Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Chapter 442: Buying time

The group came to a stop before an aging and deserted warehouse. The structure was large, indicating that it might have served some substantial purpose in the past. However, its current condition and location were far from ideal. Situated in a rather remote and unfavorable spot, it was no wonder that the warehouse had fallen into disuse and neglect.

Despite its size, it appeared to have been abandoned for some time, perhaps due to the inconvenience of its surroundings.

"I want to buy this place," Rain declared after he used his magic to contain their conversation with the guards who were following them.

"Why?" Branden asked while frowning.

"... Do you want to make a shop or something like that here to sell the things that we have?" Orcis asked while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "That makes sense, but eventually, we will run out of things to sell."

"I am also planning to automate the process of selling things like grains and other goods," Rain explained. "Grandpa usually did that for the people in the region while they focused in producing it. By doing that in his place and by using my magic, we can save a lot of time and make money passively."

"This place could become a target for enemies, though," Branden said. "Even more so if you leave someone important here."

"That is why I won't, to avoid problems, I will also won't leave anything of value here, this will be just a stop for the money the resources to stop for a short while," Rain added. "People will send a document with what they need to the person who will work here, with how much they wanted, and then they will be able to grab what they wanted the next day.

Naturally, I also want to make this business as a means to gather Intel periodically."

"That seems like a good idea… but I am not sure if that is one hundred percent feasible," Branden said while showing a complicated expression.

Branden was unsure since some of his spies betrayed him, but Rain was considering that too. He was going to do that once he gets rid of those that can become a nuisance in the near future and Joanis and the king's supporters. Eventually, others will emerge and so will the same, but he will get rid of them too.

A single action against him and his business, and then he will send them at the tip of a rocket to the moon.

Thinking militaristically all the time was a bit tiresome, but Rain knew that it had to be done. Maybe to deal with the possible problems that might arise there, Rain could use the former prisoners that he freed from Joanis' clutches. They wouldn't have any reason to help anyone that wasn't Rain and his friends, and they are strong enough to protect themselves.

In the end, Rain asked around for the person who was the owner of the warehouse while they sold their goods and eventually found the person. It was a middle aged man that had been trying for ages to sell the building, thanks to that, Orcis managed to get a good price for it.

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Orcic was essentially a loaded merchant, and he knew what he was doing, so Rain bought the place for only ten gold coins. Orcis convinced the seller for that price even though he wanted three times more because the building was in a bad area of the town, they were too far away from the capital, and the building hadn't been repaired and cleaned in a while.

"It has been a while since I did something like that… it is good to know that I didn't lose my edge," Orcis smiled. "If the owner were a woman, I probably could have used a nice smile to haggle a bit more. Ouch!"

Lorene didn't like to hear the last part, so he got punched on the side. In any case, at the end of the day, the group finished selling half of the stuff and then proceeded to the next city. They disappeared in the middle of the darkness and entered the underground tunnel to camp, but Rain headed to the capital.

While using his magic, Rain was able to ski on the surface of the water that was in the tunnel and he unsealed the routes that he had sealed before.

"I can't let the sea emperor know if this… he might try to drown the capital from inside out," Rain thought.

In any case, since he was wearing his weights too, Rain had to keep focused in order not to sink on the water and he had to keep his speed constant to avoid problems. He actually easily pulled it off and reached the capital in the middle of the night.

After confirming that his former house wasn't being watched, Rain quickly left the underground tunnel and then looked for the tallest building in the area.

Lotto told him that two guys were managing the capital in the place of the king, but no one knew where they worked or lived… some guys just moved around from building to building collecting taxes and making them disappear while they moved around… it was their way to stay out of the radar of those who could possibly target them.

In any case, Rain used his magic to summon a storm that covered the whole area, and then he made it Rain for a while… in the end, he confirmed that there were no anti-magic barriers in the capital… it seemed that Joanis was using all the material that he could make on their own anti-magic crystal.

Still, Rain was able to sense some interesting presences guarding some buildings and they were all in the part of the capital… the northern side behind the castle.

"I guess even though it was obvious, it was also too unexpected," Rain flew to the area and eventually found the spot where he found the presence of two special guards.