411 206 Worries Part 1 (2/2)

”Almost. I thought up most of them.”

”It's a waste that you do not produce weapons. If the Clyde family had someone like you, the Williams family would be out of business,” Aini sighed.

Aini realized that the weapons that Saleen had designed had limitations, but they shared a similarity; they were all a low cost to produce. These weapons for the soldiers were meant to be mass produced. If the price was too high, the nobles could not afford them and would lose their business.

Looking at the blueprints scattered over the table, there could not be any less than thirty types of weapon. From as big as the combination type shield wall to as small as a drinking water tumbler, they were all made of cheap material. After they would go through the processing of magic, they immediately had a higher practicality value.

Aini was glad that most of the weapon would need assistance from Lex's mages to make. The initial management of the material was the toughest, it was where the profit was the most minor. Even if Irene got the business, the income would not be too much. According to Irene's character, she was probably still obsessed with hunting and the business was something she would be okay with or without.

Saleen promised to give the two of them a ship each, so even if Irene lost money, she would take the business deal.

Then, Aini suddenly asked, ”Saleen, the ship that you promised to give us, it wouldn't be newly design too, right?”

”Yeah, how did you know?” Saleen asked curiously.

”Nonsense, you just wanted us to test out the performance of the ship, right? What if something happen?”

”I'll provide more lifeboats then.” Saleen answered patiently. He promised Aini and Irene that he would give them one ship each, but of course they would not be given for nothing. Firstly, the first harvest from the Oceanic Ice Block was Saleen's. Second the two of them had to familiarize themselves with the function of the ship. Saleen was not any noble that did charity, why would he give out two expensive ships for free?

Back then, the pirate ships that Saleen took cost more than ten thousand gold coins. According to the design of the regular warship, those dozens of ten-thousands of gold coins worth of ships were only considered as a small amount.

”I don't care about Irene's. The ship that you give me, if it were to sink by accident, you will have to give me another one.”

”Of course!” Saleen agreed generously and added, ”If something's wrong with the ship, I will keep sending you more to try.”

”Saleen, your face must have solidified with some sort of Stone Skin spell.” Aini said helplessly. As long as Saleen's ship did not harm anyone, he was not taking any losses. At the end of the day, he would have a decent ship.

Irene would not be considered to be taking losses either. The ship that Saleen give her had to be precisely made. At the very least, it would not sink immediately. Even if there was some problem, it would take a few trips to realize it. If the ship could take a trip to the Oceanic Ice Block and return safely, Irene already earned something.

Saleen did so to earn himself some experience. He did not have anyone around him that was professional in making ships so he had to recruit from outside. Those recruited would not know much and most of them needed to be nurtured. To make a ship maker do well, they required another three years time or more. Within the three years, they could not have nothing to do.

Saleen was a pure Sikeqinya at the end of the day. He had the talent of running a business in his bones. He did not need to calculate, but automatically knew how to do it.

”Aini, I am a mage. I can't put in too much energy on this, but there is no one around me that could help me. Luckily designing these items would help me with understanding magic, otherwise, I would go crazy.” Ever since Saleen started building the city, he had stopped sleeping normally, but he recovered using mediation most of the time.

Meditation could not replace sleep entirely and all the mages understood that. Saleen felt that there was not enough time, especially after running into the Black Bishop from Holy See. He understood clearly that if he did not work hard, all the tough life he went through back then would be wasted as Holy See was ready to kick him into hell anytime.

To Saleen, money might not be important but capability was very important. To operate the city safely, he had to maintain a fleet in case the Holy See attacked from the sea. How much did it cost to maintain a fleet? Although Saleen was not sure, he knew that to maintain a warship would cost tens of thousands of gold coins in a year.

These were things that he had to do and had to think about. If he was still the magic apprentice that only thought of having smoked meat and some bread every meal as his life goal, he would not need to think much. Saleen was not the little beggar he was back then, his purpose of life was not only to fill his stomach anymore.

Aini did not know what to say, but he understood Saleen's pressure. He could not help with these things. He had to practice magic himself and he knew how tight their schedule was. If he did not work hard, he might not be a sorcerer in his life. Not becoming a sorcerer, one's lifespan would only be a hundred and twenty years at max. No matter where you were born, you would turn into dust and soil.

”Forget it, Aini. Let's rest. Have a drink and chat for a while, what do you think?” Saleen put off the magic light on the rooftop and lit up the magic lamp on the table. In the huge room, only that place was lit up. In the dark corner, in the eye socket of eighty-seven skeletons, a red color soulflame was waving at a comfortable rhythm.

”Sure.” Aini took a seat again. He had lesser worries. He brought all his savings into the city and had feelings towards this city but the situation on the mainland was not beneficial for the development of the city. He reckoned that the expedition forces from the island nations in the eastern sea had conquered Lianyun city and the possibility of his investment failing was quite high.

The sea route was cut off and the land route was cut off. Aini did not know where hope lay and he did not know what would happen again the next day.