"Thank you for your honest answer. Due to the civil war, many unlawful things are happening in our kingdom. So, please stay away from unnecessary troubles. If you need anything, you can directly ask us, ma'am." The slim officer gave a slight nod and said.
His polite tone surprised Fennelis's group and even the other soldiers who stood behind that slim officer.
"May I know your name, sir?" Roysia took the initiative and asked. She was a former knight captain and felt something was off about this guy.
"Piers, my lady." The officer named Piers said calmly and quickly signaled the other soldiers to make the way.
After thanking Piers, the trio moved towards the southern gate and entered the town. It was bustling with life. Merchants, soldiers, shopkeepers, adventurers, ordinary citizens, and even some Holy knights appeared in Fennelis's sights.
'The security is tighter here.' She glanced at the surroundings and decided to gather information. After some exchange with the nearby shopkeepers, the trio noticed all the food prices were double the average.
"It may be due to the civil war," Roysia spoke solemnly.
Fennelis also understood the situation and shrugged her shoulders.
'It doesn't matter to me.' She muttered inwardly.
After some discussion, the trio moved to the town square and entered the market street to buy the necessities. They didn't dare to waste much time and quickly started to purchase rations, small leather water pouches, native clothes, and sweets for Umi.
"So, what is our next plan?" Once they purchased the necessary things, Roysia looked at Fennelis and asked curiously.
"We should rest for a day or two here. Then, we can continue our journey. If you are in a hurry, I think that's also okay for us." Fennelis said while glancing at the surroundings to check if anything was abnormal.
"No. I'm not in that much of a hurry." Roysia shook her head. After that, both planned to stay in Roguedale Town and started purchasing a few other things like normal weapons like swords, spears, bows, and camping materials. Once they finished their purchases, the trio quickly moved towards the commoner's district to find an Inn.
A few minutes later, they managed to book two rooms at 12 Border street and went to their rooms.
...
April 27th. Year 10292.
Pirate Town, Alastall Woodlands.
It was morning, around 10 A.M.
Abium wore a regular linen black shirt and pants and sat on his wooden chair in the reception hall. Meanwhile, Helena, Lily, Sarah, Viper, Claude, and Kuran sat on the side of the long table and appeared to be waiting for him to speak.
After finishing the sacrificial ritual, he rested for a whole day and began concentrating his attention on management. He didn't even touch the divine fragment floating in his mind during this time.
After a short silence, he turned his gaze towards Helena and asked with a frown.
"Did you receive any reply from the slave merchant?" It had been almost ten days since they took over the port town, but the slave merchant hadn't arrived with the labor slaves at all.
"No. But I think the ship will arrive in one or two days." Helena lazily leaned on the wooden chair and replied while yawning.
"Good." Nodding, Abium shifted his gaze towards Claude and asked. "Uncle Claude, did you take back the remaining pirate ships that the pirates left behind?"
"Yeah. Those six ships are already docked in our port." Claude paused for a moment as he thought of something and continued with a frown.
"Also, please choose a better name for this town before outsiders come here, lad. Pirate Town is not a good name."
'I haven't thought of that. But Uncle's words are right. In the future, this town will be one of the main strongholds in the southern continent… Calling this town with a random name is not a good idea.' Abium fell into deep thoughts. Meanwhile, others also started discussing among themselves and saying different names.
Alas, nothing caught Abium's attention.
"Amaryllis." Sitting on Helena's right shoulder, Camilla smiled widely and made a suggestion.
Her loud childish voice stopped others' discussion.
"Why did you pick that name?" Abium turned his face towards the fairy and asked, revealing a surprised face.
"This whole town and the surrounding areas are filled with Amaryllis plants. She must have thought of that." Helena responded instead of Camilla.
"Haha, let's call it 'Amaryllis' town.'" Viper laughed out loud and said.
"It's decided then. Next is about the management of this town in the future. My friend, Kuran, you will manage all the constructions and guild-related works. You will get five white golds per month. Are you okay with that?" Abium asked while shifting his gaze towards the dwarf warrior. Abium had long decided on this position for Kuran when he chose his territory.
His current actions might look foolish to normal mages or others, but only he knew what these peoples were capable of.
"Aye. But I need two months of vacation per year. I must return to my hometown during August month." Kuran said with a somber tone.
'Two months? Hmm, it's manageable. I will let Helena pick up a few assistants from the slaves and teach them basics.'
'Next is the basic needs like food and water. There is a river located only 2 kilometers away, so water is not a problem. But the problem is the food. With the pirates' help, we can catch fish and try to trade with Baron Harry's town-. No, it's almost impossible to do business with Baron Harry.' When thinking about the food problem, he felt a headache.
"Next is about food. It's almost impossible to do business with Baron Harry, so we must look for other places." Abium said with a helpless sigh.
"Why not just assassinate him and replace him with another successor?" Suddenly, Helena straightened her back and made a bold suggestion.
'Damn, she even holds a grudge against that Baron, huh? It's his mistake to come after her sister after all.' Everyone thought.
"Killing a noble will cause instability in the whole territory, young girl. Moreover, people in that town knew about what happened a few days ago. Young Baron slapped Baron Harry in front of everyone, and that news might have already spread to nearby territories. So, if he dies suddenly, everyone will suspect us. Even if we managed to kill Baron Harry, their family wouldn't let this off easily. It will only make things worse." Viper said with a grim tone. He knew a little about politics, so he immediately denied her proposal. After noticing others' silent behavior, he continued.
"They will also use this reason to join hands with other higher nobles and might make a problem during the next nobles' gathering."
The hall fell into silence after Viper finished his sentence. After a few seconds, Abium took a deep breath and started pondering.
'Hmm, that family is indeed a troublesome bunch. I heard that Baron Harry's family members are the descendants of an old powerful mage. What is the name of that family again? Nave? No... Ah, It's Novak. Whatever, although now that family has declined to lowly noble, I need to be extra careful.' He started analyzing the details and soon spoke with an approving nod.
"Let's do it then."
"What?! Are you out of your mind, young Baron? Even if you are a mage, their family will not let this off easily." Viper said with a serious tone. But Abium smiled calmly and spoke while showing a scroll with a strange symbol engraved.
"We have two targets. One is Harry, and the other is the family elder Randolph. I heard he is a fifth-tier warrior and also an intermediate swordsman, so it's not a difficult job to kill him. Once we achieve our goal, we should draw this devil skull mask symbol on their foreheads, drain their blood completely, write 'Order of the Dead' near their bodies, and make it look like an evil organization's plot."
"What do these strange words represent?" Lily, who kept her mouth all this time, asked curiously.
"It means Order of the dead in the Nether language. Order of the Dead is an organization that mostly does evil deeds and is dangerous. No one knew much about this language except for necromancers and a few second-tier mages. If the news went to academic mages' ears, they would also become wary of that organization and try to restrict their movements using every means. It will be enough to make Baron Harry's family members shut their mouths." Once Abium finished his words, everyone was a little stunned.
"Still, it's not an easy matter to kill a fifth-tier warrior, right? It would be dangerous for all of us if our identity got exposed-" Lily said solemnly.
"I will go with you guys." Before she could finish her words, Viper said with a grin. At first, he thought it was a reckless plan, but now he understood Abium's crafty idea and nodded in agreement.
"Good. We will start this assassination mission at the end of June. Better do it when a large earthquake happens." Abium said with a sly smile.
"How did you know there would be a large earthquake in the future?" Claude asked with a suspicious gaze.
"It's a revelation from the goddess. Anyways, let's move on to the next topic." Abium cleared his throat and shifted the topic.
'But I have to reveal some future events from time to time to my subordinates and let them realize that I know divination. Only then will they believe my every word in the future and act without hesitation.' He thought for a moment and quickly spoke about the current situation inside his territory.