10 – The Black Cottage

The Giant Stone City was one of the Fernandro Principality’s 16 cities and had a population of 600,000 people.

The Giant-Stone City, in the city master’s mansion, 5 men sat in a conference hall. Seated in the seat of honor was a man with short, blond hair, blue eyes, a hooked nose, fair skin, and a tall and sturdy figure. The man emitted a trace of tyrannical aura. He was Viscount Harley, the master of the Giant Stone City.

In addition to Viscount Harley, the other 4 men were the patriarchs of the 4 great families – Portman Family, Panchette Family, Manny Family, Luger Family – of the Giant Stone City. Viscount Harley and the 4 great families jointly controlled the Giant Stone City.

Viscount Harley said slowly: “The Black Rock Town’s Baron Kirov was murdered.”

The patriarchs of the 4 great families silently looked each other.

After Baron Kirov was killed by Yang Feng, the news soon reached their ears. However, the perpetrator was a powerhouse with a Warlock inheritance. This left them very fearful.

The 4 great families made offerings to some Apprentice Warlocks, they knew how strange and powerful the means of Warlocks were. If they were to provoke a powerful official Warlock, destroying their families would be easy. As long as Yang Feng didn’t encroach on their core interests, they could keep quiet.

Viscount Harley frowned slightly and said solemnly: “I plan to ask for help from the Black Cottage and ask them to exterminate that wicked Apprentice Warlock.”

The patriarch of the Portman Family asked: “Apprentice Warlock? Sir City Master, are you sure that he’s an Apprentice Warlock?”

There was a deep ravine in strength between Apprentice Warlocks and official Warlocks. Apprentice Warlocks could still be surrounded and killed by a mortal army. An official Warlock, if he wasn’t foolish enough to fight with a mortal army to the death, can certainly kill the mortal army’s commander and then leave effortlessly. Some powerful Warlocks could even defeat a 10,000-strong mortal army by themselves.

The Giant Stone City had a 5,000-strong army. With the army plus all the Apprentice Warlocks they could muster, they were still more likely to lose against a level-1 Warlock. Unless the level-1 Warlock was foolish enough to wait for the Giant Stone City to gather its troops and Apprentice Warlocks and then engage them in a decisive battle. Otherwise, the level-1 Warlock could act in secret and easily kill all the Apprentice Warlocks.

Viscount Harley said in a deep voice: “If he was a level-1 Warlock, then he alone could capture the Black Rock Town. Based on our intelligence, he mobilized close to 100 warriors to capture the Black Rock Town. In addition, if he was an official Warlock, he certainly wouldn’t have killed an aristocrat without rhyme or reason, as that was equivalent to declaring war to the Sir of the Black Cottage. Only thoughtless upstarts who just recently obtained power would unbridledly kill an aristocrat.

In the Turandot Subcontinent, an official Warlock wouldn’t lightly kill an aristocrat if not necessary, as there was quite likely another Warlock backing the aristocrat from the shadows. Only if the aristocrat offended an official Warlock, would the official Warlock kill the aristocrat without giving rise to a push-back from another Warlock.

It was an unwritten rule in the Turandot Subcontinent that the dignity of Warlocks couldn’t be violated. But similarly, an official Warlock had to respect other official Warlocks. Otherwise, it would lead to conflict between Warlocks.

The backer of the Giant Stone City was the Warlock group Black Cottage. In fights between mortals, the Black Cottage’s Warlocks wouldn’t care to interfere. However, once there was an Apprentice Warlock threatening the Giant Stone City or its ancillaries without a particular cause, then the Black Cottage would definitely dispatch an expert to kill the ignorant Apprentice Warlock.

The patriarch of the Panchette Family said slowly: “It will cost us a pretty penny to invite the Black Cottage to take care of this!”

Warlocks weren’t otherworldly existences. On the contrary, Warlocks were beings who had to consume huge amounts of money. Each official Warlock possessed great riches, but their expenses are similarly frightening. Elixirs refined by a Warlock could be sold for hundreds if not thousands of gold coins. Even tens of thousand or hundreds of thousand gold coins for a vial of elixir was not uncommon.

As the backer of the Giant Stone City, the Black Cottage collected a large amount of gold coins each year. At the same time, for them to act, the price was upwards of 50,000 gold coins. Such a huge sum, even for the 4 great families of the Giant Stone City, would be very painful to take out. That was why, if there was no major event, the Giant Stone City wouldn’t ask for help from the Black Cottage.

The patriarchs of the other 3 great families also focused their attention on Viscount Harley.

Viscount Harley said solemnly: “We’ll take 30,000 gold coins out of this year’s taxes and I’ll take out 10,000 gold coins. Each one of your 4 families will put forth 2,500 gold coins. When we get rid of that thoughtless fool, we’ll divide the spoils according to the amount of money invested.

“Excellent!” The patriarchs of the 4 great families nodded in satisfaction.

After persuading the patriarchs of the 4 great families, Viscount Harley went to the rear garden.

In the rear garden, there was a a raven nest on a white oak tree.

When a strange white raven saw Viscount Harley walk into the rear garden, it flew to Viscount Harley, set on his arm, and said in human voice: “Viscount Harley, are you here to give me food? I want to eat wild boar. A well roasted pork ham will do it. Your cook’s cooking is terrible. I suggest you hang him and replace him with a new one.”

Viscount Harley said respectfully to the white raven: “Sir Bobo, please greet the mighty master of the Black Cottage for me and tell him that I need his help. A wicked Warlock force, which is trying to provoke the mighty master of the Black Cottage, has emerged in the Black Rock Town. We prepared a tribute of 50,000 gold coins and ask the great master of the Black Cottage to help us dispel that evil.”

The white raven flapped its wings and cried out: “Alright, Sir Bobo will convey your words to the great master of the Black Cottage. However, upon return, Sir Bobo wants to eat a plump pork ham! It must be properly roasted!”

Viscount Harley smiled and said: “As you wish. Upon return, you will receive a properly roasted pork ham!”

The white raven nodded contentedly, flapped its wings, and flew out of the city master’s mansion.

Contrary to the imagination of ordinary people, the Black Cottage wasn’t hidden in a remote place. The Black Cottage was located in the Black City, which was one of the 16 city’s of the Fernandro Principality.

The Black City was located 100 kilometers to the north of the Giant Stone City and had a population of 200,000 people. In terms of surface area, the Black City was only second to the Dragon Mountain City, the capital of the Fernandro Principality. It was twice as big as the Giant Stone City.

In the center of the Black City, there was a huge, dream-like manor with a forest, a lake, a stream, a hill, other kinds of landscape. That whole manor nearly occupied one-third of the are of the Black City.

This huge and beautiful manor was headquarters of the Black Cottage.