As an important county of the House of Berkeley, Vaduz was very different from Yorktown. At the very least, the roads in the entire city were fully paved with stone and not just left as dirt tracks.
As the trade caravan made its way through the city, the horses clopped on the ground as they walked with horseshoes on.
The golden rays of the evening sun glittered from the west. Ren Xiaosu could even see a flock of white doves swirling in the sky above the cathedral in the town center some distance away.
Beside the cathedral was an even more solemn-looking palace.
The building was entirely red in color, and on top of the tallest tower in the middle of the palace complex was affixed an Eye of True Sight gilded in gold. It was like the eye was watching the residents of the city.
Ren Xiaosu asked, “What’s that place?”
“That’s the palace of the Berkeley family’s archmage, or you can just call it a Sorcerer’s Tower,” Melgor replied. “But he shouldn’t be here at present. He usually resides in Berkeley County.”
Ren Xiaosu praised, “Look at that Sorcerer’s Tower and how it compares to yours. Come to think of you, you actually had the cheek to tell me how magnificent your Sorcerer’s Tower was at the beginning….”
Melgor’s face turned red as he explained, “My Sorcerer’s Tower is already quite good. You haven’t seen the other Sorcerer’s Towers yet. Some sorcerers can’t even afford to build one after arriving at their fiefs.”
“If it weren’t for your childhood sweetheart sending you money through her servant, you probably couldn’t have afforded one either,” Ren Xiaosu muttered. “Speaking of which, the Tudor family should be even more powerful than the Berkeley family, right? Have you ever thought that it might actually be a good thing that your girlfriend gets to marry into their family?”
Melgor got anxious. “What do you know? How can there be any true feelings involved in a rich family like the Tudors? Just the number of spouses they have number in the hundreds. Marrying into such rich families might make materialistic sense for a better quality of life, but how can anyone possibly find happiness there?”
Ren Xiaosu sighed and shook his head. “Some people can’t even marry into their family if they wanted to. Hey, which clan does your girlfriend belong to?” “Her family is only considered average in Ghent City. Initially, they were not on good terms with the Tudor family. However, there was an archmage who said she was extremely talented and suitable to be a sorceress.” Melgor sighed and said, “Actually, I also know very well I can’t give her what the Tudor family can. So I didn’t even write her after I returned.”
“Why didn’t you?” Ren Xiaosu asked.
“I’m afraid I’ll set her back.” Melgor said, “Besides, I really don’t have the power to go against the Tudor family.”
“Mhm, it’s a good thing that you’ve learned to let go and grant others happiness.” Ren Xiaosu chuckled and said, “But you don’t have to be discouraged. With me around, you won’t be any worse off than the Tudor family.” “You’re blustering again….”
Ren Xiaosu suddenly started thinking. Should he still abduct Melgor back to the Northwest?
It was not that he no longer wanted to bring Melgor to the Prosperous Northwest, but that a new problem had arisen. He could not possibly abduct all of the people in the Kingdom of Sorcerers. In that case, no matter how many archmages he wiped out here, the kingdom would definitely still exist.
Perhaps those who gained authority here in the future would no longer be sorcerers. Then the citizens could start reviving technology as it was before The Cataclysm.
The Magi had deliberately suppressed the rise of technology. But at that time, the technological advancement of the Kingdom of Sorcerers would definitely become similar to the Central Plains. Everyone would start searching through their past civilizations and bring back its former technologies to the world one by one. At that time, what would Fortress 178’s relationship with that Kingdom of Sorcerers be like? Would war break out once again?
So should he bring everyone suitable for the Prosperous Northwest back with him, or should he turn this place into a branch of the Prosperous Northwest?
Honestly, Ren Xiaosu was more inclined to the latter strategy
But here came another question. Who would be a suitable candidate to lead the Prosperous Northwest’s branch? Should it be an ambitious person or a sweet idiot?
The answer was, of course, a sweet idiot.
As long as the person in charge of this branch was obedient, Ren Xiaosu did not actually care about how capable he was or how this place would develop. However, the amount of work he would have to put in for such a scenario to happen was quite significant. At the very least, he would have to “reach an agreements with all the sorcerer clans.
How many sorcerer clans did Melgor mention existed in the Kingdom of Sorcerers? It should be around 40 or so.
Melgor was bemoaning to himself that this steward of his was way too fond of bragging. However, he had no idea Ren Xiaosu was actually planning to turn the entire Kingdom of Sorcerers into a branch of the Prosperous Northwest.
Ren Xiaosu thought he probably couldn’t accomplish this task all by himself. But if he were to borrow the strength of others, it might not be entirely impossible.
He turned his gaze to the carriage the young sorceress, An’an, and her companions were in. He happened to see An’an and Chen Cheng rush out of the carriage and enter a small alley off the road.
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“You can head to the relay station first. I’ll join up with y’all tonight.” Then Ren Xiaosu jumped down from the carriage and went after the young sorceress, disappearing from sight. Dazed, Melgor was left alone at the stables. He could not understand what had gotten into his steward again.
In the evening, it was quite lively in the city of Vaduz as the streets bustled with people. As Ren Xiaosu chased after the young sorceress, someone suddenly bumped into him in the crowd and caused him to lose sight of her.
Ren Xiaosu did not tussle with the person who had bumped into him. Instead, he continued searching in a general direction and headed deeper into the alleys. After half an hour of pursuit, the sorceress was no longer anywhere to be found. However, Ren Xiaosu already knew where he should head.
As he turned onto a flagstone path, he heard a slow metallic clanging.
He looked up and saw a blacksmith’s workshop. The people inside were busy working on this relatively quiet street.
The short apprentice was operating the bellows with a sweaty face, while a burly blacksmith was hammering an iron billet on the anvil with a hammer.
Ren Xiaosu went into the blacksmith’s workshop and said with a smile, “It’s wrong of your people to steal things.”
The bearded blacksmith said coldly, “I think you’ve come to the wrong place.”
As he spoke, the blacksmith even continued swinging the huge hammer in his hand as though he was afraid no one would know how strong he was.
“Is Chen Cheng inside?” Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, “Can you get the two of them to step out for a moment? I have something to ask them.”
However, the blacksmith didn’t appear to understand. He looked at Ren Xiaosu coldly and said, “Kid, if you’re looking for trouble, you’ve really come to the wrong place.”
“Is that so?” Ren Xiaosu quickly made his move and gently “poked” the blacksmith’s Adam’s apple with his fingertip. The blacksmith’s face immediately reddened as he coughed and fell to the ground.
The short apprentice immediately took out a glowing red blade from the furnace. Ren Xiaosu looked at him and said with a smile, “Relax, he’s fine.”
The apprentice said solemnly, “What on earth do you want?”
“The person who just bumped into me on the street stole the wrong thing from me.” Ren Xiaosu said with a laugh, “I assume that y’all in the Kingdom of Sorcerers don’t know what a GPS tracker is, right?”
The sorceress, An’an, and Chen Cheng walked out from the bowels of the blacksmith’s workshop with dark expressions. “What do you want?”
When Ren Xiaosu saw the two of them, he laughed even more happily. In this pursuit, there was no doubt technology had decisively won.