The prince and his army arrived back at Ironmarch a week after the escort. Since there is no more danger during the way back, they did not need to be too careful. The soldiers now are more experienced and disciplined after the escort mission.
Six months flew by after their mountain clean-up operation. The Ironmarch army under the second prince's command systematically cleared the surrounding areas of Ironmarch from monster groups and bandit mobs. The roads are safer now with constant patrols of the army. Of course, the success of 'operation cleaning Ironmarch' came at the cost of many deaths. Roughly a tenth of the army died. That is why Luceran also recruited more and the numbers of the army increases from five thousands men to six thousands. He also ordered the mayor to look for mages to add more diversity to his army.
Now, the farmlands are more secure. This leads to more influx of outsiders to visit Ironmarch. More traders also come to sell their wares into the city. This increase the population and also brings life to the economics situation of Ironmarch. The bigger the economy, the better the tax income for Luceran.
In his office, Luceran is looking at the paperwork on the table. His fingers are lightly tapping on the wooden table, his eyebrows frowning, as if deeply thinking about something. A shadow materialize beside him and turned into a cleanly shaved middle-aged man. It was Nelez.
"Your Highness," Nelez greeted. "These are the reports you ordered me to find." He handed the papers to Luceran and bowed. Luceran took the papers and began to read, his eyes scanning the script. He quickly found what he was looking for.
His brother, Magnus, had achieved numerous victories in the Abyss. For months, the border had been free of major incursions since his active presence on the battlefield.
"Tsk, tsk... as expected of my brother," Luceran murmured to himself, a sense of inferiority creeping in his heart. His own meager achievements escorting and cleaning the surrounding of Ironmarch are meaningless compared to Magnus's god-like feats.
The Black Tower, the head of the mercenary organization responsible for registering and ranking mercenary groups, is holding a grand mercenary competition in Thousand Banners City in the Eastern Land. All the major mercenary groups will be participating, vying for fame and fortune.
Luceran continue reading with interest regarding the information provided on the paper.
The Lightning Sword School's headmaster, the Lightning Sword Saint, has officially stepped into the Celestial Realm. A Celestial master is a god among mortals, capable of living as long as heaven and earth itself. In the current era, there are less than twenty Celestial Realm master.
"The human race has gained another Celestial Master," Luceran said to himself, a trace of amazement could be seen on his face a he release a long sigh. The Celestial Realm was a realm that is incredibly far away now. He was far from that level. Over the past six months, he had broken through from the peak of the Bone Tempering realm to the early stage of the Blood Refinement realm. His mana core had also evolved; he had finished engraved two more runes to his core: Absorption and Purity. The Absorbtion rune as the name implies, would allow him to absorb mana from his surroundings much faster, while the Purity rune would refine his mana, making it purer and more potent for spell casting.
Just as he was about to continue reading, the door knocked a few times and opened. Commander Borrin entered the room.
"Your Highness," Borrin greeted. "Our scout at the watch tower three kilometers outside of Ironmarch just spotted two merchant caravans having a dispute."
Luceran didn't look up from his papers. "Oh? What does this have to do with me? Is this important?" his tone lazy and uninterested.
"Well... one of the merchants is Sir Ian and Liz," the commander replied.
Hearing this, Luceran's fingers stopped tapping. He looked up, a slight smile appeared on his face. "Well, this is interesting."
In a watch tower located a few kilometers away from Ironmarch, Ian and Liz are having an intense argument with three people. One of them is a skinny middle aged man, while the rest are fat middle aged women with brown and the other back hair. They argue intensely that they attracted the soldiers who are patrolling and guarding in the watch tower.
"There is no proof of us owing you anything, Ian." the skinny middle aged man said with a sneer on his face.
Ian, with a fuming face of anger pulled out a well-written parchment and held it up to show it to the trio, "Here! The agreement that you signed three years ago! There is even the signature of your late brother when he was the head of your trade organization."
"That document is fake. You could be the one who wrote it." The middle fat middle aged woman said innocently, while the others sneered.
"YOU!" Ian shouted angrily. If there was no guard, he would have jumped and a brawl would have happened.
"Brother, it's not worth it. Just let it go." Liz said to his brother with a calm face, but with keen eyes people could see the hidden anger concealed on her face.
"That was an investment of thirty thousand gold coins! We were supposed to get fifty percent return. It is a lot of money, Liz." He said to his sister and complained.
The trio smirked, as if they had already won and didn't need to pay their debt.
"Just treat it as if we were conducting business with dogs." Liz said with a slow and cold voice. Hearing her remark, the trio were stunned and could not help but say, "What did you say you brat?" The middle aged man asked angrily.
"Why? Am I wrong? Dogs can bite the hands that feed them, no?" Ian said innocently.
The trio gritted their teeth and couldn't help but throw insults too when they heard the insult. While they are having an 'intense' competition of throwing insults to one another, a shadow comes over them. When they look up, it is a wyvern over twenty five meters tall, slowly descending towards them. On the wyvern, a handsome youth with silvery hair with a royal office tunic. The wyvern landed and the youth leapt down.
"My, my, what is happening here?" Luceran asked calmly with a demeanor of a noble.
"Your Highness!" Ian and Liz greeted the prince.
"Your Highness!" the Ironmarch soldiers who had been watching the scene immediately bowed in unison, greeted their prince. While the trio faces change when they hear who just landed and came to them.
'Prince? Are they bluffing? But the soldier's response couldn't be fake.' They frowned and wondered why the prince is here.
"Care to explain?" The prince directly asked Ian and Liz, not even bothering to ask the trio or even paid them any attention.
Listening to the prince's 'interrogation', Liz took the initiative to explain with a pleading and sad looking face.
"Your Highness, it's like this. A few years ago, we invested heavily in their failing trade organization," she said, her eyes looking sad. "In return, they promised to give us the location of an ancient ruin, a city lost ages ago. We believe it holds relics and powerful magical artifacts."
She elaborated in detail, especially expressing emphasis on the 'ancient ruin' and 'relics', hoping to capture Luceran's attention with the promise of ancient relics. Luceran listened, his expression unchanging, a faint, knowing smirk appearing on his lips.
He saw right through Liz's blatant attempt to appeal to his curiosity, but he didn't mind. If they wanted to cash in on his "favor" now, he would not hesitate to mediate. After all, it might benefit him with a new adventure to explore.
As they listened to Ian and Liz's report, and witnessed their casual camaraderie with the prince, the middle-aged man and the two women began to sweat. Their smug confidence was replaced by a look of panic.
Luceran turned to the trio and asked "Is it true that you reneged on a deal?" Luceran asked, his voice flat and interrogative, cutting through the tense silence.
The trio's face paled and stunned when they heard Luceran's question.
"How dare you! Answer the prince's question" a soldier berated him.
The man and the two women visibly paled. The color drained from their faces.
"You have not answered my question," Luceran pressed again, his tone dropping even lower, an edge of annoyance in his voice.
"They are lying, Your Highness," the middle-aged woman replied, her voice trembling.
"Ohh... but there is your signature here and the seal of your organization, too," Luceran said, feigning confusion.
"It's a fake! They made it up!" they insisted, refusing to admit.
"I see..." Luceran said, his eyes scanning them with a cold look. He then turned to Ian and Liz, a sarcastic tone in his voice. "Well, this is a learning experience for you two, to not conduct business with people like this."
The middle-aged man and women gritted their teeth and clenched their fists. They were being humiliated, and there was nothing they could do.
"So you are not going to pay your debt?" Luceran asked them.
"Your Highness, are you siding with them? You cannot do this!" they begged.
"But I want to," Luceran said, his voice and face now filled with a childish innocence. He turned back to the trio, his expression hardening. "You wish to play games with me? Very well. Soldiers! Send a message to the minister of finance. I want you to spread the word that this trade organization is to be banned from all trade and business within the Empire's borders because they are unreliable. What was the name of your organization, anyway? Never mind, it's a trivial matter. Just ban them."
The middle-aged man and the two women's faces twisted in horror. They fell to their knees, their bodies trembling. "No, no, no! Please, Your Highness, you can't do this! You are being impartial with this!" they begged.
"But I can," Luceran repeated, his voice now taking on the tone of a spoiled brat. "You see, I am the Second Prince, and I can use my power to act as spoiled as a silk-pants heir."
Ian, watching the entire drama unfolding, is amazed by the prince's act of shamelessness. Liz, hearing his perfectly innocent yet utterly devious remark, let out a small giggle, with a look of delight on her face.
The middle-aged man and the two women struggled for a moment, the fight draining from their bodies. With a defeated sigh, they bowed deeply to the prince.
"We are sorry," the man said, his voice filled with a desperate plea. "Please forgive us, Your Highness. Ian and Liz, we will tell you the ruins' location. We beg for your forgiveness."
Inside the main hall of the city, Luceran sat on a sofa, facing Ian and Liz. Bela, his personal maid, served them tea before leaving quietly.
"Thank you for the help, Your Highness," Ian said with gratitude.
"Small matter," Luceran replied with a faint smile. "Besides, I owe you a favor, right?" He said it as if the debt had been paid in full after his help. Ian and Liz simply smiled and took a sip of their tea, understanding the prince's meaning.
Ian broke the silence. "The ruin is from a city that was destroyed ages ago." He carefully unrolled the tattered parchment the other merchant had given them. "According to this map, it's located west of Ironmarch, quite a distance."
"And...?" Luceran asked, putting his teacup down on the table after taking a sip.
Ian and Liz exchanged a glance. "We'd like to ask for your army's escort again, Your Highness," Liz said. "And also to help us explore the ruins."
Luceran didn't reply immediately. His gaze fell to the map on the table. He leaned forward, taking a look closer to the map. His eyes focused, studying the geographical position of the ruins. As he carefully analyzed the location, a quiet realization dawned on him. The ruins weren't in the Kyros Divine Empire's territory, but just on the other side of the border in the Solaris Divine Empire.
He looked at the outline of a mountain range to the north, the Aldoras Mountains, which acted as a natural barrier between the two empires. To approach the ruins discreetly, without alerting the rival empire's scouts, they would have to traverse the perilous mountain range. The only other option was a long, risky journey around the mountains, which would take them deep into enemy territory and almost guarantee they would be spotted by Solaris patrols.
"And the payment?" Luceran asked, his voice calm.
"Fifty percent of all the treasures we find," Ian replied, his voice firm.
Luceran shook his head. "Not enough."
Ian and Liz frowned. They knew fifty percent was a generous offer. The map was theirs, after all.
Seeing their confused and thinking expressions Luceran explained.
"Look closely at the map. The ruins are in Solaris territory, not ours." He pointed out the location, then traced the Aldoras Mountains.
"We would have to take the mountain pass to stay under Solaris' radar, and that comes with immense risk. You could hire a mercenary group, but I doubt any would be willing to risk offending a rival empire without a much higher reward. You could also try to contact a noble in the Solaris Empire, but that's a political gamble. They might just take your map and the reward and leave you with nothing."
He leaned back, his eyes fixed on their troubled faces. "So, what's your answer?"
Liz broke the silence. "Your Highness, please give us a day to think about it."
"Of course," Luceran replied, a slight smile on his face. "You may contact me through the mayor if you need me."