The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Chapter 192 The Radiant Gold Merchant Alliance

The next day, after discussing the final route of the track with Sean, Lind received his first guest.

"Could you give us one of these magical trains? We also need to build a railway."

Faced with the astonishing demands of the Shining Gold Alliance, Lin De rubbed his face, wondering if he was still dreaming.

"Are you serious?"

The more they cooperated, the less Linde understood these businessmen.

To be honest, the fact that they were able to turn their stores into a chain in those circumstances, and that they were able to secretly transport weapons to Isa when relations in the North were at their worst, shows that the forces behind these merchants are not simple.

But Linde didn't expect the other party to make such an exorbitant demand right away.

The person who made this request was also an old friend of Linde's, the landlady who liked to pull things out of her chest.

The proprietress calmly and elegantly took out her pipe from her bosom and lit it as usual.

The smoke was still not pungent, just like before.

“We don’t demand that you build us a railway now. You can build it for us when you’re done with your business. We’re not in a hurry.”

Although the proprietress was still as polite as before, Lin De vaguely sensed that her attitude was somewhat different from before. This was not the attitude towards customers, but rather that she had placed him on the same level as her.

"I'm sorry, the technology of the Magic Train is not yet perfect, and we don't plan to share it with others."

Although they didn't know what kind of power was behind the other party, the Shining Gold Alliance had always cooperated very well with Lin De and never inquired about his technology. Although they would sometimes make some extra money, compared with those greedy businessmen, the Shining Gold Alliance seemed to be just doing business.

Therefore, even knowing that the Sparkling Gold Alliance might not be simple and that even Lucanus was reluctant to talk about it, Linde still chose to cooperate without reservation.

"That's why I said we're not in a hurry. All we need is for you to build a section of railway and a train for us in the future."

This "that's all" is already the dream of countless merchants in the territory.

At this point, Linde understood somewhat and asked, "So, the forces behind you want to contact me?"

This world has many strange and unusual forces, but all of them are under the constraints of the so-called "Tower" and are very honest and law-abiding, following certain special rules.

However, there are occasionally organizations like the Black Crow Secret Society that use clever tricks and exploit loopholes.

"You're still as direct as ever."

The still-attractive proprietress gave Linde a flirtatious look, but seeing that Linde didn't react, she felt bored and said, "According to your understanding, that's indeed how it can be interpreted. We think you are very valuable, so we plan to develop a deeper cooperation with you."

"So what exactly is your organization?"

Linde became increasingly curious about the Shining Gold Merchant Alliance. To be honest, since arriving in this world, the only strange organization he had seriously come into contact with was the Lantern Dream, which had split off from the church. The other magical organizations were either officially incorporated or were just scattered individuals.

"What organization?"

The proprietress looked somewhat puzzled, but then slapped her snow-white thigh, understanding Lin De's meaning, and said, "Just like our signboard says, we are the Shining Gold Merchant Alliance, a business alliance organized by merchants, except that the merchants in the alliance are a bit special."

The proprietress then added, "We only do legitimate business."

Linde was speechless for a moment, then asked, "Is delivering weapons a legitimate business?"

"Didn't we say before that those weapons were lost by accident?"

Indeed, this kind of person who likes to earn extra money on the side and takes on private jobs, who doesn't have much of a dignified air, doesn't quite fit the image of a supposedly profound and mysterious organization. It seems that the merchants of the Shining Gold Alliance love money and only love money. They are not interested in any technical resources and only think about making money, not even letting go of the smallest profit.

Therefore, they might even disregard the rules and slightly intervene in wars between lords.

Linde had already figured it out somewhat. When talking to the Shining Gold Merchant Alliance, he didn't need to care about the forces behind them; he only needed to consider them from a businessman's perspective.

"So what good will giving you a railway and a magic train do for me?"

In the end, Linde gave up on investigating what forces were behind the other party and steered the conversation toward serious matters.

Although it's definitely not possible to help them repair the road at this stage, they've said they're not in a hurry.

"Let's take a look at the map first."

The proprietress of the Shining Gold Alliance skillfully pulled a map from her chest and placed it on the table.

As soon as Linde pulled out the map, his eyes lit up. It was a top-down map of the entire continent, and it even had line segments similar to latitude and longitude markings on it.

Both the detailed markings of the visible areas on the map and Lind's intuition told him that the map's level of detail was likely more exaggerated than any other map he had ever seen in this world, including military maps.

Rather than a map, it's more like a photograph taken from a high altitude with exaggerated clarity, and then markings were added to the photograph, treating it as a map.

Unfortunately, the map seemed to be under some kind of spell; Lind could only see the area of ​​the Kingdom of Capet, while the rest of the land was shrouded in a thin mist, like a fog of war, making it difficult to see clearly.

However, the proprietress quickly moved her hand across the map, and the clouds in a certain area soon dispersed. It was outside the mountains of the Southern Territory, a territory that belonged neither to Anjou nor to Capet.

As the proprietress continued to move her finger, a line on the map lit up in the area that followed her finger's movement.

"It will probably be along this road that a section of railway and a magic train will be built."

Although he really wanted to take a closer look at the high-precision map of the Kingdom of Cape, Linde also knew that it was time to talk about serious matters with the Goldsmiths Alliance.

In the southern border region of the Kingdom of Capet, which borders the Kingdom of Anjou, there is a mountain range on the eastern side of the border area, and the railway is to be built from somewhere in the mountains to the outside of the mountains.

Although the journey is not long, it is mostly mountainous. After careful consideration, Lin De said, "The journey is short, but it is very difficult. There are too many mountains."

"Materials are not a problem; just let us know if you have any requirements."

The boss's wife, who would normally take on side jobs for petty profits, was now incredibly domineering, as if she didn't care about money and only cared about getting the job done.

"Once the North is unified, I can send people to help build the railway. The magic train will also be opened to civilian use in the future, but this train is not cheap."

The proprietress nodded and said, "We know that, so this is the deposit."

After saying that, the proprietress took out another ring from her bosom and tossed it to Lind like a coin.

Linde caught the ring. It seemed to be made of mithril, but it also seemed to be mixed with some other magical materials. Just by touching it, it felt like something extraordinary.

"Space ring?"

Based on the high-precision map, Lind immediately had a terrifying guess.

Unfortunately, the landlady's question, "What is that?" disappointed Lin De. It seems that there are no such convenient things in this world.

However, the proprietress continued, "With this ring, you are essentially our partner. This ring contains a sealed spell that will be triggered when you suffer fatal damage."

Sounding like something like a substitute curse, Lindmore stroked the ring and asked, "Will this save me from fatal harm?"

"There is no magic that intelligent. Your rune arrays are so powerful, you should know that."

The proprietress exhaled a puff of smoke and continued, "But we can keep you alive for now; our people will come to rescue you later."

Linde understood; it was somewhat similar to a platinum membership card for a trauma group, but with the added feature of emergency care.

But the idea of ​​a group of merchants coming to his rescue after he was fatally injured seemed somewhat surreal to Linde, even though he knew that the fact that they had such a ring and offered such a service meant that these merchants were no ordinary people.

"You can't really call them people."

Seemingly noticing the confusion in Lin De's eyes, the "boss lady" from the Shining Gold Alliance added, "Our dragon will come to your rescue then."