Laura restlessly walked back and forth around the study. For her, Buffy had brought back really bad news.

She was sympathetic towards the Buda clan, but now that Buffy hadn’t completed his task, it would mean that the Purcell clan would have internal disorder. For her, this was definitely bad news.

If it hadn’t happened now, then it would have just been like other times where only the Purcell clan would become chaotic. Right now however, this was related to the lives of other humans. This meant that it wouldn’t only affect the members of the Purcell clan, but also the millions of commoners within the Purcell Duchy.

Quinn John frowned as he sat in the study. He really didn’t know what to do in this situation. They wanted to intervene with this issue, but if they failed to fix it, then they would fall deeper into the whirlpool.

The problem was that if they didn’t get involved, then no matter what the outcome was, the first ones to be in a bad situation would be them. So, they could only get involved.

However, involvement and participation were different. Getting involved was most essential as long as the opportunity and the method used was correct. Not only could they preserve themselves, but they could also receive the maximum benefit.

Suddenly, a servant ran from outside and bowed to Laura. “Young Lady, we just received a message. The Cena clan1 and several other clans have made their move. They didn’t raise the prices however. They only sent their representatives to the Second and Third Elders.”

Laura wrinkled her brow and waved her hand. “Go down and look for any new circumstances, then tell me right away.” The servant complied while bowing and retreated.

Laura looked at Quinn John and said, “Grandpa Quinn John, what do you think the Cena clan wants to do? Do they wish to help the Second or the Third Elders in order to gain a higher position?”

“I’m afraid this is the case,” Quinn John said, nodding. “If the Second or Third Elders really do form an alliance with them, then they would even give up on the food price action. So long as they could help either elder gain a superior post, they could then receive help in return. When that time comes, they will surely dominate the market throughout the whole Purcell Duchy. Their calculations this time is very fine.”

Laura frowned and said, “Then what should we do? Are we just going to wait until we are in a disadvantaged position?”

Quinn John’s eyes flashed. “Wait? Of course we cannot wait. If we become more passive, in the end we will be pushed aside by them. Don’t even think of looking at the matter of us helping the Purcell clan with regards to this food crisis, and that they would be grateful to us. That is useless. For them, so long as there’s enough benefits, they would sacrifice anything. What we have to do now is to send a representative to someone in the Purcell clan and give him our support. Even if he cannot win, at least he will have some right to speak in the Purcell clan. That is the way we can preserve our business.”

Laura was surprised for a moment and asked, “Who is it then? My fear is that the Cena clan already made contacts with the Second and Third Elders. Even if we go now, we’re too late.”

Quinn John slightly chuckled. “Do not forget that there is a person within the Purcell clan who also had authority. However, he helped the Buda clan and was forced to have his authority suppressed. Isn't this a good chance?”

Laura was surprised for a moment. She immediately thought of whom Quinn John was referring to. It was the titular Clan Lord, the Grand Duke of the Purcell Duchy, Evan.

Before, Evan’s power wasn’t much worse than the elders. Because he was young, he didn’t have much experience in political struggles. Adding to the fact that he had helped the Buda clan, his authority became suppressed by the greater elders. Along with him laying low, seemingly uncaring, this made him into a wooden, ornamental figure. This was also why Laura never really thought of him.

Quinn John looked at Laura, chuckling. “Recently, Evan has completely laid low and people have already forgotten his presence. But isn’t this just his wise plan? Does he really have nothing in his hands? False. Although his authority has been suppressed, he isn’t just a mere figurehead. He still has some power, but his recent forbearance kept it hidden, so people had forgotten he existed.”

Laura thought about it and said, “That does seem to be the case. Since the Buda clan issue, Evan has been very low profiled. Too low profiled that people have even forgotten about him. If he really does have some power in his hands, and we help him, perhaps he can grasp this opportunity.”

Quinn John continued to chuckle. “That’s what I mean. Right now, we need to break things down into two groups. First, meet Evan. Young Lady, you shouldn't be the one to come forward and meet him this time. This matter is widely known and the target is too big. So, I’ll handle that affair. You should immediately go to Mr. Zhao Hai and tell him about the situation here. Clearly talk to him about this so that Mister could also be prepared. ”

Laura nodded her head and said, “Alright, I’ll go immediately while Grandpa Quinn John can meet with Evan.” She walked out with Nier after saying that.

* * * * *

In Casa City, the large clans were all focused at the Purcell clan when people suddenly discovered that Laura sat in a carriage that was heading out of the city, straight towards the direction of Stony Mountain.

With Laura out of the city, it made those large clans relax. To be honest, they now had a knot of enmity with Laura, but they actually didn’t dare to move against Laura. Laura wasn’t just a member of the Markey Dell clan, but was also backed by a black magician with unfathomable strength.

These large clans also knew that the Purcell clan cooperated with Zhao Hai. At this level, doing this hiddenly and secretly wasn’t possible. Precisely because of this, those people felt the fearsomeness of Zhao Hai.

For a long time, Garan2 had been a famous and powerful Rank Eight light magician on the continent and was known as a difficult adversary for black magicians. Previously, he led an army along with a countless number of experts. Unexpectedly, they were silently exterminated, thus showing how terrifying Zhao Hai’s strength was.

These people all knew about the relationship between Zhao Hai and Laura. Zhao Hai had saved Laura’s life and also produced commodities, which he then allowed Laura to sell. This had settled to become an alliance between them. In this case, offending Laura was equivalent to offending Zhao Hai. Most importantly, Zhao Hai was a black magician, an entity they didn’t want to mess with.

These people thought that Laura was going to Zhao Hai to tell him about the current situation of Casa City. They were not worried so long as this move wouldn’t interfere with their plans.

Laura leaving the city wasn’t only to inform Zhao Hai about the current situation of Casa City. It was also to attract the attention of these large clans, which made it easier for Quinn John to approach Evan.

This time, Laura travelled faster than her previous journeys as it took less than half a day to reach Stony Mountain. Zhao Hai also received the message that Laura had arrived at the foot of the mountain. Green immediately received Laura at the mountain.

After Zhao Hai greeted Laura in the living room, he let her sit down and directly asked, “Miss Laura, are you here this time to talk about the Purcell clan’s incidence? I heard that the Purcell clan is now in a little bit of trouble.”

Laura knew of Zhao Hai’s intelligence gathering capability as she had experienced it before, so she was not surprised this time. She just smiled and said, “I’m afraid that this time, the trouble is not small. Rather, they are in big trouble.”

This made Zhao Hai stare. They didn’t fully understood what the situation of the Purcell clan was. Even Meirin and Green didn’t knew about it either.

Zhao hai was puzzled and asked, “Isn’t it just about the engagement being broken off? They wanted to kill people because of it, so what trouble are you talking about?”

Laura smiled. “It is how you said, Mister. Mister probably doesn’t know that this time around, the Purcell clan might have some civil strife.”

Zhao Hai frowned and said, “Really? You should be careful of what you’re saying.”

Laura nodded her head. “In the Purcell clan, the Clan Lord supposedly holds the highest authority. Then the Elders Assembly , wherein the First Elder is the existence that supervises the Clan Lord. Further on, the elders have the ability to impeach the Clan Lord in cases where he had significantly offended the clan.

“However, right now in the Purcell clan, the Grand Duke, Clan Lord Evan, doesn’t have much authority and power. Evan became the Clan Lord at a very young age. Since their clan’s First Elder, Kaiser, had been managing the clan’s affairs for so many years, it became the main reason why his influence is so strong. Seeing Evan being inexperienced, Kaiser took opportunities to suppress his authority. Later, he had heard of Evan’s friendship with the Buda clan. When the Buda clan’s disaster happened, Evan tried to help the Buda clan secretly. Due to this matter, his authority was suppressed even further. Now the power in the Purcell clan is concentrated in the hands of the three greater elders, with a large part of it in Kaiser’s hands while the other two elders had only a little difference between each other.”

Zhao Hai’s face was hidden under the magic robe while Green’s armor blocked off his face. Of course, this meant Laura couldn’t see their faces, so naturally, she didn’t discovered their looks of shock.

Especially for Green. Green hated Evan even more because of Evan’s previous friendship with Adam’s father. He thought that when they had gotten into trouble, the Purcell clan had added insult to their injuries and he thought Evan was the one pulling the strings. Now he knew that Evan helped them secretly, even paying such a large price because of it3.

Laura saw that the two men4 didn’t say anything, so she continued, “This time, the Buda clan’s Head Servant suddenly appeared in Casa City to break off the marriage engagement they had with the Purcell clan. Kaiser saw that the Buda clan’s Head Servant Green was already a Peak Rank Eight expert. For fear of retaliation once Green breaks through to the Ninth Rank, they asked their Guardian Deity, Buffy, to kill him. However, they didn’t think that Green would have an ancient magic tool that unexpectedly allowed him to escape.

“Buffy then went to the Black Waste to chase down the Buda clan, but he didn’t find them. This became Kaiser’s utter failure. He had been the one to initiate the plan to please and request for the Rank Nine Guardian Deity’s assistance, which was a big move. This time, Kaiser had forcefully advocated for this plan and finally, it didn’t succeed which is a great blow for Kaiser. Now, the large clans in Casa City have taken the opportunity to initiate contact and cause competition among the elders. It seems like civil strife for the Purcell clan will be inevitable.”

Notes:

- This chapter was MTL'ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice.

- Please support the author if you love this novel.

- Please check out the Editor's footnotes, thanks.

1 辛亞 - Xīn yà. Shif did a good job converting this into Cena. ↩

2 伽藍 - Qiélán. He seems to be spoken of a lot as the really famous one time antagonist who died in, like, a few paragraphs… Anyways, there’s no problem with his previously transliterated name. ↩

3 Honestly, this kind of contradicts the previous chapters where it said the Night Shades had memories and knowledge of the Purcell clan and knew about the emergency bell AND that Evan was a figurehead. Zhao Hai and Co. should have already known all this. At the very least, they should have known he didn’t have the power to add insult to injury (overused saying by now) or to request a Rank Nine’s help. *shrugs* ↩

4 Sexist btw. Zhao Hai could easily be a woman. He’s wearing thick robes and a hood that covers his features. Plus, he has dainty hands. Changing voice is an easy skill...