Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 573 The Unexpected Rise of Old Sha
For example, a powerful lord like Master Zhang is truly an iron-willed lord, and no one can easily strip him of his title and right of inheritance.

However, the position of Flame Fist is not like that; at least in name, it does not allow the title to be passed down through bloodlines.

Of course, if the successor is capable and skilled enough to win over the people, and the current ruler helps and promotes him, a "good story" of "recommending the virtuous without avoiding relatives" could not be impossible to stage.

However, Gavial was found far too late. Being sent away from Baldur's Gate to Neverwinter meant being removed from the organization's center, so the matter of succession was naturally out of the question.

"Does Angelo really have that much power?"

Although he had heard of the name and had spent some time with Flame Fist, Zhang Yuan did not have a deep understanding of the factional entanglements within Flame Fist. He only remembered that in the story, Angelo waited until Iltan fell ill.

"Well, boss, not every organization can be as united as we are, no, as dedicated to one thing."

"The factional issues within the Flame Fist have never been simple. Angelo is merely the representative that those merchants and local nobles have put forward on the surface."

"During the heyday of the Grand Duke, they were still considered restrained, but now?"

"The Flame Fist has no leader who dies of old age in a hospital bed."

Lawrence shrugged, then added:

"Besides, their faction made a great contribution recently, and even the Grand Duke had to give up some rights to show fairness."

"A great achievement?" The mage raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

"In fact, it has quite a bit to do with us,"

Lawrence's expression was somewhat strange: "Remember that big thing our team did back then? Boss, it was raiding the bandits' hideout and uncovering the secrets of the Iron Throne."

"Ok?"

"Hehe, the Iron Throne was caught red-handed and had no choice but to back down. In the following years, they did a lot of behind-the-scenes maneuvering."

"Iltan is just going to let them run rampant like this?"

"There's nothing I can do,"

Lawrence shrugged: "The Iron Throne is one of the top merchant alliances in Sword Coast, and there are quite a few gentlemen who speak up for them. It's not that easy."

"It seems that Mr. Clovers has achieved some remarkable results in this area?"

The monk vaguely guessed what was going on and subconsciously tapped his knuckles on the table.

"It seems that the Iron Throne side started this whole thing. I don't know what went wrong with them, but in an attempt to reverse their decline, they started sabotaging other merchant guilds, making a complete mess of the situation."

Is this another case of profiting from chaos?
The old thief continued, "At first, no one realized that the Iron Throne was behind it all; all the clues pointed to internal strife within those merchant guilds."

"But things got really weird later on. A large portion of the profits lost by those chambers of commerce ended up in the mouths of the Iron Throne. It's one or two times, but it's too conspicuous that they always end up as the ultimate beneficiaries."

Such radical methods and such ruthless actions are probably beyond the capabilities of a businessman like Rita.

The mage had almost figured out what Baal was planning, but he needed more clues.

"Seven Suns Business Alliance..."

"Silver Sail Merchant Guild..."

Amidst the various conflicting reports, Lawrence finally mentioned Mr. Clovesha's name again.

"This young man has made a great contribution. Although the Iron Throne was already the target of everyone's attacks at that time, we were unable to take down this Iron Hedgehog for the time being due to the lack of evidence."

"In the end, it was Clovesa who led the raid on the Iron Throne's headquarters in the port district, and found a bunch of letters and contracts that they had used to instigate and orchestrate assassinations, which finally led to their conviction."

"But it doesn't matter whether they convict or not."

"Huh?" "What's the point of sentencing a dead person?" Lawrence made a gesture as if he'd just died and was feeling cold:

"It is said that when their team infiltrated, they happened to run into an emergency meeting of the Iron Throne's high command. The infiltration turned into an encounter battle, and the unlucky latter didn't even have a chance to be judged before going to report to the Lord of Silence."

"Things were handled swiftly, but is this the kind of style and methods you use?"

The monk frowned slightly.

To put it nicely, this is called decisiveness and boldness; to examine it more closely, it's about tearing apart the order. Once people get used to using this kind of tactic of acting first and asking questions later...

"At this point, the desperate chambers of commerce can't care about anything else, as for what happens afterward,"

Lawrence chuckled:
"Leaving aside the fact that that kid has connections, the gains from this operation are enough to silence any dissent within the Flame Fist faction,"

"I don't know what methods Angelo and the others used, but the Iron Throne, whose stronghold was taken over, seemed to have completely surrendered, handing over its entire assets in Baldur's Gate, and even spitting out the fat meat it had just swallowed."

"As you know, boss, the real rule of Flame Fist and even Baldur's Gate is just one thing: profit."

The mage scoffed upon hearing this: "Even Bodyan, the founder, was driven away back then, so you really can't expect too much from him. Honest and good people like Ska are rare everywhere."

"What else? Boss,"

The old thief's face looked like he was trying to suppress a laugh:
"You, or rather, the things we do and the methods we use, aren't necessarily exactly honorable..."

"Hey, stop rambling, you've gone off-topic."

The monk's face darkened, and the former quickly changed his tune:
"Okay, okay, talkative Lawrence at your service."

That's the general outline. The rest of the details may be true or false, or there may be errors, but they don't affect the overall picture.

Having been around for many years, the seasoned veteran understood the ins and outs of Bode and Flame Fist far better than Zhang Yuan, and many of his insights were quite credible.

However, due to the information gap, the most crucial step went wrong...

This is not some ordinary power struggle between factions; the squabbles and quarrels among ordinary people are merely the bloody prelude to the conflict.

“Boss, it’s actually a bit late to bet on this. Even without Angelo’s faction emerging as a dark horse, the future of Flame Fist would still have gone in a different direction.”

"That makes sense. Let's leave it at that. You can go about your business."

The monk served tea to see the guest off, which confused Lawrence. He had thought his boss wanted to use his influence to get involved in the power struggle within the Flame Fist faction.

So it was just glossed over so lightly?

After seeing off the somewhat bewildered old thief, the mage pondered for a moment, then picked up the small hammer from the desk and gently tapped the brass bell beside him a few times.

"Hmm? Chanem, what's up? I'm busy testing out Siren Workshop's new products."

Upon hearing the news, a white-faced monster arrived, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Nancy with a white face mask on.

This was something the monk casually mentioned one night when he was whispering in his ear to his young disciple after a night of high spirits.

It was just a casual remark, meant as a reference for the workshop in the present and future, but the listener took it to heart.

Moisturizing and hydrating, beautifying and nourishing the skin—even, no, I should say, how could the Siren possibly resist when she heard this?

After much persistent pestering, the exasperated monk had no choice but to take the time to personally guide and oversee the research and development.

The product was then displayed on Nancy's face.

Thank you to O銜尾蛇O for the generous donation, and also thank you to Hawkhand, Alukard, 四木菌, 书友20200728004928826, and 书即吾命2 for the monthly ticket support. Thank you!



(End of this chapter)