Lydney knew that Carl was living on a s.h.i.+p, he thought that Carl only had cargo s.h.i.+ps like an ordinary merchant. However, he didn't expect that Carl would have a military-grade s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, which was situated on the roof of Keyton Hotel. It was very large and the whole structure was smooth. After Lydney entered, Carl introduced the new cook to the crew.

Carl thought that the new chef was really good and he was much thinner than the old cook, Pforz. Pforz had said his teacher told him that a good cook must have a ball figure. Looking at Lydney, Carl thought that maybe the other man could eat some more things of gel.

Then Lydney saw Auguste appear with Hai'an in his arms. It seemed that Auguste was Carl's friend who he had said he wanted to give the gift to. Shaking gra.s.s was very difficult to keep but it looked as if it was being well kept.

Hai'an also recognized Lydney as the former auctioneer at the hall, but he wondered why Lydney was here.

“Welcome.” Auguste welcomed Lydney's arrival. They finally had a new cook and he was chosen by Carl himself. He estimated that Carl would not bother him again for a long time to come. Auguste pointed to Hai'an with one finger and said solemnly, “This is JianJian.” Then he pointed to the tree in Lydney's arms and said, “Introduce them?”

“Well, it's my plant, but I haven't named it yet,” Lydney said nervously to Auguste as he quickly lifted the tree to his chest. The many eyes blinked at Auguste.

Auguste thought it was ugly.

Hai'an looks at it: !!! That sour looking tree. Wasn't it the plant that Carl gave Lydney at the auction house? Why did they come back together? Wouldn't it have been better to come by yourself?

Hai'an actually tended to think a lot and Auguste was now preparing to cultivate strong feelings with him. How could he put him together with another plant? Not to mention that they were not even the same kind of plant! Even if they were together, they couldn't move and have little saplings.

Lydney was shocked to hear Auguste's name for Hai'an. He looked at Auguste's tall and strong body and could not believe that such a man would name his plant this.

Carl was hungry. He decided to eat eggs first.

“The kitchen is over here.” Carl poked Lydney on the shoulder and Lydney stumbled because of him, only standing firm after a few steps.

“Sorry! I used too much strength.” Carl immediately raised his hands.

Lydney didn't care. “It's all right. What would you like to eat tonight?”

“Eggs! Just make me eggs,” Carl leaned over and whispered in Lydney's ear. “It's time to test your cooking skills. Remember to cook a lot and you'll be fine.”

Auguste ignored Carl's whispered words, but ordered Leston, the s.h.i.+p's material manager, to go out overnight to buy supplies, saying that they were leaving Freeport before dawn tomorrow.

Carl seemed to realize something was wrong. “Why are we leaving all of a sudden? How many days have we been here? I haven't been out yet.” He complained to Auguste that he had only been to the free auction in Freeport and that there were many places he had yet to visit.

“I met Dean, who chased me down more than a dozen streets.” Auguste set the pot containing Hai'an on the table. The pots from the auction house were so inferior that they were the same as those that the teardrop tree was in that were brought by Lydney. His JianJian pots must be unique.

“The Union and the Empire are tearing apart. Dean wants us to join the Union.” Auguste kept one hand near Hai'an.

“Is there a federation?” Carl looked puzzled.

Auguste's hand paused in it's tapping. “Maybe not before, but after tonight, it's hard to say.”

Carl was silent when he heard this, “Dean is a talented man.” He turned his head to look out the floor to ceiling windows and went over.

Freeport was a very prosperous city. At sunset, the whole city was warmed with orange light. Even the white fog below turned a reddish hue. The distant planets were still clearly visible. Countless merchant s.h.i.+ps were slowly returning to the port; the floating cars were slowly flowing along. This was the largest interstellar port of the empire and it was the most important economic lifeline of the empire.

After the bill had been shot down, the Empire had wiped out all supporters of democracy. Dean was a supporter of the federation and had joined the Freedom Alliance that fought for the Federation long ago. If the people of the Federation had the courage to appear openly in Freeport, they would have been more of an annoyance than just today. It was very likely that Federalists had formed organizations long ago to confront the empire.

First, they had to choose a very special place to start the opposition, attract the attention of the whole galaxy and let more people join the Freedom Alliance. Freeport was a very suitable place.

People began to resent the rule of the Empire very early; n.o.bles monopolized a lot of resources, but Freeport was the best channel for interstellar civilization exchange and trade, even if the Empire's hand was further away, the Empire could not control that much. This was especially so because Freeport was the territory of the interstellar giant merchant Cain.

Who in the galaxy did not know that the 213 legions had just unified the other day, and the famous merchant Cain and Grand Admiral Ivan Randall were torn apart.

Because of the Federal Bill, Ivan Randall unified 213 legions under the slogan of “peace for the empire.” But for a long time, the financial and material resources needed by the unified Legion were not affordable to the head of a regional legion, even if Ivan Randall was the head of the first legion, he could not change this fact.

It didn't matter that he was handsome. It was said that the head of the Legion had golden hair and eyes like suns.h.i.+ne, and his whole person was as bright as the suns.h.i.+ne, handsome and perfect.

Cain's sister, Ariela, fell madly in love with him, saying that she would do anything for him. Ivan Randall was moved by her infatuation and came to be with her.

When Ariela heard that her lover had no money, she swept over most of Cain's properties in minutes to help Ivan Randall's Unified Corps. Now they were engaged and the wedding was to take place during the Star Festival a few months later.

Cain was furious at his sister. If the Freedom Alliance's people wanted to start fighting in Freeport, he'd be happy to help the Alliance.

Auguste disbanded the army before Ivan Randall's reunification corps. They had no intention of partic.i.p.ating in the open and secret struggle between the Freedom Alliance and the Empire, but now it seemed that neither the Alliance nor the Empire intended to let him go.