Chapter 60 - Fat Boss
In the Continent, under normal circumstances, the strength of a mage was directly proportional to their age. It was different for a warrior. All a young warrior needed to do was to toughen their bones and grow in strength with training under the guidance of adults.
Martial arts practice was not easy. The training had high strength requirements. But to become a mage was a lot more difficult. As children, they will be sent to designated locations to check if they have the talent for magic. If there was any, they would focus on training as a mage. If not, they would go back home to try to become a warrior.
The age requirement to become a mage was very strict. If you were younger than twelve years old, then you couldn't practice magic. After so many years of research, the people in the Continent discovered that if a person was twelve and under, then they didn't have the mental strength to learn magic. It was because one so young would have unstable spiritual power, which might cause them to become brain dead or result in death if they tried to practice magic.
It was precisely because of this reason that the age of a powerful mage would often times not be young. Meg, who had already become a sixth level mage, could definitely be considered a genius.
Very few people in the Continent knew about Meg's strength, which was strictly confidential. Even only a few of the Buda clan knew about it. That was because Meg was strong for her age. If word got out, it would only result in two things. They would either try to control Meg, or try to kill her. These two results were something the Buda clan didn't want to see.
Mages tended to live a lot longer than warriors. A warrior, even an eighth level one, generally could live up to two hundred years. But an eighth level mage can reach two hundred and fifty years of age. Because of this, advanced mages were very important to the Continent. They could protect the Continent for at least a hundred years or so.
On Earth, a king of a feudal country, even if it was a long lived one, could only rule the country for a couple of years. But it wasn't the same here in the Ark Continent. On average, the king of an empire would rule for a hundred years or so. A short lived king would be someone who only ruled for a few decades. And it was for this reason that, even after so many years, the Continent's development wasn't very fast. They didn't invent new machines and technology, and just stayed as a society that used slaves.
It was precisely because of this that Green wouldn't let Zhao speak, especially to a person that would scrutinize other people. As long as he heard someone speak, he could tell their age.
The steward led Zhao into the hotel, which was very well decorated. Beyond the door was a hallway about forty feet long, and from the top hung magic lamps. Even though it was still day, the magic lamps were lit. Facing the entrance was a large bar where two beautiful waitresses and a fat man were standing respectfully. This man was wearing nice silk clothes and on his chest was pinned with a badge that had the Bana symbol. He seemed to be the boss of this hotel.
When the boss saw Zhao come in, he immediately moved towards him and stopped three steps in front of Zhao, then greeted him with a bow. "Welcome, sir mage. You have brought honor to our hotel with your presence. Please stay here and rest, and we will immediately bring you some tea."
Zhao didn't say anything. He turned and walked to the side, then sat down on the sofa that was specifically placed there as a temporary place to rest. The moment he sat down, a waitress came over with a pot of tea and a cup, which she placed down on the coffee table in front of Zhao. He helped himself to it, then gently waved for Meg to stand beside him. With his black robe, the fact that he hadn't spoken, and just made small movements to command Green and Meg, Zhao seemed very impressive.
The boss of this hotel had been paying attention to Zhao. Feeling Zhao's peculiar temperament, his eyes couldn't help but shrink, but the smile on his face didn't change as he soon stood in front of Zhao, and bowed. "Dear Mr. Mage, your room has been arranged on the third floor. Please come with me."
Zhao nodded and stood up. He went along with the boss to the third floor, which wasn't the same as the first or second floors. The third floor had no halls, since there wasn't a need for one when there were so few rooms.
The fat boss led them to room 601 and personally opened the door. Zhao and his group went inside, while the boss stood outside the door. "Dear Mr. Mage, if you need anything, all you have to do is ring this bell to summon someone. Your food will be here shortly. This room has five bedrooms, enough for you and your followers to live in. If it's not to your liking, then I can arrange another room for you."
Zhao said nothing as he looked around the room, but Green understood what he meant, so he immediately turned to the fat boss. "We are very satisfied with this arrangement."
Fat boss immediately bowed. "It is an honor to serve such a great mage. Now please allow me to take my leave." He respectfully closed the door, then left.
With the fat boss gone, Zhao let out a breath and took off his hat. "I didn't expect that these clothes would work so well. That boss was really respectful."
Green also took off his helmet. "Master, you're too naive. That boss just did it out of habit. He's a professional. You may not know this, but this hotel is owned by the Markey clan. That fat boss is one of the Markey's intelligence agents. I believe that before long, the Markey clan will know about us."
Zhao was surprised. "This place is owned by the Markey clan? Grandpa Green, why are we staying here?"
Green smiled slightly. "Sometimes, Master, being low key is not a good thing. Since you can summon an undead, you can actually impersonate a black mage, so they would think we're suspicious if we're not blatantly swaggering around. Plus, this would make everyone doubt that we're from the Buda clan, because no one thinks that we would have the courage to do this."
"I really didn't think that we would actually inform the Markey clan about us in such a place. Grandpa Green, how did you know that this hotel was owned by the Markey clan?"
"It's not a secret. Outside the hotel is a sign that has a Bana symbol, which is the badge of the Markey clan. With the strength of their clan, no one in the Continent would come here to make trouble. We do not need to worry about anyone when we stay here," Green said. "Plus there are a lot of spirit beasts in the mountains. So you could find a lot of useful things here and get them at a very cheap price, so why wouldn't the Markey open a business here?"
Zhao nodded. He had learned from that miscellaneous book that a lot of things on the Continent were made out of materials that came from spirit beasts. Along with their powerful bodies, a lot of spirit beasts had magical properties, which were very useful for alchemists and pharmacists to refine. Those mercenaries and adventurers rely on hunting those spirit beasts to make a living.
However, Zhao was still somewhat puzzled, because from looking at the miscellaneous book, he knew that there weren't any adventurer guild organizations, which you would often see in web novels. "Grandpa Green, where can the adventurers get a task? Or is hunting spirit beasts all they do?"
"Of course not," Green said. "In fact, adventurers can receive a task from equipment shops, hotels, and pubs, which gets them from the big cities. Even if the task is not suitable, they could just go somewhere else to look for one. For example, whenever the Markey Company needed something, they could just share the task with their branches throughout the entire Continent, like the one here in Montenegro Fortress. If they administer any tasks, it would be simple to send a message and get it to an adventurer by tomorrow."
Translator Notes: This chapter was MTLed by Trung and edited by Kinokey. Please leave a comment if you've spotted anything that looks wrong.