312 Irene Part 1 (1/2)
”Why wouldn't it be worth it?” Irene retorted, her breathing getting heavier by the minute. She widened her eyes, glared at Saleen, and continued, ”We're talking about grade-6 magic beasts here, and maybe some even more powerful than that. The magic beasts over on the mainland are all below grade-6. Do you know how much money you can fetch from selling one magic nucleus?”
”Of course I know, Irene. I'm a mage, after all. But do you really think that you and your friends have what it takes to hunt magic beasts that formidable?” Saleen said lazily.
Irene's face flushed red with embarrassment and anger. Saleen was not completely wrong, but he was not right either. Given the amount of manpower that she possessed, hunting down grade-6 magic beasts was a bit of an uphill task for her. It was not that her men were incapable of capturing them. Rather, the issue here was that the losses she would encounter relative to the profits she could earn were too high to justify hunting them down. No businessman in his right mind would venture into any type of loss-inducing business, and Irene was no exception.
There were two types of swordsmen that all noblemen, regardless of the clans they belonged to, would provide for. The first type of swordsmen would play the role of the clan's personal bodyguards. Thus, none of these swordsmen would be registered with the empire. These swordsmen would share weal and woe with their employers. The second type of swordsmen were those who were hired officially and bound to a particular nobleman for long periods of time. Regardless of whether these swordsmen belonged to the first or second category, if they happened to perish while on duty, the noblemen would have to compensate the swordsmen's families accordingly.
Saleen knew that if every single one of Irene's hunting missions were to end in tragedy with the loss of a group of soldiers, even if these swordsmen belonged to the second category, the amount of compensation would be too great for any nobleman to bear, Irene included.
”The Williams clan has very little influence over in Lianyun City. Voyaging to places like this takes at least half a year. Every trip you make costs your clan over a hundred thousand gold coins. So tell me, Irene, is it really worth it?” Saleen asked. Irene had nothing to say in response. What could she say when Saleen had already calculated the amount of capital needed right in front of her?
”I feel like we should be more honest with each other. You know, at the end of the day, I might not even be interested in pursuing whatever your clan has been doing. However, I will definitely be a part of it, at least for your journey. I could authorize your clan to travel through my ocean territories. The journey might be a little bit longer, but it will be far safer than traveling through other waters. I could even deploy some battleships to protect your bounty-hunting ships so that things like this will not happen again,” Saleen said, referencing Irene's predicament.
”Battleships?” Irene asked, her eyes lighting up with hope as she continued, ”Can I buy them off of you?”
”Irene, Lex is a viscountess. Owning a battleship is nothing to her. The highest rank in the Williams clan is only that of an earl. Purchasing the battleships might anger the officials over in Holy Rock City,” Saleen explained.
Upon hearing Saleen's words, Irene realized that Saleen was truly well-versed in these matters. There was no way she could hide anything from him. Might as well tell him everything, Irene sighed inwardly.
”Mage Saleen, the Oceanic Ice Block is truly a gold mine. Assuming that the ships we send out don't hit any icebergs, just casting a net into the waters alone will allow us to capture magic beasts that are very rare and valuable. There is a type of sea shrimp that exists only in that part of the ocean. It's red, nearly transparent, and is as long as an adult's arm. The front limbs of the sea shrimp can be directly refined into shen xing metal as well as grade-4 magic nuclei. Just one cast of the net can reel in up to one thousand of these creatures. Can you imagine reeling in up to one thousand grade-4 magic nuclei in one go? It's literally a gold mine there!” Irene explained.
”How are grade-4 magic beasts so easy to capture?” Saleen asked in disbelief.
”Of course, there are some techniques that you'll have to master. You'll also have to use specially created metal nets as well. However, these efforts are nothing compared to the profits that can be earned,” Irene rambled on, feeling unusually relaxed now that she had spilled everything that she knew.
”So only the Williams clan have been involved in this business?” Saleen asked.
”Of course,” Irene replied, ”However, since you're definitely going to interfere, I guess we won't be the only ones doing this anymore.” As she said this, she tried to look as pitiful as possible. However, Saleen did not even flinch. Instead, he started to think about whether he really did want to venture into this business.
Hunting and capturing magic beasts out at sea had always been lucrative. However, it would only be profitable if the people involved had strong backing. The southern ocean territories were now under Alchemy City's jurisdiction. Since the Williams clan was risking the lives of its members who were travelling to the northern ocean waters to hunt, if he were to interfere just like that, the Williams would certainly not be happy. In fact, they would probably be hopping mad. Even though Saleen had the Bitter Water Prefecture and Sregl Island behind him, he did not want to offend the Williams. Not too much, anyways.
On the other hand, Saleen was not too worried that the Williams would exclude him from this money-making venture. He predicted that the Holy See would take at most two years to figure out the workings of the northern shipping route. They would be able to avoid the Cloudflow naval fleets, travel past Sikenqinya from the north, and eventually reach him. The deeper reason behind why the Holy See would do this was because of the fact that they had made almost no progress in tracking him via land. Naturally, they would think of getting to Saleen by travelling through the water instead.
Alchemy City was a massive and impregnable fortress. Lianyun City, on the other hand, could be described as the stark opposite of impregnable. If the Holy See did put together a naval fleet, Saleen guessed that they would take advantage of the fact that Lianyun City was too weak to fight back and attack there first. Once Lianyun City fell, they would be able to gain access to the Qin territory in no time.
Once the Holy See made an appearance, the Williams' business would be done for. Once they reached that point, they would definitely come begging for Saleen's help. Thus, Saleen was not too anxious about interfering with their affairs.
The shipping route connecting the place that Saleen was currently at to the Oceanic Ice Block was definitely a business secret that Irene would not cough up easily. However, he was not going to simply ask for it. He wanted to see the Williams suffer for a while before having them give it up willingly.
As Irene and Saleen continued chatting, Nailisi returned to the tent and asked Saleen, ”Master, I have taken care of Irene's men. Should we heal those that have been injured in the blizzard?”
”Of course! If those swordsmen lose any of their fingers, their combat abilities will be negatively impacted. How much restorative water do we have now?” Saleen asked.
”Not much left, Master,” Nailisi said politely, trying to present a false image of demurity in front of Irene. She looked so respectable mimicking the Myers Goddess that almost no one would be able to tell that she was lying. Saleen actually had so much restorative water that he could take a bath in it everyday and still have plenty of the liquid left. Restorative water was a product of mere level-1 magic. It was not difficult to make. Hence, Saleen had hoards of the liquid stashed somewhere. In fact, he gave the Sregl Island swordsmen restorative water to drink everyday to improve their physical well-being and boost their strength.
Since these swordsmen had not received these perks back at Sregl Island, after being under Saleen for a while, they had more or less decided that they would remain loyal to Saleen until they either died or were no longer needed.