Chapter 104 - Three Fronts

Two months passed quickly...

During them Robin did not leave his room, the only thing he was opening the door for was to receive food from Mila's hand.

Yes, Mila! After Mila decided to stay in the Burton family, she decided to live in the guest building with Robin and Zara.

Her idea initially was to get close to her fiancé to try to change their previously cold relationship to be more warm and intimate.

In this society, formal engagement is considered a bond as strong as marriage, or it can be described as being the same as marriage without having sex.

It's not like one of them can cancel the engagement at any time and end the matter, if this happens and the engagement breaks up, Mila will be considered divorced!

So she immediately began making attempts to get Robin to love her, as now he has become her destiny... but her attempts were met with indifference.

When she first came to deliver the food, he was surprised to see her, but after exchanging a few polite sentences like those between strangers, he took the food and went back to what he was doing...

The atmosphere was even worse than before their engagement!

And this got worse and worse for her over the next period... After a few deliveries, even the polite sentences were gone, the heartless Robin was opening the door, taking the food, and closing again quickly. 

Sometimes he meets her with an excited smile and sometimes with a frown... But she knew that these feelings were clearly due to something going on in his head, and not because of seeing her!

But she didn't give up... She kept delivering the food and he kept ignoring her presence. 

The process was repeated for the first month and a half...

Until a day when she came, as usual, to deliver the food to Robin, she heard him laughing madly from behind the door!

But after hesitating a little and was about to go back and let him continue what he was doing, in the end, she decided that she should share this moment with him as his fiancée, and she knocked on the door

*knock knock* 

The hysterical laughter stopped and she heard Robin's footsteps coming towards her...

But when Robin opened the door this time he did not take the food as usual, but came forward suddenly and then extended his hand and grabbed her hair and pulled her towards him,

and kissed her hard on her lips!!

Then he took the food, got inside again, and closed the door in a hurry, leaving Mila outside standing in shock...

Mila stood there for a few seconds trying to comprehend what had just happened... but in the end, she smiled a satisfied smile and then turned and left.

She realizes that Robin is probably pleased that he has made progress in his research and the reason behind this kiss certainly had nothing to do with her.

But she was happy that Robin used her to express himself.

At least her daily attempts have finally succeeded in lifting the barrier between her and him

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...this kiss wasn't the only important thing that happened during the two months period, outside the closed doors of the guest building, things are getting more and more complicated

The Great Jura Auction was launched in a grand celebration, and all the seniors and officials of the kingdom were invited to attend this *first gate to purchase talismans*

it was not like any other auction ever held, this was the one and only of its kind!

It was under the direct supervision of the Patriarch and Billy Burton, and even Saint Edward and Mila and a few others from the Bradleys came to help stabilize such a huge event

For the first time in their history, if even for one night, Jura City has become the heart of the Black Sun kingdom... all eyes and ears were focused there

Until this point, the word *talisman* was just flying around after its appearance in the latest war, but it was just gossip, no one really knew what these talismans were

At the beginning of the auction, the talismans were officially announced for the first time. 

so the talismans of fire, darkness, and vitality talismans were introduced to the public for the first time officially...

The details and uses of these talismans astonished the minds of everyone, especially the talismans of darkness and vitality, which were not as famous as the talismans of fire.

Even the fire talisman that is announced and auctioned was at the tenth level and not the sixth as they have heard, at this level, the talisman can be an excellent tool of defense for any noble who is young or unable to train!

after that, the Patriarch stoop on stage and proudly announced that they also sell the spirit Revitalizing Pills that appeared at the Bradleys' annual auction lately, and Mila herself testified in front of everyone that the pill really had the promised effect and it helped her breakthrough to the 25th level.

the crowd went into an uproar over this!

No saint in the kingdom exist and did not hear about that magical pill, the first real pill that might help a saint breakthrough... and Mila even confirmed that for them!

but their enthusiasm quickly died down and was replaced with disappointment...

Patriarch Brain announced that the grandmaster who provide the pills didn't send any third level pill that is usable by the saints, and today they will only sell the pills of the first level in patches and only 4 pills of the second level 

the crowd went into an uproar again but it wasn't very positive this time, they did not shut up before the patriarch said that there will be third level pills in the future and that it will only be for those who attend all the auctions that will be held monthly and those who buy the most.

After so much drama, the first auction of its kind finally started.

Everyone competed to buy the dozens of talismans that were put to sell on that day, even if they didn't really need them, this was a historical event that they wanted to leave their fingerprints upon.

the 4 second-level spirit Revitalizing Pills alone made 60,000 gold coins, and the Vitality talismans were auctioned for about 2000 each!

it was unfortunate that Zara didn't make many talismans in that period, but they still achieved a net profit of 230,000 gold coins... 

This represents nearly two years of the total profits of the entire Burton family... and was earned in a single day!!

After the sale of the last piece of the vitality talisman, it was confirmed that the new Great Jura auction hall will be dedicated to hosting a monthly auction for the sale of talismans, which was widely welcomed by the audience.

It was also announced that the Burton family would recruit old knights who were no longer able to enter the battlefields and would be properly paid... and that anyone with above-average soul power strength could come and work for the Burton family at a good salary as well.

The announcement was strange for everyone... this was the first time they had heard of such strange recruiting requirements, but it was also welcomed, many of those here knew people with these qualities in their families...

As long as they can't benefit from them, sending them to the Burton family where they are paid well was the best option, at least They will have an inside information source that will bring them news of the talismans!

After this day, a few people with these qualities started to silently stream towards Jura City…

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As for the more extreme front...

The area recently acquired by the Burton family is home to tens of millions of citizens... and somehow they have to subjugate them all to the new rule with an army of 25,000 soldiers.

No one anywhere would be willing to change his nationality overnight, and as simple as that, armed rebellion flared up and increased day by day.

The war to subdue the rebellion became so intense that two of the three Bradley Saints joined the army in the New Lands, bringing with them dozens of Bradley knights. 

in addition to the three already existing Burton saints there, there are now a total of five.

Each saint escorted 5,000 soldiers and a few knights, forming five independent armies, and then they moved individually to subdue the cities one by one by force.

The numerical difference between the two parties is just horrible... But due to the lack of a typical army on the rebels' side and also the lack of strong personals like any knight and saint with them, it balances the scales somewhat.

Just the Saints' presence alone should have been enough to eradicate all resistance, but something is going terribly wrong...

The problem is that after killing the rebels in the cities, the people of that city become increasingly angry and reject the *brutal occupier* from the kingdom of the Black Sun even more.

The number of Burton Army soldiers is declining at a rapid pace due to the many confrontations, as the numbers of the rebels are increasing at a shocking rate after seeing the blood of their brothers being spilled...

The situation is getting worse with every passing moment.