Chapter 324 – Spring Grass Residence
Chapter 324 – Spring Grass Residence
Sitting in the carriage, Zhao Hai observed as Shue took each person to the room one by one. After a few moments of interrogation, Shue placed all the warriors in front of Zhao Hai as he said his report, “Young master, from the interrogations, these fellows were sent by Southern King to Blanca Town, tasked with probing us if we are Dark Mages. When the plan in Brown Hotel didn’t succeed, they began to trace Shun’s origins. They wanted to capture Shun, and through him they could better understand our situation. Knowing that Shun frequented the town, they concluded that he had family nearby. And through the Blanca’s town lord, they finally found Shun’s home. They knew that when Shun became your follower, he would certainly return to settle his family. Therefore, they waited here for him, but were instead caught by us.”
Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned his head to Shun and said, “Shun, what do you want to do with these fellows?”
Since they dared to hold his family hostage, Shun certainly wouldn’t be merciful. Therefore he told Zhao Hai, “Young Master, I leave it to you.”
Zhao Hai nodded, he looked at the warriors and turned his head back to Shun, “Shun, you can’t return here again, you don’t need this house anymore. Let’s burn it.”
Shun was stunned, although he was a bit sad, he nodded. He also knew that Zhao Hai was right. He wouldn’t be able to return to this place again in his entire life.
Seeing him nod, Zhao Hai waved his hand, a few wind blades appeared and chopped the heads off of the warriors. Then he had Shue quickly stack their bodies inside the house and produced several fireballs as well as an Inferno spell for good measure. Shun’s house immediately went up in flames.
Zhao Hai didn’t turn the warriors into undead as he didn’t lack undead right now. So he killed the warriors and dumped them here, doing this also reduces other people’s doubts about his identity.
Looking at his own home slowly getting burned, Shun’s heart was very gloomy. But he knew that he couldn’t come back here anymore. Finally, he turned his head and went with Shue towards the carriage.
When they left the village, the other people in the village became aware of what happened to Shun’s home. Rural people were a very tight knit group, they would take care of each other, especially in this case where a fire happened. Each resident took action to put out the fire, but unfortunately this was magical fire, it wouldn’t be easy to exterminate. In the end, they could only watch as everything burned down to ash and as the fire also slowly grow weaker.
The villagers cannot extinguish the fire, but they also didn’t see Shun’s family. When the fire extinguished itself, they went towards the house and looked at what remained. Inside the house were distorted armors, a few discerning eyes also noticed some burnt bones inside those armors. The villagers knew that something had to have happened here and didn’t dare intrude anymore. The village chief quickly rode to Blanca and sent his report. Later on, the town lord heard the report and in turn Southern King also was informed. But at this time, Zhao Hai was already no longer in Purcell Territory.
That night, Zhao Hai returned to Cat Ears village and rested. When Ruyen saw Zhao Hai’s carriage return, she didn’t say anything. The next morning, after eating their breakfast, Zhao Hai’s group immediately left the village. Cat Eats village, even though it was a small village, managed to make Zhao Hai feel comfortable and warm.
When those villagers first saw Zhao Hai’s group, they became nervous, but he could also tell that the people wanted to treat them well, which moved Zhao Hai. So when he left the village, he gave the village lord ten gold coins as compensation for their stay. But the village lord became frightened instead, saying that he wouldn’t dare accept such money. In the end, Zhao Hai forced him to accept the money, and when he received the coins, he repeatedly kowtowed to Zhao Hai.
One could say that the villager’s life wasn’t any good. But since the tax in Purcell Duchy is not high, they could still dress themselves and eat warm meals. And with this ten gold coins, the villagers could manage to have a good winter.
The group were slowly moving forward. Zhao Hai told Ruyen to not disturb him, then he called Shun over to the carriage. Afterwards, he had Laura and the others enter the Space and meet Shun’s family members.
Shun’s family was also awake right now. They hadn’t stayed in a place as nice as this before, therefore they didn’t dare touch any other things and just stayed in their rooms. Naturally, because of this, they still didn’t have their breakfast.
Zhao Hai had them eat then took them to Iron Mountain Fort to arrange for their place to live in. He also brought Shun here to explain their current situation. Shun came to know that Zhao Hai was from the infamous Buda Family of the Aksu Empire, and the place they were in was the Black Wastelands.
Although he was was surprised, Shun quickly accepted the reality. After all, he was already Zhao Hai’s blood oath follower, he was stuck to him for a lifetime. Then Zhao Hai led Shun around to get him accustomed to the matters in the Fort.
Looking at Iron Mountain Fort, Shun was surprised to see so many Beastmen everywhere. Additionally, Iron Mountain Fort was warm even though it was winter, this fact didn’t give him any small amount shock.
Afterwards, Zhao Hai made Green arrange Shun’s two children to go to school and assign Shun’s family a house. After being busy the entire day, they returned to the carriage.
The next days passed by without much accident. One could say that the road from Casa City to Iksa Domain was very peaceful, there were no bandits present and unless some people were especially targeting you, there were no dangers.
After travelling for another two days, the finally entered Iksa family Domain. Iksa Domain was slightly inferior to the Purcell Domain. The family controlled a medium size city and three small cities. Bell lived on the Domain’s only medium sized city, Sarte City.
The Iksa Family Patriarch’s title was a Marquis, a bit less than a Duke, even more less than a Grand Duke. But the Iksa Family was an old noble family and had existed for more than a thousand years, so even though they didn’t flex their power these days, they were not actually weak. Their territory also touched borders with the Beastman Prairie where they gained so much money from smuggling. But since the first target for a beastmain raid to the human territory would be the family’s domain, their hands were basically tied.
After arriving at the Iksa Domain, Zhao Hai still needed to pass a small city before entering Sarte City.
Zhao Hai’s group entered the small city and rested for a day. On the second day, the rushed to Sarte City. Travelling from the small city to Sarte City would only take about one day. Thus, when they left the small city, they managed to arrive at Sarte City by the next evening.
However, Zhao Hai didn’t go and find Bell after arriving. They booked themselves in a hotel first and sent Shun outside to gather information to prepare for the visit to Bell tomorrow.
Even though they were already inside Iksa Territory, the customs and local culture did not differ from Casa City. But this was normal, since the two domains were under the same empire, therefore there shouldn’t be any difference.
The next morning, Zhao Hai’s group woke up early. Today, they were going to meet Bell. Ruyen’s group also didn’t stay in the hotel, after all, she was a Grand Duke’s daughter. So she needed to visit the Iksa Family since the two families’ relationship was good.
After breakfast, Zhao Hi got on the carriage and immediately headed towards Bell’s residence. Bell’s residence was very famous inside Sarte City, known as Spring Grass Residence.
Listening to its name, one could think that the residence wouldn’t be large. But the city’s people was very clear that Spring Grass Residence is considered to be one of the biggest mansions inside Sarte City. The entire house covered ten mu of land, it was only smaller than the city lord’s mansion, making it very famous in the city.
The carriage arrived in front of Spring Grass Residence. The residence’s door looked very ordinary, not having any special additions. The door was closed and did not have anybody in front.
Shue and Shun stopped the carriage. Shun went down and gently knocked on the door. Footsteps can be heard at the other side, then a person wearing servant’s clothes opened the door and looked at Shun as well as the carriage behind. Then the servant immediately asked respectfully. “Mister is?”
The servant can perfectly judge the quality things. His eyes could see that Zhao Hai’s carriage was made of lightwood. Moreover, an emblem of a Viscount could be seen hanging from the carriage, so naturally he wouldn’t dare be disrespectful.
Shun smiled faintly and said, “I’ll have to trouble little brother to pass a message to the house master, tell him a friend from the prairie came to visit.”
As soon as the servant heard Shun’s words, he was slightly surprised, then he immediately said, “Please wait a minute, I’ll go immediately send the message.”. Then he turned around and ran towards the courtyard.
Zhao Hai wasn’t worried, he just sat inside his carriage quitely. After a while, rapid footsteps could be heard from behind the door. When the door was opened, Bell immediately walked out. When Zhao Hai saw Bell come out, he also immediately went out of his carriage.
Bell saw the giant-horned bull that pulled the carriage and didn’t doubt Zhao Hai’s identity, but when he saw Zhao Hai’s appearance, he was stunned.
Seeing Bell’s reaction, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smile, “Brother Bell, in order to move around easier, I had to change my look. What’s wrong? Can’t recognize me?”
Bell quickly nodded, “I really can’t recognize you. Brother, I have been waiting for you for a long time. You finally arrived, please come in.” He gestured his hand and guided Zhao Hai towards his mansion.
Bell’s mansion was very unique, Zhao Hai had not seen something like this before. Upon entering the mansion, you are met with a stone paved martial arts field. The mansion’s entrance had a stretch of lawn and although it was winter and the grass had turned yellow, one could still picture an image of spring.