Chapter 370: Fair Trade (22)

Two hours later, Luosen, Tiralilin, Baron Eliot and his guards rode horses together, leaving Thorn Manor and heading for a larger manor closer to Lyon Town.

Naturally, this manor was also Baron Eliot's property.

At this moment, Baron Eliot's attitude toward Luosen was quite complex.

He both feared and admired him.

He feared Luosen's displayed tyrannical power, and admired the various wondrous abilities Luosen exhibited.

Especially the spell just cast on him, which actually gave him a wonderful feeling of returning to youth.

Mortals must eventually die, but mortals also all fear death.

Usually, the higher one's position and the more they enjoy wealth and glory, the more they fear death.

Therefore, Luosen only needed a minor second-circle Divine Spear spell to make Baron Eliot completely submit.

Along the way, he was somewhat fawning and also spoke cautiously:

"Mr. Luosen, my wife was very beautiful when she was young, but in recent years she has become increasingly ugly and bloated."

"If that were all, it would be fine, but she increasingly enjoys seeking pleasure, which always causes me great pain."

"I don't know if you can help her regain her beauty?"

Luosen smiled: "That's not difficult, but I'm curious."

"With your status, keeping a few young, beautiful mistresses would be easy—why cling to your wife?"

Baron Eliot gave a bitter smile.

"Mr. Luosen, for an ordinary baron, this is indeed a good method."

"But my wife is of noble birth, the second daughter of Count LaBrek, she bore me three sons and two daughters, and is extremely jealous. Not to mention concubines, even a female servant in the household is not allowed to catch my eye."

Luosen immediately understood: every family has its difficulties, and the baron's life is not all smooth sailing.

Thanks to the baron's earlier introduction, he now knows that this demiplane is not large, roughly equivalent to a circle with a diameter of over 2000 kilometers.

Within it, there is only one continent, spanning only over 1300 kilometers in diameter.

On this continent, there are three powerful kingdoms: the Kingdom of Arrogant Frost, the Kingdom of Kolon, and the Kingdom of Lind.

The political systems of the three kingdoms are basically the same.

A count is the lord of a commandery, and since a kingdom averages only twenty-plus counts, a count is equivalent to a kingdom's regional governor, of extremely high status, second only to a duke and the king within the kingdom.

In contrast, a baron is merely a town mayor; to secure his position, he naturally dares not offend the count's daughter.

Thus, Luosen shrugged: "Baron, when we reach Tulip Manor, bring your wife to see me, and I will make her as beautiful as a celestial maiden."

As he said this, Luosen secretly lamented: "Who would have thought I'd end up doing cosmetic work again?"

Baron Eliot was very pleased and earnestly said: "Mr. Luosen, are you planning to preach during your visit to the mortal realm?"

He immediately added: "I can guarantee that, with your power, your church will spread like wildfire in the mortal realm; even the Eternal Blazing Sun Church cannot suppress your radiant light."

Luosen smiled noncommittally: "I recall you just said that the underground ruler of this region is the Sage of Order Tuoluosi?"

Baron Eliot nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, that's Tuoluosi. But that guy is just a diviner, without any other notable abilities, far inferior to you, sir."

Luosen smiled ambiguously: "I haven't yet decided exactly what to do."

"However, I enjoy helping people relieve their worries and solve problems; regardless of status, if someone comes to me with a difficulty and offers sufficient compensation, I will certainly help."

"My rule is also simple: fair trade."

"I will demand some compensation from each person seeking help. Each person's compensation differs, depending on my mood, but I will never exceed what the seeker can bear."

"For example, Baron, what I need from you is your service."

Baron Eliot nodded repeatedly, feeling ever more awe toward Luosen, sensing that this transcendent being was unfathomable, shrouded in a mysterious aura that defied description.

Luosen then added: "Baron, you are a wise person; I am willing to engage in more trades with you."

Baron Eliot felt delighted: "Mr. Luosen, I am also very willing to trade with you."

Luosen then said: "Then let us establish a contract."

He spoke these words using Spiritual Whisper.

"The contract's content is: for each trader you find for me, I will strengthen your body once, making you stronger, and your natural lifespan will increase by one year accordingly."

"Note, this contract's content is known only to you and me; as long as you keep it secret, the secret will absolutely not leak to a third party."

"I can also guarantee that the lifespan increase has no upper limit; if you find 100 people, you can live an extra 100 years; if you can find 1000, I will let you live an extra 1000 years."

Baron Eliot's heart pounded upon hearing this.

He turned to observe his subordinates, and indeed found them showing no unusual movement, indicating they had not heard the contract's content.

He nodded repeatedly, indicating his agreement to the trade.

Thereafter, Luosen said nothing more.

Baron Eliot wanted to chat more with Luosen, but was suppressed by an invisible aura; several times he tried to speak, yet ultimately could not utter a sound.

Also, because Luosen and Tiralilin had disguised themselves as ordinary people, they attracted no extra attention along the way; the party arrived at Tulip Manor without incident.

The manor was built on a hillside, its land area and building quality far surpassing those of Thorn Manor.

Standing at the window of the top-floor room of the manor's main building and looking north, the situation of Lyon Town lay fully before one's eyes.

One could see that the main district of Lyon Town is elliptical, spanning 3 kilometers north-south and only 2 kilometers east-west.

From the number of buildings, the town's resident population is estimated to be just over five thousand; as a productive, medieval-like closed world, this town size is already quite good.

The suburbs around the town are dotted with many villages, which should all be the baron's territory.

Considering the low productivity level, the number of farmers must be at least ten times that of non-farmers to support the latter.

Therefore, the baron's entire jurisdiction is estimated to be fifty to sixty thousand people.

"The town is not bad, Baron," Luosen remarked indifferently.

Baron Eliot always had the illusion of being inspected by the king, even though clearly only one person had come.

At that moment, being praised by the other party, he suddenly felt a flattered surprise, and exclaimed repeatedly: "Mr. Luosen, thank you very much for your praise."

After saying that, he didn't know what to say.

Luosen also disliked him standing beside him, getting in the way, and said: "Baron, go fulfill our first contract, bring your wife over."

After saying that, he raised his hand and patted the Baron's shoulder, fixing a new natural force onto him.

The Baron felt a warm current surge into his body, his whole body feeling extremely comfortable, almost unable to hold back a moan.

This also instantly filled him with vigor: "Mr. Luosen, I'll bring my wife over right away."

He went "deng deng deng" out of the room, in a blink reached the courtyard, mounted his horse, and with his guards galloped north toward Lyon Town.

His performance showed he was a vigorous young man.

Not long after the Baron left, the door behind him was pushed open, and Tiralilin, wearing a brand-new black leather armor, walked in.

Luosen watched the Baron go off, without turning his head, and said: "Dear, where do you think Auleites is hiding?"

Their next goal was clear: to find the hiding place of Emperor Safinonos.

To achieve that, they needed various kinds of intelligence support. This is also why he made a deal contract with the Baron.

Tiralilin walked up to Luosen's side and whispered: "I originally guessed it should be near the Central Temple of the Eternal Flame."

"But since the Abyss has already invaded here, everyone surely thinks that. If he hid again in the Great Temple, it would be very dangerous."

"So, for safety's sake, he should hide somewhere no one would think of."

Luosen nodded in agreement: "That's what you said."

"The good news is, not only do we want to find Auleites, the Abyss invaders certainly want to as well, just like Cicero, who arrived before us."

Having said that, he turned his head to look at Tiralilin and said: "These people definitely have far more intelligence than we do. Soon, they should come to us on their own."

As his fame keeps growing, it will surely alert the Abyss invaders.

Tiralilin whispered a reminder: "The Eternal Blazing Sun Church will also come knocking."

Luosen smiled and said: "That's even better; ideally, high-ranking Plane Guardians would come to us. Then we could get more information about Ostlere from them, or more information about plane dimensions."

Tiratellin however had some worries: "Dear, can you guarantee victory?"

Luosen smiled and nodded: "Of course."

While speaking, his gaze shifted again to the manor's large courtyard.

Precisely, it was a somewhat attractive cleaning maid in the courtyard.

"I bet this maid is a follower of the Order Sage Taros, and she's about to send word to Taros right now."

Tiralilin looked at that servant.

She was a maid in her early thirties, looking around furtively; after confirming no one was paying attention, she headed toward the manor's rear side gate.

Soon she found the manor's steward and left the manor by sacrificing her charm.

"This maid is indeed suspicious, but how can we be sure she's Taros's person?"

Luosen thought for a moment: "Well, actually I'm not sure; it's purely a guess."

"Let's wait and see."

Saying that, he turned and walked toward the door; after a few steps his figure gradually faded, finally vanishing into the air—yet it was the second-ring Invisibility Spell.

"I'll set up a batch of detection spells around the manor to prevent being ambushed."

More precisely, it's a detection seal linked with Laifu.

Back then he used this trick to successfully bring Selena out of Dawn City.

Unexpectedly, after becoming a 12th-ring powerhouse, he still had to rely on this trick to guarantee his safety.

"Indeed, a truly good spell never goes out of style."

(End of chapter)