Whoosh, whoosh…
Rhea flew out of the valley and headed toward the temporary base where the black oil fruits were located. After circling once in the air, she finally landed on the ground.
"Miss Rhea, how did it go?" Number Four rushed over with his men and a medic.
"Big Sister, are you alright?" Salina, who had already returned, ran over and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Rhea.
"I'm fine," Rhea shook her head and looked at her surroundings.
This temporary base was built behind a hillside, concealed by massive boulders. If anyone passing by didn't look carefully, it would be extremely difficult to notice a camp here.
"Send people to constantly monitor the movements inside the valley. If there's any danger, retreat immediately," Rhea commanded deeply. She was worried that those dragons might run over here, even though this place was over three thousand meters away from the valley.
"Okay," Number Four nodded. Even without Rhea's instruction, he would have done exactly that.
"Big Sister, I think those dragons have probably never been here, or perhaps they dislike coming here," Salina guessed.
"Why do you say that?" Rhea looked at Salina in confusion, waiting for her explanation.
"When I came back just now, I observed the surroundings. There are many shrubs and trees here, but I didn't find a single dragon footprint on the ground," Salina analyzed.
"It's highly likely because of these black oil fruits. The smell is incredibly pungent; those dragons probably hate this scent," Number Four chimed in with his own guess.
Rhea nodded and said coolly, "Even so, we cannot let our guard down."
"Understood," Number Four responded, stepping away to arrange for special operatives to keep watch over the valley.
The surrounding area was densely packed with trees bearing black oil fruits. Right now, many soldiers were busy harvesting them and packing them into linen sacks. The filled sacks had already been piled up into small mountains nearby.
And this was just from harvesting the black oil fruit trees within a small radius around the base.
"Let's go. We're going to bring them home," Rhea said coldly, a profound sadness in her eyes.
"Yes," Salina and the several birdkin responded in unison.
"Move out." Rhea took to the sky and flew toward the Stone Mountain, with the other birdkin following closely behind.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
A few minutes later, the group landed, their flapping wings bending the surrounding weeds low to the ground.
Phew...
Rhea folded her wings and walked forward, where five tombstones still stood silently.
The group stood before the tombstones, bowing their heads in a moment of silence without saying a word.
"Alright. I've avenged you all. Today, we've come to bring you home," A mist formed in Rhea's eyes. She clenched her fists tightly before slowly relaxing them.
"We live in Sedona City now..." Salina said, tears rolling down her cheeks.
After a while, Rhea took a deep breath and said, "Let's begin."
"Yes." The group responded and then began to slowly excavate the five graves. They moved the buried remains into the wooden boxes they had brought along, sealed the boxes tightly, and secured them with thick hemp ropes.
"We are bringing you home," Rhea said softly, sorrow lingering in her eyes.
"Let's go." After pausing for a moment, Rhea and Salina flapped their wings and took to the air. Pulling the ropes, they slowly hoisted a wooden box and flew low toward the base.
The others did the same, with two people carrying each wooden box. This time, it took them a full seven or eight minutes of flying to return to the base.
"We rest for the night, and head back to Sedona City first thing tomorrow morning," Rhea said deeply after landing, ensuring the five wooden boxes were properly secured.
"Yes." The group looked at the wooden boxes with sorrowful eyes.
"I leave the rest of this place to you," Rhea said, looking at Number Four.
"Understood," Number Four nodded. He was now stationed here long-term and was responsible for transporting the black oil fruits back to Sedona City.
Transporting them via hot air balloons carried far too few; only land transport would be sufficient to meet Sedona City's consumption needs.
"Keep a close eye on the movements inside that valley. Don't go inside for the time being. I will leave two people here to help you monitor the situation," Rhea said coolly.
Number Four didn't refuse. For scouting the valley, birdkin were indeed much safer.
The next morning, at the break of dawn, six hot air balloons slowly ascended. Four of them were fully loaded with black oil fruits, one separately carried the baby dragon, and the last one carried the five wooden boxes.
"Move out." Rhea took to the air, guiding the hot air balloons in the direction of Sedona City.
The other birdkin also took flight, leaving only two behind to remain on standby.
Number Four, along with all the soldiers and special operatives, remained at the base to handle the black oil fruit harvest.
*
Inside the castle in Sedona City, Lucas was in his study reviewing government documents.
Knock, knock, knock... A knock came from the door.
"Master," Mina's voice sounded from outside.
"Come in," A smile touched the corners of Lucas's lips.
Creaaak...
Tap, tap, tap...
Mina pushed the door open, walked in, and placed a stack of papers on Lucas's desk.
"These are the records of the shares purchased over the past two days," Mina said, sitting her perky ass on the edge of the desk.
"Mhm." Lucas nodded, noticing several familiar names on the very first page.
He turned his head and asked, "How many shares were sold over these two days?"
"Including those who haven't picked up their contracts yet, a total of over 70,000 shares have been sold," Mina picked up her notebook, flipped through a few pages, and replied.
Those who hadn't picked up their contracts were naturally the ones who hadn't fully settled their payments. Only when they delivered the full amount of goods and gold coins would the shares they subscribed to truly belong to them.
"That's a bit more than I imagined," Lucas smiled faintly.
"In a couple of days, even more people will buy," Mina was absolutely certain of it.
Over the past two days, the news hadn't fully spread yet. There were still many nobles in other cities who were unaware of this matter. Once they found out, at least another fifty or sixty thousand shares could be sold.
Furthermore, early this morning, Sedona City's newspaper had reported on the matter. From now on, the quarterly earnings each year would be published in the newspaper, and simultaneously posted at the Sedona City Securities Exchange.
When people saw that it truly made money, more people would naturally flock to buy shares.
He had already begun laying the groundwork for his financial strategies.
"Excellent," Lucas nodded. How long will it take to sell all two hundred thousand shares? Perhaps after they earn their first dividend, they will regret not buying more shares back then.
"Oh right, Master, we've found a suitable location to build the vegetable greenhouses," Mina remembered something and suddenly mentioned it.
"Where is it?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.
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