Chapter 21: The Gift
The city of Er County governed over a dozen ordinary cities and numerous rural areas, with a population of several million. It could be said that a single Er County city was comparable to a duchy. And the status of a city lord of Er County was equivalent to that of a grand duke of a duchy!
"At fourteen years old, becoming the lord of a county city—how enviable." In the taverns of Er County, many people were discussing this.
The sudden death of Lady Weide and her three siblings in a great fire had clarified the previously complicated power struggles within Er County.
Without a doubt.
Keen, who possessed the bloodline of the Jakes family, would certainly inherit the position of city lord.
"That countess went to confiscate property in the dead of night, only to lose her own life. How ironic." An old man with a red beard, clutching a large mug of ale, laughed heartily.
"I heard she was burned to death," someone nearby said.
"How could it be a burn death? With so many city guards around, if it were really a fire, how could the countess and her siblings not have escaped?" A thin man suddenly lowered his voice. "I'll tell you a secret—the countess and her three siblings were killed first, then set on fire."
The people around immediately turned to look at him.
"This is true," the thin man said confidently.
"You're all talking nonsense." A burly man sneered. "I was in the city guard myself, and I was there that night. Do you know more, or do I?"
The thin man immediately chuckled dryly. "Big brother, I was just joking around."
"The countess and her three siblings weren't burned to death—they were probably blown up," the burly man said, convinced of his own correctness. "Burned to death? Wouldn't they have called for help? But our entire squad of brothers didn't hear a single cry for help. It must have been a sudden explosion that killed them instantly, leaving them no chance to call out."
The others nodded, and even the thin man agreed.
Clearly, this explanation was very logical.
"Never mind Lady Weide. Now, the ones in charge of Er County are those two siblings." The burly man took a drink of ale and said loudly.
...
That was right. The most dazzling figures in Er County were now Jenny and Keen, the siblings who had originally been underestimated.
In the city lord's castle.
"How is there so much?" Keen flipped through the gift list in his hands and looked at the gifts filling almost the entire room in front of him, stunned.
With Lady Weide dead, many nobles immediately came to curry favor with Keen. They sent gifts, beautiful women, powerful guards... These nobles knew that, given Keen's age, their families would likely be under his control as the future city lord for the next hundred years. Naturally, they wanted to build good relations.
"It's not much," Lambert said, shaking his head.
Jenny and Keen looked at Lambert in surprise, while Linley sat to the side, sipping tea.
"Grandpa Lambert, this isn't much?" Jenny exclaimed.
Lambert shook his head. "Miss, young master. These gifts probably add up to a few hundred thousand gold coins at most. A few hundred thousand gold coins... Hmph. Miss, young master, do you know how much property the great lady had? I estimate it should be over ten million gold coins!"
"Over ten million gold coins?" Jenny and Keen were stunned.
They had grown up in the countryside and had never seen such wealth. Lambert, however, had always followed their mother and had lived in the city lord's castle for many years, so he was familiar with many things.
"It's normal. After managing this population of several million for so many years, with the great lady's greed, it would be strange if she didn't have at least ten million gold coins. Unfortunately, we've never been able to find the great lady's magic crystal card. And even if we did... that card would likely have her fingerprint. We wouldn't be able to withdraw the gold coins," Lambert said helplessly, shaking his head.
The rules of the Four Kingdoms Bank were entirely designed for their own benefit.
Once a magic crystal card recorded a fingerprint, only that person could use it. If someone else took it, it was completely useless.
Of course...
The owner of a magic crystal card could go to the Four Kingdoms Bank and transfer their property to someone else.
But if the cardholder died suddenly without transferring the property, the funds would be swallowed by the Four Kingdoms Bank. In reality, the bank had no choice but to do this.
The total amount of gold coins represented by the magic crystal cards issued externally was actually ten times the gold reserves held by the Four Kingdoms Bank itself.
However, many super-wealthy individuals, with so-called hundred million gold coins, would never go to the bank to withdraw a hundred million gold coins. Even transporting them would be extremely difficult. This was one of the reasons the Four Kingdoms Bank dared to issue so many magic crystal cards. And the bank didn't dare to issue them recklessly, as it was managed jointly by the four kingdoms, backed by the War God 'O'Brien' and the longest-living human powerhouse, the 'High Priest.' No one dared to cause trouble.
"Ten million gold coins, just gone like that," Keen said painfully.
He truly felt the loss of that enormous sum.
"Young master, being a city lord isn't just about collecting wealth. You also need to pay the salaries of the city guards, fund city renovations, and so on—all of which cost money," Lambert added.
Keen was taken aback.
"Huh? Being a city lord costs money?" Keen had no idea about this.
"So I say, these few hundred thousand gold coins are nothing. Fortunately, the county has a fixed treasury, which should have a decent amount of money," Lambert said.
Keen clutched his head. "Ah, being a city lord seems really painful and complicated."
"Sister." Keen looked at Jenny expectantly. "You have to help me."
Jenny nodded very earnestly. "Keen, I will definitely help you." This nod would mark the beginning of Jenny's difficult days ahead.
At this moment, Keen, Jenny, and Lambert had no idea.
While they were worrying about money,
Linley, who was sitting there drinking tea, possessed the accumulated wealth of a kingdom's royal family spanning thousands of years. The sheer magnitude of that wealth was so staggering that even their own clan, the 'Jakes family,' which had ruled the Northwest Province for over a thousand years, could hardly compare.
After all, no matter how much they skimmed, they couldn't match the royal family's ability to amass wealth.
"Jenny, Keen." Linley suddenly spoke. "You two stay here. I'm going to go train."
Jenny and Keen both looked at Linley. Keen chuckled and said, "Brother Lei, don't train too hard tonight. Make sure to come for dinner. Today... my sister is going to cook herself."
Jenny immediately blushed.
Ever since that banquet, when Keen publicly announced that Linley was Jenny's fiancé, many nobles in Er County had taken it as fact. Even the servants believed it, which naturally made Jenny, a young girl, shy.
"Oh, right." Linley smiled and waved his hand.
Suddenly, four large wooden chests appeared on the floor of the hall. The chests were open, revealing various artworks, precious magic crystals, and some rare valuable items.
"What is this?" Jenny and Keen were dumbfounded.
"This is the property of the Holmer family. I'm not sure of the exact value of these four chests, but I estimate it's over a million. And here." Linley took out eight magic crystal cards. "These are the unregistered magic crystal cards of the Holmer family. There are eight in total, each with a fixed limit of one million gold coins."
Linley had heard this from Lady Weide and her siblings when they were alive, which was how he knew the card limits.
"This, this." Jenny, Keen, and even Lambert stared at Linley in shock.
"Together, this adds up to nearly ten million gold coins. With this, you won't have to be so tight managing Er County. Alright, I'm off to train."
Linley casually tossed the eight magic crystal cards into the wooden chest and turned to leave.
Jenny, Keen, and Lambert looked at the four chests and the eight intricately patterned magic crystal cards, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Sister." Keen looked at Jenny.
Jenny said blankly, "Back then, I asked Brother Lei to protect us and offered him ten thousand gold coins. This..."
The siblings truly didn't know what to say. They had hired someone for ten thousand gold coins, but he had only taken a one-gold-coin deposit. Now, he was casually giving them nearly ten million gold coins in wealth.
Ten million gold coins!
What a terrifying fortune.
During the most glorious days of the Debussy family in the Finlay Kingdom, their total wealth was nearly a hundred million gold coins. After the smuggling incident, their fortune dwindled to just ten million. Even so, they remained a major family in the Finlay Kingdom.
"Miss, young master, this Mr. Lei is truly extraordinary," Lambert said seriously.
Jenny and Keen nodded.
No kidding. Who casually gives away ten million gold coins?
"Just now, Mr. Lei waved his hand, and four chests appeared out of nowhere. If I'm not mistaken, he possesses a legendary spatial ring!" Lambert said gravely.
"Spatial ring?" Jenny and Keen had never even heard of it.
Lambert nodded. "Yes, a spatial ring is priceless. On the Yulan continent, it's a symbol of status and power. Although some have reportedly offered hundreds of millions of gold coins for one, no one has ever heard of a spatial ring being sold."
"Hundreds of millions of gold coins?" Jenny and Keen were completely dumbfounded.
What would it look like to have hundreds of millions of gold coins piled up before them? They didn't even dare to imagine such terrifying wealth.
"In the entire Northwest Province, only the legendary patriarch of the Jakes family, who governs the province, possesses a spatial ring," Lambert said. Having spent many years in Er County, he knew some things about the Jakes family.
"Are you talking about... Great-Grandfather McKenzy?" Keen immediately said.
The Jakes family's greatest pride lay in their first patriarch, Jakes, and the legendary patriarch, McKenzy Jakes.
Jakes had originally been an ordinary commoner. After joining the military, he rose through the ranks, rendered great service to the O'Brien Empire, and eventually established a new legion for the empire—the Jakes Legion.
Named after Jakes, the family itself came to be known as the Jakes family.
The current emperor even entrusted Jakes with governing the Northwest Province, a testament to his favor.
Of course... the first patriarch was famous for his military leadership. As for his personal strength, even at his death, he was only an eighth-level warrior.
McKenzy Jakes, however, was the family member who had stepped into the Saint Domain before the age of two hundred.
A Saint Domain powerhouse!
If a family produced a Saint Domain powerhouse, and as long as that powerhouse didn't die and the family didn't rebel, the family's glory would never fade.
"Great-Grandfather McKenzy has a spatial ring?" Keen asked in surprise.
"Yes, it was personally bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor back then," Lambert said with emotion. "The Jakes family has always been proud of it. You should know that even among the kings of some kingdoms on the Yulan continent, very few possess a spatial ring."
Keen and Jenny could fully grasp the preciousness of a spatial ring.
"But I never expected that Mr. Lei also has one. No wonder he doesn't care about ten million gold coins."
Keen and Jenny felt as if they were holding their breath.
"I thought that inheriting the city lord position would make me very high-ranking, and I could offer Brother Lei a very, very high official position. But it seems... Brother Lei..." Keen now seemed to understand.
A city lord of a county was as high as the heavens to ordinary people.
But to a powerhouse like Linley, it meant nothing. He could kill one if he wanted. (Today's first chapter arrives~)