Published: March 11, 2025
CHAPTER 73: Outside Casa City
The reason Galen chose this small mountain was twofold. First, it was cheap—only one hundred gold coins could buy both the manor and the mountain. Second, it was very close to Casa City; even with a regular cart, it would take only two days to reach the city. A round trip would take just four days, making it entirely feasible to transport vegetables like carrots. Third, the location was quite remote, unlikely to attract attention. Even if someone noticed, it would be difficult to monitor them because the mountain they were on was even worse than Iron Mountain, where the castle was located. Apart from some rocks, there was nothing else on the mountain, and standing atop the manor allowed one to see the entire mountain clearly—there was simply nowhere to hide.
Almost every mountain near Casa City had a manor. These manors were either holiday resorts for the nobles or sources of income for the estates. Transactions involving such manors were quite common, and nobody paid them much attention.
After buying the manor, Galen immediately headed to Casa City. He wanted to gather information on the situation in the city and learn how the Versailles Family felt about the sudden appearance of Zhao Hai, the dark mage.
Most importantly, he wanted to find a base for Zhao Hai and the others in the city. They were running low on money, with less than fifty gold coins left. If they wanted to sell the carrots, they needed to wait for Laura and the others to return first.
Although fifty gold coins might seem like a lot to a commoner, it was too little for them. In a big city like Casa, the cost of living was high, and fifty gold coins would not last long.
Zhao Hai and his group were still slowly making their way, taking ten days to complete a journey that should have taken only seven. On the tenth day, they finally arrived at Casa City.
Zhao Hai did not enter Casa City directly. Instead, they stayed outside the city for the night, as it had already turned dark when they reached it.
Others assumed Zhao Hai and his group chose not to enter the city because of the darkness, but in reality, they were waiting for Galen. Galen was their scout, and once he arrived, they would know how things were arranged in Casa City.
In the middle of the night, Galen crept over to Zhao Hai's side. With a flash, he entered the spatial rift, unnoticed by outsiders, because the spatial realm was not part of the magical domain and had no magical fluctuations when used. As a result, those monitoring Zhao Hai and his group failed to notice.
Zhao Hai and the others were waiting in the spatial realm. Upon seeing Galen enter, they quickly approached him and asked, "Grandpa Galen, how did it go?"
Galen smiled and replied, "Young master, don't worry. Everything has been arranged. I bought a small manor outside the city where we can stay. Once Laura returns, we can trade with her."
Zhao Hai breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "That's good. Let's settle in at the manor first. I still want to check out Casa City in the next couple of days."
Galen nodded, "You should indeed see Casa City. I noticed that the Versailles Family seems to be taking us seriously, and more people have been appearing in Casa City, seemingly focused on us. We should show our faces."
Galen's words sounded contradictory, but Merlin and the others understood his meaning. They were not afraid of anyone investigating Zhao Hai's identity because it was a nonexistent identity—an unexpected dark mage. Let them investigate; they were not worried. What they feared was those who might discover their identity as members of the Budah family. Therefore, Galen wanted Zhao Hai to appear more before those people to draw their attention.
Zhao Hai nodded, "That's fine. I'm curious how they will treat me. However, I am still worried about that person behind Zhao Zui. They've been in the spatial realm for over ten days without contacting their organization. Do you think that organization might suspect us?"