Once they finished everything in the space, it was time to go to the Iron Mountain castle. Drunk and a few black mages were sent to the swamp, while Scales and Brick, plus five hundred undead, were left to guard the castle. They then went to the Stony Mountain manor, where the three undead mages Gamma, Shi, and Jie, plus two hundred undead warriors and one hundred undead assassins, were ordered to guard the estate.
The manor was a very important place because it was where they would receive the blue-eyed rabbits and wait for Laura. Zhao was very confident that they would get her cooperation. After all, they left on good terms.
It was daytime when they left the villa and came to the manor. The battle against Garan's army had taken a total of no more than two hours. But after resting in the space, and eating, it took longer than that. Now it was nine in the morning. There was a black fog enveloping the estate, stopping anyone from seeing inside. This time it was the black mages, Edge and Punch, creating the black fog. Although Zhao could now do it himself, at times he might need to go into the space or travel to the castle, so the two black mages were needed to keep up the black fog.
Last time, it was Scales and Brick who was guarding the manor, while Edge and Punch were guarding the castle. But Zhao decided to reverse their positions. He wanted them to become familiar with both places. Getting them to understand the terrain was necessary for them to display their greatest fighting strengths. For the two black mages, along with Gamma, guarding the manor, it gave Zhao a very reassuring feeling.
As for the castle, to be honest, Zhao wasn't worried about it as much. It was in the depths of the Black Waste, and with the threat of the carrion swamp, most people wouldn't go there. Plus, Zhao had the space, which would allow him to teleport there in the shortest possible. With this measure of security, Zhao didn't need to worry about it as much as the manor.
On the contrary, the manor was in a more dangerous situation. It was very close to Casa city. If that city decided to dispatch troops, it would only take two days before they would reach the foot of Stony Mountain. For Zhao, this was a huge threat.
Although he could bring people to safety inside his space, this still wouldn't protect the manor. They needed the manor as their stronghold.
Of course, with the space, it was possible for Zhao to just take down those troops, but he didn't want to expose his powers too early. After all, the Purcell clan was paying attention to them. More importantly, that mysterious force was also watching them, which made Zhao feel uneasy.
It could be said that Zhao was an insecure person. After the battle against Garan yesterday, he knew that even more people would pay attention to them.
And as soon as they start trading with Laura, those people would pay attention to what they bought, and they couldn't possibly buy goods from the castle in the Black Waste.
That was why the manor on Stony Mountain was so important to the Buda clan. It was their only connection the outside world. It was where they would get information, obtain supplies, or sell things. It was no use trying to make transactions in the Black Waste. If the Buda clan dared to do that, the Purcell clan would step in. That was why the manor was particularly important.
So the only problem was that they couldn't let anyone know that the Buda clan owned the manor.
Among the nobles in the Aksu Empire, the Buda clan was definitely a taboo. They didn't want the Buda clan to rise up again. If they were ever to find out what the Buda clan was doing, those nobles would do their best to suppress it. Zhao didn't have the confidence to keep the Buda clan safe.
But as long as they didn't reveal themselves as the Buda clan, with their current identity, no one would want to mess with them. That was because he was now known as a black mage. Nobody was willing to provoke a black mage.
Whenever people on the Continent mentioned black mages, they would also think of poisonous snakes. That snake will bite you, and even if you don't die from its toxins, you would at least be crippled. More importantly, even if you managed to kill the snake, it won't do you any good if its poison was already in your body. No one wants to mess with a poisonous snake, just like no one wants to mess with a black mage.
Especially a black mage that was able to defeat Garan and his army. This time Garan's loss was quite heavy. He was an eighth level light mage that had two seventh level earth mages, three advanced level warriors, one hundred assassins, and three hundred hired mercenaries, and yet he was still defeated. This force was equivalent to the strength of a small clan.
Garan's defeat was like a powerful deterrent against anyone who was thinking of trying to take down Zhao the black mage.
Right now, Zhao was standing next to the ginkgo tree in the manor's yard. He sighed and looked up, but the blanket of darkness shadowed the daylight. He felt depressed. He really didn't like to fight, and instead he just wanted a secure and easy life.
Meg was standing beside Zhao, and when she heard him sigh, she couldn't help but feel curious. "Master, why are you sighing?"
Zhao turned around and looked at the woman who was as sweet as a child. In her hands was Garan's Iron Book, which Zhao gave to her. He didn't need this book because the space had already analyzed it, and now he could use its power with his staff. Besides, Meg really loved this book. She even holds it while sleeping at night.
Zhao gave a sad smile. "Meg, why do so many people love to fight? I don't want to fight. I know that there are those fighting to make a better life for themselves and for the people around them, but why must they force me to fight them?"
Meg looked at Zhao. It may be the same body, but she couldn't even see a shadow of the past Adam. In the past, Adam was ignorant, greedy, and lustful. He would never say these timid words.
But now there was Zhao, who was good natured and responsible, but also sentimental. These two personalities were completely different. However, Meg liked this Zhao rather than the original Adam.
"Master, even if you don't want to fight, others will come fight with you. If you have anything that interests them or if you're a stumbling block, they will not hesitate to kick you down. In their eyes, we are nothing but weeds on the roadside. As long as something interests them, they would do anything to get it."
Zhao looked at the sky and muttered. "Interests. Ah, yes, interests. In the end, they would dare to do anything if it interests them. This really is a troubling world." He gave a sad laugh.
Meg didn't know what to say but her heart was sighing. "This world....."
They both suddenly heard footsteps.