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Chapter 451 - Partnership
🕑 Added 2023-10-20 00:24:45 +0000 UTCThe Fairclough manor was tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of the noble district, next to a park whose trees rose high enough to hide it from afar. Only when one was close could they see the building itself - an old wooden manor, which one might think had been abandoned if not for the few servants cleaning the courtyard of fallen leaves.
It was larger than Red’s stolen manor, but it was a meek property when compared to the large mansions of the nobles around the center of the city. He felt only seven fluctuations from within.
“I’ve always insisted for Lady Ilse to renovate this manor,” Marina said as they exited the carriage. “But she says it’s a waste of time. The Queen doesn’t seem to care for it either, so now this looks like the house of a dying noble family.”
Red offered no comments as they neared the gate. A manservant looked surprised when they saw them approach, and he hurried to greet them.
“Lady Marina,” he bowed. “We were not expecting your presence here.”
“I thought I would drop by to visit my friend. Is she not in?”
“She is, but I’m afraid she’s busy at the moment. We were told not to disturb her unless it was something important.”
“Well, tell her this is of the utmost importance!”
“B-But I thought-”
“Just tell her Marina is here to talk to her about something very important. If she still refuses to see us, then I can come at some other time.”
The manservant nodded, but his gaze lingered on Red’s masked figure.
“He’s with me,” Marina said, waving her fan in punctuation.
He nodded and hurried inside the manor. Five minutes went by, and Marina seemed to be losing her patience. Then the manservant reappeared.
“Lady Ilse will see you inside, if you’d follow me,” he said, opening the gate.
The man led them into the manor. The inside of the building was far more well-maintained than its exterior, giving off a rustic look that Red had not seen before in the capital. Paintings of regal figures were hanging off of almost every wall, wearing the same coat of arms and posing in the same manner.
“The ancestors of the Fairclough family,” Marina said. “The founder of the family was once a disciple of the Divine Dream Sect who left the sect to found a county on the northern reaches of the kingdom. Official records would tell you he did this because of his desire to create a lineage, but the truth is he just wasn’t talented enough to enter the inner sect and was allowed to leave and seek fortune in the mortal world.”
She didn’t lower her voice, which allowed the manservant to hear their conversation. He didn’t show any reactions, though.
Red looked back at Marina. “Was he allowed to bring the sect’s techniques with him?”
“Outer sect disciples have access to lesser versions of the sect’s supreme techniques, and those are allowed to be brought outside as long as they are not sold or taught to anyone but the disciple’s immediate family. Of course, even though it’s a lesser version of a sect’s signature technique, it’s still extremely powerful and complex to master, so not every member of the Fairclough family could practice it. In fact, sometimes entire generations went by with not no suitable candidate to learn this technique.”
“And Lady Ilse? Did she learn it?”
Marina smiled. “She’s the first in over fifty years.”
Things started becoming clearer to Red. The Divine Dream Sect was an organization known for their oracles and divination, so if Ilse had access to one of their techniques, it was no wonder she had the prophetic dream about the snakeman.
The manservant led them to a waiting room, where he lit up the fireplace and offered them refreshments. After making sure their needs were tended to, he said that his mistress would be here soon and left to tend to his duties.
Almost ten minutes went by, though, and there was still no sign of the woman.
Red looked over at Marina, who gave him an awkward smile.
“I’m sure she will be here soon.”
And indeed, after five more minutes, he felt a fluctuation approaching them.
Lady Ilse entered the room, wearing an embroidered red dress and with her long auburn hair tied behind her head. Her appearance seemed more ragged than when Red first met her, as if she had dressed in a hurry, and there were some spots of soot on her hands.
As soon as she arrived, she looked at Marina with a frown before turning to Red with a smile.
“Master Viran,” she curtsied to him. “I’m sorry I could not properly greet you. I was not expecting any visitors.”
Red nodded. “It’s fine.”
Lady Ilse’s attention then turned to Marina. “You did not tell me you would be visiting.”
Marina hid her expression behind a fan. “Well, I was not expecting you to be busy.”
“I told you about my plans a week ago.”
“Ah, well… I might have gotten carried away, but there’s a good reason for it!”
Lady Ilse sighed and sat down on the sofa across from them. “Well, let’s hear it then.”
“I have a business proposal for you!”
Marina then went into a long-winded explanation. She talked about her conversation with Red, his desire to forge an artifact, and how he was lacking a Spiritual Forge. Then she went on about how that had given her the idea to build their own forge, and that this manor was the best place for it. All throughout the explanation, Lady Ilse did not interrupt Marina once, listening to her words with a neutral expression and sometimes taking a sip of her tea.
“So that’s the gist of it,” Marina concluded with a smile. “With your manor and Master Viran’s skills, we can create a business endeavor that could make us rich! Of course, there’s the problem with Her Majesty, but if you can convince her then-”
“She won’t be a problem,” Lady Ilse cut her off."
“Hm? Are you certain?”
“I know my sister. She has made it clear that what I do with the manor and our family’s resources are my own concern.”
Marina frowned. “That sounds like someone who was cutting off relationships would say.”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. We just have a clear understanding of our positions in the capital and have established clear boundaries on the lengths we would go to for each other.”
“… Does that mean that she wouldn’t interfere if people had issues with our plan?”
“Her influence would be enough to make many people think twice, but it’s hard to say if she would interfere directly.”
“That… could be a problem.”
Lady Ilse smiled. “Maybe, but what would others do? Invade this place and destroy the forge? If they did that, then my sister would definitely not stand by.”
“It’s not their direct interference that worries me. If the Golden Hand wanted to, they could damage a lot of my family’s business over this matter.”
“And you expect them to just let you be as it is?”
Her words made Marina fall silent as she pondered the problem with a thoughtful expression.
“I thought I was the one who was supposed to be convincing you,” she said. “Does this mean you agree to the proposal?”
“Not quite.” Lady Ilse looked over at Red. “You would be forging the artifacts?”
He nodded.
“And how much experience do you have with it?” she asked.
“None.”
“And yet you went along with the plan,” she regarded him with a strange expression. “What exactly is your goal?”
“My goal will always be to advance my cultivation. This business is just a means to an end.”
It was Lady Ilse’s turn to fall silent in thought.
“If it was anyone else, I would have outright denied you,” she said. “But after what you did for Leon and Emeric, how could I refuse to help you?”
“I was just doing my job.”
“Maybe so, but I have my own consciousness to appease as well.”
“Then you will do it?” Marina looked at her friend with excitement.
“I will,” Lady Ilse nodded. “But I have some conditions.”
She set her teacup down and looked back at Red with a smile.
“You know I am an alchemist, right?”
“Not at all.”
She paused in surprise before scowling at Marina. “How could you not have told him that? Do you even take your job seriously?”
“Ah, well,” the woman waved her fan. “I thought it wouldn’t be relevant.”
“Irrelevant?” she picked up her teacup as if to throw it at her friend. “Are you slow?! How could that be irrelevant?!”
Marina flinched. “I just thought there would be enough Spiritual Energy to go around!”
Her words only seemed to anger Lady Ilse further, but she still set down her teacup and recomposed herself.
“Listen, Master Viran. Alchemy is also a very Spiritual Energy intensive practice. Splitting up the local energy between forging and concocting pills could be detrimental to both endeavors.”
Red nodded. “But since you didn’t outright deny the idea, you must have some way to work around it, right?”
She smiled. “That is indeed the case. Truth be told, I’ve been unsatisfied with my current facilities, and I would like to see them upgraded. A Spiritual Forge shares many of the same characteristics as a Spiritual Laboratory, so it seems our interests align in more than a few ways.”
“Do you mean to alternate their use? It might not be practical.”
Either forging artifacts or concocting spiritual pills were processes that could take days, maybe even weeks to finish. Whoever wasn’t using the Spiritual Energy at the moment would have no other choice than to wait, which was not preferable to Red.
“We would only need to alternate their use if there’s not enough Spiritual Energy to go around,” Lady Ilse said. “But if we upgrade the spiritual density of this place, then it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Marina raised her eyebrows. “That is a rather ambitious idea. How would you do something like that?”
“It’s simple. A large-scale Spirit Gathering Formation.”
Red recognized the name. It was the same formation he used for cultivating in his manor, which increased the surrounding Spiritual Energy density.
“That’s insanity!” Marina looked at her friend like she was crazy. “Do you have any idea how much it would cost to build and maintain that?”
“I do,” Lady Ilse said with a nod. “And it’s a price I’m willing to pay. Besides, such a formation would benefit me in other ways, too.”
“And who would set up such a format- ah…” Marina trailed off, looking over at Red.
He already understood where this conversation was leading.
“This is a lot of work.”
He wasn’t just referring to the formation.
“It’s all for a long-term goal, isn’t it?” Lady Ilse asked. “Work now will lend you much more free time in the future.”
This he couldn’t refute.
“I can build the formation,” Red said. “But I also want you to make me cultivation pills.”
This was the one thing he was lacking. He had the Spirit Gathering Formation, which provided him with a boost for cultivation, but a consistent supply of spiritual pills could speed up his progress by yet another level.
Lady Ilse smiled. “Done.”
“No, no, no, it’s not done!” Marina got up and stared at the two of them. “Have you forgotten about the part where a Spiritual Gathering Formation large enough to cover a forge and a laboratory would cost a tremendous amount of money? It would cost more than both the facilities put together!”
“There’s nothing to worry about. I already have all the materials.”
“You what?” The merchant seemed to fall into a daze before she looked at her friend in surprise. “How long have you been planning this?”
“Long enough,” Lady Ilse said before looking at Red. “I was just waiting for the last piece to arrive.”
Red detected a subtle meaning behind her words, and it made his blood run cold for a moment.
“When can you start working?” she asked.
“Right now,” he said.
“Very good.” Lady Ilse got up and waved at him. “Come with me.”
“Wait!” Marina looked between them. “I still haven’t even drafted a contract or ordered any materials!”
“Well, then go and do your job!”
“Ugh!”
Marina rushed out of the door in a hurry, sending dozens of messages through her communication talismans.
