62 Cheating (1/2)

Qin Li stepped forward to greet the captains and lieutenants entering the manor, who also dropped down to one knee in the snow as soon as they fully entered in ”rise” came the command from Hartley.

The reverent guild members all stood in silence as they waited for the command of Hartley, to them right now, Hartley was a martial god who could reign over the whole Wawrika province. Hartley pointed with a straightened index finger to Qin Li and said ”his orders are my orders,”then looked at Ryu Hang and said ”you shall put things in order here.”

Ryu Hang's face shone with shock, he stammered and tried to get out some words. ”I am not qualified to....”

Hartley waved his hand casually cutting off Ryu Hang's words, he then took Zhi Ruo to explore the lavish manor stood behind them leaving Qin Li to reorganize and integrate the guilds.

The decadent manor had all the lavish accessories of a duke, the interior of the main hall on the first floor was made ofexpensive stones cut and laid to form exquisite walls and the floor was as shiny as an oil slick, Hartley hadn't even seen some of the things in there before.

Oil paintings of exquisite women dressed in royal garments hung on the walls and luxurious fluffy beast pelts lined parts of the floor keeping the stone floor warm as the main fire place in the middle of the room spat and crackled. Hartley led Ruo and inspected every luxurious room one by one, he pushed out his awareness to cover the whole building and even discovered some secret rooms.

Hartley entered a small dusty room located in the basement which was out of place with the luxury of all the other rooms, the room looked as if it had been sealed for a long time, after slicing through the thick metal door with his silver sword, the tiny darkroom exposed its contents after Zhi ruo took a candle from the hall and entered behind Hartley. There were about 8 chests made of old iron with signs of rust sitting proudly on the chests covered with a layer of dust.

As he opened each chest, Zhi Ruo mouth fell open, even Hartley could barely keep calm, he discovered gold and gems packed to the brim inside, the glow of the treasure illuminated the room with rainbow colors as he searched through the various chests. The Roving Waspstruly had a lucrative business going. Hartley helped himself to the contents from four chests, placing them into his space ring until he had no more room to carry another coin, he then loaded Zhi Ruo's space ring and had Qin Li control the final two chests. For the last couple of months Hartley had hardly ever thought about money, his spoils of war filled at least 6 space rings and now he had the biggest profits he had ever seen.

Hartley was truly on the road to great influence now with all these riches he could even raise an army if he so chose. The days passed by quickly as Qin Li reorganized the guilds, Hartley made his head quarters the Rikers guild, he had chosen to stay in the degenerated neighborhood in the unremarkable two story building shying away from the limelight of the gaudy four story manor.

The guilds operated as usual without the outside world knowing of the take over that happened in the last few days, the guards got paid, the pick pockets worked their assigned area and the whores serviced the lecherous men at night. Hartley didn't desire to save each and every orphan in a bad situation, all he could do was make sure they were clothed and fed properly for the time being. In the event that he needed man power he would probably recruit some of them to work for him directly but for now he just went with the flow.

The grey skies and swirling snow outside accompanied by the howls of the wind that whistled against the wooden window frames of the building was a typical winter's day in the Wawrika province, Hartley had gotten used to it and developed a routine of cultivating,meeting with Qin Li and dealing with minor problems before taking Zhi Ruo to dinner in the restaurant at night time.

Zhi Ruo was on the verge of entering the xanthian realm by now, she never neglected her cultivation even though the empathy she had for the children made her go out of her way to offer her help.

On this day Hartley was by himself cultivating in one of the lavish rooms on the second floor, Zhi Ruo had all the kids gathered in a warm room on the ground floor where she taught them to read and do some basic maths.Biyu Jie sensingthis was one of the only times Zhi Ruo had been away from Hartley's side during the past few days,made use of the opportunity and went to knock the door of the room Hartley was cultivating in.