Published: March 12, 2025
Chapter 218 - Waiting
After gathering everyone, Zhao Hai sent them away, leaving only Laura, Galen, Kun Zheng, Ni'er, and Meg to accompany him.
They were waiting—not for anything else, but for Carlo and his group to arrive. Weren’t there already several mercenary groups coming to Casa City? They intended to finish dealing with these people before leaving.
This time, they were forced to leave Casa City and the Versailles Principality, and they all felt a surge of pent-up frustration. If they didn’t vent this frustration, it would be unbearable.
Zhao Hai and the others knew that the mercenaries would arrive in Casa City within the next few days, and they would likely have to take action then. During these days, they had completely settled down, closing the doors to Xin Manor. Not a single person went out or came in, contrasting sharply with the bustling activity of the previous days—it felt like they were in two different worlds.
The forces in Casa City found this strange, but due to the previous incident where Laura had sent someone, they weren’t too surprised. They simply assumed Laura and her group had secretly left, and they didn’t care where the supplies brought into Xin Manor had gone. Every major merchant like Laura would have their secret passages, and there were many such passages. They could easily transport goods through these secret routes.
Major merchant firms have their own ways of survival. The headquarters of the continent's first mid-sized marketplace merchant firms almost all have secret passages leading outside the city. This is almost an open secret, but no one knows how deep these passages go or where they lead.
It can be said that these secret passages are the last lifeline of these major merchants and their most closely guarded secrets. Except for the core members of the family, no one knows where those passages are. Therefore, regarding the whereabouts of those supplies, no one in those major merchant groups cared at all.
On the contrary, Laura's actions made those major merchant firms think of something else. They knew that these secret passages are the lifelines of every family and should not be disturbed unless facing life-and-death situations. Now that Laura had moved this secret passage, it indicated that they were at a critical juncture, which left those major families, unaware of Boric's involvement, utterly confused.
These major families thought Laura did this because the Versailles Family no longer supported her. They believed Laura couldn't contend against the Magedel Family, so she was preparing to abandon everything and flee.
However, those major merchants did not move against Laura. In their view, while the Versailles Family might not help Laura deal with the Magedel Family, Laura was not someone to be trifled with. A few days ago, when Zhao Hai entered Xin Manor and didn’t come out, everyone noticed that Zhao Hai’s strength was formidable, which was a well-known fact. They didn’t want to provoke a powerful dark mage.
Meanwhile, business at Laura’s shop continued as usual, and no one attempted to steal her business. This was largely because Laura had publicly announced that she had transferred the Blood Lotus Shop to the Versailles Family, making it their property from then on.
This news was taken seriously by those major merchants. The Blood Lotus Shop now controlled around forty percent of the daily necessities market in the Versailles Principality, which was exceedingly high. In the past, under Laura's management, the shop only cooperated with the Versailles Principality and didn’t face excessive suppression. But that had changed; now the shops were in the hands of the Versailles Family, meaning the state controlled the bulk of the daily necessities market. It would be impossible for them to stir up trouble in that market in the future.
Knowing that Laura was about to leave, they lost interest in her and instead focused on the Blood Lotus Shop. With the Blood Lotus Shop under the Versailles Family, it was truly hard to predict how the daily necessities market in the Versailles Principality would change.