<h4>Chapter 174 - Treasuring a Jade Ring Bes a Crime</h4>
While Zhao Hai explored the Carrion Swamp, Casa City wasn’t too peaceful. This time around, it wasn’t the Purcell n, but rather Laura who was in trouble.
Laura’s business wasrger than ever before as the Higanbana firm ounted for fifty percent of the entiremodities market within the Purcell Duchy. This figure was quite rming.
Although the Purcell Duchy wasn’t as great as the other duchies, themodities market of an entire duchy was still quiterge. In fact, it was quite a luxuriant line of business. How much did the people eat everyday? Saying that every day would be a struggle for their gold wasn’t absolutely an exaggeration.
If there was a block of fat there, then everyone would want a piece. But if that fat was stuck on bone, then not everyone would be able to sink their teeth into it.
An outsider trying to take a bite would be quite a hard feat, but that doesn’t mean a family member couldn’t try to eat it. This time, the schemes Laura had to fight against were by none other than the Markey Dell n.
Although Laura’s father was the second heir, the old patriarch was still alive. He was Laura’s grandfather, and Karen’s father, Sioux.
The old patriarch ruled the Markey Dell n’s huge business empire. He wasn’t an easy person to deal with as he was a pure businessman. Everything and anyone, in his eyes, were just businessmodities. Formodities, so long as the price was right, he could sell them.
This old patriarch of the Markey Dell n had very good business sense, which was beyond the imagination of ordinary men. His methods were extreme, and since the time he had taken over the Markey Dell n, the n’s business had be a lotrger.
Although the Markey Dell n’s business was doing great, to have half the shares of themodities market within a duchy, like what Laura had, wasn’t something the n was able to do. Inparison to the ie of the other heirs, Laura’s ie was quite high.
This situation wasn’t something the old patriarch would meddle with. To be honest, the old patriarch’s thoughts about his second son weren’t really positive. This was due to Karen’s attitude towards doing business.
In the opinion of the old patriarch, if you were born in the Markey Dell n and you didn’t want to do business, then what were you going to do? If Karen wanted to learn magic, then he should excel in it. However, Karen hadn’t. His life was not for cultivating magic, but rather, for researching magic.
If Karen really liked to cultivate magic, then even if he didn’t do business, as long as he became a powerful magician then it would be of great help for the Markey Dell n. However, he’d only chosen to study magic. His strength was also only just that of a peak Rank Seven magician.
A Rank Seven magician was a great presence in the eyes of themoners. However, for a n such as the Markey Dell n, a Rank Seven magician was inadequate.
Since the n didn’t pay any attention to Karen, and along with Karen’s attitude towards doing business, even though he was the second heir, he had already lost the possibility of inheriting and bing the next n patriarch. Therefore, he was banished to the small northern area, the Purcell Duchy.
The location of the Purcell Duchy in the Aksu Empire wasn’t good. It was in the north where it bordered with the Beastfolk. Although the Beastfolk haven’t caused any major problemstely, the Purcell n would always have to be on guard in order to avoid any major disasters from happening, year in and year out. If those Beastfolk created trouble, then there wouldn’t be much money to be made from doing business with the Purcell Duchy as the duchy was not very developed. This made it a somewhat remote and small area of the Aksu Empire.
However, even if it was a remote area, the people living there still needed daily necessities. And Laura, being a genius in business, had already spread the Taoyuanmodities throughout the Purcell Duchy and had even begun to export them throughout the Aksu Empire.
Laura certainly didn’t cooperate with others as all of this business was handled by herself, especially in the distribution and sales of the Taoyuanmodities. With regards to the daily necessity stores, Laura promoted a live advertisement, stating that even if she were willing to cooperate with others, she had already made an agreement with Zhao Hai. Their agreement was that if she ever let others sell Taoyuan brandmodities, then Zhao Hai would cease to provide her with the products.
It was precisely because of the Taoyuan brandmodities that there was such sess, so naturally, it made a lot of people envious. Putting others aside, even the heirs of the Markey Dell n wanted to fight against her.
The fight between the heirs of the Markey Dell n in other aspects wasn’t too serious. However, the ability of an heir to do business was very important. This was also important when selecting the rightful heir of the Markey Dell n.
Vying for the position of the next n Head were, besides Karen, the seven provincial heirs. These heirs would obstruct and maneuver against each other until they had indisputably beaten each other. This was a normal urrence within the n.
Karen’s father understood the situation as he was already quite old. However, he wasn’t ready to give up his position even though he allowed his heirs to run their own businesses. The every action of these heirs couldn’t be hidden from him.
Karen was the exception. Karen and Laura were in the Purcell Duchy, and the influence of the Markey Dell n hadn’t reached there yet. It could be said that Laura going out and establishing her own firm in the Purcell Duchy didn’t conform to what the Markey Dell n wanted. However, she had never asked for anything from the n to assist her.
It was precisely because of this that the Markey Dell n’s influence over Karen was minimal. Moreover, Laura didn’t need to fear the n this time around. She had helped the Purcell n, so Evan was indebted to her. The Purcell n would show kindness to Laura, and there wouldn’t be any matter that would negatively affect them inside the boundaries of the Purcell Duchy.
One must also know that Laura was backed by the producer of the Taoyuanmodities, a ck magician. That was something a lot of people were afraid of.
However, the most attractive thing were the benefits. To get benefits, people were willing to do everything they could, just like how it was when Zhao Hai was on Earth. To gain benefits, people would dare to do anything. Seemingly, this was aw that was rtive to boths. But on the Ark Continent, they could easily do it uwfully. Such people would naturally do anything in their power in order to gain benefits.
Others wouldn’t dare to struggle when it involved someone of the Markey Dell n. However, the members and heirs of the Markey Dell n wouldn’t be as polite.
This time around, the old patriarch of the Markey Dell n hadn’t sent anyone. To be honest, even after Laura had made such arge scene, the old patriarch wasn’t going to give them any attention. However, this was not the case for the heirs since they were now engaged in a battle for the right to obtain the n Head’s position. If they could get the Taoyuanmodities, then it would give them a great boost.
The heir that looked for Laura was not Karen’s brother, the first heir Cenwen, but rather the fifth heir of the Markey Dell n, Carlo.
Of course, Carlo didn’te personally, but instead sent his own steward, Alodia. Carlo grew up with Alodia as his servant. Later on, when Carlo established his own force, Alodia was promoted to his steward because of hispetency. Alodia, however, wasn’t one of the n''s main stewards, but only an elder steward as he was in charge of assessing contributions.
Although the Markey Dell n had eight heirs, there were only three powerfulpetitors. First was Karen’s brother who was the first-in-position heir, Cenwen. Next was Carlo, and the third was Jamie.
The most vigorous of them was Jamie since he was highly favored by the Markey Dell n’s patriarch, Sioux. However, Karen’s brother, Cenwen, was the one who had the greatest support inside the n. This was due to the handling of his business, which was the oldest one among the heirs. Thus, he had a lot of influence with powerful people.
Carlo was the weakest of the three as he didn’t have the patriarch’s favor, nor massive supporters like Cenwen. However, he was the person who had the best behavior as he handled matters splendidly in all sorts of social asions. He had even maintained a very good rtionship with the nobles and was approved by the n’s servants.
Compared to Karen’s position, Carlo’s status was a lot higher. Sending Alodia to see Karen was, in fact, giving Karen a lot of face.
Before Alodia arrived in Casa City, Laura already knew about it and had asked Karen and Quinn John to meet her in the study room. She then said, “Grandpa Quinn John, Father, this visit of Alodia’s this time looks like it won’t be a good thing. How do you see it?”
Karen said thoughtfully, “How can he so easilye and see us?”
Laura looked at Karen, speechless, so she turned her head to Quinn John. Quinn John saw Laura’s look and calmly said, “Before, during that ident of yours Laura, it could have happened due to some people of the n who might have tried to reach out to us here. Since your route was a secret, there must have been a breach of confidentiality from the family. In the beginning, we had sent people to investigate and the evidence points to Sir Cenwen.
“But now, I think it unlikely since Sir Cenwen wouldn’t need to do such a thing. Furthermore, during that time, we hadn’t amounted to anything whenpared to now. Up until now, we haven’t aroused his interest. So I concluded that someone else had done this and was nning to pin everything on Sir Cenwen. The people who might have done this would be either Carlo or Jamie as they have always been thinking of ways to attack Sir Cenwen. And now, Carlo has sent someone. I feel that this isn''t looking good.”
Laura nodded and said, “Of course this isn’t a good thing. However, I don’t know their motives foring here yet. Is it for our firm, or is it the Taoyuan products?”
Quinn John replied, “I’m afraid it won’t be due to our firm. If he really dares to grab our firm’s gains, then he would lose the right and qualifications topete for the next head of the n. As I see it, it will definitely be for the Taoyuan products. This is especially likely since right now, in the conflict between the three, he has the most inferior standing. Thus, he will want to use the Taoyuan products in order to expand his influence.“