One of his mates Sean saw this and understood what he saw in Jake. He didn't bother Eric and let him be on his own. he was one of the guys who traveled with Eric from a long time ago and he understood him the most.
Eric approached Jake and said to him with a smile and kind tone when Jake was training alone among the slaves, "If you hate your weakness, become strong enough to protect yourself and your loved ones." This was unlike Eric's unusual behavior previously and it was the same old carefree and happy mood. However, these words were deep and contained practical experiences.
While smoking in the bar, Eric was chatting with one of his mates,
"This Time young master made quite a good deal and a friend. Our internal problems this time are also fixed by reports we are getting directly from one of those men and this has decreased our cost on manpower and resources."
"That's true but our problems have increased as well this time. But Captain I bet you miss those beauties on board this time around." replied one of his mates after joking and laughing.
Eric laughed and replied sheepishly in his usual carefree and joking tone, "Sure enough, but I am still a gentleman when it comes to treating women, I only peek at them for their safety so others don't have other malicious thoughts."
After some lighthearted talk, Eric came to the main point and said in a serious tone.
"From now on, all of you guys have to be more focused when we travel down south and up north. As far as compensation and wages go, you guys will be receiving 3 times more from now on so there is something to cheer about. And for those who want to leave they can leave as well."
"What are you talking about captain, since we have followed you on our journey in seas from a long time, there will always be problems of pirates when we travel in seas, its good now that we can increase our base of operations and fleet. Let's enjoy ourselves since we will be getting paid 3 times more from now on." Said his right-hand man, Sean, as he drank beer and said in a drunk mood, while others laughed and agree to Sean. He was not a guy with a big build but he was the one who always organized people during Eric's absence, The crew respected him because he had already proved himself in the past because of his firm decisions which changed a lot of outcomes for them.
The serious talk ended in a happy mood because, as sailors, they always knew there will be problems when it comes to pirate attacks so their lives were always in danger and hence increase in wages was better for them anyway.
Eric's aim was achieved as there was no commotion about the problems that were mentioned and an increase in wages cheered up the mood for everyone.
'It seems I made a good set of companions during the time we traveled the seas.' Eric thought after watching their reaction.
During this time Diana arrived at North-frontier town, the first thing Diana did was to go to John's Mansion and made her lodging at his mansion. The other problems were handled by Vlad as he met Eric and told him to explain the servants of the mansion as Eric was familiar with people in Mansion and Factory. Eric knew about Vlad from Joseph before traveling so he helped him explain the servants of the Mansion about their identity.
The servants in the mansion were quite nervous but they still believed Eric as they already knew that he was Joseph's, right-hand man.
During this time, Vlad arranged the security of the mansion and guided Servants for their work. he was also quite amazed by the ice house which was made with the help of saltpeter as it was present in the mansion but he didn't pry further for more details as he understood that they already crossed a lot of boundaries because of Diana's willfulness earlier and so he hoped John and others ignore their behavior this time around.
Meanwhile, at Baron's Mansion,
Baron used this opportunity to get as many recipes from Joseph's chef as he can get, he knew that Joseph and John are unable to reject him unless and until the deal was finalized and sealed. After dealing with the Baron for the whole day and giving him 25,000 gold coins, they signed the contract and planned to head on their way to North-frontier town in the north after some rest. After signing their deal, John made a sigh of relief as he can now aggressively continue his plans after laying low for such a long time after arriving at Arkon.
After they left, they went to meet their companions and tell them about the good news.
After they left Baron's mansion, one of Prince Hector's men came to Baron's mansion and sent them a letter. This letter was a reply to their request for the elite assassins which Antonio had asked for earlier. This letter was read by both Antonio and Baron Mendez. He already concluded that this letter was a positive one since Prince Hector had replied to them. If they weren't interested then they would have not even bothered to write a reply letter to them.
While George, who was in Dolores, he had already heard about the rumors of John buying North-Frontier town from the servants of the mansion after he delivered his weapons to Baron Mendez. Baron Mendez this time had asked him a lot about John and his factory this time around. From Baron's words, he understood that there was something going on behind the scenes but he still remained cautious with his words as he understood that John also got backing of some nobles and had earned an honorary baron's noble status. He also got to know that Baron had earlier planned to abandon North-Frontier town and had only told him about it so he doesn't get inflicted. Although George is quite selfish about some things but he still clung to North-Frontier town because of his past and ancestors or else he would have long ago settled in Dolores or some other big city but he was still living in North-Frontier town because he felt free here and it reminded him of his past but he still cared about life. His past had also changed him a lot and that is why he became selfish as he got more experiences interacting with other people. Hearing this he was quite mad, usually, he wouldn't be mad unless a question of North-frontier town's survival came into question but he still hid it well when this was mentioned.
he always tried to be sincere with people who were sincere with him but when he was forced to choose a decision he would always take decisions that harmed him the least and wait for an opportunity and hence he was perceived as a selfish person many times by people.
In the Market at Dolores,
John and Joseph met with their companions and told them about the good news that Baron Mendez had agreed to sell the Town to them and they got both the deeds,
1. North-frontier Towns deed.
2. Deed of Honorary Baron.
Sally was quite skeptical about how the Baron so easily gave up the land but she still understood that there were many benefits for him in throwing responsibility on John's head about the magic beast attacks and successfully creating a buffer between forest and his Domain while lowering his costs at the same time.