Chapter 177 - Going Around in Circles

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Zhao Hai looked at Laura and nodded. "Miss Laura, please be relieved. As long as they don't do anything excessive, I won't be unkind to them. You should know that I'm not the type of person that likes to stir up trouble."

Laura didn't relax even after hearing Zhao Hai's words. It wasn't that she didn't trust Zhao Hai, but rather, it was her own clan that she had no confidence in.

She knew that her uncles, as well as her grandfather, would do anything to get what they wanted. If they couldn't get it, then they'd rather destroy it. Everything was based off their personal interests and, in their eyes, everything was a commodity.

Laura also knew that Zhao Hai was a person who didn't like to suffer at the hands of others. Since she'd seen what he had done to Garan, she knew that if someone really dared to go against him, then he wouldn't be polite. Towards her Fifth Uncle, it was impossible for Zhao Hai to hand over his products, so she couldn't easily believe in what he had said.

Zhao Hai just looked at Laura. He himself wasn't too concerned about this situation. So long as it wasn't a Rank Nine deity that came, then he wouldn't be afraid of anything. He turned to Green and said, "Give the gift that I prepared to Miss Laura."

Green immediately complied and turned around. Laura couldn't help but smile and said, "Mister has a gift prepared for me? I'm embarrassed that Mister will be giving me a gift when I haven't brought one. How can it be good to receive Mister's gift?"

Zhao Hai smiled. "In fact, this gift will also benefit me. Miss Laura, I have come here to Casa City, but don't know much about its situation. With my identity, I wouldn't be able to stay long inside Casa City since I fear that I'm not that popular. Because of that, I wanted to ask for one thing of Miss Laura."

Laura quickly replied, "Mister is too polite. Please, don't hesitate to command me."

Zhao Hai smiled and said, "I don't dare order you, but there really is one thing that I will request of Miss Laura. The Young Lady knows that I am a businessman, and a businessman squatting on a mountain everyday won't always be good. With regards to any situations in Casa City, I won't have any idea of them and also won't know anything. This time, I am requesting Miss Laura to help me by informing me the situation in Casa City."

Laura felt relieved after hearing Zhao Hai. She thought that it would be some other matter. Anyway, such a request was too simple for her as she had her own intelligence network. For her, naturally, intelligence gathering was easy. Now that there was an ally like Zhao Hai, intelligence sharing between them was normal. Laura was glad to see such a situation as she felt that Zhao Hai trusted her enough, and that their relationship even closer.

These thoughts made Laura smile. "That is no problem at all, so Mister shouldn't be too polite. Mister, please rest assured that every seven days, I will send news regarding the situation in the city."

Just then, Green came back from the outside. Following behind him were five handsome eagles. These eagles had a height of over a meter1. They came in from the outside in a bold and imposing manner.

Zhao Hai smiled to Laura and said, "Then I thank Miss Laura. And also, these few Eagle Virtuous Phantasms are my gift to you. These were the Virtuous Phantasm colored eggs that you had given me, so gifting this to you would just be returning something back to its rightful owner."

Laura was surprised for a moment as she knew that hatching a Virtuous Phantasm colored egg wouldn't be easy. Hatching it required the use of proper temperature. Furthermore, it was also important to note that a person would need to continuously provide magic or battle qi to the eggs. Finally, after hatching, they must be given a drop of blood in order for them to recognize their master, otherwise these Virtuous Phantasms wouldn't listen to anyone.

Right now, Zhao Hai was giving her all five eagles? Even getting one would be enough; taking more would be too much.

Zhao Hai looked at Laura and understood what she was thinking. During the past few days, however, Green had told him about the matters concerning these Eagle Virtuous Phantasms, so he explained, "Miss Laura, please be assured that although they do look like normal Eagle Virtuous Phantasms, they are different. Firstly, they do not rely on their masters to provide magic for their growth. Secondly, they aren't hard to feed, so you can just let them eat what normal eagles eat. Lastly, they don't have a master yet. After leaving one of them to be a messenger, you can keep the others for yourself." He then turned around, looked at the eagles, and said, "Later on, she will be your master. You all must abide and listen to her."

These Virtuous Phantasms weren't stupid. After the improvements done by the Space, Zhao Hai found out that they could understand him, and that they were smarter than the average seven or eight-year-old child.

Laura looked at Zhao Hai. She had already seen Virtuous Phantasms before, and her impression of Virtuous Phantasms was that they couldn't grow further. However, these few Eagle Virtuous Phantasms near Zhao Hai were unexpectedly quite vigorous and handsome and had almost caught up in size to a normal magic beast. Furthermore, Zhao Hai could speak to these Eagle Virtuous Phantasms? This, can you really do this?

However, Laura was more surprised by what she saw happened afterward. These Eagle Virtuous Phantasms really did seem to understood Zhao Hai, because after he directed them, they slowly walked towards Laura and acted as though they were guarding Laura and Nier as they stood there.

Zhao Hai smiled at Laura. "Miss Laura, please rest assured that from here on, you will be their master."

Laura recovered and, with shining eyes, looked at the eagles. These eagles really did look better than wind falcons2 and were even unusually superior. Furthermore, they were Virtuous Phantasms, thus they were a lot more useful3.

Zhao Hai politely asked for Laura to stay for a meal, which she gladly accepted.

* * * * *

When Laura left Stony Mountain, the eagles immediately flew up and kept pace over Laura's carriage along the way.

Laura stood outside the carriage and looked at the eagles. She couldn't help but be amused by the sight. However, she'd also thought of something else, thus she turned to Nier and asked, "Nier, have you heard of such obedient, good looking Virtuous Phantasms before?"

Nier was an animal enthusiast, and liked to keep and read books about animals. With regards to this matter, she really had the right to speak up.

Nier shook her head and said, "No, Young Lady. I have read many books about Virtuous Phantasms, but they aren't generally large. Furthermore, they aren't that obedient. These Virtuous Phantasms of Mister's really look more like magic beasts than Virtuous Phantasms. Thus, I don't know if they are truly Virtuous Phantasms."

Laura nodded. "This is very strange. If it is really as what Mister said, then these are the Virtuous Phantasms that came from those Virtuous Phantasm colored eggs I had given him. This shouldn't be right."

Laura initially bought the Virtuous Phantasm colored eggs and knew that they were Virtuous Phantasms that could fly. She'd seen the spawning of the eggs of these Virtuous Phantasms, and those several Virtuous Phantasm eggs couldn't be found in the wild, but could only be bought from a specialized farming factory. She had specifically seen the process from which the few Virtuous Phantasms spawned their eggs.

Although those were also flying Virtuous Phantasms, their builds weren't large as they were just almost as big as a normal falcon. They also didn't look so vigorous and obedient. However, these eagles from Zhao Hai were actually so different.

Laura was really puzzled as to how Zhao Hai could make ordinary things become so amazing. This was something Laura was most curious about.

* * * * *

After Laura left Stony Mountain, Zhao Hai and Green didn't rush back inside the Space. Instead, they called Meirin and the others into the parlor room and sat down. Zhao Hai asked Green, "Grandpa Green, after hearing the situation from Laura, what do you think we should do?"

Green thought for a while then said, "I think we should be very careful. I've heard that the Markey Dell clan members are vicious and greedy. If we are targeted by them this time around, I fear that this will become really troublesome."

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "This really is troublesome. As far as I can see, Miss Laura feared that his matter would cause a stain in our relationship. However, I think that with this situation, we should teach them a lesson."

Green frowned and said, "I'm afraid that this isn't as simple as you think it is. A Markey Dell clan member is notoriously ruthless. If they suffer a loss here, then I fear they wouldn't just let it go."

Zhao Hai also frowned. "What can we do now then? We had just established ourselves here in Stony Mountain. If they come here to disturb us, then this will be very annoying."

Meirin smiled. "As I see it, this wouldn't be like that. Previously, we had helped the Purcell clan. If they really dare move against us, then I fear that the Purcell clan wouldn't let them off."

Zhao Hai continued to frown4. "I hope so, but I don't like to owe a favor to the Purcell clan. It would be good if we can solve this matter while also giving face to Miss Laura. So long as they don't do anything excessive, even if they really do dare to move against us, I wouldn't mind it at all."

Green nodded and said, "I do hope this will be the case. With our identity, they would think twice before making any rash moves. Otherwise, I fear that this hatred will cause enmity between us."

Zhao Hai snorted. "Now that we have this hostility, we won't need to cooperate with them. Those guys from the Markey Dell clan really aren't the friendly kind."

"Fortunately, we have adequate manpower to cope up with such a scene," Green said, nodding. "If a Rank Nine doesn't come, we should be able to deal with everything. Master, we should go back to the Space and continue to observe, as I don't know what the eagles have seen."

Zhao Hai nodded and they went back inside the Space. The Space was now level 15, but there had been no upgrade to the ranch, which made Zhao Hai feel a little sad.

Zhao Hai couldn't help it. Drunk would have had a hard time catching the magic beasts in the Carrion Swamp. Even if they tried it, it wouldn't be easy to feed them. That's why they didn't catch any magic beasts and instead focused on collecting plants in order to make the Space level up to 15.

The eagles had been flying over the swamp for several days now, but their speed wasn't fast. Zhao Hai was surprised to see that the eagles had flown over some places that Buffy hadn't drawn on the map. It seems like they had started circling around in the swamp.

With regards to this situation, Zhao Hai didn't know what problems the Carrion Swamp had. Why was it that both humans and magic beasts5 went around in circles when they were inside the Carrion Swamp?

Notes:

- This chapter was MTL'ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice.

- Please support the author if you love this novel.

- Please check out the Editor's footnotes, thanks.

1 I don't know why the sizes are different. The previous stated sizes of the eagles was a wingspan of 5 meters and a length of 2 meters. Maybe they fold up/hunch down when walking? Either way, their size is still too small to easily carry a human.↩

2 风隼 - Fēng sǔn. Basically, wind falcon.↩

3 I guess the major difference between VPs and MBs are their size and use compared with their costs? Hatching and raising the VPs sounds like a hassle, and their size and uses don't see to represent the costs needed to acquire them. MBs, on the other hand, seem to be able to grow, which is quite valuable… hrm...↩

4 Sorry for the repetitive frowning from everyone, but this author sucks at dialogue tags… Everyone smiles, nods, frowns, and says. I have to make them distinct without changing too much… I'm kinda envious of Japanese lack of dialogue tags now…↩

5 Even though these are Virtuous Phantasms and not magic beasts...↩