country up, what do you all think will happen to our Iksa Family once the Black Wasteland get unraveled in the continent?”
As soon as the elders heard Robert, their eyes turned bright. They were smart people, the immediately understood what Robert meant. This outcome was much better than being protected. If the Buda Clan established their country in the future while the Iksa Family was their subordinate, the status that they would have would certainly not be small. Being a Grand Duke might not even be difficult to attain.
After seeing the expressions of these people, Robert continued, “Our situation would be different if we go to Golden Island. If we go there, our actions would be monitored. Even if Zhao Hai doesn’t deal with us, we would still be losing our freedom. Even if Golden Island was a big place as well, our family doesn’t have any 9th rank experts so we would still need to depend on the Buda Clan. In the end, even if we get rich, we can only be a Merchant Clan. Therefore, I wanted our Iksa Family to settle in the Black Wasteland.”
The elders nodded, they were convinced by Robert. Then Robert said, “Our Iksa Family isn’t the same as the original Iksa Family. If we want to reveal our faces again, we cannot leave the Buda Clan. Since we would be depending on the Buda Clan either way, why won’t we get power and prestige as well. Why would we only settle on being rich?”
The elder who spoke before nodded and said, “Just as the Patriarch said, I also believe that this is an opportunity for our Iksa Family. Even if our family had been doing beautifully in Aksu Empire, we still didn’t get our hands on the t.i.tle of Grand Duke, we cannot establish our own Duchy. In my opinion, our time with the Aksu Empire has come to a dead end. But now that we have the opportunity to advance, we should grab into it. If the Buda Clan established their own country in the future, our Iksa Family would surely have a high position. Therefore, I completely agree with the Patriarch’s opinion. We should stay with the Buda Clan and help them develop the Black Wasteland fully.
The other Iksa Family elders nodded as well. This made Robert relax. Since the Iksa Family had decided on their future, they would now fully support the Buda Clan.