Great Artery Plan (Part 1)

"Mr. Sordil, this is not the place to talk. Shall we go to the study?"

Upon hearing Jude's suggestion, Old Suo nodded in agreement.

"Let's go then!"

Just as that irresponsible guy was about to leave, he felt a sharp, tingling pain from an electric shock on his left side, while a sharp pain shot through his right side.

"Old Suo, the old man said you can't leave our sight, have you forgotten?" (Laxus)

Looking at the two Little Ones standing beside him, the irresponsible So suddenly remembered that he was still under observation and hadn't truly regained his freedom. Therefore, he had to appease these two pairs of eyes first, otherwise he couldn't do anything.

"Jude, wait for me a moment, I need to discuss something with them."

The moment Old Suo finished speaking, Jude gestured for him to enter.

After nodding to Jude and the others, Old Suo pulled Laxus and the other man aside and began internal negotiations.

"You two didn't see anything today, otherwise... hmph!"

Glancing at the person with a sinister grin (a lewd look), Laxus said fearfully (with an exaggerated expression), "Kana, it seems we've run into some bad guys. What should we do?"

Upon hearing Laxus's words, Kana trembled (yet defiantly) and said, "Laxus, I'll cover you! Go find the guild master!"

"Good!"

After the two finished speaking, Suo suddenly changed his expression like in a Sichuan opera, switching directly from the King of Chu to Zeng Xiaoxian, and he was even standing in front of Lisa Rong.

"Hehe! You two lovely children, you must have misunderstood! Why would I threaten you?"

"What did you mean by what you just said? (Laxus)"

"Yes! (Kana)"

After a rapid brainstorming session, the shameless, cunning, and deceitful So said, "What I just said is that the three of us are in the same boat now. If you see anything, everyone will be in trouble!"

"Hmph! We don't need to do any missions, and we don't have that many friends to look after, so it doesn't matter what happens!" (Laxus)

"Hey! That's right! (Kana)"

Seeing the two singing in unison, Suo, who was standing outside the united front, had no choice but to surrender.

"Fine! I give up. Just tell me what you want!"

After achieving their desired results, the two victorious farmers clapped hands triumphantly, and then began to list out Unequal Treaty.

"Besides the magic you just promised us, you also need to teach us one more spell, one for each of us!" (Laxus)

"Okay! No problem!" (Old Suo)

"And another thing! From now on, whenever we need you, you must be available immediately. (Kana)"

"I understand perfectly! (Old Suo)"

"Oh, right! From now on, you'll also need to prepare a reasonable amount of pocket money for us, as well as plenty of snacks and toys. (Laxus)"

"Sure!" (Old Suo)

"If we cause any trouble, you have to clean up the mess for us and not drag us down with you. (Kana)"

"Of course! (Old Suo)" (PS: At this moment, Old Suo had a bitter smile on his face and was tentatively moving towards the brink of collapse.)

"Return..."

Just as Laxus was about to fill in the gaps, the thoughtful Kana quickly stopped him.

"Um?"

When Kana saw Laxus looking at her with a puzzled expression, Kana didn't say anything, but instead poked the defeated nation with her eyes.

After glancing at the prompt from his ally, Thunder Dragon instantly understood the situation. He then withdrew his original conditions and replaced them with a final summary.

"Old Suo, are the conditions we've proposed reasonable?"

"Of course it's not excessive, because you've crossed the line of what's excessive and successfully reached an outrageous level!"

After mentally condemning the two for their excessive behavior, Old Suo said with a smile, "No~~ Your conditions are very reasonable, I'm very happy!" (Um... if it weren't for the fact that his teeth were clenched so loudly, Laxus and the others might have really been fooled by his expression.)

They exchanged a glance, and then Laxus and his companion patted the gullible man on the shoulder.

"Old Suo, if there's nothing else, you can leave now! (La, Ka)"

Looking at the two of them, who were perfectly in sync, Sordil nodded with a pained expression, then turned and walked towards Jude.

"Laxus, aren't we being a little unfair by doing this?"

"It's a bit unfair! But given Old Suo's resilience, this won't break him, so relax!"

Hearing her senior's words, Kana nodded, and then enjoyed the dinner with her senior.

Upon entering the study, Jude told Old Suo to make himself at home, while he brought out two cups of tea from a side table.

"I wonder which assets Mr. Sordil intends to entrust to me for management?"

"Hehe! Rather than wealth, it's more like a highly profitable business deal."

"A highly profitable business?"

"That's right!"

"As far as I know, mages earn their living by accepting commissions. Even if they do business occasionally, they go to magic potion makers or magic merchants. They don't deal with ordinary merchants like us."

"You're absolutely right, mages really don't have any dealings with ordinary merchants."

"Then... you..."

Seeing Jude's puzzled expression, Old Suo explained, "Mr. Jude, I'm actually just a middleman. The person who really wants to do business with you is someone else."

"Oh? May I ask who the other party is?"

After Jude finished speaking, Old Suo shook his head and said, "No! The other party is not a single person, but a huge force."

Upon hearing this, Jude's nerves tensed up instantly.

"Hehe! Mr. Jude, don't be nervous. I'm not talking about those dangerous organizations, but the Erus Empire next door."

"Eh... the Erus Empire?"

"Exactly!"

After confirming that Jude hadn't misheard and that he hadn't misspoke, Old Suo continued, "Mr. Jude must be very familiar with the history of the Erus Empire, right?"

"Hehe! On this continent, I doubt anyone is unaware of the origins of the Erus Empire!"

"In that case, you should know the characteristics of transportation within the Erus Empire, right?"

"That's natural!"

The moment the answer slipped out, Jude finally understood what the other person meant by the big business.

"Could it be..."

"That's right! I've come here on behalf of the high-ranking officials of the Erus Empire to discuss the establishment of a railway network with Mr. Jude."

Upon hearing that his guess had come true, Jude gasped.

"Gulp!"

Seeing Jude's dazed expression, Old Suo asked leisurely, "What's wrong? Mr. Jude, you don't want to take this job?"

"No, no, no... that's not what I meant, I was just... just a little shocked!"

"Of course!"

Looking at the calm and collected guy opposite him, Jude, who had returned to normal after taking a deep breath, suddenly remembered something important.

"I never expected the Erus Empire to entrust such an important matter to you. It seems your relationship with them is quite extraordinary!"

"Heh! The Erus Empire is all mine, so the relationship between the higher-ups and me is naturally extraordinary!"

After mentally grumbling, Old Suo chuckled, "I've taken on some commissions from them before, so I have some dealings with their higher-ups, but our relationship isn't as good as you think! The reason they asked me to do this is because everyone else in the guild is out on a mission and they can't contact them, that's all!"

After Old Suo finished speaking, Jude nodded knowingly.

"By the way, you haven't said yet whether you want to take this job or not?"

Jude gave a wry smile upon hearing Old Suo's words.

"Heh! Mr. Sordil, do you think I have a choice?"

"Okay! Since you've agreed, I'll reply to them immediately and have them send someone to discuss this further."

"Thank you for your help!"

"Hehe! If this deal goes through, I, the middleman, will get a hefty reward, so I should be the one thanking you for your hard work!" (What a rip-off! Old Suo actually came up with this kind of dirty trick to save money; he's stingier than anyone before!)

After Old Suo finished speaking, the two looked at each other for a long time, and then they both burst into laughter.

"Ha ha"

"Ha ha"

After agreeing on a teaching time with Grammy and Leila, Old Suo took Laxus and Kana, those two troublemakers, and left the mansion, embarking on a journey back to Magnolia... um, sorry, slip of the tongue! Not back to Fairy Tail, but a journey to slack off. It wasn't that Old Suo was restless; rather, he had a ton of urgent business to attend to and couldn't afford to lose his freedom, so this was the only way he could.

Well... as soon as he arrived in town, he immediately found an inn to stay at, then abandoned Laxus and the other two and took the Teleportation Array back to the palace.

Upon receiving His Majesty the Emperor's urgent summons, the three provincial governors and the prime minister hurriedly returned to Philiers via the emergency passage (Teleportation Array), then rushed towards the palace without stopping. Finally, the four, panting heavily, gathered in front of the council hall.

Wiping the sweat from his face and adjusting his breathing to a normal rhythm, Zaka, who was in second place, called out to the front, "Prime Minister, has His Majesty told you what happened?"

Hearing the voice behind him, Red, who was at the front, stopped and turned around, saying, "Do you think... huff... if I knew the reason, I would still be... huff... here with you guys?"

After the Prime Minister finished speaking, the three provincial governors shook their heads in unison.

"We won't get an answer here, so let's hurry into the palace and see His Majesty!" (Talleyrand)

"Yes, yes, yes! Let's hurry inside. If we linger too long and anger His Majesty, we'll probably have to face that again!" (Ralori)

Upon hearing the words of the governor of Southeast Province, the other three seemed to remember something and shuddered.

"Gulp" (The sound of swallowing saliva here is a quartet)

"Run! Run!"

The moment the prime minister finished speaking, the four of them strode towards the palace above them.