Chapter 382 – 5th Successor Enters the Stage

The Radiant Church was ill-prepared for the recent actions of the Rosen Empire. Because of this, they didn’t know how to make a turnaround. These years they had been sitting comfortably, they didn’t think that the empire would raise their hand against the church.

In the beginning, they didn’t realize how terrifying the empire’s actions were, but it was too late when they did. Adding on to the fact that they didn’t have a great relationship with the Rosen Empire, the time frame for acting against the empire has already passed.

However, the Radiant Church still made its counterattack in the nations aside Rosen Empire. They exerted their influence inside the nations’ territories, of course they didn’t act against other Mages aside from those who practiced Dark Magic.

But they were destined to be disappointed. The Calci family already took into account the retaliation of the church, so they issued a warning to everyone inside the League of Dark Mages. They instructed their members to immediately escape because the Radiant Church may surround and capture Dark Mages this time.

This time, the Radiant Church conducted some operations against Dark Mages, but their results weren’t ideal. They had already tracked the Dark Mages, but those who weren’t captured immediately all ran away. It was too late to capture them right now.

Naturally, all of these matters didn’t have anything to do with Zhao Hai. This time, the total profit that he gained from his delivery to Sky Water City was about 200 thousand gold coins. This number wasn’t small, one should know that a delivery made by an ordinary five-masted ship, even if it was delivered to the Beastmen Prairie, wouldn’t reach this much value.

At this point, nobody has quite any idea about the total value of the goods that Zhao Hai brought. But the great nobles already had a ballpark figure, just by judging from the 50 thousand jin of fire fishes that were supplied, 100 thousand gold coins would suffice. This profit made the other nobles feel giddy.

But nobody could really know the exact price that Zhao Hai placed on the fire fishes. But this didn’t curb the other nobles’ speculation. In their minds, even if it was worth 50 thousand, not 100 thousand, gold coins, the value was still not a small number. It was necessary to know that a noble family’s annual income came to about 100 thousand gold coins, and this was already for large noble families. Small Noble families would find it impossible to gain such an amount of money. For the profits gained from the fire fishes to reach half of a large noble family’s annual income was something that the nobles were extremely startled about.

It was not only the Nobles who were surprised by this, even the Calci Family weren’t expecting such outcome. It was known that the Calci Family were quite lax in managing their assets. For example, all of the matters in Sky Water city were mostly placed on Smith’s hands. Only when a major situation happens would the family step in and make the decisions.

Smith already reported the Fire Fish business to the family, but they didn’t believe that 40 thousand Fire Fishes would be supplied each month. This was because, in their opinion, this undertaking was impossible. The continent didn’t have a hot spring large enough to satisfy this demand. If hot springs weren’t used, the only alternative was to artificially set the temperature where the Fire Fishes were thriving, and this in itself was also impossible since the cost would be too high.

One should know that rearing fire fishes using hot springs would take a very long time. Generally, fire fishes would take two to three years to mature. If immature Fire Fishes were served, the taste would be very subpar.

Because of all of these reasons, output of Fire Fishes couldn’t be consistently measured. But now, someone claimed that they could supply 50 thousand fire fishes per month, this matter was simply too unbelievable.

In any case, this matter wouldn’t impact the family negatively. The money would only be paid when the fire fishes arrive, and the equipment built to house the fire fishes could also be used to hold other types of fish. Thus, the family didn’t stop the cooperation.

When Zhao Hai finally delivered the fire fishes to Sky Water City, the Calci Family was unable to sit still. They couldn’t understand how Zhao Hai could produce such numbers of fire fishes, this matter was too strange.

Naturally, Smith was adamant on not asking about Zhao Hai’s methods. He knew that it would be impossible for Zhao Hai to tell him. But the Family actually pressured him to get the methods of fire fish production from Zhao Hai.

This action from the family was extremely disliked by Smith. He thought that the family was acting in bad faith, Zhao Hai was willing to supply the family, but getting the methods from him was already going too far; it was his personal trade secret. In this case, wasn’t asking for Zhao Hai’s methods the same as digging for his secrets? This was something you do to enemies, not friends. This made Smith strongly oppose the family’s decision.

Of the Calci Family, it was Smith who made contact with Zhao Hai the longest. He was very clear about Zhao Hai’s disposition. He knew that Zhao Hai would rather die than face humiliation. If the family were really adamant on acquiring Zhao Hai’s methods of raising fire fishes, it may even turn Zhao Hai into the family’s enemy.

Smith knew how formidable Zhao Hai was. Zhao Hai becoming the family’s enemy is no laughing matter. The Calci Family’s power was inferior to the Radiant Church. For Zhao Hai who offended the Church to roam around this freely was testament to Zhao Hai’s personal might.

Smith felt that the higher-ups in the family were sometimes quite short-sighted. People like Zhao Hai were more suitable to be befriended, not to used. If they really were to place pressure on Zhao Hai, then someone would certainly suffer.

At the same time, this matter made Smith feel strange. Although the family was short-sighted, they were very tolerant towards Dark Mages. The interests of Dark Mages were generally left alone by the higher-ups. So what happened this time?

Zhao Hai is a member of the League of Dark Mages. Although he wasn’t an elder or someone influential, he still provided substantial help to the League. If someone from the family actually went and pressured Zhao Hai, the consequences would certainly be inconceivable.

Smith had thought of one possible reason, this may have been something that his 5th brother concocted in order to gain more benefits.

Calci Family, like all other great families, also had a competition for the the position of Patriarch. Currently, there were four suitable candidates for the position inside Calci Family; The Eldest child Peter, Second child Smith, Fourth child Mike, and the Fifth child Juwan.

Peter was the first-in-line successor of the Family. He’s continuously present inside the Family’s headquarters helping the Family with their matters. He is also an important member of the League of Dark Mages. One could even say that almost all of the matters regarding the league was handled by him.

The Second Child Smith governs the Family’s purse, Sky Water City. Although he hasn’t been contributing to the matters at the headquarters, he still did a great job managing Sky Water City. He had brought tons of gold coins to the family, making his position in the family quite high.

The third child Dillan was an abnormality, he was a cultivation freak. Although he was indeed very formidable, he didn’t have the qualities to be a good Patriarch since strength wasn’t important in such a position.

The fourth child, Mike, is the diplomat of the Family. He was always present when it came to the Family’s social obligations. The fact that he Calci Family didn’t have enemies inside the Rosen Empire as well as the fact that the Radiant Church had a hard time entering the territory was all due to him. His contributions to the family were quite large, and his network of contacts outside was also extremely wide.

The fifth child Juwan was an attractive strawbag, devoid of wisdom. He only takes into consideration his own personal being. Seeks small benefits while forgetting righteousness. But his mouth was quite flowery, gaining his father’s favor. Also, he always wanted to be the Patriarch. Along with his gang of sleazy villains, they were quite the formidable power inside the Family.

Smith knew that although Peter was struggling to take the position of Patriarch, he would never think of harming the family. He was already managing the family for all these years, he certainly valued it dearly. The only candidate that would force Zhao Hai could only be Juwan.

Smith was quite annoyed at Juwan. He was a typical black sheep. If he wanted to play around, then that’s fine, but he always wanted to scramble for power as well as getting in between things. He didn’t contribute anything useful to the family, only harm.

Smith also knew that this wasn’t just about the successorship. It was certain that some people in the family were quite envious. A supply of 50 thousand fire fishes could net them at least 200 thousand gold coins after further processing. And this was pure profit, all other expenses were already deducted.

A minimum of 200 thousand per month was about 2 million gold coins in a year. Even if someone chooses to ignore this profit, they wouldn’t be able to hold themselves for too long. The elders of the family should’ve been stunned by such figures, and it was certainly Juwan’s doing that the family was currently heading the wrong direction.

Not only did Smith decline the family’s command, he also wrote a strongly worded letter back. He stated that Zhao Hai was better off left alone, otherwise the family would certainly suffer and lose big.

However, he didn’t feel assured. He knew that the elders back at the headquarters were very stubborn and arrogant. Although they were pressured by the Radiant Church all these years, their old bones didn’t give in. To the elders, everyone should clear the way when the Calci Family name gets mentioned.

In reality, Smith also held the pride of an old noble family inside himself, but he wasn’t excessive like the family elders. He knew that reputation wasn’t enough, the family needed strength. Only strength could decide a Clan’s future.

Pressuring other people with the status of a Clan wasn’t the right way. The family should be collecting talents, they should find and recruit strong and talented individuals and make them belong to the family. Also, there were people who might fight back when faced with pressure, Zhao Hai was one of those examples.