Inside the hall, the crystal chandeliers cast brilliant light, illuminating the faces of the elegantly dressed businessmen. They held exquisite crystal wine glasses in their hands, gently shaking the ruby-like mellow wine inside, their eyes full of intoxication.
"Tsk tsk, this taste is like tasting the fragrant flavor of the fairy girl's jade feet. It's wonderful, really wonderful!" A pot-bellied businessman squinted his eyes and smacked his lips with a lingering aftertaste. The expression on his face revealed a bit of perverted obsession. Several businessmen around him also echoed him, shaking their heads and immersed in the so-called "wonderful taste".
In fact, this wine does have the effects of beautifying the skin and strengthening the body, just as Merlin had previously advertised. After all, a lot of refined magic potion essences were added to it, but it was far from as mysterious as these businessmen boasted. They described it so vividly just to please Merlin.
However, Merlin stood aside, listening to these absurd remarks, laughing in his heart.
The fragrance of an elf girl’s feet?
Merlin brewed a large amount of wine. With such a huge quantity, how could there be so many elf girls to trample the grapes to make wine?
In fact, the wine he gave to these merchants came from the goblin tribe in the Warcraft Mountains.
Of course, Merlin arranged for the goblins to be baptized under the Goblint. Under his arrangement, they used their feet to stomp out batches of "unique" wine from the grape piles.
Of course, Merlin would never tell the truth even if he died, as he was hoping to expand his wine business with this gimmick.
While everyone was still immersed in the heated discussion about the "Elf Jade Foot Wine", Merlin's originally cheerful face suddenly froze, and his expression instantly became serious and cold.
His eyes were like torches, slowly sweeping over everyone present, and finally stopped at the group of nobles who usually acted arrogantly in the Arcane City. His voice was low but revealed unquestionable majesty: "Everyone, let's put the matter of the Elven Jade Foot Wine aside for now. If you have any other ideas, there will be plenty of time to discuss them later. At this moment, there is a more urgent matter that requires us to immediately discuss the issue of your illegal construction on the territory of our Arcane Academy."
As soon as these words were spoken, the originally bustling hall seemed to have pressed the mute button and fell silent in an instant. The nobles' faces suddenly changed, their hearts sank, and they secretly thought: What was coming has finally come, I'm afraid we can't avoid this disaster...
After a short silence, an old noble with white hair but sharp eyes took the lead in breaking the deadlock. He bowed slightly, and although his tone was unwilling, it was also somewhat tentative: "Sir Merlin, do you think there is still room for change in this matter? We have worked hard on this land for half our lives and paid a lot. If the academy insists on taking over, what should we do?"
As soon as the words came out, everyone nodded, and their eyes were focused on Merlin, hoping to find a glimmer of hope from his words.
Merlin looked calm, smiled slightly, and slowly swept his eyes over everyone. He slowly spoke: "Everyone, the academy sent me here not to make an enemy of you, but I hope that the Arcane City can move towards a more glorious future under the guidance of the academy."
"But you guys have occupied the Arcane Academy's territory for a long time and built so many buildings illegally. You still don't want our Arcane Academy to take over. This makes it difficult for me to deal with it." Merlin said lightly. His voice was not loud, but it was like a cold wind in a cold night, going straight into everyone's ears and making the atmosphere instantly cold.
"President Merlin, although we did develop here without the consent of the Arcane Academy, if you want to seize our property by force based on the contract, we cannot agree to it." The leader stiffened his neck, his eyes showing a bit of stubbornness and unwillingness, his words were full of resistance, the people around him also echoed, and noisy sounds arose.
"Hey, that's really unpleasant of you to say. Who said I want to seize your property? Are we in the Arcane Academy so unreasonable?" Merlin frowned slightly and spoke with some dissatisfaction. He swept his eyes over everyone with unquestionable majesty.
The Arcane Academy is definitely reasonable, but that may not be the case for you, Merlin. Some people secretly complained in their hearts but did not dare to speak out loud.
"After all, you were wrong in this matter. We, the Arcane Academy, only wanted to exercise our basic rights in our territory. This is recognized by the Aize Federation and your six empires. The land under your feet belongs to the Arcane Academy." Merlin crossed his arms, his posture straight, and his words were clear and powerful.
After Merlin finished speaking, he continued, "You have built illegally here and are not willing to obey the management of the Arcane Academy. How can this be considered our fault? What are you thinking? There are not so many good things in the world?" His tone rose slightly, with a hint of sarcasm.
"So what do you want?" An impatient person in the group couldn't help but ask, his voice full of vigilance.
Merlin snapped his fingers, and the crisp sound echoed in the silent air: "It's very simple. From today on, the Arcane City will be managed by our Arcane Academy. You thieves who occupy other people's property and build illegally on our land only need to pay a fine. Of course, in addition to the fine, there is also rent for leasing the land. In addition to this, there will be taxes on running businesses in the Arcane City in the future..."
"What? You want us to pay a fine? And also land rent and business taxes? Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! You are going too far!" The crowd exploded instantly. A big man with a face full of flesh opened his eyes wide, veins popped out on his forehead, and he waved his thick arms and shouted, "We have worked hard here for many years, building this foundation brick by brick. Why do you, the Arcane Academy, want to take our hard-earned money just by asking? This is simply robbery!"
A skinny man nearby also jumped up and down, yelling, "That's right! Back then, this Arcane City was a wasteland. It was us who saw the gem and took risks to invest in its construction, which led to its current prosperity. Now, you want to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor? No way!"
Others echoed, "We have taken root here and have contributed so much to this land. Has your Arcane Academy ever contributed anything? Now you come asking for money. That's unfair!" Everyone was talking at once, becoming more and more agitated. Their faces flushed and they glared at Merlin. The air was filled with the strong smell of gunpowder.
Merlin said coldly, "Shut up, I'm not negotiating with you, I'm notifying you! If you don't pay the money, our Arcane Academy will take coercive measures to get you out! Our Arcane Academy has been very generous and has not charged you the rent you owed for many years, don't be so shameless!"
The people present were so angry at Merlin's words that their faces turned red and their chests heaved violently, but they were also intimidated by Merlin's momentum and didn't know how to respond for a while. They could only stare at him with hatred in their eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
