Chapter 22

However, the northern part of Bark Kingdom was a harsh battlefield which meant that his days of comfort would now be like a distant memory. "I will tell you this governor, you may have brought yourself some time, but our ruler will one day ask for proper compensation from you. If you fail to continue keeping this region a weak one, there may be more to pay than just a simple title."

"I have no reason to stop supporting our ruler after many years of service and being placed on a throne such as this one. I have no plans of a power struggle either, which those four heads may lower their guards for the time being due to this apparent win for them. With the Dark Hand out of Hollow City, those other four top clans will be satisfied just splitting up the spoils." the governor told the Patriarch before dismissing him. Timothy did indeed create an unfavorable sword that nearly chopped the governor's head off. However, it would only be until Timothy's family is out of the region, when he could start planning to send someone to take their heads.

The season had finally shifted to spring in the Bark Kingdom and like the change in season, Timothy's family was now ready for a more personal change. A letter was received earlier in the week noting that Tommy would be sending a trusted merchant over to exchange things.

Three weeks beforehand, Timothy sent Tommy a letter saying that his family would be moving to a different region soon and that once he arrived and they finished their business, that someone else would be handling the trades from that point forward. With the township finally rebuilt and blooming with new opportunities, it was time for the township to elect a mayor of their own.

Originally, everyone thought that they should elect Timothy's father to be the mayor of the township. The majority of the newer business that came during this rebuilding phase was partly due to not only his son, but also because he recently became a level three blacksmith himself. However, during this election, Arthur explained that he would be leaving.

Everyone within the town felt extremely hurt because there were only four level three blacksmiths within the region and because of that, the other three towns who birthed one were able to build into small villages and slowly expand. Although they were able to still have a trade route with the merchant group in Hollow City, it was still a rather big blow to lose him.

The new mayor was chosen and because Timothy's family was moving away indefinitely, the mayor outright purchased the house and business building that their family had to turn them into a township headquarters. Normally this would not make much sense, but the newly elected mayor lived right next to Timothy's family so combining the two homes to form a decent sized building did in fact make sense.

The individual Tommy had sent over, was a male attendant named Brad, who was accompanied by two Intermediate stage guards. Between the three cultivators, it was clear that they could overpower a low leveled Advanced stage cultivator if needed, but the chance of running into one who was hostile was almost zero.

After making their exchange and Timothy introducing the male attendant to the governor, Timothy realized that Master Shi was a little off with his original estimate. The male attendant gave Timothy three thousand five hundred gold pieces, which meant that Timothy had an extra five hundred gold pieces in case a situation arrived where he would need to bribe someone to protect himself or his loved ones.

Without wasting any time, Timothy and his family headed out even before Brad was finished discussing the bright future the trade relationship held for Oak township and Hollow City. Timothy's mother owned a small carriage and two horses, so that is exactly what they rode on as they began a new adventure together.

After researching, Timothy's father found a village near Mist City who lacked a proper blacksmith of his new level. So instead of heading to the originally planned destination, the family decided to set up their business in Boulder Village which was still rather close to Mist City. Because of Arthur advancing, it would actually be enough for the family to live in Boulder Village comfortably.

Not as sought after as alchemists or several other trades, in weaker kingdoms, blacksmiths played a much bigger role. Normally a blacksmith depending on their level would be able to create or repair certain weapons and equipment, but it would only be at level four would they be confident to create ranked weapons.

When it came to value, certain pills and elixirs were extremely overvalued to powerful entities compared to equipment and weapons because the higher the stage a cultivator would be able to reach, the easier it would be to not only live a longer life, but to also find treasures that were more precious than weapons.

Sure in battle, weapons and equipment played a role, but there existed many treasures with special powers that could outmatch even the sharpest of blades. Therefore, only the lowest ranked cultivators or normal humans would have a strong use for blacksmiths. Which explained why Timothy's family was so poor because the lower leveled the equipment, the lower it would cost to fix or create.

"Father, I was able to make quite a bit this time around with Tommy and even underestimated the total profit I would make on the deal. My plan is to hire several guards for our family before we reach Boulder Village so that we could potentially avoid being picked on. I do not have enough to pay them for more than one year, but once I reach Mist City, I intend to continue making money from buying and selling items." Timothy told his parents as Joshua was sleeping in his mother's arms.