Chapter 978: 304. Wealth Co-creation_2
“You’re right, I should reconsider this bounty task,” Noland Lee said, snapping his fingers:
“As it happens, I have a job that needs assistance. Are you interested? The price is negotiable.”
Louisa’s eyes lit up.
It seemed that Noland’s gesture of tossing 200,000 gold coins had left a deep impression on her.
Seeing Louisa’s expression, Noland knew he had a taker.
He was just about to speak when the meow of the Snow-winged Cat resounded in his mind.
...
Someone had sent Noland a letter.
“Hold on a moment, Louisa. I need to check this letter,” he said.
“No problem, take your time.”
Noland summoned Kitty and took the letter from it, placing it in Denise Green’s lap.
Denise wore a black veil that covered her features, topped with a black lace witch’s hat,
cradling Kitty in her arms, stroking its fur, she appeared every bit the languid noblewoman.
Noland glanced over the contents of the letter and grinned:
“Heh, no sooner had we left than Lonco sent a letter, beating around the bush, asking where I am.”
Denise leaned in to take a look and pursed her lips in dissatisfaction:
“He really did have someone watching us.”
Noland took out pen and paper and penned a reply filled with verbose nonsense on the spot.
He warmly thanked the other for their concern, politely inquired about their well-being, and used a barrage of ambiguous language to sidestep the question.
Warmth, politeness, and blissful ignorance.
If you ask me where I am, I don’t even know myself, so I can’t answer, but I’ll respond warmly and politely.
That was the gist of Noland’s reply.
He had two purposes in doing this.
First was to provoke Lonco a bit more, to see where the man’s limits lay.
The second was to test the reaction time of the Pomida Family, to see how long it would take them to pinpoint Noland’s exact location.
After the letter had been sent by the Snow-winged Cat, Noland said to Louisa:
“Let’s talk while we fly. Denise and I are heading to the Eternal Lightning Ravine. Do you need to go back to the quarry to pack your bags?”
Louisa shook her head:
“No, no need. I can leave right now.”
“Very well, then please follow me.” Noland took out a compass, determined the direction, and set off.
The three of them cast Flight Spells and flew towards the location of the Eternal Lightning Ravine.
On the way, Noland explained that he had been invited to the Eternal Lightning Ravine to help guard a point for Mabel.
He planned to hire Louisa to help him share some of the guarding duties.
For example, while he was venturing deeper into the Eternal Lightning Ravine, Louisa would protect Denise and Mabel.
Or for instance, Louisa, working in tandem with Denise, would build magical devices for Mabel according to the blueprints Noland would provide.
Noland would pay the reward based on the number of days.
1,000 gold coins per day.
An extra 50,000 gold coins upon the completion of the magical devices.
Assistance with emergencies at the point would yield an additional reward from 10,000 to 100,000 gold coins depending on the severity of the situation.
The reward offered by Noland could be described as generous and for light work, a far cry from the toil of tracking underground demons.
Louisa agreed almost immediately, without much consideration.
Noland landed on a mountaintop, drafted a Magic Contract on the spot with Louisa, had it signed and then they set off again.
Now it was Louisa’s turn to fill Noland in on the happenings of Thousand Peak Ridge.
Thousand Peak Ridge covered a vast area with many extraordinary regions within it.
The Eternal Lightning Ravine was known for Lightning Phantoms.
The Barren Stone Quarry was home to Barren Stone Earth Snakes and Mole Men.
The Stone Forest Swamp featured Petrified Electric Lizards and Tree Monsters that sucked away people.
The Ridge of Buzzing Mountain was known for Harpies.
These were all nation-level extraordinary phenomena that had formed from pollutants that had fallen from Outer Space many years ago.
Each phenomenon produced magic materials and was a subject of study for the Wizard Advancement Association.
The wizard forces that had been extracting magic materials from Thousand Peak Ridge for a long time were too many to count.
The “Crawling City” mentioned earlier by Louisa was among them.
This city-state wizard force, characteristic of the Kashel Continent, was both the name of a city and the name of a wizard force, organized around the distribution of benefits rather than lineage.
In addition to the Crawling City, there were also “Blackstone City”, “Peak Throat City”, “Sixteen Gates City”, and other such forces.
They were all regulars at Thousand Peak Ridge.
In a way, if a wizard force couldn’t afford the cost of a Sub-Dimensional Plane but still wanted their own turf, a magic castle was undoubtedly the best choice.
Here at Thousand Peak Ridge, the most powerful and numerous wizard force was from the Baldur’s Gate Merchant Alliance—the Wealth Creation Society.
This Loose Alliance, bound purely by gold coins, had spent a fortune assembling a group of hired wizards to protect the alliance’s assets on their behalf.
These wizards for hire were known as Wealth Wizards.
Take the Barren Stone Quarry.
The Merchant Alliance owned one-fifth of the Magic Shares there.
The Merchant Alliance’s Wealth Wizards were stationed there long-term, supervising the work of the mining wizards.
Likewise, in other extraordinary regions like the Eternal Lightning Ravine, the Baldur’s Gate Merchant Alliance had a presence.
The Wealth Wizards of the Merchant Alliance wore uniform clothes: noveldrama
A dark red Magic Robe, black belt and Hood, dark gold Magic Wand, and soft black fabric Magic Boots.
On the chest was an emblem of a Stack of Gold Coins, symbolizing their background, while the number of coins on the emblem corresponded with their Wizard Ring Level and status.