Darm strongly agreed with his father’s rhetoric and felt very regretful that his older sister was going to marry a nouveau riche governor.
With this sentiment in mind, Darm set off on the road to Graythorn Territory.
The reason was easy to find; the nobles of Copper Mountain Territory had elected a representative to personally surrender to Graythorn Territory, and Lind had to show some courtesy to meet him.
Hearing that he was coming to surrender, the military of Graythorn Territory did not obstruct him along the way. Although battles were fierce, the communication between the two sides was not affected, and benefiting from this, Darm passed through smoothly, leaving some people under the name of trade to prepare to spread the new ballads created by the nobles of Copper Mountain Territory.
Most of the ballads spoke of Lena as a jealous woman with a cruel heart, relying on her status as the eldest lady of Lars to act recklessly, lacking proper manners and even beginning personal attacks, claiming that Lena was unworthy of the Lord Governor.
If attacking Lind was due to these nobles wanting to keep a backdoor for themselves while running to the front lines every day, then attacking Lena was purely letting themselves run wild.
Dian even had a flash of inspiration and claimed in the ballads that Lena had ulterior motives, wanting to control Graythorn Territory through the Lars family and sidelining Lind, as these nobles believed that Lena was indeed capable of doing so.
The nobles did not believe that any territory could tolerate such a scandal, and by the time this ballad was created, they were already holding a celebration dinner.
However, to avoid alarming the snake, Darm obeyed his father’s and the nobles’ words and did not rush to spread them at first, but set a time to start spreading them when he was close to Graythorn Territory.
By the time Darm mentioned his older sister to Governor Lind, these ballads would have almost reached Graythorn Territory.
Darm traveled with many stops along the way; the closer he got to Graythorn Territory, the more prosperous it became. Just in Black Iron City alone, he spent two full days playing, while internally cursing Lind for being a nouveau riche and reluctantly leaving Black Iron City.
When he finally arrived at Graythorn Territory and saw the Obelisks towering up, unlike the traditional Mage Towers, Darm even felt a worshipful impulse.
Black Iron City also had this kind of Obelisk, but it was obviously not as shocking as the one in Graythorn Territory.
Graythorn Territory felt like another world, making Darm feel a sense of inferiority.
But the more he witnessed the prosperity of Graythorn Territory, the more excited he became; if his sister successfully married Lind, wouldn’t all of this be his?
Darm even planned ahead, thinking that once his sister became successful, she could grant Black Iron City to him, allowing him to play as he wished.
Lind did not care much about the fact that the nobles of Copper Mountain Territory personally elected a representative to surrender.
In Lind’s view, this was merely the nobles of Copper Mountain Territory being dissatisfied with the current surrender conditions and wanting to send someone to discuss the matter with him in detail.
However, when Lind met Darm, he was somewhat surprised, as he didn’t expect the person to be a young boy.
Darm was not very satisfied with this meeting; after all, the meeting took place in Lind’s study, which was more of a private setting, not very formal, attended only by Lind and a few guards and maids, which made Darm quite unsatisfied.
Seeing himself in the “little brother-in-law” position and being someone who preferred more pomp, Darm boldly said to Lind, “Lord Governor, don’t you think it’s a bit shabby to meet us, the noble representatives of Copper Mountain Territory, here?”
In Darm’s expectation, it should at least involve a welcoming ceremony under that huge Obelisk, ideally inviting all of Graythorn’s key officials.
Lind frowned; these old nobles really do know how to complain.
But Copper Mountain Territory indeed had some important mineral resources, so Lind patiently asked, “Where would you like to discuss then?”
Originally, Darm wanted to suggest going to see the huge Obelisk, but seeing Lind’s displeasure, he immediately lowered his request, saying, “The main hall will do; I have something very important to report to you, Lord Governor, and we must have more people.”
Upon hearing it was an important matter, Lind glanced at the work he had in hand, which was basically finished, and said, “Alright, then let this young brother have a rest while we talk later.”
Even though Darm Ambrose wanted to have more people present, most of the officials from Graywhite Territory were busy and simply did not have time to pay attention to a noble representative from Copper Mountain Territory unless it was something extremely significant.
So when Lind met Darm again in the main hall, only the relatively free Ulanda, who didn’t engage in special duties, and the somewhat gloomy Colin came to support the occasion, while the curious Tia also unexpectedly came over to join in.
Seeing that there was no one next to Lind, Darm knew that the governor’s wife of the Lars family was not present; since she was not there now, she likely wouldn’t need to show up in the future, Darm thought.
After a simple exchange of pleasantries, Lind asked, “So? What important matter does Copper Mountain Territory have to discuss? Is it about your mines? Or is there some important intelligence?”
Before coming over, Lind had asked Lucanus, but Lucanus could not possibly keep an eye on all the nobles in the Northern Border, and Copper Mountain Territory was merely a noble territory occupying mineral resources, with a long-standing rather insignificant lineage.
Lucanus did not have a way to predict the future, unaware that this place was about to become special.
“No, our family, or rather, our Copper Mountain Territory, has a gift to present to you, my lord.”
Darm, having already been searched, quickly stepped forward and slowly unfolded a magical drawing in front of Lind, which didn’t hide any daggers or anything; it was just a portrait.
“Lord Governor, this is my sister Lisa’s magical portrait. What do you think?”
Lind, already somewhat guessing what the other party was thinking, sighed helplessly, realizing they had brought all these people over just for this.
But out of politeness, Lind still said, “Hmm, the painting skills are quite good.”
Tia could not help but chuckle at that moment.
This was clearly a refusal; Lind had no intention of marrying another.
But Darm seemed oblivious to the implication in Lind’s words and continued to ask, “Lord Governor, what do you think of my sister?”
Lind was already getting somewhat impatient; was this clever boy purely here to cause trouble? Did he have to force him to reject him?
“Elegant and well-mannered; I suppose your sister is quite popular there?”
To be honest, after spending every day with beauties like Lena and Tia, and with Lena even snuggling against him in bed at night, Lind had long lost any base desires for other women.
Whether from Lind’s tone or from what followed, any noble with a bit of common sense would have already ended this topic, but Darm had no such experience. Instead, hearing Lind commend his sister, and seeing that Governor Lena was not present, he immediately said, “Lord Governor, the Governor’s wife has no children, doesn’t understand etiquette, is rude and unrefined, and doesn’t look as good as my sister. Why not let my sister serve you instead?”
Darm continued to speak softly in front of Lind, not noticing the atmosphere rapidly cooling down, “Also, aren’t you worried about the possibility of the Governor’s wife rebelling? The Governor’s wife’s power is quite significant now.”
