Chapter 176: Reward

At 10:30 the next morning, Lu Mian met Baron Brignais on the second floor of the Breeze Dance Hall.

Lu Mian was dressed very simply today: a linen shirt with a black vest and brown trousers, his sleeves rolled high above his elbows, and a wide-brimmed round hat on his head.

This made him look both casual and rude.

Baron Brignais scrutinized him for a few seconds without saying much, just giving a warning:

"After meeting the boss, try not to speak when you don't need to."

"Okay," Lu Mian raised his hand and pressed the wide-brimmed round hat on his head.

Baron Brignais didn't bring Louis and the others this time, led Lu Mian down to the first floor, and got into a four-seater carriage that had been parked at the entrance.

In less than 15 minutes, the carriage turned into the Memorial Hall District and stopped on a quite quiet street.

The terrain here was higher than the surroundings, and the houses were all detached villas, mainly in colors like off-white, beige, and grayish-blue, with lawns in front, gardens in the back, and iron fences with spikes on top.

Lu Mian glanced at the street sign and found that this place was called "Spring Street."

Baron Brignais took Lu Mian to 11 Spring Street and pulled the rope hanging next to the iron fence gate.

Not long after, a male servant with obvious South Continent blood walked over and opened the iron gate.

"Mr. Martin is waiting for you in the study," this dark-brown-skinned male servant said somewhat arrogantly.

Without giving Baron Brignais and Lu Mian a chance to respond, he turned his body and stepped onto the concrete road between two green lawns that could accommodate three carriages side by side.

Crossing the lawn, Lu Mian and Baron Brignais arrived at the three-story villa that was grayish-white.

The front door of the villa was already open, and a man wearing a black formal suit, a dark bow tie, and dressed as a butler was waiting there.

Baron Brignais quickened his pace and said with a smile:

"Good morning, Mr. Martin."

"Good morning, Brignais," the butler, who was over fifty, responded with a smile.

"This is Mr. Martin's butler, Mr. Faustino," Baron Brignais introduced to Lu Mian.

Lu Mian greeted him like a normal person and didn't make any outrageous moves.

Faustino nodded without saying much, leading the two through the hall, which was hung with gorgeous crystal chandeliers and could serve as a dance floor, and into a room full of bookshelves.

Along the way, Lu Mian had been observing the environment, finding that besides various oil paintings, the walls were hung with weapons like single-handed swords, two-handed greatswords, hammers, long spears, and short bows, while the half-high wooden platforms that should have held vases and sculptures were occupied by silver-white full-body armor, stirrups, breastplates, and other items.

A fanatical lover of cold weapons? Lu Mian withdrew his gaze and followed into the study.

Behind the desk, by the floor-to-ceiling window, stood a man nearly 1.8 meters tall.

His hair was black, the most common color in Intis, with a few silver threads at his temples. His external age was in his early forties, his features were deep, and his eyes were a bit redder than normal brown.

This man had flesh on his cheeks, but his contours were distinct, and there were no obvious wrinkles on his face. His temperament was relatively friendly, like the kind of merchant who would reveal a smile before opening his mouth to speak.

At this time, he was wearing a white shirt and a black formal suit, without a bow tie or necktie.

"Good morning, Mr. Martin," Baron Brignais's expression became quite respectful.

After Lu Mian also greeted him, Gardner Martin smiled and sighed:

"So young?

"I can increasingly appreciate that sentence said by Roselle the Great: Heroes often have different performances from others in their youth.

"Should I call you Lu Mian, or Xia Er?"

"Xia Er, I suppose," Lu Mian replied, seemingly submissively.

Gardner Martin walked back to the middle of the study from the floor-to-ceiling window, praising with a friendly attitude:

"In just one week, you killed two Sequence 8 Beyonders and seriously injured a Sequence 9. I couldn't do such things at your age.

"What sequence are you?"

"Sequence 8, 'Provoker'," Lu Mian replied frankly.

Gardner Martin was very satisfied with his honesty and nodded:

"My words just now were not perfect enough. I couldn't complete the things you did when I was Sequence 8 either.

"Very good, our Savages need excellent young people like you."

Without waiting for Lu Mian to respond, he turned to ask:

"Did you find anything special on 'Hammer' Ait?"

This person knows the "Law of Conservation of Beyonder Characteristics"? It seems that even if he doesn't know about conservation, he is certain that human Beyonders, like supernatural creatures, will precipitate Beyonder characteristics after death, or leave behind some parts or materials that can be used to concoct potions... Lu Mian thought for a moment and didn't hide it, taking out the ball the size of a fist, golden-red like morning clouds and evening glow, from his trouser pocket:

"I found this."

Gardner Martin revealed a look of approval:

"Very good. Sell it to me. It's of no use to you. How about 18,000 Felkin?"

That's a premium of quite a bit over the 15,000 Felkin in Mr. K's gathering... Lu Mian pretended not to know that this was a Beyonder characteristic and didn't know the specific price:

"Is it worth 18,000 Felkin?"

Baron Brignais beside him obviously couldn't understand what that strangely shaped ball was, making the boss willing to buy it for 18,000 Felkin.

Things on "Hammer" Ait? Materials he used for promotion? Or, Beyonders are also like supernatural creatures? Baron Brignais instantly had many guesses.

He suddenly regretted promising to give all the items on "Hammer" Ait to Xia Er last night in order to maintain his dignity.

"Haha," Gardner Martin laughed heroically, "It is indeed very precious, but I'm giving you some premium. This is the reward you deserve."

He then turned his head and said to the butler Faustino:

"Go get 18,000 in cash. Don't pick denominations that are too large."

Lu Mian didn't mind selling the "Fighter" Beyonder characteristic to Martin. He had originally planned to sell it at Mr. K's gathering.

He hoped to raise money to buy a magical item with bearable negative effects to make up for his lack of occult means or insufficient disguise.

Taking the "Fighter" Beyonder characteristic handed over by Xia Er and playing with it for a few seconds, Gardner Martin said to Baron Brignais:

"Although Xia Er is young, he has already made enough contributions to our Savages and has outstanding strength. It's time for him to take on more important responsibilities.

"Hmm... You manage the lending business and the other shops on Market Avenue, which is already hard enough. Let Xia Er help you manage the Breeze Dance Hall, leave him some people, and let him not rely only on himself."

Baron Brignais's facial muscles moved slightly, holding back the dissatisfaction and loss in his heart:

"Okay, Mr. Martin."

The Breeze Dance Hall was a hen that laid golden eggs. He didn't want to let it go at all.

If it hadn't been for Mr. Martin's direct order, he would have chosen to throw other businesses on Market Avenue to Xia Er and suggested transferring some thugs from "Giant" Simon and "Bloody Palm" Black to the other party.

Lu Mian perceived that Baron Brignais had some emotions, thinking that the relationship between himself and him had developed a crack and couldn't be used to pit him as naturally as before.

There might be friction and conflict in the future!

Gardner Martin said to Lu Mian again:

"Manage the Breeze Dance Hall well. If you do well, I will give you more important businesses."

"Thank you, Mr. Martin," Lu Mian lowered his head, pretending to respond happily.

On the way back to the Honest Market District, Baron Brignais seemed to have returned to normal, chatting with Lu Mian about some Savages matters from time to time—polite, courteous, and refined.

Lu Mian cared more about the small cloth bag filled with 18,000 Felkin.

That could buy a small apartment in the Observatory District!

And if it were in the Darlie region, it would almost equal a villa in a location that wasn't too bad.

Entering the Breeze Dance Hall, Louis and the others greeted him.

Before they could speak, Baron Brignais had already puffed on his peach-wood pipe and said:

"Louis, Sakota, from today on, you follow Xia Er. The Breeze Dance Hall is now managed by him."

Louis, whose forehead bruises had mostly faded, and Sakota, whose hair was naturally curly and brownish-red, both revealed expressions of astonishment and confusion.

They knew Xia Er would be rewarded this time, but they hadn't thought he could take over the Breeze Dance Hall, and even assigned them to him.

He was a Savage leader in the true sense!

Baron Brignais didn't care about the reaction of his subordinates and smiled at Lu Mian:

"Leave me an office on the second floor. The lending business needs it."

"Okay," Lu Mian didn't care.

After finishing the handover simply, Baron Brignais took two thugs to handle some troubles in the lending business, while Lu Mian went up to the second floor, intending to ask about the specific business situation of the Breeze Dance Hall.

Louis leaned to his side and whispered:

"Xia Er, no, Boss, 'Red Boots' is in your office.

"I don't know if she's here to find you or the Baron. Do you want to go see her?"

"Red Boots" Franca? Lu Mian nodded gently:

"Where is my office?"

Louis hurriedly led the new boss, passed through the cafe, entered the second-floor corridor, and arrived at a room near the bottom.

"It's here," he pointed to the dark red wooden door.

Lu Mian nodded, turned the handle, and pushed open the door.

The first thing that caught his eyes was a pair of bright red boots, which were resting on the brown wooden desk.

Following these boots upward were off-white riding breeches, and further up were a white women's shirt embroidered with a large number of flowers and branches on the cuffs and collar, and a black-bottomed white-checked fine woolen jacket.

Above them were a smooth and slender neck, red and thin lips, a straight and delicate nose, brown eyebrows flying into the temples on both sides, bright and smiling lake-blue eyes, and long flaxen hair simply tied into a high ponytail.

"Red Boots" Franca was sitting in the rotatable backrest chair that originally belonged to Baron Brignais, resting her feet on the edge of the desk, as if this were her territory.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 177 =====