Chapter 363: Twelve Ubiquitous Shadows (1/2)
Chapter 363: Twelve Ubiquitous Shadows
As the completely naked Han Shuo looked down at Helen, who was looking back in a daze, Han Shuo revealed a grin that was as brilliant and bright as the sunshine. As he walked towards the middle of the pool, water began rippling outwards. The water wrapped itself around him as he started to clean his bloodstained body.
Only after hearing the splashing water sounds did Helen Tina wake up from her enraptured state and start scolding her weak will. After looking at Han Shuo’s broad and healthy back, she shook her head, seemingly trying to scatter the detailed figure lingering in her mind. She smiled sweetly and said tenderly, “Alright, you should wash up first, I’ll wait outside.”
“Hehe, and here I was thinking that you would bathe with me. Well, if you actually come down, I promise I won’t do a thing, alright?” Han Shuo turned his head and laughed brightly before suddenly teasing her with an invitation.
Helen grew flaming red, like she was intoxicated. She seriously considered what was just said before smiling tenderly, “No, I’m afraid I won’t be able to control myself and directly jump into your arms. Hehe. Okay. Properly clean yourself first. I’ll come back after you have properly cleaned yourself.”
Han Shuo was momentarily startled. But because the sentence confirmed Han Shuo’s charisma, he laughed out loud and happily said, “Alright, I’ll wait for the day you truly set aside your modesty then!”
Helen threw her head back in a lovable laugh. For several months now, her heart had been covered in a depressing haze, but now it seems like she has finally pushed away the black clouds and allowed the rainbow within to spring forth. With an exceptionally happier mindset, she left behind a tinkling laugh, ringing through the air like a silver bell. After Helen left, Han Shuo stayed in the public bath, leisurely cleaning all the bloodstains off him. Afterwards, Helen switched with Han Shuo and began cleaning herself as well.
Han Shuo sat crossed legged within the guest room, drinking a cup of good wine and reading his thick book of necromancy while waiting for Helen to change into a loose, comfortable bathrobe. Seeing Helen’s amazingly beautiful appearance, as lovely as a lotus flower rising from the water, Han Shuo first smilingly gasped in praise. Then he waited for the corner of Helen’s mouth to curve into a smile before finally sighing lightly, “Your Helon Duchy is currently rife with internal troubles, and is mostly likely the weakest power among the seven grand duchies. While you were originally allied with Benedict Sackville, it is most likely that he’s the mastermind behind Kekaru’s betrayal and has probably been interfering with your national affairs. But our first priority is the internal strife. The sooner we settle that, the less likely that we’ll see any more negative developments.”
Seeing Han Shuo bringing up this topic, Helen creased her eyebrows and lightly sighed before saying, “Even if this bout of internal strife never occurred, my Helon Duchy would still be the weakest among the seven duchies. We have limited resources within our national borders; our ores and rations are naturally lacking in comparison to the other dukedoms.”
Over the past years, I have continuously traded our warhorses for rations from Narsen Duchy. I’ve also engaged in trade with the other duchies and the distant Brut Merchant Alliance for war materials. My nation was never destined to become prosperous from the start. Now, with the unceasing internal strifes as well, my Helon Duchy is really facing disaster after disaster. So when you blackmailed me out of six hundred gold coins, my grand and magnificent Helon Duchy was no more.”
As if suddenly remembering Han Shuo’s blackmailing, she hatefully eyed Han Shuo and heavily snorted with irritation after finishing her words.
Only after Han Shuo awkwardly forced a couple of laughs, did he open his mouth to say, “Honestly, if you hadn’t become hostile with the Lancelot Empire and decided to use Brettel City as a hunting ground, the merchants of the Lancelot Empire would’ve completely solved your problems. Lancelot Empire has no means of getting warhorses, thus, if your dukedom sold your valiant warhorses to them, you will definitely receive significant benefits in return.”
Han Shuo continued “Unfortunately, even those greedy merchants do not dare to rashly come here after the stories of massacres and raids on Brettel City. To those merchants, all of the seven grand dukes are as dangerous as savage beasts and fierce floods. Thus, they naturally won’t open trade with you. Consequently, you will also be unable to use the natural resources within your borders and gain the goods you need.”
“Humph. In reality, your Lancelot Empire was asking for it. At the time, if it wasn’t because your Lancelot Empire wanted to conquer us seven grand duchies and enter our borders, killing and looting everything, would we have suddenly stopped our bickering? Would we have recklessly formed an alliance to defeat your Lancelot Empire?” As if suddenly remembering the time when the Lancelot Empire’s army troops arrived like savage beasts, Helen’s voice had an undercurrent of anger even as she continued to have a charming expression on her face.
“The relationships between nations will always be either that of the conquered or the conquerors. Every nation’s king will always use whatever methods they have at their disposal to expand their territories. Lancelot Empire is like this. Kasi Empire is like this. Even the seven grand dukes are like this. Otherwise, what would be the point to the unceasing strife between them?” Han Shuo conveyed this eternally inarguable fact to Helen before laughing wryly, “The past is unrelated to us. But with our current relationship, we can privately smuggle and participate in some shady business. Do you have any completely trustworthy subordinates at hand?”
“Naturally. My family’s trusted aides can be completely trusted. No matter what kind of decisions I make, they will always support me.” Helen proudly said.
Han Shuo nodded his head and said, “Great. Let’s do it like that. It so happens that I can also use Lancelot Empire’s war materials and exchange them for your Helon Duchy’s warhorses. Hmm, rations can also be included. This exchange will be beneficial for both of our sides.”
After listening to Han Shuo’s words, Helen smiled sweetly and agreed, “Our Helon Duchy’s warhorses are widely renowned. How many horses and how much gold are you planning to pay?”
“This sort of business should be discussed by our subordinates. We only need to focus and make decisions on the big picture.” Han Shuo shot a glance and lightly smiled at Hele before saying, “Don’t think about trying to tempt me with things like seduction. I will personally organize suitable talents within Brettel City that will discuss this with your subordinates. Thus, we won’t need to discuss it precisely and accidentally hurt our feelings!”
Hearing Han Shuo’s words, Helen spat on the floor saying with a red face, “Who has feelings for you! You treacherous and stingy man, I can’t even get a small advantage off you!”
“Alright. Alright. I am going on a trip tonight. You should be extra careful. Right now, Kekaru’s family are all dead, and it’s best if you take precautions as soon as possible. Starting tomorrow, you’ll become extremely busy, so now’s not a good time at all to talk about our love and passion for each other.” Han Shuo said to Helen.
“You. You actually killed Kekaru’s entire clan!” Helen was suddenly frightened and was unable to react for a moment, staring appalled at Han Shuo.
“Mm. Don’t worry, any kinsman with the qualifications to succeed his dukedom is dead. Even several of his loyal subordinate will not be seeing dawn. Tomorrow, you’ll see true chaos erupt in Seagate City. You should probably seize an opportunity to get rid of Kekaru’s corpse. Additionally, create a mess to show that you suffered an assassination attempt. Even better, you should also capture a few people and make them seem like they’re from Narsen Duchy.” Han Shuo said to Helen with a smile.
“Well done, well done!”Helen trembled in joy before smiling sweetly. Her eyes glittered with a sinister light as she said, “Rest assured, I am an expert at such things. At this time tomorrow, Seagate City should be within my grasp. I have waited for such a day for far too long.”
“Hehe. I like it when you emit such confidence. Alright, I will leave for now. You should summon Firewind and guarantee your safety first.” Han Shuo finally left after repeatedly warning her.
Back at the Lancelot Empire’s Dark Mantle organization, agents could be seen everywhere. After Han Shuo had arrived in Brettel City, the Dark Mantle’s stronghold had gradually strengthened as Candide personally prepared members to infiltrate Brettel City who Dick later arranged to go to the seven grand duchies.
After becoming a two star Dark Sun in the Dark Mantle, Han Shuo used his privileges and expanded the number of secret agents. He commanded Jack to set aside a hundred thousand gold coins as operational funds for the agents who would infiltrate into the seven grand dukedoms. With enough funds, they could set up their own stronghold within the dukedoms and gradually scale in power and influence.