"There's one I think would fit your needs. The people there are really troublesome," Karoline revealed after a bit of thought.
"I can be troublesome as well, can't I?" Lucian's voice came out deeper, and not just because of the mask.
She chuckled and continued, "The city is called Doomstone, and it is a place for the outcasts. They flee away whenever someone tries to claim them. They are always on the run, so no one knows their exact location."
"A moving City?"
"Yes."
"How do I find it?"
"You don't, they find you."
Karolaina explained that Doomstone was built around an ideal: that man was not the enemy of man, but rather a friend to his brothers. They did not raise their ranks to go into a war against each other, but against the Gods themselves.
Crazy revolutionaries existed in every culture, and Lucian wasn't sure if he wanted to be a part of another fanatic group.
"It's the only territory that would accept an outsider like yourself. Your mask won't be able to conceal the fact that you are a northerner, you know?"
"I'm not trying to hide that I'm a northerner."
Lucian depended on Savage's and Scythe's backing for protecting his trading business, and that's how far they would be willing to go.
He didn't want to break his image of a gentleman trader, but he also couldn't build military power without a reputation as a warrior. The mask was supposed to help him build it.
It was already working with how Karolaina tried not to act intimidated, her speech a bit more careful in fear of offending him.
Lucian removed his mask to show that he wasn't trying to scare her, and she immediately sighed in relief, then her mouth twitched when he put the mask back on, and then off, and on... and off again.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Karolaina waved her hands in protest, "No need to tease me."
Lucian tucked away the mask, "I'm sorry. I just had to get back on you for trying to set me up with your daughter."
Karolaina was speechless for a second before quickly regaining her composure.
If Lucian married into the south, he would have an easier time getting his hands on southern resources, but he refused to.
"Still, being a merchant is one thing, and being a foreigner who wants to take over their land is another," Karolaina warned Lucian carefully, realizing his ambitions were running wild.
"I'm not going to take over, just exchange a part of it for another," Lucian referred to how the Southern Alliance would obtain part of the northern region as a result.
Southerners were less corrupted, and Lucian was counting on them being less greedy with their gold, which they had in abundance.
He planned to raise the gold mine's operation costs, from defense costs, higher accident rate, making it more of a headache to manage, especially during war time.
"And you will appear with a solution."
"I will appear with relief." Lucian corrected her again with patience.
Karolaina looked taken aback, "You truly can make impossible sounds possible, can't you?"
Lucian didn't smile like he usually would have, "I can't do it alone."
"That's why you are not trying to do it alone," Karolaina pointed at herself.
"If only I had more people as helpful as you," Lucian praised her.
Karolaina laughed at the flattery as she listened to his orders, agreeing to make her daughter recommend Lucian's services to the King.
Lucian had created a web of connections throughout the Southern Alliance, all of them from a certain layer of the society, some right beneath the rulers.
"The northern merchant guild wants me gone and will stop at nothing to achieve it. I'm just looking for a refuge," Lucian explained how he wanted to avoid looking like a northern spy, "As a poor merchant who's afraid for his life."
"You are a lot of things, but poor isn't one of them," Karolaina made a small joke, "I don't believe the north won't come after you after that."
"They will," Lucian agreed, "Beg for my cooperation, just like how I begged them and they refused."
Any doubting southerner would look into Lucian's past and would find exactly what they wanted to see. A story of a poor boy from the streets that managed to climb up the ladder and was now being bullied for it by the corrupted north. How sad.
While the north would see a wronged businessman, who only wanted to contribute to the kingdom's welfare, become a part of the community, and was punished to a point he was forced to seek refuge in the enemy territory.
It was not like the merchant guild or the church were outright against him. Lucian was just blowing their small offenses towards him out of proportion, using it against them, so his actions would be justified in the eyes of others.
'Let's see if they will dare to accuse me of being a shackled again. This is the opposite of what a shackled would do, seek help, leave peacefully, and find another place to live in. I'm not even bothering anyone.'
Lucian promised to return for dinner, leaving Savage's palace.
He made Karolaina believe that he was on the south's side so it would be easier to persuade her to help him, and to believe that his intentions would benefit her family as well as southern people.
Southern women and children couldn't depend on castle walls for protection during war time.
They moved constantly with their husbands, managing logistics and supplies, and healing wounded.
Karolaina was securing her survival in the upcoming chaos, and Lucian was securing his success in the same chaos.
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"Um..." The girl that was peeking at Lucian from behind the tree approached him, "I... I made this for you, but you don't have to take it if you don't want to!"
She shoved a little bag into his hands and ran away, not waiting for his answer.
Lucian opened the bag to find homemade pastries inside, wondering what she would think if she knew her marriage prospects laid solely in his hands.
Would she still smile shyly, or would she be terrified instead?
It was a strange feeling to hold the fate of the people who were treating him with such kindness in his hands.
'Well, I'll try to get her the best marriage partner possible.'
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
So basically, Lucian is acting like he was forced to choose the South's side after being "abandoned" by the North like he didn't plan it from the beginning.
He is now preparing to make the north beg him to come back, and to give him an apology as well, for good measure. 🤡
He is a major trade power, and the pain of his absence is about to hit the north very soon.
The south will offer him a share of the gold mines to prolong the distress in the north and ease their problem with managing it.
Unless the north is brain dead, I doubt they would let go of a juicy steak that owns a gold mine.😁
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