At this time, the Bleulle Teleportation Array lit up.

To arrive at the arrival teleportation array, the approval of the Lord was required. In the approval, the list of people is attached to the system panel. This included the information that would be available in the [Population] list in the Lord Panel.

This contained name, level, affinity, and the amount of money they had in their wallets.

Bleumrick was in a simple gathering involving a lot of alcohol and women when he received the notification.

He didn’t think much at first, but when he saw the list of the incoming arrivals, his eyebrows rose in interest, and he stood up and headed to greet the new arrivals himself.

Seeing the Lord move, many people around him were curious, so most accompanied him as the entourage.

This included Lozer, Lizbeth’s older brother, and one of the Bleulle citizens who had been to Alterra. Since there weren’t many from their area who personally investigated Alterra at the time, they managed to secure a few resource deals and distribution deals for their city.

Their oaths were relatively strict, so they never considered betraying Alterra, even just for the monetary gains of it. The oaths for powerhouses were limited, so Alterra’s oaths mostly involved twith them never using their connection to harm Alterra. Other things were too specific and would reduce the oath’s duration too much.

It was also why the deals only lasted three years at most. So, if the merchants wanted to continue business with Alterra, they had to renew the distribution deals as well as their oaths.

At the same time, there was nothing against making deals with others. Even if they supported a rival merchant, the oaths could not stop them. The only limit was that their point of entry to Alterra could not be used against them. Competition was still a fair trade.

The siblings had wondered how to take long-term advantage of the deals they secured in Alterra, and they really found a nice compromise.

One of these was letting the Lord sell the items they get exclusively. Basically, the siblings Lozer and Lizbeth became willing middlemen.

They couldn’t profit much from the items themselves though, as the Lord would basically pay the cost price. Not to mention their logistics costs, which would mean they bought things at a loss. However, the Lord gave a lot of leeway and power to their family, which evened things out.

To them, their personal and family’s prestige was more important than money. Besides, as long as they remained in Bleulle, their territory, it wasn’t difficult to make money at all.

Lord Bleumrick also found ways to suppress the other merchants trying to make direct deals to Alterra so he could retain a monopoly, selling the items for at least ten times what he bought them for.

At the same time, he had sent many spies to Alterra through the months, waiting for a chance to strike.

Basically, it was making money off of his enemy while scheming against them.

None of this was apparent on his face, however. He was now excitedly standing by the array, greeting the newcomer’s caravan.

It was not too big, but not small, and there was a highly noble aura around them. This kind of nobility was what Bleumrick had been trying to apply to his own land.

He walked over to the leading person, a beautiful woman with shimmering blue hair and grey eyes.

"Crown Princess Naia," he greeted respectfully, using the greetings between peers. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Considering how misogynistic Bleumrick was, treating a woman as an equal—at least outwardly—showed how high her status was.

"Welcome to Bleulle."

...

"I am just passing by. There is no need to mind us," Princess Naia said, walking past Bleumrick without a change in expression.

Cauis and several other entourage followed after her, though they were fortunately diplomatic enough to send their greetings before leaving the place.

Bleumrick had his pride and did not follow. However, he did let out a sneer as soon as the woman left the vicinity.

Even if the Princess Naia was one of the most high-ranking women in Holt City, in Bleumrick’s mind, she was still just a woman in the end, and that lowered her status several levels compared to men of the same rank.

The group left Bleulle almost as soon as they arrived, and upon investigation, they realized where they were heading.

It wasn’t complicated to figure this out. They just had to see the direction and study which notable territory was there. Groups of this level would not bother doing feints, so they could be sure the direction was accurate.

The group didn’t bother using a Mercenary Hall, despite their levels being high, and this meant that it was close enough.

This left only one place, and considering the group’s level, they could arrive there in less than two days on foot.

"They are heading straight to Alterra Town, Milord."

Bleumrick’s eyes sharpened.

Alterra, again?

He still hadn’t found a way to drag those toolmakers and alchemists back. Rather, he lost a few important people instead. He was already preparing to attack in retaliation, choosing a subsidiary to fund and annoy them.

He initially wanted to use Hubble—a territory friendly to Alterra—to spite them, but the more he found out about Alterra, the more wary he was about their methods.

He wouldn’t put it past them to figure out a loophole to minimize their losses in the war by using Hubble, so he chose one that had absolutely nothing to do with Alterra.

They were scheduled to attack in a week, using a similar method to Valov and harming the Ministers before they could declare war via their satellites. He had even secured a few dwarven bombs from Hassen as well.

But now...he had to rethink things again.

He knew that Alterra did have a relationship with Holt City, which made him a bit wary. Bleulle and Holt were both cities, but they were definitely not of the same level.

However, he thought they were purely commercial deals at most, and he didn’t believe Holt would really go against another city for a flashy little town.

But seeing the crown princess herself head there meant that Alterra’s weight was heavier than he thought.

Bleumrick cursed. It wasn’t that this would dispel the idea of attacking. Rather, he was sure his preparations were not enough.

Delayed, again!