To the bandits’ ears, Nick’s warning probably sounded like an answer to a desperate prayer. They did not hesitate at all; most of them did not even retrieve their weapons, scattering like a scared flock of birds before their chance to escape changed for any reason.
The Agriman family was a small-noble family that did not have any mages or force behind them. At most, they knew a couple of things about mages. Compared to the middle-level noble families that had more than 10 mages in the family, their power was much weaker.
The land that the Agriman family had control over was around 10-15 acres. From this land, they produced food and had other small production facilities such as smithery.
These lands were barely enough for the Agriman family to gather about 50,000 Gold Coins per month which was equal to 500 Ether Stones for mages.
With this modest amount of resources and money, the Agriman family had around 500 to 700 trained forces and another 500 people as servants. For commoners, owning an army of 500 trained men and women was a big deal but compared to mages and other high-leveled families, they were no better than bugs.
The Agriman family guard captain already dropped his sword on the ground and slowly got closer to Nick. Once the distance between them was about three meters, the Agriman family guard captain started speaking in a very respectful tone. From his voice alone, it was evident that he was anxious. Nick did not hold this against him. In this situation, who would not be?
“Esteemed Mage, thank you for saving us from the bandits.”
Nick looked at the middle-aged guard captain and nodded. At this time, a man wearing basic good quality leather clothes left the carriage and slowly joined them. The man was in his fifties, with an ordinary aura around him. However, he was handsome and authoritative.
He looked at Nick and started talking in a tone more respectful than the guard captain.
“Esteemed Mage, I am Baron Arol Agriman, the leader of the Agriman family. I thank you for saving the lives of my men, my family and me. I would like to help you and pay for your services but I do not know if my things are worthy in your eyes.”
Nick smiled and thought to himself.
“He is smarter than I thought he was. It seems that even a small nobleman is accustomed to keeping a good relationship with others, hiding their true feelings.”
Nick did not have anything to say on this though. He shook his head and asked.
“I am new to Blue Tear City. If you or someone could explain to me how to buy land here, that would be enough for me.”
The guard captain and Baron Arol looked at each other, unable to hide the shocked and funny expressions on their faces.
They both wondered whether their lives were only worth the simple information of ‘how to buy land’?!
The two men were experienced of course, and did not express this out loud. Five minutes later, they were all on their way again. Baron Arol was talking and the Agriman noble family carriage was moving forward. Baron Arol offered Nick to ride in the carriage with their family but Nick rejected.
He was aware that the baron wanted to build a good relationship with him. If he managed to befriend Nick, he would gain a strong ally that could make him a rival to middle-leveled noble families.
How could Nick not notice this small calculation in the Baron’s mind? It was easy for him to understand such things, so he just nibbed it in the bud.
–
Nick walked towards the city. He learned from Arol how to buy land and how things went through the official channels.
“For a person to buy land, he needs to go ‘Blue Tear Land Official Building’. In this building, there are properties for sale. For a person to become a real noble by buying land, the person has to buy at least 10 acres of land from the Blue Tear Empire.”
“The person needs to submit two forms of information to the Blue Tear Empire and Blue Tear Land. The first form includes details like name, surname if there is one, and the power level. This is a basic identification form to be exact.”
The second form was an ‘Economical Worth’ form. This is basically a form where the buyer showed that he had enough funds to buy land from the start and keep the land going for production and other matters.
The Blue Tear Empire knew that they were earning a significant amount of money from land sales but they did not like selling it if it were to stay barren. So, for blocking these things, this information had to be provided in the case of every individual or organization’s purchase.
For these matters, they needed to see that if the buyer had enough funds to buy the land and cultivate it at the same time. These things were simple to understand. Nick did not think much about it and just looked at the city in front of him. Only 1000 meters left to the Blue Tear City, the place that about not too long ago, he had very frantically escaped from.
—
In the carriage, Arol Agriman’s oldest daughter, Alia Agriman, was immersed in thoughts of the mysterious mage and the massacre he had single-handedly created.
Alia Agriman was only 20 years old this year. A beautiful girl with silver hair and blue eyes as well as a good figure typical of youth, she was quite the dream girl to many men and even women in some cases.
Many noble princes and tradesmen had even voiced their desires for her but these were all blocked by her father. Arol Agriman always maintained that as long as it was within his power, he would protect Alia and only marry her if she wanted to marry the man that he chose and approved of.
Alia was happy and she liked her father’s decision. The reason why she felt unusual right now was that, even though she could not see the mage who rescued them from the bandits, she was wondering what kind of a person he was. It could be said that the young maiden had developed an interest in the mysterious mage.
