Book 2, Growing Up, Chapter 21 – The Proulx Gallery (part 1)

The Golden Bank of the Four Empires was a bank that had been jointly established by the Yulan continent’s Four Great Empires. People who were capable of opening a magicrystal card account with the bank were undoubtedly people of great wealth. Given that the card itself cost a hundred gold coins, normal people wouldn’t be willing to part with such a high sum.

Ten thousand gold coins, if divided into hand-sized pouches, would fill a hundred pouches. Even a burlap rice sack would be half-filled and very heavy.

“A hundred gold coins, gone like that.” Walking out from the local branch of the Golden Bank of the Four Empires within the Ernst Institute, Linley couldn’t help but sigh to himself. Now, next to his chest, was a magicrystal card of his own.

Linley knew that while he continued to live at the Ernst Institute, if he put a huge pile of gold coins in his dorm, it wouldn’t be safe. The safest option was to put them all in a magicrystal card.

It must be known that the cost to create the card was not low. It had taken master goldsmiths centuries to develop, and each card responded to the fingerprints of its owner alone. Thus, every single magicrystal card could only be used by its original owner.

This was the reason why magicrystal cards cost a hundred gold coins.

“With these ten thousand gold coins, my living expenses at the Ernst Institute will be more than sufficiently covered, with lots left over. I can help father as well.” Linley felt very happy.

Yale’s arm was around Linley’s shoulders, and he whistled a little tune while delightedly peering at the nearby Rand and his bros.

Rand and the other three had taken out their living expenses money, and the four of them had perhaps only a thousand gold coins left. But fortunately, the school year was about to end.

Reynolds and George were both calmly smiling as well, and were joking with Linley to the side.

But in truth, neither Reynolds nor George had suffered much in the past.

“Second bro, third bro, fourth bro, tomorrow, at the end of the month, my father will come over. At that time, I will arrange for carriages and guardsmen to be brought over. Where should we four bros travel to?” Yale suggested.

“The Holy Capital?”

Reynolds, George, and Linley’s eyes all shone.

Fenlai City, the Holy Capital, was no ordinary city.

“The Holy Capital is a great idea. On the way here from the O’Brien Empire, I stayed at Fenlai City for two days. I haven’t had a chance to visit many places yet.” Reynolds hurriedly said.

George and Linley both nodded.

“The Holy Capital has lots of places to visit. Tomorrow, I’ll take you guys out and expand your horizons.” Yale said mysteriously.

..............

At dawn the next day, Yale and the others all had breakfast together, and then directly went to the Ernst Institute’s main gate and began waiting for Yale’s escorted carriage.

After waiting for two hours, the carriage still had not arrived.

“Squeak squeak.” Bebe, perched on Linley’s shoulder, began to squeak.

“Bebe is getting impatient. Yale, you pulled us all here early in the morning, but the carriage still hasn’t come.” Reynolds said unhappily, while Yale laughed apologetically. “I don’t know either, they should be here by now.” Linley just stroked Bebe’s little head.

“There they are.” Yale suddenly shouted loudly.

George, Reynolds, and Linley, all of whom had almost fallen asleep, turned to look. From afar, there really was four carriages and hundreds of mounted guardsmen hurrying towards them en masse. Above the formation, there were even seven or eight Griffons, and of the hundreds of riders, over ten were riding magical beasts such as the Vampiric Iron Bull or Windwolves.

“So Yale’s clanguard divisions are so formidable,” Linley couldn’t help but feel shocked. The eyes of Reynolds and George also shone.

Doehring Cowart was seated next to Linley, enjoying the sun. Upon seeing the cavalry division, his eyes lit up as well. Very shortly, the four carriages and hundreds of riders arrived at the main gate. Three magi came out to greet them at the gate.

A middle aged man stepped forward in front of the four carriages. Before even speaking to the three magi, he strode towards Yale.

“Second Uncle, what took you guys so long?” Yale said unhappily.

This ‘Second Uncle’ of Yale’s immediately laughed and said, “Haha, did you grow impatient? Alright, your carriages are all ready. The last one is filled with some goods, I’ll have them clear them out so you have a place to sit. You are going to the Holy Capital, right?”

“Cass [Ka’qi], take three others with you. You are responsible for protecting young master Yale.” This ‘Second Uncle’ ordered.

Off in the distance, a bald rider immediately dismounted, walked in front of Yale, and bowed. “Cass pays his respects to young master Yale.”

Next to Linley, Doehring Cowart’s eyes lit up and he said to him, “Linley, this brother of yours definitely is extraordinary. Based on how he dismounted and his eyes, I can feel that this Cass is an expert who is a good deal stronger than even your Uncle Hillman. In addition, that hawk on his shoulder should be a magical beast of the seventh rank – the “Blue-eyed Thunderhawk.”

For Cass to be praised by Doehring Cowart as an ‘expert’ meant that he definitely was out of the ordinary.

“Linley, let’s go. Enter the carriage quickly. Let’s go to the Holy Capital.” Yale beckoned.

Linley and the other three entered the carriage together. The interior was very spacious, and the four of them weren’t cramped at all. Immediately, the carriage driver began heading towards the direction of the Fenlai City, the Holy Capital.

Cass and the other three riders all followed from behind.

In the cabinets within the carriage, there were actually fruits, honey, and wine. The four bros began to eat and drink and chat within the carriage. The Ernst Institute was only twenty kilometers away from Fenlai City, so after about half an hour or so, they arrived.

They left the carriage.

Under the protection of Cass and the other three, Linley’s group began to roam Fenlai City.

“Hey, where is everyone going? Fenlai City has an incredible amount of places to have fun. East Fenlai City has lots of luxurious places to spend money with lots of beautiful waitresses, while West Fenlai City has many art museums, such as the famous Proulx Gallery.” Yale was very familiar with Fenlai City.

“Beautiful waitresses? Okay okay, let’s go to East Fenlai City.” The eyes of that mischievious scamp Reynolds had begun to shine.

“It’s only the afternoon. Those places are only fun in the evening. But of course, we can go now as well.” Yale said laughingly.

Linley felt some reservations about those types of places, and so he said, “Yale, forget it, what’s the point of us kids going to those places? Just now, you mentioned the Proulx Gallery? Since the Proulx Gallery names itself after the famous Grandmaster Proulx, it must be extraordinary. Let’s go check it out.”

Proulx, the number one sculptor in the history of the Yulan continent.

“Grandmaster Proulx? I’ve heard of him as well. In the past, one of his sculptures was sold for the price of several million gold coins. The name of that sculpture was ‘Hope’. Millions of gold coins, my god. So rich.” Reynolds sighed.

George laughed confidently. “In the history of sculpture, from the beginning til now, there have been countless stone sculptures made. Of the top ten sculptures, any one of them would be worth a million gold coins. And of those top ten sculptures, three were made by Grandmaster Proulx. He can be considered the number one person in the history of stonesculpting!”

Linley sucked in a breath of cold air.

Millions of gold coins?

What an enormous sum that was. Even if his clan sold off their ancestral home, they most likely would only be able to scrape up a hundred thousand gold coins.

“Let’s go check it out.” Linley immediately said.