When A Mage Revolts

At noon, Benjamin returned to his home in the City of Rayleigh.

Everything was peaceful, nothing happened. It seemed that no matter how strong the undercurrent was at The City of Snow, at least there was nothing but calmness in the City of Rayleigh. And in Benjamin’s heart, he had figured out a way to use the five Elemental Crystals.

Without a doubt, he was going to use them on everyone. There might be more mages defeating him in the future, more talented ones who might be worth being brought up. But based on an angle of pure trust, nobody could compare to these twenty-odd people.

He prepared himself exactly like the last - once in awhile, he would curate a challenge and the winner would get a Crystal. Through these repetitive competitions, he would slowly build up everyone’s fighting spirit and pushed them towards working harder.

He believed that with five of these challenges, the quality of the mages would rise. As it said in the King’s letter, he had to cultivate the same strength of defeat as the Mages Freemasonry. If so, Benjamin couldn’t just rely on these twenty-odd mages. He had to expand his team by at least a hundred people, just like how did with the three new ones. But this process was certainly much complicated.

Now in The City of Raleigh, Benjamin was at his peak. If he wanted to recruit more people, he could. However, most of them would just be speculators. Hence, Benjamin should step forward to present his strength - not one person’s strength but instead, the power of his whole team.

Only with that would he attract those who seek growth as a professional mage. Though Benjamin had already prepared earlier on how he could accomplish this - he planned to achieve it with the use of the Magical Instruments.

That was why Benjamin rushed home, had a meal and took no rests, found his ‘finance minister’ Varys and discussed the upcoming things.

"What can the Magical Instrument do? Has it reached the inventory we planned before?"

Varys shook his head and said, "Not yet. According to the Boss Lady’s schedule, it is estimated to be done in a week."

There was still another week...

"Seven days is just right; we have to start planning." Benjamin pondered for a moment and spoke, "We need a space that requires decorations. At the same time, we need a stronger advertisement to put up an exhibition."

That’s right; he planned to organize an exhibition, by using the Magical Instrument as an opening for the show. No doubt it was a rare object but excluding other places, they were the only one who could produce it in The City of Rayleigh. If that was the case, Benjamin had to write a good piece of article on it.

Other than self-use, the Magical Instrument was produced to sell. However looking at sales, Benjamin’s influence would broaden tremendously. Furthermore, Benjamin’s expectations of broadening his influence were much bigger. Hence, he gave up the idea of using it as an equipment for everyone and decided to proceed with selling it.

In the start, Benjamin had thought of auctioning it as it would have been lively and worthed a lot. But after much thought, their production quantity would not allow them to host an auction. The Magical Instrument was so rare, he could have packaged it as more than what it was valued. Every piece of Magical Instrument was like art pieces displayed in delicate glass boxes - the value of it being much higher than what people can bid for. Now that would be such a tactful sales trick!

If Benjamin could direct his image in that direction, he believed that without publicity, countless mages would fight to join them.

"That, you can rest assure." Varys nodded his head and said, "Regarding the exhibition venue, there are a lot of places in The City of Rayleigh. Renting it won’t be too much of a trouble."

Benjamin quickly added, "What about decorations? We have to beautify the whole place and only with that could we package the Magical Instruments."

Varys pulled out a small book and after a few flips, he said, "The candles, chandelier, tables, chairs, utensils... I have already contacted the distributor and we can contact them whenever; red wine, meals and fresh flowers won’t be a tough decision. I suggest we order on the day of the event as I am still in contact with the seller. About the serves for the day itself, I have contacted a few. Why don’t you take a look and if it is not enough, I can contact more..."

Listening to the report, Benjamin quite satisfyingly nodded his head.

Benjamin came from a business background, and it always came in handy. In the days to follow, he would be the one dealing with people. Besides, he seemed to have already familiarised himself with connections in The City of Rayleigh. He had contacts for anything he wanted to buy.

If not for the talents in this team, Benjamin wouldn’t have dared to organize such an exhibition! But...

"Even though it is not confirmed, can you calculate a rough estimation?’ Finally, they were at the key problems. Benjamin took a deep breath, "With all these add up, how much do we need to spend?"

Varys seemed to have done the calculation before. He kept his book and answered, "It would approximately be three thousand gold coins after deducting the money from our bank. With our current income, we could completely cover the cost in four months."

... 4 months?

Benjamin frowned. To be honest, one season and a little bit more was still too long. Not that Benjamin had no patience, it was just that he was relying on the exhibition to make an impact and expand his team. But if he could only expand four months after, then waiting for the team to shape would take how many monkey years and horse months? The Palace gave him a huge pressure that made him feel that he could not wait four months.

"That can’t do. The exhibition must take place a month after." Therefore, he firmly nailed the iron in the head, " We have to take this opportunity while I still have a bit of reputation in The City of Rayleigh. Who would remember Benjamin in four months? And publicity would drop down a notch."

"But... where would these three thousand gold coins come from?" said Varys helplessly.

"Well that you don’t have to worry. In short, I would think of something to get it this month. If not, we’ll follow that four months plan," Benjamin replied.

Three thousand gold coins wasn’t a small amount but to a mage, that wouldn’t be too hard... Right?

Varys hesitated for a bit and suggested, "Actually, we all have a bit of savings. If twenty people were to chip in on top of finding other ways, that should get us three thousand."

Benjamin heard and immediately disagreed.

"How is that possible? Everybody can keep their money. What if something happens on the day itself?" He patted Varys’s shoulder and said, "Relax, I’ve got it covered."

"... Well, alright."

Even though Varys was still worried about the three thousand gold coins, but since Benjamin had put it that way, he couldn’t oppose.

In fact, since the days they had been with Benjamin, he had always been the one to make that final decision. It may seem risky sometimes and yet nowadays, haven’t they been living quite comfortably?

That was why Varys had cultivated trust in Benjamin since the early days.

Even though Benjamin had never shown his ability of money making, with his confident expression, Varys felt as if his many years of experience in the business industry had gone to waste. Instead, he had a feeling that Benjamin could do it.

"It is only three thousand gold coins right?"

After Benjamin left, Varys was alone in the room and he suddenly spoke the sentence in a way Benjamin would; he couldn’t help but let out a laugh.