Chapter 100: Connections

It had been two days since Sargan and Noah left to complete Azaroth's mission. It would take them another day to reach the village and begin their fight against the village head and his administrators.

In the meantime, Azaroth had asked Laura to construct another house near the training grounds. It was smaller than the mansion she constructed for him and was shared by the three women.

Azaroth didn't want to kill his newly enlisted guards so he had to prevent Laura and others from meeting them.

This was one reason he never allowed anyone near the Training Grounds as it was situated farther away from the main town.

Food wasn't much of an issue as Azaroth could always bring it for them.

Sometime later, Sophie reached Kloras Town.

Azaroth sensed her coming before she was even reached the borders of Kloras Town's boundary. He didn't make a move at all.

Other than Sargan and Noah, all his retainers were training. There was little to no chance Sophie could encounter them coincidentally.

She should be able to reach his mansion after asking for directions from the men in the town.

After nearly half an hour, Sophie's carriage stopped ahead of Azaroth's wooden mansion.

The guard was surprised when a beauty stepped out of the carriage. Just by the looks of the carriage, he could guess that this beauty possessed a great background.

The guards stationed near Azaroth's mansion were just laborers a few weeks ago. They had never seen such a beautiful woman in all their life.

And thus, their eyes began to wander unconsciously.

Sophie didn't care about the way these guards glanced at her. She had long since gotten used to these sorts of glances from men.

Because of her beauty and special identity, many of the Noble Family Heirs invited her to their parties or banquets.

Many men would leer at her. They would try to hide it with a cordial smile or an indifferent expression.

Having seen that Azaroth attempted none of these lowly tactics was one of the reasons why Sophie liked him.

He was very open with her, whether it was the way he talked or his actions. He didn't try to do something unusual to make her feel special.

He was pleased to simply chat to her and go about his business, allowing her to have some privacy.

His company was far more refreshing than the posers from other Noble Families.

Even though these men were leering at her with expressions full of desire, Sophie spoke to them with a soft voice, "Call out for your mayor."

She wasn't speaking softly because she was that kind. Sophie had never cared about these lowly people.

The only reason she was kind was that she knew that they were now Azaroth's subordinate. Talking arrogantly or rudely to these guards would inevitably affect his prestige.

At the very least, she didn't want to affect his prestige for such an insignificant reason.

A guard soon appeared and informed him that Sophie had come. Azaroth walked down in rather casual clothing.

He appeared shocked to see Sophie.

"Now, that's a surprise," Azaroth called out with a smile.

"Hmph. I went out of my way to see you, and that's all you had to say to me?" Sophie joking asked Azaroth.

Azaroth just shook his head with a smile, "You have become even more silly."

Sophie puffed her cheeks in mock anger as she looked at Azaroth.

"But I can't say I dislike it," Azaroth said as he took a step forward and placed his palm over Sophie's head, "Thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time to visit with me."

Sophie's cheeks flushed with beet red color, "...It's nothing. I did inform my mother and she approved it secretly. She told me to contact them if I need anything urgently. She promised to hide it from my father and tell him that I just went to Farrah's house. He shouldn't try to look for me for the next few weeks."

Azaroth nodded his head and spoke, "Come inside. Let me show you your room and the mansion. Maybe then we can take a look around Kloras town."

Sophie's expression turned slightly serious as she heard him mention to look around Kloras Town.

She felt guilty that she couldn't protect this town and was unconscious at the most critical moment.

Azaroth noticed her expression and softly touched her hand, "Be brave enough to visit the graves of the warriors who gave their lives to protect us." His voice was quite stern.

Sophie slowly nodded her head and then spoke, "Then let's visit the graves first. I will check out the mansion and room later. Until then, you can have these guards place my things in the room."

"Good idea," Azaroth replied before giving some orders to the guards.

Azaroth and Sophie then began to walk towards the graves.

The guards continued to stare at the two until they were out of range.

As Azaroth was walking with Sophie, she asked him, "So what is your plan for this town?"

Azaroth paused for a few seconds to think before speaking, "It was tiring to begin administrating this town all alone. I had a friend's help to spread the news near Wrihull City so that merchants, farmers, and laborers. would come here. I gave away nearly 1 acre of land to merchants for free. For now, they sent their laborers and are constructing their mansions. They are going to start their business in their respective locations."

Sophie frowned and spoke, "Giving away 1 acre of land for free isn't really a good idea. I know you are lacking manpower and prestige so you need to spread the word quickly but it would have been more appropriate to give away half an acre of land for free."

Azaroth didn't deny her, "Perhaps. But I do have a plan in my mind regarding it."

"Hoh. What is it?" Sophie asked with a curious look.

"Within the next few weeks, I am going to ask my friend to issue a headline in all sorts of newspapers that it will be the last month for my offer to give away 1 acre of land for free to any merchant. There will be no restrictions to the kind of work they want to do. However, they will be required to start a business within 3 years. If they don't then the land would again belong to the Mayor." Azaroth spoke with a decisive look.

Sophie looked dissatisfied, "Wouldn't that just make the merchants angry? Nobody will come to buy the land."

Azaroth negatively shook his head, "You don't understand the mindset of the merchants. All their life, they try to increase their wealth. They grab any opportunity they can to increase their wealth."

"Once they hear that a piece of land was available for free then even if the land was worthless, they will still come and get it. They would try to negotiate the terms but there is no question they will buy it. Also, merchants are necessary to build better relations with the other towns or villages. Only when Kloras Town begins to form connections with other towns or villages can I begin to work on its military and territory expansion." Azaroth gave a brief summary to Sophie.

Sophie understood the gist of it, "It appears I can't help you much regarding it. I don't have a thorough knowledge of it."

"I do need your help but not in the administration. I can more or less manage it now. I need your assistance in spreading the word about this scheme. My friend will use my name to spread this information but my name isn't prestigious enough. Perhaps many will even be surprised that I am Jonas Rhodes' son. Moreover, my brothers will try to prevent it from spreading so effectively speaking, it wouldn't reach a lot of people." Azaroth spoke with a solemn expression.

Sophie now realized that even though Azaroth had a good plan, it wasn't as easy to execute it. Just tacking the first issue was quite challenging. That was for him though. She had a slight smile on her face.

"As far as I know, your area of influence isn't anything I can even guess at," Azaroth said, "You reside in the heart of the Kingdom and have met a variety of powerful individuals. You were also Acadia Academy's flower, therefore I'm sure many heirs of various Noble Families tried to court you so you have some connections with them. If you ask them for a favor, they will probably respond to you."

Azaroth looked pretty hesitant as he spoke the last line.

Sophie shyly glanced at him. She liked hearing compliments from him. But she felt that his tone at the end was pretty strange.

"Are you jelly?" She asked him with a smile.

Azaroth turned away his head. He didn't care in reality but acting like this was necessary right now.

"No."

"Aww. You are such a cutie. Don't worry, I don't care about any of those posers." She suddenly hugged him and whispered these words softly.

"…" Azaroth stayed silent the entire time as he was thinking deeply.

Sophie then spoke to him, "I don't need to contact those Noble Heirs to spread the information. Since your targets are merchants then the Vice-Head of the entire Merchant Union in Kloras Town should suffice. I remember he told me that I can contact him if I ever need something. Spreading this information should be an easy job for him."

Azaroth got out of her hug and grabbed her hand before speaking gently, "Thank you very much. This will substantially accelerate the restoration of Kloras Town."

"Hmm. Instead of thanking me, tell me what you did here? You have been here for more than a month." Sophie asked him with a curious look.

"Sure. But then it's your turn." Azaroth casually replied.

While they were walking, he told her about Noah, Sargan, and Ralph. Azaroth was puzzled about whether he should mention the women to her.

But he decided against it.

Ignoring her jealousy, if she informed her parents about it even casually and that Inquisitor Fox caught wind of it then that would be the end.

There would be nowhere to hide from that man. He would have to use his final plan and that was to fake his death and somehow leave everything behind and get out of the Sinyalian Kingdom.

He wanted to do his best to prevent things from reaching such a state now that he had been so patient and worked so hard on his retainers.

If Sophie had come with her guards, then it would have been challenging to prevent her from meeting Laura and others.

But now, it was easier.

He had to make sure to prevent her from reaching their training ground within this week.