Above The Sky
Chapter 147 - 147 136 The Appraiser in a Rotten World

147: Chapter 136: The Appraiser in a Rotten World 147: Chapter 136: The Appraiser in a Rotten World Three months had passed since the Inspector Knight named “Melodious” mysteriously disappeared in Harrison Port.

Just as Viscount Grant had said, the Imperial Capital did indeed issue a severe warning to Harrison Port at first, but after receiving a recorded video cassette sent by an anonymous passing friend, the expected punishment no longer followed.

At a dinner with old acquaintances, Elder Prude heard the Viscount boast about his well-informed sources—the Imperial Capital and the Western Grand Duke had a slight disagreement.

One side believed they had taken on the task of confronting the countries of Fiery Flame Land and urgently needed massive support, while the other side felt that Duke Sorin’s demands were simply insatiable.

If given what he asked for, what was the difference between that and allowing Duke Sorin to declare himself king?

—No money, no fortress construction!

—Don’t build if you don’t want to, let’s see who ends up panicking!

This was clearly bad news.

If the Imperial Capital and Duke Sorin really started blaming each other and neglecting the western front, then cities like Harrison Port in the Southern Province would face complete trade disruption, isolation from civilized society, and would only be able to wait and surrender to the countries of Fiery Flame Land.

If everything indeed developed in such a way, then the situation would move towards the theoretically worst direction.

But the good news was, things were also in chaos on the side of Fiery Flame Land!

—They are all Terra People, all Human nations.

There’s no reason why the Empire should fall apart while Fiery Flame Land stays intact!

As the Imperial Capital and the Western Grand Duke were at loggerheads, the two great ruling bloodlines of Upper and Lower Flame Domains, the Nemathas Alliance and the Abassalom Alliance, were at each other’s throats over the leadership of the fortress clusters.

The nations of the Nemasis Bloodline had been the main opponents facing the Empire across the great desert in the past, with the support of the Abassalom Bloodline countries from behind, leading to the Nemathas Alliance holding the main say within the league of nations.

In recent years, there had been no conflict between the Empire and Fiery Flame Land, and the caravans of both sides traveled through the desert to trade with each other, yielding astonishing profits and thus strengthening the Nemathas Alliance even further.

Now, the Abassalom Alliance had opened a mountain pass between two mountain ranges.

Whether in trade or war, the initiative lay in the hands of the Abassalom Alliance who had better and closer routes—obviously bad news for the Nemathas Alliance, which had already seen itself as the leader of Fiery Flame Land.

How could they possibly accept it?

As the permanent chairman of the Thirteen Country Alliance of Fiery Flame Land, the leader of the Nemathas Alliance, the ‘Tengsha King’ Bolang Nemathas, demanded part of the jurisdiction over the fortress clusters from the other side or an enormous trade security deposit instead.

This proposal wasn’t too outrageous…

after all, it was the Nemasis who fought the war and guarded the gates, sacrificing so many lives and paying such a heavy price.

Peace had hardly been achieved when the Abassalom wanted to reap the benefits?

But how could the other side accept this?

The interests and reasoning in between couldn’t be clarified at all because no one intended to clarify them.

In short, until the two alliances resolved their superiority and inferiority, the Empire didn’t have to worry about the day a united front of Constructed Knights would roam the plains of the northern shore, because they would knock each other’s brains out first.

Both sides were rotten to the core.

The Empire and Fiery Flame Land were in a heated contest of who could be worse, and of course, the Imperial Capital had no energy to concern itself with the death of a Second Energy Level Peak Inspector Knight in Harrison Port…

Rather, his death was a good thing!

Surely it was Duke Sorin who had killed him!

There was no need to think of a reason; seven or eight could be found easily enough, and couldn’t they make one up if there wasn’t?

And of course, Duke Sorin would not stand to be slandered.

He accused the Imperial Capital of using his name to eliminate the last remnants of the Dark Moon unrest and defaming his reputation for a two-fold benefit, utterly inhumane and enraging to gods and men alike!

The Imperial Capital could never admit to such a thing—Melodious Knight Weyges was loyal to the emperor and the country, a sworn enemy of the rebellious groups from the Dark Moon unrest in the past, even personally annihilating many of the traitors who had trespassed the royal court.

He was the emperor’s good knight, the people’s good helper, and an exemplary role model for all the Inspector Knights!

Now he had died next to your sphere of influence; it was you who killed him.

No excuses!

His life was precious, worth paying extra for!

Viscount Grant was not a supremely intelligent man, but he truly understood the Empire and had seen through everything, contentedly receiving aid from both sides while smiling and enjoying the show.

After all, it truly wasn’t he who killed the man.

Calling a Spirit Energy User to verify would be fine, as it had nothing to do with him at all; even the White Mist Bishop of the Huai Guang Church could testify to that.

The bigger the fuss, the better it was, for the larger it grew, the more parties needed to take a stand, and just before they did, someone like him who was on the fringe could take advantage of the situation and reap some benefits.

Indeed, since a year ago, caravans from the Imperial Capital and even the Western Province had been arriving one after another, bringing great joy to the Lord Viscount.

—He had thought that life would be difficult once aids were cut off, but it turned out there was no shortage of subsidies and merchant convoys!

It wasn’t just about subsidies either; the collaboration between Harrison Port and the Tenglan Tribe was proving to be quite successful.

Now, the vast resources of the Great Redwood Forest Zone and the South Ridge coastal area could finally be sold in large quantities, thanks to the channel of demand for war preparations.

Fishermen had money, hunters and herb gatherers grew rich, and naturally, the number of merchants increased too.

As Harrison Port’s control expanded, an increasing number of rare catches that had never been seen before, as well as precious Magical Beasts and Sublimation Plants that had never been hunted or gathered, began to appear.

The abundance of resources, all sorts of exotic creatures, Demonic Beast Materials, and Sublimation Plants of unknown value…

All these elements made discerning eyes increasingly important.

Those who knew the value of these items could easily accumulate wealth.

Some made a fortune overnight, some lost treasures painfully, some sold an extremely rare primal gold pearl for the price of a few pennies, while others sold the same pearl for a sky-high price of over a thousand Talle.

This was the current state of Harrison Port, and the trend for a rather lengthy period.

It was at this time that Ossenna of the White Folks died due to a mutation, leading to many laments and sighs.

In the past, he was a thoroughly despicable person, but in the last two years, everyone had greatly changed their views of him.

Indeed, he remained reclusive and cold, but he had kicked his addiction to black mushrooms and would occasionally help neighbors repair their houses, qualifying as a decent member of the White Folks.

the Elan brothers, several neighbors, acquaintances, and the White Folks’ Elder Prude attended his simple and humble funeral.

Elder Prude, who had no children, announced he would adopt the Elan brothers in name until Ian turned fourteen.

Without a doubt, no one opposed it.

And on the second week after the funeral, Ian and Elder Prude visited the Viscount’s Mansion.

After a warm and friendly conversation, Viscount Grant decided to vigorously support the young White Folks’ idea of starting their own business, nurturing the professional skills of promising youngsters, and contributing to the future development of Harrison Port.

Consequently, a few days later, an unoccupied building in the New City District to the west of the city welcomed its new owner.

‘White Chamber Grocery’…

that was the name of the newly opened shop.

On the surface, it was just another grocery store under the White Chamber Fleet, also selling some low-grade Alchemy Matrixes and Inscription tools, fitting the New City District’s Alchemy Workshop atmosphere.

It truly looked like the wealthy White Folks’ Fleet wanted to get a piece of the action in the New City District.

But in reality, its true essence was that of a shop dealing in the appraisal of curious items, having obtained an appraisal license from the Empire.

Given this fact, the real backer couldn’t possibly be the apparent White Chamber Fleet, nor the White Folks.

Only the Governor of Harrison Port, the conqueror of the Natives, the uncrowned ruler of the South Ridge coastal area, Viscount Ailes Grant, had the channels and power for such an endeavor.

And the owner of this little shop was none other than the young White Folk Spirit Energy User named Ian.

A young boy of just ten years old.