Crookes was a mining city located in the hinterlands of the Valla Empire. In ancient language, the name meant 'Fertile Capital of the Mountains', and behind the Meredith Mine, they could not only mine excellent Illum crystals, but also many excellent open-pit iron ores.
It was originally a wasteland, but after the Valla Empire was founded, Tyler Meredith, a noble who was enfeoffed here and loved to explore, found rich mineral deposits on the nameless mountain, and hence organized a team to excavate it.
Tyler named the nameless mountain after himself, and it became one of the largest mines in the Valla Empire.
At first, Crookes was just a shack settlement for miners, but as the Meredith Mine's reputation rose, more people came after hearing about it. After all, Illum crystals were more useful than gold in many places, and in less than two hundred years, the shacks at the foot of the nameless mountain rapidly expanded and renovated, eventually giving birth to a new city.
Although Crookes was far from being a commercial city like Lancaster in terms of prosperity, it far surpassed the latter in terms of wealth creation.
And as the ruler of Crookes, the Meredith family was naturally rich enough to rival a nation.
Old Meredith was a staunch royalist, and he believed in Grimund, the God of Travel and Art who was passed down from Tyler Meredith. He belonged to the kind of church that did not even have normal church facilities, and stood aloof from worldly affairs.
That was precisely why the imperial family had considerable trust in the Meredith family. Coupled with old Meredith's good reputation, Crookes was as stable as a mountain in every sense of the word.
Even so, there were surging undercurrents beneath that stability.
The reason was simple: Old Meredith had no children. He only had one daughter, and she died of illness early on.
Moreover, the Meredith family was wary of the imperial family, which was why they never formed factions or arranged marriages. That was why they didn't have any complicated kinship ties, and the family was basically a single heir. If they didn't rely on their deep foundation and yearly offerings of Illum crystals in exchange for protection from the gods and the imperial family, the family would have long since ceased to exist.
Even so, old Meredith was a mortal with limited lifespan. Even with divine blessings, his life was like a candle in the wind, about to reach its end.
If this continued, the Meredith family's assets and Crookes' territorial rights would most likely be pocketed by the imperial family when he died.
In the face of such rich profits, there were naturally people who couldn't sit still and wanted to seize every opportunity to gain benefits.
As long as old Meredith made a will with a god as his witness before he died and passed on all his wealth to someone else, even if that person couldn't inherit all of Meredith's wealth and Crookes (the imperial family could use reasons such as taxes to circumvent a will witnessed by a god), they would at least get half of it!
The master bedroom of the mayor's residence in Crookes.
"Mr. Meredith, your body condition hasn't changed much." One of the acolytes from the Temple of Life took off his stethoscope-like magitek and said helplessly to the old man who was lying on the bed like a dried corpse, "As I've said before, the 'elven stone' embedded in your heart when you were young has the power to slow down aging. However, it seems to be a failed product. The power inside is almost completely drained … "
At this point, the temple attendant could not make up his mind, and hesitated to speak.
"Don't mind it. Just tell me how much time I have left." The old man said.
"Your body is aging seriously, and from the looks of things, the elven stone would last around a year."
Old Meredith had a good reputation and wasn't one of those brutal nobles. Therefore, the acolyte was not afraid that the old man would vent his anger on him, and so answered honestly, "If you could find a perfect elven stone in a year and replace the one in your heart, you might live even longer …"
"You don't have to comfort me about something that's impossible." The old man smiled, but his withered face was not at all friendly when he smiled. In fact, it was rather horrifying. "One year left, huh …"
The acolyte became silent as well, realizing that his words were not comforting at all.
After all, the Elven Stone was a treasure that only existed in legends, just like the Golden Touch Stone and the Philosopher's Stone. Legend had it that only the royal family of the High Elves could produce them, and each of them had the power to revive the dead, extend the lifespan of humans, and even turn ordinary people into the Extraordinary Blood Elves.
However, the high elves were already extinct. Not even the so-called orthodox wood elves could inherit a tenth of their elven technology, let alone the other elven branches.
Therefore, the elven stones that were once famous disappeared in history along with the fall of the high elves' civilization.
Even the temple attendant himself had read about it in ancient books, but if he had not found one in the old lord's heart, he would have thought that it was just a myth made up …
"I'd like to be alone for a while. You may leave, and ask the butler for the fee."
The old man said quietly.
The acolyte did his best not to show his delight — the old liege was so generous that each consultation fee was equivalent to several years of his salary. He bowed respectfully at the old man and left happily.
The room became silent again after the acolyte left, with only the crackling of the fire in the fireplace remaining.
The old man lay on the bed and stayed silent for a long time before breathing a long sigh.
He knew very well that the elven stone in his heart was not a defective item, but a real elven stone.
The reason the power within was completely drained was simple: he was Tyler Meredith, the noble who had found the Meredith Mine two hundred years ago!
Borrowing the power of the elven stone, he had lived as a mortal until now. To prevent unnecessary suspicions, he had even learned the art of disguise so that the original Meredith had died of old age and a new Meredith would continue to rule.
Even so, the elven stone's power was limited, and he had to face death in the end.
In truth, Tyler Meredith had lived long enough, and his fear of death was not as strong as he thought.
Still, he was a little disgruntled.
Having seen the vicissitudes of the world over two hundred years, he knew very well what kind of nobles these days were, and knew that Crookes would be left in shambles when he passed on.
It would be the same even if the imperial family took over. After all, they would never move their imperial capital here, and would eventually send someone to manage the place. Those who were sent would have to hand in their earnings regularly, but all men were profit-seekers. That was why they would think of ways to profit themselves apart from regular earnings, which in turn would undoubtedly lead to them plundering the peasants and exploiting the miners …
His heart did not hurt when his son sold his father's fields.
What he cherished, what he had spent his entire life building, had been abandoned like a pair of worn-out shoes by someone else. He had even destroyed everything just to get a drop of profit from it. How could Tyler Meredith die in peace?
"Fortunately … there's still hope."
The old man took out a compass from beneath his pillow. It was a divine item he had begged Grimund, the god he worshipped, and it had only one function: to point the direction of those related to him by blood.
It was a pity that his wife had died in childbirth, and his daughter had been stubborn and rebellious from a young age due to her lack of companionship, and even eloped with a peasant lad when she grew up.
Although he was eventually captured by the people he had hired, he fell seriously ill not long after and died of depression, leaving Taylor deeply regretful.
Not long ago, Taylor suddenly received a revelation from Grimund. He knew that he still had a blood relative alive in this world. During the elopement, his daughter had already given birth to the child he loved. It was to protect her husband and child that she deliberately allowed herself to be captured by Taylor's men.
That gave Tyler new hope.
Whether it was his grandson or granddaughter, he would bring them back and teach them for a year so that they would inherit his will and continue governing Crookes!
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