When Nolan arrived before the restaurant, the night had just fallen.
'Damn!' Nolan clenched his fists in anger. 'I did not arrive on time. Now, I need to buy everything tomorrow.'
He took his white jade hairpin out of the inventory and tied his dirty hair.
He passed by the two guards at the door and entered the restaurant.
Seeing that the restaurant was almost full, his mood returned a little.
"Boss," Layla noticed him from the other end of the restaurant and ran to him.
"Layla, prepare a bath for me," Nolan said. "I will be in the basement."
"Yes," Layla immediately obeyed and ran upstairs.
Nolan walked over to below the stairs and opened the floor door leading to the basement.
He walked down the stairs and entered the basement.
"Hahaha! I won!"
"Fu.ck!"
"Lucky bastard!"
The basement was as noisy as usual.
And as usual, Harley stood behind the crescent moon table, carefully observing the gamblers.
Harley noticed Nolan and came out from behind the crescent moon table.
"How did you enter the city?" Harley asked.
"Sighh!" Nolan sighed. "Long story short, I had to give my horse to one of the guards so I could pass."
"That's a pity. That was a good horse."
"Never mind that," Nolan said. "Harley, winter is coming. I need money to buy things for the village."
"Money is not a problem. Let's first leave from here," Harley said, leading the way out of the gambling facility.
After coming out of the gambling facility, he led the way out of the restaurant.
"Ken," Harley spoke to one of the two guards guarding the entrance of the restaurant.
"Yes, boss?"
"Go and tell Nara to bring Nolan's money here."
"Understood," The guard, Ken, did not ask any questions and immediately set toward Harley's house.
"Nolan, let's go back inside," Harley said. "You have not been in the city for twenty days. There is a lot to talk about."
Nolan just nodded and followed Harley back inside the restaurant.
There was a free table for three in the right, upper corner of the restaurant, so Nolan and Harley sat there.
Layla was preparing the bath for Nolan, so she was not serving the customers. However, three of the ten women Nolan and Harley brought from the village were there, taking orders from the customers and serving them.
Nolan raised his hand, and one of the women noticed him. She walked over to his table.
The bruises on her face were completely healed. "Boss. What would you want?" She asked politely.
'Nara has taught her well,' Nolan thought.
"How do you like it here?" Nolan asked.
"I have a roof over my head, three meals a day, and I wear clean clothes every day. I can not complain." The woman replied.
"Good." Nolan smiled. "Harley, are you hungry?"
Harley shook his head.
"Bring us one pizza."
"Alright," The woman bowed politely and left.
"Now," Nolan turned to Harley. "Let's talk. Harley, how is the situation between the underground groups?"
"Since the day we broke into the prison and made a lot of commotion, both the Black Rose organization and the Viper organization had been laying low. But there were still a few conflicts from time to time.
As for the Dark Moon organization, it is neutral for now. It shows no signs of caring about what is happening between the Black Rose organization and the Viper organization.
But, of course, that can change at any moment." Harley explained.
"What do you mean by it can change at any moment?" Nolan asked a little worriedly.
"Well, the Dark Moon organization is an organization of assassins. If the Viper organization pays enough, the Dark Moon organization will meddle in the war."
"But the Black Rose organization destroyed a lot of the businesses of the Viper organization. At the moment, they should not have the financial power to tempt the Dark Moon organization into joining the war," Nolan said.
Harley shook his head. "It doesn't necessarily mean that the Viper organization will try to hire the Dark Moon organization with money. If they promise benefits that the Dark Moon organization can not refuse, then the Dark Moon organization will take their side. If that happens, it is going to be troublesome."
"Sighh!" Nolan sighed heavily. "It's not like I can help or think about it now."
"What's the matter?" Harley asked.
"You know the bandits you talked about previously?"
"The Celestial Snake Bandits? What about them?"
"They are going to attack my village?" Nolan lied.
"What?" Harley jumped from his chair, taking the attention of everyone in the restaurant.
After he looked around himself, he sat down on the chair. "What did you do to provoke them?" He asked quietly.
Before Nolan could answer, the woman came to their table, carrying the pizza on a large, round ceramic plate.
She placed it on the table. "Boss, enjoy!" She bowed politely and left.
Nolan took a slice of the pica and took a bite. "Well, I did nothing to provoke them. Looks like they just want my village. But can you blame them? Considering the power of my village, they can occupy it anytime they want. So how could they refuse a free village?"
"..." Harley was speechless.
He just stared at Nolan, who ate the pizza with a big appetite.
...
A few minutes later, as Nolan was eating the last slice of pizza, he noticed Layla coming down the stairs.
He waved at her, grabbing her attention.
She walked over to his table. "Boss, the bath is ready." She said.
"Alright," Nolan ate the last slice of pizza and stood up. "Harley, when Nara arrives, come to my chamber."
Harley nodded. "Alright."
Layla then led the way upstairs and stood in front of a door in the middle of the corridor.
Creaak!
She opened the door.
"Thank you, Layla," Nolan said. He entered the chamber and closed the door behind himself.
Staying in front of the closed door, Layla tightly clenched her white clothes.
"He is not interested in me?" She muttered. "Does he really have someone else like they say... someone he treasures."
She stood before the door of Nolan's chamber for a few minutes before heading downstairs.
"I really envy her." She muttered as she walked down the stairs.
...
Inside Nolan's chamber.
Nolan took his clothes off and placed them on the bed.
After that, he entered the large wooden bathtub in the center.
"Ahhhhhh!" Nolan let out a long sigh of satisfaction as he lay inside the bathtub.
The water was hot, but not too hot to burn him.
As he fully submerged himself in the water, he felt his muscles relaxing.
He remained in the bathtub for twenty minutes and almost fell asleep. But thanks to the water getting cold, he did not fall asleep and got out of the bathtub.
Looking at his clothes on the bed, Nolan felt a little reluctant to wear them. After all, in comparison to his clean body, they were a little dirty. But he did not have any other, better clothes, so he put his old clothes on.
Knock, Knock!
Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," Nolan said, squeezing the water out of his wet hair.
Creaaak!
The door opened, and Nara and Harley entered. They closed the door behind them.
Nara and Harley each carried five large wooden boxes stacked on each other.
"Come and sit," Nolan pointed at the bed.
"It's alright. There is no need," Nara said. She walked over to the bed and placed the wooden boxes on the bed. And after her, Harley did the same.
"Is that the money?" Nolan asked.
"Yes," Harley replied shortly.
"How much?"
"In the past twenty days, the daily amount we earned was around 60 taels of silver. Some days a little more, some a little less." Nara explained. "Since we divide the profits fifty-fifty, here is the money." She pointed at the wooden boxes. "Each box contains 60 taels of silver. 360 taels of silver in total."
Nolan's eyes widened in shock. 'So that's why the size of those boxes is twice the size of the boxes that contain thirty taels of silver.' Nolan thought.
"Thank you," Nolan said, taking one box from the bed. "Nara, please take this and buy winter clothes for all the money." Nolan passed the wooden box. "Don't look at the quality. The quantity is what I need."
"Don't worry," Nara took the wooden box. "Tomorrow, I will buy everything."
Nolan then took two boxes from the bed and handed them to Harley. "Harley, please buy a few torches, and then for all the money, buy oil."
"Alright."
Nolan then took another box from the bed and passed it to Harley. "And with all the money in this box, buy rope."
"Nolan, why do you need so much rope and oil?" Harley asked. "You can never use that much oil for years. And not to mention the rope. Why would you need thousands of meters of rope?."
Nolan smiled. "Harley, Nara. I am counting on you."
"Sigh!" Harley sighed. He saw that Nolan was strongly set on not saying anything, so he did not as further. "Alright. Tomorrow, I will buy everything."
After this, Nara and Harley left the room.
"Six boxes remain." Nolan looked at the boxes on the bed. "That's 360 taels of silver. I hope it's enough."
"Store." Nolan passed with his hand above the boxes.
The boxes immediately disappeared.
Nolan lay on the bed.
"System, how much time till the bandits arrive at the village?" Nolan asked.
[1 day, 9 hours, 56 minutes]
At the sight of the timer, Nolan's heart tightened. But there was nothing he could do to stop the inevitable.
He closed his eyes and fell asleep.