“I’m sorry, but all I can say is that somebody else has paid an exorbitant amount of money to rent out this room.”

“Man, sucks that you guys already rented it out to us. Hopefully whoever it is isn’t too mad about it.”

Just as the man was about to say something else, a familiar yet unwelcomed face suddenly strode into the room, accompanied by at least a dozen people whose cultivation levels he couldn’t detect.

“Allow me to explain,” said Connick in a polite manner. “Hello again, Ms. Nyla, Mr. Nolan. My liege is making an unexpected visit to this city, and has ordered that the finest room in Tallgate be set aside for his use. It’s not just you lot; everyone else at this establishment is being asked to leave in order to make room for his retinue. In CMA territory, the words of a merchant lord are absolute, so I hope that you can understand.”

Nolan was more focused on the men behind him, none of which were recognizable from earlier. Connick’s aura was still detectable, which instilled a sudden worry within his heart that the men behind him were so strong that he simply couldn’t detect their auras.

“Delia. How strong are these guys?”

“I can’t tell. They’re likely hiding their auras with some sort of trinket or talisman.”

“Are you sure?”

“A merchant lord wouldn’t have so many subordinates that I couldn’t see through.” After a moment’s pause, “Let me fight them. Treasures like that are extremely valuable, and they clearly have twelve.”

Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t sensed Connick up until the man had entered the room, which meant that he must have been using a similar method of concealing his aura up until that point.

“No, just wait. I’ll contact you again soon.”

When Nolan didn’t answer, Connick glanced at Nyla and continued. “I know that this is terribly inconvenient, so I’m willing to refund you five times the amount that you paid for your stay. I hope you can accept my sincerity.”

Not including the tip, they had paid 170,000 spirit stones in order to stay for 20 days. Double this amount was quite a sum.

“To hell with that,” muttered Ian, irritation defining his voice. “Where are we supposed to go? There’s not a single room left in the city.”

“It’s okay,” sighed Nolan, who shook his head at his friend. “If we’ve got to leave, then we’ve got to leave. He’s just doing his job, so there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“I’m glad that you understand.”

Connick’s eyes lingered on Lyra as he looked over the rest of the group, Alicia and Aine having just come out of the other room after hearing unfamiliar voices. With long, golden hair and vibrant eyes of the same colour, pale, lengthy lashes and a delicate, well-defined face, Lyra looked completely contrary to her personality. Rather than a ruffian that enjoyed fighting and drinking in equal measure, one would expect the well-endowed, cherry-lipped girl to be the delicate or seductive sort.

As he stood there staring, one of the men behind him—all of which wore electric-blue clothes marked with the CMA’s sigil—stepped forward and whispered something into the man’s ears, which caused his exploring gaze to turn into one of annoyance.

“To the miss with the blonde hair. I’m told that you were the one that cut off one of my nephew’s hands. Is this true?”

“Um, no.”

The man from before stepped forth. “Don’t lie, girl. I was there at the tavern. I saw you do it.”

Lyra didn’t seem to care enough to continue lying. “Blame yourself for being too weak to stop me.”

“What did my nephew do to you, to make you act in such a way?”

Ian stood up and crossed his arms. “He tried to drag her off to his house, to do whatever it is that scumbags do. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and kept saying that if we didn’t let it happen that you would have us killed. Some nephew you have there.”

“So it was like this,” Connick sighed, appearing a bit embarrassed. “I apologize on my nephew’s behalf. This isn’t the first time that such a thing has happened, but I’ll assure you that it will be the last.” Taking another bag out of his pocket, he sent it floating over to Nyla with a guilty look. “That’s the wine that you two ordered, though twice as much. We weren’t sure whether we needed to keep more in stock for my liege’s arrival, so I had been trying to contact him at the time that you two walked out.”

The man seemed to be a decent person, which made Nolan dislike him further.

“Thank you,” she said, giving him a smile that only her friends knew was fake. “Forgive me for my ignorance, but can I ask a question?”

“Please, feel free.”

“I’m just wondering, how many merchant lords are there? We’ll be heading to North Island soon, so I’d like to know more about them.”

“Normally there are thirty, but since the war for the throne only ended a short while ago, there’re only a little more than half the normal number.”

“War for the throne?”

Connick raised a dark eyebrow. “You’re planning to go to North Island without knowing what a merchant lord is, or about the politics of the CMA?” His voice wasn’t judgemental, merely surprised. “If you’d like, you can remain here for a while after your cousin and companions depart, and I could give you a detailed explanation? As you’d imagine given my position, I’m quite in the know when it comes to such things.”

“If you wouldn’t mind, it would be a great help.”

Hearing her response, Nolan contacted May and told her to come here as soon as possible. While he was focusing on sending her the message, the chamberlain tossed him a spatial bag that contained 350,000 ordinary spirit stones, which he reluctantly stowed away. If what the man had said was true, then all of North Island was currently ruled by a bit more than a dozen people, one of which was Connick’s boss. It wouldn’t be wise to offend such a man, so he could only make sure that Nyla was safe in the event that she chose to manipulate the man into sharing some sensitive information with her.

“And you, miss…?”

“Lyra.”

“Miss Lyra, I extend the same invitation to you. We’ll be having a lavish banquet here tonight, though only for a small group of acquaintances. The finest herbs and meats will be on the menu, and we’ll be enjoying some of the city’s famous golden spirits as well. I feel quite ashamed for my nephew’s behavior, so this is the least I can do.”

“Golden spirits? I’ve never heard of them.”

“Please, take a look.”

Connick produced a silver bottle that was filled with the liquid in question, sending it over to Lyra. She snatched it out of the air and unceremoniously took a large sip despite the fact that the man had only been allowing her to examine it.

Her pale eyebrows jumped up in genuine surprise. “Wow, this is great. Okay, I’ll stay.”

Even though it had only been a minute or so, May suddenly appeared at the doorway, her heart-shaped face covered by a thin veil of semi-translucent fabric the colour of cloudy ice. Her body was still in the state of her seventeen-year-old self, though unlike when they had first met, she hadn’t altered her look to give her a chubby, more difficult to recognize appearance. Even so, the entirety of her face was currently obscured save for her stunning hazel eyes, her near-perfect body outlined by the enticing dress that she currently wore, which put much of her large chest on display.

“Hey everyone, I’m back!” Her shoulder-length hair was now the colour of dark, blended sands, the slightly curled strands bouncing along with each step as she calmly walked into the room. “Oh? I didn’t know we were having guests.”

As with when they had first met, she had used an unknown method to limit her surface cultivation to a lower level, in this case the eighth level of Integration.

“Hey Avril,” said Nolan, emphasizing her name so that the others would know not to use her real one. “I guess we need to leave because a merchant lord is expecting our room, so we’re just about to head out.”

“What a pity! I really wanted to stay in this room tonight.”

Nolan appreciated that she knew exactly what role to play despite the fact that he’d yet to tell her his intentions of having her come here. She had been observing the entire situation from afar, so she was already up to date on what was happening.