On the Seven Towers

Kalanda leaned against the wall, watching a group of thugs walk away from the corner of the front street, and waved back. Luo Ling, Cohen and others quickly followed her through the wide road and hid in the next corner.

Juan's fortress was right in front of them. From a distance, the fortress looked like an octagonal cake, built of stone, square, with two arrow holes on the eight walls, narrow outside and wide inside. With the faint light from inside, you can see the flashing figures.

The main door at the bottom was made of iron, one and a half people high. There was a small iron window in the middle, and someone should be watching them inside.

"Go!" Luo Ling pushed Cohen.

Cohen gritted his teeth and took a round shield from the guard. Carefully, half of his body was exposed from the wall, and he shouted to the fortress: "Are you from the Juan family? I am Cohen, the steward of the Dain family. I have something important to discuss with you!"

Cohen shouted three times in a row, and someone in the iron window finally answered: "There is no place for you here. You should find a way to escape."

"We are not here to escape. I have with me the magician of Suero City, Lord Luo Ling. And Miss Kalanda, the leader of the Blue Flame Mercenary Group. They have something important to discuss with your family master. It concerns your life!"

Obviously, the identities of Luo Ling and Kalanda played a role. After a long time, the iron gate opened a crack. A guard poked his head out and ran over very nervously.

He glanced at Cohen and Kalanda, and he obviously knew them. When he saw Luo Ling, he asked hesitantly, "Are you really a magician?"

Luo Ling smiled, stretched out a finger, pointed at the guard's forehead and said, "Do you want to see my magic?"

The guard immediately broke out in a cold sweat, "Ah, no, no, please come in, the masters are waiting for you in the fortress."

Soon, Luo Ling and his party sat in the reception room of the fortress. It was far from the luxurious atmosphere of the Dain family. Several swords and axes and two sets of armor were hung on the bluestone wall. These were all the decorations here, which had a bit of a hard-core style.

Opposite Luo Ling sat the heads of the Juan family, the Bart family, and the Lynch family. These people might be the only few big merchants left in the entire market.

She sat with her legs sideways, and Karanda and Cohen stood on both sides of her. Behind her were four strong guards, looking very imposing.

"I like the style here very much. It's tough and capable, and it reminds people of the good qualities of all soldiers." Luo Ling touched the hardwood chair and said to the head of the Juan family.

"My grandfather was a knight of the kingdom." Roman Juan had a big, neat beard and looked a bit military. "So, I like to speak directly. I want to know, why are you here, Miss Luo?"

"I'm here to save your lives." Luo Ling said with a calm look in her eyes.

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the people present changed slightly. Roman Juan said: "We are safe now. The fortress is well defended, and there is enough food and water. What does Miss Luo mean by this?"

"Is it safe? Although I am a woman who does not understand the battle formation, I have thought of several ways to easily break through this castle along the way. Now the key question is whether someone will do it and when to do it."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I just want to make an analogy. If I were a thug, I would find someone to hold up some door panels and shields at night, bring some weeds and firewood, and fill the fortress for a week. I don't think you can do anything with your bows and arrows. Then they just need to light these grasses and woods, smoke and fire for a night, and everything will be solved. Of course, I will also arrange people at the door. If the people inside can't stand the roasting and want to break through, it will fall into my pocket."

"The slaves are busy robbing and raping. What good will it do for them to attack a fortress so hard?" The head of the Bart family asked back.

"Does revenge count? Most people just follow blindly. As long as there is a leader who is against you, you can shout that the fortress is full of treasures. Are you afraid that you can't find people to work for you?... Hehe."

The three heads of the family fell into silence. As slave traders, the slaves who had grudges against them could almost line up around Suero.

Luo Ling was not in a hurry. She picked up the tea on the table and drank it slowly. The tea was a flower tea mixed with spices and milk, sweet and sour.

"You... do you have any solution?" Roman Juan changed his honorific and finally stopped looking down on the young girl in front of him.

Luo Ling smiled, her bright eyes swept over the three middle-aged men, and she saw their struggles. "Of course, a leader in my hometown once said: Don't fight a battle you are not sure of. I have a companion who is a powerful spiritual magician, who is very good at controlling the will of the crowd. He can solve this problem at a certain price."

"What price?"

"Take away all the slaves he controls."

"What? That's impossible. Do you know how many gold coins these slaves are worth? These gold coins are enough to hire several great magicians!"

"This is blackmail! You are going too far."

"We can pay this magician a sum of gold coins, but the slaves must be returned to us!"

Luo Ling looked at the three people quietly, tapping her legs a few times with her fingers, and the room seemed to get colder without her noticing. Roman Juan felt a chill on his back and suddenly sneezed. He subconsciously wanted to pick up the tea to warm his body, but he found that it was as cold as ice water in winter, mixed with some ice crystals.

"Calm down." Luo Ling's voice was very light, but it was chilly.

Roman looked at the lady opposite him and thought she was a goddess of ice and snow. He then remembered that she was also a magician. If he really angered her... He coughed twice and changed his tone: "We have to say so much. After all, there are people behind most slave businesses. The lords of various places and the adults in the capital have interests involved. Even some high-ranking magicians have a thousand connections with this place. You should know that we are just some small pawns in the front."

"I only ask three questions." Luo Ling seemed not to hear Roman's complaints.

"First, if the roving thugs are not stopped, how many gold coins will be lost?"

"Second, after the lords suppress the riots and plunder the camps, how many living slaves will be left and returned to your hands?"

"Third, who will be counted for all the losses in the end, those big men or you?"

The people present were speechless.

Luo Ling stood up, stroked her forehead and said, "I'm a little tired. Please prepare a room for me to take a rest. When I wake up, it's time to leave. I can still come and go freely in such a small place."

In the lounge upstairs.

Luo Ling covered her mouth with a handkerchief and coughed a few times. Her mouth was full of fishy and salty. She took off the handkerchief and saw that the middle was stained with a touch of red.

She frowned slightly and sighed. The warning of the book spirit was indeed true. When her spiritual consciousness was not yet formed, reading the "Shadow Scroll of the Sea of ​​Consciousness" had caused a mutation in her mental power. Magic became a matter of hurting others and herself for her. Today, she only made a small move downstairs, and her lungs were hurt. If this problem is not solved, no matter how high the magic cultivation is, it will be a decoration.

I don't know what Xiao Chen's situation is. At least he will not hurt himself when using power, but he is much luckier than me.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

"Miss Luo." Cohen saluted and said, "I asked the servants. They generally felt that this fortress could not be defended and were very pessimistic. In addition, the heads of the families have been in the reception room and seemed to be arguing fiercely."

"You are thoughtful. Don't worry, their quarrel is just the nature of greedy businessmen. When people fall into the water, they will grab even a straw, not to mention that we are a ship that can really save lives?"

"Miss Luo, are we pushing them too hard?" Cohen asked a little uneasily. All the people he just saw in the reception room were real bigwigs in this business. Cohen had never seen anyone talk to them like this.

"This is an unequal negotiation. We have more cards in our hands than they do. Of course, we don't need to be polite. You have to know that the same negotiation will bring very different benefits in different atmospheres." Luo Ling seemed very confident. "Don't always look at these things from the perspective of a manager. Learn to stand higher."

"You're joking. I'm a manager."

"Haha, maybe I won't be one soon."

Just when Cohen was confused, someone knocked on the door again. It was Roman's butler. He invited Luo Ling to come downstairs to chat in the name of having afternoon tea.

The same people were still in the room, but after the continuous quarrel, the three of them were a little depressed. Luo Ling, on the other hand, looked a little better after a rest.

Several people exchanged glances, and finally Roman Juan spoke up: "Lord Luo Ling, we have carefully considered and decided to accept your proposal. But there is a premise here, that is, the loss cannot be expanded, especially this fortress cannot be affected."

"Except for the personal safety of the three of you. I will not guarantee anything else. This is a gamble."

"The three of us?"

"Yes, I and Captain Kalanda guarantee that we will not leave you until the matter is resolved. Of course, our companion, Master Xiao Chen, will do his best to resolve this crisis. If you don't have the ability to control the mind like him, what's the use of you finding a few magicians who can throw fireballs?" Hearing these words, the three family heads were more stable, and they finally agreed to Luo Ling's request.

"Okay, after discussing the first condition, I have an additional small request." Luo Ling waved to Cohen and asked him to sit on the chair next to her, facing the three people.

"Manager Cohen is an old man under Dain. After this disaster, many slave-trading families were completely eradicated. The current slave market is a bit large, and there are a few merchants. Therefore, talents like him should be allowed to play a role. In the future, Cohen will be one of the merchants here. I hope you will support him."

"Sir! This..." Cohen was very shocked. He had only known these mages for less than half a day. How could such an arrangement fall on him?

"Don't be nervous. I think the heads of the families should also agree to do this. What do you think?"

Roman and others knew with their buttocks that this was Luo Ling's blatant attempt to intervene in the future affairs of the slave market. However, the situation is stronger than people now, so what can they say? What's more, the slave market has been reshuffled, and everyone's share has increased a lot, provided that they can eat them alive. And the mage in front of them is the guarantee of this premise.

"Mr. Cohen is indeed a capable person. With such a businessman joining us and the support of mages like Miss Luo, the slave market can be restored to its old appearance much faster."

"Not bad, not bad, everyone will take care of it in the future."

Several heads of families said one after another.

"Very good! In this case, we can wait for the news with peace of mind." After saying this, Luo Ling felt a little weak due to the double fatigue of mind and body. She supported herself on the handrail with her hands, took a sip of tea, but the sweet taste made her want to vomit.

All those toughness, indifference, and confidence were just appearances. From the moment she stepped into this fortress, she was like a clockwork with a tight spring, cautious and not daring to show any timidity. And now, she can finally live up to that guy's expectations. She glanced at the smoky sky through the narrow window and said to herself: Xiao Chen, it all depends on you next.