My Kingdom Building Done Right!

Chapter 203: White Falcon Merchant Guild

"Bread?" Zen, the President of the White Falcon Merchant Guild, looked at the pieces of bread inside the basket served at their table. "Interesting. These pieces of bread have different textures. This one is soft, while this one is firm."

As he took a bite of the harder bread, his expression immediately changed.

"Delicious!" Zen exclaimed. "What’s this?! How did they bake it to become like this?!"

Seated across from him were none other than Godwin and Tianna, who were currently hiding their true appearances with disguise magic.

Whenever they took these appearances, they would go by the names Conrad and Natalia.

The father-daughter pair also served as the White Falcon Merchant Guild’s Vice-President and Secretary.

While Zen was gushing over the taste of the different breads on the table, Godwin was more focused on trying to listen to what the chieftains were talking about at Leone’s table.

It was quite unfortunate that he was too far to hear anything, which made him feel a little helpless.

However, even if he couldn’t hear their voices, he could infer from the serious expressions of his peers that their discussion concerned a very serious topic.

For a brief moment, Godwin regretted not coming to the Aslan Tribe in his original form.

An hour later, everyone finally finished eating. It was also around that time that Leone finally stood up and spoke up to catch everyone’s attention.

"I know all of you are tired from your journey, so I have prepared temporary lodgings for all of you," Leone said. "Aside from the Darkmane Tribe, everyone may use these lodgings for as long as they wish."

The young man then shifted his attention to the warriors of the Darkmane Tribe, whom he had purposely excluded from the VIP group.

"As for you guys, you may now head back to your tribe," Leone stated. "I’ve given you enough grace. Your commander lost the duel, yet I still acted like the bigger person and allowed him to leave this place in one piece. Go back to your tribe and tell that dog, Troy, to hurry up and send his army here into my domain. That is all. Please leave while I’m still being nice."

The warriors of the Darkmane Tribe glared at Leone after hearing that. However, they didn’t voice any complaints. They didn’t want to stay any longer either, so the feeling was mutual.

Ivan was then carried toward one of the carriages. He was still unconscious. Although Logan held back a bit, that didn’t mean the commander didn’t suffer any serious injuries during their battle.

Several of the commander’s bones had been broken by the Orc and needed immediate attention. The only saving grace was the presence of a few shamans, who had quickly come to aid and prevented the worst-case scenario.

"Ah, right. Before you go, tell him that a Monster King has been born in the west," Leone added. "I don’t care what he does with this information, but I don’t want anyone to say I didn’t warn him."

Godwin’s expression turned solemn after hearing that a Monster King had been born. He then glanced at the chieftains by the young man’s side and noticed that they seemed to already know this information.

’Was that the reason they all looked serious earlier?’ Godwin mused.

The warriors of the Darkmane Tribe looked doubtful. However, since only their chieftain has the right to decide what to do with this information, they decided to just report it as it is when they got back.

When the pests finally left, Leone then asked Ulric and Jason to guide their guests to their temporary lodgings.

He would take it upon himself to escort the chieftains, as well as the heirs of the high-ranking tribes, to their VIP villas.

Just as he was about to leave, Zen hurriedly approached the young man. He made sure to stop at an appropriate distance before bowing to Leone respectfully, for he didn’t want the warriors protecting the chieftain to attack him.

"Greetings, Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe," Zen said with a smile. "My name is Zen. I am the President of the White Falcon Merchant Guild. I am in charge of the trades conducted in the territory of the Warclaw Tribe. If possible, can I have a word with you regarding some money-making businesses?"

Godwin and Tianna stood behind Zen, playing their roles as merchants. Just like Zen, they also gave Leone a brief bow, a necessary pleasantry they must do in order to avoid raising any suspicions from the young man.

However, little did they know that their efforts were futile. The very moment they approached Leone, Daedalus had used Appraisal on them to ensure that they weren’t assassins or any hostile group in disguise.

What the grimoire saw was quite a surprise. It didn’t expect that they would have two more VIP guests who had secretly come to the Aslan Tribe to see its Master.

"Perfect timing!" Leone replied, returning Zen’s smile. "You can come with us as well. I plan to guide everyone to their VIP accommodations."

"Thank you very much, chieftain!" Zen smiled happily. He was a portly man, but he wasn’t too fat. He had an honest face that made clients want to trust him, which also helped with his business.

For the time being, Leone wasn’t aware of Godwin and Tianna’s disguises because Daedalus decided to withhold that information for later.

It might not be a good idea to inform him about the fact that the Chieftain of the Warclaw Tribe was actually there. At least, he would wait until he and Leone were in some place more private.

"The hike up the mountain may not be for everyone, so we’ve prepared a few carriages to take you up," Leone said. "Please, follow me."

The young man had sensed that the middle-ranked chieftains weren’t too keen on mingling with the high-ranking tribes, so he had asked Kael to prepare two carriages for their trip up the mountain.

He then asked them if it was fine for them to share the carriage with Zen and his two assistants. Since the three chieftains didn’t seem to mind, Zen joined them, while Leone shared a carriage with Hagen and the others.

Hagen had heard about the fortress of the Aslan Tribe. Though after seeing it for the first time, he had to admit that it was more impressive than he had originally expected.

However, one question remained.

How did such a fortress appear in Grimjaw Mountain?

Unable to hold back his curiosity, he decided to ask the young chieftain the question that had been on his mind for quite some time.

"How long did it take the Aslan Tribe to build this fortress?" Hagen asked. "It hadn’t been there when the Alborin Tribe fought against the Black Wolf Tribe. And it hadn’t been that long since the Bloodtusk Tribe’s attack followed. By then, the fortress had already been built.

"Even if I am very generous with my estimate, I still think it’s impossible for a fortress this big to be built within a month."

Leone smiled faintly. He understood where Hagen was coming from since even the defensive ramparts of their fortress back in the Kingdom of Britannia took a few years to complete.

Fortunately, he already had an answer prepared for this question.

"It is one of the trump cards that the Aslan Tribe has in its arsenal," Leone replied. "What people take years to build, we can build in a short period of time."

"Is this the reason why you are confident in winning against the Darkmane Tribe?" Malik inquired.

"It is one of the reasons," Leone answered. "We have many other trump cards we look forward to testing in the upcoming war. Frankly, I don’t think that the Darkmane Tribe stands a chance at this point. However, I’ll still give them the benefit of the doubt."

Everyone was dying to know what these trump cards were, but Leone only smiled, and dodged their questions.

Last, but not the least, If Hagen only knew that Leone had built the fortress in less than ten minutes, he would definitely regret his decision of not taking his alliance with the Aslan Tribe seriously.