Proofread by Thomas F. 2nd June, 2025.
"It would have been nice if I had more than a day with this beauty," I sighed as I gently massaged the brown leather seat.
I got the delivery of my enchanted carriage yesterday, and it is perfect. It is not the best one, but it is excellent for me currently, especially with the Lv. 20 driver I had hired.
It is comfortable, and I could even make a long journey with it; if we are not attacked directly, the carriage will not suffer any problems.
"You can use it as much as you can after you return from Namdar," said Carla. "I will," I replied.
In the past few days, I have handled everything I could, and now everything is on Carla's shoulders.
I am confident she will be able to handle everything perfectly with the directions I have left behind.
"Use guards if any problem occurs, and if it is something you cannot handle, then send a message to Damon Hardt; he owes me a favor for this," I said.
To that, she nodded.
Since the girls came, I have increased the number of guards to twenty-five, but there was a minor incident two days ago when an inebriated construction worker sneaked inside the tents.
The guards had stopped him the moment the girl screamed, but I hated that something like this had happened, despite the precaution.
I hired ten more guards, and now the area around the tents is better protected. It still didn't stop me from worrying.
"Don't worry; everything will be fine," said Carla as she pressed her hand to mine and froze. She relaxed and kept it there because I did not pull away.
Soon, the carriage entered through the gates of the merchant guild and stopped.
"Take care, Carla," I said as I slowly pulled my hand from hers and was about to leave the carriage when I found her beautiful face in front of mine, and before I knew it, I felt her soft lips on mine.
It was for a brief moment, but I felt everything before she pulled away, leaving behind the most wonderful feeling on my lips.
"Return safely, Remus," she said, and all I could do was nod as I got out of the carriage while trying to process what had happened.
I wanted to go back to the carriage and would have, if not for it leaving.
The feeling felt addictive, and despite that, I want more of it.
Soon, I reached Damon Hardt's office and cleared my thoughts. I will think about it in my free time; now it is time for business.
"Mister Silver, the Guildmaster had asked me to let you in as soon as you have appeared," informed the secretary. A moment later, the door opened.
I walked inside and saw people, a lot of them. Damon Hardt was sitting in the chair, along with John Ramos, the vice Guildmaster, and four guild masters of various sub-guilds.
Aside from them, there is Mr. Oakley and the people from the legal department.
"Remus, have you made all the preparations?" asked Damon Hardt. "Yes, Guildmaster," I replied.
"Good. As I had told you before, Vice-Guildmaster Ramos will lead the delegation; there will be four heads of sub-guilds and seven people from the legal department, including you, who will be going there," he said, looking at the people.
"Rip Daniels will lead the legal team, and you will advise him on the matters," he added, looking at the tall raven-haired man in his early forties.
I nodded at Rip; I know the man, and he is quite good. If old man Oakley leaves the job, he will be the next person to get his position.
"Namdar is a hub in continental trade; it is important we form good relations with it," he said, his expression turning serious.
"We will try our best," said John Ramos.
We discussed the specifics for the next hour; I largely remained silent, speaking only when asked while observing everything.
This is why I have taken this post; the topics discussed here are confidential and important. This information will give me an edge and help me shape my business.
"Best of luck to all of you; I hope you will bring the good news when you return," he wished. We nodded with a smile and walked out of the office.
Soon, we stepped into the carriages, which began to ride toward the port.
"Things will be tough; the people from the Merchant Guild of Namdar will eat us up and not even spit out the bones," said Locke Hercule, the leader of the stationers' guild.
His words made everyone smile. We obviously knew they would have an edge, which is fine, given that it's a massive city with big bucks and powerful people.
They have their advantage, but we also have ours, and ours are bigger than theirs; we have direct trade with a merchant city-state of Meldhorn, and they did not.
They used to trade mainly with the coastal merchant states of Belnin and Nereim, but that stopped with the trade blockade.
So, we are the only ones with access to the merchant city-state.
They need us as much as we need more. More than we need them.
"It will be a success, even if we can only sign the lowest priority agreements," said John Santos.
We have a massive number of contracts to sign, and agreeing to them all within the limited time is a serious challenge.
However, as John Santos said, even securing a third of the priority agreements would be a major success for us.
Soon, the carriage passed through the gates and entered the port. We reached the pier, where our ship was waiting.
The ship is named Constance. It is neither big nor small. It is around a hundred feet long and has blue enchanted script painted across its hull and masts.
This ship is the city's property, given to the merchant guild for this trip.
The ship's crew used to be part of the imperial navy, and the city's guards provided security.
Still, learning a lesson from last time, I had brought my own guards; Damon Hardt declined at first, saying the city provided security for the trip, but I directly stated that I would not leave without my personal guards.
He finally accepted, but only a single guard.
Dan was already waiting by the ship, and as I walked out of the carriage, he followed me as I climbed the ship's ramp to the deck, where a man in his mid-sixties and a man in his early thirties stood side by side.
"Welcome to Constance, gentlemen; I am Angus Perry, the ship's captain," said the slightly plump man in his sixties, and turned toward the lean man in his early thirties.
"I am Captain Julian Pierce; I will be responsible for your security," said the man in the city's brown uniform with the captain's insignia on it.
He was quite handsome, with blue eyes and light brown hair. He wore a sword at his waist and a shield on his back.
"All your things have been sent to your cabins, and the staff will take you there," said the old man, and just as he said, the staff took us to our suites.
Click!
As I walked into the suite, I found it small, but it had all the amenities I needed, including the attached bathroom.
I will be here for nearly two days.
The ship will travel through the river route until we reach Inam, which will be by tomorrow early afternoon. After that, the ship will enter the sea, where it will take around a day to reach Namdar.
We will return to the Greltheaven within a week if everything goes well.
I had just sat down on the bed when I felt the ship moving, and it was moving as I looked out the window.
I lay comfortably on the bed watching the ship sail out of the port.
I looked at the small clock in my cabin, which showed exactly five. By eleven, we should be able to reach Deerpond, the capital and biggest city of the Renwell Region.
From there, it will be Riverbell and then Iman by the afternoon.
I watched till the city left the view before picking up the book; there will be a lot of work later, so I should read whenever I have time.
Soon, an hour passed, and I walked out of my cabin onto the deck, which was mostly empty except for sailors and security at their positions, including Captain Pierce.
He nodded at me, and I nodded back as we turned to watch the beautiful sunset; there was nothing except for the wasteland around us and the disappearing sun.
In a few minutes, the sun had disappeared entirely, and a beautiful moon appeared through the clouds, lighting the world in its silver light.
I looked at the peaceful wasteland and sighed; the Renwell region is really a wasteland.
Nothing grows here except for the sparse green patches, which is why it was not fiercely contested like the other places.
Even resources-wise, it is not great; there are no big metal deposits or precious ores, although it does have something.
Magic crystals are everywhere; they are the resources required for the power of every enchanted thing, but they are not exactly rare resources, especially lower-grade magical crystals.
They could be found in every corner of the world.
There are a few middle-grade crystal mines, but cities control them.
Processing them is also essential, like processing rare earth metals on Earth; processing them requires specialized tools and know-how.
It becomes harder as the grade increases, so most places only mine them and ship them elsewhere to process.
The merchant city-states and the Empire had a few cities that were famed for their crystal purification industry.
Inam is one of them.
The city of Inam was part of the Renwell Region three hundred years ago before the Empire conquered it. More than 50% of the crystals mined in the Renwell region are now processed there.
I heard that Lord Darrow has signed a contract with Owlspring to send the middle-grade crystal there for processing; the city is also opening a crystal processing facility in Greltheaven.
Though it will only process the low-level crystals, which is, I think, excellent news.
The city should have the capability to process the only thing it has in abundance.
I stayed on the deck silently for an hour before returning to my cabin and, this time, picking up the contracts.
I have already studied them, found the loopholes, and corrected the language, but I decided to study them further. The negotiations will be tough, involving powerful individuals and challenging skills.
The better prepared I am, the easier the negotiations will be.