Altura

I had made an interesting discovery while planning the uniforms. The bronze members would have reddish-brown ones, the silver would have white ones and the Gold members would have light yellow ones. But it was at Diamond when the analogy fell apart. What color was diamond? Transparent? Transparent clothes were…not desirable.

I had summoned diamond, trying to see if maybe I could get away with some kind of off-white thing? But that would get confused with silver uniforms. I was about to just change the entire color scheme when I had an idea. Gold rank members were all Plants, and could manipulate Earth. And could thus wear diamond. But diamond was also not a very comfortable material to wear, granted the uniforms were supposed to just be for formal events like entering a city, but say I could make diamond flexible… I did have magic.

I willed the diamond flexible, and to my surprise it worked. Adding more Qi, I increased the mass and spreading it around my body, making it morph into a set of clothing, but never turning it back to normal.

The armor consumed a bit of my Qi, a few hundred units of it, but I suspected that it was also protective. Not only that, but it was translucent, not shiny like normal diamond, but not quite ugly. Changing the color, I found that the other colors looked just fine, if a bit mate instead of glossy.

I could just change the Diamond classification to something like ‘ruby’ or ‘emerald’ and it would work. And it would give me names for when there were Treelings and higher in the Adventurer’s Guild.

I had Aswelth make the defenses and Xerte test it. The armor made one fireproof, waterproof and airproof. Earth and lightning didn’t affect it either. On having Aswelth test Xerte, he found that he could harm Xerte, but it required much more effort and the armor could block a couple of attacks before needing more Qi. On hardening, it became even more defensive, though it restricted one's movement then.

I had just gotten a very good set of armor. Now for the colors, if I changed the Diamond classification to Emerald, making the leaving convoy a mix of green and yellow. I was glad it would just be formal occasions, the entire thing would ruin camouflage. But who required camouflage for official events?

A large convoy passing through a city would and should attract eyes. The Ducal guard had chosen a purple uniform, with the stitches defining the rank. The Guild members had also added purple stitches to their uniforms, even the armor. I suppose the Arch duchy now had an official color. I had even decided the Treeling rank: Turquoise. Saying that I was rooting for Xerte breaking through on the journey was an understatement. I was counting on it.

A problem with the armor had been that it would leave the person naked if it fell. But the answer to that was easy, the armor could be formed over clothing. And then the colorful convoys left for their destinations.

Shadow Prince

The Shadow Prince was upset. The stupid brat from the Kingdom had ruined his plans and made the ancestor angry at him. The plan had been that he would already be a Tree when he would be declared heir, but instead he was now the heir as a Treeling. The other Investors were not happy about their competitor growing more powerful and were plotting his death.

The brat had even managed to release a merchant convoy to three Jewels. And another just for the Sect. Though he had already sent people to make trouble for them, he doubted if they would be able to accomplish anything. The shadow prince was no fool, the brat would have assigned at least one Plant to the convoy. And he had been told to not risk Plants again, they were too valuable and likely to cause a war. A war they could not afford given that the Kingdom would no doubt join in, and that was ignoring the Rotere guards.

The Shadow Prince had heard of them. Ruthless assassins and merciless warriors trained by the best of the best. The guards had excellent aura hiding skills, and would always give you the wrong idea of their cultivation level. The brat being a Grand Elder’s granddaughter was a surprise to say the least. At least the Grand Elder didn’t seem to care much for her, else he would already be dead. But the fact that she was one worried him.

But he would still win, he always did. The matter at hand was just how to accomplish it.

Kerrin

Kerrin sighed as he entered the duchy, now arch duchy. The journey back hadn’t really taken long, just a day flying, but the constant meetings with the duchies had. The duchy of Merden was furious that the Archduchess had killed their ducal family. Sadly for them, they could also do nothing about it, the Archduchess was far more powerful than them.

The other Treeling forces had also made sure to express their ‘opposition to the new Jewel’s arrogant and war provoking actions.’ The four remaining duchies had even called upon the King to punish them, causing him to delay and attend the Court. But he needn’t have bothered.

The King wasn’t having any of it. In fact, he had directly told them that it was a consequence of their actions and should they continue, they may all find themselves dead. The Duchy of Merden had been granted to a cousin of the previous duke’s a Plantling level cultivator with no support.

No doubt, the duchy would soon fall into ruin and cease to be a power. The other duchies had then tried to prevent the merchant convoy’s from passing through, something the King had refused to interfere with. But Kerrin was not having it, he had communicated with the Merchant Lord to cooperate, and found himself with a good deal.

The convoy would pass through the Merchant Lord’s routes, that were considered his property and outside the duchy’s control, and in return he would be allowed to join his goods to the convoy. The Merchant Lord did have his own trade convoys, but they were not allowed into the Sect or the Valley, which meant that he would gain two new markets.

Though the deal had yet to be approved by the Archduchess, he was sure she would have no objection, the Merchant Lord’s goods would only add to the convoy’s impression and that would increase the other Jewel’s impression of the Arch duchy. And what were they really losing? The Archduchess had given ample protection for the convoy, several times the Merchant Lord’s total forces in sheer power.

After entering the Arch duchy, he immediately flew towards the Roalt Mansion, only to find himself stopped by guards in the air. The guards were weird, wearing purple clothing with green stitches that somehow seemed crystalline. But it couldn’t be crystalline, crystals couldn’t be worn.

“Please state your business here.” one of the guards asked. Kerrin approved of their demeanor. The fact that he wouldn’t be recognized hadn’t occurred to him, but it made perfect sense, he had been gone long enough, and he wasn’t famous enough to be recognized by everyone before either,

“I am Courtier Kerrin, returning from my mission in the Kingdom Capital.” he answered.

“Please wait as we confirm your identity.” the guard replied as he took out a communicator. A few minutes later, an image of Aswelth appeared on the communicator.

“What is it?” an irritated Aswelth asked.

“A man claiming to be Courtier Kerrin has arrived, General. Could you please confirm?” the guard answered.

“Show him to me.” Aswelth replied, his voice gruff. Had he been getting enough sleep?

The guard turned the communicator around to show Kerrin prompting him to say,“ How do you do General?”

“Well, we were expecting you a week ago so not well. What were you doing?” he asked.

“The duchies threw a tantrum over the Archduchess' actions and wanted to deny the convoy passage. I dealt with it.” Kerrin answered.

Aswelth’s eyebrows furrowed at his answer, “Why did you not inform the Archduchess of this? Get down here before answering.” he said. The truth was that Kerrin hadn’t thought of calling on the Archduchess, she had given him a responsibility, and he was to complete it no matter what.

“Sure.” Kerrin answered as he went down towards the guard house where Aswelth presumably was.

A frowning Aswelth awaited him. “ So, why did you do it? And how did you deal with it?”

“I thought I was supposed to deal with such matters myself given that I was a courtier, and I did it by brokering a deal with the Merchant Lord.” Kerrin answered.

“What deal? What did you promise that sleazy merchant?” Aswelth asked suddenly sounding worried.

Kerrin described the deal to him.

“ The deal is…agreeable. But I would still prefer it if you informed us about the problem. The last we heard of you was during the duchy’s appeal.” Aswelth said.

“I was going to after arriving here. And the deal has not been finalized yet, the Merchant Lord wishes for the Archduchess to sign the deal herself” Kerrin answered.

“Fine, the Archduchess is busy training now, so you can meet her tomorrow. Get some rest, days around here are busier than they are around the palace.” Aswelth said as he flew off, leaving Kerrin alone.

Altura

I looked at the deal in front of me with suspicious eyes. The deal seemed like a win-win on all sides, and that made me very suspicious. Aswelth had warned me about how sleazy and unethical the Merchant Lord was, and how unethical his practices were. And that made the deal even more suspicious.

Why was this Xianxia merchant suddenly being fair? An ulterior motive seemed likely. Was he trying to send spies into the convoy? Was he working with the Shadow Prince? Or was he trying to get on my good side? Questions abounded.