Translator: Xaiomoge
The Giant Stone City was one of the Fernandro Principality’s 16 cities and had a population of 600,000 people.
The Giant Stone City, with the city master’s mansion, five men sat in the reception hall. Seated in the seat of honor was a man with short blond hair, blue eyes, a hooked nose, fair skin, and a tall and sturdy figure. The man emitted a trace of tyrannical aura. He was Viscount Harley, the master of the Giant Stone City.
In addition to Viscount Harley, the other four men were the patriarchs of the four great families – Portman Family, Panchette Family, Manny Family, Luger Family, of the Giant Stone City. Viscount Harley and the four great families jointly controlled the Giant Stone City.
Viscount Harley said slowly: “The Black Rock Town’s Baron Kirov was murdered.”
The patriarchs of the four great families silently exchanged looks.
After Baron Kirov was killed by Yang Feng, the news soon reached their ears. However, the perpetrator was a powerhouse with a Warlock inheritance, which left them fearful.
Each of the four great families made offerings to Apprentice Warlocks, so they knew how strange and powerful the means of Warlocks were. If they were to provoke a powerful official Warlock, destroying their families would be easy. As long as Yang Feng didn’t encroach on their core interests, they could keep quiet.
Viscount Harley frowned slightly and uttered solemnly: “I plan to ask for help from the Black Cottage, to ask them to exterminate that wicked Apprentice Warlock.”
The patriarch of the Portman Family asked: “Apprentice Warlock? Sir City Master, are you sure that he’s an Apprentice Warlock?”
There was a deep ravine in strength between Apprentice Warlocks and official Warlocks. Apprentice Warlocks could still be surrounded and killed by an ordinary army. But an official Warlock, so long as they weren’t foolish enough to fight with an ordinary army to the death, they could certainly kill the army’s commander, and then leave effortlessly. Some powerful Warlocks could even defeat a 10,000-strong ordinary army by themselves.
The Giant Stone City had a 5,000-strong army. With the army plus all the Apprentice Warlocks they could muster, they were still more likely to lose than to win against a level-1 Warlock. Unless the level-1 Warlock was foolish enough to wait for the Giant Stone City to gather its troops and Apprentice Warlocks and then engage them in battle, they could act in secret and easily kill all the Apprentice Warlocks.
Viscount Harley said in a deep voice: “If he was a level-1 Warlock, then he alone could capture the Black Rock Town. Based on our intelligence, he mobilized close to 100 soldiers to capture the Black Rock Town. In addition, if he was an official Warlock, he certainly wouldn’t have killed an aristocrat without rhyme or reason, as that was equivalent to declaring war against the Sir of the Black Cottage. Only thoughtless upstarts who just recently obtained power would unbridledly kill an aristocrat.
In the Turandot Subcontinent, an official Warlock wouldn’t lightly kill an aristocrat if not absolutely necessary, as there was quite likely another Warlock backing the aristocrat from the shadows. Only if the aristocrat offended an official Warlock, would the official Warlock kill the aristocrat without giving rise to push-back from another Warlock.
It was an unwritten rule in the Turandot Subcontinent that the dignity of Warlocks could not be violated. But similarly, an official Warlock had to respect other official Warlocks. Otherwise, it would lead to conflict between Warlocks.
The backer of the Giant Stone City was the Warlock group Black Cottage. In fights between ordinary people, the Black Cottage’s Warlocks wouldn’t deign to interfere. However, once there was an Apprentice Warlock threatening the Giant Stone City or its ancillaries without a particular cause, then the Black Cottage would definitely dispatch an expert to kill the ignorant Apprentice Warlock.
The patriarch of the Panchette Family said slowly: “It will cost us a pretty penny to invite the Black Cottage to take care of this!”
Warlocks weren’t otherworldly existences. On the contrary, Warlocks were beings who had to consume huge amounts of money. Each official Warlock possessed great riches, but their expenses were similarly frightening. Elixirs refined by a Warlock could be sold for hundreds if not thousands of gold coins. Even tens of thousand or hundreds of thousand gold coins for a vial of elixir was not uncommon.
As the backer of the Giant Stone City, the Black Cottage collected a large amount of gold coins each year. At the same time, the price for them to act was 50,000 gold coins. Such a huge sum, even for the four great families of the Giant Stone City, would be very painful to take out. That was why, if there was no major event, the Giant Stone City wouldn’t ask for help from the Black Cottage.
The patriarchs of the other three great families also focused their attention on Viscount Harley.
Viscount Harley said solemnly: “We’ll take 30,000 gold coins out of this year’s taxes and I’ll put forth 10,000 gold coins. Each one of your four families will put forth 2,500 gold coins. When we get rid of that thoughtless fool, we’ll divide the spoils according to the amount of money invested.
“Excellent!” The patriarchs of the four great families nodded in satisfaction.
After persuading the patriarchs of the four great families, Viscount Harley went to the rear garden.
In the rear garden, there was a raven nest on a white oak tree.
When a strange white raven saw Viscount Harley walk into the rear garden, it flew to Viscount Harley, landed on his arm, and said in human voice: “Viscount Harley, are you here to give me food? I want to eat wild boar. A well roasted pork ham will do. Your cook’s cooking is terrible. I suggest you hang him and replace him with a new one.”
Viscount Harley responded respectfully: “Sir Bobo, please greet the mighty Master of the Black Cottage for me and tell him that I need his help. A wicked Warlock force, which is trying to provoke the mighty Master of the Black Cottage, has emerged in the Black Rock Town. We prepared a tribute of 50,000 gold coins and ask the great Master of the Black Cottage to help us dispel that evil.”
The white raven flapped its wings and cried out: “Alright, Sir Bobowill convey your words to the great master of the Black Cottage. However, upon return, Sir Bobo wants to eat a plump pork ham! It must be properly roasted!”
Viscount Harley smiled and said: “As you wish. Upon return, you will receive a properly roasted pork ham!”
The white raven nodded contentedly, flapped its wings, and flew out of the city master’s mansion.
Contrary to the imagination of ordinary people, the Black Cottage wasn’t hidden in a remote place. The Black Cottage was located in the Black City, which was one of the 16 city’s of the Fernandro Principality.
The Black City was located 100 kilometers to the north of the Giant Stone City. and had a population of 200,000 people. In terms of surface area, the Black City was only second to the Dragon Mountain City, the capital of the Fernandro Principality. It was twice as big as the Giant Stone City.
In the center of the Black City, there was a huge, dream-like manor with forests, lakes, streams, hills, and other kinds of landscape. That whole manor nearly occupied one-third of the area of the Black City.
This huge and beautiful manor was the headquarters of the Black Cottage.