Chapter 53 |
Although he was inwardly grumbling a little about this paladin, Mills still patiently explained to O’Brien:
“Lord Ryan, if this kind of problem were easy to solve, it would have been solved long ago. Just as this……”
“Uh……my lord, how should I address you?”
Mills was a little embarrassed. He had actually forgotten to ask this one’s form of address earlier. It was truly too discourteous.
“Alvaro.”
Alvaro answered calmly.
Mills hurriedly gave a salute. “Lord Alvaro also said earlier, ‘Building a beautiful world was never the undertaking of a single person.’ Carrying out effective plans is also not something I alone can decide.”
“If we really want to carry out reforms in Coral Thorn City, I can take the lead in inviting the heads of the major forces to discuss it together, but there must be someone important enough to come forward and organize it. As long as either one of you is willing to attend, I will immediately send invitation letters to the major forces!”
Mills spoke with imposing flair. After receiving letters from those few, his authority was no longer what it had once been.
He had just been worrying that he had no chance to show off in front of those bastards!
If both of these two were willing to come forward, Mills’s already red-hot status would probably rise another level!
“I will not come forward. That does not comply with the orders Lord Kyle gave me.”
Alvaro refused directly.
Naturally, O’Brien would not come forward either. He had now also reacted to the fact that he seemed to have overstepped a little.
“My apologies. I may have gotten too emotional. In this matter, I did not think things through carefully enough.”
He frankly admitted his mistake.
A paladin’s identity was far too sensitive. Once he openly intervened in this kind of internal reform, it would very easily trigger unpredictable chain reactions and political interpretations.
If he wanted to push reform, then he had to do it under another identity, for example, the Forgemaster identity he was now preparing to use to join the Artisans’ Association.
Sure enough, had everything been within that bastard vampire’s calculations all along?
This raised his wariness toward Kyle by another level.
If he had not more or less reached a cooperation agreement with this fellow, he would definitely have reported everything related to Kyle to the Temple. This vampire was far too threatening.
Far away, Kyle, sleeping in the ancestral land of the Aiven family, had the stiff fingers of his hand twitch unconsciously before sinking into silence once more······
After a moment of silence, O’Brien still asked:
“Then before Kyle returns, will the blood bank keep suspending purchases the whole time?”
“Unclear. I will report this matter to the acting elder, and at that time everything will be decided by the acting elder.”
Alvaro answered calmly.
“Acting elder?”
Both O’Brien and Mills immediately became alert.
“Yes. However, this lord will only appear when the October auction begins.”
O’Brien let out another long breath. It seemed everything still had to wait until October.
“I understand. Then when the time comes, I’ll trouble you to pass on that, if possible, I would like to meet this acting elder.”
He also wanted to gain a deeper understanding of Kyle’s family. Since he had already decided to cooperate, he naturally wanted to grasp as much information as possible.
“No. Lord Kyle’s cooperation with you is confidential.” Alvaro refused without the slightest hesitation.
O’Brien frowned, but then relaxed again.
“All right then, let’s leave it at that for now.”
He did not dwell on it too much either. After all, if it were him, he would not tell others about his cooperation with a vampire either.
With the matter discussed, O’Brien no longer stayed, and rose to take his leave.
However, the reception room did not become quiet because of his departure.
Mills and Alvaro, with perfect tacit understanding, began once again a hearty brainstorming session far beyond O’Brien’s imagination!
The more the two talked, the more congenial they became. They went from the current fiscal and tax structure of Coral Thorn City to the influence of supply and demand on the market.
From urban planning and design to the utilization of public space.
From political systems to the formulation of legal statutes.
Then further on to the integration of multicultural communities, the influence of different faiths on commercial activity, and even the optimization of cross-racial skill exchanges and border trade agreements, and so on.
From morning until the sun slanted westward, the sound of discussion in the reception room never stopped. Only when the rosy glow, carrying the sea breeze, blew onto Mills and made his stomach let out a protesting growl did the two finally stop, still not fully satisfied.
“I never expected Your Excellency Alvaro to be so proficient in worldly affairs as well!” Mills rubbed his flattened, hungry belly and praised him sincerely.
“These are all part of the knowledge reserves Lord Kyle left me. To have the opportunity to understand, discuss, and verify them in depth, I am also very pleased.”
Alvaro gave a slight nod. The metallic faceplate reflected the afterglow of the setting sun, and even the coldness of metal seemed to have dispersed.
“I have benefited greatly from speaking with you. I wonder whether there will be opportunities in the future for me to continue seeking your guidance?”
Mills looked at Alvaro with both expectation and apprehension.
Alvaro pondered for a moment. Then he raised his hand, and the metal in his palm gathered like rippling water. A thin, round metal disc appeared in his hand, then silently slid onto the tabletop in front of Mills.
“This piece of metal can let me know that you are looking for me, but I do not guarantee that I will definitely appear.”
Mills solemnly accepted the metal disc and carefully put it away.
“Thank you for your trust, Your Excellency Alvaro. I will use it prudently.”
Methods of communication in this world were extremely precious. Aside from technical reasons, there was also the most important point: preventing others from locking onto someone through supernatural means such as prophecy or curses.
This was also the reason Kyle had never given Mills any contact method. This fat man truly had no ability to keep such a thing from falling into the hands of interested parties.
Moreover, if Mills really had something to find him about, he could generally sense it directly, so there had been even less need to give him one.
What Alvaro had given was also only a portion of metal he had refined. As a metal lifeform, he had refined countless pieces of metal in his life. If someone wanted to locate him through this piece of metal, it would be more or less like finding a needle in the sea.
Besides, he was not without precautions. A self-destruction safeguard had been left on the metal disc. Once the disc fell into someone else’s hands, then that person could only pray for their own fortune.
Alvaro said nothing more. His figure slowly disappeared, leaving only Mills quietly staring blankly at the metal disc in his palm.
***
It was only after the sun had set that O’Brien returned to the blacksmith shop.
That day, he had properly walked through every corner of Coral Thorn City, observing, listening, and thinking. He needed to reassess himself.
He discovered that when facing Alvaro and Mills, he had unconsciously placed his own position too high.
That went against his own paladin beliefs.
He had overemphasized moral stance while neglecting real-world difficulties. That already counted as a kind of obsession. If he could not regulate himself properly, he might very well head toward extremity.
He had seen too many people with power who, after falling into some kind of obsession, indulged their own will at all costs, believing that everything they did was right, that they alone were the ones who saw through everything, and that only they could change this world.
Only in the end did they discover that it had merely been their own wishful thinking.
It seemed he still had much knowledge he needed to learn. Today, because his mind had been unsettled, he had not carefully understood the conversation between Mills and the other two before rashly interrupting. That had truly been unwise.
He decided to properly forge an apologetic gift for Mills, as an apology for today’s offense.