Chapter 309 - 307: Surging Undercurrents

Chapter 309: Chapter 307: Surging Undercurrents

A few days later, all three million pounds of grain were loaded. Casio bid Duane farewell and set sail for the Starfall Islands.

With his warehouses now empty, Julian, Ralph, and the others could finally resume collecting the grain tax that had been temporarily suspended.

Even though they had built several new granaries on the island, collecting over four million pounds of grain would likely fill all the warehouses to the brim again.

Construction, land reclamation, tax collection, patrols, training...

Everyone in the territory was absorbed in their various duties.

Duane didn’t rest either. First, he went to the Secret Realm to gather a large quantity of Black Demon Vine to use as fuel. Then, he started forging Black Iron Weapons with the Black Iron Ore that Marquis Sean had delivered.

Beyond that, he had to concoct Magic Liquid and instruct the farmer Barry and the others on how to cultivate the Starlight Mulberry Trees.

Of course, whenever he had a spare moment, he also needed to cultivate the Nebula Dog.

"Come on, Fur Ball!"

One afternoon, Duane tossed a Demon Beast bone from the Secret Realm into the air.

Fur Ball shot forward, leaping high into the air to firmly snatch the bone, which was a good three to five meters above the ground. As soon as it landed, it began to gnaw on it hungrily.

Thanks to its ample nutrition over the past few months, its body had grown to a meter long, with a shoulder height of a full seventy centimeters.

In terms of size, it had completely surpassed an adult golden retriever.

But this wasn’t its limit. Silver-Maned Wolves were naturally larger than dogs, and if cultivated into a Nebula Dog, it would grow even larger.

As for its strength, Duane felt that Fur Ball had already reached the level of a Level 1 Demon Beast.

While it was eating, Duane took out a Dragon Spine Grass Spore. Once dried, the spore had no noticeable scent.

However, as soon as he used his Flame Technique to ignite it, a pungent odor filled the air.

Fur Ball had an extremely sensitive sense of smell. The moment the scent hit its nose, it dropped the bone and tried to bolt outside in a panic.

’But how could its speed possibly surpass that of a Scorching Sun Level Warrior?’

In a flash, Duane grabbed and restrained Fur Ball. At the same time, he cast Magic Wind Tentacles, suspending it in mid-air.

"There, there. This will help you transform. Stop struggling!"

He brought the Dragon Spine Grass Spore, which was emitting purple smoke, right up to Fur Ball’s nose.

The poor creature was completely immobilized, unable to even turn its head, and could only submit to whatever Duane was doing.

Soon, tears were streaming from its eyes due to the smoke.

’So wolves can cry, too.’

The process looked cruel, but it wasn’t life-threatening to Fur Ball.

With daily exposure to the Dragon Spine Grass, Fur Ball’s constitution would change. Not only would it grow larger, but its bone density would increase as well.

Duane had only been doing this for less than ten days, but Fur Ball’s weight had already reached a hundred pounds.

However, this was far from enough.

According to the information from his panel, by the time the bloodline awakening stage was complete, his Skill Level in cultivating the Nebula Dog should reach Mastery Level.

Right now, it was barely at the Entry level.

About ten minutes later, the Dragon Spine Grass Spores had burned to ash. Duane dispelled the magical restraints, freeing Fur Ball.

It cowered in a corner, trembling in fear.

It was like this after every session, but it had grown accustomed to Duane’s scent and recognized him as its "mother," so it never tried to run away.

Of course, it also had nowhere to run.

「In the blink of an eye, the end of September arrived.」

The new harvest season for Hot Spring Mountain Tea began. Duane temporarily put his other tasks aside and started to earnestly train the selected "Tea Makers."

By the end of next year, the expanded crop of Hot Spring Mountain Tea would be ready for its first harvest, and he would need a batch of people who could make the tea by then.

He needed to make the most of his time to train more Tea Makers.

Of course, they trained using ordinary tea leaves; the harvested Hot Spring Mountain Tea was processed exclusively by Duane.

His Skill Level for Hot Spring Mountain Tea also gradually rose to Master Level.

On the last day of September, a major piece of news emerged from Cyan Snake Fortress—

In recognition of Clerk Lloyd’s many years of diligent service, King Eric had granted Count Kais’s request. He agreed to grant Lloyd the "Golden Ears Territory," a fief carved out from the Silent Shore, as an independent territory. Furthermore, he formally enfeoffed Lloyd as the Kingdom’s eighth Hereditary Viscount.

Furthermore, King Eric affirmed the Kennedy Clan’s loyalty to the Royal Family and agreed to the marriage of the Third Princess, Emily, to Viscount Lloyd. Their wedding was to be held in the spring two years from now.

The news caused an explosive reaction, like a red-hot ingot plunged into water.

The Bloom Clan bore the brunt of the shock.

It was said that upon hearing the news, Earl Orlando’s expression soured. He immediately questioned His Majesty’s decision while simultaneously cursing Count Kais.

He had repeatedly petitioned the King for the Third Princess’s hand in marriage for his son, Harrison, but the King had always stalled, never giving a clear response.

To achieve his goal, Earl Orlando had even used his personal connections to lobby for the marriage.

This, in turn, led many lords to assume that Princess Emily would marry Harrison.

But no one had expected Count Kais to suddenly sweep in and hijack the whole affair.

Seething with resentment, Earl Orlando immediately lodged a protest with the King.

King Eric tried to placate him, promising to give Harrison priority consideration for the Fourth Princess, Nina, once she came of age. He also offered Harrison an important position and lowered the Bloom Clan’s taxes for two years as compensation.

In addition to these appeasements, rumors also reached Earl Orlando’s ears—

The reason His Majesty had betrothed Emily to Lloyd was primarily due to Count Kais’s strong advocacy, which had even leveraged Duane’s influence.

Some rumors even claimed that Duane couldn’t stand Harrison and had therefore deliberately persuaded Count Kais to seek the marriage alliance with the Third Princess.

Orlando was initially skeptical of the rumors, but after learning that Harrison and Duane truly were at odds, he started to believe them.

"Seven years!"

Orlando sought out Marquis Sean, fuming. "By the time Princess Nina comes of age in seven years, Harrison will already be over twenty! He’s my only heir—am I supposed to let him end up like George, unmarried into his twenties?"

"Calm down!"

Marquis Sean soothed. "As I see it, this is just His Majesty’s way of driving a wedge between us and the Silent Shore."

He continued his analysis, "Our joint petition against the Holy Radiance Court must have deeply unsettled His Majesty. I heard he even tried to scheme and get Count Kais and Duane to abandon their own marriage alliance, but they both refused."

"Count Kais doesn’t want to give up a genius son-in-law like Duane, but he doesn’t want to offend the Royal Family either, so he pulled this move."

"Of course, I know that," Orlando retorted. "But Harrison and Duane really are at odds. What’s more, I slandered Duane’s father in the past. Knowing his character, he’s bound to dredge that up sooner or later!"

Orlando’s stance on treating Kais and Duane as enemies didn’t waver.

"Once the Kennedys are tied to the Royal Family by marriage, their cooperation is bound to intensify. With Duane on their side, His Majesty’s suppression of us will only get harsher!"

He said gravely, "Marquis, your territory has so many mining veins and Elemental Secret Realms. Everyone is green with envy, and the Royal Family is no exception."

"And that Duane... he’s the second most powerful man in the Kingdom! Don’t forget Duke Kelvin stands with the Royal Family as well!"

"If His Majesty joins forces with outside powers to pressure you, are you really prepared to surrender your interests?"

Marquis Sean remained silent, but the answer was clear to them both.

For years, the Smith Clan’s rapid rise had been built on the resources from these very secret realms.

’How could he possibly agree to give up those interests?’

Besides, yielding once could lead to a devastating disaster.

Sean would never yield to such pressure.

After a long pause, the Marquis replied calmly, "I understand everything you’re saying. That is why I have ceased my support for Black Forest Island."

The "support" he was referring to was the shipment of more than four thousand slaves that had yet to be delivered to Duane.

"You’ve done the right thing!"

Earl Orlando praised him loudly. "A man as powerful as Duane is bound to have ambitions of expansion. He’ll covet your territory, just like Count Kais does. Since he’s not on your side, funding him is the same as funding an enemy!"

Marquis Sean nodded.

In truth, he had another motive for doing this: to lower King Eric’s guard against him. After all, he had now genuinely antagonized Duane.

Maintaining this superficial stability would also buy him more time.