“The harsothians presented a great plan, and I have got the assurance from the head of the council. That as long as you make the road, he will use his influence to stop the attempts,”

“If we do it, the assassinations will stop?” asked the man with the red hair, looking at a file in his hand.

The middle-aged orc in front of him nodded.

“But it won't be easy?” he asked and once again, the orc nodded.

“He will make every effort to kill you. It is the only chance he will have; once you did it, you are safe,” said the Orc.

“It will be more dangerous than surviving the assassins,” said the man with red hair.

The orc smiled.

“The council had amended the contract with Navr. It is a done deal. If you didn’t succeed, someone else will take your place and do it,” said the Orc.

There is not much of a choice. Either he agrees and achieves what the council had asked him. If he did it, he and his family would be safe. If he failed, the assassins kept coming till they succeed.

Most importantly. If he succeeds, he will fulfill the wish of his ancestors. They were the ones who devised this plan.

The harsothian Count had just copied it.

“I will do it,” I said finally, betting on the survival of my family and on it.

….

“This is pearl,” Count declared, looking at a beautiful white yacht bathing in snow. It is a work of art.

It is completely white aside from the emblem of the House of Ravenheart, which is in blue.

It is a graceful thing with long masts and, I am sure; it is not only beautiful but will have the power to back it up. I may not know much about yachts, but I could tell a powerful thing when I see one.

It is a surprise; the Count had informed me about his personal ship coming, but he didn’t say it was a yacht.

“This was made by my late grandfather. He gave it to Father when he inherited the County,” informed Lancel.

I looked at the Count and saw the adoration he was looking at it. It is clear he loves this thing and if I am at his place, I would love it too.

This thing is too beautiful. Everybody wants to possess it the moment they see it.

“Let's board it,” said the Count and walked toward it and his steps faster than usual. We followed him, while the snow intensified around us.

Soon, we reached the ramp, where two people were guarding the entrance. They bowed to the Count and Lancel and opened the ramp gate.

“Welcome my lord. The pearl is glad to be in your service again,” said the middle-aged man with a goatee as he bowed deeply to the Count.

“I missed her,” he said as he patted the captain's shoulder and walked to the deck. We followed after him, admiring every aspect of this beauty, also noticing nearly all freezing temperatures disappear.

“It is a fine yacht, my lord. I have never seen, a yacht, so beautiful,” I praised and even got an eye roll from Robin. I could also faint regret for him for not praising me.

I am sucking up to him and, like his son; he is quite susceptible to them, but unlike his son, he didn’t let them get over his head.

“Thank you, Remus. This beauty is one of my most prized collections,” he said, looking at the yacht with love and pride.

A few seconds later, his expression turned serious, and he turned to a middle-aged man with a goatee.

“Sterling, if all the preparations are made. Then start her up. I planned to reach Oksall on time,” he ordered.

“As you command, my lord,” he said and bowed, before started ordering staff around him.

“Best of luck, Father. I will pray for your success,” said Lancel. “Thank you, my son,” he said and hugged his son and said something in his ear, with privacy skill.

A minute later, Lancel walked out of the yacht under the protection of Mage York and guards.

As he stepped off the yacht, it hummed in power. The hum was gentle, but I could feel the contained in it.

Its enchantments started lit up, and they were everywhere; not one part on which I didn’t see them. The sheer scale of enchantment shocked me, and I know I had underestimated its value.

I had foolishly compared it to the ones owned by some people in my family, but it is a grade above them.

If any yacht in my family could compare to it; then it would be one grandfather had.

It is an expensive thing. So much that even if I sell everything I have, it wouldn’t be enough for a deposit, much less buy it.

As the enchantment activated, all the cold disappeared and comfortable warmness appeared. The snow is still falling, but it is not staying.

We all removed our jackets and watched the yacht move. It took barely a minute to get out of the pier before turning north, toward merchant cities.

It is picking up speed. It couldn’t make me wonder how fast it could go, in weather like this.

I turned to the city covered in snow, and it looked beautiful. I wish I had a camera; I would have captured it.

In a few minutes, the yacht had picked up speed. It is faster than any ship, I had traveled on this river and its speed is still increasing.

Though, at a much slower rate than before.

“We will have a meeting at two, till then rest,” said the Count and walked into the yacht.

After he disappeared, the staff also took us to our cabins.

Click!

“Wow,” I said as the door clicked close behind me. The cabin is beautiful; there is an elvish queen size bed. A table and a cupboard of the same design and a private bathroom.

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Which is bigger than I thought.

Though the best thing about the cabin is the window. Which is around a hundred inches long, and the glass is so clear that it felt like it isn’t there at all.

I looked at the passing scenery of snow falling in the wasteland. It looked beautiful in a bleak way.

I looked at it for a few minutes before I lay on the bed and simply closed my eyes. Not to sleep, but to think.

Think about this trip, my business, and the future.

Things are calm right now.

The skirmishes along the empire's border had nearly stopped in the past few months. Even Tabes had withdrawn most of its forces from the border of the Renwell region.

They all are preparing for chaos to come, which will begin with the death of the emperor.

Nobody could guess what would happen, but everybody is preparing to defend or conquer. The empire is juicy meat, of which everyone wants a piece.

It is why the emperor is trying so hard to consolidate the crown prince’s power. So much so that he made a deal with the pope.

It would have been great. If he had started doing that a decade ago; the crown prince would have a secure throne, but now, the chances seemed slim, despite all the efforts that the emperor was making.

I am worried about these things immensely. As they will affect my future directly.

It is why I will soon start working on things to secure myself; at least financially. I want to be secure enough that I could run at a moment’s notice, taking all my employees and staff.

Signing the deal is very important; it had a chance to empower the whole region, especially the Nakar baronies.

Currently, they are weak as chickens with people like Baron Harrods, barely able to pay the running expense. If the deal happens and they make use of it, they will be rich and also powerful.

As they will need to deal with pests that disturb the trade.

This region has become my home, and I want it strong enough to defend against every foe. Be it disturbance from the Empire, attacks from Tabes, or a horde of Navr.

It is hard to imagine the wasteland could do something, but it had happened a couple of times in history.

A few minutes later, I opened the book. I didn’t prepare for the meeting; I didn’t need to. I know everything by heart; I have done research and made a plan.

As long as the Count asked anything related to that, I could answer.

Time passed, and soon it was time for a meeting.

It is still heavily snowing, but despite that, the yacht is moving fast. In an hour, we would reach the Owlspring, which normally takes six to seven hours to reach, but with this yacht, we will be making the journey in four to four and a half hours.

We are traveling through the heavy snow. If there wasn’t snow, it would have needed even less time to reach it.

I got out of the cabin, and a minute later; I am in a conference room. The yacht had a dedicated conference room, and it was not small.

“We have touched our bases, and everything is ready. All we have to do is meet with the councilman tomorrow,” said the Count as the meeting ended.

It lasted less than an hour. It would have lasted longer, but everyone is competent and prepared for their end. Count Darrow is the only one who needed to refer to the file.

A minute later, I walked out of the conference room but didn’t return to my cabin and instead went to the deck.

The snow is falling on it before disappearing, and it is slightly chilly, but not enough that I would need to wear the winter coat.

I appeared at the right time, as the yacht had just entered the confluence of Northare and Vale Rivers. I could see the huge Owlspring City in front of me, covered beautifully in snow.

The heavy snow didn’t don’t seem to affect the trade at all. I felt like there were more ships now than it had been when I came here last time.

“Merchant states, view trade more differently than the empire,” said Leila, as she appeared beside me. “It is why they are merchant states, and we are an empire,” I replied, to which she nodded, but didn’t say anything.

In the empire, there are many restrictions on the merchants. In merchant cities, not so much.

“I felt like the Count is hiding things from us,” she said, and I got alarmed, before seeing the privacy ring on her finger active.

I heaved a sigh of relief before activating my own skill.

“Of course, he is hiding things. We are mere subjects. He won’t tell us things. He doesn’t want to,” I said cautiously, but she just gave me a look.

“You know what I mean,” she said, and after a moment of silence, I nodded.

“I also have a feeling Count had done some things and even feel prince’s hand in the shadows,” I said after nearly a minute.

I am not an idiot. In the past few days, I sensed things. The biggest hints were to be given to me by that bastard Lancel. In his mocking and teasing, he had revealed quite a lot of things.

“We have to be careful. Things might even get dangerous,” she cautioned, and I nodded gently.

We didn’t talk further; even this was dangerous. There are skills and tools that could breach privacy. The Count will not be pleased if he heard what we had talked about.

Though, her confirmation made my mood somber, and I begin to pray that everything goes smoothly on this trip.

I remained on the deck till the yacht turned to vale river and Owlspring disappeared from the view before going back to my cabin.

Those words of Leila had given me a lot to think about.