Chapter 88: The City Lord of Doff City

“Is the city lord not here?”

Stella heard the soldier captain’s reply and was somewhat surprised.

“Where did he go?”

“Sorry, Your Highness, I really don’t know,” the soldier captain showed a quite helpless expression. “Even if the city lord goes out, he wouldn’t possibly notify me.”

“When will he return?”

“The city lord didn’t say.” The soldier captain shook his head.

“What’s this situation?”

Via heard the conversation between Stella and the soldier captain and felt somewhat nervous.

Wasn’t it supposed to be in time?

How did this accident happen?

She seemed to see her own matters exposed, being caught by the Holy Land for a big investigation.

“Your Highness, if you need to see the city lord, how about coming another day? Today, it’s really not the right time.” The soldier captain suggested.

“No, I have extremely important matters that require seeing the city lord. I won’t go back without seeing him.” Stella was very insistent.

“This…”

The soldier captain hesitated for a moment.

If it were someone else, he might have driven them away long ago.

But this was the empire’s princess.

With his status, he really couldn’t afford to offend her.

“Alright, Your Highness, then like this: I’ll let you enter the city lord’s mansion. Please wait there, and I’ll notify the city lord’s secretary to see if we can quickly find the city lord back!”

“Okay.”

Stella agreed.

She brought Via along and entered the city lord’s mansion together.

“I’m really sorry, Your Highness. I had some affairs holding me up and came late.”

The door to the reception room in the city lord’s mansion opened, and a man wearing an oversized suit, with a potbelly, walked in.

He was the city lord of Doff City—David Dane.

“City Lord Dane, good evening,” Stella greeted City Lord Dane. “I hope it’s not too late and I haven’t disturbed you.”

“How could it be? Your Highness, if you have any matters, you can come find me anytime!”

City Lord Dane’s fat face revealed a smile, but when he saw the pink-haired girl beside Stella, his smile immediately froze.

“Eh, Miss Via, how are you here?”

“Uh… this…”

When Via first came to Doff City, she had met David Dane once. This city lord had used a very cold attitude to exchange a few pleasantries with her and said he would take care of her.

But that was really just pleasantries. After that meeting, there had been no further interactions.

After seeing City Lord Dane, she still habitually displayed her soft and sticky public image.

“Oh, I bumped into Via on the road,” Stella explained. “I saw Via alone outside, and it didn’t seem safe, so I brought her along to avoid her encountering any bad people.”

Okay.

City Lord Dane had some complaints, but for Stella’s sake, he didn’t pursue it further.

“City Lord Dane, I came to find you to confirm one thing: that letter I gave you, you didn’t send it out, right?” Stella didn’t waste much words and got straight to the point.

“Oh, it’s here!”

City Lord Dane took out a letter and placed it in front of Stella.

“Your Highness, I originally planned to send it personally, but when I heard from the secretary that you were looking for me, I came back first.”

“Hm.”

Stella checked it over. The wax seal on this letter was still intact, and the contents hadn’t been leaked.

“I came to find you to take this letter back. I temporarily don’t plan to send it back.”

“Your Highness, did some situation arise?”

“Some small matters. I discovered the content has omissions and plan to add to it, then send it back later.”

“Hm, wait until you’ve revised it and find me again. It’s not too late.” Dane nodded, indicating he understood.

Seeing this scene, Via’s heart finally relaxed. That was close—good thing City Lord Dane came back first instead of sending the letter.

“City Lord Dane, where did you go earlier?” Stella asked curiously.

“It was a temporary meeting that I had to attend.”

Mentioning this, City Lord Dane’s face clearly showed dissatisfaction.

He raised his hand, and the secretary beside him came over, placing some information on the table.

“Actually, it’s not a big deal. Just some time ago, the underground black market had quite a bit of chaos. Under pressure from above, we decided to carry out reforms. During the meeting, we identified a few dangerous individuals and plan to catch these people first—to kill the chicken to warn the monkey.”

“This is…”

Stella flipped through it.

It listed some famous figures from the underground black market.

She deliberately adjusted the angle so that Via beside her could also see.

When Via saw one of the figures, she was stunned.

Prominently written above was a name—

Mr. W.

Eh, isn’t this me?

“Your Highness, why are you always looking at this criminal?”

City Lord Dane snorted coldly.

Usually, he wouldn’t manage too much, but since something happened and the empire above noticed, he naturally needed to catch a few typical examples; otherwise, it would be hard to explain.

“This so-called Mr. W is a recent prominent figure in the underground black market. He actually privately manufactures mana bombs and entrusts others to sell them—really not putting the empire’s laws in his eyes!”

“City Lord Dane, let me ask one more thing,” Stella paused. “How do you plan to handle these figures?”

“Of course, dispatch manpower for a full-scale arrest. Anyway, we definitely can’t let them continue activities in the underground black market!”

This is trouble.

Via frowned.

Does this mean she temporarily can’t use Mr. W’s identity in the underground black market?

This was one of her important money-making methods.

If her economy is cut off, her steps toward becoming stronger would be forcibly slowed.

Without City Lord Dane noticing, Stella glanced at Via and saw the pink-haired girl revealing a troubled expression.

She blinked and placed Mr. W’s information on the table.

“City Lord Dane, could you do me a favor?”

“Go ahead.”

“Temporarily let Mr. W go.”

“Ah?”

City Lord Dane thought he had misheard.

“Your Highness, you know this criminal?”

“Not really know him, just met him twice. I have some fate with him and bought things from him. I still don’t hope he gets caught like this.”

“This…”

City Lord Dane knew that Stella occasionally went to the underground black market for excitement, but how could she think to speak up for such a criminal?

“City Lord Dane, is it not possible?”

“Okay, I’ll temporarily remove him from the list. But, Your Highness, you need to tell him to restrain himself some—don’t continue selling these prohibited items. Otherwise, if the Mages’ Guild makes trouble, I really won’t be able to hold it!”

City Lord Dane reluctantly agreed. With his abilities, handling this wasn’t too difficult—catch one less and replace with another typical example, and it could still be explained.

“Thank you, City Lord Dane.”

Stella looked at Via again and smiled slightly.

“I’ll tell him to be more careful.”