Over the next few weeks, there was only peace.
There were no new reports about the Beast Race or the Outers that came in, so Lin Fan was free to work on his pet shop.
With the income that came in and the surprising amount of support that they had, Lin Fan was able to open up a second pet shop in the second most populated business street.
He hadn't planned on it at first, but to his surprise, the nobles actually gave a proposal to the Lin Astral Emperor for this.
The nobles had all seen how effective Lin Fan's training was, so they had all swarmed to Lin Fan's store. However, there was the problem of there being a certain number of training spots in the first place.
If it was anywhere else, they would have used their influence to force the owner to give them the spots. However, since it was a store that was owned by Lin Fan who belonged to the Lin Astral Family, they couldn't do that.
If they dared cause trouble in a store owned by the Lin Astral Family, then it would be over for them in this Lin Astral Empire.
So of course they didn't dare do this.
But they were nobles and they did have some influence.
If there was something that they wanted, they would have a way of getting it.
So they all came together and made a proposal to the Lin Astral Emperor. They all requested that Lin Fan open a second store.
After all, if he opened a second store, then there would be more spots for them to bring their pets in for training. This was the way for them to get what they wanted without offending anyone.
Lin Fan hadn't been planning on opening a second store at first, but the Lin Astral Emperor couldn't do anything about it either.
It wasn't as if they were asking for much, so he should give the nobles what they wanted in these situations. Plus, it was a good way to establish Lin Fan's prestige among the nobles.
By increasing his fame as a monster trainer, there would be more and more people asking him for favours in training their pets. That would lead to less and less people wanting to offend him, as well as more and more people wanting to curry favour with him.
With more people wanting to get on his good side, there would be more people trying to protect him.
So this was a good thing for Lin Fan.
Lin Fan didn't want to open the second store since there was no need for him, but since the Lin Astral Emperor asked him, he couldn't do anything.
So the second store was decided on and it didn't take long for Lin Fan to get it ready to open.
The only problem was finding people to work in it.
That was quickly solved when the Lin Astral Emperor gave him an idea.
His cousins.
He had been training his cousins during this time as well as per the request of the Lin Astral Emperor.
When he was troubled over finding staff for his new store, the Lin Astral Emperor gave him a suggestion.
He suggested that Lin Fan use the cousins as his staff members.
Lin Fan was surprised to receive this suggestion from the Lin Astral Emperor, but he wasn't against it. He had already seen how Lin Hong had become a great employee with a bit of training, so he knew that the other cousins could become the same.
The only problem was that they were members of the Lin Astral Family, so it was hard for them to work a job like this.
After all, these were young masters and young misses who had never worked a day in their life at a menial job like this. So how could they accept working at this store?
That was of course easily solved by a single decree from the Lin Astral Emperor.
Even if they were young masters and young misses, the Lin Astral Emperor was the head of the Lin Astral Family. His words were the law of the Lin Astral Family, so they had no choice but to follow his orders in the end.
The excuse that he had given on the decree was that it was to give these cousins some real life work experience. This would help them in the future as it would give them the experience they needed.
The older members of the Lin Astral Family didn't agree with this, but they didn't say anything since the Lin Astral Emperor had spoken.
He still had this power in the Lin Astral Family.
At first, the cousins tried to resist Lin Fan's teachings, but they quickly learned their lesson.
It was the same as with their training. If they tried to resist, they would be beaten into submission.
But this time, Lin Fan was actually using his pets, so it hurt them even more when they were beaten by him.
It didn't take long before they all fell under him and started listening to his instructions.
On the first day that the store opened, the customers were shocked to see the staff members.
They weren't shocked because it was members of the Lin Astral Family serving them, but rather because of their faces. Every single one of them had faces that were beaten black and blue.
The customers tried asking them what had happened, but they all just dodged the questions.
That was because they could feel Lin Fan's gaze on them.
Not a single one of them dared to say anything. Not to mention that their pride wouldn't have allowed them to say it in the first place.
So they just worked in silence.
They were planning on gathering their strength and growing stronger to beat Lin Fan, even if it was a feeble hope.
Lin Fan glared at them, but he was actually satisfied with their work.
As expected of elites of the Lin Astral Family, they picked up the job quickly and worked efficiently. He wouldn't have a problem leaving the store to them if something came up.
And almost as if expected, there was something that happened.
On the day that Lin Fan opened his second store, there was a messenger that came from the palace.
He had a message from the Lin Astral Emperor for Lin Fan and it was urgent, so Lin Fan immediately headed off to the palace. Since he had these talented employees, it wasn't a problem for him to leave the store to them.
When he arrived in the palace, he was once again brought to the same meeting room as before and inside, it was the Lin Astral Emperor and Lin Jian waiting for him as usual.
Both of them had ugly expressions on their faces, so it was clear that something had happened again.
When Lin Fan came in, after the usual scanning from the array, he received a report.
When Lin Fan read through the report, he couldn't help knitting his brows as well and revealing an ugly look.
That was because this was a report from the frontlines.
It was a report that the Beast Race were officially invading their Lin Astral Empire.
It was unknown why the Beast Race had suddenly decided to invade the Lin Astral Empire, but they didn't exactly have time to consider this with the enemies already invading them.
But for the three of them, there was a more serious implication.
The location that the Beast Race had chosen to invade from, it was where Lin Ao and Yue Qingrou had been investigating the signs of the Beast Race.
Now that that place had turned into a battlefield, it was unknown if the two of them were still safe.
The Lin Astral Emperor could see the look on Lin Fan's face, so he said, "I've already sent a group out to find them and see if they are safe, but they haven't responded yet. It takes time for them to get there, especially since it's a battlefield now."
Lin Fan just knitted his brows without saying anything.
After a long silence, he took a deep breath and asked, "What do we do now?"
The Lin Astral Emperor and Lin Jian both gave sighs before the Lin Astral Emperor said, "I've already gathered the fourth and eighth armies. They will be heading out as soon as they've finished gathering supplies. They will be the ones in charge of rescuing the third army there and pushing back the Beast Race."
Lin Fan nodded since he knew a bit about the organization of the Lin Astral Empire's military.
The fourth army was the strike unit and the eighth army was the rescue unit, so they were the best armies for this job.
Lin Jian then suddenly said, "I'll personally go and lead the armies."
The Lin Astral Emperor immediately knitted his brows when he heard this before saying, "Jian'er, you can't act irrationally. I'm worried about Xiao Ao as well, but we can't just act on our impulses."
Lin Jian shook his head to refute this as he said, "The general of the fourth army is my old friend. You know that I work well with him and if I go, the morale of the army will be higher since they know that a member of the Lin Astral Family is with them. That would be the best move in this situation."
The Lin Astral Emperor knitted his brows when he heard this since he couldn't refute it, but he still couldn't accept it.
But before he could say anything, Lin Fan said, "I'm going as well."