Chapter 293 H&D
"No, it's nothing. Thank you. I will be taking my leave now. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything, and I hope you enjoy your stay in Lanthanor."
Picking up the trinket that had fallen to the ground, Daneel said these words and smiled warmly at Sister Xuan.
Although she had lost control of her emotions and hurt Eloise in the process, he liked the fact that she had the guts to own up to her mistake and not hesitating to use such a precious treasure instead of acting haughty and trying to depend on her backing to get away.
In people who had considerable backing, this quality was definitely something that was rare.
"I-I was just doing my duty. You have real talent, and I hope you join my Sect."
Stammering slightly and turning away to hide the blush on her face, Sister Xuan said so and wondered what was wrong with herself.
With his mind still filled with thoughts of his Master, Daneel noticed her actions but did not look too much into it. Nodding and walking out, he walked to his chambers with a hand on his chin, wondering just what connection his Master's meeting place had with the Big 4.
As for going for the selection and entering one of the Big 4, Daneel did not even consider this option. There was no way that he would give up on the Central Continent.
Still, it would be great if he could somehow learn their knowledge and spell model without being bound by such rules.
Of course, he had heard the prerequisite to becoming one of the Big 4: to have someone on the level of a Hero.
The Champion level itself was so far away from Daneel. Hence, it was just folly to think about Heros now.
Yet, Daneel had confidence that he would definitely reach it with the help of the system.
Getting back to his chambers, he called the one who was managing the Bank under Eloise.
The people of the Black Raven Kingdom were still slowly trickling into Lanthanor to visit the site of the memento. Although the swing in public favor had started due to the sincere gesture, it would still take some time before Faxul could put forward the proposal to unite with Lanthanor.
There was also still a month before he had to leave for the Hidden Kill Sect. Before then, his goal was to do everything in his power to push the Satisfaction level forward in order to earn EXP.
After all, the sense of urgency to upgrade the system had only grown after obtaining the knowledge that the Hidden Kill Sect might have a Champion level personage in their midst.
Also, back when he had gone to the Withering Leaf Sect, he had found an unbreachable area. That place definitely held the partial spell model that Sister Xuan had talked about.
Again, with the upgrade, he would be able to obtain it.
He had been keeping a close watch on the Valley of Mist, but none of the surviving members of the Withering Leaf Sect had tried to go back to their Sect Headquarters yet.
Taking the record about the bank from Eloise's Deputy, Daneel went through it but had to do so again because he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Someone had taken out a 20,000 Gold Lan loan?!
Seeing the details, he noticed that it had been authorized by Eloise, and that it was in the name of Helena.
Although he felt curious about why Eloise hadn't told him about it, he decided to ask her after she woke up.
"You can leave."
After the Deputy left the room, Daneel transformed himself into the same identity he had used when he entered the Black Raven Kingdom: that of an old man with a greying beard.
Checking the address which seemed to be outside the Capital, he left the Palace and headed to it to see what this mother and daughter duo were up to.
…..
Meanwhile, in a large warehouse which had been newly erected 10 kilometers away from the Lanthanor City.
Standing on a set of stairs that led to an office which was located in such a way that the entire warehouse could be seen from it, Helena had a wide smile on her face as she enjoyed the sound of many, many embroidery trinkets being handled to create beautiful pieces of art.
Beside her, Dalia, who had just come back from School, was holding a trinket in hand and listening to it.
"Mum, did you listen to the announcement from our King?"
The little girl still hadn't gotten over the embarrassment she had felt when she went tongue-tied in the presence of the King in the Palace.
Hence, she blushed slightly as this memory flashed through her mind again.
"Yes, it's a very noble gesture. I pity those poor families."
"Our teacher who teaches finance was saying that it would be great if the Black Raven Kingdom appreciates what our King did. He has a habit of daydreaming about certain things in class, and this time, he talked about how wonderful it would be if the two Kingdoms set down all their hostilities and suspicions and encouraged trade. He said that it would be something unprecedented in the continent, and that we would all benefit from it. I wanted to ask how, but the bell rang. What do you think, Mum? How would we benefit?"
Recently, with all the new knowledge that her daughter was absorbing, she had been having more and more questions that made Helena feel lost.
She actually felt very happy about this, making her bless the King again in her heart. She also wished that there was also a school for people her age, as even they would love to find out about the world and learn various things.
Although she usually deflected the question and asked Dalia to ask her teacher later, she felt that she knew the answer to this one.
"Well, for starters, it might be much cheaper to buy Raven Feathers directly from them. You know how much these atrocious traders charge."
Nodding with vehemence, Dalia said, "Ya, they really take pleasure in fleecing us."
"Also, the special cotton-"
As the two continued their discussion, a man teleported outside this warehouse and looked around.
It was Daneel. Quickly teleporting underground, he asked the system to analyze what was going on in the warehouse.
Hearing the answer, he was reminded of the proverb from Earth: "Necessity is the Mother of Invention."
He had already gone to the location where Dalia and Helena's house was, and had asked around about what had happened. It was then that he found out about the events of the mother and daughter being approached by the Embroidery guilds.
According to the system, there were rows and rows of tables inside with embroidery trinkets which were being used by many women and men who were laughing and chatting amongst themselves while going about their work.
There were actually many products: clothes with beautiful designs using enchanted materials, embroidery patches for decoration, colorful banners, scabbards, etc.
Each and every finished product had a single seal on all of them, and they were placed at a certain location in the warehouse which was marked as "For checking."
The seal was actually the thing that surprised him the most. It had the symbol of Lanthanor and the Lanthanore Family: An elegant L with a dragon coiled around it. In a circle around it, the characters "H&D" were written using a writing style that seemed to flow on the fabric.
Never could he have expected that this industrious couple would be able to figure out the franchise model from Earth.
As he continued watching, Helena walked to the section and checked each product before passing it on further down. She checked each and every inch of them, and even sent many back even if she found even the littlest problem.
Smiling wide to himself, Daneel started to make his way back to the Palace.
He had always wished that there was some product unique to Lanthanor that he could use to pull more people to the Kingdom to increase trade and development. Now, he had found one.
After all, on Earth, each and every country had a specific specialty that it touted as much as possible with the aim to increase revenue.
Just as he was about to teleport away, he heard a notification from the system that made him frown.
[3 people have been detected who are spying on the warehouse from locations East, West and North of host]