Sophie's 16th birthday was tomorrow, and Emily seemed agitated. Today they were having another meeting. Emily, Fiona, and Hazel were present.

Hazel was the first to speak, "Well, this is not desirable, but we have to do it. It will be for our own future benefit."

Fiona nodded, "Yeah, we have to expand out of Port Kiar... But which one of us should be leaving to set up our branch."

Over the years, the four of them had many conversations about creating another base of operation. This is because taking over Port Kiar was unlikely with so many powers fighting for a piece of it. Although they had militaristic dominance and financial dominance now. This was only since the White Clan and Royal Clan were still focusing on the war with the Peona Kingdom. Resulting in temporarily allowing them to dominate the other two strong forces.

Aile and the others were sure that they would be annihilated after the war was over, as the interest of both forces in controlling Port Kiar was immense.

The other merchant halls also had not found the town profitable enough. Yet this was also changing, as the Oxe merchant guild was already showing tremendous interest to establish a presence here. However, if any of the situations gets resolved, these advantages would be lost. Thus, they had decided to create a base of operation in another town. They would get it under their control before anyone realizes.

This way, they would always have a place to regroup if need be. It will also allow them to increase their economic and fighting power.

They had always delayed in hopes that Aile would be done from his cultivation and then they can decide and move together. However, it was no longer feasible, and now they were at a bottleneck and could not improve in Port Kiar anymore. They had to leave.

Emily then spoke up, "I will go then."

Aile sighed, he knew that she wanted to leave as she was afraid of what was going to happen after she explains everything to him. This was an easy escape path for her.

Fiona then lamented, "I will go too, then. Hazel, you are the strongest, we cannot have you and Emily leave. Plus, my forte is economics. We are going to start with a merchant hall, so I will be the better option for going to Fort Bot."

Hazel nodded, it sounded logical. She was required to stay here as the person with the highest cultivation to protect their interests. Plus, Port Kiar was most unstable, so her presence was necessary.

Their destination was a small town, north of Port Kiar. This town was called Fort Bot. The town's only possible source of income was the sacred mountain range. However, as most of the people were not powerful, they were barely able to have much of an income. The town was too far from most powers, and least cared about, thus an ideal place to take root in. The only notable thing was an Old Fort that overlooked the town from a high vantage point.

They talked about how and when they will leave. The departure was in 7 days, and they had already bought some properties there. They only needed to move in and start the business.

After they finished the conversation with each other, it was decided that Emily, along with Iris, would go for the protection of the business. While Fiona and the two out of the three girls that followed Fiona would go to control the economy.

Iris was one of the girls that Aile got as compensation and Emily trained. She changed her name to Iris.

She was now very much like Emily, she only cared about Emily, Aile and Sophie and rarely talked with anyone else. Emily told Aile that she chose her name because it was beautiful and a similar colour to her hair. She also said that it was a useful flower as it could turn into poison if need be.

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They did not want to go with a large force from the adventurer's union as it could raise a lot of suspicions. They just wanted a slow infiltration. They would not identify themself as Shadow's business in the beginning either.

Once they got to control the town, it was a natural stronghold to the person in control of the old fort at the top of the hill. By then, the fort will be under their control, and they would not be worried too much, as no one would waste a large army to recapture a small useless-town.

They were soon done, and the final details were also decided. Fiona and Emily would take turns to leave Fort Bot to come to meet everyone in port Kiar, and the first person to return would be Fiona. It seemed that Emily was not confident in meeting Aile after she revealed everything on Sophie's birthday. She did not even show a little bit of interest to take the first turn to come back. Aile had noticed Emily's continuous progressing attempts to keep her emotion's in check, and the worried expression that has evolved on her face as they reached this stage.

Seeing her troubled behaviour Aile give her the option of delaying to tell him, but she said that it must be done.

Hazel was the first to leave as she had organized a few groups to collect material from the Sacred Mountain Range. Then Fiona Left as she had to do something too, but her turn to be Aile's maid was tonight and told Aile that she will come to do her duties.

Although most of the stuff was taken care of by Diana, Fiona would still act as Aile's maid and would not be content until she helps him somehow. It was also an opportunity to spend some time with him. Diana, of course, did not compete for the few hours with Fiona.

Emily wanted to leave too, but Aile stopped her.

Once everyone was gone, Aile gave Emily a hug. As Aile had a more mature body, Emily was shy every time Aile hugged her now. Aile then said in a soothing tone, "What is going on, Emily?"

She feigned ignorance and said, "What do you mean? I have to go and get ready for the trip." She tried to struggle out of the hug and escape.

Aile did not let her leave and held her tightly, "Are you worried about something?"

Eventually, she did not struggle and held him back.

Aile felt a bit of moisture in his shoulder, it seemed that she was silently crying and he gently patted her head and hair. After some time Aile's strokes became a bit longer tracing her curves. He stopped it as soon as he noticed it and Emily gave a cute little snort.

Aile then said, "Do you still remember our deal?"

Emily did not respond and held him tighter. After a few minutes, her tears run down even more as Aile could feel the wet patches, she said, "Aile I am sorry, but I do not want to rely on everyone's power here. I apologize, but I think I will have to leave."

"What do you mean?" Aile asked confusedly.

With a bit of an erratic tone, she said in a meek voice, "I do not want to involve you and everyone else in my business... and I do not want to leave you... but..."

Aile sighed, "So you do not trust me then."

"No, I am really sorry, I have not told you anything about me, and you trust me so much. I am really sorry, I am very ungrateful. But I want to deal with this predicament myself."

Aile released his grip a little and held her with one hand as he wiped her tears from her eyes gently with another, "I do not expect you to tell me everything, so there is no need to be sorry. I had promised to help you improve in your cultivation, and I will accomplish that. I am sorry, I have not finished with something. Promise me that you will not leave, wait until I help you, after all, I still have 4 more years in our deal." Aile also mentally said to himself, "I will not let you face your difficulties alone."

She did not respond for a while and then looked at Aile, "Do you really have a way to get me stronger?"

"Of course, I have, and I will be able to help you in 1 year, I promise."

She happily held him tighter, bringing their faces close to each other. She blushed and took a step back. Aile held and squeezed her hand and said, "You have not promised to stay."

"I will let you know after we talk tomorrow, following Sophie's birthday."

"Nothing will change by then. I have known you for a long time now, and I know you well enough to fully trust you."

Emily had a beautiful smile and gave Aile a quick peck on his cheek and said, "I promise to stay with you for another 4 years. I will help you, even if you cannot help me, and even if you do not like me after tomorrow."

Aile gave her a similar quick-kiss and said, "Thank you, I will not dislike you, and I will miss you when you are gone to Fort Bot."

Emily blushed and left happier than she came, especially after the peck from Aile. She looked back at Aile three times with an embarrassed smile before she left.