Lynn glanced at the Habel patriarch. His face was composed, but worry showed in his eyes. Lynn had been seated for several minutes without inviting Adanko to sit, and the man's expression had already shifted from displeasure to anxiety.
He was plainly afraid Aglaia City would turn against Long Saddle Town because of its friendly ties with Khelben.
So Lynn had been right: the road had wiped out Long Saddle Town's geographical advantage.
The Habel Family did have plenty of talented mages... but that also meant supporting even more ordinary people who could barely qualify as apprentices.
To provide for so many people, they needed the merchant caravans far more than their lofty image suggested. Thanks to their friendly relationship with Waterdeep, many caravans traveling between Waterdeep and the countries and city-states east of Silver Moon City stopped in Long Saddle Town to rest.
Waterdeep was still more than ten days away from there!
Those caravans did not mind how badly Long Saddle Town treated them or how much its inns and taverns charged. After all, this was a place where mighty mages served as guards.
The town's reputation then drew overland caravans from even farther away to rest there. Caravans on long journeys did not travel without stopping; any leader who tried that had probably died in some dark corner long ago.
For thousands of years, Long Saddle Town had been the only place in the Wilds that travelers trusted. That did not mean the caravans would pass up a chance to save money.
The road Hill had built was safe and wide, and it cut the journey to Waterdeep by at least half. A fast horse caravan could even make it in a third of the time.
The mages of Long Saddle Town were no fools. They must