《City of Desire [Kingdom Building]》 Prologue Prologue Age of Emperor Argon 30th June, Year 161 ¡®I hope you enjoy Greltheaven, little brother,¡¯ "Master Silver, we have arrived at Greltheaven," Hendriks said as he shook me awake. Even after waking up, the words of my brother echoed in my mind, reminding me that it was not a dream but a harsh reality. ¡®I will have my revenge, you bastards,¡¯ I thought before turning to the small city by the river. The ce where I will live, all thanks to my dearest siblings, who will pay for what they have done to me. I pushed my thoughts aside and took a closer look at the city, which was truly a sight to behold. Despite being a newly built settlement, it had not yet been officially inaugurated. The city was a masterpiece of architecture and engineering, and it was a marvel to behold. This was Greltheaven, named after the fourth prince of the empire. He had constructed this city in just two short years, at a staggering cost. The city was a testament to the prince''s vision and ambition, and it was a symbol of his power and wealth. Building such a city was a huge gamble, as there was always a risk of it being destroyed. However, if it managed to stand even for just ten years, it would generate a wealth of resources that would support the prince''s aspirations and ambitions. In short, the city was a high-risk, high-reward proposition for the prince, and its sess or failure would have a significant impact on his future. "Grandmaster Raldin deserves all the praise in the world," Hendricks said, awe-struck. "The city he designed is truly magnificent." The city had an expansive ind port, which had room for further development. Surrounding the port were the thick white walls that looked like they were carved out of marble. They looked beautiful and delicate, but looks could be deceiving. They were enchanted with powerful wards that could even stop multiple meteor spells cast by level 30 mages. I had heard they did the trial a few months ago, and the walls held on without a scratch However, I have my doubts about the uracy of this information. It''s possible that it may not be entirely true. Beyond the walls, the city was a sight to behold. It was a blend of tall and magnificent structures, each built in a unique style that reflected the diversity of the empire''s architecture. Our ship navigated the Trollmouth river and eventually docked at the port. We disembarked from the ship and stepped into the bustling port. In a month''s time, the city would be officially inaugurated, attracting people from all over for a variety of reasons - some as residents, some as tourists, and some for entirely different purposes. Soon we reached the carriage that was already waiting for us. The driver was a man who looked to be in his mid-sixties, with sandy brown hair. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± he greeted as he took our bags from the porter and loaded them into the carriage swiftly, before opening the door for us. A few secondster, we satfortably in the carriage, and it began to roll. I watched the port through the ss window, and I have to say, I was impressed seeing the archaic beauty. It was a stark contrast to the modern ports back on Earth, which are filled with heavy machinery. Instead of machines, Greltheaven ran on magic. I was fascinated by the way magic was integrated into the daily lives of the people here, from manualborers to chauffeurs. I could feel the driver activate a couple of his skills for ourfort during this ride through the city. It''s incredible to see how magic ys such a crucial role in the everyday functioning of society. It''s like a second nature to the people here, and they''ve seamlessly integrated it into their lives. It''s fascinating to see how it has shaped the cultures, traditions, and even the architecture of this world. There is a popr saying in this world. ¡®It is sses that make us,¡¯ and I can¡¯t help but see the truth of it. It is due to my ss that I havee here. If I had not received this ss, I wouldn¡¯t havee here. I would have even thrown away the scraps my brothers had left me. However, they had made thorough preparations. They ensured that I woulde and stay here for the rest of my life. A fitting end for the bastard, they said. They had gotten everything while I got the scraps. I wouldn¡¯t have even minded the scraps, but they interfered with my ss, my base ss. Once again, I calmed myself and focused on the city. The carriage had passed through the huge gates of the port. It rolledfortably down this cobblestone road, wide enough tofortably fit several carriages at the same time. As the carriage rolled through the city, I saw beautiful buildings in various architectural styles. Every building was uniquely designed, from smallest to biggest. Looking at things, it is very clear that the prince had grand ambitions for the city, which is good because now it is my city. I want it to flourish, as it is good for business. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh when I think about my business. Those bastards have thrown something at me that I had no interest in. A business some may not look favorably on. None of that matters anymore, I¡¯m forced to it, as it''s now connected to my base ss. I take sce in that one day, I''ll take revenge against those who have wronged me. Soon, the carriage had reached the entertainment district, which was known for hotels, casinos, and much more. Many business houses had made investments in the city, not because they believed in its future, as most of them thought it would be destroyed within a decade, but because of the fourth prince, who was a strong contender for the throne, and nobody wanted to be his enemy. So they made a token investment, like my father, to benefit both sides. The prince got the investments he needed for his new city, while the business houses got some time before they needed to choose sides in the inevitable war of session. Soon, the carriage slowed down and stopped at the gate of a beautiful mansion. There is a poll to vote on Royalroad: Chapter 01: The Brothel Chapter 01: The Brothel Edited by Waylon Altizer. 14. Feb. 17th Feb, the Year 2705 "They have appeared," I said with a quivering voice. I attempted to conceal the fear in my tone, but I couldn''t, as the massive swarm of the undead approached the city like a tidal wave. I had fought against the undead, but never at this scale; it seemed unending. I knew this day woulde. I knew the army of the dead did notck bodies, but I could not have imagined this. I fear my army won''t stand much of a chance against it. It consisted of seasoned soldiers, mercenaries, adventurers, and individuals with little to nobat experience, some of whom had never even held a sword before. I look down the lines of men and women, seeing the fear in the eyes of veterans and amateurs alike. What choice do we have but to fight in these circumstances? If we do not fight and repel the undead, every man, woman, and child will be turned by morning. "Be truthful with me, Stone. What are our chances of making it through this?" I asked my general. "Less than 20%, Lord Governor." replied the towering man. More than I''d have given us. Still bad, though. I turn towards the docks. It was the first time I''d ever seen it empty. It was thriving till yesterday, and now it is empty. Count Darrow has escaped. He abandoned the city that had brought him huge wealth and influence. Instead of standing with his city, he ran away in the name of seeking aid and took with him the people and resources that could have been used in defence of the city. Had given us a real chance of victory. It''s been two years since I arrived in Greltheaven. In those two years, it has grown more than I had ever imagined. I''ve found my own sess in the city. My business has brought me more wealth than my father had earned in his whole life. I had single-handily transformed my industry. I am the standard others hold themselves to. Now, this horde will take it all from me, and the only one I can me is that coward, Darrow. If I survive this somehow, I will kill him, no matter the consequence. ¡­¡­.. "We have reached our destination, Master Remus," Hendricks said as the carriage pulled to a stop in front of the massive iron gates. "I presume you won''t be joining inside?" I asked, looking towards the elderly man from the carriage window. He shook his head in response. "I apologize, Master Remus, but I have urgent business to attend to in Redfawn and need to return as soon as possible," he replied regretfully. "Thank you for yourpany. The journey would have been tedious without you." I said courteously. "It was my honor to apany you, Master Remus. Please ept my sincerest apologies for not being of greater assistance." the old man said with regret. "What urred was beyond our control, Hendricks," I said with a sigh as I stepped out of the carriage. The door shut with a thud behind me as my feet hit the gravel path, and the carriage quickly pulled away, not pausing for a moment. Seeing that, I couldn''t help but shake my head with a smile. I gazed at the carriage for a moment before turning my attention to the magnificent mansion in the heart of the garden. This was what my brothers had so graciously given me. The mansion was a beautiful three-story structure, built in a ssic imperial design that bore close simrity to the Baroque style of Earth. It is a visual feast with a sensuous richness that makes one want to gaze upon it simply. I was quite opposed to this project, but my father did not listen. He thought it was the right bet and would bring fortune as the city grew. I had my own doubts about this. It would be a miracle if this city weren''t destroyed within a few years. I was admiring the mansion when the front door opened, and a beautiful woman in a ck dress stepped out. Despite her hurried pace, her movements were graceful and fluid, as if she were gliding across the ground. "My apologies, Master Silver, I was not able to greet you when you arrived," she said as she opened the iron gates The woman was Ca Salt, my father''s choice to manage the business and carry out the responsibilities. The woman is strikingly beautiful. As she approached me, I couldn''t help but be struck by her beauty. Her fiery red hair cascaded down her shoulders,plementing her piercing amethyst eyes. She had this mature elegant beauty that had me ce her age in the early thirties. Her facial features are delicate, giving her a softness that belies her upation. After seeing her, I knew she had no trouble ensnaring men. "You should have kept the guards, Ca. Given the nature of our establishment, we don''t want any idents to ur." I said as I walked inside with her walking beside me. I never wanted this ce, this business. I would have sold it all and started somewhere else if I could have. When my siblings interfered with the inheritance, and I received this ce, they influenced the direction my ss took. Now I have no choice but to run this business despite my hesitancy. Those bastards will pay for what they did to me. However, I had to admit that the business did have potential. With the right investments, upgrades, and expansion, it could grow into a thriving enterprise, and I am determined to make that happen. I want to prove it to my siblings that their decision to give it to me was a mistake. And with unique knowledge and hard work, I am confident that I could turn things around and make it a sessful business. I can remember the jeers of whoremaster as I left. I''ll show them what a whoremaster can do. "The security in the city has been strengthened with the influx of new people arriving every day. The city guards now patrol the roads nearly every hour," she replied. "Still, reach out to the mercenary guild and procure some guards," I instructed. After witnessing my father''s murder right before my eyes, I don''t think I could live without security. Even after two months have passed, I still experience nightmares about what I saw. "It will be done," she said. Soon, we reached in front of the mansion, and it was even more beautiful up close. It will be even more stunning once the work on it ispleted. There are people working around the mansion with speed and precision that would have been impossible for humans on Earth without their high-tech tools, but here, these people are achieving it with the help of simple tools. It had been three years since I arrived in this world, and even now, the sses and skills still fill me with wonder. "Only the final touch-ups remain; they will bepleted before we open at the end of the week," she informed me as I gazed at the workers. I nodded before walking with her, and soon we arrived at the door of the mansion. It wasrge and had mermaids carved on it so realistically that I felt like they were going to jump out of the door at any moment. I can''t imagine the kind of mastery it takes to create such intricate details and bring the mermaids to life with just a piece of wood or stone. It was truly a masterpiece. No less than a level 25 artisan could have made this. Ca smiled seductively as she pushed open the door. "Master Silver, wee to The Lord''s Pleasure." We stepped into the hall, decorated with gold and red. My father had chosen the design, which, to be honest, is quite gaudy. I only nced at the hall for a moment before turning my attention to the main attractions. Beautiful women of all ages from sixteen to forty-five. All of them were looking at me I could see reactions from nervous anticipation to seductive smiles. They are dreamse true; it took all my willpower to resist those gazes filled with the power of skills that wanted to enthral me. "Master Silver, I present to you the women who will be serving in The Lord''s Pleasure," I informed Ca, and I just nodded because I did not trust myself to open my mouth in front of them. This is a brothel, an inheritance my siblings viciously stuck me with. They have bonded it to me with witch magic. A very expensive affair, costing them more than the value of this ce. In their eyes, the price was well worth it, especially since it worked. It usually does not work. About a month ago, I turned eighteen, or this body did, as I am a decade older. Upon turning eighteen, I finally received the ss that I had been eagerly anticipating for years - my base ss. I was supposed to get ''Merchant'' ss; with my pedigree and the work I have done, I would have gotten it, but with my sibling''s machinations, I got something else. Now my ss is Souteneur Merchant. It could be said to be a fused ss; a Souteneur ss is a cross between the Pimp ss and the Merchant ss. It is not a pure mercantile ss like a merchant or trader. Thus, I will not get the inheritance the old man left for me. My father left something valuable for me in his will, but there is a condition for me to receive it - I must have a pure merchant ss. Unfortunately, the ss I received is not a pure merchant ss. My siblings made sure I got this brothel, and I had no choice but to ept it, as it was the only way I could level up my ss.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 1)
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 8
Vitality: 5
Skills: ? Trusty Presence ? Worthy Goods
Attribute Points: 1
The ss interface appeared in front of me as I willed it. One could have many sses; however, only one base ss that one cannot reject. The base ss is the only ss that provides attribute points when levelled. I may not have gotten lucky with my ss, but I got good skills. They are as good as one hopes to get and are practical. One skill is passive, while the other is active; I am already using worthy goods on these women, and I am getting a good response. "Master Silver, do you want me to introduce the girls to you?" she asked, to which I shook my head. "No, I will take a look at the establishment first," I replied. I could see surprise appearing on the women¡¯s faces before they controlled their emotions. "As you wish," she said, bringing back her professional smile that had faint seductiveness. "The whole establishment is made just as the old master had ordered, and the Nielson guild had done a very good job actualizing his vision," she said as she began showing me the mansion. I already knew the ns, I was there when he had a meeting with the people of the construction guild and offered many suggestions, but he did not listen. "All the rooms are soundproof and have the mostfortable setting so clients can have the best time. There is¡­" Ca is detailed in her exnations, which gives me little need to ask questions; I have read the reports she had sent to Redfawn, and they were very precise. The workers of the architecture guild were still working, and whenever we passed them, I could see them stealing nces at Ca. she really is an eye turner. She is not the most beautiful of women here, but she is the most seductive. Despite having known her for less than an hour, I could tell she is apt at using every advantage she has. The old man had made many mistakes, but he couldn''t have picked a better choice as the person responsible for the establishment. Soon, we appeared in the back garden and walked toward the middle-aged man in a ck suit, who was speaking to a few people. When he saw using, he quickly dismissed them and turned to us with a smile. I could see him throwing nces at Ca, not always at her eyes. "Master Silver, this is architect Lloyd. He is responsible for the construction of the establishment." Ca said. "Mister Silver, nice to meet you. I hope you liked the work of our guild," he said as he forcefully diverted his eyes toward me. "It exactly as myte father had envisioned," I replied, and the smile on his face widened. "I am d to hear that," he said and looked toward the mansion. "As you can see, we are nearly done; we will be finished within three days, which will give you ample time to open by the end of the week," he said, and to that, I just smiled. "Mr. Lloyd, I would like to meet your boss tomorrow morning, if possible," I said to him, which surprised him and Ca. "May I know what for Mister Silver?" he asked, eyes focused on me. "Yes, it is about some modifications I want to make to the establishment," I answered, and the worry in his eyes eased away. "I will inform head architect Davidson as soon as possible," he said with a smile. I talked to him for a few minutes before walking back inside the mansion, ready to start with my ns. Do click onFavorite before flipping the page. Chapter 02: Choice Chapter 02: Choice Edited by Waylon Altizer. 14th Feb. Click Ca opened the office door, and we walked inside. The office was located in the tower of the left wing of the mansion and was quite spacious,parable in size to my uncle''s corner office in the firm. The best feature of the office was its view. The window offered a clear view of the garden and gate, and from my seat, I could easily observe who was entering and exiting the mansion. I took my seat behind the desk while Ca sat opposite me. The table was neatly organized, with all the necessary files in ce. I took the first file and began to read. Even after my father passed away, Ca continued to send me reports, and I had read them all in advance of my arrival. The information in the files was consistent and without any discrepancies. It took me just an hour to review the files, thanks to their clear and organized presentation. "Ca, bring the girls to my office; there is something I need to talk to them about," I said, putting down the files. She clearly had questions and wanted to ask me but refrained as she eased her expressions. "Yes, Master Silver." She replied. As she turned toward the door, I could not help myself but steal a nce at her, her ck dress hugging her tightly, entuating her hourss figure and drawing the eye to her round bottom. After she left, I retrieved the proposal I had made for the girls from my bag. When I first received this ss one month ago, I was angry and felt as if my world had crumbled. It wasn''t even the first time that month I felt powerless. Weeks before, I witnessed my father murdered in front of me, decapitated. I doubt the image of his head falling and the blood showering me will ever fade. It took me over a week to soothe myself and rationally consider the future, and I realized that things were not as bleak as they had initially appeared. There are a few issues with my condition, the primary one being the base ss. It is a permanent fixture in my life, and I cannot choose another or decline it. Though modifications can be made, they canbine with other sses or evolve into a more advanced version. The second issue is equally, if not more, challenging as my permanent ss, as my survival depends on it. It is this city, Greltheaven, named after the prince who built it. It was built in thest two years by the fourth prince in the new region of Renwall conquered from the kingdom of Tabes. Those bastards are hell-bent on recapturing their territory. The territory is massive, equivalent in size to a small kingdom, but it is a barren wastnd where nothing grows except for small pockets of green. Despite its inhospitable environment, it is immensely valuable due to the presence of low-level magic crystals, which are the region''s primary export. This recently acquired region is located near merchant city-states. Until recently, the Empire has been in conflict with these city-states ranging from military war to trade war. The worst part is that with this territory, the Empire has acquired a new and formidable neighbor, Navr, a necromantic kingdom ruled by three supreme liches. Their undead tides are horrifying. The dead know no mercy. During their assaults, they spare no sympathy for women or children. The Renwall region was devastated by an undead horde from Navr three years ago, which is the reason why the Empire was able to capture it in one fell swoop from Tabes. There is another problem, which is not only a problem of this city or me but every person in the empire. The Emperor''s days were numbered; he was already over one hundred fifty years old, and if rumors were to be believed, he would pass away within five years. The crown prince was incapable of suppressing his siblings, who were alsopeting for the throne, including the fourth prince who had constructed this city. Should a conflict erupt within the Empire between its own people and princes, there are many opportunistic factions that would not hesitate to take advantage. Despite the concerns of the city and the Empire, there is a reason that the fourth prince built this city at great risk. The city is situated in a prime location along the banks of the Trollmouth river, which flows through several merchant city-states. These city-states were where the Emperor had sent his ambassadors to improve rtions and resolve the trade war. The trade war will not be resolved overnight, even merchants have limits, but there will be some easing of tensions. This is beneficial for both parties; merchants always want to trade, and the Emperor wants to have one less enemy, especially in the uing period. Nevertheless, the slight improvement in rtions will greatly benefit this city because there are two ways into the Empire; one by sea and the other by a river. If my assumption is correct, then the first city-state to normalize rtions will be Meldhorn, a city-state also along the Trollmouth river. The city-states are incredibly wealthy, and even if trade from one city-state flowed into Greltheaven, it would change the city dramatically. The fourth prince is counting on this, and so am I. I have big aspirations, and a prosperous city would greatly aid me in achieving those ambitions. I made a few adjustments to the proposal and put it back in the drawer. The proposal is for tomorrow; today, they will be given a choice. I ced a stack of papers on my desk to the left, and on the right side of the desk, I ced a coin purse. The papers were the contracts of all of the girls, including Ca''s. A few minutester, the door opened, and Ca entered, followed by the stunning women of the establishment. Within a few seconds, the spacious office was filled to capacity as all forty-four women crowded in, their eyes fixed on me, filled with questions. This time, however, the women didn''t greet me with inviting smiles or try to use their charms to influence me. I was grateful for this change, as I wasn''t sure I would have been able to resist their allure again. "My father is dead, and with him, his way of doing business," I said slowly as I moved my gaze between them. "This establishment is now mine and will work under different rules." I could see the younger ones quivering. I couldn''t help but feel guilty. The one thing I opposed the most about my father''s business was the age of some of the girls. I had argued with my father about this; I told him it was immoral to employ girls so young. He never listened; he only saw the business they brought; morals were for the pious. "But before that, you all have a choice to make," I said, motioning my hands toward the papers and pouch. "I want to present all of you with two choices. The first is freedom; if you wish, you can leave, and I will burn your contract right in front of you, and you will receive one thousand crowns as severance to start your new life." I spoke and immediately saw a look of disbelief spread across their faces. They might have imagined many things, but not this. No one with a sane mind would do that. "The second choice is to stay. You will sign the new contract, which I will tell you will be much better than this one." I dered, offering them a life-altering decision. "Is this some sort of prank, Master Silver?" asked the woman with bright yellow eyes, her tone revealing her growing frustration. "Because I can tell you, it is not funny." She is Margaux, Ca did not introduce me to them, but I could identify them. My father had kept a detailed record of their information and, in it, their sketches. Even if I did not see the sketch, I would still recognize her, as among all the girls, only she has tinum blonde hair. She is also one of the highest earners in herst brothel. "No, Margaux, it is not a joke," I replied, and could see a sh of surprise appearing in her eyes as I said her name. "So we are free to go if we want, and you will even give us a thousand crowns as a farewell?" asked Tara, a raven-haired young woman. "Yes, you are right, Miss Tara," I affirmed. "What will be the conditions in the new contract?" asked Margaux, now recovered from her earlier surprise. "Tomorrow, I will be providing the contracts for you to read and decide on. However, at that time, you will not be given the benefit of severance pay should you decide to leave." I replied with a smile, and I could see some of them did not like that. "Can we have time to think about it?" asked Margaux, her voice more melodious than ever. I was inclined to agree right away and even opened my mouth slightly but quickly closed it, realizing what was happening. The old man used to use his skills on me, and they were far stronger than the skills of these women, even though Margaux''s skill had a much more refined quality to it. This is why it took me a moment toprehend what was happening. I smoothly closed my eyes and let a small smile appear on my face. My father used to get sadistic pleasure in using his skills on me, he called it training, and in a way, it was. My willpower was honed to the point where I was able to withstand these skills for a period of time. It didn''t hurt that my profession on earth gave me experience in keeping my emotions under control. "Of course, you all have until tomorrow morning to decide," I replied, and I could see many of them releasing the breath they had been holding. "Thank you, Master Silver," said Margaux. To that, I just nodded. "I will expect your answers by eight am tomorrow," I said, and they nodded and left the room one by one, leaving only Ca behind. "Many of them might take you up on your offer, Master Silver, especially with severance pay," Ca said. "Then I will wish them luck in their new life," I replied, which seemed to stump her for a moment. "The offer is not only for them but also for you. I will even increase the severance pay." I said, to which she smiled, and this time, her smile seemed natural, not the business smile, which always had a hint of allure. "I will give you my answer now, Master Silver. I am not leaving," she replied, and it was my turn to be surprised, as I did not think she would answer so quickly. "Well then, take a seat. We have a lot of work to do," I said. she smiled and took a seat across from me. There are many things I have to do, especially before I meet the people from the construction guild. There are going to be huge changes, from the appearance of the establishment to its business model; I even n to change the name. Lord''s Pleasure seemed too tacky for me. ¡­. "Oh, look, she has finally descended, and she looks tirrred," hollered a woman in her early thirties as Ca came down the stairs to the basement floor where the girls live. Nearly all of them were seated in the smallmon room, half of them sitting on theps of others, talking andughing. It is the only ce they could do such things. "Oh shush, Ina, be polite to Madam Ca, or she will not tell you all the juicy things she has done with master Silver." said another woman in a totally serious voice, but everyone could sense the teasing, and even Ca rolled her eyes. Ca came down and sat on the only empty chair there was. It was kept for her. It is a chair for the Madam, and as was the custom, nobody sits on the Madam''s chair. "My dear friends, I was working, not wrestling under the sheets," she said as sheid back in her chair. "Whole afternoon and evening?" asked Ina. "Yes, the whole afternoon and evening." She replied, but nobody seemed to believe it. "He had thousands of questions. Now I know how Madam Charline had felt when he asked her all those questions," she added and massaged her head. Madam Charline was her old boss back in Redfawn. About a year ago, he invited her and asked many of these questions. She still remembers how annoyed she had been when she returned. She said she would rather fuck a hundred men in a day than answer more of the boss''s son''s stupid questions. "What sort of questions did he ask?" asked one of the younger girls named Lyra. "All sorts, from embarrassing to serious; he even gave me the list of questions that you all have will have to answer, at least those who choose to stay," she said and pulled out a stack of papers, but nobody looked at them. She had said the words that had been hanging on everyone''s mind since the morning. The important choice they have to make. "Were you able to find out anything, Ca?" asked Margaux, to which she shook her head. "No, he had been very tight-lipped about it," she said, and silence descended for a few seconds. "What do you think about his offer? Do you think it is the truth or some cruel joke?" asked the woman, Rena. She did not answer the question immediately, as she was also unsure about it, but in the end, she decided to listen to her heart as it was the only thing that gave her the right counsel. "I think it is true. There is no deception hidden in his offer as far as I could tell," she replied and could see many women relieved at her words. "Though, I would suggest not taking the offer," she said, and the whole room quieted down. "It is freedom, Ca. You might not value it, but we do, and we are even getting a thousand crowns, which will be enough for us tost a year if we are frugal in spending," said L angrily, voicing the thoughts of many other women. "Exactly," she affirmed, and the women''s gazes became confused at her answer. "You will get a thousand crowns when you leave, and with a little bit of savings that you have, you all will be able to live one year, two at most.¡± "But then what?" she asked as she looked at all the girls. "Nearly all of us have a base ss rted to prostitution, which easily blocks us from working at any other ce; even the skanky bars will not take us.¡± "As for returning to families, most of us know how that will end," she said, and a mirthless smile appeared on the faces of a few girls. Half of them don''t have families, and those who do have them did not have a good experience. Many of them were sold into prostitution by their own families or sold themselves into prostitution for their families. Many of them had gained freedom and returned to their families, but they did not receive the wee they hoped to get. Forget an opened-armed embrace. They did not even get to step into the boundary of their homes before being thrown out. It is said that once one bes a prostitute, they are a prostitute for life; there is no escaping that fate. It is not far from the truth. Those who left the business always came back to it. Ca herself had done that a few years ago when she served her contract but returned to life shortly after. Her condition was not bad at all, but she found how hard it was for a whore to live outside, andpared to life, the whore house, the den of exploitation, felt easy, familiar, andfortable. "I will be taking the offer. With the savings I have, I will be able to live a few years without worry,¡± said L. ¡°I am sure, in that time, I will be able to find something useful for myself to do.¡± "Then I will wish you good luck and offer you a suggestion if you are willing to listen," said Ca. She had known L for more than a decade, and someone she was proud to call a friend. "I hope you will read the new contract before you make a decision to leave," she advised. "Do you know something about the new contract?" asked L, whose eyes lit up hearing the suggestion. "No, I do not, but I feel like all you should make a decision after reading the contract," she said and could see disappointment clouding the eyes of many women. "You''re asking us to walk away from a thousand crowns, Ca," said L softly. "Yes," Ca said. Ca did not say anything further; she had told them what she knew and felt. The decision is now theirs to make. Chapter 03: Decision Chapter 03: Decision Edited by Cabtain. 17th Feb. I climbed the stairway and entered my office from the room where I had slept the previous night. Although I had already rented a house in the city, I was too tired to return there. I had taken a shower and eaten the breakfast that Ca had brought earlier, and now I was ready for work. Today was going to be even busier than yesterday, but I was excited and a little nervous, as for the first time since arriving in this world, I hadplete independence to do as I pleased. I just hoped I knew what I was doing. "Architect Davidson, the head architect from the Nielson guild, will meet with you at ten," informed Ca. I nodded and gazed out the window at the establishment''s gate, where two guards stood. The girls would soon be making their decision and giving me their answer. I hoped that enough of them would choose to stay to review the new contract. I was confident that once they read it, they would ept my offer. My father would no doubt ridicule me. My style of business he would call sentimental foolishness, and he would be right. My conscience did not leave me when I came into this world. Those values still mean something to me. If I am forced into this industry, I will impose my standards upon it. The conversation with Ca had provided me with the context that I desperately needed. While I had cursory knowledge from my father, it was not enough if I was to make drastic changes. She is not the first person I asked these questions. I have asked them to the Madam and other prostitutes from the brothel the family owns in Redfawn city. I had done that a year ago when my father informed me that he was nning a brothel in fourth Prince''s new city. I spent the next few hours reviewing the answers Ca had provided, and soon it was time. I ced the contract and coin purse back to my left and right. Ca opened the door and led the women in, who filed in neatly behind her. "Have you all made your decisions?" I asked the girls. Several nodded, and I looked at each of them directly. "When you''re ready, tell me your decision." No one spoke for a moment, and I thought that no one would leave. Finally, L spoke up. "I want to go," she said. My heart ached at her words; she was one of our top earners and had been so close to achieving Level 20. "Me too." "Me also." "I also want to leave." One by one, four other people spoke up, including two sixteen-year-old girls, a twenty-one-year-old, and a forty-year-old. "Just to be clear, Miss L, Miss Sapphire, Miss Jordana, Miss Menar, and Miss Rupa, have you all made your final decision?" I asked, hoping that they understood the gravity of the situation. "If you leave, you will not be able to return. Is this really what you want?" "I''m certain of my decision, Master Silver," said L firmly, and the others nodded in agreement. It was clear they had made their decision. I nodded understanding and retrieved their contracts from the pile, holding them up for the girls to inspect. Once they were satisfied, I reached for the small, fiery stone thaty nearby. Wordlessly, I took each girl''s contract and held it briefly against the fiery stone, watching as the paper disintegrated into ash within seconds. After reducing the contracts to ashes, I retrieved my purse and withdrew fifty gleaming violet coins from inside. They glinted in the light, a stark contrast to the burnt scraps of paper thaty on the table. I counted out ten imperials, knowing that each one was equivalent to roughly one hundred crowns. After dividing the coins into five equal groups, I ced them all into small leather pouches. I handed over the five small leather pouches containing their severance pay. "This should help you get started on the next phase of your lives," I said, hoping the coins would ease their transition. Sapphire''s voice trembled as she expressed her gratitude. "I can''t thank you enough, Master Silver." I shook my head. "There''s no need to thank me. You all deserve this." I gestured to the pouches. "Make sure to use your severance pay wisely," I reminded the group, as they nodded in agreement. With that, they bowed and left the office. I watched them go, feeling a mixture of sadness and relief that they were moving on. "Well, it seems like the rest of you will make a choice after seeing your new contracts," I said, bringing someughter to the girls'' faces. "This is the new contract. I hope you like the terms," I said, forwarding several copies of the three-page contract to them. They quickly picked them up. The contract has been crafted by me, a fully-fledgedwyer. Over the past three years, I have be well-acquainted with the empire''sws, and crafting a contract is no big deal for me. As they read the contracts, I could see them shocked at the terms, and I could hear them whispering to themselves. "The contract is only for five years," said Ina in shock. "We will get 10% off everything we make and will get to keep the gifts we receive," said Margaux in astonishment. "One day leave for every six days worked," added Sam,pleting the sentence. Voices filled with different emotions rang out across the room as documents were passed around. It took a while for them to calm down and look at me with a questioning expressions about whether the papers they were holding were true, as they had a hard time believing them. "Everything written in the contract is true," I confirmed. "Yes, the contract is for five years from the date of signing instead of the previous ten, and yes, you will have a 10% share of everything you make, and the gifts given to the patron will be yours. You will also get one day off every week and have other benefits as stated in the contract." I exined the important parts of the contract one by one, and with each point, their eyes widened even more. A few in the back had even fainted as I went over the details. "It all seems like a dream; the conditions are too good to be true," whispered Margaux as she even tried to pinch herself. "It is not a dream, Miss Margaux, and what I am offering is not just fair; it is generous," I said, even though it wasn''t entirely truthful. In fact, I wanted to give them an even bigger share, but I was unable to do so. I am already walking on a thin line here, bending the rules as much as I can. But if I offer more, the owners of other brothels will be angry, especially in the high-ss brothels of an entertainment district like mine. The conventions need to be followed, or there will be consequences. My father taught me that. Conventions can be changed or broken, but for that, one needs to be powerful enough to bear the consequences, and I am not currently in that position. However, I hope that one day I will be. My brothel will not be standard but something more. I made a detailed n for my father a year ago when he nned to open the brothel here. I had shown the old man my n, but instead of taking it rationally, he hit me and called me an utter idiot. I hope he is watching from beyond because I want him to see how his creation - this brothel that his own children had bestowed upon me - became an empire. "So, does anyone want to leave?" I asked, and the looks I received from them said everything that was on their minds. I couldn''t help but feel embarrassed by it. "Master Silver, where do we need to sign?" asked Ina as she ced the contract on the table. "On all three pages, with your signature and thumbprint," I said as I forwarded the quill and thumbprint along with a double copy of the contract. One will be for her, while the other will be for me. The old man had shot down many of my suggestions, but he was not dumb. He had epted some of my proposals, such as offering literacy programs for all employees, regardless of their job duties. He reluctantly praised me after seeing the positive change that it brought within a year of its implementation. Ina took the quill and moved to sign the contract, and just as her quill touched the paper, I felt a familiar sensation that I had only felt once before, about a month ago. [ss Obtained: Lawyer] [Skill: Contract] As awyer, I have studied and practiced for many years. Although I have not practicedw in this particr world, I still possess relevant experience. When I utilized that experience, I was instantly granted the corresponding ss. I have not only obtained the ss but also acquired a highly valuable skill in contract negotiation. This skill is incredibly valuable, even more so than the two skills that came with my base ss. While the skill is impressive, it is a double-edged sword. If I apply it to a contract, I must also adhere to the terms. The agreement will not be something I can simply discard like a piece of paper. Despite its potential drawbacks, the benefits of this skill outweigh any risks, and it instantly applied to the contract that Ina was signing. When I applied the skill, Ina stopped as she sensed it, looked at me with surprise, and then a genuine smile bloomed across her face. A hint of respect appeared on her face because she now knew that everything I said was true. Breaking the contract will result in suffering the bacsh, which will be more intense for me since I have a lower level than them "Soon, Ina finished signing the contract. I took one copy and gave the other to her." After Ina, it was Margaux''s turn. The moment she touched the contract, she also sensed the skill''s presence, and shock appeared on her face. It took a few seconds to calm her emotions and sign with shaking hands, but when she did, a soft, genuine smile appeared on her face. One by one, the women signed the contract until everyone except for four teenage girls and Ca had signed. "Master Silver, what about our contracts?" asked Ruby. She is one of five girls who are below eighteen and unssed. "Miss Ruby, you and the others have a different contract," I said and handed her the contract papers. The sixteen-year-olds will be given a different contract. They took the contract and began to read. Ca and the others also read with them, and surprise couldn''t help but appear on their faces I said, "You will not work until you turn eighteen, and if you do not want to work in the trade after you turn eighteen, you will be given a choice to serve your contract term in other capacities." "You all also have a choice to leave. I will release you from your contract, as I did with others," I added. If they decided to leave, I would release them from the contract and even provide them with severance. ''"W-we will sign; the contract is more than fair," said Ruby. Just like the others, a clear surprise appeared on the teen''s face. Unlike the others, it took her a while to gain control over her emotions and finish signing the contract. After her, the other three teens quickly signed the contract. "Now you have officially be employees of the establishment." "I hope you all will help me take this business to the heights it deserves to be," I said to them. "We will do our best, Master Silver," they said unison. "Thank you all," I said before my expression turned serious. "And don''t forget to write all the answers to the questions I sent with Ca. I will need them by tomorrow morning," I said strictly. "You will have them by tomorrow, Master Silver," said Margaux, and she left with the girls. Soon there was only Ca and me left in the office. "You know, Master Silver, if you had offered even 1% of what they make, without all the other benefits, they would have still signed it with beaming smiles on their faces," said Ca as she sat across me, "I know," I replied somberly. Even in the most upscale brothels, the workers typically receive mere pennies while their employers make a fortune. "So, why did you offer so much?" she asked, and I could sense her genuine curiosity. "They deserve that much and more," I replied, but it was evident that she didn''t believe me. "It is an exploitative business, Miss Ca. It exploits them physically, mentally, and financially. It turns them nothing more than dispensers of men''s lust," I said, and I could see raw emotions flicker in her eyes for a moment before she regained control. Ca is different from other girls. They have been sold or forced into the trade, but she was born into it and has experienced every aspect of it. "I will not say the establishment will not have that, but it will be much more, and sex will be only an aspect of it, but not the whole part, and for it, I want them to be happy, safe, and satisfied." "You might not believe me, but happier employees generally work better and bring in more profits," I said. My words brought a small, genuine smile to her face. "So, where is my contract?" she asked after regaining control over her emotions. "Here it is. I hope you will like it," I said as I slid a contract out of the drawer. "It is a little bigger than what you have offered the other girls," she said, her voice bing mellower, like honey, and filled with sensuousness. "Your responsibilities are greater, so you deserve a bigger contract," I replied with a straight face without falling into her trap. It took her a while, but she finished reading and put the contract down. "I am only getting a 1%mission, which is much less than what you are offering the other girls," she said while seductively arching her brow. "It is 1% of all that the girls will make," I replied with a smile. "Which is kind of lowpared to my previous sry, Master Silver," she stated. While my father had nned on giving pennies to the girls, he had provided Ca with a very good sry, which, as she said, would be higher than 1% of what the other girls will make. However, that was before I took over. "No, it is not low. I think you will make at least three to four times more than your current sry," I said. Surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face, and it took her a little while longer to regain herposure. "You''re nning on earning four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand crowns a month, Master Silver, and I must say that''s a gross overestimation for this small city," she remarked. "The establishment will not earn you that much, even if all the girls worked to death," she said seriously. "No, it will earn more," I replied simply, with confidence brimming in every word. She looked up from the contract and stared directly into my eyes for several seconds before turning back to the contract. "Since you''re so confident, I''ll believe you and sign this contract," she said, and I once again activated my contract skill. She sensed it but was not surprised; she had likely already guessed from the reaction of the girls earlier. The moment she signed on to thest page, my mind buzzed, and surprise couldn''t help but appear on my face; my base skill had finally levelled up after a month. [Souteneur Merchant Lv. 2] Chapter 04: The Changes Chapter 04: The Changes Sin Lord O4 "Fuck, the pain!" I said as I massaged my head; it is not easy to utilize the contract skills on so many people, nearly all of whom are level 10+. I had not shown it in front of the girls, but now that Ca had left the office, I could finally massage my head. The pain would have been greater if not for the advancement of my base ss, which relieved some of the pain. I had messaged my head for a minute before I finally opened the ss window.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 2) - Basic
Lawyer (Lv. 2)
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 8
Vitality: 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract
Attribute Points: 2
Since I got my base ss a month ago, I have never used the attribute point I had. Though I have wanted to many times, especially spent it on vitality after seeing my father murdered so cruelly, I did not. That incident has created an unnatural fear of assassins in my mind, but I have to think rationally. The attribute points y a huge role, from powering up skills to strengthening one physically and mentally. Charisma increases charm and charm-rted skills, and intelligence increases thought speed and vitality, which is considered the most important attribute of healing power and also slows down aging. There are also attributes like strength and mana; the strength attribute could be gained after getting any type of fighter ss or the sses that physical in nature, like the girl''s sses, while the mana attribute is rted to the spellcasters, but getting it is hard, near impossible for someone like me, who do not have any mage talent. There are two attribute points I have, and now I n to spend them. The wise choice is intelligence and charisma, as all three skills require both. I have enough intelligence, and after thinking for a moment, I decided to spend my attribute points on charisma, taking it to the seven.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 2) - Basic
Lawyer (Lv. 2)
Charisma: 7
Intelligence: 8
Vitality: 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract
Attribute Points: 0
I immediately felt the change; I felt the headache decrease considerably and the power of my skills increase, seeing that a smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. While vitality and strength project hard power and more than 75% of people spend their attribute them, it is those with charisma and intelligence who rule over them. While part of me wanted to invest in vitality, I chose charisma because it is what will aid me the most. I have an important meeting with the head architect, and this little advancement will help me a lot when negotiating. There was about an hour before they arrived for a meeting, and I couldn''t help but feel excited but also kind of nervous about it. I had big ideas for the establishment; I had worked on them since he decided to open a brothel here, but he did not listen, but now since it belongs to me, I will apply all those ideas. I just hope the money I have will be enough. Nearly an hour passed when I saw the carriage of Nielson guild stopping in front of the gates of the establishment, and a few secondster, three people walked inside. Two men and one woman; while I could not see the women''s face from a distance, I still recognized her. ¡°I did not think she woulde,¡± I said with surprise, but nevertheless, I am happy. I would be ecstatic if she brought that thing. Click! A few minutester, the door opened, and Ca walked inside, leading three people in. A middle-aged man, an old man in his sixties, and a woman who looked to be about the same age as Ca. The middle-aged man was an architect Lloyd and beside him was a bald old man who looked in his mid-sixties, who should be head architect Davidson; in front of them is a woman. "Mage Valentina, I did not think you would grace this small establishment of mine," I said to a beautiful woman who came with Ca. She is Valentina r, a powerful mage who looks to be in her early thirties; she is also a beautiful woman with bright amber eyes and beautiful blond hair with a hint of silver in them. If one looked at her enough, they would be easily able to tell that she had some elf blood in her. It is a good thing that her features are not prominently elvish; otherwise, it would be hard for her to live in the empire, which had been following ultra-humanist principles ever since the current emperor ascended the throne. "How can I not? When I heard you had taken over the establishment, I couldn''t help bute," she said and sat on the seat in front of me. She is head of the Nielson guild in Greltheaven; it is a big business house, not as big as the house of silver, but still considerably big. It is quite confusing that, despite the power she had, she had chosen this small city. My father had few opinions about it, and so did I. I met her once, about a year ago. She had brought many designs of the establishment to show to my father; I wish she had brought that tool; it will make things much easier. "I am d," I said with a smile. "So, what changes do you want to bring to this fine establishment of yours?" she asked with curiosity burning in her eyes. "Many, I am sure, you have remembered some of my ideas, which myte father had so graciously turned down," I said with a smile. "It¡¯s good that I have brough this thing then; it will make things a lot easier," she said and brought out a thick ck roll like a blueprint and rolled it on the table. I expected she might bring this thing and had already cleared the space for it. Soon thick parchment rolled on the table, and one could see delicate metallic runes covering its every surface. This thing is heavencraft parchment, and it is really expensive, too; many times more than the mansion we are standing. She pressed her index finger on the parchment, and all the runes lit up before the holographic projection appeared. It is the symbol of their guild; she touched on a few runes, and soon, a holographic projection of the manor appeared in front of it; not just the projection of the manor, but the whole estate. Watching the projection, I couldn''t help but marvel at it. Holographic tech is still a nascent phase on earth; it would have to need at least two decades before it would have appeared in the hands of the general popce, but here it has been avable for thousands of years. "Let''s begin," said Mage Valentina, ¡°We will start from the outside,¡± I said and opened the file by me and took out the page from it, ¡°I want to change the gate and crest on it,¡± I added and handed her the sketch. "Are you nning to change the establishment''s name, Remus?" she asked as she put down the sketch. "Yes, the name lord''s pleasure feels over the top," I replied, to which she smiled. There is another reason, which is the old name is too limiting, and I do not want to have any limits on my business. The gate in the projection disappeared, and a new one appeared simr to the gate. She quickly moved her hand across the runes, and the shape of the gate began to change till it had be just as I drew on the sketch before a crest began to form in its centre. "Good, now we just have to change the colour of it," I said, and she quickly changed the gate and crest to the colour I needed. "Perfect!" I praised with a smile. "Now, let''s move themps by the gate; I need them a little bigger, but their light gentler," I said, "We have a few designs in the requirement you mentioned; please look," said Valentina, and projection of hundreds ofmps appeared. "This one," I selected, and a momentter, themps, by the changes, appeared and let out light. Their light covered the same area, but their glow was not ring to the eyes. "Do you want to change the colour of light master silver?" she asked. I told her which colour I wanted the lights in, and when themp colours changed, they began to cast even more beautiful lights "Very good; now let''s move to the garden," I said and flipped the pages of the binder. "I thought you liked the garden?" asked Mage Valentina. "I do; it is perfect; I want to change fasak ir flower trees on the road to elyren sun trees," I replied. The elyren sun tree is an elvish tree, kind of simr to cherry blossoms on earth but magical. These trees absorb sunlight and release it at night. The gentle lights this tree release is too beautiful. "Beautiful," Ca whispered as elyren moonflower trees appeared on the wide walkway; the real thing would be even more beautiful. "Master silver, do you still want a fountain in front of the mansion," said Mage Valentina. She seemed to remember the argument I had with my father, where he shot down my idea about the fountain as well. "Of course," I replied. Soon projection of tens of fountains appeared, and each and every one of them was beautiful. So, beautiful that I wanted to choose every one of them, but I had to choose one, and I did after looking around for minutes. "This one," I said, pointing at the mermaid fountain, and a few secondster, a mermaid fountain appeared in front of the mansion and began releasing the water in a way that would be physically impossible on the earth. "It looks wonderful," I said and turned to the mansion where I wanted to make the biggest and most important changes, "Mage Valentina, I hope you will be patient with me; there are several colourbinations I have to try before deciding," I said to her. "Of course, Remus," she said, and we began to try different colour schemes; I have many written down in my diary. Some of them look quite bad, and some quite good, better than I had imagined. If I had a big budget and time, I would have done more than change the colour of the mansion. Though the mansion is currently beautiful, there are still many other changes that could be made to it, and I will make them in the future. "It looked beautiful, beyond beautiful," Ca breathed out in shock as we finalized the details, while I could only sigh. I have not only changed the colour but ended up making several small outer changes to the mansion. I did not want to make them, but I couldn''t hold myself back, and there were also the nudges from Mage Valentina. ''These damned bastards, they were going to loot me blind,'' I cursed at them, but I was not angry at them as the mansion looked really beautiful, more beautiful than I had imagined it in my dreams. "Now, let''s move toward the interior," I said before I made any more changes to the exterior, and I wanted to. I had already done more than I had initially nned to and they were going cost me a lot. A secondter, the interior appeared, and it was just like reality, down to the furniture, which is not surprising considering everything is from their guild. "I want topletely overhaul the first floor, Mage Valentina; erase everything on the first floor," I said to her, which made everyone surprised. "Even rooms?" she asked, "Yes, rooms, too," I said, and a few secondster, the whole floor became ck. I nodded, and I opened the folder, took out my sketches, and ced them neatly on the table. Seeing them, a shock couldn''t help but appear on Ca¡¯s face; the change in the exterior was nothingpared to the change I wanted to make in the interior. The changes I wanted to make will not only be in the building but also in the whole business model of the establishment. "I hope you will be able to materialize them into reality," I said to chief Valentina. She smiled at that, and for the next one and half hours we spent on the interior, we have made so many changes that even my father came alive; he would recognize it from inside. Most of the changes were to the first floor, but I have made a few changes to the second and third floors and to the basement where thedies live. Honestly, I wanted to make greater changes to the basement and provide more amenities to thedies, but the budget did not allow me to do that. Still, I did what I could; it would make their life a little morefortable. "Remus, do you have any other changes you want to make?" asked chief Valentina, "No, I am done," I replied. There are many more I wanted to make, but I did not have a budget for them. "I hope you will be a little gentle with the cost," I said to her, to which she smiled. "We always charge fairly, Remus," she replied with a smile, and I wanted to snort at that, but I controlled my emotions and kept a smile on my face as I waited for her to butcher me with a cost. "It would be five hundred and forty-three thousand crowns, but I will give you the discount of three thousand. So you only need to pay us five hundred and forty thousand crowns, " she said with a beautiful smile. I knew the cost would be high but did not expect; it would go this high. "It is too much, Mage Valentina; please state the fair price," I said, "Five hundred and forty thousand crowns is the right price, Remus," she said, and the smile on her became even more beautiful. This time she has activated her bargaining skills, and it is powerful. Thepulsion to agree with her price was so strong that I even opened my mouth to agree with it before closing it forcefully. "How about five hundred thousand crowns? It is a fair price," I said with gritted teeth and a fake smile. "You must be joking, Remus; if we agree to it, we will suffer a loss," She said, "How about five hundred and twenty-five thousand crowns," she offered, and the power of her skill increased further. "Five hundred and five thousand crowns," I said with gritted teeth; the fake smile had already disappeared from my face under the pressure of her skill. "Five hundred and twenty thousand crowns," she said and increased the power of her skill even further that I began to sweat from all over my body. I have done many negotiations on the earth; it was a part of the upation, and I had done them here too, but that was training my father gave me, where he would bombard me with his skills. What I am doing now is a real thing, and it is fucking hard; harder than any bargaining I have ever done. "Five hundred and fifteen thousand, this is my final offer, or I will find someone else to make the changes," I said, and by the time my tongue let out thest word, my voice was barely audible. "Five hundred and fifteen it is; it is nice doing business with you, Remus." She said with a bright smile and shook my sweaty hand, while all I could do was put a straining smile on my face. The price we agreed on is fair; I have done the research, and if I had done it with the other guild, it would have cost the same or even more. "I hope you will be finished with the adjustment before the city''s inauguration," I said, and I could see head architect Davidson opening his mouth but stopping himself after seeing the look on Mage Valentina''s face. "It will be tough with nearly all the projects having the same deadline, but since it is you, Remus, we will finish it before the inauguration," she said, and heard that a smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. I had feared that her firm might not be able to aplish it and would have to cancel some changes, but it seemed like we didn''t have to. "Thank you," I said, feeling genuinely grateful. I know how many projects are going on around the city; all of them want to be finished in a month when the city will be formally inaugurated by the fourth prince. In the next few minutes, we finalized the small details, such as the payment n. "Now that we have finalized all the details let''s sign the contract," she said and took out the paper and the small wand. A momentter, a couple of thin red lights came out of the wand and began to carve the letters across the paper. Quite a skillful use of the heat beam spell; not everybody could use this spell with her precision, where one of the heat lines needs to be thin enough and move fast enough with such precise control that they will not burn the paper and form a clear text. The most amazing thing is that she is handling the seven heat likes at once; not anymon mage could achieve such a feat. My father had said she is at least a level 25 Mage, which is quite a high level, as the spellcaster sses are notoriously hard to level up, which is not surprising considering they are one of the most powerful sses in the world. Soon, she had finished printing the contract and slid it toward me; as I touched the contract, I knew she had activated her contract skill, and I added mine to that. I read the contract carefully, assessing every line for loopholes, and there are many, but they aremon that both sides could exploit if things go wrong. So, after seeing everything was fine, I signed the contract and slid it toward her. The moment she touched the contract, she arched her brow at me before signing the contract. "It¡¯s nice doing business with you, Remus," she said as she raised her hands for a shake, "Likewise, Mage Valentina," I said as I shook her hand. Do Rate and Write a Review. Chapter 05: Lessons Chapter 05: Lessons "Chief, why did you ept the priority on this small project? We have many big projects here and are pressed hard to finish them before the inauguration," asked the head architect Davidson as the carriage began to roll. "We should take care of our big client, Davidson," Valentina replied without turning from the window. "House of Silver is a big client, but he is just a bastard of the house, who had been plotted against and thrown here to the outskirt of the empire," said the old man. "I am not talking about the house of silver," she said as she finally turned, her words clearly surprising the two old man sitting in front of her. "You can''t be meaning him? I don''t want to badmouth him, but I don''t see any big client potential in him," said the old man. Valentina did not say anything; she just smiled and looked back at the window while remembering the first time she had seen him. ¡­ Click! A few minutester, the door opened, and Ca walked in after dropping them off at the door. "What do you think about the changes?" I asked as she sat across me. "They are good," she replied. "Your real thoughts," I said and gave her a look, "They are risky," she said. "You have removed all the business rooms from the first floor and expanded and merged a few rooms on the second and third floor; now we only have only twenty-six rooms for business," "The conventions said we should have at least as much as rooms as women we have in the house, which means we are short on eleven rooms," she said, and there was a hint of anger on her beautiful face. It is clear she was angry; I should have consulted with her before finalizing the changes. "We will not be selling just sex, Ca; the rooms we have is sufficient," I said. "Master Remus, we will be running a brothel. It means selling sex; it does not mix well with the other things," "You have also postponed the day of opening to the inauguration, which is a month away; it will make us lose us, wealthy, powerful clients, who have already started to trickle in for the inauguration," she said, and her voice was a little pointed, but I did not mind it. "What do you think about my ns on the first floor?" I asked, ignoring what she had said. "Unwise, you shouldn¡¯t have taken out all the business rooms on the first floor," she said, and there was a hint of admonishment in her melodious voice. "About that, miss Ca you are very wrong," I said and looked directly into her beautiful green eyes. "Sex is the greatest of desires, and it can mix with everything," I said. Ask any advertiser on earth, and they will bet their soul on it. It ismon knowledge on earth that sex sells, and advertisers use it to sell everything. I am running a brothel, so selling sex is natural, but it will be only part of what I will sell through my establishment. What I am trying to sell is obvious desires. The whole day passed, and by the evening, more people from the Nielson guild came. They emptied the whole room of furniture and already started breaking rooms on the first floor; I could hear the sound of it from here. The removal of the rooms will be finished by tomorrow morning, not just on the first floor, but on the second and third floors, where I expanded a few rooms bybining them. The overall rooms may have lessened, but it will aid the business, not constrain it as Ca is thinking. Though more rooms are always a good thing, we do not have the space to create them. The night came, and I slept a littlete, so when I woke up the next day, it was already eight, and it took me another hour to shower and have breakfast before I stepped into my office. Ca was already sitting there, and in front of us were piles of paper, beside them a letter with a familiar seal. The seal of the house of Hardt, a powerful mercantile house, like the house of Silver. "That came for you an hour ago," she said, motioning toward the letter. I nodded and tore the envelope, and brought out the letter. It is an invitation to the party from the acting head of the merchant guild, Damon Hardt. It is tomorrow, and I will be attending; these things are great for making connections. I read the invitation before putting it into the drawer and turning to the piles of paper that are in front of me. "I hope thedies have answered all the questions?" I asked, "Yes, it took some of them a whole day, but they did finish answering every one of your questions," she said and forwarded the first pile toward me. "I understand some of the questions you have asked, but some of them are really strange," she added and looked at me for the answers, but all she got from me was a smile. Data is very important; back on earth, it is a preciousmodity, and organizations pay millions for it. "You will understandter," I said, "Now, let''s begin," I said as I took out a huge piece of paper, which had neat lines drawn on it. ¡®Theputer would have made things a lot easier and faster,¡¯ I said as I looked at the paper in my hand. Each big spreadsheet will have data of ten people leaving Ca; the establishment has thirty-eight girls whose data will be filled on four big papers. "Who is first?" I asked, "Margaux Swan," Ca replied as she opened the first file from the stack. "Age," I asked. "Forty-five," she replied. "Common age of clients she receives?" I asked, "Sixteen to thirty-five," she replied. "The time theyst, with the usage of her skills?" I asked, "Ten minutes to an hour, depending upon the level and the age of the client," Ca replied, and I noted it on the spreadsheet. ¡°How many skills does she use on the clients?¡± I asked one question after another and noted down their answers; there are fifty-six questions there, and it asks everything from the positions their clients use during sex to their interests or hobbies, or talents she has; there are even questions like their sses, but those are optional. These questions are carefully crafted out to give me aplete idea about each person. Time passed by as I continued to fill the info into my spreadsheet. It was a tiring job, and when I finished at eight in the evening, I just closed my eyes and slept, but I could not. I still had to do some things before I could sleep. "Finally," Ca said and yawned seductively in her chair; she is tired, and so am I, but I am also happy. I now only have to analyze the data, which should be finished by midnight, and tomorrow, I could start working on the girls, as currently, they are not capable of working on the business model I have in my mind. "I have to say, some of the data ondies is quite startling," I said, looking at the long pages in front of me. "Yes, I truly did not expect some of them would write about their fantasies, and some of their fantasies have caught me even off guard," she said with a slightugh. I have not only asked about their fantasies but also about the fantasies of their clients. Whether its here or on earth, people have fantasies, and I would make huge money by selling those fantasies to them. "The things you have read here are personal to the girls; they should not get out of this room," I said seriously. "I have signed a contract; my lips are sealed," Ca replied, and I smiled before focusing back on the work. An hourter, I ate dinner and made the round of the establishment as I had done in the afternoon and was again got surprised by the progress these people had made. It would have been quite hard to make such progress back on earth, even with all the advanced tools and machines. When I returned, I resumed my work and only stopped when I finished atte midnight, before sleeping. The next morning, I walked into my office, and aside from the newspapers, there was nothing else on my desk. "Good morning, Master Remus," she said, "Good morning, Ca," I replied as I sat down before taking out a page from the drawer and sliding it toward her. "I need people in these fields who are specialized in teaching," I said She took the paper, but soon a shock couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face. "A..are these for girls?" she asked hesitantly. "Yes," I replied. The new business model I have in my mind does not only require changes in the building but also in the women. I am going to bring in the teachers who will teach them the required skills, it will be expensive, but I am willing to pay the price. The level 20 and above teachers should be able to impart to them with basics of skills they need to work under my new business model. "Do you have any suggestions or want to add anything?" I asked Ca, who was still staring at the paper. "No, you seemed to have thought of everything," she said as she ced down the paper. "With your requirement of them being level 20 and above, these teachers are going to cost us a lot; many of them wouldn¡¯t be avable in the city,¡± she added. "I have already mentioned the budget there; it should be enough for a month," I replied. I have already written what I am willing to pay for each teacher, and I am not holding back on it. I did not get anything other than the establishment as inheritance, but I did get half a million crowns from the head of the house of Silver; every direct descendent gets this amount after getting their ss. Every direct member of the house of Silver gets this amount after getting their ss. I have got another three hundred thousand crowns from selling everything I have owned. There are also a hundred thousand crowns my father had left to the establishment name as operating expenses. So, in total, I have nine hundred thousand crowns. I have already spent half a million crowns on renovation, and teachers would also cost me around fifty thousand crowns. With this, I have three hundred and fifty thousand crowns on me; I hope it will be enough for the things I want to do. "The girls would be grateful for this opportunity; many of them had the desire to learn but never did get a chance in their lives," she said. "I hope they learn with aplete heart," I said, and I really hoped they would learn the skills they needed because their, mine, and the establishment''s future depends on it. "They will," she replied with confidence. Do Rate, Comment, and Review. Chapter 06: Party Chapter 06: Party "I looked really good," I sighed as I looked at the mirror; as much as it pains me to admit it, I had average looks on the earth, but now I am handsome. I am not handsome enough to turn heads on the street, but still handsome, and it is a big thing for me, considering I was someone who had been described as average. I have raven ck hair and silvery grey eyes that will captivate a soul if looked at my eyes long enough and well-defined features, especially the jawline, which is to die for, and now that I have donned the ck suit, it has made me even more handsome. After satiating my vanity for a few more minutes, I walked out of my room into the living room, where two middle-aged men were sitting. "Gentlemen, let''s go," I said to the two mercenaries and walked out of the house. This is the first time I havee to this house I have rented; it is not a small house, but when one looks at the sprawling mansions around the house, it does feel small. This is the most expensive part of the city; renting the house here had cost me a lot, which I would not have done if not for keeping the appearance. "Thank you, Rogers," I said as the middle-aged man opened the carriage door and went inside. Soon, the carriage begins to roll with both mercenaries on horses on both sides. They are not only for a show but are also quite powerful; they will protect me if there is danger. Though, if an assassin at the level that killed my father had attacked, they would be children with y sticks. Forget defending me; they would not be able to defend themselves even for a second before they find their heads flying in the air. If I had money, I would have hired better mercenaries, but currently, I will have to make do with them and hope I do not make the enemy powerful enough to send assassins after me. The carriage only drove for a few minutes before it slowed down in front of a sprawling mansion that was even bigger than my establishment. The carriage stopped, and the door opened; I nodded my thanks to rogers and walked toward the entrance. There were twelve guards at the entrance, and they were powerful, with two Arryn lions at both sides of the gates, which were big as horses. These beasts are dangerous and hard to tame, only a high-level tamer could tame them, and they had to start since they were cubs. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but remember my father; he was a trainer, apetitive dog trainer. As long as I can remember, our house has always been filled with dogs. I shook my head from mncholic thoughts and turned to the guards. I smoothly took out the invitation from my jacket and shed it to the guard, and walked through the gates without stopping; the guards looked but did not stop me. Soon, I reached the door of the mansion where a slightly plump man in histe fifties was standing with a violet-haired woman in her early forties, who was quite hot, especially with a light pink gown that highlighted every part of her body. "Guild master Hardt, madam Hardt, thank you for inviting me to this wonderful levee," I greeted as I appeared in front of the hosts, "Master Silver, please enjoy the party," said Damon Hardt with a voice that was sweet as honey and soothing to the mind. It is clear that he is using the skills. "I will," I said and was led by staff to the ballroom, which was already filled with quite a few guests. I looked around and saw a few familiar faces. I recognized most of them from the information docket I had from the grey guild; it had information on nearly all the merchants along with their sketches. There are also a few familiar faces that I knew personally. I walked inside the banquet hall and, on the way, took a ss of champagne from the waiter who stopped in front of me. "Remus, my dear brother, I didn''t think guild master Hardt would invite you here," said the voice behind me; it had stiffened me for a moment, and a zing anger appeared in my eyes for a moment before I quickly controlled my emotions and turned back slowly toward the man whom I hate the most. "Edwin, why did you think that?" I asked as to the person who devised the n to use the witch to bond my blood with the establishment, the wretched bastard who stole my future and inheritance. He is about a decade older than me and has a stocky build like our father''s inparison to my lean; he has average height and face. The only noticeable thing he has is a silvery-grey eye like mine, the hereditary feature of the house of silver. "Your business, of course, dear brother; inviting a whoremaster would dim this grand levee of its glow," He said with a smile and did not lower his voice, making few people close to us hear. I did not get angry at all; I have gotten quite used to his instigations that no wordsing from his mouth bother me; it was already a surprise that he had not used the word ''bastard'' yet. "I think our host is wise enough to know who is to invite or who does not," I replied with a smile, which I could tell had made him even angrier. Old Remus was quick to react to instigations and always ended up making a fool of himself; after I came, everything had changed, and I think that was a mistake I made. I should have taken some traits of old Remus, at least in front of him, which wouldn''t have made him take drastic steps against me. Snort! "The whoremaster like you is not even worthy of taking a single step here; the only reason you got the invitation is that you are a Silver," He said mockingly. "Oh, that I know," I acknowledged with a smile and drank to that, which again made him re at me even more intensely. "Edwin, since you havee here, it means you have seeded," I said, bringing the important topic to the table. "Yes, of course, I had seeded," He said, looking at me with a smile that was full of pride. Ever since the empire conquered the region of Renwell from Tabes, my father had been trying to buy a title with the territory, which was quite hard for the merchants. The empire was extremely strict about who it should give the titles, but the times were changing, and the Emperor was in hisst years, and the Princes had already started gathering power and allies. So, the rules have loosened a lot, but the cost has gone up significantly that even my father bled dry from it and wouldn¡¯t have been sessful if he had not received help from the house. Still, getting it is worth it as it is the quickest gateway to getting a Ruling ss, which is one of the most powerful sses in the world. I do not have any interest in Ruling sses, especially in Noble Ruling sses; they bring more trouble than I have an appetite for. In the second chance I have got, I wish to live a long peaceful life "Where did you get the territory?" I asked, to which he shook his head lightly, "I don''t know; I will know when the fourth prince wille here for the inauguration," he replied, the way which is a month away. "Well, it¡¯s nice meeting you, Edwin," I said and walked away from him, leaving him dumbfounded like always. It is quite easy to do that, as he is still confused between my old personality and the new. I could feel him staring dagger at my back, but he did not follow after me. I smiled and drank the ss whole before sitting at the table; I had arrived on time, which was early, but I did it intentionally. This is the first big party in the city, all the rich merchants and powerful guests that had arrived in the city are going to be at this party, which would be great to make the connections. Time passed by, and more and more guests kept arriving; I did not get up from my seat, just watched people with a light smile on my face. I had already gotten enough attention; many people nced at me as I mingled around. I sat there for around half an hour before, finally, two people came to me and sat across me. The old man looked to be in his mid-fifties with grey hair and had gemmed cane in his hand, while the young man beside him looked to be in his early twenties and was clearly quite bored. This old man is an acquaintance of my father; I met him a few times when he held a meeting with my father. "Mr. Harwood, I did not know you would be here in Greltheaven," I said with a smile and turned to the young man beside him, "and this must be your youngest son Aydin," I added; the young man nodded at me before focusing on the te in front of him. "Yes, this is my youngest, Aydin," He said and introduced his son, who now shifted his gaze at the ass of a hot woman standing not far away from us, seeing that a clear irritation couldn''t help but sh on the old man''s face. "Ayden, this is Remus Silver," said the old man, and it seemed to attract the attention of the young man instantly. "Remus Silver, aren''t you the one who only got the brothel?" asked the young man, with clear interest shing in his eyes. "Yes, that is me," I replied with a smile. "It is opening at the end of this week, right? I will definitely visit; I just hope you have good girls," he asked, not caring one bit about the seething anger in his father''s eyes. "No, I have postponed the opening to the inauguration day," I replied; I wanted to invite him, but seeing the look on the old man''s face, I did not. "A shame," he said and focused back on guests, and soon he found a woman to stare at. Seeing his son''s behavior, the old man shook his head exasperatedly before turning to me. "It is a devious thing your siblings had done to you, Remus; your father had spoken highly of you and was nning to give you the big responsibility after you got your ss," he said. I received the ss a littlete; if I had received it when I was fifteen, or even at sixteen or seventeen, I would have still been in better condition, considering my father had been alive then and like he did with all the children. He would have given me responsibility for one of his businesses, which would have been much greater in value than the establishment I have now. "I had already epted my fate, mister Harwood; there is no need to dwell on it further," I said with a mirthless smile while looking at Edwin from the corner of my eyes, who was happily mingling with the crowd. "Mr. Harwood, my father, had said you are holding back on investing in Greltheaven, so what changed," I asked, changing the subject. "The rapidly changing condition in Mayhurst ind made me divert my investments to a less vtile market," he said with a sigh. "Yes, conditions there are rapidly changing; I heard that my house is also rapidly pulling back all the investments they have made there," I said. Mayhurst ind is one of the biggest inds in the world; it is southwest of the Zenid continent, ced in a strategic location. It had six kingdoms, five now. "The forces of the lich are much greater than anyone had anticipated," I said and sighed, and the old man couldn''t help but nod soberly. "Vris''alud had already swallowed kingdom Edulia and had captured half a territory of Brarod Kingdom, and now the undead horde is attacking Kalgha Dominion and Dekas," said the old man and paused for a second. "Till now, only orcs of Kalgha Dominion seemed to be the only ones putting sessful defense against them," said the old man. I have read the papers, and the condition is very bad there. The undead horde is not keen on taking any prisoners; they are turning everyone into the undead, increasing their forces by the day. The undead horde is dangerous; our neighbor Navr is one of the most powerful necromantic kingdoms in the world, and it kept releasing horde on neighbors every few years, piging and ravaging cities of its people and wealth. It is the sole reason why, despite being at a prime location and a great future, very few people want toe here. When Navr releases its undead horde, it is very hard to defend against them; Empire is going to have big problems against them as, unlike other neighbors, we do not have much experience in fighting against the undead on arge scale. I talked with Harwood a few minutes before mingling with other familiar guests I know, and it is the thing I am very good at; it is a necessary skill I had to learn when I joined thew firm. Time passed when I saw another familiar personing, Mage Valentina; she was wearing a beautiful blue halter gown, and she was not alone; beside her was a tall woman with radiant sun-kissed skin; she had a pretty face and firm body that even the ck gown she is wearing could not hide. She is defiantly a warrior and one with great confidence in her abilities; it is clear by the way she is walking in the room. They immediately attracted the attention of many people; the Nielson guild had a big presence in Greltheaven, workings on hundreds of projects, not to mention mage Valentina is a powerful mage herself that would want to have a good rtions in this dangerous ce. Another half an hourter, the ballroom had been filled with guests, and our host had taken the stage. ¡°Thank you all foring to my humble home,¡± he said, there was no microphone or artifact, but his voice had reached us all. He started his speech with some boasting and hints, with a few words about prosperity and growth. I have to say, he is a very bad speaker, even with all the skills he has. I am sure his hot wife would have done better than he is doing right now, making everybody utterly bored, but everyone had smiled and pped when they needed to. This man is undoubtedly one of the most powerful men in of city, and his position would be permanent after the princes arrive for the inauguration. ¡°To the growth and glory of the Greltheaven,¡± he toasted as he finished his speech, and everyone raised their sses in return. The mingling began again, and I moved from one person to another, talking,ughing, making connections, and letting my presence known. It is not a thing that I enjoy, but I am good at it, and it is a necessity, especially considering the business I am in. These are the clientele I will be targeting. ¡°Remus, it is nice to see you again,¡± said Mage Valentina as she stopped beside me, ¡°Likewise, Mage Valentina,¡± I replied with a smile and turned woman beside her, ¡°And this is?¡± I said, motioning toward the women, ¡°Lena ss, Valentina, and I were roommates in the academy,¡± she introduced herself as she shook my hand in a firm handshake. ¡°A mage then,¡± I said, and she just smiled; she did not look like a Mage, but looks can be deceiving, not to mention there are hundreds of archetypes of spellcaster ss, and some require considerable physical power. ¡°I hope you are satisfied with the speed of renovations, Remus?¡± asked Valentina, ¡°More than satisfied, with such speed, I am confident your guild will finish it on time or even a few days before,¡± I said, too, that she smiled. I talked with them for a few minutes before they went to mingle with other people while I watched them from behind. ¡®They are good,¡¯ I said internally; the way they are acting, nobody would doubt they are good friends, but they are more than that. They are in a rtionship. I hope they will be able to keep the secret because once it is revealed, there will be hell to pay. The Church and the Empire had very strictws against it. The banquetsted till midnight; I stayed until the end and talked to nearly everyone who had been invited and also the host before leaving with a satisfied smile. Do Rate and write a Review. Chapter 07: Necessary Skills Chapter 07: Necessary Skills Two days have passed since the party, and everything seemed to be going well; the Nielson guild especially is doing a wonderful job, and they are fast. Yesterday, they had spread a cloth over the building, with it blocking the view; those from outside wouldn''t be able to see the changes. Thankfully, they had created a small hole in the cloth through which I could see out of the window. I was watching through the window when one of the gates opened, and the man who looked to be in his early forties walked inside hesitantly, guided by one of the mercenaries standing at the gate. I looked out for a few seconds before returning to work, which gave me a slight headache. There is a pressing issue of finances; I thought nearly a million crowns would be enough to implement the ns I had, but as I looked at the list in front of me, it did not seem to be the case. Only aftering here did I realize I needed to expand the list of things I needed to do, and the money I had was not enough. These things are important; I need them before the establishment open. Click! I was working on the list when the door opened, and Ca walked inside, sporting her usual faint seductive smile that promised a thousand nights. "They have arrived," she said; I nodded and followed her out of my office. As I walked out of the tower, I saw workers everywhere, working on the changes I had asked their guild to make. There were not simple workers but also artisans doing the delicate work; it was mesmerizing to watch them work, and if I had time, I would have watched them for hours. Soon, we reached the first floor, which hadpletely transformed; nearly all the rooms had been destroyed, and a huge hall was created. Currently, no people are working in the hall, but eight people are sitting there; some looked fine, while others looked visibly ufortable, which is understandable considering this is not the ce where they usuallye to work. "Please sit, all of you," I said to them as they stood up as I appeared. There are six women and three men; they are all of the various ages, from the early thirties tote seventies. They are all teachers; I had hired for the girls. They all belong to different fields and teach different things that girls will need to work in the establishment. We had a requirement for thirteen teachers; nine havee. We have found the other four too, but they are not present in Greltheaven; they wille tomorrow from Deerpond. "Hello, I am Remus Silver," I introduced, "Master silver," some of them said back in nervousness and confidence. "You all are excellent teachers with good records, and I hope you will teach the girls here without any prejudice at heart," I said as I looked at each and every one of them. "I don''t know about others, but you will not have any problem with me," said a grey-haired old woman, who looked to be in herte sixties but was actually in her eighties; one could live quite long and appeared younger as long as deposit enough points into the vitality or have a specific ss. "I expect nothing less from you, Misses Elme," I said to the older woman. I have paid a good price for this woman, more than any of them; she is above level 25 and has decades of teaching experience, and her reviews are also great; I was quite surprised when I had read her qualification. People of her level and expertise usually prefer big cities where they get more clients. I talked to the teachers for a few minutes and helped ease their worries before going back to my office while Ca went to fetch the girls. Their lessons would begin immediately. I would have really preferred if the girls had learned from these teachers for at least three months, but I do not have the money or the time; they have four weeks to learn, and after that, the establishment would open, and the performance of it would totally depend on how much the girls able to learn from them. Soon, I reached my office and continued with the work, which was reviewing the prices from the quotes that different merchants had sent. There are many things I need to buy, and I amparing the quotes for the best prices, as every penny I save could be used for other things. The day passed quickly; aside from working till lunchtime, I went out in the city to meet a few people I had made contact with at the party, especially the Harwood; their prices and goods were the best, and I would need to need to close the deal quickly if I want goods delivered in time. I returnedte after the afternoon and watched how the lessons were going before working till dinner and working again for a few hours. Tomorrow is a little busy; I have to attend another banquet at another merchant''s house. So, it would be better if I did a little more work today, as tomorrow evening, I will going to get any time. It was eleven at night, and Ca sent the group of teachers off before walking back inside the mansion. The teachers are putting the long hours, and that was one of the conditions of the job, and Remus is paying above market rate for their services. She walked inside the basement toward the girls'' quarters; she expected them to be tired and sleeping, considering the number of lessons they had attended; she herself had attended a few and was feeling a little tired. "Well, it seemed like a day''s worth of lessons is nothing for you girls," said Ca as she walked into the smallmon room, which was filled with chatter. "We are whores Ca; we don''t get tired easily," replied Ina with a smile, but it was no self-deprecating smile that donned her face when she referred to our profession; instead, it was a smile of joy. "Though, it was an exhausting day," she added. "Then I guess there are noints about the teachers?" she asked, and in return, she had got the looks that told her she had not needed to ask that question. Remus has asked me to ask the question to girls; if they have problems with any of the teachers or do not like their teaching method, they could still be changed. "Mistress elme had hit me?" said Delia courageously, a sixteen years old girl, "Then you shouldn''t have called her old hag Delia," replied Margaux, which shut up the girl and put a smile on the face of the girls. "Though that old woman is really scary, even I was hit a couple of times by her," said Margaux and squirmed ufortably in her seat. The bottom is the favorite part of an old woman, leaving one with stinging pain without leaving a mark. "Some of the lessons are great, but some seemed pretty useless," said Mina, the brte in her mid-twenties. "I mean etiquette, and seductions seemed pretty useless, especially seduction, which is our forte," Hearing her words, a big smile couldn''t help but appear on Ca''s face; if it had been two days ago, she would have had the same questions, but yesterday she saw the n. Remus had finally shown her theplete n, which is audaciously grand; it also made her understand how desperately the girls need to learn those things. "Those two skills you all will need the most, and I hope you all learn with the utmost diligence," she said seriously before turning to mina. "The seduction is different from the sex, and I tell you all, it will be extremly important," "Most of you already have skills rted to that, try to finesse them with the teacher''s help," she added and truly hoped the girls would listen. "I enjoyed today''s lessons very much; there are many things I wanted to learn but never got a chance to until now," said Margaux emotionally. "Me too," replied Ca with a sigh. She is quite jealous of the girls; due to her busy schedule, she cannot take many lessons like the girls. So, she is only attending a few that will be necessary for her; Remus has already given the list of things she will need to learn. She chatted with the girls for a while, and soon, the loud voices became lower and obvious tiredness began to show on their faces; even the tiredness wasn¡¯t able to wipe away the brimming happiness in their eyes. The girls did not need to say it, but she could see how happy they were about the lessons they had received; many of them wanted to learn these things, but they had never got the chance, and now they have got it, she knew each and every one of them will give their all in learning. "All right, girls, into your bunks now; from tomorrow, your lessons will begin in the early morning and will end at midnight, so get as much rest as you can," she said loudly, and the girls got up from their spot one by one and went toward their room. Within a minute, everyone left; except for Margaux and her. "Ca, thank Master Silver for this wonderful opportunity," said Margaux softly. "You can tell him that yourself when you meet him," I said, which brought a small smile to her friend''s face. "I will," said Margaux and walked out of themon room; she watched her friend leave before walking toward her own room. There is a Patreon for advance chapters. Chapter 08: Eudo Angestel Chapter 08: Eudo Angestel "What do you think, Master Silver?" asked Lenore with hopeful eyes as she put the powder brush down from Ina''s face, who was sitting in front of the big mirror. Ina is truly beautiful; she has long, wavy golden-blond hair and deep brown eyes. She had the face and body of a supermodel, and now looking at her with make-up, anyone on earth was to sees her; they would directly assume she was one. "Beautiful, but not enough; she needs more." I shook my head before turning to Ca, who also nodded. "It looks like we will need a beautician, a high-level one; Lenore''s skills are not enough," I said, but I immediately knew my words were too harsh, especially to Lenore, who obviously tried her best. "I am inadequate, Master Silver," said Lenore apologetically, with her eyes watering. "No, you are good, Lenore, but we need someone better whose base ss is in beauty and is at a sufficiently high level," I said in a consoling tone; it worked as her face brightened up a little. "I will send a request to the employment guild immediately," said Ca reading my thoughts, and left the room. I was already nning to hire a beautician, but before that, I wanted to test Lenore''s skills; she had a second ss rted to that, but as I had expected, her skills were insufficient. I did not stay in the dressing hall for long and went back to my office; on the way, I could hear lessons being taught to girls in the different rooms. It had already been nine days since these teachers hade, and the changes they had brough to the girls were amazing; even Ca, who could attend only a few sses a day, had begun showing some noticeable change. If they continue to improve at such a pace, they will be able to leave the skills I need them to have at the time of opening. Hun! A day passed, and it was the afternoon the next day when I noticed somemotion by the gate from my window. Someone seemed to be trying to get inside while the mercenaries at the gates were stopping him; it continued for a few minutes before Ca herself had to go there to resolve it. She returned a minuteter with the person who was trying to trye inside. Guessing who it was, I walked out of my office and met Ca halfway, who wasing up."What was themotion?" I asked as we walked down the stairs. "It was Mr. Angestel; the guard doubted his identity given his.. condition," she said hesitatingly, to that I arched my brow in question, but she did not answer, and I did not ask; the guild had assured me all three people who came from the interview could do their job. Soon, we reached the dressing hall and went inside and found, aside from twelve girls, there were three unfamiliar people sitting, who sat up as I walked in. One was a middle-aged woman petite, the second one was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties with impable make up, and the third one was a man about simr age as the second woman; he was handsome enough to make even a woman jealous. Though no one would feel jealous of him after taking a look at his condition, no wonder the guards have stopped him, but I only nce at them. The peculiarities did not matter; what mattered is he capable of doing the job. "Please sit down, all of you," I said before turning to three people who hade for an interview, "Misses Cooper, Misses Rand, and Mister Angestel, thank you all foring to my humble establishment," "We will begin the interview immediately if the three of you do not have any objection?" I asked. "It is no problem," the middle-aged miss cooper replied, and the other two nodded in affirmation. "Good," I said and turned to thedies. "Here are twelvedies; each of you will have three of them to work on. You can use everything present in the room, from makeup boxes to clothes; the only thing you have to do is make them as beautiful as possible," "Is there a time limit?" asked Misses Rand, "No, not for the interview, but if any of you were hired, you all have to work on thirty-five girls repeatedly throughout the night," I answered. I have informed theplete details of the job on offer, and only three decided toe for the interview. It will be a demanding job that would need several people back on earth, but here in this world, one person could do it with sses, levels, and skills. The twelve girls moved to the different stands at mymand in three groups. The interviewees did not have the liberty to choose which girls they would work on; I had done that for them. In each group, there are four girls of four age groups, the girls in their teens, the girls in their twenties, the girls in their thirties, and the girls in their forties. All three of them walked toward the girls, choosing the group they liked before observing them carefully from all the angels. "Sit," said Misses Rand to Gloria, the raven-haired teenager; she said in front of the lighted mirror and started with her; a few secondster, it was Misses Cooper who chose Danielle, the tall woman in her mid-twenties, at the same time mister Angestel chose Margaux, who is one of oldest in here. All three begin, and all three have started with hair, and they obviously have great skills given their seamless and smooth movements. Most of the people here are looking at Angestel, including me; the reason is hands orck of them. He does not have hands; it is not a natural condition; someone had cut his hands from his wrist, but despite that, he is performing his job without any problem. Skills. He had a skill that let him pick any tool without touching them and could manipte it any way he wanted. A telekinesis type skill; they are extremly rare. From what I could see, his one hand is limited to one tool at a time, and the range his hands could control is about ten inches, which is more than enough for his job. The one thing that made me amazed was the way he used different oils and creams; he would spread them like a sheet in the air before applying them on the hair and face. All three of them are using their skills, and they are amazing; they could be magicians, using their skills for multiple effects, from straightening to curling the hair to giving gloss; it is wonderful to watch. In just a minute, the hair of girls haspletely changed. Some straight hair coiled while those coiled straightened and took other styles; they had such a gloss and shimmer that no product on earth could match it. It took misses cooper three minutes and twelve seconds to do the hair; she hadpletely transformed the hair and moved to the makeup. Half a minuteter, Angestel also finished with the hair and moved to face, starting first with the primer like misses cooper. It took about a minute before misses rand started on the makeup; by that time, both misses cooper and angesten had finished applying primer and foundation and nearly fished with concealer. With everyyer of makeup, a great change urs in thedies; they are bing more and more beautiful with eachyer. In the eighth minute, all three finished with thedies, bringing such a huge change that even the girls themselves were shocked seeing their own faces in the mirror. It was not just the threedies, but those who were watching were also shocked, including Ca. Makeup does not make one beautiful; it just enhances the beauty one already has, and these people are masters in doing that. As the makeup was done, they moved to the other people without changing their dresses, which I guess woulde after they finished with the makeup of all. Thirty-one minutes after it began, Misses Cooper finished with the makeup of all fourdies; all of them looked strikingly beautiful. "All of you, stand up," she said to the fourdies; they got up from their seats and stood up in the line. She looked at them before walking toward the dress racks, where eighty-six dresses were neatly hanging on the racks. She was around for a minute, checking dresses before picking out four. "Strip," she said as she turned to thedies; the girls were already expecting it because they began to strip without hesitation; their movements were not affected by the presence of two men in the room. As they stripped, I could see them looking at me from the corner of their eyes, but I kept my expressions neutral, which is an extremly hard thing to do, and if it were not for the poker face I have developed through the years of practice; I don''t think, I would have able to resist their charms, especially now when the makeup had enhanced it so much. I am very grateful for it that they have not activated their skills to entice me; it is already hard to resist them, especially Margaux and Ina, who have passive skills rted to charm. I am fighting with all my willpower to maintain my neutral expressions and keep the beast in my pants from rising. At this moment, I couldnt help but remember my father; if he had been here, he would have already chosen the girls he liked and taken them to the next room to fuck. He was not a man who could control his lust. "Wear these," said Misses cooper as she handed each of them the dresses, while at the same time, Angestel finished with the makeup and began to select the dresses. Girls from Misses Copper''s group finished wearing dresses, and she again used her skills; skills gave the dresses a glowing sheen and adjusted to the ces they needed. "I am finished, Master Silver," she said, "You have done a wonderful job, Misses Cooper," she nodded with pride and sat back in her seat while I turned to look at thedies, who were looking at the mirror in shock; it could be said that makeup and dresses havepletely transformed. They had changed so much that if the girls showed their looks before they transformed, they would not dare to believe it. Two minutester, Angestel finished, and four minutes after that misses, Rand; I looked at all twelvedies, and it was already clear who among the three had done the better job. "Misses Cooper, Misses Rand; thank you foring; I will inform you of my decision by tomorrow," I said to two women before walking out of the room. They did not say anything because there was nothing to say; the result was clear. The skills of Angestel are above them, so much so that these new dresses begin to botch the shine the four girls are emitting. If they had been wearing better dresses, they would have looked even better. It is not like the dresses are bad; they are beautiful and expensive, my father had paid quite a lot of money for them, but it seemed like they were not enough, even with the enhancement brought up by the Angestel, which would be another unounted expensive which kept piling up. "Mister Angestel, let''s talk to my office," I said and walked toward the office when I suddenly stopped. "Ca, ask the guards toe toe inside," I did not need to borate reason for it; the girls have be more alluring, and there are a lot of people working on the estate, including their own teachers. While none of them had done something other than having a normal attraction, I still did not want to take any risk. "Ok," said Ca understanding my intention. "Take a seat," I asked him as we entered my office, "Thank you," he said in a heavily ented voice. His resume said he is from the Saakr continent. If I am right by the thickness of his ent, he should be from the northern Saakr, either from Shard Kingdoms or the Saemet Empire. His name is Eudo Angestel, and he is thirty-four years old, but he does not look a day older than thirty and is very handsome; the correct word would be beautiful. "In your resume, you did not specify the sry you want. If I want to hire you, I want to know it first," I asked as I put down his resume. "Can I know the duration of the contract first?" he asked. "Of course," I replied with a smile. "It is initially three months, but if the business does well, it will be extended further," I answered. To that, he nodded. "Then, I will need ten fifteen thousand crowns per month." He said, and I got so shocked that I had barely been able to keep the expression on my face from breaking up; his demand could only be said to be absurd, outrageous. He had not shown the skills that demand such a price. The price I am offering is already premium, and now he is demanding more. "You should know that you are asking nearly three times the price I am willing to pay," I said to him, but soon a small smile appeared on my face, ¡°But I am not abhorred to paying the absurd sry; I just hope you have the skill to take that sry and not just overestimating your worth,¡± I added. I could see the faint surprise on his face before it disappeared. He might have expected an outrage or mock, but he got a smile instead. My father would have thrown him out the moment he spoke about the absurd money he wants, but I am entertaining him. There is confidence on his face which is telling me to give him a chance. If he does not have the skills for the sry he is demanding, there is always an option to throw him out. "I am not inting my worth, Master Silver; I am only asking for what I deserve with the skills I have," he replied, with that unflinching confidence. The employment guild has provided me with his info; he has been in the Empire for more than a year, moving cities where his job takes him. Until now, he has never been epted into any long-term employment due to his demands, and the only jobs he has done are short-term. He hade to Greltheaven with his employers, who had fired him two days ago. I don''t think he would have evene for the interview if not for me offering a generous payment for justing for the interview. "Let me see your skills then,¡± I said, and I got up; a minuteter, we were in the dressing hall where eudo angestel began to show me his real skills. Click! ''Level 30, he is definitely a level 30 or above,'' I said in my mind as I came back into my office; this time, Ca was with us, and she was still not able to get her emotions in control after what had happened in the past half an hour in the dressing hall. I sat silently in my seat and took out the contracts before making some changes to them with the quill. I have crafted them in a way that I could make the required changes to them. "I am willing to pay you the sry you have asked for, but you have to sign this contract, and there will be no change in it," I said with a smile and forwarded the two copies of the contract to him. The sry he is asking for is far more than I am willing to pay, but seeing his work, I decided to hire him. He is gold, with a level 30. So, even if the high sry squeezes me dry, I am willing because I know how important he will be to the business. Gasp! He lifted the paper and began to read the contract; Ca also took a peak at one on the table and couldn''t help but gasp before closing her mouth forcefully, but the shock was very much present in her eyes. As he read it, I saw no change in his expression. In my short observation, I have found that this man is very good at guarding his emotion; it is very hard to read his expressions. "Can we negotiate the condition in point three and section b of the seventh point?" he asked, "As I have said, there will be no change; either you sign it or not," I said, keeping a smile on my face. I have epted the demand for his outrageous sry, which he very much deserves, and now he will have to ept my conditions, which are not harsh and could be even said to be softerpared to the standard contract of this type. "I will sign it," he said after a minute of silence and picked up the quill, just like he picked up the tools with telekic force and signed on both of the contracts before sliding them toward me. I looked at his sign which was clear with beautiful handwriting; I also read the contract, word by word. There are many skills out there that could make changes without me noticing, and my contract skill is not powerful enough to notice those changes. So, I have to be very careful with every contract I sign. After seeing everything was perfect, I signed the contract and felt my contract skill locking up, binding us both to this contract. "Wee aboard, Mister Angestel." I said, "It will be my pleasure to serve this fine establishment, Master Silver," he replied. [Lawyer Lv. 2] Do Rate and write a Review if you could. Chapter 09 Shopping Chapter 09 Shopping "My apologies, Master Silver, but we will not be able to serve your fine establishment," said the bald, middle-aged man with a fake apologetic voice. I could even sense a faint hint of mockery flickering in his eyes. "It is fine," I said with a smile and walked out boutique with Ca and Eudo following behind me. "It was the sixth andst high-end boutique on river street that refused to sell us," said Ca with a sigh of regret. River Street offers the best boutiques in the city, each belonging to a powerful merchant house, and that is why they are so direct in rejecting our business. We were out shopping, while the dresses my father had brought were good, but Eudo had changed things. The dresses looked palepared to his skills, and while he could enhance the effect of dresses by skills; I want to buy the better dresses "Now we either will have to go into the boutiques of orville market or go the Deerpond if the boutiques of the city had refused to sell us,¡± ¡°I am sure the boutiques there wouldn''t have any problem taking the business from a brothel," said Ca. Deerpond is the closest city and the capital of the Renwell region; we should not have any problem getting things from there, but it will waste time and cost more. "Master silver, if you are willing to listen, I know a ce that has good designs," said Eudo with hesitation. "You don''t sound confident, Mister Angestel?" I asked, sensing the hesitation, "It is not boutique; it is not even at Orville market," he said. "It does not matter where it is; as long as it has goods we need, I will even buy from the dump," I said, waving his concerns away. "It has good dresses, no worse than the boutiques we have visited," he said, and this time, he sounded quite confident, which couldn''t help but bring a smile to my face. I have seen his skills, and they are great, and since he is telling me there is a shop that has dresses to match his skill, then, as I had said, I will buy them even from the dump. Fifteen minutester, the carriage rolled into the hawthorn market; it is one of three markets in the city and developed to be the biggest one. It already got the unofficial name, themoners market. The whole market is bustling; huge beasts of different kinds are pulling the big carts loaded with goods of all kinds. The city will be officially inaugurated in little more two weeks, so people have an urgency to set up a shop to profit from the tide of people that ising here. The prince had bet a fortune on this city; he had built it from scratch instead of taking one of the old cities like his siblings did when the Empire captured the region. It is a great gambit, but if it seeds, it will bring him a huge fortune. All of it will depend upon the sess of ambassadors sent by the Emperor to the merchant cities; it would be great if the trade war stopped, or at least both sides took some concrete steps to end it. If that happens, Greltheaven will be the first to benefit from it. A few minutester, the carriage stopped in front of a small two-story building; it was obvious the first floor was a shop while the second floor was to live. The shop had wooden doors and ss windows, but one could not see through them as blinds were in the ce. The ce is new, like all the buildings here, but there are boxes lying around outside with a boy of fifteen-sixteen keeping eyes on goods. "Is this the ce?" I asked, "Yes," Angestel replied before opening the carrying door and walking out inside; Ca and I entered behind him. Roger, like a good bodyguard, appeared in front and opened the door of the shop before entering inside. We followed behind a secondter, and the scene I saw couldn''t help but surprise me; no wonder the windows had blinds on. The ce is a mess; boxes of clothes are lying around, and the racks are ced confusingly; one would even be hard-pressed to walk around this ce. "Customers wel," We were looking around the shop when a red-haired woman came out from the back but stopped midway in her greeting when she looked at us. "Eudo!" she said in surprise, "Weren''t you going to leave Greltheaven yesterday?" she asked before her gaze shifted toward us, and immediately, her dustden clothes became clean, and all the wrinkles on them straightened up. The scene once again amazed me; the skills are really magical. The woman was medium height with strawberry red hair and looked to be in her early thirties. She has a pretty face in the girl next door way that anybody would find pleasant. "I was, but I had epted a job at Master Silver," he replied, and the woman''s eyes became immediately serious. "Mr. Silver, wee to my shop, and my apologies for the mess," she said. "No worries, Miss Cain," I replied with a smile. "Elese, I have brought Master silver to your shop to see those designs," said Angestel, "Eudo, are you talking abo" "Yes, the designs you have shown in Mirstone," he said, cutting her off. She looked a little hesitant but nodded when she looked at me. "Please follow me," she said and led us through the boxes, and to my surprise, not the whole shop was as messy as I had thought it be. I could see the clothes and other things neatly hanging on the racks; she seemed to be arranging the shop from behind. She is not alone in the shop; there is a young girl who is about the same age as the boy sitting outside. All three of them share simrities, but I don''t think they are her children unless she had them when she was the same age as this teen. They are likely her siblings or niece and nephew. "Please," she said and invited us into what was supposed to be the viewing room, which was thankfullypletely set up. Roger stayed outside while we went inside the viewing room and sat on the cream-colored cushion chairs while she pulled out a metallic rack with three dresses hanging. "My apologies, Mr. Silver; I do not have a model to show you the dresses," said Elese apologetically, "It is fine; Ca will model," I said, which surprised her, but she nodded as Ca got up. "I hope you will have something of my size, Miss Eles," said Ca, " That wouldn¡¯t be a problem, Miss Ca," she said and took out a violet-colored backless A-line gown with a masterfully done work. Seeing the state of the store, I had unconsciously formed a slight prejudice against it, but one look at the dress and all of it had vanished. Ca took the dress from Eles and walked into the partition made for changing, and came out a minuteter looking like a goddess. The gown wonderfully hugged every part of her body, and that enticingly open back would force one to imagine naughty things; the neck of the dress is a little deep, giving a faint tantalizing glimpse of her cleavage. "You looked beautiful in the gown, Ca," I praised and turned to the owner, "Miss Cain, can you show more of your designs?" I asked; she nodded, and for the next fifteen minutes, Ca tried seven different dresses of a different kind; all of them looked amazing on her. "You have very good designs, Miss Cain," I said, and it was not empty praise; they are good enough to match the designs of the high-ss boutique we have visited. "Thank you, Mr. Silver," she replied with a professional smile. "How many dresses do you have?" I asked, which caught her by surprise, and she looked at Angestel for a moment before turning back to me. "Forty-one in total," she answered; it quite surprised me, as I had not thought she would have these many, but I am happy, as these dresses would be enough. With Eudo¡¯s, these dresses would be worn by most of thedies; he had the skill to adjust the dress sizes. He could do it "Good, bring them all out; I will buy them all if they are good as the seven designs you have shown us," I said, and her professional smile slipped for a moment as surprise appeared on her face, but she quickly gained back her control over her emotions. "Ok,¡± she replied and was about to walk out when I stopped her for an important question. "You don''t have any problem selling to a brothel, are you?" I asked, and the surprise that appeared on her face was really something to watch. "The business is business; it did not matter from where it came," she said and walked out the door. To the boutiques, it is important to know what kind of customers they serve; serving the wrong person could give their business a wrong rep, and it affects the business. It is the reason why those bastards refused to sell us. Elese returned with two teens I saw earlier, each of them holding boxes in their hands. It took them three turns to bring out all the boxes before she started to show her designs, and all of them were amazing; some of them were even better than what Ca had tested. "How much are you asking for each dress, miss Cain?" I asked; she did not answer immediately. "Each dress is between fifteen hundred to three thousand crowns," she said after a few seconds of silence. The prices were high, the same as the boutiques we have visited; Eudo told me that this woman had worked for fifteen years in one best boutiques in Mirstone before she left to start her own store. The dresses are expensive; a single person livesfortably for a year at the price of one dress. The dresses which my father brought were double the number but would not even cost a quarter of these dresses. "It is nice doing business with you, Miss Cain," I said and shook her hand before walking out of the store with others. After a few minutes of negotiation, we agreed on the price of two thousand crowns per dress, a total of eighty-four thousand crowns, a very high amount. With this spent, I have less than twenty thousand crowns on me. We got out of the store and walked inside the carriage, which took us back toward the establishment. "If Leonard Sands arrive before five, ask him to wait. Though, I should be able to return before that," I said to Ca as the carriage stopped in front of the mansion. "I will make him wait till you arrive," she said and walked out of the carriage behind Eudo, "James, to the Repose and Bulwarks office," I said to the carriage driver, and secondter, the carriage began to roll again. While the carriage ran, I reviewed some of the documents, mainly of the expenses, which ballooned with new requirements, but there was nothing I could do about it; cutting a single expense would create a domino effect, and I couldn''t allow that. "We have arrived, mister silver," said James as he stopped the carriage, "Thank you, James," I said and walked out of the carriage. In front of me is a five-story building with a big board reading Repose and Bulwark bank. It is a huge bank, one of the biggest on the continent. I walked inside the huge luxurious lobby and stepped into the elevator for the third floor. The elevators of this world are different than earth; they are magical in nature rather than mechanical and are expensive to install; it being here shows how wealthy the bank is. The ck disk I was standing on stopped on the third floor, and the energy screen covering it disappeared, and I walked out of the magical elevator toward the long desk behind which a woman in a ck dress was sitting. The secretary turned toward me as I appeared in front of her; she was a beautiful woman with blue eyes and dark brown hair cut into a clean bob, which suited her well. "Mister Silver, vice branch manager Shaw, will see you in ten minutes," she informed without me saying anything; I nodded and sat down in the waiting room, which is quite luxurious. There were a few people sitting in the room, but none I knew, so I picked up the newspaper. Most of the news is rted to the huge war that is going on the strategic Mayhurst ind, where the Lich is waging the war. All the kingdoms on the ind are involved in the war, and they are even receiving aid from others, but despite that, the Lich seems unstoppable. There is also news that the Emperor might send the imperial armada against Lich''s navy, but not many think that would happen. He might have done that a decade ago, but not now; with his health, he will need all the empire forces in the Empire. The newspaper did not have only bad news; there is one good news. The ambassadors that the Emperor had sent to the free cities were making progress, especially with the city-state of Meldhorn, against which the Renwell region shared the boundary. I truly hope they seed in their negotiations; the city''s future depends on it. I was busy reading the newspaper when the secretary appeared in front of me. "Mister Silver, the vice branch manager Shaw, will see you now," she said and led me toward the office with thick wooden doors with beautiful engraving done on it; it is clearly an elvish work. She opened the door and led me inside, where a middle-aged man was sitting; he had broad shoulders and big hands that would make anyone mistake him for a warrior. He is sitting behind a huge desk and a big office with a great view of the financial district. "Mister Silver, it¡¯s good to see you again," he said business smile, "I hope everything went well with my application, Mister Shaw?" I asked as I sat in the seat in front of him. "You are a Silver; the waiting period was just a formality," he said with a loudugh that seemed pleasant to ears. I could feel one passive skill of his that makes everything he does natural and pleasant; it is a skill to make people drop their guard around them. "Please check the loan form and see if everything is right," he said and forwarded me the form. I took the form in my hand and began to read each word and line carefully. Many people, even in this world, barely read what they sign or do not read carefully enough, which is a grave mistake. They should read it; it had a hundred ways to screw you over if things went wrong. Within a few minutes, I finished reading up the contract, and it was good, a few ways they could screw with me, and I could deal with them if they tried to do that, but they won''t. I am only borrowing half a million crowns from them, which is not a big amount for their bank. The interest they are charging is more than what banks do on earth, and the period is also lower, 20% for one year, which is not surprising considering this is a vtile world, where the client could die at any time and countries are always at war. "Thank you, Mister Shaw," I said as I shook his big hands, which are as soft as women. "It is my pleasure, Mister Silver; I hope you will always choose our organization for your business," He said. "Of course," I said replied before walking out of his office. Do Rate and write a Review. Chapter 10: The Inauguration Chapter 10: The Inauguration "Ok, once more!" I said loudly as I pped my hands, the girls changed their ces, and the actors I had hired walked out the doors beforeing inside one by one, with an interval of seconds to minutes. "I am speechless. I did not think the practice would bring such a change," said Ca in awe; we had been doing this for five days. She was quite opposed to it, saying it would be a waste of money, but now she is impressed. I couldn''t help but feel grateful for the mage Valentina and her guild; she had finished the work five days before the agreed time, which gave me enough time to make the girls practice in my way of business. All of whom, including Ca, got quite offended when I suggested it, but as they practiced, they understood the reason behind it. What they are doing now is different from what they have done before; this practice, the teachers, the clothes, and everything else for a reason. My establishment will not sell just sex; it will sell desires, and the sex will be just part of it. "Has my suit arrived?" I asked as Ca appeared beside me, "Yes, a few minutes ago," she replied. Today is the day of the inauguration, which will be held in the evening, and many important people in the Empire and even people from other kingdoms have arrived. For more than a week, every inn, hotel, and house in the city had been filled with guests, and the businesses, like the brothels, were booming. Seeing how much mypetitors were earning, my heart bled, as I would have too earned a lot if I had opened the establishment a month ago. While I feel the pain of losing such a massive business, I am not sad. I am perfectly aware that if my business worked as I expected, I would earn what everything I could have in a month within a matter of days. I sat on the chair and watched the girls practice, and unlike the first three days, I did not have to correct the girls. It is not surprising, with their experience and the help from teachers, they have all the necessary skills; the only thing I did was teach them a different way to use them. I am d I have listened to Eudo''s suggestion; initially, I was nning on hiring different actors, low-level ones in higher numbers, but Eudo suggested that I should hire the high-level ones. Thepany of actors I had hired had an actor as their base ss and each of them being level 15, with seven actors being above level 20. They have done a wonderful job, far better than I had thought they would. Three hours passed, and I finally got up from my seat with a smile on my face; "Everyone, stop," I said, and all of them stopped and turned to me. "The practice is over," I dered, bringing a smile to the actors and girls'' faces. "Mr. Keys, yourpany had done a really good job; if I had any job in the future and money in my pocket, I would definitely hire you and your people again," I said to the impably dressed man in his early fifties. "Thank you, Mister Silver." He said with a faint bow. "It is one of the best jobs I have ever received; the girls have been wonderfulpany," He added and made a slight bow toward the girls, who returned it with grace. A few minutester, he and his people left, leaving me alone with the girls. "All of you have done a wonderful job; even with a strict schedule, you have learned everything I have asked you and more," I said to the girls. "Thank you, Master Silver," They replied in unison. "The gates of the establishment will open today in the evening, so rest, as you all won''t be getting any till the morning," I said, and all their faces cracked in a smile. I nodded at them and walked toward my office when I suddenly stopped at the stairs and turned to the girls. "Sex is your choice; if you do not feel like it, you can refuse it," I said and walked toward the office, leaving them shell-shocked. What I have said to be self-suicide of this business, but that thing had been eating me for days, and I finally said it. I havee from a ce where one had a right to choose, and I wanted to give them that, or my conscience would not let me sleep in peace. Soon, I reached the office, but I did not work; my nerves were too antsy to let me do anything, so I read. I have made a big list of books I have to read this year and was quite ahead of schedule till thest month, but now, I have fallen behind. This month I had barely had any time to read the books. Two hours passed, and I was standing in front of the mirror, adjusting the suit for onest time before walking out of my room. "Remove the covers at five and open the gates at six," I said to Ca, even now I have kept every change hidden, from trees to fountain to even the whole mansion covered in clothes; I did not want anybody to get a glimpse of it, before the opening day. "Yes," Ca replied. I looked at cloth covered mansion with expectations; I had worked really hard and taken a huge risk for it, and I hoped it would seed before is not an option. To be honest, I really did not want to go to the inauguration and miss the opening of business, but this inauguration is extremely important, not only to make the connections but also because not going there would have consequences. It will seem like a disrespect to the prince, especially after I have got the invitation, and I want to avoid that in any way possible. "I hope everything goes well," I said with a sigh, "It will," Ca replied with the confidence that I was not feeling in my heart. ¡°Good luck,¡± I said to her and walked inside the carriage with George closing the door behind me. A minuteter, the carriage was out of the manors gates toward the grand za, where the fourth prince of the Empire, Magnus Grelt Alnwick Mediaen of House Solndam, would inaugurate the city he had built. Throughout the month, especially the past week, many important people came; their numbers were so huge that all the hotels, inns, and guesthouses had been filled. Even I had to give my house to someone I used to know in the Redfawn city Aside from my elder brother, House of Silver had also sent someone officially; it of one of my uncles and the one with whom my father did not have a good rtionship. Thankfully, I would not need to meet him; he had not replied to me, even after I had sent him a letter as a courtesy. Hun! I was reading a book; it was a very faint feeling, but I knew it was real and came from my base skill. It was not the feeling I had ever sensed before, but have been described by my father many times. The ambassadors of the Emperor had seeded, notpletely, but they achieved sess. Through my mercantile ss, I could feel the restrictive effect of the trade war against merchant cities loosened up. Now there would be trade, and I hope it is the city-state of Meldhorn or Belnin, the chances of them being much higher than others. The Greltheaven city and the whole Renwell province will benefit tremendously if it is Melhorn or Belnin with all the trade from them that will flow through the Trollmouth river. I shook my head and stopped thinking about it further; things will be clear soon, till then I have to be calm. It took me more than an hour to reach the central za, four times more than what I would need to reach this ce. The security was tight, and on top of that, the traffic; all the skills in the world could not prevent it. I got off the carriage and saw the central za packed with people. The whole city seemed to have gathered in the square; there was barely any ce to ce a foot. Thankfully, I had an invitation, which gave me a clear path guarded by the fourth prince''s personal guards. "Invitation," said the knight at the final checkpoint; there are twelve knights at the final checkpoint, all of them wearing thick-red metallic armor and a sigil of burning rose imprinted on their chest, and beside it is a badge with the fourth prince''s sigil. These knights belong to the order of burning rose, a powerful knight order that is allied with the fourth prince. Each of these knights is powerful; even the weakest of them could hack me into two without me knowing how. "You can enter," he said as he handed my invitation back. I nodded in thanks before I took back the invitation and walked inside. The ce is big, and while the general public has no choice but to stand openly in a crowded space, a special arrangement is made for the important guests and invitees. A huge stage is made in the square, and in front of it, seating arrangement for more than two thousand people. The seats on the first row like looked like thrones; I had heard that the four dukes wereing, along with various other nobles and important people, even Marquess Emerald, themander of the Renwell region, the person who is only loyal to the Emperor, had alsoe. Aside from the first five rows, nearly all the seats at the back had been filled with people, so when I went in, I attracted quite a lot of gazes. I had thought I had left early, but it seemed like people hade earlier, and now, I am feeling awkward with all these gazes on me. My ce was quite far behind; I had to cross more than half of the rows before I found my row and went inside. Soon, I was at my seat, which was beside a fat old man and a couple in their mid-thirties; the woman had an average face but dressed extravagantly, like most women sitting here, and on herp was a cub of a green-eyed panther with enchanted gemmed cor. It became alert as it saw me, but the next second closed its eyesnguidly as the woman gently patted its head. "Sirs, madam," I said politely beside sitting on my seat. "I did not think I would have the pleasure to sit beside a Silver," said the old beside me; he is slightly fat but had a pleasure, which looked even pleasant when he smiled. "My apologies, but you are?" I asked the old man, "This old man is Javier Santos; you probably, have not heard of me," He said, waving his sand. "How could I not, Mr. Santos? The carriage I used to own in Redfawn was made your house," I said. The merchant house this old man is from specializes in making carriages; they are quite expensive, especially the enchanted ones, which I will definitely buy when I have enough money. "Your house is a big customer of ours; just a few months ago, wepleted the big order of enchanted carriages for your grandfather," he said. To that, I smiled. We made small talk, and not only an old man but also a couple beside me who were from a small noble house in the kalzan province. Soon, the important people kept pouring in, from representatives of knight orders and merchant houses to important nobles, each person with great power and wealth. Finally, when there was half an hour to six when the first duke appeared, Markus Vinwayne, the Duke of Dawhall. He is the small man that has one of those smiling faces, but as he appeared, his aura of authority spread across the za, silencing all those who were speaking. The aura of authority is one of the enviable things of the ruling ss; the aura is not special to the ruling sses, but it is very hard for other sses to have it, and even among the ruling ss, the aura of authority is rare. The higher level one''s ss is, the better chances they have of getting it. ss or no ss, he is Duke and is in control of the vast power whose support the fourth prince will need in his fight for the throne. Till now, he had not revealed his decision to any prince; hising here for inauguration could only be seen with a grain of salt. As this could be a courtesy or a feint or him choosing a side, nothing could be said to be certain. He stopped his aura when he was weed by count Darrow and sat a few minutester; it was the Duke of ckwell, and after him was the Duke of Henar. Thest among the Dukes was the Duke of Valeshire, the fourth prince''s maternal uncle and older brother of Count Darrow, who is the only duke who has already taken his side, which is not surprising, seeing the fourth prince is his nephew. Thest one to make the entrance was the Marquess Gats, themander of the Dustorn fortress; he is effectively the most powerful man in the Rimwell province, more than the Governor of Deerpond, the capital of the province. He controls the imperial army stationed at Dustorn fortress guarding the border against Tabes, from which the Empire had taken this region from. He is a man who looks to be in his early fifties; he is neither tall, short, handsome, nor ugly. He looked like any other ordinary man on the street with an easily forgettable face. He also has his aura of authority active, and it is no less weak than the dukes, which is not surprising; while the Duke is considered higher level title and ss, it is not that simple when ites to sses, not to mention, power of aura depend on many things such as level, stats and even will. He turned off his authority as he sat down while I focused pocket-watch of mine, which had an hour marked on six. I had asked Ca to remove all the clothes covering the establishment; She must have started doing that now, and in an hour, she will open the door. I wish I had been there, I have worked very hard on it for the past month and would have liked to see how it went from the first minutes, but I can''t. I will have to remain here till this damn function is over. Ruu Ruu Ruu I was busy in my thoughts when I heard a sharp bird call and saw dots in the sky, which rapidly started growing bigger and bigger, till I seee them as birds. Five ming red huge birds pulled on the golden-violet carriage in the sky; the birds looked dangerous, and the carriage was magnificent. The carriage is called Visma''s Gale, one of the imperial artifacts given to the prince after his first victory in the battle. This artifact had been in the House of Solndaem for over a thousand years. Thud! The carriage circled elegantly in the sky beforeing down andnding on the ground with smooth motion, barely making any sound. A few secondster, the door opened, and the man in histe thirties walked out of the carriage; the moment he did, all the people got up in unison and bowed. Even the powerful dukes bowed their heads as he appeared. The herald called out his name, along with the different titles he had been bestowed from the Emperor; aside from the first prince, he had the most titles, and they showed his power. "At ease," he said, and we sat down. It is my first time seeing the fourth prince; I have only seen only one prince before, the first prince. He hade to Redfawn two years ago, and my father had taken me to the banquet that had been thrown in his honor. Fourth prince Grelt as he likes to be called is a handsome man in histe thirties with fiery blue-red hair that only members of the imperial family have. "I, Magnus Grelt Alnwick Mediaen of Imperiance House Solndaem, wee you all to this wonderful city of Greltheaven," He said in his smooth, cultured voice. He did not speak loudly or use any artifact, but everyone heard him clearly, like he was speaking in front of them, which was, of course, due to his skills. "I have built this city to make our Empire even more prosperous; its close proximity to merchant cities will bring immense trade and wealth, and the lion''s share would belong to this great city of Greltheaven and its citizens," he said, and crowds cheered loudly. I have to say, he is a great orator and has amazing skills that seemed to imprint every word of his into people''s minds and sway their hearts. It took quite a lot of effort to understand the things he expertly omitted in his speech, while everything he said was the truth, but not aplete truth. He is right about prosperity, but he smoothly omitted the danger of Navr, whose undead armies couldy waste to the city. Not to mention Tabes, against which we are constantly fighting; thankfully, the Emperor had ced a huge force here in the Dustorn Fortress under Marquess Gats, who was instrumental in winning this region for the Empire three years ago. The prince''s speech continued for more than half an hour before it ended; it was then Marquess Gats'' turn, who read out the Emperor''s words and give a little speech of his own before the Dukes took a turn after another. Some took a long time, while others finished early. The sun hadpletely gone down, and now there was only moonlight from the three moons lighting the sky, while the ground was lighted up by the lights as the words of powerful people rang out. It was halfway into the duke of Valeshire''s speech when I looked down at my watch. It is already seven five; Ca would have opened the door by now. I wonder whether any clients havee; there are still a lot of many people city, friends and family of these people who are not attending the inauguration. My heart is beating wildly in anticipation and nervousness about how the establishment would do. On many nights, I thought the changes I made would be too different and that people would reject them; I even had nightmares about the failures. I shook my head of those thoughts and focused back on speeches; I have done everything, and now everything is beyond my control, and I should not think about it too much. The Duke of Valeshire had finished his speed before his brother took over. Count Darrow will be the Lord of Greltheaven; I heard he is quite unhappy about it, given he is a count and controls a much bigger territory than a single city, but Prince Grelt had able to convince his uncle somehow. This is great news for the city; while count Darrow might be greedy, he is a man with great experience in administration, and under his stable hands, the city will flourish. Cheer Cheer Cheer The crowd cheered as Lord Darrow finally finished his speech, whichsted longer than Prince Grelt¡¯s. Now, there are cultural programs, but I do not have to stay for them, nor will many important people. They will be attending the party that the prince is hosting. I was not invited to it; only important and powerful people were invited, like my uncle, who came as a representative of the House of Silver. I was hoping he would take me with him but seeing how he had not even answered my letter, there was no chance. He would likely take my brother, who would be bequeathed the title and the deed tomorrow. The people sitting begin to leave one after another; not all are leaving; some are staying to watch the performances. The city had spent a lot of money on it, having brought artists from not only the Empire but also from other countries, all humans, of course. I would have stayed, too, if not for this being the first day of the establishment. "It was nice to meet your Mister Santos," I said to an old man as I stood up and turned to the couple, "A pleasure, sir Jacques, madam Serina," I said and walked out. The people in charge of security kept everything in order, so there was not much of the crown when I walked out, and soon, I was in my carriage. "To the establishment, James, and a little faster," I said as I sat down in the carriage, "Yes, Mister Silver," he said, and the carriage began to roll through the streets. The traffic was still there with the people leaving, but it was much less than before, so we were able to reach the establishment within thirty-five minutes. "James, to the back entrance," I said after taking a look at the establishment; from what I saw, it is better I enter through the back. For advanced chapters, visit Patreon. Chapter 11: Open Chapter 11: Open Sin Lord 11 Open "Fuck, I am bored; I hate my father bringing me to this shit where there is no decent entertainment," cursed a blond man in his early twenties as the carriage rolled on the streets of Greltheaven. "Careful, Vans, it would be bad if these words fall on the wrong ears," cautioned Meryn sitting across him. Vans red at his friend irritatingly but did not say anything. "Vans is right; this city did not have anything. In these four days, we have gone to its two casinos, five whorehouses, and a river ferry, which was the only thing that somehow entertained me," said Rand with a sigh as he turned to his friends. They are from the Warsteel, the capital of the Empire. The city is tens of times bigger than this; it has every kind of entertainment and pleasure one would seek, even the forbidden type. "So, where should we go?" asked Rand, and there was silence among the five for a moment. "Let''s go to the whorehouse; I have heard the new one had opened today," Jarvis suggested, but nobody seemed much interested in his suggestion. "Come on, it will at least be better than driving the carriage around the city for hours," he said and finally got the response. They did that yesterday when they couldn''t decide where they wanted to go; like idiots, they made the round across the city for more than two hours. "Driver, take us to the new brothel," said Jarvis, and a minuteter, the carriage took the turn toward the entertainment district. "Sirs, we have arrived," the driver said twelve minutester, and the five people who were busy in discussions looked out, and surprise couldn''t help but be on their faces. "Interesting colors," said Meryn; Vans and others couldn''t help but nod at that. They saw the big iron gates and wide walkway, which is lighted by the silvery light of Elyren Moonflower trees. At the end of the walkway is a beautiful mermaid fountain; in front of it is an entrance to the manor, painted in a beautiful shade of pink and violet. "Driver, take us inside," said Javier, and immediately carriage walked inside, bathing in a silvery light of Elyren Moonflower trees, some of which went inside the carriage, giving it a soft silver glow against the magical silvery light that the carriage has. "The parking space is nearly full," Vans said, sounding a little surprised as he got out of the carriage; he had not expected to see such a crowd on the opening day of the new brothel. "Let''s go inside," said Rand, and they walked by the mermaid fountain toward the lightly glowing steps of the manor before they reached the door, where they could see the huge hall, and what they saw inside the hall couldn¡¯t help but surprise them. They had not expected to see this in the brothel. "Have wee to the right ce?" asked Lenin because what they saw did not seem like a whorehouse; the surprising scene had only stopped them for a few seconds before they stepped inside, feeling curious. "Wee to Velvet Garden, patrons," said a melodic voice as they entered inside; when they turned, they saw a beautiful woman with ming red hair wearing a shimmering ck backless gown. "Is this really a whorehouse?" asked Vans, and the luscious lips of the women curved a little in a smile hearing the question. "It is, and I hope you all enjoy your time here," she replied without taking any offense from his crassnguage. Vans nodded absentmindedly and turned, There he saw a big, beautifully decorated hall filled with tables on which men and women in expensive clothes were chatting andughing while a band yed soft music in the background. It does not feel like a whorehouse at all, but a restaurant that they would often visit, where everyone is dressed finely in expensive clothes and eating with immacte manners. The only difference is that there are no ugly women here. Every woman is beautiful, dressed in clothes that seem to be tailored specifically for them. There is not a slight ufortableness in them; they wore clothes like a second skin and looked enchanting in them. "It may not feel like a brothel, but it is," said Lenin, as he looked at men and women disappearing into the staircase and some returning from another. "My friends, as you can see, there are very few whores have remained, and I would like to have one before others take them," said Rand and walked toward a young woman in her early twenties, sitting by a long bar wearing a low neck red dress, with a ss of golden brown whisky in her hand. "You look ravishing if you don¡¯t mind me saying," said Rand as he appeared beside the beautiful young woman wearing a silvery dress. The young woman gracefully ced her drink on the counter and turned to Rand with a faint seductive smile on her face, ¡°I don¡¯t mind; I like the praises,¡± she replied. ¡°Then, you will definitely love what I am going to say next,¡± he said as he sat beside her. In the next few minutes, Rand had nearly forgotten he was talking to a whore, but felt like he was talking to a peer of simr standing. ¡­ I watched the hall through the one-way mirror in a small hidden room that I had asked mage Valentina to make, and the things I saw couldn''t help but put a smile on my face. I had already expected the big crowd when I saw the parked carriages from the road, but still, the crowd in the hall had surprised me and what was even more surprising was the girls. They are doing great, engaging with patrons, smiling, andughing at their words while slowly seducing them. The seduction is not for sex; they will have sex with patrons if they want it, but they do not need to. The system of a brothel is different; they will not need to have sex to get paid; the moment they start talking with the girls, their billing begins. It did not matter if they were with the girls for a minute or an hour; they would be charged by an hour, and I don''t think there would be much of aint because we are not selling just sex. It is already proven those people seek partners other than their primary rtionship are do it to satisfy their emotional needs rather than physical. Though, though they take physical pleasures, it is the emotionalfort that they seek the most. In this one month, through the various teachers and my methods, I have trained the girls in such a way that they would be able to fill that emotional void in their patrons, as well the physical ones. ¡®I should be charging more as I am doing therapy for these people,¡¯ I thought with a smile. They are also eating and drinking a lot, which is good news; all the wine and food are the best, with the head chef and head bartender being above level 20. I had to pay a premium to all, especially to those visible like band and serving staff; they didn''t want to work in a brothel with standard pay. I watched through the ss window for about an hour before I went back to the office, where I saw the gates being closed by the guards. We are full; it is a scenario I had dreamed of having but did not expect would ur in the first or the first week. There are already more than ten patrons who do not have any girls to talk to. So, it would be wise to close the door till some patrons leave. While it is a good strategy to keep slightly more patrons than the girls, we could not keep too many as it would cause client dissatisfaction, which I could not afford. I am willing to suffer the loss than let my patrons have a bad time in my establishment. I did not stay in my office for long; I quickly ate the dinner, which was already ced on my table, and went back down with a notebook in my hand. It is important I take notes, as it is what helps me decide what is working and what is not working. I am taking notes on everything, from the ces most patrons would prefer to the girls they choose and how quickly they would order the drinks and food. Most importantly, how long they engage in the conversation with the girls before they go to wrestle in the sheets. A few hours passed, and to my surprise, I noticed that 60% of patrons would spend at least an hour with the girls before they went to the rooms; 20% of them would make conversation for at least two hours before going to the rooms, while the 10% are just talking without going to rooms. Some of those who were just talking had directly left the establishment rather than taking the girls to their room, and there was not a shred of disappointment on their faces but a rxed smile. There were other things happening that I had not nned, and some of them caught me by surprise. All the tables have only two chairs, and even the stools by the bar are ced in a group of two. It is done intentionally so that each patron will have a private conversation, but as midnight rolled and more people began toe, I saw people asking for more chairs. Now, some tables have one woman with two or three patrons, and some tables even have two or three girls with a group of four or five patrons. I wanted to do this, but my research has suggested that it would not work, but it seems like it is working splendidly. Seeing that, I sent a note to Ca to let more people in. These girls are notmon whores; they have been very dressed impably and with wless makeup and have perfect manners, like the women of wealthy families. People will unconsciously rte to seeing those elements, and their behavior toward them will change. It is due to this unconscious change that these people share the girls among themselves, even taking turns having sex with them, which gives them a different type of psychological satisfaction. Outside, they could not bed any women of standing they wanted, but here they could bed anyone who looked like their wealthy friends, and that produced psychological satisfaction. These types of psychological tricks aremon on earth; established businesses on earth employ hundreds of them to sell their services and products. I looked for a few more minutes before getting from the window and taking the secret staircase; I did not walk back to my office or my room but instead into the changing room. "Continue," I said when they turned toward me. There were two girls wearing pink robes sitting in front of the mirror while six different kinds ofbs, brushes and other makeup instruments worked on them at a speed that was hard to follow. This is a real ability of Eudo; from what he told me, he could control six things at once with the telekinesis skill, which let him work on six people at once; it is a sight to behold. Every second there is a change appearing on the girls, their hair turning different from before, and new makeup recing old; it is not just for the makeup, but also the clothes they are wearing. Every time they change clients, they wille here for new makeup and a change of clothes, which might seem like a hassle and waste of resources and time, but it is not. From what I have observed in the past few hours, it is one of the best ideas I had. It instantly attracts the attention of the patrons because even if they don''tpletely remember all the details, they can tell something has changed about them, and that creates curiosity and, with it, the attraction which we need. "Girls bring the dress on the hanger number five and ck lingerie from the number seventeen stand," said Eudo, and three teenage girls quickly followed his orders. These three are also the girls who signed the contract, but since they are not eighteen, I am not going to use them, but I couldn''t just let them freeload. So, they work; three of them have be assistants to Eudo while the others are doing different jobs. The girls brought the clothes, and Lana got out of her chair and disrobed,pletely naked; Eudo looked at every part of her and moved the brushes where the pleasure marks were; even the love bites had disappeared as the brushes moved over them, and her body became wless. As he finished with it, he quickly took control of the clothes the girls brought; they floated and flowed on Lana''s body. She is used to it, as without Eudo saying anything, she raised her hands and feet in a practiced manner, and within seconds, the lingerie and the dress appeared on her, which he topped off with some jewelry before applying some skill which tightened the dress, among other things. At the end of the minute, she became radiant again, that I couldn''t help but feel attracted to her. "Thanks, Eudo," she said, "Master Silver," she said respectfully before walking out of the room. I stayed in the changing room for an hour, and by the time I walked out, I was beyond sure that I had made the right decision in hiring him. What I am paying him is much higher than what most makeup artists make, but given his level and skill, he is beyond worth it. I did stay there for a long and walked out after half an hour. I once again sat by the window and watched and was quite surprised when I saw even after midnight, the clients were not dwindling, usually, after midnight, the clients begin to lessen, but it is not happening. I could tell many skills being active in the hall, but these skills are not powerful enough, which is one of the reasons I have spent so much on enhancing the other aspects of the girls, from teaching them different things to getting the best dresses and makeup. Though I would have done that either way, they enhanced the features they already have, and they would have needed those skills for the kind of business I n on running. The level and skills are important, and I truly hope the girls level up after today; I need them to have high levels if I want to make the establishment a true High-ss brothel. While the establishment could be said to be a high-ss brothel, it is on the scale of a small city. The true high-ss brothel in the big cities is on apletely different scale, with most girls in them being above level 25 in their sses, which is a pretty high qualification. Most people achieve level 18 on average in their lifetime; it could be a little higher or a little lower. Getting to level 20 is considered a milestone, and those who achieve it are called exceptional. Ca said four girls are at level 19; she did not mention who nor I had asked as the level, and the sses are one deepest secret, which is considered rude and intrusive. Time passed as I watched every aspect of the establishment, taking notes on everything; with so much writing, I began to feel the pain in my fingers, but I ignored it and continued writing. Soon, it was dawn, and thest remaining patrons began to leave. Watching thest patron leaving, I also got up from the window. I did not go to the hall; the girls had worked hard the whole night and needed rest. So am I. Though I am excited to see the numbers tomorrow, I am sure they will be good with the huge number of patrons the establishment served through the night. Visit for advanced Chapters. Chapter 12: Shocking Profit Chapter 12: Shocking Profit Souteneur Merchant Lv. 3 Souteneur Merchant Lv. 4 Souteneur Merchant Lv. 5 Skill Gained: Shop Open This was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes, and immediately, my eyes went wide. The level-up wasn''t surprising; I had expected it. What is surprising is the two other level-ups that came after it and the skill. Getting three levels at the same time is very rare; one had to achieve quite a feat to gain three levels at once. I have not only gained the level but also an amazing skill that any merchant would be jealous of; it is fucking billboard skill. Shop Open Skill will make the business more noticeable; it will be like having a big sign which attracts everyone''s attention; how much attention it will attract depend on my level. Currently, it will be weak, but as I level up higher, its power will also increase, and the benefits it will be able to provide me will be immense.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 5) - Basic
Lawyer (Lv. 2)
Charisma: 8
Intelligence: 8
Vitality: 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open
Attribute Points: 3
I opened my attribute page and looked at three attribute points; I thought for a while before dumping two points into the charm and immediately felt its effects. The effect was more due to the charm reaching the ten points than me dumping the two points at once. Any attribute point, once it reaches ten increases, its power takes a dramatic increase, which is more than added attribute points would have added. Thest attribute point I added to the vitality finally and immediately felt a refreshing feeling washing over me, it had onlysted for a moment, but it had made me crave it more.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 5) - Basic
Lawyer (Lv. 2)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 8
Vitality: 6
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open
Attribute Points: 0
Seeing the interface, a smile couldn''t help but appear on my face, and for the first time since I had gotten the ss, I felt true hope. Things for me did not seem as bleak as they were a month ago; I could even feel some radiance. I looked at the attribute page for a few seconds before I closed it and got up; it was already eleven am, so I quickly freshened up and showered before eating breakfast which was on the hot tray. When I walked into my office, I found Ca was already there, as usual, looking through the file. "Haven''t you slept?" I asked as I sat down. "I took a nap for about two hours," She replied as she put the file on the table and slid it toward me. "That is not sleeping," I said, to which a small smile appeared on her face, "Thank you for your concern, Remus, but I have the skills that let me operate on the minimum rest," she said, and I am not surprised. It is said soldiers and whores are two people who have the most endurance-rted skills. "I wish I had such skills; it would have made my life much easier," I said with a sigh, to which she gave me a soft smile before suddenly a surprise appeared on her face as she looked at me. "Congrattions, Remus, it seemed like you have leveled up," she said, and a surprise couldn''t help but appear on my face before understanding shed in. "My passive skill," I said, and once again, she smiled. This made me note an important point, getting control over the passive skill. It is hard; they are called passive skills for a reason, but it could be done, and I will have to do it. Level and skills are the greatest weapons in this world, and the better control you have over them, the more benefits they will bring you. "I have also levelled up, and so are all the girls," she said suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts. "All?" I asked in shock, not daring to believe what she had just said. "Yes, all of them," she confirmed. I had expected the girls would level but did not expect all of them would level up. It is a very wee development that will help the establishment a lot. The clothes and makeup help, but they still pale inparison to the help that levels and skills provide. "With it, we now have fourdies with level 20 working in the establishment," I said after some time; hearing that, a small smile appeared on Ca''s face. "It is six," she corrected, giving me another shock. I only remained in shock for a second before a big smile appeared on my face. It seemed like I was not the only one who had leveled up more than once. "I hope they will listen to my suggestion on attribute point distribution," I said. "I had told them your words; whether they listen or not, it is up to them," she said, and I couldn''t help but nod at that. I did not say anything for a few seconds, just looked at the file in front of me before gently picking it up, but I did not open the file and instead turned to Ca. "So, what is the number?" I asked, and her amethyst eyes turned serious. "You might not believe it if I told you," she said softly. Seeing the clients yesterday, I know we have earned quite well and even had a number in my mind, and seeing her expression, I became even more confident about estimation. Taking a deep breath, I opened the file in my hand. At first, everything was as I expected, but after a few lines of numbers, my expressions began to change, and itpletely turned to shock on the second page. I read page after page, and each word was meticulous, and the numbers were clear; by the time I had put down the file around fifteen minutester, there was a clear shock in my eyes. I did not dare to believe what I had read; the number was nearly double what I had estimated. "Hundred and thirty-seven thousand crowns," I said softly as I put down the file after a few minutes, "I was shocked when I tallied the numbers and recalcted three times before daring to believe it," said Ca. "The number is truly hard to believe," I said softly, with my voice barely louder than a whisper. I watched the establishment the whole night and thought my estimate was around seventy thousand; that itself is quite a shocking number, but now looking at the number, which is nearly double, I am having quite a problem believing it, but the numbers don¡¯t lie. We have earned one hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred and thirty-seven crowns, seventy-six thousand of which had been earned by thedies themselves while the other six-one thousand were earned through the food and liquor. Ca hadn''t added the gifts and tokens thedies had received in addition; otherwise, the number would have reached even higher. We charge two hundred crowns per hour, the highest among all six high-ss brothels in the city; only one other brothel charges as much as us. It might seem high consideringmon people couldfortably live for a month for such an amount, but it is still quite lowpared to the real high-ss brothel of the big city; their prices start from the thousand crowns. Though, the women in them are also high leveled, every one of them being Level 25 and above. The city maintains strict standards as only high-ss brothels are allowed in the entertainment district, while the others set their shops in the pleasure district or the red-light district, but ites with a price; the taxes are higher than that of the red-light district. With taxes,dies taking 10%, sries of staff, and other expenses, I would still end up with around 50% profit, which is great as I had not expected; I would have more than 25% in profit. "The business is good, but maintaining such earnings beyond a few days would be hard; it would be a huge deal if we could get half numbers after a week," Ca said with a hint of disappointment. "Not likely," I replied with a light smile. I know why she is thinking that; we had so many patrons because of guests that hade to the city for the inauguration, but after the Prince left, the guest will also be left with him, and those are the clients that the establishment had served yesterday. "Are you talking about the clients of merchant cities?" she asked, and I smiled. "I don''t think they will give us much business, at least initially," she said with a shake of her head. "You are quite wrong about it," I said with a big smile; Ca is a very smart woman, wise, and knows a lot more than what women of her station should know, and it is the reason why my father had chosen her to run the brothel. Still, she was restricted with her knowledge; she did not know how hungry the Empire was for trade, to fill the coffers that had been draining due to the constant wars. Merchants around the Empire, even in Rimwell province, had big orders ready, knowing the resumption of trade, and now that one merchant city-state agreed, those orders will float in, and the biggest beneficiary of all would be Greltheaven. "You will see it soon," I said, seeing her not believing me; the first ships from the Meldhorn were going to arrive in thete afternoon, and I nned to go to the port and take Ca with me to watch them. "I really hope what you said is true," she said with hopeful eyes, "Don¡¯t worry, I am not wrong about this," I said, and I was pretty confident in my words. We did not speak for a minute before I focused back on the work. "Yesterday, our patrons drank a lot; we will need to replenish them and also order the wine from the second list," "Ask the chef the list of ingredients and let him choose the dishes he had, wanted," I said, writing down a few things. "The wines on the second list are quite expensive; it will take everything we earned yesterday," said Ca. "It is fine; we will earn more because of it," I said. There is amon phrase I have heard from a lot of my clients that you need to spend more to earn more. The wine is pure profit; we are selling it at a huge margin and seeing how much our guests drank yesterday and the type of wines they chose, I am buying even more expensive liquor today. Ca left a few minutester with tasks in her hand while I focused on the letter I had to write to the head of the House of Silver, my Grandfather. has advance chapters. Chapter 13: Distribution Chapter 13: Distribution Ca climbed down the stairs with a heavy box in her hand, staring at the things thaty there; she couldn''t help but feel happy about it. When she took thest step, she found all thedies sitting in the now slightly expandedmon hall, with better furniture than before. They lookedfortable, with everyone having a seat, unlike before when they needed to sit on each other''sp; not to mention, the new furniture was moreforting. Everyone is sitting in amon room, including the teens, who will not work, till they reach eighteen. "Is that?" asked Ina with clear hesitation and hope, "Yes, your earnings from thest night," Ca replied and put the wooden box on the table before sitting in the chair behind it. Everyone quieted down with their eyes focused on the wooden box, especially the pouches, wanting to drill their gazes inside them. "I will now distribute the money," she said as she looked at all the women who were looking at the box eagerly. "Though I will not share how much you have earned with everyone, that will be at your discretion," she added before taking out the first brown leather pouch from the box; she did not even look at the pouch she took to know who belongs to; she did not have the moment she touched it, she knew it belongs to Margaux. It is due to her new skill which she has got today from her new ss that had changed. Her ''Harlot'' ss had changed to ''Madam,'' and now she had a new skill, True Sry, which let her instantly calcte how much money every girl had made and who it belonged to. The change of ss was quite surprising, she had thought it would take at least a month, but it had happened in a single day. Maybe it was because of how deeply she was involved in the establishment; she had been here even before the first brick wasid and had been involved in nearly every process. There is also Remus, who she thinks is the most responsible for such a quick change in her ss. "Margaux, this is yours," she said; Margaux, who was sitting not far away from her, got up from her spot and took the pouch and pink envelope attached to it with slightly shaking hands under the gazes of every woman. "Open it," asked Brenna in anticipation. "Brenna!" admonished Ca instantly, "What? Everybody here wants to know how much we have made," she replied defensively while looking at the girls, all of whom nodded, seeing that she couldn''t help but sigh. Even if she stops them now, they will ask each otherter. "You don''t have to," said Ca, "It is fine; I am sure today everyone will show how much they have earned?" said Margaux before she opened the pouch with shaking hands. She inserted a fair hand inside and took out the coin, and it was not the blue crown that came out, but violet imperial, which is equal to hundred crowns. The imperial surprised the girls, but that was just the beginning; she took out another imperial, and then another, and then another. In front of the shocked eyes of every woman, twelve imperials came out, one after another, before the crowns began to appear. "T¡­twelve hundred and six crowns. In my vige, this is more than enough for one to livefortably for a year," said Myanna in a shaking voice. Every woman is shocked seeing the money and why they wouldn''t be; what they are holding would take them months to earn in their past brothel, and here they have earned it in a day. "Is this a dream?" asked Mina, not daring to believe what she was seeing, "Not a dream, my dear," Ca replied, and silence descended into the room as the girls watched money on the table with different thoughts running through their minds. "What is in the envelope," asked Margaux; "Consider it a receipt; it had details of yourmissions and the gifts; there are also some details about the patrons that gave you the gifts," she replied. The receipt was Remus''s idea; he wants girls to have a clear idea of how much they are making. The information about the patron was her''s. Through her years in the business, she learned that it always pays to know the patron who pays well. Rip! Margaux gently tore open the envelope by the pouch and took out the paper, and began to read it. "As Master Silver had promised, there is 10% of yourmission, and the rest is the gifts your patrons have left you; the house did not touch them." "Let me look," said Ina, and Margaux handed her the envelope; she still hadn''te out of shock. She is happy seeing her friend earning good money; Margaux needs it more than anyone else here. "Only 24% earned through hours, while the rest are gifts," said Ina reading the envelope. Themission is 10% which is huge already, and even if Remus had paid only themission, they would still be happy as they made pennies in their old brothelpared to this. Still, Remus had hinted he would increase themission in the future. If she was reading him right, then he seemed quite ufortable with themission, which simply confused her. "Big sister Ca, where is our sry, or is it just for sis Margaux only?" asked Cath humorously. "I have something for everyone here," she said and started calling names and handling sries; the pouches began to empty up at a visible pace till the whole box got emptied in less than a minute. All the girls are looking at their sries; not all have earned the same; some earned more, some less. Margaux is one of the highest, the second highest. Ina is the highest earner; there is a difference of one hundred and forty crowns between her and Margaux. It is not surprising Margaux and Ina have always been the best; both have their strengths. Even in the previous brothel, they were one of the highest earners, though they barely got any share of that earnings, and it would be the same here if not for the Remus. She wished L hadn¡¯t left; she had asked tens of times to ask Remus to take her back inside, and she had even asked for her, but Remus had said she had lost her chance. Sigh! She sighed her depressing thoughts away and focused on the girls in front of her. Everyone had made good money; the lowest was three hundred and thirty-five crowns, while the highest was thirteen hundred and eighty. The girls who earned less are a little sad seeing some of their peers earning more than double them, but they are still happy with the huge amount, and I am sure they will now focus more on their lessons and serving the clients; money is a great motivator. "B.. the big sister, can''t we work?" asked Gloria hesitantly. Ca turned to the young girl, who was sitting with the other girls of her age. "No, you all will not work till you turn eighteen," she said and could see the disappointment clouding the young girl''s faces; seeing that, she and a few other girls couldn''t help but sigh. The withering circumstances and enough money could make one do anything and could even make this profession seem alluring. "You are the most fortunate girls; learn everything from the teachers, and we are teaching you; it will help you a lot in the future, not only in advancing your ss and getting better skills but also in leveling up faster," said Ca. "I do not tell you the importance of that, will I?" she asked, to that, the young girls shook their heads in better moods. "Good, learn with all everything you can, and you all will earn more money than you have ever dreamed," she said, which put smiles on girls'' faces. She talked with the girls for a few minutes before she got up to leave when a question came to her. "This is temporary, isn''t it, till the prince is in the city?" asked Margaux, and immediately eyes of every woman in the room focused on her on her again. She could understand the question as she herself asked not long ago. So, she turned to the girls with a bright smile on her face. "Not necessarily," she replied. "Master Remus said that with the trade starting with merchant cities; it will bring out a huge influx of wealth to the city, which will prosper the business, including ours," "I am leaving for the port with Master Remus right now to watch the first ships from merchant cities," she said and walked out of the basement a few minutester. She did not know if what she said woulde true, but she wished it would. These girls suffered a lot in their life, and they deserved some happiness. Do Rate and Review. Chapter 14: The Information Chapter 14: The Information ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡± I said to Ca, who was looking at more than fifty shipsing at the port, with Count Darrow waiting to wee them in arge procession. We have been here for more than one and a half hours, and the wait is worth it. The ships not only contain the goods but also rich merchants who will be my clients. I am very excited, as these ships are just the beginning, as thousands more wille. Renwell region is the only region of the Empire that shares the boundary of the city-stage of Meldhorn. So any trade flowing through it toward the Empire will go through the Greltheaven city; it is its gateway to the Empire. It is the same for any trade going for Meldhorn from the Empire. There is a sea route, but both need Belnin, and it will be thest city-state to normalize its rtionship with the Empire. The Emperor had used quite colorful words against the city-state and its lord; they were nasty and were widely reported. So, Greltheaven is pretty important for trade, and it will be even when all the merchant city-states normalize their rtionship. An hourter, the first ship docked, and a couple of important people came out. From what I read in the papers, some important people areing. The most important being the representative of the Lord of Meldhorn and leader of the Meldhorn city merchant guild. Aside from them, there are representatives and leaders of guilds in Melhorn and other cities that are part of the Meldhorn city-state. It was quite a crowd that came, but they were not only for Greltheaven but all the other cities of Renwall region, and some will even go to the Empire. Lord Darrow is greeting them; with him are representatives of many business houses and political powerhouses. My uncle and brother were also there, representing the House of Silver. The bequeathment ceremony for the title and deeds was in the morning, many important people had attended, including the Dukes and other important guests. As usual, I did not receive the invitation to attend; they could have invited me, but they did not. I really wanted to curse these bastards; I really wanted to be there; the connections I would have had been invaluable. I would have forgiven them if they had brought me here to greet these merchants, but they did not do that too. Sigh! I shook my head as I calmed myself down. It did not matter if they did not help me; I will make seed on my own. Yesterday, I have already taken the first step toward that, and now, I just need to keep climbing without a stop. ¡°James, let¡¯s go back,¡± I said, and a minuteter, the carriage walked toward the city gates. I would have liked to stay more, but there is no time; the establishment will open in a few hours, and I need to prepare. There are some things I noticed yesterday that I have to change. Nothing big, I don¡¯t want to do anything that will take the girls off their game; yesterday¡¯s sess has built confidence in them, and in the next few days, that confidence will fortify if the establishment keeps pulling the same crowd as yesterday. Soon we reached the establishment; I went to my office while Ca went to do the things she needed before it opened in the evening. There are many things she needs to do, but given her abilities, it won¡¯t be a problem finishing them before the establishment open. The most worrying thing of today had already been solved; Mr. Harwood had sent the wines we had ordered. I thought we might not get all the wines we had ordered, but he sent them all; seeing that, I am relieved. Our guest had drank more than four times more wine than I had imagined, nearly emptying the stocks of liquor. Today, I not only refilled the stocks but ordered even more expensive wine. If I had the money, I would have brough even more expensive liquor, but I cannot. Currently, I can only afford to buy from my second list, but I hope by the weekend, the establishment will earn me enough to buy liquor on the third list. I have made a list of many things, and as I get more money, I will keep buying the stuff and changes in the establishment. It will make me spend a lot of money on nearly everything I earn, and I will be happy to do that. It is a golden chance for me; while the city is still developing, I need to grow my business to the level that it bes a brand that is synonymous with a high-ss brothel. If anyone thinks of the brothel, then they should be thinking velvet garden and nothing else. My conviction has be even firmer after seeing the ships. If this city hadn¡¯t been destroyed in a decade, it would grow beyond even what the prince had dreamed of when he built it. I do not doubt even one bit that with it being the gateway to merchant states, it will grow bigger and more prosperous than Deerpond, the capital of the Renwell region. It wouldn¡¯t even take it long. Click! Before I knew it, it was half past five when the door opened, and Ca walked in and in her hand was a small stack of papers. The papers seemed to contain something important, given the expressions that were on Ca¡¯s face. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked as she ced a stack of papers in front of me. ¡°Important,¡± she replied as she ced them in front of me and sat down. Her expressions were serious, but I could see a very faint hint of nervousness in it. Seeing I would not get any answers from her, I took the first page from the stack and began to read it. In just reading a few sentences, my expressions changed; they became serious with a hint of shock. I read everything written on the paper, front and back, before cing it down gently and turning to Ca. ¡°It is a dangerous business,¡± I said to her sombrely. ¡°I know,¡± she replied. ¡°I did not ask you for it,¡± I said, ¡°I know,¡± she said back. I looked directly into her for a moment before returning to the stack of papers in front of me and began reading again. What I am reading is a dangerous thing, be it here or on earth; it is dangerous and will always be dangerous. If not handled carefully, it will kill me. What she ced in front of me was information. People talk, and they talk more in whorehouse, especially in thepany of beautiful women. It is the reason my father opened the brothel in Redfawn; he wanted the information, and I think it might be the reason why he got killed. As he is not the one who died that day, a girl from the brothel also died that day. It was made like an ident, but I did not think it was. The information is a dangerous business, and now reading the information; I am dipping my feet into it despite knowing I might get myself killed by it, but the knowledge is too enticing to simply throw it away. In a stack of pages, most of the information is useless, but in a rabble, there is some important which I have written down in my diary in english. Not all information here is right and correct; it is influenced by people''s perspectives, not to mention people like to lie when they are impressing women. It is to me to find out the truth among the information, which is a great task, but I have some experience in it. Still, I will remain careful, never crossing the line unless it is absolutely necessary. I have already learned some interesting things by reading the pages, and while they are not immediately useful, they will be when I collect more. Knowledge is power when used correctly, and I n to use it, despite the danger it poses. I finished reading everything before burning it all to ashes, wiping out every proof of it. The proof that remains is in my diary, but it is very hard to understand it as it is written in english, which has a different syntax than all thenguages of this world. One would need to be a very high-level cipher to break through it. I did not say anything about the information, and Ca also remained quiet in a silent understanding of what had just happened. She left not long after making preparations to open the establishment; I also stayed rooted in my ce; yesterday, I did not get to watch the opening; today, I will be watching from my window. Soon, it was six, and in less than five minutes, the first carriage rolled in, and when I saw who it was, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. It is a group of five young men in their early twenties; they came yesterday, and now they havee again. Repeat clients are the most important; I have asked Ca to build rtions with them; it does not matter whether they remain in the city or not; as long as theye back to the city, I want them to return to the establishment. I want to create such an effect on them. It took less than two hours after the opening before we had closed the door of the establishment temporarily; I thought it would happen around nine, like yesterday, but it had happened more than an hour early. It took forty minutes to open to open the gates again and remained open for about fifteen minutes before being forced to close. It had happened even when I had asked Ca to let more people in today than yesterday. I watched the clients, not from my office but also sat by a small secret window of the hall on the first floor, watching and noting down things. Though, today, there are a lot fewer things to note down, as I already took notes on the majority of things yesterday. Soon, it was midnight; I had just returned from another trip changing room and sat by the small window, watching the hall, which had not been empty since eight. Patrons changed, but the hall remained filled with people. Since the establishment opened, the gates have been closed more than ten times; even now the gates are closed, many carriages areing and leaving, seeing the gate closed. I felt quite bad seeing that; those people would not be able to enjoy the great pleasures that the establishment offered. I am also feeling bad; they represent the walking money purses; it would have been great if the establishment had been big enough to apany them, but unfortunately, it is not. Though I will in the future, and if the establishment keeps earning at the pace of today and yesterday, I will be able to make those big changes much sooner than I had nned. Chapter 15: Merchant Guild Chapter 15: Merchant Guild I woke up a little earlier than yesterday; I did not stay up until six and instead slept at 4 am before the establishment closed the gate for the day. By the time I reached my office after showering and breakfast, it was around nine-thirty. Ca was there, as usual, looking fresh and beautiful like she had taken the beauty sleep of ten hours, not barely two hours. ¡°Good morning,¡± she said as I walked into the office, ¡°Morning,¡± I replied and sat down before taking the file and ce in front of me. I opened it without wasting any time and began to read it, and the more I read, the bigger the smile on my face would be. There was even a small surprise, as the money we earned was more than I had imagined; it had happened a second time in a day. It is a hundred and seventy-nine thousand crowns, forty thousand more than yesterday. The girls have earned eighty-two thousand through their services, six thousand more than yesterday, while it is food and drinks that took an obvious jump. It is food and drinks that made an obvious jump of over thirty-six thousand crowns, from sixty-one yesterday, earning me ny-seven thousand crowns today. The money earned by girls has limitations; it depends upon the rates and hours they put it. The only way that could increase is increasing the hourly rate of the girls, which I will do soon, but not now. The food and drinks, on the other hand, had no limitations. The patrons were rich; as long as I brought expensive liquor and food, they would buy it, and I would earn money. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you,¡± I said to Ca while pointing at the numbers; she had said it would be girls who would always earn more money, and I disagreed with her. Though I did not think I would be able to prove my point this early, I had thought it would take me a few weeks, even a month or more, but I have done that on the second day. ¡°It is quite hard to believe it, especially when we are charging so much by hourly rate,¡± she said, with amazement dripping through her voice. ¡°I have told you before the sex will be just part of the establishment; it is other apanying services that will earn us more,¡± I said, and she could nod after seeing the proof. I closed the file after reading it carefully and took the newspaper and report from the grey guild, which has things that newspapers don¡¯t. Yesterday hundreds of ships came; not all were for Greltheaven, many would go to Greltheaven and other cities to unload and load the stuff, but still, Greltheaven is the first city of the Empire they would enter, which would make it the ce, where the things will be cheapest. As further they went, the greater the taxes they would have to pay; each city and each territory had their own taxes, small as they might. With all the trade flowing through the Greltheaven, it will be the biggest beneficiary of all and will be developed rapidly. Just yesterday, over hundreds of ships havee, and more areing today. The papers are saying that the prince is going to Meldhorn in a few days to sign the trade deals. If it worked as the paper had said, the trade would increase even further. I read the papers before reading a report from the grey guild, which had information about all the important merchants that came from Meldhorn, including some sketches. ¡°These four hade to the establishment yesterday,¡± Ca said, pointing at sketches of four people as she read the report. ¡°Take a note on merchants from Meldhorn,¡± I said, to which she nodded. She did not stay for long; after reading the report and taking a few orders from me, she had left. I focused on three letters that came for me today, not a single one from my uncle. All three are about the party; the most important is merchant guilt; Damon Hardt had formally begun as head of the merchant guild yesterday, and today, they are throwing the part in honor of the prince. It will be a huge party that will not only have Prince Grelt in attendance but also important nobles, especially merchants from Meldhorn, for which the guild and I are very excited about. They are the people who will bring us the biggest profit. It is today, and I am going to be attending it; I will also attend the other two parties, which are tomorrow and the day after that. It is the best time to make the connection, as after the prince and all the guests leave; the parties will slow down, and there will be less chance to make the connection. ¡­ Click! Hours passed, and soon it was afternoon; I was working when Ca came inside the office, holding an envelope. ¡°This came for you; the messenger is waiting for your reply down below,¡± she said as she ced the blue envelope in front of me. It had a sigil of Nielson Guild, and beside it was a personal vigil of Mage Valentina; I opened the letter and looked inside. A surprise couldn¡¯t help but sh on my face as I read the small content before a smile appeared on my face. This is not the first thing it has happened to me, I had done this before, but it is for a good friend. Mage Valentina is not my friend, a friendly acquaintance at most, and I wouldn¡¯t ept her offer. If I did not need this as much as she. ¡°I didn¡¯t think she was interested in you,¡± said Ca as I wrote my reply; her voice was different than usual; I am sensing a hint of something I had not sensed before. ¡°She is not,¡± I replied; it surprised her before she arched her brow in question, but I did not answer her question and instead gave her the letter. ¡­ Before I knew it, the evening had arrived, and the gates of the establishment opened within an hour; the guest filled the hall, and by seven fifteen, we had to close the door of the establishment temporarily. Today, there was a change in clientele; for two days, most patrons were from the Empire, but now a third of them are from merchant cities. They were quite surprised as they entered the establishment but adjusted very quickly, which is not surprising. There is a saying that even if you throw a merchant to hell, he will survive and thrive. I wish I could stay more, but I have a party to attend, and before that, I have to go home. So, I looked hall onest time and walked toward the back entrance, where the carriage was waiting for me. It did not take long for me to reach the ce I had rented, and the first thing I did was shower and wear a suit. Seeing there was still time, I sat in the small library I had and began to read the book from the shelf; these books came with the house. Some of them were on my list to read. Knock Knock I was engrossed in reading when the knock sounded on my door, ¡°Come in,¡± I said, and George walked in. ¡°Mister Silver, your guest, has arrived,¡± he informed. ¡°Thank you, George,¡± I said and got up before walking out of the library. When I walked down into the living room, I saw a beautiful woman sitting on the sofa; she was wearing a green cocktail gown that showed off her radiant shoulders and gave hints of her tempting cleavage. ¡°Remus, thank you for being my date for today¡¯s party,¡± she said as she saw me. ¡°How can I reject the offer of a beautiful woman, Mage Valentina,¡± I said, ¡°You can call me Valentina, Remus,¡± she said to that; I nodded as we walked out of the house. We are going to party in her carriage; it is much better than my own and enchanted. I opened the door for her, and she walked in before walking inside and sitting on a veryfortable leathery cushion opposite her. ¡°I heard your establishment is doing good,¡± she said, ¡°Yes, but it is not surprising seeing the number of guests that city is hosting,¡± I replied. ¡°True, but with the praises I have heard about your services, I don¡¯t think you will face any problems, especially with merchants from Empire and merchant cities pouring in,¡± she said. ¡°I hope so,¡± I said to that, and she smiled. ¡°How is the business?¡± I asked, ¡°Good, very good; we received a lot of projects yesterday, and today, that I am asking headquarters for more personal and resources,¡± she said and seemed quite happy about it. Nielson is a big guild, and its presence is counted in the top three in the city; if the city prospered, her guild would be one of the businesses that would prosper the most. We conversed about general topics as the carriage moved toward the financial district, where the merchant guild is, and twenty minutester, we reached it. Do Rate, Review and Share. Chapter 16: Merchant Guild II Chapter 16: Merchant Guild II I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. "Ready," she said; I nodded and took her hand into mine as I walked toward the door of the merchant guild. The merchant guild is a huge building covered in white marble, covering arge area of around twenty thousand square feet, with five floors. It is a huge building, as big as the city hall, covering a huge ten-thousand square-feet area and is five stories tall. It needs to be as it represents all kinds of merchants, and under it are offices of all sub-guilds. Whether it is a cobbler or painter, or weaver, one will find their offices inside. It not only made rules and enforced them but also provided arbitration and other services to the merchant in dispute with one another or with guilds of other cities. It could be said that it has a huge influence and is a semi-governmental body; every city maintains tight control over them. The guild heads, vice-heads, and sub-guilds head made up the ruling body; it would have been great if I could get any one of these positions, but I don''t think the house would support my bid for them, not to mention the business I run, Lord Darrow would have to think twice about giving me a position. The position has a big effect on the city''s reputation, and unless there arepelling circumstances, nobody will give the owner of the brothel such a high position. Still, I would not be just a simple member of the guild; for a start, I have a position in mind. Though getting it would be hard, I have already started working on it. As we walked toward the gates, I saw many people ncing toward me, more than usual. It is likely because of Valentina; she is quite famous, top of being a powerful mage. Soon we reached the gate, where Damon Hardt was standing with four people, who were all vice-guild masters; of them, two were also the heads of their own sub-guild. Usually, the majority of vice-heads are heads of their own sub-guilds. "Mage Valentina and Master Silver, wee to the Merchant Guilds," said Damon Hardt, who had finally got the job. ¡°Thank you, Guild head,¡± we said in unison. ¡°Vice-Guild heads,¡± I said a momentter before entering ball room with Valentina. The ballroom is big, bigger than what ballroom of Damon Hardt¡¯s mansion, and there are already quite a lot of people there. We arrived on time, but some people have appeared early; as I said, this is a great opportunity to make a connection, and nobody wants to miss it. ¡°Mage Valentina, I know you would be here,¡± said the voice just as we walked into the ballroom. A Middle-aged man with shoulder-length raven hair walked toward us with a pretty-looking woman in a silver-red gown. I recognized him; he was on the list of nobles who came to Greltheaven for the inauguration. ¡°Baron Augustine, Baroness Augustine,¡± greeted Valentina, with a faint bow, ¡°Valentina, it¡¯s nice to see you again,¡± said Baroness Augustine with a faint smile before turning me, ¡°Who is this handsome man?¡± she asked as she turned to me. ¡°Remus Silver,¡± I replied, and recognition shed in the eyes of both of them. ¡°I knew those eyes felt familiar,¡± said Baron Augustine before turning back to Valentina. ¡°You have built us a beautiful manor Valentina; I was hoping you would build us another one, this one for our summer vacations at Gelin,¡± he said. To that, Valentina shook her head. ¡°I am based in Greltheaven now,¡± she said. ¡°Jameson Leeds is now head of Gelin division, and he is a wonderful architect,¡± she added, and clear disappointment appeared Barons Augustine, more so on the Baroness''s face. ¡°No one could rece you, Valentina,¡± he said with a sigh; we talked to them for a couple of minutes, with mostly Baron rambling about the beautiful manor that Valentina had built while the Baroness was casting hidden nces at Valentina. We talked to them for a minute more before moving away and talking to different people. Valentina seemed to know a lot of people, as we had not stayed alone even a minute, always talking to some. From nobles to merchants to mercenaries, everyone important is present here. As I was talking to people, I felt a familiar gaze on me; when I looked, I saw a familiar man looking at me with the same eyes that I have. My uncle stared at me for a second before both of us looked away at the same time. Valentina noticed the exchange but did not say anything. Time passed, and we kept talking to new people; it was interesting, especially talking to merchants from the city-states. They are so different from the people of the Empire, which has be nationalist and even somewhat istionist after ascend of the current Emperor. All the other races, tribes of elves and dwarves, and some elder races that were present in the Empire got expelled, and their entrees had banned. When I first realized what this world is, I wanted to see the other races so badly, but till now, I have not seen a single one. The closest one I havee is seeing a few people like Valentina, who had some blood of different races in her. Though now, it will change as we trade more with city-states. Of all city-states, there are only two that were rules by humans, while others are ruled by different races, from elves to orcs; there is even one city-state that is ruled by one of the elder races. As we were talking through the people, the smile on my face disappeared, and my expression turned serious as I looked at the family membersing toward me. ¡°Baron Edwin, Madam,¡± I said as I gave a faint bow to my brother, who had finally got the noble title that was paid by my father and the house. He is wearing an empire-style suit that is on the border of being gaudy, his mother looking graceful as ever in the creamy white gown. He looks quite satisfied with himself; it is clear by his expressions how much he is enjoying himself. Let him do it, as happiness is only for a few days; when he goes to the territory he gained, his real trial will begin. The papers said the territories these new nobles got were near Mirador Hold, the ce where the wastnd ends and greenery begins; their territories are in a very small fertilend that Renwell region hold. While the territories they have got are fertile, they are filled with dangers; they are close to Navr and the city-state of Oksall. The Navr side is usually silent unless they n to send undead to ughter and turn them to the undead; it is the boundary they share with Oksall that these new barons should be worried about. There are tribes of orcs, and they are not very friendly, especially those bandit orcs. ¡°Remus, my brother, how are you, and how is your little whorehouse doing?¡± he asked boisterously. ¡°I am good, Lord Baron, and the establishment is doing good too, thanks to the blessings of our father,¡± I replied with a smile that froze that hatefulugh on his face. He hates it whenever I remind him that we share blood; whenever I want to irritate him, I use these words. ¡°Good, I am proud of you,¡± he said and pped on my shoulders a little too hard, but I bore it with a smile and turned-to woman who looked to be in her early fifties. ¡°Madam, it¡¯s been a while,¡± I said politely, thest I had seen when we were reading my father''s will. ¡°It is nice to see you too, Remus,¡± she replied in her neutral voice. Since I have known her, she has always used this tone on me; she is neither hateful toward me nor loving. The same attitude inherited by her daughter, the eldest of my father''s children and also the one he loved the most, so much that he had left nearly half of his wealth to her. ¡°Le didn¡¯te? I thought she wasing,¡± I asked. To that, madam shook her head. ¡°She was nning to, but something important hase up that she couldn¡¯t ignore,¡± replied Madam, without the slightest change in her expression. It was more she was managing that giant inheritance. I am quite bitter about it; my father had left me with something good but had conditions attached to it. To her, he had given half of her wealth without a single condition. I feel very bitter about it, especially when I worked tirelessly for an old man while this big sister of mine enjoyed her pursuits and still got more than everyone else. ¡°Remus, I am leaving for my territory the day after tomorrow. Are you interested ining?¡± he asked, and it surprised me, but soon I remembered the trips that old Remus had gone on with him. When old Remus was young, Edwin used to take him on trips and used to humiliate him in every way possible. ¡°No, Lord Baron, I could not. I have a business to handle,¡± I replied politely; my decline made a sh of anger light up in his eyes, and he opened his mouth to say something but closed it after getting a look from his mother. ¡°Remus, introduce me to this young woman,¡± said Madam, ¡°Valentina r, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Madam Silver,¡± introduced Valentina, and immediate recognition shed in their eyes. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the one who made Remus¡¯s whorehouse?¡± asked Edwin before he could stoop himself and immediately got a re from his mother. ¡°Yes, I am,¡± she replied, smiling, and silence appeared before us. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again, Remus,¡± said Madam after a few seconds of silence and walked away from us. ¡°It is something,¡± said Valentina after they left, ¡°Family,¡± I replied, to which she smiled, but did not say anything else. Half an hour passed as we continued to mingle among the guest when the important guests when suddenly all guests quieted down and turned toward the door as we sensed the presence. ¡°Prince Magnus Grelt Alnwick Mediaen, Archduke of G¡­¡± the precursor began to announce the title of the fourth prince. He announced about five titles before the prince appeared, and he did note alone; with him were his two uncles, Count Darrow and Duke of Valeshire. There are more important people, each one with considerable power Empire. As he appeared, all the men bowed, anddies curtsied. ¡°Rise,¡± he said and walked to center stage before turning to all the people, ¡°Thank you for inviting me here for this wonderf¡­¡± He started his speech, and unlike his speech inauguration, this one solely targeted the trade. It shows how much he valued trade and hinted he would like to start trade with all merchant city-states, especially Meldhorn, Belnin, and Oksall. All three of which are connected to Renwell Region by the river andnd. It was easier said than done; we were able to resume rtions with Meldhorn before a human-rules merchant city-state. Belnin and Oksall are not. Lord of Belnin is a half-elf against whom the Emperor had used quite colorful words, while Oksall is run by a council, which has humans, halflings, and orcs in it. Still, if anyone could restart the rtions, then it would be Prince Grelt. All the princes harp the nationalistic rhetoric of their father, but Prince Grelt is different; he has always been pro-trade and a little more open in values. He also confirmed that he would be going to make a trip to Meldhorn, which made the merchant of both sides smile. A powerful prince going to city-stage is a grand gesture, and without a doubt, it will bring immense benefits. The speech of the prince was short andsted around five minutes before Lord Darrow took over with his ten-minute-long speed, but that is smallpared to Damon Hardt''s speech, and if it were not for a faint cough from Lord Darrow, he would have continued for more than a fifteen minute. ¡°To Prince Grelt, and Greltheaven,¡± he said and raised his ss, and others followed before drinking the wine from our sses. He looked quite unwilling as he got off the stage but soon schooled his emotions and began to mingle with the prince and other important guests. An hour passed, and the prince left with his uncles while the guests continued to mingle with each other; the night was still young. We were mingling with the crowds when Marina suddenly stopped and turned toward the beautiful woman in her early thirties with forest brown hair. ¡°You know her?¡± I asked, and to that. ¡°Yes; I did not think she would be here,¡± said Marina and turned toward the women. The woman spotted us and turned from the old man, who was vice-guild master Arryn; she seemed to have sensed us and turned, and immediately a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face. ¡°Valentina, I did not know you could be here,¡± she said and turned to Valentina, ¡°I did not know you would be here too, Relys,¡± replied Valentina as they hugged I looked at the woman; she is nearly as tall as me, with a lean physique and angr face and forest-brown hair. Her features are prominently elvish; they are visible, not like Valentina¡¯s, whose could only be seen when one looks at carefully. She might be a half-elf who had inherited less elvish elements from her elven parent or a quarter-elf. Such people who do not fare well on the maind but with normalization rtions, she will be fine in Renwell. Not to mention, she seemed kind of important, given how the fawningly vice-guild head was talking to her. ¡°I arrived an hour ago and decided to stay the night before going to Deerpond tomorrow,¡± she replied and turned to me, ¡°Who is this, Valentina? I did not know; you like young men,¡± asked the young woman with a hidden smile. ¡°Remus Silver,¡± I introduced. It took her a moment to recognize me, especially when she looked at my eyes. ¡°A silver,¡± she said with a smile before turning to Valentina while I turned to old man. ¡°Vice-Guildmaster,¡± I said respectfully. ¡°Young Remus, how¡¯s the city treating you?¡± asked the old man, ¡°Very good, Guildmaster; I don¡¯t think there is anywhere I like to be than the Greltheaven right now,¡± I said, and that made a smile appear on the old man¡¯s face. ¡°You are right about that; Greltheaven is really the best ce to be right now and in theing years,¡± he said with augh. He is happy and right to be; I would be if I am his position. I have heard that house Arryn had secured the contract to provide the weapons to Mirador Hold. It is a very juicy contract that will earn him and his house millions of imperials. ¡°Are you going to be part of the prince¡¯s entourage for Meldhorn?¡± I asked, ¡°Nothing is certain; it is up to the prince, who he wants to take with him,¡± said the old man, but it was very clear in his eyes he wanted to go, and I had his position and power; I wanted to go too. I talked to the old man for a few minutes before he left; he wanted to join the conversation with Valentina and Relys but did not get a chance while I remained by my ce. While the two friends talked, I mostly remained silent, only giving my opinion when I asked. It is fine by me, as I am more interested in listening to what they are saying. Through their conversation, I realized a few things; this woman Rys knew a lot of people and went to a lot of ces. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have gone to Mayhurst Ind; it is extremely dangerous,¡± said Valentina with a shake of her hand, but the woman just smiled. ¡°You should look at the haul of amardite crystals I have got; all the risks I took were worth it,¡± she said with her eyes shining brightly. I am quite shocked hearing the amardite crystals. It is an extremely valuable material, and Mayhurst Ind is one of the ces where it is found. My family had dealt with it; the enchanters and artificers loved this stuff. Still, as Valentina had said, it is very risky to go there as the whole ind is at war under the rampage of the lich and undead armada roaming the waters, who sink everything theye across. ¡°I have important business in Deerpond tomorrow, but I will visit you when I return, I promise,¡± said the woman. ¡°I hope you keep your word this time,¡± said Valentina. To that, the women just smiled. ¡°She is quite amazing,¡± I said, ¡°She is,¡± Valentina affirmed, and we moved to mingle with other people. The party was already a sess; I met quite a lot of people and was even able to get the information I needed. If everything goes right, then by tomorrow, I will have everything I need to get that position. Do Rate and write a Review. Chapter 17: Price Chapter 17: Price The next morning, I woke up a littlete; aftering from the party, I did not sleep immediately and instead came to the establishment after Valentina dropped me off at my ce and stayed awake till two and a half am before sleeping. After showering and eating breakfast, I came back to the office, with Ca being there as usual, and the first thing I did was looked at the file. The numbers were good for the first two days, and after doing quick math, Iid out the things I had to do, and there were many. I had to finish them before going to the party at night. I don¡¯t think, in this whole week, there will be a night where I will be in the establishment. There were a lot of parties I had to attend. ¡°These havee for you,¡± said Ca, handing me the envelopes. I took them, and the first one immediately caught my eye. It had a sigil of the house of silver, besides it a personal sigil of my uncle. It ising from my uncle; he had finally called me; I knew he would after I sent the letter to Grandfather. It is not the only letter from the family; there is another one and reading it, a mirthless smile appeared on my face. Nothinges for free in the family, especially with Grandfather. If you ask him for something, you must be prepared to pay for it. What he asked is a little inconvenient, but I will have to do it, considering he has given me what I asked. The other letters are invitations to the parties; unfortunately, I am going to attend then, other than the one that is today, as I am going away tomorrow. I hate to leave the establishment just a few days after it opened, but I have no choice. After reading all the letters, I began to work, especially now that I will be gone for several days There are many things I have to do now than I am leaving tomorrow. As for when I would return, I do not know exactly, but it should be within five to ten days. My uncle cannot spend all his time in the Renwell region. Soon, two hours passed, and I have left my office for my room below, where I changed my clothes before walking down to the ground floor. A few minutester, I was in the carriage going to the meeting with my uncle. Fifteen minutester, my carriage turned to a familiar road; both sides had beautiful mansions; the sky borough. It is the most expensive residential area of Greltheaven, I rented my home here, and my uncle is also here. A few minutester, the carriage stopped in front of a huge blue-white mansion, which was no smaller than the Damon Hardt¡¯s. It is the mansion of the house of silver; every city the house of silver has influenced has these mansions. As the carriage stopped, I got out and walked toward the door, where two muscly men were standing guard. As I appeared, they took a step to block the door for me, seeing that I couldn¡¯t help but smile. They are personal guards of my uncle; I have seen them many times, and they, too, have seen me, but they still decided to block the way. It seemed like my uncle didn¡¯t like what I had done. ¡°Who are you?¡± asked the one with the bald head and heavy scimitar. ¡°Jost, Dan, step aside; I have to meet my uncle,¡± I said to them with a smile. ¡°We do not know you; do you have any business with mister Raymond?¡± asked curly-haired Dan. ¡°If you do not step away, I will return and write a letter to my Grandfather about what just happened; I am sure he would like to hear how you treated the member of the house,¡± I threatened, and immediately I saw the result. They might be guards of my uncle, but it is a house that pays their sry. They stepped aside, and I walked in; I had just taken steps inside when I saw a man in his fortiesing toward me, there was a faint surprise on his face seeing me walking inside, but he quickly hid it. He is tony, my uncle''s assistant. ¡°Master Remus, I wasing to get you,¡± he said. ¡°No need; it is my home too; Ie and leave whenever I want,¡± I replied. The smile on his stiffened for a moment before returning to normal. If I wanted to, I could have stayed here since it belongs to the house and those who stay in the city usually upy it, but I did not. I wanted my own space without any shackles. Tony led me, and soon, we appeared in front of the door, where there were two more people standing guard. ¡°Sir Raymond, Master Remus has arrived,¡± said Tony, ¡°Send him in,¡± said the voice from the room. Hearing that, tony opened the door. I walked into what seemed to be an office, which was bigger than I have in the establishment and more opulent, which is understandable. The house had money to spend, but I did not. In the office, a man who seemed to be in his early fifties sitting behind a huge desk. His thin and short frame looked even smaller with the desk. ¡°Uncle Raymond,¡± I greeted as I appeared in front of him. ¡°Sit,¡± he said as he looked up from whatever he was reading. I took a seat in front of him. He did not speak, and neither did I have; we just stared at each other. For a few seconds, there was no change in our expressions before irritation shed in his eyes, and a momentter, I felt a sudden strong urge to speak up. ¡®Bastard!¡¯ I cursed him. He had used his skill on me; it gave me a very strong urge to speak. I have experienced this skill before, my father had it, and honestly, his was stronger. So, I had quite an experience in dealing with this skill, as my father was to use it a lot on me. I remained quite despite the strong urge and could see the irritation in his eyes ring up, and there was not an irritation but also a spark of anger. ¡°You want a letter of rmendation from the house?¡± he asked, ¡°Yes,¡± I replied without change in any expression. ¡°You want to be a legal adviser of the Merchant Guild. Do you have any experience in thew or even a ss?¡± he asked, his voice getting louder with every second. The position I want is the legal adviser of the merchant guild; there is a legal department in the guild, but legal advisers are special positions only for the merchant guild members. It is unpaid, and most people did not have an interest in it, but it is the only position I could vie for. It will bring me a lot of benefits and will also help me in advancing my ss. It is not easy to get, as powerful merchants ce their own people on it, which is why one needs serious backing to get it. ¡°You will make our house aughingstock messing it up,¡± he said, nearly shouting, without giving even a chance to say the words. ¡®This useless man!¡¯ I cursed in my mouth; of all siblings of my father, this bastard is the most useless one. He had got business as he came to age, while all his siblings grew their business and found more, this one burned it to ashes. Not once, twice, but four times. Now, it had be the errand boy for the Grandfather, going to ces to represent him. That job he is doing quite well, and my father said he even gained a ss rted to that. ¡°I am sure Grandfather knows better; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have given me his permission,¡± I said finally, making him re at me in a fury. I had aw certificate; I had gotten that from the imperial academy three months ago. My father was quite proud when he came to know. It is very hard to pass, especially without ss, and in less than three years; it usually takes six years, and it is for those who attend regrly, while I did not. He continued ring at me for a couple of seconds before he closed his eyes; when he opened them again, they were a lot calmer than before. ¡°This is the letter of rmendation that father had asked me to give you,¡± he said and passed it to me. I took the paper in my hand, and it was what I wanted, certified by the messenger guild as authentic as my grandfather could not send a real copy in such a vast distance, within a day, without paying a very high price. ¡°Thank you, uncle,¡± I said and got up. ¡°Be here by eight tomorrow; we will not wait for you if you arete,¡± he said as I stepped toward the door. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, uncle, I won''t bete,¡± I said back without turning back. I am going to in tomorrow; it is a Barony my brother got. It is wild; the new nobles would be the first people from the Empire to settle there. Do Write a Review and Follow. Chapter 18: Journey Chapter 18: Journey ¡°Take care; if something happens that is beyond your control, simply close the establishment,¡± I said to Ca, the tenth time in the past hour. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Remus; everything will go well. You just need to take care of things on your side,¡± she said with the confidence I wish I had. ¡°Everything will be fine,¡± I reassured myself and stood up, picking up the rapier by my side with familiar ease. The rapier had a red de and silver handle and a ck twirling guard; it was an elvish rapier and not a normal weapon, but an enchanted one. The de''s name is rose; it was my mother''s and the only thing I did not sell beforeing here. I would have gotten quite a lot of money if I had sold it. It felt familiar, even after picking it up after quite a long time; old Remus had used this de for years. It was like a limb to him. Killing many monsters with it till he was killed by it; he had this de in his hand when he stuck a blow that shattered his soul, and I entered his body, merging with all the broken pieces of his soul, bing him. Soon, I appeared by my carriage and looked at the establishment, which I was not going to see for the next few days. ¡°It will be fine; I will take care of everything,¡± she said; I nodded before finally stepping into the carriage with a sigh. The carriage began to move, and I watched it till it disappeared from my view; I hope everything goes well; I have worked too hard for it to fall down. I got control over my emotions and let the rational thoughts let in, which told me, everything was going to be alright. Ca is very capable; she will be able to handle everything that came in her way. My father had chosen her for that. Soon, my carriage walked into the gates of the silver mansion. As I gate out, I found there were already a few people there, some I found familiar. They are all guards, and they are from the house. The House of Silver is a big mercantile house, and we have our own force; I heard, Grandfather had sent very capable people to form Edwin¡¯s army. They were veterans with good levels and experience. I am quite curious about the person leading them; grandfather wouldn¡¯t send someone ordinary. He had invested too much for this title to do that. ¡°Master Remus, they are waiting for you upstairs,¡± said the guard and led me inside soon; they led me to the ce where everyone was. In one of the meeting rooms, there are several people are sitting; aside from uncle, there is also Edwin and Madam. The one I focused on is the man who looked to be in his mid-sixties, Lester Woods, one of nine captains of the house of silver¡¯s forces. He is one of the most powerful ones with great experience in everything from fighting undead, orcs, and elves, not to mention humans. Seeing him, I couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved; the territory was not without danger. ¡°Master Remus,¡± greeted Lester as I appeared, ¡°Captain Woods,¡± I said back before turning to my brother. ¡°Lord Baron,¡± I said and sat across him without hearing his reply, for which I should have waited, but I do not care. Though he does, which is why he red at me and opened his mouth but closed it from the look on his mother. ¡°You havee to time Remus; we were just discussing somest-minute details,¡± said Madam, ¡°Are we not going with everybody else?¡± I asked. My brother is not only noble, over thirty people have got the title, and half of them are forming a group with the security of Mirador Hold forces, which will take them to their respective territories. ¡°No, they have time, and we are not waiting, and uncle also had to return soon. We are leaving early as few groups did,¡± said Edwin; looking at his expression, I could see he wanted to reach the territory soon as possible. They had already discussed the route and now going over the finer things; I stayed quiet, listening, without saying anything. ¡°Now that we have discussed everything let''s go. I could not wait to reach my territory,¡± said Edwin excitedly, making his mother shake her exasperation. Still, everybody got up and walked out, and soon we were out. ¡°Remus, are your peopleing?¡± said uncle, looking at my two guards. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. He had asked me toe alone, but I will not. Putting my safety in the hands of my family would be the greatest mistake that I would be an idiot to make. These are the new guards I hired from the mercenary guild; their services are very expensive, but they are level 20+ and have done the missions in the area we are going. ¡°Your carriage can follow us then,¡± he said and walked toward the carriage where Madam and Edwin had already sat. There was enough space for four people there, but he did not invite me, not that I was surprised; I had already expected this kind of behavior. I sat down my carriage, and a minuteter, the carriage rolled out of the gate of the mansion. Half an hourter, the carriages stopped at the port, which had changed a lot when I had seen it first. It had changed even when I saw it a few days ago. It is quite crowded, even in the morning, with people loading and unloading goods; most of the ships areing from merchant cities, but some are going toward them. I got out of the carriage and walked with the group toward the boat waiting for us. As we stepped into the boat, the boatmen began rowing. I felt their skills activate as they rowed toward the other side with the smooth, practiced motion. Nobody spoke much, even my bother; everybody was enjoying the serene beauty of the river; it is a beautiful river, with water so clear that one could drink it without a problem. Unlike water from the earth''s river, which is dirty and drinking, it will take one to the emergency room. The water of Trollmouth is quite pure; one can drink it without fear. The boat ride ended sooner than I liked; we got out of the boat, where a woman in her forties, with staff blue staff in her hand, waited with a few people. I did not recognize her, its not like I recognized all people employed by the house. She is defiantly a mage; there are five mages in Edwin¡¯s army; the four are offensive types, while the fifth is a water mage who is proficient in healing. Their services are quite expensive, but it is not a problem for the house to hire them. Soon, we reached the ce where our forces were, and I was quite surprised by their numbers. There are nearly a hundred people, with lines of over ten carriages loaded with goods. Seventy-two among them are part of the army, while others are servants of cleaners to drivers. There are also a few expert miners and farmers who will look around the territory for the most fertilend and things to mine. In the month, the prince is going to provide people to the territories, and they will have to make a preparation for them as noble is nothing without a people to rule over. ¡°Remus, you will sit on this carriage,¡± said Uncle Raymond; it is the carriage that is nearly behind; there are only two carriages behind it. It is not what disappointed me; what disappointed me is the cargo over it; he is cing me in a cargo carriage. ¡°Thank you, uncle,¡± I said with a sweet smile and took a bag from Jonah before opening the carriage door and walking inside. I had expected nothing less, and while I could have argued, I know he would have made some excuses with my brother, who is watching from a distance. So, it is better Iply with a smile on my face, as the day wille when I will have my revenge. I am not open-minded enough to forgive these petty offenses. As I entered the carriage, I found out I was not sitting alone; another person was sitting there already. He is a thin man with raven hair and deep brown eyes, who looked to be in his mid-twenties and was reading through the papers before seeing me. He seemed quite surprised seeing me entering the carriage. ¡°Hello,¡± I said as I sat across him in a seat that already had a box bound, barely enough space for me sits squeezing; the man opposite of me was in no better condition. There is not only stuff bound on the roof and back of the carriage but also inside, including beneath our feet. It is going to be one ufortable journey. ¡°Master Remus,¡± greeted the other man as I put my rapier inside a gap behind the wooden box while I put the bag in myp. ¡°You are?¡± I asked, ¡°Brian Dusk, ountant for the Barony of in,¡± he said in a familiar ent. ¡°You are from Redfawn?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. I used to work for Lord Edwin before he brought me here,¡± he replied nervously, ¡°Quite courageous of you,¡± I said back, and to that, he let out a nervous smile. ¡°Well, Brian, brace for a rough journey; the next one and the half day won¡¯t be easy, or the days after that,¡± I said as I set myselffortable in my seat. Do Rate and Write a Review. Chapter 19: Orc Bandits Chapter 19: Orc Bandits ¡®I will fucking kill them!¡¯ I cursed loudly as I adjusted myself once more; it had been just an hour, and it had already felt like hell. My shoulder was already sore by continued hitting the wooden boxtched beside me, not to mention the Constand rocking of the gravel road, which made it even harder to read from the book in myp. The driver had activated his skills, but they were useless due to his low level, and this carriage wasn¡¯t much better either. They had done this intentionally; they had not only given me the worse carriage to sit, but its driver was also low-level. There is not the slightestfort I could feel through it. If I had known they would stoop this low, I would have brought my own carriage. ¡°Master Remus, take this; it might help,¡± said Brian as he took out a small thin pillow from his back and gave it to me. ¡°Thank you, but please keep it; I don¡¯t want to take yourfort for mine,¡± I declined, despite very much wanting to take that small pillow from him. ¡°It is no bother, Master Remus,¡± he insisted, and this I took it without hesitation. ¡°Thank you, then,¡± I said and took the small pillow from him and ced it between my shoulder and the wooden box; it felt good when the solid surface no longer hit my shoulder. A few hours passed, and the journey was ufortable; the small pillow provided quite a relief, more than the skills of our low-level driver. I passed the time by reading and talking to Brian and also massaging my head, which hit the wooden box quite hard when the carriage wheel went over the rock. The scenery also did not help my mood either; it is a dry wastnd. The green patches came now and then; they were as small as a few meters and big as a few miles, but whenpared to the whole wastnd, they were akin to drops of paint thrown on the canvas. It felt good when the carriage stopped for a break; they had been moving for four hours, and many people needed to relieve themselves, including me. I also used the opportunity to stretch, which helped me a lot with cramped muscles, which came back again after we had resumed riding again. Two hours after the first break, we took another break; it was a lunch break. The bastards didn¡¯t even invite me for lunch; they just sent it, and it was just cheese and bread with a small pickle, the same lunch the guard ate. I ate with my guards and Brian and had a smile on my face; one could not even see the slightest bit of anger in me. After lunch, the carriages began to move again, and I was once again stuck in a tiny space. I wish I could ride, but there were no extra horses. Soon, it was evening, and we continued before stopping at a mile-long green patch called sard; it was with grass and trees, and one did not look at the wastnd around; one would not feel like they were in a wastnd at all. ¡°Master Remus, this is your test,¡± said the guard, handing me a worn-out tent, which is clearly torn in many ces and patches attached to it. Even bullies have limits, but my uncle and brother did not seem to have any, giving me a tent that was even worse than the tent of guards ¡°There is no need; I have brought my own tent,¡± I said. I still remember the day when Edwin and my siblings took me to camp when I was seven; that night was one of the worst that I did not want to experience again. The guard was a little surprised but nodded and went back, and I could see from the corner of my eyes that he went directly to my brother. A few minutester, my camp was ready, and the dinner was handed down; I got the same dinner as the guards, while it was clear for the three of them, who were sitting at a tableid out for three of them, in which they did not invite me. They sat at the table while I sat in front of a small bonfire with Brian and a few other people. I could see them looking at me and even heard the word ¡®bastard¡¯ spoken by many people. I am quite used to this, but that does not mean it did not bother me. I have noted down everything in my mind; there wille a time when I will take revenge for every little insult. For now, I will bear it without saying a single word. I did not stay by the bone fire for long; after finishing dinner and a few minutes of talking, I went to my tent and slept. The journey had been tiring, and there was pain all over my body with me sitting in a constrained space. It would have been wonderful if I had a skill rted to that, but I did not; I would have to bear it like a normal person. I slept within a minute and woke up before dawn by Jonah; I had readied myself quickly and even had somefortable read before we resumed our journey again. Half an hour after dawn, we began to move again; the target was to reach the territory by afternoon; achieving that wouldn¡¯t be a problem if we moved unhindered by anything like yesterday. The journey is slow, even by this world''s standard; the cargo carriages move too slowly, but nothing can be done other than bear it. About two and a half hours passed when the abrupt change began to ur in the scenery. The wastnd begins to disappear, and greenery begins to appear; it is not green spots that appear now and then on the wastnd, but actual greenery. Nakar forest is one of the few fertile ces in the Renwell Region, and there are thirty-two baronies here. I have to say, the prince is quite smart; he created thirty-two baronies from a small region; these baronies'' sizes are of kingdom standards and not an imperial standard that was followed in the empire maind. Even by the Kingdom standard, they are quite small; the people will have to work quite hard to gain the ss of Baron with such smallnd; some might not even be able to get it. These baronies had not only provided him with immense wealth and rewards to his loyalists, but these will also act as a defensive barrier against the orcs of Oksall, especially the bandit orcs that would help Mirador Hold. As will be able to focus solely on the threat from Navr, the undead kingdom. Not to mention the food they will provide to the city. It is why the prince is providing people to the baronies and had explicitly ordered them to farm. I heard it was one of his conditions before granting the title. Nearly all of Renwell region is a wastnd, and most foods need to be imported. If the baronies farm, they will supply the city''s increasing poption with food; even if the imports cuts for some reason, we will be able to manage without starving ourselves. After just twenty minutes of carriage rides, we havee across the boundaries of two baronies. We did not have to travel through the baronies, as the road wasmon, and anybody could use it. The prince had nned well; he had made a public road that could reach all baronies. Carriages moved through the rough road in the forest; looking at the tracks, we were not the only ones who hade here; a couple of Barons had alreadye yesterday and today, while half of them hade together in a few days. A few hours passed, and we took another break; we hade quite close to the barony; Lester had said it would take about two to reach, which was on time. Phweeee! I had relieved myself and was stretching myself when suddenly a sharp whistle rang through the camp, and immediately, the rxing atmosphere disappeared; everybody became alert instantly. The guards who were already in position became alert, with their weapons out and skills ready to activate any moment. I also took out the rapier from my waist and strode toward the group of guards that already surrounded my uncle, Edwin, and Madam. ¡°Move away,¡± said a middle-aged mage as I reached the group; it couldn¡¯t help but surprise me. I looked at my uncle, Edwin, and Madam, who was in the center of the group protected, but to my utter shock, I saw uncle and Edwin looking at me expressionlessly while Madam simply looked away without saying any word. I¡¯ve got my answer, and it truly shocked me; even saying that would be an understanding. As with all their behavior, I did not expect this. I know they do not like me and even schemed to get my share of the inheritance, but still, I held hope that there was a limit to their dislike. That when there are lives in danger, we will help each other, forgetting our petty differences, but it seemed like I was naively wrong. At this moment, I truly understood that they had never really considered me as their own; to them, I am even worse than a stranger. My father was a million times better than them; when the assassin attacked, he leaped at me to protect me. Letting me in the circle is not going to cost them anything other than the space which they already have. I stayed frozen there for a couple of seconds before a smile appeared on my face. I nodded at them and turned, acutely aware of how many people were looking at me and their pitying gazes. ¡°I hope you guys will protect me,¡± I said to my guards following behind me. ¡°We will not sacrifice our lives for you, but we will protect you to the best of our abilities,¡± replied Jonah. ¡°That is more than enough,¡± I said with a smile. A few secondster, I stood with my back against the wall, with two of my guards in front of me, waiting for a threat, which I was desperately hoping was a false rm. ¡°Stay alert; orcs areing,¡± said Lester as he walked out of the tree with his horse, dashing all hopes of it being a false threat. Add it to favorites, rate, and write a review. Chapter 20: Fighting Bandits Chapter 20: Fighting Bandits Hearing Lester¡¯s warning, I gripped the rapier even more tightly. For half a minute, nothing happened before we finally began to hear the heavy steps, and with each second, they became louder and louder, till a minuteter when a big orc rode out of the forest and stopped in front of us. I saw the orc, the first real orc since I came to this world. It was big, over two meters tall, with grey skin and a muscly body that would put even the biggest bodybuilder on the earth to shame; with a big head to match the body with sharp teeth, especially those long fangs that threatened to burst out of its mouth. It came riding on irvar, the green rhino monster with a very sharp horn. It had note alone; one by one, many orcs came behind it, riding on the irvar¡¯s. Soon their number reached twenty-six before they stopped. They have a third of our numbers, but it might not be their real numbers; some may be hiding in the forest, and we will have to be very careful in dealing with them. Nobody spokes, neither humans nor the orcs; we both looked at each other. ¡°Humans, hand over all your goods, and we will leave peacefully; resist, and there will be bodies,¡± said the first orc finally in a booming, heavily ented voice. Lester opened his mouth to speak, but before he could let out even a word, Edwin spoke up from the protective circle. ¡°I am the noble of the great Harsoth Empire, and I will not give you filthy orcs even a single penny,¡± shouted Edwin to the shock of all people. ¡°Idiot!¡± I cursed him as I looked at the Orc leader, whose face now had a smile, as without saying anything, more orcs began toe out of the forest. Seeing that, confidence finally disappeared from Edwin¡¯s face, and fear appeared. ¡°Since you have declined my peaceful offer, now there will only be blood,¡± it said and looked directly into Lester¡¯s eyes. ¡°Attack!¡± It shouted loudly, and over fifty orcs charged toward us, shouting and roaring, with heavy weapons in their hands. My whole body shook seeing their charge, and I cursed that idiot; how could he be so dumb? He asked for everything, but that does not mean we have to give him everything. We can negotiate, and most bandits ept it and leave after they get sufficient good. My father had told me this hundreds of times; I don¡¯t know, maybe he missed teaching Edwin that otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have acted such idiotically. Sup Sup Sup The orcs had run over a few meters when the mages hiding revealed themselves, and spells began to rain down on the orcs. From fireballs to acid spray, there is even lightning bolt and stone shot, and it is not just mages that attacked, but the eight archers also begin to lose the arrows rapidly. The orcs looked surprised by the barrage but did not stop; their skills roared, and they came charging with even greater fury while the spells and arrows rained down on them. The orcs, to my surprise, were quite good, they moved their weapons and defended, but still, many hit them and their monsters. Monsters copsed; those whose monsters had copsed jumped and came running, while those monsters whose rider had copsed also came charging in a fury. Seven secondster, they shed; Lester shed against the leader of the Orcs, and others joined in, with archers and spellcasters reinforcing them from behind. I have many times imagined the magical battles, but what is happening in front of me is a hundred times greater than my imagination and horrifying. In just a few seconds, a couple of orcs got injured and died. Humans did not remain unscathed either; many of them had gotten injured. The house''s forces are good, very good; they are working in perfect synch, attacking the orcs with spells and sniping them with arrows. Seeing the humans holding the orcs back, I couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved. ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down, Mister Silver; the orcs are not easy to handle,¡± said Jonah as if sensing me rxing. A moment after he sensed it, I felt the sudden change in the orcs; the redness appeared in their eyes, and they became more aggressive. ¡°Shaman,¡± said Jonah; immediately, I understood what was happening. There is a shaman in the orcs who uses this rage skill. Hun! I began to hear the loud steps, and my expression couldn¡¯t help but change further; the shaman was already bad, and now more orcs wereing, making things even worse. A few secondster, a group of nine orcs came out of the forest and joined the group of fifty; it immediately increased their power, and it didn¡¯t take some of them long to break the lines of humans ande inside. A horror couldn¡¯t help but dawn on my face seeing a group of orcsing inside and running toward whoever was holding the weapons. The biggest group went toward the protective circle, while a few went toward lone guards, and the two came toward us. I unconsciously took a step, pushing my back against the carriages while my guards moved toward the two approaching orcs. ¡°Die, humans!¡± said the orc with one eye and went for Jonah, while the other one had gone for dan. They swung their huge axes, and Johan and Dan attacked with their sabers. Looking at the way they have moved, they seemed to have plenty of experience in fighting against the orcs, which is what their resume had said. I am truly d I did not believe a word of those bastards and hired my own guards for my safety. It is the wisest decision I¡¯ve ever made. I watched their battles, which were very fast, but I am not having too much of a problem understanding them. It is likely because of the old Remus; he was gifted with the sword, been practicing since he could hold it. At ten, he killed his first monster, and by the time of his death at fifteen, he had killed over fifty monsters, a record very few could achieve, in the whole empire. Since I took over my body, I rarely practiced the sword and done only as an exercise, but his experiences and memories always help me understand the fights, despite never holding a sword beforeing to this world. Their fight had gotten intense within a minute. They begin to use one skill after another; it is a brutal fight where a single mistake could make them lose their life. Watching it, I did not fail to notice there were no spells and arrowsing toward orcs fighting against my guards. They were going everywhere, even toward the guards protecting the servants, but not at my guards. It dawned on me how bad my decision was toe here, and I promised myself that I would never let my guard down when I was in thepany of the family. A minute passed when four more orcs broke through the line, and to my horror, I saw two orcsing toward me; one was big, while the other one is small. A deep horror couldn¡¯t help but fill my heart, and I felt frozen in panic; I wanted to move my body but couldn¡¯t; it had frozen up. It did not take long for the orcs toe near me and wereing at me when Dan suddenly moved; he left Jonah to handle both orcs while moving toward the new orcs, seeing that a toothyugh appeared on the big orc''s face. It begins to fight against Dan, and within a few seconds, it has be clear that the new orc is much better than the two orcs fighting against Jonah, seeing how Dan¡¯s fighting style changed to the defensive from the offensive. He is quite good at it, defending well despite Orc using one powerful skill after another, some of them so fast that I could not see them properly. Not to mention the little Orc, who is acting as a nuisance, but Dan is handling it well. Nearly a minute passed when the big orc barked something at the little orc, and he stopped and, to my horror, turned and began to walk toward me. It didn¡¯t take it long to reach me. ¡°Nice sword; it will fetch a good price,¡± he said in a heavily ented voice and swung his ck saber toward me, intending to hack me into two. I watched in horror as I felt my ending closer and closer while I remained frozen in fear. Even in this panicked state, I have be acutely aware of how there are no arrows and spellsing toward me. If they wanted to help me, they could have, at least now, shot a few arrows and spells when the orc hadunched his killing attack. Every notion I had that someone might help me had disappeared; it was absolutely clear that they had been ordered not to help me, even when I was about to be killed. As I realized it, rity formed in my mind, and I found myself moving, not just moving, but swinging the rapier with the familiarity and intent, that only existed in my memories. ng! My rapier shed against his saber, and I received a shock so high that I nearly threw away my sword, but I bore it as I unconsciously did a subtle movement that helped me divert the force of the attack. ¡°So, the little human could defend,¡± he said mockingly while I also took a good look at the orc with eyes that hadn¡¯t been clouded in fear and panic. The orc is one of the smaller orcs that attacked, but it is still bigger than me; it is slightly taller and has double muscles. ¡°Let¡¯s see how long you survive,¡± it said. ¡°[Rapid shes],¡± he said, and saber came at me again, but this time at a much faster speed. He had used his skill, scaring the hell out of me, but this time, I did not panic; instead leaned into the memories and let my instinct guide me. I moved left and avoided its saber by mere inches, surprising both him and myself before attacking it swiftly with my rapier. My attack was quick, but it was faster as it quickly moved its saber to defend before attacking me again with his skill. ng! I used the force it pushed me back and defended against the attack; this time, the shock was even greater, but I diverted it without being shaken. ¡°You are good,¡± said the orc and came at me again. I am also surprised by how I am defending against it; this is an orc, who already possesses greater physical strength than us, not to mention, he had the ss and skills. I am sure a few attribute points in strength and vitality, which increase not only physical strength but dexterity. Still, despite all the advantages, I have not got killed yet or even injured. It seemed like I had underestimated old Remus''s skills too much; he was calledbat genius by all the instructors and even had readied to take the test for the imperial knight, which he would have passed, ording to his instructor. But all that praise had gone over his head and fought a monster above his level, which ended him. ng! Once again, my sword shed against the orc''s saber; my body was moving on its own to deal with the orc''s every attack if they had memories of their own, and they had. The muscle memories that had imprinted with more than a decade of training. ng ng ng My rapier continued to sh against its saber, and the more we shed, the easier it seemed to have be for me. Though I clearly understood that given my disadvantages, it would be hard for me to do anything to the orc, much less kill it. The only reason I even fought was because of the immense training of old Remus and his mind, which seemed to be made for fighting. ¡°[Haze Strike]¡± It shouted suddenly, and its saber became hazy; it became very hard to track its movements as it came at me This skill is really good, one only receives such skills after level 10 or above, but it had received before that. As for it being level 10 or above, I did not even think about that, as I would be lying dead if it had been at that level. I calmed the panic in my heart and focused hard while letting my instinct guide me; old Remus had an amazing fighting instinct, which is the reason why he was able to kill so many monsters before even reaching level five. Rip! I moved to dodge but felt a rippling sensation and pain in my shoulder; it was a saber that cut through my sleeve, but it was not the only thing the saber had cut. It had cut across my shoulder, leaving a gash that was a few inches long and a centimeter deep, giving me quite a pain, but I did not even look at it as all my focus was on the orc. I took a step forward, and now, my rapier was moving toward me fast, with its eyes wide in surprise. Orc moved fast, and I had changed the direction of the Rapier with a flick of my wrist, which lessened its speed, but it was still able to reach it. sh! It touched the armor covering the orc''s stomach, and the moment it did, the runes appeared on the de, and it cut through the armor and its stomach, leaving behind a gash across its gray skin that was at least five inches long and a centimeter deep. ¡°Enchanted Weapon,¡± it said as it retreated out of range of my sword; I could see the fear in its eyes, but there was also greed that was zing brighter. Earlier it might be guessed it is a special weapon, but now it knows it is enchanted and would fetch quite a price. ¡°That de will be mine,¡± it said and came at me, and I also believed in instinct that had saved my life a moment ago. ng ng ng Our weapons shed, but that did not stop us for even a moment as we attacked each other again; this time, I dodged the attack, too, before attacking again, making our weapons sh again. As I had fought against it, I felt like I was dancing with death; while I might have been able to give it a cut, but that only bes it had underestimated me, now it is not. It is extremely careful, not giving me even the slightest chance to cut him. I am also feeling quite a pain in my left hand, which is bleeding; while the bleeding is not much, it will create trouble if we fight for a long. sh! Another minute had passed when its saber cut me again, this time on my waist, and the cut was long but not deep. Though, it hurt like hell and going to make the battle even harder for me. ng! ¡°You will not live long, human,¡± it said and attacked, and a secondter, our weapons shed, giving me sharp pain across my waist as the force reached the wound. Phe! The pain did not stop me, and I attacked it but stopped when a sharp whistle rang through the forest, which stopped all those fighting. ¡°Retreat!¡± Shouted the leading Orc, who had his whole-body bleeding; a momentter, the orcs began to retreat, and we did not stop them. The spells stopped, and so did the arrows as the Orcs began to retreat; nobody stopped them; this time, my brother also stayed silent as he watched them leave, with fear written all over his face. ¡°Pray to your gods, human, that we never meet again because the next time we meet, I will kill you,¡± he said with augh and retreated with big Orc, who was fighting against Dan. I watched as thest orcs disappeared through the trees and took a step back till my back touched the carriage and closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened my eyes a secondter, I heard the sound, which made my eyes go wide instantly. [ss Obtained: Warrior] [Skill Gained: Quick Steps] [Skill Gained: Consecutive Strikes] Rate, write a Review and add it to the Favorite. Chapter Barony of Blain Chapter Barony of in HAPPY NEW YEAR. [ss Obtained: Warrior] [Skill Gained: Quick Steps] [Skill Gained: Consecutive Strikes] I couldn¡¯t help but freeze for a moment before looking at the new ss; seeing it, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. It did not surprise me I got the ss; old Remus had trained over decades, and if I had not entered his body and was still alive, he would have, without a doubt, gotten thebat ss. Now that I had gotten the ss, I felt relieved inside. I felt like I have merged better with the old Remus¡¯s soul; everything felt better than before. Old Remus wanted thebat ss from the bottom of his heart; it was his wish after finding his mother, and now that I seeded in achieving it, the parts of his soul that had merged with me had also be satisfied. I have received a Warrior ss, and not amon fighter; it is level above it, and with it, I got two good skills. The skills were nothing special, seeing they are skills of Warrior ss; some get even better, but these skills worked well together, which makes them very valuable. Every fighter wants to make their skills work together, it increases their power, and the two I received naturally worked well together. The Quick Step, as it said, quickened my steps, while Consecutive Strikes helped meunch many strikes at a fast speed. As for the power of these skills, it depends on the level of ss and attribute of vitality and strength.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 5)
Lawyer (Lv. 2) Warrior (Lv.1)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 8
Vitality: 6
Strength 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open 5. Quick Steps 6. Consecutive Strikes
Attribute Points: 0
I looked at my ss window, there was my new ss, and the skills it gave me had also appeared, but it is not all. There is also a strength attribute, which only appears when one getsbat ss or other specific sses. I wanted to get abat ss, but it was part of my future n; I had no interest in fighting, but I wanted it for the strength attribute. I have got it earlier than I had imagined, and after what I have experienced today, I am not going to use it only to bnce my attribute. Thanks to the old Remus, I have a talent, and I am not going to let it waste. Now, I have one more ss; usually, people don¡¯t keep more than three sses, even three are a lot, but I have a n, and if everything works out in a few years, then everything will be one. It will be extremely hard to do that, but I will strive for it with everything I have. Click! I did not waste more than a few seconds looking at my ss and the window before taking out the healing potion from my pocket and drinking a sip of it. I felt the refreshing cool feeling that entered down my throat into my stomach before spreading into my whole, before concentrating on the wounds on my shoulder and waist. I enjoyed the cool feeling for a few seconds before walking Jonah and Dan, who were nursing their injuries. ¡°Here, take this; it will heal your injuries faster,¡± I said and gave the potion to Dan, who was getting bandaged by Jonah. Jonah is fine with few minor injuries, but Dan got heavy; the orc he had fought was quite powerful. They looked quite surprised seeing me offering a nearly full bottle of potions, it cost as much as their services, but I did not care about the price of the potion. I want them in perfect condition, as they are the only ones who will save my life. I did not forget how everyone had ignored us conveniently in the battle; only these fought for me. He kept looking at me for a second before finally epting the bottle with a hint of gratefulness. ¡°Thank you, mister Silver,¡± he said, ¡°I hope both of you will heal your injuries quickly,¡± I said and walked back toward the carriage. I noticed the gazes of many people as I walked toward the carriage; there was surprise, shock, and even understanding in their eyes as they looked at me. The most prominent of those gazes belonged to my family; I kept a smile on my face as I looked at them and even nodded at my uncle and brother. They have done a very bad thing, and for it, they will pay dearly one day. Click! I opened the door of my carriage and went inside; there, I took out a small first aid kit. I sanitized my wounds with spirit before wrapping the bandages around them. I did not have to do this, as the potion would heal the injuries within a few minutes, but I did not like the difort the open wounds gave me. After bandaging myself, I looked out through the windows; nearly everyone was nursing their injuries. The healer casts her spells on important individuals while the guards are getting bandaged by the staff. Nobody came to me or asked me about my condition, not that I expected them to after what had happened. A lot of people died in this battle that did notst more than fifteen minutes; most of them were the orcs who died, but two humans died too, and many suffered injuries, and it was all because of that idiot. I did not know what made my father buy a title for this idiot. I know it, even when my father did not explicitly say it. It was madam; she wanted her eldest child to be noble, so she forced him till he epted. He did not put much resistance since he wanted the same thing but had a different candidate in his mind. Click! A few minutes passed when the door opened, and Brian walked in; he still looked quite shaken, as he nearly stumbled as he came inside. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked as he sat across me. ¡°Not good; I knew there would be danger but did not expect we would attack our way,¡± he replied with his voice shaking. ¡°The danger is only for a few days; it will lessen a lot after we reach the barony, and after all the noblese to their territory, there will be an effective defense against them,¡± I said, to which he gave me a small smile. ¡°If you do find it dangerous,e to Grelheaven. I will give you a job,¡± I said, and it couldn¡¯t help but surprise him. ¡°While working for me will not be prestigious as working for the baron, I will at least be able to match the sry, and it will be a lot safer,¡± I added to his stumped face. In my conversation with him, I was able to find he is quite good at his job; it will be good for my business to have an employee like him. I do not need an ountant now, but if the establishment keeps earning me money at this pace and I follow up with my future ns, I will need an ountant. ¡°I will think about it,¡± he replied after a few seconds of silence. I did not say anything and just watched; half an hour passed quickly when the carriages began to move again. Time passed in silence; I watched the forest and got amazed at how quickly my injuries were healed by the potion. It did not take even an hour for my injuries to heal, and they have not left behind even a mark. This is simply amazing; such a thing is not possible on earth, even with all the advancements modern medicine has made. After little more than two hourster, after we resumed our journey, we stopped as we have reached our destination, the barony of in. There is nothing here except for a small grey castle with square walls. The castle is new, not even a month old; the prince has made a castle in each of the thirty-two baronies. It is expensive to construct so many castles, but seeing how much the prince had charged for the noble title and deed, the expense became minute. This move is also strategically important; the castle is big enough to house the forces and is defensive in nature. It would easily be able to defend, even when four times the number of orcs attacked it. ¡°My castle!¡± shouted Edwin unceremoniously as he walked out of the carriage with my uncle and Madam behind him. They walked toward the castle; as they reached close to it, the huge gate of the castle began to open till it waspletely open, and the five people walked out of it, with a middle-aged man leading them. ¡°Wee to Castle in, Lord Silver,¡± said the middle-aged man as he bowed faintly. ¡°Captain Markus, thank you for taking care of my castle,¡± said Edwin as she shook his hand with the middle-aged man before walking inside with them. These are the prince¡¯s people; after they hand over the castle, they will leave for the Mirador Hold. It took a few minutes for carriages to be ordered in; I watched as the carriage entered through the huge-metallic gates and entered the bailey of the castle, which was wide enough that easily a thousand people could stand in itfortably. I opened the door and got out of the carriage, and couldn¡¯t help but watch in awe. It is not the first castle I have seen; I have seen bigger, but still, it couldn¡¯t help but fill me with awe. It is not a fancy castle but one that is made with defense in mind; every part of it had a reason to be there, and there was no single vanity piece here. Though it is open enough that the owner could add them, I have no doubt that Edwin would do that. I looked at the keep where my family disappeared with Captain Markus and others; nobody invited me, and nor had I expected them to. I picked up the diary and began to walk around the castle with my guards behind me; I would stop and take notes on everything I noticed. I have been doing it since the moment we left the silver manor. Grandfather had not sent me to watch the scenery; there is also some work, which I will do withplete honesty. A little more than an hour passed when a short old man, with scorn in his eyes, appeared in front of me. ¡°Master Remus, you have been assigned room three on the second floor of the keep,¡± he said without a hint of any politeness. He is Sigmond Ross, the butler; he is one most trusted men of madam and used to be the majordomo of her estates. ¡°Thank you, mister Ross,¡± I said with a smile. The keep is three floors tall; the top should be for Baron and family members, while the second floor should be for an important member of the staff like him and Lester woods. They have put me with them. I wish I were surprised by it, but I am not. He nodded haughtily and, to my surprise, snatched the diary from my hand before I could even react; seeing that, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but harden immediately; it only made him smile at me mockingly. ¡°Lord Baron had ordered that no information about the castle should be spread outside; if you noted any information about the castle again, you would be punished ording tows of barony,¡± it said with scorn dripping through his voice. ¡°Old bastard, remember your ce,¡± I thundered, stopping everyone around me in their tracks. It surprised the old man, but soon the surprise was reced by zing anger at my disrespect. ¡°I am not taking notes, but writing the report that Grandfather had asked me; I will be sure to remember to write down my brother¡¯s inability to control his dogs, that they will dare to talk to family this way,¡± I added, shutting his opened mouth close. All the anger in the old man¡¯s eyes disappeared, and he shuddered visibly in fear. While my brother may be a Baron, it is a house that controls everything; if the house wants, it could easily rece Edwin and ce someone else in his ce, and grandfather is a house; everything he says, the members follow. ¡°My apologies, master Remus for the foul words I may have spoken,¡± said the old man and bowed deeply before handling the diary back with shaking hands and running away with his tail tucked between his legs. I continued for around fifteen more minutes before I walked inside the keep; I had just entered the second floor when I found the madam in front of me, with the old man behind her with his head down. ¡°Madam,¡± I greeted her with the same polite tone as I usually greet her; there was no hint of anger or any other emotions that she would have expected, seeing how I suffered due to them and nearly died. She seemed quite surprised by it but quickly schooled her expressions. ¡°Remus, my apologies for Ross¡¯s behavior. He had too many things to worry about with us moving into dangerous territory and ended up speaking the way he shouldn¡¯t,¡± she said, with a small smile on her face. Her smile couldn¡¯t help but surprise me. She always kept her expressions neutral whenever she talked to me. ¡°My apologies, master Remus,¡± said the old man from behind; I did not even look at him and stared directly at the eyes of Madam. ¡°I may be a bastard, but I am still a Silver.¡± I said, ¡°A servant has shown scorn without a cause, broken one of the most important rules of the house; grandfather will hear about it,¡± I said without backing down. Do Rate and Add to the Favorites. Chapter 23: Tour Chapter 23: Tour Mark Ramsy,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Marco,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. ¡°If you were not an honorable merchant, Mister Remus, I would have invited you to join our mercenarypany,¡± said Dan as he helped me get up. ¡°You praise me too much, Dan,¡± I said as I got up. A lot of people gathered; when I came here, there were only six people here, but now, there are around twenty, including Captain Markus, who ising toward me. ¡°My uncle was not really exaggerating about you, Mister Remus; you are really something,¡± he said. ¡°It was only a spar, Captain Markus,¡± I said humbly, to which he smiled. After speaking a few words with Captain Markus, I walked out of the training area with Dan, with legs that had already started to feel like jelly. I have overdone it, and now, I will pay the price. Though, I do not regret it; if I were to fight that orc now, I would have a much better chance against it; I might even be able to score a few strikes. ¡°Use a muscle numbing medicine; it will help with soreness and pain,¡± Dan said as we began to climb the stairs of the keep. A mirthless smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face; I did not have one. I have it home, and if I knew something like that would happen, I would have brought it, but I am no seer to know; I might need that. Click! Soon, I reached my chambers and closed the door behind me, and was about to go for a bath when suddenly, I remembered something. A way to relieve the soreness and pain; it is expensivepared to muscle numbing cream, but it will help. I immediately took a healing potion and filled the ss with water before carefully dropping a single drop of potion inside before mixing it well with the spoon. With that done, I took a clean cloth and dipped it inside before taking it and beginning to apply it to my body. The healing potion could heal any kind of body damage, including the soreness that appears due to the strained muscles. I applied it all over my body; it took little ingenuity to reach the hard-to-reach ces, but I was able to do it. Iy naked on the floor as I let the healing potion do its magic; it would take around ten minutes to seep inside my muscles and worked its magic. Ten minutes passed, and thankfully, no one had disturbed me. I got up and took a long bath in a heated tub; it made me feel quite rxed, especially after the taxing days. I stayed in the bathroom for nearly an hour before getting out and changing into the new set of clothes and went to breakfast. Thankfully, I was alone and did not have to suffer the presence of the family. After breakfast, I returned to my room and read the book I had brought for around two hours before getting up and walking out of the room. ¡°Mister Remus, I am d you are joining us,¡± said Captain Markus, as I appeared at the entrance of the table, where the horses were being readied. ¡°I can¡¯t resist the offer,¡± I replied. We are going to tour the baron; everyone important is present, my brother, madam and my uncle. Captain Markus knows the territory well since he has been here for over a month. Ten minutester, all the horses were readied with their saddle; one of the guards brought me the horse; it was a red horse with green metallic hoves. The iron-scaled horses, these horses are bred with monsters, which give them better stamina and bigger size while being easy to train and control like normal animals. Seeing the horse, I couldn¡¯t help but remember my parents. My mother loved horses, she hadpeted in her younger days before she had to leave due to injuries, but her passion never died out. They had even nned to buy a farm after retiring; I hope they followed up with that. I petted the horse a few times before mounting it; the horse is very well-trained. It barely reacted as I sat on it. ¡°Good boy,¡± I said as I petted again gently and waited for the gates of the castle to open. Soon, the gates opened, and horses trotted out under the lead of Captain Markus, who seemed to have some skill in controlling therge group of horses, which is not surprising, seeing he is a captain in calvary. As the horses got out the gates and moved toward the forest. ¡°The weather is wonderful today, don¡¯t you think, mother,¡± said my brother, ¡°Yes, Lord Baron, it is perfect to take a tour of the barony,¡± she replied. They talked, while I stayed silent in their conversations, only talking to them when they had asked question. ¡°Lieutenant Vans, what do you think of bandits around?¡± I asked the woman beside me, ¡°Most groups could be defended against well, like the ones you have encountered yesterday, but there are some that are very powerful,¡± she said, and her eyes became a little distant. ¡°Some have high numbers, while some barely have thirty, but they could easily break through the castle walls and ughter everyone,¡± she added with a low voice. Numbers are not everything; levels and skills affect the battles a lot more, and also the weapon they are using. So, if the bandits are at good levels and skills, even a quarter of the numbers would be more than enough to break through the castles. ¡°But they would not attack the castle, right?¡± I asked, ¡°Yes,¡± she replied, ¡°Unless one has something really valuable or good enough reason,¡± she added. The bandit orcs are not idiots; you could loot but never attack the castle, especially kill the noble, as it would bring the wrath of the empire. The empire will send forces to wipe them out, and if they hide in ces where armies can¡¯te, there will be a huge bounty. Adventurers and mercenaries would be more than willing to finish the job that the army couldn¡¯t. Time passed as the horses trotted through the forest; it was a wonderful ce, especially in sunny weather. I wish there would be only a few people, especially not my brother, who is constantly running his mouth. I did not listen to his chatter and focused on something else, the trees, the soul, which is very fertile. If used well, it will bring Edwin huge benefits through farming. ¡°This is where the western boundary of barony ends, Lord Edwin; after this road is the territory of Ashleaf Barony,¡± informed Captain Markus. Even if he had not informed, it has clearly been marked by the huge stones and deeds that clearly mention the area of the baronies down to inches. So, it is quite hard to mess around it. Our horses turned and went toward the northern side; as we did, our expressions have turned serious. in is one of thest baronies; at its northern border, there is buffernd, and after it is a territory of the Oksall city-state. Many orc tribes live at the boundary, most of them are good, trading livestock and doing some farming, but many tribes are resorted to banditry. Oksall sent their forces to clean them every now and then, but given how vast the forest is, they always came back. For more than one hour, we found nothing more than a few prints of orcs, but when we reached the northern boundary, we saw them. ¡°They are not even trying to hide,¡± said my uncle as he looked at the small hill ahead with his spyss. I also looked through mine and saw the tiny figures on the hills, some even waving at us. ¡°Why didn¡¯t prince send the forces and wipe away these bastards,¡± said Edwin as he looked at the orcs hatefully; even his rock for a brain understands that he is going to have a lot of problems in dealing with these orcs. ¡°Because Lord Baron, we won¡¯t be able to kill all of them, and when the force leaves, whatever had remained, will harass you till you can¡¯t even close your eyes at night,¡± replied Captain Markus, which shut up Edwin immediately. ¡°There is another solution. Giving that job to us; we will finish them till not a single one of them has remained,¡± said Jonah softly but loud enough for the people around me to hear. ¡°Which will be a very bad choice,¡± I said softly, to which he smiled. I wanted to say even a prince would have that kind of money to spend on these pests, but that is not the right word to say in the crowd, especially in front of the prince¡¯s men. These orcs are pests; they could only harass and loot, and they will do it in a capacity that is eptable, as going over that will invite swift retribution, not only from our side but also from the Oksall. ¡°One day, I will wipe away these bastards from the face of the earth,¡± dered Edwin, and I could literally see more than half of the people rolling their eyes at his statement. Even the whole Empire would have a problem aplishing that, much less a puny baron like him. We stayed there for a few minutes, watching orcs as they watched us before turning back toward the castle. Dont forget to Tap on FOLLOW AND FAVORITE. Chapter 24: Mirador Hold Chapter 24: Mirador Hold John Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Marco,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Thap ng Thap Swords of ironwood shed, but this training was more like pping on my flesh than shing against the sword. Unlike Dan, Jonah¡¯s training is all-out offensive. He is attacking me rapidly, and I have to stop his sword from hitting me directly in any way; I could dodge, defend or even counter, but I am failing spectacrly, despite him attacking me with the same strength and speed I have. Three out of four of his strikes would hit me, while the one I would stop by either my sword or by dodging, taking help from skills; without them, I could not even stop one attack. Jonah had asked me to use skills from the beginning; ording to him, I should get used to them as it is they, which will help me in killing the enemy, and the more familiar I am with them, the better it would be. So, for more than half an hour, I beating from him up; I asked him not to hold anything back, and he was not. Taking his repeated beating is hard, but I had already tried itst night when I sparred against him and Dan after dinner. The spar with them nearly made me vomit what I have eaten. Thap! Another strike of the back of the sword hit me hard against my waist, making me fall on the ground, and I stayed there for a couple of seconds, squirming in pain, before sitting up withborious breaths. ¡°The speed of your improvement is quite amazing, Mister Silver. Yesterday, you were only taking a beating; today, you have defended one out of four,¡± said Dan, and he was not mocking but staying in a deadly serious voice. ¡°It is not an improvement; just remember what I have trained for years,¡± I said. I may have gotten the skills, but I am still not good as old Remus. It will take me some time before I regain everything he had trained for, and seeing the speed of improvement; it shouldn¡¯t take long. A minuteter, I got up and walked toward the keep, with pain shooting all over my body with every movement I made; the walk to my room felt like pure torture. The sun hadn¡¯te up yet, but it would soon. I have ready by then as we leave for Mirador Hold with Captain Markus and his men. Soon, I reached my room, and like I did yesterday morning and night; I put a drop of healing potion into the water and applied it over my body, and rested on the floor. I felt the cold sensation spreading into my skin, and as it spread, the cooling feeling spread, and the pain begin to disappear. By the time ten minutes had passed, all the pain in my body had disappeared. Getting up, I took a quick bath and changed into a new set of clothes before getting out of my room. When I reached the bailey, the sun was out, and they were already gathering; even my brother and Madam were out. Madam is staying; she liked being a mother of the lord, and more than that, she knew she needed to be here to help her son. Without her, he will burn the barony down to the ground or get himself killed. ¡°Mister Remus, we will leave in five,¡± informed Lieutenant Vans as I reached the horses. I nodded my thanks and walked toward the horse I rode yesterday. Jonah and Dan fixed my stuff to the horses before I sat on it; we are going to Mirador Hold by horses. If we are lucky, we should be able to reach there by afternoon or sooner if we were to believe the words of Captain Markus. ¡°Let''s go,¡± said Captain Markus, and his horse moved; as it did, I felt an effect enveloping the horse I was riding and me, and it was reinforced by a couple of more weaker feelings. They had activated their skills, and I could immediately feel their effects, I felt morefortable and in control of the horse at the same time, and I felt the horse was moving at more ease than yesterday. Most importantly, we have picked up the speed from the start. In a few seconds, we were out of the castle and in the forest, moving through the road toward the Mirador Hold with a speed that would have tired even racehorses on the earth very quickly, and these horses were just picking up speed. They are getting faster by the minute, and no turns and twists seem to be reducing their speed. ¡°It is amazing, right?¡± asked Lieutenant Vans, whose hair is strangely in ce, despite the air. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, a little louder than I would have. I felt I would have needed to speak loudly, but if I had spoken at normal volume, she would have heard me. Riding at this speed feels exhrating, and the thing is, despite the speed, there is no; I could see everything clearly, more clearly than I would through my eyes and at a much wider angle. Which, too, is an effect of skill and is very necessary. While the bandits won''t attack the people of Mirador Hold, there are always desperate and daring people whose actions one could not predict. Two hours passed, and we crossed a huge distance, and the horses were still running without a stop. Hun! As we rode, we saw the huge entourage of carriages, even bigger than ours; the horses slowed down a little as we passed them before picking up the speed. ¡®Baron Harrods,¡¯ I said, a man of considerable power who had earned a barony with merits. He is a veteran of many wars, and through them, he gained a lot of merit and levels. The prince had done a very smart thing cing him here. He will be my brother¡¯s neighbor, whose territory, too, is on the boundary of Oksall. The orcs would be wise not to attack him, or they will pay a high price. Two more hours passed, and we finally stopped for a break; the break was only fifteen minutes, but it was enough for us to stretch our legs. After fifteen minutes are over, we begin to ride again and, within an hour,e across the entourage of two more nobles Within a week, all the nobles would take control of their territories, making the forest much safer. It will also be a little chaotic as, like the earth; here, too, the nobles squabble over every little thing. Two and half hours passed when we crossed and climbed up the hill, and I finally saw the Mirador Hold. It is a sight to behold. ¡°Amazing, isn¡¯t it?¡± asked Lieutenant Vans, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod as I looked at the huge ck fort, which was between the two big hills. Usually, forts are above the hills, so the enemies won¡¯t be able to reach them without sufficient effort, but it is not made to defend against the enemies who are alive but dead; this fort is to defend against the undead of Navr. The castle is huge and old, over a thousand and five hundred years old; it had been destroyed by the undead many times and built by whoever controls Renwell regions just as many times. Thest time it was destroyed was three and a half years ago, when the undead horde of Navr swept through Renwell region. Which gave the Empire a chance to snatch it from Tabes. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Captain Markus, and the horses began to run down the hill. As we moved toward the fort, I began to feel constrained in my chest while all the hair in my body stood up. ¡°Take a deep breath Remus; the fort is dangerous, but to our enemies,¡± said Lieutenant Vans beside me. I nodded thanks and started to do what she had asked me to, and immediately, I began to feel better. I am still feeling like the big dangerous monster staring at me, but I know it is not going to eat me. I had heard about this feeling; when arge number of powerhouses gathered, they created a presence strong enough that the weak-willed fell unconscious when they got close to it. Fifteen minutester, we reached the giant gate of the fortress; they are huge, three times big as the gate of the in castle. We stopped as we appeared near the huge gates, and an old man who looked to be in his sixties walked toward us with a team of people behind him. ¡°Captain Markus of the 11th regiment, returning from the guard duty of in Castle, with me are Raymond Silver and Remus Silver from the mercantile house of Silver,¡± said Captain Markus to the old man and handed his badge. ¡°Wee back to Mirador Hold, Captain,¡± he said, handing back the badge after checking it while his men checked the badges of the rest of his team while the man turned to us. ¡°Gentlemen,¡± he said as he appeared beside my uncle and me. We nodded at him and handed him our IDs; he inspected them before handling them back while his men checked our bags and everything. ¡°Everything is great; wee to Mirador Hold.¡± He said, and we rode inside, and soon we were out of the huge gates and saw the fort in its reality. ¡°Wow,¡± is the only thing that came out of my mouth as I looked around. The fort is majestic, the biggest one I have ever seen, with huge, warded walls that even the most powerful spells will have a hard time breaking, on which have cannons that are big as trucks that would decimate anything they hit. There are also huge keeps for different purposes; they look old and worn, with clear signs of the newest repairs. One could feel the history of this ce just standing here and also the danger. I could see the thousands of people, mostly soldiers, marching, standing alone, or guarding, with alertness shing in their eyes. If the fort gets attacked, it won¡¯t take long for them to assemble and march toward the enemy. ¡°It was nice traveling to you, gentlemen; I hope you will have a pleasant journey to Greltheaven,¡± said Captain Markus and rode off with his team while we rode toward the building, which had a civilian lodge written in big letters. We put our horses in the stable and walked inside the lodge. ¡°One top suit and six general rooms,¡± said my uncle to the reception, once again ignoring me. He had been a little tempered for the day, but now that we had gotten out of the barony, he returned to his usual self. He took the keys and walked out with his assistant and guards while I booked the rooms for my guards and me. I am tired. The journey to the fort had been fast, and Captain Markus and his team had made itfortable as they could, but I still got tired. It is not just the journey but also the training in the morning. Now, I just want to eat and sleep till all this tiredness gets swept away from me. If you like the chapter, then HIT the FOLLOW and FAVORITE. Chapter 25: Scheme Chapter 25: Scheme Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Knock Knock I was sleeping soundly when I heard the knock on my door. I looked at the watch first before getting up and walking toward the door. I had slept for two and a half hours, which calmed my anger a little as I was only nning to sleep only for two hours. Click! I opened the door, and to my surprise, I found it was tony, my uncle''s assistant. Once again, the irritation red in my mind, but I calmed it down as I opened my mouth. "Tony, does my uncle want something?" I asked him, with a voice calm as possible, but some of my irritation still seeped inside it. Though, he acted like he did not hear it, as there was no change in his expression. "Yes, he requires your presence," he replied, hearing that I just looked at him without any reactions. I will not run to my uncle whenever he calls me, especially after what he did. Silence stretched between us as we looked at each other before, finally, irritation shed in Tony''s eyes before he opened his mouth. "He is with people who need legal advice on the contract," he said finally, but hearing that frown couldn''t help but appear on my face. "You are awyer; I am sure you would be able to give them all the legal advice they need," I said. He is awyer, not to mention those people who need my supposed legal advice would have brough their ownwyers. This is, without a doubt, a scheme from my uncle. "It is vice-head of merchant guild Soren Arryn," said Leon finally, and it couldn''t help but surprise me. "I will be ready in five," I said, and I could see that hateful knowing smile appear on his face before I closed the door on his face. I quickly freshened up and changed into a new set of clothes before walking back toward the door. I opened the door and found Leon standing at the same spot as before; seeing meing, he began to walk without a word. I followed behind him. The ce we are going to is two floors above; it is a ce where normal people couldn''t go, even I couldn''t book a ce there. It is for imminent people; my uncle was able to get it, but only because he is a representative of the house. Soon, we stopped in front of golden doors with an borate design, and Tony knocked. Click! A short raven-haired girl who seemed to be in herte twenties opened the door, invited us inside the suite, and took us to where my uncle and vice-guild head Soren was. The suite is quite good that one would not think it is run by the military; it is opulent with all the amenities and expensive enough that I wouldn''t stay in it, even if it were avable to me. Soon, I reach the room where my uncle and vice-guild head are; they are not the only ones, there are also four more people, but seeing how they are sitting, they are obviously staff. ¡°You have asked for me, uncle, vice-guild head Arryn?¡± I asked directly as I appeared. ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°Your uncle had praised your legal talent a lot, that even the leader of your house had praised it; I hope you will do little something for me,¡± added the old man as he looked at me with a smile. His presence had surprised me; I thought he would not leave Greltheaven till all the important guests left, including the prince, but it seemed like something important hade up to make hime here. ¡°It is mediocre, vice-guild head. My father had praised me beyond my abilities,¡± I said politely. Yes, my Grandfather had praised me openly, but it was only because my father began to write down good things about me to him. Though he had reason to since I had gotten thew certificate, I began helping him, and he was doing a better job than thewyers he had. ¡°See, Soren, didn¡¯t I tell you my nephew is humble, despite having a great ability,¡± said my uncle as he looked at me with affection and pride. This bastard surely has an Acting ss; it is not me who is saying it, but even my father had said it, given how he could change his colors at a moment¡¯s notice. ¡°Remus, I want you to look at this contract. If you find some problems with it, even a single one, I will back your position as legal adviser in the guild,¡± he said as he motioned toward the small pile of papers. I could see a hint of mirth appear in the eyes of a couple of people, including my uncle and his assistant, as they heard that. The bastard had set me up well; I could not reject it, and if I did not impress him in some way, not only this old will not support me, but he might as well block my position as the legal adviser in the guild. If he had not done this, there was an 80% chance I would have gotten the position I wanted. The letter of rmendation from the head of the house of Silver is nomon thing; he is a powerful man nobody wants to upset Especially if it is a harmless position, but here, if I failed, they would have enough reason to reject my application. ¡°Thank you for the kind opportunity, vice-guild head,¡± I said as I walked toward the table, lifting the contract, and immediately felt the powerful skills that are attached to it. My hands shook, and I nearly dropped it; I gripped it tightly and sat down on the empty chair. ¡°What do you want me to find in it exactly?¡± I asked vice-guild head Arryn. His words were too broad; there are tens of things in such a contract. I need to know the specifics; otherwise, even the rest of the day and night won''t be enough. As he heard my question, his expression became serious, and now looking at me with a more than favor my uncle had called. ¡°I want you to find ways for the person to cancel the contract,¡± he said; hearing that small smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°It is too broad; I am sure the contract has more than ten ways; both parties cancel the contract,¡± I replied, and finally, a small genuine smile appeared on the serious face of the old man. ¡°I want you to find out if there is any way the other party could cancel it without paying any price, despite me fulfilling all obligations correctly,¡± he said, informing me the thing he wants, and it will be tricky. Such things are hidden very expertly. ¡°I will do my best,¡± I said. ¡°You have till seven, Remus; I have to sign it by eight,¡± the old man said and got up before leaving the room with my uncle, who looked at me and gave me his most wicked smile. Now, there is only me, and the young woman who opened the door had remained in the room as also the heavy contract. It is around three-thirty, and there is a forty-page contract. If it had been a normal contract, it wouldn¡¯t have been a problem for me, but many skills are attached to it, and that will take a lot of time. I put a notepad on my thigh and started to read the contract. It is a standard bill of the sale contract between the Mirador Hold and the mercantile house of Soren. It is about five thousand armor cleaning kits that house Soren would provide to Mirador Hold every three years. It is a big contract, but not as big as those huge contracts, like supplying weapons and all that, not that I had expected to get a read of them. Those contracts have secrets of the house; they will not let anyone read them, especially not a person from another powerful mercantile house. The power of skills is too heavy; it is forcing me to read and also making me forget what I read. I had every line couple of times and wrote down its main points just to understand it. It was frustrating when I first time started reading them; I tore my hair apart in frustration. The dead bastard used to have fun watching me like this, always throwing contracts with powerful skills at me. It is a little better now, with my Lawyer ss providing me with some resistance and Contract Skill, helping me understand it a little better. The Contract Skill is not useful in forming a contract but also aids in understanding them. It was frustratingly hard, but I continued reading, double reading, triple reading till I understood everything the line said and what it didn¡¯t say, and what it implied. ¡°Can I have some water, please?¡± I asked the woman two hourster. She nodded and poured me a ss. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said as I took a ss from the tray and drank it whole before focusing back on the contract. It was five minutes to seven when the vice-guild head Arryn, returned with my uncle. Seeing them, I closed the contract. ¡°So, do you find anything?¡± asked vice-guild head Arryn. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, and he sounded surprised while the middle-aged walked behind him, walked up, and sat beside him. ¡°It is section seven, subsection d, that gives the authority to cancel the contract without paying any price or giving any valid reason,¡± I informed; vice-guild head turned to the middle-aged man, who was looking at me with a barely hidden mocking smile. ¡°The three use of section nine nullifies it,¡± said the middle-aged man with a smug smile, which he is not even trying to hide. ¡°Yes, it did, but when you added use c of section thirteen and use f of section sixteen, it will give them the power to cancel the contract, after one year, without any penalty or reason,¡± I replied, to which the middle-aged man shook his head. ¡°No section nine nullified them too,¡± said a middle-aged, refuting. ¡°Check it again very carefully,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Herman, check what Remus said,¡± said the vice-guild head when middle age man opened his mouth to refute again. The middle-aged man took the contract from me grudgingly and began to look with confidence in his eyes, but a minuteter, the confidence began to slip up, and his expression turned serious. In the contracts, everyma and every dot are important; you change them, and the whole meaning of the contract will change. On earth, where there is no skill and magic, we have to do things with ingenuity. Companies paywyers millions to create loopholes that no one can find or fine the loophole the contracts have. ¡°Well?¡± asked the vice-guild head with a slight hint of irritation, ¡°I think what mister Remus said is right,¡± he said after a moment of silence. Vice guild head sighed, while the smile on my uncle''s face froze, and he looked as if he had eaten a fly and wanted to vomit but could not. ¡°Is there any way they could cancel the contract within a year?¡± asked the vice-guild head as he turned to me. ¡°If there is, I did not see it,¡± I replied. I did not directly say no, even though I am sure they could not, but it might be possible, and I might not have seen it. ¡°Good, thank you, Remus, and as I had promised, I will give you my backing for the position of a legal adviser,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, vice-guild head,¡± I said. He nodded, but suddenly his expression changed. ¡°Are you leaving with your uncle the day after toward with fortress¡¯s peoples?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, it is the safest way,¡± I replied. ¡°Well, if you want to return early, you cane with me. I am leaving in a few hours after I finish with my business here,¡± he offered, and my eyes lit up, hearing that. ¡°I would be grateful,¡± I replied quickly, seeing my uncle open his mouth; I am sure he would have objected in some way. ¡°Good,¡± he said and turned to my uncle, ¡°Your nephew is good, as you told Raymond. It seemed like I do owe you one,¡± he said, and my uncle smiled, which obviously looked very forced. The bastard had tried to scheme against me, but instead, it ended up benefitting me. He must be feeling quite angry right now. Do Click on FOLLOW. Chapter 26: Returning to Greltheaven Chapter 26: Returning to Greltheaven [Lawyer Level 3] The fork stopped near my mouth as the words shed in front of me; it stayed there for more than a second before I took the bite. A knowing look shed between my guards as they saw me suddenly stopping, but I did not care. I am happy. The contract must be signed for me to level up two hourster. I am not surprised; it is one of the reasons why I have chosen to apply for the post of legal adviser. I have brough my guards to the restaurant, treating them for what they did me. Though it is their job to protect me and what they did, but still, I am grateful to them; without their help, I would have died. Soon, we finished our dinner, and I went back to my room; I would have liked to see the fortress more, but at night, they had limited ess further, and I had already seen what I could earlier. Even if restricted areas were open, I wouldn''t have gone there. I have to leave the fort soon, and I wanted to be in my room when the vice-guild head sent someone to call. Which is also the reason why I am not practicing today. Knock Knock I was reading the book when a knock rang out on my door; I closed the book and walked toward the door before opening it. "Mister Remus, vice-guild head Arryn is ready to leave," said the blond-haired man in histe twenties. "Ok," I said, without me saying anything, my guards, who were standing by the door, came inside and picked up my bags, and we began to follow the man, Arryn had sent. Hun! I had thought he would take me to the suit of vice guild head, but I was wrong; we were going down. Soon, we walked out of the lodge and reached the ce where a long luxury carriage was waiting with around twenty guards. "Mister Remus," said the man before opening the gate of the carriage. I nodded and stepped inside the carriage and was immediately felt d seeing there was no sign of my uncle. I thought he would weasel his way in here to make the journey hell for me. He would have, if not for the business he had here been important, which he did not tell me anything about. "Vice guild-head, Arryn," I greeted as I entered inside and took a seat opposite him, and second after that, the carriage began to move. "Young Remus, with you, are joining; the journey wouldn''t be much boring," he said. To that, I smiled. We are not alone in the carriage, there are three other people, including the middle-aged man, which is likely hiswyer, a man in his mid-thirties, who is his assistant, and the maid I had seen earlier. "You have helped me a lot there, Remus; now, with that loophole closed, I can be sure the contract will run through its period," he said, sounding quite happy. He should be, as the big arms contract signed by the house; he will not get much money from it. This one is an independent contract between him and Mirador Hold, and while the house acted as a guarantee, most of the profit from it would be his. "I am d I could help, vice-guild head," I said; he nodded before his expression turned serious. "With the letter of rmendation from the head of your house and my backing, it is near guaranteed you have the job,¡± ¡°But I must say, Remus, it is a difficult job; usually,wyers with the favor of leadership get this job," he said. "It will be hard to manage the job and your business," he added. Indirectly asking me to think carefully about asking "I know, but I am young and feel like I could do it. If I get a feeling that I am letting down the guild, I will resign on my own," I said politely. "If you were able to do what you have done today, there is no way you will be letting down the guild," he said. "Though I have to warn you, there will be quite a lot of work for you; the guilds are establishing a contract with many cities of Meldhorn and the Empire, and with hundreds or even thousands of intraguild, contracts going to be signed," he added. "I expect nothing less," I replied with a smile. It is the reason why I applied for the position immediately. I could have waited, and it could have taken me a while to get the position. I would have got it eventually with a rmendation, but by that time, I would have already lost the golden opportunity to make the biggest difference and level up faster. The work will be huge, especially with my business, but the benefits it will bring me will also be immense. I will be in the inner circle of the guild, able to make the connections quickly and also able to get valuable information through my work there; not to mention, I will be able to level my ss up if I do a good enough job. The carriage stopped at the gates, but only for a few seconds, before passing through it, and after that, it picked up the pace. It is an enchanted carriage; every enchantmentid out in it is for the maximumfort of the people inside. The carriage felt smooth with the enchantment and the aid of driver skills, who is without a doubt a level 20 or above. It is not justfort that is great but also speed, it is going fast, and its speed is only increasing. If everything had gone well, then we would be able to reach Greltheaven by afternoon or even before that. I talked with the old man for a while before we stopped; he began to read through the document and discussed something with his people, which I could not hear due to privacy skills. I also picked up the book and began reading an hour and a halfter; I closed it and reclined my seat as the old man had done, and closed my eyes to sleep. The carriage was veryfortable that I fell asleep within a minute. [Sautner Merchant Level 6] I woke up when the first rays of dawn began piercing through the clouds, but my gaze was focused on something else. The text had appeared in front of me, informing me that I had leveled up in my base ss, and it couldn''t help but surprise me. Something good must have happened in the establishment, for it happens. Now, I am more excited to reach the establishment to know what happened that had me level up. I calmed my excited mind and opened the interface.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 6)
Lawyer (Lv. 3) Warrior (Lv.1)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 8
Vitality: 6
Strength 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open 5. Quick Steps 6. Consecutive Strikes
Attribute Points: 1
I immediately looked at the attribute point that appeared as my base ss had leveled up, and I wanted to add it to the strength desperately. I need strength to deal with any threat I havee across, but it wouldn''t be a wise decision. I am going to the city, and while danger exists, I will have to bear it. As for the attribute point I got, it is going at intelligence. Theing days will require me to have high-mental attributes; most of my skills are rted to that. While ording to convection wisdom, intelligence should be 20% to 30% lower than charisma, I want to take a simr level to it, not because I disagreed with it, but because taking intelligence to the capstone of ten points will immediately increase its power byrge. Which, in turn, which in turn will increase the power of my skills. After it reaches ten, I will let it rest for a while and focus on the other attributes. So, with my mind made, I immediately dumped the attribute point into the intelligence and immediately felt the change.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 6)
Lawyer (Lv. 3) Warrior (Lv.1)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 9
Vitality: 6
Strength 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open 5. Quick Steps 6. Consecutive Strikes
Attribute Points: 0
The intelligence attribute reached nine; I will need one more to take it to ten. I could already feel the effect of a single point. The world had begun to look much clearer to me; I perceived things with greater rity than before. I closed the window and looked around; Arryn was still sleeping, and so were hiswyer and the maid. His assistant, however, had woken up. I gave him a nod and looked outside the window, watching the sky, which had brightened up a little more. Half an hourter, everyone had woken up, and we took a break. We traveled non-stop without stopping and needed a break to relieve ourselves and stretch our legs. The horses, too, needed to rest while they could continue, but it would be straining, so it is better they rest a little. We have relieved ourselves, stretched, and freshened up before eating breakfast. It was much better than my family had handed to me; even the breakfast of the guards was much better. "We will be able to reach Greltheaven by early afternoon," I said, sitting on the tree-stump, "Sooner," said Arryn with a smile. We crossed a huge distance through the night; I was quite surprised when I looked at the map. Now the old man is saying we might reach it sooner. Soon the breakfast was finished, and we entered the carriage again; it began to move, and within a few minutes, the carriage had picked up a speed that was greater than the night. ''No wonder the old man said we might be able to reach the Greltheaven sooner,'' I said as I looked at the passing wastnd before turning back to my book. "Vice guild-head, if you don''t mind me asking, what is the response of the empire in this thawing of ties with merchant city-states?" I asked the old man up from the papers he was reading. It is a simple question; I am not asking about the opinion ofmon people but about elites, whose opinion is what really matters. Once upon a time, they were quite opposed to it, especially the nobles and church, while the merchants were always in favor of it. "The nobles are in favor now, especially those powerful ones of frontier regions, so are themon people, and us merchants are always in favor of trade," he said, and his expressions have be little be little hesitant. "Some princes and nobles are opposed to it, especially those who are close to the church of war god," he added, "It is not surprising," I said, and he caught my meaning as he smiled. The church of war god had always opposed anyone that did not let them proselyte and imposed taxes, and merchant city-states did. While they do not forbid religion, they seldom encourage its spread and impose taxes on them. Their taxes on churches are greater than the taxes on business, which I think is the main reason, the churches hate them most, especially the church of war god. Though, it is also true that churches in merchant city-states are one of the riches in the whole continent, which is why despite all the disadvantages, every religion wants to spread there. Hours passed, and finally, I could see the silhouette of the city and soon the Trollmouth river, which we reached half an hourter. I thought we would have to exit the carriage and enter the boat across the river as we did a few days ago, but to my surprise, we did not have to. The carriage had directly entered the big boat that was already waiting for it. Soon, the boat began to cross the river, and I couldn''t help but sigh. The money and power could make things quiteforting, and one day, I will have it; I will travel, even greater luxury than this old man doing right now. Soon, the boat crossed the river and began to move through the port seemed more crowded than before; it made both of us happy. "If the city hadn''t been destroyed in a decade, then nobody would be able to stop it from bing a powerhouse," I said softly, and the smile on the old man''s face brightened up. "You have read my mind Remus; it is risky here, but if we survived here for a decade, then we will earn a fortune that would not have been possible anywhere in the whole empire," said the old man. ¡°Let it be true,¡± I said, ¡°It will, young Remus, it will,¡± said the old man and satfortably as the carriage walked out of the port. Twenty minutester, the carriage stopped in front of the gates of my house. ¡°Thank you, vice guild head; without you, it would have been a long, ufortable journey for me,¡± I said to him as I moved to walked out of the carriage. ¡°It is at least I could do after the help you have provided me,¡± said the old man. ¡°Still, thank you,¡± I said and walked out of the carriage. I am grateful to the old man; the journey to the in had been hell, and I never wish to experience something like that again. Thank You My Patrons: FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 27: Liquor Chapter 27: Liquor ¡°Thank you again, Jonah, Dan; without you both, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to return to the Greltheaven in one piece,¡± I said to them as they dropped me at the establishment. ¡°You have said that to us ten times already, Mister Remus; if you are really grateful, then hire us when you have a need of guards next time,¡± said Jonah. ¡°You can count on that,¡± I said to them and walked through the gates of the establishment. As I walked toward the mansion, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I have been away for five days, and I truly missed it; I hope everything went well. It should have, considering I have leveled up in the morning. I had reached the fountain when the door opened, and Ca walked outside radiantly in a purple spaghetti dress. ¡°You havee early?¡± she asked as she stopped in front of me, ¡°Well, I got a ride,¡± I replied. To which she arched her brow in question, and I began to tell her about the ride I had with Soren Arryn as I walked inside the manor. Soon we reached my office, and I sat on my seat, which was slightly warm; Ca was likely sitting on it before I arrived. ¡°So, how was everything?¡± I asked the question, ¡°Good, very good,¡± she said and forwarded the file toward me. I took it without question, and in a minute, my eyes widened before I even finished reading the first page. I flipped the page, and with the page, I flipped, the greater and greater shock would spread through my heart, even after cing the file down twenty minutester. I wasn¡¯t able to calm myself fully. The first night at opening, the establishment had earned one hundred and thirty-seven thousand crowns. On the second night, it was one thousand and seventy-nine thousand crowns; on the third night, it was one hundred and ny-one thousand crowns; and on the fourth night, it was ny thousand crowns. Seeing nearly the same earnings on the third and fourth night, I thought the earnings had been stabilized, but I had been wrong. On the fifth night, on which I was on my way to the barony, the establishment had earned two hundred and two thousand crowns. On the sixth night, it was two hundred and four thousand crowns; on the seventh night, it was two hundred and four thousand crowns, the same as the previous day. Things have changed on the eighth night; several things happened. The first was an increase in rates; we have increased the rates by hundred crowns, making them three hundred per hour. It happened after all the high-ss brothel decided to increase the rate; I had asked Ca to follow the suit if they did it. Increasing our rates to beparable to the brothel charging the highest. Still, it wouldn¡¯t have made such a huge increase; at most, it would have made us around thirty to fourth thousand crowns extra. The increase is more than that; we have earned a total of two-hundred and eighty-eight thousand crownsst night, a shocking amount. Taking the four nights'' earnings over nine hundred thousand crowns, even after paying bills and everything, we had six hundred thousand remaining four days of earnings, not to mention little over two hundred thousand we had from the first four days after taxes and all expenses. So, now we have eight hundred and fifty thousand crowns in our coffers, which is enough for me to do some things, but before I begin to discuss them, I want to ask one thing. ¡°So, what happened?¡± I asked directly; she understood the question and even expected it, as she immediately opened that tantalizing mouth of hers. ¡°A little before mid-night, arge group of people came; they were from Meldhorn and felt quite a high level. ¡°They stayed till morning before leaving,¡± she replied. ¡°Do you able to find who they were?¡± I asked; she had ess to information I subscribe to from the grey guild and our information. ¡°Some,¡± she said and took out the page from a file in front of her and gave it to me. I read the names, some of whom have the information below their names; reading the information, a smile couldn¡¯t help but tug my lips. No wonder we were able to earn so much, and I was even able to level up; these people were quite powerful and rich. ¡°Now, let¡¯s take the ns we made forward,¡± I said as I took out the file from the drawer before opening it. ¡°We are renewing the teachers'' contract, and this time for three months,¡± I said and wrote down something at the end of the page that I took out. ¡°We will also be hiring new teachers in these fields,¡± I said and slid the page toward her. The list is made using input from the girls, Ca, and my own opinions. The teachers we hired are only teaching them basic things like etiquette and speech, and these new teachers will teach them different things, mostly art. Music, painting, dancing, and a few other things like mathematics andnguage. Most girls know only knowmon; I want them to have fluency in one morenguage. I am teaching them these things not only because I want them to have knowledge of it but, most importantly, their ss. Learning these things will take their ss in the direction I want it to go. ¡°The girls will be happy,¡± said Ca, her eyes bing a little emotional. ¡°I am d,¡± I replied before turning to other things. ¡°I want you to contact Ms. Rand and ask her whether she is willing to work for the establishment; if she is not interested, then ask Ms. Cooper,¡± I said ¡°Though, tell them that they will be working under, Eudo,¡± I added, and it couldn¡¯t help but surprise her. This is not the thing I had discussed with her. ¡°Eudo is doing fine,¡± she said after a moment of silence. ¡°We are making a fine artist do a mass job; his skill lies in finesse; we should let him do what he is good at,¡± I said with a smile; she seemed to understand what I meant as she nodded. ¡°Also, renew the staff''s contract and hire a better band; while this one is good, I think it is time to hire a higher level one; we could afford that now,¡± I said, and she noted down. In the next few minutes, we discussed the minor things before I walked out of my office Ma. Now that I have finally got the budget, it is time to do the things I want. It will immediately increase the earnings of the establishment. I could hear the lessons in the different rooms as I walked down. Very soon, probably from tomorrow, there will be more noise from the rooms. ¡°It is a good thing you have brought more guards,¡± I said to Ca; nearly every room where the lessons are being held has guards, and most of these guards are women; if there is any problem, they will act immediately. Thankfully, till now, no problem has urred. I looked at Ca as if she had read my mind; she shook her head. ¡°It would have been great if we had dedicated space for learning,¡± I said softly; while I could rent a building, it is not an efficient approach. It needed to be close, at walking distance from the establishment. ¡°We will have it. If the business kept going such a way,¡± she said. To that, I couldn¡¯t help but nod. Soon, we reach the first floor, where Ms. Elme is conducting her lessons. The old woman is directing ten girls to walk gracefully while keeping a ss that is filled with water to brim on their heads; spilling even a single drop, would make the old woman hit the girl''s bottoms with the cane. I still remember, with their skills and suppose grace, they used to drop the empty ss, and now, a monthter, they are dropping a single drop from the brimmed ss. Ms. Elme nor thedies nced at us as we walked by the hall. The old woman because did not focus on anything other than her lessons when teaching, while thedies did for fear of punishment. The old women did not hold back when it came to punishing. Soon, we walked out of the manor, and a minuteter; the carriage walked out of the gates of the establishment toward River Street. Around fifteen minutester, the carriage rolled through the river street. The street house the most expensive shops; one could find everything here. From boutiques to shops that sell enchanted weapons, the only thing one needs here is money in the pocket. Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the three-story building, which hadrge ss doors. Ca and I walked out of the carriage and into the building through the ss doors. As we entered, we saw the hanging sign of ¡®Harwood Wines¡¯ like a chandelier in the air, with tall wooden racks by the wall filled with different kinds of wine bottles, with people buying them. ¡°It seemed like their collection had increased thest time we were here,¡± I said to Ca as we walked toward the big counter. We were just halfway there when a familiar young man came toward us with a big smile on his face. ¡°Remus, you came; miss Ca did say you woulde here the day you returned from the barony,¡± said Aydin as he came in front of us and shook my hand before turning to Ca with enamored eyes. ¡°Miss Ca,¡± he said and shook her hand for a little too long before letting go unwillingly. ¡°Mister Silver, wee to the Harwood wines,¡± said the old man, who looked to be in his early seventies, as he appeared in front of us silently. ¡°Mr. Taylor,¡± I said to the old man, while Aydin might be an owner in the name of its old man who runs everything. When Harwood left, he left this man in charge of this huge shop and his son. ¡°Since you havee personally, then there must be an order,¡± he said with the eyes of the old man shining softly in anticipation. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied with a smile. ¡°Then we should discuss it in private,¡± he said as he led us to the private room, which also had twenty-some wine bottles ced decorative. They are not decorative pieces but expensive wines, more than half of which I couldn¡¯t afford with the money I have, but one day I will. ¡°So, what kind of wines do you want? Do you like a catalog?¡± asked the old man. ¡°There is no need,¡± I said with a shake of my hand and turned to Ca, who out the folder from her bag and slid a few pages toward the old man. ¡°Do you want all of them in an exact quantity?¡± he asked, ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, and the old man nodded and felt the feeling covering me as he activated his skills. ¡°Then, it would be nine-hundred, forty-three thousand crowns,¡± he said, and I wanted to agree immediately. ¡°The price is too high, Mr. Taylor; how about nine hundred thousand crowns,¡± I countered with a smile. ¡°You must be joking, Master Silver; if we sell you at that price, then forget earning the profit, we will suffer a loss,¡± ¡°How about nine hundred and forty thousand crowns,¡± said the old man, and the power of his skills increased further, and the smile on my face became straining as I made the counteroffer. We negotiated while Ca and Aydin watched in silence. ¡°Fine, we will not earn a profit on this order and take nine hundred and twenty thousand crowns,¡± said the old man with a fake sad sigh. In the next few minutes, I have signed a few bills and paid them half of the amount, nearly half a million. Half of the wines will be delivered today by five, while the other half will be by the end of the week; that is when I will pay the rest of the money. Usually, I did not buy wine worth more than a hundred thousand at once, but seeing the guests and how much our guests drank. I decided to buy the wines from the third list a little sooner than I had nned. It shouldst about a month or more, but I would be very happy if we could sell it all before that. Wine is one of the things from which we earned the most; each wine provides at least double margins, and some even give us a margin of five to six times when used through the cocktails. ¡°Master Remus, new stock of wines hase from the Meldhorn, ones we seldom find in the empire.¡± ¡°Do you want to see them?¡± asked the old man, ¡°Sure,¡± I said, and half an hour, I had fifty thousand crowns more added to our bill. ¡°That old bastard!¡± I cursed as I sat inside the carriage. ¡°We have gotten them at quite a rate. If we had brought them outside, we would need to pay fifty to a hundred thousand crowns extra,¡± said Ca. ¡°I know,¡± I said with a smile. Mr. Harwood is building a rtionship; smart ones always focus on that, and if my business continues to grow at such speed, then it wouldn¡¯t be long before he started reaping huge profits from me. We stayed out for two more hours, and in two hours, I had spent all the money I had, even signed the bills I would pay in theing days. The establishment better keeps earning as it is right now, or I will be in huge trouble with the merchants. Thank You My Patrons: John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 28: Big Order Chapter 28: Big Order When I walked through the hall again, Elme was still teaching in the hall, but this was a different batch of girls, with her teaching different things than the morning. The hall is not as silent as before, with tens of small crates going inside the rooms behind the hall to the kitchen and wine storage. The bartenders havee early today to arrange the new wines we have brought and change the list of wines we are offering. The chef is doing the same. I watched them for a few minutes before walking toward my office. Closing the door behind me, I sat on my chair and looked at the three letters in my hand. They havee in when we were out. The guards handed them to Ca, and she to me as she began directing the people that brought the new stuff, including wines and food and other things. We could not just sell good services and liquor, other things needed to be at the same standard as them, like food and music. There were a few hours before the establishment opened today, and I am very excited. It will be different from the past night, as the musicians will be at a higher level, and so is the food, and there is no question about the girls'' ability to entertain. The first letter I opened was from the merchant guild. I opened it and began to read; immediately, my eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on my face. I have got the job; I knew I would get it, especially after I had helped Soren Arryn. Still, the confirmation made me very happy and ecstatic. They did it fast, I thought they would take at least tomorrow, but it happened in just a few hours. It will be hard managing my business and working at the guild together, but I will do it. It is for my future and something I truly enjoy. They have asked to appear in the guild tomorrow; if they had asked me toe today, I would have done that too. I opened the other two letters and wrote a reply before taking out a stack of papers. Looking at them like they might burn me, and they will if not handled carefully. This stack of papers contains the information; I should quickly read through them. I did not waste time; I read paper after paper, writing down what I feel is important in my diary in english; by the time it was five, I had finished reading through them and burned them to ashes. The information was good; I found some interesting things about a few important people. Click! I had just finished reading when the door opened, and Ca walked inside, ¡°Is everything good?¡± I asked, ¡°Yes, bottles have been loaded into the bar, the chef already begin his preparations, and the new band is adjusting themselves,¡± she replied. I had not heard the band, but if Ca had let them set up, then they must be good. She stayed a few minutes, informing me of a few things, before walking out of the room; the establishment would open soon, and she needed to be prepared. Soon, it was six, and the gates of the establishment opened, and within a few minutes, the carriages began to roll inside the gates. A few hours pass, and at ten, the whole establishment is filled with people who areughing, eating, and drinking the expensive liquor I have brough. It is clear, looking at their faces, that they are having a good time, and the girls are happy too. They are earning quite a lot; in these eight nights, they have earned more than they would have in years at their past brothel. I am not exaggerating; it is not just the cut they get from the hours they put in but also the gifts their patrons give them. I did not take a single penny out of it; it¡¯s all theirs. It has made them richer than they had ever thought they would be, and every day, their wealth is growing as a business is increasing. I watched all through the small window before walking back to my office; I stayed there till eleven before going to my room and sleeping. I am not tired, but I need to sleep early if I want to wake up early. I woke up at six and freshened up before eating the hot breakfast, which was by my table. After I finished eating, I did not walk to the office as I usually do, instead walked out manor into the back garden. I spread the mat on the circle of blue tile and started doing yoga. Since I havee to this world, I have been doing it; it is the only type of exercise I have done, but since the will reading, I have nearly stopped. Since I came here, I did not do it for even ten minutes, but it is all going to change today. I have learned my lesson in the in; I need to be in my perfect condition to deal with any threat that came in my way. So, I begin. I had started doing yoga after having a bad ident; my physical therapist had suggested it. I continued doing it for a decade beforeing to this world. It is much better than the gym, and I could do it in a small space; I used to do it in my office when I worked till morning, but mostly in my apartment. Time passed as I continued; when I heard the footsteps, I nced at the person but continued for ten more minutes before stopping and turning to the middle-aged man who had appeared. The man is tall with short ck curly hair and brown eyes; he is fit but not muscled, with a really long sword and practices sword at the waist ¡°Mr. David?¡± I asked, ¡°Yes,¡± he replied. ¡°You have asked for Sparring Partner, Mister Silver?¡± he asked, to that, I nodded. Yesterday, I asked Jonah and Dan whether they knew an effective trainer; they referred me to him. They praised him and said sometimes, even their mercenarypany hired him to train their people. He is a little expensive, but I can afford him with the money I am earning. ¡°Shall we begin then?¡± I asked as I picked up the practice rapier; old Remus was good at all sorts of swords, but like his mother, he liked the Rapier and was more proficient in it. ¡°Ok,¡± said David, as he ced his sword on the stone tool and picked up and took out the practice sword. ¡°I am sure Jonah and Dan had told you, but don¡¯t hold back from hitting me if you think it will help me,¡± I said, and I could see a faint spark of emotions appearing in his impassive for a moment before disappearing. ¡°I will remember it,¡± he said and leaped toward me suddenly; I reacted instantly as my moved my rapier to defend. ng! Our swords shed, and I felt like I had been hit by a shock as the sword released from my hand. He had used his skill at strike, though the power of it had been toned down a lot, but still forced me to throw down my sword. ¡°Nice,¡± I said as I picked up my rapier, and a momentter, he attacked once again, forcing me to throw my sword away. Thap! It had happened six times, one after another, before I finally was able to bear the shock when he used another of the skills; his sword moved fast and stuck to my shoulder, making me feel like he had touched my shoulder with a hot iron. This again made me throw away my sword unconsciously. As time passed, he used a plethora of skills, each one forcing me to throw away my sword. He seemed to be teaching me to always hold on to my weapons, no matter what, just like some instructors had taught old Remus. Many of these skills were painful; some made me disoriented and even made me vomit, but despite suffering, I did not stop. I kept going till it was time to stop two hourster. ¡°Jonah and Dan were right, your base is extremely strong, and you are also quite talented in the sword; the only thing you need is experience with it,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, instructor David,¡± I said, and he nodded. ¡°We will meet at the same time tomorrow,¡± he said and left through the back entrance while I sat on the bench for a few minutes, resting before I took my tired body upstairs. I saw Ca watching me through the door, but she did not say anything, nor I. The first thing I wanted to do was numb these screaming muscles; while he had used the skill, he had also hit me hundreds of times, leaving marks all over my body, which made taking every step quite painful. Soon, I reached my room, and the first thing I did was to use the numbing cream; unlike the healing potion, it did not heal the strained fiber but just numbed the pain. While the healing potion did give me relief, it was not wise to use it regrly, not only economically but also in view of training. It healed the muscles quickly, which is not the purpose; the muscles need to heal slowly to strengthen. Iy naked for five minutes; by then, all the pain had vanished, and I slowly walked into the bathroom and showered beforeing and wearing a new set of clothes. A minuteter, I reached my office; Ca was waiting there as usual. ¡°Has something happened in the barony?¡± she asked with worry shing in her eyes. ¡°Yes, one should never be depended on anyone for their safety,¡± I replied, to which she arched her brow in question, but I did not exin. Instead, I took a file from her and began to read it, and the more I read, the bigger the smile on my face became. The establishment had made three hundred and twelve thousand crowns, the majority of it made by the food and drinks. Sometimes, I feel like I am running a restaurant instead of a brothel. ¡°Its good,¡± I said as I put the file down, ¡°Yes, these merchants do not hesitate to spend big,¡± she replied. Our clientele had shifted drastically; in the first three days, our clients were a majorly from the empire, but after the prince left, that began to change rapidly, that now over 60% of our clients are from the merchant cities of Meldhorn. Knock Knock I was talking to Ca when a knock rang out on my door. ¡°Mister Remus, miss Cain, hade for her appointment,¡± said George from the other side. ¡°Let her in,¡± I said, and a secondter, the door opened, and petite woman walked inside holding a big bag. ¡°Please take a seat, miss Cain,¡± I offered, ¡°Thank you,¡± she said softly and sat down before turning to me with anticipation. ¡°You have called for me, Mister Silver?¡± she asked, calming her emotions. ¡°I have a business for you, miss Cain; I hope you will be able to do it,¡± I said to her and could see her anticipation turning into excitement. ¡°You can count on me, Mister Silver; no matter how big the order is, I am confident I will be able toplete it,¡± said the small woman with excitement burning in her eyes. Seeing her, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on Ca¡¯s face. ¡°We will discuss itter, but first, let¡¯s see your designs, the best ones,¡± I said, and her expression turned serious as she stared at me for a moment longer before she began to take out the folders from her big bag. Of all over twenty folders she had brought, she ced four in front of us. ¡°These four folders have my best designs, and I am capable of making them,¡± she said; I nodded and picked up the folder while Ca picked another. I open the folder and begin to look at her designs, and I have to say, they are good, very good; better than what she had sold us a month ago I put the folder down and picked up another, one by one; Ca and I looked through all the folders, and after she did, she gave me a subtle nod, meaning she, too, had been impressed by the designs of miss Cain. ¡°So, you can make them?¡± I asked though she said it; I wanted to be sure, as this order is big and also important. ¡°Yes,¡± she said, putting more emphasis on the answer. ¡°We have a big order, miss Cain, of about one hundred and twenty dresses, and each one needed to be custom-made for every girl,¡± I said, and the look this short woman gave made me miss my phone so much. If I had it in my hand, I would click her picture; the meme made from it would have definitely gone viral. ¡°How much time will I have toplete it if I take this order?¡± she asked; a small on my face couldn¡¯t help but brighten up a little. Most people would have asked how much I would pay them for it; she asked how much time she would have. ¡°Two months, but sooner will be preferable withoutpromising on quality,¡± I replied, and she nodded. ¡°I will need to hire people, but I can do it,¡± she said softly, likely to herself, before turning to me. ¡°These designs are not cheap, mister Silver; they will cost you a lot,¡± she said. ¡°Roughly, over five thousand crowns per dress,¡± she added and looked at me. ¡°I am sure we can agree to the five thousand crowns, miss Can,¡± I said with a smile; she opened her but closed it. I know the value of the dresses; my father had made sure I know the value of the things I see. The price I quoted would benefit us both. ¡°Five thousand per dress it is,¡± she said after a few seconds of silence. ¡°You can start today, and before we move to the final contract, I would like to see at least three samples.¡± ¡°If they are to my satisfaction, we will sign the full contract,¡± I said, to which she nodded. I will be paying more than double for the dresses than thest time, but seeing the design, it is very much worth it, and I will require it as my business grows. I am taking a big risk here by giving the contract to an unknown woman without any reputation in the business, but I am also getting benefits from it. I am getting dresses much more cheaply, such as a job making dresses by the requirement of each girl is expensive, outside, I would easily need to pay six to eight thousand crowns for it. It is a big investment, and, with it, each girl will have three dresses, and Ca around ten, that are tailored solely for them. While most dresses could be worn by most girls with the power of skills, the custom dresses, which are only made for them, will create apletely different effect. Eudo had given me the idea a few days before opening; he said I should try it a few monthster, but after researching it. I decided to do it as soon as I got the money. If I had the money, I would have ordered at least ten dresses for each girl, but I did not. Though I am not worried, if my business keeps growing at such a speed, then I will extend the order further. Thank You My Patrons: John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 29 Legal Adviser Chapter 29 Legal Adviser Miss Cain left after finalizing a few details; she will start for the order immediately and tailer three dresses for three girls, including Ca, by the end of the week. We have already chosen the designs, and she made a few changes to them ording to our suggestions. She said she would have three dresses ready in the week, and she would also hire people to make this massive order within two months. Ca had left with her to take the measurements and discuss the design adjustment with two other girls. As they left, I walked to my room and changed into the better cloth before walking out of the manor. Twenty minutester, the carriage pulled into thergepound of the merchant guild. As it parked, I got out of it and walked into the huge building of the merchant guild. It is filled with people; hundreds of them could be seen getting in and out of therge lobby. There are offices of many guilds inside the merchant guild; from cobblers to cksmiths, one will find the office representing nearly every trade. I looked around and turned before walking toward the magical elevator; there was a guard there, but I shed him my merchant badge, which stopped him in his tracks. The badge is different from the normal merchant id badge. It is purple in color and is only given to members of powerful mercantile houses. There is a sigil house of silver in the center, and below it is a unique id number that belongs to me. This badge is rare, even in powerful mercantile houses, as each mercantile house allocated only hundreds of special badges. Edwin¡¯s badge had been taken away by the house, which he was quite angry about, but it was the condition of the deal father had made with grandfather to let Edwin get the title noble. I stepped into the elevator, and it rose quickly, and a couple of secondster, it reached the top, and the energy cover surrounding it had disappeared. I stepped inside and walked toward the office of Damon Hardt. ¡°Remus Silver, I have an appointment with the Guildmaster at eleven,¡± I said; there were only four minutes to eleven. ¡°The Guildmaster will see you soon,¡± said the dark blue-haired receptionist. I nodded and sat down in afortable chair. ¡°Mister Silver, the Guildmaster will see you now,¡± she said, right at eleven. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said and walked to the office of Damon Hardt, whose door had opened on its own. Soon, I walked into an opulent office with a great view and saw Damon Hardt sitting behind the huge table. He is not the only one; there is a man in his early fifties sitting on the couch by the ss window. ¡°Guildmaster Hardt, vice-guild master Ramos,¡± I greeted two of them. ¡°Young silver, take a seat,¡± said Damon Hardt. ¡°Thank you, Guildmaster,¡± I said as I took a seat in front of him. ¡°Remus, you applied for the position of the legal adviser of the guild, and we intend to give it to you as respect to your grandfather,¡± he said, clearly telling me why he gave me the job while making no mention of Soren Arryn and the thing I did for him. ¡°Thank you, Guildmaster,¡± I said with a smile. I knew the letter from my Grandfather would work; we might be merchants, but deep politics run in business. If they had not given me this harmless position, Grandfather would have taken a note, and they did not want that. Especially for a harmless position as a legal adviser. ¡°The position is yours, and john will take you to your office; he is responsible for the legal department,¡± he said, turning to John Ramon, who is also a leader of the wool guild, which contains the businesses of weavers, dyers, and fullers. The trade might not be powerful, but like Silver and Hardt, the merchant house Ramos is powerful; they deal in clothing, mundane and magical. ¡°Come, Mister Remus,¡± he said as he got up. I, once again, thanked Damon Hardt and walked out of his office with John Ramos. ¡°The legal office is on the third floor,¡± he said as we walked toward the stairs in silence. ¡°Soren Arryn said quite a thing about you, that you helped him quite a lot with his contract,¡± he said as we walked down the stairs. ¡°I was just lucky,¡± I replied humbly, to which he smiled. ¡°We are going to sign thousands of contracts in theing weeks, and there will be a lot of work,¡± ¡°If you are capable of doing what Arryn had said you are, then you will be a great asset to our guild,¡± he said. To that, I smiled. He did not say anything further, and soon we reached the third floor and walked through the hallway till we reached the door, which had ¡®legal¡¯ written on it, before entering inside. What is inside is a huge hall, with people sitting at desks working on the papers in front of them; there are fifty people working on different things. ¡°We have fifty-twowyers in the legal department; they handle crafting contracts, finding loopholes, solving disputes, among other things,¡± ¡°You will be responsible for the contracts,¡± he said, and I nodded without a word. As we walked, an old man in histe sixties came toward us, ¡°Vice-guild master,¡± greeted the old man as he appeared. ¡°Remus, this is Philip Oakley, responsible for the legal department of the guild,¡± he introduced. ¡°Philip, this is Remus Silver; he will be the legal adviser,¡± he said. ¡°Mr. Silver, it will be great to have a member of a distinguished mercantile house,¡± said the old man and shook my hand. ¡°It will be a pleasure to work with you, mister Oakley,¡± I shook his hand back. Looking at the expression of the old man, it is clear he did not want me here, a young upstart from a powerful house who would make a mess of things. ¡°You are the final and fifth adviser; I hope you will have a pleasant time working here,¡± he said as she took to my office. It is a small square space with a table and three chairs, but I have privacy, which is the thing that matter to me the most. ¡°Thank you for the tour, vice-guild master,¡± I said, ¡°It is the least I could do,¡± he said and left after giving a pat on my shoulder. ¡°When will you start working, Mister Silver; tomorrow or the next week?¡± asked the old man after the vice-guild master left. ¡°Today seemed to be good as any,¡± I said and walked inside the tiny office; the old man seemed a little surprised by it but quickly controlled his expression. ¡°I will send you the contracts then,¡± he said and left while I sat down and closed my eyes for a moment. The legal adviser is a useless job; the position is created to oversee the staff of the legal department but is filled with loyalists of powerful, mostly guild heads, vice guild-heads, and even the lord of the city, who would less after the interest of guild, most after the interest of their bosses. The vice guild leader is the overseer of the department, while Mr. Oakley is the head, who is an employee, like the rest of thewyers working. The advisers are independent and work directly under the overseer; the legal head has no authority over them. It could be said we have indirect authority over him, as supposed bosses run this ce. The job of a legal adviser is to advise if we find any problem with anything Mr. Oakley and thewyers have worked on and give advice, which could make their job difficult. Most advisers don¡¯t do anything, they just look through the contract, and if they do not find anything that harms their boss¡¯s interests, they will ok it; some won¡¯t even read it if it does not rte to their bosses. So, it could be said it is a useless position, and the merchant should send his people to do it but never do it by themselves. Though, for me, it is very useful First and most important, it will help me in advance in my ss; second, I will be able to gain the knowledge of the information I would usually not in my position; and third, most important, it is a great opportunity to build the connection. Not to mention, I will not work here forever, just till I achieve my goals. I opened my eyes and looked at the box in front of me; there was a stamp with my name, some stationary, and a typewriter. Knock Knock I was looking through the things in the box when the knock rang out at the door. ¡°Come in,¡± I said, and the door opened, and a young man in a ponytail, in his early twenties, came up with a pile of papers, the contracts. ¡°Mr. Silver, mister Oakley had asked me to give them to you,¡± he said and put the pile on my table. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said; he seemed surprised by that. ¡°It is my job. If you need anything, call me; I am Kevin,¡± said the young man, a little hesitantly. ¡°I will,¡± I replied, ¡°Ok,¡± he replied nervously and left. I watched the door close and look at the contracts; I quickly nced through their front pages, and a small couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. The contract they gave me minor; there is barely anything important here. It had not surprised me, but I did not expect they would let me see those important contracts on the first day. There are ten contracts here, each being ten to twenty-five pages long. I picked up the first contract from the pile and began to read it. The contract does not have any skills attached to them, though I could still feel the effects of skills used when creating it. There is nothing in the contracts which disrupts my reading and understanding of them. Those skills will be attached at the final stage. It makes things very easy for me, as I do not have to struggle through the effect of the skills. Five minutester, I took the page on the stationary and wrote something; before I started resuming the reading, every few minutes, I would write something down on the papers. The first contract took twenty minutes, the second one took half an hour, the third one took only fifteen minutes, and the fourth one took twenty-five. I read one contract after another while taking notes side by side, and three and three hourster, I was finished reading. Back on earth, I could never work this fast, or even a few months ago, but now I could. The mental attributes and skills,bined with my knowledge, help me work fast. I looked at my notes before putting a piece of paper inside the typewriter; the typewriters of this world are magical in nature. The one in front of me looked like a thick ck square te with letters and numbers carved on it, like a touchscreen keyboard. As I touched the eyes, the letter would be printed on paper through the heat. I fixed the paper in the long seam of the typewriter and began to type, looking through my notes; sometimes, I would open the contract to check double. Half an hourter, I was finished; I took out the papers on which I typed and attached them to each contract and stamped them with my stamp. Click! ¡°Kevin,¡± I said, and a few secondster, the door opened. ¡°Have you called me Mister Silver?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, take these to mister Oakley,¡± I said, motioning toward the contracts; he seemed a little surprised but quickly took the contracts and walked out. Seeing there was still little time, I decided to read the book; it is a good thing I have brough it with me. Even with me reading quite much on my journey to in and return trip, I was still quite behind my target. Knock Knock I was reading my book when a knock sounded on my door. ¡°Come in,¡± I said as I put the book down. The door opened, and mister Oakley with an expression of amazement lingering in his eyes, walked inside. ¡°Mister Silver, are you really the one to find these ws?¡± he asked as he put down the contracts in his hand. ¡°Do you see anyone other than me, Mr. Oakley?¡± I asked back, which startled the old man. ¡°It is not, I mean, Mister Silver,¡± replied the quickly, apologetically, with a faint hint of fear appearing in his eyes. ¡°I am joking, Mr. Oakley,¡± I said with a smile and could see him visibly rxed. ¡°The contracts were good; there is only a single w in a small severance contract, while the rest were fixing the lines, with weaker meaning to be more precise,¡± I added. ¡°The weaker lines create the loopholes if interpreted loosely,¡± he said, and to that, I smiled. I have written how they could be interpreted and made suggestions. ¡°You have done a wonderful job, Mr. Silver; there are few more contracts that I want you to look at,¡± said the old man, to which I shook my head. ¡°Not today, mister Oakley; it is nearly time for me to leave,¡± I said as I looked at my pocket watch; there were only five minutes to four. ¡°Will you being back tomorrow?¡± he asked expectantly, ¡°Yes, I wille daily unless I am busy and stay for four to five hours,¡± I said as I picked up my book and put it into my bag, and turned toward the door. ¡°See you tomorrow, Mr. Oakley,¡± I said and walked out of my office. A few minutester, I was in the carriage riding toward the establishment; when I heard the buzz in my mind; a text appeared in front of me. [Lawyer level 4] [Skill Gained: Fast Reading] Thank You My Patrons: John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 30: Mold Chapter 30: Mold "How was he?¡± asked Damon Hardt as Phillip Oakley walked into his office; he was not the only one in the office; two more vice-guild masters were sitting inside. ¡°Very good, the praise of vice-guild leader Arryn was not empty,¡± said the Oakley, which made Damon Hardt a little surprised. To be honest, he did not believe the words of Soren Arryn; he thought he was asked by the silvers to say those things. ¡°It is really hard to believe,¡± he said, as those contracts were crafted by the Level 20+ Lawyers, and Remus Silver does not have that level. He knew for sure he had gained the ss a few months ago, and his base ss was not awyer. Even if he has awyer ss, it shouldn¡¯t be this high, which means he is truly good. ¡°I was keeping an eye on him all the way; I did not see anyoneing to his office or him leaving it,¡± said Oakley seeing the doubts on Damon Hardt¡¯s face. ¡°Here, these are the suggestion he made,¡± he said and put a pile of contracts in front of the Damon Hardt; each of them had pages attached to them with a seal and sign of Remus silver. He took the contracts and began to look through them, and the more he looked, the more change would ur in his expressions. Seeing that, the other two vice-guild masters also took the contracts into their hands, and soon, their expressions have changed too. ¡°He is good,¡± said John Ramos, the person beside him had also nodded. ¡°Well, it seemed like he is talented. Give him the level 3 contracts; it will be good for us if we were able to strengthen them as he made those contracts,¡± said Damon Hardt; it surprised the old man, but he quickly controlled his expression. The merchant guild ssifies its contract from level 1 to level 5. Level 1 and level 2 were general levels and did not possess much importance, but level 3 and above contracts are important, and mistakes in them could have consequences for the guild. ¡°Yes, Guild master,¡± said the old man and left the office. ¡­ [Lawyer level 4] [Skill Gained: Fast Reading] I looked at the text in front of me, and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear as the surprise wore away. It hadn¡¯t been even two days since I had leveled up before leveling up again, and this time, I had even got the skill, a good skill that would help me a lot. I was very excited seeing the skill and immediately took out the book and activated the skills, and started to read it, and immediately, I felt the resistance from it. It did not surprise me even a bit. The skill came from a Lawyer ss, which means it is for legal documents such as contracts or legal books and other legal stuff, but I am using it to read the general book and thus the resistance. I did not deactivate the skill; instead, I pushed through the resistance. The skills are not rigid things; with enough practice and effort, one can mold them to work the way one wants. It is hard, but for a skill like this, which has an array of uses and could save me a lot of time, it is worth it. So, I pushed and began reading; immediately, I noticed even with resistance, my reading speed had be nearly twice as faster, and I was not only reading fast but also understanding it as well. Though the resistance is distracting, I will have to bear it till I can mold it to my needs. Soon, the carriage walked through the gates of the establishment, and a minuteter, I walked inside. As I walked through the hall, I saw preparations had already begun; the establishment would open in less than two hours, and before that happened, many preparations needed to be made. ¡°How was the fitting,¡± I asked as Ca walked into the office, ¡°It went great,¡± he replied evenly, but I could see the sparks of happiness appearing in her eyes. ¡°Mrs. Rand also arrived an hour after you had; she had already started working,¡± she informed. ¡°Did she say anything about working under Eudo?¡± I asked. They have applied for the same job, and now, he will be her boss. ¡°She did not seem to have a problem after she saw the difference in their level, but we will know for sure when they truly started working together,¡± she said. She stayed a few minutes before she walked out while I wrote the replies to letters that came from me, including the one from Valentina. I finished with them in a few minutes before taking out the information and beginning to read it. ¡­ ¡°Are we truly getting the tailored dresses?¡± asked Mina the moment she entered the basement; the brte''s eyes were burning with excitement as she looked at me. The teachers have left, and now, there is a break for half an hour before thedies go to Eudo to get ready. ¡°Nothing remains hidden here, did it?¡± she asked as she looked at all the girls who were looking at her hopefully. ¡°Yes, everyone will have tailored dresses, but the order had not been finalized; miss Cain first had to show us she could do it before we ced the final order,¡± she said and looked usingly at Margaux and Ina. They should have kept their mouth shut; now, these women would not let sleep in calmly till they got their dresses. ¡°Does that mean the new dresses would be better than the first,¡± asked Andrea, always the smart one, catching the words I did not say. ¡°Yes, these dresses will be more than twice expensive as what you have now,¡± I said with a sigh, and I could see a couple of girls gasping in shock. ¡°How many?¡± asked Andrea; this time, she was a little angry. ¡°Enough with a question; you will know how many when you get them,¡± she said sharply, and all the girls were silent. ¡°Since it is Mrs. Rand''s first day, you all will report early to make-up room,¡± she added, and without her saying anything further, the girls began to walk out of the basement till only Ina and Margaux had remained. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have told them?¡± she said usingly at Ina; she knew her friend enough that its Ina who made the mischief; Margaux does not do such things. ¡°Come on, it was hrious,¡± said Ina with a smile. To that, she red at her even more intensely. ¡°For you, it was funny; it will be a headache for me; they will not let me sleep in peace,¡± she said as she messaged her head. ¡°Have you read the letter from L?¡± asked Margaux, and suddenly she felt her headache intensifying. ¡°Yes, I did,¡± she replied while massaging her head tighter. Remus did not stop them frommunicating; the only condition he had was that we did not say anything about the establishment. She made sure that happened; all the letters go through her before being posted out. ¡°She is really daring,¡± said Ina, ¡°Rash may be the right word,¡± I said, which made both of them smile mirthlessly. She had asked that girl to at least listen to the proposal before leaving, but she did not do that. She regrated itter, pleading with me to ask Remus to take her back, but as Remus had said, once you leave, there is noing back. She mes herself for hertest actions; it was something she wrote in a letter. It unexpectedly gave her hope, and she took that drastic action. ¡°Still, I am quite impressed by what she did; if I had been in her ce, I don¡¯t think I would dare to take such a step,¡± said Ina. Ca did not say anything to that; there was nothing for her to say to that. ¡°Have you told mister silver about what she is doing?¡± asked Margaux worriedly, ¡°No, he does not need to do that. Her actions do not affect the establishment,¡± she said and walked toward the stairs out of the basement, with Margaux and Ina following behind her. ¡­ It was ten, and embellishment was filled with people, so much that we had close our gates again. Seeing how much business we were missing, I wanted to bring more girls and expand the size of the establishment, but it was not time. It is not just a question of money, which I would need for both things, but many other things, most importantly, the brand and reputation. They are the two most important things; I want to take some time to make the brand without diluting the quality. Still, the expansion is inevitable and seeing the rush, I have already started to make the preparations for it, as it won''t be long before I act. I watched through the window, for a while, before walking toward the make-up; when I walked there, there were a couple of women mid-changing; nobody reacted as I entered inside; they had gotten used to it. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± said Rand as she stopped working and turned to me. ¡°Continue working, misses Rand; act like I am not here,¡± I said. It surprised the woman, but seeing everybody doing the same, she nodded and focused back on the work. As I watched, I could see Misses Rand doing heavy work while Eudo was focused on a delicate one. It saves them a lot of time and effort while making the girls look even more radiant. I stayed for around ten minutes before going to my room and lying on the bed after changing intofortable clothes. It is not even ten-thirty yet, but I want to sleep early; I have to do many things tomorrow, and being well-rested will make the day more productive. Thank You My Patrons: Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 31: Offer Chapter 31: Offer Thud! I fell down in the most awkward position; my whole body was stunned by instructor David¡¯s skill before he tapped on my chest gently, and I fell to the ground like a log. ¡°Just how many skills do you have?¡± I asked in exasperation. He did not answer; instead, he smiled and walked toward the stone stool where he had ced his read sword. ¡°Same time tomorrow, Mister Silver,¡± he said as he picked up his sword and walked out toward the exit while I stayed on my spot for a few more minutes before slowly getting up and walking toward the mansion. I went directly to my room, applied the numbing cream, and stayed on the floor as the ointment take the effect. The training session had been brutal, more brutal than yesterday, and since I had asked, he is not holding anything back. Five minutester, I showered and changed into new clothes before walking to my office. ¡°Good morning,¡± I said as I entered the office and sat down on my chair before taking the file; in a few minutes, I put down the file with a smile on my face. Three hundred and seventeen thousand crowns. The number has been good and has been a little greater yesterday; I hope to make it reach four hundred thousand crowns in the next ten days and half a million by the end of the month; it is an ambitious target, but one I will try my all to achieve. It was my target all along, but the time limit was long; I had nned to achieve it by the end of the year, not the end of the month. Ca left, and I continued to work till it was time to leave for the merchant guild. Soon, I was in the carriage, and it was moving toward the merchant guild; while I read the book with my skill, despite the resistance I was feeling. Now and then, I would look outside and marvel at the changes the city was going through. Before the inauguration, there were constructions around the city, but now, they are seen everywhere; the trade with Meldhorn had turbocharged everything. Trade is increasing by the day, and more and more ships areing, and they are going to increase even more now that the prince has gone to the Meldhorn. The papers have said that negotiations are going well, and we should be able to see the result soon. I would also need to move with my ns as the city developed. If I fall behind, I will lose, and I could not afford that, especially now, as it is prime time. I shook my head of those thoughts and focused on the book; it is about incursion, the events that change the world every time they appear. Around twenty minutester, the carriage pulled into the Merchant Guild, and I got out and walked inside. This time, I did not have to sh even my badge; my name had appeared in therge silver stele in the lobby, which notes all the positions, from guild masters to advisers. Click! Soon, I reached the third floor and walked to the legal department; before walking into my office and about to call Kevin when the knock rang out. ¡°Come in,¡± I said, and the door opened, and mister Oakley walked inside. ¡°Mister Oakley,¡± I said as I saw olding in, ¡°You did a wonderful job yesterday, Mister Silver,¡± he said and put the pile of contracts down. ¡°These are for today, and they are pretty important; I hope you will be able to find the ws and any other discrepancies in them,¡± he said, looking at the contracts. ¡°I am sure there will not be many,¡± I replied humbly. ¡°I am sure you will be able to find some,¡± he said smile and walked out of the office with Kevin while I focused on the contracts in front of me I pulled them closer and, before taking a first out, began to read it and immediately couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. It is no simple contract but an intraguild contract for Deerpond, the capital of the renewal region. It is also pretty important. I thought they would still with the basic contract, but it seemed like I had impressed them enough that they had given me the important contract; I checked others, and to my surprise, all of them were important. Though I noticed one thing, all these intra-guild contracts are with the guilds of the Renwell region. They did not give me the contract of guilds of Empire maind or Meldhorn, but I am not worried. Its only my second day, and I already have got these important contracts; with some time, I will get others too. Not to mention these contracts are also important, enriching me with the knowledge that I would usually not know. I chose the first contract and began to read it; I could read it at thrice normal speed and understood them just as fast. As I read and studied them, I would take notes now and then. These contracts are way above what I had looked at yesterday, crafted even more meticulously, that I had to look very carefully through them. I soon finished with the first contract and started on the second and then the third; by the time I finished with all twelve contracts, it was a little over three. Yesterday too, I was finished by the same time, but I had startedte and did not have Fast Reading Skills them. The difference between the two contracts is huge; they are not only bigger but also moreplicated, thus requiring the most effort and time. Still, it is good there are no distraction skills attached to them, or I might not have even been finished with two contracts by now. With that done, I brought the typewriter in front of me, fixed the contract inside, and then started typing; twenty minutester, I finished. ¡°Kevin,¡± I called out, and a few secondster, the door opened, and the young man walked inside. ¡°Take this to mister Oakley and bring me Marmot¡¯sws of Harsoth number thirty-seven,¡± I said, ¡°Yes, mister Silver,¡± he said and picked up the contracts and left. A few minutester, he returned, bringing a thick book to me. I have thought of some things when reading the contract and want to check them. Thews of the Empire are excessivelyplicated, and one could interpret them in numerous ways. It should be easily simplified for the good of the people and the Empire, but there is always resistance. It is not surprising that even on the earth, few countries have theirws together; politics makes everything moreplicated than it should be. Knock Knock I was reading the book when a knock sounded on my door, ¡°Come in,¡± I said as I put the book down. The door opened, and a person walked in, but not the one I had expected. I had thought it was Oakley, but a younger man hade in. ¡°Mr. Remus, I hope you don¡¯t mind meing unannounced to meet you,¡± said the man in his early forties. He is a short man with thick ck hair and a genial smile on his face that will make anyone feelfortable. Off course, the skill involved; without it, I wouldn¡¯t feel suchfortable with anyone, especially with this man. ¡°Of course not, mister Lucas; you must have something important for you toe to meet me unannounced here,¡± I said with a pleasant smile on my face. He is Norman Lucas, owner of scarlet pleasure, one of the high-ss brothels. He is a member of the Lucas family, who runs thousands of brothels around the Empire. ¡°Yes, I have something important to discuss,¡± he said, and I arched my brow a little in question. ¡°The house of Lucas is interested in buying your establishment,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised; I had truly not expected he would say that. Still, there was no change in my expression; I kept a small smile on my face without any change in it. ¡°Thank you for your kind offer, mister Lucas, but I am not interested,¡± I said; he seemed to have expected that as his smile had be a little brighter. ¡°We are willing to offer twenty million crowns for it; it is more than double what you have invested,¡± he said, and I could feel the power of his skill, so intense that I felt like a smile on my face was slipping away. ¡°Not interested, mister Lucas,¡± I replied and could see a faint surprise forming in his eyes. ¡°Twenty-five million,¡± ¡°Think about it, Mister Remus; it is enough to open a big brothel in any city of the Empire,¡± he said and intensified the power of his further that I stopped trying to maintain my fake emotion and showed what I was feeling on my face. A pure irritation. ¡°Even if your house offers me fifty million, I would still not be interested in selling my establishment,¡± I said, and his expression stiffened for a moment, and I could see a hint of anger appearing on his face before he controlled it. ¡°Still, think about it, Mister Remus, and contact me if you feel interested,¡± he said. ¡°You will be the first I will contact if I feel like I need to sell my business,¡± I replied as I smoothed up my expression. ¡°It¡¯s great talking to you, Mister Remus, have a nice day,¡± he said and got up before leaving my office. As he left, my expression became serious; the people from Lucas''s family are dangerous, have a rtionship with gangs and assassins, and deal with information. If I had been any powerless business owner, he would not have been this civil. He would have threatened me with consequences if I did not sell my business. They have done that many times; it is the style they do business. Fortunately, I am not a normal businessman but a member of the house of silver. Still, I have to be careful. If the establishment became too sessful, they wouldn¡¯t hesitate to use underhanded tactics. Currently, they have one high-ss brothel and a couple of mid-ss and low-ss, but I heard they are opening another high-ss brothel in a month and a few more middle and low-ss. It is not just brothels; there are a couple of new casinos, hotels, and inns that are opening, and other businesses too, especially from the big business houses of the Empire. I hope nothing bad happens to jeopardize that. A minute after Normal Lucas left, mister Oakley came; he wanted me to stay to review more contracts, but as I had said, I would not stay more than five hours. I could not spend all my time working in a ce that pays me no money; I have to work on things that actually make me money. Thank You My Patrons: Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 32: Taken Chapter 32: Taken I watched as prince Grelt''s ship sailed away toward the Deerpond, and a few minutester, Lord Darrow entered his carriage and rode away toward the city. Ca and I also sat down in our carriage, but the carriage did not move. There is huge traffic; thousands of people havee to bid farewell to the prince; it will take some before the rush of people and carriages clears away. "I truly did not think the prince would be able to achieve it," said Ca softly, and even using her new privacy, such words could bring huge trouble if heard by the wrong people. "He is an ambitious man and would do anything to achieve his goals," I replied. The prince''s trip to the Meldhorn had been sessful since he returned four days ago; even more, ships areing from it, and there are whispers that Oksall might also begin to open up in theing months. It would be a great news as, like Meldhorn, the merchant city-state of Oksall also share a river andrgend border with the Oksall. "I think the traffic has now cleared enough," said Ca as the carriage began to move finally; still, it made us wait for nearly forty minutes. We talked about the business and other things before the carriage reached our destination, and we walked out. "I thought it would take me at least four months to achieve a thing, but I did it in less than a month," I said softly as I looked huge store; it is one of thergest stores in the city, and with the things they sell, they would require the big size. "It is all because of your hard work," said Ca. To that, I smiled and walked toward the blue metallic gates of Norton''s carriages. It had been twenty days since the establishment had opened, twelve days since I came back from the harrowing trip of in. Since then, I have focused on all my work and the guild, which I visited daily; today is the first day I have taken a leave. The establishment is doing very well, so I have finally decided to buy the carriage. It is not just for convenience but also a symbol. We entered through the gate, and inside, it was a huge space with different types of carriages ced around with people browsing through them. "Remus, wee," said the voice as we had just entered. I looked toward the voice and saw a man in histe twenties walking toward us. He is a tall man with blue eyes and brown hair and with thin physique but has a handsome face. "Ralph," I greeted as the young man finally appeared in front of me. "So, are you finally ready to buy a carriage from me?" he asked. "That''s why I came here, isn''t it?" I asked back with a smile. "It''s an enchanted one, right? Or I will just hand you to one of the salespeople and leave," he said, joking, "Of course, the enchanted one," I said with a smile. "This way, then," he said joyfully, and we followed. He is Ralph Norton, a friend of Valentina, that''s how I know him, we met at party a little more than ago and another one at four days ago. He is the type of person who will quickly be friends with anyone, a precious skill that is very valuable in his business. Soon, we entered anotherrge hall; while the main hall also had the enchanted carriages, here there were more, nearly all the collection of enchanted carriages they have. "We will start with this red beauty; it is Wright red rose; it has all the standard enchantments for yourfort; you will not feel even the slightest wobble, even if it walked through the potholes," he said, motioning toward the red carriage. It took looked like a normal carriage, but if one looked closely, one would see the enchanted script. "How much is it?" I asked with a look, "Not much, just nine hundred and twenty thousand crowns," he said with a smile, money that regr people could never earn even in their lifetime, and the thing is, it is just a basic model. The enchanted carriages are expensive; their prices start at around a million and reach very high. "Its scrips wore off too early," I said, "No, that''s just rumor spread by idiots," he refuted, but I just rolled my eyes. "If you don''t like the wright, then how about this Santos pearl? It only cost nine hundred and forty thousand and has the stable enchantments," he said as he walked toward the white carriage. I have used the carriages made by House Santos; I had one in Redfawn though it was a normal one, but reliable; you can always trust their reliability. "Show me something good," I said, to which he smiled brightly. "If you want good, I will show you good," he said and walked toward the violet carriage. "This is Rain mirage, came straight from meldhorn; it had a very good reputation in merchant-stage, is built quite solidly¡­" he exined in flowery words before moving toward another. He showed six more before moving to another blue one when I stopped him as it was above my limit. "A million is my limit," I said, and he turned to me bright smile on his face, "So, which one do you choose?" he asked; the bastard is very smart, and he picked up that I had already liked one. "I will take Santos ck," I said; the carriage cost nine hundred and eighty thousand crowns, which is within my budget. "A very good choice; it is most reliable among Santos''s basic models and with scripts that don''t require servicing for years," he said, and it is true, it is a good carriage. "Do you take the made or will require some modification?" he asked, "Some," I said, and next half an hour, we discussed the modification I needed from the catalogs he had shown me, and I ended up spending one million and twenty thousand, despite him giving me, 5% discount. After paying and signing the contract, I walked out of the store. I will get the delivery in a week, which is earlier than I had thought. The carriage is an expense I could have avoided, but one needs to keep the appearance, and the enchanted carriage is a must, not to mention I wanted the enchanted carriage. It makes travel quitefortable. We sat in our normal carriage, and fifteen minutester, the carriage passed through the gate to the establishment. We walked out of the carriage and into the establishment, which now had more mix of voices and notes of music. In these past twelve days, all the teachers we needed have begun teaching, and now, the establishment had neen teachers teaching the thirty-nine girls, including Ca and the teens. These new teachers are teaching them many things, music, dance, painting, mathematics, and other things, and the results have already begun to show. It seemed to have increased their confidence; one could clearly see this when they interacted with the clients. It is when they barely know anything about the subjects they are teaching; when they truly learn them and get a basic grasp on them, their confidence in themselves will skyrocket. Hun! We walked the stairs of the office, and to my surprise, there were people waiting by my office three of them. One was Margaux, who did not look to be in a good mood. The other was Frank, the driver I hired for thedies; he would take them whenever they wanted to on their leave day. Thest one was an unfamiliar middle-aged in a suit sitting with a professional smile on his face while Margaux stared daggers at him. ¡°Margaux, what happened?¡± I asked, "They kidnapped Lesli and Donna," she said, pointing the finger at the man in a suit. "You arepletely wrong, miss; they havee to us with their own will," he said without a change in my expression. My expression became serious; I don''t know the whole thing, but I could guess what had happened, and to be honest, it had happened much earlier than I had imagined. "Margaux, Frank, in my office," I said and walked into the office with Ca while the other two followed behind. "What happened?" I asked as I took my seat. "I...I was taking the girls to the shopping, but suddenly a couple of gentlemen stopped the carriage, and the girls came out and went with them," he said, a little stutteringly. "Do they tell you who they are?" I asked the old man, "Yes, they said they work for scarlet pleasure," he replied, and I could hear Ca take a sharp breath, hearing that, as all the pieces clicked. "Did they get out of the carriage in their own will?" I asked to be sure. "Yes, the moment carriage stopped, both of them got out, I tried to stop them, but those men,e between," he replied, feeling a little scared. "It is not fault, Frank," I said to the old man and could see him taking a sigh of relief. "And that man is?" I asked Margaux. "He said his name was rk Chase, and he was sent by Norman Lucas," she replied. To that, I nodded and turned to Frank. "Frank and Margaux, take a rest." I said to them with a smile and turned to Ca, "Ask mister chase toe inside," Three of them left the office, and a couple of secondster, Ca brought in a middle-aged who still had a professional smile on his face. "Your boss had taken my girls, mister Chase," I said to the middle-aged sternly. "We did no such thing, Mister Silver; they havee in their own vition," he defended as he sat on the seat I had offered. To that, I smiled. "And they have sent me to ask you to relieve them of their contracts," he said and took out the copies of their contracts; it is original, and I could feel the effect of my skills on them. "I am sure you have read the terms of that carefully," I said, "Yes, and we are willing to pay the price as stipted in the contract," he said and ced two checks in front of me, each with two million value. "Well, since everything is ording to the contract, I will release them from the service of my establishment," I said and activated the skills and released them; at the same, I burned those copies and the copies I have, releasing the two girls from my service. "Tell the girls I wish them good luck for their future," I said to the stumped face of middle-aged. He might have expected me to rave and rage and shout threats at his boss, but there was no need. As the girls did nothing wrong, they left my service by paying the price stipted in the contracts; there is no hard feeling in my heart. "Is there anything, mister chase?" I asked. "No, nothing, mister Silver," he said and got up as he tried to school his emotions as he walked out of my office. "Those ungrateful bitches," said Ca with gritted teeth after the lift, "They did nothing wrong, Ca," I said to her surprise. "You have given them so much, taught them, given them the opportunity to earn that could have never dreamed in their life, but they betrayed you, the first chance they have got," she said, seething in a fury. To be honest, she kind of looked hot in anger; I felt my little brother rise before I controlled my emotions. "Calm down, Ca; they have done nothing wrong. They saw the better opportunity and took it by following the contract," I said, and I truly did not me them. Such things aremon on earth, and Ipletely agree with the decision to leave when they did itwfully. Ca opened her mouth to say something but closed it, and a momentter, she began to calm down. "Still, I did not expect them to leave. If they had any brains and eyes for the future, they would have stayed," she said finally. I did not say anything. I had already expected it would happen with the sess of the establishment. It just happened earlier than I had thought. Thank You My Patrons: Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 33: Vases Breaking Chapter 33: Vases Breaking ¡°We need to put our ns of expansion forward,¡± I said finally, looking up from the ashes of the contract that I had burned not long ago. I was going to wait till this month was over and I had a little more capital, but with this thing happening, I could not wait anymore. ¡°We do. We have the least girls among all the high-ss brothels; we need to increase the numbers,¡± said Ca. All the high-ss brothels have at least a hundred girls, and that was when they started; they now have even more with the business booming. I have big expansion ns, and it would require money while the four million would help, but not much; I need far more than it. ¡°Contact Valentina and get an appointment for tomorrow,¡± I said, ¡°What about the girls? Are you contacting your brother?¡± she asked. ¡°No, there is someoneing tomorrow who will contact him,¡± I replied. If I contact my brother, he will try to squeeze me or might not seven sell the contracts. I am taking the girls from Ca¡¯s old brothel; while it would be easier to get girls from here or Deerpond or even merchant cities, I like to get them from the old brothel, as these girls know each other and will work better. Not to mention those girls are good; my father had been meticulous about each woman when he decided to open a brothel a few years ago. ¡°Do I ask for the appointment from Repose and Bulwark?¡± she asked, ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. The ns of expansion require huge money; I have a few million and four I have got from the two girls, but it is far from enough. So, I am going to hit the bank for the loan. Ca left after taking orders, and a few minutester, I saw the messenger leaving the establishment. I turned back to my work, and now that I have started with the ns of expansion, there are too many things to do. I have already made a n of what kind of expansion I need, but some changes are needed to it with the new ideas I have. Click! A few hours passed as I worked and did some reading when the door opened, and Ca walked inside. ¡°You have an appointment with the bank at five,¡± Ca said as she came in, ¡°Good,¡± I said. I have worked on the proposal, and I hope the bank will ept it, and I am asking for a lot more money than thest time, but unlike thest time, I have a business that is booming. So, even if they did not give me the amount I wanted, a little less would also be fine. During the expansion, the establishment would continue to make me money. I worked till it was time for the appointment and left the establishment. Fifteen minutester, the carriage stopped, and I entered the bank. ¡°Remus Silver, I have an appoint with Mr. Shaw,¡± I said to reception on the third floor, ¡°Mr. Shaw will see you in ten minutes,¡± she replied with her usual professional smile. I nodded and sat down while reading the magazine to pass the time. ¡°Mr. Shaw will see you now,¡± she said and opened the door for me; I thanked her and walked inside the office, where a big man was sitting. ¡°Mr. Silver, wee,¡± he said as I came inside and offered me a seat. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Shaw,¡± I said as I took a seat in front of him. ¡°How can I help you?¡± he asked, leaning a little forward, ¡°I need a loan,¡± I said directly. ¡°That¡¯s what we are here for.¡± ¡°So, how much do you need?¡± he asked, ¡°Twenty-five million crowns,¡± I said with a smile, and I could see the faint spark of surprise appearing in its eyes before it disappeared. ¡°It is quite arge amount,¡± he said a momentter. I felt a little relieved that he did not decline my request directly. ¡°It is,¡± I said back. ¡°Well, your record is good; you paid ourst loan in less than two months, but the amount you are asking is huge; we will need to look at all aspects before we sanction such arge amount to you,¡± he said. ¡°It is fine,¡± I said, and in the next few minutes, I had signed forms and submitted the proofs, all the things that I needed to do to apply for a load. ¡°It all looked very good; it shouldn¡¯t take long for back to study your profile,¡± he said, looking at the papers in front of him before turning to me. ¡°The bank will inform you of its decision in a few days,¡± he added. ¡°Ok,¡± I said, and a minuteter, I walked out of his office. When I reached the establishment, it had already been opened; I entered through the back entrance and watched through my usual ce while taking notes. I feel quite relieved seeing the business is going as usual; there is nothing that seems out of ce in the girls'' performance. They are doing excellent, as usual. I watched for an hour and checked other things before going back to my office, where I worked till ten, before going to my bedroom to sleep. I have made a habit of sleeping at ten; it is a good habit and gives me enough to rest to not get tired, with all the things I need to do throughout the day. The next day, I woke up early, as I had been doing for nearly two weeks. I freshened up before going back to the mansion and doing yoga for an hour before starting to practice with instructor David. ¡°You are doing good, Master Silver. If you impress me today, then I will increase the difficulty of your training from tomorrow,¡± he said as he pressed at me, using multiple skills one after another. ng Thap ng I am also using my skills, the Quick Steps to move around and Consecutive shes, to attack rapidly when I get the chance. After training hard with instructor David for more than ten days, I have gotten a pretty good grasp of my skills. I have even started manipting Consecutive Strikes to defend, there is great resistance, but I am pushing through it. As I was practicing with the instructor, I heard the steps and saw four peopleing toward me; one was Ca, and of three, two were familiar, while the third was unknown to me. I did not dare to get distracted; instructor David gets quite angry when I get distracted and hit on ces where it hurt the most; I don¡¯t want to experience that, at least not today. Thap! Finally, the two hours were over, and instructor David had ended the training with a hit on my kneed that made me fall to the ground. He does that every day, and I was not able to stop him, despite trying hard. ¡°Rest well today, Mister Silver, tomorrow, I will increase the difficulty,¡± said instructor David and walked to pick up his real sword. After he ced it on his waist, he nodded at four before walking toward the exit. ¡°Uncle Thompson, Captain Stephen,¡± I greeted and nodded to one who I didn¡¯t recognize as I got up slowly. After practicing constantly, my stamina increased, so now I didn¡¯t have to lie on the ground for minutes to recover. ¡°Your Grandfather would be proud to see you picking up the sword again.¡± Said the old man. ¡°Thank you for the kind words, uncle,¡± I replied. He is Roe Thompson, the uncle; my father had also called him, and so has every member of the house. He is a childhood friend of Grandfather, the person he trusts the most and one he sends to fix any problems thate up. I was quite surprised when I got to know he wasing; as in my report, I didn¡¯t say anything that would warrant his arrival, but I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. I am sure I am not the only one which he asked to report the things that are happening in the barony. ¡°You should clean yourself; we will talkfortably in your office,¡± he said, looking at my state. ¡°Ca, take uncle and gentlemen to my office,¡± I said, ¡°Yes,¡± she replied and took them toward my office. I walked with them till the stairs diverged; they moved toward me while I walked toward my room. In my room, I did not apply the muscle numbing cream; I received much fewer sword ps than on the first days of training, and now the pain is manageable. So, I quickly showered, changed, and walked out of my room. When I walked into my office, I saw Uncle Thompson browsing through the ounting book while asking Ca questions now and then. I am not angry at him for looking at the files; I am happy instead. Whatever he sees and reads will be reported back to the grandfather, and I want that old man to know how I am doing. ¡°You are doing much better than the best scenario your father had imagined for this establishment,¡± he said as he put down the binder. ¡°Thank you, uncle,¡± I said to that, and he smiled. ¡°I am going to the barony, as you might have guessed. Are you interested ining?¡± he asked. To that, I shook my head. ¡°I wish to, but I could not; there is too much work to do here,¡± I replied. ¡°It is fine. You focus on your work; it is the most important thing,¡± he said. For half an hour, we talked about general topics, mostly about my business and the city. I did not ask him about his trip barony and why grandfather had sent him; I am sure I will know when he returns. Though, one thing is sure; my brother is not going to be happy. People seldom are when he visits. This is why I need to be as independent as possible the from the house while still being its member. My father had gone the same way and was able to enjoy great freedom in his business that many others didn¡¯t. ¡°Uncle, I have one thing to ask you; I hope you will be able to help me with it?¡± I asked, ¡°If it is in my power, I will help you,¡± he said. ¡°It is nothing big; I hope you will be able to facilitate sell between Reed and me,¡± I said, ¡°He is selling the brothel, and I want to buy a contract of girls in it,¡± ¡°Sure, as long as you are willing to pay a fair price, I don¡¯t see he will have any problem selling it to you,¡± he said. Off course, he will have, but with this old man in between, he will not dare to reject the sale. They have already stretched the limit of the house¡¯s anger; after what they did to me, they will not want to do anything more, or they will have to bear the wrath of their grandfather. I think it is the reason why grandfather had sent the uncle, Edwin had crossed the limit. ¡°I am willing to pay fifty thousand crowns per girl,¡± I said, which lit up a faint spark of surprise in his before it disappeared. ¡°It is more than a fair price; I will write to your brother immediately after I leave,¡± he said with a smile. ¡°Thank you, uncle,¡± I said happily. He stayed a few more minutes before he left; I dropped him at the gate and walked back toward the manor with a smile on my face. ¡°I assume the deal is good as done?¡± asked Ca, ¡°Yes, the deal is nearly done,¡± I said with a smile. Ca looked like she wanted to say something but did not ultimately. I did not care for it, as I am happy. I couldn¡¯t help but imagine the face my brother would have when he received the letter from the old man. I am sure he will break a few more vases today; he does that when he is angry. He says that the sound of them breaking helps him calm down. Thank You My Patrons:Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 34: Starting Chapter 34: Starting The carriage stopped in front of the huge four-story building with huge ss windows, which seemed transparent, but was not. Ca and I walked out of the carriage and walked inside the building. The office of Nielson Guild. We walked through the lobby and entered the elevator, which went to the top floor, and got out. ¡°Remus Silver, I have a meeting with Mage Valentina,¡± I said to the assistant, who looked to be in her early thirties. ¡°Yes, Mage Valentina has asked you to bring you in as soon as you have arrived,¡± she said with a professional smile and walked toward the door while Ca arched her brow at me as we followed behind. There were still ten minutes to my appointment, but the personal rtionship had its benefits. Click! The receptionist opened the door to the office, and we walked in; inside was Valentina, sitting behind argely white, delicately carved table. It is not a normal table, the one which is heavily enchanted. She is not the only one present in the office; there is also chief architect Davidson. ¡°Remus, Ca, take a seat,¡± she said, and we sat in front of her, ¡°Thank you,¡± said Ca as she sat beside me. ¡°So, you want to expand the mansion?¡± she asked. I told her what I wanted when I asked her about the appointment. ¡°Yes, if you do the job,¡± I said with a smile. The construction guilds across the city are swamped with work, calling more people from the Empire. Even then, it had be hard to quickly start new work; as people are one thing, the material is another. A few days ago, when we went to attend the party, Valentina said she was diversifying her suppliers. Focusing more on suppliers from the cities of Meldhorn as they are capable of providing what she needs much sooner and bigger with better prices with quality. ¡°For you, we will,¡± she said and tapped on the runes of the table a few times, and a momentter, the emblem of her guild appeared; she tapped a few more times, and a huge projection of my establishment had appeared. Seeing that, I smiled, and Ca handed me a file, and I took out a couple of pages with rough drawings from it. ¡°I want to expand the mansion to the left, right, and back. The basement also needed to expand greatly,¡± I said directly, making them both quite surprised as I slid the drawings toward her. If I am doing an expansion, I might as well do it big, which is why I applied for a big loan, but it will not be enough. I will need to pour everything I have and earn in the next few weeks. As after the expansion isplete, I will earn huge money. A million crowns day, at least. ¡°You had said you wereing to discuss the expansion but did not expect they would be this big,¡± she said with a smile before her eyes turned serious, ¡°It will be quite an expensive Remus, more if you want it quick,¡± she added. ¡°I have money,¡± I said. I don¡¯t have it right now, and if the bank rejects me, I will have to move to another source, which I hope, I don¡¯t have to. It came with strings attached. ¡°Let¡¯s begin then,¡± she said and began rapidly clicking across the runes so fast that I could not see her fingers as they moved. A little more than two minutester, the huge projection of the mansion disappeared, and in its ce, forty-eight small mansions appeared. Each one of them has a resemnce to the establishment but are bigger and looks more beautiful. All of them had the current building of the establishment in the middle, with them expanded left, right, and back, in a different variation of the harsoth style of architecture. There are some which will require a minimum change to my establishment, while some will require a huge overhaul. I looked at each of them carefully, even asking Valentina to provide me with the view from all angles. ¡°Leave numbers 2, 9, 27, and 46, and make everything disappear,¡± I said, and she did. Soon, there was a projection of only four mansions have remained, which now have be even more bigger. I began to analyze them further, discussing some things with Ca before turning to Valentina. ¡°Number 9, but I want changes to it,¡± I said. I want many ideas, and I want them to implement them. ¡°Of course,¡± she said with a smile, and for the next twelve minutes, we worked on the changes. These are big outer changes; we will work on the delicate ones with the other meetings. A single meeting is not enough for such a big project; we will need to have multiple meetings till it has been finished. ¡°Do you want to change the garden and other things?¡± she asked, ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. The gate, road, fountain, and garden need to change ording to the mansion. It took around twenty-five minutes to finalize all those details. ¡°Now that we have finished with external changes, let¡¯s move to internal,¡± she said, and soon, the internal space appeared. ¡°What do you want to do with the hall; do you want to divide it or leave it open?¡± she asked, ¡°Leave it open,¡± I replied, with the establishment expanding, the size of the hall also increased. I want it to the size of a standard ballroom, which is neither big nor small, a perfect size. After we decided on the hall size, we started with the rooms on the first floor; the makeup room needs to be much bigger right now, and so is the kitchen. The bar is going to expand further, and Valentina showed me a few designs; I chose and made a few changes. The bar is really important; more than a third of earningse from the liquor sold through it. After we finished with the hall, we started on rooms; there, I wanted to make some big changes. Currently, all the rooms have the same price, but it is going to change. There will free rooms; there will be premium rooms of a different category, with amenities that will take the whole experience to a different level. It is what I am selling in my establishment, the experience, something they have only found in my establishment. It had been twenty days since the establishment had opened, and it only took a few days for others to start copying things from me. Despite that, they were not able to achieve the kind of sale I have with my limited number of girls and a small establishment. Ca had been very worried since the two girls had left, thinking they had spilled all the trade secrets, but I was not worried. They run the business through exploitation, and even though they want to make a profit as I do, they do not copy me in everything. I would give it writing that they will not give 10%mission to girls; they will hire teachers, might even poach some of mine, but will not have a vision in which I am making them teach them. There are many things such as this, and every little thing affects the picture greatly. So, copying my ideas and even business models will benefit them without a doubt, but if they want to make a huge profit like me, then they will have to forgo everything they learned about this business. Which they will not do; I am confident about that. It took more than one and a half hours to make the internal changes; most of it took deciding the enchantment. Some of them needed to beid during construction, so deciding on them is imperative. ¡°Now, only underground has remained,¡± she said and looked at me. ¡°I want to expand it at least three times and have another floor below,¡± I said. To that, she nodded. ¡°It is not a problem; we will be able to do it with our geomancers,¡± replied. ¡°The underground will be the living quarters of girls, right?¡± she asked, ¡°Yes, I want the new room, a few recreational ces like amon room, library¡­.¡± I continued, and she wrote it all down. They got surprised to hear some of my requirements. Last time, I was not able to do much, except for making the hall a little bigger and bringing some new furniture, but now, I have some budget. Enough to make their living condition better than the simple nd. Soon, we finished with underground, and Valentina finally started on things I had missed; she was sessful in selling me many things, further increasing the budget. ¡°How soon do you want it?¡± she asked the main question, ¡°As soon as possible,¡± I replied. ¡°And you want it silent and hidden?¡± she asked, to that I nodded. I want to run the establishment while it happens; such a big change is not easy to hide, but they could do it. ¡°It will take one and half months, Remus,¡± she said, and I had expected that, but still, I hoped it would have been soon. ¡°Can¡¯t it be sooner?¡± I asked with hope. ¡°I could do it in a month, but you will have to close down your establishment for that period,¡± she said, and a mirthless smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. The original mansion took around nine-month to finish,pared to it; this project is bigger. I know I am lucky to be Valentina¡¯s friend, which is the only reason why she is willing to do it so quickly. If I had been a normal client, she would have taken at least a month more and would have charged me more than whatever she was going to charge now. ¡°So, how much is it all going to cost me?¡± I asked, hoping it would not be over my budget. She did not answer immediately and kept looking at me, likely using her skills to calcte the cost. ¡°It is going to cost you twenty million, six hundred thousand crowns,¡± she said finally, and for a moment, I felt relieved, as it had not gone above my budget, but it was still a big amount. ¡°Let¡¯s agree to twenty million,¡± I said, to which she rolled her eyes, ¡°Twenty million and five hundred thousand,¡± she said with her eyes twinkling. ¡°Twenty million and fifty thousand crowns,¡± I said, and immediately, she countered with her price. We started negotiating, and this time, there were no skills involved, and despite that, it felt harder than thest time, where she drowned me with the power of her skill. ¡°Twenty million and two hundred crowns, you drove a hard bargain, Remus,¡± she said, and I could only smile. ¡°When will you begin?¡± I asked. ¡°I will send my people for survey immediately, and the work will begin tomorrow after your clients leave,¡± she replied. Fifteen minutester, we left Valentina¡¯s office. I have signed a few papers and paid a quarter of the price. It had emptied more than what I had, but there was a smile on my face as I was finally expanding. A n that I thought might take at least six months to begin had started in less than a month. It made me very happy. ¡­ ¡°See, didn¡¯t I tell you he had potential,¡± said Valentina to the old man beside her. ¡°The project is not big; we should focus more on big clients,¡± said the old man, hearing that a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°He is a big client; we are only doing some small work for him,¡± she replied, and an old man just looked at her for a moment before sighing. ¡°He did have potential, and really I hope he will not do something to lose your favor and friendship,¡± said the old man, with deep meaning in his eyes, seeing that Valentina had looked away. ¡°I hope so too; it had been a while since I had found someone who I felt like I could trust,¡± she said so softly that it was barely audible to herself. Thank You My Patrons:Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 35: Level Up Chapter 35: Level Up ¡°The four categories of rooms should work well,¡± I said while writing in my diary as the carriage moved toward our new destination from Valentina¡¯s office. ¡°If it had been a month ago, I would have said it would not work; people would not pay such money to eat and drink in a brothel, but the reality in front of us,¡± ¡°So, there is a high chance that rooms will work,¡± she said as she looked through the window. I know they will work; people always pay if they find the services desirable, especially to impress women and feel special. This is not a new idea in this world, many brothels use it, but with the changes I am nning, mine would be the biggest hit. Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the two-story building, which had a sign ¡®Elese Cain,¡¯ but that sign now is little dusty, as if its proprietor wasn¡¯t taking good care of it. With how big the order was, Elese had closed down her shop temporarily; she had no other choice. As every bit of time and energy she had, she was spending onpleting the order. She is doing quite a good job; in the past twelve days, she has finished up ten dresses, and her pace is increasing further. Click! ¡°The shop is clo¡± said a young man working on the cloth, but stopped midway, seeing us. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± he said, leaving the cloth he was cutting. ¡°Good afternoon, Jesse. Could you tell Miss Cain that we have arrived,¡± I said to a young man; he is Jesse, Miss Cain¡¯s nephew. ¡°I will tell aunt right away,¡± he said and left. I looked around and saw a lot more people than thest time, fourteen people working on the different parts of the dress. ¡°Mister Silver, you should have informed me of youring; I would have been more prepared,¡± said Elese as she appeared. ¡°There is no need,¡± I said before looking around, ¡°Is there somewhere we could talk more privately,¡± I added; she was startled but nodded. ¡°This way,¡± she said and took us to the upper floor, into what seemed like a messy living room. ¡°Sorry for the mess,¡± she said as she cleared the pieces of cloth, ¡°It is fine, Elese,¡± I said as we sat down. ¡°Since you have personallye here, mister Silver, there must be something important?¡± she asked. I smiled at that, and instead of answering, I took out the check and slid toward her. Seeing the number on the check, her eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen. It is a check for half a million crowns, and with it, I am paying her the full amount of the contract, despite herpleting less than 10% of the order. ¡°I am increasing the order, doubling it,¡± I said, and I could see her faintly shake before she was able to calm herself down. ¡°The time?¡± she asked softly, ¡°The same, but the order might increase even more,¡± I said, and her eyes became a little unfocused hearing that. The new girls areing soon, and I will not have them wear old dresses; they will also get their custom dresses. This order is just the beginning; it is going to get quite big, and she will have to do it in a limited time without sacrificing quality. ¡°I will need to hire a lot more people and a bigger space,¡± she muttered softly. She had a habit of doing that when she was a thing. ¡°So, will you be able to do it?¡± I asked her. ¡°Yes, I can; I will need to hire a lot of people, but I will be able to do it,¡± she said a little loudly and turned to me. ¡°For such quick order, the old price will not do,¡± she said, with her bing very focused. If I decline, she will not do it, but I have no intention of doing it. ¡°Of course, how about five thousand and five hundred crowns per dress? It is sufficient, right?¡± I asked with a smile. I could have chosen the other boutique; with such a big order, even those snobby boutiques wouldn¡¯t have been able to turn me away, but Elise¡¯s designs are great, and most importantly, she captures my vision. Whether it is skill or instinct, I don¡¯t know, but she is doing a great job; those ten dresses she designed are amazing, capturing the natural qualities of the girls perfectly. Fifteen minutester, we had signed a new deal. We got out of the shop, with Elese sending us off to our carriage; we did not have anywhere else to go other than return to the establishment and wait. Wait for banks and my brother''s response; even if the responsees negative, I have other options. Soon, the carriage walked through the gates of the establishment, and a few secondster, we walked out of it. The guards at the door gave the letters to Ca as we entered the hall, where there were already a few unknown people looking around with convection and unconventional things in their hands. They were from the Nielson Guild, doing their surveys and taking the measurements; I talked to them for a few moments before going to my office. There are four letters havee, but two of them are the most important. The first one is from the bank and the second one is from my brother Reed. Rip! With my heart beating fast, I opened the first letter; it was from my brother Reed. If he rejects my offer, I will likely have to go to one of the cities of Meldhorn for the girls. I began to read the letter, and the more I read, the bigger my smile became. He agreed to transfer all the contracts of the girls, a total of sixty-two girls, with the contract of each costing me fifty thousand crowns. A total of three million and a hundred thousand crowns; will empty nearly all I have, leaving less than ten thousand in my ount. I immediately begin to write the reply; I want to finalize the deal today. After writing, my brother and I wrote to my man in Redfawn, asking him to handle everything, including giving freedom to those who want to leave, with severance pay, which I had hiked to five thousand. It might seem too much, but it is not; I need the girls, who are all in, and it has benefited me a lot till now. Those two who left were not the only ones who the poachers have approached; more than twenty have asked been approached, but only two have left, despite the promise of huge money, and I count that as a big win. After I finished that, I moved to the letter sent by the bank, which brought an even bigger smile to my face. The bank had agreed to give me the loan, and they have not even halved the amount as I thought they might. It is such big news. Click! I was smiling ear to ear when Ca walked and arched her brow in question when she saw me smiling brightly. I did not say anything and just handed the letters to her and read them; her eyes had also gone wide. ¡°These are the best news we hoped to get,¡± she said as she read the letters, but suddenly expressions changed for a moment before returning to normal. Making me feel like I had imagined it, but I knew I hadn¡¯t. ¡°I am going to the bank,¡± I said and got up. It hadn¡¯t been half an hour since I had returned, and I was going out again, but it was important; I needed to have the money in my hand. It took me one and a half hours to return to the establishment; it felt good to have money again, and with it, the expansion will begin smoothly. ¡­ I returned a few minutes before the gates of the establishment opened; I went inside through the back entrance before going back to my office. Soon, the gates of the establishment opened, and I watched from the windows as usual. I made my rounds through the establishment before going to my room to sleep. [Souteneur Merchant Level 7] The text appeared in front of me as I woke up, bringing a huge smile to my face. It had been a while since I had leveled up in my base ss. I immediately opened my ss window without wasting a moment.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 7)
Lawyer (Lv. 5) Warrior (Lv.2)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 9
Vitality: 6
Strength: 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open 5. Quick Steps 6. Consecutive Strikes 7. Fast Reading
Attribute Points: 1
In the past week, I had leveled up on both my Warrior ss and Lawyer ss. The Lawyer ss was just one level behind yesterday; now, it is two levels behind. I don¡¯t know if it is true or not, but it is said that base sses should always be higher level than other sses. If any sses go over it, then it slows down the progress of all sses, especially the base ss. All three of my sses had leveled up in these seven days, but not a single one had given me a new skill. Thest skill I got was from Lawyer ss, and that was nearly two weeks ago. Now that base ss has advanced, I have got an attribute point, and I desperately want to use it on strength or vitality, but I know intelligence would be wiser. I did not waste any time and added the attribute point to the intelligence, taking it to ten, the same level as the charisma, and immediately, I felt its effect.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 7)
Lawyer (Lv. 5) Warrior (Lv.2)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 6
Strength 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open 5. Quick Steps 6. Consecutive Strikes 7. Fast Reading
Attribute Points: 0
I felt my thoughts were getting faster; thinking had never felt so effortless as it is right now. I took the book beside my nightstand and began to read it, and despite the resistance, I was reading it at three times faster speed than normal, the same speed I read the legal documents. I am sure now I will be able to read legal documents even faster; not only that, but my other skills would also benefit from it. All of them, evenbat skills, faster thoughts help in reacting faster; it ismon knowledge. I stared at the screen for another minute before getting up and going to the bathroom. I have yoga to do and, after that, the training with instructor David. It is going to be painful today, seeing he is taking it a notch higher today. THUD! I hit the ground hard, with every part of my body screaming hard in pain. I had not felt such pain, even on the first day of training, as I am now. Unlike the first day, today, there were not only hits but also cuts, hundreds of them across my body. It looks quite bad, but it isn¡¯t. Instructor David had said that they would heal on their own quickly; it is one of his skills that heals the injuries he caused to his student heal fast. ¡°You know, you could have been a little merciful,¡± I said to instructor David as Iy on the grass without having any energy to move; even talking is quite a struggle. ¡°I told you what you will suffer, and you epted,¡± he said, ¡°Do you want me to take it down a notch?¡± he asked with mirth in his eyes. ¡°No,¡± I declined. The pain was temporary; I could bear it, given the benefits I am having; not only am I regaining ease with the sword fast, but I am quickly mastering and stretching my skills beyond their limit. The progress made me happy, as I would have to depend less on others to protect me. As my business grows, things will get dangerous; my father was assassinated. My Grandfather had been attacked by an assassin more than ten times; it is a hazard of doing business in this world. The more your business grows, the more enemies you will make. It took fifteen minutes for all the cuts to heal, and only after that I got up, nearly copsing due to jelly legs. As I stood up, I limped toward my room, with paining from every movement I made. It will be hell to climb the stairs. Thank You My Patrons:Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 36: Favor Chapter 36: Favor "You seemed ufortable?" asked Ca as I slowly sat down on my chair. The muscle-numbing cream had helped with the pain but not the damage. It will take a few hours to heal through all the damage. "The training had got a little hard today," I replied and opened the file; a minuteter, a smile appeared on my face. Yesterday, there was no increase; I was just happy there was no decrease due to the loss of two girls. Today, there was an increase, finally crossing the mark of four hundred and fifty thousand crowns. If it keeps increasing in such a way, then there is a sure chance that the earnings will reach half a million a night by the end of the month. After reading the report, I turned to the letters in front of me. The first one, I opened from my man in Redfawn, whom I had handed all the responsibility of the girls. He had offered them freedom from their contract with severance pay, as I had told him to, and nine decided to leave while fifty-one wereing. They have already started the journey and will reach here in three or four days. There is a list of names that areing, along with their information; I begin to read it but am soon stopped by a familiar name. I stared at it for a couple of seconds before resuming the reading and finishing it a minutete. "Care to exin how L M ended up back in Redfawn?" I asked with an arched brow like she did when to want to ask about something silently. Her expression became serious before a sigh came out of her mouth. "I did not say or imply anything intentionally to give her the way toe back, but I identally wrote something that made her join the old brothel in the hopes ofing back," said Ca. I did not say anything to that, as the thing is quiteplex. I had said that I would not take back any girl who left and would not, but now, I have brought this girl, which created a loophole. It was a frustrating choice to make, especially given the risk or daring the girl had shown, going back to the old brothel in those horrendous conditions, at leastpared to the establishment. Most importantly, she had needed to sacrifice her freedom; as one could not enter the brothel without a long contract. Not to mention ways, the ingenuity she would have needed to make my brother take her in, as he would have definitely thought she was a spy I sent to keep an eye on him. "I hope you will be careful what you write in the future, Ca," I warned as I looked at her. "It was a mistake; it wouldn''t happen again," she replied. I nodded and turned back to the other letters. After finishing the letters, I read the papers, which as always filled with news of conflicts. Empire had few skirmishes going on its border, nothing major like Mayhurst Ind, where lich was causing the destruction; it had already swallowed one kingdom and moving to swallow all. Looking at the progress it is making, the lich might be able to swallow the whole of Mayhurst Ind, and that would be a bad thing. It is in a strategic ce; Empire, Merchant City-States, or any other coastal nation wouldn''t want to see that and the papers said that they are preparing the big aids. The Renwell region is much safer currently; the merchant city-states never expand beyond their borders, and Navr had been silent; there had been few skirmishes with Tabes forces, but Dustorn fortress had handled it. After reading all the papers, I focused on the work; with expansion, there were many things to do and new ideas to search for before it waste. I worked for some time before I got up to go to the guild; I had not gone to the Merchant Guild for two days, so there must be a lot of work for me waiting. When I reached the hall, I began to hear all the sounds, not the sounds of music as I usually do, but other sounds. As I got out of the hall, I saw many unknown people around the mansion. The people from the Nielson Guild are setting off their instruments, and some have already started doing the work. Soon, I spotted the familiar old man and walked toward him. "Mister Silver," he said as I appeared beside him. "Mr. Davidson, how is the progress?" I asked. "By evening, everything will be clouded, people wouldn''t be see anything, and we will be able to do our job in peace," he replied. "I have no doubt you will," I said and talked to the old man for a couple of minutes before walking into my carriage. Knock Knock Fifteen minutester, my carriage pulled into the Merchant Guild, and I walked out. Soon, I entered the legal department on the first floor and walked into my office, and was about to call Kevin when the knock rang out. "Come in," I said, and then opened, and mister Oakley walked in. "Mister Silver, the Guildmaster wants to see you at two," he informed. "Did he tell you what it is about?" I asked, "No, but he sent a note asking me to tell you about the appointment if you arrive today," he replied. "Thank you, mister Oakley," I said and the old man. "It''s no bother," he said, "I will send you the contracts for you to review; there are quite a lot," he said and left before I could say anything, and a minuteter, Kevin came, bringing twenty contracts. I activated my skill and began, and immediately I got impressed by the shocking speed, not only of reading but also understanding what was written. Intelligence increase the thought speed, which is acting fuel to power up the Contract and Fast Reading Skills, which also aid me in quickly understanding the things I read. I begin to flip one page after another while taking notes on the note-pad. I quickly read through the second contract and began on the third before starting on the third and the fourth. By the time it was ten minutes to two, I was able to finish with more than ten contracts. I locked the contracts and notes in my desk before getting up and walking out of my office. I have an appointment with the Guildmaster, I don''t know what it is about, but it must be important if he is calling me into his office instead of sending me a note. "Remus Silver, I have an appointment with the guild master at two," I said to the assistant. "I will inform Guildmaster about your arrival," she said and tapped on the runes of the te in front of her. "He is waiting for you," she said as she looked up, and the door of the Guildmaster''s office began to open up. I walked toward the office, and soon, I entered inside, and for the first time, I saw Damon Hardt alone. "Guildmaster, you have called for me?" I asked as I stopped. "Yes, take a seat, Remus." He said. "Thank you," I said as I sat. "I have called you here because I want you to go with the delegation leaving for Namdar in six days," he said, surprising me. Namdar is an ind and also the name of the city; it is a very strategic ce for the Empire and one of the most prosperous cities of the Empire. Making connections to it will help the Greltheaven tremendously, considering there is a waterway route to it from Greltheaven. "My apologies, guild master, but it is not possible for me." "I have just begun the expansion of my business, and I want to be present," I said, declining the offer directly; he seemed a little surprised by that but quickly controlled his expression. "It won''t take much; you will be able to return in less than ten days," he said, but I shook my head. If it is reviewing the contracts, I will do it, even if I have to stay an hour more, but I will not leave the city. My business is most important, this job I took because it will benefit my business. "Consider this as a favor to me," he said, and I immediately stopped my open mouth from uttering the word. "Namdar is too important; I want every contract we sign with them to be perfect. There will be some negotiations; I want you to be part of them, too," he added, and I wanted to decline it, but the words stopped in my mouth. Favor. This word made me hesitate. One does not use this word carelessly, and if he says he will owe me a favor, then he will, and a favor from the guild-master of the merchant guild is very valuable. "Since you asked it, Guild-master, I will do it; I just hope it will not take more than ten days," I said finally with a sigh. "Good, start making the preparations; you will leave in six days," he said; I nodded and walked out of the office. Soon, I was back in my office and closed my eyes. I really didn''t want to go, but there was no choice; the favor would help me a lot, and I could not let it go. I should be able to return within ten days, and Ca is more than capable of handling everything in my absence. I opened my eyes and took out the contract, and began reviewing them; by the time I finished, it was already four. It took me another half an hour to arrange my notes and type them and stamp them. I called Kevin and handed over the contract, and got out. I have stayed more than I usually do but was able to do a work of two days; the skills make everything easy and efficient. Soon, my carriage was out of the merchant guild and, fifteen minuteste, reached the establishment, which had changed thoroughly in the few hours, I had been out. Aside from the walkway and the mansion, everything is covered in a silvery pink mist. The garden, the back of the mansion, everything is covered in mist. It gave the establishment quite a mysterious look; I had worried about the looks of the establishment, as it was what attracted the patrons first, but now looking at it, I am no longer worried. Without special visual skills, nobody would be able to see what is inside the mist. As I entered inside and walked through the mist, I saw lots of people and cargo carriagesing from the back entrance and unloading the stuff. They have started working; I could see a lot of workers have already begun digging, with the geomancers handling the delicate stuff. They will create an underground and build the building covering, and the two will be one in thest days. I will need to close the establishment for thest part, but it won''t be for more than a week. "How you liking the progress, Mister Silver?¡± asked Architect Lloyd as he approached me. ¡°It is happening quite fast,¡± I said as I looked around. ¡°Your work is a priority.¡± ¡°The head wants to finish it within one and a half months, so we need to work fast,¡± he said and began to tour me the progress they had made in a few hours. Looking at it, I don¡¯t have a doubt about them finishing the work on time. Thank You My Patrons: Chapter 37: New Girls Chapter 37: New Girls ¡°You have be quite nervous since you have seen the port,¡± said De as she saw the small port getting closer and closer. ¡°It is just excitement,¡± L replied, but she could tell it was a lie, but she did not peruse it and looked at the small city in the wastnd. It is their destination, her ninth brothel. She hoped Ca is right; she had decided to believe in that little girl and chose this over her freedom. The severance they have offered, and her own measly savings would have been enough to live without any worries for years. Finally, the ship reached the port and began to dock on the pier; all the girls began toe out of their bunks, including Estelle and Mera, who were seasick. Even they did not know this little fact about themselves, having never been on the ship before this. ¡°You broads, line up,¡± said the rough voice, the Captain of the ship. A pot-bellied, bearded man with a foul mouth, looking at all the women like meat. She thought he might force himself on them, given what they were, and he even came close to doing it but stopped every time at thest moment for some unknown reason. They lined up on the deck, and he began to count them. ¡°All fifty-two, not a single one of you jumped off the ship secretly,¡± he said and walked out of the ship. As he did, one of the carriages parked by the pier opened its door, and beautiful women in enchanting blue gowns walked out with the grace that only richdies have. She is immacte; everything about her is perfect, especially her walk, which feels more like a glide than a walk. Even the rough Captain stumped on his spot as he saw hering toward him. ¡°Is that sister Ca?¡± asked Selma beside her, shocked, and only then did she focus on the girl she had known since she was born, but despite that, she was unable to recognize her. It wasn¡¯t even a year since she saw her, and she had changed so much. ¡°There is no way; this could be sister Ca!¡± said Henna, like her others also having a problem recognizing Ca. She looked at L, who had seen Ca less than two months ago, only to see her hand gripping tightly to the railings with her eyes shing in deep regret. What is happening here is aplete mystery to her, but reading the letters of Ca and the other girls, she knew they were happy, ecstatically. She had asked them many times, but they always avoided talking about it, even Ca. She sometimes even doubted the validity of the letters. Ca reached the stumped Captain and began talking with him; she could not hear what she was saying, but a minuteter, he turned toward the ship. ¡°Bring them down,¡± shouted the Captain. ¡°Walk down nice and slow; we don¡¯t want you to fall and get injured right before the delivery; it would tarnish the image of the captain,¡± said the shipman, and she felt the feeling covering her as she walked down the ramp. Soon she was on the ground, walking toward Captain and Ca, and the closer she got, the more shocked she became. Ca hadpletely transformed since thest time she had seen her. ¡°Aunty De, wee to Greltheaven,¡± she said in a voice that seemed like a chime of bells and hugged her, and she sensed the perfume, which was better than even her most riches clients had. Ca let go of the hug and turned to L. ¡°You have given me quite a trouble, you know that,¡± she said with a little hard voice before hugging her friend. ¡°I am sorry,¡± said L as tears dripped from her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s okay; just don¡¯t make any rash decisions anymore,¡± said Ca, with all the hardness in her voice disappearing, and turned to the girlsing off the ship. ¡°Girls, step into the carriage with your name on it,¡± instructed Ca. She turned to the carriages lined up and saw that other than the first carriage, all the carriages had paper sticking to them, with each paper having four names. The girls had many questions, but they still followed the instruction of Ca, who had be unrecognizable within a short time. Soon, everyone sat in their respective carriages, and the drivers pocketed the papers and sat in their seats, waiting. ¡°Thank you for bringing the girls to Greltheaven safely, Captain Hanks,¡± thanked Ca. ¡°It is my job, miss Ca,¡± he replied,pletely enamored by her charm, with eyes filled with lust. If he did not sense the guards standing by the carriage, he might have acted on his emotions. Giving him a final nod, she walked toward the carriage, where the driver opened the door for her without saying anything, and she gracefully entered inside. She and L entered inside and sat down, and a secondter, the carriage began to move. ¡°You have changed, Ca, so much that I didn¡¯t recognize you at first,¡± she said, and L, besides, nodded in affirmation with regret in her eyes bing deeper. A chimelikeughter rang out from her throat, and she moved her head gracefully toward the window. ¡°Yes, I did.¡± ¡°So, much has changed in these past two months; even I sometimes don¡¯t recognize myself in the mirror,¡± she replied. Her smile became smaller but genuine as she looked at the passing scenery of the port. ¡°It seemed to be a good change; you seem happy,¡± she said; she had never seen this girl happy as she is as right now. ¡°I am,¡± she replied and turned to her. The ride passed pleasantly as she talked with Ca; they talked about past and present, those who came and those who didn¡¯t. Ca talked about many things, but she was always deflective when she asked about their new brothel, only saying she would know soon enough. ¡°We have arrived,¡± said Ca with a smile as the carriage turned toward the beautiful mansion, which was clouded in silvery-pink mist, giving quite a mysterious feeling to the building. She also noticed quite a lot of peopleing and going through the mist. ¡°We are expanding,¡± exined Ca when she turned to ask the questions. Soon, the carriage stopped, and they came out and waited for other girls toe out of the carriages that wereing from behind. Soon, the girls came out of the carriage and gathered in front of the fountain, with Ca in front of them. ¡°It will take some time for Master Silver toe back and sign your contracts, so I will be giving you all the tour of the establishment,¡± said Ca with a smile before her expression became serious. ¡°Follow me silently as you can, and if you have a question, don¡¯t ask them too loudly,¡± added Ca, and she felt a feeling covering her. ¡°Why?¡± asked Revina. To that, Ca smiled again. ¡°You will know soon,¡± she said mysteriously as she walked toward the mansions, while the girls followed behind silently as they could as they have asked too. Soon, they reached the door and walked inside, and a couple of things happened; first, a different kind of faint music reached their ears, and then they saw a huge hall. In it, an old woman seemed to be instructing twelve familiar girls on walking; it seemed strange to her until she noticed them wearing strange shoes. Those shoes had metallic balls attached to them, and to her shock, these girls were walking gracefully, wearing these shoes without falling, but that did not seem to satisfy the old woman. ¡°Straight back, Andrea,¡± said the old woman, and the next second, a thin cane in her bony hand, hit the girl''s bottom, making a sharp sound. She thought Andrea would definitely fall, some girls beside her even gasped and closed their eyes, but to their shock, Andrea bore the cane, with only a slight change in her expression, before she straightened her back as an old woman asked and continued to walk. The girls practicing spotted them but barely nced at them as they focused on what the old woman was teaching. ¡°This is mistress Elme; she teaches etiquette, and if you girls sign a contract, be sure to remember never to talk back to her and do as she said with maximum effort,¡± warned Ca as she resumed walking. Teaching? These words shook her, and she wanted to ash more, but she decided to let Ca show what she wanted before asking any questions. ¡°In the velvet garden, you will be taught lessons on etiquette, speech,nguage, mathematics, musical arts, litr¡­¡± Ca began naming things as they reached upstairs, where she saw girls taking lessons in different things Ca noted. She saw Lenore painting and, in the next room, saw Ina reading beautifully; in a few rooms after that, Margaux was holding a big string instrument, a cell, as she listened to the instructions. In every room she passed, she would see the girls doing something she would never in her wildest dreams thought they would ever be able to do in their lives. It had shocked her and everyone who watched; tears even started to drip through eyes of L before she wiped them out. ¡°C¡­can we also learn these things?¡± asked Lydia, the question every girl was thinking, including her ¡°Yes, it is a prerequisite; without learning them, you will not be allowed to do the business,¡± replied Ca, using the world she had only seen her learned client use. ¡°Who would want to do business after learning these amazing things,¡± said Henna; this young girl has a habit of opening her mouth when she shouldn¡¯t. She also seemed to understand she had spoken her wrong words under the re of all the girls when Ca turned, and there was no anger on her face as she had expected but a bright smile. ¡°You will want to do the business so much that you will beg for it,¡± said a familiar voice, sounding far more cultured than it was a few months ago. She turned and saw Danielle walking toward them; she had seen her a few minutes ago, learning something she wasn¡¯t properly able to guess. ¡°Why?¡± asked Henna; this time, it was not only her; every girl is really curious, and so is she. ¡°Money darling, you will earn so much that you have never dreamed in your life,¡± she said, with a voice sweet like honey. It immediately attracted the attention of every girl; they turned everything toward Danielle, looking at her carefully. At first, she looked like she was wearing a normal dress, but as she looked carefully, she saw her dress was finely cut, fitting her perfectly. Her hair is bound in a perfect bun, her nails are expertly clipped and polished, and her skin is visibly glowing. She is smiling, with a genuine smile on her face, which is quite rare in their business. ¡°How much you earn?¡± asked L; Danielle smiled and turned to Ca, who nodded gently permission. ¡°I will not say how much I earn, but I will tell you that every girl here earns at least a thousand,¡± she said, and once again, visible gasps rang out from the girls; even she was shocked. The amount is truly huge. ¡°A thousand crowns a month, it is such a huge amount of money,¡± said Payton, and for a second, Danielle¡¯s expression became weird before an even bigger smile appeared on her face. ¡°No, darling, it is thousands of crowns a day,¡± she said, and a couple of girls literally fainted, she even felt like her head was spinning hearing those words, but she calmed herself and turned to Ca, who nodded before her expression turned serious. ¡°Yes, the girls are earning a lot of a lot of money, but they are working extremely hard for it,¡± said Ca to the girls before resuming the tour. Soon, they climbed another floor, and she heard a sound that made her pause; she saw a middle-aged man ying the flute in front of a group of girls. Memories are so old that she buried them deep in her heart, pulled out by the beautiful sound yed by the man. An image of her father ying the flute and teaching her couldn¡¯t surface in her mind. Unlike most girls here, she does not prostitute type base ss; her main ss is a flutist, the most cherished legacy she had received from her dearest father. Ca seemed to have noticed a change in her as she turned toward her and smiled; she wiped away the tears that welled up in her eyes unconsciously and smiled back. If there is a chance, she would very much like to learn the flute. They reached the top floor before finallying down and stopping at a room that widened the eyes of all the girls. ¡°This make-up, such beautiful dresses,¡± shouted a couple of girls, making arge room crowded instantly. The dresses were really too beautiful; even she was feeling an intense urge to get off the rack and wear it. ¡°Are these dresses you all use for the business?¡± asked Henna. ¡°These dresses, those shoes, and everything,¡± replied Ca. ¡°If you are shocked by these, then you will faint if you see the new custom dresses; they are amazing.¡± ¡°It is quite a regret; we would not be able to wear them before the expansion is finished,¡± she said, and the girls went mad. For nearly ten minutes, they have not left Danielle and Ca alone, making Ca re at the petite girl. It took some quite an effort for those two to bring the girls out of the make-up room, and they once again came back to the hall, where the old woman was still teaching, walking on strange ball shoes. Ca then took us to their living quarters in the basement, and they were far more nicer than what she had expected. Though it did not surprise her after what she had seen in the past hour. ¡°Sister Ca, when will Mister Silver return? I want to sign the contract,¡± said Lydia, and once again eyes of all the girls got focused on Ca. ¡°In a few hours, but before that, I want you to fill these papers.¡± She said as she distributed the papers and pens to the girls. ¡°It is not necessary to answer all the questions in the papers, but it is better if you do and be truthful, as many things you will and things the teachers will teach you will depend on your answers,¡± she advised. Ca handed her the papers, and she looked at the question; the first few were normal, like name and where they were originally from, but soon, they have be strange. Like what type of men they usually serve and what type of sexual positions they like, and what things their clients like to talk about before and after the sex. Even she, with most experience here, felt her cheeks burning at these questions, but she had answered them all in her honesty. It took more than an hour to write down all the answers, and she was talking to the girls when an unfamiliar young woman entered the basement. ¡°Madam Ca, the lunch has been set,¡± she informed, ¡°Thank you, Lucia,¡± she said to the young women before she turned to the girls. ¡°Girls, it is time for lunch, I am sure; you must all be feeling very hungry,¡± said Ca and got up. She is right; they are feeling hungry; they had a light breakfast in the morning, but that had been digested long ago. They went for lunch at tables set in the hall and had the most delicious meal of her life and, once again, marveled how graceful Ca looked while eating; it is not only her but all the girls working in the establishment, as they referred to it to this brothel. It turned out they have been taught how to eat too. Thank You My Patrons: Chapter 38: Excited Chapter 38: Excited [Souteneur Merchant Level 8] [Skill Gained: Price Is Right] I was riding from the guild toward the establishment when a text appeared in front of me. I had leveled up in my base ss and even gained the skill. It couldn¡¯t help but surprise me, but soon that surprise morphed into a smile. I have finally got it; Price Is Right. It is a staple skill of merchants. Every merchant above level 10 has this skill; more than 50% of people gained it when they gained the mercantile ss. With this advancementes an attribute point.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 8)
Lawyer (Lv. 5) Warrior (Lv.2)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 6
Strength: 6
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open 5. Quick Steps 6. Consecutive Strikes 7. Fast Reading 8. Price Is Right
Attribute Points: 0
Earlier, I wanted to spend the attribute point on vitality, but after some deep thinking, I decided to use it on strength, and I did not waste any time doing that.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 8)
Lawyer (Lv. 5) Warrior (Lv.2)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 6
Strength: 5
Skills: 1. Trusty Presence 2. Worthy Goods 3. Contract 4. Shop Open 5. Quick Steps 6. Consecutive Strikes 7. Fast Reading 8. Price Is Right
Attribute Points: 01
The moment I did, I felt the change. I felt the power coursing through my veins. I knew I had gotten a little stronger. It is not just strength that has increased, but nearly all physical attributes; strength and vitality increase one''s constitution, agility, and defense. People allot points inbination to focus on any of these things; old Remus had focused on agility built, but I find bnce more suitable for me. So, I need both my vitality and strength near the same. Soon, I reached the establishment and got out of the carriage; when I reached the door, Ca was there. ¡°Everything is ready,¡± she said, and I nodded in thanks. A minuteter, I walked into room 11, which was filled with girls, one of them I recognized from thest time. She looked away as I nced at her. My office is not big enough to amodate all the girls and seeing I did not want to talk to them in batches, I put a small table in room eleven to finish it all once. ¡°Hello, I hope you all have a pleasant journey to the Greltheaven,¡± I said, and they smiled nervously. ¡°I wille straight to the point then,¡± I said and looked at two piles of contracts; one was the old contracts, and the others were the new ones they would have to sign. ¡°Today, you will sign the contracts and be an employee of the Velvet Garden,¡± ¡°I am sure Ca had exined every point in the contract to you and told you, you still have a choice if you want to leave with severance,¡± I said and looked at them. In return, I got a look like I was mad for asking these questions. ¡°This is thest chance; anyone wants to leave?¡± I asked in direct terms to be sure, but no one had opened their mouth. ¡°Since all of you agree, we will begin signing the contracts,¡± I said and turned to look at Ca, who nodded and took the first contract. ¡°De Sharp,¡± she said, and womante fifties walked forward. She was a little nervous, but after her name was called out, she quickly came forward and began to sign the contract. She likely feared I might not ept her, and her fear is valid, as most brothels did not use women who looked over fifty, and some high ss did not use those who looked over forty, but I have no qualms. I wanted women of her age; there are certain people who like them and seeing I want to serve to every taste, I will use her. There are two more women other than her, who looked over fifty; one seemed to be in the early fifties, while the other. ¡°Esther Reese,¡± Ca called as De finished signing the contract, and the second woman came and began to sign the contract; as she finished, the third woman was called and then forth. One by one, they begin toe to the table as their names are called and begin to sign the contract, and soon, fifty-one women have signed the contract. ¡°From today, you are the employees of the velvet garden; you will follow the rules in the contract and will receive all the benefits ording to it.¡± ¡°I hope we will have a pleasant working rtionship,¡± I said. To that, they smiled nervously and began to walk out of the room till only L remained in the room and me. She is looking at me with nervous eyes; I have never seen anyone as nervous as her. She is so nervous that she is shaking it; I fear that if I simply so much touch her, she might fall down. ¡°Miss L, you have put me in quite a dilemma,¡± I said as I looked at her. ¡°It was not my intention, Mister Silver,¡± she said. Her words were clear, despite all the nervousness. ¡°I have told you before I will not take those who will leave, but now I have brought your contract; it had put me in quite a dilemma, you understand it, right?¡± I asked as I looked at her. ¡°I will ept your decision,¡± she said, and I continued looking for a couple of seconds before finally sighing. ¡°Fine, I will give you one more chance, but I truly hope you will not disappoint me,¡± I said and pushed the contract forward. I could see joy lighting up in her eyes, and at the same time, tears started to stream from them ¡°You will not regret giving me a second chance, Mister Silver,¡± she said as she wiped her tears. ¡°I hope not,¡± I said with a small smile, and I truly hope I do not. The one reason I had epted her is Ca; she had asked me that personally yesterday, and while I could have easily said no, I decided to agree to her request. As any mistake made on her part would be her responsivity, I had made it clear to her, and she epted. She quickly signed the contract, and I felt it click, with the headache increasing slightly, but it was minor, not likest time; it was quite bad. The levels in my ss and the mental attributes have really helped me a lot; without them, it would have been impossible to sign so many contracts. [Lawyer Level 6] I had just gotten up from my seat when the text appeared in front of me, and immediately I felt the headache lessen. Seeing the level up, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I have leveled twice today, once in my base ss and now in my Lawyer ss. This day just keeps getting better. Though the smile would have been brighter if I had received the skill, still, I am happy with the level; it will help me a lot in Namdar. Things will be hard there, as it is a tiny city like Grelthheaven but one of the most prosperous cities of the Empire. A ce in which those monsters of the S ss reside. ¡­. ¡°Anty De, big sisters, you all need to be quiet when we enter the manor,¡± said Gloria as she led their group of five toward the building. There is huge construction going on around the mansion; while Ca had informed her of it, it still surprised her. There are nearly a hundred workers working on different things; she had even spotted magesying the enchantments into the ground. Ca had said they were building around the mansion, making it bigger. When the construction is finished, the mansion will be big enough that a hundred girls will easily be able to do the business. She even said there would be a big underground residential area for them, for which she is feeling very grateful. Currently, their living arrangement is tents, which by the way, is the mostfortable arrangement she has ever lived in her life, with the softest bed she has ever slept in. It even has a temp disc to adjust the temperature ording to their needs. Still, she would like to live within the solid walls; it will not matter if they are underground or above ground. Soon, Gloria led their group of five through the small entrance, and they have made the steps as silent as possible. It had been an hour since the establishment had opened; she wanted to watch from the start, but Ca declined as Mister Silver started his round in the first hour. Since every girl was excited to see how the establishment worked, Ca had divided them into groups, and each group would get a tour of the establishment and see how it worked. They only have half an hour, but I think it would be more than enough to see how the establishment work. Soon, they reached the tiny room, which had a small window and a chair. Seeing the window, every girl ran toward it, ignoring Gloria, who was asking them to take turns looking through the window. Soon, all five of them squeezed themselves and looked through the window, and what they saw shocked them to their core. She was a huge hall that was mostly empty a few hours ago, now lit with the most beautiful lights and filled with tables. Where the girls were sitting wearing beautiful dresses, which now looked more enchanting on the girl''s bodies than the racks they had seen them on earlier She is not shocked by the clothes they are wearing, but by how they are behaving and how the clients, patrons as they called them, are behaving with them. They do not look like whores, but women from rich families; the way they are talking, they are moving. Every movement of theirs is graceful; every wording from their mouth would be captivating, and the men in rich clothes would talk to them with smiles and praise them with flowery words. She could see the lust in the eyes of men, but it was not desperate or forceful. There is restraint in them, which she had seen very few times. Every table was filled, and every girl was upied with patrons; she even saw a few men sitting alone drinking in the bar as no girl was avable to apany them. It is so different from the brothels she had been in, where she needed to use everything she had to attract clients, but here, they woulde to girls. It had been ten minutes since she was looking, and since then, only one pair had gone to pleasure rooms. ¡°It is so different,¡± L whispered, and she couldn¡¯t help but nod. ¡°If I had not seen with my eyes, I would have believed what Ca had said,¡± she said softly, and the girls nodded. They watched for another five minutes before Gloria took them to the makeup room, and it was a sight to behold, just like the hall. Two beauticians, one woman in her mid-thirties and the most beautiful man she had ever seen, working on a Lenore together. She is standing naked as two brushes slide across her skin while the women work on her face. She was so engrossed in watching that she did not notice the man had no hands. She did not react to it and gave the looks to two girls, who were staring at his stumped hands. ¡°Dress from the thirteenth hanger, lingerie from the 24th hanger, shoe¡­¡± he gave the order, and two young girls brough them quickly. As they had brought it, they began to float, just like the brushes did. Lenore seemed to know what to do as she raised her hands forwards, and the blue bra slid through them; at the same time, she lifted one leg, and another, and panties slid through them. In a few seconds, she is in blue lingerie before the indigo dresses floating toward her and slides across her skin, and a secondter, the bright red shoese floating and fix themselves on her feet. They watched with gaping mouths as Lauren got readied in a few seconds in what was supposed to have taken her minutes. She smiled, looking at their wide mouth, and gave them a nod before walking out of the room. ¡°Madams,¡± said the man, and within a minute, they found out how easy he was to talk to. It is quite a regret that they needed to leave soon, as their half an hour wasing to an end. She did not remain sad for long when she remembered she was going to be working here. Experience everything these girls are experiencing, and for the first time in decades, she is feeling excited. Thank You My Patrons: Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 39: Leaving For Namdar Chapter 39: Leaving For Namdar "It would have been nice if I had more than a day with this beauty," I said with a sigh as the massaged brown leathery seat gently. I got the delivery of my enchanted carriage yesterday, and it is perfect; it is not the best one, but currently, it is great for me, especially with the level 20 driver I had hired paying good money. It isfortable, and I could even make a long journey with it; as long as we are not attacked direct, the carriage will not suffer any problems. "You can use it as much as you can after you return from Namdar," said Ca, ¡°I will,¡± I replied. I have handled everything I could in the past few days, and now everything is on Ca''s shoulders. I am confident she will be able to handle everything perfectly with the directions I have left behind. "Use guards if any problem urs and if it is something you cannot handle, then send a message to Damon Hardt; he owes me a favor for this," I said. To that, she nodded. Since the girls came, I have increased the number of guards to twenty-five, but there was a small incident two days ago when an inebriated construction worker sneaked inside the tent. The guards stopped him the moment the girl screamed, but I hated that something like this had happened, despite the precaution. I hired ten more guards, and now the area around the tents is better protected. It still didn¡¯t stop me from worrying. "Don''t worry, everything will be fine," said Ca as she pressed her hand to mine and froze, but seeing I did not pull away, she rxed and kept it there. Soon, the carriage rode the inside the gates of the merchant guild and stopped. "Take care, Ca," I said as I slowly pulled my hand from her and was about to leave the carriage when I found her beautiful face in front of mine, and before I knew it, I found her soft lips on mine. Her lips stayed on my mine for a second before she pulled away, leaving behind the most wonderful feeling on my lips. "Return safely, Remus," she said, and all I could is nod as I got out of the carriage while trying to process what had happened. Soon, I reached the office of Damon Hardt and cleared my thoughts; I will think about it in my free time, it is a time for business. "Mister Silver, the Guildmaster had asked me to let you as soon as you have appeared," said the assistant and tapped on the few runes, and soon, the door began to open. I walked inside and saw there were a lot of people inside; aside from Damon Hardt, there was John Ramos, the vice Guildmaster, and four guild masters of various sub-guilds. Aside from them, there is mister Oakley and the people from the legal department. "Remus, have you made all the preparations?" asked Damon Hardt. "Yes, Guildmaster," I replied. "Good. As I had told you before, vice-Guildmaster Ramos will lead the delegation; there will be four heads of sub-guilds and seven people from the legal department," he said, motioning toward the people. "The legal team will be led by Rip Daniels, and you will advise him on the matters you think is important," he added, motioning toward the tall raven-haired man in his early forties. I nodded at Rip; I know the man, and he is quite good. If old man Oakley leaves the job, he will be the next person to get it. "Namdar is a hub in continental trade; it is important we form good rtions with it," he said with his expression turning serious. "We will try our best," said John Santos. The next hour, we discussed the specifics; Irgely remained silent, speaking only when asked while observing everything. This is the reason why I have taken this post; the things that are being discussed here are confidential and important. This is a type of information that will give me an edge and help me shape my business. "Best of luck to all of you; I hope, when you return, you will bring the good news with you," he said; we nodded with a smile and walked out of the office. Soon, we stepped into the carriages, which began to ride toward the port. "Things will be tough; the people from the Merchant Guild of Namdar will eat us up and not even spit out the bones," said Locke Hercule, the leader of the paper guild. His words made everyone smile; we obviously knew they would have an edge, which is fine; it is a huge city with big bucks and powerful people. They have their advantage, but we also have ours, and ours are bigger than theirs; we have direct trade with a merchant city-state of Meldhorn, and they did not. They used to have huge trade with the coastal merchant state of Belnin and Nereim, but that stopped with the trade blockade. So, we are the only ones with ess to merchant city-state. They need us more than we need them. "It will be a sess, even if we are able to sign the lowest priority agreements," said John Santos. There are a huge number of contracts we had to sign, and agreeing to all of them in a limited time would be hard, but as John Santos had said, even if we are able to sign, a third of priority agreements will be a great sess for us. Soon the carriage had passed through the gates and entered the port. Soon, we reached the pier where our ship was waiting. The ship is named Constance; it is neither big nor small. It is around a hundred feet long with the blue enchanted scrip painted across its hull and masts. This ship is city property, given to the merchant guild for this trip. The crew of the ship used to be part of the imperial navy, and the security was provided by the city''s guards. Still, learning a lesson fromst time, I had brought my guard; Damon Hardt declined it, saying it is a city that would be providing the security for the trip, but I directly said I would not leave without the personal guard. He finally epted, but only a single guard. I had asked for four but had epted one. Dan was already waiting by the ship, and as I walked out of the carriage, he walked behind me as I climbed the ship''s ramp to the deck, where a man in his mid-sixties and a man in his early thirties was standing side by side. ¡°Wee to Constance, gentlemen; I am Angus Perry, the captain of the ship,¡± said the slightly plump man in his sixties and turned toward the lean man in his early thirties. ¡°I am Captain Julian Pierce; I will be responsible for your security,¡± said the man in the city''s brown uniform with the captain''s insignia on it. He is quite handsome with blue eyes and light brown hair. He had a sword at his waist and a shield on his back. ¡°All your things have been sent to your cabins, and the staff will take you there,¡± said the old man, and just as he said, the staff took us to our suits. Click! As I walked into the suit, I found it small, but it had all amenities that I would need, including the attached bathroom. I will be here for two days. The ship will travel through the river route till we reach Inam, which will be by tomorrow afternoon, and after that, the ship will enter the sea, where it will take little more than a day to reach Namdar. If everything goes well, then we will return to the Greltheaven within a week. I had just sat down on the bed when I felt the ship moving, and it was moving as I looked out the window. Iyfortably on the bed as I watched the ship sail out of the port. I looked at the small watch in my cabin, which showed exactly five; by eleven, we should be able to reach Deerpond, the capital of Renwell Region, and its bigger city; from there, it will be Riverbell and then Iman by the afternoon. I watched till the city left the view before picking up the book; there will be a lot of workter, so I should read at whatever time I have. Soon, an hour passed, and I walked out of my cabin into the deck, which was mostly empty, aside from sailors and security at their position, including Captain Pierce. He nodded at me, and I nodded back as we turned to watch the beautiful sunset; there was nothing except for the wastnd around us and the disappearing sun. Soon, the sun hadpletely disappeared, and a beautiful moon appeared through the clouds, lighting the world in its silver light. I looked at the peaceful wastnd and sighed; the Renwell region is really a wastnd. Nothing grows here except for the green patches, which is why it was not fiercely contested as other parts of the continent. Even resources-wise, it is not great; there are no big metal deposits or precious ores though it did have something. Magic crystals are everywhere, it is resources that power every enchanted thing, but they are not exactly rare resources, especially lower-grade magical crystals. They could be found in every corner of the world. There are few middle-grade and high-grade mines, but it ispletely in control of the state. There is also a thing about processing them; like the rare earth metals on the earth, processing them is a lengthy and experience process. It bes harder as the grade increases, which is why most ces only mine them and ship them somewhere else to process. The merchant city-states and the Empire had a few cities which are famed for their crystal purification industry. Inam is one of them. The city of Inam used to be part of the Renwell Region three hundred years ago before the Empire conquered it, and now more than 50% of crystals mined in the Renwell region are processed there. I heard Lord Darrow had signed a contract with Owlspring to send the middle-grade crystal there for processing; the city is also opening the crystal processing facility in Greltheaven. Though, it will only process the low-leveled crystals, which is, I think, very good news. The city should have the capability to process the only thing it had in abundance. I stayed on the deck in silence for an hour before returning to my cabin and, this time, picking up the contracts. I have already studied them and found the loopholes, and corrected thenguage, but still, I had decided to study it further. The negotiations are going to be tough, with powerful people and frustrating skills. The better prepared I am, the greater benefits I will have during the negotiations. Thank You My Patrons:Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 40: Night Raid Chapter 40: Night Raid ¡°To the safe journey!¡± we said and clinked our sses as we drank before turning to a sumptuous meal. We have been invited to the dinner by Captain Perry. It is a tradition and also a chance for the captain to make friends with the rich merchants from the powerful mercantile houses. The dinner was good; it had some dishes that had not been tested before. The captain had shown with much great ir. I mingled with them,ughed when I needed to, spoke when I had to, and even told a few des and jokes from the earth, which made themugh hard. It was important I make good connections; just now, I made a deal with Locke Hercule about the books I need for my collection and the small library I want to make for the girls. I have even got a good discount, but it is not important as the connection I made, which made him invite me to his birthday party, which he is throwing at the end of next week. As for how it will benefit me, there are numerous ways, but the most obvious is if he needs anything, which I sell, then he wille to me, as I will go to him first; if needed to make anyrge order of books again. Most importantly, for the business I am in, I need to have more friends. It is not the most respectful business, and the pressurees from all sides; these people help a lot in bearing it. Back on earth, mingling was part of the job. I had to mingle to get clients, and I was good at it and had even learned to enjoy it. ¡°We will reach Deerpond soon,¡± said the captain as he looked at the watch as I got up the leave, the rest staying to enjoy more drinks and smoke cigars. While I drink, I can¡¯t bear the smoke. I bade goodnight to the captain and others and walked toward my cabin, wanting to finish studying the few more contracts before turning off the lights for today. Hun! I was about to reach my cabin when suddenly the warning bells rang out through the ship. Dan, behind me, immediately became alert as he quickly removed his sword, and I did the same. I have gotten the looks when I took the sword to the dinner, but I am d I did, as I might need to use it now. ¡°Rogue!¡± Dan shouted and leaped forward with a speed that I could see barely catch and shed against a figure that came out of the shadow, revealing a manpletely covered in a ck cloth, holding a long dagger in his hand. Who disappeared after the first sh and appeared behind dan, who reacted immediately and swung back his sword. I was watching the battle when I noticed a shadow moving through the wall toward me; I stepped forward and swung my sword without wasting the moment. ng! My rapier shed against a short sword that came out of the shadow of a short woman. As I shed, I nearly threw my sword as I got the shock through my body, but I did not. All the hellish training with instructor David had gotten me used to these kinds of attacks. Though I needed to take a step back, the power behind the blow was nothing to scoff at, and now, she wasing at me. I used the quick steps to dodge the attack, but my opponent seemed quite skilled as she changed the direction of the attack as I dodged it, but this time, I was ready. ng! My rapier shed against her sword, again taking a step back while dodging theing strike, before ducking again to dodge another attack, before moving my rapier to defend. The rogue is not giving me any chance to rx, attacking me without wasting any time, using different skills. I am quite used to such strikes; the instructor used many fighting styles, and his quick onesnded hundreds of strikes on my body within minutes, but it had also forced me to do better. Hun! Suddenly, her figure became blurry, and the daggers multiplied as she came at me. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I curse; I hate this kind of attack; it makes dodging hard, but dealing with it is not impossible. This is one of the trickiest skills the rogues have, and I have the practice to deal with it. So, instead of taking a step back, I moved forward with Quick Steps and attacked with Consecutive Strikes. ng ng ng My rapier begins to sh against her short sword fast; each strike of hers would have a numbing shock attached to it. It made it very hard to counter her, not to mention her strikes are also powerful. I needed to move continuously to divert the power of the strike through my body, or I won¡¯t be able to move my hand. Even now, it is started to get numb. Rip Rip Suddenly she increased the speed of her attacks, and I defended, but two still touched me. One had ripped suit from the stomach and the other my shoulder; the second strike touched my flesh, drawing an out long cut, but not deep enough. ¡°You are very good, but your level is too low to do anything to me,¡± she said in a hoarse voice, which was obviously not her real voice. As she finished, she came at me again, and I pushed the consecutive strikes to go even faster and stronger than they were. I am disadvantaged in this fight; not only is her level greater than mine, but she also has more skills, and most importantly, this space is perfect for her. Rogues thrive in these kinds of small ces. I am just d that Dan is keeping that powerful Rogue at bay, not letting it forward, no matter how much it has tried. He had the experience of fighting on the ships, which is why I had chosen him instead of Jonah. Rip! Another of her strikes hit me, which I was barely able to avoid, though her sword had torn my jacket and shirt vertically, sending buttons flying everywhere. ¡°You have ruined my suit,¡± I said as I pushed forward, ¡°I am sure you will have money to buy another,¡± she said in a hoarse voice, which had a hint of smugness that was not there before. Reeeee! She once again moved to strike me and jumped back suddenly when a sharp whistle rang out. ¡°See you again, rich boy,¡± she said and began retreating toward the exit with the powerful rogue, who also stopped and now retreating with the girl. We did not follow them; it is already a great fortune that we are in one piece. ¡°You have improved tremendously sincest time, Mister Silver.¡± ¡°If you had fought that rogue at the time of fighting orc, she would have carved you into pieces,¡± he praised. ¡°It is all thanks to instructor David; he is training me hard,¡± I said before my expression turned serious. ¡°She was holding back; I did not feel her intent to kill, which the orc had when I had fought him,¡± I added, to which he nodded. ¡°This is likely a loot raid; they just wanted to loot and escape,¡± he said. To that, I couldn¡¯t help but nod. These rogues were thieves; killing would have made thingsplicated for them. We are no simple merchants; half of us belong to powerful mercantile houses; a single kill would have a witch hunt for them. Suddenly his expression has changed, ¡°Mister silver, check the money pouch,¡± he said, and I looked into my pocket and found the pouch gone. ¡°That bitch!¡± I cursed; I did not even know when she took it. No wonder that bitch had sounded smug. ¡°Let''s go,¡± I said and walked toward the direction of the deck. ¡°It would be much safer to stay in your room, mister Silver,¡± said Dan, but I did not listen. There were a couple of imperials and a few crowns in the pouch, a total value of five thousand crowns. I am not angry because of then stole the money but because she was able to do it without me noticing. When I reached the deck, I saw spells flying and rogues jumping in the river, with one fighting against Captain Julian. It was a battle to watch. They are both fighting so fast that I can only see the blur; even mages and archers are having a problem targeting thest rogue. At first nce, it is obvious that Captain Julian has the edge, but the Rogue is too agile, dodging most of the attacks that Captain Julian throws at it. The battle had onlysted for a couple of seconds after I arrived before thest Rogue jumped into the river, dodging the spells and arrows thrown at him. There are no injuries on Captain Julian like some of his men, but he is in a bad mood, and I would, too, if I had been in his ce. And I am angry. ¡°Mister Silver, my apologies that you had to suffer the attack,¡± he said, looking at my state and Dan. ¡°It would have been great if the passageways had some guards, Captain,¡± I said with obvious anger and walked back toward my cabin with Dan following behind me. I have made the best decision in not backing down when ites to guards. If I had listened to the assurances of Damon Hardt about the security, then I would have beenpletely defenseless against the rogues. Who knows, they might have even kidnapped me; it ismon knowledge that the house of Silver pays ramson for their kidnapped members. It is alsomon knowledge that after the ransom is paid, the house pays many times more money to mercenaries and hunters to hunt down and kill the people who did the deed. The house had put a colossal bounty just to find leads on people who killed my father, and once they do, Grandfather is going to increase that many times to kill those bastards. [Warrior Level 4] [Skill Gained: Weighted Strike] I had closed the door behind me when the text appeared in front of me. Unsurprisingly, I had leveled up; I would have been surprised if I did not level up after the incident. What is surprising is that I have got the skill; Weighted Strike, a skill that increases the power of the attack. It is a great skill; if I had it when I was fighting against the rogue, I wouldn¡¯t have been at such a disadvantage. I looked at ss and skill for a few seconds before removing my clothes and applying a healing potion on the cut across my shoulder beforeying down on the bed to rest. Such attacks are not good for my health, but they are the hazard of this world; I am just happy that at least I have got a level and skill out of it. Thank You My Patrons:Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 41: Namdar Chapter 41: Namdar Nothing had been stolen. Though it turned out the thieves hade for something expensive, John Santos had, something he shouldn''t have brought into the ship. The thieves have got to know about it somehow ande to steal it. They had failed to get it, for which John Santos had thanked Captain Julian many times. The man still seemed quite angry, even if he tried to hide it. He is not the only one who is angry; I am too quiet angry, and so is everyone. This is an official trip; he is not authorized to bring such expensive things without prior permission, but he did not get it. It not only put his safety at threat but also the rest of us. I shouldn''t be on the deck after what had happened, but I wanted to clear my mind after I learned the reason for the attack. So, I am on the deck. I am not the only one; others are present too, and like me, they too are silent. Nobody seemed to be in the mood to talk after what had happened. Unlike me, those people were safe; they were surrounded by guards in captains'' quarters the moment the horn had rung out, not to mention the rogues had not gone for them. By the time they have walked out of the captain''s quarters, all the rogues are gone, but they are still shaking in fear. The only reason they are on deck is that many guards are on it, and we are near Deerpond; we could see it from the deck. I looked at the biggest city in Renwell Region; it is over a thousand years old and has been destroyed many times and rebuilt again, thetest three years ago. First, the undead had at it before the Empire attacked and conquered it in one go. It is a city surrounded by huge walls, bigger and thicker than those of the Greltheaven. It is not only big but also has a huge poption, four hundred thousand, more than ten times of Greltheaven. Still much less than the capital of such arge region, Renwall region is bigger than any two regions of the Empirebined. It is the size of the standard Kingdom but does not even have a fifth of the poptionpared to the smallest region of the Empire. Every regional capital of the Empire has at least one and a half million people, but here, the whole region has that many people. It is all because of the wastnd; it does not have the resources to sustain therge poption. Still, the region at a very important ce, and if managed wisely politically, it could thrive. Trade could transform everything. Finally, the ship appeared in front of the Deerpond, and it is beautiful. Even at this time, the port is busy with shipsing and going out of it. As I was watching the city, I saw two boatsing toward us while us showing down, but not stopping entirely. Soon, the ship named ''Deerpond Patrol 27'' came beside us, and a middle-aged man jumped out of it andnded on the deck without much shaking. On earth, it is impossible to take such a high jump, but here with high levels and skills, it is very much possible. "I am patrol leader Carlson; your message said that your ship had been attacked half an hour ago?" asked the middle-aged Captain Angus and Julian. "Yes, Captain Julian had fought with them, and he can exin to you in more detail," said Captain Perry, and patrol leader Carlson turned to Captain Julian. He began to state the details while the middle-aged man noted them down. At the same time, the second ship had appeared on the other side, and people on it began to climb on it through thedder. With how things have changed, Captain Julian had asked for more guards since John Santos had been unwilling to drop that expensive thing here. So, more security. These people are from the Greltheaven''s office in Deerpond. "My apologies that you had to suffer such an attack; I have noted down all the details, which I will send to the city, and they will start an investigation about it immediately," said the patrol leader Carlson. He may be saying those words, but it will be hard to find those people unless they have put in the effort. The Rogues are slippery; they are careful and have skills that help them remain undetected. "I hope the great city Deerpond finds those damned thieves," said Captain Perry angrily. "Don''t worry, captain, we will find them," said the patrol leader Carlson and jumped out of the deck into his small boat. After he left, the ship began to speed up again. I stayed out till we passed the Deerpond before going back to the cabin, which now had two guards guarding it. Aside from Dan, there is one extra guard posted at my door; it couldn''t help but make me feel relieved. I went inside my cabin and studied it for an hour more before sleeping. By the time I woke up in the morning, we had passed the Riverbell and now moving toward the Inam. I freshened up and had my breakfast with everyone, which had been silent; the only thing we had talked about was work, and after we finished, each of us went back to our cabins. After I returned from the awkward breakfast, I read a little before again starting to study the contracts. I only stopped when we reached the Inam, and the city, without a doubt, was huge. It had two walls; the central wall held about two hundred people who were rich too well off, while the other wall held millions of people from middle-ss to poor. It is thest city wastnd but is part of the Halsad region. "It is really a wonderful city," said Locke Hercule as he saw the city. "You have stayed here for a long time, right?" I asked. It seemed to surprise him, but a momentter smoothened his expressions and nodded. "Yes, for a decade." He replied, looking at the city with reminiscent eyes. "If you don''t mind me asking, why do you shift to a small and dangerous ce like Greltheaven from huge and prosperous Iman?" I asked. He did not answer me immediately; I thought he might not, and I opened my mouth to apologize for the intrusive question when he opened his mouth. "You know how things are in our big mercantile houses," he said softly, still looking at the city. "Here, everything belongs to house; while I had control over a great wealth, I do not have the independence I need." "I could do nothing to leave my mark here," "So, when I saw the opportunity, I packed my bags and moved to the Greltheaven, investing every penny I had in my name there," he said with a smile. "The house gives great power, but it also constrains us; Greltheaven is a ce where we can have the best of both worlds with a small dose of risk," I said, and that brightened the smile on his face. "Well, said Remus Silver, well said," he said and patted my back. Soon, the ship passed through the small canal and entered the sea; as it did, the sails opened up further, and half of the runic enchantments which had been silent till now had lighted up. A few secondster, I felt the ship picking up speed, and within a few minutes, the speed of the ship had near doubled than what it had been on the river. Which was already greater considering we were moving with river and had activated enchantments for speed. "Have you been to Namdar, Remus?" asked Locke, to which I shook my head. "Then you are for a great treat; it is unlike any city of Empire," he said. "I heard," I said with a smile. I have heard a lot of things, and one of the greatest things about it that some of thews of the Empire are not strictly followed there. It is a lot more independent and openpared to the other cities of the Empire; one can see things there that are not allowed in the Empire. I am quite excited to see it, as it will give me an idea of how far I could stretch things when I moved to the grey zone. Currently, I am doing everything by the book, but I do not n to; in a year or two, I n to move into the grey zone, but before I do that, I need to see the limits of the Empire. In these things, one needs to be very careful; one wrong step, and I would end up in jail, and even all the power of the house would not be able to help me. Sigh! I sighed and looked at the endless Atal sea; it immediately made me feel serene. I stayed on the deck till it was time for lunch; I had lunch with others, which was less awkward than the morning. After lunch, we had a meeting withwyers and John Santos, where we discussed the business. The Namdar city is very important; our sess will increase the trade to the city, which will benefit every merchant here directly and indirectly. We have our everything for the sess of this trip. Soon, the day passed, and the night came, which looked even more beautiful. In the night, I stayed on the deck reading for more than two hours before I went inside my cabin. The morning came, and we started the work right after breakfast; we will reach the city of Namdar today and begin our work tomorrow. Our n is to stay for three days, where we will the general contracts and then negotiate on important ones; signing even a third of those would be great for the merchant guild and the city. Hours passed when we finally began to see the inds. There were thousands of tiny inds; some were small as a few hundred meters, while others were miles long. The merchant houses of people on the ship owned at least one ind here, including the house of Silver; we owned two inds here, and one was grandfather''s private ind. Hees there every year and spends at least one week; being invited there is considered a great honor in the family. One and a half hours passed when a huge ind came into view. Through it, thousands of ships could be seening and going to the Empire and many kingdoms and continents. Gasp! A few more minutes have passed, and the ind became clear. I could finally see the city, and as I saw it, I couldn''t stop myself from gasping in wonder. All the praise I have heard about it palespared to what I am seeing right now. Thank You My Patrons:Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Hey guys, sorry for telling you all so suddenly, but I am taking a break for three days. Something suddenly came up, but if everything goes well, I will return Saturday with a new chapter. Chapter 42: Gerald Silver Chapter 42: Gerald Silver The city of Namdar came into view, and what a city it is; the first thing I noticed about its sheer size. It is huge, really huge, huge as the cities on the earth, with more than ten million poption. There are a couple of things that take one attention when one looks at this city. The first is the huge port that stretched for miles; it had thousands of shipsing and going every hour. Every type of ship stops here, even a few flying ones which could be seen in the skies. The second that attracts attention is the city itself; it is vast, spread across every angle, but not messily; one can see there is detailed nning in it, and it attracts the eyes of everyone who see it. Still, both of these pale inparison in front of the grey mage tower on a cliff that pierces through the sky. It is the sole reason why in the past fifty years, everything that attacked the city had been sunk into the sea. It is the seat of the warden of Namdar, the Lady of storms, the only person in the whole Empire who does not kneel to the Emperor. Helen Szar, or if you want to be formal, then Grand Mage Szar. A storm mage, one of few people in the Empire above Level 50. She is so powerful that those monsters of S ss shudder in the name of fighting her. She is technically an S ss, but she is a storm mage, one most offensive types of spellcaster; one could not measure her strength only through the level alone. ¡°You know I had seen Grand Mage Szar; that woman is really something else,¡± said Locke and shuddered visibly. I heard the same words from my father. There is no need for me to be worried about her; I am too far below to be in contact with her. Only reaching the level of my grandfather do I need to think about her. The ship moved closer and closer to the port, giving a better look at this majestic city, till it docked at the port. ¡°Best of luck, Gentlemen,¡± said Captain Perry as we walked out of the ship into the huge port. We did not have to walk further, as carriages were already waiting for us, including one for me. ¡°Gentlemen, rest today and make preparation; from tomorrow, things will be tough,¡± he said and walked toward the carriage with the house of Santos sigil on it. Others also went to carriages that were waiting for them, while Lawyers were going to the hotel. Merchant guild had booked a very nice hotel for them. As for me, I am going to one of the properties owned by the house of Silver. ¡°Master Remus,¡± the guard waiting by carriage greeted me and opened the door for me. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said and entered inside while Dan walked in after me, sitting in the opposite chair. A secondter, the carriage begins to move. I satfortably, watching the scenery as the carriage drove through the port. This time, the family did not try to fuck me up. They have sent an enchanted carriage, which cost thrice as much as mine, and also the guards with it for my security, as I had asked them. ¡°Dan, have you been to the Namdar before?¡± I asked Dan while looking through the window. ¡°Yes, a few times; it is a wonderful city,¡± he replied, looking out. ¡°Yes, it is,¡± I said. The more I look at it, the more impressed I be; it is really beautiful, but the thing that impressed me is its nning. It is an old city, thousands of years old, but it has wide roads, signs at every corner, and discipline. I could not feel any chaotess that I usually feel when I am in a crowded port. It took half an hour to get out of the port and enter the city proper, as I had expected; it was amazing. I could see people of all colors and clothes walking by the shops selling all kinds of things. Hun! As I was watching, I saw a freaking elf and wanted to shout at the driver to stop so that I could take a careful look at him, but I did not. It would be unsophisticated and would not take even a day to spread to the rest of the family. The family lives for such stories so that they can embarrass them at the right time. It hadn¡¯t been a minute; I saw the elf when I saw an orc walking openly without any problem; such a thing is impossible to do anywhere in the Empire. Power is everything in the world; as long as you have the power, you can bend or even break the rules, and nobody will do anything about it. In the next half an hour, I saw many orcs, elves, dwarfs, beastmen, and even a half-giant. It is not aplete giant; they are taller and seldom travel out of their holds. It is a half-giant, as humans and elves aren¡¯t that tall and have such big muscles. It took about little more than an hour before the carriage pulled into the sprawling mansion, and even Dan seemed impressed by it. It is impressive. The five-story sprawling mansion is beautiful with a big garden; in the whole of Greltheaven, there is not a single building of this level. It is one of the few properties house of silver has in the city. It is not the most impressive one; I had chosen this one because no one is living in it and if possible, I want to stay as far away from my rtives as possible. They are hazardous to my health. ¡°Wee to Namdar city, Master Remus; I hope you will have a pleasant stay here,¡± greeted the old man as I walked out of the carriage. He is a bald man who looks to be in his early seventies, wearing the butler''s uniform. ¡°Mr. Roth,¡± I said. ¡°Your suit had been ready, ording to your instructions,¡± he said and let me inside the mansion. As I had expected, it is as beautiful inside as it is outside. The paintings and various other art pieces adorned the hall, they were amazing, and if I had been used to it, I would have gawked at them. My father loved art, and he collected pieces; our house was littered with it. I still remember how I gawked at each piece when I took over this body; my father even mistakenly thought I had developed a taste for art. ¡°Master Remus, Master Gerald had invited you to his house for dinner and stay,¡± informed the butler as the elevator took us toward the top floor. ¡°Tell him not today; I am tired, and I have a lot of work to do,¡± I said. I will have to meet them and even have dinner before leaving, but not today. I am not ready for the family; even though my cousin Gerald is not bad, and his wife is hot, I do not have any intention to meet with him, at least not today, but given his habit, it really does not matter. Soon, we reached the top floor, and I entered my suite; it was big and had all the modern and magical amenities. The first thing I had was to freshen up before bringing out all the contracts and studying them. Locke is right about people of the merchant guild of Namdar chewing us up and not spitting out the bones. The merchant guild of this city is really powerful, and their people high-leveled. We will need to use every advantage we have to get maximum contracts signed in our favor. Which I think is not a big ask, considering the benefits our city will provide them. Time passed, and soon it was evening, and I was still working in my suit. Though I took a short break now and then and did not walk out of my suit, I have to finish going through the contracts today, and it will take a few more hours. To be honest, I very much rather roam this beautiful city than work, but work is important. I am sure I will get some time to roam the city in the next few days; I have a huge shopping to do, to buy things which only ces like this have. Knock Knock I was working when a knock rang out on my door. ¡°Come in,¡± I said, and the door opened, and Roth walked in. ¡°Master Remus, Master Gerald hade to meet you,¡± said the old man. Sigh! I sighed and put down the paper in my hand down, and got up. As I said before, my declining to meet him wouldn¡¯t stop him from meeting me. ¡°Where is he?¡± I asked as I got up, ¡°In the parlor,¡± replied the old man and took me to it. A minuteter, I walked into the parlor, where I saw a man in his mid-thirties sitting. He is tall with a handsome face and fit physique, and like me, he also has those silvery grey eyes, the mark of the house of silver. ¡°Remus, my cousin, you wound my heart; you should havee to my home directly instead of here,¡± said the man dramatically, as always. ¡°Hello, Gerald,¡± I said and moved to shake his hands, but he took me in for a hug, which was a little ufortable, but as always, he did not care. Thankfully, the hug ended soon, and we sat across each other. ¡°You have made Selina quite sad noting to our house; she had personally invited you, Remus,¡± he said, looking usingly. Yes, I received the letter from his wife the day I left for Namdar. ¡°There is too much work for me to do,¡± I said, which only turned his expression even deeper. ¡°We could have given you privacy and even kept little rose away from your room,¡± he said, looking at me like I had given the biggest betrayal of his life. I know him, and unless I gave him something, he would not leave me alone. ¡°I will visit before leaving,¡± I said, but he kept looking at me, ¡°and spend a night in your house,¡± I added, and only a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Good, Selina will be very happy to hear that,¡± he said happily before his expression turned serious. ¡°You know, I did not think your brothers would stoop so low to do something like that; I have even written to grandfather about it,¡± he said. To that, I smiled. ¡°It is fine, Gerald; I am happy in the Greltheaven,¡± I said, and genuinely am, more than I thought and more than I would have been if I had gotten what my father had left me for. ¡°Good. I am happy to hear that,¡± he said with a smile before his expression turned serious again. ¡°There is another reason I havee here,¡± he said, and to that, I arched her brow. ¡°Your negotiations tomorrow will likely be handled by Carter Adams; he handles the small cities,¡± ¡°Be careful of him; his skills tend toward beguiling suggestions. He is very good at what he does,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll remember it,¡± I said. He stayed for another ten minutes before he left with that happy-go smile on his face. That smile and altitude fool most people for the first time; it is one of his natural strengths, which he learned to use like a sharp sword. He is one most sessful merchants of the house, which is the reason why he got the Namdar, and he got that nearly a decade ago when he was barely thirty. I watched him leave before I went back to my suit to make even further preparations. I already expected things were going to be harder, and now I have be sure of it. Thank You My Patrons:Andar, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 43: Negotiations Chapter 43: Negotiations ¡°Your Deathless,¡± said the man and kneeled in front of the huge bone throne in a giant silent hall cloaked in twilight. ¡°Hezar,¡± said the pale man on the bone thronenguidly, but his words held a power that no one could resist. ¡°How is the progress in Dekas?¡± asked the pale man sitting on the bone throne; he is unmoving, like a dead person; the only part of his moving is his mouth. ¡°We are moving steadily, faster than we had thought we would,¡± ¡°We will have Dekas in your death domain within six months, as you had desired,¡± he replied, and the pale man nodded slightly. There was a deathly silence for more than a minute before a faint smile appeared on the pale man''s face. ¡°Our small surprise had reached the boundary of the Namdar,¡± said the pale man on the throne before looking at the kneeling man below. ¡°You still do not approve of this little surprise of mine?¡± asked the man on the throne with a smile. ¡°I think it is too risky, your deathless. We shouldn¡¯t antagonize empire and Helen Szar yet, at least till the Emperor of Harsoth is dead,¡± replied Hezar. The emperor may be in hisst years, but he is still a very powerful man; the power of the whole empire lies in his hand, against even they couldn¡¯tpete. At least not yet. ¡°The empire is not strong as it was a few decades ago, and besides, what can Helen Szar do? We are not Yressor, where she will bring down her storms,¡± he said with a smile; Hezar, too, couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°You are right, your deathless,¡± agreed Hezar, knowing too well that if she dared toe to Mayhurst Ind, then not even her body would leave its shores. ¡°The Emperor of Harsoth is dying; he is now more concerned about preserving his legacy than fending off enemies,¡± ¡°He will not do anything, and whatever he does, it will be purely symbolic, which will be easily able to handle,¡± said the pale with a grinning smile. ¡°Your deathless is wise,¡± said Hezar and bowed deeper. ¡­ ¡°I hope everything goes well,¡± said Santos with a slightly nervous smile as he got out of the carriage. Locke, I, and others followed behind him. Thewyers have already gotten out of their carriage and now staring at the merchant guild with awe; it is really awe-worthy. A twenty-five-story building, which is quite rare in this world, and not became they can¡¯t build it. They could do it easily, but it is even easier to shoot it down with a single spell. This is why most sky-scrappers in these worlds are built in well-protected cities, and true skyscrapers, which could go a hundred stories tall, are usually the mage towers. Storm watch, the mage tower of Grand Mage Szar, is over a hundred stories tall. ¡°Let''s go,¡± said John Santos, and we entered inside the building; while Lawyers may be awed, merchants are not. They are from the big mercantile houses; they have seen these kinds of buildings since before they could walk, and their families owned even taller buildings than this. We walked through the huge door and entered the grand lobby; thousands of people could be seen going around their business. It is huge, and there is a freaking flying waterfall here; the water does not touch the ground at all. Instead, it flew around the lobby, giving the whole lobby a calming presence and showing off the power of merchants. Creating something like that is not easy; one needs at least level 35 or even Level 40 Mage or enchanter to do it. ¡°John Santos from Greltheaven Merchant Guild,¡± he said to the receptionist while shing a golden merchant badge. In our delegation, only three people have this badge, John Santos, Locke, and me, only important people of mercantile houses have this, and they are taken away if we do perform by the standards. ¡°Yes, sir, your meeting will be held in the seventeenth-floor conference room,¡± she said, and a man in his thirties sitting behind got up and appeared in front of us. ¡°Please,¡± he said politely and took us toward the elevator, whose magical screen disappeared as we appeared in front of it, and we stepped inside on the disk. The disk is big enough to bear us all without feeling congested. Ting! As all of us stepped inside, the energy screen surrounded us and began to float up. It was quite fast; in less than ten seconds, the disk stopped, and the door of the elevators opened with the ting. We all stepped inside, and the man chauffeured us to the big conference room, which was empty. ¡°The sub-Guildmaster, Carter Adams, will see you soon,¡± he said and left us alone in the conference room. Nobody is surprised; the powerful Guild behaves as such. If we had been a powerful city, they would have been waiting for us. It is the reason why the negotiations on their side were led by a sub-Guildmaster, not even a Vice-Guildmaster. ¡°Well, it takes me back,¡± said John Santos; from what I know, beforeing to Greltheaven, he was in Mirstone, the capital of Randav region. In the merchant guild there, he held the position of Guildmaster of the wool guild. It is a very good position, but he left it, and the reason is the same as Locke, to make something of himself. Nearly all the people from the big mercantile houses havee to the Greltheaven for a simr reason. We took our seats and waited. It is going to be a challenging day, even more than I had thought; the letter yesterday had messed up all the timing. We have to sign all the contracts today, the general ones and also the important ones, because if not, then we will have to wait for six days. I don¡¯t know whether something important has reallye up and is a strategy on their part; the big guilds are not above that. It doesn¡¯t matter; what matter is everything is going to finish today, and it might take a lot of time. Click! We had to wait for four minutes before the door opened, and a group of people walked inside. The one leading them is a handsome man in his early forties with silvery blond hair and pale blue eyes. ¡°Gentlemen, my apologies; we were held up with something,¡± he said charmingly, and immediately, I felt all the irritation and the faint anger I had toward him dissipating. It had rmed me, and I immediately became cautious. This man is very dangerous; what he used were just his passive skills, but they were controlled and powerful enough to work without alerting my senses. I watched him cautiously as he took a seat directly opposite John Santos, and after him sat the six people he had brought. ¡°It is fine; we weren¡¯t waiting for long,¡± said Santos with a rxed smile. ¡°Most of you have already known me, but let me introduce myself to rest; I am Carter Adams; I will be responsible for the negotiation between our guilds,¡± he said, looking at us before turning to Santos. ¡°It has been a while, John,¡± said Carter Adams, ¡°Yes, about one and a half years,¡± replied Santos, keeping a light smile on his face. ¡°Since we have only one day, let¡¯s move quickly,¡± he said without changing that charming smile off his face. ¡°These are the general contracts,¡± said John Santos and moved the pile forward; Carter took the pile and divided the contracts between six people and himself and began to read it. Fourteen minutester, thest one of them had put down the contract and given the nod to Carter. ¡°Everything is well and good,¡± he said and began to stamp the contracts and sign them. A few secondster, I felt the contract click, and a few seconds after then, another contract had been clicked, few seconds after that. I have attached my skills to every contract here, it had given me quite a headache due to the scale they represent, but I bore it; even now, I am bearing it as it touched the contract. This is a great opportunity to level up mywyer skills, and I am not going to waste them for a little headache. Finally, thest general contract clicked. ¡°Now that we have done with the general contract, let''s move to the important ones,¡¯ he said and took the first contract from the second pile, which had quite a lot of contracts. ¡°We will start with the consumer goods taxes,¡± said Carter Adams. John Santos nodded and took the copy consumer goods contract; Rip and I also took ours. Three of us will lead the negotiations, while others will aid us if they can think of something, but most in skill, especially reinforcing us. We began a secondter, and within a few seconds, I saw the power of Carter''s skills, and it was so great that it slowed down my thoughts andpelled me to agree with everything he had said. John Santos had good skills and high leveled, and Lawyers, including Rip, had piled up their skills to resist it, but it was still hard. This is his forte, and while Rip and John Santos are good, the man in front of us is better, which is not surprising considering how powerful the guild is and how influence works much little here than in Greltheaven. Namdar is a powerful city, and its warden is even more powerful, who could easily ward off the pressure from the empire and powerful mercantile houses. This helps her in choosing the best people for the merchant guilds; the connections and backings are important here, but more important is the ability. Without it, she would not give you a position in the merchant guild, even if you were the son top merchant house of the empire. It had actually happened; she had rejected the son of the head of the house of Bale a few years ago. It was quite a shame for the most powerful mercantile house of the empire, but they did it with a smile on their faces. Even with all their wealth and connections, they could do nothing. In the first minute of the negotiations, my back got drenched with the sheer pressure of skills I was resisting. He made offers, and we countered; his words were held such apulsion that we wanted to agree with everything but resisted as much as we could. This is the hardest negotiation I have done in my life, and I am very grateful that I studied the contracts such vigorously that I nearly memorized them, which helped me tremendously when his skills tried to confuse me. ¡°You all lead tough negotiations, especially your young silver; you do not leave an inch,¡± he said as we agreed on taxes on consumer goods. He signed the changed contract before sending it to us; all three of us studied it, and only then did John Santos sign, and the contract clicked. ¡°The seconds are taxes on th...¡± he said as he took out another contract, and we resumed the negotiations. Hours passed as we negotiated one contract after another; jugs of water ahead of us emptied and filled again, but I did not feel my dder getting filled. As all the water was released through my head and back. It is not just me but also John Santos and Rip; they are, too, under extreme pressure, but we are moving ahead. ¡°Next one i¡­.¡± ¡°I think we should take a break; we have been negotiating for more than five hours, and all of us are feeling a little tired and hungry,¡± said John Santos, cutting him off. ¡°Very well, we will take a break of an hour before resuming again,¡± he said with a never changing, charming smile and got up and left with his people, leaving us alone in the conference room. ¡°Bastard, he is tougher than we had thought,¡± cursed John Santos, though not really angry. ¡°Yes, he is tough, but we were able to sign a good number of important contracts, and it is just an afternoon,¡± I said with a smile. All the contracts we have signed are satisfactory; if they had not, we wouldn¡¯t have signed them. Just like those two contracts, we were not able to agree on. The terms are good, a little better than we had expected, which had put a smile on our faces. ¡°Remus, you are good; I truly did not think you would be this good. I am really happy you havee with us,¡± he said with a big smile while Rip and the others nodded. ¡°It is all thanks to you, vice-Guildmaster; you have given me ample time to study them,¡± I said humbly, and as I expected, his smile got even bigger. ¡°Let¡¯s go and eat something; I don¡¯t think Carter Adams will let us have dinner on time tonight.¡± He said, and all of us got up and walked out of the conference room. Thank You My Patrons:Andar, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 44: Extreme Magic Region Chapter 44: Extreme Magic Region ¡°With this agreement of prohibitive goods, the negotiations are over,¡± said Carter with that charming smile and signed thest contract before sliding toward John Santos. I don¡¯t know how he could keep that smile on his face for more than twelve hours, but he is doing it. After long negotiations, I could barely muster to smile; my mouth was already hurting with all the talking I¡¯d done today. ¡°All done,¡± said John Santos as he signed, and I felt the contract clicked in my mind. ¡°It was tough negotiating with you, gentlemen; I hope both of our cities benefit tremendously from it,¡± he said, and we shook hands, and a few minutester, we walked out of the conference room with bright smiles on our tired faces. ¡°It is really unexpected; we have signed more contracts than we had even dreamed of,¡± said John Santos as the elevator began to take us down. ¡°Total one hundred and three agreements,¡± I said with a grin, and others grinned with me. What we have achieved today is really great, more than we had thought. Signing 93% of agreements, we would have been more than happy if we had been able to even sign 30%, but we ended up over 90%. It is quite surprising, even when one thinks about easy ess to the merchant city-state through us. There must be some reason for them to sign so many agreements because, usually, things are not this easy. Others also seemed to realize it, but nobody discussed it; the agreements are beneficial to them and us, and there is no need to think anything further other than increasing the trade of our city and making our businesses thrive. Soon, we got off the elevator into the lobby, which was far emptier than morning, which was not surprising, as it was midnight. Nearly one am. ¡°For today¡¯s sess, I am going to throw a party tomorrow at my family''s private ind, and I will not ept no,¡± said John Santos as he looked at all of us. I wanted to reject his invitation, but seeing his expression, I nodded. I have built a great rapport with him, especially after the negotiations. There are some permissions I want, and I am sure he will help me; I might not even need to spend the favor I had from Damon Hardt for this. ¡°All of you be ready by the afternoon, we will go to the ind by yacht, and I will even invite a few of my friends from the city,¡± he said with a big smile. The party was going to be big, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel excited about it. I have never been to the private, in here or on earth. Though I always wanted to go, and tomorrow will be my chance. Soon, we walked out and moved toward individual carriages that were already waiting for us. I waved thest goodbye and sat inside, and soon; the carriage began to ride away toward the manor while I satfortably, feeling a little sleepy. [Lawyer Level 6] [Lawyer Level 7] [ss Gained: Lawful Suggestions] The text appeared in front of me, and immediately, all the sleepiness wiped away from my eyes, and a radiant smile appeared on my face. I have leveled up in my ss, not once, but twice and most importantly, gained a skill. It is not a normal skill, but one considered very good. It is the first skill that will help me offensively in negotiations. If I had this skill in the morning, it would have helped me tremendously, but it does not matter, as I have the skill now. I closed the window a few minutes before looking at the city through the window, and like a true metropolis, it is bustling with activities, even at this time. Some areas are more active than others, especially the market areas. Soon, I reached the manor, and as I had got out, I went directly for my suit. I had dinner in the merchant guild with Carter and his team, which was good because of the way the negotiation was going; I don¡¯t think we would havested till midnight on an empty stomach. I changed andy on the bed, and within a minute, I fell asleep. ng Thap ng Our weapons shed intensely; I was using all my skills, sometimes together, sometimes alone, as I pressed against Dan. I did not stop, even when Dan hit me; I have gotten used to the pain with instructor David that now I simply discard it. For the first time, Dan is also using his skills, and they are dangerous, every dangerous that in the first hour of the spar, I got hit by him repeatedly. ¡°Good, it seemed like instructor David had been teaching you well. Your movements have be more precise; you don¡¯t dance around like a monkey anymore,¡± he said, and the de turned misty and hit me across the shoulder. I did not react much and pressed ahead, moving with Quick Steps and attacking with Consecutive Strikes. Now and then, I would use Heavy Strike, but not as much as those two skills, Heavy Strike, takes more stamina and thus need to be used sparingly, but it is a great skill, instantly doubling the power of the attack. Dan had been impressed with the skill, saying the skill is a powerful killing tool, and it is. Thud! We sparred for three hours before I fell down and motioned through my hand for the spar to be over. p p p ¡°Master Remus, I had heard about your great talent in fighting, and now I have seen it; it is truly amazing,¡± said Roth as he came pping. The old man was kissing ass, but it felt good to be praised, and I took it with a smile, which was painful considering Dan had hit on my face; not hard to break any teeth, but still hard enough that I could not move my muscle of my face, without feeling acute pain. Iy on the grass for fifteen minutes before I got up and slowly walked toward my suit, with my muscles screaming up in pain. Roth had offered to put a muscle-numbing cream on me, but I declined. I am notfortable with the old guy touching me. Soon, I reached my suit and began to apply muscle-numbing cream; I had even mixed a drop of healing potion inside it. Dan is not an instructor; in the flow of spar, some of this moves hit a little too hard. While they may heal on their own, it will take time and will cause a lot of diforts, which I don¡¯t want. At least not today. So, after I applied the cream all over my body, I rested for fifteen minutes till the pain and difort were gone before showering. By the time I had brunch, it was time to leave; I had woken up a littlete, and add to that three hours of sparring, an hour it took for my shower and brunch, it was already an afternoon. I sat in the carriage, and it drove out of the mansion. I wanted to use this day for shopping, but John Santos had disturbed those ns by inviting me to his family¡¯s private ind. Tomorrow, I am going to use the whole day for shopping; I have already made a list and even added a few things, and I only hope that the money I have will be enough because those things are not cheap. Soon, the carriage entered the port and, in about twenty minutes, stopped in front of the beautiful yacht docked in the port. The yacht is beautiful, a piece of the art covered incquered white coat and long masts on which the enchanted script is shining in the afternoon sun. I got out of the carriage and walked toward the yacht with my guards following behind me. ¡°Remus Silver,¡± I said to guards who were guarding the entrance and moved ahead without stopping. They looked at me but did not stop me, and I climbed into the yacht, where John Santos was already waiting. ¡°Remus, you have taken quite a time,¡± he said as I appeared on the deck. ¡°I think there are still around ten minutes before we leave, vice-Guild master,¡± I replied with a smile. I havee right before time. ¡°Yes, we will leave him fifteen minutes,¡± he said and turned toward my guards. ¡°Only one guard Remus, the yacht, and the ind have enough security,¡± ¡°Vice-Guildmaster, the attack of two days ago had filled my heart with quite a fear; please let me have my guards,¡± I said pitifully while touching my chest. He looked at me for a second before sighing. ¡°Fine, you can keep two guards, but no more,¡± he said, and a smile appeared on my face. ¡°Thank you, vice-guild master,¡± I thanked and turned to the guards. There are seven of them; I have intentionally brought more, so I will have more ground. ¡°Dan, Leena stays; rest of you go back to the mansion,¡± I said; the five guards nodded and walked out of the yacht. Leena is a short hair woman in her early forties; she is tall and lean like me used a rapier. ording to Roth, she is also the most powerful among the guards and was an adventurer before retiring and taking a job as a manor guard. I walked onto the deck and met others who had already started drinking. ¡°Come, Remus, drink it; we deserve it after such a sessful stressful,¡± said Locke as he handed me the ss of golden wine. ¡°Cheers then,¡± I said and clinked the sses with him, and took a sip. The wine was smooth and went down my throat like a turn before turning to warn my stomach, giving me an amazing feeling. We are not the only ones; there are quite a lot of people on the yacht that John Santos had invited. I mingled with them, talking andughing, and soon, the yacht began to move out of the dock. ¡°Remus,e here,¡± I was talking with the woman Locke knew when john Santos called me. I walked toward him, where he was talking to a bald, middle-aged man wearing diamond studs. ¡°Waris, this young man is Remus Silver; he is sharp in business as well as inw,¡± introduces John Santos, and bald looked at me; I could feel him using skills before he stopped, and his eyes lit up. ¡°A silver,¡± he said as he looked at me carefully, ¡°Remus, this is my good friend Waris Scent; he is a seller of indentured workers,¡± ¡°You can every type of person, from cksmith to chef, even the kind your business needs,¡± he said, and the smile on my face had brightened up further. very is forbidden in the empire, but the lesser form of it still exists. Indenture; many people in need or some other circumstances indentured themselves, and those contracts could be bought and sold. Like I had done with my brother, who sold me the girls'' contracts. ¡°A pleasure, mister Scent,¡± I said as I shook the middle-aged man¡¯s hand. ¡°A pleasure is all mine, young Silver,¡± he said, and we began to talk while John Santos moved to talk to someone else. As John Santos had said, many sell everything, including prostitutes. ¡°You should visit my store, young silver; just yesterday, a new batch of prostitutes arrived from the herald.¡± ¡°There is even one group, who are above level 20,¡± he said. ¡°If I have time, I will surely visit your store before leaving Namdar,¡± I said with a smile. I talked to the man for a few minutes before moving to the other people on the yacht and such; an hour passed by when suddenly the conversation of the yacht died down as faint pressure enveloped the yacht. Everyone looked at the distant ind in silence. In the Namdar inds, people consider the ind of Namdar to be the biggest one, but it is not. The delirium ind is. This distance is three times bigger than Namdar ind; inside, it is even bigger, tens of times bigger. That distant ind is one of the most dangerous ces in the world, an extreme magic region. As the name implies, the magic is extremely concentrated there and creates wonders. That ce is where the powerful monsters lie, powerful enough to contend or even kill Helena Szar. The high magic there also expanded the region within, that it is many times bigger than it looks from the outside. Courageous or idiot adventurers flock there, and those who return alive not onlye with levels but also great fortune. Everything there is precious, from the de of grass tomon soil. It is so dense with magic that alchemists and mages buy everything thates out of there. There are seven such regions across the empire, and hundreds exist worldwide. Thank You My Patrons:Andar, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 45: Undead Invasion I Chapter 45: Undead Invasion I "Maedas," said John Santos as the small ind came into view; it grew bigger and bigger till it was just a few hundred meters away. ording to Santos, it is eight miles long and five miles wide; it is not the biggest among the Namdar Inds, but also not the smallest. There are many hills on the ind, and on the biggest is a huge manor; even from far, it looked amazing. Fifteen minutester, the yacht was docked at the small pier, and we walked out of it, gathering in a crowd of nearly a hundred people, including the security of forty-six guards. "Wee to Maedas,dies, and gentlemen," said Santos as he led us toward the manor with a finely crafted road. There are carriages, but we are walking while Captain Julian and his men spread around, looking for any threat that mighte, despite John Santos''s assurance that all animals here have been culled and there is a force of fifty people, always guarding the ind. I do not mind walking; nobody here does; everyone is busy enjoying the natural beauty of the ind. ¡°This ind is very well developed,¡± I said as I looked around. ¡°It is not surprising the house of Santos owned this ind for nearly two centuries, which is more than enough for them to develop the way they wanted,¡± replied Locke. With enough money, a year is more than enough, and these people have centuries, and it shows. The whole ind is one big garden, and every tree is chosen; every de of grass has a purpose. There is not a single thing here that is not nned, and it looks wonderful. I am all for natural beauty, but you have to recognize art and what they have done with it is truly art. I truly wished I had my phone right now; I would have definitely loved to click a few pictures. ¡°You see that bearwood tree there; that big tree was nted by my grand uncle in the year we had brought this ind,¡± said Santos motioning toward a huge shade tree. He is showing off, but nobody seems to mind it; when you have such a beautiful thing, you show off. I looked at everything, wanting to capture them in my mind; some of them even gave me an idea about, what I wanted to do with the garden, and I am going to do it when I return. It took nearly an hour to reach the hill, but we did not climb it, instead moved around for two hours, enjoying the different gardens that are around the ind. I also noticed the manor is on the hill is not the only building; there few more others around the ind, built by the many members of the house of Santos. We roamed around for two more hours before finally climbing the hill when the sun started to go down. At that time, the new boats begin to dock at the pier; there are a few more people that Santos has invited who will join the party. ¡°My dear friends, wee to lux manor,¡± he said and opened its huge ss doors, and the first thing we saw was a huge hall covered in ss walls, giving the view of the whole ind. As we entered the hall, the staff was already waiting for us, with the drinks and refreshments. We took them and followed Santos, who showed off the manor before taking us to the roof, where the original party was to be held. ¡°Wow!¡± It is the only word that came out of my mouth as I scenery around me from the highest ce on the ind. ¡°Its really something isn¡¯t it,¡± said Locke beside me, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. It is truly impressive. By the time people from newly arrived ships arrived on the roof, it waspletely dark, and now the ind looked even more beautiful. Light crystals lit across the inds, and also light trees of a different kind, including the ones I had in my establishment. It looked mesmerizing, and seeing such beautiful scenery; I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what it would be like to open the establishment in a ce like this. On a private ind. A ce like this withplete freedom, especially where a big city like Namdar is close. I am sure I would not have any problem getting clients. ¡®The dream is too big.¡¯ I thought and shook my head. Even the smallest ind costs millions of imperials, and I trade in crowns; I would need decades at least to get the kind of money to buy an ind and create the establishment of extravagance I am dreaming of. I moved out of those thoughts and went back to people to mingle. There are quite a lot of interesting people here, not just merchants but others too, including a Knight from the order of ck star, a knight order based in Namdar. Once upon a time, they used to be the warden of Namdar. Time passed, and with it, the party got merrier, and people began to get drunk; I even spotted middle-aged men and women kissing each like horny teenagers. I flirted with some women but never let go too far, even when they were ready; such actions have consequences, especially with married women. I had suffered once, and I am not powerful enough to bear the consequences; I wouldn¡¯t take such a risk. ¡°Care to dance, young silver,¡± asked a beautiful woman who looked to be in her early fifties. ¡°When beautiful women like you ask Eva, how I can I refuse,¡± I said with and took her hands. This is Eva Charles, one of the few people I knew from before; I had met her once in Redfawn. ¡°My, you dance quite well, even better than your father,¡± the women said as we danced under the night sky. ¡°You are not bad yourself, Eva,¡± I said, and the older woman smiled, and her smile was beautiful. John Santos really knows how to throw a party; he chose the best location and brought unlimited booze and great music. Time passed so quickly that before I knew it, it was twelve, and I started to feel sleepy. ¡°Vice-guild master, I am going to turn in,¡± I said to John Santos, ¡°The night is still young, Remus; stay a little,¡± he said, a little drunkenly. ¡°I like to, but I don¡¯t think I will be able to hold the sleep,¡± I said with a smile, ¡°Fine them, the staff will take you to your room,¡± he said; I nodded and walked toward, while saying good night, Locke, Eva, and other people. As I walked out of the exit, Dan and Leena came behind me, and the staff took me to my room. Which is quiet, with huge ss walls that provide a great view of the ind and the ocean. ¡­ Bang, Bang, Thud! I was woken up by a loud banging sound before my door crashed open, and Dan and Leena walked inside. I was about to bark at them irritatingly when seeing the expressions on their faces made me close my mouth. ¡®What happened?¡¯ I asked, looking at my pocket watch on the table beside me, which told me there was not even an hour since I had slept. They better have a good reason to wake me up. ¡°Look,¡± said Dan with obvious fear in his eyes as he motioned toward the ss wall, and I turned toward it. For a moment, my tired eyes weren¡¯t able to see anything, but a secondter, I saw what he was trying me to see, and my eyes widened in the sheer horror that my mind had frozen up for a moment. I saw zombies and skeletons walking toward the mansion, inrge numbers, in hundreds. Everywhere I look, I see them; there is not a single ce where I cannot see those things. The bad things do not just stop there; the pier, which had been packed with ships, now had none. I could see the small white form, which seemed to be half submerged in water. ¡°They have cut off all the escapes from the ind,¡± said Dan, as if knowing what I was thinking. This is obviously pre-nned; this is not the effect of an artifact or relic, but someone intentionally sent an undead here and also cut off all the escape routes. They obviously want to kill everyone on the ind. ¡°When had they appeared?¡± I asked as I calmed myself from the panic. ¡°Just a few minutes ago, all of a sudden, they began to pop out of the ground ande out of the sea,¡± said Dan, shaking. I had never seen him like this; even when the orcs attacked, his voice was even, and his gait confident. Leena seemed much better off than him. We fell silent, but it was notpletely silent; I could hear the loud screams and sounds of fighting. I did not have to be intelligent to know that the undead had already entered the manor. ¡°What do we do?¡± I asked because I had no freaking idea about the undead, and the tidbits I knew had been jumbled in panic. Dan seemed to have no idea either as he looked at Leena. ¡°We obviously can¡¯t stay here; the undead wille here sooner orter,¡± she said. ¡°If possible, we need a fortified space to hide, something that could iste life aura; the undead attracted to it.¡± ¡°And master silver, pick up your de; whether you want or not, you will need to fight, at least till the rescue arrive from Namdar,¡± she said. I nodded and immediately got out of bed and picked up the de, and my bag, which I had opened fumblingly, and took out potion bottles. ¡°Here are the stamina and health potion bottles,¡± I said and handed them two healing potions and two stamina potion bottles; they looked a little surprised, especially Leena, but they took it without hesitation. These people are going to protect me, and I have to give them everything that will give them a chance to survive. These potions are expensive, but I don¡¯t fucking care; I will buy moreter, and if I survive, I will give them a fat bonus. Like I did to Dan and Johan after returning from the in, I paid double what we had agreed. I had just given them the potion when I heard the steps and desperately wished it would be a human, but to my shock, it was a grotesque zombie holding a rusted de. The moment it saw us, it moved toward us, and its speed was not slow at all; it moved quite quickly while I was frozen in fear. Thankfully, Leena had not; she crossed the distance between the zombie and herself in a second and swung her rapier at speed, I could see. Pachac! A clean sound rang out, and a momentter, I saw the head of the zombie falling on the ground. Thank You My Patrons:Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 46: Undead Invasion II Chapter 46: Undead Invasion II ¡°You need to cut off the head of the zombie to kill them; the same with skeletons, though you will need to crush its head afterward as our des are not covered in holy element,¡± Leena said. I nodded dumbly before walking toward her and looked at Zombie; she had decapitated. ¡°I think we should get out of this manor; it is what they are targeting,¡± said Leena, ¡°What about finding a safe ce?¡± I asked. There are so many zombies outside it would be hard to get out without them attacking. ¡°It would be hard to find a safe ce in chaos, but we will keep an eye; if we do not find one, then getting out of the mansion would be the right choice,¡± she said pragmatically, and I so much wanted to decline. Focusing on finding a safe ce sounded much better. ¡°Ok, we will do what you say,¡± I said; there was no other option; she is one who has experience with the undead. ¡°Let¡¯s go; the more we stay here, the more dangerous it will be,¡± she said, and we stepped out of my room, and the moment we did, I saw the utter horror. The things that will give me nightmares for months toe. Everywhere I look, I see the undead; zombies and skeletons are everywhere, fighting humans and killing them. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed as I saw a man in his sixties gutted into his stomach by a skeleton. He is Germain White, was a jovial old man, and now he is gutted in front of me before the skeleton is decapitated by a guard and its skull crushed under his foot. ¡°Let''s go,¡± said Leena a little loudly to get my focus, and we moved; our focus was to reach the ground. It is a five-floor building, and we are on the fourth floor; taking the elevator is out of the question, so the only choice we have is to go down the stairs, killing many zombies and skeletons. Thankfully, it seemed like we were not the only people thinking that; some other people are too thinking the same, wanting to get out before more zombies swarmed into the manor. Leena is ahead of me, and Dan is behind, while I am in the middle, protected by both sides but not truly safe given the numbers of undead roaming on the floor. A few secondster, one Zombie and skeleton walked out of the room, and Leena moved quickly. She decapitated the skeleton instantly, dodged the Zombie''s attack, and decapitated it a momentter before crushing the skeleton''s head with her food as it fell down on the ground. I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised by the practiced ease she had finished the two undead before moving forward. A few stepster, wee across the body of a man; I don¡¯t know who it is, as it is face down, and they have done quite a work on him. Another zombie came out, and immediately, Leena killed it, and at the same time, two skeletons burst out of the room behind and directly went for Dan. I froze before moving to help him, but it seemed like I was worried for nothing. The moment they attacked him, all the fear and hesitation had disappeared from his eyes, and he attacked them. He decapitated them in a single strike before crushing their skulls with his feet, though with much less grace than Leena had. ¡°Try to avoid using the skills; these undead are swarming type enemies, and we are going to face a lot more when wee down,¡± she said to Dan without stopping. It took a few minutes for us to reach the stairs, and by then, we had finished neen undead. Soon we reached the stairs, and to my horror, it was blocked by arge number of undead. Some people are fighting them already, but it is clear that they are having a hard time fighting them. Seeing the sheer number of them froze me on my spot. ¡°We will need to clear them; it is the only way out,¡± she said, looking at me especially. ¡°Ok,¡± I said after a moment of silence. As I had said, Leena moved forward and began to hack the undead with four other guards, two of them were part of our entourage that came from the Greltheaven. They begin to hack the zombies and cut the skeletons, but there are too many of them; nearly a hundred and more and more are piling up every second, even from behind; the few areing, which are being handled by the Dan. Hun! For nearly a minute, I watched a massacre before suddenly, one Zombie slipped and came toward me. Leena and others ahead could not help me; they were swarmed by the undead, same for Dan. He is busy with a group of skeletons, and by the time hees, it will be toote. I will have to deal with it myself. I knew I would have to fight the undead, but still seeing oneing toward me couldn¡¯t help but shake me, given its grotesque appearance. There is no other choice than to fight it, or I could choose to die in a very horrible way, as I have seen few people do in the past few minutes. I gulped down my fear and stepped toward the zombie, appearing directly in front of it. ¡°Die!¡± I shouted louder than I needed to and swung my rapier at it, with enchantment runes lighting up across the rapier''s de. Pachak! The de of my rapier touched the neck of a zombie before cutting through it like butter till its head flew in the air. I watched it with open mouth, and even the embarrassment of unnecessary shouting vanished from my eyes as I looked at the zombie''s head rolling across the stairs. I had not used any skills, just my strength and enchantment of rapier, which is mainly the reason why I was able to cut through the neck of the zombie. The neck is the hardest part of the zombie and, thus, the hardest to cut; one needs a sharp de and sufficient power behind the attack to cut or just needs a sword like mine, which had been enchanted with sharpness enchantment. I am really d that I have not sold this de, it would have solved many of my problems, but I did not. I wish I could enjoy my victory properly, but I could not as a few seconds after I cut down the zombie, another one came, and it did note alone; it had brought a skeleton. Brimming with more confidence, I readied myself, and just when the undead appeared, I moved. I appeared to the left of the skeleton and shed at it, avoiding its sword, which wasing at me at about the same speed as mine but with the skill of a child. Khak I avoided its sword and cut through it before taking a step right and hacking toward the zombie. Pachac! I decapitated it while avoiding its rusted sword by an inch. Hun! I had just finished that when I saw a skulling toward my legs, it scared me, but I reacted immediately, crushing the skull with a satisfied crunch, and was quite surprised that it had been crushed. If it had been a human skull, it wouldn¡¯t have broken up so easily, but I did not think about it further and looked ahead and was quite relieved when I saw no zombies or skeletonsing toward me. I did not use any skills; the first time, I did not do that intentionally, but the second time I did that intentionally. I heard the warning from Leena and know I have to preserve my skills and use them at the right time, and there will be the time I need to use them, so much so that I won¡¯t have the energy to use them further. I have seen the number of zombies and shes I got from windows of other rooms; I saw more of theming from the seas. So, there is no doubt I will need to fight a lot of them to survive, and like now, my guards would not always be avable. Little more than five minutes passed when we were finally able to clear the hallway. I have finished nine of them alone. I couldn¡¯t help but feel proud of myself for that. As we cleared the stairs, we stepped into the second floor, which was filled with undead, with some humans fighting against them, but it seemed like a losing battle seeing the sheer number of the undeading at them. What was even more horrifying was the scene on the first-floor hall, where thergest group of humans was fighting. I could not see what was happening properly, but the scenes I saw chilled my heart, and we were going there. ¡°Undead areing,¡± warned Leena to those who were watching the battle below with horrified eyes. I immediately focused on theing undead, and they were more than what we had faced on the stairs. I could see the sigh of reliefing on the faces of a few humans as the undead came toward us, lessening the pressure on them while some among us cursed, seeing numbers, but nobody hesitated and attacked the undead as they appeared. I also moved; there was far too many undead; they could not protect me against all. I will need to kill thoseing toward me. Fighting the nine undead have given me confidence and a pretty good idea about their abilities, and the best thing I learned is that they are dumb bastard; they may have speed and strength, but they don¡¯t have any skills. They are just dumbly swinging their weapons without any skills. Pachac! So, as I appeared in front of them, I moved by dodging their attack before swinging my sword, cutting the zombie''s head and skeleton through the chest, before avoiding the attack of thest skeleton and moving forward with a sh. Crunch Crunch! I cut the head of the third skeleton and crushed its head first in two stumps of my feet; the head of the first skeleton, which had part of the chest attached to it, had resisted a little before getting crushed. I had read somewhere that it is harder to crush a skeleton which had more parts of the body attached to it. So, it seemed to be true; the part of the chest being attached created a greater resistance. As I finished with them, we moved forward, and more undead came toward us; we faced them as we moved toward the stairs, which were getting closer with every step we took. Soon, we had reached halfway, destroying hundreds of hundred; I myself had finished over thirty of them. As we reached halfway, we have met a group of four; just a few minutes ago, there were six people, and now, they''re aware of only four. All four of them are guards; their employees seemed already been dead, and not that I could me them for that. In this ce, in front of such arge number of undead, it is very hard to defend their employer. Even their safety is not guaranteed, much less of their employers. If I did not know how to fight, then I would have died too. It is a simple harsh truth. Rip! Five undead came at me this time and, for the first time, were able tond an attack on me. Giving me a cut across my stomach. I shuddered when I thought about the infection; I would have, but I bit down those thoughts and fought the undead without using Skills, despite wanting to use them very badly. I am getting a glimpse of the downstairs now and then, and seeing that; I know I cannot use them, not yet, not unless I reach downstairs, where I will need to use every Skill I have. Everybody seemed to understand that, as nobody was using their skills; they were killing them through the sheer power of their attributes andbat skills, which they learned through practice and experience. We moved forward, and two other teams joined us, taking our numbers to seventeen, which increased our power, and we began to move swiftly. Finally, we have reached the stairs, where another big group of eleven was fighting, and strangely middle of them, three nonbat personnel. All three of them huddle together, with their shaking hands holding the swords; of the three people, one of them, I know and am quite surprised, seeing him being alive. Though I shouldn¡¯t be, of the eleven of those who are fighting, two of them are mages. They were our mages, part of our security team, and seemed to be casting shields to protect the nonbat whenever the undead attacked them. Their eyes lit up as our big group joined, they were swamped, and if we had not arrived, it would have been quite bad on them. Some of the people from their group seemed to have died, on whose bodies we stepped foot; I even saw the familiar face of mason guild Guildmaster¡¯s face among the dead. ¡°Remus,¡± said Locke with a shaking voice as our group joined theirs. Pachac! ¡°Locke,¡± I said as I decapitated two zombiesing toward me at once before moving to the skeletons. ¡°I had not quite believed when you had said you fought against the rogue, but it seemed it like, it had been true,¡± he said mirthlessly from behind. I did not reply more than hmm, as I killed one undead after another, as they kepting at me. Rip Rip Rip As time passed, more came, and some of them were able to cut me, but these were just minor cuts. I have learned quite a lot from instructor David. One of the skills he used me to use to turn his de ethereal when it touched me, and the deeper it went, the greater pain it would give me. The pain was so bad that I copsed if his de went deeper than an inch. It had trained me to avoid the deeper cuts, which are now helping. Pachac Crunch Pachac We killed one undead after another while slowly climbing down the stairs. I think I had crossed a number hundred by the time we had reached halfway in stairs, where things became even more intense. The mages, who began to rest after we joined, began to cast the spell now and then. With everyone fighting other than three, we cut through the undead and finally reached the first floor, where we saw the scenes which chilled our hearts and filled us with horror. A man beside Locke had pissed himself, and I wish I could me him as I am moment doing it myself, seeing the sheer number of undead in the huge hall on the first floor. Thank You My Patrons:Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 47: Fighting in the Hall Chapter 47: Fighting in the Hall I looked at the halls and saw it was swarmed by hundreds of undead and moreing from broken ss walls on every side. In the center of the hall were people fighting, there were forty to fifty of them, and they have formed a circle, and inside that circle, they were protecting the people, about twenty of them. Many people had died, and their bodies had littered across the floor. ¡°What are you waiting for? Come here,¡± came a shout at us; it was from the Knight of a ck star. He is one of the leaders defending the circle; the other is captain Julian and a woman in early forties with a small pet on her shoulder. Hearing the shout, we moved toward them, but after taking a single step, we had to stop as a swarm of undead came at us. Their numbers are far greater than we had faced, and we are not facing them from the narrow space of hallways and stairs, but in an open hall; it is going to be far more dangerous than before. ¡°Don¡¯t hold back; if you feel the need to use the skill, use it,¡± said Leena as she decapitated three zombies and one skeleton in a single strike without using any skill. I wish I could marvel at her ability, but undead came at me too and seeing them, Locke and two behind me shook even more. One of them seemed to have gotten scared enough that they had pissed in their pants. Whether it is the same person as earlier or someone else, I don¡¯t know; I did not have time to look. There was more than seven undeading at me, and I took a step forward and swung my sword, and this time, I used my skill. Pachac Khak Pachak I decapitated three with a single attack of Consecutive Strikes before taking two left to avoid the attack. As I had avoided it, I used the Quick Steps and appeared directly in four of them and cut four of them in the second sh of Consecutive Strikes. I am pretty proud of this attack, not because I had killed seven of them with two strikes, but because I was able to maintain the Consecutive Strike in a break of a second. Which is quite hard considering Consecutive Strikes needed to be consecutive. It took some ingenuity, but I did it, and now I have another something in my arsenal. I wish I had even a moment to enjoy the victory, but I did not, as another zombie came at me as I finished crushing the skulls of skeletons. I immediately stepped back and swung my sword, decapitating the two without using the skills, before moving forward to meet the group of eight undeading toward me. To deal with them, I had to use my skills. It is intense; every second, I am dealing with the undead, and this time, being in the open hall, I barely have any protection. It had improved my killing count, and now I am not worse in my group. While others may have higher attributes, skills, and even experience, I have practice. I have been practicing with a sword since I could hold it; even after my mother disappeared, my father had got me the best instructor money could get. Even though he did not like me to be a warrior, he supported me in my choice. It is also true that old Remus was a natural fighter, born with instincts that others gained through years of experience. I had inherited it all. I am doing better than any person with my attribute and skills would be doing, but it still did not give me the confidence to survive. A couple of times, I have nearly died from the des, not to mention the injuries piling on my body, which have be heavy enough that I started to feel slow from them, but I am not getting a chance to drink the healing potion. I could only have that when we reach the circle of humans in the center; we are already halfway to it; we just need to continue until we reach the circle. There others and I will get a chance to heal our injuries. Time passed as I killed one undead after another; I don¡¯t know many I had killed, but there were a lot of them that now we were fighting while stepping on their bodies and bones; it was quiet, especially when I stepped on the bodies of people. Many humans have died in an endless tide of undead; I think not even half of them have survived. There were nearly two hundred guests and over a hundred guards; now, barely a hundred people could be in the hall, and both guests and guardsbined, and seeing the endless tide, more would die. All of us might die, as our strength has a limit; we cannot fight perpetually, and we will get tired eventually. To survive, we either have to kill all the undead or kill the one who is controlling or hope that rescue arrives soon as possible. Though the chances of that seemed quite low, considering they had isted the ind. One of the mages has told us that the message spells he is sending are bouncing back; the undead bastards have created the istion field. Hun! I was fighting the undead when my eyes fell on the undead moving toward Leena. It looked likemon undead, but when it moved, one could see the difference, especially when it swung that sword; it had some skill, and the sword was also much better than the rest of the zombies. ¡®The umon,¡¯ I thought. Most zombies attacking us are made ofmon people, but there are zombies who are made from the bodies of fighters. Those are valuable and used in important wars; these zombies are not much powerful, especially those low-level warriors, but they are stronger and possess some instincts of their former selves, which makes them more dangerous than thesemon zombies. Leena decapitated it like the rest of the zombies; there was no difference. If the tide of such zombies hade, it might have made it difficult for Leena, but one or two of them did not make killing them difficult. We have reached closer to the circle, and now there are around fifty undead have remained between them and us, and they are being cut like grass bywnmower. Pachack Khak Pachac I cut through the zombies and skeleton, getting another cut on the corbone; if it had been a little up, it would have been a real danger. Though, it hurts like hell, like many of my injuries. In a few seconds, we had cut through all the undead and reached the circle, and one of the people I saw couldn¡¯t help but surprise me, especially seeing what she was doing. ¡°Quickly get into a circle,¡± shouted the Knight, and the people of the circle began to move, making it bigger, forming a space for us. There are even a few skills involved, trying to make the process faster and smoother as possible. As there are still hundreds of undead, and they areing nonstop through the door and broken ss walls. The first ones who went to the circle were Locke and two other people. They went inside and huddled together with twenty other people while we merged with a circle and closed the gaps before turning undead. ¡°Remus, I heard you had left the way of the sword,¡± said the woman, who manipted the golden thread and cut the heads of two zombies and three skeletons; the heads of skeletons were divided into pieces by the string by the time they fell on the floor. ¡°Gulp!¡± ¡°You have surprised me too, Eva; I did not know you could fight,¡± I said to the beautiful woman beside me as I took a huge gulp of bitter healing potion. Too that she smiled. ¡°It is something I had picked up in my younger days; it had been decades since I had used it to fight,¡± she replied as she cut another group of groups of the undead with her golden thread or, should I say, a gold thread. She is using a gold thread mixed with some other metals, manipting it the way she wants, and even using a couple of skills and spells to turn it into the weapon that it had be. She is an aplished jeweler, I had never expected she could fight, and she is not fighting like an inexperienced person, but someone who had quite an experience in fighting. She is also looking quite hot, and even while fighting, I couldn¡¯t help but sneak a nce at her. It did not take long for me to pay the price for it, as I had nearly been decapitated by the rusted sword of the skeleton. They wereing like the tide, but the pressure was much less than before, and now, I had nearly stopped using my skills. The circle is a great battle formation, and, despite the huge number of undead attacking every minute, we are handling them. ¡°Are we going to keep fighting? They will tire us out if they keeping like this,¡± I said as I decapitated the two zombies. I am getting tired and already thinking of using the stamina potion. ¡°No, the mages are trying to open the bunker,¡± she replied with a shake of her hand. ¡°Did they have a key?¡± I asked, to which she shook her head. ¡°No, only the majordomo of the estate and only the members of the Santos family have the keys, and both of them are dead,¡± she replied as she killed a group of skeletons, turning their heads into pieces in the air. John Santos is dead, and I can¡¯t make myself feel sad about it; I am even a little angry. This is the second time I am in danger because of him; the first time, the rogues, and now the undead, and unlike the rogues, these undead have every intention to kill us. The key could be conventional or unconventional; it seemed like our luck was bad as the key to the bunker was unconventional. It could be a form of blood, which is unlikely as the majordomo could open it. It is likely the runic code, which makes things quiteplicated. Normal mages would be incapable of opening it, and using force would be useless since it is a bunker and there are people around. ¡°Will they be able to open it?¡± I asked, killing another zombie, ¡°High Mage ckstone is quite an aplished enchanter; there is a chance he might be able to do it,¡± she replied, not giving a definite answer. I was thinking about the old man I had met earlier when suddenly there was amotion inside the circle. Thank You My Patrons:Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 48: To the Enemy Chapter 48: To the Enemy ¡°The bunker had opened,¡± shouted someone jubntly, and it immediately caused chaos inside the circle. Even those fighting lost their focus, and one ended up losing his life as the skeleton had directly pierced its rusted sword inside his throat. They moved him into the circle, trying to heal him, but I don¡¯t think he would survive. The wound is too big, and we don¡¯t have a high-level healing mage or priest who could heal him from that kind of damage. ¡°Quiet, be disciplined,¡± came a shout from the Knight and along with a power of the skill. It immediately lessened the chaos inside the circle. I could hear the sound of steps behind me; they were moving into the bunker one by one. Though there is chaos, it is being managed. Soon, a minute passed, and nearly all the people inside the circle disappeared inside the circle, that only a few mages had remained, and now guards were looking with yearning and hope. ¡°Everybody,¡± said the Knight in a loud voice, which instantly made us focus on him while still fighting theing undead. ¡°There are two choices in front of you, first move into the bunker and second fight,¡± ¡°Moving to bunker would be safe as you will wait for the rescue there; if it came within an hour, you would be safe, or if it did not, then undead will st through it and kill everyone that is within,¡± ¡°The bunker might be strong, but there are thousands of undead, and the being leading them is at least Level 30,¡± he said while cutting down a ground of undead with a swift strike of his long sword. ¡°The second choice you have is to fight, not here; fighting here is just waiting for death. We are going to take a fight to the one who is controlling it all, and killing it will end everything,¡± ¡°I am taking a second choice, even if I am alone; I like my fate in my hand, not some people from Namdar, who might not arrive in time or not arrive at all,¡± he said and looked at all the people in the circle. ¡°So, make your choice; no matter what choice you make, I will not me you,¡± he added atst. For a second, nobody moved before some guards began to take a step back; within a few seconds, over twenty guards moved back, and many were thinking about it. ¡°Are you not entering the bunker, Remus?¡± asked Eva, to which I shook my head. ¡°Like the Knight of the ck star said, it is better to fight for our fate than depend on others,¡± I replied, and a small smile appeared on her face. ¡°Well said,¡± she said and her golden string to cut a few more zombies. I did not ask her whether she is entering the bunker; it is clear from her bodynguage and words that she intended to fight, and that made the women look even hotter. ¡°Mister Silver, you should enter the bunker,¡± said Leena, who was not far from me. ¡°I am fine outside, Leena,¡± I replied with a smile. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it a momentter. She is not entering the bunker, and neither is Dan; it is clear by their bodynguage. It will be dangerous, without a doubt, and many people will die. There is a high chance I might die too, and it would have been wise if I had entered the bunker. I will not. I would not wait for a savior in fear; rather, I would fight as at least I would die knowing I had given my all. Another minute passed, and now only thirty-nine people remained, including the seven mages; the rest had entered the bunker. ¡°I do not have flowery words for your courage, but I will say that Imend your bravery,¡± said the Knight after the bunker had closed. ¡°Fanya here could sense the leader of the undead, and we will go for it; it will be dangerous, and many of us might die, including me, but there is no choice, as we could not stay here and wait for a rescue or die defending,¡± he said, and there was a moment of silence. It is clear by his words that we will be going for the leader, the one who is controlling all the undead. ¡°Arrow formation,¡± said the Knight, and the power of skills flowed through the circle; some were weak, while others were the strongest I had ever felt. I moved with people, and soon, we were in the arrow formation; the one at the tip was Knight of ck Star, who was wearing jumbled armor made from pieces of equipment, he had gotten from the guards who went inside the bunker. Armor is necessary for him; it is part of his ss. Behind him was a woman, Fanya, with a pet on her shoulder, which turned out to be not a cute animal but a magical beast. In the middle are the mages, led by High Mage ckstone; I am quite surprised he stayed, considering he is not a battle mage but a schr mage. Still, he would be very useful, the spells of High Mage are very powerful, and I am sure he would have few offensive defensive spells; every mage has them. In the rear is captain Julian; he is far more impressive than I had thought, and if I survive long enough, I will be able to see the full range of his abilities. Gulp! Seeing we could charge out any second, I immediately drank the stamina potion, like many around me. It is likely thest chance I will get to drink any potion, and seeing I am feeling a little weak, I decided to drink the potion. The moment it entered my stomach, it had turned into energy and spread around my body, taking my weakness away rapidly and filling my body with energy. It made me a little disoriented, but I controlled myself with deep breathing, which helped a lot. ¡°Charge!¡± Shouted the Knight, and anotheryer of skills envelope the people, this is even bigger, and it is not just skilled, but also buff spells, like Haste, Magic Skin, and Minor Healing. The buffs have a little overwhelmed me, but I did not have time to properly get used to it as we moved, and speed that was even greater than what I could get from the quick steps. Despite that, I felt no imbnce; everything is much smoother than before; I am beginning to have more ease in cutting the undead. It took just a few seconds for us to get out manor through the broken ss wall, and we moved down the hill. Whoever leading the undead is also seems to understand we are moving to target it, as the undead, who were spread across the hill before, gather toward us. At first, things were easy, as the skills and spells have not only increased the speed but also increased the power of my attacks and also bnce, which is vital considering, we are moving downhill. Things began to get slightly difficult when we reached halfway into the hill. Lots of undead had gathered together, and at every second, more of them were gathering. Like an arrow, we are piercing through them, killing every undeading our way. The Knight of the ck star is amazing; despite facing the greatest pressure and most powerful undead, he is cutting them like grass, and he is not even using his skills for it. The pressure is increasing, but I am managing with all buffs, killing one undead after undead. Still, the one that impressed me most is Eva, her strings have be killing machines; mages have cast spells on her strings. One spell made the strigs red hot, and it simply slid through the undead without any resistance, killing tens of them in a single attack. Which has lessened the pressure on people around her, including me. ¡°Your strings are amazing,¡± I praised, to which she smiled. ¡°This is my life¡¯s work Remus, my craft,¡± she said with a hint of pride. People withbat sses are not the only people who can fight; the holder of craft sses could also fight with sufficient mastery over their craft, like how Eva is doing. There are many examples of them achieving the impossible feat, but the most recent is from the city in herald about a century ago. It was a small city hundred thousand, close to an extreme magic region from where a beast tide hade out. Nearly ten thousand magical beasts attacked the city and, within an hour, overwhelmed its defenses and broke through them. It was obvious that the city was going to fall when arge cloth appeared above the city before it enveloped it, before biding the beasts in the cloth, and then came the needles. These tiny needles pierced through the thick skin of magical beasts, destroying their hearts and brains and killing them. That day, the seamstress of Melsar was born. There are many such examples across history. It is not just craft sses; people with other sses, too, have performed the impossible. It is this world there is saying, ¡®Masters conquer,¡¯ and after seeing Eva, I couldn¡¯t help but agree more with it. We climbed down the hill, killing with steps, but more were gathering. I could already see arge number of undead gatherings at the base of the hill to meet us; their number had already reached over five hundred, and more were gathering fast. Their numbers would increase by a few hundred more by the time we meet it at the base. My heart begins to beat loudly in fear and strangely in excitement, seeing them gathering in huge numbers, and more than a third of those are umon undead. It is clear as day, even at such a distance. Hun! Another minute passed, and we had reached quite close to the base of the hill when a change urred. Sup Sup Sup Twelve huge fireballs the size of my whole hand materialized in the sky before shooting toward therge gathering of undead at the base. Seeing that, a big smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. High-Mage ckstone had been silent, but now he had cast the spell; what a spell it is. In a single spell, he had shown the power of the High Mage. Thank You My Patrons: Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 49: Lich Savais Chapter 49: Lich Savais A smile couldn''t help from Savais''s face seeing the group of humans charging toward him. He thought he would have needed to go to them, but instead, they wereing to him. It is the best news he could hope for as it will save him a lot of time and effort. He looked at all the preparation to wee his guests, they were not finished, but they would be soon, and it couldn¡¯t help but make him excited. This was a very dangerous mission, but he had to do it, as it was the only way the death lord would help him with his degradation. Now, not only will he deal with the degradation that will give him a decade or two if he is lucky and even more if was able to level up, but it will also give him great bodies. Especially of the Knights and two warriors, he will kill that Grand Mage. While he is not interested in the bodies of mages, nor is it his expertise, he will focus on it the most. There are high merits on the Grand Mage¡¯s body, and if he is able to get it, then he won¡¯t have to worry about the next anti-degradation ritual. He will be worry-free for the next three decades. Just thinking about it had filled him with glee, and he just hoped he would be able to finish within half an hour, as every second after that would be dangerous. With his preparations, fifteen minutes would be more than enough. ¡­.. Boom Boom Boom The fireballs fell on the undead, creating destruction that shook me to my core, instantly obliterating half of the undead. It shook me to see how a man wields such power, even though I know a few people in this world possess power even greater than the arsenal of nukes on earth. Still, seeing a small glimpse of it had left me shaken. If the skills weren¡¯t carrying me forward and calming my mind, I would have frozen, seeing the destruction caused by the spells. A few secondster, we were on a huge group of undead, and even though half of them had been destroyed, it did not seem to affect them as nearly five hundred of them attacked us as we tore through them. Pachak Khat Pachack My rapier is moving fast; at every strike, it would decapitate at least one zombie or destroy a skeleton. There was no wasteful moment; every strike went for the kill. It is also true that there are too many undead; even if I swing my rapier wildly, at least one undead will be cut. I think I am improving and improving fast; I have already regained everything old Remusbat skills by the time I reach the hall, and now I am surpassing him. Which is happening quite sooner than I thought it would. What they say is really right; there is no better teacher for a warrior than war. We cut through the group of undead, but more are gathering as we do. We know that and moving forward without lessening our momentum, which is the key to winning this battle. It is quite hard to do that when we are dealing with so much undead under this heat. The spell of Grand Mage had not just killed the undead but also made everything very hot. If not for magical defense protecting me, I would have blisters across my skin rather than just feeling ufortable. It felt like hours, but it did not take more than three minutes for us to tear through the huge group of undead, killing more than half of them. There were more undead waiting for us as we got out, but their numbers were much lesspared to the ones from we had got out. ¡°Careful, we are approaching the leader,¡± said the women as we reached close to the grove of reilfruet trees. These big trees have fruits like mangoes, the favorite of Santos¡¯ uncle; just a few hours earlier, I had walked through this grove, and now I am going enter inside again, and this time, I might not be able toe back. The grove covered nearly five acres of area, and with their wide branches, they let very little sunlight fall on the ground, not to mention it is midnight right now. My heartbeat couldn¡¯t help but beat loudly as I stared at those big trees getting closer and closer with every step. It is clear that the leader is hiding there and seeing using, it definitely would have made the preparations. Till now, there was barely any casualty; even I, who is one of the weakest in here, was barely scratched a few times. It is all going to change the moment we walk into the trees. Hun! We were approaching the trees fast when suddenly, tens of huge wind des appeared in the sky and shot toward the trees. Seeing that, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but light up; if the wind des of Grand Mage cut these trees, it would make things a little easier for us. I had just thought that when my expression suddenly changed. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed seeing that. The wind des were powerful that they cut through the first line of trees without any problem, but as they moved to cut other trees, they were barely able to scratch the trees and disappeared. The spells were powerful enough to cut all the trees in a five-acre area but stopped after cutting fifty-some, which is barely 10% of it. My expressions couldn¡¯t help but be worse seeing that, not only mine but of others. Everyone understood there was a leader in trees who was as powerful or more powerful than the Grand Mage ckstone. That did not stop us; we continued moving without slowing down even a bit. It is explicitly clear from the beginning that either it will die or we. So, no matter what happens, we will walk into the tree where the leader is, and even if all weapons in our hands turn into nothing, we will move into the tree and kill the leader; it is the only way we can survive. Soon, there were barely a few meters of distance between us and the trees when the mages acted. At first, it is Grand Mage ckstone, his staff lit up, and the blue magic armor appeared on the bodies of Knight of a ck star, captain Julian, Fanya, and all the mages. Arcane Armor From what I heard, it is quite aplicated spell, but it is highly defensive. Those mages who cast it have great value. He had not just cast that spell on the nine but also on others, including himself and us. The one he casts on himself is even more borate than on the nine, which is not surprising. The one he cast on the rest of us is simple, but it still offers great protectionpared to the simple mana defense we had before. He had not only cast a spell on our bodies but also on our weapons. If I am right, then it is a sharpness type of spell, making weapons our weapons even sharper than before. The spells of other mages appeared after him; they gave different buffs. Some covered us with faint healing; some increased strength, speed, and other things. Most importantly, the mages made the area around us bright as day as we finally entered the grove. There are hundreds of mage lights above our heads. It is one of the mostmon spells of mages and also the initial spell; nearly every mage learns them before they move to fireball or another type of spell. Hun! My happiness was short-lived as the second after we entered the grove, the lights began to dim on their own till the light became asking to twilight. I did not focus on it as in front of me, more important things were happening. ¡°Line!¡± shouted the knight as he stopped, and we moved, moving into the line formation from the arrow formation. It is a tripleyer line; both sides had warriors, while in the middle were mages. In front of us, the undead came out, and these were not normal undead; the zombies are umon, all of them, and they are wearing armor, and their necks had ayer of bone covering them. There are also skeletons that are covered in so many bones that they looked tanks, and there are also bone beasts and bone horrors. Seeing them, a sheer horror couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face; in front of these things, what we have faced till now, nothing. Those nothings are also gathering outside the trees inrge numbers. I am sure by the time, they have gathered enough numbers, they will pour into the grove, trapping us in a killing circle. ¡°Calm your heart; the odds may seem overwhelming, but they are not.¡± ¡°We only have one target, and it is the leader; kill it, and everything will be over,¡± said the Knight, he did not use the skills, but his words calmed my heart and gave me the courage. ¡°Well spoke, Sir Knight,¡± said the strange, hollowed voice through the trees. The voice had sent a chill down my heart, and all the hair from my body stood as I looked around for the source of the voice, which seemed to being from everywhere. ¡°But can you do it? I am a High-Lich that lived for over three hundred years and fought countless Knights and killed them,¡± ¡°You and the people you have brought far from sufficient to kill me; it is I who will kill you and take you into my undead army, especially you, Sir Knight,¡± said the chilling voice that made nearly everyone shudder. ¡°You will die, lich,¡± said the Knight of a ck star, and the aura came out of him. Seeing that, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen, not only mine but nearly everyone''s. Though, Eva beside me did not look surprised. Aura is rare in all sses, and getting it is hard, but those who have it are powerful without a doubt, especially the Knights. As those without sufficient power and will couldn¡¯t awaken it. ¡°Attack!¡± He shouted thunderously, and we moved; charged toward the wall of powerful zombies and skeletons, with our hands gripping our des tightly and purpose in our hearts to kill the lich. We will achieve it, as only through it will we survive. Thank You My Patrons:m2wester, Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 50: Killing The Lich I Chapter 50: Killing The Lich I Hun! The Knight was the first to move against the tide and was about to strike them when theing tide parted, and six big zombies had stepped out. Seeing them, my eyes couldn''t help but widen. Abominable zombies. The six zombies that hade were huge; each one was at least six-five with mishappen bodies that were covered in a thickyer of bone that barely any flesh could be seen through it. If I had not seen their undead eyes, I would have thought they were armored skeletons. These are abominable zombies; they are strong zombies, which are further strengthened by necromancy magic. It is very hard to make them, with a high failure rate, but once sessful, they be a great tool for any lich and necromancer. They are real terror. As the Knights reached them, they attacked and attacked with a speed that I could not see them move. ng ng ng The only thing I heard was the sound of des shing and six of them surrounding the Knight and attacking him from all angles. It is horrifying to watch when considering every single of those abominable zombies is enough to wipe me and most others out, and the Knight is facing six of them. Hun! If that wasn''t bad, the tide parted again, revealing six more abominable zombies. It filled everyone''s heart with dread; many shook seeing them. They may have fought many battles, but seeing these zombies, a will to fight seemed to have left their hearts. "There is no escape other than death," "Kneel to it, and it will be swift, resist, and you will feel the greatest pain of your life," said the lich in its hallowed voice, which nearly made a quarter of them kneel before they got control over their emotions. At the same time, captain Julian and the woman named Fanya jumped and moved toward the abominable zombies and began fighting them. "There is no need to fear; we have everything in control," said Grand Mage ckstone in his booming voice; hearing it, our dreading hearts were filled with confidence. "Hehe, you will soon see who kills who," said the Lich, and a momentter, the undead were upon us. Two undead came at me; both were umon zombies. I have been dreading them since the moment I saw them, but there is no choice but to fight them. Stilling my heart, I took a step forward and attacked; I used the Consecutive Strike and the Weighted Strike, making the attack faster and strongest I had ever made, with all the buffs supporting me. The two zombies also reacted, and to my surprise, their speed and power were even stronger than mine, but I did let the surprise affect me. Their attack was powerful, without a doubt, and it had even had some skills, but it was not enough to kill me. I crouched down when the weapons of zombies were less than a hand distance away and moved my sword up toward the neck of the zombie holding a saber. Puch! My rapier was fast, and it pierced through the neck of the zombie, even when it took a step back before it shed left, tearing away half of its neck. As I did not, I arched back, avoiding the sword of other zombies that cut some of my hair, and moved my sword back with everything I had. Pachack! The remaining head of the zombie cut down, but I did not have time to worry about my victory as its saber was stilling at me, as also the sword of the other zombie. I moved left with Quick Steps, which resisted the way I used it while crouching down but still gave me enough speed to dodge the attack. Rip! I dodged the sword, but the saber hit me, piercing through the defense and tearing my clothes, but there was no disappointment in my eyes; instead, there was relief. The Quick Steps and the armor covering me had saved me; otherwise, I would have lost my whole hand from the shoulder rather than a few threads of my shirt. I had just got up when the zombie attacked me again, and I immediately took a step back with the Quick Steps before moving forward. I appeared to the left of it, missing its sword by less than an inch, and shed my sword at its neck. It moved to dodge and, at the same time, brought its sword to defend, but I moved my wrist a little and easily avoided the sword before my rapier touched its neck and began to cut through it. Pachac! Its neck is thick, with hard skin and solid bone; a normal sword could forget about killing through it without the aid of powerful skills. I have no such problem; my sword is buffed by spells, while at the same time, its enchantment is giving it a sharp edge that could cut through any bone and skin, even the one being reinforced with magic. The head flew in the air as the sword came out from the other side. For a moment, I felt quite proud of my skills, but when I looked at Eva and others, a smile on my face turned mirthless. I am doing good with the level I have, especiallypared to half of the people who have not finished even a single umon zombie butpared to Eva and others, it is nothing. Eva had finished off six umon zombies, and now her strings were cutting through the neck of seventh and eighth. While Leena seemed to have be a storm, each of her strikes would kill an undead. Still, there are hundreds of them, and thousands are gathering behind us, not to mention the biggest danger, for whom we havee to kill, had yet to cast a single spell. Hun! I had just thought that when I heard a faint sound and, a secondter, saw the thing causing it, a thick white mist. Chill Mist. A wide area spell of necromancy domain, quite a powerful spell for a people like me. Even with all the protection, it would freeze my soul with that wave if it hit me; not only me, except for a bare few, everyone would be frozen by it. The wave was fast, and soon, it was only a few meters ahead of us; with speed, it wasing, and it would not take more than three seconds for it to reach us. Thud! I was worrying about it while looking at the undeading toward me when I heard the faint thud, and warm golden light covered me and moved toward the chill mist. The source of it is obviously the staff of High Mage ckstone. "Focus on killing the undead; leave the lich and its spells to me," said the Grand Mage, and I felt the load on my shoulder lessen. I have been worrying about the Lich a lot, but now, I don''t have to. It feels to know that someone is responsible for that, as if something squishes me like an ant, and I don''t want to die. At least not yet; I have died young before; I want to live now and see this wonderful, dangerous world. Hun! I was in my thousands when suddenly, I swung my sword with all my strength and also used the Weighted Strike, as the dangering required it. ng! My rapier shed again with the bone bolt released by the skeletal beast, crushing it to pieces while giving a huge shock to my arm that I had nearly let go of it. The skeletonsing toward me had been destroyed by spells of mages a few moments ago, and I thought I would get a rest of a few seconds, but I was an idiot to think that and an even bigger idiot to lose focus. I was very lucky this time that I was able to sense the attack, and to my great luck, I was able to defend myself against the attack. It was so cool that, if I were not fighting a battle of life and death, I would have danced in joy for doing something that I had only heard of. The bone beast had reached closest to me and leaped with its sharp ws and mouth, which was opened enough to fit my head inside and crush it. It bears simrity to the wolf but is not; it is made from different bones belonging to many races and beasts, optimal for killing. This design is quitemon due to its efficiency and the fear induced by those burning eyes. I calmly looked at the bone beast before I moved, or should I say, ducked down with my sword above and remained there. I only needed to stay in the position for a second before it reached close to me, and I acted. I swung my sword toward the beast with all my strength and the power of Weighted Strike. Khaa¡­ It only took a fraction of a second for my sword to hit its face, and the enchanted runes across my rapier lighted up and began to cut through it. A secondter, my rapier came out from the other side while the pieces of bones fell around me. The moment I did, I got up and moved forward five steps to the right before swinging my sword to the left. Three undeade at me, two zombies and one skeleton, all of them umon. Pachac I decapitated the zombie in a single strike and immediately moved back to dodge the attack of the skeleton and zombie. Rip! I was able to dodge the attack of the zombie, but the bone spear of the skeleton had torn through the protection and pierced an inch into my stomach. If not for the armor, it would have gone to the other, tearing a hole through my body. Still, the wound was nothing to scoff at, and pain made my eyes go read, but I did not focus on it and moved toward the enemy while hoping the mass healing spell covering me would at least stop the bleeding. Sup Sup Sup As I moved toward the two undead, I felt all the hair on my body stand up, only to see hundreds of grey bolts appearing in the air beforeing down at us at speed faster than the bullet. It was the attack I couldn''t dodge, so I did not even focus on it and moved toward the enemies against which I could do something. Dub Dub Dub It is a good thing I did not focus on the bolts, as the shields appeared above us and bore the shower of deathly bolts. It took me seven seconds to finish two of them before moving toward another group of undeading toward me, and this time, it was bigger, with three zombies and two skeletons, all umon. While moving toward them, I was able to nce at something and couldn''t help but close my eyes for a second. A human died, there was a big wound across her chest, and she was not moving. Seeing how no mage moved to heal her, it is clear she is dead. She is the first, as more would die. I began to fight against the five undead, never going too far from the line and always returning to it when I was finished, but it started to get harder as more undead began to attack us. The injuries across my body also began to pile up; the five undead gave me two injuries, one big as the spear wound from the skeleton. I was d that there was a healing aura; it was not powerful enough to heal the wounds, but it was powerful enough to stop the bleeding and be worse as I moved, but as like defensive armor, it was getting weaker the more it was used. I hoped the mages would recharge them, or I would be in big trouble. Not only me but others too; Eva, who fights from a distance with her strings, also has a couple of injuries across her, one that is quite close to her chest. If it had been slightly above, her life would have been threatened. A minute passed, and things became bad; I saw two more humans dying, and these are the ones I could; there may more that I might, but I truly hope not. Things are bad now, but they will be worse soon; arge number of skeletons have gathered outside the grove, over a thousand from what I could see, and they will pour in soon. Seeing that, I couldn''t help but feel there was no surviving it, but even these thoughts did not stop me from fighting. Hun! I was fighting when a sudden change urred on the battlefield. The Knight, the woman Fanya and Captain Julian, all three fighting abominable zombies, had suddenly cut them. The Knight cut the three zombies he was fighting in a single motion, the same done by Captain Julien and the women. It is clear the attack had been coordinated. As they killed the zombies, a powerful fiery st came out from behind and killed tens of zombies and skeletons in a single strike. It made the way, which was likely the attack''s real purpose, seeing how three of them moved into the way that was just made by the attack. High Mage ckstone is also moving with them as he disappears and appears beside them and casts a spell that increases their speed so much that all I am able to see is blue as they move through the zombies. I had been worried that they had forgotten our real target, but I guessed they had not. Now, I just wish they would kill the lich, as it is the only way we would survive. Thank You My Patrons:Bence, m2wester, Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Killing the Lich II Killing the Lich II ¡®These fucking vermin¡¯s, I will kill them all,¡¯ I cursed when that monkey bastard killed his precious death guard. He had twelve of them, but now, two are dead. He had spent countless resources, many attempts, and most importantly, expensive bodies to create them, and now two are lying dead. He wanted to curse his luck to get this ind. A Knight Commander is here, and on top of that, a High Mage, which intel had said is a schr mage. Fuck the bastard who said ckstone is Schr Mage, he might not be a full fledge battle mage, but the bastard had enough experience to provide support and take a shot at him whenever he showed even the slightest weakness. These two are targeting him insistently while that fucking Warrior and the Ranger are taking out his death guards. He wanted to kill them all but couldn¡¯t do it despite trying hard, as the bastards were working together efficiently and had high levels. Now, there was only one option that had remained, calling back his special zombies and skeletons while leaving the clutter of humans to the general undead. He really doesn¡¯t want to do that; he has a limited number of specials, and seeing the power of these four, he will need to sacrifice nearly all of them, but there is no other choice. If he did not do that, then they would kill his precious death guards, but he had no other choice, as the bastards wereing close to threatening his life. ¡®So be it,¡¯ it said and ordered the special undead toward him. Now, he had to kill these bastards; only through this would he be able to recoup his losses and make some fortune. A few seconds passed, and he realized he had made a great mistake; they were waiting for it, baiting him to do that. ¡°I will kill you!¡± He shouted in rage and attacked the Knight with the witheringnce as he came at him. The wretched old Mage seemed to be waiting for him to pull his forces toward him; the moment his special move away from human and general zombies, the old bastard made his move. Boom Boom Boom He sent tens of huge fireballs crashing toward his special undead and sent an even bigger barrage toward themon undead, right in the center of the group as they moved to the humans. ¡­. The hell broke loose the moment undead poured into the grove; they are over thousands of them, and they only took a few seconds to break through our line formation. I, along with Eva, a mage, and two others, separated from the rest of the group and am now fighting against the zombies, which areing to us in all directions. It is a nightmare. The only good thing I could talk about it was that all-powerful zombies and skeletons had left, leaving us with the tide ofmon zombies, which had been attacked by the High-Mage ckstone''s powerful spell. Despite him destroying half of their numbers, the huge tide came and enveloped us. Their numbers are high enough that we could not kill them all, even if we drink all potions we have. Pachac Khac Pachac My rapier cut through the two zombies and the skeletons before moving back to cut another zombie and skeleton and move again without stopping to kill another undead while taking the step forward with the rest. The Consecutive Strikes skill had finally shown its power. Before, I could only maintain it for six strikes at most, but now I had just finished the neenth and swung the twentieth. At each strike, the power and speed would faintly increase; it is not much increase if I was only able to achieve four to five strikes, but going further, the power increases by a lot. After twelve strikes, the speed had doubled from around a 2%-3% increase; it became 5% with every strike. It might not seem much, but it is huge, especially with the enemies I am fighting. My rapier is constantly moving, without stopping, even when my hand is tired and hurts like hell with all the injuries. I have to continue, I am the weakest in my group, and if I do not do my part, I will die. So, no matter the tiredness I am feeling or the injuries I am umting, I have to continue to fight and kill with every strike till we cut our way through this undead. It is what we are trying to do; we are trying to cut through it because remaining in it is good as dying. We can not kill these numbers; escaping is the only choice, and I am sure the other people are doing the same. We are ordered to do it by the High-Mage right after that powerful attack. It will stretch the undead as they try to chase us around, thinning their numbers. With it, lich won¡¯t be able to use them to overwhelm, and it won¡¯t pull them out of us, for risk of us joining the fight against it. While we might not be as strong as the four, we could create a nuisance with enough support. There have been many incidents of the weak killing the strong with numbers and teamwork. Rip! Another rusted sword of a skeleton shed through my stomach, widening the gruesome wound that was already there. There was no interference; the armor and healing aura I had long been disappeared, and the mage in our group did not have healing or armor spells. It was quite a surprise that I was still standing and fighting through the sheer number of injuries I have in my body. If I had been on earth, half of them would have sent me to the emergency room. My condition is precarious, and I am only fighting through the force of will alone. Soon, the twenty-fourth strike was over, and my sword moved for the twenty-fifth; as it did, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen up, feeling the 10% increase; it made my sword so fast that even I couldn¡¯t see it properly. Faster than it was when I had all those buffs earlier, that I felt the muscles of my hand strain to their limit, but I did not care. Pachac Khac Pachac This speed and power are helping me kill more undead, giving them fewer chances to overwhelm me. This will have consequences, but I will worry about them after I survive. ¡°Remus, drink the potions,¡± said Eva behind me, and I simply opened my mouth, and secondter, two bottles appeared connected to silver strings and poured themselves into my mouth. Gulp! I gulped down the potion without stopping the attacks; stopping even for a second will be the death of me. the healing potion and the stamina potion reached my stomach and transformed into the cool energy that began to spread inside me, but just as it began, a burning pain shot through my body. The only reason I did not scream was because I didn¡¯t want to seem like a weakling to the people around me. ¡®The burn had begun,¡¯ I said to myself, and I was not really surprised. One could not infinitely drink the potion; there is a limit, and when one reaches the limit, one feels the burn, and it is more painful than I had ever thought it would be. It is my fourth healing and stamina potion and also myst one; if I drink further, the potions will poison me. Instead of helping me, they will kill me, and it will not be pretty. The burn had begun, and the pain was not a worse thing about it; the worse thing was that the potions would not work with the efficacy as they had before. Still, I am quite grateful for myself; even in the weakened power, I could feel the healing potion stopping my injuries and stamina potion, filling me the strength. With their help, I kept killing as we cut through the endless undead. There did not seem to be any end of them, maybe they were endless, or they seemed to like it because of the very low light. Half of the mage lights have disappeared, and what had remained are barely providing enough light to fight. Sup Sup Sup ¡°We are close; just twenty more meters, and we will be out,¡± said the mage with eyes gloving beforeunching another barrage of mana bolts. It is the only spell that the mage in our group is using, likely because it is the most efficient spell; each bolt will kill the undead, and it does not cost as much mana as other spells. His words filled my tired heart with newfound spirit, and I began to hack the undead with greater intensity. I finished the thirty-sixth strike and moved my sword to the thirty-seventh when suddenly, I gritted my teeth and broke the skill before activating again, but now it had much less speed and power. I had done it intentionally because, if I had not, then the strained muscles of my hand would snap instantly, making it useless. I was only able to continue this far because the healing potion, continuedly to heal my strained muscles, but an increase in power at the 37th strike would have been above its limit. If I survive this, then I am going to spend a good amount of attribute points on strength and vitality. With my strikes bing weaker and slower, attacks on me increased; I am quite grateful for the mage''s help, who would release the mana bolts whenever the undead got too close to injuring me. Time passed; every few seconds, we would take a step, and soon, we had crossed half of the distance. Now only ten meters remained, and we continued with our killing, using every bit of our strength. I, too, gave my all, using all three of my skills to their maximum efficiency, especially the Consecutive Strikes, which I began to take at the 30th strike at each cycle, breaking the skill and starting again. This is truly a broken skill when one thinks about it, as it will constantly increase power. Unfortunately, it is useful only for dumb enemies like the undead, who can¡¯t properly respond with all the power they have. The intelligent enemies did not let such skill continue for long; they found a way to break it before it became too powerful. One would need to be very talented and experienced to bring the cycle to the twelfth strike against the intelligent enemy. Rip! The de of a zombie struck squarely on my chest, giving me a bone-deep injury and blood-curdling pain. ¡°We are close,¡± said the mage, and I felt like I had seen the light. The injury was the gravest one I had received till now; it had reached dangerously close to my heart. A few more inches more, and it would have had me. Still, the injury is bad, and I am losing blood through it, which is making me weak with every breath I take. If this continues, then I won''t be able to fight for longer. Thankfully we are quite close, just a meter or two before we are out. We will not lose undead, but the pressure on us will be much lesser. Pachac Khac Pachac I cut through one undead after another; it became a kind of instinct that, before I realized it, there was no undead in front of me to kill. ¡°We are out!¡± Eva shouted loudly while her string moved to cut a couple of undeading from behind. As I had said, the undead wouldn¡¯t stop chasing us, but nowing from all directions, they will onlye from one direction. ¡°You are a quite injured young man; let me bandage you,¡± said a beefy man, and bandage appeared in his hand, which he applied around my chest at a very fast speed, while Eva, the mage and short man, handled the undead. The beefy man seemed to have skills rted to it, as he not only wrapped the bandage around my chest at an incredibly fast speed but was also able to stop bleeding from every injury the bandage had wrapped. He also seemed to know where I was injured the most, as he wrapped the bandage around my stomach and left leg in a quick fashion. ¡°It is quite bad that Jorge does not know any healing spell, but I am sure you would be able to hold on till the help arrives,¡± he said and tapped on my shoulder, and immediately, I felt a third of my weakness disappear. The mage gave him a look but let him wrap the bandages around his injuries. After the mage, he moved to the short man, then Eva, andstly, himself before joining the battle. A few minutes passed, and we finally walked out of the grove; with therge group of undead chasing us and weakness filling every part of my body, I could barely kill an undead with each attack, but despite that, there was a smile on my face. For the first time, I felt that I could survive. The mage, not long ago, had revealed that he knew a spell that could hide the life signature. We are nning to hide in the far corner of the ind, so even if they are unsessful in killing the lich, we will have a chance to survive, at least better than those hiding in the bunker. The lich wouldn¡¯t be here long; Namdar would know what happened if it hadn¡¯t already, and help wille, and it might be already on its way. So, there is quite a high chance that we might survive if we hide in the far corner of the ind. Hun! A few more seconds passed when suddenly, the mage looked to the left, and his expression changed suddenly to that horror. I opened my mouth to ask when through the corner of my eyes, I saw a blurring figureing out of the grove. It was blurry, but a faint outline of it could be seen, and understanding what it was, a shock couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face, but it transformed into horror seeinging toward us. Lich ising toward me directly. Thank You My Patrons:PorndPhil, Andrew Murray, Weirwood, Bence, m2wester, Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 52: Killing the Lich III Chapter 52: Killing the Lich III Bamm Bamm Bamm The barrage of thundernces came at me, while at the same time, Knight and two others attacked me from three sides. The bastards have killed all my death guards and special zombies and now attacking me insistently, not giving me even a single chance to attack. The only thing I could do was cast multiple bone shields to defend and chill domain to slow them down, but both of them were barely working. The old bastard ckstone was attacking me in a mad, mad flurry of powerful spells and had cast protection on the two warriors, which warded off the most adverse effect of my chill domain. As for the Knight, the bastard does not need any protection; his aura is more than capable of doing that. If I hate anyone here most after ckstone, then it is the Knight, but I would also love to get my hands on his body. If I get it, I will be able to make a very powerful Zombie Knight, if lucky, then a Death Knight. It will make me very powerful. I had four Zombie Knights once upon a time; those were my golden years. If not for the incident in the grim valley, I would have still had them, and these bastards wouldn¡¯t have been able to force me to this degree. Bam! Another thundernce crashed against his bone, and to my shock; thence, with its 30% power intact, pierced through the bone and stuck me before I could act to defend against it. Zimmm! A buzzing sound rang out as the defensiveyer covering my body nearly copsed. It would havepletly copsed if the power of the thundernce had even been slightly stronger. I looked at the grinning face of the old bastard and then at myself and came to a realization. I need to run away. I couldn¡¯t stay here anymore; they would get me eventually, and the price of that would be huge if I ended up losing this body on which I had spent a fortune. I wouldn¡¯t be able to afford another one of this level. I cast more bone shields and filled them with greater power than before. Earlier, I had been careful about conserving mana, but now there is no need to worry about it, as I am going to escape. There will be some punishment, but it will be much less painful than losing this body. The old bastard seemed to have caught what I was nning to do as the grin on his face vanished, and his expression turned serious. ¡°It is trying to run away!¡± shouted ckstone and shot even more powerful thundernces at him. As the Knight heard it, the aura around him thickened that even he began to feel a slight suppression, while the other two burst out with their full power and came at him, but my shields moved, stopping them in their tracks. Still, I was quite surprised to see their power; they were hiding quite a lot and would have gotten me if I had continued fighting. Thankfully, I am escaping. I did not waste any time, and immediately, a scroll appeared in my hand, and the eyes of ckstone widened in shock. Scroll of Teleportation. My life-saving measure; had cost me a lot, but it was worth it. Nothing is more important than surviving. ¡°Next time we meet, I will fucking kill you all,¡± I swore vengeance and unfurled the scroll, ready to teleport out of this wretched ind. Hun! But to my utter shock, nothing happened. The shining scroll suddenly frizzled and furled itself back; seeing that shock couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face before I turned to the bastard ckstone. I could sense what that bastard had done. Disruption. He cast the disruption and sessfully disrupted the teleportation spell. The spell scrolls are easier to disrupt than the spell cast by the person. ¡°You wretched bastard!¡± I cursed loudly at ckstone with all the rage in my heart and unfurled the scroll again. It lit again, but a secondter, it fizzled out like thest time. ¡°Since you havee here, you better stay lich,¡± said ckstone with a grin. ¡°I am a lich; you can¡¯t kill me,¡± I said back. ¡°I could not kill you, but I could destroy this precious body of yours. I am sure it will give you quite a bacsh,¡± replied ckstone with mirthful eyes. ¡°You can only dream,¡± I said and activated the ring of greater haste and moved at a speed that surprised even ckstone. ¡°Follow it,¡± shouted ckstone and cast haste on himself and others to chase after him. ¡®Greedy bastard!¡¯ I cursed. He might have tried to hide it, but he could see the greed in the old man¡¯s eyes. Given how the old bastard fought and the arsenal of spells he had, he could have run away easily. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything to him, but he stayed, and the reason is me. The bastard is after my wealth; while I am not carrying all his wealth since I am a lich, I am still carrying a fortune, including my body. ckstone wants it all, but he will not have it; as soon as I create enough distance between them and me, I will activate the teleportation scroll. Boom Boom Boom ckstone is throwing spell after spell at me, but with greater haste, I am dodging the most, while those I could not dodge, I am defending with my bone shields. With each step, the distance between them widened, and in a minute, I would be able to activate the scroll without any problem. Soon, I was out of the grove, and to my surprise, I saw a group of humans in front of me, fighting a small group of undead. I did not change my course to avoid humans; I did not want to do something that would make them catch up to me. So, I directly moved toward humans; they froze seeing meing toward them, especially the young human, who was in my direct way. To my surprise, he took less than a moment toe out of shock and swung his sword toward me; seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I love it when weakling shows the spirit; it is always fun to crush with absolute force. Especially now, when I had failed to kill any one of those bastards, crushing him will make me feel good. Bone Scythe! I cast, and a long bone scythe appeared in front of me and shot toward the young human, whose eyes widened in horror again, but his sword did not stop. ¡­ The lich wasing toward me, and now he cast a scythe of bone; he could feel the sharpness of the scythe and knew it would cut him into two. ¡®Remus!¡¯ I heard Eva screaming my name; it should have been louder, but I could only faintly hear it for some reason. Likely because I am watching the scythe of deathing to reap my life. It filled me with horror, but I did not stop my attack, and instead pushed my rapier with every bit of the strength and skill I had and also activated the enchantment of the rapier at its full power, which I hadn¡¯t done till now. There was no need to; it was able to cut everything with low power, and I also didn¡¯t want to spend all power of the enchantment, as they are very expensive to service. Now, I did not care about that. It did not take even a second for the scythe to reach me and move past my rapier. I wanted my rapier to sh against it, but it easily avoided it and came toward me, while the leach appeared directly in front of me, while my sword moved toward its heart. It did not seem to be worried about that, and I wouldn¡¯t have been if I had been in its ce, given the difference of power between us. Even if my sword hit it, I don¡¯t think it would be able to do anything to it, but I have to try. If I am dying, then I want to die, giving my all against the enemy. Finally, the scythe reached me; I felt it touch the button of my bloody shirt. Time seemed to slow down for me that moment as I saw the scythe cleanly cutting through the button before touching my skin. Crack! I braced for the pain and death that woulde, but instead, I heard a cracking sound, and the blueyer of energy covered me; as it did, the bone scythe turned to powder. It shocked me, but it also shocked the lich who had appeared very in front of me, and my sword, which was now covered in blue energy like my body is less than an inch away from its heart. Its eyes widened in shock, and it tried to stop itself, but its speed was too fast to stop immediately. The tip of my sword touched its pale skin, which I found covered in a thinyer of grey energy, which my sword pierced without any problem before burrowing in its heart. Puch! A sound rang as the sword pierced through its heart. It was more like it was skewing itself into my rapier with sheer momentum. ¡°Bastard!¡± It cursed at me with rageful eyes, and I saw a huge ck bolting from its staff and hitting me, but like a scythe, it also turned into dust, the moment it hit the blueyer of energy covering me. Theyer became immediately paler as it happened. Khatch! I could see the light in its eyes, and its staff began to glow again, and I thought I would truly die when an arrow pierced through the skull of the lich from behind. At the same time, I saw a great sword piercing through its chest, sliding across my sword, and a silvery shing and cutting its head cleanly. Bannng! As it happened, the body of the lich crashed into me hard, giving me a glimpse of three people behind, who dealt the final blow to the lich. Thank You My Patrons:PorndPhil, Andrew Murray, Weirwood, Bence, m2wester, Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 53: Over Chapter 53: Over ¡®Thank you, father,¡¯ I thanked my father as I crashed toward the ground; it was because of him I had survived. The talisman artifact I had taken out from his dead body had saved me. The talisman had not activated when the assassin had decapitated him, but it did when the lich¡¯s attack hit me, which also gave me the opportunity to bury my sword inside him. I have survived, I did not think I would, but I did, and it made me very happy as there are still many things I have to do before embracing death. Hun! I fell on the ground, but to my surprise, I had not felt the hard ground I was expecting; instead got a very soft cushion made of aura. ¡°We have finished the lich, and who would have thought it would be because of the young man,¡± said the Knight, whose aura gentlyid me on the ground. I wanted to open my mouth to thank him, but it wouldn¡¯t open despite my tries. ¡°Easy there, young silver; you are very injured. It will be better if you do not make any movement,¡± said High Mage ckstone, and he looked at me for a moment before turning to Fanya and captain Julian. ¡°Bring out the healers; young silver and others needed them as soon as possible,¡± he ordered. They nodded and immediately disappeared; Fanya went back to the grove while Captain Julian went toward the manor. There are two healers came with us to face the undead while others remained in a bunker; as for the undead, they fell down like their strings had been cut. They could not operate without a lich controlling them, and once we took out the lich; they fell dead. High Mage ckstone turned to me, not toward me, but to the body of the lich beside me; he looked, and soon, the staff and other things from the lich flew toward him before disappearing. The lich must have some good things. ¡°Adson, handle everything while I remove the blockers from the ind,¡± said the High Mage and disappeared while Knight walked a few steps and sat on the boulder while I fell unconscious, unable to hold against overpowering tiredness. I woke up with a feeling of coolness all over my body; when my eyes fluttered open, I saw a faint green light covering me; there were also a lot of people lying beside me, including Leena and others. I felt quite relieved when I saw both Leena and Dan breathing; they had not died. Though they are unconscious, and like me, a healing spell is covering them. ¡°Remus, how are you feeling?¡± asked Eva, who was sitting not far away from me. ¡°Better than before,¡± I said slowly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry; in a few days, you will be good as new,¡± she replied, to that, I could only smile. My injuries are not healed, but they have stabilized enough that I won¡¯t die. Though, I will need a more powerful healing spell to heal them quickly and also a few days of rest before I can think about lifting a weapon. I was watching everything in silence when suddenly, the gazes shifted, and the High Mage ckstone had appeared. ¡°I was able to establish contact with Namdar; they were on their way to rescue, but I had told them we had already dealt with the undead,¡± he said with a hint of mockery and anger. He is not the only one feeling these emotions but everyone. It is the city¡¯s responsibility to protect us; the indes under its protection. Over a hundred people have died, including eight that came to fight with against Lich, and some are in very critical condition that without the healing spell of mages, they wouldn¡¯t survive. Nobody spoke, and I once again fell into sleep, watching the bright moon above me. I don¡¯t know how long I had slept, but I was woken up by a warm feeling around my body. When I opened my eyes, I saw there were a lot more people around me, many of them unknown, with my whole body covered in a holy white glow. Looking at the priest in front of me casting the spell, true relief couldn¡¯t flood my heart. Now, I am sure nothing will happen to me, not only because the people from Namdar have arrived but also because I could feel the power of priests'' healing spells, which had finally given me some energy. While mages cast healing spells, it is truly the domain of priests; the divine spells are much better at healing than those powered by mana. As the spell healed me, I looked around, and immediately, my eyes targeted on handsome man in his early thirties with grey hair. He is talking to High Mage ckstone and Knight. Artur Szar, son of Helena Szar, a powerful High Mage in his own right; all three children of Grand Mage Szar are High Mages. The middle one is said to be very close to bing Great Mage. He talked to them for a few minutes before turning to us. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen; I couldn¡¯t tell you how proud I am to be seeing sons and daughters of Namdar repelling the lich and killing all the undead,¡± ¡°Namdar is proud of you,¡± he said with a smile. ¡®Fucking bastard,¡¯ I cursed at him, and I am sure everyone. Forget him apologizing for not rescuing us; he recused himself of the responsibility and took the credit in the name of Namdar. I wish I could curse at him openly, but it is not wise; even High-Mage ckstone didn¡¯t dare to do that. It could be clearly seen in his forced smile as he talked to Artur Szar. ¡°Your critical injuries have be non-lethal, but potion burn had damaged you internally,¡± ¡°You will need to rest for a few weeks to recover from that,¡± said the priest as he put down his staff, but suddenly a surprise appeared in his eyes when he looked at my eyes but did not see anything. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, to which he smiled, ¡°It is my duty, mister Silver,¡± he said and walked away toward other patients while I slowly got up and sat by a small rock. I was looking around when I saw a maning toward me with a worried expression on his face. ¡°Remus, thank god you are fine; I was worried sick when you joined them to kill the lich,¡± said Locke worriedly. ¡°I have survived, didn¡¯t I,¡± I said back, to which he nodded, and his expression turned a little strange as he leaned closer. ¡°I hear that you are the one who killed the lich. Is it true?¡± he asked softly, to which I shook my head. ¡°No, I had just aided a little; most of the work had been done by the four,¡± I replied, and Locke¡¯s expression turned normal as he nodded. If it had been a live being, then I might kill it with my attack, but it is a lich, an undead; destroying the heart is not enough. If it weren¡¯t for the Knight and others, then lich would have definitely killed me with its third spell. ¡°Everyone, since your condition has been stabilized, it is time to leave,¡± said Artus Szar a few minutester, and people came and started putting us on the stretcher. I might be able to get up, but I am in no condition to walk, so I let the medics lift me into a stretcher and to the ship. The undead had destroyed our ship; the yacht may be saved if the house Santos acts fast. There was a new ship on the pier, and even from a distance, I could tell it was big. The medics were fast, and we reached the ship within a few minutes, and as I had expected, it was big. They walked into the ramp and took me directly into the infirmary, and ced me into the bed. Not the general bed, but the one that is covered in privacy curtains from all sides. ¡°If you need anything, call us by the bell,¡± said the medic, motioning toward the small bell and leaving before I could even say thank you. Even on the ship, where the space is limited, there is always extra space for the privileged. I was not able to stay awake for long; the sleep I was fighting took me into its embrace again. [Warrior Level 5] [Warrior Level 6] [Warrior Level 7] [Skill Gained: Sure foot] These are words I saw in front of me as I became conscious again; I have gained three levels and the skill. It is not a bit surprising to me; I have fought a battle of life and death. I would have been surprised if I did not level up this much. Though the Skill had surprised me, not because it was bad, it was very good. Most importantly, it is a passive skill, which is a huge boon considering the kind of skill it is. The skill will keep my feet in bnce all the time, and with it, stumbling would be very hard. It will help me tremendously in battle, where footwork is extremely important. If I had this skill earlier, I would have gotten injured much less in fighting against the undead.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 8)
Lawyer (Lv. 7) Warrior (Lv.7)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 6
Strength: 6
Skills: ¡¤ Trusty Presence ¡¤ Worthy Goods ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Shop Open ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Quick Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Sure Foot
Attribute Points: 0
Now, my warrior ss had reached the same level as the Lawyer ss, and I had more skills in it than in thewyer ss. My skills are quite good; some aremon, but some are umon and rare. Sure, the foot is a rare skill, and usually, acrobats and dancers get this, but warriors also get it, and I am really happy to get it. It will help me a lot, especially with it being a passive skill. Now, I just want to heal and begin to practice again. I have learned a lot in the battle, but I understood there is huge space for improvement. I nned to improve as much as I could, squeezing every drop of benefit I could from the natural fighting talent that I had inherited from old Remus. Da Shoe, PorndPhil, Andrew Murray, Weirwood, Bence, m2wester, Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 54: New Morning Chapter 54: New Morning Thud! I copsed on the cracked deck, not having the energy to even stand, while the people around me cheered. The battle had taken everything I had and more, but I survived; three sinking ships of undead is proof of that. ¡°We will live stone, not just fight,¡± said Jon while sitting beside him, with bandages covering every part of his body. For more than a year since the lich king started his invasion, I had been fighting since then. I had fought hundreds of battles, so much that he lost count. I looked at the ind where he was born and fought and lost everything till there was nothing more left to give, and still, he felt sad about leaving. ¡°There was no choice, either escape or turn into undead,¡± Jon said, reading what I was thinking. He did not say anything, as his friend was right. ¡­. It was morning as I walked onto the deck of the ship and saw the majestic city of Namdar getting closer to me with every breath. I am feeling weak, but I want the morning light to fall on my body, as I had not thought I would be alive to see this day a few hours ago. There were a couple of people on the deck looking at the citying closer. I did not disturb them and picked my spot to enjoy the beautiful morning. A few minutes passed in silence when I heard the steps behind me, only to see Eva appearing beside me. Like me, she is also pale and weak, but the signs of injuries are much less on her than mine. Most of her injuries had been healed by the spells; the ones that remained would heal on their own in a few days. Even in such a state, she looked beautiful that I couldn¡¯t help but stare at her for a moment longer than it is polite. ¡°I did not think I would survive to see this morning,¡± she said, softly looking ahead into the sea. ¡°Me too,¡± I replied, and for a minute, there was silence. ¡°How long will you be in Namdar?¡± she asked. ¡°Till I recover,¡± I replied. To be honest, I want to go back to Greltheaven as soon as possible, but I will not till I am back in fighting condition again. This world is dangerous, and I don¡¯t want to move anywhere till I ampletely recovered. Until then, Ca will handle everything. ¡°Do visit me before you leave,¡± she said. ¡°I will; I have a few things to buy and will be visiting your store.¡± ¡°I hope you will give me a discount,¡± I said, to which she smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will give you a discount,¡± she said with a smile. I wanted to ask her about her level; I am very sure she has got a level up and even skill, but it is not polite, even rude. The battle was dangerous enough that everyone, without a doubt, had leveled up. Even the Knight and High Mage might have leveled up. Hun! We were watching the city getting closer infortable silence when the sudden change urred. The skies around Namdar began to turn dark rapidly in a few seconds; all the clouds turned dark, making it look like it was evening rather than the morning. I was just looking at the darkened clouds when the lightning began to sh in them, and strong winds appeared around me, so strong that I had to grip the railing tightly with my weak hands. It felt very dangerous that; I wanted to burrow back into the infirmary. ¡°She is angry,¡± said Eva beside me. I did not have to ask who she was talking about. I had heard that once mages reached the level of Grand Mage, their emotions begin to affect the element they control, and since Helena Szar is a storm mage, she controls water, wind, and lightning, and all of them are acting dangerously. I watched the lightning in the clouds getting stronger and stronger; all it moved toward the tower before bathing it fully. Gasp! A gasp of shock couldn¡¯t help bute out of my mouth when I saw the lightning covering the whole tower. I was watching it when suddenly, the lightning covering the tower began to move up till it disappeared above clouds, where the tip of the tower is. Crackle! I was just wondering what happened to all that lightning when I heard a crackle and saw a massive bolt of lightning tearing through the sky toward the west. ¡°Where do you think it went?¡± I asked, ¡°I think you could guess,¡± she replied, and I smiled. It is really a no-brainer. As the bolt shot out, the clouds began to clear again, and by the time we appeared in front of the port, the sky had be blue again, with sunny light bathing our bodies. ¡°The port seemed to have a lot more security than before,¡± I said, more to myself than her. There seemed to be a lot more security boats; not only that, but I also even saw a lot more beasts with riders patrolling the skies, not to mention a lot more boats in the port than before that it is neatly packed. ¡°The captains are scared; it will take a few days before the traffic returns to normal,¡± she said, and I nodded at that. I did not ask about the undead; I understand enough politics and war that I know that the undead attack was just testing. Vris¡¯alud had no intention to attack Empire, at least not yet. It will first try to conquer the whole of Mayhurst ind before it turns its eyes toward the Empire. The real question is what Empire will do; will it send more aid or attack with the imperial navy, or will it do nothing other than make a token gesture to sate the people''s anger? Though one thing is clear, with all her anger and power, Helena Szar would not go and attack Vris¡¯alud as she did to Ralenport. The most she could do was send a bolt of lightning, which she had done a few minutes ago. The lich king is extremely powerful; the whispers even said that it is very close to the realm of Archmage, which makes it a dangerous enemy that even Helena Szar wouldn¡¯t take alone. As the ship moved the port, people began toe out; Dan and Leena had alsoe out, and before walking to the deck, I had gone to meet them. Their condition is better than me; they will be able to recover in a week without any further help from the healing spell. Soon, the ship docked at the port, and to my surprise, I saw thousands of people waiting there. ¡°Politics,¡± muttered Eva softly as Artur Szar flew out of the ship and stood in the air, facing the thousands of people who had gathered in front of the ship as if aware it was where the ship would stop. They probably are. ¡°The undead had attacked us, but the sons and daughters of Namdar had fought them bravely.¡± ¡°We have killed, leaving not a single undead alive, including the lich,¡± said Artur Szar to the crowd. ¡®He is really a bastard,¡¯ I cursed at him again; all the work done by us, but he is saying like he was part of it, and this thing is, he never explicitly said it but implied it heavily, as look at him with the forced smile on my face. Even Knight and High Mage are smiling as they stand on the deck of the ships. ¡°¡­.in a few days, the warden will personallymemorate every soul fought against the abominable undead,¡± he said, and the cheers rang out from the crow. He smiled widely and waved beforending gently on the ship and turning to us. ¡°Once again, I thank you for your bravery against the undead; Namdar will not forget it,¡± he said, and Eva beside me secretly rolled her eyes at that. Soon, they put up a ramp, and people began to walk out of the ship. The first ones were on stretchers; there were some injured to such a degree that even clerics'' spells weren¡¯t able to heal them enough to walk. Soon, it was my turn; I walked with Eva with my guards behind me; their condition was better than mine, but they were still in no state to do a protection duty. ¡°Mom,¡± ¡°Remus,¡± As we reached down, people called; my cousin Gerald hade to me, and with him was his hot wife. She looked even more beautiful than thest time I had seen her, but I was more focused on two people who hade for Eva. It is a man and a woman; the man is in his early thirties and quite good-looking, while the woman is in herte twenties, beautiful as her mother. ¡°Thank god, Remus, you are fine; when I got the news of the undead attack, I thought something bad had happened to you,¡± said Gerald and came to hug me but stopped mid-way, seeing my condition. ¡°Gerald, I am fine,¡± I said to him before turning to his wife, ¡°Selina, nice to see you again; you are radiant as ever,¡± I greeted. ¡°I am d to see you alive, Remus, but I am still angry at you foring to our house,¡± she said ringly. To that, I just smiled and walked with them, though not before waving goodbye to Eva; she waved back before turning to her children. ¡°Stephan, go to the church and tell them Remus is injured,¡± said Gerald to one of his guards. He nodded and rode away on his horse while I sat in the carriage with them. ¡°You can drop to the manor; I will be fine there,¡± I said, but immediately Selin red. ¡°You areing to our house, and I will not hear, no,¡± she said, and I opened my mouth to refuse, but seeing the expression on her face, I closed my mouth. That brought a smile to her face. The rest of the went smoothly, and soon the carriage pulled into a huge ptial manor, which was even bigger and more magnificent than the one I had been living. We got out of the carriage and walked toward the building. ¡°Do you need a wheelchair, Remus?¡± I asked Gerald, ¡°There is no need,¡± I said with a smile. Soon, we reached the door of the mansion, and I looked at two blue golems guarding both sides; they bowed to Gerald and Selina. These are very expensive; even if I sold everything I have, I wouldn¡¯t be able to afford one, even the lowest level golems, and these ones are now low level. ¡°Have you ever used them?¡± I asked, looking at golems, ¡°Once, three years ago, when the thieves came,¡± replied Selina as we entered. As much as security, they also act as a status symbol, as very few can afford them. ¡°Mommy, daddy,¡± We had just entered inside when a young child of four came running with two maids following behind her but soon stopped. ¡°Rose, meet Uncle Remus; he is going to live with us for a few days,¡± said Gerald, and I gave him a look before turning to the child. I had met her several times before, but she was too little to remember me. ¡°Hello, Rose, it¡¯s nice to see you again,¡± I said; I would have crouched to shake her little hand, but I could not with my current condition. ¡°Hello, Uncle Remus,¡± she said nervously before moving close to her mother. ¡°Come, Rose, let us show uncle Remus his suit, so he can rest,¡± said Gerald, and we took the elevator to the top floor, and soon we were in the suit, which is far better than in the silver manor. ¡°Remus, you rest; soon, the cleric wille for your treatment,¡± said Selina, ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to which she smiled. ¡°We are family,¡± she replied and left with Gerald and her daughter while Iy on the bed, falling asleep in a couple of seconds. Knock Knock A knock woke me up; when I looked at the clock, I saw it hadn¡¯t been an hour since I had slept. ¡°Come in,¡± I said, and a momentter, the door opened with Selina and Geralding inside and, with them, a tall raven-haired woman wearing a priestly robe. I couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised, but I shouldn¡¯t be, given tons of money the house of Silver donated to these people. ¡°Your grace,¡± I greeted the Bishop of Sea Gold Church; it is very clear to tell her rank with her robe and brooch she is wearing. She is not amon priest but a bishop, a level 30+ cleric, and in her hand is a blue staff, wholly made of crystals. I could feel the divinity emanating from it. ¡°Mister Remus, don¡¯t strain yourself; it is not good for your current state,¡± she said; I nodded and rxed, and a momentter, an aqua-blue light shone from her staff on my body, and immediately a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°It seemed like you had fought quite a lot of undead, Mister Silver,¡± she said, surprising Gerald and Selin. To them, I had received injuries running away from the undead, and I had not corrected their assumption. Though, they would havee to know about it by the evening. ¡°There was no choice,¡± I replied, to which she nodded. ¡°Pleasey down, so I can cast Lord''s blessing on you,¡± she said, and Iid down on the bed. For a few seconds, there was only silence before her staff lit up, and a thick beam of energy came at me. As it touched me, it expanded around me, and soon, I found myself in a blue sphere of energy or, rather, a pearl. ¡°This would be enough to heal all your injuries Mister Remus but do take a rest for a day or two before doing anything heavy,¡± she said as she put her stuff down. Amon priest couldn¡¯t bepared to Bishops, they are powerful, and they do not make the home visits within an hour of asking unless you donate an insane amount of money to their churches. House of silver does, and so do the other big houses; these are obvious benefits to it, such as this. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, feeling myself healing rapidly, which was also making me extremely sleepy. ¡°It is my duty, Mister Remus,¡± she said and left the room with Gerald and Selin while I closed my eyes and swept into a deep sleep. Waylon Altizer, Daniel Steel, DaShoe, PorndPhil, Andrew Murray, Weirwood, Bence, m2wester, Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 55: Spending Chapter 55: Spending ¡°Bastard! You had a much bigger hand in killing the lich; you deserve far more than the four hundred thousand imperials,¡± cursed Gerald as he watched the carriage of Mage Raul leaving thepound. The man was a student of High Mage ckstone; he hade to give me the share of the loot from the necromancer. Four hundred thousand imperial, which is equal to forty-million crowns; a huge amount for me, but far too less than I deserve, especially considering what I had lost in killing the lich. The toll and body of lich are worth a huge amount of money, at least two to three million imperials, but they have handed me the pesky forty million crowns. Still, it is much better than I had expected; to be honest, I had not thought I would get anything. They have not only given me but also to everyone who fought at thest charge and also to the guards who have died in the undead attack. There was also a different fund that surviving merchants had created; house silver had also contributed. It will go to all the guards, especially to those who died. Money will not bring back those who died, but it will set their families for life if they use the money wisely. For this reason, the mercenaries love to work for merchants, especially for the big houses. As long as you protect them with everything you have, you will always be rewarded. These forty million may be less than what I deserve, but it will help me tremendously at this stage. I could add things in the establishment which I have shelved forter, and now, I might be able to buy the jewelry and essories I want with this huge budget. ¡°Let¡¯s have breakfast,¡± I said to Gerald; this is what I am preparing before Raul arrived with the money. Soon an hour passed, and it was time to leave. ¡°You could stay a few more days, you know,¡± said Selina, to that, I smiled. I have stayed more than I had wanted, this is my fourth day in their house, and while it was fun, I would like to return to the other manor. I have to do things and bring people that I could not bring here. ¡°Thank you for your hospitality, Gerald and Selina,¡± I said to them and walked out of the manor, and soon, I was in the carriage with Dan, who could not seem to stop smiling. ¡°You seemed quite happy today,¡± I said, to which he grinned. ¡°I have finally got the money to buy a thing for which I have been saving for years,¡± he said, with a smile, that he is barely controlling. ¡°If you are nning to buy it here, you can take tomorrow off,¡± I said to him; he seemed a little surprised by that before the smile on his face became bigger. ¡°I will be grateful, Master Silver,¡± he said; I smiled. It took about an hour before we stopped at a ce that had Charles written in the huge golden letter. It is a big opulent building with wares showing through the ss that only a few could afford. This is Eva¡¯s boutique; it is more like a mall, given how big it is. I walked while Dan and the other guard followed behind me while the rest remained with the carriage. Seeing what I faced on Santos¡¯s private ind; made Gerald feel guilty. Feeling it has been his responsibility to protect me since I havee to his city, and now, I have eight guards protecting me. And I am notining. Soon, I walked through the silver ss doors and entered the store; what an amazing store is; everything is premium and expensive. I was inside when a woman dressed in staff uniform appeared in front of me; I was a little surprised seeing her because she was clearly a half-elf; there was no hiding, one could tell by a single look. Those radiant hair, slightly pointed ears, and angr face all signs led to her being a half-elf. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± she said as she stopped before me. ¡°Yes?¡± I said questioningly. ¡°Miss Eva had asked me to take you to her when youe,¡± she said. ¡°Lead the way,¡± I said. She turned and led me toward wherever Eva was. She was close by, talking to women and the man I surprisingly knew. ¡°Remus, you havee,¡± said Eva as she saw meing. ¡°Eva,¡± I said before turning to a middle-aged man. ¡°Mister Denis, it¡¯s been a while,¡± I greeted the middle-aged and nodded to the woman, Eva¡¯s daughter. She looked like a copy of her mother with those same sapphire eyes, golden blond hair, and diamond shape face. ¡°Yes, since that day,¡± he said, referring to my father¡¯s funeral. ¡°I didn¡¯t get a chance to introduce you to that day; Remus, this is my daughter, Cara,¡± Eva introduced. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you; Eva had said many things about you,¡± I said as I shook her hand. ¡°Same,¡± she said with a reserved smile. We talked for a few minutes before Eva turned to Cara. ¡°Dear, take Denis to the office and sign those documents,¡± Eva said. ¡°Yes, mother,¡± she said and took Denis away while Eva turned to me. ¡°So, what do you want to buy, a suit, shoes; we have very excellent designs. I suggest the one by our designer; it will look very good on you at the warden¡¯s ball,¡± she said, but I smiled. ¡°I will need that, but I need other things first,¡± I said to which she arched her brow, ¡°We will first start with jewelry,¡± I said, ¡°We do have some excellent studs and even rings of varamian¡¯s style,¡± she said. This time she is joking; it is clear even when she tries to keep her expressions straight. ¡°Women¡¯s jewelry Eva,¡± I said tly, ¡°For your girlfriend?¡± she asked with a faint tease, ¡°No, for my business,¡± I replied, and a faint surprise appeared on her face before the radiant smile reced it. ¡°Jewelry is what we are famous for,¡± she said, and we began to walk. ¡°What type of jeweler do you need, for how many people, and what is your budget?¡± she asked as she led me. ¡°I need jewelry that could be worn by the hundred girls through changeable sets,¡± I informed. ¡°And your budget?¡± she asked. ¡°Hundred and fifty thousand imperials,¡± I replied. ¡°It is enough budget,¡± she said with a smile, and we stepped into the elevator before getting out at the third floor, which was glittering jewelry. The whole second, third, and fourth floor is dedicated to jewelry; every type of jewelry can be found here, gold, gemmed, and even magical metals. Jewelry is what Charles is most famous for, and I could see why. ¡°You will need every type of jewelry, from chokers to anklets, and all of them need to work with each other, every way you pair them,¡± she said softly. Yes, this is what I want; I want each piece of jewelry to work with others; while fifteen million crowns may seem much, it is barely enough. Soon we appeared in front of the huge counter, which had thousands of pieces of jewelry around it. ¡°We will start with this ronas ne, cynthar earrings, and aldan bands,¡± she said, and the women behind the counter immediately ced them in front, and another woman in her mid-twenties appeared and stood respectfully at a distance. The jewelry is made of agan metal, a purple color malleable metal which has finely cut sapphires and ures gems are ced. They definitely have an elvish hint in them, especially the earrings. ¡°Jenny, be a dear and try this,¡± she said, and immediately Eva put jewelry on the woman; she was so fast that she did not take even a minute. The way she put it, there is obviously skill involved. ¡°What do you think?¡± asked Eva as I began to look at the girl, who was obviously a model. The way she is standing and changing her positions gracefully lets me give a look at every angle. I looked at carefully, seeing how finely cut gems shone with every movement she made. It highlighted her, ented the beauty she already has. ¡°They looked very good on her,¡± I said to which Eva smiled. ¡°Yes, they do, and we are going to change the bands and ne,¡± she said and called for the other jewelry, which immediately appeared on the counter, and she tried it on the model. ¡°Now?¡¯ she asked, ¡°Just as good,¡± I said. The two pieces she called out were made of gold and nothing else, and looked very good with the gemmed ne. In the next few minutes, she took out more than twenty pieces of jewelry and tried on models of different color andplexions, giving me aplete look. ¡°So, which one do you like?¡± she asked, motioning toward the jewelry that had piled up on the counter. ¡°All of them,¡± I said after a moment of contemtion, and she did not seem a one bit surprised. For the next three hours, she showed me all kinds of jewelry, and nearly everything she showed, I brought it, except for eleven pieces that I did not think would suit the girls of the establishment. I have every kind of jewelry, from nes and earrings to umon diadems and cameos; I even brought some whose names I could not remember. I could already imagine the huge effect it would bring on the girls. ¡°I think we are finished with jewelry,¡± said Eva. To that, I nodded with a little forced smile. I think I have gone quite over budget; even if she gave me a good discount, it would still be above the budget. When the timees, I might need to shelf some of my purchases, which I don¡¯t want to do, but will be forced to. ¡°I hope you have a good collection of essories,¡± I said to Eva, to which she smiled. ¡°That you do not need to worry about,¡± she said and walked toward the elevator. The elevator stopped, and we walked out of the fifth floor, which was filled with dresses of all kinds, wonderful dresses. Some are even crafted from magical material; those are real expensive things that only a high-level person could create. ¡°As you can see, we have a huge collection of dresses,¡± she said, motioning toward the small dresses to long gowns. ¡°Dresses I have; I only need essories,¡± I replied; even on the stage of the big city, Elese''s designs did not pale at all, and that couldn¡¯t help me with a smile. ¡°We will start with shoes then,¡± she said, and we went to the huge shoe section. Where I found those Cindere shoes, made of sses and gems, I couldn¡¯t resist and brought a few pairs of them. I love to see how Ca looks in them; I had made Eva wear those, and she looked ravishing in those red ruby shoes. There are all kinds of shoes, from stilettos to t heels to boots; I had only focused on a few types of them, and despite that, I had needed nearly two hours to buy two hundred and twenty pairs of shoes. After that, we went to belts and then perfume and other sections till I found everything I needed. ¡°I don¡¯t think I will be able to afford all that I had brought,¡± I said to her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will give you a big discount,¡± she said and led me to the men¡¯s section. I have also done some shopping for myself, which took longer than I had thought as I had to give the measurements for the tailored suits. I had also brought a few pairs of shoes and essories like cufflinks, brooches, and perfume. Appearance is important, it is how people look at you, and it helps a lot in making a first impression. I did not hesitate on it and brought what I liked. Click! Eva opened the door, and we walked inside the hall, where everything I had brought had already been assembled. ¡°So, how much is it going to cost me?¡± I asked, looking at a small store worth of stuff, very expensive stuff. ¡°Two hundred thousand imperials,¡± she said, that is twenty thousand crowns, as much as I needed to make the changes in the establishment, but hearing the number, a relief appeared on my face instead of surprise. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to her, to which she smiled. ording to my calctions, she had given me a discount of five million, which is far bigger than I had thought she would give me. ¡°You are a friend Remus,¡± she said simply. To that, I nodded and paid the bill before walking out of the room with her. ¡°Once again, thank you, not only for the discount but also for your time; I am really grateful you personally helping me,¡± I said; this time, she did not say anything, only smiled. After onest hug, I walked out of the store. I have shopped a lot today, but the shopping has yet to be finished; there are many more things that I have to buy. Richard Brown, Waylon Altizer, Daniel Steel, DaShoe, PorndPhil, Andrew Murray, Weirwood, Bence, m2wester, Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 56: Women Chapter 56: Women Soon, the carriage rolled into the indentured market; I was not nning toe here, but since I hade across the huge money, I might as well check things out. The market is huge but clean, and I did not see people in chains; they were in good condition, talking, smiling, or silently sitting. It is not a ve market; very is forbidden in the empire. The emperor had even greater hate for it than people of other races. Helena Szar is also very strict with such matters, and due to it, the city of Namdar had a vibrant indentured market. Here you can get any type of person, from a fighter to a cook to whore. Many people intentionally sell themselves to indenture and get the hefty money they need to pay their debts; some were forced into it as they couldn¡¯t pay their debts. There is also a third way, which is bad, a kind of a grey area where they capture people, especially in war, and force them to sign an indenture contract. It is bad business, but it ismon. Thankfully, with all its ws, Empire does not do it, they will kill you, but they will sell you to very or force you to sign indenture contracts. Soon the carriage stopped in front of a huge square building with a huge board of ¡®Scents Indentures¡¯ sticking on it. I stepped out of the carriage and walked inside through the open wooden doors. ¡°Wee, customer.¡± ¡°What kind of people do you need? The scent indentures have them all,¡± said the beautiful woman by the door. She is very practiced in it; it will happen if you speak the same line thousands of times throughout the day. ¡°Can you call Waris Scent, please,¡± I said to the woman. The smile on her face slipped for a second before it came back on. ¡°You are?¡± she asked, ¡°Remus Silver,¡± I replied, and her eyes immediately went to my eyes. ¡°I will inform mister Waris of your presence; please wait here,¡± she said and led me toward the waiting area before walking out, while her ce immediately took by another beautiful woman. I looked around and saw men and women talking to the people standing in the shop uniform; beside each of them had the name of their ss and a broad range of their levels. Here the name does not matter; what matters are your ss, levels, and skills. On these three factors, the price of the contract is calcted. Most people here are humans with different colors andplexions, but I have spotted a few orc blood and half-elf and even a few that looked like giant blood and dwarf blood. It is sometimes hard to tell in their cases as humans sometimes could be tall and short. Though, if one studies them carefully, one could still verify them with racial features, especially in giant-blooded humans. The elder races, like the giant, have distinct features and could be in those humans who possess their blood. I was looking around when the beautiful woman returned, and with her came a smiling, bald, middle-aged man. ¡°Remus, do you have any idea how happy you have made meing to my shop,¡± he said and took me in a bear hug before I could say anything. It was ufortable, but I reciprocated and turned him with a smile. ¡°I hope this happiness will show in a discount,¡± I said shamelessly. ¡°My friend, you don¡¯t have to worry about the discount,¡± ¡°If you asked me to give you the goods for free, I would do it.¡± ¡°There is nothing more important than my life,¡± he replied as he patted my shoulder, surprising those who heard it. ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary,¡± I said. ¡°So, what kind of people do you need?¡± he asked. ¡°The one I deal in,¡± I replied. To that nodded. ¡°Third floor then,¡± he said, and we walked toward the stairs; there was an elevator, but we took the stairs. ¡°As you can see, we sell the kind of indenture contract, you name it, and we will have it,¡± he said. ¡°Currently, I only need whores, but I need something more; I will definitelye to you,¡± I replied. ¡°Good, you will not be disappointed with our goods,¡± he said. A few secondster, we walked inside the third floor, and it too filled with people, with many people looking at them, talking to them. Soon, we have walked into a huge hall which had which had been guarded by four people. Walking inside, I saw a little different scenery; here, all the indentured people were all women, and those who were looking at them were nearly all men; only two women were among them. The women are human, with different colors andplexions; I could even spot those from aeris ind, the ones with faint pink skin. On earth, we did not have humans of thisplexion. I looked at hundreds of women, standing or sitting on the stool, wearing sheer ck dresses, which gave a glimpse of what was inside but did not show it all. As I read the notes beside them, all of them had notes bedside them, which had their ss and level range. They havemon prostitute sses, like prostitute, whore, harlot, and others. ¡°Here are indentured prostitutes between level 10 - level 19; we have higher-level ones in the next hall,¡± he said and looked at me. ¡°Here is fine,¡± I said. Those who are level 20 and above cost at least four times what the contract these women would cost, but this is not the only reason me choosing the lower-level ones when it seemed to choose higher-level ones to benefit me. It will not, as I wouldn¡¯t be able to meld them ording to my needs. The sses changed and advanced ording to their host¡¯s condition; the lower the level they had, the better chance I would have. With this theory, I should be taking the contract of those below level 10, but that is a different condition, as I will need girls to run my business, and since it is a high-ss brothel, I am running, they need to be at least level 15. Though, I am nning to buy some contracts of lower-level ones, level 5 below, to train them the way I needed from the beginning. So, when they enter the business, they will have an advanced prostitute ss and umon and rare skills. As I had said, I have big ns, and the only thing I need is time and money. We walked toward the woman close to the door; she was from continental Zenid like us, a northern to specific with her features. ¡°This is Sadue, level 13, ss Whore; she had fifteen years in the business,¡± he informed while using a privacy skill. He specified her level, while information reads she is between level 11 to level 14. It is always good when people think they owe you a big favor, they go the mile to be nice to you, and he did owe me a favor. I had yed a big part in killing the lich while he and others hid in the bunker. ¡°Where are you from?¡± I asked. ¡°Ner, Kingdom of Sandar,¡± she replied in a faintly ented voice. As I asked her question, I used my Worthy Goods; this skill is used to select the girls, but I never had a chance to use it on the girls. As a first time, I had got the girls with the establishment, and the second time, I had brought them remotely when they arrived; I saw no need to use it on them. Though that does not mean I have not used this skill. This skill may be used only for the girls, but I am using it on everything I buy for the establishment, from the liquor to make-up instruments. I had even used it when I went to Valentina to discuss the construction of the mansion. At first, there was not any response other than a headache, but now there is a faint feeling. Earlier, it had helped me a lot in selecting the dress essories for the girls. Now, its response is not faint at all; it gives the result that I do not need to focuspletely to read. The feeling I am getting from her is on the positive side, but I am not going to make a decision on the response of the skill alone; I still believe in my judgment more than the power of the skill. ¡°Do you have any other sses beside whore?¡± I asked, and she looked at Waris, who nodded. ¡°Yes, Patcher,¡± she replied in a faintly ented voice, sounding slightly embarrassed. ¡°In a clothing type, right?¡± I asked to which she nodded. ¡°Do you have any hobbies, y any instrument, know anynguage other thanmon?¡± I asked. The questions seemed to have surprised her but also surprised Waris. He might have thought I would ask themon questions, like what type of skills she has and the sexual positions she knows. ¡°I do not have a hobby and never yed any instrument,¡± she said with a shake of her head, ¡°But I know Sandanguages; it is my mother tongue,¡± she added. ¡°Thank you for your answers,¡± I said to her and walked away before turning to Waris, ¡°Do you have a list of her skills?¡± I asked softly, he nodded, and a page appeared in his hand magically. I took the page from his hand, which contained all information about the woman, including four skills she had, three from Whore ss and one from Patcher ss. Skills ¡¤ Whore ss: Sometimes I Fake It, Night Long, Erect Again ¡¤ Patcher ss: Fix Patches All three of her skills in Whore ss aremon; nearly every whore has one or two of those skills. I read all the information front and back of the page; it not only contains information about her ss skills and age, but also background information like where they are born, and which brothels they have served before. Even the reason for their indenture. These people keep thorough information which helps, as problematic people can create reputational damage, which transforms into economic damage. It took me a few seconds to read through all before handing him back the page, which disappeared; he took it. I stopped in front of the second, younger than thest woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties with shoulder-length brown hair. She was standing with bored eyes; even when we appeared in front of her, her expression had not changed. ¡°This is Georgia, Level 15, ss Broad, with nine years of experience, and like us, is the citizen of the empire,¡± he informed. ¡°Do you have any hobby, know anynguage, y any instrument?¡± I asked and could see faint interest lighting up in her bored eyes ¡°I do not know anynguage other than the one we speak in the empire, same with the instrument,¡± ¡°Though, I have a hobby, carving. I have got the ss about it,¡± she said while looking at Waris, who nodded, and once again, a page appeared in his hand, which he handed to me. Skills: ¡¤ Broad: All Nighter, touch of erection, pleasure scratches ¡¤ Carver: Sharp Nails, Became Soft ¡°So, you can carve both wood and stone?¡± I asked, to which she nodded without change in expression. ¡°Thank you for your answers, Georgia,¡± I said and walked ahead; one by one, II asked the girls questions while reading their information from the pages. Soon I finished thirty-two girls, all of them native of Zenid, mostly from the empire, before finally different came. ¡°Caena, Level 15, secondary ss Strumpet, twenty-six years of experience and is from Herald continent,¡± said Rona and handed me the page. Something hade up, so Waris had to leave; he left Rona in his ce. She is the same beautiful woman who greeted me by the door. I looked at the woman in front of me; she was a in-looking woman in herte thirties; she had medium height and brown skin,mon to the herald continent, with ck eyes and ck hair. Those ck eyes of hers had quite a pull; that would attract anyone who looked at them. Those eyes reminded me of my grandmother; that woman was something else, and I miss her. Remembering her, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face with sadness. The woman looked at me, and for a moment, I felt like she could see through me what I was feeling, and it felt intrusive that I looked away for a moment and cleared my emotions. ¡°Where are you from in Herald?¡± I asked, ¡°City of Iesma,¡± she replied, and a small smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°Maires mons,¡± I said, and a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face. ¡°Maires sans,¡± she replied, the greeting after a moment of silence. It is akari, thenguage spoken in Herald. My mother was Herald continent and taught me thenguage, among other things. ¡°Do you have any hobby, y any instrument?¡± I asked while reading her information, which surprised me. ¡°No,¡± replied with clear words. ¡°Mind telling me, your primary ss?¡± I asked; Strumpet is not her base ss, something else that is not mentioned here. There were six more girls who did not have prostitution-type sses, but they were written. People like waris had skills that see through your sses and the skills of people whose contracts they sell. Only in some cases, they could not see through. Like the person being higher level than them, the ss being more advanced than theirs, artifacts, there are many others for that. ¡°No,¡± she replied simply. My skills are also proving no answers as it ispletely nk, which I had the first time, as there are always some answers. ¡°Thank you for your answers, Caena,¡± I said with a smile and moved toward the girl next to her, who was also from Herald. One by one, I went through all the girls, asking repeated questions and reading their information. Soon, I finished with all the women in the hall, including the three from aeris ind. They were boring, and unless I wanted them for my own novelty, I wouldn¡¯t be buying their contracts. ¡°Has anyone caught your interest, mister Remus?¡± asked Rona,ing a little closer to me than it is normal. ¡°A few, but I want to check out a few more women before I give you the final list,¡± I said. ¡°You want to check level 20 and above?¡± she asked, to which I shook my head. ¡°Level 5 below,¡± I replied, it surprised her, but she led me toward it. One and a half hourster, we returned to the first floor and went to waris¡¯s office. ¡°Have you selected the women?¡± he asked, ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, and Rona beside me gave him the list of twenty-one; he seemed faintly surprised by my choice. ¡°Since you are my dear friend, with whom I had experienced life and death moment, I will give you a good discount,¡± he said. ¡°I appreciate it,¡± I said with a smile. Though, unlike me, he had not fought against the undead. He hid behind the guards, and when the bunker opened, one of the first people to enter was inside. ¡°I will charge three hundred imperials for women of Level 5 and below, five hundred imperials for women level 10 to level 14, and six hundred imperials for women level 15 to level 19,¡± he said. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. It is a good discount; I have gotten a discount of around 10%-15%. It may not be as big as what Eva had given me, but still big; the money I have saved here will help me buy different things. I have brought a total of twenty-one indentured contracts, seven women below level 5, eight below level 15, and six below level 20. All of them cost me nine thousand and seven hundred imperials, about a million crowns. ¡°Visit my store if you need any people in the future, Remus,¡± he said as he walked me out of the store. ¡°Of course,¡± I replied before walking toward my carriage. Richard Brown, Waylon Altizer, Daniel Steel, DaShoe, PorndPhil, Andrew Murray, Weirwood, Bence, m2wester, Kristaps Ruluks,Neric, Stephan, Elen Zhang, Jerad Stephans, Christian Petterson, Daniel Hernandez, Vincent Emil, Zip, Thomas Borseth, Zachary Thomas Potter, Landen Sweeney, Jon, Whalehunter, Matthew Sidewell, Thomas B Wilkes, Scott Turner, Josh W, Jeffrey Iverson,A disgruntled nondescript Squirrel,NobleBoy24,Colin Love, Jose Miguel Labao Lopez, Deane L Uptegrove, Matt M, William Hob, Alon David, Antab, Mattias son, Constantin II, Wega, Anonymous, Shoce, Book_Ascendent, Constantin, John Waddell, Marco, FIOdis, Andre, Falls,Hakan Olofson,Mark Mollegaard,Bjorgy,LemonOx Kaine,Funki,Loise Taylor, f Dahlstrom, Chuck Sleeve, Ray George. Chapter 57: Storm Tower Chapter 57: Storm Tower ¡°Wee to the velvet garden,dies,¡± I said as the sixteen women came out of the carriages. Remus had brought a contract of twenty-one women, but only sixteen had stayed, while five had chosen freedom. It is the greatest mistake that the women who have left have made. Here, they could have earned beyond their imagination; for freedom, they would have gotten it in five years, with enough money to live the rest of their lives with rtive luxury. I turned to the women line in front of me, of which eleven would work after their training while five would only learn. The five girls are young, and even the oldest of them would require one and a half years to join the business. A huge time to learn that I couldn¡¯t feel faintly jealous of the opportunity they would have. ¡°Follow me, and if possible, don¡¯t make any sounds. If you have any questions, speak slowly,¡± I said to them and walked toward the door. Soon she reached it and nodded at Benton and Nena guarding the door before leading the girls inside. ¡°The velvet garden is different from the other brothels; here, we do not sell just sex, but desires, and for it, you all need to lea¡­.¡± I suddenly stopped when I noticed a heraldan woman stopping at the doorway, with shock on her face. ¡°Miss Caena, are you fine?¡± I asked the in-looking woman. The woman did not seem to have heard me, and I opened my mouth to ask her again when her expression turned normal. ¡°I am fine, just surprised how different it is from the other brothels,¡± she said and joined the group quickly. Ca did not believe itpletely, but she could not ask her either. So, she will keep an eye on her, as nothing should jeopardize what she and others have. They have finally got something meaningful people in their wretched lives, and I will not lose it. ¡°As I was saying, the velvet garden is different from others¡­.¡± ¡®Legacy¡¯ is definitely the beginning of the legacy consolidation I am sensing. Saying I was shocked would be an understatement; she had not expected this from her new brothel, one that is barely two months old. Something drastic had happened for it to begin. She could clearly feel how every brick of it was absorbing emotion and desires. She had never felt such dense emotions and desires from any brothel or thing she had ever been to and never expected she woulde across it. Such things are extremely rare; she had only heard about them. I could see the signature of the kind in it, but her kind did not start the process; it is all owners and women of this ce whose spirit lit up the spark and began the process. If her kind could create something like this, then they wouldn¡¯t be the outcasts. Their ss would have been the strongest in the world. Though it is without a doubt that her kind had helped, and this wouldn¡¯t have happened without that initial push. One cannot get a legacy by trying it, they just happen with some luck and favor, but the most important factor is still the person¡ªthe owner of this ce, whose thoughts and work made it happen work. She did not expect a low merchant could create it, as usually those who have the legacies are at level 30 or level 40 above. It is likely because the process had begun much earlier, and by the time legacy was created, they are a high level. The people who spark the legacy are no ordinary people; they always reach high levels. The process had just begun, and the ce was only absorbing about 1% of the emotions and desires emanating from the people, but with passing time, it would increase till emotions and desire drenched every particle of it. When that happens, the legacy will be formed. I don¡¯t think he had even noticed what was happening to his ce; such things are very hard to sense, and she had only sensed it because of her ss. She is shocked by what she has found; more than that, she is ecstatic. This is a source of her power. If she could harness the emotions and desires it is absorbing, then she would be able to achieve the feats above her level and not mention the levels she would gain through it. The only regret is that she could not touch this power, not without permission, she tried it, but as the elders had said, without the formal permission of the owner, she wouldn¡¯t be able to touch it. Still, it did not dim her spirit; after decades of darkness, hope had finally lit up in her heart. They would pay for what they have done to her people. She had to be careful, she would watch and listen before making her move, and no mistake would be allowed. Now, she can¡¯t wait for him to return. ¡­. [Souteneur Merchant Lv. 9] I stopped midway, adjusting my suit in front of the mirror as the text appeared. It surprised me so much that I froze for a few seconds. I did not think I would level up in my base ss here; something must happen in the establishment. The only thing that happened was the girls reached the Greltheaven; I had received Ca¡¯s message an hour ago. The girls had reached the establishment, and she had given them the tour and forms to fill out. She will have the data sorted, and when I go back, I will assign them the teachers; I might even need to bring a few. I can afford it; I still have ten million for the forty million and also the ten million I had brought from Greltheaven for shopping. These twenty million will go back to add a few more things to the establishment. I have already written to Valentina and will have a meeting with her the day I return to Greltheaven, which would be two and a half dayster, as we are leaving tomorrow morning. As for the attribute point I got with this level-up, I added it to the vitality; the undead attack has told me I need to invest some good points in strength and vitality.
ss: Souteneur Merchant (Lv. 9)
Lawyer (Lv. 7) Warrior (Lv.7)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 7
Strength: 6
Skills: ¡¤ Trusty Presence ¡¤ Worthy Goods ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Shop Open ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Quick Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Sure Foot
Attribute Points: 0
The moment I added the attribute points to vitality, I felt warm all over my body, and a moan couldn¡¯t help but escape from my mouth. The feeling had onlysted for a few seconds before it disappeared, but the change it had brought in a matter of seconds is noticeable. I checked for a few more seconds before turning to the mirror and adjusting my suit till it was perfect. It is simply ck and white, with impable cuts, and sewed with venas spider threads. That is a magical material. It had cost me a lot, but when I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw money well spent. Seeing everything was perfect, I walked out, only to see Rothing toward me. ¡°Master Silver, Master Gerald, and Madam Selina had arrived,¡± he informed. ¡°Thank you, Roth,¡± I said and walked toward the elevator with him. Today is myst day in the Namdar and also the day of the ball that the warden is throwing at her tower. It is a rare opportunity; I couldn¡¯t help but be excited about it. One could not easily be invited into the tower, much less see her; she usually stays in the tower, and people do not see her in public for months or even a year. Most of the things are handled by her children and officials. Soon, I reached the ground floor and found Gerald and Selina sitting there; both of them looked good. Especially Selina: with that shimmering purple dress, she looked even more beautiful than she usually looked. ¡°Wow, you looked really handsome in this suit; if I had not been married to your cousin, I would definitely hit on you,¡± she said, stumping me on my spot. ¡°Don¡¯t joke, Selina; you will give a poor guy a heart attack,¡± said Gerald looking at my stumped face. ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, putting her hands in the air. ¡°Let¡¯s go; we don¡¯t want to bete to the party,¡± I said, and the three of us walked out of the mansion. I was stumped by the words, but vivid images appeared in my mind by those words. Those are bad thoughts, and I shouldn¡¯t be thinking about those thoughts, especially about rtives. It seemed like sexual frustration was getting into my head, and I needed to do something about it. Soon, we reached the carriage; it was ck, with small gs of house silver attached to it, on both sides. Its carriage is great, one of best I had ever sat in; nearly it is enchanted, and I could not feel even the slightest bump. It feels more like I am flying rather than riding; that¡¯s how good this carriage is. ¡°Theing years will be challenging with Vris¡¯alud¡¯s ambition,¡± said Gerald, and it immediately made my expression serious. ¡°Everything will depend on session; the smoother it goes, the greater it will be for the empire,¡± replied Selina. The Mayhurst ind is as close to the Namdar as it is close to Zenid; once the emperor is dead, it will definitely move its slimy ws toward the ind, as the attacking continent is a lot moreplicated. It is under the aegis of archmage; the lich will think hundred times before attacking any part of the continent with the purpose of conquering. The Namdar is different; it is an ind, despite it being technically part of Zenid. Before, there was hope that it would keep its slimy ws to Mayhurst, but this attack showed otherwise. ¡°I hope the ind resists it,¡± I said. The Lich king hadunched a war on the whole ind and had already swallowed one Kingdom and a second Kingdom by half. The others are resisting, especially the orcs, and I think the empire should provide them with more resources than it is already providing. ¡°Have you heard what Emperor had nned to do about this attack?¡± I asked. ¡°Other than him saying the insult will be paid three-fold, there was no other response,¡± he replied. ¡°I feared he might just make a token gesture and let it go,¡± said Selina worriedly, and she had the right to be worried. Namdar is their home; if lich kind conquers the whole of Mayhurst ind, then one of the first ces he would look to conquer would be Namdar. Namdar is strong, but Vris¡¯alud is stronger, and every day, its army is getting stronger as it got more and more bodies. Necromances and Liches love the war as they gain bodies in it. While they lose bodies, they gain even stronger back, as war makes them and their enemies level up, and then they kill those enemies, getting hands on their strong bodies. Vris¡¯alud had swallowed Brarod, captured their general, and turned him into undead, and now that undead general was fighting the war against Dekas. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t think about these things and make ourselves worried further, especially not today,¡± said Gerald. ¡°Today is the day of joy, and we should enjoy it; we will worry about the nasty things tomorrow,¡± he added a momentter. It put a smile on both of our faces, and we changed to lighter topics; before we knew it, we reached the storm tower, and the carriage stopped. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 58: Medal of Rain Chapter 58: Medal of Rain Chapter 58: Medal of Rain ¡°I knew it was amazing seeing from afar, but only seeing it close could I really understand,¡± I said as I looked at the storm tower. ¡°It is beyond words; no matter how many times I see it, I can¡¯t help but get impressed by it,¡± said Selina in wonder. It is huge, bigger than even the tallest building on the earth. I could feel its might and sheer powering from it. I did not forget how the tower had called the lightning from the surroundings, bathing in it before sending a giant bolt of lightning toward Vris¡¯alud. It was the first time I had seen such mighty magic. The magic tower not only shows the might of the mage but also projects their power. It is a magical tool from which mages can cast spells they could not cast with their power. Not to mention the force of powerful mages, as it also acts as an academy. Thousands of mages work and study here. It is a ce where any mage desire to practice, as it provides all the tools and resources they need for their advancements. I looked at the tower for more than a minute before we went toward the gates of the tower, the biggest gates I had ever seen, even bigger than those of the castles. ¡°Wee to Storm Tower, Mister Silver, Madam Silver, Master Silver,¡± greeted Artur Szar at the door of the hall. He was not alone; beside him was a woman about the same age and with simr facial features. She is Sonya Szar, the oldest of Helena Szar, and like her brother, she is also a High Mage. ¡°Thank you for the invitation, High Mage Artur, High Mage Sonya,¡± we greeted and stepped inside the huge hall, which was the biggest I had ever seen. It is not just big, but well decorated, with pieces of art, that I could not afford even a single with all my wealth. Still, the biggest attraction of all is a huge chandelier, which is crafted from the element of air, water, and lightning. It looked amazing as it was dangerous, and many people seemed to have avoided going below it, considering it was floating in the air; nothing was tethering it, and that crackling purple lightning looked quite dangerous. It is a sign of Helena Szar¡¯s power and a very dangerous object; if it fell down, it would kill 90% of people, as barely a few had the power to resist it. ¡°Such a dense mana. This is really heaven for the Mages,¡± said Selina as she stepped inside. I did not feel much other than a faint current, which seemed to be in very air and made all the hair on my body stand up. I could not sense mana, but Selina could, as she is a Mage. It might be hard to believe, but she had adventured for a few years before marrying Gerald. ording to my father, she is above level 10 and below Level 20. House provide her special grand to presume her mage studies as they want to foster a mage talent. There were barely any mages in the family; the silvers did not have much magical talent and always tried to foster those who had it, no matter how small it was. We have a lot of mages on our service, but it is always great to have some in the family; for this same reason, old Remus had been provided the best teachers when he showed a talent for a warrior. The family does foster just mages but anything that provides them with an offensive edge. Father didn¡¯t like it, but he still provided every resource needed, as he knew how important to have powerhouses in the family. The hall is, without a doubt, huge, but the crowd is also great, and it did not look crowded at all, given its sheer size. Every type of person can be seen here; I have already spotted a few, like High Mage ckstone, Count Morris, Thomas Bale, and many others. ¡°Gerald, it had been quite a while,¡± said a man in his mid-thirties as he came toward us pretty-looking women, who seemed quite angry for some, but as she turned to us, a smile appeared on her face. ¡°Since Hanson¡¯s hunt,¡± Gerald replied as he shook the man¡¯s hand before he turned to me. ¡°You must be Remus; I heard you have killed the lich,¡± he said, looking me seriously, to which I shook my hand. ¡°I only aided a little; the ones who killed were High Mage ckstone, Knight Anders, and others,¡± I replied with a smile. ¡°You silvers, always humble,¡± he said, and I felt anger from him, despite him smiling. He talked for a few minutes before leaving with his wife, ¡°That man is a bastard, ready to stab you in the back if he sees enough profit in doing that,¡± said Gerald under a cloud of privacy skill. We met a couple more people, from nobles to merchants to powerhouses; Gerald seemed to know many people. It is not surprising, considering he handles all the business of the house of silver in Namdar and is one of the people who might take over the house of silver one day. ¡°Knight Marshal Tant, Commander Adson, Knight Commander Yara,¡± greeted Gerald as we appeared in front of a trio of knights, wearing their shiny armor with the emblem of the ck sun in the center. Of the three, one is an older man who looks to be in his sixties with grey hair and grey eyes, and the other is a blue woman in her forties; she is petite and looks quite delicate, but I have no doubt she could split me into without me knowing how. She is Knight Commander, the same as Adson beside her. ¡°Silver,¡± the old man said in a heavy voice before turning to Adson, ¡°Is he the one?¡± asked the old man, ncing toward me. ¡°Yes, Marshal,¡± he said, and the old man turned to look at me carefully. His gaze felt heavy; I felt like there was a huge weight on my body. He might be using skills or not; I could not tell, given the difference in level between us. He is a Knight Marshal, second to the Grand Marshal. A level 40+ powerhouse, much stronger than warriors of the same level. In purebat ss, nobody is more powerful than the Knights. ¡°Young man, you are good. It is quite a regret that you have chosen to be a merchant,¡± said the old man. ¡°Thank you for the praise, Knight Marshal,¡± I said politely; he just nodded and remained quiet for the rest of the conversation. A few minutester, we moved to different people that Gerald knew; I saw a few familiar people like Locke and Eva, who had brought her son and daughter with her. We were just talking with one of a friend of Gerald''s when I felt a small shock running through me, and all the hair on my body stood up. The hall quieted in an instant; at the same time, the elements in the chandelier began to merge and formed a storm which came to the ground spinning wildly, terrifying yellow lightning crackling in it. It scared me and scared a lot of people; some even took a step back. While it is dangerous enough to kill people, it would not. If she couldn¡¯t control this small storm, then she wouldn¡¯t be a Grand Mage of her name. The storm spun on the ground, faster and faster; the clothes on our bodies began to p, and soon we began to feel the pull till some people took a step toward it. Boom! Suddenly the storm exploded, sending wind, water, and lightning around, which pushed nearly all the people back but did not hurt anyone. ¡°Thank you all for gracing me with your presence,¡± said the voice before the person revealed itself. I saw a woman in her mid-fifties with medium height and in face standing wearing a ne grey gown standing in the center of the hall. There is nothing remarkable about her; she looked like amon person that one would forget after a single look till they looked into her eyes. Those eyes held the power of a storm, and just one look at them would make their knees go weak. ¡°The undead had attacked, tainted our ind with their filthy presence.¡± ¡°They thought we would quail in, and they will harvest our bodies for their foul purpose without any resistance,¡± she said, in a voice faint as drizzle, but everyone heard it. ¡°But we did not; we fought like raging storm we are and killed them till not a single one of them had remained,¡± she raged, and a wave came out from her voice that spread, forcing quite a lot of people to take a step back. ¡°We have shown them and will show them again if they dare to cast their filthy eyes toward our inds and the empire,¡± she said, and people to p. She is even better than her son; things are far worse than she is saying. Even now, they have not released aplete detail, but what Gerald found out that more than fifteen inds had been attacked, and only three were able to fight back. We and the other two inds were able to defend against it, but only we were the only ones who defeated the lich, while the other two had simply made it retreat. ¡°Today, we will mourn those who have lost andmend those, who had shown exceptional bravery against the enemy,¡± she said, and the list appeared of hundred names in the air. As I read it, a frown couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face; the list was notplete. It shows prominent names like Santos and not of the guards and other staff. I couldn¡¯t help but get a little angry at what I saw; even on Maedas ind, over a hundred died, and in the whole attack, probably thousands have died, but she is only showing only hundred. The same is happening with the newspaper; she is controlling the news, not for the general masses, but for prominent people too, and no one can do anything; she is too powerful. ¡°High Mage ckstone, Knight Commander Adson,¡± called Artur, and both of them stepped forward and appeared in front of her. ¡°For yourmendable bravery against the undead, I award you with the medal of Lightning.¡± She said two medals floated in front of her, which she pinned them their chest as they kneeled in front of her. ¡°Fanya Sand, Julian Pierce, Remus Silver, Winston ck¡­¡± he begins to call out the names. I am quite surprised; my name is being called. Like Dan and others, I have already received the letter ofmendation two days ago. Eleven names called out, and eleven of us walked toward the Helena Szar. All ten of them were pure warriors or mages; only I alone was a merchant, and I got quiet looks about, but I had remained calm and stood as I was required to. ¡°For your courage against our enemies, I award you with the medal of Rain,¡± she said, and eleven medals materialled in the air, and she began to pin them on our chest, and soon, it was my turn. She really looked normal, but one look at her eyes, and people will see the terrifying monster she is. She finished and turned to the person next to me; they were from the other two inds. From what I had heard, they had lost a lot more people than us; on one ind, only those who fought had survived, while the rest had been killed by the undead. ¡°Rise,¡± she said, and all of us stood up and walked back to our ce. There were no moremendations, which couldn¡¯t help but make me a little guilty, considering Eva and others had done a lot more than me, but all they got was a letter ofmendation, which had been sent to them, not given publicly like this. ¡°It looked nice on you,¡± said Eva as we danced, ¡°I do not deserve it; you all did much more than me but did not get any recognition,¡± I replied. ¡°Stop it,¡± she said with a re, ¡°You deserve it more than most; without you, the lich would have escaped,¡± she said. I wanted to open my mouth to refute, but seeing her expressions, I decided not to say anything about it and change the subject to a lighter topic. The party hadsted past midnight before the guests started leaving; I left with Gerald and Selina, and with their insistence, I spent myst night in their home. Tomorrow, I will leave for Greltheaven. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 59: Return Chapter 59: Return Chapter 59: Return The ship began to move off the port; I waved at Gerald and Selina, who hade to drop me off before they disappeared from the view. ¡°Namdar,¡± I said as I looked at the city, which was getting away every second. The trip was supposed to be uneventful, and the only exciting thing about it was supposed to be negotiations turned out to be much more. We have lost a lot of people; from a team of thirteen, we have reduced to eight; threewyers and two merchants have died, not to mention the seven guards. Too many losses, but I am grateful that I have survived; I have fought for my survival and lost something precious, but I also gained something. I looked at the sword at my waist; I had given it for servicing and just got back in the morning from the storm tower. The enchanters there serviced in two days; outside, it would have taken a week or more; anywhere else. The letter ofmendation provided me with a discount on the services offered by the storm tower, not to mention the medal offered an even bigger discount, but I did not get a chance to use it. Though I am happy I serviced my sword, it was running at 50% efficiency with the wear and tear of its ruins, and after using it in battle, its efficiency reduced even more. Now, it is at 98% efficiency, and I would be able to use it in a lot of battles before needing to service it again. I hope I do not need to do that even, but given my luck and the nature of this world, I would need to service it again sooner rather thanter. I was looking ahead when I heard footsteps behind me, only to see Lockeing toward me with a re in his eyes and scratches on his face, and the one responsible cute ck kitty with silvery eyes. ¡°You have got yourself quite a pet,¡± Imented, looking at the small cute monster in his hand. The cub of the silver eyes panther looks cute, but when it bes big, it is quite deadly. Despite being small, it is hard to control; it has scratched Locke¡¯s face and hands and left him ring. ¡°Our anniversary is in two weeks, and I wanted to give my wife the gift.¡± He said, ring at the cub but not really angry. ¡°It is not an easy beast to control,¡± Imented, motioning my hands toward it. ¡°I will hire a trainer,¡± he replied and looked at me, and when I did not move my hands away, he gave the monster to me. Rawr! It growled cutely and wanted to scratch me, but I had avoided its w expertly and picked up the monster before I started scratching it while being surprised by the strength this small cub had. It is not an animal but a monster. It struggled for a few seconds before calming down and started to enjoy the scratches with a contented smile on its face. It couldn¡¯t help but surprise Locke. ¡°You are a man of many talents, Remus,¡± he said, but I just smiled. I grew up among the animals, with my dad being a trainer, and while he mostly trained dogs, we had a cat. They are untrainable; the one we had was quite beast, other than my sister, it would scratch anyone. So, I had quite years of practice, and this one, despite being a monster, is quite gentle, seeing how quickly it had calmed. I have wanted a pet here; I have always had one since I was a child, but here I did not have time. Since I took over the body, I have always been busy, but one day, when it would be less busy, I would take a pet; there are wonderful monsters in this world, and I have a mental list of which I want. This cute little thing in my hand is also on the list. ¡°You got lucky, Locke; this little kitty is very calm,¡± I said as I handed him back the sleeping kitty. He nodded and gently took it from my hand, and walked back inside the ship while I remained watching as the morning turned to the afternoon. We have leftte in the morning, and it would take us nearly two days to reach home, and I am quite excited. I have hundreds of things to do, meeting Valentina, working on the ns, and hiring, among many things. I hope the journey goes smoothly, and it will, and this time, the thieves won''t raid. There is nothing insanely expensive on the ship like the thing Santos had brought; the captain had explicitly forbidden it this time. Thankfully, I have sent all things I had brought to the Greltheaven already. The things of the first-day shopping, like jewelry, essories, and girls, have already reached the city; the rest will be there by evening. I stayed on the deck for some more time before I went back to my cabin with Dan following behind me. Ever since he brought that enchanted sword, the smile did not seem to leave his face; he was very happy getting it, and he was not the only one. Many guards who survived thest charge had received a huge bounty share; many brought things like enchanted weapons and other things. Soon, I was back in the cabin and picked up the book that I had finished reading. It is about incursion, the greatest threat to this world; they appear every few thousand years, and they destroy the world; more than 50% of people die, and kingdoms and empires turn to dust. It had been two thousand and three hundred years since thest incursion, and people say this would be the century that incursion will ur; they always said this every century, but still, I really hope it did not. I read for a few hours before beginning to work; with extra money, I could add a few more things, and I am selecting which one to add; it is quite a struggle since there are a lot of things. There are literally thousands; I would need an unending amount of money to add all and one; I will do it. Soon a day had passed, and night came, and in a few hours, we reached Inam. A wonderful city, the pearl of wastnd, but it pales inparison to Namdar; even its mage towers are small. Inam does not have a Grand Mage, though it did have Great Mages, a couple of them, some independent and some in the service of its governor. We have only one Great Mage, the bodyguard of Count Darrow; he is Prince¡¯s man and left him here with his uncle to protect his precious city, and I am d. After the incident with Maedas, I knew how important the mages are, especially powerful mages. When I earn enough money, I will keep at least one as my bodyguard. The morning came, and it was Locke¡¯s birthday; he was going to throw a big party today, but we got dyed. Captain had offered to stop the ship so that we could celebrate in any city on the way, but Locke had declined, wanting to get back into the city as soon as possible. If I had been in his ce, I would have done the same; after experiencing everything, the ce I want to go to first is home. In just a few months, the Greltheaven has be home. Soon, the night came, and we celebrated Locke¡¯s birthday; thankfully, there was enough booze for that, and I had even given him my present, which I had brought in Namdar. By the time the first rays of dawn appeared in the sky, we finally saw the Greltheaven; it is a tiny dot which is getting bigger by the minute. In a few minutes, the whole city appeared in front of us, and while it was smallpared to all the cities I had seen, its sight had filled my heart with joy. ¡°Finally, home,¡± said Locke, ¡°Home,¡± I replied, and in a few minutes, the ship docked at the port, and to my surprise I saw, I saw Damon Hardt there, along with Soren Arryn, and a few others from merchant guild waiting. ¡°It is a pleasure to be traveling with you, gentlemen,¡± said Captain Angus. ¡°Thank you, Captain,¡± I said and walked down the ramp with Locke and others. Once again, it stuck how many people we have lost, and also question arose in my heart about the positions that will open with the death of Vice-Guildmasnter Santos and two sub-guild heads. I will not be considered for the Santos position, and I am intelligent enough to not even think about that. I only hope it is someone good or someone I have a good rtionship with, like Soren Arryn. It will help me a lot if that happens. ¡°Wee back, you all; I am very happy to see you all returning safe and sound,¡± said Damon Hardt with a smile. ¡°Thank you, Guildmaster,¡± we said, and he nodded with a smile before his expression turned a little sadder. ¡°It is quite regretful that we had lost John and two sub-guild heads; their presence would be missed,¡± he said with a shake of his hand. ¡°It is fortunate you all have survived, and you, Remus, I heard you have killed the lich,¡± he said as he turned to me, and this time, it was my turn to shake my head. ¡°I only aided a little; it is captain Julian and others who killed the lich,¡± I said, turning toward Captain Julian, not far away from me, who had changed his whole gear. ¡°It is the city''s great fortune that we have people like Captain Pierce,¡± he said before he turned to us. ¡°Tomorrow, the merchant guild is throwing a party for the sess of this trip and tomemorate you all for your bravery,¡± he said; he seemed so happy when he spoke the first sentence. It is to be happy about; we have signed far more contracts, we had thoughts, and they are on favorable terms. ¡°Thank you, Guildmaster,¡± said Locke. ¡°You all must be tired now; go rest; we will talk about business tomorrow,¡± he said, looking at Locke, me, and others. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 60: Strange Behavior Chapter 60: Strange Behaviour Chapter 60: Strange Behaviour The carriage walked through the gates of the mansion and stopped. I walked out and saw there were no carriages in the parking aside from ours. All the patrons had left; usually, the establishment gets emptied within half an hour of dawn. I looked around, and the mansion looked the same as before I left eleven days ago. The pink fog is still covering therge area where the construction is happening. I walked through the fog and saw people still working; as Ca had said, they were working day and night to finish the job on time, and now it will be going to be even harder with added requirements within the same deadline. I am quite surprised by the sheer progress they have made; it gives me confidence that they will be able to finish it in time. I watched for a while before I stepped out of the mist and walked toward the door when I found Caing out of it. ¡°You said you areing in the afternoon,¡± said Ca angrily. ¡°I did not want to trouble you since you were working,¡± I said with a smile and could see her anger melting a little, but not all. ¡°Still, you have should have informed me,¡± she said, still angry. I know I would not get out of it unless I apologized. ¡°I am sorry,¡± I apologized and saw all the anger in her eyes melting away. ¡°The papers had said you fought and killed the lich,¡± she asked., ¡°No, I only aided a little; it was others, who killed it,¡± I replied, more than a hundredth time. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have taken the risk,¡± she said in a low, worried tone, ¡°There was no other choice,¡± I said with a shake of my head. We stayed standing in silence for a few seconds before we walked in when I stopped, seeing her following me. ¡°Go and sleep, Ca; the work will be there after you wake up,¡± I said to her. ¡°I am fine,¡± she said. ¡°Go take a rest, Ca,¡± I said forcefully. She had been awake the whole night; usually, this is when she sleeps for two hours and two hours in the afternoon, which is enough for her to operate at 100% with the aid of her skills. ¡°Fine,¡± she said after a moment of silence and walked toward the basement to sleep while I looked around the hall, which I had seen empty in a long time. Usually, there is always someone upying it for lessons or business. It looked the same but felt slightly different; something seemed to have changed about it, but I couldn¡¯t put my thought into it. I shook my head and walked upstairs; I did not directly go to my office, instead went to my room, where I had freshened up and showered. When I came out of it, there was breakfast waiting for me; seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I quickly ate breakfast and walked back into my office. ¡°It feels good to be back,¡± I said as I sat down on the chair before picking up the first file, which had the earnings report for all eleven nights. Every line I read put a smile on my face; I was literally grinning by the time I had read thest page. The earning is good, very good; every day, we are earning half a million crowns. It made me extremely happy. Once the construction is finished, and we open again with new changes and more girls, it will double. I am quite confident about it, especially now with the forty million crowns. After I finished with the file, I opened another one; this one was about the new girls. It seemed like Ca not only collected the data but alsopiled it, giving me a clear view of their information. I also filled in the empty spots about their levels and skills from the information I have got from the bill. It took me some time to read it; when I did, I was very happy with the new girls, even more than before. This group of girls is the most diverse, not only from the ce they havee from but also in talents, which is the most important thing. Though among them, one is odd; she does not seem to have any talents or interests, given how she had left those ces nk. Click! I was reading the different files when the door clicked open, and Ca walked inside. She is wearing a low-cut red dress that gives a tantalizing glimpse of her cleavage, but more tantalizing are those juicy red lips. I still haven¡¯t forgotten the kiss; it might havested for a second, but it had left a deep impression on me. ¡°You are looking beautiful,¡± I said before I could stop myself, and it also seemed to stump her for a moment before a small genuine smile appeared on her face. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said with flushed cheeks before she sat down in front of me. For more than a minute, nobody spoke, I opened my mouth a couple of times to speak up, but words did not seem toe out of my mouth. ¡°How are the new girls?¡± I asked finally. ¡°Good, some of them are very talented,¡± she replied, but in the end, her expression turned a little weird. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, and after a few seconds, she did not speak. ¡°Caena, she is a little strange,¡± she said finally. ¡°She did not seem to have filled the interest and hobby block,¡± I said, ¡°I am not talking about that,¡± she replied, shaking her head. ¡°Then what?¡± I asked, and she took a breath. ¡°She sometimes stared at one ce too long and would roam around the property, caressing the walls strangely; it all feels quite weird,¡± she replied, clearly confused. ¡°Maybe it is her thing,¡± I said. People behave strangely; sometimes, there is a reason behind it, and sometimes there is not. It might even be rted to her primary ss, which she isn¡¯t willing to disclose. ¡°What should we do?¡± asked Ca, to which I shook my head. ¡°Nothing, she is not doing anything bad or dangerous,¡± I replied, and Ca opened her mouth to say something but closed it a momentter. She also seemed to understand that it is unfair to do something to people just because they are acting strange. Still, we need to keep an eye on her, and Ca seemed to be doing that job well. ¡°Though she needs to select the interest section or learn something other basic skills if she wants to work in the establishment,¡± I added. ¡°Should I call her?¡± Ca asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. All the girls have chosen their interests; we have hired teachers for them. If miss Caena wishes to work for the establishment, she will need to learn more besides basic skills; if she already has the skill, then she needs to tell us. I have a vision for the establishment, and if they don¡¯t wish to work ording to it, then they will have to leave. Click! Ca got up from the seat and opened the door, but she did not walk out. ¡°Jill, dear, go and tell Caena that Master Silver is asking for her,¡± she said and closed the door. ¡°You have got yourself an assistant,¡± I said, to which she smiled a little guiltily. ¡°I had needed the help; the work had be too much,¡± she said and looked at me hesitantly. ¡°I was going to suggest it and also wanted to talk about something rted to that,¡± I said. ¡°What is it?¡± she asked with her expression bing serious, feeling it might be something serious, and it was. ¡°The work had be too much for you, being my assistant and madam at the same time; you are barely getting any sleep or even having time to attend the sses you desired to,¡± I said, and she did not say anything, wanting to finish what I am saying. ¡°I want you to be my assistant full-time and hand over the responsibility of being madam to someone else,¡± I finished and looked at her. It is quite a decision, and others might even think of demotion, but it is not. I could see how stressful it had be for Ca; with all the responsibilities with the changes that would appear a monthter, the stress would be even greater. With her focusing on one responsibility, she will have time to do her job better and also be able to focus on herself. She will be superior to the madam, with the only authority above being me. For a couple of seconds, her expression remained unreadable before a sigh came out of her mouth, and a small smile appeared on her lips. ¡°Thank you, it had really be too much for me,¡± she said, and hearing that, a smile appeared on my face too; for a moment, I thought she might get angry. This is the reason why I like Ca so much; she is quite open about her abilities. If I had not said it to her, she would havee to me within a few days or weeks, when it would have be unbearable for me. ¡°Suggest a few names; I will interview them, and they needed to be from the original girls,¡± I said. I trust them more; I have watched every aspect of their growth and am more familiar with them and know there are some capable women among them who will be able to handle the responsibility, exemrily as Ca. Knock Knock ¡°I have two girls in mind; they are M,¡± she was about to say the name when the knock rang out on the door. Ca got up and opened the door, and Caena walked in, lookingpletely different than she had been when I saw her first time in Namdar. Now she is wearing a ck dress that suits her and wearing expertly done make-up that entuates her eyes, her greatest feature. She does not look in anymore. ¡°You have called for me, Mister Silver,¡± ¡°Caena, take a seat,¡± I said, offering her the seat. She sat on her while never taking her eyes off which me, which seemed to have held strange joy in them which was not there before, and seeing me, it seemed to have intensified. It felt a little strange, but I shook off the feeling and turned my expression serious. ¡°Caena, you have left the ¡®interest¡¯ block empty; you are required to fill it,¡± I said to her. ¡°I do not have any interests, Mister Silver,¡± she replied simply, without changing her expression. ¡°Not even a hobby?¡± I asked to which she shook her head, and I sighed disappointedly. ¡°Then we have a problem, Caena; you need to select one field of interest; if you not, then you will have to serve your contract another way, or I might even release you of it,¡± I said, and for the first time, I saw a spark of fear in her eyes. It was intense, but it disappeared just as it had appeared, making me doubt myself whether I had imagined it myself. ¡°Herbology, I have an interest in herbology; I had learned it little when I was young before going into the current profession,¡± she said finally. ¡®So, she did have an interest,¡¯ I thought. ¡°I will see if I can arrange a teacher for you to learn that,¡± I said with a smile. Herbology is a field of medicine, and it takes years to study, even if she has basic knowledge. I do not mind; I am ying a long game, and as long as any woman of the establishment had an interest, I was willing to pay to foster it, even if it takes years for them to gain the expertise. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 61: Responsibility. Chapter 61: Responsibility Chapter 61: Responsibility I watched through the window as the familiar carriage of Valentina entered the establishment before she came out of it with the chief architect Davidson. She did not walk toward the door and instead went to see the progress of construction. Knowing it might take some time, I focused on the work; the list of new requirements I have. Most of them are not major butplicated and time-consuming; I hope she will be able to do it within a time. Click! It was about fifteen minutes when the door of my office opened, and Ca walked inside, bringing Valentina and Davidson. ¡°I heard you had quite an adventure in Namdar,¡± said Valentina as she entered inside. ¡°Yes, it was quite an episode,¡± I replied as I offered her and Davidson the seat. ¡°You even killed a lich,¡± she said to which I just rolled my eyes. ¡°No, I did not. I only aided; it was others who killed it,¡± I said. I had read the papers, and for the past few days, the same news had been running; printing that Captain Julian and I had killed the Lich, it had wonderfully omitted the mention of the other three. It is all politics; Count Darrow wanted to make the citizen of the new city feel proud and increase his poprity. It wouldn¡¯t take him long to send us to the gallows for a small mistake if it benefitted him. ¡°So, you want to make further changes,¡± she said with all the smiles on her face disappearing and her expression bing all serious. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. She did not say anything and just spread the sheet on the table, and soon, the projection of the mansion appeared. Not of the current mansion but what it will be few weeks. ¡°What are the changes?¡± she asked. ¡°Most of them are small, better enchantment and higher quality aesthetics in the rooms,¡± ¡°Some require a little more work, like expanding the make-room further and turning it into a studio. A couple of small buildings in back, a slight expansion, and a few other things,¡± I said with a smile despite her serious expression. ¡°And you want me to do it all by the existing deadline?¡± she asked slowly; the way she asked had kind of scared me, but I nodded. ¡°It is going to cost you a lot, Remus; if you don¡¯t want that, given me another month, and you will only need to pay less than half,¡± she said to which I shook my head; it would cost me more if I extend the deadline by the month. ¡°No, I want it all within the existing deadline,¡± I said, and she sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s go over them, then,¡± she said, and we started. The biggest expense of the changes is enchantment; they are expensive. I am adding more of them and recing earlier ones with advanced ones; these enchantments will turn the establishment even more amazing. After that, we moved to small changes like the expansion of the make-up room; it needs to be big, with space for hundreds of dresses, jewelry, essories, and other things and also sufficient room for makeup and change. I have a vision, and I am describing it to Valentina, and she is making it appear in front of me. ¡°Perfect,¡± I said as I watched the studio''s projection; it looked really amazing, and seeing Valentina¡¯s work, would be even more amazing with the reality. With it done, we moved toward the different things; it took nearly two hours to state all the changes and a few more minutes to sign the agreement and make the payment. I watched Valentina¡¯s carriage leave through the window and the payment slip in front of me. I had more than twenty million in my pocket, and now, I have less than one. I would have saved a few if I could wait, but I did not want to. It would have been a loss instead of a saving; I want it to be finished by the deadline. Soon, the carriage disappeared, and I focused back on my work. ¡­. The girls left one by one for the make-up room till only two have remained, Margot and Ina. ¡°What do you want to talk to us about, Ca?¡± asked Ina as she sat down beside Margot. ¡°Opportunity,¡± I replied, and I could see their eyes lighting up brighter than the light above. ¡°What opportunity?¡± they asked in unison before looking at each other, smiling. They won''t be smiling at each other after hearing my words; just thinking about it makes me smile brighter. ¡°Handling everything is too much for me, and so I decided to fully focus on being an assistant to Master Silver, while the responsibilities of madam will be handled by a different person,¡± I said and could see their eyes bing sound in surprise before zing like the sun. ¡°I have referred both of your names to Master Silver, and you both have an interview tomorrow,¡± I informed and immediately saw cogs in their mind spinning as they looked at each other. In a matter of seconds, they turnedpetitors from friends. ¡°Both of you want to apply it, right?¡± I asked, ¡°The money won¡¯t be good as you earn now or what you will earn in the future after the changes, as it will be a fixed sry, not the percentage,¡± she added. Money is a big factor, especially for Margot. ¡°Yes, I want to apply,¡± said Margot, while Ina, beside her, nodded. ¡°As for money, I am sure, you are earning more than us right now, without even counting percentage; I have seen how patrons fawn at you and shower you with gifts,¡± said Ina with narrowed eyes. She is right; even without the percentage, I get from the establishment, I earn more from the gifts. I truly did not think I would get them, as I am not sleeping with them as these girls are, but those people did not seem to mind it. Remus said it was a chase they were after, and the more they thought they couldn¡¯t get you, the more they would try for it. Well, I am not sleeping with any of the patrons; as for the gifts, I will take them. Which whore would refuse the gifts? ¡­. The next morning, I woke up early and freshened up before walking out of the mansion. The workers are still working, and there seemed to be more of them; a few days ago, another batch of people came from the maind branches, and she is diverting some of them here. I only spent a few minutes looking around before I went to my usual spot and began the yoga as I was doing before leaving for Namdar. It was my first time doing physical activity since the battle; while I had healed fully within three days, I decided to take the rest, not just physically but also mentally. The battle was tiring. It had been barely a few minutes since I finished when I heard the familiar footsteps and saw instructor Daviding toward me. ¡°Killing a lich, you made this instructor proud, Remus,¡± he said as he put down his real sword and took out the practice sword. ¡°Instructor David, please, you know better than to believe the bullshit in the paper,¡± I said, and I picked up my new practice rapier. This one looked the same as my enchanted sword and was exactly of the same side and weight, but it was a practice sword. I ordered it in Namdar. ¡°I met Dan yesterday; he told me what happened, and while you may not have killed it, you have aided greatly in killing it,¡± ¡°Not to mention the fight you had put up against the undead; even experienced fighters cower in those conditions,¡± he said as he stood in front of him. ¡°There was no choice,¡± I replied with the same answer I have given so many times. ¡°It¡¯s good you understand it, and do not let the glory of the single get in your head,¡± he said with a smile before suddenlying at me like a viper, with speed faster than he had used against me before. I reacted far faster than I would have before I fought against the undead. I moved with the greatest speed my Quick Steps could provide me, and bnce was given by Sure Foot and swung my rapier with thebination of Consecutive Strikes and Weighted Strikes. I am meeting offense with the offense, with the most powerful attack I had ever made. ng! His sword shed against my mine hard that even with increased strength and hard grip, I had nearly thrown it away; it was not the only thing he did; he had sent a powerful shock that numbed me. If that was all not enough, he attacked again without giving me even a second of rest. I had to push through the numbness and move my sword to defend myself. I defended it, albeit barely, before getting numbing shock again, and this time, when the attack came, I dodged. If it had been only a Quick Steps, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to dodge it with all numbness, but Sure Foot had helped me keep the perfect bnce. The victory was short-lived, as the next moment, his sword hit me hard at my back, with blinding pain that I just wanted to copse, but another attack came, and I knew I have to defend myself. Given instructor David¡¯s habit, this one would give me even greater pain if I did not dodge or defend. Time passed, and I continued fighting him without stopping as the instructor pushed me with every attack. He did not hold back against me; whenever his sword hit me, I would get a nasty surprise. Finally, three hours passed, and he finished with thest attack, which always made me copse to the ground; this time, I did not. ¡°Battle is the best teacher, especially the one that fought with life on the line; in less than three hours, it had taught you so much I wasn¡¯t able to in weeks,¡± he said, and all I could do was smile. Though he is right, it has taught me so much; without it, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to fight against the instructor as I did today. ¡°The amplifier and bnce are good skills; train them till they be your second nature,¡± ¡°They will be a tremendous asset if you are able to do that,¡± he advised. ¡°I will,¡± I replied. He gave me a few more tips before leaving while I rested for a few minutes before slowly making my way toward my room. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 62: Letter Chapter 62: Letter ¡°Margaux, take a seat,¡± I said to her as she came inside for the interview. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she replied nervously. ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous; I will only ask you a few simple questions, and it will be over within an hour,¡± I said with a smile. Hearing that, she rxed a little. ¡°So, can you tell me a little about yourself?¡± I started with a ssic question. It is a very important and frustrating question, but it also gives a lot of insight into the person and the question every interviewer asks. I have taken hundreds of interviews, both for my firm and the clients, and I would always start with this question. She seemed a little surprised by the question but soon smoothened her expressions. Though, she did not immediately answer. ¡°I had entered the business when I was sixteen and have nearly thirty years of experience. In my life, I have been in seven brothels, including this, and above level 20 in my base ss,¡± she replied measuredly. ¡°Why do you want the job?¡± I asked another ssic question. This time she did not wait to answer, she seemed very clear about why she wanted the job, and her answer was satisfactory. I then asked her about her strength and weaknesses before starting on a targeted question about the job she was being interviewed for while taking notes of her answers. Forty-five minutester, I finished with all my questions. ¡°Thank you for your time, Margaux; Ca will inform you of my decision,¡± I said. ¡°It is my pleasure, Master Silver,¡± she said as she got up before walking out of the office, and a few secondster, Ina walked inside. ¡°Take a seat, Ina,¡± I said to the confident woman; unlike Margaux, she did not seem nervous; there was even a small, confident smile on her face. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she said and sat down. A few secondster, I began the interview, and I have to say, she is one heck of a confident woman and also quite charming. They are great qualities for any kind of leader. I asked her the same question I had asked Margaux and received answers for all of them. Her answers are quite different than Margaux, but right. Both of them are different, might even say the opposite in some views, but are perfect for the job I am interviewing them for. ¡°Thank you for your time, Ina; Ca will let you know of my decision soon,¡± I said; she nodded and walked out of the office. ¡°So?¡± asked Ca. She had been present, but as I had asked her, she did not speak any words and only observed. ¡°Both of them are very good; if we had two positions, I would have hired both of them,¡± I said, ¡°But there is only one position, and you can only choose one,¡± she said, and I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s Margaux,¡± I said, and I could see a surprise appearing on her face. ¡°I thought you would choose Ina,¡± she said. ¡°Ina is very good, and I might even say more capable, but I would need someone grounded; for that, Margaux is the best choice,¡± I replied. ¡°I will inform her,¡± she said and got up. A few minutester, Margaux signed the new contract. She will start today; first, she will learn from Ca before taking over the responsibilities of the madam. After Margaux left, I had worked for some time before walking out of my office, as it was time for me to leave for the merchant guild. There is a meeting, and I am also excited, especially about the work, as now I will definitely be able to read those truly desirable contracts. Soon, I reached the merchant guild and directly went to the office of Damon Hardt. ¡°Mister Silver, Guildmaster is waiting for you inside,¡± the receptionist said before I could say anything. I nodded and walked toward the door, which began to open, and when I went inside, I found it was filled with people. ¡°Guildmaster Hardt, vice-guild masters,¡± I greeted. Aside from them, I saw a few familiar people like Rip, Locke, and others. ¡°Remus, you havee at the right time,¡± he said and asked me to take the seat. ¡°Thank you, Guildmaster,¡± I said down. ¡°We have received the missive from Count Darrow a few minutes ago; he selected the sessor of john Santos,¡± he said smilingly, but I could see the smile was not reaching his eyes. ¡°Who is it?¡± I asked while casting a nce at the sub-guildmasters in the room; since they were here, it must be someone from the room. ¡°It is Locke Hercule; he will also head the legal department,¡± he said, and a surprise appeared on my face before I stopped myself from smiling too widely; it was the best oue I could hope for. I may only know Locke for a few minutes, but with an incident in Namdar, we share a good rapport. Locke bing a Vice-Guildmaster would help me tremendously, especiallypared to John Santos; god rest his soul. ¡°Congrattion, vice-guild master Hercule,¡± I said to which he smiled and seemed very happy that he could barely contain it in his eyes. If I had been in his ce, I would have smiled too. ¡°The trip to the Namdar had been an immense sess; in less than ten days, the goodsing and going for Namdar had increased by 100%, and it is increasing daily.¡± ¡°We had estimated that by the end of the month, it will definitely increase by 300%,¡± said Damon Smidt, sounding quite happy. I am too happy as it not only affects the city and him but also me; my business is dependent on rich merchants. ¡°Namdar is huge, but we need to sign the contracts with all the cities, whether it is big or small; we need to increase the trade,¡± he said, and we all nodded. Everybody here understood that, given the city''s position, we might not be here for a decade. So, we need to make as much profit as we can so when the timees to run away, we will have our bags filled with money. I hope that day never happens; I havee to love the city, but me hoping does not change the facts. Things are going to get dangerous in the future, and I need to prepare and be ready to face any kind of danger that will appear. ¡°Our first n is signing moreprehensive bteral contracts with the cities, as we did with Namdar,¡± ¡°We will first begin to cities around us like Deerpond and others before moving to the cities of Meldhorn,¡± he said, and we begin devising the best way to approach that. As Namdar had been easy because the one controlling it was powerful and did not have a conflicting interest. It is different when ites to cities of Renwell Region and the Empire. Every city in Renwell Region, aside from Deerpond and Dustorn Fortress, is controlled by a loyalist of different princes; even the lord Deerpond and Commander of Dustorn Fortress have views and ambitions that do not align with Greltheaven. We will have to navigate through all this, it will be fun and exciting, and I am happy to be involved. In the past, I did not get a chance to be invited to such meetings, but now I do, and getting to know many things that I did not before about the leaders of the different surrounding cities. It was four when the meeting ended; it would havested longer if not for the party that the guild was hosting today. ¡°Vice-Guildmaster Locke, it sounds nice,¡± I said as I walked out with Locke, ¡°It is, isn¡¯t it,¡± he said, grinningly before his expression turned serious. ¡°It is a great position, but keeping it won''t be easy,¡± he said and looked at me. If the hints I caught were right, then I could understand what he was implying. ¡°You survived undead; sailing through this wouldn¡¯t be any problem,¡± I said neutrally. ¡°I hope you will help me, Remus; I barely have any legal knowledge, and now I am handling the whole legal department,¡± he said with his eyes bing desperate for a moment. ¡°I will do my best,¡± I said. I want to stay away from guild politics, but that wouldn¡¯t be possible. So, I will help him as much as I can without angering others andpromising my interests. ¡°I will count on you,¡± he said, and I just smiled. Soon, we were out and went to our own carriages; sitting in my carriage, I picked up the bundle of contracts and began to read through them. First time since I have be a legal adviser, I have gotten permission to take the confidential contracts home. While they are not important as others we have discussed, it is a step. ¡­ ¡°I knew you would be here,¡± I said as I looked at Ina sitting under a tree; seeing me, she had wiped her tears away, but it was clear by her face that she was crying. It is her spot in the huge garden; it is well hidden, and unless one is by the tree, one will not see who is sitting under it. ¡°Ca, I really wanted that job,¡± she said as I sat beside her. ¡°Sinceing here, I dared to dream, and when you told me about it yesterday, I had really dreamed about it and thought I would get it,¡± she said with tears filling her eyes. ¡°I know, honey, but we all have to face disappointments sometime, even in a ce like this,¡± I consoled and hugged my friend. She might seem confident and strong, and she is, but she is also fragile. ¡°I am happy for Margaux; I know she will do a great job,¡± said Ina after some time. ¡°She will, and you will also get the opportunity in the future,¡± I said, and she turned toward me from my chest. ¡°What, do you think this is the end?¡± I asked with augh. ¡°This is just the beginning; I could not tell you much, but I will advise you to gain as many skills as possible.¡± ¡°As the opportunity wille, and it wille sooner than you might expect,¡± she said. They stayed under the tree for a few more minutes before walking inside; Ina needed to prepare for opening, and so was she, as Remus could return anytime. ¡­. ¡°This hade for you,¡± said Ca as I sat in my chair and handed me a package, which had two letters in it. I looked at them, and my eyes immediately lighted up when I saw the seal of the house of silver and not of themon member but of the leader of the house. I immediately tore apart the envelope and took the letter, and immediately a smile appeared on my face. A handwritten letter, not typed; Grandfather only does it when it is important or shows he is pleased. Reading the letter, I know he is pleased. He congratted me for aiding in killing the lich, unlike many people who would say I killed the lich, even when they truly do not believe it. The old man is wise; he would rarely make any decision without getting all the facts first. I finished the letter before opening another letter, which contained the gift he had sent. I am quite curious about that, and when I took it out of the envelope and saw what it was, a smile on my face couldn¡¯t help but brighten up. ¡®I would have been great if I had this before taking the loan,¡¯ I thought, but soon shook my head. This is too precious but also very risky; this thing should be used wisely, and no matter how much I want to use it right now, when I am making the changes, I will not. I am sure there wille a time when I will need to use it, and I will wait until then. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 63: Ten Days till Deadline Chapter 63: Ten Days till Deadline I watched the carriages leave one after another, leaving behind only me and Ca in front of the manor, which was slowly being engulfed in a pink mist. I watched till the whole manor got covered in the pink mist before walking inside. The first thing I saw was a huge manor; in little more than a month, the manor¡¯s size had increased by three times. Only ten days had remained till the deadline, and I closed the establishment. Earlier, the closing was supposed to be for the week, but with the new requirement, it had turned to ten days. It will make me lose around six million crowns, but I will manage. From today, the people from the Nielson Guild will break walls and connect the old and new mansion while making changes inside and outside. ¡°It will look amazing when it is finished,¡± said Ca beside me. ¡°Yes, it will,¡± I said, looking at it proudly. Earlier, it was too small; now, with its size increasing, it has be capable of serving four times more clients than before. Before we had only twenty-eight rooms for the business, now there are one hundred and two, and from the data I have collected, I know every ten rooms are enough for sixteen clients. As not all go for sex, around 30% to 35% never use the rooms; they just talk to girls, eat, drink, and leave with happy smiles on their faces. So, with this, the establishment could easily have around one hundred fifty girls working. I have one hundred and neen girls, but only ny-one will work, as the rest are underage. I could have brought more girls, and I had enough money to buy the contracts, but I did not, not till these new girls got familiar with the business. I don¡¯t want to flood the establishment with girls who are unfamiliar with my way of business. It will affect the experience I want to sell, which I will not let happen. So, I will let the new girls get familiar with the business before bringing new girls, which wouldn¡¯t take long after the establishment opened. I was watching people working when the gates opened, and the carriage came inside. A minuteter, two men and one woman came out of the carriage. ¡°Have all your people left?¡± asked Valentina, ¡°Yes, just a few minutes ago,¡± I replied. To that, she nodded and turned to three people who looked to be in theirte thirties to fifties. ¡°You three can begin,¡± she said; they nodded and walked inside. ¡°Enchanters?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, these three specialize in illusionary enchantment,¡± she said. ¡°Do you want any more changes? It would be easier now thanter,¡± she asked, ¡°No, I do not need any big changes,¡± ¡°Your people were good enough to adjust a few things when I asked them,¡± I replied. Not all things I decided looked good, so I would look around every day and ask to change or modify the things I did not like. I will continue to do it till it is finished. We talked for a few minutes before going inside, where hundreds of people were working. More people havee in the morning, and more wille by evening; they only have ten days, and they have to finish a lot of work, especially inside the original manor, which has been unchanged till now. ¡°How was your trip to the Riverbell?¡± asked Valentina about the trip, from which I had returned yesterday. ¡°Great, we have signed a lot of agreements,¡± I replied with a smile. Ever since Locke had taken over, I have made two trips, both of which were not longer than two days considering I had gone to Deerpond and Riverbell, both cities on the banks of Trollmouth river. ¡°Good, I feared it would be a disaster like Deerpond,¡± she said with an obvious hint of mirth while my expressions stiffened for a moment. As she said, it was a disaster, as we had not signed even a singleprehensive trade document. Those bastards want to plow us, asking for things that are beyond reasonable. Like barely any tax on their goods and services while not even reducing even a quarter of the tax they ced on our goods and services. So, we decided not to sign any agreement; the Deerpond may be a big city, but we held a greater advantage due to being a getaway to merchant cities; they wille around eventually. Still, the failure of his first big task since taking the mantle of the vice-guild master had made Locke nearly cry. If not for the sess of the Riverbell, Locke would have literally cried. These Riverbell trip agreements were crafted by me with the old man and Rip, which is why I had leveled up in mywyer ss; I am now a Level 8wyer, just two more levels away from level 10. If I reach it, then I will have an attribute point through them. Usually, only a base ss gives you the attribute point, but there is an exception. At each milestone, which is at level 10, Level 20, and Level 30, the secondary sses give the attribute points. Though, getting the secondary sses for attribute points is a very bad decision; it will harm instead of help. Both of my secondary sses had a purpose; they were not taken randomly for the purpose of extra attribute points at a milestone. We stopped and watched people breaking another wall connecting old manor and new. It was thest wall of the hall; now, I could clearly see how big the new hall was going to be. ¡°It will be quite big,¡± said Valentina, ¡°Yes, it will be,¡± I said with a smile. I wanted this big; with it, I would be able to do many things which I couldn¡¯t do before. Just thinking about it made my whole face light up. Valentina stayed for about an hour and looked at all the progress before she left, while I stayed around for an hour before leaving for the guild. Since Locke took over, the pressure on me has increased a lot; I am working more than I had nned to, but it is also rewarding. The connections I am making with important people are simply amazing. As we are not the only ones going around the cities signing agreement, others are alsoing. I am present in every one of these negotiations; even those with Guildmaster and Vice-Guildmasters are allowed. It is even helping me advertise my business to soirees after meetings. Currently, my establishment is running full, but ten dayster, it will suddenly expand, and I will need those clients. I hope it will run full as it has been doing since the first day. I am trying my all for that, which is why I had spent one and a half million crowns for the beauty treatments that girls are going to have for the seven days. ¡­ Margaux ¡°I am d all of you slept well,¡± I said to the girls lined up in front of me; it was not just girls, but Ca and I had also slept for more than fourteen hours. I can¡¯t remember thest time; I had slept for so long. It was the requirement; manager Havel had said all of them needed twelve hours of sleep. He had his people use their skills and spells to make us sleep, and the effect was visible. Every face looked rested, and while Master Silver strictly asked the girls to sleep for at least five hours, they did, but in the past few weeks, they have be little tens. It is the new girls; they have made some girls feel little pressure, thinking their earnings might be affected due to them. Silly girls. The new girls will not affect their earnings at all; with all the new changes, their earnings will increase further. ¡°From today, you all need to rx and listen to every instruction that Havel and his people told you.¡± ¡°If you face any difficulty, youe to me, Ca, or Eudo here,¡± I said. The girls nodded, and I turned to the middle-aged man, who was impably groomed with glowing skin, that I couldn¡¯t help but feel jealous about it. ¡°Master Havel, you can begin,¡± I said to the middled aged man. ¡°Thank you, Margaux,¡± he said and turned to his people who were standing around the hall. ¡°All right, everyone, take the girls to stations and start working on them. They are our first clients; I do not want to hear anyints about their experience in our ce,¡± he said, and his people moved, ushering the girls to the different rooms. He and his people looked at the girls yesterday and decided on the treatments they would need for the next seven days. ¡°Clove, take Madam Margaux and Madam Ca for their treatments,¡± he said, and a woman who looked to be in her early thirties led us toward the hallway. We are in the new spa that hasn¡¯t been officially opened; its opening day is in two weeks, but everything is ready. Master Silver had booked for a whole week. It was very expensive, Ca had told me that the establishment had paid one and a half million crowns for the whole week of treatment, and she said the owner had given them a big discount. It will give these people a chance to familiarize themselves with new ces. To me, it was extremely expensive and unnecessary, but what I knew; I had never been to the spa in my whole life. My clients mentioned it many times with stress and happiness; stress because it is expensive and happy because of how their wives would look after its treatment, and they wish they would look the same a monthter. Despite my reservation, I couldn¡¯t help but feel excited and nervous about it at the same time. I looked at Ca and wished I could be like her; she was walking confidently like she owned the ce. ¡°Ladies, we will start with the sauna. The sauna room is special; it is made of Sangal wood from magic reason and has oil of vera and hymn roses,¡± said Clove and took us into the changing room. Where we took off all our clothes and wrapped the towels around our bodies before walking into the sauna. ¡°It is hot,¡± said Ca as she removed the towel and sat down; I did the same, albeit with a little embarrassment. Getting naked every day in front of other people does not make the embarrassment go away. ¡°Rx, Margaux, you are acting too tense,¡± said Ca seeing expressions. ¡°It all feels a little overwhelming,¡± I said with a voice barely audible. ¡°Yes, it is too much, but you should embrace it instead of resisting it.¡± She spoke as shefortably rested her back. I nodded and took a deep breath to rx myself, taking the aromatic steamy air inside, which began to rx me. I sat morefortably on a wooden bench, which was only slightly warm, and looked at arge ss window with a view of a huge garden. This spa is huge and capable of serving over three hundred people at the same time. It also had a huge garden. Seeing it, I couldn¡¯t help but think about my daughter. Ellie loved the park when she was little; I used to plead and beg madams for small breaks to take my daughter to the park; the smile on her face was worth all the pain I had to go through for that little time with my daughter. ¡°Thinking of Ellie,¡± asked Ca. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied as I wiped my eyes. ¡°You should go meet her; I don¡¯t think Master Remus will decline your leave,¡± she said. ¡°I will, but not now,¡± I replied. I missed my daughter very much, but I couldn¡¯t go to meet her yet. I had so much to do here, prove my worth, before going to meet my daughter. Most of my worries had already disappeared. I was extremely worried about the academy fees; I was only able to pay half of the fees because everyone had helped, and now I had paid the other half and fees for the next year just a few days ago. I am nearly empty now, but I am not worried; the money will soone. Half an hour had passed, and they were staying for another half an hour. Clove said they shoulde out within half an hour if their vitality were below ten. If it is above ten, then they could stay for an hour or more. I had thirteen points in vitality and simr charm but a little less in strength and intelligence. Charm is very important to me, and vitality slows aging, which had be very important, as those who looked above mortal fifty couldn¡¯t get more clients. It makes me a little worried about De and others. When I came here, I nned to use all my points of future level in vitality, but after hearing master silver, I only used one attribute point from my three level-ups to vitality. While the other two went to charm and intelligence each, which had been a wise choice, given my new responsibility. The rest forty-five passed quickly infortable silence before they got up and wiped themselves towels before getting out. A few minutester, they were ushered into the most unconformable bath in my entire life. The day passed before I knew it as I went through one treatment after another; while all werefortable, the result was visible. I looked good and felt so rxed mentally and physically I had never felt before, and this was just the first day; there were six more days where I would get many more of these wonderful treatments. Experiencing the spa, I had already decided that one day, I would bring my daughter to a ce like this. She deserves it. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 64: Count Darrow Chapter 64: Count Darrow ¡°Keep calm, be rational as you always are,¡± said Locke as the carriage moved out of the merchant guild. Usually, I say these words to Locke, but this time he is saying that to me. Today is a big day, and I am nervous; for the first time, I am going to the briefing at the city lord''s mansion. Usually, it is Damon Hardt, Locke, and the old man Oakley goes there, but Damon Hardt is out of the city, so Locke is taking me with him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much, Remus; as long as you answered all the queries of Count Darrow, you will be fine,¡± said the old man, who was also sweating in fear. From what I had heard, Count Darrow is not an easy man. I had met him two days after I returned from the Namdar, where he awarded us medals. It was quite an event that stayed in the papers for a few days. Finally, the carriage walked inside the huge city lord''s mansion, and a minuteter, we walked out of it. As I stepped out of the carriage, all the nervousness and hesitation had vanished from my face; it was not the first time I was meeting important people. While I am nervous, I am perfectly capable of hiding it well. Even Lock and the old man Oakley seemed surprised by it, but they did not say anything. The city lord''s mansion is the biggest in the whole city; it is grand, with guards everywhere. As we walked toward the door, I felt a couple of powerful gazes looking at me. As we reached the door, I found there was already someone waiting for us. ¡°Vice Guild Master Hercule, Mister Silver, Mister Oakley, follow me please,¡± said the man in butler suit and led us inside. He is not the main butler, that is an old man; this one is his early forties, likely the assistant butler. The mansion is huge but decorated a little gaudily. I heard Count Darrow like these types of showy pieces; not all of them are bad. Some are actually good, but most of them are just shining pieces that look good to the eyes. ¡°Please wait; Lord Count will grace you with his presence soon,¡± he said, showing us our seats on a white stone table. He did not leave, just stayed by the side with his back straight; quite an unconformable position, if you ask me, but I am sure he has skills like Perfect Poise or something like it, which helps him. We had to wait for over ten minutes in silence before Count Darrow made an entrance. He is a man of medium height and a mousy face that would have had some handsomeness in his youth. He is not alone; beside him is a young man in his mid-twenties and a man in his early fifties. The young man is his younger son Lancel, and unlike his father, he is tall with deep blue eyes and long grey hair, which makes him look even more handsome. If the rumors were right, then Count Darrow would hand over the city to his younger son and return to his territory, but there are years for that to happen, a decade or more even. ¡°My Lords,¡± We greeted the father and son with a bow. ¡°At ease,¡± he said and took the head seat while his son and advisor sat on his left and right, while we sat opposite him. ¡°You have done great, Hercule; I have looked through all the contracts you have signed with Riverbell, and they are great,¡± he praised. ¡°Thank you, Lord Count,¡± said Locke; he smiled, but soon Count¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°Though I would have preferred if we had not lowered the taxes on the crystals so much, we, too, mine them,¡± he said and looked at Locke pointedly, instantly making him sweat. ¡°Y..yes, we do, but Riverbell does it in much higher quantity, and since the refinery opens in a month, it would be wise if we have a bigger source of it,¡± he replied with a little stumble. Locke is a great businessman but a little weak in policy, and while I am advising him, it will take some time before he bes good enough for his current post. ¡°Yes, but we produce more than four times than we would be able to refine, so there are no questions of getting more crystals from other cities,¡± he said, and Locke opened his mouth, but no answer seemed toe out. So, he looked at me, like he did every time when he faced a problem during the negotiations. ¡°You are right Lord Count; we produce more than we would be able to refine, but refined crystals are strategic resources.¡± ¡°So, even if there is an abundance of them, we should at least have the capacity to fulfill our need and the need of surrounding cities in case of disruptions of supply lines,¡± I said, while using Lawful Suggestions. ¡°I had read your letter, Silver; you were saying we should increase the capacity of the crystal refinery we are building,¡± he said, talking about the letter I had sent him two weeks ago. ¡°Building a refinery is a waste of money; we could not break even with it,¡± added Lancel, his son, before I could even reply. ¡°Yes, it is a loss-making business, my lord, but a strategic one in which the city should invest, asing years won¡¯t be easy,¡± I said, and silence descended. The refined crystals are the lifeblood of this magical civilization; they are used everywhere, from magicmps to enchantments to cannon balls. If the supply of them had stopped, it would make the whole city stop. ¡°Your proposal does say some fair points; I will think about it,¡± said Count Darrow, and I could see Locke taking a sigh of relief, but it was only for a few seconds. At the next second, Count turned to him and began asking questions, and Locke answered. I would only open my mouth when Locke asked for it; otherwise, I would remain silent, even when I think I could exin much better than him. People have an ego, and I don¡¯t want to undermine that, so I will only speak when he asks. I had done this from our first negotiations since Locke took over the position of vice-Guildmaster. The meeting hadsted over one and a half an hour, and it was stressful, not only for Locke but also me and old man Oakley. ¡°These meetings are the reason why I want to resign sometimes,¡± said Locke as we sat back into the carriage. ¡°You loved it too much to resign from it,¡± I said back, to which he grinned. ¡°Yes, I really liked the responsibility and the things I am learning,¡± he said. Soon we reached the merchant guild and got out of the carriage; Oakley went inside the guild while Locke turned to me. ¡°Thank you, once again, Remus; without you, the meeting would have been very difficult,¡± he thanked. ¡°You are doing good; in a few months, you won''t even need my help,¡± I said, to which he smiled. I talked to him for a few minutes before sitting in the carriage, and fifteen minutester, carriages had walked into the gates of the establishment. Now, the mist is not covering the building, but the whole plot, hiding everything that is happening inside. This is the fourth day of me closing the establishment, and they have made enormous progress. Normal workers have almost disappeared, and now only artisans, enchanters, and people of other specialized sses have remained. The big work had beenpleted, and now only delicate ones had remained; I saw people working inplete focus, and I did not disturb them. Though I had asked to change some things I didn¡¯t like, those were very minute, and they did that immediately. I stayed there for two hours before leaving for my house. I am not staying in my house all day, as most of my time passed between the guild and the establishment, which I would visit three times a day. I already visited morning and afternoon just now and wille again at night. Soon, the carriage stepped inside the gates of my small house, and I went inside. ¡°Jill, had anythinge for me,¡± I asked the young girl, who was sitting on the desk outside of my office. ¡°Yes, these three letters havee for you, Master Silver,¡± she said and handed me the letters. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said and took the letters before walking inside. Since Ca is in the spa, Jill is my assistant and receptionist, and a young girl is good. Ca had wanted to stay, but I had asked her to stay in the spa not only to get treatments but also to keep an eye on everything. While Margaux is good, there are a lot of girls, and poaching always happens. No other than two girls have left, but many have been approached, including Ca and Margaux, and their offer is bing irresistible by the day. They have copied my way of business and saw some sess in it, and now they want my girls. It is not just brothels of the city that are poaching them, but also from outside, as far as Namdar and Meldhorn of merchant cities. It won''t be long before their offers be irresistible to some. There is not much I could do about it, poaching ismon, and it won¡¯t be stopped. The only thing I could do about it did not suffer loss, and I have taken the measure against it. Click! I was working when the door opened, and Jill walked, ¡°Master Silver, Eudo had arrived,¡± she informed me. ¡°Send him in,¡± I said with a smile. Three months are over, and I have to renegotiate his employment contract. I have prepared a sweet deal for him; I have to, as I did not want to lose him. The girls are not the only ones who have been approached; he has also been approached. ¡°Eudo, take a seat,¡± I said to the beautiful man as he entered my office. ¡°Thank you, Remus,¡± he said and sat down. ¡°How are the girls doing?¡± I asked. ¡°Great, rejuvenating treatments of spa making them beautiful every day,¡± he replied with a smile. I had not gone to meet them; I had given that responsibility to him and Ca. ¡°So, your contract,¡± I said,ing directly to the point when I saw he didn¡¯t have anything to add about the spa. ¡°I want you to triple my sry; I deserve it,¡± he said directly and looking into his eyes, I know he would not take a crown less. My expression did not change upon hearing that, and I slowly slid the contract toward him. ¡°Then you will not have any problem with this,¡± I said He took the contract in his hand and began to read it, and within second seconds, a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on his face. He was asking for three times of his current sry, but I have quadrupled it. He is important, and I don¡¯t want to lose him, and as for the sry I am giving him, he totally deserves it. He is high-level, a Level 30+; such people are extremely hard to find. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said a little emotionally, and to that, I smiled. ¡°I guess you are satisfied with your contract?¡± I asked, to which he nodded. ¡°Yes, except for one small thing, everything is perfect,¡± he said. That one small thing is for which we negotiated for over ten minutes; it is the duration of his contract. I wanted it one year long, and he wasn¡¯t willing to go over three months; it took a while before we finally decided on the six months. I have to say; he is very intelligent, knows the business will keep growing, and shorter contracts give him a better chance of getting a higher sry. I do not mind it; I know as long as I keep paying him, what he deserves, he will not leave. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 65: Mana Unlocked Chapter 65: Mana Unlocked Caena ¡°Good, just like that,¡± I said with a moan as a skilled oily hand massaged across my body. I had never thought the massage would feel so heavenly, a hundred times better than the orgasm I sometimes get if I am lucky enough. I was kind of angry when I was brought here with the rest, it had disturbed my ns, but now I have no regret. I am feeling the joy I had not felt in years. I continued to enjoy the massage as I nned for the future; there are several things I need to do, but one is most important. It is to tap into emotions and desires absorbed by the building, but I am unsessful in that, not even able to harness even a speck. So, I am doing the next best thing, leaving my marks in the building, which will make it very easy for me to harness the power when I finally get permission. It is her great fortune that she hase to the ce where the legacy is forming, and on top of that, construction is going on, which allowed her to ce her marks inside the building itself. She knows she is being watched, but she is used to it; with her spells, most of what she does is cloaked. Still, she needed to be careful, extremely, especially about not creating any animosity with the owner. She needs to win him over, and she will. She is in no rush; given his ambitions, he will need her help sooner orter. Till then, she needs to do what she is doing, leave her marks, and aid in the consolidation of her legacy. She could do very little about it, but sometimes, a little is more than enough. ¡°Yes, there, apply a little more force there,¡± I said when those wonderful hands reached my lower back. The good woman followed her instructions, and audible moans released from her mouth. If this continues, she will have an orgasm again; she had few in the past few days and would like it a lot if she could have another. Not because it will give her pleasure, it will also charge her spell, which is her bag on the shelf. My way is of lust and pleasure derived from it; as long as lust is directed at me or from me, I will be able to harness it; it is the same with pleasure. Thanks to the old woman who is teaching her. She was able to get her hands on a few things wanted and created the spell, which is charging through the power she is harnessing through her emotions. It will take a lot of lust and pleasure from my clients and me to charge it, but when it does, I will have a spell that will increase my attraction. I need the spell. I have seen how much money those girls make, and she needs that. Only that way she will be able to afford the material for the new spells. They are not cheap, especially when that old woman also keeps hermission. I had created a lot of little spells this past month, spending all my savings of years. It was not much whenpared to what these girls are earning, but it took me years to save that much. The spell I am charging will help me with my weakness, which is my in face. With it, I will be able to attract clients, and once they sit at my table, I will be confident enough in my abilities to keep them there. It will not be easy to charge it; it is quite a big spell and requires a lot of lust and pleasure. If I am lucky, it will be finished charging in a few weeks, but if not, then it might take a month or more. Till then, I will be on my own. ¡­. Margaux I did not know how many times had body had been scrubbed with the different oils and salts. It had happened more than ten times in the past five days that the wonderful fragrances of those things had seeped so deep in me that I would be smelling them for months. These five days are really amazing; they would go through one treatment after another. Most of them would be amazing, while some would be unconformable and painful, but the result of them is visible. It has been visible since day one, and every day, the effects are getting better and better. Two and a half hours passed, and my body was washed of salt and essential oils. The next treatment is two hourster, till then I am free. Wearing thefortable clothes of the spa, I walked through the huge building, looking at the beautiful garden, which couldn¡¯t help but make me feel serene. The garden is huge and more beautiful than we have around the establishment. Havel had me that the garden was designed by a high-leveledndscape architect and that many of the nts there were magical and required special care. I was walking through the building when I saw Haveling toward her, ¡°Madam, Margaux, I hope you and your girls are enjoying your stay in our spa,¡± said Havel, to which I smiled. ¡°It had been the most rxing time of my life Havel,¡± I replied. ¡°Good, I don¡¯t want to disappoint the most beautiful clients, I have ever served,¡± he said, cing his hands on his heart. ¡°Don¡¯t joke, Havel; I am sure you would have served women more beautiful than us,¡± I said. It did feel good to hear apliment, especially from the man who was so snotty at our first meeting before he mellowed in. I talked to him for a few minutes; it was mostly business, as he told me the kind of treatment the girls and I would be going through in the past two days. Five days had passed too quickly; tomorrow would be thest day, and after that, we will leave the spa. I am going to enjoy these two days. With that, though, I walked ahead, and soon, I began to hear the gaggle of voices, fromughs to screams. As she walked out of the tall bushes, she saw the girls where she had expected them. Twenty-some girls y in the water; they are swimming, jumping, and throwing at each other like little girls. Even an old woman like De is ying with young girls of eighteen and neen, catching them and throwing them in water, with childlike joy on her face. Seeing the joy on their faces, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. In their line of work, it is hard to find joy, much less such pure joy, and for it, I couldn¡¯t help but feel grateful. These girls deserve this and more. I did not join them; I couldn¡¯t; it is important that I maintain a distance between us. A few months ago, I was a little angry is Ca for keeping an intentional distance between us despite us being old friends, and now I understand the reason. I am their superior, and while I am a friend and always will be, it is important for me to keep my distance, or I will not be able to do the job to the best of my abilities. I watched them for a few minutes and was happy to see the girls of all three batches bonding well. There was not much friction between the girls of the first batch and the second, as we hade from the same ce and had known each other for years, but it was not the same with the new girls Master Silver had brought from the Namdar. They look different and talk differently; some girls were cold at them at first, especially those of the first batch, thinking their earnings might be affected by them. A lot of it had changed right now, though there are some reservations in their heart, not as before. They need to be together; they do not need to be friendly, but they need to be civil and treat each other with the respect that they would like others to have for them. Master silver is very clear about that. Two hours passed, and it was time for another treatment. I was walking toward the ce of treatment when I saw Andreaing toward it from the other direction. ¡°Mud bath?¡± she asked, and I nodded, and we both walked toward hall seventeen. ¡°Ladies, wee to varadian halldies,¡± greeted Rona; she was a sakarian woman with smooth ck skin. Looking at her smooth skin without any embellishment and facial features, I think she might have some elf blood in her. ¡°It will be a mud bath and will be more effective if you getpletely naked for it,¡± she instructed. I nodded and removed my dress, which was easy to remove. They are made for this purpose, as more than half of the spa treatments require you to get naked. Soon, both of us were naked. ¡°Now, step into the mud tubs gently,¡± she asked, and we walked toward two mud tubs side by side. The mud, to my surprise, was white and felt slightly warm as my leg had touched it. ¡°This is varadian mud; it is made from soiling from varad extreme magic region along with dust of magical crystals and few other things.¡± ¡°The energies of mud will suck the deepest toxins in your body and release the suppressed vibrancy,¡± informed Rona in a gentle voice. ¡°It will be warm and might turn a little unconformable as energies seep inside you, but don¡¯t get rmed by it,¡± she added. With both of my feet inside, I slowly sat down while the mud-covered me. Rona, on her part, covered my ears with soft buds as I sat and attached a pipe-like instrument to my nose, which made me shudder a little, but I bore it. ¡°As you have guessed, you will have topletely immerse yourself in the mud for the greatest benefits.¡± ¡°If you felt it unbearable, you can take your face out of it,¡± she advised. To be honest, I do not like my face in the mud, but I will not let my fear get a way into obtaining the greatest benefits from this treatment that Master Silver had paid so much money for. So, I bit down my fear andpletely submerged my face inside the warm mud; within a second, everything became dark, and she panicked but quickly began to take a deep breath from her nose, and within a minute, the panic receded. It did not disappear; it just receded. To stop her thoughts from straying away toward panic, she focused on the process like she usually does She felt warm in the tub, and as the second passed, this warm feeling became hot, and that began to make her unconformable, but it was bearable. The temperature stabilized at the end of the minute and seeing that it couldn¡¯t make her feel relieved. If it had continued to get hotter, she might have needed to get out of it before it became ufortable. I focused on heat and how it affects my body, it might seem boring, but it is not. As I focused enough, I could feel that the heat, which seemed to be spread same every part of my body, was not. It is faintly hotter toward my chest and crotch while less toward my breasts and ass. Hun! Time passed as I continued to feel heat interacting with my body when suddenly, that invisible head changed colors. It surprised me, and I felt I begin to imagine a thing, but even after taking a deep breath, it did not change. ¡®Am I hallucinating?¡¯ I asked myself. There were some treatments that made some girls hallucinate, but they were warned about it before. Rona did not, and since I was inside the mud, I could not ask. I could move my head out of the mud to ask that, but I did want that, as I did not think I could control my panic again, which was threatening to burst out. So, I did what I was doing; I focused on what I was feeling, seeing to be correct. For the first few minutes, the misty colors remained blurry, but soon they began to clear slowly till I was able to see their misty forms. It became clear, and I began to see mists of every color, but the mostmon was a mist of red color. This red mist gathered all the multicolored mist in the tub and pushed into the body. There, they would sh against a pudgy dry grey wall, burning it little by little at every try. I don¡¯t know whether it was a hallucination or something else, but I kept watching, and as time passed, things became clear and clear that I could even begin to feel elements of the multicolor mist. [Attribute Unlocked: Mana] I was focused on the multicolor mist when my mind buzzed, and text appeared in front of me that nearly made me open my eyes and mouth in shock. Saying I am shocked would be a gross understatement; I had never truly thought I had it, even when my daughter informed me about her mage talent gleefully about a year ago. I was born to peasants; my family had no magic talent; hell, not even a single person in my vige had it. So, when my daughter informed me about a year ago, I automatically assumed it was from her father, whoever that may be. Magic talent is rare; only one in a thousand people have it, she has it, but she does not dare to believe it. So, she did the only thing she could verify that this was reality and not some dream.
ss: Harlot 21
Painter Lv. 4
Charisma: 13
Intelligence: 7
Vitality: 13
Strength: 9
Mana 3
Skills: ¡¤ Night Long ¡¤ Sometimes I Fake It ¡¤ Breath of Erection ¡¤ Charmed Walk ¡¤ Cloths Open ¡¤ He Liked Them Aged ¡¤ Sultry Tongue ¡¤ Attention To Colours ¡¤ Deft Hands
Attribute Points: 0
¡®It is not a dream,¡¯ I thought and felt extremely happy, not because I had unlocked the mage talent, but because I was the one who gave my daughter her most cherished gift. ¡®I gave her that.¡¯ I repeated as tears flowed out of my closed eyes. My daughter sounded very happy in her letters when she informed me of her mage talent. She was even happier when I sent her the extra money along with second-year fees for magic-rted sses. Those sses are expensive, and it is the reason why I desperately wanted the job of madam. I did not want my daughter to just attend a few mage sses but enroll in the whole program, but it is very expensive, not to mention the tools and resources that require to study it, which cost even more than the course. I want to save enough for my daughter to afford the mage course and all the other costs thate with it. I did not know whether I could do it, but I would try my all to save every penny I earned. Once she bes a mage, even of the lowest level, she will never go hungry in her life and will always have the respect of the people. I want my daughter to have the best life, and bing a mage will give her that. As for the talent I unlocked, it will remain there gathering dust, as I would need a spellcaster ss to use it or learn at least one spell that will give me ss. Learning a spell is not easy, even if I somehow get it. My daughter had said there are whole theories behind it that one needs to understand before learning to cast a spell. I understood my situation, and it did not make me too sad. Knowing I would not be able to cast a spell, despite having a talent for it. It will be enough for me if I can make her daughter achieve that. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 66: New Changes Chapter 66: New Changes The first rays of dawn had barely started piercing through the clouds when the carriage reached the establishment. The guards immediately opened the gates seeing the carriage, and the carriage walked inside, through the pink mist, and stopped immediately as we crossed the mist, as I had told the driver minute ago. I stepped out of the carriage and saw the mansion in all its glory, and it looked beautiful and big. It had be three times bigger and wider, with pastel pink and white painting which made looked so enchanting that I got enamored by it. It looked much better than the old color. I love it and would continue with the color scheme, even after future changes; it might even be a signature of the establishment. Many things have changed; the first one would notice that there is no fountain anymore; instead, there is a statue of a beautiful woman with ssic imperial features gazing ahead with longing eyes. I had to remove the fountain because it did not suit the new mansion and looked pale in front of it. I wanted to rece it with another fountain, but when Valentina showed me the statue on a tour of her warehouses, I had instantly changed my mind and asked for it. I looked at it for a moment before walking toward it with the paved road, which had been widened twice its original size. More carriages could nowe in and park without creating traffic. Soon, I reached the statue, more than three times taller than me, with its stand; I admired it for a few seconds before walking ahead, reaching the white and pink steps of the mansion, before stopping in front of its white door with beautiful spirit carvings. It is elvish andpletely custom-made by the level 30+ artisan; it cost me a lot, but seeing beautiful carvings of spirits dancing, was worth it. I admired it before pushing it open, and the view of the hall had appeared in front of me; seeing it, a big smile lit up on my face. I saw a huge hall, bathing in the beautiful lights with a huge crystalline chandelier. A light from which would fall on pink and white walls with a lining of gold, making them look more beautiful. The aesthetic is different from this world, but it looks amazing. On the right side of the hall, there is a dedicated white stage, which is big enough forrge and small performances. Directly in front of me was a bar, which had be even longer and bigger, with thousands of wine bottles; the centerpieces cost hundreds of thousands of crowns per bottle. This is the price at which I had brought them from Namdar, and here; I will sell them at a much greater price. The hall is big, but it is filled with beautiful tables and chairs, like all things in the hall; the furniture, too, is new, and they adjust beautifully with the hall, increasing its beauty of it. ¡°When you chose the colors, I had felt they would be bad, but they looked surprisingly beautiful, unlike I have seen before,¡± said Valentina as she walked toward me. She had been here since thest night; there were a few things that needed her help. ¡°Do you think it will be liked?¡± I asked her, ¡°Definitely,¡± she said with confidence, and that brought a smile to my face. I walked through the hall with Valentina, feeling that strange feeling I had been getting from the mansion since the day I had returned from the Namdar. It is slowly getting stronger. I don¡¯t know what it is, nor have I discussed it with anyone, not even with Ca. I feel like it is imagination from my mind; if not, then others might also have sensed it. I did not think about it further and continued to admire the hall, looking for any ws, as I could still be able to fix them since I had today and tomorrow before the establishment opened, but I did not see any. I was looking at the hall when I saw Eudo and Elese entering the hall from the other side and behind Dan and two guards. ¡°Has the studio been set up?¡± I asked Eudo, ¡°Yes, the studio is ready,¡± he replied, and I smiled. He, along with Elese, had been here sincest night, setting up the studio. It was huge work since there were over a hundred dresses and arge number of essories like shoes, not to mention expensive jewelry. It is why I had hired the guards. In the next two hours, I looked through every part of the mansion, and the more I looked, the more impressed I became. This time, I had spent a lot, fifty-two million on building alone, eight of which I had yet to pay to Valentina; I will have two weeks to pay for that. If I calcte everything, then everything had cost me eighty-one million, and some change, which is double what I had nned to spend one and a half months ago. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do all that if not for that forty million crowns from a share of lich¡¯s loot. It is far less than I deserve, but I am happy; it helped me at the right time. The manor had changed fully; it had an extra floor, expanded from all sides, but the biggest expansion had happened underground. I had not only expanded further but created another floor below. Last time, I was not able to provide many amenities to girls and felt like I was caging them in the basement with little freedom, but now the basement has transformed fully with many amenities. Finally, after looking through everything, I reached a new office which is now on a floor higher. This new office is bigger than my old office, and everything is new and amazing. The table is like the door, carved from a level 30+ artisan from the empire, grand but with a simple design. The chairs, like the table, are also white and veryfortable to sit on. The tables and chairs in Ca¡¯s office are made by the same artisan, but it is a different design that she chose. Her office is beside mine; only a ss wall separates us, but there is a ss door connecting both offices. The best thing about the new office is the window, it is big and gives the full look of the entrance. I had moved and removed some trees, and now, I got aplete view from the entrance to the statue. Unfortunately couldn¡¯t be opened for fear of the rogue; I wanted it that way. If they want toe inside, they will have to break the window, which is stronger than the wall itself. ¡°Jill sent a message to Ca to bring girls directly here,¡± I said to the young girl. She is good, quiet as a mouse, without any presence that one might forget she is there. She is also quite good at her job. ¡°Yes, master silver,¡± she said and walked out of the office while I satfortably on my chair, thinking about the reactions; the girls will have a changed mansion. ¡­. Margaux ¡°I am d we are going back directly to the establishment rather than the temporary resident,¡± said Ina as the carriage rolled out of the crystal spa¡¯s estate. I did not say anything and just looked out of the window; so much had changed in these seven and half days they had been in the spa; the change that had urred in them was shocking. Looking at my skin, which was glowing with a vibrancy like never before, that I get enchanted every time I look at myself in the mirror. Everyone had changed in this past week, especially me, not only physically but also magically, with the unlocking of the mana attribute. I had not told anyone about it, and I don¡¯t know if I would. Time passed in silence before the carriage had reached the establishment, and its gates opened, which were bigger with a more borate design than the old ones. The carriage entered through the gate and passed through the mist before stopping a few secondster. Ina was first to get out before Ca, L, and De stepped out of the carriage. When I got out atst, I saw all three of them looking at the manor with their eyes wide, even Ca, who had already known about it. When I looked at it, I also froze away for a couple of seconds. The beauty of it had shocked me as I stared at it, but I controlled my emotions and turned back toward the carriagesing from behind and girls stepping out of them and having the same expression that I had a second ago. I looked at each girl carefully, checked their names with the diary in my hand, and was relieved that everyone was present. The girls are getting approached by the poachers left and right; some of them have even sneaked inside the spa. ¡°Let''s go inside,¡± I said and led them toward the mansion. Gasp Gasp Gasp She stepped through the doors, and a secondter, she began to hear multiple gasps behind; in their shock, they stopped, blocking the way for the girls behind them. If I did not have the responsibility, I would have also let myself be swept into the shock. ¡°Girls don¡¯t block each other¡¯s way,¡± I said and brought the girls inside. ¡°Careful, don¡¯t damage anything,¡± she warned as everything looked so delicate, she feared, they might break it. She is not the only one; the girls, too, are feeling the same as they carefully look at things inside the hall. ¡°It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,¡± said De, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. It is really beautiful. ¡°Let¡¯s check out the studio first,¡± said Ca a minuteter, and she seemed strangely excited about it. Seeing that, she followed Ca with a few other girls. Soon she reached there and stopped before entering as Eudo was standing in front of the loosely closed door. ¡°No touching,¡± he said, simply pressing his hand''s back, opened the door, and immediately stepped inside before stopping too suddenly, making the girls behind a crash on her lightly. She quickly moved ahead and let the girls, who too stopped and had loud gaspsing out of their mouths. The makeup room they had before now seemed like a y hutpared to the studio right now. Ca had told her Master Silver had brought amazing things from Namdar, and she imagined those things, but even in her wildest imagination, she had not expected what she was seeing right now. The racks were filled with custom dresses with their names, and hundreds of shining shoes were ced on the revolving racks, along with belts, scarves, and other essories of every size and design. The one that attracted the most was in the center; it is a cylindrical rack made of crystal, and inside it is shining jewelry. From nes to bands to chokers and earrings, there are some she couldn¡¯t even name. ¡°Are these things for us?¡± asked Doll in shock. ¡°Technically, it all belongs to the establishment, but yes, you will be wearing these things,¡± said Eudo from behind, and I didn¡¯t even re at him this time for his stickler ways. I stayed in the studio for more than ten minutes before I walked out of it; I wouldn¡¯t have done it if Ca hadn¡¯t pulled me out. After looking at the studio, I walked the stairs with Ca to check out the rooms where the girls would do the business. ¡°Don¡¯t you think themon rooms are too little?¡± she asked Ca; like most things, they, too, have shocked me. Even themon rooms are much better than rooms from before, and there are three types of room above it. The establishment has four types of rooms, Common, Crystal, Ruby, and Diamond. Themon and crystals are the same size rooms, but crystal rooms have much better interiors. The Ruby rooms are bigger than the crystal rooms, with an even better interior and outside view. The final diamond rooms looked like they belonged to some nobles; she nearly fainted looking at them. There are only nine of them. ¡°Remus is always right about these things,¡± said Ca as they began to climb down. Only 20% of all rooms aremon rooms, 30% are crystal rooms, a little over 40% are Ruby, and nine are diamond rooms. It all seemed the opposite to me; the cheapest should be the most in number, and since themon rooms are free, they should be the most as people wouldn¡¯t want to pay for a room when they are having it free. As for what master silver is charging for the other three types of rooms, she did not know, and Ca said master silver hadn¡¯t decided on that yet. ¡­ They had just reached the first floor when a young blue-haired girl came running toward them excitedly. ¡°Sister Ca, Sister Margaux, you should see our residence; it is like a dream,¡± said Vana, nearly shouting in excitement. ¡°Calm down, Vana, you might break something in your excitement,¡± I said; it seemed to affect the young girl as she took a deep breath to calm herself. She is Vana, a girl who turned eighteen a few days before she came here with De and others. Master silver had offered her time to decide whether she wanted to join the business, but she refused. She wanted to work, and not that I could me given the allure of huge earnings. They left the girl to check out other things and walked inside through the door of the basement, and a few secondster, what she saw had widened my eyes yet again. Before, there used to be amon hall at the base of the steps, but now there is not; instead, there is an open space and stairs that lead to the floor below. In front of me were two hallways, both of which had a beautiful te with residence written on it, and in the center of both hallways was a big hall with ¡®Common Hall¡¯ written on the big ce in beautiful letters. They walked toward themon hall before pushing open its door and saw a hall filled with chairs and couches of different styles; all of them lookedfortable that could sit and chat for a long time. It is big enough that more than fifty people could easily sit there, but no one is sitting there. They did not stay there for more than a minute before walking toward the left hallway, where both sides had rooms, and each room with have a small te with names beautifully written on it. The first room had L and De written on it; in her old brothel, she had shared a room with both of them, especially De, who she will always be grateful for helping out with Ellie in those difficult times. The room was not big, but it was not small either; it had beds on both sides, tables by them to work on, and cupboards to keep their clothes and things. Both beds and cupboards are bigger than theirst rooms had and looked morefortable and species. There is also a separation curtain in between for privacy. They looked for a few seconds before walking away, looking at nametes in each room till they reached the end, where there was a single door against the wall that had my name on it and madam written below it. Click! ¡°Open it,¡± said Ca seeing me nervously staring at the door. I took a deep breath and opened the door, and walked inside what was supposed to be a living room. It was slightly bigger than girls'' rooms which beautiful sofas and tables in the middle. Eight to ten people could easily sit in it. The living room had two doors, one was at the end of the room, and one was at the left. I walked toward the one that was at the end and opened the door, and it turned out of the bedroom, with a bathroom attached to it. I looked at the room carefully, taking every detail without saying a word; after taking a look at it, I returned to the living room and opened the door at the left, and what I saw made tears drip from her eyes. ¡°You deserve it,¡± said Ca as she ced her hands on my shoulder. It is an office, a small one with a beautiful blue desk and four chairs, one for her and three for the guests. ¡°Try sitting on the chair, Madam Margaux,¡± said Ca. I hesitated for a moment before walking toward the chair behind the table and sitting on it slowly. Thefortable chair pressed against me as I sat; it wasfortable without a doubt, but I liked the feeling of the responsibility that this office was giving me. In my life, I had never thought I would reach such a position of responsibility and get my own office. They stayed in the office for nearly ten minutes before walking out; I didn¡¯t want to, but there were things to look at. I will have time to enjoy the office; it is mine, after all. Soon, they were in front of themon hall and went to the right hallway; the right hallway also seemed to have fifty rooms, capable of housing hundred people, just like the left hallway. ¡°It seemed like we won¡¯t have to worry about space, even if another hundred girlse,¡± I said to which Ca nodded. ¡°Remus nned to do that after the new girls get acquainted with the work,¡± she replied. I could see how she took his name directly; I don¡¯t know if the deed happened yet, she had asked Ca many times indirectly, but she remained mum. ¡°It is a wise decision; the system of Master Remus is a little hard to get one¡¯s head around it,¡± I said and really hoped master silver would wait before bringing the new girls. Not only because it is wise but also because the pressure on me will increase, and I want to learn to handle these girls first before the new ones appear. I pushed those and walked walk ahead before stopping as I looked at the door with only a single namete. ¡°Those above level 20+ will have a personal room,¡± said Ca seeing my surprise. The first one belongs to Ina; that girl, despite being more than a decade younger than her, is on the same level as her. Including her and Ca, there are six people above level 20, and all of them have their rooms. It will make one or two who are hiding their level reveal it. Personal space is a luxury these girls never had and want zealously, and it will happen in a few hours. I am quite excited, as I have my guesses about who has reached level 20, but it has not been revealed yet. ¡°In a few months, a lot of these rooms are going to get filled,¡± I said, to which Ca smiled brightly. It did not need to be said how fast they were leveling up sinceing here. I myself had leveled up three times in these past three months. It is not just her but all the girls, and few months we will level up further. Many girls close to level 20 will reach it, and if they reveal their level, they will get a private room. At the end of the hallway, there is a suit; when they open it, they find it is exactly the same as hers, but with different furniture. ¡°The girls are going to fight to nails for this ce,¡± said Ca, and she couldn¡¯t help smiling. It is true, but she does not know what one will have to achieve to get it, and even Ca isn¡¯t willing to exin. They went back toward themon hall and began to climb down; that is the ce where they heard the most sounds, and it was loud. The floor is nearly empty despite having amazing new rooms, so there must be something down below to keep them there and hear such excited sounds. ¡°My god!¡± I said as I came down, it was not just me, but even Ca looked shocked by what she saw. ¡°Sister Ca, Sister Margaux, there is a freaking pool in there,¡± shouted Gloria as she ran while removing the buttons of her shirt. They followed the teen and soon reached the pool, where she saw it was filled with girls and that there was barely any space in it; despite that, Gloria threw away her shirt and pants and jumped into the pool. She did even take a shower first. ¡°Your days are not going to be easy,¡± said Ca with a big smile on her face while she just massaged her head for the headache that came. It will be hard to control all these girls, as it is not teens ying in the pool, but women like De are here too. They walked closer to the pool, and some girls quieted down, but they still kept ying. I looked around the pool, which was big enough that fifty people could easily fit in it; there were chairs around it where one could lie, changing room, and a shower stall for a shower before and after the pool; the rule that nobody seemed to be following. She looked around for a few minutes before walking out of the pool area without saying anything. ¡®Let them enjoy today; from tomorrow, there will be discipline,¡¯ I said. I will need to create a system where they will be able to use the pool and other things without getting crowded. After walking out of the pool area, they were to a library, where there were over three thousand books and enough chairs for more than fifty people to sit and read. There are already people there, and unlike those in the people area, they are following the rules. It ispletely silent; aside from the sound of flipping pages, there is no other sound. I nodded at Ina and L reading the books and looked around it before going to the game room and then the art hall, which is divided into different rooms, like the music room, painting, and a few other parts. There is also a residential area of thirty rooms; it is for young girls below eighteen. They will be living separately from the working girls, which I think is wise. It will reduce the influence of working girls on them and give them greater freedom to make their own decision. ¡°It really feels like a dream,¡± I said after they looked through everything. ¡°It is a reality, my dear friend,¡± said Ca and hugged her gently. She could feel that theing days wouldn¡¯t be easy, but she couldn¡¯t help but feel excited about it. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 67: Preparations Chapter 67: Preparations p! "Ok, for thest time," I said as I pped; the men left their ces and walked out of the hall while the girls adjusted their positions from tables to bar. Five minutester, they returned and began to mingle with the girls during great music yed in the background. We have been doing this for two days; from the afternoon of the day, the girls came back from the spa. We practiced with the actors before they went to the spa, but I wanted them to have practice at the new establishment and was quite d that Valentina had finished two days before the deadline, giving me a chance to perform the practice. I sell experience and not sex, and this experience is a choreographed performance to give the patrons the best experience. So, the more they practice, the better experience they will be able to provide to the patrons. I want them to practice until no w can be seen in their performance and they have reached there. Especially the old girls, who are absolutely perfect, and watching them, the new girls are learning fast. The same had happened with lessons; those teachers having experience with the old girls, were able to teach them better. The new girls were also more fortunate than the old girls, as they had more time to learn than the old girls. They could be said to be more ready than the old girls had been when the establishment had opened for the first time. The practice continued as the hour passed, and everything was going great. They are practicing every scenario, from interactions to conflict, and excelling at everything. I looked at each girl and turned to Margaux, who is the most important; for the past month, she had been learning from Ca, and today, she will take the full reins in her hands, and there will be no Ca to help her. Today, Ca had officially resigned from the responsibilities of the madam. "What do you think?" I asked Ca beside me, "They are doing great; I don''t think there will be any problem," she said. "I really hope so," I said. A few minutes passed, and the practice continued before it was time to end it. p! "Finished!" I said as I pped loudly, and a few secondster, a man in his fifties dressed impably walked toward me. "I hope you are satisfied with our performance, Mister Silver," said the man. "You and yourpany are best, as always, Keys," I said, Jor Keys, the same man I had hired for the girls'' practice the first time. I talked to him for a few minutes before he and hispany left, and I turned to the girls who had gathered in the neat lines before me. ¡°Today is most of your all¡¯s first day in the establishment, and I wish I could tell you all to enjoy,¡± That brought augh from more than half of the girls. ¡°Though try to find a little joy; the conversations can be fun, meaningful and if you don¡¯t want to go above that, it is fine,¡± ¡°As remember, there is a choice, and that choice is yours and yours only,¡± I said, emphasizing thest line, and to my surprise, some of them had begun to tear up after that. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver, your words mean a lot to the girls,¡± said Margaux emotionally. ¡°Go rest; you all have a big day today,¡± I said, and they began to leave one by one till only Ca, and I remained. ¡°You have be quite good in speeches,¡± she said; I did not say anything to that and walked toward my office with her. It is not a big day for the girls, but for me too; a lot of riding on how the establishment would perform today. I hope to earn at least a million crowns daily, which will help me pay my dues and depts and n for the future. There are a lot of ns, and they need money lots and lots of money. ¡­ ¡°Alright, first nine get up,¡± I said and stood up, and with me, the nine girls. I looked at them before walking out of themon room with them following behind me. Only two hours have remained till the opening, and it is time for us to start the preparations. Soon, we reached the studio, and once again, it couldn¡¯t help but enamor me. I have seen it tens of times, but it still shakes me whenever I see it. ¡°You havee on time,¡± said Eudo as we entered inside and turned to the girls. ¡°Girls, get naked,¡± he said directly, and the three old girls, who were used to him, quickly removed all their clothes one after another. The teen girls, who were present to help, quickly picked up the clothes and stored them neatly, while to three naked girls, robes came flying and wore themselves on the girls'' bodies with sashes knotted. It all happened in less than twenty seconds. The six new girls took time despite the practice; the moment they did, the robes came flying and wore themselves on them after some struggle. ¡°Good, now sit,¡± he said, and the girls walked toward the nine seats, which were better than the old three seats, with confidence and hesitation on their faces. ¡°Rx, everything is going to be fine,¡± I said as I sat down on a chair in the corner while five beauticians and Eudo moved to work on the girls. At first, when the establishment opened, there was only Eudo, but then we hired Misses Rand, Elsa, as she asked me to call her, and two weeks ago, we hired three others; they are about the same level as Elsa and are good, especially when Eudo is guiding them. Like everything in the rooms, the make-up, the instruments, and everything else are also new and of better quality, and their effects are evident asyers of make-up appear on them. ¡°Walk to the tform,¡± said Elsa said to Lydia, and she got up from the chair and walked to the small tile tform that had a mirror at every corner and disrobed without saying anything. Elsa appeared beside her and sprayed her body with the delicate instrument, darkening Lydia¡¯s pale skin. With her skills and experience, Elsa took seconds to tan Lydia¡¯s whole body before Eudo acted and made a minor adjustment with a little brush, but those instantly lighted up her skin with faint glitter, which made her look mesmerizing. ¡°Now for the dress and essories,¡± he said, and I could see Lydia¡¯s eyes lighting up; everybody was excited to wear beautiful things, even me. As Eudo said it, the things came flying; the first came the ck lingerie; Lydia familiarly moved her hand and feet as they flowed through her before it was time for a dress, a maroon color satin gown. This gown is special, as it is made for her, and I could see the sheer joy on her face as it flowed through her body before fixing itself on her. I nearly gasped seeing the gown; some girls even did. She looked that beautiful in a gown that was crafted for her. No skill or spellpared to the fitting given by the custom dress, the way the gown hugged, and every curve and sloped around her body is amazing. She looked beautiful like she had never looked before, and she was not evenpletely ready as the jewelry flew toward her. A beautiful amethyst earing fixed on her ears and an amethyst ne on her neckpleted her before a few puffs of perfume sprayed on her. She looked amazing beyond amazing, and when she looked in the mirror, tears began to flow out of her eyes. ¡°Your make-up may be waterproof, but I would prefer if you did not cry,¡± said Eudo, ¡°Since it is waterproof, then it would be fine if I cried a river,¡± Lydia shot back; in a few months, some girls have be good friends with Eudo, Lydia is one of them. After Lydia got off the stage, another girl quickly took her ce and, within a few seconds, transformed fully. One by one, girls took the stage, and Eudo dressed them, using his telekic skill. I couldn¡¯t help but notice the range he could move things; it was longer than before. Whether he leveled up or hid the true strength of his abilities or both, I don¡¯t know, but it had made things quite fast. In nine minutes and twenty seconds, all the girls had been readied; it would have been even faster if not for the hesitation from the new girls. In a few days, they would get used to it along with new beauticians, making the processes even faster. Exactly after nine minutes and forty seconds, another batch of girls came as she had asked them, and Eudo asked them in. One by one, the girls got ready, and by the time five twenty, every girl was ready except for me. ¡°It is your turn, madam,¡± said Eudo, and she gave him a look before she activated Cloths Open. Immediately her clothes fell down at her feet, and she becamepletely naked, but she did not remain naked for more than a second as the velvet robe flew over and slid her body. The robe is different; while the robes of the girls were red, hers is ck, with ¡®madam¡¯ monogrammed on it. ¡°I wish everybody had that skill of yours; it would have made things faster,¡± said Eudo. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, sooner orter, you will get such skill,¡± I shot back, and he red before working on me. The other beautician did not touch me, only Eudo, another privilege of being a madam. ¡°We do not want you to shine like stars the girls are doing; we want you to radiate the authority,¡± said Eudo as he worked on her hair and face at the same time. Six minutester, he finished, and I got up and walked on the tform once again, activating my skill; as I did, the robe fell, and I waspletely naked, and this time, it was not going to be for just a second. A brush with a shimmering solution went over my body, faintly adding a shimmer to my skin; it was the same over my body, except for my legs, where it was denser. ¡°Now it is time for you to get ready,¡± He said, and purple lingerie flew over her. She moved her hands and feet; lingerie appeared on her before a royal purple dress came flying in; it froze me for a moment. The dress is beautiful, and the work on it is amazing; it also has a slit which is why Eudo focused more on the legs. It is one of her favorites of nine dresses she had, all of them custom-made, more than any girl except for Ca. Master Silver had said that each girl should have at least nine custom dresses and, madam, a fourteen. Currently, old girls have only four custom dresses each and new ones three; poor Elese had been working day and night toplete orders, and she will have to do it for a few months more, even with the new employees she is bringing every week. From what I heard in the past two days, Master Silver had some great ambitions, and he will bring more girls in a month or two, which means more work for Elese. Which she is more than happy to do; that girl loves her work too much. The royal purple dress slid over her body, and a momentter, the jewelry came. A beautiful diamond ne, which had a huge diamond twice her thumbnail and hundreds of small diamonds around it. It looks beautiful, but it is not the end, as diamond earrings came next, and then the bracelet that looked made of vines, but it was not. It is some precious green metal on which diamonds are embedded beautifully. She was just looking at the diamonds on her when the shoes came, and they were different from the ones worn by the girls. They are high-heeled shoes made of purple crystals, and when she wore them, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. As they werefortable, totally opposite of what she thought they would be. ¡°Now, a few sprinkles of perfume, and you will be ready,¡± said Eudo, and a white crystal bottle came in and sprinkled her with the most beautiful fragrance she had ever smelled in her life. ¡°I have reserved this for you; it suits you well,¡± informed Eudo, and I nodded my thanks as I loved the fragrance. I took a deep breath of the wonderful fragrance and turned toward the mirror; what I saw couldn¡¯t help but bring tears to my eyes. She had promised she would not cry as many girls did, but tears came out as I saw myself in the mirror. In all the things I had dreamed and imagined, I had never, ever expected I would look like this. I stayed there looking at the mirror for more than a minute, and for once, Eudo did not open his mouth to quip. It took a while for me to control myself before I turned from the mirrors to Eudo. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said and got off the tform, and walked out of the room under the envious gazes of the women. I never in her life thought I would be the receiver of those emotions, but I felt happy feeling their envy, as I felt like I had achieved something. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 68: Incident Chapter 68: Incident "Open the gates," said Margaux right and six pm while I walked upstairs to my office; by the time I had reached it, the gates finally opened. Ca was already by the window, and I joined her, watching the open gates, but no carriage hade. Usually, there are one or two always waiting and entering inside immediately the moment the door opens. I didn''t like the empty gates and felt my thoughts spinning, but I controlled myself and watched the gates. A minute passed, and no carriage came, and I was really getting worried, which I shouldn''t be since only a minute had passed. A little more than three minutes passed when the first carriage came, and unlike the few before that passed by a road, this one came right inside. It had just parked when two more carriages turned and entered the gates of the establishment one after another. "See, you were worried for nothing," said Ca as she turned toward me, with her face right in front of mine and barely an inch of difference between us that we could feel each other''s breath. The tension was palpable, but nobody took a step, and we turned back to the window to see four more carriagesing. In the next half an hour, more than fifty carriages came inside, the fastest they had ever been. "It seemed like my advertisement campaign had worked," I said with a smile, looking at all the carriagesing inside. Off course, I had advertised. What sort of businessman would I be if I didn''t advertise my business? Though the advertisement is slightly different frommon ads, I could not just post pamphlets on the walls. I have done the advertisement in the ces like gentlemen''s clubs, the ces preferred by men exclusively, as currently, I am only targeting them. I have not only targeted the Greltheaven but also neighboring cities of Deerpond and Riverbell and even the merchant cities like Owlspring and a few others, and looking at the response, the huge money I had spent on it is worth it. "I have never seen so many people in such a short time," she said. We had closed gates within half an hour of opening, but those were for forty-five-fifty patrons; now, the number of girls has more than doubled, and as such, patrons will also increase. Less than an hour had passed, and the establishment already had more patrons than it had ever before, and they will only increase. "Do you think Margaux will handle everything well?" I asked; there are few girls who had experience in management, but I chose her on Ca''s words, and in the past month, she had performed exemrily. But she had the help of Ca, from today she will be alone and will have to handle everything on her own. "Don''t worry, Margaux is extremely capable; she will not give you any chance toin," said Ca. "I hope so," I said while looking out through the window. It was a fifty-eighth minute when the gate closed, and seeing a big bright smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. Closing the gate means only one thing, the establishment is full and can''t ept any more patrons. "Let''s go down," I said to Ca, and both of us walked out of the office to the ground floor. Click! I opened the door of the tiny room and walked inside before locking the door, sitting on chairs, and looking at the whole view of the hall. There is no small window anymore, but a hundred-inch painting for which I had to pay quite a lot of money, but seeing its effects, it is worth it. To others in the hall, it is a beautiful painting made by a level 30+ painter, but for us, it is the one-way mirror through which we can see into the hall; it is in the left corner of the hall, which gives near perfect view of the whole hall. "One hundred and thirty-four patrons, nearly three times as much as before," said Ca looking at the clients. "And only twelve are without the girls," I added. They are sitting in the bar alone, some of them looking at the girls yearningly, while others seem to be content in watching and drinking expensive liquor. I have noticed some clientse just to drink. They barely talk to girls or any patron; theye, drink, pay a good tip, and leave. "Margaux should have let some more in people closing the gates," I said after some time. "Give her some time to get used to responsibility. It is her first day, and she is ying safe," said Ca. To that, I smiled. I did not give too many instructions to Margaux; she had quite a lot of freedom to operate, and she was doing quite a good job. She is not just standing by the door but moving around the hall, mingling and flirting with patrons and instructing the staff. I took out my diary from the pocket of my suit and opened thetch on the modr pad, which became a small table, on which I ced the diary and began to take notes. I spent a lot of time in this ce, so I decided to make itfortable, and it was worth it. I am feeling very happy seeing the huge number of clients; they will bring a lot of money to me, especially since I have hiked the rates. Now, the rates are five-hundred crowns per hour, not to mention the money I will get from rooms. Only themon room is free, while all three grades cost money; I have decided on the rates just this morning. "I still think the rates of the rooms too high, especially of the Diamond room," said Ca, seeing a few clients leaving with the girls for the rooms. "They are fine," I said. I have thought deeply and done great research before deciding the number of rooms and their rates. The crystal room costs five hundred crowns, the ruby room one thousand crowns, while the diamond costs three thousand, which is three times more than Ruby rooms and six times more than crystal rooms. Ca had said, I should keep the prince of the diamond room to one thousand and reduce the value of ruby to seven hundred. I did not agree with it; I think my price was perfect. People have money, and as long as I provide them with a good enough service, they will spend it like the water. We stayed and watched for two hours; in these two hours, the gate had opened four times, and it did not remain open for long. Now there are one hundred and forty-seven clients, and only sixteen are without girls, while others are with girls; many tables across the hall will have one or two girls and two to five men. Today, the groups seemed usually high, as normally 80% of tables will only have one patron and one girl, now that number had been reduced to 60%. I watched for a few minutes more before getting up; I looked at Ca, who shook her head, so I alone walked out of the room and went to the studio, which looked far more amazing than before, with all the stuff and renovations. When I walked inside, I saw there were two women being worked on by the beautician while Eudo watched and instructed. Some of the new beauticians and the girls who were working were surprised to see me but saw no reaction from either Eudo, cooper, or the teen girls; they did not say anything while I sat on the corner chair, watching everything and taking notes. Within a minute, the beautician finished with a redhead woman in her early thirties. She is Olga, and she walked out of the chair to the tform, where her robe fell, and brush came, fixing any marks on her skin, before changing her into new clothes and jewelry. In less than a minute, she was ready and walked out of the room after nodding respectfully at me. I stayed there for half an hour before going back to the small room. "How is everything?" asked Ca, without looking away from the hall. "Perfect," I replied as I sat down on the chair and turned to the hall. ¡­.. Margaux "If I didn''t have to leave in the very early morning, I would have stayed longer," said the man in his early forties. "It is fine, mister Rain; I am sure you will stay longer when youe to the Greltheaven," I said, and the smile on his face became bigger. He is a merchant from Riverbell andes to Greltheaven every week and always. "You can count on that, Madam Margaux," he said, and the next moment, he ced a check on the table. "The extra is for Ina," he said and walked through the door while I slid the check-in table. The majority of clients, being merchants, pay with checks, which are fast and more efficient than coins. We are earning a lot, more than Ca and I had estimated, and it is not just the establishment but also the girls. The gifts that patrons left for me and the girls also became bigger, just like Master Silver had told me would happen. A minuteter, I opened the gates, and they stayed open for ten minutes before I asked them to close. I am keeping a number of clients between one hundred forty to one hundred fifty. Around fifty more than the girls we have, but that did not seem to be a problem, with many tables having more patrons than girls. Everything went smoothly; the clients drank and ate while having a great time with the girls. I looked around before walking into the hall, talking to patrons and asking them questions. Many of the patrons are regr, but she also recognizes those who havee a few times or never. Master Silver has provided more a huge information about the merchants, including their sketches, and since she always been good faces, she did not have a hard time memorizing their faces and names. "Mr. Steel, I hope you are having a good time," I said as I walked to the man in his mid-fifties, nursing the whisky in his hand at the bar. "How can I have a good time when I am alone, Margaux? Though, it can change if you join me," he said suggestively, to which I smiled. "I wish I could, mister Steel, but my responsibilities have changed; I can no longer entertain you," I replied. "It is quite sad for people like us that you have be a madam, Margaux," he said as he sipped his whiskey. "You whore, how dare you to reject me!" I had opened my mouth to reply when I was suddenly stopped by the loud, angry sound that reverberated through the hall. "Excuse me, mister Steel," I said and turned before hearing his reply and walked toward the middle table. Where a potbellied man in his early thirties gripping Vana''s hand tightly. Anger zed in my heart, but I controlled it as I activated Charm Walk. I do not care about the charm right now, but this skill increases the speed of walking when tried, and that is what I want. "Is there any problem, sir?" I asked politely to the man as I reached the table. The man is drunk and angry that his nostrils and ring; he is also gripping Vana''s hand tightly, and even I look at it, he does not release her hand. "Yes, there is a problem; this whore refused toe with me," he said, nearly shouting, spit flying. I feared my expression cracking as I faced the man, and for a moment, I thought about what the madam at myst brothel had done; she would have pped Vana and apologized to the man. "It is her choice, sir; you cannot force her toe with you if she does not want to," I said, failing hard to be polite, and this shocked the man. This is not her old brothel, and she will not hit her girls ever. The man''s face reddened, and he got angrier, gripping Vana''s hand even more tightly; the teen girl began whimpering. "She is a whore, and since I paid, I could do whatever the hell I can," he said and tried to pull her to him, but she stopped him by picking Vana''s hand, but it was hard, the stronger than he looked. "Yes, she is whore, but she has a choice here, and she clearly does not want to go with you," I said, and the pudgy man got angrier as he finally released Vana''s hand and raised it to hit me. I nearly closed my eyes and waited for the stinging pain, but it did note. "I wouldn''t do that if I were you, Gates," said the familiar cultured voice; I opened my eyes and saw Master Silver beside me, wearing his impable suit and a small smile on his face. Though when I looked at his eyes, I did not see any mirth, instead raging anger as he looked at the pudgy hand stopped midway. "What kind of business are you running, Silver; your whore had refused toe with me," said the pudgy man angrily. "A business for respectable people, but you obviously do not fit into that category," he said directly that making the pudgy man shake in rage. "I had not believed it when your cousin had said you had the manners of a gori despite looking like a human, but now, I could see she was telling the truth," If the earlier insult was bad enough, this one seemed to have hit the nerve. "You bastard!" shouted the pudgy man and punched Master Silver with all his strength, while Master Silver kept looking at him with that unchanging smile on his face. I opened my mouth to shout the warning when the hand came in between and stopped the punch effortlessly. "Dan, Gina, mister Gates is obviously heavily intoxicated; please take him to his carriage," said Master Silver, and two guards quickly picked up the pudgy man and began to carry him away, despite his obvious resistance. "You bastard, I will remember it," he screamed, but Master Silver even looked at him and turned to me "You did good, and do add him add to the banned list," he said, saying thest sentence a little loudly and before turning to people watching. "My apologies for the disturbance, gentlemen. I hope the ss Argon 16 from the house would be enough to erase this unsavory incident from your memories," he said and turned to me. "Margaux, a ss of Argon 16 for everyone," he said to me before taking Vana with him. ¡­ Caena Hun! A surprise couldn''t help but appear on my face, not because of the incident but because the speed of absorption of desires had increased instantly, almost doubled. It clearly happened due to the incident. The night had been full of surprises; the first was the rapid charging of my spell, that instead of months and weeks that, I had imagined, it would be fully charged within four to five days. It surprised me, and now I am surprised again, twice in a matter of seconds. The charging of my spell had increased again, and now I ampletely sure that this ce was helping me. The spell is not harnessing the desire and lust this ce is absorbing but harnessing the one which had been directed at me more efficiently than before, which couldn''t help but make her extremely happy. "What happened, Caena? What made you all freeze up?" asked the young man in the middle. "Don''t worry, we wouldn''t force you like that bull," said the one beside him with the mirth. Hearing their words brought me back to myself, and my eyes turned seductive and my expressions suggestive. "It would please me to no end if you did that," I said throatily in my most seductive voice, and it seemed to work, seeing how their expressions changed. I had been entertaining these three friends for half an hour, and I nned to bed each of them; the emotions I would harness from them would help me charge the spell faster. Seeing how easily I am getting clients, I might not even need the spell, but I know having more spells ready is always better, not to mention she will get amission from the rooms on top of her hours. She needs that money; there are a lot of things she needs to buy to create the spells she needs, and taking more patrons to the rooms will help her with that. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 69: Goddess (18+) Chapter 69: Goddess (18+) ¡°I am sorry,¡± said Vana softly as we walked out of the hall. ¡°Why? You did nothing wrong,¡± I said to the teen girl, who had tears dripping from her eyes. ¡°It is the fault of that pig, who did not understand the rejection,¡± I added, and that brought a smile to her face. Click! I opened the door of the small restroom beside the studio and was about to close it when Ca entered inside, and it was clear by her eyes how angry she was. There have been some incidents before but never like this one. People would ept after someining, but this one did not. ¡°Sit,¡± I sat the teen down and took out the healing gel from the small cupboard before applying it to her hand. That pig had gripped her hand too hard that now, there was swelling. Thankfully, the swelling is not big; the healing cream will fix it within a few minutes. While physical damage will take a few minutes to heal, psychological will take time. ¡°Rest here, or you could rest in your room,¡± I said, to which the teen girl had remained silent, thinking, before she looked at me. ¡°I want to go back to the hall after this healed,¡± she said, and I opened my mouth to advise against it when I felt a hand on my shoulder and closed my mouth. ¡°It is fine if you want to go back; just rest a little before that and even get some touch-up in the studio,¡± said Ca, to which the young girl nodded. ¡°There is no pressure on you to go back; if you don¡¯t want to go back there ever, it is fine too. I am sure we can find other ways for you to serve the contract,¡± I said, but the young woman shook her head. ¡°No, I want to work,¡± said Vana. To that, I sighed. ¡°It is your choice,¡± I said and patted her shoulder before walking out of the room. ¡°It is so sad that a young woman had to face such a thing, especially on her first day,¡± I said and sighed as we walked toward the secret rooms. ¡°It might be surprising to you, but we prostitutes face this every day,¡± ¡°Vana had to face this many times in the old brothel. Only here she gets the courage to say no,¡± she said, and I nodded. I sometimes forget that the girls have been working since they are fifteen; some I have got from Namdar have worked from fourteen and one thirteen. This is the reality of this world; the earth was no better; powerful people get away from being pedophiles, from priests to billionaires. Soon we reached the hidden room, I opened the door, and Ca went inside; I followed and closed the door behind me. I had just turned when I saw Ca face to face, looking at me intensely with those smoldering eyes, and had opened my mouth to speak when I found her lips on mine filled with such passion and hunger that I had never sensed from anyone. It surprised me for a moment, but soon, I let go of it with every inhibition I had. I had been holding back against her provocations for weeks; I wanted to take her thousands of times, but I resisted every time, but no more. We begin to kiss with enough passion to burn the damn city; without caring that people might see us through the painting. Even with the skills, it is quite hard to see through it. The painting is made by a Level 30 painter, and on top of that, the small room had anti-snooping enchantments, making it even harder. Those with Level 35+ or those with powerful sses and skills at level 30 might be able to do it, but the chances of that happening are very low. I have yet to begin attracting a clientele with such levels and skills in big numbers. So, if one or two were here, they wouldn¡¯t be looking here; peoplee to the establishment to rx, not to snoop. I have often imagined what it would be like to kiss Ca, and whatever I had imagined was a thousand times paler than what I was experiencing. It was unlike anything I had experienced before. ¡°Let¡¯s go to a morefortable ce,¡± I said and opened the door of the small room and walked out with her. Even as we climbed the stairs, we were not able to control ourselves and kissed many times before finally reaching the ce. Click! I opened the door of my room and went inside, and looked at her. I only needed to look at her for a second and got all the permission I wanted, and kissed her as I pushed her against the wall. We begin to kiss as if our lives depend on it, not moving our lips away from each other. It was not just lips that moved, but also our hands that moved across each other body; my hands roamed her across her body before they went inside her dress, and I felt her soft yet firm ass, which I could help but squeeze hard. ¡°Ahhhh,¡± A moan couldn¡¯t escape from her mouth as I did that, and she looked at me with passion, hunger, and something else which I did not want to think about it right now. ¡°Take me; I could not wait for it anymore,¡± she said hurriedly and moved her hands toward my pants, but I stopped her. ¡°This is our first time, and let''s savor it,¡± I said and kissed her while my hands moved to release the strings of her dress. As I released all the strings, her dress fell down, and I looked at her with nothing but ck lingerie. Seeing me looking at her, her cheeks reddened a little, and she became a little self-conscious. ¡°You look beautiful,¡± I said breathlessly and took her toward the bed before gently pushing her onto it. I quickly removed my clothes till I was only in briefs and moved on top of her before taking those juicy lips and continued kissing her, before finally moving away from her lips. Ahhhh I kissed her delicate nose first, before her cheeks and then her ear, which I had bit gently, drawing out another moan from her sweet mouth. ¡°Please,¡± she said pleadingly. ¡°All in good time, dear,¡± I said and kissed her throat, drawing out another moan, which became even louder as I bit her neck gently. I continued to shower her with kisses from her neck before reaching her corbone, making her shiver all over before reaching the valley of her breasts. ¡°I have dreamed about them thousands of times,¡± I said, releasing the hook and removing her bra, releasing the most perfect pair of breasts I had ever seen. I looked at them as saliva gathered in my mouth before kissing them and taking them in my mouth as I did, a moan couldn¡¯t escape from her mouth, and she kept moaning as my tongue yed with it while my hand yed with another. Her breasts feel amazing, and they taste even better that I can¡¯t seem to let go, especially when I continue hearing her sweet moans, which are going higher and higher. ¡°Yessss!¡± Shouted Ca, and I felt her shuddering; seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face as I yed with her breasts even more intensely, biting, kissing, licking. ¡°How was the orgasm?¡± I asked. I felt her body calm down, ¡°Best,¡± she replied, with her cheeks flushing. ¡°But I want more,¡± she added. ¡°Soon, you will get more,¡± I said and once again took her breast in my mouth for ast time before descending down, showering kisses across her navel, making her moan and quiver. She is beautiful and deserves to worship, and that is what I am doing; I am worshipping every part of her. Soon, I reached for her panties and breathed on them and could feel her whole body quivering under them. I kissed her panties before taking them out and looking at her wet pussy. It was glisteningly wet and smelling so delicious that I barely stopped my spit from leaking out my mouth. ¡°You are so wet,¡± I said. ¡°Yes, please don¡¯t make me wait,¡± she said pleadingly, but I did not listen. I started at those glistering folds for a moment before kissing down; I did kiss her pussy, but above it, while breathing on it as I kissed down, making her squirm, building the anticipation, Soon, I reached close to her pussy, but instead of kissing, I kissed her thighs, making her squirm even more. ¡°Please,¡± she begged, and I continued to tease her, building more and more anticipation till it was time. ¡°Since you want it so badly, I will give it to you,¡± I said, bringing my tongue down and licking across her glistering folds, and immediatly felt her shudder wildly. ¡°Yessss¡­.¡± She shouted in pleasure. She orgasmed instantly while I tasted the most wonderful pussy in my life; it tasted like nectar. Hearing her wild moan, I began to eat her pussy. I started gently before slowly increasing my momentum. I would kiss, lick and even bite gently while sensing her response. She is like a beautiful instrument, and I want to y her at her best; give her the best pleasure of her life. Yeesss Yesss Yesssssss She kept moaning as I licked her, enjoying the waves of unending waves pleasure that I was giving her. In a few minutes, she got up and pressed my head against her pussy while her thighs gripped it from both sides, making me focus on nothing else other than her pleasures. I did not mind it; I was fully focused on her pleasure as I listened to her voice and body as I gave it to her. ¡°Yesssssss¡­¡± More than ten minutes passed when she let out the loudest moan and slumped back into bed, and only then I moved my mouth from her pussy. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked as I appeared beside her, ¡°Blissed,¡± she said as she opened her eyes. ¡°I hope you are not tired, but there is a lot of that yet toe,¡± I said, and she smiled. ¡°You will have to do much more than that if you want to tire me out with pleasure,¡± she challenged. ¡°By the time, I finish, you won¡¯t even be able to walk,¡± I said back and took her lips in mine; she did not seem to mind tasting herself on my lips and even loved it, seeing how she was kissing me. We kissed for more than a minute before I pulled back and removed my briefs with one hand, revealing my rock-hard cock. It had be very hard; I had never felt it hard as it is right now. Though, it is also true that I never had sex with a woman like Ca. She is an absolute treasure. I positioned my cock at the entrance of her pussy and turned to her, ¡°Ready?¡± I asked her, and she nodded. Seeing that, I gently drove my cock into her pussy, while taking her lips and felt pleasure; I had never experienced it in my life; I could never even describe how I felt. Soon, it went fully inside, and I left it there for a second before I started making love to her gently. Though the gentle movement did notst for long as a minuteter, her lips began to demand more, and my movements became faster; without breaking our lips and eye contact, we held against it each other. It was beautiful, and I had never felt like this with anyone, and I wanted it forever; I don¡¯t think I will be able to stay from her, even if she wants me to. Time passed as my movements, and her hips came in perfect synch. It felt so perfect that it felt like our bodies are made for each other. ¡°I am close,¡± I said after some time, ¡°Me too,¡± she whispered back; I nodded and took her lips into mine and increased my movements faster, and without saying anything, she also adjusted her movements to mine. ¡°I aming,¡± I said a minuteter, ¡°Me too,¡± she said, and I released the load inside her as I felt the greatest pleasure of my life. The pleasurested for more than a minute before it stopped, and only then I stopped moving andid beside her. ¡°It was amazing,¡± I said when I finally got my breath under control. ¡°Yes, it was, and I want more of it,¡± she said directly as she turned to me. ¡°And you will have it,¡± I said and looked at my cock, which became tighter again. ¡°Good, you have recovered quickly; I thought I might need to use my skill to do it,¡± she said, and I smiled. ¡°Not yet,¡± I said and brought her top of me. A minuteter, she was riding me like a goddess while moaning in pleasure. We continued through a whole night, beyond a human limit, thanks to her skills, which she needed to use after a few rounds, for which I couldn¡¯t help but feel grateful as I did not want to stop at all. I don¡¯t know how many times we did it through the night, but when we finally stopped, it was well past dawn, and I was so tired that I did not have the energy to even twitch. Though there was a satisfied smile, and not only on my face. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 70: Maquerelle Chapter 70: Maquerelle Ca When I woke up, there was a notification in front of me. I had leveled up, which genuinely surprised me, as I did not think I had done something that would warrant a level-up. Gaining the levels is hard, especially after level 20. It made me happy, but when I noticed when I was, I became even happier, a hundred times happier. I pushed the notification and turned to the man beside me and knew what happenedst night wasn¡¯t a dream at all. I had waited for months for it to happen. At first, I seduced him to secure my job, but within a few days, those thoughts have changed into something I did not dare to think about. I turned to Remus, whose hand was still around my waist, and if I didn¡¯t have to work, I would have stayed, enjoying his presence. I gently removed his hand from my waist and got out of bed. Immediately felt the effect ofst night, which couldn¡¯t help but bring a smile to my face and make me wet again. Last night''s intense, Remus has a far better love than I had imagined. He worshipped my body like no one ever did, kissing every part of me. Just thinking about it sent shivers down my vagina. I collected my clothes and began to wear them one by one while remembering how he had removed them; I wanted to experience that worship again. I had never felt that in my life. All my life, I had been a dispenser for men¡¯s lust. They woulde to fuck and leave; even one of those gentle lovers was the same, caring only about their pleasure. From the moment we begin, Remus had cared more about my pleasure than his own, the way he did, like a prayer, worshiping the goddess he desired so much. I soon finished wearing my clothes and crouched down, kissing his lips gently, before walking out of the room with my shoes in hand, and I am not feeling any shame at all. I deserve it, and I will have more. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. Margaux I returned to my office after taking notes of everything, from the kitchen to the bar, before entering my office. What a night it was, at first, everything went smoothly, but soon that incident came up. It was bad, but with Master Silvers''s help, we were able to throw that pig out, and now, he is banned. Though I am still worried about Master Silver, while he said I did a good job, I will not be able to calm my nerves till he reassures me again. I pushed those thoughts away far as possible and turned to important things in front of her; I needed to make the expense report, and I had two hours before I had to present it to Master Silver. I had been doing that alone for more than two weeks without any help for Ca, but today is different. Unlike before, there were more girls now, more rooms, and more patrons who ate and drank more and went to more rooms; it all tranted to more work. I did not waste any time and began; thankfully, I had taken the notes; those lessons on administration were great, and so were the tips from Ca. I wouldn¡¯t be to do this if not for those lessons. It hadn¡¯t been a minute since I started when the notification buzzed in my head. [Conditions Met: ss Harlot - ss Maquerelle] [Conditions Met: Night Long- Night Work] [Conditions Met: Breath of Erection- Kiss of Vigor] [Conditions Met: Sometimes I Fake It- Fake Face] [Conditions Met: Cloths Open- Get Naked] [Conditions Met: Charmed Walk+ He Liked Them Aged+ Sultry Tongue- Madam¡¯s Charm] [ss Maquerelle Lv. 22] [Skill Gained- Numeracy] For a few seconds, she froze; she thought it was a level-up notification, but it turned into something else entirely. As she looked at it, she knew all her skills in the Harlot ss had changed; even the ss itself had changed. Her ss had advanced. She could feel its weight and know it was a whole grade above the Harlot ss she had. As she understood what had happened, a big ecstatic smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face. My skills have be better than before, and three have even merged into bing my most powerful skill. I could feel its power and knew how useful it would be, especially in dealing with incidents likest night. Not only that, she had even gained a skill, Numeracy; Ca had such a skill, and I knew how useful it was. Looking at huge advancement, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh; I knew my ss would change with new responsibilities, and so do the skills, but I did not expect the change would be this big. Even Ca had said not all her skills had changed when she advanced her ss, but mine did. I pushed away the notification and opened my interface, where everything was on the neat table.
ss: Maquerelle Lv.22
Painter Lv. 4
Charisma: 13
Intelligence: 7
Vitality: 13
Strength: 9
Mana 3
Skills: ¡¤ Madam¡¯s Charm ¡¤ Kiss of Vigor ¡¤ Night Work ¡¤ Fake Face ¡¤ Get Naked ¡¤ Attention To Colours ¡¤ Deft Hands ¡¤ Numeracy
Attribute Points: 1
Every skill of mine will help me do the job better, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel ecstatic getting them. I looked at it all over and over till I knew it was not a dream and only them; my eyes moved to the attribute point. If it had been a week before, I knew where I wanted to use that point, but now I am not sure. My mind is telling me to put it in one ce while my heart is telling me to put it in another. I should listen to my mind, and I tried, but I just couldn¡¯t, so I left the point there; I will use it when my mind and hearte to a decision. I looked at the window for a minute more before I turned to my work, and within a few seconds, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. Numeracy is making things quite easy for me; it is not as taxing as before as numbers became friends. Twenty-five minutes passed, and a shock couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. The establishment had earned more than I had estimated, more than Ca and Master Silver had estimated. I had made calctions three times to believe the number was true, and it was not just the establishment that had earned a lot but also the girls. It is just from theirmission of hours and rooms; I haven¡¯t counted the gifts yet, which is the biggest source of their ie. Knock Knock! She was looking at the numbers when the knock rang out on her door, and she closed the ledger and turned toward the door. Click! ¡°Come in,¡± I said, and the door opened, and L entered inside, and she was not the only one; behind her were five girls; seeing them, my mood had be even better, as I could guess why they all were here. ¡°Congrattions, you all,¡± I said to them. ¡°Thank you, Madam Margaux,¡± they said while L turned to me with focus before a small smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face. ¡°It seemed like, we are not the only ones, who had leveled up today,¡± said L, and I smiled. The girl is intelligent and observant; the only w she has is her rashness; I hope the lesson she has learned will help her control that rashness of her. ¡°You''re all here to tell me you have reached the second capstone, right?¡± I asked as I looked at each of them, and they nodded. Of the six that came, three were part of the first batch, two are the second batch, and thest one was from the third batch and the only one that surprised me the most; she was a woman who looked to be in herte twenties, youngest of them all. She will be the youngest to reach twenty in the establishment, but won¡¯t be for much longer; Andrea and other young girls are rapidly leveling; it won¡¯t take long for them to reach level 20. ¡°Good, show me,¡± I said to them, and all six of them released their ss; I used my ss to feel their level, and quite a surprise, how clearly, I could feel the weight of their sses. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised; my ss had advanced, and in the hierarchy of the prostitute ss, it is above theirs, which makes sense, the weight of their sses each. I focused on each of them, and soon, I finished thest one with a smile on my face. ¡°Very good,¡± I said and opened the drawer and took out six keys belonging to the six rooms. ¡°These are keys to your rooms,¡± I said, and they snatched the keys; the moment I noted down their numbers and names. As I said before, the girls love private space, which is why three girls hiding their levels revealed and got their rooms. Now, we have a total of thirteen girls who are at Level 20, fifteen, if we count Ca and me. It is just beginning; in theing weeks and months, their numbers will take a huge leap. ¡°Thank you, Madam Margaux,¡± they said, ¡°You deserved it, girls,¡± I replied with a smile before something came to my mind, and I turned the girls. ¡°I have the skill to try. Will any of you mind being a test subject?¡± I asked them. ¡°I don¡¯t mind, me too,¡± they replied one after another. ¡°It might remove all your clothes,¡± I said, to which they shook their head. ¡°It did not matter,¡± said L. ¡°Then I am activating it,¡± I said and activated Get Naked, and immediately, all clothes on L¡¯s body slid off. Seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face; Cloths Open used to work on me alone but Get Naked worked on me as well as others. I tested it on all of them, and it worked without any problem. ¡°Thank you, girls,¡± I said to them as they wore back their clothes. ¡°Happy to help,¡± replied Gena. They left soon after while I continued to work, and an hourter, I was finished with it. I once again checked everything, and after confirming everything was perfect, I picked up the files and walked out of my office. Master Silver is going to be very happy with the numbers. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 71: Agent of Experience Chapter 71: Agent of Experience [Conditions Met: Souteneur Merchant- Agent of Experience] [Conditions Met: Trusty Presence- Trustful Presence] [Conditions Met: Worthy Goods- Goods Sense] [Conditions Met: Shop Open- Torch for Seeker] [Agent of Experience Lv. 10] [Agent of Experience Lv. 11] [Skill Gained: Sight Through Veil] The moment I opened my eyes, I saw loads of notifications in bold blue color in front of me. For a second, I could not react at all, before a smile appeared on my face. My ss had advanced and so were my skills. Seeing some of them, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but turn red with joy. Especially Torch for Seeker and Sight Through Veil; these two are skill simply amazing. I had also levelled up and not once, but twice, giving me two attribute points. It took me a while to calm myself, but when I did, I look it all rationally. Agent of Experience. This is ¡®of¡¯ grade ss, formally known as the specialized grade ss; my old ss, Souteneur Merchant, was a merged ss and specialized ss, but it was at the lower end, but the Agent of Experience is at least a grade above that. I could feel its weight and know it is more powerful than my old ss, which automatically increases the power of my skills and attributes. The power of skills depends as much on ss as on the levels and attributes. It is the same for the attributes. The better your ss is, the more power they will give to you. Two people with the same attribute points do not project the same power unless they have the same ss. It is the reason people desire better sses so much, especially the ruling sses, which held the greatest weight. My new ss will increase the weight of my attributes; the ones that will benefit the most are charm and intelligence. Strength and vitality will also benefit, but not as much as the other two. It is not abat ss. Three of my skills had advanced. Trusty Presence had turned to Trustful Presence, a more powerful passive skill. It helps a lot when dealing with girls and those rted to the business. The same happened with Worthy Goods. It had advanced to Goods Sense. I can already see how much they will benefit me. The advancement of two sses is good, but it is the third one for which I am most excited. Shop Open had turned into Torch of Seeker, an extremely powerful skill, which is at least two grades above themon Shop Open. It will attract people who are searching for experience. I could already see how much it will benefit my business. If a Shop Open was the billboard, then Torch of Seeker is a bright red torch, that will anyone who is searching for experience to the establishment. Thest one is a new skill I got, Sight Through Veil; it is an invasive skill, but one I am very much happy to get and couldn¡¯t wait to use it. I wanted to get out of my room to use my skill, but I controlled myself and turned to the next thing. I have leveled up twice, and with it; I have gotten two attribute points. I already know where I am going to use them, but I did not use them immediately, instead opened my ss interface first.
ss: Agent of Experience (Lv. 11)
Lawyer (Lv. 8) Warrior (Lv.7)
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 7
Strength: 6
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Quick Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Sure Foot ¡¤ Sight Through Veil
Attribute Points: 2
The ck table appeared in front of me, with blue text showing everything to me. Aside from the Price is Right, all my skills from the base ss had changed. I am also quite close to the first capstone in the Lawyer ss, which I had advanced once after returning from Namdar. Two levels more in Lawyer ss and I will have another attribute point. It won¡¯t take long, at the end of the year, given the amount of work I am doing for the guild. It is hard to make such progress, over 99% of people take more than a year to reach level 10 in their ss, while I will take two of my sses to that level and above, before the year''s end. I am not sure about the Warrior ss, and I would be grateful if I slowly level it with training. I do not want to suffer dangerous incidents to level it up. After looking at the table, I turned back to the attribute point and immediately added one to the charisma and the other to the strength. I would have liked to add the one I used for charisma to vitality, but adding to the charisma would benefit me more.
ss: Agent of Experience (Lv. 11)
Lawyer (Lv. 8) Warrior (Lv.7)
Charisma: 11
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 7
Strength: 7
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Quick Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Sure Foot ¡¤ Sight Through Veil
Attribute Points: 0
As I added the points, I felt the change immediately. My perception became clear, while I felt more strength in my veins as I made the fist. A few minutester, I closed the window and turned to the empty side of the bed. Last night was wonderful and I am already desiring more; I don¡¯t think I could stop now, even if I wanted to. Just thinking about thest night made my cock hard and if she had been here, I would have taken her now. I pushed those thoughts and walked out of the bed. Quickly freshening up and showered before eating breakfast. As I finished that, I walked out of my room. From tomorrow, I will resume the practice; I had taken four days off, and that is more than enough. I will need to keep my skills sharp, especially now with the attribute and change of ss. While the warrior ss had not changed. The power of attributes had changed because of the advancement of the base ss, and that will affect the Warrior ss and Lawyer ss. Click! I opened the door of the office and walked inside; immediately, two sets of eyes fell on me, and a surprise appeared on their face. ¡°Congrattion, Master Silver,¡± said Margaux. She could feel I had leveled up with my passive skill; I am just learning to control them. I do not have the experience and time like Margaux, one of the best in controlling her passive skills. ¡°You too, Margaux,¡± I said with a smile and a faint surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face, which quickly disappeared. So, quickly, that I am not sure whether I had seen the surprise or just imagined it. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she replied. She had her passive skills in control, along with her charisma, but with my new ss, I could still pick up the obvious hints, which are telling me, Margaux is not the only one. Ca, too, had leveled up. ¡°Before we start, I want to say one thing to you, Margaux,¡± I said, and could feel her being nervous before she quickly controlled her expressions. ¡°You did an amazing jobst night. Your handling of disturbance was perfect.¡± I praised. ¡°Remember, the choice of girls is most important. If incidents ur again. You have my fill my permission to throw the troublemakers out,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, master Silver,¡± she said emotionally, without hiding her expressions. There was a silence for a few seconds. Though I looked at Ca and my cock couldn¡¯t help but harden. She seemed to understand what I was feeling as a small, seductive smile shed across her face before it disappeared. ¡°Have you made all the calctions?¡± I asked Margaux, ¡°Yes, it is all in here,¡± she replied, and pushed the file toward me. I took the white file in my hand and opened it, before starting reading and in just a few seconds my eyes lit up and a smile appeared on my face, which became bigger and bigger with every line I read. Like Ca, she is clear and concise, more than before; if I am not wrong, then she had gotten some skills, that made her more efficient and urate in it. ¡®Two million, sixty-two hundred and fifty-six crowns,¡¯ I read as I stared at the big bold numbers written beautifully in ck ink. It was double what I had expected. I had estimated, we will earn between one million to one and a half million, but we have ended up earning double. Like always, we have earned more through the food and drinks; I had hired new chefs and bartenders. The new head chef is above level 25 and could work on some magical material. I did not change the head bartender, as he is good, and only got him a few assistants. We have sold quite a lot of drinks and food and if we continued selling in such a way, then it wouldn¡¯t take long for it to empty our inventory, especially of our liquor. Which is great, because now, I could buy more of those expensive liquors, especially the ones that costs a million crowns and more a bottle. Those are really amazing and looking at choices of people, they are clearly willing to pay. I will start buying them and begin using them, after at least twenty girls reach Level 20. I do not want to sell the liquor without providing a quality of experience. While the liquor might sell, people will not get the experience that I wanted them to get in the establishment. The higher-level girls will provide that experience and I don¡¯t think I will have to wait too long for that. As of today, thirteen girls have reached Level 20 and more will soon. In two to three months, I will have at least twenty girls above level 20. If I wanted to, I could have brought Level 20 girls. I had money, but that would have made things worse. The level is not everything. One needs to have the skills, not to mention the knowledge. The reason I take girls below level 20 is that I could teach them. Through that knowledge, their sses and skills change, not to mention the knowledge they gain in the field they have chosen. Every one of my girls could have an intelligent conversation in the fields they are learning, which is what makes the establishment differ from other brothels. ¡°The earnings are very good,¡± I said Margaux, before turning to Ca. ¡°Put the notice for the teachers we want.¡± I said to Ca. ¡°It will be done,¡± she said. We had the teachers, but now I want the better ones; the new ones needed to be level 25 or even Level 30, if they are in budget, with a specialization in the field we need. The higher-level teachers are better, their pupils learn quickly, and I want that. The level of establishment increasing and so are our earnings, and I want the girls to advance with it. I want them to gain enough knowledge in their respective fields that they could converse intelligently about it. ¡°You two can choose your own private teachers.¡± I said to them. These two represent the establishment, and I need them to be best. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± said Margaux, with tears welling up in her eyes. I smile at her and turn to both. ¡°I have got a new skill. Do you mind, If use them on you both?¡± I asked them. ¡°No, I do not mind,¡± said Margaux, while Ca just shook her. With their permission, I activated the Sight Through Veil. Immediately, I felt the weight of their sses and even could tell how many sses they have. Ca has three, while Margaux has four. ¡°Try resisting,¡± I said, and a momentter, it became fuzzy. The only thing I could tell is that they are above level 20. I could not even tell how many sses they have. ¡°How does it feel?¡± I said, as I deactivated the skill. ¡°A bit intrusive,¡± replied Ca, while Margaux just nodded. ¡°Thank you for letting me test my skill,¡± I said to them. I am thrilled with result and now, I want to test on someone lower, those below level 20% and level 10. I am sure, the result, I will get will be something amazing. ¡°It is my pleasure,¡± said Margaux and got up to leave, while I turned my eyes to Ca, whose beautiful amethyst eyes are burning with lust. Click! I must be feeling the same. The moment the door clicked close, we both get out of our chairs at the same time and moved toward each other. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 72: In Office (18+) Chapter 72: In Office (18+) Click! The moment the door closed, we both sprang up from our chairs at the same time and a secondter, our lips met for a passionate kiss. The kiss is like fire. It made every part of my body feel hot, that I wanted to throw away all my clothes. ¡°I want you,¡± I said as our lips separated. ¡°Take me now,¡± she replied, and that is all the affirmation I needed, as I threw away the files on the desk. With no care for them, and lifted her onto it. I raised her dress and looked at the redcy underwear. As I touched it and felt it wet. ¡°You are drenched,¡± I said as I tasted my finger before removing her underwear; nearly tearing it apart. Yessss¡­ I crouched down and licked her drenched pussy, tasting those wonderful juices that I had felt thirsty for since morning. Drawing out a moan from her lips. I wanted to fuck her directly, but the moment I tasted her juices off my fingers, I couldn¡¯t control myself. Yesss Yess Yesssss I begin to eat her pussy, drawing out bigger and louder moans from her lips. Those moans were music to my ears and the greatest encouragement I needed. She pressed my head into her pussy with her hand. I did not resist and instead increased the tempo of my tongue while biting her gently, making her louder every second. Yeesssssss! It did not take long for her to let out the loudest moan and I felt her body shudder and juices begin toe out; I licked them all while taking her higher and higher into her orgasm. I only got up when thest waves of her organism receded, but she still has her eyes close as she takes ragged breaths. ¡°That was amazing,¡± she said as she opened her eyes. ¡°I aim to please,¡± I replied. After doing that whole night, I understood quite a few things about her, the things she liked, the things that take her higher. If we continued for a few days, I would know her body so thoroughly that I could y her like an instrument. ¡°It is my turn now,¡± she said and got off the table and went onto her knees, before smoothly removing the buttons of my hand. As she pulled them down, my rock-hard cock sprang forth. She moved her tantalizing tongue toward it before licking the white drop of pre-cum from my cock. ¡°Tasty,¡± she said and moved her tongue on my cock again, whole her hands begin to y with my hands. ¡°Yes,¡± I said, and gripped the table tightly. She had amazing skills, especially with her tongue. The things she could do with it will make her feel life worthwhile with just a single experience. She yed with my cock with her tongue before moving it across the ball; she kept doing that for a minute before she took my cock in her mouth and took it whole down and kept it there for a few seconds before bringing it out. ¡°You are so good,¡± I praised, to which she smiled and suck my cock. Her mouth is feeling so amazing that I wanted to grip her head and fuck her throat and I will do that, but not today. Today, I will let myself enjoy her skills thoroughly. She continued to suck my cock and balls, using her tongue masterfully, that it did not take her long to bring me close. I tried resisting to enjoy the feeling longer, but she was so good that my resistance felt futile. ¡°I am close,¡± I said and instead of removing her mouth, her mouth became intense as that climax begin to approach rapidly till it came. ¡°I aming,¡± I said and unloaded all the load in her mouth, and she drank it all, without spilling out even a single drop. Soon, I unloaded it all in her throat before taking my cock out. While doing that, a thick drop fell on her lips. Which she licked clean erotically with her pink tongue. ¡°Delicious,¡± she said. Her action was so hot that I raised her by her shoulder and kissed her passionately, mixing both tastes together, which made the kiss even hotter that within seconds, my cock had be hard as a rock again. She could feel it pressing against her as she turned to me. ¡°Take me,¡± she said breathlessly, and I did waste any time. I raised her up on the table again and pressed her cock to my entrance, before pushing it all inside in a single stroke. ¡°Yes!¡± she screamed and pulled back my cock before ramming it inside again while taking her lips. This time, there was no gentleness. I fucked her hard. This is what she wants, this is what I want. I kept pistolling inside her while our lips kissed passionately, filling the entire office with wet sounds and moans from our lips. It is a good thing that I had made the officepletely soundproof with enchantment. One will need powerful listening skills to hear any sound from my office. ¡°Turn,¡± I said to her as I took out my cock from inside her; she turned immediately with her hands on the table and amazingly beautiful ass in front of me; on which the faint bite marks of yesterday are still showing. Yessss! I did not waste any time and pushed it inside her, deeper than before, drawing out even louder moans from her lips. It felt amazing to do it from behind, the spots I could hit with all the freedom, drawing out louder and louder loans from her. I pushed harder and harder inside her while bending to kiss her sensitive neck. Which, if I kiss and lick, heighten the pleasure she is feeling, in turn, she would manipte the muscles of her pussy to give the greatest of pleasure. I had a few partners who were able to do this, but not to this degree; it is on apletely different level, that makes everything otherworldly. ¡°I am close,¡± I said as I reached the climax, ¡°We wille together,¡± she said, and I kissed her neck while increasing momentum further. A few seconds passed; I could not hold back any longer. I released all my load inside her pussy and felt her shudder as she came. I emptied all my loads but did not remove my dick. It stayed in her pussy for more than a minute, before I had finally removed it. ¡°It was amazing,¡± I said, as I finally got off her. ¡°Yes, it was, and it seemed like you have to be added some points to strength and vitality.¡± ¡°You were more vigorous thanst night,¡± she said as she turned to me. I did not answer just smile as I pull my pants up and button them, before straightening up my cloth After adjusting my clothes, we picked the stuff from the ground and put it back on the table before sitting down on our chairs, basking in the wonderful after-sex glow. The spark had lit up so fast that we could not control ourselves and started fucking each other like animals and even now; I want to do it more, but there is too much work to do. ¡°They are opening the brothel right in front of us,¡± she said after a minute offortable silence. I looked at the big building opposite ours, where a lot of carriages and peopleing and going. Two days ago, Norman Lucas has brought the building. That was supposed to be a casino. Now it will be a brothel. It is nearly a finished building; it won¡¯t take more than a month to change it into a brothel. ¡°There is nothing you could do about thepetition, other than to beat them,¡± I said with a sigh. She smiled and there was a seductiveness in it, seeing that I wanted to get up and take her to the table again, but I did not. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down, before turning to file. I note down all the expenditures, from girls¡¯missions to sries of staff, taxes, and others. After counting everything, I have left with one million and seven hundred thousand pure profits. Though I will need to pay the loan, I owe to the bank and the dues I owe to Marina. I am not worried, will be finished paying it all in a week or two and then I will save. I am going to need a lot of money for what I am going to do next. While I have that gift from my grandfather; I would like to have my saving, when I start the next phase of my n. Soon, I finished and close the file, before picking up the papers, and immediately, I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. ¡°Gog Bandits,¡± I muttered; they are one of the dangerous groups of orc bandits from the Nakar forest. They are the strongest and, while few groups are stronger than them, these are the most audacious. They raid, raped, and ravaged; even dared to attack the forces of the empire and merchants'' cities. They have kidnapped many merchants and the officers of Mirador Hold. Those were not ransomed, killed by them. There is a huge bounty on their heads, but those bastards do the deed and hide in the magic region. Where finding them before is impossible. Still, the Mirador Hold had sent its forces there to hunt them down, and the city had issued a big bounty. Given its size, I am sure, many mercenaries would flock to the white forest soon. I wonder how my brother had reacted to it and other nobles of Nakar baronies; the bandit group is their problem now. There are some capable people who could deal with them, but there are also the idiots like my brother. In a few minutes, I finished reading all the papers and now there is, even more, worry in my heart than before. The world was bing dangerous by the day, andpared to some threats, the bandits of the Nakar forest did not seem too important. Tabes and Edruin are recruiting the soldiers inrge numbers; the same is happening down south with Geim and Yressor. Not to mention Vris¡¯alud is continuing its rampage on Mayhurst ind, making gains every day. All of them are preparing. The moment the emperor is dead, these bastards will attack at full strength. I really hope the first prince suppresses his siblings and consolidates his support from all factions, or it is going to be terrible. Even we wouldn¡¯t be safe in this corner of the empire; the Navr and its undead hordes are always in the shadows. Not to mention Tabes, which is still hell-bent on getting back its territory. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 73: To Crush Chapter 73: To Crush The door of the establishment opened, and a carriage walked through it. There is a smile on my face, even when I looked at hundreds of people rapidly working in a new brothel in front of me. I could already see many familiar people there because this time Norman had hired Valentina¡¯s firm to do the job. The man might be distasteful, but he is smart, and he knows he will need all advantages topete with me, and hiring my architect is the advantage he is gunning for. Well, he will need a lot more than to beat me. It had been ten nights since the establishment opened after the fresh changes. After the first night, my earning had broken through the three million mark and never came lower. The word spread, and also my skill; it is working much better than I had imagined. Torch of Seeker attracts anyone looking for experience. Seeing the response, I am nning to make other changes even sooner. Soon the carriage reached the merchant guild, I walked out of the carriage, with Jill silently following behind me. I had started to bring the young girl to the guild regrly with me. I need an excellent assistant and while Ca is great, it would be not wise to use her talents for this. I am training her to be an administrator; she will need to learn fast because soon there will be an enormous responsibility for her. Jill, on the other, is perfect for assistant, she is natural at it, and I only need to teach her a few things before she became great. I entered the guild and took the elevator, beforeing out and walking toward the conference room. Soon, I reached a conference room where a few people sitting in the backseat, including old man Oakley, Rip, and people from other departments. I sat down at the main conference table and read the agenda of today¡¯s meeting. This meeting happens every week. It is different from other meetings because the representative of Count Darrow also takes a part in it. There are quite some points are being discussed today. Some were very urgent, and some were about the long-term ns of the merchant guild. I was reading it when the first person walked inside. ¡°Remus, you have arrived early as always.¡± Said a man in histe forties with a thick mane of blond hair. ¡°You know me, guild master Bow,¡± I said to the man. He is Ivan Bow, the Guild-master of the potter¡¯s guild, and also one of the secretaries of the merchant guild. This meeting is attended by all the secretaries, vice-Guild-masters, and Guild-master. I am the only adviser invited to sit at the main table. There is staff from every department from legal to ounting, but all of them are sitting in the back chairs, not at the main table. One by one, people came in, most of them sub-guild masters like Bow, but when there were five minutes, vice-guild masters begin to appear. First was Soren Arryn. The old man came and sat in his seat, nodding at all people. Right after him came two more vice-guild masters, including the one who did not like me, and then Locke. Thest one toe is Damon Hardt, and with him is a representative of Count Darrow. As both of them walked it, we all sat up and only sat down, when they sat down. ¡°Thank you all of you for your attendance in the weekly meetings,¡± said Damon Hardt. ¡°We will begin today¡¯s meeting with the most urgent point,¡± he added and turned to Soren Arryn. ¡°The problem of bandits is increasing. In the past week, two trade caravans had been looted in Nakar Baronies by Gog Bandits with twelve deaths. The eight ships have also been robbed with nine deaths,¡± he said and looked at the representative of Count Darrow. I am a little surprised as not the whole news had been reported in papers; I thought only one trade caravan had been attacked and four ships had been looted. ¡°Count Darrow had been in contact with Mirador Hold and they have promised to send more forces to Nakar forest.¡± ¡°He also talked to the Lord of Meldhorn and the city lord of Owlspring, for more patrols; the city will also have four more new patrol ships to patrol the waterway by the end of the month,¡± he informed in a practice voice. ¡°We thank Lord Darrow for his efforts and hope, he will get rid of those vermin soon for smoother trade. It is the lifeblood of our great city,¡± said Damon Hardt. ¡°I will pass your words to Count Darrow,¡± he replied. Count Darrow may be powerful, but he needs to listen to the merchants. As Damon Hardt pointed out, it is the lifeblood of the city. Without it, the city has nothing. ¡°We will move to the next point, which is good news,¡± said Damon Hardt with a smile on his face. ¡°More goods areing from the Belnin and Oksall and our goods are also moving toward them; in just one week, the import had seen the rise by 110% and export by 130%.¡± He informed and joy is apparent in his voice. We do not have an official rtionship with the merchant states of Belnin and Oksall, but goods are flowing despite that. Which is great news, as this could be said to be the first step toward normalizing the rtionship with them, especially with Oksall. Not to mention, all the goods that flow through the city pay taxes, making it richer by the day. I know Count Darrow, who had been angrying here, is now happy. The city is performing better than anyone¡¯s imagination. The trade is increasing by the day and with it; the poption had been steadily increasing. The city''s poption had already doubled in three months, turning to fifty-thousand and it is increasing. The prices of real estate are also steadily increasing, that I had to hold off on some of the investments, I was nning on making. One point after another being discussed; I mostly stayed quiet, and only give my opinion when asked. That happened only twice till now, which is greater considering, some secretaries, did not even get a chance to talk. ¡°There are some signs Deerpond mellowing. Should we send another delegation?¡± asked Damon Hardt and Locke turned to me. ¡°I think we should wait. The concessions they are willing to make are too low. It will not be wise for us to sign any advance agreements with those concessions they are offering,¡± I advised while using the Lawful Suggestions. I am using it at every chance I have got. ¡°Lord Darrow had the same views; he said we said we should wait till a more favorable responsees from them,¡± said the adviser. ¡°We will wait for directions of Count Darrow,¡± said Damon Hardt, before turning to Locke again. ¡°How is the preparation for the Gailhorn?¡± he asked. Gailhorn is one of three port cities in the Renwell region and the one closest to us; though not much trade flows through it, because of its being connected to thend rather than the river. Which I think is not a wise decision; we cannot always remain to depend on river trade. We need to have all avenues of trade open or when the hard timese, it will be difficult for us to survive. ¡°Going smoothly, we should be prepared by the end of this week,¡± replied Locke. ¡°Good, keep me posted on it,¡± he said and turned to Soren Arryn. One by one, all the points on the agenda were discussed till there was nothing remained. ¡°It is enough for today; thank you, adviser, Collins for attending the meeting,¡± he said and ended the meeting. Damon Hardt was the first to leave with Collins before the rest of us begin to leave. ¡°How are preparations for the Gailhorn?¡± asked Locke, to me, old Oakley, and Rip, as we are the ones who are preparing the proposals. ¡°As you had said, everything going well. It will be ready by the end of the week,¡± I replied, and could see him taking a sigh of relief. ¡°I hope so; a sessful trip to Gailhorn will really help me strengthen my position here,¡± said Lock. The first sentence was heard by everyone, while thest was only heard by me. Locke had a skill that help him talk to a specific person while excluding others; it is a nifty skill. It will be great if I get a skill like this. Soon, we reached where Jill had been waiting with other assistants; as we appeared, she silently followed behind. I looked at her and felt quite relieved when I saw her with her usual expression. The first few days she hade with me were hard on the young girl; because of her background, she suffered from other assistants'' bullying. They were hard on her. Ca had said, the young girl had cried through the whole night the first day. I had asked her to stay in an establishment the second day, but she insisted oning with me. Soon, I reached my office and, along with Oakley and Rip, worked on a proposal for two hours before reviewing other contracts for mistakes. I loved working here, especially when I am making steady progress, not on levels, but socially. I am making connections with people from nearly every city and even though negotiations did not always work, I make a point of being polite. Even in Deerpond where we had the worse negotiating experience; I had smiled andughed with negotiators after we finished. These all will be very helpful soon. I stayed in the guild till four, before sitting in my carriage and going back to the establishment. Where two hourster, the gates opened, and the carriage begin to be rolled inside within a few seconds. While I may be confident with Ca, I am a little worried about the new brothel opening opposite mine. It is bigger, with higher-level girls and they had established it to crush me. As I had declined his many offers to buy the establishment; thetest offer was very tantalizing. He seemed to have lost patience with me, as now instead of buying, he is trying to crush me. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 74: Competition Chapter 74: Competition I felt good aftering out of the shower, but some aches remained. I would have been able to relieve it if I had used a little more cream, but it is fine. This ache helps give me a sense that I am really training to get better. I need to be better; I have taken a lot of beating today, and tomorrow, it will be even more. Click! After having breakfast, I walked out of my room, and a few secondster; I opened the door of my office and walked inside, where Margaux and Ca were waiting as always. Though, today, their mood seemed different, more serious as they stared out of the window. ¡°Good morning,¡± I said to their serious, worried faces. ¡°Good morning, Master Silver,¡± replied Margaux, while Ca kept looking at the widow. ¡°They are opening today,¡± said Ca a few secondster. ¡°Yes, they are, and there is nothing to be worried about. I am confident we will be fine,¡¯ I said with the confidence that I am not feeling inside me. I am also worried. That bastard Norman had spent money like water; spending over two hundred million on renovations, and I have to say, it looked quite amazing. I am feeling quite threatened by it. ¡°I truly hope so,¡± said Ca as she turned to me. I smiled at her and picked up the file, reading it, a genuine smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. Not because the establishment is earning over three and a half million crownsst night, but because there is another girl who had leveled up, reaching Level 20. Now, I am extremely close to my goal. When I will get twenty Level 20 girls. I can make some small changes, which will make the establishment shine further. ¡°Are you doing that today?¡± asked Ca as I put down the file. Immediately, Margaux turned serious, as she also understood what we were talking about. ¡°Yes, it is necessary,¡± I replied, with my face turning just as serious. ¡°It will crush the girls,¡± said Ca, and my expression hardened. ¡°It is business, Ca, and sometimes, you will need to take the hard decisions to make the business grow,¡± I replied and took out the page with the names of girls on it. I am not liking what I am doing, but I have no other choice. I have to do it; it is best for the business. It might reduce my earning and crush some girls, but as I had said, it is necessary. Without such decisions, I cannot take my business to the heights I want to take. ¡°These are the girls. Bring them to me after they woke up,¡± I said. Margaux nodded and took the page. We discussed other things and made some ns, before she left, leaving me and Ca in the office. The spark lit up in our eyes, but we controlled it. For a month, we have been fucking like bunnies, and only in the past few days, we have gained some semnce of control over our emotions. ¡°When are we going to bring the new girls?¡± asked Ca. ¡°Soon,¡± I replied. A month had passed, and all the girls got familiar with the established system. It would be the right time to bring the new girls. It will take me at least a month to train them, which will make the current girls even better. I would have left today to bring the new girls, but the new brothel that is opening today had made me wait. I want to see how it affects my establishment before I bring the new girls. I looked at mypetition for a minute more before focusing on the work. Knock Knock Two and a half hours passed when a knock rang out on my door; I stopped what I was doing and closed the file before turning to the door. ¡°Come in,¡± I said, and Margaux walked in, and behind her were six girls, from theirte teens to mid-forties. ¡°Please take a seat girls,¡± I said to them and six of them sat on the couch, with nervous emotions. Looking at their faces, they already have an idea of what I have called them here for. I had already told all the girls about it, on the first day after the new changes. They will have to improve every aspect of the job, or they will not have the job. ¡°Do you know why I had called you here?¡± I asked and a momentter, some of them nodded with some hesitation. ¡°From today, you will be off the hall. You will have to serve your contract in a different capacity,¡± I said finally. Yes, I am firing them from the job, but they will still have to serve the contract in another capacity. ¡°Why? Master Silver: we are not the worst earning ones.¡± Asked Wanda in great shock. Even if she had expected it, hearing me say it had still left shock in their heart. They might not like the job, but they like the money it brought them. Tillst night, they were earning a fortune, now they will not. ¡°I am one of the top ten earners. Why fire me?¡± asked the blond-haired Marba. She is the one I wanted to fire the most. I had quite a lot ofints about her and even gave her warnings, but she did not listen. This woman would rush the patrons to the rooms, exhort them to take diamond runes, and even ask for the gifts openly, but the worse thing she had done was not to keep her mouth shut. She did not keep the things one patron had told her. She had told them to another. While the secret was harmless, and the patron was not angry, it was totally uneptable. She had broken the core rules, and she had to go. I would have fired her, even if she had been a top earner. ¡°The money you earn is thest thing I look at. I had told you all before. It is not sex that we sell, but the experience; We fulfill the desires of patrons and you girls are mostcking in it.¡± I said to them. ¡°Is there nothing we can do to get our job back?¡± asked, middle-aged Hilda, to which I shook my head. ¡°You all received warnings about what you werecking and still did not improve.¡± ¡°That gate is now forever close to you,¡± I said, and tears begin to drip from their eyes. I felt bad, but my decision is final. I am running a business and I want to seed in it; if they could not work by my standard, they will have to be fired. ¡°What will we do now?¡± asked Marba. ¡°You will serve the contracts in other ways; you all have ten days to decide what way you like to serve. If you haven¡¯t decided in ten days, I will decide it for you.¡± I said to them. Some wanted to say something, but seeing my expressions, they closed their mouth and got up to leave. With them off the job, their living arrangement would also be changed. They will now live on the floor below. They had reached the door when Lenore stopped suddenly and turned to me. ¡°Master Silver, will it be fine, if I joined the studio?¡± said Lenore hesitantly, hearing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°Sure, you can join as an assistant, and once you gain enough skills. You will be elevated to the full staff member,¡± I replied, and could see the genuine smile appearing on her face, while tears dripped from her eyes. ¡°Thank you, master silver,¡± she said in a barely audible voice and walked out of the door. It went better than I had imagined. One time, I remember it. I was firing the people for my client and the person went violet. I had been hit so hard in my stomach that I had needed the trip to the hospital. Lenore will be a great help to the studio; Eudo, who had been teaching Lenore and the other girls, had high praise for her. I am sure he will have no problem taking her. ¡°Inform Eudo about Lenore¡¯s decision,¡± I said to Margaux. ¡°Ok,¡± she said and left. I worked for a few more minutes before walking out of my office and going to the guild. While I had said I might note today, going there would be a wise choice. If I stayed here, there is will be less work and more staring out of the window at other buildings. I worked in the guild till four, beforeing back. When I reached the establishment; I looked at the brothel opposite mine and it was ready, like a bride on her wedding day, looking amazingly beautiful. Now, I am feeling even more worried, but the worry is not going to help me. I have to trust my establishment and observe the business and make a change ording to it. Soon, the carriage entered the establishment, and I entered inside with Jill. ¡°It is going to open in less than an hour,¡± said Ca beside us as we stared at the window. I did not work as I know, it will be fruitless, with my focus everywhere. So, I just did what my heart and mind asked me to do, stare at mypetition. ¡°In forty-one minutes,¡± I said. It is going to open at five and like all brothels of Norman in the city, the Red Fragrance will be a twenty-four by seven brothel; it will not close for a day or a night. Time passed, and soon it was five. Right in time, the gates of the Red Fragrance had opened, and within a minute, two carriages enter inside and that was just the starting. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 75: Whore of Flute Chapter 75: Whore of Flute Fifty minutes passed, and over forty carriages had entered Red Fragrance; it is still daylight. If this continued, then by the time sky darkens, the whole brothel will be filled with people. The brothel is huge; there are over three hundred girls in it, with hundred girls over level 20. I did not even have to use my sources to know about it; he had advertised it so much that even a small child of Greltheaven knew about it by now. For me, it is a huge thing that will require years of work, but for Norman Lucas; it is a not big deal. House of Lucas deals in brothels. There are over a thousand brothels, they run into the empire. He even had ess to the Level 30+ girls. Though his family will not send those girls here, the Greltheaven is too small for that. Hun! A few minutes passed, and when my expressions change suddenly, even a frown appeared on Ca¡¯s face. ¡°Bastard!¡± I cursed. Norman is really a bastard. He had used some sort of skill that nearly nullified the power of my Torch of Seeker that I had activated in the establishment. Though, I am a little surprised that it was not able to nullify the skill whole. I know Norman is level 25+. He might be able to do it, but it is not the only skill he is using, and thus less power to nullify my skill fully. It is more than enough to affect my business. ¡°He had done something to your skill, right?¡± she asked, to which I nodded, without saying any words. Finally, it is six, and right on time, the door of the establishment opened. I watched with the same nervousness I had a month ago. I could say I am even more nervous now. As of now, it is the future of my business on the line; the brothel opposite mine has the power to crush me. Thepetition is not only bigger, shinier, and higher-level girls, but also had a far greater reach than me. I don¡¯t know how my establishment will do against it, but all I could do now is watch. A few seconds passed and two carriages came and stopped middle of the road for a few seconds, before turning toward the Red Fragrance. My expression couldn¡¯t help but change seeing that. If that was not enough, another carriage came and entered through the gates of the opposite brothel. As such, more than ten minutes have passed and all the carriages that came had gone to the red fragrance. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t, but grab my table hard. I would have been satisfied. If a few hade toward me, but no, not a single carriage of over thirty hade to my establishment. Each one of them had gone to the Red Fragrance; even on the worst day in these past four months. Something like this didn¡¯t happen. I was cursing the bastard Norman when the carriage came out of Red Fragrance and did something surprising. Instead of turning in either direction, it entered straight through the gates of the establishment. It couldn¡¯t help but surprise me; not only me, but even Ca had been surprised. The carriage parked, and two young men came out and walked toward the door of the manor. We were watching the two when another carriage walked out of the Red Fragrance and rolled straight into the establishment. The first time was a surprise, the second time, a shock. A few secondster, another carriage entered the establishment, but it was not from the Red Fragrance. It came from the street and directly entered the establishment, but thetter three that came after it hase from the Red Fragrance. ¡°What is happening?¡± asked Ca with a strange expression on her face. ¡°I don¡¯t have a fucking idea,¡± I replied. It is really strange that more carriages areing into the establishment from Red Fragrance than the street. Though, I did not fail to notice that far more carriages were entering the Red Fragrance than the establishment. An hour passed, and more carriages entered the establishment. 65% of them came from Red Fragrance. I was seeing what I had not expected to see, but it is giving me a sadistic joy seeing the patronsing to my establishment from my enemies. I also noticed they were not leaving fast as they left Red Fragrance. Till now, only one carriage had left, and it had gone directly into the Red Fragrance. It is a likely person sent by Norman to see what is happening. I am sure seeing what is happening made him frustrated, even angry. I would pay huge money to see his face. It was at seven fifty-six; we had to close our gates. An hourter, than we usually do, even so, it is much better than what I had thought would happen, with this bigpetition right in front of me. The door had remained closed for thirty-five minutes before they were opened again and the thing after that seriously shocked me. A minute after the gate opened, the carriages from the Red Fragrance begin toe inside one after another. In that entire minute, nine carriages came before we had to close the gates. ¡°My god,¡± said Ca, and I turned to her and took her lips in a passionate kiss, to which she responded just as passionately. I wanted to take it further, but there are some things to do. Though I will have her in a few hours. I have been having sex with her daily, and I want more. She is like a nectar from the gods, the more you drink, the more you want. I am feeling like I had got addicted to her and I like it. ¡°Let¡¯s go, down,¡± I said, and we walked out of the office and walked toward the hall. Soon, we were in a small room looking at the hall, where we stayed for two hours, using half of the time to make out like horny teenagers before we couldn¡¯t control ourselves and went up. We returned below an hourter, a lot more rxed with our lust vented, and observe everything in earnest. What I saw couldn¡¯t make me happy and I am sure, despite six fewer girls andpetition, I have no doubt there won¡¯t be any reduction in my earning. Instead, there will be an increase of one or two thousand crowns. ¡­ De ¡°Let¡¯s go to the room,¡± said Hans; we have been talking for more than an hour and as girls had said, he is a charming, handsome man, who knows how to make a womanugh genuinely. A skill that makes him desirable to any woman. ¡°Sure,¡± I said with a smile and got up from my chair and we walked out of the hall before stopping and looking at the board. ¡°Diamond,¡± said Hans, before I could ask him which room he wants to choose. ¡°We are lucky," I said and picked the silver metal card with a diamond in the center before walking up toward the stairs. When Margaux had told me about the diamond rooms; I had a hard time believing anyone would choose them. The truth is that the Diamond Rooms are the most chosen, while themon rooms are the least. Barely anyone chose them. It had shocked a lot of girls and made them happy, as the paid rooms helps them earn more money. I walked up the stairs with Hans. He is a handsome man who looked to be in his early thirties, with thick raven hair and piercing blue eyes. He is from Owlspring, and, like most of our patrons, is a merchant. He had beening to our establishment for more than two months, and girls have rated him eight out of ten, a very high rating that less than thirty people have. He is a funny and good conversationalist. Leaves good gifts and has good sexual prowess. It is my first time with him. Unlike most people who had few favorite girls. He moves around and has been with over fifteen girls in the establishment. Click! Soon, we reached the diamond room. I inserted the card inside the small hole and a momentter; the door clicked open, and we entered inside. ¡°The Normans did good, but he could not match Silver,¡± he said, as we walked inside. He had said he went to a new brothel opposite ours and stayed there for half an hour beforeing here, as he felt bored there. ¡°Thank you for your kind words,¡± I said as I looked around. I had done it in all the diamond rooms except for this one. It was always unavable. The room is big as other diamond rooms, with a big room andrge window giving a beautiful view of the entertainment district. Like all the diamond rooms, it is big with a wide, beautifully carved bed and silk sheets. The room had a bookshelf, which is filled with books, and a grand piano, with violin and flute hanging on both sides of it. A light green wall and a delicate chandelier above ent everything perfectly. I looked at the room and turned to Hans and walked toward him slowly, activating a Seductive Movement, before appearing next to him. I said nothing, just locked my eyes with him, and took his lips into a kiss with Tantalizing Lips. As the girls said, he is really a good kisser, and I had let myself sink into it. I had been in the business for five decades and the one thing I learned was to enjoy when I can. This life is not the best, but it still gives you some moments, if you allow it. It is these moments that kept me sane, till I arrived at this wonderful ce, where I am happy and felt safe. The only ce I felt those emotions was my childhood home. They were kissing when, suddenly, Hans pulled away and looked at me with a faint apology. ¡°As much as I really want to do it, I am exhausted today.¡± He said, and I did not doubt his words, as tiredness had been apparent in his eyes. From what he told me, he is negotiating a big deal, but it is not going well. ¡°It is all right,¡± I said, hiding the disappointment I was feeling. I really wanted to see whether he is as good as the girls had said him to be. Though I quickly controlled my emotions and put a smile on my face. ¡°You can rest, we can leave before the hour end,¡± I said, to which he shook his head. ¡°There is no need to leave,¡± he said andy on the bedfortably. ¡°Do you want me to dim the lights or massage you? Though let me tell you, I am not good at it,¡± I said, and that brought a smile to his face. Who said only he can make anotherugh? ¡°No, there is no need for anything. Yourpany is more than enough,¡± he said, with a smile. I nodded and sat down on the beautifully carved chair with a soft cushion. Nobody spoke for a minute, but the silence was not ufortable. ¡°Do you y any instruments? I heard many of you can y it?¡± he asked. His question couldn¡¯t help but surprise me, even though it shouldn¡¯t. Many girls are learning music, including Ca and Margaux, though she stopped it after knowing it wasn¡¯t for her. Master Silver had encouraged us to y for the clients, which is why in all rooms, including themon, had at least one musical instrument. I cleared my emotions and opened my mouth to lie, but ended up telling the truth. ¡°Yes, I y an instrument,¡± I replied before I could stop myself. ¡°Which one?¡± he asked. ¡°Flute,¡± I answered. Since I had told the truth already, there is no reason to lie further. His eyes immediately went to the beautiful blue flute hanging on the wall. ¡°Can you y it for me?¡± he asked, and I so much wanted to reject his request. ¡°It is a personal hobby, it had been decades since I had yed it for anyone,¡± I said and felt my cheeks heating up, for no reason. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not judge,¡± he said, and I looked at him for a moment, feeling his interest genuine. ¡°I will only y for a few minutes,¡± I said, with my cheeks heating further. I got up while doing that, I added one attribute point I have in my reserve to charisma. Taking it to thirteen.
ss: Flutist 14
Whore 19
Charisma: 13
Intelligence: 9
Vitality: 14
Strength: 7
Skills: ¡¤ Breath Control ¡¤ Dexterous Fingers ¡¤ All Nighter ¡¤ Tantalizing Lips ¡¤ Silent Flute ¡¤ Seductive Movement ¡¤ Aged Beauty ¡¤ Chime Laugh ¡¤ Ear For Tune
Attribute Points: 0
I have been conflicted about the attribute point, whether to use it for vitality or charisma. For a woman of my age, in this business, appearance is vital. If I had been in my old brothel, I would have definitely used the point of vitality. As it would have been helpful in preserving my looks and aging me slower. In this ce, age is not that important. Seeing an old woman like me is the top earner. I earn more than many younger girls, many of them being level 20 and above. I used the point on charisma, as I know. Here it is more important than vitality and also because it will make my subpar music more pleasing to his ears. I took out the blue flute from the wall and walked back to my chair. As I had sat down, I looked at Hans, who was staring at me without holding any judgment or expectation. Seeing this, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and breathed into the flute with Breath Control and move with fingers with Dexterous fingers. The melodious sound begins toe out of the flute, and it came out much better than I had expected. It is my first time ying for someone in decades; the only one I yed for is teacher Sebastian, but he did not count, he is a teacher. The tune I am ying is called ¡®melody of ras,¡¯ it is one of the tunes my dear father had taught me. It was one of his favorites. He used to ask me to y it whenever he came home tired. My eyes welled up and pearly drops begin to stream down from my cheeks. I nearly stopped ying when I noticed Hans, who had been listening to me a minute ago, now had his eyes close and body rxed. He fell asleep. Seeing that, I rxed a little and continued ying. Before I know it, an hour passed, but I did not stop, nor did the tears. It had been a long while I had yed like this without using the Silent Flute, which will make the sound of the flute heard only to me. I channeled all my memories, my happy childhood, the dreadful incident that changed my life, and even the life of this wonderful new brothel, where I felt happy after a long time. Hours passed, and before I know it, I saw the rays of dawn breaking through the sky and I finally stopped. When I put the flute down, there was a smile on my face. For the first time in four decades, I feltplete, as if I had finally found the thing I had lost. ¡®I found you,¡¯ I said to the flute, and the smile on my face had brightened further. I stared at the flute for a minute before turning to Hans, who is still sleeping. I decided to let him sleep for fifteen more minutes before waking up. I was watching the sunrise from my seat when I felt the movement and look at Hans, who had woken up. ¡°Thank you. It was the best sleep I had in a long time,¡± he said. ¡°You are wee,¡± I replied. He smiled and came to me, before kissing my cheeks and leaving through the door. I should have dropped him off, instead waved at him and turned toward the window, and continued watching the sunrise. A few minutes passed, and the sun appeared fully in the sky; I was about to get up when I froze suddenly when I heard the voice that everyone desires to hear. [Conditions Met: Flutist + Whore - Whore of Flute] [Conditions Met: Dexterous Fingers - Deft Hands] [Conditions Met: All Nighter ¨C Endurance of Trade] [Conditions Met: Silent Flute ¨C Sphere of Silence] [Conditions Met: Ear for Tune ¨C Tune Awareness] [Conditions Met: Breath Control + Tantalizing Lips ¨C Skillful Mouth] [Whore of Flute Lv. 20] [Skill Gained: Emotion Infusion] I froze for more than a minute before I became calm enough to react to the texts that appeared in front of me. I begin to cry again, and this time it was no silent cry, but one with hups. The staffe to clean the room, disappeared as she saw me crying and a few minutester, Margaux rushed in with a worried look on her face. ¡°What happened? Did he do something to you did not give permission to?¡± she asked with a voice cold as ice. ¡°No, I had leveled up,¡± I replied while crying. The tears did not seem to stop, but I did not care. Margaux understood the meaning it held for me as her expressions softened. She hugged me without saying a word. Unlike most girls, the leveling had been hard for me. I had made one of the greatest mistakes one could make in leveling up. I had let my secondary ss go above the base ss. It had not only slowed down the progress of my base ss, but also the secondary ss. If a whore had been my primary ss, I would have reached Level 20, more than a decade ago. Even here, where girls leveled up three times and even four times in each of their sses. I had only leveled up once in each of my sses. Now, everything turned perfect. I had not only leveled up, but consolidated both of my sses into a stronger ss. My new ss is strong, as strong as Margaux''s ss. ¡°Congrattion De, you deserved it,¡± said Margaux. ¡°Yes, I do,¡± I replied. It took me a few more minutes to stop crying. When I did, I opened the table.
ss: Whore of Flute Lv. 20
Charisma: 13
Intelligence: 9
Vitality: 14
Strength: 7
Skills: ¡¤ Deft Hands ¡¤ Endurance of Trade ¡¤ Sphere of Silence ¡¤ Seductive Movement ¡¤ Aged Beauty ¡¤ Chime Laugh ¡¤ Tune Awareness ¡¤ Skillful Mouth ¡¤ Emotion Infusion
Attribute Points: 01
Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 76: Personal Delivery Chapter 76: Personal Delivery I slept after a little past midnight,ter than usual. I had to watch thepetition, and it is a good thing I did, as I slept like a baby without a worry, I woke up early in the morning, freshened up, exercised, and trained with an instructor, David, and others. After three hours of grueling training that left every part of my body in pain, I applied the numbing cream and showered. Click! When I had entered my office, Ca and Margaux were waiting for me and, unlike yesterday, they had smiles on their faces, unusually brighter smiles. ¡°Good morning,¡± they greeted in unison, ¡°Morning,¡± I greeted back as I sat down on the chair and without a word, took the file in front of me. ¡°Very good,¡± I said as I looked at the ck numerals. Last night, the establishment had earned three million, six hundred and twenty-four thousand, two hundred crowns. Thirty thousand crowns more than yesterday. It is the biggest raise in the past twelve days. It was great, but the happiness of money had been dwarfed by the news on thest page. For the past five days, there were only neen names on it, but now there are twenty. Thest one is De. ¡°Make the changes,¡± I said to Margaux. ¡°I have already begun,¡± replied Margaux, bringing an even bigger smile to my face. I have got twenty, Level 20 girls and with them wille several changes. The first one being, the prime tables in the halls will be only avable to them and so is ess to the diamond rooms. It is more for the girls than the clients; it is to motivate them to work harder. I am sure many would have learned by now how the lessons are helping them to level up and consolidate their sses. With it, I will also bring out that liquor that I wanted to sell. Even if no one buys them, with their huge price. Their presence alone will enhance the prestige of the bar. It will also make mepete with thepetition ahead. Which is spending money like water to crush me. ¡°There is one small thing I want you to change about the gate,¡± I said to them. I noticed one thingst night; I am sure it will help me bring more patrons and make Norman even more angry. I finished my work and stepped out of my office to go to the guild. I like to take leave today to watch the changes, but I have an important meeting with Damon Hardt. Twenty minutester, the carriage rolled inside the guild and parked in the spot that was reserved for me. I walked out of it and enter the guild, before taking the elevator to the guild master''s office. ¡°Mister Silver, guild-master busy in a meeting. He will meet you after he has done with it,¡± informed Nora, his secretory. ¡°Thanks, Nora,¡± I said and sat down on the waiting chair and begin to read the paper to pass the time. I have already read it, but I am doing it again and with the skill, it took little time for me to do it. Speaking of skill, I could now read much faster with Reading, with the advancement of level and attributes. The resistance I face is also much lesser when reading the non-legal document. ¡®They are taking too damn long to kill those bastards,¡¯ I thought. As I read the news of Nakar baronies, where Gog bandits are having the time of their lives. Even the forces of Mirador Hold, couldn¡¯t do anything to them. They will have to find them first, before doing anything to them. Click! I was reading it when the door clicked open, and Rip walked out. I had opened my mouth to speak to him when I stopped, seeing his expressions. He seemed stressed, nearly crying. I had never seen him like this, even during the time of an undead attack. I had not seen him with such expressions as right now. ¡°Mister Silver, the Guildmaster will see you now,¡± said Nora. I nodded at her absently and walked into the office while still thinking about Rip. The meeting hadsted for fifteen minutes. It is less about guilds'' business, and more about Damon Hardt¡¯s, which is not new. It is not just him; I help others too, the vice-guild masters and secretaries. I don¡¯t mind it; it is helping me learn and they also owe me a favor. Some of which I had already cashed in. Soon, I entered the legal department and was about to open the door of my office when I stopped, before walking ahead and stopping in front of Rips'' office. Knock I knocked on it and for several seconds, there was no response and about to do it again, when a sound came out. ¡°Come in,¡± he said from inside. I opened the door and walked inside and looked at Rip, who was masking his emotions but failing miserably. It must be really serious for awyer experience as Rip, not able to maintain his expressions, it is one of our greatest strengths. ¡°What can I do for you, mister Silver?¡± he asked. Usually, when we are alone, he calls me by my name, only using the surname in public. ¡°I saw youing out of the Guild master¡¯s office, looking all stressed. Just came in to check, if you are all right,¡± I said. He opened his mouth to reply, but no words seem toe out of it. He closed it, and for a few seconds, did not speak at all, before opening his mouth again. ¡°It is bad,¡± he said, pressing his hands to his temple. I said nothing and waited for him to continue. ¡°I, along with my sister, took a huge loan to open a small spa at Deerpond. For two months, the business ran great, but then catastrophe happened,¡± he said, and his expression became hesitant and then angry. ¡°In one party in the merchant guild of Deerpond. A man had made advances on my sister, which she rejected publicly. The next day, a closure order came for our business. They had even confiscated all the tools and arrested my sister and staff for a day.¡± Wow, I had expected something bad but did not expect this bad. This sort of thing happened. It is notmon, but not umon either. Power lets you do a lot of things, and unless you are strong or have strong backing, the people of this cruel world will eat you alive. I feel grateful every day that I had entered the body of someone from the house of Silver. If I had been nobody and running this business. I would have been merged into the earth by now. Norman wouldn¡¯t have been so well-behaved as he is right now. ¡°Who was he?¡± I asked after a few seconds of silence. ¡°Javier Ronda, son of Hamon Ronda,¡± he said, and my expression turned serious after hearing the names. ¡°Son of lieutenant general of Deerpond,¡± I said, and he nodded with a grave expression. The army of Deerpond, led by the general and below him, are three lieutenant generals. Hamon Ronda is one of the lieutenant generals and quite a powerful man in Deerpond. ¡°What did Guild master say?¡± I asked, and his expression turned to that of frustration and disappointment. ¡°He said he couldn¡¯t help me with it,¡± replied Rip. I wanted tough at hearing that. He could easily do something, but he will not. Unless, of course, it has something for him, which is not. ¡°We should have opened the business in the Greltheaven, but I had said it was too small.¡± ¡°Now, not only have they closed our business and taken our things, but banks are also at our throat and demanding to be paid fully by the end of the month,¡± he said, with tears nearly welling up in his eyes. ¡°You can¡¯t shift to Greltheaven, can you?¡± I asked, to which he shook his head. There are several problems with this. First, all their stuff is sealed and taken. The second, the Greltheaven, will not give them permission to open here, with a criminal record in Deerpond. It usually does not matter, but their business is too small and the one who did the thing is powerful. Merchant guild will think twice, before getting their businesses the license to operate here. ¡°Tell you what, I have a proposal for you. Come to me with your sister and we will discuss,¡± I said and a look of shock appeared on his face. ¡°You are not joking, right?¡± he asked after he calmed his emotions. ¡°Do I look like I am joking to you, Rip?¡± I asked back, to which he shook his head. ¡°My sister is in Greltheaven,¡± he said. ¡°Good,e to my ce at seven,¡± I said and got up. ¡°Your ce means?¡± he asked hesitantly. ¡°My business Rip, that is where I live and work,¡± I said to him and walked out of his office. I had umted quite a lot of money in this and had different ns for it, but when I heard what Rip said, I changed those ns. Now, I want an in-house spa. I had seen what the effects of a spa could do and wanted the girls to have that effect all the time. Even if the deal the deal with Rip did not work, I will find some other people and have an in-house spa. I worked for an hour before I walked out of the merchant guild. When I reached the establishment, I saw people from the Nielson Guild working around the gate. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I walked toward the manor, when I had stopped and turned. The gates opened again, and a carriage walked inside. Through them, two people came out, while the driver brought out the crates from behind. ¡°Aydin, Taylor. You two did not have toe personally to deliver this,¡± I said to the young man and the old man beside him. The young man is Aydin Harwood, and the old man is Taylor, the manager, and caretaker of Harwood wines. ¡°Nonsense. You are one of our best customers, Mister Remus. It is only right that we personally deliver the goods to you,¡± said the old man. To that, I smiled. I might not yet be one of their best customers, but I am steadily climbing there. As each month, I am buying more and more wines. This month I had brought so much that they had personallye to deliver the goods. Those crates they brought had cost me little over ten million crowns. ¡°Miss Ca, it is nice to see you again,¡± said Aydin to Ca, who came from behind. He is still quite infatuated with her. ¡°Master Harwood,¡± she greeted curtly. I smiled seeing that and turned to crates. ¡°These five crates have the fourteen bottles of wines you have ordered,¡± said the old man, motioning toward the five of six crates. ¡°I have been waiting for them,¡± said Jamel as he ran toward the crates. He is our chief bartender and loves the liquor a little too much. ¡°And this is?¡± I pointed toward the biggest crate. ¡°This one is a sample. It is from a new independent brewery that is opened in the city. It is quite good,¡± said Taylor. Usually, those he praises turn out well. It was not the first time he had given the sample pieces. While the size of the sample is bigger this time. We will taste it and only if it is good will we serve it to our patrons. ¡°Come inside and have a drink with me,¡± I invited them, but the old man shook his head before Aydin could let out a single word from his open mouth. ¡°My apologies, Master Silver, but there are priormitments,¡± ¡°Though we will take you for your offer some other day,¡± said the old man, and Aydin red at him as they walked toward their carriage. A few secondster, their carriage rolled out of the gate, and I turned toward the manor. ¡°Three left,¡± said Ca, stopping me in my tracks. ¡°Well, they did not wait for too long,¡± I said with a smile, which she did not reciprocate seeing her ring at me. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 77: Offer Chapter 77: Offer ¡°Your boss had once again taken my girls to Chase,¡± I said to the middle-aged man sitting in front of me. ¡°We did not take your girl''s mister Silver. They havee to us with their own will.¡± He said and Ca snorted. ¡°You know I had fired them from the job yesterday, right?¡± I asked him, and not a single expression on his face changed. ¡°We are aware of that. You have unbiasedly fired them, despite them working hard to earn the money for your business.¡± said the man with no hesitation or fear. I smiled at hearing those words. All they care about is money, never trying to understand the grand n I had in my mind. I do not mind them taking the girls, since they want the subpar girls, I will give them to him. ¡°I will release them after they sign this contract, and I became assure they have gone to you through their own will,¡± I said. He did not say anything and looked at the contract. I forwarded. ¡°The conditions here are too difficult,¡± he said, looking at me. ¡°There will be no change, Chase. Either you will have to ept, or we will have litigation,¡± I said with a smile. Last time, I had no choice but to release them. This time, I could make it difficult and even impossible. I had learned from my mistakes and fixed them. My girls pay taxes, whore do not pay taxes, but mine does with me as their employer. This means, they could not directly take my girls without my permission and not even break the contract through the breaker, as I can sue them. It is such fun to y with thew. ¡°I will have to discuss this with my employer,¡± He said finally. ¡°Please do that, Chase, and take Ca with you.¡± ¡°She will look at the girls and if your boss agrees with the conditions. She could sign a contract on my stead and release them from my employment.¡± I spoke. He nodded gently, but I could see the spark of excitement that had lit up in his eyes. ¡°As you say, Mister Silver,¡± he said and got up, ¡°Please, miss Ca.¡± Ca gave me a look and followed him while I turned to work. Click! Twenty minutester, I saw Ca walk out of Red Fragrance. A few minutester, she walked into my office. ¡°Here are nine million,¡± she said and ced a check on my table. I will not let them take my girls free. With those conditions and this money, I am more than happy to let them have those subpar girls. I would have liked to increase the price further, but I could not. At least not for some time. Still, these nine million are going to help me a lot. ¡°How much did he offer you?¡± I asked and a surprise couldn¡¯t, but appear on her face. There is no way Norman wouldn¡¯t try to poach the most important person in my business. ¡°Fifty million,¡± she replied a momentter. ¡°It is quite a lot of money,¡± I said. ¡°I would earn more here,¡± she said, and there is confidence in her voice. Hearing that, I immediately got out of my chair, and for the next hour, only moans rang in the office. Sigh! I sat down in my chair, feeling a little tired. It had happened so suddenly that I wasn¡¯t able to control myself at all. Hearing the confidence in her voice had exploded the volcano of desire that I couldn¡¯t control. For the next one and a half hours, I worked before the establishment opened. Unlike yesterday, I had carriages in my establishment within a minute and nearly all of them were from the red fragrance. Knock Knock I watched for a while before working, and before I know it, an hour passed, and a knock rang out on my door. ¡°Master Silver, Mr. Rip, and Maeve Hanson had arrived,¡± said Jill, as she opened the door. ¡°Bring them in,¡± she nodded and went back. ¡®It seemed like I will need to bring the magical inte thing,¡¯ I thought before the door opened, and Rip and his sister walked inside. I was barely able to stop a surprise from appearing on my face. She is beautiful, as beautiful as Ca, a little younger with straight raven hair, dark brown eyes, and a symmetrical face, which might seem elvish at first nce, but is pure human. To be honest, I have a hard time believing she is Rips''s sister. He is average at best. Though, the simrities between them are apparent. ¡°Rip, miss Hanson, please take a seat,¡± I invited them, while Ca also came out of my office and sat to the left of me. They sat down and nced at Ca for a moment before turning to me. ¡°Thank you, mister Silver,¡± said Rip. ¡°You can call me Remus, Rip,¡± I said, and he nodded. He is clearly ufortable here, and so is his sister. Which is not surprising, as they are in the brothel. Nobody wants toe to the brothel with their sister. ¡°Mister Silver, my brother had said, you had an offer for us,¡± said Maeve, with her face all serious. ¡°Yes, I want to buy your business,¡± I said directly, and a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on their faces. They might have expected it, but it had still surprised them greatly. ¡°You know they sealed our business, and its license is suspended,¡± she said. ¡°It won''t be a problem,¡± I said simply. The lieutenant general may be powerful, but I want to buy the business, he won¡¯t be able to do anything. The merchant guild there will help me, the merchant guild here will put their weight behind me. I am nomon merchant, but someone from a house of silver. You do not mess with big merchant houses. Even people Count Darrow and Lord Greltheven need to think before doing anything to us. They might deal with one merchant house, but not all. We mightpete and kill secretly, but if there is interference in our businesses, we support each other. ¡°And what do you n to do after buying the business?¡± she asked carefully. ¡°Set it up here. I have been nning to have an in-house spa in my establishment.¡± I said, and the expressions appearing on their faces were truly priceless. Even Ca¡¯s impassive face cracked a little. ¡°For the people who came here?¡± asked Rip slowly, to which I shook my head. ¡°No Rip. It is for the girls,¡± I replied, and their expression had changed even further. For a minute, nobody spoke anything. ¡°Few people like to work for a brothel, mister Silver,¡± said Maeve, and Rip¡¯s eyes went wide as he red at his sister and turn to me in rm, was quite relieved to see there was still a smile on my face. Those words were not exactly polite, they were not impolite either. She spoke the truth. ¡°Yes, not many like to work in a brother, miss Hanson, but if I pay them enough money, they will not have any problems,¡± I said, without changing my expression, and she nodded. ¡°You have to give us a lot to think about,¡± Maeve said. ¡°Can we have some before we get back to you, Remus?¡± asked Rip. ¡°Sure,¡± I said and soon, they left, while I turned to Ca. ¡°Find out all the details you can about their business,¡± I said to her. I will try my own connections. This is the preliminary phase of the deal. They will evaluate, I will evaluate. I need to know their abilities and whether they are suitable for my girls. Not to mention the price, which both need to agree on. Ca had gone to her office and while I stared ahead. I will need a week or two. Once I became sure that thepetition is no threat to me. I will bring the new girls. The establishment still has a great capacity and I want to use it all. To earn huge money. While I want the city to be safe and stable, and I have alreadye to love it. I am well aware of its precarious state. I have a few years, or at least till the Emperor dies. After that, I will need to get the hell out of here. Till then, I will have to amass enough money, that I could move to any city and run my business without a problem. Though, it would be such a regret to leave this beautiful city. I shook my head and pushed away those thoughts and focused back on the work. Now and then, I would look out, especially when the gates open, before focusing back on the work. It is mostly nning for theing spa. It did not matter if the deal goes through or not. As I had said, I will bring someone else. As long as I offer enough money, people will line to work here. I will need to go to Valentina. While I have space, a few buildings I have created in the back, are now being used for the lessons. The changes will need to be made to them. I also need to make a few changes underground. It will not cost me much, and I could afford it, even if it turns costly. I am making good money. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 78: Interview Chapter 78: Interview ¡°Cousin is really forcing us,¡± said Lancel, as he looked at the letter sent by Prince Grelt. ¡°Can you me him? The emperor is going to die in a few years, and he did not have support to wrest the throne from the hands of the crown prince,¡± said Count Darrow, with obvious frustration. ¡°What are we going to do with it?¡± he said, looking at the letter. Count Darrow didn¡¯t answer his son for a few seconds. ¡°Such things couldn¡¯t be done hastily. We need to wait for a chance,¡± said Count Darrow, slowly, as if wanting his son to reflect on those words. ¡°Cousin might not want to wait for long,¡± said Lancel, to which Count Darrow looked up into the sky. ¡°He might not wait that long,¡± he replied and sighed. For a few minutes, nobody spoke, lost in their thoughts. ¡°I have decided on Benz¡¯s recement,¡± Lancel spoke. Count Darrow just looked at him. ¡°It is Sam Walters,¡± he replied, to which the Count shook his head. ¡°He is worse than Benz.¡± The Count disagreed. ¡°He is a yes man, not fit for a position,¡± ¡°He is not,¡± said Lancel defensively. ¡°Chose someone else,¡± said Count Darrow and Lancel wanted to argue, but his father¡¯s tone did not book any arguments. ¡°Who do you want me to choose?¡± he asked finally, controlling his anger. ¡°There are few people, any one of them would be better than Sam Walters,¡± he said, much to his son''s anger. ¡­. The door of the establishment opened, and the carriage came inside. A few secondster, Ca and Maeve walked out of it. ¡°She had taken longer to return than she had said before leaving,¡± said Margaux. It was supposed to be a single-day trip to Deerpond, but it took three days. I am just d she had returned with everything sorted. ¡°There were some small problems, she had to deal with,¡± I said. Margaux did not ask. I am sure she will ask Cater. Click! The door opened, and Ca and Maeve walked inside. ¡°Has everything gone well?¡± I asked them as they took the seats opposite of me. ¡°Yes. The things and the staff will arrive in a Greltheven by afternoon,¡± Ca replied. I nodded and turned to Joana. ¡°I have made changes ording to specifications. You can check them now and if you need something more, you can ask Margaux,¡± I speak. ¡°Ok,¡± she said and walked out of my office with Margaux. As the door closed, my expression became serious. ¡°There was not much trouble, was there?¡± I asked. She had been short in our correspondence. I am sure there had been more than she had told me. ¡°There was a little, but your friends had helped a lot. The dy was because of excessive paperwork,¡± she replied. As I had said, even if Lieutenant General is blocking the path, he won¡¯t be able to do much, especially when we are doing everything byw. They had created some hurdles, but those were passed. ¡°From tomorrow, we will have an in-house spa,¡± I said. I don¡¯t think any brothel in the world had them. ¡°The girls are very excited about it,¡± she said with a smile before her expression turned serious. ¡°It is going to be very expensive to run it,¡± she added. ¡°Yes, it will, but the benefits it will provide would also be great,¡± I replied. The cost of operating the spa would be three to four million crowns. As the treatments I want the girls to have been not cheap, many of them require magical materials. If I wanted to, I could have finished the expense within a million, but I want the best. Only through it, I will be able to provide the best experience to my patrons. So, they will not leave, even if the entire street is filled withpetition. ¡°How¡¯s everything here?¡± she asked. ¡°All good,¡± I said with a smile. In these two, the profits of the establishment rose greatly. From three and a half million a night, it went to four and a half million and increasing every day. I have to thank two things for it, one is the expensive wine, and the other is Norman. The patrons are using his ce like a rest stop. The moment my gates opened, the patrons from there would rush in. I heard he was hopping mad about it and tried to poach even more of my girls. He shouldn¡¯t be angry, given the money is making. He is making good money, and I heard; he is nning on opening another brothel. Well, this one will need to be a red-light area. He had already stretched the limit of the city, having five brothels in the entertainment district. No matter how powerful his family is, the city will not permit him to open another brothel here. The entertainment district needs to be much bigger with many other businesses before he will be able to open another brothel here. Click! I was discussing things with Ca when the door opened, and Margaux and Maeve walked inside. ¡°Is everything good?¡± I asked Maeve, ¡°Yes, everything is perfect.¡± She replied with a smile. ¡°Good, make preparations today. I need the spa to be opened tomorrow,¡± I said to her. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem,¡± she replied. The deal had cost me eight million crowns: a pretty good deal. Both of the siblings have ended up making a profit. I had needed to be spent seven million extra on new equipment and material. Some of which have arrived yesterday and some will today from Namdar and Meldhorn. It was quite a hard deal. Maeve and Rip were quite opposed to her working in the brothel. I had directly told them there would be no deal if Maeve did not sign at least a one-year-long employment contract. Maeve is quite good. She used to work in a famous spa chain in Namdar, even headed one for a few years, before branching out to start her own. She had signed a one-year contract and, I am sure, I will be able to retain her after. Even if she left, it is enough time for me to find someone capable. ¡°How is the recruitment going?¡± I asked her. ¡°Two have epted. More will respond soon,¡± she replied. I had asked to her hire more people. She had a staff of twelve, which is barely enough to handle the eighty girls, but I need more, at least double. As I will bring new girls in a few days. I am leaving for the Owlspring in two days. While the Namdar is big, Owlspring is not small either. Most importantly, it is a city of merchant state, and I will get more variety there. Not only in humans but also in non-humans. Sadly, I could not bring the non-humans here. Thews of empire might be a little loose here, but they are not that loose to bring non-human or the one with obvious non-human blood. Maeve stayed for a few minutes and left, with Ca and Margaux, to prepare for the things that wille. I worked till it is time to leave for the guild. There are a few things I have to do at the guild, I should be finished in two hours. Twenty minutester, the carriage stopped inside the guild, and I walked inside the guild. For forty minutes, I moved around the guild, before stepping into my office, with thick papers in my hand. Knock Knock I was working when a knock rang out and Jill stepped in with the envelope in her hand. ¡°This hade for you, Mister Silver,¡± she said and gave me the envelope. I took the envelope and couldn¡¯t help but became surprised when I saw the seal on the envelope. It is the personal seal of Count Darrow and not the seal of the city, which he uses. I looked at it for a second and tear open the envelope, taking out a letter, which only had a single line. ¡®Well, it seemed like I will have to stay here longer than I had thought.¡¯ I thought as I put away the letter. Lord Darrow had invited me to his mansion at four. I don¡¯t want to go back to the establishment before going to Count Darrow. It is better that I stay here and finish the work. Hours passed, and soon, it is time for me to leave. I walked out of the guild. A few minutester, the carriage reached Count Darrow¡¯s mansion. ¡°Remus Silver,¡± I said and gave the letter. ¡°You are clear to go, Mr. Silver,¡± said the guard after looking at the letter. The carriage entered thepound, and I walked out and to the door. One of the assistant butlers was waiting. ¡°Mr. Silver, please,¡± he said and let me inside, to be precise, at the back, where there is a huge garden. Count Darrow and his son were standing there, looking at the beautiful red rose, which was glowing gently, while letting out a wonderful fragrance. ¡°Count Darrow, Lord Lancel,¡± I said and bowed. He turned to me slowly. ¡°Come, young silver, walk with us,¡± he said and begin to walk, while I followed, with one step behind as etiquette requires. I did not speak, just followed them. They have called me here and they will reveal it, eventually. ¡°What do you think of the city¡¯s taxes, young Silver?¡± asked Count Darrow after more than five minutes. The questions stumped me, and I had opened my mouth to answer with polite words but closed it upon seeing him looking at me from the corner of his eyes. ¡°What taxes are you referring to, my lord? Personal or business?¡± I asked, and a faint smile appeared on his face. ¡°Both,¡± he answered. I did not speak for a second, as those words are not light, but seeing the expressions, I decided to speak what I have in my mind. ¡°From my view, both of them are too high,¡± I said finally. ¡°You merchants always want lower taxes,¡± said Lancel angrily. I did not reply to that. ¡°Why do you think that young silver?¡± asked Count Darrow. ¡°We are a trade city, my lord. The lower taxes mean more trade, more trade will bring more revenue.¡± I said simply. ¡°We control the route into the empire. So, the taxes should be higher, instead of being lower,¡± said Lancel. ¡°While we do control the route, raising taxes higher will stagnate the trade,¡± I replied. Lancel opened his mouth to say something, but the words did not seem toe out of it. Which made him re at me and look at his father, who still has an unchanging smile on his face. ¡°You are right in one way, but lower taxes bring their own problems, like overpoption, dumping of low-grade goods and other things,¡± he said. ¡°Yes, it does, which is why we shouldn¡¯t depend on the taxes alone.¡± ¡°The city should diversify, from offering financial services to manufacturing to tourism. We could try many of these avenues to increase the revenue of the city,¡± I said, and for the first time, I saw the mask on Lord Darrow¡¯s face slip for a fraction of a second. ¡°What will happen whe¡­¡± Lord Darrow asked another question, and then another, and not just about taxes, but also about policy and other things. Sometimes, Lancel would chip in, but it is mostly Count Darrow asking and I am answering. I may seem like answering all the questions calmly, but my back is drenched. I know the gravity of my words and some of them could get me in huge trouble, but it is better to put them out in the open. ¡°You have some opinions, young silver,¡± said Count Darrow with that unchanging smile on his face. ¡°More like extreme views,¡± quipped Lancel. ¡°To me, they feel right, my lord,¡± I said. To which he smiles. ¡°I will contact you when I have more things to ask, young silver,¡± he said. Knowing I had been dismissed; I bowed once again and walked away. At the entrance of the Garden, the butler was waiting for me and sent me to the door. ¡°What the fuck was that!¡± I cursed as the carriage walked out of the gates of the mansion. I could tell it was an interview, but for what I don¡¯t know, nor do I care, as right now, my mind was flooded with repercussions, my words might cause me. I should have been careful, but I threw that all into the winds, and now, I might face punishment for that. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 79: Velvet Spa Chapter 79: Velvet Spa Caena ¡°¡­and Caena, all of you have been selected for the spa treatment today,¡± said Margaux as she called out twenty-eight names. Some were sad, while some, like me, were ecstatic to be included to be one of the first people who will enjoy the spa. It wouldn¡¯t be an overstatement to say that I love the spa. I had a special fund set up for the spa on my very tight budget. Now that the spa is here, I will be able to use those funds to create more spells and research. The past one and a half months have been beyond what I had imagined. I had created so many spells in such a short time that would have made my mother proud. It is not easy for us to create spells, mages have mana and so do we, but we also need something more, to harness the power. That makes everything slow. Since the first day of the business, it had seemed like the tap had opened for me. I had been able to harness so much lust and desire that I had never in my life. Thanks to ss consolidation, I could now harness them, with even greater efficiency. ¡°Here is your schedule,¡± she said and gave all the twenty-eight girls their schedule. When I looked at my schedule and Marge beside me. I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed by Margaux. It is impable; their lessons and spa treatment are perfectly aligned. They will be able to attend their regr lessons and also take the spa treatments. I have two lessons, consecutively. They will start in fifteen minutes. Then, for three hours, she will be in a spa, and after that, it will be her free time, before she will need to prepare for the evening. ¡°Girls, there is more thing. Master Silver is leaving tomorrow with Ca for Owlspring, and he is offering one of you to take with him.¡± ¡°Is anyone interested?¡± asked Margaux and immediately, seven hands shot up, including mine. She looked at the girls, who raised their hands immediately, and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face. All the smart ones raise their hands immediately, and this too had been a sort of test given how Margaux looked at all seven of them. She did not even nce at the few who raised their hands hesitantly after them. These smart ones are thinking beyond money. Dreams and ambitions had risen in their heart. I don¡¯t know what they want, but I know what I want. I want to get closer to Remus Silver, gain his trust and, if preferable, became his lover. I need ess to the desires that the establishment is absorbing, and gaining his trust is paramount for that. He is not the person who will let me touch his most precious thing without having full trust in me. ¡°All of you need to write the reason why you would be the bestpany for this trip,¡± said Margaux and I could clearly see this is yet another test. ¡°You have till evening to submit the reason,¡± added Margaux and many girls heaved a sigh of relief, including me. This is very important to her. More time would help me a lot to write about the best reason. Soon, ten minutes passed, and she walked toward the hall, where I will have the etiquette ss with eleven other girls. Like the rest of the girls in my ss, I am also going early. Mistress Elme did not like the girls to bete. She punishes them with that stick of hers. Though, she was a little light on me since I know the woman''s weakness. After etiquette, it will bemunication. I used to think that ss was a waste, but Ca had asked me to give it a try. I am d I did because it was tremendously useful. It is one of the biggest reasons I could entertain more clients at a single time. It was always my specialty. I could keep multiple people engaged at a time, but now I had be even better at it, learning those little tricks. It is the reason why she is one of the top earners. While most girls have one or two clients at their table, I always have three to five. Even those who do not know each other sit at my table together, talking andughing. Let me harvest the lust and desires they are feeling for me. I had created twelve spells and not all of them are like attractions, some are really dangerous. I would have been able to create more if not for me spending a lot of resources on the establishment. It is better for me and the establishment that nobody sees what is happening to it. It is extremely, even for those in my ss, but I still could not take a chance. I had reduced that chance, cloaking it so that only those who are extremely powerful would be able to sense it. The establishment hadn¡¯t reached the height to attract that sort of people yet. ¡°Mistress Elme, I hope you are feeling fine today,¡± I asked the old woman. She sat in a chair as girls gathered in front of her, standing gracefully in line. ¡°Yes, the herbal brew you have given me had made the pain in my kneespletely disappear,¡± replied the old woman with a smile, which is quite rare to see. ¡°I am d,¡± I said. It was no simple brew. It had a minor spell attached to it, which increased the effect of the medicine. A few minutes passed, and it was time. The old woman brought her expression to usual, and the ss begin. It hadsted for an hour. Before I went to attend mymunication ss with a few other girls. An hourter, that ss had too ended, and I nearly ran out of it. As it is, time for the spa. Soon, I stepped out of the establishment toward the back and walked toward the three-story building in the middle of the right. The building looked like it was made of pure white marble and in front of it was a small pond with lotuses floating inside it. It all seemed very peaceful and likely designed for that effect. Soon, she reached the building and entered inside through its beautiful white doors, and there was a reception. A table made of blue marble and behind it is a young girl, Laura. She is wearing a fitting dress with the tag of her name on her chest. She also changed her hairstyle from long hair to a bob. Which is making her look professional. From what I have heard, four girls would work here through different shifts. There was fiercepetition for this job. These young girls receive a small stipend every week, but they are penniespared to what we earn. So, they always looking for jobs to make more money. ¡°Miss Caena. Wee to the velvet spa. This is your itinerary of treatments,¡± said Laura, and handed me the paper. ¡°Thank you, Laura,¡± I said as I took rose-colored itinerary paper, which felt good to touch. I looked at the rose-colored paper, which was smelling wonderful. It had the heading in beautiful flowy letters, spelling ¡®Velvet Spa¡¯. Below is the name of two treatments. The first treatment is Herian Massage with short information about it below. The second treatment is He Flower Bath, a bath with petals of magical flowers to invigorate the skin. The paper is expensive and so is the ink, but they did instead tell them to go to the ce. It seemed like they were providing the whole experience that master Silver talked about. I have to say; I am feeling better already. ¡°Miss Caena, changing room is on the left,¡± Laura informed me when I moved to leave. I nodded and walked toward the changing room and entered inside and was quite surprised when she saw the robe was waiting for her, with a note with her name on top. When she wore the soft white robe. She saw the slits on both sides, and the most amazing thing about it is that it is monogrammed with my name. I am loving it. I picked up my small purse and put it into the pocket of the robe before walking toward Room 07, where I will have Herian Message. Click! The door clicked open as I pushed it. Where there is a Heraldan woman waiting. She seemed looked to be in her early thirties and have shining brown eyes, which made her look especially pretty. She is wearing a green spa suit which had pleated lines and had a blue name tag, below the monogrammed velvet spa text. ¡°Wee Caena,¡± she said as I entered inside. ¡°Thank you,¡± I replied. ¡°The message you will go through is called herian message.¡± ¡°It originated in the herian kingdom thousands of years ago and uses thebination of nine magical and mundane oi¡­¡± she exins. I had expected her to ask me to remove my clothes to start with a message but unexpectedly she is exining it to me. Even in the crystal spa, very few people had done that. Likely because they were whores. She found the information helpful, and it made her feel further rxed. ¡°Caena, if you feel rxed now. You can hang your robe there and we can begin.¡± She said gently. I nodded and opened the sash of my robe and took it off; I did not feel as much as self-conscious as I had felt in the crystal spa. Maybe because I am getting more confident of my body or maybe because she had made me feelfortable or both. In the minute, the massage begins. I felt the warmth of oil being poured out on my skin before experienced hands begin to move across my body. Within seconds, low moans begin toe out of my mouth. There was a small doubt in my mind that these treatments wouldn¡¯t be as good as the crystal spa, but it had vanished. Seeing that, I burned the spell in my purse. It would have hurt quite a lot if I had burned this expensive spell for subpar treatment. Immediately, I felt the change. I am not the only one. Kaasa had also felt the change, as her hands stopped for a moment, before resuming with the same expertise. The spell is the imprinting type; I am imprinting this very massage into the establishment. It will increase the effects of the massage. A simr kind of spell was used to imprint master silver with the establishment. The chances of seeding were extremely low, considering they have targeted a being, but it somehow seeded. I and every girl here are d it did because, without it, we wouldn¡¯t be here and have this life. I could already feel the imprint sticking into the establishment and the desires it had absorbed filling it. The spell imprint is shaky, but it will slowly reinforce itself, before growing in power as they perform more massages on girls. If it had been any other ce, it would take a lot of time to have any substantial effects, but here, it will be fast. If it transformed into a legacy, then the effect would be astronomical. These imprints are meta-physical bricks that I amying in the establishment. I wish I could imprint myself on it, but it is near impossible. Unless, of course, I get permission. If I get it, then I wouldn¡¯t need days to charge the spells. I would be able to do that in minutes. The message ended in an hour, and she stayed there for another hour more, rxing and letting oils seep into her, while Kaasa massaged the De beside me. When the time was over, I gently got up, feeling light. That I had not felt in weeks. Though before walking out of the room, I ce a few coins in the crystal bowl. Who says the whores can¡¯t tip? When we have money, we can be generous. I want to be generous, like my mom used to be, and Kaasa deserved it. She had been great. I am feeling wonderful. Every little knot in my body disappeared, giving me free movement. I had not felt such free, even after massages in a crystal spa. Click! ¡°You havee at the right time, Caena. I had just finished drawing the bath,¡± said a short zenidan woman as I entered another room. It is nearly twice as big as the massage room. The zenidan is a woman of about Margaux''s age and short, with soft facial features and kind eyes. The most striking quality of her is her homely smile. ¡°Should I just step into it?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, dear. Remove your robe and get into it,¡± said the woman with a smile. I nodded and removed the robe, before walking toward the round white pool, which is big enough for ten people to sit. It is filled with warm water and covered in small blue petals. They are he flowers, magical flowers and they are smelling amazing. I stepped into the pool and felt the warm water, which is at the edge of beingfortable. She went insidepletely and sat down, drowning her whole body inside except for her head. ¡°What do you want me to do now?¡± I asked. ¡°Justy there dear, when it is time, I will inform you,¡± said the woman in her homely voice. Hearing that, Iy morefortably and breathed in the calming fragrance, while burning another spell from my purse. I felt calm in the water that, before I know it, I fell asleep, only to be woken up by the gentle shake of the woman''s hand. ¡°It is time, dear,¡± said Rosa with a homely smile and I smiled back, but the next minute, I struggle not to scream. As she begins to scrub the petals on every part of my body. The petals are wonderful to smell, but they are just as painful when their essence seeps into the skin. I felt tears burning through my eyes as the women scrub, but I did not make any sound. I let her do her thing, while silently bearing the pain. ¡°There, all finished.¡± ¡°Look how beautifully your skin is glowing,¡± said the woman as she stopped scrubbing. It took me a while to focus my blurry eyes through the pain, but when I did, I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. Truly, my skin is glowing. Seeing the beautifully glowing skin, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I even forgot the pain I am feeling, after seeing it. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. ¡°There is no need to thank me, dear. You deserve it,¡± she said. I smiled and closed my eyes again. I stayed there till the pain receded, before slowly getting up and wearing my robe, and walking out, but not before adding the tip to the bowl. Soon, I changed back into my own clothes and walked out of the spa, with a content smile on my face. Click! Soon, I reached my room and closed the door behind me. I had thought for a few days before revealing my level, and it was the best decision. Thankfully, they did not ask about my ss and they did seem to care. As long as you are level 20, you can get a private room. Including her, twenty-four girls are now above Level 20. In my life, I had never seen people leveling so fast. They are not just leveling, but also consolidating their sses, which are far harder, but it is happening. My both sses had merged, creating a specialized ss that I had been waiting for decades to happen. Specialization is extremely important for people in my ss, more than any other ss. It is one of the reasons why I am crafting so many spells, so quickly. I closed my eyes as I reached the center of the room, before opening them a secondter. I know, nobody intruded in my room. Though it is forbidden, I still fear it. I don¡¯t want people to know about my ss yet. Feeling relieved, I sat on the chair and removed multiple things from the different drawers. I had asked for a few tables the day I got the room, as it was too small for my work as an herbalist. They brought it the very next day. It is an herbalist''s table, with many drawers and jars inside it. I took out all the stuff and begin working on crafting a spell. I am nearly finished working on it. In half an hour, I will be done and then will work on the reason to go with Master Silver. I really want to go with him. The sooner I earn his truth, the sooner I will get his permission. Soon, it was five; it is time for me to go to the studio. Thankfully, I am finished with the spell and also the reason. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 80: Owlspring Chapter 80: Owlspring ¡°His majesties want me to send a small wee party to our new neighbors,¡± said the handsome young man with pale skin. ¡°I will begin the preparations immediately,¡± said the man, in a grey robe, and the young man turned from the city he was watching through the balcony to a man in a grey robe. ¡°You sound disappointed,¡± asked the pale, handsome young man. ¡°I am not worthy to question the tri majesties decision,¡± said the man in grey robes, shaking his head. ¡°Have a little patience, Mahgar. In a few more years, we won¡¯t have to hold back. Till then, prepare the wee party,¡± said the young pale man, while the man''s grey robes nodded, with excitement burning in his eyes. ¡­ ¡°Wee to the rose wind. Mister Silver, I hope you will enjoy your travel with us.¡± said the woman as she weed me to the ship. She is a petite woman, wearing a blue uniform with the logo of herpany on her chest and a namete on her chest. ¡°I am sure you will not give us any chance toin, Lorna,¡± I replied. ¡°You will find our service impable, mister silver,¡± she said, with a hint of flirting. ¡°I hope so,¡± I replied and walked past her. Concierge took my bags to my cabin while I remain on the deck with Ca and Caena. The guards have also remained, standing in various positions, without making it seem too obvious. I am leaving for the Owlspring, and the guards are necessary for security. There are twelve of them, and I will hire more when returning. With the girls I am nning on bringing, I will need more guards than now to deal with every problem that I mighte. A few minutes passed, and enchantments on the sails and the rest of the ship had lit up, and the ship begin to move. It is afternoon, we should be able to reach the Owlspring by eight. It takes seven to eight hours to go to Owlspring from the Greltheaven, but five to six return from it. Due river flowing from north to south. I watched till the ship sailed from the Greltheaven, before going back to the cabin, which was being guarded by the four guards, including Jonah. Inside the cabin, I took out various files and the binder. Some contained my ns, while others contained the information I have brought. I am nning on getting a lot of girls. I need to. Norman is earning a lot, even when I pull a lot of customers from him. It is because of the sheer scale and operating time of red fragrance, and I want some of that. It will take me a while to reach such a scale, as I don¡¯t have capital, and even with the capital, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do it fast. For the quality of the experience, I need to go slow. I could not just bring a lot of girls and expect them to work as experienced girls. No, they needed to learn the ways, and it takes time. Click! A few minutester, Ca appeared in my cabin, and time passed too quickly. Soon it was evening. The sun hadpletely disappeared, and two moons are glowing in the skies. Seeing them, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if anyone had tried to reach them. I have read, some tried and even seeded, but there is no concrete information about those incidents. The information is not so open in this world. At seven, I walked out of my cabin onto the deck. It is a beautiful night, and it feels even more beautiful. Caena walked beside me but did not speak. She just stayed in silence, enjoying the beautiful night. ¡°The night is beautiful today,¡± said Caena after more than fifteen minutes. ¡°Yes, it is,¡± I replied, staring at the water, which is bathing in the silvery glow. A few more minutes passed, and we reached the confluence point. The ce where northhare and vale rivers meet and create the Trollmouth river, which flows through the Renwell region. Owlspring, which is between those two rivers and their confluence, had also be visible. It is shining in the night with a glow that seemed no less bright than the moons above. The closer we got to it, the bigger it will be and soon I could see the huge port. Where shipsing from both rivers are stopping. Seeing them, I couldn¡¯t help but feel envious and hopeful. The Owlspring is the border city of the meldhorn, but hugely prosperous. It is a southern center of merchant city-states, where ships from the east and west of merchant states and kingdomse. Now, the empire had also been added to the list. The ship got closer and closer to the city until it was right in front of us. A few minutester, the ship docked at the pier, from which I could see the bustling port. It is not as big as Namdar, but not much smaller either. ¡°I hope you had a pleasant journey, Mister Silver. Do travel with us again.¡± said the woman. I nodded and walked out of the ship with Ca and Caena. The carriage was already waiting for us. The driver opened the door as we arrived by it, and we stepped inside. A few secondster, the carriage begin to move through the bustling port. ¡°It is really beautiful,¡± said Ca, and it is. Thousands of ships floating in a confluence create a scenic view. It seemed more chaotic than the Namdar, but it is not surprising given the sheer number of ships. This is a main trade point. The goods from many cities in the state of Meldhorn, and Oksall came and go to Belnin and Nova Alyra. Not to mention many kingdoms. It is a filthy rich city, and one day; I want to have a tiny piece of it. If my business kept growing, it won¡¯t take long for that to happen. Till then, I will have to be satisfied with the girls from here. As I watched through the window, I was shocked by the people in the city. I have not seen such a scene even in Namdar. Every other person here is non-human. I saw orcs, dwarfs, elves, and people from many other races. They are everywhere. I have hard believed that these people are just a few hours away from Greltheaven. I want to curse at empire and emperor who brought his discriminating ways. No one dared to say it openly, but every merchant and noble knows that the discriminatory policies of the empire had made it lose many economic opportunities. If not for that, the empire would have been even more prosperous. Soon, the carriage passed through the gates and entered the proper city. Owlspring is one of the oldest cities in the whole merchant states. Much older than the city of Meldhorn, which it is part of. It was over ten thousand years old and had been destroyed many times in the incursions and built back again. One could feel the history of this ce in the air itself. The city is huge and with various districts. The carriage is moving toward the ainsworth district. It is one of the market districts of the city. The things I came here are found in that district. Soon, the carriage reached the ainsworth district, and it was bustling. There are shops of all kinds here. I have even spotted a couple of indentured stores. Some were small, but some were big, bigger than the one I had gone to Namdar. Namdar also had big stores, but I had gone to one where I know the owner. I have gotten a pretty good discount. Here, I will not get the savior discount, but I am fine with it. The only thing I want is the best girls. As long as I get them, I am even willing to pay even double for them. A few minutester, the carriage stopped in front of the mansion. I had rented it for three days. It had cost me quite a lot, but it is necessary, given the number of contracts I am nning to buy. The cream color mansion was beautiful, made in Geim architecture, which bore simrities with Victorian architecture. ¡°Wee to hain mansion, Mister Silver.¡± said the handsome man in his mid-thirties, with radiant green hair and slightly pointed ears. He is clearly a half-elf, and he is looking at Ca. ¡°Is everything prepared ording to our needs?¡± I asked, forcing him to focus on me. ¡°Yes. I have made the preparations ording to your needs.¡± ¡°I have also booked the table at the best restaurant in the ainsworth district,¡± he said. ¡°Good,¡± I said, and he led us into the mansion while informing us about the things I had asked him to prepare. Tonight, I n to eat an amazing meal and explore the city. Tomorrow will be all business. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 81: Caskheart Indentured Chapter 81: Caskheart Indentured I woke up a littleter in the morning than I usually do. We havee backte, as we explored the city after having dinner at a restaurant. The city is impressive and if the time allows it; I like to explore it further before I leave. I stayed on the bed for a minute before walking toward the bathroom. I quickly freshened up and showered, before walking out of my suite. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± greeted half-elf as he met in the hallway, ¡°Vikdyr,¡± I said and continued walking toward the kitchen. ¡°Have you had breakfast?¡± I asked Ca and Caena when I saw them sitting at the dining table. ¡°No, we were waiting for you,¡± Ca replied. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have,¡± I said and took the seat beside them, and a few minutester, the fresh breakfast is served. In half an hour, we finished breakfast and walked out of the mansion. ¡°Take us caskheart indentures,¡± I said to the driver as I sat in the carriage with Ca and Caena. I have done my research and made the list of stores; I will have to visit for the girls. Most of the stores I had chosen only sell prostitutes. Such stores are not allowed in Namdar, but in merchant states, there are no restrictions. It is one of the reasons why I hade to Owlspring, instead of Namdar. Where it would have been cheaper for me. Fifteen minutester; the carriage stopped in front of a five-story building, which looked like it is made of stones with huge ss windows fitted in them. Silhouettes of the women could be seen through those windows. I stepped out of the carriage with Ca and Caena and walked toward the open big stone doors. We walked through the gates into a beautifully decorated, vast lobby, which had doors leading everywhere. There are a lot of people here, but not all brothel owners like me. Manye for mistresses. It is quitemon in empires and even merchant cities. I was looking around when I saw a womaning toward us. She is short and stocky, with shoulder-length blond hair. Which made her pretty face look even prettier. ¡°Mister Silver, wee to Caskheart Indentured,¡± said the dwarf woman as she stopped beside us. Ca and Caena were surprised she knew my name, but I am not. It is their job to know their prospective clients. ¡°We are one of the biggest suppliers of indentured pleasure women in the city. You will find everything you need here,¡± she added with confidence. ¡°I hope I do, miss...¡± I asked. ¡°Nas Caskheart,¡± she replied. I nodded before my expression turned serious. ¡°I need girls from level 13 to 17. There are no restrictions on their age or nationality,¡± I said. When I had brought the contracts to Namdar. My requirement was Level 10 to 19, but after observation and research, I had changed to the current 13 to 17. ¡°But there is on the race?¡± she asked with a smile, knowing the empire''s hate for non-humans. ¡°Yes, they need to be human, to be clear humanish,¡± I said. Hearing that, the smile on her face got bigger, and a dimple appeared on her cheeks. ¡°There won''t be any problem,¡± she replied, and led me toward the elevator. We walked into the elevator before stepping onto the third floor. The architecture is the same, with ss and stones. The dwarfish hints are clear, which is not surprising since it is a dwarf-owned business. She took us to stone door number two, which leads to a huge hall. Where there are lines of women, belonging to nearly all races. Most seemed to be humans, but I saw a couple of elves and dwarves, even giant bloods and mixed race. ¡°There is a ce being prepared ording to your requirement, but it will take some time. Till then you can look at the girls here,¡± said Nas. ¡°It¡¯s no problem,¡± I said and walked ahead. The first woman was an elf, and the second was a half-dwarf. I only nced at them, before moving fast them. If the empire did not have restrictions, I would have checked them, but since there are. Checking them will lead to a waste of time and satisfaction. Though there will be one day when I will have them in my establishment. I passed a half-dwarf and stopped in front of a human woman. She seemed tall but is not, she looks tall because standing between half-dwarf and dwarf. She had sleek raven hair and a small nose with light brown skin. She is a human, but of the mixed heritage of Zenidin and Heraldan. She is also wearing a sheer dress, like all women, giving a glimpse of their features. It is a business of pleasure, and if one wanted, one could even ask them to take it off. Like the few people are doing. ¡°This is a Lelsa. A pure-blooded human of mixed heritage. Have two sses, Whore and Weaver, at Level 17 and Level 6 respectively,¡± ¡°She is in business for fourteen years,¡± informed Nas and handed me the page with her detailed information. The woman is in her mid-thirties but looks to be in her early thirties. Three of her skills are noted here. Two from Whore ss and one from Weaver ss. They weremon skills, over 90% of my girls have these skills or something simr to them. The skill of her weaving ss is also amon one. I looked at the page before looking at her, and this time, I was looking at her through my skills. Goods Sense and Sight Through Veil. It is the first time I am using the two skills together and the result; I got is quite surprising. She is level 17, Whore, as Nas said, but her Weaver ss is at level 7. She had five skills in whore ss and three Weaver. One of them is more powerful than the other two, given the greater haze around it. ¡°Where are you from?¡± I asked Lelsa. ¡°Here. I am born and raised here,¡± she replied. ¡°Do you have any hobby aside from weaving, know anynguage aside frommon and local?¡± I asked. It surprised her and also Nas. ¡°No, I do not have any hobby aside from weaning. I understand belninian, but couldn¡¯t speak,¡± she replied. ¡°Thank you for your answers,¡± I said and walked away while making short notes in my diary. Ca did the same, while Caena just looked at her strangely. Caena is normal till she became strange; the change is instant. A secondter, the change disappeared, and she became normal again. I passed by the dwarf and stopped in front of a human or humanish woman. She looked human but is not when one looked clearly at her. She is a big woman who looked to be in herte twenties. Tall as me, with broad shoulders and thick hands. She had light brown hair and an above-average face; I could even say pretty. ¡°This is Senar. A human with one-sixth of orc blood. ss Trollop, Level 13. She had twelve years of experience in the business,¡± said Nas as she looked at the women. ¡°There is a 20% discount on her,¡± she added, and I could see the faint spark of hurt appearing on her face before it disappeared. In the pleasure business, orcs are not popr. People dislike even orc-blooded people. Thinking them violent and dirty. Which is an obvious stereotype, especially for orc bloods. I activated my skills, and immediately, her interface appeared in front of me. Seeing Through Veil is not a normal skill.
ss: Trollop Lv. 13
Charisma: 13
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 12
Strength: 10
Skills: ¡¤ Brace Pain ¡¤ I Fake It ¡¤ Night Long ¡¤ More Human
Attribute Points: 0
What I saw in her interface couldn¡¯t help but surprise me. Her ss is below average, and so are her skills, except for one. ¡°Where are you from?¡± I asked. ¡°Oksall city,¡± she said, after a moment of silence, barely opening her mouth. Though I was still able to catch a glimpse of what she was trying to hide. ¡°Do you have any hobbies? How manynguages do you know?¡± I asked, to which she look at Nas, who nodded. ¡°I do not have any hobbies, but I know threenguages. Common meldhornish, and okas,¡± she replied. ¡°Can you turn off your skill, please?¡± I asked, and it couldn¡¯t surprise her face. She hesitantly looked at Nas and Nas looked at me, and I looked back at her with a smile. ¡°Do it,¡± ordered Nas and she followed. It did not seem like she deactivated it, but she did. The glow on her skill disappeared. There was no change, till one looked at her carefully. Her faint orcish features became slightly prominent. Her skin, which was smooth like a human, became rough, her hair looked even more faded, and the shadow of features on her face became more prominent. Though the changes did not make her look ugly. She looks average, with a hint of orcish features. ¡°Can you open your mouth, please?¡± I asked. This time, she did not even look at Nas for permission and simply did it. As I had expected, her canines wererger than humans. She was trying to hide them before. ¡°If you take her, I will give you a 50% discount on her price,¡± said Nas. To that, I smiled and moved ahead. I checked girls one after another, noting down my own observations and the data I had gotten from my skills. It is such regret that I could not take people from other races, they would have brought tremendous boosts to my business. ¡°The arrangement is ready, Mister Silver,¡± informed Nas, when I nearly finished with the girls in the hall. ¡°We will finish here first,¡± I said, and Nas nodded. Ten minutester, we are finished and walked into the elevator for the floor above. ¡°I would also need to see the Level 5 and below girls,¡± I said. ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem,¡± replied Nas with a smile. Soon, we walked out into the elevator, and Nas took me to the small room. Which had a beautiful carved green table and chairs. ¡°Take a seat, Mister Silver. The girls will begin arriving soon.¡± Said, Nas. I nodded and sat in chairs with Ca and Caena, sitting on my left and right. It felt like an interview, and it is an interview. If they pass, they will get the job. A few secondster, a woman came, and I immediately shook my head. She is beautiful, one of the most beautiful women I had seen here so far, but I can¡¯t choose her. ¡°It seemed like you want the city to seal my business and sent me to jail, miss Nas.¡± I said to which Nas smiled apologetically. ¡°Too elvish?¡± she asked, and I nodded. ¡°You can return,¡± said Nas to the girl, and the girl returned, and immediately another girl appeared. ¡°This is Losi. A human with dwarf blood. ss Strumpet, Level 17. She had neen years of experience in the business,¡± said Nas as she introduced the women. I looked at the woman carefully and to be honest, if she hadn¡¯t told me, I wouldn¡¯t have guessed she had dwarf blood in her. As humans are short and have wide shoulders, too. This woman is not too short. She is taller than any dwarf considering they are below five feet, and she is slightly above it. ¡°Where are you from?¡± I asked the question while activating my skills. She answered the question a momentter, and I asked her another. Which she answered after permission. I wrote what I observed on my notes and the next woman came and I repeated the same process. One woman after another came. I would ask them two or three questions and check them with my skills. Hours passed, and we forgo even our lunch. Thankfully, Nas had asked for a light lunch, for which we have taken a small break, before resuming. It is not just adult girls we had looked at, but also the teens of Level 5 and below. These girls are necessary for the future of the establishment. As after years of training, they will be true gems of the establishment. Time passed, and before I knew it, the evening had arrived. I could not go longer. I am tired and my skills have run out of juice. ¡°We can stop now, miss Nas,¡± I said dwarf woman, who is looking energetic as before. ¡°How many you choose?¡± she asked. ¡°Give me some time, before I give you the final number,¡± I said with a tired smile. ¡°I will give you the privacy. Call me when you are done,¡± she said and walked out room. ¡°Shall we begin?¡± asked Ca. ¡°I just need a minute,¡± I said and closed my eyes. Both of them are Level 20 and I am just Level 12, thanks to the level-up I got yesterday. Still, a point in a charm was not enough to recover from overexertion of the skills. Hun! I was resting when I felt a soft hand on my cheeks. I was surprised, not because of the touch, but because the hand is not of Ca. I am familiar with her touch enough to know that it is not hers. I was about to open my eyes and say some stern words to Caena for this invasion of privacy when something surprising had happened. I felt a burst of vitalitying into me from the hand and rapidly begin to evaporate the tiredness I am feeling, till there is barely anything to remain. I kept my eyes closed for a few seconds before opening them. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to Caena. Such skills are very valuable and rare. ¡°It¡¯s the least I could do,¡± she replied. ¡°Since I recovered. Let¡¯s get started,¡± I said and turned to the first name on the list. ¡°What do you think of He?¡± I asked them. ¡°She seemed subpar. The only qualities she had are secondary ss and mixed heritage,¡± said Ca. ¡°I do not feel she would be a good addition to the establishment,¡± added Caena. I agree with them. I do not she would be a good addition, my skill told me the same. ¡°Senar?¡± I asked. ¡°Her orcish features are prominent when looked closely,¡± said Caena. Ca said nothing other than a nod at Caena¡¯s words. ¡°She can hide those features with her skills, and I am sure Eudo and spa will be able to help with rest,¡± I said. She felt like a rough gem to me, with some careful polishing, she will be a diamond. Not to mention, she will also bring the exotic element to the establishment without breaking thews of the empire. ¡°So we are taking her?¡± asked Ca. I nodded and write her name on the nk paper before turning to the next girl. One by one went through one after another. It took us two hours, but we finished it and were quite happy with the girls we had chosen. From two hundred and seventy-six girls we had seen, we had chosen thirty-eight among them. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 82: Tickets Chapter 82: Tickets ¡°With a 5% discount. It will be twenty-one thousand and sixty Krals.¡± Said, Nas. Kral of merchant cities is imperial of empire. The currencies of this world work differently. The value of a currency depends on the material used to make it. Empire and merchant city-states used the same form thus, their value is also the same. Twenty thousand and sixty krals are equal to the two million and six thousand crowns. The girls here cost me over more than double that of Namdar, but their number is also nearly double. It is fine, the cost of girls¡¯ contracts is the least of expenses. Before, they debut, I will need to spend many times more on them. The teachers, the spa, custom dresses, and many other things, all of which cost a lot of money. I wrote the check, and we signed the contracts. ¡°It¡¯s nice doing business with you. Mister Silver.¡± She said as we shook hands. ¡°Likewise, miss Nas,¡± I replied. ¡°Pleasee back tomorrow. We have a huge collection and you have seen only a fraction of it today,¡± she added when I set to leave. To that, I smiled. Soon, we walked out of the store and sat in the carriage. ¡°Another indentured store or back to the mansion?¡± asked Ca. ¡°Let¡¯s go shopping for essories, but first we will have dinner,¡± I said. Thankfully, the reservation is made in an excellent restaurant. Ca told the driver of the ce and half an hourter, we reached there. The name of the restaurant is ss, and it is made of ss. Even the table and cutlery were made of ss, and I was surprised when I saw the servers wearing fabric clothes. I thought about seeing everything is ss. The clothes would also be of ss. Though the restaurant was quirky, the food they served was surprisingly good. Little better than even from the restaurant from which we had eaten yesterday. After we finished the meal, we went to the boutique. Where I had got another surprise. Caena is surprisingly good at fashion or at least choosing clothes based on Eudo¡¯s requirements. I wanted to bring him, but the staff of the studio is not good enough to work without him. Though, he said, in a few months, some will gain enough skills and expertise that they will work without him. I hope that happens because Eudo is valuable, and I don¡¯t want to keep him constrained in the studio. ¡°Have the girls arrived?¡± I asked Vikdyr the moment I returned. ¡°Yes. I had set them into the arranged rooms.¡± He replied. ¡°Good,¡± I said and walked inside the mansion and went to my room to sleep, while Ca and Caena checked on the girls. Tomorrow, we will buy more contracts, but from a different store. It is wise to be not dependent on one supplier, not to mention, every store had a specialization. The one I had gone to today had more dwarfs and dwarf blood. The other shops will have something different, and I want to check it all out. Soon, I reach my suit, and a minuteter, I was fast asleep on my bed. Caena had helped me with the spell, but I was still tired. It was exhaustive and tomorrow would be going to be even more exhaustive. The next day, I woke up at dawn. I freshened up and showered before walking into the kitchen. Even in this early morning, Vikdyr was awake, impably dressed in a suit. ¡°Shall I ask the chef to set a breakfast?¡± he asked. ¡°No, wait till Ca and Caena arrive,¡± I said and say down, before picking up the paper. The news is general, politics and war, with big of a market. Hun! One piece of news had attracted my eyes. I had heard about people talking yesterday. Some seemed quite excited about it. ¡°Can you get me the tickets to this dual?¡± I asked Vikdyr. ¡°The best tickets have been sold out,¡± he replied smoothly, but I kept staring at him. ¡°There may be some avable in the ck market, but they will be expensive. At least three times expensive their original price,¡± he added after a few seconds of silence. ¡°It is fine,¡± I said. If it had been a normal duel, I wouldn¡¯t have been much interested, but it is between powerhouses of Level 30, and not a normal powerhouse either. One is Knight Commander Valra from the order of zing Fist and the other is Viscount Bal Luran of house Locw of the Kingdom of Mahal. The thing that makes it interesting is that both are aplished, warriors. Fought in many wars. It is a grudge duel. Two decades ago, when Merchant City-States fought a minor war against Mahal. The Father of Viscount Luran fought against Knight Commander Valra and lost. A week ago, Viscount Luran challenged Knight Commander Valra for dual and he epted. They will fight the dual in the central arena. The biggest arena in Owlspring, with a capacity of three hundred thousand. Half an hourter, Ca and Caena arrived, and we had breakfast before we walked out of the mansion. Yesterday, we were quitete. Today, we are going early. We n to get more girls today. Forty minutester, the carriage had stopped in front of the store. If yesterday¡¯s store had a spartan feel, this one had delicateness in it. It is a rose-colored six-story building, with simple but masterful elvish designs carved into it. We stepped out of the carriage and walked inside the store, and entered a beautifully decorated lobby, which gives a serene feeling. They have even ced the women in the lobby on round tforms. Those seven girls were nomon whores. Each one of them is Level 30+ and their contracts cost millions of crowns. ¡°Wee to Lunaryn Indentured. Mister Silver. I am Alen Onvyr, I will be at your service,¡± said the middle-aged elf with radiant raven hair as he stopped beside us. ¡°I have a big ordered Alen, and these are my requirements,¡± I said and immediately, Ca handed him the note. He took the note and read it, before turning to me. ¡°It will take fifteen minutes for me to arrange the room. Till then, why don¡¯t I show you around our store,¡± he said and handed the note to the women behind him, and spoke a few words, before turning to me. For fifteen minutes, we browsed through the store, looking at the women they were offering. Like the store yesterday, they offer girls of all races but specialize in elves. Which is no surprise since the store is run by elves. ¡°Mister Silver, the viewing room is set,¡± he informed me and took me to the fourth floor. Into a well-decorated room. Which is the same size as the room yesterday, with a table andfortable chairs. ¡°Should I start bringing the girls, Mister Silver?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. I opened my diary, set a pen, and waited. I did not have to wait for long as a beautiful young woman in her early twenties walked inside. She had raven hair, a delicate face, and clear blue eyes. She is pure human and one look at her, and I know. I am going to choose her before I even heard a single word about her. She had the face; I need in my establishment. ¡°This is Sabra. She is a pure huma¡­¡± he introduced. After he finished the introduction, I used my skills and asked my questions. Learning from yesterday, I only used the skills only when I need them and did not keep them active. Sabra left a minuteter and immediately another woman came and then another. Hours passed and names in the diary kept increasing. By the time we have paused in the afternoon; the numbers have already crossed two hundred and fifty. We havee a few hours early and set the room from the beginning. Which saved a lot of time. I am also quite happy, as girls here are more of my taste than the caskheart indentures. We ate the boxed lunch that Jonah brought. It is not the only thing he had brought, he also brought tickets. They had cost a lot, but I don¡¯t mind paying. We finished our lunch quickly and continued for two and a half hours more, before stopping for good. ¡°I will give you the privacy to decide,¡± said Alen, when stopped. As he left, Caena touched my cheek without me asking, and a burst of vitality entered inside me, taking all my tiredness away. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to her and turned to my diary. For the next two and a half hours, we reviewed one name, and after another, before finally selecting fifty-three of them. ¡°Alen,¡± I said, and a secondter, he opened the door and came inside. ¡°Have you decided on the girls, Mr. Silver?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, this is the list,¡± I replied, and Ca handed him the list. Half an hourter, we walked out of the store, spending nearly three million crowns on the girls. ¡°Twenty girls more tomorrow and we will be done,¡± said Ca as the carriage begin to move toward the restaurant. We are going to have an early lunch before going to the central arena to watch the dual. ¡°If we are lucky, we will be finished by the afternoon tomorrow,¡± I said. I am nning on buying the contracts of about a hundred girls. It is the most girls I had ever brought, but I need them. The establishment, in its current size, could host one hundred fifty to one hundred seventy girls easily. An establishment running at its full capacity will bring huge profits, and I need those profits to push my ns forward. The next stage is big, and I needed hundreds of millions of crowns for it. The establishment at full capacity will help me in achieving that quickly. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 83: Duel Chapter 83: Duel ¡°The seats are nice,¡± said Ca as she sat down. They are even better than the modern stadiums on earth. The seats are made of wood and leather with a soft cushion that melds against the body, but that is not the most amazing thing about it. The most amazing thing is the array of enchantments. This arena is huge, with a capacity of over three-hundred thousand. Double than the biggest stadiums on earth. Even with better arrangements, it is hard for most people to see a thing on the ground clearly, not to mention hearing the sound near impossible. That is where the enchantments does their magic. They create an effect that brings the view much closer, like watching it from the front. At the same time, they provide coherent sound. I have been to many stadiums and watched all sorts of sports in them, but not a single one couldpare to the arenas of this world. Our experience is going to be best, as these seats are equal to the club seats. I wanted to get a suit, but they are always hard to get. Having money is not enough to buy them, you need standing and connections. I look at the stadium; jam-packed with people. This arena might seem big, but it is average on a world scale. The war cities of Oton had the biggest arenas in the entire world. Having the capacity to hold over a million people. I want to sit in them, at least once. The fight will begin in ten minutes, but seeing the crowd. I cannot wait for long. ¡°Remus. I did not think I would meet you here,¡± said the familiar voice. I turned to the middle-aged blond man with a smile. ¡°It is a nice surprise. Guild master bow,¡± I said to the man. He is Irvin Bow, the guild master of the potters'' guild and also a secretory in the merchant guild. ¡°When do you arrive at Owlspring?¡± I asked him as he sat beside me. Well, besides Ca, I had exchanged the seat with her. ¡°Just this morning. I had ae a day early to watch this duel,¡± he replied with excitement palpable in his voice. ¡°It seemed like you are an enthusiast,¡± I said, and the man nodded unabashedly. ¡°I love battles since I was a child,¡± he said, and I smiled at that. Time passed as I made a talk with a man when suddenly, the whole arena quit down. The arena is still empty, but the lines of enchanted scripts became visible as they lit up. A few secondster, a change appeared. The area came closer to me. I could now clearly. I felt like, if I crouched down, I could pick up the dust from the arena''s ground. I was adjusting myself when I heard the crushing of boots and saw a middle-aged man walking into the arena. It is a handsome half-elf with silvery hair, wearing a white suit. ¡°Everyone, thank wee to the central arena to watch the duel of the year,¡± he said, and the crowd cheered loudly. There is no mike on his face, but his voice is clear to everyone sitting. ¡°Knight Commander Valra of zing Fist will dual against Viscount Luran from the Kingdom of Mahal,¡± he said, and the crowd cheered wildly. ¡°Without further, I call the duelist to the arena,¡± he dered, and a momentter, the gates on both sides of the arena opened. For a few seconds, there was nothing, before two people walked out at the same time from opposite ends. One is a short, bearded man, barely five feet tall looked to be in histe fifties. Wearing purple armor with an emblem of a zing fist at its center. The armor is enchanted and so is the ck ax and purple shield he has in his hands. He is Knight Commander Valra, and clearly a half-dwarf. While the maning from the opposite direction is human. Vicount Luran looked to be in his mid-thirties, quite handsome, with pale blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He is wearing light armor and has an enchanted blue-de long sword. ¡°Eleven days'' war had been especially bad for House Locw. Their title, demoted from Count to Viscount, their territory reduced, and their greatest powerhouses, had got injured enough that never able to reach the peak,¡± informed Irvin Bow. ¡°Bal Luran had also taken part in that war, right?¡± I asked. To that, he nodded. ¡°Yes. It is said, he hadn¡¯t gained a ss that time,¡± he replied. That would make him less than fifteen years old when he took a part in the war. I wish I could say it was umon in this world. Soon, both of them stopped in front of each other and the whole arena fell silent. ¡°Defeating you, I will regain the honor of my house,¡± said the Viscount Luran. ¡°Hehe. Thousands have said that to me, young man, but very few have been able to do it.¡± said the Knight Commander with augh. An old man turned up in the center of the arena. One minute, there were only two people, another minute he was present. He is human with some elvish blood and looks to be in his mid-sixteen, with shoulder-length blue hair and dull grey eyes. He is wearing simple clothes and held no weapon, but both Viscount Luran and Knight Commander Valra turned respectfully as he appeared beside them. ¡°Is he?¡± I asked Irvin Bow. ¡°Senon Darius, the marsh hunter,¡± said Irvin. The S-ss powerhouse of Owlspring. Their national treasure. ¡°This is a duel, but not a death duel. You could injure each other, but not fatally or in the way. It will take a long time to heal.¡± ¡°If I see it happening, I will stop the duel immediately and dere the result,¡± said the old man in his clear voice, and both of them nodded. ¡°Begin!¡± He shouted and disappeared, appearing at the edge of the arena a momentter. While at the same time, Viscount Luran and Knight Valra moved, using their skills from the beginning. They moved fast, so much so that even with the enchantments, I had to focus really hard to see them. Though from what I could see, Viscount Luran is clearly fast, but speed is not everything. Viscount Luran appeared in front of Knight Valra and swung his sword. The blue sword was so fast that I could only follow the afterimages it had left behind. ng! A loud sound rang out as their weapons shed. But that was the beginning of the next moment. Viscount Luran attacked again. His attack is like a storm of des. The blue de had transformed into the tens of des and all of them went to Knight Valra, who seemed unfazed by the attack. He just moved his ax and was not fast either, but could be able to sh against the tens of des. ¡°Knight Commander Valra is good,¡± I said, looking at how he is defending himself. ¡°He is very experienced, but Viscount Luran is pressing him. Making him use his ocr skills,¡± said Irvin. I am a little surprised and turned to Irvin, who is looking at the battle withplete focus and even had a skill active. I looked at him for a moment, before turning to battle, where Viscount Luran had pressed at even greater speed. Still, Knight Valra countered it with his ax, without using his shields. I wonder whether he would use the shield. ng! I had just thoughts that when he used his shield to defend, before moving forward at amazing speed, wanting to ram the shield into Viscount Luran. He was fast with great timing, but Viscount Luran had avoided it before the shield crashed against him. Though Knight Valra seemed to have expected it as heunched the attack with his ax. ng! Viscount Luran immediately defended it before attacking. A few minutes passed, and the crowd is roaring in excitement as they fought. The battle is on apletely different level. I have never seen such a battle in my life. I would have in the ind if I had been powerful enough, but I was not and wasn¡¯t able to join the High Mage ckstone in his battle against the lich. In the first minute of the duel, I thought Knight Valra would win. Seeing how he was defending with minimal movement, conserving his energy and stamina, but now, I do not think so. Viscount Luran is not an idiot, and he is fighting with a strategy. If I am right, then he is testing his opponent. The battle continued for half an hour more, when a thing that everybody had been waiting for had happened. ¡®Aura,¡¯ Aura came out of the Viscount Luran. It immediately senses an oppressive feeling across the whole arena. People shuddered and some weaker ones even fainted from it. Aura is said to be a sign of one''s will and it is awakened and not gained as skill and sses. Everyone could awaken it, but those with ruling sses awaken it the most. Even in ruling sses, a few could awaken it, and those who do it are considered people with great potential. The aura is not can be used to suppress, but also used in the fight and that is what Viscount Luran is doing. The white aura formed a cover around him, and it is especially thick around his sword as he moved. My eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen as I saw his increased speed and power. I felt like he had teleported and attacked Knight Valra. The aura burst out of Knight Valra. It is white too, like all unspecialized auras. It covered his body and weapons as he moved his shield to defend against the attack. The crowd cheered like never; this is the reason they havee here. If these two had been any other level 30 powerhouses, they wouldn¡¯t be this excited. But these two are not normal. Both of them have awakened the aura. ng ng ng They fight fast and hard. I am having quite a problem seeing it clearly, but couldn¡¯t help but feel the burning excitement watching the duel. The sheer number of skills they have and the expertise they are using are simply amazing. I couldn¡¯t help but wish to have such skills, but it would be hard for me to reach such a level. Both of them had fought many battles to reach this level, while I like to avoid fighting. The only reason I train so zealously is because I want to survive if there is battle. Time passed as I watched them fighting hard; they seemed to have unlimited stamina as their speed never lessen, instead; it had increased further. CLANG After more than an hour of fight, the attacknded. The shield heavily smashed against the Viscount Luran, and he staggered. Instead of shooting back like a ragdoll as I expected, given force and speed. Rip! I was surprised when I got even more surprised. When Viscount Luran moved through the attack, Knight Commander through the tiny gap in armor at his elbow, drawing blood. This did not stop them. They attacked each other again, even faster and harder. Injuring each other every few minutes. ¡°This Viscount Luran is really terrifying,¡± said Caena suddenly. ¡°Why do you think that miss?¡± asked Irvin, before I could say anything. ¡°Knight Commander is a defensive fighter, but he is not fully defending against the attacks of Luran.¡± ¡°The most terrifying thing about him is his use of aura. It is not a sword that passes through the gaps. It is the aura.¡± ¡°One needs to have amazing control overpressing it into a de that is powerful enough to tear through aura protection and defenses of armor.¡± She replied I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised hearing that, and I am not the only one. ¡°You have a good eye miss,¡± said Irvin after a moment of silence. There is one thing she forgot to mention. He is still young and will reach Level 40 if he lives long enough. The same could not be said about his opponent, who is stuck at Level 39 for over a decade. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 84: Stone Mercenaries Chapter 84: Stone Mercenaries ¡°Stop!¡± Shouted Senon Darius, and immediately both of them stopped fighting, while the crowd cheered madly. Three hours passed, and they have be bloody and tired but would have continued fighting if Senon Darius hadn¡¯t called the stop. The dual was really amazing, not even for one second. I felt bored. The skills they used and the efficiency with which they have used them is simply amazing. Even if a hundred like me stand in front of them. It wouldn¡¯t take them long to finish all of us off. ¡°Since there is no winner in three hours. I called the duel a tie.¡± He dered and looked at thebatants for objections. They nodded in eptance. Sonen Darius disappeared, seeing their nod. While thebatants walked back to the way, they havee from, without saying any words to each other or the crowd. The only person who remained in the arena was half-elf in a white suit. ¡°What a duel it was. My heart is still beating hard even now,¡± he said, and the crowdughed. The crowd begin leaving after the half-elf said goodbye. We did not leave. It is crowded; we are staying till the crowd leave. ¡°The duel was great. It would have been even greater if they hadn¡¯t held back,¡± said Irvin and sighed. I smiled hearing that, unlike him, there is not a hint of disappointment in my heart. They had held back in the dual. It is not clear, but those with knowledge could tell. They only used the skills and the strength that peoples are aware they have. As it is a dangerous world and those intelligent zealously guard their strength. If it had been a death dual. They would have used their strength, but it was not. When I think about it, I couldn¡¯t help but think that there was more to the duel than simple honor. They might have used it to send the message. The dangerous times are approaching. One of the most powerful yers in the world and continent is on the verge of getting unstable. If that happened, it would affect the entire continent and the entire world. History is an example of it, not only here, but also on earth. Over fifteen minutes passed and 90% of the people had left. ¡°I don¡¯t think we will see any crowd now,¡± I said and got up. ¡°I hope the carriages have left. I hate it when there is traffic,¡± said Irvin as we walked out of the seat. Soon, we were out with our carriages in front of us. I waved at Irvin and walked toward our carriage with Ca and Caena. A few minutester, we were in a carriage moving toward the mansion. ¡°Tomorrow is thest day tomorrow and we have many things to do,¡± said Ca. ¡°I think we will manage,¡± I replied. We only need twenty-some girls and do the shopping for essories, and we will be done. There are a few more things we need, but they will being from a different ce. Soon, we reached the mansion, and a few minutester; I was in my bed, sleeping tiredly. I wanted to make love here with Ca at least once, but we have been so tired and busy that we did not get a chance at all. At least, we have done it on the ship. ¡°Twenty-two girls,¡± said Caena, as finished selecting. ¡°With these twenty-two girls, we have brought one hundred and thirteen girls.¡± ¡°I wonder how many will stay?¡± asked Ca, as she looked at me. I did not answer and instead turned toward the door of the small room. Click! ¡°Mohar, we are finished,¡± I said and immediately a tall human man with a mustache walked in. The third store we have walked into is human-owned. They had a good collection of pure humans. They have prided themselves on that. Of the twenty-two we have brought, neen are pure humans, while only three had the blood of non-humans. A few minutester, we walked out of the store, but unlike the past two days, we sat on the different carriages. Ca and Caena are going shopping for essories while I am going back to the mansion. Forty minutester, the carriage had stopped in the mansion. ¡°At four, gather all the in the hall,¡± I said Vikdyr. ¡°Yes. Mister Silver,¡± he replied. There are still two and half hours to four and Hanson indentured said they will send girls within an hour. So, they will have enough time to take a brief rest before I will give them the choice. I hope, not many of them would leave. I need to bring at least eighty girls back. If too many leave, then I might be forced to buy more contracts. In such times, I want to curse myself for this excessive mortality. It became a shackle, but if I did not do it, I cannot sleep in peace, and I really like peaceful sleep. ¡°Mr. Silver, Jonah Thomas, is waiting for you in the parlor,¡± informed Vikdyr. I nodded. Soon, I entered the parlor and found Jonah waiting there. ¡°Have you finished it?¡± I asked as I sat down in front of him. ¡°These are the mercenary teams within your budget and rating you have asked for,¡± he said, and handed me the papers. I have brought the twelve guards, but I do not feel it is enough. So, I had asked Jonah to go to the mercenary guild and find a small mercenary team with a good record. I begin to look through the teams and couldn¡¯t notice one thing. ¡°There seemed to be many people from Mayhurst ind,¡± I said. Many of the mercenaries are from Mayhurst ind. ¡°Condition is extremely bad there. Those who can run away, do it,¡± he said. ¡°Though very few could get past the blockade,¡± I said. The lich¡¯s forces not only attacked all the kingdoms on the ind, but also created a naval blockade around the sea. It makes escaping every hard. Only a quarter of those who run away safely escape from the blockade. Finally, I looked through all the thirty-one interested mercenary teams and selected the one. It is fairly new, formed a little over two months ago, but their record is great. I wouldn¡¯t have chosen them, if not for seeing the name of the familiar woman. She had used their services and rated them. She did not seem like a person who would give such a great rating without a thought. ¡°Hire them,¡± I said and forwarded the page. ¡°Stone mercenaries,¡± he said as he took the page. Jonah left for the mercenary guild, while I had gone to my suite and worked a little, before resting. At right four, I have walked out of my suite. Click! ¡°Mr. Silver, they are ready.¡± Said Vikdyr as I reached the hall. ¡°Thank you, Vickdyr,¡± I said and opened the door, and walked inside. As I walked inside, I felt the eyes of a hundred people. One hundred and thirteen girls standing in a neat line. Looking at me with all sorts of expressions. There are also four guards. As I entered the hall, two have appeared behind me. ¡°Hello,¡± I greeted. There was no response. All of them just kept looking at me. ¡°I will get directly to the point then,¡± I said, and my expression turned serious. ¡°There are two choices in front of you. First is toe with me to Greltheaven and work in my establishment, and second, leave.¡± ¡°Those who want to leave, I will release you from your contract with five thousand cro¡­elem as severance toward your future,¡± I state and immediately, great change appeared on every girl¡¯s face. ¡°You are joking, right? I never get why you rich people like to y such sick games,¡± said blond hair woman in her mid-forties. ¡°I am not joking, and this is not any sick y. I am giving you the same choice that I had given to all the girls in my establishment,¡± I said. ¡°And you will pay us with five thousand elem on top of freeing us from our contract?¡± asked a dark-haired woman in herte twenties. ¡°Thanks, what I had said,¡± I said. ¡°It is quite hard to believe,¡± said the young woman with red hair. I said nothing to that. ¡°You all have four hours to decide. So, think hard,¡± I said and walked toward the door. ¡°Are you a Silver from Greltheaven?¡± asked the voice, and I turned. It is a teen girl with curly green hair. She is one of the girls I brought today, one of the three with non-human blood. ¡°Yes. I am Remus Silver,¡± I answered and looked at the girl, but seeing she had no more questions, I opened the door and walked out. ¡­. Senar ¡°Why do you ask that question? Didn¡¯t I tell you we were brought by someone from Greltheaven,¡± I said to the teen girl, who I had not seen in years. She was so little when I had seen her for the first time, but in just five years, she had grown and be beautiful. ¡°You didn¡¯t say it was silver,¡± said h. ¡°What does it matter? If what he says is right, then we are going to be free soon,¡± I said, with a big smile appeared on my face. I am so happy that I am smiling ear to ear, without caring for my canines. ¡°It matters. Matters a lot,¡± said the teen, and my expression couldn¡¯t help but turn serious. ¡°You aren¡¯t thinking about staying, are you? You do remember saying you wanted to be free. What happened to that?¡± I asked, with hints of anger seeping into my voice. This young girl was a light in a dark for me. Despite being born in a brothel, she dreamed about being free. Never losing hope, no matter how bleak things were. ¡°I have grown up,¡± said the young girl softly and turned to me. ¡°Do you know what happened to us whores when we became free?¡± She questioned. It is such a simple question, but it had filled me with sadness because I know. Most who became free came back to the brothel. Life is hard outside the brothel, so hard that many return to it. The same ce they desire to escape. ¡°It will be still better than being in a brothel. Especially for me,¡± I said, and I could see hurt appearing in the teen girl''s eyes. One of the reasons I like this little girl is because she never pitied me. Even those who were disgusted by me pitied me. It is the emotion I hate the most. For a minute, nobody spoke. We just stared at the garden ahead. I had been here for two days, and it is the most beautiful ce I had ever been. I was a little surprised when those two women had told us we were free to move around the mansion, as long as we do not go few restricted areas. Since the first day, except for eating and sleeping. I had spent nearly every minute here in this beautiful garden. ¡°Do you know why I had asked, if he was Silver from Greltheaven?¡± she asked. I wanted to reply with something snarky since I am still angry with her, but I controlled my emotions and shook my head. ¡°About one and half months ago, Liam Boris hade to the brothel for his monthly visits to Madam Lucy,¡± she said. Liam Boris is a powerful man who owns several brothels. He is a violent man. I had been hit by him more times than I could count. ¡°I was there cleaning the room when he said some shocking things,¡± said the teen girl, with her expression bing very serious. ¡°What sort of things?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask, seeing such a serious expression on her face. ¡°Things you will not dare to believe,¡± replied the young girl and turned to me with deep ck eyes. For a minute, she did not speak, but when she did, every word that came out of her mouth sent an earthquake into my heart. I did not dare to believe it. I couldn¡¯t. There is no way those things could be true. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 85: River Bandits Chapter 85: River Bandits ¡°I will tell you, girls. By staying, you have made the best decision of your life.¡± Ca said to the one hundred and one women standing in front of her. To be honest, the number of girls who stayed had shocked me. With past experience, I thought, I would have left with around eighty girls, or even seventy. That would have forced me to buy more contracts and extend my stay by a day. ¡°I could see many of you are not willing to believe me and only chose to stay because there was no choice.¡± ¡°Whatever your reason may be, it is the best decision you all have made and will see it in a day,¡± finished Ca. The girls had no change in their expressions hearing her words. As she had said, most stayed because there was no choice. The whore who left the business eventually returned to it. ¡°Sleep early today. Tomorrow, we will leave at dawn,¡± I said to them, before walking out of the hall with Ca and Caena. I had just walked out of the hall and saw Jonah is waiting for me. ¡°Mr. Silver, the stone mercenaries, has arrived,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s meet them,¡± I said, and we walked toward the parlor. I have hired them for the day, but they will be finished well before that. As we will reach the Greltheaven by early afternoon. Soon, I reached the parlor, and immediately seven people stood up to see me. They are the stone mercenaries. I looked at them, and could easily see all of them are from Mayhurst ind. Their sun-kissed skin tone is very easy to recognize. I turned to the leader. He is a big man who looked to be in his early to mid-forties. He is at least six foot five or more. Giant blood clearly. Have a thick mane of golden hair and amethyst eyes, turning his below-average face into handsome one. By his side is a huge steel great sword, which is at least five feet long. Even with their natural strength, giant bloods did not use such abomination weapons. Sitting beside him is a man named Jon Sands. He is a lean man about the same age as him. With a handsome face and blue eyes that felt sharp as a sword. He is a rogue. On the left side of them were two people: siblings, Stena and Shaun Carter. They are in theirte twenties with ck hair and faint yellow eyes. Their parents have blessed them with good genes as man is handsome and women are pretty. The man is a mage, and the woman is an archer. On the right side of the Stone and Jon are three people. The first one is a teen, with somber brown eyes. The young man is Eli Gest, a tamer/ scout. Sitting beside him was an elf-blood woman in herte twenties with short blue hair. She is Z Taras, a water mage with the ability to cast some healing spells. Thest one beside her is a short-haired man in his mid-twenties. He has blond hair and a silver stud in his earns that seemed to give out a spunky feel. His name is Hugo Bent, and he is a warrior. I have to say, there is a great team. A well-bnced one. Especially with mages. It is hard to see the teams with one mage, but they have two, including the one who could cast healing spells. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± the big man greeted, ¡°Captain Stone,¡± I said back and sat down. ¡°I assume Jonah had provided you with the details of the work?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, he had,¡± he replied. I talked to him and his teams for half an hour, giving them inputs, before going back to my room to sleep. ¡­ ¡°Caena and guards have taken the girls to port ten minutes,¡± said Ca as I walked into the parlor. ¡°Let¡¯s leave then,¡± I said and walked out of the mansion. ¡°Have a safe journey, Mr. Silver,¡± said Vikdyr as we reach the door of the mansion. ¡°Thank you, Vikdyr,¡± I said with a smile. Half-elf had been very good, and I have shown my appreciation through the tip I had left for him. It is still dark, but the sun is out, and it is getting brighter by the minute. I nodded at Stone and the other guards and sat in the carriage and a minuteter; the carriage rolled out of the gates of the mansion. Even at dawn, the city is active, but the carriage is moving more freely. We will reach the port sooner than it would usually take during the day. ¡°The trip was sessful,¡± said Ca. I smiled at that, as it is a sess. We got everything we wanted and even could watch the wonderful duel. ¡°We are still in Owlspring. Say that, when we reach Greltheaven,¡± I said. I will not consider it a sess till I reach home safely. I don¡¯t think there would be any problem. I have booked the ship, and the route is safe. Many groups of river bandits had been dealt with, and in the past week, there is not been a single attack. Owlspring and Greltheaven had done a good job dealing with them. I wish they had done just as well at dealing with bandits in Nakar forest. They have been guing the baronies. Looting, raiding, and killing, while the forces of the empire could only watch. It is not just the gog bandits that are doing that, but also other groups who got the courage to see them. I had got a message yesterday that my brother had been looted. It couldn¡¯t help but make me happy. I wish I had been there to see his face. They have a serious problem, and I hope they will do something about it before it truly gets out of control. Forty minutester, the carriage stopped, and we got out into the bright sky. I looked at the sky, before turning to the ship. I have booked the whole passenger ship. A ferry, to be exact. It has a capacity of one hundred and fifty people. It is not amon ferry. It is one of the luxury ones. Costing three times more than the ordinary ferry ship would have cost me. They have better seats and more leg space. More importantly, it is big, with enough space to move around to enjoy the river and scenery around it. It is a short distance journey and will take around six hours for us to reach the Greltheaven. If it had been a long distance, I would have booked the ships with beds, but for such a short distance, there is no need. The ship''s name is Loza. It is a long white ship, with a curved stern. Soon, I reached the ship and climbed into it, where a middle-aged man was waiting. ¡°Mister Silver, wee to Loza.¡± said a middle-aged man. ¡°Thank you, Captain Seron,¡± I said as I shook his hand. ¡°If all your preparations are made, we can leave in five minutes.¡± He said, and I turned to Caena and Johan, who havee. They nodded. ¡°We can leave immediately,¡± I replied. ¡°Ok, then. I will start the ship,¡± he said, and walked toward the control deck, while I turned to Caena and Johan. ¡°Is everything ready?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, all the girls counted and seated,¡± replied Caena. ¡°The guards are also in their position.¡± Informed Jonah. ¡°Good,¡± I said and walked with Caena and Ca, while Stone and Jonah followed behind. Soon, we reached the small private on the ship, which had even better seats and views. A few minutester, the runes across the ship light up and a few seconds after that, the ship begins to move out of the port. ¡°The city is great but expensive. The essories you have brought from Namdar had been cheaper than from here,¡± said Ca, as we watched the ship sailing in confluence. ¡°Namdar is not cheaper. I had got the friend discount there,¡± I replied. Looking at the prices here, I know she had given me a huge discount. I will soon have to buy a huge number of essories. What I had brought in Owlspring is supplementary to what I have, but I will need more for these girls before they debuted. I nned on sending Eudo for that; I hope the staff of the studio will be ready by then. Soon, the boat sailed out of the confluence into the Trollmouth river that was formed it. The Trollmouth river is wide, wider than Northhare and Vale, that is made of. So, the potential of trade that Greltheaven represents is greater than Owlspring. Having potential does not mean we will seed. It requires political will, better policy, and favorable geopolitics along with some luck. The Greltheaven has half of these things and half will need work. The optimal time is running out as the death of the emperor, going to make things a lot more vtile, which is not favorable in a hundred ways. I shook my head, as I can¡¯t do much about it. Still, I am doing as much as I can through my small position as the legal adviser. An hour passed, and we have crossed the territory of merchant cities and entered the Renwall region. The boundary is visible. That even a simpleton would recognize it. The side of merchant cities ispletely verdant, while the empire''s side ispletely barren. When I came, it was dark, and I did not see it clearly, but now the difference is clear. The Renwell region is barren, dependent on others for nearly everything. I sighed and took out the book from my bag. I had barely got any chance to read since I came to Owlspring, but now that I have a few hours to kill, I could read a book. Thanks to my Reading skill, my speed is quite fast. In the first two months since I hade here, I did not think I could finish my reading target. That thought now hadpletely disappeared, all thanks to my wonderful skill. Even with resistance, I could read much faster; not simply read, but also understand. Now, even with much less time to read, I would be able to finish my target in less than half a year. The skills are such amazing things. They made everything great. I read for two hours before getting up and walking to the big deck. Much bigger than themon ferry ships. I nodded at the guards beforeing to the wooden railings and watching the water. It is clear and harmless to drink. One could say that about the earth¡¯s rivers. A few minutes passed, and I took a step to leave, when suddenly, the teen Eli, the tamer, took out his sword. ¡°Bandits!¡± he screamed loudly, and at that exact moment, I saw the gentle flowing water rippling and figures started to shoot out of it. Keep reading as a patron on . Chapter 86: Assassins Chapter 86: Assassins ¡°Bandits!¡± shouted Stone and Jonah behind me, while I took off the rapier in my hand and turn toward the bandits. Two mages and an archer from the Stones team had alreadyunched their spells and arrows. What made me surprised is the preparation of river bandits. The spells and arrows were halfway through when the protective shields formed on their bodies. They also moved mid-air in practiced grace to avoid the spells and arrows. ¡°Target Locked,¡± shouted the tall man with a mask looking at me, and immediately, I felt my body freeze. I could not move at all. I tried, I struggled, but could do nothing. It immediately made panic rise in my heart. They areing from me and seeing their numbers; they are fully prepared to kill me. There are over thirty of them, while I only have neen guards. ¡°Protect!¡± Stone screamed and moved toward bandits, while Jonah and other guards, including mage Z, move to surround me. Thud Thud Thud The masked river banditsnded on the deck one after another. They came at me in perfect teamwork, while Stone and others moved to intercept. The difference in numbers did not seem to faze them. ¡°Unshackle,¡± said someone behind me, and I felt a hand on my shoulder, and immediately, I unfroze. ¡°Mister Silver, get into the seating area,¡± said Jon and disappeared. The next second, he appeared beside Hugo, who was moving toward the banditsing from the other side of the deck. ¡°Mister Silver, let''s go,¡± Jonah said and took me toward the seating area, while Stone reached the bandits and what happened next was quite shocking. He swung that big sword of his, and it moved so fast that it shed through the bandit, cutting him in two. Seeing such a swing killing, I couldn¡¯t help but get shocked. If it had been a normal bandit, nobody would have been shocked, but the one who had been killed was quite powerful. At least a Level 20, but Stone had killed him in a second. It shocked me, but this shock is nothing to bepared to what happened next. It had simply blown my mind. The two bloodied parts of the person turned into the water and fell down on the deck with a ssh. ¡®Water clone,¡¯ I thought, and my expression has turned bad. Not only me but others too, as they also understood what it means. Water clone is a powerful skill. A skill that is very rare and only those of Level 30 and above have it. It had disadvantages, but in front of massive advantages, they are nothing. Most importantly, with water clone. They will not have to care about their life. They coulde at me with reckless abandon. ¡°Target Charge!¡± It is an order, but also a skill, seeing the change appearing on the bodies of bandits. As all of them had charged toward me. It had scared me to my life, seeing all of theming toward me to take my life and they would only need a single will-ce attack to finish me up. ¡°Protect The Ward!¡± Stone ordered with skill while shing another bandit, a woman this time. Her two parts, too, turned to water and sshed on the deck. It is not only the Stone who had killed but also Jon who pierces his dagger into the skull of a person, while the Stena attacked with a barrage of mana bullets. Most defended, but one hit the man''s chest, turning him into a puddle of water. Still, it did not make me happy. As they are closing fast, and we are killing too slowly. At least, the guards are gathered around me and more and are blocking the way. It took less than three seconds before the bandits approached the guards protecting me. They came from all sides, and my guards moved to stop them. Using their des, spells and arrows, but despite all that, I am not feeling confident that they will be able to block it all. I had just thought that when a thin masked man materialized in front of me. ¡°Die, silver!¡± it shouted and attacked me with a dagger, at a very fast speed. I am panicking seeing the attack, but I reacted instantly. I swung my rapier in defense, using everything I have. I used the Weighted Strike and also the Consecutive Strikes, despite knowing it will give me only a faint increase, but even that would be helpful for me. ng! My sword shed against its dagger, and it surprised him. He had not thought I could defend against the attack. I did note out unscathed while defending against its powerful attack. I am feeling a heavy shock in my arm; it sorts of numb, but I was used to it. Instructor David used the power and skills that are above me in our training. Every day, he would barrage me with such attacks. ¡°You bastard!¡± He cursed angrily and attacked me again, and I responded instantly, without caring for the shock and pain I had in my hands. ng ng ng He begins to attack me with daggers and I defended while thanking the god that it was attacking me with the water clone. This bastard is very skillful and powerful. At least Level 20, like most bandits, but due to being a clone, his skills, and power are suppressed. Still, he is far more powerful than me and the only reason I am defending is training and a little bit of talent. Rip! Finally, his dagger seeded in dodging my sword and shed through my chest. The injury would have been deadly. If I hadn¡¯t dodged the attack, taking a step back with Quick Steps and Surefoot at thest moment. The sh is not serious, but not a scratch either, and is hurting like hell. It is having some kind of pain skill attached to it, which is giving me blinding pain. ng! ¡°Why don¡¯t you just die!¡± he shouted in frustration and attacked me and I responded through pain and injuries while raising questions in my heart. ¡®Why isn¡¯t anyoneing to help me?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help, but ask myself. I am fighting for my life, here, using everything I have to survive a second more, but my luck won¡¯tst forever. Even with few skills and shed attributes, it will kill me. If I did not get the help sooner. I wanted to look at what is happening around me, but I did not dare to. A distraction for a fraction of a second would cost me my life. So, I will keep fighting till I take ast breath. Rip! I defended a few more attacks when I got shed once again. This time, one the shoulder bone, very close to my neck. ¡°There is no other choice for you but to die. So, why are you resisting?¡± it asked as it attacked me. If I had any doubts before, they are now cleared. Someone is trying to kill me and hired these assassins for it. These were no bandits, but a group of assassins, who specialized in assassinations over water. I wish I was surprised, but I am not. There are many people who want to kill me. The enemies of the house of silver. The people who killed my father. My businesspetitors or someone I had made the enemy unknowingly. I don¡¯t know who it is, but if I survived it. I will find them and kill them in the worst way possible. ng Rip ng It continued attacking me, and I had defended the most, but some of them hit me. A few of them are bleeding a lot, which started to make me a little lightheaded. I have to thank this bastard for the pain skill. It is the reason I am so wide awake and still fighting. If the pain turned off, I wouldn¡¯t be able to fight as I am doing right now. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to use this skill on a weakling like you, but you have forced me,¡± he said, and before I could even say anything, the dagger in his hands lighted up in a grey light. My eyes widened in horror as I saw the speed and power of the attack and know there is no way I could defend against this attack. Despite knowing that, I attacked with a rapier. I know it is futile, but I don¡¯t want to be frozen in front of death. I want to face it head-on. Time seemed to slow down in face of the death. The dagger slow down in front of me, and my saber barely seemed to be movingpared to it. The dagger came closer and closer and closer to me till there were barely a few inches between us. I have no doubt it will reach me soon and decapitate me. SLASH! I was sure of that when I saw a huge steel de appear over the head of the assassin and came down. Its speed was so fast that, that even the slowness in front of me barely seemed to have any effect. I saw the man splitting into two, from blood to innardsing out, while the dagger kepting closer to me. It was less than an inch away from my neck when the dagger turned into the water like the body holding it. Behind the falling water, Stone is standing with a huge sword in his hand. A moment ago, it was wet with blood, now it is dripping water. He only remained there for a moment before turning to the battle, which is still raging, but to my surprise, more than half of the bandits had already been finished. The other half, including the one who seemed to be the leader facing off against Jon, are trying their all toe close to me. Gulp! Without taking my eyes off the battle, I took out the healing potion bottle from my pocket and gulped it down. A momentter, a cool energy filled my body and begin to heal my injuries. ¡°Mister Silver. Please move to the seatings, it would be safe there,¡± said Eli, but I immediately shook my head. ¡°I am fine here,¡± I said. I would very much like to be safe, but I couldn¡¯t go there. It will risk the safety of the girls. Hun! I was looking at the girls when I saw a figure jumping at the back of the ship. I had just opened my mouth to warn when suddenly, a fireball seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and smashed into the head of a bandit which had justnded on the deck. Instantly turning him into a puddle of water. ¡°You saw that, didn¡¯t you?¡± I asked Eli, who nodded, dumbfounded as I was feeling. What happened is shocking, because mages, we have been on this side of the ship, while only one guard was on the other side. Our mages are busy fighting the bandits. If they had cast the fireball, it would materialize here and went there, but that fireball was strange. It had materialized the moment the bandit touched the ship, right next to his head. It crashed on the head immediately, without giving the assassin even a moment to defend. It was quite shocking and strange. I thought for a few seconds before pushing those distracting thoughts away. Currently, it did not matter how the assassin is dealt with. The only thing matter is that it had happened. I will think about it when I am safe. I turned to battle where now my guards are overpowering the bandits. Finishing their numbers one after another, but even then, the bandits are trying their all toe at me,unching their attacks, which would be dealt with, before they reached me. A few seconds passed, and finally, every bandit turned into the water, except for one. The leader, who had jumped on the bowsprit. While Stone stood in front of him, ready to block any attack from him. ¡°Who are you, and who paid you for my assassination?¡± I asked, and the masked man turned to me. ¡°You know most of the time assassination failed not due to the ability of assassins, but because of faulty intelligence,¡± he said with mncholically, ignoring my question. ¡°If we had the correct information, especially about this powerful gentleman¡¯s team. We wouldn¡¯t have failed so miserably,¡± hemented, looking at Stone. ¡°Give me the name of the person who hired you and I will pay double the amount he paid you,¡± I said to him. ¡°That, unfortunately, I could not do that, Remus Silver,¡± he said, finally acknowledging me. I smiled at that as I kind of expected it, before my expression turned serious and I looked directly at the sea-blue eyes of the assassin. ¡°Today I am weak. Have nothing, but remember, there will be a day when I will not be this weak and powerless.¡± ¡°When that dayes, I will do everything to find you,¡± I said to him and also to myself. It is a promise. ¡°Good. I will be waiting,¡± he said before his whole body turned into the water and fell into the river. ¡°I guess there is no way you might be able to catch one of them?¡± I asked to stone. To that, he shook his head. ¡°These people havee well prepared. If we went to catch them, we will end up losing our lives,¡± he replied. I had expected it, but it still couldn¡¯t disappoint me. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be disappointed, Mister Silver. You have survived a powerful assassination attempt. A few would have been that lucky,¡± said Jonah, and all I could do was nod. I am struggling to find the best uploading time. I would very much wee suggestions from you guys(Pacific Time). Chapter 87: Failed Chapter 87: Failed ¡°They failed,¡± said the man behind an intricately carved violet table. ¡°They said it was an intelligence failure. It is what made them fail,¡± said the old man sitting in front of him. He had been waiting for hours, unable to sleep even for an hour. All in hope of hearing the good news. ¡°Losers always have excuses,¡± he said, what his father always says. He had used those words on him just a few days ago. He was so angry that he had decided to take action against Remus Silver, paying for it from his own pocket. And what happened? Those bastard¡¯s assassins failed. ¡°This will not be thest opportunity. We will get another soon enough,¡± said the old man, and he nodded. Since he has already started, there is no need to stop. ¡­. Warrior Lv. 9 A notification appeared in front of me. Surprising me. I had not thought I would level up from it, seeing I had barely fought with the assassin for a minute. Though it had nearly killed me. If not for timely rescue from the Stone. They would have been looking at my dead body right now. This level-up will help me. If I had leveled up my warrior ss once again. I would gain an attribute point. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to Z, as she cast another healing spell on me. She had cast one a few minutes ago and now had cast another one. She nodded and walked toward another guard and cast a healing spell on them. I am not the only one who had been injured. With reckless momentum, the assassinse for me. It is already a great surprise, there are no fatalities. ¡®They will pay,¡¯ I promised once again. Not only assassins but also those who hired them. It will be difficult to find them, but as I had said to the assassin, I will use everything to find him, and I will. I stayed on deck for ten more minutes while guards surrounded me. They are in their position, more alert than before. The assassins coulde back. Many times, assassins act like they retreated, before being attacked with even greater force. I finally got up and walked toward the seating area, with guards ahead and behind me. The girls watched me as I passed by them. I nodded at a few of them, even smiled. They are scared and so I am, but I could not show that. So, I smiled lightly in confidence as they looked at me with fear and trepidation. Caena and Ca are among the girls, reassuring them. Especially the teens. Soon, I reached the seating area and sat down, and a few minutester, Ca and Caena appeared beside me. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± asked Ca. ¡°Fine,¡± I replied with a smile. I am feeling anything, but fine and she knows it as well, as she gave me the look. She said nothing, but took my hand in hers, without caring for anyone looking. Usually, she refrains from doing such things and maintains a professional persona in public, but not now. I am d she did not. Her presence, and her touch, are reassuring. I smiled at her, this time genuinely, before closing my eyes. It is dangerous, but there are guards around me. If they are not able to stop the threat, then I am good as dead. I tried to sleep, but after more than half an hour of trying, I gave up and opened my eyes. I tried to focus my mind on something else, but I couldn¡¯t read more than a line, so I simply took out the diary from my bad and begin to write whatever I have in my mind. Writing always rxes me. It did not need to be about the experience, just the task of doing that is enough. I felt myself calming down as I wrote. When I looked at what I wrote, it couldn¡¯t help but be surprised me. I kept writing for half an hour, before stopping and closing my eyes to think but fell into sleep unknowingly. ¡°Remus, we have arrived,¡± said Ca as she gently shook me away. I opened my eyes and turned. I saw the port of Greltheaven in front of me. It is busy, as always, filled with people. I smiled seeing that, as I got up and walked out of the seating area, seeing Margaux and a few other old girls talking to the new girls. ¡°Captain Seron, till we meet again,¡± I said to Captain, who was waiting by the exit. ¡°I hope next time we meet. You will enjoy our hospitality better,¡± he said. I smiled at that and walked out under the protection of the guards. Ca and Caena will take time. They have over a hundred girls to handle; it will take time. I had just walked out of the guild when I saw a familiar persone running toward me. ¡°Remus, are you fine? I heard the assassins have attacked you.¡± Said Locke as he looked at me, especially my clothes, which are still torn and bloodied. ¡°It was just a minor attack. Stone and Jonah have protected me,¡± I replied. He looked like he did believe me. ¡°I am d you had survived,¡± he said after a moment of silence. ¡°So, anything new happened while I was gone?¡± I asked, clearly changing the subject from what happened. ¡°Nothing interesting, aside from the few interactions we had about the Deerpond. I will tell you about them when you return to the guild,¡± he said. I nodded and walked toward the carriage. I want to reach the establishment as soon as possible. It is the only ce I feel safe. I sat in my carriage with Jon and Z entering after me, while Stone, Jonah, and others on both sides of the carriage were on horses. The trip to the establishment was silent. It was not an awkward silence. They seemed to understand I was not in the mood for even small talk and stayed silent. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I walked out. The first thing I did is to look at the establishment. It had been only four days but felt like weeks since I have seen the establishment. ¡°Jonah, Stone. Thank you for protecting me. Without you and your teams, I wouldn¡¯t be standing here today,¡± I said, and those words havee out from the bottom of my heart. ¡°You don¡¯t have to thank us. It is what you had hired us, Mister Silver.¡± Said, Jonah. I smiled at that, before turning to the big man. ¡°Stone, can I talk to you in my office for a minute?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course, Mr. Silver,¡± he said. Nodding at Jonah, I walked toward the establishment, while Stone followed behind with two of his teammates. As I entered the hall, I saw the girls looking at me. They were surprised looking at my state but did not ask a question. Click! I reached my office and entered inside and turned to Stone. ¡°Please take a seat,¡± I said to them. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Silver,¡± he said and sat in front of me with teammates, while I took out my diary and tear open and page from it. ¡°I am going to be direct with you, Stone. I want to hire you and your team services for a longer time, and this is what I am willing to offer,¡± I said and slid the page toward him. He did not even look at the page. ¡°My apologies, mister Silver, but w¡± he was speaking when he suddenly stopped and looked at both of his teammates before turning back to me. ¡°Can I get back to you about this, Mister Silver?¡± he asked. ¡°Sure,¡± I said. He nodded and finally look at the page. A faint surprise appeared on his face, but he quickly disappeared as he took the page. A minuteter, I saw him and his team leaving through the gate. I hope he epts; he is very good. Better than Jonah and his team and if it is not for them, I wouldn¡¯t be sitting in this room. I had offered Jonah and Dan the same thing a few months ago, but they decline due to the contract they have with their mercenarypany. This team is independent, but the chances of them epting are less, given how smoothly he was about to reject my offer, before being stopped by his teammate. His reaction tells me that I am not the only one who had offered him. There might be quite a few employers who might have done the same. Which is not surprising, seeing how good his team is. Their teamwork is excellent with the bnce of sses. Not to mention, they have two mages and two people who are close to Level 30 or might be at Level 30. A minuteter, I had got up and walked out of my office, and went to my room. My injuries have nearly healed, but my clothes are torn with signs of blood on my clothes and body. In my room, I strip all my clothes and walked into the shower. Scrubbing all the dried blood nearly obsessively till not even smell had remained, beforeing out of the shower. I remained in the shower for nearly half an hour before I came out and change into the new cloth before walking out. When I reached my office, I found Ca sitting there. ¡°Have all the girls arrived?¡± I asked, ¡°Yes. Margaux and Caena are giving them the tour of the establishment,¡± she replied. ¡°After the tour, bring them to me. We have contracts to sign,¡± I said. ¡°Ok,¡± she said. ¡°And tell those girls they have to give me the answer tomorrow,¡± I said. She nodded at that. I have taken out six girls from the job, three of which left, while Lauren joined the studio. There are still other two, who had yet to be decided. I had given them ten days in the beginning, but they had asked for more time, while they try different things and I agree. Today is thest. Tomorrow, they will have to give me the answer or I will decide in what way they will serve their contract. The next one and a half hours passed in silence. I could tell Ca wanted to say something, but she did not. She just stayed by me in silence. Visit Patreon for Advance Chapters. Chapter 88: Decision Chapter 88: Decision Stone ¡°So, what have you all been able to find out?¡± I asked. As we all gathered in the private room of the restaurant. The whole yesterday and today, we have spent gathering information about the Remus Silver. It is they, not me, who were gathering the information while I remained in the inn, drinking. I am against working under anyone, but since the moment of founding our group, we have decided to take in each other¡¯s views before making a big decision. So, the meeting. ¡°The things I heard about him were surprisingly good,¡± said Shaun. Immediately getting a re from his older sister. ¡°Of course, you will find them good. Since it is a whorehouse,¡± snapped his older sister. ¡°At least I have desires. I am not aplete monk like you,¡± he said back, which made Stena glower at him angrily. ¡°The information I got from the grey guild. Is also favorable, some of the things there I read were a kind of shocking,¡± said Jon and forwarded the binder. I did not even look at it. ¡°The thing is Stone, we need money. We had sold everything we have to heal from the injuries.¡± ¡°The money will buy us the gear. Eli a monster, Stena and me spells, and many other things,¡± said Z, hitting him hard with her words. She is the one who stopped him from directly rejecting Remus Silvers'' offer. ¡°If we continued with the individual missions. It will take us years to buy everything we need. Working long term for one individual will halve that time to half,¡± said Jon, and I wish I could refute him. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t forget, he had enemies. One of whom has hired assassins to kill him,¡± said Stena, and I nearly patted her back. ¡°Anyone rich and powerful has enemies have Stena. The clients who offered us jobs had even more powerful enemies than him,¡± replied Jon. ¡°But he is a pimp,¡± she said. A little forcefully. ¡°What did it have to do with us? If we control ourselves, it will be like any other job,¡± he said, looking at all the men, especially at Shaun. ¡°We should just vote. It is much less easy than needless arguing,¡± spoke Hugo finally, and we all looked at each other, before starting to vote. ¡­. Lawyer Lv. 19 Agent of Experience Lv. 13 The texts were in front of me when I woke up. Seeing the level up, a smile lit up on my face. The advancement of my base ss is no surprise, but my Lawyer ss is. As I had expected to level-up in it yesterday, after signing over a hundred contracts, not the next morning. Still, I am happy at level up. Late as it may be.
ss: Agent of Experience (Lv. 13)
Lawyer (Lv. 9) Warrior (Lv.9)
Charisma: 12
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 7
Strength: 8
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Quick Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Sure Foot ¡¤ Sight Through Veil
Attribute Points: 01
I am advancing fast, not only in my base ss but also in my secondary sses. In a little over four months since getting them, I have taken them from Level 1 to Level 9. One level up more. They will be at their first capstone. It will not be easy reaching it. I looked at the attribute point before adding it to the strength and immediately felt the strength rising in my veins. That point would have gone to charisma instead of strength if the assassins hadn¡¯t attacked me. Yesterday was unlike anything I had experienced before. Till now, in all the fights I have been in, I had never been targeted specifically. I had to fight because I was present. Yesterday was different. They hade for me. Someone had sent them to kill me. If they can do it once, then they can do it again. It is the reason why I am willing to pay far more amount than I would befortable hiring the Stone mercenaries. Life is more important than money and if I have to spend all my fortune on it, I will do it without a single thought.
ss: Agent of Experience (Lv. 13)
Lawyer (Lv. 9) Warrior (Lv.9)
Charisma: 12
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 7
Strength: 7
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Quick Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Sure Foot ¡¤ Sight Through Veil
Attribute Points: 0
I closed the interface with a slight regret of not getting any skill from the level up. I had got no skill in my secondary sses since I returned from the Namdar. Though, at the next level up. I am going to get it. Over 90% of people receive new skills at the capstone. I closed the interface and turned to Ca, who was sleeping soundly. I rarely woke up before her. She looked beautiful even in her sleep, that I couldn¡¯t help but gently kiss her on the temple before getting up. I have to get ready for training and I am going to ask instructor David to go even harder on me. Click! A few hours passed when I walked into my office, with my body shaking. Instructor David had gone hard as I had asked him to and it was painful, but I will continue. It is because of this training; I had survived against that assassin, and I want to continue doing that. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t push yourself this hard,¡± said Ca worriedly as I sat down gently. ¡°It is fine,¡± I said and opened the file of yesterday night''s earnings. As always, everything is written neatly. I read the file and made notes in my diary, before turning to them. ¡°Ca, ask Ina whether she still wants the job. It will be of assistant madam,¡± I said, surprising both of them. ¡°Master Silver, the girls might have increased, but I am confident in handling them,¡± said Margaux. The hurt is clear in her eyes. ¡°It is not about your abilities, Margaux. You are doing a wonderful job, but the establishment needs another madam ready for emergencies and expansion,¡± I exined, and she calmed down. ¡°My apologies for overreacting, Master Silver,¡± she apologized. I smiled at her before my expression turned serious. ¡°Bring the girls. I want to hear what they have decided,¡± I said to Margaux. She nodded and got up. I hope they have decided, if they have not, then I will have to decide, and I already have a list of things where they could serve their contracts. ¡°Wanda and Cressae in,¡± said Margaux as she opened the door. It seemed like she had already had them wait outside my office, knowing I will ask about them first thing in the morning. A few secondster, Wanda and Cressa walked inside. Wanda is a woman raven-haired woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had brown eyes and a small face, which made look delicate. Cressa was a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She had tinum blond hair, which she had colored from brown, but since Eudo had done the work, it was indistinguishable. She had bright blue eyes and full lips, making her seductive. She had worked on this look with the help of an acting teacher. She had really be good at it. If it wasn¡¯t for those few things, I wouldn¡¯t have pulled her out. ¡°Master Silver,¡± they greeted. ¡°Wanda, Cressa. Have you decided?¡± I asked directly. ¡°Yes,¡± said Cressa, while Wanda nodded. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved. It is always better that they decide on them instead of me deciding for them. ¡°What have you decided?¡± I asked them. ¡°I want to be a chef,¡± said Wanda. ¡°I want to be a bartender,¡± said Cressa, a little hesitantly, and it had truly surprised me. Hearing Wanda¡¯s choice, I am not surprised. Cooking is one of the sses she is taking from the beginning, along with the music. The notes from her teacher had said that she was good enough to start working as a kitchen porter. If she hadn¡¯t made the choice, I would have sent her to the kitchen. It is Cressa¡¯s choice that had surprised me. She is a good painter, and I thought she chose a field rted to that, but no, she chose bartending, which had been learning for not over two weeks. ¡°Are you sure about your choices?¡± I asked them, making my voice especially heavy to let them understand the gravity of their choices. ¡°Yes,¡± they said in unison. ¡°Good,¡± I said and turned to Margaux. ¡°Tell the head chef. Wanda will start working as a kitchen porter from today and Cressa will continue to learn, till Jamel thinks she is ready to work in a bar,¡± I said. ¡°I will tell them,¡± said Margaux. She left with the girls soon after, leaving only Ca and me alone in the office. ¡°Yesterday you have experienced horrific. Don¡¯t react directly, take a rest, and think about what you have to do,¡± said Ca. Hearing that, I stopped what I was working on and turned to her with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not hurt myself, but the training is necessary,¡± I said. I saw her watching when I was training. It might have seemed extreme, and it was, but with instructor David¡¯s skills, the risk is manageable. ¡°I hope so,¡± she said a momentter. She left but soon came back, bringing Ina with her. ¡°So, you ept the job?¡± I asked Ina, after exining what her new job will entail. ¡°I do,¡± replied Ina, with eyes filled with excitement. She will be junior to Margaux and not even earn 10% of what she is earning. She is the higher-earning girl in the establishment, but she did not seem to care about that. I looked into her eyes and saw something that made a smile appear on my face bigger. Ambition. This girl had ambition. I hadn¡¯t seen this emotion in her eyes before, but now she has it. I couldn¡¯t help but feel happy seeing that. It is good to be ambitious; it is one of the qualities I want girls to have. ¡°You will start from today, learning the ropes from Ca and Margaux.¡± ¡°You will attend a few lessons on management and have the choice to get one teacher in your desired field,¡± I said. ¡°I understand,¡± she replied. Hearing that, I slid the contract toward her. She read it whole before signing it. ¡°From today, you will be a trainee madam. After your training, is over, you will be an assistant madam.¡± I said to her. ¡°Thank you for the opportunity. Master Silver, I will not disappoint you,¡± she said, with tears dripping from her eyes. She wiped the tears a secondter before leaving the room. Leaving Ca and me alone again. ¡°She did not seem like an emotional type,¡± I said as the door closed. ¡°The opportunity means a lot to her,¡± Ca replied, sounding a little emotional. ¡°Still, I am quite surprised she had epted the job so quickly. Considering she will not even earn a twentieth of what she was earning till now,¡± I said, and Ca gave me the look. The look that said I shouldn¡¯t disparage her intelligence. Visit Patreon for Advance Chapters. Chapter 89: New Chef Chapter 89: New Chef Click! I was discussing some things with Ca when the door opened, and Margaux walked in. When I looked at her, I froze, forgetting what I was talking about. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked. She is angry. I had never seen her this angry. It is a bubbling, raging anger. ¡°I had gone to the head chef to tell him to let Wanda work in a kitchen from today, but he said he will never let a whore work in his kitchen. He will not do it, even if you had asked him.,¡± she said, with a shaking voice. ¡°That bastard,¡± cursed Ca, with anger apparent in her voice. ¡°Is he in the kitchen?¡± I asked as I got up from my chair. ¡°Yes,¡± Margaux replied. I nodded and walked out of my office with Ca and Margaux following behind me. I had just stepped out when I saw Wanda. She was crying. Seeing me, she quickly wiped away her eyes, but I could see the tears and pain. She must have been present when she heard those words. I smiled at her reassuringly and walked down the stairs. Soon, I reached the ground floor and walked straight into the kitchen. All the kitchen staff stopped in their preparations. Including the blond bearded middle-aged man, who was checking vegetables, stopped and turned toward me. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± he greeted after a second of silence. ¡°Allen, you had said something about Wanda working in the kitchen?¡± I asked directly. His expressions change a little, and he looked at Wanda and Margaux behind me. I could see shes of anger appearing in his eyes, but he controlled his emotions as he turned to me. ¡°I am fine with my assistants teaching your whores, but I draw the line with them working in my kitchen,¡± ¡°That is not eptable to me,¡± he said, and hearing that, I smiled and could see a slight relief flooding in expressions seeing me smile. ¡°Well, if it is uneptable to you, then the establishment does not require your services any further. Your employment is terminated effective immediately,¡± I said without changing my expression. While my expression had not changed, his has. ¡°You are joking. I am a Level 28 Chef. You will find anyone of my level in this city immediately and if I leave, more than half of the kitchen staff leave with me.¡± he said with an obvious threat. ¡°It is fine if you take all of them. I have money. I will have a new staff working in the kitchen by tomorrow,¡± I said, looking at all the kitchen staff. A third of which is brought by Allen. He red at me before turning to the kitchen staff. ¡°All of youe. I already have an offer. They are willing to give us a better sry and a bigger kitchen to work in.¡± He said to them with a smile on his face, but within a few seconds, that smile begin to slip away. Half a minute passed and not a single one had taken a step toward him. Even those who had been with him for over a decade, are unwilling to leave with him. ¡°Bastards!¡± he cursed angrily and turned to me. ¡°You will regret this, Silver,¡± he said and walked out of the kitchen. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little regret seeing him leave. He was a good chef. Those levels were for nothing, but he had crossed the line. So, even if he had been Level 30 or above, I still would have fired him. ¡°Go to the employment guild and get a chef at Level 25+. Money is not a problem,¡± I said to Ca. ¡°I will leave immediately,¡± she said, walking away. Usually, she sends people, but now the time is of the essence. There are only a six and half hours till opening and I need a chef before that. If I did not find a chef, I will close the establishment for a day. I could not lower the quality of the experience. I would rather close the establishment than provide a subpar experience. There are some chefs here that are Level 20 and above, but they are not good enough. It is not just about levels, sometimes talents also matter, and these people have quite a road to cross before reaching Allen¡¯s level. ¡°Gentlemen, thank you for staying. You will not regret this choice,¡± I thanked the kitchen staff before turning to Wanda. ¡°This is Wanda nc; she will be working with you from today,¡± I stated. ¡°Wee to the kitchen Wanda,¡± they said in unison. I smiled, seeing that before walking out of the kitchen. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± said Margaux. ¡°What¡¯s there to thank?¡± I ask. That bastard crossed a line and deserved to be fired. I will not tolerate someone like him, no matter how high-leveled he is. Soon, I am in my office working. I had nned to go to the guild, at least for an hour, but it wouldn¡¯t be possible now. I really hope Ca finds the chef; I rather not want to close the establishment. It will give mypetitor a chance to w some ground, small as it might be. Not to mention money. I will lose money, the girls will lose money. ¡­. Drev ¡°We have arrived, Mr. Drev,¡± said the guard, who introduced himself Omab as the carriage stopped. I nodded and walked out of it, and immediately my eyes fell on the brothel. The best brothel in Greltheaven, as people called it. I have seen it many times from the street, but it is my first time seeing it so close. I wanted toe here hearing all the talk about it but didn¡¯t have money. Everything I earn needs to go into paying back Liam. If it wasn¡¯t for him. I would have been rotting in the jail of Teveb. ¡°This way, Mr. Drev,¡± he said and took me toward the mansion, but not at the main door, but toward the back. There is a garden and building on its right, from where I saw a womaning out and froze. She is beautiful and glowing radiantly. She seemed to sense me looking at her and turned toward me before smiling enchantingly. ¡°Uhoo,¡± I was looking at her when the guard coughed, making herugh, while I turned to the guard apologetically and followed him. Though not before stealing another nce at her, who is still looking at me with a mirthful smile. ¡°If you were hired for the job. I would advise you to keep your conduct professional. Mister Silver does not tolerate any misconduct toward his girls; the head chef is fired due to that,¡± the guard informed as we entered the building through the back. The owner had fired the head chef, and now they need someone before the business opened in the evening. I think this hurry is the only reason they havee to me. If they had a day more, they wouldn¡¯t havee for me, given my record. Nobody wants to hire someone who burned down the two restaurants. As I entered inside, I got surprised immediately, seeing how well-designed the brothel was. Sometimes, things look nice on the outside, but bad inside. ¡°Mister Silver is in the chef''s office,¡± said a middle-aged bald guard who was standing by the stairs. Omab nodded and took a turn and soon we appeared at the door of the kitchen. It is of medium size, with around twenty people working. They all looked at me as I entered. They looked surprised as they saw me, and so I am. Of twenty-some people, I saw a woman there. Far more beautiful than a man or woman standing beside her. She is very new. I am experienced in the kitchen enough to tell who is seasoned and who is not. ¡°Mister Silver, I have brought Chef Drev Eshton.¡± Said Omab as he knocked on the brown door. Click! A momentter, a strikingly beautiful with ming red hair opened the door. ¡°Chef Eshton,e in,¡± she said and invited in. As I entered the small office, I saw another beautiful woman there. I felt like my mind being frozen. I had seen four women since entering this ce, and all four of them were the most beautiful women. I had seen in my whole life. ¡°Mr. Eshton, take a seat,¡± said the voice and only then, I noticed someone else is present in this small office. I looked at the person and was surprised to see a young man, even younger than me, sitting behind the table while standing on both sides of him, were beautiful women. Remus Silver, the owner of the most famous brothel of Greltheaven. I thought he would be older. With all the things I have heard about him. ¡°Thank you, Mister Silver,¡± I said and sat down, as I looked at the raven-haired young man. He is handsome with sharp eyes, and feeling those eyes at me, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little subconscious. I controlled my emotions. I need this job, as short as it may be, as it will go into my resume. It is the first interview since that incident. It is important I get the job. It could be said, my future depends on it. ¡°You seemed too young to be Level 25. Chef Eshton,¡± he said. It is a question I heard many times, especially in these past three months. They all said the same thing before throwing me out. ¡°You also seemed to be too young to be running the brothel, Mister Silver,¡± I said, before I could stop myself, and looked at him, expecting to see anger. These young men from rich families get angry too quickly, but when I looked at him, I saw him smiling, but soon his expression turned serious. ¡°We need a chef urgently, and you fit the requirements. Normally, I would not even see you near the gates of my establishment with your record, but beggars can¡¯t be choosers,¡± he said with a shake of his head. ¡°I will hire you for a week, but first let me see how good you are,¡± he added and slid the page toward me. ¡°You can cook them, right?¡± he asked. All of them are ssic dishes of the western Zenid. Though different variation of them exists, they are not noted down. ¡°Yes, I can cook them,¡± I replied. ¡­ I watched the young man cutting the vegetables. His movements are practiced, and his eyes are focused. It shouldn¡¯t be surprising given he is a Level 25 chef. Though, he does not look like one. He is just twenty-three, and he had to face. That made him look even younger. If he hadn¡¯t been verified by the employment guild, I wouldn¡¯t have believed it. He is a handsome man with aqua-blue hair and maroon eyes, which seemed a little strange to me, despite looking normal. He seemed good, but if I had a choice, I wouldn¡¯t have hired him. He burned restaurants. Not one, but two, thest he did just a few months ago. He had burned it all to the ashes. There is not much information about it, other than saying he was experimenting. He was experimenting with magical ingredients. Magical ingredients are dangerous; only those with sufficient training could handle them. In the spa, we use a lot of magical ingredients, and the people there follow the strict to handle them. Not all magical materials are dangerous. They turned dangerous when handled wrongly. Time passed as I watched him cook, the more I watched, the more impressed I would be. He not only has a plethora of skills but also seemed quite experienced. I have watched Allen, and he did not impress me as this man is doing. Finally, he finished cooking and started to make the tes, and I have to say, he is quite a food artist. Far surpassing Allen in that department. ¡°The food is ready, Mister Silver,¡± he said as he set tes for three on the table. ¡°Shall we,¡± I said to Margaux and Ca. We sat at the table and ate as he served us, and I was once again surprised. The quality of the food is equal to the best restaurant I had eaten at in Owlspring. The chef they had was at level 30. Levels are important, but so is talent, and he has both. Visit Patreon for Advance Chapters. Chapter 90: Adviser Chapter 90: Adviser ¡°Good morning, Master Silver,¡± said Margaux and Ina as I enter my office after my training, which was just as painful as yesterday. It is the first day Ina is attending the morning meeting. She seemed excited about it. ¡°Good morning,dies,¡± I said to three of them, before sitting on my chair. Immediately, I opened the file in front of me and a faint surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. There is an increase of hundred and forty-seven thousand crowns. 95% is from food and drinks. It is the biggest increase in more than two weeks. ¡°The new chef, how is he?¡± I asked, and the face of Margaux and Ina lit up at the question. ¡°He is amazing. More than thirty people yesterday praised the food. Seven even called the chef himself to thank him,¡± said Margaux excitedly and I wish I could share her excitement. That man had burned the restaurants, and the sooner he got out of my establishment, the better. Ca already working on finding a suitable recement for Allen. ¡°There was a guard on him, right?¡± I asked. To which she nodded. ¡°Yes, two guards with the sharpest eyes were always around him. Keeping eyes on everything he does,¡± she replied. ¡°How are the new girls adjusting?¡± I asked. ¡°Good. We have already started their spa treatments and all of them have finished answering their sheets,¡± replied Ina, while motioning to the four piles of papers on my desk. I looked at piles and felt excitement and a headache at the same time. We have to note and analyze the answers they have written. At such times, I miss theputer the most. It is based on this data; we will know their interests and assign them, the teachers, to foster those interests. Speaking of teachers, we will also need to hire more of them. The teachers we have are not enough for a hundred new girls. A few minutes passed, and Margaux and Ina got up to leave after they have done with their business. ¡°Ina stay. The two of us would not be enough to sort these things,¡± said Ca, motioning toward the piles of pages. ¡°Do you want me to stay?¡± asked Margaux. ¡°No, you have enough responsibilities already,¡± replied Ca. Margaux nodded and walked out, while Ina sat back in the chair. ¡°Let¡¯s begin. It is going to take a lot of time,¡± I said, and Ca took the first set and handed it to Ina. ¡°Start from name and then questions and answers they have written,¡± instructed Ca. Ina nodded and turned to the first page. ¡°Name, Senar Olgard¡­¡± Ina begins, while Ca begins to write. She is the best choice to write. She had got a skill about it. Ina read while Ca wrote. Her voice is clear that Ca never asked her to repeat her. When she was done, it was my turn. I have the details of their sses and skills, along with the notes I have made about them. The details of their sses are not only from me but also from the stores. They have provided theplete details on the girls. The merchants of Owlspring keep a much better record of the girls than of the Namdar. Or maybe it is just waris scent. I have only brought the contracts from him in the Namdar. Time passed as we continued to note down answers and details of the girls. It is going fast; we will be able to finish writing down soon and then we can analyze and decide on the things they need to learn and hire teachers ordingly. In two hours and ten minutes, we have finished writing down all their information and began analyzing. Ina is so good at it that I am surprised by it. She had an analytical mind and could think more deeply than most people. I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, unlike most girls. She had not chosen even a single art ss, even the one I had chosen for her, had to be stopped. Her teacher hade to me, nearly begging me to relieve her of teaching Ina. Saying she does not iota of artistic talent. She had been learning mathematics since the beginning and started philosophy and history, along with geography, after she stopped taking the art ss. Hun! It had been a little over three hours since we started working when I saw the gates of the establishment opening and the carriageing inside from the corner of my eye. Only a list of people coulde directly, like Marina and Aydin. Others stopped at the gates. If they came outside of business hours. The carriage stopped, and to my surprise, Stone walked out with Jon and Z. I did not think he woulde since I did not hear from him yesterday, but he did. I did not let myself get too excited. There is a high chance he hade to reject my offer, seeing how he nearly did when I had asked him two days ago. ¡°We should take a break,¡± I said as I put my diary aside. ¡°I wille back in a few minutes,¡± said Ina. ¡°Stay,¡± I said, to her surprise. ¡°Though you and Ca will need to sit there,¡± I added, pointing to the sofa. ''Master Silver. The stone mercenaries have arrived,¡¯ said Jill through the new magical inte. ¡°Sent them in,¡± I said to her, and after a few seconds, Stone walked inside with Jon and Z. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± greeted Stone, before casting a nce at Ca and Ina sitting sofa. ¡°Please, take a seat,¡± I said to them. ¡°Thank you,¡± said Stone, as they sat. There was silence after they sat. I waited for them; they waited for me. ¡°We have decided to ept the offer of your employment,¡± said Z finally. ¡°But a year is uneptable to us. We would like it to be six months long,¡± added Stone. ¡°That is fine,¡± I said with a smile, surprising them a little. I knew there is only a small chance they will ept a year of employment. I had just written it to gain the edge, and I have got it. ¡°When can you start?¡± I asked. ¡°From tomorrow,¡± replied Stone with his face twitching. He does not like the way negotiations are going. ¡°Any problem with sry?¡± I asked, ¡°No,¡± this time, it is Jon who replied. They better not have any problem with it. I am paying much higher than the market price. At this price, I would have gotten more mercenaries of the same level, but they wouldn¡¯t be trusted or rather clean. It had been only three months; they havee from the Mayhurst. It is unlikely they are secretly working for someone. They are safer to hire than seasoned mercenaries with years of experience. ¡°Sign, these contracts to seal your employment,¡± I said, and handed them the contract. Stone and Jon did not touch the contract, only Z did. She took it in her hand and begin to read it, and soon a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face. By the time she finished reading it. That expression had appeared on her face a couple of times. She ced her contracts down and took Stone¡¯s contract to read. There is one thing to learn from the tech giants of the earth. Give them so many services and amenities that people wouldn¡¯t leave, even if they wanted to. It is way, they keep the best talents, even in apetitive market. So, I have given them much more than sries. From amodation, and food, to other things. I want them to stay long-term. For it, even if I had to spend more, I will do it. It is worth it, seeing as it is a matter of life and death. ¡°They are good,¡± said Z, and immediately Stone and Jon signed their contracts, along with Z. ¡°Wee aboard. I hope you will have a pleasant experience working for me.¡± I said and shook their hands. They left after discussing a few things; they will be start working from tomorrow. With the other four members of their team signing the contracts by the evening. ¡°Let¡¯s continue,¡± I said the moment the door closed. Ca and Ina once again sat in front of me, and we continued. It would be great if we could finish it by three. I have a visit to the guild. Locke had sent me a message yesterday toe today, at least for an hour, as he needed my opinion on a few things. Ca has to leave too; she needs to go to the employment guild for the chef. Drev is too much of a risk to keep. I cannot have him burn down my establishment. Soon it was two, and we have nearly finished. Fifteen minutes more and we will be done. Ca will take the list of teachers and post it in the employment guild and with the sries, we are offering. We will have no problem getting the teachers we need. Hun! We were working when I saw a carriageing through the gates. It is an enchanted carriage and seemed familiar. I was thinking that when I noticed something which made my eyes go wide in surprise. ¡°It bears the g of the city,¡± said Ca. Soon, two people walked out and immediately recognized them. The short man is Kent. He is the clerk of Count Darrow, while the other person is a guard, who usually is present in the meeting chambers. I don¡¯t know why they are here. It may be rted to that strange meeting or maybe something else. I thought about it before pushing the thoughts away. I will know the reason soon enough. ¡®Master Silver, the people from Count Darrow¡¯s office are here,¡¯ informed Jill through the magical inte. Click! ¡°Sent them in,¡± I said and a secondter, the door opened and two people walked inside. ¡°Remus Silver, Count Darrow had summoned your presence,¡± said Kent, the clerk, before I could even greet them. ¡°Now?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, immediately,¡± he replied. ¡°Can I at least change into better clothes?¡± I asked. While I am wearing good enough clothes for a meeting, it is Count Darrow I am meeting. I have to present myself better, lest he takes offense. ¡°You look presentable enough,¡± he said, clearly rejecting my request. Seeing I would not get any time, I got up from my seat. ¡°Can you tell me why Count Darrow had summoned me?¡± I asked as we got out of my office. ¡°Don¡¯t know, Lord Count had asked us to bring you to him. We are just following the orders,¡± he replied. I don¡¯t think I have done something that warranted such an urgent summons, but you could never guess with the nobles. Soon, we got out of the establishment and sat in the carriage with them. In a minute, we were out of the establishment. It took around twenty minutes for the carriage to reach the pce of Count Darrow before entering the inside. The carriage stopped, and we stepped out before walking toward the doors of the pce. The closer we got to it, the more nervous I became. I don¡¯t know why count Darrow had called me and that is making me nervous. Soon we reached the doors and entered inside. It is my first-time entering a pce without thepany of the butler and assistant butler. The pce is vast, and we need to walk for more than ten minutes before stopping in front of unfamiliarrge doors. ¡°Secretory Marta, we have brought the Remus Silver, as you had asked.¡± said the short man, to the white-haired woman who looked to be in her mid-sixties. Marta Winters, secretory of Count Darrow. She said to be one of the people he trusts the most. ¡°You both can go,¡± she said as she dismissed them and turned to me. ¡°Sit there Remus Silver. Lord Count will see you in a few minutes.¡± She spoke. I nodded and sat down on a luxurious chair before taking the magazine to read. Half an hour passed and then another half, but even then, I am still waiting. I hid everything I am feeling in my heart and focused on reading the magazine. Click! A little more than ten minutes passed when the door opened and three people walked out. Seeing them, I couldn¡¯t help but became surprised. Commander Atticus, the leader of Greltheaven forces. Guildmaster Hardt, leader of the merchant guild, and Guild-master Albelda, leader of the Mage guild. She is the second High-Mage the city has. Sent to the city by prince Grelt, like the other High-Mage. They looked at me, and to my great surprise, nodded before walking away. I havee across them many times before, but they never had such an acknowledgment of me. Especially Commander Atticus. And is that jealousy I saw on Damon Hardt¡¯s face? ¡°Remus Silver, Lord Count, is ready to see you now,¡± informed Marta. I nodded and quickly controlled my expression before walking toward the door. I walk through the door and find myself in an expansive study. Filled with books and artwork. It was decorated wonderfully. The only w it had there been too much artwork. If he lessened this cluttered. It would look even more amazing. ¡°Lord Count. Lord Lancel,¡± I greeted Count Darrow, sitting behind the table and his son, on the chair by the window. ¡°Young Silver, sit,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said as I sat down. While he and his son looked at me, the silence stretched. ¡°Do you know why I had summoned you?¡± he asked nearly a minuteter. ¡°No, my lord,¡± I answer, without using any excessive words. ¡°I had called you here to give you a job offer,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. I had expected many things, but not this. ¡°It would be my honor to be a service to you in any way possible,¡± I replied. Not explicitly agreeing. I would be mad to directly agree, before hearing what job he is trying to offer me. ¡°I want you to serve as an adviser to my son,¡± he said, and it had truly shocked me. So much so that I wasn¡¯t able to keep my emotions in control. I can¡¯t me myself; the news is too much and unexpected. It may seem like I should have guessed given the interview, but things are not so simple here. Many things needed to be looked for in this job. Allegiance, profession, and age, among other things. I do not fit into any criteria. As my allegiance is unknown or neutral, considering I am a member of a house of silver, my allegiance is to them and whoever they had allegiance to. As for my profession, it is not also something good. Something they will not have for an adviser, even in this world. How the general public thinks matters and a whoremaster as an adviser does not sound good. Last is my age; I am only eighteen. Though, my real age is thirty-four, counting both my lifetime. So, it is quite shocking seeing him offer me this position. ¡°Do you ept?¡± he asked, and it is a heavy question. As epting this decision will change the whole trajectory of my life. I will be officially counted in the camp of Prince Grelt. Though I am nothing and no adversary of Prince or Count will assassin at me. At least not yet. If it had been a week ago, I wouldn¡¯t have epted it. The risks were too high, but now, it will be a shield for me. ¡°It would be my greatest honor to serve Lord Lancel in any capacity,¡± I said. He smiled, but his son red. Seeing that I know the job will not be easy, but I never liked easy. Though, I feel a little sad about Locke, from now on I won''t be able to help him, as much as I am doing before. With this new position, I won¡¯t be a legal adviser to the merchant guild. Chapter 91: Difficult Chapter 91: Difficult ¡°I will inform you of my decision soon, Lewis,¡± I said to the middle-aged man. ¡°I will be waiting, Adviser Silver,¡± said the man with a fawning smile. I smiled and walked away with Ca and Jill. Adviser, it had been nine days since I have be the adviser of Lord Lancel Wilstein of House Ravenheart. Everybody knows about it since the papers had published the news and the public had taken it better than I had imagined. It had alsoe with a lot of privileges. Like when I was looking for an office property to rent, the owner himself hade to show them. The job is not easy, it could be said that bastard Lancel is trying to make it hard as possible for me. It turned out he had chosen someone else, but Count Darrow had chosen me for him. He is angry about it and acting spoiled. Making the job extremely difficult, even hell. So, I could quit on my own. Well, that will not happen. I had been awake the whole night, going through the directories of taxes, because he needed advice on one very particr issue of a particr case. I wish it was the only night I had not slept, but it was not. It is the fourth in nine days. I have never been so grateful for my reading skill as I am feeling nearly every day since I got the job. It had helped me tremendously and since I am using it so extensively, nearly all the resistance had vanished. It was not easy to bend the skill, but I did and now I am reaping the benefits. ¡°What do you think about it?¡± asked Ca. ¡°The one on the seventh floor with the view is good. I think I will take it,¡± I answered. I have watched over fourteen office spaces today, and three in the building I had been to. ¡°Good. I will inform him of your decision by evening.¡± Said, Ca. I am looking for office space. It is not something the Count or that bastard Lancel had asked, but something I am doing on my own. I have be an Adviser to Lancel, who will one day rule this city. I can¡¯t operate from the brothel, even though I am a whoremaster. I need an office in the administrative district. Closer to the pce and the city hall. It is also the reason I am staying in the house every other day or trying to when Lancel isn¡¯t asking me to burn the midnight oil for petty things. Though it is frustrating, it is also enriching my knowledge, and it helped in the multiple meetings I had with Count Darrow and his advisers. Soon, we reached the establishment, and Jon opened the door after the carriage stopped. ¡°You should sleep,¡± said Ca. ¡°I will, but first I have to do a job,¡± I said and Ca turned. ¡°Hugo, ask Drev toe to Master Silver''s office in ten minutes,¡± said Ca. Most of the time, I did not need to tell her things. She understands on their own. I had decided to hire Drev Eshton more permanently because there was no choice. He had elevated the experience of the establishment, taking it to the next level. So, I needed to hire a chef, at least good as him, a seemingly impossible task. I was able to bring a level 30 chef from Inam, but even he was no good as Drev. Who is bing better every day. People have praised the food of the establishment Margaux and Ca, but also me. Even I got used to the delicious food made by him. That left me no choice but to hire him. The man who burned restaurants, till I find a good recement. ¡­ Drev ¡°You can go in, Chef Eshton,¡± said the young girl, sounding a lot older than she is. ¡°Thank you, jill,¡± I said to the young girl, who likes sour things. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It is not bad,¡± she said softly, seeing my nervousness, and immediately I felt relieved. While he extended my employment by a week, two days ago. Seeing him calling me to his office suddenly. I assumed the worse, but her words assured me it is not. I nodded my thanks and walked inside the office, past Shaun and Stena, who were guarding the door. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± I greeted the young man as I entered inside. ¡°Take a seat. Chef Eshton,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you. Mister Silver,¡± I said and sat beside enchanting Ca, whose beauty is enthralling. ¡°I am nning on extending your contract for three months, but before that. I need to know about a few things, and I hope you will answer them truthfully,¡± he said. Clearly stating if he is not satisfied. He might not extend my contract. ¡°I will answer them to the best of my abilities,¡± I said, not promising anything. He did not seem angry by the vagueness of my answer, seeing he smiled instead of getting angry. ¡°I will start with the most important question then. Why do you burn the two restaurants you were working in Teveb?¡± he asked. I had expected. It is the mostmon question all people had asked when I went to seek the job. ¡°Technically, I had only burned one restaurant. I only burned the kitchen of the first one,¡± I replied, but he did not seem amused by my smart-ass answer, seeing him staring at me, without change in his expression. ¡°As for why I had burned the restaurant. I was experimenting with magical ingredients,¡± I answered. These experiments had destroyed my career, but they were also the reason I had leveled up so quickly. Burning of ¡®Haler¡¯ was the worst day of my life, but it is also the day I leveled up twice. From Level 23, I reached Level 25. ¡°You should have stopped, or at least controlled yourself, after the first incident.¡± He said the same thing Liam had said. ¡°I wanted to, but I couldn¡¯t,¡± I replied, feeling ashamed. ¡°Why not?¡± He asked, and I opened my mouth to speak the same words I had spoken so many times when I was asked this question. I tried to speak, but no words woulde out. I first thought it was some sort of skill that was trying to stop me from speaking a lie, but it turned out to be me. My heart is telling me a lie would be bad. I should be truthful. ¡°The urges or the curiosity, if you call them. Wouldn¡¯t let me rest in peace unless I try.¡± I said finally and looked at him. To my surprise, he just nodded as if understands what I am feeling and not called me crazy, as most people have. ¡°I will give you an offer, Chef Eshton. Do your work, without any incident, for three months and I will not only extend your contracts for a longer period but also construct a separate kitchen and fund your experiments with magical ingredients,¡± he said, shocking me to my core. It took me more than a minute before I was able to think straight. ¡°You are not joking, are you?¡± he asked. ¡°Why would I joke?¡± he asked back seriously. ¡°You are an excellent chef and if you could craft the food from magical materials. It will be favorable to my business,¡± he exined. ¡°That makes sense,¡± I said, while still shocked by what he said. I tried to not let the excitement fill me. It might be just an empty promise. As what he had promised will cost huge money. Many people will think twice beforemitting to something like that. Still, if it happened. I will be able to explore my lifelong dream. ¡°Here¡¯s the contract. There will be no changes in it,¡± he said and slid a contract at me. It is a lot bigger than a one-week contract I had signed twice. I begin to read the contract, and immediately, a surprise appeared on my face. Even though he said there will be no changes, I had nned to haggle for a sry, if it seemed less, but seeing the number, that desire had vanished. It is better than what I would have asked him. As I read the contract further, a bigger smile appeared on my face. As finally, I will get the freedom a head chef should have. Till now, I did not have the freedom to change the menu. I have been cooking what the previous chef had decided, but now, I getplete freedom. I could now change the menu and also ask for any tool. I might need to cook the dishes. Thankfully, the reward use is present in this contract like in the previous contract, where I will have all tips that the customer gives specifically in my name. It differs from the tips servers get. The establishment does not keep anymission like my previous restaurants used to do. Though there is a stiption that I much share it with the kitchen staff. I have been doing that, sharing 60% of it with the kitchen staff, even though only 50% is required by the contract. I couldn¡¯t help but feel excited as I read it. I have many ideas about the menu. The menu the previous chef had created, is quite nd, to be honest. There was no creativity or spirit in it. Though, all the changes need to be pre-approved, and, like always. I could not cook without the presence of at least one guard around me. Those bastards are always watching my every movement. Even when I am not in the kitchen. I read the whole contract twice in case I had missed anything, but everything was good. So, I took the pen and signed it and immediately felt its binding effect. ¡°Wee to the establishment, Chef Eshton,¡± he said as he shook my hand. ¡°Thank you, Mister Silver,¡± I replied, before walking out of the room. ¡­. Senar I was sitting in the garden bathing in the moonlight when I saw a beautiful young girling out of the spa. She looked radiant, her skin glowing under the moonlight. She used to feel jealous of that. She feels jealous of her even now, but the feeling has diminished. She was walking toward the establishment when she noticed me and turned. ¡°It is a beautiful night, isn¡¯t it,¡± said h as she sat beside me. ¡°Yes, it is,¡± I replied. Beautiful or not, I loved the garden and the serenity it brings me. I havee here every night for at least an hour since I hade to this amazing ce. ¡°Your skin is looking quite radiant. What treatment did you take?¡± I asked her. The evening time is for them; after five, the working girls prepare for work, while we trainees, as they called us, get to enjoy the spa. In these eleven days, I had gone to the spa four times, getting six treatments that had transformed me. ¡°He flower bath,¡± she said, and I nearly sucked my breath. It is one of the most painful treatments, but the result it produces is also amazing. ¡°You look nice too,¡± she said, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel my cheeks reddening. It feels strange to be praised for my physical appearance. I was always called ugly and an abomination by some. I looked at my hands with smooth, glowing skin. Even when I used my skill, I did not get such smooth, glowing skin. It is on apletely different level. It is not just my skin that had transformed, but also my hair, nail, and other things. My frizzy hair became silky and shiny, and cut to the shoulder from long. When I look at myself in the mirror, I couldn¡¯t recognize the person standing in front of me for a whole second, before realizing it¡¯s me. ¡°Have you decided on the sses?¡± she asked after a few seconds of silence. ¡°No, I am still trying different things,¡± I replied, feeling a little ashamed. It is another thing; I am jealous of her. She knew what she wanted and started lessons on it. While I am still trying on different sses, to see which one love. Till now, I have found anything that interests me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You will find it soon.¡± She said reassuringly. I smiled. We sat in silence for a few minutes before I got up. It is time for myst ss today and I don¡¯t want to bete. I got up and was about to leave when I suddenly stopped and turn to a young girl. ¡°Thank you. If it hadn¡¯t been for you. I would have missed the greatest opportunity of my life,¡± I said to her. Feeling genuinely grateful to her. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t thank me, sister Senar. If it weren¡¯t for you, I wouldn¡¯t even have been alive,¡± she replied, and I couldn¡¯t help but sigh when I remember that horrific incident. I still bore the scars of it. Chapter 92: Mirador Hold Attacked Chapter 92: Mirador Hold Attacked ¡°Is everything ready?¡± asked the handsome pale young man. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± replied the man in a grey robe. ¡°Then send the wee party to our new neighbors,¡± said the young man. ¡°As youmand,¡± said the man in a grey robe in pleasure. ¡­.. Knock Knock I was in a deep sleep when a loud knock rang out on my door. ¡°Fucking bastard!¡± I cursed loudly in anger as I got up. The first thing I did was look at the watch. It is one am. I had slept for only four hours. I thought I would get an undisturbed sleep tonight, but it seemed like I was wrong. That bastard Lancel didn¡¯t want to let me have even one night in peace. ¡°I will be ready in a minute,¡± I said, and quickly washed my face in the bathroom and changed into the clothes I had ced on the table before sleeping. Lancel doesn¡¯t like it when I amte. I need to get to him within half an hour of summoning, or get even angry. He will not be present. It will be his assistant, telling me the task, he left for me, before he went to sleep a few minutes ago. Which is a t lie, he just timed summons, to make me frustrated. Five minutes after waking up, I am ready. Click! ¡°Mister Silver, Lord Lancel had summoned you urgently,¡± informed Z. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said and climb down the stairs of my house, with Stone and Z following behind me. Sometimes, I regret hiring stone mercenaries. As before them, Lancel would have needed to send his men. Now, he just sent the message to my mages, making things frustrating for me. I had reached the first floor when I found Jilling out, looking ready. She did not look sleepy, like half of the girls of the establishment. She also had the skill that let her operate on less sleep, unlike me, who needs to sleep for at least six hours. Soon, we reached the carriage, where the driver opened the door within a few seconds. The carriage is moving fast toward the pce. At midnight, there was no traffic. We had reached the pce within fourteen minutes. The gates opened after guards looked at me and checked my credentials. They look especially focused tonight. Soon, the carrier reached my reserved spot, and I got out. Getting immediately surprised. There are more carriages than usually there are. At the same time, I also noticed there are more guards patrolling the pce than usually are, looking a lot more alert. Like the guards at the gates. Seeing that, the frustration and anger caused by sleep deprivation disappeared. It is clear something had happened. ¡°Adviser Silver. Lord Lancel had asked to appear in Lord Count''s study,¡± informed the guard. ¡°Thank you, Simon,¡± I said to the guard and walked toward the study. Nearly jogged, while feeling eyes all over me. It is not just the security of the outside that had tightened, but also of the inside. I became even more sure something had happened. Soon, I reached the study and saw Secretary Marta at her usual spot. She is usually not present at this time. ¡°You can go inside, young Remus,¡± she said, as I reach the study. I nodded my thanks and walked toward the door. Click! I pushed the door and entered the study. There are many people inside. Aside from Count Darrow and Lancel, there are also three advisers of Count Darrow. High Mages York and Commander Atticus. All of them had tense expressions on their faces. ¡°My Lords,¡± I bowed. ¡°Commander Atticus,¡± I greeted, before quietly walking inside and standing behind Lancel. ¡°Are you sure, it is not a full-scale attack?¡± asked Count Darrow. ¡°Yes. I am sure. Fifty thousand undead is a small number. It is just them teasing us,¡± replied Commander Atticus. ¡°It is not just a guise, they are using to hide their real attack?¡± he asked. ¡°They used this strategy before. So, I can¡¯t deny it entirely, but agree with Commander Harrison of it being a tease attack,¡± answered Commander Atticus. I am shocked by what I heard. By these words, I could easily guess that Mirador Hold had been attacked by the undead of Navr. The first attack of such scale they haveunched on us in these past three years. Fifty thousand undead may seem huge, but they are not. I have read everything I could about the undead after the ind and from the past attacks of hundreds of years. I know it requires far more than fifty thousand undead to crush the Mirador Hold. ¡°Fucking bastards. They are not willing to give us even a year of peace,¡± cursed Count Darrow. It had been exactly five months since the city had been inaugurated. We had hoped the undead would let us live in peace for at least a year before doing something, but I guessed we were wrong. ¡°It is going to beplete chaos tomorrow,¡± said Lancel, and Count Darrow massaged his head. It will be aplete shit show. The news is going to spread and once it does. People will panic and they will try to leave the city, the same will be with business. If not handled correctly, it is going to cause a lot of damage, that will need the city months to recover from. It is that if it is a tease attack. If it is an actual attack, then the city will need to raise its defenses and I might need to think about running away. ¡®Lord Count, the advisory council had gathered,¡¯ said Marta through the magical inte. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Count Darrow, and got up before walking out of the study. I followed behind with the rest. ¡°You havee early,¡± said Lancel as we walked toward the conference room. ¡°I came as fast as I could,¡± I replied politely, as always. ¡°It would be great if you keep arriving such fast in the future,¡± he said with a hint of mocking. ¡°As you wish, my lord,¡± I said. Soon, we reached conference room 5. Reserved for the advisory council meeting. ¡°My lord,¡± All of them got up and bowed as Count Darrow entered. ¡°At ease,¡± he said as he sat down. Lancel and Commander Atticus sat on his left and right while I stood behind Lancel. With a clear view of Damon Hardt, who was sitting in the opposite row. He smiled at me as I looked at him, but I could see jealousy and a little anger and hate. I heard he was also interviewed for the adviser¡¯s position but did not get it. While it is a level lower than his advisory council position, but my position is closer to the leadership. Thus, could wield more power. He would give up his position on the advisory council within a moment to be an adviser to Lancel. ¡°I have summoned you all here to inform you of important news,¡± he said as he looked at all of them, while the High Mage York whispered something to his ear, which only he could hear. ¡°The undead of Navr had attacked the Mirador hold with the number of fifty thousand.¡± ¡°Commander Harrison of Mirador Hold and Commander Atticus believe it is a tease attack.¡± ¡°ording to thetest information, Commander Harrison had sent a firstpany to fight them and is confident, in crushing them before dawn,¡± he informed the people who suffered mild fear to horror on their faces. This is the advisory council. Every person here is powerful and influential and holds important positions in the city. From Damon Hardt, the leader of the Merchant Guild, to the priest Harold of the god of war, everyone is important. More than half of them had never seen the undead, but they heard the horrors of them. From the war in Mayhurst to the attack on the ind that we faced. ¡°Are we really sure it is a tease attack and not the bastardunching a full attack in the guise of it? They have done it before,¡± asked the priest to the god of war. ¡°95% chance it is not.¡± ¡°The signs are not there and also, they will gain nothing for that. The region''s poptions hadn¡¯t reached high enough for them tounch the full-scale attack for the bodies,¡± replied Count Darrow in confidence. That seemed to soothe away a lot of fear. ¡°Still, we need to prepare. If this is an actual attack,¡± said Damon Hardt. ¡°We are prepared,¡±mander Atticus replied gruffly. ¡°The important thing is, the news is going to spread, and once it does. It is going to cause a lot of damage. So, we have to manage it very carefully to minimize the damage.¡± ¡°Does anyone have any idea how we will achieve that?¡± he asked and looked at the table. The attack is important, but ripples caused by it are most important as they cause longsting damage. They are very dangerous for the new city, like Greltheaven, where trade had just started budding. The big business hadn¡¯t invested enough to be at the root of this ce. If they sense the dangers, they will cut short their losses and will leave. It would be very bad for the city. ¡°We should contain the news as long as we could and closed the gates of the city. If Commander Harrison can wipe those wretched undead, we will just say it is a minor skirmish.¡± ¡°By evening, everything will calm down,¡± said the Priest, more than half of the people nodded with him. ¡®Idiot!¡¯ I cursed. ¡°It will not work. Even If the undead is dealt with by morning, and we announced it. The news will still cause panic if we close the gates. We will have riots in our hands,¡± said Count Darrow. Such an approach might work in the middle regions of the Empire, but not here. Where the undead is a constant threat and had ravaged this entire region a few years ago. ¡°It will be much better to have restricted entry and exit. Along with containment of news, as long as possible,¡± said High Mage Albelda. The leader of Mage Guild. This is bad as the first choice, even worse. People will riot. ¡°It is not the best option, but seemed to be the only wise one,¡± said Count Darrow and turned toward the table. ¡°Does anyone have any better idea?¡± asked Count Darrow, and nobody spoke. I have an idea, but it is risky, and if it did not work. Losing this position of adviser would be thest thing I would need to worry about. ¡°Remus has it. He had told me on the way here and I think it is pretty good,¡± said Lancel and every eye turned to me. ¡®Fucking bastard!¡¯ I cursed. He did it again. It is not the first time he did something like this, but this time, the stakes are high. ¡°Do you have a better idea Remus?¡± asked Count Darrow, and I wish, I could say no, but that is not a choice I have. ¡®Fuck it!¡¯ ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, and he looked at me to exin. ¡°If we are sure themander Harrison¡¯s forces will deal with the undead by dawn, then we shouldn¡¯t hide the news. ¡°We should indeed publish it to the whole city, like any normal news, and even keep the gates opened as they are on any other day,¡± I said to the shock of all sitting. Even Count Darrow and Lancel seemed shocked by it. ¡°Are you mad, Remus? If the whole cityes to know about it, people will leave, the business will leave.¡± ¡°They will desert the entire city by the evening,¡± said Damon Hardt. ¡°We will have to be careful about how we tell the public and instill confidence in the security through various ways,¡± ¡°Yes, the people will hear the news, and a lot of them will leave, but there will not be any riot. If we project everything is normal, people will act normal and those who are gone wille back.¡± ¡°Most importantly, this will reduce the losses to the city by a lot,¡± I finished. ¡°This is madness, it will not work,¡± said the Priest. This bastard hates me, he was one of the vocal opponents of my position as an adviser. He hates me for the simple reason that I own a brothel. ¡°Priest Harold is right. The n is madness,¡± said Damon Hardt, and a few others nodded at him. Nobody said anything and turned to Count Darrow, who was silent, thinking. ¡°If we act, ording to your n. What would be the steps we will need to take?¡± he asked after a minute of silence. Surprising everyone, including me, as I had not thought he would ept it. It is opposite to what they all are proposing. Now he wants the details of it. I barely conceived the idea a few minutes ago. Even I don¡¯t know theplete details. Still, I still opened my mouth and words begin toe out. ¡°We will start with the newspapers¡­.¡± Chapter 93: Planning and Execution Chapter 93: nning and Execution ¡°Yes, it''s good. Print it,¡± said Lancel as I nodded at him. In front of us are copies of three newspapers, ced by three chief editors. We are at the office of the Greltheaven Gazette, where we have called the chief editors of all three newspapers. We are manipting the news. It happened daily here and also on earth. News gets manipted every day through the lens of economics, politics, and ideology. ¡°It is time to go to the crier¡¯s guild, my lord,¡± I said to Lancel. Time is of the essence. There are many things we have to do before dawn, and we barely have a little more than two hours. ¡°Let¡¯s go then,¡± said Lancel and walked out. Newspapers are only one thing. We have to manage all sources of information and we have to do it before dawn. I have told my n to Count Darrow step by step and he agreed with it, and gave me permission to use every resource the city has. It is an enormous responsibility. Sess will win me udits, while failure. Well, I don¡¯t even know what failure will do exactly, but at the minimum, I will be expelled from the city, while at the maximum they will jail me, with all my possessions confiscated. Well, it is a risk I had decided to take. When Lancel said, I have a n. I could have easily said something dumb, and they would reject it, but I had told them, the n I was thinking of. So, whether I fail or seed, the entire responsibility would be mine. Soon, we were out of the building and in the carriage, which begin to move speedily toward the criers guild. ¡°Your n is quite extreme, like most things you say. I can¡¯t believe father had epted it,¡± said Lancel after a few minutes of silence. ¡°It may seem like it, but it is better than any ns others proposed,¡± I replied. ¡°We will see,¡± he said, and out of the window. Lancel had been behaving quite nicely, not blocking and interrupting anything. Even his arrogant self understands the gravity of the situation and knows it is not time for childish tricks. Soon, we passed through the central square where the preparations have already begun. Even with the skills and spells, it is quite a big job for those people. I hope they will be finished by the morning. A few minutes passed, and we reached the crier''s guild. ¡°Lord Lancel,¡± greeted the guild master Ronald of crier¡¯s guild and bowed as the door of the carriage opened. He is a man in his fifties with a receding hairline and a rasped voice. Nearly every person in his profession has it at his age. ¡°Have you called all your criers ?¡± asked Lancel from the carriage. ¡°Yes, they are all in the hall,¡± he replied. There are clear questions in his eyes, but he did not dare to ask them. ¡°This is my adviser, Remus Silver. He will tell you what to do and remember, I wantplete discretion till it is time to reveal it.¡± ¡°A single word and you will not like the consequences,¡± he said, with a clear threat. It made the man shudder. ¡°You can count on me for discretion, my lord,¡± he said. Lancel nodded. I walked out of the carriage and closed the door. Lancel is noting inside. He is the son of Count Darrow. He does not need toe with me everywhere. ¡°Adviser Silver. May have happened?¡± asked Ronald softly as we entered the building. ¡°You will know soon enough,¡± I said with a smile. A few secondster, we stepped into the hall, which is packed with over fifty people, from ages fifteen to six. ¡°This is Mr. Remus Silver, adviser to Lord Lancel Wilstein. He has important business to talk to you all about.¡± Introduced the Guild master of the Criers '' guild and immediately, all the eyes turned to me. ¡°You have very important work tomorrow. For it, the city had double your wages for the day.¡± I said, starting with carrots. Immediately, all of their eyes lit up, and they have be excited, and the guild leader became even more curious. ¡°Remember, it is very important. If you do not follow the instructions, as I will tell you to. You will be punished heavily,¡± I said, showing the stick. ¡°What you have to do is¡­¡± I begin and after a couple of minutes, fear appeared on their faces. If it was not scary, guards were at the door; some of them would have already bolted. They might have been able to do it before, but now that they heard the news, they will not be able to leave until they finish their job. ¡°I hope you will do the job to the best of your abilities,¡± I said and walked out of the hall. ¡°Has the und¡­they are not a threat, Adviser Silver?¡± asked the Guildmaster, barely stopping himself from saying that word. ¡°As I had said, the Mirador Hold had defeated the undead. We are doing this to control the chaos that might erupt due to it,¡± I replied. Soon, we got out of the building, and the poor man received another surprise. There are over thirty city guards around the guild. Of course, I had called the guards. I could not take any risks. I did the same with the offices of newspapers. We cannot have a news leak before its time. People should hear the news from us, the way we wanted, not through some leaks and whispers. ¡°Adviser,¡± said the guard captain. ¡°Not a single person should get out before it''s time,¡± I said to the man, and he looked at Guildmaster, and I nodded faintly. It rmed the Guildmaster, but I don¡¯t care. The news will not leak out till it is time. ¡°As you say, adviser,¡± he said and saluted. I nodded and walked into the carriage, and a secondter, it moved again. For the next two hours, the carriages went to a couple of more ces, before finally returning to the pce when the sun had just started toe out. Soon, the carriage stopped, and we walked out. As we were walking toward the pce, I motioned to Z. Immediately, she appeared beside me. ¡°Message Ca and ask her to use a red envelope and buy the properties after the news came out,¡± I said. It is not much detailed order, but Ca is smart enough to know what to do. ¡°Most people would try to sell their assets in such conditions. You are buying, especially the ones you can¡¯t take away,¡± said Lancel as we entered the pce. ¡°The undead are no threat, at least this time.¡± ¡°So, I might as well use the opportunity to buy some properties I had my eyes on,¡± I replied. I internationally made him hear it; I don¡¯t want him to think I am hiding something from him. He already hates me enough for some unknown reason. ¡°Lord Count,¡± I said, bowed as we reached the study. ¡°How was everything?¡± he asked. ¡°We have set the wheels in motion,¡± replied Lancel, while I turned to two advisers behind Lord Count, who nodded lightly. I was not the only one who was doing the thing. The n is too big for one person. So, I divided the tasks among people. They had their tasks, and they seemed to have finished them. Robin hadn¡¯te, which is not surprising. The tasks he had been the lengthiest ones. ¡°Now, we wait,¡± said Count Darrow, and sat morefortably in the chair, while I turned to mages. There are five mages, one is the High Mage, while the four are Level 20+ mages, who are experts inmunication. They all like the radio. They will tell what is happening in the city. We have sent mages into every part of the city. Whatever is happening, we will know it instantly. I had just thought about that when the first mage spoke. ¡°The newspapers begin to distribute. Within an hour, 80% of businesses and households will have them on doorsteps,¡± said the mage with long raven hair. ¡°The criers have also stepped out of the guild. They all will be in their position within an hour.¡± Said the bald mage a minuteter. They begin to inform us about the pieces we have spread across the city. ¡°How¡¯s the panic?¡± asked Count Darrow. It is the seventh time, asked the question in the past half an hour. ¡°Very mild. The people have gathered around the city hall and Criers, who are relieving their queries.¡± said the first mage. ¡°The traffic at port is twice as usual. There is mild panic, but guards are handling it well.¡± Said the second mage. ¡°30% of newly docked ships are leaving within a minute of docking at the port. 25% unloading the goods while the rest is waiting,¡± added the third mage. Hearing that, a small smile appeared on the count''s face. This is just the beginning. Everything could change at any moment. We need to keep our eyes on the shpoints and dissolve them as soon as possible, as it did not take long for the chaos to spread and once it does, it is really hard to stop it. A few minutes passed, and when suddenly, the eyes of High Mage York lit up. ¡°Lord Count, the undead had been defeated.¡± He informed. I could see the visible relief appearing on the faces of people, including me. They are a real threat and if the mirador holds fall, then the whole Renwell wouldn¡¯t be able to do much against it, either. Except for dustorn fortress, but it is always busy in dealing with the threat of the Tabes. ¡°Is there any sign of a hidden attack?¡± Count Darrow asked. ¡°Till now, they haven¡¯t found any,¡± High Mage York replied. ¡°Tell them to keep looking,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± replied High Mage York. Click! Two and a half hours passed when the door clicked opened and walked in, clearly tired, but there was a smile on his face. ¡°How are the preparations?¡± asked Count Darrow, looking at him expectantly. ¡°Done,¡± Robin replied. ¡°And the crowd?¡± Lancel asked. ¡°They are filling the venue,¡± This is the most important part. Everything depends on it. Till everything is going great. The people are leaving, and there is selling, but the numbers are at afortable level. Still, the change could happen in an instant. Everything we had nned needed to go ordingly. If the day passed without a major incident, then nothing will happen and from tomorrow, the city will turn to normal. ¡°Lord Count, it is time,¡± I said. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go,¡± he said and got up and we walked out of the study. Soon, we were out of the pce and sat inside the big ck carriage of Count Darrow. It was the most luxurious carriage I had sat in, but also the most powerful. It is over five hundred years old and is highly defensive. The carriage rolled out of the pce, and I could see the change in the city. There are fewer people the people on the street than usual and more guards patrolling the street, but not in oppressive numbers. I had made sure of that. Huge number of guards are not good, they project ¡®something is wrong¡¯, and we want to project ¡®there is concern and we dealing with it¡¯. It took us a few minutes to reach the central square and, seeing its state, a smile appeared on my face. It is packed with people. There are over five thousand of them. All gathered, waiting for the event to start. In the newspapers and crier''s mouth, the main news wasn¡¯t about an undead attack on Mirador Hold. No, it is about a duel between the two most powerful mercenarypanies of Greltheaven. The whisper dagger and howling axe; the enmity between them is known. So, we said that it is finally exploded and were preparing to war against each other, but the Count had interfered and asked them to resolve the enmity more civilly. Thus dual/tournament. The carriage stopped, and the Count got out with the heavy security surrounding him and soon reached the stage. Where all the important people are sitting, and when they saw the Count entering, all of them stood up. ¡°My lord,¡± they greeted, along with those sitting in other seating. ¡°At ease,¡± he said gently, but his voice spread through every ear. The power of skill of the ruling ss is at a different level. Lancel sat down on the big chair while Count Darrow walked ahead on stage and stopped at the ramp overlooking the crowd of a thousand. Giving them a perfect view of him, with his confident smile. ¡°The citizen of Greltheaven¡­¡± he begins his speech. We already prepared it. Every word, every pause is carefully crafted, and Count Darrow is as experienced as he is voicing it out in perfection. ¡°¡­Imence the tournament,¡± he finished Count loudly, and the crowd cheered madly. A minuteter, the duals began on the four stages. And as we had told them, they were fighting most showily. ¡°What¡¯s the status of the city?¡± asked the count. ¡°Mild rush. More than half of the businesses had opened, and people were going to their jobs. There was a small incident, in holler district, but it was diffused immediately,¡± informed High-Mage York. The holler district is sensitive due to being a low-ie district it is also the ce where most gangs are present. We have warned the gangs and promised the strictest action and arrested some as a preventive measure. Till now, everything is going smoothly, but trouble could rise at any moment, and we have to be ready to deal with it. Chapter 94: Gains Chapter 94: Gains ng ng ng The bloodiest, most intense fight is going on in front of me. The leaders of two mercenarypanies are fighting while the crowd is cheering madly. Unfortunately, most of it is fake. The blood is real, and so are the injuries, but if one look clearly. They will see not a single injury on their fatal spot. Though it will still take them a couple of days to recover from these injuries and they are more than happy to get these injuries. Aside from huge money, the count had promised them healing from the head priest. So, they will heal most of their injuries in a couple of hours, while the minor ones will take a few days. ¡°What¡¯s the status?¡± asked Count Darrow. It had been his more than the hundredth time asking this question and I cannot me him. If I had been in his ce, I would have done the same. ¡°The leaving of people had lessened considerablypared to morning. So is selling of businesses,¡± replied High-Mage, York. Count Darrow took a visible sigh of relief. So have I. Things have gone better than we had thought. There were no riot or chaos, but some shes had urred in several areas. They were dealt with quickly and swiftly. Few people from the gangs had died, but it¡¯s their fault for not listening. They tried to sow the chaos to reap the rewards, but ended up losing their lives. I hope Ca did what I asked her. I need that one thing, more than anything else. It is necessary for me to take my business to the next level. Though today made me rethink my ns and made me understand how things could change immediately for the city. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t put all my eggs in one basket. I am too tired to think about it and focused on the duel. It is nearing the end and I know who the winner is going to be. Bang! Finally, the yellow metal shield of Lector Gorges mmed squarely against Jarvis Ham, sending him flying out off the stage. It made the crowd gopletely crazy, and they cheered hard. ¡°The winner is Lecter Gorges,¡± announced the judge, and the bloodied man smiled while the crowd cheered for him. The bastard is very lucky. He got a stage and free publicity, and the top money city is going to give him for this act. Such opportunities rarelye to life. Count Congratted him and the others. Gave another speech a small one before leaving the stage. Soon, we are in the carriage, leaving for the pce. Twenty minutester, we are in the study of Count Darrow. Where once again, the control room is set up. It was night, and things seem to calm down, but here every one is alert. As they understood, how things can change suddenly. Hours passed, and soon it is midnight. ¡°I think the situation is in control, but to be careful. You all stay in the pce. If something happened, you all will be able to appear here wasting no time,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± we said, while I cursed inside. I want to go back, but it wouldn¡¯t be possible now. Soon, I stepped out of the study and walked toward the southern wing of the pce. I had a suit in the pce, every adviser had it. Though, it will be the first time I will stay there. ¡°It was a wild day, isn¡¯t it,¡± said Robin beside me. ¡°More like the most stressful day of my life,¡± I replied. It might not have seemed like it, but it was the most stressful day of my life. As the failure of the n would have crushed me. Thankfully, nothing of that happened, and the n had worked better than I had imagined. ¡°Good night,¡± I said to Robin and opened long cream-colored doors, and entered inside. It is a big suit with a beautiful interior. Nothing gaudy, that half of the pce is, thanks to Count Darrow¡¯s taste. I wanted to sleep immediately, for the two days. I have gotten a little sleep, but I took a shower first. I was sweating a lot throughout the whole day, worrying about every little thing. I took a cold shower before walking out and changing into afortable set of clothes and ced a suit on the table for a quick change. If I called suddenly. It is a good thing; I had sent a spare cloth here. I had done that on the second day of getting appointed as an adviser. I did not think I would need them this soon. With the clothes changed, Iy on the bed and fell asleep within a second. ¡­. [ss Gained: Adviser] [Adviser Lv. 2] [Adviser Lv. 3] [Adviser Lv. 4] [Skill Gained: Persuasion] [Skill Gained: Every Ear Listens To My Words] The texts were in front of me when I opened my eyes. Seeing them. A smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. When I got the position, I thought I would need at least a month to gain the ss, but it only took ten days. I had not only gained the ss but also four levels, along with two skills. One of which is very rare and desirable. It is one of the favorite skills of rulings elites. Persuasion: this skill is powerful. Especially for those with high charm. It is also on my wish list, and I have got it. It will help me tremendously. The other skill of this ss, Every Ear Listens To My Words, is also useful. With it, I won''t need to strain my throat to speak loudly, they will hear it, even if I whisper. The texts felt like a dream. Especially four levels up, even in the base ss, I could not gain over two levels at once, and here; I have gained four. Though when thinking about the scale which I worked on yesterday. It is not surprising. The adviser will be my fourth ss, which is more than I could keep without sacrificing the speed of leveling up. Still, I am keeping it. I want to consolidate it with the other ss I have. I have very a specific ss in mind and it will help me get it. For it, I am willing to slow down my leveling. I stared at the texts for more than a minute before walking into the bathroom to freshen up and shower. When I walked out, I changed into the new set, before stepping out of the suit. I hope everything had calmed down. I really want to go back to the establishment. ¡°Good morning, Marta,¡± I greeted the old woman as I reached the study. ¡°Good morning, young Remus,¡± she greeted back, ¡°You can go in. Lord Count had asked me to send you as soon as you arrived,¡± she added. I nodded and walked toward the study. ¡°My Lords,¡± I greeted and bowed to the father and soon. ¡°At ease,¡± he said, before looking me directly in the eyes. ¡°You have impressed me, Remus. Your n worked much better than I had imagined. There is only around 2% to 5% damage to the city¡¯s economy, which we will recover in a week or two,¡± he praised. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said. ¡°There is a meeting in the afternoon of the advisory council. Till then you are free to attend to your personal business,¡± he said. Knowing I am dismissed; I bowed to him and his son before walking out of the office. As I stepped out, I increased my pace; nearly ran. I hurried to reach the establishment. I have given the task to Ca, and I want to see what she had done. Especially about that thing. Soon, I walked out of the pce, toward my carriage, where my guards were already waiting. They have changed the shift, as now there is Jon, Hugo, and Stena, who are waiting by the carriage. I nodded at them before sitting on my carriage. A minuteter, the carriage was out of the gates and is moving toward the establishment. I looked out of the window and saw the city mostly turning to normal. Though I could still feel the faint trepidation, it will disappear in a few days. A little over fifteen minutester, the carriage entered through the gates of the establishment before stopping. I got out and enter the establishment and saw girls taking lessons in the hall. A few weeks ago, this time used to be the quietest time. At eight am, most of the girls would be sleeping, but since the new girls arrived, that silence had also gone. Their lessons start at six or seven and end at midnight. The teachers are present even during business hours, teaching them in the basement. It is not only the lessons. They get breaks and spa times and a few other activities. These new girls are reaping the benefits of data I had gotten from the old girls. With experience, I know what works, and what did not. What kind of teachers I will need to hire and the methods they would need to employ to teach them. Not everything is easy for them, there is also great pressure. Unlike the girls before, they will need more than a month of lessons before I could use them for business. The standard of the establishment had increased, and they need to reach that standard before I could let them enter the business. They might need to train for two months or even three before they will reach the standard. I need them to be to join the work. Click! Soon, I reached my office, and it was empty. I entered inside and sat on my chair and was about to call Ca when the door connected to her office opened and she walked in. I looked at her wearing the red dress and I nearly forgot what I wanted to ask her. Instead, I wanted to tear that dress apart and have her on the table. She seemed to know what I was thinking as her lips curved seductively. I nearly got off my chair but calmed myself, as it is not the time. I could see a faint disappointment appearing in her eyes for a moment before it disappeared. ¡°Have you seeded?¡± I asked her. There is nervousness in my voice, as it is too important for me. ¡°Yes, I brought it and many other things,¡± she said, and a smile lit up across my face. I immediately look outside my window. I could not see more than the outline of my new plot, but even that satisfied me. I had been trying to buy the plot next to mine for more than two months. Even offered as much as four times its price, but the owner didn¡¯t want to sell it. While my plot is big and even with expansion, the establishment is covering only 30% of it. I don¡¯t want to touch it, as there will be a future expansion. As for the plot is next to mine. I want it for apletely different purpose. It took me a while to calm myself before I turned to her. ¡°You know, the interesting thing is just when I was about to leave to meet him. He sent his representative to us for the sale.¡± She spoke. and it couldn¡¯t help but surprise me. ¡°So, how much did it cost us?¡± I asked. ¡°Twenty-nine million crowns,¡± she said, and the smile on me became even bigger. Twenty-nine million crowns are nearly double the price that it is worth, but it is fine. As I was willing to pay far more for it, but he was not ready to sell. ¡°What else did you buy?¡± I asked, and instead of answering, she slid a page toward me. When I looked at it, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen. She had brought nine properties, five plots, and four buildings. She had also rented one for a year. It is not just the properties. She had also brought magical materials and instruments for the spa, and lots of wine. Three enchanted carriages, and many other things. It is not just things, but also contracts of people. She had brought contracts of spa employees; we need them desperately. Even with Maeve contacting her connection, it was slow recruiting people. We only had staff sixteen on the spa staff, which was not enough with new girls joining. Now the spa had a staff of thirty-seven. Which is more than enough for the current number of girls. Everything had cost us two hundred and forty-six million crowns. I did not have that kind of money. So, she used the grandfather¡¯s gift. Which he sent me after I returned from Namdar. It is a writ of guarantee from a house of silver worth two million imperials: two hundred million crowns. I could take it to any bank, and they will give me a loan of two hundred million crowns. If I did not pay it. House of Silver would. I have brought a lot of things, but now I also have a huge loan. I have confidence I could pay for it within a year. Especially now that I had got the plot. I could start the next phase. It will take months, but when it is done, it will be grand. Chapter 95: Vision Chapter 95: Vision Sorry for the absence. Has been busy with something personal. ¡°The undead incident left us no choice but to do it,¡± said Count Darrow with a sigh. ¡°But they are undead. Anathema to all good and holy. The emperor would never agree to it,¡± said Priest Harold in outrage and mirth appeared in the eyes of Count Darrow. ¡°The emperor had given the permission,¡± said Count Darrow, and everyone was shocked. It had been two weeks since the incident. Eight days ago, we have made the first official contact with Navr. The response from them is favorable. Like they were waiting for it and attacked us for the same purpose. Count Darrow did not inform this advisory council. He did not need to. He is the lord of the city, and his decisions were paramount. Everyone understood that, as after a few minutes of outrage, they calmed down. Only the priest is a little angry, but he knows his position and talked little after the initial outrage. ¡°Will we be following all the diplomatic norms of establishing contacts with another Sovereign state?¡± asked Trad Wells, chief editor of the Greltheaven Times. ¡°Yes,¡± replied the Count. It is what worries me the most. We have made the first official contact and now discussing the further steps. With the end result being a trip to Navr. Count Darrow wants it to happen as soon as possible. It turns out, the fourth prince had been asking him to do it for months, but he was dragging his feet, but the attack had forced him. There is no other choice. The trip will be beneficial as when Navr is notunching the body-snatching wars; it is a quite good neighbor and dominant trading partner. It is an undead kingdom and like a most undead kingdoms. It is filthy rich. It had the most productive industries because of the undeadbor. Even merchant cities, which are one of the biggest targets of the Navr wars, trade with it heavily. Navr had what they needed, and cheaper than anywhere. ¡°Lord Count, I did not want to bring this to you, but the problem had be too big. It is disrupting the trade heavily,¡± said Damon Hardt, and Count Darrow¡¯s eyes became serious. ¡°Bandits, isn¡¯t it?¡± he asked, and Damon Hardt nodded. As the baronies settled, the trade with them is increasing, but so is the menace of bandits. Every day, they would loot and raid, forget merchants, even nobles, weren¡¯t safe. Those bastards, especially that one group, had be brave enough that they begin to rob the keep, while the forces from Mirador Hold watch helplessly. ¡°I have given the mirador hold a week a more. If they didn¡¯t control the menace; then I will increase the bounty and allow foreign mercenaries to participate in the hunting,¡± said the Count, and a smile on Damon Hardt¡¯s lit up. The nobles and merchants have been asking for this, but until now, the Count had resisted. Letting only mercenaries affiliated with the empire participate. Now it will change. Soon, the meeting is over. Only advisers and protectors have remained in the room. ¡°We will need to move fast. The prince wants us to go to Navr as soon as possible,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°I am working on it,¡± said Robin. He was a diplomat before he became an adviser to Count Darrow. He will definitely be part of the group that will go to Navr. He is not feeling great about it, but he does not have a choice. I just hope I did not get roped into it, I don¡¯t want to go to the Navr. The count had been quite secretive about the progress, but I know it is going smoothly after the first contact. I am more than fine, being not in the loop; I hope things will stay that way. Two hourster, I am finished my work and sat in the carriage. Five minutester, the carriage stopped in front of a small three-story building, which had been furnished just yesterday. It is white, withrge ss windows, giving out a modern earth-like feel. The windows were quite smaller, but I wanted a huge ss window. I had always been jealous of my uncle¡¯s office and the view he gets. Now, I too have an office with a great view. I am only using the top floor, while the other two floors are empty. I got inquiries about them, but I declined every offer. I have no desire to rent them. I walked inside before stepping into the elevator. It did not have the elevator guarded by two guards. The building did not have an elevator before I added it. It cost me a lot, but it is worth it. Ting! Soon, I reached the third floor and stepped out. Immediately, ir put the book she was reading and stood up. ¡°Master Silver,¡± she greeted. She is a young girl of seventeen with dark blue hair and blue eyes. She used to work at a spa before Ca rmended her to me. ¡°Any new messages, ir?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, a few. I have ced them inside your office,¡± she said. I nodded and walked toward my office, while Jill sat on the desk opposite ir. ir is a receptionist, while Jill is an assistant. Soon, I enter my office, which is big, bigger than even my office in the establishment. Giving me a clear view of the central square, pce, and city hall. This small three-story building is one of the properties that Ca brought. She had got it at a great price. I look at the view for a couple of seconds before sitting at my desk and taking the letter from the drawing. They were general, from invitations to parties to the correspondence from the family. Till now, all the letters arrived from the family. Not a single one had mentioned anything about my post as adviser to Lancel. I heard grandfather had censored it. Which is a wise move. My new position is quite sensitive since they have not chosen the side and will probably not do it. Neutrality had served the house of Silver best in the past. While it offers fewer benefits than choosing the side, it is also much safer. ¡®Master Silver. Vice-Guildmaster Locke hade to meet you,¡¯ informed ir through the magical inte. He hade at the right time. Click! ¡°Send him in,¡± I said and a few secondster, the door opened, and Locke walked inside. ¡°Adviser Silver,¡± he said in an overly formal tone. ¡°Stop it,¡± I said with a smile before I became serious. ¡°Why do you want to meet so urgently?¡± I asked. He had asked for a meeting in the morning. I barely had any time in the morning. I had to cut short my training session by an hour to attend the meeting with the Count. ¡°I hope you will help me with this,¡± He said and ced the file in front of me. I took the file wordlessly and begin to read it. At first, everything was normal, before things begin to change. It took a few minutes to read through the file before I turned to Locke. ¡°You have gotten yourself into quite aplicated situation,¡± I said to him with a smile and she smiled back, but his smile did not have any mirth in it. ¡°Don¡¯tugh. I was thrown into it by that bastard.¡± He said worriedly. I did not ask who it was; it is obvious. ¡°So, what do you want me to do?¡± I asked. ¡°Just help me get out of it, with a minimum damage,¡± he said pleadingly. I did not speak for a minute. Thought about it, before turning to Locke. ¡°It is aplicated situation, but getting out of it with minimum damage wouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± I said. It is a trade dispute with the Deerpond, a big one, but not big enough to warrant Count''s attention directly. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said with relief flooding across his body. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me yet,¡± I said, and he became serious as he saw the look on my face. ¡°You are thinking something risky,¡± he said, bing alert. He knows me well. ¡°The easy will let you get out of it, with some scratches. There is another way, but far riskier. It might make you even lose your position, but if you seeded. You will make a mark and might even have a earn a level,¡± I said. It did not make him excited, but more cautious, and a struggle appeared on his face. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked finally, after a few seconds of silence. ¡°It is li¡­.¡± I exined. Soon, I finished, and the struggle on his face became even more intense, before suddenly, a grin appeared on his face. ¡°You are right. It is extremely dangerous, and failure will make me lose my job and reputation, but if I seed, I will gain more,¡± he said, and I smiled. ¡°I hope you will be careful,¡± I warned him. ¡°I will. Thank you, Remus, you are a good friend,¡± he said and a few minutester, walked out of my office. I stayed in the office for an hour and a half more before walking out. I have an important meeting with Valentina. For the past two weeks, I have been having meetings with her every other day. The project was tooplex to decide on in a single meeting. Thankfully we are finished, today, I will see the result. Since I had brought the plot, there is no need for me to stop. I will not stop. If the incident happened two weeks ago had taught me anything. Then it is that you should be prepared. I need to be prepared for the eventual fall of the city, but before that happens, I need to earn as much as I could from it. Soon, I am in the carriage, moving toward the establishment. Fifteen minutester, the gates of the establishment opened, and the carriage walked went inside. As the carriage stopped, the stone opened the door, and I stepped out of it. ¡°Master Silver. Mage Valentina is waiting for you,¡± said Ina, and we walked toward the empty plot. The plot is big as mine andpletely empty. Though currently there is a small tent in the center. Soon, we reached the tent and walked inside. Where six people were already present. Aside from Valentina and chief architect Davidson, there are Ca, Margaux, Maeve, and old woman Elme. ¡°When did you arrive?¡± I asked Valentina. ¡°Just ten minutes ago,¡± she replied. I sat on an empty chair in front of her and look at therge leather parchment, which is nearly covering the whole table. ¡°Is it ready?¡± I asked, with excitement beating up in my heart. ¡°Yes. Chief architect Davidson and our architects have worked hard on creating it,¡± said Valentina, looking at the old man beside her. ¡°Show me,¡± I said impatiently. She smiled and touched the parchment. Immediately, the runes on it lit up. A few secondster an emblem of Nielson guild appeared, it stayed there for a second, before something grand appeared in its ce, covering the whole parchment. Gasp! A couple of gasps of shock rang out. Even though I might have gasped, I am not in the mood to think about it. I am too busy staring at marvel. In front of me, projection of a circr building, which is five stories tall and open in the center. In the center of the building is a huge garden, filled with beautiful nts and exotic trees, and ponds. In the center of the garden itself is another building, which seemed to be made of ss and feels inseparable from the garden. ¡°At its current size, it will house five hundred girls. Fifty learning rooms, enchanted with to enhance the learning experience.¡± ¡°It will have a library, physical studio, game rooms, and many other things.¡± ¡°In the middle is a garden, and in its center is a spa, made with all inputs we have gotten from Miss Maeve,¡± said Valentina, giving me the general view. This circr building will new home for girls, fitted with all modern amenities. They will live and learn there while working in the establishment. With itspletion, I will be able to use the establishment at its fullest capacity. Make it a ce that never closes. One coulde at any time, be it at dawn or midnight, and will have the greatest time of their life. In the next hour, Valentina told me about everything. This is made from my vision; I wanted a circr building. Even though the ssic square would have helped me house more room. The big indoor garden is also my idea. The spa center of it came from Maeve. She wanted the spa to feel like it was in the middle of the forest; one with nature. It looked just like. I heard from everyone, from teachers to girls, and also consulted with professionals. I wanted everything to be perfect, and it looked perfect. ¡°It feels like mini heaven,¡± said Ina, with tears streaming down from her face and she is not the only one who is crying. ¡°How much it will cost me?¡± I asked. ¡°Around two million imperials,¡± she replied. Two hundred million crowns; it did not surprise me. Still, it is huge money. ¡°Here is the first payment,¡± I said to her and ced the check for twenty million crowns in front of her. Fifteen minutester, Valentina left while I remained in the tent. From tomorrow, the work will begin, and it will be finished in six months. I would have liked it if it could finish sooner, but I don¡¯t have the money. I already have a loan of two hundred and twenty million crowns to pay and now, with this project, I will be squeezed dry. It is a good thing my earning had increased. The establishment now earns around four million crowns a day. Most of the credit goes to Drev and his amazing cooking. He had overhauled the menupletely. Taking the experience of the food to the next level. That some peoplee to the establishment just to eat. Unofficially, the establishment had be one of the best ces to eat in Greltheaven. Which itself has be a big factor in attracting patrons. While some people may have to begin toe just for the food. They stay for the girls, who have be even more amazing. The establishment now has thirty girls that are Level 20 and above, and many of them are very close to reaching that level. It won¡¯t be long before half of the working girls in the establishment will be at Level 20. Thank you for reading. Chapter 96: Responsibility Chapter 96: Responsibility ¡°I will ask you all, once again. Are you really sure about it?¡± I asked four girls. All of them are eighteen. ¡°Yes, Master Silver,¡± they replied in unison. ¡°Ok, then. From today, you will formally start working in the establishment,¡± I said and slid the four contracts toward them. These girls have turned eighteen this month. There are six who turned eighteen, but the other two are not ready. All four of them are from the first and second batches and have at least three and a half months of training. Two even have seven months of training. They have been training since the day I brought the teachers to the establishment. It had made them very good. The only w they have is their lower level, but it is not really a w, considering they are only eighteen. They have higher levels than an average person of their age. If the data is to be believed. Then they will advance rapidly in their sses once they started working. Soon, the girls finished signing the contract, and I felt them clicking in my head. ¡°Remember. There is always a choice. If you don¡¯t want, you can say no directly. If don¡¯t want to work after today, it is fine too. You can serve the contract some other way.¡± I said to them. They just nodded at that, with eyes burning in excitement. Not about the work, but the money they will earn from today. Soon, they left with Margaux, leaving me and Ca alone in the office. ¡°How are our finances?¡± I asked her. ¡°They are good. We have a good 20.6 million crowns, with all our expenses paid.¡± She informed. The expenses had increased tremendously in a single month. The biggest one is new projects, along with loans, and taxes. Together, they take about seventy-five million crowns a month. Another twenty-five million crowns more go to themission of the girls, sries of staff, and other expenses like maintenance. Despite all this, I will still have a cool twenty to twenty-five million crowns. It had been a month since the undead attack. six months since the inauguration and so much changed. If my father had been here, he would have been shocked by what I had done to the business. Even I am shocked by it. When I had firste here, I did not think. I would earn such a massive amount of money in a year that I am earning in a month. I am sure the next six months would be even more transformative. The training of the new girls is going well, better than I had imagined. It had been one and half months since they have been training and a quarter of them already feel ready, but I am waiting. I will wait for another month. By then at least 70% of them would be ready. I will debut them at once. With girls numbers nearly doubling, the revenue of the establishment will also increase. I need that, especially to speed up the project, which is going great, but it could go faster. If I provided more money. ¡°What is progress on the sommelier?¡± I asked, to which she massaged her head. ¡°The ones I had interviewed yesterday turned out to be subpar,¡± she answered with disappointment. ¡°Looks like we will have to wait for the one that Drev referred,¡± I said, to which she nodded. ¡°Drev had high praise for the man. I hope he is good as he is praising him to be, till then, I will continue to interview more,¡± she replied. The one who Drev referred to is avable but is on vacation. It will take him about two more weeks to return. Even if he is good, we can not stop searching. The food of the establishment had be the talk of the town, and while Drev is knowledgeable enough to suggest the wines, which is a big chunk of business. We need the best to enhance the experience of our patrons. We are willing to pay good money for it. I worked for two hours before getting out of my office, and soon I was out of the establishment. I did not walk into the carriage, which is waiting for me. Instead, I walked toward the new plot, which was not so empty anymore. The construction is going in a full swing. I could see hundreds of workers who worked day and night in the shifts. It is amazing how fast it is happening. Two weeks ago, there was nothing here, but now, one could see the round walls. Hun! As I am watching it, I saw a familiar figure walking out of it. Caena had been visiting the site every day, even before the constructions begin. She did not disturb or talk to anyone. She just walked around it beforeing back. It is strange behavior, and I wish I could say it is new. She had done that when the changes were happening in the establishment and the spa was built. Ca said, there is something fishy, and I should forbid this behavior, but I did not. It is not like I am not sensing something fishy, but I do not sense any threat from it. Most importantly, I have no proof. Even Jon had tailed her secretly and he found nothing. He told me he saw nothing out of strange. She just walks there, looks around, and returns, doing nothing. I watched for a minute more and sat on my carriage. Twenty minutester, the carriage entered through the gates of the pce, and I stepped out it before walking into the pce. ¡°My Lords,¡± I greeted and bowed as I entered the study. ¡°Remus, you havee at the right time,¡± said Count Darrow, and my heart skipped a beat. Especially when I look at the expressions of Robin and Lancel. They did not look happy. ¡°The diplomatic mission to Navr had been finalized.¡± He informed and my expressions kinds of froze for a moment. ¡°Congrattion, my lord,¡± I said after a moment of silence. ¡°It is a good thing. The prince can now rest easy,¡± he said with a relieved smile, before turning back to me. ¡°Lancel will lead it, with Robin as emissary. You will also be part of a mission, responsible for the business delegation,¡± he stated, and I felt like someone attacked me with a lightning bolt. I have been praying for this not to happen and, while confident, that I will not be part of it. As Lancel had no interest in it and since I am his adviser, I would have also stayed with him. The opposite had happened. Lancel is going, and I will also go with him. Not only that, but I am also responsible for the business delegation, a huge responsibility. ¡°I am honored, my lord,¡± I said, and the Count smiled. I hate it, but I cannot say that. The moment he informed me about it, the decision was made. I could not get out of it. So, I might as well smile and ept it graciously. ¡°I know. I could count on you, Remus. The mission will leave in eight days, and I hope you willplete the preparations by then,¡± he said, giving me another shock. Eight days is too little for such aplex task. Still,pared to Robin, I have much fewer responsibilities. The poor guy looked like he had eaten the most horrendous thing and was holding off vomiting it. A few minutester, the meeting was over, and I stepped out of the study, following behind Lancel. ¡°Father had said it would be someone to a cousin who will lead this mission, but changed his mind at thest moment and now he is sending me,¡± said Lancel angrily, more to himself than me. So, I stayed quiet, but it did not take him long to turn to me. ¡°I know, you have been dreading it like me, but now, you are also going there with me,¡± he gibed as he turned to me. There has been a lot of improvement in Lancel¡¯s behavior toward me since the incident a month ago. We do not be buddies, but now, he does not hate me; just tolerates me. Like a tool, he does not like it but needs it. ¡°Lord Count is wise. I am sure he had a n when he chose you to lead the mission,¡± I said respectfully. With no hint of mocking. It still made him re at me intensely. ¡°You have fought against the undead. How are they in reality?¡± he asked, after minutes of silence. There was no mocking or jeering in his voice. His expressions were serious. ¡°They are dangerous, especially inrge numbers. If you want to deal with them, kill the one who is controlling them.¡± I spoke. Immediately, fear clouded his eyes. ¡°But we don¡¯t have to worry about our safety. Navr takes the safety of the diplomats extremely seriously; it is one of the safest countries for the diplomats,¡± I added, and the fear in his eyes turned to anger. ¡°I am not worried about my safety, Silver. I am more than capable of protecting myself.¡± He said, and he believed that. It is one of the most surprising things about him. He truly believes in his strength. He is a capable fighter from what I had seen, but not to the level to feel such confidence. Maybe it is likely why the Count is sending him to Navr; to get more grounded. Or maybe he just got irritated with him as I am and wants a few days of peace and quiet. One and a halfter, I finished my business with Lancel and sat in a carriage for my office, thinking. The count had handed an enormous responsibility. The business delegation wouldn¡¯t be easy. While merchants like to take the risks, I don¡¯t know how many of them would enter the kingdom of death itself for the fortune. It had a lot of things to offer, vast agricultural products, metals, liquor, gems, magical materials, and many other things. Undeadbor makes a lot of things easier for them. It is why the undead kingdoms are filthy rich, especially the older ones like Navr. The fortune, they are immense, not just in money, but in artifacts and spells. It is the reason why so many kingdoms think twice beforeunching a full-scale war against these bastards. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 97: Reward Chapter 97: Reward ¡°So, this is a final list?¡± I asked, looking at the names of the people on the list. She had handed me. ¡°Yes. These are people who agreed. They promised they will not change their mind,¡± replied Ina. I don¡¯t think I had been as busy in my life as I had been in the past week. I did not get any time to focus on my business. Thankfully, I have Ca. She is handling everything while I am busy with my city¡¯s work. ¡°I really hope so. If they dared to change their mind one more time, they will pay,¡± I said, and the warning is not empty. There are some serious things I could do; things they would not like. ¡°I had warned them about the consequences,¡± said Ina. I had asked her to do that. A week ago, there have been one hundred and thirty merchants ready toe with us to Navr, but through the week. Many backed down, and what is more frustrating than it is, that many of them came back on board before backing down again. We are leaving tomorrow and with us areing many people. Including these thirty-six people from the different businesses. Of the thirty-six, only four are from the major business house. The others were from small merchant houses, but the majority of them were from individual businesses. I thought many individual merchants woulde. The business world is cutthroat and monopolized by the business houses. Seeing this golden chance at a new market, these small businesses would leap at it, but it seemed like I was wrong. Many merchants are having the same fear that business houses are having. The reputational damage. The undead are considered anathema and those who trade with them are prosecuted in the empire. The empire had exempted business with Navr through the official channels, but the people are still fearful. It is something that could damage their reputation, which is most important in the business. Unlike them, I do not think it would be a big problem, especially for the local merchants. People are used to it; it ismon knowledge that the merchant cities trade with Navr and many of the things we buy from theme from Navr. I have made sure to highlight it every day through the newspapers. It had caused a minor scandal, and some people had boycotted some goods from merchant cities, but it was over within a few days. As these things are essential and people can¡¯t live without them. In a month, nobody would bat an eye at this. It would have been great if the merchant from other cities coulde. We have invited them, but they have made various excuses to note. They want to see how this trip would go. How people would react to it. We have framed it as a peace mission, which it actually is, even so. We have to be careful with perception, with enemies trying their deceptive campaigns, against us. They are doing it sneakily, because the emperor is watching, but we still see the signs. ¡°Sent this list to Robin,¡± I said after looking through the list. ¡°Ok,¡± she said and put it into the envelope, before walking out of the office. I am taking Ina with me; I could not take Jill or ir. They are too young, and it will be dangerous. Not physically dangerous, but politically, and there, I could not take any risks. Ina is the best choice; she is the most politically aware person I trust. She is as good as Ca. There is another one who is as good as her, but I do not trust her enough. Hours passed as I kept working, and soon it was evening and I needed to leave for the banquette. ¡°Sent this Ca,¡± I said and handed Ina the letter, before getting up and walking out of my office through the door on the left and entering my room. Of course, there is room, and in this past week, it had be quite useful. I had slept in the office for three days. It waste, and I didn¡¯t want to go back to the house, just to sleep. Though, when it is the day of establishment, I went there, no matter howte it was. As I walked into my room, I undressed and stepped into the shower. Fifteen minutester, I came out feeling refreshed. I changed into the suit, which is waiting on my bed, since morning, and readied myself in the mirror before stepping out of my room. As I did, I saw two women in my room talking. ¡°You are looking nice,¡± said Valentina as she turned to me. ¡°You are not looking bad yourself,¡± I said to her. She is wearing a low-cut violet gown and diamond jewelry which rested squarely in the valley of her breasts. ¡°Shall we go?¡± I asked her, to which she nodded and got up. Soon, we were in the carriage, moving toward the pce. ¡°Thank you for the permit. Without your intervention, it would have taken me at least a week to get it,¡± she thanked me. She had hired over two-hundred workers from the merchant cities. Such things require a permit, which I was able to get for her within a day. ¡°It was nothing,¡± I replied. ¡°I heard Navr is a beautiful ce if you forget the undead,¡± she said with a smile after a minute of silence. ¡°Don¡¯t joke about it. I am very worried about it,¡± I said, looking at her. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t. It is one of the safest countries in the world, at least for those who entered it with permission,¡± she said reassuringly. ¡°I am not worried about my safety,¡± I said and sighed. I have a feeling this diplomatic mission wouldn¡¯t be as simple as the Count is saying it to be, especially after the appearance of those five people. Yesterday, five people arrived; they are the prince''s men. They will apany us to Navr. As for what is their purpose, I don¡¯t know. Nobody does, except for Count Darrow and Lancel. They did not tell any of us advisers. Soon, the carriage passed through the gates of the pce and stopped at my reserved spot. ¡°It is nice when you have the reserved spot,¡± said Valentina as we got out. I smiled and took her hand as we walked toward the pce. ¡°Adviser Silver, Mage Valentina, wee,¡± said the head butler. I nodded, and we entered the ballroom. It is big, the biggest one in the entire city, and despite being early, there are already quite a few people inside. We had just entered when a soldier walked toward us. ¡°Adviser, Count had requested you to his study,¡± he informed. I nodded and turned to Valentina apologetically. ¡°I am sorry,¡± I said, to which she smiled. ¡°Go, I can mingle on my own,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, and I walked toward the study. I knew I had to go meet with the Count for the onest meeting, but I think it would be after the party. It is a good thing; it is before the party. This way, I will be able to sleep early. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted father and son and bowed as I entered the library. Aside from them, there is Robin, and the High Mage York is also present. ¡°Remus, how are the preparations?¡± asked Count Darrow directly. ¡°Thirty-six merchants have agreed to be part of the delegation, and I have personally seen through the contracts that will sign between the merchant guilds, among other arrangements. ¡°Will any of your merchants back down from the at thest moment?¡± asked Lancel, putting the me on me. ¡°I have warned them what will happen. If they try to do it,¡± I replied. They had the chance to decline. If they still do it, I will really make those bastards pay. ¡°Remembers, the goal of this diplomatic mission is to open the channels. If we are able to get any no-arms agreement; it would be a grand victory,¡± Count said, and immediately, a smile appeared on the faces of Lancel and others. A smile with no mirth. Navr is notorious for not signing any type of these agreements. There are three known instances where it had signed those agreements in its over two thousand years of history. ¡°We will try our best for it, my lord,¡± replied Robin, but seeing Count''s expressions. Even he didn¡¯t believe something like that would happen. ¡°Remus, I had called you for a different purpose,¡± said Count and ced something on the table, seeing that my eyes couldn¡¯t help but light up. ¡°You have done an exceptional service to the city. For it, I am giving you this. As long as you are in the city''s service, you will keep this,¡± he said and ced a beautiful brown leather bag. Seeing it, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen. It had a simple design of a small emblem of lightning. Made by the enchanters of the storm tower. It is a precious thing that I very much wanted to buy it using my grandfather''s gifts, but I had controlled myself. This thing was important, but there were other important things, the plot next to mine. It is a good thing I controlled myself as I have not only got the plot but also this. ¡°Thank you for the generous gift, my lord,¡± I said and took the bad. This is called the bag or iles bag, because of the material from iles monster which is essential to crafting this bag. It is a precious thing, which costs around a million imperials. Because this tiny bag could hold many times its size. Seeing it is basic, it has around one cubic meter of space. It could store anything, aside from things with high magic radiation. A few minutes passed, and we discussed a few other things, but I barely participated in it. It is mostly Count asking the questions and Robin answering them. Lancel is a leader only in name. It is Robin who is responsible for everything. It took an hour to finish everything when the Count got up and walked out of his study. While we all followed behind. ¡°My Lord,¡± Greeted the people in unison as the Count entered the ball. There are over a thousand people, and not all from the city. More than half of the guests are from outside the city. From merchant cities and the cities of renwell. ¡°Thank you all forin¡­¡± Count Darrow started the speech, and while I with others, stood behind him respectfully. Watching the crowd as they listen to Count Darrow¡¯s speech, most of them have expressions of attentiveness but are utterly bored. Thankfully, the speech was not long and finished within ten minutes. For little more than half an hour, I followed behind Lancel, till he relieved me, and I walked toward Valentina. ¡°I have to say, Mage Valentina, Adviser Silver, suits you well.¡± Said an old man with blue hair, as I appeared beside her. ¡°Thank you, Vice-Guild-master Alvar,¡± she said, with flushed cheeks and ecstatic eyes. All fake, but one could hardly be able to tell seeing how good she is at acting. She may even have a ss rted to that or something she learned out of necessity. Likely out of necessity; given the consequences, if people were to find out. ¡°Vice-Guild-master Alwar; it is such a regret you could note. With you, the mission to the Navr would have been more sessful,¡± I said to the old man, from the Deerpond. ¡°Truly a regret. Adviser Silver. If not for the priormitments, I would have joined you on the trip to Navr,¡± said the old man. The surrounding cities have never outright rejected our proposal but used the excuses as priormitments and other whatnot. So, this way, when the chancees, they could hop on it with no problem. As they have never formally rejected the mission with Navr, they were just too busy at that time toe with us. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 98: Trouble In Fortress Chapter 98: Trouble In Fortress ¡°Best of luck, my son. I hope you will make me and our house proud,¡± said Count as he hugged his son. ¡°I will, Father,¡± said Lancel emotionally, before breaking the hug. Lancel had taken part in many of the diplomatic missions, but it would be his first leading it. The count had many expectations from him and so is the city and the whole region. A sess and we will have a little less headache from the Navr. It will give the region a chance for stable development, with the Greltheaven being the biggest beneficiary. ¡°York, I hope you will protect my son from any danger,¡± he said to the High Mage. He is the one responsible for security, with three captains below him; Captain Julian being one of them. ¡°I will protect Lord Lancel with my life, my lord,¡± High-Mage promised. The Count nodded and turned to the handsome man in his early forties with shoulder-length raven-ck hair. Viscount Akre, the leader of five people, came from the fourth prince. He is a loyalist and, from what I heard, a hell of a negotiator. Unfortunately, he will be only negotiating the prince¡¯s business. Count Darrow talked to him for more than a minute in privacy. After he finished, he turned to us. ¡°Everyone, try your hardest to make this mission sessful as possible,¡± he said. ¡°We will, my lord,¡± we said in unison. ¡°Leave and return in victory,¡± he said, and we climbed into the wide boat. A minuteter, it is sailing through the river to the other side. Most of our entourage had already reached the other side. We were the only ones who had waited for thest goodbye. I sat morefortably on the bed and looked at the ships sailing in the river. There are a lot of them, more than they were a month ago. The undead incident barely affected a week of progress; the trade from merchant cities recovered in less than a week. Unlike us, they are used to the undead and did not react as badly as we had expected. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see the day when at least half of these ships dock at Greltheaven,¡± said Lancel. ¡°Under Lord Count and your leadership, that day isn¡¯t far, my lord,¡± said Hennessey. His assistant and the biggest yes-man, I had ever seen. Robin, I, and others also nodded our heads in affirmation, but a few of us also rolled our eyes secretly, hearing the absurd statement. Less than a quarter of shipsing from empire and merchant cities, dock at the Greltheaven. The percentage is reducing, despite more ships docking at Greltheaven by day. We are a tiny city, and we are growing at a shocking speed, but we are just one city. While goods in the river go for hundreds of cities of empire and merchant city-states. We are lucky to be established in such a strategic ce. Where huge trade gives us huge taxes. I had got to know the amount of tax we receive, and it blew my mind. It is huge and the worse thing is the Count will spend only a quarter of it on the city. From what I am able to find out, around 40% of taxes earned by the city go to Prince Grelt, 25% to the empire, and 10% were pocketed by Count Darrow. I had tried to steer the Count to spend more on the city, but found it impossible. Count Darrow is smart, but he is also a greedy fellow as they said him to be. He isn¡¯t willing to spend a single penny from his share. It is kind of normal here, but still, I hope he would listen. If he spends more on the city, he will earn more, but it will not happen. So, I focused on nudging him toward spending efficiently. Instead of spending more on white elephant projects, which Count Darrow is quite fond of, I made him focus on infrastructure and services. I did not seedpletely, but I had my victories and a level in my Adviser ss is proof of that. Soon we reached the other side and walked out of the boat, one after another. The carriages were already ready and, seeing us stepping out, the others who were waiting by their carriages stepped inside immediately. Eighty-four people are going to Navr; nearly half of it is security, with three of my guards added. I wanted to bring more, but three is already a stretch, as no one had been allowed to bring their guards. The only reason I did was that I refused to go on the trip without them. We walked toward the carriages; there are eight of them with a lot of horses and four blue-horn rhinos. They are ck rhinos with blue horns; they are slightly slimmer than the earth rhinos, but it gives them speed. It might not look like it, but they could go faster than the horses of the earth and have much greater stamina than them. Soon, we appeared beside a purple long carriage and Captain Julian opened the door. Lancel was the first to go inside before it was High Mage York, Robin, and then me. The carriage is big, with widefortable seats that can recline for maximumfort. Soon, the carriage begin to roll, and its speed was not slow. ¡°Lord Lancel. Navr had rejected our request for our security,¡± said High Mage York suddenly. ¡°Fuck, why those bastards couldn¡¯t agree,¡± cursed Lancel angrily. The security had already been decided, but Lancel kept trying. The Navr rarely makes an exception and Lancel is not powerful enough to force them to do that. ¡°Navr said since we are their guests, they want to guarantee our safety,¡± replied High-Mage York. The moment we stepped out of the empire¡¯s boundary, there will be people from Navr guiding us, providing security. Since they are an undead kingdom, one does not need to guess the kind of security they will provide. They do that to every diplomat, and to be honest, I would prefer the undead take a charge of our safety. I don¡¯t like it, but their records speak. Lancel did not speak further, and others also remain quiet. Seeing there won''t be any talking soon, I took out several documents and begin to read them. I have done it many times, but I am doing it again; I want to be familiar with every word. So, I will be ready to deal with any problem that came with me. I am responsible for the business delegation and its business; the merchant guild had provided a negotiator, but I also need to be fully prepared. Being undead is not easy. A few hours passed, and Lancel is now sleeping, and High-Mage York is alert, casting the spells now and then, while Robin and I working. I was reading a long document when suddenly I saw Robin turning toward the window and kept looking. I followed his gaze at the window and saw the prison wagons filled with bandits. Over 90% of them are orcs, with the rest 10% being half-bloods and humans. They are inrge prison wagons, chained for extra protection. Count Darrow acted on his promise and doubled the bounties on the bandits and allowed the foreign mercenaries. They poured in and from the first day; they started killing and capturing bandits. They are very good, with special sses and skills to aid them. In less than a month, more than half of the bandits were captured or killed. Some had run away in fear, while some struggling. There is still one group that is giving trouble and has killed many bandit hunters thate to hunt them. So, now stronger bandit hunters are hunting them, and they are confident they will capture them in a month. It is not just mercenaries, but also the forces of Mirador Hold. Though they did not count. They have been trying that for months, achieving no sess. Even the band of nobles had better sess in hunting bandits than them. A few nobles of Nakar forest had banded together and formed a couple of hunting bands against the bandits. Even my brother had joined in and from what I heard; he was actively taking part in it and seemed to be enjoying the hunt. Good for him. A few hours passed, and we took a small rest of half an hour at a big patch before resuming our journey. Soon, the evening arrived, and we could see the silhouette of the Mirador Hold under the bright moonlight. We have alreadye across several patrols, and a few have spread around the carriage to protect it. It is only for a show. There is no danger this close to the Mirador Hold, especially on this side. Soon, we reached the gates, and the carriages stopped. There is a man standing at the gates, wearing a uniform and all the medals. Beside him are the other men and women, all wearing their military uniforms. The guards gathered around the carriage before High-Mage York came out and behind him, Lancel. Soon, the whole entourage came out, and we walked toward the gates with Lancel leading in the front. ¡°Wee to the Mirador Hold, Lord Lancel,¡± said Commander Harrison as Lancel appeared in front of him. He did not bow to Lancel but showed enough respect to him. If it had been Count Darrow, he would have not only bowed, but weed him from the carriage. He is a prince¡¯s man, and I heard Duke Benedict yed a big role in him getting this position. Duke Benedict is Lancel¡¯s uncle. ¡°Commander Harrison,¡± said Lancel. I could see the faint displeasure that appeared in the eyes of themander, the way Lancel had greeted him, and knowing Lancel, he did intentionally. To establish the hierarchy. Officially, Mirador Hold is an imperial frontier fort, managed by the defense ministry of the empire. In reality, it is a personal fort of the fourth prince; every person herees from the army of the fourth prince, including Harrison Dane. Count Darrow is the prince¡¯s uncle and his ardent ally. He is also part of the defense council of mirador hold and, if he wishes, could remove Commander Harrison from his post. Lancel is nothing officially, but he is a member of one of the most powerful noble houses of the empire and the prince is his cousin, which gives him power over Commander. Harrison Dane understands it very well, seeing how he took the small disrespect with a smile. ¡°Viscount Akre, wee,¡± he said and took us inside. The preparations had already been made. Commander Dane took us directly to the banquet, where everyone important in Mirador Hold was present. The partysted for over two hours before it was over. After the party was over, I joined Lancel for an important meeting in the mirador hold, with Commander Dane and his men. It hadsted for a little over an hour, during which he briefed Lancel about the undead attack that happened more than a month ago. Nothing, he said, surprising to me. He had sent the detailed record, which I had read a couple of times. ¡°Is anyone trying to leave?¡± I asked Ina as I finished my duties with Lancel. ¡°No. They are all sleeping. I have personally checked it,¡± she replied with a smile. ¡°Good, you can sleep too. We have to leave early tomorrow,¡± I said to her. She nodded and walked toward the door, before suddenly stopping and turning to me. ¡°Thank you. Master Silver,¡± she said, surprising me. I was about to ask her why when she opened the door and walked out, leaving me confused. I decided not to think about it further and walked into the bedroom, which had a beautiful view. Thest time when I hade here, I could not stay on this floor. Now, they have ced me here without me asking. In just six months, the fortunes have changed. I looked at the view for a couple of seconds, beforeying on the bed. Within a few minutes, I was in deep sleep. ¡°Mister Silver, wake up,¡± I was shaken hard from a deep sleep by a familiar voice. I woke up in seconds and my hand immediately went to the sword by my bed. I did not forget what had happenedst time when I was woken up in such a way in a foreign ce. ¡°What happens?¡± I asked with my sword in my hand. ¡°Assassins,¡± replied Jon, making me even more alert. ¡°Not here, mister silver. They have attacked Viscount Akre and his men,¡± he added, and I couldn¡¯t help but rx. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 99: Breach Chapter 99: Breach ¡°My Lord,¡± I said as I entered the secure room. It took some convincing and usage of ¡®Persuasion¡¯ for them to bring me here. A fortified ce, which is defensively enchanted and guarded by powerful guards. Lancel is sitting there, and so is the bloodied Viscount Atre along with two of his men. One of them isying on the ground while being treated by the leader. Lancel is sitting on the head chair, looking angry. I wanted to ask what happened so badly, but seeing Lancel''s expressions, it wouldn¡¯t be wise to do that. The only thing I know is that Viscount Atre and his men had got attacked, and at least one got killed. There are two sittings here, with one being treated by a healer. Still, I mouth the words to Robin beside me, who mouth ter,¡¯ back. I nodded and turned to Lancel, who was still staring at the table. ¡°This is a fortress, for the emperor''s sake. The assassins havee here and killed two people under their noses, while they watch like dumb chickens.¡± cursed Lancel angrily and turned to the middle bald man, who was sweating profusely under Lancel¡¯s re. ¡°Our sincerest apologies for this securitypse, Lord Lancel. Themander himself searching for the perpetrators to bring them to justice for this heinous act,¡± replied the man shakingly. It made Lancel re at him further. The man shuddered under his re and sweated even more. That made Lancel shake his head in pity and turned away from the man. The silence is deafening, and I wish I had some telekinesis skills, but I did not. So, I sat in silence. ¡°This damned stickiness!¡± cursed Viscount Atre suddenly, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. ¡°Bring me a new set of clothes,¡± he said, and looked at the guard standing beside him. The guard instead looked at the bald man. ¡°What are you waiting for? Go bring Viscount Atre a new set of clothes,¡± snapped the bald man. I couldn¡¯t help but get surprised seeing that. Gone was the pitiful face and now, he had an angry look on his face, filled with irritation. Though it had onlysted for a second, before reverting to the old pitiful face, with sweating all over. I am not the only one to notice that. I am impressed. The bald man is doing something, that very few could do in this world. He was able to fool even Lancel and the rest. Even now, when he broke the cover for a moment, very few people noticed it. This is the weakness of this world; they depend on their skills too much. They think, if someone deceives them, especially on their face, they must be using their skills. Despite sitting close, Lancel had not noticed. Though Viscount Atre did, that man was sharp. He immediately caught it but did not show he did. Though I may be wrong, he might be using acting skills. They are acting skills for a reason. A few minutes passed and fortified doors opened, and the guard walked inside with the set of clothes for Viscount Atre. ¡°Well, congrats. You did not botch this,¡± said Viscount sarcastically, as he took the clothes from the guard''s hand and walked toward the bathroom. Looking at his gait, he only looked slightly injured, despite his bloodied clothes. Soon, the Viscount returned wearing a fresh set of clothes. He lookedpletely fine, except for being a little pale. It could be due to the injury or stress of the situation. He sat down silently, without uttering a single word. Which couldn¡¯t help, but irritate me. Usually, I like silence, but there I know all the facts of the situation I am in. Here, I am nearly blind. I only know that there is an assassination attempt and at least one person had died. I don¡¯t know who the assassins were, how they enter the fortress, or whether any of them had been captured. I don¡¯t like it, but there is nothing I could do about it. ¡°Lord Viscount. Mr. Calvin is stable now,¡± said the tired healer, who had been healing the man on the ground. ¡°Will he be fit for travel in the morning?¡± asked Viscount, surprising the healer. ¡°He will, but I hope. He will take as much rest as possible to recover quickly,¡± the healer replied. ¡°Thank you, healer. You are the only person in this damned fortress who isn¡¯t disappointing,¡± he said while ring at the bald man, who again started sweating pitifully. Though this time, the Viscount is not fooled. An hour passed and barely any word when the fortified doors opened, and Harrison Dane walked inside with his men having a sour look on his face. ¡°Did you find them?¡± asked Lancel, and his face be sourer. ¡°We are still searching the fortress. We will find them,¡± replied Commander Dane. He looked like, he ate something disgusting as he replied. ¡°So, you have failed in finding them,¡± said Viscount Atre as he slowly raised his head and looked directly into Commander Dane¡¯s eyes. The first hour is the most important in finding the assassins. If you didn¡¯t find them, by that time, then it is very hard to find themter. ¡°We have not failed. We are still searching for them,¡± said Commander Dane forcefully, while those grey eyes of Viscount turned thunderous. ¡°You have failed Dane. You have failed since the moment the assassin attacked us in your fortress.¡± ¡°They tried to kill me. They killed two of my people and injured one while you have not only failed to stop them, but have as well let them leave freely. ¡°If this is not a failure, I don¡¯t know what it is,¡± said Viscount slowly, with each word fury in his voice rising. ¡°We are searchi¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± shouted Viscount, and suddenly invisible pressure surrounded the entire room. It is so heavy that I had stopped breathing; forgotten the first instinct I have learned sinceing to the world. It took me a second to remember what my old instructor had told me about it and forced me to act on it. I controlled my fear and forced myself to breathe, which is much harder than it looked, but I did it after a couple of seconds. Aura. Viscount Atre had released the aura. I did not know he awakened the aura; it is very hard. Only a select few could awaken it. It is shocking, and I am not the only one feeling it. Even Commander Dane and Lancel seemed shocked. Though, unlike me, they seemed to take an aura much better. Especially Commander Dane, whom the aura is targeting. They are used to the aura and had even been trained to bear it. Lancel, like all the people from great noble houses, had been trained to bear it. It is also said to increase the chances of awakening it. Lancel had not awakened the aura, nor his father, but his uncle, the Duke of Valeshire, had and so had his older brother. Count Darrow is very proud of him. Thud Thud! Suddenly, the loud sounds of falling rang out. I turned back and saw two guards falling to the ground and more seemed to be close to doing that. ¡°I want them found Dane or you won¡¯t like the consequences,¡± warned Viscount Atre. Commander Dane looked at him before walking out of the room without saying a word. Though it is clear from his eyes that he is angry about the aura and the warning that came after. He did not look like a man who would bear such insults. ¡°Viscount Atre congrattions. The awakening is a great milestone,¡± said Lancel with a smile, but I could see the hidden jealousy within it. ¡°Thank you. Lord Lancel,¡± he replied. There were a few seconds of silence before Lancel¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°Do you think we should dy the trip?¡± Lancel asked, to which the Viscount shook his head. ¡°No, we cannot do that.¡± Replied the Viscount, and he seemed quite adamant about it. ¡°You have lost two people. Will you be able to make do without them?¡± Lancel asked. ¡°It will be a little stressful, but I will manage,¡± he replied. Lancel seemed like he wanted to say something, but did not. Time passed, and soon it was five. The sun will start toe out in a few minutes. This means we only have two and a half hours before we depart for the Navr. I was thinking about that when Viscount Atre got up. ¡°Lord Lancel, we should make the preparations,¡± he said, to which Lancel nodded and got up from his seat. ¡°Lord Lancel, Viscount Atre. It would not be a wise choice to go out now. The assassins haven¡¯t been caught yet,¡± said the bald man. ¡°Fuck off,¡± said Lancel angrily and walked past him and toward the door. The guards looked around in hesitation before opening the doors. Soon, we walked out of the fortified rooms with heavy guards around us. ¡°Lord Lancel, Viscount Atre. We would be grateful if you remain in the security of the guards,¡± said the bald man, but neither Lancel nor Viscount Atre gave a response to him. ¡°Be ready. We have to leave at seven,¡± said Lancel. Soon we separated. I went to my suite, while Lancel and Viscount went to theirs, which is the main fortress, on the same floor as Commander Dane. ¡°What had happened?¡± I asked Robin. Even now, I do not know theplete details. ¡°A group of assassins attacked Viscount Lancel and his men. They seeded in killing two.¡± ¡°Viscount had fought and injured the assassin that attacked him before alerting,¡± replied Robin. I had thought he was a negotiator, but it seemed like I was wrong. It is hard to guess with the ruling sses. They are epassing; one could be many things in a single ss. ¡°He must be quite powerful to fight off the assassins,¡± I said, to which Robin nodded. ¡°He is. He had acted as the fourth prince''s bodyguard on many asions.¡± He replied, and that couldn¡¯t surprise me. Being a prince''s bodyguard is not a simple task. He should be at Level 35 and above and with him, having a ruling ss. He should be more powerful than the people with thebat sses. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. He had awakened an aura. Only those above Level 30 do that. It is very rare for people below Level 30 to do that. Soon, we reached our suits, and I went inside with high security. My three guards and nine from the fortress. After assassins, I do not mind this extra security. The first thing I did after entering, is freshening up and shower, before taking a look at the documents one more time. By the time I was finished, there was only half an hour to leave. I readied myself and walked out with security. Feeling relieved that I did not get attacked in the suit. I was fearing it might happen at any moment. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 100: Navr Chapter 100: Navr ¡°With the temple acting up; I think it would be better to postpone the delegation from Harsoth,¡± said the man in grey robes. ¡°Or at least sent them to other regions.¡± He added. The pale young man who was reading the papers finally looked up. ¡°There is no need to postpone it or send them to other ces,¡± ¡°The second majesty himself had arrived to deal with the temple''s disturbance. He will calm it down,¡± said the pale young man. Hearing that, the man in the grey robe is not surprised but relieved. The temple is something ancient, even after thousands of years. They could not find all its secrets. Its reactions are not rare, it happens every decade and only the majesties have the power to calm it down. ¡°How many it took till now?¡± asked the pale young man. ¡°Eighty-seven people. Thirteen of them had returned,¡± he replied. It had been one and a half days since it had reacted and if didn¡¯t calm down soon, it will take more people. ¡°Good. Keep an eye on those returned and make sure it didn¡¯t get anyone from the empire.¡± said the pce young man before turning to papers. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± said the man in grey robes and walked out of the office. ¡­ ¡°You had failed Dane. I don¡¯t know why, I had even thought you might be able to capture even one,¡± said Viscount Atre. We all have gathered on open ground with our carriages ready. I have checked everything and everything is perfect. It couldn¡¯t help but make me feel relieved. ¡°I will capture them,¡± said Commander Dane, but nobody believed it, including his people. ¡°Keep telling yourself that,¡± said Lancel with mirth, before walking toward the carriage with Viscount. He had confidential business to talk to Viscount and will be alone in the carriage. Even High-Mage York isn¡¯t allowed inside. I watched till Lancel entered the carriage, before entering the carriage with Ina. The others also sat and the security of over three hundred guards surrounded them before the carriages move. Not all of these guards areing. They will be with us for an hour, till we met the representative from Navr. Who will escort us inside the undead kingdom. Soon, the carriages reached the giant gate, and it opened. It only opens, when the undead attack, but if we are sessful in Navr. It will open more often. The carriages begin to roll through the gates, and I could see the verdant hills on the other side. It is beautiful scenery, it would have been more beautiful, if not for being marred by the signs of battle. The bones are still around and there are many of them. They must have cleared the ones with the death energy while leaving the harmless ones behind. They create quite a picture. I was watching the scenery when I noticed Ina taking out something from her bad nervously. A white envelope. ¡°Caena had asked me to give it to you after we left the fortress,¡± said Ina suddenly and handed the white envelope. ¡°What¡¯s in it?¡± I asked as I felt the bulge inside it. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She replied. I looked at her for a moment, before turning to a white envelope, which was nk. Not a single word is written. Hun! I tore it open and raised it up. Immediately, the thing inside came out, and I froze in shock at seeing what it was. I had expected many things, but not this. I nearly threw it before stopping myself. ¡°Is it a charm?¡± asked Ina hesitantly, seeing the thing in my hand. ¡°It seemed so,¡± I replied. Feeling quite conflicted. There are very few sses that create charms, with one ss being most notable for it, especially for herbal charms like this. The ss, because of which, I ended up in the Greltheaven. So, one can guess, why I wanted to throw it away. Even those who had not been affected by that ss did not like it. Some kingdoms outright banned them, while some hunt them actively. The herbal charm is quite beautiful, woven in delicate herbs and flower petals and tiny branches. The charm is not the only thing in the envelope. There is also a note; I took out it and opened it. It is short, written in the delicate handwriting of Caena. I read it over and over for a minute, before taking out the torch stone and burning it into the ashes. I turn back to the charm and was about to put it back into the bag, but decided to put it into my pocket. If what Caena had written is true, then the pocket would be the right choice. ¡°I guess with this. Caena¡¯s base ss is no longer a mystery,¡± said Ina, after a few seconds of silence. ¡°If she is the one who made this charm,¡± I added, to which Ina smiled. It all makes sense now. Her knowledge of herbology and strange behavior. It made me worried. When I return to the Greltheaven, I am going to have a long talk with her. Time passed in silence, as my thoughts got upied with charm. I wanted to throw it out of the window, but failing to do that every time, I think about it. What she had written made me stop every time. The carriages crossed a couple of hills before they finally stopped. Right at the edge of the boundary of the Empire and Navr. There are small outposts on both sides, with a crystalline stream flowing between them. ¡°Stay in the carriage,¡± I said to Ina and walked out of the carriage and walked toward the Lancel¡¯s carriage. I had just reached it when the door opened. Lancel and Viscount Atre came out of it. At the same time, the door of the outpost on the other side opened, and the undead walked out. Not a normal undead, but an undead Knight, with shining armor covering its whole body. It is not alone. Another one, bigger than it, came out after it. An undead knight made from giant blood, or it is a tempered one. The undead magic is capable of many things. Increasing the size of the undead, giving them different augmentation through various spells and procedures, is not a big thing for the undead. The third figure came out, and immediately, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen up in surprise. It is a human, but it is not what surprised me. What surprised me, is who the human is. Raihar Shadowend. A necromancer from the empire. He had been on the wanted list for over three decades. The empire knew he was in Navr, but we did not expect the undead bastards would send him to wee us. Even Lancel and Viscount Atre had got surprised seeing him, but they quickly recovered their expressions and walked forward. Soon, we cross the small bridge over the stream. Which seemed like it had been made a few hours ago. It is likely is and stepped into the territory of Navr, bing the first people from the Harsoth empire to do it in decades. Legally. ¡°Wee, envoys of the Harsoth Empire. The Kingdom of Navr wees you,¡± said Raihar. The necromancer looked like a man in his early fifties. Small stature, with brown hair, brown eyes, with an average face that nobody would look twice. He is wearing a simple mage robe and is holding a wooden staff in his hand, which had a bone pearl on top of it. ¡°Thank you for the kind wee, representative Shadowend,¡± said Lancel, with a light smile on his face. Expertly hiding the disgust and fear he is feeling for the necromancer and the two undead behind him. ¡°We should leave quickly. If we want to reach the Jalrux by tomorrow morning,¡± he said and the bone pearl on its staff lit up. A secondter, the earth begins to shake, and the undead begin toe out. Not normal undead, but undead warriors, hundreds in numbers. I could see the people getting rmed around me; the guards enveloped Lancel and Viscount Atre more tightly. The only people who did not seem rmed were my three guards. They are cautious seeing the undead, but not rmed. ¡°Show off. The bastard had buried them in the ground beforehand to create this show,¡± said Jon behind me in privacy. I couldn¡¯t help but nod at that. I am also scared and even shaken seeing them, but did not take a step toward the guards. They are dangerous, without a doubt, but we are in Navr, on a diplomatic mission. So, we will be fine. As for what Raihar or his masters trying to achieve by such a show. I don¡¯t know, but to me, this show seemed pretty useless. Seeing we are an undead kingdom and going to be seeing them everywhere. Maybe they want us to get used to them, soon as possible. ¡°It is quite a lot of und..security, representative Shadowend,¡± said Lancel as he got control over his emotions. There is around five hundred undead around us; each of them standing in a neat line. Unlike the undead warriors I had fought before, these are more powerful and have clean bodies and good armor on them. ¡°It is not Lord Everhart. Your security is paramount to us, and we could not take any risks,¡± he replied, and I couldn¡¯t help but roll my eyes. ¡°Then we will not decline,¡± said Lancel with a forced smile and stepped into the carriage with High-Mage York, with Robin and me following behind. While Viscount Atre went back to his carriages, where two of his men were. Soon, the carriages begin to move with the undead. The guards from the Mirador Hold crossed the bridge and are going back to the hold, while the guards we have brought from the Greltheaven areing with us. ¡°Navr. It looked a no different from the empire¡¯s hearnd if you forget the undead,¡± said Lancelmented. I followed his gaze and couldn¡¯t help but nod. The greenery and the hills really do remind me of the Empire. Living in a wastnd, makes you sometimes forget what the rest of the world looks like. The carriage moved fast, with a pace that undead are keeping; within two hours, we have crossed the countless hills before the ins came, and what we couldn¡¯t help but shock and horrify us. ¡°My god!¡± gasped Robin in awe, watching therge farnds that seemed endless with the undead working on them. These undead are notmon; most of them are the bone of horrors of special designs. In clear words, they could be described as undead farm equipment. I could see the plows and harrows made of bones connected to a big mishappen humanoid at the front. ¡°I had read about them, but it is my first time seeing them,¡± said Lancel as he looked at it. ¡°These abominations are the reason for the Navr¡¯s wealth. They are used in everything, from farming to mining,¡± ¡°An endless freebor,¡± said High-Mage York. Looking outside the window like the rest of us. For a few minutes, we kept looking, till our eyes were attracted by a tall tower. ¡°Is that life-death transmutation tower?¡± I asked, looking tall ck tower. ¡°Yes, it is,¡± York confirmed. It might shock people, but death energy is useful for nts, but undead carry arge amount of it and that is bad. These towers solve that problem; not only solve it but help to grow the nts fast and healthy. They are very expensive to build, but once done, they bring an immense fortune over the years. Unfortunately, they are useless anywhere, but here. The ce where there is death energy. I heard; life-mages of the crystal race also use them. Though they do it, through excess life energies. As the carriage moved, we saw more and more of such sceneries. The more we saw, the more it awed us. It seemed like the journey of Navr would not be as scary as I thought it to be. I might be able to see some amazing things that I could not see anywhere. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 101: Pulled Chapter 101: Pulled ¡°Navr is blessed with a great soil, that we can grow nearly everything.¡± ¡°Even those we can¡¯t grow naturally. We grow it in our domes,¡± said Necromancer Raihar, pointing toward the energy domes. They are big and in different colors. They are greenhouse domes with an artificial environment inside them to grow nts that could not be grown outside. We are taking a rest in the middle of a vast farnd in a luxurious tent, with food that is even better than Drev''s. It is made of a mix of magical materials and normal cooking ingredients. Drev had asked for permission to cook these fusion dishes. He said he was quite good with some fusion recipes and could do it without burning up anything. I had tly rejected it. I am not ready to take such risks with him. ¡°Navr is an agricultural powerhouse, there is no denying it,¡± said Viscount Atre. He did not like saying those words, but it is true. It is also a truth, that it is a big carrot for us and the rest of the cities of Renwell region. Nearly all our food is imported. Currently, it is the Empire that sent the most food, but merchant cities are rapidly catching up. I don¡¯t think it would take them over six months to export 70% of our food needs. It would be great if we could make deals with Navr. A diverse supply chain is always good. I looked at the beautiful scenery through the window and couldn¡¯t help, but feel jealous. We are a living, but we live in a wastnd, and these bastards, despite being undead, they are controlling one of most fertilend on the continent. ¡°I heard the Talgek region is where the Ts wine is produced. Am I right?¡± asked Lancel, to which Raihar¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Yes. Ts wine is produced in the Talgek region,¡± said Raihar proudly. It is a thing to be proud of. Ts wine is one of the hundred top spirits in the world. It is counted in the top ten in the world. It is a very expensive wine and even a decade-old bottle cost over million crowns. The Undead are one of the best winemakers. They live for hundreds and thousands of years and have time to focus on different things. One of the things they focus on is winemaking. It is not a craft to focus on, but it is also something that brings them great fortune. This is why a fifth of the top hundred winese from undead kingdoms. Navr had three spirits in the top hundred, and thirty-seven in the top one thousand. I had nned to buy some of them. I will try for at least one bottle of one of three spirits on the top hundred; it will be difficult seeing how quickly they sell, but I¡¯ll try. We rested for about an hour before we walked out of the tent. ¡°For a while, I had forgotten there are undead around us,¡± Lancel muttered as we walked toward the carriage. No undead were seen in the tents and in the farnds, they were far enough to be blurrier. As for a Raihan, he is a mage like High-Mage York, specializing in necromancy. Soon we sat in the carriages, and they moved again. It iste afternoon, and we will continue till night, before taking another break. We will need to travel through the night if we want to reach Jalrux City in the morning. Raihan said it wouldn¡¯t be a problem and I really hope so, because no matter how beautiful Navr is. I like to conclude our business here as soon as possible and go back to the Greltheaven, where I feel safe. Hours passed, and soon it was evening. ¡°That should be Melhax city,¡± said High Mage York, looking at a cluster of lights at a distance. This might be an undead kingdom, but it has cities and viges. Like all kingdoms, it needs fresh blood. It might seem unbelievable, but Navr epts a lot of high-level people. Those with death magic affinity will be epted immediately without any questions. It will also ept anyone above Level 25. Especially the farmers and miners who are vital for Navr to continue to increase their fortune. Just a decade ago; a level 40 farmer had migrated to Navr from merchant cities. It had caused quite a stir in merchant cities. A farmer of that level is very important. More important than abat ss powerhouse. At that level, they became capable of performing miracles. The merchant cities had gotten quite angry and made a show-attack, to appease the public, but other than that did not do much. Navr is extremely powerful and one of few kingdoms in continents, whose capital had never been breached since its founding. Not even the Empire and Merchant Cities could boast of it. It is also a cruel kingdom; Its body hunting wars leaves no-one alive. When they are done with it, the viges, cities, and even the entire region do not have a single soul in them. Others could only watch and make a show of retribution; even the archmage of Zenid could not do much against them in their kingdom. Navr is too powerful to do anything to it and also knows its limit. This is why, since its founding, it had never expanded. Its armies would always retreat back into the kingdom after getting what they want. A few more hours passed, and we took ourst break. This time, we stopped by theke, which had a hugeke house. ¡°It is a beautiful ce. I would have loved to spend the night here,¡± said Lancel as he walked to the porch of theke house after dinner and looked at the beautifulke in front of us. It is really beautiful is beautiful scenery, but unfortunately, we couldn¡¯t stay here. Twenty minutester, we sat back in the carriages and our journey resumed. In just a few minutes, Lancel slept; it couldn¡¯t help but surprise me. He had been sleeping through most of the journey and even had slept yesterday on the journey. I did not notice it yesterday, but today is quite clear that Lancel is a travel sleeper. It might be just a habit or maybe it is a skill. I don¡¯t know, but it is a point I noted. I did not sleep; I had slept earlier. So, I opened the book and begin to read it. The book is about Navr, its history, and its customs, among many other things. Most of the knowledge is not new to me; old Remus¡¯s studies involved this, and I had also read a couple of books about it sinceing to this world. Still, I read it as extra knowledge is always helpful. I read for two and a half hours before putting the book in the bag and closing my eyes. In a minute, I fell asleep. It was not a calm sleep, but a nightmare about the undead. ¡°Lord Lancel, wake up,¡± suddenly a sharp voice of Mage York rang out, waking me and Robin, along with Lancel. ¡°What happened?¡± asked Lancel cautiously. ¡°Necromancer had just used a spell.¡± Informed High-Mage York. It made Lancel rmed for a moment before he controlled his emotions. ¡°What kind of spell?¡± he asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of spell it is, but it connected all the undead with a string of invisible death energy, with our carriages as the center,¡± High-Mage York informed. Lancel did not say anything, but I know he was thinking. He thought for a few seconds before turning to me. ¡°What do you think we should do?¡± he asked me. ¡°We should ask the necromancer. He should have told us about it before casting such a spell. It is a courtesy,¡± I replied. We are nomon people or group of merchants, but the diplomats of the empire. Since the necromancer is responsible for our security, he should inform us if he casts any spell such wide spell around us. Lancel turned his head to High-Mage York and Robin, both of them, nodded. ¡°Stop the carriage, but first inform Viscount Atre of what happened,¡± said Lancel. ¡°I think, the Viscount should be aware of it,¡± said High-Mage York, but still closed its eyes for three seconds, before opening them. ¡°Driver, stop the carriage,¡± said High Mage York, and a few secondster, the carriage stopped, and with it stopped the undead. ¡°Is there a problem, Lord Lancel?¡± asked Raihar as he appeared by the window before High-Mage could open the door. ¡°You had cast a spell, Representative Shadowend,¡± said Lancel, using his displeased voice, and he did not surprise by the question. ¡°Yes, that was a beacon spell. It is to let know Rome and surrounding cities of our locations,¡± he replied smoothly with a smile. Lancel looked at the High-Mage, who nodded hesitantly after a second of silence. ¡°I like to be informed. If you cast such a wide spell next time,¡± said Lancel. ¡°Certainly Lord Lancel,¡± said the necromancer without changing the smile on its face. A few secondster, the carriage begin to move again, but nobody slept immediately. We talked for a few minutes before Lancel closed his eyes and slept again. I did the same a few minutester. This time, when I slept. There were no nightmares. ¡­ ¡®Yes, everything is perfect, my lord. I had cast Ikesai¡¯s Layers as you had asked me to,¡¯ said Necromancer Raihar, through message spells. ¡®You will soon enter the influence of the temple. So, keep the spell is active, till you reach the Jalrux,¡¯ said the voice on the other side. The influence of the temple is wide, covering nearly a third of the Talgek, and the Jalrux city is near its center. If he had a choice, he would have circumvented them, but he did not. ¡®As youmand, my lord,¡¯ replied Necromancer Raihar. He thought the message would be cut, but his superior surprised him with another question. ¡®Has there been any problem in with the journey,¡¯ asked the superior. ¡®My lord, everything is perfect. If luck with us, we will be able to reach the city a little earlier than I had estimated,¡¯ informed Necromancer Raihar. ¡®Hmm,¡¯ said the superior, before cutting the spell. Necromancer Raihar looked around while maintaining the spell. Every few minutes, his eyes would drift to carriages, especially those two carriages, where he wants to release his undead. It would be an understatement to say he did not like them. He hates them with every cell of his body. ¡­. Suddenly, I opened my eyes and felt an ufortable feeling all over me. As if something is pulling me hard, but the strange thing is, I am in my ce, without shaking or moving. The feeling is strong, and it is rapidly getting stronger, that it started to be painful. Hun! I could not bear it anymore and opened my mouth to call High-Mage York when suddenly I felt a suppressive aura surrounding me. Viscount¡¯s aura. It is definitely Viscount Atre¡¯s aura, and it seemed to be more powerful than what he had used against Commander Dane. It immediately forced High-Mage York to open his eyes. ¡°What happened?¡± Lancel asked as he opened his eyes and looked at the High-Mage York. Who had expressions of concentration on his face, while the crystal on his staff glowed. ¡°There is something strange going on here,¡± said High-Mage vaguely, without exining much. I did not care as the pull on me had increased further, and I was about to tell that when suddenly, the powerful aura of the Viscount disappeared. At that same time, the pull on me increased even further. ¡°I..¡± I opened my mouth to inform it when suddenly everything in front of me turned ck. It had happened quickly and what made it scary was that I could not feel anything, smell anything. I felt like I had disappeared from the world. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 102: Unholy Temple Chapter 102: Unholy Temple Thud! I crashed against something hard and everything in front of me, be clear. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed in pain as I sat down from a strange position, I fell in and immediately got shocked, seeing where I am. I am in a grand corridor with huge, intricate pirs. It seems to be made for the giants and is a radiating a feeling of oppressiveness, that feels as strong as Viscount Atre¡¯s aura. One moment, I was in the carriage, and the other; I was here. I want to believe that I am under some kind of illusion spell and that High-Mage would soon relieve me of it, but it is not. I could feel in my heart and my bone that it is real. As for how I get pulled into this ce, I don¡¯t have a fucking idea, but it is a world of magic, and stranger things happen. I don¡¯t know where I am, and how I get out of here. On top of that, I do not feel great. I felt like danger is everywhere. Instinctively, my hand went to my waist, but my sword was not present there. I had ced my sword beside my chair. If any trouble came, I would have been able to take it in an instant, but never in all scenarios I had imagined. I would be pulled into a strange ce. Next time, I will remember that. I am unarmed; I don¡¯t even have a knife. The only thing I have that could be called offensive is the charm I have in my pocket. I touched and felt a little reassured before looking around. I don¡¯t have a map of this ce and don¡¯t know what it is, but I couldn¡¯t stay in one ce. So, I turned back and begin to walk through these dim corridors, which seemed to be made for the giants. The size of the corridor and the beauty of it I have never seen before. It awed me and if my father had been here, he would have tried his all to take away these pirs. But I know enough to consider any art connoisseur would sell their souls to have them. I stopped beside one pir and looked at them. The beautiful carving that is done on every pir. They carved the pirs in great detail, each telling a story. The stone pir I am looking at is showing humans, elves, dwarfs, orcs, and even undead among them. It is not just, there are even elder races among them. Giants and Crystal race, among two others, which I could recognize. There is also another one, which I didn¡¯t. All these races seemed to be fighting unitedly against a single enemy, which hase from the sky when it had split open. ¡°Incursion,¡± I said. It is, without doubt, the scene pirs describing is of the incursion. The incursions are the gravest danger to this world. Every time they came, they would wipe out more than half of the poption. The kingdoms are destroyed. The empires turned to dust. Races extinct. If anything, that has the greatest influence on this world, then it is incursions. Thest incursion had been more than two thousand years ago, and people are saying the next incursion would be in this century. They have been saying that thing for the past centuries and it did not happen. I hope it didn¡¯t happen in this century either. I moved to the next pir, and it had scenes of incursions. Some were so painful that it had brought tears to my eyes. I looked around the seven pirs before I stopped. The pirs wouldn¡¯t provide me with any information about this ce. It is better that I increase my pace and get out of here. Hun! Minutes passed when I suddenly stopped. The corridor that had been in optimal condition had copsed. I climbed through the rubble and found the way ispletely blocked. I could go around it through the overgrown to the right, but just looking at gives me shivers all over. I will not go there, unless there is really no choice, and even then, I would think about it hard. Seeing there is no way back, I turned and walked forward. An hour passed, and I was still walking through this corridor. It seems endless with a wall to my right and an overgrown garden to my left. Leaving me no choice, but to continue walking through the corridor. I had walked for another half an hour when something changed. Seeing it, I nearly ran and soon reached the end. ¡°Gasp!¡± A visible gasp came out of my mouth as I stopped in my tracks. In all my life, I have never seen something so beautiful. It is so beautiful that unknowingly tears have started toe out of my eyes. In front of me, or rather a few miles away from me on a tall hill, is a building. The building did not seem like the right word to describe it; it looked more like a temple. Yes, the temple would be the right word to describe it. It is radiating holiness. The temple ispletely white and has a square base, with a long spiral going high in the sky. I looked at it for a minute before taking a step into the open ground. There is arge open ground between the temple on the hill and the building I am. Miles long, that would take me hours to cross. There are also many buildings. Such as the one I hade from. Forming a circle around the temple on the hill, with a gap of miles between them. Hun! The moment I took a step out of the corridor, I stopped, and a great shock appeared on my face. The oppressive aura had be powerful, that I am having a hard problem breathing. Still, it is not a thing that shocked me. It is energying from the temple. It is more suppressive than the oppressive aura. The death energy. It is different from the oppressive aura. It is much softer but more powerful than it is. Far more than I had ever felt; in the Navr or from the undead that attacked the ind. The temple which I was considering holy is unholy. Though since death is a part of the natural order, it is holy; I do not want to get into the debate, which is waging for thousands of years. Before, I wanted to take a look at the temple from close as possible, but now I want to run the other side as fast as possible. I did not, instead; I forced myself to take slow, deep breaths. It was hard, but slowly, as I started to breathe. I still felt like every breath is a challenge and I continued taking slow and long breaths. It took me more than ten minutes before I was able to breathe, without focusing my everything on it. It was when I noticed another shocking thing. I was not able to see it before, but now I got out of the corridor. I could clearly see it. I am underground. They have disguised it very well, but time unravels it all. When I looked clearly, I could see the signs that show me, it is underground. Which opened the can for all sorts of questions. The first one is all the greenery; everything is green here. The ce I am standing had verdant grass and strangely. It is well cut, not like the overgrown garden I had seen through the corridor. There is also the question of oxygen. I have been in the deep underground on the earth, and I know what the air in the underground feels like. Here, everything seemed fresh. It did not make me feel like I am underground at all. It is likely why it took me so long to notice it. Seeing there is no choice, I walked ahead, but this time, I am a lot more cautious. I aim to find the exit of this ce, which wouldn¡¯t have been challenging if I had been above ground. As every architecture follows some rules and if one knows them, it is very simple to find an exit. Here it is, a lot moreplicated. Exit could be anywhere, there might be only one or several. It might be in the building or the temple, where I do not want to go. The unholy temple had an allure, despite knowing it is a source of all death energy. I want to go to it; though, even if I want to, I could not. In these few minutes, I found out, with every step I take, the aura and the death energies are getting stronger. In my current state, I am too weak to bear the death energy and aura that the temple has. Hell, I don¡¯t think I am strong enough to even reach near the hill, much less the temple on top of it. I would need to find an exit in the surrounding building. They are huge, and each one of them looked like they have made for the giants. From what I know, even before Navr was established. This ce had been the majority upied by orcs and humans, with a few tribes of Elves. There was no record of any elder races being here. Maybe this ce is older than records go or maybe it is built with a purpose of grandiose, or maybe I am not in Navr. It is quite frustrating when you didn¡¯t know anything. I do not have any single idea about this damn ce, not even a hint. It is making me frustrated and angry, with nothing to go on. Hun! I had just thought about that when I noticed something. A man came out from behind the trees. ¡®It is not a man!¡¯ I realized a few secondster, seeing the way it was running toward me. it is undead and it ising off me. My first instinct was to run away, but I even took a step to do that when I stopped myself. Running would get me killed faster. Even at a distance, it is running faster than I could, and with it being undead in such dense death energy. It will catch up with me and at that time, I will be tired, and ready to die. Though staying did not seem like an appealing choice either. I am unarmed, but it is still better than running. Unless of course. I want to enter that overgrown garden. I waited for the undead while thinking about how I was going to deal with it. Nearly all my skills require a weapon, and I did not even have a stick. I have searched for it and while there were several; they were useless. Still, I do not have any choice. If I want to survive, then I will have to be finished, this undead. Soon, it came closer to me, and I couldn¡¯t help but became surprised. It is a man with a pale undead face, but the face looked a lot more vibrant than any undead I had ever seen. Even with paleness, I wouldn¡¯t have considered it undead. If not for its gait and dead eyes. The thing that shocked me is its clothes. It is wearing a business suit, which is new. There are some wrinkles and dirt on it, but I could tell it is still in excellent condition. It couldn¡¯t help but turn my expressions bad, because this is no old undead, but one that is recently made. One which had fairly new clothes and a dress sword in hand. If I am not wrong, then this person is also like me. He is pulled into this ce and died in some way, likely due to the aura and death energy, before turning undead. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 103: Fighting Undead Chapter 103: Fighting Undead The undead zombie is only twenty meters away from me. Seeing that, I took a deep breath and adjusted my position. I do not have a weapon, but I could fight unarmed. Instructor David had made sure of that, but most of his training was aimed at fighting unarmed against the humans and orcs, but the undead are a different thing. Unlike humans and orcs, they do not feel pain and their bodies do not have the same limitations as we do. Though not everything is bad. I will be fighting a dumb undead, which is the biggest advantage I have against it. My first purpose would take that sword from its hands. I need it. It is the only way I could kill it. My hands and feet are not enough to decapitate or crush its skull. Gaaaa! It appeared in front of me and attacked with its sword while making a strange noise from its salivating mouth. The attack is fast; faster than I had thought it would be. Thankfully, it only possesses the raw power and speed; there is no technique or skill involved in it. I immediately dodged the attack using Quick Steps, but it was barely by an inch; it was too close for myfort. The tiniest injury could spell doom here. The death energy slows down the healing and gives a way for death energy to seep inside the body. As I dodged the attack, the undead attacked again, with a strange noiseing from its mouth. This time, I was more prepared and able to dodge, with a healthy distance, but it hade at me again, and again. I did not immediately go for the sword. I wanted to get used to its power and know how to it fight. In just a few seconds, Ie to know that the undead, or the person he was before, had barely any knowledge of fighting. As the instinct remains, even when they turn undead, it is why the death practitioners love warriors so much. They would take warriors of lower attributes than normal people three times the number. As even after turning undead, the warrior fights with instincts that are imprinted in every muscle through years of practice. It did not surprise me. The man¡¯s physique, his clothes, and especially that sword. All are an indication that he was a wealthy person; that sword is just for the show. It is a dress sword for christ¡¯s sake. The zombie kept attacking me, and I dodged all its attacks with my skill. The undead are utterly unskillful, but it is powerful. It might be due to the man''s high attribute before turning undead, the dense death energy of this ce, or maybe both. A few minutes passed, and the undead kept attacking me without stopping even for a moment. Its relentless attacks had given me an estimation of its strength and speed. ¡®It is time,¡¯ I thought and moved with Quick Steps. I only needed a take three steps before I appeared in position, before throwing a punch at it with all my strength. Bam! My punch hit its fist, right at the base of the knuckle. It hit hard, but also gave me the sharp pain that I was barely able to stop myself from crying out loud. I would have made the sound. If not for seeing the sword flying out of its hand. It couldn¡¯t help but surprise me. I had not thought it would be this easy to take the sword from the zombie. Zombies¡¯ grips are unnaturally tight; unless you decapitate them, it is very hard to get something from their hands. Maybe it is because it is a new zombie, and its nerves are still yet to be fully zombified, or it is just luck. I don¡¯t care, as I quickly took steps back with Quick Steps to avoid another attack from the zombie, before moving toward the sword. I reached for the sword and picked it up; I did not have to bend much, as it was buried vertically. This is a dress sword, a type of short sword. It has a steel grey de and a red handle. It is shorter than my rapier, but its de has about the same wideness. Most importantly, it is an enchanted sword, just like my rapier. Though, it only has one enchantment, while my rapier has two. I wouldn¡¯t have minded if it did not even have an enchantment; as even a simple sword would have made me more than happy. Gaaaa! I just picked it up when the undead reached me and attacked with its hands. I dodged its attack, before appearing at its left with Quick Steps. The moment I did, I attacked. The runes on the de begin to light up as it moved toward the zombie, and I was d. This man had kept the enchantments in perfect condition. Pachac! My sword reached the neck, and the enchantment of sharpness cut through the neck like butter. A secondter, its neck waspletely cut clean, with the head falling and foul blood leaking out of its neck. It is more than normal zombies should have. This is yet another proof that it is a new undead. Thud! The body and the head fell one after another, while I watched. It had taken me a few seconds to calm down, and I moved toward the zombie. Since he had enchanted a sword, he must be a rich man, and I want to see what else he would have. I am not above stealing things from the undead. Soon, I used the sword to cut through its clothes and used my feet to flip over before cutting the rest. The only thing he had was a wallet. Inside it is a checkbook which is useless to me and twenty-one thousand imperials in Navr currency. Which I dly took and put in my bag before resuming my journey. The undead had given me a lot; the sword alone cost over twenty thousand imperials. I had defeated the undead zombie, but it was not a big thing. The undead are never powerful individually. Release a horde of the weakest zombies and even the strongest enemy will fall to their knees. Since I had encountered one zombie, there might be another. I might even find people who might not have turned undead. I really hope. I want to meet someone who has a freaking idea what this ce is here and where its exit lies. Hun! I was walking in the direction where the zombie hade from when suddenly I stopped before turning toward the temple. The oppressive aura had disappeared, but a secondter, it had appeared again. Now, it is stronger than before. ¡®What is happening?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help but ask myself. I shook my head and push those thoughts. I do not have any idea of what is happening and if I kept thinking about it, I will give myself a headache. It is better I focus on things I could do, like finding the exit. Soon, I reached the ce where the zombie hade from; it is a little different from the verdant grass I had walking till now. The grass here is overgrown and there are also trees. The grass is one thing, but the trees arepletely different in a ce where death energy is so thick. This ce is different from the overgrown gardens I am seeing between the buildings. Just looking at them sent chills down my body. Here, I did not get that feeling, but travel here will not be a cakewalk. With the trees all around; I will not be able to see the zombies before they reach really close to me. I want to return to the verdant grass, but there is no choice; I had to keep moving to find the exit. Find the people who might know how to get away from this ce. I did not immediately move ahead. Instead, I took out a water bottle and took a measured sip before cing it back in the bag. There are many things in my bag, including water and food that willst for four days. I am d, I listened to Stone and others and packed these things or I would have one more thing to worry about. If I am careful, I can make itst longer and that is what I am trying to do. I don¡¯t know how long it will take me to get out of here. I need to be careful with my ration and, if possible, find something to eat here. Till now, I did not do anything edible, but there are chances. I will find something in these trees. With that thought, I resumed my journey with more caution than before. Minutes passed as I walked through the grass as tall as my waist and the trees around me. Not a single one of them has a single fruit on them. Though I have spotted a couple of mushrooms, I am not going to touch them. Even an idiot knows you shouldn¡¯t touch the mushroom unless you are very sure it is safe. Hun! A few more minutes passed when suddenly I stopped and be alert. I heard the faint sounds; I concentrated and could hear them clearly and they are getting louder by the second. In just a few seconds, I saw the first zombie, and it is not the only one. Four more came behind it. ¡°Fuck!¡± There are five of them, but it is not what made me curse; what made me curse is two people wearing armor and one of them is not even aplete human. A half-orc zombie. Like the human zombie beside him. He is also wearing standard armor, with the emblem of Hafran City. It is a city west of Jalrux. I had memorized emblems of all cities of Talgek region of Navr. It was one of the easiest ones to memories. It is a staff burning in ck mes above the mountain of skulls. Hafran is the only city that uses skulls as its emblem. Other cities, including Jalrux, had much more civilized emblems. Aside from the two guards, there are three human zombies. One is as young as me, wearing tattered clothes, which did not look old. He also has iles bag, but it did not seem like it belonged to him. His clothes, even when torn, are normal, and so are the shoes he is wearing. He does not look like a person who could have a bag worth of million imperials. I might be wrong, but that seemed unlikely. Thest two were a middle-aged man and the old man. Both had their clothes torn like the young man and had injuries all over their body. They also been attacked first, before turning undead. The same could happen to me. If I am not careful. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 104: Friendly Chapter 104: Friendly They areing at me, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel fear. Still, I did not retreat and instead moved toward them. Running away will not help, nor will be staying in one ce and waiting for them. I will need to act proactively. I moved toward the zombies; my main target is half-orc and human zombies wearing armor, but if I get a chance. I will finish the other three too. Gaaaaa Gaaaa¡­ They made a strange noise as I reached them and attacked me. The attack of human and half-orc soldier zombies was the most skilled and powerful, while the other three were weak. I used the Quick Steps and dodge their attack by moving left, before attacking the old human zombie. Pachac! I cut its neck in a single strike and would have attacked the young zombie behind me. If I had the rapier, its reach is longer than this short sword. Pachac! So, I dodged another attack from behind before appearing to the left of a young human zombie and decapitating it. I did not use my offensive skills, just the power of an enchanted sword and my physical attributes. These zombies are strong, but not strong enough to force me to use my skills. A lot of change had urred since I faced the undead on the ind. My physical stats have increased and so is my skills and levels. Not to mention training; I am more skilled now than I had been on the ind. Once again, I dodged the attack of the two soldier zombies before moving right and appearing in front of a middle-aged zombie and attacking it. Pachac! Its head flew up as I decapitated it, leaving only two soldier zombies. Killing the three was not much of a challenge; I could have easily killed them on an ind. These two will give some challenges. They might be dumb, but they are powerful and have instincts of their former lives. They came at me; the zombie half-orc attacked me with its long sword, while the human zombie with a saber. ng! I dodged the long sword and shed against the saber. I felt the shock with my small sword, but I bore it and moved left, before taking steps forward and attacking the soldier zombies with Weighted Strike. Pachack! I decapitated it and immediately bend down to dodge the attack from the half-orc zombie. I wanted to attack immediately, but seeing the attacking. I moved my sword in defense; I could have dodged the attack, but I want to see its power. As it will not be the half-orc zombie I will face. It is better that I know their capabilities. ng! The attack shed, and I felt shocked. It was heavy and painful, but as not as much as I had expected. The physical shocks I received during practice with Instructor David are far worse than this. As it finished with the attack; it attacked again, but this time, I dodged and took a step forward, before attacking. Pachac! I decapitated it, before taking a step back with Quick Steps to avoid the foul blood falling on me. These two soldiers were powerful and if they hadn¡¯t been dumb zombies, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill them so quickly. They were zombie warrior material. Thankfully, it is the death energy that turned them, not the death spells, or they would have been the zombie warriors with the necromancer¡¯s spells. I took a deep breath before moving toward the zombies. The young zombie specifically, and used my sword to pry off the iles bag from him. I wanted it the moment I saw it and now I have it. A bag worth of hundred million crowns. I tear open his clothes and found nothing there. I was even able to inspect his clothes more closely, which are worn out, but in good condition. He is a middle-ss person; there is no way he could afford this bag. The other two beside him are the same, with the old man being rtively well off. I took everything I could from them before turning to the two soldiers. I tear open their clothes and took their weapons and armor. The light armor on the half-orc zombie''s body could not fit me, but the human zombies looked about my size. I cleaned it with the clothes and water I have and even used perfume on it before I wore it. Like their weapons, the armor is also amon one, with no enchantment. Common soldiers could not afford enchanted gear, even if they work their whole life. The armor might bemon, but it is still better than nothing. I wore the light armor on my body with some difficulty and was thankful that it fit about perfectly. After I was done with armor, I changed my shoes with the soldier. Mine are dress shoes. They are not suitable for battle, while the shoes from the zombie are not the best forfort. They will help me in battle. With that done, I looked around, before I started to bring out things from the iles bag I had found on the young man. The first few things I took out were books, to be specifically recorded. They belong to a business in Jalrux City. Then it was a set of clothes, snacks, and a few misceneous things. The only valuable thing I found is a purse, which had four hundred imperials in Navr¡¯s currency. I pocketed the money before taking a closer look at the books. ¡°An ountant,¡± I said as I closed down thest book. It belongs to the ountant of the big merchant house in Jalrux, the city. Their business is big and looking at those numbers, my eyes couldn¡¯t shine. With the huge money, it is not a big thing for them to provide iles bags to the important staff. Every business house does it, including the House of Silver. It is why I did not throw away the books. They would be quite valuable to me survived, seeing it is the kind of business I had nned to visit aftering here. Aside from books, food, and a few clothes, that I might use them as a bandage. I threw away everything and added things like half-orcs armor, its shoes, and the saber of a soldier zombie. I would have loved to take the half-orc zombie''s sword. If it had been enchanted, I would have chosen it over the dress sword I am. It is a short sword, and I prefer a long sword, or at least a sword, which is as long as my rapier. The weapons with longer des are better at dealing with zombies. After checking everything, I resumed my journey and now I am a lot more careful. I have seen those people; know how they have turned. A few minutester, I stopped by a small tree with berries on it. The tree is a magical tree. The death energy around it is twice as dense as in other ces. I looked at it for a few seconds, before starting to pluck the red berries with my glow. I don¡¯t know what kind of berries they are, but I know something that uses death energy to grow is precious. The entire tree is filled with it, and I plucked it all, without leaving a single one, and stored it in the bag. After plucking the berries, I resumed the journey. For the next half an hour, I did not find anything. No exit, no zombies, no magical trees, or any human or person of other race. It started to frustrate me; finding the exit on my own will be difficult with the time I have. I am already feeling tired, and in a few hours, I would be forced to rest. This ce is difficult. Every second, I am bearing the aura and death energy. The aura is strong enough to make those weak will fall to their knees and even unconscious and after that; it is a slippery slope to death. I stopped for a second and drank another measured sip of water before resuming my journey to find the exit. Hun! Another twenty minutes passed when I suddenly stopped. As I saw a group of four zombies, and they also seemed to have noticed me as they turned to me. I was watching the group of four when my eyes widened when I saw a few more zombiesing from the group of trees, taking their numbers to eleven. I wanted to run away, but it was useless; in a ce like these zombies have known better than a hound. They can sense life''s energies and once they do that, they will chase you till you are dead, or you killed them. I moved slowly toward them and soon; they havee closer enough that I could see more than their silhouettes in this twilight. Of the eleven, seven had the weapons. Two had sticks, while four were guards and have the swords in their hands. Thest one was an orc zombie holding an ax. The rest are unarmed. Soon, there were only five meters of distance between us. With two zombies holding sticks, at the front while nine few meters behind them. I am a little relieved seeing that. If they hade at me together, I would have run away and separated them, before attacking. I am not an idiot to go against eleven zombies at once. Those two only had about six meters of distance from the rest of the group. Which is not much, but it was enough for me. A few seconds passed, and I let theme closer, and there were only three meters of distance between us. I moved toward them, pushing Quick Steps. Speed will be key here; I need to be fast as possible. Thankfully, I have worked hard on my Quick Steps for such scenarios, and with Sure Foot, I will always be in bnce. Gaa I moved fast and less than a secondter, appeared in front of the two zombies. They reacted immediately, swinging their sticks. They are fast, but I am faster. I moved left to dodge the sticks and attacked with Consecutive Strikes. Pachack The tall zombie decapitated before it knew what happened. I did not stop and instead used the momentum of the attacked and turned, beforeunching another attack at the short zombie. Pachack! I decapitated it before moving right to avoid the stick from the headless zombie. I had just dodged that, when I found myself in front of the nine zombies. I prepared to retreat when I saw the opportunity and moved forward in a zigzag way. I am moving so fast that I begin to test limits of my skills. Even during the training, I had not pushed myself through this hard as I am doing right now. Feeling theck of flexibility and fluidity in movements on the ind, I have trained hard with instructor David. Now, I am reaping the reward of that training. Gasss Gaaa Gaaaa¡­ The zombies screamed in their strange noises as I moved around them, dodging their attacks, before finally swinging my sword. Pachac! Ting Rip! I decapitated the zombie with the sword but did note out unarmed. One of their attacks hit on my pauldron, while the other shed my back. While I was able to avoid most of it, it still gave me a bloody wound. I bore the pain and used the opportunity it had provided me by swinging my sword hard at the zombies. Pachac Pachac! I decapitated the zombie before dodging the attack of the Orc zombie. Immediately after, I attacked again and decapitated another zombie. In just two seconds, I had killed five zombies, but the battle was far from over. There, six more zombies have remained to kill, three armed and three unarmed. Gaaa Gaaa Gaaa The zombies came at me, and I moved around, dodging their attacks. Looking for the chance, which came in a few seconds. I moved forward when the orc appeared in front of me. It is strong, I will give you that, but it is still something I could manage. Slice! It attacked me, and I dodged as crouched down, before attacking its leg, slicing the whole thing off. As I did, I moved left before standing up, avoiding most of the foul blood, before dodging the attack by the two zombies. Pachac! I decapitated the unarmed zombie and dodged the attack of two armed zombies by taking rapid steps back. With one more dead, five zombies have remained for me to deal with, four to exact. Seeing, I had sliced the leg off Orc and how it is falling; it won''t be much of a danger for me, as long I stay away. I will deal with it after I finished with these four. For a few seconds, I only dodged the attack, taking zombies away from the Orc, who is crawling toward me. It surprised me, but I pushed it aside and moved forward. Pachac! ng! I dodged the attack of the armed zombie and decapitated the unarmed one. The other arm zombie was able to hit me directly on the chest, knocking the air out of me, but doing nothing else, due to my armor. Pachac! I had expected it and thus let it attack and it give me another chance to decapitate another unarmed zombie. as I clear my breath. ¡°Now, only you two have remained,¡± I said to them and dodged their attack before taking a step forward andunching mine. Pachac! I decapitated it and dodged another attack from thest armed zombie and was about to kill it when I suddenly stopped in surprise and retreated. Pach! A momentter, a small energy arc decapitated it, and I watched with eyes wide before turning toward the direction of the energy arc and saw the silhouette of the four people a few hundred meters away from me. Pachac! I only looked at them for a second, before moving with Quick Step and appeared beside the crawling orc and decapitating it. Only then, I heaved a sigh of relief and looked at the group cautiously. They could be friendly, but they could also not be; I need to be ready for both scenarios. I held my sword tighter with one hand, while the other went to my pocket for the charm. A few seconds passed, and the silhouettes had finally cleared, and I was able to see their faces. Immediately, a smile appeared on my face. There are four people, of which three are familiar to me, with one being my guard. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 105: Friendly II Chapter 105: Friendly II Z is in the group. She is the one who had cast the spells, as the others did not seem like mages. I know for a fact that two people beside her are not. Of the four peopleing toward me, one is Z. The aquamancer of the stone mercenaries I had hired for my protection. Beside her is a woman, just as tall as her with blond hair, she is Captain Azalea; one of three captains who came with us. The third person is a short middle-aged man, holding an enchanted long sword is joseph. He is one of the guards, a member of our security. The fourth person is unfamiliar to me. He seemed to be in his early thirties, with golden brown hair, and a handsome face. He is wearing a ssic ck business suit, which had been torn in many ces. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± greeted Z, as she and the group appeared in front of me. Looking at all the dead zombies. ¡°Z, Captain Azalea, Joseph. I couldn¡¯t tell you how relieved I am to finally see people who can talk,¡± I said and immediately, smiles appeared on their tense faces. ¡°It is Mister Silver,¡± Z replied. I smiled before my expression turned hopeful. ¡°Do you know how to get out of here?¡± I asked directly and got the answer, I was fearing to hear the most. ¡°No,¡± she answered, crushing all my hopes. ¡°It seemed like we will need to keep searching for it,¡± I said and sighed. I am not the only one disappointed. They are feeling the same; like me, they also thought I might know something about getting out of this ce. ¡°I am going to see if they have something useful that will help us survive here longer,¡± I added, and turned to the zombies. I am not going to say I am looting the zombies. I am already taking risks by doing this in front of them. If the word spread, my enemies could turn it into something repulsive to tarnish my reputation. Well, I am too worried about my survival to care about my reputation. If I survive, dealing with such things won¡¯t be a problem. I tear open the clothes and search for anything important, but I did not find anything interesting than a few coins. There is not even a simple enchanted weapon, much less an iles bag. I shook my head in disappointment and turned to an unfamiliar person. ¡°Sir, it would be wise to change your armor. The one you are wearing seemed ill-fitting,¡± I said to him. He is holding a sword awkwardly and his face looked like it is about to vomit as he looked at all the zombies. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said and walked toward the zombies. I had already separated armors from the bodies; he just needs to try it out. ¡°Do we even know whether we are still in Navr?¡± I asked, no one in particr. ¡°Yes. We are in the ce called Haea Temple; it is a deep underground of Talgek region,¡± replied the unfamiliar man as he removed his armor. I turned to him and arched his brow. ¡°My house had been doing business with Navr for generations. We know a few things,¡± he said sheepishly. ¡°Know anything about the exit?¡± I asked, despite knowing it was futile. ¡°No. Navr, keep a very tight lid on the information rted to the temple,¡± ¡°Till now, I have been thinking it as a myth, like many other things about Navr,¡± he said in disappointment. I had expected the answer before it couldn¡¯t help, but make me sad. A few minutester, and one bout of vomiting. He found the armor that fit him perfectly. I could see, despite standing awkwardly, some confidence had appeared in his eyes after wearing the armor. ¡°So, where should we go?¡± I asked, and some hesitation appeared on their faces. ¡°We were moving north before we heard the sound of your fight,¡± said Z. ¡°North it is then,¡± I said, and we begin to walk toward the north. Leaving the bodies of zombies in our wake. A few minutes passed, and nobody talked about anything. There is nothing to talk about. Everyone looked everywhere, searching for the signs of exit, but did not find any. ¡°Z, did you mind changing the weapon with me? The range of this sword is a little short for me,¡± I asked. I had noticed a saber at Z¡¯s waist. She had found the enchanted weapon. She is not the only one who has it. Captain Azalea had three, while Joseph has one, but theirs were from the city. Count Darrow wouldn¡¯tpromise his son¡¯s security. All the guards who hade with us had enchanted weapons; three captains had full gear. ¡°It¡¯s no problem. I prefer short swords,¡± she said with a small smile. I handed her the dress sword and took the saber from her. It is atanas saber, which looked like a ssic europan saber with a curved de. It is slightly longer than the rapier, which is not a problem for me, even an advantage here. With its long-curved de, I would be able to hack the zombies far more efficiently. The saber is simple but beautiful with a steel-blue de and ck handle. It is also wickedly sharp and has a sharpness of enchantment, like the dress sword. It will not have any problem in cutting through the zombies like butter. I just thought of zombies when the two appeared. To my surprise, the people around me did not stop or even looked unfazed. Even an unfamiliar man only had a slight change in his expression. The zombies came toward us, and when they were just a hundred meters away, Joseph moved. Pachac Pachac! A couple of secondster, a wet cutting sound rang out as Joseph decapitated the zombies in a single move. He also tore their clothes and take the money from one of the zombies who had the wallet. ¡°I am Remus Silver, by the way,¡± I introduced myself to the unfamiliar man. He seemed a little surprised, both by my introduction and name. ¡°From House of Silver?¡± he asked with his eyes bing serious. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. ¡°Nice to meet you. I am Ethan Ashav,¡± he introduced, and a smile appeared on my face hearing hisst name. ¡°From Oksall right?¡± I asked, to which he nodded. I had already recognized him; his iles bag and ring on his finger had an emblem of his house. House of Ashav is a mercantile house in Oksall City. Powerful, more than even a house of silver. They trade in magical goods, mostly in raw magical materials. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, Mister Ashav. Where you were when you got pulled?¡± I asked. ¡°Ethan, please. I was just a few miles away from Jalrux city,¡± he replied. ¡°Has something like this happened before?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He said with a shake of his head. An hour passed, and we made a small talk. Most of the things were rted to business, anything to keep our mind upied from the ce, we are in. ¡°Can you hear it?¡± said Captain Azalea as she stopped suddenly. I concentrated, but a few secondster shook my head, and so had Ethan and Joseph. Only Z seemed to have heard something as turned her head left. ¡°Something is happening there,¡± said Z, pointing left. Ethan shuddered at seeing the ce where Z was pointing. ¡°Untamed garden. These ces make all the hair on my body stand up,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. The overgrown gardens are dangerous. I havee across a few of them, sandwiched between the building and every one of them had scared the hell out of me. There is something dangerous there; something that will swallow me alive, if I dare to enter inside. ¡°We will not enter, but we will go closer and take a look at what is happening,¡± said Z. ¡°Fine,¡± I said with a sigh, while Ethan nodded reluctantly. A secondter, we are moving toward the overgrown garden. A few minutester, we reached close enough that I could hear what they were hearing. ¡°Someone is fighting inside,¡± said Ethan with horror in his voice, and I could understand his emotions. The overgrown garden is extremely dangerous. One look at it is enough to raise all the hair on my body. Now, at least one person is fighting inside it; one would need to be very powerful to do it. A few minutes passed when suddenly, the sounds of shing got intense and also louder as if ising toward us. ¡°Be careful!¡± Z warned. Immediately, I moved my sword forward and adjusted my position, ready to face whatever hade out of it. Though I know my attempt is futile; whatever it is or who is will be very powerful, and I wouldn¡¯t be able tost in front of them, even for a moment. Rustle Rustle! Seconds passed, when suddenly sounds of metal stopped, and for seconds, there was an only silence before the sound of the rustling of trees rang out. ¡°They areing!¡± shouted Z and her staff lit up, while Captain Azalea took a step forward, as the two bloodied figures came out. Thud! The one simply copsed after few steps, while the other stopped tiredly. They are bloodied from head to toe. There is barely any part of them that is not covered in blood. Seeing their state; a horror bloomed in my heart. ¡°Jon!¡± shouted Z suddenly, and moved toward bloodied people, while my eyes widened in recognition. It is Jon, my guard. Immediately, I also recognized the person standing beside him. It is none other than Viscount Atre. Z reached them and the crystal on the staff lit up; she is clearly in the process of casting the spell. I hope the spell is good, because, looking at their state, they very much need it. ¡°Stop!¡± said Viscount suddenly, to Z. A frown appeared on her face, and she was about to say something when Viscount took out a scroll from his bag and, without saying anything, he unfurled it. Immediately, a holy white light came out of the scroll and formed a holy circle on the ground, covering them both. ¡°Divine spell,¡± said Ethan beside me in shock. I am also shocked. It is very hard to store the divine spells in the scroll. This one seemed especially powerful, seeing the speed with which it was healing their injuries. It shouldn¡¯t be surprising that a person like Count Atre has it. He is a powerful man, the one trusted by the prince. Such people have these nice things. I wish I became powerful enough to have them, too. The divine spells are lifesavers, hundreds of times better than the healing potions. ¡°Be careful, everyone. There is nothing like a holy aura that attracts the undead,¡± warned Z, while looking at Viscount Atre and Jim, both of themying on the grass, likely sleeping. The injuries on them were too heavy. I would have been surprised if they hadn¡¯t slept. A few minutes passed and the power of the holy spell, lessen. In a minute or two, it will disappear. It had done an amazing job already. All the wounds have vanished, leaving only faint marks, they would also disappear before the spell ends. There might be some hidden injuries, but they will be in fighting conditions when they woke up. A few more minutes passed, and the spell disappeared, but the two of them were still sleeping. It will take them a while to get up, till then. We will need to protect them. ¡°Phew, for a while I thought we would be swarmed by zombies,¡± said Elrod wiping the sweat down his face with a relieved smile, but the next second, the smile on his face froze when he saw everybody looking at him. We only looked at him for a moment before looking ahead, watching everything cautiously. We will remain cautious every moment we are here. Especially now, when two people are lying defenseless. One of them is very powerful and could be a key to get out of this ruin. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 106: Incursion Dungeon Chapter 106: Incursion Dungeon ¡°We will move as we had nned,¡± said Captain Azalea, looking at the group of forty-three zombies. I had been thinking about why the Zombies hadn¡¯te despite the powerful holy energy. They had sensed it, and they wereing; they were dyed because they were gathering. It is strange behavior by the zombies. As they did not gather, they came directlye. It confused not only but also Z, who had the biggest experience in fighting the undead. We nodded and moved toward the zombies; Captain Azalea is in the middle, while Joseph and I are on her left and right. Z and Ethan are staying in their ces; Z staying to protect Jon and Viscount Atre. It is Z who will protect, while Ethan is staying with her. He had little experience in fighting; he had told me he had taken a few lessons when he was young but had no interest. So, stopped after a few weeks. It is not surprising. The scions of powerful merchant houses taught skills rted to business. Things that will help them get a good mercantile ss and make them a good merchant. Even my father was opposed to me learning to fight, but he respected my choices. Merchants do not need to fight; they just need to earn enough money. The mercenaries they hire from earned money will protect them. Gaaa Gaa Gaaa Soon, there were only ten meters of distance between the zombies and us. Over forty zombies against only three of us; will be challenging, especially for me, who is the weakest in the group. Both Captain Azalia and Joseph are Level 20+. If I wished, I could have stayed back and nobody would have said anything, and I very much wanted to do that, but I did not. I will not be a coward when I have the skill to fight. Hun! Suddenly, I felt cool, and a momentter, a water-blue skin enveloped me; not just me, but also Joseph and Captain Azalea. I am a little relieved with the defensiveyer around me; defeating these zombies wouldn¡¯t be easy. Not because they are powerful, but because they are a group, and we are only three people dealing with them. Z had said, she will only use a spell, if she felt the need for it. Mana''s recovery is very slow here, due to all this death energy. There are potions, but she is avoiding drinking them. A time mighte, when she needs to drink many man potions; for that, she is avoiding drinking now. To not suffer, mana burnter. ¡°Don¡¯t break the formation,¡± said Captain Azalea as we reached the zombies and they moved to attack us. The strange loud noisesing from their mouth feels very irritating. If I had been a rookie, I had surely been distracted by them. I dodge the two attacks, before three steps left with the Quick Steps andunched the attack with the Consecutive Strikes. Pachac Pachck! My saber moved like the wind, cutting the neck of the zombie silent whisper; without breaking the rhythm, I moved back my sword and cut the neck of another zombie, before dodging attacks by moving around with the Quick Steps at a very fast speed. Ting! An attack hit me on the chest te, but I bore it while biting down the shock, before attacking again. Pachac Pachac Pachac I decapitated another zombie before dodging multiple attacks and killing another zombie, and then another. sh! I had just finished killing the fifth before the saber of an armored zombie cut me on the shoulder. I was a little slow at dodging the attack. I did not let it affect me and instead, attacked the zombie and decapitated it. Pachac! The wateryter did not stop the attacks. It slows them down, taking nearly all their power. The zombie attack on my shoulder that would cut through my bone had only given me the flesh wound. It is hurting like hell, but I did not focus on it, instead focused on killing the zombies. We are doing extremely well; it had been only a few seconds before we wiped out more than half of them. Captain Azalea is very good; that sword of hers is like a reaper, cutting zombies, like the knife cut from the cucumber. She is also very skilled, her every strike is simple and efficient, without any ir. Hun! I was dodging when I saw Joseph moving a little away from the formation to kill a zombie. A zombie with an enchanted weapon. Creating a gap on the right of Captain Azalea for zombies to swoop in. ¡®Idiot!¡¯ I cursed him. The enchanted weapon is important, but maintaining the formation is more important. It had put the life of Captain Azalea in danger, and she was angry, but she did not let her anger cloud her judgment. Her sword blurred and killed the three zombiesing from the right before dodging the attacking from the front. I only watched for a fraction of a second before focusing on the surrounding zombies. I killed zombie after zombie before only one had left in front of me. An orc-zombie. Gaaa! It screamed as it attacked, which I had dodged with the Quick Steps before appearing in front of it and attacking. Pachac! The saber cut through its neck the foul blood sprinkled, but I did not move. The wateryyer is protecting me. The drops fell on the wateryyer before sliding down to the ground. I took a deep breath and looked around and saw every undead lying on the ground. We did it; we have killed all undead. If I had been alone, it would have been a great challenge for me. I would have needed to move around, separating the Grimms into small groups, before fighting them. Going against a group of forty would have been a death sentence. ¡°Joseph, you have disappointed me. You had not only put my life in danger but also of the adviser Silver¡¯s,¡± ¡°When I will submit the report, there will be mention of this willful endangerment,¡± said the captain azalea, and walked toward the dead zombies. ¡°Captain,¡± he said pitifully and looked at me, but he saw no help from my eyes and walked toward the captain. While I brought out the healing potion and took a sip. As for zombies, I have no interest in them. There was only a zombie that had something precious and that had been killed by Joseph. So, there is no need for me to loot the zombies for small change. The coolness of the potion spread to my body, before focusing on the wound on my shoulder. I stayed in my ce for a minute before walking toward Z. ¡°Mister Silver. You should take a rest. We might not get a chance after these two wake up,¡± said Z as I reached her. ¡°What about you?¡± I asked. She seemed a little surprised by that, but shook her head. ¡°I will take a rest in a shift with Captain Azalia after she returns,¡± she replied. ¡°Ok,¡± I said and sat down, but instead of immediately closing my eyes. I took out water and some food. I ced it beside me before Iy down and closed my eyes. A couple of secondster, I fell asleep; it was a sound sleep without any nightmares or bad dreams. ¡°Mister Silver, wake up!¡± said a familiar voice. Immediately I opened my eyes before sitting up. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted and quickly get up, as I saw Viscount Atre sitting on the grass. ¡°Young silver,¡± he said, before turning to rest. Everybody is present, and nobody is missing. It made me relieved; I feared something might have happened when I was sleeping. Thankfully, nothing happened. ¡°Since everyone had woken up; let¡¯s talk about the ce we are in,¡± he said as he looked around before his eyes focused on the temple. I saw a fear sh in his eyes for a moment before it had disappeared. ¡°Do you all know the ce we are in?¡± he asked. ¡°Haea Temple,¡± answered Ethan, to which he nodded. ¡°Anything else?¡± he asked, and everybody shook his head. ¡°As young Ashav had said, we are in the ce called haec temple, deep underground in the Talgek region of Navr,¡± he said, and his ck expression became serious; very serious. ¡°It is made by draugr race,¡± he added and immediately my eyes widened in shock, while I shook from head to toe. The intense reaction was immediately caught by the others. ¡°These buildings you can see around are part of a seal that suppresses the power of the temple.¡± He exined, and the light in some people¡¯s eyes lit up in understanding, before the fear appeared. Everybody understood what he was talking about except for Joseph. They might not know what Draugr is, but they understood anything that requires sealing of such scale could only be rted to those events. Incursions. ¡°Incursion dungeon,¡± said Ethan shakingly. ¡°Yes, young thorn, we are in an incursion temple and the sooner we get out of it; the better it would be for us.¡± ¡°It had already marked us and if we don¡¯t want to turn to the undead, we need to get out of here,¡± he said to us, who are now scared shitless. ¡°We have been trying that for hours, my lord, but exit is difficult to find,¡± I said, to which he smiled. ¡°You do not need to worry about it, young silver,¡± he said, and a secondter, he took out a parchment from his bag. ¡°Necromancer had handed me this a moment before I got pulled here,¡± he said as he opened the parchment, which had a clear map. I could see the temple at the center, with seals surrounding it from all sides. ¡°Can we trust the map given by the necromancer?¡± asked Captain Azalia, to which the Viscount smiled. ¡°Do we have any other choice, captain? From what you have told me, I don¡¯t think we will find an exit if keep searching for it blindly,¡± he said. ¡°Apologies, my lord,¡± she apologized while bowing faintly. To that, he sighed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize for asking valid questions, captain. Yes, we cannot trust the necromancer, but it is in his best interest that we came out of here alive,¡± ¡°It wouldn¡¯t look good on Navr if we died here,¡± he said. What he meant to say was ¡®he¡¯ died here. Viscount Atre is a noble, an emissary from the emperor. He mighte for the business of the fourth prince, but he is an official emissary of the empire. If something happened to him, it would create a huge diplomatic scandal. The empire is not at its strongest, and the emperor is being cautious. That does not mean an empire wouldn¡¯t do anything. Especially after that incident in Namdar and this time, it involves a noble. The nobility and fourth prince will force the emperor to take action. Even if resisted the pressure and did nothing, the rtions between the empire and Navr would sour further. Even Navr wouldn¡¯t want that; the Empire is not a kingdom. It is an Empire. Its power should not be underestimated, even in its weak phase. ¡°Then we shouldn¡¯t waste any time, my lord,¡± said Captain Azalea. ¡°You are right Captain, we shouldn¡¯t,¡± he said and got up, looking at the exit on the map. For the first time since I was pulled here, I saw hope, but I know it won¡¯t be easy. Nothing is when ites to things rted to the incursions. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 108: Deadly Plants Chapter 108: Deadly nts ¡°Necromancer, any news of them,¡± asked Lancel harshly. He did not care about faking respect for Necromancer. All he wants is the answers. They have disappeared at midnight, and it is morning right now. He does not care about anyone else but the Viscount. His cousin had contacted him, not long ago, asking him to do everything he needs to press these bastards to bring out Viscount Atre from a fucking incursion dungeon. He could understand his cousin''s worries. He is gathering allies and the Viscount Atre is a very important ally; a loyal man who had the potential to be very powerful in the future. Such people would be very important to his cousin in getting the throne. It would be better if Silver alsoe out of it alive. He did not like the bastard, but as father had said, you do not need to like the tools, you only need to use them, and Silver is proving to be quite a useful tool. ¡°We are trying, Lord Lancel. We will have the Viscount safe with you by tomorrow,¡± said Necromancer. ¡°You better wish it happens, Necromancer, or you wouldn¡¯t like the consequences,¡± I warned and could see anger appear in the necromancer''s eyes, but he drink it down and nodded, before moving away with his horse. I turned to the city we are approaching fast, and it seemed more beautiful than I had heard, but I am no mood to admire it. ¡°Have any new messagese from father or cousin?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, my lord. One came from the Lord Count. He is asking you to tread the situation carefully,¡± York replied. ¡°Tell him I will be careful,¡± I said and turned back to the city. ¡­. ¡°Good. Now rest. We will leave in an hour,¡± said Viscount, and broke the formation before sitting down. For Viscount Atre, telling him what skills and spells we have are not enough. He had asked us to perform them and devised the strategy to leave this ce. I sat down, looking at the temple, which is continuously emitting an unholy glow. ¡°That temple must contain a fortune,¡± said Heiman, looking at it. He had a longing in his eyes that I have seen in the eyes of mercenaries and adventure. Their desire to gain a fortune that will set them for life. ¡°You will need to be an S-ss powerhouse to even touch the steps of the temple. Even with that power, there is no guarantee, you will survive inside,¡± said Brul, the green orc, throwing cold water on a daydream. ¡°A man can dream, Captain,¡± Heimanined. Heiman is not wrong. ces like this contain an immense fortune. Artifacts even relics, but to get them; one needs to bet one¡¯s life with very low odds. Even S-ss powerhouses would think a hundred times before going to a ce. ¡°Captain, do you think three-majesties had entered this temple?¡± asked Heiman, but before he could finish it, the green orc red at him intensely. That question wades into dangerous territory. The rulers of Navr are revered, and there is a heavy punishment for speaking against them or even implying something. They don¡¯t want the public to discuss this temple or their supposed association with it. Seeing how strictly; they are guarding the information about it. Though he raised a valid point. The three rulers of Navr are extremely powerful. Each of them is level 50+. I heard one of them even belongs to the elder race. Those three had been one of the most powerful people and had been for over two thousand years. They have likely explored the temple, not once, but many times, and might have gotten all or at least some fortune contain there. Soon an hour is over, and I get up from the ground. I looked at the temple for onest time, feeling it might not be thest time I will be seeing this temple. I shook those thoughts and walked toward the Viscount Atre, who is standing in front of the entrance. ¡°Get into the formation,¡± hemanded, and everyone moved toward their position. Ethan and a few stumbled, but soon we had gathered in a formation. It is an inverted kite formation; on the front will be Viscount Atre, the most dangerous position. While at the back end will be Captain Azalea; the two Orcs will be at the two horizontal ends of the formation. Z will be middle and protected, as she is the only mage we have, and Jon¡¯s position is flexible, due to him being rogue. Ethan and two others will also be in the middle and thus protected, but it will not be easy for them to survive. In the middle, you are more protected, but that does not mean you won¡¯t get attacked. They will get attacked, but less than us. If they want to survive, they will need to fight, and Viscount Atre is already helping with that. My position is at the left horizontal end, behind Brul. He is powerful and I will have sufficient protection, but attacks will stille at me, and I will need to fight. ¡°Ready?¡± asked Viscount Atre. ¡°Yes!¡± I shouted with a rest. ¡°Let¡¯s get out here then,¡± he said, and we walked toward therge corridor filled with the deadly nts. Viscount took the first step on the stair, and nothing happened. I had expected them to move, attack him, but they did not. They did not move on to the second step and the third. They did not move even when he took thest step, but just as he took the step inside the corridor. The vines moved at him like an arrow,ing at him from all sides at a very fast speed. Rip! A white sword appeared in Viscount¡¯s hand and sliced them apart with a speed that I could not see. One moment, the group of vines came toward him, they were cut into pieces with freeze spreading on both ends. ¡°Artifact!¡± eximed Heiman, seeing the white sword in Viscount¡¯s hand. I did not get a good look at when the Viscount came out of the untamed garden. He put it back immediately, but now I did, and it is without a doubt an artifact. Artifacts are rare, very rare. It is said that people of this age could not craft them. I don¡¯t know whether it is true or not, but they are very rare, and it is very hard to buy them. Most artifacts didn¡¯t appear in the market and when some do; they were brought it off immediately at insanely high prices. I have read about this icy sword; its name is snow wind. Its family sword belongs to Viscount Atre¡¯s House. We froze for a moment, but the Viscount did not stop as continued walking. Seeing that, we quickly moved to follow him as his sword cut the path for us. ¡°The first column is ahead. Things are going to get dangerous from here,¡± he said, looking toward the huge column, which is fully covered in purple-ck vines. After a warning, he moved ahead and cleared the path by cutting everything that came at him. I looked around cautiously, especially at the untamed garden, which had spread into the corridor. There is no difference between them and if I had not walked in such a corridor before, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to separate them. Till now, not a single thing had attacked, but it could change very soon. Hun! I had just thought that when nts came toward us. It is not just wines, but also normal-looking nts, which stretched themselves, and some even split, revealing sharp body teeth, which sent a shudder through my body. sh sh p Brul ahead of me and Heiman behind me moved to defend against the attack, cutting the nts that came at us from the side and below. While the Viscount had cleared on the nts on which we step; some had remained. We must clear them. Brul and Heiman cut nearly all nts, but one had passed through their sword and now ising at me. Brul could have cut it easily, but he had sent it to me, and I instantly moved my saber to deal with it. sh sh My saber shed through the vine, and it begin to il, dropping greyish liquid and I shed it again at the further end. These are not undead, that would be dead with simple decapitation. No, they are far more dangerous. They couldn¡¯t be killed unless we pull them out and we do not have such time. It is also very dangerous. So, we need to cut them, temporally making them less dangerous, before they grow back again. Barely a second passed since I had cut with wine when another wave of nts came. Not only from the side but also from above, and this time, the attack came for all, not just Viscount and us. ¡°Remus, focus on the side. We will handle the top,¡± said Brul, and moved his one sword at the left, while the other toward the ntsing from the top. ¡°Ok,¡± I said and moved my saber to deal with the ntsing from my left. This time, I won¡¯t be handling the single nt. Four nts came at me with vines: one flower and one nt. sh sh sh My saber did not hesitate and begin to cut through them. I did not use my skills, only the power of my sword; I want to conserve them as much as possible as soon as I will need to use them heavily. I had just finished cutting the nts when I saw a ball of water shooting from the Z¡¯s staff, before turning into a wave of thick mist. Which quickly submerged the spore bomb and pushed it away from us. Viscount Atre had said, the spore bombs are one of the most dangerous things in the untamed garden and Z is responsible for dealing with them. A mage had a special advantage in dealing with them and she had a unique advantage at that, being a near-specialized mage. Z identifies herself as Aquamancer, but she is technically not. Though she is very close to gaining that water elemental specialization, and the ss that wille with it; the moment she achieves it, she will be quite powerful. It is not easy; it is a step that stopped most of the mages in their life. We dealt with the nts, but more came again and then again. Slowly, increasing by numbers and powers. Soon we reached the first column and when I turned back. I was shocked to see the way; we havee from had disappeared. I could not see the verdant grass or the temple on the hill. ¡°Mage Z; protective spell. Everyone uses the first tranche of buff skills,¡±manded Viscount, as he dealt with the nts. Immediately, the Z¡¯s staff lit up and a protective watery screen appeared on our bodies. At the same time, I felt the effect of three buff skills. These are not the only buff skills the people here have, but Viscount had decided to employ them in three stages, from weakest to strongest. The buff skills also mean that now we will move fast and with each stage buff skills, our speed will increase. We have to reach the exit as soon as possible. Viscount and Jim said the nts could move; the longer we stay here, the more nts will attack us. ¡°Let''s move,¡± said the Viscount and immediately increased his pace. The buff skills may be the least powerful, but the enhancement they gave me was quite good. I am feeling it, likely because of my lower level. Allbat personnel here is at level 20 or above. sh sh sh The nts attacked, but we cut through them. Be it vine or flower, we did not stop, not even to pick them up. Some of them were precious and I could see it was killing the mercenaries to not take them, but they did not. Viscount Atre had forbidden us from picking even a single thing, not just the nts, but any other thing we find. If we disobey that, he will kill us; he explicitly said that. Getting out of here is more important than anything. Without life, no matter what we find here, we wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy it. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 109: Death Chapter 109: Death We have reached the second column, and the nts have intensified their assault further. Now everyone is fighting, even those who are protected. Ethan, Cooper, and Roth are fighting; they barely have any experience, but they are fighting with the experienced edge. One does not need years of experience; they only need skills. It is Viscount¡¯s skill, an army skill; that gave them knowledge and familiarity to fight. It is a very desired skill in the army; one that promotes you to a certain level if you get this skill. sh sh sh My saber shed through one nt after another, but I am feeling no joy in doing that, instead, worry. We have reached only a second column, and the intensity of the attacks is this high. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what kind of attacks we would receive when we reached the tenth column, the twentieth. We do not know exactly how many columns we will need to pass to reach the exit, but from what I could deduce, it should be around fifty. That terrifies me, but there is nothing I could do about it. ¡°Pod!¡± I shouted as I saw the pod appearing from the group of nts ahead of me. A momentter it exploded, sending out a yellow cloud at us, but before it coulde closer. A ball of water shot past me and exploded into a wave of mist and enveloping the yellow cloud and sending it away. I heaved a sigh of relief and kept cutting the nts. ¡°I thought with such a powerful team; we wouldn¡¯t need to worry about getting out of here, but now looking at these bloodthirsty nts, I think, I had been utterly wrong thinking that,¡± said Heiman. He seemed to use the skill to talk; nobody seemed to hear that aside me and Brul. This is good because these are not motivational words that one would like to hear at a time like this. ¡°My uncle had said, more than half of the people of his party had died reaching for the exit and those who survived were nearly at death''s door,¡± replied Blur as effortlessly cut the vine thicker than my thigh. ¡°Though I still think we have great chances to survive,¡± he added, looking at the Viscount. His sword is cutting through everything that came at him and freezing the whole thing to the end, killing it. He is the only one killing the nts to roots, while all of us are cutting them. A few minutes passed, and we crossed the third column and reached the fourth one, making attacks on us more intense. ¡°Fuck!¡± Roth screamed as the nt bit him on his thigh before Jon had cut it apart and sprinkled the potion on the wound, before moving to deal with the other ntsing. The wound was slight, but it had made everyone¡¯s expressions serious and their movements cautious. This is a small glimpse of what will happen in theing minutes. It was Roth now, but soon it will be us, and the wounds we will get wouldn¡¯t be as small as this one. I cut the nts, putting extra effort into conserving as much as energy I could. As I will be needing it ahead. Thankfully, I hadn¡¯t used my skills yet. I would have needed to use them if I hadn¡¯t gotten the buff from others, which is helping me a lot. Hun! I was dealing with the nts when I saw something strange. Tens of vines areing at us like snakes. They are not only moving like a snake but also making a hissing sound like snakes. They look so much like the snakes that, for a second, I thought they were snakes, but they are nts. No other living survives in this ce other than the nts; these nts will kill anything that is living other than them. sh sh sh Brul, Heiman, and I cut through the vine snakes. They tried to move away and jumped at us, but it was useless. ¡°These vines snakes are quite tough. If we did not have the enchanted weapons, cutting through them would have been hard,¡± said Heiman and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. I felt the strength of the vine snakes and know how hard it would have to kill them without the enchantment sharpness on my saber. Especially for me, seeing I don¡¯t have any skill that increases the sharpness of my attack. Mybat skill tends to focus on increasing the power of attacks, rather than the lethality of the weapon. Those two arepletely different things. We take one step after another, not stopping even for a second, cutting everything that came our way. Soon, we passed through the tenth column and nts have be denser. The untamed garden and the corridor, both of them filled so densely with the nts, that I could not see even a single inch of stone. Nearly all of these nts are deadly. Some are more than others. Hun! I cut the four nts when another wave of nts came and, seeing it, my expression turned serious. Even with Brul and Heiman, it will be hard for me to defend against it. ¡®I guess, it leaves me no other choice,¡¯ I thought and moved my saber, but this time, it was no simple attack, but the one that is filled with the power of the Consecutive Strike. sh sh sh My saber cut through one blue nt before moving to purple vines and then the red flower and again to the ck nt. The saber moved with the power of a Consecutive Strike, bing slightly more powerful with each strike. It was a good thing I decided to use the skill otherwise; I wouldn¡¯t have been able to deal with the attack. ¡°Fuck!¡± Ethan cursed as the nt pierced a needle inside him and begin to drink his blood before he cut it and removed the needle. I barely nce at him before I needed to look up and attack again with Consecutive Strikes, to deal with the wave of flowers with a sharp tooth. I had cut the nts when anotherrge wave of ntse from the left and attacked it, without breaking the rhythm of the skill. ¡°Things are getting harder,¡± said Joseph from the other side and it is true, in these few seconds, things have be harder all of a sudden. I dealt with the wave of vines and cut them before another wave came of nts came and I dealt with them too. It is like in these past few seconds; some switch had flipped, making things difficult. A few minutes passed, and things got even more intense. Three times, I had been nearly bit and cut by the nts. Now, I am using Consecutive Strikes constantly; there is no other option. If I did not, the nt will injure me, and I can¡¯t have that. I can¡¯t be like Ethan and the other two, who are getting injuries all over them. Jon is helping them now, and then, but they need to protect themselves and pushed harder. The sooner they understand that, the better would be or they wouldn¡¯t be able toe out alive from this ce. If things kept getting back at this rate. Rip! Minutes passed when the nt was able to avoid my saber and cut my shoulder. The wound was slight, and barely a drop of bloode out, but it was an important moment. This injury signifies that things are finally going to be dangerous for me. I am not careful, one of the des of nts will decapitate me or needle me to drain my blood. I cut the nt that cut me before moving my saber, to deal with another wave of nts with the Consecutive Strikes. A minute passed, and I nearly broke the record of Consecutive Strikes, I had made fighting the undead on the ind. Still, despite that, the two nts came and injure me lightly. Things are bing dangerous with every step; Z is casting a poison detection more often. Hun! Suddenly, a loud rustle rang out and another wave of vines came, and this wave is different from all the others we have faced. They are ropes. The tens of vines bungled together into the ropes, which are thick as my waist. Tens of these thick rope vines areing, with sharp thorns, all over them; a direct hit and it will be a game over for me. Consecutive Strikes Weighted Strike I was already attacking with the Consecutive Strike and added a Weighted Strike on top of it as I attacked. One part of my mind is calling it an overreaction, but the other is enting. The enchanted weapon is sharp, but I could not take the risk. If it failed to cut them, they wille at me. SLICE With a powerful attack, my saber touched the thick rope vines and begin to cut through them like butter. It took a fraction of a second for it to cut through it, and it moved to the second rope vine and cut it, before moving to cut another wave of ntsing behind it. The speed of my saber is fast, as it cut through the attacksing from above. It is all thanks to the Consecutive Strikes. This skill is broken when ites to dealing with a wave of dumb enemies. Still, even with the broken skill, defending every attack is not easy. One of them had been able to avoid it with my saber and struck my shoulder guard. I cut it before moving to defend against another wave of attack. A few more minutes passed, and things have be even more difficult. Especially for Ethan and the other two; a lot of injuries have appeared on their bodies and so are the changes in their fighting style. Roth and Cooper are panicking with every attack that hit them; making them fight worse. The opposite is happening with Ethan. He seemed to understand, while he is protected, he will need to defend against the attack that slips through protection. If he could not, then he will die. Soon, we reached the fifteenth column and kept moving while dealing with the attacks. Rip Rip! Suddenly, two attacks came from the crack and gave two cuts on my legs before I was able to deal with them. This was no normal injury, but the painful one; those fucking nts release pain toxins, making it hurt like hell. I don¡¯t know whether it is simple pain or a nasty toxin; I wanted to drink anti-toxin medicine immediately, but I waited. Z is using a poison-detection spell every minute; it had been nearly a minute since she had done and used it in a few seconds. I will drink it after she cast a spell. I have only three bottles and did not spend them before, I am sure. A few secondster, she cast the spell, and I was relieved, seeing there is no poison or other toxins that are harmful to me. Puch! Barely a second passed after she had cast a spell when a sharp vinee from above and pierced through Roth¡¯s helmet into his brain. Killing him immediately. It happened so suddenly that, nobody had time to save him. It could be even said, it happened at the perfect moment, when everyone who could save him was far too away from him. ¡°Roth!¡± Cooper shouted, seeing his body falling. Jon appeared beside and cut the vine that killed him, before taking the weapon off his hand. ¡°We keep moving,¡± said Viscount. He did not stop, nor did we. We knew there will be death and were prepared for such a scenario, which is to keep moving. Our destination is exit and till we reach it, we will keep moving, no matter who dies. Still, the death had hit me harder than I thought. It made me realize how close I am to death. These nts only need a single well-ced attack to kill me. ¡°Roth!¡± Cooper said with tears dripping from his eyes as he moved with us and soon Roth¡¯s body moved out of the formation. The moment it had happened, the nts moved toward it ravenously, covering it like a mound. A couple of secondster, they moved away and there was nothing aside from his clothes. The nts did not leave behind, even bones or hair; they ate everything. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 110: Exit Is Near Chapter 110: Exit Is Near "Second Tranch!" Viscount Atremanded and immediately, the second tranche of buff skills, activated. I heaved a sigh of relief as I moved my saber to cut these wretched nts, which have gone crazy in the past minute. They have tasted the flesh and now they want more of it. Our n was to not use the second tranche of buff skills before reaching the twentieth column, but we have used it near the seventeenth. There is no choice. If they did not, people like me wouldn''t survive. As the buff skills activated, I felt my strength and speed increased more than before and injuries begin healing slightly faster than before. Thest one is from Brul. The healing type buff skill is rare and very useful in battles like this. With this tranche, the people have used all their buff skills. Thest tranche is going to be from Viscount Atre alone. Till now, he had not used any skills other than army skills; he used three. sh sh sh As the power of the skills filled me, the speed of my attacks increased, and so is the power behind them. I sh one nt after another with Consecutive Strikes. The buff is good, but I still need to use the skill. Though, I am not using as much Weighted Strike as before. Which will save me a lot of stamina; that skill is powerful, but it takes a lot out of me. Soon, we reached the eighteenth column and moved fast toward the neenth. Since the second tranche f buff skills activated, the Viscount had increased the speed. Which put more pressure on us, especially Ethan and Cooper. They are barely surviving, but for how long they would be able to do that? I don''t know. They are fighting with everything they have, especially Ethan. If they had been somewhere less dangerous; they would have been able to survive with the efforts they are putting in, but here there is no guarantee. It is what making them fight so desperately. I cut through nt after nt, swinging my saber again and again with the power of the Consecutive Strikes. Soon, my saber moved in thirty-sixth strikes and cut the four nts at a very fast speed. At speed, that I could barely see the flicker of my saber. As I finished the thirty-sixth strike, I cut the skill and activated it again. At thirty-seventh, the speed and power behind the attack would have been increased further at a higher rate, but I don''t want that. That power and speede at a cost. It drains stamina too quickly; I could not afford that. I could have gone above the thirty-sixth strike hundreds of times, but I chose not to do it. I am one of the weakest in here, weakest after Ethan and Copper, but unlike them, I am not protected. So, every decision I make needs to be with my survival in my mind and nothing else. We reached the twentieth column, and I saw the surrounding scenery changing. The untamed garden has be beautiful; each n looked aesthetically pleasing. Especially those enchantingly beautiful red roses I have never seen something so beautiful, and I want them. I am sure they will smell amazing. If I put them in a hall of my establishment. It will take the aesthetic of it to the next level. Hun! I nearly took a step toward it when suddenly a powerful aura washed over me, clearing my thoughts immediately. "Fuck!" I cursed loudly, with cold sweat pouring all over my body as I shook in fear. I was nearly done. If not for the aura saving me in time, the nts would have had me. "Careful. The attacks from nts wouldn''t be limited to the direct physical attacks," Viscount Atre warned. After firsthand experiencing the effects, I became more careful. Focusing only on cutting the nts and nothing else. Minutes passed, and I was able to keep my focus, despite many nts trying to entice me psychologically. It also helped that the Viscount would kill most of the nts that affect the brain. Some remain and resisting them is hard, but I am doing it as failure will mean death. I had survived once and didn''t want to push my luck further. It is hard to believe this ce that is trying to kill us was made to protect the people. There is a reason why the garden is present in between each building. It is to absorb the death energying from the temple. Every nt here was a special nt that absorbs the death energy and, for thousands of years, they have done just that, until the things change. Over time, in thousands of years, the temple was able to manipte them into something nefarious and bloodthirsty. Now, instead of consuming the death energy, they hunger for life and kill anything that had a life. It is why they are attacking us like crazy. It is a good thing, many of the measures of the creators of this ce are working. They are still keeping the garden within their limits, but slowly, with time, those limits are eroding. The present is a good example of that. The nts have broken their restriction and moved inside. They have captured the most important corridor, and in a few thousand years, they will capture other buildings before moving to the open space. When that happens, nobody would be able to survive here. Even S-ss will die in a matter of minutes. I shook my head of doom thoughts and focused on killing nts. Things have be even more dangerous, and even buffs are not helping. I have once again started to use Weighted Strike with Consecutive Strikes and also Quick Steps but on rare asions. It is very risky to move around this ce, even a step. So, I only move around when I need to, otherwise, I stayed in my ce between Heiman and Brul. "Ahhh," I was cutting the ntse at me when I heard the scream before it suddenly cut off. I turned and saw one of the most horrific things I had ever seen in my life. I saw tens of ntsing out of Cooper''s body; they would puncture the hole from the inside beforeing out. It has seemed like the nt had attacked his stomach and from that, it grew inside him despite Jon cutting it. Nobody moved to help him as nts sprouted out of his body. Normally, mercy is offered by killing the person, but it wouldn''t be a wise thing to do, especially for a person like Jon. Cooper is also from a powerful family; not as powerful as Ethan''s or mine, but still powerful enough. Killing him, even in the form of mercy, would still be murder, and his family might seek retribution. Something Jon, or most others here, could not afford to bear. It may seem too harsh, but is a reality. Jon and others already said, aside from mercenaries, they will not be offering a mercy killing to others. Including me. If a nt simr to that attacked me, then I will die horrifying dead by it, without getting the mercy of quick death from people around me. It is a horrible thought; that I decided to not think further. Minutes passed, and we continued moving, cutting anything that came at us. It did not matter what it is, we will cut it and move forward. Our coordination seemed to have increased, as we got to know each other''s abilities better. Z had be very good at dealing with pods and other dangers. Most of the time, we did not even need to notify her; she knows it as our bodynguage changed. My efficiency had also increased, as I know what number of nts that Heiman and Brul will deal with and what I will need to deal with. These are the small things, but they are affecting me in a big way. Especially now, when things have be very dangerous and will be even more dangerous. "Mister Silver!" said Z. Immediately, Heiman and Brul got a little closer to me and dealt with all the ntsing at me, while I took out two potion bottles of healing and anti-toxin and took a sip of each quickly, before putting the healing potion back into the bag. As for an anti-toxin one, I threw it away as it ispletely empty. A momentter, Heiman and Brul moved back to their ces, and I resumed fighting. It is not the first time I had drank the potions and won''t be thest. Every minute, I am getting injured; there isn''t a part of my body that isn''t cut and armor that is not dented. With injuriese poison and other things, while most nts only injure. Some leave behind nasty things and it is important that I deal with them quickly as possible, before they do some serious damage. sh sh sh Minutes passed, and things got so hard that every second had be a challenge to survive. Things have be so bad that I have drunk a stamina potion, which I only nned to do at the end, but there is no choice. Using the skills constantly is taking a lot out of me. If I did not drink it, then I will die. It is not just me, but the others are also having a bad time. They are the ones bearing the maximum burnt, more than me, and I could see how they are struggling. Even Viscount Atre had not been spared and had gotten injured a couple of his times. He is the one who is bearing the most pressure, they seemed to know he is strongest and attacking him crazily. He is dealings hundreds of them by minute, killing them by freezing them to the roots with his artifact. Such a powerful artifact couldn''t be used without paying a price. He is getting tired; I had already seen him drinking the potions a couple of times. It is likely why he had started to push us harder. He had increased the speed, and that is putting a lot of pressure on us. Rip! "Fuck!" I cursed as the nt gave a bloody cut to my neck. It is a good thing I dodged it on time with Quick Steps, or it would have been far more than a cut. I wish I could say, it had happened the first time. No, it had happened over ten times, and it felt like a miracle that I am still alive. Though the biggest miracle would be Ethan, he was still standing, despite his body being filled with injuries. He should thank Z. She is the only reason he is even alive. Her healing spells are keeping him standing. "Shit!" Cursed Brul as thick vines pierced his shoulder. He cut the vines, before pulling them with his mouth, while continued using his swords. People like him, who are on the edge of the formation and had to bear the greatest pressure, couldn''t afford to put away their weapons, even for a second. It is a good thing; he had armor, which covered most fatal spots, or he wouldn''t have been standing right now. Soon, we reached the thirtieth column and continued moving. The battle became desperate, and I am barely stopping myself from pushing all out with Consecutive Strikes. I nearly did hundreds of times, before stopping myself, but I won''t be soon, because, without it, I won''t be able to. Because not using its potential will kill me. Hun! A minute passed, and I was moving my saber, intending to go beyond I had ever gone in Consecutive Strikes when something shocking happened. Viscount Atre stopped. Since we entered, he had never stopped, even when people died. "The exit is ahead," he said, and my heart shook. I had thirsted for it, even prayed thousands of times. Now, the thing I had been waiting for had happened; the exit had appeared. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 111: Sudden and Shocking Chapter 111: Sudden and Shocking ¡°The exit is three hundred meters ahead. The nts will attack us with everything, they have as we get closer to it. So, don¡¯t hold back,¡± Viscount said, and finally activated his buff skills. Immediately, I felt the power rushing into me. It is not just I have got faster and stronger, but I am also thinking clearer. I seemed to have gained the rity that made me more perceptive. It feels like I have gained the ten levels within a second. Z had also gone all out; first, her watery blue screen covered us all, and it was much thicker than what she had cast, and she had superimposed it, with a healing spell inside. Hun! As she cast a spell, greyish blood came out of her eyes and ears, while her hands cked, and skin be spells. Her injuries were acting up. These injuries she had gotten in the Vris¡¯alud. They are magical injuries and couldn¡¯t be healed through healing potions or simple healing spells. ¡°Don¡¯t force yourself too much,¡± I said to her. She nodded and took out a purple potion, and drank it. I have gotten it for her, and it had cost me a lot. It would have cost me even more if I hadn¡¯t been directly brought from the lightning tower, with the help of privilege, that the medal provide. The potion made the ckness recede, but not all. Hun! I was looking at her when something surprising happened. Ethan, who was barely fighting with his injuries, took out a scroll and unfurled it. Immediately, the yellow firee out and enveloped him. Making it look like he is burning. He is not; it is just a fire cover spell and looks pretty powerful. I am quite surprised, not because he has the spell. He is from the House of Ashav, which deals with magical materials. It is normal for him to have such a spell. What is surprising is that he had waited this long to use it. A normal person would have used it a long ago. ¡°Let¡¯s move,¡± said the Viscount and immediately, his speed increased further, and the power of his attacks. Now only his sword freezes anything it had touched, but also creates an area of ice around it. Any nt thates closer to his sword would freeze in its ce. We followed behind him with our bodies filled with vigor. We could not see the exit, but since the Viscount said it was three hundred meters away, then it was. Outside, it is not much of a distance and could be crossed within thirty seconds, but here, it will take minutes. sh sh sh I did not hold back anything. I cut through the nts one after another using Consecutive Strikes and Weighted Strike. This time, I will not stop the Consecutive Strikes and pushed them, as far as my body allows me to push them. Soon, we have crossed a hundred meters and now only two hundred meters remained. We have crossed it quickly and moving to cross the rest two hundred quickly, too. The buffs and defensive screen covering me are really helping me a lot, and my injuries also healing quickly. We are making a good time and if this continued, we will be out of this ce in a few minutes. Hun! Two more minutes passed, and I think I could see the exit. The nts are covering it, but I could still see a rectangr block in the middle of the hallway. ¡°Be very careful; there is an immense danger ahead,¡± warned Viscount somberly, without stopping. For nearly a minute, there was no change till there were only a hundred and fifty meters between us, when something shocking happened that horrified me and others to every inch of our life. Rustle Rustle Rustle All the surrounding nts rustled together as we crossed some invisible line and moved. They did note at the wave of hundreds, but the tide of thousands. Seeing that, I felt the fear in every cell of my body. This is not something we could contend against; it is a death. It froze me for a moment before I controlled my emotions. So, what if this is above my grade, I will fight it, till I have a breath remaining in my body. ¡°To the gate!¡± The viscount roared and his powerful aura spread toward the vines, spreading the cold of its artifacts toward them. At the same time, watery shields materialized around us as sped toward the gate. sh sp Puch! I cut through the nts as they came at me. I was able to cut most of them, but some were too fast, that I could not cut. I avoided them with Quick Steps, but one still struck me through the defensiveyer and the armor. I grunted in pain, before cutting the vine, and moved to deal with other ntsing at me. I am cutting them and those I could not, I would dodge, but it is not enough. Some of the strong ones are avoiding my saber and piercing through the defensive screens beforeing at me. All I could do is not let them attack my fatal spot. The formation is all broken, with the massive assault of nts, but we all remain closer to each other. No one is speeding toward the gate alone; it will be a huge mistake. Everybody understood, the only way we will be able to deal with the tide and reach the gate is by being together. Puch! Another nt cut me and released nasty toxins that made me scream like never before, but despite that, my saber did not stop moving. Instead, it moved faster and got stronger, as it broke past the previous record of Consecutive Strikes. Getting to the thirty-seventh strike, before moving to the thirty-eighth, which is even more powerful. sh sh Puch! It cut through one nt after another, getting faster and stronger with each strike. Still, it did not stop all the attacksing at me. There are too many of them; I could not cut all of them. All I could do was deal with the most dangerous ones while avoiding the ones that could kill me or slow me down. Like the attack from the vine, just now, which had tried to circle my neck, but I avoided it with the Quick Steps and cut it. Doing that, I was attacked by the two nts, at my back and left leg. I am getting injured in every part of my body and these injuries are piling up very fast; the only thing that made me relieved is that we are getting closer to the gate. Hun! I was fighting when I saw something horrifying; Martin, who was fighting behind Grog, had got a vine wrapped around his leg. He cut it immediately, but he froze a momentter for some reason. Another took a chance and pushed its thorns inside him, before pulling him, while he screamed in pain. Joseph and Grog moved to help, but they were too slow. The nts had pulled him too far back that they could not do anything other than hear his screams, which suddenly stopped a secondter. Martin¡¯s death horrified me, far more than the death of Cooper and Roth. They weremon people who did not have abat ss and never fought anyone. Martin is a mercenary, with decades of experience and twenty levels in his pocket. The nts killed him within seconds. If he could die, I could die too, and much more easily at that. As I am not even Level 10 in my warrior ss. I am much weaker than him, with a lot less experience. This realization struck me, and instead of freezing me on the spot, it gave me strange rity. Likely because I always knew I might die since I took a step here and after seeing someone powerful at Level 20 die. The fact had stamped itself on my heart. I moved with a greater purpose. I understand I might die, but till that happens, I will cut every nt Ie across. I was fighting when, once again, a watery shield appeared in front of me. Stopping the attacks of bone-wooden needlesing toward me. These are the attacks that are most dangerous for the warriors; the mages are best at dealing with them. A momentter, the nts destroyed the shields, and I cut them with my saber. Some injured me, but I was able to dodge the most dangerous ones with the Quick Steps before cutting them apart. Less than a minute had passed since the tides of nts attacked, and we are still defending. We have crossed fifty more meters, and now, the gate is only a hundred meters away. Puch! A few secondster, one nasty nt drilled into my shoulder, making my left hand useless. I had nearly dropped the charm, which I have in it; ready to activate it if I saw anything close to killing me. I bear the pain and kept fighting. There is no other choice. We kept moving, no matter how many injuries piled on us. These injuries are so serious that if there weren¡¯t healing spells from Z, many of us would have fallen down. Another minute had passed and when suddenly something strange begin to happen around the gate. The nts begin to move, not only those around the gates but also those around us. The attacks slowed down until they stopped as all the nts moved toward the gates, gathering in a huge ball, which was getting bigger by seconds. ¡°What the fuck is happening? The nts shouldn¡¯t behave like this,¡± said Brul as we moved toward the gate. Even in a magical world, it is very strange what is happening in front of us. It is sending a shiver down my spine every moment, as more nts gather near the gate. ¡°Boss, it is sending my danger sense off the charts!¡± said Heinam, as we moved toward the gate. We were less than fifty meters away from it when a drastic change urred. It suddenly gets taller, before spreading into the humanoid shape. First, the head appeared, before the nts moved and created the arms and the legs separated. An armor of nts formed, and its feature be more pronounced, making it a real nt humanoid. I am shocked seeing it; others seemed just as shocked as me. Nobody expected something like this to happen. It shouldn¡¯t have happened. We are in thend of death for god¡¯s sake; here the death energy is everywhere. nts should die here, not thrive and turn murderous. It is unexpected, sudden, and absolutely shocking. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 112: Abomination Chapter 112: Abomination ¡°Retreat!¡± Viscountmanded when we were approaching the nt humanoid. Themand had confused some, but we followed immediately. BANG! It is a good thing we did as at the very next moment. A fist as big as the whole me came down hard. If it had hit any of us; we could have been sshed across the floor. ¡°What the hell is this?¡± asked Heiman. ¡°It is definitely not treant or nt elemental,¡± said Ethan, looking at a giant nt humanoid, which was nearly ten meters tall and looked extremely scary. It is nowing toward us, while at the same time thick nts released from its back and covered the gate thickly. This thing does not want us to escape and is intelligent enough to block the gate, but the question is how this is happening. Does the influence of the temple, had reached so deep, that it could do something like this? ¡°It is a nt abomination created by the temple,¡± Viscount informed us as he looked at the abominationing toward us. ¡°Captain Azalea, Mage Z, Jon, Brul, and me, will fight it; the rest of you stay back and deal with anything thates from behind,¡± hemanded. Soon, four of them had stepped forward and appeared behind him, while five of us stepped back. Not too far, there are nts waiting for us invisible boundary of abominations influence. If we cross that, they wille for us. ¡°Support me,¡± said Viscount, and ran toward the nt abomination with his eyes burning in the battle spirit. Till now, he had remained calm; even when people died, his expressions did not change, nor any other emotions appeared in his eyes. Except, now; there is excitement in them. ¡®Just crazy,¡¯ I thought, seeing that. I do not like to fight, and when I do, it is for survival. It is the reason, I forced myself to wake up every day at dawn and train for three hours till, every part of my body burns in pain. I do not like the training, but it is what kept me alive in the ce. Where people stronger than I had died. Soon, the Viscount reached the nt abomination, and it threw a powerful punch at him. It is powerful enough to kill all five of us in an instant. He avoided the punch before bringing his sword in his hand down, wanting to cut it apart. He shed at a huge hand and cut it more than half before freezing the wound. ¡°Yes!¡± Joseph cheered, but the next second, his expression froze away. When the ice surrounding the big wound cracked into pieces and the wound mended, till there was not even a scratch remained on it. Viscount did not seem surprised; he seemed to have expected it. He was still in the air when the nt abomination attacked him, moving its arm at an angle that a normal arm wouldn¡¯t move. Looking at the speed, it seemed like the Viscount would have a hard time dodging it. Hun! I was thinking that when suddenly. A tiny watery screen appeared behind his feet. It is big as my hand and even Viscount seemed surprised by it, but he quickly made use of that, by stepping on it and jumping in the other direction. Others did not do just watch. They moved and the one who surprised me the most was Jon. He jumped, and when he reached the top, a blue screen appeared under his feet and he stepped on it, before jumping higher toward the head of the nt abomination. The way he jumped; it is clear he is used to them. Z and he likely fought this way, and I could use its uses. It had saved the Viscount while giving Jon hold to reach his target. Jon attacked the face, while at the same time, Brul and Captain Azalea attacked both of its legs, creating long gashes. Which filled immediately. ROOOO¡­ The injuries may have healed, but it had made it angry, and it begin to punch and stomp mercilessly. They avoided it expertly, before attacking it again and again. Which seemed to make it angrier by the second. ¡°It is useless; no matter how much they cut it. It will heal from those injuries,¡± said Joseph. ¡°It is not useless; they are doing great,¡± said Ethan and Joseph, and others looked at him in question. ¡°Such magical constructs are rare, but there are thousands of records of them. Due to their nature, they might seem impossible to kill.¡± ¡°It is not impossible, just very hard, but people powerful as Viscount Atre, have the ability to kill it,¡± he added with a smile. ¡°You still haven¡¯t answered how they are doing great when they clearly aren¡¯t?¡± asked Joseph, looking a little angry. ¡°The answer is right in front of you,¡± Ethan replied with a smile, making joseph even more angry at him. I thought deeply about what he said and looked harder and soon understood what is happening. While it might seem like nothing happening to the nt abomination. It is not true; things are happening to it. Its healing is slowing down. It is clear that to heal; it is consuming the energy and the more it consumes, the slower its healing would be. It also made me marvel at the power of Viscount Atre; he is the reason the four are able to cut the nt abomination. As he is the one who is taking most of its attacks, providing others way clear way against it. It is very strong, and without the Viscount, all of them would have died already, and so are we. He is one who is blocking and countering all the attacks of the nt abomination. The one who is doing most of the damage 80% of the damage is done by him alone. This is a Level 40 enemy. Only those of that level could fight it. While Viscount is not Level 40, his ss and aura give him the power to fight it, and with artifact; no level 40 warrior would be his match. The weapons we use ys a great part in power, which is why people are crazy about enchanted weapons. They will kill for artifacts and wars have been fought over the relics. ¡°It would have been great if I had the skill to see the Viscount''s movement clearly,¡± said Joseph as he looked at Viscount yearningly. Viscount is fast, very fast. So much so that I could only a blur of him and the injury he is causing to the nt abomination. His speed is apletely different level, he is even faster than the Viscount Luran, whose duel I have watched in the Owlspring. Such people are extremely dangerous in war; they could win the war by killing themanders and higher-ups. It is the reason why, in every war. The powerful powerhouses, such as him, were dealt with first; they are themand, and once themand is dead. No matter how big the army is, it will copse. More than ten minutes passed and now, the healing speed of the nt abomination had slowed down by half. Our powerhouses have also slowed down, including the Viscount. They have been fighting since the moment they have taken the step into this ce. Even with their levels, they couldn¡¯t continue forever, especially against the enemies like this, where the battle turned to attrition. Those whost longer, will win. Z and Jon are most troubled; their injuries have begun acting up. ck marks begin to appear on Jon¡¯s fingers and blood started to sip out of his orifices; the same is happening with Z. I could not do anything other than watch and hope it is over soon before it is toote. I am powerless to do anything; I do not have enough power to go and fight. While I do have a charm, I don¡¯t know how useful it would be against an enemy this powerful. Minutes passed, and the healing of the nt abomination slowed down even further. It is visibly fast, but much slower than before, and Viscount wants to take full advantage of that, seeing the way he is attacking. He had picked the left shoulder and had been targeting it over and over. He had already cut 70% off it and it won''t be long before he cut it whole and this time even its despicable healing abilities wouldn¡¯t be able to stop it. He attacked the spot over and over, before finally, with thest strike; the arm got cut fully and fell. ROOOO! The nt abomination screamed loudly, and I thought; it would attack madly, but instead. It froze for a moment and ck smoke, begins toe out of it and at the same time, 50% of the nt making an abomination begins to turn white. Not white. They are transforming into bone. Within a second, it became a horror of nts and bones, making it look even more horrifying. ROOOO! It roared strangely again and moved toward the Viscount; seeing that, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but get rmed. Its speed increased immensely; it became a blur before it did not have such speed and power. Viscount shed against it and to my surprise; he was only able to cause minor injury to the nt-bone abomination. I opened my mouth to curse, but suddenly stopped when I saw the small wound. Which is not healing. The wound is not filling like it used to; not daring to believe it, I focused more and saw the same thing. The abomination seemed to have sacrificed his healing for power. ¡°Look, something is happening there,¡± said Grog, pointing toward the fallen arm. I looked at it and saw it had also changed like the rest of the body into nt-bone and now, wriggling madly, before the nt-bones begin to rise up and, to my shock, weaved into the humanoids. In a matter of seconds, nine nt-bone humanoids formed from the fallen arm, with weapons and all. ¡°Fuck, they areing toward us,¡± said Heiman and I looked toward our powerhouses, who were busy dealing with the nt-bone abomination. They are in no state to rescue us. It is clear that we will need to fight these abominations on our own. ¡°Rich man, you wouldn¡¯t be having a spell scroll of Siege Fireball or other powerful spells?¡± asked Grog hopefully, but Ethan just shook his head. His spell is still working, but seeing how it is losing power. In a few minutes, all the fire will disappear. He might well die before that; thoseing at us are not if nt bone abomination is an example. ¡°It seemed like we will have to deal with them with our power. Thankfully, the buffs from the noble are still working,¡± said Grog as he took a step forward. ¡°Grog and I will deal with five of them. Joseph and Silver, you each handle two,¡± said Heiman, he did not even look at Ethan. It will be his good luck if these humanoids avoided him as the nts had done. I took a deep breath and looked at the enemiesing toward us; they are strong and fast. If what I am seeing from the nt-bone abomination is right, then they will also be smarter or at least will know how to fight properly. The abomination had not only be stronger and faster but also seemed to have got smarter. I hope the enemiesing toward me are not too smart, as they already seem quite strong and fast. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 113: Final Battle Chapter 113: Final Battle I gripped my saber tightly and looked at the nt-bone humanoidsing toward me. They will not be easy to fight, but what other choice do I have? I couldn¡¯t run away, since every way is blocked by the nts, nor there is anyone here to help me. Everyone is doing their bit, except for Ethan, but I can¡¯t really me him. If I didn¡¯t fight; these little abominations will kill me. ¡°Now!¡± said Heiman and immediately we moved toward the nt-bone humanoids. It is better to take the lead than wait for them toe closer to us. I moved with the Quick Steps and appeared in front of them and attacked. I held nothing back and attacked with Consecutive Strikes and Weighted Strike; the sooner we kill them, the better it would be for us. The nt-bone humanoid also reacted and moved its dius. The weapon seemed like it was made of the same material as its body, but it had a crystalline sheen on it. I activated the enchantment of my saber at full power. I want to know how strong it is to devise a strategy to deal with it. ng! A metallic ng rang out as our weapons shed and I shook. As I felt the heavy shock across my body, especially the hand holding the saber. The shock was powerful enough to need me a moment to recover, but I do not have the luxury of it and immediately moved with Quick Steps, to dodge the attack from the second nt-bone humanoid. I did it, but the third one moved to attack, but thankfully Grog stopped it. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved. Two are already too much. If there is a third for me to deal with, then I won¡¯t be live till the end of the minute. These nt-bone humanoids are powerful. Their strength is equal to those of the Level 20 Warrior. Thankfully, they do not have the skills to ent that, but even the raw power is dangerous, especially when it is used skillfully. A single exchange is not enough for me to know how skillful they are, but I know they are not as skillful as the people at their level of power. The two nt-bone humanoids followed me as I moved away with Quick Steps, before I stopped and attacked. I am focused on the first nt-bone humanoid sword; the one I shed with and saw that my enchanted saber had only left a scratch on it; it did not make me feel good. It means these swords are stronger than steel swords. ng! I shed against it, before using Quick Steps to dodge the attack from the second nt-bone humanoid. Rip! I could not dodge it perfectly, the attack hit my arm, leaving a bloody gash on it, before both of them came at me with another attack, with a speed that is faster than mine. ng ng! I defend against the attack and dodge another, before moving my sword again to defend against it and then again moving with Quick Step to dodge. Barely avoiding the attack by the hairbreadth. I cannot fight like this. They would tire me out in minutes and then it will be the end of me. ng ng Rip! They came at me, and I defend and dodge; using every skill I have. I need to or I won¡¯t survive against them. It is not all I am doing; I am analyzing their fighting style and their weak spots. The neck is the mostmon. Nearly all things die when their neck is cut off, but cutting the neck would be a challenge, given how thick that part is; it will be as difficult as cutting their swords. The same is with their hearts; theyers of nt bone covering them seemed even thicker than their neck. I continue to look around their bodies, when suddenly. An idea formed in my mind; I shouldn¡¯t think about killing them. It is very hard, and those fatal parts are very protected. I should do what the Viscount had done when he cut off the arm. Incapacitate it; it will make the killing much easier. I had already chosen which part I want to target, and it is not an arm, but targeting it is hard, with these two little abominations pressing me repeatedly. ng Rip ng A few seconds passed, and each of my attacks was countered. I am not able to hit the ce, I wanted to. It is making me tired, as each of the attacks is filled with the power of skills. The more I use them, the more stamina they will take. I can¡¯t stop using them; it is because of them I am still hanging. If I don¡¯t want to die, then I quickly need to find a way to kill these small abominations. I am thinking about them, but not a single one ising to my mind. I once again dodge the attack through the Quick Steps and moved my saber to defend. This movement skill had be the most important in this battle. If I didn¡¯t have it, I wouldn¡¯t be alive right now. I had just thought that when a brilliant ideae to my mind. It is extremely risky, but it could work, most important; it won¡¯t be as tiring as what I am doing. I made up my mind immediately; it will be risky, and I might, but it will give me a real chance to defeat these small abominations. I didn¡¯t waste any time in acting and stopped my saber, which is moving to defend, and instead used Quick Steps to dodge, before moving left with dodge to dodge the attack from the right. Now, I am going to dodge only; attack when I get the chance to hit the spot I want. It is extremely risky, but it is the best strategy. It will help mest longer, as I do not use the twobat skills and observe my enemies more. It will also increase the chances of me getting hit, but it is a risk, I am willing to take. Rip Rip I dodged the four attacks consecutively before the two hit me. Giving me a sh on my thigh and back. I wanted to use my sword against thest one, but I forced myself to dodge. They followed me to every step, attacking me tirelessly, and the only thing I did was dodge. A minute passed, and in this single minute, neen injuries appeared on my body. It was a struggle not to use my sword, but I did it and now, I have be much better at dodging the attack. I have understood theirbat style and know their limitations. Now, I will start attacking them, it will be hard, but there is no other choice. If I kept dodging only, I will bleed to death. These are not normal injuries, there is something in them that makes them hard to heal. If I had time, I would have continued for a few more minutes. Understand it even better, but I did not. Whether I wanted or not; I will start attacking. I dodged the three attacks one after another before I suddenly bend down and attacked. ng! It hit its thigh, right where I wanted. I was only able to nce at hit for a moment before I had to take a step back before moving right and then left to dodge the attacksing toward me, one of which had hit me. ng! I dodged seven more attacks before the first nt-bone humanoid again at the same exact spot, widening the injury, which is not healing. The thigh is the right choice, as the hands are better protected and more agile. While thighs are much thicker, they are not as much protected and attack against them, couldn¡¯t be easily dodged. ng ng ng I continued to dodge and attack in between and while I got injured, but those injuries were small and manageable. A little more than a minute had passed when something happened. ng! My attack hit the same spot again and the thick bone-vine, which is thick as my hand, ispletely cut. There are four more of such vines that made the thigh, but it is a victory. Hun! A few secondster, I noticed a thing. The cut had affected it more than I had thought it would. Its speed had reduced by a little and now, its movement isn¡¯t as smooth as before. It put a smile on my bloodied face, and I moved at it with greater vigor. ng ng ng It took me forty-second to cut the second bone vine off its thighs, making it even slower. It made attacking it, even easier, and I continued that with a single-minded focus, not caring about the injuries I am receiving. I cut the third bone vine thirty-five secondster and needed about the same time to cut the fourth one. Now, there is only one bone vine connected to the rest of its leg. This made it quite slow and its movements more predictable. With reduced speed and predictable attacks from one nt-bone abomination, I begin to get much less injured than before. Now, I ampletely focused on thest vine. I would attack it over and over while dodging its second nt-bone humanoid attacks. It was also great that my attacks rarely missed their target, always hitting in ce, which I wanted with perfect uracy. I have been trained for it; it is one of the first things my mother andter, my instructors taught me. Slice! Finally, with thest attack, the final bone-vine was cut apart, and the leg fell to the ground. To my surprise, the nt-bone humanoid did not fall. Instead, it attacked me while standing on a single leg, which I had easily avoided, but avoiding the powerful attack from the second nt-bone humanoid. While it is not falling down is a little disappointing, it did not matter. I used the Quick Steps to move back and like I had expected. The second nt-bone humanoid followed the first. It was too slow with hopping on a single leg and looked kind of funny. ng! I dodged the attack, before attacking, the same spot I had attacked the first nt-bone humanoid. It hit, and I dodged the attacking at me, before attacking that spot again. Dealing with two of these nt-bone humanoids is hard, but a single one is only difficult. After fighting them for a few minutes, I got used to them and could deal with it, as long as it is alone. ng ng ng I dodge and attack before moving away when the hopping nt-bone humanoid got close. I moved around the small area, while keep attacking and was finally able to cut the first bone vine on the second nt-bone humanoid thigh. I immediately targeted the second bone vine and then the third, fourth, before finally the fifth. I did it without getting any injury, which made me most happy. As these injuries may be tiny, but the damage they are doing is not. sh! With the final sh, the entire leg was cut apart. Now the second nt humanoid is also hopping on a single leg. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face, but I did not waste any time. Instead, I begin attacking the other thigh. Attacking the sword in hand is still dangerous, it is better. I cut both of their legs before I move to their hands or any other part. This time, I did not begin immediately. I created some distance and took out the potions; I drank the stamina potion and the healing potion, and both of them burned in my stomach. I had drunk them to their limit and with these potions, there will be side effects, but I will care about themter. My injuries are heavy, that I already started to feel lightheaded. I could not continue in such a state. I am thankful to the Viscount; it is because of him. The potions are even working against these injuries. These are not normal injuries, but magical ones, and potions shouldn¡¯t affect them, but they are. It is for the same reason Z and Jon are still fighting, despite their injuries ring. The potions gave me pain, but their effect started within a second, and I moved toward the nt-bone humanoids again. ng ng ng! I cut them and the resistance was so low that I was able to cut the first bone vine in eleven seconds. I took a second less, cutting the second bone vine. Thud! Half a minuteter, I cut the whole leg and the nt-bone humanoid fell on the ground hard. Even in this state, it moved toward my attack, but it was far too slow. I looked at before I moved toward the second hopping nt-bone humanoid and begin to cut its other leg. Thud! I seeded in forty-eight seconds; now both of the nt-bone humanoids are on the ground and moving toward me very slowly. ¡°Silver, their weakness is their heart!¡± shouted Heiman from the other side. I nodded and moved to attack my heart immediately. The heart-like neck is protected; it will take double the effort to strike it. ng, ng! I moved to strike it when it defended. I tried again, and it defended again. Seeing that, I decided to cut the hands first before moving for the heart. It was a little difficult, seeing the hand could move in any direction and is fast, but I have freedom. I attacked constantly, without stopping. Finally, I seeded in cutting one hand, before cutting the other one, as the bastard could use a sword with a single hand. I did not immediately go for the heart instead; I went for the other nt-bone humanoid, and cut its hands, before finally going for the heart. Hun! It took more than twice the effect to breach the heart, but when I did; I got a surprise there. There is a green and ck gem in the center. It is the size of a marble and is shining with power. I looked at it for a moment, before cutting all the connections to it and bringing out the gem. The moment I did, it finally went limp and ceased all the movements. The gem is its core, the moment I removed it; it is dead. The ck-green gem looked important, and I had ced it inside my bag before moving to the other nt-bone humanoid. ¡°Need any help?¡± Grog asked as I was attacking the chest of nt-bone humanoids, ¡°No, I am fine,¡± I replied. He and Heiman had finished dealing with their nt-bone humanoids. I am surprised that Joseph is still fighting, that Heiman had gone to help him. I only nce at him for a moment before I focused on my chest, a couple of secondster, I was able to breach it. As I did, I took out the gem and the nt-bone humanoid went dead. ¡°To be honest, I did not think. You would survive the battle against these things. They were strong as me in raw power,¡± ¡°But you had not only survived but also killed them,¡± he said, sounding so impressed that I felt my cheeks heating up. ¡°Thank you, I guess,¡± I said, a little awkwardly as I got up. Looked at the fight in front of me, where the same thing is happening. They are also cutting the abomination piece by piece to kill it. Till now, they have sessfully cut its head, a hand, and a leg, and now the Viscount is very closer to cutting its other hand. Thud! I had just thought that when the Viscount finished cutting its arm and immediately moved to the giant leg. Third of which had already been cut by the others and as the Viscount joined, the progress has be faster. THUD! A minute and a halfter, the huge body fell down, and the Viscount jumped on its chest but did not attack immediately. ¡°Four of you, open the gate.¡± He said to four helping him and turned to us. ¡°You fivee close to the gates. The moment I remove its core, the nts, might attack again.¡± ¡°We need to be ready to leave immediately when that happens,¡± he added, and we immediately moved toward the gate, maintaining as much distance from the giant nt-bone abomination as possible. On the way, I picked up a few things, I found interesting. Soon, I reached the gate, where Brul and Captain Azalea, cutting the bones vines, while Z and Jon, sat tiredly. Their injuries have worsened. The blockishness had covered their hands, even their face, and blood was dripping out from their eyes and ears. ¡°I will call for healers as soon as we got out,¡± I said to them. Jon nodded, while Z smiled gratefully. Their injuries are really heavy, and I hope it is not toote to deal with them. Two minutester, they finished cutting the nts and pushed open the door. For a momentter, there was nothing, and I opened my mouth to curse when a watery-silveryyer materialized, and we immediately took a sigh of relief. The silvery screen means it is working. Everybody looked at it excitedly and Joseph even took a step toward it, before stopping himself and turning toward the Viscount, like the rest of us. ¡°We have opened the gate, my lord,¡± informed Captain Aza. ¡°Good, leap into the door; the moment I removed its core,¡± he said and brought his hand down his hand into the chest of nt-bone abomination. It couldn¡¯t shock me and others, it is extremely dangerous. All of us used our weapons to do that, but he is using his hands. A momentter, he brought out the core, which is the size of a golf ball, and immediately the struggling abomination went limp. At the same time, the nts, who were maintaining an invisible boundary, came rushing at the tide. ¡°To the gate,¡± shouted Viscount and we jumped at the gate; thest thing I saw before everything went dark is Viscount leaping toward us. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 114: Warrior Level 11 Chapter 114: Warrior Level 11 ¡°I had not thought more than one person would survive this,¡± said the man, watching the people leaving through the gate. The nts are rushing toward the gates before stopping as thest man passed through it. The nts did not touch the man with the staff standing amidst them, as if they did not sense him. He looked at the gate for a couple of seconds before turning to parts of a nt-bone humanoid, and his expression turned serious. ¡°The temple is increasing its influence more rapidly than the past two thousand years.¡± ¡°Is this will be the century when they wille?¡± he asked softly, before turning to the temple and a momentter, disappeared. ¡­ Everything turned bright again as I appeared on the other side, where over twenty people were already waiting by the gate. As we appeared, they surrounded us with weapons ready. ¡°They have appeared. Healers, begin your work,¡± said the man, or rather the lich. The skull and green soul mes in the eye socket are rather telling. He is wearing purple armor and a blue ax on his back, which is definitely an artifact. The healers appeared immediately at his order. Thankfully, they are priests and not a mage healer. Navr also has churches, there are many gods in the death domain and nearly all of them have churches here. They appeared and immediately cast the healing spells on us, and I have to say; they are damnfortable. ¡°Honorable Yatsal; these two had ring of shamasil ink?¡± said the middle-aged woman healing Jon and Z. ¡°Is that something they have got in a dungeon?¡± he asked. ¡°No, it seemed far older,¡± the woman replied, shaking her head. ¡°Then, healing it is not our responsibility,¡± replied the lich with a smile. Hearing that, dread appeared in the eyes of Jon and Z. Their injuries have red too much and spreading rapidly. If not healed quickly, it will kill them. ¡°Forgive me, Great Lich, but it is your responsibility to heal them,¡± I said before I could stop myself. Immediately, all the eyes fell on me, including Viscount, who was about to speak. ¡°Why do think that little human? As the healer had said, these are not injuries, they have gotten into the dungeon. So, it is not our responsibility to heal them,¡± asked Lich softly as he turned to me. ¡°Our diplomatic mission falls into Navr diplomatic charter, section seven, subsection three.¡± ¡°The security of diplomats is Navr¡¯s responsibility; under it, any damage and injuries we suffered is also the responsibility of Navr,¡± I said, and the smile on Lich¡¯s face widened. I had read thews of Navr carefully, beforeing here; I didn¡¯t think I would need to use them in such conditions. ¡°Again, this is not an injury that they have got in the dungeon. So, we have no responsibility to heal it,¡± he replied. ¡°You have, because their injuries had been suppressed, but the conditions they suffered inside the dungeon had made them re out. So, it became your responsibility to heal them,¡± I said. The lich is not unfazed by my words. ¡°Since you are saying they were suppressed before. We will suppress them back as before,¡± he said and this time, it is my time to smile. ¡°Suppression wouldn¡¯t be enough. As you are aware, once these injuries re, even if you suppress them, they re again quickly; the suppression will only be temporary,¡± ¡°Since it is conditions we have faced in the dungeon that caused the re; only healing them fully will bepletepliance with the Navr diplomatic charter section seven, subsection three,¡± I said, looking directly into his eyes. ¡°That is your interpretation, but mine said, the suppression of their injuries is more than enough forpliance with the charter,¡± he replied with a smile. ¡°I can not force you, Great Lich, but I will be filing a protest about it in all the relevant channels,¡± I said and felt like I could die the next moment. All the hair on my body stood up, and my heart started to beat faster. Even healer healing stopped hearing my words. I had just threatened a lich. A Great Lich; a Level 40 powerhouse, who can kill me in an instant. ¡°Silver is right. Lich Yatsal, it is your Navr¡¯s responsibility to heal all our injuries,¡± said Viscount, with his lips curving faintly. I looked at him, thankfully. ¡°Since you are asking, Viscount Atre; I will ept your request,¡± said Lich and pointed his bone finger at Z and Jon. Viscount made a statement, not a request, but nobody pointed that out. A secondter, the white gemmed ring lit up, and two white rays leased from it toward Jon and Z. ¡°Ahhhh¡­.¡± They scream mournfully as the rays hit them, and I nearly opened my mouth to scream at him, but stopped when I realize, Lich is not harming them. The ck marks over their skin and inside their bodies are burning. The treatment may be painful, but it is doing the job. These injuries are quite scary that normal healers could forget to remove them. Only someone at the power of Lich could do that. Two minutes and a halfter, the rays disappeared, with Z and Jon falling into unconsciousness. ¡°Thank you, Great Lich,¡± I thanked, he only looked at me, before turning to Viscount Atre. ¡°Viscount, I hope you and your people will hand over everything you have got in the dungeon. As you can understand, those things are corrupted. We need to destroy them as soon as possible,¡± said the lich. My heart tightened hearing that; I picked up a few things in the dungeon. Including the cores of little abomination, which I think are very valuable. If we were normal adventurers, we would have needed to hand them over with no questions asked. The state has the first right over the things found in the dungeon, but we are not adventurers, nor mercenaries, but diplomats. It makes thingsplicated. ¡°No. Those things we have earned by fighting for our life. We will not hand them over,¡± said Viscount, rejecting the lich directly. It made the me in Lich¡¯s eyes burn bright for a moment, before turning normal. ¡°Those things are corrupted, Viscount; they will be harmful to you,¡± said Lich, emphasizing those two words. ¡°You do not need to worry about that, Lich Yatsal; we have our methods to purify the corruption,¡± he replied. ¡°As you say, Viscount,¡± said the Lich, with gritted teeth. He is angry, but he did not press. They are already in the wrong and Viscount had kept the conversation civil, despite the things we have suffered. Though Navr will have to give the answer. Time passed as healers work on everyone, including Viscount. He is also injured, though, not as much as the rest of us. My injuries are healing rapidly, and it is making me sleepy. I am having a hard time controlling this sleep. ¡°Honorable Yatsal, they are out of danger,¡± informed the woman. ¡°Good, take them into carriages and continue with their treatment there,¡± he said, and immediately a few people moved. They ced us on a stretcher and moved. I looked around and saw an old building with high ceilings. There are even carving on the walls that looked simr to the ones on the columns. Soon, we reached the carriages, which were parked inside the building. The carriages are bigger than normal carriages. They are medical carriages; they have prepared them, knowing we woulde out injured. Hun! As we reached near carriages, I saw a surprising thing. The things pulling carriages are not alive; they are dead. The bone horses are attached to the carriages; they will pull the carriages. I watched them as the door of the carriages opened and they took us inside. The carriage they took me had two beds; they put sleeping Ethan in one and me in another. I looked around the carriage and saw there were no windows in it. I was looking around it when the carriage begins to move, while the priests started to cast the spells again. They have brought us out of danger that we could recover on our own, but they are still casting the spells and I will not reject it. The sooner I recover, the better it will be. After what I had experienced, I want to be in top shape always. ¡°How long it will take us to reach Jalrux City?¡± I asked the priest who was healing me. ¡°About five hours,¡± he replied. I nodded and closed my eyes and the sleep I had been resisting took me in its embrace immediately. Warrior Lv. 10 Warrior Lv. 11 Lawyer Lv. 10 Skill Gained: Swift de Skill Changed: Quick Steps ¨C Rapid Legs Skill Gained: Honeyed Voice When I woke up, I saw the words in front of me. I had leveled up and gained not one, but three levels. One in a ss I had not thought I would get. Not to mention the skill that came with it. It seemed like quoting aw in front of a hostile Lich made me level up immediately. I have got three skills. Two new skills and one which advanced. The one thing that made me most excited is the attribute points. Since two of my sses had reached the first capstone of Level 10, I got two attribute points. I had big ns for them, but seeing the incidents I had experienced since leaving the Greltheaven, I decided to use points on different attributes that I had decided earlier. I did not use the attribute points immediately, instead opened the interface.
ss: Agent of Experience (Lv. 13)
Warrior Lv. 11 Lawyer Lv. 10 Adviser Lv. 5
Charisma: 12
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 7
Strength: 8
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Rapid Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Sure Foot ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Persuasion ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ Swift de ¡¤ Honeyed Voice
Attribute Points: 2
Of the four sses, I have three had three above level 10, and it hasn¡¯t been even a year. This is a quite fast leveling speed. Normally, people take a year or more to reach the Level 10. Well, normal people didn¡¯t experience the events I did in the past couple of months. I had nearly died more times than I could count. Still, I need to be careful about taking any more sses. It slows down the leveling. There is a saying, all sses confluence if you take them high enough; I don¡¯t want to test it. I looked at my skill list and couldn¡¯t help but notice one thing. I have three sses of simr vor: Lawful Suggestion, Persuasion, and Honeyed Words. I could even add a Trustful Presence in them, but it is a passive skill. All three are from the same stream. Though they work a little differently, with the limitation of their sses. If I can use all three breaking their ss restrictions, I will have a wonderful thing in my hand. It will not be easy, but I will do it. I had done it with Fast Reading. Though, doing it with these three will be quite hard. Seeing these charm skills, I wanted to add attribute points to charm. I had decided to use it in charm, till it reached fifteen, but now, I have changed my mind after what I had experienced. So, with a heavy heart, I added one attribute point to vitality and the other to strength. Immediately, I felt the change in me. I felt a power coursing through my tired body and the tiredness I am feeling rapidly disappeared.
ss: Agent of Experience Lv. 13
Warrior Lv. 11 Lawyer Lv. 10 Adviser Lv. 5
Charisma: 12
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 8
Strength: 9
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Rapid Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Sure Foot ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Persuasion ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ Swift de ¡¤ Honeyed Voice
Attribute Points: 0
Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 115: Jalrux Chapter 115: Jalrux ¡°How long it had been?¡± I asked the healer, who was sitting not far away from me. ¡°Three and half hours; we should be in Jalrux in an hour,¡± he replied. ¡°Thank you for healing me,¡± I said, and a small smile appeared on his expressionless face. ¡°It is my job,¡± he replied, before going back to reading his bible. I looked around in the windowless carriage. It is not dark inside. The crystal lights provide enough illumination to look around but are gentle enough that one could sleep in it without any problem. ¡°We had really survived. I did not think we would, especially when the abomination appeared,¡± said the voice beside me. I turned to Ethan, who had finally woken up. ¡°Yes, we did,¡± I replied, and I sighed. Many times, in the battle, I had nearly died. It is by everyone¡¯s help; we could get out. For it, I am very grateful. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked. ¡°Good,¡± he replied and turned to the priest. ¡°I will ask my family to increase the donation to the church of Raal,¡± he said, to the priest. ¡°The church will appreciate it,¡± said the priest. I looked at him and spun my index finger. He nodded and a momentter; the silence bes deeper. ¡°Do you have a sealing box?¡± I asked him. ¡°Yes,¡± he replied, and the secondter. He handed over a small palm size wooden box to me, which is heavier than it looks. ¡°It will be enough for cores. For other things, I will get you the bigger boxes after we reached the city,¡± he said. ¡°How much do I have to pay for this?¡± I asked him. The sealing boxes are not exactly cheap, and this one looked especially well made. ¡°Really? You are asking me that, what we have gone through?¡± he asked back. ¡°These are pretty expensive,¡± I said, looking wooden box. ¡°Not to me. My house makes them,¡± he said, shaking his head. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, not forcing further. I turned to the box and opened it, before cing the two cores inside, aware that the priest was looking. I do not care. He is not going to snatch them; they are mine. ¡°You should purify them quickly as possible, or you can sell them to me. I will pay quite a high price for them,¡± Ethan said, and I turned to him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you satisfied with the two you have got?¡± I asked, to which he sighed. ¡°I would have been satisfied. If I had gotten the other four too,¡± he said, with longing. ¡°They had already taken an enormous risk, selling you the two,¡± I said, and his expression turned serious as he nodded. There were nine little abominations, and through them, nine cores were taken out. I have got two, Joseph got one, while Grog and Heiman got six; one from Joseph¡¯s abominations since Heiman helped him. Grog and Heiman sold him two cores, which I said was an enormous risk because the state had a first right over everything gotten from the dungeon. They sold those things before letting the state could take a look at them. It is a calcted risk on their part. They only sold a third of the bounty, and also this trip to the dungeon was not official; they were pulled into it without their consent. It will give them some wriggle room; as they had sold a third of things, the rest was for the states to take, which I am sure they will. The state rarely let mercenaries have such dangerous things. Speaking of it, I will have to find someone to purify them before researching their leads. I have a couple of leads. If they did not work; I will send them to Namdar. Time passed as we talked about general things before the carriages suddenly stopped. A secondter, the healer opened the door and walked out. Ethan and I looked at each other before walking out of the carriages into thete afternoon sun. The carriages stopped on the open ground beside a wide paved road. It is one of the widest paved roads I have seen in this world. Our carriages are not the only ones standing. There is another group of enchanted carriages parked, with human and orc drivers and the real beasts pulling them. I was watching everyone getting out of their carriages when the ck carriages with undead horses turned left. ¡°Gentlemen, please,¡± said the Orc, who was talking to Viscount Atre. I have seen him beside the Lich earlier, who seemed to have disappeared. He motioned toward the new carriages; it is clear; we are changing the carriages. I wonder why we didn¡¯t use the ck ones to reach Jalrux City since it is not far. I could see its outline from where I am standing. ¡°Silver, ride with me,¡± said Viscount Are, when I was about to enter a white carriage with Ethan. His invitation surprised me. I may have fought alongside the Viscount in the dungeon, but I had barely spoken a few words to him. ¡°It would be my honor, my lord,¡± I said to him, walking toward the red carriage, which was bigger and better than the other three. I walked inside and sat in front of him. Feeling nervous and a little awkward. This man is powerful, not only by levels but also by station. He is from a noble house, which is strongest, but not weakest, either. Most importantly, he is one of the people closest to the fourth prince. A strong contender for the throne. ¡°You are quite surprising, Silver. You can fight like a prodigy and, from what I heard, is quite knowledgeable inw and policy.¡± ¡°These are not the qualities seen in the merchant,¡± he said, with a small smile on his face. It sounds like a normal statement, but it is something more. I should be careful in answering it. ¡°It all thanks to myte father. He had given me the freedom to pursue anything I had wanted,¡± I replied. It is a truth. He may not like what I am learning, but he never stopped me from perusing it. ¡°You should feel grateful for it; not many people get such freedom,¡± he said and his eyes became unfocused for a moment. ¡°I am,¡± I replied, with a lot more emotions in my voice than I like to. For more than a minute, there was a silence. I wanted to speak twice, but no words seemed to havee out of my mouth. ¡°Count Darrow had praised you greatly. Especially your handling of the undead incident.¡± ¡°I have seen cities riot and burn, with just a whisper of undead,¡± he said and shook his head as if remembering something nasty. ¡°Mind telling me how you did it?¡± he asked and this time, his gaze is serious. ¡°It was all control of information and narrative; we molded it ording to our needs. Telling the people the truth, the way we wanted,¡± I replied. He nodded, but keep looking at me; it is clear that he wanted me to exin it in detail. ¡°When we first got the news, it¡­¡± I begin hiding nothing. There was nothing in the information that he does not know or have ess to know. He listened with no interruption. If I did not see his eyes closely following my exnation, I would have thought, he is sleeping with his eyes open. Some people do that, I even knew one person having a skill for that. ¡°Many mistakes have been made. If not for them, it would have gone even smoother.¡± I finished. Yes, there have been mistakes. Some were truly idiotic ones, but thankfully, despite them, everything had worked great. There was no riot or chaos and, most importantly, business returned as usual within a week. ¡°You have done great, better than most people. If not for you, Count Darrow would have been still busy in dealing to this day,¡± he said, and I smiled. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, why did not apply for the imperial knights for which you were preparing? Seeing your talent, you have been able to get in,¡± he asked, and it couldn¡¯t help but make me surprised. It is notmon knowledge that I had been preparing to be an imperial Knight. Even during the years, I had prepared; few people knew about my goal. ¡°I had got into an ident a few weeks before the test, which made me ess my life choices,¡± I said, and he nodded somberly. ¡°Yes, life-threatening ident, as that will much anyone reevaluate their choices.¡± He said, once again surprised me. It is clear he had researched me, while none of these things were secret. They couldn¡¯t be known to him unless he looked around. Time passed and he continue to ask simple questions. Revealing information, a very few know about. I had be even more careful in answering the questions but did not lie while answering them. As I had said, these questions only contain information few knew. They did not pry for secrets or any important thing, but despite that, I felt like this man was reading me; understand things I won''t like him to do. In this regard, he was more intelligent than the Count Darrow. A little more than half an hour passed, and the Jalrux city had gotten close enough that I could see. ¡°It is a marvel,¡± I said as I looked beautiful city, which is no less grand than Namdar. The city is smaller, half the size of Namdar, but extremely well-nned. Filled with beautiful architecture, and wide roads. It is built by the liches, and like all regional capitals; it had never been breached by any forces. In the past thousand years, a few armies were able to reach it, but they could never breach its gate, much less conquer it. Thest time the city was attacked was four hundred years ago. Soon, we reached the gates; they are white and made of bones, but people passing through did not seem to bat an eye at it. The carriages entered the gates without stopping even for a second. There were human and Orc guards, but they just nced at the carriages before letting go. ¡°I don¡¯t like to say it, but Navr safest country in the continent. Its cities are safest in the whole continuant; they are also politically stable with no conflict, crime, and unemployment,¡± he said. I am surprised to hear that, not because it is not true, but because he had said it, people of his station and especially from the Empire did not say such words. ¡°Some say it is a paradise,¡± I said, and he nodded lightly. In these past few months, I have heard many people say those words to me. It is paradise because, inside the border, there is no war. The crime barely exists and so is unemployment. In Navr, no one goes hungry and there is always a roof to sleep on. It is why, despite the undead kingdom. People throng to enter it, but not all. The borders are very well protected, and those who sneaked in got jailed or killed, before they them into the undead. The only way one could get inside is by being valuable; you need to have high enough levels in required sses. People of Level 30 and above had direct entry, no matter the ss they have, but how many could reach that level? Those who are able to reach it, do not need to go to Navr for afortable life. They can find it anywhere. The carriage entered the city, and the things I saw blew my mind. Each building looked like it is made to ent the city. There are all types of architecture here and all fit the city, like a perfect puzzle. As the carriages walked on a wide road, with barely any traffic. I saw the beautiful buildings,rge parks, and markets, where there are people of nearly every race, buying and selling things. It is all enamored me, making me feel the trip to the dungeon worth it, to see this wonderful city. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 116: Sealed Chapter 116: Sealed The carriages went through the gate and stopped in front of the white mansion surrounded by a big, beautiful garden. The guards immediately appeared in front of our carriage, and one of them opened the door. Through the window, I could see Stone and Ina; looking at carriages with the searching gaze. ¡°Silver, it is nice talking to you,¡± said Viscount as he got up to leave the carriage. ¡°The honor is mine, my lord,¡± I replied. He smiled and stepped out of the carriage, and I followed behind him. Immediately, Ina¡¯s eyes found me, and she took a step, before stopping herself. ¡°Hanson, you shouldn¡¯t havee,¡± said Viscount to his injured man. He was still recovering from the injuries he had gotten from the assassins. ¡°It is my duty, my lord,¡± he said. Viscount smiled and walked with his two men toward the mansion, talking to them under privacy skills. I did not follow him and instead turn to Ina. ¡°Master Silver,¡± she greeted as she appeared in front of me, barely holding the emotions in her eyes. ¡°Ida,¡± I said and gave her a light hug. Immediately, I felt the wetness on my shoulder. Feeling that, I hugged her a little tighter; a momentter, she rxed. ¡°I am sorry. I am just d you are alive,¡± she said as she let go of the hug and wiped the tears in her eyes. ¡°Me too,¡± I replied and turned to Stone, who was bringing his weakened teammates out of the carriage. While they have been healed from those powerful magical injuries; they are quite weak. It will take them two to three days to recover from it. ¡°We didn¡¯t get a chance earlier to say it. Thank you, mister Silver. We really appreciate what you have done for us,¡± said Jon, as they stopped beside me, while Stone watched in confusion. ¡°It is the least I could do after what we have been through,¡± I said and walked toward the mansion with Ina, while Stone took Z and Jon to their quarters. ¡°Adviser Silver, Lord Lancel, had summoned you to his office,¡± said the guard, as I barely climbed two steps into the mansion. ¡°Lead the way,¡± I said to him, and we walked inside the mansion, whole Stone took Jon and Z to their quarters for the rest. ¡°When did you arrive here?¡± I asked Ina while following the guard inside the luxurious mansion. I hate to admit it, but it is much better than my establishment. Every corner and every piece of art is expensive and beautiful. There is not a hint of gaudiness that is seen in the mansion of Count Darrow. ¡°Atte morning,¡± she replied. ¡°You should have arrived by morning?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, but after you all disappeared, they changed the route,¡± she replied. Lancel must have raised the hell, not for me. Even after a month, he did not like me, but for the Viscount. He is an important man and even if the disappearance is no fault of his. It will affect him and, like Count Darrow, Lancel hates it when his interests are threatened. ¡°You didn¡¯t inform Ca or my family, right?¡± I asked. ¡°No, allmunication was forbidden,¡± she replied, and I sighed in relief. Ca would have been worried needlessly, and informing the family would have brought its own set of troubles. Soon, we stopped by red-metallic doors; they are simple, but I could tell, they are very well made and heavy. It would be very hard to destroy them. ¡°Adviser, Lord Lancel had asked you inside,¡± informed the assistant. I nodded and walked toward the door. As I reached them, I pushed, and they opened with surprising smoothness, despite being so heavy. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted as I entered inside, where several people were sitting. There is Lancel, and in front of him, is Viscount Atre. There are also Mage York and Robin. ¡°Remus, I am d you havee out of the dungeon alive,¡± said Lancel as he turned to me. ¡°It is all thanks to the Viscount Atre that we all were able to survive,¡± I replied. He smiled at that, before turning to the Viscount. ¡°The incident was unfortunate, but it also gives us the opportunity. I was discussing with Viscount how we should use it,¡± said Lancel, immediatelying back to business. It is one of his qualities I like the most; he iszy, but a hard worker, when it is important. ¡°It is indeed an opportunity that we should use wisely, but shouldn¡¯t press too much,¡± said Viscount. ¡°You are right Viscount; go for the minor concessions, not the bigger ones,¡± said Lancel and Viscount smiled. A few minutester, the Viscount left after giving some pointers, while Lancel, Robin, and I begin to hash out the new strategy for tomorrow. Viscount is not part of our negotiations. He had his own things, something only Lancel is aware of. An hour passed, and we are still discussing, bringing out our views. I mostly stayed quiet on most issues, only giving my opinion when asked, aside from the trade. I will be part of all negotiations, but responsible for the trade. It is a good thing; I had changed the clothes in the carriage. If I had to sit here with torn clothes, it would have been awkward. ¡°We will move tomorrow with this strategy,¡± said Lancel after three hours of discussion. Robin and I nodded, with relieved smiles on our faces; it is very hard sometimes to convince Lancel to follow our advice. Thankfully, he agreed to most of our suggestions. ¡°Remus, take a good rest. Tomorrow will not be easy.¡± Said Lancel. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I said and walked out of the office. I am tired and want to take a rest, but there are a few things I have to do first. ¡°Captain Azalea,¡± I greeted the woman. She looked fresh, it is clear, she had bathed and changed into a new set of clothes. ¡°Adviser Silver,¡± she replied and walked toward the office, while I turned to Ina. ¡°Do you know where I am staying?¡± I asked, ¡°Yes, Majordomo had informed me, when wee here,¡± she said and led me toward my suite. Soon, we stepped out of the elevator and stopped in front of the white doors. She took out the key and opened the doors. I walked into the beautiful suite, like the mansion. Everything here was beautiful. I like how minimalistic this suit is. ¡°I will freshen up and ask the kitchen to send the dinner for us; we will be leaving after finishing the dinner,¡± I said and walked to my room, before stepping into the shower. I sighed as the cold water cascade over my body. I am clean. All the dried blood, dust, and other things have been removed by the spell, but there is nothing like a shower that makes you feel clean. I stayed in a shower for half an hour and washed every part of my body before walking out, feeling truly clean. I dried myself and walked into the closet, where all my clothes were perfectly lined up. I picked a suit and wore them before waking out of the room. I had an extra set of clothes in my iles bag, but that was for an emergency like a dungeon. Iles bag space is precious, and I had thought carefully about everything I had ced there. I had walked into the living room and saw dinner had been brought and already set on the table. ¡°Eat with me. It might take some time to the ce where we are going,¡± I said to Ina. She hesitated for a moment before sitting down in front of me. We ate in silence. I had already asked her what I wanted to do earlier. So, there was nothing else to talk about. ¡°Earlier, a delivery of sealing boxes came in your name. It is from Ethan Ashav,¡± she informed. ¡°Where are the boxes?¡± I asked her. ¡°I had ced them in another room after Stone said they are safe,¡± she replied. ¡°Good,¡± I said and continued eating. A few minutester, I finished the dinner and walked to the room. As she had said, there were three brown boxes. They are wooden and of different sizes, but all three would fit in my iles bad perfectly. ¡®These three should be enough,¡¯ I said to myself and opened them, before wearing gloves and bringing out the things from the iles bag. I have touched them with my hands in the dungeon, but I don¡¯t want to take the risk again, with healing and all done on me. In front of Ina¡¯s widened eyes, I took out the things. The first ones were the swords. I took out both of the swords and ced them in the box before closing it. In the second box, I ced the tiny piece of a big abomination. I had picked it up when I was walking toward the door; I am not the only one done that, others also did it. Ethan had even thrown away many things from his bag to make a space for them. It may be a tiny piece of nt-bone abomination, but it is big as my hand and thick as my thigh. It is also quite heavy, so I had to be careful in putting it into a box where it barely fit itself. Thest box is a little smaller than the box I had put my swords and made small and big brackets for different things. I ced berries and flowers; I had picked in a dungeon. And also, the things I found lying on the battlefield. Not every part of the nt was used in the abomination''s creation. There are some flowers, seeds, and even fruits that didn¡¯t; I picked a few that were near the gate. ¡°Are these the things you have found in a dungeon?¡± Ina asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied and put the boxes in the iles bag. I felt relieved as I ced the boxes in the bag. Ethan had warned me to ce them in the sealing box as soon as possible. The magical materials are dangerous, many of them needed to be ced in a sealing box before storing them in an iles bag. As their magic could erode the enchantments of the bag. ¡°Legs go,¡± I said, and I walked out. As we stepped out of the suit, Stone appeared behind us. ¡°How are Jon and Z feeling?¡± I asked. ¡°Aside from the weakness. Very good,¡± he said. I nodded and stepped into the elevator. A few minutester, the carriage stopped in front of me. Stone opened the door, and I stepped inside with Ina. ¡°Take us to Axel Emporium,¡± said Ina. A momentter, the carriage moved and soon it rolled out of the mansion''s gate into the city. We did not speak, instead looked at the city. At night, it is even more beautiful than the day. Every part of the city is covered in light, with people of every race walking under. One would be surprised to see there is very little undead in the city of the undead kingdom. Of course, there are undead, but far fewer numbers than one would imagine in their mind when they think of the city in Navr. Navr had a huge number of undead; millions of them, but the majority of them are hidden. The ones that are visible are farming and mining undead. Soon, the carriage reached the Johar district; one of the market districts. Where the lights are extra brighter and the buildings are bigger, with lots of people, but despite that, the carriage barely lowered its speed. In the market district of Owlspring, the carriage had to reduce its speed by a fourth, sometimes fifth. It is surprising because the number of people is about the same. The only difference here is that Jalrux is far better nned than the Owlspring. A few minutes passed, and the carriage stopped in front of a huge nine-story building. It is all tall and wide, and it only sells one thing; the thing I am very interested in. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 117: Relationship and Training Chapter 117: Rtionship and Training ¡°I never thought I would see a store so big that only sell liquor,¡± Ina said with a smile as we got out of the carriage. As she said, the whole nine-story building only sells liquor. I looked at the bluestone building before entering inside through therge ss doors. On the other side is an enormous lobby, which leads to the different sections of the store. I couldn¡¯t help but get enamored by it; especially ten bottles of different types of liquors in fortified ss. These ten bottles belong to the top ten and all of them are five hundred years old. They are very expensive, and money alone isn¡¯t enough to buy them. I wanted to browse this magnificent store, but I have note here for that; my purpose is bigger. I walked toward the reception and stopped in front of a beautiful elf with light green hair. ¡°Hello, I would like to meet the owner of the store, please,¡± I said. The receptionist is quite good. There is barely any change appears on her face upon hearing my words. ¡°Certainly sir, but before that, can I know your name?¡± she asked with a small, professional smile on her face. Of course, they will not let anybody meet the owner unless of course it is needed to be someone important and even then, one would need to make an appointment. It is only polite. An immediate meeting like this, requires a cause. ¡°Remus Silver; adviser to Lord Lancel Wilstein,¡± I said, and ced my merchant badge in front of her, which is the first thing that surprised her. It might not be an Empire, but the badges still work to show the importance. ¡°Your purpose, sir?¡± she asked. This time with a little brighter smile and more polite tone. ¡°To return things, your store had lost,¡± I said, and she looked me in question. I smile and ce a dirty book with grass stains on it; it looks like someone had stomped on it. I did, for little effect. Her eyes were curious, before suddenly shing in surprise. She took the book in her hand and turn the few pages and the surprise in her eyes be bigger before her expression turned normal. ¡°Do you have all the books, sir?¡± she asked as she ced the book down. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I replied. She looked at me in question, but I just smiled. She stared at me for a couple of seconds before putting a smile back on her face. ¡°Please wait; someone higher up will meet you in a few minutes,¡± she said and led us to the private waiting room, before going back to her ce ¡°What is that book?¡± Ina asked as the receptionist left. ¡°ounts,¡± I replied. I could tell she wanted to ask more, but she remained quiet. Soon, a staff came offering refreshments; I took water while Ina took a tea, as we waited. We did not have to wait for long less than ten minutes. The elf walked inside with a smile on her face. ¡°Mr. Havel will see you, Mr. Silver,¡± she said. I smile and get up and walked out of the room with Ida. Soon, we stepped into the elevator, which took us to the top floor. We stepped out of the elevator and walked to the left end. There is a huge office with ss walls and in front of it; two secretaries. One is human, while the other is a half-elf. ¡°Mr. Havel is waiting for you. Mr. Silver,¡± said the human secretary. I nodded and walked toward the door, before opening it and entering inside. The first thing I saw is the size of the office; it is huge. One of the biggest offices I have seen. The size of the office is not everything. My grandfather¡¯s office is smaller than it, and he is one of the richest merchants in the empire. In the near center is a huge desk, and behind him sits a short stocky man with thick brown hair. He is Jasper Havel, the head proprietor of the store. He also had some dwarf blood in him, likely from his grandparent or great-grandparent. Those features are quite visible. ¡°Mr. Silver, wee. I heard you have things we had lost,¡± he greeted and motioned to sit in front of him. ¡°Remus, please, and yes, I have found a few things that belong to you,¡± I said and begin to take out the books. ¡°Apologies for their state; they were in this condition when I found them,¡± I said as I ced them on the table. His expression remained unchanged, but I could see the hint of relief shing in his eyes. Usually, the business has at least two copies of such important records, but losing one set is also bad. As it gives people the chance to manipte the records. Not to mention, in the wrong hands, it could cause huge trouble. He took the book and check each one of them, before turning to me. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, where do you find them?¡± he asked, with his face serious. ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t tell you that,¡± I said, and a frown appeared on his face. ¡°Mister Silver, it is very important. As you can understand, our important staff had been kidnapped.¡± ¡°We have to find who did this; the more information we have, the easier it would be for us to find the perpetrators,¡± he said. ¡°I am quite confident it is not kidnapping unless your person had disappeared from the city,¡± I said, and he opened his mouth before suddenly stopping. A spark lit in his eyes as if he had understood something, and he turned to me. ¡°You have found it there right; in the underground temple?¡± he asked, and I smiled. I will not talk about it. It is a forbidden topic; the less I speak about it, the better it would be. ¡°Have you seen Faris?¡± he asked after a few seconds of silence. ¡°I don¡¯t know; I found the books on the ground, with other things. There was no person nearby.¡± I replied. ¡°Could you describe me, how he looked?¡± I said a momentter. He said nothing, instead; he opened the drawer and took out the page, where the sketch of the person is drawn. ¡°He is dead,¡± I stated. This time, there was an absolute surety in my voice, as I am the one who killed him, or rather, a zombie he had turned into. ¡°He was a talented person, impable in his work. It is such a loss to lose him.¡± Havel said and sighed sadness, before turning to me. ¡°Thank you, Remus, for bringing this to me. I am sure you understand how important they are to us,¡± He spoke. Implying, if I had gone to hispetitors with it, I would have gotten quite money. I could ask him for that money and seeing his expressions, he will not decline. If the amount is fair. ¡°I don¡¯t want anything, Mr. Havel. I had only picked them because I had some extra space in my bag.¡± I said and got up to leave. My reply surprised him, but a pleased smile appeared on his face a momentter. ¡°At least, take this bottle of wine as a sign of my thanks,¡± he said as the bottle of winee flying in his hand from the wine shelf. ¡°A hundred-year-old, Ts; this I will not decline,¡± I said with a smile. I took the wine bottle. It is very expensive, not to mention rare; even with my connections, it is quite hard to get a hand on this bottle. It is ts, a liquor ranked number fifth in the world. ¡°If you need any more wine, do shop in our store, Remus; I will even give you a good discount,¡± he said. ¡°I will,¡± I said and walked and walked out of his office with Ida. Soon, we walked out of the store and stepped inside the carriage. ¡°He was clearly willing to give you a lot of money for those books. Why don¡¯t you ask for it?¡± she asked after a minute of silence. She had been wanting to ask this question since we walked out of the office. ¡°The payment would have been great, but it would have been a one-time thing. Taking it would have been wasting this wonderful opportunity,¡± I replied. ¡°You want to create a rtionship?¡± she asked after a few seconds. ¡°Right. They are one of biggest liquor businesses in the whole Navr.¡± ¡°Seeing we earn most through the liquor; it is important we form a good rtionship with them. It will help us tremendously in the future,¡± I exined. She nodded in understanding. I had brought her here to train. I need people to grow my business and I do not have years for them to slowly learn; I need to train them myself. Thankfully, I have lucked out with capable and loyal people. Ina is good with great people skills and political understanding. If one really converses with her, one will have a hard time believing she is a whore. She was this from the beginning, before sses, before the establishment. The only she did not have was the ambition and drive, which is now burning in her heart. There are a couple of more ws, which came from the environment. She grew up and worked. I am going to fix it all; show her the world and make her thrive in it, beyond her imagination. From tomorrow, she will have to do the real things. It is very risky to have her do them and if she makes a mistake, it will cost me millions of crowns and damage in reputation, but I must take the risk. She is worth taking the risk. ¡°Here, this is from you,¡± I said, and a shock appeared on her face. As she looked at the iles bag in my hand. ¡°I..I can¡¯t take it; it is too precious. I might lose it, or someone might steal it,¡± she declined with a little stutter. It is not surprising she is scared; the little bag''s value is nearly equal to my establishment. ¡°I am going to be very busy in the next few days. I will need you to do things for me and this bag will help,¡± I said. She does not require the iles bag for those things, but it will help. Most importantly, it is a sign of my trust in her. She looked at me before her shaking hands, took the bag from my hand, and ced it in her bag. It is standard like mine. They came in various shapes and sizes. Standard and stylized, some even change their colors, but those are a little expensive. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said. I only smile. She usually has excellent control over her emotions, but today, I was able to make her cry twice. ¡°Tomorrow, you have to do a few things; some of which we had already discussed in the Greltheaven,¡± I said and took out the list from my bag. Most of it is a shopping list; the things we need to buy and the price we are willing to pay. It will be her job to buy those things in that range. There are ces in them, she will need to visit and do the things I want. ¡°I will not disappoint you,¡± she said as wiped away the tears from her cheeks. ¡°I know you will not,¡± I replied with a smile. The rest of the carriage ride went with me, answering her questions. She seemed to know what I was trying to make her do. So, she is trying to get as much as information she wants from me. I answered most of her questions, but not all. Telling her everything will defeat the purpose. She needs to do it on her own, make mistakes and learn from them. Soon, we reached the mansion, and we got out of the carriage. ¡°You, go rest. You have a lot to do tomorrow.¡± I said. This time, she listened and walked toward her quarters. A few minutester, I reached for my suit. I changed intofortable clothes andy down on the bed. I wanted to prepare for tomorrow, but I am so tired that I just want to sleep. The battle had tired me out and so has the healing. While I had slept for nearly four hours; it was not enough. I need more sleep and within seconds ofying on the bed; I fell into a deep sleep. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 118: Negotiations Chapter 118: Negotiations ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed loudly as I woke up; I had nned to wake up at my usual time at dawn, to practice my new skills. Seeing what had happened on this trip. I wanted to be ready for anything that mighte, but it seemed like I had been more tired than I had thought. I had slept for twelve hours and now, I only have half an hour, before I have to meet Lancel and leave for the negotiations. I did not waste any time and went to the bathroom. There I quickly freshen and finished the shower within five minutes, beforeing out and changing into the suit. Seeing I looked presentable; I walked out, but not before taking my sword. Today, I am alone. There is no Ida or Stone; she had left and taken Stone with her as I had asked her to do yesterday. I don¡¯t like to be without my own guards, but I could take that risk here. The Jalrux is safe as the city could be and not to mention after the incident of incursion dungeon; they are more careful about our safety. I stepped out of my room and immediately activated the Rapid Steps; I have only five minutes to reach Lancel¡¯s office and I don¡¯t want to bete. The skill is excellent. Its range has increased with advancement from the Quick Steps and so has its speed. With Sure Foot always active, I could do wonders with this skill when fighting. In less than three seconds, I appeared by the elevator and stepped in. When the elevator stopped, a couple of secondster. I used the Rapid Steps again to move towards Lancel¡¯s office. ¡°Adviser Silver, you can go inside,¡± said the assistant. I nodded and walked into the door. Lancel did not trust his assistants much; he would always keep them out in most meetings. They mostly act as his errand boys than the assistants, but the assistants are errand boys. So, they are doing what they are paid to do. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted as I appeared in the office. Everyone is already present, including Robin. ¡°Remus, take a seat,¡± said Lancel. ¡°Thank you. My lord,¡± I said and sat down. ¡°Since Remus had arrived, we will go one more time on our strategy,¡± he said, and for the next hour, we discussed our strategy for today''s negotiations, until it is time to leave. At right ten, we all got up and walked out of the office. As we stepped out of the mansion, we walked into the carriages waiting for us. Lancel, Robin, and I sat in one carriage, while others sat in the other. ¡°We have to get a non-aggression pact for at least six months, and with that incident, we have some leverage,¡± said Lancel with a small smile on his face. ¡°My lord, we will try our all, but I hope you do not get your hopes up. Navr, rarely signs such pacts,¡± said Robin in an unusually blunt voice. He rarely speaks such direct words, at least to Lancel. Who tends to get angry too quickly, but it seemed like this time he is aware of the reality as well. ¡°I know it will be hard, but we will try for it,¡± Lancel said after a moment of silence. Most of the carriage ride went in silence. All three of us, looked at our preparations silently. I am a little nervous thinking about the afternoon when I will be leading the negotiations. It will be the first time I will be leading any negotiation outside of Greltheaven. Soon, we reached our destination and got out of the carriage. The city hall. ¡°Navr is really rich,¡± said Lancel, barely able to hide the awe in his voice as he looked at the architectural marvel in front of us. It is a huge ptial building, with detailed carving work done on it and painted with gold and precious metals. Some works even had a gem embedded in them. Only the undead kingdom would dare to be this extravagant; other ces did not dare to. There are thieves, high-leveled thieves. It is not like Navr didn¡¯t have high-leveled thieves, but here the density of powerhouses is also greater. Especially the dead kind, who can sniff those live rats. We were admiring the work of art when a half-elf, who looked to be in histe thirties, appeared in front of us. ¡°Lord Wilstein,¡± he greeted Lancel, who turned to him, ¡°You must be the attendant assigned to us,¡± said Lancel, hiding his embarrassment after getting caught admiring the city hall, like a bumpkin. ¡°Yes, I am Loryn, I will be your attendant today,¡± he replied. ¡°Lead the way,¡± said Lancel and he did. ¡°Your meeting will be on the eighth floor of Saras wing,¡± he informed us as we entered the city hall through the door on the left side. While following him, I couldn¡¯t help but admire the beauty of its interior. It is really a work of art that had been refined over nearly two thousand years. It is not something one can see everywhere. We reach the elevator, which is wholly made of golden ss, and one could not see the slightest runic inscription on it. As we stepped inside, it begins to move up smoothly, giving us a clear view of each floor as we move above. The elevator stopped, and we walked out; it is a floor filled with conference rooms. Navr is a powerful kingdom on the scale of the entire world, and there are hundreds of kingdoms and empires and thousands of cities traded with it. We are the smallest city on its long list and the only thing that makes us valued is that we are part of the empire. We are the first city from the empire to contact it. If they did well for us; the doors to the empire would open for them slowly. We will also benefit tremendously, from being the first movers. Navr needs trade; more trade is always better. If you remain stagnant, you are bound to fade in the annals of history and the undead understand that better than anyone. We passed through more than twenty conference rooms before we stopped in front of one. Like the other conference rooms, it also has a colored ss wall. With a te engraved with ¡®26¡¯ hanging by a blue ss wall. ¡°Administrator Rilug wille shortly for the meeting,¡± he said and opened the ss door of the doors for us. We went inside and took the seats on the left side of the table. Lancel was first to sit, with Robin and I sitting on both sides of him; the others sat beside us. We brought out our memos and folders. The topics and orders of today¡¯s negotiations have also been decided. We only need to negotiate ande to understand that is agreeable to both sides, which is harder than it looked. I looked at the time, and there were still ten minutes till the negotiations start, seeing that I opened the folder and read through a few things. While I have nearly memorized the whole damn thing; I wanted to take a look at it again, in case I had missed something. Hun! When it was one minute to time; a middle-aged grey orc wearing a white suit came inside and behind him, is a human. I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised to see only two of them; I thought they would have at least three people, but they only have two. ¡°Lord Wilstein; I am an administrator Rilug. I will represent our great city in today''s negotiation,¡± he introduced himself as he sat down. I wanted to curse the bastard; he hade alone; the human is his assistant. He is trying to show his power, which is a kind of offensive gesture. I thought Lancel will burst into mes, but he had a smile on his face. He is not noble for nothing. ¡°Nice to meet you, administrator Rilug,¡± Lancel said as he shook the orc''s hand over the table. There is no hesitation or repulsiveness; it is a first confident handshake. ¡°Now, the pleasantries are over. Let¡¯s start with business; the thing is a non-aggression pact,¡± said the orc, looking at the document in front of him. ¡°This request hade from the entire region of Renwell. We hope Navr will agree on a yearlong, non-aggression pact and we are willing to provide many incentives for it,¡± said Robin, using every skill he could. It is a very important point. If we are able to aplish it, we will receive a hero¡¯s wee back home. ¡°My apologies, but the undead kingdom of Navr won¡¯t sign any non-aggression pact with the life state,¡± ¡°Our wise leaders believe that life and death should always be in struggle, and we shouldn¡¯t upset that bnce.¡± He said, rejecting the request directly. ¡°How about six months, we are wil¡± ¡°Navr will not ept any non-aggression pack, not even of one day,¡± said the grey orc, cutting the Robin, before he couldplete the sentence. I felt the full power of his skills and couldn¡¯t help but be impressed. He is clearly at a higher level than Robin, and Robin is near Level 30. ¡°Since Navr is not interested, we will not speak about it further,¡± said Robin and changed the page; so, has the orc. ¡°The next point is the mobility of people,¡± said Robin. ¡°We want three thousand people every from both sides,¡± said the Orc. ¡°We do not have a problem with that, but we have some specific conditions,¡± Robin replied. ¡°The first one, we will not ept any undead, nor any necromancer. Any power¡­¡± Robin begins to state, one condition after another. There are twenty-three conditions from barring the entry of any kind of undead necromancers to pre-arrival intimation of any powerhouses above level 30. Fourteen conditions were agreed upon immediately, but for the other nine, we negotiated hard. It took more than two and a half hours before we agreed to the condition, which is satisfactory to both sides. We then moved to another point, which nobody follows, but need to agree on. The intelligence and infiltration. This condition is a kind of a joke; like on Earth, here everybody spies on everybody. Navr had one of the most extensive spyworks on the continent. These bastards do not rely on their undead hordes alone to win the battles. They use intelligence, as well as weapons any army use. Cannons and all. It is why the hordes of Navr are so damn hard to defeat. It is a good thing; it had just as powerful neighbors. The merchant states and Baxr dominion are not easy countries to deal with. Even Navr thinks hard, before attacking them. It fights wars; the war is the thing it loved the most. It is where it gets the powerful bodies that it needs. Hours passed, and soon, it was afternoon. ¡°It was nice negotiating with you gentlemen; we will convene again in the evening,¡± he said, and the left with his assistant. ¡°He was one tough bastard,¡± said Rowling. ¡°We had expected nothing less,¡± said Robin with a smile on his face. It may seem like negotiations went badly, but they went well. Aside from the first thing, we have got what we wanted. ¡°My lord, are staying for the trade negotiations?¡± I asked Lancel, to which he shook his head. ¡°No, I have one important meeting to attend, and I will be taking Robin with me,¡± he replied and left the conference room with Robin. He does not need to stay in negotiation earlier, too. He is the leader; he only needs to state the requirements and check the progress. Good leaders stay out of actual negotiations or only do it with the people of their standing, but I will not say that to him. In another way, it is also good he stayed. It is a learning experience for him, the reason the Count sent him and not someone else. At this stage, he could afford to make mistakes; he will not have that luxury when he bes a leader. Chapter 119: Risky Decision Chapter 119: Risky Decision Margaux ¡°Another night went great,¡± said Ca as she closed the file and turned to me. ¡°Men drink a lot. Some even have a great capacity,¡± she added with a smile. ¡°Women drink no less, my friend. If you let Barb loose, she will drink as much as them,¡± I said, and Ca sighed at the mention of our resident drunkard. Saying Barb likes to drink would be an understatement. She loved it; she revels in it and had even gotten the ss for it. Thankfully, the women know how much she can drink. Master Silver had ced a limit on drinking; the girls could drink, but only till they could hold themselves rationally. It is one of the greatest challenges faced by the new girls; I had faced it every day. I had worked. Their biggest revenuees from alcohol, but they have to be careful about how much they could drink with the client. They could not get swept into the conversation and drink endlessly. They have to make the clients drunk, not get drunk themselves. Thankfully, ¡®Graceful drinking¡¯ is one of the lessons we received. We had been taught to drink in a way that we could make a ssst for more than an hour without being noticeable. Some girls had permission to drink more or endlessly. They are the ones who got the ¡®sober¡¯ skills; a type of skills that makes them sober or hard to get drunk. They are excellent skills. I wish I had it. ¡°We have brought a lot of liquor during the incident, but all of it is gone.¡± Said Ca and looked page in front of her, it is a list of liquor they will buy today. It will be enough for ten days and then they will have to update the list. Seeing what Master Silver brings from Navr. He had set aside quite a lot of money for the liquor he was going to buy in Navr. ¡°Have any messagese from Master Silver?¡± she asked. ¡°No, aside from one who came yesterday, saying they will be finished in a few days,¡± Ca replied. There is worry written all over her face. She is trying to hide it, but failing spectacrly. ¡°He will be fine. We should worry about the establishment,¡± I said gently while pressing my hands with her. The business is going well; it is because they are doing everything perfectly. There are problems every hour, from the fight between the girls to the sudden absence of teachers. They are solving these problems immediately as they appear. ¡°With Ina gone, the responsibilities on you increase further. It is too much. You need someone to share the responsibilities,¡± Ca said. ¡°I am fine,¡± I replied. The responsibilities are a little heavy, but I can handle them. ¡°It is not fine. You need someone,¡± said Ca, before sighing. I smiled at that, but there was no mirth in it. Yes, the responsibilities are a little heavy, but who can I get? All the capable ones are top earners. If we take any one of them, the business will be affected. We can¡¯t have that, at least till we get a good number of girls in high-earning brackets. So, I will handle it alone, till Ina returns. ¡°At least take an assistant.¡± Ca pleaded, and it was not the first time she had asked her that. ¡°Fine,¡± I said, and could see a smile appearing on my friend¡¯s face. I am not so happy; the young girls going to create quite a ruckus. The girls below eighteen could not work. They only need to focus on their studies, and they get a small stipend to spend. It is good, but nothingpared to the lowest-earning girl of the establishment. Thus, the intensepetition, whenever a job appeared as it gives them more than a basic stipend. They discussed a few more things before I walked out of Ca¡¯s office. As I walked down, I heard sounds across the rooms; the sses had already started. This made Ca most worried; she wants 80% of the adult new girls to be ready for the business at the end of the month. Which I think would be possible, considering they are training for more than two months. At the end of the month, it will be three months. They will have most training than any other girls before them. Their practice with actors has already begun and with a few old girls reaching eighteen; we should be able to get the number we desire. We want the establishment at full capacity, which is around hundred and fifty. I am confident we will have that. To me, they already feel ready, but that is my opinion. Master Silver needs to feel it too, and this time his standards have increased further. The new girls need good enough to match the standard of the current establishment. The more time passed, the bigger requirements would be. She could see how girls are improving; it is not just their levels, but also the skills they are learning. Their speed of progress is amazing. I am not behind the girls either; I would practice painting in every free time I have, and I think, I am improving. The rising levels are proof of that. Though one thing still kept me awake. My mana attribute: I wanted to forget it, but I couldn¡¯t. Especially when I read my daughter''s letters, about how amazing the magic is and how she couldn¡¯t wait to cast her first spell perfectly. I shook my head and walked down, and soon; I reached underground. It is mostly silent, and while a few new girls are moving around; they are talking in low voices or using skills. To not disturb the girls who are sleeping. Soon, I reached my quarters and ce the file on my desk, before walking to my room and removing the dress. I hung the dress before falling on the bed and within a few seconds; I was asleep. Four hourster, I woke up feelingpletely refreshed. I stayed the bed for a few minutes before getting up and walking to the bathroom. There, I freshened up and showered. I dried myself and opened the closet. There are twenty-six dresses including eighteen night dresses. Those are for business; the other eight are also good, but they are for off hours. Ca had said Master Silver had ordered four more dresses for me. Saying she does not have enough dresses that require for the madam, he wants her to have at least thirty-two dresses. One for each day of the month. I have never in my life thought I would have so many dresses. Even their old madam only had three good dresses which she guarded with her life, and those were nothingpared to these. I looked at them before picking up the blue one. A few minutester, I am in my office. Yes, my office; even after so much time, I couldn¡¯t believe I have an office of my own. I calmed myself down and opened the files and begin working. There is not much work; I only need to make a few entries and I will be done. Then I can go eat. Knock Knock! Barely a minute passed since I had started working when the knock rang out on my door. ¡°Come in,¡± I said, and a secondter, the door opened and a beautiful woman in herte thirties with dusky skin and shoulder-length curly hair walked in. She was nervous, but there was a bubbling happiness on her face. Seeing those expressions, a smile appeared on my face, and I open the drawer and took a small box with a delicate ribbon on it. ¡°Congrattions Mena,¡± I said to her as I ced the small box on the table. ¡°Thank you, Madam Margaux,¡± she said happily, and moved her hand toward the box, but I stopped her. ¡°Before I give it to you. I have a make sure it is true. It is a simple formality,¡± I said, and the woman smiled and the next moment, she opened her ss, and I sensed it with mine. I got the confirmation and the smile on my face, be bigger. ¡°Congrattion on breaching the second capstone,¡± I said and gave her a box. She is the fourth girl from the third batch to breach this milestone. She tore the ribbon and opened the box. Inside it is the key to her very own room. ¡°I have dreamed about this every night,¡± she said, with tears dripping from her eyes. I felt myself tearing up, before wiping the tear off my eyes and taking out the green book. ¡®No. 34. Mena Horn,¡¯ I noted down on the green book. Girls are leveling like crazy. Seven months ago, there was not a single girl with Level 20, now there are thirty-four. This is the number the establishment had started, and now we have that number of girls at Level 20 and above. The number is still less than whatpetitors have, but we are improving rapidly and there is no doubt in my mind, we will catch up. Click! I had just put back the book. When the door widened, Ca walked in and saw Mena staring at the key, and a smile appeared on her face. ¡°Congrattions Mena,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you, Madam Ca,¡± she replied, before wiping her tears. The girl stayed in the office for a couple of more seconds before walking out. Excited to move to her own personal room. Ca closed the door and sat in front of me. I could tell she have something to say, seeing her expressions. ¡°I am going to do it,¡± she said with a smile, but I could see the nervousness in it. ¡°What are you going to do?¡± I asked. Feeling, a little nervous for some reason. ¡°I am going to let Drev use the magical materials,¡± she said, and my expression froze for a moment. ¡°What! Are you crazy? You know he had burned the restaurants, right?¡± I asked. Master Silver had said, he will think about it after watching him for a few months. He was going to build a separate kitchen for that, so he wouldn¡¯t burn down the establishment. I never thought Ca would even think about something like this. L, yes, given her impulsiveness, but not Ca. She is cautious, but it seemed like she wants to throw that into the wind. ¡°Yes, he did, but both of those times. He was using wholly magical materials,¡± ¡°I am going to let him use a few of them with normal ingredients. The food will be a mix of magical and mundane ingredients. He never had an ident with that.¡± She exined. ¡°How do you know that? Did you ask him?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, but also the detailed background check we had ordered on him arrived yesterday. Everything he had said is the truth.¡± She replied. ¡°Still, it is dangerous,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°It is, but is also necessary.¡± ¡°Starting next month, the number of girls going to increase, but it is not enough. We need something more; the fusion food will be great, especially with the liquor that Remus will bring from Navr.¡± ¡°At least ask Master Silver permission before doing this,¡± I pleaded to my cautious friend, who had turned crazy. ¡°I will tell him,¡± she said, and hearing that, I sighed. She will not ask him permission, rather she will tell him after she started. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will be careful. There will always be Stena, Shaun, or Hugo with him when he uses magical ingredients, along with two guards.¡± ¡°Just be careful, okay,¡± I said finally, seeing she is not going to listen to me. It is not like I don¡¯t understand her intentions. I do, I just hope, she would take things her usual cautious way and not be impulsive for progress. ¡°I will take every precaution, there is,¡± she said, and I nodded. I know my friend and it might seem impulsive, but she must have thought about it deeply before making this risky decision. Though, I have to say. If it worked, it would help the establishment tremendously. I truly hope it does. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 120: Paint Chapter 120: Paint Margaux ¡°Have you eaten?¡± Ca asked after nearly a minute of silence. ¡°No, I was nning to, after I finished with it,¡± I said, motioning to the work in front of me. She nodded and stayed silent. Seeing she was nning to wait, I focused on the world, and in a few minutes; I finished with it. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said as I put the file into the drawer. Soon, we walked out of my office, silently. Each one is busy with their own thoughts. We stepped out of the basement and walked toward the kitchen. When we reach there, a few girls were already eating. Thankfully, one table was empty, and we sat on it. A second after we sat, Drev appeared beside us. ¡°Madam Ca, Madam Margaux. What would you like to eat?¡± he asked, and we smiled. ¡°Surprise us, Drev,¡± said Ca. He seemed a little surprised by that. Usually, we state what we want. ¡°Good. I am nning on adding Karnam steak and Jaus rolls to the menu. You can tell me how they are,¡± he said and walked toward the kitchen. Currently, the kitchen is run by the morning staff. The new hires are training. If they do well, they will be promoted to the night shift, where the real fun and the money. There are people on the night shift here; three of them. The first one is Drev, of course, and the second is Hilda. A woman in herte twenties, ambitious that she only went home to sleep, beforeing here. She is trying to learn from the Drev as much as she could, and she seemed to have learned a lot. Though, if anyone had learned the most, then it would be Wanda. That woman is working hard. Since she had chosen to work in the kitchen, she had been working constantly. Learning as much as she could. If she was not sleeping, she would be in the kitchen practicing. Even Master Silver had praised her for her hard work. Currently, she is only helping with odd jobs and preparations, but if she continued with such drive. She will be able to cook during a day shift, in a few months, and will have a chance to work the night shift, if she had reached the standard required. Working on a night shift means she is good enough to work in most restaurants. This means she would have a respectable skill to survive in the real world. It means the world to people like us. Thisck of skill is the reason, why most women, who became free, returned to the brothel. They do not know anything than whoring. I had experienced it myself and know badly the world the worlds treat you. A brothel may seem bad, but there are ces that are worse than it. Those few months I was free were one of the worse days of my life. If I had been alone, I would have killed myself, like many do, but I returned, for the sake of my daughter. I was walking through those terrible memories when Dreve back and brought the food that was smelling heavenly and looked like a work of art. ¡°Ladies, this Karnam steak and Jaus roll, along with Haster sd and honey-dipped yur ball, that you like Madam Ca,¡± he said as ced the tes in front of us. ¡°You have spoiled me, Drev; I don¡¯t know what I will do without you,¡± said Ca. ¡°Then you will not have to let me go,¡± he said, and Ca smiled. It smells heavenly, I wanted to eat everything at once, but I first started with a steak. ¡°Umm..¡± an unconscious sound couldn¡¯t help but escape from my mouth before I could stop myself. It is very good; the steak had literally melted in my mouth. ¡°I don¡¯t think I would be able to eat the normal food again,¡± I said as I finished with a bite. ¡°I won¡¯t ever,¡± said Ca and took the second bite. Within a few minutes, we polished our tes clean. I felt embarrassed by it, but it was so good, I couldn¡¯t control myself. ¡°How was the lunch,dies?¡± asked Drev as he appeared at the table. ¡°Delicious,¡± I replied. ¡°Delicious enough to add it to the menu?¡± he asked, and I looked at Ca, as ite under her authority. ¡°Yes, you can add it to the menu,¡± said Ca after a moment of silence. ¡°Thank, Madam Ca,¡± he thanked and went to leave. ¡°Drev,¡± Ca called out, and he stopped and turned. ¡°Come with me to my office. I have something important to talk to you,¡± she said and got up, while he looked in surprised. Ca looked at me, but I shook my head. It is her idea; she will have to do it herself. Though, if there is trouble because of this, I will be by her side. I watched them disappear down the stairs before getting up from my chair. I walked to the hall, where several sses were happening within the temporary partitions. The number of sses increased as the number of girls increased. Most of the sses could be held in the room, but some with more girls could only be held in the hall. It is the onlyrge ce we have. I turned toward the etiquette ss, where the girls were still getting hit by an old woman even after two months. It is not surprising, since the difficulty of ss had also increased with time. I know it better than anyone, as I have a weekly ss with an old woman. It is a one-on-one ss and I still get hit by her. That made me want to curse that old woman to death. I may curse her, but I know how effective her ss and other sses had been. In this half a year, I have been fully transformed, that sometimes even I couldn¡¯t recognize myself when I looked in the mirror. It is not just my looks that had changed, but also the way I walk, talk, smile, and frown. Everything had changed. Sometimes, I wonder whether my daughter would be able to recognize me. This scares me. I pushed those scary thoughts and looked at the inspiring scene at the bar where a young woman is practicing. Wanda is not the only one who is giving her all. Cresa, too, is doing the same. She is practicing every hour, and, unlike Wanda, who is still a month away from working in the kitchen at night, Cresa, going to get her chance soon. In two months, she had learned enough that Master Silver had decided to let her work on the bar. She will be working at the start of the next month. She is excited about it and every day pushing herself harder than yesterday. Currently, she trying to spin several bottles across her arm. She saw me looking at her and turn me. ¡°Madam Margaux, do you want to have a drink? I can quickly make you an arten¡¯s river,¡± she asked. I wanted to decline since it was afternoon, but the name of the drink stopped me in my tracks. ¡°Sure,¡± I said and walked toward her, before sitting on the chair, while she makes my favorite drink. ¡°How is practice going?¡± I asked her. ¡°Good. I could make almost all the drinks we serve and now practicing some show tricks.¡± She said and shook the mixed drink, before straining it into the ss and garnishing it with a slice of lemon. ¡°Here is your arten¡¯s river,¡± she presented me with a light blue color drink. ¡°Thank you, dear,¡± I said to the young woman and picked up the ss. I took the sip; the first thing I felt was refreshing coolness before bitter notes came with a hint of sweetness. ¡°How is it?¡± she asked with hopeful eyes. ¡°Amazing,¡± I said and took a second sip, which is better than the first before I know it. I finished the whole ss. ¡°Do you want second, Madam Ca?¡± she asked. ¡°No dear. One is more than enough for an afternoon,¡± I said and got up and walked toward the door. Soon, I was out of the building and walked toward the plot, which was not empty anymore. In nearly two months, they have made amazing progress and in a little over four months, it will be ready. I had seen the design and the sketches, and it felt like heaven. I am not exaggerating; it will be like heaven. Master Silver had everything; things I don¡¯t know existed before. Just thinking about them makes me shiver excitedly. I wonder how the real thing would be. ¡°You are going to the site Madam Ca?¡± asked the familiar voice. ¡°Yes, dear,¡± I said to the raven-haired woman. ¡°Mind if I tag along?¡± she asked. ¡°Yourpany would be much appreciated,¡± I said, and the woman gracefully moved toward me at a quick speed. She is Stena, from the Stone Mercenaries. Soon, she appeared beside me, and we walked toward the site. ¡°It will be quite beautiful when it ispleted,¡± said the woman, looking at the site, which wasing closer with every step. ¡°More beautiful than you could imagine,¡± I replied. She looked at me with an arched brow, but I smiled. Master Silver had forbidden to talk about it to anyone, and I am more than willing to follow that order. Soon, we reached it, and I saw Caena walking out of the site. ¡°Madam Ca, Stena,¡± she greeted as she reached us and walked away toward the establishment. ¡°Caena is fun, but she is weird as hell,¡± said Stena, and I smiled. Of course, she is weird, and she is doing something suspicious. She is doing that since the moment she arrived at the establishment, but we could never find out what she does. Ca wanted to ban her weird visit to the site, but Master Silver refused, saying until he finds proof, he will let her do what she wants. Soon, they reached the site and walked around it. Though careful not to get in the way of the workers. As I looked at it, I could connect with the blueprint and sketches I had seen. It made my heart beat faster. They looked around the whole site before walking out of it. ¡°Madam Margaux,¡± said the old familiar voice. ¡°Chief Architect Davidson. When do you arrive?¡± I asked. I did not see him earlier. ¡°Just now,¡± he replied. ¡°The construction is moving quite fast,¡± Imented, and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°We are slightly ahead of schedule and if kept moving at this speed. We will finish it within five months.¡± He said with a wide smile on his face. ¡°Master Silver would be pleased,¡± I said. And stressed. With this huge construction and loans, our finances are tight. We will get a little breathing space next month when new girls join at the start of next month. ¡°I am d,¡± he said. I talked to him for a few minutes before walking toward the establishment with a slightly hurried ce. My ss will start soon, and I don¡¯t like to bete. Thankfully, I have reached on time and the ss went well. It was a management ss, my least favorite, but most useful. The things I learned in it are helping me do my job smoothly. Click! I opened the door of y quarters and closed it before walking into my room. There, I removed my dress and walk back into the living room, which was covered in cloth curtains from all sides. One could not see what was inside. I moved arge cloth curtain and walked inside my tiny studio. I do not need the living room, so I converted it into a studio. While there is a painting studio, I wanted something private. I changed into work clothes and an apron and looked at the nk canvas in front of me. Thinking, whether I will throw it into the trash after painting it, like many others. I had told my daughter that I had started painting, and that was a mistake. Since then, she had been asking for a painting insistently. She is asking for it in every letter. I looked nk canvas where I was trying to draw on my happiest memories. It is in the park, one of my favorite ces, and the only ce where I could afford to take my daughter. The park has many happy memories, and I am trying to paint one, but it is harder than I released, especially when I am trying it to be perfect. I stared at the nk canvas for a couple of minutes, thinking of the happiest memory I have in the park. It took a while to materialize it. When it did; I started to paint it. This time, I did not think. Let the memory guide it. It feels impulsive to paint like this, but it felt right and joyful. Like that day I had spent with my daughter. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 121: The Legacy Chapter 121: The Legacy ¡°Second Majesty had suppressed the temple; remove all the restrictions,¡± said the pale man suddenly. The man in grey rxed visibly. Saying thest few days had been tense would be an understatement. Managing it was difficult. ¡°It will be done,¡± he replied. For a minute, the pale man did not speak and kept looking out of the window, which had the best view of the Jalrux. ¡°How are the negotiations with the empire''s city?¡± he asked. ¡°As you hadmanded, we have rxed a lot of conditions, but making them work hard to get it,¡± replied the man in a grey robe. ¡°Most wouldn¡¯t suspect anything, but the smart ones who do will keep their guesses to themselves,¡± said the pale man, and the man in the grey robe just nodded. ¡°My lord, what do you think about the empire¡¯s prince''s proposal?¡± asked the man in a grey robe. He did not receive the answer to that immediately. ¡°Agree to deal. I want what they have, and I will give them what they need.¡± ¡°Try to find out what they want to do with it. They are nning something big if they want it,¡± said the pale man, after more than a minute of silence. ¡°I will try with my all,¡± said the man in a grey robe and disappeared. ¡­ ¡°As always. You are a tough bastard, young man,¡± said the middle-aged man with the sun-kissed skin, as he shook my hand. It is the third day of negotiations, and I am nearly finished. By tomorrow afternoon, I will be finished with trade negotiations. ¡°I should be the one who saying those words. Trade administrator Karad, you are one tough negotiator,¡± I said to the middle-aged man in front of me. He smiled at that. ¡°See you tomorrow. Young man,¡± he said and left with his assistant, while I slumped back in my seat, which is wet with wet sweat covering my whole body. The bastard was tough, but I have fought with tooth and nail to get what I want from him. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you can bear the power of his skills directly, Adviser Silver. Under that power, I wanted to shit and take a leak at the same time,¡± he said. He had one of those nasty skills that makes one take a shit and piss really hard. They create the hardest distraction to concentration. These types of skills are rare, and some negotiators and businessmen use them with surgical uracy. One of my father¡¯s associates had a skill like that and he made a person defecate in their pants in front of me. He did that to show off the power of the skill he is most proud of. I was embarrassed, as I was horrified. It is a good thing Karad did not use the full force of the skill, or I don¡¯t know if I had been able to hold it back. It was a very hard negotiation, but I got what I wanted. It could be said that I got more than I expected. I feel like he had intentionally gone easy on some points. I may be wrong, but that is unlikely. Whatever the reason, the results matter and I have brought the result. These negotiations will bring more trade to the Greltheaven and make it richer. I want to do some part of it and already made a move. I will know the result when I return to the mansion and meet Ina. After we collected ourselves, we left the conference room. ¡°Mister Silver, this came for you a few minutes ago,¡± said our guide, standing by the door. I took the letter, which had a personal seal of Lancel. I opened the letter and read the single line it had and turned to the four people with a bright grin on my face. ¡°Boys, this is the best day of your life. We are going to the Mirage,¡± I said and the expressions on four of their faces changed immediately to that of wonder and shock, and finally, the excitement. There is no one in Jalrux who doesn¡¯t know of Mirage. Even a small child knows about it. ¡°The legacy?¡± asked Rowling to be sure. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. ¡°Fuck yes!¡± he shouted without caring for the world, while our guide looked at us with jealous eyes. ¡°We should go there quickly; Lord Lancel had asked us toe as soon as we were finished here with the negotiation,¡± I said, and it made them a little sober. ¡°Can¡¯t we make a quick trip to the mansion? I would like to change from these sweaty clothes,¡± asked Dime, and I shook my head at that. ¡°No, we have asked to reach there directly, and we are already quitete,¡± I said. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t waste any time then,¡± said Rowling and walked toward the elevator. A minuteter, we reached it and enter inside it. A few secondster, we walked out and got out of the city hall, waiting for our carriage. Which, thankfully, didn¡¯t take long to appear. We sat in the carriage at a record speed, and it moved toward the mirage. ¡°I had a dream of visiting a legacy, never thought it will be fulfilled one day,¡± said Winfred as the carriage moved toward it. Legacy is one of the miracles of this magical world, the dream of every person. From merchants to kings, everyone wants it, but few could get it. As nobody knows, how to get it. There are many theories behind it, but all seemed bullshit. Billions have followed those theories, across the ages, but few have got it. The city of Jalrux, which is over two thousand years; only had three legacies. Nobody has any idea how legacies are formed, but they are clear about one thing, the legacies are formed in a ce where they''re a lot of people and varying emotions gathered. The legacy gives its own skill and, if advanced, then inheritable sses. That could be inherited by the descendant and future owner of those legacies. Though, 80% of legaciesst till their owner is alive. Few couldst centuries. Those that hadsted over a thousand years are so low; that they could be counted with fingers. Everyone loves legacies; the merchants love them, because of the money and worldwide fame it gives them. The kings and lords love them because of the power they represent. Some legacies like Fort of Vayu, it is indestructible. Armies have attacked it for hundreds of years, but are never able to breach it. We are going to Mirage, a bar. 45% of the legacies that are produced are the bars. As I had said, legacies are produced in a ce where there are people and emotions are constant and there is no other ce. Where there are lots of people and different types of emotions. The carriage ride was silent; few had opened their mouths to talk, but not much came out. We are so excited that we could barely speak with each other. After over forty minutes of the ride; we reached our destination. A five-story red-colored building. It was only two floors when the legacy was formed. The owner added three more floors. It is a risky bed. If you mess too much with a legacy, you could lose it. It is why people did not change legacies much, lest they lose it. Many did and cried for the rest of their lives. The bar is a legacy and looked good, but it does not look like the best bar in the whole damn region, but it is. There is a saying. You could only enjoy the legacy when you take a step inside it. We got out of the carriage and saw quite a crowd around the legacy. They are not here to enter it, but only to watch. They could not enter it, even if they want to. Even I couldn¡¯t book a table; there is a five-year-long waiting list that could be shortened to months for someone like me. If one wants to enter within a day, then one needs to belong to a powerful noble house like Lancel. Most of them are tourists and Legacies are one of the most visited spots in the city. There is another reason the merchants like legacies. No taxes: it is a rule that states do not collect taxes from the legacies, some even pay the money to them. A single legacy brought recognition to the city and kingdom and provide huge economic, social, and political benefits. Nearly every city had a package ofrge sums of money for the legacies. Even Greltheaven has it and it is good. Soon, we appeared at the entrance, where the beautiful human woman in a raven bun and sleek white dress was standing. ¡°Wee to the Mirage, guests. Do you have a reservation?¡± she said with a professional smile. ¡°We are from the party of Lord Lancel Wilstein,¡± I said to the hostess. ¡°Wee Mr. Silver, I will take you and others to your party,¡± she said and took us inside. The moment I took a step inside. I felt the change. Everything had changed. From the temperature to the emotions, I am feeling. The temperature becamefortable, and I begin to feel rxed, as if multiple hands massage over my body. The exhaustion I was feeling due to three days of constant negotiations and the barrage of skills, all being taken away with every step I take inside. At first nce, the legacy looks like any other high-end bar, but when looked closely, one will see the real difference; that will make them gasp in shock. The first thing one notices about this ce is beingpletely crowded. People are everywhere, but despite that orders are served at inhuman efficiency. It is the level of these people; legacies will have the most high-leveled workers. It attracts them, as it makes them. There is one thingmon among all the legacies. It is how they run, the multicolored energy clouds above. They are so thick; the entire ceiling had disappeared. Those were no energy clouds, but emotions harnessed from the patrons. The moment I entered here; I felt good, because this ce had harnessed my unwanted emotions and gave me a dose of rxation. When thought about it, it is quite scary, but not scary, when youpared it to the medicine. These gathered emotions could do many things. Impossible things. They could enhance things beyond their natural level and give an otherworldly feel to them. It depends from legacy to legacy, but some could do scary shit. Consider this one. It not only makes one feel good, mentally but also gives physical rxation. That is equal to a massage from an expert masseuse. Legacies like this bar infuse those emotions into the food and drinks they serve. Making them otherworldly. Soon, I saw Lancel and Robin, and four others in our entourage, but they are not the only ones present. I also saw Viscount and two of his men sitting at the table. Despite staying in the same ce, I had rarely seen them in the past three days. They all have a drink their hand and a smile on their face. They are sitting in a VIP area, where there is no crowd. The only people who are moving around it are the servers. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted as I approached the table. ¡°Remus. You have finally arrived. Come take a seat,¡± he said, motioning the seal opposite to the robin. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said and sat on the mostfortable. The brown leather chair melded against my body. ¡°How were the negotiations?¡± he asked as I sat down. ¡°Good,¡± I said and take out a small file from my bad and gave it to him. He quickly checked and a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on his face. He put it down after a quick read and slid toward the Viscount before turning to me. ¡°You are doing much better than I had anticipated,¡± he said and patted my shoulder, but instead of smiling, my expression turned serious. ¡°Thank you for your praise, my lord, but I think they are doing this intentionally,¡± I said and his and other''s expressions turned serious. ¡°They are offering more concessions than it is shown in our research, and they are doing that in most things,¡± I added. ¡°How sure are you?¡± he asked. His question surprised me, as I thought he would say I am underestimating my abilities. ¡°100%¡± I replied, going with my gut. These are not the first negotiations I have done; I have done hundreds of them on Earth and had a sort of sense. I am usually right about these things. He nodded and looked at the Viscount, and they shared a look. They seemed to know something, that I don¡¯t. ¡°We will talk about thister. Tonight, is for celebrating,¡± he said when I thought he might exin what he was thinking, but it is clear. He does not intend to. Barely a second passed. He said it when a waiter arrived, and we ordered. I begin to feel kind of excited. It is my first time in Legacy. My father had gone to it many times; sometime, he would leave me in the carriage outside. I had asked him many times to take me, but he said it was something I had to earn it. He said the same thing to all my brothers, but not to his favorite daughter. He took her there many times like he had left the share of his estate to her. ¡°..this is your Orwell, with drops of love,¡± said the waiter as he ced the whisky in front of me. Orwell whisky, is one of the top hundred liquors in the world, but what is making golden brown whisky amazing is the purple mist mixed in it. The mist is not floating above the whisky but inside it. I looked at it for a moment, before taking a sip of the smoothest whisky, I had ever drunk. I felt its wonderful smoothness and burn in the stomach. At the same time, shes of countless memories begin to appear in front of my eyes, from memories of my parents to women I dated. They are not only people of the earth but also these world¡¯s parents. Nearly faded memories of my mother, whom I could barely remember. Thest memory is of Ca, and herssted for a while. ¡°Tasting it, I could now die without regret,¡± said Rowling, with tears dripping from his eyes. I also had a few tears in my eyes, which I wiped before taking another sip. ¡°The first experience is most memorable. Cherish it well,¡± said Viscount as he took a sip from his ss. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 122: Your Brother Is Dead Chapter 122: Your Brother Is Dead ¡°What a night it was; I don¡¯t think I could forget it even if I want to,¡± said Robin and sighed as reached our suits. ¡°It was really memorable,¡± I said, remembering the time in Mirage. No wonder people are crazy about it. I too would like to visit again, but it wouldn¡¯t be possible with the time we have. Tomorrow is thest day of negotiations, but we aren¡¯t leaving tomorrow. Viscount will finish with the day after tomorrow and after recent experiences. It would be wise to leave with a powerful person as the Viscount. I will try to finish tomorrow early as possible; I have to do sightseeing and also some light shopping. Most of it had been done by Ina, and she had done a fantastic job. There is also a party I have to attend in the city hall, where all the important people are invited. ¡°Good night, Remus,¡± said Robin as he reached for his suit. ¡°Good night,¡± I replied. A secondter, he opened the door and walked inside his suit. Stone was standing by my door and as I appeared in front of it, he opened it. I nodded a thank you and went inside. Not before noticing the big, enchanted sword on his back. In the morning, I have given Ina, the saber I had got in the dungeon. To exchange it for the sword that Stone like. She would have needed to pay something extra, for the big size, but it is nowhere near the price, I would have needed to pay for the new enchanted sword. I felt relieved seeing the enchanted sword on his back. It will make him more deadly, and I will be better protected. As I went inside, I saw Ina sitting in the room. She nearly stood up before stopping herself. I had asked her to not stand up, every time I walked into the room. There is no need for her to do that when we are alone. ¡°How was it?¡± I asked as I took a seat in front of her; barely holding back my questions. ¡°All seven of them had transferred the payment, and I have made a deal with the Axel Emporium.¡± ¡°All that remained is you signing these documents toplete the deal.¡± She said and pushed the papers in front of me. I took them and read them carefully, not missing a single word or line. The more I read, the more impressed I have be. She had just made the deal worth three-hundred and twenty-million crowns. We are buying the liquor, not for us, but for the seven stores in the Greltheaven and they have already transferred 60% of the money for it. This trip is a great opportunity, and I am not going to let it go to waste. As I said, I want a share of the pie and I will have it. Liquor is the best business I could tap into. No big yers made a y covertly or openly for it, which gave me the opportunity to move unhesitantly at it. The connection I had made with the Axel Emporium also helped a lot. Yesterday, I asked Ina to contact all the liquor wholesalers in Greltheaven and state the prices of Navr¡¯s liquor; we are willing to get it for them, and seven responded immediately. With this deal, I will earn a profit of 15% and it is after all the taxes and all. It will be forty-eight million crowns, a massive amount. This money will help me a lot, in paying loans and fastening the construction of the project. I want the girls to have their own space, to live and learn. The establishment is not a good ce to learn. It is for business and should be used for business only. If this deal goes smoothly, many of such deals wille; bigger than it, and I want it all before others im it. ¡°The delivery will happen in two to three weeks?¡± I asked after I finished reading it all. ¡°Yes, the store wants all the regtions finalized between the two cities before they sent the goods to us,¡± she replied. It is wise; as the deals between the two cities may have been signed, but it will few more days for them to into effect. I nodded and signed the contract. This deal may have been devised by me, but it is she whopleted it and did it without a w. To be honest, I am kind of shocked by the speed and efficiency with which she had done it. It is a good thing; I intervened as little as possible. It helped me see her real capabilities. ¡°You have done a great job,¡± I said to her, as I finished signing the documents and adding my contract skill to it. ¡°Thank you for giving me a chance,¡± she said, with her voice heavy with emotion. I smiled at her and also at myself for finding this gem. If trained well with trust, she will be an incredible asset. Soon, she left with the contract, while I walked to my room and stripped off all my clothes before walking into the shower. I do not feel as dirty as before I went to the mirage, but I want to take a shower. Half an hourter, I walked out of the shower and changed intofortable clothes. If I had not gone to the mirage, I would have fallen asleep already, but I am not tired and thus decided to prepare a little for tomorrow. I read through all and note down a few ideas before finally sleeping an hourter. The next day, I woke early at my usual time, nearly dawn. I quickly freshened up and changed into the practice clothes, before walking out of my suit. Hun! Immediately, I was surprised. As it is not, Stone is at the door, but Jon, who had been resting with Z. ¡°You should have rested a little more,¡± I said to him. ¡°I am nearly recovered, Mister Silver. The rest of the recovery does not require me to rest,¡± he said, and I did not say further. Though, I have to say he looked good, much better than I have seen him the first time. There is more life in his eyes than before. I reached the elevator and stepped inside and a few secondster; I stepped out. A minuteter, I had reached the ce where I practice; four guards were already waiting for me there. Stone refused to practice with me, saying he does not know how to hold back. So, I am practicing with these guards. They are good; I have practiced my two new skills with them. I was about to call them when an idea came to my mind, and I turned to Jon. ¡°Jon, interested in a little spar?¡± I asked him. ¡°Sure, mister Silver,¡± he replied to my surprise. It is not the first time I had asked him; I had asked him before when I practiced with the instructor David, but like Stone, he had refused. I don¡¯t know what happened to change his mind, but I am d he did. I have not fought with the rogue; instructor David had a few rogue skills, but he was not a true rogue. He was a warrior, a mercenary before he became an instructor. The real rogue is different; I have seen how Jon fights in a dungeon, and it is amazing. He went to the weapon rack and picked up the weapon. A dagger. Despite the weapon being a practice weapon, I couldn¡¯t help but shudder when he took it. In his hand, anything is a weapon. He could even kill me without it. ¡°Ready, mister Silver?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied and before I could even finish the sentence, he disappeared and appeared in front of me, before attacking. Targeting my neck. I got surprised, but it did not stop me from reacting. Seeing his attack, I responded immediately with Swift de. My sword moved toward him fast, but he avoided it almost effortlessly and the thing is, his speed is not greater than mine. It seemed even slower, but his dagger avoided my sword easily, and came at me. ¡°First hit,¡± he said as the de of his dagger touched my neck. I smiled, and we started again, and he overpowered me, despite using a simr level of strength, but I did not mind. It is for this purpose; I am fighting with him. I have to learn to fight and win against the enemies stronger than me. It is due to such practice; I could survive the dungeon, while those stronger than me died. I need to keep practicing, and keep improving; it is the only way I will survive in this dangerous world. If it had been up to me, I would have used this time to read books. I would have finished a lot of them, but if I had done that, I would have been dead on the ind. Old Remus has the gift and even if I don¡¯t like it, I will use it. Surviving is the most important thing; only by doing that, I will be able to fulfill all my dreams. Hun! ¡°Hit!¡± Jon said, and his dagger hit me like a hammer, sending me flying to the ground. I remained there for a minute before slowly getting up. ¡°I think it is enough for today,¡± I said. Two hours had passed since we have been sparring; it was quite a spar, that I was able to stop, only six among the hundreds of attacks Jonunched on me. He used a strength equal to mine, but beat me so thoroughly that I could barely stand. There is a vast difference in the skills between us; that couldn¡¯t be surmounted easily. Jon had fought in Vris¡¯alud. In a matter of a few years, amon rogue had transformed into a sharp de that could cut the foes like grass. I wanted to rest a little, but I pushed myself toward the mansion. Each step is filled with pain, but I bore it as I climbed the stairs of the mansion. Jon quietly followed behind me; he did not offer me help and I appreciate it. I am quite capable of reaching my suit on my own. ¡°Adviser Silver,¡± Soon, I reached the elevator and was about to take a step inside it when a familiar voice called me. ¡°Yes, Joseph?¡± I asked the guard. ¡°Lord Lancel has summoned you to his office. It is an emergency,¡± he said, and I wanted to curse loudly, but I bore it and smile. ¡°Sure,¡± I said with gritted teeth and begin to walk toward Lancel¡¯s office. It is painful to match his pace, but I did it with gritted teeth and soon reached the office. ¡°Lord Lancel is waiting for you,¡± said Secretary. I nodded and pushed the door, before walking inside. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted and bowed, despite being painful. ¡°Were you training, Remus?¡± he asked, looking at me from up to down. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I replied while looking at Lancel. He seemed very happy but is intentionally making his face somber. He is not that hard to read when his emotions are high. ¡°I have bad news, Remus,¡± said Lancel somberly, and my heart skipped a beat. It is clear, the news is about me. My first thought was the establishment, but it wouldn¡¯t have made him happy. It might be surprising, but he does not hate my business. He liked I am a brothel owner; one more reason for him to look down on me. He will not be happy seeing something happen to it, as it will take away a reason for him to look down on me. ¡°What is my lord?¡± I asked, and there was a long pause before Lancel opened his mouth. ¡°Your brother is dead, Remus,¡± he said finally. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 123: Next Baron? Chapter 123: Next Baron? ¡°Oh,¡± I said and gently sat down with sadness all over my face. While in my mind, I am raging in anger at whoever killed him. He shouldn¡¯t have died. It was too easy for him. I wanted him to live so I could take revenge on him. Make him feel what he did to me. I had so many ns to make those bastards regret what they have done to me, and now I will not get a chance. Speaking of which, I wonder. Which bastard it is? Lancel had said my brother was dead. He did not say which one. There are three of them and I hate all of them but at a different level. ¡°May I know who it is?¡± I asked him. ¡°It is Baron Edwin,¡± he replied, and I wanted to hit the table hard and curse with everything I have. I hated that bastard with every cell of my body. The cause for all my misery. If there was anyone of my blood rtive, I truly wanted to kill, then it would be Edwin. ¡°How did he die?¡± I asked. This time, Lancel could not maintain the somberness on his face, and the smile slipped through the cracks. ¡°It was a glorious death,¡± said Lancel, but I kept looking at him. ¡°The baronies, forces from the Mirador Hold, and the mercenaries all forged the united force and attacked the hidden base of Gg bandits; it was a massive battle thatsted till the morning,¡± ¡°It was an annihtion,¡± he said and by the end, he was smiling tooth to tooth. Even on my face, a slight relief appeared. Gg bandits had be a pain in the ass; they looted merchants and kidnapped nobles. They have even looted the keeps and would disappear after doing the deed. They were a menace for half a year and, due to audaciousness, other bandit groups also became daring. Creating chaos within the baronies. Forces of Mirador hold, have hunted for them, but have never been able to find their base. The failure was a great embarrassment to the mirador hold. ¡°I am d. It was time, we wiped those pests, and I am d my brother yed a part in it,¡± I said. Edwin was more of a nuisance than a help to the hunting parties. He can use a sword, but was not that great at it, and had problems with following orders. Some nobles havee to Greltheaven, and they were more than happy to tell me how he continued to make fun of himself. They had only tolerated him, because he had a sufficiently strong force at his disposal. ¡°They have wiped the bandits, but not all. The leader and his three lieutenants were able to escape,¡± ¡°That¡¯s when they killed your brother. He was part of the outer perimeter,¡± he exined, and my expression couldn¡¯t help but turn bad, because it is bad news. It means we had just dyed the problem. Gg bandits wille back, as long as the leader is alive. It had happened already; Oksall had wiped out his band, but he could escape and gather another band before starting looting. One more time they did that, and he escaped, only to return a yearter, with a bigger band. ¡°We will be prepared for his return. We will not let your brother¡¯s death go in vain,¡± Lancel added after a second of silence. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said. The bastard, he couldn¡¯t even die quietly. He died like a martyr, which he did not deserve. He should have died like a dog, with people spitting on his grave. Now, even I will be forced to say a kind word to him. ¡°Today is for you to grief; we will postpone the negotiations for tomorrow,¡± said Lancel. ¡°No, it would not be wise to dy the negotiations. We have the momentum, and we should not let it go to waste,¡± I said, with my expression bing firm, with grief lingering in my eyes. ¡°But your brother had just died. You should grieve,¡± Lancel said with concern all over his face, but I could also see the focus. He is looking at my reaction; seeing how I will react. ¡°We were not close, but he was my brother and I grieve for him, but negotiations are also important.¡± ¡°It will bring huge trade to our city, especially the grains. They will be very helpful in the winter.¡± I said and Lancel opened his mouth, but I cut him off. ¡°I will not make the city suffer in my loss,¡± I finished. It ismon knowledge of what my brothers have done to me. It would not be wise to feign too much grief, but it wouldn¡¯t be wise to not show any emotions at all. So, I went with the middle path; I showed some grief andmitment to the job. The trade negotiations are my responsibility. He could not hand it over to the others, including Robin. As he is not prepared as I am and trade is not his forte. Lancel understands it, which is why he spoke about postponing the negotiations to tomorrow, rather than handing them to Robin or someone else in my team. Especially when I am bringing great results. ¡°Since it is what you want, I will not stop you.¡± Said Lancel. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said and gently got up. ¡°Go and if you want, we can dy the negotiations by a few hours,¡± he said. To that, I shook my head, despite it feeling painful to do it. ¡°There is no need for it, my lord. We will be there on time as usual,¡± I said and walked toward the door slowly. ¡­ ¡°He took the news better than I had thought,¡± said Lancel, looking at the door, which had just closed. ¡°I am surprised. He is even feeling the grief for his brother, seeing they have snatched his inheritance,¡± said Mage York and Lancelughed. ¡°You don¡¯t even know half of it. A few months ago, when they were setting up the territory, they had tried to kill him,¡± said Lancel and it couldn¡¯t surprise the mage. ¡°Well, it seemed like his brother was a real piece of work,¡± said Mage York finally. ¡°An annoying piece of work. He had annoyed everyone at the hunting party that they had ced him outer perimeter, where he can¡¯t interfere in battle,¡± ¡°Even there, he couldn¡¯t do a proper job and got himself killed idiotically,¡± said Lancel, and both of them shared augh. A few secondster, his expression turned serious as he turned to the mage. ¡°Had they found him?¡± asked Lancel. ¡°No, my lord, they are still searching. Lord Count had even increased the bounty on bandit leaders'' heads,¡± Mage York informed. ¡°I wish I had been there. With me leading the assault, not a single bandit would have escaped,¡± said Lancel. ¡°You are absolutely right, my lord,¡± said Mage York, while rolling his eyes from behind. ¡­ ¡°Jon, call Z to my suit,¡± I said as I reached my suit. ¡°Ok,¡± he said and walked toward my room. It is painful, but I reached the bathroom in my room and added a few drops of healing potion into the jug of water, and begin to massage it across my body. I could have drunk the potion right after the practice, but I bore the pain. It helps to get used to distract less when I suffer in the battle. Usually, I use numbing cream, but with the death of Edwin, I have a few things to do, and numbing cream wouldn¡¯t help me with that. The potion is a much better choice. I stayed naked till nearly all the pain disappeared, along with most red marks, before taking a shower. I walked out of the shower and changed into a suit before walking out of my room. As I did, I saw Z sitting in the living room. She looked good. All the paleness had disappeared and now, her eyes have a simr vibrant light as Jon''s. ¡°Sorry for calling you while you were resting, but there is an emergency,¡± I said to her. ¡°It is fine, Mister Silver. I am nearly finished with my rest.¡± She said, and I smiled gratefully. ¡°I called you here to send a few messages,¡± I said and describe messages and within a few seconds, her expression changed. As she got to know about my brother¡¯s death. In the next hour, I sent a couple of messages and received many in return. Thankfully, themunication system for Navr is very good. The mages sent and received the messages at top speed. I had called a couple of ces, in, Mirador Hold, Greltheaven, and a few nobles I know. Thanks to my position as adviser to Lancel, I have got all the information; I needed very quickly. Even Mirador Hold did not dy it; they don¡¯t want to mess anything further. It had turned out that the battle began at midnight and ended at dawn. Many people died; the number of bandits had been greater than they had thoughts. Still, with the preparations, they were able to eliminate and capture all the bandits. Only a small group was able to escape, the group of the bandit leader. He is injured along with his men and people searching the entire forest for it and even alerted Oksall. They had increased the patrol on their side and moved their forces close to the extreme magic region, where the bandit¡¯s main hiding hole is. The only thing I could not find out was how they were able to get to the location of the bandits. The Gg bandits have been extremely careful; never let anyone have a hint about their base. No method is perfect, no skill offers perfect protection. They might have slipped, and hunters would have the scent. The funeral would be held in three days; it would be enough time for family members to arrive. Edwin is going to be buried in the keep. If it were up to me, I would have kept his body in the open for animals to eat. Unfortunately, I will have to attend it. It is going to dy my return to the Greltheaven. The important question is, who is going to get the title now that Edwin is dead? There are my two brothers and sister; Grandfather might even consider the cousins for the job. He will definitely be going to do it. Grandfather will not give the titles to my brothers. They are utter idiots and ipetent to handle such responsibility, even with the help of their mother. Edwin was in the same category, but he could learn. Those two could not. That only leaves my sister; she is the one my father had asked first. She is his precious daughter, his firstborn. She rejected it and I don¡¯t know what she will do this time. Among cousins, there are some good candidates. As for me, I don¡¯t think I will be asked with being a bastard and owner of the brother, but even if they did ask me. I will reject it. I have no interest in a barony sitting on hot coals, where I could be killed at any time. There is not much of a future to it unless Oksall starts the trade and that is going to take time, even if it happens. Even if it had been at a better ce, I would have rejected it. The control of the family is too much, and I like the freedom I currently have. I am happy with my position and my business, which I have taken, beyond what my father would have imagined. I could see it growing and if it continued to grow, as I had expected it to be. It won¡¯t take long for me to amass a fortune equal to my father''s. I have already set a time limit; it is five years. It will be a challenge to achieve that in five years, which took him fifty years to achieve, but I will do it. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 124: If You Want It, It Is Yours Chapter 124: If You Want It, It Is Yours Lancel sat and I and others sat down after him, before taking out the things and putting them in front of me. We are in a conference room for thest day of the negotiations. Which Lancel had decided to attend. It is quite surprising, as trade is his least favorite topic and he stayed away from it. Today he did not, and he brought Robin with him. Likely as a contingency, in case I wasn¡¯t able to do the job properly in my grief. Four minutester, the middle-aged man walked in with his assistant. Today, he looked different. He did not have that trademark smile on his face, instead a somber look. ¡°Adviser Silver, my condolences,¡± he said as he stood in front of me. It couldn¡¯t help but surprised me. I shouldn¡¯t be. These bastards have an extensive spywork. Not to mention, the message spells. There is no doubt they read it, as many other states do. ¡°Thank you. Administrator Karad,¡± I said to him softly. He nodded and greeted Lancel, before sitting in front of me. ¡°The taxes on grade 1 magical material. We want it 25%,¡± he said, and I felt his skills. They want me to agree with it and thepulsion is so strong that I had nearly opened my mouth to agree before closing it. He had also used that nasty skill of his; it is giving me a powerful urge to shit. It is really hard to resist it. I bore it with a smile on my face; even when my clothes were drenched in sweat and activated my own skills. Lawful Suggestion, which resisted the most since it had not turned into aw and barely had any effect, but I am using it. On top of it, I use Persuasion and Honeyed Words; Persuasion also had resistance since ites from Adviser ss. Only Honeyed Words worked perfectly without any resistance. ¡°You are trying to loot us with taxes, Administrator. How about 5%?¡± I asked with my brightest smile. ¡°5%? We might as well not apply any taxes at all,¡± he said back sharply, with his ring at me in anger. He looked furious and his skill is making it seem like he is angry, but he isn''t. The lord of Jalrux is not an idiot to keep a hot-headed negotiator. The first any intelligent person looked at a negotiator is their disposition. ¡°Our city will be thrilled with that wonderful treatment,¡± I said back with a smile. He red before countering. This was an important point, as Grade 1 magical materials are one of the traded. I need to get as low taxes on them as possible. We have squabbled over it for more than an hour. We have agreed on the number within twenty minutes. It is a fraction that took us a long, but finally, we agreed, and it was favorable. So much so that Lancel wasn¡¯t able to hold his smile. With that done, we moved to the second point, which is also tax-rted, but agreed within two minutes, before moving third point, which took half an hour. We did not agree on all the points; some that were disagreeable to both and thus skipped them. They were in a minority and nothing surprising. It is quitemon in the negotiations, especially when those points are not important. Parties could afford to wait over them until the favorable condition appear to talk over them. Four and a half hourster, we finally finished thest point, but the bastard still had not deactivated hisskill. I am really close to shitting in my pants. ¡°Adviser Silver, it had been a pleasure to negotiate with you.¡± He said and shook my hand, and I felt his skill deactivating. Instantly, all the tension in my body was released. ¡°Likewise, Administrator Karad,¡± I said to the middle-aged man. ¡°Lord Weinstein,¡± he said with a faint bow, before walking out of the room. ¡°Fred, really?¡± said Rowling after Administrator Karad left. I first didn¡¯t understand, but a secondter, I smelled it and couldn¡¯t help but re at the middle-aged man. ¡°I apologize, but the skill was too powerful for me to resist,¡± said the man and bowed to Lancel, who is ring at me. ¡°High Mage,¡± said Lancel. A momentter, green light enveloped the entire room, especially denser around Fred. It hadsted for a couple of seconds before it had disappeared and when it did, there was no smell. Even the sweat on my body and sweat produced through it had also disappeared. For it, I couldn¡¯t help but feel grateful. I don¡¯t like being sweaty when I am not training or having sex. ¡°Thank you, High Mage York,¡± I said to the mage. The others also thanked him, especially Fred, who is very embarrassed and scared for the carrier. Truthfully, it is not his fault. It is not like he is not sufficiently leveled or has weak willpower; he has a hard time controlling his dder. I will talk to Lancel about him. He is good and firing him wouldn¡¯t be wise. ¡°Remus, you have done well. Better than I have thought, despite such circumstances,¡± said Lancel. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied. He nodded and walked out of the conference room, with us following behind. ¡°Now that the negotiations are finished. What are your ns for the afternoon, Remus?¡± asked Lancel as we entered the elevator. ¡°I will send a few messages to family and do some sightseeing to keep my mind off Edwin,¡± I replied. ¡°It is a good idea; all the carriage drivers they have provided us are certified guides. They will give you a good tour of the city,¡± he said. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I said. Soon, we walked out of the majestic city hall and sat in the carriages. We will return here in the evening for a party. I looked out the window at the beautiful city, while Lancel and Robin talked about an interesting topic. I want to take part in the conversation, but I can¡¯t. I want to show it; I am grieving and being chatty wouldn¡¯t help. Acting could be tiring, but important. Humans rte when you show emotions; I don¡¯t want toe out cold-hearted, even though I hated Edwin¡¯s guts. A little more than a half hourter, we reached the mansion and got out of the carriages. ¡°Return to the mansion by eight; we do not want to bete for a banquet,¡± said Lancel, before walking toward his office. ¡°Do you wantpany, Remus?¡± asked Robin. ¡°Thank you, but I will be fine,¡± I replied, and could see a faint relief. It was polite of him to offer. If I had said yes, he would have stuck with me. He had ns. He had talked about the things he wants to see in Jalrux, and they are different from what I wanted to see. Soon, we reached our suites; he went to his, while I went to mine. When I had entered my suit, I saw it is not empty. There were two women sitting there. Ina and Z, ¡°Mister Silver, these messages have arrived for you,¡± Z said and looked at the pile of envelopes on the table with the seal of Messager guild. I am sure many of the messages came to her directly. ¡°Thank you, Z,¡± I said and turned to Ina for the important thing. ¡°Have they signed it?¡± I asked, and she nodded. A smile appeared on my face seeing that, I sat in front of them before taking the contracts in my hands. There is a seal of the store, along with the signature and enforcement of powerful contract skills. With this, the deal had be official. As long as Navr does not do something drastic like attacking Renwell, the deal will continue, till it is time to renew it. ¡°My condolences, Master Silver.¡± Said Ina as I ced the contract down. ¡°Thank you, Ina,¡± I replied and turned to the letters on the desk, all with the sigils of the massage guild. I looked at the senders'' names on each letter before reading them with priority. The first one is from my grandfather; There was only a single line to it, but it shocked me. So much so that I wasn¡¯t able to react to it for a minute. When I did, the first I did was to take out the firestone and burned it to the ashes. It is not a message others should know. For a few minutes, I stayed silent, did not open, even a single letter, before finally sighing and before taking out an envelope from my bad and writing a single letter. ¡°Sent this to massager guild immediately,¡± I said to Ina. She nodded and walked out, while I turned to the other letters. Grandfather''s letter had a single. ¡®If you want it, it is yours.¡¯ I didn¡¯t have to be intelligent to know the meaning of that. He is clearly referring to Barony. He is offering me something my brothers would kill for. I couldn¡¯t help but feel touched by his offer, but unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t take it. To be honest, I nearly agreed, even when I had decided I would not even think about it. The allure of such power is too strong; if I had epted, I would be a baron, and people will call me ¡®lord,¡¯. I will have authority over thousands of people, and they will bow to me. A simple thought of it felt intoxicating. People will do anything for such a thing, kill for it and they do, but I do not want it. The control of the family would be too much, and so is danger. I like the freedom I have. I will not have such freedom if I had epted it. Most decisions would be made by the family, and I would be only lord in the name; I do not want an empty authority. My current position is not bad and if I could keep it till Lancel gets the reins of the city. I will automatically be one of the most powerful persons in the jurisdiction of Greltheaven, which includes Nakar baronies and Mirador hold. I read letters and they fall into two categories: well-wishers and campaigners. One group of letters is the letters of condolences from friends, colleagues, and family members. The other group is only family members with a different purpose, the cousins and their parents. They want me to ask Grandfather to suggest their name for lord of the barony. As if I have such clout and even if I had it, I wouldn¡¯t do such a thing, unless I had been asked by Grandfather. Though, they will only stand a chance if my sister rejects it. Grandfather is going to ask her or already had asked her. I don¡¯t know if he asked her already or will do it after he received my answer. I will know about it soon enough when I reach there for the funeral. Soon, I finished with all the letters and turned to Z. ¡°Do you have any messages?¡± I asked, and she simply slid the pages with paperweight toward me. There are over twenty of them, from the well-wishers and the campaigners. I finished very quickly with Fast Reading. By then, Ina had also returned. ¡°I am going sightseeing in the city. Youdies are interested?¡± I asked. Ina nodded, while Z shook her head. ¡°If it is not important, I like to stay and rest,¡± she said. ¡°Ok,¡± I said, getting up. I could understand her, it is an undead city. No matter how beautiful it is, she hates it. The undead had taken everything from her and forced her to escape from her home. She did want to see them, more than she needs to. It is already surprising that Stone mercenaries agreed toe here; in their contract, they could reject undead-rted missions. A few minutester, I came out of my room looking fresh and excited. There are many things I want to look at, with the little time I have. I hope I will see at least half of those things. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 125: Hris’masl Chapter 125: Hris¡¯masl It is nearly evening, and we are moving toward ourst destination before I need to return to the mansion for the party. We have already visited one destination and stayed in it longer than we wanted. It was a little crowded, but with diplomatic credentials, we were able to cut through the crowd and get to look at them. I wish I had more time. Even a day is not enough topletely look at the museum. It was an art museum, with extremely expensive art. Many sculptures, paintings, and other art pieces have been made by famous artists. Some of them, were very high-leveled. I have seen many of them because of my father¡¯s influence, but the pieces there topped everything I have seen in the empire. I had asked Count Darrow to build a public museum to boost tourism, but he was utterly uninterested. He wants only trade, and earn as much money for himself and his nephew before the city gets destroyed. He had never said that explicitly, but shown by his behavior. He believes it will be Navr who was going to destroy the city; these words, he had said himself. He is not wrong, seeing 95% of the time. It was Navr who had done the deed. Everybody thinks that and knows, the city had around a decade before the region will have enough poption and big enough armies for Navr to send its horde for the harvest. It could also do it sooner, but I hope it will not. There are a few things I have to do and till that happens. I hope Navr doesn¡¯t release its infamous horde at the Renwell region. I do not want a lot of time; three years would be enough for me to have enough wealth to move me and my business to a big city, like Namdar. Where I would be able to carve a business in a safe environment. ¡°Sir, we have reached the Bone Market,¡± informed the driver said as the carriage moved through the stone arch. I looked through the window and couldn¡¯t help but get surprised. It is so different from the other areas. The shops are lined up in perfect symmetry, with much fewer people than in other market areas. There are still many people, but it is not crowded and most look like tourists with a sense of adventure. It is a ce that will horrify most people. Even those who entered Navr wouldn¡¯te here. ¡°My god, the bones!¡± said Ina, looking at the bone sculptures, that are in front of some shops. They are beautiful, especially the ones that are moving, I have never seen something like it. I have seen bone art before, on Earth. Many cultures have them; from Europe to Africa. While on Earth, most modern people may think it is creepy, but they will ept it. Here, bones are rted to necromancy and people will stay far as away from them as possible. Only in a necromantic kingdom, such a scene could be seen. Soon, the carriage stopped, and Rob opened the door. He is a middle-aged man with thick brown hair. ¡°You can stay inside if you want,¡± I said to Ina. She is a little shaken with the bones and I wouldn¡¯t me her. ¡°No, I wille,¡± she said, shaking her head, and followed behind me. ¡°This is a bone market, also known as Hris¡¯masl, in the old tongue. It is one of the most strategic ces in the whole city, half of the bone horrors, that our armies use has made her,¡± said Rob, and pointed at the shops. At the first shop, a man in his thirties working on a small piece of bone, with small instruments. I have note here to watch the bone arts that some shops are selling, but to see the bone creations that fight in undead hordes. They are dangerous and crafted in ces like this. This market could say to be an industrialplex to create bone creations, and, unlike most defenseplexes, they did not keep this one hidden. They do not need to. There are many other secret facilities; they need to keep hidden from people. Soon, we stopped in front of another shop, where a beautiful statue of bone was ced in front of it. It is of a naked woman; she is sitting on a stone, looking ahead with longing eyes. ¡°It reminds me of the mermaid fountain we had in front of the establishment,¡± said Ina. As I heard the words, I also started to see the simrities, especially the longing gaze. Though the expression on the bone sculpture looks a lot more genuine than it had looked in the mermaid. Hun! We were looking at it when suddenly our gaze got attracted by something shocking. Ina gasped in shock and gripped my hand tightly, but did not move from her spot as she looked ahead at the marvel or horror depending on one''s gaze. It had attracted the eyes of everyone in the market, including mine. It is for such a thing; I havee to this market. A few hundred meters from me, a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, riding a beast on the street. It is not a live monster he is riding, but an utterly beautiful creation of bones. He is riding a big tiger made of bones; it is a work of art, made from thousands of pieces of delicately carved bones. The thing that amazed me the most is the movement of the bone tiger. They are smooth and graceful, like that of a real tiger, even better than of a real tiger. It did not seem to be for a show only; those purple color bone ws looked unnaturally sharp and I have no doubt about them cutting through my ws, like butter. ¡°This isn¡¯t normal, right?¡± I asked my guide. I have read about the bone creations, and this is not a standard bone creation. They are not thisplex. They have less than a hundred pieces, while this one had over a thousand easily. ¡°No, it is not. This is a special-grade bone creation,¡± the guide replied, sounding impressed. ¡°Do you know who that is?¡± I asked, looking at the young man riding the bone tiger. A faint hesitation appeared on Rob¡¯s face for a moment. ¡°Ranhas Wale. Top student of Jalrux Academy,¡± he replied finally. ¡°That bone tiger seemed quite powerful!¡± I said and pride appeared on his face. ¡°It is. Ranhas was able to kill seven people with that tiger. All were Level 20 and above, with the leader being Level 25,¡± informed Rob, and Ina shuddered visibly hearing that. I barely hold myself back; this graceful bone feline is not something against which I could contend. It would take less than five seconds for it to tear me apart. Thankfully, special grade bone creations are very few in the horde; some didn¡¯t even have them. As they are not only expensive, but not every necromancer could handle them. One needs to be very talented to control suchplicated bone creations. If such creations appeared on the battlefield, their controller instantly became a top target. I kept looking at the bone tiger as it walked past me,mitting every aspect of it to my memory. I never wish to fight something like it, but if everes to that, I want to be ready. With the tiger disappearing, we moved on to the market. I only nced at shops selling sculptors and other things and focused more on the ones that created the bone creations. ¡°Unfortunately, you can¡¯t enter inside the stores, Mister Silver. Even locals like me would need special permission to enter inside,¡± said the guide. ¡°Such a regret,¡± I said and sighed. I had asked him whether I could go inside the workshops, where the bone creation was being made. I know, I couldn¡¯t, but I still wanted to try. It turned out I could not. They would definitely not let a diplomat inside. I would need to be satisfied watching from the windows. Though those working in the widow are novices, which is why they have been sitting there for the tourists'' pleasures. ¡°Do you want to buy anything, Mister Silver? I know a couple of shops that sell good souvenirs,¡± said Rob. ¡°That won''t be necessary,¡± I said with a smile. I would never take a thing made of bone home, aside from the ones from the dungeon. They are dangerous and have real consequences; they could even cost me my future. Speaking of shopping, I have not been able to do it. Thankfully, Ina had brought most of the things we need, and the rest could be brought easily within a few hours. She will do it. Soon it was time to go back; I have not explored the market fully, but I do not have time. I have to return to the mansion and get ready on time for the party. ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the mansion,¡± I said to Rob, and a few minutester, we were carriage, moving toward the mansion. Forty minutester, the carriage entered the mansion. ¡°First have dinner, before doing the shopping,¡± I said to the Ina. I couldn¡¯t take her to the party, Lancel had forbidden it in a not-so-subtle term. So, I booked a table for her and my guards in an excellent restaurant to show my appreciation. The restaurant couldn¡¯t bepared to the legacy, but it is good. I had dinner there, two days ago. It is very expensive, but they deserve it. After tipping the guide, I walked into the mansion and soon reached my suite, where I found a letter from Lancel. I read it before I ced it back on the table and went to the room, where I showered and changed into the suit. It is a ssic ck suit, and it fits me perfectly. All that training had wiped away any excess fat I had. Now every muscle of mine is taunt and flexible. It is also making me look quite good in this tailored suit. I satiated my vanity for a minute before I walked out of my room and reached the parlor where Robin had been waiting for me. ¡°You are a handsome man, Remus,¡± he said as I entered the parlor. ¡°You are not bad yourself, Robin,¡± I said to the man. He is handsome in a schrly way. ¡°You should tell that to my wife; she said, I have be ugly in these past few years,¡± he said, and Iughed before we walked out of the parlor. As we stepped out of the mansion, we sat in the carriage that was waiting for us in front. A minuteter, the carriage rolled out mansion into the city. I looked at the city for thest time; it is myst night. I don¡¯t know when I will be able to visit this beautiful city again. ¡°Do you know who Lord Lancel¡¯s date is?¡± I asked. Lancel¡¯s letter said he had found a date. It is why he is noting with us. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but whoever that is, she is not from the empire,¡± he said, and I smiled. Of course, she is not going to be from the empire. Lancel had been meeting a lot of people here, people from other kingdoms. He had been open about most meetings, but some had been secret, and we are wise enough to not ask about them. We are advisers. We do not need to know everything and trying to do that is a quick way to get fired andnd in jail. The ride passed in the conversation, and before we know it; the carriage stopped, and we got out. the moment we did, our eyes widened as the first day we have seen the city hall. ¡°Wow,¡± a word came out of my mouth as I looked at it. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 126: Lord of Jalrux Chapter 126: Lord of Jalrux ¡°Yes, wow,¡± said Robin as he looked at the city hall. It is different from what we have been seeing for the past few days and nights. ¡°Well, it seemed like those embedded gems and precious metal paint weren¡¯t just for the show,¡± I said. Seeing how those gems had lighted up the whole city hall. The thing that makes it even more amazing is the precious metal paint, which radiates the lights across it. Whoever created it must be a genius. The way the lights from the gems ented the city hall was amazing; it gives it a majestic feel. The city hall always looked beautiful at night, but it had never looked this beautiful. We stared at it this work of art for one entire minute, before walking toward the mansion. Soon, we reached the main gate of the city hall. During our visits here, we had never used this gate, as all our negotiations were held in the left wing. At the door is a lich weing the guests, the same lich who had weed us from the dungeon. He is a great Lich, a Level 40 powerhouse, but not the strongest one. There is another Lich in the city, stronger than him. They are the bodyguard of the city lord and are said to be close to Level 50. There is also one mage, and seven warriors, who are at Level 40 +. This is the power of the regional capital, and it is what they are showing. I am sure their strength is greater than they are showing. Greltheaven couldn¡¯t bepared to them. We did not have a single powerhouse at Level 40, our small city couldn¡¯t afford them. ¡°Wee to city hall, guests. I hope you both enjoy the party.¡± Said the Lich. ¡°Thank you, Great Lich Yatsal,¡± I said, while Robin just nodded shakingly. He had gone pale seeing the lich and shaking in fear. Thankfully, he did not freeze and followed my lead. ¡°This way, please gentlemen,¡± said the beautiful elf woman with earth-brown hair as she appeared in front of us and led us inside the city hall. ¡°How can you stay calm in front of a Great Lich? I was barely able to breathe in front of him,¡± asked Robin as we walked away from the lich. ¡°He is not going to eat us, especially in Navr,¡± I replied with a smile. He red but did not say anything and instead focused on the city hall as I was doing. The main wing of the city hall is even more beautiful than the left wing. Every inch is carefully crafted and every piece of art that is ced here is amazing and expensive. If we loot the city hall with everything it has had, it will be enough to pay all expenses of our city for decades. A minute passed, and we took the left turn and appeared in front of therge silvery doors, which had borate designs painted on them. I would have definitely admired them, if not for looking ballroom, which those doors lead to. ¡°Enjoy the party guests,¡± said the elf as she took us to the door, before turning and leaving, while we entered the ballroom. The ballroom is the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It isrge, with a realistic mural painted across its roof and walls. If one stared at it long enough, one would find them moving. The one who painted them is not only talented but also had been high leveled. Only they could create such an effect. There are a few hundred people already inside; all of them dressed impably. Mingling with each other. Under the melodious music of the band. The music felt so wonderful that I wanted to kidnap the musicians and take them to my establishment. ¡°Wine sir?¡± we had just taken a step inside, when the waiter appeared in front of us, with sses of golden wine. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said and picked up the ss. Robin did the same before drowning half of it within a second, while staring at the corners. It seemed like seeing a couple of liches had stressed him out. Eight liches are standing in every corner of the ballroom; gazing at the ballroom and even talking to the guests who are daring enough to approach them. Navr is smart. They have unabashedly ced their undead around. These are notmon undead, but liches, with each one dressed impably. This will lessen the aversion of people toward the undead and make them look normal. The people invited here are notmon; each one of them has some influence. Even Robin and I have some in our city. Through us, they wanted to reduce the terrible reputation of the undead. As less aversion brings more trade, and no matter how powerful Navr is, it needs that trade as the world needs its goods. ¡°Lord Lancel had not arrived,¡± said Robin as he looked around the ballroom. ¡°Viscount Atre isn¡¯t present as well,¡± I said. He nodded. I was just looking around when I saw a familiar face, and at the same time; he looked toward me. He said something to the man standing beside him and soon, both of them came toward us. ¡°Remus, it¡¯s nice to see you again,¡± said Ethan as he appeared in front of me. ¡°It''s nice to see you too Ethan and I am really sorry that I couldn¡¯t meet you, with all the work,¡± I said to the man. He is Ethan Ashav, a scion of one of the very powerful merchant houses in the merchant union. ¡°I know. I have been too busy, with the incident taking a day from my schedule,¡± He replied, and I got slightly rmed by his mention of it, in front of the people. Even though he did not mention it explicitly. I would still prefer it if he did not speak in front of other people. Things are going well in Navr, and I don¡¯t want to do anything to jeopardize that. He smiled seeing that and turned to the green orc beside him. He looked to be in histe fifties or early sixties; it is hard to tell with orcs. ¡°Remus, this is a Yaguk Almphu; the leader of Ax Storm mercenaries,¡± he introduced and my eyes widened in surprise. He is the leader of the mercenaries to which Brul and Borg belong and is likely the uncle who had survived the dungeon a couple of decades ago. The information, he had told Brul, had helped us tremendously in getting out of the ruin. ¡°Hello, I am Remus Silver. I have heard a lot of things about you from your men,¡± I said as I shook his hand. A smile appeared on the green orc¡¯s face, making him look slightly younger. ¡°I have also heard a lot of things about you too, young man, and let me say. Not many with your strength survive what you have survived,¡± he said with all seriousness. ¡°Thank you for your praise,¡± I said with a smile, and he shook his head. ¡°It is not a praise,¡± he said. For a moment, there was silence. Thankfully, the delicious-looking appetizers arrived to fill the void. We each took one, and they were delicious; as good as the wine, I am drinking. ¡°You are leaving tomorrow, right?¡± Ethan asked. ¡°Yes. We will be back in the empire, a day after tomorrow,¡± I replied, and an unconscious smile appeared on my face at the mention of the home. It would have been great. If my bastard of the brother hadn¡¯t died. His funeral and other things going to waste at least two days before I could return to Greltheaven and my business. A few minutes passed, and we talked about a lighter topic when a new guest had caught my eye. Seeing us, he turned. ¡°My lord,¡± I and Robin greeted with a faint bow as he appeared beside us. He nodded and turned to Ethan. ¡°Mr. Ashav, thank you for your help. You saved me a lot of time,¡± said Viscount. Mentioning the business, I know nothing about and did not dare to look even curious about it. ¡°It is a small thing, Lord Viscount,¡± said Ethan, before he turned to the old orc. ¡°Chief Almphu, this is Viscount Atre of the Harsoth Empire. The sole reason we were able to get out of that ce,¡± he said, and Viscount''s eyes lit up. ¡°Thank you, Viscount, for bringing my men out of that ce,¡± he said to Viscount, who smiled. ¡°It is I who should thank you, Mister Almphu. Without your information, we would have been food those nts,¡± he said, and the orc smiled. Viscount remained with us for a minute more, before he left, and a few minutester Ethan and Orc. We mingled with other people; we do not know any of them, but one does not need to in a ce like this. The purpose of these parties is to meet the people one had not met before. Half an hour passed when something happened in the ballroom. Fifty-two men and women of all races entered in four lines, wearing stylized mage robes with an emblem of Navr on their chest. They walked into the center and formed arge circle before taking out their wands. People turned toward them, including me and Robin, and the half-elf man we were talking to, who seemed to realize what was happening seeing a big smile on his face. ¡°What is happening?¡± I asked Rn, the merchant from the Kingdom of Mahal. ¡°Something amazing,¡± he replied without borating. Hearing that, I did not ask further and focused on people whose wands have lit up and a momentter, spellse out, as they raised them in the air. Spells came out of their wands, with Lumen Balls and ir being the mostmon. They floated in the air and came together, forming an emblem of their city. It is a ck stag, with white burning eyes on the red triangr shield. It stayed in it for a couple of seconds, before the real performance started, and it is mesmerizing. As the emblem dispersed, they begin to cast the spells rapidly. They all were grade-one spells of light and fire elements. I was only able to recognize a few of them, even among those, half of them were highly modified. They gathered and a couple of secondster, a hundred-meter-long giant dragon materialized in the air. It looked amazing with simmering scales and glowing eyes, and the way it moved its wings made it feel like a real thing. ROOOOAR! It roared so loudly that I felt my hair moving. Robin even took a step back as the dragon roared in our direction. ¡°My god!¡± said Robin in wonder. ¡°The show mages are quite good and today these looked like mythical beasts,¡± he said, and he was right. In the next minutes, a hydra appeared. Then it was a golden stag, a lethal one, and many others begin to appear. I have seen the magical shows, but nothing could bepared to this. It is on apletely different level; it is like seeing a regional acrobat to the Olympian. The thing is, they are only using the grade 1 spells. There know bigger spells, but at today''s party, they are keeping themselves restricted to grade 1 spells. Mage talent is considered the best. It opened different roads to the future. Thebat mage or schrly mage is not the only option; there are many others. Show mages are one of the paths one could take. Other mages looked down at them, thinking it was a path chosen by those who couldn¡¯t walk into the other two. I am not looking down on them, butbat is not everyone. Many mages give up after their first assignment and a cushy job. As for being a schr, which is akin to being a scientist, not everybody could be one. Seeing these show mages, a daring idea appeared in my mind. I will have to test whether it is possible. If it is, I will do it. It will cost me a lot, but if I seeded, it would also provide me with tremendous benefits. We were watching the show when Robin and I shook. Immediately, we averted our eyes from the show and looked toward the door, where Lancel had appeared, with a beautiful woman who looked to be in herte twenties. ¡°It was nice talking to you, Mr. Woods,¡± I excused myself and walked toward Lancel with Robin. ¡°My lord,¡± we greeted in unison and bowed faintly as we stopped in front of Lancel. ¡°Robin, Remus. This is Lady Ahana Harley of Ataren,¡± He introduced his date. ¡°My Lady,¡± we greeted. ¡°Ahana, this is Robin and Remus, my advisers,¡± he introduced. She nodded politely, but her eyes held no interest in us. The woman is beautiful with a small delicate face, raven ck hair, and smooth light brown skin. She is from the Kingdom of Ataran, a central Kingdom, which shares a border with Tabes and Edruin, the empire''s dear neighbors. If I remember correctly, she is the daughter of Marquess Altan Harley. He had three daughters. I am confused whether she is a middle one or a younger one. It is definitely not the oldest, as her name is not Ahana. After the introduction, Lancel walked away without so much nod. Which is normal behavior, and we didn¡¯t think much and turned to the beautiful show. The showsted for forty-five minutes before the mages disappeared. Their exit was amazing. The blue phoenix made a loud cry and dived on them creating a beautiful explosion of lights and when it was disbursed a few secondster, the show''s mages have disappeared. I was basking in the afterglow of the show when suddenly the whole hall quieted down, and everybody turned to the central stairs. The empty stairs now had a person. So beautiful that women would feel jealous of him. He is a tall young man, who looked about my age. He had thick blue hair and high cheekbones, with pale skin. The most prominent feature of him is his red eyes. They are crimson in color, with a faint shine in them. ¡°I hope you all enjoyed the show,¡± he asked in a soft, melodic voice as he climbed down the stairs. ¡°Gawain Phaeron,¡± whispered Robin in a barely audible voice, he looked at one of the most powerful people of Navr or it could be said, of the whole continent. I have heard he looked young, but still had a hard time believing, seeing him looking young as me. While he may look young, he is old. Hundreds of years old. Gawain Phaeron, Lord of Jalrux and the whole Talgek Region. A vampire, a member of the elder race, and a truly terrifying individual. He is someone who could fight against the Grand Mages head-on and if whispered to believed, killed one, in the present century. His entrance had surprised everyone. He rarely makes an appearance at parties, but when he does, he stays. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 127: Return Chapter 127: Return ¡°It was too risky. You shouldn¡¯t have done that,¡± said an old orc with a thick wooden staff in its body hand. To the middle-aged orc, who was stepping into the herbal pool. The moment stepped in it; the injuries which looked healed turned red and a middle-aged orc gritted its teeth. ¡°It was worth it; as now, they won''t guess what I am going to do next,¡± said the middle-aged orc, and grinned in pain, before turning to a thin human standing beside him. ¡°Is the information provided by our spy urate?¡± he asked the human. ¡°Yes. He had provided us with information many times and it was never wrong, and I have corroborated with another source,¡± replied the human. ¡°We have waited for this opportunity for months. If we seeded, we would have a fortune beyond our dreams,¡± said the middle-aged man, with a crazed dreamy look in his eyes. ¡°We will. Your ns had never failed us, they will not fail us, now,¡± said the human, and the orc grinned. All he did in the past few months for this opportunity. He even baited his own life, all for this. He will seed. There will be no other conclusion than this. ¡­ ¡°A whole carriage. I thought I had brought lots of stuff, but it seemed likepared to you, it is nothing,¡± said Robin, seeing the whole cargo carriages filled to the brim with my things. The carriage only has a small portion of what I have brought; the other things wille in two weeks. ¡°It is not that much,¡± I said. At leastpared to Lancel; his things have filled the four carriages. I don¡¯t know when he had got time to do so much shopping. A few minutes passed and all the preparations were made. When finally, Lancel and Viscount walked in, in thepany of a half-orc, with a spear on its back. He is Captain Temha. He will be responsible for our safety. ¡°Is everything ready?¡± asked Lancel. Who had returned to the mansion in the morning with a smile, with a satisfied smile on his face. Even now, that smile had not disappeared. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± replied Robin. ¡°Then let''s go,¡± he said and stepped into his carriage with Mage York, while Viscount sat in his with his men. With them sitting in their carriages, Robin and I stepped into my own carriages. We will not be riding with Lancel, since the business is done; he wants his privacy, and I couldn¡¯t agree more. I sat opposite Ina in a maroon carriage and a couple of secondster; the carriages begin to move out of the mansion. I sighed as I looked at the beautiful city, bathing in the evening light. The undead had really built a great city that one would wish to live in it forever. Even I felt that for a moment, but I can¡¯t. This is Navr, and I am from the Empire. I love Greltheaven. It may be small and have nothingpared to the magnificent Jalrux, but I love it there. I never felt peace anywhere but there. ¡°If there is a chance in the future, I will visit the Orwyth Tower again,¡± said Ina, as he looked at a huge blue tower. Aarium that we visited in the afternoon. It was really good, better than anyarium I have visited on Earth. I get to see it and a few other things, thanks to the Viscount. In the morning, he informed us that it will take us the evening to leave, and I was more than happy with that news. I was able to visit the ces I couldn¡¯t do yesterday and also able to do some shopping. Now, Ca won¡¯t be mad. The stopping took nearly everything I had brought with me. Now I have less than four thousand crowns in my pocket. Soon an hour passed, and the carriage moved out thest gate of the city. We are now truly out of it. Ina shuddered, seeing the vast farnd in front of us. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they had dealt with the problem. The incident will not repeat itself,¡± I said reassuringly, sounding more confident than I am feeling. It was not just her who is scared, but also I am. I knew how lucky I had been to survive that ce. If Viscount Atre hadn¡¯t been there; then, even with four times the numbers, those bloody nts would have had us. I loosened my hand on my sword, which was still attached to my chest, and took out the book from my bag. I had brought a good number of books but did not get even a minute to read them in the city. Now, I am going to read it, till we take a break for dinner, which is going to be around ten. So, I have a few hours. I activated the Fast Reading and began to read at incredible speed. The skill is amazing. What makes it more amazing is that, while it lets me read fast, it did not take the joy out of it. I feel the same joy and rxation, while reading skill, as I do without it. It also saves me a tremendous time. My speed of reading had increased with the level of my ss. Thewyer ss had advanced a lot here. Reaching Level 12 from Level 9, it was in Greltheaven. Which automatically increased the power of the skills. It would have been great. If the attribute points I have got here, would have been used in the charm and other mental attributes; the power of the skills would have been even greater. I pushed those thoughts. Yes, it is regretful that I need to use the attribute points on strength and vitality when I wanted to use them on charisma and intelligence, but I do not regret my decision. My safety matters the most and till I reached Greltheaven safely. I would use every attribute point I have for physical attributes. Those two attributes had increased my strength, along with the new skills I have got. While Jon had beaten me till I couldn¡¯t walk on both days; I could tell my strength had risen and so has my efficiency in using my skills. Instructor David is right, there is no better ce than a real battle to hone one''s skills and I have fought them, more than I liked to. In less than a year, I had been nearly killed by my family, got attacked by undead, assassins, and thieves, and got myself into a dungeon. All of which was no fault of my own, I was never an aggressor or initiator. A few hours passed when they stopped by a manor by the river. It is a beautiful manor, with a huge wooden pir with artful carvings on them. We freshened up there and had dinner before resuming our journey. Captain Tenma had said we could have spent a night, but we didn¡¯t. We have to reach the empire as soon as possible. Lancel is in more hurry than me, despite my brother being dead. He had to meet a lot of people. My brother is not the only one dead, he is the highest-ranking one who died, but there are also children and rtives of many nobles who have died, not to mention countless men. The battle had been bloody and killed a lot of people. Lancel is going to meet them, and I am going to follow him. It will be much better than spending time with my rtives in the in. As the carriages picked up the speed, I reclined my chair and fell asleep within a minute. The sleep had been peaceful, and I woke up at near dawn. Half an hourter, the carriages stopped again at another beautiful estate, which had arge orchard in front of it. There, we freshened up and showered before having a sumptuous breakfast. A few minutes after that, we are in the carriages again, moving toward the empire. I once again picked up the book, happy that Lancel hadn¡¯t called to me. I am having a peaceful time reading and when I am bored by that, I would look outside at the beautiful scenery. These bastards have converted a lot ofnd into farnd. Navr had one of the biggest forests, but it also had thergest farnd. 70% of its poption lives in a city, with 30% in viges, and those viges are strategically built near the vast farnds. The sheer wealth that Navr earns through it is colossal. The undead bastards are blessed with such gloriousnd while we are living in a wastnd. Still, it is home and ce in a strategic location. Which, if used well, would earn the city a fortune. I read for a few hours and talked to Ina, for whom I had a great n. I will inform her of that in a few hours. Soon it was time for a lunch break, and the carriages stopped again. This time it is tents, where cool wind from nearby hills wille, making me feel amazing. If it were up to me, I would haveid on those beds and slept away for hours. I did not, instead we quickly finished and resumed our travel. I once again picked up the book while talking to Ina, now and then. She also seemed to have brought some books, but they were not about history or magical things I am reading about. Instead, they are all about business. She also has reading skills, and hers is much better than mine, or it is due to her being higher level and having more points in attributes. She is level 20+, with more than half of the points invested in mental attributes. In one of our conversations, she let it slip that since she hade here. Aside from one point which she had spent on vitality, all the other attribute points she had got, she had spent on mental attributes. Which is, at least four attribute points. From what I could guess, she had leveled up five times at least in her base ss, which is five attribute points. Sometimeter, I begin to see the familiar hills and trees. We had returned to the road; we had taken when traveling to Jalrux. Looking at them, I could tell we were getting close to the empire''s border. I first did not believe it when the orc had said we will reach the empire byte afternoon, but now I do. Which also means it is time to talk to Ina. I wanted to talk to her about it when we reached the empire''s territory, but now would be better. It will give her a chance to think about the choice and make a decision. ¡°Ina,¡± I said gently, seeing she is focused on the book. She ced the bookmark on her book and turned to me. ¡°Yes, Master Silver,¡± she said and waited. ¡°I want you to stay at Mirador Hold and operate from it,¡± I said to her. Immediately, a clear surprise appeared on her face. ¡°As you wish, Master Silver,¡± she agreed. The moment she got control of her emotions. Her quick reply surprised me; for the intelligent woman she is, she sometimes acts foolishly. She could guess what I want her to do, but she still needs to ask for every detail before agreeing. ¡°You didn¡¯t even ask what it will entail?¡± I asked her and she smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t have to. I know it is a big responsibility and a great opportunity for me.¡± ¡°I will always be grateful for you giving me that,¡± she said, with her eyes bing emotional at the end. ¡°It will not be easy,¡± I said, and I am not talking about business. I know she can handle it with no problem. I am talking about the people. With her background, it will be difficult. She will be looked down, taunted, and someone might even try something with her. All of it is a real possibility, and I will not be there to protect her. ¡°I know it will be difficult, but it is the biggest opportunity of my life and I will not decline it just because it is difficult,¡± she said with a conviction burning in her eyes. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face. Things will be hard, but she is capable of dealing with them. ¡°Still, let me tell you about the job and if you changed your mind after, I won¡¯t mind,¡± I said to her and begin to exin. Her job will be simple. She will be representative of my business and will have the power to make the deals and receive the goods. This means she will need to make trips to Navr regrly. She will be based on Mirador''s hold, and I have already made the preparations for it. It would be difficult for others to ce the representative in the militarypound, but for me, it was easy. She will be the first of representatives, but will not best. After the trade begins, the big business will ce their representatives into the Mirador Hold. It will benefit Fortress a lot and from it, the city. ¡°So, what do you think?¡± I asked after I stated her responsibilities. Small and big, many of them seemed to surprise her. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, barely able to contain the flood of emotions she was feeling. ¡°This is your contract, read it carefully,¡± I said and forwarded it to her, adding my Contract Skill. I had crafted it in these past few days. It is thorough, with every point taken into consideration. It had many things, including a sry, which is equal to that of Ca. She read it for nearly half an hour and signed it silently, before handing me back my copy and cing hers into her iles bag. The rest of the ride went in silence; Ina did not read and instead looked out of the window. Now and then, a beautiful smile would appear on her face. I soon got bored looking out the window and focused on the book. I became quite engrossed in it and only looked up when I felt the carriage stop. This time, we have not stopped to rest, but to get out. We have reached the empire. The border is less than a hundred meters away. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 128: Ulag Karguk Chapter 128: g Karguk ¡°It seemed like they have already begun,¡± said Lancel as he got out of the carriage and looked at the construction on both sides. Before there were two small outposts on both sides, and they are present now, but around them are new constructions happening and they have already made good progress in three days. The trade will need an infrastructure; the new constructions will house more guards here and inspectors. We do not want any contraband to enter the empire through Navr. Count Darrow wants enough trade that the expense of Mirador Hold will be paid by the taxes earned through it. It cost a lot to maintain a fortress so huge, not just sries and weapons, but also food, maintenance, and other things. Currently, it is the Empire, the city of Greltheaven, and the Prince paying for it equally. The share, which the city pays, increases every month, and the share Prince pays reduces. The number is huge. When I saw it the first time, my eyes had be big as saucers. The n is fortress supported fully by the city, within a year. More than half of the time of which had already passed. It is a huge expenditure and the Count curse at whenever he sees knew the expense from the fortress. Count wants the taxes to pay for it all. It is why the prince had been pressuring his uncle to form rtions with Navr, but the Count had been holding off that pressure. Having a rtionship with an undead kingdom is not an easy thing. For a person like the Count, it could have great reputational damage if not handled well. Thankfully, it is an undead who provided us with the opportunity and seeing what we had achieved. It could be said, we have made great use of the opportunity. Trade with Navr had a huge potential; as we will not be the only ones doing it. The whole region will want its goods in theing months and since we control the route, it will be us who will benefit the most. It is not farfetched to say that taxes from the trade would be enough to run the fortress and it could happen sooner than the Count had imagined. Lancel looked at the sites for a few seconds before turning to the half-orc, who was talking to Viscount Atre. ¡°Thank you, Captain Temha, for safely bringing us to empire,¡± said Lancel. ¡°It is my pleasure, Lord Wilstein,¡± replied the half-orc. Lancel nodded and walked toward the boundary of the empire, with guards surrounding him from all sides. Soon, our entire entourage crossed the small bridge and entered the empire. There, Commander Harrison Dane, along with a few familiar people, was already waiting for us. ¡°Lord Lancel, Viscount Atre. Wee home,¡± he wees, with carpet and all. Wanting to fix his image from thest times'' fiasco. ¡°Thank you, Commander,¡± said Lancel, while Viscount just looked at him. ¡°Have you been able to track any assassins, Dane?¡± Viscount asked immediately, not letting him forget his failure. The smile on Commander Dane¡¯s face disappeared hearing the question and sparks of anger lit up, which he quickly doused and brought out an apologetic smile on his face. ¡°My profound apologies, Viscount Atre, but it seemed like they had escaped,¡± he replied. ¡°No surprise,¡± said Viscount softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear, before walking toward the carriages on the other side. There was silence for a moment before a loud voice broke it. ¡°Lord Lancel. Thank the war god you had returned safely. I had been wide awake at nights worrying about you,¡± said the grey-haired man in his mid-sixties, as he appeared in front of Lancel. He is Baron Angus Lockridge, a House Ravenheart loyalist. He is a new noble and has a territory in the Nakar forest, all thanks to House Ravenheart. ¡°Navr wouldn¡¯t dare to harm a single hair on my body,¡± Lancel boasted, and the smile on Baron Lockridge''s face widened further. ¡°You are absolutely right, my lord. A slightest harm and empire would have rained down its fury on Navr,¡± he said. It was very hard not to roll my eyes hearing that. Empire wouldn¡¯t have done anything, even if Navr had killed Lancel. At most, there would have been a diplomatic protest and few show attacks. It is not an empire, it had been a few decades ago. Lancel smiled at his words before walking toward the carriages and entering inside, with Commander Dane and Baron Lockridge with Mage York following behind. I sat in my carriage with Ina and soon the entourage begin to move toward the fortress. Little more than an hourter, our carriages walked in through the giant gates of the fortress. The carriage stopped. I got out of it with Ina, when suddenly a voice spoke in my mind. ¡®Adviser Silver, Lord Lancel, is summoning you to his carriage,¡¯ said the familiar voice. I nearly jumped in rm before I could calm myself down. It was the first time I had experienced the telepathic spell. It was from Mage York. I did not waste any time and walked toward the carriage, and it seemed like I was not the only one who Lancel had summoned. Robin is also moving toward the carriage. As we reached the carriage, Commander Dane walked out of it and his mood did not look good. He walked away without saying anything. We shared a look, before entering inside the carriage. ¡°You have summoned us, my lord?¡± asked Robin. ¡°Yes. I have called you to inform you that I will be leaving for Nakar baronies immediately, taking Remus and guards with me.¡± ¡°While you leave with Viscount Atre and brief father of mission¡¯s sess,¡± he said. Robin is clearly surprised as me, but he bowed in eptance. ¡°If I may be bold, my lord, but traveling to Nakar baronies at this time will be dangerous. Especially when the Gg bandit leader is still out,¡± I said, and immediately Lancel and Baron Lockridge looked at me. ¡°I thought you were brave, Remus? Has the dungeon taken away all your bravery?¡± asked Lancel with a hint of mockery. ¡°Just being cautious, my lord,¡± I said and bowed. ¡°Young Silver is right, my lord. We should stay in the fortress for a night and leave for Baron Lockridge¡¯s territory in the morning,¡± added Mage York. Hearing that, I felt relieved. I have read about the Gog bandit leader; he is very smart, and we should be cautious against him, even when he is all defeated. ¡°It will be fine, Mage York. Forget us and guards, Lord Lancel alone, would be enough to deal with bandit leader if he dared to show up in front of us,¡± said Baron Lockridge. Mage York. He looked like he wanted to say something, but did not. ¡°You have five minutes to finish your business, Remus, and bring your guards with us.¡± ¡°Viscount had said some good words about those inders,¡± said Lancel. ¡°As youmand, my lord,¡± I said and bowed before walking out of the carriage. Immediately, I went to Ina, who was waiting by the carriage. ¡°I will be leaving with Lord Lancel immediately,¡± I informed her. ¡°I thought you were going to spend the night here?¡± she asked. ¡°That was the n, but Lord Lancel wants to reach the Nakar baronies as soon as possible,¡± I replied and sighed. I had nned to get her to use this ce and introduce some people, but now, that won''t be possible. She will have to do everything for her, adding more difficulties to her already difficult job. ¡°You go. Master Silver, I can handle everything here,¡± she said, as if reading my concern. ¡°I know you can,¡± I said, fully confident of her. ¡°I will be taking the guards with me, but will ask one of the stone mercenaries from the city toe here for your safety,¡± I said and could feel some tension leaving her body. I nned to keep one of my guards here before the other guard, take their ce, but now Lancel asked me to bring my guards with me. She will be fine without guards for a day. By tomorrow, someone would be here for her safety. I talked to her about a few more things, before turning to the guards and asking Z to send a message to Ca to send a guard here. ¡°Finished with your business?¡± asked Lancel as I returned to my carriage. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I replied. A few minutester, the carriage moved through the huge gates of Mirador hold, with fifty guards surrounding the horses. Ours is the only carriage; Lancel didn¡¯t even bring his cargo carriage, which house all his clothes and other stuff. He wants to reach the baronies as soon as possible. Soon, our carriages crossed the hill, and I felt the effects of many skills being ced on the carriage. The carriage got faster and smoother. More than a modern automobile, I felt like I am flying. ¡°With this speed, we should be able to reach Hennost within four to five hours,¡± said Baron Lockridge. Lancel nodded, while looking out of the window, but did not speak. ¡°I will be joining the hunting tomorrow. I will not let those pests escape my domain after what they did,¡± said Lancel. I want to stay something against that, but decided not to; Mage York had opened his mouth, closing it with a sigh. ¡°That is wonderful, my lord. With you, it won¡¯t be much challenging to fight the find the bandits and wipe them from the face of the earth,¡± said Baron Lockridge. I truly want to kill this sycophant and the idiot who listening to him. To search for glory, he might end up killing himself and even take me with him. We should have stayed the night in the hold or should have brought more guards. There are only fifty-eight guards. Fifty of Lancel¡¯s, three of mine, and five from this old bastard. I had said it, but the bastard isn¡¯t willing to listen. I truly hope nothing untoward happened to Lancel because then his father will have my head. He will literally do that if something happened to his son. I had already asked my guards to give the same priority to Lancel¡¯s life as mine. A few minutes passed, and I am already feeling bored. Even the conversation is feeling boring to me. So, I decided to open my mouth. ¡°Lord Baron, have you taken part in the battle against bandits?¡± I asked. To which he shook his head. ¡°No, I was guarding my keep. It is my eldest who fought in it,¡± he replied with great pride. ¡°I heard the battle was quite bloody,¡± I said, and he nodded. ¡°Yes, it was. That wretched bastard had the red skill,¡± he said, and I was not surprised. It was present in the information I got. Still, I acted surprised. ¡°Truly?¡± I asked in shock. ¡°Yes. That bastard had activated it in the battle, it filled all his men with rage and they begin to fight, without care for their life,¡± he said. The red skills are rage skills, they are dangerous. Especially those which increase the rage of others and make them bloodthirsty. ¡°Rage skills are uncontroble, but those who could control it. Are one of the hardest people to deal with,¡± said Mage York. ¡°Buvak Grukk and his madpany,¡± I said, and Mage York nodded, with a hint of respect appearing in his eyes for a moment. Not for me, but for the man I had just named. He is a mercenary with three thousand men to whom he could spread his rage. Hispany is extremely powerful, defeating many undefeatable foes; many times, he and hispany broke through many of Navr''s hordes and killed their leader. Navr had sent assassins after him and even have an active bounty, but could never kill him. Rage skills are powerful, but I do not want them. They bring more danger than I like and affect one psychologically. Many of its users have activated it unconsciously and ended up harming their loved ones. Soon, the sky becamepletely dark, but the carriage kept moving and slowing down, only went we reached the Nakar forest. As the carriage entered the forest, the guards have be alert, and so am I. My hand is on my sword, ready to use at the moment''s notice. Two hours passed, and we reached therge clearing, and center of it was the keep; with therge g of house Lockridge flying over it. ¡°We have reached it and that is without any incident,¡± said Baron Lockridge, looking at me with pointed eyes. I only smiled in reply, while feeling relieved inside. I have been tensed this whole journey, expecting the bandit to attack at any moment. Thankfully, it did not happen. For once, luck with me. Therge gates of the keep opened, and the carriage entered inside, with the protection of the guards, before the door closed behind us. ¡°Wee to the Barony of Lockridge, my lord,¡± said Baron Lockridge and bowed before opening the door and stepping out of the carriage. He did not move away and instead held the door for Lancel. Though it was Mage York who got out first and then Lancel, with thest one being me. ¡°I wanted to prepare a grand wee for you, my lord, but the short time did not give me that luxury,¡± he said. ¡°I do not need any grand wee, Baron Lockridge. Your loyalty to our house is more than enough,¡± he said. ¡°That you will have it, till myst breath,¡± he said, bowed. He raised his head, and a frown appeared on his face. ¡°Where is Charles? I told him to be ready to wee Lord Lancel?¡± he shouted. Immediately, I noticed the strangeness. There was no family member of Baron Lockridge. They should have been present, but they were not. It is not a simple faux pas, but a breaking of etiquette. A lord and his family should be out to greet their liege. I became alert, and I am not the only one. Mage York also noticed it and moved closer to Lancel, while his staff glowed. ¡°Charles will not be able to Wee Lord Wilstein. It will be only me,¡± said a rough booming voice, and a few secondster, an armored orc walked out, and seeing him, my eyes widened. The orc is g Karguk, leader of Gog Bandits. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 129: Escape Chapter 129: Escape ¡°My son!¡± Baron Lockridge screamed in grief, seeing the bandit leadering out. The bandit leader is short for an orc, and looked with a long ponytail but had a body built like a tank. Every muscle in his body was well-defined and could burst with strength at a moment¡¯s notice. I am shocked, to my core, not only by the brazen entry of g Karguk, but also by how casually he is holding the decapitated head of a blond man by hair, which is dripping with blood. The dead man is the son of Baron Lockridge, who is being held back by guards. As he wants to run to the bandit leader. ¡°Bandit, you have made a grave mistakeing here,¡± said Lancel, with eyes filled with anger. ¡°You are here. So, it is not a mistake,¡± said the bandit leader with augh and kept walking. Stopping only when there is about a hundred-meter distance between us. He is standing alone with a confident smile on his face, not caring for nearly sixty guards armed to the tooth and a High-Mage. Things are not simple as they looked. This bandit is intelligent, and it wouldn¡¯t havee here without preparations. As for why he came, he just told us; for Lancel. ¡°I was nning to hunt you down tomorrow, but since you delivered yourself, I can kill you now,¡± said Lancel as he took out his sword. Bandit leader¡¯s expressions turned strange. He begins to look at Lancel as if seeing the world''s biggest idiot. ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± He looked at him like that for a second, before a smile cracked on his face and soon transformed into raucousughter. The bandit leaderughed so hard that tears started to drip down from his eyes. ¡°Why areughing, you wretched bastard?¡± Lancel asked angrily and tried to take a step toward the bandit leader, but Mage York stopped him. It took a few seconds, but the bandit leader finally stopped and the first thing he did was throw away the head. It immediately brought a reaction from Baron Lockridge, and he tried to move toward the bandit, but his guards stopped him again. He used that free hand to wipe away the tears from his eyes and turned to Lancel. ¡°I amughing at your idiocy, dear lord. You are idiot enough to assume I woulde here without preparation,¡± ¡°Has all the luxuries in your life, had eaten your brains enough to not understand that,¡± I am standing in the middle of the castle, without care,¡± he said and mocked looking at Lancel mocking, before raising his hand up in flourish. Seeing the fist, I felt all the hairs on my stand up, and a momentter; the bandits begin to reveal themselves. They areing from everywhere, from the front, back, sides, and battlements. From where, over ten archers have drawn their bow, with Lancel as their target. My focus turned to the six people that appeared beside the bandit leader. Two humans, three orcs, one half-orc. Three of them. I instantly recognized it. They are lieutenants of the bandit leader. In these past few months, we have collected a thick file on them. They were present with Karguk, when he had escaped two days ago and killed my brother on the way. The other three arepletely unknown. I looked at them before focusing on the old orc with the staff. Looking at all the markings, he is a shaman; they are very hard to deal with. ¡°You have brought quite a force, but we could still defeat you,¡± said Lancel, suppressing the intense fear he is feeling. Yes, we could defeat the bandits despite them having more men than us. We have a High Mage, Baron Angus, three captains, three of my guards, and trained experienced guards. It will be a bloody battle, but victory is undoubted. ¡°You are right about that,¡± Karguk agreed and Lancel smiled. ¡°Of course, I am right. You wretched bandit and since you have dared to show yourself, we will kill you and all the filth you have brought,¡± said Lancel, pointing his sword toward the bandit. I did not feel good, especially when I see that the smile on the bandit leader''s face did not dim. Instead, it had brightened up. ¡°Your force will be able to defeat us, but not before we will kill you,¡± said the bandit leader. ¡°All my men, including me, will attack with you as the only target,¡± ¡°Many of us will die, even I might die, but we will keep going, till we kill you, and not even High-Mage standing beside you will not be able to protect you,¡± he said and for the first time, true fear appeared in Lacel¡¯s eyes. Earlier, the bandit leader implied he wanted to kill Lancel, but now, he clearly stated it. The question is why? Lancel is not amon person, he is a scion of one of the most powerful noble houses in the Empire. The House of Ravenheart wields immense power. Killing him will bring the force of that house to a bandit. The whole army of Mirador Hold will descend here, and also armies of House Ravenheart and their experts. They will hunt him down, even when if he hides in the extreme magic region. You can¡¯t just kill a member of one of the most powerful noble houses and hope to live. ¡°Why do you want to kill me?¡± asked Lancel and his voice was surprisingly steady. The bandit leader shook his. ¡°I do not want to kill you; my employer wants you. If I bring you alive with me, he will pay me more, with a dead body, a little less.¡± ¡°So, it is your choice. You cane with us alive or as a dead body; either is fine with us,¡± he said with a shrug. Seeing the bandit talking so casually about his death made Lancel really angry. I have seen him angry, but not like this. ¡°I am Lancel Alexander Augustus Wilstein of House Ravenheart. You filthy bandit, you can¡¯t kill me,¡± he roared, and the bandit leader grinned. ¡°You are of flesh and pitifully weak. I will kill you,¡± said Bandit Leader with a grin, before his pale blue turned calm as ake. ¡°Attack!¡± he ordered. Immediately fourteen archers begin to lose arrows with every skill they have, and all of them were aimed at Lancel. I looked at the arrows before focusing on the bandit leader, who did not move from his spot. Nor do we. Attacking them before they attack us is not wise in the position, we are in. It is great for us that it is making its archers attack; it will make them lose arrows. So, when the real battle begins; they will have fewer arrows to work with. As for Lancel, nobody is worried about him; he had a High Mage to protect him. He will be fine. High Mage had already enveloped them in a red protective sphere. It is thick but transparent. I could see both of them clearly through it. The arrows were so fast that they barely took a second to reach the shield, before starting to hit the protective sphere. The ripples formed as the arrows hit the sphere before they begin to fall down on the ground. Not a single one of them could breach even an inch of that protective sphere. Seeing the arrows falling down, the smile on Lancel¡¯s face became even bigger, and he looked at the bandit. The bandit''s smile did not change, and it worried me. I have read every report on the bandit. Every caravan it looted, every person it killed, and the battle it fought. From all this, I know this bastard is intelligent, ruthless, and has a strategic mind. I feel like the battle two days ago is not simple as people are thinking it is. If I am daring, I would even say, it had intentionally leaked his position and let the collective force attack him. So, he could lure Lancel here, as he knew as the future lord of Greltheaven, he wille here for the funeral. Lancel should understand it, seeing he had worked under famous generals. One of the perks of being a member of House Ravenheart. He did not seem worried, instead; he was looking at the bandit with a mocking smile. I really want to curse him. If he had just listened and not used his monkey brain. We would have been safe in the Mirador Hold. Hun! I was tens of arrows hitting the shield, when something shocking happened. One of the arrows somehow pierced through the protective sphere and lodged itself into Lancel right below his chest, cutting through theyer of energy covering him. Instantly, shock spread around me and the one who is most shocked was Mage York, who had cast a protective sphere and the protectionyer around Lancel. Ahhhh! Now, the arrow had lodged itself deeply into Lancel, making him scream in pain. ¡°I told you, you will die and even a High Mage will not be able to save you,¡± said the bandit leader while High Mage York added a couple ofyers to his protective sphere. I felt relieved seeing the arrow lodging below his heart. If it had hit his heart and died, then I would have no option but to run for a family. As the Count wouldn¡¯t have let me and others live, with his son dead. It wouldn¡¯t have mattered if it wasn¡¯t my fault. In the short time, I have known him. I understood his nature and knew how petty and ruthless he could be. Lancel stopped screaming after Mage York fed him something and looked at the bandit with fear in his eyes. He only stared at the bandit leader for a moment before putting his hand into his iles bag and taking a silver scroll out. Seeing that, a smile on the bandit leader''s face widened. ¡°Teleportation scroll won¡¯t work here. My shaman had cast a powerful anti-teleportation ritual long ago,¡± said the Bandit leader, with a mocking smile. Instead of shaking in fear, as I had expected him to be, Lancel smiled. ¡°It is not something you little shaman could stop, filthy bandit,¡± he shouted and started to open the scroll. The rxed smile on the bandit leader''s face disappeared immediately. ¡°Stop him, now!¡± he ordered his shaman, and multicolored hanging crystals on the old orc shaman''s staff lit up. At the same time, the Lancel unfurled the scroll fully, and silvery light covered both him and High Mage York. It had just covered them, when it flickered, and fear came back in Lancel''s eyes and joy lit up in bandits. The flicker was temporary. A momentter; it had stabilized. ¡°Filthy bandit. I will hunt you down, even if you hide in the deepest of extreme magic regions,¡± shouted Lancel, and a momentter, he disappeared, taking High-Mage York with him. The only person who guaranteed our victory against these bandits. ¡°FUCK!¡± the bandit leader screamed so loudly that it reverberated through the keep before he turned back to the shaman. ¡°You said they would not be able to escape,¡± he said to the shaman, with a burning range in his eyes. ¡°The scroll he had was stronger than my ritual. Though my ritual took quite a lot of power, so they wouldn¡¯t have teleported far,¡± exined the shaman hastily. ¡°Can you track them?¡± he asked. ¡°He has anti-tracking measures and High-Mage would cast more, making tracking them harder,¡± the shaman replied. ¡°Can you track them?¡± The bandit leader asked again, and the shaman turned toward us for a moment before looking at the bandit leader. ¡°Yes, but sacrifices will need to be made,¡± he answered. Hearing that, horror filled my heart. As even an idiot could guess what the bandit leader would do next. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 130: Battle In The Keep I Chapter 130: Battle In The Keep I ¡°Attack, kill every one of them!¡± ordered the bandit leader and came toward us with his men, and at the same time, arrows begin to rain again. ¡®Fuck fuck fuck¡­¡¯ I cursed madly. Lancel, that bastard. I wish he was dead. Damn, the consequences. It is all happening because of him, and he ran away, leaving us here in the jaws of bandits. Taking High-Mage with him, the only one who could guarantee our victory against the bandits. Now, with him gone, there is a chance we all be wiped out, and it is all happening to find that bastard. The blood shaman intends to sacrifice us to track Lancel. Even in escaping, he had brought death for us. It took all but a second for the first volley of arrows to reach us. Ting Ting Ting Thankfully, we have enough mages to cover us with shield spells. Including Z, whose water shields are moving across the battlefield and around me. The arrows hit the shields and fell to the ground, not breaching even a single shield. I felt relieved seeing that but didn¡¯t grow confident. I saw what happened to Lancel and while it is likely a special arrow that breached the shield; I don¡¯t want to take chances. I am keeping an eye on arrows, as well as the banditsing toward me. The others got ready to face them. I felt a lot of buffing skills covering me, which gave me some confidence. Though, I know we will not be the only ones using the buff skills. The bandits would be using theirs¡¯s as well. It is not an advantage, as it was against the undead and in the dungeon. ¡°Jon, Captain Hiren; go and neutralize the archers,¡± I said to them, seeing the volleys of arrows. With Lancel gone, I am the highest authority here. Baron Lockridge may be higher in the station, but I am the adviser. It could be argued on several grounds, but Baron Lockridge was in no state to do that. They looked surprised by the order, but moved quickly, with Captain Hiren taking three more people with him. One is a rogue among three, while about two, I don¡¯t have any information, since they are from Mirador Hold. I would have very much liked to keep these people around me. It would have increased the chances of my survival, but with archers, the result would be me being dead. They need to be dealt with first. They are what could kill us from a distance and keep our mages busy. Our mages have attacked the bastards before stopping. It is a waste of mana, seeing as they are protected; those stone guards are not easy to breach. Even Z¡¯s spells will have a hard time doing that. As the rogues moved toward two entrances of the battlements, some archers focused on them and so had one of the grey-orc lieutenants. He is a rogue, with a level estimated between twenty-five to twenty-nine. He had moved to block Captain Hiren. I quickly moved my gaze away and turned to bandits, who were about to reach us. ¡°Bandit''s leader and his lieutenant are the targets. Kill them and the victory will be ours!¡± I shouted for morale. I may not know much about the battles, but I know how important the morale and the leadership are. Our leader ran away and the second one is no state to lead and boost morale. Everyone here is more powerful than me, but they are looking to me for support and leadership and to win and survive. I will give that to them, no matter how ufortable and dangerous it is. The expressions of people changed hearing my voice, and they seem more ready, but it also attracted the eyes of the most dangerous man here. Seeing those pale blue eyes, I shuddered, but I did not move my eyes away. Even when I wanted to do that desperately. ¡°I will kill you, you bastard!¡± Shouted Baron Lockridge as his men finally let go of him; he moved toward the bandit with a speed that made the bandit''s leader turn his head and loosen the grin on him. Baron Lockridge is not the only one who attacked the bandits, others charged behind him. Stone, Captain Julian, Captain Azalia, and two men of Baron Lockridge; I hope they will be enough to deal with the Bandit Leader and its lieutenants. Soon, they reached the bandits and something surprising happened. A dagger appeared in Baron Lockridge¡¯s hand; he did not use the sword by his waist and instead use the dagger. The information I have said he is a warrior, not a rogue. I could only see him attacking before I had to turn to face the grey orc, appearing in front of me. It is a big orc with arms holding an enchanted long sword. If it hit me, it will be a game over for me. ¡°Die, little human,¡± he said with a grin, and swing his sword at me. It is fast, but not as fast as I had expected. With his power, he should have been able to attack much faster, but he is not doing that. The bastard isn¡¯t even using a skill; thinking me weakling and he is not wrong. I look young and most people of my age did not have many levels, much less thebat skills I have. Hun! Seeing him underestimating me heavily, I decided to take a big risk. Usually, I do not like to take such risks, especially at the start of the battle, but here, things are different. Everybody is higher level than me. If I want to survive, then I will have to kill, and I don¡¯t think I will get a better opportunity than this. It will also boost morale. So, I acted, or rather did not act; I just stayed on my spot, frozen in fear, seeing that. The grin on his face became a bringer. I let his sworde closer to me and when there was just a distance of hand between us. I moved with the speed; I have never moved before. I pushed Rapid Steps further than its limit. It gave me such speed that I was able to avoid his sword by more than a palm distance. I thought I would be able to avoid it by inches at most or even get cut by it, but I did not. As I avoided his sword, I swung mine using Swift de and Weighted Strike. It moved so fast that I could barely track it, but I know where it is going. The orc is shocked by it, but he reacted quickly. He started to move back to dodge the attack, but I had expected it and did not stop when I appeared right in front of it. It is the only thing it could; his sword is behind me and with its momentum, it will take time to attack me. Dodging is the only choice he has, but not the right one. Hun! It took less than a second for my sword to reach its neck when I felt the resistance. He has a skill; it had created an invisible force field around his neck. Such skills are very rare and extremely useful. If one worked on it well, they could do many things with them. The force field had slowed down my sword but did not stop it. It tried to use that escape, but I am following him with every step. The power of my two skills and enchantments. My sword cut through the forcefield, before finally touching its neck when the forcefield suddenly disappeared and my sword regained its speed and power. Pachac! As it did, it took all but an instant for me to sever his neck. I could see a shock appearing in the eyes of some bandits and guards fighting beside me. The only one who isn¡¯t shocked was Joseph. He barely nced at me before continuing his battle with the two bandits. In the two seconds, it took me to orc bandit; the battle had begun. Bandits are fighting against the guards. As I looked around, I received a shock of my own. Baron Lockridge was fighting against the bandit leader and their fight was so fast that I could not even see, all I could see is them flickering in positions. The shocking thing is, Baron Lockridge, is fighting as a rogue and seemed equally strong as a bandit leader. I had read about Baron Lockridge; his family had been serving House Ravenheart for over five hundred years. They are warriors, I have never heard about them producing such power rogue of such power. One could never guess when ites to the powerful noble houses. It is highly likely that Baron Lockridge had been a member of House Ravenheart¡¯s secret forces; it is the only reason he would hide his real ss and show himself a warrior of average strength. I only stared at the battle for a second, before my gaze is attracted by the first death among the guards. It is an archer; the aura had directly pierced through his head. Z and mages are trying, but the archers have an advantage due to their positions and numbers, not to mention they have the aid of bandits from below, which made it hard to defend against them. I was looking at guards when I saw an Orcing toward me. It was also a grey orc with a great swording toward me, with burning anger and grief in its eyes. ¡°You have killed Hoge. You will pay for it,¡± it said and attacked me and this one did not hold back at all. Seeing the power behind his attack, I be really scared. I did not dare to engage against it directly and instead chose to dodge the attack. Rip! His sword tore my clothes and gave me a cut in the stomach beforeunching another attack. Rip! It also cut me a little deeper than the first one. This is the power of the Gog bandit; I was able to kill the one before because that one had underestimated me, but this onee at me with full power, with skills and all. These two strikes are enough to tell me the difference between us isrge. Large like ten levels. The only reason I was able to even dodge the attack before I have Rapid Steps is a powerful short-range movement skill. Which is faster than the normal movement skills and also old Remus¡¯sbat talent. He had enviousbat talent, learning anything very quickly, and had been praised to be born with the instinct of the warrior. There is also some training I have done, even so, I am scared of my life. It is highly likely I will die. He is Level 20, while I am Level 11 inbat ss. This gap is vast, but I have to try it because there is no other choice. ¡°Dodging will not save you. You will die!¡± It said and swung his sword again while moving toward me. He is fast and his sword is faster. All I could see was an afterimage. So, I didn¡¯t even try to and even stopped thinking about it altogether. I focused on my instincts and let them guide me. Like in the dungeon, I could feel them and moved ording to their direction. Rip! Once again, its sword hit me, but this time, it barely touched my skin. I am surprised, as I had been thoroughly prepared to lose an arm. He also seemed surprised, but he did not let it stop him and attacked me immediately. Once again, I did not think, but reacted, and dodged the attack wholly, without letting it cut even a single string of fiber of my cloth. Now it is angry. ¡°I will kill you!¡± it shouted and came at me and, like before, I let my instincts guide me. It is not just instinct, but also my skills. The Rapid Steps and Sure Foot; I am pushing them beyond their limit. I am dodging the attacks at such angles that made it feel like Sure Foot had be an active skill. I have really got lucky with this skill. It kept attacking me, and I kept dodging. Half of the attacks, I have dodged perfectly, while the other half injured me in some way. Still, it is hard to believe I am even dodging the attacks. Seeing the difference in skills between us. I am alive now, but I won¡¯t be forever. I needed to dodge his every attack, while he only needs to hit once, and that enchanted sword and I would be dead. I wish someone could help. My guards would help me, but all of them are busy. I had sent Jon to deal with archers. Stone is fighting against two of the bandit leaders¡¯ lieutenants and Z and is summoning shields all over the battlefield and above me while also dealing with shaman¡¯s attacks. As for normal guards, they are fighting and dying. Till now, four of them fell, including one mage. Thankfully, they have taken double the number of bandits, and it all happened in less than a minute. It hadn¡¯t been even a minute since bandits attacked us for sacrifice and over ten people were dead. I wonder how many more will die before it is over. Whether I would be one of them. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 131: Battle In The Keep II Chapter 131: Battle In The Keep II Rip Rip Rip Seconds passed as I dodged one attack after another from the grey orc in front of me. It is hell-bent on killing me and using every skill he has in his arsenal and all I am doing is dodge, this is all I could do. I could not counter his attacks, nor I could defend against them. He is stronger than me. The only thing I have is a movement skill, which is really good, and a bnce skill, which stops me from falling when I dodge weirdly. Without both of them, I would have been dead. I would be dead. If I did not do something soon. I couldn¡¯t dodge forever. It will kill me sooner orter, but I have nothing. I do not have the required speed and power to kill him. This one is also not an idiot, like thest one. The only thing that could save me is help from others, but that will be unlikely to arrive soon. Seeing everyone fighting, even my guards are busy with bandits. They are the only reason we have a chance in this battle. If not for them, bandits would have the edge in this battle and it would be us, dying inrge numbers than the bandits. Z is summoning multiple shields, while Stone is alone, fighting against two of the bandit leaders'' lieutenants. As for Jon, he went to the battlements and I really hope he and others will deal with the archers soon. They are killing our people. Three of the five guards dead have been killed by the archers. Sup! I was thinking about the archer when one of the arrows circumvented around the shield and nearly hit me on my head. Thank God, I was dodging its attack and able to avoid it. Seeing myself nearly dying at every second, I am cursing that bastard Lancel with everything I have. If he had just used his little brain, we would have been safely sleeping in our suits. I defended a few more attacks and dodged two more arrows. The bastard archer had fixed me at their target and now attacking me; most of their attacks had been blocked by shields, but get passed it. He had a skill that let him circumvent the shield. Getting hit would be a death knell for me, even if it hit the most harmless part of my body. I will be dead, in less than a second. A minute passed, and I am surviving, but many have died. Including some archers, if reduced intensity were any proof. The number of arrows may have reduced considerably, but they are stilling. The one attacking me is just fine; it would have been great if one of our rogues were able to kill them. Rip! Another attack cut through me, this time more deeply, right across my stomach. There are so many such injuries piling on my body. Currently, I am fine, but soon, these injuries will tire me out and it won¡¯t take long. Seeing the speed, these injuries are piling on me. Sup! I just thinking that when another arrow came and nearly hit me once again. At that moment, I realized something bound the arrows. They areing from the front of me, at the back of the orc. Thistest arrow had not only nearly shot me but also the orc. Unlike me, the orc is not worried about them. He knows these arrows will not harm him. A couple of seconds passed, and a few more arrows came, and I received an injury on my shoulder. It is light, barely a scratch, but if I hadn¡¯t been wearing light armor under my shirt it would have been, been much bigger. After the dungeon incident, I brought a hidden armor from Jalrux. It is thin enough to be not noticeable under the shirt but powerful enough to slow down the attack from the enchanted weapon. It had saved me many times in this battle and made me wish I could have brought the better one, but Lancel wouldn¡¯t have let me wear that. He has no armor policy for the advisers; the armor is only for guards. Even his father thinks it is an idiot rule. Sup! Another arrow came, and I avoided it while dodging the attack of the orc, which wasing constantly. ¡®So, this is the pattern,¡¯ I said to myself. Ever since I had noticed that thing, I begin to observe and the more I did, the more I noticed the pattern. They are hiding it, but not actively. They had been trained that way. It is a ssic army method; it is simple enough that most archers could learn it, but is difficult for the target to track it. Old Remus had been taught this by an instructor; dealing with archers had an important lesson in old Remus''s training. Not because every warrior should learn it, but because his brother was a casual archer, and he liked to shoot arrows at old Remus when he was training. The bastard had picked up archery to bully him. He lost interest in it after I took over as I stopped practicing, and he picked up different things to bully me, but soon learn the price of that. A small smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face when I remember his screams. I pushed those memories away and focused on the current state. I could not dodge forever; I will die eventually. It would be better if I killed him; it would save me from dying, at least temporarily. I decided to take the risk, but I did not act immediately; I continued to dodge the attack and the arrows, till, I could tell when the arrow wasing. It had taken a few seconds, and injuries, one of which hurt like hell, but I got what I wanted, and now, I have only a chance to execute it. He is a bandit, not an idiot. He might understand what I am trying to do after the first attempt, so I have to seed. My goal is to injure him enough that he couldn¡¯t attack me with rapid attacks. If possible, kill him, but that would be hard. Though, I will try my hardest for that. To be honest, I would have liked a few more minutes to study the archer, but this was an actual battle; I do not have the luxury of time. Here, I will die if I wait for a few minutes. He continued to attack me, before finally, I saw the arrowing and moved left to dodge. My instinct told me it is much safer to dodge from the right than the left, but I need to move left. Seeing the trajectory, this arrow will curse its path to avoid Z¡¯s shields, which are always moving to make archers'' jobs difficult. It''s a dangerous risk and if I was even faintly wrong about the arrow''s trajectory, I am going to pay an enormous price. A grave injury or death, but what other choice do I have? If I keep fighting as I am, I am going to die, eventually. So, it is better; I die taking a risk, rather than running like a rat. I moved to the left, using every bit I power I could, and pushed my skill in such a way, it begins to hurt in my head, but I did not care. Seeing me dodging to the left, a grin appeared as he could divert his attack to the left easily, rather than right, and it did just that. Its sword came toward me, at a speed faster than I was moving. It will eventually catch up to me and when it does that, there will not be an injury, but death. That sword of it will cut me cleanly from my upper waist. I am looking at the sword, but I am focused on the arrow, which had avoided the shield, by mere centime, as I had expected it would do and nowing toward me, or rather toward the orc, at a very fast speed. The orc hadn¡¯t even sensed he was moving into the path of the arrow. ¡°You can die now, human,¡± it said when its sword reached very close to me when suddenly, his expression changed. He finally sensed the arrow behind him, and it was too damnte. Even with his speed, the arrow will hit it and there is nothing it could do with all its power and levels. Puch! The arrow hit his thigh and came, and its head came out from the other side, along with arge part of the arrow. It pierced through the thick thigh of the orc and froze his leg, and seeing he was moving at a very fast speed to match mine, he had gone off bnce begins to fall down. I only looked at it a moment before focusing my all on my dodge, as the sword was stilling toward and it seemed to target my junk. Rip! It cut through my thigh, with its tip reaching my bone, before I was able to get away. Nearly fell, but thanks to Sure Foot, only stumbled. The injury is serious, seeing it hit the vein, and the pain is blinding, but despite that. I did not stop and instead moved toward the falling orc, which is trying to use his sword to stabilize himself. Pachak! He had stabilized himself with the help of his sword. That¡¯s when I appeared behind him and attacked him using Swift de and Weighted Strike, pushing them hard as I could. Channeling all the blinding pain I was feeling. It had sensed the attack and tried to move, but the arrow had damaged his leg so much that he could not move fast as he needs to. With his power and skills, he would have been able to defend himself. If he hadn¡¯t His situation had kind of reminded me of the nt-bone abomination. How they would move after the I cut their legs, even if they had better speed on one leg, than he is right now. Pachac! I decapitated it with his head flying in the air before falling to the ground. I do not like the decapitation, but his chest was protected by thick armor. I don¡¯t know how long it will take me to pierce his chest. The head is a better choice as I was skilled used a small gap below his helmet. Thud! I did not wait for his head and body to fall to the ground and instead took out the potion. I drank half in a single gulp while using the other half on the injury to my thigh. I took out another bottle and spread it over my injuries, not caring about the bloody mess I was making, before drinking the pain potion. I am feeling pain all over and I don¡¯t want to feel it now. Especially when I will need to move again, and it will hurt like hell. After I dealt with my condition, I looked around and saw the fighting have intensified further, with many guards and bandits lying on the ground. The bandit leader and his lieutenants are still fighting, and it is looking bad. Baron Lockridge¡¯s whole body is filled with injuries, while there is barely anything on the bandit leader. I was looking at the fight when something shocking happened, not far away. Stone¡¯s sword had cut through the bloodied human lieutenant; he separated him into two, from left shoulder to right waist. Like he did, with water clones of assassins. He is giant blood, built as an orc, and has inherited strength from his giant blood ancestors. It gives him enough power to split people into with a normal sword, and he is using an enchanted sword. I was looking at him, in a wonder when I sensed an arrowing toward me. It was fast; it appeared beside me in less than a second, when I swung my sword hard and fast, with the power of my skills. ng! A metallic sound rang out, and I repelled the arrow, but I felt a tremendous shock in my arm from the sheer power the arrow had. Numbing my arm for a second. It is the reason why I had only dodged the attack of the orc, instead of defending with my sword. The shock of power is too much; I am not strong enough to bear it. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 132: Terrible Feeling Chapter 132: Terrible Feeling ¡°Filthy bandit, I will kill you!¡± said the bastard in front of me andunched another flurry of attacks with that dagger. Whirlwind shes. Elnor¡¯s Movements. Lacerating Cuts. Blistering Bleed. I stopped each of his attacks with abination of skills before giving him another sh in the left thigh. He mostly avoided the attack, except for the small cut, which joined tens of other cuts all over his body. ¡°Old bastard. It won¡¯t be long before I sent you to your grave,¡± I said and attacked him. I have to finish this bastard and others soon. Things are working as I had expected them to. I thought, with the High-Mage running away; I could kill the rest of them with ease. It won¡¯t take even five minutes toplete the sacrifice, but the battle is in no hurry to end. There have been many mistakes, the biggest one the old bastard, I am fighting. He is far stronger, than I had thought. The intelligence I had collected and had been provided by the employer clearly stated this Lockridge bastard was an average warrior. He is a fucking rogue of Level 30 and if that wasn¡¯t enough. The guards of Silver had more strength than intelligence had said. Especially the giant blood, who is fighting against two of my lieutenants. I do not care about my people dying. If the numbers are limited, I will be more than happy to see them dead. I was going to kill them anyway after I got Lancel Wilstein. The money I got from it would be more than enough to live my lifefortably anywhere in the world. I have already decided on the ce and made all the preparations to disappear. The bastards from the empire wouldn¡¯t take his death lightly. Though I have confidence that no one could find my ce in the extreme magic region. I don¡¯t want to hide anymore. I want to enjoy my life freely, without care for the world. All I need to do is kill Lancel Wilstein. I will need to finish killing these people andplete the sacrifice. Only then I will be able to find Lancel Wilstein. Hun! I was thinking about that when I saw something. My lieutenant got split into two by the giant blood¡¯s sword. From shoulder to waist, with all the blood and guts spilling out. It shocked me before it turned to anger. I had to force myself to calm down; this is not the ce to fight angrily. I am fine with my people dying, but I couldn¡¯t afford to lose my lieutenants. They are what I will need to deal with High-Mage, when I find Lancel Wilstein. Now, the giant blood had killed one and moved to fight another and since he killed Soz, it will not be hard for him to kill Jadak. I could not let that happen. ¡°See that bandit? Your first lieutenant is dead. It won''t take before others started dying, and then it will be you,¡± said the old bastard andunched another attack. That made his daggere at me like a snake. ng! I defended against his dagger and moved toward him. Till now, I had been ying safe, conserving my strength to fight against the High Mage. Now, no more. I will finish this old bastard before killing all the strong ones or I will be the one who will have to run. I had made that mistake before; I will not make it again. Bloody de. Poison of Ilve. Spurting Vigor. I stopped holding back and activated three more skills and the first attack I did was at the pest, who hade right in time to interfere. Puch! I avoided the old bastard''s dagger and appeared directly in front of the short man, who was attacking me, with his boss. His attack was fast, but not fast enough. I dodged it before appearing directly in front of me and putting my scimitar into his chest. He tried to avoid and even resisted, with his skills, but my scimitar had crushed through it all. It is a regret that I did not get to see the fading light from his eyes as another attack from the old bastard ising. ¡°You are next, old bastard!¡± I said as I dodged his attack and moved toward him. ¡­ ¡°You are really something. You have killed two of our people, despite being so weak,¡± said the thin blond human bandit, before attacking me again. I dodged it with a Rapid Legs and Sure Foot, but it hade at me again. I had been fighting this thin man for half a minute and he was quite skilled atunching a rapid attack. He has skills that worked well together; the only w he has is speed. In his profession, speed is not important as strength. The bandits fight in the jungle, among the trees. In such ces, it is better to fight from a single ce, rather than move around. One might get tangled in the vines and fall down. He might not have much speed, but he is still nearly ten levels higher than me, which gives him enough speed to deal with someone like me. I am once again dancing on the edge of the knife. His rapid attacks came at me without a moment of break. It is hard to dodge, but after dealing with two enemies such as this, I have gotten used to it. Or rather, I would say, I learn to calm my nerves and focus more. Not think about death too much. There is another reason for me able to focus on the battle against the thin man fully. The archer that had been targeting me had stopped, along with all the archers on the eastern battlements. Now, the archers are only present above the gate and western battlement. I am sure they will be dealt with quickly. It had freed up our mages and lessened the pressure on the men including mages. Now more bandits dying and if I am right, their numbers have reached nearly equal to us. With the speed they are dying, their numbers will be reduced further in theing minutes. So, I only need to stay alive for a minute or two before someone wille to help me. As for killing the thin man I am fighting, I don¡¯t think that would be possible for me. He is not an idiot and there is no archer of which I could take advantage of and even if there was, this man wouldn¡¯t fall for such a trick. He had seen how the Orcs have died and wouldn¡¯t be repeating their mistake. Hun! I was fighting, when I noticed another death. It is not a death of themon bandit, but of the lieutenant. Captain Azalea had killed the orc she was fighting. She had killed him by piercing her de through his eyes. She immediately moved toward Captain Hiren after killing the bandit. He was fighting against the rogue lieutenant, who seemed to have great skills. He had littered the whole body of Captain Hiren with injuries, especially his left arm, which was hanging. Hun! There was a smile on my face seeing the victory of the Captain Azealia, when it froze away. Baron Lockridge died. The bandit leader had cleanly decapitated the head of Baron Lockridge and was grinning at victory when another shocking thing happened. Stone killed another lieutenant of the bandit leader. ¡°You bastard!¡± the bandit leader roared at Stone and moved toward him. Seeing that, my heart skipped a beat. Stone is strong, but Bandit Leader is stronger. Stone also seemed to realize that as he turned to face the bandit leader solemnly. I wanted to watch their fight, but I couldn¡¯t. I could only get a glimpse now and then, fighting against this thin man. Fighting against the bandit leader, Stone¡¯s fighting style had taken aplete reversal. From the pure offense, he had moved to pure defense. It is a wise choice. Bandit leader is not an enemy, he could defeat, with all the advantages his level and giant blood could provide him. ¡°Our leader had defeated the bastard rogue and not giant blood will be dead too,¡± ¡°It won''t take long before all of you will die,¡± said the thin man with a grin and attacked again, while I only dodged. A few seconds passed and a couple more bandits died and a guard. When another Bandit Lieutenant had died, the half-orc fighting against Captain Julian. He killed the lieutenant and immediately moved toward the bandit leader without hesitation. It is a very dangerous choice, but Captain Julian took it without hesitation. A few secondster, he was against the bandit leader. Nine seconds after that, another lieutenant died, who was fighting against Captain Hiren and Captain Azalea. As they killed him, Captain Azalea moved toward the bandit leader to join Stone and Captain Julian, while Captain Hiren drank potions, before taking the stairs toward the battlement. In less than a minute, the whole battle had changed. Four lieutenants of the bandit leader had died and now three people were fighting against him. Now four people are fighting against the bandit leader. Jon had joined the battle by jumping from the battlement, even with skills. It is a dangerous thing to do. One could break many of their bones, and even die, but Jon is fine. They have surrounded the bandit leader from all sides, and now he is the one who had gone to the defensive. He may be powerful, but there are four very skilled people fighting against it. It became especially frustrating for him. Still, the bandit leader is no weakling. He could still turn the tide, and he had done that many times. I hope Stone and others remember that. A few days beforeing here, I got permission from the Count to show them some confidential information and Gog bandits upied arge part of that information. Hun! A few more seconds passed when something happened. That pleased me to no end. Finally, people areing to help me. Joseph and another guard named Marvin areing toward me and a thin man sensed them immediately. Which is why he turned and moved toward them. I did not follow him, instead took out the potions and drink them, before applying them all over my body. I did not join Joseph and Marvin in the battle against the thin bandits. I know my limits, and joining them will harm them instead of helping them. As they would be focused on my safety. I had just barely applied the potions when I saw an orcing toward me and prepared myself to fight against him, but a secondter, the guard appeared in front of him. I heaved a sigh of relief and turned to the bandit leader and a grudging respect for his strength and skills couldn¡¯t help but appear in my heart. He is not only powerful, but also very skilled in battle. He is fighting against four very good opponents, but still not getting suppressed. Instead, managing to get an attack or two against them. It seemed like, despite the extensive research we have done on him. We still end up underestimating his strength. Hun! I watching the bandit leader, when I noticed something on the other side of the fight. The orc-shaman who had been fighting against Z suddenly begin to retreat, before disappearing into the keep. I thought Z would follow him, but she did not, and instead, she joined the battle against the bandit leader and her first spell was a huge sphere of water. In which she had caged the bandit leader. Instantly, he begins struggling inside. It is why the mages are so dangerous. They have versatility and range, along with massive power. Depending upon the skills and spells they have, they could easily crush a couple of people of the same level. As Z put the bandit leader into a water sphere; others did not waste any time in acting. Hun! They had just moved when something shocking happened. The bandit leader, who was struggling, rip apart the water sphere, sending all four of them a couple of steps back. He looked around the battlefield, and his expressions be worse. Though he recovered his expression in an instant and turned to Z, where his expression changed again. I thought he would attack her. He is known to pick the mages first, but to my surprise, he did not. Instead, he moved his gaze and looked at me, and a wolfish grin appeared on his face. Feeling his eyes; I got a terrible feeling. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 133: Killing The Bandit Leader Chapter 133: Killing The Bandit Leader ¡®I hate mages!¡¯ I cursed as the water sphere enveloped me. They are always hard to deal with. It is all because of that bastard Itles; he ran away. He will be one of the first people I will kill when I get out of here. I calmed my anger and looked around. I could see the four of them had already started preparing to attack me. I couldn¡¯t stay here. A few seconds more and my chances of survival will disappear. Dividing Cut I activated the only skill that could bring me out of here. My scimitar moved through the water fast, cutting through the water as it passed through it. The cut water, which should merge naturally byws of nature, stayed separated till my scimitar formed the full circle. BLAP! The water sphere broke through, sending the four surrounding me a couple of steps back, while I took a deep breath and looked around the battlefield. The more I looked. The worse my expression bes, but this time, the blood-red anger did not rise, instead cold reality seeped into my heart. I have lost. There is no way I could win it. I have to escape but is harder with the gates closed. I do not have skills that will let me jump through the walls. There is a hidden exit in the keep, but it will not work. It is narrow that only a single person passes through it; not to mention I had blocked it to stop from anyone escaping. That only leaves the gate. They will not open the gates unless they are forced to. I looked around before my gaze stopped at the mage, and immediately, I shook my head internally. She is not important enough to open the gates. She is just a retainer. As I had thought that my eyes turned to a young human. Remus Silver. Adviser to Lancel Wilstein of House Ravenheart and scion of the mercantile House of Silver. The most important person here. For whom, they will open the door. Mist Mobile I activated my fastest movement skill and moved toward the Remus Silver. I could see the rm appearing on the faces of the people surrounding me. They moved to stop me, but they are slow. Even Rogue couldn''t catch me with his speed. The mage attacked me with the water arrows, but I defended against them, with Whirlwind shes, before finally appearing behind Silver and using my left hand to take his neck in a chokehold, while he watched with helplessness. ¡­ I felt the Orc''s thick arm around my neck; they are so powerful that it will take him an instant to crush my neck. He also seemed to have used some skill, which numbed my body. The only part I could control is my head. ¡°Release Adviser Silver, bandit,¡± said Captain Julian as he and others moved closer, but maintained distance. In fear of bandits doing anything. ¡°That will not be a problem; just open the gates and give me my horse, and I will release him,¡± said the bandit leader. ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± I said and immediately the pressure on my neck increased. ¡°You should stay quiet, adviser,¡± warned the bandit leader, with threat dripping from his voice. I want to live and wouldn¡¯t have objected to his request. If not for knowing his record. I am not the first person he had taken hostage and half of them he had killed. Generally, he released the hostage he takes. After they give him demanded ransom, but this time, I don¡¯t think, there will be a call for ransom. He had chewed more than he liked, and his purpose was to get away. The moment he did. He will kill me; I have no doubt about it in my heart. ¡°You have a minute to decide. If you didn¡¯t, I will kill him and take my chances with you all.¡± ¡°I am sure, with some losses and injuries, I will be able to get away from this ce,¡± the bandit leader warned. For a couple of seconds. There was no reply. They looked at each other before turning back to the bandit leader. ¡°Bring his horse,¡± ordered Captain Julian. ¡°And horses for my men,¡± added the bandit leader. ¡°You can forget about that,¡± replied Captain Julian, and it was clear by his voice, he will not agree to it. Which is wise. More men will increase the chances of his escape. We cannot let him have that. ¡°Fine,¡± said the bandit leader. He surprised me, I didn¡¯t think the bandit leader would agree such easily. A few seconds passed in silence before, finally, the guard brought his horse. ¡°Now, opened the gates,¡± said the bandit leader, and Captain Julian turned to the bloodied Captain Hiren, who was guarding the gate with guards. ¡°Open the gates,¡± he said finally. Captain Hiren nodded at the guards. Who released the bolts and pushed open the enormous gate, while the bandit leader moved toward the red horse, taking me with him. I can not go with him. If I did, it will be game over for me, but there is nothing I could do. He is at least twenty levels higher than me. His raw strength is more than enough to crush my bones. While I have the protective measure, I couldn¡¯t depend on it. I have seen it working and seen it not working. I wouldn¡¯t bet my life on it. Aside from it, I have nothing. Wait? I have something. I have nearly forgotten about it in my battle. It is in my pocket. In my numbed hands. When I saw the bandit leadering at me, I unconsciously put my hand left hand in pock and gripped the charm. Now what? Caena¡¯s letter had said it was a protection charm, and she had given me an activation world, but there was no instruction on how to use it. Not that I could do anything other than speak activation words. It had numbed my whole body with skill. I don¡¯t know whether or not it will work; maybe it is a joke from Caena or maybe it would harm me if I activated it in my pocket, but I don¡¯t have any choice. The gate opened, and we are closer to the horse. I wanted to activate it immediately, but I waited. If I am going to use it, I want to use it right time. Soon, we reached the horse, and it was beautiful. With a radiant red coat and luxurious mane. If I am right, this horse is a descendant of hasa; the me horse monster; a very fast and dangerous monster. ¡°Sit,¡± The bandit leadermanded, and the horse immediately sat up smoothly. The bandit leader did not sit and instead looked at the surrounding people. ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone to follow me,¡± he said. ¡°You release Adviser Silver, and I will give you my word. That will not follow you,¡± said Captain Julian, who also had a horse beside him. So, have Z and Stone and others; they are intended to follow the bandit leader. ¡°Not going to happen,¡± said the bandit leader. ¡°Then we will follow you.¡± Replied Captain Julian. ¡°I could kill him right now, you know,¡± said the bandit leader, with a clear warning in his voice. ¡°You could, but then we will use every skill and spell we have to kill you,¡± said Captain Julian, with leveled voice. ¡°Fine, fine. You can follow me,¡± said the bandit leader and turned to his horse and moved his leg toward it; while keeping me with him. ¡®It is time. I hope it works,¡¯ I thought and gripped the charm tightly and opened my mouth to speak the world. ¡°Almaroz,¡± I spoke in a barely audible voice, as it is the loudest I could speak, with bandit leaders holding on to my neck. It stopped the bandit leader while I waited with bated breath, but nothing happened. ¡°What di,¡± the bandit leader spoke, when suddenly the charm in hand turns to dust, and a momentter, dense purple lighting covered my whole body. It shocked me, but what shocked me the most, was that it did not harm me. I could feel the power of the lightning and know it could kill me in seconds. The purple lighting stayed on me for a fraction of a second before it moved to the bandit. Covering his whole body in an instant. ¡°Ahhhh¡­¡± He screamed loudly, and it felt especially loud in my ear. As the lightning covered him. Puch! It surprised me, but I did not let the surprise stop me from acting. I am free from his skill and I took advantage of that. I moved my sword back with the power of Swift de and Weighted the strike. It pierced through his stomach. The bandit leader moved back, wanting to get away from me, but appeared directly in front of Jon, who appeared behind it and attacked the bandit leader, without caring for the lightning covering him. The bandit leader is powerful; despite the lighting covering him. Which is burning him; he moved fast enough to defend against the attack. Albeit barely. The moment he defended, the others arrived, along with Z¡¯s spell. Which brought a water binding that spread around his body, like a snake, restricting his movements. The next attack came from Captain Azealia, and it directly pierced through his chest. Jon¡¯s dagger came next and entered his head. Captain Julian attacked the other heart for some reason and Stone finally attacked with his sword and decapitated him in a single attack. The bandit who terrorized the Nakar baronies had been finally dead. I am having a hard believing it and what¡¯s harder to believe is Z is responsible for it. Not only in killing the bandit leader, but also in saving my life. For which I am extremely grateful. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± said Z, moving her glowing staff toward my neck. I could see there are questions in her eyes, but she is holding them back. ¡°I am fine. Heal those who are in danger first and take these,¡± I said and handed her potion bottles, before turning to Captain Julian and others. ¡°Secure the keep; search for any rats that are hiding. I want that blood shaman found if he is hiding in the keep,¡± I said to them; they nodded and walked away, leaving only Stone. He is standing beside, protectively, without saying anything. ¡°You should at least drink potion,¡± I said to him. There are injuries all over his body. While the elder blood in his helps him heal fast, he should take potions to expedite the process. Some emergencies might appear that might need him to be at his peak. He nodded and took out the potion from his pocket, while I turned to look at surrendered bandits, who are being bound by the guards. Z had gone to Captain Hiren and healed him. He is the most seriously injured and copsed after the bandit leader died. A few minutes passed, and all three of them returned with a grave expression on their faces. ¡°The bandits have killed them all; they hadn¡¯t even spared the children,¡± informed Captain Azalia. I didn¡¯t have to ask, what she is talking about. I feared this might have happened, but still wished I was wrong. ¡°Leave the bodies just as they are and sent scouts out; we don¡¯t want to be caught off guard again,¡± I said. They nodded and disappeared. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 134: Return Chapter 134: Return ¡°Collect all the things and ce them in the open, and call all mages,¡± I said to Captain Azalia. She nodded and walked away and soon begin to order guards. Except for those guarding the keep and injured; all of them moved. As for the bandits, we have ced them in the cells of the keep, with a tight watch from the guards. A minuteter, all the mages gathered in front of me. Including Z. ¡°How is he?¡± I asked her. ¡°Out of danger,¡± she replied. I sighed upon hearing that. Captain Hiren is seriously injured and wouldn¡¯t be able toe back to the job quickly or ever be. I pushed the worries about him and turn to mages; it is time to do an important job. ¡°I want you all to send this message to all baronies. I want it sent exactly like this,¡± I said and showed them the page. ¡°We should be able to do it. Now the anti-message field had weakened,¡± said Reve. The bastard blood shaman had cast an anti-massage spell field. It had made it hard to send the message. Immediately, they all sat down and started to send the message to the surrounding baronies. ¡°Z, I need you to send this message,¡± I said. It is to Count Darrow. He needs to know what had happened. Though, I am sure, he had got to know about it already. This will be from me; not from his son, who had run away. A couple of secondster, the message was sent, and immediately, the reply came. He had a lot of questions and I answered each of them carefully. For more than half an hour, I had sent and received messages from Count Darrow before I got a small respite. ¡°Sent this to the Mirador Hold,¡± I said and gave the page to Z. They also had a lot of questions, and I told them everything they need; thankfully, I finished quickly. ¡°Any response from Mage York?¡± I asked. To which she shook her, ¡°No, he is not receiving messages,¡± she replied. I had asked Count Darrow and Mirador Hold whether they have received any contact from Mage York. They remained mum, which is an answer in itself. Especially Count Darrow, who was rtively calm. If he didn¡¯t know about his son, he wouldn¡¯t have been that calm. The messages begin toe from the baronies to Count Darrow and I replied to them all while watching the guards ce the bandit¡¯s things in the open. From Iles bags of the bandit leader and his lieutenant and their weapons to money pouches and other things ofmon bandits. Aside from their clothes, we have brought everything out. Hun! I was watching it when I saw something surprising. Three guards came, bringing the five small crates with them; each one of those crates had the little monsters in them. I could recognize two of them. One is Lurois, a ck feline beast with a single curved horn, and a Halmk, a pure white sparrow, which is the size of my finger. It is also known as a cloud-surfing sparrow. I was looking at them when my gaze fell on a wolf-like beast. It seemed weak, and there was something different about it. ¡°It is a mutt, right?¡± I asked after a few seconds of observing. ¡°From the looks of it; it did seem like a mutt,¡± replied Z. Mutts are monsters that are a mixed breed. Such monsters are unpredictable and usually killed, rather than taken. ¡°Try a healing spell on it,¡± I said, looking at the pitiful monster. Z looked at strangely for a moment, before casting a healing spell. A few seconds after, its condition seemed to improve a little. ¡°Mister Silver. We would be grateful if we could get that cloud-surfing sparrow,¡± said Z, and Stone nodded. ¡°I will see what I could do,¡± I said. The loot belongs to the city and while have some rights in it. It is the city that will decide what we could take. These monsters are expensive and rare, especially Lurois, which is in always high demand. ¡°Joseph, try to ask where the bandit got these beasts,¡± I said to Joseph. ¡°Yes, Adviser,¡± he said with a lot more respect than before. He left toward the keep while I walked toward the stuff of the bandit, which was ced in the open under the moon''s sky. ¡°Captain Azalia. We are going to make an inventory; I need you and three other guards to be witnesses.¡± I spoke. She nodded and soon I started to make an inventory. It is a procedure; I need to catalog everything. Clean records always help; it also wards off suspicion. I don¡¯t want anyone to think I had taken anything. Soon, we finished with everything and now only eight Iles bags have remained. Two belong to the bandit leader, six belong to his lieutenants. There were seven lieutenants, with one being on the battlement. That Jon had killed. Of all the bandits, only one had escaped. The blood shaman and, to me, he was dangerous as the bandit leader. ¡°Losh, pick the first iles bag and begin taking out things slowly,¡± I ordered. The woman nodded and begin to take out the things; the first thing she took out was a pouch and it was filled with money. A lot of money. We counted the money before she took out another thing and then another. One by one things came out till nothing remained and she moved to the other iles bag. One by one, we emptied five iles bags. All of them had money, weapons, and potions, along with some food and personal item. Now, only two iles bags of bandit had remained. Losh begins to take out the things and I could see the excitement in her eyes. She is not the only one feeling that. I am also feeling it; the bandit leader had been doing this for decades. He must have amassed a huge fortune. A few minutester; all the excitement deted. He has more money and precious things than his lieutenants, but nothing shocking. I kind of expected spells, scrolls, and chests filled with gems, but I found nothing of that sort. ¡°This is thest thing,¡± said Losh and took out folded parchment from the second bag of the bandit leader. ¡°Open it,¡± I said to Losh as she looked at me for permission. She did, and I saw it. A map. ¡°Close it,¡± I said hastily. She did. It is a map of the bandit leader; it must be something important. It is better that others did not see it. ¡°This is the list of items we have got from bandits. Verify it and sign it,¡± I said to Captain Azalia. She begins to check the list, and a few minutester; she signed it. The guards did the same and handed it to me. I once again checked it myself, before signing it. ¡°Replies?¡± I asked as I reached Z, and she handed me notes. I replied to them through Z and walked toward the quarters. So far, I have avoided it, but I need to look. A few minutester, I am looking at the horrors of bandits. Those bastards had even killed children. ¡°The bastard got an easy death,¡± I said and walked out. He should have suffered the greatest punishment, but he died after suffering seconds of pain. Two hours passed, and I was sitting beside crates of monsters. Feeding cute little things pieces of meat, which they are eating ravenously except for one. The mutt had recovered a lot, but was still weak and refusing to eat. It did not surprise me; many dogs my father trained behaved like this. It could be sickness, a new environment or just the monster didn¡¯t like to eat from strangers'' hands. ¡°Its been nearly three hours. Why didn¡¯t they arrive?¡± asked Joseph. ¡°They will soon,¡± I replied with a smile. I am in constant contact with baronies, mirador holds, and the city. All forces areing and should havee by now, but there is no sign of them. After what happened, they will take time. I don¡¯t mind; I am quite enjoying myself with these cute things. They reminded me of home. Brough back, the memories of my childhood. Soon it was midnight, and notifications appeared in front of me. [Warrior Lv. 12] [Warrior Lv. 13] [Conditions Met: Sure Foot- Gymnasts Grace] Seeing the notification, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I had leveled twice and even got a skill upgrade. Which is a great surprise and a wee one. It is more important than gaining new skills. If it was not for Sure Foot, I wouldn¡¯t have survived the dungeon. I wouldn¡¯t have survived this battle. Now, it had upgraded, and it is pleasing me to no end. I wanted to scream joy and jumped around, but I stayed in my ce. ¡°Yes, Yes Yes!¡± I may have controlled my expressions, but that does not mean others would also do the same. They have leveled up, and many of them screaming loudly and jumping in joy. Many had leveled up; some are showing, and some didn¡¯t. I am d for them; they deserved it. They have fought a great battle, even when their leader had abandoned them. Hun! I was watching them when I noticed something in the crate that put a smile on my face. The mutt who stayed weakly in its crate, slowly took the bite of meat I had ced in front of it. The first bite seemed to have awakened his hunger and took another bite and then another, before finishing the whole thing. I did not give it more. It is enough for it; I will feed him again, after a few hours. A few more minutes passed and when Z turned to me. ¡°I have received a massage; they are fifteen minutes away from reaching the fort,¡± she informed. ¡°Captain Julian, ready your men,¡± I said to him. He nodded and walked away, and begin to order his men, while I moved to the battlement. More than ten minutes passed when finally, I could see the force with the spyss, and I have to say; it is quite a force. ¡°How many people do you think they brought?¡± I asked Stone, handing him the spyss. ¡°Around seven hundred,¡± he replied a few secondster. A few minutes passed, and the army appeared in front of the gates. I could see a lot of people, Baron Harrods, Major Jarvis of Mirador Hold, and even Mage York. There is no sign of Lancel, but I am sure he is hiding in one of those carriages. Seeing that, I walked down from the battlement, toward the gate. ¡°Open the gates,¡± I said, and the guards opened them, and I walked out with Stone, Captain Azalia, and Captain Julian behind me and looked at the small army that stopped in front of the keep. All looking at me silently. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 135: Representative Chapter 135: Representative ¡°My Lords,¡± I greeted and bowed faintly to the Baron Harrods and others, leading the small army. They did not reply, instead, just keep looking at me. ¡°Have the bandits been dealt with, Adviser?¡± asked Mage York after a few seconds of silence. ¡°Yes, High-Mage.¡± ¡°Half of the bandits are dead, including the bandit leader and six of his lieutenant. Those who survived are in a cell of the keep,¡± I replied and could see some people having a hard time believing it. ¡°How is that possible? You must be lying!¡± said someone from behind and immediately got a re from Baron Harrods and others. ¡°You do not need to believe me. The proof is present there,¡± I said and motioned toward the open gates of the keep. ¡°You four, go check it out,¡± said Baron Harrods, but Mage York shook his head. ¡°There is no need. Adviser Silver is telling the truth,¡± he said. He must have used a spell like an eagle eye or something. He could do it, with all the restrictions of the blood shaman disappearing. ¡°If you all have been satisfied. I would wee you all to the castle. Though, I would request you to keep most of the army out before we cleared everything,¡± I said to them. ¡°It is fine,¡± said Mage York and moved his horse ahead and with him, other important people also rode toward the gate; I moved with them, matching their speed gracefully. Soon, we were inside, and the first thing they looked at is the bodies of bandits. Including the bodies of the bandit leader and his lieutenants. They moved their gazes and looked at nine guards who have sacrificed their lives fighting the bandits and then inventories, neatlyid out in the open. ¡°You have really killed them,¡± said Major Jarvis. I smiled and turned to Mage York with the file in my hand. ¡°High Mage. This is the inventory. I hope you verify it; it will relieve the big load off me,¡± I said. He got off his horse and took the file. ¡°Everything is good,¡± he said a minuteter. ¡°Captain Julian, please secure the bounty,¡± ordered Mage York. ¡°Yes, High Mage,¡± he acknowledges and begins to pack things. ¡°It must have been a bloody battle,¡± stated Major Jarvis as he looked at bodies. ¡°Yes, it was,¡± I replied. ¡°It is quite harrowing what happened to Baron Lockridge and his family. He did not deserve this,¡± said Baron Harrods and sighed. ¡°He fought bravely,¡± I replied. I have been asked to speak less about it. I was talking to an old man when a red carried rolled inside the keep with heavy security, before stopping. The door opened and Lancel walked out. He stopped mid-way and his whole body shook before finallying out. ¡°My Lord,¡± I greeted and bowed. ¡°You have done great service, Remus. Father had high praise for you,¡± he said without any expressions. ¡°It is all thanks to you, my lord,¡± I said, and a small smile appeared on his face. Count Darrow and I have talked. We have decided to add a lot of Lancel¡¯s involvement in the battle than it is. I am the one who suggested it. It will look bad if people know he had run away. In the city, the papers had already started printing the stories. I had myself written the articles with a nod from the Count. Lancel walked out and looked around before his eyes stopped on the monsters and lit up. ¡°You were telling the truth; there is Lurois and is that Cobfor, I am seeing?¡± he asked, looking at the blue lizard-like monster. ¡°Yes, my lord. It is a Cobfor, and this one is very young; a prime age for training,¡± replied the High Mage. Lancel nodded with a smile and turned to me. ¡°Where did those wretched bandits get them?¡± asked Lancel. Thankfully, I got information about it from the bandits. ¡°They belong to orc shaman; the bandits do not know where it had got them,¡± I replied. ¡°Its fine. They are now mine, except for this mutt,¡± he said and looked at the mutt. ¡°High-Mage, check its bloodline?¡± asked Lancel, and a momentter, the staff of Mage York lit up. ¡°It mixed, my lord. There is no dominant race in it,¡± he said. ¡°Well, it is useless then. Killing it would be a wise thing unless any of you want it?¡± he said and looked around. ¡°A mutt is more trouble than it''s worth,¡± said Baron Harrods. Others also shook their head. Mutts are hard to train, especially the ones that do not have the dominant lineage. Most importantly, they are not powerful, as pure-breed monsters could be. The monsters are different frommon dogs, or cats that you interbreed to make the breed you want. It is highly dangerous if their bloodlines shed for dominance. It is why mutts are usually put down, especially those who do not havemon dominant ancestry; that could suppress the others. Killing them ismon practice; there is nothing inhuman about it. It ismon on earth for pets who have grave medical problems. ¡°High Mage, kill it,¡± said Lancel and the staff of Mage York lit up. ¡°I¡¯ll take it,¡± I said, to my own surprise. I don¡¯t know how it came out of my mouth. ¡°Mutts are not easy to train, Remus. Even the young tamer you have will advise you to do the same,¡± said Lancel. ¡°Thank you for the advice, my lord. If it gets difficult, I will put it to sleep,¡± I replied. ¡°Since it is your wish, I will not say anything further,¡± he said and walked ahead, before stopping at the entrance of quarters and turning to me. ¡°Did bandits really do it?¡± Lancel asked, with his expression turning serious. ¡°They did not even spare the children,¡± I replied. He nodded and walked to the room, where the bodies were. We have secured them in an empty room, along with the body of Baron Lockridge, and covered them all with a cloth. Z had cast the preserving spell on them. The Count had ordered it, saying his family will being for the funeral. Lancel looked at the bodies wrapped in white clothes and muttered a small prayer before walking away. For the next few minutes, we walked to the different parts of the keep, including the dinner exit, before finally stopping at the office of Baron Lockridge. ¡°You had done a good job, Remus,¡± said Lancel. ¡°It all because of you, my lord. If not for orders, we wouldn¡¯t have seeded,¡± I said and smiled. He asked a few questions, and check the file of inventory and a report on the battle I had prepared. It is for only the eyes of Lancel and High Mage; I can see others wanted to read it, but they did not. After reading it, Lancel put it in his iles bag. ¡°Remus, I will be returning to the city. Father needs me for an emergency,¡± he said, and I nodded. ¡°Yes, Lord Count had informed me about it,¡± I replied. The bastard is running away again, but of course, I am not going to say it. ¡°So, you will be my representative here. Attend all the funerals and meet all the people in my stead, before returning to the city,¡± he said. ¡°As youmand, my lord,¡± I said before my expression changed. ¡°Do you need anything Remus?¡± he asked, seeing my expression. ¡°Yes, my lord. I have one presumptuous request,¡± I said hesitantly. ¡°As long as it is not something excess, I will ept it,¡± he said. ¡°I am hoping you would grant me a monster,¡± I said, and his expressions were serious before rxing. ¡°You have already got mutt and now you want more?¡± he asked. ¡°It is for the tamer, I have,¡± I said. ¡°Fine. As long as it is not Lurois or Cobfor, you can have the monster you want,¡± he said. ¡°It is a cloud-surfing sparrow,¡± I said, and I could see him visibly rxing. ¡°It is yours,¡± he said, and a smile appeared on my face. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said. We stayed in the office for nearly an hour. There are a few things to sort out before he could leave. I am cursing the bastard for doing that, but also happy. It will increase the workload on me, but will also help me make connections. Here I will not be the bastard of House Silver but advised of Lord Lancel Wilstein of House Ravenheart. The new responsibility will not increase the time I have to stay here and it will also give me an excuse to not go to in too soon. I had received some messages from the family; my brothers and sister areing tomorrow, along with a few other members of the house. A very few of them that I like. ¡°Take care of things here, Remus,¡± he said as the door of his carriage opened. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I replied. He waved at everybody and entered the carriage, and a secondter, it moved toward the gate, with heavy security of the guards. He is taking two hundred guards from nobles and Mirador Hold, along with his guards and three captains. He left behind ten guards for me, along with three of my guards. He even wanted them, but I talked him out of it. ¡°Major Jarvis. I hope I can sleep without worry tonight,¡± I said to the middle-aged man. The Mirador Hold had gotten the stewardship of the keep, till the new lord is decided. It could be someone from the Lockridge family or someone new. Lancel didn¡¯t talk anything about it. ¡°You can rx, Adviser, my men, and I will not let anything that will disturb your rest,¡± he replied. I nodded and walked away. ¡°Thank you, Mister Silver, for the monster,¡± said Z. ¡°It didn¡¯t take much effort,¡± I replied, before turning to her ¡°If don¡¯t mind me asking, why does Eli want Halmk? It is a pet for a rich, not truly a monster that people would use inbat-rted activity,¡± I asked, looking at Stone holding the crates of two monsters. ¡°Have you heard of Vraj of clouds?¡± she asked back. ¡°The name feels familiar,¡± I replied. ¡°He was an S ss Scout and great-grandfather of Eli. He used Halmk,¡± she replied. ¡°Well, then it makes sense,¡± I said. Every monster has its uses. If the trainer is good and uses the skill they have wisely, then even the weakest monster could do wonders. Soon, I reached the room; it is in the guest room. I don¡¯t want to sleep in the room where dead people used to live. I wanted to sleep immediately, but I did not. Instead, I removed my torn cloth and walked into the shower naked. I could have taken a shower and changed into the new clothes, while I was waiting, but I stayed with blood-soaked clothes for an effect. It had worked as I had expected; everybody who looked at me first stared at my bloodied clothes before looking at me. I moved the tap and cold water cascade cascaded over my body, washing away the dried blood, which is covering nearly every part of me. Fifteen minutester, I walked out of the shower feeling clean. I changed intofortable clothes andid down on the bed, forgetting the horrors I had experienced today, in the void of sleep. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 136: Thoughts Chapter 136: Thoughts Sin Lord 136 Thoughts I woke up early in the morning; not as early as I woke up daily, but still early. I had slept for four hours, and it was a good sleep without any nightmares. I wanted to sleep more, but there are things to do and practice. I couldn¡¯t take a break, even for a day. After what I experienced yesterday. I want to be ready for everything. The enemies I would face will not be weak and I need to be strong enough to defend against them. Yesterday, I had done well, but I am aware of how close I had been to death. If any of the attacks had gone a few inches deeper, I wouldn¡¯t have been standing here alive. I freshened up and changed into practice clothes before walking out of my room. ¡°Have you slept?¡± I asked Jon. ¡°Yes, for three hours,¡± he replied. I nodded and kept walking. Most of the army had left, but there are still around three hundred people who have remained at the keep. They are from Mirador Hold, but little more than fifty belong to Baron Harrods. He had stayed and would visit different baronies with me. Soon, I reached the practice ground, and there were already people practicing there. Seeing me, they all stopped. ¡°Apologies for disturbing you all,¡± I apologized, before walking into one of the sparring rings and turning to the guards. ¡°Anyone interested in a little spar?¡± I asked. I would have sparred with Jon, but he is still injured and while he could fight, I don¡¯t want to strain his injuries further. For a couple of seconds, nobody moved, before a blond man who looked to be in his mid-twenties stepped forward. He was one of the people who was practicing in the arena a few seconds ago. ¡°What¡¯s your name, soldier?¡± I asked. ¡°Jora, adviser,¡± he replied. ¡°Jora, if you are Level 20 or below, don¡¯t hold back. Come at me with everything you have.¡± I said, and I could see his expression turning a little strange. A secondter, his expression eased. ¡°I aming,¡± He announced and came at me. His speed is good, and he is using his speed skills from the beginning. Looking at his expressions, he wants to defeat me in a single attack. It took him a second to appear beside me, and he attacked. I could see he was hesitating. The way he had reduced the speed of attack. I let the sworde closer to me; just when it was less than half a meter away, I took a step right, avoiding his sword, before attacking with mine. He was startled seeing that and moved back and this time; he had used the movement skill at full power. I smiled and followed him with the Rapid Legs, and attacked with the Swift de. The blond is quite skilled as he reacted instantly, with all the hesitation gone. ng Our weapons shed, and I felt a heavy shock in my arm. It was so powerful that I nearly threw away my sword. He is not Level 20 yet, but he is close and, like all soldiers, invested most of his points in physical attributes. It will be better if I focus on dodging. With that thought, I moved to dodge the second attack; he followed with another and then another attack, but I dodge it all. After fighting against the bandit, dodging the attacks of this speed had be a little easier. It also helps that I have leveled up twice and upgraded the skill. Which now keeping my whole body in bnce and not just legs. The Sure Foot used to use the legs to keep me in bnce while Gymnasts Grace, uses my whole body. It gives me a lot of freedom that I did not have before, making things even easier. ¡°You are very good at dodging the attacks, adviser,¡± said Jora as he stopped holding back, seeing me dodging his every attack. ¡°It is how I survived yesterday, Jora,¡± I replied and dodged another of his attack, which filled with the power of the skill. If it had hit me; it would have broken a couple of my bones. Seconds passed, and Jora continued his offense, using every skill and move he had, but failing. It is frustrating him, and he is taking more and more risks; opening himself more, baiting me to attack, but I remained calm and only dodged the attacks. It is fun. Here I am only using two skills to dodge attacks of a person who is higher leveled and has more experience than me. Hun A few more minutes passed when suddenly, I saw a golden chance and I took it without hesitation. In these few minutes, I have not only dodged his attacks but also studied him. His skills, hisbat style, and the limitation he has. It all made me confident; I could take this chance. His sword came at me again, and instead of moving left to dodge, I stepped forward. It surprised him, but he reacted instantly and increased the speed of the attack, just like I thought he would. I appeared in front of his sword before moving my shoulder left, dodging his sword by hairbreadth while attacking with a Swift de. He moved to dodge immediately, but I followed him. He might be a few levels above me, but his speed is only slightly faster than me. So, I have gotten close to him before attacking with my sword, which is fast enough to reach him, even when the distance between us is widening. Especially when I am using the Swift de at full power. ¡°Strike,¡± I said as I stopped my sword at his neck, while his sword is inches away from me. ¡°You won, adviser,¡± he said, as he put down his sword, while still in shock at the result. The guards watched with wide eyes, especially the ones who were wearing the same colors as Jora. p p p I had just put down my sword when I heard pping and only to see an old man entering the arena. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted and bowed faintly, while Jora was beside me more deeply since he was his lord. ¡°I had heard about your battle yesterday from the men, but had a hard time believing it, but seeing you fight. It seemed like your performance was no exaggeration yesterday.¡± He spoke. ¡°Thank you, for praise my lord,¡± I said. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, would you mind having a little spar with this old man?¡± he asked, and my expression turned awkward. ¡°I am no match for you, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, young man. I will restrict my power at your level,¡± he said. ¡°Then, I would be honored, my lord,¡± I said. He smiled and walked toward the weapon rack and picked up the saber. ¡°Ready, young man?¡± he asked, and I nodded, before moving at him. I did not hold back. I used Rapid Steps to reach him and attacked with Swift de and Weighted Strike, using their full power. The old man casually moved his saber and deflected my sword before touching my neck with his saber. He had not used more power than me; even a little less, and had not used any skills, but even then. He had defeated me with a single attack. ¡°Nice attempt, but try harder,¡± he said as he took back his saber. I attack again in a different way, but he deflected again, putting the sword on my chest. This time, I did not stop and attacked again, and like before, he deflected my sword once again. I am not surprised by it; this is the strongest man in Nakar baronies. Someone who had fought countless battles. Even the bandit leader did not dare to engage with him. In thest battle, when they had surrounded him, he ran away instead of facing this old man. His level is above 30 and had a great battle experience. Most importantly, he is the prince¡¯s man. Even Count Darrow will not do anything to him without taking permission from his nephew first. He had got the barony with merit, and, if Count¡¯s words, were to be believed. The prince trusts him deeply and ced him here to keep an eye on him and Harrison Dane. A few minutes passed and when I was finally able to stop his saber from deflecting my attacks. A momentter, he attacked, and I found his sword on my neck again. From that moment, he stopped defending and started attacking, while I defended. Nearly every attack of his touched me, but with time, I was able to defend against them. Within ten minutes, I had continuously defended against seven of his attacks before he was able to hit me. We kept fighting, and I felt like I was learning a lot. I am very grateful for this old man, whatever his intention in sparring with me. ¡°I think it is enough,¡± he said as the tip of his saber poked my chest once again. ¡°Thank you, my lord. I had learned a lot,¡± I said, and he smiled. Though his smile felt a little more straining than before, maybe I was imagining it. I talked to him for a few minutes and went back to my room. Today''s session was mentally exhausting. Usually, my spars make me wither in pain, that I couldn¡¯t make a simple movement without gritting my teeth. Baron Harrods had only touched my fatal points with a sword. He did not beat the shit out of me like most of my sparring partners do. I took off all of my drenched clothes and walked into the shower and washed away all the sweat. Ten minutester, I stepped out and changed into the suite before walking out of the room. Soon, I stepped into the kitchen and found Baron Harrods and Major Jarvis sitting there. The breakfast is ced in front of them, but they are not eating. ¡°Lord Harrods, Major Jarvis,¡± I greeted as I appeared in front of them. ¡°Adviser, we were waiting for you. Take a seat,¡± said Baron Harrods, motioning to the empty chair. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said and sat down, and immediately a man wearing a mirador holds color served me breakfast. ¡°I have to say, you got one talented chef, Major Jarvis,¡± said Baron Harrods as he took a bite of pancake. ¡°It is really good, Major Jarvis,¡± I added, as the taste of pancake filled my mouth. The middle-aged man smiled, with a hint of pride in it. ¡°Thank you, my lord, adviser. It is my fortune, I have found a chef among my men,¡± he said, looking at the chef. In the army, your talent always helps you. If it is something that is pleasing to your superior. We talked as we eat, mostly about general topics. Nothing too serious, before finally both of them turned to me. ¡°Adviser, what are your thoughts about the battle you fought yesterday?¡± asked Major Jarvis. It little surprised me, but I did not immediately answer. If it had been anyone else, I would have given a generic answer, but it will not work against these two. So, I collected my thoughts for a couple of seconds before opening my mouth. ¡°The g Karguk was smart from what I had read about him, but yesterday, he had done an idiotic thing,¡± I said, and surprise couldn¡¯t help, but appeared on their faces, but they did not speak. Wanting me to exin my reasoning. ¡°He had captured the castle and surrounded us, which he shouldn¡¯t have done,¡± ¡°He is a bandit, who is experienced in fighting in the forest, but he trapped us in a castle, where everyone, including me, has fought or trained to fight,¡± Yes, old Remus had the training to fight in a castle. ¡°The bandits were well ced, but they didn¡¯t have any experience in fighting a ce like that.¡± ¡°If they had fought us in the forest, it would have been us who would have been wiped out,¡± I exined. ¡°There is also another reason for our victory. The leader''s red skill that you both had faced two days. It seemed to be on cooldown, if he had activated it; it would have been a mutual destruction,¡± ¡°I could even say we have not won, because we were powerful or skilled, but because we were lucky, that our enemies were idiots,¡± I finished. They looked at me with mouths open; they might not have expected such an answer from me. ¡°You are taking your victory far too, humbly, adviser,¡± said Baron Harrods, with a hint of respect in his eyes. ¡°It is the truth, my lord. There is no need to gloss over it,¡± I replied, and he smiled. A few minutester, we finished the breakfast, and an hourter; I was in a carriage with Baron Harrods. Traveling toward my first destination as a representative. Chapter 137: Castle Rose Chapter 137: Castle Rose ¡°¡­May the brave souls rest in the light,¡± I said the prayer with rest before burying the urns in the ground. Here in this world, nearly all cultures cremate their dead. Seeing the fear of the undead, who can make bodies rise from their graves. We are in the territory of Baron Homer; he had lost four men in the battle and his brother had got seriously injured. He is in stable condition, but still bedridden. The priest started his prayer as they covered the grave and in a few minutes; it was all over. ¡°Baron Homer, Count Darrow, and Lord Lancel understand your pain and will be working hard. So, an incident like this would never happen,¡± I said, promising nothing with the big words. ¡°Thank you, adviser. Your presence means a lot. You have avenged them, by killing the bandits responsible for this,¡± said the man. ¡°It all thanks to Lord Lancel,¡± I replied. I had used these words so many times throughout the day, I started to feel like it is the truth. He smiled, and it is clear; he knows the truth, everyone here does. These words are not for them, they are from the public in Greltheavens influence; they shouldn¡¯t think their future lord is a coward. A few minutes passed before it is time to leave. ¡°It is such a regret that you couldn¡¯t stay, adviser; it would have given me great pleasure to give you the hospitality of House Musk,¡± he said with a face filled with sadness. ¡°I wille here future and impose on you. I hope you won''t turn me away then,¡± I said to the blue-haired man. ¡°The door of House Must is always open for you, Adviser,¡± he replied and turned to Baron Harrods. ¡°Once again, thank you, Baron Harrods. If not for you, I would have lost more men to the bandits.¡± He said to the old man. ¡°We are neighbors, Baron Homer; it is the least I could do,¡± Baron Harrods replied. A minuteter, we are in the carriage, which is passing through the gates of the castle. I looked out of the window and saw the sun was setting; in ten minutes, it willpletely disappear. During the whole day, I visited five baronies as a representative. Spending less than an hour at each, before moving to a different barony. ¡°Thank you, Baron Harrods, without you. I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep the schedule,¡± I said to the old man. The baronies might be small, but they have a considerable distance from each other. ¡°It is my pleasure, adviser,¡± the old man replied. During the hours we were traveling; we talked about many things. I got to know the man a little better, and he is not someone who only knows fighting. He is aware of many things, and I get to ask about a few things I am curious about. Mostly, the wars he had fought. He was in the army for a half-century and had fought in nearly every important war. Including the one that conquered the Renwell Region. For a few minutes, we were silent, watching the sun until it fully disappeared, and two moons took their ce in the sky, bathing the forest in a gentle moonlight. ¡°It had been nearly six months since I had been granted this barony ande here with everything I have,¡± he said and turn to me, with a somber look on his face. ¡°It is a very difficult job than I had first realized. Especially someone like me, who does not have the backing of a powerful family and limitless resources they provide.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but nod at that. Getting territory is an easy part, running it is the hardest. The expenses are a lot, from the sries of men to the upkeep of the castle, maintenance of lifestyle, and also providing for the people under him. Farming had barely started, and it was not enough to pay for all expenses. It will take him a few years before he would be able to open enough farnd to pay for everything. ¡°I had nearly spent everything I have, that I only have enough money to pay for one month''s expenses,¡± All I could do was nod. I remember how I had spent every penny I had in the establishment in the first month and even took the loan. If the establishment hadn¡¯t worked. I would have gone bankrupt and would need to ask family for help. ¡°What I am saying is, in your wisdom. Do you have any way, this old man could earn some money to keep going?¡± he asked, with small embarrassment covering his cheeks. I couldn¡¯t help get surprised by his questions. I thought he was telling me about the woes the nobles suffer, but it seemed like the asking me for ideas. I could see the old man is really sincere and even had faint desperation in his eyes. It is not surprising, since he didn¡¯t have someone backing him. While the Prince might be able to help him, this old man won¡¯t ask him for help, unless it is necessary, and it will make him more indebted to the prince. Which is a dangerous thing considering these times. As for his question, the answer to it is really simple. It is an idea, I had pitched to Count Darrow, but he had asked to wait till the baronies have be more settled. Now, this old man asked for it. I will tell him and see whether he is ready. If it worked, the Count is going to be happy. ¡°There is a simple way, out of your predicament,¡± I said, and he looked at me expectantly. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked. ¡°Trade,¡± I replied, and a mirthless smile appeared on his face. ¡°Trade with who, adviser? Mirador Hold¡¯s all contracts go to the big merchant houses and, even if they will trade with us, we do not have anything to trade with them,¡± he said, referring to farms. To which I shook my head with a smile. ¡°I am not talking about the Mirador Hold or the city; I am talking about the tribes of orcs, which are on the other side of the boundary,¡± ¡°They live in a forest, away from the cities of Meldhorn and Oksall. You have clear ess to them, trade with them,¡± I said and a huge shock appeared on the old man''s face. He will only need to buy the goods from Greltheaven and sell them to the orcs. If he is smart, he could even buy things from Navr. The data we have suggests, the tribes of orcs have many things, that we will be more than willing to buy. ¡°Are you joking, adviser? Those are bastards who moonlight as bandits. Not to mention, isn¡¯t it illegal to trade with them?¡± he asked loudly. Though there was no anger in his eyes; he is just trying to understand the logic behind my words. ¡°I am not joking, Baron Harrods, and yes, some of the tribe''s moonlight as bandits, but there are hundreds of them, and only a few are bandits.¡± ¡°As it is being illegal, it is not, but it is not legal either. It is falling in a grey area and if you want, you could take permission from the Count about it,¡± I said to him. We didn¡¯t normalize our rtionship with Oksall. So, we couldn¡¯t trade with them directly, but we not trading with cities. They are wild orc tribes, who are living at the boundary of the merchant state. It will be unofficial, and the Count won¡¯t have any problem with it, seeing how he craves the taxes. The old man did not say anything and just slumped back in his seat. ¡°You are really something Adviser and I wished your family had been wise to give you the territory, instead of that brother of yours,¡± he said, and I smiled. I had been offered the territory, but I didn¡¯t want it. Why would I want it, with such freedom in hand? It is not just freedom, but also the wealth and power I am umting. In less than seven months, I had been here. I had climbed from legal advancer of the merchant guild to the adviser to the heir of the city. Today, I am his representative, holding more power than some of these nobles. As long as I act carefully. I will rise, and be indispensable, that even if Lancel hates my guts, he will have to keep me, seeing my usefulness. He already understands that. At night when he returned to keep, he was all smiling, but the bastard was angry at me for stealing his thunder, but he did not show it. He might be an idiot, but he is smart enough to know how to use smart people. His father had taught him this thing well. An hour and a half passed, when a smile appeared on Baron''s Harrods face. ¡°We have entered the territory of Radshire.¡± he said. He is happy that we had reached his territory. Like in, his territory is on the boundary of the Oksall and Renwell regions, which gives him a great opportunity to trade. If I had been at his ce, I would have started it already. It is an untapped market that he could reap. There are hundreds of tribes of orc in the forest and the clothes ones live only a few miles away. Another hour passed, and I could see the farnds spread around me. The crops are growing well and would be harvested in a month. It will give a small respite to Baron, but after a few months, he will have to find another source of ie. If his condition is as bad as he is telling me, it is. Trade will earn him a lot; more than he could imagine. If he did it wisely. Soon, I could see the castle and the small buildings around him. He is one of the most ambitious people here; already setting up a town around the castle. Most had only created small viges away from the castle. He also had one of the biggest poptions of civilians in baronies, around a hundred families. Which is not surprising. His territory is the least attacked one; even bandits dared, as g Karguk didn¡¯t attack him. He had created an excellent system of scouts, which warn him of any iing bandits. It is why nine bandit groups had attacked him; five of them were wiped out, two of which were defeated and surrendered, and only two were able to get away. No one had such records. Soon, the carriage appeared in front of the gate, and I looked at Z from the window, she nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be worried, Adviser, my castle is well protected. If there had been something wrong, the scouts would have informed me already,¡± he informed, seeing the slight nervousness on my face. ¡°It never hurts to be cautious, my lord,¡± I said as the carriage entered the castle. ¡°Wee to Rose Castle, adviser. I hope you will be satisfied with our hospitality,¡± he said as I got up. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said, and he smiled as we got out. In front of the door, the family of Baron Harrods waiting. His son and daughter, daughter-inw, and a grandchild. I greeted them before turning to the castle. All the castles in baronies are the same, but like many other people, Baron Harrods had also started to make changes. Though his changes are smallpared to others. As he had said, he did not have an uninterrupted supply of resources. Despite that, his men are well trained and alert; I could see their eyes tracking me as I moved. ¡°It is first ce, in the Nakar forest. I am feeling truly safe,¡± I said, and the smile on Baron Harrod''s face has be brighter. ¡°I am d you feel that adviser,¡± He replied and led me inside. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 138: Funeral Chapter 138: Funeral ¡°Thank you for your hospitality, Baron Harrods,¡± I said as I walked to my carriage. ¡°I hope you will visit my territory again, adviser,¡± he replied. ¡°Definitely,¡± I said and walked into my carriage, and a few secondster, it is moved out of the gate. I have one more barony to visit before I had to go the in and deal with my dreaded family. I truly wish I could return to the Greltheven, but I had to go there for that bastard¡¯s funeral. I am still angry that he died such an easy death. ¡°How are the monsters?¡± I asked. ¡°Good, the mutt is recovering well,¡± Z replied. I did not look at the monsters since yesterday and not because I don¡¯t want to, but because I feared I won¡¯t be able to keep myself away from them. Especially from the mutt. It might be a mutt, but it is very cute, and it reminds me of the pets I had. Since I was born, I was never been without a pet. My father was a trainer. We always had dogs in our house, including our own dogs. The only time I had been without a pet was the coge. I will focus on the cute little thing after I finished my business here. Two and a half hourster, I reached Barony of Laval and stayed there for two hours. More than double any of the five ces I had visited yesterday. If it were up to me, I would have stayed the whole day and night. It is much better than dealing with family. From Laval, it took me another two and a half hours to reach in. When I looked at the castle, I wanted to vomit. ¡°Terrible,¡± I muttered. My brother had repainted the castle, and he did it in a garish shade of green. It is bright and when I looked at it; I wanted to vomit. I had heard people saying it is vomiting and felt it is an overreaction, but it turned out, it is not. Soon, the carriage reaches the gate and entered inside it, before stopping. The door opened by Stone, and I walked out and saw quite a lot of people waiting to wee me. ¡°Adviser, wee to the in castle,¡± said the voice, I hadn¡¯t heard since that day of will read, where I had lost everything. ¡°Thank you, Le,¡± I said to my elder sister. She is as well-kept as always, with shoulder-length blond hair, and an expensive tunic and pants, with her enchanted sword at her waist. It is not for a show; she could use it and is powerful enough to kill me. She is a Mage Warrior, and over level 20; she is also apetitive merchant. Though she focused less on that, despite my father¡¯s dismay. Her passion was adventuring. She had visited many ces and different continents and fought against many things. Earning the levels and the wealth she has. Her expressions did not change at my address, but the expression on a few people''s faces twitched and anger in madam¡¯s eyes rose further and she gripped her hands. I saw her looking at me angrily the moment we stepped out, and now she had be even angry. I looked at her but turned to my brothers; whom now I hate just as much as Edwin or even more. All the hate I felt for him now had transferred to these two. It is not just the family here; others are also present, including my bastard uncle Raymond and Gerald. I have to talk to him. Invite him to my house; it is at least I could do. After the hospitality, he showered me in Namdar. ¡°You have appeared at the right time; in five minutes, we will start the cremation,¡± said Le. ¡°I am d I am notte,¡± I said. Of course, I am notte; I have arrived on time. I had slowed down the carriage earlier. It is unbearable with family; anyone could tell by seeing how strange our conversation is. It is even worse than talking toplete strangers. Le nodded and led me toward the funeral, where everything had been already prepared. I could see Edwin''s body on the pier; he looked peaceful. I have never seen him, so peaceful as he is in death. I have to say; the mortician had done a great job. Not only in serenating his expression, but also in connecting his head back to his body, making it look wless. The bandit leader had decapitated him, killing him with a single attack. He didn¡¯t even feel pain, just shock, before death took him. Soon, everyone appeared in front of the pier and the priest begin at Le¡¯s order. The priest started rituals while I watched. They took part in it; Le, madam, and my brothers, while I stayed away. They didn¡¯t ask me, which is fine. I have no interest in taking part in thest rites of a man, whom I hate. Also, I feel like it would have been bad. If I had participated in rites, seeing the way Madam was ring at me. She is still doing it. Her anger is quite surprising, as Madam, is someone who hides her emotions really well, but now she is not hiding anything. Everyone could see how angry she was, and some were confused, including me. She should be grateful to me. I have helped to kill her son¡¯s killer, but all I got was the anger. Hun! Soon half an hour passed and finally, it is time to burn Edwin. Le held the torch and went toward the pyre with Madam and her two brothers when suddenly Madam turned to me. ¡°You, it is because of you wretched bastard, I had lost my son. If you hadn¡¯t stolen the protective amulet, my son would have been living,¡± she screamed at me, to the shock of everyone. Even Le seemed surprised by the outburst, while I got the answer to my question. I did not steal the amulet. I have a right over it as much as others. I even have bigger rights, seeing how her children schemed me out of my inheritance. I very much deserve it and I feel no shame about it. ¡°Madam, cease your usation. The protective amulet belongs to the House of Silver and after the death of hurty, the head of the house had bequeathed it to Remus,¡± said the voice filled with authority. Everybody turned and saw the old man walking in. Uncle Thompson. I didn¡¯t know he wasing, but it was not surprising. He is the true representative of his grandfather. Also, he is lying, but I appreciate his words, in front of all these people. Madam wanted to say something and even opened her mouth, but seeing the expression on the old man¡¯s mouth, she closed her mouth and instead red at me again, before turning to the pyre. The pyre burst into the dense blue mes of alchemical fire, they lit it. This alchemical fire is for cremation purposes only and will turn everything to ashes in less than ten minutes, and those ashes wouldn¡¯t be hot. So, we will be able to ce it into the urn and bury it, with no problem. ¡°Your grandfather is very pleased with you, Remus.¡± Said Uncle Thompson, which surprised me. ¡°I thought he would be angry, seeing I had rejected his opportunity,¡± I replied, and the old man smiled. ¡°Why would he be? You are making your own choices, following your path, without taking much help from family,¡± ¡°He is most happy when the members of the house try to chart their own paths and you are doing that,¡± said the old man. ¡°I am d,¡± I said and relieved. Some of the decisions I had made in the past few months could put a house in an ufortable position. Like bing an adviser to Lancel, who is strictly in the camp of the fourth prince. Till now, the house had not decided who they would support in the session or will stay neutral likest time. Seven minutester, the alchemical fire disappeared, leaving only ash. The four of them had collected the ash and ced it in the golden urn, before moving to the burial ce. The priest begins again, while I talked to the old man. The funeral demanded silence and respect, but I have no respect for Edwin, and nor does the old man beside me. I used this chance well to ask a few questions, and I am grateful that the old man has answered it all. I had also be sure who will be the next lord of in. With thest prayer, they buried the urn, and the madam broke down. Seeing her like that, I couldn¡¯t help but feel pity for her. Her son had died, the person she loved the most. A little anger I had toward her had disappeared. Though I hate the woman, after what she had done to mest time. A few minutester, it was all over, and we turned toward the keep, with Le holding her mother, while my two brothers came toward me. ¡°Uncle Thompson,¡± they greeted, and the old turned to them. ¡°It seemed like you were something important to talk to Remus; I will give you some privacy,¡± He said and walked toward Gerald with a knowing smile hanging on his face. ¡°Remus, it''s nice seeing you again,¡± said Reed with a sugary smile. He had never used it on me before. ¡°What do you want, Reed?¡± I asked him directly, as it is clear he wants something. ¡°He is our older brother. You should be respectful,¡± said Landan and I turned to him and just looked at him nkly. He was always a minion. First of Edwin and now he is dead. He had attached himself to Reed. ¡°I wille directly to the point, Remus.¡± Said Reed and be slightly nervous for a moment before turning serious again. ¡°I want you to rmend me as the new Lord of in,¡± he said. ¡°And why in the hell I would do that?¡± I asked him, looking at him incredulously. ¡°Because we are brothers, and I would owe a huge favor.¡± He said, and Iughed. It came out sudden and loud, that several people turned toward me, seeing meugh, meughing like mad. It took me a while to calm myself up before I turned to me and saw him ring at me. ¡°I don¡¯t know whether my words hold any weight. Even if it did, I will never help you, ever.¡± I said, looking directly into his eyes, showing how much I hate him. It shook him for some reason, and he took a step back. I smiled seeing that and turned to walk away. ¡°It will be Le, who will take the title,¡± he said from behind. ¡°Good, she will be a hundred times better than you,¡± I said, and this time heughed. ¡°Do you know where that witch ritual we have used to bind you to the brothel hade from?¡± he asked, and I turned to him. ¡°It was Le who had given that spell to Edwin,¡± he said, smiling. It stumped me, but soon a smile appeared back on my face, but this time, it did not have any mirth in it. ¡°I am not surprised. To you all, I was never a brother, always a bastard,¡± I said and found myself filled with more emotions than I like to be. I may have said, I am not surprised, but I am. I am shocked. I did not have much rtionship with Le. She is more than a decade older than me and had been at the academy since I was born. When she came home, she would mostly ignore me and even when she talked, it was never more than a few words. It was just that. Unlike my brothers, she never bullied me or said any bad words. So, it is quite shocking to hear that she is the one who provided that ritual spell. Though, I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. She is a mage and graduated from one of the top mage academies in the world. It isn¡¯t a big thing for her to get a spell like that. Still, I felt hurt by this information and felt my eyes tearing up, but I controlled myself and walked ahead with a smile on my face. I could not show any weakness here, not in front of these people. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 140: Reward Chapter 140: Reward ¡°Isn¡¯t the reward a little too much?¡± said Lancel to his father. Seeing what his father nned to give Remus. ¡°Hemanded the force, killed two bandits, and yed a big part in killing the biggest menace of Nakar baronies.¡± ¡°If we calcte his contributions, he deserves at least 20%¡±. ¡°We are giving him less than 5%,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°I should have stayed; the bastards only had one of those arrows,¡± said Lancel with gritted teeth and anger in his eyes. Hearing that, Count Darrow shook his head. ¡°You have done a wise thing escaping, son. You are a lord, always remember that. It is not your job to fight, it is what we have servants for. Your job is to rule,¡± said Count Darrow¡¯s. ¡°Which is why you shouldn¡¯t hold any anger at Remus. He is a servant; his glory is our glory; he could never surpass us.¡± ¡°I understand, Father,¡± said Lancel. Count nodded with a smile before his expression turned serious. ¡°He is turning out to be a great asset, and you should learn to use him well or he will go to others,¡± he added with a hint of warning in his eyes. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t dare to betray us!¡± said Lancel. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be a betrayal. If he went to work for your cousin,¡± said Count. ¡°Viscount Atre?¡± he asked, and the Count nodded. ¡°Yes, that man now has an eye on him, and I am sure, what Remus did Nakar baronies would have reached his ears, too.¡± ¡°So, little mindful of how you treat a person who could be your sharpest de,¡± advised Count Darrow. ¡­ The carriage stopped, and I got out of it before walking toward the gates of Lord Darrow¡¯s mansion. I have only got three hours of sleep before I had toe here. I didn¡¯t even go to the establishment, which I very much wanted to do, but Count Darrow had asked me to appear in his office at sharp seven. If I had gone to the establishment; sleep would have been thest thing I would have done. The guards saluted as I stepped inside the mansion. I look like I am walking gracefully, but if they look closely, they will see me moving faster. Faster than the sprint of unawakened. The Gymnast¡¯s Grace is a really amazing skill, and I nned to tailor my fighting style to exploit its full potential. It is not just this skill, but all of my skills. Though, I am going to focus on two skills the most, in the short to medium term. Rapid Steps and Gymnasts Grace. These are the skills that saved me from the bandits and will save me from other foes till I became strong enough to fight against them. ¡°Lord Count is waiting for you,¡± said the receptionist. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to the old woman and walked toward the door. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted Lancel and his father. There were only two of them in the office. I did not see High-Mage York or others, but I am not an idiot to believe they are, with no protection. ¡°Wee back, Remus,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied. There was silence for a moment before Count Darrow opened his mouth to speak again. ¡°You have done well, Remus, better than I had thought you would. Not just in Navr, but also in Nakar baronies,¡± ¡°Many praised yourmand andbat abilities. Fighting against three Level 20 bandits and killing two. It is no simple feat, especially for someone of your level,¡± he praised. ¡°Most of what you heard is an exaggeration, my lord. I was only able to kill them because they were dumb enough to underestimate me.¡± I replied, and he smiled. ¡°It is the nature of thebat, Remus.¡± He said, and while I only smiled. ¡°The captured bandits arrived at the city yesterday and we are nning to execute them tomorrow,¡± ¡°It will be big news for the city, and I want to add the news of Navr to it,¡± he said and the smile on my face be brighter. The man is intelligent, far more than his son. ¡°It is a great idea, my lord; this will blunt, any negative reaction that mighte from this news,¡± I said, and he smiled. ¡°What do you think our neighbors will do?¡± he asked, and it is not the first time he had asked me this question. Though, thest time I hadn¡¯t gone to Navr and negotiated the trade deal. ¡°I am confident they will stay silent in both open and shadows; they need the trade as much we do.¡± ¡°More than we do, and it is in their greatest interest to stay silent or even help us with keeping the attitude of the popce positive about it,¡± I said, and he nodded. ¡°I have already got a couple of inquiries from cities, including Deerpond,¡± he said. ¡°Then we will have to make sure everything goes well. If the public attitude goes high-negative, they will not hesitate to pour oil on it,¡± I cautioned. ¡°I am aware and you will make sure that it will not happen,¡± he said, handing me a big responsibility. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I epted. It is the kind of challenge I love. Though, I would have appreciated it more, if I had gotten the responsibility, a few dayster. After I finished with some of the urgent business. ¡°Robin and others had filled me with negotiations in Navr, but I want to hear it from you,¡± he said after a few seconds of silence. I smiled but didn¡¯t answer immediately and instead took time to collect my thoughts. This man may seem smiling, but I could see the calctions happening behind his eyes. I wish Lancel had been as smart as his father. It would have made a lot of things easier for me. ¡°I will not bore you with details of negotiations, which you are already aware of, but if Navr followed through, and which I think they will, we will have a huge trade,¡± ¡°It will not be just us. Others of the region will follow and soon, we will earn enough through it, that managing expenses of Mirador Hold through it wouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± I said. ¡°You make it seem like it will all be easy,¡± scoffed Lancel. ¡°It will not be, my lord. There will be difficulties, and we will need to be ready to deal with them.¡± ¡°Most importantly, we have to maintain the required infrastructure; we cannot have anything slowing down the trade,¡± I said, as I looked at father and son. ¡°First, let''s see how the trade goes first before making any excessive investment,¡± said Count Darrow. I always get the same answer from him, when I talk about big investments. ¡°As you wish, my lord,¡± I replied. For a couple of seconds, there was no one who spoke before Count Darrow ced a silver key in front of me. Seeing that, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but lit up in joy. ¡°You have done an exemry service in Navr, and this is your reward,¡± he said, sliding the key toward me. ¡°Thank you, for the trust my lord,¡± I said and took the key. Till now, only three advisers of Count Darrow had this key, but now I have this, too. This key is an office key; I now have an office in Count Darrow''s mansion. I have an office in an administrative district, and in the establishment, but having an office here, is apletely different thing. It is much harder to get an office than quarters here. Count Darrow did not do it lightly. This is a sign of his trust. I was in thought when he slid another thing toward me. ¡°This is a reward for your efforts in killing the bandits,¡± he said. The thing he slid toward me is an iles bag. I don¡¯t know whether it is empty or has something, I will be satisfied either way. The value of the iles bag is huge and I know someone who really needs it. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said and swiped the bag off the table. I didn¡¯t even try to be humble; I need it and I took it. I stayed in the office for one and a half hours more before leaving. I wanted to check my new office, but I wanted to go to the establishment more; there are things I have to do, and people I have to meet. Especially Caena. I walked out of the mansion and sat down in the carriage. Immediately, I put my hand into the iles bag and a smile appeared on my face and I started to take things; there are not many things, but what is there brought a huge smile on my face. There are two things inside the iles bag; three enchanted weapons, two swords, one saber, and a check. A check of five hundred thousand imperials, which is fifty million crowns. My total reward is around a hundred and fifty million crowns, which is a little above my expectations. I didn¡¯t think miserly Count Darrow would give me such a big reward. It is something I deserve and should have gotten even more if I calcte my contribution through the rules of the empire. Still, it is bigger than anyone. I have seen the list of rewards, and Count Darrow had controlled his miserly nature this time. Everyone is getting a good reward, big enough, they could retire, if they want to with it. I am d. Especially for Captain Hiren. I had requested Count Darrow to increase his reward. He had lost a hand and would take a few more months to recover. I don¡¯t know whether he will return to service or retire. If he chose to do it, he will have enough funds tost for a lifetime. Fifty million crowns are going to be very helpful to me; I already know where I am going to spend them. A few minutes passed, and the carriage took the turn, and the establishmente to view and also the project. Which had made tremendous progress, in the nine days I was about of the city. I wanted to go check it out immediately, but I have more important things to do in the establishment. Soon, the carriage entered the establishment, and I got out; only to see Ca waiting at me by the door. ¡°Wee back,¡± she said and took a step closer to me, before stopping herself. ¡°It feels good to be back,¡± I said and took her in the embrace and inhaling her addicting scent. I let go in a few seconds and turned to the establishment, and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I had missed it, missed it a lot. ¡°How was everything?¡± I asked while walking toward the establishment. ¡°Great,¡± she replied. ¡°Had any problems urred?¡± I asked. ¡°Some, but they were not big as what you had faced,¡± she said, looking at me in worry. I avoided her eyes and took a step inside the establishment. Like every day, many lessons were going on inside the hall, between the partition. Space is a problem the establishment had suffered since the beginning. It was a problem I couldn¡¯t fix before, but now with the project, it will be fixed, and the establishment will only be used for the business. The girls noticed me as I entered the hall, but they did not move from their ces. Especially the girls in Miss Elme¡¯s ss. They barely nce at me. The old woman, like her student, only focused on themselves in her ss. As I walked through the hall, I once again felt that feeling and it seemed to have gotten faintly stronger in the past five days. Soon, I reached my office, and immediately Ca and I moved at each other, and our lips crashed. We begin to kiss each other fervently, as our lives depend on it. ¡°I missed you,¡± I said through the kiss and kissed her harder, while my hands moved around her body, drawing moans from her when they reached the sensitive spots. I moved my hands toward the zip of her dress when I suddenly stopped. ¡°Why do you stop?¡± she asked breathlessly, with lust burning in her eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t, I do not have time,¡± I said, and I hated those words, but it is true. I have too many things to do today. I have barely had two hours before I have to leave to make the preparations for tomorrow; it is very important, and Count Darrow wouldn¡¯t like it if any problems appeared. There are also Gerald and Uncle Thompson, who will reach the city, by evening, and I will have to meet them. I don¡¯t know whether I would even have time to sleep today. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 141: Witch I Chapter 141: Witch I Knock Knock I had adjusted my clothes and just sat down when the knock rang out on my door. ¡°Come in,¡± I said. The door clicked open, and Margaux walked inside. ¡°Master Silver,¡± she greeted and took a seat beside Ca, who red at her for some reason and Margaux''s cheeks reddened for a moment before sheposed her expressions. ¡°Ca told me everything went fine,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°Yes, there were some minor problems, but we dealt with them,¡± she replied. I nodded and opened the file of earnings and expenses. There is everything is written neatly in Ca''s handwriting. As I read, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. The establishment had earned very well. There are many expenses that urred, but still, a lot of money had been umted. It will be enough to fund the trip to Namdar, I am nning to send Ca to. I closed the file and turned to Ca and Margaux. ¡°Can make-up studio room work without Eudo?¡± I asked. They looked at each other but didn¡¯t speak immediately. ¡°They have be quite good under Eudo¡¯s directions, but they are not Eudo. Though their work had be well enough that Eudo could take a break for a few days,¡± answered Ca, and I sighed in relief. There are two people in the establishment, which have be irreceable. First is Eudo and the other is Drev, the chef. Both of them are too good to rece if they are gone for more than a few days. The quality of the establishment will plummet. ¡°Ca, you will leave with Eudo for Namdar in a week and you can take one of the girls if you want,¡± I said, and a frown appeared on her face. ¡°You are noting?¡± she asked, to which I shook my head. ¡°No, it won¡¯t be possible for me toe,¡± I replied with regret. I really wanted to go with her, but I am too busy. Ca did not like the new n, but there was nothing she and I could do about it. Also, me going is kind of useless, while I have brought the stuff and it was good, thanks to Eva, but she and Eudo would be enough. They know my vision and will buy the best better, better than I could, or even Eva. I want the debut of the new girls would be perfect and hope, I would be able to achieve the maximum number. Though I would not chase that number; the girls who are not ready will not make a debut. ¡°Has Elese been delivering the dresses?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, she is ahead in her deliveries,¡± replied Ca. Hearing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I have to truly have to thank Eudo for finding me this gem; that woman is really good. If her earlier designs were good earlier, now they are great. She is improving at an amazing speed. To fill the constant orders from me, she shifted to a bigger warehouse and employed a lot of people. She is now focusing on designs only while letting others bring out her vision. The orders are going to increase further, and I hope she will continue to increase the quality of the work. She would need her goods to match the level of my establishment, or I will need to find someone else. Though, I don¡¯t think it wille to that. ¡°Master Silver, is not Ina not returning?¡± asked Margaux. I finished writing the note about Elese in my diary and turned to Margaux. ¡°She will, but if things work as I am expecting, then she will be in Mirador''s hold most of her time,¡± I replied. I had told them about my letter; I am keeping Ina there and now with Hugo, there for her safety. I am more relieved. ¡°Then we will need Ina¡¯s recement. Currently, Margaux is doing fine, but when the girls debut; it will be hard for her to manage everything,¡± said Ca, while Margaux red at her, before turning to me. ¡°I am fine, Master Silver. I can manage the responsibilities, even after more girl¡¯s debuts,¡± Margaux assured. ¡°I had thought about the problem, but I did not see immediate solutions to it.¡± ¡°I did not trust the new girls enough to give them the responsibility and among the working girls, the capable ones are also the top earners; it will not be good for the establishment if we pull a single one of them out,¡± I said, and I sighed. Earning of single girls didn¡¯t affect me much, but it is clients they bring. The clientse for the top ones; their presence brings the business. So, until a few more girls reach their level. I didn¡¯t see any way out of this predicament unless I ask Ca to help out Margaux with some of her responsibilities when the timees. It is not something I want to do, but I did not have a choice. ¡°I have a solution to our problem,¡± said Ca, and I looked at her. ¡°We will select a capable girl; she will have to handle her work and duty of assistant madam together,¡± she exined, but I shook my head. ¡°It will put enormous pressure. It will be hard for her to do both jobs,¡± I said. To that, both of them smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate them; the girls, the girls are more than capable of handling responsibilities,¡± replied Ca with confidence. I want to reject her idea, but it is very appealing, and I don¡¯t see any choice. Most importantly, I could stop them if I didn¡¯t see it working. The assistant madam will not only lighten the weight of responsibilities on Margaux but will also learn from her. Like Margaux did from Ca and Ina from Margaux. If they are capable enough and a chancees. I might need to hand them responsibility as I had done with Ina. ¡°Fine. Give me a list of girls who you think can do the job and I will interview them,¡± I said finally. A minuteter, I had a list of eleven girls in my hand, and not a single name on the list had surprised me. All the girls are capable. I talked to them for a few minutes about minor things, while I read through the files, before deciding to deal with important things. ¡°Margaux, call Caena to my office,¡± I said to Margaux. She just nodded but did not get up from her chair. Instead just closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them. ¡°She will be here in a minute,¡± she said. ¡°It is a nice skill you have got,¡± I said, and she smiled. I was kind of jealous; telepathy skills are extremely rare, just as the telekinesis skill that Eudo has. It would make quite many things easy if I had a skill like that. Knock Knock Nearly a minuteter, a knock rang out on my door. ¡°Come in,¡± I said and Caena walked inside. Her face is expressionless as always, but I could see the hidden nervousness behind her eyes. She must have already guessed why I had called her to my office. ¡°Ladies, give us some privacy,¡± I said. Margaux nodded, while Caena looked in question for a moment, before getting up. Both of them walked out of my office and closed the door. Seeing that, some of the nervousness in her eyes disappeared. ¡°Caena, take the seat,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she said and took a seat, with nervousness cracking on her face, which she was trying to hide. I looked at her while activating the privacy enchantment at its strongest. I don¡¯t want anyone to hear a single word of the conversation I am going to have with Caena. ¡°A Witch. I had tried to guess your ss many times, but never in my dream, I thought, it would be a witch,¡± I said and the nervousness in her eyes deepened before suddenly it all disappeared and her face was resolute. ¡°My apologies for hiding my primary ss,¡± she apologized. Not for her ss, but for hiding it. She seemed to have quite a pride in her ss. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t like your ss very much,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°I would have felt the same if I had suffered what you had,¡± she replied. I am not surprised she knew about what happened to me. It ismon knowledge and more than a hundred establishment clients had talked about it. ¡°Yes, I would have terminated your contract if I knew and had intention, when I saw the charm in the envelope, but now, things have changed,¡± I said, looking directly into her eyes. ¡°You have used the charm,¡± she said and seemed oddly sure about it. ¡°Yes, it saved my life.¡± ¡°So, thank you,¡± I said. I don¡¯t know if I would have been alive, if not for her charm. ¡°I am d,¡± she replied. As she could also sense, a but in my sentence and there is a but in it. ¡°I am going to ask you a few questions and I hope your answers would be satisfactory,¡± I said, and a small smile appeared on her face. ¡°What will you do, if you are not satisfied with them?¡± she asked back. ¡°Nothing bad. I will terminate your contract and will give you a hefty severance since your charm saved my life,¡± I said, and she seemed surprised by it but soon controlled her emotions. Though, I could see, relief appearing in her eyes. She likely had expected I would report her to the authorities, and that would have been bad. Witch is a registered ss in the empire''s registry, which means those with that ss will have to register with authorities. Casting spells and doing rituals is forbidden for unregistered witches, and there is punishment. I don¡¯t want her to suffer any of that. So, I will pay her well and even book a ticket to the ces which are friendly to witches. If her answers satisfied me, she would stay. It will be risky, but there are no rewards without the risks. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 142: Witch II Chapter 142: Witch II ¡°What are your intentions with my establishment?¡± I asked the most important question. It surprised her, but she quickly controlled her expressions. I could have started with the other questions, but I started with the most important ones. I have been thinking about the moment; I realized her ss, and it made me realize other things. Her strange behavior isn¡¯t strange now. Since the day she arrived here, she was wandering around the establishment. Then the spa and now the project. It was clear she was doing something, but no one could find out what; even now, I don¡¯t know what she did or is trying to do since she is still making around, but I want to find out. There is a reason witch is a restricted ss and while there are misconceptions and stereotypes about it, there is also a genuine reason. The ss is dangerous. She did not say anything, even after a minute, and I was about to ask her again when a smile appeared on her face, and she looked at me with those deep ck eyes. ¡°You know, you are the luckiest person I have ever met in my life,¡± she said, surprising me with her words. Now, I wanted tough. I am the unluckiest one, especially in the past year; I found myself in a string of dangerous incidents, where I was barely able to survive every time. ¡°Do you know the chances of sess with the type of ritual done to bond you with the establishment?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, it is less than 1%,¡± I replied. The moment I came to know what had happened to me, I tried to find out everything I could about it; every aspect of it. From the ritual to the ss that performed it. She smiled at my answer. ¡°It is 0.2% to be exact and even when it worked; it only worked, partially, about 10% to 20% of its power. It is enough to affect the ss of the target,¡± she said, and I nodded. The few witches and experts I had talked to had said the same things. ¡°To you, on the other hand; it had workedpletely. At 100%,¡± she said and now, I am shocked. Because I had asked this question to the old witch I had talked to, and sheughed in my face. Saying it is near impossible. The chances of that happening, is more than a million in one. ¡°And it made me lucky because?¡± I asked, and she nodded. ¡°Because at hundred 100% sess of such a ritual. The bonded item gains the abilities and what yours has gained is considered rarest of them all,¡± she said slowly and looked at me. ¡°I have no idea,¡± I said inly and smiled again. ¡°It is emotion absorption,¡± she answered, and my eyes went wide. Saying I am shocked would be an understatement. I am beyond it because there is only one thing that absorbs the emotions. ¡°Legacy,¡± I said, and sheughed loudly, before stopping suddenly feeling my intense gaze. ¡°Legacy is something that is on a different level.¡± She said, with her gaze turning somber. ¡°Even the weakest legacies absorb 98% of all emotions people release and could hold it, without any leakage,¡± ¡°While the establishment could only absorb around 3%, of which 99% get leaked out,¡± she said. I couldn¡¯t help but frown upon hearing that. It is nothing. ¡°Then why did you say I am lucky?¡± I asked. ¡°Because emotion absorption is extremely helpful,¡± she said. ¡°You are already enjoying the effects brought out from it,¡± she added a momentter. I was about to shake my head when I suddenly stopped and begin to recall some things which I found strange. There are many, but one of them I had noticed before Caena hade to the establishment. When I was making changes, more than after the establishment opened Architect Lloyd hade to me and asked me if someone had cast an area-wide reinforcement-type spell. He said, the ground is firmer, and the walls are stronger than they should be. ¡°Can these emotions affect the strength of walls and the grounds?¡± I asked. To that, she smiled. ¡°It affects everything,¡± she replied. It is not just strengthening; a lot of clients had said, the ambiance of the establishment is great. The drinks tasted better here, and the music was more melodious. I thought; it is because of my preparations, but it seemed like there was something more. There are many other things, including the feeling, which seemed to be getting stronger over time. ¡°Will this emotion absorption increase over time?¡± I asked, and she looked at me before slowly nodding. ¡°Yes, and so will the ability to hold it, but no matter how much it increases; it would never reach even 1% of the legacy,¡± she replied. I sighed, hearing that, but nodded. Thinking about what she had told me. I do notpletely believe every word that came out of her mouth, but know, the majority of it is the truth. ¡°So, once again, what is your intention with my establishment? Most importantly, what do you do when you roam around?¡± I asked, adding another question to my original question. I could somehow guess a little, but I put that aside. ¡°The answer to your first question is simple and you would have guessed it already,¡± she is looking at me. ¡°We witches are the oldest of casters. Our magic works throughws and emotions, and your establishment has it.¡± I smiled hearing that and be cautious. I had already been cautious, but now I be even more. With witches, every word spoken to them is a pact and I am not going to promise her anything. Especially about the emotions she wants to harvest from my establishment. ¡°The answer to your second question is I am casting ritual enchantments to it. I had spent every crown I earned for that.¡± ¡°It is the reason drinks tasted a little better; treatments in the spa work better. I am also connecting to the establishment with the project,¡± she replied, and I am shocked to hear that. I thought she was trying to steal the harnessed emotions and not this. Though, from what I know, stealing is impossible. It is my domain, and she will need my permission. She is a witch, and this is thew. Still, it is kind of shocking, especially when she said she is spending every crown she is earning. Which is kind of a lot, considering she is among the top three earners. ¡°And you are doing that with the goodness of your heart?¡± I asked, and sheughed. A good, humorousugh that even put a smile on my face. Theugh disappeared a couple of secondster and her eyes turned somber as she looked directly into my eyes. ¡°No, Master Silver; I want the emotions your establishment is absorbing. It is every witch¡¯s dream.¡± ¡°I will give my everything for that, willing to work tiredly for years, till I gain enough of your trust, that you will give me permission to use it,¡± she said with unwavering gaze. I smiled at that. ¡°I hope you will give me the list of all the ritual enchantment you have ced in and around my establishment,¡± I said, and she smoothly opened her bag and removed the diary before handing it to me. I took the diary from her and open it and within a minute, a surprise appeared on my face and the more I read, the bigger surprise would be. She had cast forty-six ritual enchantments. From drinks to spa treatments to food dishes to reinforcement of my establishment, like strengthening its material and other things. She had even imprinted the sexual positions in it. ¡®How was she able to do it, without gaining my permission?¡¯ I asked myself. She needs permission to do it; it is thew. It didn¡¯t take me a second to realize the answer to my question. I had given it to her and did its strongest form. The contract we had signed had allotted the girls certain privileges and one of the uses I had written, gives her permission to do what she was doing. My intention was different but through it. She has permission. It seemed like I will need to make some changes in the contracts of the girls. I finished reading the enchantments and put down the diary before closing my eyes. There is a burning excitement in my heart. She had opened big doors for me; the things I could do with her help. I might not have a legacy, but with her help, I can make my establishment the second-best thing to the legacy. I opened my eyes and turned back to the diary. She has done a good job, but she could do it better with data. I have stacks of data. From what drinks we sell the most to what sort of positions clients prefer. Imprinting those with ritual enchantments will bring a bigger effect. First, I need to know one thing. ¡°Did you need to experience those toplete the ritual?¡± I asked. ¡°Not necessarily, but If I did it with me as a medium. The chance of sess is over 80%, while with others, it is only 20%,¡± she replied. I nodded at that before turning back to the diary and writing down a few things in it. I feel like she is telling the truth about the ritual enchantment, but the feeling is not enough. I will have to test it and I have an idea of how I will do it. ¡°How long will it take you to make these ritual enchantments?¡± I asked as pushed the diary toward her. There are six ritual enchantments I want to imprint; they are different, and any effect rted to them would be noticeable to me. It will help me know whether she is telling the truth or not. ¡°If I have the materials ready, then I will need three to four days to create them,¡± she replied, looking at the list. ¡°Give me the list of materials,¡± I said to her, and she begin to write down the list and a few minutester, she finished and pushed it toward me. I look at the list and couldn¡¯t help but be surprised by it. 90% of things are mundane materials, 10% of them are magical in nature and that is what cost the most. From what I could see, they will be easily found in the city, and I won¡¯t even have to be secretive about buying them, considering the Drev is using them to practice and create a new fusion menu, which we are going to use from next month. I didn¡¯t say anything to Ca about her giving him permission to practice with magical materials, but I still fear he might burn down the kitchen and even my establishment. ¡°You will have these by evening,¡± I said. ¡°Ok,¡± she said. A few minutester, she had after we discussed the six ritual enchantments, while I closed my eyes and slumped on the chair. There are many things I wanted to ask her, but it is not time. Just as it is not time to give her a ritual that bonded me to the establishment. I need to know things, and truly trust her before I could do it. Click! I was thinking when the door opened from Ca¡¯s side and she walked in. ¡°What was that about?¡± she asked as she took a seat in front of me. ¡°Something secrets,¡± I replied. She red at me but didn¡¯t peruse further. ¡°Ie to invite you for lunch downstairs. He is creating great fusion dishes,¡± she said, looking at my reaction. ¡°I just hope, he didn¡¯t burn down my kitchen,¡± I said. ¡°He will not, I am taking every precaution for it,¡± she replied. There was afortable silence for a few seconds before I ced something on the table and slid it toward her. Seeing that, her eye widened in shock. ¡°This is for you,¡± I said as I ced it in front of her. ¡°Is this?¡± she asked with a shaking voice. ¡°Yes, an iles bag and it is yours,¡± I said with a smile. She touched it with the shaking hand before pulling it back. ¡°I can¡¯t take it. It is better if we sell it and use that money on the establishment,¡± she said, to which I shook my head. ¡°There is no need for it,¡± I spoke. Yes, I could sell it, but Ca needs this. It makes a lot of things easier, and it is a symbol. She looked at me for a couple of seconds before finally stretching her hands toward it. She took it with her hand carefully and pushed it inside before turning to me. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, with tears welling up in her eyes. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 143: Preparation Chapter 143: Preparation ¡°So you understand what you and your criers have to do, guild master Ronald?¡± I asked the old man. He is Reggie Ronald, the leader of the criers guild. ¡°Yes, adviser. I will thoroughly prepare my people for it,¡± he replied. ¡°You better; any mistakes and both of us will not like the consequences,¡± I said, and a small, mirthless smile appeared on his face. ¡°It will not happen, adviser,¡± He said. ¡°Start the preparations; I will personallye at night to check on your progress,¡± I said to him, and his expression froze for a moment before a strained smile appeared on his face. I don¡¯t want to pressure him, but I want tomorrow and the entire week, perfect. I want to people to hear about trading with the undead so much, that they would think it is natural. Though I would not bombard them with it, the messaging would be subtle. It is not only for the city but also for me. I have a personal stake here and I will damn. If I let anything or anyone mess it up. ¡°See you tonight, adviser,¡± he said and walked out of the room. He is not the first person I have met since I came from the establishment. Before him, I had met the chief editors of the three newspapers and told them about tomorrow''s agenda. I will also go there at night, to check the final draft of newspapers. The next few days are going to be very important; I need to shape the opinion such away and it needs to be smooth; too much and the public will not ept it. It will be a challenge, but there is a big hope. Nearly everybody is aware that the merchant cities trade with undead and we use many of the things thate from there. Thankfully, I had made the preparation nearly a month ago; the day Ie to know about the diplomatic mission and trade negotiations that will happen there. The newspapers have been publishing articles about it. Not our trade, but of merchant cities and other kingdoms and how many of things we usee from there. There has been a reaction, but it had been controlled. After he left, I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds, before opening them again and looking at the file in front of me. I am in my new office, which is good; not as big as the one I have in the city, but still big enough. The furniture is amazing, better than I had in both of my offices. I worked for an hour before he went to Lancel¡¯s office and from there; I went to Count Darrow¡¯s. I updated him on my progress and took a few permissions before going to the merchant guild. Where I have a meeting with Guildmaster Hardt and other stakeholders of the merchant guild. The merchants are a powerful force with an enormous influence; used wisely and they will be able to do the wonders. ¡°Adviser Silver,¡± They stood up and greeted me as I entered the conference room, where all the seats were filled. I had asked everybody to be present and was happy that nobody was absent. I looked at all of them. The Guild-master, vice-guild masters, and other important people of the merchant guild are sitting there. A few months ago, I used to sit among them; not in the main seats, but behind them where the staff is seating. I could see all of them focused on me, wearing a smile on their faces, but many of them has jealousy in their eyes. There are some who are feeling it, with an unnatural intensity. The biggest is Damon Hardt, Guild-master of the merchant guild. He wanted the position I have and even interviewed for it. ¡°Gentlemen,¡± I said to them, all men, before sitting down. They followed after me. ¡°We have established trade rtions with Navr. If flourished, it will bring our city, region, and whole empire riches beyond imagination, but for it to seed, we need to sell this idea to the people,¡± ¡°And no one couldpete with us merchants when ites to selling things,¡± I said, drawing theugh from many faces. ¡°Wise words adviser,¡± said vice-Guild-master Soren, and immediately Guildmaster Hardt looked at him. There is a deep anger in his eyes, which is hiding underneath that smile. The old man wants Hardt¡¯s position, and he did not hide it. Count Darrow is aware of it, but he is not doing anything and I don¡¯t think he will do till Hardt does something he didn¡¯t like or something changes with his family. I wouldn¡¯t interfere either, despite me preferring the old man. I know what I could do, and what I shouldn¡¯t do; interfering here is not something I should do. My position isn¡¯t strong. I need to make myself invaluable before I start meddling with these things. Making these things go smoothly will help me achieve that goal in a big way. ¡°I have a n and I hope you all will listen to it,¡± I said and started, telling them, while taking the questions. Answering each and every one of them and taking inputs and changing the ns, if it is better. I am not omniscient, and there is nothing wrong with epting others'' ideas, if they are better. These are experienced people who have decades of experience in what I want them to do. I am learning a lot as I talk with them; sucking up the wisdom they have. Little over two hourster, I am finished and now, 60% of ideas are mine and even among them, 25% have been changed, while 40% are from them. ¡°Thank you for your time, gentlemen,¡± I said, as I ended the meeting. One by one, they left. I talked to each one of them, a few words. Including Damon Hardt. We might not like each other, but we understand our position and know we couldn¡¯t afford to fight each other. Remaining cordial in our best interest. ¡°You are flying higher and higher, Remus,¡± said Locke as I walked out with him from the conference room. ¡°I am just doing the job Lord Count had handed me,¡± I replied to him and he just rolled his eyes. ¡°How was your trip to Navr?¡± he asked. ¡°Great. It is so different from what I had expected,¡± I replied, and it is. Despite reading about it, I had expected to see a horde of undead and gloomy cities. Instead, I saw one of the most beautiful ces in this world and also the most terrifying; I shudder whenever I think about the unholy temple. ¡°It was such a regret that my family didn¡¯t give me permission,¡± he said and sighed. He wanted to send the representative, but couldn¡¯t, as his family had declined his request. Locke is quite independent here; the business he has is from his own money, but he is still a member of the house and enjoys the privileges that came from it and thate with strings. He needs to take permission, before forming a rtionship with kingdoms like Navr; that has the potential to harm the house¡¯s reputation. I have the same strings attached to me, but I have been provided a lot more freedom. I had informed the house about my intentions and no objection came from it. They did not give me permission explicitly, but the no objection is permission itself. It will help them, throw all the responsibility to me if things were to go wrong. Still, I am quite grateful for the house. They could have stopped me, but they did not. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You have not lost the chance, but if things went well, I will introduce you to a few people who will help you,¡± I said, and he looked at me gratefully. ¡°Thank you, Remus,¡± he replied, and I smiled. I consider Locke a friend. Most importantly, he has potential and he would be very helpful in the future, or even now with the things I am going to ask him about. ¡°Locke, I hope you could help me with a thing,¡± I said. He opened his mouth but stopped and looked at my face, which had be serious. ¡°If it is in my power, I will do it,¡± he said after a second. ¡°I need information about witch ss and its working and bonding rituals. I had collected some information, but it is not enough.¡± ¡°I want to see if I do could something about the bond,¡± I said and looked at him hopefully. ¡°Getting you those books won''t be a problem, but I hope you will be careful with them,¡± he said after a moment of silence. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know they are restricted. I will return them to you after I finished with them,¡± I replied. ¡°Ok,¡± He replied. A few minutester, I was in the carriage with a smile on my face. I don¡¯t feel bad about asking Locke for the restricted books. I have done him countless favors, and it is time; he does something for me and it is not something big for him. His house deals in books and rted stuff and has a license to keep some restricted books. Even if they didn¡¯t have the license, they would have kept it. The House of Silver also has an extensive collection of restricted books, which only the trusted can read them. I would have asked the house, but the house doesn¡¯t send out the restricted books, even the copies. Locke is the best choice to get it. I went back to my office in Count Darrow¡¯s mansion and work there for some time. Before I received the message, I was waiting for. I got out of the office and sat in my carriage, and I was at the port. Walking toward the spot where the boat from the other side will stop in thepany of the port official. I talked to him as I waited, and soon, I saw the boat and people sitting on it. A minuteter, the boat was docked, and people hade out. ¡°Uncle Thompson, Gerald, Uncle Raymond, wee back to the Greltheaven,¡± I greeted. I don¡¯t want to greet my uncle; I hate that bastard, but I didn¡¯t want to show the family differences in the open. ¡°Remus, you didn¡¯t have to wee us personally,¡± said Uncle Thompson. ¡°I wanted to,¡± I replied and took them to the carriage. Soon, the carriage is moving toward my ce. ¡°I didn¡¯t get a chance to ask yesterday, but how was Navr?¡± asked Gerald. ¡°Good, better than you would expect, and extremely prosperous,¡± I replied, Gerald nodded and look at the two men. I felt the skill activate and even the green ring on Uncle Thompson''s finger activated, covering the carriage in a green light. ¡°The house wants to set up a branch in Greltheaven,¡± Gerald informed. ¡°I had asked the house to do that months ago; Greltheaven has huge potential. If the trade with Navr worked, it will be even bigger,¡± ¡°They have everything our house will be interested in,¡± I said. ¡°Navr isplicated, we will start with merchant cities first,¡± he said and I smiled. I could understand the hesitation; it could have been a great repercussion if things went south. ¡°Your grandfather is asking when you would be interested in running the Greltheaven branch?¡± asked Uncle Thompson and could see the surprise and then anger appear in Uncle Raymond¡¯s eyes. It seemed like grandfather didn¡¯t fill him on that. ¡°I can¡¯t Uncle Thompson; there are too much responsibilities on me already. I am in no state to handle another one.¡± I declined the responsibility. They didn¡¯t seem surprised at hearing that. I had declined the barony,pared to it, the branch head is nothing. Though, Uncle Raymond is a different reaction than them. The branch head is an enormous responsibility. As it wille with responsibilities of the whole region. There are some investments in the Renwell region, but not a branch. The branch head will be responsible for the whole region and if they did well, they might gain that position officially. I am sure the wrangling and lobbying had already begun, and I nned to stay away from it. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 144: Executions Chapter 144: Executions ¡°¡­I could proudly say to you all, the biggest menace of baronies has been dealt with,¡± said Count Darrow from the stage, and the crowd of over ten thousand cheered madly. I am standing behind Lancel on the stage, and in front of us are thirty-two guillotines, with thirty-two bandits bound to them. The moment those wickedly sharp des fell, they would be dead. I don¡¯t like the public execution. It all felt uncivilized to me. Though these bastards deserve to be executed; they have killed countless people, including the children mercilessly. Count¡¯s speechsted long, and he praised his son¡¯s bravery nonstop. He barely mentioned mine and others'' contributions; like his son alone had fought all of them. Lancel, on the other hand, is even more shameless; he didn¡¯t speak about our contribution at all. ¡°How is everything going?¡± I asked Mage York. ¡°Same as before, protests in seven areas, including one in front of the church,¡± he replied. I am sure half of those protesting are being led by the church. The church had been warned to not create any ruckus; it had mostly listened. The protest is its form of protesting and face-saving in front of the public, with the priest promising to do everything in his power to stop the trade with Navr. Count Darrow wanted to restrict all the protests, including one in front of the church, but I had stopped him. There should be visible resistance. If we used brute force on everything, it would be even bigger and more uncontroble; we do not want something like that. ¡°Execute them,¡± Count Darrow ordered, and immediately all thirty-two des fell down. I am seeing the desing down and fighting the impulse to look away. Thud Thud¡­ A secondter. The falling des decapitated the bandits and the thirty heads rolled out. There was silence for a moment before the crowd cheered. Loud enough that the entire city could hear them. These should be executed inside the jail, away from the crowd, but it is a custom in this world. Except for sensitive cases, all the executions are done publicly in the central square of the city. The speeches continued, while the people collected the heads and bodies. Though they didn¡¯t remove them. They will be there till evening. I watched the speeches while taking updates from Mage York continuously and also listening to speeches, which didn¡¯t end after the executions. This is a big opportunity for Count Darrow, and he is milking it for all its worth, promoting his son in every word. Not only him, but others are too weaving the flowery words for Lancel. They have been ordered to do it. I edited some of these speeches myselfst evening. It is my job as an adviser to Lancel. Over an hour and a halfter, everything ended, and we had finally returned to the mansion. I feel really good to be getting away from those dead bodies, which will be burned in the evening. ¡°How was everything?¡± asked Count Darrow as he sat in his chair. ¡°There are some protests, but other than that, everything is great,¡± I replied, but Lancel did not seem pleased by it. ¡°Are you an idiot, Remus? Crush the protests and throw them in jail. A week in jail will teach them a lesson,¡± Lancel ordered in an unusually loud voice, which felt high-pitched. It seemed like the flowery words of fake glory had gone into his head. It is said, if people tell you a lie repeatedly, you will believe it as the truth. People praised him as brave and powerful, and he seemed to believe that he was those things. Not is a coward, who had run away from the battle. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t do it, my lord. The people need an outlet to blow off their dissatisfaction, and we should let them do that. If we get too strict in dealing with them; they will explode, and it won¡¯t be containable. ¡°They won¡¯t dare to do anything. We are the lords, and it is their duty to follow our every order.¡± ¡°If they dared to cause trouble, we will execute them, as we executed the bandits,¡± he said, looking at me mockingly. I wanted to beat the shit out of this bastard. I mean, hadn¡¯t he learned anything? He doesn¡¯t even know basic statecraft. Power is not everything. If your citizen is against you, then no matter how leveled you are, you will be toppled. There are a few exceptions to that, but this bastard didn¡¯t fit in any of them. To be honest, I worry about my future and the city when I hear such wordse out of his mouth. He is going to rule this city one day, and he wants to destroy it. If our enemies aren¡¯t for that. I smiled and turned to his father. Whose good mood seemed to have disappeared. ¡°We may be the lords, my son, but powers have limits, and knowing them is the mark of a great lord,¡± he said and turned to me, with his eyes serious. ¡°I hope you know what you are doing, Remus,¡± he said. There is a threat in his voice, but it is less for me and more to console his son. ¡°I am my lord, and I promise you. If we slowly let them blow off the steam, there won¡¯t be any big chaos,¡± replied. ¡°I will let you handle it, but if something goes wrong, then it will be your responsibility,¡± said Count Darrow. I had to fight with my all, not to stiffen at the moment. It is this bastard''s work I am doing, but to please his son. He is throwing it all at me. ¡°Thank you for your trust, my lord,¡± I said. I could see Lancel¡¯s expressions changing; his anger is all disappeared and now, there is a smile on his face. ¡°You are dismissed,¡± said the Count. I bowed to both of them and walked out of the room and directly went to the control room I had set up thest evening. ¡°How is progress?¡± I asked the mage as I took my seat. ¡°Everything is great, adviser, aside from the protests at seven ces,¡± he replied, and begin to ask him a question in detail. I didn¡¯t stay in the control room long and took the unmarked carriage and moved toward the protest¡¯s spots. I begin to visit them. The arrangements were working as I had expected them to. There are criers and guards, some of them with special sses to spot the miscreants. There are many sses that specialize in sowing chaos. The guards will need to be alert to spot them. At each spot, there are twenty to thirty people protesting aside from the church where there are about a hundred. I am least worried about the people in front of the church as it is their people. Till everything is in control, the church will keep them in control, but the moment things be bad. These people will be the ones who will be the most dangerous. Aside from our neighbors, the church is the most dangerous factor. Till now, the neighbors hadn¡¯t made any move, and some cities had even started to support us in it. As I had said, everyone wants the trade. Count Darrow is not the only one who is thinking about earning a lot of wealth before the eventual fall of the region. Others also think the same and want to gather as much wealth before everything goes down to hell. ¡°There is a message from your uncle; they are leaving,¡± said Z in front of me. ¡°To the port, driver,¡± I said and the carriage begin to move toward the port. I feel really bad, I didn¡¯t get to show any hospitality to Uncle Thompson and Gerald. Yesterday, I had barely spent two hours with them before I needed to return to the office. My Uncle Raymond had quipped about that in the morning, but I didn¡¯t even respond, which made him quite angry. Thankfully, they were understanding. Still, I want to send them off. It is the least I could do. Soon, the carriage stopped, but I did not get out. There is still time before they arrive. So, I turned to Z and once again asked her for reports and not just about the protests, but of the other things, too. I would be an idiot. If I had looked at only one thing. I had spread the men everywhere, with one mage on each team. They are keeping an eye on everything and if you think someone is doing something suspicious, they will detain them. With the count unloading all the responsibility on me; the stakes have be even higher. I have to be even more careful. I could not make a mistake, or it will be over for me. I have yet be valuable enough for the Count to not fire me over such a mistake. A little over ten minutester; a familiar carriage stopped beside mine and I got out. ¡°I have been a terrible host to you all,¡± I said to them as we walked toward their ship. ¡°You were not a poor host; you are busy at work. It happens, so don¡¯t stress too much about it,¡± said Gerald and patted me reassuringly. ¡°Still, I feel bad. You and Cara had done so much for me when I came to Namdar and I here, I had barely spent a few hours with you all,¡± I said and sighed regretfully. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much about it, young Remus,¡± said Uncle Thompson, and I nodded. We talked about something else until it is time for them to leave. They were going to Namdar first, where Uncle Thompson had some business, before returning to the maind. Uncle Raymond is going with him; he could go back directly, but hanging back with Uncle Thompson. I watched them walk the ship through the ramp and stayed there till they disappeared from the view and returned to the carriage, which moved toward the city. I didn¡¯t return to the office and instead continued surveying the locations for a few hours while taking inputs from Z and giving orders. It was five when I returned to the controlled room and till now everything is good, but things could turn sour at any moment, and I have to be careful. It is why I didn¡¯t return to the establishment; even when I wanted to. It will just distract me, and I don¡¯t want to be distracted when there is a sword on my shoulder. ¡°There are people gathering in the central za,¡± informed Z. ¡°Detain them, but ask the guards to not throw them in jail; just keep them in the cell till night, before releasing them,¡± I ordered. There are certain no-go areas, and the central square is the biggest one. I cannot let them protest in that ce; the chances of things getting out of control are very high. Hours passed, and I had given out many such orders. Soon it was ten at night, and every protest disappeared. Even the one in front of the church, we had let them stay longer than the other protests, but ten is a limit and they also seemed to understand that. The guards only bark a few sharp words and hit a few before dispersing. Though looking at how things went today, the protests will return tomorrow, but that is to be expected. I didn¡¯t go back. There are other things I have too to look for and deal with them as they appear; a slip would be dangerous. [Adviser Lv. 7] [Skill Gained: Lords Mood] Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 145: Three Chapter 145: Three ¡°I am going to miss you,¡± I said as muzzled my nose into Ca''s neck. It has already been a week since I returned, and I have been busy, especially in the first three days and I am going to be busy again from tomorrow. Today, the shipment of goods has left the Navr; it will reach the Mirador Hold tomorrow, and by night; the goods will be in the city. It is the day I had been waiting for and also the one I had been dreading. The people reacted when they heard we will be trading with Navr. I can¡¯t help but be worried, about what they will do when the actual goods from the undead enter the city. I have prepared for this moment for a week, but still can¡¯t predict the reaction the people will have. I hope it won''t be too much or I might lose my job. I love my job, despite hating the guts of my boss. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much. Everything would be fine,¡± said Ca, noticing the look and kissed me. The kisssted for more than a minute before our lips separated and she got out of bed, with the duvet sliding off seductively off her body. ¡°Stay,¡± I said to her, and she shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t. I am leaving in a few hours and there are many things for me to do,¡± she said as she quickly wore her clothes, which are scattered across the room. Since I had returned, I had been with her for the night and now she is leaving. I wish I could have spent more time with her, but I was so busy; for the first three days, I slept in my office. For the next four days, I slept only for four hours. Soon, she finished wearing her clothes and bend down to kiss me. ¡°We will spend all the together when I return,¡± she said and left the room. I stayed on the bed for a couple of minutes before getting up. A few minutester, I walked out of the building in the faint light of dawn. After reaching my spot, I started yoga, which I hadn¡¯t done in nearly two weeks. By the time I am finished. Instructor David had arrived. ¡°Shall we begin?¡± he asked, without making any small talk. ¡°Yes,¡± I said, and I moved to attack him with Rapid Legs. A faint surprise appeared on his face, but he reacted quickly and responded. Instructor David, as usual, came at me hard. Using a plethora of skills against me, some he had never used before. His ss provides him with many skills. Somebat teaching sses get a repository, where they have many skills to teach their pupils. Some repositories have tens of skills, while some have hundreds. I heard; I heard some repositories of very powerful sses have thousands of skills in their repositories. Instructor David is good, but I don¡¯t think he is over Level 30, close but not there. This means his repository will probably have around fifty skills. These skills could only be used in teaching the pupils and not in the battle, or these sses would have been terrifying. It is because of practice with these skills; I was able to survive against those bandits. They had many skills, some I have never seen, but I survived them, and the big credit goes to instructor David. I responded to his attacks but mostly dodged. It is the thing I could do the best and nned to focus on in the short term. Before, I wasn¡¯t able to dodge so many of his attacks, but now I am doing it and it is not only because of my amazing skills but also because of the experience. I had fought bandits, fought the bloody nts and undead. Every one of them had the power to kill me with a single attack, but I survived, and I will train even harder to survive more of such incidents. I n to live long, and I am sure I wille against many dangers. I want to be prepared to deal with them. Soon, two hours were over, and we had stopped; an hour early than usual, but this is all I could spend today and in the next few days. ¡°You have improved tremendously in these two weeks, Remus. To be honest, I have never seen anyone improve so fast, except in the war, and even there, very few could make suchprehensive progress.¡± He said with wonder written all over his face. ¡°I have experienced a few things that forced me to improve,¡± I replied, and his expressions be serious. ¡°They must have been something,¡± he said, and I smiled. I have been ordered to not talk about the dungeon. Even if I wasn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t have talked about it; that ce is not something one should talk about it in the open. Instructor David left a few minutester after giving me the tips and the promise of making the training even harder in the next session. I am more than open to it; I want it hard as possible. I walked inside the building with much less pain than I would usually feel after training with instructor David. The establishment feels a little different; it is not noticeable unless you are focused on certain things. Some of them had improved, like now there was little less dust umted on the hidden corners. The six ritual enchantments were things I could notice easily, and they seemed to be working. Or it could be the spells doing to make me believe it. To know for sure, I am spending a lot of money. I had asked her to make six ritual enchantments earlier. Yesterday, I increased that number to thirty-two and even ordered the material needed to make it. They will arrive by tomorrow. These thirty-two ritual enchantments will tell me the truth. As even if she is a powerful witch, she wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain so much active spells constantly, if she is lying to me. If she is telling the truth, then my establishment will be even better, and I will spend more. Millions of crowns. I will enchant the establishment with thousands of such ritual enchantments, till it could only be bested by the legacies alone. It seemed farfetched but could be achieved. I am confident I will be able to do it, if it is the truth. As I reached my room, I removed all my clothes and applied the numbing cream before walking into the shower. Two hourster, I was waving at Ca, who was walking toward the ship with Eudo and Andrea. If everything goes well, then she will return in five to six days, a week at most. She reached the ship and waved back at me. I stayed for a few minutes before sitting back in my carriage. I would have waited till the ship has sailed, but I do not have time. ¡°To Nielson,¡± I said to the driver. I have a couple of things to do today. First, meet with Valentina, that¡¯s where I am going. Then go back to the establishment to finish the interviews, before going to the office. I have taken the time and interviewed most of the girls, and now only two had remained. I want to finish with that as soon as possible and make my choice, as aren¡¯t many days have remained, till the debut date of new girls. The carriage stopped, and I got out of it and walked inside the building of the Nielson Guild. ¡°Miss r is waiting for you inside, Adviser,¡± said the receptionist. I nodded my thanks and walked into Valentina¡¯s office and immediately got surprised. There was Valentina and Chief Architect Davidson, sitting opposite of her, and between them, was a projection of a circr building. Seeing it, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. She seemed to have finished with the changes, I had asked her; they were a littleplicated and couldn¡¯t be done in a single meeting. ¡°Remus, wee,¡± said Valentina as I entered her office. ¡°Adviser,¡± greeted Davidson. ¡°Miss Valentina, Mr. Davidson,¡± I said, while still looking at the projection, which is covering the whole table. My trip to Navr opened my eyes to some things and gave me perspective. So, I asked for the changes, expensive changes for which I had to give her the whole check I got from the Count and some more. ¡°We have incorporated all the changes you have asked for,¡± Valentina informed, and begin to show me the changes. I looked at each and every one of them and she had incorporated it all. There are many changes, including adding a few more specialized rooms, some changes in the spa, and a few other things. There is one thing I added, which took half of the check. It will be a long investment, but I could already tell it will be worth it. It will give her girls what they had never expected. I just hope enough of them have a talent for that. I should have checked that, before making such an investment, but it is fine. I am thinking of the future, if my girls didn¡¯t have it, I will get those who have. The contract of those will cost me a lot, but I will get them. ¡°The changes will not affect the schedule, right?¡± I asked, and she smiled. ¡°It won¡¯t,¡± she replied. I felt relieved. The construction is progressing rapidly. I have seen what she was able to do in little more than a month. She had already told me she was confident it will be finished in five months, instead of the six months she had said before. ¡°I don¡¯t mind, if you finished early,¡± I said, and she smiled before rolling her eyes. After hashing out a few details, I was in the carriage again, and a little more than ten minutester; I was in the establishment. I didn¡¯t go immediately inside and turned to the construction, where over a hundred people were working. They are already finished with the first floor and within two months, the rest of the four floors will be contracted, along with a spa in the middle. It is the small,plicated workter that is going to take a further two months. I wanted to check it out, but there are other things for me to do. Sighing, I walked into the establishment. ¡°Master Silver,¡± Margaux greeted as she saw me in the hall. ¡°Margaux, send the two girls for the interview,¡± I said and walked to my office. I want to choose today; there are less than ten days before new girls debut, and I want assistant madam to learn at least a few things before loads of responsibilities fall on them. Seeing the number of girls going to debut, the responsibilities are going to be heavy. ¡°Master Silver, Miss Ruvel hase for the interview,¡± informed ir. ¡°Send her in,¡± I replied. A momentter, a woman in her mid-forties with dark blond hair walked inside. Fifty-five minutester, I had finished with interviews and asked ir to call Margaux. I had made my decision. Click! The door opened, and Margaux walked inside. ¡°Have you decided, Master Silver?¡± she asked as she sat down. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied and forwarded the page. She looked at it and was surprised immediately. ¡°Three?¡± she asked, and I nodded. I originally nned to hire only one for the job, but after thinking. Three would be the best; I would need capable people. Not only for the establishment but also for the ce I am constructing. There are also a few other things I have in mind, and I would like to have a capable person in my hand, till that happens. The three girls are L, De, and Andrea; all of them are capable and are the top earners in the establishment. They will have to work and juggle the administrative responsibilities together. I am worried, but Ca and Margaux seemed confident. They will be able to do it and I believe in their judgment. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 146: True Chapter 146: True Sautner Merchant Lv. 14 The text was in front of me when I woke up at dawn and a smile appeared on my face. I thought for a second before adding the point to the charm. I had wanted to do that for a while, but keep adding to physical attributes. Though, after it. I am going to add the point to the strength. I should have added this to the strength, seeing it is at nine, and it would have gotten a big increase, but the charm is important too. I would need it a lot, in the work I do. I stayed in bed for a minute more before I got out. I have to go to the office as soon as possible. The goods will reach the Mirador Hold soon and I want to know every detain after that. They are going toe to the city at night. If I wanted to, I could have kept them there for a few days, but I didn¡¯t. The sooner people get used to the goods from the Navr, the better it would be. ¡­ Caena ¡°Finished,¡± I said and wiped away the sweat from my brow as I looked at the ritual enchantment in front of me. It is in the shape of a flower, with tails hanging below it. Now, I only need to charge it, before imprinting it into the establishment. It is a sex position ritual enchantment. The riding woman: it is one of the thirty-two ritual enchantments Master Silver had asked me to craft and I will need to activate the charm while doing this position. It will not be difficult, considering it is one of the most preferred positions. Master Silver had asked me to create charms, but only half of the things have arrived, or should I say 92% of things arrived, which hold less than 10% of the value. The real magical things have yet toe; they are not rare, and most should be avable in the city, but this time, he seemed to be cautious. A week ago, he brought things within a day, but now three days had passed. Well, a week ago, he only asked to make six ritual enchantments; this time, it is thirty-two. Some require rare things that might draw suspicion. Knock Knock. I was thinking that when a knock on my room rang out. I ced the ritual enchantment on the secretpartment and hid it under the spell before walking toward the door. Private rooms had many benefits; here, I could do whatever I want, without fear of anyone seeing it. Click! I opened the door and was surprised to see Margaux. I thought it would be one of the girls whoe to me with their health problems. I am an herbalist after all, and what I couldn¡¯t solve through herbs could be solved by adding a little witch magic in them. ¡°Madam Margaux,¡± I greeted the woman, who remind me of my mother, with her grace and patience. ¡°This is for you,¡± she said and pointed at the trolley held by Stena. On it, there is a big sealed wooden box. No one will be able to tell what it is inside, till they tear it open. Seeing it, my eyes lit up, but I quickly controlled my emotions. Seeing Margaux watching me closely, despite not looking like she did. ¡°Thank you, for bringing this to me, Madam Margaux,¡± I said, taking the trolly from Stena. ¡°It is no trouble. I needed to talk to you anyway,¡± she said, and her expression turned serious. ¡°Would you minding inside, then? We can talk morefortably here,¡± I invited. She nodded and came inside, with Stena following behind. Margaux and Stena sat on the chair while I was on my bed. Just a few minutes ago, it felt quite spacious, now, with two extra people; it is cramped. It is not new. I would always feel it when people came, but it is not ufortable. ¡°So, what do you want to talk about, Madam Margaux?¡± I asked as we all sat down. She didn¡¯t answer immediately, instead looked around my room, with her gaze staying on my worktable for a moment before turning to me. ¡°Your medical help is turning out to be invaluable to the girls'' and because of that, Master Silver had decided to offer you the suit,¡± she said, and I was shocked. So much so that I wasn¡¯t able to react for a few seconds. A private room is more than enough for me; it had been decades since I had something of my own, but now, I am getting a suit. A privilege that only Madam and Assistant Madams have. And I am sure my medical services are not the only reason for me getting it. ¡°Thank you, Madam Margaux,¡± I said with a shaking voice. I tried to control my emotions, but couldn¡¯t. ¡°You don¡¯t have to thank me. It is Master Silver''s decision,¡± she replied with a smile. ¡°I will thank him when I see him next time,¡± I said, and she nodded and for a moment, her expression turned a little strange. ¡°He will see you tomorrow; by then, prepare a list of things. You will need to practice your profession. The establishment will provide them to you,¡± she said and which, again, surprised me, but I nodded. ¡°I will,¡± I said after a moment of silence. ¡°Well, I will be leaving then,¡± she said, got up, and walked out of the room with Stena, who took the trolley back, leaving the big wooden box inside. I closed the door after they left and slumped back on the bed. I am sure the suit is more for my witch abilities than for the healers and, to be honest; I don¡¯t care. I want the suit. The bigger space will be more helpful than the room, which now started to feel tiny to me. I closed my eyes and started to create the list of things I want. Though I have to be careful, as some of the things are pretty witch-specific and expensive. A few minutester, I took pen and paper and begin to write it down, and soon; I finished with the list. I folded the paper and sealed it into the envelope; there are few things there, which only Master Silver should see. With that done, I turned to the wooden box and started to open it. It took a few minutes and some effort, but it was done. Inside it were magical materials, which I had handled carefully. There are all types of things there, from herbs, stones, colorful liquids, and monster parts. Master Silver had brought every ingredient on the list I had given to him, and the quality of all of them was the highest. Much better than the subpar goods I had brought from the old woman. Or even the ones he brought a week ago. They much have cost a lot. If I am right, the market price of all these things would be slightly over a million crowns, and with their quality; I would be able to create more than thirty-two ritual enchantments. The quality of the material not only reduces the rate of failure but also increases the power of ritual enchantment. I sorted them and ced them on a table with tight protection of the spell. Earlier, I had materials to create a few ritual enchantments, but now I could create all thirty-two ritual enchantments. I didn¡¯t waste any time and stared immediately and a little over two hourster; I finished crafting it. This one was rather difficult, but I crafted it without failure. I wanted to create another one, but I am feeling a little tired. So, after putting the ritual enchantment into the secure ce; I got out of the room. Creating ritual enchantment is not easy. It took a lot of effort and magic, but I am confident that I could create three a day, four if I push. Though, I will not do it, unless I feel ready. The resources are precious, and I don¡¯t want to waste them on needless failures. The workload is going to be immense, but it is also a great opportunity for me. If I am lucky, I might get a level out of it. I am leveling fast since I hade to this ce; not only I broke the second capstone but also went higher. My target, which seemed impossible till a few months ago, didn¡¯t seem impossible now. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on my current challenges. Creating the ritual enchantments is the only one part; the other part is charging them. Unlike mages, I could not just pour my mana into it. Witch magic doesn¡¯t work that way. I would need to harness the emotions. Thankfully, I meet lusty men every day, but even then, harnessing the lust to fill three or four ritual enchantments is going to be challenging. I walked out of the basement and saw the girls practicing, new girls, along with old girls. The whole hall is filled with girls and actors talking animatedly, while Margaux, L, and De watch. I feel a little jealous of L and Dell. They had been interviewed for the position of assistant madam and got the job. Andrea had also got it, but she had gone with Ca to Namdar. Forget getting it, I wasn¡¯t even on the list of people who have been interviewed. My ss makes me useful, but also untrustworthy. I would have been untrustworthy, even without a bonding incident. Witches are not trusted. I have to make him trust me. To achieve my goals, to take my revenge, I need this establishment and even if it takes me years or even decades, I will keep trying, as it is the only option I have. I watched for a couple of seconds before getting out. I stopped by the statue and turned toward the establishment. ¡°Eyande,¡± I muttered and immediately, everything around me vanished. The statue, the ground beneath my feet, and even the establishment. The only thing that remained is the true establishment. If Remus Silver can see it, he would be shocked out of his life; I could show him, but he is not ready. I looked ahead at colorful faint lines; they are faint enough that one could barely see them. When I first saw them the first time, they were near invisible; now I could see them with focus. On these lines are the tiny multicolor dots, which are twinkling like the stars. These are ritual enchantments I had imprinted and like strings; they are getting brighter every day. Every day, the establishment is absorbing more emotions. I noticed that the more enchantment I add to the establishment, the more emotions it will absorb and be able to keep after. I didn¡¯t dare to believe it when I first noticed it, but after observation and some experiments, I know it was true. More enchantment will help the establishment instead of straining it. I looked at strings and enchantment before focusing on the core. It is a multicolored ball the size of a child¡¯s fist and looked like a sun. It may be small, but it contains a huge amount of emotion, that any witch would salivate seeing it. Every day, it will get stronger, till it transforms into a legacy. It will be a real terror when that happens. If earlier I had been hopeful, now I am sure it will happen. Though the timing is something I am not sure about; it could take a decade or even a century, but it will happen, as long Remus Silver is alive, and it kept harnessing the emotions. I didn¡¯t tell Silver about that. He didn¡¯t need to know. His knowing might destroy everything. The magic is not simple, especially our kind. Sometimes, you have to be aware of things, but sometimes, being unaware is more helpful. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 147: Goods In The City Chapter 147: Goods In The City ¡°The goods are only an hour away, My Lord,¡± informed Mage York. ¡°They areing at the right time,¡± I said, looking at the clock, while they looked at me. All of them are thinking it is not wise to bring the goods from the Navr at prime night time. Either I should have waited for a few more days or I would have brought itte at night when everyone is sleeping. ¡°If things go wrong, you can say goodbye to your job, Remus,¡± threatened Lancel. He is angry and jealous. The new skill provides me with quite an insight into his mood. To be honest, it is not a difficult task; unlike his father, he could not guard his emotions well. ¡°I am aware of the gravity of this task and its repercussions, my lord,¡± I replied and felt his mood easing a little. The skill is helpful, as now I could be very sure of what he is thinking and choose the right words to reply. ¡°Be careful, Remus. The trade with Navr is very important. I don¡¯t want you to spoil it in your hurry,¡± Count cautioned. ¡°I understand, my lord,¡± I replied. In the week since I had got the skill, I had only been able to sense his mood once. It is not only because of the difference in level and power of ss, but also because he is very good at guarding his emotions. The skill will only work if they could guard their emotions. If Lancel guards his emotions well, I wouldn¡¯t be able to get anything from him. Still, this skill is very rare; I am quite surprised I got it. Those who get it are mostly at Level 20 and above and have years of experience working for their lord. ¡°Go, then, ande back with good news,¡± he said after a few seconds of silence. ¡°You will not be disappointed, my lord,¡± I said and bowed before walking out of the office. Soon, I am sitting in an unmarked carriage moving toward the port. I didn¡¯t hide the news of goodsing from Navr and even told the time it woulde in the newspapers. Though I have omitted the information on the goods that areing; I had only mentioned the essential goods. Even associated them with the goods we regrly brought from the merchant cities, which alsoe from Navr. I have been doing that for weeks and while everything was not perfect. I was able to get more sesses than failures, including two levels and one skill, which I think is pretty good. My adviser''s ss is advancing fast and now it is only two levels away from reaching the first capstone. I pushed those thoughts of levels away and turned to Z for the reports. Till now, there is no change, except for one. People are gathering at the port; we have not stopped them and have even been given the area to protest, which will be closer to where the boats carrying the goods from the other side of the river. Soon, I reached the gate, and the carriage stopped for a moment and the door opened. A man in histe fifties, with a mix of grey hair, along with a man in his early forties, stepped inside the carriage and sat down. A momentter, the carriage begins to move again. ¡°Adviser Silver,¡± said the man gruffly, as he looked at me with his piercing blue eyes. ¡°Port master ck,¡± I greeted back with a smile, seeing the man was not happy with me. ¡°I am not liking what you are doing at my port, Adviser,¡± said the man directly. ¡°My apologies, port master, but it is necessary,¡± I replied, and he shook his head while looking out of the window. ¡°You should have let me put them in jail,¡± he said. Looking at protesting people who areing into view. ¡°If we let them protest now, they will protest again tomorrow and the day after that, till they started to protest at every little thing they didn¡¯t like,¡± ¡°I understand your worries, port master, but it is important, and it will be for the night only. After that, you continue reinforcing your rules,¡± I said, and the man¡¯s expression turned a little better. Will this going to be a one-off event or regr urrence will depend on the reaction of the people? They need to ept the trade from Navr and once they do; they will rain the money on the city and also me. Sinceing back, I have got inquiries from hundreds of businesses. Not only from the city, but also from the other cities around. They were waiting for the reaction of people. Once they are sure, it will be bees on the honey. It will take some time. A single day''s result will not create a flurry, but it will be the first step. If everything goes well, the next batch of goods will be even bigger and the one after that would be even greater. The carriage stopped a little distance from the protest. We didn¡¯t get out; showing our faces would be like lighting matches to the fire. Watching from a distance is more than enough. ¡°How many people have been gathered there?¡± I asked the port master, who looked at the mage in front of him. ¡°Currently four hundred and fifty-eight, but there numbers are increasing,¡± he replied. Their numbers are less than I had thought; I thought more than a thousand would gather, but that didn¡¯t seem like the case. Though I didn¡¯t celebrate the fact, I know how quickly things could change. A few minutester, a big group of twenty people joined the protests, along with lone people, who areing, every few minutes. Time passed as we watched when, finally, the port master turned to me. ¡°The goods have reached the other side. They are now loading the carriages into the boats,¡± he informed, and a faint nervous smile appeared on my face. While the things we have brought are nothingpared to whates from merchant cities every day. It is still a huge quantity. The stuff we brought needed thirty-nine carriages to transfer. Now, all of them areing to the city. A few minutes passed, and finally, the first group of boats could be seening from the river. Each boat had a big enough space to hold the four cargo carriages and there were five such boatsing. ¡°No goods from the undead. No goods from¡­¡± The moment the first boat docked; six hundred protestors begin to shout loudly. Attracting the attention of everyone around, most people just nced and continued with their business, while some just stopped. People worry about the undead but don¡¯t care much unless they are at their door. Finally, the first carriage rolled down the ramp and begin to move toward the gate; people shouted loudly but didn¡¯t cross the barricade of the guards. They just kept shouting, till all carriages came down. The boats returned to bring another batch of carriages, and some people. Ina had also returned, and I had asked her to stay in the carriage. She didn¡¯t need to show her face, it will put her in unnecessary danger. If I had not needed her, I wouldn¡¯t have called her back to the city. Soon, the boats returned, and bridging the remaining carriages and protests started to shout again. Some also started to follow the carriages, and we let them. A few minutester, the carriages passed through the gates of the port and entered the city. I remained in the carriages, watching the remaining protestors, who are dispersing fast. Finally, thest of the protestors had disappeared, and port master ck turned to me. ¡°I am impressed, Adviser. I thought the chaos will reign in my port today, but it was surprisingly calm,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you for your kind words, port master,¡± I replied. He smiled and got out of the carriage with his mage, while my carriage moved toward the gate. He is not the only one who is surprised. I am surprised too; I thought there would be a far greater reaction, but it was not. Still, my job isn¡¯t done yet. There are a few more things I have to do. The carriage moved, and half an hourter, it stopped in front of the mansion of Count Darrow. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted and bowed faintly as I entered the office. ¡°Remus, you have done a great job,¡± said Count, with a big smile across his face. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied. He had been very fearful about this. He thought thousands will protest since I stered the news in all newspapers and removed the restriction on protests in the port. Nothing of that sort happened; there were only a few hundred protestors, and they behaved. Not a single arrest had been made. While the challenges are not over, and there are many things that could go wrong. It could be said, we have dealt with one of the biggest challenges today and will deal with the rest of them in the same way. I stayed in the mansion for an hour before getting out. I did not immediately go back home, instead went to the warehouses where the goods were being kept and looked at heavy security. Including hidden guards, I had posted. I could not look away from any aspect of it, and warehouses are an important thing. People love to burn them. 90% of the goods that came were kept here; their owners will take them out slowly when things calmed down. 10% had already been taken and one of the people who have taken them is me. I looked at all the preparations before moving toward the home. ¡°Take the back entrance,¡± I said to the driver as we reached the establishment. During business hours, I used the back entrance. Though I will not be staying in the establishment; I will go back to a rented house. As the carriage walked inside, I saw another carriage there and a few people beside it. Soon my carriage stopped, and the door opened, and it was not the guard who opened the door, but Ina. ¡°Master Silver,¡± she greeted. ¡°How was the Mirador Hold, Ina?¡± I asked her as I got out. ¡°Good. Master Silver,¡± she said with a genuine smile on her face. I knew she had faced some trouble and dealt with her own. I had a few people to keep an eye on her and knew how difficult things had been for her, especially the first few days. ¡°You have done a really good job,¡± I said to her, before turning to the carriage. People are taking out the crates under Cresa¡¯s eyes. The bartender is busy serving the drinks. So, it is Cresa¡¯s responsibility to deal with the new wine and take it to the cer. It is not just the wine we have brought from Navr, but a few other things, but wine is most important. ¡°Will you be staying here or at the ce in the city?¡± I asked her. I had rented a ce for her. She had new responsibilities and will be better if she stays in the city whenever she is here. ¡°I will be staying here for today,¡± she said. ¡°But stay in your ce from tomorrow,¡± I said, and she nodded, with a mix of sadness, trepidation, and joy. It will be a big step for her; after two decades of living in a brothel. She will live in her own ce. I talked to her for a few minutes and made a round of establishment, which is going strong. The absence of Eudo could be felt, but it hadn¡¯t affected the earnings. It had been only one day. The clear result will appear in the next few days. Even if there are effects of his absence, they won¡¯t be big. The others are doing a good job; he had trained them well. After I finished with the round; I sat back in the carriage. Soon, I reached my ce, and slept, without even changing the clothes. Souteneur Merchant Lv. 15 Adviser Lv. 9 Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 148: Magical Threads Chapter 148: Magical Threads ¡°Harder, push yourself faster!¡± said instructor David, and pressed me harder, with his attacks. I dodged his attacks and those I couldn¡¯t dodge, I tried to counter them with my sword at the cost of pain, but both of the options are not easy fighting against the man, who seemed to read my every move. He has been training me for months and is familiar with my fighting style. Not to mention his ss affords him skills that will let him read his pupils. It will help them fix the ws they have; he had been helping me a lot with that. Thap! Time passed and continued fighting, before finally, he hit me on the knee, sending me to the ground. ¡°You are improving, but there are still many ws,¡± he said, looking at me, who do not have the energy to get up. ¡°Take thistest one, when I attacked your knee, you¡­¡± He exined the ws and gave me tips to improve them. I watched him leave, but didn¡¯t get up; today¡¯s session had been especially intense. He wanted to push me beyond my limits and he did; the pain and marks all over my body are proof of that. The intensity of the past few days had helped me getplete control over my strength, which I took to ten a couple of days ago. After over five minutes of resting; I get up. It was so painful that I nearly copse. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t have to walk more than a few meters before I reached the changing room. The manor I had rented had dedicated sparring space and attached to it a changing room. Click! I opened the door and walked into the changing room, before removing all my clothes. Which is akin to a torcher and started applying the numbing cream all over my body. I wanted to just take a sip of the healing potion and get done with it, but I resisted. After applying the cream, I rested for a few minutes before taking a shower. The water is ice cold and getting colder every day. The winter had started, and the temperature was falling; It won¡¯t be long before the first snowfall urs. I walked out of the shower and wore one of the suits, I keep in the changing room. After looking at myself in the mirror, I went to the kitchen and ate breakfast before sitting in my carriage. Ca is arriving in half an hour, but I am not going to the port to receive her; I have a meeting with the Count, that I couldn¡¯t postpone. It took six days for her to return and shopping had gone a little over the budget, but it¡¯s fine. I have money earned from the Navr deals; half of which I had sent to Ca to shop more, while the other half went to pay my loans and other expenses. I would have loved to give some of them to Valentina, for the new project, but I didn¡¯t have it. As I am spending what I have to make a few changes to the establishment. These changes may be small, but they are delicate and cost quite a lot. Though I am not worried about my payments to Valentina. I am ahead in it; I am also ahead in my loans. I have to pay off both of them quickly as possible, before saving. I have ns. Though, I will not begin on them till I finished the project; which is going to cost a lot. As I want to make further changes, but these are going to be even more expensive and I haven¡¯t trulymitted to them. I will decide, after seeing the earnings of my liquor business and establishment after the new girls'' debut. The debut is only three days away, and I have given most of my responsibilities to Margaux. There is no other choice, I am busy. It had been a few days since the goods from Navr came. Now, we are in the preparations for the second tour; this time only merchants will go. Ina will also go with them, and we have already received orders worth four hundred million crowns. I am now busy with many things; getting the people who used to do the idea of goods from Navr to contacting merchants'' guilds of the neighboring cities. I had Ina out on the second day, along with a few people, to meet merchant guilds of surrounding cities. They will go to the merchant guild; give them details about the trade with Navr. The merchants will put pressure on their lords and governors, who also like to have trade, but are waiting. I am trying to fasten the process and make it smooth as possible. ¡°How are our representatives doing?¡± asked Count Darrow. The moment I stepped inside the office, he didn¡¯t even let me greet him. He seemed to be in a bad mood for some reason. ¡°They are doing good, my lord; many low and mid-level merchants are showing interest, along with a few big ones.¡± ¡°I am sure it will put pressure on their lords to act fast,¡± I said and gave him the look, to which he sighed. I have a limited clout. I could at most talk to others at the adviser level. Count, on the other hand, talks to leaders. He is the most powerful noble in the whole region if I weigh the power of his house. Even without it, he is powerful; came second in an entire region behind Marquess Gats; same league as the Lord of Deerpond. ¡°I am trying, Remus, but those bastards want to wait till they get theplete picture,¡± he said, with gritted teeth. ¡°The bastards from Oksall are not willing to budge as well, even after seven months. How much time they need to start the fucking trade!¡± So, that¡¯s why he was angry; he wants the trade with Oksall. Currently, we have an official trade rtionship with Meldhorn. While some unofficial tradees from Oksall and Belnin, it is not enough. I have one idea, but I decided to not say it. I first need to sort out the trade with Navr, before meddling with other problems. I have to prove myself by handling Navr first. It will give me enough capital to poach the other idea. I had already told him about it, but he didn¡¯t listen with much care. ¡°Have a little patience Lord Count; Empire is a big market and they are merchants. They won¡¯t be able to resist it, despite all the grudges, they have,¡± I said, and the Count nodded. Even Lancel smiled hearing that. We talked for a few minutes, before the Count turn to me with his expression serious. ¡°Remus, someone from the capital hade; I am going to meet him in half an hour, I want you to be there,¡± he said, surprisingly. Usually, I know all the important peopleing to the city. As there is preparation to be made to wee them ording to their position. When I wasn¡¯t aware of it, means the meeting is secret. Count Darrow had many secret meetings before. It is the nature of politics. It is the first time I will be attending one. ¡°It will be my honor, my lord,¡± I replied. Three and a half hourster, I walked out of the mansion, with deep thoughts running into my mind. The meeting was something else; it had sobered me. Though, I will be not discussing what I heard with anyone. It will not affect, the things till the emperor dies, which is going to happen soon. In less than three years. His health is deteriorating, and the only reason he is even alive is because of the alchemists and healers. It could be said, he could die at any moment and it will plunge the empire into chaos. It will affect the entire continent, especially the western side. I shudder, thinking about it. To survive it, I will need to umte wealth and power; it is the only way I would survive. If I had not epted the position of adviser, I would have been much safer, but I epted it knowing full well what it could do to my future, and I have to bear the responsibilities for it. By the time I had reached the establishment; my mood had calmed down enough. I got out of the carriage and walked into the establishment. I took the side entrance, seeing thedies practicing. Though, I had stopped at the corner and watched for a minute. What I saw satisfied me; the girls are doing great. They have been practicing for nearly a month; it made them very good. Not to mention the sses, the spa, and a few other things have given them confidence, which is showing on their faces. Click! Soon, I reached my office, and I had just sat down when the door through Ca¡¯s office opened and she and Margaux walked inside. ¡°How was Namdar?¡± I asked as they sat. ¡°Amazing; the friend of yours had been very helpful and Eudo had said she had given us a big discount,¡± said Ca, and a smile appeared on my face. They have spent a total of seventy-one million crowns on shopping; over three times more than thest time. 80% of which had been brought from Eva¡¯s store. I didn¡¯t tell them to buy from Eva¡¯s store; I had only to tell them to give it priority, but I was not surprised, seeing they have brought all those things from there. The store is huge. It has everything one might need. ¡°You have got everything we need, right?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, and more,¡± she replied. There are only three days before the debut, and everything is ready. My only regret was that I wasn¡¯t more involved in it. Though, I am trying to be as much as I could. I have already the most important thing. The list of girls who are going to debut and their number is bigger than I thought it would be. It made me very happy. ¡°Was there any problem?¡± I asked, to which she shook her head. ¡°No, the journey was smooth,¡± she replied, and I wanted to sigh. Only I have bad luck in journeys; I have been attacked and nearly died, more times, than I could count. ¡°Has Elese delivered the dresses?¡± I asked, and Margaux nodded. ¡°She delivered them all in the morning and they are amazing,¡± Margaux replied, and seeing the smile on her face, she was quite impressed. I am d she is because I have paid, quite a lot of money for them. The start of the month is going to take the standard of establishment to a new level. More girls are going to be present, wearing more expensive dresses and jewellery than before. There will be better food, wine, and entertainment. I have a target of ten million crowns, and I nned to achieve it. It will be challenging, but I know it could be achieved. ¡°Elese had also brought something which she had been working on and it is amazing, unlike anything I have seen before,¡± said Margaux with eyes filled with excitement; it made me curious. ¡°It is better if you just see it,¡± said Ca and got up. I hesitated for a moment before getting up and following them out of my office. Click! Ca took me to a small room, beside my office and opened the door, revealing the things inside. It froze me on the spot. There are five dresses of different styles and colours; from halter to backless. In red, blue, white, silver and ck colours. The designs are amazing, the best I had ever seen from Elese. It is not what froze me on my spot; what froze me is one thing they are made from; magical threads. They are notplete magical thread dresses; only the stitching was done with that, but even then, it had taken the dresses to apletely different level. ¡°Tell Elese we will buy every dress of magical thread she can make,¡± I said after more than a minute of silence, surprising both Ca and Margaux on the spot. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 149: Tomorrow Chapter 149: Tomorrow Senar ¡°¡­Kass is better than Alemeri; the depth he could give to his character is much better than Alemeri. On the other hand, Kass is better at developing the world around his characters.¡± I said to the blond man in his early forties. We are sitting in a busy hall, where people could be seen talking andughing at every table. Though it is busy, it didn¡¯t feel crowded. Despite the number of people doubling in the hall, everything is running smoothly. It is all practice, as Madam Margaux says. I still remember, when we first started, things were not smooth. While no server had tripped, there was not this smoothness in working that could be felt now. ¡°I disagree. Alemiri¡¯s characters had more depth than Kas¡± p! He was just talking when suddenly, a loud p rang out through the hall; signaling the end. ¡°It had been a pleasure, miss Senar,¡± said the blond man and kissed the back of my hand, which flushed my cheeks. Even after the weeks, I couldn¡¯t get used to the gesture. ¡°Likewise, Carl,¡± I replied. He smiled and walked away with the rest of the actors; I watched him leave and turned to Master Silver, who was talking with the actingpany''s leader. With Madam Ca and Madam Margaux on his sides. Behind them are three assistant madams standing behind him; I heard they will work, despite their elevation. It is not surprising; I had heard about the money the three of them make. Especially L, who is the top earner. When I heard how much she makes, I couldn¡¯t really believe it. It is not from the hours she makes it but from the gifts. She received many gifts; I saw the ne she received two weeks ago; it was beautiful. The girls said it costs over a hundred thousand crowns. Tomorrow we will debut, and I am excited as I am nervous. I will finally be able to earn money and I hope I do, but I still fear, I might not be able to. People will see me and think of me as an abomination. Like they did in the Owlspring. h said it will not happen, but I still worry despite the big changes that had happened to me. ¡°The practice is over,¡± he said before his expression turned serious. ¡°Tomorrow, you all will debut and it will be defining moment of your lives. A step toward a better life, but remember, there is always a choice.¡± ¡°Whether you want to work. Whether you want to do certain things, a patron asked you.¡± ¡°The choice is yours,¡± he said, looking at all of us in the eye. For a moment, there was silence, before the loud ps rang out. I found tears pouring out of my eyes and I am not the only one who had it; nearly everyone had it. As these words were not a lie to inspire them. So, they would work themselves to death for the establishment. They have a choice. She had seen from her very eyes. When Ginna didn¡¯t want to go back to the rooms with the patron, she said it directly. It had made the patrons angry, and he tried to force her, but less than a minuteter, they arrived with Madam Margaux and escorted the man out, and banned him from the establishment. It had happened many times and all the time. The patrons have been escorted out and banned. Master Silver left with Madam Ca, while Madam Margaux turned to us with a smile. ¡°You have done very good girls, I am proud of you all,¡± she said, looking at all of us. ¡°Now return to changing rooms and rest. Tomorrow is a big day for you all,¡± she added. I got up and walked out of the hall toward the changing room, assigned to my group. Usually, we change in the studio, but changes happening to it; I heard they are making it even bigger. ¡°Senar,¡± said a familiar woman, and a secondter, she appeared beside her. ¡°Dina,¡± I said to the ginger-haired woman, who is shorter than me, but seemed to contain all the energy of the world. She is a new girl like me and my roommate. ¡°Have you seen the new dresses?¡± she asked excitedly. ¡°I have not,¡± I replied. I heard they arrived yesterday, but they are very secretive about them. ¡°Well, I have been able to catch a glimpse of some earlier, and let me tell you, they are amazing!¡± she said, bubbling with such excitement. That, I feared, she might start to bounce off. The dresses they are wearing now are amazing; far beyond something she had dreamed of wearing, but she heard the new dresses were even better than this, and with Dina¡¯s words, it seemed to be right. ¡°Really?¡± I asked, and Dina nodded excitedly. ¡°Yes. They are something out of the dream,¡± she replied swooningly. ¡°I heard they are amazing too; Lenore had high praises for them,¡± said Mina, the beautiful brte and one of the girls I admire the most; especially her hair, they are wonderful. She is from the first batch and even interviewed for the position of assistant madam. She was also at Level 20 and had her own personal room. ¡°I really wish I could see them for more than a few seconds,¡± said Dina and sighed, which brought a melodicugh from Mina and a hint of jealousy from my heart. I wish I couldugh like that. I have taken lessons and could never seem to get well as some girls. Mina is the best of all. ¡°You only need to wait for the day, girls. Tomorrow, we will see our new dresses and amazing things Sister Ca and Eudo had brought from Namdar,¡± she said with a smile and turn to her changing room. ¡°I wish I could go to the Namdar. I heard it is a beautiful city, with the sea surrounding it,¡± said Dina, with a dreamy look in her eyes. ¡°Well, you should have been part of the first or second batch, then. They get all opportunities,¡± snipe Avina as she walked past us. Dina sighed again and with her, me. It is the truth, the first and second batches of girls receive the most opportunities. Which is not surprising. They were first, and it is said, Master Silver knew them beforeing here. Aside from them, only sister Caena had the favor of Master Silver. Well, she is a healer. Soon, they have reached the room, where some girls already getting out of their beautiful clothes. There are two young girls present in the room h and Lorena, who are taking the clothes and jewelry from us and folding it carefully before giving us our own clothes. I smiled at the young girl, who is trying to get as many jobs as possible. There is fiercepetition for them; even I get scared, seeing the intensity with which these young girlspete with each other for the little jobs. I removed all my clothes and took and took my old dress from h and wore it, before walking out of the room with Dina. Soon, we were in our room, on our beds. I closed my eyes, and an interface appeared in front of me; I still can¡¯t believe it. I was able to advance so much in a few months. Especially in base ss, when I didn¡¯t work. When I came here on the first day. I had heard about the fast level up, but not truly believed it till I had experienced it myself.
ss: Trollop Lv. 15
Reader Lv. 3
Charisma: 15
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 12
Strength: 10
Skills: ¡¤ Brace Pain ¡¤ I Fake It ¡¤ Night Long ¡¤ More Human ¡¤ Reading ¡¤ Quote
Attribute Points: 0
I have leveled up twice in my base ss; I was a little confused. Since I didn¡¯t work, and it ismon knowledge, that only by working in the trade, one will level up. Thankfully, Madam Margaux had cleared my confusion. She said, what we are learning is for our trade and thus making progress in it and our ss had awarded those efforts with the levels. I have got two attribute points from level up, and I have used them on charm, as Madam Margaux had suggested. I also gained the ss and even got two skills; both of them very useful. Especially Quote. When Madam Margaux got to know about it, she brought me a special teacher. He trained me to use this skill in the right settings; he said, it is the best skill that will make one seen cultured and learned. ¡°From tomorrow, we are going to work,¡± said Dina, in an unexpectedly calm voice. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, as I opened my eyes. ¡°I am a little nervous,¡± she said. ¡°Me too,¡± I replied, after a few seconds of silence. ¡°I want money. I want to earn so much that when I leave after my contracts expire. I could live off it for the rest of my life,¡± said Dina. ¡°I don¡¯t think you are going to have a problem with that,¡± I said. I have seen how much the girls earn. Even if she earns one of the lowest, she will still have enough to live the rest of her life infort. Not to mention, she is learning the trade that will help her. She is training to be a spa therapist. I had heard Miss Maeve praising her, even saying. If she keeps improving at this speed, she will let her work on the girls in a few months. She already got a ss for it and if she earns levels in it, by the time she leaves. Then, even without the money, she will be fine. Unlike her, what I had chosen was not that good. I tried many things, but nothing seemed to interest me, and returned to it. Thankfully, Master Silver and Madam Margaux excepted it. I have chosen art, literature to be specific. It is interesting, but not enough. Still, it is something I am good at, and even the teacher praised me, for my insight to see what others couldn¡¯t. I even got the ss for it and earned three. A few minutes passed when Dina got from the bed. ¡°Where are going?¡± I asked. ¡°I am going to the spa,¡± she replied. Her reply is surprising me. As today is a break. Even the establishment had closed for a day. The spa is also closed for today, seeing they have already finished with treatments and everything they needed for their debut. Thus, the break, to rest before we start working tomorrow. ¡°Isn¡¯t it closed?¡± I asked, and she nodded. ¡°It is, but Miss Rona had said she will teach me when I asked yesterday,¡± she replied, and I could see she was very excited about it. She waved and left. I watched the door closed, before picking up the book. It is one of the books the teacher asked me to read and write a short thesis; I finished the four other books and this onest. I begin to read it and enjoyed it, but there is no deep passion as I had seen in Dina has messages and many others for their things. I wished I had found the true purpose. I am worried about it, but not too much. I know, as long as I keep trying things, I will find it eventually. What I am worried about most is tomorrow. I am orc blood; one-sixth of it runs my veins, and it shows, if one looked clearly at me. The spa treatments, hair treatments, and other treatments had brought an enormous change to me physically, but they didn¡¯t hide the orc blood features. They had enhanced it like they enhanced my human feature. They didn¡¯t want to change me. They wanted to enhance the beauty; I already have. I had never considered myself beautiful, nor had I heard it from anyone, but since I hade here, I had heard it hundreds of times. It gives me hope, but most of the time, I feel dread. Fearing, I will hear the same insults I had been hearing since my childhood. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the book. Tomorrow is the test. I will either soar in the sky with hope and happiness or will be buried in the ground with dread and helplessness. Chapter 150: Today Chapter 150: Today Margaux ¡°Clothes and essories?¡± I asked, ¡°Checked. I have looked at every dress and essory with Eudo. Everything is good; Elese had also sent six of her people to make any adjustments we will require in the dresses,¡± replied L. ¡°Food and Liquor?¡± I asked Andrea. ¡°Perfect; I have checked everything, including the magical ingredients; I have kept guards by it and also asked Stena to keep eyes on Drev constantly,¡± she replied, and I took a small sigh of relief. I don¡¯t want the kitchen to burn down at thest moment. Keeping an eye on Drev is important, even though till now, he had not given a single cause for theint. ¡°What about the interior?¡± I asked De. ¡°Mr. Lloyd said his men would be done in two hours,¡± she replied, and I looked at the file in front of me. ¡°It seemed like we have finished with most of the tasks, but we shouldn¡¯t rx till the sessful debut,¡± I said and they nodded. It is morning and today, the new girls would debut, and it is not something that happened in the past two times. The numbers are huge. We are doubling the girls in a single day. Even at the start of all, seven months ago, there were only thirty-four of us and now, the number of new girls is double that. Seventy-one girls are debuting today, taking the number of working girls to one hundred and fifty-six. If everything worked, the number of patrons will be huge today. It will put pressure on everyone, not only girls but also on the staff of the bar and kitchen. Thankfully, we are prepared. The actors we hired had trained the girls and the staff. ¡°Go and handle your things. If you see any problems, fix them,¡± I said. They nodded and got up before leaving my office, while I slumped back in the chair. I am really d that Ca had forced me to take the assistants. If I had been alone, I would have been bogged down by this huge work. With these three, I am quite rxed. Though, there are a few more things I have to work on, the seating arrangement of the girls. The seating is an important part and one that isplex. I am finished with nearly 80% of it, with only 20% remaining. ¡®Madam Margaux, sister Varza hade to meet you,¡¯ said the teenage voice through the magical inte. I love this thing and the new personal assistant. ¡°Sent her in, dear,¡± I said. A few secondster the door opened, and a short hair young woman came out. She had the shortest hair of all the girls. So short that I had to ask Master Silver¡¯s permission for that. Her hair is even shorter than men''s. It is not conventional, but Master Silver gave her permission for it and even said she shouldn¡¯te to him for such permission. If someone wants to go bald, he is fine with that too. It was not a joke. ¡°How can I help you, Varza?¡± I asked the young woman, a raven-haired woman. ¡°I leveled up, Sister Margaux,¡± she replied, with a happy smile on her face. ¡°Really?¡± I asked in surprise. ¡°Yes,¡± she said excitedly. I am surprised, not because she had leveled up, despite the break yesterday, but because she had gained eight levels in the seven months. I knew this girl for years and was aware she was at Level 12, on the first day. We had started here and now she is at Level 20. This made her one of the youngest people to reach Level 20. Only behind Andrea. ¡°You will have to show me before I give you the key,¡± I said to her. She smiled and opened her ss, and I sensed it with mine and the smile on my face be bigger. I could feel the weight of ss and know she reached the second capstone. ¡°Congrattions,¡± I said to the young woman. ¡°Thank you, Sister Margaux,¡± she said. I ced the key in front of her, and she took it; a couple of secondster, she was out of my office. As the door closed, I took out a file and wrote Varza Steele on it, at number forty-three. We now have forty-three girls in the establishment, with Level 20 and above. The girls have been leveling up fast and now, with new girls working; they will too level up fast. Not that their advancement was slow before, even without working, their leveling up was fast. It quite confused me till I asked Master Silver about it. He answered. It is the same answer; I give it to the girls when they asked me about it. It took me over one and a half hours to make the seating arrangements and a few other things before I got out of my office and walked above the hall. The moment I saw the hall, I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. It had changed so much in a little time, fromte night to morning. The changes were supposed to be small, with the new tables, new paintings and art, and some changes in the bar, but these few changes havepletely transformed the hall. Earlier I hade, but everything was covered and the things that weren¡¯t covered were being worked on. ¡°I was quite surprised when I saw it,¡± said the familiar voice from behind. ¡°When did you arrive?¡± I asked Ina. She had been out the second day she hade back to the city. She hade back but stayed in the city for a few hours before she had to leave for another city. I wanted to talk to her but had been busy the day she arrived, that I didn¡¯t get a chance. ¡°Just half an hour ago; I hade to say goodbye to you all and pick up the dresses,¡± she said. Of the five magic threat dresses, two were for me. One was for Ca and thest two were for Ina. ¡°You are leaving today?¡± I asked her, despite knowing she was. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied with a glowing smile. She is happy, the happiest I had seen her. ¡°Have a safe journey and be careful of the undead,¡± I said to her. ¡°I will,¡± she said and before I could say anything further, she hugged me. The sudden surprised me, but I didn¡¯t resist and hugged her back with a smile with tears in my eyes. ¡°I am happy for you,¡± I said. She didn¡¯t reply, but hugged me tighter, before letting go a few secondster. ¡°Take care of the girls and yourself, Margaux,¡± she said as she finally let go girls, before walking away. I watched her leave before wiping away the tears from my eyes. She had found that gives her joy. The girl had always been smart, but nobody was able to see it; all they saw is a whore, till Master Silver. He saw her for what she was worth and will never regret that decision. I looked around before walking toward the bar, which had be even longer with more seats. It also looks much better than before, with dwarven-made counter and shelves which they assembled through the night. Currently, the bar staff is stacking the liquor. We have brought many types of liquor, expensive ones, the ones we have not used before, but now we will use them. ¡°How is everything?¡± I asked Cresa. ¡°Great; we will be finished with stacking in a few minutes, and then we will do a little more practice to get used to things,¡± she said. ¡°I am d,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t talk to her much as she had work to do. I looked around the hall and walked out. We didn¡¯t make many changes outside, except for doing some mild touches up. We didn¡¯t even need to do that, but Master Silver said, slight changes are good. It makes our patrons feel we are doing things for them. As he had said, it was all part of the experience. I turned back and was walking toward the establishment when I stopped and turned toward construction. I had been thinking about something for the past few days. A thought hade to my mind, and it was not leaving. I had not talked to anyone about it, not even Ca, as even I am not sure about it. Though, the more I think about it, the better I feel about the idea. I pushed those thoughts away and went back to the establishment. I walked past the hall, into the kitchen, where the preparation for the night had already begun. All the kitchen staff is present, including Wanda. The girl had been working hard and seemed to be enjoying herself; currently, she is learning, but in a few months, she will start working with chefs here. Today is an important day for these people; fusion dishes will enter the menu. We have kept a limited number of them for safety. Currently, the kitchen is not equipped to handle aplete fusion menu. It is not just the safety and equipment, but also the staff; currently only Drev could cook them. He is teaching a few people, but it would take time. One simply couldn¡¯t handle the magical material; they are dangerous things and should be handled with care. It is a risk, but I am happy that we will be serving the fusion dishes. We will be the only ce in the Greltheaven that will do that. It is a great advertisement, as Master Silver put it; it will attract more clients to the establishment. I nodded at Andrea, who was keeping a stock of things here, and walked toward the studio. As I entered it a minuteter, my eyes couldn¡¯t help, but widened; big changes had happened to it, in a little more than a day. The space has be bigger, with more racks filled with new dresses and the stuff they have brought from the Namdar. There are now twelve chairs and three red round stands for the girls to dress and undress. It will be fast, with two stages, rather than one, that was before. The studio looked great, but the one that makes it great and has everyone looking is the three beautiful dresses on the mannequins. Dresses made from magical threads. Elese had told me; the threat she had used on the red dress is from Ourchene, a monster. It is also known as a ruby eye spider; these threads are very hard to work at. One needs great experience and skills for it. It is the one I will wear tonight and couldn¡¯t help but feel excited about it. I moved my eyes from dresses and turned to new hires, who are talking to Eudo. We hired four more people for the studio a few days ago and they are good. The first time, when we had posted a notice for the make-up artists, only three people hade for the interview. This time, there were over thirty men and women hade for it. We are training our people too; there are eight young girls who are learning to be beauticians plus Lauren. She had worked hard in these past three months, and from today, Eudo was going to let her work on the girls. It will be a big step for her. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked Lauren. ¡°Good, nervous, but also excited,¡± replied the redhead. ¡°You have worked hard for it; you will do great,¡± I said to her. ¡°Thank you, Sister Margaux,¡± she said, with a nervous smile. I talked to her, and Eudo for a few minutes before walking out of the studio. One by one, I had checked everything. If I see any problem, I will ask people to fix it, but there are few; the girls have done a great job of handling everything. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 151: Assistant Director of Trade Chapter 151: Assistant Director of Trade ¡°Jones, I hope you will not let Count Darrow down,¡± I said to the middle-aged man softly. I am in the decorated hall of the mansion, filled with merchants, who will depart for the Navr soon. Their numbers are triple thest time and the goods they are going to buy will be six times. This time, I have done something; I had not thought I could do. I was able to get merchants from Norke; three of their merchants are going to Navr, with our merchants. I have to thank Ina for that; she had a real oue herself this time. Though it was all nned by me and needed help from Count Darrow, her help in achieving this feat was indispensable. ¡°You can believe in me, adviser; I will make sure everything goes smoothly,¡± he said, and I nodded. Jones is the representative of the city, going with the merchant group. A capable man with connections in the city. It is the reason I selected him. A favor for someone. He will be a leader in name, Ina will be the one who will pull the strings through me. He is capable, but it is my reputation riding on this mission; I could not take any risk with an unknown man. I had already told him to discuss every decision with Ina before executing it. He didn¡¯t like it, but he agreed. He didn¡¯t have a choice, because if he didn¡¯t, I would have chosen somebody else. After the sess of the first trip, there is a line of people who are willing to lead the group to the undead kingdom. Ina is capable, but she has many things to learn, and working with him will teach her those things. I talked to him before turning to merchants gathered in the hall. There are eighty-two of them, all of them nervous and excited about the new journey. Ina appeared beside me, as I mingle with the merchants. She knew many of them, and I am introducing her to the rest. They all know who she is and many of them didn¡¯t even hide their lust as they looked at her. I am helping her with what I can, but she will have to face the greatest challenges by herself, and I haveplete confidence in her ability to do so. It is why I am sending her when I could have easily brought the wine through a message and money transfer. She needs these trips; she needs to gain experience. Click! I was mingling with the merchants when the door clicked open, and Lancel walked inside. ¡°My lord,¡± Everyone greeted in unison. ¡°Are they ready to leave?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, my lord. We are ready to send them off at your will,¡± I replied, and he nodded and turned toward the merchant gathered in front of us. ¡°Dear merchants, Navr is our enemy, but it is also an extremely powerful kingdom, with great bounties.¡± ¡°We need those bounties for our citizens and you merchants, will bring it here,¡± ¡°I will pray that you will seed in this endeavor and return home safely,¡± he said. It is not a good speech; he does not have a talent for that. It is fine, many do not, but he didn¡¯t use the written speeches for the things he considered beneath him. Like sending off the merchants. ¡°Thank you for your blessing, my lord,¡± said Jones, and he bowed along with the merchants. ¡°Now depart and return with sess,¡± he said to them. I watched them leave one after another, till only two of us had remained in this big hall. ¡°What do you think? Will there be any problem?¡± he asked. A question kind of surprised me, as he rarely asked such questions. ¡°You have already negotiated everything, my lord. They just need to go there and ce their orders; I don¡¯t think they are going to have any problem doing such simple things,¡± I replied with a straight face. Of course, a lot of things could go wrong, but he does not need to know that. A smile appeared on his face upon hearing that. ¡°I would be disappointed if they couldn¡¯t even do this,¡± he said and walked toward the door and I followed him. Soon, we reached in front of Count''s office and walked inside. ¡°How did it go?¡± asked the Count. ¡°What¡¯s wrong could go in sending off a bunch of merchants,¡± replied Lancel and sat on the sofa, while Count turned to me with a smile. ¡°Remus, you have a fantastic job this time, especially in bringing the merchants from Norke,¡± he said, and he is happy, which is understandable. He thought it would take months before other cities started to trade with Navr, but I was able to bring the merchant from Norke, and while it was only three people, they were nning on big orders. Most importantly, if they seed. More merchants from Norke and other cities would trade with Navr. I had focused on Norke, because it is a distance away from the port cities or river route, while it is slightly closer to merchant cities than Greltheaven. Those dry hills make a difficult route. Though it still trades with merchant cities, not as much as us, and thus its lord wants more trade. He needs to umte wealth before he needs to leave and that makes him susceptible to whispers of his merchants. To aplish it, I had nned carefully, while Ina executed it beautifully. With its merchants lobbying and Count Darrow¡¯s pressure; its lord had conceded and sent three merchants. I wanted a little bigger group, but three is fine too. If they seeded, the bigger group wille next time. ¡°Thank you for your praise, my lord,¡± I said, and he shook his head. ¡°It is not praise, Remus. You have done something that would have taken months otherwise,¡± he said, and I smiled. ¡°For your work, I appoint you as the assistant director of trade, Navr division,¡± he said and I couldn¡¯t help, but be surprised. I am already doing what this post will have me do, but now with it, I will have the official power. Most importantly, I will have the same position as Damon Hardt, Soren, and Tk. These positions are usually filled by higher-ups of merchant guilds; as they have now. Damon Hardt is responsible for the trade from merchant cities, Vice-Guild-master Soren is for Empire and Vice-Guildmaster Tk is for western kingdoms, which came from Inam and the three port cities of the Renwell Region. Damon Hardt is going to get red with envy, knowing it. Now, he has anotherpetitor for the post of director of trade. This position is empty, and he had been lobbying to get it for months, just like the other two. It is a very powerful position, and I will try for it. Usually, I don¡¯t like to get in the way of others, but this position is powerful, and it will help me tremendously in realizing my ambition. ¡°Thank you for your trust, my lord,¡± I said and bowed. ¡°It will be a great responsibility. I hope you can handle it well,¡± he said. ¡°I will not give you any reason toin, my lord,¡± I said, and he nodded and dismissed me. I bowed once again and walked out of his office. The moment the door closed behind me. I activated the Rapid Legs and walked toward the exit. Today, the girls are debuting, and I want to look at all the preparations before that happens. Thankfully, I was able to finish sending off the merchants earlier than I had thought. Soon, I got out of the pce and reached my carriage; was quite relieved that nobody had stopped me. ¡°To the establishment,¡± I said to the driver, and the carriage moved. While the carriage moved, I took out the book from my bag and begin to read it. It is not history or politics that I usually prefer, but hospitality. Caena¡¯s ritual enchantments have openedpletely new doors for me, and I want to use them as their bests. So, I am studying the things that will help me, from hospitality to architecture. I had given her the list of ritual enchantments I want and stuff to make them. I have also created a list of one hundred and two ritual enchantments till now, and the list is getting bigger. I want so many things and I am willing to pay a high price for it. Little over ten minutester, the carriage pulled into the establishment, and I walked out. I looked at all the changes and a smile appeared on my face; these changes are small, but they make one feel like many things have changed. I looked at everything before entering the hall and the smile on my face had be even bigger. The changes here had cost me a lot, but needed to be done to amodate the increased number of girls and patrons. I looked at tables and art before focusing on the bar. The counter and shelf are dwarven made; it had a less borate designpared to the bar before, but it projects an inviting feeling. Anyone wants to sit on its chairs and order a drink. As I was watching it, Ca appeared beside me. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked. ¡°Good. Margaux and the girls have done a wonderful job,¡± she replied. I nodded and walked toward the studio with her; I checked it all out before going to the kitchen and then the rooms. I looked at everything carefully. It is not only to inspect the work the girls have done but also to test the effects of ritual enchantments. I am still notpletely sure of them and till I do; I will keep an eye on every little thing. Soon, I am in my office with Ca and Margaux. ¡°Here is the sitting arrangement, Master Silver,¡± said Margaux and forwarded the file to me. I looked at it, and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°Good, and it seemed like we will need to pay special attention to Varza. She is leveling at a good speed,¡± I said, and Margaux nodded. She was already on the list and now she had moved up higher. ¡°Tomorrow, a lot of girls are going to make the advancement,¡± said Ca, and all of them smiled. If the past incidents were to repeat, then tomorrow 90% of the new girls are going to level up. ¡°It is going to be an exciting night, but a lot of things could go wrong,¡± I warned. ¡°We are trying many new things, which we have no experience before, and while we have practiced with actors; the real people are in apletely different league,¡± ¡°I understand. I will be keeping an eye on everything,¡± said Margaux. I will also not be sleeping tillte. I could afford to do that now; with merchants, leaving the tension on my shoulders has lessened a lot. Since I returned from Namdar; I had been busy, but now I could rx a little and focus on things I wanted to do after the return. Though there will be work, it wouldn¡¯t be intense as it had been in the past nine days. I would be able to give time to the establishment and could start on my ns. Those ns will depend upon how the night goes and how much we earn. I hope the establishment will make me around ten million crowns. It is a realistic target, with more girls, new wine, and fusion food, achieving it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. I discussed a few more things with them before they left. I turn to the window, to the Red Fragrance on the other side of the street. Mypetitor is making good money, more than me, and even expanded further. He had more than twice girls as me and unlimited resources. So, it is not surprising. Though, with this expansion, I will reach closer to him. The establishment is still popr and even now, the moment our gates open, the people came running out from the other side. Making Norman very angry. So much so that he closes the windows at five. So, his patrons wouldn¡¯t notice the gates opening ande running here. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 152: Gates Open Chapter 152: Gates Open ¡°Open the gates,¡± said Margaux from the door, and a momentter, the gates of the establishment opened. She is looking beautiful with a shimmering red gown hugging her body perfectly. As she moved, it looked like she was wearing the water as the dress moved with her. Elese had designed it specifically for Margaux, and it shows the way it hugged every part of her. It didn¡¯t even take ten seconds before the first carriage came through the gate. Margaux smiled and turned to the girls. The experienced girls are keeping their expressionsposed, while the new girls had different expressions on their faces. From nervousness to excitement, which is natural. Many girls sitting here had the same expression on their faces on their first day. ¡­ I watched the first carriage rolled into the establishment and it hade from the Red Fragrance. It stopped and two middle-aged men came out of it; they had just taken a step out when two more carriages came inside, one after another. A minute passed, and thirteen carriages came into the establishment and that just starting. Seeing the traffic, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. Some of the worries I have been relieved of, but not all. They will only be relieved after the night passed. There are new girls, which will bring nearly double the number of patrons. I have made changes to amodate such a number and even made girls and staff practice with actors, creating various scenarios. The practice is great, and now it is time for them to deal with people. It is a real challenge, not only for the girls but also for Margaux and the staff. It won¡¯t be easy, but I have confidence in them. Hun! I was watching through the window, when suddenly. I felt my skill getting suppressed. Nearly 40% of Torch of Seeker¡¯s power had disappeared. ¡°Norman, oh Norman; suppressing my skill, won¡¯t change things much,¡± I said, looking at the Red Fragrance with a smile. It is not the first time he had done that, and like before, he won¡¯t be able to affect my business. Unlike before, he couldn¡¯t suppress all the power of my skill. Now, in a matter of months, I have leveled up enough that he could only suppress less than half of my skills'' power. My main ss, Agent Of Experience, had reached Level 15, and it is not amon ss either, which makes it even more powerful. Every level I gain will lessen the effects of his skill and I am sure, one day, he won''t be able to suppress my skill anymore and that day woulde sooner than he realizes. I don¡¯t know what the problem of Norman is; there is enough business in the city for us. Even if his patrons came running to my establishment. There are still enough patrons for him to do the business. From what I had found out, his business is always 80%-90% filled, even when I took many of his patrons. Now, with the capacity of my establishment, nearly doubling; some things might change. Though, I don¡¯t think they will change enough to affect his business. As I had said, there is enough business for both of us, due to therge number of merchants and other rich peopleing to the city. Their numbers are increasing every day, like the economy of the city. The trade with the merchant state of Meldhorn is increasing; it is not just the cities of Renwell that are buying up their goods, but also the empire and its appetite is increasing rapidly. So much so that by the end of this month, the empire will trade more goods than the renwell region and it will keep increasing. Renwell region is big, but the empire is bigger with a lot of poption, and they want to trade with merchant cities. It is why, I had said Count Darrow, not to worry about trade with other merchant states. The appetite of the empire is growing, and the merchant states wouldn¡¯t be able to resist it for long. The secret trade had already started from Oksall and Belnin and not only them, but goods also starteding from as far as Valboldar and Nova Alyra. More and more carriages are entering through the gates, and valets are parking them efficiently. More space had been further opened and I have also made the parking by the street, in case the space I have is filled. The space is not unlimited, but currently, I could manage. Through the next expansion, I would need to dig a little deeper for more parking as even the street wouldn¡¯t be enough, and I don¡¯t want to use the garden for parking. The garden is part of the experience, and I will not destroy it for the parking. I stayed by the window for a couple of minutes before sitting back on the chair and looking at the diary in front of me; the one that had thetest intelligence. The girls still provide it and every day, I burn it down after recording it in my diary. This intelligence is the reason why I targeted Norke and a specific group of merchants there. It worked. In these seven months, the girls have collected a lot of intelligence and I am being very careful about it. The most important steps I had taken are limiting the number of girls who collect the information. Only the most trusted girls were allowed to report. It is limiting, but a cautious approach. If it is known, then my entire reputation will go down the drain, not to mention the consequences I would suffer. I read the few pages before putting it back into the vault. It seemed like I would need to start shifting to the files. The diaries are not efficient, but using files will make them conspicuous for any thiefing to steal them. The vault is good, but any rogue with good enough levels will be able to open them. Unfortunately, it is the best option I have. Though I am trying to reinforce the protection around my office with ritual enchantments. Hope, that will be enough to keep them away from the hands of any rogueing here. Time passed as I kept working. Now and then, I would look out of the window. I once again looked out of the window and looked out, but this time, saw apletely different thing. Instead of the carriageing, I saw the gates closing. Immediately, I turned to the clock, and what I saw brightened my eyes. ¡°Fifty-six minutes,¡± I noted. The gate had closed in less time before, but this time, the numbers of patrons were nearly double. I had asked Margaux to only close the door when the patrons reached a certain number. ¡®Since the gates have closed, it is time to look,¡¯ I thought and walked out of my office. Click! Soon, I reached the ground floor and opened the door of the small observation room, and immediately, a full view of the hall appeared in front of me. One of the changes I made in the hall involves the painting covering the view. I had now brought the bigger painting, which was slightly over five feet tall. It gives me a full view of the hall and even added extra protection to it through the second batch of ritual enchantments. It is the first ritual enchantment on the list of the second batch. She had imprinted the enchantment in the morning when Architect Lloyd finished with the changes. I have to be careful with these types of things. What I am doing is not illegal, but people don¡¯t like it when you look at them in such a sneaky way. It will damage the trust. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked Ca as I looked at the hall. There is not a single chair that is empty, be it on the table or the bar. Despite being packed, it is not crowded. It looked lively, and people could see enjoying themselves, seeing how they wereughing and talking. ¡°Good; I didn¡¯t see any problem,¡± she replied before her expressions be serious. ¡°It is a good thing. We have listened to Rain and kept the fusion menu reserved for select tables,¡± she added. Wilman Rain is a new sommelier that we had hired; he is the one who Drev referred and is good. I was a little hesitant to hire him, hearing the sry he demanded, but he proved himself. He is also quite knowledgeable in management, and we have adopted some of the ideas he suggested. Like reserving the fusion dishes for the select tables. ¡°They are ordering it?¡± I asked. ¡°Eleven of those twelve tables had ordered it,¡± she said, and it kind of surprised me. Fusion dishes are made from a mix of magical and normal ingredients. Though having magical ingredients didn¡¯t automatically make them tasty, it makes them dangerous. If not cooked ording to the recipe, it could kill people. It is quitemon for people to die, eating food made of magical materials. The main reason I had allowed a few fusion dishes on the menu is not because they are extremely tasty and will get huge margins selling them, but because it would create a novelty. It is a good advisement, and it attracts a certain kind of people. So, I am quite surprised when eleven of the twelve tables had ordered it. ¡°Hope it will not put too much pressure on the Eudo,¡± I said. One needs to be careful in cooking them. If many people order it, it will put pressure on Drev and he might make a mistake, which would be quite bad. I don¡¯t want anyone to suffer or die eating the food in my establishment. ¡°He said he can manage,¡± she replied. I nodded and turned back to the hall, noting down things that I noticed and felt improvement. ¡°Caena is quite good. I have never seen any girl entertain so many people without making anyone feel neglected,¡± she said, and a smile appeared on my face. Ca had been quite curious about my meetings with Caena. She never asked for it directly after the first day, but she remains curious and had been trying to gain the information indirectly. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t tell her anything about my business with Caena. I looked at Caena, who was sitting at the biggest table, with five people. She was able to maintain a conversation with all of them equally; I have never seen a single person leave her table in disappointment. Some people are great at holding conversations. They could engage with people for hours, without making them feel bored. I stayed in the room for more than an hour, watching everything, and the more I look, the happier I would be. Everything is going well. While some hups did ur, Margaux handled them smoothly. Feeling I had looked enough; I got up and walked out of the room and the first ce I went to was the studio. Which has now be bigger. When I entered, I saw four girls in the midst of change and makeup; three didn¡¯t react, while one be a little nervous. She is new. I smiled at the nervous girl reassuringly and sat down. The chair is bigger and morefortable and is at a ce from where I could look at the whole studio. It feels quite empty, with only four girls and a staff of nine, plus five trainees sh helpers. It is not surprising, only two hours have passed. The real rush happens atte night to midnight when these people wouldn¡¯t get even a minute of rest. I watch as Eudo directs the staff; he is sitting in a chair, advising, while others do the job. He is a good teacher, be the staff working here or the girls, all sing high praises of him. Everything is done by staff and if they do well, he doesn¡¯t even touch the girls. Of the four girls here, Nero only raised his hand or, rather, telekic, on only one and that is only for a slight touch-up. I had asked him to do that; I need him to train the staff enough that they could work without him. It is for contingency in case he left and also because he is very good at teaching, and seemed to love it. I stayed in the studio for half an hour before walking out of it and going to the kitchen. There the stoves are burning, and knives are cutting whatever is beneath them. I could see Wanda, washing the dishes with two young girls, who had chosen culinary as their trade. She is doing well. In a few months, she will be among the chefs, working on these counters. Everyone is busy, including Drev, who had a separate counter from all, and Z is keeping an eye on him. Ready to deal with any fire that threatened to burn the kitchen. When I turned to her, her cheeks reddened. As she was eating the rose balls of sugary delicacy. I smiled before walking out of the kitchen. Soon, I went back to the secret room and sat beside Ca. Hun! Barely a minute had passed since I came back when something happened in the hall. Immediately, I got up. ¡°Stay, Margaux will handle it,¡± said Ca as she stopped me. I hesitated for a moment, before sitting back and turning to Margaux, who is walking toward the disturbance. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 153: Plans and Perspectives Chapter 153: ns and Perspectives Margaux I watched the carriage stop and a blue-haired man came out. Seeing him, I touched the runic switch on the wall, and a momentter; the guards begin to close the doors of the establishment. ¡°Wee to the Velvet Garden,¡± I greeted the blue-haired man, who looked around the hall, before turning to me. ¡°My friend was right, it did not feel like a brothel,¡± he said, and a smile appeared on my face. ¡°I am like d you like it, patron,¡± I said. ¡°It is good, but I don¡¯t see any space for me?¡± he asked as he turned to me. ¡°There is, let me lead you to it,¡± I said and took him to the bar, where there is only one empty. ¡°It is always this packed?¡± he asked as he sat down. ¡°Yes, our patrons liked us enough to keeping back,¡± I replied. ¡°That, I have no doubt,¡± he said as he looked around. ¡°What can I get you?¡± asked Cresa from the bar. For the first hour, this girl had been nervous and even made a mistake spilling a few things, but now she had gotten into the rhythm. It didn¡¯t seem like it is her first day, but those with eyes could see she is under leveledpared to other bartenders besides her. It is the reason why Master Silver had put her to work. The practice could only take one so far; the levelse from real experience. ¡°I will have a calisno neat if you have it,¡± he said, and Cresa smiled. ¡°We do,¡± she said and took out the bottle with the golden-brown liquid. ¡°Enjoy your time with us, patron,¡± I said to him and walked away from him. I move around the hall, greeting the regr patrons, and talking to those I don¡¯t know. In this business, personal connections matter a lot; the patrons like it when I greet them personally. ¡°Drink it, you whore!¡± I was mingling with patrons when suddenly a loud slurred voice rang out through the hall. ¡°If you excuse me, Mr. Carlson,¡± I said to the bald man, I was talking and turned to the table, where the loud voice came from. There is a man in his mid-thirties, forcing Hatan to drink the wine. He has taken the ss to her lips and forced her to drink. Hatan is a teetotaler, she didn¡¯t drink. Seeing, Hatan won¡¯t be able to handle the man on her own; I activated the Feather Walk and walked toward the table. The skill is very good; it is not only fast but also provides me with great control over my body. With it, I could easily move around the tables and people without touching them, and on top of that, it made my movements look graceful. To others, it seemed like I am gliding on the ground instead of walking, which is what this skill feels to me. The first day, I got it; I used it all day, till I couldn¡¯t anymore. I could feel the eyes of people around me; many are staring openly, while others are looking from the corner of their eyes. Soon, I reached the table and turned to the red-haired man. ¡°Is there any problem, patron?¡± I asked the man and looked at the young woman reassuringly. It is such a regret that the girl has to experience this one on her first day. ¡°Yes, there is a problem. This whore of yours is acting high and mighty.¡± ¡°I had ordered this expensive wine for her, and she is refusing to drink,¡± heins drunkenly, with using eyes. Like the fault is ours, and he has done nothing wrong. I wish I could be surprised by such behavior, but it is quitemon. Most of the patrons keep themselves in control, but there are always people like this man who would cross the limit, and I want to do nothing less than throw them out. ¡°It is her choice, patron. If she doesn¡¯t want to drink, you can¡¯t force her,¡± I replied politely. Bam! It seemed to have made him angry as he smashed his fist angrily, flipping the tes, and sshing the wine all over, including some on Hatan¡¯s dress. ¡°The hell it is not! She is a whore, and I am paying for her time. She will do what I say,¡± he said loudly, slurring some of the words. ¡®That¡¯s enough!¡¯ I thought angrily; I was willing to give him a chance, but instead of apologizing, he took it even further. ¡°It seemed like you had too much of a drink. Mr. Asdoo,¡± I said and looked behind me with a smile on my face. This time, the smile on my face is genuine. ¡°Guards, take Mr. Asdoo to his carriage,¡± I ordered. They moved immediately, while the man looked at me with shock. ¡°Mr. Asdoo, your behavior was regretful today and thus you are banned from the establishment for a year,¡± I said to him with a big smile on my face. ¡°You whore, you can¡¯t do this! Do you even know who I am?¡± he shouted and to my surprise, even leapt at me, but before he could do much. The guards picked him up and carried him away while he struggled wildly. I looked at him for a moment before turning to the scared young girl. ¡°I..I am sorry, Madam Margaux,¡± said the girl, with tears starting toe out of her eyes. ¡°It is not your fault, dear,¡± I said to her. ¡°Now, go back to your room and rest. Try to sleep, if you can,¡± The girl hesitated before epting. I watched her leave and walked toward Carlson, whom I was talking to before. ¡­ Cresa I heaved a sigh of relief, seeing the man getting thrown out of the establishment. These types of incidents had lessened a lot, but they still happen. I am d Sister Margaux had thrown him out. ¡°I have never seen anyone getting thrown out of a whorehouse, aside from the reason of pay dispute,¡± said Oron. He is the man brought by Sister Margaux a few minutes ago. He is fun to talk to. ¡°Well. It is different here,¡± I replied and couldn¡¯t help but feel proud of that fact. ¡°I can see it,¡± He replied, taking a sip of his drink. I smiled, before going to another customer for their order. There are a lot of customers, even with six of us, we are barely getting a second of rest. There are always orders and some of the drinks they order areplex. It takes time and skills. This Blissful Breeze I am making needs nine ingredients, and making it is time-consuming,pared to the simple pouring of drink from the bottle. I have to do it while making the whole look enticing to the eyes. It is the job of the bartender. It is a good thing theseplex drinks are expensive, with a high margin on them, and those who ordered them tipped well too. The tips are so much that I feel like I won''t have a problem making what I was making before changing the trades. I didn¡¯t mind. If I made a little less. When I had first chosen bartending, it is out of desperation and it is something I liked, but as I learn the trade, I begin to love it. It had given me purpose, the skills that nobody would be able to take from me. For the first time in my life, I am not worried about the future. I know no matter what happens, I won¡¯t need to go back to being a whore. Not that I wish for something to happen; I love this ce as I love this trade. It had be a home I never had. ¡°It is quite rare to see human woman bartenders. You are only the third human woman bartender I had seen,¡± Oron said, and I smiled. Bartending is considered a man¡¯s job; most bar owners wouldugh at the thought of hiring a woman bartender, especially among humans. In elves, they are little more in number, while among the dwarves, they are said to bemon as men. ¡°It all thanks to Master Silver. He had given me the opportunity,¡± I replied. Feeling grateful from the bottom of my heart. ¡°Remus Silver is quite a man. He had to take his business to such a height in a matter of months and done even better, in his political carrier,¡±mented Oron. This time, I only smiled. I knew when to reply and when to not. It would have been fine if he had talked about the establishment, but since he spoke about Master Silver¡¯s other job, I would remain quiet and smile, as I had ordered to. Sister Ca had asked every girl and even staff to not talk about Master Silver¡¯s other job. I don¡¯t understand the reason behind it, but since it was an order, I will follow. ¡°Your words are true, my friend. The rise of Remus Silver is really something,¡± said the middle-aged man beside him, who had been quiet till now. I talked with other customers as I served drinks, but kept my ear on their conversation. Listening to every word, they spoke. ¡­. Caena ¡°You are right, Caena. It is really good,¡± said Evander. As he took a sip of the bluish drink with others. ¡°Our bartender had changed one spirit in Frosted Fizz and added one lesser-known spirit from Navr. It made its whole taste change,¡± I said to them. There are five people sitting around me and all of them are lusting for me. I am harnessing it to charge the enchantments. Two of these five are regr and are quite freaky, while the other three are their friends. They have brought them here with a special purpose. I am going to do five of them together. They are young and it will be fun, most importantly, I will get the huge amount of lust I want in the shortest time, to charge the enchantment. I have a lot of enchantments to charge and these five will help a lot with that. These five will not be the only, there will be more. I couldn¡¯t help but feel excited about it. I have even a special room reserved for me, thanks to Master Silver, where I had made some preparations, which will help me harness the lust from them more efficiently. With five of them, I will also get five times more money for my time. Also, the gift they had hinted at a few times. Which they will give me after we finished. If it had been a few weeks ago, I would have been quite excited about it. As the money selling the gift would have got me the resources to craft ritual enchantments. Now, I do not need to worry about that. Master Silver is bringing the resources for the ritual enchantment. Through them, I am not only creating the enchantments he needs but also some I need. Or rather, the establishment would need; I just couldn¡¯t tell him about that. With his cautious nature, he wouldn¡¯t give me permission for them, but I know they are necessary. If my mother had been here, she would have been proud. I am using craftingplex magic, something I had never done before, but my mother and other elders do it. It will require hundreds, if not thousands, of ritual enchantments to craft that magic, but if seeded, then it will be able to do things no one could think about it. If this establishment had be a legacy; then Remus Silver will have a weapon that will make his enemies shudder. I am not solely doing this for him, but also for me. It will help me take revenge on the people who have taken everything from me. ¡°Caena, where you have lost to?¡± asked Rij, bringing me out of my thoughts. I immediately controlled my emotions before bringing a seductive smile to my face. ¡°I was thinking about what tonight would be,¡± I said, and the expression of all five of them changed; I could feel their lust spiking, and I harnessed it. ¡°Really?¡± asked Evander excitedly, and I nodded seductively. A few secondster, I got up and walked out of the hall. I am alone. I asked them to follow me after a minute. It will give me time to activate all the preparations in the room. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 154: The Number Chapter 154: The Number Maquerelle Lv. 26 Bartender Lv. 5 Bartender Lv. 6 [Skill Gained: ir] . . . ¡­ Agent of Experience Lv. 16 Adviser Lv. 10 [Skill Gained: Privacy] The notifications were in front of me when I woke and when I saw them, a smile appeared on my face. Not because I had leveled up, I am not surprised by it but because I had gained the skill, I had been desiring. Privacy. It is a very important skill and till now; I had to depend on others or use the tools, but now I have it. With it, I would be able to talk to others with rtive privacy. The level-up provided me with two attribute points. One from my base ss and the other from Adviser ss as it reached the first capstone of Level 10, and I know where I want to use them. So, I immediately added one point to the charm, while the other into the intelligence. Immediately, I felt their effects. I seemed to see the world with better rity and my thoughts seemed to move a little faster. I wanted to use the points of physical attributes, but I need to use them in the mental. I am moving above in my position, which will make me deal with powerful people. These people have high levels and are not easy to deal with. If didn¡¯t have enough levels and good attribute points in my mental skill, those people will eat me alive. I have seen the power of the negotiators in the Namdar and Jalrux. They have dominated me without even using their full power. If they had, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to stand against them. I opened the interface and looked at the progress.
ss: Agent of Experience Lv. 16
Warrior Lv. 13 Lawyer Lv. 12 Adviser Lv. 10
Charisma: 14
Intelligence: 11
Vitality: 8
Strength: 10
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Rapid Steps ¡¤ Fast Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Lawful Suggestions ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Persuasion ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ Swift de ¡¤ Honeyed Voice ¡¤ Lords Mood ¡¤ Privacy
Attribute Points: 0
It is good; with the privacy, I have a good bnce of skills. If I looked deeply, I could even see my skills were moving toward maniption. I have three skills rted to that. At my current level, these skills are not that useful against the people I deal with, but when I reach level 20 in these sses, add more attribute points and mold them ording to my needs. These skills will be very useful. These types of skills be more powerful as one level up. My father used to say that people with maniption type of skills are more dangerous than ones with des. Unfortunately, he was killed by the man with the de. I understand what he meant. The world is controlled by the mind, rather than the sword. Still, the sword is necessary to enforce the will of the mind. It is true in this world and had been true on Earth too. I closed the interface and got out of my bed before walking into the bathroom, where I freshened up and showered. Today, I had taken a break from the training. I had slept at the time when I woke up. I have less than two hours before I need to go to the office for my meeting with Count Darrow. It won¡¯t take long and after that, I could do the thing I wanted to since I had returned from the baronies. I walked out of the shower and changed into the suit, before eating breakfast, waiting for me. Click! Fifteen minutester, I opened the door and walked into my office. There are five girls waiting and got up as I entered. ¡°Master Silver,¡± they greeted. ¡°Ladies,¡± I said and sat down in my seat. Aside from Ca and Margaux, there is L, Andrea, and De also present in the room. They all look well-rested and beautiful. ¡°So, have we been able to reach our target?¡± I asked, feeling quite nervous and excited in my heart. A lot of things will depend on how much I will be making with the addition of the new girls to the establishment. ¡°We are able to go a little, above that,¡± replied Margaux with a smile and slid the file toward me. I opened the file with my heart beating like a drum. Soon, the first page came into view and I begin to read it with Fast Reading. What I read shook my heart, but I didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, I flipped the page and read it before flipping again; one by one, I read through every page, till I finished reading the entire file. It took me a few seconds to calm my wildly beating heart and turned to the girls. ¡°You all did a wonderful job, especially you, Margaux,¡± I said to the woman with tinum blond hair. ¡°Thank you for your kind words, Master Silver,¡± she said politely. ¡°They are truth Margaux,¡± I said. This time, I was not able to focus on the establishment as I have done in the past. Most of the responsibility had fallen on Margaux¡¯s shoulders, and she did a wonderful job. ¡°Master Silver, Hatan wants to talk to you,¡± she said, with her expression turning serious. ¡°How is that, poor girl?¡± I asked. The young girl was from the second batch and had turned eighteen two months ago, before debuting yesterday; it is regretful that she had suffered what she did yesterday. ¡°She is feeling good now,¡± replied Margaux. ¡°Ask her toe in after we finished with our business,¡± I said. We discuss a few things, especially minor changes, I wanted to make, after observing things yesterday. Especially the band; it was good when I interviewed them, but yesterday, they didn¡¯t impress me much. Their performance was slightly better than the band we were using before, but paying three times less price. A few minutester, we finished, and the three of them left, leaving only Ca and Margaux in the room. Click! The door hadn¡¯t closed when a petite girl walked inside, looking nervous and scared. ¡°Take a seat, dear,¡± said Ca, asking her to take a seat between her and Margaux. She did nervously, before turning to me. ¡°First, let me start by apologizing to you. You shouldn¡¯t have gone through what you have gone through yesterday,¡± I apologized, which seemed to surprise the young woman a lot. It was our responsibility to protect them from such incidents, but we had failed. ¡°Y..you didn¡¯t need to a..pologise Master Silver,¡± she said stutteringly. ¡°I do,¡± I said and sighed, regretfully. Most who do these things are from merchant cities; those bastards fear nothing and nor I could do anything to them. The ones from the empire and surrounding cities are more well-behaved. Especially after I be an adviser. ¡°So, what do you want to talk about?¡± I asked her after a few seconds of silence. Her body had be even more tense, and she looked at Margaux, who nodded at her. ¡°I..I don¡¯t want to work in the e..establishment. I want to serve my contract a different way,¡± she said and looked at me with fear and hope. Seeing the fear, I felt sad. It seemed like I haven¡¯t earned their trust enough Though it is not surprising, no whore would dare to say to her boss, she didn¡¯t work as a whole. It will get them an intense beating. They are whores, and as long as they are brothel; they have to do just that. There is no other option. ¡°It is not a problem.¡± I agreed and could see all the tension leaving her body and the fear disappearing from her eyes. ¡°As I had said before, it is your choice.¡± ¡°I will give you two weeks to decide, to suggest the way you want to serve your contract or we will decide for you,¡¯ said and could hope to burst into her tears. ¡°Gardening. I want to do gardening,¡± she answered quickly before her cheeks reddened. I couldn¡¯t help but smile seeing that. I am not surprised by her choice; she was one of three girls learning gardening. The report says, she has a talent for it, but talent is not enough; one needs to do hard work too. I will see whether she had what she takes, or I chose the other job for her, which she will have to till her contract end. ¡°You will start tomorrow,¡± I said and turned to Ca. ¡°Inform, the gardener of this,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± said the girl, and I smile. A few secondster, she left with Margaux, leaving me and Ca alone in the office. ¡°Fifteen million crowns. 50% more than we had estimated,¡± she said, and I looked at the file. The establishment had made fifteen million, three hundred and seven thousand crowns in total. With all the expenses, including the taxes,mission girls, sries of staff and even replenishing what we spent; I will still have half of it in my pocket to do what I want. ¡°I want to see whether we could keep earning this every day,¡± I said, looking at the exciting number on the file. ¡°If we looked at our past earning pattern, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± she replied with a smile. ¡°I really hope so,¡± I said. I have ns and with what Ina will bring out, with her trip, I will have some serious cash in my hand in a week. ¡°So, what are you nning to do with it?¡± she asked directly. She knows my vision, but not the details in between; especially the ideas I had when I was in Navr. ¡°Something you will know soon,¡± I said to her, and she red at me, but didn¡¯t say anything further. I read the files, including the ones that had information, before putting them in a file. I decided to use the files; they are much better than diaries. Ites with risks, but I will ept them for greater efficiency. Soon, I was done with the work and took the newspaper and after a few minutes, a frown couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. ¡°Were you expecting to see something?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, and she arched her brow in question, but I didn¡¯t answer and checked the other two papers, but they too had not had what I wanted to see. The count had promoted me, but there is no mention of it in the papers. It is an important posting. It should have been in the papers. The only reason I could think of it, not being in the papers, is because the Count didn¡¯t put it in them. I put down the papers and calmed my mind. There must be a reason behind this and I will know after I met with the Count today. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 155: Fang Chapter 155: Fang ¡°Phew!¡± I took a breath of relief as I sat back in the carriage. I just had a meeting with Count Darrow and realized why he had stalled my promotion. It is all because of his idiot son and some people who had lobbied against it. No one talked about it directly, but Lancel mocking words and a few indirect references from Count Darrow were more than enough for me to know what had happened. It took most of my worries away. The promotion hadn¡¯t ended, just postponed, due to his idiot son. Count loved his son too much and to please him, he had postponed it. I will get it. It will take a week or two, a month at most, but it will happen. Count knows my value, and he would be an idiot to deny me a promotion. The man is intelligent but also has many ws, which is a good thing. If he didn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t have needed me. I love working for such people, who are smart enough to understand things but also have some ws that needed other people to fix. ¡°To house,¡± I said, seeing the carriage is still standing and a secondter, the carriage begins to move. Today is a great day despite a slight disappointment. The establishment had performed better than I had estimated, and Ina had also left the Mirador Hold with the merchants, without any ident. Through the private message, Ina had informed me, there was some discontent among the soldiers and officers. Soldiers are discontented because we are trading with the enemies, whom the emperor had dered as our greatest enemy. While the discontent among officers is for apletely different reason. They are not getting any benefits from trade. Count Darrow should have promised them some percentage of taxes from the trade with Navr. If not that, then increase their sries and some perks, but instead of that, he is nning on cutting those benefits, they already have. He didn¡¯t ask for advice about it, and I didn¡¯t tell him my views. It is a delicate topic, and the Count bes angry at the thought of even spending a little money. He is not this way in Greltheaven, where he needed to umte as much as money before leaving, but does the same in his territory. There too, he acts miserly and didn¡¯t spend much on anything other than his army. In the future, I will try to nudge him in the direction I want. Mirador Hold is an important cog in the welfare of the region. It is our shield against the undead. While it wouldn¡¯t be able to do much against a serious attack of the undead, given the number of men in the mirador hold, they could still hold off against the regr attacks. Ina will reach the Jalrux by tomorrow and will stay there for two to three days, before returning. I took out the book as the carriage got out of Count Darrow¡¯s mansion. It is the new book I am reading; it will help me with what I am going to do today. I had already read several books about it. Six months after, I hade to this world and had even seen how the job was done. For a while, I had wanted to peruse this trade, given my prior experience, but doing that would have been too suspicious. So, I perused my other trade while learning to be a merchant from my father. A few minutes passed, and the carriage pulled into the manor. It is my new home; I had rented it when the undead had attacked the mirador hold. Ca got it at a good rate. It is a three-story tall manor with a garden. I got out of the carriage and went inside. The first thing I did was go to my room, where I had changed from a suit intofortable clothes, beforeing down to the kitchen and having lunch. With that done, I walked into the back garden, where there was already someone. The young man is about my age and has a small white sparrow making flying around him. It surprised me; it hasn¡¯t been even two weeks, and he was making the monster move around him. He is smiling, which is quite rare, as usually he had a somber look in his eyes. ¡°On palm,¡± he said, and sparrow flew toward him, beforending on his hand. ¡°Mr. Silver,¡± he greeted. ¡°You are making great progress with a cloud-surfing sparrow, Eli,¡± I said, and the young man¡¯s cheeks brightened. I looked at the sparrow, which seemed to have grown slightly and looked a little plump. ¡°She is much smarter than any monster I had seen,¡± he said, looking at the little sparrow affectionately. ¡°What about the other guy?¡± I asked, looking at a white mutt sitting in a wooden pen. ¡°Same as before, it doesn¡¯t listen to anything and bes aggressive when I tried to train him,¡± he replied. ¡°It is not surprising. It is a mutt,¡± he added with a sigh. Very few people would train the mutts, and most give up. They are hard to train due to their unstable gic factors. I looked at the mutt; it had healed from its afflictions. The beast healer I had called had said, it ispletely fine but advised me to kill it. ording to him, it has Lv. 3 aberration factor. Like on earth, breeding among the subspecies is not forbidden and 80% of the time doesn¡¯te with side effects. It is how we have got so many breeds of dogs in modern times. Here too, many subspecies interbreed in the wild or by people, and most of the time, it is fine, but sometimes; they produce a result that is not stable. Which is known as an aberration factor if it happens once. It is Lv. 1. These monsters are dangerous but stable enough that one might train them, but if they breed with another aberration factor beast or subspecies, that formed an aberrant factor with it. It takes their aberrant factor to Lv. 2. very few people would train such monsters. It only happens when the trainer sees a very desired, trait in the monster. This one had Lv.3 aberrant factor, barely anybody trained such monsters, even if they had the desired traits. If I knew about it, I wouldn¡¯t have taken it, but I had taken it and will try my all. I will think about thest option when I spent all options, I have. It''s what my father would have done. I walked toward the pen, before stopping by it and looking at the monster, whom I had been feeding for a week. While I have not done much training, I had been feeding it every other day, at least once. The monster is quite cute, that anyone would want to cuddle with him. It has a pure white thick-soft coat, with normal wolf''s ears and tail; its paws on the other are thick. Bigger than normal paws with tough but soft paw pads and deep purple nails that are very sharp. Eli had been filing them every few days. As they would sharpen very quickly. The monster could retract them back till they disappeared inside its paws. Eli saw it happen, but this little monster kept them out, especially when people were near it. The most prominent feature of it is its eyes. They are an indication of it being a mutt. It had dual irises; they are violet and magenta and looked like they are shing with each other. Most mutts have such features that make them easier to recognize. ¡°Hello fang,¡± I said to the monster, and it didn¡¯t even turn. It is the first time I had called him by his name; referring to him as ¡®him¡¯ rather than ¡®it¡¯ that I had been doing. The name is not hard to think; I had been on my mind for years since I was a child. In a zoo, I had seen a wolf and wanted to adopt it and when my parents asked me, what I would name it, I answered with a fang. It alsoes from one of my favorite books, white fang. We had many wolf-like dogs from huskies, german shepherds, and even wolfdogs, but never a wolf. My father had got the opportunity to train the wolf many times but declined it. Saying they would disturb the rest of his dogs and it is going to take too much work. This monster is going to take too much work. More than a wolf would have done. That makes me, relegate responsibility to someone or even kill it, but since I decided, I will do it. I took out the ck leash from my bag and it connected it to his cor automatically. ¡°Come out, fang,¡± I said as I opened the pen¡¯s door. It looked at the opened door but didn¡¯te out. ¡°Not interested Hun. How about this?¡± I asked and took out a piece of dried blue monster meat. Immediately, his eyes were directed at me, and it growled low before jumping at me, with its sharp ws out. The monster looks small as two months old husky, but he took the jump at me with speed, that normal humans wouldn¡¯t be able to react. Thankfully, I have been prepared. I kept a smile on my face and let ite near me, before sliding my hands to catch him. He tried to avoid my hands, but I was fast and had practice. I caught it easily, avoiding his sharp ws. Though, I had worn gloves to avoid any idents. Growl! It growled at me cutely before tried to reach for a dried monster meat in my hand, his favorite. I have been not sitting useless; I have asked Eli to test which type of food he likes the most. He tested over a hundred types of monster food before finalizing on four, which he loves the most. ¡°You will not get it, by being aggressive fang,¡± I said to the monster, who is struggling hard in my hands, while I took him toward the corner of the garden. Like the dogs, the training of the monsters is also a reward base. You will do a thing right and you will get a treat. The first stage of monster training is finding out the food they like the most. I had done that and now, I have to train him with patience. Thankfully, it is a job, I have been doing since I could walk. It will be harder than any dog, I had trained, but I am upped for a challenge. I love this job and if it wasn¡¯t for me wanting to aplish something in life. I would have stayed home and worked with my father in the business. ¡°This ce seems better,¡± I said and stopped. It is in the corner of the garden, devoid of any distractions. It is important, the less distraction there, the more fruits training will bring. My first target is basic obedience training. Following the simplemands, like sitting, staying, and walking with a leash, before going on moreplex. Unlike dogs and other animals, monsters are capable of learningplexmands. Especially when there is help from the skills which I don¡¯t have. I will try first, before taking help from a trainer. Eli is good, but I would need someone better with more experience. Though, I will only do it if I wasn¡¯t able to manage it on my own and likely will need to, considering, this job is not simple as dog training. Not to mention, I don¡¯t have enough time to train him properly, with all the work I have to do. I am currently not busy, but it won¡¯t be long before I find myself on a task. That will take most of my time. I ced him down gently and sat beside him, with meat hidden in the wrist, where he was focused at. ¡°Now, we will start with your training,¡± I said and opened my fist. Like before, he jumped at me, and I caught him and ced him back in his ce. I opened my fist again, and he jumped again before I even uttered a word. ¡°You will not make it easy, are you fang?¡± I asked him as I ced him back in his position before starting again. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 156: Mage Sensing Chapter 156: Mage Sensing ¡°You have quite an ambition Remus,¡± said Lancel as he looked at the document in his father''s hand. ¡°You can¡¯t me me for it, my lord. Ever since I saw the show in Jalrux, I couldn¡¯t get it off my mind,¡± ¡°I want to create something like it,¡± I replied. ¡°Creating the show mages isn¡¯t an easy task. Forget the huge amount of money it will require. You will also need talent and years of time to make them,¡± said Count as put down the document. ¡°I understand it, my lord, but if I seeded. It will bring me a tremendous fortune and also a few levels,¡± I said, and he shook his head. ¡°It is not a simple thing. Many try, but most fail, and you will be trying it with the whores. There is a very high chance that not a single one of them might have a mage talent,¡± he cautioned. ¡°You are right, my lord, but I have to try. If I am able to achieve it, it will be an aplishment for me,¡± I replied, and he sighed. ¡°It is such a regret; you have been forced into this ss. If you had standard Merchant ss, you would have been able to do much more,¡± he said, and I smile. He is thinking I am doing this for the levels, and he is notpletely wrong, but it is not my primary reason. My primary reason is purely financial. If I want to be the best business, and I have to make it different from others, offer things that others do not have. Brothels do not have shown mages; I have not heard a single one of them training their girls to be show mages. It will really help me tremendously if I could make a show mage group. Even a small one would bring tremendous benefits. While is right about failure or it is taking years along with enormous investment, I am willing to do it, because the benefits would be worth it. ¡°It is all past, my lord,¡± I said. He smiled and looked down at the paper. ¡°Your business may be respectful, but you are an honest merchant. Even your whores pay taxes, unlike the bastards who skim them,¡± ¡°So, I am giving you the permission, with the hope that you will find sess in it, no matter how far-fetched it seemed,¡± he said and signed the document. Usually, there is a long bureaucratic process for these kinds of things. Thankfully, knowing the lord of the city had its benefits. With this sign, I won¡¯t need to go through the tedious process. I will send it to the city hall and will get all permits and licenses I will need. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said and put the document in the file. I left soon after. Though, I will be returning in the evening. There is a weekly council meeting. Which won¡¯tst for long; there is only one important point and I have already smoothened everything about it. So, if all goes well. It will be over within an hour. I have many things to do today. Go to the establishment, meet with Valentina, and train Fang, which is turning out to be frustratingly hard; it is like he didn¡¯t want to listen. It had been a week since I had started training him, and I havee to know a few details about him. First, he is smart. Not dog smart, but really smart. He is also stubborn and aggressive, but there is good news, especially about thest trait. His aggressive nature feels psychological, and while I couldn¡¯t deny the gic factor that might be responsible for it. I feel like he could be trained to control it, whether I could do it, I don¡¯t know. Considering, I have not been able to teach him to sit even after a week. If the trainer is good enough, most puppies learn it in a few hours at most. Soon, I sat in the carriage as it moved toward the establishment. Fifteen minutester, the carriage pulled into the gates of the establishment, and I got out of it. As I stepped into the hall, and saw the girls taking lessons in the partitions. All of them learning a much greater focus than a week ago, especially the new girls. It is after debut; the girls truly understand the value of these lessons and work hard to learn. Soon, I reached my office and sat in my seat, and opened the file in front of me, with a smile on my face. This thing is bringing a smile to my face every day of the past week. ¡°Sixteen points three five,¡± I said, reading the file. The establishment earnings in tandem with the first day¡¯s numbers. Rising slowly each day; within a week, the earning rose by a million. It will slow down but will keep rising. I had expected this on the first day, given the previous data as Ca reminded me, but I still decided to wait for a week, before finally getting permission from Count Darrow. This will be my biggest investment, and, unlike most, it will take a lot of time, but as I had said to Count Darrow, I am willing to take the risks. You need to take the risks to rise in the business. Click! I was reading the information when the door clicked open and Ca and Margaux walked inside. ¡°Master Silver,¡± greeted Margaux. ¡°Margaux,¡± I said as both of them sat. ¡°What is this?¡± asked Ca, seeing the unfamiliar file. ¡°The one you have been asking about,¡± I replied and a faint surprise appeared in her eyes. She touched the file and seeing, I am not saying anything. She pulled it toward her. ¡°Is this the thing you have been working on?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I answered, and she arched her brow in question, but I only smiled. She red at me faintly before opening the file. For a few seconds, her expressions were curious, before suddenly her expressions changed drastically. So much that Margaux leaned in the curiosity toward the file, before pulling herself back. It took her over ten minutes for her to read out my detailed n before she closed her eyes. More than five secondster, she opened her eyes and darted them at me. ¡°This is extremely ambitious and impossible to achieve,¡± she said, and I smiled. ¡°Ambitious yes. It will also require a lot of time and I will need to spend a fortune, but it is not impossible, just hard to achieve,¡± I replied. ¡°It would be better. If we focused that money, somewhere else,¡± she said, and I shook my head. ¡°No, waiting is not an option, the sooner we start. The sooner we will get the results,¡± I said, and she sighed. She didn¡¯t agree with me, but she is willing to believe in my vision. ¡°I had heard about them from Ina. She said it is one of the best things she had ever seen,¡± she said after a moment of silence. Ina had seen the mage show in Jalrux. There was a show, and she had brought a ticket to that; she had informed me about it in her message a few days ago. She had returned from Navr yesterday and woulde back to the city tomorrow with the goods. ¡°Margaux, look at it and tell me thoughts about it,¡± I said and her hands moved so fast toward the file that it kind of surprised me. She also seemed to understand what she had done as her cheeks reddened. She controlled herself for a couple of seconds before reading the file and, like Ca, her expressions had also changed drastically. Far more than that of Ca. There even some wetness appeared in her eyes. I didn¡¯tment and let her finish. ¡°What do you think?¡± I asked as she put down the file. ¡°Mages are not easy to make; there is a lot of study involved, along with many resources and, most importantly, the talent,¡± she said. Margaux knows about it more than others; her daughter had been admitted into a mage course in the academy. It is cheaper to learn in the academies; they provide expert teachers and wide facilities. Well, I am not trying to make the girls into full fledge mages as the academies do; I am trying to make show mages. They will learn the most basic spells. ¡°It is hard, which is why we will start immediately. The first step would be finding the talents. Only after that, we could start thinking about teachers and other resources,¡± I said and couldn¡¯t help but feel myself getting excited. I could even see the girls performing the show in front of me. It might take time, but it will happen. I touched the button on the inte. ¡°Call Z and Shaun in my office,¡± I said. They are mages and I would need to use this thing. I thought as I took out a palm size blue crystal ball from my Iles bag. I had ordered it from the Namdar; it hade two days ago. Click! A few minutester, two of them entered the room. ¡°You have called for us, Mr. Silver?¡± asked Shaun, while Z¡¯s eyes directly fell on the crystal battle in front of me. ¡°Yes. I was wondering. If you two know how to operate this thing?¡± I asked, and his eyes also fell on the crystal battle. ¡°It is a mage-sensing ball, right?¡± he asked, and I nodded. ¡°Yes, then we know how to operate it,¡± he replied. I could see the question in his and Z¡¯s eyes, but they didn¡¯t ask. ¡°Good, I want you to operate it,¡± I said and slid it toward them, before turning to Margaux and Ca. ¡°Would you two be willing before we call the girls?¡± I asked. Ca nodded immediately, while Margaux hesitated, before nodding. ¡°You two can start,¡± I said to the two mages. They nodded before Shaun took the crystal ball and turned to Ca. ¡°Madama, Ca, we will start with you,¡± said Stan with a smile on his face. ¡°What do I have to do?¡± she asked nervously. Ca is rarely nervous, but this time, she is. There is also hope hidden beneath it. ¡°Just ce your hand on the ball,¡± he instructed. She nodded and nervously ced a hand on the battle. For a moment, nothing happened before the ball turned white. Seeing that, I sighed and even the smile on the face of Shaun froze for a moment. ¡°It seemed like the spells are not for you, Madam Ca,¡± said Shaun politely. ¡°I am too old to learn them anyway,¡± she replied, but I could see the disappointment and sadness in her eyes. The same emotions I had felt when I realized I didn¡¯t have a talent for it. Mage talent is rare, only a thousand in one have, and it is only the first step. Learning to cast the spell is another challenge in itself. ¡°Wee to the club, Ca,¡± I said to her, and she smiled. ¡°Madam Margaux,¡± said Shaun as he ced the crystal ball in front of her. She hesitated for a second, before cing her right hand on it. A secondter, it turned yellow, surprising the three of us. There are three colors the ball could turn to when touched. First is white, which means no talent, second is green, which means mage talent, and the third is yellow, which means the person not only has a mage talent but also unlocked it. Mage talent is usually dormant; one needs to unlock it. It rarely happens naturally. Usually, it is mages who help you unlock. She unlocked it on her; which means she gained the Mana attribute. All three of us looked at her, and she seemed to understand what we were thinking. ¡°I didn¡¯t know, I had talent till a few months ago when I unlocked it during the treatment in the spa,¡± she said, looking all guilty. ¡°You don¡¯t have to feel guilty, Margaux. Everyone is entitled to their secrets,¡± I said to her, and relief flooded into her eyes. I will not be angry at her or anyone for keeping a secret. As long as it didn¡¯t affect my business and me, I don¡¯t care about the secret, no matter how big it is. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 157: Relieve Chapter 157: Relieve ¡°My lord. I could do it. Please give me another chance,¡± Damon begged, but instead of sympathy; he got a re. ¡°Hardt, it had been seven months since you have this position, but you have barely made any progress,¡± said Count Darrow angrily. ¡°It is not true, my lord. The shadow trade had started, and its volume is increasing every day,¡± he said, but the Count just shook his head. ¡°You did little about it. It was the prince, and me, who did that, while you squabbled in petty politics, instead of doing some actual work,¡± used the Count. Damon wanted to deny it and opened his mouth to refuse, but closed it, upon seeing the Count¡¯s expressions. Instead, he turned to Lancel and begged him with his eyes. ¡°Father, you have been unusually hard on Hardt. He is trying his all. Give him another chance,¡± Lancel requested, and Count''s eyes softened as he turned to his son. ¡°Since you said it, I will listen, but I can¡¯t let this go, without any punishment,¡± he said and turn back to Damon Hardt, with his gaze hardening again. ¡°You will still be responsible for merchant cities, Damon,¡± he said, and relief flooded into Damon¡¯s heart. He couldn¡¯t lose his position; it had brought huge profit to him in mere months. Most importantly, it is a question of prestige. Losing it will make him theughingstock in the city and give that bastard Soren a chance to vie for his position of Guild-Master of the Merchant Guild. He can¡¯t let that happen. ¡°But your failure shouldn¡¯t go unpunished; I am taking away the responsibility of Oksall from you,¡± stated Count, and he looked adamant about it. So, once again, he looked at Lancel with pitiful eyes. ¡°Father, it is too harsh. Just give him another chance,¡± said Lancel, but this time, even his son¡¯s words fall deaf to his ears. ¡°You cannot tolerate the failure, son, even of the person you trust the most. There should be a clear line between the reward and the punishment,¡± said Count. Lancel opened his mouth to protest, but closed it, seeing the expression on his father''s face. He knows when his father would listen and when he will not. ¡°Damon, consider this punishment and work hard. If I didn¡¯t see the result, I will take all the responsibilities from you,¡± he warned. If it had been his territory, he wouldn¡¯t have been this forceful. You can¡¯t force such a matter, but this is not his territory. It is a temporary ce created by my nephew to earn money. Money that will help him fund the battle of the throne. Till now, they are barely earning anything. They have not even got what they have invested. They need to earn more, and they have little time. The Emperor won¡¯t be alive for long; the moment he dies. The real battles will start, where not only the survival of his nephew, but his survival will be on the line. ¡°Thank you for the second chance, my lord. I will work harder this time,¡± Damon said and bowed, before looking at the Count again. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, who would you give this responsibility to?¡± he asked, and a smile appeared on the Count¡¯s face. ¡°Someone who could do what you weren¡¯t able to,¡± replied the Count. ¡­. Click! I sat down in a hidden room in the hall. Directly in front of me, on the other side, is a table on which a blue crystal ball is ced, with girls lining up behind it. I wanted to do it in my office, but seeing the establishment having over two hundred girls. The big hall is a better choice. So, we paused sses for an hour and sent everyone except the girls out. I am feeling quite nervous; mage talent is rare, but I hope to get at least five to ten girls. Though, even that seemed impossible, considering only around one in a thousand have this talent. I shook those distracting thoughts and focused ahead. Danielle, the tall woman, ced her hand on the ball gently. A secondter, the ball turned white. I could see the sadness and disappointment appearing in her eyes, but she took it gracefully and walked away and immediately, the girl behind her took her ce. She ced her hand on the table ball and a secondter, it turned white. The same thing happened with the fourth, fifth, and sixth girls. I had kind of expected it, but it had still couldn¡¯t help but feel sad seeing it happening. I felt like Margaux might be the only girl in the whole establishment who has any mage talent. Hun! I was wallowing in disappointment when suddenly the battle turned green. It is Lenore, who did it. The beautician. Seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t light up on my face. Finally, someone other than Margaux had shown a talent. I was smiling when another girl ced her hand on the ball, and it lit up green again. The smile on my face froze for a moment before bing even bigger. I quickly noted their name, while watching the next girl, who drew nk, and the one after that. Three more girls drew nk before Cath lit up green. The humorous girl made a joke, making everybodyugh on the spot. Five more girls passed and once again, green-lit up and it was none other than my assistant Jill. After her, another green lit up. It was a young elf-blood girl, h, from the fourth batch. To my shock, even a girl after them drew green. Stan said something to Z and checked the ball before making the young girl ce her hand on it again and once again. It drew green. The next couple of girls lit white, before a crystal lit green again, this time by Mina, who jumped in joy, like a little girl. One by one, more and more girls ced their hands on the crystals. Most of them drew white, but a small minority lit up green. Far more than I had expected. Mage talent is very rare. So, they shouldn¡¯t be able to have over three or four girls and even that would have been quite a lot, but till now, we have already had ten girls with mage talent and there are still many girls, who have yet to be tested. Once again, the ball lit green. The one who did surprise me. It is Senar, the orc blood girl. I am surprised because orcs are the species with the lowest mage talent. It is over ten times worse than humans, but that doesn¡¯t mean they do not have magic. They have shamanic magic, but it falls into a different category. So, unconsciously, I thought, she wouldn¡¯t have one. I didn¡¯t consider, she is more human than orc. She has a quarter or less of orc blood, while the majority of her is human. She seemed very happy seeing it feels like it is more than just about having magic to her. One by one, every girl is tested, till only three have remained. De and L and Andrea. De is the first who went to the ball, and a momentter, it turned white. She just sighed and moved away, and L ced her hand on it and a secondter, it had turned white too. It seemed to have hit her quite hard as her eyes watered. She may look tough, but she is quite emotional. When Andrea ced her hand at thest, it turned green, bringing a small smile to the young woman¡¯s face. ¡°Twenty-two girls. It is quite shocking,¡± I said as I looked at the names of twenty-two girls. ¡°It is arge number,¡± said Ca. I smiled and turned to the two mages in front of me. ¡°How much time will they need to learn to cast the most basic spells?¡± I asked them. They didn¡¯t seem surprised by it, likely expecting it. ¡°It depends on many factors, like the learning ability, age, teacher, and resources,¡± replied Z. ¡°Still on average?¡± I asked and didn¡¯t receive an answer immediately. ¡°An average student, with average resources and conditions, would take a year to two years to cast their first Grade 0 spell,¡± replied Z after a few seconds of silence. I nodded, and it was about what I had researched. This n isn¡¯t born out of thin air. I had researched all aspects of it before taking the permission. Though, most of the research about it had already been done, years ago, when I had wanted to mage. I wasn¡¯t willing to ept this null-mage talent and tried to find ways to gain it before giving up. I understood the reality. It is not like one couldn¡¯t gain mana attributes artificially, but it is too much hassle and a very dangerous process. I didn¡¯t want to risk my life, just so I could sling some spells. I was about to dismiss them, when a thoughte to my mind. ¡°Do you know the mage personally?¡± I asked. Of course, there are tutors, I have my eyes on, and I had also nned to post the job for it. Though before doing that, I had wanted to ask Valentina, and since these two are also mages; I am asking too. ¡°We indeed do know someone,¡± said Shaun, and turned to Z. ¡°I had received a message from Leopold Mage Aldridge students. He said his teacher had thrown him out of another academy at Belnin,¡± ¡°I am not surprised, given the nature of that man and it seemed to have be even worse, after what he has gone through on the ind,¡± said Z and sighed, while Shaun smiled before turning to me. ¡°We know someone. It is one of the people with whom we have escaped from the ind,¡± said Shaun, turning to me. ¡°Is he good?¡± I said. I just heard that man getting thrown out of the academy and likely suffering psychologically due to the war on Mayhurst ind, where these people fought, before escaping. ¡°He is the best teacher; I had ever seen in my life. He was a teacher at my academy. Though he was very strict and demanding.¡± ¡°Most people leave his ss due to the sheer pressure he put on them, but those who stayed benefited tremendously,¡± said Shaun. ¡°Were you in his ss?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, I had taken his basic magic theory ss and was one of a few people who hadpleted it in a semester,¡± he replied. I don¡¯t want girls to learn from a stressful teacher, but Shaun is not someone to praise anyone lightly. ¡°Contact him and tell him about the job. If he is interested, ask him toe for an interview,¡± I said. He will not be the only person I will interview; I will ask Valentina and also post a job notice in the mage guild. They left soon while I turned to Margaux and Ca. For onest important thing of today. ¡°I think we could take one of them off, now,¡± I said and the two of them smiled. ¡°Yes, many girls have leveled and doing good,¡± ¡°Taking one of them off wouldn¡¯t affect the establishment too much,¡± replied Margaux. I am talking about the assistant madams. I can¡¯t always have them do both jobs together. It was a temporary thing, till we have enough top girls and now we have and could afford to take one of them out. I hope this month I could relieve all three of them. So, they could focus solely on being assistant madams. ¡°Who do you think, we relieve first?¡± I asked, giving the decision to her. ¡°De,¡± Margaux replied. I am a little surprised. I thought she would choose L or Andrea first. Though I could understand why she had chosen De; the older woman had the best rtionship with the girls. ¡°Inform her of it then,¡± I said. ¡°I will do it immediately,¡± she replied, and her eyes were ck for a moment before returning to normal. I know she did. The telepathic skill is really amazing. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 158: First Step Chapter 158: First Step ¡°¡­ and we will be adding another group of men in theing week. We want to finish the construction by the end of the next. So, we could focus on the delicate work,¡± said Chief Architect Davidson. I havee to the next plot to see the progress of the construction. It is going great, faster; it had already taken its round shape, and they had nearly finished up with the second floor. Not to mention, a lot more work had been done underground. In the middle, the construction of the spa had already been halfway done, but it is hard to associate it with its design. It looked a lot different and will, till they fit the ss. There is a lot of ss involved in this building. Hun! I was talking to him when the familiar carriage pulled inside through the entrance. A few secondster, Valentina walked out of it, wearing a blue mage robe, which she rarely wore. ¡°I had a meeting in a mage guild before I came here,¡± she said, seeing me looking at her robe. ¡°What do you think?¡± she asked, turning to the construction. ¡°It is great. Chief here said, everything is going ounting to a new schedule,¡± I said. The new schedule is a five-month timeline. Instead of the old months, she had given me. ¡°Not if you keep adding things,¡± she said, and I smiled. I called her about the new changes, which are going to cost me a lot. More than fifty million, I had paid her a few days ago. When I started, I knew it is going to go over budget, but didn¡¯t expect this. It had already doubled in budget and will increase even further. ¡°Let¡¯s go see inside.¡± She said, and we walked toward the building. On the way, a ring on her finger had lit up and a defensiveyer appeared around our bodies. Which is good. If something fell from above, I don¡¯t think I would be able to survive it. ¡°We have brought all the materials we needed for the constructions, at least for the shell and our enchanters working non-stop,¡± ¡°Chief might have already told you. We n to finish all the floors, by the first week of next month. The rest of the time will be spent on doing the delicate work,¡± he asked and turned to me. ¡°You have a month to make any big changes; after that, doing that will only increase the time,¡± she added. ¡°Chief Davidson had told me,¡± I said. She nodded and led me ahead, informing me about what they were doing. I am listening to everything while marveling at the work they are doing. The people with the skills. It is amazing to watch and now, even the old man had added some of his skill to it. It seemed to have increased the speed of men working and also make their work more precise while reducing their mistakes. To these people, it is all normal, but to me, it is marvelous, despite watching them work daily. Half an hourter, we walked out of the building and went to the establishment. ¡°It is not a simple change; it might even affect the timeline of the project,¡± Valentina said after Iid out the changes I want. ¡°I am aware, and I won''t mind if the end date gets pushed a little back,¡± I said. I will not like it, but I also know, I can¡¯t hope to get everything done on time, with my increasing demands. ¡°A couple of more changes and it will be a Grade 1 mage suit,¡± she said, and I snorted. ¡°A couple of changes, which will cost me over ten million imperials,¡± I said. A Grade 1 mage suit is the lowest grade of mage suit, and any kind of it would cost me more than a billion crowns. It is not something. I haven¡¯t thought about it, but something I couldn¡¯t afford. Though one day, I will. ¡°This is to get you started,¡± I said and forwarded it to her. She took it and a faint surprise appeared in her eyes; she hadn¡¯t expected, I would pay her 50% of the new changes upfront. The new changes would cost me one hundred and fourth-million crowns, and I had just paid her seventy million crowns. I have nearly emptied all the savings and what I had earned in the past week. I now have less than a million crowns in my ount, but I am not worried about money. The establishment will earn more today and, most importantly, Ina wille tomorrow, bringing the goods. The merchants will clear their dues in a day or two, giving me around a hundred million crowns. This time, orders have reached 700 million crowns, double that thest time, and with my 15%, I will get a little over a hundred million crowns. Navr is a gold mine for me. This order is small,pared to the ones that wille in the future. As it hase from the city only and this week, I have many inquiries from outside the city as well. If I am lucky, next time, I will have an order from a merchant outside the city. ¡°Oh, I hope you will finish the kitchen soon,¡± I said, reminding her of the thing we had discussed whileing to the office. ¡°It will be done within ten days,¡± she replied. ¡­ I watched Valentina¡¯s carriage leave through the window and walked out of my office with Ca, Margaux, and De. Since she had be a true assistant madam; she will be attending all the meetings. It won¡¯t take long for others to join. If possible, I want to relieve two of them from their jobs by the end of the month. The girls are doing well, and many are leveling up fast. I have already got over fifty girls over Lv. 20 and that number is increasing every week. I am sure some girls would soon reach the Lv. 25; Ca and Margaux wouldn¡¯t be two alone at that level. Soon, we were in the kitchen, and it was amazing, as always. Drev spent most of his time in the kitchen; going home only to sleep and shower. He is working on the recipes, perfecting them since I had allocated a big budget to the kitchen. ¡°Drev, someone from the Nielson guild toe to meet you, in an hour,¡± I informed him, as I finished with lunch. His eyes lit up at hearing that. ¡°Are you making changes to the kitchen, Mr. Silver?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, that and something more,¡± I replied, and I could see he wanted to ask more, but I smiled and walked away. He will have answers to his questions when people from the Nielson guilde. I am making changes to the kitchen, but also making a new kitchen. It will be separate from the establishment. So, even if it burned down, nothing else will be harmed. The new kitchen will be for teaching and experimentation, with many safety features. It is costing me quite a lot, but it is worth it, seeing how it had been winning me praises and bringing the business. There are many people who praised the food of the establishment, especially the fusion dishes. I had even printed articles about it. They didn¡¯t name the establishment, but those reading it would easily understand, they are about the establishment. Carriages would enter, even before the gates could fully open. Just so the people could get into the prime tables. Only from there, one could order the fusion dishes. It had unintentionally increased the exclusivity of the establishment, and I want to make full use of that. I am not the only one. I heard Normal also searching for a fusion chef. It won¡¯t take him long to find a good one, considering the resources and the reach he has. He had tried to poach mine, but till now had been unsessful. After finishing the business in the establishment, I sat in my carriage, and it rolled toward the manor. Twenty minutester, the carriage entered the gates of the manor before stopping. I didn¡¯t go to my suite and instead went to the changing room directly and changed into the training clothes, before going into the garden. When I walked into the garden, was Fang, sitting on a tree, while two guards keep an eye on him. Eli is not present. He had taken two days of leave and had gone outside to train his sparrow. The airspace above the city is restricted and while I have taken permission for him to practice above the non-restricted areas in the city; he said, he wants unrestricted space to train his bird. The guards retreated as I appeared by a tree; Fang nced at mezily before closing his eyes. He remains free in the day with Eli or guards keeping an eye on him, while remains in pen at night. ¡°Come down, Fang,¡± I said to him, but he didn¡¯t even open my eyes. ¡°You want this, right?¡± I asked him as I took about a piece of dried meat. He immediately opened his eyes to see the treat, but unlike the first day, he didn¡¯t leap at it instantly. For a couple of seconds, he kept looking before leaping at me. He became faster in the week, despite there being no change in his size. I moved my hands to catch it and like the past few days; he tried to maneuver in the air. Trying to avoid my hands and taking the piece of meat from my hand. When he did that three days ago; he seeded in taking a piece of meat from my hand and even drew blood with those nails, which turn sharp despite the constant fining. Little monster may have surprised me once, but never again. My hands moved around him fast, but smoothly, avoiding his nails and a little mouth, before grabbing him smoothly and putting him down. ¡°You know, Fang, you don¡¯t have to be stubborn; just follow the simplemand and you will get the treat,¡± I said while the little monster just looked, staring at my fist, which had a treat. ¡°Sit,¡± I said to him and opened my fist. He didn¡¯t even react, he just kept looking at it and I prepared myself for the leap. ¡°Sit,¡± I repeated, and there was no change. I repeated three secondster and did it again three seconds after that. ¡°Sit!¡± I said at fifth ready, ready for his leap as he was reaching his limit when suddenly, he sat down, and it is perfect sit. I was so surprised that I wasn¡¯t able to react for a moment. It is the first time he has listened to mymand. I had told him many times about how to sit, but never followed themand. ¡°Good boy,¡± I praised and fed him the treat, careful of his very sharp teeth. He ate it quickly, crunching the hard meat effortlessly with his tiny sharp teeth, before swallowing it. ¡°Now, we will try again,¡± I said and took out another piece of meat, and waited till he got up. ¡°Sit,¡± I said, and he sat down immediately. For the next few minutes, he followed every sitmand without any miss. Even the smartest dogs would miss it a few times and even monsters one or two times, but he got it perfectly. I trained him for twenty minutes and took a break. The break is necessary, even in monster training. Like dogs, monsters get irritated, and one needs time to get them to rx. A half an hourter, I resumed his training and, once again; he started to follow themands perfectly. Though, this time, I had changed the technique a little. Now, I am not giving him a treat at every sessfulmand. ¡°Growl!¡± He growled, seeing me not giving a treat, but I smiled, but next time, he followed themand, and I gave him the treat. I took a break for half an hour before training him again and like before; he followed everymand urately, with his growling lessened. Soon, it was six, and I finally stopped. I am a little tired, training the monster is exhaustive, but there is a smile on my face. I have taken the first step in the obedience training. While the monster is stubborn, he is very intelligent. If he learned the othermands the same way, I should have basic obedience done in a month. For most dogs, it is enough. Over 95% of dog owners are satisfied with it, but it is not the case with monsters. Especially not with mutts with level 3 aberration factor. His real training will start after he finishes with basic obedience training. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 159: Council Meeting Chapter 159: Council Meeting The sun hadpletely gone down when I stepped out of the carriage and walked toward the mansion of Count Darrow. It is really frustrating for a lot of people that he works from his mansion. He barely visits the city hall once a week, and in some weeks, he didn¡¯t even do that. People joke that he should transfer the staff into his mansion as well and rent out the city hall. I have no personal problem with it, but I find it inefficient. So much time could be saved and some resources, but Count Darrow didn¡¯t care about that. All he cares about is hisfort and his idiot son is learning from these ws. I entered the mansion and walked toward the Count¡¯s office with Rapid Legs. With training, I have be quite good at it. It took me barely a minute to reach Count Darrow¡¯s office. The secretory simply nodded at me. It is her saying; I should go inside. So, I pushed the door and went inside. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted and bowed to Count Darrow and Lancel. Aside from them, there are three advisers and Mage York. ¡®Somebody isn¡¯t in a good mood,¡¯ I thought, feeling Lancel''s eyes on me. He might have a light smile on his face, but I could feel the dislike and anger, with a heavier-than-normal dose of jealousy. This bastard is jealous of me, when I sensed it the first time. I couldn¡¯t believe it. He has everything. He didn¡¯t need to feel jealous, but he was, and it was not hard for me to guess the reason. Today he is more jealous than normal, which means something good ising for me. I had noticed that whenever he was jealous; good things happen to me. ¡°Remus, how are the preparations?¡± he asked. ¡°Everything is great, my lord. All the goods have been checked and safely stored.¡± ¡°Tomorrow morning, they will leave for the city and arrive by night, about the same time asst time,¡± I informed. I have been taking updates throughout the day. It is my responsibility, and I couldn¡¯t let any mistake ur. Thankfully, everything had been great; there were some tiny problems, but Ina dealt with them. Only once time, I needed to personally intervene. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t take such risks, Remus. One day, people might have enough, and their temper would explode,¡± he said with a hint of warning. ¡°It is why we are letting them get used to it. Till they begin to think, it is normal,¡± I replied. I thought he would shoot another warning, but he justughed. ¡°Let¡¯s go; it is time for the meeting,¡± he said and got up. Hun! When he reached me, he pped on my shoulder before walking ahead. The gesture had surprised me; it is the first time he had done something like that. It seemed to take others by surprise too, especially Lancel. The jealousy he was feeling just spiked. I didn¡¯t let it distract me and followed after him. ¡°Any fresh developments?¡± I asked Robin, to which he shook his head. I felt relieved. The council meeting is important, but they are mostly nd. We just stand behind and talk only when asked. I already know what kind of topics that will be discussed and am fully prepared to answer any query about them, if anyone asked. Soon, we reached the meeting hall, and I immediately felt the eyes of Damon Hardt, who didn¡¯t look to be in a good mood. Though he controlled his expression a momentter, and he got up with the rest. ¡°My lord,¡± The council members greeted. ¡°Sit down all of them,¡± said the Count said as he took the head chair, while Lancel sat down on the opposite end, with me behind him. ¡°Let¡¯s start the meeting,¡± said the Count. ¡°My lord, I will first start with my objection. I heard the goods from Navring at prime hour tomorrow.¡± ¡°The people are worried. It should be postponed,¡± said Priest Harold. This news hasn''t been made public yet, but I am not surprised by the priest knowing about it. These bastards love to interfere where they shouldn¡¯t and have rats everywhere. ¡°Priest Harold. Everything is being taken care of, you shouldn¡¯t be worried,¡± he said, not so subtly. ¡°My apologies, my lord, but the dark hand of the kingdom of death, affecting the people, I cannot bear to see it,¡± said the priest, not backing down. The priest is having a lot more courage than normal. It seemed like the rumor must be true. The pope of the god of war is on a tour of the empire. This month, he is said to be bestowing the honor of divine war on the first prince. It is going to be in the presence of an emperor in a big ceremony. It is not a small honor, and if the rumor is true, then it had be clear the church was throwing its weight behind the first prince and it is likely something the emperor had a hand in it. For more than a year, the emperor had made moves to consolidate the authority of the crown prince. This is another effort on his part and quite a big one. I am sure the church must have gotten significant benefits in this exchange. Still brazen as they are; the church of god of war usually tries to stay neutral in session wars, especially in a ce like an empire where stakes are high and their position as first religion is already secure. There must be some damn good reason for them to think of taking such steps. There is no change in Count Darrow''s expression, but I could tell he is angry. Harold is merely a priest, not Bishop or Archbishop. He spoke to Count in a disrespectful way; it is obvious, he would be angry. It is quite a surprise, that he didn¡¯t throw the priest out of the hall yet. Lancel was also angry as his father, and he was about to burst, which would be bad. So, I gently ce my hand on Lancel¡¯s shoulder; it surprised him, but also brought him back to reality. The bubbling anger in his heart had calmed down. ¡°It is your view, Priest Harold. I am seeing the people are happy with the trade,¡± ¡°The rates of grains and other essential things havee down. It is putting more food on people¡¯s tes and fewer people are sleeping hungry,¡± he said with a smile and the priest opened his mouth but closed it a momentter. He seemed to understand; he had already crossed a limit and while Count Darrow was mindful of church power, he wouldn¡¯t let a puny priest trample on his honor. ¡°I will be performing the cleansing ritual after the goods have arrived,¡± he said finally, after seconds of silence. ¡°I will post extra guards for your security,¡± he said with a smile, but one could feel a veiled threat in his voice. The priest only nodded. For a couple of seconds, nobody spoke before they started, and they are being very careful in their words. Not daring to say something that will make the Count angry at them. At record half an hour, every one of them finished speaking. Even Tk, who usually speaks lengthily, had finished quickly. ¡°Now that we concluded the business, I have an announcement to make,¡± said Count Darrow, looking at every council member. I saw Damon Hardt¡¯s expressions turning worst and a slight chance urring in Lancel¡¯s emotions as well. ¡°I am appointing Remus Silver as Assistant Director of Trade,¡± He announced, and relief flooded into my heart. I knew the promotion was not going anywhere, and it came earlier than I had expected. I thought it would take him till the end of the month, but he announced it within a week. ¡°He will be responsible for eastern division; Navr and merchant state Oksall,¡± The shock rang through my heart; I was fine till Navr, but Oksall had totally shocked me. As ites under the jurisdiction of Damon Hardt. No wonder he was in a spoiled mood and staring daggers at me. ¡°Thank you for your trust, my lord. I will not disappoint you.¡± I said quickly, collecting my thoughts. ¡°I know you will not, Remus,¡± he said while ncing at Damon Hardt from the corner of my eyes. ¡°Congrattions Adviser Silver,¡± said Vice Guild-master Soren and Damon Hardt, who immediately red at him, but the old man smiled back, with a smirk on his face. The others also begin to congratte one by one. ¡°Congrattion, Adviser Silver,¡± said Damon Hardt atst. ¡°Thank you, Guildmaster,¡± I said. The only one who didn¡¯t congratte me is the priest; he remained quiet, watching. A few secondster, the Count got up and walked out of the meeting room. I and others followed behind him. Bang! Soon we returned to the office, and he sat down. Lancel had opened his mouth to say something when Count Darrow hit the table hard with the fist. ¡°Fucking bastard!¡± he cursed; nobody needs to guess, to whom it is cursing. ¡°I had talked to brother, and he said, these priests begin to cross the limits everywhere. Especially in our territories,¡± said Lancel angrily. The Count remained quiet before a smile appeared on his face, but his eyes were filled with anger. ¡°The power of these bastards is growing, that they are forgetting their ce.¡± ¡°Let these bastards enjoy the power; it won''t be long before we will show them ours,¡± said Count Darrow, and for the first time, I had sensed the emotions of Count. It was faint, and it is only for a moment, but what I had sensed had surprised me. The man is not only feeling anger but also powerlessness. It is not an emotion one should expect from a man like him. He is a Count and not a normal Count either, but a Count from one of the most powerful houses in the empire. He has power, but couldn¡¯t use it. Nobody said anything, even Lancel. Everyone is acutely aware of the consequences of speaking the wrong word. For more than a minute, the office was silent, before Count Darrow looked up and turned to me. ¡°Remus, I have given you the responsibility of Oksall. I hope you will take it seriously,¡± he said. ¡°I will not disappoint you,¡± I said and thought of my n for Oksall. One I had told him about it and gave an idea to Baron Harrods when he asked about my help. I had made quite a progress in it. ¡°You already have something. Are you thinking about the trade with orc tribes that you mentioned to mest time?¡± asked Count Darrow. I had told him about it weeks ago before I went to Navr, at that time he didn¡¯t take it seriously, but now he seemed to consider it. ¡°Something rted to it,¡± I answered, to which he arched his brow. ¡°I am not finished with the n yet. I will show it to you, the moment, I am finished with it, my lord,¡± I said. It is notplete. Many things have remained to be done before I could present it to him. I have found some important information, which made me take the n, in a different direction. This direction offers bigger opportunities and more trade. Oksall, which had been so hesitant to trade with us, might agree. ¡°How long will it you to finish your n?¡± he asked. ¡°Ten to twenty days, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°Fine, I will give you the time, but I hope it will be something good,¡± he said, looking intently. ¡°You will not be disappointed, my lord,¡± I replied. I didn¡¯t stay in the office for long. A few minutester, I was in the carriage, directing Z to send the messages to get the information. This time, I didn¡¯t hold back, as the city will be paying for it. Though most of the information is present in the public domain and wouldn¡¯t cost much to get it. Agent of Experience Lv. 16 Adviser Lv. 11 ss Gained- Trainer Skill Gained- Command Projection Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 160: Mould Chapter 160: Mould ¡°Thank you for your time, Mage Whitaker. I will inform you of my decision in a few days,¡± I said to the old woman, who looked to be in her early seventies. ¡°Thank you for considering me,¡± she said and walked out of my office. ¡°How was she?¡± I asked Z sitting beside me. ¡°Her knowledge was good, but her exnations were tooplex,¡± she replied. I am not a mage. I need someone to check the knowledge of the person; I am interviewing. There is also Ca, who is very good at people; there is a reason, my father has chosen her. The old woman was the seventh mage we interviewed in the past five days. She is also one of two, that Valentina had rmended. There is one more interview in the afternoon. This one was rmended by Shaun; the one he talked about in my office. ¡°So, I would not be adding her to the list?¡± I asked, and both of them shook their heads. Of all the seven people, only two have been added to the list; I have already ordered a background check on them. ¡°I will swing by the establishment. Are youing?¡± asked Ca. We are in my office in the city. It is more suitable to interview here than in the establishment. Though the ones we hired will need to teach the girls in the establishment before they shifted to their new home. ¡°I can¡¯t, there is a lot of work here for me to do,¡± I replied, looking at piles of boxes by my desk, which I have to go through today. ¡°Good luck,¡± she said and walked out with Z, but not before ncing at Fang, who is sitting on the small cushion bed. ¡°Good boy,¡± I said as the door closed and threw the treat at him, which he caught in his mouth. It is the first time I have brought him out of the manor, and he is doing well. He sat there without making even the slightest sound, despite peopleing and going. Many wanted to pet him, including Ca, but I stopped her. Despite the progress I had made; it is still dangerous for others to touch him. Those sharp teeth could easily bite off the bones. I have made great progress in his training, and it is all thanks to the new skill I got, twelve days ago. I was surprised when I got it. It is a rare skill. Even Lv. 20 trainers didn¡¯t get it, but I got it. Though, I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised. It is a trade I am most experienced in. I have trained in the dogs since I was a child and helped out my father whenever I go home. It could be said, I have got the skill because of my experience. Though, it should also be nodded that monster training is on apletely different level than dog training. The skill is very good, but it is not easy to use. For three days, I have been scratched and bloodied more than I could count before I learned to use it properly. The skill Command Projection is an invaluable skill. It lets me projectmand to the monster I am training. To do that, I need to touch the monster. I am training, and I need to have a clear and concise projection in my mind. Which is the toughest task. It had made Fang very angry the first time that my guards thought it had lost its mind and wanted me to kill him. It was my mistake, and it took me three days and I nearly spent all my time figuring it out, but it was worth it. Seeing, I had finished the obedience training in less than a third of the time. Today, I have even brought him to the office to get used to the people. Click! I had just fed him when the door opened, and Jill and ir walked inside and sat opposite of me before pulling the boxes on the table. Jill gave me a big stack and shared a small one with ir. We are researching the n for the Oksall trade. Half of the time had already passed, and I have around eight days before I will need to present it to the Count. I could get an extension from the Count, but there is no need to do that. I am confident I will be finished on time. These girls are good. I have taught them tricks of doing research, as I had done to Ca, Ina, and Margaux. They had learned it and already helping me with the work. ir had even gained the Reading skill. I opened the first stack and started to read it. My Reading skill is very fast, all thanks to the points, I am investing in the mental attributes. Thetest attribute, point I have got; I had invested in intelligence, which has increased my reading speed further. This intense research in the past few days had done another thing. I was able to mould my Reading skill fully. It is now devoid of any restriction. It now gives the same reading speed as legal documents to other texts. It was not an easy task, but I did it. Though, it is also worth mentioning that Reading is amon skill and the one I use the most. It is quite hard to manipte and mould the other powerful skills, but I am trying and was able to have small sesses. I pushed those thoughts and focused on the stack of documents ahead of it. I took the first stack and begin to read it while taking notes on important points. There is a lot of information here, centuries old. The grey guilds have arge amount of information on all kinds of things and since it is barely the lowest level of secrets due to their age, I have got cheaply, and the city paid for it. There is also a heavy discount, which cities get. The lords might curse the grey guilds, but they are also the ones who use their services the most. These people are very good at keeping records. I could get hundreds of years of information from them. Not all information here has been brought from the grey guilds. The majority of it is from the public domain. We only needed to pay for copies and transport fees. An hour passed and then another and I read through a trulyrge amount of material. So much that I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it in a day. I am not simply reading, but employing the reading methods, which makes my speed even faster than simply Reading. It is amazing what I have been able to do in these few days. It would have needed a month for a normal person. Thankfully, nobody hase to disturb us. Some people might havee, but I have kept someone downstairs, and unless it is important, nobody would disturb me. I read through stack after stack of papers and the majority of information there is not useful to my current purpose, but now and then, I would find a line, a paragraph, or an article in there that will be useful. Click! I was reading with the girls when the door clicked, and Ca walked inside with Z. ¡°Jill, ir, take the rest,¡± I said. The girls put the stacks in the boxes, before walking out of the office. ¡°How are the things in the establishment?¡± I asked. ¡°Good, Margaux is handling everything well,¡± she replied. There is also De and L to help her; I have relieved her too and in this week. I will relieve Andrea as well. They need to learn as much from Ca and Margaux as possible. I have a feeling that I will need some of them soon. A few minutes passed, and we discussed a few things before the magical inte lit up. ¡®Mr. Silver, Mage Aldridge, has arrived for the interview,¡¯ ir informed. He had arrived exactly on time. ¡®Send him in,¡¯ I said. Click! A few secondster, a man with bronze skin, who looked to be in his early sixties, walked inside. At first nce, there is nothing remarkable about this man. He is of medium height and average face, but his eyes arepletely different. They are sharp and at one nce; he seemed to have seen through everything. ¡°Mage Aldridge, take a seat,¡± I said to the man. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Silver,¡± he replied and took a seat in front of me. ¡°It¡¯s nice seeing you again, Schr Aldridge,¡± said Z. ¡°You too, Mage Z,¡± he replied with no change on his face. ¡°I assume you have read the job requirements, Mage Aldridge?¡± I asked him. ¡°Yes,¡± he replied expressionlessly. ¡°And you will not have a problem or aversion to those who you will teach if you get the job?¡± I asked. ¡°No, you will be paying to teach me, and I will do that; it didn¡¯t matter to me whom I have to teach,¡± he answered. ¡°Good, we will begin then,¡± I said and started the interview. Though it had started the moment he walked inside. I have taken hundreds of interviews, and many were like this one, where I had barely any knowledge of the field I am taking the interview for. The clients or their people with me had tested those aspects, while my job had been testing the other aspects. There are methods of that, the set of questions. I started to ask them, from the first question and what he said and the way he answered them. All three of us had asked questions, Z asked the ones rted to magic, while Ca and I asked those rted to our expertise. ¡°I heard that very few were peoplest in your course till the end, why is that?¡± I asked the most important question. He didn¡¯t answer it immediately, like most of his answers. It is the thing I liked about him. He weights the question before answering them. ¡°Most people find my ss difficult and me overbearing.¡± He replied after a second of silence. ¡°Why do not change your teaching method then?¡± I asked, and his expression changed ever so slightly. ¡°Why should I? While my teaching may be overbearing, those who remain in my ss till the end are best and do better in the academy and out of it,¡± he answered, with a hint of pride in his voice. ¡°That¡¯s all. Thank you for your time, Mage Aldridge.¡± ¡°I will inform you of my decision in a few days,¡± I said. He nodded and got out of his seat before walking out of the office. ¡°He is overbearing and prideful,¡± I said as he left. ¡°There is nothing wrong with that. The man is confident of his abilities and unapologetic about it.¡± ¡°We need this type of person to teach the girls,¡± said Ca. It surprised me. As she doesn¡¯t like such people, but now she wants a person like him to teach the girls, whom she is quite protective of. I turned to Z. ¡°Shaun is right about him. His knowledge is quite deep and could exin it in understandingnguage,¡± she said. ¡°We will make our decision after we interviewed the rest,¡± I said. I am quite hesitant about the man. I do not have a problem with man, but his straights. ¡°You know, he is just like you. So confident in his abilities that it is irritating,¡± said Ca, surprising me. ¡°I am not like that,¡± I said, ring at her. ¡°You should see your face when you exin things to people. It can be irritating sometimes,¡± she said I wanted to refute that and even opened my mouth, but closed it. Maybe there is a reason why some people didn¡¯t like me. I will need to work on it. As nobody, like the smartass. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 161: The Plan Chapter 161: The n ¡°This is the n, then?¡± asked Count Darrow, as I ced the file in front of him. ¡°Yes, my lord. I hope you will approve of it,¡± I said, with a palpable nervousness in my voice. He didn¡¯t reply and instead opened the file and begin to read it. I finished the n yesterday, but I have taken help from a scribe and artist to make it more appealing. I have added a little modern twist to it. It''s a small one, but it made the texts much easier to read. He finished the first page in seconds, before turning to the next and next a few seconds after. He kept reading in silence, without change in an expression or ament, which he usually does when he was presented with a n. Everyone in the room turned their eyes to the file, including the Lancel, who was only mildly interested a minute before, but now got quite interested. Though he didn¡¯t get up from his spot. He just looked at his father, who was turning page after page. Sometimes, he would stop at the page and stare for seconds to a minute before turning the page. This silence felt unbearable to me, but I bore it as I watched Count Darrow for any reaction. He isn¡¯t having any. Finally, after a little over twenty minutes. He finished reading the file and looked up. ¡°I wish Damon Hardt had been here,¡± he said. ¡°I could summon him if you want to my lord,¡± said Mage York, but Count Darrow just shook his head and turned to me. ¡°You have surprised me with this n, Remus. I didn¡¯t think you woulde with something like this,¡± he said, clearly sounding surprised. Also impressed. ¡°Trade with Oksall is important to us, my lord. If this n worked, it might open the doors of direct trade with the merchant state,¡± I said to him, to which he smiled. ¡°This n of yours is the first thing in a while that gave me some hope of it happening,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, for your praise my lord,¡± I replied, feeling relieved in my heart. I had worked really hard for it. To be honest, I had feared he would throw away the file, thinking it was too far-fetched. It is a not simple n and would be expensive for Oksall, but will also provide them, with tremendous benefits. ¡°Father, it is good?¡± asked Lancel, feeling curious. ¡°You can take a look yourself,¡± he said and gave the copy of the file to his son. Lancel begin to read, but unlike his father, he didn¡¯t guard his emotions well, and he was also reading too fast, that he finished in less than five minutes. ¡°It is too far-fetched. It is not going to work,¡± he said, throwing the file on the table. ¡°But if it worked. It will give us an opportunity to trade with the second merchant city-state and open a new trade route.¡± ¡°You do know how important that is, right?¡± he asked as he looked at his son with all seriousness. ¡°Yes, Father,¡± agreed Lancel. Count Darrow smiled and turned to me. ¡°I will check on a few things if everything is perfect. Then, I will contact the Oksall,¡± he said, and I smiled. Most important is Count Darrow. For it to seed, we will need to meet important people, important as ruling council members. Only Count Darrow has a reach that high. ¡°You have worked hard, Remus. This n of yours is good,¡± he praised, before taking the file back in his hand. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied and prepared for what was toe. Nearly two hourster, I walked out of his office with my back drenched. I felt like I have fought an intense battle. Count Darrow had asked every type of question rted to the n; some I had not thought he would. I have done nearly all the research myself and thanks to it; I had answered each and every one of his questions to his satisfaction. I don¡¯t know how long it would take him to verify the n before we started the preparations, but it shouldn¡¯t take long. Count wants trade; the money it brings. From a little what I could gather, the prince had been asking him to increase the trade. He needs a lot of money to finance the battle for session, he is preparing to fight. I think there are some things that are going on in secret. Prince is buying things from Meldhorn, dangerous things; that should be secret. Count Darrow is being very careful about these things, and I only caught a whiff by sheer ident. It made me very curious, but I crushed that curiosity hard immediately. It is something I should stay far away as possible. If I so much dare to dare to dip my finger into it, I will disappear from the world forever. I don¡¯t want that; there are many things I have to achieve. ¡°Mage Aldridge has arrived in the city,¡± Z informed me as I sat in the carriage. ¡°Ask him toe to the establishment in an hour,¡± I said. She nodded and closed her eyes. I have interviewed seventeen mages, after discussing them with Ca and Z, along with the background checks I had ordered. I had chosen Mage Aldridge. Today, I asked him toe for the negotiations. We have already discussed most of the conditions through the messages. The only important thing have is the sry. If we form an agreement on it, I will hire the old man. Fifteen minutester, the carriage pulled into the establishment. Stone opened the door, and I walked out with Z and walked into the establishment. There, I saw something that made me shake my head in exasperation. ¡°He is not an animal, but a monster, Ca. You should keep him on the leash,¡± I said to her, seeing Fang in Ca¡¯s arms. Her cheeks reddened at my words, but she didn¡¯t put him down. ¡°I couldn¡¯t resist him. Look at him, he is so cute,¡± he said and kissed him. It had been three days since I had let her touch him. In these three days, she went from hesitantly petting him to carrying him in her arms. She is not only carrying him but also letting other girls pet him, which is not safe. I am just d; I had asked Stena to keep an eye on him; not let him go out of her eyes. Till now, he hadn¡¯t shown any sign of instability, but it had been less than a month since I had started training him. Seeing her like this, I made sure there was always a guard around him when I am with him. I walked toward my office, and she walked with me, not putting Fang down from her arms. The little monster also seems to enjoy being carried by her. He didn¡¯t stay in my arms for more than a minute before he tried to wiggle away. Soon, we reached my office, and she put him down on his cushion bed, which I have ced in all my offices. He seemed to enjoy them more than the pen. Like always, I picked up the first file onst night¡¯s earnings and read through it all in a minute before putting it down. The numbers are good, rising slowly nearly every day. It had been twenty-six days since the establishment was running at full capacity and the business was good. Not only the establishment but my other business is also doing good. Ina is currently in the Navr. This would be her third trip four, if I count the first one with me. This time, we have taken fourteen merchants from Norke. She will be leaving Navr tomorrow at dawn and two days after that, she will be back in the city, bringing me another big check. The next trip is going to be important; we have got interest and assurance from two other cities of the region and their merchants will be going to Navr. Ina had yed a big part in it. Time passed as I looked through the things and soon, the inte had lit up. ¡®Master Silver. Mage Aldridge and had arrived,¡¯ Jill informed through the inte. ¡°Send him inside,¡± I said. Click! A secondter, the door clicked opened and an old man came inside. ¡°Mage Aldridge,¡± I greeted and offered him the seat. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Silver,¡± he said and sat down. ¡°You have got theplete details of the job, right?¡± I asked him. I sent him theplete details of the job yesterday, including the contract for him to go over. It was a standard service contract, and he only asked for minor modifications. Most of which I had agreed to. Now, the only thing that has remained. ¡°Yes, and I won''t have a problem in aplishing the task, but let me tell you, it will not be quick and not all of them will cast the spells.¡± ¡°It might be a year or more before the first person could even cast the spells,¡± ¡°The resources it will require also going to be very expensive,¡± ¡°I am aware of the facts, Mage Aldridge,¡± I replied. It will be a very expensive and long process, but if I had seeded. The rewarding from it will be just as good. ¡°Let¡¯s get to the main point. How much sry do you want?¡± I asked directly, and his expression turned serious. ¡°Forty-thousand imperials per month,¡± he stated, and there is no change in my pace, but I had activated Price Is Right. ¡°It is more than double your previous sry. The number of people you will be teaching is also much less,¡± I said. Of course, with the money I paid to the grey guild, I have even got to know the sries, he was being paid at his previous jobs. ¡°That might be true, but I will be responsible for teaching them everything. From spell theory to cast actual spells,¡± he countered. He will not be teaching alone. He will bring three of his students, as he did in two academies, where he had been employed in the past few months. ¡°How about twenty-thousand imperials? It is 20% more than your previous sry,¡± I said, increasing the power of my skill to its fullest. ¡°No, it will not do,¡± he said, shaking his head. ¡°Thirty-five thousand imperials?¡± he asked. ¡°Twenty-five thousand,¡± I offered, but once again, he shook his head. ¡°I will go as low as thirty thousand. I will not ept a single imperial below it,¡± He said and I know looking at his eyes, that he will not be below it. ¡°Thirty-thousand imperial, it is,¡± I agreed. I had asked Z, Valentina, and even Mage York. All of them had said I would need to pay for the twenty-five thousand imperials to forty thousand imperials for the teacher mage I want. Thirty-thousand imperials, which are three million crowns. I will be paying for the teaching alone. I am already spending two-hundred million to create special infrastructure, and I would need to spend more on the resources such as books, tools, and other things. It will be a huge expense. ¡°This is the contract,¡± I said and forwarded the copy to him after adding the sry amount to it. He took it in his hands and begin to read it. It took him nearly half an hour to read through the thick contract. After doing that, he did something surprising. He took the pen and began signing it. Though I have agreed with the changes, he asked for the contract yesterday. I still thought he would have some condition, but apparently, he didn¡¯t. He signed on thest page, and I felt the contract clicking. ¡°Wee aboard, Mage Aldridge,¡± I said and shook his hand. ¡°Thank you. Mr. Silver,¡± he said. For the next hour, we discussed things he will need for teaching. He gave me a big list of things, which are going to need a lot of money to buy. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 162: Confidence Chapter 162: Confidence Margaux ¡°Slowly. It should be like a gentle river passing through the ins, rather than a raging river in the mountains,¡± said Leopold. The young man is training me in the cirction of mana, which is part of mana control, and it is hard. It had been five days since I had started, and I didn¡¯t feel I had made any progress. Now I could understand why my daughter had sounded so frustrated with her letters. I am frustrated, but I am also ten times more excited. I am learning the magic finally; a thing I have not dreamed of. I have been practicing every day, and I am not the only one doing that. Nearly everyone is trying their hardest. Practicing at every chance, studying at every moment. It had only been a week since they had started learning and everybody understood the reality. It won¡¯t be easy casting a spell, but not a single one is willing to give up. Even under Professor Aldridge, who is an extremely demanding teacher. He didn¡¯t use bad words or shout, but speak in such a way that makes you want to achieve what he said and if you didn¡¯t, then you would want to give up. He speaks in such a way that you want to achieve what he said, not for himself, but for yourself. The price of not doing that is too big when the dream is on the line. No wonder so many people leave his ss, and academies have terminated his contract. The girls, on the other hand, are enjoying this pressure. Beforeing here, their self-worth was nothing. Now they are learning to love themselves by learning the things they love. They love magic a lot; some seemed to have be obsessed with it. ¡°Take slower, even slower,¡± advised Leopold gently. I am circting the mana slowly as I could. The pace is slower than that of the snail, but it is not enough. He needs me to go even slower than it. It is hard, so much so that my whole body had be sweaty, from brow to back, but I am not giving up, especially when I am enjoying this privileged of personal teacher. Being a madam gives me a certain privileged, one of which is one-on-one guidance whenever I wish. I feel bad about it, but it is necessary, seeing I have more responsibilities, which gives me much less time than the other girls. The only one who is enjoying the same privilege is Andrea; she is the assistant madam and the only one of the three with mage talent. The young woman also seemed to be naturally talented. In less than a week, she had done what I am trying to do. If anyonees close to her, then it would be a second assistant of Ca. That teen elf-blood girl h had also aplished it yesterday. Half an hour passed, and I am feeling so tired that I wanted to give up. The practice is extremely tiring; it hadn¡¯t been an hour and I feel like I would copse on the floor if someone had so much tapped me. Minutes passed, and I pushed all my will into slowing the mana down, even further. ¡°Good Madam Ca, you have reached it! Now maintain this flow,¡± said Leopold excitedly. I finally slowed the flow of mana. It was so slow that it didn¡¯t feel like it was moving at all. Now, I have to maintain this slow speed, which is a great challenge in itself, but I have no choice. Every second is a challenge, but I maintained it while taking even breaths, as I have been taught. This is the easiest of the mana control exercises. If I couldn¡¯t even achieve it, then I could forget about the others. ¡°Good, you can let go now, Madam Ca,¡± said Leopold, and I immediately let go. Letting the mana disperse into my body. ¡°You have done great, Madam Ca. If you continue with this, you will master the first mana control exercise and we will move it to the second.¡± All I could do was nod at his encouraging words. I am so tired that I couldn¡¯t even speak; he understands it as he got up and cast a Clean on me, before walking out. I am grateful for the spell, even when my cheeks reddened, seeing the grime that fell around me. If it was not for the spell, I would have needed to shower, and I already showered. I stayed in my ce for a second before walking out of the room. The whole left wing of the underground first floor had been converted into a learning space for the girls. As Mage Aldridge refused to teach in rooms above. He said the girls shouldn¡¯t learn in the same space they work in; it will be distracting. They needed a clean nk space that didn¡¯t arise any memories. We needed to shift the girls to the lower floors; some of them were quite angry at this change. They followed the orders with grumblings, and now we have enough space. Though Master Silver is building more rooms underground. We only have five spare rooms now. They will be soon upied by the girls, leveling up to Lv. 20. Not to mention, Master Silver had been nning to bring more girls. Now that the establishment has achieved full capacity; it is time to work on our next target. Turning the establishment into a day/night brothel. Most brothels are day/night. Like our directpetitor is on the other side of the road. These underground rooms are temporary as in a few months, we will move into our permanent amodation. This huge underground space will be used for a different purpose. I looked at the surrounding rooms; each one is for a different purpose. From teaching, meditation, practice, and other things. This had be a restricted space, only the girls with mage talent and teachers could enter inside. Master Silver, Ca, and Assistant Madams are the exceptions to that. I nodded at Stana, who was standing guard with four guards at the entrance before walking toward the right wing, where my office and suite were. ¡°Madam Margaux, Madam Ca is waiting inside your office,¡± informed my assistant, Laura. The teen is sitting in front of my office with a small table. ¡°When did shee?¡± I asked, ¡°Four minutes ago,¡± she said, looking at the small clock in front of her. I nodded and opened my door and entered the door of my office and walked inside. As Laura had said, Ca was waiting. ¡°How was the practice?¡± she asked as I entered my office. A smile appeared on my face at her question, but also guilt. Though not as much as the first day. Ca doesn¡¯t need my pity. While she was disappointed, the first say seeing she doesn¡¯t have a mage talent. She had gotten over it; mage talent is not everything, Master Silver doesn¡¯t have it, but that doesn¡¯t stop him from aplishing great things. ¡°It was good. I had finally been able to practice the first mana control method, but it would take a few more days to get proficient in it,¡± I replied as I sat down. ¡°You have been working hard, you will be able to do it,¡± she said, and I smiled. This time, genuinely. I have confidence that I would be able to do it, with some practice. I n to snag an hour of practice before we open and will do some reading at night. With three assistant madams helping me, I could get a few hours off during the night. ¡°So, what do you need?¡± I asked. Usually, we finish most of the business in her¡¯s or Master Silver¡¯s offices. She only came to the office when it was important and needed to be done quickly. ¡°Nothing, I was hoping you coulde with me to Elese?¡± she said. ¡°Sure, but we need to return soon; I need to practice for an hour before we open,¡± I replied. ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem,¡± she said and got up. Soon, we got out of my office and a minuteter, out of the establishment. Without us saying anything, the driver brought the carriage. We stepped into it, and soon we were out of the establishment. ¡°All five floors are nearly done,¡± said Ca, looking out of the window. I looked at the construction. The big round building had taken shape, and it was nearly done. In the next week, they will be done with it, and only delicate work will remain. ¡°They did it quite fast,¡± I replied. They are doing it very fast. Two and half months already passed and only two and a half months have remained. Mage Valentina had said it might take more, due to the increasing demands of Master Silver. Little over ten minutester, the carriage stopped in front of the warehouse, and we stepped out of it. We walked through the gate of the warehouse and saw over seventy men and women working. Elese had gottenrge orders from Namdar. From a friend of Master Silver, which made her hire more people. We are not here for them. We walked and soon appeared in front of the wall. The warehouse is divided into two parts. What is behind us is the first part. It is the bigger one. The one in front is small but more important. The guards standing opened the door for us and we entered inside. The second section of the warehouse is much small. There are only eleven people working in it, including Elese, who is standing by the middle-aged woman, who is working on arge cloth on a big table. All the people here are working on the orders from the establishment, making the dresses with magical threads. Master Silver had ordered magical threat dresses for a lot of them. It is costing a lot, and both of us suggested we dy it, but he didn¡¯t listen and ordered them; he wants the dresses ready in the next three months. Three monthster, all the girls will wear dresses of magical threads; not just madams. ¡°Ca, Margaux. You havee at on right time,¡± said Elese as she noticed us. We moved closer, and she pulled out the dress from the table, and seeing it, our eyes couldn¡¯t widen. It is a purple dress, with wavy red ribbons designs. These ribbons shine as the light fell on them. ¡°It is amazing.¡± I praised and the smile on her face brightened up. ¡°Good, because it is for you,¡± she said, surprising me also Ca. ¡°It is a not type of dress I wear,¡± I said. It is a skintight dress, it will show every part of the body and, most importantly, the cloth it is made of looks quite thin. It will keep nothing to the imagination. This is the kind of dress that L or Mena would prefer. They loved all the eyes on them. ¡°I have made this with you in mind. You will love it,¡± she said and looked at me. It is clear. She wants to wear it and she is not the only one, Ca is also giving me the same look. ¡°I don¡¯t think. It will suit me,¡± I said. ¡°Wear it once. If don¡¯t like it, I will not make you wear it again,¡± said Elese, and I hesitated. I am sure it will not suit me, but seeing their eyes, I couldn¡¯t say no. Especially to Elese, who had made this for me. ¡°Fine, I will wear it,¡± I said and took the dress from her, and walked to the changing room. It is not the first time I had tried the dresses here. I closed the door of the changing room and removed my dress before wearing the purple dress, which is tighter than I had expected, but not in a constricting way. I finished the dress and looked in the mirror and what I saw couldn¡¯t help but shock me. I saw my face, but nothing else seemed familiar. I stared at a familiar person wearing the dress which I had not thought I would ever wear or even look good on me. The Opposite is happening. The dress is looking good on me, more than I like to ept. It is scandalous, but not obscene. It is not making me feel naked as I thought it would. This dress had a grace that one wouldn¡¯t expect from it. Wearing it, I feel confident when I should be feeling self-conscious. I looked in the mirror for more than a minute before walking out of the changing room. ¡°Wow,¡± said Ca as I came out; she looked shocked as I had been when I looked in the mirror. ¡°It is looking better on you than I had imagined,¡± said Elese with a clear surprise in her eyes and attraction. It is not just them, but the people working also looked up, and they were just staring. Their eyes gave me confidence and I be morefortable in the dress and thought of something, which would have shocked me a few minutes ago. ¡°I like the dress. I am going to keep it,¡± I said, bringing a big smile to Elese and Ca¡¯s face. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 163: Purification Chapter 163: Purification Click! The door opened, and Caena walked inside. We are having our regr meeting, which happens every three days, and today is a little special. It had been one and a half months since she had been creating ritual enchantments for me. I am now confident they are real and trust her enough that I could ask her to do that thing. ¡°Master Silver,¡± she greeted. ¡°Caena, take a seat,¡± I offered a seat. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she said as she sat down in front of me. ¡°How are the ritual enchantments?¡± I asked. ¡°I had finished about 50% of them and imprinted 40%,¡± she informed me, and I couldn¡¯t help but get surprised. Three days ago, she said, she finished 20% of ritual enchantment from thetest list, of which 80% of them imprinted into the establishment. ¡°It is quite fast,¡± I said, to which she smiled. ¡°I have leveled up,¡± she replied. It is quite hard to believe she had gained a skill and level that will help her make ritual enchantments faster and charge them quickly. She is hiding something, and she is telling me she is hiding things. Of course, I had guessed it from the first day. Nobody tells no one''s their whole secretes. Now, she is openly telling me, and I wanted to sigh. It is hard and exciting to work with smart people and Caena is one of the smartest I had ever with. ¡°Good. Finish them quickly, but don¡¯t force yourself too much,¡± I said. I need ritual enchantment, but I don¡¯t want to work her to death. It will be counterproductive in the long run. ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± she said. ¡°This is the new ritual enchantment I want. Give me your opinion and the list of materials you want,¡± I added, forwarding the file. I didn¡¯t make the specific list of ritual enchantments I want like before. It is not efficient, despite seeming like it. So, instead, I have given her a list of effects, I want the establishment to have, and she will create a list of enchantments from them. Once approved by me, she will then turn them into real ritual enchantments. ¡°I will give you the list of enchantments and materials by the evening,¡± she said, and I smiled. ¡°There is one more thing I want you to do,¡± I said and slid a small box toward her. Click! She looked at me in question, but I didn¡¯t reply. Seeing that, she took the box in her hand and opened it. The moment she did, a great change appeared on her face. She kept staring at two cores inside the box for a couple of seconds before touching them gently. It took more than a minute for her to open her eyes and she looked at them for a few more seconds before finally closing the box. There were deep,plicated emotions in her eyes before she hid him. ¡°These gems, which have an element of life and death, are very valuable. Especially in the form of core,¡± she said before turning to me. ¡°It is also corrupted with the foreign power,¡± she added, looking directly into my eyes. I am not surprised. She is a magic practitioner of the magic, which is older than mages and also said to be older than the system itself. ¡°If I am not wrong, this should be from the dungeon. Incursion-type dungeon, of undead element to be exact,¡± she said, and this time, I am quite surprised. She was able to find it out, with just a few minutes of examination. ¡°How do you figure that out?¡± I asked, to which she smiled. It is quite frustrating, as people employ tactics; I could now see why Ca gets so frustrated when I answer her with a smile. ¡°I want you to purify them, can you, do it?¡± I asked her. ¡°With the right resources, it won¡¯t be a problem,¡± she answered, and a smile couldn¡¯t help but light up on my face. Those things are quite expensive. Ethan is still asking about them, in his letters, and willing to pay a high price for them. ¡°What are you nning on doing with them?¡± she asked after a few seconds of silence. ¡°I was wondering if you would tell me about their uses,¡± I said, and she smiled. ¡°These are the cores, with the life and death element. Which makes them very powerful, especially to my ss,¡± ¡°You could use them for forging weapons or enhancing them. They could even be used in alchemy. Any alchemist will pay a high price for them.¡± She said, and I smiled but didn¡¯t move my eyes away from her. I could feel there was ¡®but¡¯ in her words. ¡°But I think the best use of them would be using on the establishment. The way your connection formed with the establishment makes these cores perfect things for it,¡¯ ¡°It will strengthen your connection with it and will also increase the power of the ritual enchantments,¡± she said with eyes shining and this time, I am shocked. I could already feel the changes in the establishment appearing every week. They are tiny, but together, they are a force. They have been ying a huge part in the establishment''s business. If I could increase their power further, with it, I will not hesitate. Especially now when I want to turn the establishment into a day/night brothel. I am already nning a trip to a merchant state next week and will be taking permission from the Count for it. ¡°It will be great if you could do it,¡± I said happily, before calming my emotions down. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem,¡± she replied. ¡°These are not only things; there are a few more things I have, which I hope you will purify,¡± I said and got up before cing three boxes by my chair on the table. She looked at them in surprise before opening one after another. The more she looked, the more surprised, she would be. ¡°It seemed like your trip to the Navr wasn¡¯t as simple as I thought,¡± she said. ¡°Yes, there were some incidents,¡± I replied, and she smiled. I didn¡¯t even tell Ca about them. Though I am thinking of talking about it with her. That thing giving me nightmares, letting all out of the heart, might help. A few minutester, Caena left, and I kept working. It had been eight months since the establishment opened and more than a month since it had reached its full capacity. Now, I am going to bring more girls. The girls I have are not enough to make the establishment a day/night brothel. I have even asked Valentina to open more underground rooms. With it, nearly all the space below the establishment had been hallowed for the rooms and also some space from the new plot. A little over an hour passed, and I walked out of my office. I have to go to the Count''s mansion, but before that, I will visit a few ces in the establishment. Soon, I walked out of the establishment through the back and felt the cold wind. It is a good thing; I had worn the jacket beforeing out. On my left is a spa, which had be slightly bigger. I added four more rooms to meet the increased demand. On the right, near the corner, is a much smaller building. It is in the kitchen. Two weeks have passed since it has beenpleted and Drev started practicing and teaching in it. Till now, no major incidents had urred, though there were some small ones. It didn¡¯t happen with Drev, but with the other chefs, he is teaching. I walked toward the kitchen and with Rapid Legs; I was at its doors. The two guards nodded and opened the gates for me. I entered the small empty room, which leads to the kitchen. Like every part of the kitchen, it is reinforced. It would be hard to burn it down. With the level of magical material, we have here. ¡°Adviser,¡± greeted the old man with a magic staff. ¡°Lysander, you are looking good,¡± I said to the old mage, who is standing at the kitchen entrance. Since I only have two mages, they couldn¡¯t be in the kitchen always. So, I hired this old mage from the mercenary guild. He had retired but agreed to work when read the description of the job. His job is to guard the kitchen and save mages from damage. He is a generalist, but has good protection spells; he had already proved his worth by saving the chefs from injuries many times. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Silver,¡± he said with a toothy smile. As always, he cast a protection spell on me, covering me with a thin brownyer of energy as I entered through the door. The kitchen is medium size, with everything instrument here made of powerful alloys and crafted by craftsman over Lv 25. There is also protection enchantment all over the kitchen. The kitchen wasn¡¯t cheap, but seeing how happy it had made Drev, it was worth it. As in this kitchen, he is training the people, who will make the fusion food. There are five people here. Drev and four chefs learning under him. Technically, there are three chefs seeing Wanda hasn¡¯t officially be a chef. She had gained enough skill to work in the kitchen, months earlier than I had expected and would have been working in the kitchen at the start of this month, but I shifted her here. Of the four people learning, two are from Drev¡¯s old restaurants. One is from our kitchen; he had been working establishment since the first day. Thest one is Wanda. It is dangerous for her to work here, seeing all people learning has at least a decade of experience, but she has talent and expressed the desire to learn. I gave her the chance. I value her more than the other three; she is the one I trust the most and is loyal. Which is the most important thing to me. I looked at them and saw Drev teaching them. He is working on a red lotus, like an artist, describing the whole process to them and answering their questions. ¡°Now it¡¯s your turn,¡± he said and gave them each the lotus flower. ¡°Mister Silver,¡± he greeted as he looked up, finally noticing me. Culinary is his passion, and he gets lost in it quite quickly. Even if he had noticed me, he wouldn¡¯t have greeted me, before finished doing what he was doing. ¡°How are things, Drev?¡± I asked. ¡°Good. we haven¡¯t damaged anything today,¡± he said, looking around. ¡°The day isn¡¯t over yet, Drev,¡± I said, bringing a smile to his face. I talked to him; he brought me up to date with his progress. A few minutester, I walked out of the kitchen and walked to the spa, where there were always people. The spa had not only be bigger but also has more people. There are now thirty-two people working in it and many girls. Thirty-two are enough to handle the girls I currently have, but I might need to hire more when the new girls came. Hun! I reached the spa and entered inside and saw Maeve in the lobby. ¡°Mr. Silver,¡± she greeted. ¡°How are things, Maeve?¡± I asked. ¡°Very good,¡± she replied. Things are good. I get daily reports of the spa from Margaux, and it is good. The nature of the staff had to be even better since I had fired two people around a week ago. They were behaving condescendingly with girls. I had warned them and when they didn¡¯t change their behavior; I fired them directly. It kind of surprised the staff here and they begin to work more professionally. I am paying them well, better than any spa in the city, and I expect them to behave professionally. They didn¡¯t have to like the girls or what they do; they only need to do their job. It is what I am paying them for. I talked to Maeve and looked at the rooms and staff working beforeing out with Rena. She is going to the plot next; they have started working on the spa and Maeve likes to be there when they add every new thing. ¡°You are noting?¡± she asked. ¡°No, I have some things to do,¡± I replied and walked toward the carriage while she went toward the construction. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 164: News Chapter 164: News Amberhold City An old man wrapped in bandages was sitting in a huge dark stone hall when a red-haired man holding a green borate short bow strode into the hall. ¡°Did you catch them?¡± asked the old man as he turned to the younger man. ¡°Yes, two of them, but those bastards killed themselves before I could even ask a single question,¡± replied the younger man. ¡°It is the fourth time in half a year, we have been targeted by the assassins,¡± said the old man, before signing and, within a second, begin to look a lot older than he is. ¡°We have chosen the wrong candidate and now paying the price for it,¡± added the old man, full of regret. ¡°It is not your fault, Father. At that time, supporting the orc, felt a wise choice,¡± said the younger man, but even he is also feeling regret over their choice. They have paid a great price for that. ¡°Send the message to the orc and tell him what happened. Warn him that if we suffered even one more of such assassination, we would take our vote back.¡± ¡°Damn, the consequences,¡± said the old man, with a look in his eyes, which clearly states he was ready to sacrifice it all. ¡­. I sat in the carriage, and it moved out of the establishment. I looked through my carriage and looked at the changes in surprise. Every day, I feel this emotion as I looked at the city, which is growing very fast. There are building everywhere; many growing bigger and taller. The city is expanding and with new peopleing every day. Most of them are from the empire, with some of the merchant cities. A tiny fraction of them are from Mayhurst Ind, where the undead are rampaging. Every month, they are conquering more and more of the ind and getting stronger with the bodies they harvest. It ismon knowledge that you shouldn¡¯t give war to the undead. If you fight them, then finish them quickly. The longer you fight, the stronger they will be. The war makes one level up quickly, and the undead get ess to these bodies and thus be stronger. It is what is happening on Mayhurst Ind. It is due to that arge number of people are running from the ind. Half of them never seed because of the undead blockade. Those who cross it sessfullye to Zenid as it is closest. Harsoth Empire has restricted their entry. Only epting those with higher levels and those with required sses. Merchant cities are more lenient. I had suggested Count Darrow let more people of Mayhurst in as we need people, and the flow of people from the empire is quite slow, but he isn¡¯t willing. If he had listened, the city would have grown even faster. Well, at least Nakar baronies are epting them. They had run away from the undead, but were still willing to live near them. They don¡¯t have much of a choice, either that or starving to death. Still, the Count had ordered that 75% of people should be from the empire, which restricted their flow to baronies as well. As people from the empire are not fans of living so close to the undead kingdom. It could change. If my n worked, there will be a lot more people in baronies and these fiefs will be rich. Though, the city will be the biggest beneficiary of all. ¡°Mister Silver. Miss Ina had messaged that she reached the Brimbale,¡± said Z suddenly. She had returned from her fifth trip to Navr yesterday. Instead ofing to the city with the goods yesterday, she had gone to the Brimbale. It is a southeastern city of Greltheaven between Mirador Hold and Dustorn Fortress. Brimbale is one of three cities on the eastern side of the Renwell Region. Most cities are on the western side, on the other side of the river. The river act as a blockade, when undead of Navr pour into the region. It is a small city, but old. Like Deerpond, it had been destroyed and built back many times. Ina had gone there to convince the merchants. There is a big chance they will join us in trading with Navr. It has no other option. Like Norke, it is not situated on the river. It is in a worse ce than Norke since it is so far from the merchant states. Though, unlike Norke, it had been surrounded by three big green patches and situated on one. With this, it can grow the food it needs, but food alone is enough, people need other things too. Navr offers that all to them. The two cities, Norke and Riverbell, already started joining us in trading and I want Navr to be the third. ¡°Tell her, good luck,¡± I said. There is no need to say anything else, I have briefed her on what she has to do. She will meet the party from Greltheaven and have a meeting with the high-ranking people of Brimbale¡¯s merchant guild. She will spend tomorrow there and return to Greltheaven, a day after that. Soon, the carriage passed through the gates of the mansion, before stopping at the registered spot. I got out and walked toward the mansion with Rapid Legs. The meeting will be about the trade with Navr, which is what half of our meetings are about. The Count was happy with my progress and had given me free rein over it; the only thing he is doing is signing on the orders. I am happy with the progress I am making, but unhappy with the level-up. With the things I have achieved, I should have gotten quite a few levels already, but I only leveled up twice in my Adviser ss in the past month. The same thing is happening to my main ss. It seemed like the effect of crowded sses had finally caught up to me. I have five sses, more than what most people keep. One is my main ss and four are secondary sses. I was fine till four sses, but with the five have be too much. Now, no matter what happens, I won¡¯t take another ss, no matter how powerful is or vital or my leveling up will slow down even further. I reached Count Darrow¡¯s office and pushed the door before entering inside. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted and bowed. ¡°How are the things, Remus?¡± he asked. ¡°Very good, my lord. The goods havee yesterday, and have been on the way to their cities, while our merchants also emptied the warehouse,¡± ¡°Twelve of them had already sent the goods to the maind and three of them to the Meldhorn,¡± I replied. Of course, we are sending goods to Meldhorn; they are merchants. If they get things cheaply from us, they will buy them without hesitation. ¡°What about Brimbale?¡± he asked. ¡°Our representatives will have a meeting with the merchant guilds tonight,¡± I replied. Ina is not alone, a team from Greltheaven had reached the Brimbale in the afternoon. They will coordinate with Ina when they meet the merchants. ¡°I have sent my message to the governor of Brimbale; we will receive his answer before the next merchant group leaves for Navr,¡± he informed. ¡°It will happen, my lord. The Governor couldn¡¯t resist for long,¡± I replied, and he nodded with a smile. He is happy, and why wouldn¡¯t he be? The trade with Navr is increasing every week. Which means the taxes he is earning are also increasing. If the trade continued to rise, it won¡¯t take long before he started to get enough taxes through trade to pay for the expense of the mirador hold. ¡°I have the news too, Remus,¡± said Count Darrow, with his expression bing serious. ¡°Council member Azog Grimgore of Oksall Council agreed to the meeting,¡± he informed, shocking me. For the past two weeks, there were barely any words from Count Darrow about it and now he is telling me he had fixed the meeting with the council member. ¡°When is the meeting?¡± I asked, and his expression changed a little. ¡°It is in five days,¡± he replied, and I sucked in a deep breath. ¡°We only have four days before we leave,¡± I said. ¡°Unfortunately, yes, and I want all the preparations done by then,¡± he ordered. ¡°It will be done,¡± I said. What else could I say? Thankfully, I have done nearly everything I needed to. The one thing that had remained, is the old man making good progress on it, but it won¡¯t be enough. If I had more time, we would have gone there with theplete preparations. ¡°Contact Baron Harrods and your sister. They will also being with us,¡± he said, and I nodded. Baron Harrods has been making contacts with the tribe of orcs, and my sister had joined him. She was always good at finding opportunities in dangerous ces. Even though I don¡¯t like it, Baron Harrods has made enormous progress with her help. She is a merchant, with experience in making connections, even when the other party is hostile. ¡°As youmand,¡± I said. For a few seconds, there was silence before Count Darrow looked at me, with more weight in his eyes than before. ¡°It is very important for this deal to sess, Remus; I hope you will give your everything to it,¡± he said. ¡°I will not disappoint you, my lord,¡± I said. The time is short, but I will make do with it, ¡°Though, I hope, I will have all the secret information I need for better preparation,¡± I added and looked at him. This is a big ask, but I need to know about every little detail for better preparation. ¡°You will have it,¡± he said after a second of silence. A few minutester, I walked out of the Count''s office into mine. As I sat down, I begin to write and finished in a few minutes. I looked at it, before pushing it toward Z, sitting in front of me. ¡°Send this message to Baron Harrods and My sister,¡± I said to her. She looked at it and closed her eyes. ¡°Done,¡± she replied as she opened her eyes, but a few secondster, her staff lit up, as my sister replied. It turns out she is with Baron Harrods, and they are in a meeting with one of the orc tribes. We exchange messages for half an hour. They updated me on their progress, while I updated on things here. The next three days, going to be very busy for them. They will need to meet as many orc tribes as they can and it is not a simple thing, with more than half of them being hostile and bandit attacks. We have reduced the number of bandits a lot, but there are more bandit groups. Especially on Oksall¡¯s side. It will be another problem if we seed, but then we will have Oksall with us to help. ¡®Master Silver. Mr. Merrick hade,¡¯ said Jill through the magical inte. ¡®Send him in,¡¯ I said. Click! A secondter, Merrick came holding the box. ¡°Adviser, Lord Count had sent this for you,¡± he said and ced the box on the table and turn to Z. ¡°He said it should be read in privacy,¡± he added. ¡°I will wait outside,¡± said Z, while Merrick walked to the corner. It is clear he will be here till I finished reading the information in the box and would leave with it, once I am done. He is one of the guards that the Count had brought with him. There are several like him, and all of them give me dangerous feelings. They are at least strong as Mark or even stronger than him. I didn¡¯t waste any time and opened the box and took out the first stack with Azog Grimgore written on it. I took the first file and begin to read it. The information in it seemed nothing shocking. The secret information is rarely shocking. Not everybody is hiding shocking secrets, but they are hiding tiny little ones, which are most important. I wish I could note it down, but there is already a note about the information being eyes only. So, I read it and made mental notes, and the more I read, the more confident I would be. It seemed like what I had deducted from the information got from the grey guild is true, and that makes our chance of sess higher. It also tells me; that things might turn dangerous. Though Oksall keeps such things contained. They did not, let such things spill on the business and I really hope it is true. ¡®Why can¡¯t things be simple?¡¯ I asked myself, but soonughed at the silly question. As things are never simple. Soon, I finished with the first stack and started with the second. One by one, I read through the stacks before finishing it all. ¡°Please thank the Lord Count for the information, Merrick,¡± I said to him, as he picked up the box from the table. ¡°Will do, adviser,¡± he said and left, while I called Z to send more messages. I don¡¯t think I will be able to leave my office, before midnight today. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 165: Yacht Chapter 165: Yacht Le ¡°Snowing is getting intense; I hope there is not a storm,¡± said Baron Harrods, looking at heavy snow in carriages widow. ¡°It won¡¯t be,¡± I said. Snow is strong, but not all the elements are aligning. Which is good. I didn¡¯t want anything to dy this trip; it is too important for me and also for the old man in front of me. It is an enormous opportunity. This deal has the potential to change the fortune of my territory and me. The turbulent times areing, and strong territory will help a lot in that time, especially if the bets go wrong. The house is being careful, but anything could happen. ¡°Do you think the deal could seed, Lady Le?¡± the old man asked, with a hint of nervousness, which he was trying to hide. It is the first time he had asked me this question. The deal is very important for the old man more than me. Unlike me and many others in the baronies, he didn¡¯t have the support of a powerful family. That could pour arge amount of money into his territory. If the whispers I heard are right. Then this old man is at hisst financially and agriculture is not enough to support him. It will take him a few years to open enough farnd to support his territory financially, but he didn¡¯t have a few years. He didn¡¯t even have a few months. ¡°Remus is feeling it could seed. I am also feeling there is a high chance of sess,¡± ¡°If what I have heard is right, then the party on the other side is also desperate and needs the trade as much as we do,¡± I said after a few seconds of silence. ¡°I really hope so,¡± he said with a small hopeful smile on his face. A few minutes passed, and the carriage stopped. Immediately, I adjusted my clothing and stepped out of the carriage, and felt an intense cold. That couldn¡¯t bring a smile to my face. Ice is my element, and it felt like hope. Though, even I won¡¯t be able to stayfortable in such for a long time. My magic hasn¡¯t be powerful enough for such a temperature to be harmless to me. A few secondster, an old man came out, wearing a thick winter jacket. ¡°I don¡¯t like snow. I would rather spend days in a desert than this damn snow,¡± cursed the old man as he appeared by me. I smiled, and we walked toward the river. A minuteter, we stopped at its bank, where there are already people waiting for us. ¡°Baron Harrods, Lady Silver. I am administrator Jost; I will take you two to the other side,¡± said the middle-aged man with a faint bow. I nodded, and he took us to the boat, and a few secondster; it moved toward the other side. ¡°Even in such snow, the ships are stilling and going,¡± said Baron Harrods, looking atrge ships on the river. ¡°Trade never stops for anything. Be it snow, famine, or war,¡± I said. It is the supreme motto of the merchant. Most powerful merchant houses had been found in the dangerous times. Some people in the House of Silver are looking forward to a session war and started making moves to reap the rewards thate with risks. Grandfather is cautious, which I think is a wise choice. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the wonderful snow. I always liked snow. In Redfawn, we didn¡¯t have it, but Father would always take me to Rohn every winter, where there is snow. It was the happiest time of my life. I raised my hand and snow begin to gather over it and when enough gathered. They begin to move, and soon formed a face; seeing it, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but tear up. I dispersed the snow a secondter and wipe away my tears. People have noticed but politely looked away. Soon, the boat reached the other shore and found a familiar person waiting on the other. Seeing him, my expression couldn¡¯t help but turnplicated and regrets appeared in front of my eyes. ¡­ ¡°Baron Harrods, Lady L, wee to the Greltheaven,¡± I said, as they appeared in front of me. I am a little surprised to see my sister not wearing even a single piece of winter clothing. ¡°Adviser, you didn¡¯t have toe personally,¡± said Baron Harrods. ¡°I wanted to,¡± I replied, and we walked toward the carriage. It is snowing quite hard today. It will slow down our journey to the merchant state, but it wouldn¡¯t affect the overall journey. Soon we are the carriage, and the old seemed quite relieved from the cold. ¡°How was the journey?¡± I asked them as the carriage begin to move toward the city. ¡°Good, there wasn¡¯t any problem other than the snow,¡± he replied. I could only smile in response and look at my sister, who is looking at me. Le is a cryromancer. She had a high affinity with the ice element. It is the main reason she was epted into one most of the premier magic academies in the world. ¡°How are the preparations?¡± asked Le. ¡°Everything is great. Though, it would have been even better if you both had more time to finish the task,¡± I replied, and the three of us sighed together. Twenty minutes passed, and the carriage stopped in front of therge mansion, where I had dropped them to rest. They are tired. For the past three days, they have been meeting with orc tribes, not returning to their fiefs tillst night. Even there, they didn¡¯t stay for more than a few hours, before taking the journey to the Greltheaven. It is not just them who were busy. I have been busy making the preparation. This trip is important, and it is going to be quick. If everything goes well, we will return to the city the day after tomorrow. I nned to make another trip to the merchant cities with Ca for the girls at the end of the week. It had already been nearly one and a half months since the new girls debuted and got used to the business. The space has been built for the new girls, and now we only need to bring them. I really hope nothing happens on this trip, that could make me change my ns and it wouldn¡¯t. We will directly go to Oksall and return through the same route. With Count present with hidden and unhidden guards; there won¡¯t be any problem. Oksall wouldn¡¯t let anything happen to the Count. He is a powerful noble from the most powerful houses of the empire. It would create a huge diplomatic incident if something were to happen to him. Soon, the carriage stopped in front of my office, and I walked out and enter my office, while nodding at city employees, shoveling the snow. As I entered my office, I saw the girls working there. Not only Jill and ir but also L and Andrea. I only had three days, and there was a lot of work that needed to be done. ¡°Have you finished them?¡± I asked Andre and L. ¡°Yes, it is finished,¡± said L and handed me the file. I took it and began to read it. As I finished, a smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. ¡°Good job, job both of you,¡± I said and took another file and made a change in it. A few minutester, I am finished and so is the work. I looked at the clock, and it was nine. Three hourster, we will leave for the Oksall; I will have to be at the mansion two hours before that. Click! I was thinking about what should I do, when the door of my office opened, and Ca walked in wearing a ck dress and had her hair up with only a single pin keeping them in ce. The ck dress she is wearing a simple, but the way she is walking and the expression, she had made her look like the greatest seductress in the world. ¡°You look beautiful,¡± I said as she appeared in front of me. ¡°I know,¡± she said with her voice turning husky. I opened my mouth for another praise, but before I could even utter a single word, I found her lips on me, and a momentter; we were kissing passionately with stuff on the table flying everywhere. For an hour, only loud cries and moans rang out of the room, with the sex of the smell filling its every corner. We had done it in the night, but it was not enough. ¡°I have to leave,¡± I said. We are on the floor on top of each other, with sweat sliding down from our bodies. I was great, full of passion, and I want more, but I didn¡¯t have the time. ¡°Go, get ready,¡± she said and kissed me. The kisssted for more than a minute and my hands roamed around her enchanting body before I stopped and forcefully pulled away from the kiss. It took quite the willpower to do that. She smiled as got off me, while I get up and walked into the small room behind my office and stepped into the shower. I can¡¯t go and meet with Count and others with the smell of sex on me. I showered within ten minutes and changed into the new suit before walking into the office, where everything had been fixed. Even the smell of sex had disappeared. Now, even I can¡¯t tell, it is a ce where we had fucked like bunnies a few minutes ago. ¡°Take care and came back safe,¡± said Ca. ¡°I will,¡± I said and kissed her. The kiss was gentle andsted a while before I pulled back and walked out of the office with a stack of files in my hand. When I got out, the intensity of the snow had increased even further. Shaun had cast a barrier around me as I entered the carriage. A few minutester, the carriage entered the mansion, and I walked out. I had a barrier around me until I entered the mansion. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted father and son as I entered the office. Which is filled with people, including one unfamiliar woman with a mage staff. ¡°You arete Remus,¡± said Lancel sharply. ¡°My apologies, my lord. Thest bit of work, too more time, than I had thought,¡± I replied and ced a stack of files on Count Darrow¡¯s table. ¡°Is everything done, Remus?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I said. ¡°Good, then let''s leave. The snow is going to get worse. It is better, we leave early to reach Oksall on time,¡± he said and got up. I am surprised as I thought we would have onest meeting before leaving, but he is right, too. The storm is going to make uste if we follow our old schedule. Soon, we were out of the office with me following behind the Count, alongside Robin, who was alsoing with us. ¡°Who is the mage?¡± I asked him. The woman looked to be in her early forties. She is tall, with sharp blue eyes, which people would first notice about her than her beautiful face. She is talking to my sister about privacy skills. ¡°High Mage Amara Beaumont. She is a retainer of Count Darrow,¡± he replied. We reached the door of the mansion and immediately, the purple gem on Mage Beaumont¡¯s staff lit up. Lancel and Count immediately got covered in a whiteyer of protection while we walked into the wild snow without it. Shaun and Z are present, but they didn¡¯t cast a spell on me, which is a wise thing. It might seem like disrespect. Soon, we were in the carriages, aside from Count Darrow and Lancel. There is also my sister, Baron Harrods, Commander Atticus, Robin, Mage Beaumont, Mage York, and me. Everybody ising, except for Lancel and Mage York. Lancel is scared shitless after experiencing bandit attacks. He didn¡¯t leave the city even once, since he returned from the baronies. That was nearly two months ago. Twenty minutester, we got out of the carriage and saw a beautiful yacht in front of us. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 166: Journey Chapter 166: Journey ¡°The harsothians presented a great n, and I have got the assurance from the head of the council. That as long as you make the road, he will use his influence to stop the attempts,¡± ¡°If we do it, the assassinations will stop?¡± asked the man with the red hair, looking at a file in his hand. The middle-aged orc in front of him nodded. ¡°But it won''t be easy?¡± he asked and once again, the orc nodded. ¡°He will make every effort to kill you. It is the only chance he will have; once you did it, you are safe,¡± said the Orc. ¡°It will be more dangerous than surviving the assassins,¡± said the man with red hair. The orc smiled. ¡°The council had amended the contract with Navr. It is a done deal. If you didn¡¯t seed, someone else will take your ce and do it,¡± said the Orc. There is not much of a choice. Either he agrees and achieves what the council had asked him. If he did it, he and his family would be safe. If he failed, the assassins kepting till they seed. Most importantly. If he seeds, he will fulfill the wish of his ancestors. They were the ones who devised this n. The harsothian Count had just copied it. ¡°I will do it,¡± I said finally, betting on the survival of my family and on it. ¡­. ¡°This is pearl,¡± Count dered, looking at a beautiful white yacht bathing in snow. It is a work of art. It ispletely white aside from the emblem of the House of Ravenheart, which is in blue. It is a graceful thing with long masts and, I am sure; it is not only beautiful but will have the power to back it up. I may not know much about yachts, but I could tell a powerful thing when I see one. It is a surprise; the Count had informed me about his personal shiping, but he didn¡¯t say it was a yacht. ¡°This was made by myte grandfather. He gave it to Father when he inherited the County,¡± informed Lancel. I looked at the Count and saw the adoration he was looking at it. It is clear he loves this thing and if I am at his ce, I would love it too. This thing is too beautiful. Everybody wants to possess it the moment they see it. ¡°Let''s board it,¡± said the Count and walked toward it and his steps faster than usual. We followed him, while the snow intensified around us. Soon, we reached the ramp, where two people were guarding the entrance. They bowed to the Count and Lancel and opened the ramp gate. ¡°Wee my lord. The pearl is d to be in your service again,¡± said the middle-aged man with a goatee as he bowed deeply to the Count. ¡°I missed her,¡± he said as he patted the captain''s shoulder and walked to the deck. We followed after him, admiring every aspect of this beauty, also noticing nearly all freezing temperatures disappear. ¡°It is a fine yacht, my lord. I have never seen, a yacht, so beautiful,¡± I praised and even got an eye roll from Robin. I could also faint regret for him for not praising me. I am sucking up to him and, like his son; he is quite susceptible to them, but unlike his son, he didn¡¯t let them get over his head. ¡°Thank you, Remus. This beauty is one of my most prized collections,¡± he said, looking at the yacht with love and pride. A few secondster, his expression turned serious, and he turned to a middle-aged man with a goatee. ¡°Sterling, if all the preparations are made. Then start her up. I nned to reach Oksall on time,¡± he ordered. ¡°As youmand, my lord,¡± he said and bowed, before started ordering staff around him. ¡°Best of luck, Father. I will pray for your sess,¡± said Lancel. ¡°Thank you, my son,¡± he said and hugged his son and said something in his ear, with privacy skill. A minuteter, Lancel walked out of the yacht under the protection of Mage York and guards. As he stepped off the yacht, it hummed in power. The hum was gentle, but I could feel the contained in it. Its enchantments started lit up, and they were everywhere; not one part on which I didn¡¯t see them. The sheer scale of enchantment shocked me, and I know I had underestimated its value. I had foolishlypared it to the ones owned by some people in my family, but it is a grade above them. If any yacht in my family couldpare to it; then it would be one grandfather had. It is an expensive thing. So much that even if I sell everything I have, it wouldn¡¯t be enough for a deposit, much less buy it. As the enchantment activated, all the cold disappeared andfortable warmness appeared. The snow is still falling, but it is not staying. We all removed our jackets and watched the yacht move. It took barely a minute to get out of the pier before turning north, toward merchant cities. It is picking up speed. It couldn¡¯t make me wonder how fast it could go, in weather like this. I turned to the city covered in snow, and it looked beautiful. I wish I had a camera; I would have captured it. In a few minutes, the yacht had picked up speed. It is faster than any ship, I had traveled on this river and its speed is still increasing. Though, at a much slower rate than before. ¡°We will have a meeting at two, till then rest,¡± said the Count and walked into the yacht. After he disappeared, the staff also took us to our cabins. Click! ¡°Wow,¡± I said as the door clicked close behind me. The cabin is beautiful; there is an elvish queen size bed. A table and a cupboard of the same design and a private bathroom. Which is bigger than I thought. Though the best thing about the cabin is the window. Which is around a hundred inches long, and the ss is so clear that it felt like it isn¡¯t there at all. I looked at the passing scenery of snow falling in the wastnd. It looked beautiful in a bleak way. I looked at it for a few minutes before Iy on the bed and simply closed my eyes. Not to sleep, but to think. Think about this trip, my business, and the future. Things are calm right now. The skirmishes along the empire''s border had nearly stopped in the past few months. Even Tabes had withdrawn most of its forces from the border of the Renwell region. They all are preparing for chaos toe, which will begin with the death of the emperor. Nobody could guess what would happen, but everybody is preparing to defend or conquer. The empire is juicy meat, of which everyone wants a piece. It is why the emperor is trying so hard to consolidate the crown prince¡¯s power. So much so that he made a deal with the pope. It would have been great. If he had started doing that a decade ago; the crown prince would have a secure throne, but now, the chances seemed slim, despite all the efforts that the emperor was making. I am worried about these things immensely. As they will affect my future directly. It is why I will soon start working on things to secure myself; at least financially. I want to be secure enough that I could run at a moment¡¯s notice, taking all my employees and staff. Signing the deal is very important; it had a chance to empower the whole region, especially the Nakar baronies. Currently, they are weak as chickens with people like Baron Harrods, barely able to pay the running expense. If the deal happens and they make use of it, they will be rich and also powerful. As they will need to deal with pests that disturb the trade. This region has be my home, and I want it strong enough to defend against every foe. Be it disturbance from the Empire, attacks from Tabes, or a horde of Navr. It is hard to imagine the wastnd could do something, but it had happened a couple of times in history. A few minutester, I opened the book. I didn¡¯t prepare for the meeting; I didn¡¯t need to. I know everything by heart; I have done research and made a n. As long as the Count asked anything rted to that, I could answer. Time passed, and soon it was time for a meeting. It is still heavily snowing, but despite that, the yacht is moving fast. In an hour, we would reach the Owlspring, which normally takes six to seven hours to reach, but with this yacht, we will be making the journey in four to four and a half hours. We are traveling through the heavy snow. If there wasn¡¯t snow, it would have needed even less time to reach it. I got out of the cabin, and a minuteter; I am in a conference room. The yacht had a dedicated conference room, and it was not small. ¡°We have touched our bases, and everything is ready. All we have to do is meet with the councilman tomorrow,¡± said the Count as the meeting ended. Itsted less than an hour. It would havested longer, but everyone ispetent and prepared for their end. Count Darrow is the only one who needed to refer to the file. A minuteter, I walked out of the conference room but didn¡¯t return to my cabin and instead went to the deck. The snow is falling on it before disappearing, and it is slightly chilly, but not enough that I would need to wear the winter coat. I appeared at the right time, as the yacht had just entered the confluence of Northare and Vale Rivers. I could see the huge Owlspring City in front of me, covered beautifully in snow. The heavy snow didn¡¯t don¡¯t seem to affect the trade at all. I felt like there were more ships now than it had been when I came herest time. ¡°Merchant states, view trade more differently than the empire,¡± said Le, as she appeared beside me. ¡°It is why they are merchant states, and we are an empire,¡± I replied, to which she nodded, but didn¡¯t say anything. In the empire, there are many restrictions on the merchants. In merchant cities, not so much. ¡°I felt like the Count is hiding things from us,¡± she said, and I got rmed, before seeing the privacy ring on her finger active. I heaved a sigh of relief before activating my own skill. ¡°Of course, he is hiding things. We are mere subjects. He won¡¯t tell us things. He doesn¡¯t want to,¡± I said cautiously, but she just gave me a look. ¡°You know what I mean,¡± she said, and after a moment of silence, I nodded. ¡°I also have a feeling Count had done some things and even feel prince¡¯s hand in the shadows,¡± I said after nearly a minute. I am not an idiot. In the past few days, I sensed things. The biggest hints were to be given to me by that bastard Lancel. In his mocking and teasing, he had revealed quite a lot of things. ¡°We have to be careful. Things might even get dangerous,¡± she cautioned, and I nodded gently. We didn¡¯t talk further; even this was dangerous. There are skills and tools that could breach privacy. The Count will not be pleased if he heard what we had talked about. Though, her confirmation made my mood somber, and I begin to pray that everything goes smoothly on this trip. I remained on the deck till the yacht turned to vale river and Owlspring disappeared from the view before going back to my cabin. Those words of Le had given me a lot to think about. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 167: Oksall Chapter 167: Oksall The yacht stopped at the pier, and I looked at the grand site of Oksall. I have been looking at it for minutes and still staring at it in wonder. The vale river flows through the center of the city; the city had been built around it and it is huge. Bigger than even Namdar and bright like a starry sky. There are huge walls and even taller mage towers that seemed to be touching the skies. One could feel the wealth and might of the city in the air itself. It is the capital of the powerful city-state, its economic and political center. It is where the ruling council resides. Oksall was so powerful that if it wished, it could capture the whole Renwell region rather easily. The thing is it is not even the most powerful of merchant city-states. There are some very powerful and one so much that even the emperor had not said a single bad word about it. It is said to be a real master of Merchant Cities of Western Zenid. ¡°The merchants may be detestable, but they know how to build,¡± said Count Darrow from behind. Le and I shared the look but didn¡¯t say anything. A minuteter, the ramp was in ce, and we walked out of the yacht with the lead of Count Darrow. I could see an entourage of a hundred men and women waiting below. There are people of multiple races there, orcs, humans, and elves with a half-elf man as the lead. I instantly recognized the green-haired half-elf and a couple of people around him. All of them are pretty important. ¡°Wee to the great city of Oksall, Count Darrow Wilstein of House Ravenheart,¡± said the green hair half-elf who looked to be in histe thirties. ¡°Thank you, Deputy Governor Caryn,¡± the Count replied with a smile. The half-elf is a Deputy Governor of the Oksall. There are only three of them. So, by sending him, it could be said, they are showing sufficient respect. If Count Darrow¡¯s brother hade, it would have the Governor weing him and the Prince would have warranted a ruling council member to wee him. They made small talk before going to the carriage. With them, only their guards with them. We sat in different carriages, with me sitting with Robin, Baron Harrods, and my sister. ¡°This is one nice carriage,¡± said Baron Harrods, as the carriage begin to move. ¡°It is. It feels as good as my father''s favorite carriage,¡± she said, and I nodded, but my focus is on the city. The port is huge and well organized. Everything seemed to be running like a well-oiled machine. ¡°The city is grand. No wonder Navr¡¯s horde failed to breach it,¡± said Baron Harrods, looking around in wonder. Oksall region shares a boundary with Navr. So, when Navr, sent its horde, it is Oksall responsibility to defend against them. ¡°The city is extremely defensive, most importantly. It had multiple S-ss powerhouses, including a Grand Mage, and a well-equipped army, along with arge mercenary force.¡± ¡°With all those things, even hordes of Navr get stopped in their tracks,¡± said Le. Navr is powerful without a doubt, but the merchant cities are not weakling. They have been fighting Navr since its inception and know how to deal with it when it releases its horde. Though, in their battles, Navr also gets what it wants. The powerful bodies, it is for what they release their hordes. Ten minutester, we reached the third wall and our carriage passed through it. Oksall is a huge city, which is separated into five walls. Each one of these walls is thicker and bigger than the city walls and offers far greater defense. The port is on the fourth wall, and we are going to the first wall. It is a political center and the smallest of all the walls, but still bigger than our city. Over a million people live on the first wall alone, and the whole city had a poption of over twenty million. The whole Renwell Region didn¡¯t have a poption, even a quarter of that. This poption will immediately make it one of the most crowded cities in the world. If it were Earth. Despite that, the city is not crowded. It is huge enough to amodate the poption easily. It is past ten, but the city is still active, with people everywhere in the bright lights. People of every race could be seen on the streets, of orcs, elves, even dwarves and half-giants. The diversity of races here is even greater than of the Owlspring. Though, around 75% are orcs and humans in about the same numbers. Which is why eight of twelve council seats are controlled by them. Thest four were controlled by a dwarf, an elf, a half-orc, and a half-giant. Soon, our carriage took the enchanted road, or lightway, as they call it. There is a direct route to travel between the walls, and it is magical. I am staring at it, with my eyes wide in wonder. We are moving fast, not only because of the great skill of our driver and this carriage but also because of enchantments cast on the road itself, which makes travel faster. ¡°The merchant cities are really rich to make the enchanted road. Spending such money is simply wasteful,¡± said Robin, and Baron Harrods nodded. ¡°It is not wasteful, but time-saving, which in turn saves money,¡± I replied. ¡°How can one save the money by burning it?¡± asked Baron Harrods. ¡°Efficiency Baron Harrods. The faster people reach their destination, the more trade they will do. Most important, it eased the movement, and people like it, and they wille here again, increasing the business of the city,¡± ¡°The adage of saying ¡®you need to be spent money to earn money'' is very true in this case,¡± I said. He seemed to understand some meaning of my words as he nodded while I turn to the road of shing runes. The lightway is an insanely expensive thing, with the number of carriages moved on it. It needed to be serviced regrly. Every week, the road was closed for six hours for the servicing. Arge group of enchanters serviced the runes, and it is expensive. I am sure it is in millions and that is the imperials I am talking about, not the crowns. Soon, we reached the first wall. The political center of the whole Oksall city stage. It is magnificent. It had immediately attracted the eyes of everyone off of us, and why wouldn¡¯t it? Every building here was grand and majestic and will pull our eyes toward it. I read about it and even saw the paintings, but they didn¡¯t do justice to what I am seeing. Everything here was so great; they could easily match Jalrux. ¡°These merchants really have too much money,¡± said Baron Harrods and signed. Ten minutester, we entered the residential area, filled with huge mansions. Every one of them looked like a work of making and made in all styles of the world. I was staring at them when our carriages suddenly stopped before turning to the mansion. It is as big as Count Darrow¡¯s, with an enchanted fountain that forms and a beautiful mermaid of water in the air. It looked amazing, but quite an expensive thing. I wanted to have such a fountain in my establishment, but I can¡¯t afford it. The carriages stopped, and we got out; Count had already done and talked with Deputy Governor Caryn. He talked for a minute before leaving with his men. ¡°We will have a short meeting in half an hour,¡± he dered and walked inside with the human butler. We followed inside, with the staff taking us to our suits. While we walked inside, I looked at the mansion. It is beautiful, but I don¡¯t think the Count would like it very much. It has a minimalistic interior, which the Count didn¡¯t like it. He liked his ce, filled with things. Especially the art pieces, mostly paintings, and statues. ¡°This will be your suite, adviser,¡± said the blue-haired elvish woman as we entered inside, and two behind her took my bags to the bedroom and came out a minuteter. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to the three of them. Which had surprised them a little. ¡°It is our pleasure, adviser,¡± said the elvish woman and left with two. The suit is great, with cream-colored walls and yellow lights. There is a painting of orc riding a lion-like monster and it looked quite good. When I focused on it, I felt like I was watching the orc ride the lion-like monster. I went bedroom and saw having the same design as the living. I only looked for a few seconds before walking to the bathroom and taking a shower. I took out a new suit from the closet, wore it, and checked myself in a mirror before walking out of the room. ¡°Adviser, let me lead you to the office,¡± said Kilmer, one of the trusted guards of Count Darrow, who was waiting outside my room. ¡°Lead the way,¡± I said and walked with him, while my guards followed behind me. I was wondering where the meeting would be held. If it had been home, then it would have been Count Darrow¡¯s office, but it couldn¡¯t be said, since it is the first time I have to foreign trips with Count. He had said there will be a meeting before even stepping into the mansion. Click! Kilmer opened the door, and I walked into the office. Robin was already there. ¡°Do you know what this meeting is about?¡± I asked him. ¡°Unfortunately, no. Lord Count didn¡¯t say anything about it,¡± he said, shaking his head. I sighed and took my ce. Everybody should arrive soon. I had just thought that when the door clicked open, Baron Harrods walked in, and the minute after that, my sister. A few minutes passed and there was no sign of the Count; it took another ten minutes before the door opened again and Count walked inside with Commander Atticus and Mage at his sides. ¡°My Lord,¡± we greeted. He nodded and sat down in his seat. ¡°There has been a little change of ns,¡± he announced, and we waited. ¡°I am going to meet with the Oksall Council tomorrow and the afternoon meeting, that we were supposed to have Councilman Grimgore had been shifted to evening,¡± he informed, sounding almost giddy. The meeting with the council hadn¡¯t been our itinerary. The Count had tried to arrange that. The whole council was much better than a single council member, but he had not happened. Now, it seemed like something had changed and they were willing to meet with him. ¡°Will you be going alone for a council meeting, my lord?¡± I asked him. ¡°Yes, but you all will join me in the meeting with councilman Grimgore,¡± he replied. ¡°Is there anything we will need to prepare?¡± asked Robin. ¡°No, not at this moment, but I will tell you, if something changes, after my meeting with the council,¡± he replied. A few minutester, I walked out of the meeting room with my sister and Baron Harrods. ¡°It seemed like something has changed,¡± shemented. I couldn¡¯t help but nod at that. A council wouldn¡¯t have met the Count, if it hadn¡¯t. ¡°I am sensing an opportunity,¡± I said after a few seconds of silence. ¡°Me too,¡± Le replied, while Baron Harrods just looked at us. Call it an intuition of a merchant, but I think, tomorrow, I am going to receive big news. I just hope it is not big enough to be the death of me. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 168: Witch’s Diary Chapter 168: Witch¡¯s Diary When I woke up, I saw the rays of sunlighting out of the night. The sun had just started toe out. I looked at it for a few seconds before walking out of bed and going to the bathroom. Twenty minutester, I came out and saw the sun had fullye out. I changed into practice clothes and walked out of my room with Jon and Shaun. A few minutester, I walked into the training ground, where some of Count Darrow¡¯s guards were practicing. I nodded at them and walked toward the empty circle. It is a fully equipped training ground, with every kind of tool that would need to practice. I went to the circle made with special soil with stic properties and begin to stretch. ¡°I am ready,¡± I said to Jon as I finished. He had been ready with practice daggers in his hands and the moment I said, I was ready. He came at me like a phantom. I reacted quickly with Rapid Legs and dodged his attacks, before moving my sword to defend with Quick de. I defended, feeling the heavy shock, but quickly distributed it before moving to dodge the attack. I dodged and defended seven of his attacks before one was able to scratch me. I didn¡¯t stop with the scratch and instead used the chance and attacked, but he defended rather easily, before attacking me again. Since I returned from Navr, have been practicing every day. I had only taken a break for five days, and yesterday was one of them. Even when there was a load of work for thest four days, I practiced. I didn¡¯t always practice for three hours, sometimes I couldn¡¯t and only practice for one. Though, I would always try to practice for three hours and sometimes, even do four hours and train in the evening. This training had been tremendously helpful. I have been able to put what I learned in my battles in the Navr and barony into mybat style. Even Jon had praised me for improving fast. Most of the time, I would train with the instructor David and Jon, but sometimes, I would ask Z and Shaun, too. I need to get used to the mages as well. They are hard, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel genuine fear for them. The mages are the bane of warriors; they could dispose a group of warriors rather easily from a safe distance. The Mages like Z and Shaun are even more dangerous. They have a huge battle experience that in our training sessions, not once I had been able to reach them, even when they only used safe Grade 0 or Grade 01 spells. Thud! Twenty minutes into fighting, I fell hard on the ground, as Jon kicked on my leg. I bore the pain and stood up, before attacking again. The pain is sharp, but it didn¡¯t mess up my gait as it was used to, and I was able to defend against his consecutive attacks before he again hit me hard, this time on my back. He imbnced me enough to put his dagger on my neck before I could do anything. The Gymnast¡¯s Grace is an amazing skill, but it had limitations and Jon knows how to exploit them. In doing that, I know how I can stop others from doing the same thing he is doing. He is powerful and experienced; I have no chance against him, but if I fight the people of lesser levels. I could survive, and that is the purpose of the training. Time passed, and we continued to fight; some guards watched, and some even cheered, but I didn¡¯t focus on them. All my focus is on Jon, who is like a storm. He barely used any skills and controlled his strength, but despite that, I need to use everything I have to defend against his every move. Even then, his attacks would hit me, and they were painful. Thud! Once again, I fell, but this time, I didn¡¯t get up. Instead, just stayed there and took deep breaths; we have been sparring for two hours and it had been tiring. A few minutester, I got up and walked out of the training grounds with my guards. It felt a little chilly, but nothing like what we had experienced whening here. There is barely any snow in Oksall, while the streets have filled with it in the Greltheaven. Soon I reached my suit and went to shower. Usually, I apply the numbing cream, but today, I mixed a few drops of healing potion into the water and applied it to my body. Within a few seconds, the pain was gone, and the warm water begin to cascade down my body. Fifteen minutester, I walked out of the shower, changed into the new suit, and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Normally, I take it to my room, but today, I decided to eat in the kitchen. I had just reached there when I saw Robin, Baron Harrods, and my sister were already having breakfast. ¡°Adviser Silver, join us?¡± said the old man. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said, and a sat beside my lords. ¡°Were you practicing beforeing here?¡± he asked, and it surprised me a little. ¡°Yes, but how do you know that?¡± I asked, to which the old man smile. ¡°The faint smell of healing potion. It didn¡¯t easily go away,¡± he replied, and Robin tried to smell it but didn¡¯t seem to get anything, nor did I. He may have a skill rted to that or it could have a heightened sense of smell. Some people have that. ¡°It is such a regret that we won¡¯t be able to sightsee,¡± said Robin with a regretful sigh, and all of us nodded. We have a whole day since our meeting is in the evening, but we are here for official business, and Count Darrow may need us at any moment. Sightseeing is not allowed when in official business unless the business has concluded. ¡°We would get more chances to visit the city in the future Adviser Robin, especially if this deal seeded,¡± said Le, to which he smiled. ¡°You have been to Oksall before, right?¡± I asked her. To which she nodded, ¡°Yes when I was at the academy. I hade here for thepetition,¡± ¡°It is a beautiful city.¡± We all ate and made small talk before leaving the kitchen together. There is one small meeting before Count Darrow leaves for his meeting with the Oksall Council. Click! Soon, we reach his office, which is empty, except for the guards. We sat there until Count Darrow arrived a few minutester. ¡°My Lord,¡± We greeted. He nodded and sat down. ¡°We will go over our n one more time. If possible, I want to get an assurance from the council before we negotiate with Councilman Grimgore in the evening,¡± he said. We begin going over the points. It is mostly us asking and the Count answering the question. Unlike his son, the man is quite dedicated. It seemed like he took yesterday¡¯s falling and studied the n more carefully. He was able to answer all the questions inplete detail. ¡°I am leaving now. Hope I will seed,¡± he said as we finished. ¡°You will seed my lord,¡± We all replied. He nodded and walked out of the office with his guards. We followed behind him and watched till his carriages went out of the gates before turning back to the mansion. ¡°Remus, can I have a word with you?¡± asks Le as we returned to the mansion. ¡°Sure,¡± I said, feeling curious as we walked to the parlor. We sat down and I turned to her, but for a couple of seconds, she didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Have you heard anything about progress on my title?¡± she asked finally, looking faintly nervous. Her question didn¡¯t surprise me. I had kind of expected it would be in this line. ¡°Yes. The Prince had signed off on your title three days ago and it wille to the Greltheaven within a week,¡± I replied and could see her taking a sigh of relief. I don¡¯t know why she is worried. Since the family had chosen her. It is a done deal. Count had mentioned it a few days ago. Her title is not the only one being signed, there is also one for the Lockridge family. Baron Lockridge had died, and now his brother was taking his ce, and that man was a proper warrior. ¡°How are the things in the territory?¡± I asked. ¡°Good now. To be honest, Edwin had made a mess of a barony, including that horrendous paint job. It took me weeks to fix all that.¡± she replied with a mirthless smile. Edwin was an idiot. Le, on the other hand, is capable. She should have epted it the first time; Edwin would have been alive for me to take revenge on him. The atmosphere turned awkward around us, and I was about to excuse myself when she took out a diary of sorts from her iles bag and pushed it toward me. I looked at her with a question. ¡°I had contacted the witch, who did the ritual, and this is her notes. Everything she did for ritual, from materials she used and feelings she felt, everything is noted down in the diary,¡± she said, and it couldn¡¯t help but surprised me. ¡°Thank you, I suppose,¡± I said and hesitantly picked up the diary and ced it into my iles. ¡°I have said to you before, Remus, but I will say it again. If I knew, the real purpose Edwin is taking a ritual or knew what he was doing to you, I would have stopped him,¡± ¡°We may have been distant, but I would never do, what they did to you,¡± she said, looking directly into my eyes. I smiled before getting up and walking out of the parlor. What happened to me isn¡¯t going to get fixed with a simple apology or exnation. Even now, I don¡¯t know whether she is telling the truth about not having a hand in the ritual, aside from providing a ritual. The things that made me doubtful are that we never had much of a rtionship. Over the years, we only spoke a few times. That is only when we are in thepany of others. Most of the time, she wouldn¡¯t talk to me, even when we passed by each other. Well, at least she didn¡¯t bully me. I didn¡¯t recall a single incident when she had done that. Our rtionship is too weak and broken to be fixed by apologies and exnations. Though, I am willing to give it a chance, with careful note. I have been burned by the family once and I sure as hell don¡¯t want to get burned again. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on what¡¯s important. Earlier, I wanted to look around the mansion, but with a diary, my ns had changed. I stepped into my suit and sat on the couchfortably before taking out the diary and opening it. The first thing I noticed about it is bad handwriting, so bad. If I didn¡¯t have Reading Skill, I would have needed a lot more time to finish it. Reading Skill not only makes reading faster but also helps in an understanding of the text and processing it. I begin to read it and, as I had expected, most of it had gone over my head, but not everything is hard, I did understand a few things. It took me about an hour to finish the diary, and I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them. From what I understood, the witch knew the ritual seeded, and it worked 100%. She even hinted at getting a reward from it, and I don¡¯t think she is talking wholly about the money my brothers have paid her. She is also talking about the levels. To understand fully, I will need to take Caena¡¯s help, and I n to do that after she finished cleansing the dungeon''s loot. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 169: Negotiations Chapter 169: Negotiations The Orc watched the harsothian Count leave through the window and turned to associate. ¡°How is the progress?¡± he asked, a middle-aged human man. ¡°Our person has called the meeting,¡± he replied. ¡°Will they attend?¡± asked the Orc. ¡°He has a good reputation among them. He promised a sufficient number of them would turn up,¡± the human man replied with a smile. Orc¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°Some in the council already got the inkling what I am doing. So, this is myst chance and also yours. If we didn¡¯t seed this time, then we will not get any further chances,¡± said the Orc, and the middle-aged man nodded. ¡°I understand. We will not fail this time.¡± ¡°We better not. I want Amberhold in my control,¡± said the Orc, and the middle-aged man nodded before walking out of the room. ¡­ ¡°Mr. Silver, Count Darrow is returning,¡± informed Z, as she put her book down. I nodded, closed the thing I was working on, and walked out of the suit. Soon, I am in the office, where everyone is already present and waiting for the Count. They also seemed to have got the message from the Mage Beaumont as Z did. Click! It was a little over ten minutes before the door of the office opened and Count Darrow walked inside, wearing his emotions in his face, which he rarely does. Though his mind is guarded. It is more because of the ck ring he is wearing, which he didn¡¯t like wearing when he was in his office, but the moment he stepped out; he wore it. It is a mind-protecting weapon. It might be an enchanted tool or an artifact. I heard the House of Ravenheart has a couple of them. While it is Duke Benedict who controls most artifacts. There are some in Count Darrow¡¯s hand, Riverheim Saber, which he used to have, but handed to his elder son a few years back. ¡°The council has given their approval to the deal,¡± he said finally as he sat down and a smile on his face widened. An even bigger smile appeared on the face of Le and Boron Harrods. As Nakar Baronies will be the biggest beneficiaries, after him and especially of these two whose territories are closest to the Oksall. ¡°Congrattions, Lord Count,¡± I congratted. ¡°You all yed a part. Especially you, Remus. You have crafted a magnificent proposal,¡± praised Count Darrow. ¡°Thank you for your praise, my lord,¡± I said and bowed. ¡°We have got the approval from the council, but negotiations had remained. I am confident that a single meeting would be enough to finish it,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. This will be a big stepping stone for normalizing the rtionship, which will start the river trade. Not that this deal didn¡¯t have an enormous potential. It has, and might even surpass, the river trade, but it is the river trade that will win in the long term. ¡°We should prepare then, my lord,¡± said Robin. Count nodded, and we all took out copies of the contract. This one, too, had been crafted by me. Though, I did take help from some people. A legal contract is apletely different thing, a small mistake like ama, has the potential to upend the whole thing. We prepared until it was time to leave, going over every point. The points on which we couldpromise and on which I couldn¡¯t. We got barely fifteen minutes to freshen up and change. If I didn¡¯t have the skills like Rapid Legs, I wouldn¡¯t have managed it. Nobody would have managed that. I had seen my sister casting haste on herself and Baron Harrods, using his speed skill, which turned him into a blur in my eyes. Still, the one that impressed me the most is Robin¡¯s skill. One moment, he was looking haggard and tired, with his clothes creased up, and the next moment, he was all presentable, with a bright glowing face. Robin is a high-level adviser and a true Lv. 30. He is so good, that sometimes, I forget that fact. ¡°Everyone ready?¡± asked the Count as we returned. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± we replied. ¡°Let¡¯s leave,¡± he said, and a minuteter, we walked out of the gates of the mansion and sat in the carriage. I and Robin sat with the Count in his carriage, while Le and Baron Harrods sat in the separate carriage. A few carriages more filled in, but they were with the guards. There are also guards riding on the beasts around us. Seeing it, I smiled in my heart. Appearances are necessary. If we went there by a single carriage, it would put a different effectpared to the five we are going now, with arge entourage of guards around us. A little over ten minutester, we stopped in front of the huge city hall. It is as big as one in the Navr, and just as good in design. The only thing it didn¡¯t have are precious gems embedded in it. The merchants have money, but they are not wasteful. At least not wasteful enough to put precious gems openly on the city hall, only to be stolen by the thieves. Some had tried to copy Navr but soon found out that while they may have the money to do it, their forces are not capable enough to protect them from the thieves. Forget the precious stones; they have even stolen the precious metallic paint and one time did that on a clear day. As we got out of the carriage; there is a group of people already waiting for us. ¡°Lord Count, please,¡± said the Orc, waiting for us and led us into the city hall. Which is beautiful, but most importantly, well-designed in an efficient way. This efficiency didn¡¯t feel cold at all. Instead, it makes one feel energized and motivated. ¡°These merchants have so much money, but couldn¡¯t put a decent piece of art in their properties,¡± grumbled the Count. Yes, there are pieces of art here; it is a style of this world, and these pieces are much better than what Count Darrow has, but nobody is going to say that to him directly. Soon, we reached the elevator, which took us to the ninth floor. ¡°Councilman Grimgore will be with you, shortly,¡± Orc informed us as he took us to the luxurious conference room, which provided a beautiful view of the city. He left the room while we put the files in front of us and waited. We didn¡¯t have to wait for long, a minute and a halfter. An orc who looked to be in his fifties walked inside with three people behind him. Robin and I stood up while Barron Harrods and my sister only nodded. The leading man is a grey orc in his early fifties. He is thinpared to a normal orc, but not too thin. He is fit, which is likely making him seem that way. His eyes are sharp, and they seem to notice everything, which is not surprising. All twelve of the council members are elected. Unlike hereditary seats, where even an idiot could take a powerful position. Here these people have to use their wit, money, and sometimes, the des in the dark to get it. There are three other peopleing with him. One human, one half-elf, and a dwarf. My eyes immediately turned to the red-haired human who looked to be in histe twenties. He is an integral part of my n. Ignatius ckwell, son and heir of Ss ckwell, Lord of Amberhold City. Ignatius ckwell is a handsome man, with ssy blue eyes and fiery red hair, which looked like they were made of fine strands of crystals. There is one rumor about his family. They never confirmed it publicly, but after seeing his features, I could guess why they say that. His city is closest to the Nakar Baronies. Most importantly, the old trading fort is his territory. It had been built by his ancestors and, ording to the reports, it was still in good condition. ¡°Count Wilstein, I hope you haven¡¯t been waiting for long,¡± said Councilman Grimgore as he sat down. ¡°Not at all, Councilman,¡± he replied. ¡°This is Lord Ignatius ckwell, heir of the Amberhold City,¡± Councilman Grimgore introduced. ¡°Lord ckwell, thank you for your presence,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°It is my honor, My Lord,¡± he replied, Count nodded and turned to his left. ¡°This is Baron Harrods and Lady Silver; their territories share the boundaries with Oksall,¡± the Count introduced them. He didn¡¯t say anything about us, which is normal. We are advisers. Our job is to stay invisible and provide help to our lord when he needs it. ¡°Now that the introduction is over, let¡¯s move to the negotiations,¡± said Councilman Grimgore. ¡°Our n is to reestablish thend trade route from Oksall to Renwell,¡± said the Count, looking at Lord ckwell. For a couple of seconds, there was a silence, before a half-elf woman who looked to be in her early forties leaned forward. ¡°The area is undeveloped and is full of pests and fractious orc tribes. It will be costly to redevelop the route.¡± ¡°We want the city of Greltheaven to share half of the cost of development,¡± she said, hitting us, with the power of her skills. It was so much that I had nearly nodded in affirmation. Which surprised me. I had invested quite a lot of points into my mental skills, but still nearly fell under skills powers. She is definitely a level 30+ negotiator and will eat me alive if I gave her the slightest chance. ¡°That is preposterous. Why should we pay for the roads of the Oksall? It is your responsibility, you will pay for it,¡± I said back using my own skills, and she smiled, and I felt the power of her skills increasing further. ¡°It is not preposterous. The trade will benefit immensely to the Greltheaven city and it is only fair that they would share half of the cost,¡± she countered, and I wanted to agree to it so much. ¡°That is absolutely wrong; the biggest beneficiaries are Oksall, we are giving ess to the Navr. ¡°We will only act as a bridge and earn a fractionpared to Oksall,¡± I said, using Persuasion, Lawful Suggestion, and Honeyed Words at full power. Yes, the goal of my trade is not to trade with Oksall, but to act as a bridge between four trades between Oksall and Navr; it had a thousand times more benefits than trading with us. My n was never to make them trade with us, with their attitude, they would never agree. The new n is about providing us Oksall ess to Navr, the biggest trading partner of merchant cities of western Zenid. While Oksall has ess to Navr, but to not all regions. Oksall shares boundaries with three regions of Navr, but trades directly two. The third entry to the third one of blocked by the Extreme Magic Region, which both of them share. Renwell, on the other hand, shares territory with the two regions directly and we will give them ess to them. ¡°Not to mention, it will not be free for us. We would also spend a lot of money on the infrastructure, from roads to warehouses to extra men; it will cost us a lot,¡± ¡°When wepare our economies, it is an enormous expense for us,¡± I said, not giving her a chance to press further. ¡°The expense we incurred will be massivepared to what your city will spend,¡± she said, not backing down, forcing the power of her skill further on me. So much so that my back had been drenched and sweat appeared on my temple. ¡°But we will spend a much greater amount whenpared with our economies,¡± I countered, using every bit of power three of my skills give me. For a couple of seconds, she just looked at me, before she sighed, a small stack of papers appeared beneath her hand, which she slid toward. ¡°Fine, we are willing to make a concession on it, but we want this infrastructure from your side,¡± she said. I didn¡¯t say anything and begin reading. Each page I read, I would pass it to Robin. ¡°This is excessive, especially the time limit,¡± I said after I finish reading, to which she looked at me levelly. ¡°We already made the concession. We will not make them on this,¡± she said, and I looked at Count Darrow, who had finished reading the proposal on infrastructure. Who looked at it for a couple of seconds, before nodding. ¡°We agree with it,¡± I replied, and a smile appeared on the half-elf woman¡¯s face. It was nned from the beginning. They never wanted us to fund the trade route. They wanted a quality infrastructure on our side for their need. Which they know Count Darrow wouldn¡¯t have provided, if they had asked nicely, given his miserly nature. ¡°Good, now let''s move on to the security,¡± she said and thus begin another round of intense negotiations. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 170: Negotiations II Chapter 170: Negotiations II ¡°We cannot agree with increasing the trade limit every month with the baronies. At most, we can agree to increase it by quarterly by 10%; it is our final offer,¡± said half-elf with the power of her skills pressing down on me. This is thest point of negotiations. We have finished the route, infrastructure, taxes, men, and other things, only this remained. These bastards had been adamant about it. As they know, we need trade. Far more than them they and they are taking full advantage of that. First, they have even refused to discuss trade with the Empire. Forget Empire and the region of Renwell; they have refused to discuss trading with the city itself. The only exception they are willing to make is a Nakar Baronies and even there, they have ced the limitations on it. They are freaking merchant states; they shouldn¡¯t be creating trade barriers, but they are doing it. Though I can¡¯t really me them. The emperor¡¯s words and actions were such that even merchants would hold a grudge. The monthly limit they have ced is big, and it will make baronies rich if they use it well, but it won¡¯t be enough. People like my sister will gobble the limit and their appetite will only increase every month. I looked at the Count, and clearly; he was not happy about it either. It is not just him, but also Baron Harrods and my sister, whom it will affect the most. They are worried and looking at me to do something. The half-elf is also staring at me with a smile on her face. It is a pretty smile, but currently, I am not liking it very much. Seconds passed, and I know I need to decide soon or ept their offer. We cannot simply walk away from it; they know it, which is why they are putting such undesirable conditions in front of us. I was about to open my mouth to agree and end these negotiations when an ideae to my mind. ¡°There is another way we could sort this out,¡± I said, putting my best smile on my face, but there is not a single bit of interest in half-elf or Councilman Grimgore¡¯s face. They n to reject whatever I say. ¡°We propose tying the trade limit to your trade with Navr.¡± ¡°If your trade with Navr increase, you will increase the trade amount on baronies and if the trade with Navr decreases, you will decrease the amount,¡± I prosed and could see the interest lighting up in their eyes. The half-elf woman looked at Councilman Grimgore and he nodded. ¡°We are willing,¡± she said as she turned to me. For the next forty minutes, we negotiated like hell. A few minutes into it, Robin took over from me, giving me the rest. We had done this many times during the negotiations. I am barely above Lv. 10, in mywyer and Adviser sses and she is over Lv. 30. The difference between us is stark. If she used the full power of her skill, she could make me unconscious. That would be a breach of etiquette, and the Count wouldn¡¯t have that. I have to thank Robin a lot. He had been supporting me with his skills. He is the reason why I havested so long. ¡°So, we agree?¡± I asked as wee to a decision. She looked at Councilman and he nodded. ¡°Yes, we agree,¡± she affirmed, and relief flooded into me. I am tired and felt like I fought a great battle, which I kind of did. If I had not been with these people, I would have slumped in my chair. ¡°This deal will usher in a new chapter of the rtion between our countries,¡± said Councilman Grimgore. ¡°Without a doubt, Councilman,¡± said Count Darrow, smiling ear to ear. He is ecstatic and I would be too if I were in his ce. I am ecstatic at my ce, too. It was my n. ¡°Lord ckwell here had already started the preparation. His forces will clear the route and the state of Oksall will develop it immediately.¡± ¡°If everything goes smoothly. The trade will start within a month,¡± said Councilman Grimgore. Hearing that, a smile appeared on my face, but also the thoughts raced through my mind. This is a tremendous opportunity, and it will be a shame if I didn¡¯t use it. I could earn a fortune like I am earning from Navr. Though, using this opportunity will be difficult since the merchants from the merchant state already have connections in Navr. They may not have a direct road to the region we have, but they trade with them. The merchant cities trade with the whole Navr. We are just giving them another route for that, which will save them money and time. Finding opportunities will be hard, since the agreement we had signed will have them trade with Navr, with us as a bridge. Only Nakar baronies are an exception. Nakar baronies, on the other hand, will trade with the Greltheaven and other cities. The trade limit is big and if Oksall¡¯s trade with Navr continues to increase, the limit of trade will also increase. Technically, I couldn¡¯t do business since I was from the city, but that is I least of my problems. It could be done. There are several uses and loopholes that would let me do that. The real challenge is finding the business. Something these merchants didn¡¯t have connections with. I was thinking about that when a bulb lit in my mind. ¡°We will start our preparations on our side, while Baron Harrods, Lady Silver, and Adviser Remus will go with Lord ckwell to Amberhold City,¡± ¡°From there, they will be with Lord ckwell¡¯s forces, who will clear the path to Renin Fort,¡± said Count Darrow. I was so engrossed in my idea that for a moment; I didn¡¯t understand the words that Count Darrow spoke. When I understood them, my expressions changed drastically, and zing anger burned in my heart before I controlled my expressions and emotions. ¡®This bastard! I have helped him achieve what that bastard Hardt couldn¡¯t do more than half a year and what did he pay me with?¡¯ ¡®He is sending me to Amberhold. This fucking bastard, I knew nobles couldn¡¯t be trusted, but I didn¡¯t think he would do this to me.¡¯ I looked at him, and he gave me a look before looking at the Orc. It is not time to discuss it. ¡°The Council will give itsplete support to Lord ckwell. We want this done as soon as possible,¡± said Councilman Grimgore. ¡°The city of Greltheaven will finish the preparations on time,¡± the Count replied. Half an hourter, we walked out of the city hall. It was midnight, but people could still be seening and going out of the city hall. A minuteter, we are carriage. ¡°I am sending you to the Amberhold and from there you will travel to Fort Renin with ckwell¡¯s forces,¡± said Count Darrow after a few minutes of silence. ¡°My lord, it is dangerous. My sister and Baron Harrods are capable and could handle everything. I on the other could not,¡± I pleaded. I like city life; I don¡¯t want to go into the wild, where there will be danger. ¡°It will not be dangerous, Remus. There are going to be thousands of ckwell people. If any pests dare to attack, ckwell and his forces will wipe them out,¡± he said. Still, I opened my mouth to protest, but his eyes turned serious. ¡°I am sending you, because I trust you, Remus. I don¡¯t trust Harrods or your sister. I know, as long as you are there, any problem that urs will be dealt with swiftly,¡± he said, staring directly into my eyes. I wanted to object, but I know that look. No matter how much I object, he will send me there and unless I want to lose my job, I will have to ept it. ¡°As youmand, my lord,¡± I said finally. He is right, with ckwell''s forces, nothing bad will happen. Even those two dangers wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. One is undead of Navr, and the others are bandits. There is a huge army of merchant states at the border with Navr. If their hordese, we will get a warning. As for bandits, I am not worried about them; there are a lot of groups that operate near the boundary of Oksall and Renwell, but not a single one is dangerous enough to threaten us. I am more worried about the third danger, the assassins. I heard ckwells have been attacked by the assassins a couple of times in the past year. I am scared of them, ever since I saw them decapitate my father, in front of my eyes. I fear I might get killed by them. It might happen if I am in the same room with him. This selfish bastard sending me and if I want to save my carrier, I want to follow his order, no matter how dangerous it is. ¡°By the way, it was a good idea linking their business with Navr with their business with baronies. It will be beneficial to us,¡± He praised. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said and bowed. I did something today with the n, negotiation, and signing that happened today. I am going to level up in both of my levels, despite the crowd effect. The things I have achieved are too big for me to not level up through it. If there wasn¡¯t a crowd effect, I had have leveled up twice. Hell, I have had more level-ups in the past month and a half. With the cities, I was able to convince them to trade with Navr. Soon, we reached the mansion but didn¡¯t immediately go inside. Instead, we went to the office of Count Darrow. ¡°Lady Silver, Baron Harrods, I have an important job for you two,¡± he said, as he closed the door. ¡°We will do as youmand, my lord,¡± said Baron Harrods, while my sister just looked. ¡°I want both of you to protect Ignatius ckwell; he is integral to the trade. If something happened to him, the deal will be dyed by weeks or even months. I don¡¯t want that to happen,¡± he said, looking at them seriously. ¡°We will do our best, my lord,¡± they said in unison. It is a job they will have to do with all their hearts. Not for the Count¡¯s sake, but for their own sake. Baron Harrods is especially desperate. He was on the edge of being broke and needed this deal to seed. His reputation depends on it and for a proud man like him, it is everything. A few minutester, the meeting ended, and I went back to my suite. ¡°Z, send a message to Ca and tell her toe to the Oksall earliest,¡± I said to her to her and instead of sending the message, she looked at me. ¡°We will be here for three days,¡± I informed. She nodded and closed her eyes to send the message. I have brought both of the mages with me, but there are mages to the establishment. Students Mage Aldridge, I had hired them to stay at night for emergencies like this. ¡°Also, tell her to send Andrea and ir to Ina,¡± I said as he opened her eyes. I was nning to send Andrea to Ina anyway, but I had nned to wait a month more. So, she could learn a few more things from Margaux and Ca. I had told her about my intention to send her to Ina a few days ago and had asked her if she was willing, with magic sses and all, but she was very willing. ir will also be going; Andrea needs a good assistant and ir is perfect for her. ¡°Inform Ina that both of them areing to her,¡± I said to Z and once again, she opened her eyes. I am going to have a talk with Ina. As I had said, I would be an idiot to let go of this opportunity to waste. I already got a n in mind. It won¡¯t turn into a profit immediately, but if done well, it will benefit me immensely. As for why I am calling Ca here, to get new girls off course. I will be here for three days, and I couldn¡¯t waste time. I need to get things done. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 171: Masterful Administrator Chapter 171: Masterful Administrator ¡°Thank you all foring,dies and gentlemen,¡± said the human wearing a ceramic mask, to the people gathered around him. All of them are on their steads, not a single one had got off their beast. Most of them are Orcs, some are human and half-orcs, with only one half-elf. Many of them are mortal enemies, but they have put aside their enmity for this meeting. ¡°Why have you called us, Jev?¡± asked the half-elf woman, sitting on a huge stallion beast, which is breathing hot air. ¡°I will tell you, but let me show you the reward first,¡± he said and opened the big chest in front of him in a flourish. ¡°Fuck!¡± many of them cursed the moment it opened, and the greed lit up in their eyes, but not a single one of them took a step toward the big chest, filled with precious gems. ¡°This is but a small part of the reward you will get if you agree with the job,¡± said a masked human. ¡°What is the job?¡± asked a buffed orc, not looking away from the chest full of gems. ¡°It is quite simple. Killing the heir of the Amberhold City,¡± he answered, shocking everyone who was listening. ¡°You are crazy. If you think we will d¡­.¡± ¡­ Lawyer Lv. 14 Adviser Lv. 14 Conditions Met: Lawyer + Adviser- Masterful Administrator Lv. 14 Condition Met: Persuasion + Lawful Suggestions + Honeyed Words¨CPersuasive Conditions Met: Fast Reading- Insightful Reading Masterful Administrator Lv.15 Skill Gained: Get Ready When I opened my eyes, there were lines of text in front of me. They were kind of expected. Though I was slightly disappointed when I noticed despite the things I have pulled, I have only leveled once in both of my sses. The disappointment had onlysted for a moment. As my eyes went to the third line, my eyes went wide, and I nearly jumped out of my bed. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed loudly, unable to control myself. Click! I had just cursed when the door opened swiftly, and Jon appeared in the room with daggers in his hand. Looking around for any danger, before turning to me. I looked at him with my cheeks red. My reaction had been a little too much, but nobody could me me. The third line was really too much. ¡°I had leveled up,¡± I informed sheepishly. ¡°You must have gained quite something to scream like that,¡± he said, and the smile on my face brightened. He didn¡¯t ask further; only took onest nce at the room before leaving, while I slumped back on the bed, staring at the third line. My Lawyer and Adviser sses had merged and be Administrator ss. It is not amon Administrator ss, but a powerful one. Masterful Administrator. I had got an Administrator ss for a moment before it changed into Masterful Administrator ss and this fact surprised me the least. I have gained the skills in both sses that turn toward maniption and control and what better ss would be to control them than the Masterful Administrator. As for why, the merging of my sses had been gone in the direction of the administrator, despite there being many other paths. Well, the answer to it is quite simple. It is what I have been doing. I have been less of an adviser, and more of an administrator. I have been doing every task I have been handed, rather than only advising on it. The new ss is not the only thing I have got; I got other things too. Skills. All three maniption types of skills have merged into one. Persuasive, which might feel the same as persuasion, but it is not. It is far more powerful and directed. It is also the kind of skill that others remain careful of. I could use the skill but never tell people its name. There are many lists of skills. My father is one of such lists with a name of skills and sses. He showed it to all his children and asked them to be careful of people who had the skills and sses that were present on the list. Persuasive was on the list. If I took the ss high enough, I will be able to do some crazy shit with this skill. Even now, I will be able to do some serious things, but I have decided not to use its full power unless I need them. I turned to the line below, where another of my skill upgraded into something good. Fast Reading had been upgraded to Insightful Reading. I had read about this skill and felt quite excited. It had now moved away from simple reading. While Fast Reading provided some analytical abilities. Insightful Reading takes them to apletely different level. Thest skill is one that surprised me the most. It was just a few days ago; I have been jealous of this skill from the Robin and now I have got it. It is quite amon skill among the advisers, diplomats, and even military officers above Lv. 20. It is so useful that many people would trade their important skills for it. I wanted to use it immediately, but I controlled myself and opened the interface.
ss: Agent of Experience Lv. 17
Masterful Administrator Lv. 15 Warrior Lv. 13 Trainer Lv. 02
Charisma: 15
Intelligence: 11
Vitality: 8
Strength: 10
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Rapid Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Persuasive ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ Swift de ¡¤ Lords Mood ¡¤ Privacy ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready
Attribute Points: 0
Now it has be more official and also with merging. I have once again gone back to having only three secondary sses. I have to keep it that way, no matter what. Now under Masterful Administrative, all the skills of the two previous sses will be powerful. I stared at the interface for more than a minute before getting off the bed and standing in front of the mirror. ¡°Get Ready,¡± I said and activated the skill. Immediately, a stark change had urred to me. First was my expression, which had been sleepy, turned fresh and alert, with my hair fixing itself and skin glowing, like freshly showered. At the same time, my clothes straightened up; all the creases and dust that might have been on them had vanished. ¡°Wow,¡± I said as I looked at myself in a mirror. The skill is amazing, and it would have been more. If there hadn¡¯t been limitations; at most, I could use it four times a day. Which I don¡¯t think would be a problem. Half an hourter, I was in the training space, sparring with Jon. Today, I pushed myself really hard, more than I usually do. I am going to be leaving the day after tomorrow for Amberhold and from there journey to Fort Renin with ckwell¡¯s force. Fort Renin is only a few miles away from the boundary of the renwell region. My sister and Baron Harrods had looked at it from the distance and paid a few orcs to look at it. They couldn¡¯t go there; we were already doing illegal things by contacting the orc tribes on the other side. The fort is in good condition, requiring a slight fixing. Which is good, if it had been in bad condition, there would have been a dy in the trade. Thud! Two hourster, the training ended, and walked to my suit. Where I wanted to use my skill one more time, but I remember one bad thing about it. Get Ready. I activated the skill and immediately I found myself clean, with my clothes just as before when I wore them. There is one more thing, the surrounding grime. There is a circle of filthy sweat. It didn¡¯t disappear; it fell. Just like the clean spell, but the spell is more controlled. The skill could be controlled too, but it takes a lot of time to learn to do that. Like yesterday, I applied the diluted healing potion to my body before I showered. After changing into the new clothes, I went to the kitchen for breakfast, which the three of them already had. A few hours passed, and I was once again at the port; not to leave, but watch the Count leave with his yacht, which is moving away. He had taken all his people, including the guards and Robin. Only leaving three of us and our personal guards. ¡°I have received a message from Lord ckwell. He wants to meet us at five,¡± said Le. ¡°Well, we have a lot of time to sightsee,¡± said Baron Harrods, before me and my sister. ¡°Are any of you interested in seeing the city with this old man?¡± He asked, to which both of us shook our heads. ¡°My apologies, Lord Baron, but I can¡¯t. I have some personal business to attend,¡± I said. ¡°Me too. Though I will be with you tomorrow,¡± added Le. The old man nodded, and all three of us walked toward our respective carriages. Ca ising to the Oksall, and I have to make preparation for tomorrow when we will get the new girls. Baron Harrods and my sister''s carriage went toward the port''s gate, while my carriage went deeper into the port. Toward the office of the ship-rentingpany, I want to rent a ship. There will be a significant number of girls, around a hundred, and instead of booking the tickets, it is better to just rent one. It is an expensive option, but I can afford it. I am quickly done with it before entering the city proper. I didn¡¯t just visit the ces, I also sightsee. My work would be finished in minutes, as would only speak to people and set things up. The city of Oksall is beautiful as it is huge; there are many ces I have to visit, but with the time I have, I have selected a few. Like the ce, I am right now. The bubble park; is a disy of magical extravagance. It is a huge four hundred square meter ce. Which is covered in a hundred colorful tiles. One has to step on it and a momentter, a bubble will envelop you and take you into the sky. It is one of the most famous attractions in the city and those bubbles could be seen from any part of the city. They reach quite high, that one could see the entire city through them. Like all the famous spots, it is busy, with waits stretching for months, but there is always an exception. 75% of ces here are reserved for the public and could only be essed through the line. The rest 25% are reserved, and the line stretched for years, but I got a spot. There is an exception for the important people. I had booked the ce for myself, with Counts credential. ¡°Mr. Silver, you can go in,¡± said a young orc about my age. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said and walked out of the lounge, where I had needed to wait for less than ten minutes. I walked to the huge tile space and stepped on the white tile. I want to watch the city from the sky and the white bubble will be the best for that. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened, before I felt the humming and soon, the bubble came out of the tile and enveloped me. I touched it and it felt like a bubble, but unlike a normal bubble. It didn¡¯t pop up; it is magical and unless I use my sword or hit it really hard, it will not pop. If I do that. I will be banned from this ce forever. A second after, the bubble enveloped me; the bubble begins to lift in the sky. Every meter, it went above, I get to see more and more of the city before it reached its maximum height. Where there are hundreds of multicolored bubbles floating around me, with each one having people in it, looking around in wonder. ¡°Magnificent,¡± I said as I looked at the entire city from the height of three hundred and fifty meters. The city is magnificent. I could see all the five walls and could feel its grandness. ¡®The merchants have really built something,¡¯ I thought, looking around with eyes full of wonder. Pop! Before I know it, ten minutes have passed and with a sigh of regret, I felt it descend, before popping up safely. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 172: Meeting Chapter 172: Meeting The carriage stopped in front of a manor. It is not big, but not small either. It¡¯s a red-brown manor with nted roofs and vines hanging by it. The manor is not over beautiful or striking as so many buildings, but it looks homely and inviting, a few buildings give such a feeling. If I am not wrong; it is old. At least centuries old; the style it is made of was popr a few decades ago, but that iteration was different from what it is made in. Fashion changes every decade and came back. In every century, one will see different iterations of the same fashion. I stepped out of the carriage and walked toward its door, where guards and a man with a butler uniform is waiting. ¡°Adviser Silver, wee to the verity manor,¡± said Butler. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. He led me inside and to the parlor, where Lord Harrods and my sister were already present, talking to Ignatius ckwell. I am quite seeing her talking to him with quite friendly, seeing it is only the second time they have met. Well, I shouldn¡¯t be surprised, seeing both of them are about the same age and practice armament magic. ¡°My Lords, Lady Le,¡± I greeted. ¡°Adviser, thank you foring,¡± said ckwell, and offered me a seat. ¡°It is my pleasure, Lord ckwell,¡± I thanked and sat down. ¡°Now that Adviser Silver hase, we can start.¡± He said and tapped on the table between us and immediately, a map projected above it. It is the map of Oksall, which he magnified to show only the southern part of the merchant state, with a focus on Amberhold city. ¡°We will leave a day after tomorrow through the ship for Manris City and from there, we will make the way for the Amberhold,¡± ¡°My father has already started preparation. So, we won¡¯t be staying in the Amberhold for more than a day before taking the force for the Fort Renin; it shouldn¡¯t take us over two to two and a half days to reach it,¡± he said, pointing at ces. Nobody seemed surprised by the travel n; since there is only one main route, we had already expected that. Though I certainly appreciate his quickness. He is not willing to waste any time, which is good, because we are already doing it here. ¡°What danger do you think we will face on our way to Fort Renin?¡± asked Baron Harrods. ¡°There is only one danger, bandits, but we are bringing a force big enough to crush any attacks; even if some of them grouped together and attacked. We will be fine,¡± he said confidently. Nobody is worried about the bandits. ¡°What about the assassins, Lord ckwell?¡± asked Le directly, and his expressions be serious. ¡°Yes, my family had been gued by them for the past year, but till now, they have never attacked us outside the Amberhold or when we are in the presence of arge number of guards.¡± ¡°In all times, they attacked. There is always a gap of at least one month. So, I think we should be safe from assassins. If they attacked, even less of them would return thanst time,¡± He replied with a fire burning in his eyes. ¡°We believe you, my lord, but I hope you will take extra care for your safety,¡± I said, using a strand of Persuasive¡¯s power. I hope what he said is true. I would prefer that no assassins attack him, as there is a chance that we might die in the crossfire, and I don¡¯t want that. My life is important, more than dy and this deal. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I am taking care of my safety; I am quite young to die so early,¡± he said, and we allughed. We stayed there for twenty more minutes before walking out of his manor. I am once again in my carriage, reading the stacks of documents I have got from ckwell. I already have most of the information from my research. Though these stacks do offer something different. I am reading it all through Insightful Reading, and the skill is amazing. I could read faster than before. Most importantly, I could process that information far more quickly. Which is more important to me. This skill is very helpful and it is already proving his worth. A few more hours passed, and I returned to the port once again. Ca had left in the morning and will be arriving soon. I didn¡¯t get off my carriage and focused on the book I was reading. I finished with a stack of documents earlier and now reading the book while waiting. This one is about legacies; it had detailed knowledge of legacies in merchant states. It turned out merchant states have more legacies than any country on the continent. More than twice the empire of the empire. Most of the legacies are the ces where people release their emotions. 70% of legacies in the merchant states are bars of different types, tavern pubs, and other things like hotels and brothels. There are many other types of legacies, but I am currently focusing on hospitality. I want my establishment second best to legacy, and I have been constantly studying things that could make it better. Not only about the legacies but also architecture, interior, F&B, and other things. It had been helping me to improve the services and other things. I would use the methods in them, keep those that are working and remove those that are not. Most importantly, I am doing that for the ritual charms. They have been tremendously helpful. I could feel the changes they are bringing to the establishment, and they are amazing. So much so that others have started to notice them; I could see the question in the eyes of Ca, Margaux, and a few smart women. They didn¡¯t ask, and I didn¡¯t tell them and nor I had nned to. What I am doing is dangerous. I am using witch magic and it could have repercussions for my business if it were to be public, but it is too useful not to use it. The clients could see the change, but they all attributed them to the skills. There are skills that could affect the entire establishment. Like The ¡®Torch Of The Seeker¡¯ skill I have. I have hinted to the girls to give this answer if someone had asked them. I was in my thoughts when the ship docked in a ce I was looking at and soon the people had started toe out of it. It is quite far, that I couldn¡¯t see the people clearly, but I have sent someone, they will bring them to the carriage. A few minutes passed, and I noticed Ca and Ling toward the carriage in thepany of the guards. Click! The driver opened the door, and Ca and L stepped inside the carriage. ¡°Wee to the Oksall,¡± I said to them as they sat in front of me. ¡°It is a beautiful city from what I could see and huge,¡± she said, with a hint of wonder in her voice. ¡°It is both of those things and more,¡± I replied. ¡°How was your trip?¡± I asked them as the carriage begin to move toward the port gate. ¡°Good. There was no problem.¡± She replied, giving me a look, which I ignored. A few minutester, the carriage had passed through the port gates and entered the fourth wall proper. I could see they were impressed by what they saw and didn¡¯t disturb them. ¡°The city is really beautiful. I wish I would have been able to stay longer than a day,¡± she said, still looking through the window. ¡°You will get a chance at the future,¡± I replied. To which she smiled, and a minuteter, a shock appeared in her eyes, when the carriage entered the lightway and its speed increased suddenly. ¡°This,¡± said L in shock. ¡°A splendor of magic and wealth; enjoy it,¡± I said, and they watched the road giddily as their carriage moved fast. Even after using the lightway a couple of times already. I still feel wonder. It is really amazing and I wish we could have this at Greltheaven, but that is a fool''s dream. First, it is really expensive, and second, maintaining it cost a lot. Greltheaven couldn¡¯t dream of having something like it. Soon, the carriage got off the lightway and stopped in front of the huge hotel. The Myrithon Hargreaves. It is big, over thirty stories tall; bathing in a beautiful in beautiful elvish lights and an enormous fountain in front of it, which is telling a story through the water arts. Every day, thousands of peoplee to watch it. It is one of the biggest hotels on the third wall and has a magnificent view of the city from the top; that is where I have booked the suites. I am not taking them to our residence on the first wall. It is a diplomatic residence and couldn¡¯t be used as a private one. The count would flip if I did something like that. We got out of the carriage and entered the grand lobby, which is a work of art in itself. There are hundreds of people who belong to different races, moving through it. ¡°Remus Silver, I have two suits booked,¡± I said to the green-haired elf. ¡°Yes, sir. Gerd and Helna will you to suits,¡± she replied. A momentter, the half-orc and the human concierge took us to lead us to the elevator. The elevator was made of transparent crystal. It gave a wonderful view of the city and the sky. Soon, the elevator stopped we got out, and the concierge took us toward our suits. ¡°We will have dinner in an hour,¡± I informed L before going to my suite with Ca. The suit was beautiful, but I am in no mood to look at it. Everything pales in front of Ca. ¡°I missed you,¡± said Ca the moment the concierge left, and her lips touched mine a couple of minutester, only moans and wet sounds of our bodies rang out in the suit. We were so lost in each other that we didn¡¯t even move to the bed and did it on the floor. ¡°We have to leave soon,¡± I said after nearly forty minutes. We went to the shower and did it there. I wanted to cancel the dinner and call a room service, but I made a n. Besides, L hade to such a city for the first time and needed to experience things. She is one of the most talented in the establishment and I want to groom her for great things. First, I had thought about sending her to Ina but immediately crossed that through. She had little interest in it. Though I have no doubt, if I had sent her, she would have done the job just as great as Ina, despite not liking it. Her ambitions lie in different directions, and I n to foster that and also blunt that inherent rashness in her further. She had gotten it under control, but I think she needs more time and I nned to give that to her, before handing her a big responsibility. Till then, she will continue to learn new things and experiences. Get Ready. I activated my skill as I finished wearing the clothes and immediately. My hair dried out and fixed itself. At the same time, minor creases on the suit disappeared and my clothes adjusted well, fitting me more perfectly. Seeing it, a surprise couldn¡¯t help appearing on Ca¡¯s face. ¡°It is the skill that will make any woman jealous,¡± she said, looking at me jealously, before turning to the mirror. A few minutester, Ca finished her makeup and turned to me. ¡°How do I look?¡± she asked. She is wearing a halter ck dress and red lipstick on her lips that I wanted to kiss them. ¡°So beautiful that I wanted to tear the dress and have my way with you against that ss wall,¡± I said, and a smile appeared on her face. ¡°You could do that after we returned from the dinner,¡± she said and walked toward the door seductively. I nearly raised my hand to stop her and tore that dress, but I stopped myself and took a deep breath before walking toward the door. I only have to control myself till dinner, and then I will have her the entire night. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 173: Rhine Indentures Chapter 173: Rhine Indentures Bell ¡°We have arrived,¡± said the driver as the carriage stopped and the door opened. It is a long carriage to sit arge number of people, but we are still jammed-packed. Sitting on theps of each other. So, when the door opened, we stepped out of the carriage, fast. All of us did that so many times, we were able to do it, without stepping on each other¡¯s toes. ¡°Follow me,¡± said the old Gray, and we followed him inside through the familiar back entrance of Rhine Indentures. I havee here many times in the past decade. Have been sold and brought by many brothels. Including three men. Though those three sold me back to the store within a month. A brothel is the safest ce for me, no matter how distasteful it is and how much I hate every moment in it, but I am alive due to it. My enemies, in their wildest thoughts, could never guess I was hiding here. It is the reason they have not found me. Even I wouldn¡¯t have guessed a decade ago. That I would live in a filth of society, calling it home. I hate it, but my enemies are still searching for me, even after twelve years. The bounties for my information and location are present in all the guilds and taverns. The reward for capturing me alive is so huge that even S-ss had taken part. I have something they want, but I will die before I tell that to them. Soon we entered the building and stopped in one of the halls, where Laryn, a short violet-haired elf, walked in front of us. ¡°Those between Lv. 13 to Lv. 16 follow me, while the rest go with old grey,¡± she ordered and turned without any words. I am a little surprised, as they have never separated us from these levels. Usually, it is Lv. 10 to Lv.15 or Lv. 15 to Lv. 19; as prices of our contracts changed, when we reached these levels. I quickly moved into the new line and followed Laryn, who took us into another hall, and this is bigger than the previous one and full of people. There are over a hundred women in the hall, each is sitting in the chair, waiting. ¡®A private showing,¡¯ I thought. In the years I havee to indentured stores; I have been part of only four private showings. They are rare, as the people who buy us are brothels, who only looked for our ss, levels, and looks. Not to mention, for private showing. The client needs to be important and rich. The private showing usually happened for girls above Lv. 20, but here, everyone seemed to be below that. ¡°Bell, it¡¯s been a while,¡± said the woman beside me and turned to her. She looked mostly human, aside from herrge physique, and extremely faint greyness in her skin, that wouldn¡¯t be visible unless one look at her clearly and slightlyrger canines. I instantly recognize her, when I saw the ever-cheerful smile on her face. ¡°Three years, Rexy,¡± I said to the woman. We were in the same brothel three years ago. She is a fun girl; I don¡¯t know how she had the energy to be cheerful, even after suffering so much. Orc bloods suffer the worst in the brothels. Even in ces like Oksall, which had thergest number of orcs in merchant states. ¡°How have you been?¡± she asked. ¡°Me, fine,¡± I lied. I am not going to say the truth and tell her miserable every second of my life for more than a decade. Today is my birthday actually, which I had nearly forgotten. Last year, I had actually forgotten, only to be remembered a weekter. With monotonous days, it is really hard to keep track of things. Especially the things I am intentionally trying to forget. ¡°Which brothel is looking for the girls?¡± I asked as I saw a girling out of the door before another going in immediately. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I heard it is not from Oksall,¡± she replied. I had gone out of the Oksall a couple of times, but always returned to the city. Time passed as one girl after another went inside and came back. Laryn keeps bringing a new group of girls every hour. Soon, I was on my turn, I stood by the door, while Rexy entered inside. The half-orc, by the door, handed me the page from the stack he is holding. It had all my information, from age to skills. Click! Three and a half minutester, Rexy came back, and I looked at her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it is just some question,¡± she said and it couldn¡¯t help but feel relive. I do the things every day, but even after a decade, I dread doing them. I can¡¯t seem to block them and turn into apletely different person like so many girls do. Shame fills me every time, but I still do it. It is what saved me from my enemies and till I find a better way, I will continue to do it, no matter how much shame I feel. Survival is paramount; my family hadn¡¯t sacrificed everything, including their lives, just so I could throw mine away. I cleared my thoughts and I entered the small room. There, I saw three people sitting. In the middle is a handsome young man, whose silvery-grey eyes make him look much older, and two beautiful women on both sides of him. The moment I looked at them, I found myself getting surprised on so many levels. First, they are keeping their sses open, which takes conscious effort. As the sses are hidden and unless you want others to feel them, they remain hidden. They are doing it for me and the other girls who areing. Showing, they are the same as us and that is surprising because they didn¡¯t feel like it. They are whores, but their skin is vibrant and glowing. It is not a natural glow, gotten from the vibrancy, but the one gotten through the beauty treatments, and it looked like someone has worked really hard on them. These two are naturally beautiful women, and the treatments had made them even more beautiful. The clothes they are wearing are good, but what is surprising is the ease they are wearing. Whores do not have such ease; even the ones from the high-ss brothels. While their beauty and their clothes were surprising, what is more surprising, or I might say shocking, is the confidence in which they are sitting on the chair. Their posture is perfect with their back straight and hands on the table, and every movement is graceful, and this is not an effect that skill gives. One needs to learn these things. Things I have worked very hard to unlearn. If they hadn¡¯t shown me, they were whores. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to guess. I have seen the whore, the high-level ones, those at Lv. 40, some were closer to Lv. 50. They are powerful and unique individuals, but I could even recognize them as whores if they weren¡¯t using any skill. I didn¡¯t with these two. It made me curious and also alert. I have to be cautious and make sure whoever these people are didn¡¯t choose me. I felt like, if I go with them, my life will be changed, I don¡¯t want that. A change could mean my enemies finding me, and once they do, I will have a very painful ending. ¡­ ¡°Thank you, Miss Rexy,¡± I said to the orc''s blood woman, who have a natural cheerful smile on her face. She nodded and walked out of the room. ¡°We are taking her,¡± I said to Ca and L. I liked her, she gave me a good feeling. She also has a good assembly of skills, that are suitable to establishment and could speak threenguages. Most importantly, she is an Orc-blood, and I want a few orc-bloods. Response to Senar had been great. So much so that the girl is steadily climbing the ranks that I felt like she has the potential to get into the top ten earners. Her clients are mostly from the empire; her faint orcish traits seemed to fascinate them. Since novel experiences are what they are desiring, I am willing to provide that to them. After all, I am the Agent of Experience. It is my job to provide them with experiences they never had before. ¡°I have added her name to the list,¡± said L. I nodded and turned to the next woman who appeared in the hall. She is a tall woman who looked to be in her mid-tote twenties. She is beautiful, with long blue hair, almond brown eyes, and a straight nose. She also seemed to have a resting bitch face, and it only changed faintly, for a moment, before returning to just as it was. She appeared in front of the table and ce the page on it. I didn¡¯t look at it, instead activated my skill Sight Through Weil. Immediately, a blinding headache appeared in my head. I have been feeling it for quite a while. I have used the skill hundreds of times today and it had already reached the limit. I will need to rest it, or this pain will kill me. I bore the pain and focused on her and immediately got surprised by what I saw. Prostitute Lv. 16 It is all I saw, no attributes or skills or other sses she has, and it turned out, she has. The Prostitute ss is her secondary ss. She has a main ss that is powerful enough to hide, not only the ss but also the attributes and skills. Even the ones belonging to the Prostitute ss are hidden. I am only seeing her in secondary ss because she allowed it and it made me curious about her Primary ss. It should be at least at Level 20 to do this. I was about to turn off the skill when I saw something strange; I saw her flickering. I only saw it for a moment, before everything turned normal. ¡®Maybe it is because of the pain,¡¯ I thought as I turned off the skill. I couldn¡¯t keep it on anymore. A few secondster, I turned to the page where there was information about her. Her name, her ss, level, and three skills, along with a few lines of other information. ¡°Miss Bell, where are you from? Do you have any hobbies or profession or know any othernguages thanmon?¡± I asked all the questions together, surprising her. I would love to take the time in interviewing them, asking each question separately, but I do not have time. I only have a day, of which more than half had already passed. So, I will ask questions together and depend on my experience and the opinion of two women beside me to select the girls. ¡°I am from Hentiv. I don¡¯t have any skills, hobbies, or know anynguage other thanmon,¡± she replied without any change in expression. ¡°If you were to be free from your contract today, what would you do?¡± I asked. It surprised her before a mirthless smile appeared on her face. ¡°I will find another brothel to work. Since it is the only thing I know,¡± she answered, and I smiled. Which seemed to make her ufortable. Likely because she could tell, I know she had a primary ss, which is trying to hide. It is not written in her information. It is not like the store didn¡¯t know about Prostitute ss being her secondary ss. They obviously know it. With the store big as these, they have people with the skill to see that, and the only reason, they didn¡¯t reveal it, because even didn¡¯t know what her primary ss is. They only know she has one. ¡°Thank you for your answers, Miss Bell, and on the way, tell Mr. Thyno that we are taking a break for an hour,¡± I said, to which she nodded and left the room, while I put my head on the table and closed my eyes. I was far more tired than I had realized as I fell asleep within a second and was gently woken up by Ca. ¡°The hour is nearly over,¡± she said. I nodded and was about to use Get Ready before stopping myself. The sleep let me get rest and recharge; I couldn¡¯t squander it using the skill. I need all the energy; I have for Sight Through The Veil. A few minutester, we begin again and continued till I couldn¡¯t anymore. By then, we have interviewed enough girls, including the young ones, and we begin to discuss the list. One and half an hourter, we had finished with the list and the final number had kind of surprised me. It is one hundred and sixty-two; more than I had thought I would get with the time I have. Though I didn¡¯t cut any of them; I am sure many of them leave in a few hours, when I give them the choice. I negotiated and paid for their contracts before asking the store to drop them at the port. They would directly go to the ship and leave in a few hours for the Greltheaven with Ca and L. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 174: Trespass Chapter 174: Trespass ¡°They are ready for you. Master Silver,¡± said L. I nodded and turned my eyes away from the river and walked to the girls toward the passenger area. They have been crammed in there, barely having any space to move. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little bad about it, but I had to address them together, I couldn¡¯t go to all three passenger areas, one by one. Soon, I stopped and looked at all of them. I met each of their gazes, before activating Every Ear Listen To My Words. ¡°First, let me start by apologizing to all for your current condition. It is only for a few minutes,¡± I said with a smile, but there is no response, except for their gazes turning serious. ¡°Before you all leave for the Greltheaven, I am giving all a choice. A choice of freedom. If you want, I will free you from your contract and even give you ten thousand crowns for your future,¡± ¡°You all have an hour to decide,¡± I finished and walked away from them, letting Ca handle the rest. Usually, I use more words, but I didn¡¯t have time. I have to leave and meet someone and that will only happen after the ship leaves for the Greltheaven. ¡­. Bell ¡°Calm down, girls. The choice Master Silver gave you is real. We will not stop you, if all of you choose the freedom,¡± said a woman wearing a red dress. She has an air of authority, which instantly calmed down everyone. ¡°Those who want to leave can to me or L,¡± she added and turned to the beautiful woman in a ck dress beside her. ¡®Fucking hell!¡¯ I cursed for the hundredth time in a few hours. I hated my life in Oksall, but I had been safe in the massive city. My enemies couldn¡¯t find me, despite knowing I am there, but in Greltheaven, it is going to be much different. It is a city that didn¡¯t have a poption of even a hundred thousand. It will be much easier for my enemies to find me there; with the resources they have. They will know where I am. Thest big scrying attempt had been done a week and a half ago and this one was strong. Stronger than all the past big scrying attempts. The sage of a thousand luminescence had leveled up. Every level, taking him closer and closer to finding me. This time, he seemed to have narrowed down the district. From many girls, I heard the strange men in ck uniformsing to the brothels and inspecting the girls, asking the question. It might be for something else, but I think they are searching for me. They already might have deduced that I am living in the red-light district or might be a whore. Then this is a great chance for me. No, I will not go to the Greltheaven. That would be an idiotic thing for me to do; I will take the freedom they are offering and will go to Belnin. The more I thought about it, the better I felt the idea came to my mind. So, I waited calmly, listening to conversations around me. Girls are surprised by the freedom and money they are offering, but few are going to take it. The money is good, but not many want freedom. Many had gotten free, even I had gotten free two years ago, thanks to strict indenturedws in Oksall, but I signed a contract immediately with another brothel. Nobody hires a prostitute. So, after gaining freedom, many would sign contracts with their brothels again. It is not like there isn¡¯t anyone considering taking the offer. The girl in front of me is going to do it. From her words, she nned to take the money and enjoy herself for a few days with that, before signing a contract with her old brothel. Though most are smart enough to not do that. If someone is willing to offer them freedom and money, then there must be something else there. They want to see it. Some even have hope; seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Even after suffering so much, some girls still kept hope in their hearts. The girl beside me was one of them. Half an hour passed, and a few girls have approached the two women already. Those two have taken out the contract and burned it in front of everyone and gave them money pouches before sending them out of the ship. They should have waited for the end of the hour before burning the contracts and giving girls the money. Showing they are truly meaning what they have said. They are enticing more girls to leave. It is like they want the girls to leave. Then why did they buy our contract in the first ce? It all seems strange and idiotic to me. ¡°Bell, are you leaving or staying?¡± asked Rexy. ¡°I a¡± I had opened my mouth to reply when I froze away. On the deck, a couple of people appeared. One is wearing the uniform of port guards, while four are wearing a familiar ck uniform and had an emblem on their chest. That destroyed everything for me. Seeing them, I froze before raging anger and hate rose in my heart. Rexy looked at me strangely, before following my gaze. When she looked at those people, a hint of anger appeared on the cheerful girl''s face. ¡°These bastards are visiting the brothels; they havee to mine a few days ago. They removed all our clothes, touched us with strange things, and asked all weird questions,¡± she said and shuddered. I looked at them and saw the young man walking toward them, and he seemed angry. ¡°I heard that from others, too. I wonder what they want?¡± I asked casually, despite feeling terror in my heart. Rexy¡¯s eyes lit up, hearing that. ¡°I can listen,¡± she said, activating her skill. I also have a listening skill, more powerful than hers, but I am not going to use it. These bastards have ¡®Hunting,¡¯ sses; since they are searching for me, it might trigger some of their skills. Not activating any skill is a wise choice; my ring will protect me, but examined me, then even the ring won''t save me. I really hope the young man sent them away, but that is likely the case. Lomeir is an informal ally of merchant states and a kingdom that gives ess to the north. It is due to its important role. It enjoys many privileges. Knowing that I move my hand into my bag. If they dide searching, I will use thest option. There is no way in hell I will tell them what they want. That secret will die with me. ¡­. Hun! I was standing by the railing enjoying the view when I saw peopleing to the ship. They pushed the guards at the ramp''s entrance and entered the ship. A spark of anger lit in my eyes, but I stopped Stone and Shaun stopping them and walked toward them. There are five people. One is wearing the uniforms of Oksall port guards, while the other four are wearing ck uniforms. ¡®Kingdom of Lomeir.¡¯ I thought as I saw the g on their sleeves, but I was the most interested emblem on their chest, which had the head of a dire wolf wearing a thorny crown and two bloody swords behind it. It took me a moment before remembered it was an emblem of the Duchy of Sarkin. ¡°Gentlemen, you are trespassing on my ship,¡± I said to them as I stopped in front of them. ¡°We are not. We have an order from the port master¡¯s office to search every ship carrying the whores,¡± said the guard with blond hair. ¡°Can I see the order?¡± I asked him. He looked a little surprised, likely because people don¡¯t want to question the port guards. It could make things a little difficult. Still, he didn¡¯t decline and gave me the order. I read it, before turning to him. ¡°You can not search my ship with it,¡± I said with a smile and handed it back to him. A frown appeared on his face, along with some hint of anger. ¡°The order state, we have authority to search all mercantile ships carrying the whores,¡± ¡°Search the ship,¡± he said to the four men from Lomeir, and they took a step to do it, but Jon and Stone appeared in front of them, while the guard turned to me with clear anger. ¡°I will arrest you. If you stop me from executing my duties,¡± threatened the guard. ¡°I am Remus Silver, adviser to the Count Darrow Wilstein of House Ravenheart, and this ship I had rented is through my diplomatic credentials,¡± ¡°It means you will need a ss 3 order if you want to search my ship.¡± ¡°If you did it despite that, you will vite my rights and I will surely write to your governor about it,¡± I said to the guard, staring into his eyes directly. I could see fear appearing in his eyes upon hearing those words. ¡°The merchant state of Oksall doesn¡¯t have a rtionship with the empire. So, you are breaking the rules in buying the contracts of whores,¡± said the bald man in a ck uniform in heavily ented avoid. Those words seemed to have given the guard hope, seeing how his eyes lit up. ¡°A diplomatic exception,¡± I replied simply. ¡°Mr. Silver, we have been searching for a high fugitive from the Kingdom of Lomeir and we would be grateful. If you let us search, the whores you have brought,¡± said a bald man, with a considerably polite tone. ¡°I have no problem doing that. All you need to do is bring out a valid order and you can search my ship,¡± I replied, and it made him angry. He didn¡¯t say anything and instead removed the paper parchment and handed it to me. ¡°We are searching for her. If we found her, that bounty will be yours,¡± he said, and looking at his expression, it is clear he expects me to agree after seeing it. I nodded and looked at the parchment. There are two sketches, one is of ate teen woman, while the other is her older version in herte twenties. I looked at the sketch for a moment, before reading her name and the bounty, which is in a shocking amount. It will entice even Lord Darrow. It seemed like she was rted to that incident more than a decade ago. ¡°My apologies, but I don¡¯t think I have brought the contract of this woman,¡± I said to him. ¡°She has the skill to change her physical shape,¡± he replied, and I nodded. ¡°I love to help you, gentlemen, but I couldn¡¯t. If I let you search my ship, it will trample on the honor of my lord. Please bring the valid order and I will let you search my ship,¡± ¡°And you have about an hour for that. In an hour, the ship will leave for the Greltheaven,¡± I said. The eyes of a bald man hardened hearing that, and this time, he was not even trying to hide it. ¡°It will not look good on you, young man if you dare to harbor the fugitive of the great kingdom of Lomeir,¡± he said threateningly, and hearing the smile on my face be even brighter. ¡°You can keep your threats to yourself and get out. I won¡¯t have you on my ship unless you bring out a valid order to search it,¡± I said back, without losing a smile on my face. Which seemed to irk him even more. His hands moved toward his sword, and fear appeared on the port guard''s face, but before he could do anything, a hand appeared on his shoulder. ¡°Our apologies. If our words felt threatening to you; it was not our intention, Adviser. We are just doing our job and under a lot of pressure,¡± said the older man, who appeared beside the bald man. ¡°Let¡¯s forget that and if you really want to check on the girls. You can do it in three to four months when they will make a debut,¡± I informed him with a smile. The older man in the ck uniform nodded and walked out of the ship, with others, without saying another word, and I turned to Ca, who wasing toward me with worry written all over her face. ¡­. ¡°Greltheaven,¡± I said as I watched the ship leave the port of Oksall. All my ns have been destroyed by those bastards. Now, I couldn¡¯t stay in Oksall or go to Belnin; I am going to the Greltheaven. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 175: Manris Chapter 175: Manris ¡°You looked like you didn¡¯t get any sleep,¡± said Le as our carriage moved toward the port before dawn. ¡°I slept for only three hours,¡± I replied with a strained smile, looking at the moon through the window. I met with Ethan after Ca left with the girls for the Greltheaven. I would have met him earlier, but he was out on business and returned to the city in the evening. After meeting him, he took me to a few ces, and before I know it. It is midnight. I barely got to sleep for three hours. Thankfully, I would be able to sleep on the way to the Amberhold. We are going to the port, where we will meet Ignatius ckwell for our journey to the Amberhold. ¡°Well, in that, I am quite lucky. I have gained the Rest Skill quite early in my army days,¡± said the old man. He has more than half a century of experience in the army. He was a carrier soldier and had been in the army till he received the title and the territory from the prince. I wonder whether simply saving a prince¡¯s life has gotten him into the title or if there is something else. Usually, I don¡¯t think so deeply about these things, but after the incident with Lockridge, I started to think deeper. One might think the truth is what they heard and know, but there areyers deep within it and I need to learn to look deeply. I need to learn fast and be careful. I have entered a dangerous game and I am sure I might have already entered the list of a couple of people. Count Darrow has many enemies and seeing how much I am helping him. They might think about killing me. Sometimes, I regret taking these positions but immediately throw those thoughts away. This position helped me a lot. I had aplished many things due to it and was willing to ept the dangers that came with it. Soon, we reached the port, and there was a yacht waiting for us. Not as grand as the Count¡¯s, but still good. There is a Lady ckwell written on it in big, cursive letters. The guards didn¡¯t stop us when reached the ramp and soon we were on deck, where Ignatius ckwell was waiting for us. He was looking at the sun, which had just started toe out, before turning to us. ¡°Thank you foring. This early,¡± he said. ¡°It is no effort,¡± said Le, to that he smiled and turned to the middle-aged man waiting in the distance. ¡°Captain Dane, we are ready,¡± he said, before turning back to us. ¡°We should reach the Manris in four hours and from there we will take the carriages from the Amberhold,¡± he informed. ¡°We should be able to reach it by the night, right?¡± asked Le. ¡°Yes, if everything goes well, we will have dinner at the keep,¡± he said. This means we will have been able to leave for Fort Renin tomorrow. We were talking when the yacht begins to move and within a few minutes; it was moving toward Manris. It is a city between Oksall and Owlspring, and, from there, we will need to use the good-old road to Amberhold. We talked for a little more than fifteen minutes before the staff took us to our cabins. The cabin of the yacht was smaller than the cabins in Count Darrow¡¯s yacht, but it still had a bed big enough for two people to sleep in and a private bathroom. Modern yachts on Earth of this size didn¡¯t have such space in them. For a yacht of this size, there would barely be a space for two private cabins. This one had six of them. Unlike Earth, not arge space is taken by the engine. It did have an engine of sorts, but it is magical in nature and has a much smaller size. The space is also saved, by many things, like not having big water tanks and appliances like a refrigerator. This work is all done by the runes. If I want water for a shower, there is a very small water tank and when it empties half, the runes activated on their own and pull the water out of the river and filter it, before sending it to the tank. The same for things like refrigerators; there is no need for bulky appliances as the cooling and freezing runes are imprinted into the cupboard. Yachts are expensive, not only to buy but also to maintain. It is a reality in both worlds. Currently, I cannot buy a yacht, even if I want to. Though one day, I nned to. I want it, not only for the luxury of it but also for the ease of travel. The river is the main route of travel and having a yacht would be quite helpful. I put those thoughts away andy down on the bed. It didn¡¯t even take me a minute to feel asleep. Three and a half hourster, I woke up on my own. I am feeling much better and more rested. I quickly freshened up and changed into the new suit. I didn¡¯t use my skill Get Ready. It is an important skill, and I won¡¯t be using it unless it is necessary. I walked out of my cabin, wearing a winter coat, and went to the deck, where my sister and Baron Harrods were present. Though, they are standing separately. My sister is standing with the ckwell, talking to him, and they seemed quite engrossed in conversation, under their privacy skill, while Baron Harrods is standing alone, watching the scenery. ¡°Enjoying the scenery, my lord,¡± I said to the old man. ¡°Yes, it is quite nice,¡± he said, without moving his eyes away from the passing scenery. ¡°What do you think about the danger on the way to Fort Renin?¡± I asked after a minute of silence. The old man didn¡¯t answer for a few seconds before turning to me. ¡°It is a hard question, young Remus.¡± ¡°There are dangerous everywhere on that route, from the undead, orc tribes, bandits, and even monster horde from the extreme magic region.¡± ¡°If we think carefully, the undead wouldn¡¯t be a danger and we will be alerted if there is any attack from them.¡± ¡°The orc tribes won¡¯t like the freedom they have enjoyed till curtailed by the Oksall, but they know they are powerless to do anything against it.¡± ¡°The bandits, on the other hand, are splintered and mired in their own personal conflict to work together.¡± ¡°As for the monster horde from the extreme magic region, it is very rare and unpredictable,¡± he said and smiled. ¡°All of them are threats and have the potential to cause us great harm or even wipe us out, but an educated guess tells us that not a single one of them would be a threat,¡± ¡°Though, in my experience, I have found many times this educated could turn very wrong.¡± ¡°You see, people are hard to predict. So, my advice would be young Remus, be prepared for anything.¡± With those words, the old man turned back to the scenery he was watching, while I went to my thoughts. I really hope everything goes great, but I am prepared. I won¡¯t be caught off guard, like the undead incident and bandit one. Thankfully, I have brought four of my guards, this time. Not to mention, there will also be a big force of the ckwell familying with us and would be stationed in Fort Renin. I would have very much liked it if the Oksall army had taken this task, but ckwell¡¯s forces are also well-trained and better equipped than the Oksall army. Fifteen minutes passed, and I saw another silhouette; it is not of the town or vige but of the city. ¡°Baron Harrods, Adviser Silver, we will reach Manris in ten minutes,¡± said ckwell, as he stopped beside us. The ship got closer and closer to the city and soon stopped at the port of the huge city. Manris might not be at the level of Oksall, but it is still a big city, with a poption of six million. It is also the city of Isolde Ashenwood. One of the human council members of Oksall''s ruling council. We walked down the ramp, and ckwell talked to a few city officials waiting for him before we sat in our carriages. Where more than a hundred guards surrounded us; they are from House ckwell and would protect us on our journey to the Amberhold. I felt relieved seeing their number and the power they were radiating. Manris is a beautiful city and is also known as the craft capital of Oksall. Some people even called it a smelly city, due to its tanneries. The city had one of thergest tanning industries in the whole merchant states. Thankfully, the tanning district is a distance away from the other districts and the smell remained contained there. We are not entering the city proper and taking the bypass to the eastern gates directly. I watched the city through the window infortable silence. I have taken the carriage alone, while my sister and Baron Harrods are with Ignatius ckwell. I said I wanted to take the rest, but the real reason for the separation carriage is keeping my distance from him. Ethan had told me a few more things about the assassinations of ckwell yesterday. Let''s just say I want to remain close to get the benefit of the guard''s protection but maintain enough distance that if assassins came, I won¡¯t be targeted unless they want to kill me. I watched the city, till our carriages passed through the eastern gates, before taking out the book to read. I am taking a little break from hospitality and reading about the current events in the world. I have brought arge dossier of information and nned to finish it all before reaching the Amberhold. As I read it, I took out the snack to eat; I had skipped breakfast earlier and am now feeling a little hungry. ¡°The way you read; you should have been a mage. You have the right mindset for it," said Z, who is also reading a book and eating snacks with me. ¡°I wanted to, but unfortunately, I have no talent for it,¡± I replied, smiling. An hour and a half passed, and I reached the Mayhurst section. The forces of Vris¡¯alud had conquered the kingdom of Edulia and Brarod and more than half of the Dekas. Now only Kalgha Dominion and Bulgan had remained nearly intact. Kalgha had lost some of its territory, while Bulgan was intact and that is because of Kalgha and Dekas, which are protecting it like a wall. If Dekas fell, it will give an undead way to Bulgan. Through this, they will be able to surround Kalgha Dominion in all directions. ¡°How long do you think Dekas will take it to fall?¡± I asked her. She seemed surprised but quickly controlled her expressions. ¡°If Dekas forces alone had been defending, I would say two months at most, but things have changed in the past month.¡± ¡°The Kalgha Dominion have sent Lokra Bonebreaker and his iron fangs to Dekas, and they seemed to have stopped the advancement of undead,¡± she replied. Iron Fangs are one of the three elite armies of Kalgha Dominion, having two hundred thousand men. The army had a reputation even before Vris¡¯alud started its conquering war and, in the few years since the war began, it had be even more dangerous, especially their leader. Lokra Bonebreaker also known as Lokra the Wavecrusher. An immensely powerful man, who rose from a normal soldier to leader of Iron Fangs in a matter of years. All the leaders of the three elite legions are S-ss powerhouses. Kalgha Dominion has not publicly acknowledged it, but if it is true, then he would be the youngest to reach that level in centuries. He is only thirty years old. ¡°Let¡¯s hope, with their aid. The advancement of Vris¡¯alud would be stopped. It would be bad for everyone if the undead were to conquer the whole ind.¡± I said, before turning to another section of the stack. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 176: Amberhold Chapter 176: Amberhold ¡°The city is really something,¡± I said as I looked at the city from a distance, bathing in bright moonlight. The city is situated on hills with beautiful buildings and lush greenery. Many of these buildings are old, some of them are older than a thousand years. Especially the amber castle on the tallest hill in the center of the city. It is over two thousand years old, the same as therge amber wall surrounding the city. The castle is called ckwell Keep; many people referred to it as Amberhold. The city used to be called something else, but seeing it rarely, people referred it to by its original name. They change it to Amberhold, which used to be its informal name. ¡°It is really a beautiful city,¡± said Le. ¡°A work of art,¡± added Baron Harrods, and it is not empty praise. Especially now, when the city is covered in light snow, it looked enchanting. ¡°Amberhold is the first city to be built after the creation of Merchant Cities of Western Zenid.¡± ¡°It is the ce where thest Ired Queen was yed by my ancestor Seraphina The Valient. Every brick in the city¡¯s wall has dust of Ired¡¯s hive and every brick of our keep had part of Ired Queen herself,¡± informed Ignatius with pride in his voice. Seraphina the Valiant, the primogenitor of House ckwell. She was one of the continental powerhouses during thest incursion and a founding member of the Merchant Cities of Western Zenid. ¡°It is a beautiful city she had founded,¡± said Le, and Ignatius smiled, but there was no pride or mirth in it. ¡°It is a regret that we, her descendent, were not able to live up to her hopes and expectations,¡± he said with a voice full of regret. Nobody said anything to that and instead turned to the window and watch the carriage descend from the hill toward the city. The city is huge, with a giant amber wall surrounding it. It could easily house five million people inside those walls, but the city only had a poption of a million. It used to have a huge poption, but after mines dried out a few centuries ago, people left. Still, the city is in great condition. Ss ckwell might not be much of a warrior, but he is a great administrator. The city was in bad condition when he inherited it, but in a few decades, he changed itpletely. He diversified the economy from mining and reformed many policies. His efforts had led the city from bankruptcy to stability. Quadrupling the poption to nearly a million. It is quite incredible what he did, seeing in the city is the easternmost side of Oksall, closer to the boundary of the empire. There is not much anything to do other than mining and farming. There is an extreme magic region, which is a treasure trove, but its trade goes to other cities. The western side of the extreme magic region close to Amberhold, is controlled by the powerful monsters. Which is a blessing and curse; those monsters controlled other monsters well and didn¡¯t send the horde. They also kill whoever enters the extreme magic region through the western side, which makes adventurers, very hesitant go through that side. I didn¡¯t think I read about the monster horde attacking the Amberhold, during my research. Though it had attacked the settlements in Nakar forests in the past. A few hundred years ago, they had destroyed everything. Those monsters are even more dangerous than the undead when a horde of them is attacked. Soon, the carriage appeared in front of the big amber walls and passed through the huge city gates. As the carriages entered inside, I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed. There are wide paved roads and manicured trees, everything so well managed. ¡°Now, I can see why people call the Amberhold the garden city,¡± said Le, clearly impressed, and it is impressive. ¡°It is all my parents doing; they want Amberhold to be the most beautiful city in all of Oksall,¡± he said, with pride in his voice. They have really made something to be proud of; I have given examples to the Count about the city to support my ideas, but he isn¡¯t willing to listen. To him, the Greltheaven is a temporary thing. A ce through which he needs to earn as much money as possible. Before escaping the moment, Navr releases his horde. If Amberhold had been in the ce of Greltheaven; the ckwells would have been able to achieve far more than what they have. Currently, Amberhold¡¯s growth potential is at its limit. It is why they are so ready to open the trade route andplete the n of their ancestors, who also understood, trade is the only thing that could make Amberhold prosper. It will prosper and so are baronies and Greltheaven with it. The carriage had reached the base of the biggest hill and begun to climb it and soon the carriage was in front of the giant coppery gates of the castle. The carriage had passed through them and the amber castle appeared in front of me; it is even bigger than it looked from the distance. I wanted to get out of the carriage and looked at it more carefully, but controlled myself and stayed, Click! Finally, the carriage had stopped, and the door was opened by a middle-aged man, with short ck hair, wearing a white uniform. ¡°Wee home, my lord,¡± said the man. ¡°It feels good to be home, Commander Wildewood,¡± said Ignatius as he stepped out of the carriage. ¡°Baron Harrods, Lady Le, Adviser Silver; I wee you all to the Amberhold,¡± he said, as we stepped out of the carriage. ¡°Thank you for a kind wee, Commander Wildewood,¡± I replied to the middle-aged man. He is themander of the Amberhold¡¯s forces. ¡°Lord ckwell wishes to meet you all. Please allow me to escort you to him,¡± he said, and we walked with him toward the castle. I would have liked to rest, but meeting Lord ckwell is also necessary. The castle was huge and designed magnificently with thoserge amber bricks. It is big enough that half-giants could walk herefortably. It is said, each brick of the castle contains the part of Ired Queen as Ignatius told us earlier. I don¡¯t know whether it is true or not, since the walls of the city had never been breached. The city hadn¡¯t been attacked many times; even the undead horde didn¡¯t attack it, more than ten times in past millennia. Whenever it does, it won¡¯t be at full force; just a small part of it. It is all because of its excellent location. It is a distance away from all the cities and closer to the extreme magic region. This makes the undead avoid it, as they attack the ces where there arerge cities close to each other and away from the extreme magic region. The monsters of the petyv extreme magic region seemed to hate the undead. Whenever the undead forces got too close, they will attack. Even in their territory, Navr keeps its undead away from the petyv extreme magic region. Soon, we entered the castle, and immediately I felt the faint suppression. It is like the air seemed to have be denser. Suddenly, I found myself taking a little more effort in breathing and walking. It is not restrictive, just faintly stifling. ¡°You will get used to the feeling in a few minutes,¡± said Ignatius, sensing the change in us. I took a deep breath and followed him while watching the beautifully grand castle. Where every art piece and weapon hanging on the wall, seem to exclude ancientness. It is more than two thousand years old castle; I am sure some of these things are as older as the castle or even older. As I walked through the castle, I noticed. There are a lot of guards. I could see them at every corner, looking around for the threats. While security is always tight, in such ces, there are little too many guards. Even there are guards in the elevator. I don¡¯t know whether so many guards are normal or because of the ckwells facing a lot of assassination attempts. Soon, we appeared in front of the white stone doors, which the guards opened, and we went inside a huge conference room, which already has some people in it. My eyes immediately went to the pale-looking man sitting in the head chair. He looked to be in histe fifties, and of medium height, with an average face and build, but his ck eyes were sharp, and they seemed to look through everything. Like his son, his eyes also looked faintly ssy, and have red hair that looked like they were made from crystal. They are hereditary features of House ckwell and the source of the rumors about their family. On the other side of the table is an elf woman who looked to be in herte forties. She is a graceful woman with blue hair and blue eyes; Ignatius seemed to have gotten his eyes from her. It is the only feature he seemed to have from her. Looking at him, one couldn¡¯t guess that his mother was an elf. It is all rted to the mystery of the family. ¡°Father, mother,¡± Ignatius greeted. ¡°I am d you have you have returned safely, my son,¡± said Adryna ckwell. One could see the relief flooding into her eyes as she saw her son. ¡°Lord ckwell, Lady ckwell,¡± we greeted. ¡°Baron Harrods, Lady Le, Adviser Silver. Thank you foring all the way to Amberhold,¡± said the man. ¡°It is our duty, my lord,¡± replied Baron Harrods. Of course, it is a duty. I would have been d if the Count had exempted me from it. ¡°Take a seat, you all. We have a lot to discuss,¡± he said and which we did for one and a half hours. It is mostly about the arrangements for tomorrow. Byte morning, we are going to leave Amberhold, with Ignatius ckwell and his men. They had scouted the route, and people have been selected. We only need to walk the path, destroying everything that came our way. If our luck is good, the journey should be smooth, well, aside from being very tiring. We will be riding the beasts instead of the carriage; it will be faster and much safer. After the meeting is finished, we had dinner with Lord, and Lady ckwell before they took us to our suits. ¡°Wow,¡± I said as I looked at my suit. It had a spartan feel to it, with a huge stone room and minimal decorations. The one that impressed me the most is the huge window; it gives me a view of the entire city. It is also enchanted, protecting against intruders and cold winds. The light snowfall is continuing, and I hope, by morning, it will be finished. I don¡¯t want snow on top of the thick forest on the way to Fort Renin. I looked at the city for a few minutes before turning back to the room. I wanted to sleep, I am tired, but there is one thing I have to do before I could sleep. ¡°Are there any messages for me?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, a few hade; I have noted them all down for you,¡± she said and handed me the notes. There are over thirty messages. They are Ca, Locke, and a few other friends and colleagues from the Greltheaven. Most of them are about them, inquiring about the progress. These bastards hadn¡¯t been this excited when we were dealing with Navr, but Oksall is apletely different thing. They are inquiring about it, despite knowing. It will take a while before they could trade with it legally. The new girls reached the Greltheaven in the morning and Ca had given the tour and the stack of questions. When they are done filling them, we will find the teachers for them. It will be a little crowded, with the addition of one hundred and forty-eight girls, but they will have to manage. In a few months, this problem is going to disappear forever. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 177: Wing Chapter 177: Wing ¡°So, this is the n?¡± asked the beefy orc, looking atrge the map. ¡°Yes, my mage received it from the mask a few minutes ago,¡± replied the half-elf, with a hint of respect. Not only her, but everyone has those emotions in their eyes. The mask and the people that employed him had someone so close to ckwell that they are able to get their hands on their ns. Which hadn¡¯t been made more than a day ago, The map had covered arge make-shift table that all bandit leaders could look at it. ¡°Everybody remember, our target is Ignatius ckwell, not killing or looting. If we kill him, we will get the fortune that we have been promised,¡± advised the human with the bow. There are a lot of people in every group who get lost in it the moment they entered the battle. It will be their leader''s responsibility to keep them in control. ¡°It is such regret that we won''t have that artifact,¡± said the half-orc, and many sighed. The mask didn¡¯t put any restriction on the artifact and even said they could have it, but everybody is aware. The moment Ignatius ckwell is dealt with, that artifact would be gone as well. ¡­ When I woke up again, the sun had beenpletely up. I had woken up at my usual time, before dawn, but decided to sleep further. We are going to leave for Fort Renin today, and it is not going to be in afortable carriage. It will be on the beast, and I need to be as rested as possible. I wanted to train earlier, but that wouldn¡¯t have been wise. I have been training constantly and taking breaks, only when I absolutely needed to. I am as much trained as I could be for any danger I might face on the journey. More training would only be tiring. I stayed in bed for a couple of minutes before getting up and walking to the window and looking at the beautiful snowden city. The snowfall hadn¡¯t stopped through the night. It had increased even more. ¡®It seemed like things won¡¯t be easy,¡¯ I thought, looking at the snow. I stayed by the window for a couple of minutes before walking into the bathroom, where I had freshened up and showered. I changed into a new suit and readied myself before walking out of my suit, where the staff waiting for me took me for breakfast. Soon, I was in the kitchen and saw Baron Harrods already sitting there, eating breakfast by arge window. Enjoying the food as well as the view. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted. ¡°Remus, take a seat,¡± he offered. ¡°Thank you, lord,¡± I said as I sat in front of him. ¡°It is nice weather, isn¡¯t it?¡± he asked, and a mirthless smile appeared on my face. ¡°It will make our journey a little harder,¡± Iined, but he just shook his head with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. House ckwell had made the proper arrangements. The journey won¡¯t beforting, but it won¡¯t be arduous as you are thinking. ¡°I am d to hear that,¡± I replied. I felt a little relief from his words, but not too much. He is a career soldier and had marched through nearly every terrain. His standards might be much different from mine. Though, I will notin and will take it as another adventure. I only hope it will be ufortable, not dangerous. We were having breakfast when Le arrived and sat beside her us. Something about her felt different. I don¡¯t know what it is, but something is different. I didn¡¯t ask. Soon, we finished breakfast and followed the butler on the tour of the castle. Many of the areas are restricted, including the roof of the castle. I would have loved to see the city from the top to the top. He showed us various parts of the castle. The more I looked. The more impressed I would be with this ancient castle, which felt like it was still in its prime and one couldn¡¯t help but feel a sort of reverence toward it. It is likely due to the suppressive aura that is always covering you, reminding you that you are in its domain. Soon, we entered arge hall, which is filled with paintings and other stuff, including a wing of Ired Queen. ¡°Is it really a wing of Ired Queen?¡± asked Le as we stopped in front of a wing that is bigger than us. It is thin like an insect wing and sharp as a de; when the light fell on it, it seemed to reflect all the colors in the world. The wing had beauty in it but also felt dangerous. It is dangerous, considering it from being, who has S-ss powerhouses for lunch. Thankfully, it is sealed on the blue stone. ¡°Yes, it is a wing of Ired Queen that Seraphina The Valient had in,¡± said the butler. It is really hard to see anything from incursion. It is the only second thing I had saw from incursion. These things are dangerous and guarded for the safety of the public. Most of them were destroyed or used in years after the incursion. Very few have remained, and most of them are hidden and guarded. We looked at other things and before we know it; it was time to attend the farewell in the throne room. The herald announced us, and we entered the huge hall. In front of us is a huge, raised tform, on which Lord and Lady ckwell are sitting. In front of them are two rows of chairs, nearly all of which are filled by people from the military to civil officials and other important people like merchants and officials of the state. ¡°Lord ckwell, Lady ckwell,¡± They nodded, and we were led to our seats. ¡°The Oksall ruling council had passed the resolution to open another trade route to the Navr through the region of Renwell of the Harsoth Empire.¡± ¡°With it, we will get direct connectivity with two regions of Navr,¡± said Silus ckwell. I have read the news. Oksall is telling its citizens that they are trading with their trading partner Navr and only using the empire as the route through it. Though they mentioned there will be a slight trade with the empire, it was only a line on that whole page. The emperor had to open his mouth and say those nasty words. It had harmed the rtions, more than the attacks. People are merchant cities would swallow the attacks, but they have a hard time swallowing the words. Navr¡¯s horde attacks them, at least once a decade, and it only stopped the trade for a few months before resuming at full force. Things are changing now, depending on the trade. The Oksall would slowly open up to the Renwell and trade will resume, without restriction. Like we have with Meldhorn. It might take time, but it will happen. I am confident about that. ¡°The trade will prosper and with it, the city of Amberhold¡­¡± I could see the excitement in the eyes of Ss ckwell and couldn¡¯t help but wonder what he will do when the trade will rolling in the money. Amberhold is an important part of the trade, and it will benefit the most. Ss ckwell and his wife were able to do wonders with a small economy from farming and mining. I wonder what they will they able to do when big bucks will start to enter their coffers. I will be keeping an eye on them; to study. I saw the Amberhold being the best-managed city in Oksall and one of the best in the whole merchant states. There are many things I could learn from them. The speech continued, and I listen, but most of my focus was on the painting. It is arge painting, where a woman in a blue armored dress holding a shining bow and shooting arrows at therge monster. Not a monster, but Ired Queen; it is one graceful being of terror. Between them, two armies are fighting, one that had humans, orcs, elves, and many other races, while on the other side is the hive of Ired. Looking at it, I felt like I entered the battle, watching it with my own eyes. I was so engrossed by it that I lost track of the speech that Ss ckwell was giving. Thankfully, I was able toe out on my own at the end. ¡°I wish you best of the luck, my son; the blessing of all Amberhold citizens is with you,¡± he said and finished the speech. ¡°I will not disappoint you, my lord,¡± said Ignatius and kneeled before his parents. A few minutester, we walked out and in front of the castle, where a thousand men were standing in neat lines. Seven hundred and fifty on foot, while two hundred and fifty on the beasts. All of them are armored, with each having an enchanted weapon. These thousand people are 20% of the ckwell¡¯s army. It is hard to believe, but it is the truth. In the merchant state, individual lords couldn¡¯t keep an army of more than twenty-five thousand. The ckwells had the authority to keep ten thousand man''s army, but they only keep it five thousand. It is efficient and cost-saving. It is Oksall, that is responsible for the security. In empires and kingdoms, it is individual lords responsible for the security of their fiefs, but it is not the same case in merchant states. Here, many cities are run by nobles, and some have councils and governors to run them. The power of nobles is greatly halved here. First, they couldn¡¯t keep arge army, the security of their domain is the responsibility of the state. There is an army division of twenty-thousand people ced in the Oksall. Usually, the army stays in barracks and only controlled the gates of the city, but has an obligation to follow the lords¡¯ orders. The rest of the army only takes control of the city when it is in danger, or the lord asks for it. In peacetime, city guards are responsible for the security of the city, which is under the lord. Their numbers couldn¡¯t be countered in the army and have a separate quota for them. The lords here couldn¡¯t collect taxes from their fief; it is done by the state. The state then pays the percentage of it to the lord. In deciding the policy, they have autonomy, but they need to work under the framework of the state¡¯s constitution. They have also done away with hierarchical titles. There is only one title for the nobles here, and that is lord. There is no Baron, Count, or any other hierarchical title. The system is applied in all merchant states, with some variation. On the continent, it is the only ce that has this system. One could imagine the reaction the nobles will have if the king or emperor tries to do such a thing. The nobles will revolt and do that when the rulers try something like it. Not to mention, the hierarchical system works well in the favor of rulers. They do not have to pay for arge army and unless it is something that threatened the borders, the rulers could let the nobles handle their affairs. If anyone were to ask me which system I like the most, then my answer would be the merchant-states. Which I will not say in public ever; it will get me killed with charges of treason stuck on me. It is not a perfect system; there is too much-centralized control, but much better than a ssic hierarchical system of kingdoms and empires. The standard of living for people in merchant states is one of the highest. People here also have much greater rights here than anywhere on the continent. Most importantly, the nobles here could focus more on their people and territories, since conflicts and security are handled by the state. Amberhold is a great example of that. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 178: Attacked Chapter 178: Attacked Ignatius took a step forward as appeared in front of the army. ¡°Today is an important day; we will be moving to chart a path of prosperity for our city and the whole merchant states,¡± ¡°It is a great responsibility, but I am confident that we will seed,¡± he said, and the crowd cheered. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Ignatius, turning to us and we walked toward the beasts. Soon, I appeared beside the beast I will be riding. It is a blue horse, with thick hoves and a dense, soft coat. My sister and Baron Harrods sat on a simr horse, while Ignatius sat on a ck horse with a purple scale around its legs. I sat on the horse in one smooth motion, the other did the same, and soon we moved toward the gates. I felt the skills activating around me, some had covered me. Immediately, making the experience a littleforting. A few secondster, we passed through the gates and became part of something that I had only been a spectator. There are arge number of people on both sides of the streets cheering loudly. I had not expected this, and the thing is we are still on the hill. The proper city is down below, where more people seemed to have gathered. It all feels surreal, but I forced myself to sober up and move my hand close to my sword. If the enemies of the ckwell want to assassinate Ignatius, it is a great chance. With such arge crowd, they would be able to target him and get away. It is likely why the guards have moved a little closer to him and there is a presence of heavy guards among the crowd who are keeping them in control. Not letting them get too close. I looked at this novel experience and, to be honest, it felt good. Despite knowing, they are cheering for him, not me. Such a send-off is only reserved for the lord going to war oring in with victory, but there are some exceptions as well. Like this journey to Fort Renin, which had the potential to transform the destiny of the city. Speaking of the city, I wanted to explore it but didn¡¯t get a chance. I have heard so much about its parks and public buildings that are open to every citizen. The ckwell¡¯s had spent a huge amount of money on the public infrastructure. They had even reduced the size of the army to half. So, they would be able to spend more on the Amberhold and towns and viges that came under their territory. Which helped them to get their territory out of the destitute state. Soon, we came down the hill and, as I expected, the number of people increased. So much so that guards seemed like they were having a problem controlling the crowd. I have seen such things many times in my life sinceing here and I could see the people genuinely love the ckwells. Most of the time, people asked toe for such things, sometimes forced to. The love and respect needed to be earned. You didn¡¯t get it, just by inheriting the title. The ckwell¡¯s had earned it. Finally, we reached the city gates, where the crowd was dense, but arge number of guards were handling them efficiently. ¡°Your people adore you, Lord ckwell,¡± said Le as the whole force got out of the gates. ¡°It is my parents. I haven¡¯t done anything to earn their adoration,¡± he replied, with his cheeks flushing a little. A minuteter, we have ridden out of the gate, and in front of us was a snow and forest. We will have to travel through these snow-filled hills to reach the old fort. More skills were activated, and our pace increased. In a few minutes, the city seemed far, and it was getting further. The army is moving fast, in perfect discipline. The ckwell might not have arge force, but what they have is experience. In the past decade and a half, they have fought in every big battle merchant states had faced, including a horde of Navr. Unlike his father, Ignatius ckwell is a warrior. He had led his forces to the wars and is very good, especially when he has that thing in his hands. An hour passed and then another. Soon, it was three and a half hours since the march had begun, and we had reached thest vige. It is a small vige of about a hundred houses and they cheered, like all the other towns and viges we had passed through in the past three hours. If the trade flourishes, these ces going to benefit a lot. As the vige passed, we crossed into a proper forest, where there are no paved roads, but small trails. The people be more careful as we entered the forests. The scouts moved further in all directions and the guards surrounded ckwell and us more tightly. ¡°The wildness is really beautiful,¡± I said in wonder as we crossed through the small stream of crystalline water. ¡°It is,¡± replied the old man beside me. To be honest, I hadpletely forgotten about danger and the cold. Since we left the vige and entered the forest, I have been enjoying this mesmerizing beauty. Now, I could understand why my friends would go camping and spend nights in the environment. That could kill them if something went wrong. It is really beautiful, untouched by anyone, even the orc tribes live a little further. This area acts like a little buffer zone, with proper civilized Oksall and wild orc tribes. In a few weeks, arge number of people will descend here, and a road will be made for the trade, and even a few more viges and towns may pop up in a few years. It will only take a small part of this vast forest. They won¡¯t dare to build arge city in this area. At Fort Renin, maybe, but not here. Nobody wants to antagonize the monsters of the extreme magic region. If they started sending out the horde and nobody wants that. A few more hours passed, and we started toe across the tribes of orcs and currently, we were traveling very close to one. It is only a few hundred meters away; I could see the huts they live in and some orcs, who are watching us from the distance. There are a lot of orcs tribes. If a few of got together and attacked, they could potentially wipe us out, but even they have realized how idiotic that would be and had been warned about such actions. Currently, it is the tiny ckwell army, but if they did something, then the army of Oksall will descend and it will be merciless. ¡°The snow is getting heavy,¡± said Le. She is smiling as she gathered the snowkes in her hand. Only she is smiling. Everyone, be it Ignatius or Baron Harrods, or me, has serious expressions on our faces. Unlike her, we didn¡¯t practice the ice element or have any magic. ¡°Do you think the snow is going to increase, Lady Le?¡± asked Ignatius. ¡°Definitely; there is going to be a heavy snowfall in the night.¡± She replied, and his expression turned bad. ¡°Colonel Grennan, increase the pace,¡± he said to the orc-blood man. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± he affirmed and immediately, he fired orders, and a couple of secondster, our pace had increased. A few more hours passed, and it was evening. In a few more minutes, it is going to bepletely dark. Colonel Grennan suggested setting up camp earlier, but Ignatius want to push through, till we reach our decided spot. Thanks to the increased pace, we will be able to reach there in time. I would have loved to stop early, but both Ignatius and Baron Harrods think that it is better to stop at a predetermined ce. Soon, it had bepletely dark, and seeing there is no moon; the journey felt even more eerie. Especially with the snowfall getting heavier. While there might be no moon, there is no end to the light. Crystal torches had lit up, providing enough light for us to see around, but not enough that anyone will see us miles away. Not to mention cloaking skills have been activated. So, unless one is close, they won¡¯t be able to see us. Two more hours passed, and we finally stopped as we reached the ce. It is arge hill, and we are doing to set our camp there. It will make it easier for enemies to discover us, but hard for them if they attack us. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed in my heart as I got off the horse. The cramps are painful, so much so that I wanted to drink the potion, but I didn¡¯t and instead took deep breaths. Slowly, the pain subsided enough that I could walk around and did, to free up the muscles. The soldiers have begun securing the parameters and setting the camps. They had already removed the snow and put firestones on the ground to make the preparations for the cooking. Everything is happening smoothly and efficiently. ¡°ckwell¡¯s forces are quite well trained,¡±mented Baron Harrods, as we sat on the makeshift bench. ¡°Hope, they are just as good as defending. If any enemy came at us,¡± I replied. To which he smiled. Soon, an hour passed, and dinner was ready. We were all served on a makeshift table, with arge cloth hanging above us to protect against the snowfall. It is increasing every hour and if it kept increasing as such; it will make the journey tomorrow very difficult. ¡°Will the snowfall continue tomorrow?¡± I asked. ¡°Very likely,¡± replied Le, and I sighed. ¡°I am d we had brought enough cold-resistant potions. If the need arises, we will use them,¡± said Ignatius. The dinner was simple, but it was hot. They added drops of cold resistance potion in it, which made it even better. After dinner, Ignatius held a small meeting for tomorrow¡¯s journey and looked at the security arrangement before going back to his tent. I have gone to mine. It is a small tent, made of monster hide. Which keeps everything inside warm. I had removed my winter coat but didn¡¯t remove the light armor I was wearing. It will be ufortable to sleep in it, but I will bear it for my safety. After putting my sword beside me, I closed my eyes to sleep. It seemed like the journey had tired me more than I had thought. Even wearing the armor, I fell asleep within seconds. ¡°Mr. Silver, wake up!¡± I was in a deep sleep when a powerful hand shook me awake with a loud voice. I opened my eyes immediately and gripped my sword. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked Jon. ¡°Bandits, a lot of them,¡± he replied. I shuddered, before quickly calmed myself and got up. The first thing I did was drink the cold resistance potion. ¡°You have all your potions, right?¡± I asked him. I have given all of them potions, from healing to cold resistance. Not only that, but they are also wearing the enchanted armor. The gear had cost a lot, but I didn¡¯t want to be unprepared for whatever danger we might face here, especially after what I had sufferedst time, and it seemed like it was a right bet. ¡°Yes,¡± He replied and got out of the tent. I followed behind him and saw what was happening; it made me shudder for a moment. Around me, the army was in position around the camp. Baron Harrods and my sister are with Ignatius ckwell, and all of them are looking at the tide of peopleing toward the hill from all directions. Seeing those numbers, horror couldn¡¯t help but filled my heart. ¡°They have at least double our numbers,¡± I whispered. ¡°Nearly triple,¡± replied Stone behind me. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 179: Bow of Valor Chapter 179: Bow of Valor ¡°What did our agent say?¡± asked the Orc. ¡°Everything is the ce, all the tools have been delivered to them and also the information, along with the strategy,¡± replied the middle-aged man, and the orc just looked. ¡°With the triple number and all the bandit leaders, they shouldn¡¯t have any problem killing him. If they failed, then ourst option would finish the job,¡± he added, and Orc nodded. ¡°How are our agents in the Amberhold?¡± he asked. ¡°They are ready in their position; the moment we get the confirmation of Ignatius¡¯s death, they will move for Silus and his wife,¡± replied the middle-aged. ¡°I really hope you have prepared everything well. It is thest chance I have. If we failed, I would lose a fortune, but you will lose a chance to ever be a Lord ckwell,¡± said the Orc. ¡°It will not happen. With the preparations we have made, we will seed and have the wealth that wille with it,¡± he said, but instead of agreeing with his words, Orc¡¯s eyes turned sharp. Immediately, he realized his mistake and opened his mouth to apologize. ¡°I do not care about wealth. I have enough of it. I want what that ce has, and you better not forget it,¡± warned the Orc, with sparks of anger floating in his eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t forget my promise, Merchant Lord. The moment I be Lord ckwell, you will have that ce,¡± he said and the anger on the Orc''s face disappeared, reced with a big smile. ¡°You better remember that,¡± said the Orc and disappeared through the hidden way. ¡­ Triple. Stone¡¯s voice rang aloud in my mind as I looked at therge number of peopleing toward the hill. Most of them are on the foot, but many of them are on the beasts. Coming toward the hill fast and hard. They want to strike fast with their numbers and end the battle quickly as possible. As for who these people are, it was not hard to guess. The bandits. Though it is hard to believe that they would attack a noble on an official mission and, more importantly, work together in such arge number. Most bandit groups didn¡¯t have arge number of people. Only the big one has such numbers and ording to the formation, they all seemed to take each other, but here they are working together. It must have taken quite a lot of effort to make all of them work together. Of course, they are doing it because someone had told them. The bandits might be daring, but they are not idiots. They wouldn¡¯t have taken such risks if someone had paid them to do it. They must have paid them handsomely. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have set aside their differences and worked together. I looked around the hill and saw Shaun and Z, within the army. She is talking with my sister, who had a staff in her hand, and is looking at the banditsing toward us. I didn¡¯t go toward them and nned to stay far away as possible. Especially from ckwell, who is without a doubt their target. Staying far as possible is the wise choice in the scenario. ¡°Now!¡± My sister shouted, and her staff lit up, along with the staff of many mages. A momentter, arge snowball begins to form in front of them. It took seconds to form snowballs. The biggest ones in front of my sisters; hers are bigger than me and when they descend the hill, they will be dangerous to the bandits. ¡°Release,¡± she ordered, and all snowballs begin to descend toward the bandits, who had just reached near the base of the hill. As the snowballs descended. They started to be terrifying. They gathered momentum and started collecting more snow, more than they would normally collect, especially the snowballs of my sister. Those twelve snowballs are rapidly growingrger. If that was not enough, new snowballs are forming around the hills, right after they released the first set. ¡°Release,¡± shemanded and releasing the second set of snowballs and the third beginning to form. ¡°Mages are terrifying when they are in their element,¡± said Jon, looking at my sister, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. The snowden mountain and the heavy snow are advantageous to my sister. She could harness the element against her enemies, by only using a small amount of her mana. Z also had a small advantage in this environment. She specializes in water elemental spells, which had great synergy with ice. She also knew some ice elemental spells. ¡°Release!¡± Ordered Le, and the third set of snowballs spiraled toward the bandits. The first batch of giant snowballs reached the bandits, who had already slowed down seeing the snowballsing toward them. Hun! As they were only a few meters away from striking, the bandits, a sh of lights, appeared through them, and snowballs begin to explode one after another. With than thirty snowballs going toward the bandits, only seven of them remained. These sevens hit the bandits, but the loss was small. These seven snowballs went through the ces where the number of bandits was small. ¡°It seemed like they havee prepared,¡± I said, looking at how coordinated their response was. The bandits had slowed down but didn¡¯t stop despite the snowballsing at them. They crushed the second set of snowballs, with a minimum loss, reaching the base of the hill, when the set tranche of snowballs went at them. ¡°Archers attack!¡± ordered ckwell, who had been only watching silently till now. Immediately, a hundred archers raised their bows and started shooting arrows. At the same time, a green bow appeared in his hand, and he pulled its string. A green energy arrow formed in the bow and shot out of it, as he released the string. The Bow of Valient. Artifact of the House ckwell, the same bow used by Seraphina the Valiant to y the Ired Queen. The bow is green with a beautiful design of purple vine painted on it. In front of it, there are three holes, one in the middle and the other two on each side. Some say it is a relic and only had a power of artifact, because those three gems are missing. I take those things with a grain of salt. Relics are extremely rare, so much, so that in the whole empire, there are only two of them and both are in the hands of the imperial family. Merchant-States have a few more, but they are rarely used in battle and not anyone could use them. After he finished with the first arrow and heunched the second one, just as fast as the third. The other archers also begin tounch the barraged of arrows, using various skills, but nothing couldpare to the green arrows. Artifacts aren¡¯t desired and feared for anything. They are terrifying tools of war that nobody wants to face. As the arrows shot through the bows, the bandits revealed their cards too and it is a kind of surprising. They took out the enchanted ck shields, and the line of it formed to defend their mages and archers. I felt something from the shields and to see clearly; I took out the bulky sses that looked like steampunk vr and wore them. The runes on it activated, and the small bandits be big in an instant. They looked like they were only tens of meters away from me. The moment I saw the bandits clearly; I was shocked. Those shields are not normal enchanted shields but tripled enchanted shields. They are insanely expensive, and unlike normal enchanted weapons that one could get easily. As these weapons are powerful, not to mention they are difficult to make. The bandits moved ahead with their shields; seeing even the green arrows from the artifact have been stopped by them, but it is an enchanted weapon for nothing. While other arrows weren¡¯t even able to put even the faintest mark on them; the green arrows put a dent. ¡°Change the target, attack the unguarded bandits,¡± ordered Ignatius, while continue shooting at those hiding behind the shields. They are leaders and important people. They defended and destroyed thest set of snowballs and shifted to defend against the arrows. Most of them defended, but some stuck, injuring and killing the bandits. A few arrows and spells came from the bandits but weren¡¯t able to do anything. A few seconds passed and all the bandits begin to climb the hill. The archers intensified their attacks, killing many bandits, and that is when Ignatius got his first kill. I don¡¯t know how he did it exactly since the person was hiding behind the shield, but he killed them. It might be just his ability, a skill, something from the artifact, or all three. What matters, he killed an important bandit. After the first kill, he was able to take out the people behind the shield every few seconds, but quickly others would take their ce. These bandits came prepared and seemed to know quite a lot about ckwell and his people, seeing the way they are responding. It is not surprising. If those from behind could provide them with such expensive enchanted weapons. There is no doubt they would have provided them with the information. Which is bad, because in battle, information is extremely helpful. Especially one about numbers, sses, levels, and skills. Effective nning could defeat a stronger foe with arge number. The bandits have arger number than us and a lot of captains are powerful. I gripped my sword tightly, looking at these bandits. It is going to be a bloody battle and we might get wiped out. I need to be ready for anything, even something shameful, like running away or surrendering, depending on the conditions. Soon, the bandits reached halfway up the hill and we were able to kill a few hundred of them, but it didn¡¯t seem to affect them. They even seemed happy. As if expecting more of them to die. The bandits have covered the hill from all directions; not leaving a space for even a single person to pass. We are killing them, but the moment we did. Someone would take their ce. It is frustrating to see their endless numbers. I am feeling scared, and doubts spreading in my heart, which I crushed resolutely. This is no time to doubt, they are enemies, and I am going to kill them, till myst breath. They came closer, and now only a hundred meters remained between the bandits at us. With such distance, they could charge at us, and, seeing how their bodynguage is changing, they are preparing to do just that. I had prepared myself when I saw my sister, who was standing without doing anything, gently tapped the ground with her staff. Hun! The icy crystal on her staff lit up and a wave of ice-white energy spread through it and what happened shocked me as much as it had shocked the bandits. The snow on which they were walking copsed from all sides and it had very fast, surprising me again. I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if it had been a mountain. Where it is easy to cause an avnche, due to their steepness and gravity, hills arepletely different things. What impressed me most is that she did it without getting discovered by the mages of the enemy and that requires real skill. It seemed like I had underestimated my sister a lot. ¡°All archers, released!¡± Ignatius ordered, and soldiers, who were standing with their swords, buried their hands in the snow and took their bows and quivers in quick motions. They fixed the arrows in bows and started shooting the bandits, many of which fell back and disbnce. All their formation copsed like a house of cards, bing a live target for I watched all in shock as since we had left the city. I thought we had only a hundred archers, but he had brought two hundred. He disguised them as warriors and hid their bows in the snow to be used at the right moment. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 180: Battle On The Hill I Chapter 180: Battle On The Hill I Charge! The bandits roared as the snow copsed under their feet, destroying their formation. ¡°Archers, mages, attack them with everything you have,¡± ordered Ignatius, calmly. Till now, the mages have been mostly silent. Only a few had acted, but now their staffs lit up and power hummed in the air. A momentter, the spells rained down upon the bandits. Like beautiful, terrifying destruction, which mesmerized and horrified me at the same time. All types of spells are being cast by mages. Ice Lances from my sister. Hydro Burst from Z, Wind des from Shaun, Acid Strikes, Fireballs, Light Missile, and many other spells. So many that I couldn¡¯t even name some. It is not just the mages who are attacking, but also the archers. They are using every skill they have that made the distance between them and the bandits covered in arrows. The best of them is Ignatius ckwell. He let go of single steady arrows. Now three magic arrows are forming on his bow at every moment, and he is shooting them at the bandits at a speed, I couldn¡¯t even see. Most importantly, his arrows are finding the target. Unlike before, most of the arrows are now finding the target. The copse of snow had destroyed their formation and opened the holes in their defense, which he is targeting. The bandit had recovered themselves and now charging toward us fast. They didn¡¯t try to regroup, and that is a wise choice. These bandits have never worked together, and don¡¯t know how to do that on a big scale like this. If they try, they will end up wasting time, giving our archers and mages more time to shoot them. I watched the bodies of bandits falling at every step. Their archers are attacking and mages casting the spells, but they are not coordinated as us, and most focus is on defending. It is why not a single one of us was injured while we have killed hundreds of them. If I were to guess, I think, we have killed around four to five hundred. I feel no joy at that. We are still in very much danger. They still have more than twice the number and more high-level people than us. The only thing we have is a highly experienced disciplined army, which is well-equipped. A few seconds passed, and mages and archers begin to retreat in the line. Half of the archers have put back their bows and joined the ranks with the warriors, while the rest of them retreated further, but kept shooting. Z and Shaun had also returned close to me. It couldn¡¯t help but made me feel relieved. Seeing suchrge bandits, I am worried. With them returning, I feel a little more secure than before. As bandits came close, my sister took out her real weapon. It is a beautiful broadsword. Its de looked like it is carved out of ice and had a mural of dancing ice spirits on it. It has a red stony grip and an icy blue gem at its pommel. That sword is named Ikira. The house has brought it for an extremely high price. It is not an artifact, but a weapon that is closest to what we could forge at this age. It is a powerful mage weapon, and she is very good at using it. In a few seconds, I will see how good she is with it. The bandits are about to crash into them, but Ignatius didn¡¯t retreat. He remained on the first line with the others, despite knowing he was a target of all the bandits. It might seem like bravery, but to me, it feels like a total idiocy. Not because I don¡¯t think he didn¡¯t have strength. He has, and I know, he is hiding more, but still, being in front will put more strain on people around him. Thankfully, he is surrounded by powerful people. My sister, Baron Harrods, Colonel Grennan, and two mages, one of whom had yet to cast any spells. The roaring bandits finally crashed against the first line, and it was furious. They are angry and they are channeling it all against the ckwell and his army. The first line had stopped the bandits and moved their weapons against them in a practiced manner. Killing and injuring many bandits within a second. It is a blood scene that made me shudder. It is a simple brutal efficiency with discipline. It didn¡¯t feel like they were people, but death-reaping machines. I looked at the army before turning to its lord. Ignatius shot the bandit at point ck range, creating a bloody hole through half-orcs eyes, before defending against the sword attack with his bow and shooting another arrow, killing the attacker. It is great when you don¡¯t have to nock physical arrows in the bow. Though the physical arrows could be nocked, he is seeing no need to do that. As the bandits crashed, they begin to push against us in high numbers, but there is limited space, and the first line guarding it tightly, without a w. They have be a cutting machine, killing the bandits as they came. ¡°The forces are trained well and experienced. Even back home, they would have won, praise,¡± said Stone beside me. He and Jon are beside me, watching while Z and Shaun would cast the spells at the bandits. ¡°I hope they can stop bandits in the first line,¡± I said with hope, but all four of them smiled hearing that. ¡°That is possible, but I don¡¯t think Lord ckwell would use that strategy. The losses will be huge,¡± ¡°The killing circle is a better strategy. Let the bandits enter inside and grind them to them,¡± said Stone. I sighed and looked at my sister, kill another bandit. She had decapitated him with her sword before sending ice daggers into the eyes of another bandit through the edge of her sword. That expect moment, an arrow came at her, and she defended it with a frost shield, before attacking the archer with frost daggers. It seemed like there was no way to get her; every side of her is protected, including the top. Where she had impaled the assassin with the icence. As for the old man beside her, he is a killing machine. There is shiny magic in him, like my sister. It is all grace, gotten through the experience. I could see it clearly, unlike Ignatius and my sister, whose moves are so fast that it is a blur. The old man is not like that. His every move he is making is visible, but despite that, his enemies can¡¯t seem to dodge any of them. ¡°Is he even using the skills?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, but the most basic ones,¡± answered Stone, and it couldn¡¯t surprise me. If he is so powerful when using the basic skills, then what he would be when he starts to use his real skills? There is also one question in mind. His ss, the ruling ss, to be specific. The ruling sses are different. They work a little differently. I know he got the ss; Count had told me himself, but now the question is whether he got through the advancement of his main ss, or he got it like a new ss. If he got the noble ss through advancement from the main ss, then it would be best. He is above Lv. 30, and he would have levels if he got through the advancement of his main ss. While some of the levels will disappear, due to the nature of ruling sses but still, the upgrade will be huge. His power will increase, and his skill be upgraded, bing far more powerful than before. If he got the ruling ss as a new ss, then he will have to start from zero, like every new ss. Merging it with his main ss wouldn¡¯t happen till he takes his ruling ss to Lv. 10 or even Lv. The second option is moremon than the first among the new nobles. I am d he is here and seeing him fighting. I am having more confidence in our chances of winning the battle. A minute passed, and the battle has be even more intense. The bandits are trying to breach in while the forces are trying to hold them back. The weapons are shing everywhere and so are the spells flying. The enemy spellcasters are casting the spells, and they areing from above. We may not have as much as men as the bandits, but we have enough mages to deal with every spell they cast. Shaun and Z also doing their best, casting both offensive and defensive spells to help. Z had even cast a few healing spells on the men fighting in the first line, who had received injured. The first line was so swamped that they couldn¡¯t even drink the potion. It is a good thing Ignatius hade prepared and brought five clerics with him. They are casting healing spells all over. ¡°Be ready, Mr. Silver; they are going to let the bandits in,¡± warned Stone, and two and half secondster, the soldiers separated perfectly and let the tides of bandits enter the small hilltop. While the top of the hill ttened and big, but not enough to hold three to four thousand people. Two thousand will be the limit of what it could hold. The bandits entered like a tide, and my guards reinforced their position. Z and Shaun were already casting the spells while Jon and Stone waited for them toe closer. ¡°As expected, Lord ckwell is their target,¡± said Jon, and I could see it too, and the army had also predicted it. All the bandits that had entered are trying to move toward Ignatius, but the army had made it too hard to do it. Bandits will need to crush the whole army if they want to rush toward Ignatius. It forced them to change their strategy. Themon bandits stopped moving toward Ignatius and started attacking anyone that wasing their way. The leaders, on the other hand, didn¡¯t change their way and focused on Ignatius. It is very easy to recognize them, with their weapons and power. ¡°They areing,¡± said Shaun, as the tide of hundreds of bandits came toward us. People around me got read and also me my guards. They have already started attacking the tide. There are some mages in there, but they are weak, the stronger ones have gone for Ignatius. I am fully focused on what ising to me, with only survival in my mind. I have to survive. I will kill anyone that stands in the path of me and my survival. Soon, the bandits were only a few meters away from me when a blueyer covered me. At the same time, I begin to feel the effects of tens of skills on me, each one with a tiny effect, but together, they are strong. The surrounding soldiers activated their army skills and added me to it. I couldn¡¯t help but feel grateful for every aspect of my strength that begin to enhance, from my speed and strength to my senses. All of them have received boosts from their skills. The bandits that came are powerful, with their average strength being Lv. 15 and, like me, they have also been boosted by the army skills, but their greatest advantage is their numbers. They have more than twice our numbers. I will need to be extremely careful in dealing with them. A mistake, I will die and not even my guards would be able to save me. Finally, the bandits are in front of me. It is a grey orc, wearing light armor and having a great sword in his hand. His eyes are bloodied and his expression maddening. He is already feeling the bloodlust and there might even be skill involved in it; it will make things even more difficult. ¡°Die, human!¡± It roared as he reached me and swung that great sword toward me. I activated the Rapid Legs and moved toward him. He got surprised by that, and increased the power behind his attacks. That is when I increased my speed further and moved sharply left, dodging the attack, before moving right and appearing in right front of it. I immediately activated the Quick de and attacked. He tried to dodge the attack, seeing my rapiering at his neck, and retreated with his speed skill, but I followed, while my sword moved closer and closer, before finally reaching his neck. Slice! It cut through the leather covering before cutting his neck cleanly. Sorry for not updating yesterday, was not feeling well. Chapter 181: Battle On The Hill II Chapter 181: Battle On The Hill II Hun! I didn¡¯t even get a moment to rx as I killed the Orc bandit when two attacks came at me from the opposite side. I immediately ducked down and moved right with everything I have, dodging the attack by inches, before getting up and attacking the human bandit to my right. ng! He defended, giving me a buzzing shock to my arm, but I bore the pain and moved left to defend against the attacking from the half-orc. Which I did, but soon, the human bandit attacked again. I dodged by moving right, but quickly moved left to dodge the attack from the half-orc. These bandits are not weak, and they are careful seeing how I killed the first bandit. I kept dodging the attacks, as I had trained for since thest bandit incident, and it seemed to work very well. I am dodging every attack. Though the range I am dodging them is quite ufortable. Still, I am dodging the attacks without getting injured is already a miracle, seeing both of them are stronger and more experienced than me. Seconds passed, and I kept dodging and the more I dodged. The better I would be, and it is frustrating my enemies, who are using every skill, they have in their arsenal to kill me. Now! More than a minute passed, and I dodged another attack by ducking down when I saw the opportunity and took it, without hesitation. I jumped toward the human bandit. I could jump quite high, with abination of Gymnasts Grace and Rapid Legs. The bald human bandit was rmed, seeing me doing it. Opening myself to him,pletely, it made him grin for a moment before he realized where his sword was and how fast I am moving. I have trained hard to survive in the battle. Dodging the attacks is a main part of that, but what helped the most is killing the enemy. I am using a perilous maneuver, but I have no other choice. These two have been swarming me with attacks. If they keep doing that, one of them will hit me hard, and I will be finished. Not to mention the number of bandits is increasing. If I keep dodging, the number of people I am fighting might increase and I do not capability to handle them, given my level. My guards are already helping me a lot, dealing with a lot of banditsing at me, but they couldn¡¯t stay too close to me, seeing they are being swarmed. Bandit leaders havee to deal with them, seeing how they were massacring the bandits. Puch! I appeared close to the bandit, and directly put my sword into his eyes. He had tried to defend his face with his armguards, but the enchantments of my rapier lit up and pierced my sword into the whole arm, before going through his eyes. Slice! I pushed my legs on his chest and used it to fall down and while I was doing that; I was attacked by a half-orc, who gave me a cut on my back. I tried to dodge, climbing over the falling body of the bandit, but couldn¡¯t defend fully from the attack. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed loudly in my heart as I felt the blinding pain that brought tears to my eyes. The bandit used a pain skill and its exceptionally powerful, giving me a simr level of pain that instructor David¡¯s skill does. It is the only reason; I am thinking straight and not screaming in pain. ¡°Die!¡± screamed the half-orc andunched another attack and this, I couldn¡¯t remain on my spot, or I will be killed. Thud! So, I jumped from the falling body, using it as leverage, andnded in the middle of another battle, where I made an instant decision and swung my sword at the orc, who had just dealt with the attack of the soldier. Slice Pachak! My sword moved fast and cut through the hand of the orc, and I turned, before swinging my sword to decapitate him. I killed the orc, while the soldier stopped the attack of a human bandit he was fighting. The head of the orc hadn¡¯tnded on the ground when the half-orc had reached me, with anger raging in his eyes. ng! ¡°Bastard, you will pay for what you did!¡± roared the half-orc and attacked me, but I dogged it andunched an attack of my own, which he defended and attacked again. I dodged. Dodging is much better than defending against a powerful enemy like him. It also irritates them the most, which is another plus point. ¡°Try harder or I will send you where I sent your friends,¡± I taunted. It red but remained quiet. Though he is angry and is using everything, he has to kill me. I dodged every attack while observing his every move and skill. He had a good skill, but the one that impressed me the most is his pain skill, which is still giving me hell-like pain. It is like someone had poured chili powder on the wound. I wanted to lie down on the ice under my feet and let the cold of it numb the pain. Four and a half minutes passed, and we were still fighting. It is still attacking me, and I am attacking him while dodging the attack. ¡®I think I should take a chance,¡¯ I thought as I attacked again, which he defended and attacked me. Though, I don¡¯t know what benefit I will receive after killing him. Currently, it seemed like he is being alive would be better than him being dead. He is providing me shields; all new bandits that woulde in would go to the soldiers, seeing us fighting. If I killed him, other bandits woulde, and they might be more powerful than him. Not to mention, taking a chance against him,e with risks of its own. I could die. I looked around me and decided to take the chance. I have to do my part. I couldn¡¯t act selfish and keep hanging on to the single enemy, while people around me, fought to death to kill the bandits. Immediately, I changed my fighting style, and it became more daring. I begin to push hard against the half-orc, targeting his weakness that I had learned. It grinned at first, but soon his expressions be serious. After, I havee close to injuring him, a couple of times. Hun! A few seconds passed, and I was about to try the risky maneuver to finish him off, when I saw another half-orcing at me from behind and moved sharply left to dodge the attack. Rip! I dodged the attack, but not fully, as it cut through my sleeve, giving me a cut across my arm. Thankfully, the cut is not too deep. ¡°It is my prey. You could go find yours,¡± said the first half-orc, ring at the second half-orc that appeared. ¡°I will not,¡± replied the second half-orc and came at me with speed skill, which is as fast as mine, while the first half-orc hadunched the attack from the other side. I moved three steps left and right, two steps, dodging both of the attacks by inch difference. They didn¡¯t waste any time ining at me again and the way they did it. It is clear they have fought together many times before and that is bad news for me. It is already difficult for me to handle one of them and now I am going to fight those who have good synergy. Slice! ¡°This one is slippery,¡± said the second half-orc, as he injured me in the thigh. I was able to dodge it on time or it would have taken a bone and that would have been a death of me. The second one is faster than me, making it quite hard for me to dodge his attacks. Not that I have any other choice. My guards are busy dealing with a swarm of bandits attacking them. Still, they would kill most banditsing in my direction. Several minutes passed and I kept dodging the attacks. Though it is costing me a lot; injuries have appeared all over my body. Thankfully, one of the soldiers seemed to have a rare hemostatic skill. It is a rare skill, and they have it on army type, which makes it even more rare and the reason, I am not bleeding to death. There are a lot of injuries on my body, but I am bleeding. The hemostatic skill had stopped the blood froming out of the injuries. The way I am fighting is not good. I couldn¡¯t keep receiving the injuries, I need to kill them, or they will kill me. I have an idea. These two may be good at working together, but they hate each other. So much that they wouldn¡¯te, less than a meter away from each other. Many times, they have let go of many attacking opportunities. Whatever happened between them must be pretty intense to not be within one meter of each other, especially the first half-orc. I didn¡¯t believe it at first when I saw it, but I confirmed it several times. I am pretty sure, it is a real, not some ruse on their part. If it is, then I am sure they must have a good level in their acting sses. I decided to take the risk and started to move ording to the n, which is to do it slow, without letting them suspect anything. They are bandits, not fools. A minute passed, and I have them where I want them. It took some effort to bring them close, but I was able to do it. The second banditunched an attack, and I dodged it. Instead of dodging from the left, I moved back toward the first bandit, who I am sure, has a smile appearing on his face, seeing me finallying to him to die. The second bandit stopped, while the first bandit¡¯s sword had reached so close to me that I felt all the hair on my body stand. Anyone watching me would surely see me walking into the mouth of death on my own. There may be a few inches of distance between his sword and me when I pressed my legs down and moved forward with everything I have. I harnessed every bit of power my skills could provide and harnessed it through my legs as I ran toward the second half-orc bandit. Slice! I felt the sword of the first bandit across my neck, giving me a cut on it. If I reacted a momentte, my head would have been flying in the air right now. The second bandit was surprised, seeing meing at him, and reacted immediately, but still, it was slow. PUCH! His attack couldn¡¯t pick a speed before I appeared in front of him and pierced my sword into his heart with Quick de and Weighted Strike. Killing him instantly. Its fading eyes looked at me with shock, and I am a little shocked, too. The whole n depended on him assuming I would die at the hands of the first bandit and thus rxed his guards, and that cost him his life. ¡°NO!¡± Screamed the bandit behind me and when I turned back, I saw it frozen in shock and with immense grief. A momentter, it turned into a bubbling rage. ¡®Oh,¡¯ I thought. I had thought they were friends and had a falling out, but it seemed like, I had been a little wrong in my assumption. ¡°I will kill you!¡± roared the bandit and came at me with all the anger in the world. I also moved at him. Slice! It took me a moment to appear in front of his de, due to the short distance between us, before I spun. Feeling his sword on my neck a second time in less than five seconds. In my training, I was able to delve deep into Gymnasts Grace. It is an amazing skill, capable of helping users to take their bodies to the limit. Like real gymnasts do. Ipleted spin and attacked the half-orc bandit. Seeing that, all the anger left his eyes and rm shed in his eyes, which turned to horror, but it couldn¡¯t do anything. As its sword is moving in the opposite direction and dodging is not possible, with how close I am. Pachack My sword touched his neck before cutting it cleanly. I could see the hate and unwillingness in his fading eyes as his head crashed toward the ground. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 182: Gruesome Chapter 182: Gruesome ¡®If this goes on, we all will get killed,¡¯ I defended against the arrow of ckwell. which put a small dent in my sword. The damage would have been even greater. If there hadn¡¯t been, Damage Reduction on my sword. There are a couple of small dents that have already appeared on my sword, all from the fucking arrows of ckwell. Which had killed many of my men, including two of my lieutenants. This task wasn¡¯t supposed to be this difficult, especially when we were able to pull up such a huge number. I had thought we would simply swarm the enemy¡¯s army and our target before killing them, but it is we who are getting killed. I looked at Leryn beside me, and she looked at me. The half-elf had the same question as I have. ¡®Why the support, hadn¡¯t arrived yet?¡¯ Only Leryn, Herman, and I knew about the extra support. When the masked man told me about it. I had got offended and still am, for him to not believe in our abilities. Now, I want the support toe as soon as possible. Though I would be the one who will kill the ckwell and get that bow. It said the bow will return after its user died. That didn¡¯t change my mind about getting it. I have contacted a few people, and they have given me a few things. They say they might be able to hold the bow back. The reward they offered me in exchange for it is so huge that I could live my whole life in luxury. Most importantly, they are willing to provide me with safe heaven and they are powerful enough to do it. I am not the only one who has eyes for the bow. Leryn and Herman both want it. Herman especially, since he is an archer. If anyone can get the bow, then it would be me and I will kill anything that came my way. ckwell, Herman, Leryn, and anyone else. Puch! I was just thinking that when an ice dagger materialized out of nowhere above me and stuck in the eyes of the assassin. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed and stepped aside to avoid the falling body. If ckwell, the half-orc colonel, and that old man weren¡¯t enough, this human bitch had also started to make things difficult, and of the four of them, she was the most difficult to guard against. Information had been provided about her by the masked man, but it was vastly underestimated her strength. She is far stronger than what her information had said, especially with that sword. Her sword moves in different directions and spells came out from another. I had gone for her, but came back to ckwell a minuteter. It is frustrating to fight against her. When attacking, the frost shields would appear in front and when I destroyed them, I would find a barrage of ice spearsing at me, with her appearing behind me with that icy sword. I want that sword. Unlike the artifact of ckwell. It didn¡¯te with any risks. I could sell to anyone I want. It is why many people want it. Especially Lyria. She had the highest mages in her group. I suspect she is a mage too, despite her denying, not being one. Hun! I defended against another arrow of ckwell when I noticed something that rmed me. ¡°Jerra, retreat!¡± I shouted, and he acted immediately. For a moment, relief flooded into my eyes, before once again they widened in rm and turned to horror, as the old man cut my strongest lieutenant into two. ¡°Bastard!¡± I cursed at the old man but didn¡¯t go at him. I wish that bastard Karguk had been here. I hated the bastard to death and celebrated when he was killed, but he had been here. We wouldn¡¯t have been in such a condition. Even the masked man had said, with Karguk. This would have been much simple. The bastard had the Red Skill. The madding rage he brought out with that skill, the skill was terrifying. I had fought against him, and despite having five times less numbers. The bastard had decimated half of my men. Now, I only hope; the support came in time. I don¡¯t want to leave without getting my hands on that artifact. ¡­. Puch! I ducked the saber attack at thest moment before piercing my sword into the chest of the bandit. She died immediately, with shock in her eyes. As I killed her, I moved immediately and dodged the attack of the bandit from behind. It had nearly touched me. About an hour has passed since I had started fighting and I had killed eleven bandits till now. More in the second half of the hour, as I changed my fighting style. I had let go of all my reservations and begin to use every skill, I had to its limit and found my speed getting faster and my attacks stronger. Though, one skill that is helping me most is the Gymnasts Grace. It is an amazing skill. Without the freedom to maneuver, the way I want; I wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill so many bandits. It is not easy, and I have to push myself hard. Harder than I had pushed myself in the practice. I dodged another attack from the bandit before attacking him. I nned to finish him off before another join. That would be difficult. Killing the bandits is not easy, given the difference in strength between us. So, I study them; their skills and test them, by giving them a few openings before making my move. It is a wise strategy. If I go directly for the kill, I will be killed. Bing part of the bodies I had been stepping on. The bandits are getting killed fast, and their bodies have littered the ground. The number of bodies has increased so much that I am standing on them to fight. The dead bodies covered nearly all the surface of the hill, that it had been minutes since I stepped on real ground. It is horrifying, and I want to run away, but that is not an option. I will have to fight till the battle ends. There is a chance of it happening, sooner rather thanter, seeing how fast the bandits are getting killed. The forces of ckwell are too well trainedpared to the bandits who are fractured. These groups hate each other and have no coordination. It is why they are getting killed by an experienced and disciplined army of the ckwell. It is drowning their morale, which is the most important thing for an army, as important as the levels and sometimes even more important than it. I could feel the plummeting morale of bandits. It was high when they had first attacked, but slowly it begins to lose steam and now, I even saw many bandits running away from the battle. I couldn¡¯t me them; why would they fight, when their leaders are dead? There are tens of bandit groups who have taken part in the battle and many of them have died. Ignatius and others are killing them, one by one. They seemed to be no match for them, despite their numbers. Though the bandits are powerful, the people Ignatius has brought are not weak either. Colonel Greenman, four captains, and twelve lieutenants were all very experienced and leading them deftly. Aside from them, there are many other people who are over Lv. 20 and most of them are around Ignatius. At first, the bandits had an edge with their greater numbers of powerhouses, but they are getting killed steadily. That some of them have started fighting defensively. ng! I defended with my sword and nearly threw it away; the handle of my sword seemed to have heated up so much that I felt my hand burning, but I held on. Is not burning, but I am feeling the pain. It is the skill of ugly blond hair bandit, I am fighting. It is the second pain skill I felt here. This one is even more powerful than thest one. Others may have it, but didn¡¯t get to use it on me, as I had focused on dodging instead of countering. ¡°You should run away, you know. We will win the battle and when that happens, you will be executed or something worse might happen to you,¡± I said to the bandit. ¡°I will never run away. It¡¯s you who should fear for your life because I am going to kill you,¡± it said with a grin, and attacked me again. ¡°You said those words five minutes ago, but aside from three minor injuries, you were not able to do anything,¡± I taunted, making him even angrier. ¡°You are too amateur to get a rise out of me, little boy,¡± he said and intensified his attacks with the differentbinations of skills. He has quite a goodbination of skills. One is even an illusion-type attack, which is hard to defend against. Those three injuries I have got from him, given to him by that attack. Once again, his de disappeared in the mid attack, and I let my instincts guide me and move left. As always, I had been right, as I felt the wind pass my shoulder before the de materialized. It is a rare skill to have, even at Level 20. I don¡¯t know if this person in front of me is Level 20. If he is not, then he is definitely close, at least Level 18 or Level 19. Ting! A minute passed, and his sword hit the armor I was wearing. It had happened many times. If I hadn¡¯t been wearing it, I would have been dead already. ¡°The armor set will look quite good on me,¡± said the bandit, looking at my armor greedily. He is not the first to look at my armor with greed. Many bandits wanted it. It had been hidden under my clothes, but as they got torn by the attacks. It had be visible, attracting even more bandits at me. A few seconds passed; it attacked again, which I had dodged when a sudden change urred. It was unlike anything; he had done till now. Hun! He became fast, faster than he had been in our fight in the past few minutes. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but get rmed and moved to retreat, but to my shock, I realized I couldn¡¯t retreat. He had a Restrictive Skill that was stopping me from retreating. It may be ¡®Stop Retreat,¡¯ or any other skill, which is another rare skill. Earlier, I had doubts about him being a Level 20, but now, I do not. The bastard had been hiding his power and now he had revealed it. I have to do something fast. If I didn¡¯t, I will get killed, but there isn¡¯t anything I could do. The only thing that could have helped me survive would have been retreating, which I couldn¡¯t do it. My thoughts moved fast, but I didn¡¯t see any option, other than the craziest one, which is running toward him. It will not help me survive, but it will give me mutual destruction, which is much better than dying alone. The moment I made the decision, I moved, harnessing every bit of power I could from Rapid Legs. I moved so fast that I felt the pain in my legs, but I didn¡¯t care and swung my sword, activated Quick de, Weighted Strike, and even Consecutive Strikes, for the little enhancement it will give me. The activation of four skills at full power begins to make my head hurt, but I don¡¯t care. If I am going to die, I will take him with me. He seemed to understand what I was doing and continued with his attack, but as wee closer, a hesitation begins to appear on his face. Hun! When there were less than two meters between us. He did something surprising. He stopped his attack and retreated. I had not expected it, because despite going for mutual destruction. He could have been able to stop me, kill me before I kill him. With his abilities, he would have been able to achieve that, but it seemed like he didn¡¯t have enough confidence in his abilities to go with it. Seeing his retreat, I wanted to stop too when I saw his sword bing visible and without hesitation jumped at him, with everything I have. It surprised him, but quickly his expression rxed, and a smile appeared as he attacked me. There is a smile on my face too, as his sword is moving fast as I had expected. The way I had expected. Soon, I reached closer to it, and it moved to cut me in half; that¡¯s when I took my right leg forward. It is very hard for a normal person to do; even for me, it would have been near impossible to do it. If not for Gymnasts Grace, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it. Some credit also goes to yoga, I do it every day. It helped me be flexible in performing these maneuvers. Gymnasts Grace, give me grace. It does not make my body flexible or give me stamina. He understood what I was doing and tried to raise his sword, which brightened the smile on my face further. Instantly, the leg moved faster with Rapid Leg and stepped on his sword. Immediately, I felt like my leg was burning, but I bore it and pressed my leg against it. I leveraged my foot on his sword with bnce given me by Gymnasts Grace and brought my rapier down with Quick de and Weighted Strike. Pachak! It came down fast, and in an instant, reached for his head. The enchantments on my rapier red, and it started to cut through his head in the most gruesome way. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 183: Shadows Chapter 183: Shadows Rip! ¡°Fucking bastard,¡± I cursed loudly. The burning arrow grazed through my arm, giving me a sharp pain. It is not the first time this had happened in the past few minutes. I have been grazed by the attacks more than ten times. If not for the Dangersence and Swift, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to dodge these attacks. The condition is bing worse; more and more of us are getting killed. At least half of us have been killed, and I don¡¯t think even hundreds of them had died. It is not surprising, seeing how disciplined and trained ckwell¡¯s army is. It had been two decades since I had left the army and had forgotten what a well-trained army could do. This battle reminded me of that. After this, I would think ten times before fighting an army, but before such a question came, I have to deal with a problem I am facing here. With every passing minute, the task of dealing with Ignatius ckwell seemed to get further and further. More and more of us are getting killed, not just regr bandits, but as leaders. A third of the leaders are already dead, and it has been only an hour since the battle began. If this continued, then I will have to think about retreating. Which I don¡¯t want to do after I had lost so many men. The masked man had provided a good advance and it will be more than enough to rebuild my crew, but I want more. I want that Bow and that sword, and victory. Another arrow came from ckwell, and this time, it is targeting Leryn, who quickly raised her sword, but before she could defend herself. Another arrow came from behind and struck it. The arrow from behind is destroyed, burning into ashes, but it took more than half of the power of ckwell¡¯s arrow, what remained is easily defendable. Herman. I really envy the bastard for fighting from a safe distance, while I need to fight close, where the slightest mistake and I am dead. ¡°Nrokk,¡± said the familiar voice. I looked at Leryn, who was looking at me. She said nothing more than my name, but I know what she is trying to say. ¡®Where is the support we have been promised?¡¯ I am also asking the same question. The masked man had said there will be support, but till now, I didn¡¯t see anything. It shoulde early as possible. If it waste, then even if they came, it would be toote. I have already decided that if support didn¡¯te in ten minutes. I am going to retreat. I want wealth and artifacts, but the thing I want the most is to preserve my life. A few minutes passed and the thing I had waiting for finally happened. ¡°Lord ckwell, assassins,¡± shouted the old man suddenly, and immediately, the people around ckwell be alert. I didn¡¯t see anything for a second before I started to see the shadowsing toward me. ¡®It is time to go all out,¡¯ I thought and activated my most powerful skills and waited for assassins to attack and create the opportunity for me. I am going to kill ckwell. ¡­ Slice Puch! I cut the leg of the bandit before piercing his head through the back. Killing the fourteenth bandits of this battle. I avoided the falling body and took healing and stamina potions. I wanted to drink anti-cold potions, too, but I couldn¡¯t. I am already near the limit of the potions I could drink and what limit I have; I have to keep it for the healing potions for the emergency. The battles had been intense, especially in the past few minutes. A lot of bandits have died, nearly half if I were to guess. This means, most of whom have remained, are pretty strong, and killing them is hard. In every fight, I need to push myself further and further. Pushing my skills to their limit to get the power I need to kill my enemies. It had been even five seconds since I drank the potion when I saw a muscled orcing toward me. It is buffed, one of the most buffed orcs I had seen on the battlefield. Though not as much, Nrokk Shieldhead, the leader of shield bane bandits. Who is built like a tank. He is fighting against Ignatius and the group and is the most powerful bandit fighting here. He was the enemy of g Karguk. Both fought many times. He had nearly killed Karguk many times, but that bastard was always able to run away, till he was killed by us. ¡°Die!¡± shouted the beefy grey-orc as he reached me and swung down his ax like a storm. I dodged the attack by retreating, and he followed with another attack, without wasting even a moment. Bringing his ax a mere inch away from his neck. As I had said, only stronger had remained and these bastards are harder to deal with, but I do not have any other choice. As surrender isn¡¯t an option and so is running away. I need to keep fighting until we defeat the bandits. Things have started bing good for me. I have achieved something on this trip, and I need to live to see the n working, for which I had worked so hard. My career is taking off and so is my business. I want to take them even further and there are many ns in my mind, very ambitious ns. Till I achieve them, I refuse to die. The beefy orc is attacking me relentlessly, using Speed Skill and Offensive Skills together. This one was more dangerous than most bandits; it is powerful and had an enchanted weapon. The ax will only need to touch me, and it will smoothly pass through my skin without any resistance. ¡°You should just ept your fate and die. I promise I will make it swift and painless,¡± he said while continuing with his attacks. ¡°Not interested,¡± I replied, and it grinned. ¡°Good. I like the enemies who resist. Their painful screams are so delicious,¡± he said, licking his lips. If I had any doubts about him having pain skills. They have disappeared. I also found out this bastard is a sadist and probably psychotic, seeing a pleasurable expression appear on his face as he spoke thest sentence. A minute passed and many times, its ax hade very close to cutting me, but I was able to dodge them. I wanted to go to the offensive on him, be he is not giving me a single chance to do it. Keeping me busy with his constant attacks. It seemed like he had a skill rted to that and developed his fighting style ording to it. I wouldn¡¯t have said those words if not seeing how perfectly he is pressing me. It is frustrating me a lot. Seeing he is not giving me a single chance tounch an attack. If this continued. We will keep fighting till the end of the battles. Which is bad for me, unlike him. I am lowered level than him and not a pure warrior and thus have lower stamina. I would lose if this turned out to be the battle of attrition, but I didn¡¯t see a choice other than this, unless, of course, I had received the help. Everyone around me is busy, including my guards. Though, unlike me, most of them are fighting in groups. I couldn¡¯t join the groups, despite wanting to. They are trained to fight in such a way. If I join their group, I will break their formation. Which might get them and also me killed. Rip! Another minute passed, and its ax finally touched me. It was the faintest touch, but the ax opened the big wound. Like how the taunt cheese split open with the slightest puncture. It is definitely due to the effect of the skill. Thankfully, it was only the faintest touch, and the injury it had opened on my shoulder was small. If it had been a normal cut like I had received so many times on this battlefield. I would have a grave injury and a bleeding shoulder; that would have been the end of me. ¡°Hehe,¡± he grinned, and there seemed to be some sick pleasure in it. I felt all the hair on my body stand up, seeing the grin, and I be more careful. Another attack came, and I moved to dodge it when I was suddenly hit by a sharp pain. Like someone had poked a hot dagger into me through the small wound I received a second ago. Dyed Pain! The name of the skill appeared in my mind and my eyes started to tear up. I wanted to curl up on the ground and scream, but I did none. As that would have killed me and instead, I harnessed than pain and pushed my skill harder to dodge the attack. A surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on his face seeing that, but I didn¡¯t care about what he was feeling. I care about the attack thating at me and it didn¡¯t stop, even when he was surprised. I dodged it, and his ax came again. I dodged it, with unclear vision brought by the tears of paining from my eyes. It is really painful, and I wanted to scream, but there is one thing I don¡¯t want to get another injury. I will not be able to bear it. Hun! Another half minute passed when a change urred as we reached a group of soldiers fighting the bandit. When I dodged the attack of his. Instead of attacking me again, with another attack, he shifted and attacked the soldiers from behind. It surprised me, but I also recognized it as a chance I had been waiting for. I watched and when the attack reached halfway and moved toward him, with the speed I have been holding back. Yes, I have been holding back a little to exploit the moments like this. I have to do it because everyone here is more powerful than me, and if I used all my strength from the start. They would get used to it and measure my response in that strength, my peak strength. Holding back, I have something to be used at the right time. He noticed me, moving fast toward him. A surprise appeared on his face and I thought he would stop the attack and turn to me, but he didn¡¯t. Instead, he freed his left hand from his ax and takes out the sword from his waist, and moved it toward me with a grin. He is being greedy; he wants to kill both me and the soldier. I reached him, and he moved his sword to decapitate me, and seeing, the skill in which he is using, it seemed like; I am not the only one who had been hiding one¡¯s power. He could use two weapons at the same time, with sufficient mastery. His sword avoided my rapier expertly and soon appeared in front of my head, with only, a few inches of distance between us. ng! That¡¯s when I ducked, and I did it with such speed that it rmed him. He moved to stop me; that is when the soldier, he is attacking from behind, turned and his saber, shed the against the ax. Puch! The orc shook, and it affected his movement. I used it, as I appeared in front of him and pierced my rapier into his chest. I watched his fading eyes as I avoided his sword. The body fell down in front of me and I felt relieved. Not about killing, but about the burning pain; it was too much. It stopped with his death. I took out the healing potion and spread it on a small injury. I took out another potion and took a sip from it. A momentter, the cold recedes and so are the effects it brought. The snowfall was heavy, and it was cold. I could bear the cold, but not its effect. They were slowing me, and the heat of the battle was not enough to counter those effects. This sip of chill bane potion would. I took even breaths and waited for another bandit; they will appear soon. Hun! Four secondster, I saw the banditing toward me and waited to wee him. When suddenly my expression changed when I saw something behind him. I saw over ten shadows moving at blurring speed, moving toward ckwell and my sister. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed. I knew a bad thing when I see one and these shadows are the worst. They could change the winning battle into a defeat. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 184: Occupied Chapter 184: upied ¡°They havee!¡± I said softly and sighed. I had expected them, but wished they would note. It is the first time they have attacked me when I am surrounded by people. Though it is also the first time; they are supported by the bandits. It is a perfect chance for them to attack me. I am away from my city and the majority of army and most powerhouses. I would have been surprised. If they hadn¡¯t attacked me. The moment bandits saw the assassinsing toward us; they burst out with their full power. They were hiding their power, another unsurprising thing. It took mere seconds for the assassins to reach us and surround us from all sides, beforeing at us. Or rather me; I am their target. ¡°Now,¡± I ordered. Immediately, a change had urred in the people around me. Their movements be faster and their attacks powerful. The bandits were not the only ones hiding; we were hiding our strength too. The bow in my hand vibrated as I activated its second ability. It took more mana, but I have been conserving it, using only the base arrows. This ability is called solid because it makes the arrows solid, more than the general energy arrows I have been using. Four of such green solid arrows materialized on the bow as I pushed my mana into the artifact and activated my skills. Piercing Arrow. Scatter Shot. Hunters Mark. Snipers Focus. Crippling Shot. Till now, I had not used more than two skills. I didn¡¯t need to, but with the assassins, I am bringing out my skills. As they applied to the bow, their power will be enhanced even further. Sup Sup Sup Four arrows released from my bow and another four formed on it, in an instant. I released them and the ones formed after that. I continued to release them at bandits and assassins without stopping. It made the bandits stop in their tracks immediately, and they dodged before continuing toward me. Seeing that; I wanted to curse loudly. These assassins are not weaklings; they are powerful as well as experienced. Not anyone could dodge my arrows at such a close distance. My enemies have left no stone unturned and if I want to survive this, then I will have to give everything I have. ¡­. The assassins came and there were twelve of them. They are powerful, I couldn¡¯t even see them clearly. They surrounded ckwell and the people around him, before moving toward them with a speed that be invisible to me. It was so fast that I could only see the afterimages they have left behind. Multiple things happened as the assassins attacked. First, the bandits revealed their full power. With the way they were fighting, I thought they were using their full power, but I was wrong. They were hiding a lot of their strength. Thankfully, ckwell and others also seemed to be holding back their power as well. As the bandits moved toward them, powerful skills and spells exploded around them. The arrows of ckwell turned more solid, and he begin to shoot them at much faster speed. The only thing I am seeing are the arrows in the air; not how he is nocking them and shooting them. It is not just him, but also my sister, whose spells have be even more dangerous. There are more ice daggers andnces appearing around her; she has literally started to freeze people to death with the touch of her sword. Baron Harrods seemed the same, but when the first bandit had reached him, he turned into the phantom. I didn¡¯t see what happened next, other than the assassin retreating with blood falling on the ground. ¡°Hehe, I didn¡¯t think, we will get such support,¡± said the bandit, as he appeared in front of me. ¡°With it, killing you all won¡¯t be a problem anymore,¡± he added, looking at me. ¡°The assassins will not make any difference, bandit; you all will die, nheless,¡± I replied calmly. Anger shed in the green orc¡¯s eyes, and he came at me. Hun! I readied myself to respond to him when something surprising happened. Puch! An arrow came flying fast and lodged itself into the head of the bandit and came out through the eye. I watched the shock appearing in its eye as it fell in front of me. This thing had happened with the others, but not with me. I looked ahead of me and didn¡¯t see the archer who shot the bandit. There are a lot of archers around, it is hard to guess which one had shot the arrow. Whoever did it, I am grateful. I used this opportunity to get a look around and see what I saw couldn¡¯t help but turn my expressions worse. The bandits'' morale had risen with the entry of assassins and that is a bad thing for us. Their low morale had helped us tremendously, we were able to kill a lot of them and made some escape. Now, the bandits are fighting back in earnest; it is a good thing; we have already killed half of them. There is a much fewer numbers, than they were at the beginning of the battlefield, but all those remaining are strong and I won¡¯t always get help, like I had just done. I turned to the main battle, where a huge change had urred. It had be isted; themon bandits and the soldiers have separated from the main battle. Before many bandits tried their hand against ckwell and others, but now, they have left them alone. They have revealed their full power, and it is not something thatmon bandit and soldier could wade in. Those who tried paid with their lives. There are fifty-some people fighting in there, but the power of those people is so much that they could defeat the rest of us fighting around. Everyone understood this admission, which is why the fierce fighting that started with the appearance of assassins slowed down rapidly, till we have stopped fighting. We have now separated and watched the battle that is being fought in the middle. It is surprising, but even the bandits understand how fruitless the fighting is when their fate won''t be decided by them. The fate of the battle will depend on those fighting in the center. Those who will win it will be the winner of the battlefield. ¡°Do we have a chance of winning against them?¡± I asked my guards, who have gathered around me. ¡°Nothing could be said, but from what I could see, the scale seemed to be in favor of the bandits,¡± replied Stone, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod with a heavy sigh. It is a reality, with assassins joining the ranks. Our enemies have nearly twice several powerhouses as us and they are powerful, especially the assassins. All of them seemed near Level 30 and one, who seemed to be their leader, was Level 30+. He is a terror, his speed is akin to teleporting, but despite that, Baron Harrods seemed to be keeping up with him. The leader is trying for the ckwell, but Baron Harrods is stopping him. Still, he is not the only assassin Baron Harrods is dealing with. There are three more assassins that are attacking him, which gives a leader a chance to attack Ignatius, who is the target. He started to show his real power, and I have to say; he is good. Especially with that artifact. The way he is using it for the defense is really amazing. I didn¡¯t know, the bow could be used as such. The battle is unlike anything I had seen before. Even though I had been in a battle where a High Mage and Knight fought; it was done in the tree, where I couldn¡¯t see much. Not to mention, I have been so swarmed with the undead that I didn¡¯t have even a moment to look at other things. I have to give to him for the people he had brought. Especially that aegis caster. She is the reason so many of them are alive. Her shields are amazing. They will pop everywhere, defending people and also giving them a chance to attack. She is specially targeted, both the assassins and the bandits are attacking her, but not a single one is seeding in getting close. Despite all these powerful people on our side, I couldn¡¯t help but get worried. The bandits and assassins are not weak, and they have only one target. They will win the moment Ignatius is dead. I don¡¯t know whether Colonel Garran will be able tomand men to keep fighting and morale, they will have with their leader dead. I pushed those thoughts away and focused back on the battle, which looked beautiful in a brutal way. Everyone is using everything they have and especially my sister. Who seemed to be thedy of the ice. She is the only person in their fighting who is on the full offensive, rarely does she summon the shield to defend herself. She is bombarding her enemies with the spells; they areing from all corners and directions. Though the people she is fighting are also good. They are defending her attacks, but not always. People got killed. A few minutes passed, and the battle became even more intense than before; people have gotten used to each other''s abilities. It had be harder for them to kill each other. I had just thought that when a person died; he was from our side. One of the Captains, the man, was powerful, but the assassin had decapitated him with his long thin dagger. Seeing that, my expression couldn¡¯t help but change. That man was one of the powerful ones and he got killed, taking even our numbers down even more. ¡°Can you guys help in battle?¡± I asked my guards. I didn¡¯t want to ask them, seeing their responsibility is to protect me, but if we lost; there is a high chance, many of us will lose our lives. I couldn¡¯t let ckwell die. It will dy the ns for months and that is not good for me or the city. ¡°Shaun, protect Mr. Silver,¡± said Stone a momentter and touched my shoulder, before walking toward the battlefield with Z and Jon. Nobody had stopped them, some bandits even watched them with joy. In these few minutes, many daring people have moved toward the battlefield. Mostly bandits, more than half of them, have ended up losing their lives, while the rest retreated to various injuries on their bodies. I feel bad sending them, especially Stone, who is injured. The injury given by the undead is not easy to heal. Jon and Z had been lucky that I had been able to force the Lich to heal them. Soon, they approached the battlefield, and immediately, the two assassins moved toward them. Jon and Stone acted immediately. Jon leaped toward the assassin while Stone smoothly moved his sword to defend against the attack. The assassins may be powerful, but my guards are not weak and have much greater experience. ¡°They will be fine, right?¡± I asked Shaun, to which he smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Mr. Silver, they have fought in much worse odds and survived.¡± He replied, and I heaved a little sigh of relief. They do not need to kill any bandit or assassin. It will be more than enough if they are able to keep some of them upied. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 185: Battle Ends Chapter 185: Battle Ends I watched the first assassin fall. He was killed in a close range by ckwell. He had shot an arrow into his chest at the point of ck range. The arrow avoided the enchanted chest te and pierced his heart directly. It may be a skill or an ability of the bow. Immediately, it had made all the assassins and bandits careful, but they still went for the ckwell. He is the target, and they have to kill him. The killing of the first assassins seemed to have brought a new spirit to the battle. It also lessened the load on our side. Each assassin is dangerous, more than the bandit, they were fighting. Killing a single one had brought a huge effect and increased the mental pressure on our enemies. Still, it is far from enough to make the bandits and assassins back down, but a first step in doing that. If we kill a sufficient number of them, we can make the retreat. My guards are doing well. They are fighting with great teamwork, keeping an assassin and the four bandits, including one mage, busy; Z was even able to strike the bandit and injured him. If not for the timely support, he would have died. Hun! I was just thinking about that when a surprising thing happened. They have killed a bandit. First Z had cast a water rope on the orc; he was able to destroy the spell with the help of a mage, but just as he did. He found Jon¡¯s dagger in his head. The assassin came to the rescue, but Stone stopped him with his sword, before attacking him back. A few minutes passed, and the battle intensified. More people have died, including another assassin and a couple of bandits, including one more killed by my guards. We are not without our losses, but the losses of our enemies are much greater, and it had affected them heavily. Their edge had been whittled away, and now both sides seemed to be on equal ground. Which in other words, we are gaining the edge. Though I am aware of how precarious our state is. Our enemies have only one target, while we have all of them. They will only need to kill Ignatius ckwell to win, while we need to kill a sufficient number of them to gain victory. Still, it had created a psychological effect. It had made many bandits run away. Every minute, a few are trickling away from the hill, and no bandit had stopped them, instead some even joined them. We didn¡¯t stop them either, to us; the more leave, the better it would be. If we fight again, their lower numbers will help us tremendously. A few more minutes passed, and I wanted to sit; It is hard to continue to stand up in all this heavy snow. Thankfully, the anti-cold potion is keeping me insted, or it would have been even worse. Till now, four assassins have died, leaving only eight. It had put immense pressure on them, but also on us. As they are growing desperate and taking more risks. Just a few seconds ago, the dagger of the assassin had nearly touched the ckwell¡¯s chest. If not for the barrage of frostnces, that would have skewered the assassin, before he could kill ckwell, the assassin wouldn¡¯t have retreated. From what I could see, these assassins will even sacrifice themselves. The death sworn assassins are rare and their services cost far more than normal assassins, but they offer the discretions like none other. They were employed by those who didn¡¯t want to leave any trail behind. A few more seconds passed and something shocking happened. I saw Baron Harrods springing into the air and killing two assassins in less than a second. It happened so fast that I couldn¡¯t tell how it had happened. The only thing I saw was him using a second de; he decapitated one assassin with his main weapon and pierce the head of the other with the second one. He had justnded when another shocking thing happened. Colonel Grennan and my sister killed two bandits, one after another. An icy ribbon came out of her sword, and it cut the bandit in two, while he was defending against the barrage of frost daggers, while Colonel Grannum had killed the bandit, after cutting his thigh. The four deaths in less than two seconds have stopped the bandits on their track. As of now, their numbers have be equal to ours. The pause had onlysted for a brief moment before all the bandits'' fighting started to run away. It happened at once, like they havemunicated in an instant, and decided to run away. It¡¯s a realization or instinct. I don¡¯t know, but bandits are running. Seeing their leaders running away from the battlefield. The bandits, watching, had turned and begin to run, with everything they have. It made the assassins, which were still attacking, slowed down, and their heads turned toward their leader. ¡°Retreat!¡± he shouted, and assassins begin to run away, mixing into the running bandits for cover against the attacks,ing at them. ¡°Bandits, surrender and you will be spared. Run away and we will kill you!¡± ckwell shouted. Hearing his voice, more than half of the bandits threw their weapons andy down on the ground, while the rest ran and met with walls of soldiers, who are cutting them like vegetables. Seeing that even more begin to surrender. The soldiers reacted fast; the moment they saw bandit leaders running away; they got ready to deal with them. They are not willing to let any bandits run away, which is making more and more of them surrender. ¡°Mr. Silver!¡± I was watching the bandits when Shaun screamed behind me and saw shields appearing around me, one after another. It took me an instant to realize what he was talking about and turned to see banditsing toward me. It is Nrockk Shieldhead, and he ising toward me. Not in my general direction, but for me. ¡®Why it always happens to me?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help, but ask myself. It is not the first time something like this had happened to me. It always happens to me; it is like, there is a target written in big bold letters on my forehead. The lich did it, and then it was g Karguk, and now this bandit. Liching toward me was unintentional, but Karguk had intentionally targeted me and now, this bandit had been trying to do the same. Take me hostage to survive. Which is the right choice. I don¡¯t want to tote my own horn, but I am important enough that if the bandit got me, they would have to let him go. Sup Sup Sup Shaun cast the spells at the bandit from acid balls to wind des, but the bastard defended against them. He is not alone. There is a half-orc mage beside him and an Orc bandit beside him, helping him handle the spells. Still, he was able to hit the warrior, who fell, but Nrockk and the mage continued and a secondter, they reached me. He attacked the shields instantly. I cursed the bastard and ckwell and others. They are busy in chaos around them, killing the bandits that are not surrendering. They might have helped me, but there are too many people in between, but I could still see Baron Harrods and my sister rushing toward me. Unfortunately, it will be toote. BANNG! He struck the shield with the full power of his skills and enhancement from his mage. It broke the shields into hundreds of pieces. ¡°Now, you are mine adviser,¡± He said with a grin and came at me, while I watched in horror. Though, even in horror, I moved my sword toward him, despite knowing how effortlessly he will be able to swat it away. This time, I didn¡¯t even have a charm, that I had used to deal with Karguk. I had asked Caena before leaving, but she had bad news for me. She tried making it over ten times but failed. It is hard to create such charm and requires great luck to seed. Hun! He moved his sword to swap away mine, while the other arm took me hostage, when suddenly, I felt a powerful pull, and everything ckened in front of me. Everything cleared a momentter, and I found myselfpletely different from Orc, who was standing with hand raised in surrender and was shocked seeing me, appearing in front of him. Though a momentter, a shock turned into a smile as he moved toward me. He wants to do the same thing that Nrockk Sheildhead tried to do a moment ago, but he was not Nrockk and my sword is too close to his chest. Puch! I didn¡¯t think and pushed my sword forward. It pierced through his chest, into his heart, killing him. Seeing him dead, I turned around and immediately saw something shocking. I saw the head of Nrockk flying in the air and the one who killed him is none other than Stone. ¡°That tap,¡± I muttered. I felt something weird when he tapped on my shoulder before he went to join the battle. At that time, I didn¡¯t think too much about it, but now that I think about it, he is likely to activate his skill. ce Swapping. These skills are extremely rare, and people pay a high price to hire people with such skills. Especially the ones who needed a bodyguard. With this skill, their guard could easily swap ces with them when they are in danger. It seemed like I have to give Stone a raise. I just hope others don¡¯t steal him from me before I do that. I pushed those thoughts away and turned to my sister and Baron Harrods, who appeared in front of me. They looked relieved. They should be. If something had happened to me, the Count would have gotten very displeased; it is not something they want. ¡°I am d you are fine, Remus,¡± said Le. ¡°It is all thanks to my guards,¡± I replied. ¡°That was one good skill. Be careful Adviser or someone might steal your guard,¡± said the old man, to which I smiled. ¡°I will take that in mind,¡± I replied. They nodded and walked away; not all bandits have surrendered. They needed to be dealt with before they get away. While they went after the bandits, I went to my guards. ¡°Thank you, Stone. I wouldn¡¯t have been standing here, if not for you,¡± I said to him. He is sitting on the snow with his eyes closed and has a bottle with glowing water in it. It is a holy water, created by Archbishop; it was not easy to get and very expensive, but I was able to get it through the family. It helped to suppress the undead curse he has. It res up whenever hees close to using his full strength. ¡°There is no need to thank me, Mr. Silver; I only did my job,¡± he said as opened his eyes. To that, I smiled and looked around. Half of the guards are busy cuffing the surrendered bandits with the ropes, while the other half has gone downhill to hunt the bandits who are running away. The battle had ended, and I have survived. There have been many instances where I thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to survive, but I did. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 186: Fort Renin Chapter 186: Fort Renin Crash! ¡°Those fucking bandits couldn¡¯t achieve a simple thing, even with all the help we have provided them!¡± shouted a middle-aged man, as he sent ss crashing into the wall. Sending shards of it all over the room. He took a few seconds to calm down before he turned to the Orc, sitting behind the table. His mood was worse than the middle-aged man, but he kept his emotions contained. ¡°Merchant lord, we could try again. If we made enough preparations next time, we would seed,¡± he said to Orc, in a tone filled with desperation. He is desperate; they are closing in on him and after this attempt, it won''t take them long to find out. He needs to kill them before that happens. ¡°It is over, at least for a few years. Council had already suspected, what I am doing and have been warned indirectly to stop,¡± said Orc and put down his ss on the table. ¡°You can¡¯t do this! I deserved to be Lord ckwell and you will help me achieve it or there will be consequences,¡± threatened the middle-aged man. ¡°Hehe!¡± Instead of getting angry, the Orcughed, which made the middle-aged man even more angry. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could let out a single word, he begins to feel a tightening in his chest, and a momentter, begin to have difficulty in breathing. ¡°You,¡± the middle-aged man let out, as he copsed on the floor. ¡°You were just a puppet. There are many more, like you,¡± said the Orc and got up, before walking toward the hidden door. He stopped before taking a step and turned back. ¡°It needs to be perfect; I don¡¯t want anything here connected to me,¡± said Orc. ¡°It will be done,¡± said the man, materializing in the room. He has always been there, invisible, undetected. The Orc nodded and stepped out, without leaving a single proof of his involvement in the whole affair. ¡­ An hourter, the soldiers returned, bringing captured bandits and bodies of dead ones, piling them into another big pile. There are already several piles of bandit bodies. It is not just bandits who have died; we have also lost people. Though much less than what I had thought. I was looking at those dead bodies when ckwell appeared in front of me. ¡°Adviser, I hope you will ept my heartfelt apologies. My inadequate preparations had put you and your people in danger,¡± he apologized, surprising me. Nobles are haughty; they wouldn¡¯t easily apologize to anyone. Especially those below them in the station. ¡°It was not your fault, Lord ckwell. You wouldn¡¯t have known. The bandit would attack your forces and assassins woulde at their support,¡± I said, with my wordsing out sharper than I had intended to. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have known, but I should have prepared better. It is a lesson I will remember my whole life,¡± he said with a sigh, before turning to my guards. ¡°Thank you foring to our rescue. Your help was instrumental in the defeat of the bandits,¡± he thanked. ¡°We did what we have been ordered to do, my lord,¡± Jon replied. ¡°Still, thank you,¡± he said and left. He walked into the tents, where they were healing the injured soldiers. A lot of them were being treated by healers and doctors. It is a good thing; he had brought a sufficient number of those people, or the losses would have been even greater. ¡°Mr. Silver, you should rest,¡± said Jon, a few minutester. I nodded and got up, with the snow falling off my body. It is still heavily snowing, and I don¡¯t know if tomorrow will be better, but I hope it does or it will make it even harder to reach Fort Renin. I took onest look around the hill, before walking into my tent andying down. Immediately sleep took me, despite the pain of injuries and ufortableness from the armor I was wearing. It seemed like I had been more tired than I had realized. Warrior Lv. 14 Warrior Lv. 15 Skill gained: Quick Parry When I woke up, there were notifications in front of me, in big bold letters. I had leveled up twice in Warrior ss and even gained a skill. It is my first advancement in months since thest bandit incident in the Nakar Baronies. The skill I gained is basic, but one I am extremely happy to get. It immediately fills the hole in my weakness. In the battle, I had focused on dodging. I did minimal countering and parrying because of the force and the skills attached to it. Now, with parry, I would feel less force, and the power of other attached skills would also lessen. Most importantly, I will now not have to give up many opportunities to kill the enemies that I could have done by parrying the attacks. It is really a skill I need. I am really d I got it. Once, I reached home. I will resume my training; this battle had once again proved how important it is for me to continue with my training. It is the reason I am even alive. I stayed in the bed for a minute more, before getting up anding out of my tent. A smile appeared on my face, seeing the cloudless morning without any snowfall. It felt like a new dawn. It is eight in the morning. If the bandits hadn¡¯t attacked, we would have been on our way to Fort Renin already, but now it will take some time. I only hope that we will reach there by evening. ¡°Have you taken a rest?¡± I asked Jon and Shaun, guarding my tent. ¡°We had a few hours of shuteye,¡± Jon replied. Hearing that, I felt relieved. ¡°Mr. Silver, a few messages havee for you,¡± informed Shaun. I was about to ask him the same thing. I took the letters from him and begin to read them. I have to say, he had terrible handwriting, bad as the doctors. Once we reach home, I will ask him if he needs a calligraphy teacher. The letters are from Ca, Ina, and Count Darrow. Hun! I read Ca¡¯s and Ina¡¯s letters, before turning to Count¡¯s. I had informed him about the attackst night and he was just following. He ising to the Nakar Baronies tomorrow and I am going to meet him there. There are a lot of preparations needed to be done. The infrastructure needed to be built, not only in baronies but also in mirador holds. The trade will go through the Mirador hold, and while the warehouses and other things are already built, thanks to our trade with Navr. It won¡¯t be enough when Oksall joined in. Thankfully, the requirements are drafted in the contract. So, the Count won¡¯t be able to show much of his miserly attitude there. A few hours passed, and a group of a few hundred people reached the hill, before starting climbing up. They are the ckwell forces. They have left the Amberhold, the moment the news of bandits reached them. They will be joining us in Fort Renin, while apany of soldiers would leave for the Amberhold, taking the injured soldiers back to the city. ¡°Let¡¯s hope wee across no other obstructions, in the rest of the journey,¡± I said as I sat on my horse. ¡°There won¡¯t be,¡± said the old man beside me. A minuteter, we begin to climb down the hill toward Fort Renin. There is a smile on the faces of people, especially my sister, whose smile is a little too big. She had definitely leveled up, but I think this is not the only thing making her happy. ¡°You look awfully happy?¡± I asked and immediately she controlled her expressions and activated a spell, covering three of us in an invisible field of silence. ¡°I don¡¯t want to seem insensitive, after what we have suffered, but attacking us, the bandits have made things very easy for us and Ignatius,¡± she said softly. ¡°You are very right about that,¡± I replied. It feels insensitive to admit it, but it is the truth. ¡°This old man is not understood?¡± asked Baron Harrods, but right after asking, he seemed to understand what we mean, seeing how his eyes lit up. ¡°We have effectively dealt with more than a third of bandits in a single night and it will put fear in the hearts of the rest of the bandits,¡± ¡°This will help tremendously in trade,¡± she said, and the old man nodded. The bandits are pests. They make many merchants hesitate. This news is going to make them very happy and more might join the trade. Hours passed, and we continued our journey toward our destination,ing across many orc tribes who would watch us from a distance. The life of these people is going to change soon. It will be interesting to see what these tribes could do with the opportunity that is about toe. From what my sister and Baron Harrods were able to find out. These orcs have a lot to offer. I could see the cogs of my sister''s mind spinning as she looked at them. She already has a n, which is not surprising. She is silver. If she didn¡¯t have several ns already, then she wouldn¡¯t have been worthy of the surname. I also have a few of my own, but instead of wealth; they are more focused on power. The wealth wille, as long as I have the power. ¡°We are near, right?¡± I asked the old man. ¡°You will be able to see it after we reach the hill,¡± he replied. I nodded and looked at the map in my hand. A few minutester, we were on the hill, and I could see the white stone fort at a distance. It is not far. We should be able to reach it, within an hour. Seeing the fort, newfound energy seemed to have entered everyone, and we moved toward it fast. An hourter, we appeared in front of the fort covered in snow. It is a beautiful fort, bigger than the ones in the Naker baronies. Its condition is better than I had imagined, seeing it had been unupied for centuries. A few people from House ckwell had upied it, but all of them left it within a few years. It will need some work, but that wouldn¡¯t be a problem. Considering it is an Oksall who will be the one financing it and if small hints from Ignatius are to be believed. They have allotted a fairlyrge budget for it. ¡°Open the gates,¡± Ignatius ordered, and his men pushed the rusty old gate. A minuteter, the gates of the castle opened wide, and we entered inside the fort. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 187: Fort Radcliff Chapter 187: Fort Radcliff ¡°Clean it well. We do not need even a single weed,¡± said the guard down below to the group of orcs. They brought a group of orcs from tribes around the fort. To clean up the overgrown trees and weeds in the fort, which are everywhere. This suit I had slept inst night had it. The guards removed it before I set the tent. Yes, we had set the tents inside the suits. It was the only option we had, seeing there was no furniture or bedding. Even the suits wereden with junk that people who lived here years ago left behind. I woke up not long ago and freshened. Now, looking down from the huge window. I love these huge windows of forts and castles; they provide a splendid view, and one could even sit on them like I am doing right now. These orcs are from friendly tribes; my sister had contacted them before and only needed to send people to bring them here to work, which they are more than happy to do, with the wages that Ignatius is paying them. They may be far from cities, but they know the value of the money. They will clear the nts and junk, before people from the Greltheavene to do the emergency work on the fort. It needs work, but most of it could dy, but some not, like working toilets. Fixing the magic lights and other things. They are also bringing the furniture, which Ignatius sent from Oksall to Greltheaven. Currently, with snow and no proper road, bringing people and things from Greltheaven to here is much easier than doing it from the Amberhold, despite it being much closer. It will take around two to two and a half months to build a road. Though, the trade will start before that. The first batch of goods should arrive by the end of the month. I watched them working for a few minutes before walking out of the suit. An hourter, I was near my horse, ready to leave the fort, with my sister and Baron Harrods. ¡°Your help on the journey had been invaluable. Without you all, I don¡¯t know if I would have been standing here and talking,¡± said Ignatius. ¡°You are being too humble, Lord ckwell,¡± replied Baron Harrods. ¡°It is not humble words, but truth, Lord Baron,¡± he said, and the old man smiled. A minuteter, we are on our horses, walking out of the fort''s gate with our men. There are around fifty new guards around us, a few are quite familiar to me. They are men of my sister and Baron Harrods, who hade to the fort an hour before. The route the safe, but nobody wants to take a risk after what we have experienced. Two and a half hourster, we stopped. We crossed into the Empire half an hour ago and now intersection. Left is the territory of my sister, while on the right is the territory of Baron Harrods. ¡°It is goodbye, Adviser,¡± said the old man. ¡°We will be meeting in the evening, Lord Baron,¡± I said to him. ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± he replied with a smile. ¡°Have a safe journey, Adviser,¡± he said and waved as left. Leaving me with my sister, which immediately turned the atmosphere a little awkward. ¡°I would have invited you to the in, but you have to go,¡± she said after a few seconds of silence. ¡°Some other time,¡± I replied and move my horse forward, while she watched. I have to go to Castle Radcliff; it is where Count Darrow is. Castle Radcliff is not under any lord; it is under imperial control, like the majority of the territory in the Nakar forest. It is the center of baronies and going to be the center of the trade here. I rode through the forest, and it was really beautiful. Unlike the wild paths we have taken on our journey from Amberhold, here everything is paved. These roads will need to be widened further, to support the traffic that wille. Just imagining it brought a smile to my face. I will be seeing it with my own eyes; I am sure I will have to make a couple of visits here every month, to see how things are going. It is my n, after all. One and a half an hourter, I was in front of Castle Radcliff. It is a keep of simr designs, as other castles here. Square in design, made of white stone, which is abundant here. The keep is heavily guarded, which is not surprising since Major Jarvis had shifted his forces here. Handing back the Castle Lockridge to Angus Lockridge¡¯s cousin, who has be the new Lord Lockridge. ¡°Adviser Silver,¡± greeted the familiar man at the gate. ¡°Captain Hartley,¡± I said. ¡°Lord Count has ordered me to bring you to his cabin as soon as you arrive,¡± he informed. I nodded and rode inside. I dismounted, and the guard took the horse to the stable while I walked with Captain Hartley toward the keep. Soon, we are at the gate of the Count''s office, and I activated my skill ¡®Get Ready,¡¯. While I want to show how this journey took a lot of me, looking presentable is more important. It is what Count Darrow expects of his people. Captain Hartley pushed open the door, and I walked inside and saw Count Darrow, turning to me from the document in front of me. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted and bowed. ¡°Remus, wee back,¡± he said and motioned me to sit. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied. He is alone in the room. There is no Mage York or any guard, there is not even another adviser. Which is extremely rare, as there is always someone with him. A protector, like Mage York That doesn¡¯t mean, he isn¡¯t protected. He is always protected. ¡°How was the journey?¡± he asked. The bastard knows what happens, and instead, with sympathy, he had asked me the question. ¡°It was good, except for one small hupst night. Which will be in our favor, considering we have wiped out a third of the bandits guing the area,¡± I replied to him. ¡°You are right, it will make things easier,¡± he said and wrote down something on the file in front of him, before turning back to me and this time expressions are serious. ¡°Now you have experienced it yourself. Do you think it has the potential to be a big trade route?¡± he asked. ¡°Absolutely,¡± I replied. ¡°There is also a will to do it. Especially from Amberhold, they need this trade route as much as we do and will give their all for sess,¡± He nodded, and for a couple of seconds; he didn¡¯t say anything, before turning back to me. ¡°There is a reason I had sent you with ckwell, despite knowing the danger of it,¡± he said, in a tone that he uses when he has to say something important. ¡°I wanted you to get familiar with ckwell, who we will act as a representative of Oksall,¡± he said, and I gripped the hand of the chair a little too tightly. ¡°As you can understand, the trade is very important, and I want you to personally oversee every aspect of it.¡± Those words felt like thunder to me. I thought he would give me more responsibility and not unload the whole thing on me. ¡°My lord, I will be able to do a better job from Greltheaven,¡± I protested and even activated Persuasive, but it seemed to have no effect on him. ¡°You will not be a mere trade chief, but my representative. You will have the authority, power to do anything that will smoothen the trade,¡± he said. I wanted to protest, but stopped hearing it. If it has been trade chief, then there wouldn¡¯t have been any additional responsibility, seeing as I am already responsible for the trade with Oksall. It would have even been seen as a demotion with me away from the seat of power, but being representative, with certain powers over baronies, is apletely different thing. ¡°I will ept it, but I have a certain condition,¡± I said, and a surprise appeared on the man¡¯s face. Till now, I have epted every order of his without anyint, but now, I think, I have be valuable enough that I could put certain conditions of my own. ¡°What are they?¡± he asked. ¡°First, I wantplete freedom to operate. While I will ask your permission for important decisions, I need free will to operate on other small decisions, without informing you first,¡± I said. He just kept looking at me. ¡°Second, I want a bigger infrastructure fund and after a trade begins, I want the freedom to spend 10% of taxesing from it,¡± ¡°Third, this should be temporary. After the route opened and everything normalized, I want to hand over the responsibility to someone capable and return to the Greltheaven,¡± I started all three conditions, but not a single word came out of his mouth. ¡°I agree with the first and third conditions. The second condition is not something I could agree with, since we haven¡¯t even started earning the taxes.¡± ¡°But I promise you, after we started earning taxes and they be greater than what we are spending here, we will talk about it again.¡± ¡°As for a bigger infrastructure fund, it won¡¯t be possible with our tight finances, but I will give youplete freedom over the infrastructure fund we currently have,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you for the opportunity, my lord. I will not disappoint you,¡± I said, epting the responsibility. I have gotten more than I wanted. I thought he wouldpletely deny me the first two conditions and I have only put them. So, he would ept the third one. This new position may have power, but I like to be in the Greltheaven. My business is there, and it will benefit my carrier more if I stay there. Though, this will be a wonderful opportunity for me to learn. It is a huge responsibility withmand over everything. I could even ask baronies to do things, but it alsoes with huge risks. If anything goes wrong. It will be squarely on me. ¡°I will announce it to everyone in the evening,¡± he informed. An hour and a halfter, I walked out of the Count¡¯s office and directly went to the kitchen. I had breakfast, but I was feeling quite hungry. Likely because I am thinking so much. This responsibility is huge. I not only had to coordinate with ckwells and Oksall, but was also responsible for overseeing the infrastructure that we needed to build for the trade. It means giving a lucrative tender for infrastructure. That will not only cover the baronies but also the mirador hold. I will have to deal with them, which will be a challenge of its own. A few minutes ago, Count Darrow had called Major Jarvis into his office and informed him of his decision. He didn¡¯t look so happy, I wouldn¡¯t be if I had been in his face. I have be his boss. He would have to ept every order I will give it him. Though, from the time I had spent with him. I know is a rational man. He isn¡¯t someone to let his egoe in between his job. I really hope it is true because if he wished, he could make my job much harder. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 188: Bell Chapter 188: Bell ¡°Thank you, girls, for filling these. We will analyze it and provide you with the teachers you need.¡± ¡°It will take a few days, but your sses in basic etiquette and a few other things will start tomorrow,¡± said Madam Margaux as she took a stack of papers from us and put them in a box her assistant was carrying. We got those forms the first day, right after they finished giving us the tour of the whole ce. In more than a decade in business, I have never been as shocked as I have been. The whole time, I kept thinking, this is some borate ploy from my enemies to get what they need for me. It is a reality, hard as it may seem to believe, ¡°You in the third batch will be going to miss Cain¡¯s ce in the afternoon. So, be ready,¡± she informed and walked out, with her assistant and guards holding the stacks of forms got from them. It was very hard, a struggle to be honest to fill those forms. I know many things, taught by the tutors since I could walk, but I couldn¡¯t choose any of them. So, I chose the one I hated the most. My mother had tried to force me to learn it many times, but I never did, despite her trying for years. ¡°I am going for a swim. Are youing?¡± asked Rexy. To that, I shook my head. ¡°You should do something else, other than being cooped up in the books,¡± she said, before walking out of the recreation room. The orc blood woman seemed to be obsessed with swimming; we have been here for two days, and she has spent hours in that underground pool. I wanted to take a swim too, but I controlled the urge, due to the fear of being found out. I have been taught many things, including swimming. If I tried to swim, I might show these things. I have been especially scared about tomorrow¡¯s etiquette lessons. I have given years to forget all of it and now I will attend lessons to learn it. That old woman is sharp and seems to notice everything. I feel like I am walking on eggshells here. It had been a decade since I felt like this, like every movement of mine, will make my enemies discover me. I was in my thoughts when I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. It is a tall heralden girl in her mid-twenties. She hade with me from Oksall. Though I hadn¡¯t seen in any of the brothels, I worked over the years. It is not surprising, seeing the majority of the girls who came with us from Oksall had been unknown to me. Though, I know her name. She introduced herself in the introduction, and once I heard something, I will remember it through my powerful memory skills. It is my first skill. It made both of my parents extremely happy when I told them about it. ¡°It is time for our spa appointment,¡± she reminded gently. She is excited about it, and she is not the only one. The mention of the spa had wiped away every other thought floating in my mind. I love the spa, and it is one of the few things here I do not care about being found out about. I had been worried about it yesterday, but seeing how everyone around me is behaving, I let my natural emotions show. That is how every other person is doing. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said to Minka, and we walked out of the recreation room. I could see the woman beside me casting longing eyes to the left, where they were trying to create mages. It is quite ambitious of them. When I got to know about it, I didn¡¯t think they would seed. Even now, my mind hasn¡¯t changed much. Though, I would say. If those girls kept the zeal I saw in their eyes for a year or more, they might be able to cast a spell or two. I could cast spells. My mother had disapproved of it, saying I should focus on responsibilities, as I will always have people around me to cast the spells I need. I walked out of the underground and saw, the sses already started in the hall. Seeing them, my heart couldn¡¯t help but tighten up. I quickly looked away and instead focused on the wonderful smell of food. For more than a decade, I had finally eaten some real food, that was actually made by someone who knows how to cook. I already had breakfast, but I felt hungry again, smelling the wonderful aroma. So, I walked toward the table and picked up one zed bread. The heralden woman beside me hesitated for a fraction of a second, before picking up the slice as well. ¡°This is the most delicious bread I had eaten in my life. I could eat it for the rest of my life,¡± said Minka. ¡°Don¡¯t say that dear; you will not be able to eat it, even for a month, if you eat it day and night,¡± I said. ¡°It is not true; I could totally live off it,¡± she insisted. I only smiled at that. Soon, we walked out of the building into a small garden. It is good. Though nothingpared to what I have seen. It has a certain calmness; anyone would enter inside would feel calm. It is why every time I came here, be it day or night, someone would be sitting on those benches, gazing at flowers or the sky. A minuteter, we reached the spa. It is a small building with a fountain in front of it. Girls could be seening and going out of it. If there is one thing, the girls love most about this brothel. Then it would be this spa. Everyone loves it. I love it, not only because it reminded me of who I was, but here, I could let myself go without fear. Inside a small lobby, there is a table made of stone against the wall, and behind it are two young girls. ¡°Sister Bell, Sister Minka. Wee to the velvet spa. You have a hlecian massage in five minutes in room twelve,¡± informed the red-headed girl. We said our thanks to the teen girl at reception and walked toward the changing room, where we removed our clothes and put them in a basket, before wearing the robes with our names monogrammed on them. ¡°We arrived only two days ago, and they already got the robe for us, with our names on it,¡± said Minka, eyes full of wonder. ¡°It is rather fast,¡± I said and efficient. These robes are not only monogrammed but also of our size. They must have quite a vendor to do it fast. We walked out of the changing rooms and went to room number twelve. Click! Minka opened the door, and we went inside. The room was small, but well decorated, with a calming fragrance. There are two massage beds and two women wearing the spa uniform. ¡°Bell, Minka wee. Are you ready for the massage?¡± asked the raven-haired woman, who looked to be in her early forties. ¡°Yes!¡± said Minka excitedly. ¡°Good. If you arefortable, you can remove the robe or you can cover yourself with a towel,¡± he said, motioning toward the two towels on the stand. Minka simply removed her robes and ces them on the table. I did the same. If it had been an onor massage or basn, I would have used the towel. I don¡¯t like to show my naked body to others when I do not need to, but hlecian massage, needed the body to bepletely free for maximum benefits. ¡°Now,y down on these beds and we will start,¡± said the raven-haired woman. Minka took the first bed, and I took a second and waited for the massage to start. It took a few seconds before I felt a warm oil falling on my back and onto its sand. It is not sand, but hlecian crystals, made from seven herbs, two magical, and five non-magical. The crystals will melt as they heat through massage, with their essence entering the body. A momentter, gentle hands begin to massage my body. It is a little painful, with crystals, but I bore it. It will only be for a few minutes before they melted, and the pleasurable massage begins. I closed my eyes to enjoy the massage fully, but to also sense the faint mysterious effect that I felt yesterday. Yesterday was my first day in a spa after more than a decade. I had a pedicure, manicure, and bath, which was amazing. As those treatments were happening. I felt a mysterious energy, which I felt enhanced the power of treatment and the result it gives. Now, I concentrated on it, using my ability, I am feeling it again. ¡®What is it?¡¯ I thought. I never felt anything like this; it is extremely faint. That if I didn¡¯t have the ability I am using, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to sense it at all. My first guess was that it is the power of skill, but it is not. The masseuse is using several skills, but they give apletely different feeling. It is not skills; it is not the spell either. It is something different. The only thing I could only rte to is the feeling I had felt in the legacy, but that should be impossible. This ce is no legacy. One couldn¡¯t hide the legacy. Not to mention, the feeling would have been hundreds of times more powerful. Maybe I am wrong; it had been more than a decade since I hadst gone to a legacy. Still, it is something different and powerful despite being faint, and I like to find out what it is. I looked for the source of feeling for minutes, but like yesterday, I got nothing. I could search deeper, but that might reveal that ability of mine. Which I couldn¡¯t do. It will cause a great shock in a small city and an entire region and also catch the attention of my enemies. Even they would be shocked to see me having it. Not even in their wildest dream, they had even thought I would have something like this. It would have made even my parents shocked, especially my mother. She would have been ecstatic seeing me gaining it. It is the greatest symbol of one¡¯s power, one''s will. I pulled back my ability and stopped thinking about the feeling instead of focusing on massage, which it had enhanced through its power. The massage hadsted for more than an hour and a half before the masseuses left the room; letting us bask in its effects. Two hourster, we finally got up and took a bath, washing away all the oils across the body. Getting beautifully vibrant skin. ¡°I have never felt beautiful, as I am right now,¡± said Minka, looking at herself in a mirror. I did say anything and stared at myself in a mirror. It had been ages since I had seen my actual face in a mirror. I like to see it one day, openly, without any fear. A few minutester, we walked out of the spa with a smile on my face and a decision in my heart. When I came here, there was a n in mind. It is to make things difficult enough for the owner that he would sell back, but now, I don¡¯t want to do that. My rational mind is telling me this ce is dangerous for me. I should get away from it as soon as possible. My instincts are telling me the opposite thing. They are telling me to stay, saying staying here would be much safer. I am going to trust my instincts. They have saved me more times than I could count. Prostitute Lv. 17 Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 189: New Day Chapter 189: New Day ¡°¡­Remus will be my representative,¡± Dered the Count to people filled in a hall. All the nobles of Nakar baronies were present, including my sister, and would be a new baron Lockridge. There is also Ignatius ckwell, who arrived earlier and held a talk with Count and me. ¡°I will try to live up to your expectations, my lord,¡± I said and bowed. ¡°I know you will, Remus,¡± said Count, and patted my shoulder. We moved into the crowd and began to mingle; I know all of them. Some, well enough, while others in passing. As an adviser, I have met with them many times. The Count couldn¡¯t always meet with them and not all things they bring, warrant his attention; such things are handed to us advisers. The partysted for four hours before guests started leaving, except for Ignatius ckwell. He is staying in the keep. He will leave tomorrow. He wanted to leave, but the Count had asked him to stay. His safety is important, especially before trade begins. ¡°I am handing over everything to you, Remus. I hope you will do a good job,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°I will not give you a reason to be disappointed. My Lord,¡± I said to the man. ¡°You better not,¡± he said with a smile, before sitting in a carriage. He is leaving; I wanted him to stay the night, but he couldn¡¯t. He said, there is someone he needs to meet tomorrow. That someone must be pretty important for him to leave at night. I watched the carriage disappear through the gate and turned to the man beside me. ¡°Major Jarvis, I hope we will have a good working rtionship,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°I hope so too, adviser,¡± he replied. ¡°Speaking of that, please ask Commander Dane to send Major Lawson here and ask him to bring the ns northern side,¡± I said, and a small smile appeared on his face. ¡°You don¡¯t waste any time, do you?¡± he asked. ¡°There are a lot of things to do and a little time to waste,¡± I replied and entered the keep with him. Soon, I stepped into the office and sat on the chair on which Count Darrow was sitting not long ago. For a few months, this is going to be my office. I nned these few months as short as possible. So, I could return to Greltheaven permanently. Though, I will not be hasty in my work. There are several things I have to do in the next few months. First, of course, built the infrastructure, from roads to warehouses. Second, start the trade and bring it to the level that the Count had asked me to, and third, train my sessor. All three are hard, but the second and third are the hardest. Second, because we have only signed the contract and ckwell brought his forces. We have got a little ahead with killing and capturing arge number of bandits. Which I hope, will help in smoothening of the trade. This condition also involves dealing with the bandits who are active in baronies and on other sides of Oksall¡¯s territory. The safer it is, the more trade wille. I will talk about it with ckwell and Major Jarvis tomorrow. The third condition will depend on Count Darrow. A few people will being here from his territory. I have to ess, train and choose my sessor among them. I am tired currently, but there are things I have to do. I took a deep breath and opened the file in front of me and took out the blueprints and sketches. When I crafted a n, I included everything, including the n for infrastructure and the cost. There is only a slight modification needed to make due to the requirement from Oksall. Which thankfully, increases the budget. I put out the ns in front of me and took notes. Major Lawson shoulde tomorrow and handling him won¡¯t be easy, but is necessary. The sooner I finish with it, the better it will be. After ites tenders; these are very lucrative contracts. Every big firm will want it. I have a few ideas about how I am going to do it and it is going to make a few people angry, but that is fine. While I like to take everyone along. It is not always possible. Some of my decisions will always make people angry, intentionally or unintentionally. I worked for one and a half hours before walking out of my office and into the suite. I am taking the second-best suit. The first will always be reserved for Count Darrow. I fell asleep within a minute, and it was a deep sleep, with no nightmares. Agent of Experience Lv. 18 Masterful Administrator Lv. 16 When I woke up, there was a notification in front of me and not one line, but two. I had expected to level up in Masterful Administrator since the Count handed me this new responsibility and power, but leveling up to the Agent of Experience is a little surprise. I have to ask whether something happened in the establishment yesterday. Since I leveled up at the Agent of experience, I got the attribute point, which I immediately deposited into vitality. The battle had proved how desperately I needed it. With this one point, I took it to the nine. I felt its effects immediately. Thefortable cooling and slightly radiant skin, which had turned a little pale from the injuries I had received in the battle.
ss: Agent of Experience Lv. 18
Masterful Administrator Lv. 16 Warrior Lv. 15 Trainer Lv. 02
Charisma: 15
Intelligence: 11
Vitality: 09
Strength: 10
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Rapid Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Persuasive ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ Swift de ¡¤ Lords Mood ¡¤ Privacy ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry
Attribute Points: 0
I opened the interface and watched the progress. It gave me the ego boost I will need for today. A few secondster, I closed the window and went to the bathroom to freshen up and shower. I came out of the bathroom half an hourter and changed into a suit. Today is important. I need to be at my best. Growl! Seeing everything perfect, I walked out of my suit and immediately heard a familiar growl directed at me. ¡°I missed you too, buddy,¡± I said and picked Fang off the ground. He resisted for a few seconds before calming down. I looked at him clearly and there was no change in him. ¡°It seemed like he is really a dwarf,¡± I said. ¡°It seemed to be true; there was no growth, except for his hair,¡± said Eli, who had a cloud-surfing sparrow on his shoulder, which had be slightly bigger. ¡°When did you arrive?¡± I asked him. ¡°Just half an hour ago,¡± he replied. I talked to him on the way to the kitchen. I sat at the table but stopped the chef from serving the breakfast. I didn¡¯t have to wait for long. A little over ten minutester, ckwell walked inside. ¡°I hope you were not waiting too long, Adviser,¡± he said as he took a seat in front of me. ¡°I just arrived a few minutes ago,¡± I replied and asked the chef to serve us breakfast. ¡°Did you receive any message from Oksall?¡± I asked directly. ¡°Yes. I have been informed that their people have started the survey of the route,¡± ¡°They will be finished in a week and will start the construction of the road after that,¡± he informed. It had been done before and House ckwell has aplete record of it. So, it shouldn¡¯t take long for them to finish the survey and start the construction. The distance from Fort Renin to Amberhold is less than half or nearly a third of what Greltheaven to Nakar Baronies, but due to hills and all; it is a difficult journey to make. We are lucky, due to our side being a wastnd. It is in, with little obstructions. We could cover thatrge distance in a short time. ¡°What about your side?¡± he asked. ¡°Lord Count had already started on things, and I will try to expedite them further,¡± I replied. ¡°I am sure you will aplish it on time; I will be doing the same with my side,¡± he said, and I smiled. ¡°I think we should start a discussion of coboration on bandit extermination soon as possible.¡± ¡°It would be wise if we have a framework ready by the end of the month,¡± I said after a few seconds of silence. ¡°I was going to suggest the same. While we have wiped away arge number of bandits, there are many of them who are still active on both sides,¡± he replied. For a few minutes, we discussed that topic. There are already a few lines added about it in the agreement that we and Oksall had signed. We have to develop the framework of corporations based on that. It will take some negotiations. A lot of manpower will be needed for operations like this, which is going to be the easiest part of the negotiations. Soon, we finished breakfast and walked out of the keep. ¡°Have a safe journey, Lord ckwell,¡± I said as mounted. ¡°I will,¡± he said and left with his force. I sent a toon of soldiers with him for extra security; they will return after taking him safely to his fort. I turned back and walked toward the keep. ¡°Master Silver,¡± Jill greeted, sitting at a table by my office. ¡°Jill, I hope the journey has been well?¡± I asked her. ¡°Yes, there was no problem,¡± she replied. I smiled and walked inside, where another person was waiting. ¡°How are the things in the establishment, L?¡± I asked as I took a seat. I had called them here after the Count had handed me the responsibility. To be honest, I wish Ca had been here, but she had a business to manage in my stead and couldn¡¯t leave the Greltheaven. So, L is the next best choice. ¡°They are good; the business is going well, and the new girls are adjusting, without any problem,¡± she replied. I nodded and looked at my desk; it ispletely different from the mess I left behindst night. I took out the first file; it is about our finances; both establishments and my liquor business with Navr. I have umted a good amount of money; I could easily pay all my debts with it. However, I am not going to do that. When I went to Oksall. I saw the biggest city in the world. I opened my eyes to apletely different reality. Seeing such a massive city, my perspective widened, and I realized. I have been ying too safe in these past few months with the establishment. I should take big risks and give my all. If I take things too slowly, I might end up losing the opportunities I might get. I should treat my business like a start-up. Take big risks, it is the only way I will achieve my dreams. I read the whole file and made a few notes, before turning to L. ¡°Did you bring what I had asked?¡± I asked. She nodded and took out the box from the corner of the office. The box contains files, a lot of them. ¡°Let¡¯s start; we need to finish with it, before the afternoon,¡± I said to her. She took the seat opposite of me and we started working. In the afternoon, Major Lawson ising, and I need to be prepared. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 190: Ungrateful Chapter 190: Ungrateful ¡®Master Silver, Major Lawson is here,¡¯ informed Jill. Click! ¡°Send him in,¡± I said. A secondter, a fat man with a blond mustache with a bald head walked into the office. He is wearing a ck army uniform, which doesn¡¯t have a single wrinkle on it. His eyes scanned the room, fixing on L for a second, before focusing back on me. ¡°Adviser Silver, it¡¯s nice to see you again,¡± he said with a big smile. ¡°You too, Major Lawson,¡± I replied. He sat down in front of me and looked at me with a smile, without saying anything. It has begun. ¡°I have called you here to discuss infrastructure ns. I would like to know, the thought of Mirador Hold on to it,¡± I said and a smile on his face became slightly bigger. ¡°There is nothing to discuss, adviser. You will give us 75% of the budget and we will handle everything on our end,¡± he said, surprising me greatly. I was processing the words when suddenly he hit me with his skills. He didn¡¯t hold back anything at all; hit me with everything he had. He did it without changing the smile on his face. His skills are powerful, which is not surprising, seeing he is Level 30+ and has great experience in using them. He wants me to agree, and the moment I did, his verbal contract skill would click. He would not get 75% of what he is asking, but he would take far more than what I would give to him. That would be bad. Forget giving 75% of the budget, I couldn¡¯t give him, even 25%. I had called him to discuss things, to take his view. I don¡¯t want to do things arbitrarily. But he wants to do it that way. He sees me as a young man and is willing to push me. Use force, without care. He might even seed because of my stupidity. I had made a mistake calling him here without any backup. I should have had someone with me who could support me if he tried to do something like this. I had not thought he would do something like this. I thought it would be a civil discussion and even negotiations. He is using the force of his skills and thepulsion of his powerful skills is strong enough that I am going to agree with it. If I did that, I would definitely lose my job, and it will be because of my damn overconfidence. ¡°We are not asking much. To be honest, we deserve that whole infrastructure fund, seeing what Count Darrow agreed with the merchant state,¡± he said, and he is telling the truth. Mirador''s hold does deserve it all; they have so much to do, and I should be giving them all the money. Hun! I opened my mouth to agree, when suddenly a cooling feeling washed over me, clearing my thoughts. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed and turned to L, whom Lawson had also looked at, before turning to me, focusing his skill sharper. L had activated her skill. Its power is much weaker than Lawson''s skills, but it cleared my mind. Now, holding my thoughts as tightly as possible, I turned to Lawson. I wanted to kill this bastard, but I controlled my emotions, focused on keeping my thoughts still under the colossal weight of his skills. ¡°You have misunderstood, Major Lawson. I have called you here because I want to hear your views and nothing more.¡± ¡°The infrastructure budget is under me, and I will decide what I need to do with it, what kind of infrastructure we need to build, where to build it, and who will build it,¡± I said directly. This time, I didn¡¯t even bother to smile or nor I could under such pressure of his skills. The smile on his face stiffened upon hearing me, but a momentter, came back brighter. ¡°You are overestimating your responsibilities, Adviser. Everything that goes in a Mirador Hold and its domain needed itsmander permissions.¡± ¡°You have to give us a budget. It is thew, charter 3 of the region''s constitution,¡± he said, and my lips curved slightly. Persuasive I activated my skill and felt the pressure of his skill lessen a little. He gave me the opening by mentioning thew; he shouldn¡¯t have done that. Persuasive is useless, it is apulsion-type skill. With the difference in our level and condition which we are negotiating; it is nearly useless to use it, but now he has given me an opportunity. My Persuasive skill is not standard Persuasive skill. It is made from a merger of three skills, one of which is Lawful Suggestion, which used belongs to my Lawyer ss, that made the Masterful Administrator. So, with his words, he gave me the power to use the making; making it more powerful than it would have been if I used it before. Now it is useful, giving me more breathable space. ¡°ording to Charter 3, section 17, subsection B of the constitution. Prince Grelt has a supreme authority, over Mirador Hold, which he granted to Count Darrow Wilstein,¡± ¡°As his representative, I have permission to use his authority in the subject of trade. Thus, as long as it is rted to trade, my authority supersedes even Commander Dane¡¯s,¡± ¡°With it, I could build, destroy or do anything. I damn well please and Commander Dane will have to ept it,¡± I said, looking directly into those forest green eyes. I had wanted to be polite, but he used force and not in a nudging way, but like a harsh hammer and I wouldn¡¯t be Remus Silver if I didn¡¯t answer that in kind. I could see a shock appearing in his eyes and behind came anger. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it a momentter and calmed his emotions. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t speak, so harshly, Adviser,¡± he said, with a hint of warning in his voice. ¡°I am not speaking harshly, Major Lawson. I am just making you aware of reality.¡± I replied. I also calmed myself; making enemies with Mirador Hold won''t help. I have to be calm and makepromises, which I really don¡¯t want to do. ¡°I have the ns in the business section of mirador hold and I have a few questions for which I asked you here,¡± ¡°I hope you will answer them,¡± I said, hating for giving this ungrateful bastard another chance. He is still looking at me angrily and using the full force of his skills on me, despite me offering a friendly hand. ¡°To satisfy a contract with the merchant guild. We will need twelve new warehouses and a new guest house, bigger than the one we actually have. ¡°Quarters for workers¡­¡± I named all things before turning to him. Who is still looking at me with anger and pressuring me with the power of his skills. ¡°I like to see the blueprints of the ns toment on it further,¡± he said after the seconds of silence. ¡°L,¡± I said to her, and she took out tworge blue-print and handed them to the man. He looked at it and a surprise appeared on his face. When I was making a n, I had all the data. So, I asked the architect to draw out several ns. These two he is looking at fit into the requirements that Oksall had asked us for. This does not only have warehouses and guesthouses, but also has guard stations for the guards, canteens, and other things. Many of these things that Mirador Hold had been asking for Count for months. He studied it for over fifteen minutes before turning to me, with the full power of his skills, which is still unbearable as it had been when he activated them for the first time. ¡°The n is good. We will need half of the infrastructure fun to aplish it,¡± he said. ¡®Ungrateful bastard!¡¯ I cursed in my heart and resisted the urge to bang my hand on the table. ¡°Major Lawson, the tender will be issued by my office and will pay thepany directly. Mirador Hold will not have any hand in it,¡± I said directly, and it made him even more angry. ¡°Commander Dane had personally asked me to bring the fund. He will be very disappointed,¡± he said, with clear threat in his eyes. ¡°Please tell Commander Dane that it won¡¯t be possible.¡± ¡°If he has any suggestions; I promise to take them under consideration,¡± I said, and he red openly. This time, he didn¡¯t even try to hide his emotions. He is also trying to press me hard with his skill, and it is hard to bear them, but I am doing it. There is no other choice. If I give up; there will be huge consequences. ¡°I will surely mention that to him,¡± he said through greeted teeth and got up before walking out of my office. His skills disappeared, and I slumped back in my chair, drenched in my sweat. It was really too much harder than the real battle. It was also a battle, a different kind, which I fortunately survived. Though it had taught me a lesson, that I didn¡¯t n to forget soon. ¡°Thank you. If not for you, I would have agreed to everything he wanted,¡± I said, to which she smiled mirthlessly. ¡°My skill waspletely crushed by his,¡± she said, clearly disappointed. ¡°It is not; it had helped me when I felt all the hope was lost.¡± ¡°We have survived Level 30+, with a lot of experience. We should be proud of that,¡± I said, and she finally smiled. I took a deep breath and walked to the window and saw Lawson talking with Major Jarvis. I had called him for a discussion. I had wanted to take his view and even would have made some changes; I had even swallowed my pride and given him a second chance, but he threw that away right at my face. Now, I will only do what is required for the trade, nothing more and nothing less. Mirador Hold will not get anything extra. The money saved from it could be used for other things. I watched him till he left the castle, before sitting back in my chair and starting to write a letter. Within a few minutes, I finished and gave it to L. ¡°Sent it to the city hall and ask them to send it to all the constructionpanies; I want them delivered to their offices before evening,¡± she nodded and walked out. This letter will make some people angry. I wonder if some of them will go to Count Darrow. I didn¡¯t inform him of this and won¡¯t do it, till everything is finalized. L returned a few minutester, and we worked on some things. There are really many things to do, and I have little time to aplish them. There are many people who would like to see me fail and today, I had added a powerful mirador hold to that list. I wanted to avoid that and even swallowed my pride, but it was all useless. I worked for two hours before I walked out and went to where Eli was and started training Fang to rx. I have made good progress with him, but more is needed. I want to put discipline into his every cell. So, he would be able to control instability that might arise from his gics. It is necessary, seeing how Ca keeps him close to her. Many girls y with him and, if some unstable factor triggers, during that time, it will be bad. Training will help in dealing with it. It would be great If I am able to get a skill, that will help me suppress those things. Though, I am not counting on that. I would rather prefer to depend on my training. Which is what I will do. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 191: Tenders Chapter 191: Tenders ¡°So, you just stormed out?¡± asked Commander Dane, looking at the fat man, who started quivering, hearing his soft voice. He wouldn¡¯t have been worried. If themander raged, that anger would have been temporary, but he is speaking in a soft voice, which means he was truly angry, and this anger won¡¯t disappear soon. ¡°He disrespected you and Mirador Hold, Commander. It was unbearable for me,¡± said Lawson, stopping his voice from quivering. It seemed to have made Commander Dane even angrier. ¡°Remind me once again what I said to you before you left?¡± asked the Commander. ¡°Get half of the budget. If that¡¯s not possible, then try to get as much as things we need from it,¡± Lawson replied and shook. As if finally realizing the mistake he had made. ¡°I have been walking on eggshells since the assassination event; many people want to remove me and you, like an idiot, added another weight to me.¡± ¡°You have made things difficult with a person who is most friendly among all the advisers,¡± said the Commander. With every word, the anger in his eyes would go higher. Lawson had seen Commander, such angry very few times. ¡°Please, forgive me; I have made a mistake, Commander,¡± said Lawson. ¡°You did and if I suffered because of it. I will make sure you will suffer more,¡± said themander and walked toward Lawson, before standing very next to him. He looked into his eyes for a moment, before moving his hand and removing one of two stars from him; demoting him immediately. From Major, he bes Colonel. ¡°Make it right Lawson or you won¡¯t have that other star too,¡± said the Commander and walked away. ¡­ ¡°Have they arrived?¡± I asked as L entered my office. ¡°Yes; they are waiting in a big conference room.¡± She replied. ¡°How many of them have arrived?¡± I asked. ¡°All of them,¡± she replied. Hearing that, a big smile appeared on my face. The more there are, the better it will be. ¡°Let¡¯s go then,¡± I said and got up from my seat and walked out of my office with L. It had been three days since I had got this responsibility and two days since my meeting with Major Lawson, or rather, Colonel Lawson. I had heard, he had been demoted. I had only seen one star on him when he came to apologize that evening. I wish it had been a sincere apology, but nevertheless, I epted it. It won¡¯t do me any good to worsen my rtionship with the Mirador hold. Though I will not forget that bastard Lawson. Click! A minuteter, I stepped into the conference room, which was filled with people. ¡°Adviser,¡± they stood up and greeted. ¡°Please sit,dies and gentlemen,¡± I said to them as I took the seat and looked at them. In front are thirty-four people in front of me. They belong to big, medium, and small constructionpanies operating in the Greltheaven. There are many familiar people among them, including Valentina. ¡°L,¡± I said. She raised her fingers and immediately, the clerks standing by the wall moved and began cing three files in front of every member of the constructionpanies. ¡°First, let me start by thanking you for all for making the journey here this far.¡± I thanked them, and they smiled. ¡°As you all are aware, we have opened the trade route with the merchant state of Oksall through the Nakar Baronies to the Kingdom of Navr.¡± ¡°It will be extremely beneficial, not just to the baronies, but also for the city of Greltheaven and the entire region,¡± I said and looked at files. ¡°The three proposals in front of you are the tenders of infrastructure we need to build. The first proposal is for the road; we will need a road from our boundary to mirador hold,¡± ¡°More than half of it is already done, but will need to be widened up and constructed where it is not present,¡± ¡°The second proposal is to build infrastructure, like warehouses, guesthouses, and other things in Mirador Hold and at our boundary, with Navr,¡± ¡°The third proposal is building infrastructure around the Castle Radcliff,¡± ¡°You all have three days to submit your bids for them,¡± I said and watched as they opened the proposals. It didn¡¯t even take a minute for the first question toe in. ¡°Adviser, why did you divide the whole proposal into three? A single proposal would have been efficient and cost-friendly,¡± asked a middle-aged man, with streaks of grey in raven hair. He is Rufus Door, leader of one of the top four constructionpanies in Greltheaven. Hispany was part of a consortium that built the Greltheaven. If the Count had been my ce, he would have thrown the contract in one of the four. Two, to be exact, he prefers them over the other two. ¡°Not particrly, but the reason I did it was because I wanted to do it fast. With more yers, it will be much faster than what a single yer would be able to achieve,¡± I replied. ¡°You can give this contract to us, and we willplete it in record time, withoutpromising on quality,¡± he said. ¡°I made my decision. Mr. Door and it won''t change.¡± I replied with a smile. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Which is good. If he had pressed with the non-sense question; I wouldn¡¯t have been polite with my answer. There were a few minutes of silence before the questions resumed and most of them were meaningful about the proposals in front of them. I answered each and every one of them personally. ¡°Once again, thank you all foring. I will see you all in three days with your bids,¡± I said, after one hour of answering their questions before walking out of the room. I wish I could talk to Valentina; there are a few things I want to talk to her about my personal business, but it won¡¯t be wise. I don¡¯t want to do anything that will see me ying favorites. I will not y favorites. Though the lowest bid is not the only thing I will look for before choosing the winner for the bids. I have a little more than two weeks before the first shipment of goodses. It is impossible to have the infrastructure ready by then, especially when I am using the tendering process. If I used the method that Count uses; they would have started by tomorrow. In the Count¡¯s system, there is no tendering. He just calls toppanies and chooses among them. It is fast, and the majority of nobles and cities use these methods. It is a reason why the top constructionpanies always remain on top. The state contracts are the most lucrative ones, and they have a monopoly over them. I do not have any problem giving the contract to bigpanies, but I think, the bidding will be beneficial in saving money and getting better work from them. It will also give a chance to small and medium yers. When I went back to the office, Major Jarvis was there, waiting. ¡°How was the meeting?¡± I asked him. ¡°Good. We will be able to create a working mechanism within a month,¡± he replied. He had gone to Fort Renin to meet with Colonel Grennan. Both sides want to exterminate the bandits. While killing all of them won¡¯t be possible, due to the thick forest and extreme magic region, where those bastards go to hide when things be difficult. We could reduce their numbers enough that they wouldn¡¯t be more than an inconvenience. The faster we do it, the better it will be. When the trade begins, more of them might get attracted to the area. Though ckwell had informed me, a bandit hunting division of Oksall¡¯s army would sweep the area every four months, which was great. Merchant states hate bandits so much that they have created a special division to hunt them. Bandits shudder whenever they hear their name; they are that good. Still, we don¡¯t want to rely on them alone and have to put our own efforts too, in culling them. A few minutester, he left, and I focused back on the work. I worked for a few hours before walking out of my office and the keep. I mounted the horse and rode out of the gates, with guards around me and Fang following behind excitedly. I do not have the exact purpose other than to get away from the work. I have been working since early morning without taking a break. Riding is rxing, especially in the snow with trees around me. It is beautiful scenery, and I wish, I had a camera so I could take a few pictures of myself. I didn¡¯t go far and remained in the area, which was under the eyes of guards. I am sure there are many people aiming for me. Bandits and the enemies of Count. They wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill me if I gave them the chance. I rode for an hour before riding back to the castle. When I reached the gates, I saw L taking the lessons. Both L and Jill are taking the riding lessons from yesterday. I had asked them to do it. It is an essential skill like driving; they will need it. I dismounted near the stables but didn¡¯t go inside instead went to our usual spot with Fang and started to train him. He is intelligent and with Command Projection. I could teach him theplexmand rather easily. Though, the only problem there is his stubbornness. He is frustratingly stubborn, and it is a challenge to teach himmands that he doesn¡¯t want to learn. Well, this is where the fun is. If it wasn¡¯t so frustratingly hard, I wouldn¡¯t have enjoyed it, as I am. It is the reason why I have taken him. I didn¡¯t want a monster who could tear people apart. I wanted a monster that I could train so I could feel more connected to my past life. Though, it would have been great. If he wasn¡¯t a dwarf. Speaking of dwarf, I wonder how old he is. I first thought he was only a few months old, but since he was a dwarf, it was not the case. He is likely older, maybe a year old. I would need a high-level monster expert to know that. Unfortunately, we do not have those at Greltheaven. I trained him till it was evening before I went back to my office and worked till it was time for dinner. I took a short walk on a battlement after dinner, talked to the people guarding it before going back to my office, and worked for two hours more. I am sleeping early today. Tomorrow, I have to wake up early to train. My injuries have healed enough that I could start training again, which I desperately want. The battle had told me how much I needed to keep up with my training. Now, I even have a new amazing skill to train; I want to incorporate it intobat style as soon as possible. The training will help me with that. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 192: Valentina Chapter 192: Valentina ¡°Sorry, I wanted toe sooner, but held up in a meeting,¡± I said to the red-head, as I walked into the office. She is a beautiful woman with curly, bright red hair. I always had a thing for redheads, which is why I couldn¡¯t help but get attracted to the woman in front of me, despite having a girlfriend. ¡°It is fine, Miss Valentina,¡± said Ca, with a beautiful smile on her face. ¡°The curly hair looks very good, by the way. When do you change it?¡± I asked as I sat down. ¡°They are natural. I used to keep them straight,¡± she replied. I couldn¡¯t help but smile hearing that. She shouldn¡¯t have changed them. The curly hair looks great on her, much better than the straight she used to have. ¡°I have called you here for the changes we have to make,¡± she said, and I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. I had expected this much when she contacted me yesterday. ¡°I hope they are not big, because, if they are, they are going to push the deadline of the circle,¡± I replied, to which she smiled. I am already doing everything I can. I assigned the maximum number of people to finish it on time, but the requirements kept increasing, making it harder for her to maintain the deadline. ¡°The change is not about the circle; it is about the establishment,¡± she replied, and I couldn¡¯t help but sigh in relief. It also made me feel happy. It is a new business and seeing Ca¡¯s expressions; it didn¡¯t feel like a small change. Speaking of business, I really hope I will the bids for the tender. I have formed a partnership with two other mid-sizepanies to bid for proposals. With the price we have set, we will not earn much from it, but that is not the purpose. The purpose is to break into state contracts, which only the top four have monopolies over. I have contacted the headquarters about it, the moment I received the proposal. They have asked me to bid, with the lowest I could; it won¡¯t matter, even if suffer a loss. Once we establish our reputation with the city; we will get more contracts. That will help us earn a lot of money. The state contracts are the most profitable ones. Not to mention, getting a state contract will increase the reputationpany, and will help me get more general contracts. I hope Remus will show some favor. Though likely, seeing how didn¡¯t even talk to me two days ago. ¡°What changes does Remus want this time?¡± I asked. To which Ca smiled and instead of answering, she pushed the file toward me. I opened the file and saw the rough sketches; the first sketch had an extra floor on the establishment. I looked at it carefully and read the surrounding texts before changing the page. It was there I received a surprise. This is the most radical idea about the design of the establishment he had shown me. Looking at the ink, I could tell he had conceived it months ago. It is really something. I thought I stopped getting surprised by his ideas and now gotten surprised once again. They are different from anything; I havee across. I looked at the whole file before closing it and turning to Ca, my expression serious. ¡°It is a big change, Miss Ca; it couldn¡¯t be done by cloaking the building with mist. You will have to close the business, at least for a few weeks or even a month.¡± I informed. He doesn¡¯t want a small change in the establishment, like he did in the past few months, but big ones, including more powerful enchantments. It will be very costly; most importantly, he will have to keep his business closed for about a month, which will cost him more than these changes would. From what I heard; he earns about three to five million imperials every month, second only to the brothel next to him. These new changes might make him the top earner. ¡°Mr. Silver is aware of that, and he wants you to begin with outer changes first and start with the inner atst month,¡± said Ca. ¡°I will start the work on establishment by the end of the week,¡± I replied. ¡°No problem,¡± Ca replied. Two months would be more than enough to finish the job. For the next fifteen minutes, we discussed the other details, and she gave me the check of the million imperials. ¡°I will prepare several models for Remus and hand them over to him tomorrow,¡± I said and left the office. Soon, I walked out of the office and entered my carriage. I opened the file and wrote the notes. I will have to give these to the design department and ask them to create models and blueprints to show to Remus. Hun! I was taking notes when the green gem ring in my left hand lit up. A message came and when I saw the signature and read it, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. The headquarters approved the n; there was no surprise in that. Seeing they are willing to suffer even a loss for contracts. We will actually make some good profit. Not as much as we liked, but with the scale, it will still be substantial. I hope the headquarters of the other twopanies will also be okay with it. I will know for sure in the evening. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I walked into the office and took the stairs, instead of the elevator, that I usually do. ¡°Chief,¡± The receptionist greeted me as I appeared in front of her. ¡°Is Sadler in?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, Mr. Sadler, in his office,¡± she informed, I nodded, and I walked toward it. Click! I opened the door and walked into the office, where a middle-aged man with sandy hair was working with three people. Multiple blue sttered around them, with the projection floated above the te. ¡°Chief,¡± he said. I nodded and ced the file on his deck. ¡°I want several models ready by midnight,¡± I said. Usually, Remus¡¯s work is handled by an old man, Davidson, but he is busy. Sadler is good and more suited to design, the changes Remus wants this time. ¡°Chief, me and my team are already swamped with work. Can I do it tomorrow?¡± he asked. ¡°It is Adviser Silvers, work,¡± I said, and his expression changed immediately. ¡°It will be done by midnight,¡± he said, taking the file. Remus is a priority client. Most importantly, they think something is between me and Remus. Which is what I want them, and everyone, to think. If they came to know about my real rtionship; I would be in a dungeon, ready for public execution by the church. I walked into my office and saw the old man Davidson waiting there. ¡°Have you finished?¡± I asked as I sat down in my chair. ¡°Take a look,¡± he said and slid the file toward me, I began to read through it and the more I looked, the bigger the smile on my face would be. ¡°You have done a good work, old man,¡± I said to him, as I closed the file. ¡°Let¡¯s hope we will seed with this,¡± he said. ¡°We have given our all. It all depends on Remus now,¡± I said, to which he nodded. A few hours passed, and I concluded other business with an old man and met a few clients. The bossiness is going well in the Greltheaven. Far better than I had expected, when I hade to the Greltheaven, more than a year ago. When I first asked to be sent here, my superiors were surprised. I was a rising star there anding here was a sort of demotion; they were nning to send one of the worst-performing managers here. I have my reasons toe here; I wanted to be away from the maind. In a ce where the influence of the church is much less, where I will get more freedom. The Greltheaven had turned out to be a better ce than I had expected it to be. Like an oasis in the barren world. It is quite unfortunate; it will be temporary. It has a decade at most, before the undead sent its horde, and unlike merchant states. The region didn¡¯t have a powerful force to stop it. They will raze the whole region, leaving it barren of any people. ¡®Chief, Mr. Cass, and Mr. Wayne have arrived.¡¯ informed my secretary. Click! ¡°Send them in,¡± I said as I adjusted my posture. A secondter, the door opened and two middle-aged men came inside. ¡°Mr. Cass, Mr. Wayne; thank you foring,¡± I said to them, as they sat in front of me. ¡°We have received affirmation from our headquarters to proceed with the proposal,¡± said Wayne, and with a smile, my face became bigger. ¡°Good. Now, we only need to submit our bids tomorrow,¡± I said, and couldn¡¯t help but feel excited about it. ¡°About that. Have you spoken to Remus Silver?¡± asked Cass, and I made my expressions serious. In our earlier meeting, they implied I leverage my rtionship with him, but this time, he has directly said it. ¡°I do not mix my personal rtionships with business, Mr. Cass. If we win, the tenders, it will be on the strength of our proposals, not on my rtionship with Adviser,¡± I replied. ¡°My apologies. Miss r, if you feel hurt by my words, but you can see how important these tenders are to us,¡± he said. ¡°It could help us break into the big boys club,¡± added Wayne. ¡°I want the same thing too, but I will not leverage my personal rtionship with him,¡± I said, this time more firmly. They seemed to understand it, as they didn¡¯t bring up that subject again. Ten minutester, they left my office. There was not much to discuss since we had already finished negotiations. Thest few things that remained were done within a minute. Soon the evening came, and I left the office. Usually, I stay till night, but I have to leave before dawn tomorrow. I also nned to give a few hours to the new spell I am learning. The spell cost me a lot. It is also the most difficult spell I have ever studied, but it will increase my strength. If I was able to do it, I might even get a level in my mage ss, if I am lucky. Ten minutester, the carriage stopped in front of a four-story house. It is secluded from most houses. I need it to be secluded since it is not just a ce where I live; I also do my experiments here, which could turn deadly if things go wrong. It also gives me the privacy to do the other things. Hun! I had just taken a step when I had stopped. My staff appeared in my hand, and a crystal on it lit up a momentter. I gently took a step inside the living and opened my mouth to call out to whoever was inside, when I froze once again. There in my living room is a woman; she is lying seductively on the sofa, and there is not a single article of clothing on her. Staring at her smoldering eyes. I couldn¡¯t help but feel parched, and it was not the water that would satiate my thirst. ¡°Weren¡¯t youing two dayster?¡± I asked as I walked toward her. ¡°Yes, I was, but the mission ended early,¡± she replied and got up. ¡°You should have informed me,¡± I said as I stopped in front of her. ¡°I wanted to surprise you,¡± she said, bringing her lips close enough that I could feel her breath on me. ¡°I am surprised,¡± I replied softly. It made her smile, and she brought her lips to mine and gave me the lips that I had been thirsting for. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 193: Party Chapter 193: Party ¡°As I was saying, adviser; it would be great if the widening of roads is also done around our territories.¡± ¡°It will benefit my territory and the territory of Baron Moss and Baron Schafer here and will also provide a second way to the Mirador Hold,¡± said the blond-haired man in his fifties. The two men beside him also nodded at his words. ¡°I would love to, my lords, but the road is decided by the Lord Count. Since you have asked me, I will mention it to the Lord Count,¡± I replied. ¡°That is all we ask, adviser,¡± said the man. I talked with them a minute more before moving to other nobles. I am at the birthday party of Baron Ardo; it is the first party I have attended sinceing but won¡¯t be thest. I have already got invitations to two others. It is a part of the responsibilities, and I don¡¯t mind it. I get tired of working all day, socializing is rxing. I was mingling with guests when I felt the sharp gaze again. I didn¡¯t have to turn to look, to see who was giving me the eye. It is, madam. She had been giving me an angry look from the moment I came here. She hadn¡¯t stopped ming me for her son¡¯s death. For which only he was responsible and no one else. I mingled with a few more nobles when I saw Leing toward me. She had left her mother with another guest and now,ing toward me with a man, I saw with her at the funeral. ¡°Lady Le,¡± I greeted, with a faint bow. ¡°Adviser,¡± she said, and the awkwardness appeared behind us again. We might share blood, but we are unfamiliar with each other, and it is not something that could easily be fixed, nor I am enthusiastic about fixing it. The only thing I want is to have a cordial rtionship and nothing more. ¡°ric Thalian. I wanted to meet you at the funeral Adviser, but you had left too soon,¡± introduced a man standing beside Le. He is about her age, with a tall physique and a handsome face in a ssical way. ¡°It is nice to meet you, Mr. Thalian,¡± I said as I shook his hand. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, how do you know Lady Le?¡± I asked, to which he smiled. ¡°We were ssmates at the academy,¡± he replied. I first thought he was her boyfriend, seeing how they acted, but that didn¡¯t feel right. It is likely that they are just good friends. ¡°I was able to find things you were looking for, but the price they are asking is high,¡± she informed. ¡°It is within a range, right?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, but on the higher side,¡± she replied. ¡°It is fine, as long as it is within a range,¡± I said. I had asked her to get a few things for me. They are mage-rted and need to be brought from a trusted source. ¡°Ok,¡± she replied. Once again, there was an awkward silence, but this time, I didn¡¯t let it stretch it for far. ¡°I have news for you, too.¡± ¡°The thing you have been waiting for has arrived. The Count will contact you about it in a few days,¡± I said. There was a surprise at first in her eyes, before they lit up with joy. ¡°It is the best news I could hear,¡± she said. ¡°Thank god it came; at least now, all the wondering will stop,¡± said Thalian, and she red at him. ¡°Contact me when you finalize the price,¡± I said and walked away from her. ¡­ ¡°It is horrifying how you two behave with each other. So much awkwardness, even strangers are not as awkward as you two are,¡± said Al. I red at him before my eyes softened. ¡°We are strangers,¡± I said with a tint of regret. I could tell Remus didn¡¯t have a tint of love or affection for me despite sharing the blood. It is the same for me; though, there is now a useless regret mixed in it. I could still remember those loving eyes, which he used to look at me when he was a child. One time, when he was three or four and I was fourteen, he had tried to hug me and I pushed him away. It was not my intention; it was an instinctive reaction to all the conditioning my mother gave me. I felt bad but didn¡¯t apologize or help him. Instead, ran away, watching his mother console him. He continued to try for my affection for years after, till his mother disappeared when he was around eight. He had approached me, calling me sister, but I didn¡¯t acknowledge and walked away. From then on, he never approached me, always looking at me as if I were a stranger. ¡®The things we want to change,¡¯ I thought with a sigh, before pushing away those thoughts. I had just pushed away those thoughts when my mother approached me, with clear anger in her eyes. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe he had brought a whore, in the gathering of peers,¡± said Mother. Looking at the beautiful woman, following behind Remus, which he introduced as an assistant when people asked. ¡°Le, you should report to the Lord Count. He needs to be punished for this offense.¡± I don¡¯t know whether to be angry with my mother or simplyugh. Hun! I opened my mouth with a really harsh word in it when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. ¡°Madam Silver; it wouldn¡¯t be a wise thing to do,¡± said Al. ¡°Why? Aren¡¯t you seeing what he is doing? People are going to report, and it will be better that we would be one of them,¡± I wanted to massage my head, hearing that. ¡°It is unlikely that anyone would report him. Adviser Remus is an important man and has the trust of the Count.¡± ¡°Reporting him, won¡¯t earn them more than a few minutes of time with Lord Count, but it will earn them the enmity of Adviser Remus,¡± ¡°They don¡¯t want that, since he could make things very difficult for them, and for us if we did that,¡± All exined innguage she could understand. Which is also the truth. Remus is currently powerful. Count trusts him explicitly otherwise; he wouldn¡¯t have handed him such tremendous responsibility. ¡°So, we do nothing?¡± mother asked, still angry. ¡°We do not have to report it. Count has men everywhere, and he is going to know it or already knew it by now,¡± ¡°If he decided to punish Adviser Remus, we will hear it. If we didn¡¯t hear anything, then we should remain quiet,¡± said Al, and it is clear. Mother didn¡¯t like the answer, but she didn¡¯t seem to want to press further. ¡°The bastard is always lucky, getting with everything,¡± she muttered but didn¡¯t speak another word about Remus, in the rest of the party. ¡­ ¡°It was a wonderful party. Thank you, Lord Ardo,¡± I said to the middle-aged man. ¡°I am nd, you had a good time, adviser,¡± he said. ¡°Have a good night, Baron, Baroness,¡± I said and walked out, with L following behind me. In the whole party, she had barely spoken more than a few words but attracted the attention of everyone. It was a risk a bring her here, but the one, I took, after thinking deeply. Now wille the time in consequence. Count Darrow will definitely know, and I wonder what he will do. There are many things he could do, but I am sure even with the harshest punishment, I won¡¯t lose this job. That is why I decided to take this risk. It is such regret that Ca isn¡¯t here; I wanted her to be first and would have asked her toe, but she was busy. She is not only handling the establishment, but also the liquor business. Contacting all the business, taking the orders, which are rising every month despite thepetition appearing. Many had started to buy liquor from Navr. This is not surprising, seeing it is the biggest producer of it, on the whole continent. These established yers aren¡¯t able to beat me, and I won¡¯t let them beat me. This business is earning me immense profit; it is because of this profit; that I decided to take a chance with the big expansion. Ca contacted Valentina today for new ns for the establishment. I was going to wait for it a few months, seeing I would need to keep the establishment closed for one month for this expansion. Losing the business of five hundred million crowns. It is what the establishment is making every month. It was not an easy decision to take, but I decided to take the risk. This will be the biggest change the establishment will go through. Not only in architecture but also in business models. It will also be very expensive. I nned to overhaul nearly every enchantment in the building and change furniture, among other things. If it works; it will be worth it. We sat in the carriage, and it moved toward the Castle Radcliff. It would take around an hour and a half to reach there. ¡°Thank you,¡± I was reading when I heard those words. I turned to L, ¡°There is nothing to thank me for,¡± I replied, but she just shook her head gently. An hour passed by silence, and I finished reading. Instead of starting another file, I turned to L. ¡°How do you like the experience?¡± I asked. ¡°These people are no different from us. Some of them are worse, trying to nder others with polite words, asking for things, without offering anything in return,¡± she replied, and I couldn¡¯t hold back myugh. Not only me, but even Z, beside her, who was expressionless, had a smile appeared on her face. ¡°Many of them are no different frommon people, but with powere change,¡± ¡°They go to extremes rather easily than normal people, and that makes them dangerous,¡± I replied, with my expressions turning somber. The nobility of here and earth or no different. They squabble, they plot, they fight. Thankfully, Nakar baronies are much calmer and controlled, but they have just started. Let a few more years pass. Let them experience this power more thoroughly and gain the sses. They will be, like every noble in the world. A few minutes passed, and the carriage reached the Castle Radcliff. We got out and walked into the keep. It was eleven. Usually, I am asleep at this time, but now I am walking to my office. Someone hade and I have to meet them. Soon, I reached my office and saw Jill talking excitedly about a teen girl of the same age. They stopped as they saw me. I nodded at them and entered my office, where two beautiful women were waiting. ¡°Master Silver,¡± they greeted. ¡°Ina, Andrea, how was Navr?¡± I asked. ¡°Sessful. We brought our biggest order yet,¡± Ina replied. I smiled, and I turned to Andrea. ¡°I hope it was not too much for you,¡± I said. This was her first trip to Navr. It was brave of her to go there without hesitation, with only a day of notice. A few people have such courage. ¡°No, it was wonderful. It was not a deathnd; I had expected it to be,¡± she replied. My expression turned serious after hearing that. ¡°It is a deathnd; they just hide it very well,¡± I replied, with my expressions all serious. I had experienced one of its horrors firsthand and, to be honest; I shudder whether I think about it. I still have nightmares about that ce. ¡°I will remember that,¡± she said somberly, which made me smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much; it is safe. Safer than even Empire and Renwell region,¡± I replied. I don¡¯t like to say it, but it is the truth. I talked to them for a few minutes before turning to a real topic. ¡°Here is the list of merchants, you will have to meet, after you reach Oksall,¡± I said and forwarded the list to them. They have a week-long tour of the Oksall and its cities, including Amberhold. Meeting merchants, who will be trading through the route. ¡°I won''t be a problem,¡± she said, looking at the list. The list is small, as only these merchants have agreed to meet. Still, it is bigger than I had expected. Being responsible here and belonging to a house of silver helped a lot in making them agree to meet with my representatives. ¡°It is a regret that you didn¡¯t get to rest for even a day after returning from Navr, and I am already sending you both on another arduous journey,¡± I said with a hint of regret. I especially feel regretful for Andrea, who had only ridden when she was a child and now going to make a journey in those hills. Ina, on the other hand, has taken lessons in the past few months and gained enough experience in riding. Even for her, the journey will not be easy. I wouldn¡¯t have made them do it if I had time, but I didn¡¯t. I have to act fast if I want to make use of opportunities. ¡°You do not need to feel regretful, Master Silver; we enjoy the work tremendously,¡± ¡°Never in our life, we have expected to do something like this,¡± said Ina, with her eyes watering. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. I finished the business quickly. They have to wake up early tomorrow and leave for Fort Renin. Where they will make the journey with ckwell¡¯s men to the Amberhold. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Next Chapter: Bids Chapter 194: Bids Chapter 194: Bids Thud! I fell down hard and remained there breathing hard. This man didn¡¯t know how to spar. Well, it was me, who asked him to spar with me. It was worth it. ¡°Once again, I apologize, adviser. I had told you; I am not the one for sparring,¡± said Captain Oliver. ¡°As I said, it is fine, Captain. It was fun; I will be asking you to fight with me a lot,¡± I said to the blond-haired man, who just shook his head in defeat. Stone had said, that this man was the most technical fighter he had ever seen. He had been impressed by the young captain and I could see why. He is really amazing. I stayed on the ground for a few more minutes before getting up. Every part of me hurts like hell. Captain Oliver really hit hard, any more force, and he would have broken my bones. It was a struggle for me to not scream or grit my teeth as I walked out of the practice field. I am the leader here and I have to maintain the dignity of it. It was a challenge to reach my suit, but I did. The moment I did, I removed my clothes and walked into the bathroom, where I mixed a few drops of healing potion into the numbing cream. I wanted to add more, but it is not wise to get used to the healing potion. Even the numbing cream I used is of lower grade. I wouldn¡¯t have even used it, but my training sessions are intense. Far more than normal. Even soldiers do not train as hard as I do. It is necessary, as unlike them I am not professional and couldn¡¯t put many hours into it. So, I try to get as much out of those few hours as possible. I put the cream all over my body, which is another challenge in itself. I could have asked for help, I should have asked for help, but it feels ufortable in my prudish mind to take help for such things. I stayed on the floor for over ten minutes before taking a shower. ¡°Major Jarvis,¡± I said as I sat across from him at the breakfast table. Every day, we would have breakfast at eight-thirty. ¡°Adviser, it looked like you have pushed yourself a little too hard today,¡± he said, looking at me from up to down. ¡°Yes, today was a little rough,¡± I replied and thanked the maid, as she served me the breakfast. ¡°Don¡¯t push yourself too hard. Bnce is key to the training, otherwise, you will burn out fast,¡± he advised, to which I nodded. ¡°I heard the mission was a bust yesterday,¡± I said, and disappointment appeared on his face. ¡°Yes, there was no sign of bandits when my guys went there,¡± he replied. ¡°Keep searching. It would be good if we cached them, but even if didn¡¯t, this constant raiding will keep them running and we will eventually catch them,¡± I said. To which he nodded. Soon, the breakfast finished, and I entered my office, where the first thing I did was to read the messages. My heart was beating loudly and even fear appeared in my mind as I began to read the letter from the Count, but even after I finished, I saw no mention of yesterday¡¯s incident. It was all business, especially about the bids the merchants would ce. I am quite surprised. He didn¡¯t mention or even hinted his choice. Though he had hinted, the people from constructionpanies havee to him. Which is not a surprise. I already expected they would go to the Count. I am thankful that there is no pressure from him, but also understand very well that there would be a price to pay if I failed. A few hours passed, and the carriages began rolling into the castle. Today is the day they will submit the bids. ¡°Many of them are name-dropping to meet you,¡± said L as she came back. "Well, I am not going to meet any of them personally till the winner of the bids is decided,¡± I replied. I don¡¯t care whether they drop the name of the Count or the Prince. ¡°It is time,¡± she informed an hourter. I nodded and got up. A minuteter, I entered a room where I had met these people three days ago. As I walked into the room, everyone looked at me with different emotions in their eyes. From hope, and expectation to anger. ¡°Thank you, everyone, foring today. I hope you all have the bids ready,¡± I said to all of them. To which they nodded. ¡°Good, submit them,¡± Immediately, they begin to ce their proposal in front of them. With L¡¯s instructions, the clerks begin to gather the proposals from them. ¡°Thank you,dies and gentlemen, for participation in the process. I will have to winners of the bids, by tomorrow evening,¡± I informed and walked out. L and the clerks stayed; they will inform the process in more detail. To be honest, I would have loved to have a week or even two weeks to analyze all the bids, but I have already wasted time doing this process. I couldn¡¯t afford to waste any time anymore. There are less than two weeks before the end of the month when the first shipment wille from the merchant state. I want those merchants to see some progress when theye. My sister, Baron Harrods, and other nobles have already started with their preparations. Building inns, stores, and other things near the road, on their territories. I heard the old man had taken a huge loan and formed a partnership with my sister on some business. Which is a wise thing; he doesn¡¯t much about business. It is better for him to learn the ropes of partnership before starting something solo. Speaking of that, I have to sell the plots for businesses around the castle and there are already inquiries about it. I nned to turn the area around the castle into the town. Count is in very much support of the idea; the only thing is he does not support spending the extra money on it. Thankfully, Oksall had forced the Count to spend big on development as a condition to trade. Some of which I n to save from the construction fund and spend on building a proper town. We already agreed to build things that a typical town has in our contract with the merchant-state. I will only need to add a few extra things, and a town will be ready. I thought deeply about the contract signed with the merchant guild and there are many things there that the Count wouldn¡¯t agree with given his nature, but he did. I think the push to agree hade from above. I didn¡¯t dare to voice my opinion to anyone; it didn¡¯t concern me. For the plot auction, I will be meeting with merchants and nobles in theing days. The Count had agreed to let me add half of the money, got from it into the construction fund. Though it will not be much, it will be helpful. Half an hourter, L returned, bringing boxes of proposals. We will have to study and select the winners within a little more than a day; it is a huge task. Thankfully, there is help. ¡°Everyone, take a seat and pick up the proposals. We have a job to do,¡± I said to six clerks. They are from the city hall and are quite good. I have worked with them before, and they have all the required skills that are needed for this job to be done well. ¡°Z,¡± I said, and she set the huge board. A minuteter, everyone had the copies of proposal and began studying them, while Z handled the board. I crafted the three bids myself and asked the merchants to craft the proposals in a way I had set the conditions. It is why there is much less non-essential clutter and more substance. Hours passed, and evening came except for small bathroom breaks. No one had left the room, and those who left had a guard followed. I want nothing of this room to get out, till I announced the winners of the bids. While these people are trustworthy; I am taking precautions. The bids involverge money and, most importantly, the exposure they will gain through it. They might try to bribe or even intimidation, to gain things in their favor. I looked through proposal after proposal and each one of them surprised me. Telling me, how great an idea it had been to make them bid for it, instead of directly giving it to the top ones. ¡°Everyone take a break of an hour,¡± I said to all when eight rang in. They stopped and put out the proposal''s downs before walking out of my office. After they left, I slumped back in my chair and massaged my head. It is not easy to go through all these proposals when these bastards have attached skills to them, to make them more pleasing. ¡°Do these people even want to earn a profit?¡± asked L, seeing the notes in front of her. ¡°Yes, they do, but they want exposure more. If you look clearly, the bids of small and medium firms are lower than the big firms,¡± I replied. ¡°It is unlikely they will earn any money, but it is good for us,¡± she said, shaking her head. Some of them will, but as I said. Earning money isn¡¯t their target for this bid; it is to get exposure through these contracts. I turned back to the table and turned to things I had wanted to look at in the past few hours. I took six square things longer than my palm and ced them in front of me. They look like wedding cards, white and in a perfect square shape. I opened their seal; they began to open up and turned into paper models. ¡°Valentina had done a really good job,¡± I said as I looked at models of the establishment. ¡°These are the new changes?¡± asked L from the side. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°They won¡¯t be able to do these changes without keeping the establishment close for a few weeks,¡± she said. ¡°Likely a month,¡± I replied, looking at these models. If it had been just breaking walls and adding some; it would have been done within a week but I am upgrading all the enchantments. Changing the whole furniture, among other things. It will be a very expensive change. I looked at them for a few minutes before taking out the blueprints. I put them back after a few minutes and went to the kitchen for dinner. By the time I had returned; it was time to start again. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Next Chapter:Winners Chapter 195: Winners Chapter 195: Winners I looked at all of them, who were looking at me with hope and expectations. I have studied the bids, and now it is time for me to announce the winners of it. It was a hard job, and the merit of the proposal was not the only thing I looked at before selecting the winners. ¡°The winner of the first tender is Ravin Consortium,¡± I announced, and immediately, five people got up and shouted before controlling themselves. The first tender is for infrastructure around the castle, aka castle town. It is won by a group of five small constructionpanies. It was a bitter fight. Several others also had bid close to it, but what won them, is that theyplement each other with their specialties. Most importantly, one of them manages the quarry here; it will help tremendously with the construction. Many people are not happy with smallpanies getting the bids; it is clear on their faces, but they didn¡¯t say anything. They have tried to influence it through the Count but have failed. ¡°The winner of the second tender is Thomson-Vs,¡± I announced, and a smile appeared on the face of the long-haired man. The second contract is about Mirador Hold and it went to one of the top fourpanies. There are many good proposals with lower costs, but I have chosen Thomas-Vs. Mirador Hold could bully smallpanies and pressure mediums, but they could do little against these big ones. Their owners are powerful, and they have political backers. Even Commander Dane wouldn¡¯t dare to create any big obstacles in their work. If I had a month of time, I would have chosen the best. Then I would have been able to deal with any problem that Mirador Hold might create, but I simply don¡¯t have that much time and thus, thepromise. ¡°The winner of the third tender is Nev consortium,¡± I announced, and immediately a smile lit up on Valentina and the other two men¡¯s faces. The first and second tenders are at a simr level. If I add the extra things, I am going to add around the castle, while the third is the biggest tender, in value and size. ¡°Congrattions you all; I hope we will have a good working rtionship,¡± I said and walked out, leaving L and the clerks to deal with the rest. I am going to have a meeting with each winning party; I want them to start as soon as possible. Tomorrow, if possible; I hope some visible work will be done before the shipment of goods arrives, by the end of the month. ¡®Adviser, people of Ravin Consortium are here to meet you,¡¯ said Jill through the inte. Click! ¡°Send them in,¡± I said and looked at the n I had ced on the table I had ced before me. I looked at it for a moment, before turning to the door, through which five people were walking inside. ¡°Adviser, we are grateful that you had trusted us for this great responsibility,¡± said the old man. He is a Marcus Chavez; he owns 35% of the consortium. ¡°I have taken a huge risk doing that; I hope you will not give me a chance to regret this decision,¡± I said to them directly as I offered them seats. ¡°We will not, Adviser,¡± He replied, before looking down at the table, where all four of his partners looking at. Seeing the n of the castle town, his eyes lit up. Among the three proposals, the first one is the smallest, but when a few things are added, it will be as big as one of Mirador''s Hold or even bigger. It will all depend upon their work. If they do well, I will hand them over the responsibility for the rest. If not, there are others waiting to get their hands on this chance. ¡°As you are aware, we are on a tight schedule. I hope you will all act fast withoutpromising on the quality,¡± I said to them, with a hint of warning. ¡°We have already sent messages to the city. As it now, they are loading things and men into the carriages,¡± ¡°By tomorrow morning, they will be here, and we will start the work,¡± replied the old man. ¡°I am d to be near that, Mr. Chavez,¡± I replied. I discussed things with them for ten minutes before they left. After that, I met with Nat Addison and there was an original n for Mirador Hold on my desk. It was the n, I had shown to that Lawson bastard, but since he messed it up. I changed to a minimum; I might implement the old n, but it all depends on the behavior of the mirador hold. Addison also promised to start work as soon as possible, but I am not much worried about it. The Mirador Hold already has infrastructure and a slow start won''t affect anything. ¡°We had already contacted quarries and the city. We will be able to start with work by tomorrow morning,¡± informed Valentina. ¡°Good. I hope you will start with the boundary first. We need a new road, connected with the old road first before you start widening the old roads,¡± I said to them. While there are roads, not all parts are connected to it. In Nakar Baronies, the road only stretches to my sister and Baron Harrod''s territory, not till the region''s boundary with Oksall. We have to make that road first. They will also need to transform the gravel road into the paved one from Mirador Hold to Baronies, as not everything is paved. ¡°We were thinking the same,¡± she replied. Fifteen minutester, Valentina had left. She will be staying in the castle with the rest of the people who won the bid; I am hosting a dinner for them. An hour, I am having dinner with the people. Talking, taking their views, hearing irritating boasting of the Addison, but thankfully, it ended, and I got my peace. ¡°I am sorry; I wanted to talk to you but didn¡¯t want to be seemed like I am favoring you,¡± I said as Valentina walked onto the roof. The silver light falling on her hair made her look even more beautiful. She is truly a beautiful woman, both in body and mind. Unfortunately, she doesn¡¯t have any interest in me or rather in any men. ¡°I gathered as much,¡± she said with a smile. We didn¡¯t say anything about a and just looked ahead at the beautiful forest around us. ¡°Soon, the whole area is going to be transformed,¡± she said. ¡°Yes, and I am kind of excited about it,¡± I replied, looking ahead. It is my vision, and I want to see ite through. It won¡¯t be easy, but I am ready to face the challenges. For a few minutes, we didn¡¯t talk; just kept looking ahead when she took a ck roll from her bag and spread it on the ground. A momentter, the projection of the establishment started to float over it. This is the establishment of my vision, which will have five floors and the capacity to hold a lot more people. It will be more beautiful than before; this time, I n to spend big on the interior as well as our exterior. I want a ce that will attract the eyes of everyone who will see it. A ce where they will get to experience something different and a ce that will satisfy their desires. It is going to cost me hundreds of millions; not to mention the losses I will incur during the closure. It is why; I wanted to wait for these changes, but Oksall had changed my mind and I decided to go with it. I have to take the risks if I want to grow. Especially now, when my sister hase here; I don¡¯t want to lose to her. I don¡¯t want to lose to anyone in the family. They have given me an amazing gift and I want to show them what I could do with it. ¡°Do you have any more requirements?¡± she asked, showing the projections. ¡°Many,¡± I replied and took out my diary, and we began. One and a half an hourter, she closed it and put the roll back into her bag. ¡°These changes are huge; it is going to cost you a lot, Remus,¡± she said. ¡°I know,¡± I said, and she gave me her estimate. It is a lot, but I could afford it with what I was earning. We talked for a few more minutes before she moved to leave. ¡°Valentina. The grey cloaks areing to the Greltheaven,¡± I said softly, but she heard me as she stopped in her tracks and shuddered. We have never discussed our rtionship, but she knew I was aware of what she wanted and was willing to give it to her, without asking those questions that could get us both in trouble. It is the first time I have said something rted to that. ¡°How sure are you?¡± she asked. ¡°The Count had told me about it,¡± I replied, which made her shudder further, but she nodded. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, shakingly, before walking away. I sighed. For people like her, this world is extremely dangerous. Especially a ce like an empire, where the influence of the church of the god of war is heavy and spread into every corner. The grey cloaks are church hounds for people like Valentina; they are very dangerous. I stayed on the roof for a couple more minutes before walking out and slept; I have to wake up early tomorrow. Masterful Administrator Lv. 17 Visit for Advanced Chapters. Next Chapter: Chapter 196: Laurel Town Chapter 196: Laurel Town ¡°Such numbers?¡± asked Jarvis in shock. ¡°I and my team had seen it with our eyes my, sir,¡± replied the scout team leader. I shuddered hearing the confirmation, but kept my emotions under control. ¡°First, we will catch the bandits before dealing with the implications of other news,¡± I said. Remus Silver hadn¡¯t given me any pressure, but I am feeling it. I haven¡¯t caught a single bandit and if I didn¡¯t bring some today, I might get sent back to the Mirador Hold. I don¡¯t want to go back; I like it here. I have been worried the past few days, since I heard the news of hising from Silver. It is why, at midnight, when I got the message from my scouts, I came running here. If I seed, then forget being sent back, I will receive amendation. ¡°Send the message to Colonel Grennan; ask him to keep his men ready on the other side.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t want any bandit escaping our to roam free again,¡± I said to the mage. I had my reservations about working with Orc-blood, but the man is good. The discipline and experience of his men had got me envious. I hadn¡¯t expected such a thing from the army of merchant nobles. There is amon conception in the empire that the army of merchant states is weak. It is their wealth that is more dangerous; through which they employ legions of mercenaries to fight their battles. ¡°Commander Grennan says his men will be positioned in two hours,¡± the mage replied. I nodded and turned to my men. ¡°Today we have to seed. Failure is not an option,¡± I said, and we moved to capture the bandits. ¡­. The month ended, and a week passed. Today is an important day for many things. First among them is a shipment of goods from Oksall; it was supposed toe atst month''s end but was dyed. It will arrive in a few minutes, and I heard the shipment was twice the size of what was originally nned. Which made me quite happy, especially now that we had a few warehouses ready. They had justpleted the three warehouses yesterday and more will be finished in theing days. The second thing, my sister is formally ascending to the nobility, and the ceremony is today. Tomorrow, it is a new Baron Lockridge. The Count ising to attend both of the ceremonies and will spend two nights here at Castel Radcliff. It will be his first timeing to Baronies since he handed me the reins. He is noting alone; he is also bringing my two would-be sessors. There is another news; Major Jarvis took a lot of men to capture arge group of bandits. He also said, there was some worrying news, but he didn¡¯t exin. I hope it is something we can deal with; I want nothing that could jeopardize the trade. Finally, I saw silhouettes of the carriages and felt a joy from deep within my soul. I conceived this idea months ago and spent weeks putting it on paper. Finalizing and signing it with Oksall, before making a dangerous journey and fighting against the bandits. Aftering, I got a responsibility, and I performed it to the best of my ability to make the progress, I am seeing right now. I picked up the binocrs, and immediately they got much closer. I could see the train of twenty-five carriages, bringing a lot of goods with them. As they entered inside, the wooden town wall, the guards, led them toward the warehouses. I wanted to go there and watch it all myself, but it was below my dignity. I have to maintain, no matter, how much I want to run there and see. It took them two days to reach here; three times more than if there had been a proper road. Soon, these carriages will have a proper road. Both sides have started constructing the road, and in two to three months, it will be ready. There will be a proper paved road from Amberhold to the Mirador Hold. It would have been sooner, if not for the winter. Last night, it had snowed heavily. The workers, who were working day and night, had to stop but resumed work after the snow had slowed down. They are working even now when the light snow is falling. I looked for a few minutes before going to my office. ¡®Adviser, Vice-Guild-master Martin hase to meet you,¡¯ informed Jill. ¡°Send them in,¡± I replied. Click! The door opened, and a man in his fifties walked in, with two people behind him; a man and a woman. ¡°Vice-Guildmaster Martin, Mrs. Chalise, Mr. Lard. Wee to the Castle Radcliff,¡± I said. They are from Oksall. Vice-Guildmaster Martin is a member of the Amberhold merchant guild, while man and woman are members of merchant houses in the Oksall. ¡°Thank you, Adviser Silver,¡± said the Vice-Guildmaster. ¡°I know, I shouldn¡¯t ask this, since I had experienced it myself, but how was the journey?¡± I asked, bringing the smiles to the faces of all three. ¡°Bad as you had experienced a few weeks ago; the only thing we didn¡¯te across is the army of bandits,¡± he replied, to which I smiled. ¡°You will have to suffer the pain for a few months, most. By then, the roads and all the required facilities will be ready,¡± I said to them. ¡°Let''s hope so if the conditions are as grim as they are now; barely anyone would like to trade through this corridor,¡± replied the woman, and all I could smile politely, before turning to the proper business. The goods they have brough are different types. Fertilizers, alchemical ingredients, delicate ssware, and a few more things. Ny percent of those things will go to the Navr, but around ten percent will be sold to the baronies. I talked to them for a few minutes before they left. They are dead tired from the journey and want to have a hot meal to fill their stomach and a warm bed to sleep in. Both are prepared for them. The merchants needed to be happy; at least until they started to see the profit from this corridor. Once that happens; they will sleep on one street, without a word ofint. A few hours passed as I worked, checking things and expenses. There are a lot of expenses, thousands of types of them and it is not easy to manage them, especially when you have people to take care of. I am dealing with a huge amount of money, and I need careful in dealing with it. I have to verify everything that others send to me; it is tiring that sometimes, I just want to sign it off and be done with it. ¡°He is fifteen minutes away,¡± informed Z. I didn¡¯t have to ask her who; I adjusted the things on the desk and gave a few instructions to the clerk standing in the office before walking out of it. ¡°How are the preparations?¡± I asked Wilson, another clerk. ¡°Everything is perfect, Adviser,¡± he replied. ¡°Check once again; the Count is arriving in fifteen minutes,¡± I said, he nodded and walked away. ¡°He arrived,¡± informed Z, and I saw the familiar carriage of Count Darrowing toward the castle protected under heavy security. A minuteter, the carriage stopped, and I opened its door. ¡°Wee to the Radcliff Castle, my lord,¡± I greeted, bowed. Count Darrow came out without uttering a single word. Before turning to me with unreadable expressions. ¡°You are doing a wonderful job, Remus. Far better than I had imagined,¡± he said and patted my shoulders. ¡°It is all due to your trust, my lord,¡± I replied. It made a big smile appeared on his face as he turned toward what was behind the gates. I took this chance to look at two unfamiliar people who came with him. They were not his carriage but came out from the carriage behind him. One is a handsome man, in his mid-thirties with light green hair while the other is short, middle-aged brown hair and blue hair. I only nced at them for a moment, before turning to Count. ¡°Lord Count, I would be d if you inspected the progress,¡± I said to the man. He was waiting for me to say that; he couldn¡¯t just walk through the gate and inspect it. ¡°Ok,¡± he said, and we walked toward the gate, with guards and two unfamiliar men following. We walked out of the gate and into the town, where in every direction, they would see people working on buildings of various sizes and types. The workers are working on over a hundred buildings. One hundred and seven to be precious. It is not just a warehouse, but also guesthouses, roads, walls, savage system. There are many private buildings, like inns, pubs, and even apartment buildings. I could see Count Darrow was quite shocked. He was not able to see itpletely through the carriage''s window as he was seeing right now. He was so shocked by it that he had loosened the hold on his emotions, and I was able to sense some faintly and could tell he was genuinely impressed by the development. It is not just him, even I am impressed by it. It had been a little more than two weeks and it had already taken the shape of the town. By the end of the month. There would be a real town standing here with inns, pubs, and other things. ¡°You have built a damn town,¡± he said finally. ¡°It is all thanks to the guidance, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°I hope you have not spent everything here,¡± he said. ¡°No, my lord, it was just nning,¡± I replied and led him into the town. We walked through the paved roads and watched the building. The Count asked a lot of questions, and I answered them. In these past few months, I have gotten to know him well and aware of what kind of things he likes, how he likes, and the kind of questions he asks. ¡°My lord, as you can see; it will be a town, but it didn¡¯t have a name yet,¡± I said. ¡°Lauryl. It will be the name of this town,¡± he replied, without missing a beat. The man may have ws, but he is smart. ¡°It is very gracious of you to name this town after your mother, my lord,¡± I said, and a small surprise appeared in his eyes before disappearing. Anna Clementine Lauryl Bast Wilstein is the mother of Count Darrow and Grandmother of Prince Grelt. ¡°I hope it will turn into a ce that my mother would be proud of,¡± he said, looking around the town. ¡°I will give my every effort to see it happen, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°I have no doubt you would, Remus,¡± he said and turned back toward the castle. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Next Chapter: Chapter 197: Disturbance In Extreme Magic Region Chapter 197: Disturbance In Extreme Magic Region Count Darrow sat down in his chair and turned to me. ¡°Remus, this is Becker Carlos and Magnus Lenc; they will be your assistants, and if you are satisfied with them, then your sessors,¡± ¡°Train them well,¡± he instructed, introducing two people standing beside me. ¡°As youmand, my lord,¡± I replied. They came from Count¡¯s territory and from what Robin had told me about them, both of them are good. They were chosen by Count Darrow¡¯s eldest son to be sent here. ¡°These are the files, right?¡± he asked, looking at the files in front of him. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I replied, nodded, took the first file, and started reading it. I have everything prepared for him. Including the files. Everything is written down perfectly, in anguage that anyone would understand. He started reading them, and every minute, he would ask a question and I would answer them. ¡°For the first and third bid. You have chosen the lowest and best bid. Why did you choose Thomson-Vs for the second bid?¡± ¡°From what I could see here, there were many cheaper bids, offering the same quality as them,¡± I smiled at hearing his question; I had expected this one. ¡°Because I wanted the work there to go smoothly; I don¡¯t want to choose apany that Mirador Hold could bully and dy the work,¡± I replied directly. ¡°Good. Seeing some things here, I thought, you have be too idealistic and forgotten realities of the world,¡± he said to which I smiled. He moved to the other files, reading much faster than what my reading skill gave me. He is a noble, with a powerful ruling ss. His skills and mine would be far apart, even if our sses were at the same level. ¡®My lord, Major Jarvis is here,¡¯ said the secretary through the inte. ¡°Send him in,¡± he said, taking a pause from the reading. Click! A secondter, the door opened, and Major Jarvis walked inside. I look at the man, who seems to have gotten springs in his legs. It seemed like the mission had been sessful. ¡°My lord,¡± He greeted and bowed. ¡°Jarvis caught any bandits?¡± asked the Count directly. ¡°Yes, my lord. One hundred and sixty-seven on our side and one hundred and thirty-two from the other side,¡± he replied, surprising me, as well as the Count. It seemed like; he was telling the truth about there being arge number of bandits. ¡°Were they nning the attack on the caravan to gather in such numbers?¡± asked the Count. Bandit groups are small; even the big ones keep their units small. Gathering inrge numbers, only when nning something big. ¡°No, my lord,¡± he replied, and the smile on his face disappeared and his expression became grave. ¡°They were attacked.¡± He added. ¡°ckwell¡¯s?¡± asked the Count, to which he shook his. ¡°Monsters of the extreme magic region,¡± he replied, and immediately expressions on everyone¡¯s faces changed. The news is really as disturbing as he said. ¡°Were the bandits tried to hunt them?¡± asked the Count cautiously. The bandits live closer to the extreme magic region; it is the best hiding ce, where nobody dares toe for them. ¡°No, my lord. From what I can find out from bandits; there was a disturbance. In the extreme magic region, before they were attacked by the monsters,¡± ¡°The bandits I have caught belong to the three groups, with their numbers reaching over seven hundred, but less than half of them have been able to survive the monster attack,¡± he replied, shuddering. He is scared. Hell, I am scared. The monsters of the extreme magic region, are dangerous beyond imagination. They have razed the kingdoms within a single night. There was a silence, but I am sure the Count had been cursing in his heart like I am doing right now. ¡°Was the disturbance being sudden or was building?¡± he asked after nearly a minute of silence. ¡°It was not sudden; they had been hearing disturbance for the past few days before the attack happened,¡± he replied, turning the expressions on both our faces worse. If it had been an instant, then it would have been worrying, but not much. Prolong disturbance and then attack are not good. It means various things, but one of the worst is that a new monster lord had appeared, and the disturbance was about that. If this was the case, then we might be in danger. A new monster lord could sense the horde of monsters toward us as a show of power. It has happened multiple times in past centuries. One time, a few hundred years ago, they destroyed all the settlements that used to exist in the Nakar forest. ¡°Jarvis, keep a tight lid on this news; I don¡¯t want it to leak away and find out more about it.¡± ¡°I will message Dane and ask him to send a team of scouts and a battalion of soldiers; Until then, ask your scouts to keep a sharp eye on things,¡± ordered the Count. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± he replied. ¡°Beaumont, send a message to ckwell and tell him I will meet him in in about these circumstances,¡± he said to the mage standing behind him. She nodded and closed her eyes. ¡°He agreed, my lord,¡± she replied. ¡°It seemed like the sess won¡¯t be without obstacles, Remus,¡± he said, turning to me. ¡°There are always challenges, my lord. We will just need to face them,¡± I replied. It might be a one-off incident; things like this happen, but we will need to be careful. ¡°We have invested too much here to back down. If monsters attack, then we will deal with them,¡± he replied. I could only nod while controlling myself not to curse at him. If the monster attacks, he will be the first to run away, like his son did. Major Jarvis left and the Count continued with the files, finishing an hourter. ¡°You have done a very good job, Remus,¡± he said as he closed thest file. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°So, what are you nning to do with the rest of the money that remained in the construction fund?¡± he asked. I smiled and rolled out two papers on the table. One is about the castle town, and one is about Mirador Hold. He didn¡¯t say anything for a few minutes, just kept looking at them. ¡°It is ambitious,¡± he said finally. ¡°I believe it is necessary, my lord. The trade is going to take off and we need to be ready for it;gging would be our greatest mistake,¡± I stated. I genuinely believe in this trade and want it to seed. Its sess will be my sess; the reputation boost I will get from it will help me tremendously. ¡°Fine, I will not stop you,¡± he said, and I felt relieved. For a moment, I thought he would take some funds or divert them somewhere, but thankfully he was not doing it. Even he could see the amazing work I have done so far. The first shipment hade today, and the second was leaving the Amberhold by tomorrow. The goods that came today will stay for a day and leave for the Mirador Hold tomorrow. The small amount of goods that will stay here will be sold to the nobles and businesses they have tied to. ording to the agreement, the goods will be sold to the Nakar baronies, which is fine, as most of the barons are merchants. They will keep what they need and sell the rest. That is why many merchants from Greltheaven areing here in the next few days. Many nobles and merchants have brought the plots, and some started building, with my sister being the most aggressive one. The consortium she is leading with three other nobles is responsible fourth of private construction. She is betting big, and she will seed. I only hope the monsters don¡¯t attack and spoil it all. Fifteen minutester, I walked out office, with Count going to his suit to rest. We have to leave for the in in a few hours for the ession ceremony of my sister. ¡°Gentlemen, this is your office; I have ced all the information you need to know about your desk. If you have any questions, you can ask it, L,¡± I said as I led them into a room. This room had three desks, two for them, and one for L; they will work with her and also keep an eye on them to gauge their abilities. This is my baby. I have conceived it and worked hard to sort of take it this far. One of these two men will take my ce in a few months, and I want them to be capable; I don¡¯t want them to mess with what I have built. I talked to them for a few minutes before walking into my temporary office. I can¡¯t work in the old one, since the Count is upying it. It had a simple desk, chair, and shelf, which was more than enough for me. I have some work to do now that the Count has approved what I have done. It is about the work on the castle. I am going to build a dedicated office space, which will have offices conference rooms, and other things that a modern administrative ce needs. It will take more area of the keep and will need to shift some barracks out, which wouldn¡¯t have been a problem, but now it could. The disturbance of extreme magic regions could createplications. I will talk to Major Jarvis after the Count leaves, before starting any changes in the castle. I worked for three hours before I went to my suite. I showered and changed before walking out. An hourter, I was in the carriage with Count Darrow, which was moving toward in. Aside from Mage Beaumont, we are only two in the carriage. Major Jarvis and apany of soldiers are around the carriage, protecting it from all sides. The Count didn¡¯t want to take any risk and I am d he didn¡¯t; I liked to be safe, too. ¡°The widening of the roads will begin in thest stage, right?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, my lord. First, they will connect our boundary and Mirador Hold with apletely paved road, before starting with widening of this old road,¡± I replied. ¡°They are moving fast, but I hope they are notpromising on quality, or we will be aughingstock to those merchants,¡± he said, looking at me seriously. ¡°I am personally overseeing everything, including the quality checks.¡± ¡°I will not let anything happen. That could besmirch the reputation of our city, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°I know you will not, Remus,¡± he said and once again, turned to the window. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 198: Intoxicating Power Chapter 198: Intoxicating Power The gates of in Castle opened, and the carriage went inside; giving a view of the beautifully decorated castle. That horrible paint job my brother did in the castle had vanished, and its ce was a simple brown color. Which looked very good. Click! The carriage stopped, and a momentter; the door opened by my sister, with many familiar people behind. There is the madam, whose smile frozen on her face, as she looked at me. She is trying to smile like the rest, but can¡¯t seem to, and it is making her look strange. ¡°Wee to Castle in, Lord Count,¡± said my sister as the Count got out, with me behind him. ¡°I am honored to be here, Lady Silver,¡± he replied with a smile. The Count could be charming when he wanted to be, and he knows how to use it with surgical uracy. I followed with them, mostly staying silent. However, I did look around at my rtives and some seemed genuinely shocked seeing me walking behind the Count or my rise. I made eye contact with a few like Uncle Thompson, Gerald, and his wife Selina. I want to talk to them, but this time too, I won¡¯t be able to talk to them much. Though I had asked them to let me host them; they will be staying with me for the night. ¡°He is waiting inside, my lord,¡± said Le. Count just nodded and walked toward the room, with Major Jarvis and I following behind him with Mage Beaumont. ¡°Count Darrow,¡± Ignatius greeted. ¡°Lord ckwell,¡± said Count and shook his hand before sitting across from him. I and Major Jarvis sat on both sides of him; like the two people around ckwell. One is a middle-aged man I didn¡¯t recognize, and the other is a man with green skin. Colonel. He had special permission to enter the territory of the empire, but it was restricted to the Nakar Baronies. ¡°The news is disturbing,¡± said Ignatius with a sigh. ¡°It is Lord ckwell and unless it showed the signs of bing threatening, we should keep it quiet,¡± replied the Count. ¡°Ipletely, my lord,¡± he epted. ¡°I have called scout teams from Mirador Hold for extra help. I hope you will aid on your end,¡± said the Count. ¡°Certainly, my lord.¡± ¡°A scout team ising from Amberhold; I have also hired a mercenary scout,¡± he said, and a frown appeared on his face. ¡°Mercenaries are fickle; they have a hard time keeping their mouth shut,¡± said Count, with a clear displeasure in his voice, but it didn¡¯t seem to affect ckwell as the smile on his face remained unchanged. ¡°This one is trustful; I know him personally,¡± he replied, and Count''s expression eased. Fifteen minutester, both nobles walked out of the room. The ceremony started not long after, and I finally got to talk to some of my rtives when Count Darrow moved to participate in the ceremony. He is not a lord of Nakar baronies; technically it was Prince Grelt, but he had given Count his authority. So, here, he will act at the behest of the prince. ¡°How was the journey?¡± I asked Gerald. ¡°Great. The city had changed so much since I was herest time,¡± he said, with a faint hint of surprise. The Greltheaven is growing rapidly; every week, thousands of new peopleing into the city and even they are not enough. Count had been forced to increase the quota of non-empire citizens to meet the needs of the city. He didn¡¯t like the immigrants, but there was no choice but to ept them. He also understood growth of the city is more important than anything else. The faster the city grows; the more money he will earn. He wants to earn as much as possible before leaving when that dayes. I also need to leverage this growth with my businesses, and I am doing that. I am going all in. ¡°Lady Le Silver, from today you are Baroness Silver; I hope you will work for the betterment of your people and all the citizens of our great empire,¡± said the Count, as the priest handed her the scepter. ¡°I will,¡± she replied. The ceremony ended a few minutester, and the party started. I once again moved with Count Darrow, mingling with guests. Rarely did I get a few minutes to talk to the people I wanted. ¡°What was that secret meeting about earlier?¡± asked Le, as we got the chance to talk. She is asking about the meeting we held with ckwell. ¡°Something I can¡¯t tell you,¡± I replied directly. I can¡¯t tell her; it is very sensitive news, and I can¡¯t risk iting out. If it came to know, that I leaked it; it would vaporize all the trust I have built with Count. That would be a grave loss. ¡°Will it affect me and my territory?¡± she asked, to which I nodded, after some thought. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, and I nodded and walked away, feeling two sets of angry eyes on my back. When I came, it was just madam. Now, even my Uncle Raymond had joined her. Well, I don¡¯t care. I have achieved something. He could never dream of and there was nothing he could do about it other than get jealous. Which he is, so much that he wasn¡¯t able to control it. Soon, the party ended, and I sat down in the carriage with Count Darrow. ¡­.. I watched the Count¡¯s carriage disappear before I sat on my own and a momentter; it was moving toward the Nakar baronies. I had apanied Count Darrow to the Mirador Hold after we had attended the ascension ceremony of the new Baron Lockridgest night. We went to Mirador Hold directly, instead of going back to Radcliff castle. The Count had inspected the work and held a meeting with Commander Dane about the disturbances in the extreme magic region before leaving for Greltheaven. I should be able to reach the castle by the evening. Gerald and Selina wereing in the evening, and it would look bad. If I am not present, there to receive them. I pushed those thoughts and looked at piles of stones and other materials by the road, every few hundred meters. They have started building the road on this side too, and they are working fast. While Valentina had officially said, the road would be built by mid of next month, privately she said it would be finished by the end of this month. She might be able to achieve, especially on this side, where it is all wastnds. It is much easier to build the road in a t wastnd than the forest and the hills. Soon the carriage entered the forest, onto the paved road from the gravel road. It feels amazing to ride the carriage through the forest, where trees on both sides and nothing but a sound of carriage. asionally, there would be a sound of a bird or animal, but just that. I stopped reading the book and enjoyed the silence. I wish the person sitting next to me would do the same and would have done it. If not for being engrossed in a thing I had brought for her, she would use every minute to study it. I didn¡¯t disturb her and enjoyed the serenity of the beautiful forest. To be honest, I like living here very much. Especially the power; I have more power than any noble here, and I could do pretty much anything I want. Even Major Jarvis will have to follow the orders that he doesn¡¯t want if I press him. It is so intoxicating that I want to stay here and not return to Greltheaven. I had proven myself valuable enough that the Count would let me stay if I wanted to. He wants me to stay here and hinted multiple times in the past two and a half days. Intoxicating as it may be, but this power is false. It is not my power. If the Count willed it, he could take it all away in an instant. I don¡¯t want to cling to such a fickle thing. I will do my job, learn as much as I can, and return to the Greltheaven to my business. That is where the actual power is. Finally, I reached the Castle and before time; I had plenty of time before they arrived. So, I worked. The Count had gone, but the work was still there. Thankfully, this time, I didn¡¯t have to do it all alone; the two people he had brought were good with experience in administration. That is why I asked L to follow around them and learn as much as she could. Those people are professionally trained in administrative duties. There are a lot of things they could teach her and me. ¡°They are here,¡± informed Z, as she looked up from her spell book. I nodded and walked out of the office, waiting for them. I didn¡¯t have to wait for long before I saw their carriageing toward the gate. Soon, it entered through the gate and stopped before the guards opened the door and Gerald walked in and behind him, Selina. ¡°Wee to Castle Radcliff,¡± I wee. ¡°Remus, you don¡¯t have toe down personally,¡± said Selina as she looked around. ¡°Of course, I have to,¡± I said as I hugged them before leading them inside. ¡°I have heard a lot about you. The things you have been able to achieve, in such a little time, seemed amazing,¡± said Gerald with his voice full of amazement. ¡°Most of it is exaggeration,¡± I replied as I led them to the parlor. ¡°So, how¡¯s Namdar?¡± I asked as we sat. ¡°It is good,¡± he replied before his expressions turned serious. He didn¡¯t say anything, but I felt his privacy skill activating. Selina had also activated her privacy skill before the ring on her finger lit up, activating the privacy spell. I also activated Privacy and turned to Z and Stone, both of whom, took a hint and walked out of the parlor. ¡°The house is thinking about shifting the headquarters to Namdar,¡± said Richard directly. My expressions turned serious, but they were not enough to show the shock I was feeling. The house is even thinking about means it is a big thing. If it happens, means the House of Silver has decided to y the neutral in theing conflict. Namdar is going to be neutral, Helena Szar had already her position loud and clear. Shifting the business there is going to be a costly affair, but if a session conflict urs, we would be quite isted from it in the safety of Namdar. The House of Silver will survive and if we y our cards right, we might even recover the loss and even thrive during the conflict. It also means other things, like the House Leaning toward Gerald as its next leader. Namdar is not the only powerful ce in an empire that dered itself neutral, there are two others. Also, it is not without risk. The Undead of Vris¡¯alud had made it quite obvious that he had eyes on it, which is no easy threat. ¡°If it happens. You both going to have a shitload of responsibilities on your shoulder.¡± ¡°I am very d that I would be here in the wastnd, far away from house politics,¡± I replied, after a minute of silence, bringing the smiles on their faces. Though it had onlysted for a couple of seconds before their expressions turned serious. ¡°I hope you will support the decision. If Grandfather had asked your opinion,¡± said Celina, looking at me in the eyes. ¡°You both know, I don¡¯t participate in house politics,¡± I replied and could see disappointment clouding their eyes, but there was no bitterness in them. ¡°Though, if asked for my opinion between the three ces, Namdar would be my choice,¡± I added, and the bright smiles bloomed on their face. ¡°That is all we ask,¡± said Richard. Masterful Administrator Lv. 17 Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 199: Charms and Lust Chapter 199: Charms and Lust Caena ¡®Activate,¡¯ I activated the twenty-fourth andst ritual charm of the group as the carriage reached the spot. The ritual charm zed brightly and copsed into smoke and dust. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face. There have been some failures, but with this, I have seeded. All twenty-four ritual charms have been sessfully activated. It is a good thing Remus had sent the ritual book and witch¡¯s diary to me. If it had been even a monthte, those strings would have snapped and it would have been a great loss. Till, three weeks ago, I have been working blind. I knew about the type of ritual that had been cast on the establishment, but I didn¡¯t have a ritual in hand. There are many such rituals and while they are about 95% the same. The difference is what causes theplications. I have a ritual book in my hands and notes of the witch. I could now ce the ritual charms more efficiently. Fifteen minutester, the carriage went through the gates of the establishment and stopped. Click! The driver opened the door and walked out. It had been over a month since I had got the personal carriage and the driver, and I hadn¡¯t gottenpletely used to it. I have be an assistant madam, about a month and a half ago. Andrea and L left, leaving only De as an assistant madam. The establishment needed new assistant madams. I had been chosen directly, though I had to give a fake interview, so it would seem fair. Aside from me, Mena was also selected. Though we two are not the only ones; the other two girls were chosen ten dayster. The changes in the establishment and new building will be finished in the month. More people will need to run them, and thus the promotions. I was a little disappointed when Remus asked me to take the promotion and wanted to reject it. Seeing ritual charms is most important to me. And the method I used to harness the emotions, for my charms depended on having sex with a maximum number of people, but after thinking deeply, I decided to ept it. The offer was a sign of his trust; I didn¡¯t want to disrespect him by rejecting him. His trust will help me gain what I want in the future. It had been the best decision, not because of the authority and privileges I got, which I hade to love a lot and don¡¯t think would be able to live without them. But also, because I have changed the method to harvest the emotions and now, I could harvest far more emotions than before. It is now my speed at creating the ritual charms that have started tog behind. I looked at the establishment and the pink mist covering it, to hide the changes that were happening. Nearly the outer changes were finished. For the internal changes, the establishment will need to be closed. Tomorrow is thest day, after that the establishment will be closed for one month. It is quite regretful that I won¡¯t be able to imprint any new ritual charms into the establishment during the month. However, I am not as disappointed as I should have been before discovering a better method to harvest emotions from people. It is true, that I won¡¯t be able to charge new ritual charms and imprint them, but I am going to use this one month, to create as much as ritual charms as possible. I have already set a big target and I will aplish it. Just yesterday, arge batch of resources came; it will be enough for me to create all the ritual charms during the month. Not only the ones on the Remus list but also the ones I have on mine. I am moving steadily with my ritual charms, creatingyers andyers of wonder that would have made my mother and coven proud. I controlled my emotions and turned to the thing I had worked so hard on. Those twenty-four ritual charms were much harder to craft than the regr ritual charms. ¡°Eynde,¡± I muttered, and my vision changed; everything disappeared. Leaving behind a marvel. I looked at the establishment, the real establishment, a structure of pure magic. The core is like a sun, shining in multicolored lights of emotions. It is brighter and bigger than it had been a few months ago. It is bing powerful every day, absorbing more and more emotions, and there are hundreds of strings connected to it, and on them are ritual charms, twinkling like lights. I focused on twenty-four new strings, which are far longer than any other strings, and pulling more power than any other. These strings are not something I had created, but they were formed by the ritual. The ritual had bonded the establishment with Remus, but also bonded the establishment to the city. It had been an extremely powerful ritual, and the witch who did it was very lucky. Looking at her notes, I could tell she was not a powerful witch, someone barely above Lv. 2o, but she had dared to cast the ritual that only Grand Witches dared to cast. The thing is, that witch seeded and seeded spectacrly. If she had failed even slightly, she would have died a horrible death. The establishment''s connections to the city had been extremely faint, I wasn¡¯t even able to see it. Every day they were getting weaker due to the presence of the city getting stronger. The increasing poption and level of people made the presence of the city stronger, nearly breaking those strings. They would have broken away by next month if I didn¡¯t use the charms on them. Now, with charms, those strings could pull power from the core actively and they are pulling a lot of power. They will force the core to absorb and store more power. If the city continues to grow its presence, the strings will pull more power from the core. Currently, the twenty-four strings are only helping in strengthening the core, but I am sure, in the future, they will help with more than that. ¡°Madam Caena, what are you doing?¡± asked a familiar voice, surprising me. That I cut the spell immediately. ¡°Nothing, just admiring the establishment,¡± I replied smoothly, despite knowing the girl didn¡¯t believe me. ¡°It is really beautiful and from what I have heard, it will be even more beautiful after the changes are done,¡± she said to me I nodded. This girl is mysterious and dangerous; I could sometimes feel all the hair on my rise up when she sneaked up on me. She has a strange ability to do it. It is hard for people to sneak on me. We witches are more attuned to nature and could even feel the assassinsing at us in the dark, but this girl seemed to wipe away her presence. This is scary because it is extremely hard to do it without a skill and even the skills rted to that are quite rare. Only Lv. 30 and above rogues have such skills, but I don¡¯t think this woman is using the skill. ¡°What are you doing out, do you not have any sses?¡± I asked her, to which she shook her head. ¡°No, the knitting teacher had taken a leave,¡± she replied, with a disappointed face. She doesn¡¯t feel disappointed. Instead, she feels relieved, despite the opposite expressions on her face. ¡°Still, you shouldn¡¯t waste any time roaming around,¡± I said and walked away. As I had said, this woman gives me an ufortable feeling. I feel like she could see through me; I have never felt something like that. There is another feeling I get from her, which confused me the most. A kinship. I pushed that feeling and nced at the circle; it was nearly finished. In a month, it would open the same day as the establishment. Tomorrow is thest day, the sses will be held at the establishment. It will also be thest night; the girls will sleep there. The day after tomorrow, the girls will be shifting to a different ce, and they will be there for a month. Their sses will be done there, till the circle and the establishment open. Remus is alsoing tomorrow and will be staying for two days before going back. There is a very important thing I have to discuss with him. It is rted to the things he had given me to purify. ¡­ After finishing all my madam duties. I went to my quarters. Yes, I have quarters now. Every assistant madam has one, but unlike all of them. I have an extra room. Click! I pushed the cupboard and entered the secret room. The room is filled with heavy drawers and has a dense herbal smell. There are resources here that cost millions of crowns. Remus is pouring massive money into the ritual charms. Especially in the past two months where my speed in crafting the charms has increased, with a higher sess rate. I walked into the room and took out the things from the different drawers before sitting down in my chair. I took a deep breath and started. My hands moved, and while they were moving slowly, each movement was deliberate and precise. It is necessary to have perfect control over hands and energy, as well as skills and emotions when crafting ritual charms. The slightest mistake and everything will be finished. To be a mage, Mana is necessary and fair big intelligence. For a witch, is a mindset that matters the most. Finally, I am finished and slumped back in my chair with a tired smile on my face. There are now two ritual enchantments in front of me. With three I had created in the morning; I have finished today''s target. I am creating five rituals daily. If I am lucky, the number would go to six, and one time five days ago, I had created seven. It wasn¡¯t a long time ago that creating a single ritual charm daily had been a challenge to me, but now a few monthster, I am creating five daily. It is not just the levels and skills, but also the practice that helped me improve and the generosity of Remus. Who is providing me with everything I want, without asking a question. That is why I am feeling guilty about my parallel project. It is for his benefit as well as mine, but I can¡¯t tell him about it. He shouldn¡¯t know till it is the right time. I rested for a while, as the process was tiring, before cleaning the table and putting the ritual charms into my purse. My speed at creating the charms is increasing, but it is still much slower than what the witch of my level should be. If my mother had been alive, she would have been quite disappointed with me. Charms are a staple of witches; it is our basic craft and most registered witches, could do it underws. Unlike most witches, I have been in a brothel, hiding. I didn¡¯t create charms for years, much less practice daily. Now, I am working hard to make up for the time I have lost. I walked out of the secret room and got undressed before stepping into the shower. Ten minutester, I came out of the shower and wore a robe before walking out of my quarters. It is four and a half and the preparations for the work begin. The girls have begun to get ready. Girls would sit in front of therge mirrors, and beauticians would work on them. Eudo would only watch; the beauticians had be good enough that now Eudo didn¡¯t even have to do the finishing touches. He would just stand and watch, helping when he felt something was wrong. He had shifted his focus to teaching. It is something he seemed to enjoy very well. He is a one-talented man with secrets of his own. Soon it was my turn, and I sat down on the chair while Cooper and Lenore began to work on me. They already know the type of make-up I want. So, I stayed quiet and let them do their job. In less than five minutes, I was finished with make-up and hair and walked to the podium, where I removed my robe. The girls came and began to clothe me; in less than a minute, a seductive dress appeared on my body. It is a ck shimmering semi-transparent dress of magical threads. That leaves little to the imagination. It provokes, daring them to tear it apart to see what they could see only a little through the fabric. Some even tried and got thrown out of the establishment. Even for a brothel, such dresses are extremely bold. Madam Margaux needed to think for hours before giving me permission to wear it. I don¡¯t like to wear such revealing dresses, but since I have be an assistant madam, I have begun wearing them. It is important for my purpose. ¡­ A few hours passed, and it was nine in the night. The gates of the establishment are closed as usual, with every seat packed with guests. There is not even a stool that is empty. Even when gates opened, they didn¡¯t remain open for more than a few minutes, before they closed. The poprity of the establishment had increased tremendously, and now everybody wants toe inside for experience. My ritual charms, y a big part in that. Another surprising thing is happening; people taking girls for sex has decreased. They areing less to vent their lust and more for thepany of charmingdies. I have seen the ns for the new changes, and Remus seemed to have understood that as well. He is making the changes, taking that in mind. ¡°Mr. Ager, I hope you are having a good time,¡± I said to the middle-aged man who was with Jessa. ¡°I am, and it would have been even more wonderful if you had been able to join us, Caena,¡± he said, looking at me unabashedly in lust. Of course, there are people whoe for sex as well as thepany, and there is nothing wrong with that. We are here to serve their desires. Give them the experience, they could never get anywhere. ¡°You are such a tease, Mr. Ager,¡± I replied while swatting his grabby hands yfully before leaving with a seductive smile on my face. I felt the lust of him and many others toward me. I am absorbing that lust and sending it to the charms hidden in my dress. While sex gives far more lust in a short time. It still couldn¡¯t bepared to the small amount of lust I receive from arge group of people constantly. It is so much that I would charge up all my ritual enchantments by midnight. This is the reason why I wore provocative clothes and flirted with patrons every minute. I am harnessing their lust to charge the enchantment and also it is a thing I enjoy. I like it when people lust after me. They rarely showed such intense lust toward me in my previous brothel, especially at the first meeting. I had an average face, and I needed to seduce them with my words to feel attracted to me. Here, that job is being done by the clothes and make-up, while my words and bodynguage act as oil, to burn that desire brighter. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 200: Returning To Greltheaven Chapter 200: Returning To Greltheaven Kitch! I cut the ribbon, and the people surrounding me began to p. ¡°Thank you for this honor, Wilks,¡± I said to the middle-aged man. ¡°It is me, thanking you, Adviser. Without your help, it wouldn¡¯t have been this smooth,¡± replied the man, and we went inside the store. This is the ninth store in the town and the biggest one. It is a three-story building, selling everything from soaps to nails. All the stores in the town are single stories tall, but this one is much bigger than any one of them. It seemed like Wilks wanted to take a first mover''s advantage and build a brand. It is quite a risk for a small merchant like him. He had two stores of simr size in the Greltheaven and now he had built a third here. It is a considerable investment and a huge risk, but it will be worth it, seeing the business has already started in the town. The four inns have over 70% upancy, the apartment buildings already have the renters. The stores are also beginning to earn goods and now with this addition; the nobles might shop here. The baronies have only started developing, and there is not much there. The lords buy things in bulk from the city, for their needs and needs of their people. The people of baronies have already started to shop from stores and now nobles themselves might shop here, as it is cheaper than buying from the city. Once nobles came; the rest will also throng here. It is what Wilks seemed to want to bank on and it''s a great strategy that is likely to work. I will know in a few weeks how well it will work. I looked around the store and talked to many merchants who hade to the city for this inauguration before leaving for the castle. It had been one and half months since I hade here and from nothing, this ce had transformed into a proper town. In such a short time, roads, wells, sewers, and walls had already been built, and businesses like inns, guesthouses, and stores had started popping up. The town even has official citizens. There are now three hundred and fifty-three people living in the town officially. They have registered themselves in town, unlike over a thousand workers, who will leave after the work is done, They will remain here, and their numbers will continue to increase. Thankfully, we have housing ready for them and anyone who would want to live in the town. I have built residential buildings and small apartments that even workers could easily afford. However, I won¡¯t be spending more on public housing anymore. As the business has started building them. The public housing was only to show the way, it is private yers that will do the rest. Soon, I entered my office and saw someone already waiting for me there. ¡°There was another attack today,¡± informed Major Jarvis before I even sat down. ¡°How many you have caught?¡± I asked. ¡°Not much, around twenty-two. Fifty-four caught by the other side,¡± he replied. ¡°It is getting really serious,¡± I said and sighed. ¡°I need more men and resources.¡± ¡°We also need to talk to the nobles. Some of them have already started to suspect what is happening,¡± he said. ¡°I will personally ask the Count about it tomorrow,¡± I replied. The Count is not as helpful as he should be. It is quite frustrating to deal with that man, especially with messages. ¡°Please do. If they attacked, and we are not prepared. We are going to suffer a lot,¡± he said gravely. ¡°I understand,¡± I said. He left soon after, while I slumped back in my chair. If the monster attacked, it would not only harm men and property but also the business sentiment, which would be very hard to build back. The business had started to pick up; now every day, a caravan woulde from the Oksall, with each caravan at least having twenty carriages. In a week or two, that is going to increase further. As the merchants started to earn profit, not only in the Navr but also here in the baronies. The road also made things easy; the Oksall is rapidly building the road through the snowy hills, while we have finished. There is now apletely paved road from our boundary with Oksall to Mirador Hold. Some of the caravans are going directly to the Mirador Hold, without stopping into the town. There is only a widening of the road has remained, but Valentina had said, it would be done before the deadline. I am already happy with her progress; not only hers, but also of others. They are doing a good job, including Thompson-Vs in Mirador hold. In two weeks, all three contracts would be finished and there was still some money remaining in the fund. I have a lot of ns, but I didn¡¯t spend too much. I am keeping it for the emergency, which I think is a wise choice. The day passed, and the night came. ¡°I have confidence, that you three will handle everything in my presence. Still, if there is any problem, don¡¯t hesitate to contact me.¡± I said to three, who havee to send me off. ¡°You do not need to worry about anything, Adviser. We will keep things smooth here till you return,¡± said Carlos. I nodded and stepped into the carriage a few secondster. The carriage passed through the castle gate, under the moonlight. I going to Greltheaven and couldn¡¯t help, but feel excited about the trip. It had been one and a half months since I had left the city and I missed it very much. Especially my establishment. I wanted to go back much earlier, but I couldn¡¯t. Even now, I had a shitload of work, but I can¡¯t stay here when I am making such an enormous change in my business. I have to be there, at least for a day. I watched the scenery of the beautiful road for a while before turning my focus on the book. While there was a lot of work in the past one and a half months; I also got a lot of reading done. This book I am reading is from the library of Baron Moss. As I finished with all the books, I had brought with me. When I return, I will bring more books back. I read for an hour before closing the book and reclining the seat to sleep. I fell asleep after a few minutes of trying and when I woke up; it was a morning. The carriage stopped for half an hour to freshen up before resuming the journey again. I wanted to leave early yesterday, but work longer to finish up than I had thought. I left at midnight, and now I will reach the city, a littleter than I had nned. It seemed like I would need to go to Count Darrow directly. Soon, I could see the city, and every second, it got closer and closer, till I could see it on the other side of the river. The carriage stopped, and I walked out and stepped into the boat, which was already waiting for me. I became a little careful and was d that I had been surrounded by the guards. Just yesterday, someone important was assassinated in the empire. The assassin came out of the river, and killed a person, before disappearing. Even his powerful guards weren¡¯t able to protect him. I pushed the thoughts of death away and enjoyed the beautiful view. The city looked beautiful in the morning, like a pearl in a desert it is. The ships also seemed to have increased. They have increased. I may have shifted to the Castle Radcliff; I still get the important information about the city, especially on the trade. The trade is increasing; there is a sudden increase in things like processed ore and specialized crystals among other things. Those things are used for many things, including the manufacturing of weapons and war-rted things. In the first few months, there were some restrictions on those things from Meldhorn, but in the past two months. They have disappeared; the merchant state is now letting those goods flow unrestrictedly. I wish I could be surprised, but there is nothing surprising about it. The merchant states thrive on war, and they will sell anything and everything if they see enough profit in doing that. It is why people love them and hate them. Soon, the boat stopped, and I stepped out of it before walking into the carriage waiting for me. A momentter, it started moving toward the port gate, while I watched the small but bustling port with a smile on my face. The Greltheaven is really growing fast. I think, if it continues to grow so fast, the single wall won¡¯t be enough to hold all these people. A few minutes passed, and the carriage stopped. Get Ready. I didn¡¯t get out and instead activated my skill. Immediately, all the signs of sleep vanished. So, has creases and little dirt on my suit and shoes, making them clean. I looked at myself before stepping out of the carriage and walking toward the familiar mansion. ¡°He is waiting,¡± said the secretary, as I reached the office. I nodded my thanks and pushed open the door before entering inside. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted Count Darrow and his son. They are not the only two presents in the office. Aside from them, all three advisers, Mage York and Commander Augustus, are also present. ¡°Remus, how was the journey?¡± asked Count Darrow. ¡°Peaceful my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°And progress?¡± he asked. ¡°On time, my lord,¡± I replied, and I took out the files and ced them in front of him. He only nced at them, before turning back to me, with his expressions serious. ¡°The monster threat. How is it?¡± he asked directly. ¡°Grave, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°The monsters have attacked nearly all the bandits hiding near the extreme magic region. Major Jarvis thinks that they might target the territories next,¡± ¡°It would be great. If we have more resources to deal with attack, that might happen,¡± I requested. ¡°The monsters wouldn¡¯t attack the territories. They have attacked the bandits only because they are quiet to their territory,¡± said Commander Augustus gruffly. ¡°Still, we should be careful and be prepared to deal with it. It would affect the trade adversely if the attack happened, and we weren¡¯t prepared,¡± I insisted and could see it was affecting the Count. ¡°I don¡¯t think it is necessary, Adviser. If some monsters do attack, let the territories handle it. It is about time. They stopped depending on us for security.¡± said Commander Augustus, forcefully. What is his problem? It is clear he is not simply stating his views, but intentionally opposing me. He knows what is happening. I have been sending reports daily. He should understand how desperately we need to be prepared. I may not have a military background, but even I could tell the monsters might attack, especially when Ipare their behavior with past precedence. ¡®Is he angry about that?¡¯ I asked myself. Little more than a month ago, when I released the bids. He had sent me a letter asking to give all the bids to Brimble Constructionpany; one of the top four. Which it didn¡¯t, even a single one. It is the only reason I could think of for a change in his behavior. As before, we had a cordial rtionship and worked together rtively well. Now, he is opposing me and if it had been any inconsequential things, I wouldn¡¯t have minded it, but this thing could affect the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people, including mine. I opened my mouth to answer him, but Lancel had cut me off. ¡°Why are you pressing so much, Remus? Is it to protect your family''s territory at our expense?¡± asked Lancel, with a despicable smile on his face. I was about to respond to that when I saw Count Darrow turning to me. ¡°I can understand your worries, Remus, but as you can see, the finances of the city are tight.¡± ¡°The most I could do is send some more men. As for the extra resources, you will have to arrange that with the extra funds you have,¡± said the Count. I wanted to curse at the bastard, but instead, I put on a smile and gave a bow. ¡°Thank you for your understanding, my lord.¡± I thanked. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 201: Purified Chapter 201: Purified ¡®Fucking bastard!¡¯ I cursed in my heart as I got out of the office. He could do more, but he is unwilling to do it. Instead, he asked me to use the money; I had got from plot selling plots in the town. Of which, he had taken the half. If that money had been enough, I wouldn¡¯t havee here begging. ¡°Send a message to Vice-Guildmaster Arryn, and ask him if he has time to meet with me,¡± I said to Z. I was so excited an hour ago, but now that bastard Darrow threw cold water on all, with that sorry excuse of the city being a tight spot. I have seen the taxes and our spending. The city has a lot of money, but he isn¡¯t willing to spend any. If he could get out of his miserly attitude, he would be able to see with some spending. He could increase the revenue further, but he isn¡¯t willing to see it. It is he, who is single-handedly holding back the city from growing into its full potential. ¡°He can meet with you immediately if you want,¡± Z replied after a few seconds. ¡°Tell him I aming,¡± I said. One and a half an hourter, I walked out of Arryn''s office. I didn¡¯t suffer the disappointment there. I stepped into the carriage, and it moved toward the establishment; once again, the excitement had started to build in my heart. It had been more than a half month since I had seen my business. I missed it a lot and I am going to finally see it. Time passed slowly before finally the establishment and circle appeared in front of my eyes and the joy burst out in my heart. They are cloaked in the pink mist, especially the circle. Other than the silhouette, nothing could be seen about it. The carriage went through the gates of the establishment and stopped. ¡°Wee back, Master Silver,¡± said Margaux as I walked. ¡°It is nice to be back, Margaux, Ca,¡± I replied. My gaze lingered on Ca for a moment longer before turning to the establishment, covered in the mist. ¡°How is the progress?¡± I asked. ¡°They are waiting for us to shut everything. So they could start the work inside,¡± Ca replied. I nodded and walked toward the establishment, which had now be even bigger and taller. It will be five floors tall, just like the circle beside it. This n I conceived months ago, and wanted to wait for a year, but after the Oksall trip, I realized, I was wasting a precious and decided to take the leap. Looking at the changes. I became even more sure, that it had been a wise decision. I looked at every part before walking inside the establishment, and immediately I felt that familiar feeling. It had be even stronger. It is not a faint feeling anymore that I would need to concentrate to feel it. Now, I could see easily sense it, without focusing. I will have to ask Caena whether others would be able to feel it. I hope they do not; I need to keep this secret of the establishment to myself. In the hall, various teachers are taking the sses. It is thest day; this will happen in the establishment. Tomorrow, they are shifting to a different ce and a monthter, to the circle, which will be their permanent home. Soon, I reached the ce where my office used to be; it had gone and now there is a whole floor. Tens of people could be seen working around, doing all sorts of things. We tip-toed, seeing there was a lot of stuff lying around, including the nails and other sharp things. I looked at everything before walking to the temporary office on the fourth floor. ¡°How is the business?¡± I asked as I sat down. ¡°Good, very good,¡± replied Margaux. ¡°We are doing this expansion at the right time. I would have suggested if you hadn¡¯t started.¡± ¡°The carriages lined to enter the establishment,¡± added Ca. She is not lying; the poprity of the establishment is shooting through the sky, not only city but even outside of it. So much that the gates would close within half an hour of opening. Till the midnight, they will only open for a minute or two before closing. The wonderfuldies and our ster service are not the only thing responsible for it. ¡°Let¡¯s hope our patrons won¡¯t forget us when we open after a month,¡± I said. ¡°It won''t happen,¡± replied Ca with quite a confidence in her voice. I smiled at that, before taking the first file and started to read it. It didn¡¯t take long for me to finish reading them all. There were only two files, and both of them contained only this week¡¯s reports. Every week, Ca would send the reports to the Castle Radcliff. I talked to them for a few more minutes before Margaux left, leaving me and Ca alone in the office. A minuteter, we were doing the things that this room had been used for the past ten months. It was about two hours before we stopped, with our bodies being all sweaty and tired. I want to continue, but there are things I have to do. I can¡¯t spend more time with her, even when I want to. ¡°I missed you,¡± I said, looking at her. ¡°I missed you, too,¡± she said, and we kissed. We are lying on the floor naked with our sweaty bodies and the scent of sex around us, and it is amazing. ¡°Your hair looked beautiful,¡± I said, caressing her soft, curly hair. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said with her cheeks flushing. Wey there for a few minutes, soaking in the after-sex feeling before getting up and wearing our clothes. Get Ready. As I finished wearing the clothes, I activated the skill, and immediately, my clothes straightened, and creases vanished. The sweat disappeared from my body and so is the smell of sex. Looking at me; no one would guess I was having sex a few minutes ago. ¡°Nice skill,¡± said Ca, who also has a simr skill, and hers is better than mine and more powerful. ¡°It is really amazing,¡± I replied, smiling. A few minutester, Ca left, and I focused on the work. Thankfully, there is not much. Ca and Margaux left me none, but as a boss, I have to look at things they have done and see if there are any mistakes. I trust them, but even they could make a mistake. So, it is better to verify everything. ¡®Master Silver, Madam Caena here,¡¯ said the voice through the inte, and I looked at the clock. She hade right on time; I had asked Ca to send her. ¡°Master Silver,¡± she greeted. ¡°Caena,¡± I said, offering her the seat. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked. ¡°Good. I am ahead with charms and should be finished with the list you have provided within a month,¡± she said and slid a few pages in front of me. On it is a list of charms I had asked her to create, and she had marked ones, which she has created and imprinted on the establishment. I looked at the list, and a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. Once upon a time, she was barely able to create a single charm a day, but now, she is creating three. I looked at the list before taking out another list and started making the changes. I had erased a few and added some more. I had given her an old list a month ago. Since then, I have had more time to think about the changes I am making in the building and business model and which ritual charms would be most suitable for it. The books on hospitality helped a lot; I would need to read more to enrich my knowledge. The only reason I could even create such a long list of charms is because of them. ¡°Will I need to get more resources for them?¡± I asked as I slid the pages toward her. ¡°We have most of the resources, but I will need these few,¡± she said, looking at the list, before taking the pen and writing it down, before sliding the list of seven materials toward me. ¡°It will be done,¡± I said and put the list in my bag, before turning to her. There was a silence for a few seconds before I asked her about the important thing. ¡°Have you purified them?¡± I asked with a hint of excitement. Ashav is still asking me about them, willing to pay a high price. It is not just him, but many times, the Count has hinted that he is willing to buy them, but I always decline. I don¡¯t know what I will do with them, but I do not n to sell them. At least not yet. ¡°Yes. All of them have purified,¡± she replied, and her expression turned hesitant. ¡°I wanted to talk to you about them,¡± she said after some hesitation. ¡°Is there any problem with them?¡± I asked, to which she shook her head. ¡°No, they arepletely. It is something different,¡± she replied, and I kept looking at her. ¡°The thing is. The cores are special. They contain a life-and-death element. The ritual was done on you to bond with establishment had been done with the basis of that duality,¡± she said with hesitation. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± I asked her. I understood the meaning of her words, but I didn¡¯t understand the context in which she was speaking. ¡°What I am trying to say is that we should sacrifice the core to the establishment through a ritual,¡± she exined. For a moment, I didn¡¯t understand what she was saying, before I was able to make a sense of it and even then, I didn¡¯t understand more than the basic meaning of the sentence. If it had been a magic system of mages, I would have understood it clearly. It had clear rules, but the magic system of witches waspletely different. It works on apletely different set of rules. ¡°What it will do?¡± I asked after more than a minute of silence. ¡°It will strengthen the bond you have with the establishment. Which in turn would increase the absorption and storage of emotions, thus increasing the power of ritual charms imprinted on the establishment,¡± she replied. I didn¡¯t talk for a few minutes. She had said some heavy stuff. I had not expected her would say something like this. It had shocked me to my deepest. ¡°You have given me a lot to think about,¡± I said finally. She didn¡¯t say anything other than to give me a small smile. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 202: Demolition Chapter 202: Demolition
¡°¡­we need it urgently,¡± said the middle-aged man. There are two people in front of me; they work for a liquor business in Inam. They havee to me for an emergency order; they want arge quantity of the Navr liquor. While they could get that from Oksall, I can get them slightly cheaper. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem. You will have it in three days.¡± I said with a smile. Ina is not Navr, but she didn¡¯t need to be for us to buy the goods from Navr. In these few months, we have proved ourselves enough that we could get the orders with message alone. We have big credit lines with several liquor merchants. If I sent a message now, they would pack the goods immediately and send them by the evening. Tomorrow, the goods will reach the Mirador Hold, by night they will be at my warehouse in the city. From there, these people would take the goods to Inam. ¡°Good. We will be expecting the delivery in three days,¡± said the middle-aged man, and we signed the contract. I watched them leave, before turning to the check in my hands. This is the biggest order I have received from a single person. Five hundred million crowns. Five million imperials. I should start using the imperials instead of crowns; people use them. Only the house of Silver is slightly different. There is a rule in house unless you start earning a million imperials a month. You have no right to use the higher currency. It''s an idiotic, stupid rule, but it has been in the house for nearly millennia, and everybody follows it despite knowing how stupid it is. Due to the stupid rule, I have got so used to using crowns. I am having a problem shifting to the imperials despite its months since I started making over a million imperials a month, months ago. I will need to be more conscious of using it; it is the only way; I will be able to break that stupid habit. ¡°Send the message,¡± I said to Z, who nodded and closed her eyes. I stayed in my office for three more hours and met a few more people before walking out. Since I came back yesterday; I have been busy. There was not a single minute where I wasn¡¯t doing anything. Till the eveningst night, I had talked to various employees. From Margaux to Drev, taking their views and discussing things with them. After that, I watched the establishment for two hours, before I had to attend the party with Valentina. Today was the same. In the morning, I went to Count Darrow where it was as bad as yesterday, beforeing back to my office, and now, I am going back to the establishment. I have to meet people there. Soon, the carriage moved through the gates of the establishment before stopping. There are many people around the establishment. Mainly removing stuff and putting them into the carriages. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked Ca and Caena as I walked out of the carriage. ¡°The girls have been shifted. We also shifted their personal stuff; the rest is going to the Nielsons warehouses,¡± she replied. We had shifted the girls at dawn after thest patron left. I have rented a huge ce for them, where they will live for a month. It cost me, but there was no other choice. The entire establishment is going to be overhauled. Every single room, from above ground to underground. It is a very expensive change and if it hadn¡¯t been for the profits of the liquor business, I would have needed to take the loan. ¡°Have they arrived?¡± I asked as we walked toward the establishment. ¡°Yes, they are waiting for you.¡± She replied. I entered the hall, and it was aplete mess; people were breaking walls. Putting support columns for demolitions. In a matter of a few hours, they have transformed the whole floor and not just the first floor. The demotions are going on all the floors, everywhere I look, I would see people breaking something. The only ce they aren¡¯t breaking is the one I had entered. In the room, there were four people present, aside from Margaux and Valentina. There is a bearded man and a blond woman who look to be in theirte thirties. The man is wearing a ck suit, while the woman is wearing a blue dress with a purple leather belt. ¡°Merna, Ivan; this is Remus Silver,¡± Valentina introduced. ¡°It is nice to finally meet you, Adviser,¡± said the man. ¡°It is nice to meet you, too. Merna, Ivan,¡± I said as I shook their hand before taking my seat. These two are interior designers. Nielson guilds have their in-house designers and Valentina has some talent in that field as well, but I hired these two. She herself suggested I hire them. Saying their expertise is suited to the vision I have, and I will also be their first client. They have left their jobs to start thepany. ¡°So, have you finished?¡± I asked them. ¡°Based on the information you have provided, we have created several samples for the establishment and circle,¡± replied the woman, and activated the te. A momentter, a projection of an inside view of the establishment appeared. My eyes lit up seeing it. It was amazing and looked beautiful, but most importantly, it seemed to have captured the vision for the establishment I have in my mind. They have been working for three weeks; researching and watching how the establishment works. I have even given them ess to hundreds of rough designs I have made and ideas I have written down. Through the messages, they asked all the questions they had in mind, and I answered them all to the best of my abilities. Seeing the design, it is clear. They have worked hard to capture my vision and have been sessful at it. ¡°Let¡¯s start from the first floor,¡± I said after a minute of silence. They nodded, and the woman tapped on the runes. Soon, everything aside from the first floor, everything disappeared, and it magnified. ¡°Bring out the other models of the first floor too,¡± I said, and five more first floors appeared in a palm-sized icon, the side of a huge model of the first floor. ¡°All six models incorporate the elements you have asked for,¡± said the man and began to exin in detail. I didn¡¯t disturb him and listened carefully while studying each of the six models. ¡°They are good, but some changes are needed,¡± I said after more than ten minutes. ¡°Please tell,¡± said the woman, and I began. Over 90% of the changes are me taking things I like from different models into the ones I like. Only a small number of changes, I needed to mention, which they applied on the spot. The first floor is going to be the most important one; it is where the biggest changes are being made. It is a kind of gamble, but if it worked, it would bring me enough riches to finance my other ns. It took three and a half hours for all the changes to finalize and another hour and a half for the changes in the circle. The circle didn¡¯t take much, despite being bigger. It is not a ce of business and thus; I had given more responsibility to the designer. Let them present their views in consultation with the girls. I have to say; that they have done an impressive job, and it is going to be not as expensive as I had thought it would be. Thought it would still cost a lot. ¡°I hope you will be able to do it in one month,¡± I said to them. ¡°It won''t be a problem, Adviser,¡± said the woman with confidence and walked out of the room with her husband. ¡°So, do you want to watch it, from above to below?¡± asked Valentina. ¡°From above,¡± I said, after a moment of thought, and walked to the fifth floor. There is something amazing going to happen and I want to watch. It is just not me. Even thedies want to watch it, seeing they are following me. Soon we reached the fifth floor and stopped where Valentina wanted us to stay. ¡°Ready?¡± she asked with a smile. ¡°Do it,¡± I said, and the staff in her hand lit up. A momentter, the floor in front of me copsed, the floor, below it copsed and the floor below that. All the floors until the first floor copsed, but not all of them; only a certain section of the inn, from and among each copsed section, is different sides. Half of the roof above the first floor had copsed. While only 25% of the floor we were standing on had copsed. As for why, I demolished part of the roof on every floor because I wanted this five-floor building to have four floors in front. I did it to have the seating area with the high ceilings. Higher than what I currently have. This change is internal. On the outside, nothing had changed; I only made the roofs copse and not the buildings. ¡°You have a huge work ahead of you,¡± I said to Valentina. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem, since the walls are breaking easily this time,¡± she said back, and I smiled. If it had been a small work, I wouldn¡¯t have kept the establishment closed for one month. Valentina will now reconstruct these roofs andid down enchantments before handing things to the interior designers. It is a lot of work for her and interior designers to do within a month. After the dust settled. I walked down, checking each copsed roof. Looking at the things, everything seemed to have worked perfectly. Now, the workers are collecting the rubble and bringing it out of the establishment. They will not throw it away and instead; they will reuse it. I had specifically told Valentina to do it. ¡°Master Silver, I have to talk to you about something,¡± said Margaux as walked back into the office. Her expression was serious; it seemed like she wants to talk about something important. ¡°We will return in ten minutes,¡± said Ca and walked out of the office with Caena, leaving me and Margaux alone and the guards. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, hoping everything was right with her. ¡°I hope you will let me resign from the duties of the madam of establishment and give me responsibilities of the circle,¡± she said, surprising me. I already discussed themand structure with them, and the head of the circle would have the same authority as the madam of the establishment in their domain. Both of whom will work under Ca, like Ina is doing. Though, the prestige of the madam of the establishment will be higher as it is a ce that earns the money. So, it is like she is asking for the demotion. ¡°Why?¡± I asked after a minute of silence. ¡°I think it will be the right decision for me. It will also give me more time to focus on the things I want to pursue while giving me a chance to take better care of the girls,¡± she replied. I could feel the honesty in her voice. She meant what she said. To be honest, I want to decline her request. She is great at her job, never giving me any chance toin. ¡°Have you really thought about it?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, I have been thinking about it for months,¡± she replied, and I signed. ¡°If this is what you want. I will give it to you,¡± I said, and her face bloomed into the most joyous smile I had ever seen on her face. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she said with her eyes watering. She left a minuteter, while I slumped back in the chair. I had a person in mind for the circle, but now she is taking that job; I have to choose someone to run the establishment. Which will be harder than choosing a person to run a circle. ¡°Mister Silver, there is a message from Major Jarvis. He wants you to reply as soon as possible,¡± informed Z, bringing me out of my thoughts. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 203: Threat Chapter 203: Threat ¡°Thank you, Guildmaster Arryn,¡± I said to the old man. ¡°It is the least I could do for you, Adviser,¡± he replied. ¡°I am grateful for that,¡± I said and stepped into the boat, which began to take me to the other side. I was going to leave tomorrow, but things have changed in the baronies, and I have to leave as soon as possible. After the message, I left the establishment within a few minutes and went to Count Darrow. I didn¡¯t stay for more than an hour beforeing to the port where I met the old man. I watched the moon in the sky and wished I could stay one more night in the city. I pushed the mncholic thoughts and turned to Z. A few minutester, the boat had reached the other side, and I stepped out of it before walking toward the carriage. It would have been great if there had been a bridge on the river, but I didn¡¯t even bring up that subject. The Count would never agree, and the issue is moreplex than the cost it would incur. It has security implications for it. Still, having a bridge would have been nice, especially now with the goodsing from the Navr every day, inrge quantities. We are not just importing, but exporting as well, and it would only grow with time. Having a bridge would have made everything more efficient. I pushed those thoughts and looked at the goods carriage behind my own. It had the stuff I had brought from Arryn at a deep discount. I could only afford a single carriage of the stuff and we needed over ten times what it had, but the bastard Count was not willing to spend even a single coin from his pocket. I sighed and sat in my carriage; a momentter, it started to move toward the Nakar Baronies. I took out the book from my bag and began to read it. I have brought a lot of books with me. Most of them are rted to hospitality, but there are other subjects as well. I read for a few hours before reclining my seat to sleep. I had to get as much as sleep, I could. With how things are going, I don¡¯t think I would get any sleep after I reach Castle Radcliff. ¡°Mister Silver, we have arrived,¡± said Jon, waking me up gently. I opened my eyes and saw the carriage moving through the town and even now, people are working on things. They are on the night shift; they will stop after dawn and other people will take their ce. I wonder how much the news that would be revealed today, will affect things. Soon, the carriage entered the castle and stopped. The guard opened the door, and I stepped out of it. Aside from L and two, Major Jarvis is also waiting, and he doesn¡¯t look good. ¡°Have you slept?¡± I asked him. ¡°A little,¡± he replied, and we walked inside. We didn¡¯t walk to my office but on the left wing of the keep. Click! Soon, we reached the thick iron door, guarded by four guards. They saluted before opening the door. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed as I saw the scene inside. In front of me are carcasses of the monsters, in the freezing enchantments. There are nine of them, different sizes and breeds. The smallest one is the size of my hand, while the biggest one is as big as me. ¡°Thanks to the scouts; we got the warning and were able to deal with them on time,¡± he said after seconds of silence. ¡°Any casualty?¡± I asked. ¡°No, but few suffered injuries and resting,¡± he replied. A few minutester, I walked out of the room and went to my office with Major Jarvis. ¡°It is the first time they have breached our territory, right?¡± I asked him. ¡°Yes, but I don¡¯t think it will be thest or their numbers would be so low,¡± he replied gravely. ¡°I wish I could bring more help,¡± I said with regret. ¡°I am already surprised you had been able to bring at least something,¡± he said, smiling mirthlessly, a smile I shared. Everybody is aware of the Count¡¯s nature, especially the people from Mirador Hold. Who have been constantly demanding from things, but barely get any. ¡°Well, we have to make do with things we have,¡± I said finally. ¡°There is no other choice,¡± he replied. A few minutester, he left, and I turned to three. They filled me up with everything that had happened in the past two days. I talked to them and noticed there was some friction between them, but I didn¡¯t ask. ¡°Ask Captain Wright toe to my office,¡± I said as the three were leaving my office. Click! A few minutester, the middle-aged bald man walked into the room. ¡°You have called me Adviser?¡± asked the man. ¡°Yes, Captain. Please take a seat,¡± I said to him. ¡°So, what do you have for me?¡± I asked him directly. A day before leaving, I asked Major Jarvis directly about the person who knows things in the castle. There are always people like that everywhere. He was surprised but gave me the name of this man. If anything happens, from minor gossip to disagreement, he will have knowledge of it. ¡°A few interesting things,¡± he replied, and I kept looking at him. ¡°A drunken brawl urred between two guards yesterday; we had caught our first thief¡­.¡± he begins to tell the list of things, some interesting, others interesting. Suddenly, he became a little hesitant. ¡°Nothing will go out of this room,¡± I said, seeing the hesitation. ¡°That Carlos had used some harsh words against your assistant,¡± he said. "What words? Tell me exactly what he said,¡± I asked, and he did after some hesitation. A few minutester, he left while I went back to work. I am angry with what happened with Caena, but I am not going to deal with it; she will have to deal with her problems herself. It will not be the first time something like this will happen. She will have to learn to deal with it, like Ina had done and like Andrea is learning to do. People would always look down on her and use hurtful words and actions due to what they were. They will have to ovee these obstacles if they want to seed in life. A few hours passed, and the carriages starteding inside the castle. ¡°They have arrived, Master Silver,¡± informed L. I nodded and got up before walking out of the office. Soon, I walked into the room full of nobles. Every baron or baroness hade here. I had asked them to be personally present in the meeting and not send a representative unless there was an emergency. It seemed to have made some of them angry; some were also angry that I didn¡¯t personally wee them. I have relegated that responsibility to three. ¡°Thank you foring on such short notice, my lord anddies,¡± I said to them, as I took the seat. ¡°I hope it is something important, Adviser,¡± said new Baron Lockridge, with displeasure written all over his face. ¡°It is my lord,¡± I replied, before turning to all sitting in front of me. ¡°I have called you all here to share grave news,¡± I said. ¡°We have been sensing the disturbance in the extreme magic region for a month; these disturbances were minor, but slowly they increased and became major,¡± ¡°At first, the monsters attacked bandits, hiding near the extreme magic region. It is the reason why we have been catching extraordinary numbers of banditstely.¡± ¡°Monsters, my god!¡± interrupted Baron Moss, shaking. I looked at him, and he controlled his expressions. I do not me the man for interrupting; monsters are dangerous enough to put fear in anyone¡¯s heart. Even Baron Harrods and Baron Lockridge¡¯s expressions have be serious. ¡°If the disturbance had been rted to the extreme magic region and surrounding areas, we wouldn¡¯t have, but are moving further,¡± ¡°A small group of them have breached the boundary of the empire yesterday. Thankfully, we have dealt with them, but Major Jarvis and our scouts think this will not be the only attack from the monsters,¡± ¡°They might increase, with bigger numbers, posing a threat to the whole baronies,¡± I exined and saw their expressions turned grave. Especially of the Baron Harrods and my sister. If the monsters attack, their territories will be the first target. Even others have started to look at them with pity, especially those who had territories on the southern side. ¡°Is there really a chance of monsters attacking our territories?¡± asked Baron Harrods. I looked at Major Jarvis. ¡°I couldn¡¯t give a definite answer to you, my lord. The only thing I could say to you, and all is that be prepared.¡± ¡°The monsters attack hard and fast. If we are unprepared; they will tear through the baronies, destroying anything and everything, that wille in their path,¡± he replied. ¡°It is why we need a collective force; that would defend against any of their attacks.¡± ¡°Fort Radcliff is willing to provide everything we could, but our men are limited, and our resources are small.¡± ¡°So, we will need everyone to contribute to the safety of the baronies,¡± I said. Many nodded, but most remained stone-faced. ¡°Have you informed it to the Count Darrow?¡± asked Baron Lockridge. ¡°I have personally informed the Lord Count, and he gave all the help he could, and now wants us to contribute on our part,¡± I replied, and many people shook their heads. The meetingsted for two and a half hours and I informed them about everything we knew. ¡°It went better than I thought,¡± said Major Jarvis as we walked out conference room. ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled about their pledges, Major. They are nobles, and most of them will only give tokens of contribution.¡± ¡°We could only depend upon those on the northern side. It is they who are most threatened, and we should focus on them, the most,¡± I said to the man. He shook his head and sighed. ¡°At least we will get the help, from ckwell,¡± he said, and I nodded. Yes, there will be help from ckwell. The monsters are as threatening to us as it is to them. More than us, seeing how much the Amberhold is betting on this trade route. We will be leaving for Fort Renin in a few hours to discuss this threat. I will try to get some resources from him. I do not like it, but what choice do I have? Since the bastard Darrow tly refused to spend any money on the defenses. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 204: Monster Horde Chapter 204: Monster Horde ¡°Baroness Le had sent this,¡± said L, and ced the file in front of me. I nodded and opened the file. It is a file on the inventory of the monsters, or rather what bes of them after we had sent it to her. Le acted fast, seeing the opportunity in the danger. She had set up a monster processing nt, in her territory. Where the killed monsters would be cut, cleaned, sorted, and stored. To preserve the magic in them before selling them to the merchants. It had been sixteen days since I hade back and since then; we have killed three hundred and seventeen monsters. One hundred and twenty-two were killed by ckwell¡¯s people. All these monsters have gone to in for processing. The sooner the monsters got processed; the more magic gets preserved. Especially in their blood and meat. The hide, horns, bones, and nails didn¡¯t need to be preserved to keep the magic in them, but it was always better to do it. Monsters are valuable, and these were pure monsters, not the beasts we use who have some monster blood. Thankfully, the Count has agreed to let us have everything we get from selling the monsters. The monster attacks increasing with higher numbers every day. Major Jarvis feels that there will be an attack without a doubt, and it will be soon. We have made as many as preparations we could, but we could have done better, with a little more help. Still, it is quite surprising that despite the monster threat. The trade hadn''t slowed down. It had instead increased and now, every day, three caravans areing to the town. Which, in turn, made the merchants and nobles invest more heavily in town. More stores, inns, warehouses, and other businesses are popping up in the town. The fourth tranche of plots sold like hotcakes three days ago and they wanted more. The Count wanted me to sell all plots together, but I am selling them in steps, and every time, the rate of those plots would double at least; thest tranche gave a quadrupled rate. 70% of those plots sold are being developed; I am only selling to those who want to develop them. There is only a small quota for people who are buying it as an investment. The trade is increasing at a much faster rate than I thought. If it kept increasing at such speed, it would reach the needed amount, much sooner than I had thought, and I would be able to return to the Greltheaven. The power is intoxicating, but I miss my business. Even now, I want to go back to the city and see through every change that happening, and I might have gone. I had nned to make another trip in the middle of the month, but with this monster threat, I couldn¡¯t go anywhere. ¡®Master Silver. Miss Valentina is here,¡¯ said Jill through the inte. ¡®Send her in,¡¯ I replied. Click! The door opened, and she walked inside. ¡°How was the trip?¡± I asked. ¡°It was good. I had mostly slept through the night,¡± she replied as she sat in front of me. ¡°You can take a rest if you want,¡± I said, to which she shook her head. ¡°There is no need,¡± she replied. ¡°A lunch then?¡± I asked, to which she nodded. I took her to the kitchen where we had lunch, before walking out of the keep and sitting on the carriage. It is an open carriage; it would be better suited for our job today. It is a formality. Thest inspection and she will be done. The road is finished and also the extra work I had given to her consortium. Today, I will be checking the roads with her, before signing off on the progress. I had already inspected the work, and this would be just a few hours of carriage ride in nice weather toward the boundary beforeing back to the castle. ¡°The town is developing well,¡± she said as the carriage rode through the town. ¡°It is. The trade is going well with the Oksall, and it is attracting more people and investments,¡± I said. The town now has over seven hundred people as official residents. ¡°We are thinking about developing a quarry in Baron Wilson''s territory,¡± she said softly while looking at the town. ¡°Is quantity big enough?¡± I asked. ¡°We have done some tests; the amount of stone it is big enough to be worth the investment,¡± she replied. ¡°Then you should buy it. The way the trade is developing. The stone will be in high demand,¡± I gave my views. ¡°I have already made the proposal and will be sending it to headquarters. It will be up to them, whether to ept or not,¡± she said. Soon, the carriage passed through the town and began to move through the wide paved road, with dense trees on both sides of us. ¡°How is the progress of establishment and circle?¡± I asked finally, to which she smiled. ¡°Going great; everything is on time,¡± she replied. I sighed, and she shook her head. ¡°You know, there are tons of people in the city, who will not hesitate to kill you if it gets them your job,¡± ¡°The power you wield here is huge, more than any noble here, and you still pine for your business,¡± she said, and I smiled, but there was barely any mirth in it. ¡°Yes, I have power here, but it is not mine. If the Count wished, he could take it away,¡± ¡°So, I would rather stay in the city and work on developing my business. That nobody could take away from me,¡± I replied, and to that, she smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think he will take it away. From what I have heard, the Count is mighty impressed with what you have done here,¡± she said. This time, I didn¡¯t reply. Only smiled. I know the Count had found me valuable and would let me have the responsibility of this ce for years. It is a very enticing thought, seeing the power, I wield and the freedom I have. However, I still prefer the city. Especially now, with the change happening in the establishment. ¡°You have done quite a good job on the road,¡± I praised, looking at the great road. ¡°I should thank you for that, without you. A medium-level firm like mine wouldn¡¯t have got such a contract,¡± she replied. It was a wise decision to give her the contract; I have not only saved a lot of money but also got great quality work. ¡°You had the best bid,¡± I said, to which she smiled. ¡°Thanks to exposure, it got us. We have got the jobs around the baronies.¡± She spoke. I knew that over ten baronies were availing the services of her firm. Forcing her to bring more men and have partnerships, with other firms to manage the workload. ¡°I am d,¡± I replied. For a few minutes, we didn¡¯t speak and just enjoyed the silence and the beauty of the forest. We were sitting in silence when we saw the lines of carriagesing toward us. It was a caravan from the merchant states. There were twenty-six carriages in it, and they passed by us while we watched them. ¡°The trade from the Oksall is increasing faster than I had expected,¡± she said, looking at carriages passing. ¡°It is all thanks to the road; more than half of which had already been finished. It made the trade easy,¡± I replied. The merchants are working fast on the road at their end. The terrain there is challenging and long is long, but they are making fast progress. Within a month, aplete road will connect the Amberhold to the Mirador Hold. It will be then, that the real trade will begin. Ina had made several trips and talked to a lot of merchants. Many of them are just waiting for the road to be finished before they will start trading with Navr through this route. I am feeling quite excited about it and hope, the monsters don¡¯t y the spoilers. I want to finish with it as soon as possible and hand over, the responsibilities to others. Two hours passed in conversation before the carriage stopped, and we got out of it. We have reached the boundary of the empire, where our road ends and theirs starts. ¡°They seemed to have made a lot of progress since thest time I was here,¡± she said as she cut off the spell. ¡°The road had gone beyond the Fort Renin,¡± I replied. The merchants are not making the road in a single direction. That would be inefficient; they are making on our side too. They have sent men here and brought the material from us. It had earned many merchants, a massive amount of money. Including Valentina, she had sold quite a lot of things to them. ¡°This ¡± ¡°Mister Silver, Code Red. The horde had been spotteding out of the extreme magic region,¡± said Z, interrupting what Valentina was saying. As the words fell on my ears, I shook. My hands, which were petting Fang in my arms, stopped. For a moment, the news froze me, before I was able to control my emotions, and turned to Z. ¡°Send a message to all the baronies and ask Captain Hartley to lock the town down,¡± I said, before turning to L and handing Fang to her. ¡°Go to the Baron Homer''s territory with Miss Valentina and stay there, till the horde is dealt with,¡± I said. She took Fang with shaking hands and turned to me. ¡°What about you, Master Silver?¡± she asked, with her voice shaking lightly. ¡°I am going to the Bram Valley,¡± I replied, and could see she wanted me to stop, but didn¡¯t utter those words, seeing my expressions. ¡°Take care,¡± she said finally, and I nodded and turned to Valentina. ¡°Stay safe,¡± I said to her. "I aming with you,¡± she said, surprising me. ¡°It is the monster horde, Valentina,¡± I said, and she smiled. ¡°I know they are dangerous. I used to be a mercenary before taking this job,¡± she replied. I wanted to decline her, but seeing how much of a mage of her level will be helpful. I decided to ept her help. ¡°Fine,¡± I said, and turned to the guards, before sitting on the horse. Soon, we are riding toward the Bram Valley. I am taking all the guards with me; along with my own guards, leaving only two with L to take her to Baron Homer¡¯s castle. The closest territory is from here, is of Baron Harrods and my sister¡¯s, but those ces are dangerous. They will be the first target of a horde. If we didn¡¯t stop, the monsters at Bram Valley. Visit for Advanced Chapters. Chapter 205: Bram Valley Chapter 205: Bram Valley ¡°What is the progress?¡± I asked Z, as we rode through the forest. ¡°The town has been locked down. The reinforcements are moving toward the destinations, the teams leave for their designated ces¡­¡± Z recounted everything. It had been half an hour since we had started moving and it would take us around an hour more to reach the Bram Valley. ¡°Why areing to fight Remus?¡± asked Valentina suddenly. I turned to her, but didn¡¯t answer immediately. She is not the only one who has asked this question. I am asking this question to myself, repeatedly. In all the nning and everything, I have never counted myself fighting. I always thought I would be in the safety of the castle, but here I was riding to fight against the horde. ¡°It is my responsibility,¡± I said after a minute of silence. This is the only answer that felt right. I conceived the n from the beginning, went to Oksall for it, and in the past two months, I have brought it to reality. I felt the responsibility for it. That is why instead of running back to the castle like I had decided. I am riding the horse toward the most dangerous battle of my life. If the information is right, then it would be even more dangerous than anything I had faced before, including the undead army and bloody nts in the Navr¡¯s dungeon. Half an hour passed and when I sensed another grouping toward us. Soon, they became visible and joined our groups. As they did, their skills spread into our making, making our horses go slightly faster and their gait more stable, along with making riding a little morefortable. ¡°Adviser, I had not thought you would personallye and even bring Mage Valentina with you,¡± said the old man as he brought his horse beside mine. ¡°Neither am I, my lord, but conditions are so grave that we all need to contribute, as it may be,¡± I replied, and he nodded. He contributed a lot. Half of his people had already been at Bram Valley for more than a week and now, he had brought another group with him, including his son. He and my sister had given the most in the defense, while some, like Lockridge, had only sent a token. Even those he sent were one of the weakest. I wish I could say there are only a few like him, but no, more than half of the nobles did the same. Thankfully, the southern Barons didn¡¯t hold back. They had sent every man they could and also the things that could help in defense. Finally, we could see the Bram Valley. It is the ce edge of our boundary. Half of the valley is in Oksall¡¯s territory, while the other half is in ours. Which makes it a prime spot in our joint defense. Because if it had been wholly in our control or control of merchant states, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to defend it. The rtions between the Merchant States of Western Zenid and the Harsoth Empire had only started to thaw. There are still many restrictions. One of the biggest is that we couldn¡¯t take the armies into each other''s territory. It would be a grave vition of sovereign rights, and an exception is impossible with our current rtions. We have applied for that and didn¡¯t get permission, which is why we chose this spot to stop the monsters. Here we could fight together, and armies could move freely as the boundaries are not perfectly demarcated. There is only one line. One side belongs to merchant states, and the other belongs to the empire and I could interpret it in a hundred ways. We have freedom here and there won¡¯t be anyints from higher-ups on both sides. There is an army of four and a half thousand standing there. Two thousand men are from us, fifteen hundred are from ckwell, and the rest thousand are from the baronies. 70% of which were contributed by the southern baronies. Soon, we entered the valley, and it was beautiful, with lush green hills and a small stream of water flowing through the middle. It is such a peaceful scenery, which is going to be going to be destroyed in a few hours. The battle won''t spare anything. We stopped as we reached the army and got off our horses. ckwell was already there, and also my sister. I also saw ric, her friend, and familiar people from many baronies. Only two leaders havee personally from Baronies. My sister and Baron Harrods, while others have only sent their men. ¡°Lord ckwell, Baroness,¡± I greeted. ¡°Adviser, I had not expected you would be participating against the horde,¡± he said, looking at me with surprise. Not only him, but even my sister looked surprised. ¡°I also did not, my lord, but we all have to do our parts,¡± I replied. He seemed to be taken aback a little by my words, but nodded. ¡°So, what is the progress of the horde? Did we have an urate number?¡± I asked. ¡°ording to scouts, the number of monsters seemed to be between three to five thousand, and they will be here in an hour,¡± he replied, and I nearly sucked my breath. I really hope the number isn¡¯t at the maximum or we will be truly fucked. The monsters are dangerous, and like us, they also have a different level of powers. The powerful ones are truly dangerous. ¡°Did we know anything about horde leaders or powerful monsters in it?¡± I asked, and his expression became serious. ¡°Majority of the monsters seemed to be Grade 1, but many Grade 2 have been spotted. The leader is definitely a Grade 3, and it might not be only Grade 3 there,¡± he replied. I wanted to curse badly, but I controlled myself andughed. ¡°It seemed like the monsters were reallying with the intention to wipe us out,¡± I said, bringing a smile to their faces. ¡°In the past few days, the scout that Lord ckwell hired has noticed some strange things in an extreme magic region.¡± ¡°When everything calmed down, I nned to go and take a look,¡± said Le, after seconds of silence. ¡°Is it expanding?¡± asked Valentina, making my expression stiffen. ¡°The scout couldn¡¯t tell, but he is sure the reason behind the disturbance is not something as normal as the emergence of a new leader,¡± she replied. Everyone¡¯s expressions turned serious, hearing that, but I could also see some faint excitement in the eyes of my sister and ckwell. The extreme magic regions expand and shrink. It is not rare, but notmon either, but when these things happen, they rile the monsters and also present opportunities to people who are daring enough to get them. We were talking when Major Jarvis came with the old man, who was present with ckwell when the Count met with him at in. ¡°Adviser,¡± greeted Major Jarvis, with a little more respect than usual, before turning to Valentina. ¡°Thank you foring Mage Valentine. A Geomancer like you will be immensely helpful against the monsters,¡± he said. ¡°I am Mage Major. Though I would be more than happy if I reach Level 30 after this battle, then you can definitely call me Geomancer,¡± she said, bringing a smile to his face. Specializations didn¡¯t consolidate before Level 30. So, they could only be called by specialized archetypes after reaching level 30, which is especially hard for the mages. Experience and battles are not enough; they also need to have knowledge of the field they are specializing in. It was why, despite fighting hundreds of battles, many mages were never able to cross that threshold in their life. Major Jarvis took Valentina; he needed her help before the monsters arrived. We have already made the preparations for the monsters. There are traps and trenches, sharp wooden spikes that would even bear the holes in the tough hide of the monsters. Aside from that, there is another surprise, which is our biggest weapon against the monsters. It is best to be used in a space like a valley, where monsters will be in big numbers, with a little freedom. Such conditions are bad for us too, but the disadvantages are worth it, seeing our strategy. ¡°Mister Silver, there is a message from L,¡± informed Z, and there is something in her expression. ¡°She reached the Baron Homer¡¯s castle, right?¡± I asked. It is the only way she could send a message. I had already sent the message to Homer, and he promised me her safety. So, there shouldn¡¯t be any problem. ¡°Yes, she did, but on the way a few minutes after we left, Fang escaped from her arms,¡± she replied. ¡°He escaped?¡± I asked back, not believing what I heard right, to that she nodded. It was the first time he had done something like this. He never escapes, he might wriggle in the arms of people he doesn¡¯t like, but never escapes. ¡°They tried finding him, but he disappeared,¡± she added. He had chosen the worst time to escape. Not only because I couldn¡¯t go searching for him right now, but also because the monster horde wasing and if any monster came across him, they might attack him. ¡°Inform all the teams; give them his description and ask them to capture him, if they see him,¡± I said, this is all I could do. ¡°Half an hour; the horde is half an hour away,¡± the loud voice informed the army. Everyone had already gathered in their respective ces, including me, who was in the middle. My sister, Baron Harrods, ric, Stone, and a few others are at the front, while ckwell and Valentina are on the hills. I only have Jon and Z for my protection. I wish Shaun had been here, but he was with Ina and Andrea, along with Hugo. Stena is in a city, while Eli is in Castle Radcliff. Time passed, and I got updated on the horde''s progress. They areing toward us; they get attracted to ces where people are, and we are also burning a few things that attract the monsters. ¡°Ten minutes,¡± informed the guard. I was looking ahead when I heard a smallmotion behind me and a few secondster, a group of guards came with one of them, holding a small wriggling monster in his arms. ¡°It is a good thing, you have notified us Adviser or some of the people unfamiliar with him might have shot him,¡± he said and handed me Fang. ¡°Thank you, Captain Oliver,¡± I said to the man. He nodded and walked back to his position while I turned to the little monster in my arms, who was looking at me with puppy eyes. ¡°You have no idea how much trouble you are,¡± I said to him. It is a good thing; the captain handed him to me. As there is no ce safe here. I couldn¡¯t just leash him to the tree or put him in the box, which would definitely get him killed by the monsters. He is not safe with me too, but it is still the safest ce for him on the battlefield. ¡°You will listen to me now,¡± I said and touched his head with my fingers and closed my eyes before activating the Command Projection. A few secondster, I opened my eyes and ced him down where he stood with alertness. Fang is a puppy-sized dwarf monster. He had not been trained to fight, nor I wanted him to be. I have been training him as apanion. I hope I will be able to protect him. I had asked him to stay around me and avoid any monsters. He might be able to do it, he is much faster than he looks. If he wasn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to get away from the guards, chasing him. Cry! A few minutes passed, and I heard the first cry of a monster. It came from a red bird, which is bigger than me. It is not alone, behind it is a whole group. Instantly, the whole army bes alert, ready to attack the monsters atmand. Visit for Advanced Chapters (10). Chapter 206: Battling The Horde I Chapter 206: Battling The Horde I Thud Thud Thud A few seconds after the birds made their appearance; I began to hear the faint shaking under my feet, which started to get louder by the second. Everybody turned serious and gripped their weapons tightly. Even Fang¡¯s ears became taunted, but he remained in the position I had asked him to. More and more monsters gathered in the sky, but they didn¡¯t attack. They just circled at a distance, away from the range of most attacks. Some of our people and tools could target them, but didn¡¯t. They are waiting for the right time. Seconds turned into minutes, and now the earth beneath our feet had started shaking wildly like an earthquake, and the sound we were hearing felt like that of the ringing of a thousand drums. It is so scary enough that every part of my body is asking me to throw my sword and run away. It took me a few seconds before I was able to control myself. Unlike me, all the people beside me had enough experience to not feel overwhelmed by such emotions. Especially Z and Jon. They had to make a journey around the extreme magic region to get out of Mayhurst Ind. A few seconds passed and I finally got the glimpse of the monster horde, and it shook to my heart that I unconsciously took a step back. ¡°They came,¡± said Jon, looking at the monster horde, which filled the small valley within a second. Their numbers seem endless, continuously filling the valley without an end. In a few seconds, they got closer, and I could see them more clearly. In the tide, I could see monsters of all sizes and shapes. Having Different colors and powers. The majority of them bear the likeness to the animals, like elephants, wolves, lions, hogs, and many others, but some lookedpletely different. Though, I will be wise to remember that, these are not animals, but monsters. They will easily tear through us if we give them the chance. Roar Cry Roar! Most of them belong to a species that I couldn¡¯t name, and they areing at us with roars and cries that begin to shake the hearts of people like me. The birds that were circling the skies, at a distance away, let out loud cries and began toe toward us like theirnd kin. Finally, the horde reached the ce we wanted. The first line of monsters begins to fall into the ground, to the deep pits. Lined with a bed of spikes. Where those sharp wooden spikes pierced their hides and killed them painfully. After the meeting with the nobles, sixteen days ago, I had gone to meet Ignatius, where we decided on this spot and started to make the preparations the same day. We took help from the constructionpanies and called the trap masters to create these traps. It took a considerable money, and we had to pay half of the bill. Thankfully, the baronies contributed a lot. The money we have spent is worth it. Seeing how monsters are falling to their death. These pits are huge and deep and within a second, hundreds of monsters fell in them and died a horrible death, but it was not enough to make the monsters stop. Roar Cry Roar! The pits didn¡¯t stop them and instead enraged them even further. The monsters stomped through the bodies of their deadrades and moved toward us with even greater fury. Unfortunately for them, the pits are not the only thing we have. We have something more; something truly destructive. Boom Boom Boom As the monsters crossed another line, our real weapons started their attacks. Fifty-seven cannons from the hills shot the cannonballs at once, with a defeating bang. It was loud and filled with the power that even monsters seemed to have slowed down hearing them. Even they could tell something destructiveing at them. The cannonballs struck them with great velocity, which crushed their bones, and some cannonballs just tore through them before exploding into colorful death. The cannons of this world differ from the earth. Here, they didn¡¯t use the gunpowder. Instead, they use the energy crystals, with an alchemicalpound. It creates a powerful st; that could even explode through the thick hide of the monsters. The monsters got furious at seeing the barrage of cannon balls raining down on them. ROAR! Suddenly, a loud came out from the middle of the horde. It cut through all the sounds of monsters and cannons. It is from the leader. Immediately, the monsters came faster toward us with greater fury and also began to move toward the cannons inrge numbers. The birds, which were circling high in the sky, finally attacked. Arge number of them dived down toward us, while the wind des, lightning bolts, and other elemental attacks came down from above. As the birds moved, we also acted; our archers on the hills pulled up their bows and started shooting the arrows. This is not all. The twelve ballistas revealed themselves and began to shoot the monsters high in the sky, that are attacking us with the elemental attacks. At the same time, the special archer squad of ckwell begins to target the monsters with those big crossbows. More than half of the cannons came from ckwell. All ballistas belong to him and also this squad of monster-hunting archers. He only has a squad of them, and he had brought them here from the amberhold. The arrows and ballistas begin to hit the monsters, while their attacks are being defended by our mages. The monsters began to fall from the sky and even then; it didn¡¯t stop their attack. They keep attacking, with a few of them avoiding the arrows anding to attack the archers. The archers are not standing alone. They are surrounded by a group of men, who will protect them from any monster attack. I looked at the archers on the hills for a few seconds, before focusing on the monster hordeing toward us. There is now only three hundred meters of distance had remained between us. I knew that because archers and mages standing between us had begun their attack on the monsters. Roar Roar Roar! The monsters are no weakling, and they roared and began tounch the attack on their own. There are less than 5% of the elemental monsters there, but seeing their numbers are in thousands. They have more monsters, casting elemental attacks than we have mages. They might have numbers and power, but we are intelligent, and we are using it to close the gap of power between us and monsters. Hope we are sessful in defeating them. As they came closer, a barrage of spells flew at them, from icences to fireballs to wind des. We threw everything we had at them. However, the spells that affected them most were earth and water elemental ones. They were being cast by Valentina, Z, and other people, and they slowed the powerful momentum of the monsters. They reduced their speed by creating earth shields, mud fields, and water spells like hydro bursts and water walls. Not to mention; they are also using killer spells like Earth Spikes and Water Binds to kill the monsters. The range spells and arrows killed a lot of monsters, but they finally reached us, and it was time for us to fight a bloody battle with them. I gripped my sword tightly as I watched the monsters crashing against the first line. Despite being reinforced by the spells; the monsters pushed them back, before breaching the line. We begin killing the monsters with our weapons, but monsters are also killing us. I saw a big lion monster, tearing the head off of the person, while Ultol, a glitter-eyed hyena, tore the neck of another soldier. These monsters are powerful and vicious. We have to kill them as soon as possible or it will be us that will be wiped out by them. Monsters wiped out cities in a matter of hours. With their power and strong bodies, it is not much of a difficult thing for them. Here, there are a sufficient number of monsters to do that. So, we must finish them as quickly as possible. Seconds passed before finally, the monsters came in front of us, and their number was greater than I had imagined. I shook seeing them and the fear in my heart was much deeper than just a reaction to seeing therge number of monsters at a close distance. The fear is from deep within my heart. It didn¡¯t belong to me, but to the old Remus who had been killed by the monster. Old Remus loved to fight monsters. He killed many, till was killed by one. Now, I am feeling that fear and fury he had left behind. I took a deep breath and controlled my emotions. If I let those emotions get the better of me; I will die. I need to be inplete control of myself and not let those emotions control me. Hun! A momentter, a monster appeared in directly front of me and made a weird noise between clicking and whistling. It looked at me for a fraction of a second before leaping at me at a very fast speed. It is a Lemur monster, with red-fur and grey strips. It is twice the size of the normal Lemur and has extra-long ws, which it is going to use to tear my neck off. I wanted to run away from the monster; use the skill and dodge as fast as I could, but I didn¡¯t and instead remained on my spot. I could feel the joy on the monster''s face, seeing me frozen in my ce. Thinking, the victory is already in its ws. My heart is thinking the same. The monster didn¡¯t even take a second to reach in front of me and attacked. Seeing that, I didn¡¯t waste any time and took a step back and then a sharp left with Rapid Legs and swung my sword hard with Swift de. The monster got rmed seeing that, and it acted fast, but I was faster. Pachack! My sword reached it in an instant, with enchantments zing on its de, before touching its neck and cutting it smoothly like butter. A momentter, the de came out cleanly, killing the monster. Hun! I didn¡¯t get even a moment to celebrate the victory before I swung back my sword at another Lemur monstering from behind. ng! Quick Parry, I activated the skill a moment before my sword shed against its ws, and deflected the attack, before attacking it, swiftly. Pachack! It tried to defend against the attack but saw my sword cut through its neck, as the enchantment on its de red again. ¡®It worked,¡¯ I muttered. I had doubts whether the Quick Parry would work against the monster¡¯s attack. I had asked Major Jarvis and even Baron Harrods, and both of them said, it should work. It did, and there was not the slightest resistance being used against the monster. It seemed like I could use it to parry any attack and it would work, as long as I used it against the attack. It made me relieved. This skill, going to be very useful in helping me survive this battle. Visit and read up to 10 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 207: Battling The Horde II Chapter 207: Battling The Horde II Bam! The huge blue gori swung its fiery fist, which would have sted me to the smithereens, but instead, its fist crashed against me. It had crashed against the watery wall that suddenly materialized in front of it. At the same time, the watery tentacles came down from the ground and bound it. Sizzling under the fire that spread from its first to vaporize it. Though, before it could evaporate those water binds; an enchanted spear came from behind and pierced through his chest. The blue gori monster died, but no one celebrated. There were too many such monsters everywhere to have even a second to celebrate. Hun! The gori monster had just died; when I saw aireni, a wind-wed puma, with pure white fur attacked me. It leaped at me. If it seeded, the monster would make me fall with its weight and tear my head off with its sharp teeth, and pierce those sharp ws into my heart. I reacted instantly and attacked it with Swift de and Weighted Strike. It saw the swording and changed its position to the right, stepping on air as if it was solid beforeing at me even faster speed. I had been expecting it and moved my sword right toward it, faster than before. Aireni, is a wind elemental monster; it could use the wind elemental in its ws to step into the air. It makes it very hard for enemies to strike when they can step into the air. Thankfully, it couldn¡¯t do it for more than one or two times at each leap at its current grade or it would be a terrifying monster. ng! My sword moved to strike its head, but it swiftly blocked it with its ws. The enchantments red and the de, which could cut through the metals, stopped by the big w. I took a step back to manage the shock and create a distance, but it didn¡¯t give me a chance, and attacked again. I reacted instantly, by attacking it, despite my hand hurting. The w held an impressive power. If my stats hadn¡¯t been high, I would have dislocated my shoulder. I am d that I had leveled up a week and a half ago in my main ss. I used the attribute point to take my vitality to ten. It had been a wise choice. If I had used it on the mental attributes like I had wanted to, I would have regretted it a lot. ng! Once again, I stopped its attack with my sword. Growl! Itnded on the ground and growled at me. It had also cast a nce at Fang, at my feet, before focusing on me again. It leaped at me once again, and this time, much faster, with its ws glowing with power. ng I swing my sword and stop the attack with Quick Parry. It is a good thing; I have used the skill because the shock is more powerful and without it, I would have dislocated my shoulder or worse, broken the bones. The skill is not the only one that helped me with it. It is also the footwork that helped me distribute the shock quickly. ng ng! It attacked again, and I defended before attacking, which it had stopped with its ws. The enchanted de barely seemed to have any effect on it, except for making it angrier. A few more seconds passed and not it could do anything to me, nor I was able to do anything to it. I couldn¡¯t touch it while in the air, where one was most defenseless. It would always defend, even when it was falling. It is so agile and fast, that nothing seems to be working against it, but I have to find a way. Till now, I have been lucky, that no other monster has attacked me, but I won''t be forever, and I have to finish it before that, or I won¡¯t be able to deal with the other monster while engaging with it. It will not let it happen. ¡°Is that all you got, kitty? I thought you were one powerful monster, but you couldn¡¯t even touch me,¡± I taunted and attacked the monster. Growl! It growled. It might not be able to understand me, but it seemed to understand the emotions, seeing how it had be angry. ng! It stopped my attack, with its ws before opening my mouth and releasing the wind bullet. Fuck! I cursed immediately, seeing that as the fear filled my heart. I read only Grade 2 monsters aireni couldunch the air bullets, but it seemed like the information I had read was notplete or this one little special. I don¡¯t care for what it is; the most important thing is that I had to dodge the attack. That is what I am doing, using every bit of speed the Rapid Legs give me and even it didn¡¯t seem to be enough, seeing how fast that wind bullet ising at me. Rip! The air bullet hit me, piercing through the flesh of my arm, and creating a small hole just above the bone. If it had been struck a few centimeters below, the armguard would have been defended against it and a centimeter left and it would have gone for my heart. Even though I am wearing a chest te, nothing can be said when ites to sharp elemental attacks like this. Many times, people take risks, thinking their defensive tools will help them, but they overestimate the defenses and end up losing their lives. I don¡¯t want to be one of those people. ¡®It had nearly killed me,¡¯ I thought, as I moved my sword toward the monstering at me. It had not justunched the air bullet at me, but also came at me after. If its first attack didn¡¯t finish me; it wanted to do it with a second. ng! Thankfully, my sword reached it in time and was able to stop it. I was trying for its legs, but the monster was too fast. It had stopped my sword with that powerful w. Sending me back, before attacking me again. ng ng ng Time passed as I attacked and defended. I tried to take out its legs and head countless times, but the monster was too fast. It would always stop my attack. ¡®I have to do something, or it will be toote,¡¯ I thought and searched for options, and it didn¡¯t take long for me to think of one. It is my skill. The first I got in thebat ss. I used it quite many times in the past, but rarely used it recently as most of my opponents would counter it, but it could work against this monster, like it had against those dumb zombies. With the mind made, I activated Consecutive Strikes, along with Swift de and Weighted Strike. These three skills put pressure on me, but I bore it and attacked the monster. ng ng ng! It defended and attacked again, and I countered it without losing the rhythm of the skill and attacked again. Unlike the people who could recognize the skill and move to break it. The monster could only sense the danger with its instincts and nothing else. I attacked and defended without breaking the rhythm of the skill and slowly it got stronger and stronger, before I knew it, I had used it twenty-four times, taking its power, higher and higher. The monster senses something wrong, seeing the way it is growling, but it can¡¯t tell what is wrong. I continued with the attack without breaking the rhythm, which is harder than it looks, and I had to take the risks. Finally, I used it thirty-sixth times and moved to thirty-seven, where the power of the attack increased further. ng! This time, the monster was barely able to stop my sword on time. If it had been even a fractionte, I would have cut the bastard''s legs. Growl! It shook the monster, and it growled at me angrily, before releasing the wind bullet at me and leaped for my head. This time, I didn¡¯t move to dodge the attack, but I couldn¡¯t. The bullet is too close. The monster had learned from itsst mistake andunched the bullet from a close distance I couldn¡¯t dodge. Since I couldn¡¯t dodge the bullet; I swung my sword at it, harnessing every bit of strength my body and skills could give me. My sword moved faster than it had ever been and reached the bullet in an instant. ng! My de shed against the bullet, and sparks flew. Rip! I felt the strain on my arm due to the sheer momentum the bullet had before the enchantment of my sword red to its peak and started to cut through the bullet. A momentter, my sword cut through the bullet, with two ends moving past me from both directions, with much less speed and power, while my sword continued toward the monster. It is shocked and rmed seeing my swording for its head. It had learned from thest time. It hadunched the wind bullet from an even closer distance and targeted my head. It is a sound strategy for its small brain, but even it didn¡¯t think I would take on its bullet. Now, my sword was moving very fast toward its head, and to survive it, it was trying to leap higher into the air. It had no other choice. If it came to me, to bite my head, I would decapitate it. This way, way, it wants to save its head from my sword and block my sword through the ws of its hind legs. Unfortunately, they won¡¯t be able to stop my sword. They are slow. It had made a mistake from the beginning and now leaping into the air. It had given me a clear way toward its stomach. I finally got the opportunity, and I will be damned. If I missed this. Soon, my sword reached it and its hind legs, which it had been counting on to stop my sword, had yet to reach me, like I had been expected. I could see the terror in the monsters¡¯ eyes. As it tried to step into the air again in its panic, slowing its momentum further. People aren¡¯t the only one¡¯s panic and make mistake after mistake; monsters are also the same. Hun! Finally, my sword reached its belly, and I felt the air resistance appear, but it was far weaker than what the bullet had and my sword tore through it, before touching its skin. My sword began to cut through its skin, slowly stopping only when it reached its bone and even then, it didn¡¯t stop for long and started to cut through it. Monster bones are tough as metal and even tougher than it, but my sword has sharpness, enchantment, and a great power behind it. Pachack! So, it cut through its bones one by one, before finallying out from the other side. Diving the monster into two pieces. Visit and read up to 10 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 208: Purple Claws Chapter 208: Purple ws Thud! The two parts of aireni¡¯s body fell to the ground. Sshing some of the gore on me. I wanted to use Get Ready to clean it up, but I didn¡¯t. Every skill is important, and I shouldn¡¯t use it unless it is extremely necessary. I pushed that thought and took out the healing potion swiftly from my pocket and poured it, on the wound, before taking a small sip. Thankfully, the wind bullet had caused only a small wound. The bullet was thin, like a thick needle; the hole it had left behind had stopped bleeding in a couple of seconds. If it had a Grade 2 aireni¡¯s wind bullet; I could forget using my hand or might not have the hand. ROAR! I was putting on the potion bottle in my pocket when heard the loud roar that pierced through all the noise that battle was making. The roar of the leader. My heart tightened hearing it. It is definitely amand and I really hope it isn¡¯t something bad. For a few seconds, there was nothing, before I started to hear the gaggle of faint squeaking noises, which started to get louder rapidly. I didn¡¯t get a good feeling and when I saw the things making the noise, fear couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. Ilbrs. The green-eyed rats and there are hundreds and maybe thousands of them and they wereing, attacking anything and everyone. That was in their way. Each one of these rats is as long as my arms and has dark brown fur and long sharp teeth and ws. That could tear through the bones. Individually, they are not hard to deal with, but in groups, they are terror. A group of them could eat a man in less than a minute and it is why people aren¡¯t letting them form the group. They are attacking every rat; theye across, but the rats are not the only monsters we are dealing with. There are other monsters as well. The rat monsters took advantage of that. Ahhhhh¡­ A group of rats surrounded a man and covered him as he fell to the ground. His mournful screams rang for seconds, but cut abruptly. No one was able to help the man before he died horribly at the hands of the monsters. A few secondster, rats left than ce, leaving nothing other than torn clothes and metals. The rats ate everything from hair to nails, leaving nothing of his behind. They are really a terror and soon that terror will be on me. Squeak Squeak It didn¡¯t take long before two rats appeared in front of me. They looked at me for a moment, beforeing at me from the left and the right. They were fast, and I wanted to run at them to finish them as quickly as possible, but I didn¡¯t and instead, I stayed on my spot, till they were directly in front of me. That¡¯s when I acted and moved at the highest, speed that Rapid Legs could give me before appearing behind the rat monster on the left and attacking it with Swift de. Pachack! The monster sensed my attack and tried to dodge it, but my sword was fast and able to decapitate it before it could dodge the attack. Hun! I moved toward the second rat and swung my sword at it when I noticed something. I saw two more ratsing, and they were moving toward Fang. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed loudly, with fear and panic rising in my heart. Fang is scared, seeing how he took a slow step back. Anyone would be scared. Hell, I am scared thinking about what they will do to him. I couldn¡¯t do anything to help him, as I was already doing it. I am moving toward him, while my sword moves toward the rat in front of me. I hoped Fang would use that agility and dodge those rats; it wouldn''t take me more than three seconds to reach him. Pachac! My sword cut the rat into two and moved toward the two rats who were on Nero. They attacked him, and he dodged them by leaping high in the air. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face. He may be small, but he is fast and agile. If he ran at full speed, I couldn¡¯t catch him, even with the full power of skill. Hun! I was watching him in relief when he did something shocking. Instead of moving away, he performed a maneuver in the air. That helped him dive back toward the rats. ¡°What are you doing?¡± I shouted. ¡®What is happening to him?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help asking myself. First, he ran away from L, which he never did, and now he dived back into rats instead of escaping. Those bloody rats will tear his cut little body apart, and they are ready to do that. Seeing how both rats stood up their legs, with their sharp ws shining. Soon, there were only a few centimeters of distance between them and him. It would take me another second to reach him before I could attack those rats bastards. Hun! Fang had reached rats, and they attacked him. When something shocking happened; something that I had not expected in my wildest dreams. Two purple energy ws came from his cute front ws. These energy ws are long, longer than his tiny legs, and moved them at the rat on the right. Pachack! The purple ws met the ws of a rat on the right and cut through them like butter, before cutting through the whole rat. He killed the rat while, avoiding the attack from a rat on the left. After he killed the right rat monster, he leaped at the rat on the left. Puch! A secondter, he had those ws into the head of the second rat. ¡°My god,¡± It is the only word I could speak. This tiny puppy-shaped dwarf wolf had killed the two rats, within a second. The way he did it; it didn¡¯t seem like it was his first time doing something like this. It seemed like, I had misunderstood, when he took a step back earlier. He was not scared; he was just preparing to kill the rats. He had also never shown those purple energy ws or any sign that he could use the magical attacks. Or he could even fight. Nobody would think he could fight, seeing he looked like a puppy. I wanted to congratte him, but before I could say any words, the new guests had appeared. Inbur or Iron Fur Bear. It is a gray bear monster, bigger than me, with metal fur. Every hair on its body is metallic, and they are sharp as the needles. This bear could fight on two legs and loved to take its prey in embrace. It then pierces those metal needles into them, which it could straighten at will. It is why this monster is also called a huggy bear. Its hide is defensive, making normal weapons have a difficult time breaching it. It had note alone. There are four rats, who came with him. Growl! ¡°Fang, handle the rats,¡± I said to him and moved to dodge the attack from the Bear monster. I could see the rats were alsoing toward me, but I hoped Fang would handle them. I have no other choice. I couldn¡¯t deal with the rats while dealing with enemies like this iron fur bear. If Fang hadn¡¯t shown me what he could do, I would have run toward the group of guards. I know which battle to fight and when I should take help. Fighting a powerful monster like it is a risk, but it is better than running toward the guards. They are busy dealing with a bigger threat than I am facing. I dodged its w and moved, attacking the bear at the same time. The purple energy ws appeared on Fang''s front legs, and he attacked the rats. ng! The bear had stopped my sword with his ws, shaking me from up to down and forcing me to take the steps back. I was doing that when it attacked me again. I dodged the attack by inches, before attacking, and the bear once again moved its ws to defend. The bear monster is faster than it looked and has quick limbs that it was able to defend against my attack, before attacking me with those huge ws. While I was unable to make any progress, Fang had killed the first rat and now the remaining rat had grouped together on him. ng! It once again stopped my attack and sent me back. ¡®If I keep doing that, my hand won¡¯t be able to survive; I have to finish it quickly.¡¯ I thought, feeling the pain in my hand. In a moment, I made the decision, and instead of dodging its w; I swung my sword toward it, with Swift de, Weighted Strike, and also added the Consecutive Strikes and Quick Parry. I felt the pain, but I bore in with all these skills, but I bore and continued with my attack. ng! My sword shed against its w and stopped it, and, to my surprise, I felt less pain than I had earlier. I wanted to use this as a counter with the help of Quick Parry, but the bear didn¡¯t let me do that. So, I took back my sword and attacked it again. Since I started to use the Consecutive Strikes. I need to get as much as attacks while maintaining the rhythm as possible; it will make my attacks stronger and faster, helping me deal with it. ng ng ng My sword shed against it, in offense and defense, without breaking the rhythm. ¡®This monster is really something,¡¯ I thought. It had been over thirty-eight attacks and defenses, but the bear was unharmed. I will have to make my attacks even stronger and faster; I just hope my hand will be with me, till the end. The stronger power and speed had their benefits, but it had side effects as well. Especially when fighting against an enemy as powerful as this one. Growl! It growled angrily and attacked once again; I swung my sword to defend, before attacking it. Hun! I was fighting it when I saw Fang finished dealing with the four rats and the fifth one that cameter, and now it moved again. I was confused at first, but a secondter my eyes widened, seeing him leaping at the bear from behind. ¡°No!¡± I shouted. The rats are dangerous, but only in groups. This bear, on the other hand, is dangerous on its own. It is a very powerful monster; Fang will be squished by it. Even if it didn¡¯t attack Fang with a w; those sharp hairs on his body would be enough to turn him into the porcupine. The bear sensed him instantly and turned, before moving its one w at him, while moving the other w toward my sword, which was aiming for his head. If the w hit Fang; it would tear him into pieces, and I would be powerless to stop it. I am trying, using every ounce of my strength, to move my sword faster, but it is Nero who will reach the w of the bear first. In one of these movements, I really wish I would have been a mage. The mages have a lot more freedompared to the warriors and are a lot more powerful. Nero reached the w, and the bear¡¯s w moved to slice him. I nearly closed my eyes when I saw Nero do something incredible again. He maneuvered in the air, around the w. Dodging it by less than a centimeter. It was incredible, and he had done it, without using any magical power. Only his body and he were very graceful. He avoided the bear''s w, but the bear''s w couldn¡¯t avoid his ws; those long purple energy ws appeared once again and touched its iron arm; on which all the iron hairs stood up like spikes. Rip! They didn¡¯t seem to affect his purple ws, as they cut through them before cutting the limb. GROWL! The Bear¡¯s w fell down, making it growl loudly in pain. However, it also provided me with a great opportunity. As Fang sliced the w; my sword reached the bear''s other w. As it did, I flicked my wrist a little, making my sword avoid the w. Though at much less grace, than Fang did. I had tried tens of times to do this, but never seeded, but now, I did. Thanks to the bear being distracted by pain. It didn¡¯t take Bear to realize what happened, and it moved its head toward me and an rm shed in its eyes as my sword had reached its head. It tried to move its head back and retreat, but it was already toote. Pachack! My sword touched its neck before cutting through it. There was resistance, but with enchantments on the de ring and the power of Consecutive Strikes, I was able to decapitate it cleanly. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 209: Horde Leader Chapter 209: Horde Leader Le ¡°Found it,¡± said August. Immediately, my expression changed. Not only me, but also of everyone who had heard it. It had been nearly two hours since the battle had begun, and I had been searching for it, using every sensory spell I had, but the bastard had evaded me. I am talking about the horde leader; the monster who is controlling it all. Once it got killed, the whole horde would disperse. ¡®Frost Whips,¡¯ I activated the spell, and twelve sharp frost whips came out around me. Killing half of the surrounding monsters. Only the strongest were able to dodge on time. I hadn¡¯t used this spell till now and for a good reason. The mana expenditure of the spell. I used this opportunity to move toward August, killing any monster,ing into my way with Frost Daggers and Frost Spears, and defending the attacks with the Frost Shields and Ice Walls. Puch Pachak Bang! Finally, I reached August, who was dealing with monsters of his own and I started helping him. A minute and a halfter, Major Jarvis appeared, and half a minute after that, Mage Alva and Thaddeus Stone. ¡°Legs go,¡± said August as we all reached him. We nodded and moved, wasting no time. ¡®We are leaving,¡¯ I sent the message to all and could a momentter, within a few seconds, our offense intensified against the monsters. We had already nned how we would deal with the horde leader. The first step is finding the leader. The second is surrounding it, and the third is killing. Our group is formed for that. The five of us are not the strongest. Baron Harrods and Ignatius with his artifact are the strongest among us, but five of us have suitable abilities. We were also chosen because others are integral in dealing with monsters. If someone like Ignatius, who is leading the attack against avian monsters, or Baron Harrods, who is dealing with Grade 3 Monster, joined us. It will affect the battle adversely; they need to stay there, to keep the monsters at bay. Among the five of us, Mage Alva had her defensive spells. Major Jarvis was a soldier of experience and war skills. Thaddeus Stone is Remus¡¯s man, a giant blood with impable battle skills. I have seen him against bandits. He was amazing. Looking at him, one would think, he is all brawn, but he is an experienced warrior and Baron Harrods himself suggested that he would join the horde leader hunting group. There is then me. I don¡¯t like to tote my horn, but I am a good Spell Sword, with a considerable number of defensive spells in my arsenal and experience to use them. Thest one is August. He is Ignatius¡¯s man. A friend he had made during his travels. I don¡¯t know what he is. While he is fighting with the spear and seems quite experienced in it. It doesn¡¯t feel like he is a spear. It is why Major Jarvis and I wanted Baron Harrods to lead the hunting group, despite the cost, but Ignatius said August would be a better choice than Baron Harrods. I am having a hard time believing in it. Seeing he is even weaker than Major Jarvis. The only thing that kept me from objecting was Ignatius¡¯s confidence in him. Pachac Puch Bang! We are moving fast, killing everything that came in our path. It is important that we reach the horde leader before it discovers us. It would be troublesome if it discovered us before that. We have taken an important gamble in choosing to go after the leader. With us leaving, the pressure on the others had increased tremendously and many people would die, but if we didn¡¯t kill the horde leader. The entire army would be ughtered by the monsters. They have now started dealing with the enemies against their full power, using everything they have. It means they will tire quickly. We need to finish the job before that happens and that won¡¯t be easy, given the sheer number of monsters. It turned out our scouts had been a little strong in estimating the number of the monsters. If Captain Jorah''s skill is to be believed; there are around six thousand monsters that have attacked us. If we knew the monsters had such numbers; few people would have dared to fight against them. It would have been especially bad for me and Baron Harrods. Our territories would have been the first targeted by them. I don¡¯t think even a single brick would have survived their assault, much less the people in the keep. It is why we need to kill the horde leader and defeat the horde. There is no other choice because they will not leave after they are done with us. They will target the baronies, with mine being first. ROAR! Four and a half minutes passed, and the horde leader roared, just when we were about to approach it, and ran away. ¡°It discovered us. Don¡¯t hold back, used everything you have,¡± said August. Just as he said that, more than half of the monsters fighting around us, turned and attacked us. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed loudly, without caring for my station. What I had feared had happened; the horde leader had discovered us before we reached it. The memories of Nyker Ind came back in front of me. There I had fought another horde a few years ago and my group was unlucky to be close to the leader when the hunting group approached it. More than half of my group had perished in that battle. I had to join the hunting group to kill one of the leaders. It was during that battle; that ric and I had crossed the second capstone. Reaching Level 20. Frost Mist. Ice Bullets. I cast two spells simultaneously. One clouded their vision while numbing their movements, and the other pierced through their bodies. The Ice Bullets are not a strong spell, but I could use it inrge numbers. It is especially effective at a close range and takes less than half of the manapared to Frost Daggers. We moved fast toward the leader. I started to burn more mana than I liked to, but there was no choice. There are too many monsters attacking us, not to mention the bastard leader has also started to move around, seeing we are on him. Thankfully, we have not lost it. August seemed to have tracking skills, which let him never lose the monster''s position. ROAR! Over ten minutes have passed since we are chasing the bastards and we have yet to catch them. Many times, we have got closer to it, but it would always run away. It is intentionally doing that. I could see it in its eyes. It is making us running run around it, whilemanding its monsters to fight more frenziedly. It is extremely challenging for us to fight through the monsters, but we have learned about each other''s abilities and used our spells and skills more in sync to lessen the pressure. It also helps that now and then. We would receive help from mages and archers on the hill. Though the instances are few; they are busy dealing with their load of monsters, who have be more frenzied at themand of their leader. Bam Bam Bam! I had just dealt with a monster when a group of de snakes flew toward me. I activated the Ice Wall, making them crash against it. Aurican Needles. I activated another of my spells and a barrage of thin needles went toward the de snakes, piercing their skin and killing them. Hun! I had just killed the group of de Snakes when I saw another monstering at me. A Fire Fur Wolf jumped from behind the dead de snakes and came at me with those fiery ws. If those ws hit me; they will tear me apart. The Fire Fur Wolf is as big as me and that fire is powerful enough to melt my ice in seconds. It is not an opponent I would dare to underestimate, but it had underestimated me by attacking like this. Minor Haste. Spring Steps. I activated the Minor Haste spell and Spring Steps skill. Thebination of these two spells and skills gave me a speed that was faster than the leaping monster. Pure Mage sses couldn¡¯t have skills. It is a restriction on them, but I am not a pure mage. I am Spell de; a mage and a warrior, which let me have the benefit of both. However, it is also harder to level up with greater restrictions. They are worth it with the power it gives me. I appeared to the left of the monster and brought down my sword hard. I didn¡¯t even use the skill. Pachac! The monster sensed my attack, and fire red under its ws as it tried to retreat in panic, but I was too close. It would have been better for the monster if it hade at me instead of retreating. Then it would be me, who would be retreating. Mutual destruction isn¡¯t the thing I want. Pachack! My sword reached his neck and cut through it smoothly, dispute the burst fireing out to stop the momentum of my attack. It might have affected amon enchanted weapon, but it could forget about affecting my sword. It is a weapon, the closest artifact, and the family had paid a very high price to get it. I had killed it when two more monsters attacked me. I didn¡¯t activate a shield or spells and just waited for them, before attacking them with my sword. I wouldn¡¯t usually take such risks, but I want to conserve my mana as much as possible. A few more minutes passed, and we continued to chase the monster around the battlefield. I even caught a glimpse of my brother fighting, and I have to say he was just as good against the monsters as he had been against the bandits. I am still quite surprised that he came here. In the past two weeks, we had held many meetings, and I had asked whether he would join the battle if the monster attacked, and his answer had always been a no. Now, he is fighting. A few more minutes passed, and we were still chasing the monster. I begin to wonder whether we would be able to catch the monster before these monsters ughter us all. ¡°I got it! We have only five seconds to reach it,¡± shouted Mr. August suddenly, and I saw him suddenly increase his speed. Seeing that, I increased my speed to match his, while once again thinking about his ss. He is Hunter? It could be his ss, seeing he was able to find the monster in thousands of them and able to track it for minutes, before using some sort of containment/hold-type skill on it. ROAR! My thoughts were interrupted by the monster¡¯s roar; it was looking at us angrily. It didn¡¯t seem like a horde leader like August containing in limited space. He seemed to have used skills like Hunters Circle that keep the prey locked in a limited area. Monsters came at us, but we tore them apart as we moved toward their leader at our greatest speed. Cry! Every monster around us trying to stop, including the avian. I could hear the loud cry of the Grade 3 monster from the sky, but Ignatius kept it upied. There are not only arge number of monsters, but there are also more powerful monsters than we had expected. Four Grades 3 monsters; with the leader being the strongest among them. It took us four seconds to reach the horde leader and used thest second to surround it. I sent the area-wide message to all for the final attack. Since we have surrounded the horde leader. All the monsters will target us, and I really hope the people will protect us while we deal with it. It is the most dangerous part of fighting against the horde. The make and break a moment. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 210: To The Centre Chapter 210: To The Centre Rip! The de Snake rips through my shoulder, giving me another cut. Pachack Pachack! Though, a momentter; it got its head cut off by Fang¡¯s ws, while I also killed another de snakeing at me, before moving my sword to defend against the attack of Ralturan, the red-eyed baboon. ng ng! I defended against its ws, before attacking it, which it defended, and attacked me again. It is faster, faster than me, while I am tired and injured. It had been hours since I had been fighting against the monsters. Their numbers are endless, there is no end to them; the moment I killed the monster, another one would appear in a few seconds. ¡®I hope they will find the leader soon,¡¯ I thought, dealing with another attack of the monster. I had seen them chasing the leader. It was fast, so much so that I could only see a blur, and powerful seeing how effortlessly it had torn through people who had tried to block its way. I hope those five will be able to deal with it or I don¡¯t know, what will happen to us and the whole Nakar baronies. ¡°Now Fang!¡± I said, and he leaped at the monster while I also attacked at the same time. He had been waiting for my order. The moment he received it; he acted. The baboon monster saw Fang with his purple wsing out and my swording toward it and decided to jump back to dodge the attacks. ¡°Hehe,¡± I grinned and moved forward toward the monster. A momentter, Fang¡¯s ws retracted, and hended on my shoulder before turning and jumping at the monster at a much faster speed. The baboon monster was surprised to see it and swiped its ws toward Fang while chattering its teeth angrily. ng! Fang didn¡¯t maneuver around the monster''s ws and instead, his purple energy ws shed against the monsters. Maneuvering would have been a death sentence for Fang; the monster is fast and agile. He would have torn Fang apart, with how fast he could move its hands. The monster was shocked as they shed; its ws had cracked, but were still capable of tearing Nero apart. That is why he used the force of the sh to jump back. The monster is angry and tries to follow Nero, but at the same moment, with its eyes widening in shock. Puch! It moved its ws to stop my sword, but the de held too much momentum to be stopped by them. It slipped through them and entered the heart of the monster. A momentter, I removed my sword from the body of the monster and looked around. In these past hours, Fang and I had learned to fight together. It is quite hard to believe howpatible we are. Usually, such a thing requires training, months and years of it, and help with few skills. It seemed like those trust exercises and fun games to tire him out had helped a lot in fostering teamwork. Nero is really powerful. Grade 0 monsters are nothing in front of him. His purple ws would tear through them. Even the defenses of Grade 1 monsters are crushed with those energy ws. Only powerful things like ws could stop his ws and he damaged even them, like he did the baboon ws. Hun! Barely seven seconds passed when I saw another monstering toward me. Bavcinh, a grey-striped hyena. It nced at Nero and stared at me, beforeing at us. I am d it is alone; I have seen a group of Bavcinh, tearing a man into pieces within seconds. ¡®We have surrounded the horde leader,¡¯ I was about to move to attack the monster when I suddenly stopped. A smile appeared on my face, not only mine, but of everyone''s. They have surrounded the monster leader. This means it is time for the final attack. I had just heard the message when I felt another skill on me. ¡®So, this is what ckwell was talking about,¡¯ I thought. ¡°Come on, Fang!¡± I said and moved toward the Hyena monster. As fast as I could, activating every skill that would help me kill the monster. I am moving toward the hunting group and will kill every monster thates my way. It is not just me, but everywhere is doing that, because now, the real battle will start. Any time now, the leader will call its monster to protect it, and it will be the responsibility of the entire army to stop it from happening. So, the group could kill the leader, with no interference. ROAAARR! I had only taken a step when I heard the roar of the monster leader. It is the loudest roar it made since the battle began. It happens in every monster horde. The moment; the leader is surrounded. It will call the whole horde for its defense. It didn¡¯t matter if it could finish those surrounding it. It will call them, as the horde leaders¡¯ job is a direct horde, and it couldn¡¯t let anything happen itself. Without it, the whole horde would copse. The monsters stopped, what they were doing and turned before running toward their leader while we moved toward our group. With every step I take, I begin to feel tens of skills on me. The soldiers have started to activate the army skills in mass. There are all types of skills, affecting strength to healing. The effects of these skills are small due to being shared with arge number, but the sheer number of them makes up for the power. The soldiers had been instructed to save on their army skills. To be used at this moment. I could feel my strength rising and my steps bing lighter. My fatigued mind reinvigorated, and I started to think clearly again. I also used this opportunity to drink, the healing and stamina potions. I felt their burn and knew I would suffer as it was not the first time I had drank the potion in the battle. I would think about the side effects if I survived this battle. ¡°Fang,¡± I said with potion bottles in my hand, and he understood. He jumped toward me after he decapitated the rat that attacked him. I caught him and fed him the potions. I also spread them over his wounds. I did the messy job, but in my current state; I couldn¡¯t do it much better. He jumped out of my arm to deal with the insect monstering at us from the left, while I moved forward to kill the monster in front of me. Monsters and we are moving toward the same ce and it has be chaotic, with both sides trying to kill each other while doing that. Monsters are dying and so are the people. Not far away from me, I saw a red stallion monster chomping the head of the soldier and a secondter got killed by Captain Oliver. The young captain is really good. A textbook fighter. What he did was amazing seeing he did it with one hand, while his other hand was hanging loose. I only looked at him for a moment, before swinging my sword at something cking at me. It was so ck that it seemed to be sucking the light surrounding it. My sword stopped the arm-length thing, only to realize it was a mantis monster. A pitch-ck mantis with glowing green gem eyes. I don¡¯t know what type of mantis monster it is, but I know, I couldn¡¯t let it touch me. Those sharp des would cut through my bones without any problem. Even Fang didn¡¯t leap at it and, instead, turned to the monster at the back. Its wings buzzed, and it tried toe at me, but I used everything I had to bring my sword back and swing it at me. ng! I stopped it, using everything I had, and needed to take a step back to absorb the shock. There is arge difference in size between me and the monster, but despite that, it is stronger than me and des that even my enchanted weapons couldn¡¯t nick. ng ng ng I begin to sh with it, which is more like defense, seeing it is trying toe at me, while I am stopping it. I fought against it calmly, matching its attack with attack, while keeping an eye on the monsters around. Thankfully, most of them moved forward, while that remained being handled by Nero. Now and then, my guards and other people also help, but they are also busy fighting loads of monsters. Suddenly, it avoided my sword and came at me with incredible speed. Seeing iting, a terror-filled my heart. I know, that if it reached my fatal spot, I would be dead, I couldn¡¯t let that happen. So, I harnessed every bit of power I could from my Rapid Legs and other skills covering me and moved. Rip! A momentter, I felt a sharp pain on my cheek; only to see the cut opening and blooding out of it. The cut is deep, and it cuts some of the bones; making me tear up. These tears are not of the pain, which is immense, but of relief; I truly hadn''t thought I would survive, but I did. Riiii! I didn¡¯t have a chance to celebrate my survival as the monster came at me again and this time. It is angry, seeing the sound it was making. ng ng ng! I was able to move my sword in time to defend against the attack, but it attacked again and again. I defended each and every move of it, observing it. Seeing its strengths and weaknesses. This monster is obviously strong, with sharp limbs powerful enough to cut through the metal and strong enough to push me back. Though it also has weakness in its body; harm it and it will be dead, but that is easier said than done. Still, it is not that hard either. I only need to understand the attack pattern of the monster and once that is done, it will be much easier to kill it. Monsters are easy that way. People consider fighting monsters more dangerous than people, but in my first battle against them. I felt it was monsters that were easier to deal with that person. The monsters are powerful and have great instincts, but even that couldn¡¯tpare to their intelligence. It is defining the quality of people; the one that makes them a much greater threat than the monsters ever could. So, I focused on understanding the monster and building a power for an attack. Understanding alone wouldn¡¯t be alone; I would need power to back it up. ¡­thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two. Iunched the forty-third counter of Consecutive Strikes against the monsters, but unlike my previous counters. I flicked my hand at thest moment and avoided the de of the mantis. It is not as easy as it looked. The speed and power of my attacks have been increasing rapidly and in the past few counters, I was able to move the monster back. So, this time, I moved my sword a little, just when it was about to sh against my sword, predicting its movement. It reacted quietly and tried to retreat, and it might have been able to do that a few seconds ago, but not now. My sword is too fast to do it now. Pachck! My sword reached it and cut through its body, dividing the monster into two vertically. I didn¡¯t wait for the body of the monster to fall down and moved forward with people around me. It took me minutes to cross those few hundred meters, but I reached the ce, and what I saw put fear in my heart. I saw thousands of monsters attacking wildly to save their leader while we were stopping them. It was a scene I would never forget in my life, and I wanted to run away as fast as possible, but I joined the people. Running is useless. The only way I could survive, any of us could survive, would be by killing the monster leader. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 211: Final Battle Chapter 211: Final Battle Le Roar! The horde Leader roared, as Major Jarvis, Stone, and August moved toward it from three directions. The monster is Leihad, Lightning Leopard. It is bigger than me and built like a bull. It waspletely white with violet spots, through which the lightning from ws would move around its body. This lightning is dangerous, especially with those huge ws. They held immense physical power and with lightning, they could tear through any defense, be it physical or magical. Three and moving toward it and it just watching, without moving. Not only at three moving to attack it, but also Mage Alva and me. Even with all my experience and power, I couldn''t help but feel scared when the monster looked me in the eye. Hun! As the three were moving, I noticed something. The sword had disappeared from the hands of August, and in its ce, a different weapon had appeared. A long blue chain, with red daggers attached on both sides. Seeing that, my eyes lit up. I was right; the sword was not his real weapon; it was these chain daggers. He looks quite natural with them. Now the question is whether he would be able to use it efficiently against the monster. Hun! I was thinking about that when the monster moved to attack. Its target is Stone. Its lightning in its ws cracked as it moved and spread into its legs, before his body. The arcs of lights begin to dance around it through the spot, making it look quite terrifying. Frost Shields. I activated the shield spells in front of Stone; Mage Alva did the same. BANG! A momentter, the monster crashed against the shields. It took less than a second for it to tear through all three of my frost shields before breaking through the two shields of Mage Alva. Her shields were stronger since she was a shield mage, but even her shields weren''t able tost more than a second. This is a Grade 3 Monster; a monster only Level 30 and above would dare to fight against. It is stronger than the other three Grade 3 monsters on the battlefield. This is not surprising, seeing it is a leader, without a strength to back it up. It wouldn''t have been able to control the horde. It reached Stone and attacked him as the lightning intensified across his body. Stone, on the other, is calm. Much calmer than I would have been if the monster had been attacking me. With eyes on the monster, he moved that huge shield into position. This is one of three enchantment shields those bandits had used us in their attack two months ago. Ignatius had loaned him for this battle. The sword is also the same, a three-enchantment weapon. It is from Remus; I had heard Gerald had sent this from the Namdar, along with the enchanted armor he is wearing, which is a level lower than sword and shield. BANNG! The ws of the monster crashed hard against the shield, sending Stone a couple of steps back while covering his shield with lightning. Thankfully, the shield had great elemental absorption qualities and Stone also seemed to have skills, that seemed to let him deal with elemental attacks. Hun! The monster was about to move to attack again when suddenly jumped back, avoiding the chained daggering at it. Only to be attacked by Major Jarvis with his spear. It reacted instantly and flicked its tail at the spear, before moving again, when the chained dagger came to it. It seemed to fear the chained daggers for some reason and avoiding it. It made me feel relieved. If it had feared nothing, I would have doubted, we could have even 1% of killing this monster. While others are attacking. I am staying in my spot, casting only defensive spells. Till now, I hadn''t moved to attack the monster. Preferring to watch it, before entering the battle in proper preparations. I didn''t like what I saw, but I got the information that I needed and now I could enter the battle. Ferin''s Golem! I activated the spell, and an icy golem formed in front of me. It is huge and looks like it is carved from a big block of ice by an amateur ice sculptor. It took a lot of mana and I wish this one spell had been enough, but unfortunately not. Clock of Frost. Zeryns Armament. Wisdom of Frost Sage. I cast three heavy spells, one after another, getting into the optimal state to fight against the terrifying monster. Now, there is an icy armor covering my whole body and a cloak of shimmering frost over it, which will increase my defense even further. Wisdom of Frost Sage is a mind spell. The hardest spell I had ever learned and the most dangerous one when learning. A lot of people have damaged their minds and turned into vegetables in the process of learning this spell. With these four spells, my mana is down at a critical level and I bright out a tiny but beautiful potion bottle with glittering crystals inside. I looked at the bottle of mana potion with unwillingness. It is a gift from my father, a very expensive one. Healing potions are not expensive for me, but this one. Even the price bottle containing potion is greater than ten normal mana potions. The mana potion inside is the most special kind. Insanely expensive, but even money isn''t enough to buy it; one also needs the connections for it. Most of it directly goes to the Sovereign''s treasury and what little remains sold at outrageous prices, because the ingredient used in making of potion is the most desirable in the world. The elixir of emotions. The thing that only legacies produce, and it is used in making this potion, and also the sword I am holding in my hand. This potion will replenish my mana extremely quickly and there won''t be any side effects. It is why, I am drinking this, because I am already feeling the effects of mana burn with all the potions I drank. The moment I took out the bottle, I opened it and took an ever so slightly sip from the tiny delicate bottle. The liquid touched my tongue and turned into a mist. It spread into my body, rapidly filling my depleted mana storage. At the same time, I began to feel all sorts of emotions. From happiness to sadness to vulnerability to excitement. I could feel these emotions as if they were mine and, at the same time, see the lives of people shing in front of me. It ended as it began, and I wish I could continue feeling those emotions. They were magnificent. I pushed those thoughts away as it was time to think about them and looked inside me. I saw mana storage was filled to the brim, and it only took a second. I turned to the tiny bottle in my hand. I took the smallest sip possible and still ended up consuming a third of it. I put the bottle away with regret and turned to battle, where Major Jarvis and Stone were moving toward the monster leader while August was attacking with his chained daggers. Mage Alwa, on the other, cast an energy cube around the monster, wanting to cage it, but it effortlessly broke away from it. Springs Steps. I activated my skill and moved toward the monster and immediately felt the effect of the army skills of the group members. Three are from Major Jarvis, while one each is from August and Stone. Making me faster and stronger. Growl! It growled, as it avoided the attack of the chained dagger and turned, before leaping at me. Its speed is fast and seeing the way is looking at me. It wants to tear me apart. Killing me will lessen the burden and it will have an easier time dealing with the others. I can''t let that happen. Immediately, the shields from Mage Alva appeared in front of me and the crystal on my sword lit up. Ice Walls. I activated the spell, and three ice walls appeared in front of me. Bamm! It crushed through all the defensive spells and appeared in front of me, and I attacked. I knew it would break through them and prepared to attack it, the moment it burst through the shields. There is a dense, bluish, icy mist covering my de. That is a Frost Freeze spell, along with Bleeding Edge. This is my terrifying spell and skillbo. It freezes the blood of the enemies. I had literally frozen people to death with thisbo. It didn''t seem to be fearing my attack though. It was stilling at me, but suddenly a surprise appeared in its eyes. The ice golem standing beside me had alsounched its enormous fist at it. These two are not the only attacksing at it. No, there are more. The chained dagger ising from behind while Major Jarvis is on the left and Stone from the right. We are not ying around. We understand thousands of people are fighting against the raging monsters who are trying to save their leader. Every minute, people are dying; we need to finish this monster as soon as possible, or the casualties will be immense. The hesitation appeared in its eyes for a moment, before the lightning red and it came at me with even stronger momentum. CLANG! My sword shed against the ws of the monster and I felt like I had been hit by a giant boulder. Puh! The shock was so great that vomit shot out of my mouth. At the same time, I started to take a step back while hoping my defenses would be enough to deal with the lightning that came at me through my sword. My sword absorbed a quarter of the lightning before it came at me and covered me, trying to drill through my armor to harm me. Steam could be seening out of my defenses as they were resisting the lightning. I poured more mana into the defenses; the lightning is dangerous. I couldn''t let it touch me. While the lightning trying to kill me, I turned to the monster. It didn''t follow me for the second attack, and I felt relieved seeing it. I don''t think I would have been able to handle the second attack. It is already a noteworthy thing that I didn''t get killed by it given the difference in our strength. For a moment, I thought I would die. It dodged the attack of the golem by less than an inch before moving right. Dodging the attack of a chained dagger and Major Jarvis, before appearing path for the Stone''s attack. Rip! It tried to dodge the attack, but couldn''t, and it cut through its back. Giving the monster a long cut, which also looked quite deep. Roar! The lightning covered the wound, cauterizing the wound as the monster roared angrily at the Stone, but it didn''t attack him and instead moved to dodge the attacking from the chained dagger and golem. It dodged the attack, but appeared in front of Major Jarvis and attacked him. Major Jarvis defended and seemed to use some sort of skill, which slowed down the monster when it jumped to dodge the attack of the golem. That fraction of slowness helped my golem tond a hit on the monster. BANG! The hitnded, but Lightning Leopard just shook instead of flying away as I expected, while my golem exploded into pieces, with lightning attacking. sh! Monster''s eyes lit in joy seeing that, but a momentter, the rm shed, and it moved again, but not before getting nicked in the leg by the red dagger. ROARR! The monster roared in rage at August and leaped at him. Only to see Stone and me appearing in front of it. It attacked us and we attacked back with our strongest attacks. Though defense would have been wiser, we couldn''t waste any time on that. Our people dying every minute against the monsters'' crazed attacks. We have to be at offense and finish this bastard as soon as possible, despite knowing the risksing with it. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 212: End Chapter 212: End Pachac Raor ng ¡®When will it end?¡¯ I asked hundreds of times as I killed the red weasel monstering at guard beside me, before defending against the w of the ck wolf monster. The monsters have be crazy about reaching their leader, while we have formed circles over the circles to kill any monster trying to reach the leader. We are killing the monsters at a rate like never before, but we are also dying at a rate like never before. I don¡¯t think we could continue long like this. We are tired. I am tired; that if I stopped, I would simply fall down. I couldn¡¯t even drink the stamina potion. I am already feeling an intense burn because of overconsumption; the same is true for healing. I am also injured, but my injuries are not as heavy as they should have been, thanks to Z. She had cast a couple of healing spells on me throughout the battle. ng ng Rip! I defended against the wolf monster and dodged the attack of Lainac, the squirrel monster, but notpletely. Its ws were able to cut my thigh. Giving me another injury. I moved to deal with the ck wolf monster, while the squirrel monster was stopped by Fang from attacking me again. I am very d that Fang hade and could fight, or I don¡¯t think I would have survived here till now. Every person fighting here is lucky because, without luck, they wouldn¡¯t have survived. Though this luck is being tested, by every monster every minute. Here, there are a huge number of monsters attacking us and we are killing them, but like endless tide. They kepting. There seemed to be no end to them. sh. I was able to sh the neck of the ck wolf, but the bastard was agile and dodged at thest moment. It was only a slight cut appeared on its neck. If it had been a fraction of a secondte in dodging, I would have shed that head off. Growl! It growled at me and came at me. I attacked again, carefully looking into its eyes. The wolves are the most devious monsters and I have learned that in a hard way. In the battle against the wolf, I would use half of the focus on their eyes. It is where they show their emotions and right now, I could see what it is thinking. It had changed the target from me to the soldier beside me, who was sitting down. He is so heavily injured in the leg that he couldn¡¯t even stand, but even then. He is holding his sword against any monster thates at him. If the wolf attacked, he wouldn¡¯t be able to survive. ¡°The wolf ising at you,¡± I said to him and there was no reaction from him. It is not the first time I have reminded that of him. The dead bodies of monsters around him are proof of that. I continue to move my sword without any change. It didn¡¯t seem like I knew what it was doing until it changed its direction and my sword smoothly moved ording to it. The monster''s eye widened, and it shifted to avoid the sword. For a moment, there was relief, seeing it had avoided the sword, but that relief was short-lived. Puch! As it turned toward its prey, it saw somethinging at it, and before it could do anything; it pierced into its brain, killing it. ¡°Thanks,¡± said the soldier as he removed the sword from the monster. The soldier might be injured and on the ground, but he is still doing everything he can to kill monsters. There is no other choice for him, he needs to do it to survive. I nodded and looked at the battle behind me. I am standing in thest circle and have a clear view of the battle happening behind me. I could see the five of them fighting hard against the Lightning Leopard, the monster leader. They have even been able to injure it, but all the injuries they caused have been cauterized by the bastard. I have seen this ability in a few fire elemental monsters, but I saw it first time, in the lightning elemental one. Though it is not surprising, Lightning Leopard has it. This monster bears the strength above, the monsters of the same grade, and has many abilities. One of them is rapid healing. Its injuries heal every passing second, while the group is getting more injured. I was just thinking that when I saw it getting shed by the chained dagger of August, before being cut by my sister¡¯s misty de. ROAR! It roared loudly and attacked my sister angrily, but Stone appeared in front of her with that huge shield. I only watched the battle for a second before turning ahead. I couldn¡¯t let myself be distracted by the battle. I have a job to do and that is to stop any monstering to help its leader. I will do it, till the battle end or I take myst breath. I looked in front of me and saw the monsters attacking crazily. I am one of the safest and the most dangerous ces on the whole battlefield. Safest because I didn¡¯t have to feel the full brunt of monsters'' assault, seeing I was in thest ring. It is also the most dangerous because. If the group is behind me and isn¡¯t able to kill the monster leader, I will be the first person it will kill after it has finished dealing with the group. So, I really hope for myself and the rest of the army that they kill the monster leader. There were no monsters for neen seconds and it was the longest time, I had been without a monster to fight since I had joined the circle. However, the joy was short-lived, and as monsters came. They came inrge numbers. There are twelve dog monsters, and they areing in my direction. There are other people besides me, but we will at least need to handle three each; seeing half of the people around us are heavily injured and nearly defenseless. These dogs are big. Bigger than mostrge size dogs and looked like irish wolfhounds. They have grey fur, red ears, and a murderous look in their eyes. If I am not wrong; they are called Kriagr. They are one of the hard-to-train dog monsters, but favorites of trackers. These bastards never lose a scent once they catch it. Now, twelve of them havee, and while their state is not good. They are still in much better condition than any of us. Growl Growl Growl! These growled beforeing at us fast and to my horror, I found four of them wereing at me. I would have a problem stopping one of them, and now four of them areing at me. They will easily tear me and the soldiers standing near me with ease. Still, I readied myself despite the horror I was feeling. What other choice do I have? I rather die fighting than copse in fear. Hun! I was ready to move my sword toward them when suddenly a blue light shone on them. Seeing that horror on my face turned into a smile, and I moved toward the monsters with my greatest speed. Not only me, but other guards around me had done the same. A momentter, a sphere of water covered the monsters, rming them. They tried to get out of it, but it was futile, at least for a three and half seconds, which would be enough for us. Puch Puch Puch! My sword entered the water sphere and pierced through the eyes of the monster. I removed the sword with a Swift de and pierced it into the eye of another monster in the second monster, the water sphere, before piercing into the third. Thankfully, the other guards finished the other monsters, including my fourth. I stepped back to my position and turned to Z, who was in the ring in front of me with Jon. She was fighting against a group of monsters, but still helped me at the right time. Since we came here for the final defense. Her help had been limited, but every time she helped, it had been lifesaving. If not for her, I wouldn¡¯t have been standing here alive. I had just returned to my spot when suddenly I sensed something from above and a secondter. Thud! A big red bird fell dead in front of me. It is not the first time something like this has happened. Many birds fell from the sky; it is unfortunate that some people hadn¡¯t been able to dodge it and got themselves injured and even worse. I only nced at the bird, before swinging my sword toward theing monster. A few minutes passed, and my condition had be even worse. I became even more injured and tired, that now it is extremely straining for me to activate a single skill, but I am activating several at once, which made me feel like I might fall unconscious. That is why, I have started using them exactly when I need them and stop when I am finished. I am not keeping them active, even a second long, nor I could with the sheer strain they are giving me. This efficient using seemed to be helping a little deal with the strain that was making me bleed from all my orifices. I didn¡¯t care for any of that. What I care about is stopping the monsters, and I am doing that with help from the people around me. Though, I don¡¯t know how long I will be able to survive like this. I am seeing people around me dying and in one of those moments; it is going to be me. ROAARRR! I was having those grim thoughts as I killed another monster with Fang and got another injury when I heard the roar. It was the loudest roar I had ever heard, and it seemed to be filled with pain. I couldn¡¯t help but turn back and see the monster leader covered in an icy mist. What attracted my gaze was the chained dagger on its neck and the huge sword on its back. Which I instantly knew was of Stone; I am the one, who had given it to him. It made me instantly notice Stone, lying on the ground not far away from the monster, with the lightning covering his body. It was not just him. I even saw my sister lying beside him, twitching as lightning moved around us. ROAARRR! My heart skipped a beat, seeing that, but my eyes were immediately attracted by the lightning leopard, it roared again. To my shock, it is moving toward me. I noticed its unstable gait but also saw its speed and lightning covering it. It won¡¯t take long to reach me and once it does, it will be a game over for me. I felt horror deep in my heart and felt my hand releasing the sword. I picked the spear embedded on the ground; it used to belong to a soldier, who is now dead. I had just picked it up when I saw Major Jarvis appearing in front of the monster. Immediately, I took a sigh of relief, feeling I was saved. BANNG! That reliefsted only for a second. The monster''s ws shed against the sword of Major Jarvis, sending him away. Earlier, the monster was only able to make him take a few steps back, but now it had sent him back hard enough, that he had barely been able to stop himself from falling. The monster isn¡¯t the only one who is injured. Major Jarvis is also heavily injured. Now, Major Jarvis is out of the way. The monster moved again, and it didn¡¯t change its direction. It ising at me. Hun! I removed the spear from the ground and saw Fang touching its tip with his energy ws, covering the tip with purple energy. My tired mind smiled seeing him contributing and aimed the spear toward the monster. The spear is a normal steel weapon. Unenchanted and dented in many ces, but it is the only thing I have. I threw the spear at a monster with every ounce of strength I had, along with the power of every skill I could harness. They resisted heavily, but I pushed through their resistance. I do not believe it will do anything, and even the monster didn¡¯t think it would do anything, seeing the mirth appearing in his eyes, but it is the only thing I could do. The spear moved toward the monster, and there was no fear in the monster¡¯s eyes. Hun! It took a second for the spear reached close to it, when suddenly rm shed in the monsters¡¯ eyes. A ck arrow suddenly materialized over the monster and came at its incredible speed. The arrow ispletely ck, and it is from ckwell. It is not an energy arrow. It real one, and I had seen it in his quiver. It is the only ck arrow he has. The lightning around its body zed, and its speed increased further, but the arrow was too fast. The only thing the monster was able to do with its speed was change the target. Now, instead of attacking its head; it will attack further back. Puch! The arrow pierced through its back, near Stone¡¯s sword. As the arrow struck the monster; something incredible happened. In an instant, lightning disappeared from the monster''s body. Not even a single spark of it had remained. It rmed the monster, more than seeing the spear appearing directly in front of its eyes. Even now, when its lightning had disappeared; it didn¡¯t seem to fear the spear and it shouldn¡¯t. The spear was normal. Even the strength I had thrown it with was nothing special. The only special thing about it was the purple energy covering the tip for which the monster seemed to feel no fear. The spear reached its left eye, which it closed. I thought the spear would be repelled by the thick eyelid but to my surprise and sheer horror of the monster, which was seen in its open right eye. Puch! The spear pierced through its eyelid and continued going inside, stopping only when it went over ten inches deep. The monster opened its mouth while ring at me with raging anger like lightning that started to spark across its body again. I was waiting to hear its roar before it tore me apart, but I saw lightning that started to spark across my body suddenly disappear and the monster leader fell down. Thud! It crashed hard on the ground and continued skidding with the momentum, before stopping right in front of me, dead. Dead. The fearful monster leader is dead. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 213: Aftermath Chapter 213: Aftermath Roar Cry¡­ For a moment, there was an absolute silence before monsters let out roars and cries. They stopped what they were doing and bolted out in a tide like they hade. Seeing that people let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, I thought, the monsters would keep fighting and that would be disastrous to the extreme. They would have ughtered us if they had kept fighting. The monsters ran and barely anyone raised their hands to stop them. Everyone is tired, that if the conditions hadn''t been dangerous; they would have copsed on the ground. I wanted to do that, instead, I took onest look at the dead monster leader in front of me and walked toward the Stone and my sister. "I am fine," said Le, answering Mage Alva. Hun! I nodded at her and turned to Stone. All of us did; there was something strange going on with him. A faint bronze shin appeared on his skin and rippled across his body. Erasing any ck and grey spots that are appearing on him. His injuries seemed to be healing rapidly by it. "What is happening?" I asked, and August opened his mouth, but the answer came from behind. "His giant blood is reacting," said Z, with a clear hint of surprise. Even I got a surprise and Major Jarvis, but not my sister, August, and Mage Alva; they seemed to know about it more than us. "So, he will be fine, right?" I asked worriedly. "Likely, and might even receive some benefits from the elder blood," replied August and I sighed in relief. There was a silence for a moment before I turned to Z. "Did you send the message?" I said. "Yes," she replied, before pointing the staff at me. "I am fine, use the spells on others," I said as I sat down. I am injured, but I could survive, with normal aid; the spells are for those who are really at risk. She nodded and moved her staff to Major Jarvis. He was shaking his head, but he needed it. He thanked Z for her spell before walking away. The battle had ended, but work was not. Tending the injury, directing the men and many other things remain to be done. Thankfully, I do not have to do that. So, I sat down and brought out bandages and the ointment and was about to apply them when Le sat by me and started to help me, without saying a word. "That was quite an attack atst," she said after a minute of silence. "You saw it?" I asked in surprise, and she nodded. When I looked at her earlier, she was twitching while the lightning ravaged her. It was a good thing she had protected spells, or she wouldn''t have been here talking to me. "It was a fluke and abination of many factors. Most importantly, the arrow of Lord ckwell," "If he hadn''t used the magic nullifier arrow; the spear would have been repelled by the lightning, without even touching the monster," I replied, and she smiled, before turning to Fang. "This guy helped, too. I don''t think the spear would have even breached the eyelid without the precious help from this little guy," she said, and I smiled. "He helped tremendously. He is the reason why, I am even alive," I said and petted his head. Fang is injured, but healing. I had inspected him and saw his injuries had already closed. It is an incredible healing speed; few monsters have such powerful healing abilities. She left after bandaging me, while I also got up and started to help others. As every bit is needed. A few minutester, the clerics came and started healing people. Unlike the battle against the bandits. The clerics hadn''t joined the battle against the monster, but they were close. Inside the hills, ready to be in use after the battle ended. I couldn''t help but sigh seeing that. I had asked the church of god of war for help and they had tly refused. Saying they had other important engagements and couldn''t be there to help. There are twice as many clerics, than what we had during the fight against the bandits. ckwell had asked for more and they came and while it was not free, the service of the church never is. Especially when they work outside the city, but their prices are fair. While I might not be able to bring clerics; I was able to bring doctors. I had hired arge number of doctors and nurses; they are in the Castle Radcliff and are nowing here. It was what I was talking about to Z. Though ckwell had hired even more than me, and they wille soon from Fort Renin. We need healers, doctors, and every medical professional. What we have is barely enough. Hope, the Count will do the one thing he had promised, and the aid wille soon. "Thank you, Adviser," said the soldiers as I finished wrapping the surrounding bandages. "Take a rest. We will soon be transporting you all back to the hospital soon," I said to them. Yes, I have prepared a hospital; it is not as good as the city, but it will be enough for them to recover. It is a good thing I did that because the infirmary of the castle would have been far from enough. Every soldier is injured and will need a few days to weeks of rest. Some never be able to fight. As for the dead, there is nothing that could be done about them other than giving them a proper burial. A lot of people died, more from our side than from the ckwell. Unlike the ckwell''s army, which was well-equipped, ours was not. sses, skill, and experience matter a lot, but also the equipment. More so against the enemies, like monsters, who are stronger, faster, and have powerful defenses. An hour passed, and I was still helping the people, when I sensed people, behind me. It was Major Jarvis, and beside him was a cleric. She is pointing her staff at me. "Please don''t waste any spell on me; there are many who need it more than me," I said to the cleric. "Adviser, the leadership is more important. We need to be inmand. It is only we who will direct people and thus save more lives." "You should be in better shape to handle the challenges, we are facing now," said Major Jarvis sternly. He is right. We have finished the battle, but whates after is just as important. The slightest mismanagement would cost lives and we have already lost enough in the battle. I need to be in a better state, to deal with all the responsibilities. "Please," I said to the cleric and a momentter;fortable white energy covered me and began healing my injuries. "What is the status?" I asked him. "ording to the scouts, the monsters are running back to the extreme magic region. Those that entered Nakar forest are being are being handled by the teams," he informed. We have not brought all our men to battle. A few hundred were divided into squads and ced around baronies. 70% of them are around the territory of my sister and Baron Harrods; these territories from which the monsters could enter the Nakar Baronies. "What are nobles are saying?" I asked. "They have sent the teams to hunt the monsters," He informed. "What did they say about aid?" I asked him, to which he gently shook his head. "Z, remind them gently to send sufficient aid and the consequences that might ur if the aid is not good enough," I said to her. I have been quite polite with the nobles since I needed their help, but some had really made me angry by sending just a token force. This is theirst chance for redemption, or they will pay for it. I have enough power to make things difficult for them and this time, I wouldn''t hesitate to use it. Soon, the first group of doctors and healer mages arrived. It came from in and that is just starting, as half an hour after that the help from Fort Renin came. Soon, the people came from different baronies, bringing healers and supplies that we needed. Some of the barons are really showing sincerity; some, like Homer, hade personally. I sent messages and took replies. Most of them were from Count and one of them was from an unexpected person, but I replied in the politestnguage. "So many dead," I said, looking at the bodies. "It is the price of safety, Adviser," said Lord ckwell and I couldn''t help, but nod. "The casualties have been even greater, given the number of the monsters. If not for the preparations you have made, Adviser, Lord ckwell," said Baron Harrods. "Still, too many people have died," I said and sighed. There are bodies and bodies in front of me, hundreds of them. Carefully, packed in cloth with their names tagged on it. The carriages havee, and they are taking the patients to Fort Renin and Lauryl Town. After the patients, it will be the dead bodies and then it will be the monsters. We seemed to have killed more than half of the monsters. It is a great wealth, and Le is leading the soldiers in collecting and sealing them properly. All of it will go to the in, where she will process them and after that, we will sell them. 65% of all the proceeds will go to the ckwell. 35% to us. Of the 35%, 2.5% will go to my sister, 1.5% to Baron Harrods, and 1% to the other baronies who contributed. Thest 30% will belong to Castle Radcliff. ckwell was getting the biggest share because his efforts were the greatest. The army, the clerics, the cannons, the ballistae, and many other things came from him. The Count has signed himself on this deal and I am sure he will be regretting hard right now because the monsters are worth a lot. I walked away from the bodies and helped where I could, but most things were being handled by Major Jarvis. The battle is the business of Major Jarvis, and he is handling everything well, and I didn''t interfere in his work. I, on the other hand, focused on my work. Sending the messages, requesting more aid, and asking the town to make the preparations for the injured soldiers. It is a good thing there are arge number of workers from constructionpanies present in town. They are converting. Two warehouses into temporary hospitals. Looking at the number of injured; the space we have prepared wouldn''t be enough. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 214: Blade Warrior Chapter 214: de Warrior [ss Change: Warrior - Battle Fencer - de Warrior] de Warrior Lv. 16 de Warrior Lv. 17 [Skill Gained: Sharpness] Trainer- Lv. 5 Trainer Lv. 6 Trainer Lv. 7 [Skill Gained: Active Presence] I was woken up by a sharp noise by Fang in my arm; only to see a line of texts in front of me. It surprised me, but I moved my focus to Fang. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked him, who was looking at me. It took a second for me to understand what happened. ¡°You felt the skill?¡± I asked him, activating the Privacy. I don¡¯t want anyone to know about my skills. He seemed to understand me, as he nodded. I am also feeling my new skill in the Trainer ss. It is a passive skill and it let me sense the presence of Fang; I have read about this skill. Though, most people who have this skill are Monster Scouts and Monster Warriors. Trainers rarely have them, but there are many records of them having the skill. I am not surprised; myself getting the skill, after how we had fought the battle. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It is just a skill,¡± I said gently and petted him, till he calmed down, before looking back at the texts floating in front of me. My Warrior ss had changed. It had first seemed to have changed to Battle Fencer, but it was rejected and changed into a de Warrior. It is a good thing; it had just rejected the Battle Fencer because I would have done it. Fencer means I would have been limited to the rapiers and I don¡¯t want that. I may like a rapier and use one due to personal liking and sentimentality, but I do not want to be restricted by it. I am nearly as good as with other light swords and sabers as I am with a rapier. I used them a few times a month in my training. This change is an upgrade. I could feel the weight of the ss had increased. I had leveled twice and even gained a skill. None of my skills in the past ss had changed or upgraded, but I could feel the change in them. The skills take the vor of the ss and they have taken the vor of an upgraded ss. I wonder what kind of change the new ss will bring to skills. I have got a new skill, Sharpness. It is amon skill and might seem useless seeing I use an enchanted weapon, but it is not. It is a very useful skill and the one I have wanted to have. Even when looking at today¡¯s lens, it would have been helpful. Sometimes, even enchantment needs a little boost of sharpness and a non-enchanted weapon even more. The mundane spear I had thrown at the monster leader would have been even more useful. If I had thrown in it with the power of Sharpness attached to it. It is not just mybat ss that had made the advancement, but also my Trainer ss, which had made an even bigger advancement. I have gained three levels in it in a single day. The ss advanced in five levels since I came to the baronies and this time, I had even got the skill. Active Presence. The passive skill let me sense Fang¡¯s presence; the skill is like always an active tracker. I will have to test its limits, but this is not a time. I pushed the texts away and looked in front of me. The soldiers are working, and healers and doctors are still trying to save the people and put them in the carriages. The only thing that has changed is the sky, which has nowpletely darkened. I looked at the pocket watch and saw I had only slept for half an hour. I wanted to rest for a few minutes but ended up falling asleep. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have let me fall asleep,¡± I said to Z, who was sitting not far away from me. ¡°You needed it,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°Any new messages?¡± I asked. ¡°A couple,¡± she replied and handed me the cards and I read each one of them before sending replies. I didn¡¯t want to use her to send the messages, seeing how tired she was, but some of these messages were sensitive. I couldn¡¯t trust anyone to send them, not even my sister. Even Valentina wouldn¡¯t do. The receivers wouldn¡¯t like a merchant knowing the content of conversations we were having. ¡°How is Stone?¡± I asked, and her expression turned a little worried. ¡°He hasn¡¯t woken up yet,¡± she replied. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. August said, it is a good thing what is happening to him,¡± I said, and she nodded. She herself had asked him about that. Giants are the elder race and the one, which had been most intermingled with other races. It is extremely rare for the elder blood to react, and it only happens in extreme cases. What Stone faced today was extreme, but I think the thing, that triggered the elder blood in him was the curse inside him. Today¡¯s battle had just provided a little extra pressure to tighten the container for it to explode. I was talking with Z when Major Jarvis came toward me. ¡°Is everything ready, Major Jarvis?¡± I asked him. ¡°Yes, they are ready to leave,¡± I said and walked with Z. Soon, I reached near the horses and saw Valentina, talking to a group of archers, who smiling and shaking her hand gratefully. Well, they should. She had done something incredible; that even Ignatius couldn¡¯t achieve. Seeing me, she walked toward me. She had just reached me when Ignatius arrived with my sister and turned to Valentina. ¡°Mage Valentina. Once again, thank you for not letting any of my men die,¡± he thanked. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t thank me, My Lord. It is your men, that were good; the only thing I did was a helped a little,¡± she replied, and I couldn¡¯t help but roll my eyes hearing that. I had seen the hill and bodies of monsters, that littered across it. The majority of them have been killed by her and most of those killed had been killed by a single spell. Earth Spikes. She was using a heavily manipted version of it, which condensed the earth spike to the level of stone and its tip made of metals. Since Earth Spike is a maniption spell. It uses existing earth instead of summoning the element. She was able to use the spell in great quality, killing many monsters. The special spell isn¡¯t enough for what she did or all earth spellcasters who had a spell like that would be terrifying. The spell is as important as the person who cast it. The way it is used determines half of its lethality and she had used that spell, with the precision of a surgeon. She had even impressed Baron Harrods and August, both said she had a lethality of battlemage. ¡°Have a safe journey, Adviser,¡± he said, turning to me. ¡°Thank you, Lord ckwell, and please try to return to Fort Renin. If possible,¡± I said, to which he smiled. Like Major Jarvis, he is going to stay here. It might look like the danger has passed, but it is not. It coulde back, and we will need to be prepared for it. The horses begin to move and, with us carriages holding thest of the badge of the injured. The most injured had been shifted out before the dark, as it gets quite cold at night. ¡°I had nearly forgotten how battle feels like,¡± said Valentina suddenly, with a smile and sadness on her face. I don¡¯t know much about her past, other than she used to be a mercenary. She suddenly gave up and joined Neilson, where she rapidly rose through the ranks before reaching her current position. I didn¡¯t say anything. Personally, I don¡¯t like to fight. I had done it because I needed to and would do it again if the need arose, but I would be more than d if I didn¡¯t need to raise the de again. The journey had been slow and passed in silence, with each one of us busy with our own thoughts. Soon, we saw the lights, and before I knew it, we were at the gates of town. The gates opened, and we rode in with people watching from both sides in silence. I could feel the eyes of people and the gazes of children and women felt especially piercing. Some of these women and children were families of soldiers; I felt guilty looking into their eyes. Still, I looked at the eyes and each and every one of them faced their questions in silence. It is the least I could do. We didn¡¯t move to the castle but toward the warehouses, which had been converted into temporary hospitals at incredible speed. I am feeling very sleepy and tired, but I can¡¯t sleep; there are too many things to do. The horses stopped, and I got off. There are Carlos and Lenc were waiting for me, along with L, who was looking at me guiltily and that guilt increased when she saw Fang in my arms. ¡°What is the progress?¡± I asked directly as I entered the warehouse. The nurses had started shifting the patients to the warehouses, where doctors, healing mages, and a few clerics I had borrowed from the ckwell were working on the patients. ¡°We have done everything you instructed Adviser; we have¡­¡± he began to list the things while I toured the warehouse. I didn¡¯t disturb the healers aside from asking if they need anything and they need a lot of things, and we are providing them as much as we can, but they clearly need more. ¡°What about the aid from the baronies?¡± I asked. ¡°Majority of baronies had sent the aid in expected amount and some about them, but there are few who had sent only a token amount,¡± informed Pedro. ¡°Give me the list of them,¡± I said and walked to the other warehouse before stepping into the hospital. It is a ce where the most critical had been ced and there are a lot of people in the critical state fighting for their lives. The mage healers, clerics, and doctors are working on saving every patient, which is no simple task. It is said that it is easier to save a man fallen from a cliff than a soldier in a soldier in critical condition. The reason is simple. Unlike the man who fell off the cliff, they could use potions with healing spells and surgery, but here using a healing potion is useful in fewer cases. As soldiers would have already drunk it and suffered from the burn. Using a potion on such people is like expediting their deaths. ¡°Please be patient. The healers are working and are giving their all to save our brave men and women,¡± I said to the crowd gathered. I talked to them and tried to abate their fears and worries. It is the only thing I could do for these worried souls. It took a while when I entered the castle and went to the infirmary, which was housing the officers. I talked to healers and a few officers, who were in better condition, before walking toward my office. ¡°You should go sleep,¡± I said to Valentina, who hadn¡¯t left my side. ¡°You need it more than me,¡± she said back, giving a look. ¡°I will sleep after I deal with a few things,¡± I replied. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but didn¡¯t and instead just shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t push yourself too hard,¡± she said and walked away, while I walked into my office. ¡°I am sorry; I shouldn¡¯t have let him go,¡± said L after everyone left. ¡°It wasn¡¯t your fault; even I won¡¯t be able to catch him if he wants to run away,¡± I said, and the guilt in her eyes seemed to lessen a little. ¡°Go sleep, we will have a lot of things to do tomorrow,¡± I added as I got up and walked out of my office. It is three and a half in the night, and I am not finished with work, but I know, I have to sleep, to handle the things tomorrow and Count, who ising. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 215: New Day Chapter 215: New Day [ss Consolidation: Bravo Colonel + Carver + Leader ¨C Brave Baron] Brave Baron Lv. 28 [ss Change: ¡­¡± . . . Spell Sword Lv. 26 [ss Gained: Baroness] [Skill Gained: ¡­] Soldier Lv. 20 Spearman Lv. 19 Captain Lv. 24 . . . ¡­ Masterful Administrator Lv. 19 There was a text in front of me when I woke; it surprised me. I had not thought I would level up with a Masterful Administrator. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised, seeing the work I did in the past two weeks. It is a good thing my base ss had leveled up to Level 19, a week and a half ago or I would have been in trouble. I might have needed to discard this level-up. I experienced the consequence when I let my other sses go above my base ss. It had slowed down my level-up for months, and I didn¡¯t want to experience that again. I didn¡¯t get any skill with this level-up, but I don¡¯t mind. This level-up will increase the power of the existing skill and if I level up in it again; I will be reaching Level 20. It is not easy to cross the second capstone. I will have to achieve something incredible for the next level up or it will take months or even years if things go slowly. Though, once I did it. It will bring a tremendous benefit to me. I will get an attribute point and also a skill. There is always a skill and an attribute point when breaching the capstone. I pushed away the notification after a few seconds and looked at the clock on the wall and my eyes flew open. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed, seeing it was nine. I was supposed to wake up at five, to wee the Count, who wasing. ¡®I am fucked.¡¯ I thought. I got up immediately and wore the suit, before activating Get Ready. Immediately, a huge change urred. The biggest I had seen, was the skill to do it and it is not because of the level, but because of the state I am in. The dried blood, sweat, and dirt flowed down from my body. More than half of the bandages had loosened and fell down, while the rest had tightened around me. I would have changed the bandages, but I didn¡¯t have any time. Thankfully, the skill had cleaned them. I looked at myself in a mirror, before stepping out of my suit. I used Rapid Legs to walk and felt the change in the skill. It had not just be slightly powerful, but some fundamentals of it had also seemed to change. It felt smoother and more powerful. As I had expected, the upgrade had changed the skill and I want to see how the other skills have changed too, but that won¡¯t be possible today. Within a few seconds, I reached my office and looked at the old woman waiting by it. ¡°You go can in,¡± she said with a smile. I nodded my thanks and pushed open the door. As I had expected, the Count is sitting on my chair, and he is not alone, Commander Atticus is with him and Mage Beaumont. There is also Carlos, Lenc, and L. I am surprised to see her; I didn¡¯t think the Count would let her be present in the office. ¡°My Lord,¡± ¡°My greatest apologies for the disrespect,¡± I said and bowed, deeper than I usually do. ¡°It is fine, Remus; you needed the rest after the battle and the work you have done after,¡± he said and I couldn¡¯t help, but feel relieved. I have broken the protocol of not weing him personally. He would have punished me, but he is smart enough to not take offense at small mistakes. Especially for the first time. ¡°Thank you for kindness, my lord,¡± I replied and took a seat he offered. ¡°You have done a good job, Remus. I am not talking about you joining the battle, which I think was idiotic. A like of the leader is important and should only lead from the safety.¡± ¡°I am talking about the preparations you have made before the battle and the work you have done, after it,¡± he said looking directly into my eyes. ¡°Thank you for your praise, my lord,¡± I said, and he nodded, and his expressions turned regretful. ¡°We have killed a lot of monsters in yesterday¡¯s battle,¡± ¡°It is a quiet regret that we will be giving 65% of what we will earn selling the monsters to ckwell,¡± he said, surprising me. I had thought he would be showing regret about the death of the soldiers, but he is more worried about the money. ¡°Is there any chance we could challenge the contract?¡± he asked, and I could tell he was serious. I wanted to curse him badly, but I controlled my thoughts. I have to be careful; there are skills, that might make him feel what I am thinking. ¡°We have some wriggle room that might give us a few more percent, but not over 5%. I think it wouldn¡¯t be wise to challenge the contract.¡± ¡°It will harm our rtions with ckwell, and we need to have a good rtionship with him for trade and to deal with the future monster attacks,¡± I cautioned, and a momentter, he nodded. ¡°ckwell is going to get a lot of money,¡± he said before turning to me. ¡°What are you nning to do with money getting from the monsters?¡± he asked. ¡°Give a certain percentage to the pension fund of the soldiers, buy better equipment for them. Get defensive equipment like cannons and ballista¡¯s and spend some on improving the medical infrastructure,¡± I replied. I could see his expressions turning worse with every word I spoke. He had said he would give everything from the monsters to me, but he didn¡¯t give it in writing. Though he said it in front of the people. ¡°Fine,¡± he agreed, and I felt relieved. I had really thought he might ask me some of it. The money would be huge, but it won¡¯t be enough to do all those things I have listed. I would need to be selective, but still, with it, we would be better prepared against the next monster attack. ¡°As youmand, my lord,¡± I replied. He opened his mouth to say something when he closed it and looked at the door. Click! ¡°Dane is here,¡± he said and a momentter. The door of the office opened, and Commander Dane walked inside. ¡°My lord,¡± he greeted and bowed faintly. ¡°Dane, you arrived at the right time. We were about to go meet the injured,¡± said the Count and got up. We walked out of the office, and the first ce we went was the infirmary. Where the Count looked at the injured officers, but didn¡¯t do much talking. It was Commander Dane and I, who pretty much did all the talking. It seemed like the Count didn¡¯t like the injured; he seemed to have a thing about them. I had noticed it before, but now I have be sure of it. We didn¡¯t stay in the infirmary for long and walked out of it. ¡°I have read the reports, Adviser. The strategy you have employed was great.¡± ¡°The battle should have wiped you all out. Instead, you had not only defeated the monster¡¯s horde but managed that with losing much fewer numbers than such a battle does,¡± he said; he seemed clearly impressed. I don¡¯t like what he said about the casualties. A lot of people have died, but he is right; we did manage to win the disastrous battle with fewer than expected casualties. I was about to thank him when Atticus opened his mouth. ¡°To me, the battle was a disaster; they could have done a much better job,¡± said Atticus and I wanted to curse the bastard. I am extremely angry at him. It is because of his pettiness, that more people have died than they should. Even if he didn¡¯t want to support me to get more resources from the Count, he shouldn¡¯t have opposed me. I wouldn¡¯t have been angry if his opposition to my request had been based on the truth. No, it was to nurse his bruised ego. I looked at Dane and thought he would be ring angrily at Atticus since he was disrespecting his men, but I saw him smiling. ¡°I would really like to see how you could have been done better if you had been at my Major''s ce, Commander Atticus,¡± he said. Atticus opened his mouth to reply, but no words seemed toe out. Seeing the smile on Commander Dane¡¯s face became bigger, but he didn¡¯t say anything further. We walked out of the castle, and I saw a team of soldiersing toward it. One of them is Eli. He had been guiding the team to hunt for the monsters since yesterday. That little sparrow had turned extremely helpful in finding the stray monsters. Tillst night, they had hunted nine monsters, which is a lot for a team. They entered the castle while we went to the hospital, where healers, including the clerics I have borrowed from ckwell, are still working. ¡°It would have been great. If the church of the god of war had sent a few priests,¡± I said and immediately the expression of the Count had changed, and I was able to get a glimpse of his emotion for a brief moment. He is angry, extremely angry, and I don¡¯t think the church¡¯s Greltheaven branch, not sending a priest, is a reason for that. He is likely angry about the deration that their pope had made a few days ago. That Crown prince is a rightful heir of the empire and has the blessing of God of War behind him. Churches always support candidates, but they are never so direct, especially this early. The emperor and the crown prince would have definitely promised them something huge, in exchange for that. No wonder that bastard had been so daring in front of the Count in the past month. I may not be present in the city, but I know what happens there. ¡°He will being for the funeral in the evening,¡± said Count with a smile, but everyone could see how he was gritting his teeth in anger. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 216: Home Chapter 216: Home ¡°Is your decision final?¡± I asked L as I stopped at the door of the carriage. ¡°Yes. Master Silver,¡± she replied, and she was sure. It was the second time I had asked her. The first time a week ago, even then, she had rejected the offer within seconds. I had offered her something big, something she envied once, but now she had rejected it. I looked at her and couldn¡¯t help, but feel surprised again, seeing how much she had changed in less than a year. L, twelve months ago, would have jumped at the opportunity. She would have epted it two and a half months ago, done it in a second, but now, she had rejected the offer. There was no hesitation. ¡°Take care then, L,¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she replied with her voice, a little emotional. I looked at her for the onest time, before sitting in the carriage and a few secondster. The carriage moved toward out of the gates of the castle toward the Greltheaven. It had been eleven days since the attack of the monsters and I hadn¡¯t thought I would be able to return so soon, but things have turned to normal sooner than I had expected. The thing the monster attack had affected the most was the trade. For the four days, there was no trade caravan. I had feared that it might have done irreceable damage to it; not only me, but even ckwell had hot worried, but our worries had been unfounded. After the four days, the trade had returned, and it had returned at incredible speed. In the past three days, there have been more trade caravansing than, it had been before the monster attack. Merchants needed to see the money. Once they did, even the monsters wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop them. It also helps that Oksall is rapidly making progress on the road. The progress in town is a little slower to pick, but in the past few days; I have seen the vibrancy returning. I have no doubt it would return, especially when I sell the next tranche of plots after I return. This time, it is a little special because the merchant from Oksall could buy 25% of that. It had not be certain yet. I am still negotiating the deal with Oksall. I want a certain privilege in return, but I am confident it will happen. The merchants and ckwell¡¯s have been pushing their leadership hard for it. Soon, the carriage rolled out of the town and picked up the speed. I should be able to reach the city by dawn and this time, I am going to stay for quite a long. I had asked for ten days, but I am already nning to make it, two weeks. I need the time for my business. There are only five days before the establishment opened, and I have to stay there for at least two weeks more to see how it will perform. I am as excited as I am nervous. Despite being here, I have taken all the important decisions, but nothing could bepared to remaining present there. In these five days, I am going to spend all my time on my business. I need everything to be perfect for the opening. ¡®It will be perfect,¡¯ I said with nervous excitement. I am also thinking about handing over the reins by the end of the next month. I want L to take over, but that is going to be impossible. It needs to be between Carlos and Lenc; they can handle the responsibility. The only thing I will need to do is take the trade to a certain amount, which I don¡¯t think will be a problem. The road will be finished in the middle of next month and then the trade will increase further. However, I will need to convince the Count. It won¡¯t be a problem, since Lancel will help me. He hates that his father had given me the responsibility and a few nudges to him would be enough to push the Count in the right direction. Not to mention, the Count had promised me. If he resisted, I would remind him of those words. I took a deep breath, calmed my emotions, and turned to Z in front of me. The battle seemed to have done something to her, she was studying like crazy. I didn¡¯t disturb her and instead closed my eyes to sleep. I also wanted to read, but I am tired. Since I am taking a big leave, I had held meetings till day and till the time I left. Checked everything before handing the responsibilities to the three. I was so tired that I fell asleep within a second and there was no monster in my dreams today; not even the leader, who appeared every night. Knock Knock I was in the sleep when a knock rang out on my window, and I immediately opened my eyes. ¡°We have reached the river, Mister Silver,¡± informed Stone. Only then did I realize that the carriage had stopped. ¡°Z,¡± I said to my guard, who had fallen asleep, with books on herp. One book is even at her feet. She didn¡¯t wake up, and I was about to call her again when she opened her eyes, cheeks flooding. ¡°My deepest apologies, Mister Silver. I shouldn¡¯t have slept on duty,¡± she apologized. ¡°It is fine, Z. Don¡¯t take too much stress, it makes things difficult, instead of easier,¡± I said to her and gave the book that had fallen near her feet, before stepping out of the carriage with Fang in my hand. It was still a night, but dawn will appear soon. I looked at the sky for a moment before walking toward the boat with my guards around me. I stared at Stone, who was walking ahead of me. He had quite scared me, after what happened to him in battle. He had remained unconscious for two and a half days before waking up. He didn¡¯t tell me what happened, what he experienced during the elder blood reaction, nor, I had asked. It is his personal business. Though it had made me quite curious. Elder races are quiet mysteries and powerful, anything rted to that evokes a great curiosity. I pushed the thoughts away and stepped into the boat. Soon the board began to move across the river silently. There is barely any notice at this time, even ships are moving silently. The boat was halfway into the river when the faint rays of light began to pierce through the cloud. It looked beautiful, and I watched it with a serene smile on my face, till I reached the other side and got off the boat. The carriage was waiting for me, and I stepped inside. Fifteen minutester, the carriage entered the road, from which I could see the establishment and the circle. The circle is being covered byrge clothes. So, I couldn¡¯t see anything, while the establishment was being covered in the mist, that only its silhouette could be seen. Soon, the carriage moved through the gates of the establishment and stopped. The gates opened, and I walked out, only to see there was already someone waiting for me. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t havee so soon,¡± I said to Caena. ¡°No, I wanted to be here when they make these changes,¡± she replied as she looked at the establishment. There is some carving work going on in the building, and it is beautiful. It will be even more when they are finished with it. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked as I watched the artist''s work expertly. The way they work looked mesmerizing. ¡°Very good; there were small hups, but we had managed to smooth them over,¡± she replied. For the past five days, she had been in charge of the girls and work here. Ca, Margaux, and Eudo, along with a few others, have gone to the merchant cities and then Namdar for shopping. They have done a lot of shopping and returning at night. I looked at it for a few more minutes before walking inside, and what I saw made me stop in my tracks. It looked amazing, better than I had imagined, and it was not even finished. The people were still working, and the furniture had yet to be brought. When it is finished; it will amaze everyone who will see it. Eight million imperials; eight hundred million crowns. That is how much the circle and the changes in the establishment had cost me. I have poured everything I have earned from both of my businesses into them. Taking a huge risk. This is just the cost of these two things; I had spent another three and a half million imperials on clothing, jewelry, and other essories, along with new staff and a few other things. If it didn¡¯t work out. It will send me back months or years and even damage my reputation, with another risk, I will be taking in the day of opening, but if it works, then it will openpletely new doors for me. I looked at the hall, which had be even bigger than before, and it was not just the hall that had be bigger. The kitchen had increased its size more than twice and now there were three bars in the hall. These are just minor changespared to some of the really big ones I had made. I looked around the hall before walking, taking the stairs, checking each room carefully. The establishment is five floors tall, but in front; there were only four floors with really high ceilings and the artwork had done them, but I couldn¡¯t see it, since all of it had been covered in the papers. Soon, I looked through all five floors and went to the underground, where there was the biggest change. Till now, the underground had been the same. It had used to house the girls, but in a few days, the girls would shift to the circle; they would live and learn there, including magic, which had cost me a lot. I couldn¡¯t let the three floors of the underground go to waste. I had created something here, that girls will love. Soon, I finished touring the whole establishment and wanted to look at the circle, but it wouldn¡¯t be possible, seeing I have a meeting with Count Darrow in fifteen minutes. I walked toward the carriage before stopping and turning to Caena. ¡°Prepare for the sacrifice ritual,¡± I said to her, before stepping into the carriage, leaving her surprised. One month had been a long time to think and find out about these things. I didn¡¯t get as much as information, I hoped to get, but got enough to make the decision. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 217: Preparations Chapter 217: Preparations The carriage stopped, and I got out and looked at the huge mansion in front of me. It is white in color, with a lot of open space around it. It is not exactly beautiful, but it is big enough with quarters behind it, to house, over three hundred and fifty girls. Though not asfortable as they had been in therge underground beneath the establishment. It had caused some friction among them. Though it had been handled. The Girls have grown used to their privacy and protect it fiercely. So, when they began sharing the space, again, with more girls than they did in the past year, a conflict arose between them. The ones who got the angriest were those who had their own private rooms, but Margaux and others have resolved it. They only need to bear it for a few more days and it will all be over. I entered the building and soon, reached the ballroom, where it looked like some sort of party was happening. Men and women in beautiful dresses, smiling, and talking, while servers moved around them. ¡°Start again,¡± said Mena and the actors got up and immediately left the ballroom, while the girls changed their positions. They have been practicing daily for the past month. It had made them really good. This practice is for the new girls, I have got from Oksall, but all the old girls are also practicing. They also need to keep their craft polished and these actors are wonderful practice partners. ording to Ca and Margaux. Over 80% of the eligible new girls are ready to work. I will have to look at that myself, but I don¡¯t think the figure would be different from what they had said. They understood my vision and requirements and till now, the information I have read about their progress told me they are ready. ¡°Master Silver,¡± greeted Mena as she walked up to me. ¡°How are the girls?¡± I asked. ¡°The girls are doing great. They are ready,¡± she replied. ¡°Keep the practice going. We need them as prepared as possible,¡± I said, before turning my focus on girls. I watched for an hour before I walked to the other section of the manor, where various lessons were being held. I stayed in thepound for another hour before walking out and going back to the establishment. This time, I didn¡¯t go to the establishment and instead, directly went to the circle. It is going well and will open on the same day as the establishment. I toured through the circle, before walking into the spa, which is at the center. Maeve is there, along with a few other people; she is arranging the new spa tools with the technicians. The spa had been an expensive endeavor since the beginning. Now it has be even more expensive and will be even more expensive in the future, but I don¡¯t mind. The benefits the spa had provided had been amazing, and now, with this expansion, it will be even better. ¡°How is the recruitment?¡± I asked. ¡°Going well; I have recruited nearly 90% of the people we need,¡± ¡°I am interviewing some people tomorrow and the day after that. If everything goes well, then we will have the required numbers by the opening,¡± she replied. ¡°Don¡¯t force yourself to recruit people with subpar skills. We will be fine, without the required numbers,¡± I said. ¡°I know, and all the people I recruited are good,¡± she replied, sounding confident. There are over three hundred and fifty girls in the establishment and when it will open. Over two hundred and fifty are going to work. To service these numbers, we need more people in the spa. As I had said, such an endeavor would cost a lot of money, but it also provides many benefits. It is one of the reasons why the establishment does so well. After a tour of the spa, I left the circle and went to the building behind the establishment, where Drev and other chefs were practicing. I have hired more chefs and other staff and looking at things; they are doing well. However, I will only know how good they will do on the day of the opening. To be honest, I am scared of the opening. Everything, every part, needed to be perfect. If there is the slightest mistake on a single part, it is going to mess up everything and will take my reputation with it. It would be disastrous if that were to happen. It is why I want to revert many of these changes, but thankfully, it is toote. I couldn¡¯t revert to the old system, even if I wanted to. Soon, my carriage moved out of the gate and fifteen minutester, entered the gates of another mansion. It is the ce I am renting and currently, there are people working around it. ¡°Adviser,¡± greeted the middle-aged man with ginger hair. ¡°Mr. Ornell, I hope everything is going well?¡± I asked, to which he nodded. ¡°Everything is going well, Mr. Silver,¡± he said and began to show me the preparations he had made so far. I am throwing a party, a birthday party. In three days, this body will be neen. It will be the first party I will be throwing, and I need it to be perfect. Lots of important people are going to attend, not only from the city but also from outside the city. Le wanted to throw it in Castle Radcliff; it would have brought the greater effect, but I wanted to do it in a Greltheaven. I would have done that if not for the big opening one day after my birthday. I didn¡¯t stay in the mansion for long. I looked at the preparations before walking away. My birthday is important, but my business is more important to me. With an experienced event manager like Ornell, I do not need to look at every tiny thing. I rather use that time and energy on business, which could make or break me. From the mansion, I went to my office in the city and began to work in earnest. I began to go through the file after file. There are so many of them, but with Insightful Reading, I am going over them fast; it also helps that the information in the file is clear and concise, without any clutter. It is quite marvelous how Ca and Margaux write the information, with less than a year of experience. Ca especially, didn¡¯t have any experience in the beginning, and even then; she was good. After taking sses, she became as good as the clerk with years of experience. The skills help and I could tell they had used some, but the skills alone aren¡¯t enough. It was around nine when I had gone through the entire files. I had finished sooner than I had expected and now that I had done; I am free to do the real work. Tomorrow, I will interview the new girls; to see who are ready to work. It is not just new girls, but also some old girls who have turned eighteen and want to work. Like all the girls, they have the option to do other things; with the establishment grown, there are many other things they could do, but most have opted to work in business. It is hard to me them when they see how much money their friends are making. Many had started investing with the money they had earned. Buying the properties, precious metals, gems, and other things. Some had earned enough that if they used the money wisely. They could live off it, till they die. ¡°There is a message from Major Jarvis,¡± said Z and I turned to her. ¡°A group of six-eight monsters has attacked, and the monsters in the group were stronger than usual,¡± ¡°Eighteen of them were Grade 2, twenty-seven were Grade 1 and the rest Grade 0,¡± she informed. My expression turned serious. There were only a few days of calm after the monster¡¯s horde before monsters resumed attacking. There were small groups, but every day, there would be an attack. We have been vignt and killed each and every monster, but still, the monster attacks had made us worried. This new message made me even more worried. Usually, when such a big group of monsters attacks. The lowest-grade monsters are in the greatest numbers; it was the same when the horde attacked. There were Grade 0 Monsters in the highest numbers, with Grade 1 in lower and Grade 2 in even lower numbers. And there were only four Grade 3 in over six thousand monsters. Now in this group, there are a greater number of Grade 1 monsters than Grade 0 and the numbers of Grade 2 and Grade 0 are about the same. This is worrying; the greater number of high-grade monsters is never a good thing. It is a sign; we were hoping not to see. ¡°Thank him for the information and ask him to remain vignt,¡± I said. A minuteter, I got out of my office and stepped into the carriage. I am going to the establishment; there are few things for me to do, but most importantly, I am going there to pass the time. Ca will be returning in three hours, and I don¡¯t think I will be able to focus on something important with her being so close. I had missed her a lot and can¡¯t wait to take her into my embrace. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 218: Birthday Chapter 218: Birthday ¡°Happy birthday,¡± said Ca as I opened my eyes. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to her, taking her naked body in my embrace and kissing her lips gently. Today, this body had turned neen. Making it four years and six days since I hade to this world. So much has happened, since then. Especially, the past year, which had been transformative. I still remember a day exactly a year before, when the whole family went to my father''s office to read his will. That day changed my life in more ways than possible. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on a beautiful woman who had climbed over me without leaving my lips. She took my hard cock in hand and ced it over her pussy, before gently sliding down. I could feel her moaning in the kiss as she slowly began to ride me, without breaking the kiss. I matched her rhythm with mine, enjoying every moment slowly. We didn¡¯t say any words, nor did we need to. Our movements were enough tomunicate with each other. An hour passed, and we got out of the shower; there too. We made love with each other. ¡°If you keep looking at me that way, I don¡¯t think we will be able to leave the room before the afternoon,¡± she said, seeing her intentionally wearing her clothes seductively. I hugged her from behind and crooned my nose into her neck, under her thick curly hair, inhaling her addictive fragrance. ¡°I don¡¯t think any better way to spend my birthday than that,¡± I said as I pressed my cock into her, which had once again be hard. ¡°I want it too, but we both have too much work to do,¡± she said as she pressed her ass against my cock, before walking away. I wanted to catch her and pin her against the wall before having my way with her, but she was right. We have too much work to do to spend the entire morning making love. We left the room a minuteter. She went to the mansion where the girls were staying. I looked at preparations for tonight¡¯s party. Everything looked good; Ornell had done a wonderful job. After I finished with it, I went to the establishment, where there were a lot of carriagesing and going, not only in the establishment but also in the circle. Two days ago, they had started to set the furniture and other things. As I walked out of the carriage, I saw Eudo warning the people to be careful with things. He had been here since yesterday morning, busy setting up the studio. It is not just him, but also the chief bartender and Wilkins, the second inmand of Drev. As for where Drev is, he, along with most of the kitchen staff, is in the mansion, preparing for tonight. I didn¡¯t hire the catering and why should I? When I have the best chefs in the city. By evening, everything will be set up and tomorrow, the establishment will open. I didn¡¯t let the nervousness appear on my face and walked inside the establishment. An hourter, I walked out and stepped into the circle. Many think, even among the girls, that I had spent too much on it, given its purpose, but I don¡¯t think I had. I had spent what I needed to spend and got there great result. I hope the people will like it, for whom I made it. After checking the circle, I sat back in my carriage and went to my office. Hours passed, and soon it was ate afternoon when I had pulled into the mansion. It is not the one I live in, but the one where girls live. I havee here for a few minutes before I go back to the manor where I live and prepare for the party, which will start in a few hours. ¡°Happy Birthday, Master Silver,¡± I heard the moment I entered the ballroom, where I saw all the girls. From teens to old, everyone was present in the ballroom, with a big cake in the middle along with the candles. ¡°Thank you, girls,¡± I said after a moment of surprise, with my voice being a little emotional. I had not thought they would do this and to be honest; it made me happier than I had thought it would, seeing all of them gathering and wishing me the birthday. ¡°Come, blow out the candles,¡± said Ca. I nodded and walked toward the huge three-tiered cake, before blowing the candles on it. The girls pped, singing me happy birthday, before Wanda, began to cut the cake into the perfect slices. I ate the cake and talked with the girls. This time, more like a friend rather than the boss, and it made me happy. ¡°This?¡± I asked as Ca pushed a beautifully wrapped small box to me. ¡°Your present from me and the girls,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you,¡± I epted. She looked at me to open it, but I smiled and put it in my pocket. She red, but didn¡¯t say anything. Half an hourter, I left the mansion. I didn¡¯t want to leave, but I had already stayed more than I had nned to. As the carriage moved toward the mansion; I took out the present the girls had given me. I removed the ribbon on top of it and unwrapped it gently. Only to see a delicate jewelry box within. I opened it carefully; only to see a delicate gemmed rose-shaped brooch within. It was so beautiful that I started at it until my carriage reached the mansion before I got out. It was evening, and I had only one and a half hours before the guests started to arrive. I am feeling a little panic, but it was elevated. Seeing the mansion lighting up beautifully. I entered inside and checked the preparations before going to my suit. There, I showered and changed into the new suit, before taking out a jewelry box and wearing the rose brooch. Click! Knock Knock! I was looking in the mirror when the knock rang out on my door. ¡°Come in,¡± I said. The door opened and Eudo walked inside, with Lenore following behind him. ¡°Has she arrived?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, I had just finished with her,¡± he replied, while Lenore set up the make-up box down and opened it before Eudo started on me. I am not a fan of make-up, but today is important and I have to look my best. ¡°Thank you Eudo,¡± I said as he finished with me. The beautiful man smiled and walked away, while I turned to the mirror and looked at a very handsome face. I looked so handsome that, I have never in my life. He had taken me near the realm of beautiful. Knock Knock! I narcissistically admired myself for a few minutes before walking out of the suit and knocking on the one beside mine. ¡°Come in,¡± said the familiar voice, and I entered inside, and I have to say, I am impressed. ¡°You are looking beautiful enough to make even a woman jealous,¡± said Valentina. ¡°You are not looking bad yourself,¡± I said to her. She is a wearing backless satin dress, with a wide cleavage and slit that reaches quite high. Eudo had done a wonderful job on her, that I wish he would have held a little back. ¡°Ready?¡± I asked as I gave her my hand, which she took. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied, and we walked out of the suit. I would have been very much preferred. If it had been Ca in the ce of Valentina, sadly, it was not possible. At least, she will be at the party, with Margaux. A few minutester, we weed our first guest, and a few seconds after another, and then another. I have invited a lot of people, with many of them being important. Time passed, and the important ones begin to appear. ¡°Wee Guildmaster Hardt, Mrs. Hardt,¡± I greeted Damon Hardt and his hot wife. ¡°Thank you for the invitation adviser,¡± said Hardt with a smile, before walking inside. He still hates me, but there is also a hint of respect there, which surprised me. I had not seen that emotion in his eyes before. I quickly cleared my emotions and turned to the next guest. ¡°Wee Baron Homer, Baroness Homer,¡± I wee with a faint bow. ¡°It is our pleasure, Adviser,¡± replied the man. ¡°It seemed like, anyone who is important in Renwell region hade to your party,¡± said Valentina. ¡°Not everyone,¡± I said, and she rolled her eyes. ¡°Even, the Governor of Deerpond and Commander of Dustorn Fortress has sent their representative,¡± she said, and I smiled, a little too brightly. I had sent the invitation to Marquess Gats but didn¡¯t think he would send someone, but the man did. A few more minutes passed and when a surprise appeared on my face when I saw my sister. It was not my sister who surprised me, but the maning with her. I had not thought he would personallye. ¡°Lord ckwell, Baroness Silver, thank you for gracing me with your presence,¡± I greeted them. ¡°Thank you for inviting me, Adviser,¡± he said with a smile. I talked to him, and my sister for a few seconds before they entered inside, and I weed the other guests. Time passed and nearly all the guests arrived except for one, without whom, the part couldn¡¯t stop. He had me wait quite a while before he finally came. ¡°Wee to my humble abode, my Lords,¡± I said and bowed. ¡°I hope your little party won¡¯t be boring, Remus,¡± said Lancel mocking, while ncing at Valentina with lust. He hid those emotions quickly, but I could see he was still feeling them. The bastard feels lust for nearly every woman, but he doesn¡¯t act on it. He considers it beneath him to try against any woman, who doesn¡¯t have noble blood. ¡°I promise you will not be bored, my lord,¡± I said and took the father and son inside with Valentina. All the eyes turned to us as I led them to the ballroom before I walked to the stage. ¡°Thank you, everyone, for making this special day even more special with your presence,¡± ¡°It is a great honor for me to have you all in my humble home and share¡­¡± I continued with speed; I kept it small, but even the small speech, need tost for at least five minutes. ¡°Hope you will enjoy this night and impart to me with wisdom, as I grow the year older,¡± I finished, bringing the smile to the faces of people. I got onto the stage and joined Valentina, before starting to mingle; the first was, of course, Count Darrow, who was talking with Ignatius and representative of Marquess Gats. I talked with them for a few minutes, before turning to the other guests and then the other. An expert host never lets any guest feel left out; making each one feel special is a mark of a great host and while I may, not be as good, I am close. I am not able to make some people, like a priest of the god of war andmander Atticus, feel special, as there is not the slightest bit of change in their hate for me. ¡°Adviser, once again, thank you for inviting me,¡± said a beautiful woman with a lithe figure. ¡°It was my pleasure, Miss Salt,¡± I said to Lena, who was talking to me, but her eyes were on Valentina, with pain in the eyes of their both. A beautiful world can be so cruel. Soon, I went to Ca and Margaux, who were talking with merchants from Owlspring. I introduced them to a couple of people before mingling with more guests. Hours passed, and before I knew it, the guests began to leave one by one, till only two of us remained. ¡°It went better than I imagined,¡± I said as I bid farewell to thest guest. ¡°You have thrown a great party, especially food. Everybody was praising it,¡± said Valentina. ¡°Let¡¯s hope, they will sing the same tune tomorrow,¡± said to which she smiled. ¡°Come, it is time. I give you, your present,¡± she said. ¡°You really don¡¯t have to,¡± I said, but she just gave me a look. I thought the present was outside, but no, it is not. We sat in the carriage, and it moved; I had asked her about it, but she didn¡¯t say anything. So, I remained quiet as the carriage moved toward the entertainment district. It stopped in front of the establishment, and without her saying anything, I saw my present. ¡°Do you like it?¡± she asked, looking at me hopefully. ¡°I love it,¡± I replied. It is really beautiful. Visit and read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 219: Sacrifice Ritual Chapter 219: Sacrifice Ritual It was dark when I woke up. The stars are still twinkling, and the two moons are still in the sky. I looked at the clock and saw it was half an hour to dawn. Today is the day of opening. Thinking about it, a big smile appeared on my face. I looked at Valentina, sleeping on the sofa, and couldn¡¯t help but shake my head. I had asked her many times to sleep on the bed and I will take the sofa, but she didn¡¯t listen. I looked at her for a moment, before slowly getting up and walking to the bathroom, trying not to make any sound. I came out of the bathroom and changed into the suit, before stepping out of the room. Fifteen minutester, the carriages stopped in front of the establishment which was bereft of any mist. In the faint light of dawn, I could see the beautiful pink and cream pastel color building and the one that made it even more beautiful was the golden and silver carvings on it. It is so beautiful. In front of the mansion is an enormous fountain of lustrous ck stone. In the center of the fountain were three beautiful women, looking in three directions with longing eyes. This is Valentina¡¯s gift, and it¡¯s beautiful, better than the one I selected. It makes the establishment lookplete. Unlike yesterday, there is no hub-hub around the establishment. Everything had been set up yesterday; the only thing we need to do is wee patrons. There are also no people inside the establishment. There is no requirement for not having people inside for what I am nning to do next, but it is better that no one is present there. I am nning on doing something. I have barely had any knowledge and don¡¯t know what will happen during it, but it was something, I felt would help me a lot. I walked into the establishment and saw itpletely changed from a month ago. It looked amazing in pastel walls and huge dwarf crafted chandeliers, that will light up in a beautiful light. They had cost me a lot, but they are worth every penny. I didn¡¯t look around for more than a few seconds before walking underground, where I saw Caena waiting for me. ¡°Is everything ready?¡± I asked, feeling nervous about what I was nning to do. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied solemnly and began to walk. I am doing the sacrifice ritual. I have found out a few things about it, which helped me make the decision about it. However, that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t have reservations; I have a lot of them. The magic of witches isn¡¯t as simple as mages; it isplex, and a few could do it. It is a magic that is older than the system that governs the world. Something, even the monsters of incursions fear, and most countries of the kingdom keep a tight lid on it. Click! She opened the door, and we walked inside the room. In the room, there is a big circle made of symbols or script I didn¡¯t recognize using herbs, flowers, roots, crystals, and other things. In the center of the circle, there is a small triangle made of the same things, with unfamiliar symbols, and the center of the triangle is a small familiar thing. It is the core of the abomination I had faced in the dungeon of Navr. ¡°Please sit here, Master Silver,¡± he said, pointing toward the tip of the triangle. I nodded and carefully entered the circle before sitting in front of the tip of the circle while she sat on the other side. ¡°I have a question; I would be grateful if you would answer it?¡± I asked her. ¡°If I know the answer, I will do it,¡± she replied. ¡°Why sacrifice ritual? What not use the merging ritual?¡± I asked, and a smile appeared on her face. ¡°A good question, Master Silver.¡± ¡°The reason we are not using it is because of the core we are using,¡± she said and looked at the core. ¡°This core is produced in ce, which had the influence of a powerful incursion race. Every speck of it contains their mark and while purification had removed 99.999% of them, a trace has remained,¡± ¡°If we use the merging ritual and if it seeds; the establishment will inherit those traces,¡± ¡°The sacrifice is much safer; we are sacrificing through the world as the catalyst. It will wipe every trace of foreign influence, leaving only pure magic to amalgamate with the establishment, which is what we want.¡± She exined. I nodded a minute after a few seconds of silence, feeling much more relieved than I was a few minutes ago. Traces of incursion are bad. I have read enough in my research to know the things it could do. It is why anything that came out of an incursion dungeon is purified. It is said that as long as anything is 90% purified; it is harmless, but Caena, unwilling to have even 0.001 trace of it. ¡°So, what do I have to do?¡± I asked. ¡°You have brought the needle, right?¡± she asked back, and I had brought out the needle as she had asked me a few days ago; it was the only thing she had asked me to bring for this ritual. ¡°Pierce it on your finger and drop the blood on the ck crystal,¡± she instructed. I nodded and pierced my finger with the needle. After a slight pain, a drop of blood came out, and I dropped it on the tip of the triangle, where the ck crystal was. Nothing happened as the drop of blood fell on the crystal. I looked at Caena and saw her looking at me with a smile. I opened my mouth, but closed a momentter and decided to wait. I didn¡¯t have to wait for long before I noticed the signs of something happening. The core, which was lying in the center, moved, and it started to melt rapidly until itpletely turned into a liquid. That liquid moved toward the small triangle, seeping into every herb, flower, crystal, and everything else, till no sign of it had remained. It surprised me, but I didn¡¯t do anything and just watched, but unfortunately, nothing happened for several minutes. Once again, I was about to ask her what would happen when I saw the smokeing out of the triangle and this smoke, instead of spreading into the whole room, moved toward the circle and began to enter inside it. Hun! I was watching it when I noticed another thing. The small triangle is turning to ashes. It is not just flowers and roots, but crystals and gems, too. The more smoke came out of them, the things would turn into ashes. A surprising thing about all is that there is no heat, not even the slightest. I took my hand closer to it but felt nothing. A little more than ten minutester, the whole triangle had turned into ashes and all the smoke had been absorbed into the circle. Dhub! I looked at the circle and wondered what would happen with it when I got the scare of life when the whole circle burst into me. It is not a normal fire, but a zing fire. I turned to Caena, only to see her looking at me calmly, with a small smile on her face. I opened my mouth to ask her what was happening because the fire was dangerous and since we were underground; it was even more dangerous. ¡°Wh,¡± I had barely let out a word when I felt my vision cking; the darkness appeared in front of my eyes. I felt the panic seeping in, but before it could fully manifest; I saw something mesmerizing appear in front of me. A globe, no, a sun? It looked like a sun and seemed to contain all the colors in the world. It had just materialized when I saw thin faint stringsing out of it. There are twenty-four of them and they felt like long, with knots twinkling on them. I had barely taken a look at these twenty-four strings when I saw more strings appearing one after another, at a fast speed. These strings are much smaller than twenty-four strings, but they have far more twinkling knots in them. For several seconds, countless strings materialized before finally stopping. I don¡¯t know what it is I am seeing. Whether it is a hallucination or reality or something that I couldn¡¯t understand. However, one thing is clear. I am feeling a genuine connection to it at my deepest level. I could feel the changing color and I felt like I would be able to feel it, even if I closed my eyes. I was looking at the marvel in front of me when a thick ck and white smoke materialized out of nowhere and began to seep into the sun. There was a huge amount of smoke, and it rapidly went into the sun and a couple of minutester, it hadpletely gone inside. There is no change to the sun or strings with twinkling knots, but I felt my connection to it seemed to have gotten a lot stronger. Hun! I was feeling this stronger connection when I felt everything in front of me disappearing. ¡®No!¡¯ I screamed, willing it to stop, but it didn¡¯t, and everything turned dark before the light appeared in front of my eyes. I have returned to the real world from wherever I had gone and instead of sitting. I found myself lying on the ground, with a circle surrounding me in ashes. I looked around before getting up and saw Caena sitting in the same position as she had been earlier. ¡°Has it seeded?¡± I asked, to which she smiled. ¡°You know the answer to that question better than me,¡± she replied. Hun! ¡°It seeded,¡± I said and immediately noticed something. The feeling I get from the establishment bes much clearer. I could sense it, more clearly, and could even feel the facets of it, which I couldn¡¯t before. Like the sun, I felt it is made of different things, and maybe those ever-changing colors of the sun represented this. I wanted to tell Caena about what I saw but felt like it was not time. I had to understand this thing first before I could talk about it with her. For Advanced Chapters: Chapter 220: New Madam Chapter 220: New Madam Caena Click! The door opened, and we walked into Master Silver¡¯s new office; it was slightly bigger than the old one with a beautiful interior. The table and chairs are elvish made. They are green-blue and look amazing against the creamy pastel walls. It is a really beautiful office and the thing that makes it even better is the huge window, from which the whole view of the gate and road can be seen. The ss is reinforced and enchanted. It could protect but also magnify. It is not the only office on the floor; there are two more offices and while they are small. They are just as beautiful; that I wish one of them would be mine. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have a chance. One belongs to Madam Ca and other to the Madam Margaux. The assistant madams have got their own offices, but they are in the basement. I have seen the offices and hope I will get to choose the one I want. ¡°Take a seat, Caena,¡± he said as he sat down. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± I said as I sat down and looked at him. There must be something for him to call me into his office and, for some reason, I couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous about it. ¡°As you know, all the girls will need to sign the new contract today,¡± he said and took out the contract. ¡°Here is your contract,¡± he added and slid toward me. I took the contract, hoping there wouldn¡¯t be many changes. Hun! I activated the Fast Reading and started to read it; within a second, I was shocked, but that shock was nothing in front of what I had gotten a few seconds after that when I read the privileges. I had not thought he would give this to me. This early. ¡°This?¡± I asked, looking at him in shock. ¡°I want you to be Madam of the establishment,¡± he stated. It is not what I had been asking about. Though it was the thing, that shocked me first. ¡°What about Madam Margaux?¡± I asked. ¡°She had resigned. She wants to take the responsibilities of the circle,¡± he replied. Now, it all started to make sense. In this past month, Madam Margaux handed me quite a lot of responsibilities, more than she had given to the assistant madams. The responsibilities had made me a little angry, seeing I wasn¡¯t able to give the time, I hoped to give to crafting the ritual charms. She has been training me by giving me all those responsibilities. However, I am still shocked. There are women more qualified for this job than me, like Dell, L, Andrea, and others. I didn¡¯t ask about them. I would have, if the privilege hadn¡¯t been involved, but it is, and I want it. I am sure, he would have thought about all the candidates before offering the job to me. I will not disrespect him by asking the question. I finished reading the contract and took the pen. ¡°You don¡¯t have to sign it immediately,¡± he said. I smiled and began to sign the contract. There is no way I would give him time to change his mind. I love the position he is offering, but more than that, I want that privilege. I have been trying for it, since the day I came to this ce and now, I will have it. I signed my name on thest page, and the moment I did, I felt the contract clicked. More than that, I felt an even bigger change, full of magic. If there had been another witch standing beside me; she would have been shocked by seeing what was happening around me. I felt the establishment truly epting me, by the order of its lord. I could feel the resistance to me disappearing; more importantly, I could feel its power and know I could use some of that power. The contract gives me the privilege to use 1% of the power of the establishment. There are twenty-eight conditions attached to it for purposes which I couldn¡¯t use, but I don¡¯t mind as not any condition stopped me from doing what I am doing. Even my personal project is for the benefit of the lord of the establishment. I had dreamed about this power, and now I have it. Witches dreamed about it but could never get their hand in such power. If a coven has ess to such power, they could do things that will give their enemies the nightmare. Now I will wield this, and I wanted to use it immediately, but I controlled myself and turned to the person who had given me this power. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver. I will not let down the trust you have shown to me," I said to him, bowing deeply. The gesture seemed to surprise him, but he quickly controlled his emotions. ¡°Go, then, and see the preparations. We need today to be perfect.¡± He instructed. ¡°As you wish, Master Silver,¡± I said and got up and was about to leave the office, but stopped. ¡°They have arrived,¡± he said. Seeing the line of carriages on the street, moving toward the circle. Today, we all are moving into a new home. Speaking of which, now that I am a Madam, I will get one of the big three suites. There are three suits on the top floor with the best view and the interior. One is for Madam Ca, the second one is for the headmistress, the head of the circle, and the third is for the madam of the establishment. Now, being Madam; I will not only have the office on the top floor of the establishment but also the best suit. I looked at the carriages for a second more before walking out of the office. I have a lot of things to do. The first is meeting Drev and Stavad. Till yesterday, we were equal. From today, I am their boss, and it couldn¡¯t help but put a smile on my face. Soon, I reached the first floor and walked toward the kitchen, which was running at full force. We haven¡¯t done a soft opening for the new system, but girls areing here in one and a half hours. They will sign the new contracts and eat. There will be a few rounds of practice, but it will be done on the three floors above. The first floor is for apletely different purpose. There won¡¯t be any girls involved in it. I had just entered the kitchen when I saw Stavad, and he was with Drev. They seem to be discussing something. Drev is the one who referred to Stavad; he used to work with him, in the restaurant he burned down. They noticed me and stopped talking, before walking toward me. ¡°Boss,¡± they said in unison. ¡°You know?¡± I asked in surprise. ¡°Mr. Silver informed us yesterday that he will be offering you the position and looking at the smile on your face, you seemed to have epted it,¡± replied Stavad, in his drawling voice. Stavad is a man in histe thirties, with an average face and build, but an amazing voice. So much so that when Madam Ca first talked to him, it was a warning to not seduce any girls. We had hired him a few weeks ago. He will be the manager of the first floor. ¡°Well, since that is out of the way, then let¡¯s get down to the business,¡± I said and led them out and sat down at one of the tables. ¡°Do you have everything you need, Drev? Anything you need, tell me now?¡± I asked to which, he shook his head. ¡°I have everything I need, boss,¡± he replied. I nodded and turned to Stavad. ¡°How is your staff?¡± I asked. ¡°They are good, you will see them working like a fine-oiled machine in an hour,¡± he said, sounding quite confident. ¡°Still, we will go over a few things,¡± I said and took out the list from my purse. A few minutester, they left. I remained at the table, thinking about all the things I had to do. Instead of doing them. I got up and walked into the basement. I couldn¡¯t control myself. If I didn¡¯t test the power, I wouldn¡¯t be able to work in peace. Even when I was talking to those two, all I have been thinking about is the power that is around me. I have to test the power, the things I could do with it. Click! Soon, I opened the door and went inside, before stopping middle of it. I raised my hand and willed the emotion present everywhere around me into my hand and they did, without any resistance. Seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. A momentter, I calmed my emotions and willed the spell to materialize through my craft. Hun? A secondter, surprise appeared on my face when I didn¡¯t feel the spell materialize. I tried again with more focus, but once again, nothing happened. So, I tried again and again, but every time I tried, nothing happened. ¡°What is happening?¡± I asked myself before suddenly my eyes lit up with understanding. ¡°I am such an idiot,¡± I cursed and wanted to hit myself. In my excitement, to try the power, I forgot one of the main principles of witchcraft. I looked at the emotions, gathered in my palm, and poured an equal amount of emotions into my palm from my own reserves. The establishment is closed, but that doesn¡¯t mean, I can¡¯t harvest emotions. I had to meet a lot of people due to my responsibilities and many harbor the lust toward me. I had harvested it and while it is not as much as I get in the establishment; it is still enough for me to do some experiments here. As I did that, the fireball appeared in my hand. ¡°As expected,¡± I said, seeing the yellow fireball in my hand. The 1% power is huge, but it couldn¡¯t be used directly. It would go against the nature of witchcraft. I have to provide something of mine to use this power and it puts a smile on my face, instead of disappointing me. Because, if this ce, ever turned to a legacy. It will be terror. I dispelled the fireball and, a couple of secondster; the wind de appeared in my hand, and a few seconds after that, the earth spike. We, the witches, are capable of casting any spell that mages could, but due to the nature of our magic, we couldn¡¯t fight on the frontline like mages do. Unlike them, we have to harness our power from emotions, and while we have mana, we need emotions to power our craft. If we deplete the harvested emotion, the mana will be useless to us. There is also slowness of spells and many other things. It is why witches focused more on rituals and charms. They are the things, that work on a much more subtle level than the spells and are harder to defend again, than putting a simple shield in front of you. I tried a few more spells before taking out the ritual charm from my pocket. I had a thought, with increased responsibilities, I wouldn¡¯t be able to create the number of charms I thought I would, but I did. The responsibilities seemed to have strangely made me better at crafting them. Likely because of all the mental strain I had to endure, managing these girls. From today, it will increase even more than now I will have to handle the whole establishment, every aspect of it. It is stressing me, but also making me feel excited. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the task at hand. Charging the ritual charm. I did what I had done earlier and gathered emotions from the establishment and merged the equal amount of what I had harnessed before pouring it into the charm. It worked and within seconds; I had finished charging the charm, the fastest, I had ever done. Now, not only I will be able to charge the charms with half of the harnessed power, but it will also help me during the crafting. Power is not only required when charging the charm but also during the crafting. If creating ritual charms would have been just bending off flowers and vines and adding crystals and herbs, I would have created hundreds of them daily, instead of five or six. I wouldn¡¯t have been so tired too. I wanted to charge more ritual charm, but I was nearly empty. I didn¡¯t have much to begin with, and most went to spell and the charging of ritual took nearly all that was left. I am not disappointed. The moment in the evening arrives; I won¡¯t have a problem filling my reserves and charging these charms. It put a smile on my face, but also increased the pressure to make the evening as perfect as possible. ¡®I will be,¡¯ I said to myself and walked out of the room to make the preparation for the experience that patrons would talk about for days. For Advanced Chapters Visit Chapter 221: Utsa Chapter 221: Utsa Barb ¡°I am excited,¡± I heard the fifth time in ten minutes since we had left the mansion. ¡°I know you are excited, little girl, but can you keep it quiet? I am feeling a headache here,¡± I said to the bubbly orc-blood girl. ¡°Maybe, you shouldn¡¯t have drunk so muchst night, then Barb,¡± replied the girl, and a tired smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face, hearing that. ¡°It is not drinking that giving me the headache, little girl, but not drinking it,¡± I replied, before turning to them. ¡°By any chance, do you have anything in your purses? It is fine if it is a sip or two?¡± I asked, looking at them hopefully, but all I got was disappointment, seeing them shaking their heads. It was a bad decision to send all my stock, along with my stuff,st night. I thought I would pilfer some from the party and I nearly did, till that girl Mena confiscated the bottles from me. Saying it is a property of the establishment; I could drink it at a party but not take it away with me. I had drunk it a lot, but the effects had disappeared by the morning, even with the skill, and the headache returned. Now, I wish this carriage would move faster. So, I could reach the circle sooner and get my hands on my stuff. However, I am also a little excited about the circle. I tried to get a look at it but was shooed away. In the past three months, aside from Madam and assistant Madams, nobody was able to look at what was happening inside. Though, I heard quite a lot of things, and the more I heard, the more excited, I could be. However, my excitement is nothing in front of the girls around me, who are talking loudly about it. Some are so loud that my headache begins to worsen. The only one who is silent among them is a girl named Bell. She was silent as usual, focusing on knitting, which she seemed to hate as well as love. Thankfully, the journey ended quickly as the carriage passed through the gates and stopped in front of the circle. Immediately, we began toe out of the carriage, and within a second, all twelve of us stepped out. ¡°It is so beautiful and big. It didn¡¯t seem so big when it was covered in all those clothes,¡± said Cath, with a voice filled with awe, I couldn¡¯t help but nod. It is really beautiful in a bold kind of way. The cream-colored building, but the more one looks, the more good it feels. However, the best thing about it is its shape; the circr shape looks good and those huge windows add a unique charm to it. I hope no one would jump from them, especially from the upper floor, where even high stats in vitality wouldn¡¯t be able to save them. I looked at the building for a minute before joining the girls, lined up in front of the huge iron gate of the circle. In front of the gate is Margaux, with Ca and Dell at her left and right. She looked at all the girls in front of her, over three and a half hundred of us. ¡°Wee to the circle girls,¡± she weed with a smile and the gates behind her opened. She turned and walked inside, and we followed behind, already awed by what we had seen through the door. Gasp Gasp I passed through the iron doors and immediately heard multiple gaps. I was barely able to stop myself from gasping, seeing what I was seeing. The outside was nothingpared to what we are seeing inside. Inside the building, I saw the wide walkway lines with beautiful marble and big columns. Transparent elevators that will take one to any floor. Though the girls barely nced at them, as everyone focused on something truly beautiful. There is a beautiful garden in the center, with trees, colorful wines, and charming flowers. It is all made beautiful by a drizzle of water from above and multiple ponds on the ground. ¡°Are those bridges?¡± asked Bell in surprise, looking above. It was the first time I had seen her showing surprise at anything. When she pointed; I looked up and couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. ¡°It seems like it,¡± I said in awe. There are freaking bridges here, made of colorful vines and wood. ¡°Are those bridges real, Madam Margaux?¡± asked a young girl of fifteen, whose name I couldn¡¯t remember. ¡°Yes, dear, they are real,¡± she replied with a smile, drawing out another round of gasps. ¡°The bridges will be really helpful. Instead of walking the whole walkway, we could simply go to the other side through these bridges,¡± said Bell beside me. Hearing that, my eyes lit up. I thought, they were only for design, but it seemed like they have convenience too. ¡°And these ponds, Madam Margaux?¡± asked Gloria. ¡°They are not for the show either; they are swimming pools,¡± she said and a secondter, a couple of young girls rang toward the ponds, while removing their clothes. Margaux raised her hand, and opened her mouth to say something, but closed it a momentter and shook her head. Seeing girls jumping in the ponds, a couple of more girls moved, including the orc-blood girl Rexy beside me. She tried to pull her friend, but she declined. I looked at them for a few seconds before looking at the building in the center of the garden. With all the trees, it is quite hidden, but one could still see it and from little what I could see, it seemed like it would be a real gem of the circle. The spa. ¡°The circle will be our residence and the ce of learning. It is equipped with a very modern facility, that one would need,¡± said Margaux. ¡°You already received the cards, on which there is something printed below your names, in which is your room number.¡± ¡°The first number is the floor on which you will live; the other two numbers after the name of the rooms or hall. Some of your cards will have a letter after this and that is your room,¡± she exined. Barb Utsa 04-22-B I took out the card and looked at it like all the girls were doing. We received it yesterday and asked to memorize the text or keep it with us till we reached the circle. ¡°Explore the ce, but at eleven we will have to go to the establishment to sign the new contracts,¡± she said and walked toward the elevator with Ca and De. I wanted to use the elevator too; I had never used those things in my life, but seeing everyone running toward it, I decided to explore the other ces. There is a lot to explore. The building is a five-story stall covering arge area and lots of rooms. Which are not only to live but also to learn. The ground floor is for the teens, who are not working, while the second, third, and fourth floors are for the working girls or those who will work in a few months. There are also two restricted sections covering all the floors in the north and south. They have their own entrances, stairs, and elevators. The northern academic section and the southern academic section. The northern academic section is the mage area, where the magic would be taught, while the southern academic section is where all non-magical sses would be held. The teachers woulde through the separate entrances and would be forbidden to leave those sections and enter the residential area. There are strong-looking guards to enforce those boundaries. If the railings and the signs are not enough. I was able to see the southern academic section, with all types of teaching rooms, that brought tears to the eyes of girls, including mine, while the northern academic section was restricted, even to the girls with magic. It will open from tomorrow, but only to girls with magical talent. The spa is also restricted, but it will open at ten. It was kind of sad, as I wanted to look inside. It was the most beautiful building I had ever seen. It seems to be made wholly of mirrors and crystals and shaped like a tower. When I went back to the elevator, there was a lot less crowd. However, some girls are still ying with it, going up and down, like little kids. Even after experiencing so much, they still have some innocence remaining in them. I couldn¡¯t help but feel envois of that. I entered the elevator hesitantly, and the young girl tapped on the button. The elevator moved as the energy screen covered the energy. It¡¯s movement was so smooth that I barely felt it moving. A few secondster, it stopped on the floor above and some girls came out and it moved again and stopped on the floor. It stopped at each floor, before stopping at the fourth floor. ¡°Sister Barb,¡± called the young girl, and I hastily got out. The door of the elevator closed a momentter as it moved ahead, while I looked ahead of me. I stayed on the spot for a moment before walking out. Looking at the numbers on each door and also the garden, which looked as beautiful, from above, as it is from below. Soon, I reached the door with ¡®22¡¯ stamped above and pressed the handle. Click! It opened smoothly, and I entered inside into the room. The room is beautiful with sofas and tables and even a bookshelf, but what attracted my eyes is the five doors on three sides marked, A, B, C, D and E. There is also one ¡®Bathroom¡¯ written on it. I looked at them, before walking to door B. I tried opening it, but it was locked, seeing that a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face and I took out the key. The card isn¡¯t the only thing we have receivedst night, as it was the key. Click! I inserted the key and heard the clicking sound. A momentter, I pushed open the door and saw the most beautiful room I had ever seen in my life. It is slightly bigger than my old room had a beautiful white bed, a cupboard, and a table to study with two chairs. Though, the thing, that attracted my eyes was the widow. It is big and gives a clear view of the establishment and everything around it. The view couldn¡¯t help but bring a smile to my face, but I also felt myself tearing up. ¡°I need a drink,¡± I said to myself and walked up to the cupboard and opened it. As I had expected, all my stuff was here, but my eyes fell to the bottom, where my precious things were. I do not have any hobbies, except for drinking. Though, I wouldn¡¯t say it is a hobby, to me it is medicine. I had gained that ss roughly ten months ago, and in just ten months, I took my Drinker ss to Lv. 11. It is a shocking speed that would have shocked anyone, but here, it would only bring a mild surprise. There have been many girls, who have gained ssesing here and took them higher than me. I looked at bottles; nearly every type of liquor is there, from wine to whisky to beer, and they are not cheap. I may be a drunkard, but I dislike the cheap stuff. Thankfully, I have a good supplier, who brought them for me at a wholesale price. Without that girl Ina, I would have been spending a lot more on them, than I should. I took out the round bottle with amber liquid and opened the cap before taking a sip directly from the bottle. I felt the velvety rum touch my tongue, bringing the taste of caramel with a fruity hint from behind. I kept it in my mouth for a few seconds, before gulping and activating Lasting Intoxication as it hit my stomach. I closed the bottle and sat on the chair by the window, feeling the burn and intoxication that came with it. It is a pretty hard rum, and I shouldn¡¯t drink it neat, but I like it. I felt the rxation seeping into me, and the headache disappearing. As long as I remember, I had a headache. Sometimes it used to be so much worse, that I wanted to die. I had tried once when I was young but was saved by Ca¡¯s mother. I tried everything to heal it with the means I had, but nothing seemed to work, even a healing potion brought with months of savings, was useless. Some medicines did work, but they made me feelpletely different; I didn¡¯t like them one bit, but took them for years. They were the only thing, that made the headache go away. I tried alcohol, but it also didn¡¯t work. Maybe it was because of cheap stuff, I drank or something else. Now, I do not feel any headache as long as I have a drink in my stomach. Today was the first day, I had felt the headache in over three months, and it was due to my own mistake. It made me wish that I hade to this ce sooner. Iugh, thinking it; I am part of the first group. There was no one before me, even Master Silver, who came here months after I did. I wanted to take another sip, but I didn¡¯t. The Lasting Intoxication will keep a headache away for hours and I need to be conscious as possible when I sign the new contract. Though I wouldn¡¯t have drunk, even if there was no contract to sign. To me, alcohol is a way to control my affliction. A medicine; I won¡¯t let it be a vice. I have seen how it destroys people, and my own loved ones have been destroyed by it. I will not let it destroy me, just when I have found joy in this worthless life of mine. Not satisfied. Click on PATREONfor More Chapters. Chapter 222: The Day Chapter 222: The Day "Father, have you seen this?" said Lancel angrily as she put a bunch of newspapers in front of his father. "I had heard about Remus making covert invitations in his part yesterday, but putting it in the newspaper is too much." He is clearly angry, but also happy. This is a great opportunity to teach Remus a lesson. He did something that deserved punishment and this time, he wouldn''t be able to talk his way out of it. The Count didn''t even look at papers and instead turned to his son. "I know, Remus had asked me permission for it a few days ago," his father replied, surprising him. "You knew, and you let it happen?" he asked incredulously, not daring to believe his father let such a distasteful thing happen. "Son, sometimes you need to do things you don''t like." "Remus is an asset. He excelled at every task we had given to him, done it better than we could have imagined," "He never asked for much, but when did, I epted, even when I didn''t like, what he had asked. It is the way you keep the people loyal to yourself," he said and Lancel opened his mouth to object, but closed it a momentter. "Well, it didn''t matter, even if he posted on the newspaper. No respecting people would go to the brothel for that, much less take their wives," he muttered. The Count didn''t say anything to his son''s words, but there was a small smile on his face and a little bit of curiosity in his eyes. ¡­ Arlina "Are you really taking me to the brothel?" I said as I readied myself in a mirror, with my heart beating with trepidation. It could change things. We could be a social pariah and it will affect our life and our business where we have poured all our savings in. It is fine for men to go to the brothel; nobody would bat an eye. A woman going there is an absolute taboo and a crime. If husband and wife both went there, then they would be social outcasts, and nobody would even look at that. That is the lightest of punishment; the gravest would be arrested by the church. Once that happened, there was no release or redemption. I heard there are even grey robes in the city. "We are not going to a brothel, we are going to a different establishment, which is on the first floor." "It is even a separately registered business and respectful one, that even newspapers have written about it," said Galen, pointing to three newspapers at the table. "Do we really have to go?" I asked, with desperation seeping into my voice. "We don''t have any choice, dear. You were there with me when Silver invited us,". Said Galen, and sighed in helplessness. "He didn''t say that clearly," I said, trying onest time, pleading. Going there could destroy us. "He implied it heavily," he replied, before walking toward me and cing a hand on my shoulder. "We cannot afford to anger Silver. He is the reason, we are receiving so much business, and if he wished, it could disappear, just as quickly," he said softly, and I shuddered. "I know," I said and got up. I know the consequences. It is the reason why, I bought the new dress and readied myself. My words were just venting; there was no choice. It was decided the moment Silver invited us yesterday. I had heard that he was the reason Mr. Carlson had postponed his son''s birthday party, which was today. "Let''s go," he said. We stepped out of the room and walked down the stairs. We were about to walk out of the door when we suddenly stopped and turned, where two children aged eleven and sixing at us. Both of them had inherited their father''s coppery hair and blue eyes from me. "My apologies Mr. Harlow, Mrs. Harlow. I had asked them to prepare before their tutor came, but they wanted to say goodbye to you two first," said Martha,ing from behind. We had hired her two weeks ago. We wanted to hire a nanny before, but couldn''t afford to. "It is fine, Lilian," said Jonas, while I turned to the children. "Mom and Dad are going to the party. We will try to return soon, but it could bete," I said to them and kissed their cheeks. I feel guilty for not being present for one more dinner. A few months ago, there was barely any invitation to any parties, but since the contract from the city, our fortunes have changed. We had even been invited to parties at nobles. "Goodbye mom, dad," they said. We said our byes and walked out of the door and stepped into the carriage waiting outside. We own a small construction business. We had been here for nearly two years, arriving a year before the city''s inauguration. Even in the small city, thepetition was fierce. We were at our end, two and a half months ago, nning to sell everything we had to pay our loans and return to where we came from. Everything changed with the tender. Galen didn''t even want to take part, knowing only bigpanies would gain it, even if it was an auction. I still sent him, not because I thought there would be a chance, we would get it. I didn''t even think we would get it; only bigpanies get state contracts or those with connections, like Valentina r. I had sent him because it would be a ce where all the representative medium and big construction businesses would gather, and Galen could talk to them about selling the business. It is very hard to get an appointment for those people. Galen wasn''t able to make a deal to sell the business, but he was able to meet other small-business owners and formed a consortium with them to submit the proposal for the tender. The proposal which I had created. After that, a miracle happened. The consortium got the contract and while we had barely made any money through it. The exposure we had gotten due to it, helped usnd more contracts. Three months ago, there was a single project in our hands, now there are fourteen of them. Nine in the baronies and five in the city. We had a meeting tomorrow. If it goes well, then we will have three more projects. It all happened because of Silver. A bastard of the powerful house of Silver, who was thrown away here in the boundary city. Many thought he would fade away with his brothel, but in just a year, he had be one of the most powerful people in the city. Some even say he was most powerful after the Count and his son. More powerful than Commander Atticus, Damon Hardt, and even the priest of God of War. It doesn''t sound preposterous. Seeing everything he seemed to touch turned to gold, and he was powerful as well. Fighting undead and even monsters. The thing is, he is powerful, which means if he is angry, he wouldn''t have any problem destroying us. All he would need was a single word, and we will be finished. That is why, we can''t afford to get him angry and go to a brothel, that could potentially destroy us. "Rx, love, we are not the only ones who are going. I have talked to others earlier and they are alsoing," said Jonas, taking my hands in his. "Let''s hope so," I said, pressing his hand tightly. I turned to the window, watching the scenery pass by, marveling at how fast the city had been changing. When we arrived at the city two years ago, there was barely anything in this area, now, it is lined with houses and stores. The city is growing at an amazing fast speed, and one couldn''t help but dream about their future in it. Unfortunately, the city didn''t have a future. When we came here, we had already decided when we will leave. We are going to stay in the city for six years before leaving. Two years have nearly passed and four more have remained. There will be no change in that. The safety of our children and us matters most to us, more than business or anything in the world. I hope we will earn enough in the four years to settle anywherefortably. If we continue to get the business as we are right now, we might be able to. A few minutes passed, and the carriage entered the entertainment district and, once again, my heart started to beat wildly. "Darling, look," said Galen, pointing toward the purple carriage from his side of the window. I looked at him with an arched brow. "That carriage belongs to Vice-Guildmaster Soren," he informed. "And you think he is going in there?" I asked. "He might be, I heard he had a good rtionship with Silver," he said, sounding hopeful, but I had just rolled my eyes. Vice-Guild master Soren is a powerful man. He wouldn''t risk his reputation going there and was powerful enough that Silver wouldn''t be able to do much of anything to him. Still, I continued watching the carriage and saw it moving in the same direction as ours. Seconds passed and turned to the minutes, but the carriage moved with ours and soon, we reached near the brothel of Silver. "It is quite a beautiful building, especially those colors," said Jonas. I couldn''t help but nod. I hade to this road many times and was always impressed with the building and colors. Now, it had be even more beautiful; no wonder it attracts the men like moths. If I had been a man, I would want toe here too. I mean, who wouldn''t want to be in thepany of beautiful women? I pushed that thought where it came, along with so many others, that I had been suppressing for years and focused on the building. The doors are still closed, but there are a lot of carriages waiting and now, our carriage will join it, along with Vice-Guildmaster Soren. Our carriage reached as close as the gate could before moving to the park when the doors of the brothel began to open. Immediately, all the carriages begin to move toward it. Not satisfied. Click on PATREON belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 223: Gates Open Chapter 223: Gates Open ¡°Open the gates,¡± Caena ordered right at six with a big smile on her face. ¡°She seemed quite happy saying it,¡± said Ca. ¡°It is something only Madam¡¯s could say and since it is her first day, she is excited to say it,¡± added Margaux with a smile. I didn¡¯t say anything and watched Caena leave the floor after speaking a few words to Stavad. The first floor is different. It is not part of the brothel; it is what I had said to invite the people. It is a very much part of it, not the brothel, but of the establishment. I had invited a lot of people, not because I wanted the patrons. No, I already have them, seeing how the establishment bes full in less than half an hour. Even with more girls, I wouldn¡¯t have that problem. I have done that because I want to expand my clientele. I want to reach the people who would never step into the brothel and women. Though, that will be a challenge. Some mighte with their husband today because I had invited them, but it is hard to say whether they wille on their own. It will be dependent upon the experience they receive. Let¡¯s hope, all the preparations work as they should, and the rest should be handled by the charms. Caena watched till the gates opened before going upstairs. The first floors aren¡¯t for the girls or Madam. It will be under her, but she will not be able to show her face. It is a restaurant; the madam had no ce here. It will change. It will take time, months, years, or decades, but it will definitely happen. Opening a restaurant beneath the establishment is a risky move, considering I already sell food and wine. It is still avable on the upper floors. There are several reasons why I took such a huge risk, but the biggest one is the promise I had made to myself. I wanted a ce that is more than a thing, where peoplee to vent their lust. I want to create a ce where people get to experience, they would never get anywhere, a ce where their desire would be fulfilled. I had made huge progress in that vision; seeing only around 30% of patrons, have sex, while otherse for good food andpany. This time, I took a step further, opening a restaurant at the establishment. Here, I will be able to satiate the desire of the people who do not have any interest in the girls and services they offer. I had needed to be a little forceful with the invitation. So, they would bring their wives and I am not proud of them, but I am not ashamed either. The experience will be thrilling for people, and they love thrill; especially those who are bound by the restrictions of society. They reveal in the slightest bit of freedom they get, the conventions, they break. It is not just the women crave it, but also the men. I had worked hard at the restaurant; conceptualizing the idea until it became what it is today. To give the best experience, I had given Drevplete freedom, and he didn¡¯t disappoint me. I have tested it, and I can confidently say that it is better than anything in the city. It isparable to or even better than what I had tasted in other cities; the only thing that had better food was the legacy in Navr. Which I wouldn¡¯t be able topare in my whole life, but I will try my damn hard to do it. The charms are working great; the effect they are creating is amazing. They are tailored to enhance every aspect of the establishment and, from today after a month of break, more charms will be added, creating an even better ambiance here. So, I really hope, the peopleing here, some of whom I had forced, woulde back on their own next time. Hun! The carriages began toe inside as the door opened and a less than minuteter, the first guest came in and it surprised me. ¡°Well, this is surprising,¡± I said, while Ca and Margaux nodded in dumbfoundedness. I had expected many people toe, but never in my dream. I had expected he woulde. It is none other than Damon Hardt. I had invited him yesterday like I had others, but I hadn¡¯t thought he woulde. He is expressionless, while his wife is looking at everything with surprise and excitement. Stavad weed him and Edina. The ma?tre de took him inside and seated him at the best table. The other guests came after him. Some had surprised me, like Vice-Guildmaster Soren, who had alsoe with his wife. He is not only from the vice-Guild-master who came. A few seconds after that came Locke with his wife. Minutes passed; carriages kepting through the gates of the establishment. Though not all of them had entered the restaurant, more than half of them took the entrance above. There are three entrances throughout the establishment. One is direct, it is on the left side of the fountain, while the main entrance to the restaurant is on the right. The second one is through the underground parking, and the final one is through the restaurant itself. It is hidden on the way to the bathroom, but some people found it within minutes and went above. At the twenty-seventh minute, the gates of the establishment closed. The restaurant is filled, including the stools by the bar and the private cabins, which have been upied by the groups. The same is true for the three floors above; I hadn¡¯t gone up yet, but if that wasn¡¯t the case, Caena wouldn¡¯t have closed the gates. It is quite surprising; that the establishment filled so quickly. The restaurant has one hundred and forty-two tables, excluding the nine private cabins and space on the three bars. There are also more girls, two hundred and nine, on the three floors above. There is a total of two hundred and seventy-one of them, that will work, but not all at the same time. From today, the establishment changed to night brother today/night brothels. I had wanted it from the beginning and now, nearly a yearter; I have got it. I am d I didn¡¯t rush into it. The timing now feels perfect. ¡°It seemed to be working well,¡± said Ca, and I couldn¡¯t help, but nod. It was working beyond well; I could see people eating and drinking and this time, there were no girls, but friends, family, and colleagues. Smiles on their faces are really big and nearly everyone, especially women, would nce up, now and then, with a thrill and excitement in their eyes. Seeing that, a big smile appeared on my face. It is for this reason; that I had created this ce. So, they could experience these emotions. Even if they nevere back, the memories of this ce will always remain in their heart. I looked for a few more minutes before walking out of the secret viewing soon, which was now even bigger. It had enough space that five people could sit easily in it. We climbed the secret stairs and went to the second floor, where I saw the girls,ughing and smiling at the patrons. It is a familiar scene that made me smile, but it is also different from the past. So much different. First, the interior is much better, with high ceilings and a huge chandelier along with beautiful art. The dresses the girls wore were wearing; all of them had a magical thread in them. The essories they were wearing were also expensive and, more importantly, they were doing great. A month of training and learning had made them better. Even the experienced girls are showing quite an improvement. The new girls mixed between them are also doing well. I could see Jenna moving around the table, talking to the patron,ughing, flirting. Every floor had a floor leader; they were the assistant madam¡¯s. The leader of this floor is Jenna, and she is doing amazing. We looked for a few minutes before we went to the third floor, which is a little smaller than the second floor and has fewer girls than it. The higher the floor, the fewer girls it will have, but they will be better leveled, and the interior of the floor will be much nicer. Danielle is handling this floor, and, unlike Jenna, she is a little reserved, but every time she approaches any table, the patrons turn to her with a smile on their faces. Finally, we reached the top floor; it had the smallest space, but its interior cost me more than double of two floors below. I had kept intentionally small and, due to it, the space behind had a lot of rooms. The floor only had twenty-eight tables and the girls on them were the best of the establishment. Most of them are the highest leveled, some closing on Lv. 25, but some hadn¡¯t been Lv. 20, but are here. I want the best, not the highest level, and sometimes, it doesn¡¯t mean the same thing. Mena is the floor leader, but Caena is also present here. Caena¡¯s is responsible for everything and a minute after we stepped onto the fourth floor, she went down. ¡°I thought it was a little risky to have those two on the top floor, but it seemed like, it was a good decision,¡± said Margaux and I couldn¡¯t help, but smile. I didn¡¯t have to ask them to know who they were talking about. They are talking about Bell and Rexy, two new girls. They were not supposed to be on the top floor. The top floor was supposed to be for the experienced girls, but those two have impressed me enough that I added them to the top girls. It is huge, but I thought it would be worth it, and seeing how they are doing, it might be worth it. Though nothing is concrete; it is just a first impression and barely an hour passed. Those two are a littleplicated, one is orc blood, while the other straightforwardly said that she won¡¯t have sex. Rexy isn¡¯t a problem; the orc blood is beautiful, funny, and charming,pletely opposite of Senar, who is reserved. She is also on this floor. Bell is different, she is quiet, but not reserved. There also seemed to be an air of heaviness around her, she tried to hide it, try to look nothing more than a pretty face, but it was there, and it came now and then. The reason I had chosen her, was because of her ability to hold the conversation. She could keep people engaged in even the most boring topic. It is one of the challenges here and the man who is sitting opposite to her is one of the most boring people, but he givesvish gifts. It is the reason he is on the top floor. Not anyone could get onto the top floor. There is a list of people, made by madams and girls. Only those on the list could have the privilege ofing to the top floor. Thankfully, the list is quite long and will keep growing every day or I would have been worried about getting patrons here. ¡°We will need more girls in the leadership role, both in the establishment and in the circle,¡± said Ca suddenly. ¡°Dell and I will be able to handle the circle,¡± said Margaux, a little defensively. Her tone is understandable. Today was her first day, and she didn¡¯t want anyone doubting her abilities. ¡°You can handle the girls at the current number, but what will you do when more girlse?¡± Ca asked back her friend. Instead of answering, Margaux looked at me. ¡°We do need more girls at leadership in the establishment. We only have one madam and three assistant madams, we need more since the establishment is going to be a day/night business,¡± ¡°As for getting new girls, it will depend on how the establishment does,¡± I said and looked ahead. Not satisfied. Click on PATREON belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 224: The Night Chapter 224: The Night Caena ¡°Any problem?¡± I Jenna, as I had returned to the first board, as some say, the second floor. ¡°There was some, but I handled it,¡± she replied, without letting the smile fade from her face. I didn¡¯t ask about the problem, since she said she had dealt with it. There is no need to ask her about it further. I looked at people sitting on the first board, and the smile on my face turned genuine. Everybody seemed to be having a good time, and that was the most important thing. It is the reason for the establishment''s existence. The first board is big, as big as the previous hall on the first floor, but has fewer girls. Though it didn¡¯t look like it, thanks to the cleverly done interior. The husband and wife had done a great job. What I mean to say, is that we could add more girls and it won¡¯t feel crowded at all. We could have done that now, but we didn¡¯t have the girls and we didn¡¯t use those who are not ready. The number of girls is a problem, we always face, unlike the other brothels. We couldn¡¯t simply buy the contracts and make them work the next day. There is a lot of work involved in it. Months are needed to train the girls before they can work. ¡°Wow, Miss Caena. You seemed to havepletely transformed your establishment this time,¡± said the middle-aged man as he entered the first board. ¡°Thank you for your praise, Mr. Wells; I hope you have a wonderful time with us,¡± I said, and the man grinned. ¡°Of course, I will,¡± he said and went with Jenna, but not before giving me, onest lecherous look; I took it with a smile and harnessed that lust. I added it to my reserves, which now have gathered enough to charge another charm. I did that, as I took the elevator to the second board. I had not used my harnessed emotions alone, but also the emotions swirling around me. Now, I only need half of the emotions, I used to need, as the other halfes from the establishment. I am nning on reducing the percentage of harvested emotions, to enable my craft while increasing the percentage of emotions gathered from the establishment. This is where the witchcraft gets tricky and only the smart ones are able to find a way through it. I do not consider myself smart, but I have found the way. I wouldn¡¯t have been my mother¡¯s daughter if I hadn¡¯t. I was nning to think about this in a few days when I got used to the job, but the idea came suddenly. I came out of the elevator and looked at Danielle; she was mingling with patrons and also talking to girls, especially new ones. Master Silver has asked to keep an eye on the new girls. They might be in the business for years, but this is new for them, and it could get overwhelming. Thankfully, they are doing well. The old girls are doing even better; nearly all of them, have smiles on their faces and not all smiles are fake. The small part of smiles rted to the contracts they have signed in the morning. Master Silver had hiked theirmission. Taking it to 25% from the 10% before. I could remember their shock clearly when they saw it. It is a massive increase, especially when we have also increased our rates, nearly doubling them. Making them equal to the true high-ss brothel. While not all our girls have achieved Lv. 20, that is a prerequisite of the high-ss brothel. Our girls are learned and talented. They have enough confidence and skills that most of our patrons think 90% of girls are at Lv. 20 and above. They wouldn¡¯t have had a doubt about the rest 10% too, but some of our girls are young and they couldn¡¯t believe they were level 20. They are not, not all of them at least. The girls have advanced rapidly sinceing here. There are three girls, who were able to reach Lv. 20 before they are even neen. They have crossed more than ten levels in less than a year. It is quite remarkable, not the levels, but crossing the capstone of Lv. 20. People spent years crossing it and many never could in their whole lives, but a lot of girls, young and old, had done it within months. I am one of them. I had stayed and mingled here for a few minutes before going to the top floor. Hun! I had just reached there when I noticed a slight disturbance. Mr. Akvens is being a little forceful with Bell, he is trying to caress her, and kiss her hand, while she is avoiding it. I had taken a step toward it, but stopped when I saw Bell¡¯s face; there was a smile on her. I didn¡¯t see the panic or anger that I had been expecting to see, but saw a smile with a hint of confidence. So, I stopped and turned to the other patrons while keeping an eye on Bell, and, to my surprise. I saw the anger in the middle-aged man¡¯s eyes disperse and he stopped being forceful. Now he isughing and talking with Bell, like he wasn¡¯t forceful and angry a few minutes ago. It genuinely surprised me. Akven¡¯s isn''t easy to handle and the only reason he is on the top floor is because he is generous. I stayed on the top floor for half an hour before I went down on the second board and first board and, seeing everything going well, I stepped out, taking the secret entrance. These three floors aren¡¯t the only things I have to look at; the responsibilities of madam are a lot more. Soon, I entered the kitchen, where everyone was working. There is not a single person who is not doing something. Drev had four dishes cooking in front of him. He would also go around the kitchen looking at other chefs'' works, praising and critiquing as he tasted their dishes. I turned to Wanda. The girl is in uniform and working on the dish, she is so focused on it, that she doesn¡¯t even notice when Dreves beside her and looks at her dis. She only noticed him, when he spoke. ¡°Drev, how are things?¡± I asked. ¡°Everything is great,¡± he replied, and I nodded and was about to leave when I saw Edinaing to the delivery window. ¡°Chef, Guildmaster Hardt wants to meet with you,¡± she said, and a sh of irritation appeared in his eyes for a moment. ¡°Tell him, I will meet him in a few minutes,¡± He replied. Drev doesn¡¯t like to meet people, especially when he is busy cooking, and usually declines to do it. However, Damon Hardt isn¡¯t someone he could decline to meet. There is a list, I have given to him. If the people on that list had asked to meet him, he would have to meet them. Damon Hardt is top of that list. A secondter, I walked to the basement, where there was an amazing thing. I could have gone there from the first floor of the basement like everybody is doing, but I went to the third floor, the lowest floor. Click! I opened the door and felt like I had entered apletely different ce. It is bright and colorful and upies a big section of the underground, with all three floors. The new studio. The first thing I saw was the beautiful make-up chairs and mirrors in front of them, with glowing lights covering them. Seven of these chairs are upied by the girls and have beauticians working on them. Eudo is sitting, watching, and speaking only when he needs to advise and critique. I nodded at him before looking at the ce, which still amazed me. There are colorful racks and drawers of ss and crystals. Holding dresses, shoes, and other essories. They upied the whole three floors. On each floor, there are a couple of teen girls, and they will have to grow anything down, that beauticians ask. There is a silver circle in the center. Whatever is thrown from above will fall on it and float over it. There, the teens would take them and hand them over to beauticians. There is also an elevator, that working girls would take toe and leave, making the whole thing fast and efficient. I was watching them when the door from the right opened, and Cath came wearing a robe. She looked fresh, with her hair wet. She hade out of the shower. Yes, there are also showers. If the girls want to take a shower before they go back to the next patron, they could. More space had allowed us to do the things that we were not able to do before. Like this huge studio, and showers. There are also rooms where the girls can rest and even sleep if they want to. I didn¡¯t stay in the studio for long; after seeing there were no problems, I went to the floors above. ¡­ Arlina ¡°This is the best thing I have ever eaten,¡± I said as I took another bite from a dense frothing ice-cold desert, which had tiny, crystalized pearls of mango juice, that would pop as they touched the tongue. It is just the taste, but the whole feeling from the sound it made as I dipped my spoon into it, to the feeling I got as it entered my mouth. It gives aplete sensory overload, that feels as good as an orgasm. ¡°This one is good, too,¡± said Galen. I looked at the dessert he was eating; it was a blood-red sphere, with dense golden crystalline liquid inside. I raised my spoon and scooped it, before taking a bite. Hmmm! I unconsciously closed my eyes, and a moan escaped my mouth as I tasted the desert. It is on the same level as the one I am eating, butpletely different in taste and feeling. Galen took the bite of my dessert, and his expression turned the same as me. I couldn¡¯t help but smile seeing that. I love sweet, always have been. Galen, not so much, but now he is gorging on the desert. It is not just dessert, but the whole meal itself. It is so different and so good. I have never eaten a food so delicious as this. To be honest, never in my dream, I had expected, would eat such delicious food. We havee here because we didn¡¯t want to offend Silver, but now, I am really d we did. The food is amazing and so is the ambiance; I felt rxed the moment I took a step here. All the ufortableness and inhabitation seemed to have evaporated, and I feltfortable, more at ease than I felt in any restaurant. I had a thought; every minute would be painful here, and we only nned to stay for half an hour. To show Silver that we had arrived, but we had been here for one and a half hours, polishing one course of the meal after another. I was full, even before the desert, but the charming server said that the desert is to die for, and it is. I gorged the whole thing before I had even realized. It is not just me, but also Galen, seeing how he is looking at the empty te in front of him in confusion. ¡°I hope, you are having g good time, sir, ma¡¯am. Can I bring you anything?¡± asked our server as she appeared beside us. She is a beautiful young woman who seems to be in her early twenties. Wearing a uniform of tight white shirt and ck skirt, that seemed to be hugging every part of her body perfectly. It is tailored. The thing that impressed me most is there perfect makeup; it is definitely professionally done. I have noticed all the servers, men or women wearing clothes, that are fitting them perfectly and professionally done makeup. Which felt excessive at first, but I quickly got ustomed to it and found it more and more pleasing. ¡°No, just a check, and please tell a chef, that it was a wonderful meal,¡± said Galen to the server. ¡°The chef will appreciate your kind words, sir,¡± she said and was about to leave. ¡°Wait,¡± I said, and she stopped and turned to me with a graceful motion. ¡°Do you need anything, ma¡¯am?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, I would like to have these two desserts please, and can you pack them to take home?¡± I asked. Some restaurants take such requests, some don¡¯t. ¡°Certainly, Ma¡¯am,¡± said the woman with a smile, before leaving. ¡°The children will love it. It is a little expensive, but we can afford it,¡± said Galen, and I smiled. The food here is expensive. More than I had thought it would be, but after testing it, it was worth every penny. ¡°I really love toe back again,¡± I said softly. ¡°We will see,¡± he replied softly. If it had been any normal restaurant. It wouldn¡¯t have been a problem, but it was in a freaking brothel. People have brought their wives today because Silver invited them, but will theye back? It is a rather difficult question. If someone had asked me this two hours ago, my answer would have been a definite no, but now, I am not sure of my answer. I looked up and couldn¡¯t help but imagine what people were doing above. Likely tangling on the sheets, having intense sex. Just thinking about it is making me feel wet. I want to have sex, and it is not my husband I imagine myself having, but our beautiful server. I pushed that thought away and focused on my husband. I really hope we will make love today and it is intense; like the one, we had when we were young, before kids and all the responsibilities. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± he asked, and I couldn¡¯t help, but feel my cheeks heating up. ¡°Nothing, just how young the chef is,¡± I replied quickly, looking at the young chef appearing by the table of Damon Hardt. ¡°You are right, he is young,¡± said Galen as he turned. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe Damon Hardt came. I heard he and Silver didn¡¯t like each other,¡± I said softly. ¡°Me too, but us small folks can¡¯t understand what happens between these powerful people. Maybe they have made up or he might have just epted the invitation as a courtesy,¡± said Galen and shook his head. For a few seconds, there was silence until our server returned. ¡°Here is the desert, ma¡¯am, and the bill, sir,¡± said the server as she ced delicately packed paper boxes in front of me and the bill in front of Galen, who had surprise in his eyes. ¡°This?¡± he asked. ¡°An opening day discount,¡± she replied with a smile. I looked at the bill and was surprised to see there was a 75% discount. It made me feel good. While we could afford it, the bill was high. Let¡¯s hope that we will make a deal tomorrow. With such business, we will be able to dine in ces like this more often. Galen paid the bill, and we got out of our chairs and walked toward the exit, with big smiles on our faces. I really hope women bemon here. I had a great time and would love to visit again. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 225: Breaching Capstone Chapter 225: Breaching Capstone Prostitute Lv. 20 [Skill Gained: ¡­] [Skill Gained: ¡­] Whore Lv. 16 Whore Lv. 17 [Skill Gained: ¡­] [Conditions Met: Harlot + Dancer ¨C Vivacious Harlot] Vivacious Harlot Lv. 20 [Skill Gained: ¡­] Cocotte Lv. 18 Cocotte Lv. 19 Magical Chef Lv. 27 [Skill Gained: ¡­] [Conditions Met: Trainee Cook- Chef] Chef Lv. 11 Chef Lv. 20 [Skill Gained: ¡­] Waitress Lv. 17 [Skill Gained: ¡­] Server Lv. 19 . . . Witch of Luminescent Brothel Lv. 26 [Skill Gained: Precise Hands] [ss Gained: Madam] Madam Lv. 2 Madam Lv. 3 Madam Lv. 4 [Skill Gained: Voice of Authority] [Skill Gained: Eye for Numbers] I looked at the text in front of me, dumbfoundedness. I had levelled up in my witch ss and that didn¡¯t surprise me. Though, I am happy, especially gaining the skill. The skill is not rare; most witches, especially those who work on charms, get it after crossing Level 10. I didn¡¯t have the chance, everything was destroyed by the time I got the ss, and rarely made charms for years, in fear of getting discovered. I pushed those thoughts and focused on the thing, that surprised me. The new ss Madam. I shouldn¡¯t have got it, seeing I had a Prostitute ss, which had merged into the Witch ss; giving me the primary ss I have. The experience I got from running a brothel should have gone to the primary ss, which has my Prostitute ss, but that didn¡¯t happen and instead, I gained the new ss. I looked at the ss and skills carefully and felt every aspect of them, and soon a smile appeared on my face. I understood why, I had gained the ss. The Prostitute ss that merged with my Witch ss, had an aspect of sex, lust, sin, and other things, but didn¡¯t have administration. I didn¡¯t manage anything; I was just amon whore like the rest. It changed when Master Silver made me the assistant, madam, and I gained administrative responsibilities. The experience of it tried to merge with a Prostitute ss part of my primary ss, but it couldn¡¯t. If my Witch ss hadn¡¯t merged with my Prostitute ss, it wouldn¡¯t have been a problem. The Prostitute ss would have advanced to Madam, as it had happened with my seniors and assistant madams. I think it was the reason why, I felt the buzzing in my ss for the past two months. Yesterday, the experience of administration was too much, and since it couldn¡¯t merge; it had formed a new ss with an administrative nature. I am happy with my new ss. It will aid me immensely in my duties as a madam. ¡­ Agent of Experience Lv. 20 Agent of Experience Lv. 21 [Skill Gained: See My Vision] ¡°I breached the capstone,¡± I said as I looked at the three texts in front of me. I knew there was a high chance of it happening, but seeing it happening has still surprised me. It is not amon level-up, but a breaching of capstone. People took years and many couldn¡¯t even do it, but I did it and did it in little more than a year. It immediately set me apart from more than half of the poption of the world. More than half of the people of the world could never breach the second capstone. It is quite surprising that I had gained not one level, but two. It is quite hard to gain level after the second capstone; one needs to work hard for each level. It seemed like yesterday''s convention-breaking opening of the restaurant, has given me a greater response than I had imagined. I turned to the skill, not a normal skill, but a capstone skill. They are stronger and rarer and this one feels strong and gives me a simr vibe as Command Projection of my Trainer ss. I think I have an idea of what it is about and could do, but I will have to test it first before I can say something about it. Though, if it worked as I expected it to be. Then it is going to solve, many problems. Especially with what I am nning to do next. I looked at skill before going back to the two-level ups and with them, the two attribute points I got. I want to add them to Charm and Intelligence, but I am still working on baronies, and it would be wise to spend on the physical attributes. I didn¡¯t feel good about that choice; I needed the points in my mental skills too, seeing most of the skills are mental in nature. So, after much thinking, I made apromise. I added one point to the Strength attribute, taking it to eleven, and one to Intelligence, taking it to twelve. Their effect was immediate. I felt stronger like, I could punch through the wall and my thoughts became clearer. It couldn¡¯t help but make but bring a smile to my face, thinking how much these points will help me, especially the Intelligence.
ss: Agent of Experience Lv. 21
Masterful Administrator Lv. 19 de Warrior Lv. 17 Trainer Lv. 07
Charisma: 15
Intelligence: 12
Vitality: 10
Strength: 11
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Rapid Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Persuasive ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ Swift de ¡¤ Lords Mood ¡¤ Privacy ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry ¡¤ Sharpness ¡¤ Active Presence ¡¤ See My Vision
Attribute Points: 0
I looked at the interface for a minute, before closing it and stepping out of the bed. Forty-five minutester, I opened the door of my room and stepped into my office. Now, there is a room right behind my office; it is smaller than the room, I had before, but I didn¡¯t mind. It does the job and is big enough that I could do other activities without feeling constrained. ¡°Congrattions on breaking the capstone,¡± said Ca. I froze as I was about to sit down. ¡°How do you know?¡± I asked in surprise. I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised. If she had congratted me on leveling up, but she had specifically said, capstone. ¡°Your skill, covering the establishment, spiked in power.¡± She replied, and I immediately deactivated the skill before activating again, while shaking my head. It is useless; the people would have already been aware of it by now. There is no need for me to hide and I am not nning to hide it either. Torch for Seeker is an extremely useful skill. It will attract patrons and there is no way I would lessen its power, just so I could hide my real level. It would be like hitting my toe with a hammer. Instead, it will benefit me. If people know, I have reached Lv. 20 so quickly. Sometimes, it is more useful to show strength than to hide it. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked. ¡°With Ca and Margaux taking the reins, my responsibilities of the establishment had lessened a lot,¡± ¡°Which is good, because the responsibilities of our liquor business are increasing,¡± she replied. I had handed the business to her. She is doing a great job, better than I had thought she would. This is good, because, if the establishment did as I wanted it, to do and I got all the permissions, she is going to get very busy for a long time. ¡°Don¡¯t worry; the help ising,¡± I replied, and she smiled gratefully. She knows my ns and understands how drastically things will change in the next few months. It is why, I had a few capable peopleing to share the load. They will being with members of the house, who areing to set up a branch in the Greltheaven. It was supposed to happen months ago, but some things are happening there, that dyed them. They will be here in three days. ¡°So, when we will file the applications?¡± she asked, with excitement burning in her eyes. ¡°We will have to see how the establishment does first,¡± I said, to which she waved her hand. ¡°I don¡¯t think that is a problem. Even the kind of clientele you want didn¡¯te. It won''t be a problem for us to fill every table at the restaurant with our usual clients,¡± she said, looking at me intently. ¡°Yes, I know, but we need that of clientele. If we want to take the establishment to a greater height,¡± I said to that. ¡°Fine, we will wait for a week. I just hope, you will be able to stay a week,¡± she said, and I smiled. It is difficult to say, but I don¡¯t think that would be a problem, seeing everything is going well in the baronies. Even the monsters are being handled. Most importantly, more caravansing from the merchant-state every day. I am receiving loads of messages from merchants from the city and Oksall, asking about the plot sale. Speaking of which; the negotiations are nearly finished. We willplete a deal in the next few days. I pushed those thoughts and focused back on Ca. ¡°Give me your hand,¡± I said to her, and she arched her brow with a suggestive smile on her face. Seeing that, I wanted to jump out of my chair and rip that dress off her, but I controlled myself. ¡°Nothing of that sort; I want to test my new skill,¡± I replied and could see a faint disappointment before she gave her dainty hand to me. I took her soft hand, and I wanted to kiss it. Instead, I closed my eyes and a secondter activated my capstone skill, See My Vision. As I did, I projected what I was imagining to her. I have quite a practice for it since the Command Projection of Trainer ss is about the same, but I could already start to see the fundamental difference between the two. The biggest of them all is the power of the skill and for how long, I could use it. Two minutes and thirteen secondster, the skill stopped, and I let go of her hand. It is far more time than the eight seconds I get with themand projection. I turned to Ca, who still had her eyes closed, which she did some time ago. I didn¡¯t disturb her and waited. I needed to wait for more than a minute before she had finally opened her eyes, looking at me with shock. ¡°Is that your vision for the establishment?¡± she asked. To which I nodded after a moment. ¡°It is beyond anything I thought and feels impossible,¡± she said with wonder in her voice. ¡°For you, near impossible,¡± she added, and I smiled. ¡°Let me test a few more things,¡± I said and once again, she gave me her hand. I tested a couple of things, till I felt tired and couldn¡¯t do it anymore, but there was a smile on my face. ¡°It is an amazing skill you have got,¡± she said as I opened my eyes after a few minutes of rest. ¡°It is,¡± I said with a smile. The skill can let me share what I want, memories, thoughts, and imagination. It is anything as long as it is rted to business. The things rted to the establishment are the clearest; the ones rted to my liquor business are also clear enough. There was a huge resistance when I tried to share anything else, like scenery or memory unrted to the business. It is nk most of the time or extremely blurry. There are a couple of more things I want to test, which I couldn¡¯t do with Ca. Things like, whether I could use it with people other than the girls and those who work in establishments and a few other things. ¡°You rest. I have a meeting with Mr. Hazev from Deerpond in half an hour,¡± she informed me before leaving my office. The Deerpond is lessening the restriction on goods from Navr, that came through Mirador Hold. However, they are not still letting their merchantse and I am trying for it. It will be great if I am able to achieve that. Once Deerpond agreed; the rest of the cities which are resisting would also let their merchants trade with Navr. It will bring a lot of taxes to the city. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 226: Cath Chapter 226: Cath As the door closed, I slumped on my chair and rested for a few minutes. I was about to open my eyes when I decided to do something. I noticed itst night and wanted to check it out in the morning. This is the best time to do it, before the establishment opens for the day. I focused and immediately the feeling began to get clearer. I could tell that it had be faintly stronger than the morning yesterday when I had performed the ritual. Caena said, the more powerful the feeling is, the more powerful the charms would be. A minuteter, I stopped and focused on the papers in front of me. ¡°Master Silver, Madam Caena, and Headmistress Margaux are here for you,¡± the voice said through the inte. Click! ¡°Send her in,¡± I said, and a secondter, the door opened, with Caena and Margauxing inside. ¡°Master Silver,¡± they greeted, ¡°Caena, Margaux, take a seat.¡± I offered them the seats. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± they thanked as they sat down, putting a file in front of me. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked. ¡°Good. The establishment has been cleaned, and currently, the staff is busy setting up the tables and making preparations for the opening,¡± Caena replied. It was nearly eleven; I had slept after the establishment closed, and because of that, woke upte. Earlier, our n was to open the establishment at nine in the morning, but after consulting with girls and a few trusted friends like Valentina, while also doing some research. I decided to open at twelve; it is perfect timing. It is a time for lunch and alsote enough that people can drink and enjoy thepany of the girls. I am not aiming for perfect upancy during the day. It is not a realistic goal, but like to have 75% at a restaurant, between twelve to two, and 60% at above floors, between twelve to five. I am not going to use all girls; just around a hundred. Like the night, it will be a mix of old and new. It is why only two floors are going to be used. The top floor and the third floor; I am not going to use the second floor, which is the biggest of the three. However, these changes are not permanent. I will make changes if I feel the need for it after my observation. I nodded and turned to Margaux. ¡°The girls are doing great. I had nine girlsing to me for the private room,¡± she informed, and a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face before turning to smile. Them asking for the private rooms only means one thing. They have breached the Capstone and reached Lv. 20 and above. The numbers of such girls are steadily rising. They had slowed down in the past month and even there, two girls had somehow reached Lv. 20. ¡°I think this month, we will reach the century,¡± said Caena and Margaux, nodding with a smile. ¡°How both of you are feeling with your new responsibilities?¡± I asked them. ¡°I am far more rxed than before,¡± said Margaux. ¡°I am a little stressed, but it is because, of the first day, it will be more rxing after I get used to it,¡± she answered. ¡°It might, but both of you need help,¡± I said. ¡°Have you prepared the list?¡± I asked. They nodded and pushed a list toward me. I looked at the thirty-two names, which I will interview for the five positions. I need more girls in leadership. Caena and three assistant madams aren¡¯t enough to manage the establishment and the same will happen for the circle, if more girlse. It is not just that; I don¡¯t want these, and two others worked to death. They need time for sses and for personal needs. Work should be part of the life, not life itself. ¡°I will begin the interview at two,¡± I said and picked up the file that Caena had put in front of me. I couldn¡¯t help but feel excitement as I opened it and began to read, and the reading was faster. Insightful Reading has be powerful, and it is not just the attribute point, that did it. It is also because my primary ss had reached Lv. 21, breaching the capstone. Insightful Reading is not the skill of the Agent of Experience, but it still affects it. The attributes didn¡¯t have a set value; their value depended on sses. It is why Lv. 10 Lord is far more powerful than Lv. 10 Warrior; the former could handily beat thetter. Because the Lord ss had much greater weight and it reflected on the attributes. All sses put their weight on the attributes, but it is the primary ss that puts the most. If a primary ss is powerful, then it puts all the weight of it on the attributes. It is because of this that the secondary ss bes more powerful than the primary. The fight for dominance urs. It is not just the levels that need to be greater, but also the weight of ss. If one had Warrior ss as their primary ss, which is at Lv. 10, and have Lord ss as their secondary ss, which is at Lv. 5. The Lord ss will have a greater weight and thus interfere in the leadership of primary sses. Slowing down, leveling, and sometimes, they even reduce the power of primary sses, if the secondary ss is especially powerful. What I mean by saying is primary ss should be higher leveled and have more weight. Thankfully, I am safe in that. Agent of Experience is higher leveled and has more weight. There was no problem when the Agent of Experience and the Masterful Administrator were at the same level. I pushed those thoughts of sses away and focused back on the exciting numbers in front of me, written in beautiful handwriting. It was not this good when I saw it yesterday. It seemed like she had received a skill; such change could only have appeared through the skill. I finished the file fairly quickly and tried hard to hold back from the big smile appearing on my face. The numbers are better than I had imagined; not just for the three floors but for the restaurant too and that is after we gave a huge opening day discount. Seeing the numbers, I could feel the ns materializing in front of me. Those ns will require a lot of money and while I am earning a lot through the liquor business, I want the establishment to do its part, too. If thest night''s numbers are anything, the establishment would do great. ¡°We will put them in the records, but will not consider them when we make future ns,¡± ¡°We will consider, what we earned from today,¡± I said and both of them nodded. The daily earnings report will calcte our earnings from 12 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next day. They left soon after, and I turned to Z. There were many messages waiting for me. I do not have to go anywhere for the rest of the day. I have taken, leave from my duties in the city. Today is thest day of that. Tomorrow I will go back to the Count. Though, I will have to attend the part at Mr. Carlson¡¯s. That man had postponed his son¡¯s birthday for me, and I will be attending despite not wanting to go. Soon it was twelve, and the gate opened, and quite a lot of carriages entered inside. It surprised me. While their numbers are not as much as what came at night, it was still surprising for the first minute in the afternoon. I watched them for a few minutes before sitting back on my desk and opening the files on the girls. I have to go over the information, I have on the thirty-two. It is the only way I will be effectively able to interview them. ¡­ Cath ¡°I am worried; I hope it goes well,¡± I said, feeling very nervous. I had failed once before, and I don¡¯t want to fail again, or I might not get this opportunity again. I had given an interview before, and it had gone really well. I thought I would get the job. Instead, it was Jenna and Danielle who did. I want to get it this time. ¡°It will be, don¡¯t worry,¡± said Barb, with the faint smell of whiskying from her. I don¡¯t like the smell of liquor, but the oneing from Barb isn¡¯t a smell, but a fragrance. Barb had a passive skill, that made the smell of alcoholing from her feel like perfume. ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried?¡± I asked. The older woman¡¯s face turned a little serious before a small smile appeared on it. ¡°A little, but not as much as you, or that little girl over there,¡± she said, pointing at the teen, who was walking nervously and even got herself wet identally from the showering from above. ¡°It is quite surprising that a young girl is chosen for the interview,¡± I said, looking at Gloria. She is only seventeen but worked in business since she was thirteen. Despite experiencing the horrible things about this business, she still maintained her innocence. ¡°She is young, but the girl is wise beyond her years and quite talented,¡± said Barb, before turning to me. ¡°You are also very good. So, don¡¯t doubt yourself too much,¡± she added, pressing my hands with her. I felt myself calm down a little and a few minutester, I walked into my room. I had a personal room for months. I was the first person to reach Lv. 20 and got my room. Which I love dearly; one month in the mansion where I needed to share a room had been hell. It is not like my roommate was bad, but both of us had grown used to our personal space, and living together was difficult. I don¡¯t want to experience that again. If get selected today, then I won¡¯t have to, even if we somehow shifted to the mansion for a reason. Madam and assistant madam¡¯s get suits and offices. I want them; I have dreamed about them many times. I didn¡¯t stay in my room for long. I changed and walked out after picking up my kit. There are two hours before the interview, and I don¡¯t think I will be able to remain calm till then. So, I am going to a ce which calmed me down. Click! I got out of the elevator and went to the basement and soon reached the ce where I wanted to. Pottery workshop. There are already several girls here practicing. I nodded at those who looked at me and wore an apron, before setting the things by the wheel. ¡°Let¡¯s begin,¡± I said and started. Pottery is one of the most liked things that girls choose. It is fun and rxing and also helps them make money. Master Silver had set us up with a merchant who buys our wares. I have been earning a good amount of money from it for months. While it couldn¡¯t bepared to what I earn in the establishment. It is enough to make a good living if I ever felt like leaving the business, which I don¡¯t n to do. At least, not in the near future; I might in a few years, but nothing is certain. Nearly one and a half hours passed when I stopped and ced my work in the kiln before leaving. Soon, I reached my room, showered, and readied myself for the interview. ¡°Ready girls?¡± asked De to the eight of us who were gathered. The interview will happen in batches of eight and I am part of the first batch. All the girls are familiar, but I am d Barb is here. ¡°Good, let¡¯s go then,¡± she said as we nodded and opened the gate of the tunnel. Yes, there is a tunnel, it will directly lead us to the establishment''s entrance. Within three minutes, we reached the establishment¡¯s basement before taking the secret stairs to the top floor and soon, we were in the small waiting room by the Master Silvers office. ¡°Madam De, Master Silver is ready,¡± informed Jill from her desk. De nodded and turned to us. ¡°Cath, you are first,¡± said De, surprising me. However, I quicklyposed my emotions and got up before walking toward the room with the hope that I would get the job. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 227: Arrived Chapter 227: Arrived Click! I opened the door with a shaking hand and went inside. There, I removed my clothes before applying a numbing solution. I had gone a little too hard on the practice. I had taken a break for a few days, before resuming yesterday. Then, too, I had pushed myself as hard as today. The level-up had increased my strength, and I have pushed myself to test their limit and get control over them as soon as possible. I need to use the strength I have as efficiently as possible with surgical uracy and the only way I could do it, is by training hard. It will increase my chances of surviving any danger that befall me. There are many, that sometimes, I feel really scared. I finished applying the numbing cream and felt the pain lessening until it nearly disappeared. A few minutester, I showered and changed into one of the suits I keep in this room before stepping out. I stopped in the kitchen for breakfast before walking into my office. ¡°It arrived,¡± I said as I looked at the thick blue package on my desk. There is nothing written on it except for the single dark grey line in the middle. I moved my index finger toward it, and soon the nail touched the string over the package. It immediately cut, before I begin to slide my nail across the wrapping of paper, cutting it smoothly. The Sharpness could not be used only in fighting. To get mastery over it, I am using it to cut things to eat and I have to say; it is a pretty useful skill to have. It is a Warrior ss skill, and there is resistance when I use it like this, but despite that, it provides me with enough sharpness that I could use my nail as a medium to cut through things like normal strings and paper. Inside the package is a thick stack of papers. On them too, there is a small grey line. It is from the grey guild, information on the empire and world. It was very expensive, and I had asked for a city to pay for it, but the Count had refused; he said, to buy a lower-grade one. So, I am paying for it with my own money. I used to buy it before, but it was in the lower grade. This one had more secret news, and they were more detailed. I didn¡¯t waste any time and began to read it and for a few minutes, there was no change, but as I started to read the information on the empire, my expressions have started to be serious. ¡®They are hurrying in their preparations,¡¯ I thought as I finished with the empire section. I knew everybody was preparing for the emperor¡¯s death and making the preparations. It was clear as day, but it seemed like in the past few weeks, they had increased the pace of it. The armies are shifting, more restrictions are appearing on the movements of people. Especially young or those with the desired ss; the same with resources, like precious metals and resources of a magic nature. No wonder the prices are increasing; they are bing high, especially in the empire, that I begin to source more and more resources of a magical nature from the merchant cities. Though not in enough quantity to arouse the suspicion. Every faction was preparing, and it seemed like there were more factions willing to try for the throne than I had initially thought. Though, I am sure, some are just flexing their muscle to get a greater advantage in negotiations. It has already begun; I have heard many princes and princesses are making deals and alliances. The crown prince is ahead of all. Prince Grelt is right behind, and his influence is growing fast. The man is charming and powerful. He had proven himself on the battlefield and arena of politics. It is why he is getting much greater push back from the crown prince and the emperor. Though it is clear as day that the influence of the emperor waned a lot. Nobody had defied him, but hismands and decrees weren¡¯t getting the reverence and obedience, that they used to get a decade ago. He is not pushing hard either and using a soft approach more and more. If he tried hard and people openly defied him; things would escte rapidly, and the emperor would have a civil war in his hands. He didn¡¯t want that. He wants to maintain his legacy and having a civil war at the end of his reign is thest thing he wants. Seeing his reign had been long and somewhat prosperous, at least until a few decades ago. It is not just people in the empire who are making the moves for what ising, but also of the continent. Our enemies are preparing, seeing they almost stopped fighting. They are waiting for the emperor to die and once that happens. They will attack, the empire and it will be bloody. I really hope there will be a consolidation of power quickly, or we will be in a shitload of trouble. If things turn worse, there won¡¯t be an empire in the next few years. It is not just the doom thoughts. These things could really happen. I read further. The more I read, the more worried I would be. Things are turning worse, and it is worrying people like me, because of the destruction that urs during the war, any war is shuddering. Here, people could cast destruction equal to the nukes; it is terrifying. ¡°Master Silver, they are here,¡± said Jill through the inte. ¡°Send them in,¡± I said and put the stack into the drawer. They should have arrived yesterday but got dyed by the day. Click! The door opened and two people walked inside. One is a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties and the other is a man who seemed to be in his early thirties. The man is in his mid-twenties and is tall and handsome. He looked quite simr to his father, but handsome. The man in his early thirties had an average face and height, but the eyes had intelligence. It is a good thing, the family had sent him, because Rowen had a nearly simr business sense as his father, zero. These two and me share physical simrities, all three of us have silvery grey eyes, the mark of silver. ¡°Cousin,¡± said Rowen and sat down without me giving permission. ¡°Adviser,¡± greeted Graham, but didn¡¯t move from his spot. ¡°Graham, please take a seat,¡± I said with a smile and turned to both of them. ¡°Wee to Greltheaven, I hope you had a pleasant journey,¡± I said to them. ¡°It is a good thing, I had stayed Ubal for the day. It will be hard to get adjusted to this shithole,¡± he said with a smile, I really wanted to p the bastard and I could do it without consequence. ¡°It may be shithole to you, but it is home to me and I hope you will be respectful to it,¡± I said with a smile, and Rowen¡¯s expression froze for a moment before anger appeared in them. He opened his mouth, but closed it a momentter. He is Rowen Silver, son of Uncle Raymond, and is as useless as his father, even more useless than him. He had turned three stables business into ruin and caused an incident, that his father needed to apologize for it. This was thest chance; the family had given him, and they had sent Graham with him. It may be Rowen in charge, but real authority is in the hands of Graham. Who is from a distant branch and had to work hard to reach, where he is today. I have been asked to keen eye on him. They have ns for him and need to know whether he is worthy of responsibility, they are nning to hand him over in the future. ¡°It is a beautiful city and developing, far faster than family had predicted,¡± said Graham, and I smiled. ¡°It is developing fast; the poption has tripled in less than a year, going over a hundred thousand,¡± I said. He seemed surprised by that, but quickly controlled his emotions. ¡°We will set our business here and hope you will help if there is any difficulty,¡± said Graham. ¡°Sure, but don¡¯t expect any special favors from me,¡± I said, and Rowen red. ¡°Of course,¡± Graham replied with a smile. It is a joke since I am an adviser, they have already had a huge advantage here. They wouldn¡¯t need any special favors if they worked with their brains. I would not help them if they got in trouble. It doesn¡¯t mean, I won¡¯t help them. I will, they are family after all, but I won¡¯t be helping them at every step, only with something that they couldn¡¯t solve and genuinely need my help. ¡°There is a party at Vice-Guildmaster Soren¡¯s house today; I have secured the invitations for you both. It will be a great opportunity for you both to make the connections.¡± I spoke. ¡°Thank you, Adviser,¡± he thanked. ¡°You can call me, Remus, Graham. We are family, after all,¡± I said, and he smiled brightly. We talked for a few minutes and discussed some important things while Rowen remained silent. He didn¡¯t speak even a single word. ¡°We will be leaving now. Thank you for your time, Remus,¡± said Graham. ¡°Any time,¡± I said. He nodded and left with Rowen. Click! A minute after they left, I walked out of my office. ¡°They are waiting in the parlor,¡± Jill informed. These two aren¡¯t the only ones who came. I stepped into the parlor and immediately seven people waiting there got up. All six of them are familiar, but I am surprised to see two; a young and a woman. The old man said, he would be bringing his grandchildren, and he had eight of them. ¡°Hendricks, I hope, the journey had been great,¡± I said to the old man as I sat down and they sat down with me. There seemed to be quite a change urred in the old man, in the past year. It is not surprising, seeing he had lost a job with my father¡¯s death, and not any of my siblings have offered him a job. If not for me, he wouldn¡¯t have the job he has right now. ¡°It was great, Master Remus,¡± he replied. ¡°It seemed like you have brought Ivan and Maria with you,¡± I said, looking at his two grandchildren. Ivan is a young man of seventeen years. He is of medium height with a handsome face in a schrly way. His older sister, Maria, was in her early twenties; twenty-one if I remember right. She was a warrior, much to her grandfather¡¯s chagrin. She is the only one, among his children and grandchildren, who has taken this path. Looking at her expression, it didn¡¯t seem like she wanted to be here. ¡°Yes, and I hope you will take care of them,¡± he said, ¡°Of course, that won¡¯t be a problem,¡± I said. The old man had helped me a lot in the past year. From sending the girls to bringing these four people here, he had done many things for me. I could do a few things for him in return. ¡°You have my thanks, Adviser,¡± he said, and I smiled, before turning to four. ¡°¡°Becker, Nina, Fuller, Taylor. All of you, wee to Greltheaven,¡± I said to them. ¡°We are happy to be here, Master Remus,¡± said Becker with a smile. Of course, all of them havee with their free will. I had asked the old man to approach over twenty people and of them, only these four were willing toe here. I am familiar with their work, and they would be tremendously helpful to Ca. ¡°Good, you will love the work here,¡± I said to them and turned to the door with a smile. Their boss had arrived, and she was looking stunning, as always. It had immediately charmed all of them, including the old man. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 228: Dangerous Responsibility Chapter 228: Dangerous Responsibility ¡°¡­Lokra Bonebreaker and his allies are stopping our hordes, but we are pushing hard. We will gain the advantage within a month,¡± said the projection of the armored man. He is in the hall with a pale man looking at him from the huge bone throne. He is not present physically, but he would shudder in fear whenever a pale man on the throne looked at him. ¡°This is yourst chance, Hezar. If you couldn¡¯t crush Lokra Bonebreaker and his iron fangs within a month. I will give amand to someone who could,¡± said the pale man gently, making the projection flicker. ¡°I will not disappoint you, your deathless,¡± said the man as the projection stabilized. The pale man on the throne nodded and turned to the robed figure. ¡°What is your progress on wastnd?¡± he asked. ¡°Going great, my lord. Our agents had found another trace; nine more and will have the location of that ce,¡± the robed figure replied. ¡°If that old bastard had died. We would have been much faster in finding it,¡± added the robed figure. ¡°He won''t be able to live for long. Keep up with the preparations. We will make our move the moment the husk falls dead,¡± said the pale man on the throne. ¡°As youmand, your deathless,¡± said the robed figure and bowed deeply. ¡­ The carriage stopped, and I stepped out, with Z, Jon, and Maria following behind me. It had been two days since Maria joined, and it didn¡¯t seem like she was enjoying following behind me too much. It is clear by the bored expression; that she has on her face all day. I entered inside the mansion and moved with increased speed, which the three of them didn¡¯t have any problem following. A minuteter, I reached the door and looked at the old woman sitting behind the desk. ¡°You can go in,¡± said the old woman and nodded at my thanks before walking toward the door and entering inside. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted and bowed. Hiding the surprise in my eyes. There are only father and son present in the office as far as I could see. There is no Mage York, Mage Beaumont, or any other protector. It had only happened a few times. The Count is a little paranoid. He rarely remains alone without any guards. ¡°You havee at the right time, Remus,¡± said the Count, with his tone serious. Not only his, but even Lancel¡¯s expressions are unusually serious, and it is not fake serious, which he usually tries to project. This time, he is really serious. ¡°Forgive my impudence, but has something happened, my lord?¡± I asked, hoping I wouldn¡¯t hear the news, I dread to hear. I am not ready for it. Thankfully, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. Seeing a small smile appeared on the Count''s face for a moment, before his expression turned serious. ¡°Nothing happened. I just have a very important job for you,¡± he said and ced a hand on the simple wooden box in front of him. I saw it as I came into the room, but didn¡¯t focus, but it seemed like something important was there, the way he ced his hands on it. ¡°Your will is mymand, my lord,¡± I said after a moment of silence. He nodded with a smile and moved his hands toward the lid of the box. ¡°The task I am going to hand over to you is a sign of my trust in you, Remus. I hope you understand the gravity of it,¡± he said with the most serious expression I have seen him and opened the box. My eyes fell on the things inside, and they widened. I am shocked, beyond shocked. I thought he was being overly dramatic with his words, but looking at this, he didn¡¯t. I was barely able to stop myself from gasping in shock as I looked at those things in front of me. I have seen only images of it, but never truly looked at the real thing, and nor I could. This is the most controlled substance in the world. There is a special department for it and the emperor keeps a tight leash on every drop. Even with all the money, the house of silver couldn¡¯t get their hands on these things legally. We could get our hands on the products that have these things if we are willing to spend enough money, but never in such a pure state. ¡°These?¡± I asked to be sure, and the Count nodded. ¡°Emotion Essences,¡± he replied. ¡°They are Grade 3,¡± added Lancel, surprising me a little. In the box are twenty-four tiny bottles which are smaller than my thumb. Twenty-two of these twelve bottles contained multicolored liquid. The other two have indigo and red liquid. It was unlike anything; I had ever seen or imagined them to be. The liquid was so different and made my emotions tremulous before I was able to calm it by taking a deep breath. The box contains bottles of emotional essences; they are also called primal drops or pieces of heaven. There are many other names for it. These are things that could be produced only by the legacies. The legacies that harvest the emotions, purify them, and turn them into these. These are the most valuable materials in the world because they could create the potions that one could drink without side effects. Weapons are more powerful than the enchanted. It could make wine, that a single sip of it could make one drunk for days, and a drug, that after consuming, people begin to experience the heaven itself. It is said, that a higher level of these essences. Grade 7 and above are used to make artifacts and relics and in seals that are used to contain great horrors. This could do anything, and it is why, over 95% of emotion essence is produced by any legacy taken by the Sovereign. In the empire it is 99%; only 1% is left for the owner of the legacy and they need to give the Sovereign record of every drop. It is why the legacies are precious; they are protected by the Sovereign and their owner gets the privileges equal to nobles. Not to mention the zero tax and immunity from low crimes. Even if the crime is high. Only imperial authority could punish them. Local lords do not have the power to touch them. The legacies, no matter where they are, whose territory they belong to. They are considered the property of the Sovereign. ¡°What do you want me to do with them?¡± I asked after more than a minute of silence. ¡°I want you to join Damon and Robin for the Owlspring tonight,¡± ¡°Tomorrow morning, you will take it to the ce and hand it over to a person,¡± he replied. ¡°The responsibility is too big, my lord. I don¡¯t, I deserve it,¡± I said. This is my polite way of declining. I don¡¯t want the responsibility; it is a sure way to die. People kill for it; it is not the most precious thing in the world for nothing. Not to mention, I don¡¯t think this is legal. This material is restricted and now he is asking me to take it to apletely different country. This had danger written on it; it was zing brightly like a sun. ¡°You deserve it, Remus, and it is why I am handing you this responsibility. I hope you didn¡¯t disappoint me,¡± he said. I wanted to decline, but I knew if I did, there would be consequences. I have worked so hard to gain his trust and got the power in exchange and I could lose it and I don¡¯t want to, despite knowing agreeing to it, might kill me. ¡°Thank you for your trust, my lord,¡± I said and bowed to him. They are right when they say, the higher you rise, the more you will fear the fall. I have be a perfect example of that. ¡°You will also have other responsibilities aside from this, mainly signing the contract you have negotiated with Oksall in their representative office.¡¯ ¡°After that, you can join Damon and Robin in their negotiations with Owlspring merchant guild or do your things, it¡¯s up to you,¡± he said. ¡°As youmand, my lord,¡± I said and bowed. A few minutester, I walked out of his office and stepped into mine. I sat down on the chair and just closed my eyes. Everything had been going smoothly; in three days, I was going back to the baronies and nned to hand over the responsibility for one of those two at the end of the month. I hade intending to broach that subject, but now, it won¡¯t be possible till I return. If I am able to return. I don¡¯t know for sure if I could even return or die on the way. Still, if I somehow came back; the Count will owe me enough to listen to what I say. I had my eyes closed for over ten minutes before I opened them and began with my work. There is some work, I have people to meet, but I should be done soon. Two and a half hourster, I walked out of the mansion. I was nning to stay for one and a half hours at most, but I had to meet a noble who came from the Baronies and helped him with the problem. It was not an official one, but it was something I could solve, and I did. I sat in the carriage, and it moved out of the mansion and ten minutester, entered the establishment through the back gate. As it did, I felt the feeling. Earlier, I used to feel it when I stepped into the mansion, but now, as long as I entered the boundary of the establishment, I would feel it. Every day, the feeling seemed to get slightly stronger, which was in turn making charms imprinted on the establishment stronger. The carriage stopped, and I stepped out of it, before walking into the establishment. I didn¡¯t take the stairs to my office instead I walked into a secret room on the first floor and what I saw brought a smile to my face. The first genuine smile since I had stepped out of the Count¡¯s office. It is five days, six if I count the first night since the establishment opened, and it is doing better than I had imagined. Like the restaurant right now, it is one-thirty p.m. and it is jam-packed. In the past three days, it has been packed from twelve-thirty to two-thirty. We had to send people back during the lunch rush, and even after that, till five, it remained at least 50% full. I really wish I could stay in the city, not go to the Owlspring or Baronies, and just focus on my business. Unfortunately, that isn¡¯t possible. I watched it for a while, before climbing above onto the second floor and seeing the scene there, an even bigger smile appeared on my face. For the first two days, we have used the third floor, but seeing the number of clients, we had to shift to the second floor; the biggest of all three floors. Now, the second and top floors are open, while the third floor is closed. I looked at the huge floor, which is 80% full. It is far greater than we all thought. I watched for a few minutes before going to the top floor, which was fully packed. These people aren¡¯t ordinary people, we have not let anyone in, even during the day. All the people here belong to the girl''s list. A few minutester, I went to my office. I didn¡¯t step into it and turned to Jill. ¡°Call all three madams to my office,¡± I said and walked inside. Click! Half an hourter, the door opened, and Ca walked in with Margaux and Caena behind her. ¡°This better be urgent. I had to postpone a meeting for this sudden summon,¡± she said, ring at me; she had used to the skill. So, only I could hear what she had said. She had been in her office in the city; it is where she now spent most of her time. Coming to the establishment, only for a few hours. It is not just the work, but also the staff; it had been only three days since they hade, and she had been familiarizing them with the work. ¡°Has something happened, Master Silver?¡± asked Margaux as she took the seat. ¡°Yes, something had happened. We will be taking our ns a little forward,¡± I said, and surprise appeared on the faces of all three of them. Just Yesterday, I shared my n with them. It shocked them, before exiting them, I could still see the excitement they had in their eyes. ¡°What happened?¡± asked Ca with a hint of worry. ¡°I have received an urgent assignment to go to Owlspring, with Damon Hardt,¡± I informed. ¡°Margaux, you will be joining. We will use this opportunity to get more girls,¡± I would have loved to take Ca, but she is swamped with work. She would decline, even if I asked her. The same with Caena; she makes things easier. I hope the level-up will help me with the strain, I am going to feel in the next few days. ¡°And applications?¡± asked Ca and all the girls focused on me. ¡°I will submit them personally,¡± I replied. The response to the bossiness is good enough that I want to take the risk. It is bigger than what I had taken with the establishment and circle. It will be a huge step toward making my dreame true, and I hope the merchant states won¡¯t crush them. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 229: Stolen Chapter 229: Stolen ¡°It is a good thing you are joining us, with your help, we will be able to refine our negotiation strategy further,¡± said Robin as we walked out of Count Darrow¡¯s office. It is ten in the night, and we have bid our good guys to Count and now leaving for the Owlspring. If the journey goes well, we will be in the Owlspring by dawn, and I really hope we do. I don¡¯t want to die before I aplish something worthwhile. ¡°You do not need my help. I am sure the preparations you have made are more than enough,¡± I replied with a smile. ¡°We did prepare, but I still want you to take a look at it. You are quite good at picking up the ws,¡± he said. ¡°Fine.¡± I agreed, and he smiled. Declining him again would have been disrespectful. Soon, we got out of the mansion and sat in the carriage. The ride to the port was silent and slightly awkward. Robin talked to me, and Damon Hardt and we would reply in a few short words. We both are busy with our own thoughts. I don¡¯t know what he was thinking, but I am thinking about my safety. These six hours would be dangerous; there is a good chance that I might get attacked on the journey. Given my luck, it is not good, but a high chance we might get attacked. I really hope I would have been going alone, instead of Robin and Damon. Their lives would be in danger if there was an attack. Soon, we reached the port, and the carriage stopped by the ship. We stepped out of the carriage and walked toward the ramp. ¡°Wee to pearl, gentlemen,¡± said Captain Pierce. It had been a few months since I hadst seen the man, and he looked good. ¡°Thank you, captain,¡± said Damon Hardt. We talked with the captain for a few minutes, before he walked away and soon, the masts unfurled, and the ship began to move. We remained on the deck and watched till the city had passed before I went with them to the small conference room. Two hours passed quickly than I had imagined, and I got out of the conference room, with a surprise on my face. Damon Hardt had really changed. They had made thorough preparations for tomorrow, which is not surprising because both of them are experienced and high-level. I do not know their exact level, but I know they are close to Level 30. The bottleneck that stopped most people who crossed the Lv. 20 and is much harder to cross. I wanted to go to the deck, but it was dangerous. So, I went into my cabin. I didn¡¯t lock the door and had Jon inside; he didn¡¯t ask questions when I had asked him toe inside. I am d he didn¡¯t; I don¡¯t like to lie to people who are responsible for protecting my life. Iy down and tried to sleep. Usually, I sleep pretty quickly, but it is now eluding me. The worry about the danger is making us unable to fall asleep. Every moment, I am sleeping about the danger. I imagined thieves and assassinsing at me through the river or the door and killing me like they had killed my father. I tried for half an hour before picking up the book and reading it and before I knew it; I fell asleep. ¡°Mr. Silver, wake up, we have reached the Owlspring,¡± informed the familiar voice, waking me up. ¡°Really?¡± I asked, not daring to believe that we had reached it without any incident. I even had a nightmare about being attacked and was dreaming it, when Z had woken me. ¡°Yes,¡± she affirmed, with a question on her face, but she didn¡¯t ask it. I turned to the porthole and could see the city of Owlspring, shining despite being sote or rather so early. ¡®It seemed like we have arrived sooner than I had thought,¡¯ I said to myself and went to the bathroom to freshen up. When I came out, I changed into the new suit and activated Get Ready. Like all the skills, it had also be slightly powerful with level up. After taking ast look at the mirror, I walked out of the cabin and went to the deck. The sun had just started toe out, with its rays reaching further and brighter every second. It is a beautiful scenery with a confluence below it. ¡°Good morning,¡± said a familiar voice behind me. ¡°Morning,¡± I replied, without looking back. ¡°It is really beautiful scenery,¡± he said, looking at the sun shining over the confluence. ¡°It is,¡± I replied, looking at the scenery. For a few minutes, there was a silence before he turned to me. ¡°I have seen people experiencing shocking things, and it changes them, but the shock you have given to Damon Hardt, and the changes it brought to him and still bringing, are the biggest changes I had ever seen happening to a person,¡± he said. People say Robin is undeserving of his position, but they don¡¯t know the man well enough. He is the most intelligent among all the advisers. He notices everything and speaks a few words, but when he does, intelligent ones listen. Count despite all his ws, recognize his value, and listen to him the most. Far more than me or any other advisers. ¡°He has changed,¡± I said after a pause, and he smiled. The shock he had received was enormous, Count had taken away part of his responsibilities and handed them to me. If it was not bad enough, I had seeded in achieving what he couldn¡¯t for more than half a year and the results were amazing. He hated me so much that he had started opposing me even more and even stopped me from getting the aid I needed against monsters with Commander Atticus, but that seemed to have changed since I hade back. He still hates me, but there is now some respect. Last night was quite surprising. He had heard everything; I am saying, without any snidement or unreasonable counter. Something seemed to have happened in the past month. That brought this huge transformation to him, and it is not just his attitude toward me, but also the decision he is taking in the merchant guild and his own business. They are moreprehensive and somewhat daring. Locke had said that Damon Hardt has be amodating, listening to what he and others say in meetings and even implementing their ideas. We stayed watching the scenery for half an hour more, before going inside and sometime after that, we had breakfast with the captain. ¡°Come to the merchant guild, if you have time,¡± said Robin as we walked off the ramp of the ship. ¡°I don¡¯t think I will be able to make it,¡± I replied with an apologetic smile. I might be able to make it, but I will not. Damon Hardt might suffer my presence and listen to my opinions, but I don¡¯t have much interest or time to put my neck in his business. I have things of my own that I have to do. I watched them sit in their carriages, and I sat in mine, and it began to move toward the city. I had to go to the ce and empty this load that is like the mountain. Even now, I am worried and would be till I had over to the person. If it were up to me, I would have gone there the moment I had woken up, but I couldn¡¯t. The time is seven-thirty or after. Minutes passed and the thieves or assassins I had been waiting for didn¡¯te and finally, I had reached the ce. Aryveson Alchemy. It is a five-story building, bigger than the establishment. It is the best alchemical store of the Owlspring, and its owner is said to be a Lv. 40 alchemist; one of four in the whole city-state of Meldhorn, which has over thirty cities. The other three are in the capital, Meldhorn City. These two ces are the only ones in Meldhorn-state that have the legacies. I have reached the storage, and now, I am nearly safe. I will bepletely safe once enter the store and hand the thing over to the person inside. With that, I stepped out of the carriage and walked toward the pale green building with a smile on my face. ¡°Mr. Silver, watch out!¡± shouted Jon suddenly, and after that, everything happened so suddenly. I saw Z¡¯s staff lighting up and watery bubbles from around me and, at the same time, Stone swinging his sword toward something. I couldn¡¯t see Jon as he was behind me, but I could feel his and Stone¡¯s skills covering me, along with Z¡¯s spell. ¡®Thief,¡¯ I thought. There is definitely a thief or even an assassin. It froze me and shes of my father¡¯s death began to appear in front of me; they became clearer than they had ever been. They froze me for a moment, but I forcefully shook it away and moved my hands. One went toward my sword while the other toward my storage. My hand had just reached the storage, when I saw the grey form materialized in front of me. Avoiding the bubble that Z has cast and is still around me. It had appeared suddenly, like a phantom, and moved his hand toward the storage that I had just touched. Its movements were so fast and smooth that I could see every movement and could feel my own slowness in front of him. It is not just I am slow, but also Stone, who turned his sword toward the masked grey form, but it seemed to be moving too slowly to do anything. I felt him taking out the storage from my pocket and the moment it did; it turned to an extreme blur and disappeared from my view. A momentter, everything turned normal, and could feel Jon moving in that direction fast, but even his speed seemed far too slowpared to the thief who had just stolen my storage. ¡°Mr. Silver are you all right?¡± asked Stone, pulling me out of my thoughts. ¡°Yes, I am fine, but the thief had got my storage,¡± I said with augh. ¡°Was there something valuable?¡± he asked. ¡°Kind of,¡± I replied, as I watched Jon return. ¡°He got away,¡± he said with a regretful shake. I didn¡¯t say anything and turned to two people appearing beside me. ¡°You guys?¡± I asked, with hope in my eyes. Jon was not the only one who was chasing the thief. These two hade from the direction of the store and moved toward the thief, and they were even faster than Jon. ¡°He disappeared without a trace.¡± The half-elf woman replied with a sigh. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 230: Necessary Step Chapter 230: Necessary Step ¡°Such a regret,¡± I said with regret before walking toward the store. My guards and two from the store followed me, and soon I reached the thick ss door and entered inside. As I did, I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed that for a moment, even forgetting, that a powerful rogue had stolen my storage and if it wanted, it could have killed me just as easily. It is arge floor with a lot of people shopping for potions, which are ced on crystalline shelves. The bottles are small and big and have potions of all colors and cause on them. It is not just potions, but also salves, balms, lotions, pills, and other things also there. As long as it involves the alchemy, they are here. ¡°Mr. Silver, Alchemist Aryveson is waiting for you,¡± said a blue-haired woman in a ck dress stopped in front of me. ¡°Lead the way,¡± I said, and she took me to the elevator. We stepped in it, and it moved up, before stopping at the top floor. We walked out of it and stopped in front of an borate red-doors made of really expensive wood and beautiful carving on it, that seemed to pull me to it. It took some effort for me to pull my focus out and step inside a magnificent office with an amazing view. The office is twice had big as mine and has a window that is as long as the wall, providing a huge view of the city and ample natural light. The furniture of the office is great and expensive, that I couldn¡¯t afford it, even with the money, both of my business earning me. I looked at the half-elf sitting behind a huge table. He looked to be in histe fifties, with a handsome face and green hair. Wearing a perfectly cut, ssical style alchemical suit. ¡°Alchemist Aryveson, you should have better security, I have been robbed right in front of your store,¡± I said to the man and could see the irritation shing in his eyes hearing my words, but he quickly controlled it. ¡°Our security is fine, young man. If you had been within the boundaries of my store, you wouldn¡¯t have been robbed,¡± he replied in confidence and now it is me feeling irritated. ¡°The question is whether the thief had stolen the box. If it had, then you are in great trouble, young man.¡± ¡°You might not be aware of it, but that box contained extremely precious things,¡± he asked in a tone that bordered on rudeness. ¡°I am aware, Alchemist Aryveson, and took ample precaution,¡± I said and took out the ines bag from my pocket and from it, the wooden box. Seeing that, a surprise appeared on his face. I ced the box on the table and he snatched it away at a speed, that is a blur to me. Click! I heard the click, and the box opened. Revealing the bottles of emotional essences. Seeing them, his eyes be bright as bulbs. The rogue had been powerful, but he didn¡¯t seed in taking it, even with all his strength and skills. I had hidden the bag on my sleeve and put it in my pocket after getting out of the elevator. Still, such a simple trick wouldn¡¯t have worked, seeing the rogues have skills against such tricks. So, I had asked Jon to cast his skill, he has one anti-detection type skill, but even that won''t be enough to fool high-level thieves with their powerful skills. It is why I had taken some help from Caena, who, before I had left, had performed the ritual. She had even created a few charms; though their power was not as strong as the charm I had thrown at the bandit leader, they were still powerful. It all helped, seeing the thief had stolen the wrong storage. ¡°This is good,¡± he said, he said, looking at bottles of emotional essences. ¡°Alchemist Aryveson, please sign this letter of delivery,¡± I said and handed him the letter. He stamped it and signed it, before giving it back to me. ¡°Thank you, Alchemist Aryveson,¡± I said, after checking the letter, but he didn¡¯t even nod. I drank down the anger and walked out of his office. I didn¡¯t immediately leave the building. I am not idiot enough to let some little rudeness get in my head. No, instead of leaving immediately, I did some shopping, spending quite a lot on potions and other things I needed. If there had been a better ce to buy things of this quality, I would have gone there, but unfortunately, there is not. This is the best ce in the entire city. Once the shopping was done, I sat in my carriage and it moved toward the city hall, while I took out five stacks of forms. I have already checked them multiple times, but I am checking them again, in case I have missed something. I didn¡¯t. The carriage stopped within the minute, I had finished with the forms, and I got out. The city hall of Owlspring is huge. Not as magnificent as of Jalrux or Oksall, but far bigger and grander than what we have in the Greltheaven. I am here for an extremely important thing. I am here to submit the application for business, a license. Our agreement with Meldhorn involved brothels. Not specifically brothels, but the category of business that brothel is part of. It is not something I had added, but something that was part of the original agreement that the prince signed with the merchant state. While the agreement may have the provision for it, that doesn¡¯t mean, it is easy to set brothels in the cities of Meldhorn. No, it is extremely hard and till now; they have only given three permissions. Even Normal Lucas had only got one license, despite the connection of his family in this business. Now, I am applying for five licenses in five cities, including Owlspring. It will be challenging to get the licenses and their requirements are high, but it will be worth it. I will be happy if I get even a single license. This expansion is the next step in my business. Only through expansion, I will be able to create the business empire, I envisioned. Also, it is necessary. I love Greltheaven, but even I know its future is not certain. I need to prepare for catastrophe and merchant states are the best ce for it. It is a stable country with a huge market, and they are powerful enough to deal with the full might of Navr or any country on the continent, including the archmages city. It is why, I had chosen to expand here despite the difficulties, rather than the empire, where I won¡¯t face many problems. I controlled my emotions and went inside. Two hourster, I walked out. I have submitted and met some familiar people who have some sway. ¡®Let¡¯s hope they ept,¡¯ I thought to myself as I stepped into my carriage. I will get the results of my applications within a month. I have started the preparations for them today. As for what will happen to these preparations if I don¡¯t get the license? They will not go to waste. If I don¡¯t get permission in the merchant city, I will start in the empire, and I already have the cities in mind. However, my preference is still merchant-states, and I will try hard. I have a few more connections and I will be trying them. The carriage moved out of the city hall and twenty-five minutester, it stopped in front of a familiar ce. A building made of stones and hasrge windows. Behind those windows, I could see the silhouettes of girls. Caskheart Indentured. I stepped out of the carriage and walked into the building. Immediately, I saw two womening toward me. ¡°Master Silver,¡± greeted Margaux, while Barb nodded respectfully. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have waited for me,¡± I said, to which she smiled. I trust her to do this. She had experience and understood my vision; she wouldn¡¯t have any problems in selecting the right girls. ¡°My apologies,¡± she apologized. ¡°You don¡¯t need to apologize. Only realize that you have my trust,¡± I said, and her eyes turned emotional. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, and I smiled. ¡°I assume all preparations are made?¡± I asked the pretty dwarf appearing beside me. ¡°Yes, Mr. Silver. We have readied everything, Miss. Caena had asked us to,¡± replied Nas Caskheart. Click! A minuteter, she opened the door of the room, which was bigger than thest time. It had a big table and threefortable chairs. This is good because it is going to be long and with the number of contracts I have to buy. It is going to take days. Thankfully, I have time; the Count won¡¯t say anything, even if I stay here for a week. Though it won¡¯t take a week, just a few days. ¡°Miss Nas, bring the girls,¡± said Margaux to the blond-haired woman, and a few secondster, the first girl came in. ¡°They know how to impress,¡± said Barb. Margaux and I couldn¡¯t help but nod at that. The woman in front of us is striking. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, tall with a slim figure and blueish ck straight hair. She had green eyes, a straight nose, and enviable cheekbones. She is the kind of woman who would attract eyes, the moment she enters the room. As she appeared, Nas put her information in front of us. I read through it within seconds and surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡®This is interesting,¡¯ I thought and activated the Sight Through Veil. The girl felt my skill and there was immediate resistance and a spark of anger on her expressionless face. I could see her trying to ball her fists, but she resisted doing that. I don¡¯t like doing that to the girls who haven¡¯t signed the contract with me. In their contract, there is a clear provision for this act, but I need to do it to get the best girls. Vrana Lester ss: Milliner Lv. 13 Whore Lv. 13 I saw her sses and the levels along with the skill. I didn¡¯t focus on the skills; I am more focused on sses; she has two and whore is not her primary ss. She is Millner and looking at things; she seemed to have intentionally stopped her Whore ss from leveling up above Millner ss. It is an intelligent decision that not many are able to make, even I was not able to make. Her decision is even moremendable when one looks at the ce she was at. Where she barely had any resources and time to practice her craft and level up her primary ss. It is not just the level-up she had decided to forgo, but also the skills that came with it. I am sure it would have been quite painful. I am not thinking too much. There is information on her level-ups like when she had reached Lv. 10 in her Whore ss, nearly seven years ago. The information clearly stated that she had only let her Whore ss level up after her primary ss did. She never let it rise above it. ¡°Where are you from, Miss Lester?¡± I asked, and surprise couldn¡¯t help, but appear on her face. She answered the question and the next few after that before she left the room. A secondter, another came. Every girl that came, I would look into their ss and ask them a set of questions. Tens of girls came in and I began to notice something. These people seemed to have learned from ourst time visit and even done some research on me. Last time, there were less than 5% of people with more than one ss and of them half had sses rted to crafts and hobbies. This time, around 15% of girls have secondary sses, of which 10% are rted to crafts and hobbies. Hours passed, and evening approached when we had stopped. ¡°We will take a break here, Miss Nas,¡± I said to the Dwarf woman. ¡°I wille back in an hour,¡± she informed with a smile and left. ¡°The constant interviews are quite tiring,¡± I said, as I massaged my head. Still, the leveling-up helped me more than I had thought. I had not onlysted much longer, but not a single girl was able to hide their skills and sses from me. It is helping me a lot. I was massaging my head; when I saw Ca taking out a bottle of whisky and a crystal ss from her bag and giving it to Barb. ¡®This drunkard,¡¯ Barb drinks and she also has a ss rted to that. I couldn¡¯t see it, since she is a higher level than me and it hides her secondary ss. She made herself a drink and took a sip. Hun! After that, she did something surprising. Instead of taking another sip, she slid the ss toward me, the same ss from which she had drank. ¡°Drink it, Master Silver,¡± she said. I arched my brow in question, but she just smiled instead of answering. Seeing she wouldn¡¯t do this, without reason, I took the ss and drank the whisky. I felt its amazing taste before it entered my stomach and gave me a familiar burn. Hun! The burn had just faded, when an amazing thing happened. My tiredness started to disappear and in just a few minutes; it nearly disappeared. ¡°Thank you, Barb,¡± I thanked gratefully. Half an hourter, we resumed the interviews and continued until ten. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 231: Invitation Chapter 231: Invitation ¡°My lord, there is a message from Alchemist Aryveson, stating that he received the package,¡± ¡°There is one from Remus Silver, stating that he delivered the package sessfully,¡± informed Mage Beaumont, and the Count, who had been worried sick, finally felt relieved. He has just received information a minute ago from people watching Remus that the storage has been stolen. It is the reason; he had given the package to Remus to deliver. The information of the emotional essence had been leaked somehow and earlier a n to send it to a merchant state to be scrapped. The prince had asked me to go myself, but I did not. Just yesterday, one of the prince¡¯s loyalists had been assassinated. Alfred was a powerful man and well-protected, but they had killed him. I didn¡¯t want to risk my life, no matter how precious emotional essence is. So, I sent Remus. He was able to do things that others didn¡¯t, and I was right in my decision. He seeded, despite them sending the grey man, a powerful thief. I don¡¯t know how Remus was able to fool him, or just lucky. I don¡¯t care how he did it. What I care about, is the emotional essence, that had been delivered to the whom it was supposed to. Emptying the enormous burden, I had been feeling for a few days. ¡°Send the message; say the delivery is sessful,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t have to tell her whom to send it to. ¡­ The ship had finally stopped, and I looked at Greltheaven, bathing in the morning light. The city is tinypared to the grand Owlspring, but it has its own charm. I still remember the day; I saw the city; it was a morning like this one. The only difference is the port is now twice as big and has at least five times more people in it. There would have been a lot more if the Count had epted some of my suggestions. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t. ¡°I will be going first. You bring the girls to the circle,¡± I said to Ca and walked off the ship. I have been to the Owlspring for three days. Bringing a total, of four hundred and twelve girls. It was four hundred and forty-nine, but thirty-seven of them had chosen the freedom. Four hundred and twelve girls may seem much, but they are not. I could easily absorb half of them into the establishment and will do it after they are trained. I wanted to stay further and buy more contracts, but I couldn¡¯t. I have to leave tonight for the Nakar baronies. There are a few things I want to attend. Before leaving for Nakar Baronies. I will be breaching the subject of handing over my position to someone else. Let¡¯s hope the Count agrees. Fifteen minutes passed, and the carriage pulled into thepound before stopping. I got out and walked toward the mansion. In a minute, I appeared by the door and entered inside, after getting a nod from the secretary. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted the Count and son. This time too they were alone, without any protector. Though, I know it is not true. I have sensed Lancel¡¯s emotions and sometimes even Count¡¯s. I didn¡¯t sense the fear of safety in them, not even once in this room. I had sensed fear many times in Lancel, and it seemed to disappear when he was in his father¡¯spany. It is not just because he trusts his father and knew he would protect him. No, it is because, he knows, there is someone, or are some people, who will protect him and his father from the danger. ¡°Remus, wee back, and congrattions on the delivery,¡± said Count, and a mirthless smile appeared on my face. ¡°It was one of the most horrible experiences of my life,¡± ¡°That thief stole my bag. It had valuable things, like an enchanted weapon, the things I got from that ce in Navr, and many other valuable things,¡± I said. ¡°It is your own fault to keep those things in a bait bag,¡± mocked Lancel. I was about to answer him politely about the reason for that when the Count did something surprising. He looked at his son and there was a sh of anger in his eyes. Count rarely gets angry at his son. This is only the third time; I saw him getting angry at Lancel. ¡°The city willpensate you, for everything you have lost,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied, with a relieved smile. Of course, I didn¡¯t lie about the thing, I had ced in the bag. It had those things. However, what state they were in is apletely different question. He had sent me on a very dangerous mission. There was a very high chance that I would have died. There is no way, I wouldn¡¯t demandpensation for it. I want to ce the report of everything, I have lost in front of him immediately, but that wouldn¡¯t be wise. I will send the file to the respective department forpensation. ¡°When will you leave today?¡± he asked after several seconds of silence. ¡°Tonight, I should be in Lauryl by the morning,¡± I replied, to which he nodded. ¡°I have read your proposals on the plots and while I disagree with the conditions you have put in there, you have my permission for it,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, my lord, ¡°I said and for a couple of minutes, we have discussed a few things about the Lauryl town and our business with Oksall and Navr. ¡°My lord, did you make any progress with the Deerpond?¡± I asked, and his expression turned bad like he had swallowed something nasty. ¡°The bastard is still dragging his feet and with him those cities,¡± he cursed. ¡°Our trade with Narv is increasing by the day. It is helping our city a lot. He wouldn¡¯t be able to resist the allure of it for long,¡± I said, but his expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°Nothing could be said about that bastard. He might be willing to suffer the loss. He knows it well. If he joined trade with Navr, other cities would join too,¡± ¡°Within a month, the whole region will trade with the route that we control and tax. It will benefit us immensely, more than his single city. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t do it unless there is no other option in front of him,¡± he said. It is petty and counterproductive, but nobles are like that. It is not just noble, but the politicians of the modern day are also the same. ¡°It is also the truth that we need him. We wouldn¡¯t be able to extract all the benefits of the route we control unless he joins us,¡± I said. Count nodded and sighed. There was a silence for a minute before I spoke again, with words, I had practiced for more than a month. ¡°My lord, the town is developing nicely, and the road is about to be finished in a few days from the merchant''s end.¡± ¡°I think, I have achieved everything you had asked for and now, I really hope. You would hand over the responsibility to someone more worthy than me,¡± I requested, and the Count smiled. ¡°You know, Remus. People will kill for that position, and you have been trying to throw it away since the first day,¡± he said, shaking his head. ¡°I love the city, my lord. You are here, so is my business and I really think I would be better used here than at baronies,¡± I said and he just looked at me. There was silence for several seconds before he sighed. ¡°It is true, you have nearly achieved everything I had asked, and I had made a promise.¡± ¡°I will being to Lauryl at the end of the month, and you will have what you wish,¡± he said, and a big smile appeared on my face. He didn¡¯t promise anything, but even those words were enough for me. As I really thought, he might try to find some wriggle room in it. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said with a bow. A few minutester, I walked out of the office, but I didn¡¯t leave the mansion. I did that after three hours. There was some work I had to do, thankfully, I had finished it in time. I sat in the carriage, and a few minutester, I got out in front of the three-story building. I stepped inside the first floor and saw the new staff working. Each of them doing their job, Ca used to do most of it, but now she has help. I had talked to them for a few minutes before I went to my office on the third floor. Ca wasn¡¯t present, she had gone out for a meeting. There is some work I have to do, but first, I have opened the letters. Some were invitations, some correspondence. I read each of them and wrote a reply. ¡®Another one,¡¯ I thought, reading the letter in a blue envelope. The city is growing fast, and many businesses are growing with it, but some are also failing. So, they sell assets and leave or use the proceedings to invest in other businesses. I read through everything and wrote a reply, before focusing on the actual work. The first thing I did was look at the earnings report of the establishment. Which has been professionally done, thanks to the new staff that hade from the maind. While the madams are good. They are not professionals; they barely have months of experience. These people have years of experience and have the sses and skills rted to that. I looked at the numbers, and a big smile appeared on my face. I really hope I will receive at least one license from the merchant state. I really want to start the expansion from there. Click! I was working when the door opened. I didn¡¯t have to look to know that Ca hade; she was the only one who came without knocking. ¡°How was the meeting?¡± I asked. ¡°Not great,¡± she replied, with an obvious sadness. ¡°It is fine, we are well above our target for this month,¡± I said. It is business, such things are normal. ¡°I really wanted his business, but not everyone would want to do business with whores,¡± she said and sighed, while my expression turned serious. ¡°Did he say something?¡± I asked, to which sheughed. ¡°Not in so many words,¡± she replied mirthlessly. He is not the first man who has declined to do business with her because of Ca¡¯s past profession, and he won¡¯t be thest. Some had rejected to do the business with us, just because she is a woman. She knew how to handle such people and usually wouldn¡¯t be this upset over a failed deal, but this one was big. Even I am a little sad, but it is normal. It is business. ¡°Is that from Hershel?¡± she asked suddenly, seeing the blue envelope on the table. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. ¡°I met him a few days ago, and he had told me he would send the invitation. It seemed like, he did,¡± she said and took the letter, before reading it. ¡°You should go check it out,¡± I said, and surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on her face. We have received such invitations many times, but never attended even a single one. There were some fears before, but now that we have moved far enough, they won¡¯t risk doing something like that. Even if they did, it wouldn¡¯t affect us much. ¡°Haven¡¯t you brought enough girls?¡± she asked as surprise eased from her face. ¡°Yes, I have, but we can house a few more,¡± I replied. ¡°I will go if I have time,¡± she said after a moment of silence. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 232: Back Chapter 232: Back ¡°Wee back, Master Silver,¡± said L as she opened the door of the carriage. ¡°Thank you, L,¡± I said as I got out of the carriage. I had lefttest night and thus reached Castle Radcliffte; it is all the fault of Ca. That ck thing she wore was a little too much and what she did after removing it, had kept me in the room for hours, longer than I had wanted to. It took great willpower to leave the room. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked. ¡°Everything is great, Mr. Silver. We have done everything you have asked for, including the preparations for tomorrow,¡± answered Carlos. This question was for L, but it¡¯s fine. ¡°I have read the report, and the response has been good. Let¡¯s see how many peoplee tomorrow,¡± I said. Tomorrow is a huge plot sale, bigger than every other we have done till now. Most importantly, half of the plots have been reserved forced the merchant of merchant states. The negotiations with them had been sessful. I had to agree with some of their demands, like increasing the number of plots for merchants. It is the thing I wanted to do and intentionally kept the number small at the beginning. In exchange, we had got greater trade limit by month, which will increase with the business they do with Navr. ¡°How is the progress of the road?¡± I asked. ¡°They will be finished in four days; Lord ckwell had invited you for its formal inauguration on the 14th,¡± he replied. The road is nearly finished; only a small part of it has remained. Despite that, a lot of caravans areing, and their numbers will substantially after the road isplete. Oksall is working day and night to finish the road. There is a huge pressure from the merchants to do that. The route is proving far more beneficial than they had thought. So much so that now, there is one caravaning every two hours and some small groups and lone carriages have also starteding. Which is surprising as I had not thought. Lone merchants woulde before the road was finished and sufficient security was established. I have been out for nearly fourteen days and the town has changed tremendously. More shops and other buildings had opened, and the poption had increased further. Some of theborers working here had shifted their families from the city. It is cheaper for them to live here, and work is avable everywhere. It is also helping their employers and also the people who are building to house them. They are filling so quickly that the rent has begun to rise rapidly. While I didn¡¯t like to interfere in the market, I had to do it. I had restricted the rent. It made some people angry. The problem would onlyst for a few weeks more. By then, we will have enough housing to house the ever-increasing poption of the town. The merchants from Oksall will also help with that, after tomorrow''s auction. I stepped into the office, where a pile of files had been waiting for me. I got the reports when I was in the city, but they only cover a surface. These files contain the essence; I have to read through it all and then verify. It is extremely important to verify. If one didn¡¯t, it could give rise to many things. The most dangerous of them is corruption, which is a difficult thing to root out once itys down its seeds. I trust L immensely, but I do not trust others much, and even with L, I would still verify the things she had done. It is quite tiring, but it is a prize of good governance. I opened the file and activated Insightful Reading; the skill is really amazing. I could not only read fast with it but also understand things more deeply. The level-up had made the skill even more powerful than before. Within a few minutes, I finished with the file and started with another. It is not like, I am only reading, I also taking notes for the things, I have to checkter. It is a habit of mine that has served me great over the years and I am not going to change that unless I get the skill rted to this and there are skills like that. I finished two more files before I felt a rumble in my stomach. I stopped immediately and got out of my seat. I went directly to the kitchen and ate the breakfast. I could do without lunch, but I need breakfast, especially at a time like this, when it bes distracting. After breakfast, I went back to the office and started with the files. I would have eaten breakfast in my office, and I should have done that. In my hurry, I didn''t remember it and am now feeling a little ashamed. I pushed that feeling aside and started with the files again and it waste afternoon before I finished with all the files. ¡°You all have done a wonderful job,¡± I said to all three. I am especially proud of L for what she has done; this time, she was able to snatch some work from the two. Last time, there was no work on her name, but now, around 20% of it has been done by her. Those two are very territorial and want to have as much work on their name as possible. To prove they could do it. They both want the position I have and trying desperately to prove their worth. I might not like them, but they are good. They would be able to fill my shoes without any problem. ¡°Thank you, Adviser,¡± both of them said in unison, while L nodded. I got up, walked out of my office, and started checking things. I started with the keep and new development that is happening there. I am creating theplex; the current space isn¡¯t enough for administration. If I want more, I will have to destroy some suits, which I don''t want to do. Those spaces will be needed to host the important guests and there will be many. If the town kept prospering at the speed, it is right now. Soon, I got out of the keep and saw Fang following behind me. He had jumped out of L¡¯s arms and now walking with her; I didn''t have to look at him to know where he was. I could always feel his presence thanks to my skill. In these two weeks, I hadn¡¯t been able to train him at all and I nned to use this month to do it. Once I had returned to the city, I wouldn¡¯t have such a huge area for the training, where we could move with no restrictions. I looked at the town, bathing in the evening light. It looked beautiful, with more going their way. The workers have ended their shift and many getting off, but others are recing them. There is barely any pause in their work, after onepletes their shift, the others will take their ce. Valentina¡¯spany is working here; she has got quite a lot of business in the town. Her work is amazing, and it also helps, that it is known that she has a rtionship with me. It is not just herpany building things, but others too. However, the ones that captured the biggest market are smallpanies. They are offeringpetitive prices and quality work. Valentina had evenined to me a few days ago that these people had formed a supply chain contract. Which is making thempete with middle-levelpanies. I didn¡¯t say anything and nor I will do anything. As long as it doesn¡¯t be antipetitive, I won''t lift a finger. They haven¡¯t done anything wrong, by allying. I could even say they are helping the market by making middle-levelpanies feel threatened. It is, in turn, making the middlepanies up their game. Turning the market morepetitive. As I strolled through the market, some people would stop and bow. I used to stop that, but seeing there was barely any in their altitude, I stopped. Though, whenever the Count came in, I would always spread the news to tell them the real boss wasing. I don¡¯t want them to bow to me in his presence; it will create a misunderstanding, that could have consequences. I strolled, watched, and even talked to people. Some people had even talked to me on their own, which I tried to foster. Usually, the people are too scared to talk to the big boss. It helps to understand the problems that are not visible. Like the problem, one of the citizens told me a few weeks ago. Some of the members of the army would ride too fast through the town. A few children and adults have been hurt by it. There is a speed limit on how fast people can ride their beasts, but the army has an exception. However, it only applies when there is an emergency. Some men were not following that. I had to make changes in the rules, so it could only be used during genuine emergencies. It was the night when I returned to the keep, and I had started working with three for the auction of plots, that is tomorrow. Most of the preparations have already been made, but some have remained, and seeing how important it is; I want everything to go perfectly. It will help the town a lot. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 233: Shimmering Lily Chapter 233: Shimmering Lily Ca ¡°Can you do that, Miss Ca?¡± asked the middle-aged man in front of me, trying but failing to hide the lust in his eyes. ¡°We can do that; if you want, we can provide you with 42% things you want immediately,¡± I said and slid the list toward him, which made his eyes light up as he looked down. Two weeks ago, we had brought a huge load from Navr. It was not an order for any client but for ourselves. Though it was brought to sell to the client; it makes the process a lot smoother. Now, we don¡¯t have to take the order and deliver it in a few days; we can deliver their order immediately. We can do that, with some of their orders and n to do with the whole in the near future. We wanted to do that from the beginning, but most of our money was to be poured into the circle and the establishment. Two weeks ago, we had umted enough to bring arge order. Currently, we are only having the bestsellers, but we are nning to expand to more brands. I have already ced anotherrge order yesterday and it will being by tomorrow night. I nned to have our warehouses filled with every type of liquor produced in the Navr in the next few months. I want to do it, despite the expansion that will ur, and I will be able to do it. As of now, the establishment has also started to earn and its earnings are really good. They are increasing every day. Especially during the day, when we are receiving more and more patrons. ¡°That would be great. We really need this,¡± he said with a big smile. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem, Mr. Coal,¡± I said, and we finalized the deal and signed the contract. Click! He left, and Iid back on the chair with a smile; another sessful deal. Though it couldn¡¯t bepared to the one I had lost three days ago. If I had seeded, it would have been the biggest deal made by me. I cursed that bastard for the prejudice. We would have given him the best price, but the old bastard clearly stated that he didn¡¯t deal with a woman like me. I wonder how the old bastard would have reacted if I had told him his son visits the establishment every time he is in the city. Of course, I didn¡¯t. Privacy of the patrons is extremely important; Remus had forbidden us from the first day to discuss the patrons, anyone who is not part of the establishment. Knock Knock! I was working when a knock rang out on my door, and a secondter; the door opened. Margaux walked in with her, Mena following behind her. ¡°Did you forget where we have to go today?¡± asked Margaux, and immediately remembered. ¡°I nearly forgot,¡± I said, with my cheeks flooding. ¡°Give me ten minutes; I wille back, changing the clothes,¡± I said and quickly walked out of the office. Click! I went to the upper floor of Remus¡¯s office before opening the door to the room behind it. There, I quickly undressed and freshened up before opening the closet. It is filled with clothes. There are more of my clothes here than of Remus. I had used this room more than him and slept here a few times a week. I have an apartment within walking distance and a suite in the circle, but sometimes, after a long day of work. A ride from my carriage to my apartment or the circle bes unbearable. I looked at the clothes before taking out a shirt. It is Remus¡¯s shirt; I took it to my nose and breathed in deeply. I miss him a lot and wish he was with me. He makes every day more vibrant and beautiful. A minuteter, I put his shirt back in its ce rather unwillingly and turned on my clothes before choosing the dress to wear. I wore a simple ck dress that reached near my corbone and went below my knees. I looked at the shoes and decided to wear the red high hills. I didn¡¯t wear any jewelry, just fixed my hair and applied some light makeup, which took some time, before activating my skill. Immediately, the changes appeared; I looked more appealing. Unlike Remus¡¯s skill, which made him presentable, mine enhanced everything I did. Like now, it had made my hair slightly vibrant, fixed the ws in make-up that I didn¡¯t notice, and adjusted the dress, making it fit better. After looking at the mirror onest time, I walked through the room and soon entered the second floor, where I saw Margaux and Ca talking to the staff. There were eight of them. Five hade from the maind, and three were girls. Two of them are teenagers, while the third one is a woman in herte twenties. She is one of the women we have gotten from Oksall. One of the few who were not chosen to work after their training. A few days ago, I posted the notice in the circle for the jobs in the office. These three applied; they will serve their contracts by working here, instead of in the establishment. However, that doesn¡¯t mean we will not pay them. We will pay them. Currently, they are learning. So, they will only get a stipend, when they will work, they will receive sries. Seeing them, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. If they learned, then whatever happens to the business, they would be able to make a living anywhere and wouldn¡¯t have to go back to the profession they want to leave behind. Over 95% of the girls in the establishment who have been there for six months have gained enough experience, ss, and skills; that they could work a respectful job without any problem. Most of them had taken those sses over Lv. 10, passing the initial hurdle. It is enough for them to go find a job that will sustain them and wouldn¡¯t have to work in a brothel if they didn¡¯t want to. ¡°Don¡¯t stay a minute above five,¡± I said to the staff and walked out with Margaux and Mena. Soon, we sat in the carriage and it began to move. Fifteen minutester, the carriage entered the red-light district before moving into the nicer part of it, a ce where high-ss and mid-ss brothels are. While there is permission for high-ss brothels in the entertainment district, not all are able to get it. Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the red-three-story building. We stepped out and walked toward the building. We had just entered through the door when a middle-aged bald man with a blond mustache appeared in front of us. ¡°Mad¡­Miss Ca, Madam Margaux, Madam Mena, wee to shimmering lily,¡± said the man. ¡°Thank you, for your invite, Mr. Hershel,¡± I thanked the man. He is Julo Hershel, owner of this brothel, who is selling the contract of the girls. I heard the building had been sold to Normal Lucas, who will open another brothel. Lucas is expanding rapidly, if what I heard is really true, then it will be his seventh brothel in the city. ¡°To be honest, I had not thought you woulde,¡± he said as he let us inside. ¡°How can I not, when you had invited us, so graciously,¡± I replied and the man smiled. Soon, we entered the area where the girls wearing barely anything were standing while the men were browsing them like goods. ¡°These are girls. You can see them and interact. If you are interested in them, take the card and submit it in your name.¡± ¡°If more than one person bids for the same person, then there will be an auction,¡± he said, exining the rules. ¡°Are the girls on the first floor or other floors, too?¡± I asked, ¡°All three floors, some of the people of the other mid-ss brothel had also sent the girls, whose contracts, they want to sell,¡± he answered. There seemed to be too many girls on the first floor, more than a hundred and twenty, that Hershel was supposed to have. He left soon, while we walked toward the girls, who had turned to us, along with men browsing them. We are the only group made wholly of women. Most of the people who havee here are men; only a few have a woman with them, who are madams of the brothel they run. Many of them are familiar; I had met them in official and unofficial meetings of business, which I attend as Remus¡¯s representative. I nodded and smiled at the people before stopping in front of the woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties. She is a beautiful woman, plump with blond hair and vibrant green eyes Her name is Arna Mads, ording to the board in front of her. She has a Prostitute ss at Lv. 14 and her three skills are also mentioned. They are nothing rare. I only nced at them before turning to the woman, who was also looking at us. ¡°Are you from the velvet garden?¡± she asked, as I was about to speak to her. ¡°Yes, I am Ca. This is Margaux and Mena,¡± I introduced ourselves to the girl. As I confirmed, her face lit up blindingly and her eyes zed like a bulb. I thought she would leap at me, but thankfully, she controlled herself. ¡°Do you really pay, your whore''s massive money?¡± she asked, barely able to contain her curiosity. ¡°We do not pay girls; only madams are paid. The girls earn amission, which is currently at 25%,¡± answered Mena, which widened her eyes that they looked like saucers. ¡°Though it is through gifts and tips, through which the girls earn most,¡± she added. I red at Mena, and her cheeks flooded. The poor girl was barely able to digest the news earlier, but the second one, had nearly made her faint and she would have, if not for Margaux, stopping her by grabbing her hand. ¡°Thank you,¡± said Arna as she got control of her emotions, but a momentter, a question appeared on her face. ¡°Isn¡¯t themission 10%?¡± she asked and a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on our face. ¡°Many of our patrons talk about the velvet garden a lot,¡± she exined, and a hint of sadness shed through her face for a moment. The girls didn¡¯t hide theirmission. If they want to tell the clients, they are free to do it. It had turned beneficial for them. When the clients begin to know, the establishment doesn¡¯t touch their gifts and tips given to the girls. They begin to give gifts and tips to girls more often and they are more expensive. It is the same with themission, when they found out that a quarter of what they are paying is going to girls directly. There is greater satisfaction in them. ¡°It was 10% before, but Master Silver hiked it to 25% at the start of this month,¡± replied Mena. The girl sighed before turning her eyes to us with full focus. ¡°Can you take me? I will not ask much, I will even work with a 5%mission, no 1%. You can even keep all the gifts and tips I will receive,¡± she asked with such hope that it felt painful to look at. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that, Arna,¡± I said with a sigh and disappointment appeared on her face and tears in her eyes. ¡°Miss Ca isn¡¯t saying we can¡¯t take you. It is just that, we are looking specific and we only take those girls to fall in that,¡± exined Ca, and the girl turned even sadder. ¡°Do I have a chance?¡± she asked, with a small voice with barely any hope, in those which are zing with not long ago. ¡°Of course, just answer the questions truthfully. We will see whether you have what needs to be a member of the velvet garden,¡± answered Margaux, and hope lit up in her eyes again. She is much better at dealing with girls than I am. It was a wise decision for her to take over the circle, despite it seeming like a demotion. There she can not only take care of the girls better but also focus on magic and painting. Which she had started to do. ¡°Arna, we are going to ask you some questions and I hope you will answer them truthfully,¡± I said to her, bringing out my madam''s voice. ¡°I will not lie, madam,¡± she replied, and we began with our questions. I like this girl; I have a good feeling about her, but that alone isn¡¯t enough. Though, it is the most important part. Soon, we finished with our questions. ¡°Thank you, Arna,¡± I said, and the girl looked at me with hope. ¡°Are you taking me?¡± she asked, with hope and hesitation. ¡°You will know in a few hours,¡± I replied and walked toward the next girl. We went to girl after girl and soon, we finished with all the girls on the first floor and climbed to the second floor. Hun! We just reached there, when we came across a group, walking toward the third floor. ¡°Mr. Chase, it¡¯s nice to see you here,¡± I greeted to man in a suit. He is the man of Normal Lucas; hees to deal with us when they poach our girls. Speaking of which; the first girl, they poached, is standing beside him. ¡°Likewise, Miss Ca, Headmistress Margaux, Madam Lena,¡± he replied with a smile. If anyone knows about us more and is not part of the establishment, then it would be this man ¡°Madam Francesca, you look great. Donna, it''s been a while,¡± I greeted the two women, beside him. Donna nodded and looked away, looked away with cheeks flushed. While Madam Francesca is an average-looking woman; she is a madam of red fragrance. An intelligent woman, whom I couldn¡¯t help but respect, despite being apetitor. Her contract is ending in around half a year and I had hinted to her that we might be interested in her. Though there was no reply from her; there was still time. I didn¡¯t tell Remus and it would take some effort to make him agree. He wouldn¡¯t trust a woman who had worked for Norman Lucas for so many years, but she would be worth the risk. ¡°You are looking as beautiful as always, Miss Ca,¡± she replied, before turning her head. ¡°You too Madam Margaux, Madam Mena,¡± she added. ¡°Thank you, Madam Francesca,¡± said Margaux. ¡°Let¡¯s hope we don¡¯t choose the same girls,¡± said Chase with a smile. ¡°Nothing could be said, Mr. Chase,¡± I replied. He walked to the third floor, and we entered the second. We looked at each and every girl, asking them questions, and getting their feeling, before going to the third floor. There are only twenty-eight girls here, including the former madam of this ce. He is even selling her contract and I am sure many will be bid; madams are usually in demand due to their experience and levels. She doesn¡¯t fit in our vision. We want someone from Lv. 16 and below, but if we find her interesting enough, we can make an exception. Chase and others were present on the floor as well; they seemed to have finished looking at the girls and now talking to the people. Hershel was also present here, talking to a beautiful girl in a wheelchair. There was a board beside her, which rubbed me the wrong way. Saying, her contract will be free for those who will buy the highest number of contracts. Not satisfied. Click on belowfor More Chapters. Chapter 234: Listener Chapter 234: Listener Rayna "I can be helpful in your new business," I pleaded to him once more. "Shut up! You might have been a little helpful in the brothel, but a cripple like you would be useless in there," "If I take you, it will drive away the customers instead," said Hershel harshly, while having a pleasant smile on my face. It is one of the things I had learned from him as on my face too there is a pleasant smile. To others looking at us, it will look like we are having a pleasant conversation, but our conversation is far from pleasant. "I," "Not another word about it," he said, raising his voice while still maintaining the smile. I once again tried, but he simply walked away. I want to call him out, but that would be bad; he is a bad man when he is angry. However, the man that will take me is even worse. I had seen how Lawrence Pen was looking at me and knew he wanted me. I had heard he likes cripples and those cripples disappear in a few months. Since he is rich and his victims are useless cripples, even thew didn''t care. I am free to those who will buy the most girls, but I had already heard Chase saying that he will not be taking a cripple, even if it is free. If he didn''t take me, then I would go to the second person buying the most girls, and that would be Lawrence Pen. He had boisterously dered the number of girls, he had imed and the number was second to chase. If Lawrence gets me; I am going to drink that. There is no way, I will suffer what all those poor girls did. I was thinking that when my gaze fell on three beautiful women who stepped on this floor not long ago. They are from the velvet garden, and a curly red-haired woman is Ca Salt. The first madam of a velvet garden and now, the woman who handles Remus Silver''s businesses. Hershel said she was the most powerful whore in Greltheaven. He also said he liked to tear her clothes apart and fuck her till all the smugness disappears from her and she begin to scream in pleasure like a whore she was. I looked at her, and she didn''t look smug. It is not surprising. Hershel hates powerful women and likes to call them nasty names. I shook my head and listened to the surrounding conversations. I didn''t use any of my skills aside from passive one, which I had focused on several people. Unlike Hershel, there are quite a few people here who are powerful. Like that, Chase and Francesca from Red Fragrance and Ca and Margaux from Velvet Garden. These people will sense if I have used any of my skills on them. Even using passive skills, I need to be careful, lest they sense it. An hour passed, and I have noticed something strange from three from the velvet garden. "Remani, what they talk to you about?" I asked a dark skin girl, a few meters away from me. I had used my skill in Distance Talking. As long as we were in the same room, I could talk to talk to them, as if they were standing next to me. "Nothing, they just asked a bunch of questions," the girl answered. "What kind of questions?" I asked. "Like where I am originally from, how manynguages I know, do I have any hobbies or interests or sses rted to that, and a few other questions," she replied, feeling slightly confused, but I could also sense the hint of hope in her voice. "Do they not ask you about the skills you have and positions you know?" I asked. "Strangely, no," she replied, shaking her head. "It is strange," I said, agreeing with her and not for the sake of it. "I really hope they take me; I really want to go to the velvet garden," she said, with a voice full of hope. I talked to her for a minute more, before talking with the other girls. Soon, I got all the questions they had asked. It turned out there were seven questions, which they asked everyone. They didn''t change it, not even the order in which they asked for it. I noted down all seven questions and wrote them in my Mind Diary. It is a wonderful skill, my favorite; it is filled with thousands of secrets; some of which will kill me. If people know, I know about them. Hun! Some more time passed, and I saw Baryl walking toward his boss. He is a Hershel assistant, who thinks of himself as far more intelligent than he is and assaults girls, who make him feel inferior. Latch Listening I activated my skill and targeted him with it. "How is it?" asked Herchel. "Better than we had assumed. The bitches of the velvet garden had chosen the girls, that we had low expectations of selling," Baryl replied with a smile on his face. "Let me see, the list?" Hershel asked, and Baryl handed him the clipboard. He looked at the pages, and a smile appeared on his face. "You are right, that bitch is taking half of our low-expectation stock," "Maybe, instead of using them in the brothel. I should start selling them. If they sell as good as this, I will earn a huge profit," said Hershel with a smile. "It is a great idea boss," said Baryl. "It is," said Hershel, feeling proud of himself. I could see the cogs in his spinning, while all I wanted to do was shake my head. "Boss, what do we do about the request from Mr. Chase?" he asked softly. The man in the suit had asked Hershel to provide the list of girls that the velvet garden wanted to buy. "Norman Lucas may be powerful elsewhere in the empire due to his family, but here it is Remus Silver rule and I still want to live in the city," said Herchel. For once, he is doing an intelligent thing. "So, no?" asked Baryl, and Hershel, nodded, before walking away. A little over an hour passed, and Hersehl took center stage. He cleared his throat, a little too loudly, attracting the attention of everything. "Thank you foringdies and buying nearly all the contracts I had brought out to sell," "On the girls, which are imed. Neen of them had been imed by more than one person," he said and turned to neen girls gathered crowdedly in a corner. "Sebal," he said, and the raven-haired Sebal walked out of the group and went to Hershel. "Her contract imed by Mr. Arvin, Mr. Rose, and Mr. Pen," "You three will bet on her contract and the price starts from five hundred imperials and will increase by a minimum of ten at each big," said Hershel, looking at people in front of him with a big smile. Hershel is a horrible auctioneer, he should have hired a professional, but he is too cheap for that. "I am not paying one imperial more than five hundred for her." Said Arvin, "Me too," said Rose, making the expression on Hershel''s face bad. I had told the greedy bastard to not have an auction when he presented his smart idea. If they wanted whores that are at the auction level, they could have simply gone to Namdar or Owlspring. They would note to this dingy ce. "I am willing to give only one 1 imperial extra and that is only because you are my friend, Hershel," said Lawrence Pen, making the expression on Hershel''s face worse. "I say you cut this auction crap, Mr. Hershel. We have wasted enough time here and would like to return with the contracts we had imed," said Chase, if earlier insults weren''t enough. He is angry; the smile on his face brightened up. It means he is angry. "How do you want me to handle girls who are imed by more than one party?" he asked angrily. "Give them to those who imed them first," said Ca in impatience, which made him angrier. Though he was angry, Hershel knew how to control his anger. At least in front of the people. "Give me a minute,dies and gentlemen," he said apologetically and turned to his assistant. I wanted to hear what they were talking about, but it would be wise to do it, with powerful people focused on them. A minuteter, Hershel turned to people. "We will do as you have suggested. The neen girls'' contract will go to those, who have imed them first," he said. "Good. There are other ces I need to go after I finish with this," said Chase, making Hershel twitch. "There is onest thing," he said and pointed toward me. "This cripple, we will offer to those who brought the most girls and since it is your Mr. Chase, you are wee to take her for free," he said and my heart started to beat, wishing he would take me. Anyone is better than Lawrence Pen. "We are not interested in cripple even if it is free," said Chase directly, and felt like the mountain had copsed on me. I would kill myself if I went to Lawrence Pen. "Miss Ca, you brought second most contracts. You are wee to take her," he said to the redhead. Surprising me, I thought it was Lawrence Pen who brought most girls after Chase. I have no hope for them; velvet garden is the top brothel in the city. They would never take me, and after her, it is Lawrence Pen. He is looking at me, licking his lips. "We will take her," said Redhead, and it shocked me. Not only me but also Hershel and others; they have not thought she would take me. I am so shocked that I am having a hard time believing it. "Thank you,dies and gentlemen, for your presence, I hope you all find great sess with these girls," said Hershel, but I didn''t even look at him. I was looking at the redhead with emotions I couldn''t understand when I saw Lawren''s Pen appearing in front of her and my heart skipped a beat. He said something to her that desperately wanted to listen, but I controlled myself. I don''t know what he said, but whatever he said, it seemed to have made the redhead angry and she said something sharp that made him angry and he walked away saying something. Relief flooded in my heart. I have heard the velvet garden is a paradise for whore, but I know reality is always something different, especially for people like me. Still, I am happy and excited. As I know, I will not suffer the things I would have if I went with Lawrence Pen. Half an hour passed and thirty-seven girls brought by the velvet garden began to sit in carriages. The redhead has disappeared. Now, the tinum-haired one and raven-haired one had remained. If the entries in my Mind Diary are right, then their names are Margaux Swan and Mena Horn. Soon it was my turn, and the driver picked me up harshly. "Be gentle," said a gentle but stern voice from Margaux behind me, and immediately, the pressure from his hands lessenedfortably. He put me in the carriage, where girls made space for me. I looked at my wheelchair, that Strev took away. The bastard Hershel isn''t willing to give me, a nearly broken wheelchair. Thankfully, I have some money saved; I could buy a good one with it. Soon, the door closed, and the carriage. "Girls, we are going to the velvet garden," said Alrin and the girls cheered. Some had even started crying. "From tomorrow, we will swim in money," said Barta, and the girls cheered more. "No, you will not. There is a training of two to three months before you are allowed to work, and not all, are allowed to work, only those chosen by silver," Imented and all girls turned to me. Some smiled, while others red. "You don''t have to spoil the fun, Rayna," said Valsa. "Sorry," I apologized. She smiled and they once again engaged in conversation,ughing, giggling like little girls. I have never seen them behaving as such in the years. I have been with them. Hope could do the magical things. Soon, the carriage stopped, and we appeared in front of a huge, round building. On the other, I could see the velvet garden I had heard so much about. Both looked beautiful and I could feel something from them, I had never felt in any brothel. Click! The door opened, and the girls began toe out one after another, till only I had remained. Two women appeared at the door; they were guards, looking at their uniform, and took me out and put me gently in a wheelchair. Yes, there was a wheelchair waiting for me, and it was ten times better than what I had in the Hershels. It is wholly made of steel and the only non-steel part it has is the cushion, which is softer than any chair I have ever sat. I moved it, and it was smooth. Unfortunately, I didn''t get to move it as Valsa put her hand on the wheelchair and pushed ahead. She knew I didn''t like to receive help when I didn''t need one, but girls have gathered in front of the gate and I have to reach it there soon. So, I didn''tin. Though I have no doubt, my new wheelchair would have taken me there fast. "It is hard to believe. They had a wheelchair waiting, and it is such a nice one," said Valsa and I couldn''t help but nod. It is really good and smooth. Soon, we had to reach the other girls and turn to Margaux; the raven-haired woman seemed to have disappeared, leaving Madam Margaux alone. "Wee to velvet garden girls; this is a circle, and it will be your new home if you decide to ept the contract," said Madam Margaux and the door behind her opened. She walked toward it, and we followed. Her words went through my mind, but I was soon distracted by what I saw. Even before we went inside, I heard gasps of shock and wonder and after we entered inside, the expression on the face of every girl had changed. "Is this heaven?" asked Valsa behind me in wonder. Even I couldn''t help but ask that question as I looked. I saw a huge ce inside, with big pirs and beautiful tired. What attracted me was a beautiful garden in the center where light rain seemed to be falling and looking above, there were wine bridges, where I saw girls walking. However, the most interesting thing is the girls swimming in the ponds, barely wearing anything. It is hard to see them carefully, with wall mists covering the ponds, but it is clear they are swimming and ying there. I only got to watch for a minute, before we all led into the hall, where several girls waiting. However, I looked at the two women carefully, who appeared left and right of Madam Margaux. On her right side, is the beautiful woman in her fifties, and on her left was a young girl of sixteen-seventeen, who seemed to be trying hard to look serious. "Girls, you have a choice. You could stay with us or you could leave." "If you want to leave, we will release you from the contract, and even give you ten thousand crowns as severance," said Madam Margaux and looked at us. "I am not leaving this ce, ever," said Ganee. "Me too, I don''t want to leave¡­." One by one, every girl declined the offer, including me. "Still think about it and give me your answer tomorrow," she said and turned to the teen girl to her left. "This is Asst. Madam Gloria. She will give you the tour of this ce and the key to your rooms," she said and the young girl turned to us and there was no fear in the teen''s eyes. Though they were filled with nervousness. "Follow me," she said, and we followed. Aside from her, a few more girls had also joined us, most of them were teens, but there were also a few older girls among them. One of whom took my wheelchair from Valsa. The next hour was the tour of the circle, and there was one thing that came to my mind. Overwhelming. The magic, the spa, the lessons. Everything felt so overwhelming. I felt like I might faint if I think about it too much. So, I noted it all down in my Mind Diary and will think about itter. Soon the tour ended, and our ground entered the elevator; I was surprised to find how smoothly my wheelchair entered inside. It is not just an elevator, but other ces. All of them could ess it by wheelchair. It is clear that the designer of this ce had thought about people like her when creating this ce. The elevator ride was shorter than I liked to be before Loval, the girl handling my wheelchair, took me out of it on the second floor. "Is that teen girl really a madam?" I asked. "Assistant madam, but yes," replied Loval. "It is hard to believe," I said, and Loval smiled. "It is not when you got to know her. She is from the first batch and might get a little nervous sometimes, but that girl is exceptionally capable," replied Loval with a hint of admiration and stopped in front of the door. Knock! Loval knocked on the door instead of opening it directly. Click! A few secondster, a beautiful woman in her early thirties opened the door. She had the shortest hair, I had seen on a woman; it barely reached her neck. "Breve, this is your new suite-mate, Rayna," introduced Loval. "Nice to meet you, Rayna," she said, shaking my hand. Her skin is so soft. "Nine to meet you too," I replied and went inside. "Currently, I am alone in the suit. Everyone is either at their interests or sses or establishment," said Breve as she led us inside. There I saw one room with beautiful sofas and everything. Around it were three doors; two doors had names of two each, while the third door only had one name, Breva. Click! Breve took me there and opened the door; giving me a view of the entire room that I had immediately fallen in love with. "Wee roommate; We are going to have the best time," said Breve, taking me inside the room. Not satisfied. Click on PATREON below for More Chapters (10). Chapter 235: Road Chapter 235: Road ¡°O, wonderful, wonderful road,¡± I said, looking at the three carriages passing by mine. The two sitting in front of me smiled, but stayed silent. Nearly two days ago, the road was finished, and the result was in front of me. Thank god, the preparations had been enough to handle the rush. Barely enough. I thought I would need to interfere, but I didn¡¯t. Merchants understood it better than me and began to work immediately. Loads of building material came from the city, quarries began to run overtime and so many trees were being cut, that it felt painful to watch. It is a price for the development. Though, I am making the city as green as possible. When building the town, I didn¡¯t cut all trees; no, many had remained and nted even more. I wanted the town to look like it was a ce in the embrace of the forest. It will not be just a trading town, but also a vacation town as well. It is the only ce in the whole wastnd that has huge greenery, and it will attract people who want greenery and quiet. I had already designated areas for extravagant properties, like mansions and manors. Work on four had already begun and on a few more in a week or two. Of the four, two belong to a merchant from Oksall, and one each belongs to a noble of baronies and Vice Guildmaster Soren. It is a wise investment; the town is developing fast and intelligent ones, had already started investing. From Damon Hardt to Locke to Valentina, all of them had invested their personal money into it. Even L, Ca, and a few other girls also did it, and many others are thinking of doing that. I didn¡¯t tell them to do that. However, when they asked, I gave them my fair view about it, including the many risks, this ce has. Soon, I reached the boundary of the empire, and security posts were built on both sides. My carriage didn¡¯t stop, but all the others that wereing and going were stopping to show their documents. Thankfully, the road is big enough, there is no holdout, and guards on it are experienced and fast. The carriage entered the boundary of the merchant state and moved toward Fort Renin. It is 14th and the road will be officially open today. I am excited about it. This road will shorten the time by a lot. Before the road was built, it used to take more than one and a half days; more than a day, if we excluded the snow, but now it will be eight hours. Eight hours to reach theuryl town from the Amberhold. Less than six hours to reach Fort Renin. It will be less than what it takes to reach Greltheaven from Lauryl town. Soon, an hour passed, and Fort Renin came into view and everything around it. Including the town that is beginning to form around it. We are not the only ones who are developing the town, but also ckwell. He hadn¡¯t nned on doing that but changed his mind. I didn¡¯t ask, nor I could, but I heard, the advice came from the Oksall Council. We are now inpetition, but thispetition is good and benefits both of us. Here, being the territory of the merchant state, the restrictions didn¡¯t apply, and a lot of goods were restricted. Goods that are not in our contract, came here without any problem. Our merchants are buying those goods and theirs are selling. With both parties receiving taxes from them. It is a grey area, but nobody has stopped it, and I don¡¯t think they will. It is profiting both sides. It is quite normal in trade, and unless there is a conflict or big disagreements, the trade of those goods will continue. Soon, the carriage passed through the town wall, and I have to say, the town looks beautiful. Unlike theuryl, which is on the in ground, it is on the hills. It is why there are over ten vacation mansions are being built. It is more scenic thanuryl, buturyl also has its own charm and I am developing it in a way, that maximizes it. Click! The carriage stopped inside the fort, and a secondter; the door opened. ¡°Wee to the Fort August, Adviser Silver,¡± said August as he opened the door. ¡°Thank you, August,¡± I replied and stepped out of the carriage with Carlos and Lenc. I usually bring L with me, but these two insisted oning. They had been insisting oning with me to a lot of things, from parties to meetings. It is not surprising. I had told them what I had told the Count, and they were trying to use every opportunity to prove that they were worthy of responsibility, that I am so impatient to get off me. I looked at the fort and once again, I couldn¡¯t help but get surprised. I have been to the fort several times already and every time I get surprised at the new changes that appear on it. It looked so different than the first time; I had seen it. ckwell had spent a fortune on the fort; not only he had repaired it but also fortified it further with enchantments and defenses. They cost him more than what I had spent on the establishment till now. ¡°Lord ckwell,¡± I greeted as I entered the parlor, where he was entertaining the several guests, including my sister. ¡°Adviser, wee to Fort Renin,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, Lord ckwell,¡± I thanked. ¡°So, you are Remus Silver, who crafted the whole trade proposal,¡± said the cultured voice; I turned and saw a handsome middle-aged man with forest green hair. If the information is right, then he is also a quarter elf and a rtive of Ignatius from his mother¡¯s side. ¡°It was Count¡¯s vision; I only helped in bringing it out, Vice-Guildmaster Thomist,¡± I replied, and his face twitched. He is an important man and a powerful merchant. A Vice-Guildmaster of Oksall City¡¯s merchant guild is no small position. He has the ability to do some serious things in the merchant-state. It is quite surprising he hase here since the real opening ceremony is being held at Amberhold. ¡°I was one of the opponents of the n; I thought my cousin was wasting time and fortune on something that is doomed to fail, but it feels like I had been wrong in my assumptions,¡± he said with a small smile. ¡°You are not wrong in your views, Vice-Guildmaster; this was a risky gamble and still is,¡± ¡°There are many things, that could destroy this trade route,¡± I said, looking at ckwell. Today, we are nning on dealing with one of the minor problems, let¡¯s hope we will be sessful. ¡°True, there are dangers, but you all seemed to be handling them well enough,¡± heplimented. ¡°Thank you for the kind words, Vice-Guildmaster,¡± I said. He smiled and walked away. I turned to Ignatius, who introduced me to the other people, and there were a lot of them that came. Most are from Amberhold, but many hade from other cities, Oksall as well. Two hours passed, and we were out on the road, with a red ribbon across it and Ignatius holding arge steel scissor. ¡°To progress and prosperity,¡± he shouted in front of a crowd of thousands and cut the ribbon. We all pped before stepping out of the road to let the carriages pass through. For fifteen minutes, we had to stop the carriages. So, Ignatius and others could give the speeches. Now, the road opened and the carriage waiting began to move through the road, while we entered inside the fort for the banquet. A few more hours passed, and the banquet was over, and we all went to the secure room. ¡°How are the preparations?¡± asked Le. ¡°Good, we can strike at the decided time,¡± he replied. We are going to target the bandit groups; there will be simultaneous raids on a couple of bandit groups. We three are going to attack the biggest one. It was one of the most powerful groups during the attack and after it became even more powerful after absorbing members of other bandit groups. It is also one of the groups that had been nearly unscathed by the monsters. Its leader has shifted their hideout away from the extreme magic region before monsters started attacking them. It is also why we were able to find out their hideout, which we are going to target tonight. The bandits had been silent, but there was information they were ready to strike. We need to finish them before that happens. ¡°Then we should reach there as soon as possible,¡± said Le, before turning to me. ¡°Remus, do you really want toe?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t want to miss the action,¡± I replied. She looked like she wanted to say something, but shook her head. I wouldn¡¯t have, but Jon said I need more battle experience. I might have a good collection of skills and enough talent, but that is not enough to survive in truly horrible conditions. I should gain it as much as I can. This is kind of paradoxical, considering I could die while gaining the experience, which I am trying to gain to survive conditions like this. Though what he said is true, considering his experience. Unlike Stone and others, who were part of the army or militia, Jon and Z had different backgrounds. Z was a schr, working for a mage, while Jon was an enforcer of the gang in a small town. Before Vris¡¯alud¡¯s invasion, they had never fought in battle, much less a war, but the invasion forced them. It is either to fight or die. Thousands have died, but they have survived through grit and luck. I understood the reality well. In the ce I am and the business I have, there will be many instances when I will be forced to fight, to protect my life and the lives of those I cherish. For that, I will need to be ready. It will also be a good chance to try out my new skills. I have been training with it, and I want to see how it does in the real battle. Not satisfied. Click on PATREON below for More Chapters. Chapter 236: Nipping Out The Buds I Chapter 236: Nipping Out The Buds I We walked out of the secret tunnel under the guise and mounted on the beasts that were waiting for us outside of the town, along with a small group of people. Immediately, I felt the effect of skills as we rode into the forest. These skills are oriented toward stealth. It is absolutely necessary that we remain stealthy. We are moving to attack the slither bandits. We had been nning for months, even before the monsters attacked. The monsters dyed our ns, but also helped tremendously in dealing with more than half of the bandit groups. Still, there are many dangerous groups that have remained and we are going to wipe them out. We had worked really hard for this and spent a lot of money. It is not easy to sneakily transfer forces, scout the enemies, and make other preparations. Tonight, we are not striking one group, but several of them. We want to nip this problem out of the bud. Monsters are already troublesome; we don¡¯t want another in our hands. Even with all the nning and preparations, we don¡¯t know whether we will seed. The bandits could spring up any surprise, and while we have tried to minimize that with our preparations, nothing could be said. Our forces are at their ces and at the right time, they willunch an attack; we are just extra help to them. We moved through the dense forest in the moonless night and soon reached the small, abandoned orc vige. My people told me, this kind of scenery had be quitemon here. Especially the small viges where the heads are not powerful enough to stop the people from migrating to ces with better opportunities. That would be the Renin town; the small viges, where a number of people less than a hundred, had entirely migrated to the Renin town. The town has a lot of opportunities and steady work. There, they didn¡¯t have to face the uncertainty that came with the hunting-gathering. The medium and big viges are a little slow in joining. Their leaders are holding back the people, in order to not lose influence and for a few other reasons. Even there, the people are slipping slowly. They wouldmute before shifting to town entirely, which is like breaking the rules, but many of them do not care for it, seeing the work and money the town is providing. There is a shadow hand of Ignatius behind this. He wants everything in his control. which is a wise thing. Half of the orcs in bandit groups are from these viges. They constantly supply the groups with men, to break the cycle, he will need to bring everything under his control. Looking at the things, he is doing a damn well job. The town he created not only gave the orcs employment but also reduced the supply of men to the bandit groups. It is one of the biggest advantages he has over me aside from patrons like Amberhold and Oksall, who are willing to pourrge money into every project of his. While I need to beg the Count for every penny. Two more hours passed, and we stopped. We silently handed the beasts to the people waiting to receive them and began the journey on foot in the guise of stealth. We didn¡¯t go together, Le separated from us and moved with the other group, while I and ckwell moved with another. Soon, we reached our destination, and a blond-haired man came out of darkness to greet us. ¡°Adviser, Lord ckwell,¡± he greeted. ¡°How are preparations, Colonel Brigs?¡± I asked. I had borrowed the man from the Mirador Hold specifically for this mission. ¡°Good, adviser; we are ready to strike on the time,¡± he replied. We had surrounded the bandits from all four directions. There is no way, we will let this bandit group escape; they will either surrender here or will die. Nobody said anything other than looking at our clocks. There were eighteen minutes until the attack and so we waited. Minutes ticked as we waited in darkness, and soon, the eighteen minutes passed, and we moved without any words. Colonel Brigs and Ignatius are ahead while I am in the middle, protected from all sides. I do need to show needless bravado; those in front are powerful enough to deal with any threat, but I am not. It will be extremely hard for me to defeat someone with Lv. 20 and a good experience. Over fifteen minutes passed and suddenly a bow appeared in Ignatius¡¯s hand, and he pulled the string two times, one after another. I didn¡¯t see the bow light up or the arrows appearing on it, but a few minutester, saw the body on the ground. There were no injuries on her and there was no sound, but it is clear, she had fallen from above, seeing her position. She is also alive. Unconscious but alive. I don¡¯t know what kind of attacks he used. It might be a soul attack or some kind of other attack; it is hard to say, with the artifact involved. We moved ahead without stopping and a few minutester, Ignatius pulled the string twice, and once again we saw another unconscious body on the ground in a strange position. ¡°We are close,¡± said Colonel Brigs, and we be even more careful. Finally, we stopped and looked at our clocks. Three and a half minutester, a voice rang through the silent forest. ¡°Bandits, you have been surrounded from all directions. Surrender and you will survive; resist and you will die,¡± shouted Le from the other side. As her voice rang out, we moved toward the bandits at our full speed. I could feel skills activating and people turning serious as we moved. I gripped my rapier tightly and checked my potions everything; I needed to be ready to face the bandits. ¡°Never!¡± rang out from the bandit camp loudly and I heard the bandits moving. In less than twenty seconds, we could see the bandits. Ignatius and his archers in our group acted immediately and started shooting the arrows. Each arrow of Ignatius would reap a life, and banditsing toward us slowed their charge. Some with shields came forward, but it was useless, as his arrows seemed to have torn through them. It surprised me; it seemed like Ignatius had improved since we had fought togetherst time. Maybe he had leveled up after the fight with the monsters or something happened with his artifact, but he had improved. It''s not like he wasn¡¯t able to breach the enchanted shields with his arrows before. He had and the only ones which could stop his arrow were the triple enchanted shields. Now, its arrows passing through the shields, more swiftly, that single person had stopped the whole bandits and now they were running away. We followed and soon saw the bigger group, with a few groups having already started fighting at the distance, including my sister, who was against several bandits. Ignatius immediately begins to release the arrows in that direction, forcing a couple of bandits to fight against her turn. One got killed, while two were injured, which my sister finished off quickly. The small group that ran away from us merged into the bigger group and turned to us. ¡°Kill every bandit that doesn¡¯t throw down their weapon,¡± roared Ignatius and began to shoot the arrows at the bandits at even greater speed. The bandits seemed to have gone crazy; they starteding at us, despite many of them falling at every step. They didn¡¯t seem to care. ¡°Someone used the skill,¡± said the soldier beside me, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. It is not a rage skill, seeing there is no burning anger in their eyes, but there is ack of fear. I shuddered seeing that there are skills there, that could make an emotion disappear. Such skills are extremely dangerous. Especially in an environment like this where their emotions have roiled up. In an environment like this, it bes easier for such skills to affect people. ¡°Die!¡± They roared as they came at us, and we met them. Their numbers are bigger than ours since we couldn¡¯t bring huge numbers without getting discovered, but we can deal with them. All the people chosen here are experienced with good gear; even the soldiers from our side are well equipped. Every penny gotten from the sale of monsters has been used to buy better equipment and other things that will help us deal with the enemy better. It took less than ten seconds for the enemy to appear in front of me; it was a thin human man with a saber. ¡°Die!¡± It screamed and attacked me, I moved back with Rapid Legs, dodging the saber by an inch, before moving ahead as fast as I could and attacking with Swift de. His surprise turned to rm, and the bandit tried to dodge it, but he was slow, and I was decisive. My rapier reached his neck, and he activated a surprising skill. His neck turned stony. Stone Skin is a pretty rare defensive skill. He must have got it when he had reached the Lv. 20. My rapier didn¡¯t stop and instead moved with enchantments on it ring. At the same time, I had activated the Sharpness. It red with the power like it never did when I used it on other things. Pachac! My rapier touched his neck and finally, fear appeared in the bandit''s eyes. Even the skill couldn¡¯t suppress the fear when the death was so close. My sword cut through his neck swiftly and I moved sharply left, to avoid his sabering at me. Dodging it at the hairbreadth. It was a risky attack, but it did the job. Jon had said I had a natural battle instinct, which is not new information to me. Old Remus had been praised for it hundreds of times and it had gotten over his head. It is one of the reasons he ended up losing his life. He had asked me to sharpen these instincts but also cautioned me to use my brain with it. He said he had seen many people depend on it too much and ended up losing their lives. There are people out there with enough experience and intelligence to manipte the natural instincts of their enemies to their advantage. Jon shuddered when he talked about them. Not satisfied. Click on below for More Chapters. Chapter 237: Nipping Out The Buds II Chapter 237: Nipping Out The Buds II Hun! A few seconds passed after I had killed the bandit, and I was moving toward another when I suddenly stopped and swung my sword to the left. There, from the darkness, an arrow came. It is fast and clearly has several skills; I didn¡¯t sense it, till it appeared in front of me. A skill to sense the projectile had been activated on the ground. It is a pretty useful skill that I wish I had. ng! Finally, my sword met with the tip of an arrow with Swift de and Weighted Strike, deflecting the arrow away. I had just deflected the arrow when another appeared in front of me and instead of using my rapier, which I couldn¡¯t due to the speed and closeness of the arrow; I simply moved my neck to the right. Sup! I felt the sharp air in my ear as I was able to dodge the arrow by the centimeter distance. As I did, I felt my wet back; it was too dangerous. This was especially dangerous when I didn¡¯t have my guards. All three of them went to the different bandit groups; I could have kept them with me, but their help was needed to deal with the other groups. Though, it would be quite regretful if I died. When the guards would have saved me. I had prepared myself to face another arrow when I saw a couple of blue arrows going in that direction and knew without turning that they were from Ignatius. I looked there for several seconds before turning to the bandits, knowing the danger of the hidden archer resolved. I moved toward the group of three bandits who were fighting with the lone soldier. She is dealing with them with her sword and shields. There were fewer injuries on her than one would expect when one is dealing with such several enemies at once. As I had said, we had brought a small number due to the constraint of stealth, but all the numbers are good; each one with years of battle experience and at Lv. 20 and above. I had just reached the bandits and was about to attack when the orc turned to me and grinned. ¡°Your head is worth a lot, adviser,¡± he said and came and attacked me. He is fast, and the sword is faster, and I could feel the weight behind his sword. I attacked as well with Swift de and Weighted Strike. Our weapons reached close, and its sword tried to evade it, but I didn¡¯t let it happen. ng! We shed, and he parried it, flicking out of the way, before attacking me. He used the skill, a parry skill, and now his sword ising at me, at a really fast speed. My rapier won''t be able to stop it; I did the only thing I could. I retreated with Rapid Steps, and he seemed to have expected that as he followed me,ing closer than I liked. The bastard was powerful, and he hade very close to killing me. If I didn¡¯t have a recent level-up, which enhanced the power of the attributes and thus the skills, I would have died already. I have to do something real quick, or I will find myself decapitated like I did to the bandit earlier. Half a secondter, I suddenly stopped at its surprise and his de reached really close to my head, barely inches away, when I suddenly bent backward. Dodging the attack by the mere inches, surprising even the orc. The only thing the attack had cut was my hair. In my training, I have been pushing hard on the Gymnasts Grace. Jon called it my best skill and wish; he has something like that. His sword passed over my head when I had kicked him in the leg as hard as I could with my current position. He tried to dodge it, but he was too close to me, and I used the Rapid Legs to do that. It is a speed skill, but it had still increased the speed of my leg. The kick was strong, but not enough to throw him back. Just enough to make him stumble, which is what I want. It immediately released what I was trying to do and tried stabilizing himself to retreat fast. Slice Pachack! Unfortunately for him, my sword had already reached him and sliced through his hand, before decapitating him. Piercing his chest would have been much faster and more efficient, seeing it is rapier I am using, but in the position, I couldn¡¯t bring enough stabbing force and it is also wearing the protection. So, I took the risk, and it was worth it. The only thing that was not was the blood that came, I tried to avoid it, but a lot of it hade on me. I looked around me for any enemy, only to see some bandits and soldiers looking at me with shock and surprise in their eyes. Unlike soldiers, I fight like a mercenary and take a lot of risks. It was dangerous, but it helped me defeat the enemies stronger than me; like the two I had fought, both of them were at Lv. 20. I shook, wiped away blood from my lips with my sleeve, and moved toward the bandit, not far away from me. ¡°I surrender!¡± said the bandit and threw away the weapon. Ack of fear doesn¡¯t mean there won¡¯t be an emotion of self-preservation. Some had already started to feel it. Already, over twenty had surrendered, and more were surrendering. Why wouldn¡¯t they, when Ignatius is simply butchering them? My sister seemed to have disappeared, and I did not see the leader she was fighting not long ago. It seemed like she had gone after him. Which is quite risky, but she is a spell de, more than capable of protecting herself. I moved toward the other bandit, and he saw meing toward him. He also came at me, with rage in his eyes, which is his natural emotion, not the one created by the skill. ¡°Die!¡± It roared and attacked; I simply ducked the attack before appearing in front of him. Puch! My sword pierced through his chest, killing him. He was much easier than others, higher level than me inbat ss, but not yet Level 20, likely Lv. 18, 19. I took out my sword from his chest and moved to the other bandits. A few minutes passed, and a lot of bandits surrendered, but many were still fighting and were now trying to run away. I saw one orcing in my direction and it was big and fat. It was my first time seeing the fat orc, but it was not what had surprised me, while surprised me was his speed. Seeing iting, I moved and appeared in front of it. ¡°Die, human!¡± shouted the orc and attacked me with its thick saber. The attack was fast and, seeing the thick enchanted saber, I instantly abandoned my n to counter and dodged the attack. It was a wise decision, as suddenly the speed of the saber increased. If I had tried to counter, it; I would have been fucked. He would have been able to evade my sword ande at me. Sup! I was barely able to dodge the attack by less than an inch. ¡®Fuck, this bastard is strong,¡¯ I thought, looking at it and also looking at me, before looking behind me. It was clearly trying to escape before I stopped it. It looked behind me for a moment before turning to me with a grin. It didn¡¯t give me a good feeling. ¡°You are that adviser; if I have you, it will make my escape much easier,¡± he said and attacked. This time, the attack was even faster and stronger. The thing that is making it worse, there are three desing at me instead of one. I don¡¯t think two of them are fake; they are feeling dangerous to me. So, I moved to dodge; I first took a step back, before moving left and taking steps back again. Rip! It was not enough; the saber on the left end hit my shoulder, right below the guard, giving me a deep cut, and with it came pain that instantly made my eyes water. It was painful, more painful than the skill of Instructor David. Still, all the training he did with the pain skill helped me keep my mind straight in the pain and I moved to dodge the attack, using it to channel all the speed I could from the Rapid Legs to dodge another attack. I dodged it, barely by an inch, from my neck. ¡°You are good, but if this is all you have; then you better surrender. It will save you some painful memories and me time,¡± he said, and this time, it is my turn to grin. ¡°Not interested,¡± I said, and anger shed in the fat orc''s eyes. ¡°Pain it is,¡± said the orc angrily and attacked. I saw the three desing and this time, there was a heating off them; I don¡¯t think it was an enchantment. It is a skill, and now it is attacking me with it. Rip! I moved to dodge the attack but wasn¡¯t able to. His de cut my stomach, giving me acerating cut, that is hot as well as painful. It was unbearable, but I bore it and moved to dodge another attack, I dodged it and the one after that. I failed to dodge the one who came after that, and he gave me anothercerating cut on my arm. I really shouldn¡¯t havee in front of it. The bastard was stronger than I had anticipated; stronger than any enemy I had faced today, and he could really kill me. One part of me really wanted to surrender, but the other part was telling me, he was a bandit; I couldn¡¯t trust what he had said. Still, if I continue fighting it, I am going to lose. It is way too powerful and has a good collection of skills that are very hard to deal with. Now, I really wish I hadn¡¯t sent my guards away. I had hired them to protect me and instead of letting them do their job; I had sent them to kill the bandits. It was really idiotic of me. Though, I can¡¯t say, I regret the choice. It was necessary. Our forces were stretched thin; we had to keep a sizable force at the valley for the monsters and also keep an appearance in front of bandits'' spies. There are very few powerful people we could send. However, it would be quite regretful if I died at the bandits'' hands, and seeing the injuries piling on my body, that is likely to happen. Puch! I was thinking that when I heard the faint sound and saw a blue thinging out of the bandit''s head. His eyes widened in realization, and he fell down dead. Sniped by Ignatius, who ising at me. ¡°Thanks. If not for you, the bastard would have me,¡± I said as I took out the bottle of potion. ¡°This one was quite powerful, we didn¡¯t have any information about it,¡± he said with a frown. ¡°I noticed that too,¡± I said seriously as I poured the potion over my injuries before drinking the potion, while Ignatius continued killing the bandits. I moved a few secondster. Others are fighting. I couldn¡¯t hide behind Ignatius just because I had faced someone powerful and barely survived. A few more seconds passed when a sudden change urred between the bandits. The fear appeared in their eyes. ¡°I surrender, me too¡­¡± The first bandit surrendered and the second one, and after that third, and soon, the whole bandits surrendered. ¡°The leader,¡± I said, and Ignatius nodded. A minute and a half after that; Le came through the trees; bringing the body of the bandit leader with her. ¡°What is the report on other raids?¡± I asked, after gathering all the surrendered and dead bandits. ¡°Eight were sessful; the ninth one seemed to have gotten the wind. Their leadership had gone before our men attacked,¡± replied Le and a smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. ¡°It had gone better than we expected,¡± said Ignatius, and I nodded with a smile. We had hoped to seed in five and seeded in eight. Eight and a half, considering only the leadership of the ninth groups had escaped. Today, we have weeded out the powerful groups. From tomorrow, our forces will scour the forest openly to hunt the small groups. ¡­ The next day, I rode into theuryl town, with dead and captured bandits amidst the crowd of cheers. I don¡¯t like to do this, but it is very important for the town. People need to know we are doing everything to keep them safe. It builds confidence and creates good business sentiment. de Warrior Lv. 18 Not satisfied. Click on below for More Chapters. Chapter 238: Compromise Chapter 238: Compromise Imperial Pce, Harsoth Empire In the huge opulent room, there is a grand bed made from the wood of an extremely rare tree. On that bed is a frail old man, who looked like he could die at any moment. There are two more people in the room. A middle-aged man who shares the features with a frail old man and a woman in a green-blue robe. If anyone were to see the woman in this room. The most secure ce in the entire empire. In thepany of the emperor and crown prince, they would be shocked. She is not human. It is clear with her gemmed horns and gemmed eyes. The emperor doesn¡¯t tolerate what isn¡¯t human; it had been the corews of his rule. Intelligent and powerful ones would also be shocked, not by non-human woman, but by the woman herself. She is not a normal person, but someone important in the entire world. She has a small tray floating in front of her; on it are three things. A small unrefined blue gem, a red flower, and a tiny bottle with a glittering liquid inside. She took the crystal and ced it on the frail man¡¯s head, took the flower, and ced it on the man¡¯s chest. She opened the potion bottle next and poured it into the mouth of the frail man. As she did, thousands of runes came out of her hand like a flood and covered the old man; there was no single space on his body that wasn¡¯t covered by the runes. The runes stayed quiet for a moment, before zing like a sun; so bright that they had alighted the entire room. The light zed for three hours, and seven minutes before the bright light started to dim. A minuteter, the old man is revealed, and the change in him is shocking. He is still an old man but doesn¡¯t look frail anymore. His skin is rosy red, and his eyes are filled with strength, he has lost ¡°I feel strong,¡± said the emperor as he sat up. ¡°The effects of it willst till yourst breath, Your Majesty,¡± said the woman, and the old man smiled, but there was no mirth in it. ¡°You mean less than a year, Sage Emeradon?¡± asked the emperor and the woman smiled. ¡°Still, it is enough,¡± said the emperor and looked at his firstborn. There is joy, in the old man¡¯s face, but also some disappointment, that he needed to take such steps to help his son. It is necessary for the longevity of the empire. ¡­ ¡°Wee to the Lauryl town, my lord,¡± I said as I opened the door to the Count¡¯s carriage. ¡°It¡¯s good to be here, Remus,¡± he said as he got out, while I tried to hide the surprise, seeing he had note alone. Lancel is with him. He had avoideding to Nakar forest ever since that bandit incident. It is quite surprising that he hade. Though it didn¡¯t seem like he hade with his own will. ¡°My lord,¡± I bowed to the Lancel as he came out, but he barely acknowledged me and turned to look where his father was looking. ¡°So, this is the administrative section, you had spent so much money, on,¡± said Lancel snortingly. ¡°My apologies for disappointing you, my lord,¡± I said, bowed. The new administrative section had been finished, and all the staff had been moved here. Except for my office, everything is there, including the offices of two and L. ¡°Let¡¯s take a look at it,¡± said the Count a momentter, and we entered the administrative section. We really needed it. The section is not to handle the town¡¯s business. No for it, I had built the town hall and separated the administrative staff there; this section is handling the business of the baronies. The baronies may be independent, but they are not separate. They work under the city and need permission for a lot of things. There is also other business, which require a dedicated staff. This staff used to be based in the city, but now more than half of it has shifted here, making the process efficient. ¡°You had done a wonderful job, Remus,¡± said Count as we finally entered my office, or rather, his office. ¡°It is all thanks to Carlos and Lenc, my lord. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it, without their help,¡± I said and the two behind me bowed. It was thest day of the month, and the Count hade as he had promised. Let¡¯s hope he will take this responsibility from me. So, I can return to the city and my business. I looked at him hopefully, wishing he would bring up this subject, but he didn¡¯t. Instead, he opened the files and began to read them. ¡°Well done on the bandit problem. Though you shouldn¡¯t risk your life like that, you are an administrator, you manage things,¡± ¡°Leave the brute work to the army,¡± he advised, as he turned to the bandit file. ¡°I will remember it, my lord,¡± I replied and bowed. I had gone to the forest several times but had fought only twice, once when we attacked the first time and second at the fourth time. Even at that time, I had only fought for less than a minute. We have wiped away most of the dangerous groups, but some have remained, and we have created a force to hunt them. The force will always be patrolling the forest, dealing with any bandit group that they find. We will not give the bandit, the slightest chance of growing back to their original numbers and threaten the trade route. There is even good news; in two months, apany of bandit-hunting soldiers ising from the Oksall. With them, finding those hiding would be even easier. He turned to another file and asked questions rted to it. I answered them, but perceptive people could sense a faint impatience in it. I could tell the Count had sensed it but wasn¡¯tmenting on it intentionally. So, I calmed my emotions down and answered all his questions. After he finished with the files, he made a round of the town, beforeing back to the Castle and held the several meetings with the nobles, including August, that Ignatius had sent. Soon, it was evening, when the Count met with merchants, and then it was the dinner, which I could barely swallow. It is not just me, who wants the answer from him, but also Carlos and Lenc. It is clear by their faces that even Lancel could see clearly, and it is making him angry for some reason. He had been angry the whole day, only speaking a few words, to whoever tried to talk to him. Soon, we returned to the office; the Count would leave in an hour. If he didn¡¯t talk about it, then I will ask him about it. I have waited enough; I don¡¯t have patience now. ¡°Remus, I would really like you to stay here; you are doing a fine job,¡± he said, and I wanted to curse the bastard. Instead, I have brought a small smile to my face. I sometimes feel ungrateful, and I am sure it definitely looks like it to the others. People will kill me for the position I have, but I really don¡¯t want it. I rather go back to the city and focus on my business, which needs me. ¡°Thank you for the kind offer, my lord, but I feel I will be able to serve you well in the city,¡± ¡°Most importantly, Carlos and Lenc are ready to handle the responsibility and, with the experience, they have. They will do the job better than me,¡± I replied, declining the offer politely. He nced at the two behind, before turning back to me with a shake of his head. ¡°I am not willing to trust anyone other than you with this responsibility,¡± he said, and I felt the anger rise in me; I had done everything he had asked and now, he was unwilling to let me go. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have done such a good job. I pushed that thought away and was about to open my mouth to ask him to reconsider when he spoke again. ¡°It is also true, that I had made you a promise and you have fulfilled every condition and more,¡± ¡°So, here¡¯s thepromise; you will remain my representative and in charge of this ce, but will work from the city. You will onlye here once a week to handle things personally,¡± he added. It surprised me, but soon calmed my emotions down and thought about it. A small genuine smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. This is the best result I could hope for, better than even giving this position up. This way, I will still wield the power in the baronies, which provide a lot of perks, but will also be able to live in the city. I will be able to focus on my business and official duties, which involve trade with Navr. The work will be heavy, but I will be able to do it. ¡°I ept, my lord,¡± I epted. An hourter, I saw the Count¡¯s carriage leaving the castle under the protection of the heavy guards. I didn¡¯t leave with the Count. There are things to do, but seeing I had already sorted out most things, I won¡¯t need to do much. If everything goes well, I will be leaving for Greltheaven permanently tomorrow, while this ce will be temporary. Not satisfied. Click on below for More Chapters. Chapter 239: Permanantly Chapter 239: Permanantly I stepped into my office my sat on the chair gently. My body is still aching from the training I did. I had applied the numbing cream, but it didn¡¯t numb all the pain. I need to bear some of it too, especially when I move or sit in any ce. ¡°Messages,¡± said Z, as I sat down and ced the messages in front of me. My eyes lit up and began to go through them one after another, but the more I looked, the dim, the light in my eyes would get. Soon, I had read through thest message and the expression on my face became bad. They are as bad as the two sitting in front of me. They have been sulking since yesterday; they had been hoping to get my position but didn¡¯t. Even, I couldn¡¯t help, but feel sorry for a moment, seeing their faces. I shook that emotion away and turned to my predicament. There is no reply to my applications. Not a single city has replied. There should have been some sort of reply by now, but there is nothing, not even a rejection. ¡®Do I really need to use the backup n?¡¯ I asked myself. I wanted to start the expansion from merchant cities; it is much safer and more stable. On the other hand, the empire will be unstable soon, but with no reply to merchant cities, I will have an option, but start the expansion of the empire. I will wait for their response a week before I will start with my backup n. I quickly finished with my work and turned to the three; with me being here once a day, most of the responsibilities will fall on these three. It is important that I divide these responsibilities correctly. So, there won¡¯t be interference in each other¡¯s work. After a few hours, we were finished, and their mood seemed to have improved a little. We work for the noble and have to follow his every order, no matter how much we don¡¯t want to. While sometimes we get what we want; it is not always the case; they understand that reality. After I finished with them, I had lunch, before I came back to my office. ¡®Master Silver, Mr. Ashav, is here,¡¯ informed Jill through the inte and a smile appeared on my face. Many powerful merchant houses had started trading with Navr through the route, including the House of Ashav. Though, it is the first time Ethan ising here, but wouldn¡¯t be thest time. Click! ¡°Let him in,¡± I said, and a secondter, a handsome man walked into the room with a smile. His smile froze when he saw L, but he quickly controlled his emotions. Though not before sneaking a look at her. She has that effect on people. People get struck by her beauty. Once a merchant stared at her for an entire minute, beforeing back to himself. In the whole meeting, he was quite embarrassed. She dresses conservatively since taking this job, but doesn¡¯t hide her beauty, nor she is trying to. From the beginning, she knew she was at a disadvantage due to her formal profession, and thus willing to use everything she had the advantage of, including her beauty. I have to say; she is doing a fine job. ¡°Look at you all in charge. I thought it would take a year to reach this level of trade and you had done it in four months,¡± he said and took the seat I had offered him. ¡°It is all thanks to your side; they worked quite fast,¡± I replied, to which he smiled. I am not talking about them building the road fast, which is the most important thing, but also the merchants, who brought a lot of goods. While most are going to Navr directly, some are staying. It is the same with the goods they are bringing back from the Navr; it is making the town develop at a speed that could only be said incredible. ¡°It is quite surprising; you havee here personally. I thought your family would be sending someone junior,¡± I said. His family had been trading with Navr through the route, since the first month, thanks to him, but the trade hadn¡¯t grown huge enough to make hime personally. He may be young but is a senior member of the mercantile house of Ashav. ¡°We would have done that if the circumstances were normal, but the house has made a huge deal, and I am going there for the signing.¡± ¡°If things go well, we are going to bring a lot of things from the Navr,¡± he informed and a smile on my face couldn¡¯t help but be bigger. ¡°I hope you will seed then,¡± I said, and he smiled before a frown appeared on his face. ¡°I heard you are relocating back to the city, is it true?¡± he asked. To that, I nodded. It had been a day since that happened and the news had already spread. It isn¡¯t surprising, since I had informed this development to the Oksall, ckwell, and all the nobles of baronies. I was going to inform the merchants today, but it seemed like their sources had already informed them of that. ¡°Yes, I am. Though I will be here once a week. In my absence, L and the other two will handle the things,¡± I replied and turned to L. ¡°Ethan, this is L M. If you or your people face any problem in my absence, you can contact her,¡± I said, introducing him to L. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ashav,¡± she said as she shook his hand. ¡°The pleasure is all mine, Miss M,¡± He replied with a smile. The handshakested a moment longer than it should before they let go. ¡°So, when you are leaving?¡± I asked. ¡°Immediately, I need to be in Jalrux by morning tomorrow,¡± he replied. He stayed fifteen minutes more before walking out of my office. I stayed there, till it waste afternoon before walking into the administrative section, where the entire staff was waiting for me. I appeared in front of them, with Carlos and L behind me. ¡°Most of you are aware already, but I will confirm it. Yes, I am shifting back to the Greltheaven,¡± ¡°The business would be as usual, with Becker Carlos being your boss in my absence,¡± I informed them. Carlos will be responsible for the affairs of baronies and foreign rtions, while Magnus will be responsible for the town. I didn¡¯t hand over the responsibility of the trade to any of them and will not. At least not officially. Unofficially, L will be responsible for it. She will be staying here as my assistant/unofficial representative and will handle all the tasks rted to the trade. It is a gargantuan responsibility, with huge consequences, if anything were to go wrong. It will be a huge test for her, and I really hope she does a good job. I had worked really hard to achieve it; it would be really bad if she were to mess it up. It is a really hard job, and she had only a few months of training, but I am willing to trust her with it. She will make mistakes, but I hope she will learn from them. It is not all bad. There will be me. She won¡¯t be taking any major decision without my approval. I walked out of the administrative section with L and met Lenc at the exit. He was waiting there as now, we were going to the town hall. Carlos will work from the administrative section. Magnus will work from the town hall. ¡°I have read your ideas Magnus, and they are amazing, but unfortunately, we do not have a budget for that. At most, we will implement two.¡± I said to the man. The responsibilities I am giving them aren¡¯t empty. They have real powers to do things. I am nning on acting as overseer; I won¡¯t check every little decision the two of them make. I have huge responsibilities of my own and if I look at every little thing they do, I won¡¯t even have time to sleep. ¡°Can¡¯t you give me three, adviser?¡± he asked, with a hint of pleading. I sighed. ¡°You are clearly aware of our budget, Lenc, and know that even two is a big stretch,¡± I said and nodded unwillingly. ¡°I will float the tender after I make the decision,¡± he said, and I nodded. It is one of the changes that I have made. No town contract will be given without a tender; it slows down things, but it is necessary. It keeps thepetition healthy and helps in progress. We walked out of the castle and the town came into view and it became even bigger than it had been when I returned from the Greltheaven. Now, there is a developed market area, residential areas, and other areas. The plot sales are continuing, with a lot of merchants from Oksall opening their business here. It is not only merchants from Oksall, but also merchants from the city and some barons who had opened their businesses. My sister and her consortium are one of the biggest investors in town. More than half of the bars and inns belong to them, and also a quarter of the small apartment buildings. They were also building a manor in the luxury district. As I entered the town, people came to talk to me on their own. I talked to them, answered their quarries and questions, and asked mine. By the time I reached the town hall; it waspletely dark. A few more hours passed, and it was time for me to leave. I wille back soon, but only for a day. From now on, my permanent residence will be in the Greltheaven. ¡°Thank you for trusting me with the enormous responsibility; I will not disappoint you,¡± said L with tears in her eyes. ¡°Have some confidence in yourself. You will do you great job. I wouldn¡¯t have handed you this responsibility. If I wasn¡¯t sure, you could do this,¡± I said to her, and she smiled through her tears. ¡°Have a safe journey, Master Silver,¡± she said finally. ¡°Thank you, L,¡± I said and stepped into the carriage, with a relieved smile on my face. Be a FREE Member and enjoy maps and other stuff. Chapter 240: Approved Chapter 240: Approved City Hall, Owlspring ¡°What do we do about this?¡± said the middle-aged man to his superior as he opened the next file. It was not the first time he had opened the file but deferred the decision on it. Now nearly four weeks had passed, and they needed to make the decision. ¡°I have got the answer from my superior. We are approving the application,¡± said the old man in front of him, and the middle-aged man couldn¡¯t help, but be surprised. The brothels are delicate subjects. Especially when those of foreign countries want to open them. It is a scarlet category business and could be used in information collecting. They cancel the licenses of those found doing that, aside from giving the heavy punishment. This one is from Greltheaven. They have an agreement with it, but having an agreement doesn¡¯t mean they will get automatic approval. It is a lengthy process, especially in the business of the scarlet category. ¡°It is quite surprising,¡± said the middle-aged man. A quota was decided for the cities, and Greltheaven had filled its quota. So, they shouldn¡¯t be given any more approval. ¡°Not surprising, given the man who applied for it,¡± said the old man. ¡°He is a small-time adviser, is it because of his family?¡± asked the middle-aged man. The house of silver is big, and cities of merchant states had a fondness for them due to their deep pockets. ¡°No, not the family, but the work he had done.¡± ¡°He is a capitalist, favors more open connection with merchant state, low taxes, and few other things we want,¡± answered the old man, and a smile appeared on a middle-aged man. He immediately understood the reason behind the special approval. The city and the state love these kinds of people who align with their ideology and give them favorable treatment. ¡°I will approve it then,¡± he said and stamped on the file, before cing it in the approved section. ¡­. Agent of Experience Lv. 22 ¡°Mister Silver, we have arrived,¡± said Z, waking me. I opened my eyes and found the words in front of me. A surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face seeing that. I had leveled up, and it is surprising, because, I had not leveled up when I had brought the record number of girls'' contracts. I had expected to level up that time, but didn¡¯t. ¡®Has something happened in the establishment?¡¯ I asked myself, or it may be, just the experience reaching the threshold and me getting a level. Whatever the reason may be, I am happy about getting a level up and the attribute point I am getting with it. I thought for a moment before adding it to the charm, taking it to the sixteen. Charm is the highest attribute point I have, higher by four points by the second highest intelligence, and it is necessary. Charm is the least important attribute; most people use the points on physical attributes. Even those with non-physical proportions didn¡¯t give charm the highest points; they kept it equal with intelligence. Only a few types of sses keep the charm above the rest, but these sses are less than 1% of all. Charms'' effects are more subtle than other attribute points, but I like it due to it and also because after crossing a certain threshold, it started to get really powerful. Not to mention most of my skills are mental skills and require charm. I smiled at the look given to me by Z, walked out of the carriage, and stepped into the boat that was waiting for me. This side of the shore had been developing nicely. A few months ago, there was barely anything, but as the trade with the Navr began, we started to build the infrastructure. The baronies anduryl had also benefited from it, as lots of goode and go to the city. I watched the night sky as the boat began to take me to the other side. A few minutester, I reached the other side and stepped into the carriage, waiting for me. The girls wanted toe to receive me, but I had asked them not to; there was no need for that. They have better things to do than waste their time ining to receive me. There is a still hour to dawn, but the port had already woken up, with shipsing and going. Loading and unloading things and betting on things that came out. Many things are happening, and I watched it all with a smile. Today is a special day for me. Exactly a year ago, I came to this city. I was angry, full of hate and disappointment, but a yearter, there was hope and excitement in my heart. So much has changed within a year and I am confident, that next year same day. There will be an even more drastic change in me. Soon, the carriage passed through the gate and entered the city. It had started to wake up, with people and carriages could be seen walking on the streets. Fifteen minutester, the carriage stopped in front of the manor. I stepped out and entered inside; I could have gone to the establishment, but I wouldn¡¯t find anything interesting there. It is less than an hour before dawn; it is time we have the least number of patrons in the establishment. So, it is better; that I take some rest to prepare for what is going to be a long day. Click! Soon, I reached my suit and entered inside and directly went to my suit. Hun! There I received a surprise. I saw Ca sleeping, and she was not wearing anything; the thin silk sheet covering half of her enchanting body was proof of that. I slowly walked toward us and stared at her wonderful body, before gently removing the sheet off her, revealing her naked body in full glory. I wanted to rest, but seeing her, it is thest thought in my mind. I drank her beauty and crouched down and kissed her belly gently and breathed in her smell, before descending with the soft kisses. She had not woken up, but she was squirming under my kisses. Soon, I reached her delicious folds, and I wanted to taste them, but I controlled myself and kissed her thighs, breathing on them, making her squirm more, before finally going back to her pussy. I breathed on it before taking a gentle swipe of her delicious fold, waking her up instantly. She didn¡¯t say anything as she woke up. Instead, she squeezed my head with her thigh and pushed my head into the pussy. I didn¡¯t resist and gave what she wanted and soon the moans started. From low to high, till they were the only thing, I could hear. ¡°God!¡± Ca let out onest loud moan before slumping back on the bed as thest waves of orgasm washed over her. I wiped away my mouth with my sleeve and climbed over her before taking her delicious lips. The kisssted for a while before we let go. ¡°Thank you for waking me up, the best way,¡± she said with a content smile. ¡°My pleasure,¡± I said, and a smile on her face turned seductive. ¡°Not yet,¡± she said and rolled on top of me. The next three and a half hours passed too fast, that I waste a couple of minutes with my meeting with the Count. Thankfully, he was busy with something else, and my meeting began half an hourter. It would be quite regretful if I had known that I would have had another round from Ca. My meeting with the Count hadsted for over an hour, and I had spent another two hours in the office; setting up things and targets. Now that I have returned, I have a list of things I want to achieve as vice-director of trade. On top of the list is making other cities join the trade with Navr, especially the Deerpond. I will also be expanding the range; targeting cities out of the renwell region. It is a long shot, but I will have to keep trying. It will not only benefit the city but also me; the consulting business has started to pick the pace. It is all because of Ina and Andrea. They work hard, never staying in the city, more than night, whenever theye back to the Greltheaven. I feel bad working with them to death, but I have no choice. Those two are the only ones I could trust. The carriage stopped, and I got out before walking into the three-story building. Click! Soon, I walked into my office, and there was Ca, waiting there. It surprised me since she should be in her office; earlier, she wasining about the work she had and now she is sitting in my office. She turned to me and saw a nervousness in her eyes, instead of the usual confidence. There is nervousness in them, and it is not light nervousness that sometimes appears before important meetings, but heavy nervousness. I looked at her in question and she simply pointed at five letters on my desk. Seeing them, I activated the Rapid Legs and appeared by the desk in a moment and saw the five letters. Each is of a different color and has different seals on them. They also have onemon seal on them. The seal of a merchant state of Meldhorn. ¡°They finally came,¡± I said with the same nervousness. I didn¡¯t immediately open them and instead sat down first, before taking the first letter in my hand. It is from the city of Halda. I tore the envelope with my nails infused with sharpness and brought out the letter with the city seal as a watermark and began to read it. ¡°Rejected,¡± I said, and my expression turned worse. I reread the letter in case I had read it wrong, but I didn¡¯t. They had rejected my application to open the brothel in their city. I put the letter down and picked another letter. This one is from the city of Nalir. I tore the envelope and read the letter and immediately felt like vomiting. Even Ca didn¡¯t ask, seeing my expression; it was clear that our application had been rejected by both of the cities. I picked up the third letter; it was from Owlspring. I didn¡¯t have much hope for it; since the smaller cities had rejected my application, there was no way, the Owlspring would ept it. Still, I tore the envelope and opened the letter. I froze as I read it. I couldn¡¯t believe what was written on it. ¡°What is it? Did they approve?¡± asked Ca. I nodded and handed her the letter, in which they had epted our application; permitting us to open the brothel in the city. ¡°They really did. We got Owlspring!¡± screamed Ca excitedly, and I couldn¡¯t me her for the excitement. Owlspring is the most important. We wanted it more than the other fourbined. It is the second biggest city in Meldhorn. There, we can serve the level of patrons, we can never in any of the four cities, five if we count Greltheaven, which is far behind them. It took me a while to calm my emotions, and I had picked up the envelope from us. I tore it open and read it. Immediately, my eyes lit up. ¡°us epted,¡± I said to Ca, who was still staring at the letter from the Owlspring. She put that letter down and took one from me, while I tore thest envelope from Taveb; the city which Drev is from. I read it, and my shining eyes zed. ¡°Taveb epted it too,¡± I said and real shock appeared on my face. A minute ago, we were wallowing in back-to-back rejections, but now there are three consecutive eptances. For a minute, nobody spoke, before she turned to me with the seriousness in her eyes. ¡°It will be very expensive,¡± she said, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. Greltheaven is a small city, with a round hundred and fifty thousand people. All three cities have a poption over ten times that and all of them are in merchant states; an expensive ce. It would be an understatement. If I say it won''t cost us an arm and a leg. ¡°It will be expensive, but it is a too big opportunity to pass,¡± I replied. These eptancese with conditions. I have six months to start the business, or these permissions will be canceled. One month will be needed to get the various licenses alone. Such a time limit doesn¡¯t exist for all businesses, only for to that fall in the scarlet category. However, six months is short. I am confident, that I will achieve it, I will have to achieve it to realize my dreams. Chapter 241: Unreachable Chapter 241: Unreachable Rayna ¡°It will look good, right?¡± asked Breve, looking nervously at the mirror. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but Varza looks good with her shining purple hair,¡± I replied to my roommate. She idolizes that younger woman; I mean, she is brave. She had cut her hair to an inch. That is less than most men keep. She had painted her hair purple, and it is a normal dye she had used, but an alchemical dye that lets hair shine in light. It made her look good. Especially good in dim light. Though it is great that it doesn¡¯t shine in darkness. It would be weird, and that type of dye is expensive, but if they want, the establishment might provide that to do them. The establishment provides a lot of things, expensive things. As long as they think it is necessary, they buy it for the girls. It took me days to get over that idea. ¡°I am going to it,¡± she said finally, with conviction, and turned to the tall woman. ¡°Hilva, color my hair,¡± The tall woman immediately begins to work on her hair. Her movements are smooth, but not as smooth as those work at the studio. They are best; the real miracle workers, who could transform anyone into a wholly different person. I have seen them work, and they have impressed me thoroughly. I was really shocked when I saw them prepare the girls for the work. I used to feel that girls were already beautiful and no makeup or expensive dresses could bring much change, but I was dead wrong. Hilva is new to this and has been learning only for a few months, but still, she is good. Good enough that she could leave this profession and find a job anywhere as a beautician. Though, I don¡¯t think she will leave the profession, or at least yet. She herself had said it. The woman is tall and thin with a beautiful, angr face. She is also on the third floor, above the second floor. There the patrons are better and richer than on the second floor. Though not as great as the top floor; those are the top patrons. Breve is also on the third floor, and she is trying to get onto the top floor, like many other girls. It is hard. There are only twenty-eight spots on a single shift. 60% of which are filled by girls Lv. 20 and above. Hilva is Lv. 2o, Breve is not; it is quite easy to tell. As those with Lv. 20 and above have a private room. Nobody would be idiot enough to hide levels and forgo that privilege. I also want it, and it is not hard to achieve as I had first thought on my first day here. Everybody seemed to be leveling up fast in this ce. Since I hade here, my Listener ss leveled up twice. Though I had epted it only once to keep parity with my Prostitute ss; it really hurt to let go of that skill, when the future is so uncertain in that ss. I also gained a level in my Prostitute ss, which was a surprise for me. It had been years since that had happened. The most surprising is me gaining the new ss. The Reader ss and it had already reached Lv. 3 in just thirteen days. It happened so fast and totally unexpected. Even after more than one and a half months ofing here. I still haven¡¯t decided which interest to pursue. I am trying, painting, knitting, sewing, and ying musical instruments. However, it is also true, that I have spent more time on reading than any other interest, and I love it. I had read very few books in my life, and so when I came here and saw thousands of them, which I could read without any restrictions; I couldn¡¯t hold myself back. I have started reading on the first day, and there hasn¡¯t been a single day when I haven¡¯t read something. Still, doing all this, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what would be of this. Since I came here, they have treated me no differently from other girls. They gave me all basic etiquette sses; I attended sses of interest and even tested my mage talent. I have it, and I have been attending the sses of it for three weeks. Despite them treating me like any other girl, would they let me work in the establishment like other girls? I am a woman without legs; it is nearly unheard of for women like us working in business. Most of us die and some suffer a fate worse than death in the hands of a man like Lawrence Pen. Would I even be able to work if they let me do it? This is the question that has haunted me for a while. I have not slept with any man since I have lost my legs and shudder at the thought of it. Though sleeping with patrons isn¡¯t necessary. There is one girl, who has never slept with any patron since she started working here. I first didn¡¯t believe it, but it is true. ¡°Now, we wash,¡± said Hilva after an hour of break and took the chair near the basin and reclined Breve¡¯s head into it. There she carefully washed all the dye away, till nothing had remained in her hair and dried them by running her fingers into her hair. It is clearly a skill she is using, and I wish I had it. With it, drying the hair would be so easy. ¡°How does it look?¡± asked Hilva as she took Brene in front of the mirror. ¡°Amazing,¡± said Brene, looking at her short, blue dark hair. Which are silky soft and shining, making her look amazing. ¡°They are looking really good,¡± I said, and it was genuine praise. ¡°They are. Thank you Hilva, you have done the magic,¡± Breve said to the tall woman. ¡°I am d you like it, Breve,¡± she said, and a few secondster, we walked out of the parlor. ¡°Let¡¯s hope, Madam Caena didn¡¯t say anything about it,¡± said Breve, with a faint nervousness. ¡°I don¡¯t think she will, many girls have dyed their hair, and she didn¡¯t say anything,¡± I replied, and she smiled. We were walking toward the elevator when we noticed something. People are taking the furniture to the upper floor through the stairs, in thepany of guards. ¡°Who is it?¡± asked Breve, seeing the furniture. ¡°Onaz Lount,¡± I replied, she immediately recognized the woman, she was one of the famous ones, the top-floor girl. ¡°She would be fifth, right?¡± Breve asked, and I nodded. Here too, levels are important, and privileges are given ording to them. Those who reach Lv. 20 get a private room and those who reach Lv. 25 gets to privilege to change the interior of their room, with the establishment paying for it. It is not just the furniture, but also the color of the room and other things involved in it. At Lv. 30, one gets a suit, and they are amazing. I have seen the suites the madams have, and they are one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. ¡°Ah, girls younger than me, are getting the private rooms. When will I get one,¡± said Breve in dreamy wonder. ¡°Got bored with me already?¡± I asked and immediately she sobered up with cheeks red. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t mean it in that way. You are the best roommate; I could dream of having.¡± She said apologetically. ¡°I know,¡± I said. Soon, we reached the elevator and pressed the key, and the elevator came down and it was not empty. A teen girl, with a big smile on her face. She was so happy; she didn¡¯t even have a serious face, which she always tries to keep in front of the girls ¡°Madam Gloria,¡± we greeted as she came out. ¡°Sisters,¡± she said and walked away. ¡°She is quite happy,¡± said Brene. ¡°She is going to Merchant State a day after tomorrow with Master Silver,¡± I replied. I had heard just it in the morning and couldn¡¯t help, but feel envious. In my whole life, I have been to only three cities. All were small and from the empire. ¡°I want to visit the merchant cities someday,¡± said Breve as stepped out of the elevator. ¡°You could, you know; you just need to ask for leave and go visit.¡± ¡°You even have money to do it,¡± I said to her, and she rolled her eyes. ¡°I could, but I have an eye on sweet investment, and I don¡¯t want to spend on anything till I buy it,¡± she replied. This is another surprising thing about this ce. Here, whores do not save for rainy days, but invest in things. The girls have brought precious metals, gems,nd, apartments, and many other things. They have freaking bank ounts, where 80% of their earnings are directly deposited there. ¡°Well, you might get a chance to visit the merchant state without spending a penny,¡± I said to her. ¡°I might, but I really don¡¯t want to leave this ce, even for more money and a huge city,¡± she replied, looking at the garden. Master Silver was opening three new brothels in the merchant state, and he would need girls for them. He has the girls; the circle currently has nearly nine hundred girls. Only over three hundred and fifty are working and around two hundred are below eighteen; the rest are being trained. One and half months had already passed since I hade here. In two months, the girls of my batch will be ready, with such girls, he wouldn¡¯t have any problem in filling the establishment and another brothel. Three on the other will be challenging unless he starts with a few girls. Which will be an optimum strategy. Click! Soon, we reached our room. Breve begins to change for the dance ss she has, while I sat on the chair and opened the book I was reading. I also have sses, but mine will start an hourter, and I didn¡¯t want to waste time resting when I could finish a few chapters of this wonderful book. Since I started reading the books, the pages of Mind Diary have been filling fast. I am not recording the entire book, just important parts. Thankfully, the Mind Diary had a huge capacity, and it increases with every level up and increases in the attribute. Soon, an hour passed, and I put the book down with a bookmark on it and walked out of my room. Hours passed, and I had finished with all my sses except for one, but that was after dinner. Thinking of dinner, my mouth couldn¡¯t help, but water up. I wasn¡¯t a fan of the food like some people are, but the food here is really good. I had never eaten as delicious food like this in my whole life. ¡°Rayna, going into a spa?¡± asked Arna as I took my wheelchair in the garden. ¡°Yes, I have an appointment,¡± I replied and moved ahead. Like everything in this ce, even the garden is essible through a wheelchair; I could take it anywhere without any problem. It is starkly different from how I needed the help of girls to move through the floor. Even essing the toilet used to be a challenge. Here, everything is easy. A smile appeared on my face, but a secondter, it turned somber when my gaze fell on a woman. To be honest, this ce is so good, that sometimes forget I am in a brothel, but then I would see things, that would remind me of it, along with the worst pain of my life. Left of me, is Urval, a woman in her mid-thirties, sitting with her friend. Eight days ago, she suffered something horrific. A client had beaten her to the pulp. Madam Margaux had said, it was the most horrific incident a girl ever suffered in the establishment. It may be extremely rare in the establishment, butmon outside. Urval was lucky to be here in the establishment. She was rescued from that man and brought back to the circle, where Miss Z healed her injuries. The animal of a man was not only banned but also sent to jail, which seldom happened. The one who did it to me, walked free after paying a few hundred imperials to Hershel. Urval signifies the best oue of such cases, while I was the worst. I had lost my legs because Hershel didn¡¯t even call a doctor, much less a healing mage and or spare a healing potion. He left me for dead. The only reason I had survived was because the girls pooled their money and called a doctor. He was an apprentice; the only one willing toe to the brothel to treat a whore, among many doctors that girls had pleaded. I was saved, but he had cut my legs. The injuries were bad, and it was alreadyte when he hade to treat me. I still remember how the young man had said that it was a miracle that he was able to save me. If Hershel had called a doctor and spared a few bottles of healing potion. I would have been walking on my legs. Now, only a regeneration could bring my legs back, and it is an unreachable spell for a whore like me. That I won¡¯t be able to afford in a hundred lives. Not satisfied. Click on below for More Chapters. Chapter 242: Path Chapter 242: Path ¡°He is waiting for you, adviser,¡± said the assistant as I reached the office. I nodded my thanks and stepped into the office. ¡°Hope you are fine, Mr. Shaw,¡± I said to the big man, who looked like a warrior but was a bank manager. He used to be a vice manager but got the promotion. ¡°I am a good Adviser,¡± replied the big man with man with a smile. A secondter, the smile disappeared from his face and his expression turned serious. ¡°The bank has agreed to sanction the amount you want. I had to use my privilege for it, which I generally do not do, adviser,¡± he said, looking at me intently. As if trying to make me understand, what he had done. ¡°For it, I am infinitely grateful, Mr. Shaw,¡± I said to the man. I am grateful for what he has done. The man nodded and slid the contract toward me. ¡°Sign the contract and we will sanction the amount to you,¡± he said. I nodded and began to read the contract. The man waited patiently as I read through the whole contract before signing it. I have taken the loan again and this time, over hundreds of times greater than the first loan I had taken from them a year ago. This time, it is of twenty million imperials. Which is two billion crowns; I wanted more, but this was the highest they could give to me. ¡°Once again, thank you, Mr. Shaw,¡± I said to the man. ¡°You are a valuable client, Adviser. Hope, nothing will harm,¡± he said as he shook my hand. ¡°It will,¡± I replied. A few minutester, I walked out of the bank feeling much relieved. It has been twenty-two days since I got the approval from the merchant cities and tomorrow, I will leave for them. I have to select the ces for the branches of the establishment. It is going to be a long expensive process. I will be there for four to five days and will return before founding day. The founding day is going to be a big affair. Thankfully, I have few responsibilities for it. The others who are more proficient in it are handling the things. However, I have one great responsibility. An important person ising; the chief guest of the founding day and I will chauffer them around. I hate such jobs, but seeing who the person is, I do not mind; with her, I might be able to break the capstone that had stumped me for over two months. I had done quite a lot of things, but it didn¡¯t seem to be enough to breach the capstone of the Masterful Administrator. I sat in the carriage and ten minutester; the carriage stopped in thepound of the mansion. I got out and walked inside. In a minute I reached the door and turned to the secretory. ¡°You can go in, but be careful,¡± said the old woman, and my expression turned bad, before they turned serious, and I walked into the office. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted the Count; he is alone, Lancel is out, attending an opening of business. He didn¡¯t reply. He just kept looking down with clear anger on his face. ¡°The emperor had called the towering generals and made them swear fealty to the first prince,¡± he said a minuteter. My expression couldn¡¯t help but change drastically after hearing that. The emperor had made many moves in the past few weeks to consolidate the power of the first prince. He had been doing that for a few months, but his efforts intensified in a few weeks. I heard the emperor had taken something that had made him decades younger and full of energy. Even our enemies had be careful as this news spread. ¡°How many?¡± I asked. ¡°All nine,¡± he replied, with a face that made it seem like he had eaten something nasty, and it was nasty news. The towering generals are the head of the empire''s elite corps. That every prince and princess wanted under their influence. ¡°Fealty is not absolute, my lord,¡± I said reservedly. They might swear it under the pressure of the emperor, but there are ways to get out of that. Though, the swearing fealty does make it, a little difficult to do that. Since there is a great pressure from all corners, including skills. Count''s mood didn¡¯t change by my words. He just stayed silent, looking worse and worse. I didn¡¯t say anything and stayed silent, knowing a single word could backfire majorly. ¡°She is noting,¡± he said after over ten minutes, and I nodded. I had epted as much. The queen wasing to attend the founding day, but now after this, it won¡¯t be possible. It is a good thing; I had asked him to not advertise it as he wanted to. I hadn¡¯t advised it blindingly; I had seen the things happening in the empire and knew it was a real possibility of this happening. ¡°You are leaving for a merchant state tomorrow?¡± he asked, and I nodded. ¡°I can dy my trip, my lord,¡± I offered. ¡°There is no need, just return in time,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved. ¡°I will,¡± I replied. A minuteter, I walked out of his office. I had a few important things to discuss with him, but he was clearly not in a mood. I will do itter. ¡­ The day passed, and the next day came. After training and breakfast. I went to the Count; his mood was still bad, but not as bad as yesterday. I was able to discuss all the important things. I only stayed in the office for an hour; I did not keep any backlog of work, knowing I had to leave for a few days. As for my responsibilities, I had handed to others. With the favors they owe me, they were happy to do it. I stepped out of the mansion and a few minutester; I walked into the three-story building. When I reached my office, I saw two women were already sitting there. One is Ca, while the other is her recement, she will be here in her ce, while Ca ising with me to the merchant state. ¡°Master Silver,¡± greeted Andrea, as I entered my office. ¡°How was your trip, Andrea?¡± I asked. Thest time I had seen her was over two weeks ago, when I had sent her on the task. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°We were able to finish with the cities of Halsad on time and the response had been good,¡± she replied. I had sent her to the Halsad region of the empire; it is a region neighboring to the Renwell. Inam is part of Halsad; though not its capital, despite being the biggest city. She had gone there with representatives of the city; we want the cities of Halsad to trade with Navr. While many of them bought the goods from our merchants that came from the Navr. We want them to directly trade with the undead kingdom; this way we will get more taxes and investments. ¡°Let¡¯s hope, the positive response transforms in some of them giving permission to their merchants to trade with Navr directly,¡± I said, to which she smiled. I talked to her for a few minutes before Ca took Andrea to her office, and I began with the work. There is not much since I had been nning for the trip and kept up with all my work. An hour and a halfter, I walked out of my office and went to the establishment. There are a few things I have to do there. My carriage entered through the back entrance, and I got out. I entered inside but didn¡¯t go to my office. Instead went to the restaurant. The restaurant is full, and it remained full at twelve-to-twelve with over 90% upancy. One cannot get in without a reservation or unless you are someone important, then we will make a table avable for you. I talked with patrons for a few minutes and walked to the second floor, and it was filled with people. Even in the afternoon, all three floors above the restaurant are open. We had to do it since more patrons kepting. I was against it, seeing we have a limited number of girls. Only Two hundred and eight-seven girls; there were two-hundred seventy-one when it openedst month, but sixteen more added in this month. The establishment could handle nearly five hundred girls, but we only have slightly more than half. So, opening three floors during the day puts quiet pressure on the girls. Giving them less time for sses and rest, but Caena and Margaux, said, girls want me to do this. They wanted me to increase their time on the shift. It is not surprising, seeing the money they earn, but still, I don¡¯t want them to suffer burnout. For another two months, they will be under pressure, before the new girls I had gotst month, would finish their training and join the establishment. Though, it would be only for a few months, before I would need to shift some of the girls to the three brothels, I am nning on opening in the merchant state. It made me want to get more girls, and I could have, but there was no space in the circle to keep them. There are only four empty rooms that have remained, and they are filling fast due to the girls rapidly reaching Lv. 20. It is why we are asking the girls to shift to the underground; thank god, I had the foresight to build them. Currently, it is consensual and few girls have taken the offer, seeing the rooms underground are 25% bigger. They will also get a few perks, like extra massages and other spa treatments. Though not many girls have epted; they love their rooms and the view those big windows provide. So, after all, the private rooms were filled. The new ones who reach Lv. 20 will need to shift underground; it will only be for a few months till new brothels are ready. By then a lot of girls will move. I could move the girls to other ces, but that defeats the whole purpose. I want the girls to stay in a ce where there are no restrictions. A ce where they could live and learn without outside interference. Still, I hadn¡¯t expected that I would feel a constraint of space in less than two months of building a circle. I had thought I wouldn¡¯t need to worry about space for a year at least. I was so foolish. I already have a n to expand the circle, but not now. I won¡¯t touch it, till I finish with three brothels and see the business. I am scared. I will be making a huge investment. Bigger than what I had spent on the establishment and the circle; the merchant cities arepletely different, and it is hard to tell whether my business model will work there. I have to take the risk. It is the only way to grow my business. I climbed to the third floor, which is over 80% filled, and the top floor, which is 100% filled. I watched for a few minutes before going to my office and closing my eyes, sensing the feeling from the establishment, which had more than doubled in power. It had made the charms stronger, which are doing many things, and the one I like the most ambiance of the establishment. People often tell me how much they liked the ambiance of the establishment and how good the food andpany I provide are. It makes them feelfortable and lowers their inhibitions. They said they felt calm after the visit to my establishment. I love thosepliments. It gave me affirmation that I was walking on the path I had envisioned. Not satisfied. Click on below for More Chapters. Chapter 243: Property Hunting Chapter 243: Property Hunting ¡°Owlspring. It is more beautiful than you had described, sister Ca,¡± said Gloria as the ship sailed through the confluence toward the port of Owlspring in the light of dawn. It is a really beautiful scenery, that I really wish I could capture in the photo. Unfortunately, there was no camera; I could only capture it in my heart, and that seemed enough. A few minutester, the ship had docked at the port, and we got out and stepped into the carriage waiting for us. The carriage moved through the port, while Gloria watched in wonder. The young girl had never been out of the empire and the only time she had traveled was between the cities when she hade to the Greltheaven with the girls. Ca talked with her, telling her about the things that had amazed her. She had been here four times already this month; she had needed to. The licensing process of the scarlet business isplicated. I had hired the firm to deal with them, but I still needed to make the trips twice. Forty-five minutester; the carriage stopped in front of the huge hotel; it is fourteen stories tall, in the shape of a curved moon. The hotel''s name is the Almas. It is one of the best hotels in the Owlspring. We stepped inside its grand lobby, took our keys from the reception, and walked to the elevator. ¡°Rest a little, we have a long day ahead of us,¡± I said to Ca and Gloria before walking into my suit. There, I showered and read the research I did before having breakfast with Gloria and Ca in my suit. Two hours after that, we stepped into the elevator again. We had just walked into the lobby when a beautiful elf woman stopped in front of us. She looked to be in her early thirties. Tall with ssing elvish features, green eyes, and long blue hair, which she had kept in a bun. ¡°Mr. Silver, I hope you had a pleasant journey,¡± said the woman in a beautiful voice, augmented by her skills. ¡°Thank you for asking. Miss Fahryce,¡± I replied. ¡°If you are ready, then we should leave now. We have a lot of ces to look,¡± she said. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t dy, then,¡± I replied, and we walked out of the lobby. The woman is Sumina Fahryce, the realtor. Her agency is one of the biggest in the whole Meldhorn and she hade highly rmended. Soon we were in the carriage, moving toward our destination. ¡°With the requirements, you had stated and the budget you have, we have selected two wards of the red-light district,¡± she said and activated the palm-sized stone disc appearing in her hand, which projected the map of the red-light district. It is divided into seven wards. ¡°These two wards house high-ss and mid-ss brothels along scarlet category business of the same sses,¡± she added, and two wards lit up. Three sections house mainly high and mid-ss scarlet category businesses. I cannot afford a ce in the most famous ward of Owlspring¡¯s red-light district. It was too expensive for me. I am talking about renting here and not buying. The prices of the property here are sky-high, it is out of my range. ¡°We will see 5th ward only,¡± I said to her, and she simply nodded. As if expecting it. 3rd ward and 5th ward are the only two wards that exclusively host high and mid-ss brothels. The 2nd ward had some upper-low-ss brothels, and I didn¡¯t want my business there. ¡°We will have seventeen properties to look at there,¡± she informed me, and I nodded. A little over an hourter, the carriage entered the red-light district from the entertainment district. The red-light district of the Owlspring is huge and strict. The merchants control every business strictly and they put a special focus on the scarlet category businesses. We are currently in the 3rd ward, and it is beautiful, with huge buildings, some going over ten stories tall. They didn¡¯t look like the brothels, but expensive hotels, but they are brothels. Though not all of them are brothels, many are erotic message centers, naked fighting rings, and other scarlet businesses. It is not just the buildings here, big and beautiful, but the streets are wider and greener, with a good presence of guards. One would also find the area extremely clean. If one didn¡¯t read signs on the building and roads; they would find it hard to distinguish it from the entertainment district. Not all wards of the red-light district are like this. Only three wards are like this, they are the ones that pay the city enough taxes to be worth their upkeep. There are wards that are simr to every other red-light district of this world. Especially, the 6th ward. I havee to Owlspring twice in the past month and seen quite a lot and, like all the cities, Owlspring also has an underbelly. Ten minutester, the carriage entered the 5th ward and there was only a slight difference in itpared to the 3rd ward. Most people wouldn¡¯t even notice the difference. The carriage stopped a minuteter, and we got out. ¡°This is a three-a-half thousand square-foot plot; perfect for a medium-sized building with a small garden around it,¡± said the elf as she led us into the plot, which is not even a third in sizepared to an establishment plot. I want to build the branches of the establishment; I want them to have the distinct style that the establishments have. However, that doesn¡¯t mean I am seeing the plots only. There are three buildings in today''s, itinerary. ¡°The plot is not big, and we would manage, but we will be overshadowed by our neighbors, especially the building on the left,¡± said Ca, and I couldn¡¯t help but nod. ¡°It won¡¯t be suitable for our vision,¡± I said, and the realtor nodded, without any hint of disappointment. ¡°We will see the next one,¡± she said with a smile and led us to the next plot, which was slightly smaller and had everything I wanted, but I didn¡¯t feel like it would be suitable for the establishment. One after another we saw plot after another and soon, we have finished seeing five and the carriage stopped in front of the sixth. ¡°This one is good,¡± I said as I stepped out of the carriage and Ca nodded. ¡°The neighboring buildings won''t shadow it and it got the street ess on two sides,¡± said Ca. ¡°It is good. The thirty-eight hundred square feet will give you big freedom to build what you want, and two streets provide your business with greater visibility,¡± said the elf woman. ¡°It is good, Miss Fahryce, add it into the consideration,¡± I said to the elf, and she nodded with a smile. Half an hourter, we saw the seventh plot, and it was so-so. The eighth ce we saw was a building; it was built in the harsothian style, and its size was also good, but as I looked at the building, I didn¡¯t get the feeling I wanted and the skill which I had used in the end gave me the simr feedback. After touring through it, we sat in the carriage and went to the eighth ce, which is a plot, I added into consideration. ¡°No,¡± I said as the carriage stopped. In front of me is a white-colored building, a beautiful one, and even a small garden around it, but on the left and right of it are two even more amazingly beautiful buildings. Even my skill is telling me, that choosing the building wouldn¡¯t be a wise idea. The elf didn¡¯t try to pursue me and simply asked the driver to move to the next destination. Which is a plot, and it was so-so and one after that was good enough, that I had asked her to ce it, in the consideration. The carriage stopped again, and what I saw made my eyes light up, not only mine but also Ca¡¯s. ¡°What happened to it?¡± asked Gloria, seeing the burned top floor of the building. ¡°A brawl broke out between the group of patrons and a fire spell is released. The enchantments weren¡¯t strong enough to stop itpletely and causing damage to the entire floor.¡± ¡°The owner had got seriously injured and still recovering from it,¡± ¡°It had shaken him pretty hard, that he decided to leave the business,¡± the elf replied. The three-story building looked average; was average even when its top floor hadn¡¯t been damaged. There is good space around it, it is not big, but a good designer could create a beautiful small garden around it. What made my and Ca¡¯s eyes light up wasn¡¯t the building itself, but the greenery around it. On all three sides, there are three huge buildings, and these buildings are surrounded by huge greenery. It gives a feeling that this building is also surrounded by it. ¡°Let¡¯s go look inside,¡± I said, and the elf took us inside, giving us a tour of the building, which was not great. It had big potential; the past owner wasn¡¯t able to bring it out. ¡°Add it to the consideration,¡± I said. The elf nodded, and we sat in the carriage and moved toward another property. A few more hours passed, and we have finished looking at all the properties. ¡°I am sure you will need time. Contact me, when you have made the decision or need to see any more properties,¡± ¡°I can show you more if we loosen your criteria a little,¡± said Elf. ¡°There is no need for that. We have already decided,¡± I said, and the eyes of the elf lit up. ¡°Which one did you like, the plot on Norm Street?¡± she asked to which I shook my head. ¡°No, the burned building,¡± I replied and for a brief moment, a surprise appeared on her face before she hid it. Gloria¡¯s surprise is more pronounced. She hadn¡¯t expected I would choose the burned building. The only one who isn¡¯t surprised is Ca. ¡°Though, before we go further with the deal, I would needplete information about the building,¡± I said, and the elf smiled. ¡°It''s no problem, I have it with me. Mr. Silver,¡± she said and handed me a binder. I will have to know everything about it. So, I could decide whether to demolish it and build another one or refurbish it in my vision. The deal is expensive; I will need to pay around twenty-five million imperials for it and that will only be the deposit and rent of one year; I will need even more money to build or refurbish it. It will not be the only project I will be spending the money on. There are two more. Thankfully, they will be cheaper than the Owlspring, but more expensive than Greltheaven. I hope the fifty-one million imperials I have would be enough for the deals. As to build them, I will pay as I earn. Not satisfied. Click on below for More Chapters. Chapter 244: Finalising Chapter 244: Finalising ¡°¡­today, we celebrate the founding day of our great city. Greltheaven hase a long way since its humble beginnings, and we are all proud to call it home. On this day, we thank our great Prince Grelt for his vision for founding a city that has be a ce of opportunity and prosperity,¡± said Count Darrow, and thousands of people cheered. The whole square is jam-packed with people. There are more people here than the day Prince Grelt had inaugurated the city. There is not a ce to even stand. It is a nightmare for the city guards, and there have been some hups in arrangements that made the Counts angry. Thankfully, I am not responsible for the management and saved from the Count¡¯s wrath. The Count finished his speech in a few minutes, and heads of the guilds began. It took another two hours before we were able to leave the stage. There will be a few programs for the public, while for the important people; a party at the Count¡¯s mansion. Last year, I did not get to attend his party. Neither my brother nor my uncle had taken me with them. This time, I am one of the important people here. It is still hard to believe, that so much has changed since the past year. ¡°Atticus, I am disappointed,¡± said Count, looking at Commander Atticus angrily. The crowd was really too much, and many were able to jump over the fence and run toward the Count before the guards have stopped them. It is a serious breach of security, especially at a time like this, where the assassination is happening everywhere in the empire. Atticus opens his mouth, likely to throw the me at his underling, as he did earlier, but closes it a momentter, seeing the expressions on the Count¡¯s face. A few minutester, we reached the mansion, and the party started soon after. A lot of important people have been invited and while they have note personally, they have sent their representatives. Lord of Deerpond had sent his adviser, Marquess Gats, defender of Dustorn Fortress, had to send his son. Even Oksall and a couple of merchant cities had sent their people. I am meeting and talking to a lot of people and wish Ca would be here with me. It would have been great for her. Unfortunately, she couldn¡¯te here. I had stayed untilte at night; I didn¡¯t leave till thest of the guests had left for their amodation or the suit they had been assigned. They are my responsibility and I think I have done a wonderful job. Tomorrow they will leave, and I will be free to focus on the important work. I only slept for three hours in the night, before waking up before dawn. From then, I made a couple of trips to the port and two to the city gates to drop off the guests. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted the Count as I and Lancel came back from dropping off thest guest. ¡°How was Russo Gats, has he said something?¡± he asked, with faint nervousness shing in his eyes. ¡°No, the bastard didn¡¯t say anything other than the polite bullshit, even when I had prodded,¡± said Lancel angrily. Marquess Gats is an important man. He is the most powerful man in the Renwell region and has the biggest army, guarding the region against Tabes. ¡°Any hints?¡± he asked as he turned to me. ¡°A little, from what I could understand. His father nned to remain neutral in this conflict.¡± I replied. It is also the official stance of the Marquess Gats. ¡°The man is too smart.¡± Said the Count and sighed. He is not saying Gats will remain neutral, but the stance will change on the conditions. Marquess had a chance to lead the elite corps, but he had declined the offer and instead chose to lead the armies to conquer the renwell region. Which he aplished, without using any elite legion. ¡°That is all for now, Remus,¡± Knowing I was dismissed, I bowed and walked out of his office and went to my manor, where I had dinner, before sleeping. I was so tired that I didn¡¯t even go to the establishment. There are a few things, I wanted to discuss with Caena before we meet with peopleing from the merchant state. The next day, I woke up at my usual time before dawn; trained, and then went to the Count. After that, I went directly to the establishment. ¡°The new ritual charms seemed to be working great,¡± I said to Caena. ¡°Yes, I am hearing the praises of those dishes from every patron,¡± she replied. We are imprinting the very dishes into the establishment. Though, not all of them, just our signature dishes that Drev had designed. They are so good, that they didn¡¯t need the aid of anything, and it is why we are imprinting them to the establishment itself. It will not only make the food more sensory appealing but will also help the chefs in creating those dishes. Most of them areplicated; only a few are able to cook them. I had imprinted many things, from spa treatments to liquor to music and many other things, including the services, which I had nned to offer in the future. It is great that despite her responsibilities, Caena is still creating the charms and her speed has increased since I had given her ess to emotions that the establishment gathers. Past month, she had crossed the target of a hundred, and this month; it had been one hundred and twenty-one. With such ritual charms, I am imprinting everything I can. It might seem like I might be struggling for things to imprint, but that is not the case, there is a long list. However, that list is filling fast, and I am starting to have difficultying up with a new thing for imprinting. The ritual charms are also costing me a lot, but given their value, I do not care about the money. I am providing Caena with everything she needs and more. ¡®Master Silver, they have arrived,¡¯ rang through the magical inte and a smile appeared on my face. They have arrived. ¡°Sent them in,¡± I said. Click! A secondter, the door opened, and Ca walked in, and with her was Margaux. These two are not alone. They have brought two more people, men. One is a middle-aged man with blond hair, while the other one is a tall man who is in his early thirties with elvish features. His features are heavier than Valentina''s. That one could tell with a nce that he is elf blood. Such people wouldn¡¯t be able to walk in the maind empire, but here in Greltheaven, there is no restriction on them. ¡°Mr. Silver,¡± they greeted. ¡°Wee back to Greltheaven, gentlemen,¡± I said. This isn¡¯t our first meeting, but I nned to finalize things today. They sat down in front of me, took out and roll, and spread it in front of me. ¡°ording to your requirements and the designs you have provided, we have created several models,¡± said Ardin, the older man, and activated the tool. It took a few seconds, and he tapped on a few runes and soon, five models appeared in front of me. ¡°These models belong to the Owlspring building,¡± said Madrys, the younger man. All the models share simrities with the original building I had seen more than a week ago. Which I am nning to refurbish and renovate instead of destroying and building a new one in its ce. A lot of work will need to be done, but it will be ready quicklypared to the buildings in two cities, which I am building from scratch. ¡°Third, one,¡± I said, and he tapped on the runes. Immediately, the third building became big, and I looked at it carefully. ¡°Expand the fifth one,¡± The fifth model appeared before the third, and I looked at them carefully through every angle. ¡°Make the shade of pink slightly lighter and take windows from the fifth,¡± I said, and he touched the runes and within a second, the changes appeared. I looked at it and asked for more changes, some tiny, some were big. They did as I had asked them and finally; I was satisfied with it. ¡°Good. Now, interior,¡± I said, and immediately five interiors appeared in front of me. I chose the one and started to change, add and remove the things I liked. I am making it in the shadow of the establishment, but I am not copying everything. The ce will have its own identity, despite sharing the name the name with the establishment. It is why, I had added the uniqueness of the Owlspring in it and they have done a good job, in bringing what I had described in these models. I hope they have done the same in the other two designs. ¡°This is perfect,¡± I said as I looked interior and exterior of the model in front of me. ¡°Do you guys have anything to add?¡± I asked Ca and two. ¡°Yes, few things,¡± she replied, and all three started to give their opinions. I had epted most of them, as they were good. They have been in business for decades and have their view on it. ¡°Should we finalize it, Mr. Silver?¡± asked Ardin after we had done with it. ¡°Yes, do it,¡± I replied, and he tapped on the few runes. ¡°Next is Taveb,¡± he said and a few secondster, new models appeared on it. It waste afternoon when we finalized three designs and signed the contract. ¡°Hope your firm will finish in time,¡± I said, and both of them smiled confidently. ¡°Have no doubts about it, Mr. Silver,¡± said the younger man, before leaving my office. ¡°We have two months,¡± said Ca softly, and I nodded. In two months, they will be finished with the refurbishment and renovation of the Owlspring building. ¡°It is earlier than we had thought, but we can manage,¡± I said with a confident smile. They are not the only ones who are confident, but I am too; my girls are good, they will charm the Owlspring, and they had charmed the Greltheaven. The other two brothels will be finished in four months; they could be finished sooner, but I do not have money. The four months are good. It is much better than opening all three of them at the same time, which I was nning to do before. The opening of the Owlspring establishment in two months will give me a good idea about the merchant state and help the two that will be openingter. ¡°It is exciting. We are finally expanding,¡± said Ca as she took my hand, and I could see she was truly excited, seeing how her hand was shaking, just like mine. Agent of Experience Lv. 23 Chapter 245: Urgent Summons Chapter 245: Urgent Summons ¡°Any new messages?¡± I asked Z, to which she shook her head. I was eating breakfast in my hotel room with Ca, when I got a message from the Count, asking me toe back to the city by night. I don¡¯t know what the hell it is about, nor did he tell me about it, but it must be something very important. I just wished he would have given me a day and more. I hade to Owlspring yesterday and nned to go to the Taveb and us, but that won¡¯t be possible now. So, I had sent Ca there, while I was going back to Greltheaven. I am nearly there, in half an hour; the ship will reach the Greltheaven. It had been one and a half months since the inauguration, and I was spending money like water. Everything I am earning is going to the three brothels I am building. The one in the Owlspring will be finished soon. I am nning to open it on the first day of the second week of next month. Three weeks from today and there are a lot of things for me to do. I haven¡¯t even chosen the girls yet and now, this emergency summons; I am not getting a good feeling about it. Soon, the Greltheaven came into view, and it looked beautiful under the setting sun. Looking at it, all my worries seemed to vanish for a few moments. The ship stopped, and I got out of it and sat in the carriage waiting for me. A few minutester, the carriage moved through the bustling port into the city. The poption of the city is growing fast; it has gone over hundred and fifty thousand, over four times in a year. By the next year, it will reach three hundred thousand. The city had a capacity of around three hundred and fifty thousand and would be able to manage another hundred thousand if we were smart with nning. Half a million will be a limit; it will be too crowded after that. The number was unimaginable a year ago, but now, not even the Count has the doubts, that city will have half a million poption in less than five years. It is all because of the trade; there had been more trade than anyone had imagined. Meldhorn is our biggest trading partner, but we are also trading hugely with Navr. Not only buy things but also sell a lot of them and I am nning on entering that field. The trade with Oksall is also increasing by the week, and it has been extremely helpful in developing the Lauryl town. There would have been no Lauryl without Oksall. It is such a regret that the Count is not willing to act on my ideas, or the city would have been more prosperous. These ideas are not something, I have thought to myself, but the ones tried and tested on earth. I shook away those thoughts as the carriage entered the Count''s mansion. Get Ready I activated the skill and got out as the carriage stopped. In a minute, I was in front of Count Darrow¡¯s office, thanks to the Rapid Legs. I looked at the secretory and she nodded. ¡°My lords,¡± I bowed as I appeared to enter the office. ¡°Remus, take a seat,¡± said Count, and he sounded serious. Even Lancel looked serious, with some narcissistic joy in them. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said and sat down. ¡°You must be wondering why I had summoned you so suddenly?¡± he asked, and I simply nodded. ¡°This hade from the trade office of Deerpond,¡± he said and slid the letter toward me. They invited me to the meeting tomorrow. It is surprising, their invitation for the meeting, but also because it is addressed to my office, but it is the Count who is giving me, and they want me so quickly. Usually, such meetings are set a week before, not the very next day. ¡°Have you talked to the Lord of Deerpond, my lord?¡± I asked, and he simply nodded, but there was a smile hidden behind his series fa?ade. ¡°It seemed like, he finally couldn¡¯t hold back,¡± I said, and a smile finally cracked on the face of Count Darrow. We are growing too fast and even though he didn¡¯t want to help us with our growth and even put us down with the cost of his own growth; he couldn¡¯t anymore. Deerpond is the biggest city in Renwell region and had a poption of three hundred thousand a year ago and now it is half a million. The poption of the Deerpond, grew by little less than 70%, while ours by over 300%. The same with the economy; our economy grew by more than three timespared to it. However, it is also true that smaller cities grew faster. Still, we grew at incredible speed, which must have made them feel threatened. Especially with the trade we have established with Navr and Oksall. They begin to understand it and know that they need to enter the game or might be as big as them and they won¡¯t like that. ¡°It is very important, Remus. I want you to seed,¡± said the Count. ¡°I understand, my lord,¡± I replied and cursed at my luck. I have been trying to achieve this for months. Courting their merchants and lobbying through various means. That letter was due to my efforts, but I really wished it hade a monthter or earlier. Not now, when I am very busy, but there is no choice. Since it hade, I will try to make a deal and if I did, it is going to take a long, because it will not be Deerpond. However, it is extremely important that Deerpond agrees. Without it, those fence sitters wouldn¡¯te aboard. An hourter, I came out of the office, feeling sad and angry, but also happy. ¡°Send a message to Ida. Ask her toe to Greltheaven,¡± I said. Z looked in question for a moment but didn¡¯t ask any question further. ¡°Also asked Caena and Valentina to be in my office in fifteen minutes,¡± I don¡¯t know how long it would take. I might finish tomorrow, or it might take a few days or a week or more. I am going to open a new brothel next month and it is not the only thing I am doing. There is also adding the new girls in the establishment; the one, I got over three months ago from Owlspring and a local contract sale. I won¡¯t be sending the new girls to Owlspring; they will work in the establishment for a month at least before I send them outside of the city. Fifteen minutester, the carriage entered the establishment through the back entrance. I am only staying here for an hour before I have to leave and prepare for tomorrow. The stakes are high, and I need to be as prepared as possible. It would have been really great if Robin hade with me, but the Count had sent him to the maind, and he wouldn¡¯t be returning for another two weeks. Click! This time, I directly went to my office, where two women were already sitting there. ¡°You have arrived early, Master Silver,¡± said Margaux. ¡°Yeah, something important hade up,¡± I replied. ¡°Tomorrow, I will leave for Deerpond; I might return tomorrow, or it might take longer.¡± ¡°So, I want both of you to start selecting the girls for the Owlspring,¡± I said, and a surprise couldn¡¯t help but appear on their faces; it is a pretty responsibility. They need to select the girls best suited for Owlspring. While keeping in mind, they couldn¡¯t send all our best girls there. It is a delicate bnce; they will have to keep. ¡°Thank you for trusting us, with the immense responsibility, Master Silver,¡± said Margaux. ¡°You both more qualified for that than me,¡± I replied, and she smiled. ¡°It will be 50%-50% right?¡± asked Caena, and I nodded. Half of the girls will be of Level 20 and above, while the other half will be below Level 20. It put us in the category of a mid-ss brothel. In a merchant state, to be a high-ss brothel, one needs to have 95% of all girls Lv. 20 and above. I could meet that requirement, but as I had said, I do not want to send all my best girls there. ¡°Also, start assessing the new girls. If I don¡¯t return on time, that responsibility will fall on both of you,¡± I said. It shouldn¡¯te to that, but I have to be prepared for everything. Things happen especially at a time like this where there are assassinations happening left and right. There is even a bounty on my head in the dark guild, thankfully, it had not reached high enough that dangerous people would start taking interest in me. The bounty is nothing surprising, many people have it. Damon Hardt has it. So has Locke and many others. The trick is the amount; one will be fine, with small security till the amount bes big enough to pose a danger. Still, I am thinking about increasing my security. Stone and his team are stretched in protecting me and the girls. While I have guards from the local mercenarypany; I need a more trusted guard Stone and hispany; I will ask Stone to do that. Forty minutester; I finished the meeting and walked out of the establishment, though not before taking a look at the floors. There is not a single empty seat there. If it had been, the doors wouldn¡¯t have been closed. Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 246: Six Cities Chapter 246: Six Cities ¡°Thank you for taking me with you, Remus,¡± said Locke as the carriage entered the bustling port. ¡°No need to thank me. There is no one better than you to take from the merchant guild,¡± I replied, and he smiled. He knows very well that I could have taken anyone from the guild, but I chose him. Aside from him, there is Ida in the carriage; she had arrived an hour before dawn and nowing with me. Her contributions are the greatest to what is happening. She is the one who had done all the courting and lobbying. It had finally born the fruit. I had let go of the resentment about the timing and got fully focused on aplishing this task. I have been trying to achieve it since we started rtions with Navr. It will help the city tremendously and also me. Especially me, seeing how much money I need for the expansions. Soon, the carriage stopped, and Captain Azalea opened the door. She will be responsible for the security. I thanked the captain and walked to the ship, where the familiar captain had weed us. This is official business, and thus, I am taking the official ship to Deerpond. The others were already there. So, in a few minutes, the captain undocked the ship, and we started to sail toward Deerpond. I watched till the Greltheaven disappeared before walking to the conference room and preparing for the meeting. We had prepared for this yesterday, but it was not enough. I am not getting a good feeling. I feel like, I am under-prepared to face things. So, I had prepared and prepared others, till the ship stopped at the port of the Deerpond. ¡°Careful, I am not getting a good feeling about this,¡± I said to the team, as we walked the deck. Some nodded, while others looked confused and looked for an exnation, but I knew nothing else other than this feeling and hope, this was just jitters and nothing else. I do not wantplications in this important negotiation. We disembarked and stopped in front of people waiting for us. ¡°Wee to Deerpond, Adviser,¡± said the middle-aged man, with blue hair. ¡°Thank you, Secretary Hawnes,¡± I replied. He works under the trade director. His position is below that of vice-director of trade; they should have sent a vice-director to receive me at least. I am not just a vice director of trade, but also an adviser to Count Darrow, and a noble from one of the most powerful houses of the empire. They are treating me as vice-director, sending a secretory. Locke, me, and Ida sat in one carriage with Hawnes and the rest with the other. ¡°It is quite rushed, don¡¯t you think, Secretory Hawnes; you should have given us a few days to prepare would proposals, instead of asking us toe the very next day,¡± I said to the man. He smiled. ¡°It is not rushed, Adviser. Our cities are close, and a man like you doesn¡¯t need any preparations,¡± he said shamelessly. That Locke couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. We talked through the way, but nothing in particr. I had tried to get information out of the man, but he was extremely tight-lipped, and he refused to talk when I had hinted toward negotiations. He is leveled enough that he can resist Persuasion. I looked at the city and could feel its age. Most buildings are new, but the ground they are built on is old. Like Owlspring and many old cities, it had been destroyed and rebuilt many times. Though incursion wasn¡¯t a culprit. At least, it didn¡¯t do it, as much as Navr did. They have done it many times in over two thousand years. Finally, the carriage stopped in front of the city hall; it was white and built like, how most city halls in the empire are built. They have to build it that way, it is the rules. It is also bigger than Greltheaven¡¯s city hall, which is not surprising, seeing the size of the city. ¡°Adviser, please follow me; there is someone who wants to meet you,¡± he said, and I arched a brow, but didn¡¯t receive any answer, other than a smile. ¡°Sure,¡± I said with a sigh and followed him, while the others went a different way. I could guess where we were going, but didn¡¯t voice it out. A few minutester, we stepped out of the elevator and walked until we reached the office with an borate bronze door. ¡°You can go inside, Adviser,¡± he said, I nodded and walked inside. The office was grand, but my gaze fell on the man sitting behind the huge table. He looked to be in his early fifties. He has a lithe figure but is not thin and has a handsome face. Though, the most notable thing about him is his ck eyes. They didn¡¯t hold any emotions despite the man having a smile on his face. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted and bowed. The man is Viscount August Summerfield, Governor of Deerpond. Though most people referred to him as the lord of Deerpond, he liked it that way. ¡°Hearing your deeds, I thought you would be older,¡± he said after seconds of silence. ¡°Thank you for praise, my lord,¡± I said, and the man smiled, but there were no emotions in his eyes. ¡°I have read your record and I have to say it is impressive. Especially the deal you have crafted for Oksall,¡± he said, and this time, I didn¡¯t reply; I had a feeling he was implying something about it. ¡°So, I have an offer for you, join Deerpond. I will give you the same position as the one you have with city hall,¡± ¡°If you proved yourself as good as you have been in Greltheaven. I will make you my adviser,¡± he said, and I smiled. ¡°Thank you for the kind offer, my lord, but I am happy at the Greltheaven,¡± I said, rejecting it immediately. The expression on his face had remained the same hearing that, but a spark of surprise lit up in his face for a moment before it disappeared. ¡°The offer is standing. So, think about it carefully,¡± he said, looking directly into my eyes. I didn¡¯t say anything to that. ¡°Speaking of today, I hope your lord will ept the terms we have. They are beneficial to both of us,¡± His eyes shone with mirth as he said it. I didn¡¯t like it one bit, but I maintained my expression. ¡°We will negotiate the deal that is beneficial to both of our cities,¡± I said, and the small smile on his face widened. He didn¡¯t say anything after that. I bowed once more and walked out of the office. Feeling even more uncertain than before. ¡®Something is really happening,¡¯ I thought. Earlier, it was feeling, but now, hearing what that man had said, I have be sure, and I am not liking this great uncertainty. It made me feel blind. ¡°Z, send the message to Count¡­¡± I said through the guise of my privacy skills. I informed the Count about the offer, such things needed to be informed as soon as possible. If not, they fester and create suspicions. I have also told him about the feeling I am getting and the uncertainty; I felt from the Lord of Deerpond. Usually, I do not voice out my feelings, but this time, I felt like I should. Soon, we reached the ce where Ida and the team were. They were eating; we only had breakfast, not lunch. I joined with Hawnes uttering the word. Usually, I am fine if I miss lunch, but in this uncertainty, I want to be prepared. Not to mention, the negotiations are going tost for hours. I don¡¯t want the hunger to distract me. As I ate, I once again tried to get information from Hawnes and tried hard, but the bastard didn¡¯t utter a single word, and that made me even more suspicious. ¡°If you are ready, we can go to the conference room?¡± he asked as we finished with the lunch. ¡°We have no problem with it,¡± I said and walked out of the room with the old man. Click! A few minutester, Hawnes stopped in front of the door of the conference room and opened it. ¡°Please enter, Mr. Silver,¡± said Hawnes with a smile that felt too bright to be professional, and there was a hint of smugness in it. Once again, that feeling of uncertainty deepened. I nodded my thanks and entered inside and saw people were already sitting there. I walked a few steps and saw their faces and needed to fight hard, to keep my expressions under control. I didn¡¯t have to look at the name boards in front of them. I am familiar with them and have them, at least once. There are six people sitting there, belonging to the six cities. All of them are from trade offices holding the position of either directors or vice directors of the trade office. Six cities. Port Midlet, Gailhorn, Almin, Bilgas, Wildhelm and Deerpond. There are thirteen cities in the Renwell region, excluding the Nakar baronies, including Lauryl. Nothing there had be a city yet, though their collective power was much greater than most cities in the region. Of the thirteen cities, six trade with Navr, while seven don¡¯t. Here, six are sitting together in front of me. ¡®The bastards,¡¯ I cursed in my heart. Now, all of it bes clear, the uncertainty. The smiles, the looks, everything had be clear in front of me. I am angry seeing this, but also impressed by what the lord of Deerpond had achieved. The Count is going to be angry; they have blindsided him. Done something he hadn¡¯t expected. Most importantly, the lord of Deerpond has shown his influence by achieving this. He had no idea that Deerpond had gathered five cities and now going for collective negotiations. This will put a lot of pressure on us and will force out a lot of concessions; the thing that the Count hates the most. ¡°It seemed like this one going to big negotiation. It would be wise, to postpone it at least for a week,¡± I said, and the old man in the middle shook his head. ¡°My apologies, adviser, we couldn¡¯t do that. These gentlemen here are busy. They want to negotiate today. Dying is not possible for them,¡± he said. The short, old man with brown hair and green eyes is Will Statham. Director of the trade office of Deerpond. ¡®Wily old bastard!¡¯ I cursed. ¡°At least a day. So, we can be more prepared?¡± I asked, and the old man shook his head. ¡°They will leave for their cities if we don¡¯t negotiate today and might even lose interest in trading with Navr,¡± ¡°Most had reservations about it and wouldn¡¯t havee, if not for my lord promising them, that will be a fruitful endeavor for their cities,¡± he said and smiled. Of course, they will not lose interest. They are here because they want the trade route of Navr and even Oksall. It is the same for the Deerpond, but walking away wouldn¡¯t be wise either, because they will dy it and that wouldn¡¯t be good for us. ¡°Give me a few minutes. I want to inform the Lord Count, about thistest development,¡± I informed and walked out. They wouldn¡¯t stop me from contacting the Count. If they did, the negotiations were off; they too seemed to understand it as well, as nobody said anything. Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 247: Hard Negotiations Chapter 247: Hard Negotiations ¡®That bastards!¡¯ cursed the Count from the other end, as I exined to him what happened. I could feel the anger in his voice, and it was bubbling. They yed us, while Count watched. Forget finding out about this gathering. His agents weren¡¯t even able to catch a whiff of it. If we had, even a small hint, we would have been better prepared. ¡®Come back, Remus,¡¯ he said a secondter. ¡®My lord, that would be a grave mistake,¡¯ I said in a calm tone. He is angry. This failure to anticipate had bruised his ego. He is also angry, seeing the influence of the Lord of Deerpond can project to bring five cities together for the negotiation. ¡®Why? They clearly yed us. It would be shameful to stay there further,¡¯ he said, still angry, but not as much as before. ¡®Yes, they have yed us and have a huge advantage with six of them being together, but my lord, it is we that control the route.¡¯ ¡®It is for this thing they gathered together. So, whatever their advantage may be, ours is greatest.¡¯ ¡®It is not like we have to agree with everything they asked. If their demands are too much, we will simply walk away and it will be detrimental to them, as it will be to us,¡¯ I said slowly. There was no response for a couple of seconds and that made me happy. ¡®The bastards will demand huge concessions,¡¯ said the Count, after over ten seconds of silence. ¡®Yes, they will, and we will have to give them some, but we will not go below our limit,¡¯ I replied. ¡®Go ahead with the negotiations, but remember our limits, Remus,¡¯ he said, and I really should. He will not like it if I go below them. Still, he gave me a bigger leeway than I had expected. With a limit, I have quite a lot of freedom. ¡®I will not forget, my lord,¡¯ I replied. A momentter. The spell disconnected. I looked at Z, who was visibly sweating. Live Connection isn¡¯t an easy spell. It is not only heavy on mana, but it would require an immense focus. The spell is expensive, and this one is of the highest quality. It hade from the Count itself; I had asked him for it. He resisted at first, before giving it to me a day before inauguration, and today, it had proved its usefulness. ¡°How are you?¡± I asked Z worriedly. ¡°It is a difficult spell. I should practice with it more,¡± she said, and I smiled, knowing she would be fine. Click! I walked back into the room, where six were already waiting and my team was also standing in front of them. They have not taken their seats. ¡°Thank you for waiting, gentlemen,¡± I said to them and took my seat, before turning back to Ida and motioning her to sit to my left. It surprised her and the rest, everyone knows what she is, and we have designated her as an assistant. Her ce is behind with assistants, and should have been, if these bastards hadn¡¯t pulled the trick. Now, I need every help, I can get. There might be consequences of this, but I will worry about itter. It had made some of the people sitting in front of me angry, but I couldn¡¯t care less about it and made them understand my actions. I will be pulled till I want to. If you ask for too much, then there will be no negotiation. Ida hesitated for a few seconds before sitting to my left, while Locke sat to my right. ¡°Let¡¯s begin,¡± I said and opened the file in front of me. Hun! I had just touched the file, when I felt powerful skillsing at me. Every person here is above Lv. 25 and I know for sure that old man Statham is Lv. 30 plus. He is one of the few people of that level in the Deerpond. All the people I have brought are Lv. 20+. Ida and I are not; I am not sure about Ida, her main ss is at Lv. 25+ and mine over 20+, but both our secondary sses needed for this, hadn¡¯t reached even Lv. 20 yet. It would have been great if they had been at Lv. 20 because these negotiations would be the hardest, we had ever faced. These people wouldn¡¯t show any mercy. As their skills covered me; I felt the skills of my people also activate. Helping me control manypulsions, the six had put on me. ¡°Let¡¯s start with category 1A goods,¡± I said to them, and old man Statham smiled. ¡°We want 6% import and export tax on them,¡± said Statham, and immediately, four more skills hit me. They are so powerful, especially one from Statham, that I nearly opened my mouth and said, I agree, but I controlled myself, and a few more skills came at me, which helped me bear thepulsive thoughts. Still, it didn¡¯t make me feel good. Seeing they have barely started, especially the old bastard Statham. At Level 30+, one bes quite powerful, and the bastard has barely started to use the power of his arsenal of skills. ¡°That is too low, Director Statham. 9% is the right amount,¡± I said, activating Persuasive, which seemed to surprise some of them, but it didn¡¯t seem like it had brought. ¡°You didn¡¯t tax even Norke and Brimbale that much. I think 6.1% would be right,¡± he said, increasing the power of skills further. I am not surprised; they know the terms of the contract; we had signed with the others, despite them being confidential. Deerpond had gathered the members of five cities; they wouldn¡¯t have any problem finding the terms of the contract. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be enough to pay sries for the guards, much less the heavy infrastructure needs,¡± ¡°8.9% would be best,¡± I said, trying really hard to not scratch my head hard. Someone had activated the skill that made me scratch my head badly. If that was not enough, I felt just as strong etch on my ass and my groin. ¡°Do you really hate us, that much, adviser? You have given Norke 7.5% and want us to pay 8.9%?¡± he asked, and I felt the pressure of his and other skills increased, so I opened my mouth and twitched my hand to scratch. The colleagues had helped me with their skills, but these wily bastards were powerful. Not a single one of us, are high-leveled as them. The only one who could have helped me was Robin, but he was unavable. I was struggling hard when I felt the soft hand of Ida''s on mine. Immediately, the mentalpulsions be weaker, and itching bes unconformable from intense. Hun! It surprised me because it is a skill not from her secondary ss, but from the primary ss. The skill wouldn¡¯t be this powerful if it had been from a secondary ss. Even high attributes wouldn¡¯t help if the level of the ss is low. Such skills are not rare for her past profession. Many girls have skills that help them relieve the tension and tiredness of the patrons they serve. Some of the girls have gained the skill that could even remove minor afflictions. I nodded at her gratefully before turning to Statham and others, who seemed to realize what had happened and increased the power of their skill. Ida did the same, but the effects of her skill lessened; she might match some of them, but there were six in front of us. It is hard for her, especially when she is trying to conserve power. ¡°I do not hate any of you and am willing to offer 7.4%, which is even lower than what Norke pays,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°If your offer isn¡¯t a hate for us, then what it is? Norke is smaller than any of our cities. Here we are, six of us, sitting with sincerity,¡± ¡°Show us some sincerity, adviser,¡± he said and increased the power of his skill, with others. The negotiations continued for another hour before we agreed on the tax, which is 7.15%, lower than any of the city, but above our limit. I could have gone low as much as 6.8%. Still, I am not happy, as this is one category of goods and has few goods in it. We took more than an hour to agree on it. If we take such time, then it is going to take days for us toplete the negotiations. That is not what made me unhappy. What made me unhappy, was that I was tired, just after an hour of negotiation. It is only an afternoon, and it will be hours before we will be finished. It will be unbearable, while I am not alone. There are Locke and Hanson, but I don¡¯t think, even those two would be alone. The others wouldn¡¯t be enough; they are barely above Lv. 20, and the bastards will eat them alive. The only reason I could even contend against those is because I have years of experience. The earth might not have skills, but we know out to use every work with surgical proficiency and employ psychological tricks. The negotiation continued. I led for three and a half hours before Rip Hanson took over and managed for four, before it was Locke, who continued for three. Before, I took over once again. ¡°2.2%, is thest we could give. We will not negotiate further about this,¡± I said with finality. Controlling myself not to grit my teeth and twitch my fingers, when I powerfulpulsion to agree and scratch all over my body. The old man looked at me, before sighing. ¡°We will suffer a loss and agree with it, adviser,¡± said Statham and wrote down on the file, before sliding toward me. I read it carefully, despite the tiredness, which want to just sign it. It was really a limit; I couldn¡¯t go down further. Thankfully, it is the only thing they were able to push it to the limit,¡± ¡°The caterg,¡± ¡°We are finished for today. Mr. Regan. Me and my team are tired and hungry; we cannot continue anymore,¡± I said to the middle-aged man. We are not the only ones who have taken turns in leading. They, too, did it. Though they looked much better than us. ¡°Just one more thing, adviser, and then we will finish it for today,¡± Statham pressed, and I shook my head. ¡°No. Mr. Statham, we are done for today,¡± I said firmly. ¡°We will start from tomorrow, nine then,¡± he said and got up, before leaving with others, after shaking hands. The moment they walked through. All the effects of their skills disappeared, and we got visibly rxed. We were under immense strain. So much, so that we couldn¡¯t even breathe normally due to their skills. ¡°It was the most stressful negotiation I had ever been in. Those bastards have showed us no mercy,¡± said Locke, as he slumped back in the chair. ¡°It will be even harder tomorrow. They know our strengths and weaknesses. They will hit where it hurts,¡± said Rip in a serious tone. ¡°We should be more prepared. Tomorrow is going to be a long day,¡± I said as I got up from my chair. A few minutester, we were out of the conferring room and moving toward our hotel, which was thankfully quite close to the city hall. I am hungry. All the negotiations have taken quite a lot of energy from me and the rest. We all want to eat and then sleep. I hope they get a good sleep, because today, we have only been able to cover 14%. Usually, a day is enough, and many of the negotiations with cities have been finished at such time, but we are dealing with six cities who want to squeeze us with everything they have. I hope the negotiations will be finished today, but it is unlikely that it will happen. Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 248: Hard Negotiations II Chapter 248: Hard Negotiations II Note: It is Ina, not Ida; I always seem to make this mistake. Ina ¡°¡­Grade 4 and Grade 6 addictive substances. Would need to be marked specifically and should be transferred in a separate carriage, with four guards guarding them,¡± said Master Silver. ¡°You are already taxing us heavily on the addictive substances and now you are increasing expense by adding nonsense conditions,¡± said Statham loudly. I could feel them increase the power of their skills further on Master Silver, making his hands twitch a little. I pressed my fingers to his hand tighter and increased the power of Madam¡¯s Relief by a little. This is a skill; I had got at Lv. 10. At that time, it was known by something else and worked a little differently. It had advanced with a ss at Lv. 20 and once more when my Strumpet ss turned to Madam. It was a useful skill which has helped me a lot in the business. Unfortunately, it is the only one, I could use to help him majorly. I have two in my Loyal Handler ss. Focused Mind and Less Distraction, but their powers aren¡¯t as powerful. The ss is at Lv. 14 and with high attributes thanks to my Madam ss, its power is close to Lv. 18, but even that is not enough. Still, I had used them. It is better than nothing. It was evening on the second day of the negotiations and the only thing, I could say was that Rip was right. Yesterday, they tested our abilities and today; we are being attacked by them strategically. Rip had suggested that we bring a few people from Greltheaven. Like his boss Oakley, but Master Silver rejected the idea. He said, it wouldn¡¯t look good in the city if we brought more people, but we are suffering here. We haven¡¯t suffered a loss, but are extremely tired. Master Silver had already gone one roundsting for three hours before Vice-Guildmaster Locke and Rip took over. Now, he is going again for an hour and a half and those bastards attacking him mercilessly with their skills. If one looked at him, he only looked slightly tired, but he was far more tired than he looked, nearly at the limit. He is looking like it, because I used My Team Always Looks Good on him. I had got the skill when I reached Lv. 10 in Loyal Handler. It is an excellent skill and helped me a lot. Seeing, we always traveling and sometimes we need to meet people or attend some meetings immediately, without any rest or time to freshen up. I wish I could help more, but I couldn¡¯t. It is also making me marvel at how he is facing those six people and is getting a better deal. I have seen what the other two are able to get, and it is clear that Master Silver is better than them. Despite being a lower level. Though he didn¡¯t look less experienced. It feels like, he is as experience as those two or even more. Seeing how in the element he looked and even seemed to enjoy it. If he had been as higher leveled as those six, he wouldn¡¯t have been under such immense strain. It pained me to see him like that, but I am already doing everything I can. Though, how much, I wish, I could do more to help him. ¡°No, different carriage, but we will mark the substance and there will be one guard watching it,¡± ¡°This is as far as we could go,¡± said old man Rowels. ¡°Fine, we agree,¡± agrees Master Silver. ¡°But we will not make any exception in punishment. If your merchants didn¡¯t follow the directions of the agreement,¡± he cautioned, and outrage appeared on the old man¡¯s face. ¡°Our merchants are honest, adviser. They wouldn¡¯t do such a thing,¡± said the old man, and Master Silver just smiled. ¡°Grade 7 prohibitive substances; we are willing to ept the same condition on them,¡± said the old man, but Master Silver, just shook his head. ¡°Orders from Count; there will be no discussion of Grade 7 and above substances,¡± said Master Silver. ¡°Adviser, please think about it. They are very lucrative substances. Our cities would earn a huge profit off them,¡± said old man Statham, using a skill that made his words extremely enticing. ¡°Even I want to do it, but it is Lord Count, who has forbidden it,¡± said Master Silver with a sigh of regret. Liar. It is him; he had himself told me, that he was sessfully able to convince Count Darrow to forbid any kind of trading of Grade 7 and above addictive substances. He had even asked me to keep an eye on merchants who might try to sneak it inside. ¡°Let''s move on them. Category 1 liquor, everything is here straightforward, and we didn¡¯t want much, we onl,¡± ¡°Excuse me, Mr. Statham, I want to pass the charge,¡± said Master Silver, interrupting the old man. It is wise; he is tired. Rip and Vice-Guildmaster had enough rest that they could handle the negotiations till the dinner break. ¡°Of course,¡± said the old man with a smile and even looked smug about it as he looked at Rip and Vice-Guildmaster Locke. ¡°Ina will take charge,¡± said Master Silver, shocking everyone that nobody was able to keep their expressions calm, including me. I know what I am and could hear the whispers like ¡®silvers whore, filthy prostitute, dirty trollop,¡¯. Countless men had tried and the only reason they hadn¡¯t forced themselves on me was because of fear of repercussion from Master Silver. The guards also help a lot. It was my life''s greatest pleasure that I have been able to be more than a whore. Master Silver gave me his trust and entrusted me with responsibilities that no sane person would do with a whore. For that, I will be eternally grateful. It was a surprise when he asked me toe here with him and gave me a great honor by sitting beside him. Now he is asking me to take the lead in a negotiation. It is extremely risky. I may not know much, but I know enough to understand how risky it is. It would have a grave repercussion. He could lose his job, the Count could banish him out of the city and if he is very angry, might even jail him. ¡­ I looked at the shocked expressions around me and the fear in Ina¡¯s eyes, not for her, but for me. Of course, I understand the consequences of my actions and even I am not mad enough to do something like this, without thinking through it. There will be risk, but I think I could spin it, thanks to what the Count had said in the morning. The risk is worth it. Ina is extremely important to me, and she has been traveling the countries for business, doing my bidding, but she has never experienced high-stakes negotiations like this. Here, she isn¡¯t negotiating with individual merchants, but officials, deciding the trade of six cities. It will give her perspective that even a thousand negotiations with merchants wouldn¡¯t. Till yesterday, I was satisfied to let her watch from the front seat, but the opportunity had presented itself in the morning and I decided to strike it. ¡°Adviser, this?¡± said Statham, barely containing the anger in his eyes. ¡°I hope you do not have a problem with it, Director Statham. We have amodated many of your demands here and were polite to your surprise. Hope you will provide the same courtesy to us,¡± I said with a smile. Of course, I am angry at these bastards¡¯ subterfuge. I am not angry. They have called five cities, but angry, they have not allowed us to prepare, especially when they had called for a moment¡¯s notice. We were within our right to go back, and the Count had wanted us to, but I had decided to stay. ¡°Of course not, we were just a little surprised,¡± he said as the anger on his face disappeared. It had not vanished, but hidden in its eyes, and he will bring it out when the negotiations resume, when he will bring it out through his skills. The rest wouldn¡¯t hold for this supposed slight either. ¡­ ¡°It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Give everything you can,¡± said Master Silver, has turned to me. ¡°And don¡¯t worry too much. I am confident you will do fine,¡± he added, seeing the hesitation and nervousness on my face. I still wanted to decline, seeing how risky it was for him, but seeing the trust in his eyes for me. I closed my opened mouth and took a deep breath, before turning to six men, who are looking like, they want to tear me apart. They wille to me with fury like they have before, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous. Though there is no fear in my heart for them. I have been beaten every inch of my life, raped, and abused with every word and way a man knows. These people wouldn¡¯t do any of that. They will use the full power of their skill, so much, I might bleed in strain and pass out. Still, as Master Silver had said, it is a chance of a lifetime. There will never be an opportunity like this, and I need to squeeze it with everything it has. Only then, it will be worth, the great risk he is taking for me. With that thought, I looked at six people and brought a smile to my face while activating the Madam¡¯s Charm, along with Focused Mind and Less Distraction, which I had focused on myself. ¡°Category 1 liquor; the c..city would like 10.5% for it,¡± I said, stumbling as they focused their skill. One skill made my tongue hard to move. If I hadn''t activated Lucious Tongue, immediately; I would have stumbled a lot more. ¡°That is preposterous! Much higher than any city, the 4% is a sensible one,¡± said Statham with his voice like thunder. That is making my head hurt and my back drenched in freezing sweat. If that wasn¡¯t enough, I had started to feel an itch all over me and I felt like the words slipping out of my mind. I held those words tightly and thanked, I Read, I Remember; a skill from my Learned ss. It is my second ss, the one I have got aftering to the establishment. Unlike most girls, I didn¡¯t have one or two specific hobbies; I have dabbled in everything but focused on mathematics and reading at most. It is because of this scattered approach. It had taken me a little longer to gain the secondary sspared to the other girls. ¡°That is far too low. 10% would be best for both parties,¡± I said with Mellifluent Voice from Madam ss and Here When I Talk from Loyal Handler. ¡°Far too much. 4.5%, is the fairest for our cities,¡± said the man, and the power of his skills and others increased tremendously. I had felt a powerful itch all over my body like never before that if I scratched even a little, I would turn my body bloody with my nails. I had even felt so hot and cold that I wanted to remove my clothes and wear more at the same time. If that wasn¡¯t enough, every word from him was like a thunder, that was making my head heart badly, so that I could listen to the words he was saying, and I was struggling to take each breath normally. Every second is torturous. Mercenaries said fighting is the hardest thing. If they sit here and experience what I am experiencing, they wouldn¡¯t say those words to me. The six want to humiliate me, with the end purpose of making me lose consciousness; it happens when the power of the opponent¡¯s skills bes too much for the mind to bear. Such skills could even kill. People have died during the negotiations. I am using every useful skill I have from all three sses and using them at full power, but I am one against six and I don¡¯t think I would be able tost long. I will have tost, not for me, but for Master Silver, who is taking an enormous risk in giving me this opportunity. ¡°9.5%, it is standard in many cities,¡± I said despite the immense strain of skill which increased with every word I spoke. I am using every fiber of my will to not twitch. I am not even curling my fist to manage the strain. I don¡¯t want to give even small victories to these six. Which seemed to be making them angrier, and they increased the power of their skills further, making it extremely hard, for me to even breathe and see. I don¡¯t want to bend to these bastards, but their overwhelming power will break me, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything else. ¡°It is not; 5% is standard,¡± said Statham, spiking the power of his skill further, that I felt I was losing focus and falling unconscious. I wanted to turn to Master Silver and apologize. He took a huge risk with me and I have failed him. Hun! I was seeping deeper into the unconscious abyss when I felt gentle winds, bringing me back to consciousness. The others began to focus their skills on me, and soon; I found myself back. These skills are not as strong as the six, but they are strong enough to keep me tethered to consciousness. Provide me enough support that I won¡¯t be falling into unconsciousness. I didn¡¯t think they would help me, but they did. Now, with their help, I could continue with negotiation, and I will give my all to get the greatest deal for Master Silver. Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 249: Negotiations Finished Chapter 249: Negotiations Finished Greltheaven ¡°I had asked him to teach them a lesson; I didn¡¯t expect he would use his whore,¡± said the older man as he satfortably in his chair. ¡°Remus loves to use his whores everywhere,¡± said the young man, not as happy as his father. ¡°He knows where to use them and this time, he used one wisely,¡± said the man, with a smile on his face. Happy to be able to get back in some way. ¡­ ¡®Well done with your whore,¡¯ said the Count, and the spell went silent while I removed my hand from Z¡¯s, feeling relieved. I have been worried about it since the moment I asked Ina to take the lead. So worried that I hadn¡¯t even slept properly every minute, imagining thunderous anger from the Count. Thankfully, it didn¡¯te. Instead, he is pleased as I had hoped. Yesterday morning, the Count had said, find a way to humiliate them. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have any idea, and nor I could, given the difference in level and preparation the six have. The idea of giving the lead to Ina came suddenly and, to be honest, I am feeling ashamed that I have to use such a way to give her this opportunity, but with my current power, I could only use this way. This will widen her perspective and give her a good idea of how real negotiations work. She had already got that idea yesterday. The six really didn¡¯t hold back against her, but she held on despite the pressure. ¡°There is a message from Port Midlet,¡± said Z. I immediately perked up, upon hearing that. Half of the cities are trading with Navr, while the other half are negotiating. The only city that isn¡¯t on the table yet is Port Midlet; the city that had been controlled by the crown prince. It is a city where we always had a frosty rtionship and traded minimally, despite being the third-biggest city in the region. It is growing fast thanks to the patronage of the crown prince and might be able to surpass the Ashton harbor in the near future. That¡¯s beside the point. The point is, that they have been cold toward our offers to trade with Navr, but when I informed them two days ago, us negotiating with the six cities. They have be receptive. I sent back and received a couple of messages from them and by the end, there was a smile on my face. I looked at the clock before turning to the documents in front of me. There are two stacks; the smaller one which we have negotiated, and the bigger one, which we have yet to negotiate. Two days had passed, and negotiations were going slow and hard. We are fighting on every point; even on that, those should be agreed, upon within a minute. They are hell-bent on getting as good a deal as possible and even angry after I had asked Ina to take the lead yesterday. If we negotiated at such speed, it might take a week. I don¡¯t know, but one thing is certain. We will not hurry; we need the best deal too. If we need to negotiate more than a week for that, we will do it. Click! I was looking at the files when the door opened, and Ina walked in. She looked radiant as always, but now that small smile on her face looks extra bright. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be too rigid in negotiations. Give them small victories, let them see their skill are working.¡± ¡°It will give you the chance to score the big victories,¡± I advised, as she sat in front of me. Yesterday, she did very well. She resisted and didn¡¯t even her opponent a victory with a single scratch and curling of the fist. Even I scratch now and then during the negotiation, despite knowing how dangerous it is. Like any druggie, the first dose is your choice, the next one after that is just an uncontroble urge. It was extremely hard to stop after a single scratch. ¡°I will remember,¡± she replied, after a moment of silence. A few minutester, the others arrived, and we strategized and had breakfast. At right eight-thirty, we left our hotel; at nine, the negotiations began. The third day of negotiationssted till eleven-thirty-five at night, with all four of us talking lead. I gave Ina as much of a chance as possible and was d to see her fight with everything she had. She is using skills in all three of her sses remarkably well. Especially in her main ss, where there is barely any resistance from them despite using them in the conditions, she is not supposed to. When I gave her this responsibility months ago, I asked her to use her skills in every condition. Whittle down their resistance and she had done better than I had thought. It is her own hard work and also because the skills of her main ss are very suitable for the job, I have given her. She is a fast learner, and even in this extremely stressful environment; she is learning fast. She is like a sponge, absorbing everything she is learning and performing better. She did better on her second day and even better on the third. The days passed, and negotiations continued. They are slow, intense, and hard; the skills of six were like a rampaging ocean, while we are a small dingy, that is doing it all not to drown. That made the ocean even madder, and they began to target us with everything they had; using the skills they had not used before. Currently, it iste afternoon on the sixth day of the negotiation, and it is going especially intensely. Well, are discussing thest point. ¡°Fine, we agree to twenty-six,¡± I said finally, and immediately all skills bearing down on me had simply vanished. I begin to hear, see, and smell normally, there is no itch and the sweat off my back feels normal, not freezing cold and steaming hot. ¡°You are one tough man to negotiate, Adviser,¡± said Statham, with a big smile on his face. It is not just him, but others are also smiling. They got a great dealpared to all the other cities, but we didn¡¯t lose either. In most conditions, we have stayedfortably above the limit. Which is a great victory for us. When we started, I didn¡¯t think even staying at the limit would be possible. ¡°I should be the one saying that Mr. Statham; you have squeezed us with everything we have and even more,¡± I said and the old man grinned. ¡°There will be a small party in the night to mark the sess of the negotiation. I am inviting you all to it,¡± he said. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t miss it for the world,¡± I replied with a smile, shook the hand of the old man and others. Hun! I got very surprised to see him shaking the hand of Ina, and there was even a hint of respect in his eyes, when he did it. It is not just him, but two others have also shaken her hands before leaving the room. In these days of negotiations, she had proven her mettle. Now, even those who didn¡¯t shake hands with her didn¡¯t look at her like, she was a mere whore, like they did when she first time, entered the room. ¡°It is finally over,¡± said Locke with a smile. ¡°With this, all the cities of Renwell region except one will trade with Navr and even that remaining one will also do it in a few days,¡± said Rip and all members of the delegation smiled. ¡°You have really done something unbelievable, Remus. A thing that should have taken years, you have achieved it, in less than a year,¡± said Locke. ¡°It is all thanks to Lord Counts, directions,¡± I replied, and everyone smiled. We did achieve something incredible, and it will bring a transformative change, not only to the Greltheaven but also to the other cities. Let¡¯s hope the Count does his part and not be too miserly about it. A few minutester, we walked out of the city hall and went to our hotel. The first I did as I reached my suit was to talk with the Count before taking a shower. It waspletely dark when I came out and sent a few more messages. By the time I had finished, it was time for me to change for the party. I changed into the suit and prepared myself in front of the mirror before activating Get Ready. Immedicably, the changes began, and within seconds; I looked even better than before. I got out of the room and saw Ina waiting and she looked stunning in the ck velvet gown. It is a simple gown with a conservative design, but she looked stunning wearing it. ¡°You looked beautiful,¡± I praised. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she replied, with her cheeks flooding. For a few seconds, there was silence before I opened my mouth. ¡°For me, the work had finished, for you, it had just begun,¡± I said, and her eyes turned excited. The merchants would be her responsibility, and many had already started offering us good money for our consultancy services. ¡°It is a tremendous opportunity for us; we should go aggressively at it,¡± replied and I couldn¡¯t help, but nod. Even with the establishment expanding and our profits quadrupling. The liquor business is earning more than the establishment and, with the pace it is growing, even after opening three new brothels, won¡¯t be able topete with it. Still, I am focusing more on the establishment, because trade with Navr might earn me more money, but it is unpredictable. They are going to be our destroyers. Their hordes wille in a few years and destroy everything, and nobody will be able to do anything against them. Finally, it was time to leave, and we walked out of the hotel with rest and went back to the city hall onest time. ¡°Wee, Adviser Silver and a delegation from Greltheaven,¡± said Statham, weing us to the door of the ballroom at city hall. ¡°Thank you, Director Statham,¡± I said to the old man, before entering inside. ¡°They said it was going to be a small party,¡± said Rip, looking at therge hall filled with people. Mostly merchants, not only from the Deerpond but also from five cities we have negotiated with and, of course, the Greltheaven. Locke and I smiled at Rip¡¯s words, and even Ina had smiled. You should never believe officials and merchants when there is huge money on the line. Eyes turned to us as we entered the hall. We separated and mingled. Ina knew many of the merchants here, but there were some whom she couldn¡¯t connect with, like vice-leaders and leaders of the merchant guild. I introduced her to them. It is not just merchants, but officials and other important people. Before I knew it, two hours passed, and I had left her to mingle on her own. I was with Locke, talking with a vice-head of a merchant guild, who is also his distant rtive, when two men and a woman stopped beside me. The older man is in histe fifties. He is tall, with a fit body with pale blue eyes; he must scare a lot of people when he gets angry. The pretty woman beside him looks to be in her early fifties, with dark blond hair and blue eyes. The young man in his mid-twenties beside them had inherited features of both. He is as tall and strong as his father and has good facial features from his mother, making him look handsome. ¡°Adviser Silver, I have heard so much about you,¡± said the man with a smile. ¡°All good things, I assume, Lt. General Ronda,¡± I replied to the man and turned to the woman and young man beside him. ¡°Madam Ronda, Major Javier,¡± I greeted the two politely. This young man is the one who had hit on Maeve and when she didn¡¯t return to his advances. He framed her on false charges and sealed her business. Though, I didn¡¯t show any of that in my face. ¡°I heard you have given our people quite a challenge?¡± he asked, to which I shook my head. ¡°That¡¯s an absolute lie, general. It is your people who squeezed us with everything we had,¡± I replied and that brought a smile to my face. However, a momentter, the smile disappeared, and his expression turned serious. ¡°Tell me, adviser, how is the undead kingdom?¡± he asked, and it is quite amon question that many people ask. Though, he is a little different. ¡°In what sense are you asking that, general?¡± I asked back, turning my expression serious, and the man sighed. ¡°I am nning on sending my son there and I hope you will shed some light on it,¡± ¡°I heard that you had experienced something umon and want to take your view about it,¡± he said, looking at me in the eyes. I didn¡¯t immediately answer. ¡°You are right, what I experienced is umon, but your son will be unlikely to face that. Aside from that, Navr is a safe country and one that everyone should visit at least once in their life,¡± I replied. The woman shuddered, while the man just nodded with a smile. The young man, on the other hand, looks quite excited. I talked to them for a few minutes before turning to other people. A few more minutes passed; when suddenly, the whole hall quieted down. The lord of Deerpond entered the ballroom. The man is dressed as he should and as he walks, people bow to him. I have to say; the man is better than Count Darrow at the show. The man stopped and turned to the people. ¡°Today is an important day¡­¡± Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 250: Hetaera of Master’s Will Chapter 250: Hetaera of Master¡¯s Will I am really sorry guys. It seemed like I had really messed up and not published Chapter 244. I had fixed that mistake now. Please read it. Shining Merchant Lv. 25 Skill Gained: ¡­ Official Lv. 22 Lawyer Lv. 22 Skill Gained: ¡­ Secretary Lv. 24 {Conditions Met: Lawyer¨CArdent Lawyer} Ardent Lawyer Lv. 26 Skill Gained: ¡­ ¡­ Loyal Handler Lv. 15 {Conditions Met: Madam + Learned + Loyal Handler¨CHetaera of Master¡¯s Will} Hetaera Of Master¡¯s Will Lv. 21 {Conditions Met: Madam¡¯s Charm + Seductive Walk + Mellifluent Voice- Enchanting Hetaera} {Condition Met: Fast and Slow + Seducing nce¨CCarnal Maven} {Skill Change: Kiss of Erection- Kiss of Vigor} {Skill Change: Madam¡¯s Relief- Hetaera¡¯s Touch} {Skill Change: Luscious Tongue ¨C Unyielding Tongue} {Skill Change: Less Distraction ¨C Null Distraction} {Skill Change: My Team Always Looks Good- My Team Is Always Ready} {Skill Change: Photo Eyes + I Read, I Remember ¨C I See, I Remember} Skill Gained: Long Road Skill Gained: Missive To Master The level-up was expected, but not this. It is aplete overhaul of sses and skills. A consolidation. It had happened to any girl, not Ca or Margaux or even L. It is a big thing, a huge thing. Consolidations are rare; it is extremely rare when all sses are so different from each other to be one, but it has happened to me. I smiled mirthlessly at the name of my ss. Hetaera; means whore in olden tongue. A powerful ss for the whore; something that one only gets at Lv. 30 and even among it is rare. No, wonder it had regressed in levels. It is too powerful to be at Lv. 25, which my Madam ss was. The levels might have regressed, but the power of the ss is far more than what Madam ss had. The ss, is also a three-word ss, making it more powerful than simple Hetaera would have been, and thosest two words made me happy. The consolidation had also changed my skills to serve the purpose of my new ss. Some had merged, while some changed, but all of them have be more powerful than before. I looked at the skill and couldn¡¯t help, but be surprised seeing how epassing they are. They will help me tremendously in carrying Master Silvers. I looked at my two new skills and both of them excited me. The first is Long Road. It is a rare travel skill and a necessary one, seeing how frequently I travel. Since Master Silver had handed me the responsibility, I have never been in one city for more than a week. Deerpond is the first city where I stayed for the five nights straight. The second skill, Missive To Master, is just as important and rarer. Because it is a skill and not a spell. Unlike the message spells, it is hard to block it, with istion or nullifying spells. I turned to the attribute point I got from this advancement, and I added it to the intelligence. Immediately, I felt its effects, my thoughts became slightly faster, and I could think more clearly. A minuteter, I opened the window.
ss: Hetaerae of Master¡¯s Will Lv. 21
Charisma: 17
Intelligence: 15
Vitality: 10
Strength: 10
Skills: ¡¤ Enchanting Hetaerae ¡¤ Carnal Maven ¡¤ Kiss of Vigour ¡¤ All Night ¡¤ Hetaerae¡¯s Touch ¡¤ Unyielding Tongue ¡¤ Null Distraction ¡¤ Wonderful Knowledge ¡¤ I See, I Remember ¡¤ My Team Is Always Ready ¡¤ Total Focus ¡¤ Hear When I Talk ¡¤ Long Road ¡¤ Missive To Master
Attribute Points: 0
I looked at my skills; all of them have now changed to serve the consolidated ss. Even those that didn¡¯t change actively, like All Night and Here When I Talk, had changed with ss. All Night used to be my Strumpet ss skill, allowing me to continue through the entire night carnal activity. When I leveled up to the Madam, its name remained the same, but its working had changed. Before it was carnal in nature, but after the ss changed, it began to help me stay up during the night, even with non-carnal work. The carnal part of its nature didn¡¯t go away, and won''t go away ever, but it will continue to do other things, too. Seeing all these wonderful new and old skills, a smile appeared on my face, and I activated my new skill. Long Road We are traveling, after all. ¡­. Masterful Administrator Lv. 2o Masterful Administrator Lv. 21 {Skill Change: Privacy¨CPrivacy Sphere} Skill Gained: Instant Recollection ¡°I had leveled up,¡± I said, and there was a smile on my face. It is a not simple level up, but a breaking of capstone. I have gained two levels in my Masterful Administrator ss. One Skill advancement and a new skill. As I read the name of the new skill, I immediately activated the skill. The first thing I thought of was Ca, when I saw her first time, with her straight red hair, walking toward me like an enchantress. I have a memory of it, but with the Instant Recollection, it had be clearer. I tried to remember things that I don¡¯t remember anymore, but with this skill, I can remember them too. Though not as clearly as the one with memory. Since this is a skill of a Masterful Administrator; I tried to remember things rted to that and, to my surprise; I am remembering things far more clearly. Like they had happened to me hours ago, instead of months. I tried on things I can¡¯t remember, and the results were good, much better than earlier. I expanded and tried to remember things from old Remus, like memories of Mom. She had nearly faded from the memories after more than a decade, but as I tried it, her face became clear. I felt emotions for her, that I had only felt for my parents, and I hurriedly cut the skill. For nearly a minute, I didn¡¯t activate the skill, before I started to browse through the aspects of old Remus life, the non-emotional ones. Though there was resistance, but not as great as I had expected. So, I focused on my own memories, the ones from the earth. My heart started to beat loudly, as I tried that and I almost felt relieved when I felt a fog over them, but a momentter, the fog began to disappear. The faces of my parents became clear. So, clearer, that I could see the expressions on their faces and the kitchen of my parents¡¯ house, where we all were sitting. I felt tears streaming down my face and felt an unbearable pain that I wanted to cut the skill, but couldn¡¯t for some reason. I watched a memory, a special one. It is on the dinner table from one vacation; I went home. My parents were teasing me about not bringing my girlfriend while I was making an excuse. I didn¡¯t tell them that we had broken a week ago; they liked her. I watched the memory for minutes before cutting it; it had be too much. This skill is going to be insanely useful to me; the knowledge I could bring from my earth life. It is not perfect, but it will get powerful as I level up and it might even advance, where I could recollect memories perfectly. I wanted to recall more memories, but I didn¡¯t; it had taken an emotional toll on me. I want to wait and calm myself down before using the skill again. At this advancement, I gained two levels, and one of my skills had changed. The Privacy Sphere is an advanced version of Privacy Skill, where snooping is even more difficult; not to mention more people could be added to it. Since I had breached the second capstone in it; I have got an attribute point. I wanted to add it to the charm or intelligence but stopped and turned my focus on the physical attributes. Thest couple of attribute points have been spent on mental attributes. Even though I want to add it to them; I know it is not wise, despite knowing adding it to mental attributes will help in Port Midlet. I have to add them to the physical attributes. I thought for a while before adding the point into the strength, taking it to twelve from eleven. Immediately, I felt my strength increase and with it, the power of my skills would also increase. A minuteter, I got off the bed and went to the tiny bathroom to freshen up and shower. When I came out, I changed into a suit and stood in front of the mirror. Get Ready I activated the skill. Usually, I do it when it is important, but I have leveled up and I want to test its strength. I am sure, that me breaching the second capstone, in Masterful Administrator. It didn¡¯t disappoint me. When the skill is finished, I look good. It worked better than it had worked yesterday. There is a noticeable difference between the power of the skill now and before. Seeing the power of the skill, a smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. All the skills in the Masterful Administrator had received a power-up. It will help me a lot in Port Midlet. I didn¡¯t stay in the cabin for long and walked out. Soon I was on the deck, with morning light streaming from above. I looked at the vast sea and my mood began to turn calm. Last night, we didn¡¯t go back to our hotel and instead went directly to our ship. Which immediately sailed toward the Port Midlet. We could have stayed the night, but I didn¡¯t want to waste any time and nor Port Midlet. We have already agreed on most terms through the messages and shouldn¡¯t take long to agree with the rest. If our luck holds, we will be finished with our business in Port Midlet tomorrow, and a day after that, we will be back home. Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 251: Attacked At Sea I Chapter 251: Attacked At Sea I ¡°How long since we have passed Inam?¡± I asked Stone behind me. ¡°One and a half hours ago,¡± he replied. I would have liked to see it; it is a beautiful city. I will see when wee back. I was staring at the vast blue sea when Locke and two people came out to the deck and there was a smile on their faces. In the five days of negotiations, there has been only a person who had leveled up or told he had leveled up. If he was telling the truth, then likely nearly everyone had leveled up today. I wish I could use Sight Through Veil on them, but I couldn¡¯t. There is too much resistance. I had tried it and been training in it in the Lauryl. Many people don¡¯t mind such skills being used by them, as long as you pay them. So, I had quite a lot of subjects to test my skill, but since it was a skill from Agent of Experience, I faced resistance and could only see the sses that were below Lv. 10. Even if I could see their sses, I won¡¯t. It is rude. I could do that with girls because it is stipted in their contract, but these people didn¡¯t work for me. However, since I am their superior, even if I do that, they won¡¯tin. I won¡¯t. I was standing by the railing when Captain Perry, came walking toward me. ¡°It is quite a good travel skill you or one of your people have used; it will take us to Port Midlet, a little quickly,¡± he said in a good mood. ¡°Thank you, Captain Perry,¡± I replied. It is not me, but I am not going to tell him that. Though, I am surprised, not by someone using a travel skill. I am surprised by Captain Perry telling me about it, which means the skill is good. I wonder who it is? ¡°We should be able to reach Port Midlet by eleven, right?¡± I asked after a moment of silence. ¡°The wind is wind us, we might be able to reach before eleven,¡± he replied. We have a meeting at two with the trade department of the Port Midlet, and it made me relieved that we will be there well before time. I don¡¯t want this negotiation to be as stressful as thest. They won¡¯t be. We have already agreed on a couple of important things and their reception has been well about others. They don¡¯t have a choice; with six cities joining us, they are the only one who has yet to sign the contract. If they don¡¯t, they will miss the opportunity. So, they swallowed their hate for us and agreed to the negotiation. ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± I said and. He smiled and opened his mouth when suddenly, he stopped and whipped his neck to the left toward the western side. ¡°What happened, Captain?¡± I said immediately, seeing the sudden change in his demure. The captain didn¡¯t answer immediately and instead took out the enchanted spyss and began to look. We are sailing close to the coast. So, I don¡¯t think there is a danger; the coast is patrolled. Though it might not be heavily patrolled along the maind¡¯s coast, it is secure. Considering, that the coast of the Renwell regiones in the middle of the coast of the maind and the coast merchant state, two of the most secure coasts in the continent of Zenid. ¡°Captain, a ship is making a way toward us,¡± warned the watcher. Captain Perry didn¡¯t react, but others became serious. Some of the members of the delegation, who were on deck, gathered near the door, and even thoseing out like Ina, had also stopped at the door, feeling the atmosphere. ¡°What is happening Captain?¡± asked Captain Azalea as she appeared by us. She had already directed her men to take positions, while the men of Captain Perry had also started to move toward their position. ¡°A ship ising toward us, and its intentions don¡¯t look pure,¡± said Captain, with his expressions turning serious, while mine and Captain Azalea turned nasty. ¡°Pirates?¡± asked Captain Azalea, to which the older man shook his head. ¡°It is hard to say, seeing, they are wearing masks, but one thing is clear, they didn¡¯t look like they have good intentions,¡± he said, and his eyes turned sharp. ¡°Men, on position.¡± He ordered and seemed to activate some skills, before turning to me. ¡°Adviser, please go to a safe cabin; it might be dangerous here,¡± he requested. ¡°I will stay,¡± I replied, and he looked at me. He wanted to say something but stopped after seeing my guards appearing beside me. ¡°Everyone, follow the captain''s men to safety,¡± I said to Ina and others. ¡°Take care, Master Silver,¡± said Ina after a moment of hesitation before going inside the ship. There is one safe cabin on the ship, which is better protected; it can also eject people out if the ship drowns or burns. ¡°I had thought, after a week of intense negotiation. There will be some nice and quiet during the travel, but it didn¡¯t seem like, that is the case,¡± I said, with a mirthless smile as I took out of my saber. The people beside me didn¡¯t say anything and just kept looking. Soon, I could see the ship, and their target was us. They know who we are and targeting us. The gs of Greltheaven and the Count could easily be seen on our ship from the distance. I really hope it is nothing but a misunderstanding. If they want us harm, it could be solved with words and some money. The ship hase close to that. I could make out its size and tell the ship was smaller than ours Captain walked toward the railing, and I asked Z to follow him. ¡°Halt and reveal your intentions,¡± said the captain. He didn¡¯t raise his voice much, but I do not doubt that with the skill he was using, the people on the other ship had heard it loud and clear. Boom! There was a response. A cannonball; seeing that, I cursed loudly. Boom Boom Boom Those bastards aren¡¯t even willing to talk; they have directly shot the cannonball, and it is only one; after the first one, they have released the volley. ¡°Fire at will,¡± said Captain Perry as he straightened, and I felt him activate his skills. Boom Boom Boom Like the enemies, our ship begins to fire the cannons, that begin to shake the whole ship. The cannonballs moved toward the enemy ship, as theirs came toward us. I begin to feel the sailor''s activating the skills. As they targeted the enemy with cannons. It took seconds for cannons to reach the ship; most were avoided with expert maneuvering of a ship under the captain''s order and the power of skills, but some still came at it. BANG BANG BANG ¡°Mages, shields,¡± said Captain Perry, and shields appeared in front of the cannons. These cannon balls are powerful. Seeing the first shields wasn''t enough to stop them, but the four mages on the ship were experienced and they castyers of shields, which protected the ship from any harm. Usually, the ship only has two mages, but I had two extras for this trip; not to mention, there are three more in Captain Azalea¡¯s team, and they are all experienced in navalbat. She is standing by me with my guards. While she is responsible for the security of delegation, her priority is me. She has to save me, even at the cost of others. They are her exact orders. Count Darrow had said those words to her in front of me. I am scared, only an insane wouldn¡¯t be scared in this condition when an unknown ship came at them and started attacking us with a barrage of cannonballs. A single cannonball will turn me into a shower of blood and gore. What is even more worrying is that those who are attacking us are masked, which is notmon, but isn¡¯t rare either. Some mercenaries also act as pirates to earn extra money and wear such masks for it. Hun! Our cannon balls have reached them, and the spells popped in front of the ships defending them. ¡°They have at least four mages,¡± said Jon. ¡°It is not amon attack. They havee prepared,¡± added Captain Azalea, and my heart skipped a beat. I had expected it, but I didn¡¯t feel good when I heard that. Cannons shot from both sides repeatedly but were defended by the skills and mages. Soon, the distance between the two ships, that of a few hundred meters and I could see the masked people on the small ship, which seemed to be packed. ¡°Mages, archers, attack!¡± ordered Captain Perry, before turning to Z beside him. ¡°Mage Z. I would really appreciate your help,¡± said Captain Perry, and she looked at me. I nodded, and a momentter, her staff lit up, and tens ofnces formed from the seawater and shot toward the ship. Those twenty-fournces are four meters long and as thick as a man. They went toward the enemy ship, with a force greater than the cannonball. She is at Level 25+ Mage. For a water mage like her, the sea is the best battlefield. She could cast more spells without expanding, as much mana as she does on thend. The powerfulnces reached the ship in less than half of the time. Thences, with the power they would, would tear through the ship if they hit them, and I hope they hit their target. Thences had reached the ship when suddenly a wall of water rose from the sea. It was big, that it had covered the whole ship, and thick as the length of thences. BANG BANG BANG! Thences crashed against it hard and went inside. Seeing that, a smile lit up on my face. ¡°There is a powerful mage in there,¡± said Z, freezing the smile on my face a momentter. The water wall fell like a curtain, revealing the ship that waspletely unharmed. My heart sank, seeing that. Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 252: Attacked At Sea II Chapter 252: Attacked At Sea II ¡°What is the progress?¡± asked the middle-aged man, looking at the map of Renwell Region, specifically at its thirteen cities. In front of him is an open scroll, on which are the names of forty-one people. They all belong to thirteen cities; important people. The people who could pose a threat to future ns that willmence after that event. They did not fear these people, nor he does he think, they and their puny little cities would be able to stop them, but they had learned a lot of lessons in their conquest and didn¡¯t want to make the mistake, they had in the past. Even a little ants could cause a lot of trouble. Finishing these people would make things go smoother. ¡°Thirteen sessful, six failures,¡± replied the man with the white suit. The assassinations are tricky and expensive, and their result depends on the level of nning and the level of people. For this, they have used very few of their own people; most have been outsourced. It costs more money, but it will keep them in the shadows. ¡°68.4%, they are doing good,¡± said the middle-aged man, feeling pleased. They want a sess rate of 60% at the least and till now it is good. In this hour, most assassinations are being carried out or finished. There will be some dys in ces like the sea or forest, but by the end of the morning, everything will be done. ¡°Let¡¯s hope, it will be a huge sess, especially in the first nine.¡± Said the man in a white suit. The first nine names on the list are written in the darker ink. They are the most important ones on the list. Some of them had abilities to be a roadblock, some were little stones, but had the potential to turn into boulders. Crushing them early will smoothen the path for our ns. ¡­ ¡°Adviser, these people seemed to be professional. I think it would be wise for you to go secure a cabin,¡± said Captain Azalea. ¡°I understand, Captain, but I will not hide,¡± I replied. I would have hidden, but hiding wouldpromise the security of the others, and I can¡¯t have that. Still, I can¡¯t understand why they are attacking us. It is extremely risky, so close to the coast. We have already sent messages, and the rescue wille soon. There will not only be rescue but will also be a blockade. Everymon pirate understood this truth and rarely came so near the coast, but these did, and they havee with all the preparations. Boom Boom Boom The cannons continued to ring, both ships got closer and closer. The rate of spells had also increased, and so had the attacks of arrows. Everyone who could attack was attacking, except for Z, she had stopped after the first attack. I don¡¯t know why; she had stopped, but I hope, she had a good reason because the ship ising closer and closer every second. ¡°Captain Azalea, ready your men for battle; there is a high chance that enemies will board the ship,¡± said Captain Perry, and Captain Azalea nodded. The woman just nodded and looked at her men, who were already in position, before turning to the shiping at us. It hade quite close than now, less than three hundred meters have remained between us. I could now see everything more clearly. The men are packed in the small ship, wearing ceramic masks. Making it hard to discern their identity, but I could see there were not just the humans on the ship, but also orcs. One or two looked like elves, but it is hard to say, seeing they were wearing the caps that were covering their hair and ears. BANG BANG BANG Soon, there are a hundred meters between us, and the mages are finally showing their power, by defending the ship from the cannonballs, that are firing so close. Their mages also seemed to be quite good. Not a single cannonball or spell had hit them, but this was just beginning. It is the trailer for the real horror that wille soon. A few seconds passed when suddenly, the bombardment on the other side stopped and that exact moment. Arge amount of water between two ships came up, forming water bridges to our ships. The same water formed the shields against the spells and barrage of the cannons; seeing that, a surprise shed in my eyes and the eyes of others. Z had also reacted, and a hundred and twonces came out of the water smoothly. She wasn¡¯t just standing there, watching. Hun! She didn¡¯t release them, instead just pointed toward the iing ship. ¡°Gentlemen; I am sure this is some misunderstanding. We can solve it with dialogue, rather than the attack,¡± said the captain, under a barrage of spells. For a second, there was no reply. I didn¡¯t think the reply woulde, but it did. ¡°There is no misunderstanding, Captain of the Constance. We have a mission to sink and kill all the passengers and we will do it,¡± replied the masked man in the front calmly. I had expected it, seeing how they hade guns zing, but hearing that, my heart couldn¡¯t help, but sink further. The bastards want to kill us, and if I am right, kill me, specifically. Still, I am having a hard time believing that I am worth such a prize. Yes, I have been useful and done quite amazing things, but killing me isn¡¯t without consequences. There will be a prize to pay. It is not just the House of Silver, but also the Count and the Prince. You can¡¯t just kill an official and expect no reaction, especially at a time like this. ¡°Aboard the ship!¡± he ordered and jumped on the bridge. Immediately, the masked people begin to climb it fearlessly, without caring for the hugences staring at them and cannons and spells shooting toward them. It seemed like they hadplete confidence in their mages. Especially the lead mage, who I fear is stronger than Z. I really hope they are not Lv. 30+ Mage or even she would be hard-pressed to survive against them, much less defeat them. Level 30 is different for the mages; it is where they gain the specialization. From a Mage, they be High-Mage. They are powerful, and it is hard for those below them to contend against them. ¡°Show the enemy what we are made of. Kill anyone that dared to aboard the ship,¡± said Captain Perry loudly, first time removing the sword from his sheath and activating many of his skills. Z didn¡¯t wait either. Those waternces begin to shoot toward the people climbing on the water bridges, while morences begin to form the water and shoot toward the target. The other water mage reacted immediately, and the shields appeared in front of the people. Guarding them against the waternces. It is not just Z who is trying, but others too, but the enemy mages are countering, and they are good. Stone and Captain Azalea moved toward the bridges already. Only Jon and three men of Captain Azalea had remained around me. Finally, they crossed the bridge and were about to jump on the ship, where Stone Captain Azalea was waiting for them. It won''t be easy for them to enter the ship, a lot of people will die. Hun! I had just thought that when suddenly, my eyes widened. I saw a huge torrent of watering at the ship. Its target is where Stone and others are. Z immediately put up several shields in front of them. BANG! The torrent crashed through the shields, breaking them into pieces. Sending Stone and others a couple of steps back. The shields had taken nearly all the power from the spell. If the shields weren¡¯t there to defend against it; the torrent would have injured, even killed some of them, before throwing them into the sea. The huge torrent was enough to send everybody back and give the enemies the opportunity tond safely on the ship. Theynded with their leader in the lead, while their main Mage had stayed on the ship. I was looking toward the enemy''snding when I felt the eyes of an enemy leader on me. Due to the mask, I could only see its blue eyes; I don¡¯t know whether it is true eyes, or those moured by the spell, but as I felt those on me, all the hair on my body stood up. ¡°{Target To Kill: Remus Silver}¡± The enemy leader said, and it was a skill as the overwhelming feeling covered me. Suppressing everything, that I couldn¡¯t even breathe properly. With the skill, alsoes an understanding that they are here for me. I had already expected that, even so, hearing it feels surprising. Whoever wanted to kill me had a great intelligencework and money; these people wouldn¡¯t kill me so close to the coast, without a good price. The leader moved toward me, with its people, but was stopped immediately by Stone and Captain Azalea appearing in front of them. I heard him grin, and two people behind him moved, but at the same moment, a smile appeared on the face of Captain Azalea and Stone. Two people havee from behind them too. Captain Oliver and Hugo. It had surprised the enemy. Of course, given my luck with the travel; I decided not to take the risk. Hugo and Captain Oliver had been with us since we left the Greltheaven. They acted like a normal soldier from Captain Azalea¡¯s team; even soldiers with them didn¡¯t know who they were. They shed with enemies, while Stone and Captain Azalea attacked the enemy leader, who didn¡¯t seem to have any fear in his eyes, seeing two of theming at him. Instead, he grinned, and it didn¡¯t give me a good feeling. Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 253: Attacked At Sea III Chapter 253: Attacked At Sea III ng BANG BOOM! The enemies and our people met and began to sh while cannons and spells sted from the ships. It is utter chaos, but those fighting seemed to understand it. Except for me and my guards, everybody here has a good experience the navalbat, including Captain Azalea and her men. They are going well, but my focus is on the enemy leader, who is responding to the attacks of the Stone and Captain Azalea. He seemed fearless with his cuss. He dodged attacks Stone and responded to the attack of Captain Azalea, sending her back, before leaping at her with a lethal strike. Stone stepped in front of her and defended against the attack, shaking, before Captain Azalea attacked. They have only fought once together against the bandits, and their teamwork is better than I had expected. They are also fast, but the leader is faster and stronger, seeing how he is dealing with them. It is all blurry to me and even without suppression; I am feeling it would have been only slightly clear. It is kind of scary, considering they have been barely using any skills. They are not even using their speed skills; I know both Stone and Captain Azalea have them. There is a good chance that the enemy has it too. However, using a speed skill in a small space like a ship deck, isplicated. One needs to be quite agile. ng! I was watching the battle when suddenly the des shed behind me. I turned and saw Jon shing against a woman with daggers in both of her hands. ¡®Rogue.¡¯ I thought and shuddered. She had reached so close to me without getting discovered. If Jon hadn¡¯t been here, I would have had my head flying with my enemies cheering on the victory. The three people beside me got rmed and I could see them activating more of their skills. Hun! A few seconds passed when suddenly, the ship began to rise. It immediately rmed me. The sea is calm, but a wave has formed below the ship and taking it high. Since there are not any waves around me; the only thing that could do something like that, is a spell. I was panicking over it, when suddenly, the wave seemed to lose its power, and the ship fell; shaking everyone on the deck. The effects should have been greater, but it seemed like skills, had saved us. Captain Perry had kind of skills; almost all ships'' captains above Lv. 20 have such skills, especially those sails in rough seas or fighting naval battles. The fall wasn¡¯t as forceful as I had thought, but it still made quite a lot of people stumble in their ces. These people fought through the stumble. Some even used this opportunity to injure and kill the ones they were fighting. Including the enemy leader, who was able to give a minor cut to Stone on the shoulder. He acted like it was nothing and went on to attack the enemy leader, who defended and attacked back. The way the leader is fighting, he is clearly experienced in the battles like this. It is clear by the grace; he is fighting with them, that Captain Azalea and Stone couldn¡¯t bepared to him in that. This isn¡¯t surprising, seeing they wouldn¡¯t hirend mercenaries when they want to kill the target at the sea. It might not look like it, but I am scared right now; more scared, than even when thousands of bandits attacked us on the snowy hills. The bandits attacked, but their target wasn¡¯t me and interrogation afterward was proof that they only wanted to kill Ignatius and capture everyone for the ransom. These people want to kill me; kill everyone on the ship and they have already made that obvious. They aren¡¯t weak. It is clear as day that they have made a preparation to achieve their target. I wouldn¡¯t let myself be a deadweight, when I had decided to stay on the deck, increasing the difficulty of people around me. Though hiding would have been even worse because they would only have needed to send one powerful person to secure the cabin and they would have been able to finish me and the rest that were hiding. Ejecting out of the safe cabin would have been a suicide; seeing how powerful the mage on the other side is. He would have drowned us to death within seconds. So, staying on the deck might seem idiotic, but it is the safest choice to protect most people. Though bad for my own safety, here, everybody could see me and target me as long as they breached through the line of guards. They are targeting me; the arrows and spells areing toward me, but the mages are guards are defending against them. Still, I am ready and will fight the moment, I need to. I only hope someone would help me, with the suppression, I am feeling. Hun! Nearly a minute passed when something surprising happened. Z, who was fighting against the mage on the other ship, jumped from the ship into the ocean in a barrage of cannons, that we were still firing. Some cannons didn¡¯t have people on them, but those cannons were still firing and targeting the other ship, keeping their mages busy. Captain Perry isn¡¯t a fighter. He specializes in ship control, and he is showing that. Still, I wished he had been able to move the ship fast enough that we would get away, but from the beginning, it was clear that we wouldn¡¯t be able to do it. The other ship was fast enough that even with the skills and aid of our mages, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to get away. At most, we would have been able to buy a few minutes before the ship caught up to us. Z jumped into the water but didn¡¯t drown and instead began to walk on the water, dodging and defending the cannons and spells, while at the same time casting her own offensive spells at the enemy. For a moment, I was confused why she had done that, before understanding, that it is better for her at sea, here, it gives her better freedom against the enemy, without any distraction. Here, it would be hard for even a rogue to sneak at us. It also had the disadvantages. Especially to me. If a powerful mage attacked me; she wouldn¡¯t be here to defend me. Though, I can¡¯t say her decision is wrong. From the ocean, she will be able to deal with that strong mage better. The mage is the greatest danger, more than the enemy leader, who has started to suppress Stone and Captain Azalea. He is definitely Lv. 30 or above. Stone is very good, but he is getting suppressed by the enemy leader. Though not as much as one would expect. While the ship deck might not be his favorite ce to fight, he could fight in it. Especially with that sword, which is shorter than his other sword. I gave him another sword before we left Greltheaven. I had borrowed it from the armory of Greltheaven. It was wise on my part; with that huge sword, he would have been more restricted in fighting in this small space. The shorter one, gives him much greater freedom, with the same lethality. Hun! A few more seconds passed, when suddenly Captain Perry appeared beside me, and his speed was amazing. ¡°{Ward of Ship}¡± He said simply and tapped on my shoulder, and immediately, the restrictions of the enemy¡¯s skills had loosened. Notpletely, but 80% of their power has gone. It made me somber, instead of joyous. As of now, I ampletely sure the leader is Lv. 30 and above. The skill that Captain Perry used is ¡®Home-Advantage Skill¡¯, the type of skill that gives home-field advantages and is thus stronger than the skills of the same level. Captain Perry isn¡¯t a weak man. He might not be particrly talented, but he had swaths of experience. Had been part of the imperial armada and fought in countless naval battles and survived, luck alone isn¡¯t enough for that. ¡°Thank you, Captain,¡± I said, and the man just nodded and moved fast, faster than anyone on the ship. It is clear, that he has a skill that lets him move fast across the ship and it is a very useful skill, in times like this where he needs to act fast, and he is doing that. He is the reason why, our cannons are still firing and keeping the enemy mages busy. The enemy is also firing their cannons, but their intensity is much weaker and more targeted. Unlike before, their people have boarded the ship. They couldn¡¯t attack, like before, or will end up killing their people and ours. Still, it is not enough. We are getting suppressed. Not heavily as enemies our enemies might have expected, but still. They havee with great preparations and the people they have brought are higher level, with experiences in battle like this and it is showing, seeing how they are fighting. It is not good for us, because the result of the battle depends on the people like Stone and Captain Azalea. If a single one of them had been killed; the enemy leader wouldn¡¯t have had any problem crushing the blockage anding at me. Hun! I had just thought that when the enemies broke through and came at me, with murder in their eyes. ¡°Kill him; the leader said, whoever kills him will get the biggest reward!¡± shouted a man with dark green hair. For a moment, I panicked, but took a deep breath, before taking a step forward and attacking the first enemy that appeared in front of me. Get Exclusive ess to the new chapters ahead of everyone else on Chapter 254: Attacked At Sea IV Chapter 254: Attacked At Sea IV I stopped right in front of the enemy and swung my rapier at him using Swift de and Weighted Strike. The man who appeared in front of me was thin and tall, with sun-kissed skin. He had dark ck hair and brown eyes that were oozing with confidence. He is feeling that killing me would be a piece of cake; a task he will aplish within a second. My attack was sharp and fast, but I didn¡¯t see any fear in the eyes of the enemy, just a faint surprise before he swung his saber at me. His saber is fast, faster than the rapier, and it ising directly from my neck. My rapier moved toward it when a single saber turned into the four. All of them feel very real. The way they are shining under the sunlight or how they are cleaving through the air. I couldn¡¯t find a single w in them and that made me panic, but I crushed that emotion immediately before it could fester my heart. Here, I couldn¡¯t afford to get wrong. A choice is a decision about life and death here. There is no one here to help me. Everyone is busy dealing with their enemies. The three guards who were around to protect me were fighting against the four enemies. Jon is keeping the rogue at bay, who is trying with everything they have toe at me. The same could be said to be true for Stone and Z. Stone is stopping the leader, while Z is keeping the enemy mage upied. If I want to survive, then there is only me who could help me. I made the decision in a fraction of a second. Trusting my instinct, I moved my rapier to the second saber. ng! My sword shed against the saber, and I felt a shock in my arm. The power behind the attack had hit my arm hard. If it hadn¡¯t been a daily urrence for me during the training. I wouldn¡¯t have even had a sword in my hand. Unfortunately, it is not the only thing that came with the attack. No, with it came a cold feeling. Like a silent blizzard on a moonless night. For a moment, it was refreshing, but it became rapidly colder. In less than a second, I began to feel like being encased in the ice. The enemy grinned, seeing me, shuddering, and attacked. ¡®It is all in the mind,¡¯ I repeated this sentence in my mind and moved my rapier to defend against the attack. Once again, a sh of surprise appeared on his face. To him, it seemed like it had barely affected me; except for making me shudder once, raising all the hair on my body up. The skill seemed to have barely done anything. Well, it is not true; the skill had affected me, but I am bearing its effects, thanks to all the practice I had. Instructor David and even Jon, made me train under these skills to make me get used to them. ording to Jon, such skills are the easiest to deal with. As their effect is mental and not physical. I have an advantage, with my mental attributes being higher than normal and thus the only thing I need is practice. That is what I did. I practiced with every type of elemental sensation skill. From ice to fire to lightning. There are a lot of people in the army who have such skills and I have to take advantage of that and now, it is helping me to bear the effect of the skill. ng! My rapier shed against the real saber, and relief flooded into my heart, but it was short-lived. A momentter, I felt like a couple of hot knives pierced into me. It was extremely painful that I twitched all over and nearly screamed. If that wasn¡¯t enough, those invisible knives began to twist, giving me even greater pain. The pain from it made my world go blur, and the only thing I wanted to do was scream. The bastard is using the skill with the torturer¡¯s efficiency. The ces it had put those mental knives, give the greatest pain. On top of that, it is squeezing them agonizingly slowly at speed. That gives me great pain, but also tells me, there is a lot of it that remains and it is better, I give up. Well, new sh. It is not going to happen. It attacked again, and I swung my sword in response despite seeing blurry, with teary eyes. Expecting death to take me in, the next second. ng! My rapier struck the saber, surprising me. I had really thought he would evade my de. C my head off and prepared to move back with the Rapid Legs, not that it would have helped me. ¡°The information had underestimated your abilities,¡± he said in a nasal voice. ¡°Thank you, and I would be really grateful if you stopped attacking me. I am willing to offer double what they are paying you,¡± I said, taking a chance. I really don¡¯t want to fight the bastard. It is stronger than me and experience seeing how it is fighting. Even with all my levels and talent, he has a high chance of killing me. I rather not take risks. The money I could earn, but not life, and if he is willing to listen, I will even give him the cores I have gotten in the dungeon. They are pretty expensive; thetest offer Ethan gave had enticed me a lot. ¡°Sorry to disappoint you, Adviser, but the only thing I am willing to receive is your head,¡± he said and moved at incredible speed. He appeared on my left and attacked me fast, faster than before. Hun! I didn¡¯t dare to take the attack so close and decided to dodge with Rapid Legs. Only to receive a surprise, the moment I took the first step. The ground is slippery. The only reason I hadn¡¯t fallen was a practice against such skill and the Gymnast¡¯s Grace, which advanced from the bnce skill. Rip! I was not able to move as fast as I had liked to and received a cut on my shoulder. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed finally. The wound wasn¡¯t deep, but the pain it caused was so much that I couldn¡¯t help but scream loudly. It is like someone had taken a fistful of the spiciest chilly and rubbed it on the world hard. Tears started to flow through my eyes again and nose, but before I could move to wipe them, another attack came, faster than before. Rip! Its saber hit me again, this time on my face. Giving me a cut across my cheek. Thankfully, I was able to dodge the wound in time and the wound he was able to give me was small. Still, like the previous wound, it begins to burn white hot, drawing out streams of water from my eyes. ng! Another attack came, but I was able to defend against it, feeling a powerful shock on my arm, when the next attack came, I moved that same arm to defend against the attack. I have no choice; this pain is too much. I can¡¯t let myself have too many injuries; it will kill me. Using a hand isn¡¯t much better, but at least, this way, I will be able to live a few seconds longer. If I am lucky, then a few minutes. ¡°You know, you should give up. Throw your sword away and ept the sweet death.¡± He said in a voice sweeter than honey. I wanted to agree, because I know, despite my struggle, only death is waiting for me. It is better to ept it quickly than prolong it in the agony. I was about to throw away my sword. Suddenly, I realized what I was nning to do and my eyes before clear. I immediately moved my sword to defend against theing attack, while my heart shuddered with fear. It waspletely unexpected. I had not thought he would use a skill like that. ¡®Compulsion Skill,¡¯ I said and looked at the enemy in a new light. It is quite rare for abat ss to havepulsion skills. It is from hisbat ss; the vor of it is clear as the day. These skills aremon in legal and administrator sses. I have one, which is Persuasive, from my Masterful Administrator ss, but really rare inbat sses. ¡°It is you who should give up. I will pay you good money, more than what they are paying to kill me.¡± I said with Persuasive. There was no surprise in its eyes with me using my skill. He likely knows I have it, but I could feel they had be unfocused for a moment. I wonder what would have happened if the Persuasive would have been at the full power, without any restriction. Since it was an administrative ss skill, I was able to harness less than a quarter of its power inbat. Though if I had survived this, I am definitely going to practice it inbat. This enemy had shown me apletely different path. That no one, not instructor David, Jon, or other sparring partners, did. Some old Remus instructors had said something about it, but I had forgotten, till now. With enough practice, I will be able to use more power of the skill. It will be hard, but it could be done. I had seen Ina do it. During the negotiations, Ina had used the skills of her Madam ss at full power, with barely any resistance. She had been whittling them down, using them at every opportunity she could in her job, till there was barely any resistance that had remained. Though her madam and business/admin ss had better synergy than my warrior and administrator, it could be done with enough effort and practice. It will be very hard, but I will do it. The only thing I have to do is to survive; only by being alive, I will be able to achieve that. A monumental task, with heavy odds, that even I do not have confidence in, but I will give my everything for it. Not Satisfied. Visit for More. Chapter 255: Curse and Opportunity Chapter 255: Curse and Opportunity ng ng Rip The enemy continued with his attacks, and I was defending with my all, using everything I had, but I was still getting injured. The talent alone isn¡¯t enough to bridge the gap of level and experience. Still, I have to survive, and I am pushing everything I have to the limit. It is the only thing; I could do to survive against this enemy. ¡°Stop resisting and give up or things will get far worse than they are right now,¡± he said with thepulsion skill, before attacking me, with an extremely fast attack. He has a skill like Swift de and when hebines that with an illusion attack. It made the deadlybination; the majority of the injuries on my body were a result of that. They are extremely painful; tears are constantly streaming down my face and my nose is runny, and the worst thing, I couldn¡¯t even wipe it away. I had never fought such a messy battle. ng! I defended the attack, feeling the hammering blow on my wrist once again. The speed and pain aren¡¯t the only things he has, he also has the power behind his attacks. As I defended, he immediately moved to my right and attacked again, and this time, I decided to dodge, giving a little relief to my hand. Dodging of the attack came with the risk. The bastard had made the floor slippery with his skills. If I didn¡¯t have the Gymnast¡¯s Grace, I wouldn¡¯t have dared to move even a step. I dodged the attack sessfully; other than my clothes, it wasn¡¯t able to tear, anything else. BANG! I had just dodged the attack and moved my rapier to counter another when the deafening bang rang through the ship, and with it came the sharp wooden shrapnel that sted in every direction everywhere. Some of it struck me, including my head. The cannonball had struck the ship at the port side, taking a portion of it. The two people who were fighting near it flunked into the sea. It is a good thing; the enemy is targeting the ship with the aim of sinking it and thus targeting the bottom of it. If that cannonballnded on the deck; it would have caused more than mere injuries. ng! I countered the attack while bearing the splinters. He seems to be used to using such things, there is barely any surprise in his eyes. He even moved his neck away smoothly to dodge therge piece of wooding at him. He is experienced in fighting in an environment like this. It would be idiocy to even consider using such an environment against him. From the beginning, I have only one target, and that is to survive. I didn¡¯t even think of killing him; he is more powerful than me, more experienced and I am surviving till now, which is a testament to my own skill. I crushed every thought of adventurism in this battle. It might have worked in the other battle, but it won¡¯t work on this one. Ting! ¡°I am not going to ask who hired you, but tell me how much they paid you for this mission. You know, for future reference,¡± I asked it as his sword hit the chest ce, I was wearing, taking a breath out of me. The enchanted light armor is the reason I am alive. If it weren¡¯t for them, my body would have been floating in the sea. Rip! The next attack hit me, giving me a cut across my stomach, and with it came a blinding pain. I bore it and moved my sword to defend against another attack. It is the only thing I could do. It is the only thing everyone here could do. I could see a glimpse of other battles. Z is doing everything she can to stop the other mage from sinking the ships. Captain Perry and his men are steering the ship and attacking the enemy with cannons. I thought the number of cannonballs on the ship was excessive, but now, it didn¡¯t feel like that. Still, I could see Captain Perry lowering the intensity of them with the passing of time. The numbers might berge, but the way we were firing them, they would run out eventually. It is wiser to use them economically, especially when our enemy has run out of them. Now, it is firing energy sts, and only two cannons seem to be capable of that. It is helping Z a lot, as the Mage has to direct some of his spells to defend against the cannons. On the ship, the condition is the same. Captain Oliver is struggling against the enemy, who is stronger than him, but the young captain is putting up an impable defense. Stone and Captain Azalea are a little worse than him. Their conditions are simr to mine, with their bodies getting covered in injuries, while there is not a single injury on the body of the enemy leader. Even after exchanging hundreds of attacks; they were not able to bring even a single attack on him. It is clear that the leader either has some powerful ss, or he is a little higher in the Level 30s. Stone is not weak; even bandit leaders weren¡¯t able to injure him as this man had done and he did it so quickly. Hun! The leader was in my line of sight when I saw him do something surprising. ¡­. Azalea ¡°I really didn¡¯t want to do this,¡± said the leader with regret, and a momentter, a small silver scroll appeared in his hand. ¡®Spell scroll!¡¯ I thought and attacked to rip it apart; Stone beside me was the same, but the leader was fast. He unfurled it too quickly, and it shone in the dark grey light before the dark grey beam shot toward its target. ¡°Stone, watc!¡± I screamed in rm, but the beam was so fast that it had struck him, before I could even form a first sentence. ¡°The curse beam of Htolon; powerful in its own right, but especially deadly to you with that curse, you are suppressing inside your body,¡± said the leader to Stone as he dodged my attack, before attacking with his. He was fast as a viper, and I moved to defend because Stone didn¡¯t seem to be in any condition to do that. The beam seemed to have frozen him, with ckthornsing out of his body and spreading all over him. ¡­. Ahhhhh¡­. I heard Stone¡¯s scream as the curse he had been suppressing had burst out with the full power, thanks to the attack that the enemy leader had cast on him. Z had told me about the curse. It is a powerful curse that acts like a disease. When it is cast, it is very weak, so it hides and slowly grows stronger. Once it got strong enough, it started to restrict the body from using its full strength and re to consume the body to make itself stronger. Jon and Z were lucky enough to have their curse removed from the lich, but Stone and the other three still have it. Stone¡¯s is strongest; he had taken the brunt of the curse and only survived because of his giant blood. Now, it didn¡¯t seem to be enough, seeing how it had immobilized Stone. The curse had never done that, at least not in the midst of battle. I feel ashamed seeing him; the healing requires a Bishop at least, and even with my power and family''s name, I couldn¡¯t get their services to heal them. Most, I was able to get a special kind of holy water, which suppresses the curse and stops it from growing further. It also has a small effect of eradicating it but needs to be taken regrly for at least a decade. ¡°The giant blood is gone, and that woman poses no challenge to our leader. Soon, all of you will die,¡± said the man in front of me, grinning. ng! ¡°Tell me that, after it happened,¡± I replied, and defended against its attack. It attacked again, and I moved to dodge while sneaking a faint nce at the enemy leader, who was furiously attacking Captain Azalea, who was trying to defend Stone. It is clear that alone, she is no match for the enemy, but she is still defending. I felt like her condition had be simr to mine, but the enemy she was fighting was stronger than mine, more experienced, and crueler, seeing the way he was injuring her. I wished I could help her, but my life depended on her. Once the energy leader dealt with her; it would only take him a moment to finish Stone off in his current state beforeing at me. I am no match for it, even if I had used everything I have; I wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid its attack, even if it was an attack where he didn¡¯t use even a single skill. Hun! A few seconds passed and her condition before worse, when suddenly something happened that attracted the eyes of nearly everyone on the ship. ¡®Did he want to drown us all,¡¯ I thought when I saw an enormous wave growing out of the sea. It grew bigger and bigger, till it had to take the whole ship under its shadow when suddenly it stopped as if someone had taken power out of it and started to fall Even my opponent seemed to be surprised by it but didn¡¯t move away to pick up the railing, as so many did. Instead, it turned to me and came at me, with augh. I moved to defend myself while my heartbeat was in fear. The wave is huge, but it won''t kill. It would have be a killing if it had grown even bigger, but it is still dangerous. It might kill to flip the ship. If it didn¡¯t do that, it would throw us into the sea, which is even more dangerous, as it would make uspletely at the mercy of the mage, and I don¡¯t think there is any mercy in his heart. ng! I defended the attack, but I came at me, and this time, the wave hade close. It is a moment away, crashing into the shop. Rip! His sword cut through my stomach once again, giving me a burning pain, but it was not the not the only thing I felt. I also felt the water. BANG! The next moment, the wave crashed on the ship hard; that I felt like, I had been hit by the sledgehammer. Hun! Though, the force didn¡¯t throw me away from the ship, as I had expected it to do. I found my feet sticking to the deck with surprising strength, that even such a powerful wave was only able to push me back. Which inadvertently saved me from the killing attack, which would have divided me into two. ¡°Lucky bastard!¡± cursed the enemy and came at me with another attack. As the water, begin to disperse from the deck. I didn¡¯t even see the effect it had caused. As I used everything, I had to push my sword forward to defend against the attack. BANG! I defended the attack and moved my sword again to defend another when I heard a deafening bang. A cannonball crashed into the ship. It crashed close to the deck, sting a huge hole and throwing splinters of wood all over. Some pieces hitting with one especially long one buried itself in my thigh. I didn¡¯t even look at it, as my focus is something else I had noticed. The big piece ofing toward hard. It ising directly at the enemy in front of me. He also seemed to have sensed it. He stopped the attack and moved to dodge the big piece of wood. BAM! Unfortunately, it came too fast and hit him hard. Breaking his bones and sending him stumbling forward. I was shocked to see the turn of events, but I instantly recognize the opportunity, it is and moved forward with everything I had, not caring about the pain I was feeling or even arge wooden splinter into my leg. I moved forward and swung my sword, harnessing every bit of power from Swift de and Weighted Strike. My sword moved with a speed it had never moved before and took only a fraction of a second, to reach the neck of the enemy. It was when his disoriented eyes focused and he saw my de. His eyes widened in horror, but true to his experience, he reacted quickly. Unfortunately for him. Like that block of wood, my sword got too close, too fast for him to dodge. My sword reached him, and enchantments of my sword red at full power. At the same time, I activated Sharpness and harnessed every bit of it. Pachack! A sharp wet sound rang out as my sword came out the other side, while the masked head of the enemy flew into the air. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 256: Giant Blood Chapter 256: Giant Blood Thud! The head fell to the ground and rolled beside my feet; I watched the masked head, unable to believe that I killed him. He was really powerful, and I didn¡¯t even think about killing him My only goal was to survive, but the freak chance provided the opportunity, and I took it, leading to the current circumstances. With him being dead, all the pain given from his skill vanished. Only the pain from the injuries has remained. I looked at it for a moment, before taking out the potion bottle. I might have killed him, but there are enemies everywhere around me. I have to deal with injuries as soon as possible and be ready to face the other enemies. There will be it will probably be an enemy leader, who wille at me after he has finished with Captain Azalea. It won¡¯t take him long. I took out the potion bottle and gulped it all down before taking out another and beginning to spread it to my injuries. Hun! I was amidst that when suddenly I noticed something from the corner of my eyes, before moving my head. And what I saw shocked me. ¡­. Azalea Rip! Another bloody wound appeared on my stomach, and it was hurting like hell. I thought the bandit leader was bad, but this bastard is even worse than him, with more insidious skills. I don¡¯t think I couldst long in front of him; even ten seconds would be a challenge. I am already heavily injured, and every fresh injury getting me closer to death. I do not fear death, but unwilling to ept it so quickly. It would be a good death, but I want it grand. I like to die on the battlefield, fighting against the grand enemy instead of on a ship in the sea. It is a regret that I couldn¡¯t show those bastards how big the mistake they have made sending me here. It is basically a punishment posting; most middle-level officers and some high-level ones have been sent to boundary regions because they have made some mistake or pissed off someone powerful. ¡°I think I have wasted enough time on you. It is time, I finished you and kill the target!¡± said the leader and attacked again, but this time, the attack was different. ¡®It is really an end,¡¯ I thought, seeing his de. He had been hiding his skills; the attacking was faster than any of his attacks. I don¡¯t think I would be able to defend against it. Still, I am not going without a battle and harnessed every bit of power I could from my skills. Pushing them for the onest defiance, before the death. My sword reached his, but it didn¡¯t sh. Instead, it evaded my sword gracefully despite my attempts and came toward my neck. Hun! Soon, the sword was right in front of me, and I looked at it directly and calmed my unwilling heart to ept death when something shocking happened. Another sword appeared in front of me. On the path of the oneing to kill me. This sword is familiar, but unfamiliar at the same time because it had a faint bronze energy covering it. ng! Both swords shed, and I felt some sparks hitting my face, but I didn¡¯t even notice them. As I am seeing, the man who is already tall and big, bing even bigger, with bronze energy covering his whole body. Even the enemy seemed shocked at seeing the sudden developments. ¡°Giant blood,¡± said the enemy, looking at Stone covered in bronze energy. He is a giant blood, it is not a secret; one careful look is enough to tell one that, but what is happening to him is clearly shocking. He had awakened his giant blood, the blood of the elder race. No, not awakened. He is in the process of awakening. I am one of the few people who have seen aplete awakening, and it is not. Stone had only been able to bring out the energy and not marks, and his size only increased slightly. It is not easy to awaken the blood of the elder race; most people die in the process. Especially during the awakening of the giant¡¯s blood. ¡°Thank you for protecting me, Captain Azalea,¡± said Stone, before appearing in front of me and turning to the enemy leader, who was looking at him angrily. That onlysted for a moment before the emotions changed, and mirth appeared in his eyes. ¡°So, you have started the awakening. The extra payment would be good,¡± said the leader and attacked. His attack was fast. So fast that he turned into a blur, but even a blur, I could tell the incredible power his attack contained. My expressions couldn¡¯t help but be serious, seeing that. If he had used such power against me, he would have been able to finish me, in a single attack. ¡­ ng ng ng The enemy leader and Stone begin to fight at speed, which ispletely a blur to me. I could only see their colors and nothing more. A few seconds ago, I was preparing for death, but now, I have hope, a real hope. I didn¡¯t feel that before. Stone is harnessing the power of his giant blood and it has not just made him bigger, but also stronger. He is still not as strong as the enemy leader, as he revealed his true power, but more than strong enough to keep him contained in his ce. Captain Azalea had already drunk and applied the potion and now has moved to deal with a different enemy. Everyone noticed it, especially our people, and it had done wonders for their morale. It is so visible that even a dumb person will be able to see the changes in their fighting. Our enemies have also noticed, especially their mage on the ship. Whose spells have be stronger. I could see how Z was visibly struggling against the mage, but she was fighting with the aid of Captain Perry, who was still attacking the enemies with the cannons. Though his attacks have be much more targeted, he has also started to use the energy cannons. Thankfully, all the cannons on the ship are dual-used. They could use the physical cannonballs, as well as the energy ones. Hun! I was watching that when I saw a spelling at me; the wind des and they epassed by arge area. I immediately moved with the rapid steps. As I did, the shield appeared in front of me, and a secondter; the wind des crashed into them. All of them stopped by the shields; not a single one was able to touch me. If one asked me, who I was most impressed with in this battle, then I would say the mages. They are doing incredible; I have been attacked by hundreds of spells and arrows, but they have not let even a single one hit me. They have defended against all. Hun! I was feeling grateful for the mages when I saw Z neutralizing hundreds of water missiles. It made me relieved; as those missiles would have torn through everyone on the ship. The relief was short-lived as a momentter; the wave began to form, getting bigger and bigger with every passing second. Soon, it had be as big as thest one, that crashed into the ship, earlier and still growing bigger and bigger. It grew so big that people fighting on the ship had slowed down. Everyone could feel, seeing how big the wave had be; it could really flip the ship and the thing is. It is still growing. It continued to grow, till it grew nearly twice as the wave before when it had suddenly stopped and started to fall toward the ship. Seeing that, nearly everyone separated except for Stone, Jon, and Captain Azalea; they kept fighting their opponents, without care for the wave. I am not like them; I am close to the starboard and quickly went near the railing and gripped them tightly with my hand while keeping the sword ready to deal with any danger that came at me. Thest time, the captain''s skill had saved us, but this time, the wave was big enough that it could upend the ship. I need to be ready to face everything and this is a good spot, even if ites with its own dangers. The wave got closer and closer till; I could feel the drops of water on my face. I could also feel skills activating and three of them were quite powerful that, I could tell, they were from the captain. BANG! Finally, the giant wave crashed. It crashed with such force that I felt like it would crush my bones. At the same time, I felt the ship moving to one side while I saw nothing but the water around me. The wave is huge, containing an enormous amount of water; it is a good thing, I had taken a deep breath. Still, it wouldn¡¯t be enough; the force of the wave moving the ship to one side and with the way it was moving, the ship would upend. The ship had reached a sharp angle, throwing a couple of people into the sea, and was about to upend, when suddenly it stopped as if something had blocked it before it began to fall back into its ce. The water on the deck also came down, and I could see the sky again and breathe, but stopped breathing a momentter when I saw the scene on the ship. Third of the people seemed to have fallen off the ship, while those on the ship were able to stay on it by clinging to different things. Though three pairs of people are still fighting as if the giant wave that nearly tripped the ship into the water, hadn¡¯t affected them at all. They are fighting even more intensely, and it is all blurry to me, that I can¡¯t see any moves they are making. Though, that doesn¡¯t mean I am not seeing anything. I could still understand a few things. I can see, how Captain Azalea dominating her opponent, while Jon and the rogue seemed to be on equal terms. Stone, on the other hand, is slightly suppressed, but he is keeping the enemy upied. I could see how the leader was trying toe at me, but Stone was blocking his every attempt. Though, if I am asked who I am worried about, then it would be Z. The other mage is clearly stronger than her, and she is keeping him upied, but the question is, how long will she be able to do that? Once she is defeated. I could forget about surviving. There is no way I could survive. There is a reason why the mages are so feared. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 257: Battle of Mages Chapter 257: Battle of Mages Z {Shields of Ahasin} {Dispel} I cast the two spells again to deal with the barrage of waternces and water tentaclesing from below to at me. I cast the spells and moved with the Aqua Glide. Staying in one ce is a mistake in front of an enemy like him. Countless times, he had nearly had me and would have, if not for my trusted dispel magic. It is the spell I had cast most of my life. The ce where I learned magic wasn¡¯t a ce specialized in it. It is an academy with a small magic program. I had to scrap for every morsel of magical knowledge, from those teachers, who didn¡¯t have much of a foundation themselves. The day I got the Schr ss was the best day of my life. It is because of that; that I was able to get a job at Great Mage Urs¡¯s tower. I was a lowly schr and Dispel was the first spell I had learned there. It was to dispel the spell of novice mages when they got out of control. It was a boring job, but I loved it, because of everything I was learning. It is because of it; that I was able to advance my ss to Magic Schr and had a dream of bing a mage schr. Years passed, and I was making steady progress until that fateful day. I still have a memory of the burning tower; many of my friends and colleagues died there. Even the Great Mage Urs had been in by them; the only reason I had survived was because I was nobody and they had bigger targets to kill. After that day, nearly every day was a struggle, till we escaped from the ind and reached the shores of Zenid. I had tried to forget what I had experienced, it was hard, and I had nightmares, but I had started to make progress till today. This mage attacking me had brought back the memories I had been trying to forget for the past year. The spells he is using and the way he is using them feel simr to the water mages that had attacked the tower. I am not saying he is in that group, but his style felt quite simr to theirs. The spells also bear a lot of simrities. The spells might be the same, but there is a difference between them. When mages reach Lv. 20; they start to tailor their spells based on their preference and environment. Tailoring the spells is one of the perquisites to advance after Lv. 20. It is through this maniption; that we gain mastery of the element, and consolidate at Lv. 30, where we truly start the journey in our element. This tailoring bes a signature of every mage, and it is present in every spell they use. His signature felt familiar. {Dispel} I cast the spell again to dispel the thornsing from above. The Mage is more powerful than me; a true Lv. 30. The difference between our levels may seem short, but the gap between Lv. 30 Mage and those below is pretty big. Consolidation brings tremendous benefits. The only reason I am even able to defend against him is because of the experiences I had after that day. Where surviving every day was a struggle, every bottle of potion was scarce. One would need to rely on their own mana. They have and use it as efficiently as possible. It was hard, as sometimes, I would need to fight several battles with a horde. The hordes were relentless; there is no escape from them unless you truly destroy them. It forced me to utilize the natural mana around me more in my spells, which is far harder than using my own mana. Especially in an environment where there is no abundant mana like it is present here. He might be a Lv. 30 Mage, but I am better than him in utilizing the elemental mana and it is the reason why I am alive right as well. It was also because of my great familiarity with {Dispel} and the spells I have, especially the one Mr. Silver had given me. It is the first of three spells he had given me, which I am using constantly to defend the ship and myself from the enemy. I am defending, but I won¡¯t be able to do it forever. I won¡¯t be able to cast long if I keep casting the spell at this pace. I have already drunk thest mana potion; if I drink more, I will suffer the mana poisoning, but I don¡¯t think I will have any choice. In less than ten minutes, I will bepletely empty and will need to drink a potion to sustain myself. I could forget about getting any help; there won¡¯t be any help, seeing everybody struggling on the ship. The only way this battle ends is if the enemy is also reaching the end of his mana reserve. The enemy, being a Lv. 30, has bigger mana reserves, but seeing how big spells he is using one after another; he is expanding that rapidly. Compared to him, my spells are more economical. It also helped that Captain Perry was an amazing Captain, who had made the enemy mage use lots of spells to defend against the cannons and saved the ship from drowning. Especially from the second wave, which I had thought would upend the ship. I have seen many ships being sunk by such spells, but Captain Perry stops his ship from sinking. However, he was not able to stop some people from getting thrown out of the ship. With these factors, there is a chance that he is also low on mana, as I am. However, I might be wrong, and he might have a mana absorption skill, that every mage desires or that priceless mana potion with emotional essence. Only one sip of it was said to be enough to fill the reserves fully, without suffering the burn. {Water Lances} I coordinated my attack with the cannon sts from the ships and used Aqua Glide to move quickly across the water. Dodging the cage spell, appeared in the ce where I was standing a second ago. ¡®Why don¡¯t you just ept my offer? The money I am offering is far more than what you will earn in a year,¡¯ he said. This is not the first time he has offered me money, and the amount is good. That some people in my ce would have made the deal. The only thing I have to do is let the few spells hit the ship. This way, I wouldn¡¯t be implicated, and he would be able to achieve his target. ¡®Not Interested.¡¯ I said simply. The money was good, but Mr. Silver had spent more on the spell books he had given me. Not to mention, he had helped me remove the curse and helped others deal with theirs. Even if there weren¡¯t all these benefits; I wouldn¡¯t ept that. Once the job is epted, I will give my everything to finish it. I could get out of here as my life was in danger and the contract stipted that I could escape in such a condition, without facing any repercussions, but I would not. I like Silver and this job, despite the constant dangers me and my team face in it. ¡®Then don¡¯t me me for doing this,¡¯ he replied after a moment of silence and my Dangersence warned loudly and I shuddered, but reacted immediately with Aqua Glide. I stopped one, and a half stepster, when I saw the spell materialize around me. ¡°Sphere of Daggers,¡± I muttered as therge sphere of watery daggers enveloped me. There are hundreds of daggers in it, all with icy tips; just looking at them, I felt pricks all over my body. It is a dangerous Grade 3 spell: a spell only High-Mage like him could use. Powerful enough to butcher a group of hundred in seconds. Showing me why people shudder in fear whenever a mage of his caliber enters the battle. ¡®Your senses are very good, able to sense all the spells I had attacked you with,¡¯ he said with mirth in his voice. Yes, I have good senses, but they can be fooled. He just did that. ¡®Die,¡¯ he said simply and cut the telepathic spell. Sup Sup Sup At the same time, the daggers in the sphere moved. They came at me with their icy tips, wanting to butcher me bloody. They will, and even the armor I am wearing won¡¯t be able to help me with it. Though he had made a huge mistake to assume that I would die by it. Yes, it is a powerful spell, and I am scared of it, but I am not defenseless. {Mirror of Sybaris} I closed my eyes and activated the spell; I had not thought I would use in this battle. It is a second spell Mr. Silver had given to me and not a defensive spell, but a show spell. I had only learned it because it is a free spell. The spell makes palm-sized beautiful mirrors of water. They shine beautifully and show one beautiful light. The girls of the establishment love it. As for why, I had used this spell instead of the conventional defensive shields, because those daggers are extremely powerful, and using conventional defensive spells would use a lot of manas. The structure of the spell is such that my defensive methods are weak against it. These daggers might pierce through them, with that second spell covering them. Not to mention, those daggers are highly maneuverable, and they will slip through the gaps. Mirror of Sybaris is a better choice. It is a modified show spell; those tiny mirrors are tougher than one would expect, and they are also highly maneuverable. Once that was done, I closed my eyes to focus on the passive skill Water Sense. I got it at Lv. 20. It is my most favorite skill. The mirrors materialized around me as the daggers reached me. The first dagger came, and I moved the mirror moved it. Ting Crack¡­ It crashed against the mirror and the water mirror made a cracking sound like a real mirror. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face, because the mirror was able to stop the dagger. I was thinking it might not be able to, but it did. I couldn¡¯t enjoy this small victory as tens of daggers came, and I moved the mirrors to defend against them and at the same time, while adding mana to heal the cracked mirrors. I began defending against every dagger that came at me with those beautiful mirrors. For a moment, I couldn¡¯t help but feel grateful for those teens in the circle. Who constantly pestered me for this spell. It helped me a lot in getting familiar with this spell, which I had only learned to increase the number of spells in my collection. If I had survived. I will practice this spell with the same zeal as I practice other spells and also thank those girls. Puch! I defended more than a hundred daggers when one was able to evade the mirrors and hit me. It breached through the protective spell covering my body, before piercing through my shoulder. It went deep and cracked my bone. It was painful, but I barely focused on it. All my focus is on defending against the daggers that are stilling at me. They hit the beautiful mirrors, which stopped them. I didn¡¯t sense any daggers, and opened my eyes, feeling proud that I had defended against such a powerful spell, when suddenly, that smile on my face vanished. ¡°Bastard!¡± I cursed and moved toward the ship while pouring every bit of mana I had into my staff. Sphere of daggers was a distraction; it kept enough busy that it could cast that spell on the ship. I can¡¯t let him seed or everyone will die. Mr. Silver and my friends. This spell isn¡¯t something they could defend against. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 258: Enemies Retreat Chapter 258: Enemies Retreat ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed seeing the spell and wanted to jump out of the ship, but staying would be even more dangerous. Above the ship, in the sky, is a giant spindle pir made of water crystal. It is not the ice, but the water crystal. The shade and structure of water crystal are distinct from the ice, even if both looked simr at first nce. It had materialized a moment ago when the mist dispersed. It ising down like a missile, with gravity increasing its momentum every second. If that wasn¡¯t enough, the water crystals were heavier than the ice. This is a torpedo spell; I don¡¯t know the exact name, but it will explode, without a doubt. I wanted to jump out of the ship. As many are doing, both our men and the enemies, but unlike them, I am the target. The moment I jumped into the sea; I would be in his domain and killing me would be a piece of cake. Still, if I felt like, the pir would strike the ship, I would jump. I am already in position and could make a jump at any moment. There is certain death if it hits the ship. Everybody had stopped fighting, including Jon and Captain Azalea, but not Stone. He is still fighting against the enemy leader. Stopping him froming at me, which he is trying constantly. Even now, I could see him trying toe at me. A second passed, and it got even closer, bing even bigger; that I wanted to jump into the sea and nearly did. ¡°{Rotating Cannons} {One Target} {Reinforced Ship}¡± I was struggling to hold myself on the ship when I heard Captain Perry scream the skills. Immediately, I felt the faint change in the ship; at the same, I saw the cannons moving up toward the huge spindle pir at the ship. Hun! If that wasn¡¯t enough; I saw another danger materializing. ¡®The bastard wouldn¡¯t let us defend his attack easily,¡¯ I thought, seeing thences. There are hundreds of them, more than he had everunched, and if they hit the ship, they will skewer it along with everyone else on it. A momentter, I felt relieved when I saw the shield appearing in front of them, but that relief was also short-lived. The number of shields there wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop all thences. Fourth of them will be able toe to the ship. Which are over fiftynces. They are more than enough to finish the job. This two-pronged attack was too powerful, and my mind was telling me to jump out of the ship. The ones who had not jumped had already jumped out of the ship, including Jon and Captain Azalea, both of them walking on the sea. One doesn¡¯t need ocean walking skills to do that; one just needs to be fast enough. A speed skill is more than enough for it. Both of them are fast enough with their speed skills to break the surface tension and create a depression in the water, which will allow them to stay on the waterfortably. It is a simple physics. Soon, the spindle pir had reached close enough that I could see clearly how massive the spell was. BANNG! I was watching when a loud, unified sound rang out from all the cannons on the ship, as they fired. All the cannonballs shot together and went toward the spindle pir. As they did; I couldn¡¯t help but notice that the cannon balls weren¡¯t the usual grey. They are green and seeing that, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but light up. The man had kept the best stuff for thest. Hun! My mood was good, but once again, the enemy spoiled it. I saw the shields popping up in front of them. There is no way, the enemy mage, would let anythinge in the way of his most powerful attack. Bang Bang Bang The cannons crashed against the shields and exploded with such power, that they sent powerful shockwaves. I nearly stumbled, but I kept looking up, where half of the cannonballs, moved toward the spindle pir. The shields were not able to stop all the cannonballs, while some didn¡¯t formpletely. Thanks to Z. The cannonballs reached the spindle pir, while at the same time, the waternces reached the shields in front of the ship. BANNNG! The cannon balls hit the spindle pir, creating a massive explosion. So powerful it was dust went in all directions and covered therge area. The powerful shockwave from it hit the ship and swayed it to one side; I feared, it might upend into the seal. I don¡¯t know whether it would trip or not, but it presented the opportunity for me, and I fell to the ground andy t. The waternces crashed against shields, but not all of them. Fourth of them came at the ship, which had swayed it to one side. Bang Bang Bang Bang The waternces crashed into the swayed starboard to masts, tearing them apart, and sending the splintered wood everywhere. Some hit me hard, pierced my body, and broke my bones, but I didn¡¯t care about any of that. All I cared about were the waternces, which had hit the starboard. A few flew directly over me, before crashing into the sea. Some of them went to Stone and the enemy leader, both separated and dealt withnces, before fighting again. Even under such an attack; the enemy leader is still trying to kill me. In seconds, it was all over. I couldn¡¯t believe I had survived. I truly hadn¡¯t thought I would survive. I craned my neck and looked at the damage the spell had caused, and it made me shudder. There are tens of holes in the ship, with masks broken and sails torn. If the ship hadn¡¯t swayed by the shockwave; it might have not survived. I might have not survived. In this sense, it was the attack of the enemy mage that had saved us from his other attack. Hun! I heaved a big sigh of relief and was about to get up when I saw an enemy leader above me. I saw his amber eyes, filled with the desire to kill, with his cuss pointed toward my chest. ¡°Die!¡± he said simply, and brought down his cuss in swift motion, without wasting any time. I wanted to move my sword to defense, but I knew it could never reach the cuss. Still, I didn¡¯t close my eyes and looked at the eyes of the bandit leader, who would reap my life in a moment. The cuss moved swiftly till there was an inch between it and my chest when suddenly, everything turned ck in front of me. A momentter, it cleared, and a smile appeared on my face. I am on the ship but in a different ce. A ce where Stone had been a moment ago and now, he is in the ce, where I had been. I turned toward him and saw him fighting against the enemy leader. I hope the leader couldn¡¯t use skill twice or I would really be dead. As far as I know, Stone couldn¡¯t use the skill twice in one day. I looked at them for a second before getting up and expecting another barrage of spellsing at the ship, but there were none. The enemy mage is standing, and, for the first time; he doesn¡¯t seem to be casting any spell. He is looking at Z, who is staring back at him. As if sensing me looking at him, he looked at me. Fearing he might attack me, I prepared to defend, but he didn¡¯t. Instead, he looked he looked at away at the person behind him, before staring into the distance. I didn¡¯t know what he was looking at, but I quickly took out the healing potion bottle and drank it, before starting to apply it on the wounds. There are a lot of injuries on my body. I needed to heal them quickly, to deal with anything that came at me. ¡°Retreat!¡± He said, shocking me and everyone else. It is a word, I was hoping to hear, but didn¡¯t expect he would say it. His staff shone a secondter, with watering above from the ocean, forming a bridge. ¡°You are lucky!¡± said the enemy leader and hopped on the bridge, while I watched nkly. He reached his ship, and the other four people also appeared on it a secondter, while the rest got pulled out of the ocean by the mage. Soon, everybody is back on the ship, but their numbers are less than they had when they first attacked. People died, our as well as theirs. The ship began to move, getting further and further till it became a dot in the distance. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked finally. ¡°The rescue,¡± answered Captain Perry from behind. I didn¡¯t see the rescue ships, but I epted the answer and sat down. Z appeared on the ship several secondster and sat down, before closing her eyes. She seemed to have fallen asleep, which is not surprising, seeing how she was able to hold herself against a High Mage. Without her, all of us would have died. I looked at her for a moment before turning to Stone. Who seemed to have fallen unconscious, but the faint bronze light was stilling off his body. The power of the elder racees with the price. The sooner he finishes awakening, the safer he will be, but that process isn¡¯t easy, more than half die. Captain Perry, on the other hand, is directing everyone who is in a good state. Taking stock of injuries and collecting the dead bodies. Everyone is silent. Even I didn¡¯t speak much, other than asking a mage to send a few messages. I informed the Count of the condition and his reply was, a little strange, but I am too tired to think about it. I am feeling very sleepy, but I am waiting for the rescue ships; that finally came into view. There are three ships; all of them are warships. It is no wonder the enemies retreated. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 259: Lv. 19 Chapter 259: Lv. 19 Steller Captain Lv. 24 {Skill Gained¡­} . . . Warrior Lv. 21 . . . Seaman Lv. 23 {Skill Gained¡­} . . . de Warrior Lv. 19 There was a text in front of me when I opened my eyes, but I slid it away. There is no joy in my heart seeing myself level. Instead, there is shock, pain, and grief. They hade for me specifically; sent two Lv. 30 powerhouses, along with a party of Lv. 20+ and Lv. 25+ powerhouses, all of them experienced in navalbat. It needs nning and a lot of money, and they are willing to spend it to kill me. They nearly did and the only reason I had even survived was due to the freaky luck and exceptional people around me. The gravity of it is weighing me down. I stayed staring nkly for a few minutes before getting up from the bed and walking out of the cabin. My body aches and my bandages feel itchy as I walk. The potions had done their job and now it was my body to do it. It will take a few days for me to recover fully. Though, I will need to see a healer. The ship''s healer had seen me but said I should see a higher-level one, in case he had missed something. I hadn¡¯t just suffered cuts, but wooden shrapnel had pierced me, and my bones were broken. It needs deeper care than simply drinking the potion. ¡°You should be resting,¡± I said to Jon, following behind me. Like everyone else, he had also suffered injuries, but his injuries were lighterpared to me and others. Still, he fought an intense battle and needed rest. ¡°I will after we reach Port Midlet,¡± he replied, and I shook my head, knowing he wouldn¡¯t listen, even if I pressed. Soon, I reach the infirmary, where two people standing guard. They opened the door and let me in. I walked into a small infirmary with seven beds. All of them are upied by people who fought the battle, including Stone and Z. I turned to Stone, who was still unconscious, with bronze lighting off him. Though it had be much fainter. It was not noticeable unless one really looked at him clearly. Like earlier, there are some people around him. He is a curiosity, an object of great fascination and research. He is an elder blood, who is in the process of awakening. People rarely get to see such things. ¡°Has he woken up?¡± I asked the healer, who was by Stone, and he shook his head. I nodded and turned to Z, who had woken up. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked as I stopped at her bed. ¡°Other than tired. Good,¡± she replied. ¡°You should rest then,¡± I said gently. It hadn¡¯t been even five hours since we hade to the military ship and with the battle she had fought. She needs to rest for at least a day. She smiled, but soon, her expression turned serious. ¡°There is a message from Count Darrow; he wants to talk to you directly,¡± she replied. ¡°I will message him,¡± I replied, to which, she shook her head. ¡°He wants to talk to you directly. He said, it is extremely important,¡± she spoke, and I hesitated before shaking my head. ¡°Take a rest; I will talk to him after you wake up,¡± I said. The Count wouldn¡¯t like it, but he would understand. Currently, only Z knows the spell; I don¡¯t know whether any shop mages knew, which is unlikely, but even if they knew. I wouldn¡¯t trust them inmunication, seeing how Count had used ¡®extremely important¡¯. He doesn¡¯t use those words lightly. ¡°I can support the spell for a few minutes,¡± she said, extending her hand. I hesitated for a second before cing my hand in hers. There must be something really important. It might be rted to the assassination attempt; he might be able to find out who was behind it. I really want to know who is that that wants to kill and is willing to spend huge money and have enough connections to make it happen. She picked up her staff, and it lit up. For a few seconds, there was nothing, before I felt something clicking. ¡®Mage Z connecting to High-Mage York,¡¯ said Z. ¡®Mage York connecting to Mage Z,¡¯ said Mage York from the other side. ¡®High-Mage. I am still recovering and won¡¯t be able to support the connection for more than four minutes,¡¯ said Z. ¡°Understood. Mage Z,¡± said Mage York. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted. For a few seconds, there was no reply, before the sound of Count Darrow rang out and it was somber. ¡°Listen carefully, what I have to say, Remus,¡± said Count Darrow, without any niceties. He didn¡¯t even ask me about my health. ¡°In the morning, there are thirty-one assassination attempts across the thirteen cities of the renwell region.¡± ¡°Of which, neen had seeded. Our city had three, if we count one, on you at the sea. The other two are on the Ulnas Regis and Beaumont,¡± ¡°Ulnas Regis is dead,¡± he said. For a few seconds, I wasn¡¯t able to process it all. It is like a powerful earthquake hit my heart. I had expected many things, but not this. The sheer scale of it was too big; the ones who did it are very powerful, with vast fortune and connections and I am one of their targets. It made me feel worse. Earlier, I had thought; I had been targeted specifically and now I realized that I am part of the list, which means it is very likely, that I will be targeted again. ¡°Is the informationplete?¡± I asked. ¡°There are likely more assassination attempts. We will know soon enough, till then, take care of yourself, and don¡¯t go anywhere, without adequate security,¡± replied Count. ¡°What about the negotiations?¡± I asked. ¡°It is up to you,¡± he replied. ¡°I wille back after finishing the negotiations,¡± I said. ¡°Do that, but take extreme care and return safely,¡± he finished. ¡°Mage York, out,¡± said Mage York, and cut the connection. ¡°Take a rest,¡± I said to Z, who obviously looked more tired than before. She nodded, beforeying down on the bed. I talked to the other injured people, before walking out of the infirmary. When I saw the middle-aged man in a white uniform,ing toward it. He is a tall man, with sea-blue eyes and sandy brown hair and features, that made him look always serious. ¡°Adviser Silver, I hope you are feeling well?¡± asked the man. ¡°All thanks to your care, Commander Forson,¡± I replied, and the man smiled. He is Taylor Forson,mander of the ship I am on. ¡°Still, you should rest. The battle you had fought was quite tough,¡± he said, and I smiled. I talked to him for a few minutes before walking toward the deck. Which had a lot of men on it, ready to face any battle. Beside us was another ship, while the third one had gone to chase the enemy with another ship. Which they will be unlikely to find; I am now even more sure about it than before. Those people are with powerful backing and with that Aquamancer with them; it will be hard to catch them. It would actually surprise me if they were found. They might have if it had been on the coast of the maind, where it is heavily patrolled and powerful people manned the ship, but here in this area, it is unlikely to happen. I walked to the railing, looked at the calm sea, and thought about my worries. Till the morning, I used to think, things were dangerous, but I didn¡¯t see the danger at all. Things are dangerous now and they will get even more dangerous. It is hard to say, who wants to kill us? If it had been only me, I have a list in my mind, but they have targeted people from all cities in the Renwell region. This means they are someone who had an eye on the entire region. The more I think about it; the more names appear in my head. Including that of Navr, despite knowing that assassination is not the modus operandi of the undead kingdom unless they are doing it for the powerful bodies and even that is rare. They prefer to take the bodies on the battlefield. If it had been Navr, the Count would have hinted it. I would need more data to make an educated guess. Currently, the only thing I know is that they have targeted people from all the cities of the region and three had been targeted at Greltheaven. There might be more, and I will know soon enough. An hour and a half passed and Port Midlet came into view. It is a big city, bigger than Greltheaven and the size of Deerpond, with walls and buildings made of sandstone and painted in beautiful colors. Port Midlet is said to be the most beautiful city in the whole region, and it is the truth. The colorful buildings look beautiful in the backdrop of wastnd and ocean. The city also had the blessing of the crown prince and bore good chances to dethrone to be the richest and most developed city in the region. It is one of the reasons why the lord of Deerpond agreed to trade with Navr after months of dragging his feet and due to that, Port Midlet also agreed despite them hating our guts. They couldn¡¯t afford to let Deerpond go far too ahead, that they couldn¡¯t catch up. I do not care what their reasons are, what I care, they agreed. I nned to finish negotiations here as soon as possible, before returning home. However, the first thing I am going to do after disembarking is hire the mercenaries for my protection. The assassins mighte again, and I am going to get the best mercenaries the city has to offer. Many of our men are injured and even if they were not; I would have still hired the mercenaries. I am too scared and paranoid now to care about anything else than my security. This time, I didn¡¯t even have to care about the money, as the city will foot the bill. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 260: Return and Promotion Chapter 260: Return and Promotion ¡°Wee home, Adviser,¡± said Vice-Guildmaster Soren. ¡°It feels good to be back, Vice-Guildmaster,¡± I replied to the man. It really feels good since the assassination attempt. I didn¡¯t sleep properly, had been paranoid every moment; it was really bad. Not that Greltheaven is safe, but it is a home. It has the inherent feeling of safety that I need very much. ¡°Adviser, since we have escorted you to the Greltheaven, our contract ends here,¡± said the burly curly-haired man with a ck ax at his back. He is a mercenary I had hired in the Port Midlet. He and his team had been protecting me every minute since then. ¡°Thank you, Captain Rosenau, for your services,¡± I said. He nodded and walked away with his team, while I walked toward the carriage with guards surrounding me from all sides. Ulnas Regis had been assassinated right in the city; I didn¡¯t want to take any chances and requested extra security. This time, even Atticus didn¡¯t dare to drag his feet about it, seeing he was already facing quite a lot of heat about the assassinations. His deputy was assassinated right in the city. Whose security he is responsible for. People already raising doubts, saying if he can¡¯t protect his own people, how he will protect the public? There is also a murmur in the background about him being not targeted. Whenmanders of eight cities did. I sat in the carriage and watched the port, which seemed a lot more restrained than before. The security of the port had been tightened; now the goods and people were being verified more thoroughly. It is happening with all the ports of the region; they have tightened the security of their ports and cities, but other than Ashton Harbor, nobody was able to catch the assassins. The carriage got out of the port and entered the city. Here, too, there are more guards than usual, but it is not noticeable unless one looks at it clearly. Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the mansion, and I got out and walked inside while activating Get Ready. The changes began to appear on me; my suit straightened and the crinkle on it had vanished; all the dirt and sweat disappeared and my face became glowing with travel fatigue, lessening in my eyes. Soon, I reached the office, and the secretory sitting by it nodded. Seeing that, I entered inside. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted Count Darrow and his son. ¡°Remus; good to see you back safe and sound,¡± he said and motioned me to take a seat. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied, sitting in the chair. ¡°It was quite a journey for you,¡± he said with his expression turning serious. ¡°It was, my lord, but we had aplished things far more than we imagined,¡± I said with a small smile. Assassination aside, I have aplished great things. I have gone to Deerpond, thinking I would be negotiating with one city, but came back negotiating with the seven, and all sessful. The negotiation in Port Midlet, finished quickly than anyone had imagined. Like us, they also wanted to finish the deal quickly and, except for four points, we were able to negotiate on everything. ¡°The things you have achieved are tremendous, and it wouldn¡¯t look good if I didn¡¯t reward you for this achievement,¡± he said with a smile appearing on his face, while I waited in trepidation. Not all things made him happy, made me happy. Sometimes, his rewards are akin to punishments for me. ¡°I am promoting you to be the director of the trade office.¡± He informed and my expression turnedplicated. If it had been a week ago, I would have been ecstatic, despite the increased responsibilities. It is the promotion I have wanted; the power I will be able to wield through it will be huge, but now, I haveplicated feelings about it. I am on the assassinations list because of my position in the city and not due to my business and now, with this promotion, I will have a bigger target on my back. ¡°Thank you for your trust, my lord,¡± I thanked after a moment of silence. ¡°I know, you are having reservation about it, after what you have suffered, but let me tell you, you will not regret it,¡± ¡°With this position, your security with be upgraded and so will your clearance,¡± he said. ¡°You are too generous, my lord,¡± I said politely. He didn¡¯t say anything, but his expressions turned serious. ¡°What do you think about the target of people behind the assassination?¡± he asked after seconds of silence. Hearing that, my expression turned hesitant, because the conclusion I hade to was dangerous. Speaking out loud might make the Count angry. ¡°Speak freely, Remus,¡± he said, seeing my expression. ¡°Invasion, my lord,¡± ¡°They want to invade. All the people they have targeted are cogs that make their cities run smoothly. They are especially helpful in times of crisis,¡± ¡°Vice-Commander s was responsible for supplies; he was very adept in his job with great experience. The same is true for High-Mage Beaumont, she is a powerful mage, who has experiences with sieges,¡± ¡°These two are invaluable to the city and they already got one,¡± I said, looking at Mage Beaumont. ¡°The two are important, but I wonder why they targeted you. With your little power, you won¡¯t be able to do much, and your legal and trade expertise will also be useless in the crisis,¡± quipped Lancel. ¡°I am asking that question, myself, my lord,¡± I said mirthlessly. Lancel might have said that in poor taste, but the question is valid, even if I am asking that myself. I may have done wonders in the trade, but I would be pretty much useless when enemies attack the city. I wonder what they were thinking when they added me to their list to kill. Count turned and looked at his son, before turning to me. ¡°You are right, in your assessment. The enemies want to invade our region and they are already making a preparation for it,¡± he said and sighed. ¡°Were you able to find out who is responsible for it?¡± I asked. To that, his expression turned a little bad. ¡°I did not, but I have a few guesses.¡± He replied, without borating. For a couple of seconds, nobody spoke before I opened my mouth. ¡°My lord. My guards had done a good job of protecting me and everyone. Without them, I wouldn¡¯t have been alive, especially Mage Z.¡± ¡°I hope, you will provide me a few spells for her; it will increase my chances of survival,¡± I requested, while the man looked at me without any change in his expression. ¡°You are one greedy bastard, Remus. She is your guard, protecting you. Why should we provide the spells for her? It is your damn responsibility,¡± said Lancel, while I just bowed at him, before turning to the Count. ¡°Fine, I will give you the spell. You have done something incredible this time, and this will be your reward.¡± He said and a momentter, a thin book appeared in his hand, which he slid toward me. ¡°Thank you for your generosity, my lord,¡± I said and bowed deeply before swiping away the book off the table, while barely ncing at the name of the spell. Luminous Surge A Grade 3 water and light elemental spell. A wide area spell, effective against the undead and minor curses, with healing properties. I wanted a more targeted spell, but I was also prepared to go empty-handed. So, I am happy to receive it and knew Z would be able to learn it, despite it being a dual elemental one. She already has one with dual elements. It is also of light and water, a healing spell. A few minutes passed, and we discussed many things when the Count brought out another news. ¡°I have received the message from Count Zanav; his younger son ising to the region, bringing his men with him forbat exercise with Mirador Hold and Dustorn Fortress,¡± he informed. Count Zanav, a powerful eastern noble. Far more powerful than Count Darrow. He is a warrior; a leader with arge, elite cavalry. He hadn¡¯t dered his allegiance, and I heard a lot of princes were trying to get him into their fold, including Prince Grelt. ¡°Taren is a bastard!¡± said Lancel and this time, when the Count looked at his son, there were sparks of anger in it. I am surprised, to see the open hostility. Lancel might hate nobles, but he didn¡¯t show such open animosity toward them. He mostly keeps them in his heart; his showing it means he really doesn¡¯t like this person. ¡°When he will be in Greltheaven?¡± I asked. ¡°Byte next month, and I want you to be responsible for him. Make sure, he will want for nothing,¡± said Count Darrow, while Lancel snorted from the distance, ¡°I will start the preparations,¡± I said. A month is more than enough to make preparations. ¡­ ¡°You have read the report, what do you think about them?¡± asked Count Darrow as Remus left the office. ¡°If everything written there is true, then Remus Silver has found people with great potential to protect him.¡± ¡°Especially the warrior, mage, and the rogue,¡± replied Mage Beaumont. ¡°The giant-blood warrior would be a great asset if he was able toplete his awakening. The rogue is good enough that Viscount Atre had praised him, but the one impressed me, the mage,¡± ¡°While she had help, it is very impressive that she was able to hold back a High-Mage; it is not easy for those below High-Mage to do that,¡± she added. ¡°Make them an offer,¡± said the Count after a few seconds of silence. ¡°What about Remus? He will be quite angry with us for snatching his talented guards?¡± asked Lancel. ¡°He will be fine, and we will provide him with appropriate security, to his satisfaction,¡± replied Darrow, not worried about feelings of Remus at all. ¡­ Click! The door of the carriage closed, and it began to move. I have received a promotion, and there is a lot of work to do, but I n to start with it, tomorrow. Today, I have other ns. ¡°Here, I was able to get this for you,¡± I said as I took out the spell book and handed it to her. Her eyes widened in surprise before they lit up with joy. ¡°I wanted this spell for a long time,¡± she said and this time, it was me who became surprised. She seemed to be caught that as she turned to me, with a smile. ¡°This is a very powerful spell to deal against arge number of undead,¡± she said happily, before opening the book and started studying it. I would have liked to. If it had been a defensive spell or offensive spell that could be used against anyone, but it is already enough that I have got the spell from the Count. As for the offensive type of spell that I want; I will have to get it myself and it will be very expensive. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 261: Final Assessment Chapter 261: Final Assessment Margaux Whoosh! Barb exhaled, creating a magnificent stream of fire. She had been learning fire breathing for months and in the past week; she had be confident enough to show it in front of the girls. I really wished she didn¡¯t; it is dangerous, but she is an adult and could make her own choices. I still hope, she would take safety into consideration and use safe oils instead of alcohol, which I heard is a dangerous choice. This show of hers had also increased my headache; I had six applications from the girls who wanted to learn it. All teens. So, of course, I rejected it. They need to be eighteen years old before I give them permission. Thankfully, no older girl had asked for permission; they knew better than doing something this dangerous. Barb is old, as old as me, but sometimes she behaves like a teen. p p Chap A few minutes passed, and the girls pped for thest time as Barb finished, before walking toward me. She talked to girls as she did, enjoying the attention and adorations which she came to love. ¡°Don¡¯t be so disapproving,¡± said Barb as finally stopped beside me. ¡°I didn¡¯t disapprove; I just hope, you take proper precautions while doing this,¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°My skills are excellent and even if an ident does happen; I have a healing potion ready,¡± she said, and even took out the potion bottle from her pocket. I shook my head, seeing that, and decided to get on the business. ¡°Have you informed the girls?¡± I asked her, to which she nodded. ¡°Yes, they will be ready for the final assessment interviews,¡± she replied. We have chosen the girls for the Owlspring, and the Master Solver has reviewed them and approved the list. Everyone who is going is experienced. We are not sending any new girls. The interviews are for the new girls, the ones who will make the debut the next month. Even with the opening of a new brothel, Master Silver still cares more about the establishment, wanting to be part of every process. I sometimes pity him, seeing how hard he is working, with responsibilities from the city and business. Though he seemed to revel in it, and girls say, many patrons have be more careful since the new promotion. He was already one of the most influential persons in the city and now his influence had increased even further. I wish he hadn¡¯t taken the promotion. Ca had told me about mass assassination attempts that have been in the papers recently and the deeper reason behind it. The girl is worried. ¡°How many girls do Master Silver n to choose this time around?¡± she asked as we stepped into the elevator, and she pressed the key. ¡°All those who are ready. He wants to have more girls ready for two brothels,¡± I replied. She nodded and there was a silence, till we reached the top floor and got out of it. ¡°And what about that girl, Rayna? Is he going to assess her too?¡± she asked with some hesitation, and I smiled. ¡°She is a girl of establishment, isn¡¯t she?¡± I asked back and the hesitation on her face disappeared. ¡°She is,¡± said Barb with a smile. ¡­ Rayna ¡°Don¡¯t stress, it will be fine,¡± said Breve as she folded her clothes with me. I opened my mouth to say; I was not worried, but closed it a momentter. It would be a biggest lie, to say I am not worried; even a child would be able to see how worried I am despite my attempts to mask it. Since I came here, I have attended sses like every girl and even practiced with actors. They have treated me no differently from any other girl, but will they let me work like other girls? This question has been guing me since the day I came here and soon, I will have an answer. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to my roommate, who will not be my roommate anymore. ¡°Do you want me toe with you?¡± she asked. ¡°No, but thank you for offering and besides, I don¡¯t want to you keep you away from all this,¡± I replied, looking at mess in our room. Especially on her side of room. Today, she had leveled up. Be a Lv. 20 and that came with the privilege of personal room, that every girl desires. I am going to miss her a lot. It is not like she is leaving the circle, and I can go meet her whenever I want, but it will be different. I am also worried about my new roommate; I don¡¯t know who that will be yet. A few minutes passed, and it was time to leave for the final assessment interview. ¡°Best of luck,¡± wished Breve and hugged me. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said with my voice being more emotional than I like to be. I let go of the hug after few seconds and walked out of the room. I was feeling so nervous, so much, that I wanted to go back to my room and hide in the sheets. I didn¡¯t have to do an interview, Madam Margaux had hinted, that if I didn¡¯t have an interest in working in the establishment. This offer isn¡¯t special to me. It is an open offer for everyone. I got out of my suit and walked toward the elevator; some girls on my floor joined me. Nodding nervously; they too are going for the interview. Soon, I stepped into the elevator and a few secondster, the elevator stopped at the top floor. The interviews are being held here and there are already girls there; not many, seven. The interviews are being conducted in batches; twelve people in each batch. As I moved toward them, the girls looked at me. Some waved, while others whispered among themselves. I listened to those whispers, even though I shouldn¡¯t. Not because it is bad to listen to the private conversation of other people, but because most of the whispers are about me. It would sour my mood. It is toote; I am listening, and it is not making me feel, but I don¡¯t care. I was in a sour mood when I saw a blond girling toward me. She is smiling as always, but since she came here, the smile on her face has been extra bright, like everything else about her, but now, I am also seeing a lot of nervousness on her face. ¡°Rayna, how are you doing? I am feeling really nervous; I want to be selected. I really hope Master Silver would select me; there are so many things I want to buy,¡± she babbled nervously. A few months ago, such a scene would have been hard to believe. Peoplee to this profession in desperation, nobody want to be in it with their free will. Here they are and it is not that hard to believe, seeing the money. It is not just about the money. Here, the girls wore dresses stitched with magical threads, jewellery that they could never afford past and education they have only dreamed about, not to mention magic. These things have instilled the confidence in them, they never had. Making them feel like, they are more than whores. At exactly four, the door opened, and a teen girl walked out holding a clipboard and turned to us with serious expressions. She had be much better at them in the past few months. Now it is very hard to tell that she is acting. It also helps that that she is gaining the air of authority that came with responsibilities, bing a proper madam, every day. ¡°Hope all of you are ready? If anyone is nervous, I can put you into the next batch?¡± asked Madam Gloria, but nobody said a word. ¡°Since everybody is ready, I will call the first name,¡± she said and looked at her clipboard. ¡°Arna Mads,¡± She called out Arna¡¯s name, and the blond girl shook, before taking a deep breath. ¡°Pray for me,¡± she said with a nervous smile, before walking toward the door. Click! The door closed behind her, and it remained closed for ten and a half minutes before it opened, and Arna walked out. ¡°Verni Husk,¡± Immediately, Madam Gloria called out the second name, while the girls asked Arna about what had gone there. Ours isn¡¯t the first badge that is going for the interviews. Eight had gone before us and I have aplete list of questions in my diary. 80% of the questions were the same for every girl and I have already prepared answers to them. ¡°How was it?¡± I asked as Arna reached me. ¡°I think I had messed up,¡± she replied in a small voice. ¡°I had stumbled a lot when I tried to give those memorized answers,¡± she replied. ¡°Did the Master Silver say you have failed?¡± I asked her, to which she shook her head. ¡°Then maybe you have a chance,¡± I said, which seemed to lift the mood of the girl. I talked to her for a few minutes before she left. Verni came out a little over ten minutester and the name of another was called out and then another. ¡°Rayna Sable,¡± I was so engrossed in snooping that for a moment I wasn¡¯t able to react when my name was called out. ¡®Good start, Rayna,¡¯ I scolded myself as I moved toward the door before walking inside. Inside was a beautiful room, painted with a soothing green color. I only nced at it, before focusing on three people sitting behind a long white table. There are two women and one man; the woman on the left, Madam Ca, the woman on the right, Madam Mena, while in the center is Master Silver. I stopped my wheelchair middle of the table; there were no chairs behind, they seemed to have intentionally removed them for my convenience. For which I couldn¡¯t help but feel grateful; it also eased my nerves. ¡°Master Silver, Madam Ca, Asst. Madam Mena,¡± I greeted in a polite, but not subservient, tone, as that scary old woman taught me. Madam Barb had said that the interview starts the moment one steps into the room and our answers won¡¯t be the only deciding factor here. ¡°Miss Rayna, how are you?¡± asked Master Silver, who looked so young. I had seen him before, but from a distance. It¡¯s the first time I had seen him face to face. His aplishments didn¡¯t match his age; they made him seem much older. ¡°I am good, Master Silver,¡± I replied and felt relieved that my voice came out even. I wanted to use my skill but decided against it. However, I heard many girls use it and Madams had said it would be our choice, if we wanted to use them or not, in the final interview. ¡°It seemed like you have varied interests. Reading, sewing, knitting, and even painting. Your teachers had praises for you and also Madam Ca,¡± he said, looking at the papers in front of me. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± I replied. He smiled before his eyes turned serious as he looked directly into my eyes. It is not a fake serious face like Madam Gloria, no, it is real. He is series. ¡°Tell me why you want to work in the establishment when you have the choice to serve your contract the other way?¡± he asked. This question could easily be assumed, that he is referencing my condition and implying I should choose to serve the contract another way. It is not. He had asked this question to others, word by word. I opened my mouth and read the answer I had prepared for Mind Diary, but stopped and closed my eyes. Seeing those dark eyes, I felt like they could see through everything; if I read the answer, he would know. I didn¡¯t speak for several seconds, and they didn¡¯t seem they were in a hurry; they looked at me, without even a hint of impatience. ¡°I have worked in a brothel, where we were treated worse than the animals. So much so that it is responsible for my current physical state. I want to experience the ce where I am treated like a human.¡± ¡°I also want to work because I want to find my worth. My physical condition had imprinted me with a feeling of worthlessness. I hope to get rid of that,¡± ¡°I also want to earn money; I heard it is pretty good,¡± I answered, bringing a smile to their faces with ast sentence. ¡°You have heard many things and seen they with your eyes, but they can be deceptive, Miss Rayna. The establishment is not sunshine and roses,¡± ¡°Here too, you might experience things that you wish to forget,¡± said Master Silver, stating the reality of business in a few works. ¡°I understand the reality, Master Silver, but I still wish to work,¡± I replied. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 262: Responsibilities Chapter 262: Responsibilities ¡°It is enough for today, gentlemen, we will meet again in a week,¡± I said to the three people in front of me. They are Damon Hardt, Soren Arryn, and Charles Tk; all three vice-directors of trade. Each of them was responsible for a different region, including me, who was responsible for the eastern region as well as their boss. It hasn¡¯t been long since I got the promotion and there are already a couple of people vying for the position. Not the position of director of trade, but of vice-director of trade. I had no interest in giving it up, at least for a few months or even a year. I have worked hard to achieve those things and unless I take them to a certain height and make them stable. I will not be handling them to others, only to mess it up. I have some people in mind, to which I wanted to hand it over, but the Count would never agree. They left the room after a short talk, and I followed after a few minutes. The meetingsted longer, than I would like, but I had to sort things up. From tomorrow, I barely have any time for anything. Not that I wasn¡¯t doing anything, in the past few days. Since I havee back from Port Midlet; I have been busy. There hadn¡¯t been a single hour when I wasn¡¯t working. I walked out of the city hall and sat in the carriage. Before I took charge of the trade department, most of the meetings used to be held in the merchant guild, since all three of them were from there. I shifted them back to city hall. Count Darrow is a good leader but has ws. His style of administration is not efficient and since he is doing that, the other officials also follow it at their convenience, whenever they can. It had decreased the administrative efficiency. I shook my head and focused on the list; I had in my hands. It is the list of girls who will be debuting tomorrow; there are three hundred and twenty-four. In total, there will be five hundred and eleven girls working in the establishment throughout the day and night from tomorrow. There would have been six hundred and eleven, but a hundred are leaving for Owlspring tomorrow; the new brothel at Owlspring will open on the first day of the second week of next month. Which is eight days away. Soon, I reached near the establishment and saw its gates close. It had been less than an hour since the establishment opened for the evening and the gates were already closed. The establishment is doing well and with more girls, it will do even better. With more girls debuting, the pressure on the girls already working will reduce significantly. Now, I could implement the proper shifts. I was doing it before but wasn¡¯t able to enforce it properly due to the limited number of girls and a very high demand. Which will also give them time to focus on their hobbies and interests. My research shows that giving them more time to pursue their interest makes them level-up faster. Not just in the ss of their interest but also their sses and I want them to keep leveling up. Every week, there would be at least two girls reaching Lv. 20 and sometimes, the numbers would go as high as five. I am having a problem in housing all those girls, seeing every girl reaching Lv. 20 will get a private room. I have lots of rooms in the underground, but even that space will be upied quickly with the progress of the girls. Tomorrow new girls are debuting and if the past data is right, then in the month, they will advance rapidly. All the knowledge and training they have received will help them with that. Many girls would gain two, three, or more levels and break capstones. Thankfully, the hundred experienced girls are leaving for the Owlspring, and it will open up a lot of space; especially the sixty-two private rooms of Lv. 20 and above girls. In two months, two hundred more will leave for the two cities. With this, I shouldn¡¯t be too worried, but I feel things aren¡¯t going to be this simple. I sighed and looked as the carriage entered through the back entrance. I walked out but didn¡¯t go directly to my office instead went to the floors first and saw each one was filled with patrons. It couldn¡¯t help but bring a smile to my face. Click! Half an hourter, I entered my office and a few minutes after that, Caena and Margaux walked inside. ¡°How did your meeting with interior designers go?¡± I asked as she took the seat. I wanted to be part of the meeting, but the Count summoned me; it wasn¡¯t an important thing, but it wasn¡¯t like I could skip the summon. Especially when I am taking the leave tomorrow for the debut. ¡°Good, they are confident to make changes within a day,¡± Margaux replied, and I felt relieved. With over three hundred girls debuting, we had to make some changes in the establishment. It will not be a big chance; a small one that won''t take more than a few hours. I had discussed that with the designers a few months ago during the chances I had made, and they have made a n for that. We are now moving ording to those ns. If I wanted to, I could have made big changes, so that the establishment could have been able to house all five hundred and eleven girls at once. I will not do that, even though it will help me earn more money. The money is important; it is the purpose of the whole business, but it will affect the brand''s image I had worked so hard to create. I will not do that, for a quick profit, that will bring me losses in the end. Despite being over three hundred new girls debuting. There won¡¯t be more than a 30% increase to their current numbers. As I had said, I won¡¯t be making them work like a bull. They will work in shifts. That way, they will have enough time to rest and pursue their interest. It will keep them happy and level them fast while providing patrons with the experience of their lives. In the long run, it will make me huge money. ¡°We only have a day. Let''s hope everything goes well,¡± I said. We discussed things for twenty minutes before Margaux left, leaving me alone with Caena. ¡°The enchantments seemed to be working great,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Yes, they are,¡± she replied. Every day, she adds new enchantments to the establishments and every one of them seems to be improving the establishment in a small way. ¡°What is the progress of the enchantments?¡± I asked. ¡°I was about to tell you about it. I have finished 80% enchantments on the list and would need a new one,¡± she said, forwarding the list toward me. I am surprised. I thought, she would need another month to craft those enchantments, but it seemed like she leveled up or became more proficient in crafting them, because looking at things, it won¡¯t take more than a week to finish the rest 20%. I looked list and the names she had marked; only 20% of them were unmarked. ¡°You see, I haven¡¯t quite finished with it,¡± I said with slight embarrassment and took out the list of my own. This is the list of enchantments I have been making to give it to her, but unlike all lists in the past few months, which had at least fifty or over names; this one had seventeen in them. I was barely able to create a listst time and this time, I wasn¡¯t even do that. I hate to admit it, but I am out of ideas. I have used everything I have in making the past lists. It is not like I could create enchantments on anything; it needs to be rted to the vision I have for the establishment. I cannot ask anyone for help either, not even from Ca, considering what I am doing is quite dangerous and possibly illegal, depending on the interpretation of thew. I don¡¯t want her to know about it, because once she knows, she will be a participant in it. Now she could im the deniability that would hold against even the strongest of truth spells. ¡°I am sure you will be able to finish it, in a few days,¡± she said, but to that, I shook my head. ¡°I am out of ideas. If you have any, you are free to contribute,¡± I said, shaking my head, while her eyes lit up for a moment before she controlled her emotions. ¡°I have few,¡± she said and took out a page and slid toward me. ¡®These are not few,¡¯ I thought, looking at a list of one hundred and seventy-two enchantments. As I began to read the list, my expressions couldn¡¯t help but be serious. She hadn¡¯t just written them out of nothing. Each one of them is well thought out and seems to fill the gap in the list I have created. ¡°It is good. I will order the things, you need to craft them,¡± I said after, looking through the list. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 263: Grand Ritual of Kama Rakalis I Chapter 263: Grand Ritual of Kama Rakalis I ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said to the driver as I took thest look at the ship sailing through the river toward the Owlspring. I had booked the whole ship to take them; the cost is slightly expensive, seeing the ship, I had booked, but it will be afortable journey for them. Ca will receive them, once they reach the city. She had been there for three days and wille back a day after tomorrow. She had been regrly making the trips to the merchant state, overseeing the progress of three brothels, while the city¡¯s business keeps me busy. Soon, the carriage reached the establishment, where there were few carriages in front of it. Loading and unloading stuff, mostly furniture. Today is the day the girls will make a debut and we are making the changes in the establishment for it. The seatings aren¡¯t enough to support the new girls. So, instead of adding more chairs and tables, I am changing the whole furniture. It is expensive, but the establishment could afford it. Especially now, when more girls will bring more money. ¡°The girls aren¡¯t happy with smaller shifts,¡± said Margaux as we entered inside. Caena had already told me about it; many girls had pleaded with her, to have the establishment run at maximum capacity or increase the capacity enough so that their hours would remain the same. Till yesterday, the girls used to work for nine to twelve hours, but now it would be six hours. Which is less than half of a normal brothel. Even in the red fragrance next street, the girls work for twelve to sixteen hours, and their workday isn¡¯t consistent. Everything there is dependent on the demand. If there is enough demand, they will wake up even a sleeping girl and make her serve patrons. Which is the case for almost all the brothels. Norman tried to copy the velvet garden, but couldn¡¯t copy them with its originality. If he had, along with the resources and connections he had, the Red Fragrance would have been the best brothel in Greltheaven. ¡°Six hours are good. It will stop the burnout while giving them ample time to rest and pursue their interests,¡± I replied, to which Margaux smiled mirthlessly. Our hourly rate is high enough that fewer hours won¡¯t affect their lifestyle. Not to mention, the gifts, which the establishment doesn¡¯t touch. ¡°I had told those silly girls that, but the girls are thinking nothing other than money, they will be losing, by working short hours,¡± she said, with her smile turning mirthful. Seeing that, I too smiled. Both of us understood how great the opportunity this is for the girls. If they use their time wisely, in a few months, they will be able to earn more money in fewer hours. ¡°How are your studies going? I heard quite good things about you from Mage Aldridge,¡± I said, and her smile turned small, but more genuine. ¡°They are going well,¡± she replied, with joy lighting up in her eyes. Aldridge rarely praises anyone, but he praised Margaux. She could be one of the first people to cast the spell and the time mighte sooner than I had imagined. There is barely any change on the first floor aside from a few art pieces. It is a restaurant; I do not need to make any changes here. ¡°You can take a leave, you know. Others will be able to handle the work, even if you went out and took a break of a week or two,¡± I said, and she nearly stopped. I don¡¯t usually interfere in the personal lives of the girls, but I decided to say the words. In case this is what is holding her back from meeting her daughter. ¡°I know and I will take it soon,¡± she replied softly. The second floor has changedpletely, from artwork to furniture, everything is different. It looks good, but I am more impressed with how they have added 35% more sitting, but one could barely notice that. The tables seemed the same size and the space between them seemed the same, despite not being there. ¡°The designers have done a good job,¡± said Margaux, sounding as impressed as I am feeling. We went to the third floor, where big changes happened, before going to the top floor. There are no changes on the top floor aside from a single painting. I do not n to change anything; I wouldn¡¯t have even changed the painting, but it is one Margaux brought from Owlspringst week, and it is very good. Hun! I was talking with Margaux when I saw Caenaing with Barb. Like earlier, she was looking happy. So much so that it seemed like, she was having a hard time keeping her expressions straight. I am also happy, to see how everything is going. I hope the debut goes great as well. ¡­ Caena I am happy, tremendously happy. Last night, I was able to see the central charm of the grand ritual that I had been imprinting on the establishment for a year. The resources I spent just to practice that single charm make my eyes water whenever I think about it and that would have been the tip of the iceberg if the miracle hadn¡¯t happenedst night. The hardest part of the grand ritual I am trying to create is a central charm. It is level above the rest. I thought it might take me months or even years of constant practice before I gained the expertise to craft it. It was supposed to be yet another practice session, but as I started, I got the feeling that today was different. I took the risk and used the real resources, and to my greatest shock, I had seeded. It was pure dumb luck. The central charm is so difficult that I couldn¡¯t craft it again. I do not have enough skills to do it. The central piece is thest piece of grand ritual, that had remained. I finished with the rest three and a half weeks ago. When I first started on grand ritual, I thought it would take years to achieve it, but with a constant supply of resources, practice, and finally permission to tap into the 1% of emotions absorbed by the establishment had changed everything. My current average is eleven charms a day, and that is with the responsibilities I have, which gives me a limited time. I am going to imprint this piece andplete the grand ritual. I wish my mother had been here, she would have been proud of me. Creating the charms had been the easiest part of the grand ritual; the hardest way to design it. Unlike the ritual that had been cast on Remus, the grand ritual I created didn¡¯t have a concrete design. It is more conceptual, and, through it, one needs to design it. My mother had achieved it when she was twenty-nine years old. Youngest in our coven in thousands of years. I may notpare to her, but if not for her record, I would be the youngest to achieve that in two thousand years. ¡°It looks good, doesn¡¯t it? It didn¡¯t feel like we have ced more chairs and tables at all,¡± said Barb and I couldn¡¯t help, but nod. It had been a few minutes since they had finished, and it looked like, two floors had been transformed. ¡°Let¡¯s look at preparations; it is only three hours before we open,¡± I said to Barb and both of us moved; there were a lot of things for me to do and I need everything to go perfect today. I need patrons satisfied and feeling lust, and a n to wear a dress that leans on the scandalous side. Since I have be a madam, I have been choosing to wear clothes on the conservative side, but today is important and I will need to harness more emotions than I had needed to charge the central charm. I feel like, I didn¡¯t need to wear a scandalous dress and all. More than half of the patrons lust after me; I will get more than enough emotions from them to charge the central charm. Still, I couldn¡¯t take any risks, especially not today. Soon, the three hours passed, and there were only ten minutes before the gates opened. ¡°Are your floors ready?¡± I asked four people in front of me. There is Stavad, Barb, Danielle, and Cath. Ashton is responsible for the restaurant, Barb for the top floor, Danielle for the third, and Cath for the second. ¡°Yes,¡± they all answered in unison. ¡°Take charge of your floor,¡± I ordered, and they all walked toward their floor, aside from Stavad, who was on his floor. I looked around and saw the tables were perfectly set and servers were waiting for guests to arrive. I looked at the clock, before turning to the mirror surface by the door, and saw myself. Eudo had really done a wonderful job and also Elese; the dress I am wearing had been personally made by her. The gown is shimmering ck with a deep v-neckline. The same v form on the back, exposing nearly all my backside. It is not as scandalous as I used to wear, but pretty close. My make-up is seductive as well; I had asked Eudo to make it more inviting, and he had done a wonderful job. Soon, the ten minutes passed, and it was time to open the gates. ¡­ ¡°Open the gates,¡± I said with Reaching Voice, a new skill in my Madam ss. It had a range of three hundred meters; it let my voice reach the person far, without raising my voice. The only condition is that I need to see them. The guards heard me and opened the gates. In less than five seconds, the first carriage entered. I didn¡¯t stay on the first floor and strode upstairs before the gates fully opened. Four hours have passed since the establishment opened, and it was full. The gates have been closed once more and there is not a single ce, that is empty on all three floors. The surprising thing is that the establishment''s gates closed a minute earlier than yesterday, despite the number of girls increasing. ¡°Mr. Koml, I hope you are having a good time,¡± I said, walking toward the man in his fifties who had been ogling me secretly. ¡°I am, but if you join me, I will have the greatest time,¡± he replied suggestively. To that, I smiled seductively as touched his and harnessed the lust he was feeling for me. ¡°I may not be able to join you, but Hilhan here will do,¡± I said as the green-haired woman appeared beside me. He turned to Hilhan while I moved to greet other patrons. Harnessing strands of lust from them. Not all felt lust for me. Some had eyes for those who were sitting next to them, and some didn¡¯t find me their type. Some didn¡¯t have an interest in the women at all. Still, more than half of them, are feeling the lust for me and I am harnessing it, before putting it into the charm along with emotions from the establishment. I have started since the first guest arrived, and till now, I have harnessed five to six regr charms worth of lust, but the central piece isn¡¯t even half-filled. I went to the top floor and talked to the patrons and Barb, who is amazing at handling the patrons. Her presence also increased the client''s liquor bill, which is great, as the establishment, earns the most through the liquor. I stayed on the top floor for a while, before going to Remus. ¡°It is looking good,¡± he said, sounding quite pleased. I didn¡¯t say anything other than smile; there was no need for me to say anything. Everything is clear as day to him, in this little watching room. ¡°Well, I will be sleeping early; I have a lot of things to do tomorrow before I leave the city,¡± he said and got up from his chair. ¡°Good night, Master Silver,¡± I said, and he smiled before leaving the small room. I watched him leave before going back to the top floor. I stayed there for a few minutes before walking to the third floor and then the second floor; the floor with the most girls. The new girls are doing well, and it is not surprising. Unlike the other girls, this batch of girls had the mostprehensive training yet. They were also the first batch to bepletely trained in a circle, with envious facilities. Unlike us, they didn¡¯t receive their training in cramped spaces, which would be their ce of work every evening. I looked at all the new girls. Especially the girl in the wheelchair. I got worried about her when, in the first half an hour, nobody sat at her table. I shouldn¡¯t have been. I should have had more faith in our training and the patrons we serve. Now she is talking with a handsome man in his mid-thirties, and they seem to be having a deep conversation. He is not the first man, who sat with her. ¡®It seemed like Remus was right again,¡¯ I thought and moved to greet the guests. I wanted to keep her third shift because of her condition, which might repel some clients, but Remus put her in the second, our most productive shift. The first shift is twelve to five in the day, the second is six to twelve in the night, and the third is twelve to six nights to morning. He was right. Yes, some patrons left seeing her, and someined, but it didn¡¯t affect the business. In a few days, they will get used to her and we will have no problems, aside from a fewints. Hours passed, and it was two and a half. The establishment is still filled. Though not as much as before, from two, the people would start to leave and by five, it would be empty. ¡°I hope, you had a great time with us, Mr. Fustalis,¡± I said to the leaving patron. ¡°I had a great time, Miss. Caena,¡± replied the man, with a smile, before leaving, with his friend. Half an hour passed when suddenly a smile appeared on my face. ¡°Danielle, I am leaving,¡± I informed her. Usually, I leave the charge at two and a half am, but I stayed a littlete tonight. I talked to Danielle for a few minutes before taking the elevator to the basement. Click! I opened the door and went inside my suit. I have a suit in the establishment, and it is the one, I used the most. I live in a circle, barely two days a week; most of my time is spent here. I sat down on the chair and closed my eyes for a second, before taking out more charms from my purse. The center charms. The charm is different from all the charms; I had created. First, it is the size of my palm, second, it is made wholly of magical material; there is not a single mundane thing in it. When one looks at it; the first thing they would notice is thirteen gems. There are twelve gems; all of them are different, but each one of them is expensive. As for the blood-red ruby in the center. It is not ruby, but a blood gem formed from the master silvers'' blood. All of them are carefully wrapped in delicate and colorful vines, petals, and leaves; they look like a piece of art. I admired it for a minute, before closing my eyes and concentrating my craft on the ritual. ¡°Eraente,¡± I said gently and put thest piece of grand ritual Kama Rakalis in its ce. The charm red brightly, and I felt the heat on my hand for several seconds, before the sensation disappeared, along with the charm. ¡°Sess,¡± I said with a smile. I had some fear that the final piece wouldn¡¯t be clicked, but it did. There seemed to be no problem with it. Hun! I was happily congratting myself when suddenly I sensed something, and my eyes widened in fear. ¡°Eynde,¡± I said immediately, and a realm establishment appeared in front of me. My eyes immediately went to the twelve hundred and thirty-two enchantments. It is very hard to miss those dots. They are zing, like an afternoon sunpared to them. The other charms are shining like a star. There is no change in them. As for the reason for their ze, it is quite simple. These freaking enchantments are sucking the emotions from the core and the core is sucking them from the establishment. People produce a lot of emotions, but the establishment''s core absorbs less than 5% of them and can retain, even less than that. Now the sudden and uncontrolled absorption had started sucking the emotions from it. It is not liking it and in self-preservation; it begins to absorb emotions around the establishment. I am shocked. I had not expected this would happen. It should have slowly epted the emotions from the core and not so suddenly, but it is doing that, and I couldn¡¯t do anything else. I am scared for the core. It is the core of the establishment and the speed with which the grand ritual absorbs the emotions, making me feel like it might destroy the core, and there is nothing I can do to stop it. Once the final imprinting started, even Remus wouldn¡¯t be able to stop it. The only thing I could do here is watch how the core is sucking every stray emotion present in the establishment. Minutes passed and the appetite for the grand ritual didn¡¯t seem to have been lessened at all. Instead, it seemed to have increased even further, forcing its core to expand its range, till it covered the whole plot of establishment. It covered exactly the range that the witch had used to bind Remus to it. Hun! I was watching with bated breath when suddenly; I noticed something. ¡°The other charms are also pulling power,¡± I said as I looked at the other enchantments. There are thousands of other charms, and they are also absorbing the emotions. Using the opportunity, that grand ritual had opened for them. What they are absorbing is much less than the grand ritual, but it is still increasing their power. This means their effects will also be going to get stronger as well. A few more minutes passed, and the appetite of the grand ritual increased further, that even the size of the core had started to shrink, while it now expanded its range underground and started to absorb the emotions from the building and soil itself. They had a lot of emotions stored in them and now this grand ritual absorbing it all. I only hope it spares the core. If it is consumed or destroyed; then everything is over; even the grand ritual, will only work for a few days at most before disappearing. If the core remains; it can be used in perpetuity. If the establishment ever turned into a legacy; this grand ritual will show its real power. Minutes passed, and I genuinely feared that it would be such the core itself, seeing every bit of emotions present in, around, and underground of the establishment had absorbed; that now only the core had remained. Hun! I was thinking that when suddenly, the grand ritual begins to slow down its absorptions before stopping. Seeing that relief flooded my heart. The grand ritual had sucked so much emotion that it had reduced the size of the core to the fourth. Buzz! I was looking at the core when the grand ritual buzzed, and for a moment, I felt a terror before I realized it wasn¡¯t trying to absorb the emotions again. No, instead of all the charms seemed to be moving toward the central charm, before merging with it. It is happening very fast, and within seconds, all the charms merge into a single point. The point zed for a second, giving me another stare before the ze began to fade and it revealed itself. A twelve-pointed star made of runes. Gasp! A gasp of shock couldn¡¯t help bute out of my mouth as I saw the twelve-pointed star. The same star, I had seen in the tome of grand ritual. Though it is more basic than what I had seen in the tome. I could still recognize those runes, which felt clear, but when one tried memorizing them, they turned hazy. Only after fully understanding the grand ritual is one able to see those runes in their realm form. All the enchantments are dots, but only the grand ritual is in the shape of the star; I could already imagine the things it would be able to do, just seeing it. I wanted to use it immediately, but seeing the state of the core, I decided against it. The size of the core had shrunken by a fourth and I could even see the faint instability in it. It would be a big mistake to stress it further. It might copse. I won''t do anything until it stabilizes fully, including imprinting any new charms on it. I looked at it for a couple of minutes before finally deactivating the spell and returning to the real world. Unexpected things have happened, but no permanent harm has been done. However, one thing is clear, I will need to keep an eye on it for any irregrity and check the power of the grand ritual as soon as the core has stabilized. I never know when I might need to use it. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 264: Grand Ritual of Kama Rakalis II Chapter 264: Grand Ritual of Kama Rakalis II ¡°Open the gates,¡± I said with Reaching Voice, a new skill in my Madam ss. It had a range of three hundred meters; it let my voice reach the person far, without raising my voice. The only condition is that I need to see them. The guards heard me and opened the gates. In less than five seconds, the first carriage entered. I didn¡¯t stay on the first floor and strode upstairs before the gates fully opened. Four hours have passed since the establishment opened, and it was full. The gates have been closed once more and there is not a single ce, that is empty on all three floors. The surprising thing is that the establishment''s gates closed a minute earlier than yesterday, despite the number of girls increasing. ¡°Mr. Koml, I hope you are having a good time,¡± I said, walking toward the man in his fifties who had been ogling me secretly. ¡°I am, but if you join me, I will have the greatest time,¡± he replied suggestively. To that, I smiled seductively as touched his and harnessed the lust he was feeling for me. ¡°I may not be able to join you, but Hilhan here will do,¡± I said as the green-haired woman appeared beside me. He turned to Hilhan while I moved to greet other patrons. Harnessing strands of lust from them. Not all felt lust for me. Some had eyes for those who were sitting next to them, and some didn¡¯t find me their type. Some didn¡¯t have an interest in the women at all. Still, more than half of them, are feeling the lust for me and I harnessing it, before putting it into the charm along with emotions from the establishment. I have started since the first guest arrived, and till now, I have harnessed five to six regr charms worth of lust, but the central piece isn¡¯t even half-filled. I went to the top floor and talked to the patrons and Barb, who is amazing at handling the patrons. Her presence also increased the client''s liquor bill, which is great, as the establishment, earns the most through the liquor. I stayed on the top floor for a while, before going to Remus. ¡°It is looking good,¡± he said, sounding quite pleased. I didn¡¯t say anything other than smile; there was no need for me to say anything. Everything is clear as day to him, in this little watching room. ¡°Well, I will be sleeping early; I have a lot of things to do tomorrow before I leave the city,¡± he said and got up from his chair. ¡°Good night, Master Silver,¡± I said, and he smiled before walking out of the small room. I watched him leave before going back to the top floor. I stayed there for a few minutes before walking to the third floor and then the second floor; the floor with the most girls. The new girls are doing well, and it is not surprising. Unlike the other girls, this batch of girls had the mostprehensive training yet. They were also the first batch to bepletely trained in a circle, with envious facilities. Unlike us, they didn¡¯t receive their training in cramped spaces, which would be their ce of work every evening. I looked at all the new girls. Especially the girl in the wheelchair. I got worried about her when, in the first half an hour, nobody sat at her table. I shouldn¡¯t have been. I should have had more faith in our training and the patrons we serve. Now she is talking with a handsome man in his mid-thirties, and they seem to be having a deep conversation. He is not the first man, who sat with her. ¡®It seemed like Remus was right again,¡¯ I thought and moved to greet the guests. I wanted to keep her third shift because of her condition, which might repel some clients, but Remus put her in the second, our most productive shift. The first shift is twelve to five in the day, the second is six to twelve in the night, and the third is twelve to six nights to morning. He was right. Yes, some patrons left seeing her, and someined, but it didn¡¯t affect the business. In a few days, they will get used to her and we will have no problems, aside from a fewints. Hours passed, and it was two and a half. The establishment is still filled. Though not as much as before, from two, the people would start to leave and by five, it would bepletely empty. ¡°I hope, you had a great time with us, Mr. Fustalis,¡± I said to the leaving patron. ¡°I had a great time, Miss. Caena,¡± replied the man, with a smile, before leaving, with his friend. Half an hour passed when suddenly a smile appeared on my face. ¡°Danielle, I am leaving,¡± I informed her. Usually, I leave the charge at two and a half am, but I stayed a littlete tonight. I talked to Danielle for a few minutes before taking the elevator to the basement. Click! I opened the door and went inside my suit. I have a suit in the establishment, and it is the one, I used the most. I live in a circle, barely two days a week; most of my time is spent here. I sat down on the chair and closed my eyes for a second, before taking out more charms from my purse. The center charms. The charm is different from all the charms; I had created. First, it is the size of my palm, the second, it is made wholly of magical material; there is not a single mundane thing in it. When one looks at it; the first thing they would notice is thirteen gems. There are twelve gems; all of them are different, but each one of them is expensive. As for the blood-red ruby in the center. It is not ruby, but a blood gem formed from the master silvers'' blood. All of them are carefully wrapped in delicate and colorful vines, petals, and leaves; they look like a piece of art. I admired it for a minute, before closing my eyes and concentrating my craft on the ritual. ¡°Eraente,¡± I said gently and put thest piece of grand ritual Kama Rakalis in its ce. The charm red brightly, and I felt the heat on my hand for several seconds, before the sensation disappeared, along with the charm. ¡°Sess,¡± I said with a smile. I had some fear that the final piece wouldn¡¯t be clicked, but it did. There seemed to be no problem with it. Hun! I was happily congratting myself when suddenly I sensed something, and my eyes widened in fear. ¡°Eynde,¡± I said immediately, and a realm establishment appeared in front of me. My eyes immediately went to the twelve hundred and thirty-two enchantments. It is very hard to miss those dots. They are zing, like an afternoon sunpared to them. The other charms are shining like a star. There is no change in them. As for the reason for their ze, it is quite simple. These freaking enchantments are sucking the emotions from the core and the core is sucking them from the establishment. People produce a lot of emotions, but the establishment''s core absorbs less than 5% of them and is able to retain, even less than that. Now the sudden and uncontrolled absorption had started sucking the emotions from it. It is not liking it and in self-preservation; it begins to absorb emotions around the establishment. I am shocked. I had not expected this would happen. It should have slowly epted the emotions from the core and not so suddenly, but it is doing that, and I couldn¡¯t do anything else. I am scared for the core. It is the core of the establishment and the speed with which the grand ritual absorbs the emotions, making me feel like it might destroy the core, and there is nothing I can do to stop it. Once the final imprinting started, even Remus wouldn¡¯t be able to stop it. The only thing I could do here is watch how the core is sucking every stray emotion present in the establishment. Minutes passed and the appetite for the grand ritual didn¡¯t seem to have been lessened at all. Instead, it seemed to have increased even further, forcing its core to expand its range, till it covered the whole plot of establishment. It covered exactly the range that the witch had used to bind Remus to it. Hun! I was watching with bated breath when suddenly; I noticed something. ¡°The other charms are also pulling power,¡± I said as I looked at the other enchantments. There are thousands of other charms, and they are also absorbing the emotions. Using the opportunity, that grand ritual had opened for them. What they are absorbing is much less than the grand ritual, but it is still increasing their power. This means their effects will also be going to get stronger as well. A few more minutes passed, and the appetite of the grand ritual increased further, that even the size of the core had started to shrink, while it now expanded its range underground and started to absorb the emotions from the building and soil itself. They had a lot of emotions stored in them and now this grand ritual absorbing it all. I only hope it spares the core. If it is consumed or destroyed; then everything is over; even the grand ritual, will only work for a few days at most before disappearing. If the core remains; it can be used in perpetuity. If the establishment ever turned into a legacy; this grand ritual will show its real power. Minutes passed, and I genuinely feared that it would be such the core itself, seeing every bit of emotions present in, around, and underground of the establishment had absorbed; that now only the core had remained. Hun! I was thinking that when suddenly, the grand ritual begins to slow down its absorptions before stopping. Seeing that relief flooded my heart. The grand ritual had sucked so much emotion that it had reduced the size of the core to the fourth. Buzz! I was looking at the core when the grand ritual buzzed, and for a moment, I felt a terror before I realized it wasn¡¯t trying to absorb the emotions again. No, instead of all the charms seemed to be moving toward the central charm, before merging with it. It is happening very fast, and within seconds, all the charms merge into a single point. The point zed for a second, giving me another stare before the ze began to fade and it revealed itself. A twelve-pointed star made of runes. Gasp! A gasp of shock couldn¡¯t help bute out of my mouth as I saw the twelve-pointed star. The same star, I had seen in the tome of grand ritual. Though it is more basic than what I had seen in the tome. I could still recognize those runes, which felt clear, but when one tried memorizing them, they turned hazy. Only after fully understanding the grand ritual is one able to see those runes in their realm form. All the enchantments are dots, but only the grand ritual is in the shape of the star; I could already imagine the things it would be able to do, just seeing it. I wanted to use it immediately, but seeing the state of the core, I decided against it. The size of the core had shrunken by a fourth and I could even see the faint instability in it. It would be a big mistake to stress it further. It might copse. I won''t do anything until it stabilizes fully, including imprinting any new charms on it. I looked at it for a couple of minutes before finally deactivating the spell and returning to the real world. Unexpected things have happened, but no permanent harm has been done. However, one thing is clear, I will need to keep an eye on it for any irregrity and check the power of the grand ritual as soon as the core has stabilized. I never know when I might need to use it. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 265: Underhand Dealings Chapter 265: Underhand Dealings Those who are confused about thest two chapters. Well, I have written them as the one. Copied the second half and pasted it on another document, but forgot to delete it from the first copy. It is a simple mistake of using a copy paste, instead of a cut paste. Whore Lv. 15 Whore Lv. 16 {Skill Gained: ¡­} Prostitute Lv. 18 Trollop Lv. 17 {Skill Gained: ¡­} . . . Bell Prostitute Lv. 20 {Conditions Met: Prostitute - Prostitute of Riveting Voice} {Conditions Met: ¡­} {Conditions Met: ¡­} {Conditions Met: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Conditions Met: Prostitute of Riveting Voice + L} {Consolidation Rejected} I sighed with relief but also conflict as I looked at the texts. It is not the first time; I have rejected the consolidation. It is the second time since I came here and the fourth one since the first attempt, seven years ago. Many times, I wanted to ept and get done with it. If I had epted the first time, my level would have been much higher. It is due to my primary ss, that my level up is slow. The secondary ss is more than ten levels higher than my primary ss. I pushed the thought and focused on the Prostitute ss, which I hate so much, but also love it. It is the reason, I am alive. Now that it had finally reached Lv. 20. I could finally have a private room and be a person, who I really am. At least in its confines. ¡­. Witch of Luminescent Brothel Lv. 27 Witch of Luminescent Brothel Lv. 28 Witch of Luminescent Brothel Lv. 29 {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} Madam Lv. 9 ¡°Three levels,¡± I muttered and not a one bit surprised. I have performed a grand ritual; something that is extremely hard. I gathered my craft, and a few secondster, a smile appeared on my face. I had leveled up, three times in my primary ss, but was not able to breach the capstone. Though I have crossed more than half of the distance into my capstone. It won¡¯t take me more than a few months to cross it. As for the first capstone of the madam ss, I am not worried about it. I won¡¯t have much problem crossing it. I am most interested in whether it will consolidate into my primary ss, before it reaches the third capstone or after it. If it consolidates before, my main ss breaches the third capstone, it will increase the difficulty of breaching the third capstone. I could reject its consolidation when it appears, but I will not. Yes, Lv. 3o important, but not as important as it had been yesterday, before the grand ritual. I also want the elements of a madam ss in my primary ss before it breaches the capstone. It will increase the difficulty of advancement, but when it does, it will help me upgrade my primary ss, which is more important to me. ¡­ Agent of Experience Lv. 24 Agent of Experience Lv.25 {Skill Gained: Underhand Dealings} I woke up feeling the change and found the text in front of me. The texts were surprising, shocking even, but I didn¡¯t focus on it. Instead, focused on the thing that woke me up. ¡°Is that a dream?¡± I asked. Feeling the change in the establishment. It is too big to not notice, and it is strange. The power of enchantment charms had increased, I could tell that quite precisely. In these past few months, I have learned to gauge that by focusing on thefort type of enchantment charms; that had been imprinted on the establishment. I could use the other types of charms, but found thefort type most suitable. I will look at the effect of other charms, toplete, but I am already nearly sure, that charm power had doubled overnight. I have felt this change strange, not because of its sudden increase in charms powers, but also because of the feeling of establishment, which had decreased so much, that I had to concentrate to feel. It was not the case before. Usually, the feeling of the power and enchantment charms increased together. ¡°I will have to ask Caena what happened,¡± I said to myself, before focusing on another shocking thing. The texts in front of me. I was hoping for a level, but chances seemed small; a debut isn¡¯t enough to get a level, but I got two and even a skill. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help, but think, the changes happening might be rted to the sudden changes that happened to the establishment. I am nearly sure of it and could even feel, whatever happened is important enough, that I had gained two levels from it. I looked at two levels and couldn¡¯t help but feel happy, but when I looked at the skill, my expressions turned a little strange. Underhand Dealings. My father used to say, this is a skill, that one needs to be clever to use it. Of course, all skills, when used aptly, show their real power, but one needs to be clever enough to use it. This is a skill that is informally known as grey skill or dark skill, depending on where you live. Its working is simple, it lets you help to hide traces of not-so-legal dealings. It is why, needs one to be clever when using it, because some people get too dependent on it and end up getting caught by the authorities. It is an unexpected skill; I had not thought I would get one, seeing these types of skills gained by Shady Merchants or Traffickers, but I am happy to get it. I am not an honest merchant, barely anyone is. Sometimes, I make deals that are notpletely legal. Now, with this skill, I will be able to hide the traces of it better. However, if I depended too much on it; I would get caught like, so many people do.
ss: Agent of Experience Lv. 25
Masterful Administrator Lv. 21 de Warrior Lv. 19 Trainer Lv. 07
Charisma: 16
Intelligence: 13
Vitality: 10
Strength: 12
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Sense ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Rapid Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Persuasive ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ Swift de ¡¤ Lords Mood ¡¤ Privacy Sphere ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry ¡¤ Sharpness ¡¤ Active Presence ¡¤ See My Vision ¡¤ Instant Recollection ¡¤ Underhand Dealings
Attribute Points: 02
I summoned the table and realized it was the first time I didn¡¯t know where to spend the attribute points. One side of my mind, telling me I should use it on charm and intelligence as it will help me with my business and job, but the other side is telling me, that I should use it on strength and vitality after, what I had experienced, recently. I had nearly spent them before stopping myself. This won¡¯t do. I will have to decide soon. In a few hours, before I leave the city tonight. I thought for a while before getting off the bed and going into the bathroom. I got out ten minutester and stepped out of the room, wearing practice clothes. ¡°The new skill. It feels pretty powerful,¡± said Jon from behind. I nearly stopped and stumbled, not by his sudden voice. No, I had got used to that months ago, but on what he said. People sense the effects of the charms; they are not idiots, but we always implied it to the skills. We cannot tell people that we had imprinted hundreds of charms on the establishment. That would be a sure way to get behind the bars. Even knowledge of Caena¡¯s primary ss will put me in deep trouble. Thankfully, she had said that one would need to be pretty high level to see through her ss, without her permission. ¡°It is,¡± I replied and continued walking without looking back. Soon, I walked out of the establishment. It is feeling slightly chilly, despite the winter being over. It is still dark, with the moon hanging in the sky. Not for long, in nearly an hour, the sun woulde out and the moon would disappear. I reached the practice ring and started with yoga, while Jon watched. An hourter, I was finished, and we started with my training. I usually don¡¯t train in the establishment. I had created a nice space behind my manor. It had all kinds of practice weapons and instructor David used them to help me get used to fighting them. Still, I sometimes sleep in the establishment and maintain a practice ring here; it is useful in times like this. Two hourster, we stopped. I took my bruised body to my room and applied numbing cream, before showering. Click! It was eight when I walked into the office, and as usual, Caena was there, and she seemed to be deep in her thoughts. ¡°Good morning, Caena,¡± I said, which seemed to startle her before she calmed herself and looked at me. ¡°Good morning, Master Silver,¡± she replied with flushed cheeks. I sat down and touched runes below my table activating the privacy enchantment, while at the same time activating the Privacy Sphere, and turned to her. ¡°So, what happened?¡± I asked. There was no surprise in her face at my question; she seemed to expect that I would ask her that. Still, she didn¡¯t answer immediately and seemed to be thinking, collecting her words. ¡°Last night, after I handed the charge, I went to my suit and began imprinting the charms.¡± ¡°The first and second ones are imprinted as usual, but I had imprinted the third charm, and all hell broke loose. I thought they would destroy the establishment,¡± she said, with her eyes widening as if she were remembering what she had experienced. ¡°Does that charm was any special?¡± I asked with a frown. ¡°No, it was one of the psychological charms to lower the aggression,¡± she replied, shaking her head. ¡°What do you think had happened?¡± I asked after a few seconds of silence. ¡°As far as I could tell; the charm seemed to have triggered something and all the charms started to absorb the power from the establishment, at a rate of hundreds of times faster than they normally do,¡± she replied. In my dream, I saw that sun again and hundreds of twinkling stars on the thin strings. Suddenly, one block of stars zed and started to absorb the power from the sun, and it seemed to have done that for quite a while, as when it finished, its size seemed to have reduced by less than half. After it was done, I saw that cluster of twinkling dots begin moving toward the single point and that point transformed into the twelve-pointed star. I don¡¯t know if it was true, but it brought a lot of questions. ¡°Is that all?¡± I asked, and she nodded after a moment of hesitation. ¡°To be safe, I won¡¯t be imprinting new enchantments till I am sure, it is safe.¡± She said. ¡°Do that,¡± I affirmed. I had my doubts about whether this was everything she knew or even the dream I had seen was true, but I had kept them to myself. However, I will be focusing more on the feeling from now on and the changes it brought. ¡°It might be unexpected, but it has brought a huge change,¡± I said, and she nodded, with a small smile. ¡°The power of charms has doubled; it happened so suddenly, the girls had been asking me if this was the skill I received after breaching the capstone,¡± she said. Nobody should know the real reason, or we will be destroyed. ¡°Let them think it is,¡± I replied, and she smiled. ¡°Then I should congratte myself for breaching the third capstone and getting this amazing skill,¡± she said, and the smile on my face turned bright. The effects of the charms had be powerful enough that the host should be at Lv. 30 and skill be a capstone skill. Click! We talked for a few minutes and the girls came, bringing the file, of the night''s business. ¡°We did well; the sales of sample liquor also seemed to have gone well,¡± I said, looking at the figures in front of me. The numbers are great, and rising in categories, I want them to. ¡°It is. I didn¡¯t think these no-name brands would sell so much,¡± said Caena and turned to Barb, who smiled with a hint of pride. I had asked her and our bartending staff to find the hidden gems. Not all good liquors are famous, there are many good things hidden in the rubble. If we want to provide our patrons with the best experience, we will have to find them; not to mention, these gems are quite cheap, and we make massive margins through them. Barb is quite good at finding them and till now, she had found fourteen of such. We have been bringing one or two new ones, every week, but yesterday. We have brought all out; it was a risk to introduce so many unfamiliar liquors at once. Especially when liquor and food are responsible for most of our revenue, but seeing the result, the risk seemed to be worth it. It is only a day; we will be able to say for sure, when after a week or two of data. ¡°Keep an eye on it and if it seems to be working, give the big order,¡± I said to them. A few minutester, the meeting ended, and the girls left; an hourter, I walked out of the establishment. There are a few things I have to do before I leave the city tonight. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 266: Trip Chapter 266: Trip Click! A young man walked out of the door with a huff. It is clear by his expression that he is not happy, with what happened during the meeting with his father. ¡°We will bete by only a week, my lord. The day the princess left, we can leave too,¡± said the middle-aged man. The young man had just been told that a princess wasing and till she left, he could not leave either. He is tired of them; she is not the first princess and prince, who came in the past year. There have been several, and they have spoiled his ns before. He wouldn¡¯t have minded if he had been Crown Prince or Prince Grelt or Princess Orlene, who has a chance for the throne. No, it is just a general critter from imperial litter. ¡°She has toe now, just when we were preparing to leave for Renwell!¡± asked the young man in indignation. The middle-aged man smartly didn¡¯t reply to that. ¡°I will be informing them of our dy,¡± he said a few minutester, and the young man didn¡¯t reply. ¡­ ¡°Give this to Dane once you reach there,¡± said Count, sliding the envelope toward me. I took it and ced it in my bag. ¡°Anything you want me to say to him, my lord?¡± I asked. ¡°No, I have written what I want to say to him in the letter,¡± he replied before his expression turned serious. ¡°Be careful, Remus; it is just a few hours ago, they killed someone in Almin.¡± He cautioned, and I shuddered. It is the first thing, he informed me about when I hade a few minutes ago. I had expected, seeing how he had called me suddenly, when we had already had a meeting in the afternoon. It is also veryte. Count doesn¡¯t meet anyone thiste unless it is important. ¡°I will,¡± I replied and got up before leaving the office. As I stepped out of the office, I added one point to the strength, taking it to thirteen, while the second into the vitality, taking it to eleven. Immediately, I felt the change; the others also seemed to have felt it since all three of them turned to me. I have been thinking about the attributes hard since I received them in the morning, but after I heard the news, I knew I had to add the points to the physical attribute. I cannot take the risk, when those bastards hadn¡¯t stopped killing. It is not the first assassination attempt after that day. It is a third one and the first that had seeded; there might be more, and the cities hadn¡¯t shared the news. Soon, I reached my carriage. It is heavily protected; with two captains and twenty-four other soldiers surrounding it, all over Lv. 20. These are no normal soldiers, each one of them is proficient in protection. Not to mention my own guards. With such protection, the enemies will need to try very hard to kill me. They will either need arge number of people, or several powerful people if they even want to have a chance. Despite that, I want to run to the establishment and not go to the Mirador Hold, but unfortunately, I can¡¯t hide forever. It would be a sure way to lose the job I had worked so hard to get. I sat in the carriage, and it began to move toward the establishment. I am going to the establishment, just picking someone from there. Fifteen minutester, the carriage stopped at the gates of the circle. Click! A few secondster, the gates opened and a young woman with thick blond hair, wearing a traveling tunic and pants, stepped inside the carriage. ¡°Master Silver,¡± she greeted. ¡°Varza,¡± I said to the young woman. The young woman is one of the few people I respect. She had brought a change in the establishment by her daring choice. She took a seat opposite of me and the carriage began to move. ¡°You can remove the wig; wear it when we reach the Mirador Hold,¡± I said, to her, seeing her unconsciously touching it, several times, despite it fitting her perfectly. If I did know, I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that she was wearing a wig. Her original hair is cut into pixy cut and painted in neon blue. She is the reason why, many girls in the establishment had started cutting their hair short. She is Varza Steel; one of the assistant madams. One of the five girls was promoted to assistant madam with Cath and Gloria. She will being with me to Mirador Hold, before going with Ina. With Andrea helping Ca, Ina needs someone and Varza is perfect for that. ¡°It is fine, I need to get used to wearing it,¡± she replied with a small smile, and I smiled back, but there was no mirth in my smile. I hate that she is being forced to wear the wig, but the world is not epting it as our den of sin. Soon, the carriage passed through the gates of the port and stopped at the river. We got out and sat in the boat, while the boat moved toward the other side. We are not the only ship that is moving. There are many. Due to the trade with the Navr and baronies, there were a lot of boats that moved across the river, and that disturbed the shipsing and going toward the merchant cities. We have controlled the boat traffic and moved them when the traffic of ships is less, but it is not a permanent solution. If the trade keeps increasing at current. Then, within a year, it will pose a real difficulty. A bridge would be a permanent solution; it would make things much more efficient, but the Count didn¡¯t want to pay for it. Even though the toll from it, will be enough to pay the debt incurred from it. It will take even less than that, if we count the ease and increase in trade it will bring. We reach the other side and sit down in the carriage that was waiting for us, before continuing our journey. Hun! A few minutes passed, when suddenly, my mind buzzed, and a small smile appeared on my face. I willed it and the missive opened, and I began to read. It is a lot like opening a mail but inside one¡¯s mind. This is a ¡®Missive,¡¯ the new skill of Ina and, ording to me, the most useful. A hundred times more secure than the message spell. Ina sends a missive every day at eleven pm. Here, she could write things, that she couldn¡¯t in message spell, and I found it immensely useful. ording to experiments we did; she could only be sent one missive at a day, and the limit of it was two thousand and five hundred words. It is why, she sent at eleven in the night, when she finishes with her day, and an hourter, at midnight, her skill refreshes. This means, that if there is any emergency, she could send the missive during the day, at any time. Currently, the distance didn¡¯t seem to be a problem, but Navr isn¡¯t that far, I don¡¯t know whether she would be able to send it. If she went to Namdar or another continent. We have also not tested whether the skill would work in ancient cities of Navr, which areden with powerful magic. I had asked her not to use this skill in cities of Navr, who knows what kind of magic they have, I don¡¯t want them to know that Ina has this skill. We might be small yers on big boards, but it always helps to keep one''s cards hidden. I finished reading the missive quickly; in it, she had exined everything that had happened in the past two days. She took merchants of Deerpond and other six cities to Navr three days ago and will be returning tomorrow morning. Those merchants have brought goods massively; they seemed to have wanted to make up for a year of lost opportunity. Count Darrow had been very happy seeing the number. It is a single number that made him happy, but how that number will repeat and rise in theing weeks and months. It will earn him massive taxes. I closed the missive and saw it disappear; it would have disappeared on its own in twelve minutes if I had not closed it. I opened my eyes and saw Varza already sleeping, while Z was still studying. She used to study the before, but after the attack, she had started doing that zealously. She would study and practice the spell; in every minute she has. ¡°Sleep, Z. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,¡± I said. She didn¡¯t even nce at me, but I could tell she had heard me as she nodded faintly. I smiled and closed my eyes and within a minute; I fell asleep. Hoping that no assassins woulde to murder me. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 267: Touch My People Again and I W… Chapter 267: Touch My People Again and I W¡­ ¡°Mr. Silver, wake up,¡± said a gentle voice. I immediately opened my eyes and saw that it was still dark. ¡°We are a few minutes away from the mirador hold,¡± informed Z. I nodded and straightened myself before looking out of the window. I could see the grand silhouette of the mirador holding in the distance. Lights on the massive fortress are shining through the dark; illuminating it, like a moon in a night''s sky. Even after seeing it, so many times. It still amazes me. It also horrifies me, when I remember, how many times the hordes of Navr break through it. When its walls were heavily enchanted and had ten times more men defending it. Now, they are just fixed, with barely a singleyer of enchantment, and have men that might not stand again, even a single wave of the grand horde. The carriage moved quickly toward it through the paved road and power of the skills. The sun hadn¡¯te out yet, but it will be in half an hour. We had reached pretty quickly and would have been reached even more quickly if the whole road was paved, but only one from Nakar baronies was. The rest, toward the city, was a dirt road. A well-maintained one, but still a dirt road. The carriage went inside through the massive door of the castle, before stopping. Click! ¡°Wee to Mirador Hold, Adviser,¡± said the man in his mid-fifties, with the sandy brown hair. ¡°Thank you, Major Dicken,¡± I replied and got out of the carriage. ¡°How was your journey? Did you face any problems?¡± he asked. ¡°Thankfully, not; the assassins seemed to be too busy to target me,¡± I replied, bringing out a small smile on his face. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about them anymore, Adviser. You are in the Mirador Hold now, no assassin will dare to attack you here,¡± he said, while I just looked at him. The man seemed to feel some embarrassment as his cheeks reddened a little. Both of us hadn¡¯t forgotten what happened a year ago and, I am sure, Viscount Atre and his men hadn¡¯t either. We talked as he took me toward my amodations. Click! ¡°At eight-fifteen, I wille to receive your breakfast meeting with themander Dane,¡± he informed and walked away, while I had stepped into my suit. I didn¡¯t stay in the suit for long. Fifteen minutester, I walked out of the suit, wearing practice clothes. It is a great ce to train against people of varying skills and great experience. Today¡¯s session is quite important. I had spent the attribute points and I want to get used to them and there is nothing like sparring. That will help with that. Soon, I reached the area, and within a minute; I had an opponent. It is not the first time I havee to the Mirador Hold. Every time I came here; I spar with the people. I sparred for one and a half hours, before walking back into my suit. There, I showered and changed into the new suit, and waited for Dicken. He didn¡¯t take long; at exactly eight fifteen, he knocked on my door. ¡°Commander Dane,¡± I greeted the man as I entered the room. He was sitting in a beautiful room, which provided aplete back view. If one concentrates enough, one could even see the verdant hills in the distance. ¡°Adviser,e take a seat,¡± he said and offered me a seat. ¡°Thank you,mander,¡± I thanked and took a seat. ¡°Congrattions on your promotion. I hope it will make the rtionship between the city and hold, more productive,¡± he said. The man is equating the hold and city as the same when they are not. He is a subservient to the lord of Greltheaven. However, he didn¡¯t like when one pointed it out and I am not going to do that as well. ¡°Thank you, Commander,¡± I replied and took out the letter from my bag; seeing that, his eyes lit up. ¡°Count Darrow had asked me to give you this, Commander,¡± I said, handing him the letter. To my surprise, he tore it open in front of me and began to read it. There was a frown on his face first before his eyes lit up. After he finished reading the letter, he ced it on the table and looked at the butler, standing at a distance. The butler left, beforeing out with two maids and the breakfast. ¡°Adviser, I am still waiting for those facilities I told you about. My men need them for effect battle readiness against the undead,¡± he said, as we started eating breakfast. ¡°I have ryed your concerns to the Count, Commander,¡± I replied simply. ¡°I have you have some budget, adviser; share a little of that with us,¡± he said, while I shook my head. ¡°Unfortunately, it is strictly for trade infrastructure. I cannot use it for any other things.¡± ¡°Besides, the measly budget I have was not enough for the facilities you want to build,¡± I replied. ¡°It is why I want you to convince the Count.¡± ¡°You have fought against the undead; you should realize how tough it is to deal with them. We need to be ready to deal with any unexpected attack and those facilities will help us in a big way,¡± he pressed. ¡°I understand, Commander, but there is nothing I could do other than ry your request to the Count,¡± I replied. He nodded and sighed. The rest of breakfast continued without much conversation. We talked, but not a lot and the things we talked about were inconsequential. Soon, we finished with the breakfast, and the maids cleared the table. ¡°I had heard you have been targeted by the assassins by coast?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, it was a nasty battle, and we have lost some good people,¡± I said, feeling sorrow for the deaths it had caused. ¡°It said there were two Lv. 30+, including a High Mage?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes; I have barely survived,¡± I replied, and his eyes twinkled. ¡°I have read the reports and I have to say, you have hit the goldmine, Adviser. A Giant-blood in the process of awakening and a Mage, who could keep the Great Mage upied. Such people are extremely rare,¡± he said and didn¡¯t even hide his greed. It seemed like everyone had read the report and was now trying to poach my guards. Count Darrow is trying, as well as many other people in the city. Even people from the merchant states are trying. They have not epted it and assured me won¡¯t do it, but reminded me, that I will also need to show my sincerity. Their contract ends in two months, and I am already preparing a huge offer; it is the least I can do. I mean, if they wanted to, they could have broken off the contract and gone to those who were willing to offer them huge money. More than I could even in my final offer, but they are staying. ¡°I am lucky,¡± I replied, and now, this bastard would also make an offer. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped and closed it before opening it again. ¡°They have arrived,¡± he said. I didn¡¯t have to ask him who had arrived and turned to the widow, but I didn¡¯t see anyone and turned back to him. ¡°They have crossed the boundary of the empire; it will take them some time, to enter the hold,¡± he added. A few minutester, the meeting ended. I didn¡¯t go back to my suit and instead went on the tour of the warehouses and other things we had built. Every month, we are building new warehouses to support increasing trade. It is not like auryl town, where we have started to let private yers do the things. This is a military facility. Here we can¡¯t do that. Aside from warehouses, we have also built many other things. Like this big guesthouse, which is exclusively for the merchants. It took some convincing before the Count agreed, but it was the best decision. It is always booked and also increased the trade. The Count also understood that. He had permitted its expansion, without much convincing. Finally, the gates opened, and the carriages strode in, before stopping not far away from me. Merchants, with weary faces but bright smiles, started toe out of the carriages. It is clear from their expressions that the trip went very well for them. I am also happy; I have also earned quite a bit of money, thanks to them. These people belong to the seven cities that I had negotiated a few days ago. Seeing this, a big smile appeared on my face. I had worked hard for a year to make it happen and now it did; they had the first trip to Navr, and they will not stop. They might detest undead, but they will buy their goods. It is too irresistible with the rates they offer, and it will be even more resistible once the conflict begins. It is not just the merchants in there, but also people like Javier Ronda, who is also smiling, but when he looked at me, the smile vanished, and anger appeared on his face. It surprised me, but I only looked for a second before I turned to the person who appeared next to me. ¡°Master Silver,¡± greeted Ina. I opened my mouth to ask her about her trip when I noticed her expression. At one nce, they seemed normal, but I know her enough to tell. Something is wrong. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked her. ¡°Nothing,¡± she replied immediately, which made me even sure something had happened. So, I kept looking at her. ¡°It was a small thing. It was not something I hadn¡¯t experienced in my life,¡± she replied with a mirthless smile. Now, I knew it was something big and turned to the man behind him. ¡°Hugo?¡± I asked, activating Privacy Dome. He looked at her, before turning to me. ¡°That Javier Ronda had tried to force himself on Ina,¡± he replied, and my body shook, and rage, that I rarely feel burned in my heart. ¡°Exactly what happened?¡± I asked slowly. I didn¡¯t ask that to Hugo, but to Ina. She didn¡¯t say anything for several seconds before opening her mouth. ¡°He had been making advances since the trip began, but never crossed the line, till yesterday.¡± ¡°It was an hour before leaving when he knocked on my door and entered inside without being invited and forced himself on me,¡± ¡°If not for Hugo and others, arriving rightly, he might have¡± She was so shaking, by the end that she couldn¡¯t even finish the sentence. Thankfully, Varza was beside me and hugged Ina, which seemed to help her. It had been nearly a year since I had given her this responsibility, and many people made advances on her, more than I could count, but no one had crossed the line. Javier Ronda did, and he is quite infamous for that. Maeve had left Deerpond because of him, and she was the lucky one. Many other women were not. Still, nothing happened to him, because of his father. It took me a few seconds to control myself and looked toward Javier Ronda, only to see himing toward me, with an old man in his early sixties. The old man is Irvin Hewett; head of Deerpond¡¯s delegation. ¡°Master Silver, don¡¯t do anything,¡± said Ina, as if feeling I might do something. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said with a smile and turned to Javier Ronda, who had stopped beside me. ¡°Silver, this filthy whore of yours has some gal,¡± he said, with anger zing in his eyes. ¡°I had just heard what happened. Can we talk in some privacy?¡± I asked gently, motioning toward the guard station. He opened his mouth, but the old man beside him cut him quickly. ¡°Privacy is good, adviser,¡± replied the old man. The young man red, but followed me toward the guard station. We entered the guard station, where three guards were sitting. ¡°Gentlemen, could you give us some privacy?¡± I asked them. One was shaking his head, but the man with the mustache cut him off ¡°It won''t be a problem, adviser,¡± he replied and walked out of the room with others and closed the doors behind him. ¡°Bang!¡± ¡°As I was saying, your wh¡± his voice cut off and rm shed in his eyes, as I swiftly grabbed his neck and pushed him hard against the wall. It caught everyone by surprise and some gasped audibly. His guards reacted quickly, but before they could even take a step forward, Stone, Jon, and Hugo appeared in front of them, while Z covered us, in a watery dome. Bam Bam Ban ¡°Y¡± he spoke, but before he could finish the word, I punched his stomach several times till spit flew out of his mouth, before kicking his groin hard with my knee, bringing tears to his eyes. ¡°Adviser, please cease what you are doing. You won¡¯t like, the consequences of what will happen next,¡± warned the old man. Bam Bam Bam Instead of replying, I punched Ronda again while not letting him breathe. He tried to resist and even used skills, but they were not enough to get him out of my hold. ¡°Touch my people again and I will carve you bloody next time,¡± I said and let go of him. He fell down and started breathing heavily while holding his stomach tight. I didn¡¯t use my skills, but I didn¡¯t hold back my strength either. ¡°You will pay for this, silver,¡± he threatened breathlessly as I opened the door. ¡°I will be waiting,¡± I replied and got out, with others following behind me. ¡°His father won¡¯t like it,¡± said Ina, looking very worried, but there was also a spark of joy in her teary eyes. "I will be fine,¡± I replied. His father could create some trouble, but I will handle it. No one touches my people and gets away with it. A few punches aren¡¯t enough, but doing more is not wise. There will be a day when I will have enough power and that will be a day when I give the bastard the punishment he deserves. A few minutester, Javier Ronda came out of the guard station, and he didn¡¯t look like, he was beaten a few minutes ago. He is angry, but there is also fear in his eyes. I smiled at him, making him look away. The day passed as I mingled with merchants and at night left for the Lauryl Tower. I will be taking Ina back to Greltheaven despite her insistence on going to the merchant state. She had suffered something truly horrible, and I won¡¯t let her work in such a state. She wille home and spend some time with people who came about; it will help her process the trauma she had suffered. Masterful Administrator Lv. 22 Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 268: Edmor Amellus Chapter 268: Edmor Amellus Valentina Click! The door of the carriage opened, and Remus stepped in, looking slightly tired, but otherwise well. ¡°I thought I would miss the ship,¡± he said as he took the seat opposite of me. ¡°I am sure you could have been able to keep it on the port an hour extra, if you wanted. Mr. Director of Trade,¡± I teased, and his cheeks reddened a little, while he shook his head. ¡°If it is amon ship, I might, but Ateriz¡¯s ze wouldn¡¯t stop, even a minute for me,¡± he said. Ateriz is a bigpany; Remus isn¡¯t powerful enough to make them listen to him, just out of ego. ¡°I am sure you will one day,¡± I said innocently, like talking to a kid. To which he just shook his head with a smile, but I could see the ambition, the ambition in his eyes. It is one of the things I liked about him, the most. ¡°So, why are you going to Padim again?¡± he asked. ¡°To bring a friend,¡± I replied after a moment of silence. He arched his brow, like that beautiful redhead of his. I didn¡¯t answer, and he didn¡¯t press. Most of the journey to the port went in silence, each busy in his own thoughts. Soon, the carriage stopped, but we didn¡¯t get out immediately and instead watched the ze docking into the Greltheaven. The luxury passenger ship, runs from Iman to Meldhorn City, staying in each city for an hour. The ship is white and long and unlike most ships; it didn¡¯t have the masts. It runs on magical engines, which are expensive to run. They are also slower; at least those used on this ship. There are some that give as much speed as the masted ship or even more, but even Ateriz couldn¡¯t afford to ce them on these passenger ships. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said as the ship docked and it opened for the passengers. We walked to the ship, with Remus''s guards walking behind and in front of us. They showed our ticket and were led to our suite; a two-bedroom suit. I had upgraded it after he told me he was leaving for Owlspring tonight. ¡°It is a nice suite.¡± He praised. ¡°It is,¡± I agreed. It was also expensive, but I could afford it. We took our seat by therge balcony, watching the port and soon, the hour was over, and it was time for the ship to leave. It hummed gently and began to move; within a few minutes, it was out of the port and moving toward the Owlspring in bright moonlight. Remus didn¡¯t say anything; he watched through the balcony till the city disappeared, before taking out the files and beginning to read through them. ¡®I think this would be the right time to talk about that,¡¯ I thought. ¡°Some little birds wanted me to ask you whether you will leave the position of vice-director, now that you have been promoted?¡± I asked. There had been more than ten people who had asked me that question. I didn¡¯t ask him for them, I am genuinely curious myself. ¡°I have no interest in keeping the position forever; the work is too much, but I won¡¯t be leaving quickly. I want to take the trade to a certain height before I leave the position,¡± he replied, without looking up from the files. I didn¡¯t just enjoy the scenery, but also worked. Currently, mypany has forty-one projects, big and small, and a weekter, we will add a few more. Nearly every week, we are getting three to four projects, and a third of them areing from the baronies. Both from the Lauryl Ton and the territories. The town is growing at an amazing speed. Every time I go there, it seems to have got bigger, and it is getting bigger. It was a wise decision to invest in the quarry; we have got the license for the second one, nearly three timesrger than the first one. A big investment, but we will earn tenfold from it if the appetite of the town keeps growing. ¡°You can sleep in the main room,¡± I said to him, seeing him getting. ¡°The second one is fine to me; it is safer,¡± he replied with a smile and went to the adjacent room. I worked for an hour and a half more, beforeying down on the bed to sleep. Though not before I deployed warning wards and kept the wand, under my sleeve. Nothing could be said when there was Remus. Hun! I was woken up by movements and the wand under my sleeve appeared in my hand, but I immediately put it away, seeing it was Remus. He had all showered up and was ready, even before the sky lit up. ¡°Don¡¯t get up,¡± he said, seeing me getting up. ¡°It is fine,¡± I replied. I am not a morning person, but I wake up early every day. Though not this early. I quickly freshened up and changed. After that, we went to the restaurant for breakfast and watched the ship moving through the confluence toward the port. The city looked really beautiful at dawn. ¡°Best of luck,¡± I said, as he was about to disembark. His first brothel, outside the Deerpond, is opening today. He is nervous about it, but also confident. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said with a small smile and disembarked, with his guards following behind him. I watched him as he reached the carriage, where the redhead was waiting for him. He talked to her, before stepping into the carriage. Within a minute, the carriage disappeared, and I walked back into the suit. I sat down in the chair and cast a couple of messages spells, with the first one being to Lena. She is on a mission and will take another two weeks before she can return. I wish she was with me; I missed her a lot. I relished myself in her memories for a while before sending other messages. When I was done, Iy on the bed and cast a spell. It is forbidden to cast an offensive inside spell on a ship over Grade O. Thankfully; it is what I am casting. It may be a Grade O spell, but it is a base for Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, and above spells. I incant silently and a spell materializes. A stone spike appeared in front of me, floating in the air. It is a palm-sized size smooth grey stone, with a needle-sharp end. It could easily tear through a man. It is a perfect weapon to kill and far more dangerous and less messy than the fireball, that novices love so much. I have been working on the changes to it. I want to make it a little more robust and slightly slimmer. The changes will increase the weight and drag through the spin, but it will give it more power and there will be fewer chances of fragmentation before the impact. I had already calcted the cost of mana, which is only 2.4% greater than before. It might not seem much, but when oneunches hundreds of them through Stone Barrage or thousands through Stone Rain; that light increase bes huge. I had started with the changes, and in a few seconds; I finished and immediately cast a few more spells. The room was covered in brown light and a stone shield appeared in the distance, while my eyes began to shine in a misty light. Bang! I released the spell, and immediately it struck against the stone shield. It splintered into pieces, but I was more focused on the stone shield, which had a small crack in it. Seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. The Stone Shield is a Grade 1 spell; it is not easy to create even a small crack, with a Grade 0 spell. The cracks filled, and another Stone Spike appeared. I had also changed, but these changes are slightly different than thest Stone Spike. Bang! It crashed against the stone shield, but there was only a single crack. Despite that, there was a smile on my face. I summoned another and then another spike and continued shooting them at the Stone Shield. Before I knew it, the ship undocked from the port and began to move toward the Padim. Three hours passed by, and I stopped. I cleared the mess I had made before sending a message. Soon, the city of Padim came into view. It is a big city, not as big as Owlspring, but still big. It is part of the Merchant Stage of Belnin; the richest of all merchant states. All merchant stages are rich, but Belnin is the richest. Soon, the ship was docked, and I got out and showed my documents to the guards before getting out of the ship. Click! Some distance away, an unmarked carriage is parked there. I reached it, before opening its door and stepping inside. ¡°Thank you foring,¡± said a beautiful woman in front of me. She is a tall woman with forest-brown hair. She always had a mirth in those brown eyes, but today, she is series. ¡°He is my friend, too,¡± I replied. The woman in front of Relys. He is the one, who introduces me to her in the academy. There was a silence for a few minutes, before she turned to me. ¡°I had negotiated the terms and while they were not good. They are the only way; he could be released. Make sure he signs them,¡± she said. I have read the terms, and they are better than I had expected. ¡°You have done far better than I had expected. So, don¡¯t me yourself,¡± I replied, to which she smiled mirthlessly. He hates the terms, but he had agreed to sign them. It is the only reason he is getting released early, rather than serving another twenty-two years. Soon, the carriage stopped. ¡°Tell him, I said hi,¡± said Relys, unable to hide her emotions. ¡°I will,¡± I said and walked out. She is the reason why he could get a release, but she ising to witness the moment. Her identity is sensitive and it wouldn¡¯t be wise for her toe inside. I walked for a few minutes before appearing in front of the huge, imposing building. Padim Jail. Click! I showed the documents to the guards and went inside after the verification was done and was led into the small meeting room, where five people were already sitting. Three are sitting on one side and the two on the other. ¡°Mage Valentina, I am Jacob Russ,¡± said the handsome middle-aged with smooth chocte skin. ¡°Mr. Russ,¡± I said and shook his hand. He is awyer that Relys hired. I nodded at three sitting on the other side, before taking the seat and discussing the things, under the privacy spell. Click! We were discussing this when the door opened, and two guards walked inside. Between them is a tall, handsome man, wearing mana-suppressing cuffs. ¡°Valentina, you are looking ravishing, as always.¡± He said with a signature grin. The man is tall with a handsome face. He had deep blue eyes and dark hair, which seemed to reach his neck and he had even grown a beard, which he once confessed to hate. I looked at the man, who was once brimming with ambitions. His eyes were filled with dreams that he knew would seed; nobody had doubted that. s, fate had yed a cruel hand on him. ¡°You are looking not bad yourself, Ed,¡± I replied, and the grin on his face became wider. ¡°Mr. Amellus, we have informed the terms to yourwyer, and they have agreed on your behest,¡± ¡°Sign this agreement and my client will take back the case against you,¡± said the old man sitting opposite us. The smile disappeared from Ed¡¯s face, and he looked at the guards. ¡°Gentlemen, will you?¡± he asked to the two guards. A secondter, the guard on the left took out the key and opened his cuffs. He messaged his wrist before taking the agreement from his hand. The agreement states that he wouldn¡¯t use the mentioned designs for two and a half decades and wouldn¡¯t step into the merchant state. There are many other small conditions. Relys had been negotiating with that bastard for more than three years. It wouldn¡¯t havee to this if Ed had simply epted. That those designs weren¡¯t his, but it is the thing, he is unwilling to do. They were his life¡¯s work; he would rather spend a spent like in jail than do that. He finished reading the agreement and took the pen from the table, before signing it without speaking a single word. The whole room is silent; the only sound that ising out is the scratching of a pen. As he signed thest page, he shook, nearly falling, but stopped himself, before I could move to support him. ¡°Thank you for your cooperation. Mr. Amellus¡± said the old man as he finished looking in agreement and nodded at Russ. ¡°Mage Amellus, Mage Valentina; I will go and finish the formalities. It wouldn¡¯t take more than an hour,¡± said Russ and walked out of the room with the old man and others. Even guards left, leaving us alone in the room. ¡°He took everything for me, Valentina. My life¡¯s work, my reputation, my life,¡± he said, shaking, with tears falling from his eyes. It is hard to see him like this. The man once was so confident, reduced to such a state. Ed is a Mage, but also an architect; not a simple architect, but an architect, specialized in designs of magical infrastructure. Ed¡¯s specialty lies in magic towers and for a decade, he had worked for Sewal Nehdis. The greatest architect of the Belnin, a man who is Lv. 40+ and said to have a great chance of reaching Lv. 50. He is a strategic resource of a merchant state. So, when people like him, use their own students of stealing their designs, nobody could doubt their words. Even if they doubted it, they wouldn¡¯t investigate. They didn¡¯t give him a fair trial. If not for Relys, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to get out of jail before his twenty-five-year sentence was over. ¡°Yes, he did, but there is still life and I have confidence that you will create a hundred more works that are far more magnificent, that is what that bastard had stolen from you,¡± I said, and they were not empty words. I haveplete confidence in my friend to do that. ¡°I don¡¯t think, that will happen. The man had thoroughly destroyed me; my reputation is in such a state, that even you couldn¡¯t hire me. No ce will give me a license to practice my profession,¡± he said mirthlessly. ¡°You are right, it will be hard for you, but you will find a way and I will be there with you,¡± I said, taking his hands in mine. The Nielson Guild wouldn¡¯t hire him; I had asked, and they have straight-up refused. However, something could be done about him getting a license. I will request Remus and beg him if needed; I am sure he will help me. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 269: A Fine Opening Chapter 269: A Fine Opening Deerpond ¡°Your son is barely eating and sleeping. Will you not do anything?¡± asked the woman as she walked into the beautifully decorated room, with fury in her eyes. ¡°What do you want me to do? The Lord had forbidden any action that could jeopardize the trade,¡± asked back the man angrily. He is not just angry, but also frustrated. Despite all his power, his son had suffered great humiliation and he couldn¡¯t even take the revenge. ¡°I heard that bastard¡¯s whore ising to the city tomorrow,¡± said the woman, to which the man shook his. ¡°I couldn¡¯t touch the whore. She is too important for the trade, she has all the contacts in the Navr that we need,¡± ¡°Just yesterday, Statham had told me that he had personally given assurance to Silver for the safety of his whores.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t want me to touch her until our merchants gotpletely familiar with Navr,¡± he replied, unconsciously crumpling the report, he was reading. ¡°So, we do nothing?¡± asked the woman, to which the man grinned darkly. ¡°For a while. It won¡¯t be long before we will be able to take revenge on that whore and after that, Silver,¡± said the man-like promise, making a small smile appear on the face of the woman. ¡­ Mena I looked at the beautiful pink building with a big smile. It is smaller than the establishment, but enchanting in its own way. It may not have the charm of the establishment, but it is the first day. I haveplete confidence; that this small building will develop its own charm in theing days. I will make sure it does. As madam, it is my responsibility to achieve that. I looked at it one more time before I entered inside and looked at the preparation one more time. Everything is perfect; the girls sitting in their ces wearing beautiful dresses; the bar is fully stacked, and the kitchen is running, ready to serve anything that patrons desire. Finally, it is six, time to open the gates. I couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous. I took a deep breath, and controlled my emotions, before looking ahead. ¡°Open the gates,¡± I ordered, and a momentter, the guards opened the gates. ¡­ At Mena¡¯smand, the gates opened, but unlike the Greltheaven, the carriages didn¡¯te rolling within seconds; nor they could. Here, there is no space for the parking inside the building. Thankfully, the city of Owlspring is beautifully nned; there are big spaces beside the road for carriages to parks and parking lots in every popr area. A minute passed, and nobody came. The girls sitting across three floors begin to get nervous. What is happening now is a foreign to them. In the establishment, the carriagese rolling the moment, gates opened and within half an hour. The gates would close because there would be no space in the establishment for more patrons. Another minute passed, and Ca turned to me, with nervousness evident in her eyes. ¡°Wee to the big city,¡± I said with a smile. It is not like; I am not worried; I am, but not as much as her or Mena or every other girl. I understand very well the advantage I had in the Greltheaven when I first opened. Greltheaven was a small city of less than fifty thousand people. It was easy to advertise the business. It also helped that my brother had be noble. The newspapers didn¡¯t forget to point out that rtionship explicitly. I heard Edwin had thrown a huge fit when read that in the news. Compared to the tiny Greltheaven, Owlspring is massive, with over five million poption. Here, my brothel is a mid-ss establishment; not a high-ss as it is in the home. The building is also small. It might be eye-catching, but there are bigger and better ones around. Thepetition is hundreds of times greater here and most important of all, some people are being intentionally naughty. They had activated the skills that had made the establishment nearly invisible. These skills are so powerful that they had nearlypletely suppressed Torch For Seeker, which I had activated on the building. Everything is hyperpetitive here, and every new business needs to face it to seed. I wee it because Owlspring isn¡¯t the only ce where I want to open the brothel and what I learned from here, will help me thrive in the other big cities. It was in the sixth minute, after the opening, the first patron arrived. It is not a single person, but a group of three. Which finally seemed to put some relief on Mena¡¯s face. Two minutes after that, another person arrived, and a minute after that, another. Slowly, people started trickling in and with each person, a little more tension on Mena¡¯s face would disappear. Some people who came are familiar. They are the patrons whoe to our establishment. We had made sure they knew; we were opening our first in the Owlspring. People are stilling like a tricklepared to the establishment, but this trickle has be faster. I could feel those naughty bastards increasing the power of their skill. That they had suppressed my skills and the skills of the girls. They are pretty powerful, and their number is also high. It didn¡¯t feel like amon suppression. They seemed to be using their skills, with the intention of crushing me. It made me worried, but I couldn¡¯t do anything else against it other than hope, that the preparation we had made would be enough to attract the patrons. It won¡¯t be the first will face it, but I am confident we will make it through it. Soon, it was ten and the worry on Ca¡¯s face had eased a lot while I was smiling from ear to ear. The patrons mighte like a trickle, but they had filled the bucket. The brothel is full, not the way, the establishment is, but it could be said to be full. All the sixty-eight tables across the three floors are full. There are even four girls sitting at the bar with the patrons. There are many empty stools on the bars, on which the girls are sitting withoutpanions, but that is normal, seeing it is a big city. It is working better than I had thought. I was expecting a 50% upancy, but it is over 75%. Even if the business runs in this capacity, I will earn a considerable profit. Though, I am confident that the business will do much better; this is, after all, it is a first day. Hun! I was watching when suddenly one client shouted loudly, before standing up. The girl opposite to him is Adez, a blond woman in her mid-twenties. She is from the second batch and came with De and others. Had been in the establishment for over a year. She stood up and spoke calmly to the man, which seemed to have made him angry, and he shouted with expletives. Adez¡¯s expressions changed for a moment before she controlled them and replied, keeping cool over her emotions. To which the manughed and not nicely and replied with a sentence full of expletives. Now everybody who had tried not to look had to turn to look. Mena had arrived at the table and spoke to the man, and the man shouted again. ¡°They should throw him out,¡± said Ca, with clear anger; I am also angry, but like her, I have no intention of going there. We have full confidence that Adez and Mena are more than capable of handling that and they did, seeing as they kept their expressions neutral, while hiding the zing anger beneath their eyes. The back and forth continued for a few minutes, before the man seemed to have lost control of his temper and tried to attack Adez when suddenly, two people appeared in front of him. They immobilized him immediately, and Mena told him he was banned from the establishments forever. The personals that are banned wouldn¡¯t be banned in a single establishment but in all establishments. We do not ban people forever unless they really break all the rules like this man did. He once again said something foul, but this time, both of them didn¡¯t even give him the courtesy of a reply and asked the guards to throw the man out. They did just that, not caring about the threats, he was spewing. The guards I had hired were from a top mercenarypany. They are not powerful, just above Lv. 20, but their organization had enough cloud, that they will be able to bear the threats of most of the patrons. I didn¡¯t want any guards who would be threatened by the words of these men. Seeing how they didn¡¯t even blink at the threat. The money, I had spent on hiring them was worth it. Mina apologized to the patrons for the disturbance and sent free drinks across the hall. ¡°She did well. Both of them did,¡± said Ca, seeing the patrons focusing back on theirpany. ¡°They did,¡± I said and took out the diary and added the points to Adez. Every month, I remove some girls from the business. A week ago, I removed two. I will not let them work if they don¡¯t perform to the standard. It seemed to make many girls work harder. Especially those on the watch list; they were informed they were on the watch list and if they didn¡¯t perform well, they would be removed. Adez is on the watch list and eleven more girls. Eight of which I had brought here. Looking at how Adez did; it seemed like it was already working well. Sometimes, one only needs a change of scenery to bring out their worth. Let¡¯s hope the same result happens in other girls too. Soon, two hours passed, and the establishment was still holding a simr number. It had been a few hours ago. In the past hour, not many people had arrived, but not many had left either. Around 30% of the people still sitting, had been here for five hours and more. This is a great thing because these people are one of the first who came and still sitting here. They are 60% of the people who hade between six to eight. We are always looking for people like them. They are the ones who be our regr patrons. ¡°You should sleep, you have to leave early tomorrow,¡± said Ca. ¡°It''s fine; I will take a rest on the way,¡± I replied. I will be leaving in the morning; there are a few important meetings, I have to attend tomorrow. I barely got this one day, after so much begging. If it was not for the opening, he wouldn¡¯t have given me leave. Sometimes, the work is too much; I have to be always present. I couldn¡¯t even focus on my business properly, but it is the price of power. I have be one of the most powerful people in the city, and that came with responsibility. Hours passed and to my surprise; the patrons stayed longer than I had thought. Thest one left at four and a half and not before speaking a few words of praises to Mena. ¡°It went far better than I had imagined,¡± I said as Mena and Ca sat in front of me, in a small office. ¡°It is, but we will need to work hard to take it to the height of the establishment,¡± said Ca, and I smiled. ¡°I will give my all to achieve that,¡± replied Mena, with resolve in her eyes. It will be hard, but I have confidence in Mena. It is the reason why I had chosen her, over all the assistant madams. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 270: Poach Chapter 270: Poach A robed figure entered the great dark hall and kneeled in front of a pale young man, sitting at the huge bone throne. ¡°Your, deathless,¡± he greeted. ¡°What is the great news from wastnd?¡± asked the young man directly. ¡°We have been wrong, your deathless. It is not moving as we had expected. It had already stopped in one ce,¡± the robed man replied, and for the first time in a long while, he saw the slight change in expressions on the pale young man¡¯s face. ¡°Were you able to find out where it had stopped?¡± asked the pale young man, with interest evident in his eyes. To which the robed man, shook his head. ¡°The tools and spells are too visible. If we try to do that, we will get discovered immediately,¡± replied the robed man. ¡°Wait for a few months more; then you will haveplete freedom to do what you want,¡± replied the pale young man, while the robed man bowed deeply. ¡­ ¡°I understand. His father is powerful, but his actions are too brazen, without any consequence,¡± I read the report and turned to Lancel. It is one of the rare days that I am alone in the room with Lancel and talking civilly, which rarely happens. Most of the time, we didn¡¯t even talk when we were alone in the same room. ¡°He is brazen because the time is with him. If it had been before, he wouldn¡¯t be so daring, but now, everybody needs his father, and nobody is willing to offend him. Even if he destroys a city gate or two,¡± He replied. His face is quite bad; it is clear; that he hates the man. Taren Zanav ising to the Greltheaven in two days and everything I had read about him, didn¡¯t give me a good feeling. On his journey, he destroyed many things, including city gates, a restaurant, a brothel, and the houses of the people who have offended him. He is being offended quite easily or rather the power is getting on his head. Count Zanav was powerful before due to his power of elite cavalry, but now he had be important. He had something that everybody wanted. If the civil war urred; then his cavalry would be very important, seeing how the geography of the empire is best suited for his forces. ¡°Let¡¯s hope his time in the Greltheaven goes well. We don¡¯t want him to destroy, our city gate too,¡± I said with mirth and worry, but Lancel didn¡¯t take a joke as it intended. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t dare; he did those things, in small ces with weak leaders. Here, it is a House of Ravenheart that rules; he wouldn¡¯t do such things here in his wildest dream,¡± said Lancel, ring at me. I hope it is true or I would have a lot of trouble with my hand. Taren Zanav will stay in the Greltheaven for two nights before leaving for the Mirador Hold. He was supposed toe at the end ofst month but ising in the third week of this month. I didn¡¯t stay in the office for long and left after I took the signs from Lancel and went to the city hall. Within an hour, I finished with the work in city hall and left for the establishment. Soon, the carriage entered the establishment from the back and stopped. I walked out of it, before stepping into the building. I felt the strong feeling again and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. A month ago, after that incident; it had be so feeble that I had to concentrate to sense it. Not anymore. Now, it had be as powerful as before, making even enchantments stronger. The growth had surprised me; I had thought it would take at least three to four months to recover, but it did in little more than a month and the feeling was still getting stronger. I stopped and looked at the restaurant. It is full as it had been in the past few weeks. The sudden rise in the power of the enchantment charms had affected a lot of things. It sped up things for the establishment. I looked at the restaurant for a minute before checking about the upper floor. All three floors are reopened, including the middle. Now all three floors are open and filled in the afternoon. It is a good thing, the number of girls I have is sufficient and more have been added this month. It made me feel happy, but also worried, that I couldn¡¯t keep these numbers. Next month, the two new brothels are opening, and I would need to send the number of girls in there. I have already reduced the numbers to send there from two hundred to one hundred and fifty. Twenty-five of which wille from Owlspring. So, all three brothels will have seventy-five girls, each. I didn¡¯t want to do this, but I didn¡¯t have a choice; with the way business was going, I couldn¡¯t take out too many girls from here. It would have been great if I had more girls in training, but there is no space, not here in the circle or the brothel of Owlspring. It is why once Taren Zanav leaves; I will start the expansion of the circle. I wanted to wait for a month more and open the two brothels before starting on that. So, I could manage it better financially, but now there is no choice; I need more girls. Thankfully, my financial aspects have improved. I could now afford the expansion of the circle. I looked for a few minutes before going to my office. There, a file was already waiting for me. It is a weekly financial report of a brothel in Owlspring; Mena sends it end of every week. I opened it and began to read. Within a minute, I finished. The news is good; after a month, the brothel had started running at 85%-95% capacity. Mena is doing a great job. If we keep earning at this rate. Then it won¡¯t even take a year to earn back everything we have spent on it. Click! I was taking notes when the light on the inte turned green, and the door opened. Caena walked inside, and her mood didn¡¯t look good. I could already guess what made her mad. It is a thing, that makes, makes all madams mad. ¡°How many?¡± I asked as she took a seat in front of me. ¡°Three.¡± She replied simply. ¡°Who didn¡¯t leave?¡± I asked. ¡°Merli,¡± she replied, and this time, it was my turn to be surprised. I didn¡¯t think it would be Merli, who would stay. Every month, after I remove the girls. Others tried to get them. It is not like they didn¡¯t try for working girls, but it is very hard for them to poach them. It had been a year since they were able to get a working girl. They only get the girls, that I remove. ¡°It was not Norman Lucas who took them this time. It was a brothel, from Owlspring,¡± she added, and I stopped what I was doing, and my expression turned serious. Eighty percent of our girls were taken by Normal Lucas, and it is fine, but a brothel from Owlspring. It is a serious thing. ¡°It seemed like, the big ones started to look at us seriously then. We should feel honored.¡± I said, putting a smile on my face, but her expression remained unchanged. Till now, the brothels from outside looked at us and even tried to buy us out, but they had never taken our girls. Now they did, which means they have now taken a serious interest in us. ¡°I know this would happen, but I thought we would have more time,¡± she said and sighed. ¡°We already got more time than we thought. We might not bepletely ready for thepetition, but we will give a fight to anyone whoes at us,¡± I said, and that finally eased her expression. There was silence when suddenly she decided to drop another bomb. ¡°I have finished with the charms,¡± she informed. It was not really a surprise, since she had kept me informed, but still felt like one. Thest list was small, but she had a big one. Combining, there are over two hundred charms; she had crafted them all in a little more than a month and begun imprinting them after she said the establishment stabilized enough two weeks ago. ¡°I didn¡¯t have time to think about them with all the work,¡± I said after a moment of silence. It is kind of embarrassing to lie. Yes, I have work, but I spent considerable time, in the past month thinking about charms and only came up with three. Even these three are part of the sets, that had been imprinted earlier and will improve their power slightly, if any. I have thought about hundreds of charms; imprinting to enhance every aspect of the business. Including those, I nned to add in the future, that now I ampletely drained of ideas. Anything I could think about is already imprinted. ¡°I had time, but I couldn¡¯t think may. I only have twelve enchantments. We have already imprinted everything and anything in the establishment.¡± She said with an embarrassed smile. ¡°Still think hard. We have a wonderful thing here. We shouldn¡¯t let it go to waste,¡± I said, to which she nodded. Click! She opened her mouth to say something when suddenly the door of my office opened and the only person who coulde without knocking had stepped in. She was looking excited, but also a little nervous as she took a seat beside Caena. ¡°Tomorrow. She will give her answer tomorrow,¡± said Ca. Give an answer, mean, she wille to the establishment. She is talking about Francesca Charlette, the madam of Red Fragrance, whom Ca had been trying to poach from Lucas for months. I was against it, but she had worn me down, till I agreed, saying it would be worth it. ¡°Do you think, she will ept?¡± asked Caena. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I hope she does. We need talented people like her in the establishment,¡± replied Ca. Still Craving. Visit for More. Chapter 271: Francesca Charlette Chapter 271: Francesca Charlette Francesca ¡°Madam Francesca, are you fine?¡± asked the red-haired girl. ¡°I am fine, Ress. Just a little stressed about the order; I don¡¯t want to make Mr. Lucas worried,¡± I replied, and the girl shuddered. Nobody wants to make Lucas worried. ¡°It is slightlyte, but it wille before Mr. Lucases to the fragrance,¡± she replied. Putting a smile on her face, to mask her worries. I nodded and entered the hall on the third floor, talking with patrons, who were sitting across from the girls. It is so different from all the brothels, I had worked in. I don¡¯t know how Silver had thought of this, but it is working like a charm. It is not a unique concept, but the way Silver had done it made it exciting. Many of the brothels have already copied it from the Silver, including those controlled by the Lucas Family. Though not all worked for some reason; only 20% had seen a rise in earnings, while for the rest it remained the same or even deceased. Lucas is trying to copy Silver in every aspect, and the result is good, at least in the Red Fragrance. Our earnings have tripled. It should have made Lucas happy, but he is far from happy. Especially in the evening, when he saw people using his business as the rest stop and running to the velvet garden, whenever its gates opened. Even closing the windows, didn¡¯t much help. He shouldn¡¯t be angry; Red Fragrance is earning a lot. Especially now, we have also got the magical chef; she had cost a lot, but the increase in earnings had already made up for that. ¡°You whore! You should eat, what I told you to eat!¡± I heard a loud sound and immediately turned to the table, where I saw an old man pushing a piece of meat into the teen girl¡¯s mouth. I shook my head, seeing that; it was not the first time this thing happened. Some men are obsessed with forcing their will on women. Some do it in the bedroom, while some on the table in public. I moved toward the table with Feather Step and reached there in seconds. ¡°Is there a problem, Mr. Chiva?¡± I asked with a Calming Voice and wore a Disarming Smile. The anger in his eyes lessened as he turned to me, but there was still a lot more. ¡°Yes, this whore of yours refuses to eat this great dish,¡±ined the man angrily. Anger appeared on my face, and I red at Junice, before I turned to the man, with an apologetic smile. ¡°My deepest apologies. Mr. Chiva, but Junice here, has allergies to meat. If she ate it, ugly hives would appear on her and she would start to vomit,¡± I said and the old man''s eyes turned suspicious. ¡°Really?¡± he asked, not really believing me. ¡°It seemed like you don¡¯t believe me,¡± I said with a disappointed sigh and took a fork from his hand and forced it onto Junice¡¯s lips. ¡°Eat it, girl,¡± I said strictly, and the girl opened her mouth unwillingly. ¡°There is no need,¡± said the old man, as Junice was about to take the bite. ¡°Just give me, another girl,¡± he added. I nodded and turned to Stev, who appeared beside me. ¡°Stev will join you. Mr. Chiva; she loves to take different kinds of food,¡± I said, and Stev took a seat in front of me. The old man muttered something before turning to Stev, while I took Junice away from me. ¡°You should learn to eat the meat,¡± I said to the teen. ¡°I tried Madam, but I couldn¡¯t. I hate the smell of it; even now, I barely holding off the vomit,¡± she said apologetically, and I sighed. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to always save you, girl. If this continues, Mr. Lucas will find out and send you back to the maind,¡± I said, and the girl shudder in fear. They don¡¯t want that, here they are earning a lot. Getting 5% of themission and 10% of the gifts. It is pretty great, and they don¡¯t want to lose it. ¡°I will try,¡± she said the softly. I sent away before going to the floor above, where everything was going great. Managing the silver style of a brothel is harder, but it is also making Lucas more money. He is nning to expand the Red Fragrance further, which I don¡¯t think is a good idea, but Lucas never listens, nor he likes to hear anything from the whore. The only thing he wants from us is for his orders followed. I was watching the floor when a young brte stepped beside me. ¡°Madam, the orders have arrived.¡± She informed me, and I heaved a sigh of relief before walking down toward the back exit, where two people unloading the goods from the cart. I am relieved they came on time. Lucas didn¡¯t like it when things didn¡¯t happen on time. It didn¡¯t matter. If it is not the fault of his staff, he will me them. He gets especially angry when it happens with things, that we whores are responsible for. I checked everything they had dropped and went back to the brothel. Soon it was six and I could see some patrons on every floor leaving for the velvet garden. Seeing such a scene angered Lucas so much, that he had thrown a fit more times than I remember. I was so much relieved when he startedingte. Though even then, patrons still leave for the velvet garden; not like they are right now. Time passed, and the brothel got more active, till it was nearly full. The patrons kepting, some only to wait till the gates of the velvet garden opened again. I don¡¯t mind such things. The purpose of business should be earning money, and we are doing that. I really wish that Lucas would stop, his hate for silver, gets in the way of his business. It would make the job of his staff quite easy. Soon, it was nine, and I prepared myself. Lucas wille soon, and I have an important thing to talk to him about. A thing that would decide my future here. With people who had been working for thirty-six years. Half an hour passed, and Lucas didn¡¯te; I started to get nervous. With great difficulty, I had built the courage. If I hadn¡¯t asked for it today; I don¡¯t think, I would be able to do it again. A few minutes passed when I saw the familiar carriage enter the brothel. A few secondster, Lucas came out, with chase and his assistant following a step behind. He liked to meet with me immediately after he came, but my feet didn¡¯t seem to move. It took a great struggle for me to list my foot and walk toward the office. Knock Knock I reached the door and nodded at the guards guarding it, before knocking on it gently. ¡°Come in,¡± said the familiar. I tried to move, but once again, my body didn¡¯t seem to move. I greeted teeth and took a step forward, as the guard opened the door of me. I entered the office, and Lucas was sitting on the chair, with a genial smile on his face, and a skill that made everyone feelfortable in his presence. His nature is the opposite of what he shows on his face; one looks at his eyes and it bes obvious. They are icy blue and with all emotions frozen inside them. However, those who don¡¯t know him for long will see his eyes filled with mirth and gentleness. Aside from him, is the assistant standing beside him and Chase, sitting opposite of him. I didn¡¯t take a seat, nor did he offer. The whores have no right to sit in front of him. It is not just him, but the rule of the House of Lucas for centuries. ¡°Mr. Lucas,¡± I greeted, as in a subservient tone he liked. ¡°Has the ordere?¡± he asked, without even looking, his eyes focusing on the file in his hand. ¡°Yes, Mr. Lucas,¡± I replied. ¡°How is the business, today?¡± he asked. ¡°Good, Mr. Lucas,¡± I replied. ¡°Any problems?¡± he asked. ¡°No. Mr. Lucas,¡± I replied. I didn¡¯t tell him about an earlier incident. He will punish, that young girl and his punishments are not nice. It is a risky thing to do. If hees to know about it, he will be furious. I will bear it; I have done that many times already. He asked a few more things before turning to Chase. ¡°Those filthy whores were too greedy; they epted the offer from those bastards of Owlspring, rather than ours.¡± ¡°You should have tried harder, Chase,¡± he said, looking at Chase usingly. Lucas loves the girls from Silver¡¯s brothel, even if they are the worst of all, seeing they have been removed from working. Though here, they always be our top earners and level up quickly, too. ¡°As you had said, Mr. Lucas, they were greedy. They wanted three times more than what we were willing to offer andxer conditions in their contract.¡± Replied Chase. Bam! ¡°Fucking silver!¡± he cursed, hitting the table hard with his fist. No one reacted or even blinked. We had seen it enough times to react to it. Still, I have to say, that Silver is good. The conditions the girls were asking, were told to them by Silver. It is his way of getting back to those who are poaching his girls. Which has made Lucas mad a lot in the past few months. ¡°What about the fourth one?¡± he asked. ¡°She said she is not interested,¡± Chase replied, which made him angry again, but controlled. ¡°Stupid bitch!¡± he cursed. ¡°Now that Owlspring has cast his eyes on Silver, we will need to be ready with bigger offers and more concessions, if we want to take any girls from the velvet garden,¡± said Chase, and Lucas, just red at him. For a few seconds, there was a silence before Lucas spoke again. ¡°Tomorrow, Lord Zanav ising, and I want everything ready for him,¡± he said, looking at me. ¡°All the preparations are being made, as you have desired, Mr. Lucas,¡± I replied. He had informed me of that weeks ago; all the preparations have been nearly done. ¡°I want everything to be perfect for it; I won¡¯t tolerate the slightest mistake,¡± he said, revealing his real emotions. ¡°Everything will be perfect,¡± I replied, barely controlling the shudder. ¡°You can go now,¡± he dismissed and turned to file. I wanted to leave and nearly turned before stopping myself. I have to ask for it. If I didn¡¯t ask for it now; I would never ask it ever in my life. He also turned toward me, seeing me not leaving and his eyes turned colder. ¡°Mr. Lucas, I have a request,¡± I said, feeling proud that my voice didn¡¯t break. He didn¡¯t say anything, and just kept looking with his eyes turning colder by the second, that I wanted to escape badly. ¡°My contract is ending soon, and I would like to have a raise of 15% a year in the renewal of my contract,¡± I said and felt so much lighter, but a momentter, I felt like I had been frozen seeing his eyes turning colder than ice. He kept looking before suddenly a smile cracked on his face, and it was not a nice smile. ¡°Hahahahah¡­¡± He beginsughing. First, it was low, but soon it became loud, and the tears started to stream out of his eyes. I shuddered because the mirth in his eyes was dark. He keptughing before finally stopping. ¡°Oh, that was so funny. I couldn¡¯t stop myself,¡± he said, wiping his eyes, before turning to me. ¡°I think, I have been giving you too much freedom, that you filthy whore begin to think, you deserve more than I am giving you.¡± ¡°In the next renewal, your sry will revert to what it was before and themission of other whores would be reduced to 2.5% and theirmission on their gifts will be reduced to 5%,¡± he stated. Hearing that, I felt like, I had been hit hard by something physical. I don¡¯t know, why I had ever thought he would agree to the raise. I should have expected this. He is a member of the House of Lucas, after all. ¡°Even that is far more than you filthy whores deserve, but I am too generous to fault,¡± he added, shaking his head with a sigh. The scary thing is, he believes those wordsing out of his mouth. ¡°Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Lucas,¡± I said before walking out of the office with my decision made. I don¡¯t want to do it, don¡¯t want to leave people with whom I have been with for more than three decades, but he had left me with no choice. I went back to my job and handled things as I did, without any change. Soon, it was two, and I walked toward the blond girl, with a well of emotions, that threatened to burst out of my eyes. ¡°Donna. I hand the charge to you, I hope you will take good care of the girls,¡± I said, with emotions leaking from my voice. Silver had taught this girl well. I don¡¯t know why he removed her. Whatever his reason, she will be a great recement. I hope she will take good care of the girls from now on. ¡°Are you ok, Madam Francesca?¡± she asked with concern. ¡°I am fine; just feeling a little under the weather,¡± I replied with a small smile, before hugging the girl, which seemed to surprise her. A momentter, I let go of her and walked away. She looked at me, before focusing on the hall in front of her. I descended down the stairs, and with each stair, I felt the memories of my life shing in front of me. I was twelve when I first time entered the brothel. Since then, it had been thirty-six years and fourteen brothels; all belonging to House of Lucas. In these years, I had gained the freedom but wasn¡¯t able to do much, since the whore was all, I was. I want to change that; I want to be more than a whore. Finally, I reached the first floor, but I didn¡¯t go to my room, instead walked toward the gate. I nodded at them and walked out of the gate; they looked confused but didn¡¯t stop me. If they knew what I was nning to do, they might have. ¡°Madam Francesca, stop!¡± They finally seemed to realize what I was nning on doing as I crossed the road. One of them came at me, fast. I activate the Feather Walk and move toward the gates of Velvet Garden, which had opened, seeing meing. I wish I could take the girls with me, but I couldn¡¯t. It is a huge risk; I am taking. I have been with the House of Lucas for over three and half decades, and know how they operate. I also know Norman Lucas very well and am aware that he might be sent as an assassin after me. I might die, but I am not afraid. I am afraid of dying as a whore; I don¡¯t want that. I want to die, more than a whore. Velvet Garden would help me with that. I walked through the gate and felt liberated, like never before. I didn¡¯t even care about the guards appearing behind me. However, I was surprised when I saw, the spell shield. It had stopped them, in their tracks. They shouted threats, but I didn¡¯t even listen. All my focus is on the beautiful redheading toward me. ¡°Wee to the velvet garden, Francesca.¡± She said as she stopped in front of me. Still Craving. Visit Chapter 272: Zanav Chapter 272: Zanav Izmar, Oton Continent ¡°Mommy, I don¡¯t want to go,¡± said the girl of five as she hugged her mother. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to leave too, honey, but you both need to go,¡± she said, with tears dripping from my face. They need to leave. Their ws had already started extending toward Heron. They might go for Josie too. She can¡¯t let that happen; she won¡¯t let her children suffer the fate; she is suffering. They will be safe with him. He might be angry at her and will be shocked to see them, but he will take them and keep them safe. She wiped her tears and looked at the blond-haired boy of eleven. Who had tears in his eyes, but trying so hard to not cry. "Heron, care of your sister,¡± I said and hugged him. ¡°I will not let anything happen to Josie, Mom,¡± said the young boy. ¡°I know, you will not,¡± I replied and hugged both of them tighter, breathing their smell to remember them forever. This might be thest day; she will ever see them. She got up and looked at a middle-aged man with a thick green mustache. ¡°Thank you, Emer. I will be grateful to you forever,¡± she said. ¡°What are you thanking me for? If not for you, I wouldn¡¯t have even been standing here alive,¡± he replied. He will be taking a long journey with children, to a different continent. She smiled and took out the letter from her bag with a shaking hand. A letter is far from enough, but it is the only thing, she could do. ¡°G..give this to him,¡± she said, with her voice shaking, before turning to the children. ¡°Heron, Josie, listen to Uncle Emer. Don¡¯t give him any chance toin,¡± she said, and both of them nodded. Soon, it was their time to leave. I hugged them for thest time and watched them step into the carriage. The carriage moved and soon disappeared from my eyes. I wiped tears streaming out of my eyes and walked back toward the arena, praying to every god to make them reach safely to him. ¡­. ¡°That bastard is making us wait intentionally,¡± grumbled Lancel, looking at the sun. Which will soon disappear. He is clearly angry and so am I; he should have arrived half an hour ago, but even now, there is no sign of him. It would have been fine if he had been a few minuteste, but he was half an hourte. Their mage informed us, they would reach the city, in an hour, but now it had been one and a half hours. If this isn¡¯t disrespect toward their host, then I don¡¯t know what it is. Taren Zanav is already proving to be troublesome, before even setting a step into the city. It is because of him; that I am working non-stop. Since yesterday, I have not gone home or even to the establishment. I didn¡¯t even meet Francesca Charlette. I stole from Norman. I wanted everything to be perfect; I did not n to give Zanav any reason toin. The stakes are too high. The Count also wants him, or rather his father, and wouldn¡¯t mind if he destroyed a building or two; he said those very words to me. In the whole empire, Count Zanav¡¯s name is on the list of every person who is vying for the throne. Hun! I was about to reply when suddenly, I felt a faint vibration under my feet, and every second that vibration began to get stronger. I immediately took out the enchanted spyss and looked. What I am seeing through it, had blown my mind. It made me really understand why so many people wanted his father. Seconds passed, and the vibration got stronger and stronger, till everybody could sense it. Even the general public stopped in their tracks and looked. It took another four minutes, and the vibration became like an earthquake. The people, could finally, see the things that were causing it. ¡°My god!¡± People begin to gasp in shock, and it is a scene worthy of gasps. I had read reports of it, but it is entirely different from seeing it with one''s own eyes. From the south, a cloud of dust was created by huge two hundred amos rhinos. These rhinos are more than twice the size of those on Earth and they arepletely red; with thick hides that make it hard to breach them with themon weapons. On each rhino are mounted two huge ck cannons. Every rhino has it, including the purple one, that is leading them. This is the cannon cavalry of Count Zanav. Taren Zanav had brought only a small number, but this force was more than enough to shake the whole city. Those cannons possess the power to st through anything, be it men or walls, nobody could stand in their way. I have read about their destructive power, and it is shuddering. ¡°I have fought in the battle where Count Zanav had personally led his cannon cavalry. He had decimated the enemies such that we didn¡¯t need to fight at all,¡± said Atticus admiringly, only to receive a re from Lancel. We watched them get closer and closer, making the ground shake louder and louder. ¡°Show off,¡± Lancel muttered and descended from the barbican, with us following behind. Soon, we were in front of the gates, watching Tarening riding us, with might that shook even experienced soldiers. Even I wanted to take a step back, seeing his cavalry, not slowing down, despiteing close. Lancel took a step back, before stopping himself and red at theing force, which, if didn¡¯t stop soon, would ram us and I don¡¯t know, even if High-Mage York would be able to stop them. I nce at Z and Stone, not far away from me, and also the mages. I am not the only one; Atticus is also doing the same, asking them to be prepared. The earth begins to shake, high enough that some people watching are falling on the ground, but we don¡¯t move even when the huge beasts have reached less than two hundred meters away from us. ¡°Whoa!¡±manded the young man in the front with the power of his skills and the huge rhinos began to slow down with amazing grace and discipline, before finally stopping three meters away from us in perfect unison. I saw the beasts and their cannons closely and couldn¡¯t help, but get scared. The numbers may seem small, but they have terrifying power. I forcefully calmed myself and turned to the man, who got off the purple rhino. He is a man in his mid-twenties. Tall, handsome with a straight face, deep blue eyes, and dark grey hair. He is wearing a riding suit with the emblem of the house, Zanav, and a confident smile. Hun! He walked toward us, with five people behind him. Four I had read about, and the fifth one surprised me. Javier Ronda. Reports have told me, he was following around Zanav in Deerpond, but it seemed like, he was able to bring himself here with him. Looking at his eyes, it is clear, that he didn¡¯t have any good intentions at all. ¡°Lord Zanav, wee to Greltheaven,¡± greeted Lancel, putting a smile on his face. ¡°Lancel, my friend. It¡¯s been a while,¡± said Taren Zanav, freezing the smile on the Lancel''s face. Both of them are on the same social level; Lancel could said to be higher, with him from the House of Ravenheart and future lord of Greltheaven. With his standing, he shouldn¡¯t have to personallye here to wee him. Atticus or me would have been fine, but Count had sent him. Now, Zanav, instead of appreciating the gesture, spitted on it, by not appropriately addressing Lancel. Everybody around him understood what he did, but nobody had said anything. ¡°My Lord; the Lord Count is waiting,¡± I said, breaking the freezing silence. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we didn¡¯t want to make father wait,¡± said Lancel curtly, and we walked toward the carriage. I noticed; that the rhinos were following behind. Twelve of them, while we have only given him permission for the six to enter the city, given their size. Soon, we reached the carriage, and I opened the door. Lancel entered first and then Taren, behind him Atticus and two people from Taren¡¯s retinue and then me. In the carriage, Taren and Lancel sat in front of each other, while we were behind them. Once again, there was a silence. I had to tap Atticus sneakily to speak because Lancel wouldn¡¯t speak. I would have spoken, but Atticus is more suited, being Commander of the city''s forces. ¡°Lord Zanav, how was your journey from the Deerpond?¡± he asked and a smile appeared on the Taren¡¯s face. ¡°Good, very good. The geography of the wastnd was perfect for my forces; here we could move at full speed, without any restrictions,¡± He replied, without looking away from the window. Though, a momentter, he turned and looked directly at Atticus. ¡°If I attacked your city now, would you be able to defend it?¡± he asked suddenly, making the eyes of everyone wide. Lancel red at him but didn¡¯t say anything else. He is an idiot; he shouldn¡¯t let his angere between his objectives. Which is to build the rapport with the Taren. It might make his father have a favorable view of Count and, by association, Prince Grelt. Count also wanted to find out where his father was leaning, but seeing how Lancel was behaving, he wouldn¡¯t be aplishing any of that. Instead, he will make things worse. ¡°Of course, we will,¡± replied Atticus after a moment of silence. However, the sentence iscking in confidence. ¡°You have an army of seven and half thousand people and five hundred more city guards,¡± ¡°It is not a big number. You also do not have a sufficient number of archers and cannons. The percentage of mages your army has is also lower than the average,¡± ¡°Taking a city would be difficult unless I have an army of three to four thousand, but crushing your defenses wouldn¡¯t be much challenge and it won''t take me long to achieve that,¡± he said. Every word from his mouth made expressions of Lancel worse and Atticus looked like he had eaten fly. They didn¡¯t like these words, not only because they were demeaning to their city, but also the truth. ¡°It won''t be that easy, my lord,¡± said Atticus defiantly. ¡°Tell me, how will stop me? You are all aware of the abilities of my cannon cavalry. The trenches won¡¯t work, nor would the blockades. My cannons and mages will crush through them.¡± ¡°Your High-Mages are the only ones who will be a problem and it is why I love my calvary.¡± ¡°I could operate from a distance and have enough mages to defend against the high mages while bombarding you constantly till your walls crumble,¡± he exined with confidence and smugness. ¡°What you said is true, my lord, but if we focused everything on defense, we will be able to,st, till you empty your supply of the cannonballs,¡± replied Atticus, to which Taren smiled, with even greater confidence. ¡°Even that won''t be en¡­.¡± He begins to exin how he will do it, in vague terms. He didn¡¯t say what kind of cannonballs he would use. The kind of mages he had or how many he had. He seemed overconfident and was smug, but not a fool. I didn¡¯t say anything. Wars aren¡¯t my forte. Though, I listened to every word carefully and also observed how heated, the discussion was going. Lancel is getting angry and might burst out. That would be bad, not only for him, but also for me. So, when I saw a carriage turning from the road, into thepound. I couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved. ¡°My lords, we have reached the residence,¡± I informed, interrupting their discussion, and a secondter, the carriage stopped. Still Craving. Visit Chapter 273: Party Chapter 273: Party ¡°Lord Count,¡± Greeted Taren as the winston hall; one of six ces Count receives important people depending on their stations and his liking for them. Winston Hall came in the middle. If it had been Taren¡¯s father; he wouldn¡¯t have received him in this hall. Thankfully, here, Taren had followed the proper etiquette without the slightest disrespect to the Count. He understands with whom he could mess with and with whom he couldn¡¯t. It seemed to make Lancel angry, but he kept it to himself. ¡°Wee to Greltheaven. Lord Zanav,¡± Count weed, shaking his hand. ¡°Thank you, my lord.¡± He replied and took a seat in front of the Count. ¡°How was your journey?¡± Count asked. ¡°Great, my lord. Especially in the wastnd. It is best for my cavalry,¡± he replied, and the Count smiled. ¡°Your Lord''s father had also said the same thing when I had met himst time,¡± said the Count. Their polite conversation continued. It is customary. The Count is not immediately going to ask the questions, he really wants to ask. It is not a time; they will ask them during the private meeting tomorrow, where nobody is allowed. We all remained quiet while they talked. Theysted for more than half an hour. ¡°Rest, Lord Zanav. Tonight, there is a party in honor. It would please me greatly if you would attend it,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t miss it, for anything, my lord,¡± he replied. I took him toward his suit; it is a guest wing, where important guests stay. Even here, he is not staying in the best suit, but better than what his station would allow. On the way, we talked a little. It was mostly me, informing him of things he should know. He didn¡¯t listen; he seemed to be deep, in his thoughts. It was fine by me; this man is trouble and I want to talk as less as possible to him, in case he takes offense to something. ¡°I woulde to receive you at nine, my lord,¡± I said with a bow. He didn¡¯t even acknowledge and entered inside after his guards gave all clear. I walked away as the doors of his suit closed. Till now, everything has gone well, not smoothly, but well enough. I have to keep it like this till tomorrow night. Once he leaves; I will be able to focus back on the things, that matter most to me. Soon it was eight, and the guests starteding for the party. Weing them wasn¡¯t my responsibility; it was Robin¡¯s. Though I am the one who nned it; added things he liked, and even the guests on the lists had been tailored to invite the type of people, he liked the most. I looked at all the preparations and changed my clothes before going back to his suite. I didn¡¯t immediately knock; I hade fifteen minutes early. I feared something might have happened, but it seemed like, I was worrying too much. Knock Knock Ten minutes passed, and I finally knocked. The door didn¡¯t open immediately nor, did I knock on it again. One and a half minutester, the door opened, and Taren Zanav came out. I have to say; he is handsome and despite wearing a formal suit; the air of bad boy didn¡¯t leave him. It seemed to be heavier. ¡®No, wonder; women threw themselves at him,¡¯ I thought. ¡°Lord Count is waiting for you, my lord,¡± I said, and he nodded. I led him to where Count Darrow and Lancel were waiting for him, both dressed for the party. ¡°Lord Count,¡± greeted Taren. ¡°You look very handsome, Lord Zanav. Seeing you, I couldn¡¯t help but remember my younger days,¡± said the Count. ¡°You are still a handsome man, Lord Count.¡± Said Taren with a smile. ¡°It might not be true, but I like, what you had said, Lord Zanav,¡± said Count Darrow andughed. ¡°Lord father, it''s time,¡± said Lancel, in a tone that tried to be polite, but failed miserably. Count nodded and turned to Taren Zanav. ¡°Lord Zanav,¡± said Count and walked out of the room with me and others following behind them. ¡°Lord Count,¡± Rang in unison when Count, Lancel, and Taren entered the ballroom, packed with people. It is more guests than usual, with half of them being a woman; beautiful women, dressed in finery. Just the way Taren likes it. I am a little ashamed, but I want everything to go perfectly and will do things, I wouldn¡¯t usually do to achieve it. ¡°Everyone, thank you foring for the honor of Lord Zanav, who had graced our beautiful city with a wondrous presence¡­¡± He begins to speak, while I watch expressions on Taren¡¯s face, gauging his mood with my skill. Which is hard. Unlike Lancel, Taren is higher leveled and has a good grip on his emotions. Soon, the Count finished his speech and gave the stage to Taren. ¡°Thank you, Lord Count, for this honor¡­¡± he didn¡¯t speak for long, about half a time as Count, before starting to mingle with the crowd in thepany of the Count. Hun! As I was walking behind them. I felt the angry gaze at me; I turned and saw Norman Lucas, looking at me like he wanted to bury a hundred daggers at me. Ca had told me that he had sent his man Chase to get back their madam. I really wish I had been there to see it, but unfortunately, I have been busy here. I couldn¡¯t even go and talk to Lucas, rub some salt on him. I have to follow around the Count. He has the skill to remember people''s names, but I provided him with other information about the guests. Like their personal life or their business, so he couldmunicate smoothly and project himself as a caring lord. He didn¡¯t care much about them, but cared about his image; it was the same thing for most nobles. They only care about one thing, and that is power in all its aspects. An hour passed, and then another. Taren seemed to be enjoying the party. Talking to guests and their wives and girlfriends. The hotter they are, the more he will talk to them. He had used Privacy to talk to a few and, looking at their expressions, many of them were interested in what he said, bringing seductive smiles on their face, but some had gotten angry. Though they didn¡¯t say much, understanding the gap between their stations and things, he could do if they were to escte things. ¡°Lord Taren; it is gettingte for this old man. I will call it a night, but Lancel and you enjoy the party,¡± said Count Darrow as the clock rang twelve. ¡°Good night, Lord Count,¡± said Taren as the Count left. The moment, Count disappeared; four of hisckeys appeared beside him, including Javier Ronda. ¡°Since the Lord Count had left; we can leave for some real fun. Lancel, are you interested ining?¡± asked Taren. ¡°Where are you nning on going?¡± asked Lancel, irritatingly. ¡°To brothels, of course. They are the only things that could be enjoyed at this time,¡± Taren replied with a smile on his face. ¡°Not interested,¡± Lancel replied, and once again, I cursed the bastard. Seeing how miserably he is failing in the job his father had asked him to do. "You will be missing a lot of fun,¡± said Taren and turned to me. ¡°Which is the best brothel in this tiny city?¡± he asked. It is the first time; he has spoken to me directly. ¡°It''s Red Fragrance, my lord,¡± I replied, and immediately a mirth appeared. ¡°Don¡¯t lie to Lord Zanav, Silver. It is your brothel. That is the best brothel in the city.¡± Said a familiar voice; I didn¡¯t have to look to know who this irritating voice belongs to. ¡°I am not lying, Major Ronda. I am just stating a fact; Red Fragrance is the biggest brothel in the city. Owned by the House of Lucas, which has the best brothels in the whole empire,¡± I replied with a smile. ¡°Is that velvet something, that you were talking about non-stop?¡± asked Taren to Javier. ¡°Yes, velvet garden, my lord. I had only gone there once, and it had given me an unforgettable experience,¡± he replied, and I wanted to curse the lying bastard. He had nevere to the establishment. He wanted to, before leaving for Navr, but something hade up, and wasn¡¯t able to. The next day, he left for Navr. ¡°Since you have been praising it nonstop, we will go there. I hope it won¡¯t be as disappointing as the brothels of your city have been,¡± said Taren, freezing the smile on his face for a moment. ¡°I promise, it won''t be my lord,¡± promised Ronda and looked at me. I could clearly see the anger in his eyes. This bastard had nned this, his revenge for the beating I had given me. Taren walked toward the exit, and I looked at Lancel, hoping he would understand what I wanted. He did understand what I wanted, but had no intention ofing to help me. Instead, he is feeling the sick joy from my predicament. ¡®Bastard!¡¯ I cursed and followed the Taren. We appeared in thepound and sat in the carriage, and soon we were out, with six rhinos in front of us and six behind. Those rhinos create noise, and it is night, but he doesn¡¯t seem to care. It is not about the security, but a show. A High-Mage is responsible for his security, with many experienced soldiers and mages, covering every angle. We have no problem with him bringing his security. He can bring, however, a number of people he wants, but would have appreciated it if he had reduced the number of beasts to one or two. They chatted as the carriage strode toward the entertainment district. I remained quiet, speaking only when I was spoken to. Soon, fifteen minutes passed, and the carriage reached in front of the establishment. The feeling, I am getting worsened immediately. It was going to be bad; I could feel it in my bones. I just hope the preparations I made will keep it contained at bad. They should stop them from bing worse. Still Craving. Visit Chapter 274: Enough! Chapter 274: Enough! Merry Christmas To You All. ¡°It is not impressive other than its color. The one on the right is much bigger,¡± said Taren as the carriage turned toward the gates of the establishment. The disappointment could be seen in his eyes. ¡°Yes, it is smallpared to the one opposite side, but Silver here had done a wonderful job on it.¡± ¡°That anyone whoes here didn¡¯t leave without praising it,¡± replied Ronda, but the disappointment didn¡¯t disappear. ¡°This is the ce where all the new changes you have been seeing in all the brothels in the past year hade from,¡± he added, and the interest had finally lit in those blue eyes. ¡°So, you were the one, who had thought those changes?¡± he asked, turning his to me. ¡°They were already there, my lord; I had just improved them,¡± I replied humbly. Taren didn¡¯t say anything and turned to the establishment. On the way, I thought of discoursing him but quickly gave up the idea. Javier Ronda won¡¯t let that happen. ¡®It is a good thing I had nned for this,¡¯ I thought. I had thought of the possibility that he mighte to the establishment, and he did. Hope the preparations I have made will be enough. Since he had decided toe to the establishment; I will give him the experience that he will never forget in his life. The carriages stopped, and we got out. I noticed six of his rhinos had also entered inside. They have crushed nts and broken the trees and their handlers didn¡¯t seem to care much about it. Anger couldn¡¯t help, but rise in my heart, but I calmed myself down and turned to Taren. Only to see him looking at me and there is a surprise in his eyes. ¡°There are quite a lot of skills here and they are good. Do you have a skill that lets you find people like that?¡± he asked. He is not the only person who has asked me about the search skills. It is because of the charms and effects they bring. A single skill couldn¡¯t achieve that; at least dozens would be needed to achieve this. Search skills are extremely rare types of skills, that lets one find people with specific skills. They are one of the most desired skills in every field. Especially in armies, where the people with those skills are treasured. ¡°No, my lord. I am just lucky,¡± I replied, and he looked at me a moment longer, before walking toward the door. I am a little surprised too, with his ability to sense the effects. The power of charms is intentionally concentrated inside the establishment. On the outside, it is not that strong. ¡°Wee to the velvet restaurant, Lord Zanav,¡± greeted Ashton as Zanav entered the establishment. The moment he did, he stopped for a moment and looked at me, but didn¡¯t say anything and looked ahead. ¡°I thought this was a brothel?¡± he asked, with a frown on his face, ¡°The first floor is a restaurant, my lord. If you give us a chance, we will serve you the best food in Greltheaven,¡± I said, really hoping he would agree. He shook his head. ¡°I am not hungry for food,¡± he replied. I smiled and led him toward the elevator. He didn¡¯t immediately step on it; three of his guards went inside and the elevator went up. A few secondster, it came back with one guard. ¡°It is clear, my lord,¡± the guard said, and he stepped into the elevator. ¡­ Bell ¡°The maning is important. I hope, you girls will be a little flexible,¡± said Madam Caena. She seemed worried; I had never seen her as worried as this. It seemed like the shes of worries; I had seen on her face for the past week had been about this. I heard the maning is the son of Count Zanav, a noble house famous for their cannon cavalry. I remember my father speaking about them in one of his lessons, praising the power of their cavalry. ¡°Do you want us to sleep with them?¡± I asked, and I got a strange look from all the girls. It is a brothel; this is what we do. Silver seemed to be worried about this. He had closed the top floor today, which had never happened, and also changed the seating. He even brought the new furniture. Now, there is only seating for nine people. The number of girls has been reduced too. Of twenty-eight, only twelve were present, five of which hade from the lower floors. He had chosen each of us specifically to be here today. I feel like, there is somethingmon in all of us, but I can¡¯t seem to guess what. I would have, if I had mingled with girls and made some friends, instead of being cooped up in my room at every minute of free time. ¡°No; that is your choice. Master Silver is adamant about it,¡± she replied, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I am the only one here among twelve who didn¡¯t sleep with patrons. I didn¡¯t since I came here and never want to do it again, but might need to do it if Silver had forced me to. My survival is important. Everything elsees after. ¡°I just want you girls to be more open. ept some behavior that you all wouldn¡¯t normally,¡± she added. She looked ufortable, and ashamed, asking for it. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. I understood it far too well. ¡­ The elevator moved up and I could see Taren looking at the second and third floor, with interest lighting up in his eyes. Let¡¯s hope it would be enough to stop him from doing things that he did in other brothels. Finally, the elevator stopped at the top floor. I had changed it. I had brought the different furniture and even reduced the girls. Half of the girls aren¡¯t the ones, who usually work on the top floor, but I had chosen them here to serve the most powerful patron evere to the establishment. Because they are resilient, adaptive, and great in conversation, best to deal with Taren and hisckeys. ¡°Wee to the Velvet Garden, my lord,¡± greeted Caena. Taren looked at her for a moment and found her uninteresting, before turning to girls. Immediately, interest shed in his eyes with lust. ¡°This tiny city wouldn¡¯t be boring after all,¡± he said as he walked inside and sat on a sofa between Bell and Umiva. ¡°I will leave you to your pleasure, my lord. Enjoy the night,¡± I said and turned to leave. ¡°Stay,¡± said Taren. I wanted to take leave, but seeing him looking at me. I stopped and nodded. I have enough information about him to understand the kind of person he is and in front of him, I couldn¡¯t show any weakness. If I did, he would use it to exact his sick pleasure. ¡°Whore, serve us the drinks,¡± said the man with green hair to Caena. His name is Baspel Strong. Caena smiled and took out the bottle from the shelf and served them; even Taren didn¡¯t refuse the ss. All of the bottles of liquor were expensive; to get some, even money wasn¡¯t enough. ¡°It is good,¡± said Baspel as he took the sip before pushing his mouth between Gilda¡¯s cleavage and began drinking from it. I could see the sh of anger appearing in her eyes, but she let out a joyful giggle. I watched without the slightest change in my expression, hiding all in my heart. It is the reason why I wanted to get away because I didn¡¯t know whether I would be able to control myself, seeing them do such things. I have to bear it. If not, then the worst thing waits for me and the girls. ¡°It is really a fun way to drink, Baspel,¡± said Ronda, and pushed his filthy mouth between the bountiful cleavage of Grisel and poured the wine over it. Seeing that, the others begin to do the same; the only one who remains sitting is Taren. He always sits, getting more pleasure by watching others, than doing things himself. In all brothels he visited since leaving the Eglin; he had only acted twice. ¡°There is nothing better than drinking from the whore,¡± said Baspel wiping his mouth from the back of its sleeve. ¡°And eating,¡± said Lomus with a grin. ¡°Yes, we will do that,ter, but first, let''s y our favorite game,¡± said Baspel and a bubbling anger rose in my heart, knowing the humiliating thing they are nning too. I was opening my mouth when felt the gentle hand of Caena on my back. I looked at her and saw Caena faintly shaking her head. ¡°My lord, will these two be ying?¡± asked Lomus. Looking at Bell and Umiva. ¡°Of course, they are whores too,¡± he repliedzily, and the eyes of hisckeys lit up. ¡°All of you stand against that wall. You too, madam,¡± instructed Baspel, pointing at Caena. ¡°It would be my honor, sir,¡± said Caena with a smile and stood gained the wall. They all looked at all thirteen girls, with sick joy in their eyes, while I watched powerlessly, angry at them, but angrier at myself. They watched them for a few seconds before Baspel and three others put their hands in their bags and took out a fistful of crystalline-looking metallic coins. Imperials. The coin of ten imperials, and together they have at least a hundred coins in their fists, which is a huge money. ¡°The rules of the game are simple; collect the coins we will throw, but only one person could keep them.¡± ¡°Thus, you will have to fight with each other till only one will remain. The coins will belong to that whore,¡± said Baspel, and with him, the others also threw the coins in the air. Clink Clink Click I have never found the sounds of coins ttering as humiliating as I am right now. ¡°If you finish, the game within ten minutes; I will double the reward,¡± said Tarenzily as the girls watched the coins. They watched the girls with a smile, but soon the smile on their faces dimmed. When they saw, not a single one stepped toward them. They watched the coins and there was a desire in their eyes for them, but there was something more. Self-respect Seeing that, the smiles on wiped away from their faces and their expressions turned ugly. ¡®That¡¯s my girls,¡¯ I said, feeling proud, like I had never in my life. I have been proud of many things, my business, my levels, but those things couldn¡¯tpare to the pride I am feeling for these girls right now. From the first day they entered the establishment; I had tried to instill that in them. They sell their bodies, doesn¡¯t mean, they are not people. They deserve to feel self-respect, as any other man does. ¡°I will triple it,¡± said Taren, all theziness gone from his eyes, and now there is a spark of anger. That anger burned. When he saw there wasn¡¯t much reaction, even after tripling the reward. ¡°Ten times. I will increase the reward by ten times!¡± He said, nearly shouting. Gone was theposure, the nobility he was projecting, and now he just acting like the spoiled brat he was, who wasn¡¯t getting what he wanted, and that made him angry. The reward is huge, and many want it, but they do not want to sacrifice their self-respect. It is too important to them, more important, than any material wealth. Unlike wealth, no one can take it from them; it is theirs as long as they deserve. Bell seemed to find it all funny. A small smile appeared on her face. It is clear, she wanted tough, but holding back. It is not just her, but many other girls, have mirth in their eyes. He saw that. The burning anger exploded. ¡°It seemed like these things forget they are whores.¡± He said with a smile. It is not warmth that is radiating the warmth, but bubbling fury. ¡°Boys, tear apart their clothes and fuck them till they remember the filthy dregs of society they are! Make them understand the price of pride, till nothing of it remained in them!¡± He shouted with his whole being shaking. ¡°dly, my lord,¡± said Ronda, and walked toward the girls with the rest of theckeys. ¡°My lord, we would be grateful if you would also give us the opportunity,¡± said the bald guard, looking lustfully at the girls. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will also get the chance after they are done with it.¡± He said, and many guards grinned. The only one who seemed opposed to it was a middle-aged man, but he didn¡¯t say other than shaking his head. ¡°Enough!¡± I thundered and appeared in front of the girls. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 275: Blast This Den Of Sin Into Pieces Chapter 275: st This Den Of Sin Into Pieces ¡°Enough!¡± I heard a thunderous voice and saw the man appear in front of us. He looked at us and smiled reassuringly, before looking ahead. I saw the apology in his eyes and also his powerlessness. He is aware he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything and instead will suffer the consequences, but he still chose to protect them. It could have been very easy for him to just stand and watch. Others would have done it without a shred of hesitation, but he didn¡¯t. Seeing him standing bravely to protect them, all the fear disappeared from their eyes and now, there is strength in them. Strength to bear, every horrible thing these monsters might do to them. ¡­ ¡°You have some courage to stop us, Silver,¡± said Ronda with a grin. He is happy; it is for which he hade here. To take the revenge for the great humiliation that Silver had given him and now he will have it. I didn¡¯t even nce at the smug face of Ronda and turned to Zanav. Till now, I watched them do one humiliating thing after another to my girls, and break the rules of my establishment, but I couldn¡¯t anymore. I know, there will be big consequences, immediate andsting, but I couldn¡¯t care less about them at this moment. ¡°Silver, step away. Let them teach the lesson to these filthy whores,¡± said Taren, and anger zed in me. ¡°I cannot do that,¡± I replied, and a surprise shed in his eyes before he smiled. ¡°So, you will not stand aside?¡± he asked. ¡°I will not.,¡± I replied, looking directly into his eyes. ¡°Good, this will make things even more fun,¡± he said and turned to the bald man. ¡°Gars, hold down Silver. I want him to watch how I and others fuck these whores till all the pride bleeds out of their eyes,¡± he ordered and removed his jacket. ¡°dly, my lord,¡± said a bald man and came at me with a grin. Click! He had just taken a step, when the door opened, and four people came in and stood behind me. I am surprised. I didn¡¯t think they woulde out to help me. Their contract clearly gives them an out, in conditions like this. Seeing them, the bald man stopped and turned to Taren. ¡°Do you think your little guards will be able to stop me, Silver?¡± he asked, with his eyes filled with mirth and anger. ¡°We might not, but we will try with our all,¡± I replied. He had more guards and there was also High-Mage York. I know the old man and Count Darrow enough that there will be no help from them. He might instead be ordered to help Taren. He seemed to realize what I was thinking and turned to High-Mage York. He may be more spoiled than Lancel, but also more intelligent; understands how to use people to his advantage. ¡°High-Mage, contain Silver and little guards,¡± he ordered, and the old man hesitated for a second, before sighing and raising his staff toward me. Hun! It lit up, and I prepared myself for the spell when suddenly, I sensed the change in the establishment. The old man and guards shook; Taren looked around with a spark of fear in his eyes. The sudden change confused me, but I decided to remain quiet. There will be a time to ask about it. For a few seconds, nobody spoke before Taren looked at me, with fury bubbling in his eyes. ¡°You have disrespected me over and over, Silver. If I didn¡¯t avenge it, then I wouldn¡¯t be the son of the House of Zanav,¡± he said before a vengeful smile appeared on his face. ¡°I am going to st this den of sin into pieces.¡± I shuddered as I heard that because I knew it was not a mere threat. He had done it before and will do it here, and I am powerless to stop it. He is really powerful. Even if I fought with all my guards. There won¡¯t be stopping him. Taren gave me onest look before walking out of the hall and soon disappeared from view, along with his men. ¡°Master Silver,¡± said Grisel, with tears streaming from her eyes. ¡°There is no need to worry. It is just the building. If it is destroyed, we will build, a new one,¡± I said with a smile, before turning to Caena. ¡°Evacuate the brothel; patrons, girls, staff, everyone,¡± I said, and walked toward the elevator, before stepping into it. As the elevator descended, I saw the patrons escaping hurriedly; it was the same with the second floor and the first floor. ¡°That bastard¡¯s men are shouting. They are going to destroy the establishment,¡± said Stena. ¡°He may destroy the building, but he wouldn¡¯t dare to kill people. It is risky.¡± Jon added. They are right, even with all his courage; he wouldn¡¯t dare to kill people. It is already a huge risk for him to destroy the establishment. It is not just a brothel, but a brothel owned by the adviser of the Count and a member of the House of Silver. If he kills people on top of that, then there will be consequences that even wouldn¡¯t want to bear. I looked at people running out of the door and was d to see, Stavad and the staff guiding them out properly. We had held many drills about it, and they were now being useful. I stayed by the elevator, letting the patrons leave first. They looked at me as they left. Many have pity in their eyes, some seem to be enjoying it. I do not me them for feeling what they are feeling; I only me my powerlessness. If I had been strong enough, the bastard wouldn¡¯t have been able to do what he nned to do. I would have been able to save my establishment. I was watching them leave when a man in his early sixties walked up to me. ¡°I feel pain for you, young man. There is nothing worse than watching everything you have built crumble, with no fault of yours.¡± He said and gently patted on my shoulder, before walking away. I don¡¯t know the man, but his genuine words touched me. There were so many familiar people, but not a single one offered me the kind words that this unknown man did. It didn¡¯t take long for all to evacuate, and I walked toward the door when Caena appeared beside me. ¡°All the girls and staff have entered the tunnel,¡± she informed, and I felt relief. They are the most important part of the establishment. As long as they are alive; it won¡¯t take me long to build the new establishment. ¡°You should go to circle too,¡± I said to her, but she smiled, and I didn¡¯t say anything further. ¡°They are really nning to destroy the establishment,¡± said Stavad, with his voice shaking as he looked outside. ¡°Go to the safety,¡± I said, walking out of the door. In front of the establishment, twelve huge rhinos are standing, with twenty-four cannons mounted on them pointing at the They have removed the seal from the mouths of cannons. Now, they only need to light the charge and turn my establishment into dust. ¡°It seemed like, there was no saving the establishment.¡± ¡°Still, Z, send the message to the Count and request help from him.¡± It wouldn¡¯t affect things, but I didn¡¯t want to leave any space for the excuses for him. Not that he cares; knowing him, he probably wants something like this to happen, to get leverage against Taren. I walked toward the rhino, not caring whether they might shoot. They wouldn¡¯t, still seeing big cannons, all the hair on my body stood up. I stopped near the wall of thepound. Behind me on the road are hundreds of people, waiting to watch the crumbling of my dreams. It is dangerous in thepound, but I didn¡¯t want to leave the grounds of the establishment. I want to show, at least, this much defiance in my utter powerlessness. ¡­. ¡°There is a message from Remus Silver, my lord,¡± informed Beaumont, while the Count nodded without saying anything. All his focus is on scrying the mirror, watching what is happening in front of the establishment. ¡°Nearly a thousand people have gathered on the street. It wouldn¡¯t look good on you if Lord Zanav destroys the Remus¡¯s brothel, my lord.¡± Said Robin. It is not the first time; he pleaded with the lord to save Remus¡¯s brothel. ¡°It will affect some things, but we will me it on Remus for disrespecting the noble and even suspend him from his job for a few weeks,¡± replied the Count with a smile on his face. ¡°It is a great idea, Father; this way, we will show Remus his ce and get leverage to ask questions to that bastard Taren,¡± said Lancel, smiling smugly. He hates both of them and wishes he had been there personally, instead of watching through the scrying mirror. He had already asked Mage York to capture a mage picture of Remus. He loves that filthy thing too much. He wants to see his face when the ce he loves the most, turned into rubble. ¡°Let¡¯s hope that little bastard, destroys the brothel,¡± said Count, remembering the message York had sent not long ago, telling him about his dangersence ring, when he was asked to contain Remus. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 276: Cannons Blazing Chapter 276: Cannons zing ¡°You and your whores have besmirched my honor, and pay for that with the destruction of your den of sin,¡± Taren shouted. Wanting the whole crowded street to hear. A lot of people have gathered there, at least a thousand and more are gathering every second. I could see many familiar people, including Norman Lucas, who was looking at it all with pure joy on his face. ¡°It is just a building. I will build a new one,¡± I replied with a shrug, making the smile on his face freeze for a moment. There is not a hint of respect in my tone; I even stopped using honorifics. This bastard does not deserve it. ¡°Then, I will singe thend so bad, that nothing could be built here,¡± he dered and turned to his rhinos. ¡­ ¡°We have closed the gates,¡± said De as she stepped onto the roof with Barb. ¡°Good,¡± I said and turned back to the establishment. Nearly every girl is present on the roof, looking at the establishment, with many having tears streaming down their cheeks. ¡°Are they really going to destroy it, Sister Margaux?¡± asked Gloria, with tears in her eyes. The girl, first time in months, showed her real emotions in front of all the girls. ¡°Likely yes, but you girls don¡¯t need to be worried about it,¡± I replied with a reassuring smile on my face. ¡°It is just a building. Even if it is destroyed, a new one could be built,¡± I added, which stopped the tears of many girls, but brought them to mine. It is not just a building for me. It is the first ce I called home and now it is going to get destroyed. I felt pain, but there was nothing I could do other than bear it. ¡­ Boom Boom Boom ¡°Fire!¡± Taren gave themand and a yellow fire burst out of the mouths of twenty-four cannons with deafening booms and behind it came ck cannonballs, covered in fiery sparks. I watched the cannonballs roaring out of cannons and tearing through the air toward the establishment. I wanted to cry and roar; run and cut through these cannonballs, but I could do none other than watch in frozen horror as these cannonballs destroy everything I had built. They will not be destroying the building, but the representation of my dreams and will. It is the thing that saved me when I was betrayed by my family and sent here. I bet my everything on it and found a sess for me and the girls. Now, a spoiled brat riding on his father¡¯s power is going to destroy it, while I watch helplessly. Hun! The cannonballs were fast and reached the walls in a second, and about to crash it when suddenly, I felt something from the establishment. The twelve-pointed star appeared in front of my eyes. It shone brightly and covered the establishment in its light. Bang Bang Bang The cannonballs struck the establishment, with everybody expecting the building to blow to the smithereens. Mages cast shields, including Z, to save me from the rubble that came flying in, but nothing of that sort happened. The cannon balls exploded, but instead of sting establishment into the pieces. They only made faint cracks appear on its walls. ¡°Impossible!¡± shouted Taren, with shock all over his face. It is not just him; everyone is shocked, including me. I controlled my shock and turned to Caena. I had felt the connection between her and the twelve-pointed star. She seemed to be expecting the question and faintly nodded with a look, saying, ¡®We will talkter,¡¯. I had my doubts since the dream incident, but now, I am sure. She had done something to the establishment. Something that just saved it from sting into the pieces. She herself had acknowledged that, with the nod. She might also be the reason why Mage York stopped earlier, and fear appeared in Taren¡¯s eyes. Seeing these things connecting; hope rose in my heart. There is a chance that the establishment might survive. ¡°It seemed like, someone is trying to protect you and this den of sin,¡± said Taren and a smile appeared on his face. The smile didn¡¯t give me a good feeling at all. ¡°Load the berin rounds,¡± he ordered, and I shook. All the hope, that appeared in my heart vanished in an instant. I looked at Caena and found all the color drained from her face. Berin rounds, made from berin crystal. A crystal with immense destructive power, it bes even more destructive when it is used to forge the cannonball. A round berin crystal contains the power to equal to Grade 3 wide-range offensive spell. It is the power of a single round, and he is nning to attack with multiple at the same time. ¡°My lord; your lord had stated, those are for emergencies only,¡± said a middle-aged man. Taren turned and looked at the man with all the fury. ¡°This is an emergency; the man disrespected me. He deserved to be punished!¡± he replied, nearly shouting. The middle-aged man seemed like he wanted to say something, but once again, he just sighed and took a step back, while Taren turned back to me. ¡°There is nothing that can save your den of sin; not even the bastard, protecting you from the shadows,¡± he said, and there was confidence burning his eyes. This time, I didn¡¯t reply, and instead just looked back into his eyes. I have felt the power of the star and the spell it had used earlier. It was barely a Grade 2 spell and the cannon balls that were used weremon ones; they didn¡¯t even put skills behind them. Each berin round ispared to a Grade 3 offensive spell. That defensive spell would tear apart like paper. There is no chance it would stand against the rounds. Still, I am grateful. Like the girls, the establishment could also stand in defiance. It might get crushed today, but I will build it anew and make it powerful enough, that one day, it will crush this bastard. This is my promise. ¡°Fire!¡± He ordered, and the sparks lit up across the cannons. The bastard isn¡¯t holding back andunching the berin rounds from all twenty-four cannons. Those rounds are not cheap, even for him, but he is in no mood to care about the cost or consequence; the only thing he cares about is avenging his perceived disrespect. Boom Boom Boom A loud boom rang out, and yellow fire burst out from the mouths of cannons, and, through it, came blue cannonballs. A quarter of them were more than enough to turn the whole establishment into the dust, but he hadunched twenty-four. There are skills attached to them, making them even more dangerous than they already are. I was watching the cannonballs when the twelve-pointed star appeared in front of me, and it shone more brightly than earlier. It is taking the power from the sun. Still, despite that, I don¡¯t think it is enough to defend against the berin round. If it had been one or two rounds; the establishment might have survived with some damage, but against twenty-four, onlyplete destructions waited for it. ¡°Hun!,¡± Even with the sound of cannons still ringing in my ears; I could hear, Caena crying. Tears have begun to drip down from my eyes too. I didn¡¯t want to show weakness in front of the bastard, but tears came out. This is a ce, I had built with my blood and sweat, took risks, that would have ruined me, and made the enemies, that hate to the bones. I am proud of what I have achieved with it, and what it helped achieve. It is filth of society, but it had made my girls earn their self-respect, that they value enough to discard the thousands of imperials, thatmon people would kill each other for. So, when I saw the cannonballs roaring toward it. It felt like, they wereing for me. They reached the establishment, and the impact caused the reaction, bringing out the massive power that could tear apart any wall. Hun! I was watching it with horror when suddenly something shocking happened. The twelve-pointed star, which was shining brightly, burned with ten times greater brightness. At the same time, I felt a change in me. I found myself connected to the star at a much deeper level and thus sensed something that my mortal mind couldn¡¯t make any sense of. Though whatever it was; it shook me to my core. When I came to myself; I found the world had be colorful. I could see all types of colors around me. They are of every type and everywhere, and people are the source of them. Constantly emitting them out, like a breath. ¡°Emotions,¡± I said. They are not energies, but emotions that people radiate, and I am seeing them. Every person radiates them in different quantity and quality depending on their mood. Like right now, Taren, Caena, Stena, Lucas, and a few others are radiating them intensely. I was watching the colorful world when I saw these emotions moving, and they were moving toward the sun. I had seen it happen once, during that incident, but the scale of it was likeparing the drop of water to the te. During that incident, emotions from the plot were pulled, but now emotions from the whole city and beyond are getting pulled. They areing like a tide anding from every direction and getting sucked into the sun. There were so many emotionsing that the whole area of the establishment got covered in dense emotions, but strangely, I could see it all clearly and what it was doing to the sun. The sun begins to swallow the massive amount of emotions from everywhere, bing denser and bigger, every second. It is also releasing the energies into the shining points. The energy it is giving into them is also massive, tens of times greater than what the twelve-pointed star had sucked from the sun. Every shining point is zing and getting bigger and strangely, the strings connecting them to the sun fade rapidly, till itpletely disappears. Seconds passed and shining points got as big as pearls and got bigger. My connection with them seemed to be strengthening rapidly, I could feel what they could do. Though, not all; there are many which seemed tooplex for me to understand. Gasp! I was thinking about her when I heard her take a huge gasp of shock. It seemed like she finally realized what was happening. The sun bing bigger and bigger, as it absorbs more and more energy. It had already be as big as a ser ball and getting bigger. The surrounding things take the massive energy from the sun and grow bigger. It is not the only change that is happening to them. I focused on one charm. From a shining point, it had turned blue marble, with a hint of green and purple. As I focused, I began to feel gentle, rxing hands moving across my body, relieving me of the stress. The message charms. I looked at others, feeling what they do, but when I looked at some, all I got was a vague feeling. All these charms, which gave me a vague feeling, are part of clusters, with each having four to seventy-two charms in them. Not all charm clusters are vague like them; there are some clusters that give a definite feeling like the first message charm. It was also part of the cluster. Once this is finished, Caena will have a lot of questions to answer. Especially about the number of charms. They are far greater than the number I have in my mind. There are two thousand and sixty-one charms, when there should be only seven hundred and fifty-one. Hun! Time passed, and the tide of emotions kepting when suddenly, I saw something appearing in the sky. A meteor, filled with such dense emotions, nothing my core absorbed hadpared to it. It is not big, just the size of a volleyball, but packs a massive amount of emotions and they are extremely dense and powerful. It appeared beside the sun before getting swallowed by it. Immediately, the sun begins to grow fast. As it is happening, another meteor of appeared, and then another, and then another. One by one, they appeared in the sky and came at the sun, before getting swallowed by the sun. Hun! Their appearance confused me, and I thought about their origin, till I saw the ninth meteor and felt the familiar feeling. Immediately, I understood where these extremely dense balls of emotions wereing from. I also remember a thing I read in the book years ago and now seeing the meteors, I know it is true. {Conditions Met: L¡­} I was thinking that when the notification appeared in front of me. Making it official. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 277: Birth of Legacy I Chapter 277: Birth of Legacy I Imperial Pce, Harsoth Empire ¡°Emperor father, you have to rein House of Ravenheart. They are openly breaking thews of empire by recruiting a massive number of people for their armies.¡± Said the middle-aged man, to the old man sitting across from him. There are many people in the room, some sitting on the table, some standing, all loyal to the crown prince. The old man looked at the middle-aged man, his firstborn, and regret couldn¡¯t help, but sh in his eyes for a moment. He made a great mistake, that will have far-reaching consequences, but things have moved too far to take the step back. There is no space for regret, only action. It is the only way; he could secure the future of his beloved empire. ¡°I have summoned the Duke o¡± the emperor was speaking when he paused with a shock in his eyes before a big smile appeared on his face. ¡°Father, what happened?¡± asked the Crown Prince immediately, feeling something had happened and since his father was smiling, meant something very good had happened. The emperor doesn¡¯t show his emotions. If he does, means it is important. ¡°A legacy had been born in the empire,¡± he replied after a moment of silence. Hearing that, the smile lit up the face of the crown prince and other people. Legacy means emotional essence; the most important material in the world that only legacy could produce. ¡°Where?¡± asked the crown prince immediately. Already thinking about the person, who he would send there as the guardian. The emperor turned and looked at the giant map of his empire and moved his eyes toward the newest region, he conquered, before focusing on the near edge of it. ¡°Greltheaven,¡± he replied. Freezing the smile on the Crown Prince''s face. ¡­. Transcendent Pleasure, Port Belnin ¡°This will be e¡± a woman sitting behind a huge desk, reading the file, suddenly stopped as her legacy chimed in a particr rhythm. Immediately, her eyes went wide. ¡°Madam Ophelia, are you fine?¡± asked the man sitting opposite her worriedly. She didn¡¯t answer for a couple of seconds. Instead, she focused on sending the contribution to help the other legacy consolidate. It could be small or big, depending on her. She chose the amount that was neither small nor big. It will help the other legacy consolidate, but not as much as what wille from the Three Titans and Eight Spirits. ¡°Gandin, prepare; a newpetition has appeared,¡± said the woman and grin, shocking the man. It took him more than a second to realize the meaning of her words, and his eyes went wide. ¡­. Mirage, Jalrux City, Navr ¡°Inform the lord that a new legacy has been born, in Renwell Wastnd,¡± said Orc-blood man as he opened his eyes. ¡­ Archmage Tower, Archmage City ¡°The new legacy had been born in the Renwell Wastnd. I want the information about its host on my desk by morning,¡± said the old half-elf as he opened his eyes. The woman holding the staff was shocked, but she bowed. ¡°As youmand, Archmage,¡± she said and disappeared. .. Every legacy on the Zenid continent and the world realized a new legacy had been born. They sent their contribution as the duty demanded, but also sent messages and their people to find out more information about the host. .. {Conditions Met: Legacy Gained¨CDemesne of Desire} Legacy Skill: Master of Legacy Legacy Skill: Laws of Legacy Legacy Skill: Vault of Ru Legacy Skill: Grant Authority (4) I have gained the legacy, something I had dreamed about, but never thought I would get it. Desiring a legacy ismon among merchants, everyone. In the whole continent of Zenid, there are not more than a hundred legacies. Many kingdoms don¡¯t have even a single one. In the empire, there are only six legacies; seven, counting mine. They are treasures that provide the most valuable thing in the world and that give them power. I have power. From now on, nobody would dare to trample on me. Like the bastard did, with it even if Imit the gravest crime; I would be, at most, confined to my legacy. I have be too valuable for them to do anything for me. Without me, there is no legacy. Hun! I turned to the skills and found; that I couldn¡¯t use them. For a moment, I panicked, but soon realized something. ¡®The legacy hadn¡¯t fully formed yet.¡¯ The emotions kepting like a tide. Including the meteors of thick emotions. The sun had grown to the size of a carriage, and it was still growing. Suddenly, another meteor appeared, and it was bigger than any meteor till now. It is as big as a gym ball and zing with multicolored emotions. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. It is not the size had shocked me, but the sheer density of the emotions inside it. It merged into the sun and the size of the sun began growing rapidly. Within a moment, its size increased by thrice. It had just stopped growing when I saw seven more of simr size appearing in the sky, all dense with emotions. When the sun finished absorbing them; it became as big as the house. More and more meteors kepting but were all pale inparison in size and density of emotions. Not a single one of them could match the eight. Time passed, and hundreds of meteors came, but soon, their pace began to slow down till they stoppeding. I thought the sun would be satisfied by the sheer emotions the meteors provided, but no, its appetite, hadn¡¯t been satisfied. It seemed to have increased even further. It started to not only those emotions radiating from people, but those present on trees and ground. Time passed by, when suddenly three meteors appeared in the sky. They are as small as tennis balls. For a moment, I thought about them asmon meteors before my eyes widened. When I sensed the emotions inside them, my whole body shook. Every single one of them contains more emotions than what my sun had absorbed till now. Those emotions are so pure and dense, that they feel solid. They stayed in the air for a moment beforeing to the sun, before crashing into it. The moment they did, it shook and began expanding madly, while sending wild streams of power to the surrounding things. The rapid change begins to appear in them. The clusters begin to merge, and many lone charms begin to change their ces. Even the twelve-pointed star, begins to change. I turned to the sun and saw it gettingrger than the establishment and still growing and, within a moment, bing as big as the red fragrance. Hun! I thought it would continue to grow, seeing it only absorbed 10%, when something shocking began to happen. It begins to shrink. I thought it began to release emotions it couldn¡¯t absorb, but no, instead it started to digest them faster as it shrunk. Making the emotions inside it, denser. The things around it also begin to get more emotion and they begin to change faster. The sun got smaller and smaller, till it finally stopped at the size of the carriage. At the same time, I felt the skills unlocking; I knew I could now use them. However, I am more focused on things in front of me. ¡®I had called it sun because it looked like it, but now it seemed like it be sun,¡¯ I thought, looking at the scene in front of me. The sun, the core of the establishment, is still multicolored, but the emotions inside are hundreds of times denser. I looked at it before looking at thes revolving around it. Yes,s. They are from the size of ping-pong balls to the gym ball. All of them revolve around the sun, in different orbits. The clusters have merged and turned into multicolored nts. Many have satellites the size of ping-pong balls. With a single nce, I could easily tell what they could do, but there was a minority of which seemed tooplex. The twelve-pointed star also turned into the. It is the biggest one; the size of a gym ball, three times the size of the second biggest. A beautiful green-blue, with a silver twelve-pointed star painted on it. I looked at them, and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I wanted tough madly, but I controlled myself. Soon, my expression turned serious, and I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the establishment covered in a faint, colorful, shining mist of emotions. It made it look like it was out of a dream. The mist alone didn¡¯t do that; its elevation to the legacy improved every aspect. From walls of buildings to dirt under my feet to nts around. Everything had improved. Even those cracks seemed to bring a different charm to it. They are just faint cracks, even when berin''s round exploded, the twelve-pointed star also powered up, increasing the defensive power of it exponentially, saving the building from turning to dust. Now, even without the power of a twelve-pointed star; it would be very hard for my enemies to crush the building, even with berin rounds. Speaking of which, I could still see the crystalline smoke and feel the heat on the walls, like barely a minute had passed since the attack, instead of hours, that I felt. ¡°Th¡­this,¡± said Taren, looking at the establishment in utter shock. Everyone is shocked; there is not a single person who isn¡¯t. They couldn¡¯t believe the thing, that happened; some had even been pping themselves. I looked at Taren and others and closed my eyes for several seconds, before opening them. ¡°Taren Zanav, Javier Ronda, Baspel¡­and the guards. You all had broken the most sacred rules of the Velvet Garden,¡± ¡°You humiliated its employees by your denigrating behavior and caused harm to the property and thus forbidden from it for life,¡± I dered and felt it clicking with the establishment. I used Laws of Legacy; the few seconds I had closed my eyes toy down the basicws. ¡°You can¡¯t do that. I am Lord Taren Zanav, of House Zanav; I will crush you and this legacy here and now!¡± he roared angrily, making the eyes of a middle-aged man go wide. ¡°It seemed like you are nning a rebellion against the empire, Taren Zanav?¡± I asked with a smile. A confusion appeared on his face, hearing that, and opened his mouth, when the middle-aged man stopped him. ¡°Adviser, Lord Taren, and House Zanav have the intention of rebellion; those words are spoken in anger and stress, and for it, I apologize to you, my lord''s behalf,¡± said the middle-aged man and bowed faintly. ¡°What the fuck, Grass! Why did you apologize to this son of a whore?¡± asked Taren in fury. ¡°Empire constitution, section seventeen, use 1. A legacy is a personal domain of the emperor and the host of it is his envoy.¡± ¡°Any disrespect and harm caused to the host is disrespect and harm to the emperor and thus punished ordingly,¡± I said with a loud voice and power of skill so that everyone could hear. He heard that, and the expression on his face paled as he understood. The consequences he could face for his words. Though they are exceptions to thew. The emperor formally needs to decree it too, to make it official. He opened his mouth but soon felt something, not only him but also hisckeys, the rhinos, the men sitting on them, and the guards. I had not even spared Mage York. They all felt the effect and began to take steps toward the gate, unwillingly. Taren and the middle-aged resisted for a second, before starting to move toward the gate; they were unwilling, but they didn¡¯t have a choice. They are not powerful enough to resist the rules of the legacy. I wanted to do much more to the bastard than throw him out, and I could. Even if I pped and kicked the bastard, or gave a cut or two. I won¡¯t receive any punishment other than having a p on the wrist. Doing that would be letting him go quite easy. It will also lower the prestige of the establishment. I now have the real power that nobody could take away from me. I have to consolidate it and soon, there would be a time when I would be able to wield it, such that he would regret what he had done here, every moment of his life. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 278: Birth of Legacy II Chapter 278: Birth of Legacy II Namdar In the opulent conference room, twelve people are sitting. For the first house meeting in their new headquarters. The meeting had been going on for several hours, discussing many topics, beforeing to the most important one. ¡°Brother, we shouldn¡¯t withdraw our business whole from risky regions. We should only scale them down, after all the war, could also present a great opportunity,¡± said the silvery-grey-eyed old woman. ¡°It is too risky, Aunt. We should withdrawpletely from risk and only keep operating in the safe ones or the losses would be immense,¡± said the middle-aged man. They all looked old man sitting in the head chair, Edmon Silver, head of the House of Silver. ¡°What is your view on it, Gerald?¡± asked Edmon to the man on the right. The youngest and newest member of the house council. tter! ¡°I¡± Gerald had opened his mouth when suddenly, the old man on the left got up. It was so sudden, the chair, he was sitting in ttered on the floor. Gerald turned to the man and saw deep shock all over the old man¡¯s face. It surprised Gerald too, he had known the man his whole life but never saw him so shocked. ¡°Thompson, what happened?¡± asked Edmon. ¡°Give me a minute,¡± replied the old man and walked out of the room in a hurry, while others watched in shock. ¡°Edmon, it is time, you should think about retiring Thompson. There are many in the house, who could contribute to the house more productively, with that seat,¡± said the oldest man, elder brother of Edmon Silver. Many seating, nodded in agreement. Not many people like Thompson, he is the only non-silver on the house council and wields too much power because of his close friendship with Edmon Silver. Edmon didn¡¯t reply, he just looked at them; some wanted to speak, but shook their heads. It is not the first time they have spoken about it and every time; the answer is the same, but more people are joining the chorus. However, there are few opposed to it, like Gerald. Click! Seconds passed and nobody spoke; a woman on the right had opened her mouth and was about to speak when the door opened. Thompson came inside, and there were tears in his eyes, which shocked them. The one who is most shocked is Edmon himself. Thest time he had seen Thompson cry was decades ago. However, the one thing that shocks him is even more than crying, is expression on his friend''s face, was not a hint of sadness, but joy, immense joy. ¡°Thompson, what happened?¡± asked Edmon, with his heart beating wildly. He had a feeling, that it was something life-changing. Thompson brought his lips to his friend''s eyes and whispered something. A shock, they had never seen on the face of the leader of the house ¡°This is not some big joke from our enemies, right?¡± he asked breathlessly. ¡°I have confirmed from seven different people, including Graham and the mage guild,¡± replied Thompson. ¡°Hahahah¡­¡± For a moment, the old man didn¡¯t speak, before a small appeared on his face, that soon turned into a wildugh. He began tough, so hard that tears started to stream down his face and even then, he didn¡¯t stop. ¡°Edmon, what happened?¡± asked the oldest man, but the man keptughing. Seeing that, he turned to Thompson, who had put his chair back and sat down. ¡°Thomson, what is it?¡± he asked again, but Thompson remained quiet. A sh of irritation appeared in his eyes, but he controlled himself and decided to wait for his younger brother to calm down. He did, after more than a minute ofughing hard. ¡°Finally, the greatest dream of a House of Silver, had been realized,¡± he said, and the eyes of the oldest man went wide. There are a few more who reacted, including Gerald, understanding what he meant, while some watched in confusion. ¡°I¡­is it really true?¡± asked the oldest man shakingly, with tears streaming down his face. Edmon didn¡¯t reply and instead turned to the table. ¡°I, as head of House of Silver, appoint Remus Silver, to the house council,¡± he dered, immediately shocking some people. ¡°Uncle, he is just a child, not to mention a bastard and the business he runs. He hadn''t even contrib,¡± ¡°Shut up, Jens!¡± shouted the oldest man. ¡°Father!¡±ined the middled man, but the oldest man just red, before turning to his brother. ¡°If it is true; I agree with it wholeheartedly. Even willing to give up my seat,¡± said the oldest man, shocking some on the table. It is the thing, they love the most, and wouldn¡¯t give up without a struggle. There was quite a drama when Gerald reced the previous holder of that seat. ¡°I also agree,¡± said Gerald. ¡°Me too,¡± said the woman. One by one the others agreed, while some still looked in confusion and anger. Wondering what the hell, had happened. ¡­ Amberhold, Oksall. ¡°If all the parties are like; then I want to attend every one of them,¡± said Varza, looking around with wide eyes. It is her first party, and the girl is impressed. Ina couldn¡¯t help but wonder how the girl would react when she attended parties at Navr. The undead kingdom throws the best parties, and they also discriminate much less; it makes their parties enjoyable. ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t like much. Though I would love to see the Mage shows that you and Remus had talked about,¡± said Ca. They are in a merchant guild of Amberhold, at their annual ball. Master Silver had secured them the invitation. I have been in a circle for ten days, as he ordered me to. I didn¡¯t want to rest, seeing it was not the first time, I had experienced it like this and there was too much work, but it had helped tremendously. More than I am willing to admit. He even sent Ca with me, for support. I felt a little bad, seeing how busy she was. ¡°I think, it is time to leave. We have already met the people, we needed to meet, talk to those we needed to talk to,¡± I said, and a mirthless smile appeared on Varza¡¯s face. ¡°Not that, many were willing to talk to us,¡± said the young woman. They know what we are and might be willing to deal with us privately, but many hesitated to talk to the public. Some didn¡¯t even acknowledge us; it is a stark difference from the establishment. Ca and I got used to it, and Varza will, too. ¡°Let¡¯s leave,¡± said Ca, and I nodded and was about to leave when the crowd parted in front of us. I saw the two peopleing toward us with a smile on their faces. I looked around to see where they were going. They shouldn¡¯t being to us. They are the Lord and Lady of Amberhold. We have been instructed to stay away from them by the one who provided us with the tickets. They stopped in front of us, while the whole ballroom watched. ¡°Lord ckwell, Lady ckwell,¡± greeted Ca, smoothly despite her surprise and bowed with grace. I and Varza followed after hurriedly. ¡°Ms. Salt, I have heard so much about you. You two must be Miss Knox and Miss Steele,¡± said the beautiful elfdy in a melodious voice. ¡°It is our great honor, mydy,¡± replied Ca, smoothly again, but more questions appeared in her eyes. There should be no reason, for Lord and Lady ckwell toe to us personally and even know our names and talk to us politely. That, I am beginning to suspect, is an illusion spell cast on us for their sick amusement. ¡°Please congratte Lord Silver on behalf of the House of ckwell for gaining the legacy,¡± said Lord ckwell with a smile. His voice is like thunder to our ears and heard by the rest of the hall. Thanks to the skill, he used. Lord Silver? Legacy? The questions begin to appear in my mind. I be even more sure; this is some kind of sick illusion. ¡°L..Legacy?¡± asked Ca, with her voice finally breaking apart. Seeing that, the beautiful elf smiled gently. ¡°Your Lord had gained the legacy; I am sure your mage will be able to confirm that,¡± said Lady ckwell melodiously, looking behind us. I looked back, only to see Shaun and Hugoing toward us hurriedly, before stopping beside us. ¡°Is it true?¡± asked Ca in a barely audible voice. ¡°Yes, Z had personally informed me. I had even asked the old man who conformed to it,¡± he replied, with his voice brimming with joy. ¡°Mr. Silver wants three of you, back to the Greltheaven as soon as possible,¡± he added a momentter. It took one and a half hours for us to get out of the ballroom. Everybody wanted to talk to us and sent their congrattions to Master Silver. The people earlier, who didn¡¯t want to acknowledge us in public, fawned over us, without shame. To me, it all seemed unbelievable. Even now, I am feeling I am in an illusion. ¡­ Valentina Valentina was reading the book on the way back to the Greltheaven. She had gone to the Lauryl Town with Ed, to discuss his project with Baron Hanes. It took me a lot to convince the man, but he finally agreed to give a job to Ed after seeing his designs. It will be his first job, and he seemed excited about it. Manors aren¡¯t the things he is interested in, but it is work, which he desperately needs. Gasp! She was reading when her ring shed with a message and shock appeared on her face. She was barely able to control her emotions when the ring shed again and again. Informing her of the same thing. ¡°I¡¯ll be damned!¡± I cursed while grinning like mad. ¡°What happened?¡± asked Ed, worried, moving the books floating in front of him. ¡°A very good thing, my friend,¡± I replied. ¡­ Tabes ¡°A legacy, it will make conquering back, what is ours even more fruitful,¡± said the man on the throne. ¡­ Dustorn Fortress Bang! ¡°Fuck, a legacy! Now, Tabes will want to eat us alive,¡± said the man, hitting the table hard with his fist. ¡°Send the message to the Majesty¡¯s war office and ask them for more men.¡± ¡°We won''t be able to deal with Tabes with what we have, now that legacy is dangling in front of them,¡± he ordered and looked out fortress toward Tabes with worry on his face. ¡­ Paerus Estate, Harsoth Empire ¡°You said he was interesting, but he produced a damn legacy,¡± said the middle-aged man, grinning. He is none other than Prince Grelt, and he is happy. It is the best news he has received in these past few months, where nearly everything going wrong for him. ¡°Even I didn¡¯t imagine it, Your Highness,¡± said Viscount Atre, shaking his head. ¡°You sound disappointed, Vincent?¡± said the prince. ¡°I have been keeping an eye on him and would have preferred him at Your Highness¡¯s side, rather than cooped up in legacy,¡± he replied, and the prince smiled. ¡°You are underestimating the value of the legacy far too much, Vincent,¡± said the prince and the viscount smiled. There was silence for a few seconds. ¡°What is Your Highness¡¯s n for the legacy?¡± asked the Viscount finally, and the prince grinned. ¡°Since it is my territory, it is mine,¡± he replied. ¡°His Majesty won''t like it,¡± said Viscount, and the prince smiled, before his expressions turned serious. ¡°Who do you think, we should send it for the legacy''s guardian?¡± asked the prince, avoiding the question. ¡°There are few, I think, would be best suited for it,¡± replied the Viscount after a moment of silence. ¡­ The appearance of the legacy had added anotheryer ofplexity to people¡¯s ns. Some cursed at its birth, while others cheered. Some had decided to watch quietly and wait for the opportunity. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 279: Information Chapter 279: Information Wishing you all a New Year filled with joy,ughter, and adventures! Hun! I was about to turn, giving ast fuck you grin at Taren, who had finally stepped out of the gate when I saw therge crowd parting rapidly. The horses came and riding them were Count and Lancel, protected under the heavy guards. The Count rarely rides the beats, especially in the past few months. They soon reached the gate, and the Count turned to Taren. Count said something, and the Count replied irritatingly, but Count replied just as irritatingly before turning back to the legacy with shining eyes, like it was his personal property. ¡°Legacy. It really is a legacy,¡± said Count Darrow with augh as he rode inside and immediately my eyes constricted as I noticed some things. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted. ¡°Congrattions Remus, a legacy. Many kingdoms don¡¯t have one, but now our small city has it,¡± he said,ughing loudly. There is no apology or even mention of what caused this; like it had never happened. If the legacy hadn¡¯t been born, he wouldn¡¯t have been here. ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to your blessing, my lord,¡± I replied, and the smile on his face got even wider. ¡°Let¡¯s go, check out this wonderful thing,¡± he said and took a step forward, but I didn¡¯t, and he turned to me. Looked at me in question. ¡°My lord, the legacy hadn¡¯tpletely formed yet; I would prefer it if you looked at it after it ispletely formed,¡± I lied. There is no way, I would let him see it before I checked everything. I was waiting for anger to appear on his face and prepared a few excuses, but to my surprise, there was understanding in his eyes. ¡°Yes, it takes a couple of hours for it to be fully consolidate. It is said that the process shouldn¡¯t be disturbed,¡± he replied with a regretful sigh. This time, it is my turn to be surprised. I had lied to keep him away from the legacy, but never thought it would be true. ¡°Thank you for understanding, my lord,¡± I replied, and he nodded. ¡°Remus, Prince Grelt, had asked me to congratte you. He will talk to you personally tomorrow after everything calmed down,¡± he said. ¡°Please, thank, his highness for me,¡± I replied, to which he smiled and turned to Commander Atticus, who had just arrived, and looked at him. ¡°Atticus post apany of soldiers to guard the legacy. It is going to be crazy. Remus, Beaumont will be here, ask for her services if you need any help,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± he said. He nodded and left after giving onest unwilling look at the legacy. ¡°A lot of messages areing. There are a lot of people who want to talk to you. Some are very important people,¡± Z informed, shakingly. ¡°Who are they?¡± I asked. ¡°A Grand Mage Asin from Archmages Towers, the first minister of Emperor, prime minister to the king of Tabes, and a lot of others,¡± she answered. It surprised me and needed a moment to calm myself. I was about to reply, to talk to themter, when I had stopped. ¡°Connect me with the Grand Mage Asin,¡± I said to Z. She nodded excitedly and took my hand. The Grand Mages are near the zenith of magic; the powerhouse that could destroy the cities at the same level as the storm. It is not the reason I want to talk to her, but because she is from Archamages Tower. One of the most powerful legacies in the world. It is said that it is among the strongest of the eight spirits. ¡°She is connected,¡± Z informed. ¡°Grand Mage Asin,¡± I said. ¡°Lord Silver, the Archmages Tower, and its Archmage Congratte you on gaining the legacy,¡± said the calm voice from the other side. ¡°Thank you, Grand Mage, and please thank the Archmage for me,¡± I replied politely. ¡°You have gained the legacy and there are few things you should know about it,¡± she said after a moment of silence. ¡°First, it will take a few hours to a day to form a legacy; the timing depends on the legacy to legacy. After that, you will be able to use all your skills.¡± ¡°Your ss will also change; it will be a better one, with the powerful weight.¡± ¡°You will also need a guide to make you understand the way of legacies, words, rules, and regtions rted to it,¡± ¡°Vanis Lindgren Of Inam had agreed to be your guide. Meet him at your earliest convenience,¡± she informed. ¡°Thank you, Grand Mage, for the information,¡± I said. ¡°It is our duty.¡± She replied and cut the call. I stayed on the spot for a few moments before walking toward the legacy, joining Caena and Margaux. ¡°Where did you send him?¡± I asked Caena. Seeing Jon leaving after talking with her. ¡°To tie up, a loose end,¡± she replied in privacy. She has many questions to answer, and I will have an answer to all of them. We passed the fountain, which seemed to gain the same charm as the building, before appearing at the door. The girls and the staff have already crowded around it, hundreds of them. All of them had arrived, but not a single one had stepped inside. ¡°Let¡¯s take a look inside,¡± I said with a grin and entered. Following me are the guards and madams. There is also Eudo, Drev, Stavad, and a few important members of staff. Gasp! The audible gasps rang out as we entered inside. Even I was barely able to stop myself from gasping in shock. Nothing had changed, but everything had changed. Every small thing inside seemed to have changed. The tiles on the floor look mesmerizing, chairs look like they are a work of art. So, are the tes, knives, and bottles of wine in the bar. However, the biggest change is the power of charms. It had enhanced, extremely. What they are feeling now is only 20%. I had reduced it earlier after seeing the great change that urred in them. I could control them now, like how I could control everything else in this ce. Surrounding everything is the faint mist of emotions, which form the cloud on the ceiling, like it did in the mirage, I visited in the ¡°Never in my dream, I had expected this,¡± said Margaux, with tears streaming down on her face. ¡°Mr. Silver, you have to let me use on my food,¡± said Drev. ¡°On my drinks too,¡± added Cresa. Others also chimed in. Emotions are the signature of the legacies. A hint of them enhances food, drinks, and everything. ¡°Let¡¯s go up,¡± I said. I wanted to check everything, every nook and cranny. I wouldn¡¯t let inside before I know everything there is to know. ¡°Your cousin is at the door, wanting the guards to let him in,¡± informed Z, and I immediately wanted to say no. ¡°Is, Graham with him?¡± I asked, to which she closed her eyes, opening to secondter. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied. ¡°Let two of them in, but ask guards to tell them, they are not allowed to enter inside the building,¡± I said, she nodded. I didn¡¯t trust my cousin, but I am sure the family wants the answers. It would be best if they would handle that. Soon, we reached the second floor, and it was amazing as well. The third and fourth floors are even more amazing; I had spent quite a lot of money on them and now, with the establishment turning into the legacy, they have turned even better. Soon, we went back to the first floor, and checked the kitchen, before walking underground. Unlike the building above, the underground is huge, covering nearly all the plots. I had needed to hallow it, to house all the girls. Here, too, there is emotional mist everywhere. Everything was enhanced, including the mirrors in the studio and the water in the swimming pool. ¡°Mena had sent the message. She wants toe back,¡± informed Z, and a smile appeared on the face of Margaux and other madams. ¡°Poor, Mena,¡± said Cath, shaking her head, while everybodyughed. ¡°We will need all the girls, especially the experienced ones in Owlspring. Z, book the ship and ask all of them toe back,¡± I said, making some of them surprised. With Legacy, everything had changed. I couldn¡¯t run those small brothels and I don¡¯t know whether I would be able to. Legally, it wouldn¡¯t be possible, unless I get the special exception from the Meldhorn. Though, I will think about thatter; I currently need to focus everything on the legacy. ¡°Also ask Ca, L, and others toe back to the Greltheaven as soon as possible,¡± I said. I need them here to manage things. I could already see the list of things; I have to do, and that list is increasing every minute. Soon, we came back from the underground, and I turned to madams. ¡°Let the madams and staff in,¡± I said, and a few secondster, a tide of girls came inside. Even the madams begin to have the difficulty in managing them. Thankfully, they seemed to calm down after some time, but they would still gasp in shock at every little thing. I talked to them for a while before walking into the elevator, with Caena following behind me. It is time, she answers my questions. All of them. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 280: Motive Chapter 280: Motive Click! I opened the door and walked inside my office, with Caena following behind me. My gaze fell on the window and couldn¡¯t help but be surprised, seeing the people. They have packed streets as far as I could see and there seemed to be no end to them. In just an hour, their numbers seemed to have quadrupled, and more wereing. It seemed like, I had underestimated the effect a new legacy would have. I might need to ask for more people. I also closed my eyes and wrote a few morews. They will help those with trespassing. I gave onest look to the people before sitting down and turned to Caena. ¡°There are far more charms than there should be,¡± I said, and she smiled gently. ¡°I had started imprinting them the week, I came here,¡± she replied. I am surprised. I shouldn¡¯t have been I had expected the answer in this line, but it still surprised me. ¡°I had also understated my speed of crafting enchantments.¡± She added after a second of silence. This I had very much suspected. ¡°Were you expecting it to be turning into the legacy?¡± I asked. I could now tell the age of each charm when they were imprinted. The first charms aren¡¯t the vague ones, but the ones that increase the effects of establishments'' services. ¡°The ritual had formed a perfect bond. It never happens; the chances of it are less than a million in one.¡± ¡°Even that is not enough for legacy, but your vision and ideas propelled it toward it fast, while my charms also helped with their push,¡± ¡°Still, I had expected it would take decades at least, before it could light up the spark and be a legacy; you had achieved in one and a half years,¡± she replied with a clear surprise on her face. For a minute, I didn¡¯t speak, just looked at her. She is not as confident as she is trying to project. There is fear in her eyes, nervousness hidden deep within, which she was trying to hide. ¡°Were you able to see the legacy¡¯s core before?¡± I asked. To which she nodded. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied. ¡°Now?¡± I asked, and she shook her head. ¡°Everything ispletely locked now, I couldn¡¯t even ess a hint of emotions,¡± she said and sighed. It is no lie, not because I believe her, but because I could feel my total control over the legacy. The contract I signed with her, which gives her ess to establishments'' emotions, is invalid now. Even if it had been valid, it wouldn¡¯t have given her ess. The establishment is a legacy and unless I give her control through it, she will have no control over, even a single part of it. I waved my hand, and immediately everything had disappeared; the office, the chair we were sitting and everything else. The only thing there is the sun ands orbiting around it. Master of Legacy is a passive skill, which gives meplete control and instinctive knowledge to control everything. Gasp! She gasped in shock as she looked. It is shocking. There is no one who wouldn¡¯t be shocked seeing it. ¡°The rituals have merged,¡± she said after a few seconds, looking at thes. ¡°I can tell what many of them do, but some feel too vague or, I might say, talk in anguage that I couldn¡¯t understand,¡± I said, and manys disappeared, leaving only seventeen of them behind. ¡°I want to know what they do. Especially that one, I think, it is the one, which is most important,¡± I said, pointing at the biggest with a silvery twelve-pointed star. She smiled at my question and there was also an immense pride that appeared in her eyes. ¡°This is a Grand Ritual of Kama Rakalis,¡± she replied, and I shook. I have done my research on witches and know the kind of terror Grand Rituals are. Even Archmages fear them when they are cast by the witches powerful enough. ¡°Grand Ritual of Kama Rakalis?¡± I asked after calming down myself. ¡°In themon tongue, it is known as Grand Ritual of Imprint and Amplification,¡± she said, and confusion appeared in my eyes. ¡°It can imprint any spell and release it more powerfully,¡± she exined, and my mind went nk. Others may not be able to understand the gravity of it, but I do and the more I think about it, the more excitement and fear I would feel. ¡°The spell you used earlier?¡± I asked. ¡°Grade 1, Minor Strengthen,¡± she replied. The power the spell had reached was Grade 2, albeit barely, but that was before the establishment turned into the legacy. ¡°The imprinted spell could be used unlimitedly as long as there are emotions?¡± I asked, and she nodded, shaking my heart again. ¡°How many spells have you imprinted on it?¡± I asked. ¡°Just thirteen; it is very hard to make others use spells in the establishment, without arousing suspicion,¡± she replied with regret. ¡°I looked inside the and there were thirteen things inside. The Minor Strengthening had taken the form of rock with faint brown energy covering it. There is also a Fireball Spell, Ice Dagger, and other spells; all Grade 1. I could tell from whom these spells were imprinted. Minor Strengthening is from Shaun, the fireball is also from him. Ice Dagger is from Z. I had seen them use these spells and were also written in their resume. ¡°How many spells could be imprinted?¡± I asked. She didn¡¯t answer the question immediately. ¡°I think, hundreds.¡± She replied, and I nearly sucked a breath. ¡°And their grade?¡± I asked. ¡°It will depend on the quality of emotions; the same for the number of spells it can imprint. Higher the quality of emotions; the more you will be able to imprint,¡± she answered. She is referring to the grade of legacy; yes, they have grades as well. It depends upon the quality of the emotional essence they could produce. Simply say, Grand Ritual gives me a magic scroll from which I canunch any imprinted spells, I want unlimitedly, as long as I have enough emotional essence. It is a terrifying ability, and it scared me. For a minute, I didn¡¯t speak, before I turned my gaze to the second biggest, with three moons orbiting it. ¡°This, what this one does?¡± I asked, and she answered, once again shocking me. One by one, I had asked about seventeens and she answered it all. I made everything disappear and slumped back in my chair. I had expected many things, but not this. She had nned it all, with the establishment turning into the legacy in mind. Aside from Grand Ritual, all of them would have been near useless if the establishment hadn¡¯t turned into a legacy. Those things are like skills for me; I could do many things with them. ¡°It is clear that you have ulterior motives for creating the charms,¡± I said after a few minutes of silence. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied. Not denying; even the blind could see that she had done all this with motive. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that,¡± she replied, and a frown appeared on my face, along with anger. ¡°You might lose a job, if you didn¡¯t answer the question,¡± I said, and all the fear and nervousness hidden in her eyes seemed to vanish and a relief appeared in her face. Seeing that, I sighed with regret internally. This woman knows me too well. ¡°It''s not that, I didn¡¯t want to tell you; it¡¯s just that, it is not the right time,¡± she said, and I just looked at her. ¡°When will be the right time?¡± I asked, and she replied with a smile. ¡°I really want to fire you, you know?¡± ¡°No, you do not,¡± she replied with a bright smile. ¡°At least tell me, where did you send Jon?¡± I asked, and her expression turned serious. ¡°Remember that herbology teacher I had?¡± she asked back, I nodded as I paid for that ss. ¡°She is a witch,¡± said Z, and my eyes widened. ¡°Did you ask him to kill her?¡± I asked, to which she shook her head. ¡°No, she will be asleep, till what she knows is not a threat to us anymore,¡± She replied, simply. It is akin to killing her because I didn¡¯t want anyone to find out about this, ever. ¡°She knows about the charms you imprinted on the establishment?¡± I asked her, to which she shook her head. ¡°No, but she knows I am a witch and your bonding with the establishment ismon knowledge. She might be able to connect the dots,¡± she replied. The charms I understand are the greatest secret of my establishment. Especially, that Grand Ritual; it let me do what I heard, archmage tower does. Throw the spells by converting emotion into mana. The grand ritual is far different from the working of Archmage Tower. One is conventional magic while the other is witchcraft, but I will consider them the same for the sake of thought. What I mean is say, I couldn¡¯t let anyone know. If even a hint of it had spread, I would suffer a fate worse than death. Just thinking about made me shudder all over in fear. ¡°Ask everyone to sleep early. We will have a lot of things to do tomorrow,¡± I said, she nodded and walked out of the office, though not before giving me a look. She definitely wants some control. The door closed, and the imperial coin appeared in my hand before it disappeared and appeared again. Vault of Ra. The skill provided me with ess to the vault, which is the size of the two rooms. I could ess it from anywhere within the boundaries of the establishment and put anything in it. I didn¡¯t try to put people, but I knew instinctively that it wouldn¡¯t be possible. Still, I am d to get a skill like this; it is useful. I got up and looked at the window, only to see, the crowd had swelled further. I looked at them for a few seconds before walking into my room. I am going to sleep, tomorrow is going to be a very busy day but before that, I need to talk to a few people. Some of them might get angry if I didn¡¯t talk to them. I don¡¯t want to make them angry, not yet. ¡­ ¡°Good, a legacy. Another reward waiting for us in the wastnd,¡± said the man, with a grin, and erased the name Remus Silver from the list in front of him. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 281: Dealer of Desire Chapter 281: Dealer of Desire Witch of Fluke Lv. 23 Witch of Fluke Lv. 24 Witch of Fluke Lv. 25 Witch of Fluke Lv. 26 {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡°Ah!¡± A loud sound came out of Adra¡¯s mouth as she looked at the text in front of her. All the sleep vanished from her eyes as she stared line of texts. She had leveled up four times and even gained two skills. The thing is, she had something in the past few months to give her a single level, much less four of them and a skill. In the past few months, the only thing she had done was to create and sell some harmless charms, all legal. ¡®Is this a dream?¡¯ asked Adra, but she knew it was not; witches are more connected to the world. They aren¡¯t called the bane of illusionists for nothing. Bang Bang Bang ¡®Just what the hell happened?¡¯ asked Adra to herself, confusion, when suddenly, she heard a loud, forceful knocking. ¡°Adra Bass, open the door in the name of Lord Hegras!¡± said the loud voice, scaring the hell out of her. She is confused and scared but has a feeling that the text in front of her is likely rted to that loud knocking. ¡­. Whore Lv. 20 {Conditions Met: Whore ¨C Courageous Whore} {Skill Gained:¡­} ¡­ Harlot Lv. 24 {Condition Met: Harlot - Harlot of Composure} {Skill Gained:¡­} ¡­ Lady of Promise Lv. 10 {Skill Gained: ¡­} Prostitute of Riveting Voice Lv. 21 {Conditions Met: Lady of Promise + Prostitute¡ªRiveting Lady of Brothel and Promise} Riveting Lady of Brothel and Promise Lv. 12 {Skill Change: ¡­} {Skill Change: ¡­} . . . I watched my skills change and I could reject it all, like I did so many times. Not wanting this filth to touch my primary ss, which I had inherited from my parents. Now, I do not have the will to do it or rather ept the reality, of what it is. For over a decade, I had rejected it every minute of my life, but that spoiled bastard made me understand deep in my heart what I am. When he asked his men to fuck me till I feel despair. A whore. I had heard it thousands of times, but it never hit it like, when he spoke. It brought down thest nail in understanding. Yes, I am a prostitute, but I am also ady and I finally epted that fact. . . . Witch of Luminescent Brothel Lv. 30 Witch of Luminescent Brothel Lv. 31 Witch of Luminescent Brothel Lv. 32 {Conditions Met: Witch of Luminescent Brothel¨CWitch of Luminescent Legacy} Witch of Luminescent Legacy Lv. 24 {Skill Change: ¡­} {Skill Change: ¡­} . . . Madam Lv. 13 {Skill Gained: ¡­} I looked at the texts in front of me, and a smile appeared on my face, seeing me gaining the powerful ss, but there was also some confusion. My base ss had leveled up and upgraded. Its levels have regressed, but it is more powerful than before. The skills have also been upgraded, and I have received three new ones. Not to mention the attribute points. The regress in levels and change in ss didn¡¯t take away the attribute points. The thing that confused me the most is that my Madam ss had only leveled up once and there was no consolidation between the Madam and Witch ss. I had expected it would happen after I breached the third capstone, but it didn¡¯t. I had gained only one level, and the ss hadn¡¯t upgraded either. It took some time to understand the reason behind it. Yesterday, I acted more like a witch than a madam. I need to be a Madam as much as much as I am a Witch. ¡­ Agent of Experience Lv. 26 Agent of Experience Lv. 27 Agent of Experience Lv. 28 {Conditions Met: Agent of Experience ¨C Dealer of Desires} Dealer of Desires Lv. 20 [Master of Legacy] {Conditions Met: Goods Sense¨CGood¡¯s Instinct} {Conditions Met: See My Vision - Vision Projection} {Skill Gained: Copy Skill} {Skill Gained: Telepathic Call} ¡°Wow!¡± I spoke. It was the only thing I could say about what I was seeing in front of me. The Grand Mage had informed me I would level up. My ss would be good enough to hold the weight of the legacy, but I hadn¡¯t expected this. It is big, three-level ups before my ss upgraded and then another level up. Two of my skills have been upgraded, and I have got two new ones. When I looked at them, my eyes widened. Both of these skills are something I had desired. Especially, the capstone Copy Skill; is one of the rarest and most desired skills there is. It is easy to understand, why people would want it. The second one will make things a lot more efficient. I wanted this since I saw Margaux use it. I calmed down and looked at my new ss, Dealer of Desire. The Dealer is a low-level mercantile ss, but it is the ¡®Desire¡¯ that makes it extremely powerful. It¡¯s an element that constitutes mortal desires; it is vast. This alone had to increase its weight and make it equal to the ¡®Lord ss¡¯, but it is not just that. It had [Master of Legacy] attached to it, which increased its weight even further. I don¡¯t know how powerful the ss is with it, but it is more powerful than Lancel¡¯s, for sure. My upgraded skills, Goods Instincts, and Vision Projection will help a lot. The other skills, which are not upgraded, also be powerful with ss upgrades and some have be even more powerful than these two upgraded skills. Thest thing is attribute points. I have four of them. Like always, I wanted all to the charm and intelligence, but I controlled my urge and used one point on each attribute. Immediately, I felt the effect of it, and it was stronger than I had thought. I am surprised, but I shouldn¡¯t be I had read about it. It happens when one uses, use all four attributes at once. It took nearly a minute for the effect to wear off and when it did; I opened the table.
ss Dealer of Desire Lv. 20 [Master of Legacy]
Masterful Administrator Lv. 22 de Warrior Lv. 19 Trainer Lv. 07
Charisma 17
Intelligence 14
Vitality 12
Strength 14
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Instinct ¡¤ Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Rapid Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Persuasive ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ Swift de ¡¤ Lords Mood ¡¤ Privacy Sphere ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry ¡¤ Sharpness ¡¤ Active Presence ¡¤ Vision Projection ¡¤ Instant Recollection ¡¤ Underhand Dealings ¡¤ Copy Skill ¡¤ Telepathic Call
Legacy Demesne of Desire
Skills ¡¤ Master of Legacy ¡¤ Laws of Legacy ¡¤ Share Authority (4) ¡¤ Vault of Ru
Attribute Points 0
The first thing I noticed was notice was my primary ss and beside it, the title in blue letters; like they had when I received the legacy. There is also a separate row for the legacy''s name and its skills; they are in blue letters as well. I also didn¡¯t forget to notice that now my secondary ss, Masterful Administrator, is higher level than my primary ss Dealer of Desire. Normally, it is a worrying thing, but not in this condition. The exception works here. Here, the weight of my primary skill is much higher than the secondary one. It is higher than all secondarybines. Not to mention the title, which provides even greater weight to it. So, even if the Masterful Administrator had been much higher, it wouldn¡¯t have affected the things. I looked at everything before I closed the table and got off my bed. It was eight and a half; I had slept for five hours but felt like I had taken a seven-hour sleep. The sleep and rest charms were working better than I had imagined. Which put a smile on my face, because if they are working as such despite a quarter of power, then others would work at the same power. I quickly freshened up and showered. I didn¡¯t even eat breakfast before going to my office. Click! I entered my office and saw Z waiting there. ¡°Have you slept?¡± I asked, to which she nodded. ¡°Better than I had expected.¡± She replied, giving me a knowing look. Likely thinking, the sleeping effect is part of the new skills. ¡°Master Silver, sister L has arrived. She hade with Mr. Ashav,¡± Jill informed through the inte, surprising me, before I shook my head, with a smile. ¡°Your sister, Baroness Le, is at the establishment and wishes to meet you,¡± she added. This didn¡¯t surprise me. ¡°Thank you, Jill,¡± I thanked and turned to Z. ¡°Ask the Count to send Robin to finalize the list for tonight and politely ask him to suggest any names from the city, he like to invite,¡± I said. Tonight is a celebration; it is only for the people in the city. There will be another one after the guardian arrives; the guests from all over the empire and outside will be invited. It is a formality, that all the new legacies have to do. ¡°Adviser Robin will being at ten to discuss invitations. He will bring the Lord Count¡¯s list with him,¡± she informed. ¡°How far have Ca and others have reached?¡± I asked. ¡°Twenty-five minutes ago, Shaun had messaged me, that they had reached Fort Renin,¡± she replied, which means it will take Ca afternoon to reach the city. ¡°Mena and girls?¡± I asked. ¡°Their ship will reach the city by twelve,¡± she replied and nodded in relief. I had asked Z yesterday to arrange for the ship for them toe back to the city. I will need her and the girls, especially the experienced ones. ¡®I should meet her before I start with work,¡¯ I thought and was about to touch the inte when I decided to use my new skill. ¡®Jill, tell Baroness Le that I am ready to meet her.¡¯ I said to her through a Telepathic Call. ¡°Y..yes, Master Silver,¡± she replied, surprised by my skill. Click! A minuteter, the door opened, and my sister strode. Wearing a white shirt and ck pants, with a sword hanging by her waist. ¡°Baroness Le,¡± I greeted. ¡°Lord Remus,¡± she greeted back, with a small smile on her lip. ¡°Please, take a seat,¡± I said politely. ¡°Thank you,¡± she replied as she sat. Once again, that awkward silence appeared between us. Nobody seemed to have an idea what to talk about. ¡°So, what brought you here to a humble establishment?¡± I asked finally, and her lips curved. ¡°Humble?¡± she asked back, and I smiled. ¡°The legacy had brought me here and also to give you a heartfelt congrattion from family to realize our greatest dream,¡± she congratted, with her eyes turned a little emotional. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, and an awkward silence appeared again. ¡°It is quite hard to believe that you have turned this ce into the legacy,¡± she said, looking around. ¡°It is. I am still feeling like it is a dream,¡± I replied. ¡°Well, it is not. I had verified with a spell.¡± She said with a smile. ¡°Tonight there is a celebration of the legacy. I would like you to attend,¡± I said. ¡°I will be honored,¡± she replied with a smile. She left not long after, while I turned to Z. There are a lot of people to talk to and send hundreds of messages. Z wouldn¡¯t be enough; I will need to get help from High-Mage Beaumont as well. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 282: Gift Chapter 282: Gift ¡°The window offers some good view,¡± said Count Darrow, looking through my office widow. Outside of the window, there are thousands of people. Even now, at midnight, after the whole day, their numbers didn¡¯t seem to lessen at all. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied. He kept watching for a few seconds, before sitting on my seat, while Lancel sat on the couch. ¡°Your legacy seemed a little stronger than the newly born one, I had seen in our territory. s, it didn¡¯tst for over three decades,¡± he said and sighed. The life of the legacy depends on the life host. The host dies, legacies disappear; there is less than 10% of legacies get passed to the second generation. The birth of a legacy is a joyous asion, but the death of it hits even harder. ¡°You know you are the youngest in eighteen hundred years to gain the legacy. Second youngest, since the beginning of the new calendar,¡± he informed, and I put an appropriate surprise on my face. ¡°I had expected to be one of the youngest, but didn¡¯t expect to be second youngest,¡± I replied, and he smiled. I am the youngest in the eighteen hundred, fifty-seven years, five months and nine days. I was informed of this fact earlier. ¡°If you live well, the legacy willst for at least seven to eight decades. There is also a very high chance, that you might be able to pass it to the second generation,¡± ¡°The legacies born of the young hosts, tend to have greater potential. The legacy of the youngest person is still standing after over two thousand years and is a spirit,¡± said Count with his eyes shining. ¡°I will try to live up to your expectations, my lord,¡± I said. He nodded with a smile. ¡°You have nned the party well. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.¡± He said, pleased, but a momentter, his expression turned serious. ¡°I would have wished, if you had done away with the brothel and turned it into a full restaurant,¡± added and sighed. ¡°It is a brothel, my lord,¡± I said, and he nodded heavily. He also understood it was a brothel and the cost we might have to pay if I changed that. It is why, even when the party is going on the first floor; three floors above them are doing business. For a minute, nobody spoke. ¡°You are leaving in two hours, right?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, I would like to reach Inam by ten,¡± I replied. ¡°Vanis Lindgren¡¯s tower is the oldest legacy in the empire. He will guide you well,¡± he said. ¡°I hope so,¡± I replied, showing the nervousness I was feeling. The old man is my guide, host of the oldest legacy for nearly a century. There is not a single second-generation legacy in the Navr. There were two, but both of them died with their second-generation hosts. Thetest one was just seven years ago; making the Vanis Tavern the oldest legacy in the empire. ¡°You will be taking my yacht. It is my gift for you, for the gift you have given to our wonderful city,¡± he said, and surprise appeared on my face, before it lit up, in a big smile. ¡°Thank you for this great honor, my lord,¡± I said, bowing deeper than usual. He never let anyone borrow his yacht which is the thing he loves the most after his children and territory. He is giving it to me and while it is only for one time; it is still a big thing. The man isn¡¯t an idiot. He had known what he had done and now trying to make do with these things and I will ept, while not forgetting he would have no qualms in sacrificing me for his gains. ¡°Go to Inam, but return soon. We have a lot of things to talk about.¡± He said and got up. I followed him out of the office and stepped into the elevator. ¡°My lord, do you know, who the governor would be?¡± I asked, and his lips curled up in a smile. ¡°The decision hadn''t been made yet,¡± he replied. I feel like there is something he isn¡¯t telling me, and I didn¡¯t ask. Instead, I joined the party with him. It is already past twelve, but it is packed, no one had left sinceing here at six and nobody seemed to be in the mood to do that. Everyone who is something in the city is here, from the leaders of guilds to the higher-ups in the army. I had also invited the captains, who had saved me multiple times. However, they were only able to stay for an hour. Caena is moving around the guests, talking to them. The other madams were also there; I could see Lancel¡¯s face would sour, seeing them, and a small change would appear on Count''s face, but both of them didn¡¯t say anything. They understood it was a brothel. Though the Count had hinted I should keep madams limited to three upper floors like before, but I won¡¯t be listening to him. There are not only Caena and assistant madams but also Ca, Margaux, L, and Ina. Though, they are present as guests of the party. Many people nced at them when they saw them, but soon began talking to them. Though the first one to do that was Valentina; she did it, the minute she came inside. Soon, it was one am, and the first person left the party. It was Count; he left. Though not Lancel, he is still enjoying the party. ¡°Good night, my lord,¡± I said as I sent him off to his carriage. ¡°Have a safe journey, Remus,¡± he said and sat in the carriage. I watched till his carriage rolled out of the gates before walking inside. There, I talked to people, from collogues to friends to people, I barely know, before I reach the person I have been wanting to talk to. ¡°You took a lot of time toe to your friend,¡± she said as I approached her. I had talked to her, before, but only a few words; I didn¡¯t get much chance to talk to her freely, with Count in thepany. She is not alone, there is her girlfriend Lena and architect Davidson. Thest one is her friend Ed. She is one of few people here, who was able to bring more than one person. Initially, I had only nned to invite her and the old man, but then, I found out, her girlfriend had returned to the city. She also wanted to bring her friend, Ed. I had to cut two people to adjust them. It is not a ballroom, there are much less people here. ¡°Who said I hade to talk to you, I hade for Lena,¡± I said and turned to her girlfriend. ¡°I hope you have been well, Lena,¡± I asked her girlfriend, who smiled charmingly. ¡°I am, and thank you for the invitation, Lord Silver,¡± she replied, while Valentina red at us. ¡°Remus will do, Lena,¡± I replied, to which she smiled. A momentter, my smile muted, and I turned to Valentina. ¡°I am leaving for Inam in an hour, after Ie back, we will have a lot of things to discuss about the establishment,¡± I said to her, and confusion appeared on her. ¡°Inam, why are leaving for Inam?¡± she asked. I smiled and was about to reply when her friend spoke. ¡°I think Mr. Silver is going to meet the guide, Valentina. I heard the new hosts of legacy go to old hosts to learn its ways,¡± he answered, and she looked at me in question. I nodded. I have the legacy and could control anything, but I barely knew of to run things with these new changes. The same for my people; they need to learn how to use the legacy. Like this party, everything is going great. People are enjoying themselves, but things could get better. Especially, with the most signature ability of the establishment, mixing the emotions with the food and drinks. I have not let them do that, not because I couldn¡¯t do that. I could provide them with the emotional mist they need, but they don¡¯t know how to use the emotions, use them properly. I am taking some of my staff with me as well; not just chefs and bartenders, but others as well. This is just a prelude to a huge celebration that will happen soon. Where the important people from the entire empire woulde. I have to create something that will imprint this on their mind. It is not just them, but every person whoes to my establishment should leave with unforgettable experiences of their desires satiated. It is why I am going to Iman, just a day after getting a legacy. I am not enjoying it properly. I will do it after Ie back. ¡°I will be waiting then.¡± She said, with her eyes shining. Valentina will be very important in that effort. I have ns, but before I can start with any of them, I have to learn the limitations and rules of the legacies. There are many, one of which you can¡¯t make too many changes to it. If you swerve it too much from originality, you will lose the legacy. I need to understand how to use it. Of course, everything could be used, even a disadvantage could be an advantage if used well, said one of my professors inw school. Ask anyone of my past profession and they will tell how true it is. I talked to a few more people before finally reaching the two. An old man and a raven-haired woman of the same age; are talking to each other with wonder in their eyes. They are the only people who are not from Greltheaven, but I have to invite them. ¡°Mr. Kadal, Mrs. Kadal, I hope you are having a good time,¡± I said to the old man and his wife. He is the man who spoke those words to me yesterday, and it turned out; he didn¡¯t speak to me alone, but also to Taren, saying it is not a good thing to crush the dreams of people, to satisfy one''s ego. He spoke to me when others avoided me like the gue. His words were somber, but they helped me when I was at my worst. ¡°The best time in our life. We never thought we would ever step into the legacy. Thank you for inviting us, Lord Silver,¡± said the old man, shaking my hand gratefully. ¡°It is my pleasure,¡± I replied. I talked to them for a minute more, before stepping into the elevator, with Caena and Ca following behind me. ¡­ Are you really, noting?¡± asked Ca to her friend, who shook her head. ¡°You know, she misses you a lot and if not for you stopping her, she would have alreadye here to meet you,¡± Pain and longing could be seen in her eyes. She is missing her daughter a lot and isn¡¯t going to meet her for some reason. ¡°I will soon,¡± she said, wiping the tears. The only thing Ca could do was sigh and hug her friend. ¡­ ¡°Is everyone ready?¡± I asked to people standing in front of me. I am at the back of the garden, with Ca and Caena, along with twenty-three of the staff. Drev and three chefs wereing, along with four from the bar. Maeve also brought three of her staff, while the tavern didn¡¯t have a spa, I am sure, they will be able to learn something from it. There are many other people like, like our musicians. Charen is the only ising from the band. He also had expressed a willingness to sign a long-term contract. I already had a five-year-long contract with him and will think about extending it further. It is the only reason I am taking him with me. The other three musicians are girls, including De, who is wonderful with the flute. I am more than willing to girl''s chance, than the other people. It is why Cresa and Wanda areing with us, despite there being more skilled chefs and bartenders working in the establishment. It is the same for Lenore and Asne from the studio and spa. I would have brought more girls perusing the different professions, but their skills have not reached high enough. They didn¡¯t need to be disappointed. We have a legacy. They will get more than enough chance to practice with emotions as long as they prove themselves. ¡°Let''s go then,¡± I said, seeing everyone nod and sit in the carriage with Ca, while others sat in carriages waiting for them. Of the madams, only De and Gloria areing. Caena, Margaux, and others are staying at the establishment. Caena wanted toe, but it was risky given her ss. I invited Margaux, but she declined. As for L and Ina, both of them are leaving in the morning. Soon, the carriage walked through the establishment, and I felt like I was naked again. The establishment was like a nket; I could feel it around me and now, there is only a string connecting me with it. I could still tug it to control a few things in the establishment. I wanted to go back immediately, but I controlled the urge. In the afternoon, when I went out of the establishment, it was so intense that I nearly asked the driver to go back. Now, it is a little controble, but it would take a while before I would getplete control over it. ¡°It had been only a day, and the life had changed, so thoroughly,¡± said Ca and her eyes turned distant. ¡°The people who weren¡¯t even willing to talk to me are now fawning; those who said they don¡¯t deal with whores are now cing big orders,¡± ¡°You are not rejecting those deals, are you?¡± I asked, and somberness in her voice flew off, and augh escaped from her delicious mouth. ¡°No, of course. I am not an idiot to let egoe between the business,¡± she replied, and a pride couldn¡¯t help, but sh in my eyes, along with something else. ¡°Come here,¡± I said, and she smiled, before getting up and sitting on myp. I looked at the amber eyes before I took her enchanted lips into mine. As those lips melded into mine, I finally got the nectar that I had been thirsting for long. We kissed gently and intensely with our hands, moving across the bodies of each other. The time passed so quickly that we reached the port before we knew it and had to stop. Click! A momentter, both of us walked out of the carriage, looking at our finest. There are no swollen lips or crinkled clothes. We looked good, too good, that some could tell what happened, but nobody said anything. ¡°It is really a beautiful yacht,¡± said Ca in wonder. I am going to buy a yacht like this one day, and it is not a dream anymore, I am going to do it. ¡°It is a good ce to finish what we have started,¡± I said, and her amber eyes smoldered. ¡°Definitely,¡± she replied with a grin. I grinned back and took her hand in mine before walking toward the yacht. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 283: Guide I Chapter 283: Guide I The ship slowly moved toward the Inam¡¯s port; it was a busy ce, as busy as the Owlspring or even more. The trollmouth river split here. One end goes toward the sea, while the other flows through the boundary, separating the Halsad and Renwell regions, before splinting in two parts again. ¡°Often, I wanted to stop at Inam, but never got the chance,¡± I said, looking at the city. It is a beautiful city, different from Ownspring and Namdar, with its own charm. ¡°It is a truly an empires city; it will remind you of the maind,¡± said Ca. I don¡¯t like the maind; it is too restrictive. I love our little border city, where the influences of all regions, including even Navr, merge with its essence. Still, I do miss the maind sometimes. Finally, the yacht docked, and I got out with Ca and stopped in front of the group of people waiting for us. ¡°Wee to Inam, Lord Silver,¡± said a middle-aged man, with short brown hair. ¡°Thank you, gracious wee, Asst. Foreign Secretary Milgan,¡± I replied, while smiling internally, seeing the jealousy in his eyes. I have seen many people have that emotion since yesterday, including Count Darrow. Even a noble as powerful as him, desires it. ¡°The city of Inam, congrattes you on gaining the legacy. The empire will shine brightly with its light,¡± he congratted. ¡°The empire is always shining brightly; the little legacy of mine isn¡¯t enough to affect the blinding brightness of it,¡± I replied, and the smile on the man¡¯s face turned brighter. Since being a border city, it has always been controlled by the men chosen specifically by the emperor, and they are a little too patriotic. The current governor is the same and he expects others to be the same. ¡°The Lord Governor had invited you to meet in the evening at the governor¡¯s pce,¡± he informed. ¡°It would be my honor,¡± I replied, and the man smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s get you to your destination. I am sure you are excited to meet your guide and learn about the ways of legacies,¡± he said. ¡°You have no idea,¡± I replied, and he smiled before leading me toward the carriage. Hun! Soon, we reached the carriage, and the guard opened the door. I went inside and when Ca tried, the guard there stopped her, I looked at him with my eyes clearly showing what I was thinking. He looked at Milgan, who nodded after looking at me, and the guard removed his hand. Ca entered the carriage and sat beside me while he sat opposite. ¡°You have arrived sooner than we had imagined. It¡¯s not even two days since you have gained the legacy, and you are already here to meet your guide,¡± he said as the carriage began to move. Usually, new hosts take weeks, or even months, before they go to meet the guides, but unlike them, my legacy is different, and I have to know what is normal and eptable before someone finds the strangeness of it. I know that if people even got a whiff of charms and rituals in the establishment. I will face things that are even worse than the deaths. ¡°I wanted to learn more about the legacies as soon as possible. I didn¡¯t want to make any mistakes, as you know, legacies are delicate things.¡± I replied. ¡°So, wise Lord Silver, no wonder you have gained the legacy while being so young,¡± he said in wonder. We chatted as the carriage took us toward our destination. He is a talkative man, but not once did he talk to Ca, he treated her like she didn¡¯t exist at all. So many things have changed, but some remained the same. Though I am not worried about it; It has been barely a day since the legacy was born. It had yet to start exerting itself. When it begins, these people will alsoe fawning over her. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I got out. ¡°Vanis Tavern; the pearl of Inam,¡± said the man as I looked at the tavern in front of me, covered in a beautiful swirling mist of emotions. It is a five-story tall tavern, made of timber and bricks. It looked beautiful, not only architecturally but also magically. It had a charm that only legacies have and would attract the attention of anyone who sees it. Right now, there are over a thousand people looking at it. Most of them are tourists; it is clear by looking at them. I looked at it for a few seconds before walking toward the gate, where there were already people waiting, but I focused on a young girl of seventeen to eighteen years. She is a teen girl with a small delicate face and blue eyes, that seem to be wise beyond years and also the innocence of her age. ¡°Lord Silver, wee to Vanas Tavern,¡± greeted the young girl. ¡°Thank you, Miss Alina,¡± I replied. ¡°Come, Lord Silver, Grandfather is waiting for you,¡± she said, and we walked toward the tavern. The woman is Alina Lindgren, the great-granddaughter of Vanis Lindgren and his sessor if the information is to be believed. Click! She opened the door of the tavern, and I entered inside. Immediately, I felt the powerful effect of the legacy. Just like what I had felt in a mirage. A thick cloud of emotions is covering the ceiling, while the faint mist is swirling everywhere. The tavern is full, every seat is upied, with people dressed to their finest. It is not even ten, but nearly everyone is drinking and having fun. I looked at the bar; it is of old-style copper and wood. It is well used, but that is its charm, which had been enhanced by absorptions of emotions for nearly a century. The bar is amazing, but what is happening in it is even more amazing. The bartenders working on the drinks, with skills, and Skills are far above my staff. It is mesmerizing to watch. Though, the thing that mesmerized me the most was the way, they were mixing the emotion mist into the drinks. It is an art. ¡°Many of our staff have been working for us for decades; they are one of the best in the whole empire and even the continent.¡± Said the young girl proudly. ¡°I can tell,¡± I replied and looked at the bartender, mixed the thirteen different ingredients in the air, infusing it with a mist of three colors, before pouring the shining drink into the ss and serving it to the patron. ¡°The first-floor staff is of the lowest level, while the top floor is highest. When you see them, they will blow your mind,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°I can¡¯t wait,¡± I replied. She didn¡¯t say anything and kept walking. We passed by the elevator and the stairs leading upstairs. It was clear; that we were not going up. Soon, we reached the kitchen and could see the same magic as the bar happening there. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to see it for more than a second, as the young girl opened the door opposite it. ¡°Grandpa, I had brought Lord Silver,¡± she said to the old man, sitting behind the beautifully carved table. The table feels a little strangepared to everything else in here, but I didn¡¯t spare it for more than a moment, before turning to an old man. He is really old. I shouldn¡¯t have been. I know his age, but I am. He is one hundred and thirty-one years old. This legacy is nearly nine decades old; eighty-nine years, to be exact. While humans in the world live longer thanks to stars, but minority of them cross the hundred. Though it is moremon with holders of legacies due to their higher levels, but hundred and thirty is still quite rare. The old man shares quite a lot of things with his great-granddaughter. Especially the blue eyes and hair; they are the same as her. ¡°Lord Lindgren,¡± I greeted and bowed, while the old man waved his hand. ¡°Off with honorifics, young man. I am sure, with the position you are in, you should realize, it is more of a leash than an honor,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help, but be surprised, hearing his unfiltered words. ¡°Grandpa!¡± said the woman and red at the old man. ¡°Do you think, he didn¡¯t understand that? He understood it better than me, don¡¯t you, young man?¡± he asked. I heard the old man had gone insane; it seemed like there was some truth in that. ¡°It is true,¡± I said with a mirthless smile, and sat down in front of him. I feel that strangeness from it once again. ¡°I have read about you, young man, and I have to say, you are quite driven toe to me, just a day after gaining the legacy. When I gained it; I had enjoyed the sess for a month before I took the step out of the city to meet my guide.¡± He said with a smile, but it disappeared a momentter. ¡°That was the first mistake I had made regarding the legacy,¡± he added with his turning distant for a moment. ¡°Thank you for agreeing to be my guide and letting me bring my staff, Mr. Lindgren,¡± I said after a few seconds of silence. ¡°It is the least I could do and hope that you will learn enough to not make the same mistakes that I made with my legacy,¡± he said somberly. I could feel the truth from him and see the regrets in his eyes. ¡°I am grateful, Mr. Lindgren,¡± I said gratefully. ¡°Enough with Mr. Lindgren. We are peers. Call me Vanis or old man,¡± said the old and turned to Ca for a moment, before turning back to me, with his eyes twinkling. ¡°Say, young man, do you want to see the core of my legacy?¡± He asked and I couldn¡¯t help but get shocked by his sudden question; even Ca was shocked, while his great-granddaughter shook her head exasperatedly. ¡°Isn¡¯t it the most sacred thing about the legacy? That we shouldn¡¯t show it to anyone?¡± I asked back. ¡°Bah! I already have half a foot in the grate and those bastards already know everything,¡± he replied and turned to his great-granddaughter. The deep regret once again appeared in his eyes, so deep that it felt painful to watch. ¡°It¡¯s not like I would be able to pass it, to second generation,¡± he said in a barely audible voice. Gasp! There was a silence before everything turned dark. For a moment there was nothing but darkness before arge pir wider than my whole arm and as tall as a single-floor house appeared in front of me, zing with colorful emotions. Gasp! I couldn¡¯t help but gasp seeing it. It is not the grandness of the pir or brightness of it that shocked me, but the density of emotions, it is made of. They are far denser than my sun. ¡°Magnificent,¡± said Ca beside me in awe. ¡°As you have noticed, my core is bigger, and the density of emotions inside is much higher than yours. Like every new legacy, your legacy is Grade 1. Capable of producing only a Grade 1 emotion elixir, while mine is Grade 3,¡± he informed. Though he didn¡¯t feel happy about that fact for some reason. It is bigger and much denser than my sun, but there is one thing, in which my sun is betterpared to the pir. No, I am not talking about the ritual charms, but the number of emotions. My son had more emotions. The pir is multicolored, like the core of nearly all legacies, showing emotions that it could absorb. Mine could absorb more and that is an important thing. ¡°How long did it take you to advance your legacy to Grade 3?¡± I asked, and he didn¡¯t answer immediately. I thought he wouldn¡¯t and opened my mouth to apologize, when he spoke. ¡°It took me nearly three decades, which is longer than most legacies.¡± He replied. ¡°It is not a hard thing to take the legacy to Grade 3. If you stay alive long enough, you will be able to do it,¡± ¡°The real challenge is taking it further. It is the greatest challenge that a very few are able to cross,¡± With those words full of sadness and regret, everything disappeared, and we returned to the office. ¡°Thank you for showing me your core, Vanis,¡± I said, feeling really thankful for what he did, because I don¡¯t think, I could show my legacy¡¯s core to others, even when I removed every charm orbiting it. The old man smiled and got up from his chair. ¡°I have a lot of things to teach you, young man, and have very little time; hope we will be able to finish with them before you leave,¡± he said and a few secondster, he started guiding me on the ways of legacy. He started doing that the moment I stepped into his office. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 284: Guide II Chapter 284: Guide II Click! The guards opened the doors, and I went inside. It is huge, bigger than even Count¡¯s, with the best view of the city. ¡°My lord,¡± I greeted the man in histe fifties. He is of medium height, but muscr. He has short, ck hair and dark grey eyes. That seemed to pierce through the soul. ¡°You are really young,¡± he said after looking at me for a few seconds. I smiled, without saying anything. He is Ralis Thorn, the governor of the Inam. ¡°Congrattions on gaining the legacy. Your contribution will be celebrated by the whole empire,¡± he congratted. ¡°Thank you for the kind words, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°It is quite unfortunate that Greltheaven is a small city, at the boundary of the empire. Legacies grow well in big cities, not to mention the whole wastnd is a green field for the undead, to harvest when it is ready,¡± he said, shaking his head. I didn¡¯t reply, not because I didn¡¯t have an answer, but because it was true. He knows it; I know it. ¡°Well, you will be fine. Undead loves the legacies, even more than us, living,¡± he added, once again speaking the truth. ¡°Have you received the information about the guardian?¡± he asked, after a second of silence. ¡°I was hoping you would shed some light on that for me, my lord,¡± I said, and a small smile appeared on his face. ¡°From what I know, it is not decided yet, but I could already guess a group of people from which the crown prince will select the guardian,¡± he said. Till the day before yesterday, I was passingly aware of this information as it didn¡¯t concern me, but now it does. The crown prince had been changing, the guardians appointed by the emperor for the past year. Legacies produce the most valuable resource, and the crown prince would want his loyalists responsible for it. The guardian of my legacy would also be a crown prince loyalist and it should worry the Count, but he seemed strangely unbothered by it, even seemed happy. ¡°The reason I had called you here is to tell you, that I am willing to buy any emotion essence you sell at above market price,¡± he said, and I am not surprised. Everybody wants it. ¡°I have yet to extract a single drop, my lord,¡± I replied, to which he smiled. ¡°Remember, I will give you a better price than anyone and the transaction will bepletely discreet,¡± he said, pressing thest word. I understood the meaning. He is willing to buy emotional essence; it doesn¡¯t matter if it is legal or illegal. ¡°I will remember it, milord,¡± I said, and the man smiled. A minuteter, I walked out of his office. Though, it took me an hour and a half before I was able to leave the city hall. There were some people who invited me, and I couldn¡¯t refuse their invitation. ¡­ ¡°Your chef is good,¡± I said, polishing up my te. I am having dinner with Vanis and his great-granddaughter on the top floor of the tavern. He had emptied the entire floor, with only four of here and the staff serving us. ¡°Yours isn¡¯t bad as well. Adnis said he has real potential,¡± the old man replied with a smile before his expression turned serious. ¡°It is the same for every person you have brought,¡± he added, while casting a nce at Ca, sitting beside me. ¡°Thank you, Vanis,¡± I replied. ¡°You know, nearly every person who gained the legacy has the best people. It is our specialty; we are a ma for them. It is after we gain the legacy that it bes difficult.¡± He said mirthlessly. I looked at him to exin, but he just smiled. ¡°Now that we have finished with dinner. It is time, I teach you, the thing those vermin want me to teach you.¡± He said, not caring about the re from his great-granddaughter. The old man really seemed to have gone insane; he had just called the crown prince and, by extension, Emperor, a vermin. Amon man would receive death for such an insult, but he would be restricted to his legacy. Not that they are going to know about it, even if they have skills rted to it; as long as it is spoken in legacy, it will remain in it. In the legacy, we are the Lords. Even emperor''s skills will have a hard time breaching our little domain. Once again, everything turned dark, and the zing pir appeared. ¡°There are nine grades of emotional essence. Grade 1 is lowest, which your legacy can produce, while Grade 9 is highest, that only three-titans are capable,¡± ¡°The emotion essence came from the core, and you only should harvest emotions on the surface, never go any deeper. Synod forbidden it and even the emperor couldn¡¯t force you to do that,¡± he said. ¡°Does synod, is really powerful as they say?¡± I asked the old man and his expression turned serious. ¡°More. Even an emperor at his peak wouldn¡¯t have dared to break thews of synod openly,¡± the old man replied. Synod is a loose union of legacies, nearly all the legacies are part of it. It is headed by three titans and eight spirits; the most powerful of the legacies in the world. He said openly. This means a lot of things happen in the dark. ¡°To extract the essence, you will need control. More than, what Master of Legacy gives you,¡± he said and began to move his hand and the mist began toe out of the pir. ¡°It takes months of practice. Some people take a year or more before they can harness the first drop,¡± he informed. ¡°How long did it take you?¡± I asked him and for the first time, I saw pride sh in his eyes. ¡°Three months and two days; I had broken a record of eleven hundred years on the continent,¡± replied the old man with a prideful smile. The dense mist came from the pir and formed a ball, which he shrank, till, it became as small as a pearl. The colorful misty ball looks like a drop of liquid, but it is mist and looks beautiful. ¡°This is one drop of emotional essence,¡± he stated and brought it in front of me. ¡°As you can see, it is still misty and colorful. It is extremely hard for the host of the Grade 1 legacy to separate the mist by emotions. Grade 2 host of legacy could sort basic emotions and while Grade 3 hosts of legacies like me, could separate all,¡± he exined. The emotion essence of a single emotion is more powerful and valuable than mixed emotions. ¡°The form of essence changes after, every three stages, right?¡± I asked, looking at the colorful ball. ¡°Yes, the emotion essence from Grade 1 to Grade 3 is misty. From Grade 4 to Grade 6, is liquid, and Grade 7 to Grade 9 is solid,¡± he replied, and a tiny bottle appeared in his hand. He gently ced the tiny ball of dense mist into it and closed to the cap, before extending toward me. ¡°It is too precious,¡± I declined. It is really precious; even those with money can¡¯t get their hands on it unless they have some connections. ¡°Take it; it is a tradition, that we follow. My guide had given it to me, and I am now giving it to you,¡± he said strictly. ¡°Since it is tradition, then I will dly ept it,¡± I said and epted the small bottle. Vanis hosted us in his home despite us booking a hotel, and the next morning, he started teaching me again. This time, minor things with a lot of information. Some shocked me to my soul. It seemed like; the legacies are capable of far more than what everything thinks. No wonder the emperor keeps them on a tight leash. Click! The old man opened the door, and I walked inside, while Ca and his great-granddaughter walked away as he asked, them to. We took a seat, but the old man didn¡¯t speak immediately. Finally, the old man sighed and looked at me. ¡°I have many regrets in my life about my legacy, things I wish I could have done, and things that I shouldn¡¯t have. If I used a little of my brain and wouldn¡¯t have lost myself in the fame and wealth, my legacy would have been higher leveled,¡± he said with such regret that I wanted to look away. ¡°You still haven¡¯t died. There is still a chance,¡± I replied, looking directly into his eyes, but he shook his head. ¡°I have swerved away, far too much to advance further. My greatest regret is that I won¡¯t be able to pass this wonderful thing to my granddaughter. That precious girl would have taken it to a height that I could only dream.¡± He said with tears appearing in his eyes. I opened my mouth but closed it; I don¡¯t think anything I would say helped him in any way. ¡°There is onest thing, I have to tell you as your guide,¡± he said and looked directly into my eyes. ¡°Follow your path. That helped you birth the legacy. Don¡¯t get distracted by fame or wealth and just walk on that path.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be easy, but if you can do it, then you will easily be able to take your legacy further than I had,¡± he advised. ¡°Thank you for your advice. I will not forget it,¡± I replied, and the old man smiled. ¡°Now onest thing; with it, you will formally be a member of the synod,¡± he said and took out a wooden box. An hour passed, and now I am standing in front of the tavern, with Vanis and his grand-granddaughter. ¡°Have a safe journey, young man,¡± said Vanis. ¡°Thank you, for the guidance and hospitality Vanis. I will always, remember it fondly.¡± I said, and he smiled. This time without a hint of sadness. I waved at the young girl, before sitting in the carriage with Ca and soon, it moved through the gate, toward the port, under the protection of the guards. ¡°Legacies are amazing things.¡± Said, Ca. ¡°They are and we are going to make ours the best in the world,¡± I said, to that she smiled. ¡°It is quite a tall im,¡± she challenged. ¡°And I intend to make it true,¡± I replied, and the smile on her face brightened. We didn¡¯t talk much and watched the city pass by. I wanted to explore it, but couldn¡¯t. There is so much to learn about the legacy and if I had time, I would have stayed longer. One and a half days is far from enough, but unfortunately, it is all I could spare. Still, the old man had been thorough and taught me what I needed to know. Now, I could see the path ahead of me clearer. Soon, the carriage reached the port, and a few minutester, it stopped in front of the yacht. ¡°You go ahead. I wille in a few minutes,¡± said Ca as we stepped out of the carriage. She walked away, toward the guard, not far away, and he was not alone. Beside him is a young girl of around fifteen, looking around nervously. When she saw Ca, the young girl''s eyes widened in shock. ¡®She is beautiful, like her mother,¡¯ I thought and stepped into the yacht. A few minutester, Ca followed, looking quite emotional. ¡°Little girl clearly missing her mother a lot, but that woman refusing to meet her,¡± said Ca angrily. ¡°She must have her reasons,¡± I replied, to which she red at me, but I smiled. It is Margaux''s personal business; I am not going to interfere with that. A few minutes passed, and the yacht began to move away from the port in the night''s sky. I watched it, till the city disappeared, before taking out my diary and started working on my ns. There are going to be big changes in the establishment this month. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 285: Grant Authority Chapter 285: Grant Authority ¡°We have arrived,¡± said Ca, making me, look up from scattered pages toward the window. The port of Greltheaven. Seeing that, I stopped while Ca collected the papers. ¡°It is different from what you had nned earlier,¡± she said as she put on a stack in the binder. ¡°Risky, but that isn¡¯t surprising. All of your ns had been risky, but this time, the stakes are high enough to get you killed,¡± she said with concern in her voice. ¡°I am aware,¡± I replied. The legacy might be mine, but the Emperor is the one who owns it and if I end up losing it, he will kill me. I am not being dramatic; the people who foolishly lost the legacies have been killed. A few minutester, the ship docked at the port, and I got out with Ca. ¡°See you at the establishment.¡± She said and walked toward the carriage waiting for her, while I sat in mine. I am not going to the establishment, even though I want to very badly. Soon, the carriage crossed the city gates, and I felt the connection with my establishment getting stronger by folds. Caena had said that the witch hadn¡¯t just bound me to the establishment, but also the city. I had seen that connection and understood. It is because of it I could exert some control over the establishment, from the city. A few minutester, the carriage stopped, and I got out before walking toward the mansion. I could feel the gazes of others, the whispers, and the guards, who started to bow. I still haven¡¯t got used to it. Well, it has been only three days, I will get used to it, in a month or two. Hun! I was walking toward the office, when I saw someone familiaring from the other side and his eyes became angry, as he saw me, but a momentter, there was a smile on his face. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± he greeted as he stopped. ¡°Mr. Lucas, it¡¯s nice to see to see you here,¡± I said. ¡°You too, Lord Silver,¡± He replied, and I was about to leave when he opened his mouth. ¡°Lord Silver, I have something important to talk to you about? Do you have time today?¡±. he asked. ¡°Unfortunately, I am busy in the next few days, but as soon as I have some time, I will contact you,¡± I said and a sh of anger appeared on his kindly face, which he suppressed. ¡°I will be waiting,¡± he said and walked away. I don¡¯t know what he wants and nor do I care. I am busy with my own things, to even think about it. ¡°He is waiting for you,¡± said the old woman as I reached the office. I nodded my thanks and walked into the office with Mage Beaumont. The woman is silent. She barely spoke any words to me in these past two days. Though I heard, she had quite enjoyed herself at the old man¡¯s. Her mood seemed better than I had seen in the past few months. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted and bowed as usual. There is no change in my behavior, even the dip of my head remained the same. He won¡¯t do anything, even if I don¡¯t bow, but I need to keep him happy to get the things I want. Especially today. ¡°Remus, wee back. I can tell by your face that the trip went well,¡± he said. ¡°It was my lord. I had learned a lot,¡± I replied and took the seat he had offered. ¡°Then, I hope you will be able to start the extraction of the essence as soon as possible,¡± he said, barely hiding that greedy glint in his eyes. ¡°I will try, my lord, but as you might be aware, it is not easy,¡± I replied, shaking my head. It hasn¡¯t been even a week, and he is already asking about emotion essence. It isn¡¯t surprising, even if there was another person than this greedy bastard sitting in front of me, they would have said the same thing. It is too precious, even in the lowest grade. ¡°You are talented, Remus. I am sure, you will be able to do it sooner than others,¡± he said. ¡°I hope so,¡± I said, and he smiled before his expressions turned serious. ¡°I think it is time. I will tell you about the privileges you get from gaining the Legacy. Beginning with this one-time benefit,¡± he said and slid the check toward me. When I saw the amount, I couldn¡¯t help, but get surprised. I knew the number the city had decided, and it was huge, but the number on the check in front of me, is even bigger than that. ¡°It is bigger than, the stated amount,¡± I said, and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°The prince is pleased. Yours is the first legacy in his territory,¡± he said. ¡°Please, thank His Highness for me,¡± I said. I will be sending him a big thank you for this; it is going to help me, tremendously in what I am nning to do. ¡°Aside from that, the ie you earn from the legacy will be tax-free. The city gives you thend surrounding your legacy,¡± he informed me, and a smile appeared on my face. I had nearly forgotten about it. No wonder Lucas wants to talk to me. ¡°Even the one owned by others?¡± I asked, and he nodded. ¡°Those upied with the business will have six months to shift their business somewhere,¡± he replied, and the smile on my face became bigger. ¡°Aside from that¡­¡± he informed, more privileges; there are many of them. ¡°Thest is big, that many spent their whole life to earn. A title of Lordship and special privileges attached to it for the hosts of legacy,¡± he stated. I know those privileges, many of which are equal to powerful nobles like him. Like the right to attend the Emperor''s council and prime seats in all imperial ceremonies. ¡°The hosts of legacies get privileges, but they came with the responsibilities,¡± he said, with his expression turning serious. ¡°The first is 99% emotion essence extracted from it will be a tribute to the emperor. Second, there will be a guardian who will be the liaison between you and his majesty.¡± ¡°Third, any changes to the legacy will need permission from the guardian and their absence, lord of the city, fourth¡­¡± One by one, he lets out all the responsibilities, or rather, the restrictions. The old man had already told me about them, but I listened carefully. Information is the key. ¡°Do you have any questions you have regarding these privileges and responsibilities?¡± he asked. ¡°No, but I have a request and hope that you will grant it, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°As long as it is within my power,¡± He said, with his face serious. ¡°I want to make changes in the legacy,¡± I said, and his expressions turned serious. ¡°How big?¡± he asked directly. ¡°Very,¡± I replied, truthfully. ¡°Then, absolutely not,¡± he replied. ¡°If it had been small changes, I might have agreed, but big ones are extremely risky. We might lose legacy, which we couldn¡¯t in a time like this,¡± he added, and a smile appeared on my face, which made him frown. ¡°Please, look at what I want to do,¡± I said and took out a stack of papers and pushed them toward him. He looked at me for a few seconds before turning to a stack of papers with texts and rough drawings. He looked at the first page and there was only a slight change, but on the second page, a huge change appeared. So much so that Lancel, sitting on the couch, appeared by his father. Even Mage York looked sneakily from the side. ¡°I didn¡¯t know, you have so much space there.¡± He said as he finished. ¡°I had to for the girls,¡± I replied. There was silence for a few seconds before the Count opened his mouth. ¡°While you are barely touching the building, these changes are huge. I need to ask, the prince for permission,¡± he said, and I smiled with relief. ¡°Why are you making such big changes, Remus? If you just ce tables, you will earn far more money and harness more emotions,¡± he asked. ¡°I want to take my legacy higher, my lord, and all the hosts I had talked to, including my guide. All of them said to me, that it is not the quantity of emotions that matters, but the quality,¡± ¡°It is what makes the legacy advance and I have a great ambition for my legacy,¡± I replied, and a big smile appeared on the Count''s face. ¡°I will ry this to the prince. It will be up to him, whether to approve it or not,¡± he said finally. ¡°That is all, I want,¡± I replied. There is a trick to make the Count do things or nearly everyone, let them see their benefits into it. If my legacy advanced, the Count would be one of the biggest beneficiaries. He has a share in that 99% emotion essence. I could already see him dreaming about it. ¡°If His Highness epted the request; then I might need to hire some people from a merchant state,¡± ¡°I hope, that won¡¯t be a problem?¡± I asked and for a moment, there was confusion, since hiring people isn¡¯t restricted, even to work on the legacy, as long as they are under surveince. ¡°You mean the non-humans?¡± he asked as he understood, and I nodded. I don¡¯t know if I am going to need their services, but it is wise to ask about it beforehand when he is in a good mood. Usually, such requests are denied, but exceptions are made for legacies. Many legacies in the empire had non-humans, including the legacy of the old man. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem, as long as they follow the rules,¡± he replied. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said and bowed. A few minutester, I walked out of his office. ¡°Ask Valentina toe to my office in the evening,¡± I said to Z before stepping into the carriage. Fifteen minutester, the carriage entered the establishment through the crowd of people. There are no patrons in the establishment. It is only ten, there are two more hours before we open the gates for them. There is a waiting list of thousands and every hour, it is only increasing, but even then, we didn¡¯t change the timing. It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t want to, but it is not the time. The timing will not change, till I am finished with those changes. They will be finished within a month, before the big celebration, which will be on the one-month anniversary of the legacy. It is a tradition that most legacies follow, and I will follow it too. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± Some staff greeted, even bowed. I am d to see them bowing expertly without any awkward movements. Those lessons are helpful and now that the establishment has turned the legacy, they will need to use everything, they have learned. I turned to the staff, especially those I had taken with me to Inam. They are looking at expectantly. I know what they want, and they will get that soon enough after I meet with the madams. Click! Stone opened the door of my office, and I went inside, where Ca, Caena, and Margaux were waiting for me. All looked excited about what wasing; I didn¡¯t tell them, but they seemed to have guessed. ¡°Are you all ready?¡± I asked, and all of them nodded their heads excitedly. ¡°Then give me your hands,¡± I said and immediately, all three hands appeared in front of me. I took Ca¡¯s hand first. It was soft, and I wanted to kiss it, but I controlled my urge. Instead, I activated the legacy skill. [Grant Authority: Ca Salt] Gasp! A gasp rang out in her mouth before a big smile appeared on her face as she waved her hand. The emotion mist twirled around her, while the two watched wide eyes. I wanted to capture, that wonder in her eyes, but I watched as she tried different things. I watched try things with childlike curiosity before taking Caena¡¯s hand. ¡°[Grant Authority: Caena Aris] Like Ca, Caena''s eyes also widened, and joy appeared in her eyes. I smiled and took Margaux¡¯s hand, which was shaking. [Grant Authority: Margaux Swan] Shock appeared in her eyes, but there was no gasp, instead tears started to stream down her face. ¡°Thank you for the honor, Master Silver. I will not let you down,¡± she said. ¡°I know, you will not, Margaux,¡± I replied. There is one more authority, but I haven¡¯t decided who to give it to. There are too many candidates, that for the time being, I have decided not to give anyone, which is also wise. Usually, Grant Authority skilles with only one authority. It is quite rare to give three authorities four is unheard of. ¡°The vault is amazing!¡± said Ca, as she made things appear and disappear from her hand. ¡°How big is the range?¡± she asked. ¡°Entire plot,¡± I replied, and her eyes widened. ¡°Amazing!¡± she said with glee and a momentter, I saw my whole desk disappear, making me re at her. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 286: Chance Chapter 286: Chance Thud! The huge monster fell down hard on the sea floor. I controlled the skeletons and buried the body inside the seabed, like the army of undead. They cannot get discovered until it is time and that is an easy thing to do, seeing the monsters in the sea. ¡°These fucking monsters are not letting me hide in peace; every week, at least one would attack, and I would risk getting discovered,¡± Iined to the woman beside me. I am bored. There is nothing more to do on the seabed than hide. I cannot even work on the bodies of monsters I had killed. There is a faint chance that doing that might get me discovered. I couldn¡¯t afford that. ¡°A few months. We will move, the moment the old man dies,¡± she said, and I couldn¡¯t help but grin in joy and burning rage. ¡°I hope that old bastard dies quickly. I cannot wait for my revenge!¡± I said with gritted teeth. It is because of that bastard; that I had to suffer great pain and humiliation. If not for undying majesty, saving my soul from degradation, and giving me a suitable body, I wouldn¡¯t have been standing here. A strange expression appeared on the woman¡¯s face and there was a joy that I didn¡¯t like. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, seeing that despicable look on her face. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to kill him. It is forbidden now.¡± He said and I couldn¡¯t help, help but be shocked. ¡°Him, nobody?¡± I asked. He might be an official in a little city and a member of a merchant house, but it matters a little to them. They had killed the kings; a minor official is nothing. ¡°Not nobody, a host of legacy,¡± she replied, with joy dripping out of her voice. ¡°It can¡¯t be!¡± I said, not wanting to believe it. ¡°It is,¡± she said, and now she is grinning, seeing my expressions. I have been waiting for my revenge for a year. There was not a single minute where I wasn¡¯t thinking about killing the bastard as painfully as possible. I wanted to send a message to confirm, but it is not allowed. We might get detected through it; it is why this despicable woman is here, to bring the messages. It took me a while to calm myself down, and I turned to the woman. This time, there is a smile on my face. ¡°So, what he has the legacy, he will get what ising for it. Just like, the host of Savors club did,¡± I said, and it was my turn to grin. ¡­. ¡°Master Silver, Mage Valentina is here for you,¡± informed Jill. ¡°Send her in,¡± I said and activated Get Ready. I had taken a nap; I had been working since I had stepped onto thend. Especially after I had entered the establishment, where I granted Ca and others the authority before I met with the staff to take their view about the new n. That meetingsted for over five hours and left me so tired that I fell asleep. I had woken up, just a minute ago. As the skill washed over me, I felt good and alert. It also made me look more presentable, straightening my hair, and clearing the creases from my suit. The skill not only makes me look presentable but also makes me feel refreshed. That effect has be more powerful since the advancement of my primary ss. Click! The door opened and Valentina walked in. She looks beautiful as always and is excited, but there is also nervousness in her eyes. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± she greeted and made a mocking bow. ¡°I will take offense, if you do this after, I formally granted lordship,¡± I said with a straight face, but she just smiled and rolled her eyes. ¡°So, what changes do you want to make?¡± she asked as she took a seat, before turning her eyes to the folder in front of me. I didn¡¯t slide it toward her, instead activated my skill. Vision Projection Immediately, her eyes dted, before bing distant for a couple of seconds. When she came back, there was shock on her face. ¡°They are some massive changes,¡± she said finally. ¡°It is why you should have brought Architect Davidson. I had told you to bring him,¡± I said. With my establishment turning to the legacy, I could get the services of any firm and higher leveled individuals. Some of them, had even contacted me, saying they and their firms were ready to offer their services to me, free of charge. They may be higher-leveled and have more resources, but Valentina is the one who knows the establishment and understands my vision. She is the one who built this ce. There is no one better than her to do the job. ¡°You will need the permission to make such huge changes,¡± she said. It is clearly a question, not a statement. ¡°I am in the process of getting it,¡± I replied, and she still kept looking at me, but I didn¡¯t give her the answer to the question she was asking. Even I didn¡¯t want to think about that option and hoped, the Count would make the prince agree because nobody would like the second option. ¡°I have a request,¡± she said suddenly, and the nervousness hidden in her eyes came out. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked after a moment of silence, feeling it wouldn¡¯t be a simple request. ¡°I want you to hire Ed,¡± she said. Edmond Amellus; I asked about him when I helped Valentina to get a practice license for him, and what I heard wasn¡¯t good, but I did it because she is a friend. ¡°You are asking a lot, Valentina. The reputation of your friend isn¡¯t good, and it will make some powerful people angry,¡± I stated clearly. He had been sentenced for stealing the designs of his teacher. A powerful architect in Belnin, who is said to have the potential to breach the Lv. 50. Though, she had said. It is a false conviction and seeing how rushed the trial was, it likely was, but still hiring himes with the risks. ¡°I know it is risky, but Ed is good. I can bet my reputation, that he is the best person to bring our vision out. Please give him a chance,¡± she said, looking at me with pleading eyes. I sighed. ¡°Fine, I will give him a chance, but I am doing this for you,¡± I said, reminding her of what a big risk it is for me. ¡°I know and I will be forever grateful for it,¡± she said and closed her eyes. ¡°He will be here in a minute,¡± she said as she opened her eyes. It seemed like she had brought him with her. I also closed my eyes and called the people. The meeting will be long. ¡­ Ed ¡°Do you think Valentina will be able to convince Lord Silver?¡± I asked nervously to the old man, sitting in front of me. ¡°If anyone could convince him, then it would be chief,¡± said the old man Davidson. It had been a few minutes since we arrived. Val had gone to meet him, while the two of us had remained in the carriage. The wait is unbearable. It had been unbearable since the party, when Silver told Valentina, he had a work for her. I had literally begged her to ask Silver to give me a chance. It is an opportunity of the lifetime, that will leave the imprint for the generation. Most importantly, it will be a big step toward clearing my reputation. That bastard used to get called to work on the legacies. Only architects of his caliber were asked to work on it. Legacies are delicate, too much change, and the host might end up losing it. It is why an expert hand was needed on them and I hate to admit it, but the bastard was best at that kind of work. That is why I need this chance. To prove that despite everything he did to me, stealing my life¡¯s work, he had not crushed me or my ambitions. Working on the legacy is the best way to do that. I hope Silver gives me a chance, just one chance. I will not disappoint him; I will give him my everything. I am confident I can do this. If I was not good, that bastard wouldn¡¯t have stolen my designs and sent me to jail. Hun! I was in my thoughts when the ring on my finger lit up and a smile appeared on my face. ¡°She did it,¡± I said with tearsing out of my face. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you, if anyone could convince Lord Silver, it would be Chief,¡± said the old man, and I smiled. ¡®Don¡¯t fuck it up,¡¯ it was the message from Valentina. Which was her way of telling me she had got me the chance, but also warning to not fuck it up. I could tell she had taken an enormous risk for me. If I fuck it up, I would be not only fucking up, the greatest chance I got but also Val and her friendship with Silver. Something she cherished, even before he gained the legacy. Click! The old man opened the door and got out; I followed behind him. We are at the back side of the establishment, where there is a small garden. It is normal, but it looks enchanting with the power of legacy. I looked at it all as I walked toward the door. We had just reached it when a beautiful woman with tinum blond hair appeared at the door. If I am right, her name is Margaux Swan. She used to be madam before leaving the position to run the circle. Val said she is one of the people that Silver trusts the most. ¡°Miss Margaux, you are looking charming as always,¡± said the old man, and a small smile appeared on the woman¡¯s face. ¡°Thank you for the praise, Mr. Davidson,¡± she said in a soft but clear voice, with a faint hint of authority in it. ¡°Master Silver had asked me to give you two the tour of the basement, before taking you to the office,¡± Hearing that, my eyes lit up. ¡°Chief had guessed right. She had said that the basement would be the target of Lord Silver''s changes,¡± said the old man, while the woman smiled and led us inside. The moment we stepped inside. The wonderful effect of legacy amplified tens of times, nearly stopping me in my tracks. It was so good that I wanted to stop and enjoy it. Unfortunately, that is not possible. I have to impress these people, and doing anything that will create wouldn¡¯t be wise. The staff moved around us. They barely nced at us, but greeted the woman with respect. Soon, we reached the entrance of the underground. As for how I know? Well, I have been studying the blueprint since I left the party that day. Val had made me sign a contract and take a powerful oath before giving it to me. I had focused on the basement the most. Val told me, it would likely be the ce that Silver would want to make the changes. It seemed like she was right. ¡°Miss Margaux, I want to cast a spell and use my skills to record and study,¡± I said as we stepped into the basement. ¡°You have permission.¡± She said after a second of silence. I cast Magic Pictures and activated Architects Eyes and Draft Blueprint. Valentina had already provided everything to me, but the data gained with my skills and spells, work the best for me. ¡°The basement had three floors and aside from the studio and few rooms, everything is unupied,¡± said the woman. I knew it already. I also knew what each room used to have. I was quite surprised when I read the information Val had given me. I mean, who provides the whores, with library, swimming, and even magic sses. No wonder, this ce had turned into a legacy. She showed us all three floors, every room. I had even seen the studio, which Val had said, was a thing that would blow my mind, and it did. The thing that excited me is how big this ce is. The underground covers 92% of the whole plot, that includes underground parking. It couldn¡¯t help but make me wonder how much area he wants to do the work on. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 287: Plans Chapter 287: ns Click! The door opened, and Margaux walked in, bringing Amellus and Davidson with her. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± they greeted, while looking at the massive projection floating above my desk. ¡°Take a seat, gentlemen,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, Lord Silver,¡± they said and took the seat on Valentina¡¯s left and right. There are eight people sitting in the office, nine if I count myself. Aside from these three in front of me. There are Margaux, Caena, Maeve, Eudo and Mage Beaumont. Ca was supposed to be here, but she had to return to the office to meet with an important client. I looked at three in front of me, especially Amellus whom Valentina wants me to give a chance. ¡°As you can see, gentlemen. I want to make changes to the basement, big changes,¡± I said, looking at therge projection of the basement in front of me. It is huge, covering the whole plot. The things I will be able to do with such a huge space will be amazing and I hope the people in front of me will bring it to life. ¡°What is your n for it, my lord?¡± asked Amellus. I smiled and closed my eyes, before activating Vision Projection and projected my vision into the mind of those two. ¡°I want to create a spa. It will upy 60% of the space and 25% will be upied by the private hosting rooms. The rest will be part of the studio and a few small things,¡± I said as their eyes cleared. ¡°What about the underground parking?¡± asked Amellus and the question put a smile on my face. ¡°It will be shifted to the plot left,¡± I replied. The plot left of mine belongs to Lucas, but since it is empty, the Count had promised to hand it over to me within a week. Lucas wouldn¡¯t like it, but he will have to give it. There is no other option. ¡°Do you want to create that in present architecture?¡± he asked. Indirectly, he is asking whether he could break things. In legacies, that is done with much deliberation. It could damage the foundation of legacy, or one might even lose it, but unlike other legacies, mine is different. ¡°We will haveplete freedom to tear apart anything. The only restriction we have is to not let, the slightest harm,e to the legacy,¡± replied Valentina, casting a faint nce at Mage Beaumont. A few minutes ago, I received a message from Count Darrow. The prince had permitted me to do anything I wanted in the basement. The only thing the Count wants is to have his representative attend every meeting rted to the change in the establishment. Amellus eyes lit up hearing that. ¡°What kind of spa it is? Healing spa, day spa, wellness spa?¡± he asked, surprising many people, including Valentina, who looked at him in question. ¡°I was on a team that built Radillium Spa at Port Belnin,¡± he replied, looking both proud and angry. He controlled his emotions and turned to me for the answer. ¡°It is a day spa,¡± answered Maeve. ¡°It would bepletely on basement floors, right?¡± he asked me. ¡°Yes, with an entrance to outside the building,¡± I replied. ¡°W¡­.¡± He asked more questions in detail than I had thought he would. I have done my research, but I am not a professional in the field; I cannot answer every deeply technical question about it. Though, I am impressed by his knowledge. It is a good thing, that Maeve is here. She is answering all his questions. It is not just Amellus asking the questions, Valentina and old man Davidson are asking them as well. Soon, they finished with the questions about the spa and turned to ask a question about the studio. I let Eudo handle the most; there are not many questions regarding it as the changes we want to make in it are not big. The questions about thest part came to me; I want a private hosting room. Some would be small enough to host a group of seven, while the bigger ones would be enough to host twenty-five people. I could charge arge amount of money for them. ¡°You want all to be finished within a month?¡± he asked slowly. To which I nodded. ¡°It is a good thing; I had asked for the best people ourpany has. They will be here by morning,¡± she said to Valentina. ¡°Mypany had asked me to tell you that it will be a pro-bono job, including the material,¡± she added, to which I shook my head. ¡°I am paying,¡± I stated. ¡°They will be angry at me if you don¡¯t ept,¡± she said, but there was a smile on her face. ¡°Tell them then, there are the best firms lined up to work on the establishment,¡± I replied. It is not like, I don¡¯t want free things and before the legacy, I might have thought about it, but not now. I don¡¯t want to give the opportunity to thepany to say, they have done a work on my establishment for free. Especially when Valentina is going to leave it. She didn¡¯t say it directly, but she had implied many times, that she wanted to start her ownpany and, with the legacy, she nned to move those ns forward earlier than she had nned. ¡°You will also need the interior designer for the spa and other changes. The two are good, but not good enough to work on the legacy.¡± Valentina said. ¡°I know someone who might be suitable for the job,¡± said Amellus and Valentina just looked at him. ¡°She is great. You will be impressed by her work,¡± he added, and Valentina looked at me. ¡°Fine, call her to the city. I will decide whether to hire or not,¡± I said after a moment of silence. He nodded, but soon his expression turned a little conflicting. ¡°She is not human?¡± I asked, and he nodded. ¡°Orc,¡± he added with hesitation. Immediately, surprise shed on the faces of many, including mine. People didn¡¯t think, Orc, when ites to interior design. They think, of humans, elves, or even dwarves, but never an Orc. ¡°It is fine. Just give her information to Mage Beaumont. She will handle the rest,¡± I said, looking at Mage Beaumont, who nodded. ¡°You will also need andscape architect,¡± said Valentina. ¡°I already have someone,¡± I replied. She looked at me in question, but I just smiled. An hour and a halfter, they all left aside from Margaux. It is clear she has something in her mind. ¡°Why spa? Why not turn the huge space into a restaurant or more private hosting rooms? This way, we will be able to take more people, make more money, and gain more emotions.¡± She asked. The same question had been asked by the Count. I didn¡¯t give him aplete answer. ¡°It is my vision; I want to create a ce where people get experience. They could remember for life. A ce where their desires satiated and the spa perfectly fit that vision,¡± I replied. From the beginning, it was never about money, but about realizing my vision. The money wille automatically with sess. It is what gave me the legacy, and helped me advance it further. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said and walked out of my office. I slumped back in the chair and stared at the ceiling for a couple of minutes, before everything turned dark and the sun appeared in front of me, withs small and big orbiting it. I looked at the stream of mist it was absorbing constantly. Bing bigger and stronger. The old man told me many things, and it made me understand how strange my legacy ispared to others. The strangest thing about it is its core, which was already formed before it had even turned the legacy. It was thousands of times weaker than the core of the newborn legacies, but it had formed the core. Caena had said, that a seed of it formed in the ritual and I strengthened it, till it had turned into the core. So, when it birthed the legacy; it took extremely little time to absorb those tributes sent by other legacies. It turned it into a peak Grade 1 legacy. If I am not wrong, my legacy is very close to upgrading into a Grade 2 legacy. Newly born legacies take two to five years to achieve that, but mine might be able to achieve in a few months. It is a shocking thing, because the record is of eleven months, and I don¡¯t n to break it. Undue attention isn¡¯t good, in this dangerous time. I looked at the sun for a couple of seconds before turning to one. Caena had really thought it would turn into the legacy and that would help me with its most desired ability. I wanted to use it, but I controlled myself. I couldn¡¯t before the guardian arrived. It is too risky to do it, without reading that contract. I looked at it for a couple of minutes before pushing it away and walking out of my office. It is a peak time, and all four floors arepletely packed. It was the same before the establishment turned into the legacy, but unlike before, there wasn¡¯t a long waiting line of over ten thousand people, which is getting longer every hour. After ncing at the restaurant, I entered the basement. It is not empty, as one would expect, especially since the afternoon. The core staff of the bar, studio, and spa are practicing here. The kitchen staff is lucky because they have a building behind the establishment and since it is in the same plot, they can ess the emotion mist there. I walked through the rooms and saw Cresa, along with other bartenders trying to mix emotion mist into the drink, but failing. The same is happening with Eudo. Despite his immense talent, he was not able to mix with the makeup and apply it to a teen sitting on the chair. Though, if anyone seeds first, then it would be him. He is already quite close. Soon, I reach the hall where Maeve is practicing, and frustration is clear as day in face. Unlike Drev or Cresa, there was no one there who knew how to use emotional mist with messages and other spa treatments. There are two spa legacies in the world, but they are on different continents. One of them sent the basics a few hours ago, but it is still less than what others have got. Even Eudo had got to see how to use emotion mist with make-up from the staff of Vanis Tavern. The things aren¡¯t as simple as just mixing the emotion mist into the things. No, the emotion mist needs to suit that thing or things could turn horrible. It could injure one, not only physically but also mentally. They are dealing with emotions here and it is a dangerous thing. She and her team have to learn it on their own and do it within a month. It is a tremendous challenge, but Maeve is confident that she and her team will be able to do it. I really hope, they do. Still Craving? Visit Chapter 288: Fair Chapter 288: Fair Sharn Rolgath I looked nervously at the small city that came into view. It is still hard to believe a small city like this had produced a legacy. legacies produced in big cities, like Port Belnin, Meldhorn, or even Owlspring, which is over twenty timesrger than this city. Every second it got close; I felt more and more nervous. It still felt like a dream. Maybe it is a dream. Maybe I really died a week ago, and this is a test of the afterlife to send me to heaven and hell. A week ago, I sold thest of my possessions and paid my debtors and employees before letting them go. That night, I had tried to take my life, but my neighbor¡¯s cat broke into my room. It took a while to catch her and return it to its owner. When I returned to my room, I lost the courage to take my life. In the week, I had tried several times, but lost the courage every time. I was with my neighbor when a messenger from the message guild came, bearing a message from a person that I had nearly forgotten. I had heard about what he did, and he didn¡¯t seem like a person who would steal designs from other people, but he was convicted and was serving a term, thest I had heard about him. I was not nning on reading the letter immediately, but my nosy neighbor had torn it open. I still remember the expressions that appeared on her face. When I read it, the same expressions appeared on my face. I nearly tossed it away. It was not the first time, someone yed a cruel joke on me, but my neighbor insisted, that we checked it out. I went to the messenger guild with her, and was able to confirm with the legacy. They had invited me to the meeting. I still wasn¡¯t able to believe it. I am called to the legacy. They are the ce, where the most famous and powerful of the profession get to work. One call from the legacy and all the top firms in Belnin. Hell, the whole merchant states woulde running. Unlike normal business, work on legacies is rare; they are delicate, too much change and they will be destroyed. It is why rarely any workes up from legacy when it does. People lined up to do it. I hope I am selected. If I didn¡¯t, the river seems like a good ce to die. Rawr! I was disturbed from my thoughts by a familiar cat growl, held by a twenty-year-old half-elf. The girl is Amryn and the devil cat is Sugar. Its name should be bitter. The cat is a white fluffball with dark blue ears and purple eyes. I have lost count of how many times this devil cat scratched me, ate my food, and sneaked into my apartment, despite locking the widows. It is freakishly strong that I suspect it had some monster blood in it. The young half-elf holding the cat is my neighbor. The young woman tagged along; she was also the one paying for the trip. I barely had money for my next few meals, much less this trip. She wanted to see the legacy. It was the only way she would be able to ever see one. She is not the only one; I am excited to see it too. It will be a great experience before the death. ¡°Do you really have to bring this devil cat?¡± I asked, seeing how she was trying to calm it down. ¡°I can¡¯t leave sugar alone for a few days. She hates the cat¡¯s inn,¡± replied the half-elf, gently petting the cat, while I rolled my eyes. This devil cat had scared the cats in the cat hostel so much that the owner, had refused to take it. Soon, the ship reached the port, and I adjusted my clothes, which covered everything, including my face. Greltheaven is an imperial city where non-humans are not allowed; wearing this constricting clothing is one of the conditions toe here. Unlike me, Amryn only had to wear a hat to hide her slightly pointed ears. A minuteter, the ship docked, and guards entered the ship. They are looking around as if searching for someone. Soon, their eyes fell on me, and two of them walked toward us. Seeing them, I couldn¡¯t help but be nervous. ¡°Miss Rolgath?¡± asked the blond middle-aged human. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied after a moment of hesitation and gave my papers. He checked it and passed it to his partner, who nodded. ¡°We will be your escorts to the velvet garden,¡± he informed. They led us out of the ship, and toward the carriage, which is surrounded by the four more human guards on the horses. The middle-aged human opened the door, and we entered, and soon, the carriage moved toward the city gates. ¡°It went better than I had imagined,¡± said Amryn with clear relief in her voice. ¡°It did. To be honest, I was expecting them to haul us out of the ship and throw us in jail,¡± I said, to which she smiled and pulled that devil cat closer to herself. It seemed to have calmed down now that we were out of the ship and trying to scratch the window with those sharp ws. The carriage entered the city, and I was surprised, to see how developed it was. I had not expected that, even Amryn looked surprised. Being from Belnin, one of the wealthiest ces on the continent and even the entire world, we tend to look down on other countries. Especially the Empire, which is still considered the enemy by most non-humans in the merchant states. Minutes passed, and we seemed to have reached the legacy, seeing people crowding on both sides of the road. Amon scene around the legacies. ¡°It is really a legacy,¡± said Amryn, looking out of the window at the beautiful building, covered in a swirling mist of emotions. The signature of every legacy. Our carriage passed by the gate without entering and turned. ¡°Aren¡¯t we going into the legacy?¡± asked Amryn, with worry appearing in her eyes. ¡°We are through the back entrance,¡± replied the guards, making me feel relieved. Soon, we appeared at the back and, as the guard said. The gate at the back opened, and the carriage entered through it. Gasp! Immediately, the gasp rang out of Amryn¡¯s mouth and even the devil cat¡¯s expressions became pleasant as the effects we have heard so much about washed over us. They are far better than everything I had expected. Click! We were enjoying the effects when the carriage stopped, and the middle-aged human opened the door. I controlled myself and got out of the carriage and saw the emotion mist around me. The cat tried to lick but failed to get anything. A few seconds passed, and I looked at the middle-aged human, but there was nothing on his face. Click! I was about to ask him where to go, when the door of the building opened and a beautiful human teen walked, looking embarrassed. ¡°Madam Gloria,¡± the guards greeted, and she nodded at them, before turning to us, with an embarrassed smile. ¡°I am sorry. I was caught up with something,¡± she said, and I didn¡¯t know what to say, but I had to say something. This human teen is clearly important, seeing how the guards greeted her. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, Madam Gloria,¡± I said. She smiled and turned to Amryn, or rather, her cat. ¡°She is the cutest kitty I have ever seen. Can I pet her?¡± she asked and for a moment, a hesitation appeared on Amryn¡¯s face. I could understand it; the devil cat is feral. It had scratched countless people who tried to pet it. I don¡¯t want that. It might end the opportunity before I even got it. ¡°Be gentle, she gets startled easily,¡± Amryn warned. The teen nodded and slowly moved her hand, before started petting her, and to the surprise of both of us, the devil cat leaned toward the hand. I still remember the first time I had tried to pet the devil. It had bitten me. ¡°Such a good kitty,¡± said the human teen with a big smile, and a secondter, took out a jerky that perked up the kitty¡¯s ears and fed it to her. ¡°Good, kitty,¡± she patted it final and turned to us, with once again embarrassed, expressions appearing on her face. ¡°Please, follow me,¡± she said, and we followed. The moment we entered inside, the real power of the legacy washed over us. It is far stronger than what we had experienced outside. It felt like we had entered heaven. ¡®No wonder people are crazy about the legacies,¡¯ I thought. They are like drugs but without side effects. I had read that people who visit Legacy daily for a month don¡¯t get addicted. Instead, it seemed to help them lose the other addiction. It is something to do with legacies ability to suck those excess emotions. As I followed her, I looked around and saw every floor was filled with people having the time of their lives with beautiful human girls, wearing beautiful dresses. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, Madam Gloria, what is the work that Lord Silver wants to do?¡± I asked. Edmon didn¡¯t tell me. All he said was that I would be perfect for the work he is doing here. Which told me nothing, but I would be more than satisfied even if I got to work in a single room. It is a legacy; with this on my resume. My fallen business could be revived. ¡°You can ask Master Silver about that,¡± the young girl replied with a smile. Soon we reached the top floor and stopped. There was another pretty young human girl behind the table and guards guarding, who seemed powerful enough to kill me in a second. ¡°Miss Rolgath, Master Silver is ready for you,¡± she informed. ¡°You can remove the coverall, Miss Rolgoth. I am sure it is ufortable,¡± she added. I hesitated before deciding to remove it. It is not like he doesn¡¯t know; I am an Orc. I never hid my race from my clients and won¡¯t hide it now, even if it cost me business like it did so many times. It is the reason I am broke. People expect elves to be interior designers. They will take even humans and dwarves, but not Orcs. Even my fellow Orcs don¡¯t hire me; nobody expects Orcs to be an interior designer, much less a good one. Very few of us have seeded in this field. I handed the coverall over to the young girl; Amryn did the same with her hat, before walking toward the door, that the guards opened. The moment I did, I was surprised to see the young man sitting behind the table. He is young. Younger than even Amryn. I wanted to buy information about him but didn¡¯t have any money. So, asked a few friends, who told me, he was young and from a powerful mercantile house in the empire. I had expected him to be over his thirties young, not even his twenties young. That, I started to doubt whether he was the host of the legacy. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± greeted Amryn, bringing me back to myself, and I hurriedly bowed while he looked at me with a small smile on his face, which med my cheeks further. ¡°Take a seat, Miss Rolgath, Miss Balib,¡± he said, in a gentle but firm voice, which felt good to ears, likely an effect of skill. The skill is good; more powerful than one would expect from a person of his age. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised; he is a host of the legacy. It would be surprising if he is at least, not this strong. ¡°Thank you, Lord Silver,¡± I said, not daring to embarrass myself any further. I sat down to the left of a beautiful blond-haired human woman, while Amryn to her right. There are also three more people, sitting on the sofas, including that young girl. ¡°Have you worked on the legacies before, Miss Sharn?¡± he asked directly. To which a mirthless smile appeared on my face. ¡°No, my lord,¡± I replied, feeling where it was going. ¡°What is the biggest work, you have ever done?¡± he asked a secondter. I didn¡¯t answer immediately and even thought about lying before deciding against it. ¡°It is a small armament store. These are the designs,¡± I said and activated Project Designs. Immediately, the designs appeared in front of him and others, surprising them. It is my most cherished skill; one of the rarest in the ss. Most projections skills, project things in the mind, mine shows them in the open. It is a small shop, with ss windows and a wooden shelf. The budget wasn¡¯t huge, but I made do and was quite proud of what I had done. He looked at the designs carefully, withoutmenting. ¡°Can you show me your other works?¡± he asked, I nodded and other designs appeared in front of me. There are not many and all of them are small, but I showed him, every work, I had done. ¡°It seemed like. You have only done work on a small scale and most of it is non-magical.¡± He spoke. It didn¡¯t feel like a critique, but a simple observation. ¡°Yes,¡± I said with a crushing heart. It is where the people reject me. Even if their project is small, they want an interior designer with experience in big things. ¡°Show me your designs? I am sure you have created some. Show me the most ambitious ones; it didn¡¯t matter. If they seemed preposterous, over the top,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. No one ever asked me to show my designs; most would just say thank you after seeing my work. Even those who hired me didn¡¯t show much interest in them, even when I showed them. However, the difference between designing a restaurant and legacy is greater than earth and sky. It is only natural that he will ask me to show them. I had selected my best designs and brought them out. He looked at each one of them carefully, beforeing back to the spa designs. They were the part of designs; I had shown Amellus. Five years ago, I had just branched out on my own. When the firm Amellus used to work for posted an advertisement for needing outside interior design contractors to help them with Radillum Spa. Through a mutual friend, I was able to get to Amellus and showed him my design, and he was quite impressed by them. He had said he would take it to his boss, and he did, but the man rejected it. It was that time; I met Amellus first time and met a few more times over the years. He took my designs many times for different projects, but not a single one pan out. I even thought he was ying me till now. ¡°Show me more of the spa designs,¡± he said after a couple of minutes, looking at them. I nodded and made all the other designs disappear and brought out all the spa designs I had. There are a lot. I had not only tried for the Radillum Spa, but others too, but those bastards didn¡¯t even let me enter their gates, much less let me show them my designs. ¡°Amazing. Your designs are even better than the three I had met during the day,¡± he said finally and hope couldn¡¯t help but flutter in my heart. ¡°Thank you, Lord Silver,¡± I replied. ¡°I am building a spa below the establishment, and I want you to show me designs for it. You have two days. Impress me and the job will be yours and remember, there ispetition,¡± ¡°So, you better give your all if you want the job,¡± he said, and my heart couldn¡¯t help but beat up wildly. This is all I ever wanted, a fair chance. I don¡¯t mind losing. Yes, I would be very disappointed and sad, but it won¡¯t be soul-crushing, like it had so many times when I didn¡¯t even get a chance. ¡°I would need to see the ce and the blueprints. Most importantly, your requirements,¡± I said, forgetting to thank him in my excitement, and opened my mouth when something touched my mind. Gasp! I opened it, and immediately pictures appeared in front of me. They are so different and amazing that I couldn¡¯t help but gasp in shock at seeing them. ¡°These are requirements. Other things will be provided to you by Miss Valentina and Amellus,¡± he stated. A few minutester, I walked out of the office with a silver blond-haired woman, with thousands of ideas shing in my mind. I will be taking a break till 17th Jan for personal reasons. Will be returning on the 18th with regr updates. Chapter 289: Invitations Chapter 289: Invitations I stepped into the underground and saw people working everywhere. Every single person here is experienced, with many Lv. 25+ and specialized sses. They all are from Nielson. They are working expertly and delicately, removing bricks, wood, and other things. These are the things that are going to be used back. Those that couldn¡¯t be used will be ground into the dust and be part of the soil. Every speck of dust here contains emotions and thus couldn¡¯t be thrown away. It had been nine days since the establishment turned into a legacy, and things have changed tremendously and changing fast. I have selected the people and the design. The designs aren¡¯tplete. Three days are far from enough, but we agreed on enough parts to work. I will have aplete design within a week; I have been meeting Amellus and Valentina regrly for that. Well, he is living in the establishment; he had chosen a room in the basement. With the time we have, it is the most efficient approach. Right now, he is talking with a group of people. There is also Sharn Rolgath and her half-elf assistant; they are also living in the establishment. The Orc is impressive. Of the four people who hade from the interview, she was the best of them all. The three that came were of higher level, and belong to the best firms, but I didn¡¯t see the audaciousness I had been looking for. Rolgath has it, the designs she showed were amazing. Even the work she had done was small stores and homes were better than most. However, what impressed me the most, was the design of a spa. It was incredible; it was far different from what I was looking for, but I could see the audaciousness, the vision she had behind it. As for the design, she did for my spa. It is phenomenal that I have no words for it. Only excitement to see her bring it out of paper into reality. Soon, I reached the section where no work was being done. There, the staff is practicing with the emotion mist. They are doing good, like Eudo, Lenore, Cresa, and a few others, have already started to get some sess. Maeve and her people are doing better than I imagined. I had told them to focus on a single thing. If they tried to infuse emotion mist in every treatment, they wouldn¡¯t be able to seed in the time, they have. So, Maeve created a spa package and gave each person on her team a single treatment to master. This way, we will be able aplete spa package by the time of the celebration. After that, they can work on the other treatments, and in a few months to a year; they will be able to infuse the emotion mist in every treatment we will offer in our spa. Maeve saw me and came toward me. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± she greeted. ¡°How are the things?¡± I asked. ¡°Good, the girls are making steady progress. I am now confident that we will be ready, for the celebration,¡± she replied, and a pleased smile appeared on my face. ¡°Have you made all the preparations?¡± I asked, and she nodded. ¡°I am ready to leave in the evening,¡± she replied. She is going to the merchant states with Margaux. There are two purposes. The first is to buy spa instruments and materials. We have both already, but their quality isn¡¯t on par with the legacy. The second is to hire a staff. We have more than enough staff, but since I am moving our best and most trusted to the establishment, we will need the staff to serve the girls'' needs and also to support the future expansion. I have also started building a new building to house them. It will not only house the staff of the spa, but other staff too. The staff live in a city, but some of these people wouldn¡¯t be able to. I n to hire the best people and not all the best people going to be humans. Thus, a safe ce to live. ¡°Tell me, if you need anything, before leaving,¡± I said. ¡°I will,¡± she replied and walked back to the room. She has be the busiest of all my staff. She not only needs to practice and direct the girls but also needs to consult with Amellus and Rolgath on spar design, and now she is leaving. It will give her even less time to practice with mist. Not that she would work on the patrons, she would lead the spa, but she wants to have knowledge and skill to use the emotion mist, in case she ever needed to use them. Hun! I looked at everything and was climbing the stairs, when I stopped. A fluff ball is standing in front of me, looking at me with those big, beautiful eyes. The cat belonged to the half-elf assistant of Rolgath; I had seen it in the hands of a few girls; they seemed to love it. Seeing the cat, I couldn¡¯t help but miss Fang more, but he is in baronies, training with a monster trainer. ¡°You are one beautiful cat,¡± I said as I walked toward it, before gently picking it up. The cat didn¡¯t resist and came into my arms. I began to pet it gently, before giving her the jerky, which it ate rather quickly. ¡°Sugar, here you are. I have been searching for you all ov. Oh, Lord Silver,¡± said the young half-elf, with eyes wide and flushed cheeks. ¡°Hello, miss Amryn. I hope you didn¡¯t mind me picking up your cat,¡± I said and handed the cat to its owner. ¡°No, I was just worried. Sugar gets angry quickly and tends to attack people,¡± she exined quickly, reddening her cheeks further. ¡°She was nothing but joy,¡± I said and walked away. Soon, I was back in my office, looking out of the window. The crowd of people is still there like they had been on the first day. I looked for a minute before focusing on the work. ¡°She has arrived; she will be here in fifteen minutes,¡± informed Z suddenly. I nodded, without looking up, and continued with my work. She was supposed toe yesterday but was dyed. If she wasn¡¯t good and highly rmended, I wouldn¡¯t have waited. Every day is important. ¡°Master Silver, Ms. xasys is here,¡± informed Jill. ¡°Ask her in,¡± I replied. Click! The door opened and an enchantingly beautiful woman walked in. She is a picture thates into everybody¡¯s mind when one thinks about the elf. She was a tall woman who looked to be in her early forties, with long green hair like a forest and blue eyes that of ake. She had an angr face and a sharp nose, with pink lips, that came in dreams. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± she greeted in a melodic voice, like chirping in the forest. ¡°Ms. xasys, wee,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, Lord Silver and Meria, please. Ms. xasys made me feel like my mother,¡± she said, putting a smile on my face. The woman is Merialeth xasys. Aunt of Ignatius ckwell. He is the one who had rmended his aunt. I don¡¯t know who told him I needed andscape designer, likely my sister. It is not the reason I had waited for her and would likely hire her. It is because of Ina. The woman had done extensive work on the Amberhold. All the gardens, including the one in the castle, had been designed by her and her sister, Lady ckwell. She had worked on many big projects, but not on the legacy. This isn¡¯t surprising. There are few legacies out there and intensepetition. Talent alone isn¡¯t enough to work on them, one also needs connections. Like the ones that brought her into my office. ¡°I assume you have seen the garden, Meria?¡± I asked, to which she nodded. ¡°Yes, the young girl, had given me a tour of it, before bringing me to your office,¡± she replied. ¡°What do you think? Will you be able to finish the job in time?¡± I asked, and she smiled. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem,¡± she replied in confidence before her expressions turned serious. ¡°What kind of garden you want, a flower garden, water garden, Aeryn garden?¡± she asked, her voice turning all business. An embarrassed smile appeared on my face, upon hearing the question. I have been asking it myself for the past few days. ¡°To be honest, Meria. I don¡¯t have a clue; I hope you observe my business and talk with my people.¡± ¡°Understand the essence of the establishment and create a garden. That will suit my establishment well.¡± I said and a big smile bloomed across her face, which she seemed to be having a hard time containing. This is the word that every professional like her wants to hear. I am giving her a free hand. I had not given it to Valentina, Amellus, or even to Rolgath, but I was giving it to her. It is not like; I don¡¯t have ideas about it. The file on my left is filled with rough sketches, but not a single one feels right. Thus, I have to trust her to create the right design; I don¡¯t like giving this much freedom, but I don¡¯t have a choice. ¡°Thank you for the trust, Lord Silver. I will not disappoint you,¡± she said, all I could do was smile. A few minutester, I could see her walking around the establishment with Gloria and Barb, wearing a derby hat to hide her ears, but it could barely fool anyone. I watched her for a minute before turning back to work. The day passed, and evening came when I got out of the office and stepped into the carriage. Twenty minutester, I was at the port, waiting for the ship; I was not the only one, Rowen and Graham were also there. I had to wait for a little over ten minutes when the familiar yacht and I got out of my carriage. Anger shed in Rowen¡¯s eyes seeing me, before putting a smile on his face. He is angry since I restricted his entry to the establishment. After it has be a legacy, he has beening daily and even bringing a group of people with him. I had restricted his entry by letting him visit only three times a month, and he couldn¡¯t bring many people. There are no such restrictions on Graham. That man is far more sensible than my idiot cousin. I nodded at both before turning to the hatch. From it, three people came out. ¡°Granduncle Everett, Grandaunt Thelma, Uncle Thompson. Wee to Greltheaven,¡± I greeted the three old people. ¡°You didn¡¯t have toe to greet us personally, Remus,¡± said the old man, but joy could be seen in his silvery grey eyes at that. ¡°It is my duty, Granduncle,¡± I said and led them to the carriage. Soon, all six of us sat in the big carriage, and it moved toward the establishment. For a minute, there was silence before the old man spoke. ¡°Our house had dreamed about legacy since its inception. It is the greatest mark of the merchant, but never thought we would get it,¡± said Grandaunt Thelma, with eyes filled with pride. I didn¡¯t reply other than smile. ¡°Your grandfather is proud of you, Remus,¡± said Uncle Thompson. ¡°I wish he hade,¡± I said. ¡°He will, during the celebration,¡± said Uncle Thompson. Soon, the carriage reached the establishment and entered through its front gate. Usually, I take the back gate when the establishmentes, but since the family hade, I decided to show them the legacy of its true regality. ¡°A legacy,¡± said Granduncle Everette as he got out of the carriage. The tears have started toe out of his eyes. It is not just him. Even the old woman begins to cry. ¡°Let''s enter,¡± I said a minuteter. They nodded, and I took them inside. They are watching everything with pride and joy. It didn¡¯t seem to affect them; they were in a brothel. It wouldn¡¯t have mattered, even if there was an orgy in front of them. What matters is that the establishment is a legacy, and that is enough for them. Click! A few minutester, I finished the tour and took them to my office, where nobody talked for a minute. ¡°Here it is, your delivery; they are crafted by the best stationer in the Namdar. Even thedy of storms also uses his services,¡± said Uncle Thomson and put a couple of boxes on the ground. They had not juste to the city to visit the legacy. They also brought the invitations, which I need to sign personally. The family will send them, with Grandfather, personally going to the capital. Usually, it is the Lord who sends the invite, but I had asked Count Darrow to give the responsibility to the House of Silver. He agreed easily. It surprised me, but I shouldn¡¯t have been seeing the strange things happening in the empire. The things are so strange, that they have not sent a guardian, yet. Which they do within a week. Forget sending him, they have not even released the name. For more, Click Chapter 290: Lordship Chapter 290: Lordship ¡°Greltheaven,¡± I said, looking at the tiny city in front of me. Many people in the capital still couldn¡¯t believe it had produced the legacy. Well, I am d it did, because I am its guardian. I had to spend a huge amount of political capital and promised things I usually wouldn¡¯t. Sabotaged some people¡¯s bids and threatened a few to get this job. It will be worth it. Silver may be the host, but I am its guardian. Not even a dust will move it without my permission, and I n to wield it with an iron fist to get the benefits I need. His Highness, the Crown Prince, wants 100% emotion essence and I am going to give it to him, after taking my cut-off course. The job is the most desirable. It gives one control over the rarest material in the world. Since my name had been finalized. I have been contacted by hundreds of people, powerful people. Lords, generals, and professionals like the alchemists and artificers, all of them want the emotion essence. The ship finally docked at the port, and I walked out, under the protection of the guards. These twelve are part of the Crown Prince¡¯s force; they are here to protect me and to keep an eye on me. ¡°Wee to Greltheaven, Lord Rutto,¡± said the blond man. ¡°Thank you, adviser, Robin,¡± I replied. The man smiled and took me toward the carriage, without asking about my journey and other things that etiquette requires. I controlled my anger. Being a guardian isn¡¯t the only duty I have been given. The Crown prince had also asked me to poach people close to Count Darrow, to know his brother''s ns. He is the biggest threat to his ent to be emperor. Hun! Soon, we reached the carriage, and he opened the door. I stepped inside, only to see there were two people already sitting inside. Count Darrow and Nikos Schagen. I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised, seeing the old man. He was thought to be dead, but he was clearly not. I am going to report it to the Crown Prince. The moment I walked away from these people. ¡°Lord Count, Sir Schagen,¡± I greeted. Controlling the turmoil of emotions, I am feeling in my heart. The old man is Prince Grelt''s loyalist, while Count Darrow is his uncle and now both of them sitting in front of me. ¡°Lord Rutto, wee to Greltheaven,¡± said Count Darrow. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said, ncing at the window to see the carriage wasn¡¯t moving. I could also see my guards trying to reach the carriage, but being stopped. ¡°I have a request, Lord Rutto. I hope you will hand over the imperial contract and the writ,¡± said Count, with a smile on his face be bigger. I had feelings but didn¡¯t expect him to ask for them directly. ¡°Lord Count, I have been appointed as the guardian of the legacy by his majesty, the emperor. It is my duty to present them to the host,¡± I replied. Hoping the name of the emperor would stop them. ¡°Sure, it is no problem. I just hope you will travel safely to legacy; there are a lot of assassinations happening in the city, Lord Rutto.¡± ¡°Just yesterday, an attempt was made at port. The port master was lucky to get away alive. You might not be able to,¡± he said with a friendly smile. I could see it in his eyes. If I didn¡¯t do what he said, I wouldn¡¯t be leaving the port, alive. My guards are good, but if he used that man, then even they wouldn¡¯t be able to do much before he separates my head from my body. ¡°The emperor wouldn¡¯t like this, my lord,¡± I said, hoping he would relent. ¡°You do not need to care about his majesty, Lord Rutto,¡± replied the Count, with his expressions turning serious. ¡°If this is what, my lord''s desire,¡± I said with deep unwillingness and took out the imperial contract and writ of lordship. ¡°Have a safe journey, back to the capital, Lord Ruttnis,¡± said Count Darrow, as took the things from my hand. ¡°I will, my lord,¡± I replied with gritted teeth and deep anger, which I didn¡¯t dare to show. I am in his domain; I don¡¯t want to make him angry. He might kill me. I wouldn¡¯t have thought that, but these people have be daring enough to break the emperor¡¯smand. They wouldn¡¯t have any problem in killing me. ¡­ ¡°Best of luck,¡± said Ca as the carriage stopped at Count Darrow¡¯s mansion. ¡°I wish you coulde with me,¡± I said to her, taking her hand. ¡°I will be there,¡± she said. ¡°You know what I mean,¡± I said, looking at her. ¡°I know, but me, being able to attend the party is already enough,¡± she said. I looked at her eyes, before taking her lips into mine and kissed her for a minute, before pulling back. ¡°One day, you will be there,¡± I promised to her. ¡°I know,¡± she said softly. I kissed her onest time before opening the door and walking out. The mansion of Count Darrow is lit up for the party; it is my honor. Today, I will be formally bestowed with the lordship. It took longer than I had thought, a month. It is supposed to have taken a week, but the times are different; many things are happening in the capital. I didn¡¯t walk toward the ballroom but to the office of Count Darrow. As I reached, the guards opened the door; I nodded at the old woman as I usually do and entered inside and was surprised, to see only three people inside. Even Mage York isn¡¯t present. Aside from Count Darrow and Lancel, there is an unknown old man with a head full of green hair. He looked to be in his seventies and standing straight like a stick. My gaze was immediately attracted to his ck eyes. They were sharp as a sword, that for a moment, I felt like, they might cut me. He is not Joel Rutto, whom I had been informed ofing. Joel Rutto is a middle-aged man, while this is an old man. ¡°My Lords,¡± I greeted Count and Lancel. ¡°Remus, take a seat,¡± said Count. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I said as I took the seat. He smiled and looked at the old man, who nodded and ced a beautiful purple beast skin scroll that was clearly made by the high-level scrollmaker. However, what attracted me was the seal of the imperial house and the power radiating from it. ¡°Remus, this is the imperial contract that every host of the legacy signs with the emperor,¡± informed Count Darrow. It is a contract that is powerful enough to bind the hosts of legacy. They might resist other contracts rted to the legacy, but not this one. The emperor has power over thend he rules, and that whole power binds the person to it. The binding is stronger if the person is a citizen of the empire. I nodded without looking and opened the scroll. The first thing I saw was a seal of the emperor and this one projected the power so strong that made me go weak in my knees. The emperor had used his skills on the contract, making it extremely hard to break. When I looked at the text below, I saw another thing that made it powerful. Blood ink. The ink used to write the contract had used the blood of the emperor. It increases the effect of the skills, making it nearly unbreakable. The emperor does not use his blood lightly, given the things that could be done with it, but he does it when ites to the legacies. I am not surprised. I had been informed of this by an old man, Vanis, and others. I begin to read it carefully; not daring to miss a single word, a stop, or ama. This text will decide my future, bind me. I need to understand it if I ever need to get out of it, It is one strict contract. The best I had ever seen, with extremely few loopholes, I could see and even those loopholes couldn¡¯t be used without getting discovered by it. The contract is the same word to word, what the old man had shown me. The only thing that is different is my name and the name of the establishment. Seeing that, I wanted tough with joy. To others, it is an unbreakable contract, but for me. There is a huge loophole. ¡°You will need to sign it with the blood ink,¡± said the old man and ced a kit in front of me. I nodded and punctured my finger with a sharp end and squeezed a drop of blood into the ink pot. I mixed it using the small ss rod twelve times, before dipping the pen inside. I took the pen to the scroll and activated my Contract Skill before signing at the end of the scroll. The scratching sound rang out, and I felt the power of the contract. It is as vast as the empire and if I break it, this power wille down on me. I didn¡¯t even dare to imagine what it would do to me. I folded the scroll and handed it back to the old man. It is his responsibility. ¡°Congrattions, Remus,¡± said the Count. I didn¡¯t know what there was to congratte, I had just bonded myself to the emperor''s will with the near unbreakable contract. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± I replied. ¡°Now, it is time to give you the real prize,¡± he said and handed me another scroll. ¡°This is a writ of a lordship. With this, you have be a nobleman.¡± He said and I could see a mocking smile appearing on Lancel¡¯s lips. ¡°Wee to nobility, Lord Silver,¡± he said. ¡°It is a great honor, my lord,¡± I replied, epting the writ. Lord Silver. It feels so grand, but unfortunately, it is not. It is an empty title, andless one. Some referred as a fake title. The real nobles are those who have thend attached to their title and could be inherited by their heirs. My children wouldn¡¯t be able to inherit it unless they inherit the legacy. They understand the legacies enough to not give an actual title. They give it enough to make it seem like a prize, but it is no price. It is an iron shackle in pretty wrapping. However, it dide with benefits that normal lords didn¡¯t have, but these benefits were useless in theing times. The benefits the synod had provided are much greater than this. ¡°Remus, you must have already guessed, but let me introduce you formally. This is Sir Nikos Schagen, the guardian of your legacy,¡± introduced the Count. Imperial Knight Schagen. No wonder this man felt dangerous. He is dangerous, extremely so. ¡°I will be in your care, Sir Schagen,¡± I said to the old man. Not mentioning anything about Joel Rutto ¡°The honor is all mine, Lord Silver,¡± said Sir Schagen as he shook my hand. His hand is gentle but felt like iron, I do not doubt that this man would have any problem in finishing me within a second. I don¡¯t think, even Stone couldst long in front of him. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I am sure the people must be waiting to meet the new lord in the Greltheaven,¡± said Count Darrow, and a secondter, we walked out of the office and entered a ballroom packed with people. For more, Click Chapter 291: Harvest Chapter 291: Harvest Click! The door closed with a click as Valentina, and I entered the carriage. ¡°Throughout the party, you seemed a little hurried. As if you can¡¯t wait to get out of there,¡± she said. ¡°I was not. It was a party, in my honor. Why would I want to leave early?¡± I refuted unabashedly. She didn¡¯t say anything and just kept looking at me, while the only thing I gave her was a smile. She knows me too well. I wanted to leave the moment I finished reading that imperial contract, but I didn¡¯t. It was an important party, not only for me but also for Ca, where I introduced her to a lot of people. I offered some incentive to the Count for her invitation. They were big, but I didn¡¯t mind it. I would have offered those to him, nheless, to keep, to keep myself in his good graces. It now bes even more important to be in his good graces with the thing I am nning to do because if I get caught, I will want a lighter punishment. ¡°You are a lord now. How are you feeling?¡± she asked, and a mirthless smile couldn¡¯t help, but escape from my lips. ¡°The same, even worse than before. I told you; it is an empty title to keep the power of legacies restricted,¡± I replied to her. ¡°If you get a ss, it might not be so empty,¡± she said, this time, and I smiled. ¡°It is hard to gain a Lord ss through this empty title,¡± I replied. Though what she says is true, if I am able to gain the ss, I will have some power, but it is far harder than one would realize. Hundred times harder than those withnded nobility. ¡°If anyone had a chance, then it would be you,¡± she said. I looked out the window, but there was a small smile on my face. Yes, I have better chances than most others, given the responsibilities I have, and I will try my hardest. The skills of Lord ss are powerful. It will help me tremendously if I gain the ss. Though, I wonder if the Count would let me have the opportunity to gain the ss. The man is not an idiot. He wouldn¡¯t want me to have more power, that he wouldn¡¯t control me. So, I have to achieve it, before he takes away the responsibilities. Not that I have a lot of time, with a deadline of synod looming. A month passed. I have five more months, before I need to make my decision. Soon, the carriage reached the establishment. It entered through the front gate and stopped. I had kept the establishment closed for the day. There were some minor changes I had to make in the establishment before the celebration began tomorrow. ¡°I had a surprise nned for you, but it is clear, that you have something to do. So, I will give it to you tomorrow.¡± She said and gave me a seductive smile, before getting out of the carriage. ¡®She knows me far too well,¡¯ I said once again and sighed. She guessed, I had something important to do and said that intentionally. Now, I will be thinking about her surprise every minute, while fighting myself not to go to her. It might seem like the secrets aren¡¯t bothering her, but they are, and this is her way of taking revenge. ¡°Meria did a wonderful job. Turning it into a piece of heaven,¡± said Ca, looking around, and she was not joking. That woman had surpassed all my expectations. Giving her free rein was the best thing I had done. She had transformed the whole establishment, turning it into its namesake. It is quite radical. My designs were palepared to it. It is likely why I felt they were iplete. Forcing me to give herplete freedom and she hadn¡¯t disappointed me. Others couldn¡¯t see the change. For thest few weeks, I had covered the area aside from the building in the mist. Tomorrow, most of the mist will be dispersed. Soon, we reached the door and walked inside, where I saw Sharn, Amellus, and Meria, with workers finishing thest of the work. They had finished the work in the basement three days ago. What remained was the establishment, which they had started since the morning. They should be finished by the dawn. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± they greeted, seeing meing. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked, looking at the amazing change that happened on the first floor. ¡°Good. We will be finished by the dawn,¡± replied Rolgath. ¡°Continue then and tell me if you need anything,¡± I said and walked away, leaving Ca with them. Every floor had a big change; we didn¡¯t remove many things but added something, thatpletely changed the establishment. Count had problems, but when I promised him the benefits, he agreed. There are benefits for him, a lot of it. I don¡¯t like to give him that much, but it is necessary. Especially, when I think about the things, I will do in the next few minutes. Click! Soon, I reached my office and a minuteter, Caena walked in, looking at me with excitement and nervousness. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked after a moment of silence. I didn¡¯t answer immediately. Instead, I activated the Privacy Sphere and used the privacy tool. I had even activated the with an istion effect. It¡¯s better than privacy. Forget listening. Even divining into what happened here would be extremely hard. It may seem excessive, but with what we are nning to do, we need to be extremely careful. We are cheating the damn emperor. Sorry, I am not cheating. She is cheating; the contract forbids me from doing any cheating. So, I couldn¡¯t. She got her answer through my actions, and a big smile appeared on her face, with a hint of nervousness as she added her privacy skills and spells to it. ¡°Should I start?¡± she asked. I didn¡¯t answer, nor did I change my expression, anyway. That might show the ent. Showing the ent won''t trigger the contract, but I want to be careful. She received her answer, and she closed her eyes, muttering something, and a momentter, everything darkened. The sun appeared, with thes orbiting it. This is the thing that could only be done by the host of legacies and its heirs. Caena is neither. She is an employee, but she had done things to the core, before it turned into a legacy that gives authority to summon the core, as long as she had permission. Which I had given her a month ago. ¡°This might get me executed if found out,¡± she said, but there was no fear in her eyes, only excitement as she touched the colorless, and activated it. The shone, and the thing happened. That would shock the host of any legacy or anyone who had the knowledge of it. The dense mist around the surface of the sun moved. Turned into a stream before it began to funnel into the. Inside the, the colorful mist begins to separate into individual colors and enter the pools. Filling them, slowly making the colorless colorful as more and more mist enter those pools. It continued for several minutes before stopping. Seeing that, a big smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. Caena had told me about it, but I didn¡¯t dare to believe it with how easy it seemed. After seeing it with my own eyes, I have a choice, but believe it. Caena looked at me before a wooden box appeared in her hand. She opened it and in that box were tiny ss bottles. She put them on the. Next second, the color begins to drain from the pools and stops when only a quarter of it remains. She touched the again, and the bottles began toe out. Each one is filled with a drop of emotion essence. The host of legacies takes months to learn to harvest the emotion essence. It is an exhaustive process and for Grade 1 legacy; it is a mixed emotions essence. Separating the emotion essence by emotions is very hard for them. Even the host of Grade 2 legacies couldn¡¯t do that. At most, they could sort out the basic emotions and not theplex ones; that could only be done by Grade 3. Here, that difficult process happened in minutes. A speed that not even a host of Grade 3 legacy could achieve. She had put all the bottles in a different wooden box, before that box disappeared from her hand. She had not harvested all the emotion essence. She had kept a quarter in the, which is more than what a normal new legacy would have produced by now. My legacy is not only at the peak level of Grade 1, but it could also absorb far more types of emotions than normal legacies. Its absorption and processing abilities are also better than most legacies. This means it could produce more emotion essence than other legacies of the same grade and level. What she had left behind would be for the emperor, or rather Prince Grelt. ¡°It is an enormous risk we are taking,¡± she said as the sun disappeared. ¡°There is no choice. Difficult times areing, and we need to be ready to face them,¡± I said, and sheughed. ¡°It is said the safest people are hosts of legacies. Even their mortal enemies won¡¯t kill them, in fear of losing the benefits,¡± she said, and I smiled. ¡°You are aware of how safe we are,¡± I said, and she smiled back. Hosts of legacies are the safest people in the world, but my legacy isn¡¯t normal. Not to mention my establishment is in a ce that could be attacked at any time. There are a lot of enemies, Navr, Tabes, and many others. I cannot depend on a legacy to protect me and my people. I need to make my preparations, too. She left soon, while Iid back in my chair. It is a massive risk, but I have to do it. As for what I am going to do with them, I have a n. It will make one man very happy. Given his nature, he will ept it. It is an opportunity of lifetimes, which he would not dare to reject, even in his wildest dreams. He has the connection that will make this whole deal stealthy. If he doesn¡¯t ept, then I will have to take a long route, which is really risky, and I would rather not take it. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on tomorrow. The next three days will be a celebration; people from all over the empire and those outside of it wille. I had spent a huge amount of money on the changes, cashing the check without care. It was worth it and now I hope, it will give guests and patrons the experience of a lifetime. For more, Click Chapter 292: Celebration I Chapter 292: Celebration I Homers ¡°I wish we could bring Berry. She wanted toe,¡± said Uda, wishing her sister coulde with her. ¡°You know, I had asked him in front of you yesterday,¡± said Elias. They were present at the ascension party of Remus Silver yesterday and he asked him for an extra invitation, but was politely declined. All the nobility of the Nakar baronies have been invited to the celebration, but he was one of three, who had the invitation for the two nights. The rest had been invited for one night. Only one had an invitation for all three nights. Two, if Baroness Silver were to be counted. . I couldn¡¯t help but feel excited and nervous. I am going to the brothel for the spa treatment, which is part of the celebration''s itinerary. I wouldn¡¯t have, it is a brothel for god''s sake, but three days ago, at Baroness Husk''s birthday party, I had seen L M, and she was looking radiant. So much that, every person, be it man or woman, was looking at her. People didn¡¯t invite L M before, aside from a few like us and Baroness Silver, who had a good rtionship with Remus Silver, but since the legacy had been born a month ago, she had been invited to every party in baronies. She is a beautiful woman. Even in my younger days, I couldn¡¯t bepared to her, but that day, she hadpletely transformed. She felt otherworldly. Last night, at Count''s residence, I saw a couple of people, bearing that radiant look. The whore that Silver brought, Baroness Le, Mage Valentina, and a few women I didn¡¯t recognize. All the eyes were on them, throughout the party. At the party of Baron Husk, everybody asked her about her radiant look. It was clear that it was not someone make-up had done; there is something about it, that couldn¡¯t be achieved by the greatest make-up artist. L hid nothing, but her answer was shocking. I didn¡¯t truly believe it tillst night. Now, I do and want that radiance, like I had never wanted anything. ¡°Are you really not interested? You have seen those people, right?¡± I asked my husband. It is not just the woman who was looking radiant yesterday, but a few men who were looking extra handsome. I love Elias, but I did feel an attraction toward some of them. ¡°You must be joking, love? It is a ce for you, women,¡± he replied, and I couldn¡¯t help, but re at him. ¡°The invitation said, a couple coulde,¡± I said. ¡°I am noting,¡± he replied straightforwardly, and I know there is no arguing with him. He will note; he will drop me off and leave. A few minutes passed, and our carriage entered the entertainment district. I couldn¡¯t help but feel excited. I have been to the Legacy only twice. Once to celebrate my birthday when I was a teen and once to celebrate the tenth anniversary of our marriage. Even for Elias and me, both of us belonging to powerful merchant houses, it was hard to get into the legacy, without booking months in advance. There are less than ten legacies in the whole empire, and everyone wants to get into them. It would be a little easier with Velvet Garden. We had a good rtionship with Silver; he wouldn¡¯t deny us, we asked nicely. It is also close, not a region apart. Finally, we reached the Velvet Garden; only to see there were many carriages waiting. Some with the familiar crest. Hun! I turned to the legacy and saw it was covered in beautiful colorful mist, and only a faint silhouette of it could be seen. ¡°Why hasn¡¯t it opened?¡± I asked, looking at the closed gates. ¡°There are still four minutes before the gates open,¡± replied Elias, looking at his watch. I felt irked seeing that, since I woke up early for this but didn¡¯t say anything. Seconds passed and soon the clock turned eight and something amazing happened. The mist begins to part like a velvety curtain. Gasp! A gasp rang out of my mouth, before I realized; even Elias made the sound. It was so different from what I had heard about it. ¡°Beautiful,¡± I said, but even that seemed to be pale in describing what I was seeing in front of me. The first thing I saw was a pink building, with beautiful vines covering it like scarves. These flowery vines are covered in the colorful mist of emotions, which takes their beauty to apletely different level. Surrounding the building is a garden with enchanting flowers, with emotion mist flowing over them. It is the scenery that I want to keep looking at, but with some struggle, I moved my eyes and looked at two cute gazebos on the left and right sides of the building. They arepletely wrapped in flower vines; so that nothing else can be seen. ¡°It ispletely different from what we had seen when it had turned into the legacy,¡± said Elias. We were in the city, when it was born and attended the party in Zanav¡¯s honor. We wanted to visit it, but Silver had forbidden anyone important from visiting the legacy before the big celebration. He didn¡¯t even invite us to the party; it was only for the city. Still, we had passed by the street to see the legacy. It was beautiful then, but now, it had surpassed even that. Now, it truly looked like a velvet garden. Nearly everybody seemed to have been struck by the beauty of it, that we didn¡¯t notice the gates opening at all. It is the voice from the guards manning the door that woke us and the drivers, that carriages have finally, begun to move. The first carriage entered through the gates. However not before showing the invitations to the guards, which I noticed wearing different uniforms. There are four guards manning the gates and all four of them have different sigils on their uniforms. Each one had a sigil of Prince Grelt, Count Darrow, the City of Greltheaven, and Velvet Garden. No imperial seal. ¡°Whispers were true, it seems,¡± I said, and he nodded. Yesterday, we heard that Prince Grelt had takenmand over the legacy. Sent away the guardian that the Emperor had sent and instituted his own. Till now, all his moves were subtle, but this one is clear. He is not willing to bow to his brother. Soon, our carriage reached the door and entered inside. Immediately, making our eyes go wide. I felt the power of the legacy that I had nearly forgotten. It is amazing, as I remember, even better than I had remembered. I wanted to close my eyes and immerse myself in this feeling, but I resisted it. Instead, focused on experiencing the legacy. The carriage stopped, and the door opened. ¡°I thought you weren¡¯ting?¡± I asked, seeing him getting up to step out and a slight embarrassment appeared on his face. ¡°I will just look around,¡± he said and stepped out, with me following behind him. ¡°Wee to Velvet Garden, Baron Homer, Baroness Homer,¡± greeted the green-haired young girl. She is a beautiful girl, with professionally done make-up. She is wearing a white dress that fits her perfectly and a pin on her chest, with her name on it. ¡°Thank you,¡± I replied while watching the beautiful garden around me. Especially, emotion mist, that seemed to swirl around me. , I wished, Kezan would be here to capture it in the mage picture. ¡°My lord, mydy, please follow me. I will take you to your appointment at the velvet spa,¡± said the young girl. To my surprise, she didn¡¯t take us toward the building, but toward the gazebo on the right, through the garden path. ¡®Velvet Spa,¡¯ read the board by the gazebo and it has guards on both sides who are unnoticeable. Not because they are using stealth skills or anything, but because of the beauty of this ce, which captures so much attention, that it is hard to see anything else. I touched the flowery vines swirling around it; they felt soft as velvet, and I wanted to keep touching them. For a few seconds, there was confusion in my mind, but it disappeared. The moment I saw the stairs leading down. The girl began to climb down, and we followed behind. Hun! I noticed, that with every step I climbed down, the effects of legacy would be powerful. By the time we took thest step down the stairs, the effects had be very powerful, that I felt, I was swimming in them. This effect alone is making me feel better than, I had felt aftering out of the spa. I controlled my emotions and looked around. Seeing my eyes widen again; it is so beautiful. The waiting room is big with a round pool of water in the center, with pure white lotuses floating on it. The whole room is lit by the scented candles and with a dense mist of emotion everywhere. I have been to the hundreds of spas in my life, but nothing could bepared to the beauty of the waiting room I am seeing. It is minimalistic and projects serenity. Half of the waiting room is already filled, and many people sitting there are familiar to me. Some, I know very well. The young girl led us to the empty chairs beside the familiar couple, who seemed to be busy reading the cards in their hands. They didn¡¯t notice us until we were directly in front of them. ¡°Baron, Baroness Homer,¡± greeted Baron Husk. ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t ining here, Newton,¡± said Elias and Baron Husk smiled. ¡°I heard, someone saying the same thing,¡± replied the man, to which we allughed. Elias was about to reply when another young girl appeared in front of us and handed us the itinerary cards. ¡°Hope, you will have a good with us, Baron Homer, Baroness Homer,¡± said the young girl with a smile, before leaving politely. I looked at the itinerary card I had been handed, which had a velvet spa heading in big, beautiful letters. Below is the name of our spa package and treatments I will be going through, along with their short information. Rebirth and Rejuvenation ¡¤ Gailis Massage ¡¤ Customized Facial ¡¤ Variacis Aroma Body Wrap ¡¤ Jukio Hydrating Hair Treatment ¡¤ Narthian Foot Ritual I looked at the spa package and the information about each treatment. I had some of these treatments and they are good. I turned it back and saw it nk. I looked at Elias¡¯s itinerary and saw its back nk, too. Though, when I looked at his package; I saw, it was different from mine. Only the first treatment is the same, while others are different. ¡°Excuse me,¡± said Baroness Martha, and the young appeared beside her. ¡°Mydy,¡± said the girl politely. ¡°There is only one package avable?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes. Currently, we only have two packages, one for men and one for women,¡± replied the young girl. ¡°It would have been great if there had been some choice,¡± said Baroness Husk in disappointment. ¡°We will in a few weeks, mydy,¡± replied the young girl. I didn¡¯t say anything, but I too would have liked, it if there had been more choice. Let¡¯s hope, it is good and will live up to the standard of the legacy. For more, Click Chapter 293: Celebration II Chapter 293: Celebration II Homers ¡°My lord, mydy. The therapists are ready for you,¡± said the green-haired young girl as she appeared in front of us. It had been a few minutes, and many who were sitting led away for their treatments and new people appeared in their ces. Like an old couple sitting in front of us in a ce where Huks had been. They appeared a few minutes ago and looked at everything with eyes filled with awe. ¡°Ok,¡± I said, and I got up and looked at my husband. He didn¡¯t move, seeing that, I red at him. It would have been fine if he hadn¡¯te, but since he did. He will have to get the treatments. Baron Husk is doing them; there is no reason for him to try at least one treatment. He got up after hesitation and it is a good thing he did, or he would have gotten an earful from me. ¡°It was nice meeting you, Mr. Kadal, Mrs. Kadal,¡± I said, before following the young girl with Elias. ¡°My lord, mydy, please change into the spa robes provided inside,¡± said the young woman as she stopped in front of the beautifully carved ck door. I nodded and walked inside with Elias. It is a beautiful changing room, with wood shelves and mirrors. I took the robes under my size and changed into them. Elias did the same with some hesitation. ¡°I won''t be doing more than one treatment,¡± he said. Click! I didn¡¯t say anything and walked out of the changing room. The young girl took us down the stairs, before stopping in front of another beautiful wooden door and opening it for us. We entered inside, and I was surprised to see the whole room was made of stones. Even the two massage beds were made of stone. There is a diagonal slit in the back wall from which water came out and flows through the middle of the room through the curved ways. It looked beautiful and what made it even more beautiful was the blue and white emotion mist flowing over it. It looked beautiful and serene, and that sound of water, makes everything feel sofortable when added with the effect of legacy. There are two women standing by the stone beds, wearing a white spa uniform with the spa¡¯s emblem. ¡°Baron Homer, Baroness Homer. I am Zaina and this is Rachel. It is our honor to serve you,¡± said a middle-aged heralden woman in a calm voice. ¡°We are excited for it all well,¡± I replied, and I am excited. I love messages. Unlike me, my husband is clearly ufortable. He hadn¡¯t had many messages before and never joined me on a spa day. Men rarely go to the spa and if it was not the legacy, he wouldn¡¯t havee here either. ¡°Do I have to remove all my clothes?¡± he asked, to which a small smile appeared on the face of the woman. ¡°Only if you wish to, my lord,¡± she replied, and I could the relief flooding into his eyes. They came toward us and took the robes off our bodies; I had worn nothing underneath them. Elias has his underpants on. ¡°Please,y on beds,¡± she said, and I walked toward the ck stone bed and expected to be cold, but to my relief, it was warm. Seeing that, I gentlyid on it, with my face down in the padded cavity. For a few seconds, there was nothing but the sound of water, but soon I felt the warm oil on my back. Ity there for a couple of seconds before gentle hands began moving it across my back expertly. I feltfortable and with it came a feeling I had never felt during the message. The scenery in front of me seemed to have changed, and I found myself in a colorful space where all my suppressed emotions began toe out with motions of hands gliding across my body. They were raw, but not uncontrolled, and began to flow across me. I had never felt something like it. Those emotions were suppressed for a reason, but now they areing out, under the guidance of a gentle hand, without causing any destructiveness that I always feared they would cause if I let theme out. I don¡¯t know how long it continued, but I only came to myself when the hands stopped moving across me. I opened my eyes, only to see tears flowing through my eyes. I turned to my husband, only to see him, wiping his eyes. I am also lying on my back. I was on my stomach; I didn¡¯t know when she changed my position. I was so engrossed in it, that I didn¡¯t feel it at all. ¡°It is the best experience I had. Thank you,¡± said Elias to his therapist. ¡°It is my pleasure, my lord,¡± she replied and left the room with the other therapist. Wey there onfortable stone beds for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling, before getting up. We wore robes back and walked out of the room, where two young girls, waiting for us. ¡°Baroness Uda, please follow me for your facial,¡± said the green-haired girl. I would have liked to talk with my husband about the experience we had, but he is not going to run away; nothing could be said about these spa treatments. The single treatment was enough to tell me, how amazing they are, and I am more than willing to forgo talking to my husband for an hour or two. He, who was only going to do a single treatment, was thinking the same, seeing how quickly he gave me a peck on my cheeks and walked away, with the brte. Click! Soon, we reached another wooden door, and the young girl opened it for me before I walked inside. It is a small square room with a delicately carved wooden bed and wooden shelves lined with tools and bottles. A woman is standing by the bed. She is a petite woman with blond hair and a pretty face, with a girl-next-door look. ¡°Mydy,¡± the therapist greeted. ¡°Hope, you will take good care of me, Miss Bevna,¡± I said to her, reading in her name tag. ¡°You are in hands, mydy,¡± the woman replied. ¡°So, what, do I have to do?¡± I asked. ¡°Please lie down on the bed and I will use my skills to test, which is the best facial for you,¡± she instructed. I nodded andy down on the bed as she asked and a secondter; I felt her hands on my face. ¡°For an oily skin like yours. Brin facial would be the best,¡± she informed me, and a small surprise shed in my eyes. It is a facial I had before, but it is not what surprised me. What surprised me, is that it is the facial that suits me most. ¡°Ok,¡± I replied. She begins and within seconds; I begin to experience another, which I had never experienced before. This time, I didn¡¯t immediately close my eyes and saw her mixing different colors of emotion mist into things in her hand before applying them to me. It is like a work of art, and if I hadn¡¯t wanted to focus on emotions, I would keep watching it. I closed my eyes and felt the emotions filling me. It is a surreal feeling to observe the emotions so closely. I was so lost in the feeling that I didn¡¯t realize the time was passing and only came to myself after the facial was over. ¡°Give me, a mirror,¡± I said. I want to look at myself. I am sure from my heart that the facial had done something amazing to my face. Though, I understand, the bigger the change appeared inside. Still, I want to see how I look after the facial. ¡°Apologies, mydy, but the mirror isn¡¯t avable,¡± I said and looked at her. I wanted to say ¡®really¡¯ but that would be insulting my intelligence. Some spas do not let their, clients see the mirror, till they are finished with the package. It seemed like it was one of those spas. I am not as disappointed as I would have been. As I could feel, the treatment had brought an amazing effect. I am feeling them, and I only need to wait to see those that appear on my face. Since I couldn¡¯t see my face, I touched my skin and was immediately surprised, at how soft it felt. I can¡¯t remember thest time; I felt my skin so soft. It felt as soft as babies¡¯ cheeks. I stayed in the room for a minute more before I walked out and went to another room, where I got veriacis aromatherapy body wrap. They covered me with a thick aromatic mixture of essential oils and then wrapped me in clothes. The treatment too invoked emotions, bringing them out like a flood in form of the tears. I felt every emotion from love to envy to joy to grief and let them all out through my tears. I am grateful that the therapist walked out after she wrapped me and came inside after I sufficiently calmed down. However, the treatment left me drained like never before. The fourth was the jukio hydrating hair treatment, and it was like a gentle embrace that healed my drained soul with warmth. By the time, I am done fourth treatment. I felt like, I was finished with the spa. The first treatment had brought out the emotions, the second treatment took it to the peak, the third treatment had drained it all and the fourth one brought my soul to the stability. It made me feel reborn. I don¡¯t know, how the fifth treatment could make it any better or might make it even worse. I don¡¯t want to lose the peace I am feeling right now and thus brought out the question to a young girl. ¡°It might feelplete, but it is not. You will understand it when you go through thest treatment, mydy,¡± replied the young girl, and stopped at the door. I was surprised to see the door. It is different. It is metallic, made of copper while all the doors before were wooden. It is also simple, without any designpared to others, which were painted and carved beautifully. The young girl opened the door for me and turned to me with a smile. I nodded my thanks and entered inside the room, which was simple, bereft of any decorations. In the center of it is a simple wooden chair and below it is a copper basic, with rose petals and emotion mist floating over it. Beside the basin is a woman of my age, sitting on her legs, with a small wooden box over it. It all feels very ritualistic, like the name of the treatment. It is not like I had not experienced things like this before, I did many times, and with a much grander scale, many spas do it, but I had never felt such spirituality, in any that as I am feeling right now. Which felt kind of ironic, seeing I was standing in a den of sin. ¡°Please sit, mydy,¡± said the woman. I nodded and sat down, without speaking a single word. The woman smiled gently and put the wooden box beside her, before pushing the copper basin toward my legs. As the basin appeared below my feet, she put my feet into it. A faint fragrance of petals came out of the water into my nostrils, making mefortable all over. As she did, she opened the wooden box. From it, she took one of three small ss bottles with clear yellow oil and opened it, before dropping three drops of it into the water. As she did, a citrusy smell came out. That felt familiar, but better than what she had sensed before. She closed the bottle and took out the second with green oil. She dropped the three drops of it into the basin, and I felt that gorgeous, minty smell. It is my favorite smell; most of the perfume I have has this smell. She put the second bottle back and took out the third bottle with dark brown oil, with a hint of gold, and dropped a single drop of it into the water. It didn¡¯t have to smell to know it was sandalwood. It was a sandalwood, but not a simple one, but a magical one. A single breath, made me feel like, I was flying. She put the bottle away and swirled her hands across the basic, moving the water as well as the mist with it, before she began gently pouring the water on my feet in a rhythmic movement. Her movements are gentle and soft, and I got lost in them. I don¡¯t know how long it hadsted, but she stopped and opened that wooden box again and took out the ck stone. She gently picked up my left foot and began to move the stone across it with the same rhythmic movement. Exfoliating never felt so good. Iid back on the chair and closed my eyes. Focusing nothing but on the movement of the stone. Theysted for a while before she released my left leg, picked up the right one, and repeated the same movements. It was wonderful that I had no words to describe it. Usually, I talk to the therapist during the treatments, but here, during these treatments, I barely spoke any word after the initial greeting. These treatments demand silence. She stopped, and I opened my eyes, only to see her wiping the stone with a simple white cloth before putting it back into the box and closing it. She brought her hands near my feels and moved them. As she did, steam came out of the copper basin, with emotion mist mixed in it. It enveloped her hands, with which she touched my feet and magic happened. ¡°Ahhh..¡± A soft moan escaped from my lips as she began to massage my feet. Unlike my husband, I do not make a sound during the message, but it is so good, that I couldn¡¯t help, but it. I felt embarrassed and tried to control myself, but the moans kepting out of my lips, that I stopped resisting, seeing how futile it was. The hands worked on my feet, but I felt the effects of it all over my body. It is an experience that simply couldn¡¯t be described in the words. Like all things, it also ended, leaving me content. A momentter, I felt a soft cloth on my feet. She is wiping the excess moisture off my feet. She finished wiping my feet and put the cloth away before opening the box and taking out a small y jar. She opened its cap, took a healthy amount of cream, and pressed her palms together before she applied it on her left foot with emotion mist. She did the same with my left foot before putting away the jar and sliding the basin away from my legs. ¡°Narthian foot ritual is finished, mydy,¡± said the therapist. ¡°Thank you. It is an experience I will never forget in my life,¡± I said, and the woman smiled. I was questioning why the fifth treatment was needed, but now that question was answered. It was in the name of treatment. The first four treatments made me go rebirth and the fifth one rejuvenation. Click! A minuteter, I walked out of the room and a young girl was there, waiting for me as she did during all the treatments. ¡°Is my husband finished with his treatments?¡± I asked the girl. ¡°Yes, mydy. He is waiting for you in a rxing room.¡± She replied. I was a little surprised to hear that, but followed the young girl. Soon, we reached the hallway, that is extra dim, but didn¡¯t feel gloomy. It gives the feeling of serenity. A few secondster, we stopped in front of a wooden door, which had a circle carved on it. Click! The girl opened the door, and I walked inside, but just as I did, I stopped as I saw my husband. He seemed to have frozen too seeing me, even his breathing seemed to stop. Seeing that, my cheeks couldn¡¯t help, but get flushed and joy lit up in my heart. It had been decades since Elias had been struck by my beauty like this. ¡°You are looking as radiant as you did on our wedding day,¡± he said breathlessly and came walking toward me. ¡°You are not looking bad yourself,¡± I replied as he stopped in front of me. Elias is a handsome man, but now he is looking handsome as he never did, and seeing him like this desire wouldn¡¯t well up in my heart. He seemed to feel it too, as he took my lips. The kiss was gentle, but soon it turned passionate, with our hands moving across each other bodies through the robes. ¡°This ce,¡± I said, as I broke the kiss and he smiled. ¡°We are doing what this ce is for,¡± he said, and realization dawned on me, and I let go of all my inhibition and melded my lips into his. Feeling a desire that I had not felt in decades. We love each other, but our sex life isn¡¯t much. We do it, once a month at most and even that was average, but now, I felt like a volcano of desire had burst out from deep within my soul. Our robes had already fallen onto the floor, and he took me to the bed, where I began to moan loudly as I had never done in my life. Not even during our wedding night. ¡­ ¡°Will you look at those emotions!¡± Caena eximed as thick, powerful emotions came in and merged into the sun. They are alling from the spa. They are at the level of what the sex-room produced. In it, there are small wisps that are far denser than others and shining like stars. Those wisps of mist are the holy grail that the host of every legacy wants. They areing from the rxing rooms and looking at the type of emotions that are those wisps. One didn¡¯t need to guess what was happening in those rooms. They are different and have far better quality than what sex rooms produce. There is not just lust and desire in there, but also love, affection, longing, and other deeper emotions. These people have been together for decades, and love each other immensely. Their union produces far stronger emotions than what came out from the sex rooms. I am d, Caena had imprinted charms to enhance the carnal experience. It will make their amazing experience even more amazing. These rxing rooms weren¡¯t part of the n until two days ago, but after seeing those people, I called to test things doing the deeds in temporary rooms and emotion the establishment get through it. I had decided to create them, and it seemed to be a good decision. The whole spa is a great bet. It is giving me far more emotions than I had expected. It is making me feel like a farmer, harvesting emotion, instead of crops. The spa treatment is draining the emotions of the patrons, which the establishment is absorbing. The harvest of emotion is so thorough that I feared I might harm, but it is far from the truth. The patrons liked it very much. They said that they had never felt so light in their lives. Maeve hadn¡¯t thought such a thing would happen when she created this package. She had chosen this because she and her staff were the most experienced in it. Because of the effects, we even changed the name of the package and it fit aptly. ¡°If we keep harvesting, emotions of this quality in such quantity. The establishment will advance sooner than we had thought,¡± said Caena, looking at the stream of emotions. Emotions alone aren¡¯t enough for advancement, but it is one of the two most important factors, along with vision and the spa is providing both. If I wanted to, I could have brought more clients, and fit more in each room, which most spas do, but it won¡¯t give them the experience of a lifetime. Most of our rooms are for the treatment of a single person. I want them to feel special and enjoy the experience without disturbance. It didn¡¯t matter to me if I earn less. What matters is I am achieving my vision. ¡°Good, because we are burning money here,¡± I replied. Running a spa isn¡¯t cheap. Those spa materials, from tools to essential oils, cost a lot. I wish I would have gotten those of the lower quality, but that would have defeated the entire purpose. The three days of celebration would be entirely free of charge. As for how much we are going to charge for our servicester, I haven¡¯t decided yet, but seeing the response. I could definitely charge on the high side. It is not the experience they could get anywhere on the continent and already there is an enormous demand. Those who experienced it want to book it for their children, siblings, parents, and friends. Many had directly stated they were willing to pay any price for the appointment. ¡°How are the preparations?¡± I asked as I made the sun disappear. ¡°We are ready for the first night,¡± she replied. ¡°Good, I want it to be night, they will not forget,¡± I said. ¡°They will not,¡± she replied in confidence, before walking out of the office, while I walked out of mine. Only an hour had remained, and I needed to get ready, too. For more, Click Chapter 294: Celebration III Chapter 294: Celebration III Click! I woke up, and after a shower, walked out of my room. Today is thest day of the celebration, and it is going to be even more stressful. All the important people areing today. From powerful nobles to hosts of legacies. My Grandfather and Gerald are alsoing from Namdar to attend the celebration. The past two days have gone great, everybody was impressed. If I had not impressed them, even after spending so much, then I really would have been ashamed of myself. I do not care about the money; I will earn it back and it wouldn¡¯t take me that long. I have that much confidence in myself. Click! I entered my office and saw that Caena, Margaux, and Ca were already waiting there. I nodded at them and sat down. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked directly, there is no time to waste today. ¡°Till now, all good. Though, the Countess Wilstein would being an hour early at eleven, with Marchioness Gats and a few moredies,¡± informed Ca. The nobles, never make things easy. Countess Wilstein is the wife of Count Darrow. She arrived yesterday, along with her daughter-inw. Marchioness Gates should have arrived by now with her son from Dustorn Fortress. ¡°You handled it, right?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, the appointments have been adjusted,¡± she replied, and I took a sigh of relief. Till two days ago, not many nobles and other important people were interested in the spa, but now everybody wants to have an appointment. That spa is running constantly, without a single break. It was too good; I listened to the old man¡¯s advice and trained all the old of the spa. The old man¡¯s advice wasn¡¯t exactly about the spa. He just said, I should have more people in the field, which I think going to work. Because if it really worked, people are going to want it and nobles are going to be forceful. They were, and I couldn¡¯t decline the requests from powerful nobles like Countess Wilstein. ¡°Take good care of them. I want those women impressed,¡± I said to her. ¡°They will be,¡± replied Ca. It will be a challenge, seeing the Countess didn¡¯t want to see a face of a single whore while she was her. Those were her exact words, which I straight up declined, saying the establishment was a brothel. ¡°Have all the supplies arrived?¡± I asked. The cost of food and drink is enormous. In two days, those bastards had eaten and drank, more than I had estimated. ¡°Yes, a few hours ago. The special delivery will be brought by Mr. Lindgren, he will arrive in two hours,¡± replied Margaux. Old man Vanis had a legacy for nearly a century and has arge collection of great wines. With Legacy, I could get mostly all wines in the top hundred, but really aged ones are hard to get. I had asked the old man for a few, and he agreed. ¡°Are staff and girls ready for today?¡± I asked as I turned to Caena. ¡°They are ready,¡± she replied. They have done great in the past two days. Handling all sorts of guests, from angry to obnoxious. However, the guests also kept their behavior in control. This is a legacy and not amon brothel and I am sure they all must havee to know how the legacy is born and what would happen if you were too rude. Still, we had banned the one guest on the first day. A few minutester, they left, leaving me alone in the office with my thoughts. I really wished the celebration had been only one day long. It was too stressful, but I had to follow the tradition and could understand its uses, but still, the pressure was too much. Thankfully, the family had sent a few people to handle things outside, along with three house council members. They are the ones, along with my sister, who is responsible for handling the guests. Which is good, because I wouldn¡¯t have been able to handle everything alone. A few secondster, everything in front of me turned dark, and the sun appeared, along withs and all. Once the guest arrived, I wouldn¡¯t be summoning it. There are a host of legacies, present in the establishment, and I don¡¯t want to summon it in their presence. Who knows the kind of abilities they have? Some of them might be able to see through my legacy, and I don¡¯t want to take the chance. I focused on the dense emotionsing into the sun from the spa. It was running all night and even running now. Many people wanted the appointment, but there were limited spots during the day. If you still want it, you will have to choose the spots at night and midnight and many important people didn¡¯t have any problem with that. Many didn¡¯t get even that. I was nning to keep the spa open from morning to evening, but seeing how many people are vying for the appointments, we will have to keep the spa open for longer or even all day and night. I might also use the trainees. The girls who are learning to be spa therapists and the new staff, I had hired. All of them are at the level of Maeve, with many better than her. It wouldn¡¯t happen for thetter despite their level and skills, before they prove their loyalty. Working with emotion mist is a privilege that only be given to those we trust. It¡¯s not like I need more spa therapists. The current numbers are enough to maintain the exclusivity of it and we could slowly train the trainees with emotion mist, who are ready to fullymit to it. I looked at the emotions that were pouring into the core, and it was in a big amount. Not as huge as it is during the day, but still big, and almost all of it is from a spa. Since nothing else is open. Hun! I looked at it for a few seconds and was about to close it when suddenly I stopped with my eyes wide in surprise. Since yesterday, we have been keeping the spa open all night, but I didn¡¯t notice it yesterday. I couldn¡¯t be med, because there were many couples yesterday morning, but right now, it is mostly women. ¡°Only two couples today,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t need to use Instant Recollection; I was there when Caena, Maeve, and others finalized the listst night. There are only two couples, the rest are women, but the emotionsing from the spa are just as intense. Some wisps of emotion seemed far more intense than yesterday''s. There is love, longing, desire, and affection, but there is also fear, desperation, and excitement of different vors. I didn¡¯t have to think about what was happening there. There are two people in each resting room and most of them came in pairs. I had not issued extra invitations to the first two nights'' guests, but I had to do it one thirds of the nights. They are important enough that I couldn¡¯t reject them. I wish that I could see the emotion through the specific rxing rooms. Currently, I couldn¡¯t do it. I could see the emotioning from the specific sections, but not through the specific rooms. If I concentrate, I will be able to sense the presence in the specific rooms, but not the state of their emotions or what they are doing. To see what they are doing; I have to activate one of thes and I have no wish to do that. What they are doing there is their business; the only thing I care about is the experience they are having and the emotions my legacy is getting. In that, they have made me happy. I looked for a few minutes more beforeing back to the real world. More confident that it won¡¯t take even six months, which I had thought earlier for my establishment to level up. I did some work for a few minutes before walking out of my room. I looked at all the preparations that were happening and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. They are doing well and if preparations are anything to see, then this night would be better than the two nights. I was looking at the preparations when a carriage pulled in and two women walked out, and a young girl waiting greeted them, before leading them to the spa. It is not just the therapist raking in the money, but also these teens. In the past month, they have been trained extensively for it. I had brought special teachers to them for the training, and they have not disappointed the establishment. I had entered the garden when I saw a familiar man and walked into it. ¡°Sir Schengen,¡± I greeted the old man. He is a guardian; he coulde and go to the legacy at any time. Though it was the first time he hade in the early morning. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± said the old man. ¡°I hope you like the establishment and our beautiful, so far, Sir Schengen,¡± I said, to which the old man¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You are a visionary, Lord Silver. Anyone who sees your work from the inside and the efforts you put, they are will not be surprised, seeing you birthing the legacy,¡± he said, looking impressed. ¡°Thank you for your praise, Sir Schengen,¡± I said, and the old man smiled. For a minute, we didn¡¯t talk and just walked, when the old man turned to me again. ¡°I saw a training ring in back and heard from the guards that you practice daily?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes. I had too, seeing how danger seems to follow me around,¡± I replied, and the old man nodded. ¡°It is a good thing. People couldn¡¯t protect you forever. You need to have enough strength to protect yourself,¡± he said, and this time, it was my time to nod. I know how true it is. It is for this reason that I am alive. If I hadn¡¯t trained and was prepared, to fight, I wouldn¡¯t have been standing here. I would have been six feet under in the first danger I havee across. ¡°This old man isn¡¯t very powerful but had some ability to train. If you wish, my lord, I would be more than happy to train you,¡± he offered, and for a moment, I froze. The old man is joking when he said isn¡¯t powerful. He is very powerful and used to be a high-ranking imperial knight before he suddenly disappeared a decade ago during one of his missions and was thought to be dead. Only to appear in the Greltheaven. Training from him would be immensely helpful. It was the greatest dream of old Remus to be an Imperial Knight. He used to live and breathe for it and now an imperial knight is offering to train me. ¡°It would be my honor to receive guidance from you, Sir Schengen,¡± I replied. I know the old man had an ulterior motive. There are always, but that doesn¡¯t mean, I would let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I need to take this opportunity, now more than ever. I stayed with the old man for half an hour, before getting into the carriage. I am going to the port to wee someone. He is the only one, who is important enough for me to go to the port to wee him personally. For more, Click Chapter 295: Celebration IV Chapter 295: Celebration IV ¡°Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Viscount Moldt, Viscountess,¡± I said to a middle-aged man and a blond-haired woman. ¡°Thank you for the invitation, Lord Silver, and regret from his grace, the Duke of Dawhall. He couldn¡¯t be here due to the important business,¡± he replied, and I smiled. ¡°It is regretting my lord, but I am d that he sent you,¡± I said, he smiled and walked inside. Not a single powerful noble from the maind hade personally. Usually, they throng to the ces like this. It is not because it is a brothel, but because of the state of the empire. The emperor could fall dead at any moment, and they didn¡¯t want to be out of their territory during that. It is not just that, but also the assassination and other things. A few secondster, another guest arrived, and then another. Soon, a carriage entered the establishment, bearing the two gs. One belongs to her, while the other belongs to the organization she was part of. I am also part of it and today, it will be formal. The carriage door opened, and the woman came out. She is tall, with strawberry-red hair. She is pretty, but not as strikingly beautiful as one would expect, seeing her race and position. The woman is a half-elf, and she is not hiding it. With the organization she is representing today, even the Empire wouldn¡¯t do anything to her except send her out politely. Soon, she has appeared in front of me. ¡°Lady Awyn, wee to my humble establishment,¡± I said to the woman. She is Ophelia Glynrieth, thedy of Transcendent Pleasure. The most powerful brothel of the entire continent, but she had not onlye as ady of her legacy, but also as a representative of Synod. ¡°It is anything but humble, Lord Silver,¡± she replied and nodded at Le, before walking into the hall where nearly everyone had turned to her. Her legacy is Grade 4, and she achieved that feat in a remarkable time. ¡°That woman will be your biggestpetition when you decide to expand,¡± said Le beside me. ¡°She seemed to consider me that already,¡± I replied and smiled. Ophelia may consider me aspetition and one day we might be, but it wouldn¡¯t be soon. My legacy is different, and I need to focus on it first before I can think about expanding. Not to mention, doing that soon would be a mistake; my first focus should be on the establishment. Old man Vanis had straight up said I shouldn¡¯t even think about expanding before I take my legacy to Grade 4. Synod advises the same, but not many follow it due to the allure of wealth. Old man Vanis hadn¡¯t either. Ophelia Awyn had followed it, she hadn¡¯t expanded into the branches till her legacy had reached Grade 4 and when she did, her expansion was fast and sustainable. Now, she is the richest brothel owner in the whole of merchant states. Speaking of the old man, I saw his carriage stopping, and he came out, along with his granddaughter. Old man Varis doesn¡¯t travel, but he came here. ¡°Lord Lindgren, thank you foring,¡± I said politely, to which the young man looked at me for a moment, before opening his eyes. ¡°Thank you for the invitation, Lord Silver,¡± he replied unenthusiastically before his expression turned stern. ¡°You have made too big changes, young man. Didn¡¯t listen, to what I have said,¡± he said. I could feel the disappointment in his voice. ¡°I have listened to what you said, old Vanis, and these changes are a result of that,¡± I replied with a smile. The old man seemed like he wanted to say something, but decided against it, as he looked at the establishment. ¡°You are looking, Miss Alina,¡± said Le to his great-granddaughter. ¡°Thank you, Baroness Le,¡± replied Alina, looking slightly embarrassed. The young girl was already beautiful, and the spa had made her even more. The old man walked inside after the nod and entered inside. The guests kepting, including the lords and governors of the cities of the Renwell region. All of them hade; the only one who didn¡¯t is Marquess Gats, but that is to be expected. The man is guarding the region against the Tabes. If he moved, Tabes might try attacking and nobody wants that. I weed the Lord of Inam and the son of Grand Mage Szar. After that came the Lord of Ashton Harbor. People kepting, and we weed them. All the important people have, aside from one. He took another twenty minutes to arrive, and he did so in style. Earlier it was not just his wife who hade to the spa, but he also appeared. Along with the bastard Lancel. I had invited both of them, but they declined and hadn¡¯t thought, Countess would be able to bring them to the spa. ¡°Count Darrow, Countess Wilstein, wee,¡± I said and bowed with a flourish, before bowing at Lancel and his daughter-inw. She is the wife of his eldest son, who is handling the Count¡¯s territory, with his father being here. ¡°Remus, you have made fine preparations,¡± said the Count, without addressing me with my title. ¡°It is all thanks to you, my lord,¡± I replied politely and turned to his wife. ¡°Countess Wilstein, Lady Rusar, you both are looking magnificent. Even my establishment is looking in front of your glow.¡± I praised, and a smile appeared on both women. Lancel¡¯s mother is a beautiful woman. Even at this age, she had kept herself in shape, unlike the bastard Darrow. ¡°You are too kind, Lord Silver,¡± she replied with a pleased smile. Maeve herself had worked on her and I had sent Eudo for her make-up. It was a wise move because she and her daughter-inw are really glowing right now. I could clearly see the lust in Lancel¡¯s eyes for his sister-inw. Le and I took them inside; all the guests had arrived. Only Count and his family had remained and now they did. The real celebration could finally start, and I have prepared something special for it. Something that had never been done in the Greltheaven. Many people, might have seen the act, but a few had seen of this level, with the power of legacy mixed in it. I would have liked my girls to do it, but they are years away from achieving such a feat. So, today, it will be an outsider, that will show me a glimpse of my vision. I talk to Count and Countess for the minute, before taking the stage. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, Lords and Ladies, thank you for gracing me in your presence.¡± ¡°Exactly, a month ago. The legacy is born. It had been born, not only by efforts but also by the grace of the Lord Count and the blessing of his highness. Without them, there would not have been this wonderful and the city.¡± I said and could see a proud smile appearing on the bastard¡¯s face, hearing the unabashed praise. I would have really liked it. If I had honored my girls and employees, the real people who helped to make the establishment what it is, but that could only happen in an idealistic world. This is not that world, and thus, I need to praise the bastards, who wouldn¡¯t mind even legacy burning, if the benefits of it are high enough for him. I looked at the vibrant face of the Count, who was all ruddy and glowing. Thanks to the efforts of my staff. It is not just him, but many men and women are glowing, looking beautiful like they never did in the past few years. ¡°To show my respect for you all, I had prepared something. I hope you all will enjoy it,¡± I finished my speed and got off the stage. People looked at me in question, including Count and my sister. They do not know. Nobody knows, except for the Ca and girls; I wanted it to be a surprise. People looked around, and for a few seconds, there was nothing, before finely dressed men and women appeared on the stage, and recognition lit in the face of few people. Everybody understood what was happening as the wands appeared in their hands. At the same time, all the lights in the establishment dimmed until it was nearly dark. ¡°Honored guest, please enjoy the show,¡± said the beautiful elf with green hair, and her wand lit up and released a bright green fireball from her hand. The twenty-three followed right after. Soon after they released the fireball; their wands lit up, in other spells and golden ribbons began toe out from them, wrapping around each other. Soon, a golden lion formed above them. It is huge and majestic and looked really good. What made it look even more majestic was the emotion misting out of it. Making it look like the powerful aura it was said to have. It is a Frasrius Lion. If the Empire has any national beast, then it would be this. The frasrius lion was a beast founder of the imperial house; there is a massive statue of it in front of the gates of the capital. I could see the joy and wonder in the eyes of many. Even the Count seemed pleased. Everybody loves mage shows, and this group is part of one of the best mage showpanies in meldhorn. They are the only ones who didn¡¯t offer their services for free. I paid them a massive amount of money for this show. The huge lion moved around the hall, creating ripples with every step it took, while guests watched in wonder. Roar! The lion returned to its ce and roared loud, with mist zing around it; like it was angry and about to attack people. It looked realistic but also felt realistic, with a red mist of anger zing around it. People gasp in shock and surprise, before ps begin to ring out. That was just the start. For the next hour, different beasts came and performed different tricks, making the guestsugh, smile, and be awed. Cry! Finally, rang out from a huge purple-red bird and it exploded into a shower of purple and red feathers that went all over the hall. p p p A huge apuse rang out for the half-elf and her team. ¡°It was an impressive show, Remus,¡± said Grandfather, as he appeared by me. He may have seen the mage shows bigger than it, but this one in the legacy, with emotion mist. It gave him the experience, he never had. ¡°Thank you, Grandfather,¡± I said. He is a tall man with thick raven hair and bright silvery grey eyes, that would attract the eyes of everyone. ¡°My lord, this is Edmond Silver, my grandfather,¡± I introduced him to the Count. ¡°We have met, Remus,¡± he replied and turned to my grandfather. ¡°How are you, Mr. Silver? How is your business?¡± asked the Count as he shook his hand. ¡°I am good, my lord, and the business is also doing good,¡± he replied. We talked to the Count for a few minutes, and I introduced him to a few people, like old man Vanis, Ethan, Rolgath, and Ignatius, before leaving him with my sister and going to mingle with other people with Ca. Time passed as people drank and ate, the food filled with the emotion essence, and enjoyed the music from the band, which utilized emotion mist. Making music sound far more incredible than it is. The bar is filled with staff working non-stop. They would mix drinks and add emotion mist into them, before serving it to the guests. The bar staff was able to learn it within a month and now, they are serving them rapidly, but the one, that impressed the most people is Drev. The food is being praised by everyone. He is a hugely talented chef and emotion mist gave him the wings to reach his full potential. The things he was able to do with it, were so amazing that even old man Vanis had praised him. He is the only staff he has praised. The celebrationsted past midnight, before the guests began to leave, one after another. Till only family had remained. ¡°You have made the whole house proud, Remus. If your father had been here, he would have been proud of you too,¡± said Grandfather, with watery eyes. ¡°I wish he had been alive,¡± I said, with my eyes turning emotional. ¡°Take a rest. You deserve it. We will talk more tomorrow,¡± he said and left with Gerald and others. I stayed by the door, till their carriage left the gate, before wiping my eyes away and turning to Ca beside me. ¡°She is waiting in the office,¡± she informed. I nodded and walked toward my office. Click! I opened the door of my office and entered inside. There is a woman, sitting. I would have liked to meet her tomorrow, but she was leaving tonight and insisted on finishing the formalities. ¡°Lady Ophelia,¡± I said as I sat down. The woman nodded and put the box in front of her. Seeing the box, all the irritation vanished from my eyes and changed into excitement. For more, Click Chapter 296: Training Chapter 296: Training Dealer of Desire Lv. 21 Dealer of Desire Lv. 22 As I opened my eyes, there was a text in front of me. I had leveled up, gaining two levels. It is my first level-up, since my ss upgraded. I had thought I would level up in the month seeing the things I had done, but I didn¡¯t. Powerful the ss is, the harder it is to level it up. I didn¡¯t get a skill, but got attribute points. I had decided not to use them immediately. I am not sure about them and wouldn¡¯t be using, them before giving them some serious thought. A momentter, I closed the window and looked at the clock. It is dawn. Usually, I woke up, before dawn, but yesterday, I had sleptte. I had only slept for three and a half hours. I would have slept more, but I am excited about my training session with the Ser Schegen. I should have dyed it for a day, but I didn¡¯t want to waste even a single day of this opportunity. I got up from the bed and freshened up, before changing into the training clothes and walking out of my room. When I reached the training ring, there was no one. So, I begin to stretch. Hun! I had just finished it when I saw himing exactly at six, as he had said he would. ¡°You seemed excited, Lord Silver,¡± said the old man as he stopped. ¡°I am Sir Schegan. I have dreamed about this opportunity since I was a child.¡± I replied, truthfully. ¡°I heard you were training to be an imperial knight, before changing the path suddenly?¡± He asked as he walked toward the weapon rack and picked up the spear. ¡°Yes, I experienced something, that forced me to think about the path, more clearly,¡± I replied. The old man didn¡¯t say anything other than smile before stepping on the ring. ¡°I have a skill that will let me lower my attributes'' strength to yours,¡± he informed. It is him asking the permission, as skills like this would require the permission of the other party. ¡°Ok,¡± I said, and immediately I felt the skill on me. After a moment of hesitation, I let the skill scan my attribute and could a faint surprise appear in the eyes of the old man, for a moment. I am higher leveled than an average person of my age, and my attributes are also strong thanks to my main ss. It could be said that my current strength is slightly higher than the average Lv. 20 warriors. It is thanks to the upgrade of the main ss, which had increased the weight of the attributes. ¡°Come at me with everything you have. Use every skill and technique, don¡¯t hold back anything.¡± He spoke. ¡°As you wish,¡± I replied. The next second, I appeared in front of him with the Rapid Steps and attacked with the Swift de and Weighted Strike. He didn¡¯t move for a fraction of a second and when did, his spear moved at a slow speed, I was confident that my sword would be able to avoid the attack rather easily, but I remained cautious, seeing I was not sparring with a normal person. Still, despite all the caution, I was not able to stop the old man from doing what he did. ck! His slow spear had reached my sword really fast and hit the handle of my rapier, with the tip of his spear, without touching my hand. tter! There were barely two centimeters of distance between my hand and quillon, but the tip of his spear hit that space, touching my hand. Giving such a shock to my arm, that rapier flew away from my grip and ttered to the ground. I am shocked. I am not shocked because he was able to do that or didn¡¯t use his skills to achieve that, but shocked because of how easily he did it. It felt like it didn¡¯t take any effort from him at all, despite his strength being the same as mine. I knew I was not his match despite the same strength, but I didn¡¯t think, he would be able to do that, with such ease. In just one move, he had crushed all the confidence I had in me. ¡°You have left a big opening, anyone skillful enough would have exploited that and cut your arm apart,¡± he said. ¡°It was a small opening,¡± I said, feeling embarrassed as I picked up my sword. ¡°Sometimes, it is enough for the enemies to exploit,¡± he replied. tter. I nodded and went to him again and once again; he used the same move. His spear came at my sword and, being careful, I tried to avoid it, but it hit the handle and the rapier ttered on the floor. ¡°You can not close all openings. So, you have to take control of them and use them to your advantage,¡± he advised. Once again, I attacked. His spear effortlessly hit the hand, and it ttered on the ring, despite me gripping at it tightly. It happened four more times before I tried to use a different approach. ¡°Your spear is too slow. It won¡¯t be able to hit my sword this time.¡± I said with the full power of Persuasion. I couldn¡¯t use the skills full power,bat scenario, with it being an administrative skill. Still, I have been able to bring quite a lot of power. More, than I had, when I was fighting on the ship. I have been practicing it by using it inbat with instructors David and Jon. For a fraction moment, it seemed to work, seeing how his spear seemed to slow down. tter! I got happy too quickly and once again, my sword was ttered on the ring. ¡°It is a powerful skill, and you have used it well. They might work on the normal enemies, but it won¡¯t work on me,¡± he said with a smile. He is clearly advising me not to use such attacks on him, not because he is angry or doesn¡¯t like them, but because they are useless. He might have an attribute the same as me, but that doesn¡¯t mean, my skill would work on him, that would have worked on the people of my strength. If he has what I heard, he has. Then even if the Persuasive, is far stronger than this, it wouldn¡¯t have affected him much. So, I should focus on conventional attacks. I picked up my sword attack and once again it ttered on the floor. I did it again, and it ttered. I used different techniques, but every time, my sword would tter on the ground. It was very irritating that I wanted to howl in frustration, but I controlled myself and kept attacking after picking up my sword. Without care of anything, especially my wrist. It is hurting. The shock is felt before the sword is released from my hand. Thwack! It continued till, the forty-ninth attack, when the de of his spear, finally shed against the de of my rapier. Seeing that, a big smile appeared on my face, and I wanted to cry, but instead, I smiled with relief. ¡°This is the correct form. It gives the enemy less space to attack, while you a control over the opening,¡± he said. I looked at the form and was immediately surprised. To others, the form wouldn¡¯t look much different, but to me. It is very different from my usual, morefortable with much greater freedom to act against the enemy''s attacks. The old man should have told me, but he let me find it myself. ¡°Now, the next step,¡± he said and moved his spear, locked with my sword, and tapped on my chest with its tip. It is not like; I didn¡¯t try to stop it. I did, but his spear had avoided that easily. Seeing the look on his face, I know it will be another frustrating round, but I am looking forward to it. I need to improve myself and this old man is my best chance, no matter how frustrating his methods are. Our two hours passed painfully, and we had finally stopped. When I looked at myself, I couldn¡¯t help but get surprised. My training clothes are clean, and not every movement of mine is giving me pain. Yes, there are a few points that are giving me some pain, like my wrist and chest, but they are not feeling as painful as they do when I train with Jon or instructor David. ¡°Thank you for the lesson, Sir Schegan,¡± I said and bowed slightly to the old man, while the old man smiled before opening his mouth. ¡°You are very talented, Lord Silver, but this talent is also your weakness. Talented ones pick things up quickly and not always good things,¡± ¡°You, Lord Silver, have fought against the mediocre enemies and learned some mediocre things. Once you remove them, your strength will increase drastically,¡± he said. I am surprised. I had not thought he would say something like it, because I have been thinking the opposite. I had thought I had improved fighting those strong enemies. I felt my technique was improving, bing more efficient. Jon and instructor David had said the same, but the old man saying the opposite. I didn¡¯t want to believe him and wouldn¡¯t until I became sure of it myself, but I will train under him. ¡°I have to say, I am surprised, Sir Schegan,¡± I said, and the old man grinned without saying anything. I got off the ring and was about to invite him for breakfast when Stone stepped forward. ¡°Sir Schegen, I would be really grateful. If you sparred with me,¡± said Stone, surprising me, but I didn¡¯t say anything and turned to Sir Schegan. ¡°Sure, but you will have to use, that elder-blood strength to fight against me,¡± said the old man. The expression on Stone¡¯s face turned a little hesitant, upon hearing that. I am not surprised; he knows about Stone¡¯s elder blood. I am sure he had done his research beforeing here. ¡°It is not a power I could bring out with will. It only came out, when I am in danger or desperate condition,¡± he said, and the old man nodded. ¡°You are in the process of awakening it. Only, fully awakened, control that power at will,¡± he said and took out a red enchanted spear from his pocket. ¡°Let¡¯s see if this old man, could put enough pressure on you to bring out that elder-blood power,¡± he added. Stone grinned as he took out his big sword and stepped into the ring. I wanted to object, seeing them using a real weapon. Instead, I had enveloped the area surrounding the ring with even denser mist. Seeing that, Z enveloped the entire area in a privacy spell. Now nobody would hear what was happening. ¡°Use everything you have,¡± said the old man, and Stone nodded and went toward the old man at a speed, that is blurring to my eyes. Thankfully, the attack of the old man was slow enough that I could see it and like how he did against me, he used his spear slowly toward theing sword. Rip! A momentter, I heard the ripping sound and saw the long red line from Stone¡¯s chest to stomach. I nearly screamed but stopped noticing the wound was not as serious as it looked. It is deep enough to draw blood, but not deep enough. It couldn¡¯t be healed quickly with potion and spell. It needs serious control to achieve such a feat. Stone looked at the wound andunched another attack, and immediately got another wound on his chest and the second after that, one on the arm. He didn¡¯t stop attacking, despite every attack giving him a new wound. Within seconds, the bloody shirt was torn to pieces and fell to the ground. He didn¡¯t seem to care as he continued to go against the old man. Gasp! Seconds passed when suddenly, a loud gasp rang out. Stopping the spar momentarily. Ca and Margaux walked through the mist, and their eyes were wide with shock and horror. ¡°This,¡± said Margaux, with a shaking voice, seeing Stone¡¯s bloody body. Maybe calling them here was a bad idea. ¡°Rx, the injuries aren¡¯t as serious as they look,¡± I said, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. ¡°He ispletely bloody, and you are saying, the injuries are not series?¡± asked Ca in horror. I opened my mouth, but Z spoke before me. ¡°They are not, Miss Ca. They are superficial enough that, I would be able to heal them with my spell.¡± She said, and her words seemed to make them feel better. At the same moment, the spar resumed, and they swallowed all other questions as they watched the battle with horrified eyes. I couldn¡¯t me them for feeling what they were feeling. They hadn¡¯t had much experience with battles. Obviously, such a scene would feel horrific. Seconds passed, and Stone began to receive injury after injury, turning even his legs bloody. That I had started to get worried, and even Z began to get worried. When finally, the thing, we were all waiting to happen, happened. The bronze light begins toe out through the blood. As it did, Stone¡¯s speed became faster, and his strength reached higher. ng! Finally, the old man shed his spear against his sword, before giving him another bloody cut and then another and then another. It seemed like, he wanted to make Stone angry. Telling him, that even his elder blood is nothing. He achieved that because the faint bronze lighting out of Stone¡¯s body red. Making him even stronger, that I begin to have a problem, seeing anything but a blur. ng ng ng The real sh begins, and all saw was sparks of their sh, as they moved across the ring. It is the Stone that is moving; the old man had remained on his spot, without moving an inch. Stone wants to reach closer to the old man, but the spear will always keep him away. I wish I could see the battle more clearly, but I couldn¡¯t. Though I am recording it and will watch itter. Thud! The sh continued for more than an hour, when it suddenly stopped, with Stone copsing on the ring. Gasp! Z went to him first, casting healing spells on him. They also removed the blood, revealing the injuries that made them gasp again, but soon they calmed down, seeing how they were knitting together. Many of them were already healed, thanks to Stone¡¯s elder blood. I looked at Stone and was surprised to see him conscious, albeit barely. The previous times, he used his elder blood power. He had fallen unconscious. ¡°You are good, Mr. Stone, far better than what I heard about you. I really hope, you will survive the awakening when it happens,¡± said Sir Schegan, putting a small smile on Stone¡¯s tired face. For more, Click Chapter 297: Secret Deal Chapter 297: Secret Deal ¡°Master Silver, Mr. Ashav, is here to meet you,¡± informed Jill. I looked at Caena before turning to the door. ¡°Let him in,¡± I said, controlling the faint nervousness that I was feeling. Click! The door opened and Ethan walked in. Immediately, his expression changed. He seemed to have sensed air in the room and his expressions turned serious from casual. ¡°I thought it would be a casual meeting, but it clearly feels not,¡± he said and took a seat in front of me. ¡°No, it is not,¡± I said simply. ¡°So, what it is?¡± he asked directly. ¡°Your family has a good connection with the Alchemist Amherst,¡± I said simply, to which he nodded. ¡°Yes, our house is his prime supplier,¡± He replied. The House of Ashav is a powerful mercantile house, bigger than even the House of Silver. They have rtions with many powerful alchemists, including Alchemist Amherst, the top alchemist of Oksall. Much better than the bastard Aryveson. ¡°If I give you something, that is not so legal. Will you be able to make a deal with him and keep the deal secret?¡± I asked and instead of anger and worry, sparks of excitement began to dance in his eyes. ¡°Yes, it will bepletely discrete on our part, and I am sure Alchemist Amherst would only tell people who he needs to, but the news absolutely won''t leak to the people, who don¡¯t need to know about it,¡± he replied and there was confidence in his voice. I am sure, with what his house specializes in. They are used to such deals. No merchant house, including a house of silver, has be sessful in following thew. Many of our dealings are in grey and many in dark. It is why, I had chosen him, instead of Ignatius or Valentina, who had some powerful connection in the merchant state. ¡°Good,¡± I said and turned to Caena. She didn¡¯t say anything, but a square wooden box appeared in her hand, which she slid in front of Ethan. Click! He looked at me, and I nodded. He turned to the box and touched it with the shaking hand, before clicking it open. Gasp! The moment he did, his eyes widened, and a gasp rang out from his mouth. He would have been expecting this, but still seeing the things in front of him, his eyes couldn¡¯t help, but wide up. The shock was even greater when he saw bottles inside containing pure emotion essence and not mixed ones that Grade 1 legacies could harness. There are also more than a few bottles that he might have been expecting. We extracted the emotion essence, a few minutes earlier. That box contained 75% emotion essence, that the establishment had produced to this day. It took a while before he calmed down, and when he did, he took out tools and started to examine each bottle carefully. I am a little surprised, but shouldn¡¯t be seeing the things we are dealing with here and the consequences we might face due to it. ¡°All of them are pure Grade 1 emotion essence, without the slightest impurity,¡± he said as he turned to me. The impurity he is talking about is other emotions. ¡°What do you want in exchange?¡± he asked as he turned to me. ¡°Potions. Grade 1 and Grade 2,¡± I replied finally. ¡°What kind?¡± he asked. ¡°Healing, mana, stamina¡­¡± I gave him the list. There are other things I could demand too, but I need the potions first. I need them in enough numbers to feel safe, before I try for the other things. ¡°Rate?¡± He asked. ¡°20% above standard. It is a non-negotiable,¡± I replied, and he smiled. ¡°It is too much. He might not ept it,¡± he said. ¡°He will,¡± I replied. It is above the standard rate, but I am giving him in much higher amount than usually appeared in the market. Not to mention, they are pure Grade 1 emotion essences; in them not a speck of other emotion is mixed. Which only experience hosts of legacies could bring out. It is hard as there are always some other emotions snuck in despite one''s efforts and skills. I am sure, that not only Alchemist Amherst would ept it, but Ethan will also be able to earn some heftymission, but it is not what he is after. These things build connections, and strengthen those who already are. Alchemists like Amherst or Aryveson do not work alone. They have workshops where hundreds or even thousands of alchemist¡¯s work, and they need arge amount of material that merchant house like the House of Ashav provides them. Sometimes, that is not enough. The alchemists require something extra. If they didn¡¯t get those things, then they would switch suppliers. If the big clients move away, then smaller ones also follow. It is why merchant houses need carrots like these. With this, they could keep their clients happy and loyal. Not to mention, if they have such things in enough amount, they could use it to train their own alchemists. From what I heard, house Ashav has its own alchemists, and every alchemist worth their salt would want to master emotion essence in their craft. These emotion essences will be especially helpful, because pure emotion essences are easier to work with than mixed ones, but they are also harder to get. Only those in Grade 3 and above could produce them, and they usually do not. Why would they produce Grade 1 when they could produce Grade 3? That makes these pure emotion essences even more valuable. ¡°Do you want anything other than the emotion essence? We could provide a lot of things. Things that couldn¡¯t be found outside, even with money,¡± he said, and the bastard used the skill. I have to say, his skills are powerful and would have affected me a lot if it had been before I got the legacy and my ss upgraded. ¡°Currently, no,¡± I replied and could see a sh of disappointment appearing in his eyes, but he recovered quickly. ¡°Should we sign the contract then?¡± he asked. To which I smiled. So has Caena. ¡°There is no need,¡± I replied, and could see a surprise shing in his eyes. ¡°It is quite a trust. You are putting in me,¡± he said after a moment of silence. ¡°If I didn¡¯t trust you this much, I wouldn¡¯t have given you this opportunity,¡± I replied, to which he smiled before his expression turned serious. ¡°The people behind you won¡¯t be happy about such an approach,¡± he said, and I wanted tough, but controlled my expression. ¡°You do not need to worry about it,¡± I said. It is the reason why; I decided to take the risk. Even if people found out about the deal, they wouldn¡¯t suspect, these essences are from me. They will think the other hosts of legacies are using me to make the deal. I am a host of new legacy and even with skills, could not harvest such pure emotion essence, not to mention in such an amount. If I get caught. They wouldn¡¯t punish me as harshly as they would have if they thought I was selling the emotion essence of my legacy. Currently, it is only a month since the legacy is born. There is no way I could harness the emotion, especially of this quality. It is not because of the trust that I am not signing the contract. I trust him, but not enough to not sign a contract, but signing the contract would leave a trail behind and I absolutely don¡¯t want that. ¡°Thank you for your trust. I will not disappoint you,¡± he said, and a few minutester, he left the office. ¡®Jill, call Stone and others to my office.¡¯ I said to Jill through the skill. I had asked Grandfather for something, and he was able to do it. It is going to make them very happy. Click! A minuteter, the door opened, and Stone and others walked inside. Except for Eli, everyone is here. Stone looked good. A little pale, but in a few hours, nearly all of his injuries vanished. Z had said he wouldpletely recover from the strain by tomorrow. ¡°The church of the sea god had agreed to help you remove your curse,¡± I said, and the eyes of Stena, Shaun, and Hugo lit up. The curse had been restricting them a lot aside from being life-threatening. It is because of it they couldn¡¯t use their full power and level up as they should be. ¡°Really, Lord Silver?¡± asked Shaun, and I nodded. ¡°You four will leave in the evening; I have already made the preparations,¡± I informed. ¡°Thank you for this great favor, my lord,¡± said Steven, with tears streaming down his face. ¡°My apologies, Mr. Silver, but I am not going to Namdar,¡± said Stone suddenly, surprising me and Caena. The others aren¡¯t, and even Caena seemed to understand something as her eyes lit up understanding. ¡°Is there any problem with Namdar? If there is, I could ask for an exception from Grand Mage Szar¡¯s office. It will take a few days or even weeks, but I think, I will be able to manage that,¡± I said. ¡°No, there is no problem with Namdar,¡± he said, and the expression on the big man¡¯s face turned a little hesitant for a moment before they returned to expressionless. ¡°I want to use the curse to awaken the elder blood,¡± he informed, and finally, understanding lit up. I heard about elder bloods doing such things, but it is an extremely dangerous process. Many die. I opened my mouth to dissuade him from it, but closed it, seeing the look in his eyes. ¡°Just be careful,¡± I said after a moment of silence. This is the only thing, I could say, seeing he already made the decision. Nothing I say will make him change his mind. For more, Click Chapter 298: Inheritance Chapter 298: Inheritance ¡°Master Silver, your grandfather waiting for you in your office,¡± said Caena as I stepped out of the carriage. I couldn¡¯t help but get surprised. I was supposed to go to him, but now he is here. He didn¡¯t even inform me beforeing, which he always does. ¡°When did he arrive?¡± I asked as I walked toward the establishment. ¡°An hour, ago,¡± she replied. ¡°You should have sent me a message,¡± I said to her. ¡°He asked me not to,¡± she replied. Which again surprised me; the man is punctual and didn¡¯t like wasting a minute, much less an hour. ¡°He has checked out the entire establishment, but had good words about it,¡± she added and that couldn¡¯t help but a smile on my face. Soon, I reached my office. Click! ¡°Grandfather,¡± I greeted as I entered my office. He was sitting in my chair, looking at the portrait of his son on the wall. ¡°Remus,¡± he said, still looking portrait. ¡°You should have informed me. I would havee sooner,¡± I said, and he shook his head. ¡°There was no need. It gave me the time to check out your legacy,¡± he replied, turning to me. ¡°I hope you, you liked it,¡± I said, and he smiled. A smile filled with pride, but it had remained on his face for a second, before his expressions became serious. ¡°Is this ce safe?¡± he asked as I felt his powerful Privacy Skill covering the entire office. ¡°It is now,¡± I replied as I activated the istion. A surprise shed in his eyes, while I became even more confused. First is his unannounced visit and now this privacy skill. He seemed to feel that, as he took out a metallic box from his bag and slid it toward me. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. ¡°Your inheritance,¡± he replied, with a sigh. It would be an understatement to say his words didn¡¯t surprise me and I looked at him in question and didn¡¯t receive any answer, so I opened the box. I am surprised. There is another box inside, but it is not what surprised me. Not what surprised me, is the string of charms attached to it. Those are clearly witches'' charms, and they felt very powerful. ¡°You might feel wronged by your father and family, seeing you have got barely anything in inheritance, but you shouldn¡¯t. Your father had left the best thing for you.¡± ¡°Before his death, your father had given me this for safekeeping. He felt his life was in danger and wanted me to give you this when you be capable,¡± he said. ¡°He was quite sure, that one day you would be capable,¡± he added. ¡°Am I be capable?¡± I asked, looking at the box. ¡°You have, but you are not ready for that thing. Wait till you be powerful enough before opening that box,¡± he replied. ¡°In what sense?¡± I asked, but he just smiled. I know, I wouldn¡¯t get an answer from him, and seeing the charms, I don¡¯t want to open it. There must be something important in there for them to protect it with the charms, and since he said, I am not ready, I will not open it immediately. The box disappeared, and with it, the heaviness and anger in my heart. I was angry at my father for not leaving me anything in inheritance. Those uses were intentional on his part. He knew his other children would use it against me. The box made me feel better. It didn¡¯t matter, even if the box contained nothing. What matters is that he had been thinking about me and that is enough for me. However, it also produced many questions. ¡°Do you know who killed my father?¡± I asked, and the old man nodded, with grief and anger welling up in his eyes. I may have lost my father, but he had lost his son. ¡°They are very powerful people. That even the house of Silver couldn¡¯t do anything against.¡± He said, and this didn¡¯t surprise me. If they weren¡¯t powerful, Grandfather wouldn¡¯t have stayed so silent. ¡°Names, Grandfather?¡± I asked. ¡°I will tell you after, after you open the box,¡± he replied. I wanted to take out the box and tear open those charms, but I controlled my emotions. Once I know it, I will not unknown it, and sometimes, it is better to not know about those things. The legacy may have given me the power, but I am still not powerful enough. I am not even as powerful as the House of Silver. So, until I do, I won¡¯t be opening that box. They will pay for what they did. The memory of my father¡¯s death is vivid in my heart, and I will make sure, they will a price worse than that. ¡­. Margaux ¡°Girls, you should be ashamed. You are adults, but are fighting like children,¡± I said to the two teen girls sitting in front of me. ¡°Headmistress, it is Alu¡¯s fault. She is the one, who took my headband without my permission. It is my favorite headband,¡± said the blond-haired girl, ring at the raven-haired girl, sitting beside her. ¡°I did because you lost my earrings.¡± Replied the raven-haired girl, ring back. ¡°And I told you, I will pay you back for it after I get this month¡¯s sry,¡± said the blond. ¡°Girls!¡± I said loudly. Stopping them immediately from fighting any further. ¡°Alu, you shouldn¡¯t have taken Nera¡¯s headband without her permission, and Alu, you should pay for Nera¡¯s earrings, as soon as you receive your sry,¡± ¡°Now, go back to your room and I hope there won¡¯t be any fighting or both of you won¡¯t like what happens next,¡± I said strictly. Both teens nodded and walked out of my office. ¡°Sometimes, these girls behave like children,¡± I said, messaging my head. ¡°This ce gives them freedom to do that,¡± said De from the side. I smiled hearing that, before turning to the things in front of me. I finished them quickly and with it, my work was finished, and I could finally do what I wanted to do. In this past month, I had been quite busy; I wasn¡¯t able to practice as much as I liked. I walked out of my office and could hear the work they were doing. There are two more floors building above me. Valentina had said, they would be finished by the end of the month. I took the elevator down to the ground floor before walking into the tunnel. It didn¡¯t take me even a minute to leave the boundary of the circle. I knew it, the moment I did it. The effects of the legacy are too powerful not to feel them. I took the familiar way, which was only essible to the girls, and reached the turn, which would take me out of the basement. A few secondster, I was out of the basement and saw the kitchen staff moving, holding different trays and carts. They nodded at me respectfully, before going to their ways. I look at the restaurant, and it is full. There is not a single table that is empty. Saying the establishment is full is a big understatement. There is a huge waiting line, that stretches for years and increases by the day. There is not a single empty ce, and people are willing to pay a massive amount of money for the spa. Ca had told me, that a person for merchant stages offered an absolutely massive figure for the rent of the whole spa for a week. It is for the treatment of her and her bridal party. I was shocked when I saw the number. It was really huge. She was not the only one. There were other people, who were offering the massive money. Of course, Master Silver rejected the offer, but the bridal party wasing in four days for the treatment. They were offering a massive amount of money that even Master Silver couldn¡¯t reject. They got those VIP slots. The third of the slots are kept for the VIPs; the same is for private hosting rooms and floors above. The establishment needs to earn the money, and those slots are a good way to do that. With the establishment turning into a legacy, the earnings of the girls and the staff have skyrocketed. The payment of the staff had reached equal to what the legacies of the same level offer. Most new legacies take three months to a year to adjust to the new payment standard. Master Silver, did it from the first month. As for the earnings of girls. I will not say much, but will say, it has reached the sky. If I hadn¡¯t received a raise with the rest of the staff, I might have thought about returning to the business. I walked out of the establishment and entered the back garden. Meria had performed the miracle; the garden looked like a piece of heaven. Many girls are sitting on the benches there, enjoying the beautiful night. The garden is restricted to the patrons. Only girls and staff coulde here. Many quieted down seeing me, but soon resumed their activities, seeing I had note here for them. Soon, I walked into the area where the mist was exceptionally dense before stepping inside. The mist parted under my control before returning to its ce. It took me a while to get a hang of it, but now I could control it like my own body parts. It is amazing; it is unlike anything I had sensed before. It is a thing a very few people have the privilege of controlling. Sometimes, I have a hard time believing that a whore like me is doing that. It all feels like a dream. I stopped, and in front of me was a stone disk covered in a mist of calmness. I looked at it, before sitting on it. I close my eyes and let the calmness affect me. A few minutester, I opened my eyes and took out a small practice wand from my bag. Taking a deep breath, I begin to chant the spell. The sparks appeared in the air in front of me and hope lit up in my heart, but a secondter, the sparks frizzled, and the spell copsed. It had been over a month since I had been trying to cast the spell, but it was difficult, but I had to seed. The other girls are quite close to seeding and I want to seed it first. This emotion ofpetitiveness is quite foreign to me. I was neverpetitive as far as I remember, but I started to feel it since Master Silver came here. I don¡¯t like this feeling much. It can be overwhelming. I tried again and once again, the sparks lit, before frizzling out. So, I tried again and again, and every time, the sparks would light up, before they would frizzle out. I am a little surprised, not by the failures, but by the sparks. In my earlier tries, they wouldn¡¯t alwayse out and here the sparks lit up at my every attempt. Feeling tired, I took a small break andid down on the disk, and looked at the twinkling stars. They are shining extra brightly today. Seeing them, I couldn¡¯t help, but think about my star. I miss her a lot and wish I could go to her, and I could, but I won¡¯t. Not until I feel I am worthy, and I am not. I wiped the tears away and sat back on the disc before I began chanting again. ¡°Maen vord...¡± As I begin to chant, the sparks begin to light up again, but this time, the sparks don¡¯t copse instead, they grow. Seeing that, my eyes lit up and my heart started to beat with excitement, but I controlled my emotions and kept chanting. With each wording out of my mouth, more and more sparks kept appearing before they lit up and burst into the fireball. Seeing that, my eyes widened, and tears started toe out of my eyes. ¡°I seeded,¡± I said, tasting my own tears. I had dreamed about this moment, since the day I had discovered the mana, but never thought I would be able to do it, but I did. Now, I could proudly go to my daughter and tell her that the mage talent she inherited was from me. It is from me, she got it, and not from a man who came to the brothel to vent his lust. {ss Gained: Novice Mage} For more, Click Chapter 299: Arrested Chapter 299: Arrested ¡°Greltheaven. It is a small city. Is it really a ce, bis..mistress?¡± asked a blue-haired man as they stepped into the city of Greltheaven. They are a group of five, led by a woman with a beautiful violet hair. ¡°This is a ce in the vision, the ce that, will give us a chance of survival,¡± replied the violet-haired woman as she looked at the city, with desperate hope. ¡­ ¡°¡­the choice is yours,¡± I said to the hundred and seventy-seven girls in front of me. These are the new girls that Ca had brought from the Meldhorn. I already have more than enough girls in girls in the establishment. That each one didn¡¯t need to work for more than six hours and even then, some didn¡¯t get a chance to work daily. It might seem excessive, but it is not, because these girls are different. More than half of them aren¡¯t humans; most of them are elves, but there are also a few dwarves. The rest of them aren¡¯t human either, at least notplete humans. They are human with blood of different races and this blood is more prominent, that the girls I have in the establishment. They can¡¯t be recognized at first nce, but these girls could. I wanted to bring the girls of other races for so long, but it wasn¡¯t possible because of thews of the empire, and it is not possible even now, but because of the legacy, I got the exception. I looked at them onest time, before walking out of the circle. Like all the girls, they have a choice to stay or leave. Ca has already given them a choice in the Meldhorn, but I am giving them again. Though I like Meldhorn, I don¡¯t think, anyone could take it. For the first time, not a single girl had chosen the freedom. Soon, I reached the carriage and turned to the old man beside me. ¡°Thank you foring with me, Sir Schegan,¡± I said, as stepped into the carriage. ¡°There is no need to thank me, Lord Silver. I wanted to see the baronies and fortress since I came here and decided to tag along with you,¡± he said as he sat opposite me. It had been over a month since, the celebration, two since the legacy was born. It will be my first time, going there since then. I wanted to go there sooner, but there was too much work. I am going there now, and I am d the old man is with me. Things have be more dangerous in the empire and the emperor¡¯s protection is worth a shit. I have a Synod¡¯s protection, at least for four more months, but I don¡¯t want to depend on it alone. There are many people who want me dead. Now more than ever; I don¡¯t want to give them a chance to kill me with inadequate protection. With the old man, they will think twice about attacking me. Soon, we reached the port, where the boat was waiting for me. We sat on the boat, and it took us to the other side. ¡°It is a wastnd, but it has its charm,¡± said the old man. ¡°The ce grows on you, the longer you stay,¡± I replied with a smile. It was supposed to be a temporary space for me for a few years, but now it has be permanent. It didn¡¯t matter. If it didn¡¯t remain in the hands of the empire or Tabes captured it. It is my home forever and I will not leave it. We reached the other side and stepped into the carriage. I opened the book, while the old man stared at the window as the carriage moved toward the Nakar baronies. It is quitete, nearly at midnight, but we should be able to reach by dawn. It would have been sooner if I had taken a new driver, but I trust Rosco. Hun! I closed the book and was about to sleep when I saw arge number of peopleing from the other side. Not people, but prisoners, with hands and feet shackled. There are over two thousands of them, with most of them being orcs. They are the bandits, who have been caged in baronies; in the noble''s dungeons. For the first few months, the empire took the prisoners, but for nearly nine months, they have stopped. If they had been a human prisoner; they would have been executed, and they did, but rules are a little different for the prisoners of the other races. Count had been dragging his feet for a few months, before reaching the deal with baronies a week ago. I finalized the deal but didn¡¯t get all I wanted. All of them are going to be executed. Some deserve it, but many don¡¯t. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to change the Count¡¯s mind. It was not just the Count, I was against, but also the baronies and I do not have enough clout yet, to change their mind against who they consider the biggest danger to their prosperity. We passed through the chained bandits, and I closed my eyes, falling into sleep within seconds. When I woke up, it was still dark, and the carriage was moving through the forest, but looking at the clock, I knew we were close and would reach the town in half an hour. I was still sleepy but decided against it, instead watched the forest and was surprised to see carriages moving even at such a time. It had been two and a half months since I came to the baronies and heard, that quite a change had urred in it. I want to see it, especially the two, which I built with my efforts. The rays of dawn hade out, the carriage came out of the trees, and I looked at the town. My eyes couldn¡¯t help, but light up, seeing it. Even from a distance, I could see how much it had been developed. I read the reports regrly and directed them, but still, the report couldn¡¯t describe what I was seeing. Soon, the carriage reached the gates, and they opened. We entered inside and, seeing the things close, the already big smile on my face became bigger. The changes were huge, but it isn¡¯t what made me happy. What made me happy was that they didn¡¯t divert from the design. I built the town, with a huge future in mind, and I didn¡¯t want anyone to mess with it and thankfully, they didn¡¯t. ¡°The town is bigger than I thought and looked prosperous. His Highness would be pleased, knowing it has progressed as such,¡± he said. I smiled but didn¡¯t say anything and continued to look at the town. We reached the keep, whose gates were already opened for us. ¡°Wee to Lauryl, Lord Silver, Sir Schegan,¡± said L as she opened the door of the carriage. ¡°Thank you, L,¡± I said as I stepped out and was about to look at the keep when I saw something small leaping at me really fast. ¡°I miss you too, buddy,¡± I said as I caught Fang, who began to lick my face. ¡°He is usually very well-behaved, but seeing you, he has lost all control,¡± said Eli apologetically. ¡°It is fine,¡± I said as I petted him lovingly before looking around. There is not much change in the keep fromst time, aside from being more people here. This isn¡¯t surprising, seeing the trade with merchant states and Navr is increasing by the day and that is bringing prosperity. Click! A few minutester, they took me to my office. The three of them sat opposite to me, while Sir Schegan sat on the chair by the window. I havee here on a long trip; I will be here for three nights. Two will be spent in the baronies while the one in the mirador holds. Three days are far from enough, with the things I have to do, but it is all I can manage. There are a lot of things to do back in the city. Running a legacy isn¡¯t easy, and it isn¡¯t the only thing I do. Still, I will try to do things and gain that ss. It will help me quite I lot, if I am able to get it, but is extremely hard, especially when I have less than four months to achieve that. After that, I have to make a painful choice, and I am not ready for it but will have to do it. It is the cost of legacy. ¡°Lenc, you are doing a good job. I am impressed with the progress of the town,¡± I said to the man. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± he replied. I smiled and finished reading the file in a few minutes, before opening and reading the other files. ¡°I am pleased that you were able to keep the prisoners in the baronies for so long Carlos, it saved the city a lot of money,¡± I said, and the man bowed. Of course, the main reason the Count was dragging his feet with those prisoners was because of the cost of keeping them. With no signal from the capital or permission to execute them, the Count tried to keep them here as long as possible. Twenty more minutes passed, and I turned to L atst. ¡°You have done an amazing job, L You have surpassed my expectations,¡± I said as I closed thest file. There were no empty words. She had really done an amazing job of increasing the trade, even the Count had praised her. It was me, he praised, but the job had been done by her. The legacy had also helped her. Earlier, like Ca and Ina, many people weren¡¯t willing to engage with her, but after the legacy, it all changed. Now she is invited to every big function in the baronies, and powerful merchants meet with her. It gave her greater reach to do things, and she didn¡¯t disappoint me. Hours passed, and it was evening. I am now strolling down the down, with many peopleing to talk to me like before. However, this time, they are getting whisked by the guards. I don¡¯t like it, but there is no choice. I explored the town with Sir Schegal, including the gated part, where the mansions are being built. They belong to barons, merchants from the merchant state, Greltheaven, and other cities of the region. When I came herest, there was a single mansion getting built and now there are over thirty. Like I said, so much had changed. It waspletely dark when I returned to the keep and held a meeting with the staff, before going to my suit to change for the party. Looking at the mirror onest time, I got out of the room and saw L waiting outside and she was looking magnificent in the ck dress. ¡°You look beautiful, L,¡± Iplimented her. ¡°Thank you, Master Silver,¡± she replied. A few minutester, I am in the carriage with Sir Schegan and L, with the carriage moving toward Baron Homer¡¯s. I will be spending the night with my Le¡¯s. I initially declined it and only epted it after she said, it was important. I don¡¯t know what it is, but I am quite curious. Le isn¡¯t the one to use, that word, lightly. ¡°Lord Silver, there is a message for you,¡± said Z from behind. I immediately turned to her, sensing the seriousness in her voice, and saw her face serious too. ¡°Miss Valentina is arrested,¡± she answered, without me asking. Hun! Saying, I am shocked would be an understanding. I am not shocked because she was arrested, but because I was not informed of it. She is not just my friend, but one of the most powerful mages that the city has. To arrest her, explicit permission of the Count would be needed. The count wouldn¡¯t have arrested her, without informing me first as a courtesy. I am very sure didn¡¯t arrest her and there is only one force, who could arrest her, without his permission. They had likely arrested her and didn¡¯t even inform the Count. ¡°Edmon is saying the grey cloaks barged into Miss Valentina¡¯s home and arrested her and Miss Lena formitting a forbidden crime,¡± she added and there was no surprise on my face. ¡°Inform the Lord Count about it and say to him, that I would consider it a special favor if he stopped it,¡± ¡°Also, inform Baron Homer and express my regret for missing his party,¡± I said to her and turned to the old man. ¡°My apologies, Sir Schegan, but I will be returning to the city,¡± I apologized. ¡°The church had been acting out of its boundaries, meddling in the matters where it shouldn¡¯t, using innocent people. They needed to be shown their ce,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help, but nod at that. For more, Click Chapter 300: Emperor Is Dead Chapter 300: Emperor Is Dead I woke up again, it was not the first time, I had woken up in two hours. I did it several times. Every time, I would check my watch and look out of the window to see whether we had reached the city. The bastards of the church of God of War had yed a dirty game. They have used the opportunity of me leaving the city to arrest Valentina and Lena. They knew I wouldn¡¯t let it happen if I were in the city. It didn¡¯t happen. The Count acted promptly. They are still arrested, but are not in the dungeon of the church. They are in the city¡¯s prison. This might not seem different, but it is because the church is a territory of its own. Kind of like an embassy, a high level of authority is needed to take the people out of there. Even the Count would have found it hard to get them out of it, unless he was willing to use force. Taking them out of jail would be easier. Though not much, it might be everything for Valentina. I will need to be very careful in dealing with things or I would end up destroying them, even if I could bring them out of the jail. I looked outside at the wastnd for a few minutes; it seemed to calm me, before closing my eyes. Hun! I don¡¯t know, how long I slept, but I woke suddenly and this time, it wasn¡¯t the worry about my friend that woke me. I don¡¯t know what it is, but it made me feel dread. My whole body started to shiver, but my heart swooned in joy. Iy confused before suddenly I remembered something that old Vanis had said, and my eyes went wide. For a couple of seconds, I wasn¡¯t able to calm myself and even now, I am not calm. The news is big enough to send shockwaves across the whole continent and the world. Still, I forcefully calmed myself and focused on the feeling. It took me a second to be sure. ¡°Sir Schegan,¡± I said in a voice barely louder than the whisper, but it woke the old man immediately. He opened his mouth, but closed it, seeing the expression on my face, before opening it again. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked directly, with his face bing serious. ¡°The bindings of blood contract had vanished,¡± I said, and the old man shuddered. ¡°How sure are you?¡± he asked after a couple of seconds of silence. ¡°I think, I am getting the same feeling that Lord Lindgren had described, his mentor had got at the demise of Emperor Waynmerth,¡± I replied. This time, the old man didn¡¯t say anything, but the band he was wearing, lit up, forming an energy cover around him. I looked at him for a couple of seconds before turning back to Z. She has a shock all over her face. ¡°Send the message to Count and use the exact words, I tell you,¡± I said to her. A minuteter, I am talking to the Count, and I have never heard him as panicked as I am right now. He was not prepared for the news, nobody had. It is the reason why, blood contracts are rarely signed. Especially the high-level ones that the emperor signs with hosts of legacy. It can be muted, but unlike other people, who signed the same level contract. We, the host of legacies, are different, and far more sensitive thanks to our legacies. If I had been in my legacy, it would have been so clear, that I wouldn¡¯t have been confused for several seconds. ¡­ ¡°Finally, he is dead. Begin the invasion,¡±manded the pale man sitting on the bone chair. There was no one in the hall, but those who needed to hear it had heard it. ¡­ Z cut the spell, and I turned to the old man, who was still covered in the energy. Seven and a half minutester, he opened his eyes with his eyes serious. ¡°Emperor is dead. The era is over,¡± he said. L gasped, while I just nodded, in a grim realization that chaos would be and even I as the host of legacy wouldn¡¯t be able to stay safe from it. ¡°May his soul rest in peace,¡± I said. ¡°We have to reach the city as soon as possible; the carriage is too slow.¡± He spoke. I nodded. ¡°Driver, stop the carriage,¡± I said and turned to L. ¡°I will be riding to the city with Sir Schegan,¡± I informed her. ¡°I aming with you,¡± she said, and I opened my mouth, but stopped, seeing her taking out clothes from her bag and a secondter, something incredible happened. The beautiful dress she was wearing disappeared and appeared in her hand, while the clothes she had in her hands appeared on her body. Riding Clothes; that fit perfectly to her body. The skill is rare, and I didn¡¯t know she had it. It is an incredible skill, that I wish I could have, but I couldn¡¯t, even with the Copy Skill. She is higher level than me. Click! The carriage stopped, and we got out. A minuteter, eighteen of us rode toward the city, with skills covering us one after another. Making our journey faster. Hun! Still, I wasn¡¯t prepared for thest skill. Just feeling its effect, I know it is from Sir Schegan. He is a Knight and a conventional one at that, with horse and all. His information said he had Equestrian Skills but didn¡¯t say, they were group type, which are rare among the imperial knights. The night turned blurry. I had to use everything, I had to be on horse and d. That gymnast''s grace and a few other skills that others added are helping me. Others are doing well. L seemed to be enjoying the speed, and it was at much ease than me. So is the little monster, sitting on top of its head. Fang hase, and since morning, is unwilling to leave even for a second. Thankfully, the horse I am riding is used to Nero and isn¡¯t spooked. Some horses get spooked by him. This isn¡¯t surprising, seeing he is a monster, while they only have a monster''s blood in them. Minutes passed and turned into an hour, and I could already see the silhouette of the city. In the carriage, we would have needed over four hours, but with horses and powerful skill. We had crossed the distance in the time''s fourth. In a few minutes, we reached the distance, where the boat was already waiting for us. We went inside without saying anything and it took us to the other side. ¡°It seemed like the news hadn¡¯t spread,¡± I said as we stepped out on the other side. Everything is silent. If the news of the emperor''s death had spread, the port wouldn¡¯t be so silent. ¡°By dawn, it will,¡± replied the old man, and we sat in the carriage waiting for us. We would have ridden to the city, but that would be suspicious, and it is thest thing we want. Still, the carriage moved fast, and we were able to reach the Count''s mansion in record time. ¡°My lord,¡± Sir Schegan and I greeted as I entered the Count¡¯s office and was quite surprised. Seeing there only Robin and Atticus are present, aside from Lancel, York, and Beaumont. I had thought all the advisers and advisory council would be present. ¡°In the morning, we will announce the death of the emperor and swear our loyalty to His Imperial Majesty Grelt, Emperor of Harsoth,¡± he said, and there was barely any change in anyone¡¯s expression. Till yesterday, the Count had addressed his nephew as His Highness, but from today he is His Majesty, not a Prince, but an emperor. Every city and region that is loyal to him will swear their allegiance to him. I wonder how many princes would proim themselves as the Emperor. Three are set in stone. Crown Prince, Prince Grelt, and Princess Orlene, but I am sure there will be more. While my loyalty lies with Prince Grelt, due to my association with the city and the Count, I would have liked the Crown Prince to be the emperor, unopposed or any prince or princess. It would have continued with the stability that the empire has, but it is wishful thinking. It won¡¯t have happened. There will be no stability in the empire. If things went far, there wouldn¡¯t be an empire any empire. The empire isn¡¯t as strong as it used to be, but still strong enough to defend against any threat, if united, but sadly, it isn¡¯t. Still, understanding this, I had kept the hope in me alive. ¡°Remus, you will be responsible for the message, while Robin, you will make the arrangements,¡± ordered the Count. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± we replied with the bow. ¡°My lord, I will be leaving immediately. Hope, you will make the arrangement,¡± said Sir Schegan surprising me, before a hint of despair hit me. The little bit of relief I had vanished. I thought the old man would be staying and with someone like him with me, I would be much safer, but now he said, he is leaving. ¡°The discreet ship had already been prepared for you.¡± Said the Count. The old man bowed and turned to me. ¡°It was a pleasure knowing you, Lord Silver. I wished I could stay and train you more, but s, it is time for this old knight to return to his liege,¡± said the old man with a shake of his head. ¡°Thank you for everything, Sir Schegan. I hope we will meet again,¡± I said, feeling quite emotional. It had been a month since the old man had been training me, but what he taught me was impactful. So, much so that he had transformed my fighting style. The old man smiled and turned to leave when he stopped and turned to me as I raised my hand a little to stop him. ¡°I hope, you didn¡¯t need to use it,¡± I said and handed the old man a box. It is a tiny wooden box. For one little thing of immense value, it was a gift from Synod, that Ophelia had given to me. The help provided by the old man is so much that I wouldn¡¯t feel good. If I let him leave, without giving anything in return. The old didn¡¯t reject the box and took it. ¡°Thank you, Lord Silver,¡± said the old man and left, while I turned to Count and Lancel, both of them had curiosity in their eyes but didn¡¯t ask openly and I didn¡¯t volunteer. Instead, I said the thing for which I had returned to the city. ¡°My lord, thank you for saving Valentina and her friend. Priest Harold had targeted them for their hate for me and my business.¡± I thanked. He is the only person in the city who hasn¡¯te to the establishment despite being invited. He had even opposed the party and the celebration, writing letters to all those who had been invited to the celebration. He is also constantly opposing, every change, I bring to the establishment, including me bringing the people of other races into the city. ¡°These bastards of the church, are abusing their powers quite a lot in the past year,¡± he said with anger shing in his eyes. He is angry, not only because of what they are doing here, but also because of the things they are doing in the territory of his house. ¡°I hope you will release Valentina and Miss Lena as soon as possible, my lord. They are not only respectful citizens but also powerhouses. Our city will be needing their help more than ever,¡± I said, and he nodded. ¡°I will,¡± he said, and I wanted to curse that bastard. I didn¡¯t miss the glint in his eyes. The bastard will release them, but it won''t be quick and without incentive. I didn¡¯t ask him when. Instead, I bowed. I need to be careful about it and put him in a good mood and then offer incentives to release them. For that, I will need to finish the task he had handed me. Twenty minutester, Robin and I walked out the door with ourmands. I immediately went out of the mansion and began my work. Which is familiar to me. I have done this many times, but this time, the situation is much bigger and needs to be handled with extreme care. I didn¡¯t even tell the callers'' guild about it and only asked to call their people and ced a few mages there, with an anti-message spell active to be cautious. The news shouldn¡¯t spread until it is time. Click! It was a little over two hours before I got back to the Count''s office. There was only Count and Beaumont, Lancel, Atticus, and York seemed to have disappeared. ¡°All done?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, my lord. I only need to send the message and the callers will announce it throughout the entire city,¡± I replied. The man nodded and opened his mouth to speak when suddenly Beaumont shook with rm and horror on her face. Seeing the expressions, even the Count got rmed, and I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. ¡°Beaumont, what happened?¡± asked the Count with worry written all over his face. ¡°The undead arma For more, Click Chapter 301: Undead Armada Chapter 301: Undead Armada ¡°The undead armada had appeared in front of the Ashton Harbor,¡± said Mage Beaumont. The moment I heard those words, the same horror as hers appeared on my face. ¡°Fuck!¡± Cursed Count Darrow loudly and I felt his emotions loud and clear. There is anger but also fear. He is scared and he should. An undead armada is no small thing; it is a genuine terror. What is even more terrorizing is that it had appeared in front of the Ashton Harbor so suddenly. Even the smallest armada is huge. Even for the undead, it is not easy to bring it to the shore of the empire without getting discovered, but they did. It is clear that they had been preparing for it, for months at the least, and the imperial navy hadn¡¯t discovered them at all. ¡°How big it is?¡± asked Count Darrow, after calming himself forcefully. ¡°Big enough, that Ashton Harbor might not be able to defend against it,¡± she replied, and a momentter, her staff lit up and projected the images in front of us. Seeing them, my whole body shook. The mage pictures are dark due to the night, but I could clearly make out the enormous ships and the skeletons, that seemed to be standing on every surface of them. The white emblem of Vris¡¯alud could be clearly seen on the masts of those massive ships. They have a huge number of undead, and I am not talking about it, seeing those skeletons. It is an undead armada, and they always have far more numbers than what is visible on the outside. It hadn¡¯t been even six hours since the emperor was dead, and the first enemy had already made its move. The others may have started to make their moves too, we just didn¡¯t know. ¡°Send a message to Dane, ask him to send ten thousand men to the city. I want them here by the night,¡± Count Darrow said after a minute of silence, before turning to me. ¡°The message to the public will need to be modified.¡± He said, and I nodded. A few hours passed, and it was morning. I am now looking at the city gates, where there is arge crowd. They want to get out and I couldn¡¯t me them. Though, I am still surprised, seeing the numbers. They are not as much as I thought they would be. I thought that the whole city would want to escape, hearing the emperor is dead and the undead is attacking. I shouldn¡¯t have been. People aren¡¯t idiots. They understood, that with things not being under the control of the Crown Prince, there would be chaos in the empire. It had already begun. Edruin and Yressor had already attacked and soon the others will follow. The empire wasn¡¯t stable anymore, Crown Prince¡¯s and Princess Orlen¡¯s forces had shed at dawn. It is a small battle, between the Viscounts of their camps, both calling others liege, the usurper. Prince Grelt and Princess Orlene had dered themselves emperor. There is also a Prince Samris, but nobody is taking him series. He will either die or join the camp of one of three. ¡°Any news from Port Ashton?¡± I asked Z, to which she shook her head. The armada had attacked Ashton Harbor and sealed themunication so that no message could get out of there. They have even started hunting the surrounding mages, who are sending the messages. So, we are pretty blind to what is happening there. The count is offering arge amount of money for any news, but for thest two and a half hours, we aren¡¯t getting any. We might soon as we aren¡¯t the only ones, who are desperate for it, other cities too. The cities which are close to the Ashton Harbor had sent people. Mostly adventurers, as only they would dare to take such risks. Then the carriage stopped a few minutester, and I got out into thepound of the fortified building. It wasn¡¯t used to be this fortified, but now it needs to be, seeing how many people we were keeping inside. Click! ¡°Lord Silver,¡± greeted the man as I got out of the carriage. ¡°Jailor Finnigan,¡± I said to the middle-aged man with sandy brown hair. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked as he led me inside a building. ¡°Bad, my lord. The cells are overcrowded and despite rationing our supply, we don¡¯t have enough to feed them for even a week,¡± he replied. Soon, I saw the cells and my expressions couldn¡¯t help, but change seeing the conditions of the cells. People, or rather the orcs filled cells to the brim. Each cell is holding three times more people than its capacity. To make matters worse, we have added even more prisoners. From what I know, there are three and half thousand prisoners, with three thousand being orcs. ¡°We really need to execute these bastards. Keeping them alive is a waste of space and food,¡± he said, looking at the Orcs angrily. I didn¡¯t say anything. These people are going to die, sooner rather thanter. With undead knocking on the region, the Count wouldn¡¯t want another problem on his hands. I feel pity for them; they wouldn¡¯t be judged for their crimes properly, before getting executed. We stopped at the fourth floor and walked toward the thick iron door, guarded by the six guards. They saluted the middle-aged man and bowed to me. Click! Finnegan took out the keys from his pockets without saying anything and opened the door. ¡°They are inside, Lord Silver,¡± said Finnegan. ¡°Thank you, Finnegan,¡± I said and walked inside. It was a small apartment in spartan style, with thick warded grey walls. It is one of three fortified jail suits this prison has. I turned left and saw the people; I hade to see. Valentina is sitting on the couch with her girlfriend. She didn¡¯t seem surprised to see me; there was even a small smile on her face. ¡°It seemed like the news had forced you to cut your trip short,¡± she said. I didn¡¯t say anything, just sat in front of them, with a guilty sigh. ¡°I am sorry. You have to suffer this because of me,¡± I apologized. Of course, it was because of me she was here. If not for her close rtionship with me, the priest wouldn¡¯t have targeted her and Lena. ¡°It was not your fault,¡± she said, and I smiled mirthlessly at her conciliary words. ¡°It was really not your fault, Remus. It was a Nielson Guild that informed the church,¡± said Valentina, surprising me, but also confusing me at the same time. Valentina is their best employee. She is one, that helped the guild to get the legacy job, which they had not got before. ¡°Why would they do that?¡± I asked, and she smiled, without any mirth in it. ¡°Because I had resigned from it,¡± she replied, surprising me. I knew she was going to resign to start her ownpany, but I thought she would wait for a few months before doing that. For a minute, we didn¡¯t speak, before I opened my mouth. ¡°I should be able to get both of you out of here in a few days,¡± I said, and it was their turn to be surprised. ¡°Church wouldn¡¯t let it happen,¡± said Valentina somberly, and I smiled. It would have been difficult before and I would have needed to give something good to the Count for their release, but now, I do not need to do that. ¡°Emperor is dead,¡± I informed, and shock appeared on their face, ¡°And there is an undead armada attacking the Ashton Harbor,¡± I added, shocking them further. If the death of the emperor had made, the Count feel the need for more powerhouses, the attack of undead on Ashton Harbor had forced him to do that. It is the reason why, he had asked for the ten-thousand men from Mirador Hold. In the minutes, he heard about the armada. By tomorrow, he will release both of them and even the church wouldn¡¯t do anything. They have been silent since the morning and, aside from organizing the service to pray for the emperor''s soul, they haven¡¯t done anything. They haven¡¯t even dared to dere the Crown Prince as the rightful emperor. The church may be powerful and actively supporting the Crown Prince, but they wouldn¡¯t dare to proim him as emperor, in the territory of Prince Grelt, who also proimed himself as the emperor. I didn¡¯t stay at the jail for long and walked out. From there, I directly went to the control room I had set up took the input, and then walked toward the Count¡¯s office. Click! I stepped into the office and moved to bow, when I suddenly stopped for a moment, seeing the expressions on the faces of everyone. They are somber, and some seem visibly scared. Lancel isn¡¯t even guarding his emotions, I could clearly sense the fear he is feeling. It gave me a terrible feeling. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted after a pause. ¡°Ashton Harbor had fallen. The undead had conquered it in less than six hours of attacking it,¡± said Count Darrow, despondently. I shuddered, hearing that. Ashton Harbor is no Greltheaven. It is a city of half a million people, with a powerful army. The armada was big, but it shouldn¡¯t have conquered the city so quickly. ¡°Are we sure about this news?¡± I asked, and Atticus turned to me with a re. ¡°Yes, we are sure. Those damn undead had let the adventurers get close and even sted the message spells all over the region, dering their victory,¡± ¡°They have not only conquered the city, but also captured its lord and other important people, who were escaping,¡± he said and shuddered. He is not the only one, even Count Darrow shuddered visibly. I am not surprised. It is their signature; they need powerful people. Not to run the territories they conquer, but to turn them into the powerful undead. Every territory they conquer, they will turn all the powerful people into undead. They will start with the army and then turn to everyone with sufficiently high attributes. They rarely spare anyone. For more, Click Chapter 302: Immediately Chapter 302: Immediately ¡°Bastard!¡± Count shouted. Saying the Count is angry is an understatement. He is beyond angry and the reason for that is fear. I learned today that the Count isn¡¯t good at dealing with fear. Especially of the enemies who didn¡¯t follow the conventional rules of the world. They would kill even the noble of Count Darrow¡¯s standing, if they felt like it. There is a lot less protection for a noble like him, than a conventional enemy, who would ransom them for arge amount of money. I looked at the poor man at whom the Count had screamed. A raven-haired man in histe fifties with a thin pale body. He is Colonel Cardin, the man who had brought the people from the Mirador Hold. He is not a fighter. He used to be and quite a good one at that, but not anymore, since his injury. It is partially the reason; the Count is angry. The main reason, the Count, is angry, is because he had brought five thousand men, instead of the ten thousand, that he had asked for. Also, the men he brought were the new recruits. They were part of the ten thousand men, that came to Mirador Hold a few months ago. They reced the more experienced ones in the hold that went back to Prince Grelt¡¯s territory. I felt quite bad for the man. Dane had intentionally sent him here. Dane didn¡¯t like him, always handling him the responsibilities that were below his rank. It could be said to be the first time, he received responsibility that is equal to his rank. Though not the one, he would like to have. ¡°I asked for ten thousand good men, with Liston or Briar leading them. Instead, I got five thousand inexperienced men, led by a man, who could barely hold the weapon,¡± said Count angrily. ¡°Apologies, my lord, but Commander Dane had said, this is all he could spare with the movement of undead from Navr,¡± replied the man in an even tone. Which seemed to make him even angry. Commander Dane had sent half of what the Count asked, and his exnation is that he had sensed the movements from Navr. It might be an excuse or a truth, nothing could be said be said without proof. ¡°My lord, there is no use in being angry at Colonel Cardin. We should instead assimte the men he brought into the city¡¯s force and ask for more men from Commander Dane in a firm tone,¡± I advised. He is not the only one who is angry, everyone is. We all are worried about our survival, but letting this anger guide our judgment wouldn¡¯t help. We need to be rational when a dangerous enemy has arrived at our doorstep. The Count closed his mouth and turned to Mage York. ¡°Inform Dane that I want more men and tell him, he wouldn¡¯t like the consequences if he didn¡¯t follow the order properly this time,¡± said the Count. Mage York nodded and closed his eyes, while the Count had turned to us. ¡°The undead of Vris¡¯alud had captured the Ashton Harbor, and they have sent a message to all cities, asking them to surrender, but we will not surrender,¡± ¡°We will fight till ourst breath and achieve victory against the damn undead,¡± said the Count, and everyone sitting across the table nodded. One by one, people left until only Atticus, and I remained. ¡°Atticus, absorb the numbers quickly. Remus, maintain contact with the other cities of the region and inform me if something hase up,¡± he said. ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± I and Atticus said in unison. I went back to the control room; I had set up and began to contact my contacts. This is the new responsibility I received, along with the ones I have. It is night, and I have not gone to the establishment. Since I came back from the baronies, there is no time. Undead hade to the region and captured one of our cities, and they are threatening to capture others as well. The damnest thing about it is that there is no help. Not from the prince, not from the empire, or any allies. This is the problem, we will solve ourselves and we are ill-equipped to do that. ¡°Any information on undead?¡± I asked, and there was nothing. The undead once again started hunting the mages and scouts and they were expanding the area every second, killing anything that came in their paths. We don¡¯t have powerful scouts that could evade them. Robin is negotiating with the adventurers of the merchant state, but it will take some time before we get any. Till then, we arepletely blind to the movements of the undead and that is very bad. It allows the enemy to surprise us, and we do not want to get surprised anymore. The surprises we have received throughout the day, were already big enough that affected the city from which it would take weeks or even months to recover. Two and half hours passed, and I went to the Count¡¯s office again and reported my progress, beforeing out a few minutester. This time, I didn¡¯t go back to the control room and instead went out and sat in my carriage. The streets are emptier than normal; one should expect there would be more people running from the city and there would have been if the circumstances were normal, but they are not. The merchant states have closed their borders, and, except for goods, nothing is going in and out. The people didn¡¯t want to go to the maind. So, people are staying in their homes waiting. They would bolt if more bad news came and even the gates wouldn¡¯t be able to stop them. The carriage got near to the establishment and the scene I saw there, surprised me. There has always been a crowd in front of the establishment since it turned to the legacy, but what I am seeing now is at apletely different level. There are far more carriages than there usually are. Hun! My carriage entered through the back gate, and immediately, I sensed the change. Usually, such a change is hard to sense, unless I see the core, but now I am sensing it clearly. I closed my eyes, and for a momentter; the sun appeared in front of me. I didn¡¯t look at it, I looked at the emotions and despite expecting it, I couldn¡¯t help, but get surprised, before a big smile appeared on my face. The emotions entering the sun are four to five times higher than then normal, but it is not what made me happy. It is the quality of emotions; the amount in which the establishment is getting is shocking. I didn¡¯t need to get shocked, seeing the conditions. The emperor is dead, and the undead are attacking the region. People are scared and want to get away, but can¡¯t. So, theye to the only ce that will let them do that, even if it is for a short time, the establishment. I opened my eyes as the carriage stopped and walked out, before entering the establishment. I saw the restaurant and the bars on the first floors, and they seemed rowdy than usual. People are dancing on the floors and some even making out, without care for the world. Such scenes are rare on the first floor, they usually ur on the floors above. I watched for a few seconds before going to the floor above. I wanted to watch more, but I didn¡¯t have time. I want to finish a few things as soon as possible and sleep because getting it in the next few days would be hard. I was on the fourth floor when Caena came. ¡°Have you sensed it?¡± she asked, and I nodded. ¡°Such powerful emotions. If the establishment gets them daily, Ashav would be a very happy man,¡± she said, and I smiled. The deal I made with him had got a good response. I already gave him the second batch and got things in return. With the quantity and quality of emotions, the establishment is absorbing. It will be producing a lot of emotion essence this month. Which made me happy, because I am going to need a lot to survive, the times ahead. Click! I walked into my office with Caena, where Margaux was already waiting. ¡°How are girls?¡± I asked as I sat in my seat. ¡°Worried, but keeping themselves busy,¡± she replied. ¡°Does anyone want to leave?¡± I asked. ¡°Surprisingly, no,¡± she replied, and it surprised me. I thought many girls would want to leave, especially the ones we brought two days ago. It seemed like, they were trying the wait and watch approach like most people in the city. ¡°Let them leave if they want,¡± I said, and she nodded. I am not going to keep them here against their will in a time like this. If they want, they can leave, withplete freedom. A few minutester, I walked into my room andy on the bed to sleep. I was so tired, that I fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow. ¡°Mr. Silver, wake up,¡± said Z, waking me from my sleep. ¡°Did something happen?¡± I asked as I opened my eyes and looked at her, hoping it was not the bad news. Thankfully, she shook her head. ¡°Count had summoned you. He wants you in his office immediately.¡± She informed and all the relief vanished. I looked at the clock and saw, it was a little past three in the morning. The Count wouldn¡¯t have summoned me at this time if it wasn¡¯t important or it would have been good news. He couldn''t wait to tell the good news. There is no such luxury when ites to the bad news. For more, Click Chapter 303: Governor of Greltheaven I Chapter 303: Governor of Greltheaven I Hun! I stepped out of the carriage and was surprised immediately. Every reserved spot is filled; there is not a single one that is empty. Most of these spots belong to members of the advisory council and other important people. The Count hadn¡¯t called the meeting of the advisory council. Terming them useless in this condition, but now here they are, along with all the important people in the city. Some of them wanted to leave in the morning but had been forcefully stopped by the Count. I nce at the carriages for a second before walking into the mansion, toward his office. He had called me there, instead of the conference room, where usually the council gathers. Click! ¡°He is waiting for you,¡± said the old woman as I stopped in front of her. I nodded and walked toward the door. ¡°My lords,¡± I greeted the father and son as I entered the room, hiding the surprise I was feeling. There are only seven people in the office. Aside from Count Lancel, there is a Mage York and Beaumont, along with Robin and Atticus. However, the one that surprised me was the Priest Harold. Count hated the man, especially since he tried to trample on his authority by arresting Valentina and Lena, but now the man is here, and he is smiling at me. I am not liking the smile at all. ¡°You have called me, my lord?¡± I asked, to which the Count nodded slowly, but didn¡¯t say anything for several seconds. ¡°The undead are doing what they had threatened. They have sent their hordes to Almin, Bilgas, and Port Midlet.¡± ¡°It is very likely that they will send their forces to other cities of the region, including the Greltheaven,¡± he said, and I shook. I am shocked, not because the undead did what they had threatened to do. We already expected that, but we didn¡¯t expect, they would do it so quickly; less than a day after conquering the Ashton Harbor. Atticus predicted the undead would take at least a week to consolidate their gains before making any move. ¡®It seemed like Stone was right,¡¯ I thought. Earlier, I asked Stone for his opinion, and he said, it would happen much sooner than we expected. I didn¡¯t want to believe it, but what he said had happened. ¡°Are the hordes big?¡± I asked. It is the only question I could think of. ¡°If the information is right, then Almin and Bilgas would stand no chance against it,¡± replied Atticus, which once again shook my heart. ¡°What about Port Midlet?¡± I asked. ¡°The undead had sent the biggest horde there, but it is hard to say whether they will be able to conquer it. The city has a force nearly as strong as the Deerpond and young Zanav is also there with his cavalry,¡± he replied. I nearly forgot that bastard is there. He had left the Greltheaven the very night it turned into the legacy and went to Mirador Hold, where it trained with its forces, before going to Dustorn Fortress. He visited a couple of cities, before reaching the Port Midlet four days ago. It was supposed to be hisst city, before leaving the region. ¡°It is very likely, that the undead will attack our city and we need to be prepared for that,¡± said the Count, and to that, I nodded. ¡°With our current forces, we are not capable of that,¡± I said and a faint, nearly invisible smile appeared on the Count and others'' faces. I didn¡¯t like that smile, I felt like, saying those words, I had fallen into some trap that heid out. ¡°You are right, Remus. It is why, I am going to bring the aid that will help defend our precious city,¡± he said, and that hidden smile became visible. ¡°You are going to the hold?¡± I asked in surprise. Count isn¡¯t the person who would go into the arms of danger to escape another danger. Mirador Hold isn¡¯t as safe as it was till a few days ago. ¡°No, the forces of Mirador Hold are busy. Arge number of undead had gathered near the fortress that Dane is asking us to return, the people, he had sent us yesterday,¡± he replied. It surprised me, as I thought Dane was making excuses to keep his forces with him, but it seemed like there was some truth in it. Though, I doubt, it is aplete truth; it is all feeling a little fishy to me. ¡°I am going to the Dustorn Fortress to get aid and in my absence, you will be in charge city.¡± I was expecting the first sentence, but the second one caught mepletely off guard. It felt like, getting struck by lightning. It took me a while toe to myself, and when I thought about what he said, I didn¡¯t like it at all. It might not seem like it, but it is his presence that keeps everything calm in the city. Chaos would descend the moment news of his leaving spread. ¡°What about, Lord Lancel?¡± I asked, looking at Lancel, who was looking at me with a hidden smile, but the Count shook his head. ¡°Lancel ising with me. He has good rtions with the Marquess Gats'' son. I am also taking the Atticus and Priest Harold with me; they will help me make the case for the aid to Marquess Gats,¡± he replied. ¡®He is not leaving to get the aid, but escaping!¡¯ I realized. If he was truly leaving to get the aid, he would have kept his son here, whom he had been grooming for this responsibility, but he was taking his son with him. He is also taking the only man in the city¡¯s force with experience against the undead and also the man, who could effectively deal against the undead. The divine magic is the bane of the undead. ¡°My lord, I am incapable of handling such responsibility,¡± I said, rejecting the responsibility he was trying to throw at me. He shook his head at that. ¡°You are the only Lord in the city, Remus, and, most importantly, a person I trust the most to handle this great responsibility,¡± he said and the way he spoke, felt so genuine that I almost believed it. Of course, it is a lie; the bastard wants to escape and leave me behind to sort out the mess. ¡°Besides, it is only for a few days. I will be returning in three to four days,¡± he added and before, I could say anything, he ced the parchment in front of me. I looked at it, and it was what, I expected. It is a dictum pronouncing me as the acting governor of the Greltheaven. It is clear, that Count had prepared for it long ago, as only my name looked freshly written, while everything else is old. ¡°I think, there are many people in the city, more capable of handling this responsibility,¡± I said, really not wanting to take this responsibility, but seeing how they are all looking at me, I may not have a choice. ¡°It is an honor, Silver. You should take it,¡± said Atticus, cing his hand on the sword, while the Count watched without change in his expression. I wanted tough at the bastard. He wouldn¡¯t harm me, much less kill me, but he conveyed the meaning. I don¡¯t really have a choice; I have to ept the responsibility. I turned to the dictum and read it more carefully this time. It had been well crafted, with very few loopholes, that will be hard to exploit. So, I decided to change changed that. I touched the parchment and activated ¡®wless Edit.¡¯ I am d, I didn¡¯t change the skill. As I activated the skill, the texts began to move, and some entirely disappeared and were reced with others. The change is minor, but it has transformed the meaning of the whole document. The first thing I did was remove the word acting. Since he wants to give me the responsibility, then I will gain theplete title, not a temporary one. I had also reced the word ¡®Governor¡¯ with a more archaic one. The word had a different interpretation, it means governor, but also lord and ruler. Its meaning depends upon the interpretation. I have also shortened the number of people who could take this responsibility away from me. I left the first two people unchanged, which is the emperor of theplete empire and Prince Grelt. The third one is the House of Ravenheart, with Count Darrow having the greatest authority. After him, it was his eldest son and brother, then it was Lancel and the children of his brother and a few other people. I only kept Count Darrow and Lancel and cut, the house Ravenheart as a whole. So, now only four people could take away this responsibility for me. I shouldn¡¯t have done that, but I did it to spite the bastard. I like to see what he will do now, because changing it going to make Lancel angry, seeing the Count had put his eldest son and his brothel above him when Greltheaven was supposed to be his. I looked at the changes before picking up the pen and signing it with the power of my skill and legacy. This is a responsibility, I don¡¯t want, but since he had forced it on me, I will make sure that I get what I want in return. As for what I want. The Lord ss. This responsibility will give me the greatest chance to gain that ss. The Count seemed to understand it as well, as a smile appeared on his face, despite sparks of anger floating in his eyes. He took the parchment in his hand and read it, before turning to me. ¡°Follow me,¡± he said simply and walked out of the office with me and others following behind. I didn¡¯t even guess where he was going; it all became clear with the parchment. Click! The guards opened the door of the familiar room, and we entered inside. Immediately, the eyes of tens of people fell on us. There are over fifty people in the room, aside from the advisory council. There are heads of all guilds, powerful merchants, mercenaries, upper echelons of the city¡¯s force, and other important people. It could be said that anyone who holds the weight in the city is present here. ¡°My lord,¡± all of them greeted as we entered. They all are nervous, with many having fear in their eyes. It is a difficult time, and they are looking at their leader with hope; the leader who is abandoning them. Count looked at all of them as he walked to his seat, but he didn¡¯t sit. ¡°The scourge of Vris¡¯alud had attacked our region. They already captured one city and moved their forces to the other three. It won¡¯t be long before they turn their dark eyes on our precious city,¡± he said, and many shuddered. ¡°To prepare for it, I had decided to take a great risk and make a journey to the Dustorn Fortress to bring aid to our city,¡± ¡°In my absence, Lord Remus Silver will be inmand of the city, and I hope, you all will give him, the support he needs,¡± he said to the surprise of many. He didn¡¯t give them any chance to speak and ced the parchment down before signing it and stamping it with his seal. Hun! I thought, he would pass it to others to sign as a witness, but to my surprise, he did something else. He took a small scroll, with a familiar seal of Prince Grelt and opened it. Immediately, the golden-purple light shone out from it, and I felt the clicking before I saw the seal of a prince appear on parchment. That was a sigil scroll. Only high-level ruler sses produce it. They only give those to people whom they trust explicitly. Now, the dictum is bound by the prince¡¯s seal. It is not a dictum of the Count anymore, who is the temporary ruler of Greltheaven. The real ruler is Prince Grelt, and he had just given me authority over the Greltheaven. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed hard in my heart because now all the hope I had had disappeared. He is really escaping and wouldn¡¯t being back at all. Leaving me responsible for the city, that could not defend against the undead. For more, Click Chapter 304: Governor of Greltheaven II Chapter 304: Governor of Greltheaven II ¡°Take care of my city, Remus. Don¡¯t let it fall,¡± said Count Darrow as he collected the dictum that everyone signed and handed it to me. ¡°I will not, my lord,¡± I replied with a bow. What else I could say? I can¡¯t curse at him, that I really want to do. The bastard is escaping, leaving the citizens of the city to fend for themselves against the undead. ¡°Everyone, support Governor Silver. As you have supported me,¡± he said to the people, before walking toward the door. I followed behind and noticed, that quite some people were also following behind, but as we reached the door. Many were stopped by the guards, only a few were able to follow the Count. Most are people from the army and mercenaries. ¡°The guards won¡¯t be able to keep them in the room for long, Remus. You should control them as soon as possible and don¡¯t hesitate to use the force,¡± he advised. I said nothing other than nod. He gave me a few more words of wisdom before we have finally reached the doors of the mansion, where three unmarked carriages were already waiting. ¡°Hold the city, till I bring the aid, Remus,¡± he said and patted on my shoulder before sitting in the carriage with Atticus and Priest Harold. With them entering the carriages, others didn¡¯t waste any time and sat on their carriages. All of them were powerful people who would have been a tremendous help in fighting against the undead, but now all of them are escaping, without care for the people of the city. The doors of the carriages closed, and they moved toward the gates, while I watched silently. ¡°He had made a grave mistake leaving the city,¡± said Stone suddenly, while Z and Jon smiled in pleasure. ¡°Why?¡± I asked in question. This is the best time to leave. The undead had yet to attack the city, and with three High Mages, powerful warriors, and priests; it would be very hard for anyone in the region to stop them. ¡°Lord Governor, do you know how most nobles got killed in the first few months of the war on our ind?¡± he asked back instead of answering my question. I wanted to say, that when the undead conquered their territories, but stopped, feeling this simple answer would be obviously be wrong. So, I simply shook my head. ¡°They were killed when they were escaping. Less than 10% of those who escaped were able to escape safely,¡± he answered. ¡°It has been only two days since they attacked. They couldn¡¯t prepare such thoroughly, not to mention the people that went with the Count aren¡¯t weak.¡± ¡°Even if the undead are lying in wait, the Count would simply tear through them,¡± said Robin, before I could speak. Robin didn¡¯t leave with the Count. He had left behind his most trusted adviser. The bastard only took people who could fight against the undead. Forget Robin. He had even left behind his secretary, who has been with him for decades. ¡°You are underestimating the Vris¡¯alud. Far too much Lord Governor. If you think, they arrived in the region only two days ago,¡± ¡°They have arrived a long before that and were only waiting for the emperor to die and now that he did, they are springing their.¡± ¡°There is a very high chance that Count and all the men who had left with him, will be caught in theirs,¡± replied Stone, making me and Robin shudder. Stone looks sure of his words, but I am having quite a hard time believing them. Though, I didn¡¯t dare to discard them. He had fought against the Vris¡¯alud for years; he knew how they operated. It would be a grave mistake to throw away his opinions. For a few seconds, I didn¡¯t say anything before turning to Stone and others. ¡°I will be safe from the undead, but you are all, and the city won¡¯t be. I nned to open the gates of the city and let everyone leave. It will help, more people survive,¡± I said with a sigh. I don¡¯t want to do this, but I will. The undead won''t be able to catch them all. I am sure, many will survive. As for me, they won¡¯t kill me; I am a host of the legacy. Even the undead need the emotion essence as the rest of the people do. They need it more than other people if things I heard are true. ¡°You are once again wrong, Lord Governor. The undead will catch them all. I would bet my life to say, by the dawn, there will be blockades across the river and the other directions will be covered by them as well,¡± said Stone. ¡°This can¡¯t be!¡± said Robin, not wanting to believe what Stone said; he isn¡¯t the only one, I am also unwilling to believe it. ¡°What Mr. Stone is saying will probably happen, Lord Governor. I had read the reports from Mayhurst Ind over the years, and it matches how they do things,¡± said Colonel Cardin, who had been silent till now. ¡°So, what do I do? We are far from strong enough to fight the horde, and if we don¡¯t do anything, the undead will capture the city, and we all know how that will end,¡± I asked. I could feel the panic in my heart, that I was having a hard time suppressing. Despite not seeing the undead, I could feel them closing on me from all sides, with no way against them. ¡°Fighting against them, will be difficult, but I think there is a better strategy to deal with them,¡± said Colonel Cardin. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, with desperation dripping from my voice. ¡°Negotiate. You have a unique advantage to do that because of your legacy,¡± the colonel replied. A smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face, but this smile has no mirth in it. I may not know much about war, but I know a simple fact, that negotiations happen when there is leverage. The city has none except for the legacy and even it won¡¯t work unless I threatened to st it into the pieces. Which I won¡¯t do. It is the only thing that will keep me and my girls safe. The Count threw this responsibility on me not only because I am a lord, as he had said but also because I am the only person in the city, whom undead won¡¯t kill. Unlike most people, who might die in my ce and revert to the me on him. I will be alive and the me for the city¡¯s capture would always be on my shoulder if it got captured by the undead. ¡°The legacy won¡¯t be a strong enough leverage; we can¡¯t depend on it. We need to be prepared to fight,¡± I said simply, surprising them. There is no other choice. We can¡¯t leave or run away since the undead would be hunting us and there is no way I would depend upon a single leverage. There is only one thing we can do, and that is prepared to fight. If I was able to show the undead that we are able to do enough damage to their horde; I might be able to negotiate a good deal to surrender. It is far from the ideal option, but will help to save many people. If we fight, then a lot more people will die. I turned and walked inside, with them following behind me. There are hundreds of thoughts running through my mind; some were good, some were bad. The one that is strongest is the thought of running away. I want to run away, like the Count did, despite knowing, I am the safest person in the entire city. The fear is too strong. This fear is what made the Count run away. I am sure, he is aware of how Vris¡¯alud does things, but wasn¡¯t able to control this fear and took the risk of running away. ¡°A blockade had appeared between Greltheaven and Deerpond,¡± said Z suddenly, stopping me in my tracks. Stone had said it would happen, but it had still surprised me. They are acting faster than I imagined if they continue to do that. It won¡¯t be long before they appear on our doorsteps. Click! A momentter, I turned to the door and entered inside. Immediately, half of the people got up, while the other half took a moment more to rise. ¡°Lord Governor!¡± They greeted. ¡°Everyone, sit down,¡± I said as I sat down, before looking at each of their eyes. Everyone is scared, fear is visible in their eyes, and some are not even trying to hide it. For a few seconds, I didn¡¯t say anything. Letting the power of silence spread while pushing my passive skill as hard as I could. ¡°The undead are in our region and if they keep moving at the speed they are, then they will be at our doorsteps in a day or two,¡± I said, making many shudders. Some opened their mouths but closed, feeling my eyes on them. ¡°I will not stop you if any of you want to run away, but let me warn you, it is more dangerous than staying in the city.¡± ¡°ording to thetest information, the undead had created the blockades between the Deerpond and Owlspring.¡± ¡°The scouts had also informed me of the undead hunting parties in other directions; they are killing everything, they see,¡± The sheer panic that appeared in the eyes of people was staggering. That I wish they were in the establishment. ¡°This can¡¯t be! How can they move so fast?¡± asked Irving Gagarin, leader of the cksmith guild, with a shaking voice. Seeing the big man, one wouldn¡¯t expect him to quiver in fear, but the conditions are, as such, that he is. It is not like they are worried about their own safety; they are also worried about the safety of their families. I could see the regret shing in the eyes of many people. Many of them regretteding here to this region. They knew the risk, but they thought it woulde from the east instead of the west and would take at least five years. ¡°Even I don¡¯t know the answer to it. Guildmaster Gagarin, I am only stating what I know,¡± I replied. I lied a little; it is necessary to keep them in the city. They are the most important people. If they left, then all the citizens would want to leave, and I can¡¯t let that happen. ¡°What is your n then, Lord Governor?¡± Finally, the most important question came, and it came from none other than Damon Hardt. ¡°Negotiate, but we will also be prepared to fight. If the undead didn¡¯t agree to our conditions,¡± I replied. The answer seemed to shock many people. ¡°You would surrender to the undead?¡± asked Jonah Ross, leader of the builder¡¯s guild in horror. ¡°Yes, I would, as long as they agreed to spare the people of the city. It is better than letting them turn into the undead ¡°They will not spare the city; it is not in their nature,¡± said Damon Hardt. ¡°It is why we are also preparing to fight. If turning undead is fate, then we won¡¯t be epting it, without giving them a fight,¡± I replied. ¡°It is easy for you to say, Lord Governor. You are the only person the undead won¡¯t touch,¡± said Gagarin, to that I smiled. ¡°You are right, Guildmaster Gagarin, but rest assured, if we were to fight, I will fight with our men,¡± I replied. There was a silence for a couple of seconds before the big man opened his mouth. ¡°What will you do if we want to leave?¡± he asked. ¡°I will not stop you; the gates will be opened in the morning. Those who want to leave will be able to leave the city,¡± I replied, surprising many, including Stone and Cardin. Keeping the gates closed will create chaos, but that doesn¡¯t mean I will throw open the gates for everyone to leave. I will be opening the gates, but only to give a feeling of choice to the people. The measures will be like a pressure cooker. Seal it fully and it will explode, but have a small hole and everything will be in control. For more, Click Chapter 305: When Did You Find Out? Chapter 305: When Did You Find Out? Soon, thest person left, and the door closed. Leaving only Colonel Cardin, Robin, and my guards in the hall. ¡°Can we really fight the undead?¡± I asked Stone and Colonel Cardin. ¡°It is aplicated question, Lord Governor. The answer depends on the strength of a horde, the number of undead it has, the type of undead it contains, the pirs, and the people leading them,¡± replied Colonel Cardin. It is a technical answer, I do not need a technical answer. So, I turned to the person, who could give me the answer, I needed. Stone didn¡¯t speak, and I thought he wouldn¡¯t before he opened his mouth. ¡°The horde they would send likely be a grade 2 war horde. It will have hundred to hundred and fifty thousand undead, regr undead with zombies and skeletons, around ten to fifteen pre-Level 30 powerhouses, and with two or more Level 30+ powerhouse leading them.¡± ¡°To even have a small chance of victory against such force, we would need an army of twenty-five thousand. Around twenty pre-Level 30 powerhouses and at least three to five Level 30+ powerhouses,¡± he replied. For a moment, I didn¡¯t speak as I was busy cursing at my heart at the bastard who had run away. We might not have a required number in the army, but we wouldn¡¯t have had any problem with powerhouses. We had three high mages; they alone would have helped tremendously. The bastard had taken them all with him when he ran away. ¡°There is still time to leave, if any of you want to leave,¡± I said. Colonel Cardin smiled, while Stone and others remained silent without saying anything. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face, before my expressions, turned serious. ¡°Z calls every officer of the rank of captain and, above. Mercenary leaders, Mage Guild leaders, and every powerhouse that hadn¡¯t left. Also, see if there are any priests of the god of war had remained. If there are, call them; I want them all here by five,¡± I ordered. I thought for a moment and gave out another order, which rmed Cardin. ¡°Lord Governor, that wouldn¡¯t be wise,¡± he said, sensing my intentions. ¡°I didn¡¯t like it either, but we need people. They are better than the people that Commander Dane had sent with you,¡± I said. ¡°They will not be controlled. Might even make things worse,¡± he advised. ¡°It could happen, but it is the risk, I am willing to take,¡± I replied. As I had said, I wouldn¡¯t have done it. If I had a choice, but now there is no choice. I have to do it despite the risks it poses. He opened his mouth to reply to that, but closed it a momentter. I didn¡¯t say a thing and walked toward the office, with them following behind me. My steps were steady and there was no emotion on my face, but in my heart, there was bubbling panic. I am not worried about my life, I am confident I will be safe, but I am worried about the lives of over two hundred thousand citizens of the city. It is weighing me down; wanting me to throw this responsibility to someone else and burrow into my legacy. That would be a mistake. I am the only person in the city who is fit for this responsibility. It is the reason, the bastard gave me the responsibility before running away. Not because I am capable, I could name ten people who would be better at it, than me, but because I am a Lord, this is not an empty title to the people, even if it is to me. It means something to people; it demands their respect. Even before gaining the title, I have proved myself in the city with my work and, after gaining the legacy, I have be a figure, that is second in respect after the Count. I walked into the office and sat on the chair, I had not before. I am in Count Darrow¡¯s office, sitting in his chair. He would be hopping mad if he came to know about it, but to be honest, I don¡¯t care. I turned to Stone, sitting in front of me. ¡°Tell me, how Vris¡¯alud does things,¡± I said. ¡°It is aplicated question, Lord Governor,¡± he replied. ¡°Give me a general answer in the simplest terms,¡± I said, and this time, he simply nodded. ¡°The Vris¡¯alud¡­¡± he begins, and I listened. Now and then, he would pause, when Z would tell me the message and I would give her a fewmands, but would resume when I turned to him. It is not like, I didn¡¯t read about them, but it was like reading a newspaper, just to be aware of things. If I knew, I might one day be in themand of the city and would be fighting against them, I would have studied them far more extensively. Soon, he finished with the short version, which wasn¡¯tplicated. It is like how most undead kingdoms fight. They attack inrge numbers. Their target is to kill the leaders and break through the wall¡¯s city. Once they did it, they would ughter every resistance they came across till there was none. Sometimes, if cities resist too much, they will ughter it whole; not even sparing the children. Vris¡¯alud represents the worst of the undead kingdom in the world. Click! Stone left with Colonel Cardin on a short errand, while I turned to Z. ¡°Any progress?¡± I asked. ¡°They are still moving,¡± she replied. The three hordes are moving toward the cities. Their speed is good and byte morning, they should be able to reach the Almin and Bilgas, which are about the same distance from Ashton Harbor. It will take ate afternoon to evening for the third horde to reach the Port Midlet. ¡°Any sighting of the new horde?¡± I asked, to which she shook her head. The undead will attack us, Stone seemed quite sure of it and so is Colonel Cardin. It might take a day or two, but they will, and I need to be prepared for that. I asked her a few more things before taking out the files from the cab and started to read them. I need to know, every resource city has to use it against the undead if I need to fight them. ¡°They are here,¡± informed Z. Click! ¡°Let them in,¡± I said and immediately, the door opened and three people walked in. Ina, L, and Bell. I called them here to help me. I trust, Ina and L more than I trust anyone here. They have talents that will help me manage things, as for the Bell; she has something I need. ¡°Lord Governor,¡± they greeted. Ina and L seemed faintly awkward at their address, while Bell was smooth. Which isn¡¯t surprising who she is. I could finally see her ss after my level-up and legacy and I have to say, I am surprised. I had not let those people search the ship because they were disrespectful and didn¡¯t have permission, but didn¡¯t expect, I brought a person they were searching for. In the past two months, I wanted to inform those people because of the risk they pose to me if they found out, I was harboring her and nearly did, before stopping myself. It is an enormous risk, from which even Legacy wouldn¡¯t be able to protect me if found out. Especially now with the protection of the emperor gone. I shook those thoughts away and focused on the present. I will have plenty of time to think about it after I deal with the undead. I nodded at them, before turning to Bell. Covering us with a Privacy Sphere. ¡°Bell, I have a favor to ask of you,¡± I said and faint emotion appeared for a fraction of a second on her expressionless face. ¡°Anything, my lord,¡± she said, without the slightest chance, but I could see the gears shifting in her eyes. ¡°I want your skill,¡± I said, and her expression changed drastically, with various emotions beginning to appear on her face. A surprise appeared in Z¡¯s eyes seeing her affected like this. Bell is a woman who always remainedposed; she had remainedposed when that bastard Zanav threatened to rape her, but here her expression changed. To me, it is not surprising, seeing what I had just said, referred to her greatest secret and she could suffer dire consequences if found out. ¡°When did you find out?¡± she asked as finally calmed down. ¡°The day establishment turned into the legacy,¡± I replied, and she shuddered, but relief flooded into her eyes a momentter. Usually, when intrusive skills like Sight Through Veil are used; the person on which it is used realizes it immediately. It used to happen and still happens if I use skills outside of the establishment. Inside the establishment, it is apletely different thing. In the establishment, people didn¡¯t notice me using intrusive skills. I could even see the sses and skills of people who are level or two higher than me, which I couldn¡¯t do outside. The legacy is connected to my ss and thus powers it when I am in it. ¡°Will my skill disappear while you are using it?¡± she asked, to which I shook my head. ¡°No, I will only be copying it,¡± I replied. To which she nodded. ¡°What do I have to do?¡± she asked. She didn¡¯t ask, which skill I am copying from her. She had likely guessed it; it was the only skill, she had that could help me. It will aid me in fitting into my role more properly. It will aid me enormously, to convince the people who will soon be gathering. ¡°Give me your hand,¡± I said. She hesitated for a moment before pushing her hand over the desk. I took her soft hands into mine and closed my eyes, before activating my skill. I didn¡¯t immediately target her skill and instead removed the one, I had. The wless Edit was copied skill. I removed it and targeted the skill; I wanted to copy from her. {Copy Skill: Nobles Grace} I got the skill and the people around me felt it immediately. It is a passive skill and a powerful one at that. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to copy it if my ss hadn¡¯t been as powerful as her ruling ss and over Lv. 20. The skill had be even more powerful as it copied thanks to my higher level and suitability. This skill is also a high-level one, which means it could use the full power of my attributes. Some of the skills aren¡¯t powerful enough to bear the full power of my attributes and remain restricted in power. I don¡¯t want it restricted. For more, Click Chapter 306: Commander Stone Chapter 306: Commander Stone ¡°Thank you, Bell,¡± I said to her. ¡°It is my honor, Lord Governor,¡± she replied. ¡°If you allow me, my lord. I like to stay; I am sure, I will be able to help you in some way,¡± she added. Her request surprised me and opened my mouth to reject her, but I stopped and closed my mouth. I don¡¯t trust her, but I know she will not betray me. Keeping her close might be useful. If anyone has any experience with the ruling, then it is her. She might really be able to help me. I deactivated the Privacy Sphere and turned it to the three. ¡°Go through the files and make a list of the resources the city has,¡± I ordered. The bastard didn¡¯t make the list; he had a skill for that. It would have saved me a lot of time, if he had. The three took out the files and began to work immediately, while I turned to Z to inquire about things happening in the city and the region. There is no change; the hordes are still moving steadily; nothing hase to stop them. There is one force that could stop them, but the forces of the dustorn fortress won¡¯t move from their ce. At least till became really worse and till now, they hadn¡¯t. At least for them. I wish I had more information about the hordes, specifically about their strength. I only know, there are three hordes, one going toward Port Midlet is bigger, while the other two are going to the Bilgas and Almin. I don¡¯t know the numbers these hordes have and the type of undead they contain. All I could do was guess and try to make as best preparations as I could. ¡°They have arrived, Lord Governor,¡± said Z. ¡°You three, follow me,¡± I said to them. If they were to help me, they needed to be present at every meeting. Ina and L were a little surprised, but followed me along with Bell. ¡°It is a very important meeting; I will be asking them to fight against the undead. Do you have any suggestions on convincing them?¡± I asked Bell in the sphere of privacy. ¡°You are the Governor of the city; it is their duty to follow you. Be a Governor, don¡¯t show any doubts or hesitation. Project confidence in every word, every action, even if you have none in your heart,¡± she replied. I couldn¡¯t help but smile hearing that. I am following the same thought. It is the reason why I copied the Nobles Grace from her. To make the people believe, I am the Governor and there is no one who could lead them better than me. Soon, I reached the door of the conference room and took a deep breath, smoothened my expression to impassive, and activated Get Ready. A secondter, I stepped into the room, like I owned it. Immediately, every eye turned to me, with many having a surprise in their eyes. Even Stone and Colonel Cardin seemed surprised seeing me as I stepped into the conference room. Valentina looked like she couldn¡¯t believe she was seeing the person; she knew. As they looked at me, I looked at them and my heart couldn¡¯t help, but sour up when I saw the army ranks. ¡®A lot of people had run away,¡¯ I thought. In the city¡¯s army of ten thousand, there is onemander, which is Atticus. Below him are two colonels and below them are four lieutenant colonels. Then are the thirty-two captains. Commander Atticus and his two lieutenants left with the Count. Three lieutenant colonels escaped, along with the thirteen captains, taking several of their lieutenants and a few hundred soldiers. It was that bastard Atticus¡¯s doing; he had spread the news of his leaving the moment he left. So, in the city¡¯s army, the highest-ranked officer is Lieutenant Colonel Bradshaw. A useless man, responsible for the supply and logistics. He is not even capable of being a captain and the only reason he has this job is because his uncle is Kannan Bradshaw,mander of Count¡¯s forces in his territory. It is not just the people of the city¡¯s army who had left, but also the one that Colonel Cardin had brought. One of his deputies has escaped, as well as a few captains. The force that Dane had sent had inexperienced soldiers and its officers were useless ones, or the ones that Dane didn¡¯t like. I hope the ones who had escaped are the useless ones. The same thing had happened with the mage guild; of all thirteen core members, only one had remained. He is one of two vice-guild masters. It is quite surprising; he stayed when all those above and below him escaped without hesitation. As for the priests of the god of war, all of them have escaped. Not even an acolyte had remained. Not everything is bad news, there is one good news. Over 60% of mercenaries have remained. It would surprise anyone. Peoplepared them to rats on the ship. First to abandon, when it sinks. They would have left if it had been a regr enemy like Tabes or even Navr, but these are the undead of Vris¡¯alud. Some of them have fought on the Mayhurst ind and some even have members from the ind. They are aware of how they operate and thus waiting for me. They will leave if I don¡¯t provide them with a good enough answer. ¡°Lord Governor,¡± they greeted. I walked toward the table without saying anything, before stopping at the head seat. ¡°Sit down, everyone,¡± I said and sat down. I paused for a second, before opening my mouth to speak again. ¡°The undead had attacked the region with the massive force. They already conquered Ashton Harbor and sent their forces to the Port Midlet, Almin, and Bilgas,¡± ¡°ording to the information we have. We know that Almin and Bilgas will have a hard time defending against the undead, and once they are done with it, they wille at us.¡± Nobody is surprised by the information. All of them are resourceful. Gaining such information isn¡¯t hard for them. I didn¡¯t say anything further and just looked at them and finally, after several seconds, someone opened their mouth to ask the question. ¡°What is your n, Lord Governor?¡± asked a thin man with a long scar running down from his cheek. The Ruses Vandal, captain of vandal mercenaries. The strongest mercenary group in the city, now that leaders of the first two escaped with Count. ¡°Fight, of course, Captain Vandal. We will try to negotiate first, but even with the legacy, we do not have enough leverage to negotiate with them.¡± I replied, without the slightest change in my expression. However, a big change appeared on their faces. ¡°They will ughter us,¡± said Portmaster ck. I was quite surprised, to see the man here. He wasn¡¯t present at the meeting earlier and I thought he had escaped, but he clearly didn¡¯t. ¡°They would, but it is a lot better than surrendering and letting them turn us into undead,¡± I replied. ¡°It is easy for you to say, Lord Governor, since you are the only person whom they wouldn¡¯t kill,¡± said a muscled man, with a tattooed bald head. Hearing that, I finally let my expression change and brought a grin to my face. ¡°You are right, Captain Mass. I am the only person in the whole city they won''t kill, but that changes nothing. If you decide to stay, you will fight, because I will not surrender the city!¡± I said, raising my voice at thest sentence. ¡°What if we want to leave?¡± asked Ruses Vandal. ¡°The gates of the city will be open at eight; those who want to leave will be free to leave,¡± I replied straightforwardly, repeating the same words I spoke in an earlier meeting. Nobody spoke for more than a more than a minute. They just looked at me and I met their eyes. ¡°Who will be leading us, if we are to fight?¡± came the most important question; it came from the people, who are responsible for defending the city. Whose leader had abandoned them. The eyes in the entire room moved upon hearing Captain Azalea¡¯s question. Most heads turned toward Colonel Cardin, who is the highest-ranking member of the army in the room. Some turned toward Lieutenant Colonel Bradshaw, who seemed to want to disappear. The only reason this useless man hadn¡¯t escaped, was because everyone knew how useless he was and weren¡¯t willing to take the deadweight with them. ¡°Thaddeus Stone will be the newmander of the city¡¯s forces,¡± I replied, surprising all, including Stone himself, but I could see the relief appearing in the eyes of Captain Azalea and many others. Stone is the best choice to lead, not only because he has years of experience in fighting against the undead, but also because he is the choice most would ept. Colonel Cardin is the highest-ranking officer and the only person above Level 30, but he couldn¡¯t fight because of the injuries. A leader doesn¡¯t need to fight, they can direct and many of the world¡¯s best military leaders are strategists who didn¡¯t enter the battlefield personally, but he won''t be eptable to all. I chose Stone because he is one, they will ept. Many, like Captain Azalea and Julian, had fought alongside him. They are the most powerful and influential among all the captains, and others will follow their lead. The mercenaries will ept him because he is one of them and also powerful enough to beat any of them. I looked at Stone and felt relieved, seeing that he wasn¡¯t rejecting the responsibility. If he had, then all would have gone down the drain. It might not seem like it, but I am doing a delicate dance here in managing all parties. I would need the support of all of them, to create an army, that might force the undead to negotiate and fight if they didn¡¯t. I turned to the mercenaries and other independent powerhouses. ¡°I want one single army to fight the undead. You all will be assimted into it. Those who do not agree with it are free to leave the city,¡± I said and watched with the bated breath. Seconds passed and no objection came. Mercenaries reject such orders; they be mercenaries to be independent, but here they didn¡¯t have a choice. If they run away, there is a good chance, they will be hunted by the undead and they didn¡¯t want that. ¡°Commander Stone, you can start,¡± I said, handling the meeting to him. ¡°Thank you for your trust, Lord Governor,¡± he said, before turning to the people. For more, Click Chapter 307: Promotions Chapter 307: Promotions ¡°Hope, you won¡¯t pay us off with pennies when this is all over, Lord Governor,¡± said Vandal as he got up to leave. All the eyes of mercenaries focus on me at those words. ¡°You won¡¯t be disappointed by the payment, Captain Vandal,¡± I replied. Mercenaries don¡¯t work for free. If we survived, I would have to pay them; it could be their standard fees or pennies; it depends on the lord. He nodded and walked out. Stone is leading them out, where he will ess their abilities and integrate them into the army. Soon, everyone left, leaving only three people on the table. Valentina, Lena, and Edmon. All three of them were powerful mages and thus were invited to the meeting. I had freed Valentina and Lena earlier. It was the first I did after I got this responsibility. Many had given them a strange look when they sat on meeting, but nobody said anything. To them, survival is more important than the supposed rumors they have heard. ¡°Thank you for staying,¡± I said to her. If she wanted to leave, she could have. Given her prowess and connection, she would have been able to convince a few powerful to leave with her. ¡°It is my city too, and it became more important to stay since you have be in charge,¡± she said, and I smiled. ¡°I am d, you both have stayed,¡± I said gratefully. Both of them are powerful. I have seen with my eyes how powerful Valentina is and Lena is a mercenary. As for Edmon, I don¡¯t have much idea about him, but Valentina hinted that he was not weak. A minuteter, they left. I had a few more things to talk to them, but they needed to go to Stone. ¡°Madam Caena is asking whether to keep the establishment open?¡± asked Z, as the door closed. Last night, I told her to close the establishment in the morning, but today isn¡¯t yesterday. Yesterday, I wasn¡¯t the Governor, and it wasn¡¯t my responsibility to keep the important people in the city. ¡°Keep it open and tell her to use everything to make the patrons forget that the army of undead ising to their lives,¡± I replied and opened the files that Ina and Bell ced in front of me. I had sent L with Stone; she will help him deal with some intricate things. ¡°The merchants have arrived,¡± informed Z, an hourter. I walked out of the conference room and stepped into another. Every important merchant who hadn¡¯t escaped is present; there aren¡¯t many that escaped. It¡¯s not like many of them didn¡¯t want to escape. They do, but face simr problems that Bradshaw had faced. The mercenary doesn¡¯t want the deadweight. Unlike Bradshaw, these people could pay a massive amount of money, which made some mercenaries take them and escape, but these cases were in small numbers. Even mercenaries who would take any risk for money, know, how difficult it is to escape safely from the of the undead. Many wouldn¡¯t take such risk, even if the merchants offered them, all their wealth. Only with life, they could enjoy wealth. I looked at the merchants and they didn¡¯t seem to be in a good mood, which isn¡¯t surprising seeing the undead areing. It may be also because I have taken their guards and will now take their goods without paying. Merchants hate it when they don¡¯t get paid for their goods. It didn¡¯t matter, if the undead army wasing, what mattered was them getting the money. ¡°Lord Governor,¡± they greeted. The meeting started andsted nearly two hours. It was so frustrating, that I wanted to hack a few of them to death, but controlled myself and used the approach of honey and stick. In the end, I got what I wanted. It would have been faster if I had just used the stick alone, but I didn¡¯t want to go that far unless they left me no choice. Fortunately, they agreed with my demands. After merchants, I met another group of stakeholders and by that time, I had finished with them; it was already eleven. I had two hours before I had to address the citizen. It is risky; riots could ur if something went wrong, but needed to be done. ¡°The horde had reached Almin,¡± Z informed. The fork from which I was eating stopped midway. For the past two hours, there was no information about it. The undead had started hunting the scouts, and they began to run away from them. ¡°The information is sent by Meldhorn''s war office,¡± she added, and a surprise appeared on my face before it turned into a smile. ¡°Finally,¡± I said. Till now, the information had been patchy. The region didn¡¯t have powerful enough scouts that could eye on horde and send information without getting discovered. Now, the problem has been solved with the merchant state providing the information. I could rest assured of the regr information. Their people have reached near the horde, and it is one, that is dangerous to us. Stone had said this horde would likely be the one that could be at us after it dealt with Almin and Panar. I wished the two cities would deal with the horde, but seeing the state of things in those cities, forget about dealing with it; they wouldn¡¯t be able to resist for more than a few hours before it swept through them. The Governors of both cities have abandoned them. In Almin, the person who had the old Governor had appointed had also abandoned his post. The person, the second governor, left in charge had bolted the gates, and it made people angry. Thest I heard, there were huge riots happening across the city, with the army unable to get control of the situation. It could be said, that Almin is good as gone and the undead won¡¯t even suffer any losses in conquering it. I am really hope, I am wrong. Panar on the other hand, is a much better state. The one who was in charge had also closed the gates but had enough control to apply a strict marshalw so that there were norge-scale riots. ¡°Did they inform about the size of the horde?¡± I asked, and she nodded. ¡°The horde has the strength of two hundred and twenty-five thousand undead. There are also twenty-two pre-levels 30 and five levels 30 and above in the horde, but they said, there might be more hiding,¡± she informed. See! I couldn¡¯t help but sucked a deep breath hearing that. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised; Stone had already guessed the number, and he is urate. However, the horde that wille to our city would be around a hundred thousand. It would be split; some undead would stay in the cities conquered, while arge part of it would separate and move to attack other cities. Most likely Norke. They wouldn¡¯t attack Gailhorn with such numbers; it had a poption of three hundred thousand and a better army and powerhouses than the Greltheaven. Stone said that if they were to attack it, they would either send a big horde, like the one they have sent toward the Port Midlet or attack it from the sea, like they did Ashton Harbor. This horde is for us. ¡°Thank them for the information; tell them we are grateful for it,¡± I said. She nodded and closed her eyes. Click! ¡°Master Silver Hugo is here,¡± said Ina. ¡°Ask him in,¡± I said, and a secondter. Hugo walked in with two lieutenant-rank officers following behind him, holding a stack of documents. I turned to him and saw him looking at me withplicated emotions. He seemed to sense me looking and controlled his expressions. ¡°Commander Stone, need your approval, Lord Governor,¡± he said, cing a stack of documents in front of me. I nodded and took the documents in my hand and could feel the power of skills on them, but I was more interested in the content of the documents. They are promotion papers. A lot of people are getting promoted, to fill the gaps that those who escaped had left behind. The first person to be promoted is Captain Azalea. She had jumped a rank. Directly bing a lieutenant colonel instead of a major. The same for Captain Julian and Captain Hiren. The rank is too high for them, but there is no choice, with the number of people they are going to lead, they need to hold this rank. They should have been promoted a long time ago. When they fought in Lockridge Castle against the bandits, while the Lancel escaped. Count wanted to do that, but Lancel stopped him. He felt angry and ashamed and tried to bury the incident whole. Stena, Hugo, and Lena had also been promoted to lieutenant colonels, along with two mercenary captains. Over a hundred were promoted across all ranks. If look carefully, one would see there are more officers than our army needs, but it is not. The number is perfect as more people going to be added to the army soon. I read each paper, before signing on it. Soon, all the papers were signed, making promotions official. ¡°Thank you, Lord Governor,¡± Hugo said and left with the papers. ¡°They breached the walls,¡± said Z suddenly. I didn¡¯t have to ask her, what walls she was talking about. Almin had been breached, and the horde took only an hour to do it. It made me shudder and panic started to build in my heart before I controlled it. Now, that they had breached the walls; it wouldn¡¯t take long for them to get control of the city. I didn¡¯t say anything to that and got up. This time, I was going to any conference room but out of this mansion. I have been here since I was summonedst night. Everything I knowes from others. It is time, I looked at the things myself. Soon, I walked out of the mansion and sat in the carriage waiting for me. ¡°Any news from baronies?¡± I asked, and she shook her head. Not a single person ising from the baronies. Instead, those nobles gathered their men together and formed an army to prepare against the undead. I wanted to curse the bastards, including my sister, but also understand why they were doing it. To them, their territories and people are more important, and protecting them is their priority,ing to the aid of Greltheaven is not. Still, it made me angry, and I am not the only one. Dane was also hopping mad at them, especially Major Jarvis, who had decided to stay in the baronies with his men. The streets are a lot emptier and there are a lot more guards than they were before. There is martialw in the city, and gatherings, moving without a cause, are not allowed. However, there are more people than one would find during the usual marshalw. I have nopletely restricted movements, people could move, if they want to leave the city or gather in the square. Speaking of which, thousands have already gathered on the square, but my carriage isn¡¯t moving toward them. There is one thing I have to check before I address my people. Ten minutester, I reached near the gate and saw a long line of people, many were children. I have informed them of the danger, but people still want to leave. It is a normal human reaction. Undead are big-bad horrors and they want to get away from them as far away as possible. The line is moving slowly, but not slowly enough to make people angry. I am letting the people leave, but not as much as people would expect. The guards are checking the documents of each person and most of them would be detained, especially those with children. It is a delicate process, but Steven seemed to be handling it. I watched for a few minutes and went to the port gate where the same thing was happening. I spotted a little chaos appearing, but the guards acted quickly and resolved it before it could turn into something more. I watched for a while before going to the square. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked Robin as I stepped out of the carriage and walked toward the podium with him. ¡°Good, but I still don¡¯t like what you are doing, Lord Governor. It is too risky,¡± he said, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile. It is a powder keg. If people got angry and rioted, then it would very be dangerous. Even the heavy guards won¡¯t be able to control it. It is risky, but it needs to be done. They deserve it. I walked to the podium and turned to face thousands of people. I had faced such a crowd many times, but they had never been as focused on me as they are right now. I felt the weight of gazes and it shook my knees. I needed to take a deep breath to control myself. Hun! I opened my mouth and was about to speak, when suddenly, the feeling came over me and my eyes widened in shock before joy lit up in my eyes. It is so different, yet familiar. The same as the old man had described; simr to what I had felt months ago. { For more, Click Chapter 308: Forbidden Desires Chapter 308: Forbidden Desires Caena A few hours before. ¡°Are we really doing this?¡± asked Barb, worriedly. Usually, the woman isn¡¯t worried about anything, but now she is. ¡°It will be extremely risky,¡± said Mena. ¡°It is, but it is a good chance to test the things,¡± I said as I looked at the preparations. ¡°To me, it felt like a needless risk,¡± said Cath, shaking her head. ¡°You should have taken permission first,¡± said Onaz and sighed. Not all my deputies are against me. Onaz seemed to agree to the n despite not saying it explicitly. She is right, I should have taken permission, considering it is a pretty big thing, but I don¡¯t think, Silver will have a problem. Especially now, given the current circumstances. The spa was closed in the evening yesterday and the basement was empty. I decided to do something with it, something risky. On the outside, it won¡¯t be risky, but if found out, what is happening here, it would be really risky. I might be arrested and even Silver, might get implicated. I wouldn¡¯t have taken the risk, but it is the only chance to safely test things. We might not get such a chance again. ¡°Are girls are ready?¡± I asked De. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied, with some hesitation. The girls will serve a different kind of patrons; the ones they have never served before, but many were excited to do it, despite their fear. I may not have taken permission from Silver, but I have gone to two most important women. Margaux was a little hesitant about it, but thankfully Ca had given me the go-ahead. So, there won¡¯t be a problem. ¡°We are done, Madam Margaux,¡± said Stan as he finishedying the chairs and tables in what was the lobby of the spa. They have been ced exactly ording to design. Silver had asked Sharn to make alternative designs for the lobby. If he ever needed to convert to a restaurant or other things. They were only to be used, if the spa didn¡¯t work, but seeing how spectacrly it was working, nobody had thought about them, until today. I looked at the clock, and it was eight. In one hour, the patrons would be arriving. Each patron had been carefully chosen for this and they would being in unmarked carriages. So, even if people find out, that they came to the establishment; they could easily say they were on a floor above, in a special section that I had made for only them yesterday. Still, I never thought, I would be using it as the decoy to bring those selected patrons here. This n had only been conceived at dawn when Silver asked me to keep the establishment open. It was a sudden idea, and I decided to act on it, despite all the risks it poses. Most of those patrons were already selected for the above, but now they wille below, I hope they liked the arrangement and we have been right about them. I checked the preparations onest time before walking out. Despite the morning, the establishment is filled. Every person here is important and invited. Silver had asked me to entertain these people, provide them with such services that they would forget the undead wereing to attack the city. All of them are important and powerful. Generating emotions in such quantity and quality that even Silver would be shocked. They are more than thrice as intense as yesterday. Till yesterday, people only knew that the undead had attacked the region, but now they know, they areing to the city. A little bit of reservation they had kept back had all gone now. Even the people on the first floor begin to demand the rooms to have sex with their wives and spouses, which they usually do in their homes. Acting on their fantasies, which they usually wouldn¡¯t. Some even asked for the girls to join them and we obviously agreed. We are here to fulfill their desires; it is our sole purpose. It is a reason why I am taking such a massive risk. Soon it was nine and the first unmarked carriage entered through the gates and stopped at the dense mist. Nobody could tell, who hade out or what direction they had gone to. Even with skills, it would be hard. It is not just a mist that will block them, but also the enchantments. One would need to be really powerful to see through it and currently, there is no one in the city. Even those who run away, wouldn¡¯t have been able to see through it clearly, with all their spells and skills. ¡­. Sc Hardt I closed the file as the carriage turned to the entertainment district. Honestly, I rather not be here, I have a lot of work to do. The city is taking a lot of things from us, and Damon is busy in the guild. Making it my responsibility to keep an eye on things. We won¡¯t be able to stop the city from taking our goods, nor do we have any intention of doing that, but it is important that we keep a record of everything they take. If, by the grace of god, we survive, we want the city to pay us back for everything, they have taken from us. The chances of us surviving are slim. I am d, the children aren¡¯t with us. The ce they are in isn¡¯t as safe as it was for a few days. Due to everything, that started happening after the emperor''s death, there is no threat to their life. At least, not yet. I looked outside the window and saw everything was closed. The usually bustling entertainment district is empty. I wouldn¡¯t havee here like many of the friends and colleagues are doing to forget about the undead, but seeing the madam of the legacy herself invited me with a handwritten letter, I decided to spare an hour. Thenguage of the invitation also made me quite curious and hopeful. I hope I won¡¯t be disappointed, not that Velvet Garden, ever does. Soon, the carriage reached the velvet garden, and I was surprised to see the mist around it being denser than usual. Especially the one on the ground; it is so dense, that I could barely see the fountain and two gazebos. The carriage stopped, and the woman opened the door; a beautiful woman that I wanted to keep staring at. She is not the guard or one of the teen girls that usually wee, but an assistant, madam. Assistant madams don¡¯t open the doors. This is no ordinary ce, but a legacy, and these women rule it. ¡°Wee to Velvet Garden, Miss Sc,¡± said the woman, addressing me by my name rather than my surname. ¡°Thank you, Miss Onaz,¡± I said after a moment of silence. ¡°Please follow me,¡± she said, and we moved through the thick mist. It was so thick, I couldn¡¯t see anything besides her, but I could tell we were moving toward the gazebo leading to the spa. I have been to the spa a couple of times. It is amazing. For most people, it is very hard to get an appointment, but Damon has some privileges, which let me get a spot, within a few days. I am d, that I had advised him to look past the animosity. If he kept up with that, he might not have these privileges or the position. Silver was a host of legacies. Nobody could have forced him to give the head of the merchant guild special privileges if he didn¡¯t want to. ¡°I thought the spa had closed?¡± I asked. ¡°It is,¡± replied the woman without turning. I wanted to ask where she was leading me, but stopped. I like a little mystery and decided to enjoy it. Soon, we reached the gazebo and walked down the stairs. The mist had started thinning as we entered the inside. Gasp! In a few seconds, I could see the familiar waiting room, and what I saw made me gasp. It is covered in thick colorful mist, and this thick colorful mist contains nine huge colorful lotuses. Each petal was of a different color mist, and they looked like something came out of the dreand. Soon, I reached the lobby, where the mist was dense again. It is dense enough, that I wasn¡¯t able to see the face of the person walking by me. She led me near the south side of the waiting room before she stopped in front of a huge lotus. Which is even bigger than it looked from a distance. ¡°I hope you will enjoy thepany inside, Miss Sc,¡± said Onaz in a beautiful voice, before walking away, while I remained on the spot, feeling confused. I feel that the lotus has something that I always desired, but if I tried to get it, I might get burned. I wanted to run away and would have if the undead weren¡¯ting. There is a high chance that I will die. So, it didn¡¯t matter if the inside had a thing, that could burn me as I was going to be dead anyway in a few days. With that thought, I took a step inside. Immediately, everything became clear and what I saw inside couldn¡¯t help, but surprise me. In front of me is a beautiful table with big scented candles burning in the middle, but it is not what I am looking at. I am looking at the beautiful young woman sitting in a chair. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, had shoulder-length raven hair and dark brown eyes, from which, she was looking at me seductively. It immediately bes clear what it is. I had heard about the secret ces that cater to the women. A few of such ces cater to the forbidden desires. I wanted to visit them, but never dared to do it. The church actively hunts for those ces and once found out, there is no absolution. I shook in fear at that thought, because if found out. Not only I will be destroyed, but so will my family. I have seen what happened to those who get caught in forbidden crimes, and I don¡¯t want my husband and children to suffer because of my forbidden desires. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t think too much. It is highly likely, that you will die in the next few days,¡± said the young woman, in her thralling seductive voice. I don¡¯t know whether her words or that beautiful mouth followed her words, and I found myself. I still wanted to run away, but I controlled the fear. She is right, I might die in a few days and before dying, I want to act on the forbidden that I have been suppressing as long as I remember. For more, Click Chapter 309: Not Broken (18+) Chapter 309: Not Broken (18+) I looked at the beautiful young woman in front of me sitting confidently, looking at me seductively. She is a wearing ck velvet dress, that has a deep neckline. My mouth couldn¡¯t help but feel parched when I looked at her breast. They are not big, but not small either. They are bigger than mine and perky and I want to feast on them. ¡°Like what you saw?¡± she asked with a smile on her face, getting brighter, while my cheeks flooded in embarrassment as I quickly looked away. For a few seconds, I was so embarrassed that I didn¡¯t dare to look at her. When I finally found the courage to look at her, I saw her looking at me with the same seductive smile that I wanted to look away from again. ¡®You are not a bloody teenager, Sc. Stop behaving like one,¡¯ I admonished myself. I felt like a teenager, with my heart beating wildly and my cheeks flooding with a forbidden desire. ¡°I am Sc,¡± I said, trying to control my emotions. ¡°Solene,¡± she replied. ¡°It is a beautiful name,¡± I said. It came out, before I could stop myself and felt my cheeks flooding again. ¡°I like, your name more,¡± said the young woman. ¡°Thank you, it is a family name,¡± I replied, but this time, I didn¡¯t even admonish myself. ¡°It suits you well,¡± she replied, looking at me, like she wanted to eat me. It made me embarrassed, but also ecstatic, to see the desire for me in the young woman¡¯s eyes. I know, I am beautiful and everywhere I go, I see men and sometimes women, looking at me in desire, but never give me joy as it is right now, seeing the desire for me in the young women¡¯s eyes. Slowly and surely, the embarrassment and fear began to vanish from my heart, and I found myself enjoying thepany of the young woman. The woman in front of me was amazing. She is a reader and musician, the hobbies I share. So, I could tell, she wasn¡¯t lying when she spoke about them, and even if I didn¡¯t share those; I would be able to tell she is lying. The passion in which she is speaking about them is hard to fake and captivating. No wonder the men are crazy about these girls, willing to pay the high price for theirpany. I wouldn¡¯t mind doing that. ¡°I really would¡± Suddenly, I stopped as the mist around us got denser, and a momentter; I saw a silhouette appear beside us. ¡°You can order without fear. There are powerful skills working here; aside from me and madams, nobody could see your face and recognize your voice,¡± said Solene, before I could say anything. Hearing that, I felt much relieved and took the menu from her. We ordered quickly, and the server left, and we resumed our conversation without any awkwardness. A few minutester, our server came back, bringing our orders. Since it waste morning, we ordered light, a single dish, and drinks. ¡°It is quite a unique drink,¡± I said, looking at her drink. All drinks are amazing, with drops of emotions, but hers looks different. I had never seen, on all my visits to the restaurant. It is blue colored with lemon, but inside, is a dark red ball that would burst and gather every second. ¡°It is from the Vanis Tavern. Our bartender had mastered it just yesterday,¡± she replied, before turning to me with mischievous eyes. ¡°Do you want to taste it?¡± she asked, and I found myself nodding. I thought she would slide the drink toward me. Instead, she took a sip from it and got up before appearing in front of me and bending down. Her face appeared directly in front of me with those lips, having a drop of blue liquid with a tiny red ball inside, I wanted to taste it from her lips. She seemed to get all the permission she needed as at the next moment; I felt her lips on mine with cold drink entering my through, making me feel warm in my stomach. I barely noticed it as I was wholly focused on kissing the most wonderful lips I had ever kissed. Not that I kissed many. I have only kissed two people in my life, one is my old boyfriend and my husband. I had never felt the spark, kissing them as I am feeling right now. I misspoke. It is not a spark, I am feeling, but an inferno. I had never felt such desire in my life, not even for my husband. I love him, but I don¡¯t feel any desire for him, not only him, but I never felt any desire for any man. It is always the woman. The lips of the woman, I realized, are so different from the man. They are soft and delicious. Sweeter than anything I had tasted in my life, and I fear I might get addicted to them. I sensed her moving without leaving my lips and a secondter, I felt her weight on myp. The kiss became more intense as she sat on myp, and I felt her hands moving around my body. Ahhhh When her lips touched my breasts, I felt lightning shooting through my body. Making me a moan; a real moan, not a fake one, that I bring out when I do it with my husband. She broke the kiss, and I moved for another. The kiss made me feel things that I had never felt in my life, and I wanted more of it. Damn, the consequences of it. She ced a finger on my lips, stopping me. ¡°It is a little stuffy here. What do you think about going to a more private ce?¡± she asked, with her eyes promising a thousand pleasures. She seemed to receive an answer from my eyes as she got up from myp with a smile and took my hand. I got up and walked out of her lotus with her. I would never hold the hand of a woman, especially in a ce like this, but the rational part of my mind seemed to be turned off; the only thing that is driving me right now are my desires. Click! Soon, we stopped in front of the door, Solene opened it, and we entered a beautiful room. She closed the door before pushing me against it and taking my lips in a rough kiss while her hands moved all over my body. Ahh Ahh Ahh All my senses were overwhelmed in an instant, and the only thing, I could do was moan, while her kisses ravaged me. Suddenly, she pulled her lips back, and I looked at her question. I didn¡¯t want those lips away from mine, even for a second. ¡°Your lips are sweet, but I want to eat something sweeter,¡± she said, licking her lips greedily, before bringing them back to me, but it was not my lips, she had kissed. It is my neck. She begins to shower with feathered kisses across my neck, making me squirm and moan. If not for her dainty hands holding me firmly against the walls, I would have fallen down. Her kisses descended from my neck to my corbone, where I shivered. I am always sensitive there and her kisses make it even worse. It is also making me wet in ces where I have never been before. She kissed every part of it, before descending on my breast. She didn¡¯t directly kiss them and instead kissed the small valley, before kissing the breast through the fabric. Unlike her dress, which is showing her ample bosom, mine is only showing a hint. I wanted her to tear apart my dress and have her way with me, and she seemed to understand that, but to my utter frustration, seem to have no intention of doing that. Her lips and tongue felt amazing as they suck my breasts through the fabric and would feel even more amazing if she did it with my naked breast. So, I tried to remove the obstruction, but she stopped me. ¡°It is not time, yet,¡± she said and started to go lower with her kisses till she reached my navel and then got even lower, before stopping and turning to me. She didn¡¯t say anything, just looked at me and licked her lips like a cat. A secondter, she raised my skirt and put her face under it. Instinctively, I tried to close my knees, but she stopped me. For a few seconds, there was nothing, before I started to feel her hot breaths on my thighs and then the kisses, that made me squirm more than I had to hold on to her shoulders for support. Her kisses went higher and higher till, they reached the edge of my panties, which had be wet. I felt embarrassed, but I also wanted her to kiss me there. It frustrated me, that she didn¡¯t, instead her lips moved around my panties to torture me. She stopped, and for a moment, there was nothing, before I felt her hands on my panties, which she pulled down to my knees. Ahh I opened my mouth to ask her, to pull them all the way, when suddenly I stopped when I felt her hot breath on my folds and moaned. Feeling the things I had never felt before. I wanted to feel more, but she stopped again. ¡°Please,¡± I begged. I never begged, but I am doing it now. I want to feel it again. I had never felt the pleasure in my life, not by my husband or by my own hands. It always made me feel like, I was broken in some way. Ahhhhhh I opened my mouth again when I felt a softness against my fold. I felt the lightning of pleasure course through my body and I let out the biggest of my life. The moan hadn¡¯t finished when she licked my folds again and then again skillfully, while all I could do was moan loudly in pleasure. Her tongue was slow and fast, and every lick seemed to send a bolt of lightning through my body, making me feel things, I hadn¡¯t felt before. Seconds passed as I moaned louder and louder under her skillful movements when I started to feel something building inside me, and with every movement of her tongue, it was getting stronger and stronger. She seemed to feel that too, as her tongue got faster and faster, taking me higher and higher, till I reached the peak. There she stopped for a moment, and breathed on my fold, before biting me there. It surprised me, but I had no time to think about it as it seemed to give the final push against the dam, breaking it. ¡°GOD!¡± The tsunami of pleasure of colossal magnitude crashed into me, giving me such pleasure that transcended me from the world. My senses got overwhelmed by it, that it was the only thing I could feel. It overwhelmed my senses that I could think of nothing other than the pleasure that filled every part of me. It is indescribable, but I know one thing, that I won¡¯t be able to live without it from now on. It is the thing I had been missing in my life and a thing that makes me feel broken. I am not broken, never was. I deserve the pleasure, and I don¡¯t care if I have tomit the forbidden crime. I am alreadymitting it; I willmit again. The waves of pleasure continued before they started getting weaker and finally stopped and I felt the peace with myself, I had never felt before. Solene got up, with her hands never leaving me, which is good because, I don¡¯t think, I have any strength to support myself. She looked at me, before taking my lips into her. I tasted myself on her lips and instead of making me dirty, I felt myself getting horny again. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said as we broke the kiss and she smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me yet, this was just a small part of what ising next,¡± she said, and her words were not a lie. A few minutester, I started to moan again once again. We did it on every part of the room, from walls to floor to bed. She had pleasured me so many times that I had lost count of it. When she finally stopped, I didn¡¯t even have the energy to twitch. I fell into a blissful sleep immediately, with the peace, I had never felt in my life before. ¡­. Caena Three small streams of emotion essence floated onto the huge covering me. Which had covered my whole body, with thousands ofplex lines and runes flowing around them. I am crafting one of the mostplex spells into the charm I have ever done in my life, and I am doing it, in a tight time. Thankfully, I have some help. The covering me is one of the most important of all enchantments I have imprinted on the establishment. It is helping me craft the enchantment. Every part of me is covered in the lines, with runes moving around them. A few of these mchite lines came out of my hands and moved around the charm and runes, imprinting themselves. This provides me with control, precision, and focus to do my craft. It is like having the power of tens of skills and ispatible with actual skills. I am using my skills with it to make my craft. I should have used it more in these past two and a half months, but I thought I had time before the danger came knocking. Unfortunately, I had been wrong in my assumption; a mistake I wouldn¡¯t make again. Time ticked as the lines, and runes moved across hundreds of things on the table. They are precious things, from gems to magical nts and I am infusing a real emotion essence into them. Usually, emotion mist is more than enough, but I am using the emotion essence and that makes it dangerous as well as difficult to craft. Also expensive, seeing as I need powerful things to hold the powerful spell, I am trying to craft. Finally, I finished with the charm and ced it with the six. It is a set-spell, that needed seven charms to contain it. Seeing themplete, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I have created two of these charms in a single sitting and I seeded; I truly hadn¡¯t thought I would, but I did. Iid back on the chair tiredly and it was minutes before I deactivated the. The lines that were covering me flowed back to the, and it began to shrink till it shrank to its original size and joined the rest of thes orbing around the core. I turned to the core and saw glowing as it epted a massive amount of powerful emotions. People are scared and letting it all out without reservation. That in half a day since morning, the establishment had absorbed enough emotions, that it does in the whole week. I wish Silver could see it. He would be mightily impressed. I looked at the core before focusing on the particr spot from where especially powerful emotions wereing. Even when it was a spa; it was a ce from where we would receive the most powerful emotion. Now, the emotioning from there is many times stronger. The risky decision is already paying off. Though I didn¡¯t do it for the emotion; they are just extra rewards. It did it for the women who have been forbidden from getting the thing that is natural to them. I am d, I did this, despite the price, I may have to pay for it. Hun! I stared at the core, for a few more seconds, looked at every section from which the emotions wereing, and moved my hand to close it, when I suddenly stopped. I felt something, that I had I felt it only one time. I didn¡¯t dare to believe it since it had been barely two and a half months, since the legacy was born, but when I looked at the core, I had no choice but to believe it. For more, Click Chapter 310: Grade II Legacy Chapter 310: Grade II Legacy {Demesne of Desire: Grade II} {Legacy Skill: Demesne Expansion} The text appeared in front of me a moment after I sensed the change. It was a great struggle to keep my expression contained with the thousands of people staring at me. I was about to swipe it away when suddenly things in front of me had changed and I saw my core appearing in front of me with thes revolving around it. Boom! It was zing brightly, absorbing the emotions around. Unlike when it was born, it is not intense that everybody could sense it, but it is still absorbing a massive number of emotions around the city and its range is spread rapidly. It covered the whole entertainment district and spread further. It didn¡¯t take long for it to cover the entire city when it finally stopped. Hun! It surprised me because it didn¡¯t happen during the advancement of the legacies. Once it is born, legacies absorb the emotions and store them. They use that emotion essence for their advancement. Here it spread the wave and absorbed the emotions of the entire city, which are filled with denser than usual emotion. Far denser than the day, it was born, thanks to the undead. The core is bing bigger rapidly as it is absorbing these emotions. The people won¡¯t feel this absorption, unlikest time, when the power had covered the people themselves. Absorbing emotions as they came out of them; this time, it is only stray emotions that are getting absorbed. Like a tide, everything moving toward my core, and it is absorbing it all, growingrger andrger every second. At the same time, it has begun to pour massive power into thes. Unlike when they birthed, there wasn¡¯t a huge change in them, but with massive emotions, they were changing. Finally, it cleared away all the stray emotions in the city and the massive sun began to shrink rapidly, till it went back to the carriage size. The size is simr to when the legacy is birthed, but the difference ends there. Because in terms of power and quality of emotions, it is far superior. Hun! The core had just stabilized when I felt another change. My legacy began to expand. Not the building, but the territory of it. It soon went past the roads and even began to cover, the area upied by the red fragrance. It took a few moments before it finally stopped. I didn¡¯t have to guess to know, that territory of my establishment had increased by double. It is quite shocking. I am not shocked about the effect of my new skill, but the skill itself. It is a rare legacy skill and usuallyes when the legacy breaks into Grade 4, while I got it in Grade 2. It is going to shock a lot of people. Hun! I thought the changes were finished when something began to happen. Something I hadn¡¯t expected. The twenty-fours forming the outermost ring lit up. These twenty-fours are enchantments at the walls of the city. They are part of the grand ritual that bonded me to the establishment. Caena had reinforced them with her ritual charms. Now they have lit up and I don¡¯t know why. Their function is simple, to reinforce my bonding with the city and establishment. So, this strange behavior is quite confusing. A momentter, I felt them exert the pull toward my new skill, Demesne Expansion. It is clear, they are trying to expand the territory, but the skill is obviously resisting. Seeing that, they pulled harder at the skill, that it became painful. The pull is increasing every second, increasing the pain. It is taking my willpower to not scream. I tried to turn off thes, but they were not listening, and I don¡¯t think I would have been able to do much if I had been in the establishment. It begins to worry me because if it keeps pulling at the skill like that, it will break the skill. I don¡¯t want to happen. Expansion-type skills are the most desired ones because they expand the territory. It gives more area to harness the emotions, which in turn produces greater emotion essence. A few more moments passed, and I gritted my teeth as I watched the skill reach the limit, if more pull is applied, it will tear the skill apart. If this happened, not only would I lose the skill, but my legacy would also be damaged. Hun! I was worried to death and trying everything to stop it, when suddenly I felt the skill changing a little and a momentter, the pull stopped all of a sudden and instead all twenty-fours poured their power into the skill. As they did, a silvery wave came out from all sides of the establishment and began to spread in direction. ¡®It is expanding,¡¯ I thought. This expansion is different. I could tell, that, the true territory of my legacy remained the same as earlier after the skill had taken effect; this new expansion is of the lower level. I am pretty sure, that I wouldn¡¯t be able to harness the emotions from this new expansion, which is spreading in all directions, but I am sure, it wouldn¡¯t bepletely useless either. It continued for over a minute, before it finally stopped. It now covers a third of the city, with the establishment as the center. I was shocked to see that and still was processing it when I returned to the real world with thousands of people staring at me. Likest time, a lot less time, I passed than I thought. If I am not wrong, then less than a minute had passed, but I could see Robin and others have started to get worried. Even the people have started muttering among themselves. They didn¡¯t seem angry, and some of the thanks for that went to the establishment, which sucked all those gathered emotions that could light up the spark. The spark could still light up and explode into an inferno if I was not careful. So, I controlled my emotions before opening my mouth. ¡°My people, the great enemy is upon us,¡± I said, pushing Every Ear Listen to My Words. I didn¡¯t need to use the skill; the green crystal in front of me with runes would amplify my voice just fine. ¡°It is powerful and has no mercy.¡± ¡°I wish, I could say, I have confidence against such an enemy, but I didn¡¯t when so many have abandoned us.¡± I could see the dread appearing on their faces, hearing the grim truth, that they themselves have realized in their heart. I have also taken a dig at that bastard who abandoned us. He would be angry when he found out, but I didn¡¯t care. ¡°I want to open the gates and escape with you all, but they are hunting us, leaving us no choice but to stay and fight. We will fight,¡± ¡°I promise you all, that I won¡¯t abandon you, like many did. I will be here to fight alongside with sons and daughters of the city.¡± I stopped and let the silence do its job before opening my mouth again. ¡°There is a big chance that we all will die, but there is a small hope, that we might win, and I decided to put my faith in it, rather than wallow in defeat, before it came and I hope, you all have the same conviction in your hearts,¡± I said, and there was silence. ¡°Victory!¡± ¡°Victory, victory¡­.¡± I don¡¯t know who shouted at first, but a momentter, more people started shouting the word, and within seconds, thousands began to shout. So loudly that the entire city could hear it clearly. Hearing them, tears couldn¡¯t help, but well up in my heart. They know the chances but still have hope in their heart. I really want to curse those bastards, especially the Count Darrow. He has such citizens, who have hope burning in their hearts, in such desperate conditions and he abandoned them. He truly doesn¡¯t deserve these. After an appeal, I walked off the stage. ¡°It was a great speech; very few could pull off a truthful one in such circumstances without causing a riot.¡± Praised Jon. I didn¡¯t say anything or even smile. A lot of people are going to die, but not fighting will kill even more. I desperately wish that negotiations could work, but the chances of that happening are extremely slim. Still, I will try, before raising my sword against them. ¡°To the establishment,¡± I said, surprising Z, but she didn¡¯t say anything. The carriage moved and within a few minutes. It reached the outer range. I felt the change immediately and could guess the things, I could do. I thought for a moment, before closing my and activating my skill. A secondter, a smile appeared on my face; I had guessed right. I opened my eyes a minuteter and looked at Z. ¡®She is going to know it eventually,¡¯ I thought and a momentter, a box appeared in my hand, a moment after that, it disappeared, while Z watched with her eyes wide. The first skill I used was Telepathic Call. It used to work in the establishment only, but now it is working in the outer range. The same is true for the Vault of Ru; both of the skills could not be used in the outer range. Which upies a third of the area of a gated city. I wanted to try the most important thing, but this time I controlled myself. The first two will only make others curious, but the third one will send the most powerful assassins at me; I can¡¯t risk showing it in front of the Z. Though, I will need to show it in front of one person. Soon, the carriage reached near the establishment, and the second after that entered its territory. I am still on the road, but it has now be part of the establishment since its area has doubled. I looked at the road and was d, that there was no emotion mist, or even the feeling, one gets the moment one entered inside the boundaries of establishment. If it had been the other legacy, it wouldn¡¯t have been controlled this quickly, but thanks to Caena¡¯s enchantments, everything is controlled. The legacy had advanced, but aside from three people, nobody had any idea. Ca and Margaux had also sensed it, because of the Share Authority. Click! The carriage stopped at the gates of the establishment and the door opened before Caena walked inside. ¡°Z, follow us with guards,¡± I said. She nodded and walked out, and soon the carriage began to move again. Nobody spoke, till we got out of the establishment''s territory and entered the outer range. Immediately Caena closed her, and a momentter, a powerful istion covered us. ¡°It worked,¡± she said with a gleeful smile. I raised my hand, and a momentter, a fireball appeared over it. It disappeared and a water de appeared in my hand, and the moment after that, an acid ball. I tried one spell after another, and all worked. ¡°Let¡¯s try, Grade II,¡± I said, feeling slightly nervous. Till now, the establishment could only use Grade 0 and Grade 1 spells, but now with it reaching Grade II, we will be able to imprint and use Grade II spells. There is only one Grade II spell, imprinted in the establishment. It had been less than an hour since the establishment advanced to Grade 2. Caena was only able to imprint, one Grade II spell; it is from the guard. I activated it and immediately, a reddish energy armor appeared on my body. Much stronger, than the spell, that the guard had used. ¡°We might really have a chance of surviving with it,¡± she said, and I shook my head. ¡°If we had a month or at least a week or two to gather enough emotion essence to power the spells, there would have been a real chance, but now, it will only be helpful. It won¡¯t be enough to turn the tide,¡± I said with a regretful smile. ¡°It is still a Grade 2 legacy, and we will have a chance. If we do what, Regyn Sol had done,¡± I said with my expression turning serious. For a moment, she was confused, before her eyes lit up and then widened as she realized what I meant. For more, Click Chapter 311: Plan Chapter 311: n Raxtine Hotel, Greltheaven ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t expect things to get worse, so soon,¡± said the blue-haired man, looking out of the window at the square where the young governor had just finished the speech. All five of them sitting there in a room, looking outside. ¡°The chances of us surviving are pretty low,¡± said the raven-haired woman. Nobody said anything to that; they are here because they are desperate. Even if they escaped and survived; they will die in a few years. The vision brings thest hope for their survival. They need to believe in it, even if it will kill them, because if they seed, it will provide the others with the chance of survival. For a few minutes, nobody spoke, before their leader got up. ¡°I am going to pray and after that, we will meet the governor of Greltheaven,¡± she said and walked out of the room. ¡­. Click! I stepped out of the carriage as it stopped and turned to Z. ¡°Ask Commander Stone toe here, immediately,¡± I said. It surprised her, but she nodded while I walked inside the establishment. ¡°He said, he will need an hour,¡± Z replied. ¡°Tell him toe immediately, say it is important,¡± I said without stopping. I looked at the floors and saw people trying to enjoy themselves to their heart''s content before the undead came to reap their lives. Some are being excessive in their behavior, which we usually don¡¯t tolerate, but today we are doing. Still, there is a limit, and we already threw some people out, when they didn¡¯t listen to the warning. I could feel the emotions they were emitting. Which are quickly getting absorbed by the establishment. Now that it is a Grade II legacy, it could absorb the emotion, far more efficiently. If I had a week with such emotions. I could have been able to do some real damage to the undead. Click! Soon, I reached my office and walked inside. As I sat, I took out things from the drawer. I didn¡¯t think, I would need to use it this quickly, but d, I am prepared for it. I mixed the stuff, before taking out a dagger, puncturing my index finger, and dropping a few drops of my blood into it. I mixed the things and turned to Caena. ¡°Can you strengthen it?¡± I asked her. She is a witch. They know, how to work with the blood and I need it as strong as possible for the strongest effect. She nodded, and I pushed the inkpot toward her. She took it in her hand closed her eyes and started muttering something. A minuteter, I felt the stream of emotion essence mixing with the things. Not a Grade I emotion essence, but a Grade II. With the establishment turning to Grade II, all the emotion essence had turned to Grade II. We could dilute it to Grade I, if we require it, but currently, we don¡¯t. ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± she replied and handed me the inkpot. I took it and dipped the pen in it before starting writing on the parchment, using the full power of my legacy. It took a few minutes before I finished. I looked at the finished work and couldn¡¯t help, but feel proud; it is simple but airtight. I thought for a moment, before taking out two more parchment sheets and beginning to copy the content of the first parchment. ¡°Master Silver, Commander Stone is here for you,¡± Jill''s voice rang out as I was writing the third parchment. ¡°Send him in,¡± said Caena. Click! Momentster, the door opened, and Stone walked in, and he didn¡¯t look to be good mood. If I had been in his ce, I would have been angry too. He was there, preparing to defend the city, while I summoned him. Not in the mansion, but in the establishment. ¡°Lord Governor,¡± he greeted gruffly. I nodded without looking and continued to write. ¡°Sit, Commander Stone,¡± said Caena. He said down and waited. Finally, I finished with the parchment and turned to Stone. ¡°Thank you foring, Stone,¡± I said to him. ¡°I was busy, Lord Governor. I hope it is important,¡± he said. His words could say to be rude, but I don¡¯t mind. ¡°It is extremely important, but before we discuss it, I want you to sign it,¡± I said and pushed the parchment toward him. The parchment is NDA; I already signed the NDA with them after gaining the legacy, and it was strong, but I needed something much stronger. This one is as strong as I could make. It is simple; he cannot disclose any of my, legacies or Caena¡¯s secrets. I could have added the others, but that would have stretched its power, and I don¡¯t want that. I want it as strong as possible. If he breaks the contract, all the power of my legacy wille down to kill him. I explicitly wrote down, that as long as it could kill him, legacy could even use its primal essence, which is damaging to the legacy. ¡°It is an unusually strong contract; a simple mistake will bring down the power of legacy on me,¡± he said, looking at me directly. ¡°It is, but necessary and temporary. If we survived, I would add a few uses of exception to it,¡± I said. ¡°I hope, it is worthy of my blood,¡± he said and took a dagger and pictured his finger, before dropping his blood into the and mixing it. This contract will bind the Stone more strongly than normal humans, due to his elder blood. The elders are magical races and blood contracts are strong against them. He dipped the pen into the ink and signed it. Immediately, I felt it clicking. ¡°So, what is it?¡± he asked, and I smiled. ¡°Brace yourself, because it is going to shock the world out of you,¡± I replied with a smile and began. Within a second, his expressions begin to change massively with great shock appearing in his eyes. It shocked him so much, that his whole body shook; I had never seen him, like that, in his year of service. ¡°It could imprint any spell from Grade 0 and Grade II, and the spell will have power above its grade?¡± he asked. I didn¡¯t reply and instead showed him the spells, with his experience, he could easily tell the power of the spells with a look. ¡°We have enough emotion essence, but not enough to turn the tide of the battle,¡± I said to which, he shook his head. ¡°Even this little will bring tremendous help,¡± he replied. ¡°There is one more thing,¡± I said and spoke, and like Caena, even his eyes widened with great shock that he wasn¡¯t able to speak for an entire minute. ¡°You would do that?¡± he asked in a deep shock. ¡°Yes, I would,¡± I replied. It would pain me tremendously, but I would do it for the city, which had given me so much. ¡°If you make that sacrifice, then we might have a real chance of victory,¡± he said, with a smile finally appearing on his face. ¡°Then n it,¡± I said. ¡­ After Stone left, I didn¡¯t stay in the establishment for long. I left, after giving some orders to Caena and the girls. I looked out the window as the carriage moved toward the Count¡¯s mansion. I could feel Z¡¯s eyes on me, thinking. She and Jon had also signed the contract, but unlike Stone, they didn¡¯t get any exnation. I exined it to the Stone because he needed to know to n against the undead. It also helped that he had the elder blood. It is not like, I don¡¯t trust Z and Jon. I do, but the risk is too big. It will not only harm me, but also Ca and the other girls. I could not take such a risk. It is for this reason; that I hadn''t even told Ca about those enchantments. The less she knows, the safer it will be for her. ¡°The undead had breached the Bilgas,¡± Z informed. I sighed, there was nothing surprising about it. Like Alwin, it also stood no chance against the undead. They just took a few hours to breach its walls and now would be pouring into the city. ¡°It came from Meldhorn?¡± I asked, and she nodded. Their scouts have reached the Bilgas. So, we should be getting the regr updates from there as we are getting from the Almin. ¡°Any news from Port Midlet?¡± I asked, and she shook her head. Thest news about the horde moving toward the Port Midlet was a few hours ago. They are maintaining their pace, which means, they will reach the Port Midlet in an hour or two; they might have already reached it. Though it is unlikely, Port Midlet is a big city, and has strong enough measures to resistmunication blockade, till the undead got really close. Which will give the city, ample time formunication. Soon, the carriage reached the mansion, and I stepped out. I would love nothing more than to conduct the business in the city hall, but the Count had made people used to his home and if I change it suddenly, it will affect things. Things are already difficult; I don¡¯t want to make it more difficult. As I entered the office, there was a lot of work waiting for me. Thankfully, Bell and Ina had kept everything sorted. I sighed most of the documents after reading them; I had doubts about a few which I had kept aside, before sending them all. If we survived. I will need to do an audit. ¡°The horde is twenty-miles away from Port Midlet,¡± informed Z. I stopped, what I was doing and turned to her. ¡°What is their strength?¡± I asked. ¡°Around three hundred thousand,¡± she replied. Which is as the information had said. If such a horde attacks us; there is no way, we will have the slightest chance of surviving against it. However, Port Midlet has a good chance. It had a big enough army and thest I heard; the bastard Zanav is still there. His calvary will be tremendously useful against the undead. ¡°There is a message from Commander Dane. He is asking you to send the armaments the city has,¡± said Z. ¡°Ask him to send his men to discuss it,¡± I replied, without even looking. It was not the first time; he had asked for it since I had assumed themand and wouldn''t be thest. I gave him the same answer, send his men to discuss; I didn¡¯t even promise him those things. In thising battle, we mightck men, but we didn¡¯tck the weapons. We have enough to arm every man and more. There are arge number of weapons came from the merchant state, a few weeks ago. It was the first order of its kind and was for Prince Grelt¡¯s army. The empire''s agreement with Meldhorn explicitly forbids the trading of weapons, but that didn¡¯t stop Prince Grelt. I wonder how Dane got to know about it; very few people knew about it. The Count had hinted to me to not touch those things before leaving, and even Prince might get angry, but I don¡¯t care. Survival is more important than the consequences. For more, Click Chapter 312: New Allies Chapter 312: New Allies ¡°The undead horde had left the Almin. It is now moving toward the east,¡± said, stopping everyone in the office. The east means Panar, and from there, it would be Greltheaven and Norke. Norke is small enough that it won¡¯t need the whole horde. Stone had said that the horde would divide itself after conquering the Panar. One part would go to the Norke, while the other to the Greltheaven. ¡°Their numbers?¡± I asked. ¡°Two hundred thousand,¡± she replied, which everyone expected, but still turned everyone¡¯s expressions serious. For a few minutes, there was silence, when suddenly Z¡¯s expression turned strange, and she turned toward me. ¡°There are five people iming to be from the church of Cynvar and they want to meet you,¡± she informed surprising me. ¡°The goddess of Dusk?¡± I asked as I tried to remember all the details about it from instant recollection. ¡°Church of Cynvar; a church that was born around four hundred years ago. It was a low-level church that was inconspicuous until nearly a century ago when the Twilight Goddess wanted to bring it into her fold,¡± ¡°The Church of Dawn also tried to do the same, with both using not-so-fair means,¡± ¡°It is quite surprising, that the church of dusk resisting. Seeing they are reduced to a single region of merchant state and even there, their churches and numbers are rapidly shrinking,¡± said Robin, with pity in his eyes. It is a ssic church politics. Powerful churches want those below them in their domain to submit them. Many churches that don¡¯t submit face hardship and some have even been destroyed. Most small churches ended up submitting. It is not just the survival of their church, but also of their god, who depends on them for their faith. ¡°Are they real?¡± I asked. I am right to be skeptical because no one in their right mind would stay here in the city when the undead are attacking. They should have already left before the undead created the blockade in the afternoon on the merchant-state side. Before that, the merchant state was letting its people in. Nearly all from the merchant state had already left the city. ¡°They are real. The guards have verified,¡± replied Z. It is very easy to verify the people of the church; their divine power is obvious. ¡°Then let¡¯s see, what they want,¡± I said. I am swamped with work and have a lot of things to do, but they are people from the church. It might be a low-level church, but that didn¡¯t decrease their need for me. Click! It didn¡¯t take long, and the door opened. Five people walked in, wearing dusky ck robes, covering their whole bodies; even their faces couldn¡¯t be seen properly due to the hoods. They stopped in unison and removed their hoods, before making a faint bow. ¡°Lord Governor,¡± they greeted, while I watched in surprise. It is not just me, but everyone in the room is surprised to see them. I looked at their leader and she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She is a tall woman and looked to be in her early thirties. She has long violet hair and radiant skin with cheekbones that one would sell their soul for. However, it is her eyes that are the most prominent. They are ck as in the night. When I looked at them, I felt like I was staring at the darkest night, without any light. I immediately looked away. Her ck eyes are surprising. Humans have it and other races. Only one race didn¡¯t have them. The elves. As far as I could see, she is a pure-blooded elf. She may have a human or other race ancestor far back in her line, but I don¡¯t think that is a reason. Her eyes didn¡¯t feel like a normal ck eyes. I quickly pushed those thoughts away and focused on the other members. There are four people behind her. One is a green-haired elf woman in herte twenties behind her is a muscled half-elf blue-haired man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. On the other side of the violet-haired woman are two humans. First is a beautiful blond woman in her mid-twenties and man short ck-haired man in his early twenties. ¡°Please take a seat,¡± I said and offered them, the seats. ¡°Thank you, Lord Governor,¡± said the violet-haired woman and sat in front of me. She looked at the people in the office, before turning to me. ¡°I have to say, your appearance here at this time has surprised me, your grace,¡± I said, addressing her as per her title. Her robe had an emblem of her church and on the other side has a mark of her position. She is a bishop. ¡°Apologies for not following the etiquette. My lord, but we didn¡¯t want to waste the time when we have a great task ahead of us,¡± she said. ¡°And what would that be, your grace?¡± I asked with hope, beating in my heart. ¡°The undead, of course, my lord,¡± replied the woman with a small smile on her face, while my heart leaped with joy. The need for the clerics couldn¡¯t be underestimated. They bring a huge aid to the battle, especially against the undead. ¡°You are willing to aid us against the undead?¡± I asked, to be sure. ¡°Yes,¡± she affirmed. I wanted to shout loudly hearing that, but I controlled myself and thought about it rationally. I know they are not spies or people sent by the undead. They had their church and didn¡¯t tolerate any other in their domain. It could be said that they consider them their enemies. Still, that doesn¡¯t mean, they are without any intention. ¡°I know you want to help our beautiful city and we are grateful for that, but I wonder if you want something else too?¡± I asked her directly, and the small smile on her face widened. ¡°Yes, we want something, but that can be discussed after we survive the undead,¡± she said. ¡°That is fine, the undead are important,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Once again, I am grateful for the help you are offering, your grace, and will try my hardest to pay you back for this, but it will not bepletely up to me. This position of mine is temporary,¡± I added. I could already guess what they want for me, and I don¡¯t think, I will be able to give it to her. The Count would never agree to it, nor would the prince. ¡°I understand,¡± she said, and I could see in her eyes, that she understood the things. There is a big chance, that even if we survived, this huge risk wouldn¡¯t give them anything, not even a simple thank you. ¡°Now that we have concluded the business, I hope, you will grace me with your name, your grace,¡± I said, and she smiled. ¡°I am Merial nis.¡± She introduced herself before turning back. ¡°These are our pdins, Alen Magleth and Lois Carr, and our priests Avna Kelryc and Fex Sutton,¡± It was a struggle to control myself when I heard the word pdin. The muscled half-elf man and beautiful blond-haired human woman are pdins, both of them looked to be in their mid-twenties. The young man in his early twenties and the elf, who looked to be in herte twenties, are priests. I thought all of them were clerics, but there were two pdins. They are a powerful martial ss at the level of knights but with the extra boost of divine power. I don¡¯t know what their exact level is, but at every level, they are useful. ¡°With your aid, we are one step closer to being ready against the undead,¡± I said, and she smiled. She left soon after; she will go to Stone, who will be essing their abilities. ¡°Try to find out any information you could about them,¡± I said to Robin. I trust that they are with us against the undead, but I would be an idiot if I didn¡¯t look them up to be sure. One can never be too careful in times like these. A few minutes passed, and another set of papers came for my permission. The battle isn¡¯t just swinging weapons and firing spells. It is also signing a lot of documents, giving out permissions, and meetings. Soon, I finished signing the papers and sent them away. ¡°Commander Stone had brought them out and was ready for you,¡± informed Z. I nodded and got up, before walking out of the office. It is a huge risk; I will be taking it with them, but like many things, I have no choice. They will increase our chances against the undead. Soon, I walked out and saw the sun had already gone down. Byte midnight, the undead would reach the Panar and then here. It is highly likely, that tomorrow, we will be fighting against the undead. It feels too soon, butpared to the other cities, we have more time to prepare against them. I sat in the carriage, and it moved toward the second garrison ground. On the way, I saw arge number of people, with their things on their backs and carts. Many looked angry, some crying, but walking to where the guards were leading them. I could also see, the people of the constructionist guild have started working, destroying the building, creating blockades, and other things. Moving the people is necessary. It will be very dangerous if they remain where they are and hard to protect. It is better for people to stay in a single ce, where they would be protected properly from the undead. It is not without its disadvantages, but it is the safest option, with the n, Stone has in mind. The carriage was moving when a small appeared on my face; the carriage had entered the outer range of the establishment. I closed my eyes and a few secondster, the smile on my face became even bigger. Soon, the carriage entered the second garrison grounds. I t is big and there are a thousand soldiers, along with mages and archers, but my focus isn¡¯t on them. My focus is on the thousands of loosely standing bodies of grey and green. The carriage stopped and Lt. Colonel Julian opened the door and led me toward Stone, who was standing in front of the thousands of Orcs. The orcs that were prisoners till midnight and still are. They looked much better than yesterday. I have fed them four times already; it was helpful, that there were people among the orcs and some in the army, that had quick digestion and recovery skills. I could feel their eyes on me as I walked toward them, and I met those eyes without showing any fear. ¡°Lord Governor,¡± Stone greeted as I stopped beside him. ¡°Did you tell them?¡± I asked directly, to which he shook his head. ¡°It would be better if ites from you,¡± he replied. He is right. It is better if I make the offer to them as the governor of Greltheaven. I turned to them and looked into their eyes. Especially the leaders, who are in the front. I also looked at the strange white orc, who was standing alone in the corner. Seeing the way, the orcs were standing; it seemed like, they wanted to stay away from it as much as possible. My eyes stayed on him for a moment, before turning to other orcs. ¡°I am Remus Silver, Governor of Greltheaven and the host of legacy. I have an offer for you all,¡± I said, and a surprise was clear in the eyes of many. It is not the word ¡®offer¡¯ that made them surprised, I am sure by now, they had been able to find out what was going on, and it didn¡¯t need the genius to figure out the rest. ¡°I am sure, you are all aware that the undead areing and I want you to join us in the fight against them. In exchange, I will grant you allplete freedom without any restrictions,¡± I said, and manyughed. The guards moved toward them, but I raised my hand to stop them. ¡°Did I say something, funny?¡± I asked the old bony Orc, who seemed to be garnering the greatest respect. He is the Shaman Trik. Only Lv. 30, in thousands of orcs. There were a few more Lv. 30 orcs, but they were killed by the nobles, in not-so-legal ways, since higher permission was needed for their execution. They were too dangerous to keep in prison. They killed them, to deal with the trouble they might cause. As for how he survived, he was very good at talking and also bribed the Baron Harrods, his treasures, which saved his life. ¡°You are very funny, my lord. You want us to fight for you when you were going to execute us?¡± He asked, looking directly into my eyes and I stared back, before smiling. ¡°You are right, we were going to execute you, but since the undead are attacking, we need you to fight with us,¡± I said, not denying the thing, we were going to do to them. ¡°It will be more like using us as cannon fodder against them,¡± he spat, to which I shrugged. ¡°It is better than dying without fighting. I am sure, you know what the undead will do, once they capture the city,¡± I said, and many shuddered. ¡°Still, many of would prefer that, since you are going to break that promise, anyway. We had learned a long ago, to not trust the lords like you,¡± said the muscled orc. Even starving daily for months hadn¡¯t made him lose those muscles. He is angry, along with many others, but there are more who are willing to ept the terms. I could see in their eye; that the promise of freedom had made their heartbeat with hope. They wouldn¡¯t mind fighting against the undead for it. I am confident, that I could get more than half of them to fight for me, but I don¡¯t want half; I want all of them. So, I did what not any sane host of legacy would do. Old man Vanis would admonish me from taking such an enormous risk; it is one of the things he said, I shouldn¡¯t do. I was also not allowed to do ording to the terms of the contract I signed with the emperor. He is dead now and with it, those restrictions. I raised my hand in front of me and gathered the power of the legacy in my hand. Many remained oblivious, not sensing anything, but the eyes of Trik and a few others widened as they sensed the power. ¡°I swear on my legacy, that as long as you all fight against the undead with us, following all the rules andmands; I will free you all,¡± I swore to all. There was barely any change in most people¡¯s eyes, but the eyes of shamans turned serious as they felt my words resonating with the world. They stared at me for a moment, before walking toward each. The guards moved once again, but I stopped them and watched, while the shamans and the leaders discussed. They took over ten minutes before turning back to me. ¡°We agree to fight alongside you, but we have a few conditions,¡± said the old orc. ¡°Sure,¡± I said with a smile. For more, Click Chapter 313: Strategy Meeting Chapter 313: Strategy Meeting ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have sworn the oath,¡± said Stone as we walked away from the Orcs after discussing the terms; some I had epted, some I didn¡¯t. ¡°It was necessary to convince the leaders to fight for us willingly,¡± I replied. I could have easily made half of them fight for me. If I tried harder enough, 80% of them with many leaders or all of them, after some threats, but that wouldn¡¯t have made themmitted. They still might find a chance to run away or do other things, that will be harmful to us, but the chances of that happening are less than before. Breaking the oath would make me lose the legacy and even they know I won''t do such a silly thing for a few thousand orcs. ¡°What¡¯s the deal with that orc?¡± I asked. He remained confused for a moment, before understanding my question. I am asking about the strange lone orc. ¡°He is albino; orcs considered them impure and unlucky,¡± replied Stone. My expression turned strange for a moment before anger shed in my eyes. ¡°Fucking idiots,¡± I cursed. Albinism is not magical; it is biological. In humans, it urs because of the lower level of mnin. I am sure, there is a simr reason or the same chemical responsible for it in the orcs. I can¡¯t imagine what that poor orc must have suffered. Seeing those people, aren¡¯t even willing to be in his shadows. Hun! Suddenly, Z stopped, making both of us turn to her. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked. ¡°Panar had opened the gates and now people are escaping through it, inrge numbers,¡± she replied. I couldn¡¯t help, but sigh, hearing that. Its governor had been under extreme pressure, especially in the past few hours since the undead horde, left the Almin. There have been huge riots, that he started to have a difficult time managing. Even the city guards have joined it,st I heard. The Greltheaven was in much better condition, and I could take some credit for that. I had worked hard on the messaging from the start; I didn¡¯t contain all the news and promptly dealt with any incident that urred. It was not like everyone reacted peacefully. There are many incidents, but they have been handled peacefully and with force. Still, I have to be careful, anything could happen, and I don¡¯t want to give the city to the undead without even fighting the battle. ¡°It will be bad for them and us,¡± said Stone after a few seconds of silence. Bad for them, because the undead will hunt them, and bad for us because the few hours, they would have spent conquering it wouldn¡¯t happen. It is highly likely that even the leader would abandon the city. ¡°Then prepare; we need to be ready for them,¡± I said. He nodded and walked away, while I stepped into my carriage after talking to a few people. ¡°Is there any news of the Count?¡± I asked Z, to which she shook her head. The bastard should have reached the Dustorn Fortress by now. He had said, he would contact me as soon as he reached there. There was nothing from the Count and the fortress didn¡¯t inform us of his arrival. I wanted to ask about them directly, but I don¡¯t want anyone listening to know that the Count is gone. Though, I think they had already guessed where he went; it is not that hard. There are only two ces he could go, Mirador Hold and Dustorn Fortress. He wouldn¡¯t go on the hold; it would be like jumping from the arm of one danger to another. Dustorn fortress is the only choice, even at this time, where Tabes might attack, because even if we lost Tabes. The Count wouldn¡¯t die, they would just capture him and ransom him back to his family. While in captivity, he will be treated ording to his station; undead don¡¯t follow such rules. Soon, the carriage got out of the outer range, making me feel a little naked. It had been only a few hours since the establishment had advanced to Grade II and I didn¡¯t stay in its range for more than two hours, but every moment I stayed, I felt safe. It wasn¡¯t just the feeling; I was safe. Safer than I was out of it because, at any moment, I could use the spell to st anyone, meaning hard to me. Soon the carriage reached near the western gate, where all the buildings had been ttened and now the blockades were being created. Edmor is leading the whole effort of nning and leading, but Valentina is in charge of the name. I wouldn¡¯t have done that, but I need her name out as much as possible. I was quite surprised when Stone had made him in-charge; I thought there would be someone with more experience, but it seemed like the man had impressed him, and seeing, how things are going, I am impressed too. Click! The carriage stopped and Lt. Colonel Hiren opened the door with his one hand. The man had lost the hand to the bandits in Lockridge Castle and taken the retirement, but joined back as soon as he recovered. The retirement didn¡¯t suit him. ¡°How are the things?¡± I asked as I stepped out. ¡°Going great. We should be able to finish with our preparations by the morning,¡± he replied and seemed quite confident about it. ¡°Let¡¯s hope, we do,¡± I said with a small smile and walked out with him, looking at the preparations. Soon, we climbed up the city wall, which had more cannons on it, than it had been yesterday. These slim cannons were part of mobile artillery, but we made a few adjustments and mounted them on the walls. There are armaments in the city, but these armaments were brought in view to fight the armies, not the undead horde. The city didn¡¯t have many resources or, at all, to fight specifically against the undead. We had some, but the Count had sent them to Mirador Hold when Dane started demanding them. He didn¡¯t buy new ones from the city. The Count always had a n to run away. He had no intention to stay and defend the city in any circumstances. We are using every resource we have, adjusting them ording to our needs. I moved my gaze away from the cannons and looked ahead, where hundreds of people burying the mines. I could see Valentina and Edmon there, using their spells with other mages to expedite the process. I looked for a few minutes, before walking back into my carriage and going to other ces to check the preparation. They are moving on time and should be finished by the morning. The carriage stopped at the mansion and I got out, before walking inside. I didn¡¯t walk to my office and instead directly went to the conference room, where merchants and other important people were waiting for me. The meeting didn¡¯tst for long. It was a courtesy meeting to ay their fears, after fifteen minutes, I was in my office. There is going to be one more meeting in a few hours with Stone and the other officers about the strategy. ¡°Any news on Count?¡± I asked again, as I entered my office. ¡°No, but there is one from Inam; it is about the Port Midlet,¡± she replied. ¡°Finally,¡± I said. Inam is the biggest imperial city closest to us. It is geographically part of the Renwell region, thest city in the wastnd, but part of the Halsad region. It is also close to Port Midlet; they had said, they would send the scouts, and it seemed they did. ¡°How¡¯s the Midlet doing?¡± I asked after a second of silence. ¡°Their army is fighting in front of the city against the undead,¡± she replied. ¡°Has Zanav, made a move?¡± I asked. ¡°He and his cavalry hadn¡¯t been spotted yet,¡± she replied. ¡°What is Inam is saying about the battle?¡± I asked, there is alwaysmentary from the military brass. ¡°They said, Midlet¡¯s forces will fight the undead outside the walls for a few hours before fighting them from the walls,¡± she replied. ¡°It seemed like, they are doing better than I had expected,¡± I said. I thought the undead would have gone for the wall by now, but they were holding them back. It could be said to be the first city to stop the undead from touching their walls for more than four hours. Even Ashton Harbor hadn¡¯t managed to do that. She informed me of other news about Tabes, Edruin, and other kingdoms attacking the empire and other battles happening inside. I listened to them, before pushing them in the back of my mind. What is happening in the empire is not my concern, at least not till, I survive the hordeing for the city. ¡°They have arrived,¡± informed Z. I stopped what I was doing and got up, before walking out of the office. It is a strategy meeting; Stone had already devised it and will be sharing it with the rest. Click! ¡°Lord Governor,¡± they greeted as I stepped inside the room. Every important officer is here, from Major to Commander. There are also representatives of clerics, and the orcs, with three of them sitting on the main table and four in the back. Many looked ufortable, with their presence, and some were even ring at them. I am kind of surprised, that weapons hadn¡¯t been drawn, considering we have been taught to hate them and some had even fought against them in baronies. ¡°Everyone,¡± I said and sat down, with them sitting after me. ¡°I will not say much as it is, not my expertise. I will let, Commander Stone, exin, the strategy, he had devised,¡± ¡°Thank you, Lord Governor,¡± said Stone and touched the table. Immediately, a projection of the city appeared above the table. ¡°The army we have assembled isn¡¯t as trained or cohesive as I liked. It is not capable of employing the intricate strategies,¡± He paused and looked at all; there was no objection to his words. Everybody understood, what kind of army, we had cobbled together. Arge part of this army is inexperienced, with mercenaries and orcs mixed in them. They will never be able to execute aplicated strategy. Instead, will make things worse, if we try. ¡°Our battle strategy is divided into three phases. First, is engaging them outside of the walls, the second is defending from the walls and third is fighting inside the city, where we would end them,¡± he said. For the first two, there was barely any change in the expression of anyone, but hearing the third phase, everyone got rmed. ¡°Letting the bastard inside the city would be a death sentence; we wouldn¡¯tst long,¡± said Major Hokan, while many officers nodded. The ones who remained calm were the orcs and the mercenaries. ¡°Letting them enter the city would be dangerous, Commander Stone,¡± said Colonel Cardin. ¡°It will be Colonel, but it is the only option, that gives us a chance of victory,¡± Stone replied. Many looked at me to object, but I remained silent without saying anything. ¡°It seemed like you have something that giving you confidence, Commander Eukrin,¡± said Shaman Trik. Eukrin is the orcish word for elder-blood; it is a respectful word. The orcs respect elder blood and their strength. His words turned the focus of all back on Stone. ¡°There is something that would give us a real chance of victory if everything went ording to the n,¡± he confirmed while looking at me. ¡°What is that something, Commander Stone?¡± asked Vandal. Stone didn¡¯t say anything other than smile. Some turned to me, but I kept my expressions neutral and didn¡¯t even think about it. ¡°The n may be simple, but there are some intricate parts, that I will exin to you all,¡± said Stone after a few seconds of silence. It took over an hour to exin all the intricacies of the n and half an hour to answer all the questions the people had before the meeting finally ended. Soon everybody left, leaving only Stone behind. ¡°Take a rest, my lord. Once the undead arrive, there won¡¯t be any,¡± said Stone as he got up after our discussion. ¡°I will,¡± I replied. For more, Click Chapter 314: Request Chapter 314: Request Dealer of Desire Lv. 23 [Master of Legacy] Dealer of Desire Lv. 24 [Master of Legacy] Skill Gained: Energizing Essence Masterful Administrator Lv. 23 There was a text in front of my eyes, as I woke. I had leveled up. I barely nced at the first two lines, before turning to the skill with eyes wide and heart beating in the excitement. Energizing Essence is a really powerful skill that is specific to the masters of legacies. It works as it states; it lets one use the emotion essence to energize. I wonder, what kind of variation it is. Some energize the mind, some the body, some both, and some specific emotions. It is an extremely rare skill to get before the legacy reaches Grade 4 and the one old man Vanis wants since he is always damn tired. I quickly controlled my emotions and focused on thest notification and a slight disappointment couldn¡¯t help, but appear in my heart. Masterful Administrator leveled up, but it didn¡¯t upgrade as I was expecting. Well, it is not easy to gain those powerful sses. One needs to work for months and years to gain them, while I am at the job for less than a week. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the important thing. The four attribute points I have stored. I got two from this level up and another two from thest, which I hadn¡¯t used, but now it had be clear where I needed to use them. I added two to the vitality and two to the strength. Taking the vitality to fourteen and strength to sixteen. Immediately, I felt the change. My skin had be slightly vibrant, and I felt more strength in my body. For a few seconds, it gave me a high, that made me feel like, I could do anything. It took a while for the high to vanish and for me to get control over my emotions. I got out of bed, feeling a slight regret, that I couldn¡¯t add some points to the intelligence and charm. If I had nned the lead only, I might have, but I nned to fight and body stats will help a lot with that. I quickly freshened up and changed into the new clothes, before activating Get Ready. I wanted to shower, but I already slept more than, I wanted to. I nned to sleep for three hours only but ended up sleeping four. The sun had started toe out and in a few minutes, the whole sky would light up. I walked out of the bedroom and saw Shaun and Lt. Colonel Julian standing in the bedroom. ¡°Any news?¡± I asked him. ¡°A lot; I have written it all down,¡± he said and handed me a stack of papers. I took it from him and walked out of my suite, with them following behind them. ¡°They are still in the Panar?¡± I asked, and he nodded. They reached the Panar three and a half hours ago. They entered the gates without any resistance since more than half of its poption deserted the city, most of which undead brought it back. The undead were around the city, hiding before the horde even arrived. They have killed and captured most of the people trying to escape. I thought, they would leave the city by now for Greltheaven, but they didn¡¯t. It is good for us. It gives us more time. It is not the only good news; there is another about the Port Midlet, where the undead had yet to breach walls, even after twelve hours of battle and it seemed like, the big credit goes to that bastard. He had finally entered the battle and turned the tide. I hate the bastard, but couldn¡¯t help, but be impressed by his and his cavalry¡¯s prowess. These two are only good things because others are bad. The horde that captured Bilgas is now moving toward Port Midlet and there is another horde that hase out of the Ashton Harbor and is moving south-east. It is unlikely to be going for the Bilgas, since they already conquered it, and it is too small for the Deerpond. The only city toward which it could go against seemed to be Riverbell. It is one of the three cities by the river, with Deerpond and Greltheaven. It would be disastrous if they captured the Riverbell because it would cut our main trade route with the rest of the rest of the empire. I can not do anything, but I hope, the others would. Especially, the merchant states. The thing, they had been waiting for to happen had happened; the emperor was dead and wars were everywhere. Means more business for them and I am sure, they wouldn¡¯t want any harm toe to this precious trade route and would be pulling the strings in the background. By the time, I reached my office; I had finished reading everything. ¡°Any news about the Count?¡± I asked, before sleeping, I had asked him to keep an eye on that news. ¡°No, there was nothing,¡± he replied. ¡®Did they really capture him?¡¯ I asked myself. It might have happened, or he went to the ce which I couldn¡¯t guess. There is also a chance, that he might have dug the hole and is hiding in the wastnd. Stone had said, it was the best option to survive the undead. One only needs good mages to hide the life signatures, and the Count had gone with three high mages. For a minute, there was a silence, before I turned to Bell and Ina. ¡°Have you two slept at all?¡± I asked. They have been here since I had gone to sleep and are still here. ¡°We did,¡± they replied in unison. They have skills that let them operate with less sleep. I know for a fact Bell has it and Ina has it too. I didn¡¯t say anything further and focused on the files in front of me. It is not all work, much of it contains intelligence; we have mages who are responsible for receiving it from the other cities. Yesterday, there was only a single file, and now there are tens of them. With each passing day, more and more scouts were getting closer to the cities and information was leaking from the cities where the undead were fighting or already captured. They may have sealed citiesmunications, but that doesn¡¯t mean, there would be aplete blockade of information. It would leak eventually. ¡°The horde had left Panar,¡± informed Shaun, stopping me and everyone. Turning the mood of the entire office somber. We have been expecting the news, but it still shook the hearts of many. Till now, the horde wasing, but not directly toward our city, but now it is. ¡°It had split into two parts, oneing for the Greltheaven, while the other is moving toward Norke,¡± he added, predicting Stone turned true. ¡°What is the number?¡± I asked and his expression turned bad hearing that. ¡°Around hundred and fifty thousand for us and fifty thousand for Norke,¡± he replied, turning everybody¡¯s expressions worse, including mine. We have been hoping for a hundred thousand to one hundred and thirty thousand, but this hundred and fifty is going to make things a lot harder for us. Still, it didn¡¯t change the fact, that we will need to fight them. There is no choice, other than that. Half an hourter, Stone came to discuss it and left a few minutester. Like, I had said, it didn¡¯t change things. ¡°Lord Governor, they are here,¡± said the voice through the inte. ¡°Send them in,¡± I said. Click! The door opened, and six people walked inside. They looked tired despite the sleep and pale; some even had bandages around them, with loss filling their eyes. There are six people, with the muscled middle-aged man in the lead. He is a tall man, with thick blue hair and green eyes. ¡°My lord,¡± they greeted. ¡°Please, take a seat,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± said the leading middle-aged man. ¡°I am d to see, you have survived. It wouldn¡¯t have been easy,¡± I said after a few seconds. ¡°We did, but we have paid a great prize for that,¡± he said, looking at people beside him. ¡°It would have been wise if we had prepared, like you are doing, instead of escaping. The result would have been the same or worse, but it would have been honorable,¡± he added and sighed. He is a Major Hunriet of Panar; one of few hundred that was able to reach Greltheaven, among tens of thousands, who had escaped. ¡°It is not your fault, Major. With how things were in your city, you couldn¡¯t have done anything,¡± I said, but the man didn¡¯t say other than shake his head. There was a silence for nearly a minute before the man turned to me. ¡°I havee here, with the request, that you would let me and the people from my city fight the undead with you. Our strength might not be much, but we want to take back our honor from the undead,¡± he said. ¡°It would be my honor, to fight alongside you and your people, Major,¡± I said to a middle-aged man. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± he said and bowed deeply. We need people to fight and some of the people whoe from Panar are good. Stone had informed me, he would be enlisting them. So, even if he hadn¡¯te to me for permission. He would have needed to fight, every person in the city, who could fight is doing. He left soon after and an hourter, I walked out of my office. I was going to do a thing, I wasn¡¯t nning to, but the nightmare I had changed my mind. It is extremely risky, for her, but if I didn¡¯t do it and something has happened to her, I won¡¯t be able to forgive myself. So, I would do it, even knowing, it might put her in danger if we survived, and the secret is revealed, but she will need to survive the undead to face that. That is all I care about, right now. For more, Click Chapter 315: Three Hours Chapter 315: Three Hours Lich Savais ¡®This is really a wretched ce,¡¯ I thought for the hundredth time, looking at the vast wastnd. Except for the few pockets of green, there is nothing but the barren earth. People may assume the undead like us would like this ce, but we undead hate it as much as the living. I was in my thoughts when suddenly I felt eyes on me and turned. I looked at the man, wearing green armor with the helm in his hand. He is looking at me with those emotionless dark green eyes. ¡°Savais, Greltheaven is thest city we are going to attack, and it is the most important one. It will give us the control over an important trade route and the legacy,¡± ¡°I really hope you would control your emotions once there,¡± he said, looking directly at the soul mes in my eyes. There is promise in those eyes of things he will do. If I didn¡¯t do what he said. ¡°I won¡¯t kill him, Knight Bartram,¡± I replied. Giving him the same answer I had given to the general when he had warned me while giving me the assignment. I couldn¡¯t kill him, which I desperately wanted to do. It is a red line, that I wouldn¡¯t cross even in my dream. The punishment for it would be worse than death. That doesn¡¯t mean, I won¡¯t have my revenge. I may not harm him, but I could still cause him the pain, that he would feel such a pain that he would want to die. I already gathered all the information about him and know the things he loves. I will be going after them. The bastard will pay for what he did to me. I will have my revenge. I had thought about it day and night for over a year; it had nearly consumed me. Now I will finally have it, in three hours. It felt painful to wait, and I wanted to order the horde to move faster, but that was not wise. This is the optimum speed of the horde. It didn¡¯t strain our horde and the pirs controlling them. It is important that our force remain in optimum shape as we are going to attack the city immediately as we reach it. Knight Bartram wants the city to be captured by midnight, which wouldn¡¯t be a challenge, despite the resistance, I heard, he is nning. We have crushed hundreds of such and will be crushing them too. ¡­ Caena ¡°This is overwhelming,¡± said Ca with shock as she walked out of the basement, before leaving the establishment with Margaux. I watched them leave, before turning to Onaz. ¡°All well?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, everything is ready. We now only need to wait for the priest,¡± she replied with a smile, but nervousness and fear were apparent in her eyes. She isn¡¯t the only one feeling the emotion. Every person in the city is feeling it, including me. The undead areing; they are only three hours away. I looked at the hall, which had beenpletely transformed. All the chairs, paintings have disappeared. So have the bottles of liquor and other valuables that could be taken away. Even the feeling of legacy had been lessened, and its area had been shrunk to the establishment. If one could walk on the floors above the hall; they wouldn¡¯t feel any power of the legacy at all. It is my doing; I had done it save the essence. Every bit would be required for what Stone had nned. We wouldn¡¯t have needed to take such extreme measures if we had at least a week. In thest two days, we had collected a massive amount of emotions,pared to other days before. If we had kept collecting as such for a week; I would have had much better confidence in our victory. Many things have disappeared and in their ces came the other things. Mostly beds, a lot of them. They had filled all the floors. The legacy will act as the resting ce for the tired officers and soldiers. It could provide better rest than any resting skills. Especially when we use the real power of those charms, which we never did. Since the legacy was born, we have never used over 25% of the power of those charms, and after it advanced to Grade II. That 25% shrunk even further; it helped us save a lot of emotion essence since the first day. I turned back to the girls; twenty-two of them. They are the only ones left in the establishment, and the circle, which had also been evacuated. There is only one area for civilians, and everyone needs to go there, and the girls of the establishment are no exception. Most girls went there, but many volunteered for the different jobs. Including these girls who decided to stay here and help. ¡°It is a courageous thing, you are doing, girls. I am immensely proud of you all.¡± I said to them. What they are doing may seem like the safest jobpared to those fighting, but it is not. The undead kill everyone, who participates in the battle against them. It didn¡¯t matter if it was a fighter or the workers, who helped to create blockades. They kill all. I had made it clear to them when I had asked for volunteers. Even being an employee of legacy wouldn¡¯t save them from the undead, but they still did. I looked at all preparations once again, before walking to my office, where I summoned the core. It appeared, more magnificent than it had been a few days ago. Filled with such power, that it could vaporize the whole city and some more in an instant. I pushed those thoughts away and looked at the most colorful. Which had huge pools containing the Grade II emotion essence. I had confidence that if we had these poolspletely filled. The undead wouldn¡¯t have been a problem. I am not joking, seeing emotion essence, had not even filled 1% of these pools, despite the massive number of emotions we have harvested. These pools have massive capacity, even if we harvest as much as emotions as yesterday. It would still take nearly a year to fill them to capacity with the Grade II emotion essence. ¡®Let¡¯s hope it is enough for what we are nning,¡¯ I thought, before closing it and walking out of the office. ¡°Madam Caena, Priest Sutton is here,¡± informed Onaz as I wasing from the floor above. I nodded and walked toward the man. I found him on the first floor, looking at the hall curiously. He is a young man in his early twenties, wearing the robes of a church of dust, and has a wooden staff with a dusky crystal in his hand. ¡°Priest Sutton,¡± I greeted the young man, making him turn toward me. ¡°Madam Caena, I suppose,¡± he said, and I nodded. ¡°Is it really a legacy? It feels so palepared to the things I heard,¡± he said, looking slightly disappointed. A smile appeared on my face and a momentter, colorful emotion mist materialized, while the power of legacy concentrated on him. It shocked him immediately. ¡°Now, does it feel like a legacy?¡± I asked and removed all the effects. ¡°My apologies for the doubts, Madam Caena,¡± he apologized. ¡°You do not need to apologize, Priest Sutton. I am just conserving the emotion essence,¡± I replied and understanding appeared in his eyes. ¡°So, where do you want me to cast spells?¡± he asked. ¡°Follow me,¡± I replied and led him. I also went with him, while the girls stayed behind, despite their curiosity. Soon, we reached the entrance of the basement and entered inside, before finally reaching the lobby where there were also beds. These beds are slightly different than those above. ¡°This is the ce,¡± I said, showing him the small water pool in the center of the spa¡¯s lobby. I had removed all the flowers on it and other things, leaving only water. That is all we will need. He looked at the pool before pointing his staff at it. It lit up a momentter, before dusky rays shot through its crystal toward the water, while I covered him with the power of one specific. The spell has already been imprinted. In just a single day, I had imprinted over a hundred Grade II spells into the establishment. Stone had shifted the mages to the second garrison ground, which was in the outer range. There Stone had made them show their spells, and I sneakily imprinted them. I also imprinted the clerics spells. Silver was shocked earlier when I told him that. He thought only mage spells could be imprinted. It is witchcraft, a grand ritual. He underestimated it far too much. Any type of spell could be imprinted, as long as they are created from power belonging to this world. That includes the divine spells. The spell stopped and a secondter, another spells came in the form of dusky waves, which were also imprinted. The third spell was a dusky ball of energy. It was not a spell, he revealed yesterday, and I quickly imprinted it. He stopped after the three spells and looked at the water, which now shining in beautiful dusky light. ¡°I had enchanted the water with the divine spells. It will now be able to cleanse the small corruption of the undead and heal the minor wounds. It willst for twelve hours,¡± he stated. ¡°Thank you, Priest Sutton,¡± I said, and the young man smiled. I walked him out through the gazebo and watched till his carriage left the establishment before returning to the spa¡¯s lobby and stopped in front of the pool, which he had just enchanted with spells. ¡°Cleans Minor Corruption. Heal Wounds. Seal of Erasins.¡± I muttered and immediately dense dusky rays, dusky waves, and dusky balls of energy appeared above the pool before entering inside it. A couple of secondster, the water begins to shine in densely beautiful, dusky divine light. I had used the same Grade II divine spells he used, but these spells are far stronger than his. Their power is equal to the Grade III spells. The grand ritual of kama rakalis, imprints and enhances the power of the spells. Though the grand ritual, didn¡¯t increase its power to this degree. It makes spells jump the grade, but at not this power. The thing that gave them extra power above the grand rituals is emotion essence. It is the strongest fuel there. These qualities made the establishment, the best ce for a temporary hospital, and it would have if it had more emotion essence and didn¡¯t have a very important purpose to serve. We wouldn¡¯t have used the establishment at all. If not used, it would have made it more suspicious. Everything here is temporary. More temporary than other temporary ces we have created for this battle. It is, after all, a fa?ade. To hide the most important thing it will do. The thing, that will give us a chance to win against the undead. For more, Click Chapter 316: Horde At The Gates Chapter 316: Horde At The Gates ¡°They came,¡± I said, with my voice quivering as I looked at the tide of undead, that seemed unending. My soul shook, and panic built in my heart. Till now, I had only imagined the scale of the enemy we would face, but I had far underestimated the horde and the sheer scale of it and it is only slightly bigger than the smallest war horde. The unending tide is making me want to throw away my sword and hide in my establishment, without care for the city. It took a lot of willpower for me to control my emotions and d that binocrs were hiding my face. I remove them from my eyes and the tide bes just a ck spot. I stared at it for a couple of seconds, before turning back to the army gathered in front of me. There are twenty-four thousand people in front of me. If yesterday, someone had told me, we would be able to gather so many people. I would have pped that person. In the army in front of me, nine thousand and four hundred are from the city¡¯s army, four thousand and three hundred are men Colonel Cardin had brought from the mirador hold. Neen hundred are mercenaries, four thousand and two hundred are volunteers. People of the city, who had chosen to fight to protect it. All of them havebat sses aside from their main sses. Some hadbat sses as their main sses but were working in different professions. If we had taken everyone who had volunteers, we would have over thirty thousand volunteers, but we don¡¯t want people who never held the sword in their lives. We would have epted them if we had a few weeks, but unfortunately, we do not. Untrained people are useless in the battle. Especially against the undead, where they might freeze in fear and demoralize the entire army. Three thousand and six hundred are prisoners, with over 80% of them being orcs. Thest group is the smallest. It is only four hundred people. They are from the Panar, who volunteered on their own. I looked at them, before opening my mouth. This time, I didn¡¯t have a skill from Bell; I had reced it with other skill. I didn¡¯t even hide my emotions. I showed them everything, I was feeling. From barely contained panic and fear to a kindle of hope. ¡°The enemy hade, and it is powerful. There is a big chance, we will not be able to defend against it and it will kill us all.¡± ¡°Well, you all; I will be fine, thanks to the legacy,¡± I said and regretted it instantly. I don¡¯t know why, I had said that. It is a thing, I shouldn¡¯t be saying. I need them to know; that I am in the same boat as them. Their fate is my fate, but those words have thrown a fucking wrench on it. It is not like they didn¡¯t know it; they did, but it was the back of their mind, and now my words had brought them to the front. I also said those words at the worst time possible. It was time they could desert and if one deserted. Hundreds and thousands would follow immediately. I looked at them and for a second, there was no change on their faces, before a small smile appeared on one person¡¯s face and soon, it spread across the whole army. It is not augh, but a small smile, filled with the understanding of reality. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved. ¡°Yes, the undead army is huge, but we are not without hope. A small one, but it is there, and that is enough for us to face this colossal enemy. Show them, what a grave mistake, they made in attacking our beautiful city,¡± I said. Thud Thud Thud¡­ Immediately, they started to kick the ground, till the earth began to shake under them. I smiled and turned to the undead. That dot had be bigger, and it was getting bigger every second. ¡°How do you think they will attack?¡± I asked Stone beside me. ¡°We will know soon enough,¡± he replied. He didn¡¯t answer the questions, which he wasn¡¯t sure of. There are two strategies that the undead could use. First is directly attacking the single point with the whole horde or dividing it and attacking the city from all sides. We have prepared for both. Whether what we have prepared will work or not will depend on how many Level 30+ powerhouses they have. ording to thetest intelligence, there is at least a three-level 30+ powerhouse in the horde. They had kept at least one in the two cities they had conquered, and one was leading part of the horde toward Norke. The first of the three is a knight from the order of Ebon Veil; he is themander of the horde. The second is Necromancer Esalya; Stone had seen her on the Mayhurst ind. Though he never fought against her. The merchant state had provided a lot of information about them. Including their strength and the spells they use. The third is the lich and there is no information about it. It is very hard to keep track of them, seeing they change bodies as they die. It also didn¡¯t take any action since leaving Ashton Harbor. So, they couldn¡¯t guess its identity either. I know it will be dangerous. I still remember the lich; I had fought in the Namdar¡¯s ind. We had needed a High-Mage and the knight to fight it and even then, it had nearly escaped. If not for a protective amulet. It would have escaped. It still did, since it is a lich, but with only a soul. Stone said that there might be more hiding. We didn¡¯t have a single Lv. 30 to fight against them directly. We are much better whenpared to pre-level 30. There are, over thirty such powerhouses. From the officers, mercenaries, mages, clerics, orcs, and people from Panar. It is a number; I didn¡¯t even dare to dream about when I got this responsibility yesterday. ¡°If the Count hadn¡¯t run away, we would have a great chance of winning this battle,¡± said Colonel Cardin, without care for the consequences. I sighed hearing that; it is the truth. The bastard had escaped taking seven Level 30+ powerhouses with him. Three were the high mages, Atticus, and two mercenary captains. There was also his hidden guard, who was the most powerful of all. Aside from that, he took several pre-level 30 powerhouses. If we had them, we would have a huge chance of victory, but the bastard had run away. Taking those chances with him. Time passed, and the horde got closer and closer till we could see the huge number of it without needing binocrs. It was massive, that even men like Colonel Cardin shook, seeing them, before walking out of the gate. It is terrifying with zombies and skeletons as far as the eye can see. They are the stuff of nightmare that scared even a seasoned warrior like Colonel Cardin. He won¡¯t be fighting due to his weakness. He would have been a great help. He is, after all, a Level 30+ powerhouse. The horde stopped at nearly five hundred meters away from the city gates. For several seconds, there was no sound from it. It just stayed there and looked terrifying. It was over a minuteter; a single rider came out riding a skeletal horse. It is an undead, and it is following the white line, the only ce safe from mines. It is called the peace line. It is drawn for the movements of envoys. The rider came closer and closer, till it had finally stopped and craned its neck to look directly at me. I was shocked to see the face. The undead sitting on it is a middle-aged man with an expensive suit. I know the man; he hade to the celebration of my legacy. The Governor of Almin. Rupert Brass. It is for this very reason; the bastard Count had run away. Nowhere in the continent, anyone would do such a thing. If they captured a governor of the city, they would execute them or arrest them while providing them with respect ording to their station. Vris¡¯alud would turn them into the undead. ¡°Governor of Greltheaven, greetings,¡± said the heavy voice through the undead mouth. He had not spoken loudly, but I could hear it as well as the thousands of people behind me. ¡°Greetings to you, Knight Commander Bartram,¡± I replied. The body may belong to Rupert Brass, but it is being controlled by the Scalis Bartram. ¡°Open the gates and surrender the city. I promise you, no harm shalle to you,¡± he said, and I could see many stirrings. ¡°I have no problem in surrendering the city Knight Commander. I will only need awful promise that you will not touch, even a single soul of the city, after its surrender,¡± I replied and immediately, I felt his eyes zing in anger. ¡°You are overestimating yourself, Governor. It won¡¯t take more than a few hours for me to capture this city,¡± He threatened. ¡°You do that. Knight Commander,¡± I said. I could have discussed things further and tried to convince him, but I am already aware that it is useless. I won¡¯t give the undead what they want, and they won''t give me what I want. There was always only one option in front of us from the beginning. ¡°Since you want to fight. We will give you a fight you will never forget in your life, but before that, ept this small gift from me,¡± he said, and the undead took out a wooden box from the bag and threw it toward us. Mage Ravill caught the box in the air and cast a couple of spells, checking it for the traps before bringing it in front of me, encased in a shield. Click! The mage''s hands appeared and opened the box. Gasp! A loud gasp rang out from his mouth, while my eyes widened. The box contained a human head in it. Head of Count Darrow. He is dead. The head is real. Now, I could see why there wasn¡¯t a reply from him. The undead had killed him, which couldn¡¯t help, but make me wonder about the fate of his son and others. For more, Click Chapter 317: Horde At The Gates II Chapter 317: Horde At The Gates II ¡°Enjoy what little time you all have, because soon your heads will appear in a simr box,¡± said Knight Bartram, before the undead turned and rode away. ¡°Close the box,¡± I said after taking ast look at my boss¡¯s head. Strangely, I am not feeling any grief, not even the slightest. Instead, there is relief. I felt free, like a shackle that had been holding me, had been removed. I did what I needed to in these past two days, but there was always the thought of Count Darrow and the consequences he might bring, at the back of my mind. Now that he is dead, there is no such fear. As for Lancel and Prince Grelt. I don¡¯t fear Lancel, I know him enough that I will be able to control him. If he is still alive. The Prince, I am least worried about him. He is far too busy fighting for the throne to focus enough on this little city. With enough time. I am confident, I will be able to smoothen up any displeasure he has toward me. Mage Ravill closed the box and sent it down. I don¡¯t care where he puts it. I will care about it after I survive the undead. Hun! Suddenly, a change urred in the horde; it began to separate. ¡®They are going to attack the different parts of the city,¡¯ I thought, seeing the separation. It made my face tightened. Stone had said, it would be good for us if the whole horde attacked at a single point. The undead seemed to think that too; it is why they are separating. The undead have an absolute advantage, but despite that, they are taking things strategically. ¡°Separate,¡± ordered Stone and immediately, the army began to separate. In a few seconds, the horde separated into three equal parts of fifty-thousand undead. Each one-for-one city gate. The undead horde is dangerous, but the ones leading it are the most dangerous. It is them, we will have to kill to survive. As the horde separated; a lone figure came out. The man is dded in dark green enchanted armor and riding a big skeletal horse. That horse is a killing machine in itself and will be more dangerous to deal with the rider. He Knight Bartram; the real one. Commander of the horde. He stopped in front of the horde and stared at us. He didn¡¯t say anything and stayed there when his lips parted in a smile and the people from each separate horde; two from each part and they stopped in front of their respective horde. Seeing them, my whole body shook. Even Stone¡¯s expressionless face had changed. It was not just us, but everyone on the wall shook seeing those figures. They understand what they are and how bad it is for us. ¡°Seven Level 30+, we are dead,¡± said Mage Ravill with a shaking voice. ¡°Calm down, Mage Ravill,¡± I said, with my voiceing down surprisingly even, considering I was feeling more scared than the man. We had expected four or even five Level 30+ powerhouses, but there are seven of them. They will bury us alive. The small advantages we had in the numbers of pre-level 30 have disappeared. It was not an advantage if one looked at the horde. They had brought seven 30+, then there might also be far more pre-level 30 than we had already expected. Seeing it is already six, it might not even take them nine to capture the city. I pushed those thoughts away as soon as they appeared. Yes, the condition is bad, but so what? It is not like there is any other option in front of us. Whether we surrender or fight, the oue will be the same, but with fighting, we at least have a chance. A small one but still a chance. I looked at the six people behind the Knight. Except for two, we have the information on everybody. I looked at the two standing in front of the middle part of the horde. The first one is a lich wearing a grey robe. It is the same unknown Lich, that the merchant state had informed us about. The one beside him is a man in his early thirties, wearing ck light armor and a rapier at his waist. He is Nev Heartpeak, the battle fencer. The left part of the horde also had two people in front of them. First is a beautiful blond middle-aged woman, wearing a violet mage robe. She is Necromancer Esalya. Beside her is a man who looks to be in histe forties, wearing a blue-mage robe and has a staff in his hand with muddy ck crystal. I tried to remember any information about him, but found none. I turned my eyes to two people standing in front of the right horde. First is the woman, who looked to be in her early thirties, with dark brown hair. She had grey armor covering her and a long sword at her back. Klia Lowgust; is a warrior who could cast spells, but she is not a spell de. Beside her is an elf, who looks to be in histe twenties. He is a man who could be beautiful, with vibrant green eyes and long forest green hair. Athtar Zylna; necromancer. He is a real sadist ording to his information. All of them aside from the unknown lich and man wearing blue mage robes are verified Level 30 and above but below Level 35. Vris¡¯alud didn¡¯t need to send those above Lv. 35 to fight. What they had sent, is already more than enough. ¡°It is one tough horde,¡± I said with augh. I don¡¯t know why Iughed; it just came out. ¡°All battles I had on the ind; no horde of this size had over five Level 30+ leading them,¡± he replied. ¡°Then we should feel honored,¡± I said, and he smiled. I didn¡¯t ask him, about our chances against the horde. It is a useless question when there is no option but to fight. ¡°Charge!¡± Knight Bartram roared themand after more than a minute of silence. His voice was so loud, the entire city had heard it. With hismand, the whole horde moved. It is the middle horde that came toward us, with Knight Bartram leading them, while the left and right ones moved toward the eastern and southern gates. Seeing that, I turned and walked down from the wall at record speed and appeared in front of the army waiting behind the gate. The other two armies also moved toward their destination. Lt. Commander Azalea will fight from the eastern gate, while Hugo will lead the defense of the southern gate. Both of them seemed unlikely choices to lead, with Lt. Commander Azalea, never fought undead at such arge scale, while not many people knew Hugo, but Stone selected them. They are capable, but there are other reasons besides that. Lt. Commander Azalea is from the army. The army needs at least one of its own to lead. While Hugo is experienced. He had fought more battles against the undead, than even Stone. ¡°Are you sure, you want to do it, Lord Governor?¡± I asked Stone. It is not the first time; he has asked me the question. I could feel the eyes, of the army on me. They might not have heard the question, but they are looking at me. ¡°Everyone needs to do their part to defend the city, including me,¡± I replied. He clearly wanted to object and did so many times, but this time, he just sighed and turned to the gates. ¡°Open the gates,¡± hemanded and immediately, the gates opened, and I could see the undeading toward us in tide, with more than six times our numbers. Seeing the scene, I saw many soldiers taking a step back momentarily. Even the orcs shook before controlling their emotions. I looked at the people and saw not only humans but also the orcs and the elf. The man beside me is a young orc with the pinkish skin. He looked ufortable as other orcs around him. The man had been an outcast and never fought in a group, but he is strong and thus got the ce, despite objection from the orcs. Hun! As were waiting for themand, Shaman Trik came with a bronze censor in his hands and ash paint across his body. The censor is releasing a thick aromatic smoke, which is spreading across the entire army. Some people looked ufortable with it, but they bore it. I looked at the bluish smoke and saw it lingering around our bodies; I could feel it was doing something, but the effects were too abstract. Soon, another shaman appeared in front of me. He is a short grey orc, who looked to be in histe forties and holding a bowl of yellow paint with herbs mixed in it. ¡°Governor,¡± said Shaman Krema and put paint across my temple and arms. It felt cold and ufortable, as I had never experienced things like this, but I didn¡¯t resist and let the shaman do his job. A few other shamans came and did their magic. We need all the enhancement we can for this battle, and shamanic magic is powerful. It is more abstract than normal spells, but just as effective or even more in some conditions. It is quite regretful that these Shamans are willing to share their magic with humans, but not their own. Aside from the Shaman Trik, no shaman had shared their magic with the young albino orc beside me. Trik only did it because there was no choice, given the type of spell he cast, which covered thousands, excluding a single wouldn¡¯t have been possible. I wish I could do something, but currently, I can¡¯t. It took quite an effort and some threats to let the young orc join the battle. The orcs spread across all three armies and also their shamans. The same with the mercenaries and volunteers; Stone had decided to mix all to create a force that augmented the weakness they had of never working with one another. We also have twelve pre-level 30 powerhouses. It will be up to them, not only to engage with the other pre-level 30 but also against the three levels 30+. It will be extremely dangerous, but they will have to do it. There is no other choice; we do not have any Level 30+ powerhouses to fight against them directly. For more, Click Chapter 318: Battle I Chapter 318: Battle I Bang Bang Bang The undead have finally entered the minefield, and the mines begin to explode. Which is also a signal for our cannoneers and the mages on the wall to begin. The undead army had been in the range from the beginning but with its strong mage support. It would have been harder for us to do considerable damage; it would have been a waste of ammunition. Now they are upied with the mines. It is the best time for cannons and mages could strike. I watched as the mines explode left and right; not as powerful as they should, with half of them being diffused and suppressed by the spells and the skills. Sill with the sheer number of them we have ced there is doing considerable damage. It also gives us a glimpse of their mages, seeing the shields and other spells popping up everywhere across the horde. It is one of the reasons why, we have decided to sh directly, instead of defending from the walls, which would have been much safer. Stone and others are looking at every detail carefully. I am also trying, but I do not have enough experience to see what they are seeing. Hun! Seconds passed, and I began to notice things. I saw the group of skeletons and zombies moving ahead of the horde and falling on the mines. The controllers are using the undead as the mine diffusing measures. Sacrificing one, instead of tens. I am not surprised seeing it; the undead simply don¡¯t overpower the enemy with their numbers. They also used their brains, and, with the sheer number of battles they fought in Mayhurst; they have developed ways to deal with anything, their enemies throw at them. The massive undead horde is their main strength, but it is not the only thing they have. They have necromancers; the mages who make the horde, the sharp weapons with their control. These mages are called pirs in the horde. They control the undead and empower them, with necromancers having master control over them. People may call every mage, who knows death spells, a necromancer, but it is not a correct ssification. Anyone below Level 30 is a mage, even those of the death elements. They be necromancers only after the specialization. Other elements also follow the same rules. Only after gaining the specialization, do they be a mage of that element, which usually happens at Level 30. The pirs empower the horde and our target in this battle is to kill as many pirs as possible. Along with the pre-Level 30s and Level 30s. As for the vast undead horde. They are thest in the queue. Without the pirs and necromancers controlling them, these undead are much easier to deal with. Soon, they have crossed half of the minefield and moving forward even faster, while defending against the cannonballs and spells. The archers have also joined and targeted the mages, but they are defending. Still, each defense is costing them mana. The more spells they will use to defend, the more mana they will consume. It is why they would use the undead as the meat shield at every chance they get. I looked at the horde and gripped my sword tightly. It won¡¯t be long before we will charge toward the undead. I am scared seeing the huge horde in front of me, but there is also strange excitement, which I didn¡¯t expect to feel, but it has begun to build in my heart. ¡®I must be crazy to feel it,¡¯ I said to myself. I didn¡¯t try to suppress or calm it down. It is helping me deal with the fear, which is also increasing with the excitement. ¡°Its time,¡± said Stone as the horde crossed the three-fourths of the minefield. ¡°Charge!¡± He roared and moved forward toward the gate with the heavy steps, while we followed from behind, with hundreds of skills and spells activating in an instant. Each one provides a tiny bit of enhancement, but with hundreds, their power increases massively. I could feel my feet bing lighter, my body stronger, my thoughts faster. There are many protective shields around me, along with smoke from the Shaman Trik¡¯s spell, which is still lingering around the army. This is the advantage, that the horde didn¡¯t have. Unlike us, over 99% of their army is filled with the undead. There are not even five hundred living people in the horde. They are mages and warriors, but their number is far less to create such ovepping enhancement. I shouldn¡¯t be counting the advantage, seeing they have nearly all. The biggest one is the horde of undead. Over six times, our numbers They didn¡¯t feel pain or bleed or feel tired; they will fight continuously as long as keep receiving the energies. We charged out of the gates, and at the same time, the undead moved out of the minefield, with only two hundred meters distance between us. The horde looked massive, that I wanted to stop and run back to the city, but I kept moving along with the army. Hun! We had just stepped out of the gates when the spells came. The first one is the most powerful, likely from the necromancer. It is the only one who could cast this Grade 4 spell. The spells had immediately materialized hundreds of dark fire fireballs over us. These dark fireballs are the size of the tennis balls and extremely dangerous for the living. Hail of Fire It is a necromantic variation of the hail of fire. It is weaker against things but dangerous against the people. It is the first spell, that appeared, but not thest one. Dark des, fireballs, and numerous types of rays, from a ray of fear to a ray of deafness. As the enemy spells appeared, the shields materialized around us to stop them, while at the same time, our offensive spells moved toward the enemy. They have mages and so do we. Stone had said, we have a good number of mages; most mages with the battle experience had joined the battle with us, while those without it are helping from the wall. Greltheaven may be a small city, but it had a higher number of powerhouses than a city of its size should have. Thanks to the closer vicinity of the merchant stage; trade brings money and money attracts powerhouses. Boom Bang Bang! The spells shed against the shields, stopping them. Necromancer''s spell had also been stopped by the Mage Ravill. The man is the only one from the Mage Guild who hadn¡¯t escaped and even joined the battle, despite, not fighting for over a decade. He is scared and could not even hide it, but he is fighting. We are also lucky with him as the man used to specialize in shields. He had changed his expertise tomunication and was responsible for it in the mage guild, but he didn¡¯t forget those shield spells and was now, using them aptly. He was able to defend against the hail of fire, but this was just the beginning. The real spells had yet toe, those are the real dangers and I hope, our preparations would be enough against them. We got closer and closer, under the defense of our mages, while the intensity of our spells, cannons, and bows from the walls increased further. They only have a few seconds more; once we sh, they will need to stop to avoid the friendly fire. Finally, there was less than ten meters of distance between us, and I could see, Knight Bartram readying for the sh as he increased his speed. He is the most dangerous man here and there is only one person we have, who could stop him. I had just thought that when I had sensed the powerful suppressive power. Bronze color begins to cover Stone, while he starts to get bigger. The loose armor got tighter and the huge tower shield and big sword in his hand didn¡¯t look so big anymore. They looked perfect for him. I am not the only one that Knight Schegen has trained. He also trained Stone. He seemed very knowledgeable about the elder blood. So much, that he had taught Stone to use his elder-blood powers at will. Usually, only those who awakened could do it, but a very talented few could do it before awakening. Seeing the change, the eyes of Knight Bartram had be serious, while the Nev Heartpeak grinned. There was no reaction from the lich, he raised his staff and a momentter, the dark translucent wave came out of it. Fear Wave I be worried about seeing the spell. It is a dangerous spell; it had copsed the armies by amplifying the fear in the hearts of those fighting. Hun! I controlled my emotions to defend against it when suddenly the mist hanging around us moved and shed against the wave. The humans looked surprised, but the orcs grinned at seeing that. ¡°Shaman magic,¡± I muttered as I saw the fear wave getting swallowed by the mist of Shaman Trik. I wanted to turn toward the wall at Shaman Trik, but I looked at the necromancer and saw the ghostly green mes in his eyes seemed to have got brighter in anger. Seeing that, a grin couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. Many consider shamanic magic weak and primitive. It is a gross understatement. It works differently than the normal magic and is weakpared to it in many areas, but much stronger in some. Like right now, the mist didn¡¯t fight the wave, instead swallowed it whole, beforeing back to its ce around us. Finally, we reached face-to-face against the undead, with Stone appearing directly in front of the Knight Bartram. ¡°Die!¡± Roared Knight Bartram as he swung his sword at Stone. The sword was faster than my eyes could follow and knew instinctively, that if I was against it, I wouldn¡¯tst even a single move. It will split me apart into two, without me seeing how. Stone reacted fast. He quickly brought his massive tower shield forward, covering it with his bronze power. I watched as the long green sword of Knight Bartram moved against Stone¡¯s shield, with blurring momentum and great power. That, I feared, might cleave through the shield and the man behind it. The Knights are known to make that happen. BANNNG! The deafening sh rang out as the sword of Knight Bartram struck against Stone¡¯s shield. It was so loud and powerful that the earth shook under my feet. I didn¡¯t care about it, and I looked at Stone, who stayed on its spot. He wasn¡¯t thrown back or even took a step back. The only thing the sh seemed to have done, is to shake him. For more, Click Chapter 319: Battle II Chapter 319: Battle II ¡°Destroy the undead!¡± Stone roared and moved his shield to ram against Knight Bartram, but Knight Bartram reacted fast. BANNNG! His sword moved with the power of a meteor and struck against the Stone¡¯s shield harder than before, sending him back a step, before attacking him again. Earlier, he had held back; didn¡¯t even use the skill, but now he did that. It will be hard for the Stone to fight against Knight Bartram, but if anyone could do this, then it would be him. He is the most powerful and has been trained by Knight Schegen. He knows how to fight against them. BANNNG! They shed again, but I didn¡¯t see it. I focused on the tide of undead, which was about to hit us. It is huge and powerful. Also, smelly. I nearly forgotten how smelly these bastards are. This horde is far smellier than the undead, I had fought before. ng Pachac ng! The first line shed against the undead, and it was loud, but they shed through it. The undead were augmented, but the people on the first line were powerful. No matter how powerful their augments were; they were cut into pieces. As they did it, they wasted no time and moved toward their target. Lena, Pdin Lois Carr, and Orc Bilgud moved toward the Lich, with six mid-level 20s and twelve Level 20s. At the same time, Lt. Colonel Julian, Mage Osward of Panar, and Orc Vulrn are moving toward the Nev Heartpeak, along with five Mid-level 20s and eleven Level 20s. These two Level 30 needed to be contained. If possible, killed. Stone had nned for every little thing, but despite that, anything could go wrong. I still remember the Lich; I had fought on the ind. Four people had gone after it, including two Level 30s. Though the High Mage was a schr mage and Knight was without his armor. Lena, Pdin Carr, and Bilgud, all of them are steps away from Level 30. Most importantly, all of them are experienced and have magic suitable to deal with the Lich. Lena is a spell de, with fire as her element. It is powerful against the death element. Pdin Carr uses divine power, which is an antithesis of the undead and as for Bilgud. He is a standard warrior, but his tribe¡¯s shaman has focused all his power on him. Giving him great enhancements. The same is true for those going against the Nev Heartpeak. Raas Raaa It took a second and a half before two zombies and a skeleton appeared in front of me. They are faster than the undead, I had fought and also feel stronger, which isn¡¯t surprising. The undead I had fought on the ind had the lowest level ones and were being controlled by a single lich. While the Lich was powerful; he was not able to augment them well. Here, there are pirs, and above them is Lich, to control all. Making the horde powerful. Well, they aren¡¯t the only ones, who are powerful. I am too. On the ind, I was not even Level 5, but now I have four times the levels and far greater strength than I had on the ind. I looked at the attacks of zombies before moving forward. I dodged the spear from the middle zombie and moved one step left, dodging the attack from the skeleton, before taking a sharp turn and dodging the attack of the second zombie. ¡°It¡¯s my turn,¡± I said and attacked. Pachac! A momentter, my rapier touched the head of the zombie and cut through it, with faint resistance, before I took a step back and moved left, dodging the attack of the skeleton as I appeared in front of it. Khat! I swung my sword and its skull a momentter, activating the enchantments. Which immediately, made my sword cut through its skull smoothly. The fire in its skull''s eyes disappeared as my sword came out through the other side. I didn¡¯t get a chance to enjoy the kill and needed to move immediately to dodge the attack from thest zombie. Pachack! I swung my sword again and a secondter, the head of the zombies was flying up in the air. ¡®These zombies are good,¡¯ I thought and moved toward the bigger group, which was going against the soldiers, who were already busy fighting against the swarm of zombies. Compared to these zombies, what I had faced on the ind was absolutely trash. These have better muscle memories, and they are stronger with a better reaction. Not all of thesee from the skills and augmentation. It is clear that I am fighting against the bodies of the former soldiers. The way they react, they swing their weapons, and the way, they move is how soldiers do. It made me worried, but I felt a little relieved when I saw our people were fighting well. Aside from the four and a half thousand who didn¡¯t have any battle experience; the others are good. Even the inexperienced ones seem to be doing better than I had imagined. They didn¡¯t freeze seeing the undead in front of them. I reached the group of three zombies and skeletons and avoided their attacks, with minimal moments, beforeunching my own. Khat! My rapier cut through the skeleton, and I moved toward the zombie, with the sword of one skeletoning close to me. If I could use my skills, I wouldn¡¯t face any difficulty at all, but I will not. I need to refrain from using the skills as much as possible. I don¡¯t know how the battle willst and I need to conserve as much strength as possible. The battle might end quickly or take days. We prepared for both, but understand, that the chances of thetter are low. Thetter option will benefit us. It will allow us to level up, which they absolutely don¡¯t want to happen. It is why the undead don¡¯t stop attacking until they achieve aplete victory. It serves two purposes. The first is to stop the enemy from counter-leveling and, the second makes them so tired, that they can¡¯t give their all. We will not give the undead a chance to make that happen. Pachac Pachack! I killed the two zombies in a single attack and moved toward the second skeleton. Hun! I had reached in front of it and swung my sword to put them out of their misery when suddenly, I noticed an energy Lanceing toward me from the corner of my eyes. I was about to use the Rapid Steps to dodge the attack when the shield appeared in front of the attack. Puchack! Khat! Feeling relieved, I focused back on the opponent and decapitated it, before turning to the skeleton and cutting its skull in two. Hun! I finished them, but only to see another grouping at me and the group isn¡¯t normal. The three zombies aren¡¯t normal; all three of them are big with mishappen faces and protruding bones through the muscled skin. ¡°The abominable zombies,¡± I thought. These were not normal abominable zombies either, but powerful ones. If I am not wrong, they were made from Level 20 warriors. They might not have their intelligence and skills, but they have the instinct and the raw power, that had been enhanced with this sphemous transformation. They were sent to me as they didn¡¯t attack anyone, before stopping in front of me. Raaaa Raaaa Raaaa They screamed loudly with spit flying and four smellsing out of their mouth, that brought tears to my eyes. I bore them and watched the zombiesing at me. The first attack came from the zombie in front of me, with two othersing from two zombies on my left and right. It is as powerful as I expected and dangerous. I couldn¡¯t let the mace hit me; it would turn me into a porcupine if that were to happen. So, I moved and was barely able to dodge the attacks. I was about tounch my own after dodging it, but to my surprise, another sound of attacks came, without giving me a moment tounch the attack on my own. Rip! I once again moved and this time, the one of sharp spikes left spikes touched my shoulder de, tearing the cloth, and giving me a scratch. Seeing that, I wanted to use my skills immediately, but I controlled the urge and calmed my emotions down, before moving to dodge the attacks. These are dumb monsters. They have the raw power and the instinct of their former lives, but nothing else. If I used the skills against them; then I would really let down the training that Knight Schegen had given me. So, I dodged another attack and then another, while studying my enemies, their movements, and limitations. It didn¡¯t take me long to understand them. These are powerful without doubt, and normal Level 20 wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything against them, without using the skills, but I don¡¯t think, I will need to use the skills to defeat them. I dodged another of their attack, sprinted forward, and leaned a little, before swinging my sword. Slice! The enchantments zed, and it cut through the thick strengthened flesh and bones of a zombie¡¯s thigh like a hot knife does through the butter. As my sword came out, I took a sharp turn. Dodging the attacks of the two zombies before moving toward the left one. The attacks came at me, but the pressure had already lessened. The zombie of whom I had cut the leg hadn¡¯t fallen, but it had slowed down considerably. Its attack won''t reach me; I will need to be worried about only two attacks now. Rip! I avoided the attacks, at the cost of a minor scratch and appeared left of the zombie and attacked it, the same way I did to the first zombie. Slice! My rapier sliced through its thigh, and I quickly moved away, dodging its attack and toward the only zombie with two legs. Raaa! It seemed to sense something as it screamed with its foul mouth. I bore the spit and the smell before appearing in front of it. It attacked me, and I dodged, before attacking it. Pachack Pachack! I cut through its thigh, rolled over, and turned back, before cutting its second thigh. It fell, but I didn¡¯t attack it again. Instead, I quickly dodged the attack from the left one-legged zombie, before getting up behind it and finally attacking the neck. I hadn¡¯t been attacking the neck, because there was thick metal wrapping it, but now I could attack it because I have a small breathing space and would be able to manage it if cutting through it took a second extra. My sword touched the metal around its neck, and I was ready to use sharpness if I felt considerable resistance. Pachack! There was some resistance, but not as much as I had expected, and my sword cut through the metal, before cutting through the zombie¡¯s neck. As the neck of the zombie flew up, I moved, dodging the attack of a one-legged zombie, and appeared in front of the zombie without legs, which was struggling to get up. Pachack! I brought down my sword at it, cutting its neck, before turning to thest zombie, which was hopping toward me. If I had been alone and enemies weren''t everyone. I would have watched it as its was kind of funny in a depressing way, but unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have time. So, I moved forward and appeared in front of the zombie. Raaa! It attacked me immediately with a foul screaming out of its mouth. I dodged it by ducking and appeared behind it. Pachack! A secondter, the head of the zombie flew up into the air. Seeing that, a small smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face and once again, I felt grateful to Sir Schegen. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill the zombies, if not for his training. The attributes helped, but not as much as the training he gave me. For more, Click Chapter 320: Battle III Chapter 320: Battle III I saw the head flying off the third group of abominable zombies and quickly turned to look at the state of the battlefield. I first looked at the Stone, who is engaged with the Knight Bartram. It would be best to say, that he is keeping him in one ce. Since the battle started a few minutes ago, he had been using only a shield. Not once did, he use that sword, which is wise, because the shield is the best weapon to help him do what he promised. Containing the Knight. Though I could see the injuries appearing on his body, with some of them, looking serious. I looked for a second, before turning to the Lich, which is being contained by the Lena, Pdin Carr, and Orc Bilgud. They are doing a good job; their powers match well to contain the Lich. I turned to third, Level 30+. He is looking to be the most dangerous of the three. He had turned the bodies of Captain Julian and others bloody. Even the mage, hadn''t been spared, with cuts across all her body. Nev Heartpeak, the battle fencer. He was fast, so fast, all I could see was a blur. He is the fastest of all Level 30 and that saber of his is like a piece of knife with those against him were wood. He is carving them all bloody. I was just when I saw him split a man into two from his waist, before shing against Captain Julian and avoiding the spell from the Mage Osward Undead aren¡¯t the only ones dying. Our people are dying too. I took ast nce at the battle and stepped toward a group of abomination zombies that were approaching a group of soldiers. Hun! I had just taken a step when suddenly all the hair on my body stood up. I felt the danger that could take my life. My skills roared to life. I used Rapid Steps to turn and Quick de to move my sword toward the enemy''s attack. ng! My sword shed against the de of the spear, parrying it away from the target, which was my chest. I could see a surprise in the man¡¯s eyes as he stopped his attack and pulled back his spear. If I hadn¡¯t, I would have taken the steps forward and buried my rapier into his chest. The man isn¡¯t the only one who is surprised. I am too; one sh was enough to tell me that it is notmon level 20. I looked at the man. He is a tall, thin man, with a long nose. He looked to be in his early thirties and had the same, faint bronze skin that people of the Mayhurst ind have. ¡°There is a big reward for capturing you,¡± he said and grinned. ¡°Can you?¡± I asked, and attacked him with the quick de. There is no use in wasting time, especially against the enemies like him. The quicker I finish him, the quicker I will be able to focus on others. He reacted immediately and swung his spear at me, once again, but this time, it was no simple strike. It came like a snake, and I did not say that figuratively. The bastard''s spear had be fluid, with the tiping like a snake to bite me. The skill had surprised me. This skill is rare and usually, only those at Lv. 30 and above have such skills. Those at Level 20, have a weaker version of it; it is clearly not the weaker version. I moved my sword toward it, but the bastard seemed to apply another skill, as suddenly the speed of his attack increased further. It avoided my sword and came at me. I moved quickly, but his spear was faster. Rip! It ripped through the clothes of my shoulder and gave a cut on my biceps, right below the shoulder guard. If I had reacted a fraction of a secondster, he would have taken my whole hand. It wasn¡¯t satisfied with a minor cut, seeing the frown appearing on his face, and attacked me again, with once more his spear turning into the rubbery-bendy form. ng This time, I was able to defend against it. shing my sword against its de, trying to flick it away, rather than shing against it directly, which would put more pressure on the fighting hand. The knight said, I am an agile fighter and shouldn¡¯t sh directly like a conventional warrior. I should focus on deflecting the blows instead of directly shing against them. It is advice; I took to my heart. ng! I defended another attack after that when suddenly it moved forward with its speed skill and came at me with another snake attack. Rip! It cut through my stomach, before going for my legs, which I had avoided, but he didn¡¯t give me a break and his spear moved toward my head. ng! My sword shed, but it moved left and tried to strike my shoulders again and I dodged, before taking steps back, to avoid another. Ting! It followed me with a snake spear and shed against the enchanted breastte. It saved me, but the sh was hard enough, that despite absorbing the force; some of still hit me, sending me back. Which kind of helped me as I drove myself left, a little unstably, before moving my sword forward to defend against another of his attacks. Rip! I stopped it, but his next attack hit me on me, just below the arm guards, before attacking again. This time, he added another skill, that multiplied the spears. I didn¡¯t panic and moved my sword as I was doing, trusting my instinct as well as my knowledge. ng! I stopped the attack, but it came again, and I dodged, but the enemy continued, without wasting a second. Minutes passed as I dodged and defended against his attack, but many hit me. Till aside from my head, every part of my body was covered in the cuts. ¡°You are far more powerful than your information had said,¡± he said, with anger and irritation in his eyes as he attacked me again. Rip! Another cut appeared on me, and this one made my eyes widen as I felt the numbing effect of the skill on my back. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed. Till now, he had used many skills, but not this. This is powerful with the ability to bring my defeat. I have a high enough vitality and a powerful primary ss. It didn¡¯t affect me as it should have, but I could see how dangerous it would be. If it hit my limbs. The numbness would slow me, and after that, it would be a simple job for him to finish me. ¡®It seemed like, I have to do it,¡¯ I said and breathed loud, leaning more on my instincts. Immediately, everything faded around me, leaving only my enemy and me. It is called a battle trance. Knight Schegen was shocked when I first time used it against him. A few have it and most got through the experience of hundreds of battles; there are extremely few who have it naturally. It is from old Remus. It is a doubt-aged sword, and he had asked me to not use it, till I hadplete control over it, or was really desperate. I am desperate. I could use one other thing, but I rather not use it, seeing the type of skill it is. I had taken it for specific use and rather not use it before. ¡°Die!¡± He screamed and came at me. His speed is faster than before, and so is his attack. It seemed he stopped holding back against me. I moved my sword toward the fourth spear. It was fast, near the blurring speed, but it didn¡¯t affect my sword as it moved smoothly toward the real sphere. ng! The des shed. A surprise shed in his eyes, but he snorted and attacked me again. My sword moved with instincts and flicked at its spear''s de. This time, there was no surprise, only anger, which he seemed to channel in his attacks. ng ng ng I begin to defend against his every attack. There is not a single one, which I have not defended and with every defense, the anger in his eyes would increase further and further, which he would channel in his skill. The channeler. It seemed like, I was the only one, who was special here. Seconds passed, and he used every type of skill he had, while I did the only thing, defend. Using only two skills. I didn¡¯t use anything else, which seemed to make him even more angry. ¡°I will kill you!¡± he roared, and his attacks became stronger and his speed faster. That I needed to push, every ounce of my power in defending. Rip! His attack finally hit me, in my stomach. Filling it with the numbing sensation, which is stronger than I am feeling in my back. This finally, put a smile on his face, and he attacked again. I defended, but once in a while, his attack would hit me. However, they would always hit my stomach or the back. He seemed to feel, there was something, wrong, but couldn¡¯t find out what. This confusion fueled his anger, but small victories would bring it down, before it would go high again with a nagging feeling behind his head, about something really important, he was missing. Minutes passed, and my stomach and back were filled with bloody cuts. Ordinary man would have bled to death by now, but my high enough vitality was keeping them contained. Though not for long. I could already feel their effects and would have been even higher, if not for the numbing skill of the enemy working in my favor. A few more seconds passed, and my hazy eyes suddenly sharpened as my sword and his spear touched. ng! They shed and his eyes widened as his spear flicked away at greater force than it had been before in the battle. This time, there was the power of the skill. I had used the third skill, Quick Parry. I used that moment and spun, wanting to bring the greater momentum to my sword, for what I am about to do. At that moment, all the anger in his eyes disappeared as He brought his spear toward me. He finally understood what was happening, but was toote, unless he could increase the speed of his sphere, which I don¡¯t think he could. It didn¡¯t take a second for my sword to reach his head, at the spot below his helmet, and move through it. It touched the enchanted beast leather around his neck, but when my sword touched it, its enchantments red at full power and finally, I activated my fourth skill. Sharpness. My sword cut through the leather, before touching his neck, which had another protection. The defensive skill but this protection was also begun to cut apart by my sword. Pachack! My sword cut through his neck, and his head flew up with eyes wide. I took a deep breath and looked around. Immediately was shocked to see, the change that appeared in the battle in a few minutes, I was in the trance. It is the greatest disadvantage of the battle trance. Except for the enemy, one forgot everything and that is terrible. In the battle, the enemy in front of them isn¡¯t the only person, that wants to kill them. For more, Click Chapter 321: Powerful Enemy Chapter 321: Powerful Enemy Volvru Garzong Slice! The saber cut through my armor, giving me another cut, that reached near the bone, before the bastard brought back his saber and defended against spells by Mage Osward. His saber moved fast and cut through all the spells, before meeting the attacks of the Julian. He moved to attack him but swiftly turned his saber at me, seeing me behind him. Grogor Protection. Absorb Force. ng! I activated the skills, but they weren¡¯t enough. When the rapier struck my shield. I felt like, it was a strike of the hammer; it stunned me, not only with the force, but also with the skill. Rip! I activated Argin¡¯s Agility and Hare Steps to break through the stun and retreat, but the bastard saber got me in the arm before the barrage of spells and the bastard had to move and defend against the spells. The moment he finished dealing with them, he came at me again, with his de turning invisible. Rip Rip A fraction of a secondter, I felt the injuries on my waist and arm. I tried to dodge them, but like always, his saber hit me. However, I was able to defend and retreat enough, to not let them be life-threatening injuries. He went for the third attack at my neck but cursed inaudibly and disappeared and a momentter, with wind des, passed through the ce he had been. I looked at my new injuries. They are not the biggest of my injuries, but also not the smallest. One of them had touched the bones. I could feel the power of Shaman Orkrir filling that bone wound and stopping the bleeding. My shaman solely gave me the enhancement of healing; he was wise as always. Enhancements of strength and speed or mental defense wouldn¡¯t be as useful against this powerful enemy, which is carving us all bloody. When I saw the human and little saber; I was happy, that I had been sent to fight against the lich. They are the stuff of nightmare, but it seemed like, I had been happy too quickly. He defended against the spells, and Julian¡¯s attack followed. He gave him a cut across the neck before I arrived, and he moved his saber toward my shield. ng! A ng rang out, and he moved to cut me again, but quickly stepped back as another round of spells came at him. ¡°You vermins are irritating,¡± he spat and sent back after the spells and attacked me. The man is powerful, that despite fighting for over an hour, we have not been able to cause a single injury to him. He dodged the swords and spells, without letting a single one touch him. Unlike him, we are bloody and battered. Even the armor, I am wearing is at the limit of breaking into the pieces. I have fought many battles, with a few against Level 30, but not in a single one, I had been as desperate as I am right now. Every second against him is a challenge to survive. I am using everything I have, pushing my skills to the limit, but still getting injured. There is not a single part of my body, that hadn¡¯t been touched by that cold saber of his. I had not imagined this, when I agreed to fight for the humans. I thought us orcs would be used as the fodders, to bear the brunt of the assault and would likely find my end with thousands of undead swarming at me. It didn¡¯t happen; they aren¡¯t using us as fodder but added us into the army to fight against the undead equally. I thought it would give me a greater chance of survival. I was so foolishly wrong. Against this bastard, every minute is a battle to survive. Yes, survive, this is the only goal I have aside from containing him. It is already a miracle, we havested so long. Seeing, individually, we would havested against the bastard for even ten seconds. Things are bing harder with every new injury appearing on, my body, but I have to do it. Not for the humans, I couldn¡¯t care less about them, but for my people. There are a lot of them here and I would not let them down. If I am to die, then I will die like a true chieftain. Like my father did. Elephants Strength. Repel Shield. I added two more skills and pushed toward the enemy as he appeared in front of me, wanting to separate my head away from my neck with his bloody saber. ng! I defended against the attack and the bastard jumped back, using the momentum of it, avoiding the spell barrage, that was about to hit him. Seeing the spot, where he hadnded, my eyes couldn¡¯t help, but wide up. Not only mine but also others. I could see Julian¡¯s eyes widening and bing desperate. He pushed himself harder than he had ever, but even with it, he wouldn¡¯t be able to reach there in time. They have seen it appear, two times already and were powerless to do anything. Rip! A ripping sound rang out as the rapier cut through the mage shield that appeared to protect her. The young human woman barely had a fraction of a second to realize what was happening before she was decapitated by the bastard¡¯s saber. I could see the horror in her eyes as her head began to fall to the ground. She is the third one to be killed by him. These people have surrounded us, keeping all the zombies and other interference at bay. So, we could fight against the enemy, without any disturbance, but we had failed so much that we were letting the enemy kill them. It made me feel ashamed of the deep within my heart, but we are powerless. The enemy is too powerful. ¡°I will kill you!¡± roared Julian, and I saw his face filled with rage. That woman was likely one of his officers; I had seen the woman earlier addressing him with the familiarity. The man grinned, seeing the rage in Julian¡¯s eyes, but the next moment, a small surprise appeared in his eyes. Even I am surprised, seeing him dropping his small shield and taking out the second sword. The shield is important in this battle to contain this enemy. Till now, I had not used my sword only a couple of times against the enemy but used the shield thousands of times. Julian is the same, with his small shield, but now, he has discarded it. He ismitting suicide by discarding the shield. Making the enemy happy, who is now grinning as he attacks Julian. I wanted to close my eyes to not see what was going to happen, but I kept them open and moved forward, with everything I had. The mage had also cast a spell, but it wouldn¡¯t reach there in time, as I wouldn¡¯t, but I had to try because once the man died. There is no way Mage and I would be able to contain the bastard. Forget containing; it won¡¯t even take him, more than a minute for him to finish us off. ng! I heard the sound of metal shing instead of the sound of metal cleaving through the flesh. ¡®He defended,¡¯ I thought in surprise. Even the enemy was surprised, seeing the man defending against the attack, but soon, a sh of anger appeared in his eyes. He disappeared and appeared behind Julian, avoiding the attack that was sent at him and attacked him. ng! Once again, there was a sound of metal instead of flesh ripping. Earlier may seem like a fluke, but the second time, it is not. Julian had let go of all his inhibitions, and it was finally letting him fight to his full potential. ¡°Bastard!¡± the enemy cursed and attacked again, this time, his saber bing invisible. ng ng ng! Their weapons shed, and he attacked again, but they kept shing. Julian is defending against the attacks, despite his strength being lower than the enemy. It shocked me, but I didn¡¯t waste any time and moved toward them. I am aware of the difference in strength between them, and now that Julian has discarded his shields; it will only take anyone, one well-ced attack to finish him off. I have to give everything to stop that, because once he is dead; it won¡¯t take long for our heads to fly too. ng They shed two more times before I finally reached the enemy. He immediately whipped his saber at me, that I needed to move my shield forward to defend myself. As I defended, Julian shed with him. I didn¡¯t let go of the opportunity and attacked with my sword, instead of trying to push my shield toward him. The things have gone too far for me to keep defending. I need to move on to the offense despite the risk, it possesses. If I did not, then I wouldn¡¯t even have a chance to survive. ng! He defended against my attack easily, sending me, before moving to defend against another attack of Julian. He shed against them when the barrage spells came. Hundreds of light bullets and he moved his sword toward them, cutting through them expertly and efficiently. I hate to admit it, but the bastard is powerful as well as skillful. Hun! I was watching, waiting for the barrage to end, before attacking, when Julianunched the attack on the enemy without caring for his safety. The enemy red at him but moved his saber to defend. The energy bullets are dangerous, but those two swords are more. Rip! He shed against them, stopping the attacks and sending Julian back when something happened that had never happened before. One of the energy bullets hit him; dodged them, even defending against Julian¡¯s attack, but he missed one, and that passed through his shoulder. Receiving the first injury, since the battle begins. It is not a serious injury, but it matters a lot to us. Now, even if the death came; it wouldn¡¯t be that shameful. We are at least able to injure the enemy. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 322: Complacency Kills Chapter 322: Comcency Kills Volvru Garzong ¡°You will pay!¡± said the enemy angrily, with his handsome human face turning ugly as he moved to defend against the attack of Julian. Yes, defend. Till a minute ago, it was us, who desperately defended against his attacks, but now, it is he, who is doing that. All of them are Julian¡¯s, who had changed. His strength remained the same, but the way he was using that, had forced the enemy to defend against the attacks. Leaf de. Heavy sh. Wolf¡¯s Wound. Seeing Julian, I decided to take a risk and activate my offensive skills, before attacking him. He pushed away Julian¡¯s sword and whipped his sword at me. It is a powerful attack that ising from my head. I panicked for a moment, but I pushed that away and moved my sword forward, using every ounce of the strength I had. ng! His saber shed against my sword, and I felt like, I had been hit by a big hammer. I felt the power through the shield hundreds of times, but the shield was enchanted to absorb the blow, the sword was not, and it pushed me back. It would have given the enemy the perfect opportunity toe at me and finish the job, and he took a step toward me to do just that. ¡°Bastard!¡± Suddenly he stopped and cursed, before turning. Julian hade at him with another attack. I quickly stabilized myself andunched another attack at him, which he quickly defended, before Julian attacked him again. He defended against the attack, about to attack him again, when I went at him. ng ng ng He attacked and defended against us, trying to kill us at every chance he could get. He is just as powerful as before, and there is not much change in our strength too, but now he was not able to carve our bodies bloody like he was doing before. I have let go of my inhibitions. It is not like there is no fear in my heart; there is more than before, but I understand that there is no use, in letting that fear control my actions. This had freed me; letting me fight at my full potential. ng! A few seconds passed, and he defended against another of Julian¡¯s attacks before I moved at him. Rip! He moved toward me when he dodged left fast, but not before the ripping around rang out. A bloody wound appeared on his back; it was not deep, and the blood stopped after a second, but it shocked me. We have injured him, once again. ¡°You wretched bastard. I will kill you!¡± he screamed with anger. He is angrier thanst time. A few seconds ago, it was the spell, that had hit him, but now it was a sword and that is much worse. There is a bubbling in his eyes, and it is not because of the wound, but because of the pride. The one type of anger, my father had warned me to not have. With that scream, he went for Julian, before appearing in front of him. He attacked without wasting a second, and it was powerful. So, much, so that I feared, Julian might not be able to defend. Hun! I moved toward him, with all my speed, when something happened. Irony grey vines came out of the ground and moved toward his feet, trying to bind him to the ground. For nearly a minute, the mage hadn¡¯t cast a spell. If I hadn¡¯t been seeing her standing, I would have thought she had died. Sliceee! The man reacted fast and moved his saber down to cut the vines. Cutting tens of them single attack, before moving away from the spot to avoid the vines and attack from Julian and me. He was fast, as always, but before he could take two steps, something happened. Julian disappeared and appeared right in front of the enemy, with his swords, moving toward him at incredible speed. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help, but get surprised. That they reached inches away from the enemy. It is not a skill; he had used before. ng! The enemy wouldn¡¯t let them injure him again. He acted fast, repelling the first sword moving toward his chest with his saber, but the second of Julian¡¯s sword reached his thigh and pierced through it. While it was happening, the iron vines had wrapped around his legs. He seemed to realize the trouble he was in, but it was toote for him. Julian attacked again with his one free sword; there was a huge Earth Lance from Mage. ¡°Die!¡± I screamed and swung my sword at him with everything I had. He turned with struggle, and I saw all the fear vanish from his eyes. His lips curved in a smile as the sabers appeared around him. It is simr to his own saber, which is moving, cutting the vines, but he isn¡¯t holding it. The one in front of me isn¡¯t the only saber that appeared. There is one that is moving toward the huge Earth Lance, while the other is moving to defend against the attack of Julian. ng ng ng! My sword shed against the first saber and while the second saber began to cut through the Earth Lance. The third one moved to sh against Julian¡¯s attack. Hun! They were about to sh when something happened. The speed of Julian¡¯s sword suddenly increased even more, avoiding the saber, and moved toward his neck. The rm returned in the eyes enemy and this time, it was more intense. He reacted immediately and moved the flying saber to stop the sword, while the one in his hand stopped cutting vines, and went for Julian. First, he appeared in front of the enemy and now a sudden increase in the speed of his attack. If I didn¡¯t see the tiredness appearing in his eyes; I would have thought, he was hiding his strength. Whatever skill he used; it cost him a lot. If he didn¡¯t seed, there is no way, he would survive with that tiredness. I had just thought that when the speed of his sword increased further, reaching the neck of the enemy. Horror appeared in his eyes; as he realized he could die. He wanted to retreat, but couldn¡¯t. He hadn¡¯t cut all the vines and now, they were stopping his retreat. He shouldn¡¯t have moved his saber toward Julian; cutting the vines would have given him a chance to retreat. Julian¡¯s sword didn¡¯t stop as it touched the neck and began to cut through it. He didn¡¯t care about the saber of the enemy, reaching his stomach and tearing him apart. It will be mutual destruction, but Julian doesn¡¯t seem to care as the sword moves through the neck of the enemy, who is trying everything to survive. Using every move and skill, he has, including a defensive one. If not for Julian using a strange skill, that has increased his power. The enemy would have been able to get away. Pachack! The sword came out of the other side, decapitating the enemy. Seeing that, a joy lit up in my eyes. If Julian hadn¡¯t killed him, he would have killed Julian and then me. Julian begins to fall down. The bastard had cut him so deep, that his innards had spilled out. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed, with all joy disappearing from my eyes. I appeared beside him with Hare Step, catching him before he fell down. ¡°Is he dead?¡± asked Mage Osward, seeing the pale face of Julian and no breathing. ¡°Alive, barely,¡± I said, feeling faint breath, and quickly moved a hand toward his pouch. The woman red at me but didn¡¯t say anything. He is nearly dead, every innards of his has been cut. It is a heavy injury, that kills within seconds. Normal potion is useless; a powerful healing spell requires, that only elf bishop is capable of casting, but she is on fighting on this gate. ¡°We will require taking him to a surgeon first,¡± said the woman. ¡°He will have to stay alive for that,¡± I said and finally found the thing I had been looking for. A small potion bottle with filled half with glittering healing potion. I had said, the healing potion is useless, but not this one. It is a potion that even money couldn¡¯t buy. I have only heard about it in my life, but never got a chance to even see it, but a few hours ago, got a half bottle of it. It healing potion crafted with emotional essence. In the afternoon, the governor of Greltheaven, handed half a bottle to every pre-Lv. 30. He gave it to us orcs as he gave to the humans and mercenaries. I opened the bottle and dropped a single drop on his tongue. Mixed another drop into an ordinary potion, and sprinkled it on his injuries. I would have added more, but the purpose isn¡¯t to heal. Those injuries, especially his innards, would need to be stitched before using any healing spell or potion. I only used the potion to keep him alive for longer. The result was immediate and shocking. I had expected it, seeing the things I have heard about these, potions, but it still shocked me. ¡°Take him,¡± I said to Mage Osward. She nodded and floated his body up. At the same time, three people, fighting against the horde, appeared beside the body and moved with it, while I drank ordinary healing potion and joined the battle. ¡­. Lich Savais Blight Rays. Bone Lances. Hallow Screams. Three spells materialized and moved toward the threeing at me. They reacted instantly, the pdin moved her shield forward, glowing in the divine power of dusk, while the spell de created the defensive shield of five. The Orc, on the other hand, dodged and defended. The bastard is too agile for his size; one rarelyes across, the orcs such as this. ¡®We have made a mistake,¡¯ I released a bit toote. We should have brought more pre-Lv. 30s with us, but we had kept them in the cities we had conquered. We thought it wouldn¡¯t take us long for us to conquer this small city. An hour or two at most, seeing this one had kept itself stable and was preparing to defend. We have been toocent. Too sure that we would raze through the cities of Renwell without much resistance and that happened with the two cities we have attacked. We should have focused on intelligence as we do on the ind. If we had done that, we would have known. There were a lot more powerhouses here than we had expected. On top of that, the bastard had recruited the bloody orcs, that were in his prison. There is nothingmon in recruiting prisoners to fight. It is extremelymon on Mayhurst, where our enemies use anyone who could fight. It didn¡¯t matter if they were criminals or saints. It is just that, we didn¡¯t expect it from the harsothian city. We forgot that desperation could make even the enemy, a friend. We have only brought fourteen pre-Level 30 with us, a quarter of the numbers, while the enemy has over thirty of them fighting across all three battlefields. It is because of them; that they have kept us Level 30s engaged. I wish I could me Knight Bartram for oversight, but I agreed with the rest of Lv. 30 when Knight asked for our option. I hate to admit it, but these bastards are good. They have contained me, despite my efforts to kill them. It is the reason why; I couldn¡¯t go that wretched bastard to take my revenge. ¡°They killed him!¡± said the bitch with fire and for a moment, I was confused when I received the message. It shocked me so much; that I had nearly missed thence from the pdin, before activating the bone shield to stop. ¡®They have killed, heartpeak!¡¯ I thought in shock. The bastard was Level 33 Fencer of Barren Field. He had fought against two-Level 30 and killed them, but now the message is telling me that a bunch of pre-Lv. The 30s have killed him. Heartpeak was egoistical and had too much confidence in his abilities, but he wasn¡¯t weak, and now, he is dead. ¡®It seemed like; I would have to use them,¡± I said and opened my bags. Immediately, pieces of bones came out; each piece was carefully crafted and belonged to a grade 4 monster. The three seemed to realize what was happening and came toward me, but I stopped their charge with the bone walls and barrage of Acid Balls. It gave me enough time, for three bone constructs to appear. All three are humanoids over two meters tall with huge round thorny heads and bone hands holding swords, spears, and hammers as weapons. They are dangerous and more than capable of killing anyone below Lv. 30. Bone constructs aren¡¯t my specialty, nor have I created them, but these are all I could buy with the savings I had. Coming here, was as much for revenge as for the good bodies and money. We have conquered two cities and while they were small. They had money and my share was quite good. I will be able to buy enough resources with them to construct a group of powerful zombies and I will start with bodies of these three. ¡°Kill them,¡± I ordered and activated the constructs. They moved toward the three while assaulting them with the spells. Within a few seconds, I suppressed them. They could do nothing but to defend. They are quite good, but I only need one spell to strike them, and it will be their end. Once one is dead, killing the two wouldn¡¯t be much challenge. I should have used these before; I might have finished them quickly and heartpeak wouldn¡¯t have died. It is such a regret, that his body is already imed; I would have loved to get my hands on it. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on controlling the bone constructs. One had nearly hit the Orc, missing the head by less than an inch. I cast another spell and was about to release at the orc, when I received another message, and it shook me. Ford is dead. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 323: Mage of Intellect Chapter 323: Mage of Intellect Z Two and half Hours Before. The gates opened and the army of seven thousand charged out, toward the undead with Lt. Colonel Azalea, leading them. Seeing the undead army, the old memories couldn¡¯t help, but appear in front of my eyes. I have fought many of such battles; too many, with some horde having over a million undead in them. I had never wanted to fight in my life. I wanted to study magic in peace and for a few years, I did. It was the happiest time of my life, until everything changed one day. Hun! My thoughts were interrupted by the materialization of the ck tide in front of the horde. It was a huge of water, but not normal water, but ck water. Dark Water Tide or Zarkill¡¯s Tide. A Grade 4 spell of water and death element; a powerful at that. It will be bad if it hits the army; I cannot let that happen. Luminous Surge My staff lit up, and immediately, a surge of radiant water moved toward the tide. It is a spell given to me by Mr. Silver when we had returned from the Port Midlet. He had gotten it from the Count; it is a pretty powerful spell. Especially against the wide-area spells of death element and the undead. Though it is a Grade 3 spell, the oneing is the Grade 4 spell. There is a clear difference in power between them. I was preparing to send more surges when the staff in the hands of the orc beside me lit up and the green light came out of it and went to the surge. As it touched it, a faint green color covered the surge. There was no other change in it, than that. The small surge shed against the tide, and immediately my eyes widened. I nced at the Orc beside me for a moment, before turning to the sh, where both spells were trying to push each other while consuming each other. They both started to whittle down, till the Radiant Surge disappeared, but the other spells weren¡¯t in much better shape either. Less than 20% of it remained. I looked at the man casting the spell. He is a man in histe forties, with blue eyes and green, holding a staff with a dark blue crystal, which looked almost ck. He looked kind of familiar for some reason, but I don¡¯t remember him. I don¡¯t usually forget mages are so powerful. He didn¡¯tunch any attack and nor did I. He is the target, I have to keep upied, kill if I can. I looked at the necromancer far behind in the horde; that woman was powerful. I had heard about her on the ind and was worried about Lt. Colonel Azalia and Steven, who would be fighting against her with Aghed. The undead and the army met and started fighting, while I moved toward my target with Shaman Dul and Captain Vandal. Surrounding us are aground of Mid-Level 20s and pre-level 30s, who are clearing every obstacle in our way. There were a lot of obstacles and I wanted to help, but I kept focus on the enemy. He is the most important; I have to keep all my focus and mana for him. Soon, there was less than two hundred meters of distance between us. ¡°You will not be able to get away this time,¡± he said and a momentter, hundreds of dark waternces materialized over him, before they came at me. The waternces are huge, longer than me with icy tips. Even if thence didn¡¯t do one; the death energies would by their corrupting power. I couldn¡¯t let thesences touch me or anyone. It would be a certain death if they did. Sup Sup Sup Shields Of Ahasin. I cast the spell, and tens of shields appeared in the path of thences. They are not only targeting me but also others. As my shields appeared, once again the staff of the Shaman Dul lit up and the green light filled them. The young orc shaman beside me is a Shaman Dul, and he is a pure enhancer. Very few shamans were born with a talent for such magic. On the ind, any of such shamans were highly regarded and fostered. Bang Bang Bang! Thences crashed against the shield and sted them apart, but thences had also lost most of their power. ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked. He clearly seemed to know me, and I felt familiar with him, but couldn¡¯t remember where I had seen him. He didn¡¯t answer. Instead, an enormous fountain appeared behind him, before separating into tens ofrge whips of water anding at me. Captain Vandal moved away quickly while I remained in my spot with Shaman Dul. I remained on my spot and cast the shields with the light spell. Which once again, augmented by him. There are other spells, I could use, but that isn¡¯t wise. My experience taught me, that when fighting against an enemy with differences in strengths. It is important, that one should stick to what works and nothing works better than defensive shields. I am also quite good at them. Since they are the spells, I had cast the most in the war. It is the defensive spell, that kept me alive when I escaped from the tower. It was also because of this spell; that we were able to make that difficult journey to get out of the ind. Bang Bang Bang! Whips crashed against the shields, and, after several strikes, they would be destroyed, but the next one would be ready to take their ce. Finally, the whips lost their power and turned back to the water. There was no change in his expression like he had expected that my shields would be able to hold on against his spells. Which is why, the water of the whips hadn¡¯t even disappeared, when it transformed into a huge dark worm. Water Worm The spells will tear me apart into pieces if I get caught in it. Those ck shards of ice are sharp and wouldn¡¯t have any problem cutting through me, even if I had a protective spell over me. Frost Shield. Freezing Mist. I cast three Frost Shields over each other before reinforcing them with the Freezing Mist to make it even harder. Shaman Dul further reinforced it with his magic, making it even stronger. BANNNG! The whirlpool crashed against the shield, before beginning to grind against it, till nothing had remained of it. It had also lost most of its power; still, to be careful, I had summoned another group of shields. A few secondster, both spells disappeared, and immediately, heunched another attack and, once again, I summoned the shields to defend against it. I didn¡¯t try to attack him, I just defended. I am not going to take a risk byunching the offensive spell and giving him the opening against me. I have seen many mages die, by making that mistake. I didn¡¯t forget even for a second that he is a High Mage. He had many spells, and they were powerful. I am only standing against him before I am good; each of my spells had been modified extensively for my needs and style. I do not have arge collection of spells, but all those I have been modified. It is the reason; I am standing here alive, while thousands of mages, who learned from the prestigious academies and powerful masters, are ten feet under the ground. All mages are schrly in nature, our ss demands it, but some are more than the others. I am Lv. 29 Mage of Intellect. It is in my ss, and I have skills, that let me learn fast. I love learning and if the undead hadn¡¯t invaded; I would have still been to Great Mage Urs¡¯s tower, learning. I pushed away those thoughts away and focused on the man, in front of me. Distraction causes death and I don¡¯t want to die, so early. Puch Puch Puch! I just thought that when suddenly I saw thousands of dark, icy needlesing from behind and striking into the invisible shield. For the first time since we started fighting, a surprise appeared on his face, and couldn¡¯t help, but grin. Even Shaman Dul and Captain Vandal looked surprised. A pride rose for a moment. Refractive Veil, a Grade 2 light elemental spell. It might be a Grade 2 spell, but it is hard as the hardest as a Grade 3 spell or even harder. I had cast it over the Grade 2 Tarron Shield, hiding it. If I survive this battle, I want to focus on the light. I always liked the light element but didn¡¯t get a chance at it in the tower. Great Mage Urs was a pure water elemental mage, while I knew a few mages used the light dual element spells, they would not teach the assistants. We were hundreds in number and were usually taught a fewmon water elemental spells. Not to mention, the light spells are notoriously hard to learn and expensive. I had learned them, after escaping Urs Tower. All the icy needles shed and disappeared, while I looked at the man. ¡°That Great Mage Urs was good; she gave our leader, quite a fight. If she had known any light spell, she might have survived,¡± said the man and grinned. ¡°You were there?¡± I asked, and the man kept grinning. I felt the rage rising in my heart; the tower wasn¡¯t just a ce of work for me. It was home; there I got the family never had, friends, and met the love of my life, who sacrificed himself to save me. I want to kill him and nearly cast a spell to attack before taking a deep breath and calming down. Anger is useless; it will help the enemy instead of helping me. If we were on the same level, I might have let the anger best out of me, but we are not. He is a grade higher and has the power to kill me. I could see in his eyes, that he had said those words to get a rise out of me. He is ready with spells. If I made a mistake, he would exploit and, given the difference in power, between us, I might not be able to survive it. ¡°You should be ashamed. You had let a measly schr like me escape the tower. Well, that was not your fault, you were not a leader there, but you were at the sea.¡± The moment he said thing about the tower; I realized he was the man who attacked us at the sea. At that time, he was wearing a mask and only used pure water elemental spells. ¡°If I had been in your ce, I would have died of shame. A High Mage like you couldn¡¯t even a kill simple Mage like me,¡± I mocked and there was no response, but that grin on his face. I could see the anger in his eyes, that is barely controlling. ¡°You were lucky at the sea; I had held back there, I will not hold back in here,¡± he promised with an angry grin, and his staff lit up. ¡°Fuck!¡± The spell materialized and seeing it, Captain Vandal cursed, while my expression turned serious. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 324: Killing High-Mage Chapter 324: Killing High-Mage Z ¡°Fuck!¡± Captain Vandal cursed, seeing the huge water bear materializing in front of us. It is big, about five meters tall, with icy ws, that could shred anyone to pieces. Thud Thud Thud! The bear moved with heavy steps; it was a really scary spell. ¡°Wish me luck!¡± said Captain Vandal, and moved toward the bear. Till now, he had been standing. He never got a chance to fight with spells flying around, but now he is moving toward the bear. Even for a man of his power, this elemental bear is hard to defeat, but he is the only one who can. I have to keep an eye on the enemy; I couldn¡¯t deal with the spell while doing that. It will give him the opening to finish me off. Radiant Cover. Cloak of Syl. Aqua Bless. I cast three spells on Captain Vandal for the defense and enhancements. It was the only thing I could do to help him. I had just finished when my eyes widened, and I moved, activating the Drip Steps immediately, while he grinned. Boom Boom Boom! A booming sound rang out as the jets of powerful water began to burst out of the ground and go as high as hundreds of meters. These jets are small and concentrated. If even a single one, is it; it will tear through me. While I was dodging the attack. He cast another spell. The Frost Lances came at me, tearing through the air. Sup Sup Sup I wanted to curse loudly, but I controlled myself and cast the shields and was grateful that Shaman Dul had augmented them with his magic. It is hard to cast spells when dodging the attacks; one couldn¡¯t do it properly, without sufficient experience. I still remember the first time; I was forced to do that. It was my first battle. Three dayster, I escaped the tower and reached the nearest army, resisting the undead. It would be a stretch to call them the army. Considering over 70% of people there had never held a weapon, much less had abat ss. Everyone was drafted, including me, who never fought a battle in the life. I only knew four Grade 1 spells at that time, with one defensive and one offensive spell. The battle was a massacre. I saw thousands of people getting massacred by the undead. I was frozen by the sheer horror that I wasn¡¯t able to cast a spell at all, till the undead leaped at me and threw me on the ground. I still remember the seven ice daggers I needed to cast to kill the zombie on top of me. We won that battle but lost nearly 80% of the people. It was also in that battle; that I had got the first light-water element spell. It was a healing spell, and I had not got from the great hand, but from the body of the necromancer controlling the horde. The militia leader had copied the spell and handed it to every mage. I was the only one, who was able to learn it and did it in a month. Bang Bang Bang Thences crashed against the shields before tearing through them. I employed a second shields, which had stopped them. It didn¡¯t stop him, and he keptunching the icences and I kept defending while moving around the battlefield to dodge the attack. Every spell I cast is draining my mana. My spells are mana-efficient, but no matter how efficient they are, they cost mana. Half an hourter, I was nearly out and needed to drink the mana potion. I could see the smile appearing on his face, seeing that, and cursed at the bastard. I know, what he is trying to do; I have used that strategy myself, against the many enemies. If you can¡¯t beat the enemies directly; then beat them indirectly. He is constantly throwing spells at me, and I am being forced to defend using the shields. Which is costing me a lot of manas and to replenish it; I am drinking a mana potion. I have a lot of mana potions, but I couldn¡¯t drink them all to replenish my mana. Once the limit is reached, I will begin to suffer mana poisoning, and my mana recovery will also slow down. Rip! Suddenly, one of the frost disks cuts through me. I had avoided many of them and defended against them, but not all could be avoided. Thousands of small frost disks are floating around, moving in unpredictable directions. To deal with them, I had supposed tens of moving shields, but they were not enough to save me or Shaman Dul, who had been cut more times than I, despite my best attempts to protect him. He is at least alive; those frost discs have killed two people. Despite mages summoning the shields. The bastard is too powerful and if he killed me, then he will not have any problem in dealing with others. He will kill them all, and it won¡¯t take more than a minute to do that. The difference in level is too big. I drank another bottle of mana potion and cast Minor Heal on my injuries before looking at the discs around me. The only one, who hadn''t cut by the disc is Captain Vandal. He is still fighting against the bear. Bears. There are two of them now and they have already made him quite bloody, but he is still fighting. Stopping them froming at me and Shaman Dul. I have to say, I am quite surprised at the man. Usually, for a warrior like him, handling one such spell is a huge burden; very few could handle two. Rip Rip Rip! Another disk ripped through my shoulder and a minuteter, through my back, and another at my leg, a few minutes after that. ¡°You have handle-big spells, but it is the measly Grade 1 spell that is giving you a hard time,¡± he said with a grin as more Frost Dicks. ¡°If I had known it before, I would have cast them from the beginning,¡± he added and sent more with it. ¡°You are a High-Mage, talk like one. It is a Grade 4 spell, Carlym¡¯s Discs, not Grade 1 Frost Disc,¡± I replied as I dodged and defended the barrage he sent at me. These discs are much stronger than the normal Frost Disc. Normal Frost Disks couldn¡¯t pass through my defenses, these could; they are already doing that. My words seemed to sting him, which is what I wanted. A barrage is easier to defend than individual discsing from a different direction. It didn¡¯t take him long for him to understand his mistake and I could see anger appearing in his eyes, but this time, he controlled it and began to attack me like before. Every minute, more and more injuries appeared on my body as some discs would strike me. I am trying with the shields, but the man is High-Mage, with more mana than me. He could summon them, them in thousands. Soon, I drank the third mana potion bottle. I could see him looking at me with joy on his face. It is the mana potion; I could drink safely. If I drank any more, I would suffer the mana burn, aside from the low absorption of the potion. I rather not drink the potion, but I am expanding it, rather fast with all the shields I am summoning to defend against the attack. Water Ropes. He intensified his attacks further and watery robes appeared on the ground, trying to catch Shaman Dul. The orc shaman is quite agile; I am really d he is because I am at the limit of the spells, I could not cast more than I am casting. Time passed, and every second was a challenge. I have fought many battles, where I have against many mages, but this is worse than any one of them. A High-Mage''s power is much greater than a Mage like me. Their sses are powerful, which makes their power of their higher than those of lower grades. Not to mention specialization, which makes every spell they cast powerful. It is already quite a feat that I am standing in front of him, even after two hours of fighting. It is quite an amazing thing, and I would have felt it if not for being a step away from death. I cast most spells and before I knew it, my mana had reached the critical level again. I took out the fourth potion and drank it; seeing that he grinned. ¡°You are good as the dead, now,¡± he said. Hun! I didn¡¯t reply and continued with defending and dodging when suddenly I received a message, which nearly made me stop in my tracks. They killed a Lv. 30. It is Lt. Colonel Julian and his team who killed the fencer. I had heard about the fencer, and he was not an easy enemy to kill, but they somehow did it. He seemed to receive the news too, and his expressions changed drastically. A secondter, the number of discs increased further, and more ropes appeared. It became harder to avoid them while dodging the disks. On top of that, I am expanding the mana fast. I have never used so much shields as I am right now as I am using right now and also the enhancements and defensive spells. They have kept me alive but also drained the mana fast. It is why, it is so damn difficult to deal against the High-Mage for the mages like me. They are better at every aspect and have experience to deal with any tricks that, I might throw at them. If I didn¡¯t have the support of Shaman Dul; it would have been difficult. ¡°Fuck!¡± A few minutes passed, and I took another potion bottle drink and had just taken it to my lips, when suddenly, one of the watery robes caught my leg and flowed over me. Instant Freeze. I cast the spell and freeze moved toward them, but the bastard seemed to expect that as the ck water ropes became boiling and tore through every defensive spell covering me. After more than two hours, he had finally caught me, and he would not let me go. ¡°Ahhhh¡­¡± I screamed at the bubbling hot ropes filled with death energy that moved around my body. It is as painful as it is harmful; I tried to cast the spell, but they overwhelmed me. Thud! My staff fell to the ground, while the water robes bound me tightly. He had even removed the concentration ring and bracelet; I kept as the backup. I could still cast the spell without the tools and doing that, but it is effortlessly pushing it all away. ¡°I have to say, you are the most difficult mage I have ever fought,¡± he said as he came toward me. The thousands of disks parted for him like a curtain, while the ck icy dagger appeared in his hand. Seeing it, I shuddered visibly as it brought out the dark memories of the past. ¡°You remember this, right?¡± he asked, showing me the ck ice dagger as he stopped in front of me. They gathered hundreds of people in front of the tower after they conquered it. Many of my friends were there, including the love of my life, before executing them with these daggers. It is their way. ¡°I am going to kill you, the same way. We had killed those people of Urs¡¯s tower,¡± he said with a grin and looked at me. I didn¡¯t say anything and just looked at him. It seemed to make him angry for a moment before that sick pleasure returned to his eyes and he raised the dagger toward my heart. The dagger came closer, till there was barely an inch that had remained between its sharp cold de and my beating heart, when suddenly he stopped, with his eyes widening. A man appeared beside him like he teleported, and a white blur moved toward his neck. The High-Mage reacted fast, with his staff lightning up for the spell, while at the same time, thousands of Frost Disks moved toward us. Jon is faster, with his enchanted dagger already reaching the neck of the enemy, cutting through a half-formed spell, before reaching his neck. Pachack! A wet sound rang out and neck severed neck flew up in the air. I looked into his eyes, which were filled with shock; even in his death, he didn¡¯t understand how it all happened. Immediately, the spells disappeared, turning to mist. If we had been a secondte; those Frost Discs would have cut us into the hundreds of pieces. ¡°It worked,¡± said Captain Vandal as he appeared beside us, with Shaman Dul, a few secondster. Both of them were heavily injured. Jon had been part of the battle since we started fighting. He had been hiding behind me, under theyers of a refractive shield, while I covered his body with. That alone isn¡¯t enough and wouldn¡¯t have worked. If it wasn¡¯t rogue with skill, Jon has. The High-Mage was a practitioner of water and death, both at pretty good detecting life. He had cast those spells, but Jon had the skill to hide his life signature, which worked well with Refractive Shield, which was a light element spell and thus resistant to dark. Still, it was great luck, and I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it without the potion that Mr. Silver had provided. The one with emotion essence; I had mixed it with a regr mana potion. Which helped me recover my mana fast and also saved me from mana burn. ¡°It did,¡± said Jon, turning to me with a smile. I smiled back before my expressions turned serious. We had killed two Lv. 30s, but it is far from enough to win the battle. However, I have hope, that we will. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 325: Retreating To The City Chapter 325: Retreating To The City ng ng Rip! I shed hard against the women, dodging and defending while getting more and more injuries on my body. The woman has enough anger in her eyes, that I don¡¯t think, she is holding even the smallest thing back. All the people I had fought hadn¡¯t held back, but there was a realization, even in their rage, that they couldn¡¯t kill me. They could do anything else, but not kill me. This woman doesn¡¯t care about the consequences that might arise from that. ¡°You know, you will be in great trouble if you kill me,¡± I said with Persuasive as I parried her saber, trying to go for her, but she quickly brought her saber back and attacked me. Rip! Her saber came like lightning and cut through my shoulder, which has already received many injuries and is a mess. Every movement I make, shoots immense pain through several parts of my body. That I wanted to give us, but I kept fighting; there is no choice when others are more than pulling their weight, by doing the unexpected. We had killed two Level 30+ powerhouses. Stone thought it would be great. If we are able to kill a single one, but two had killed two, and that weakened the undead. They now have the five Level 30s, instead of seven, but it barely seems to have affected the battle, as they are still fighting as intensely as before. It could be said, they have be more intense. I catch a glimpse of the battles around me, now and then. I could see Stone being bloody to every inch of his life and how Lena and others were doing everything they could to contain the Lich. Even the people beside me are fighting the enemies, which is a level higher than them. The young albino orc is fighting against the two people, and both of them are pre-Level 30 warriors. It is clear by their speed and strength, but the orc has been fighting them for the past half an hour. It is kind of shocking to see that, seeing nearly anyone in his ce would die, seeing the injuries on him, seemed worse than Stone, but he is still alive and fighting. I had noticed that his fighting style was also quite unique. There is primalness in it, that made me feel like, he is a wild beast. I am not trying to y into the stereotype of the orcs, but it seemed the essence of wildness in his fighting. Though he is not wild. There is deep intelligence in the young orc¡¯s eyes. Every attack of him is precise and efficient to the frustration of the enemies, that couldn¡¯t kill him. Instead, he would cop an injury or two, making them so angry that they had forgotten their purpose. They wereing at me when he stopped them. Rip! The injury on my leg brought me back to reality, and I focused on my enemy. She is a fencer and if I am not wrong, likely rted to the Nev Heartpeak. She might be his student, lover, or rtive; not that I care. The only thing, I care about is surviving because killing her would be hard. She is a fencer and thus faster. It makes it, very hard to use any tricks on her. Still, that doesn¡¯t mean I am not looking for the opportunity. I am looking at it every second. If I found it, I would not hesitate to use it, but it is unlikely that this woman would give me, even in the anger she is feeling. Hun! A few more seconds passed, and I saw another group of bone spearsing toward me. I didn¡¯t try to dodge it or move away. Did anything that will give the enemy, any chance against me. As for thences, they will be dealt with. If not, then I will die. Bang Bang Bang! I had just thought that when thences crashed against the shields and sted into the pieces. Since the battle began, I have been attacked with hundreds of spells and, except for one, every attack had been dealt with. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you, just die!¡± she shouted as she came at me with another barrage, while I defended with the Swift de and Quick Parry, before dodging another with the Rapid Legs. I am only using these three skills and sometimes Persuasive. I am drained, and it is only the will that is keeping me on my feet. I had tried to be efficient, and I am still, but the enemies I had fought were difficult. Each and every one of them had the power to kill me, and I needed to use the skills to kill them. The red-haired woman in front of me is the most powerful of them all. I am barely holding on against her barrage, every moment trying to harness more power from these skills, so her saber wouldn¡¯t injure me more than I already am. It would be great. If I could drink a potion, to heal my injuries and recover my stamina, but she is not giving me the chance. If I tried, I might find my head flying in the air, but if I didn¡¯t, then I wouldn¡¯t be able tost much longer and suffer the same fate. Rip! I was just thinking that when she gave me another injury. This time on the check, on the small gap made by the man, I had fought before her. It is because of it; that I had been able to kill him. Ahhh! Suddenly, I heard a scream, not far away from me and I thought it was an Albino Orc. He wasn¡¯t, but he was responsible for it, as he had cut the arm of the enemy and would have killed him, if not for another person stopping his ax. I nced at it for a moment, while taking a step back with Rapid Step. Dodging the attack by less than a centimeter. It is good because I wouldn¡¯t want more neck injuries than I already have. ¡°Retreat!¡± I had defended against the attack when the word I wanted to hear rang out through the battlefield. Stone had called the retreat. ¡°You will not get away!¡± said the woman as she came at me with another attack, and I moved my rapier to defend. Hun! Our weapons were about to sh, when the anger in her eyes despaired, and she took a step back and moved left, dodging the arrow by an inch. More and arrows as spells begin to appear from the wall to cover our retreat. Stone had kept enough mages and archers on the wall to help us in retreat. They are now doing the job. ng! The woman came at me, right after dodging the attack, not even letting me retreat, even five steps. It was not just her, but the undead were also moved forward, stopping us from the retreat. It would be bad for them because if we retreated, they would need to break through the wall to enter the city. It would make their job much easier job if they were able to deal with us here. ng ng Rip! I defend and dodge her attacks before retreating step by step. It is slow, but it is the fastest I could retreat. More than a minute passed when the woman turned and dodged the attack from behind. ¡°Governor, leave this woman to me,¡± said the half-orc man with a ponytail and engaged with the woman. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to him and retreated. The woman wanted to stop me, but the half-orc kept her busy Pachak Khack Pachak I begin to retreat much more easily, but not without resistance. The undead areing from every direction at us and we are killing them to clear our path. We have gathered as the skills activated and retreat forming the line. Even Lena and others have joined; they are in thest line, taking the barrage from the Lich and other mages, along with fighters and undead. Thankfully, they have support from the wall. Stone had intentionally nned the battle closer to the wall. So, we will get the support we need from it, during our retreat. From archers to mages to cannons begin to fire up, covering our retreat. Minutes passed, and the first line reached the gate, before getting inside, and then it was the second line and the third. I was in the fourth line and quickly went inside, and the first thing I did was to drink the potion. ¡°Don¡¯t waste it on me; there are others who need it more,¡± I said to the Priest when she moved her staff toward me. The pdins weren¡¯t the only ones who had joined the battle; the priest had also entered the battlefield. For it, I am extremely grateful; she had saved many people, including me. When I was fighting against the second enemy; I was heavily injured. Her spells, help me keep my injuries contained, till I killed the enemy and drank the potion. I was surprised when Stone informed me, all five of them were willing to join the battlefield. The priests usually wouldn¡¯t, unless they were offered something good in return or desperate. I threw away the bottle and walked down the stairs toward the gate, where Colonel Cardin was inmand. He nodded at me, before continuing with orders. I looked ahead and saw the lines retreating; the undead were pressing with everything they could, but we were retreating. Though everything isn¡¯t smooth. ¡°Target the Lich,¡± shouted Colonel Cardin, and I felt his skills activating. Aiding in hismand. Enhancing the powers and uracy of the attack, among other things. Stone is in trouble, not only Knight is pressing on him, but Lich and the other mages have also started throwing the spells at him. Our mages are defending and now started attaching the Lich. The Lich seemed to be expecting that, as the mages around him brought tens of shields to protect him, while he targeted Stone. ¡°The southern army retreated!¡± informed the mage, and I felt relieved. It is Hugo, that leading it, there is also Valentina and Bishop nis. I wanted to ask about them but didn¡¯t. If something had happened to them, I would have been informed. Minutes passed, and only one line remained to retreat. The pressure on the undead had increased as more mages joined the wall and slung the spells at them, forcing them to defend. ¡°Stone is good; I don¡¯t think, I would have been able to retreat, even in my peak with my life in my hand,¡± said Colonel Cardin as Stone reached the gate. Now, it is the knight who is retreating as our mages and archers begin to target him. If we were to kill him; it would increase our chances of surviving by a huge degree, but it is a futile dream. The knight had retreated quite easily to his horde, under the protection of his mages, while I climbed down the wall toward Stone. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 326: Blockade Chapter 326: Blockade Lich Savais ¡°We have made a grave mistake, not bringing the pre-level 30s,¡± said Knight Bartram and sighed. He is regretful, but he is also extremely angry. Seeing how, how he is fisting fingers, it felt like even iron would bend easily under such force. If I had been in his ce, I would have been angry too. I am angry. I was too part of the decision and like him, had been contained in pre-level 30s. The only difference between us is that I was held back by three people. He had been held back by only one. I had to give it to that elder-blood. He was able to hold back Knight Bartram, while many Lv. 30 died many times over in that time. It is an incredible feat that solely couldn¡¯t be achieved with the power of the elder blood alone. ¡°It is not your fault. Knight Bartram, we all agreed with the decision to leave most pre-Lv. 30s in the conquered cities,¡± I said to him. Though, I am going to throw all the me for this on him, because there will be consequences. I sent the message to themand and received their replies. They had only inquired about the battle but hadn''tmented, which is not good, because it means they will take action once it is all over. ¡°It was a mistake on our part, which I will not make again. The city will be ours before dawn tomorrow and nothing, they do will stop that from happening,¡± he stated and looked at the walls, which were being attacked by our undead. ¡°That, I have no doubt,¡± I replied. I am not saying it to agree with him. It will happen. The mistake we have made being ratified. They have given us a surprise and in return we will give them the despair. ¡­ I stopped beside Stone, who was bathing in the dusky light of divine spells. The half-elf priestess seemed to have cast, Clean on him first as all the blood had vanished, making all his injuries visible. Hun! They are everywhere. There is not a single part of his body that hasn¡¯t been covered by them, but they are not as deep as I had expected. ¡°Elder bloods are truly an amazing thing. Most of themanders¡¯ serious injuries have been healed on its own and while these cuts are dangerous, they are not life-threatening.¡± ¡°The healing potion he drank, and my spells would be enough to heal them,¡± said Priestess Kelryc. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, and she smiled before her expression turned serious. ¡°Your injuries are not light, my lord. You should let me heal them,¡± she said. ¡°I took the potion; they will heal soon,¡± I replied. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it a momentter and turned to her assistant. ¡°Heather cast clean on, Lord Governor. Ravin, bandage him,¡± she instructed. A few secondster, all the grime vanished from my body and the man began to bandage me. Get Ready would have cleaned the blood, but I don¡¯t think I have the power to use any skills. I am extremely tired, and if I close my eyes; I will fall asleep, but I don¡¯t want to sleep. I turned to Stone, who had been sleeping, or rather fallen unconscious. He had used the elder blood power for three hours, highest than ever. Even when Knight Schegan had pushed him to the extreme, he wasn¡¯t able to go above hours and thirty-two minutes, falling unconscious right after. This time, he had stayed active with it twice as long and there will be a cost. It is regretful that we will need to forcefully wake him. It will be a few hours or a few minutes, depending on the undead. He is important and the only person, who could handle Knight Bartram. ¡°How is the condition of Lt. Colonal Julian?¡± I asked. He was heavily injured, nearly at death''s door, with his guts spilling out. ¡°The surgeons had done a wonderful job sewing him up. Now, Bishop is healing him and expects him to make a full recovery,¡± she replied, and relief flooded into my heart. I don¡¯t want to lose a man like him. I nodded gratefully and walked out of the room, not before noticing the dented shield. The sh was powerful enough that it had dented a Grade 3, triple enchanted shield. Thankfully, have a recement, along with armor, which is in simr condition. I walked out of the room and went to another one, where there were patients on every bed. Being treated by the healers and doctors, most of them sleeping. Some who were not sleeping were made to sleep forcefully. Not only to rest but also to level up. Nearly all below Lv. 20 would level up and over 25% of Level 20¡¯s, given the intensity of the battle. It will be harder for most mid-Level 20¡¯s and pre-Lv. 30s to level-up, up before the battle ends. Most of the people are healing in the infirmaries near the wall. So, they could be called back at a moment''s notice, but some had been sent to the establishment. They are officers. We will need them well-rested and leveled. I check on the other injured, before walking toward the wall. Each step is painful, with injuries; they are healing, but not fast enough. They would have healed faster. If I had drank the pure healing potion with emotional essence, but I drank the regr one, which had a few drops of healing potion with emotional essence mixed in. In exchange for emotional essence, I got a lot of potions of emotional essence from Ethan. They are the reason, why so many officers are alive. They could literally bring a person to life, and one could drink a lot of them without suffering a mana burn. I felt the eyes on me as I walked the stairs. The soldiers are looking at me and there is a respect in their eyes, that was not there before. They had seen me fight like they did; bled like they did and had injuries to show, like they have. I had earned their respect and it gave me more joy than the title Count had given me before running away. I reached the wall, which was being continuedly attacked by the undead. ¡°Second load,¡± shouted Colonel Cardin. Immediately, oil mixed with crystals showered down from the pots before burning wildly and so hot, that some needed to take a step back to shield themselves from the fire, that covered the undead. The undead begin to burn, but not all; many attacked while burning, but got hacked quickly by soldiers and thrown back off the wall. Most of the people manning the wall had experience in fighting from the wall, but we have also mixed with some inexperienced people, like orcs, in between them as do not too many of such people. ¡°It seemed to be going well,¡± I said, but to my surprise Colonel Cardin¡¯s, expressions turned bad. ¡°It is not, my lord. Look at the undead, all of them aremon undead; there is no single abominable one mixed in it. The tide is also weak and sparse, nothing like the unending ones that we had heard so much about,¡± he said, with a clear worry on his face. Hearing that, I turned to the undead and looked at them carefully. The undead areing, but like he had said, there are no abominable zombies. It¡¯s not just that, even the mage attacks felt weak and there are no special undead or bone creations. The Knight and Lich seemed to have disappeared. Forget spells or skills from them, even their shadows have disappeared. Seeing that, a bad feeling couldn¡¯t help, but rise in my heart. All the information said that when they came in line unending tide, with bone creations and abominable zombies, backed with the powerful spells of their mages and the assault of their powerhouses. I am seeing none of that. ¡°Is the same on the other two gates?¡± I asked, to which he nodded. ¡°What can we do?¡± I asked. ¡°Nothing, considering our objective is to fight them inside the city. If we do something, they might suspect something and we don¡¯t want that,¡± he said while giving me a look. There are only three people who know about theplete n. Stone, Caena, and me. We had hinted a few details to the important people, but not enough to guess what we would do. It is not like we don¡¯t trust them, but we need to keep the news the tight as possible. So, even if the information leaked, our enemies won¡¯t know what we are truly nning. It is a real conundrum. It is clear that our enemies were nning something, but we couldn¡¯t respond due to our n. I wish that I could wake up Stone, but that isn¡¯t wise; I need him to be as rested as possible. ¡°My lord, you should rest. We will need you at your best when enemiesunch their real attack,¡± he said, and I nodded before walking out of the gate. I am bone tired, but sleeping is thest thing I have on my mind. Though Colonel Cardin is right. I would need to sleep if I wanted to face the enemy at my best. I walked down the gate and moved toward the small white building, which was well-guarded. Click! I reached it a minuteter, and the guards bowed before opening the door for me and took me to the basement. Where Robin is with visibly tired Mage Ravill and a group of people. ¡°My lord,¡± they greeted as I entered. ¡°Mage Ravill, you should sleep. We will be needing you soon,¡± I said to the man. ¡°I will, my lord. I only came here to see whether I could breach the curtain, but even with these tools, it is impossible,¡± he said and sighed tiredly. ¡°No response?¡± I asked, to which they shook their heads. ¡°They have sealed themunication too effectively. Their antimunications skills are powerful enough to block all themunications skills. They had even killed three of our monsters and injured two,¡± replied Robins, looking at the monster scouts. Robin is responsible for the intelligence and all the people sitting here have skills or spells rted to that, but their efforts are turning futile in front of the undead''smunication blockade. They even have control over the skies. Hunting down any monsters or animals that tried to fly through the clouds. They have created aplete intelligence blockade for us. We didn¡¯t know anything that was happening outside of the city. If we could breach it, we might have been able to tell what these bastards are nning. The scouts from the merchant states are close, and they have designated dropping points. Where they would ce the information, we only need to reach there to get it, but that is turning out to be an impossible job. ¡°I could send Charlie,¡± said Eli. From the corner of the room, he is sitting alone with a little white sparrow in hisp. Fang is also in the city, but he is with the girls. They need him more for emotional support than I need him in the battle. ¡°Your bird is too weak, Mr. Gest. Even with cloud surfing sparrow¡¯s abilities, they will discover it and shoot it down,¡± said Robin, discarding the idea. The undead are very good at discovering life-signatures and there are bone constructs patrolling the skies that will stop anything that tries to reach the other side. ¡°Inform me as soon as you receive any information,¡± I said, before turning to the Mage. ¡°And Mage Ravill, please take a rest,¡± I added. ¡°I will, my lord,¡± he said, but a secondter, a hesitant smile appeared on his face, and he got up, seeing me still looking at him. We both walked out of the room and used the tunnel to reach the protected resting ce. There were already many people sleeping there, but it was notpletely filled. There were three empty beds. Mage Ravill picked one, while I picked another, beforeying on it. I closed my eyes, and a few secondster; I was in a deep sleep. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 327: Valorous Governor Chapter 327: Valorous Governor de Warrior Lv. 20 {Conditions Met: de Warrior ¨C Valorous Warrior} Skill Gained: Gymnasts Control {Conditions Met: Masterful Administrator ¨C Governor} {Conditions Met: Governor + Valorous Warrior = Valorous Governor} Valorous Governor Lv. 19 Valorous Governor Lv. 20 {Skill Gained: Governors Presence} {Skill Gained: March of Braves} {Condition Met: Contract ¨C Solid Contract} {Conditions Met: Swift de ¨C de of the Gale} {Conditions Met: Rapid Steps- Blitz Steps} ¡°Hu¡± Came out of my mouth as I saw the long line of texts in front of me. ¡°Is something wrong, my lord?¡± asked the guard by the bed. There are two of them, with each standing on one side of the bed. ¡°No,¡± I said and looked at the text in front of me. Yesterday, I was a little disappointed when the Masterful Administrator didn¡¯t advance to the Governor, but now it has not advanced to the Governor but also merged with mybat ss. Giving me a Valorous Governor ss. It is a powerful ss, far stronger than both ssesbined. I could feel its power and a smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. I had not only gotten the new ss but three of my skills had also advanced. There are also three new skills in my arsenal; all of them feel powerful. I turned to the first skill that I had I got from Valorous Warrior before it merged with the Governor. It is a passive skill like its sister skill, Gymnasts Grace. While the Gymnasts Grace had most of its focus on flexibility and bnce, Gymnasts Control is all about control. As I moved my finger, I knew, I could now control my body more perfectly than before. The second new skill is Governors Presence, from the Valorous Governor. It is also a passive skill, simr to the one, I had borrowed from the Bell. If the city survives, the undead. That skill will be very helpful to me. The third is March of Braves. This skill excited me the most. It is the first army skill I got and a pretty powerful one at that. Level 20s usually get this skill, especially those of the Governor ss. It is usually got by those of the Lord ss or powerful General ss. Thest three are my old skills, belonging to both sses, that had advanced. The Contract advanced to a Solid Contract, making it more powerful. Swift de had advanced to the de of the Gale, and Rapid Steps advanced to Blitz Steps. The two were powerful skills to begin with, and now they have be even more powerful. That is not all I have got from the advancement. There are also two attribute points. One, I had got, when de Warrior reached Lv. 20 and the second when merged Valorous Governor reached Lv. 20. I thought for a moment and deposited one point into intelligence and the other into the Vitality, taking both to the fifteen. I felt the wonderful effect of them on me. I wish it couldst forever, but unfortunately, they had onlysted for a few seconds. Vitality is a wise choice, but adding the point into intelligence might surprise some, but they wouldn¡¯t be surprised when they will see the skill, I had copied through the Copy Skill. It runs on intelligence. I still don¡¯t know whether I would be using that skill or not, but if I did means, things be truly dangerous for me. I would need intelligence as high as possible, seeing there is going to be some resistance from the skill, for the purpose I am going to use it. ¡°My Lord, Commander Stone had asked us to take you to him, as soon as you woke up,¡± informed the blond woman, surprising me. ¡°When did he wake up?¡± I asked and looked at my pocket watch. It had been only three, and a half hours since I slept, and he retreated slightly more than four hours ago. ¡°Has something happened?¡± I asked as I got up and found myself quite springy, but in no mood to care about it, seeing Stone wake up. My orders were clear. They were to forcefully bring him to consciousness in six hours, or if something drastic happened. ¡°We don¡¯t know when themander woke up my lord. He asked us to ry this message to you, twenty-minutes ago. As for what happened, we don¡¯t know, everything had been the same for the past few hours since you have retreated with the army,¡± replied the woman. I nodded and walked toward the door, with two of them following me. Mage Ravill is still sleeping, while most of the people have woken up and their ce has been taken by others. They only need to sleep for a maximum of three hours to get the level up. If they don¡¯t get it within three hours, then there is no level-up from them. Click! Soon, we reached the door. The guards standing by it bowed, before opening it for me. I nodded and entered the room. The room, which was earlier filled with people, had only three people in it. Robin, Stone, and Ina. Most of his injuries seemed to have healed, leaving only marks behind, but tiredness was apparent in his eyes. The four hours of rest are far from enough to help him recover from what he had gone through. Hun! I was about to speak to him when I noticed a familiar feelinging off him. It feels unstable; it is getting stronger and weaker. ¡®He hadn¡¯t activated the blood,¡¯ I thought. The feeling was weak, even at its strongest, but I had felt it enough times to recognize instantly, that it was from elder-blood. Though it confused me. This presence only appears when Stone brings out the power of elder-blood and currently, he has not. ¡°Congrattions, my lord,¡± said Stone, breaking the silence. ¡°Thank you,¡± I replied. I didn¡¯t have to think about even a second to understand why he thanked me. He clearly felt the power of my passive skills and interpreted what happened. ¡°We were able to get the information,¡± informed Robin, breaking me out of my thoughts. ¡°Really! How?¡± I asked but calmed down my excitement at seeing the worry on their faces. Whatever the information they have got is serious enough to make them worry like this. It is likely why; they had woken Stone forcefully and had guards inform me as soon as woke up. ¡°It was Eli and his little sparrow,¡± replied Stone, surprising me. Higher-leveled people had their monsters in, while his little sparrow had not only been able to pass through the blockade but also brought back the information. ¡°He had got inheritance skill,¡± he added, seeing the surprise on my face. When I heard the words, the surprise disappeared, and shock appeared on my face. Saying inheritance skills are rare would be an understatement. These are skills that their ancestor had. The ancestor needs to be at least an s-ss powerhouse; a person at Lv. 50 and above to pass his skills and the ss. One needs to satisfy conditions to gain those skills. It is also be harder to get them with each sessive generation. I heard from Eli and Z, that his ancestor was the s-ss scout who used cloud-surfing sparrows. Getting the same monster wouldn¡¯t be enough. There must be more he needed to do to get it. Whatever it is; the ancestral skill didn¡¯t disappoint us. He had brought us the information. ¡°What did the information say?¡± I asked, and their expressions turned even more serious. ¡°Another horde ising. It had around fifty thousand undead. At least one level 30 and four pre-30 in it. It should reach the city within two hours,¡± replied Robin, and I shook. I wanted to scream hearing that, but I fell silent instead. More undead would spell a doom for us. We had fought the horde for three hours and were barely able to kill over 15% of it. Which had tired us out and killed and injured many of us. Now, another horde ising toward us, bringing more undead. There will also be powerhouses in it, which will make dealing with it, even more dangerous. We will get ughtered by them. It took me a few seconds to control my emotions, and I turned to Stone. ¡°What should we do? Should we bring our n forward?¡± I asked. He didn¡¯t say anything and kept looking up for several seconds, before turning to me. ¡°The addition of the fifty thousand more undead will make things very dangerous, but it also provides us with the opportunity to execute our n more smoothly,¡± he said, and I caught the hidden meaning behind his words. ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Robin. ¡°They had called the reinforcement because they didn¡¯t want any stone upturned. They want to crush us, absolutely, and with such a horde, they will have the confidence to do it, which will present us with a great opportunity to execute our n, with lower chances of failure,¡± he replied. Robin just nodded and turned to me. ¡°I hope whatever you have nned is enough to deal with the horde,¡± he said to me. ¡°It is enough to give us a chance of victory,¡± I replied, with a small smile appearing on my face. Which brought a small on his face too, but soon his expression turned serious. ¡°There is another news,¡± he said somberly. ¡°What is it? I hope it is not another hordeing from the other direction?¡± I asked with nervousughter. Hoping the joke wouldn¡¯te true. Robin shook his head, and I felt relieved, but a momentter, he pushed a page toward me. I took it and was shocked immediately, reading the first line. The more I read, the more shocked I would be. ¡°Madman! He used a Grade VII empire protection spell. I thought, there are powerful restrictions around them, that even the emperor couldn¡¯t use them unless the empire is truly in danger?¡± I asked with every word filled with shock. I mean, what kind of spells are the Grade VII spells? They are called archmage spells, only archmages can cast them. In the past two thousand years, there have never been over nine archmages at one time in the world. Currently, there are said to be only seven in the world. An archmage is a walking nuke, powerful beyondprehension. That madman had just used the spell, and he didn¡¯t do it to save the empire from danger. If I remember correctly; it is explicitly forbidden to use them for the purpose he did. The madman didn¡¯t care about that. ¡°That¡¯s what I heard, but he was somehow able to do it,¡± replied Robin. ¡°It will affect the Greltheaven greatly,¡± he added, looking worried. ¡°We will think about it after we defeat the horde,¡± I said, to which heughed, and I turned to Stone with an important question. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 328: Assassin Chapter 328: Assassin Lich Savais ¡°These are your targets, kill them and bring their heads. I want to give the bastard a little gift before we enter the city,¡± I said and gave the man in front of me sketches of the target, along with information. I had nned on doing this after we conquered the city, but now I am doing it before that. I couldn¡¯t wait for my revenge. Earlier I tried, but couldn¡¯t because of those three bastards. ¡°Those three are secondary targets. Don¡¯t spend too many of your skills on them; your main objective is officers, start killing them when the panic starts,¡± said Knight Bartram and the man nodded. Hanson had arrived not long ago; he was close. Hunting the people who had escaped from Panar. He is not at Level 30 yet, but he is good. I would have preferred his sister had been here. She ising with the horde, but it will take her another two hours toe here. We should have brought her, instead of Heartpeak or Ford. She wouldn¡¯t have gotten herself killed like, those two had. ¡°Wait for the heads,¡± he said, and a grin appeared on his face before he faded away. ¡°The man is too confident. If he had been like his sister, he would have reached Lv. 30 years ago,¡± said Knight Bartram. The man¡¯s sister is a decade younger but already reached Lv. 30, but the man hasn''t. ¡°Let¡¯s hope this will be the day. He takes that step,¡± I said, looking in the direction he went. ¡°It would be great news, if that happened,¡± said Knight Bartram at hope. We have lost two Level 30s; it will lessen the consequences, if the man reaches it. My staff lit up and the number of undead attacking the wall increased by 10%. It will attract the attention and help him cross the wall. Even without it, he would be able to do it. There are many weak spots through which he could enter the city, but I want to be careful. I don¡¯t want to make any more mistakes than we have already done. It had been hours since our undead were attacking the wall while they were defending. We could have waited and not wasted the undead, even if we were using the lowest-grade ones. We are doing it to keep our enemies upied and tired. I wonder what kind of reaction they will have once they see the horde. I have seen people losing the will to fight, seeing the hordes, but I want them to fight. I want to crush these bastards, till they feel despair and thest shred of hope, disappears from their hearts. ¡­. Margaux ¡°Thank you, Josh and Vrena,¡± I said to the two city guards as their people bound the three men and took them away. ¡°I had heard people be animals when they lose hope. It was my first time seeing it,¡± said the young man and sighed. These two are some of the city guards who had been guarding the establishment and the circle. So, when we came here, they came with us and now guarding the buildings where the girls are staying. Though their numbers are a fraction of what they had around the establishment. Every person who could fight is valuable and keeping these people here is already a big thing. Those three drunk men, they took had tried to break through the building, before being stopped by the guards. One didn¡¯t need to guess what they wanted to do. Due to the undead attack, the whole poption of the city had shifted to a small area. It gave rise to fear and helplessness, making people act on their darkest urges. There are only one thousand guards and four thousand volunteers keeping an eye on things, but incidents are happening. Especially around the area, where there are women and children. ¡°Don¡¯t feel worried, Headmistress. We won¡¯t let any harme to you and girls,¡± said Josh reassuringly. ¡°Thank you, Josh,¡± I thanked the young man and walked inside the building, which used to be a shoppingplex. The floor is filled with mattresses, with girls sitting or lying on it. Some are trying to sleep, hoping when they wake up, everything will be fine. Some are talking in hushed tones; some are ying games. They are doing everything; they can to distract themselves from battle at the gates. Not all girls are here, many are outside volunteering for different things. Some are patrolling with the guards, some are helping with children, and some are working in the hospitals; most girls are there. Every girl knows first aid, and some have decided to learn further medical skills. Which is helpful right now. The city didn¡¯t have enough people to care for the injured. War requires a lot of people, and the city hasn¡¯t prepared for it, despite knowing we would eventually face the undead. However, the undead we are facing areing from a different kingdom than we had expected. ¡°Headmistress, what happened? What did the guards say?¡± asked Revesa. I could see, silence descending with every girl turning their ears toward me. ¡°Nothing much. There was a bet among the guards about me knowing magic. I showed them the fireball,¡± I lied, and relief appeared on the faces of many girls. I know magic; even after a month, I am having a hard time believing the fact. I talked to the girls for a few minutes and tried to elevate their worries before walking to the floor above. Click! I reached the top floor and entered the room; there were four mattresses in there. Even I am not above sharing the room, at a time like this. The whole city had been shifted to a small area. We could be said to be one of the lucky ones as we have got the building. More than half of the people are staying in tents, where they are more vulnerable. There shouldn¡¯t be any threat unless the horde entered the city and attacked us directly. Master Silver said the undead wouldn¡¯t attack us before they dealt with the army. If some strayed here, the guards will be able to handle it; I hope, it didn¡¯te to that. Currently, I am alone. De is with the girls, while the other two are volunteering. So, I took out the spell book and my notes and started to study it. I am using every moment; I have to study the magic. It is a wonderful gift, that I will be damned if I didn¡¯t try to learn with my all. Knock Knock A few minutes passed, and I had gotpletely engrossed in studying. It took me several seconds to realize that someone had knocked on my door. ¡°Headmistress, it¡¯s me,¡± said the familiar voice from the other side. ¡®I hope, it is just drunk men,¡¯ I thought and walked toward the door. Click! I opened it and saw Josh, but beside him someone, I hadn''t expected to see. ¡°Eudo,¡± I said in surprise. He was with children, along with Lenore had others. He is quite good with children. When I went there earlier, I saw him doing make-up for a group of little girls. ¡°Can we talk in private?¡± he asked, and his expressions were serious. ¡°I will wait here,¡± said Josh. Eudo, nodded at him, beforeing inside the room and closing the door. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, feeling worried. I have never seen Eudo like this; there is a lot of pain in his eyes. Whatever he is here for is hurting him a lot. I hugged him before I realized what I was doing. Eudo is notfortable with physical contact and is stiffened immediately. I opened my mouth to apologize when I felt him get rxed. A few secondster, I let go and turned to him. ¡°I have not been entirely truthful about my ss,¡± he said. ¡­. Ca ¡°Miss Ca, has our army made any progress against the undead?¡± asked the vice-guildmaster Soren, while other merchants looked from theirfortable seats. In the past few hours, I have been asked this question more than a hundred times. ¡°Currently, our forces are defending the wall, vice-guildmaster Soren. Killing the undead as they came,¡± I replied. I am sure, with the connection the old man has, he already knows as much as I do, but he is still asking if I know anything more. The merchants aren¡¯t wrong in thinking; they know about my rtionship with Remus; it was never a secret, anyway. On top of that, the responsibilities and power he had handed to me; I could even make the officer responsible for protecting a safe zone listen to me. Which produced a surprising result. Jealously. It¡¯s not like I have not seen that emotion directed at me before, but it was always about my appearance, and it would be apanied by pity about my former profession. It all changed from the day the legacy was born. The people had been jealous of my authority over it. Remus never hid the fact that he had given me the authority over the establishment. To them, I am the person with the highest authority over the establishment after Remus. They are a little wrong about that; it is Caena who has the highest authority after Remus; today, I have be sure of that. After he had be governor. The feeling of jealousy had intensified in their eyes. Now, it is not just women, but men also looked at jealousy and some wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill me. If it were to give them the power, I have. ¡°Let¡¯s prey, that our army wins over the forces of undead,¡± said the old man and everyone closed their eyes for several seconds to prey. This time, these bloody merchants aren¡¯t acting. They are scared and enough fear could make, even faithless, believe in the glory of god. I stayed there for a few minutes before I went to another group of merchants. This is a big mansion, with many merchants. They had formed their cliques, with one of them being led by Soren Arryn. It is my job to handle them, and it is harder than it looks. ¡°Miss Ca, I am really craving arais mar. Can you not send someone to my mansion''s cers and bring it for me?¡± asked the middle-aged fat man with rosy cheeks. I wanted to massage my head, instead, I put a smile on my face. ¡°It is forbidden to get out of the safe zone, Mr. Davis,¡± I said, and the man opened his mouth. ¡°But you don¡¯t have to be disappointed, I have one with me and it is from the establishment''s collection,¡± I added and took out a crimson bottle of wine from my bag. The man¡¯s eyes lit up as he took the bottle and kissed it, before turning to me. ¡°Thank you. Miss Ca, I will now at least die satisfied,¡± said the man, before walking away with the bottle, while I rolled my eyes at his dramatic words. ¡°Merchants,¡± said Bell, beside me. I didn¡¯t say anything; there was nothing to say. Yes, it is frustrating to deal with them, but I have dealt with worse. Still, I wished, I would be out in hospital or other ces doing something more productive than nannying the merchants, but it is an important responsibility. Remus had trusted me with it, and I will not disappoint him. Soon, I reached the bathroom and entered inside with Bell. It is a beautiful bathroom, like everything in the mansion, with ashir marble flooring and huge mirrors. I looked at myself and moved to fix my hair. ¡°I miss the straight hairs. They were much easier to manage.¡± Iined, to which she smiled. ¡°The curly hair looks good, much bett,¡± she stopped midway, with her eyes widening. ¡°Assassin!¡± she screamed in rm and did something that shocked me more than the word she had screamed. There will be no chapter tomorrow on Scribble Hub. There will be two on Sunday or Monday depending on your time zone. Though, if you still want to read it. It will be unlocked on for free tomorrow. Chapter 329: Dead Chapter 329: Dead Ca ¡°Assassin!¡± The moment she shouted; a powerful invisible suppressive feeling came out of her like a tide. Thud! It mmed something into the wall behind me. I saw a man appear in the mirror in front of me, with shock written all over his face. Seeing how close, he had been behind me. A horror rose in my heart. If Bell hadn''t brought him out, that dagger would have reaped my life. ¡°Aura!¡± he said with a voice shaking. Yes, Bell had used Aura. It is a power as well as a symbol. It is a representation of the will, and the great hand has no control over it. It is a power thates from the very core of a sentient being and is considered most sacred. Everyone desires it, but very few could awaken it. ¡°You have made a grave mistake, assassin,¡± said Bell, and I felt the invisible aura shifting. Rip! The ripping sound rang out and a huge wound appeared on the body of the assassin. It seemed to have to bring him out of his and he pounced. ¡°You will not!¡± I felt the aura moving again, but this time, the assassin was ready, and he moved. Khat! It shook him, but he avoided whatever, she used as the gap appeared on the wall behind him. Bang! ¡°Aura and aura skills! Just who are you?¡± he asked and flicked away, avoiding another attack, that smashed tiles beneath his feet. ¡°You do not need to know,¡± Bell replied and attacked again with her aura. He dodged the attack and tried to move closer to Bell, but retreating as she attacked. He did it over and over, while I watched in panic. My thoughts are a mess, each running in different directions. What is happening is just too shocking. First the assassin, then the aura, and now the aura skills. I don¡¯t know what aura skills are; I had never heard about them, but they looked powerful, seeing what they were doing to walls and the tiles. Remus said Bell was not what she seemed. Even Margaux had suspected something about her, but I am sure, no one had expected this. ¡°Hehe. You have mastered the aura skills, but don¡¯t have the experience to use them. If you had, then even my sister wouldn¡¯t be able to beat you,¡± he said,ughing; all the worry on his face seemed to have vanished. ¡°You are talking like you won already, but are dodging my attacks,¡± said Bell confidently, but I could see, a hint of worry appearing in her eyes. It seemed like what he said, is true. It reminds me of what Sir Schengen had said once when he was training Stone. He said an arsenal without experience is useless. If he wants to control the power of his elder blood, then he should use his elder blood as much as he can, till he bes familiar with every aspect of it. Stone seemed to have listened, because every day, he used the power of elder-blood to spar against Sir Schegan. Bell intensified her attacks and within seconds, she had destroyed the whole bathroom, but except for the first attack, not a single one seemed to have hit the assassin. Worse, he was getting closer and closer to her, and Bell was barely able to repel him. If this kept happening, he would reach her eventually, and it would take a single attack from him to finish her. ¡®Why aren¡¯t theying?¡¯ I thought. The noise was huge, and everyone in hallways should have heard it. Not just the guards, standing by the door. ¡®Has he killed them?¡¯ a question couldn¡¯t help but rise in my heart. ¡°You can¡¯t touch me, whore,¡± goaded the assassin as he appeared a meter in front of her, before disappearing to dodge the attack. Bell didn¡¯t rise to his goading and kept attacking, but the assassin seemed to have got better at dodging, seeing how close he was getting to her. I was watching him, when he appeared in front of Bell, before disappearing. I looked at the likely spots he would appear, but he didn¡¯t. Hun! Instead, I saw Bell whipping her neck toward me, with horror in her eyes. For a moment, I didn¡¯t understand, till I felt a cold sharp dagger on my neck. ¡°This delicate head will fly in the air if I feel the slightest change from your aura,¡± the assassin threatened. He is behind me, holding his de to my neck. I could feel its sharpness and skills attached to it and knew how effortless it would be for him to kill me. ¡°I will kill you. If you harm her,¡± said Bell, and to that heughed. ¡°There is no need for the threats. I am going to walk her toward the door, and you will stay at your ce. Once I reach the door, I will leave, without harming this woman,¡± he said and slowly pushed me toward the door. He kept as much distance between Bell and us as he moved us. I am panicking like there is no tomorrow, but I controlled it forcefully. I am aware this assassin is for me, and once we reach the door, it is unlikely that he will leave me alive, despite what he had said. I have to do something before that happens, or I will die. I don¡¯t want to die. For the first time in my life, I am feeling true happiness. I want more of it; I deserve it. But what c I stopped the question mid-way. I am not powerless, at least not since the morning when Remus hade to the establishment and told me its greatest secret. That only Caena and he knew before. I was a little angry, that he Caena had known before me, despite understanding. It is she who is responsible for it. I calmed myself more and focused on what Caena told me. I reached for that thing with my authority, and I had it instantly. It seemed like, he didn¡¯t sense it, as there was no reaction from him. I didn¡¯t act immediately, which I really wanted to do, but waited as we moved closer and closer to the door. ¡®Now!¡¯ I said and acted when we were just a meter away from the door. Puch Puch Puch! Immediately, a y-brownyer covered me, and I heard the wet sounds front and back of me. A faint sound came from the man holding me, but it had disappeared, just as it appeared. The dagger remains where it was on neck, but the blood started to seep down from the arm from several ces. I am feeling wet on my back and wanted to move. Spiked Shell. I had used the spell, that Caena had asked told me about. She had given me a list of seven conditions and spells, I could use. If I found myself in those conditions; these spells are best in dealing with those conditions. ording to Caena, Spike Shell is a Grade 2 Earth Elemental spell. It covers the body with light earth protection from which the spikese out in all directions. A Grade II spell is not powerful enough to deal with assassins, but Caena said, all the spells enhanced when activated through legacy; their power jumped the grade. I still didn¡¯t understand most of it, but it seemed to have saved me. ¡°Is he dead?¡± I asked, to shocked Bell. She didn¡¯t reply for a second before nodding slowly. tter! I deactivated the spell, and the body of the assassin fell down with his enchanted dagger ttering on the floor. I looked at the body and saw tens of holes in the man, including three on his head. They are likely what had killed him. ¡°I have his blood all over me,¡± I said; I don¡¯t know, why, I said it, but I did. My whole back is drenched with his blood and also my chest. Click! She opened her mouth to say something, but at that exact moment, the door opened and two women entered inside with smiles on their faces, but a momentter, they froze with smiles on their faces transforming to horror. ¡°Ahhhh!¡± The woman on the left screamed. ¡°What happened?¡± asked the guards as bolted inside and immediately rm appeared on their faces as they saw my state, the dead body, and the state of the bathroom. ¡°The assassin,¡± I replied, with a surprisingly even voice. ¡°What were you doing? Have you not heard the sound of battle?¡± asked Bell, with her passive skill pressing on the guards, that seemed to make their knees so weak. Even both women were got surprised, seeing the power of her skill. Bell seemed to realize what she had done and immediately lowered the power of the skill, till it couldn¡¯t be felt. If I had not been in condition, I am. I would have marveled at her control over her passive skill. ¡°We didn¡¯t hear anything, Miss Bell. It was all silence behind the door,¡± the guard replied. The reply eased the anger in her eyes. As she seemed to understand, that the assassin must have used some skill to iste the noise from the bathroom. There was silence for a moment as all eyes turned to the body and the blood that was spreading from it. ¡°Miss Ca, are you all right?¡± asked the woman on the right and walked toward me. ¡°I am alright Mrs. Hardt; all this blood belongs to the assassin,¡± I replied, and relief appeared on her face. Though I could see the questions on their faces, even Bell had questions. All of them are thinking about how the assassin got killed. They would never in their dream would think, the two whores have killed him, especially seeing the way he died and the blood all over me. ¡°I hope everyone will keep this news to themselves. We don¡¯t want to cause the needless panic,¡± said Bell, looking at the four people. ¡°Will more assassinse?¡± asked a blue-haired woman, who screamed. ¡°Unlikely. The assassin was for Miss Ca and since he was dead; they won''t send any, knowing she is protected,¡± replied Bell. I am so d she is here; I don¡¯t think, I am in a state to answer any of their questions. ¡°Miss Ca, you have a skill, right?¡± she asked. I didn¡¯t have to know what type of skill she was talking about. Only one is needed here and I activated it immediately. Fresh As Morning. As the skill activated, the blood and sweat floated down my body, creating a small puddle around my feet. A minuteter, we walked out of the bathroom. The guards locked it, while I went back to be my responsible, suppressing everything I had experienced deep into my mind. I have responsibilities. I wouldn¡¯t let what I had experiencede in between them. ¡­.. Lich Savais ¡°My mark had vanished,¡± I said as I sensed it had disappeared. ¡°He is dead?¡± asked Knight Bartram with shock. ¡°Likely. Though he might have removed it on his own to reach near the target; it wouldn¡¯t be the first time he has done that,¡± I replied. The mark kept me in a loop of his state, but it is also a hindrance to the rogues. It makes magic sensing skills discover them. He had removed the mark many times due to it. ¡°Let¡¯s hope he is alive. I don¡¯t want another death in my name, and there is also his crazy sister,¡± said Knight Bartram and sighed. He was not Lv. 30, but one had a chance of bing one. He and his sister also had connections back in the kingdom. They wouldn¡¯t like it if he is dead and will bring the consequences. Knight Bartram wouldn¡¯t be the only one suffering it. My reputation is already in the dirt due to the Namdar incident, and I already squeezed my backers for everything they had. They wouldn¡¯t help me. If those bastards tried to mess with me. ¡°It has be very important for us to capture the city, in a way, that impresses the higher-ups or there will be consequences,¡± I said after seconds of silence. ¡°There will be no further disappointment,¡± said Knight Bartram and turned to the wall, with fury zing in his eyes. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 330: Nightquill Chapter 330: Nightquill ¡°Any sign,¡± I asked Captain Cardin, and he shook his head as he put down his binocrs. He had a skill that let him see far and, with the enchanted, he could see ever further. ¡°Till now, everything is clear,¡± he said. It had been nearly twenty minutes since I had been informed about the second horde. I didn¡¯t like it, but I have epted it. We have also informed all the important people and the officers being informed. They must know about it before the second horde is spotted. The time will give them a chance to process the news and they won¡¯t panic, when they see the second horde. What happens next is extremely important, and I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. The undead are still attacking the wall and couldn¡¯t help, but feel genuine fear for them. If a warrior is doused in oil, burned. It will injure them and even kill them; they wouldn¡¯t be capable of fighting. The undead are not like that. Burn them, hit them, or cut them; the undead will keeping unless one destroys them. Currently, we are doing fine, because our enemy is barely sending enough numbers to keep us busy. If they had truly attacked us; I don¡¯t think, we would have been here, defending on the wall. Though, I would have preferred that. We wanted that, but unfortunately, the bastards did something unexpected, called the second horde. It will make things more unpredictable and dangerous for us. ¡°Lord Governor, they are here,¡± informed a Mage. I took ast look at the wall, before climbing down off the wall. I rather not leave the wall. Seeing me here gives people confidence. I need to be as much in public as possible, despite the dangers, but they havee, and I need to meet them. I truly hope, what she said is true; I need, all the help, I can. Soon, I reached the white building and walked into the basement, before reaching the room, which was being guarded by the two guards. They bowed, opened the door, and I walked inside. In there are three people; all of them, I am very familiar with. There is Ina, and in front of her are Margaux and Eudo. I wouldn¡¯t want them here outside of the safe zone, where anything could happen at any moment. I wouldn¡¯t have those twoe here if not for Margaux telling me. It is extremely important and could help me in battle. Margaux isn¡¯t one to make such a statement without substance. I turned to them; to Eudo. It is likely because of him. She had said those words in the message. The question is now, what he has, that could help me in this battle. ¡°Master Silver,¡± ¡°Lord Governor,¡± They greeted me as I entered the room. ¡°Please, sit down,¡± I said as I sat down, before turning to them. ¡°What it is?¡± I asked. Immediately, both of their eyes turned to Eudo, who took a deep breath, with a lot of pain appearing in those eyes. ¡°Have you heard of sabers of siamet, Lord Governor?¡± he asked finally. ¡°The elite group of powerhouses of the Siamet Empire,¡± I replied, and a small smile appeared on his face. ¡°An understatement,¡± he said, and this time, it was my turn to smile. It is truly an understatement to call them just an elite group. They are one of the most powerful units in the world, solely inmand of the Siamet Emperor. Kind of like imperial knights, but far more powerful. They can chew the imperial knights and spit them out; only the kinds of Knight Schegan would be able to contend against those monsters. ¡°Do you know what the real name of the unit is?¡± he asked. ¡°Nightquill,¡± I replied, the book, I had read about them had their real name. ¡°Do you know why, they have that name?¡± he asked, and I didn¡¯t answer immediately. ¡°I read, that they covered their bodies with paints, which gave them the powerful enhancements and abilities,¡± I replied, to which she shook his head. ¡°It is not paint, but script,¡± he corrected. ¡°And you are telling me this because?¡± I asked. He smiled, and that smile was filled with such pain that made me want to hug him. Margaux seemed to see that, as she ced her hand on his shoulder. ¡°I was the member of Nightquill,¡± he replied, in an almost inaudible voice, that seemed toe out with all his efforts. I looked at him, not at his hands or not thereof, but at him. He is not a warrior; they are easy to recognize. If Eudo had been part of such a powerful unit; I would have seen the sign of him being the warrior. ¡°I was not a warrior, Lord Governor,¡± he confirmed, with a small genuine smile appearing on his face. ¡°Most people don¡¯t know this, but the Nightquill has two types of members. First are the sabers, the ones who fight, and the second is the quill. The ones provide them with the scrips,¡± ¡°I was a quill,¡± I didn¡¯t react for a few seconds. It took me a while to control my emotions and turned to him and there was excitement in my eyes. ¡°Can you paint the script on our people?¡± I asked with hope, and he smiled, without mirth, before shaking his head. ¡°I had lost that ss, and the knowledge of quill scrips has been sealed. Even if I knew, it wouldn¡¯t have helped much. To use the scripts, one needs to have the sses of nightquill,¡± he replied. All the hope, I had in my heart was dashed, but I quickly controlled my emotions and turned to him. If it was just that, he wouldn¡¯t havee here. So, I looked at him and waited. ¡°I may not have lost that ss, but I have gained another and crafted my own script. While my scripts aren¡¯t as powerful as nightquills; they would still be able to provide good enough enhancements,¡± he added and removed the wooden box from his bag. Once again, hope rose in my heart. Any type of enhancement is wee; it will help us against the powerful enemies we will be facing. ¡°Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have enough paint toy the script on all your officers. This ink will be used on five to six people at most,¡± he said, looking at half-empty bottles of ink in the wooden box. ¡°We have some magical ink from orcs, will that work?¡± I asked, to which he shook his head. ¡°No, orcs use the different types of ink. This is a different ink,¡± he replied. ¡°Can it be enhanced?¡± I asked, that he began to shake his head, before stopping mid-way. ¡°There are some things that could enhance it, like the essence of startwhisper lily, bloodforge crystals, or emotion essence,¡± he replied. I thought for a moment before taking out four bottles with each holding a drop of emotional essence. ¡°I knew, I had sensed the change yesterday. I thought it was my mind ying tricks, but it seemed like it was true. The establishment had upgraded into the Grade II.¡± He said and took the bottle with the mixed emotion essence, while we watched in shock. Less than ten people are aware of the advancement of the establishment. I only told those who needed to know; even most assistant madam¡¯s aren¡¯t aware of it. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be shocked, Lord Governor. I have been in the establishment from the beginning, and I have seen every change. It had also changed my ss and my level was high enough that I could sense the changes happening in it,¡± he said. If I am not wrong, he should be the highest-level person in the whole damn city. I had nearly forgotten that he was at Lv. 30, that was when I had hired him. Since then, people working in the establishment have gained, tens of levels. It wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to assume he had leveled up a few times as well, and he said, his ss had changed, which would have brought him closer to the legacy. While I was in my thoughts, he opened the bottle of the mixed essence and brought the drop of essence out, which transformed into a big cloud of dense essence mist. The emotion essence may look like liquid, it is a very concentrated mist. It will remain in a mist state until Grade III before the state change will ur at Grade IV. At the same time, the caps of paint ink bottles were opened, and the emotion essence began to funnel into them. ¡°I have the skill to let me do this, but it is such a waste to use emotion essence this way. In the capable alchemist''s hand, it would have been, a far more efficient process, with a power of ink, increasing more than, what it would now,¡± We didn¡¯t say anything and watched in silence and shock. Using the emotion essence directly is dangerous, but he has the skill and the way he is handling the emotion essence. It is clear, it was not his first time handling it. He was able to recognize, the emotion essence being Grade II at a single nce. Only those, who know it well, could guess the grade at a single ss. A little more than a minuteter, the mist stopped funneling into the paint bottles. The remaining 10% of the mist, went back to its small bottle, which he gave back. I looked at the paint bottles and saw their volume had increased by more than twice; the paint also glittering like stars. ¡°Emotion essence is best,¡± he marveled and turned to me. ¡°I think I will be able to use it on ten to thirteen people, now,¡± he said. ¡°Can¡¯t you use, any more emotion essence?¡± I asked, looking at the bottles in front of me. I do not care about their value right now. I only care for the power; it could provide me. ¡°The ink could only bear this much of emotion essence,¡± he replied with a shake of his head. ¡°I will start with you, Lord Governor,¡± he said, but it is I, who shook the head. ¡°There are people who need it more than me. They will need the enhancements to fight the powerful enemies attacking us.,¡± I replied, to his surprise. ¡°Ina, call Stone, here immediately,¡± I said to her. She nodded and hurried out of the room. We didn¡¯t have much time; the enemies will being soon, and we need to be ready to face them. I hope Eudo is quick with quill, because we have one and a half hours before enemies arrive. I looked at Eudo, who was looking at me with various emotions. Some, I could guess. There is a question in his eyes and the answer is simple. Yes, I would love to have the enhancements, but I am aware, that it will be more useful to others. It would help them tremendously deal against those Lv. 30s. They will be fighting. ¡°Ca had asked me to give you this,¡± said Margaux suddenly and handed me the letter. I took it and looked at her question, but she also didn¡¯t seem to have an idea. What¡¯s in it. I tore it open and read the first line, which shocked me. The assassin had attacked her in the bathroom, she described what happened and how she killed him with Bell. There was anger in my eyes for a few seconds before I was able to control myself. I understand why, she didn¡¯t inform me about it immediately. It is useless, as even now, knowing the assassin attacked her, I couldn¡¯t send anyone to protect her. Some people earlier had suggested pulling out the city guards from the safe-zone and adding them to the army. That¡¯s how bad our conditions are, where every person has be important in the fight against the undead. I am d, I was right in trusting my heart and told her about the secret and gave her ess to it. I didn¡¯t even want to imagine, what would have happened. If she didn¡¯t have that, to protect herself. ¡°What happened?¡± asked Margaux, in worry. ¡°Nothing much; she is justining about merchants, acting like spoiled children,¡± I replied. She looked at me; it¡¯s clear she didn¡¯t believe me. I didn¡¯t lie to her; Cained about the merchants acting like children at the end of her letter. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 331: Abandoning The Wall Chapter 331: Abandoning The Wall ¡°They havee,¡± I said as I looked at the tiny dot inching closer to us. The tiny dot is a horde, made of fifty thousand undead. It had been only an intelligence, but now it has be a reality. It has made things more difficult than before. ¡°Is everything ready?¡± I asked Stone as I turned to him. He is the first one to receive the script, but it is not visible. Eudo had hidden it and unless one has a skill or spell, that lets them see the hidden; they won¡¯t be able to see it. There are thirteen people who have got the script. Mages as well as warriors. They are so versatile, that it had impressed Stone. I wish, I could get them, but they need it more than me, and seeing the hordeing toward me; I have be even more sure, that I had made the right decision. ¡°We are ready as we could be,¡± he replied. Minutes passed, and soon, the horde hade close enough that, people could see it from the naked eye. ¡°My god, it¡¯s another horde!¡± screamed a soldier, fighting on the wall. He panicked so much that the burning undead were about to take a swipe at him when the officer quickly appeared by him and dealt with it. ¡°What are you all scared about. It is just another horde. We have been fighting one and will be fighting this one too!¡± screamed the lieutenant. Such scenes could be seen across the wall and the down. It was a great decision to inform the officers. They are scared, but knowing about it in advance has helped them deal with it. Now, they are helping the soldiers to deal with it; stopping the panic from spreading. It was going smoothly, but officers, Colonel Cardin, and others were keeping a tight eye on things. I have also made myself as visible as possible and my new skill, Governor¡¯s Presence, is helping me a lot with that. Hun! The horde was only a few miles away when the undead did something. They had stopped sending the undead and called them back toward them. It surprised me, I thought. They would intensify the attack with a second hordeing. ¡°The horde attacking the southern gate had retreated.¡± ¡°The horde attacking the eastern gate had retreated,¡± informed the mages a secondter. ¡°What do you think?¡± I asked. ¡­ Lich Savais ¡°Call them back,¡± ordered Knight Bartram. Immediately, I sent the message to the two hordes. ¡°They acknowledged,¡± I replied. He nodded and turned toward the second horde. It will arrive in a few minutes. I am excited as we could finally attack. These past few hours were painful. If I were in charge; I would descend on the city with the whole horde, crushing everything that came in our path. It is the way of the undead and was our initial strategy, but it didn¡¯t work. We would have been able to manage it with the numbers we have, but our failure to kill their powerhouses and the death of ours have made Knight Bartram, hesitant. Now, we will try again with more numbers and powerhouses. The failure was not the knight''s fault. It was the first time man had got themand and was full of confidence after easily conquering the two cities before hitting the wall here. He had used the tried and tested strategy, but here, it had failed and the fall of that will go to him. I had already sent messages to themand; exining what happened and shifting the whole me on him. ¡°They are not panicking,¡± I said as looked at them with Sky Gaze. There is some interference, but not strong enough to stop me from looking. They don¡¯t have a strong enough mage or the powerful tools for that. ¡°They have a good leader,¡± replied Knight Bartram. I could see the bastard that I wanted to kill, standing beside the elder-blood. I want to cast the spell and snipe that bastard, but there is enough protection that it will be stopped. I wish Garzun had been with us; that bastard had good sniping spells. Finally, the second horde reached us and merged with ours, while three leaders came out through. I obscured them and other powerhouses with Sable Veil; we rather not give the enemies, the information on our powerhouses. While the horde merged, the two parts of the original horde had alsoe and merged back with us. Esalya joined us, and also Lowgust and Zylna. Unlike two parts of the horde, the third part didn¡¯t lose any Level 30, but both had said they hade close to it. I nodded at them and turned to the three people stopped in front of us. In the middle is the Necromancer Daril. He is a man in his early fifties, holding a slender staff with a grey crystal. To his right is a short-stocky middle-aged man in armor, holding a thick sword and a big shield. He is a Rovid Vansgart, a dwarf-blood warrior. On the left is a woman, who is in herte twenties. Wearing clothes and light armor, with two daggers on her waist and anger in her piercing blue eyes. She is a va Hanson. An assassin. ¡°Is my brother dead?¡± she asked, looking at me with her piercing blue eyes. ¡°We are not sure yet. He had removed his marker and there had been no response from him for the past two hours,¡± I replied, and could feel the anger in her eyes deepen. I do not fear her. If we were to fight, I haveplete confidence in killing her, but I do fear the people behind her. The faction had a huge clout in the kingdom. ¡°You should hope, he is alive, or you won¡¯t like the consequence of it,¡± she said, looking at me and Knight Bartram. For a couple of seconds, there was a silence. ¡°What is the n?¡± asked Necromancer Daril. ¡°We will attack the wall with the full force of the horde and crush through all the resistance until there are none,¡± replied Knight Bartram simply; making the grin. There are eight Level 30s now and three new ones that came at good. Hard to kill. ¡°That¡¯s how it should be,¡± said Vansgart with a grin, while others nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s discuss the n in detail then,¡± I said, and my staff lit up, bringing the rough projection of the city. They had prepared for us, and we need to n ordingly. This time, things will be much smoother, as we will not be blind to their powerhouses. We know who they are and what their strength and weaknesses are. ¡°Everyone understood?¡± asked Knight Bartram after he finished exining his n, and everyone nodded. ¡°CHARGE!¡± Roared Knight Bartram and the horde of hundreds of eighty-thousand undead charged toward the city like a tsunami. Every step of ours would shake the earth, and I could see the enemies on the wall shaking in fear, feeling it. Even the bastard shook as he saw using toward the wall. ¡°Ready for assault,¡± said Knight Bartram, and I sent the message to the mages and readied shield spells for the assault of the cannons and spells. Seconds passed as we got closer and closer, but not a spell came, or the sound of a cannon was heard. Thest time, they had started bombarding us with both, when reached this close to the wall. I was thinking that when I saw them doing something unexpected. Abandon the wall. I saw them moving away from the wall, men disappearing, that within seconds, there was no one on the wall. It shocked me; this never happens, unless there is a panic, but there was none. The soldiers were scared, but there was no panic among them. They had abandoned the walls at the orders of superiors. This is shocking because this is the best way for them to defend against us. If they abandoned the walls and took the battle to the city, it would be advantageous to us. They had done just that. ¡°Have they truly abandoned the walls?¡± asked Knight Bartram, sounding as shocked as I am feeling. ¡­ ¡°Retreat!¡± Ordered Stone and immediately, all the soldiers and officers began to retreat from the wall. ¡®We are not defending the wall,¡¯ It was never in our n to defend it. It might feel idiotic. Seeing from the wall, we would be able to kill arge number of undead, but if our n worked, we would be able to kill a lot more and would be much safer. It will also give us a chance to win this battle, which we wouldn¡¯t. If we fought from the wall. There are over a hundred and seventy-five thousand undeading for us. We could not defend against such arge number, even if we use every soldier we have to man the wall. ¡°Move,¡± ordered Stone and we began to move. I could see the fear in the eyes of the soldiers, but they were following the orders of the officers. Moving at a brisk pace; we need to reach our destination before the undead catches up to us. ¡°They have reached the walls,¡± said Mage Ravill, and I turned back for a moment and could see the tide of them on the wall. A few secondster, they opened the gates, and arge amount of undead poured into the city. It usually happens when the undead conquers the city, but now, they have entered without it. A few minutes passed, and the tide came pouring into the city. Seeing that, many soldiers tried to move fast, but lessened their pace. We are already moving faster than the undead; we do not need to go any faster. Six more minutes passed, and I had crossed the invisible boundary. As I did, a smile appeared on my face. Stone looked at me, and I nodded. We have entered the outer range, and now, I could do something. Though, now isn¡¯t the time. Soon we reached the entertainment districts. I could see the one army moving ahead of us, while the third one had reached the destination. They didn¡¯t stop for us, nor did they need to. ¡°Slow!¡± A few minutes passed, and we slowed down our pace. We had reached a very dangerous area. ¡°Separate, but walked within the white line,¡± ordered Stone as we reached near the establishment. There are mines everywhere, with only two hundred meters around the establishment is safe. We have created a circle of mine. Covering arge area with only an opening around the establishment. Half of all the mines we had have been ced here, creating a death circle. I looked at the establishment as I entered its inner range. To most people, the establishment starts from thepound, but its range has expanded and now are walking through its range. Here, I could control the mist; and make it denser or lighter. As such, even our enemies wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything if they walked down this path. Though, I have no ns to do that. We walked through the safe part, avoiding mines and then pitfalls, trenches, and other traps. Soon, we reached the center, where two armies had already gathered. I could see Z, Valentina, Hugo, and even Lt. Colonel Julian, with cannons around them, targeting all 360 degrees. No matter, which direction the enemy decides toe; we will be ready to face them. The armies merged, bing one again. Many people had died, but there were still over twenty thousand people standing, ready to face the undead. ¡°Lord Governor, Commander,¡± They greeted. I nodded and took my ce, before turning to the horde. It is massive enough to put a fear in the heart of even a seasoned warrior and now our patched army is going to face it. The odds seemed impossible, but there was a chance. Let¡¯s hope, theye from the direction, we want them toe. The fate of the city depends on it. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 332: Establishment Explosion Chapter 332: Establishment Explosion Lich Savais ¡°These bastards!¡± cursed Necromancer Daril as he saw the projection. The whole circle is lit up with thousands of tiny dots. We have reached near the bastard¡¯s army and now stopped at the minefield circle. There are thousands of mines and other traps. If we are not cautious from here, we will pay a big price. The price that nobody wants to pay. ¡°They have created a circle of mines and put themselves in the center. It is big enough for us to fight, but we will need to be careful after entering inside. The minefield is like a cliff, and they will be doing everything they could, to push us toward it,¡± said Esalya, with a nasty look in her eyes. ¡°The bastard who nned this, knows us well,¡± praised Vansgart grudgingly. The minefield isn¡¯t to stop us; it is pushing us toward it when enter the circle to fight. There are also those cannons that will rain down their fury on us and the spells from the mages. Vansgart is right; the elder-blood knows us well enough to n this. If it had been an army of living; they wouldn¡¯t have done this. It would be like handing the city to us and caging themselves in the circle. It would have been suicide, but it is different when ites to us undead. Our objective is the city as well as the bodies, and the army has the best bodies. Whenever we attack any ce, we go for their army. Here, we might have acted differently and taken control of the city andid the siege around these bastards till they starved, but we were under pressure from themand. They want us to getplete control of the city as soon as possible. We will be attacking the bastards, and the question is from where. There are mines and traps everywhere and in enough quantity to kill a considerable number of us. There is only one gap, and that is by the legacy, but there is one problem and that is the legacy. We had strict instructions to not cause any damage to the legacy. Themand wantspletely unharmed, and it is one of the reasons why, they want us to gain control over the city as soon as possible. There is a whisper that merchants might y shenanigans. Not personally, but through the proxies. They have already started their n, and we wouldn¡¯t want to give them a chance. They are not the enemies that we take lightly. ¡°Which route,mander?¡± I asked, and every eye turned to Knight Bartram. The man didn¡¯t answer but turned toward the army of humans. ¡°By the legacy,¡± he replied, before turning to me, with a bloody smile. ¡°They have forced us here and it wouldn¡¯t look good. If we didn¡¯t pay it back,¡± he said, and hearing that, a grin appeared on my skull face. ¡°As you wish, Commander,¡± I said, and my staff lit up. It is the least we could do to pay them back for this wee they have given us. A momentter, a big chunk of the horde separated from the horde and moved away. They are going toward the safe zone. We wouldn¡¯t have done that, but we will be fighting inside a circle. We do not need a big horde in there; the numbers we are taking are more than enough to deal with the tiny army in front of us. They noticed it within seconds, and I could see the change appearing on their faces, with many panicking. That bastard seemed to have said something, which seemed to calm down, but there was still panic. Soon, we are going to turn that, into despair. ¡°Move!¡± ordered Knight Bartram, and we moved toward the legacy. Nobody said anything further, but I could feel the pirs casting spells to control the horde tightly. They understand well that no harm shoulde to the legacy, or it will be their head on the pike. I also cast master control to aid them as we reached closer to the legacy. Boom Boom Boom! We were just two hundred meters away from the legacy when their cannons boomed. The fire spewed from the mouth of the cannons and cannonballs came toward us, tearing through the air. Right behind them are the spells and arrows. ¡°They are not holding back,¡± said Zylna as his staff lit up and shields appeared above us. ¡°But they are also careful,¡± added Esalya, looking at how the cannons, spells, and arrows are only attacking the undead that are away from the legacy. They are not attacking the ones, that are closer to the legacy. Knight Bartram had expected that and kept the undead dense near the wall, while those further from it were thin. Like us, they don¡¯t want to harm the legacy. It is a delicate thing; damage it too much and it will disappear. Soon, I appeared at the gate of the legacy and could see the building. It is a beautiful one; though it looked paler than what I heard about it. There is barely any emotional mist covering it. ¡°Once we dealt with these bastards; we will party in here,¡± said Zylna, while the others nodded and even Knight Bartram smiled. Everybody liked the legacies. Even with their power, they only get to visit one or two times a year. It had been over two years since I visited one; I nned to after I finished the mission on the namdar¡¯s ind, but this didn¡¯t go well. In the evening, I will be here, and I will make the bastard serve me personally. Hun! I was dreaming of the humiliation, I would give him when suddenly the attacks from the enemy stopped. From cannons to spells, everything had stopped as the bastard raised his hand. It surprised me, but it disappeared when suddenly my Dangersence red loudly. It was as loud as the time when the bastard''s amulet reacted to my attack and destroyed my body. My staff lit up with the most powerful spells I had; the others were doing the same, activating their most powerful skills and spells. ¡°Fuck!¡± Even Knight Bartram had turned pale and cursed out loud. ¡®Just what the nine hells it!¡¯ I thought with horror as I turned to the legacy; the feeling wasing from it. ¡®Couldn¡¯t it be?¡¯ ¡®That bastard wouldn¡¯t be doing that. It would vaporize, not only us, but the whole city,¡¯ I thought, and it was thest thought before I saw the legacy turn red, the ground turned red, trees turn red. We watched in terror while trying to get away, as far away from it as possible. Despite knowing in the heart, it is already toote. ¡­ Caena ¡°It is time,¡± I muttered as I looked at the horde getting into the ce, we needed them to. I had just thought that when I felt him acting, and a secondter; the entire legacy turned red. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face, but tears started to drip from it. I had said to myself, that I wouldn¡¯t cry, but here, the tears areing out of my eyes like a flood. I wiped them as I moved. I have a responsibility and I will handle it. Though, I would have wished, the numbers were as much as Stone had said. He said the undead would try to send some undead toward the safe-zone. It would be ten thousand, fifteen at most, but there are twenty-five thousand undead moving toward it. Even with all the powers of legacy and mine, killing them would be hard, but I am going to try with my all. I will begin as Silver is finished. ¡­. I raised my hand up, and immediately the attack stopped. At the same time, I did, the that gave me the greatest grief. ¡°I love this city and its people,¡± I said, with my voice reaching to every ear; not just the army, but the entire city, including the safe zone. ¡°For it, I could sacrifice anything, including my legacy,¡± People looked at me in shock; the only one who wasn¡¯t shocked was Stone. I turned and saw the establishment turning bright red, not just the establishment, but the ground around it. I have used Master of Legacy to burn the emotions that were present in every brick, wood, nt, and even soil. I am burning it all and seeing it, the enemies are running. It is futile, they will not be able to run away. ¡°Farewell,¡± I whispered with tearsing out of my eyes and brought out a massive amount of energy crystals, I had stored the Vault of Ru and forced the burning emotions into them, causing the reaction I wanted. BOOOOOOM! The establishment exploded, and it did so with such power, that had shocked me. I had imagined many scenarios, but this was grander than anything I had imagined. The explosion spread, covering the whole horde in its embrace and still spreading and reaching us within seconds. Bang Bang Bang Its powerful shockwave crashed against us; there were shields and protective skills, but it broke through them and crashed against us. It was like being hit by a sleigh hammer; for a moment, I thought as I thought I would crash like a broken doll, but at that moment, I felt the hundreds of skills and shamanic magic, that kept my feet on the ground. I forced back a couple of steps along with the whole army, but that is all. Aside from small injuries and massive heat, we are fine. Our enemies aren¡¯t. This was the n, burning the emotion power and creating the explosion by pouring that power into the crystal, creating the powerful explosion. It was more powerful than I thought and dealt massive damage against our enemies. I looked ahead toward the establishment, that no more. It had disappeared, leaving nothing but the dense smoke. ¡°Are they dead? I can¡¯t see anything,¡± Still, Craving?Click Chapter 333: Final Battle Chapter 333: Final Battle Knight Bartram ¡°We survived!¡± shouted Zylna, with clear joy and relief. I looked around and saw destruction, that made my blood boil. It was too sudden and powerful enough that it crushedyers of Grade 4 shield spells within a second. If not for the thing in my hand, nobody would have survived, including me. ¡°Artifact!¡± eximed Vansgart, with shock all over his face, as he noticed the thing in my hand. For a moment, he even forgot where he was and what he had just experienced. His eyes are seeing nothing other than halberd in my hand; there is a clear desire in them for it. ¡°A broken one and now with the defense; it had been spent,¡± I said. The fury raged in my eyes as I remembered the explosion. I didn¡¯t want anyone to find out about the artifact. I wanted to bring it to my order first, but I had to use it to save my life. It is going to cost me a lot; I might not be able to hold this halberd with that greedy bastard inmand at Ashton Harbor. I hope the order will help me retain it. ¡°It is still an artifact and as long as its core is fine. Our legacies might be able to heal it,¡± said Esalya. I didn¡¯t reply, nor did I put it back. Instead, I looked around to assess the damage. I felt the raging anger, I had never felt before, but I had controlled it and let the rational mind take over. ¡°How many?¡± I asked Lich beside me. ¡°We had lost about 70% of our undead. We would have lost more, if not for me and others using Ulkam Funnels,¡± it replied. ¡°Good,¡± I said. The spell he and others used takes the power of one group of undead and adds it to the others. It gives the undead extra immunity temporarily while fully draining the group undead from which the power is taken. It makes them useless. It is a steep price but needs to be paid in conditions like this. If they hadn''t used that spell, we would have lost all our undead, and that would have been our end. We are powerful, but without the horde to support us. They would have been able to kill us through the sheer numbers. I looked at the undead, before my people. ¡°The enemy had taken a gamble to kill us all, but they had failed and now we will make them pay the price for that,¡± I said and the bloody-smiles appeared on their faces. Even Lich is grinning. The legacy is destroyed, and we will pay the price for that, but before that happens, I will make sure they pay such a price. That nobody would ever dare to do what they had done to us. ¡°Savias, you are free to take your revenge; I am giving youplete permission,¡± I said and the grin on the Lich¡¯s skull face got bigger. ¡°Thank you, Commander, I will make the bastard pay for what he did to us,¡± he said. I nodded and looked around me. ¡°Gather the horde,¡± I ordered, and staffs lit up and, a secondter, the horde began together behind us. Hun! I activated Eyes of Far, but to my surprise, I couldn¡¯t see anything. The dense smoke is blocking the view; it had never happened before. My skill had been able to see through any smoke and dust before. ¡°My ocr spells aren¡¯t working properly; the residual emotion power seemed to be interfering with it,¡± said Esalya. ¡°Which gives us a great opportunity to attack them; since they couldn¡¯t see us too,¡± I replied. ¡°Ready yourselves,¡± I ordered and looked at the halberd in my hand. Things have gone wrong; the only thing, that had gone right is this halberd. I had not thought it would work. Its wooden haft is faded, and the de is rusted. I had not thought it would work, since it didn¡¯t before, when I tried, but feeling the danger, I brought it out as thest option and it came out alive, creating a protection sphere. It is what saved us, and I will be going to use it to kill the enemies. Its power is all spent; I could feel it, nothing had remained, but it was still better than the enchanted sword. I am going to use the halberd to kill that elder blood and the rest, till not a single one has remained standing. I believe there is a purpose; I got this halberd. It is from themander of Almin. It was a great surprise to me when he had taken it out to fight against me. Artifacts, even the broken ones, aren¡¯t something that someone like him should have. I didn¡¯t know where he got it; I killed him, the moment he had taken it out and put it in my bag, before anyone could see it. What matters is that I have it and I need to take it back to the headquarters of my order. As Esalya had said, if its core is good, it could be fixed. The order had promised to help me fix it. Second passed, and the undead gathered. Soon, there is a horde of fifty-thousand behind me. It is smaller than I had ever led, but it is all I have, and I don¡¯t want to call back the undead, I had sent toward the poption. I want them to create destruction and despair. ¡°Charge!¡± I roared and rode toward the pitiful army of the city. We will kill them, leaving not a single one alive. ¡­ ¡°They areing,¡± I said. Stone nodded and turned to the army. ¡°Lord Silver had sacrificed the thing that is most precious to him for the city, and it is time for us to do the same. Kill the undead! Cleans the ground, till not a single undead had remained!¡± he said, with his voice booming across the whole army. Thud Thud Thud! There was silence for a second before the army began to hit their legs on the ground with affirmation. Stone smiled and turned back ahead. The enemies didn¡¯t take long to appear, a few secondster. The horde came charging out of the dust with Knight Bartram riding the bone horse and rusted halberd in his hand. ¡®That is the thing, that had saved them,¡¯ I thought, looking at the artifact in his hand. I had already informed Stone about it. The explosion had been more powerful than I had expected, and I hoped that it would kill at least a few level 30s and it would have. I had felt, how the explosion had destroyed their shield, but at thest moment, the bastard had taken out the artifact. A broken artifact. If what, he said is true. It had spewed out a protective dome, that protected them from the explosion. Of course, I heard what he had said. He was standing in the range of my establishment. Not the outer range, but the real territory of the establishment; I heard everything he had said. I looked at Knight charging toward us and I wanted to hit the bastard with spells, but I know, he will survive. I have to conserve the emotion essence. This is not the only horde in the city. There is a horde of twenty-five thousand undead that Caena and others have to deal with. The more there is, the more it will be helpful for her. ¡°Attack!¡± Stone ordered, and we attacked begin. The cannons that were already aimed begin to shoot at them. The spells followed after with the arrows. The shields appeared in front of them to defend against the attacks, while theyunched their own attacks. Here, we have the advantage. The explosion was not sessful in killing the powerhouses, but it killed a lot of pirs. We now have more general mages than them, and we are using that advantage to our fullest. Stone had ordered them a minute ago to throw everything they had at the undead. Within seconds, our advantage begins to show. The enemy mages stopped with the offensive attacks and began to focus on the defense while we bombarded them with everything we had. Only the powerful ones continued with the offensive. I could see the Knight''s face turning bad and he increased the speed of his charge. Soon, there was less than a hundred meters distance between us and them when Stone moved forward. With each step, his body would grow bigger and denser the bronze on his skin would be. Hun! By the time he reached the Knight, the transformation was finished. Seeing him, my expressions turned serious. I had suspected it, but now, I have be sure. The awakening had likely begun. Since he woke up, I had been sensing a faint unstable feeling from him, which had been slowly getting stronger. Now, he had intentionally brought out his elder-blood strength and it became clear. He is slightly taller than before and the bronze color on him is deeper. Even Knight Bartram seemed to notice it, seeing surprise in his eyes. It is not good. The awakening should be done in quite a ce, without any tension, but here it is happening in battle. It is extremely dangerous and most nearly all fail. I wish I could do something, but I can¡¯t, not when I need him to hold the Knight back, who now has an artifact in his hands. I turned to the undead tide and the eight Lv. 30¡¯s hiding inside. Three new ones hade with the new horde. I was able to sense them earlier, and it didn¡¯t make me feel good. We hoped, there would be only two of them, but there are three. Two were already more than we could handle, and three were huge threats. To handle, each Lv. 30, we need to have three pre-Lv. 30. If this was all, we would have been confident, but they have also brought a lot of pre-Lv. 30. There are at least eight, I had sensed, but there could be more. CLANNNG! I was watching the tideing closer when I heard a deafening sh. I didn¡¯t have to look to know where it came from. There is only one battle that could produce such noise. Three secondster, the tide crashed against us. It was powerful, filled with arge number of abominable zombies. The bastard''s transference spell took the energies from one group of zombies and inserted them into another. Almost all abominable zombies and powerful skeletons have been saved. Raaa! I had just thought that when two appeared in front of me. They were nomon zombies, but abominable ones. They attacked, and their attack was fast and filled with power. This undead may not have the skills or the grace, but they have the muscle memories, retained by the undead magic, which also lets them use their physical power at limit. It is dangerous enough to kill me for a single attack. I moved forward, before taking a step left, avoiding the sword of the right zombie and then a sharp right attack of the left one, before attacking. Pachack! My rapier cut through the neck of the zombie on the left, before cutting into the neck of the one on the right. Seeing the heads falling, a small surprise appeared on my face. I had killed the abominable zombies before, but not at such ease. Gymnasts Control had made things very easy for me, far easier than I thought. With this skill, I could control, my every movement with precision, and that a lot of difference. When I got it, I was slightly disappointed with the skill. I wanted an offensive one, but it seemed like, it would probably provide me greater benefits than the offensive could. I nced at their bodies and turned to look for other undead when I saw someone familiaring toward me. The fencer woman I had fought a few hours ago. Even now, her eyes are burning with fury toward me. Hun! I moved toward her, before suddenly stopping, when I felt it. ¡®She had begun,¡¯ I thought and looked west for a moment, before moving forward toward the woman to finish, the unfinished battle. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 334: Blazing Spells Chapter 334: zing Spells Caena Rup! Three charms burned in front of me, releasing the spells of power, through them, covering the whole horde within seconds. The mages they sent immediately sensed something had happened, but they couldn¡¯t find out what. There are only four Lv. 20+ mages; the rest eighteen are below Lv. 20. These people couldn¡¯t do anything against my spells, aside from strengthening the undead with their spells and skills. The spells are strong and strengthened further by the power of the establishment, but it is a horde dealing with not a few thousand undead. There are twenty-five thousand undead in front of me. The charms are far from enough to deal with them, but it is not all I have. Dusk Light X 10. Sticky Drizzle X 10 I took a deep breath and activated the spells. Immediately, the spells came to life above the undead. The establishment had self-destructed, not a legacy. For most legacies, it is the same thing, but our legacy is different. The core is fine, only the shell has been destroyed. If we had self-destructed the core, then the entire city would have vapored. The power contained in the Grade II legacy¡¯s core is truly massive. Even the Grand Mage would die, if they were caught in it, Dust Bright is a divine spell that enveloped a small area in dusky light. Sticky Drizzle, release drizzle, and this drizzle are stickly; it also has the side effect of absorbing the things around it. Both of them are Grade II spells, but their power is enhanced to Grade II, and I had activated ten each at the same time. The effect is clear. Ten Dusk Bright spells covered arge area and the divine energy of it began to attack the undead. At the same time, drizzle fell on their bodies and stuck to them while absorbing the dusky light filled with divine energy, which did double damage. The smoke had started toe out of their bodies as the light and rain fell on them. They are behaving like it is burning them, and it is. Divine power is the bane of the undead, and it is killing them. The mages tried to stop it, but there were too many spells; they The hundreds of undead fell down, and within seconds, their numbers reached over a thousand. It took a few seconds more before the spells finally stopped; killing over fifteen hundred undead. ¡°Leave and you will survive and stay and I will kill you all,¡± I said with my voice spreading across the horde. I could see the fear on the faces of mages. Some had stopped in their tracks before they resumed moving with the horde. ¡®They are not stopping.¡¯ I thought worriedly. We are less than five minutes away from the safe zone. I wanted to attack immediately after the horde separated, but I couldn¡¯t do anything, lest it spooked themander and they change the strategy. Themander needed to lead the horde from the establishment. If he hadn''t, we would have needed to use spells against them, which wouldn¡¯t have much effective. Seeing there is a Lich and Necromancers capable of casting a Grade IV spell and tens of other mages casting a Grade III. I had only acted after the horde attacked the army, but that gave the horde a chance to get closer to the safe zone. I could see guards lined up to defend against the undead, and behind them were the volunteers. Their hands shook as they watched the undead with fear. If these undead had gone there with such numbers; there would be a massacre. There is a reason why Stone didn¡¯t use all the volunteers and only those who had thebat sses. These volunteers, who are holding the weapons in shaking hands, could barely fight. The guards could fight, but there are only a thousand of them. They are far from enough to deal with such a huge number of undead. ¡®Since you aren''t listening, you have left me no choice,¡¯ I thought and activated the spells. Dusks Brights X 10. Sticky Drizzle X 10 Once again, I released the spells in the same quantity, but mages seemed prepared to deal with it this time. Seeing that, a bloody smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. I had given them a chance, but they didn¡¯t listen. Earth Spike X 10. Earth Lances X 5 I attacked and a secondter; panic appeared among the mages. The Earth Spike tore through ten mages and the Earth Lances from above killed two, while the three were injured. In just a second, I had killed ten below Lv. 2O mages and two Level 20+ mages, while injuring three. These are Valentina¡¯s spells; they are stronger than normal spells. These mages stand no chance against them. ¡°Leave, there is still a chance,¡± I said, giving them another chance. Immediately, three mages left, but the remaining two Level 20+ mages cast the spells and killed them. Their ruthlessness shocked me; that I wasn¡¯t able to react for a moment. ¡°There is no retreat, without a victory,¡± said shouted the mage. Seeing there is no way, they will leave. I resumed my attacks; it didn¡¯t take much effort to kill the rest of below Level 20 mages, but killing the two Lv. 20+ is turning out to be difficult. They had stopped resisting my attacks on the undead and focused on their safety. I continued with the attack on the horde and the mages, before finally, I was able to kill another Lv. 20+ mage, leaving only one mage in the whole horde. He is the same one who had shouted. I had also killed over ten thousand undead, but it wasn¡¯t enough, seeing there were less than five hundred meters remaining between the safe zone and the undead. They are moving fast toward them. When the lich separated the horde from the big horde. It had locked it on the life signatures of this ce. So, even if I killed all the mages; the horde would keep moving toward it. Still, killing the mage is important and I am going to use more power than he deserves to kill him. Stone Bramble X 5. The delicate brambles of stone came out around the mage. He used the shield and defended against quite some of them before finally caught him and once they did, it was over him. ¡®He was one talented mage,¡¯ I thought. Few of his level would have been able to survive as long as he did, against so many spells. He defended against more spells, than his three counterpartsbined. I didn¡¯t spend more than a moment thinking about him and focused on the horde moving toward the safe zone. I attacked them with spell after spell and killed nearly fourteen thousand of them when they had finally reached the guards. There is not only a hundred meters of distance between them. Bang Bang Bang! The mines sted as the undead stepped on them. Of course, Stone had ced mines here. They and my spells killed thousands of them before they finally shed against the guards. Hun! I didn¡¯t stop with the spells and continued to release them when I noticed two other hands pulling the power and joining me with the spells. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face. A momentter, two groups of spells appeared. One had enhanced the guards, while the other brought bright radiant light on the zombies, killing them. ¡­. Margaux Radiant Bliss X 3 The spell activated, and radiant light covered the undead. It began to kill the undead as it shed against the death energy in the undead. Radiant Bliss, a Grade II light elemental spell. It only weakens the undead, but it is jumping from the grade. It was able to kill the undead. The number of undead are huge. They were so terrifying, that when I had seen it; I wasn¡¯t able to react for a few seconds. ¡°I am having a hard time believing that we killing these horrifying undead in doves,¡± I said as I activated the spells again. I want to cast more, but I am at the limit. Caena had informed me how much spells we should use when the three of us pulled the power. We need to keep some space open for Master Silver, who is fighting the other horde with powerful enemies. I was watching that battle with the Far Gaze spell, and it was terrifying. The powerful spells and skills flying there made me shudder to my core. I don¡¯t think, even with this power; I will be able to survive there. ¡°I had a hard time believing too, till I killed the assassin,¡± said Ca beside me; shaking in fear. Assassin had attacked Ca, and she killed them. I came to know, a few minutes ago, when we came here. We are on the roof of the tallest building near the guards. From here, we can target them better, while being safe and anonymous. ¡°I hope, I will be able to cast spells as powerful as these in my life,¡± I said with my voice barely more than a whisper. I had barely started casting a spell, and I was already dreaming of bing a full mage. It is hard, most mages can¡¯t reach this level. ¡°You will,¡± said Ca, while throwing the spells at the undead. They are dumb, but they are horrifying. They will keeping, no matter how many shes one gives them or limbs, one cut. The only way to kill them is to cut their head or sap the death energy from their bodies. Though cutting their head is the most efficient approach or burning them, we couldn¡¯t use such a spell where our people are fighting. They are also not as efficient as the light spells or divine spells. ¡°We are slow,¡± I said after a minute, seeing many undead slipping through the guards. We are targeting them, but there are thousands and spreading in every direction. I could see the volunteers from behind moving at them. Some were able to kill the undead, while others got frozen in fear and got killed by the undead. These undead were said to be weak, but only to the trained warriors who had some experience in fighting. These volunteers knew how to swing weapons, but they never fought and didn¡¯t have the ss. We killed and helped as many as we could, but more undead, are pouring inside the safe zone. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help, but feel horrified. I wish I had been a little more experienced in battle. I would have been more efficient with spells. I would have helped the guards better. Today is the day I got this ess and now fighting against the horde of undead. They are terrifying me to the soul and, if not for me, wanting to protect my girls and other people. I would have been hiding in my room. ¡°I am going down,¡± said Ca and white mist covered her as she walked out of the roof, while I kept attacking from it. I wanted to follow behind her, but I needed to be here to deal with the undead attacking the guards. Thousands of undead are still attacking the guards, overwhelming them. Seeing them die, I wanted to close my eyes and cry, but I channeled it all and kept throwing spells at them. This is the least I could do. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 335: Powerful Enemy Chapter 335: Powerful Enemy ¡°You will not survive this time,¡± said the red-haired woman, and attacked me without hesitation. Last time, there was no care for the consequences in her eyes. This time, there were no consequences. I had heard what, the Knight had said to Lich and understood the gravity of those words. The legacy is destroyed, and so is the protection that came with it. Many might have doubts about it, but they are angry enough to put that aside. Besides, the explosion gives them usible deniability against the consequences that mighte after killing me. By then, it would be toote to ascertain the facts. I didn¡¯t just watch the attack andunched my own with a new skill, de of the Gale. As I did, a surprise shed in her eyes, but that surprise didn¡¯t stop her de froming at her neck and she had even increased the speed and power of her attack, but I am not the one, that will give her a chance. Especially now. ng! Our des shed, and for a moment, the fury in her eyes vanished. ¡°You have leveled up,¡± she said, and the fury returned, burning even more brightly than before. ¡°Not just leveled up, but even got my ss upgraded,¡± I replied and grinned, making her even angrier. ¡°It will not save you,¡± she said and attacked again. This time, her de was faster than before and even used the skill, she hadn''t before; it released re into my eyes. Eyes of Erenys. Immediately, I activated the spell and swung my sword. The spell is from Necromancer Esalya. Earlier, when they tried different spells to see through the dust. They used many ocr skills; I had imprinted them. I could imprint the spell from both the inner range and outer range, but in the outer range, I have to focus. In a range of my establishment, controlling thes is far easier, including the most powerful one. ng! Our des shed against them, but this time, she didn¡¯t say anything, instead charged forward and attacked me. I moved left with the Blitz Steps, surprising her once again. I am thoroughly impressed by the Blitz Step. it is an amazing skill, much faster than my Rapid Steps. However, it had some ws, like the skill bing short-range skills from medium-range ones that Rabid Steps had. I do not mind. I preferred it. With Rapid Steps, I could do many things. Walked a mile quickly, but also fought with it. However, it was not as specialized as the Blitz Steps, which is for the battle, and that was its w. With the Blitz Steps. It had been fixed. The range of Blitz Steps is around two hundred meters, and I could run these two hundred meters really fast. I dodged her attack and swung my sword with the de Of The Gale. My rapier reached really close to her; it was just an inch away from her waist before she was able to dodge it. ¡°You!¡± she said and in fury attacked, using more skills. Her movements be dizzying. At the same time, three more des came out of her saber, targeting different parts of my body. ¡®She will have to do much better if she wants to kill me,¡¯ I thought and moved my rapier to defend. ng ng ng We shed, but it didn¡¯t stop her, and she attacked again and again. I defended and attacked her back. She may be powerful, but I am not weak. I will defeat her. Rip! I just thought that when her saber ripped through my sleeve and gave me a cut. I was able to dodge it in time, but the cut was still deep enough to draw out the blood. I didn¡¯t even react to it and moved forward beforeunching the attack. The new skills are excellent, but I didn¡¯t get much time to get used to it. My enemy is a powerful and experienced fencer who is at level 25 or near it. I am not ming my skills. If I didn¡¯t have the level-up, I would have had far more injuries on my body or even been killed already. What I am trying to say, is if I had good control and familiarity over these new skills. I would have been doing better than I am. Still, that doesn¡¯t mean, I have given up on killing her, I have not; I will kill her, despite me admiring her skills. Rip! Another injury appeared to me, this time on my stomach. Like before, I bore it, like nothing had happened. While I was fighting against her; other attacks came at me. Spells, these spells areing at less frequency than the first battle, but they are powerful. Not a single spell had been weaker than Grade III, and I felt two or three being Grade IV,ing from the direction of the Lich, which was once again being contained by Lena and her team. However, this time, they seemed to be having problems in containing it, and even their life, seemed to be in danger. Seeing how dangerous things are, I am keeping an eye on spells targeting me. Ready to defend myself against them. Rip! Once again, another attack of hers hit me, and another one, not long after. ¡°One of these attacks will kill you,¡± she said, looking at her bloody saber. ¡°Tell me, when that happens,¡± I said andunched my own attack, which she had dodged beforeing at me, once again. ng Rip ng The des shed, with injuries appearing on my body. All of them were small injuries, only cuts; I was able to dodge them before they cut me deeply. I was not able to dodge so precisely before, but now with Gymnasts Control, I am. It is a wonderful skill as useful as the Gymnast Grace, or even better than it. The best thing about it is that it lets me control the tiny movements, which helps me avoid bigger injuries. If I had the skill before, it would have made things very easy for me. I dodged another attack by the centimeter and took a step forward beforeunching my own. Rip! It cut through her shoulder, and it was not a small cut. It was bigger than any injury, she had given me. I could see the fury zing in her eyes, but I barely nced at it as I moved for another attack. She countered, before attacking me, giving me another injury. Rip! A smile had appeared on her face, but the next second it disappeared when she received injury from me. The woman is good, but I am finally getting the hang of her fighting style and control over my skills. ¡°You are dreaming. If you think this will do anything against me,¡± She is not an idiot and seems to understand what is happening. She intensified her attacks, using skill after skill, while I only used the Blitz Steps and de Of The Gale to attack and defend. Sometimes, I would use Quick Parry, but that¡¯s all. It¡¯s not like, I don¡¯t want to use the other skills. I do, but in this battle of fast legs and quick swords; the other skills are unnecessary. Rip Rip Ting! Another injury appeared on her shoulder, and a few seconds after that, another one on her back before hitting her armor across her chest. The pace of my attacks is increasing, and it has be equal to hers, and it is making her angry, which makes her even angry. Her attacks were bing stronger and faster, that I wanted to enter war mode, but I didn¡¯t. Instead, I kept fighting as I am. Defending most, butunching a few attacks of my own. It might look like disadvantageous to me, but it is instead helpful. She is letting that anger get the best of her and taking risks she would usually wouldn¡¯t. In doing that, she is making mistakes. Eventually, she is going to make a mistake; that will give me the opportunity I am looking for. Hun! I was thinking that when suddenly, I sensed something that raised all the hair on my body. Huge bonences, covered in burning death fire,e toward me. The shields appeared to stop them, and some did, but a few broke past them. Reaching really close to me. That, if another powerful shield didn¡¯t appear, within a second, those burningnces were going to tear me apart. ¡®That bastard!¡¯ I cursed. I know it is the Lich; it is not the first time, the bastard had attacked, but most of the attacks would be stopped by Lena and others fighting him or Mage Aldridge fighting close to me, but this time, they were only able to stop half of the attacks. Aqua Shield. Frost Shield. Earth Shield X 2. I activated spells instantly, knowing I would need to protect myself. Shields appeared,yered over one another as I had expected them to. These spells are from Shaun, he is a generalist. They are good atyering spells of different elements. Bang Bang Bang! The burning bonences covered reached the shield and crashed against them. They didn¡¯t have a problem piercing Aqua Shield, but it took some of their momentum and power before crashing into the hard Frost Shield. They sted it into pieces, but it took a lot of their power. So, when they crashed into the Earth Shields; they had a lot less power, but it was still a Grade IV spell and crushed through the first Earth Shield. Finally, they crashed into the second Earth Shield and sted apart. Still, the spell was powerful enough to make the shield crack near the breaking point before disappearing. Rip! The joy of defending against the attack was short-lived as the next second, I felt a deep cut in my stomach. She used the distraction of the Lich¡¯s attack to give me a deep cut. She would have cut my guts out or divided me in two, if not for me dodging the attack on time. ¡®I have to finish the battle quickly or I will end up, losing my life,¡¯ I thought. I am sure, the lich wouldn¡¯t stop attacking me. I might be able to stop this attack, but I won''t be able to stop the next one even if I did. This woman will make use of distraction and finish me off. I wanted to use that skill. It will make things easy, but I don¡¯t feel it is the right time yet. I had just thought that when another attack came from the lich. Fortunately, they were able to stop the attack. ¡°You will die soon,¡± she said, guessing what I was thinking. Rip! ¡°Not dead yet,¡± I replied and defended against her attack andunched my own, which she had defended and attacked again, which hit me. Seconds passed and more and more attacks of her began to hit me. They would hit more intensely when I was distracted by the attack of the lich. The attacks kepting at me and causing a distraction. She is using that opportunity with everything she has. Over a minute passed, and more injuries appeared on my body. She used every opportunity to kill me; she hadn''t seeded, but she had brought more injuries on me, while me only able to bring one. It is so small, that it wasn¡¯t even able to draw out the blood. It was a scratch. Hun! A few more seconds passed when another attack came. It was the most dangerous spell; he had ever used. I didn¡¯t even know, he had it. The spell is huge dark ck lightning, shining powerfully in a bright moonlight. Zorrin¡¯s Lightning. A grade 4 spell and a very powerful one at that anding directly at me from above. Seeing that, the woman leaped at me, with my head as the target. It was a big opportunity, she had been waiting for and wasted no time exploiting it. I seemed have to froze seeing the destructive spell; not caring about the lightning or the enemying toward me. To others, it looked like, I got overwhelmed. Aqua Shield. Taren¡¯s Radiance. Aqua Shield. Taren¡¯s Radiance. Earth Shield. It didn¡¯t, and the shields appeared above me; at the same time, I focused on the enemy. Who is in the air due to leap and her saber being just a few inches away from me. She felt my eyes and saw my lips curling and her expression changed immediately. Understanding what had happened. What happened is simple, she had fallen into my trap. I had her in the air, without much freedom to move. However, the fear had remained in her eyes for a moment before it disappeared and became a challenge. She is saying so what, she is in the air; her saber is just a few inches away from me. I wish I could tell how mistaken she is about that. I moved, and immediately, the challenge in her eyes vanished. My speed is greater than I have ever shown. However, even with the speed, her saber touched my neck and she tried to move it to cut me, but I was fast. Faster than her saber and was moved away, while attacking her with my rapier. I was not holding back on the Blitz Step alone, but also on Gale Of The de. My sword moved, but it didn¡¯t move toward her chest or neck but at her axi; right below her underarm. It is a part that is not protected by an arm. She wouldn¡¯t be able to defend it with her saber. She tried to move away, but she was in the air, with limited maneuverability. She could do nothing. My rapier reached below her underarm and enchantments on it red. At the same time, I activated Sharpness. PUCH! It entered inside, cutting the bone, before reaching her heart and piercing through it. She tried to get away till the end but failed. BANG BANG BANG! At the same time, Zorrins Lightning crashed against the shields above me. The spell immediately showed its massive power by destroying the firstyer of Aqua Shield and Taren¡¯s Radiance in an instant, but it took longer to destroy the secondyer. When it finally crashed on the Earth Shield, most of its power had been spent. What had remained had sted the shield apart. Thud! The spell dispersed and the dead body of the woman fell down. I looked at her and felt relief. She was a powerful enemy; I rather not fight someone like her, on this battlefield. I might not survive. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 336: My Domain Chapter 336: My Domain BANNNG! I defended against another attack from the lich while cutting the head of another abominable zombie with my rapier. The attack had been the third in minutes that sessfully came at me. The Lich had increased the intensity of the attacks and I fear, one of these times, I may not be able to defend against it. I am not the only one using the power of the establishment. Three more people are, and they are using it at a much greater intensity than me. The horde had reached the safe zone. I hope Caena was able to kill enough numbers. There were only a thousand guards and volunteers who didn¡¯t have enough experience to get abat ss. It will be a massacre. If arge number of zombies attacked the safe zone. I pushed those thoughts away; there was no use thinking about the thing I couldn¡¯t control. The only thing I could do was believe in the girls and the people defending the safe zone. Pachac Khat Pachac! My sword cut through the zombies and the skeletons. It didn¡¯t matter. If it was a normal undead or special undead, my rapier would cut through it. It had been a few minutes since I had killed the woman, and since then, I had not fought a single living person. It is all undead; there are not many people I could fight, since many died in the explosion and those remaining are fighting against the others. It is why we are doing good against the undead. Killing them rapidly; we might really be able to kill them all by the morning. We might be doing good against the undead, but our condition is not so good against the powerhouses. The explosion may have killed many undead, but almost all-powerful people of Lv. 25 and above have survived. That includes eight Lv. 30+ powerhouses; these bastards are powerful and killing a lot of us. If we don¡¯t deal with them; we will lose the battle. Everyone is fighting, trying their all to kill the enemies, but it is hard. These people are powerful, especially the Knight Bartram. That damn bastard is not holding back anything; making Stone bloody within a few minutes that he had in a few hours earlier. That artifact was something else, too. It looked like a thing that had been buried in the earth for a hundred years and could break at any time, but it was carving up Stone like a wood. The injuries, he is receiving are heavier than thest time, but they are recovering fast. He is going through an awakening. Every minute, the bronze skin gets darker and his strength is reaching higher. That instability is also getting stronger, and it is giving me a bad feeling. I felt like, it might kill Stone first, before the Knight. I have read about the awakening and could only imagine the pressure; he must be feeling. The awakening should happen in a peaceful environment, without any outside pressure, but here Stone is feeling pressure from the outside as well as inside. There were bloody battles everywhere, but the one attracted my eye the most. It is of the young albino orc; he is fighting against two enemies, both of whom are pre-Lv. 30. They are obviously stronger than him, but he is fighting them; like he did in the battle earlier. His injuries are heavier, but they seem to barely stop him. Even in thest battle, his fight attracted my gaze the most. I think it is because of the way he fights. He is obviously weaker than them, but he is fighting and even injuring them. I don¡¯t think, I would survive. If I fought against the enemies with such a difference in strength, while having such injuries on me, much less able to able to injure the enemies, I am fighting. I looked at his battle for a second before killing, the group of skeletons and then moving toward the zombies. I want to use the spells to wipe these bastards quickly, but I need to conserve as much emotion essence as possible. It is draining fast, as the girls are using it constantly to deal with the second horde. Every spell I use has a great cost; it is burning the emotion essence. The most precious material in the world. I do not care about the cost, but I have a limited amount of emotion essence. I am using it only when I need it. Hun! I was just thinking that when I saw another powerful attacking toward me from the Lich. Immediately, shields appeared from Mage Ravill and Mage Aldridge, stopping the attack. I took a breath of relief and continued killing the undead while remaining alert to the attacks of the undead. They are stopping the attacks, but they are not stopping all the attacks. Some of Lich¡¯s attacks doe at me, and I need to defend against them. ¡°Lord Silver, watch out!¡± A familiar voice screamed at me from behind in extreme urgency. I reacted instantly, even before the surprise caught up to me. I activated the spells while turning to face the danger. Earth Shields X 2. Earth Shields X 2. Earth Shields X 2. Earth Shields X 2. I felt all the hair on my body stand up, the moment, I activated the spells. The danger is powerful, stronger than even Lich¡¯s spell. It would definitely kill me if it were to hit me. CLANG! A fraction of a secondter, I saw something hitting the Earth Shields behind me hard, before materializing. A short woman, wearing a ck rogue suit and having twin daggers in her hand, materialized and focused her pale blue eyes on me. Her whole face is covered except for her pale blue eyes, which are filled with grief and retribution. Her eyes met mine, and she attacked again. Her attack was so fast that I couldn¡¯t even see it. She would separate my head from my body before I could even activate the spell. She is too close and far too fast, which isn¡¯t surprising. Seeing she is a Rogue and they are fast. ¡®Fuck! Am I gonna die?¡¯ I asked myself as I tried to activate the spells. In a time, I don¡¯t have. CLANG! I was seeing my death floating in front of me when suddenly I heard a loud shing sound. Only to see a familiar figure appearing in front of me, with his two swords shing against the twin daggers of the Rogue woman. Seeing that, a relief flooded my cold, sweaty body. ¡°You should move away from here, Lord Silver,¡± said Lt. Colonel Julian, while looking at the Rogue in front of him. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said as I recovered and moved away with the Blitz Steps as fast as I could. CLANG! The Rogue disappeared and appeared a meter behind me, but Lt. Colonel Julian appeared once again and stopped her attack. I didn¡¯t look and moved away, pushing the Blitz Steps, as hard as I could. Mages are considered the most dangerous powerhouses in the world, but if you ask them, who they fear the most. Over 90% of them would say the Rogues; these are people who could get close to them and kill them fast enough that they couldn¡¯t cast the spell for their protection. Lt. Colonel is the only person on the whole battlefield who could fight against her. Stone might, but he won¡¯t be able to stop her, as Lt. Col. Julian is doing. He is the only Lv. 30, we have, and he seemed to have gained quite good skills after leveling up. There is a high chance that even his ss has upgraded. It would have been great. If he had been fighting fully healed and rested, but unfortunately it was war and everybody was fighting, no matter their state. I got far away from the Rogue, but the fear of her remained. I suppressed it and began killing the undead again. I have to fight, even if I am scared shitless about my life. A minute passed and then another, when suddenly I sensed the danger, and without even looking, I knew it was from Lich. ¡®It just couldn¡¯t give me a rest!¡¯ I thought and turned toward the lich. Hun! As I did, shock couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. Yes, the spell ising, but so, is the Lich. He had been able to escape from the containment of Lena and others and was nowing at me. I turned to Lena and others and saw them busy dealing with a different enemy. They are trying toe at the Lich, but being stopped by the powerful enemies. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed as the shields appeared in front of me and defended against the attack, before activating the Blitz Steps and it was not the only thing, I had used. I had also cast Minor Haste and Feather Light on me and moved. The Lich had been able to untangle itself from those he was fighting and while it was receiving the attacks; they were far from enough to stop it. The Lich ising for me. I need to run. Those stopping him are level lower than him and also busy with their own battles. At most, they will be able to slow it down, I need to use that to gain as much distance between us as possible. I may look like, I am defending against the Lich¡¯s attacks just fine, but I am not. It is the attack; it is sneaking while others bombard it. If it attacked me with full power without anyone interfering; I wouldn¡¯t be able tost long. The spells I could cast through the establishment are Grade II with the power of Grade 3, while the Lich is a Grade IV. It is also old and experienced; I won¡¯t be able tost long in front of him. So, I am going to the ce, where I will be able tost long against it. ¡°You will not run away. I will kill you for what you did to me at Namdar,¡± Lich¡¯s voice rang out in my ears as it followed me with the ghostly movements. It is faster than me and the only reason, he is not able to catch up to me, is because of the interference from the mages. ¡°Your spells will need to touch me for that,¡± I taunted and pushed myself even harder, nearly stumbling in the process. Blitz Steps is already fast enough and now, I have added Minor Haste and Feather Light. they had increased my speed further. So much so that, I barely control it and even with it all. I am slightly faster than the Lich, who is facing all that interference from the mages. BANNNNG! Another spell crashed into me. Thankfully, the shields have handled it. The Lich hadn''t stopped attacking me; it was doing that every chance it got and now more and more of its spells had been hitting me. Soon, I had reached the edge of the battlefield. The people have be space here, but they are fighting with the same intensity as those fighting in the center of the battlefield. I soon left them behind and so did the Lich. The intensity of his attacks has increased further. There is barely any interference, as all those stopping it are on the battlefield. Hun! I was running, pushing myself hard as Lich was rapidly gaining ground on me when suddenly, I saw a bone wall appear in front of me, and at the same time, Zorrin¡¯s lightning came from above. I wanted to curse, but I didn¡¯t even have time for that and acted on instinct, knowing even a second of dy would cost me my life. The shields appeared right below the lightning, while pressed my legs down before leaping forward. BANNNG! I jumped with a just force that I had never in my life and went high above the bone wall, while the spell crashed against the shield. Seeing that, a grin appeared on the Lich¡¯s face, and I was not surprised. I am up in the air, with little maneuverability; it is a ce I like my enemies to be in. It makes attacking them much easier and now, I am in that space. Lich didn¡¯t waste any time and sent four Zorrins Lightning from all four directions and created a sharp bone below. Even if I defended against the spells; the bones would turn me into a porcupine the moment Inded. The panic couldn¡¯t help, but fill my heart. If it had been single Zorrins Lightning; I would have been able to defend against it. Even two but four are too much. I don¡¯t think, my usual spells would help me with that; they will be crushed by them. I bit down on the panic and pushed it far into my mind, I could and activated the skill. The one, I have so far resisted using it. I have kept it for the right time, and it is the right time. Focus. I activated Focus; a skill, I had copied from the Rayna. It is a single-name skill and doesn¡¯t look special, but it is very special. As I activated the skill. I felt all the distractions disappear, while my thoughts became clear and raced faster. I went over all the imprinted spells and magical knowledge, I had. I even activated Instant Recollection to aid it, which caused me a headache. I bore it, and soon, I got the answer. I didn¡¯t waste even a moment thinking whether it would work or not and simply activated the spells. Water Bubbles. Radiant Bliss X3. Frost Ball. Frarys Dust X3. Revolving Gale. First appeared watery bubbles, which got filled with the power of the light of Radiant Bliss, before Frost Balls entered inside, and shimmering Frarys Dust covered the bubbles whole. Thest spell, Revolving Gale, had spun those bubbles around me. They looked beautiful, like something out of a dream that I forgot headache and terrifying lightning spells for a moment before they arrived. BANNNG BANNNG BANNNG! The huge arcs of lightning crashed against the bubbles, and they exploded. I thought it woulde at me and turn me into ashes, but nothing like that happened. Instead, lightning exploded bubbles into the mist of water and ice. Each speck of mist is covered in Frarys Dust, which is metallic, and they sucked the lightning into them, and the light attacked it. The scene it created was beautiful, but also extremely dangerous. It burned me as I passed through the beautiful, shimmering mist. Turning my skin bloody and attacking it with residual death energy. Thud! It is extremely painful, but I bore it as I stepped on the Earth Shield in the air and leaped, beforending on the hot ground with the thud. Immediately, I turned to Lich and saw himing, and there was shock on its bony face. ¡°The mage, where it is?¡± it asked as it stopped in front of me with less than ten meters of distance between us. ¡°You are really incapable if you couldn¡¯t even find her. No wonder you lost so badly to us in Namdar, that you had to escape, without your body,¡± I said and the dark blue fire in its skull eyes zed. ¡°You bastard, I will kill you!¡± It roared, and attacked me with powerful spells. I looked back at it in the challenge. I am now not as scared of it as I had been a few seconds ago. We are in my domain. It understood it the moment, the spell came out. Still, Craving?Click Chapter 337: Flint and Fire I Chapter 337: Flint and Fire I Barb ¡°Close all windows. Bolt them!¡± ordered Lieutenant Vasquez; one of a few officers in the safe zone. He is the man responsible for the security of the hospital. This hospital is the biggest one in the safe zone and also the one, with the most serious patients. All the patients who have been brought here are from the battle a few hours ago. Many died, but most survived thanks to the doctors, healers, and everyone who is working, including us whores. ¡°H..has the undead truly attacked the safe zone?¡± asked one scared nurse. I could see everyone turning toward Lieutenant Vasquez, including me. ¡°Yes, but you all don¡¯t have to worry. My men and I will make sure, no undead enter the hospital,¡± said the raven-haired man and walked out of the door with his men. I could hear the rms ring across the safe zones. The undead are likely attacking the safe zone. Even entered inside, breaching the guards; I don¡¯t know and not knowing is scaring me. ¡°What did you think? Has the undead, really breached the safe zone?¡± asked Francesca. She looked calmer; calmer than anybody, here, including me. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I replied, shaking my head. Thud! I had just replied when the door opened loudly, and men came, looking tired and scared, holding people on the stretcher. The people are bloody, with various injuries across their bodies. From bites to ws to holes. Some are missing the libs and bleeding profusely. Immediately, the nurses and doctors moved, including a few girls. ¡°A few hours ago, they were shaking, vomiting, and falling unconscious, but now they are barely blinking, seeing all the blood,¡± said Francesca, herself shaking. I couldn¡¯t help but feel proud hearing that. The girls have really surpassed my expectations and even impressed the healers and doctors with their tenacity. A minute hadn''t over since the first group of patients arrived when the door opened again and people came in, bringing more patients. Seeing that, Francesca went toward them. The woman is good and very lucky. A day after, she came to the establishment; it had turned into a legacy. If she had been a dayte, Master Silver wouldn¡¯t have epted her. Many madams of brothels approached the establishment. Even willing to work as themon girls, but all of them have been rejected. We are now a legacy, and working in it is an enormous opportunity. Even if they work for a month and leave, they will not have to worry about work again. Every high-ss brothel will ept them without hesitation. Francesca is good, she is milking every opportunity; the establishment is offering, and it made me feel a little ashamed. From attending sses to bing a doctor to taking magical sses. I too have a magic talent, but I am one of those people who have no drive to learn it. Just like that girl Stena. I was in my thoughts when a young blond girl appeared in front of me. ¡°Madam Utsa; Doctor Kistoff is asking for seven Grades II and two Grade III healing potions,¡± said the girl. I nodded and took out the potions before handing them to her. It is my job to handle potions. The potions are expensive, and there are a limited number of them in the city. It is important that these important resources are kept under the tight eyes in war times and Master Silver had given that responsibility to me. The potions are effective but in the hands of the doctor, they be very efficient. Save the lives of multiple people instead of one. In the next couple of minutes, more and more patients came; most of them were in serious condition. The doctors and healers operated on them. Using potion only when it is necessary. Their focus is on stabilizing the patient, not healing; they could be healed when the battle is over, and we have more resources and healers. Till then, keeping them alive is more important. Hun! Suddenly, I began to hear the shouts before it turned to shes. Nobody needs to guess what is happening outside. The undead had arrived, and they had started fighting against Lt. Vasquez and his men. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed and activated No Disturbance. Immediately, the chaotic noises outside be much muted, but I could already see the effect it is having on the people. They be more scared; some begin to even cry again. They were a minority; most focused back on their work; cing their trust in Lt. Vasquez and his men to protect them. Thud Thud Thud¡­ For a few minutes, everything was good, when suddenly we heard loud noises from the wall. That even my skill couldn¡¯t mute. It scared many people, but they kept working. I walked toward the wall. As I got closer, I began to hear the shing sounds of metal. The fight outside had be more intense than before. A sword appeared in my hand, and I cursed myself in my heart. I forgot to put my hand in my bag, as Caena had advised. The legacy had advanced, and its range now covered a third of the city; I could ess its vault anywhere in that range. I got this ess today, that only Ca, Margaux, and Caena had. I am not the only one; Mena had also got. It is to be secret, and I had just revealed it; I hope nobody had noticed. I looked at the wall and the sword in my hand. It had been decades since, I held one and it couldn¡¯t bring back old memories, that nearly faded. My da was a mercenary, and he taught me to use a sword since I could walk. I wanted to be a mercenary, and I still remember, he is telling me that he would take me with him when I get my ss. He died when I was eleven, fighting for the local lord. It destroyed the family and brought us to the street. Dhud! The part wall suddenly copsed, bringing me out of my thoughts and I saw three zombiesing in through it. Ahhhh Ahhh Ahhh Things ttered on the ground, and people began to scream. Their screams were so loud, they had drowned the noises from the zombies. The zombies came toward me while I remained frozen in fear. I could hear familiar voices screaming my name. Asking me to run away, but it seemed like something had cast a spell on me, that froze my very soul. It is no spell, or the skill that did it, but my fear. It gripped my mind so badly, that I couldn¡¯t move an inch despite trying with everything I had. Raa! The first zombie appeared in front of me and screamed before attacking me with the saber in its hand. It was going for my neck; it would kill me. The de is rusted, but it has enough power behind it to do the job. I can¡¯t die! There are girls behind and defenseless healers and patients. They would go after them once they killed me. I can¡¯t let that happen; they are my responsibility, and I will not let these zombies harm them as long as I am alive. So, I mustered every speck of my will. I swung the sword, and, to my surprise, my limb moved and went toward the saber of a zombie. ng! My sword shed against the saber of a zombie, and I felt a powerful shock on my arm. It was so powerful that the sword flew out of my hand. There was no form or method to the swing; I had swung it brutely while the zombie had a greater brute force than me, along with muscle memory, which made its attack even more powerful. ttered! My sword ttered to the ground while the zombie attacked again. The sword had brought me only a second, and now it was attacking again. I wanted to take another sword out, but I didn¡¯t think, I would be able to defend against it, and I was too close to use the rune bombs. Both options are worse, but seeing there is no other option. I chose the best of the two and another sword appeared in my hand. Hun! I was about to swing it again when suddenly an idea came into my mind. It was a strange idea and it might not work, but it gripped my mind, so tightly that I acted on it before I could even think about it clearly. I activated the Stored Sips from my Drunkard ss. It is a skill that stores a few sips of alcohol. It is a very useful skill. With it, I didn¡¯t have to take out the bottle to drink every time. It is especially good during meetings or when I am among the people. It is embarrassing to drink in front of people. A sip of twilight amber filled my mouth. I felt its smoothness and tasted its wonderful taste that I wanted to gulp it down and nearly did, before stopping myself. Instead, I pushed it out with a Powerful Breath and lit it up with Flint. Whoosh! Immediately, the alcohol burned, creating arge plume of fire that immediately enveloped all three zombies. They began to burn while I watched in shock. I had never used twilight amber whisky in fire breathing. It is a magical liquor, and Margaux had forbidden me from using them. She is already angry, seeing me using the liquor for fire breathing instead of special solutions, which are a lot safer. ¡®She was right. It is too dangerous,¡¯ I thought as I looked at three of the burning zombies. I am not the only one who is shocked, but also all the girls and healers and others. They have never expected to see such a scene. Thud Thud Thud! It didn¡¯t even take half a minute for the zombies to fall down and stop moving. Though they are still burning. I looked at them for a few seconds, before looking at the hole they had made. I could see what was happening on the other side and seeing it, my whole body couldn¡¯t shake in fear. I turned immediately and went toward the girls, who were still watching the burning zombies. I stopped beside Francesca and took out the wooden box from my bag. ¡°Here, take it; it is your responsibility now,¡± I said, handing it to her. Francesca is a smart woman. She immediately realized what the box was and what I am nning on doing after handing it to her. ¡°Don¡¯t do it; it is too dangerous,¡± she warned, with her voice shaking. ¡°There are more undead than the guards could handle,¡± I replied. I didn¡¯t say what would happen. If those undead entered inside. Everyone could imagine what would happen. She opened her mouth but closed it, before opening again. ¡°Be careful,¡± she said and hugged me. It surprised me, but I returned the hug before breaking away. ¡°Take care of the girls,¡± I said to her and walked toward the hole. I don¡¯t want to do this, but there is no choice. There are too many undead, and they will enter the hospital. I will not let that happen as long as I am alive. Want, more?Click Chapter 338: Flint and Fire II Chapter 338: Flint and Fire II The foul smell of burned undead hit me hard. I almost vomited before I calmed myself and looked out of the window. It seemed like the condition had be worse since I saw it; not even a minute had passed since then. I am scared and didn¡¯t want to go, but understood the consequences of staying. I might not be able to do much, but even doing a little would make a huge difference. With that thought, I stepped through the hole and saw over a hundred undead attacking twenty-something guards and a few volunteers. Their condition is bad, with injuries all over. Some had fallen; whether they are alive or dead, is hard to know. ¡°Miss Utsa; go back inside!¡± shouted Lieutenant Vasquez as he noticed me, while he hacked two skeletons in a single attack, before moving to zombies. He is the only one among the people fighting, who is killing zombies at every attack. The others are having a hard time. They are not to me; many of them had never fought in the battle. Raaa Raaa! I looked around before moving ahead toward the group of undead. They seemed to sense me as they came. I activated the Stored Sips again, and the whisky filled my mouth. I wanted to release it immediately, but I waited, till the group of zombies were only a meter away from me. It is far too close for myfort, seeing they could reach me instantly, but it is necessary for the maximum effect. Whoosh! Finally, the zombies reached a meter away from me, and I pushed the liquor out with Power Breath and lit it up with the Fling, creating a plume of fire that was even bigger than before. The fire covered the three zombies and five skeletons immediately and burned them. I looked at skeletons and thought they would be able to resist it. They did more than the zombies, but they, too, were burning. The fire is killing them as it is killing the zombies. Twilight Amber is precious whisky; ranked in the top hundred liquors in the world. Expensive and hard to get. It is made in the Oton Continent using magical ingredients. The Number 37 bottle that I am drinking is advisable to drink only those at Lv. 20 with at least thirteen points of vitality. The undead burned, and the guards watched with open mouths. Even Lieutenant Vasquez seemed shocked, seeing it. I felt a little embarrassed feeling their gazes and decided to move to another group of zombies. As I did, I released my breath at them, burning them like I burned two groups of zombies before. Soon, I had already taken four more breaths and killed twenty-six undead. All the whisky in the Stored Sips had been spent, and I took out a bottle of twilight amber from my purse. Seventy percent of it is already empty. The whisky is too good; it was a challenge to make itst as much as I did. I opened its bottle and smelled that wonderful smell. If I was not in a hurry, I would have enjoyed it, before putting it to my mouth. As I did, I started to gulp it down, filling the Store Sips in two gulps, before drinking one. I tasted its wonderful taste on my tongue and felt it smoothly flowing down my throat like honey, before reaching my stomach, where it gave that familiar burn. I drank it not for the pleasure. Ok it was the reason, but there is also another reason; the most important one. Liquid Calm. It is a passive skill, I have; it worked with alcohol. It makes me feel calm as I drink. Which is quite confusing, seeing I also feel the buzz from it; that people do after drinking. With a faint buzz and calm mind. I walked toward the zombies, more confidently than before. Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh I released one breath of fire after another, burning the undead, and before I knew it, emptied the whisky kept in the Stored Sips and drank again, before burning the zombies with the fire breath, till I drank thest drop of the bottle. I may have finished the bottle, but I have burned more than half of the undead. I had just released my breath when I felt the movement from behind. Only to see Francescaing out of the hole, with fear all over her face. ¡°Zombies are attacking the back wall,¡± she informed, and I turned to Lt. Vasquez. ¡°Mir, Gina, Smith; go with Miss Utsa,¡± said Lieutenant, and three people came toward me. He didn¡¯t stop me, instead giving me people. He might have if the conditions hadn''t been desperate. Now, he could use any help he can, even if it was from an important whore he had been specially asked to protect. There are still undead, and it will be a tough battle, but it won¡¯t be as bad as it would have been. If I hadn''t burned more than half of the undead alone. I nodded at three before activating the Graceful Walk and moving toward the back of the hospital. The three followed with their own speed skills. Their speed skills are faster than mine, despite me being higher-leveled. Which isn¡¯t surprising. Their skills arebat skills, while mine is not. Mine had specialties that theirs did not. ¡°You are amazing, Miss Utsa. I didn¡¯t know. A fire-breather could kill the undead so effectively,¡± said the raven-haired woman excitedly, with her eyes shining. My heart couldn¡¯t help but skip a beat seeing the look in the young woman¡¯s eyes. Nobody had ever looked at me like she was looking right now. They would always look down on me, because of my profession. When I came into the hospital, I heard many people saying words like ¡®prostitute¡¯ and ¡®silver¡¯s whore¡¯. ¡°They could not. It is the fire; It is much stronger than a normal fire,¡± replied the short man. He is right; the fire produced from magical liquor is much stronger; Margaux was wise to forbid me from using it. Hun! We were halfway when we saw a group of four undead moving toward the hospital. ¡°Let me handle them,¡± I said when I saw them moving toward the zombies. Whoosh! I stopped in front of the group of undead and released my breath. The liquor burned and enveloped the group of zombies. We didn¡¯t stay, to watch them die and moved toward our destination. Soon, we reached there, and seeing the undead, my expression couldn¡¯t help, but change. There are ten-something zombies and skeletons attacking the walls, but it is not what changes our expressions, but the several groups,bining into fifty-something zombies. ¡°Fuck!¡± cursed the bald man, while I shook in fear. ¡°You three handle the undead attacking the walls; I will deal with the ones that areing,¡± I said to them, with my voice shaking faintly. ¡°Are you sure, Miss Utsa?¡± asked the woman worriedly. ¡°I am! Go to the wall before they destroy it,¡± I replied. The back wall of the hospital is thick, but the way, these undead attacking it; they will break it, if not stopped soon. The hesitation on their faces vanished while I moved toward the undead. Fighting the fear, I am feeling at every step I take. My legs aren¡¯t the only thing, that is moving fast, but my thoughts are also doing the same. I am thinking about the liquor; twilight amber had been spent and so is Stored Sips. It is not the only magical liquor I have, but it is the strongest one. The others are weaker and the fire they produce would also be weaker. I had just been thinking about that when I remembered something. The whole vault hadn''t been emptied to make room for the crystals. There was some space for some other things, including the bottles of liquor. I looked and immediately saw there was liquor. I even saw a couple of bottles of twilight amber. Immediately, one bottle appeared in my hand. I looked at the unsealed bottle filled with amber liquid and opened it, before starting to gulp down wonderfully smooth amber liquid. It felt different and more amazing, that I couldn¡¯t help but take a sip of it, which made my mind calm as theke. It is the establishment''s bottle, which means it had the emotion mist in it. Making already great liquor, even better to drink. As for burning it, I don¡¯t know. ¡®I hope, the emotion mist didn¡¯t affect things,¡¯ I thought. If it had normal time; I wouldn¡¯t have dared to do this. Emotion mist isn¡¯t emotion essence, but it is still dangerous, and I rather not take a risk, but time is different right now. There is no other option for me than to take a risk. I slowed down my speed before stopping in front of a big group of undead. There were thirteen undead in there; I tried to find a small group, but there wasn¡¯t. Raa Raaa Raaa It is why I didn¡¯t get too close to them. It might lessen the effect of fire, but I like to be safe; I don¡¯t want to get mobbed down by the zombies before I can burn them. I pushed the liquor out with Powerful Breath and burned it with flint. Whoosh! The fire plume of fire bloomed, and it was bigger than I had expected. Seeing that, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen. The bloom of fire is double the size, and the fire is denser and hotter. So much so that I felt my face singing. Though,pared to me, what the undead are facing is a hundred times worse. The fire had covered them whole, and it was burning them. The fire is so strong, that the skeletons died as quickly as the zombies. Raaaa Raaa Raaa! I was transfixed by it when I was awoken by the voice of the undead and saw the two big groupsing from left and right. Seeing them, a grin rose across my singed face. Whoosh Whoosh! I moved toward the left group with my heart beating wildly and released the breath, burning the group of twelve undead before moving right, releasing another breath from burning sixteen zombies. There are seventeen in the group, and one is too far. That fire didn¡¯t reach it. Whoosh! It came at me, and I wanted to release a small breath, but seeing my skills and the power of liquor, I released the full breath, without holding anything back. It is extremely wasteful but better than trying something I had no confidence in. If I had failed, I might have harmed myself and the harm wouldn¡¯t have been small. It had been nearly half a year since I had started learning the fire-breathing and nearly two months since I had gotten the Fire Breather ss. At that time, I had already reached Lv. 6 and had two skills. I am practicing, but half a year is not much; it is already fast that I was able to reach Lv. 6 within two months. If I knew, I was going to be using fire breathing. I would have practiced even more and focused more on control and techniques, rather than trying to blow the biggest fire plume as possible. Which is also helping me tremendously right now. The idea to learn fire breathing had been sudden. One time, I had gone to watch the circus with Margaux. There I saw a fire-breather. I got so enamored with her, that immediately I asked Margaux to hire an instructor for me. She got angry immediately, not because I wanted to learn the fire breathing, which is dangerous. It is the reason, but not the main one. The main reason was three instructors of different things, I had asked her to hire and left the courses within a month, losing interest. Margaux had warned me that it wouldst. If I didn¡¯t learn it for at least four months; she would cancel the privilege of personal instructor that every asst. madam has. I was nning to give up at that moment. Thank god, I didn¡¯t. Whoosh Whoosh! I didn¡¯t waste any time and moved toward thest two groups and released the breath one after another, burning them. p p p I was about to move when I heard the whistles before loud ps rang out. It surprised me so much, that I GOT rmed for a moment before I saw the people, arge number of them. They are in tall buildings around the small squares, watching from windows, balconies, and roofs. Some were from the cordoned tents in the small garden. I felt tearsing down my eyes and I wanted to cry, but I didn¡¯t and instead moved toward the hospital. There is another group that joined, and the three are struggling to fight. Whoosh! ¡°Move!¡± I said, and they listened immediately. A secondter, arge plum of fire came out, burning all the undead. Hun! Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face, and I was turning toward the three when I saw a swording out of the fire. A skeleton threw its weapon at me, and it was fast. Rip! I moved at thest moment, but I was not fast enough. The sword cut through my waist before ttering on the ground. ¡°Miss Utsa, are you all right?¡± asked the three in rm as they came at me as I looked at a big bleeding cut. It is painful enough that it is bringing the tears to my eyes. It took me a second to think through the pain and shock that I needed to heal the wound and quickly took out a potion and drank it while applying some to the wound. The short young man also helped me quickly bandage the wound. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said as he finished. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t underestimate the undead. Sometimes, they behave unexpectedly,¡± he warned, and I nodded soberly. I never heard skeleton throwing their swords at enemies. At least not the ones that are not being directly controlled. Still, I should have been careful. I got too confident. If I had dodged it on time; it would have burrowed in my stomach and that might have killed me or been injured enough that I couldn¡¯t fight. That would have been disastrous. ¡°We should get going. Lieutenant needs our help,¡± said the young woman. I nodded and the four of us moved immediately. Every step I take shoots pain through my body, but I bore a reminder to be more careful and not get too confident. ¡°The undead are everywhere,¡± said a bald man as we moved toward Lieutenant Vasquez. The undead seemed to be everywhere, most of them moving alone, but some were in small groups. I wanted to burn them all, but the hospital was a priority. Soon, we reached the hospital and saw the undead had reached the previous numbers. ¡°My god!¡± eximed the woman, seeing the numbers, but didn¡¯t stop and soon we reached them. Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh They joined Lt. Vasquez while I moved back and started releasingrge plumes of fire. Each of the plumes cost a lot of gold, but I decided to not think about it; I am sure Master Silver would forgive me for it. He personally said to me, that I could use anything I want from the vault to help people. I released breath after breath until I realized there was no undead left to burn. ¡°You are magnificent, Miss Utsa,¡± praised Lt. Vasquez as he stopped in front of me. ¡°Thank you, Lieutenant.¡± I took the praise gracefully. He smiled before his expressions turned serious. ¡°What are you going to do now?¡± he asked. ¡°There are a lot of undead,¡± I replied, looking around. ¡°Just be careful,¡± he said, and I nodded. A few secondster, I was moving toward the big group of undead, with a small smile on my face. I am feeling something I had never felt before. I don¡¯t know what it is, but it gave me a sort of joy, I had never felt before and I want to keep feeling it. Want, more?Click Chapter 339: Courage and Sacrifice I Chapter 339: Courage and Sacrifice I Mena ¡°The undead; there are so many of them,¡± said Alva, looking outside from the small gap in the window. ¡°Alva, get away from the window; it is dangerous,¡± I said to the young girl. ¡°A minute more. Sister Mena. I want to see Sister Barb, once again,¡± said the young girl, with eyes shining. I am still having a hard time, believing what I saw, not long ago. A few minutes ago, a group of undead had gathered and wereing toward us. Fear filled our hearts, and I had even taken out the crystal bombs; ready to throw at them when suddenly, Barb came running. She went straight toward the undead while Alva and I shouted at her to stop. Fearing she would die. Even with the sword in her hand. She was no match for the group of undead, she was running toward. It was then she did the most shocking thing possible. She breathed out a huge plume of fire that enveloped all undead and burned them. It was a shocking scene; that I would never be able to forget in my life. I was in my thoughts when I saw the little one in front of me move. She began shaking like she was having a nightmare. I hesitated for a moment before cing my hand gently on her head. It seemed to help her, and the shaking stopped. I am at an orphanage. There are two of us girls and three carers, along with twenty-nine children aged two to nine. I grew up at an orphanage since I was five, and it was a horrible-horrible ce. Things happened there, that I wouldn¡¯t wish on my worst enemy. It is that orphanage; that sold me to a brothel. ¡°Miss Mena, will undead attack us?¡± asked Karja, a middle-aged woman worriedly. It is not the first time; the carer has asked the question. Everybody is worried, especially since the guards around the orphanage left to fight the undead. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I replied and turned to the children. The carers have skills that have made the little ones sleep, but many older ones are awake. They didn¡¯t say anything; at most, they would talk in whispers with each other and stare at the elders. It is really dangerous outside; the undead are roaming everywhere, while guards and volunteers run around killing them. A few times, we saw mages, or rather spells appearing and wiping out the undead. Till now we have been lucky. No undead have attacked us, but I fear we won¡¯t be able to be lucky forever. Undead might attack us, and we would be powerless to do anything against them. I really wish I had learned fire breathing when Barb asked me and others, but we simply rolled our eyes at her. If I had, I might have been able to do something against them. I shook those thoughts as they came. I have no interest in a dangerous thing like fire breathing. Even if I tried learning it; I would have failed. Worse, I would have maimed myself. ¡°Gasp!¡± I was in my thoughts when I heard the gasp from the young girl and feared something worse. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked and moved toward her. ¡°Fang,¡± it is all she said. Her answer confused me and put my face beside her to see through a small gap. For a second, I saw nothing, before I saw a cute little white thing among the undead. Fang appeared behind the skeleton, and I was about to shout at him when the familiar w of dark blue energy came out of his real w and he swiped it across the neck of the skeleton, decapitating it. ¡°His ws seemed to have be longer,¡± said Alva, and I nodded. Fang is a good boy and if he is in a good mood. He will show you the energy ws if you ask nicely. Those ws are extremely sharp; I had not seen anything; he hadn''t cut smoothly with them. Now, the energy ws have be longer. The skeleton fell down, and I thought he would move toward another undead, but he went toward the skull of the skeleton and sucked out the fire from its eyes. ¡°Did he just eat that?¡± asked Alva and all I could do was nod at his strange action. I thought it would be a one-off event, but no. He went to the other skeletons and ate the fire from their eyes, till he finished all the skeletons and turned to the zombies. He didn¡¯t do strange things with zombies as he did with skeletons. He just straight up, decapitated them. Soon, all the undead around us were killed, and I saw him turning his little head toward us, before running away with his little legs until he disappeared from our eyes. ¡°First it is Sister Barb and now Fang. Strange things are happening through the night, good things,¡± said Alva. I smiled and walked back to the children while the young girl remained at the window. An hour passed, and Fang had made another trip; killing undead that once again gathered in front before leaving. Now, the undead once again gathered in the front and they are moving around. Till now, they haven¡¯t attacked us, preferring going to ces where there are more people. This small have two hundred thousand people. They are in buildings and tents. Protecting them are a thousand guards and volunteers who had never fought in the battle. I don¡¯t know how many undead had breached the area, but their numbers should be in the thousands, seeing how they kept appearing, even after being constantly killed. Hun! I was thinking that when the group of guards arrived and killed the undead, while I watched in silence. I wanted to do something, but I couldn¡¯t. I am powerless. The guards were good, and they wiped out the undead before moving away. It didn¡¯t take long for the undead to appear again. ¡°You should sleep, Alva. When you wake up, everything will be better,¡± I said to the young girl. Everybody had fallen asleep, even the carers. ¡°Soon,¡± said the young girl and turned back to the window. I didn¡¯t press her. I am quite impressed with the young girl; many in her ce would have slept or not decided to look at the horror outside. Gasp! I was in my thoughts when I heard the gasp from her. The moment I heard it; I knew it was bad; the horror in it was clear as the day. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked as I moved toward her. She didn¡¯t answer, nor did she need to. I reached her quickly and saw what she was seeing, and it chilled my heart with horror. ¡°Everybody, wake up!¡± I said shoulder, immediately waking up the carers and the children. ¡°What happened, Miss Mena?¡± I asked Karga. I wanted to lie, seeing the children looking with muted fear in their eyes, but went with the truth. ¡°Arge group of undead had appeared,¡± I replied, before turning back to the window and saw over a hundred undead appearing in a small and the big group. There were undead before, but their numbers have never reached over twenty, but now there are over a hundred of them. I watched them with bated breath and wished they didn¡¯te toward us. Seconds passed painfully as I watched the undead take step after step and was relieved to see them going straight. Hun! The relief didn¡¯tst long. One group among the undead turned and to my utter horror. They areing directly at us. ¡°Get away from the window!¡± I said to Alva, and the young girl listened without any resistance. Though, before leaving the window; she opened it a little. So. We could see what was happening outside from the distance. ¡°Everybody at the door,¡± I instructed. This is a single-floor small building; it used to be a small store and thank god for that. There are two doors here, one in the front and the other in the back. Everybody listened, and we moved toward the back door. Picking the small children in our arms, who are watching the horrified faces of adults with their innocent eyes. A little blond girl in my arms tried to look toward the window, but I gently turned her head away. The little girl didn¡¯t resist and put her head on my shoulder. I gave her a gentle peck and turned to the window. ¡°They are ing,¡± said Gensa, shaking in fear. She is not the only one; I found myself shaking in fear, too, as I saw the undeading closer to us. I wished they wouldn¡¯t, but they wereing toward us. There are barely a hundred meters between them and the building. Raa Raa Raa They came so close that we started to hear their strange scary sound, which scared the people even more. These children are brave, not a single one screamed or cried. They just watched silently. It is not the same for the adults. Ahhhh! No screamed. I immediately activated the Privacy Circle. I don¡¯t want the undead to hear us. Though from what I have been informed. It is not the noise that attracts them, but the life itself. The more people there are, the greater life-signatures it would produce and will attract more undead. Thud Thud Thud! The zombies reached the building and started to hit the wall of the building hard, while the woman screamed again. I red at the woman, but she didn¡¯t stop. Karga had to forcefully close her mouth with her hand to stop her from screaming. I didn¡¯t me the woman. Even I wanted to scream, but I did not. There are children around us. These things will give them nightmares for months and years toe. Khik! The undead kept hitting the wall, till one of them hit the door and the ax pierced through it. Thud! It hit again, and another hole appeared. We were watching that when the brick fell down. The people around me started to scream. It filled my heart, but I forcefully controlled my emotions. I need to remain sane. ¡°We can¡¯t stay here. It won''t take long for the undead to break through the wall.¡± I said, looking at bricks falling, and the door being torn apart. Click! ¡°Where would we go?¡± asked Karga. Click! ¡°I don¡¯t know, but staying here would be waiting to be killed by the undead,¡± I replied and turned to the door before opening it. There was only a moment of hesitation before others nodded and began to walk out of the door. They understand very well that staying in the building is waiting for the undead to kill them. I don¡¯t want that; nobody wants that. Chapter 340: Courage and Sacrifice II Chapter 340: Courage and Sacrifice II ¡°My god! The undead are everywhere!¡± said No as she looked around and saw undead everywhere. The panic started to fill my mind, but I bit it down and looked around. Yes, there are undead, but most of them are alone or in a small group of two or three; there is not a single big group. Soon, I saw the best ce that could give us the best chance of survival. ¡°We will move toward the tents in the east,¡± I said, finally. ¡°But there are undead there.¡± Said Gensa, looking toward the tents in the distance. ¡°Yes, but there are also guards,¡± I replied. On one side, a group of guards are fighting the undead, but the other side is open. It is the best ce, as the undead are being kept busy by guards. ¡°Everyone, run with everything you have,¡± I said with Encouraging Words. It is not the best skill, for this, but it is the only one, which could help us in some way. At my words, we ran, taking the children with us. I could move much faster, but I need to move at a children¡¯s pace. There are a lot of children; we are carrying those we can in our arms, but most of them are running with us. They seemed to understand we were holding back our speed due to them and were running as fast as they could. We passed a couple of buildings when we turned and nearly skidded to a halt with horror appearing on our faces. ¡°Fuck!¡± Gensa cursed and did something shocking. She put down the child she was holding and ran away. She would not survive alone, with the number of undead, but her panicked heart didn¡¯t seem to understand that. ¡°Bastard!¡± cursed No. I didn¡¯t say anything, my eyes were on the group of fifty-something undead, not far away from us. We could not see them earlier, because of the buildings blocking our view. They are not the only undead. Not much behind them, three more groups, smaller them butbined, their numbers are close to a hundred. Seeing them, we ran even faster, when a thing happened, I desperately wished it wouldn¡¯t. The undead turned toward us, not one or two, but half, and soon, the whole group before moving toward us. ¡°We are dead. Nobody could save us now,¡± said No and I wish, I could ask her to shut up, but she is right. The group is big, and it is fast; much faster than us. They will reach us before we reach the tents. I could see the eyes of the guards looking at us, but there would be no help from them. They are busy with undead; they couldn¡¯te to our rescue. I looked back the way we came, and, to my horror, I saw another big grouping. It''s not as big as this one, but it still has over thirty undead. ¡°We are going to die,¡± said Alva, and the girl seemed pretty calm about it. ¡°It is such a regret. That I won''t be able to learn magic; I wanted to cast at least one spell before dying,¡± added the young girl with a mirthlessugh. Hearing that, I stopped, and with me, the others. ¡°You will not die; no one will die,¡± I said and gave the child in my arms to her, while she looked at me in realization. ¡°Sister Mena, you can''t!¡± she said with tears appearing in her eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will not die, without you all; I will be able to move much faster.¡± I replied with a smile. The girl is smart. The best assistant I could get. She could have easily stayed with the girls, but she followed me when I volunteered. I would not be able to forgive myself. If something happens to her. ¡°Now, go and run toward the tens!¡± I said, and she looked at me a moment longer, before following others who had already resumed their run toward the tens. ¡°Don¡¯t die, sister Mena!¡± she said, looking back. I smiled at her, before turning to the undead, with my heart bing firm with resolve. I don¡¯t want to do this, but I need to. I have lived my life; it was full of struggle and sorrow, but there was also joy. Especially in the past one and a half years. It was the happiest time of my life. The young girl is only sixteen; there is so much for her to live. So are the children. Now that Master Silver became governor, he would keep them safe. At least, he will not let them suffer the horror, that I did. I am writing it all in the Madam¡¯s Message, as myst wish. ¡®I hope, this works,¡¯ I thought and activated, All Eyes On Me, before running away. It is the skill, that attracts attention and makes the people focus on me. It is a very good skill for the madam. Whenever I activate the skill; all eyes in the hall would turn toward me. Let¡¯s hope it works on the undead because if it doesn¡¯t, I will die as well as the Alva and children. A few secondster, I looked back and saw the undead, who were after Alva and the group,ing toward me. Even the groups of undead behind them areing toward me. They are fast. Seeing that, I activated the Shimmering Steps, and my speed increased. I wanted to activate the skill earlier, but I didn¡¯t want to go too far away from the undead, lest they focus back on Alva and others. I nced at them and saw them running toward the tents. It will take them a while before they reach it and till then, I will have to keep them busy, until then. I started to push my skill hard, attracting even lone and small groups of undead that were moving toward them. It surprised me a little; I didn¡¯t think the skill would work so well. Maybe it is because of this extended range of the establishment. In the establishment, my skills are more powerful. Hun! I begin attracting the undead from every direction. Even those that were attacking the building. It gave a chance to people in those buildings and they, too, started to make a run toward the tents. The tens might not have the protection of walls as buildings have, but there are guards there, that could protect them. Now there are over two hundred undead anding toward me. Even some of the undead attacking the guards areing toward me. Though not all came toward me. Two undead caught up to Gensa, and it didn¡¯t take them long to kill her. I hated her for running away, but not for a second, I wished her dead. Seeing them killing her; I started to hate the undead more. ¡®I think it is time to use them,¡¯ I said, and a crystal bomb appeared in my hand. There were five boxes in the vault; three had already disappeared. Earlier, Barb had joked that each box was for one Madam. It seemed to be held true; seeing only one box had remained. It bombs appeared in my hand. It was red crystal with brown dots, with a single rune in the middle. It is also small, half the size of my thumb. I looked at it for a moment before throwing it toward the group of six undead. Boom! It went streaking through the air, before hitting the third zombie on the left and exploded. It was quite powerful, it instantly destroyed three undead and damaged the two on both sides. Boom Boom Boom! Seeing that, I threw the crystal bombs again and again. Killing zombies at every throw, but not fast enough. The zombies wereing toward me, and one group reached less than fifty meters. So, I changed the direction, while kept throwing the rune bombs now and then. There are too many of them, even with bombs. I couldn¡¯t kill them. They blocked every way, and I kept changing the direction, moving where there were fewer undead. Now that they are chasing me; I can take them anywhere. I want to take them, where there are enough guards to kill them. It would be great. If I am able to find arge enough group of guards. The number of undead behind me growing fast; making me feel, that I would truly die, and the death would be horrific. I don¡¯t want to die. I dared to dream after decades of despair. I would like to fulfill those dreams before dying. I will do it and the only thing I have to do, is to survive these undead. Finally, the group had reached the tents. Seeing that, I felt relieved. They are safe and now, I want to be safe. The undead areing at me from every direction. There is not a single direction, where there are no undead, but I can¡¯t stop. I need to keep moving. I looked at my left. At the group of twenty-something undead. If I want to escape this siege, I will need to destroy them. The bombs appeared on both of my fists, and I threw them toward the group of twenty-something with all my strength while activating their runes with Switches Active. It is an amazing skill, especially to create an effect. I love to walk in the dark hallways, with lights lighting up with every step I take. I could activate any rune switch through it. The only condition is that I needed to be at a certain distance from the things, I am activating. Boom Boom Boom! The bombs exploded at once, creating a far more powerful explosion than I had hoped. It destroyed all undead. I didn¡¯t waste the opportunity and moved as fast as I could with Shimmering Steps. A minute passed, and over two hundred zombies were chasing me. They are fast, that I need to use everything, I have to maintain the distance between us. Hun! I made a turn and once again skidded to a halt as I saw a group of hundred-some zombies attacking another cordoned tent, with guards defending against them. More than half of those undead turned toward me. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed and changed the direction with two groups of zombies attacking me. I am really terrified and channeled all that fear to run away, while more and more zombies joined the groups. The number of zombies has already reached three hundred and increasing further, while I can run. Every second, I want to deactivate All Eyes On Me, which is attracting the undead, but the cost would be too high. These big groups will attack the buildings and tents. Kill thousands of people. They won¡¯t discriminate between adults and children; they will kill them all. A few minutes passed, and the number of undead had reached nearly five hundred. It is not just the skill attracting them anymore. I just think, it their own numbers are attracting them. Their numbers are getting higher. I am getting tired. Shimmering Steps aren¡¯t a long-range skill. It is not even a speed skill; it only contains a few elements of speed skill. I am using it as such despite the resistance. It is the only thing giving me the speed. If I didn¡¯t use it; the undead would catch me within a minute. I ran to another square as I reached it. Horror appeared on my face. There were hundreds of zombies attacking the building and tents on opposite sides. Seeing many of these undead turned toward me. It is not the number of undead that horrified me, but the direction of these two groups. With theming from the two different directions; all roads for me had shut down. There are a few gaps, but zombies areing from them too. If I had been close to the gaps; I might have been able to st my way through, but they are far enough that by the time, I reach there; the big groups will fill that gap. ¡°This is it then,¡± I said in realization, while tears started to stream down my eyes. I knew I might die when I decided to attract the undead toward me to save them, but I still held the hope to live. A few minutes ago; I was almost sure, that I would survive. I controlled my emotions and turned toward the undead. There are no tears in my eyes anymore, but defiance. ¡®They will not kill me without paying a price,¡¯ This time, my purpose is not to get away from them but to get them as close to me as possible. I want all the groups toe close to me; this way effect of myst gift to the undead will be bigger. Raaaa Raaa Raaaaa I moved, changing direction every few seconds, whenever any group of undead got too close. It didn¡¯t take me long to achieve my objective, in less than a minute. Over seven hundred undead surrounded me, from all directions. ¡°I have been vited my whole life, but I will not be vited in my death!¡± I said in defiance as loudly as I could, using Madam¡¯s Voice Reaches All Corners, and sent my message to Master Silver. Most of my life; I lived with others will, but I will die on my own. The wooden box appeared in my hand, filled with crystal bombs as the undead had reached the five meters radius of me. Equal Spreading. I activated my gardening skills and spun, throwing the bombs in all directions around me. ¡°Farewell!¡± I whispered with a smile and activated all the bombs at once with the Switches Active. BOOOOOM! I heard the boom a momentter and saw the bright explosion that consumed me, along with all the undead. Visit to read more than 10 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 341: Battles Everywhere Chapter 341: Battles Everywhere Safe-zone ¡°Whores are fighting, so are themon people. Even a small monster is fighting; I will be dammed if I Soren Arryn, just watch,¡± I said and took out the saber from my bag. It hadn''t been even five minutes since I saw that woman attracting a huge number of zombies, including those attacking this mansion, and using the rune bombs to wipe them out. She wiped out all the undead with the crystal bombs. Individually, those bombs are quite weak. Covering only a small area, but if used, in arge number at once; they create a powerful explosion. It was what happened. The explosion created by those hundreds of rune bombs was powerful enough to wipe out, over seven hundred zombies at the instant. It was sad but a glorious death. ¡°We have contributed more than enough by opening our warehouses, Vice-Guildmaster Soren,¡± replied Winston June, and many nodded. ¡°I am not asking you all to join me. I was just informing you of my decision,¡± I said with a smile and got up. I felt my body shaking, but also my heart beating in excitement. I had trained to be a warrior, but never taken a ss, despite being offered several times. It is anathema in the family. There is a saying in the family. Why be a warrior when you hire hundred to protect you. ¡°Take care,¡± said Ang as I turned to her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not die,¡± I said to her, kissed her on her cheek, before walking away, while the fellow merchants watched. Hun! I had just taken a step out of the hall when I heard the steps behind me and saw five people. Some surprised me, but I am d they followed because the number of undead outside isn¡¯t small. The silver¡¯s whore had killed a lot of them, but more had gathered. Click! I opened the door and saw guards fighting the undead. It stopped us all in our tracks, some had never taken a step back. It is a sight that would put a fear in the heart of anyone. I wanted to run away, but I took a step forward and others followed. I could see the relief flooding into the eyes of the guards, seeing us not running away. There are too many undead. The guards are willing to take help from those they are supposed to protect. Such scenes are happening everywhere in the safe zone. Those who could fight begin toe out and fight the undead or help in any way they can to those who are fighting. Aware that if they didn¡¯t contribute; they would die. ¡­ Lena ng ng! I defended against the three dark-ice spheres with my sword and dodged the rest. ¡°You are good, but I like to see how long you can continue to defend against my attacks,¡± said Necromancer Esalya and sent even more icy spiked spheres, covered in death energy. They are also big, each with a half a meter radius; it will only take one hit from them to finish one off. I was about to cast another defensive spell before dodging the attack when the familiar shields appeared in front of me. Bang Bang Bang The ice spheres shed against the thick earthy shields. Which held on against the Grade 4 spells. Though the shields weren¡¯t able to defend against all of them; they had blocked enough that I could dodge the rest easily. I turned and saw Valing toward me, along with Ed. They are chasing Rovid Vansgart, the dwarf blood armored warrior, who is looking quite worse. He soon joined Necromancer Daril and Esalya, while Val and Ed joined us eight. It is how that bastard Lich was able to get away. It had called its friend and two of them had helped it leave while keeping us right here and now another one had joined us. ¡°Looks like you were having a tough time against them,¡± said Val, looking at the two necromancers. ¡°They are powerful and now, with Vansgart joining them, they will be even harder to deal with,¡± I said, looking at them as they looked at us. ¡°Vansgart isn¡¯t strong. You and Major Hunriet, can better deal with him with your abilities while the rest of will handle the necromancers,¡± she said, looking at me and the orc. ¡°Those necromancers aren¡¯t easy,¡± I warned, to which she smiled. ¡°If they were easy; they wouldn¡¯t be High-Mages,¡± she replied and looked at two bone constructs and three big abominable armored zombies. There used to be two more armored zombies, but we had finished them. ¡°Fine; I will focus on Vansgart,¡± I said and turned to the man beside me. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Major,¡± I said, and the man nodded. A momentter, we moved toward the Rovid Vansgart. The spells came immediately from the necromancers, but Val, Ed, and other mages reacted immediately, putting shields and casting other spells. The necromancers are strong, but there are four mages against them. Val is very talented; it is not her first time, facing a high mage. If not for leaving adventuring after that incident. She would have be a high mage already. She has more than enough knowledge to be one and only needs the experience. Raaaa! The zombie screamed and tried toe at us, but was immediately stopped by Chief Garzong, Chief Bilgud and Captain Vandal. With the road cleared, we reached Vansgart. He was waiting for us and attacked immediately. He is a short man, but amazingly fast. I had caught a glimpse of his battles with Val and Ed. He is good; they were better. He had run away here to survive from them. The marks on his armor and shield were proof of the damage they had done to him. It was wise of him to run because they would have killed him. Though running away had only brought him a few minutes because I am going to kill the bastard. ¡°Die!¡± he shouted and attacked me with that thick blue sword. The attack is powerful. So much, that warriors like Major Hunriet couldn¡¯t take it directly, but I am not just a warrior. zing Sword. Aeraryns Armor. Fiery Strength. My sword lit up in fire, and fiery armor covered me. The third spell filled me with the strength, and I attacked with Searing Strike. ng! Our swords shed, and it shook me. If I had not activated the spells; it would have broken my bones and sent me back. ng! As he shed against me. He turned and defended the attack with Captain Hanriet, sending him back, before turning to me fast, to defend against the spell, I had cast. Bang ng! My Fire Lance crashed against his shield before I attacked him right behind. Aiming for his head, but he quickly moved his shield forward to defend against my attack. ng! As he did, he moved his sword back to defend against the attack from Major Hunriet without turning. He likely has a good flexibility skill, and he is using it, with all its worth. Despite defending at an odd angle, his sword had enough power to send the captain Hunriet back. Fire Burst! As he did, I activated the Fire Burst and the fire burst out of the ground. He seemed to sense the attack and moved really fast to dodge it, but some of the attacks still caught him. ¡°I hate mages!¡± he cursed and moved his sword to defend against my sword, but it is not the only attacking at him. He dodged the attack by Major Hunriet by inch and moved his shield forward to defend against my spell, before shing me with his sword and once again dodging the attack of Major, before defending against my spells. We are not nning on giving him a single second of rest. We are attacking him constantly every second, without any break. The bastard is good. He is flexible and fast, which one wouldn¡¯t expect from a man of his physique. He also had very good armor and defensive skills; he was able to bear a Grade 3 spell like Fire Burst. I am also grateful to Val and others, who hadunched their offensive on the two necromancers. There were spells flying everywhere; some had flown past us. It had been over a minute since they started fighting and they had destroyed one bone construct already. I could see, the confident smiles on the faces of necromancers slowly disappearing. Iunched a few more attacks and turned my gaze toward Commander Stone. I have to give it to that man; he is still alive and fighting. He is all bloody all over with armor, and shield dented, but still fighting hard against the Knight. He is also going through an awakening. He will die; there is no way he will be able to survive going through this process in such an environment. I had seen with my very eyes how dangerous an awakening could be. The leader of the first adventure group I joined had been Elder Blood. I was there when she had gone through the awakening; the woman had made all preparations, and we were at the most rxing location, in the middle of a forest by ake. It was her favorite spot. She wants to go through the awakening there. The whole team watched as she went through it and died, despite making every preparation. The powerful energies have started radiating from him, just like they did with her. Making Commander Stone stronger. It had made her stronger, that she broke half of her bounds, but there will be a time when he won¡¯t be able to hold those energies and his body will rupture till, he bes a mess of flesh and blood. I looked at him for a moment before turning toward the legacy. The ce where the legacy had been, before it was destroyed. Silver had gone there, with Lich following behind him. Earlier, he had told all the officers that if he went there. They shouldn¡¯t follow him. I wanted to follow him, but these necromancers have kept locked. It would have been an once case if the legacy had been standing. It had now been destroyed. It means all the advantages he could have there had disappeared, too. There was no way, he would be able to stand against the Lich, but more than an hour had passed since he had gone there, but he didn¡¯t return from it, and nor had the Lich. I tried to look, but strangely, the dust of the explosion still covered the area, and I couldn¡¯t see through it, no matter the spell, I used. Still, I will go there. Once I kill this bastard. Val likes him and owes him a lot of favors. I also liked him; he was one of the few people who had never judged. He looked at our rtionship like it was a normal rtionship. There is nothing forbidden about it. I pushed those thoughts away and was about tounch another attack when I suddenly stopped. It is just not just me, but others have also stopped, noticing the bright light. It was hard not to notice when Silver had lit up himself like a fucking torch. Someone had cast a radiance on him, making him shine like that. However, it is not what stopped us in our tracks, but what he is holding in his hand. It is too shocking to believe. ¡°Is that?¡± I asked and the dwarf-blood nodded. Though the question is for Major Hanriet, who is looking at Silver, in utter shock. He had done what nobody had expected him to do. Especially our enemies, who seemed even more shocked than us, seeing the thing in his hand. Some had even cast the spell to verify whether it was genuine or not. I didn¡¯t cast any spell; I felt it was real, despite having a hard time believing it. Visit to read more than 10 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 342: End of Lich I Chapter 342: End of Lich I The Dark Beam came out of its staff, and immediately its expression changed seeing, that it was slightly less powerful than it should. Master of Legacy is an epassing skill. It is capable of doing many things, including suppressing, the skills and the spells of the enemy. There is a reason why people say don¡¯t mess with the host of legacy in their own domain. Because we could do things; make you powerless if we wished it. When Legacy was a Grade I. I could suppress the power of Grade 1 spells or skills that are those below Lv. 10. I had tested it with a few girls. Casting a spell for a Mage below Lv. 10 was extremely difficult and even if they did. Its power would be weak enough, that it wouldn¡¯t even hurt a normal person. The same with skills. The legacy is now Grade II, but the Lich is a high mage, capable of casting Grade IV spells. The difference was huge and thus, I couldn¡¯t stop him with the power of legacy, but I could weaken his spells. Caena said the legacy will weaken the power of the Grade IV spells by about 20%. Which is huge. Aqua Shield. Radiant Bliss. Earth Shield. The death beam came at me, and I got up, while the shields appeared in front of me to defend against the beam of death energy. Bang! It crashed into the shield and broke into pieces, but in doing that, the spell had spent all its power. ¡°The legacy is still active,¡± it said, looking at me, feeling the power of the legacy. ¡°Wow, you are so, smart!¡± I mocked. I wanted to say ¡®No shit, Sherlock¡¯ but didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t want to say anything, that will even give it a hint of my previous life. It could not guess it, but I don¡¯t want to give any hints, seeing there is so much I don¡¯t know about this world. There are some skills and spells, I have heard about and they scare me. The less, I reveal; the safer, I will be. ¡°You must be really disappointed. Now, that you know, you can¡¯t kill me,¡± I said with a smile, but a momentter, a big grin appeared on its skull face. ¡°Nobody knows aside from me and as long as I kill you, nobody will know,¡± it said and Zorrins lightning came to me. Aqua Shield. Radiant Bliss Earth Shield X 2. The lightning shed against the shields, while I moved back with the Blitz Steps, along with Minor Haste. ¡°You are so confident that you could kill me, but you forget, that you are in my domain,¡± I replied, dodging the bones spurting out of the ground. I could feel the spells; each bone spurt and could dodge them before they could impale me. ¡°The suppression is good, but it is not powerful enough to stop me. I will kill you and after that, I will go after everyone you care and love,¡± it said, with the fire its eyes zing in sick light. ¡°I have a long list of people you love, and I am going to take my sweet time in torturing them,¡± he promised, and I have no doubt, it will do what it had promised. ¡°It is quite a big promise,¡± I said, and itughed. ¡°Which, I will fulfill,¡± it said, and bones came out of its bag. Within seconds, they turned into the two humanoid bone constructs. They are big, with huge swords. I could feel their power and understand, they could kill me in a single attack. ¡°Now, die!¡± It said. The two constructs came at running toward me, while the Lich bastard cast the ming bonences. Quicksand X 2. Freeze x 2. Water Binds x 2. My mind moved fast with the Focus, and I had cast Quicksand under the feet of the bone constructs, before freezing them with the Freeze and casting the Water Binds. So, they couldn¡¯t struggle out of it. As I dealt with the construct. I turned my focus on thencesing toward me. Aqua Shield X 2. Earth Shields X 2. The shields appeared in front of me, while I moved away. It is my domain, but the bastard is powerful. I need to keep moving around that it had now taken out the constructs. Bang Bang Bang Its attacks crashed against my shield, and they defended, while its shields also defended against my attack toward the construct. ¡°You are good, mage, but you can¡¯t cross the difference in our power with the nifty spells,¡± said the Lich while looking around before attacking with Zarron¡¯s Lightning; at the same time, it had cast some spell, that liquified the mud. The shields appeared, and I defended against the spells, casting Frost Brambles with Radiant Bliss on the bone constructs. It had dealt with them before defending again from the Lich¡¯s attack and casting another spell to stop them while moving away. Within a day, Caena had imprinted over a hundred spells, and they are helping me a lot. Especially stopping the constructs that Lich is trying to make them reach me, but I continue to maintain the distance. I understand how dangerous they are. I rather get closer to the Lich than the constructs and besides, it is not constructs that are the enemy. It is why, I am notunching any offensive spell at them. My target is a Lich, who is controlling the constructs. To kill them, I will need to kill it and I had already started. It had begun the moment it had taken a step into the legacy. Minutes passed, and I continued with tactics of dying the constructs and defending against the Lich. I am doing good, aside from one thing. The Focus; is taking a toll. It is not an easy skill, even Rayna couldn¡¯t use it, for over twenty minutes. Here, I am under even greater pressure, because using the skill for the purpose that it isn¡¯t given. It is not a skill of abat ss and thus produces resistance. I couldn¡¯t use its full power, while it would take more power from me than usual due to the resistance. If I continue to use the skill. I will be dead tired in less than five minutes and the skill would also stop working. That would be bad; the only reason I am so efficiently dealing with the Lich despite our differences is because of it. I cannot be dead tired. It will be the end of me. ¡®I hope, it helps,¡¯ I thought and activated my new skill from the main ss. Energizing Essence. I had only used it once and only to test. It is a powerful skill but has a big restriction. I need to be at the establishment''s range to use it. As the skill activated, I felt thefortable coolness enveloped me like a nket. All the tiredness I was feeling in my body, began to disappear, but it was the effect in the mind that shocked me. The headache disappeared within seconds, the most shocking thing is, that the power of the Focus seemed to increase. It was not a small increase, but a big one. It is working as great as it does when I review the files with it or think of aplex problem. I don¡¯t know how it is happening, but the result was visible within seconds. With it, I began to defend better and maintained even greater distance with the bone constructs. It is frustrating it a lot and the intensity of its spells increased further. I didn¡¯tunch any offensive. I have a n and till the final stage; I do not need to use any offensive spells on it. Bang Bang Bang Soon, an hour passed, and I was still defending against it. Everything is going great, except for one thing. Emotion essence. Every spell, I use is burning the emotion essence and we have already burned more than half of it. It would have been tremendously helpful. If I had a week after, my legacy would have been helpful. Then, I wouldn¡¯t have been so economical about the spells. It might seem like; I am using a spell after spell, without care, I am not. If I had more emotion essence, I wouldn¡¯t have been going so slow with my n; I might have been at the climax. Going slow is risky, but I don¡¯t have any other choice. I need to go slow. I am not the only one using the spells. The others are doing the same and seeing how much they are using. It is clear that arge number of undead had entered the safe zone and they are doing everything they could to protect the people. Hun! I was thinking that when suddenly I felt the connection break. Mena¡¯s connection disappeared from the Share Authority; an empty space had opened. It only happens when three things happen. First, when I take back the authority, second, when they give up the authority and third, when they die. I didn¡¯t take back the authority and the feeling I get when they give authority is different. I had tried it with Ca. It is a gentle cut, while what I had felt just now was a sharp snap. Is Mena d I was asking that fearful question when I felt a familiar feeling in my mind. A message had appeared; it was Mena¡¯s skill. It has a different feeling than Ina¡¯s message skill. I wanted to open the message immediately, but I didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t think, I would be able to control myself reading. I am barely controlling myself right from trying to use as much as spells as this bastard. I have to control myself. If I let my emotions drive me, her sacrifice would be a waste. I can not let that happen. So, I suppressed the emotions. It feels wrong, but is the right choice. I hated doing it, but continued defending against the spells of the lich. Lich is trying every type of attack against me, but nothing is working. It won¡¯t work, since I am aware of everything in my domain. This awareness gives me a better advantage, than even a danger sense. I could tell when the spell is forming. Could feel its location and power. Which is amazingly helpful in urately defending against its attacks. Over half an hour passed by, when suddenly Lich stopped. It shook and there is a shock appeared on its skull face. Even the burning fire in its eyes contracted for a second. ¡°There is no mage. You are not a mage,¡± it said suddenly. To others, this sentence would make no sense, but it is clear to me, and I smiled, upon hearing it. ¡°I¡­it is the legacy, isn¡¯t it? It is through which you are casting the spell?¡± he asked. Sounding pretty shaken by the realization. ¡°It took you longer than I had thought. Well, I thought, it would be much faster,¡± I said. It seemed to shock it even more. There is no need to hide it. Like I had said, I thought it would realize it in the first half an hour, but it took thrice a time. I mean, I can¡¯t me it. Nobody would think, an entertainment-type legacy could cast a spell. Now that it had realized it, the real job began. The emotion I had been suppressing, threatening to burst out. I had suppressed them back. This is the time I need to be calm, the most. It had finally realized what sort of legacy it was and now, there is no going back. It has to die; it needs to die, because if it doesn¡¯t, and even if we win war; I will be in danger and also the people, I love. It won¡¯t take even a month for me to die. I might not die and that will be a fate, worse than death. I will not be a person; I will be a puppet. Worse, a ve of powerful people who desire, the power the legacy contains. I absolutely don¡¯t want that to happen. For it to not happen; lich has to die. Visit to read more than 10 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 343: End of Lich II Chapter 343: End of Lich II Lich Savais ¡°How can this be?¡± I asked, as the revtion hit me. It is so, shocking that my soul begins to shake. Entertainment Legacies don¡¯t cast spells. I had never heard of one capable of casting it. The legacies that could cast spells are extremely rare. Most of them are magic towers and a few are arenas and some other things. They are extremely rare. In this entire continent of Zenid, where there are nearly a hundred legacies and only two are capable of it. The archmage tower is a prime example. It is a terror; it is considered the most powerful legacy, after the three titans. Now, this bastard¡¯s legacy is shooting the spells, and they are powerful, Grade III spells, despite their structure being a Grade II. They shouldn¡¯t have been able to jump the grade, but they are somehow doing it. I calmed my turbulent emotions and began to think rationally. A secondter, a smile appeared on my face. Even, the powerful urge to escape had vanished my heart and also the feeling to kill him. I really like to kill the bastard, but him being alive is more important to me. His deathless would be extremely pleased by the news. I wanted to send the message immediately, but I did not. I am high enough in a hierarchy that nobody would read the message sent by me directly to his deathless, but there are always people taking risks and I have no dearth of enemies that would like to see me fall. The news is too big. Its value is immense. It would be a great idiocy to let others know of this news. I need to tell him the news personally to get the greatest benefits. If I yed my cards right, then I might be able to get the specially forged body from his deathless; it will help me tremendously. I have to contain the news and defeat this bastard without killing him, which wouldn¡¯t be easy. Till now, it had defended against all my attacks. It seemed like, I would really need to use my trump spells. Which came with another problem, the energy to cast them. I am quite low on it. Less than 15% of it had remained. Usually, it is not a problem for me as I continue to get a constant supply of it from my phctery. If I really need it, I could also pull it from the undead or the environment of heavy death. The bastard has used the power of his legacy to stop the energying at me. There is also arge of death mana here, but the bastard is denying it to me. He is also preventing me from taking mana from the undead. If I had ess to energy, I wouldn¡¯t have been worried about using my trump spells. Hun! I was in my thoughts when suddenly I saw the ice spearsing, shining in radiant light. I was surprised to see the attack. It was the first time he had used an offensive spell; it seemed like he was getting desperate. He might not show it, but a person smart like him clearly understood the consequences of his secret. Dark Frost Shield My staff lit up, and the shield appeared in front of me. The attack is powerful for a Grade 3 spell, but I am High-Mage and even with suppressions, my spells are more than strong enough to effortlessly defend against it. Bang Bang Bang The spells shed against the shield and scattered into the dust. I could see his expressions turning worse. I smiled, but a momentter, my expression turned somber, and cast, the first of my trump spells. Soul Freeze. It is a Grade IV spell of death and soul element. My most powerful spell, through which I had killed a Grand Mage. It is a spell exclusive to Liches. The necromancers could cast it, but they couldn¡¯t bring out the power as we could. We are experts in soul and our souls are stronger, with greater attunement to the death element. I am being extremely careful with it; I don¡¯t want to kill the golden egg. It seemed to sense it and tried to move, while defensive spells appeared around him. I was surprised to see, that they soul defensive spell. They are powerful and have enough numbers that they would have been able to stop the spell. If it had been cast by the necromancer, but mine is stronger. It was from his deathless¡¯s collection and all the spells in it are powerful. It is very good against such defensive spells. The invisible attack reached the shields and crushed through one shield after another. By the time, it had reached the bastard; it still had over 50% of its power. Hun! I could see the horror on his face as his face as the attack struck him. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face, but it remained there only for a second before it froze when I saw the horror on his face turned to grin. ¡°I had expected the soul attack from the lich to be powerful, but it is just so-so,¡± he mocked, making my heart burn in anger. I was able to control it barely. ¡°How were you able to deal with the attack?¡± I asked, to which the grin on his face became bigger. ¡°You will know soon enough,¡± he replied, and I wanted to kill the bastard and this time, I didn¡¯t control my anger and cast my second trump spell. Soul Spikes! I saw invisible spikes of the soul element materialize. It is an area spell, but I am concentrating it all on him. This time, I didn¡¯t care whether I would seriously injure him. If he gets injured, his deathless will heal him. He sensed the attack, and the shields appeared around him to protect him, but the spikes tore through the shields around him, before reaching him. I watched him as the spikes hit him, but there was barely any reaction from him. ¡°It seemed like; I had underestimated you,¡± I said with my teeth ttering, looking into his smug eyes. The spells didn¡¯t hit him but ended up costing me a lot of energy. ¡°For it, you will pay with your life,¡± he said and began to take a step toward me. Till now, he had always maintained the distance between us, but now he is walking toward me with no fear in his eyes. I felt fear for the first time and that turned into rage. Now, I didn¡¯t care about the consequences anymore. I am going to use that spell despite the cost and dangers. It will kill him or turn him into a vegetable, but I don¡¯t care. The only thing, I care about is wiping that smug smile off his face. Soul Drain! I cast my strongest spell and immediately felt the weakness as a small part of me was cut by the spell, but it powered the spell. So much that the smug smile on the enemy¡¯s face had wiped out. Multiple shields appeared around him, but just as they appeared, they turned to dust. They had not evensted for a moment before being destroyed. The spell hit him, and I saw his expression change to pain. I expected him to scream raw, but he just gritted his teeth and blood came out of his eyes and nose as he looked at me. ¡°I have to say; the spell is quite strong. It had injured me, and I will return the gift by reaping your life,¡± he said with a bloody smile, and something appeared in his hand. Seeing it, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen, and I cast Haste and Ghost Wind immediately to run as far away from that thing, as before he activated it. I had been an idiot; I should have guessed when he defended against my soul attacks. Only they are powerful enough to defend against our attacks. They are one of a few people that his deathless had warned us to be careful of. I need to get away from the bastard as soon as possible. I had even cast the message. I didn¡¯t even care about the news spreading, I needed to inform the deathless as soon as possible. Hun! I cast the message spell, and immediately my expression changed when I saw the message repelled back to me. ¡°Fucking witches!¡± I cursed and ran even faster when I felt something enveloping me. ¡°Oh, no!¡± I said with fear filling my heart as I felt my power decreasing. Grade 4 spells that were mine to cast felt restricted. I know, I would not be able to cast them in a short time and that scared me to death. I felt a genuine fear for the first time since I stepped into this wastnd. ¡­. The charm burned with the activation and covered the lich. I felt its effect on the lich as it began to slow down rapidly. Its Grade 4 spells disappearing, and it won¡¯t be able to cast another one for a few minutes. There are three spells that Caena had given me. One, she had given me one while activated two with her own hands in the afternoon. The first spell is of the soul protection, which she considered paramount. ording to her, my legacy is entwined with my soul. All legacies are, but mine is at a much deeper level. It is why, even if someone cast a Grade 6 spell on the establishment and turned it into dust. It will remain unaffected. It won¡¯t matter if the enemy destroys every inch of my legacy. It will remain as long as I am alive. No harm wille to it, even if my enemies had destroyed a hundred shells; it will not do anything. In her words. I am the true legacy. The second spell was themunication blockade. I had asked her to craft this spell. It is only covering the establishment. It is to protect my biggest secret. Enemies would only realize the truth here when I am against them alone, and that could only happen here. It is very hard on the battlefield with tens of mages; they would not guess even in their dreams that legacy is casting the spell. The third one, I had activated. It is a powerful suppression spell. Caena isn¡¯t weak, she is as strong as this lich. She had told me, she had crossed Lv. 30, before her ss upgraded and regressed in level, but not in power. The Lich had turned to Mage from High-Mage. His spells are as strong as mine now. The reason I had waited so long and spent so much emotion essence was because Stone had told me, to do it after it had spent a lot of its energy. It will give me a better chance of killing it,pared to when it was at its full strength. Even at Grade III. Dealing with it wouldn¡¯t be an easy kill. It, being low on energy will make things much easier. Sup Sup Sup! The lich reacted immediately and sent bonences toward me, while Bone Construct also came at me, but their speed was much slower than before. Bang Bang Bang! I looked at thences, and the shields appeared in front of me and the smile on my face. I had fought with it, but I have not revealed my full spells and all tricks of my establishment. It is time; I show that, and I am doing it same time. Blessing of Dusk X 6. Radiance of Dusk X 6. Sword of Dusk X 6. I activated eighteen divine spells at once, and I activated it right at it, barely an inch away from its skin, or rather the bones. Me saying it is my domain; it is not just the pretty words. It is the truth. I could activate the spell at any ce, by passing the field of presence. That is around every person, it is especially powerful among mages, and it is extremely difficult to cast a spell close to them, but I am casting it to an inch. Even that inch wouldn¡¯t have remained. If not for the difference in level. It sensed the attraction and was able to cast spells. The spells that hadn''t fully formed and were being suppressed. It didn¡¯t take much effort for my spells to break through them and strike the Lich. Ahhhhhh! The lich had stopped in its tracks and screamed. Eighteen divine spells are too much; a well-hit single spell could do good damage and there are eighteen. They are of the divine element, the anathema of the undead. Blessing of Dusk X 6. Radiance of Dusk X 6. Sword of Dusk X 6. I didn¡¯t waste any seconds, or care for the cost before I hit it with another eighteen spells. I don¡¯t want to take any chances; I like to finish the bastard as soon as possible. Hun! I reached close, but not too close as I watched the lich burn in the divine energy, when I sensed something. Its body fell down, but I am not looking at it. I am looking at the soul floating above. It had sacrificed the body to save the soul. The soul is invisible to normal eyes but in my domain. It is clear as the day. ¡®You will pay for this bastard. I will tell his deathless everything. You just watch how he will turn your life into hell!¡¯ he threatened in a ghostly voice and moved at incredible speed. ¡°You will not!¡± I said and an iron-grey, with faint translucent silver, appeared in front of me. I gently tapped on it. Immediately, the nt covered the whole territory of the establishment, before shrinking and appearing in front of me as before. Though now it is not empty anymore. There is something inside. I looked inside the and saw the lich bound by hundreds of iron-silvery translucent chains, screaming, struggling to get away. Visit to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 344: Two Kills Chapter 344: Two Kills The is called ¡®Prison¡¯. I was very confused when she told me about it. I mean, why would we need a powerful enchantment spell like this? But now, I am really d, to have it. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to catch and imprison Lich¡¯s soul without it. It is a powerful soul, but powerless without a body. A soul cannot project power without a body. It will remain in prison, without ever hope of getting out. It seemed to sense me looking at him and stopped struggling. The soul of Lich is in the barren ground, bound in translucent silver chains. It looked at me and a grin appeared on its face, surprising me. ¡®I have to say, it is quite shocking. I had never expected something like this from the legacy.¡± ¡°Well, I shouldn¡¯t be shocked; I could feel the witch¡¯s magic all over it and it seemed to be imprinted on it before it turned to legacy,¡± It got shocked to hear that, but quickly controlled my emotions. ¡°I was quite shocked too,¡± I replied, and confusion appeared on its face, but it pushed it away, with the grin on its face bing bigger. ¡°His deathless, going to love this,¡± it said, and I shook his head. ¡°You are not going anywhere from here,¡± I replied and it simply kept grinning. He didn¡¯t say any further, but I got the answer, I was looking for. I shouldn¡¯t have wasted the time, but I wanted a reason, seeing how huge the source of information the lich could be. s, it is too dangerous. I tapped on the and immediately, radiant lightning covered the sky of the whole. Seeing it, the grin on its face turned to horror as it realized, what I was nning to do. ¡®Please don¡¯t kill me! I could be a big he¡¯ its plea cut off mid-way, as the first arc hit its soul. Ahhhhhh It begins to scream in pain as more and more arcs of lightning fall down on it. They kept falling on it, even when it had stopped screaming. I thought ten bolts would be more than enough to finish up the lich, but it took a hundred and twenty-three before I felt it dying and true soul leaving. A soul couldn¡¯t be killed. It is eternal, what I had killed is just a shell. The true soul of it left; it wouldn¡¯t go to any divine domain, but directly to the universe''s quintessence. The lich had truly died, taking everything it knew with it. I hate what I did. Lich would have been a treasure trove of information, but Stone had warned me, that its phctery isn¡¯t the only thing, that could pull his soul back. He had heard that the undead king of Vris¡¯alud was capable of doing that too and warned me not to give in to the temptation. If I am able to capture the soul of the lich. Legacy might be able to stop the phctery, but it won¡¯t be able to stop the undead king. It is far too powerful. So, much so that even Helena Szar isn¡¯t his match. Hun! Everything cleared on the, and I was about to deactivate it away when suddenly, I stopped. In the ce where the lich had been, there is a puddle of ck and transparent, translucent liquid. ¡°It can¡¯t be!¡± I eximed in shock. I am pretty sure what this is, and it is extremely valuable. As valuable as emotion essence and sometimes more, depending on demand, and now, I have a puddle worth of it in front of me. It froze my mind for a few seconds before I could think straight. ¡®I will deal with itter,¡¯ I thought and made the disappear. I quickly collected everything, the bone constructs and the body of the lich, including the bags. I put it all into the vault, before walking away. The battle isn¡¯t finished and till it isn¡¯t finished, I will fight, like the rest of my people are fighting. Soon, I walked out of the establishment and saw the battle, which had turned to be even more intense. Everybody is fighting like their life depends on it and it is not just theirs, but also on their families and friends in the safe zone. Many thoughts came to my mind when I thought about the safe zone, but I pushed them all. It is not a time, to think about them. My eyes fell on Stone, who is now covered in dense wisps of bronze energy. The energying out of him is powerful but really unstable. Anyone with even basic knowledge of awakening could tell how disastrous it was going for him. I looked for a second before I took out the body of the lich and radiance on me. I could feel eyes turning toward me and soon, more than half of the battlefield looked at me with shock in their eyes. I waited for the second more, before opening my mouth. ¡­. Lena ¡°Lich is dead,¡± said Silver, holding the body of the lich in his hand, with radiance covering him. It shocked everybody, even our enemies. There is a question there about who had killed the lich. Nobody intelligent thinks, that Silver did it. It is nearly impossible for him to do that, and it would be harder, even if he had been at Lv. 30. Mages always have an advantage and Liches are especially dangerous. If the mage is good enough, then they won¡¯t have a problem killing several warriors of the same level in a short time. ¡°The undead is dead. It is time, that you die too,¡± I said to Vansgart and attacked. ¡°It will be you. Who will die, little spell de,¡± he replied and moved his shield to ram against my attack. ng! The shields crashed against my sword, shaking me, but at the same time, fire burst out of the ground. I have been observing him for an hour and know how he would defend against my attack. I time the spell perfectly, when we sh; it is time. He could not retreat fast, and he did not. The Fire Burst spells covered him, but it was not enough to kill him. His armor offers good elemental protection, but also has a good defensive skill. That attack, which would have killed a person or would gravely injure them, had just given him the small injuries. ng! I attacked him again, and he blocked it with its sword while moving his shield to defend against the attack from Major Hunriet, before moving it forward to defend against Scorching Bolts, I had released. Major Hunriet tried to use that opportunity and attacked, but he defended with his sword, before attacking him, while defending against my attack with his shield. Rip! A wound appeared on Major Hunriet. It is not big, but it is bleeding; it is the sixth wound he had given him, and the skills make it really hard to heal. He came at me with the attack. I didn¡¯t retreat and attacked with the Fiery Strength and zing Sword. ng ng! Our swords shed, shaking me hard before he turned to defend himself against Major Hunriet''s attack. I took the chance to drink, the mana potion. A tiny sip with a lot of unwillingness. My reserves are low, and I have drunk the three bottles of potion already since the battle began. Drinking more will cause mana poisoning, and the speed of mana recovery will also be slow. So, I took a sip of mana potion that silver had provided. As I drank it. I felt a burst of emotions, that made my tiredness go away and my mana, which had gone below 10% began to recover fast. fastest it had ever done. I was not nning to use the potion. I was nning on keeping it for an emergency; this is an emergency and showing it off to my teammates. It is extremely hard to get your hands on the potion with emotion essence, even with the money. I had taken one tiny sip, but I had ended up drinking a third of it from the half bottle. I turned to the enemy, feeling angry that he made me drink the potion. However, I didn¡¯t take any action in anger. Another injury appeared on Major Hunriet, and he was going for another attack when I sted him with Fire st and a couple of Charge Fireballs. ¡°You are really annoying me,¡± he said angrily. ¡°What can you do about it?¡± I challenged. He didn¡¯t answer and instead came at me with a powerful attack. I responded and the third time, I didn¡¯t hold back at all with my reserves being full. ng ng ng! My de shed against his sword and shield, while Major Hunriet provided the support. A lot of my spells are hitting him, but the bastard is too protected for me to cause any actual harm. He is also very alert against me. He would take a chance on Major Hunriet, despite him being covered in my buff spells, but never against me. Even when he attacked me; he would always be ready to defend against the spells I threw at him, which made it very hard for me to do considerable damage. If he had been on the same level as me. I would have turned him into cinders by now, despite the turtle shell he is wearing. He is a tough opponent, but I will kill him. I only need to find a chance. ng ng ng! A few more minutes have passed, and we kept attacking. Major Hunriet is slowing down because of his injuries as the Vansgart isn¡¯t giving him the chance to drink the potion. The bastard seemed to notice that as well. He begins focusing on the man more. I am trying everything I can, and it is effective as the enemy also begins to slow down because of his injuries, but not fast enough. If this continued, he might be able to deal with Major Hunriet before I dealt with him. I looked around, and I saw the battles for me, be intense. Eight of them are attacking the necromancers with everything they have, and the necromancers are responding in kind. They are powerful and, if not for talented mages, like Val and powerhouses, like Pdin, Carr wouldn''t been there. Many would have died already, some seemed to be close to that. ng! I attacked him with my sword, which he defended with his shield, and, like always, he moved at the Major Hunriet, while spells hit him. Hun! This time, it was different; I recognize it, the moment he took a step toward Major. He is faster than even at his peak. Clearly, the bastard had been holding back. ¡°Major!¡± I screamed in warning and saw the man moving. He had been holding back some power and with my buffs, retreated quite fast, but not fast enough as the enemy reached him. ¡°Die, you bastard!¡± roared Vansgart and attacked. His sword easily avoided Majors. He is going for wound for wound, but unlike him, Major Hunriet doesn¡¯t have heavy armor protecting him and while he has Aeraryns Armor covering him, it won¡¯t be enough. Puch! The sword of Vansgart was swift and pierced through the Majors chest, beforeing out at the other side. Major watched him with wide eyes, before a grin appeared on his face, while blood spilled out of his mouth. Vansgart immediately sensed something wrong, but it was already toote. ¡°For Panar!¡± he said. Transfer Spell. Ignite. I activated my skill and attacked with the spell. Thud! Immediately, Vansgart''s eyes widened, and he took a step back, before falling on the ground with steaming out of every gap in his armor. It is not Vansgarts sword that reached Major Hunriet; his sword had also reached Vansgart. Buried only a centimeter into his flesh through the gap of his armor. Which is enough to activate Ignite, through the Transfer Spell, which let me cast one spell through an ally. ¡°Major Hunriet!¡± I shouted and caught him before he fell. I removed the potion to feed him but stopped seeing the life had already left his eyes, but there was a smile on his face. ¡®He will be with his family!¡¯ I said and closed his eyes. His family had been killed by the undead. The few words, I had spoken with him in the morning were him telling me; that he would sacrifice his life to avenge the city and family, which the man did. Iid him gently and turned to battle; only to see a shocking thing. Thin diamond spikes pierced into the Necromancer Esalya''s face, before she got cut into two by Pdin Carr. The two Lv. 30s are dead and when I looked at third, I saw fear in his eyes. He knew, the kind of trouble he was in and began to run away, while we moved to stop him. There is no way, we are going to let him escape. Visit to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 345: Knights End Chapter 345: Knights End Bartram ng ng ng! ¡°A few minutes more,¡¯ I said to myself as I attacked again and elder-blood defended. He is defending against my every attack. It had been a while since I was able tond any attack on him. He is bloody from head to toe; I had taken him near the death¡¯s door, but now there is not a single injury to his body. All the injuries had been healed, but he hadn''t moved away from the death¡¯s door. The elder blood inside him is boiling. It had reached it to the level, that purple burn marks had begun appearing on his body. These are no normal burn marks, but marks of magic poisoning. He had already started failing the awakening and wouldn¡¯tst for long. Even himsting five minutes would be a stretch. ¡°Give up and run. It might give you a chance to survive!¡± I said and attacked him with abination of Iron Smite, Dark Cleave, and Thunderous Blow. ng! It defended against my attack with a deformed shield and attacked me with the dented sword, which was barely holding on to its enchantments. Though it is still a dangerous attack. It is not burning enchantment that is making it dangerous, but that powerful dense bronze energy covering it. I had already got the taste of it and didn¡¯t want it anymore. ng! I attacked again, and he defended, before attacking me. Seeing that, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but be rmed. His strength had increased again. I quickly moved my halberd with Knights Stance and Dark Sponge. The skills are powerful, but it is an artifact that is saving me. The bronze energy is dangerous, that it would go for the body, the moment it touched anything I was holding. It is the reason why, I had thrown away the shield and now only using the halberd. It would absorb anything that woulde at it. Even in its current state, it is an amazing weapon. Its sword reached me and was about to sh with my halberd when it suddenly sped up. It avoided my halberd and came at me. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed hard and activated the Sharp Steps to retreat while trying to bring my halberd in front of the sword to defend. It wasn¡¯t long ago that, he used to do it. He had to defend against my every attack, but slowly, the advantage disappeared as the elder blood power began to boil inside him. Making him stronger, till he forced me to defend such a way. Bang! The sword struck against my chest, hard. The enchantments red, and Knights Protection enhanced the defensive power of the armor, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Pu! I vomited the mouthful of blood and took a step back, while the bronze energies assailed my body. It was after 80% of energies had been absorbed by the halberd. The Imprable Body, which had protected me well against other attacks, failed, under the assault of this dense bronze energies which had be far more powerful than before. ¡®Why isn¡¯t anyoneing to help me?¡¯ I asked myself. I didn¡¯t ask anyone for help, but they should havee to help me. While I have confidence that I could keep this bastard upied till the elder blood cook him to death, I rather not take the chances. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed again as I saw himing at me with another attack, while I hadn''t even stabilized from his previous attack. ng! I moved my halberd forward and was barely able to defend against the attack, but the bastardunched another, more powerful than thest. Bang! It hit me hard against the attacks. Harder than before, with more bronze energies attacking me, which are making me feel heavy and hot all over. He came to me with another attack, when something happened. The bronze wisps that were all over giant blood, had turned denser, and now, they have covered every part of his body. I could feel the unstable energies inside him getting powerful. Those purple marks of magic poisoning had begun to spread across his body visibly. ¡°Shit!¡± I cursed. It had brought him closer to his end, but his power also increased. I could tell that he wanted to take me with him, and I had no intention of dying. Bang! His sword shed hard against my chest, creating a huge dent, while sendingrge amounts of bronze wisps of power over me. Most of it had been absorbed by the halberd, but some that didn¡¯t drill inside me. It made me feel like I was burning all over with a ton of weight hanging down on me. Hun! ¡®Fuck it!¡¯ I cursed as I nearly flew back and activated the Allies To Me. I don¡¯t want to use it, but I need others help to deal with this bastard and I didn¡¯t care about the prestige anymore; I only care about my survival. I hope they wille soon because I don¡¯t think I am going tost this bastard until he falls dead. Hun! I just activated the skill and was thinking, who woulde first? When I sensed something. Vansgart is dead. Area Awareness is a skill that lets me be aware of the surrounding things. It takes a toll and quite an effort to use it for a long time, without getting swept into a headache, but it is worth it. Though now, I wished I hadn''t. The death of allies is thest thing, I want. I was just thinking that when another, even bigger feeling hit me. Esalya is dead. It shook my heart. Vansgart is one thing; he is a warrior; an armored one, but still a warrior, but Esalya was a necromancer. She is valuable, more valuable than Ford, Heartpeak, and Vansgartbined. Bang! I was in shock when his sword hit once again and this time my arm. Covering it whole with bronze-wispy energy. Bang! It stunned my arm for a moment. Allowing him to hit me once again, squarely against the chest. Pu Pu Pu¡­ I begin to vomit the blood as I begin to take steps back. Feeling the intense fear for the first time. ¡®I can¡¯t stay here,¡¯ I thought. I had kept fighting, even when his power kept increasing. Kept fighting, even when our undead kept dying in huge numbers, but the death of Vansgart and Esalya had tipped the scales. I can¡¯t risk it. I have to retreat. If it died on the way, I could alwayse back and finish the battle. I turned and used the River Sprint. I ran like I had never before. The steed would have made retreating much easier, but the elder-blood bastard broken it into pieces. My heart ached, seeing those pieces; the steed was not cheap. Bang! I had just taken two steps to retreat, when I felt the attack on my back. Making me nearly stumble. I stabilized myself and kept running. There are no other options than that. Bang Bang Bang His attacks continued, and I kept running despite the heavy injuries that bronze energy causing me. I have to survive and for it; I will bear the pain and injuries until I reach the safe ce. Hun! I was running away when the skill informed me of another death. ¡®These bastards!¡¯ I cursed. We had made a grave mistake in the beginning. We should have brought more powerhouses. We had fixed that mistake somewhat, but the death of the two had given the enemies hope and supercharged their morale. These bastards are also umon, and the hope is making them fight even harder. His deathless had warned us about the hope. It is the one thing, that we should never give to our enemies. I never truly believed it, until now; I am forced to. Seeing the bunch of pre-LV 30s killing the Lv. 30, one after another. I am running fast as I had never done. I would have been able to run even faster, if not for this heavy armor I am wearing. Though not for a moment. I had thought about removing it. It is because of this armor, I am alive, without it; I wouldn¡¯t have been dead as long ago. A few more seconds passed, and I entered the familiar area. The ce where the explosion happened. The ground is still hot, but not enough that I couldn¡¯t run through it. Hun! I was running through the hot caked ground when suddenly I felt something. A powerful suppressive nket enveloped me. Making me feel like, there was a mountain over me. It brought horror to my eyes when I realized it had reduced the power of my skills by nearly 20%. Bang! As it happened. I felt the powerful attack on my back and this time; I was not able to contain it and it sent me stumbling down hard. Bang! I was stumbling when I felt him attacking my shoulder, and the halberd, that I had been holding with everything I had flew away from my hand. It is what had happened protecting me against the more than bronze energies and now, it had left my hand too. It took me a few seconds to stabilize myself, and fortunately, no attack came. It made me relieved, but only for a fraction of a seconds, before I saw the giant blood standing in front of me, covered in bronze energies like fire. I looked and the horror in my eyes deepened when I saw my halberd in his hands. ¡­ Stone ¡°Vris¡¯alud took everything from me. My family, my home. It''s time; I pay back some that is owed to me!¡± I said, with everying out of my mouth, giving me extreme pain, but they needed to be said. I looked into the Knight''s horrified eyes. A few minutes ago, he was a powerful enemy that nearly killed me and now he is a weak man quivering in front of death. I swung the halberd at him, pushing as much power into it, despite the soul-breaking pain I am feeling. Every breath, I took was painful with a volcano-like energy boiling inside me. They had reached near the limit. Soon, they will burst out, exploding me into pieces. I do not fear death like the man in front of me and am d that I am dying while defeating the horde. The knight is themander of the horde. His death will be the final straw of their defeat. The halberd reached his head in an instant and began to cut through the armored protection. The Knight resisted, trying to retreat, but it was already toote. Pachack! He would have had some hope, if I had been using the sword, but in front of his rusted artifact. His defenses fell apart smoothly, and the halberd cut through his neck, cleanly, without any resistance. I had watched the head of the enemy fly in the air. The enemy that had nearly killed me. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill him, if not for the boiling power that is going to kill me, and I don¡¯t mind. Seeing the Knight''s head falling. I let go of everything. Immediately, feeling the sweet whisper of the abyss, that begins to envelop me. I felt someone screaming my name, but I was far too gone to listen. Though, I hope whoever it is won''t be sad by my death. I am not. Visit to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 346: New Dawn Chapter 346: New Dawn ¡°Stone!¡± I screamed, seeing him falling, but wasn¡¯t able to reach him quickly enough, before his whole body fell down on the ground hard. I had been following behind him, watching the intense battle that raised all the hair on my body. I don¡¯t think, I would be able tost against the Knight, even with the help of the establishment. Especially with that artifact in his hands. It would have crushed through every shield I put in front of him. I reached Stone and what I saw couldn¡¯t help, but scare the hell out of me. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible. His whole body turned purple with magic poison, and had dense bronze energies covering him, that even I didn¡¯t dare to touch him. However, the thing that scared me was the intensity of the energies inside him. They are powerful and unstable, I don¡¯t think. I would survive if those energies erupted out of his body. Hun! I was thinking about what I should do when I looked left and a couple of secondster, a woman walked into the view. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be in a safe zone?¡± I asked Caena, seeing her appear. ¡°Things have nearly stabilized there and besides, I feel, I might be more needed here,¡± she said, and she couldn¡¯t be more right. ¡°Can you save him?¡± I asked, with hope rising in my heart. ¡°I would have said no. if we weren¡¯t standing in the legacy, but even with it, the chances are extremely slim,¡± she replied, looking at Stone. ¡°Try. Even if it is futile,¡± I said, and she nodded and appeared beside me. I left him in his care and walked away. I want nothing more than to stay and watch, but there is a battle needed to finish. Soon, I appeared close to the battle, and the people turned to me. The enemies had already realized that winning wasn¡¯t guaranteed. Five of the eight of their powerhouses are dead, one has surrendered. Only two are fighting and they are doing that only because they are still thinking that Knight is alive. Well, it is time; I tell them the truth with little proof. ¡°The Knight is dead,¡± I said, and the head of the knight appeared in my hand, with radiant light covering me. The moment those words came out of my mouth; the vast change urred across the battlefield. The enemies started to run away, and powerhouses stopped fighting. They started to retreat, but where would they retreat? We had already massacred more than half of the horde fighting there, with many pirs dead. They can not run anywhere since there are mines everywhere aside from the ce I am standing. There Valentina and others have appeared, blocking that path too. ¡°Kill all those who do not surrender!¡± I said, with the sword raised, and ran toward the battlefield. The others moved, with their target being the two Lv. 30 powerhouses. They moved to escape, with our moving to stop them. It is really hard to stop them; especially the assassin who is avoiding every spell and skill being thrown at her. She ising at me, and she is extremely fast. I looked at her and readied myself. She will not get to me without paying a price. ¡°You will die by my hand, just not today,¡± promised the assassin, before taking the sharp right into the minefield. Many others tried but exploded into pieces. There are a lot of mines; they would have survived it, but they are also needed to deal with the attacks from our powerhouses, which makes a journey through the minefield difficult. Many pirs begin to surrender, while some have led the suicide charge. We dealt with each and every one of them. I was able to snipe a few with my spells. Minutes passed, and the undead got killed, one after another. They are much easier to kill now. There is no direction from the pirs; thest necromancer, who had beenmanding them, had also escaped. Making them even weaker. It took a while, but we had killed every undead on the battlefield. There were no cheers or ps. Just a relief mixed with joy and grief. We have defeated the undead, but the victory was not without a cost. If someone had told me the result of yesterday and given me the choice to surrender and fight. I would have chosen to surrender as long as the undead had epted my conditions. ¡°Lord Silver; the enemy has been defeated,¡± informed Lt. Colonel Aazalea. After Stone, she is the highest-level officer on the battlefield, since Colonel Cardin is staying in the safe spot. ¡°Remove all themunication blocking tools. Send the scouts out. We need to know what is happening and see if you can catch those escaped,¡± I ordered. ¡°It will be done, my lord,¡± she said and left, while I went back to my work. I am casting healing spells on the two circles where they have ced the injured. Some are in critical conditions and need the spells to survive. I continued casting spells for nearly half an hour before I stopped and turned to three people in front of me. Z, Stena and Shaun. ¡°Is Stone dead?¡± asked Z, with a quivering voice and grief in their eyes. ¡°Not yet,¡± I replied, and a surprise shed in their eyes. ¡°Will he survive?¡± she asked with hope filling her eyes. ¡°The chances are slim, but we are trying,¡± I replied. Caena is trying. The magic she is weaving is kind of scary. She is using one of thes, but as supplementary aid, most of the magic is hers. They looked at me but didn¡¯t ask any more questions. Understanding, they wouldn¡¯t get a reply to that. ¡°The blockade had opened. There are a lot of messages for you,¡± she said, and the first news is confirmation of information that Eli¡¯s bird had brought. Though it is the second news that I didn¡¯t like. ¡°Another horde hade out of Ashton Harbor yesterday. It had divided into two after reaching Almin. Half of it had stayed there, while the other half is moving toward the Panar.¡± My expressions couldn¡¯t help, but turn bad hearing it. ¡°The merchant states had put out a notice that the traffic on the river will resume tomorrow,¡± she added before I could ask any questions. Hearing that, a small relief flooded my heart. There is a blockade on the river by the undead, but the merchant state has just dered that trade will resume from tomorrow. It means the blockage will be removed tomorrow, which will provide us with some breathing space. Merchant state isn¡¯t weak. It is as strong as Navr or more and Vris¡¯alud, won¡¯t try to antagonize it, especially when it is given a chance. They created a blockage, and the merchant state followed, and now, they want to open it from tomorrow. If the undead doesn¡¯t remove the blockage, it will be removed forcefully. The merchant state had said it publicly, and they won¡¯t have their words taken lightly. Besides, it is the best time for the merchant-state. Any dy and they will suffer the loss. The civil war has begun in the empire and the parties fighting need a lot of things from food to feed their people to weapons to fight their battle. The merchants could tolerate anything aside from loss of business. It is their red line. ¡°Has the battle at Port Midlet concluded?¡± I asked, to which she shook her. ¡°No, they are still fighting. Though the information states that, it is the final battle and will end by thete morning,¡± ¡°There is another battle being fought by Riverbell and the city is doing good, ording to the information,¡± she replied. The horde that went for the south-east. I had expected it to attack Riverbell. As the horde was too small to attack, Deerpond. I truly hope they don¡¯t seed. If I were to choose between the victory of the undead at Port Midlet and Riverbell. I would choose Port Midlet, because Riverbell is very important to me. The undead had nearly blocked the westernnd route with the capturing of Amin and Panar. That only leaves me the river route to reach the empire and other western kingdoms. If the undead have conquered the Riverbell. They would gain the ability to block this route whenever they please; they might keep it blocked, which nobody would like to happen. Nor me, nor Deerpond, nor the merchant states at the least. ¡°Inform our neighbors of the result of the battle, but keep information to the minimum,¡± I said to her. She nodded and sent the messages. I needed to reply to a few important ones, like thoseing from the merchant state and Deerpond, but I let Z deal with the others with Steven''s help. Soon, the healers and doctors arrived on the battlefield and began to operate on those who couldn¡¯t be shifted. The rest were shifted to the hospital. The army is working. A few thousand had gone to a safe zone, to kill any stray undead, while a few thousand began to scout through the city. I will not let the people out of the safe zone before we have the whole city safe. An hour passed, and I got to know many things that happened while I was fighting here. Some made me beam with pride, while others have brought tears to my eyes. I was still replying to the messages, when I saw Lt. Col Aazaliaing toward me, with Lt. Colonel Julian and Valentina; her mood didn¡¯t look good. ¡°My lord,¡± they greeted. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked, feeling a little worried. ¡°The two got away,¡± she replied, and relief flooded into my heart. I was expecting something else, like a sighting of another horde, that we are in no condition to deal with. ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself too much. Lt. Col. One was a mage, and the other was a rogue. Our abilities would have been far too shocking if we were able to catch them,¡± I said, which seemed to ease her expression. ¡°Everyone other than them has been killed or surrendered. It won¡¯t take us long to finish up the stray undead,¡± she informed. ¡°Good, finish as soon as possible. We need to bring the people out of the safe zone,¡± I said. It is too crowded and such ces aren¡¯t good for the order; I need to let them out of there before any incident urs. She left soon after, with Lt. Col Julian. Leaving Valentina, who sat beside me. ¡°So, the legacy?¡± she asked, sounding worried. ¡°It is fine. Though, I have to build it anew,¡± I said, with a sadness and excitement. ¡°I want the project,¡± she said, with her eyes shining brightly like a sun. I had never seen her as excited as I am right now. This is understandable; it is the opportunity of the lifetime, that extremely few had got it over the ages. Many have worked on the legacy, but a few have built from scratch after turning it into the legacy. For most, the building is a legacy. If it is destroyed, the legacy too would be destroyed. The idea had already begun to be developed in mind. It is something the world had never seen before. ¡°I am d you are staying,¡± I said after a moment of silence, to which she smiled. ¡°This is my home; I am not leaving,¡± she said, taking my hand in hers. Convincing people to stay is going to be one of the biggest challenges in front of me. Many would want to leave after what they had experienced. I have some advantages, seeing what is happening in the empire, but I will have to y them well to make maximum people stay. It is just the one challenge. There are more from decrepit finances to rebuilding the parts of the city that had been destroyed. There is also the question of the army. The undead will attack again without a doubt, this time we were able to defeat them, but next time, they will be more prepared. I will need to be prepared to deal with that. I took a deep breath and looked up. The sun has started toe out of the clouds, erasing the darkness of the night. It is a new dawn for the city with me leading it, and I will not let it down. Visit to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 347: Victory Chapter 347: Victory Vris¡¯alud ¡°Savais is dead. I can¡¯t pull out his soul,¡± said the pale man sitting on a huge ivory throne before turning to a middle-aged man standing in the center of the huge dark hall. It shocked the middle-aged man. His deathless could effortlessly pull the soul of any lich. It didn¡¯t matter if it was imprisoned in a powerful spell or tool. If he willed it; it will appear. There are only a few exceptions, like artifacts or the powerful witches and shamans, but most of them don¡¯t interfere in the business of his deathless or not powerful enough to do so. ¡°I wantplete details of the battle of Greltheaven,¡± ordered the pale man. There was a slight disappointment, but no anger in his eyes. The defeat did not anger him. If every small defeat had angered him, they wouldn¡¯t have conquered 75% of the ind in less than five years. However, there would be some punishment for this defeat as there are rewards for the victory. ¡°As youmand, my lord,¡± said the middle-aged man and bowed deeply. ¡­. Meldhorn ¡°Well, it is quite unexpected. I truly had not thought that they would be able to defeat the undead,¡± said the man with a smile. ¡°It was unexpected and some of that credit goes to us. They used our intelligence and weapons, we had sold to the prince,¡± said the old man, making the blond-haired man smile. A momentter, his expression turned serious. ¡°Have you asked them?¡± he asked, and the old man nodded. ¡°Yes, my lord. All of them had confirmed, that they didn¡¯t sense the demise,¡± Just like the birth of the legacy; all other legacies sense the death of legacy. It cannot be hidden. ¡°A marked legacy. The only one on the entire continent, aside from that,¡± said the man, with his eyes filling with indescribable thoughts. ¡°Yes, they are extremely rare, and most of them cross Grade III with enough time,¡± replied the old. The man in the head seat nodded but didn¡¯t say anything. Though he turned his eyes toward the direction of Greltheaven; thinking only he knows what. ¡­.. Lauryl Town ¡°So, he won,¡± said Baron Harrods with a smile on his face, with surprise hidden beneath. ¡°My sources say that they had killed eight of the ten Lv. 30+ powerhouses that attacked them and adviser Silver has personally killed the lich,¡± said Baron Homer, sounding pleased. He looked woman sitting beside him. She didn¡¯t say anything, but there was a small smile on her face. Snort! Though not everybody is pleased. The expression on the middle-aged man with the dark blue hair, which is almost ck, is stiff as he snorts. Feeling the gaze of everyone, he loosened them and put a smile on his face. He is Baron Lockridge, and he is the one who had called this meeting. There are six barons here, each with considerable influence on the baronies. He had called them to discuss a daring proposal. Something which he wouldn¡¯t even dare to think about yesterday, but the developments that happened yesterday and the information he got today had forced him. He could tell some like an old man and the woman beside him already seemed to guess his intentions and felt receptive. ¡°Why are you called us here, Baron Lockridge?¡± asked the old man Harrods and nervousness shed in his eyes for a moment. He is not a nervous man, but he is nning to propose something that could get him hanged. It is the risk he is willing to take for the massive rewards that it will offer. ¡°I have called you all here to present a proposal,¡± said Baron Lockridge. ¡°What proposal?¡± asked Baron Oliver immediately. ¡°A proposal to¡­.¡± ¡­.. ¡°Wait here,¡± I said and walked ahead, with every step I took, the surrounding mist got denser till there was nothing but dense mist before it parted into a circr shape. There is a square ck stone-bed in the middle made out of spells and on it is Stone. Seeing the state he was in, a shock couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. He had nine palm-sized gem daggers buried in different parts of his body. They are burning like amp with a very dense bronze me around them, which is being absorbed by the floating above. The whole body is painted with strange symbols and runes forming a star, with many herbs, roots, gems, and other things in between. They are shining in powerful energies roaring inside him and they are much stronger than before. Even now, I feel like, he could explode any time. The energies may be stronger, but they didn¡¯t seem to be doing damage. I didn¡¯t see rupturing and the purple marks of magical poisoning had also seemed to have gone paler than before. ¡°He looks good,¡± I said. Hearing that mirthless smile, appeared on her face. ¡°I did everything I could, but it, is very likely, he will die unless the elder-blood inside him calms down,¡± she said, looking at Stone. ¡°That is good enough. Let''s hope he survives.¡± I said and turned to leave. I could see she worked hard. What she had was quite shocking already. We can now leave everything to fate and hope, that he came out through it alive. ¡°Wait!¡± she said as I moved to leave. I turned back to her and saw the ckened bone in her hand. I recognize this bone; there are a huge number of them near the legacy. They are bones belonging to the undead. The explosion was powerful enough that it had charred the bones of the undead. ¡°When the legacy exploded, lich and necromancers drained the death energy from the undead to save themselves. Creating a temporary vacuum, which was immediately filled by the magic crystal energies and burning emotion power they were carrying,¡± she said. ¡°Meaning?¡± I asked, feeling confused. ¡°Everything that has the emotion is expensive. I feel like these will sell for good money,¡± she replied. Seeing that, my eyes lit up. Money is the thing, I need the most. I have to pay a lot of people. Merchants, mercenaries, soldiers, and many other people. If bones had value, I would sell them; I didn¡¯t have any inhibition against it as long as it gave me the money. ¡°I will ask them to collect it,¡± I said and walked away. Soon, I walked out of the mist, with Z and Jon, other guards, waiting for me by the carriage. ¡°How is he?¡± asked Jon, worried. ¡°Alive,¡± I replied, before turning to Z. ¡°As for them to collect all ckened bones around the establishment,¡± I said, and the questions appeared in her eyes. ¡°They have absorbed some of the burning emotions and might be worth something,¡± I replied. ¡°I will inform Colonel Cardin, immediately,¡± she replied. I nodded and entered the carriage. Lt. Col Azalea is still responsible for the army, until the Stone wakes up, while Colonel Cardin is responsible for supply and other things. The carriage moved; giving me the look of destroyed buildings. It is not the undead that did that, but us, and it worked. Now we will have to rebuild it all. ¡°I had looked at the damage and it is not big. The walls are rtively unscathed. The only damage is to buildings; it will be a costly affair, but not as much as we had expected,¡± Robin said. ¡°It is not the only thing, that we need the money for. The count had drained the whole treasury before escaping,¡± I said, feeling the anger rising in my heart. The bastard hadn''t only escaped, but taken all the money with him. The money belongs to the city. It was quite a lot since that cheapskate barely spent on anything. ¡°It will be hard, but I am confident that you will somehow be able to manage it,¡± he said. ¡°I wish I had the same confidence as you,¡± I replied, to which he smiled. Soon, the carriage stopped, and we walked out of it. It is not the mansion we had walked out of, but the city hall. I had said to myself, that if I survive, I will shift to the city hall. I am doing it; it is far more efficient than working from the mansion. Click! We entered inside and a minuteter, into my new office. It is not empty; Ina and L were here and also the files and everything, that were in the office at the mansion. I nodded at them and focused my eyes on something else. I don¡¯t think, I could face those eyes; like me, they are too suppressing their emotions. Their friend has died. Someone they have known for years. ¡°Try to find out if they will forcefully remove the blockade if the undead don¡¯t remove it,¡± I said to him. ¡°I will,¡± he replied. We need the blockade to be removed, not only for the breathing space it will give us but also because we need resources urgently. Specifically, the healing potions. The bastard Count had not prepared for battle; there were barely any resources in the strategic stores. Though there is a question of paying for it, since we don¡¯t have any money. There are several options, including taking a loan and asking for the aid. Getting a loan would be hard, banks wouldn¡¯t give loans to a city, that could be captured at any moment by undead, but there was some positive response about the aid from our rich neighbor. I am even nning on selling the drops of emotion essence I have. There are a few drops, including the ones, I got as a gift. I don¡¯t want to do it, but there is no choice. ¡°Port Midlet had won the battle,¡± said Z, bringing me out of my thoughts. ¡°Good,¡± I said, feeling relieved. Seeing the undead capturing one city after another made me quite scared. This is their second defeat after the Greltheaven. I hope they suffer the same fate, Renwell. There is a chance they will; I heard a few things that make me believe it might happen. However, I didn¡¯t dare to let my hopes go up. ¡°Any news on Lancel and others?¡± I asked. Count is dead, I have proof of that, but there is no news on Lancel. Though it won¡¯t matter if he is alive as well. He will not have the city, which we have defended with blood. Click! Soon it was afternoon, and the door of my office opened. Lt. Col Azalea entered with Colonel Cardin. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± they greeted. ¡°Sit, both of you,¡± I said, looking at faces that had a small smile. ¡°All the undead had been eradicated. We have also removed all the unexploded mines around the safe zone and entertainment district,¡± informed Captain Azealia, bringing a big smile to my face. ¡°Very good. Open the safe zone but in phases. We don¡¯t want any idents in the rush,¡± I ordered. ¡°Will do, my lord,¡± she replied and turned her eyes toward Colonel Cardin. ¡°We had also found something in the ce. You had asked us to look,¡± said Colonel Cardin, with a small smile on his face bing slightly bigger. When the undead came into the city; they had slowed down for a few minutes. At that time, Knight, Lich, and Necromancer Esalya had entered one building for a minute beforeing out. I had forgotten about it, but remembered before leaving for the city hall, and asked them to check it out. ¡°What did you find?¡± I asked, and both of them smiled brightly. ¡°It will be better to show you,¡± he said and turned toward the door. ¡°Bring it in,¡± he said, and the door of my office opened and nine people came in. Eight of them are holding the four big chests, while the ninth one is holding the box with several iles bags. Thud Thud Thud! They ced the chest down with heavy thuds, which made my heart beat even more wildly. ¡°Open them,¡± said Lt. Col Azalia, and the chests began to open one after another. Showing me shining imperials. It isn¡¯t just imperials, but there are also precious gems and other things in there. Thest one contains potions and small wooden boxes, which are likely magical resources. ¡°There are more in the bags,¡± she added, and I turned to the box filled with the iles bags. ¡°This is a rough estimate, we have made of things we have found,¡± said Col Cardin and handed me the file. I opened the file and read it quickly before my eyes stopped at the final number. It is huge money. Not enough to solve all our problems, but enough to give us a good breathing space. They have likely gotten it from the two cities. It is unlikely from their treasuries. It is most likely from the people, they have killed and captured. I closed the file and turned to Z. ¡°Contact Margaux and ask her to send the storages of Knight and Lich from the vault,¡± I said to her. She nodded and sent the message, while I turned to the two in front of me. Feeling much better now that I have some money in my hands. Visit to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 348: Even If He Is Alive Chapter 348: Even If He Is Alive ¡°There is a message from Dustorn Fortress,¡± said Z, and I turned toward her from the window. ¡°Has he reached there?¡± I asked, to which she shook her head. ¡°They are saying that it is High-Mage Beaumont, High-Mage York, and three mercenaries that appeared two hours ago,¡± she replied. They appeared two hours ago, and they are informing us now. ¡°Ask them about the Lancel?¡± I asked. ¡°He is not there, but a message from High-Mage York, states the same thing, we had got from our prisoner,¡± she replied. I didn¡¯t ask anything further; there is nothing more to ask. A few hours ago, our prisoner talked. He was in the group, that had killed the Count. When theye across them; the Count and others fight before scattering and running in a different direction. They were able to capture the Count, but Lancel had used the teleportation scroll to run away. The scroll was umon, as it had worked despite anti-teleportation spells blocking it. There has been no sign of him since then, and they were not able to track the teleportation location, either. It doesn¡¯t matter if he is alive. He didn¡¯t deserve this city that we had fought with our blood. He will not have it, even if he returns. I turned back to the window and saw the people going back to their homes. I could see, the multitude of emotions on their faces, from sadness to joy to relief. They are thest batch released from the safe zone. Now, only the people who have their homes in there are staying there or those who have no homes. We had destroyed quite a few buildings to make the way. Those people have been rehabilitated to other ces. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I got out. In front of me is the hospital. This is not a temporary one; it is the biggest hospital in the city, holding the most patients. ¡°My lord,¡± The guards at the door bowed as I walked inside. The hospital is crowded, with patients everywhere and doctors and healers trying to heal. I could see many of the girls volunteering here. ¡°How are the things, Doctor Kistoff?¡± I asked the old man. ¡°Good. The potions you have sent in helping to save a lot of lives,¡± he replied. ¡°I am d to hear that,¡± I said. The potions found in chests are tremendously helpful, but they won¡¯tst long. Two days at most. However, by then, most of the patients would be out of danger. Still, we need a lot of potions. This time, we were barely able to scrape by and were very lucky to find a chest full of it. The next time we won¡¯t be, I nned to fill the strategic stores as much as I could to be better prepared against the next attack of the undead. Though I really wished the undead had more money. We have got some from the undead, but more would have helped. I already spent arge chunk of it with the order potions and other resources we desperately need. They wille tomorrow afternoon as the blockade lifted at dawn. It could be opened by the undead, or the force could be used to open it. The merchants have hinted they wouldn¡¯t hesitate to use the force to open a blockade. I heard there are massive orders of goods, not from us, but from parties on the maind. The battle for the throne had begun, and all parties bought everything they could that could help them with the throne. I am d, because every ship that passes through the water, gives us some money. The more ships passed, the more taxes the city would earn. I talked to a few doctors and healers and checked on the patients. Both the humans and the orcs. Half an hourter, I walked out of the hospital. Once again, feeling the anger at the Count. He really didn¡¯t spend much of anything; the hospital needs better infrastructure and more staff. I had seen how tired everyone was; it was not just doctors and healers, but also the guards standing by the door. They had fought the battle and were now guarding the hospital without rest. Many are still working after the battle. I could see the tiredness in the eyes of my own guards. I am no different, but all of us are just pushing. There are things to do, before the rest and I couldn¡¯t sleep, before finishing them. I sat in the carriage, and it moved toward another hospital. This time, the temporary one, is being handled by the priests of Cynvar. They had done an excellent job. Ten times better than I had imagined. It could even be said that they had yed a pivotal role in our victory against the undead. I will need to pay back for that, and it will cost me, but I will do it. It is the least, I could do. Hun! The carriage was halfway toward the hospital when suddenly a smile appeared on my face. ¡°Turn the carriage toward the establishment,¡± I said. I could see, Z''s face whipping toward me with eyes questioning. I didn¡¯t say anything and just kept looking outside of the window. Soon, the carriage stopped by the establishment. ¡°Follow me,¡± I said to Z and Jon when I saw they were staying behind. They were loyal to me, and it is only fair that I pay back that loyalty with the trust. They quickly got over their surprise before following me quickly into the dense mist. The mist is dense enough that they can¡¯t look at what is in front of them, even with their abilities. I had made it a little thinner, so they could at least see my silhouette to follow me. Gasp! Soon, the mist parted, and we entered the dome. As we did, a gasp of shock came out of their lips as they saw the Stone. ¡°The elder blood had calmed down and now merging with him. He had seeded,¡± said Caena. Hearing that, relief flooded in my veins, and a big smile appeared on my face. I truly hadn''t thought he would survive, but Caena managed to do so with her incredible abilities. I nodded at her gratefully and looked at Stone. He is the same as the morning, with daggers and pointed stars around him, but now the energy in him is no longer raging. It bes as calm as theke. The purple marks of magic poison could rarely be seen on him. ¡°When will the awakening be finished?¡± I asked her. ¡°It should be finished by dawn. He will wake up soon after,¡± she replied. ¡°Thank you,¡± said Z, to that she smiled. ¡°Take a rest, Caena. I will ask Ca to watch him,¡± I said to her. ¡°I will,¡± she replied. I didn¡¯t say anything further and walked out, with Z and Jon following behind me. Soon, I reached the carriage, but I didn¡¯t immediately walk inside. I looked around specifically at the circle, which too had been destroyed, like the establishment. A lot of things will be going to need rebuilding. Though, it will be much better than before. Not just the establishment and the circle, but the whole city. The bastard Count didn¡¯t listen to my suggestions, but now I am in charge. I will implement those solutions. The city has so much potential, and I will bring it all out. A few secondster; I sat in the carriage, and it began to move. ¡°Are there any changes in the horde?¡± I asked. ¡°No, it is moving toward Norke without changing any direction,¡± she replied, and I felt a small relief. Earlier, the new horde reached Panar, where it had divided itself once again. With one part staying in Panar while the other moving toward the Norke. The undead are reinforcing their numbers in the conquered cities. This thing shouldn¡¯t be allowed to happen, but who could stop them? There are only two cities that have sufficient armies to even think about doing such a thing, but both of them are worrying about the undead sending a horde toward them. They wouldn¡¯t be sending an army anywhere soon. Every city, except for the two cities on the eastern side, is worried about the undead. They have close proximity to Dustorn Fortress and the undead might not want to attack them. The man at the Dustorn Fortress is the only person in the entire region capable of uprooting the undead from the roots. The undead wouldn¡¯t want to mess with him; at least this early. However, I really hope, those cities wouldn¡¯t depend on Dustorn Fortress too much and make their own preparation. If Dustorn Fortress got busy with Tabes and any of the three cities on the river fell; it would give the undead a clear road to them. Even without conquering any of us, they could move to those cities. I visited all the hospitals, before returning to the city hall, where I contacted the hosts of legacies. I assured them about the state of my legacy. Though most are already aware of it being fine aside from its shell being destroyed. The hosts be aware of the death of any legacy as they do of the birth. Assuring about the legacy isn¡¯t the only reason, I had contacted them. There is another reason, the most important one. Aid. The hosts of the legacies are rich, and I am one of them. Even if they didn¡¯t send much, a little would help. ¡°I am sorry. It is too much on you,¡± I apologized to Z, who looked like, she could fall sleep anytime. ¡°It¡¯s all right, my lord,¡± she replied. Hearing that, I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s time to call it a night. We all deserved it,¡± I said and walked out of the office with her and the girls. Visit to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 349: Advancements Chapter 349: Advancements {Conditions Met: Rousing Captain- Elder-Blood Commander} Elder-Blood Commander Lv. 30 Elder-Blood Commander Lv. 31 {Skill Gained: Battle Awareness} {Skill Gained- Co {Elder-Blood Detected: Initiate Equalizing} {Attributes Erased} {Skill Erased- Rousing sh} {Skill Erased- Steps of Land} . . . {Equalizing Finished} {ss: Elder-Blood Commander} {Skills: Commanders Telepathy} {Skill: Battle Awareness} ¡­ {ss Gained: Soldier} Soldier Lv.1 Soldier Lv. 2 . . . ¡­ Warrior Lv. 20 {Condition Met: Warrior ¨C Ax Warrior} Spear Warrior Lv. 21 Spear Warrior Lv. 22 {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Wilnder Survivalist Lv. 26 {ss Gained: Soldier} Soldier Lv. 1 Soldier Lv. 2 Soldier Lv. 3 Soldier Lv. 4 Soldier Lv. 5 {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Shaman Lv. 17 Shaman Lv. 18 {Skill Gained: ¡­} .. Mage of Intellect Lv. 30 {Conditions Met: Mage of Intellect ¨C Aquamancer of Brilliance} Aquamancer of Brilliance Lv. 31 {Spell Gained: ¡­} . . . ¡­ August Madam Lv. 26 Drunkard Lv. 16 {Skill Gained Lv. Hair of the Dog} Fire Breather Lv. 7 Fire Breather Lv. 8 Fire Breather Lv. 9 {Skill Gained: Wide Plume} A surprise and disappointment couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. Surprise because my main ss had leveled up. I didn¡¯t think, I had done anything to make it leveled up, but it clearly thinks I did. If it had been yesterday, I would have been thrilled with this level, but things changed in the night. Now, I am feeling quiteplicated about it. I pushed the feeling aside and looked at my second level-up. Drunkard had reached Lv. 16, and I have got the skill. The Hair Of The Dog is a good skill and a useful one, even for me who is quite good at dealing with alcohol. I looked down at three level-ups in my Fire Breather ss, which I had been quite sure would reach Lv. 10, given the sheer number of undead, I had killed. There is even a slight hope, that it might merge with the drunkard ss, but nothing of that sort had happened. Iy on the bed, feeling disappointed. It took a while to get control of my emotions and understand the reason why Fire Breathing hadn''t reached Lv. 10 and why there was no merging. There are multiple reasons I could think of, but two seemed more important to me. First are the undead I had killed. They were said to be the weakest of all in the horde. There was not a special undead among them or a single pir, who wouldn¡¯t have had any difficulty in finishing me off. Sometimes, the numbers alone aren¡¯t enough to gain the level. The second reason is my own fault. I am not good enough in fire breathing. To be honest, since I had learned it; I only focused on making the plume as big as possible and nothing else. I didn¡¯t listen to the instructor when they had told me to focus on control and techniques. I had paid the price for that, wasted a lot of whisky. I had used a mouthful of whisky to kill a single undead many times when I could have finished the job in a fraction. I have already decided to focus on techniques and control. It is the only right path to advance further. There is also a decision for me to make. I pushed that thought away, the moment it appeared. I am not ready to even think about it, but I know, I will have to and very soon. ¡­ Dealer of Desire Lv. 25 [Master of Legacy] Trainer Lv. 8 Valorous Governor Lv. 21 I looked at the texts in front of me and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. There is also a surprise. I thought sting a legacy apart would make me regress in level in my main ss, but here I leveled up and it is not the only ss, I had leveled up in. I have also leveled up in the Trainer ss, which is a surprise because, in the past few months, I have barely trained Fang. If I had done it; I may have gotten more than one level seeing what he did. Thest to level up was my Valorous Governor. It had leveled up three times in a single night, which is quite rare for a ruling ss. I was hoping it would upgrade, but it is the ruling ss. They are hard to level up and even harder to upgrade. There are no skills at this level-up, which is a little disappointing, but I am not sad. Thest night, I have got pretty great skills. I turned to the attribute point I got and immediately added it to the charm, taking it to eighteen. I wanted to add it to the strength or vitality, but charm felt the right choice. I felt its faint high, whichsted for a couple of seconds. I calmed down and opened the window, which had grown slightly bigger than thest time with level-ups and skills.
ss Dealer of Desire Lv. 25 [Master of Legacy]
Valorous Governor Lv. 21 Trainer Lv. 08
Charisma 18
Intelligence 15
Vitality 15
Strength 16
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Instinct ¡¤ Solid Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Blitz Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Weighted Strike ¡¤ Persuasive ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ de Of The Gale ¡¤ Lords Mood ¡¤ Privacy Sphere ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry ¡¤ Sharpness ¡¤ Active Presence ¡¤ Vision Projection ¡¤ Instant Recollection ¡¤ Underhand Dealings ¡¤ Copy Skill - Focus ¡¤ Telepathic Call ¡¤ Energizing Essence ¡¤ Gymnasts Control ¡¤ Governors Presence ¡¤ March Of The Braves
Legacy Demesne of Desire II
Skills ¡¤ Master of Legacy ¡¤ Laws of Legacy ¡¤ Share Authority (5) ¡¤ Vault of Ru ¡¤ Demesne Expansion
Attribute Points 0
New skills were added, and two sses merged. My legacy had upgraded into Grade II, giving me amazing skills. It had also increased the size of its vault and one more authority was added. Seeing that, my expression couldn¡¯t help, but turn somber. Four of these authorities were upied. Ca, Margaux, Barb, and Mena; now that Mena is dead, her authority has returned. There are now two authorities that are empty. I looked at the window for a couple of seconds more, before closing it and walking out of the bed. I cast a nce at the clock and was surprised that I had slept for eight hours. I was nning to wake up at dawn but slept past it without hearing an rm. I walked into the bathroom. Freshened up and showered, before changing into the suit. I looked at the mirror and adjusted the suit; I could easily use the skill, but there was no need for it. Click! ¡°My lord,¡± Z greeted as I walked out of my room. She looked good. Rested. Happy, ecstatic even. ¡°Z,¡± I said before a small smile appeared on my face. ¡°Or should I call you High-Mage Taras?¡± I asked. Her cheeks reddened, but I could also see the happiness and pride. Z had been one of the few people who contributed the most to the battle. She was already Lv. 29 and had requirements of knowledge. The battle provided the experience she needed to take the next step. I don¡¯t think, she would be the only mage or the powerhouse who had taken that big step forward. There are many like Valentina, Captain Vandal, and others who have taken that big step forward. ¡°Z, is fine, my lord,¡± she said with a smile. Hun! I walked out of the door when I saw six people with staff uniforms waiting at the door, including the head butler. I arched my brow at her. ¡°The staff will shift your belongings to the lord''s suit,¡± she replied. I nodded and walked here. It is obvious. I am the lord of the Greltheaven now. I couldn¡¯t stay in the wing of officers. ¡°Where is Jon, by the way?¡± I asked. ¡°I am here, my lord,¡± said Jon from behind, bing visible for the second, before turning invisible again. Like, I had said, many had advanced. I am d Jon got this skill; it is very useful for the bodyguards. I went to the kitchen; the main one, that was only for the Count and his son. I ate breakfast there, before walking out of the mansion. I have to say, working in the mansion isforting, but it is not efficient for the administration and I n to run the efficient administration. Soon, the carriage reached the city hall, and I walked out. Many people stopped and bowed. It felt foreign and ufortable, but I kept my expression pleasant-neutral and nodded at people who greeted me without stopping. I am just imitating the Count. The bastard had many ws, but he also had many qualities. The good ones I am going to copy. Click! Soon, I entered my office. There were already people there, aside from Ina and L, there was a man, sitting in front of the table. When I saw him, I couldn¡¯t help, but get surprised. I have read about it. Still, seeing it with my eyes has shocked me. The change is too big, to not get shocked. In front of me is a man, barely six feet tall. He is fit, but not muscled, and has a thick head of blond hair. His eyes are bronze, and they seem to hold an enormous weight; normal people won¡¯t be able to look at them for more than a second. ¡°My lord,¡± he greeted. I am d that his voice remained unchanged, still deep andmanding. ¡°Good to see, you alive Stone,¡± I said with a smile as I took the seat. Thaddaeus Stone, I knew, had been over six and a half feet tall and built like a mountain. He had an intimidating presence that came with size. Nobody would dare to underestimate after seeing him. The man in front of me is just an average man. Nobody would look twice at him or feel threatened. Though once they stared at those bronze eyes. Their knees would shake, and they would want to run away. Saying the change is drastic would be an understatement, but that is awakened elder-blood for you. His earlier size was due to his unawakened giant blood, but now it awakened, it is contained in the core. Just like the real giants. It is said that one would pass by the giant and wouldn¡¯t notice anything about them. They are normal-sized, until they activate their strength. ¡°It is all thanks to you, my lord,¡± he said, and I shook my head. ¡°I am many things, Stone, but not the one who saved you,¡± I replied, to which he smiled. A momentter, his expression turned serious. ¡°What is your n for the army?¡± he asked. Hearing it, I too be serious. I thought about it a lot yesterday and the answer was simple. Despite many difficulties, it possesses. ¡°I want you to convince the soldiers who might be leaving to stay and also recruit the volunteers. Not only the ones who fought but also those who volunteered to fight,¡± I replied. I need the army and it needs to be sufficiently big enough to deal with the threat of the undead. Last time, we were not prepared for them, but next time, I like to be. ¡°It won¡¯t be easy and most importantly, we will need a lot of resources and money,¡± he said, looking at me intently. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. I will provide you with all the resources and money, you need,¡± ¡°What about orcs?¡± he asked. ¡°I am meeting with their leadership in the afternoon,¡± I informed. The questions of orcs areplicated. What makes it even moreplicated is that they are prisoners. Were prisoners; they had fought for the city, and I will give them what I promised to them. Stone left in a few minutes, and I turned to the three newspapers in front of me. There are two big headlines covering the front of the pages. At is our victory against the undead, and at the bottom is the death of Prince Grelt. It is why, I have be a Lord from Governor. He died. Killed by his brother, the Crown Prince. Who used the kingdom protecting, Grade VII spells. Those spells had not only killed his brother but wiped away the army, he was traveling with. Even their bones hadn''t remained. It was still a mystery about how he was able to do it. Those spells have huge restrictions and can only be used when the empire is threatened. Now with Prince Grelt''s death, there are only two key yers fighting for the throne. Crown Prince and Princess Orlene. Some small yers have popped up, but they have yet to prove their worth. Most, if not all, will either swear allegiance to one of two key yers or get killed by them. One thing is clear, the empire wouldn¡¯t be calm in theing months or years unless, of course, the Crown Prince was able to wipe away every obstruction to the throne with Grade VII spells. It does not sound farfetched as it would have sounded yesterday. Visit to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 350: Adamant Chapter 350: Adamant ¡°The first ship had been docked,¡± informed Z. ¡°Good,¡± I said with a smile. The undead had removed the blockade. There is no other choice in front of them. If they hadn''t removed it, they would have been removed and the undead wouldn¡¯t have liked the way did it. The information had said that a lot of big ships had sailed from the Owlspring. The bank had also informed us of the taxes being submitted by them into the city''s ount. ¡°How are the preparations?¡± I asked Robin in front of me. ¡°Good,¡± he replied, before turning to documents in his hands. ¡°But I think, we are giving away too much,¡± he added. ¡°Trust me, it will be beneficial for us,¡± I said to him. The merchant state had agreed to give us aid and called us for the negotiations. Nothing is free in the world, not even aid. In themunications, they have hinted at the concessions they want. I have no problem agreeing with them. I have nudged the Count in that direction, but the bastard didn¡¯t listen. It will be mutually beneficial to us. More to us than them. Click! Robin left a few minutester, and I focused back on what I was working on. Two more hours passed when the door opened, and Ina came in. ¡°They have arrived,¡± she informed. I nodded and walked out of my office. I am feeling a little nervous, but controlled my emotions. I held all cards here; there is no way, they wouldn¡¯t agree. Soon, I reached the conference room and the guards standing by it bowed. I nodded and entered the conference room, which was filled with people. Everyone is orc, except for Colonel Cardin. ¡°My lord,¡± they greeted. ¡°Everyone, please sit,¡± I said as I sat down. Every orc of importance is here. They are chieftains and Shaman¡¯s. Some still have the bandages across their bodies. I wanted to dy the meeting till they recovered, but they insisted on today. ¡°Let me first start by saying thank you to you all. The victory wouldn¡¯t be possible without you all and with that, you have fulfilled your end of the bargain, and now I will fulfill mine,¡± I said and turned to Colonel Cardin. ¡°We have already prepared what, his lordship had promised to you,¡± said Colonel Cardin and sent papers in front of orcs. Aside from freedom. I had promised them some food and money; it is not much, but enough tost them a week or two. I could see the faint hesitation appearing on their face. I didn¡¯t say anything, nor Colonel Cardin. We just waited. ¡°What if we want to stay?¡± asked Shaman Trik. I had to fight really hard, to keep my expressions neutral, hearing that. They have fought against the undead, not for freedom, but because they didn¡¯t want to die. The undead wouldn¡¯t have given them any mercy. The normal orcs might rejoice in the thoughts of freedom, but these leaders understood the realities. It is why, the shaman had asked that question. I am giving them what I promised. They are free to leave the city, but where would they leave? They are not innocent. They were bandits. This means, that even if they want to leave, they cannot; there is no way avable for them. Their home was past Nakar Forest, but if they tried that route, the baronies and mirador hold would attack them. If they tried from a merchant state; they would be arrested. The merchants have no mercy for bandits. There is only Greltheaven for them. ¡°For the duty you did for the city. I will wee you all,¡± I replied, and I could see, the relief appearing on some of their face, but few kept looking at me, as they had sensed ¡®but¡¯ in my words. ¡°But you all are former bandits; there will be restrictions on you. It won¡¯t be permanent. A year long, till we be sure, thepulsions of your former professions disappeared,¡± I added, and anger shed in the eyes of some. ¡°We have fought for you. We have died for you. Isn¡¯t that enough for you to trust us?¡± asked the muscled orc loudly. ¡°It is for that. You are free and talking to me, Chieftain Hron.¡± I replied, putting a small smile on my face. It seemed to have made the man even angrier. ¡°Calm down, Hron,¡± said Shaman Trik, before turning to me. ¡°What will be of restrictions be, my lord?¡± He asked, and I turned to Colonel Cardin. ¡°There won¡¯t be restrictions on the movement of you and your people. If that is what you all are thinking. You can go anywhere you want and live anywhere you want. Will have same rights as any non-citizens,¡± ¡°The restriction would be mainly on the work, you all will need to serve the army for at least a year, after that. You will be free to do what you want and might even gain citizenship and be a full citizen of the city,¡± said Colonel Cardin. A few orcs smiled in relief. ¡°Given the threat of the undead. The city might not remain standing by then,¡± said Shaman Krema. ¡°Then we will die together,¡± replied Colonel Cardin with augh. For a few seconds, there was silence. I could see the Orcs talking among themselves with their skills. ¡°What position our people will get in the army and what will they be getting paid?¡± asked Shaman Tirk. ¡°The lowest would bemon soldier, the highest would be the captain. As for the sries, they will receive the same sries as the other new recruits in their position,¡± replied the Colonel. It seemed to make them relieved. The posts would be low for many, especially those of Lv. 30 and above, but it is the test. If they prove their loyalty and worth, they will be promoted faster. ¡°And our tribal rights?¡± he asked and immediately the expressions of Colonel Cardin and me turned serious. It is the sourest subject. The orcs like to maintain their tribal structure. In the merchant stage, many cities and even the state offer special rights to them. ¡°No special rights; not even an exception,¡± said Colonel Cardin firmly. The tribal structure has its advantages, but I think, the disadvantages outweigh them all. It is not like, I am banning them from having a tribal structure. I am not just giving them the special rights. This will be better for their integration into the city and bing part of the city¡¯s identity. ¡°We do not want much. Just a few exceptions that Meldhorn offers,¡± said Chief Garzong, looking at me. ¡°My apologies, but there will be no exception,¡± I replied. It made some of them angry, but they didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Give us some time to think about it,¡± said Shaman Trik finally. ¡°Of course. If you have any questions, please ask them to Colonel Cardin and Adviser Ina, here.¡± I replied and walked out of the office. ¡°We should be a little flexible, we need Orcs,¡± said L as we walked back to my office. ¡°Yes, we need them, but they need us more,¡± I replied. It is a calcted gamble with a long-term view in mind. These won¡¯t be thest orc, that I will take in the city, and I want the rules equal for them all. However, the restrictions on work would only apply to these orcs due to their former profession. The orcs or any other people of any other race that wille to the city won''t face such restrictions. ¡°By taking them, we will be breaking the biggestw of the empire. Even Storm-Mage didn¡¯t dare to do that,¡± she said. ¡°We also wouldn¡¯t dare to do that. If the Emperor is alive, but sadly, he has passed away and with the protection he officered. Now, the undead have conquered our cities and we will need every help we can.¡± ¡°The orcs are good, they have already proved their worth in fighting for us against the undead,¡± I replied. Orcs are strong and if not for them. We wouldn¡¯t have won the battle. I need them, especially now, when many of them have leveled-up. ¡°I wonder if the other cities will do what we are doing,¡± she said softly. I didn¡¯t answer that, even though I can¡¯t guess the answer to that question. Though, from what I know, the lord of Deerpond might do this. Man is not a speciest, nor he is religious; he will do what benefits him the most. He will not do it immediately. He will wait and watch how it yed out for us. Just like, he did with trading with Navr. It offers the Greltheaven great opportunity. I have taken the first step with the orcs; they have not finalized the decision yet, but I know they will stay. They don¡¯t have any choice. ¡°Mr. Hugo is waiting for you, Lord Silver,¡± informed Jill, as I reached my office. It surprised me, as he didn¡¯t make an appointment. I looked at Z and her expressions wereplicated. She seemed to know what it was about, and I wanted to ask but decided not to. I will know, soon enough from the man waiting in office. Hun! ¡°Lord Silver,¡± greeted Hugo. He looked a little nervous, but there was a firmness in his eyes. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look like a casual visit?¡± I asked as I sat down. ¡°No, it is not, my lord,¡± he replied, shaking his head. ¡°So, what can I do for you Hugo?¡± I asked directly. ¡°I hope you can release me from your service, my lord,¡± he said, shocking me. I had expected many things, but not this. I had cast a nce at Z, and she didn¡¯t seem surprised by it. ¡°May I know why?¡± I asked and his expressions turned a littleplicated for a moment before he controlled them, but I had sensed an unmissable pain and some hatred in them. ¡°I had suffered greatly. From the hands of nobles and took an oath on the graves of those I had lost, that I would never swear fealty to them,¡± he replied, with each wording out of his mouth felt like an open wound. It hurts to just listen to them. I knew the man was deep but never knew. He was holding so much pain in his heart. ¡°Is there nothing, I could do to convince you to stay?¡± I asked, to that he shook his head. I don¡¯t want to lose him. He is really good. So talented and experienced. Most importantly, loyal. But it is clear, that he had already made up his mind and holding him back would be wise. ¡°Fine, I will release you from my service, but can you at least tell me, what you are nning to do?¡± I asked, and his expression turned a little hesitant. ¡°I haven¡¯t truly much thought about it, but I will probably form a mercenary team,¡± he replied. I nodded and opened my mouth to wish him luck when suddenly an idea struck me. ¡°It is a great idea, Hugo and I hope, you will let me help you with that,¡± I said and his expression turned hesitant. ¡°You are aware, that how expensive it is to set up a mercenary team. Potions, weapons, armor, room. It is all very expensive,¡± ¡°I will be just an investor, without any control. We can put in it writing. The only thing I want is to make Greltheaven home for yourpany and give priority to the missions from the city,¡± I said. Hearing, that, some of the expressions from his face have eased. ¡°I will think about it,¡± he said finally. ¡°That¡¯s all I want,¡± I replied. He nodded and walked out of the room. ¡°We tried to convince him, but he was adamant,¡± said Z. ¡°It is fine,¡± I said and looked at the door. I really hope he will ept. I don¡¯t want to lose a man like him. Visit to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 351: Allied Baronies of Nakar Chapter 351: Allied Baronies of Nakar Ashton Harbor ¡°Five wins and three losses,¡± said the man, holding a staff. He is looking at the map of Renwell Region; theplete renwell region. ¡°It had gone better than we had imagined, General,¡± replied the man in grey iron armor, standing behind him. ¡°How it had gone better, tell me?¡± asked the man with the staff gently as he turned toward the armored man. Feeling the gaze, the confident smile, on the armored man¡¯s face had disappeared. ¡°We had captured the five cities. It was better than our target of the three,¡± replied the armored man after a moment of silence. Mustering the smile on his face, that he had lost a moment ago. ¡°Yes, we have conquered five cities but failed at three. Losing powerhouses, especially at Greltheaven, where the entire horde had got wiped, with only two people being able to escape,¡± ¡°As for the target of capturing three cities; it was based on our enemies providing material and men support, which they didn¡¯t do. The only support, they have provided is information and despite that, we had failed to capture three,¡± ¡°So, tell me, Haiz, how is this better?¡± asked the man with the staff. The smile the armored man had mustered had vanished, and he felt cold sweat running down his back. ¡°My apologies; I was thoughtless with my words,¡± apologized the armored man and bowed. The man with the staff didn¡¯t say anything and turned back to the map. ¡°The merchants have acted. We will need more careful from now on, but it is fine. The small wait is favorable to us,¡± said the man with staff and shared a look with the armored man. Very few know the real reason behind the attack on the Renwell Region. Even the two, who are responsible didn¡¯t have aplete idea about it and they didn¡¯t ask. They know the cost of that. Instead, they focused on their orders, which are much safer. The order is to conquer the whole Renwell region, not just the part that is being controlled by the empire. It is an enormous challenge, but the man with the staff feels ready for it. He feels it is his destiny, that he will fulfill. ¡­ ¡°Best of luck,¡± I said to the four in front of me. Robin, Valentina, Hardt, and L are going to Meldhorn. There are many things they have to do there, but most important of all is negotiations for the aid. ¡°Thank you, Lord Silver,¡± they said and walked out of my office. This is the second step. The merchant states want things, and I will give them that. It is going to be extremely beneficial for the city and the quicker, I moved, the better it would be for me. I want to use the first mover''s advantage. Solidify the city¡¯s position before others make a move. It is why, I am not even waiting for a whole day since the blockade opened. It had opened at dawn, and I am sending them to merchant states in the evening. It is a little risky, but the risks I am willing to take. Many things I am doing are against thews of the empire, but currently, the empire is too busy to care about what this little border city of mine is doing. The enemies are attacking the empire from all directions and even battles were fought between the princes for the throne. It will be a while before an empire with full control will return. Some even doubt if it will ever return. It is why it had be even more important for the city to be strong, to be rich. It is the only way; we will be able to guarantee our survival. I watched till the door closed before focusing back on the work in front of me. It is the third step; the most important one. I am amending the constitution of the city. There are many problems with it and currently, I couldn¡¯t make too big of changes, but I am making the small, but important ones. I have also removed a fewplete sections. It would have been better to rewrite them, but I currently couldn¡¯t be due to the bacsh that might happen. So, I had removed them, but didn¡¯t rece them with newws and that would be chaotic. It is why, there will be an unofficial decree on how to handle these things. Once my control of the city has solidified fully and its culture moved in the direction of the way I want, I will make those things official, but it will take a lot of time, years. Decades, probably. I don¡¯t know if I will be alive by then. Still, that doesn¡¯t mean I won''t try. Miracles don¡¯t happen on a single night. It needs effort every day, and I will give that effort. I worked till midnight, before stopping. I would have continued as I genuinely liked what I was doing, but I needed to sleep. There is a lot of work tomorrow and I need to be rested to do it. So, I went to sleep, and it was in my new suit. It was Count¡¯s suit and now it is mine. They have done a great job in one day; taking out all the ugly art and changing those ostentatious blinds and curtains. They have also changed the bed. Which is the first thing, I had asked them to do. It was an abomination. The changes are far from finished. The suite was huge, and many things needed to be done, but they had finished enough, especially the bedroom. I fell asleep pretty quickly and woke up six hourster. I quickly showered and ate, before walking off the mansion into the city hall, where I had an important meeting. Click! ¡°My lord,¡± greeted Bishop Elena as I entered my office. She is with her two pdins; they are not wearing their armor, but I can tell they are ready to defend her against any threat. ¡°Your Excellency, nis,¡± I said as I sat down. There was a silence for a few seconds. I am going to do something, that will have a huge consequence, bigger than admitting orcs to the city. ¡°You have helped me, and it is time, I helped you too. So, tell me what you want?¡± I asked directly. There is no need to dally it and she liked it this way too, seeing the smile appearing on her face. ¡°We want permission to set up our church in the city and proselytize our faith,¡± she said. The request is what I had expected. ¡°There is no problem with that, but there are certain conditions. Two are most important. First, your church will need to aid us in every battle we fight like you and your people did against the undead,¡± ¡°Second, you will be forbidden toment and interfere with the politics and policies of the city directly or indirectly,¡± I said. The bastards from the church of the god of war loved to interfere. I do not want another church in my city doing the same. ¡°We do not have a problem with the first conditions, but will need more rification on the second. Sometimes a simple sentence might feel like a criticism or interference,¡± she replied. A genuine smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. The woman is smart; she had gone directly to the heart of the matter. ¡°Ina will inform of you that, along with other conditions,¡± I said and a few secondster, Ina took her to the conference room, where our people have already been waiting for the negotiations. Ina had a lot of things to do; there were very few people, whom I could trust to do the job without messing it up. Aside from the negotiations, I had also asked her to convince people not to leave. I am meeting people personally to convince them, but I could not meet them all with the time, I have. People left yesterday, and they are leaving today. It is not an exodus as I feared, but their numbers are stillrge. It is not just themon people who are leaving, but also important ones of middle to high level. The people who keep the city running and it is hard to stop them. To be honest, I am d, the state of the empire isn¡¯t good. If it had been, it would have been a true exodus of the people. I am making sure; the people knew what was happening in the empire, even exaggerating a few facts. I do not feel good about it, but it is working, and I will keep doing it. Hun! I was working, when I heard a strange noise from Z and turned to her. She had had her eyes closed; she was clearly casting spells. I waited and had to wait for over a minute before she opened her eyes. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked. Feeling worried, while praying in my heart, that it is not the undead. ¡°There is an official released from Lauryl Town. The baronies formed an alliance, calling themselves United Baronies of Nakar.¡± She informed and my first reaction was a relief. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± The second was theugh. I begin tough hard. So, hard, that tears started toe out of my eyes. I could see Z looking at me worriedly, but I keptughing. It took me a while to stopughing. ¡°Dane is going to lose his shit,¡± I said, feeling much better. In the past two days, I had exchanged a couple of messages with Commander Dane of Mirador Hold. He hinted to me to resign and give themand of the city to him. Even indirectly threatened, if I didn¡¯t listen. The man is powerful and has experienced an army under his control. It is big enough that he could defeat us. There was an even greater problem that many of my men, wouldn¡¯t fight against them. Many had worked under Dane. If I want to make them loyal to me; I need time and now with this, I will have time. Dane will be quite busy in dealing with this and those barons are not going to make things easy for him. ¡°Do all the baronies are part of this alliance?¡± I asked Z. ¡°They are saying, they are,¡± Z replied. ¡°Get confirmation from each one,¡± I said to her and turned to the map. With Nakar baronies allying together, they have created a powerful force. Individually, they are not a threat, but together, they will have a big army and powerful people like Baron Harrods and Baron Lockridge leading them. Most importantly, with Nakar baronies independent. It will affect the earnings of Mirador Hold. Dane had been eyeing the whole profit from the trade route he controls, but now he will need to share that or get the baronies under his control. It is the best news for me because now Dane won¡¯t turn his eyes toward me until he deals with baronies, and that wouldn¡¯t be easy for him. ¡°Is a Major Jarvis part of it?¡± I asked her. ¡°Yes, he is part of the seven-member ruling council,¡± she replied, and the smile on my face became even bigger. He must be furious. It would have been one thing if it had been barons alone, but his own man had turned against him. I really wish I could see Dane right now. Tap on to read 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 352: Convince Chapter 352: Convince Valentina ¡°I have to say, this is the easiest aid, negotiations. I had in my life,¡± said the elf and closed the file in front of him. There are five people in front of us. Led by a blue-haired, handsome elf, who looked to be in histe thirties. I heard he is a tough negotiator, unfortunately; he didn¡¯t get a chance to show his abilities. ¡°That is because you are so good. Mr. Vasys¡± replied Robin with a grin. ¡°You will get a third of the aid tomorrow; the rest we will deliver in the next ten days,¡± said the man. ¡°We are grateful, Mr. Vasys,¡± said Robin, and we are. The aid is not small. It will solve a lot of problems for the city. The man smiled and shook our hands, before walking out of the conference room with his team. I quickly sent a message to Remus, informing him of the negotiations progress. ¡°I hope, Lord Silver, knows what he is doing. There is still time to back out,¡± said Hardt, looking at me. We have note here for the aid, alone. If that had been the case, then Robin alone would have been fine. Remus wouldn¡¯t have been needed to elevate me to the vice director of trade for it. No, he wants the amend the deals we had signed with the Meldhorn in the past. Tomorrow, Robin will leave, while we will stay behind and renegotiate the terms. We will be here for a few days or even a week; I hope, it will be finished before the funeral. ¡°The conditions might seem good, but Lord Silver isn¡¯t the one to sell the city for short. There must be reasons behind it,¡± I said to him. It might feel rushed, but it is not. He had prepared for it for months, more than a year likely. Remus had discussed some of these things with me many times. Cursed that the Count was wasting the potential of the city with his regressive policies. Damon Hardt isn¡¯t the only one, who has the doubts. I too have doubts, but I decided to trust Remus. Soon, we walked out of the conference room but stopped seeing some familiar people. ¡°Director Statham, it¡¯s nice to see you here,¡± said Robin, and shook hands with the old man. The old man is Will Statham. Director of the trade of Deerpond City. ¡°You too, Adviser Robin,¡± replied the old man, before shaking hands with me and others. ¡°It seemed like, we weren¡¯t the only ones, who hade here,¡± said Robin as we walked away from them. ¡°Any idea on why they hade here?¡± asked Hardt, and Robin shook his head. ¡°It could be for the aid or some other business,¡± replied Robin. Soon, we were back in our hotel. Robin had gone to meet a few people, while Hardt, L, and me, along with the team, hade to my suite to n for the negotiations for tomorrow. Today¡¯s negotiations offer temporary concessions, but the one that will start tomorrow will be the long term. They won¡¯t be smooth. We are willing to loosen a lot of restrictions, but we also want the investments. Which is much harder than getting the aid. ording to Remus, if it is sessful. It will bring the city a lot of trade and investments. I wish the undead hadn''t attacked us. It would have made things a lot easier, but then Remus wouldn¡¯t have been in charge. The Count might still be running the city, and I would be in jail with Lena. Two and a half hourster, Hardt and others left, leaving only L behind. ¡°There is a response from the alchemists and Artificers; all of them want the bones,¡± I informed her. We had sent a sample of bones to all the reputed alchemists and artificers of Owlspring and Meldhorn. I had tested the bones myself and knew there would be a good response, but still, I underestimated it. ¡°We are not selling them all at once right, right?¡± she asked, and I shook my head. Remus wanted to sell it all and I could not me him since the city needed money, but I had convinced him to not do that. ¡°No, we will auction it by the load,¡± I replied. We have a huge number of bones. That explosion had killed nearly 70% of the undead. So, one could imagine, the number of bones we have. If we were to sell together, we would get a lot of money, but that would be a mistake. The bones are resources that had never appeared on the market. They contain the death energy as well as the emotion power. Everything with emotions is expensive and these bones are going to be even more expensive. ¡°You are waiting for them to find out, right?¡± she asked and the smile on my face, before bigger. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. She is a smart woman. She had figured out, what I was trying to do. Alchemists and artificers want the bones, but there is one more party that will want them, more than those two. I am sure, the sample of bones will reach them soon. If it is a thing, that turns out to be useful to them, then won¡¯t hesitate to pay a high price to get it. We won¡¯t trade with them directly; it is illegal and would empower our enemies. Still, they have ws everywhere and would get their hands on it. It will drive up the price and that is what we want. Though it will depend on whether they want it. If they didn¡¯t, then we will suffer the loss. It would be better to sell them all now. It is a huge risk, but Remus agrees to take it on my suggestion. ¡°When will we auction the first load?¡± she asked. ¡°After we return to Greltheaven. Samples should be spread around by then,¡± I replied. ¡­. Ina ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, thank you foring,¡± I said to nearly two hundred people in front of me. Their numbers are more than I had expected. I thought no more than fifty woulde. Seeing many of them are busy packing their bags to leave. ¡°You have already guessed the reason, but I will say it. Lord Silver wants you all to be with the city like you all have been during the battle against the undead,¡± I said to them, and could see many of them shaking their heads. These nearly two hundred people are small business owners. Master Silver had called them, the lifeblood of the city. More important than the mid and big business owners. ¡°Lord Silver is asking too much from us. This time, we were able to deal with the undead, but the next time, they would be more prepared; we won¡¯t be able to deal with them,¡± said the bald man in histe fifteen. He is Beckett Reed. The leader of a small business group. ¡°You are wrong, Mr. Reed,¡± I replied with a smile and activated Dramatic Voice. ¡°Thest time, the undead were prepared, they had brought a horde of two hundred thousand; that led them to conquer three cities without any resistance, but when they attacked our city, they met with the surprise of their life.¡± ¡°We had not just defeated them but wiped out every undead. Aside from two, not a single undead of over two hundred thousand undead hordes could escape,¡± ¡°Even the two cities, which had defeated the undead, didn¡¯t get the thorough victory like us,¡± I said. It stumped the man, but he was not to be undone. ¡°It is why the undead will be more prepared. This time, we won''t have as many powerhouses as thest time to deal with them as many are leaving and most importantly, there won''t be a legacy to wipe most of them out,¡± he said once again, I smiled. ¡°You are right, the shell of a legacy had been destroyed and some powerhouses leaving, but you are wrong to suggest, there won''t be many powerhouses.¡± ¡°There will be more powerhouses than before, as many had leveled up, including Commander Stone, who had awakened the power of elder-blood. Our army will also be bigger, as many volunteers are joining it,¡± ¡°So, even if the horde came; they will be destroyed and this time, they won''t be able to enter the city,¡± I replied with confidence. The confidence isn¡¯t fake. I truly believe we will be in a better state thanst time if the undead came. The army will be bigger, more disciplined, and most importantly, it will have many powerhouses. There was a silence for a couple of seconds. Reed opened his mouth to speak but closed it. ¡°The risk of staying is too big, Adviser,¡± said the woman in her mid-thirties from the back. She is one of the few women sitting here. Not many women could independently own the business. Some regions in the empire didn¡¯t even allow that;pared to them, thews of Greltheaven are liberal and they will be more liberal in theing days. However, the woman isn¡¯t the business owner or hasn''t been before the battle with the undead. Her husband was and he died, killed by the undead in strange circumstances. She is Arlina Harlow. Her husband used to run a small construction firm. ¡°I will not deny the risk, Miss Harlow, but the risk is everywhere. In the maind, the princes are fighting each other, while the enemies are attacking our borders from all sides,¡± I replied. ¡°Yes, there is a risk, but unlike the undead. The enemies won¡¯t kill us all once they conquer the city,¡± she countered, and I couldn¡¯t help hearing that. ¡°It is the risk, but there are also the opportunities. I think you can all see, the opportunities Greltheaven represents due to its unique location andws.¡± ¡°The opportunities will be greater with Lord Silver leading the city.¡± They looked at me in silence, some talking to each other in the privacy skills. I could see some were being swayed by my words, and I had yet to reveal my biggest weapon. ¡°What you said is all good, Miss Ina, but the risk of staying is too big,¡± said Reed, and I smiled in my heart because now, I could use it. ¡°I will not deny it, but let me say it. There is no city better city better than the Greltheaven for the small business, and it is not just my mouth speaking.¡± ¡°There will be big changes in theing days and weeks, that will benefit the small business owners like you a lot. The biggest one will be the change in the merchant guild.¡± I said and could see their eyes turning sharper. Especially of the Reed. ¡°Lord Silver is trimming down the merchant guild to make it more efficient. There will be one leader, four vice-leaders, and twelve deacons.¡± ¡°To him, small businesses are more important than the middle and big business. That is why, two of the four Vice-Guildmaster will be from small businesses. The same with the deacons, half of them wille from your numbers,¡± I said. The huge shock appeared on their faces, which isn¡¯t surprising. There were seven Guildmasters before and no one was from the small businesses, despite them having paid more than half of the taxes. Among the twenty-four deacons, only two were from them. Reed was one of them. It is all due to the influence. The small business may pay most taxes collectively, but they have the lowest influence. It is through this influence and a little money; that the people were able to get the position into the merchant guild. There will be aplete overhaul of the merchant guild, and many will lose their position. They will be reced with the better people. ¡°You are not joking, are you, Adviser Knox,¡± said Reed, with his voice shaking faintly. He is excited, with his eyes shining with ambition. He is not the only one; many had that light in their eyes. ¡°I would never lie about what, Lord Silver says, Mr. Reed,¡± I replied with a smile, and the man nodded. ¡°Please, think about what I said and give the city another chance,¡± I said to them. The meeting ended and people began to leave one after another. Soon, there is only one person aside from me remained. ¡°It may seem forward for me to say, but I will say it. I want Lord Silver to consider me for the position of the Vice-Guildmaster,¡± said Reed, not hiding his ambition. Hearing that, I turned my expression serious. ¡°It is not beyond the realm of possibility for you to gain that position, but you will have to earn it, Mr. Reed,¡± I said, and the man smiled excitedly, understanding the meaning behind my words. ¡°Please rest assured, Adviser. I will try my hardest to make all small business owners stay,¡± he said and walked out of the hall, with fire burning in his eyes. I am too familiar with it. People, like us, got trampled too many times. Most gave up, but some did not. So, when they find an opportunity to rise higher; they will give their all for it. Still Craving? Tap on to read chapters ahead. Chapter 353: Preparations Chapter 353: Preparations ¡°This is only 50%, the other half you will receive within six months,¡± I said to a group of people sitting in front of me. Many of them have bandages covering their bodies. The serious injuries, some of them have suffered couldn¡¯t be healed within a few days, even with the potions and the spells. They would need time as well as the rest to recover fully. ¡°I have to say, my Lord, I am surprised. I thought you would give us, give pennies, instead of the standard rate,¡± said Captain Vandal. They all are mercenary group leaders, who had fought against the undead with us. I am paying them today and, like he had said, it is not a full payment. ¡°I wanted to pay you all the more for your contribution to the city, but the city doesn¡¯t have much money,¡± I said, and the man nodded. ¡°We understand and currently, it is enough to make me and my men happy,¡± he said, looking at the check in front of him. ¡°I am d, and I hope you all will stay. I promise you will not suffer the disappointment.¡± I said, there was no answer, aside from a smile. A few secondster, I walked out of the conference room with Ina. ¡°How many do you think will stay?¡± she asked. ¡°It is hard to say, but at least half. I am d, that Vandal is staying,¡± I replied. I have got the personal assurance from Vandal that he is staying. It would have been great if I got it from others too. A few had already stated their intentions of going to the maind. It is very risky there, but also a lot of opportunities, and mercenaries are attracted to those things. Soon, I reached my office, where the work was waiting for me. I have important meetings in fifteen minutes. It will overhaul one of the systems of the city and a few people are not happy with it. It is necessary to change to turn the city into the ce, I want. ¡®Lord Silver, they are here,¡¯ said Jill through the inte. ¡°Send them in,¡± I said and a minuteter, three men came in. Stone, Colonel Cardin, and Lt. Commander Julian. Stone isn¡¯t in a good mood. He had let out his opposition to it clearly and I understand it, but this time, I will not listen to him. ¡°My lord,¡± they greeted. ¡°Everyone, please take a seat,¡± I said, and they took a seat. I nodded at Stone and Cardin, before turning to Julian. ¡°Has Stone, informed you of what I want?¡± I asked, to which he shook his head. ¡°No, but he informed me, it is a responsibility for which, I will have to resign from the army,¡± he replied. He had kept his expressions neutral, but I could see, he didn¡¯t like that prospect. ¡°He is right. I want you to leave the army and lead the city guards. Police, to be precise; I am renaming them.¡± ¡°You will be chief-of-police, Commissioner to be exact,¡± I informed. ¡°Please forgive me, my lord, but I would like to be in the army,¡± he replied, rejecting the responsibility. I can not me him. The guards are on the lowest rung; even those responsible didn¡¯t get much respect, but they will not be the guards, but the police. It is not just a change of words, but a change of ethos. I am going to transform the guards from what they are right now. ¡°I am afraid I cannot ept your rejection. You are the only one I could trust to handle this responsibility.¡± I said and the man once again opened his mouth, clearly to reject. ¡°Give it three months, Lt. Colonel. After three months, if you want to return to the army, I will let you return.¡± I insisted. I am lying. If I had thought of a better candidate than him. I would have given that responsibility to them. There is one equally good, but it would be impossible for me to get her. Stone had barely agreed to release Lt. Colonel Julian. Her, he would not release in his dreams. He sighed, hearing that. ¡°For three months. I ept,¡± he epted, and a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°The police will be different from the city guards. It will be directly under me, instead of the army. Also, the security of the city will be under its jurisdiction and the army won¡¯t interfere in it unless it is requested by you or me,¡± I said and could see it had made the man surprised. The city needs to be safe and, while Greltheaven had been rtively safe. It could do better, especially with gangs. The gangs from merchant cities and empires had started spreading their ws in the city. The war with the undead had brought me some time, and I was going to use that well. I am not going to eradicate them; not all of them, nor could I. It is a problem, one could control, not eradicate. They left an hourter, and I focused back on the work. I worked till it was an afternoon before I walked out of the office. I have a meeting; it is not in the city hall. It could have been, but the ce I am going to is more perfect. I sat on the carriage with Z, and it moved. Fifteen minutester, the carriage stopped and walked out toward the broad-shouldered man, who was already waiting for me. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± the man greeted as he turned his eyes toward me from the mist. ¡°Manager Shaw,¡± I said, and mist swirled around us beautifully. ¡°They agreed. The headquarters has asked me to tell you, that the bank is willing to provide you with any amount, you need to rebuild your legacy,¡± he replied and seemed quite excited, which is quite rare with this man. I am not surprised. I have received offers from several banks and a construction firm from a merchant state too, but I had chosen to work with repose and bulwark. I have been working with them for over a year and I like the bank. However, they will have to match the offer of others. If they couldn¡¯t do that, then even a good rtionship wouldn¡¯t be enough for us to work together. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, and he smiled. For the establishment. There are tens of people willing to offer me the money. My legacy is different. Now, my enemies won¡¯t kill me. They know I will not die, taking their money with me. They don¡¯t care about the money. At least, when ites to once in a life opportunity. A reconstruction of the legacy almost never happens; being part of it, anyway, is a huge opportunity. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the reconstruction of the city. I had asked around for the loan, but not a single person was willing to help with that. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking. When are you going to start the reconstruction of legacy?¡± he asked. ¡°As soon as possible,¡± I replied. Still, it might take a few weeks to get it started. Valentina is returning tomorrow. I will meet her and Edmor the day after that regarding it. If it was up to me, I would have done it already, but I was busy and so was she. She had been to the merchant state for a few days, negotiating the amendments to contracts we had signed with them. Edmor was even more busy; I had him looking through the blueprint of the city. I had asked him to add a few things. It is not as easy as it looked, especially when we have little money. It is because of it that I hadn''t started the reconstruction of the city. I need to make a n before starting it. So, as little money as possible would get wasted. The man left soon, and I had to leave too, but I walked into the dense mist. Soon, I am centered with mist all around me. I waved my hand as soon as the sun appeared, with the revolving around it. I looked at it, before focusing on the one, that is holding the emotion essence. There is a little more emotion essence than yesterday. Every day, it is increasing little by little, and Caena is extracting it from the. It is the shell, that had been destroyed, but not the legacy and it is still absorbing the emotions. The legacy isn¡¯t guarded in every hour. Aside from three hours every day, we would let people inside. Letting them feel the faint effect of legacy and absorb their emotions. Even in times like this, a lot of people came. To most, it is the chance of a lifetime; they might never do it after it passed. I need every bit of essence, not only to cast the spells but also to buy things like potions. Those potions with emotion essence are a big reason why many of the powerhouses who had fought the battle are still alive today. I barely have any potions left, and I didn¡¯t ask, those I gave away back. I wouldn¡¯t get them back, anyway. It is too precious. If I tried to ask back, most would say, they had already used it. I didn¡¯t stay at the establishment long and returned to the city hall. Where I worked and met with the people and got the update about people leaving the city. The number is in the thousands, but less than a third of yesterday. In the first three days of the blockage, opening, the number of people leaving the city had reached over ten thousand. We cannot afford to lose people, but we can¡¯t forcefully stop them, either. The approach needs to be gentle, which is what I am doing. It seemed to be working seeing how the numbers are decreasing. Though it could go higher if the undead bastards attacked again, and they will. I just hope I will be more prepared to deal with them than thest time. I am trying. I had ordered the mines and other weapons needed. I am also recruiting people, which Stone is training every day. This time, the undead will fight one cohesive army that will work together. It will not be easy to achieve that, but I am confident, that Stone would manage, as long as we have enough time. ¡°We are doing better than I had thought. I have seen the cities getting emptied after the undead attack.¡± Said Z. Yes, we are. I have been getting a report from the other cities. Thousands are leaving the cities like Riverbell and Port Midlet. Forget them, people are also leaving Deerpond and Gailhorn, which have yet to be attacked by the undead. Though people could understand those two will be targets. Both of them are the biggest cities in the region and are strategically important. The undead will attack them, and they might not wait for long. I shook my head at those thoughts and looked at the file in front of me. It is about the funeral tomorrow. Thousands have lost their lives and tomorrow, they will be buried with all the honor and respect. I have made all the preparations, I could with the money I have. It will be good, with thousands of people attending. Still Craving? Tap on to read chapters ahead. Chapter 354: Funeral Chapter 354: Funeral "Today, we stand together, our hearts heavy with sorrow, our spirits united in reverence, as we remember and honour the brave souls whoid down their lives in the ultimate act of selflessness and courage," I said to thousands of people gathered in front of me, while the tears drip down from my eyes. In the newly built cemetery. There are thousands of tombstones. Two thousand, one hundred and seventy-three to be exact. They include the soldiers, mercenaries,mon people, volunteers, refugees from other cities, and a whore. Mena''s tomb was in the front, among the most borate ones; right beside Major Hunriet''s. Her sacrifice was, no smaller than his. "They faced the darkest moments with unwavering bravery, and made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the city and its people." "Their bravery, their selflessness, and their sacrifice will forever be remembered and will be a beacon of light in the darkness, guiding us toward a future of hope and peace," I said and wiped my eyes as I finished the speech. There was a silence of a couple of seconds before I nodded at Bishop nis and she began the ceremony with lightning the censor. There are twelve priests with her. Two that had fought with us, ten that newly arrived. Most of them aren''t even priests; they are acolytes who aren''t even Lv. 10 in their sses. It is quite a risk to bring them to this city, which could be attacked by the undead again at any time. A few had objected to them performing the funeral since most were faithful to the god of war; the state religion of the empire. The bastards from the church of the god of war wanted to use the opportunity. Sent me letters to perform the funeral. When I rejected their request, they came forcefully. I had expected it and detailed them, before sending them back to the Deerpond. It will have a price, but I don''t regret doing it. I will never give this honor to the bastards who had run away. An hourter, Bishop nis finished, and I took the stage again. "Let''s remember them, not with grief, but with joy and pride. They deserve at least this from us," I said, bringing smiles to the faces of a few. I walked off the stage, but didn''t leave immediately. I talked to the loved ones of those who lost their lives. It is the least, I could do. I could only imagine what they were going through and providing every help, I could. "It was a great speech. She would have loved it," said Ca, wiping her eyes as she stopped by me. I didn''t say anything, just stared at the tomb, which was covered in flowers. There are so many of them. That is the tomb had almost got buried in it. It is not just the girls who had ced the flowers there, but also people. To save those she had sacrificed her life for. It is buried in flowers, but I could still read the tombstone. ''Mena Horn. Madam, Sister, Mentor'' there is also the emblem of establishment in the middle. She wanted it as such; it was written in her will. We stayed there for a few minutes in silence, before sitting in the carriage. Ten minutester, the carriage stopped at the city hall and I got out. Today, I wanted to do nothing, but unfortunately, I couldn''t do that. There is a ton of work in front of me. Click! "They are waiting for you," said Jill as I reached my office. I nodded and entered the room. "Lord Silver," the four people waiting inside got up immediately. Aside from Valentina, L, and Hardt, there is Rip Hanson from legal. They had finished the negotiationsst night and left immediately. They were barely able to make it to the funeral. "Sit down, all of you," I said as I sat down. "How were the negotiations? I asked. "Tough, but we are able to achieve, what you had wanted," she replied, with a look. Which is obvious to even the fool. It is a huge risk, I am taking, but there is no other option. It had been a week since the battle and a quarter of the poption had left, which is fifty-thousand people. The battle had tattered the economy of the city. I had told the bastard, that the economy was too fragile. We need to diversify it as much as possible, but like always, he didn''t listen to me. I have to do something to invigorate it, or more people will leave. I need to bring the city back on track, fill its coffers to pay for the army, and city employees, and finance the infrastructure, among other things. I didn''t reply to her looks and picked up the first bunch of contracts and started reading it. It had already been vetted by thewyers, but I like to look at them myself. I read every text and line carefully. I do not care about the time it takes. These documents will have a far-reaching effects and I want to be sure of every word before I sign it. It took a while before I finished reading and signed the documents, adding my own skills. I could feel it clicking and so are they. "This will usher a new era to our city," I said, closing the documents. "Let''s hope so," said Valentina. I smiled at her, before thewyer. "Rip, you will resign from the merchant guild and take a position as a head council in the city hall," I said to the man. Shocked would be an understatement of the emotion he was feeling, seeing he had a sort of frozen. "I will not let you down, my lord." He said and bowed. The city hall had a legal department, but half of them had left and there was no one in the other half could lead it. "I know you will," I said. A few secondster, thewyers left, leaving only three in front of me. Rip isn''t the only one getting a promotion, but the next promotions are a littleplicated and they might not ept, seeing the conditions attached to it. "Hardt, I want you to handle the trade office," I said, and the man''s eyes lit up. It was my department; I like it a lot and if not for the crazy responsibilities, I wouldn''t have given it up. "Thank you, my lord," he said, smiling widely. "Don''t thank me yet. There are serious conditions attached to it," I added, and his expression turned serious. "What conditions?" he asked. "You will have to give your position as the head of the merchant guild and will also need to step away from your business," I said and even Valentina''s expression turned serious hearing. "My apologies, Lord Silver, but I cannot ept the responsibility," he said, without wasting even a moment. His swift rejection didn''t surprise me. He would have agreed to resign from the merchant guild, but stepping away from his business is a red line for him. Let''s see if the allure of the power is big enough for him to break it. "This is the responsibility the position will have. Think about it, you have a day," I said and pushed the paper toward him. He opened his mouth, likely to reject, when suddenly he stopped and stared at the page harder. There was a shock appeared on his face and he read the page over and over, before turning to me. "The merchant guild wouldn''t like this," he said and I smiled. "The merchant guilds in the empire are too bloated. I am going to revert them to basic, where they will be able to run more efficiently," I replied. It is the perfect chance to do what I want. The undead attack and chaos in the empire had made the merchants weaker. They wouldn''t be able to put too big of the resistance. "I will give you my answer, tomorrow," he said and left, leaving only L, and Valentina in the office. "I am sure, there is something for me," she said and I nodded. "I want you to head finance," I said, and a surprise appeared on her face, along with disappointment. On Earth, finance is a bigger department than trade, but it is not here. Most of the responsibilities are taken by trade, interior, and other departments, making it an empty shell. A very few kingdoms here, that give the finance the weight it deserves. "You should read it before being disappointed," I said and slid the page toward her. She took it and began to read; the more she read, the more her expressions would change. "You are willing to give these?" she asked, shocked. "Finance deserves these powers," I replied. She will have many responsibilities, from budget to taxation, but most importantly. She will have control over the treasury. "I will to have step away from the business, right?" she asked. She obtained the license the day she left for a merchant state, but if she wants this job, she will need to step away from it. She could be a partner, but she could not run a business and take active parts in decision-making. "Yes," I replied. "Can you make an exception for me?" she asked, trying to act cute. "Rules are the same for everyone Valentina. If you want this responsibility, you have to give up your business," I said. She loves what she does and after a long time. She had finally started on her own, but now, I am asking her to give up. It is a massive responsibility. If there had been someone capable enough, that I trust so much as her, I would have offered that job to them. "Fine, I will ept. It will fulfill my dream of bing an important person," she said, and Iughed. The smile remained on her face for a couple of seconds, before it turned serious. "Do you really think, it will work?" she asked. I didn''t have to ask, what she was talking about. "There are good chances it would," I replied. Signing a contract is just one part. I have to do many more things to make them have enough confidence in us to trust us with the investments. It will be easy when the undead are hovering over us. She left a few minutester, and I turned to L. "There is no promotion for you, only learning opportunity. Start preparing for your trip," I said to her. She will be leaving in three days with whoever bes director of the trade office. It will be a long journey and a dangerous one, seeing things happening in the empire, but it needs to be done. It is the best time to act when ourpetitors are worrying about the undead. "Any new intelligence on undead?" I asked Z. "No, everything is quiet," she replied, which didn''t make me feel good at all. Instead, it made me feel more suspicious. It had been five days and there were no movements on their part. Even spies and scouts of the merchant state weren''t able to find anything. It made me more suspicious and scared of them. Soon, it was eleven, and I walked out of the city hall. In the mansion, I directly went to my suit, and freshened up, beforeying on the bed. I fell asleep almost immediately, thinking about tomorrow which I am excited about. I will finally share my vision for the new legacy. "Lord Silver," I was in a deep sleep, having a pretty gruesome nightmare where my city burning and my loved one murdered when I heard someone calling my name. I opened my eyes immediately and saw Shaun and Lt. Col Hiren by my bed. They take the night shift from Z and Jon. "What happened?" I asked as I got up, feeling scared. Something had happened; it was clearly written on their faces. ¡­ Hendricks "The journey wasn''t supposed tost, more than two weeks, but it had been over two months and we still haven''t reached him," said the man in front of me and sighed. They are sitting at the restaurant window, watching the closed gate. They were supposed to leave today and reach Inam, in two days, before taking a ship to Greltheaven, but now it seemed like, they would have to wait for a few days at least. "Life is full of unexpected things, Mr. Emer," I said to the man in front of me, before turning to two children, who are eating quietly, while we have our conversation in privacy. If what Emer had said was right, they really had bad luck on their journey. Hope, we reach the Greltheaven quickly. Not only for the children but also for the man, who will get the answer to the question he had been asking for a decade. Still Craving? Tap on to read chapters ahead. Chapter 355: Attack On Nakar Chapter 355: Attack On Nakar Sc "Have you decided?" I asked, as Damon sat in front of me. "No, it is too difficult," he said, shaking his head. I didn''t say anything, as it is indeed a difficult decision. Though, if I had been in his ce. I would have made the decision within seconds. There is really not much to think about it. I have seen the paper and I have to say, I am kind of shocked. The powers are great; far more than when Silver had the job. I am not him, and while I am his wife, our priorities are different. A surprise appeared on my face as I thought about that. A thought like this never entered my mind before; since we wed, I always thought of us as one. "What happened?" asked Damon, seeing the change in my expression. "I had thought something I had never thought before," I replied, and he looked me in question, but I didn''t answer. Even I don''t have an answer to the thought, that had juste to my mind. The staffid out the breakfast in front of us, and we started eating in silence. We were at the end of it when Damon turned to me. "What would you do if you were in my ce?" he asked. "I would ept it," I replied without hesitation, surprising him. "It was quick," he said. "Not really. I have been thinking about it, since you told me yesterday," I lied. I had the answer the moment I read the paper. "Care to exin the reasons behind it?" he asked. I didn''t answer immediately. I thought about it for a few seconds before finally opening my mouth. "There are several reasons. First is that we have been forced to stay in the city, despite the obvious dangers, since the family bet on the wrong horse," They didn''t get a choice to even think whether to leave or stay in the city after the battle. The family wants them to stay. Prince Grelt, whom the family had chosen, has died and the second prince and his backers were moving toward the family like sharks. While the assets have been divided across the whole empire to manage the risk. Princess Orlene and others aren''t taking the revenge. It had diluted the influence of the family, which, till a week ago, was one of the most powerful merchant houses in the empire. Now, the family wants them to stay in the city, and gather more influence. So, they will have a safe harbor. "Since this is the ce, we are making our home. We should drill down our roots as deep as possible, not only to protect us against our enemies but also against our family," His expression turned serious after hearing that. The family takes as much as it gives. We had no choice, but to follow the orders they had given us. If we had enough power, we would have been able to ignore those orders from them. "Thest and most important. Silver is not asking to give up the business; he is only asking to step away from it. The business isn''t going anywhere," I said, and he sighed and took my hand in hers. "I know, but business is everything. We have been taught that, before we could even talk," he said and I couldn''t help, but nod. "It is a risky decision, but if the city survives long enough and Silver could make something out of it; it will give you an enormous influence," "Yesterday, we had invited Silver''s mistress to our women''s charity event. When we asked her about the legacy, she said Silver had a big n for it. She said it would be unlike anything." Legacy is an important part of the city and a huge factor one has to weigh in their decisions. The cities are changed by the legacies, and Silver''s legacy isn''t like the normal legacy. My heart started to beat in anticipation. When I thought about its reconstruction. Whatever it is, I hope it will be soon. I still haven''t forgotten that day. I have dreams about it every day. Several times, I had pleasured myself, thinking of those moments and unlike before the pleasure came. Still, it couldn''t bepared to the real thing. I want to experience it again and crave it enough that I fear I might end up mistake, that will cost me dearly. "Since we are staying. We might as well take another risk. I will ept the job and as for the business, you will handle it," he said, bringing me out of my thoughts. It took a moment to realize what he had said, and when I did, my heart couldn''t help but flutter. "The family wouldn''t like it," I said. I am not talking about him epting the new job. They will love it; I am talking about him handling the reins of the business to me. The family had rules and one of them was that they never let women lead the business. "They had forced us to stay here. They will have to ept it; it''s not like they could send anyone here to rece us or Silver will offer them a job, as he did to me," he said, bringing a smile to my face. It is one of the most dangerous ces in the empire. No one in their right mind woulde here. ¡­ I woke up, slightlyter than usual. I had woken up in the middle of the night and stayed awake for an hour, before sleeping back. Click! I got off the bed and showered, before walking out of the room. "What is the progress?" I asked Z. "Still marching," she replied. I nodded and walked out of the suit. I had breakfast in the kitchen, before sitting on the carriage for the city hall. When I had reached it. I didn''t walk to my office, instead, I entered conference room 7. The people are already waiting there. Aside from Shaman Trek, Colonel Cardin and Lt. Colonel Azalea. There are Robin and Ina. "My lord," they greeted, and I nodded before sitting down. "I didn''t think, Dane would attack, so quickly and with such force," I said, looking at a map of the Renwell region in the middle of the attack. We knew it would happen, but the timing came sooner than we had expected. "It shouldn''t have surprised us. Commander Dane considers Nakar forest his turf. He had his men there, but now everyone turned against him, and a prideful man like himself, couldn''t bear that," "Most importantly, Nakar forest is important to him. The trade that will flow from there will sustain the mirador hold, now that the funding from the city has been cut. He needs to bring it under his control as soon as possible," said Colonel Cardin. At midnight, Dane dered that he was marching against baronies who had rebelled against the empire. He is attacking them to bring them back the empire''s fold; it is an excuse, of course. Excuse as it may be, but it would be a powerful attack. He is leading the army of twenty-five thousand, along with powerhouses. "What do you are his chances?" I asked. For that, I didn''t get the answer immediately. "It is hard to say. Commander Dane is powerful and has nine Lv. 30+ powerhouses under hismand. The army he is leading is experienced and works together well," "The barons aren''t weak either. They have men like Baron Harrods and Baron Lockridge, both are veterans. There are also powerhouses like your sister, Baroness Le, and Major Jarvis," "Their own army should have about twenty-thousand people; it might not be as well experienced as the holds, but there is some experience due to them fighting the monster horde," "Not to mention, the battle won''t be fought in ins; it will be in the forest, and they are prepared, " said Stone. Both sides have an advantage. I think barons have more Lv. 30 powerhouses. I already know eight of them and more will pop up. Dane, on the other hand, has a disciplined army. "Dane shouldn''t win. If he did, his next target will be us," I said. He didn''t hide his intentions to get Greltheaven under its control. "Dane wouldn''t attack us, even if won against the barons. If he did, we are more than capable of dealing with him," replied Stone. We have a big enough army and powerhouses. Our army may not be as experienced, but we have the greatest advantage in the river. He will need a really big army if he wants toe at us. "Still be alert; I don''t want us to make mistakes in ourcency," I said and went back to my office. A few hours passed, and I had several meetings. A few impromptu ones, most of them are merchants. Some hade to get the job, most to save theirs. The news of me overhauling the merchant guild had spread throughout the city. A lot of people are going to lose their positions, and some are seeing this as a chance to gain the position. I have let the news out, but won''t be making the changes quickly; at least not till, Damon Hardt and L return from their trip. He has epted the job and leaving tomorrow with L and will be returning for around two weeks. He will be visiting a lot of cities, including Namdar. "It is time," I said after I checked Dane''s progress and walked out of my office, feeling excited. Click! It took me a minute before I reached the conference room, where Edmor was sitting with Davidson and three other people from Valentina''s newpany, which she opened with Edmor. She is also sitting there, not as the owner of thepany, but as my finance chief. "My lord," they greeted. "Everyone," I said and sat down, before turning to Ed. I have given theirpany their first job, which is to design and make an estimate of the reconstructions. Not just reconstruction, but the addition of a few new ces, like parks, bigger military barracks, and many other things. "Have you finished it?" I asked him. "Yes, my lord," he said and ced the files in front of me, before spreadingrge parchment, which covered nearly whole the table. The parchment had a map of the city, and it was very clear; I could see every part of the city. It is even more detailed than the GPS maps. The three people sitting beside him also moved and ced the eleven disy boards. They are showing the different things, I had asked him to design. I turned my eyes back to the map on the table and looked at things in blue ink. They are new things I had asked to design. They are the buildings, that got destroyed in the battle, but also the gardens, roads, and many other things, Though the biggest area of blue ink is around my establishment, anyone could notice a single ce. Though, unlike other ces of blue ink. It is nk. There is no design. We haven''t started; today will be the first meeting we will have about the establishment''s reconstruction. I forcefully move my eyes away from it. It is not the time; I will need to finish the city''s business before I can conduct mine. "I studied the blueprints and files of the city, and one thing, had confused me a lot," said Edmor. "What is it?" asked Valentina. "The city is one of the worst ces it could be. They are ten times better ces, a few miles upstream and downstream," he said, surprising me. "Why do you think that?" I asked. Feeling curious. "The soil sample, the geographical markers, makes it one of the worst ces to establish the city, but they did it," replied. "Has the Architect Raldin fooled the prince?" asked Valentina. It could be possible, though, the other prince''s influence, but Ed shook his head. "Unlikely. For this project, a man like Prince Grelt would have consulted many architects. They wouldn''t have had much problem finding it," he replied. "So, it is the intention," said Valentina, guessing what he was trying to say, and Edmor nodded. "Intentional or not. We do not have any time to think about it. Instead, we should focus on the work in front of us," I said. For a few seconds, there was a silence before Valentina spoke. "I had studied the cost. We do not have money to fund, even half of it," said Valentina. "We do not have to build everything at once; we will do it in stages," I said and opened the first file. I began to read it. Now and then I would look at designs and ask Ed and the old man questions. Even with the skill, it took me over an hour to finish reading through all and half an hour more to divide it into phases based on our needs. There will be three phases. It will involve the reconstruction, as well as building new things. "Release the tenders, for the first phase tomorrow," I said to Valentina. She nodded and turned to me. "What are these twenty-eight tiny buildings? You have been quiet about them, my lord," she asked. The other eyes turned to me, looking curious. I have told them about everything except for these tiny buildings. I had asked them to build it in every area of the city. "You will know after you built them," I replied. I could tell she wanted to re at me, but she bowed, seeing the people around her. "Our firm won''t be able to bid on it, right, my lord?" asked Davidson, and I nodded. It is a big project, and even a small part of it will help them a lot, but they won''t be bidding on it. I feel bad and it is not fair to them, but I do not want to show favoritism, since they are my favorite. They will be building the new establishment, for which I had already received tens of letters and hundreds of messages from many firms from the merchant state and empire. Everyone wants to be part of it. "Now, that we finished with it. Let''s move on to the legacy," said Valentina, and the eyes of everyone in the room lit up, including mine. ¡­. Barb "Thank you, Hugo. You will not regret this," I said and hugged the man, who seemed to be already regretting his decision. It is why, I didn''t give him a chance and walked away from his office. Hugo agreed, but not without condition. Now, I will have to convince the other man and I don''t know whether he will agree or not. I will respect his decision, but I truly hope, he agrees. I have finally found, the purpose in my life and I want to follow it, no matter how dangerous it is. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 356: Grand Vision Chapter 356: Grand Vision Click! The three people left and two came inside. The three people, were the ones who came with Ed and Davidson. There will be a few things discussed here, that I don¡¯t want anyone to know. ¡°Master Silver,¡± The two who came were Ca and Caena. They all took a seat at the table, before everyone turned to me, while I turned to Ina. She understood what I wanted and took out two contracts and ced them in front of Edmor and Davidson. ¡°Before we start, please sign these contracts,¡± I said to Edmor and Davidson. They were surprised, but quickly began to read it, while Valentina turned to me, with an arched brow. I trust her enough to not make her sign the contract. ¡°This is a very strict contract with high penalties.¡± Said Ed. It is not a normal contract, but one with the power of legacy. If they break it, the power of the legacy will go after them with the intention to kill. I didn¡¯t reply, just kept looking at them. ¡°Fine, it''s not like. I will share anything with others,¡± he said and signed the contract. Seeing that, the old man beside him also begins to sign, without saying anything. I am not going to tell them any secrets, but it might get revealed through the conversation, or they might figure it out through things they notice. I don¡¯t want those secrets out, till I reveal them in my time. The contracts clicked as they finished signing. ¡°I have a vision of how the new legacy should be and I am going to share it with you all,¡± I said and activated the Focus. With it, I had imagined the vision, I had in mind. I didn¡¯t project it immediately; I had noticed, in my experiments, that I would sometimes unconsciously imagine a few things from Earth. Like a person riding a bicycle or a bird, that is not present in the world or some other details. With focus, I could much get a clearer picture and remove any earth stuff. It took me a few seconds to create a perfect vision and after checking it thoroughly; I projected it into their minds directly with Project Vision. Gasp! Immediately, several gasps rang across the table. I had not thought about this in the past week, but since I hade here. It was something else at first, but morphed into a vision for the legacy, I have now. While they got engrossed in the vision. Ina ced the binders in front of them. It had sketches; they were realistic sketches. I did not make them; I hired a sketch artist to draw them. Along with sketches, there is information on measurement and other things rted to the legacy. She had also ced a big sketch on the disy boards. They show not only a new legacy but also the area around it. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful,¡± Ca breathed as she opened her eyes. It is beautiful; it will be even more beautiful in reality. I am building it, not only for me but also for the city. I am confident, that once the establishment opens again; it will elerate the growth of the city. People wille to the city, just to see it. It happens with most legacies, but mine is being specially built for it. It will be an attraction to and through. That will invoke the deepest desires of people. ¡°It is a tower,¡± said Valentina as she turned to me. ¡°It is,¡± I replied. She didn¡¯t say anything and turned to the binder. For a minute, there was a silence, before Ed turned to me. ¡°The legacy upies the area of area of fourteen thousand, six hundred and twenty-five square feet, but you want your new legacy to upy the area of the forty to fifty thousand square feet,¡± ¡°That is three times the plot size of your legacy,¡± There is a question in his statement, which is understandable. The shell only used to upy around eight thousand square feet of space, but the new legacy building will upy five times more space. ¡°Isn¡¯t it wise to not extend the legacy beyond the area it upies?¡± he asked, and I nodded. ¡°Yes, but my legacy isn¡¯t bound to the building, but to thend. Those things would not affect me adversely,¡± I replied. ¡°But the legacies effect only, covers its area. It won¡¯t cover the entire building,¡± said Davidson. ¡°Correct,¡± I replied with a smile. ¡°The tower is a little big for the city, don¡¯t you think? The city isn¡¯t big enough to support such a big establishment,¡± she said. ¡°You are right, but I believe, by the time, it is built. The city will be capable of supporting it and besides, I won''t upy the whole tower, I will share some with others,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°You are quite ambitious,¡± she said, but there is also approval in her eyes. ¡°It is also wise of you to share,¡± ¡°Businesses will go crazy about the space in the tower. From what I could see, your legacy could only be able to support 30%-35% of the tower. The rest could be rented for the big money.¡± she added. I didn¡¯t reply. She is a little wrong about assuming that, but she couldn¡¯t be med. She didn¡¯t know, the legacy is Grade II, not Grade I. This means the legacy domain will cover 67% of it. I have not just imagined the tower. I did research and thought about the future, especially, my legacies advancement to Grade III. I am confident, that I will one day take my legacy to Grade III. It might take years or decades, but it will happen. Once it does, it will expand and the whole tower, every inch of it, will be its domain. It is why, I am making it so big. ¡°You also want it to be Grade III?¡± asked Edmor. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. Buildings have grades or rather mage towers. They needed to be made in certain magical materials. It is why, it is so expensive to build them; I want the same grade for my legacy. It won¡¯t be as expensive as a magic tower. I want it to be a Grade III building, but materials will be used vastly differently from mage towers. Unlike the mage towers, which need to be made from specific materials and have an insane number of enchantments to maintain a bnced magical state. My legacy won¡¯t need any of that. I only want to be made of Grade III magical materials; there are thousands of such materials. Many are expensive, but many are cheap. ¡°It will make its constructions very expensive. Not as expensive as mage towers, but still expensive,¡± said Davidson. ¡°Expense isn¡¯t a problem when people have lined in offering me the nk check,¡± I said, which brought smiles across their faces. Money isn¡¯t a problem; not only people are offering massive amounts of money to me to rebuild the legacy. The interest rare they are offering is also much cheaper; it could even be said to be nominal. ¡°It is borrowed money, my lord. You will need to return it eventually,¡± cautioned Davidson. ¡°I will,¡± I replied and took a sip of water from the ss in front of me. It¡¯s not like I am not worried about a massive amount of money, I am borrowing, but I need to. I am confident that once it is built; it will earn me enough money, that I won¡¯t have any problem in paying back the loan. There is also the emotion essence. The most desired substance in the world. ¡°So many nts. Don¡¯t you think, it is too many nts when you are building a massive garden around it?¡± asked Valentina. Yes, there are a lot of nts; they are on every floor. ¡°I truly want to make it, the velvet garden,¡± I replied, and she once again rolled her eyes, before her expressions turned serious. ¡°This garden, will it be restricted or open?¡± she asked, looking at the huge garden surrounding the. Hun! Her question stumped me for a second. I had thought about hundreds of aspects, but not this, I had always imagined it to be filled with people. ¡°Open, of course,¡± I said finally, after a few seconds of thinking. ¡°They you should make it bigger, much bigger than that. Quadruple its size,¡± she said, surprising all those listening. ¡°I think, it is already big enough,¡± I replied. To which she shook her head. ¡°Every day, there are always thousands of people,ing to look at the legacy,¡± ¡°If the city grew, as you are imagining it to be then, the peopleing to look at legacy will also increase with tourists making arge part of it.¡± ¡°You need to make big as possible, so they drink, its beauty while sitting in a beautiful ce,¡± she said, once again forcing me to think deeply. ¡°It is a valid point,¡± I said. I had seen the crowd around the legacies. In the Navr, Iman and Owlspring. Whenever there is a legacy, there is a crowd, and where there is a crowd, there is an enormous opportunity to earn money. For a minute, nobody spoke, before Ed opened his mouth. ¡°Do you want it just as it is or willing to use some freedom in design?¡± he asked, and the eyes of all three turned to me. ¡°You have the freedom. It is why, I had called all here, to share the ideas. What is in front of us, is basic, you are free to suggest any changes,¡± I said, looking at all, not just Edmor and Davidson, on whose faces the big smiles have appeared. I am not an architect. I have a vision, and I want them to maintain its essence while adding their own ideas. ¡°You want it all, within six months?¡± he asked, and I nodded. ¡°It is a very tough timeline to match,¡± he said. It is tough, but I have no other option. I need establishment standing as soon as possible. For me, for the girls, and most importantly for the city. ¡°Then you should start finding the partners immediately,¡± I replied, making the smile appear on their faces. They need partners to do the job. It is not amon tower, but a Grade III magical building. They do not have the experience, the men and the materials to build it. A partner will help them with all that. There won¡¯t be a problem seeing the number of people that had messaged me. ¡°Now, only the hostel had remained,¡± said Edmor. ¡°You will have to discuss that with Margaux and others,¡± I said. Margaux couldn¡¯te, she is busy with the girls. He will need to set up a meeting with them to discuss it. I have a few ideas about it, but I want to hear what they have in mind. We discussed a few more things before they got up to leave. Edmor was walking toward the door with Davidson. When he suddenly stopped and turned to me, with his eyes emotional. ¡°Thank you for giving me the greatest opportunity of my life, Lord Silver,¡± he said and bowed before walking away. For seconds, nobody spoke. ¡°You will also need to contact that elf and orc; especially the elf, since you are nning to fit nts everywhere,¡± said Valentina, making everyoneugh. I didn¡¯tugh, instead I turned to Z. ¡°Ask Miss Rolgath and Miss xasys toe to the city for a meeting,¡± I said. She is right, I need to meet thendscape and interior designer; with a six-month timeline, they will need to start working as soon as possible. ¡°With undead, they might note,¡± said Ca, but Valentina just shook her head with a smile. ¡°They will. This is the opportunity of ages.¡± ¡°They would be fools if they refused toe, fearing the undead. I don¡¯t think, those two women are fools,¡± said Valentina and walked out of the door, leaving me and the girls alone in the conference room. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 357: Dane’s Defeat Chapter 357: Dane¡¯s Defeat Click! "Negotiations failed. Commander Dane is attacking the Nakar," she said as I just stepped out of the conference room. "It took longer than I had thought," I said and walked toward my office. I had contacts in both mirador holds and baronies. I knew what both sides wanted, but they wouldn''t give each other that. Dane wantsplete surrender, while baronies want autonomy. Both parties were willing to make some concessions, but they were far from enough to satisfy the others. "Keep me updated," I said and entered my office. A lot of it depends upon the battle. If the Dane won, he would cast an eye on the Greltheaven. The attack wouldn''te immediately; it would be a few months before he had a big enough army and all the resources. The victory over the Nakar will help him with that. The baronies, dering autonomy, are the best thing that happened to Greltheaven, and hope they survive the battle. It will restrict the revenue and resources for Dane, which will keep him restricted to his fort. Speaking of revenue; we were raking before the undead had invaded. All the cities of the renwell region were trading with Navr. The tax revenueing from the trade was really good, but now it all stopped. We had to stop because of the undead, but now that we have dealt with them, at least temporarily. The trade should have resumed, but unfortunately, it didn''t. We didn''t restrict it, but no merchant wants to do it because of fear of bacsh from the public. We had fought against the undead. If we start trading with them quickly, the people won''t like that and since people won''t like that, then merchants won''t like that. It didn''t matter if the undead that attacked us belonged to a different kingdom. I will have to fix that. It will be tricky to manage people''s anger against the undead, but it needs to be done. I cannot depend on trade with merchant cities alone. The undead are the enemy, but we need trade and taxes from it. Which will be even less, now that Nakar and the Mirador hold aren''t in the city''s control. The city will need to negotiate a new agreement with them. Two hours passed, and I continued to receive updates about the battle from my sources. They haven''t sealed themunication and quite a lot of them are willing to provide me with some harmless information. ''Lord Silver, Madam Barb wants to meet you,'' said Jill through the inte. It surprised me. I didn''t have any meetings with her. "Do you know anything, about it?" I asked Ina. "You should meet her," she replied with a sigh. It is clear she clearly knows something but is unwilling to tell me. I looked at the clock, before turning to the inte. Click! "Send her in," I said. I have only ten minutes to spare; I hope, whatever it is concluded by then. Click! The door opened and Barb walked in. She looked very nervous, which was unusual for her, seeing as she was usually confident. I am not even sensing that wonderful alcoholic scent from her. It is her skill, that turns the alcoholic smell into a pleasant scent. It must be really important to make her this nervous ande to me without drinking, which she never does. She always, at least a sip. "Lo¡­Master Silver," she said, bowed hastily, but neatly. All those lessons have ingrained the poise into the very cells of girls. It couldn''t help, but make me feel proud. "Miss Utsa, what can I do for you?" I asked as she sat down in front of me. I would have talked about other things and made her feel more at ease, but unfortunately, I didn''t have time. I have two important meetings back-to-back, with one starting in less than ten minutes. She seemed to be more nervous at my question and felt like she might bolt away any second before she took a deep breath andposed her expressions. "I want you to free me from my contract," she said. Saying, I am shocked, would be an understatement. I don''t want to Barb, she is one of the most capable girls I have, and I am not saying that because she had burned a few hundred undead. "Did someone poach you?" I asked, and a hurt shed in her eyes for a moment. "I would never betray you or the establishment; no matter, how much money they offer," she replied with conviction. I felt relieved for a moment before the question returned to my mind. "Then why do you want me to free you from your contract?" I asked, feeling even more confused. If someone didn''t poach her, there is no reason for her to leave. "I want to follow my path," she replied and when she said it, her expressions were firm. "I know. It is a big ask, Master Silver. Especially at a time like this, but I finally found my life''s purpose and I want to follow it," she added with her eyes lighting up with passion. "What is it?" I asked, feeling more confused with every word she spoke. She seemed to understand, what I was feeling, as she quickly controlled her emotions. "I want to join Hugo in his mercenarypany," she answered finally, and the shock that appeared on Z''s face mirrored mine. "Miss Utsa, being a mercenary is not easy. It is a highly dangerous job," warned Z. "I understand, but I want to do it," she said and turned to me. My head hurt and I was about to open my mouth to speak when Jon appeared. "Miss Utsa, I am going to be blunt here. Life of the mercenary is dangerous, and it is going to be extremely dangerous for you, under Hugo, who will be taking the dangerous missions," "You might feel like, killing is easy, after burning a few hundred undead, but those undead were the weakest ones." "They were also unguided; there was not a single pir with them. If there had been, they wouldn''t have had a problem with killing you with a single spell," said Jon directly, without mincing words. I looked at him gratefully and turned to Z. "We are not trying to scare you, but it is a reality. Forget a pir, even novice mage or archer, a level lower than ten would not have any problem in killing you," I said to her. For a moment, there was a silence. "I understand the risks very well, Master Silver, but I want to do it. For the first time, in my life, I have found the purpose and I want to follow it, even if it kills me," she said, looking straight into my eyes. I opened my mouth to object, but closed it and sighed. "Fine, if you want to do it. Do it." I said. "I will not free you from your contract, but add a provision to let you do this," I added, and a big smile lit up on her face. "Thank you, Master Silver. I will not forget this ever," she said, with tears streaming down her eyes. "You will need to convince Hugo to join him. I will not help you with that," I said, hearing that she smiled. "He already agreed," she replied and got up, before leaving while I turned to Z. "What was he thinking, epting her?" I asked. I am not belittling her abilities or courage to follow her path, but it is going to be extremely difficult for her. She is over forty and learning to fight at this age isn''t easy. Not to mention the ss and the attributes that needed to focus onbat. There is a reason why, people who learn to fight quickly in their lives, find greater sess. Forbat, one needs a different instinct. She will have relearned everything and it wouldn''t be easy. Breathing fire through the mouth isn''t enough to be a warrior. She needs to train to fight with other ways to defend against the attacks. "I am asking the same question," she replied. "Since she wants to do it, let her do it, but ask him, to train her hard. She needed to be able to defeat an experienced Lv. 10, before she will join him on any mission," I said, and Z nodded. I want her to follow her path but also wish that she would give up. It is why, I had not freed her. I want her to have the option to fall back. She will have a job back, whenever she is ready, even if it takes months or years. Until then, I will support her in any way, I can. A few minutes passed, and the door of the office opened again. I met the person and the one, that came after him, before focusing back on work. "Dane has started to retreat," said Z suddenly. I stopped what I was doing and turned to her, feeling relieved. "Contact all our sources, I wantplete information of what had transpired in the battle," I said to her. I need to know everything, every detail of the powerhouses, and the strategies they used. There is a big chance that I wille into conflict with them. I am not just talking about Dane. Hours passed, and soon, it was a nine. I walked toward conference room seven. Click! "My lord," Stone and others got up as I entered. I nodded and sat down, before turning to all. "Dane had lost and lost badly," I said, and many nodded seriously, while Colonel Cardin had a smile on his face. "Lost, with four of his Lv. 30+ officers being captured by the barons," he said, with a smile on his face brightening. "I had expected the battle to be toe to toe, but baronies dominated it," said Stone, who seemed as surprised as I am feeling. "Commander Dane had an advantage with the army, but he lost in powerhouses. The barons had seventeen Level 30+,pared to thirteen that Commander Dane had revealed." Said Captain Azalia, looking at the papers in front of her. "Your sister was very good, my lord. She fought against three and captured two. She will be a substantial challenge if we ever came in conflict with them," said Colonel Cardin. I nodded somberly, but was surprised internally. There are three people, who fought outstandingly, Baron Harrods, Baron Lockridge, and my sister. The first two were expected, but Le was surprised. I knew she was powerful and likely crossed Lv. 30, but didn''t expect her to be this powerful. It seemed like those trips to an extreme magic region had been more beneficial to her than I had expected. "The battle had been beneficial to us. It had revealed the abilities of people, we might need to face in future." I said, and everybody nodded. We discussed the battle and even yed a scenario of what would have happened with the information we had. The meetingsted for an hour before it was over. Everyone started to leave, till only Stone and I had remained in the conference room. "Stone. If you don''t go tomorrow, I will suspend you," I said sternly. He had disobeyed me enough; I will not have it anymore. "I am working on my power, my lord. I don''t think, I need anyone''s help, to get control over it, unless they are elder blood," he said, giving me a searching look. "Go there for a week. If you don''t like it after, I will not force you, but go tomorrow or I will do what I said," I warned and walked out of the conference room. It had been two days since I asked him to go to her, but he didn''t. The elder-blood is powerful, but he needs to have control over it to use it at its full might and she will help him with that. She has the knowledge to help him. Most importantly, she has the power, which is even more difficult to control than the elder blood. There is no one better in the city to teach him to quickly control his power than her. Hun! I had reached my office and was about to step inside it, when I halted. I felt something, I had not felt before, but I know what it is. I had been waiting for it. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 358: Death of Legacy Chapter 358: Death of Legacy "Contact old man Vanis. Ask if it is, what I am sensing it is," I said to Z. She looked at me in question, but I didn''t answer. "He said it is," she replied. "Ask him, what grade it is?" I asked and walked with the Blitz Steps. "Grade III," she replied, and now the questions in her eyes deepened. "He said, don''t absorb it," she added. "Tell him, I won''t," I lied. Soon, we were out of city hall and sat in the carriage. Click! "To the establishment, be fast," I said to the driver before closing my eyes. I want to sense it better. I wasn''t able to till, we had reached the outer range, when suddenly my senses amplified. "What happened?" asked Z, worriedly. "A legacy had died," I replied, before closing my eyes again and focusing. It is a sad thing, but it also gives me the opportunity, I desperately need. The hosts of other legacies could sense birth as well as death. As I focused, I was able to glean some information about the dead legacy. It was from Oton and as the old man had replied, a Grade III legacy. I would have very much preferred if it had been Grade I or Grade II. It wouldn''t have been as risky as it is going to be right now. Soon, the carriage reached the establishment, and I could feel it even more clearly. I could tell, it had been a bar and the type of emotion it absorbed. Most hosts of legacies are quite secretive about their te. The type of emotions their legacies absorb. It is not they do it intentionally but asked by their Sovereign. It is a strategic resource and what type of emotional essence a legacy could absorb, helps enemies determine the type of essence-infused resources one could have. In alchemy, some emotion essences work better with some potions than others. There were people exploring the establishment. Watching the mist shows; that we do four times a day. I feel bad cutting it halfway and pushing people out of the legacy, but I need privacy, for the thing, I am nning to do. Click! I got out of the carriage, and the mist moved around me, bing denser. Z and Jon didn''t follow me, seeing I needed to be alone. I moved fast, and soon, I reached the center. Caena was already there, and she took out that expensive witch ritual. We had prepared for this event. In front of me is a circle of nearly a four-meter radius. Inside a circle is a thirteen-pointed star, both of which are made of runes. Covering different charms, crystals, nts, and a few other expensive things. It is very costly, every single one of the things magical and of Grade III. There are seven, that could be ssified into Grade IV. I really hope, with all that money I had spent will be worth it. "Will it work?" I asked. "I don''t know. It is my first time trying the ritual," she replied, not moving her eyes away from it. If it had been Grade 1 or Grade II, the legacy would have died. We wouldn''t have needed the ritual but for Grade III. We need one; what we are doing is extremely dangerous to the legacy. It would destroy its potential and chances of advancement if we are not careful. There is a reason why the old man had warned me about it and to be honest, I wouldn''t have taken the risk, if I had a choice. "It had reached the continent," I said, and she nodded. The sun appeared and thes. The twenty-sixs shone, while the other disappeared. One is our biggest the kama rakalis, and the second is one through which we extract the emotion essence. Thest twenty-four are the twenty-four outers. Imprinted on the walls of the city. The extraction appeared above the center of a ritual star, while a big, appeared beside it, with twenty-fours surrounding them and the zing core right above them. In a few seconds, it will reach here, and we will need to be ready for it. Seconds passed, and finally, it appeared. The ball of prime essence of legacy, that had died. A part of its core. When the legacy dies. The core doesn''t just disappear. It gets divided into hundreds of parts and moves toward the different legacies, which are willing to absorb them. Most don''t, at those of the same grade or grade lower than them. Even if they absorb, they absorb only a small part of it. It is a prime essence, not an emotional essence. The prime essence is one thing, that not only has an extremely pure emotion essence but also contains a vision of a host of legacies. Their dreams and desires. No legacy is simr to one another, even if some of them might look simr. Their hosts have a different vision for their legacies, dreams, and aspirations, which are different from others. So, when we ept, this prime essence, we ept those too and they might contradict with vision we have. If the contradiction is high, they act like a virus, try to infiltrate it, change it, and that is good at destroying the future of the legacy. Our vision is what drives us; it is through which legacies advance. The old man had said, that one of the biggest reasons, he was not able to take his legacy to Grade IV, is because he was greedy. He was not careful with the prime essence of the other legacies. I think, my vision is vast enough to remain unaffected by others, but I will not take the risk of absorbing it directly. It is not just me who depends on it, but the whole city depends on it. I need to be extremely careful and hence these preparations. The ball of prime legacy appeared in the sky and was smaller than the first, but extremely dense and seemed to contain all the colors. I could have rejected it easily, and it will move away, but I didn''t. Instead, I let ite. Concentrating fully on my core. I can not let it merge directly; I will repel it if that were to happen. It had reached half a distance when the ritual lit up and with it, the core and the. As it happened, the prime essence changed its direction slightly. Instead of going to the core, it went to ritual and stopped atop of palm sized tarix crystal in the center. The of kama rakalis shone brightly and thirteen beams released from it and touched the thirteen points of the star, making the ritual re brightly. The ritual was already powerful, but the power of the had made it even more powerful. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened before the concentrated colorful mist came out of the prime essence and went to the extraction, which zed like a sun absorbing it and started shaking. I could feel its strain. It is so much that it took it near the breaking point, and opened my mouth, but closed it as the ritual projected its power into it and the twenty-fours surrounding it. The shaking had stopped, but it was still zing. It is still under pressure, which kept increasing as it continued to absorb the mist. Thirteen seconds passed, and it shook again when the mist started toe out of it. There are two types of mist; one that is very dense, is moving toward the core, while the other is moving toward the twenty-fours. The core absorbed the mist without a problem and so did the twenty-fours, which lit up as it did. I focused on them and when I saw them, they did what, I had expected them to do. A smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. My core is absorbing the prime essence, but not the vision, dreams, and aspirations, the host has. Those are getting absorbed by the twenty-fours, which in turn release it to the city. The city had enough people that it would harmlessly absorb, everything I am releasing. Seeing that, I felt a huge load hade down from my heart. I needed this; my core needed it. Daily, the core is absorbing the emotions and growing, but not as much as it would have when the establishment had a shell, with patronsing to fulfill their desires. This will help me tremendously. I could already see how it was benefiting my core, and it hadn''t even absorbed 1% of the essence. Hun! A few minutes passed, and I sensed another prime essenceing toward me, but I shook my head. When the legacy dies, the core divides itself into parts. The size of the share depends upon the grade of the legacy and its power. The shares also get assigned to each legacy, and only they can sense it. I could only sense the other shares when other hosts reject it. As I rejected it, it disappeared from my senses. I did it because the ritual could only support one prime essence share. There is another, bigger reason; I don''t want anyone to be suspicious of me. While the share is only sensed when ites toward them. I do not believe it to be the whole truth. These are legacies on the continent, powerful beyond myprehension. The archmages tower is the most powerful; it is said to be the most powerful among all the spirits, weaker than only titans. Absorbing one or two might not get me noticed, but if I absorbed too much. They will find out and I don''t want them to find out. I already have the eyes on me due to the type of legacy I have and that is more than enough attention already; I do not need it anymore. Half an hour passed, and the ritual was continuing. It will take a few more hours before it ends. It is working and by the end; I will have 80% of prime essence, while 20% spread to the city. It is good, better than our target of 60%. Next time, we will do better. Yes, there will be next time, and it will be sooner, rather thanter. Every year, two to six legacies die. This is the first legacy, that died since I gained it and the second of this year. One or two might die by the end of the year and if they are in Grade 3 or below, I will absorb their prime essence. I took ast look at the ritual before I walked away, but not before turning the mist even denser. I don''t want anyone to cause a disturbance before the ritual is finished. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 359: Threats and Opportunities Chapter 359: Threats and Opportunities "Have some confidence in yourself, Winfred. You will do well," I said to the nervous man in front of me. He is a friend and vice-director of trade, responsible for the eastern side. The old position of mine, before I got promoted. He is official and people like him, usually don''t get positions like these. These are reserved for powerful merchants or connected persons. It is how I and Damon Hardt had got it ours The man is talented and an excellent negotiator, who never got the chance to shine. I have known him for over a year since I went to Navr. He was part of that trip and several others with me. Though currently, he will handle the trteral negotiations, we are having with baronies and mirador hold. It had been two weeks since the battle and they wereing to the city for the negotiation. They do not want to go to the hold or the baronies. While the city is dangerous, they decided it is the best ce to do the negotiations. "Thank you for your trust, Lord Silver," he said and bowed, before walking out of the door. I won''t be the part of negotiations. I truly want to, but I need to delegate the responsibilities and trust that they will do the job. ''Master Silver, your eleven am appointment is here,'' informed Jill. There were still fifteen minutes, but since I had time, I might as well meet him. He had been trying to meet me for three days, despite knowing the answer. "Send him in," I said and waited. ¡­. Yenrys Click! The doors opened the door, and I walked inside. I knew he was young, but still quite surprised seeing how young he was. The information said that he is not even twenty. He is the youngest host of legacy in nearly two millennia. It is why, I came here. If we got the opportunity to work on legacy, it would help us tremendously. Most importantly, helps us leave a mark on history. Master Nehdis wants it, and he is even willing to finance it all with his own money. Though it is not the main reason, I had sought this appointment and had been in this dangerous city. I had barely slept since I came here, whenever I closed my eyes. I had nightmares about the undead. If it were up to me, I wouldn''t havee here, but Master Nehdis sent me and there was no questioning his orders. "Lord Silver," I greeted. "Take a seat, Mr. Yenrys," he replied, offering me a seat in front of me. "Thank you, my lord," I said as I sat. "What can I do for you, Mr. Yenrys?" he asked, looking directly into my eyes. His gaze intense, that I forgot I am sitting in front of a man less than half my age. "I am working for Nehdis. The foremost architecture firm Belnin, which is being led by Master Nehdis, who is a step away from bing a Grandmaster. We would be honered if you gave our firm a chance to build your legacy," "Our firm is willing to work free of charge and even foot the whole bill of the construction with Master Nehdis personally working on it," I said and looked at him, hoping to see a smile, upon hearing this wonderful offer, but found his expression unchanged. Master Nehdis is one of the best architects in the merchant state, on the entire continent. Lords and even kings wait for months and years for him to personally work on their projects, but here, he is offering his services on his own. "You should have followed proper procedure, Mr. Yenrys. If you want your firm to be considered, you will have to contact my chief of the project," he said with clear irritation present in his voice. ''This bastard!'' I cursed internally. Rarely anyone talked to me about such a tone, when I go with the name of Master Nehdis, but this little bastard is not only, not polite, but also got irritated with me. "You might not be aware, but your chief of project is a big liar and thief. He had stolen the designs of Master Nehdis and when he got caught imed them to be his," "He is not the person to trust, my lord," I said. It is for this reason; that Master Nehdis had sent me here. He would be angry if we didn''t get the project, but it would be unmanageable, if Amelius stayed on his job. Others may see him as a criminal, but I know what he is. There is a reason, why he is made a criminal. Master Nehdis would not have him work again. Especially, on legacy, which is an opportunity of ages. It is so big; I dream about it every waking moment. "If I want the criminal history of my people, Mr. Yenrys. I will contact you," he said, without change in his expressions. "You should be careful who you hire, Lord Silver. Some people could make things difficult for you," I threatened before I could even stop myself. His expression finally changed. A smile appeared on his face. "Inform your boss, that your firm is out of consideration for being a partner in building my legacy," he said, and I opened my mouth with another threat, but closed it. He is lord of a small city; such people wouldn''t dare to cross Master Nehdis, given his influence, but he is also Master of Legacy and it is not a normal legacy. Those who have a legacy like him, won''t have a problem in taking their legacy to Grade III. If they live long enough, they have to good chance to take it to even Grade IV. Such people are valuable and what makes him especially valuable now, is that he is semi-independent. He has control over the emotion essence his legacy produces. A resource that everybody desires. "Apologies, my lord. I had no intention of threatening you," I said. If Master Nehdis came to know this, he would not leave me alive. It would have been fine if it had worked, but it is not, and he will not like that. "Get out of my office," he said, without even looking at me. Rage red in my heart, but I controlled it. I got up and walked out. June was waiting outside; seeing my expression, she didn''t even ask me, just followed behind me quietly. I am angry but also worried. Master Nehdis didn''t like failures, and he liked to me others for them. Hun! I was walking, when suddenly, I stopped. I saw a personing from the other side; a person I had not seen in years and never expected to see. Once again, that feeling of inferiority rose in my heart, and feeling it, the anger burned brightly. "It" said June, but stopped. ''Edmor,'' I finished. He had also noticed me, and a small change appeared on his face, but he kept walking, talking with the old man and the woman. Soon, there were barely a few meters of distance between us, but he didn''t even nce at me. He just walked past. "Bastard!" I cursed. People around me stopped and looked at me as if I am crazy, which once again anger to rise in my heart, but this time, I controlled it and walked away. The next few days won''t be easy. I would need to be as calm as possible. ¡­ "These people are really something," said Z, as the half-elf left. He is not the first one toe toe to me directly or threatened. There were a few more who did that and all of them were shown the door. They and the firms behind them are powerful. Some of them could make things difficult, but not too difficult. If I had been only a lord of the city, I would have been a lot more careful in dealing with them, but I am also the host of legacy. They won''t go too far with me. Hours passed, and I met several people, including Edmor and Miss Rolgath, who reached the city, the day after I contacted her, while Miss xasys still hadn''te after two weeks. She had asked for time to delegate the priormitments she had. She wants toe here without any worry about the other work. I am not unreasonable. I like the woman and the work she had done, on the establishment before. This time it is a thousand times greater, and she is the best person for that. Her firm is big, and my job was the smallest she had ever epted in her life. Now, she has got the biggest job. She ising tomorrow, bringing her staff and a person whom she said, is just as good as her. I didn''t ask about that person; I will meet them tomorrow. I hope they are just as good as her. She needs to do better than the best, for this opportunity of ages. If I didn''t like her work, I wouldn''t hesitate to rece her, no matter how much I liked her as the person. Daily, I would get thousands of messages from the people who want to work on the legacy. I forwarded all those messages to Edmor, who was still in the process of selecting the partner. It is not an easy thing and usually takes months, but I am asking him to select within weeks. The establishment, needed to be ready within six months. Even the six months feel like a long time, but I cannot hurry them too much. It is not a simple tower, but a Grade III building. I thought for a while about it before pushing those thoughts away and focusing on the work in front of me. It waste afternoon when I finally got out of the city hall and sat in the carriage. It moved toward its destination, while I looked outside through the window. Everywhere, I could see. I would see people working. The reconstruction had begun; the first phase tenders had been awarded, and it had been a week since they started working. It seemed to give the people somefort and also jobs as now, there are less than a hundred people leaving the city. Our condition is much better than other cities. I heard Deerponds poption had slid below half a million and it hadn''t even attacked. They are trying different ways to stop people, but some of their ideas seem to make things worse than better. They shouldn''t force people to stay. It is the worst thing one could do to stop, these kinds of things. Soon, the carriage reached the wall and stopped. I got out and climbed the stairs before reaching the top. On the other side, I saw scenery, that made a smile appear on my face and gave me confidence in the city. In front of the city, an army is practicing. A professional army of twenty-two thousand people, wearing ck uniforms. Following one order after another, their superior is giving it to them. It is an army smaller than we had gathered to fight the undead, but it is far more powerful than it and disciplined. The army has humans, orcs, and people with blood of other races. They are together, following the orders. In a few weeks, they will fight united against the enemy that seeks to destroy us. "They are learning to fight as one," said Colonel Cardin beside me. "Let''s hope, they have time to be one before the enemiese for us," I replied. Just this morning, we received intelligence from the merchant states. They asked us to expect another attack, within a month. It coulde within a week or four, even if they are not certain. The only thing, they are certain, of is that the next attack wille within a month, and we will need to be prepared for it. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 360: Intense Familiarity Chapter 360: Intense Familiarity Hendricks "We have finally reached it," I said as the port of Greltheaven came into view. It was the most difficult journey; I had ever made. We were nearly killed several times. If not for the man beside me; we wouldn''t have survived it all. "It is small," said the man beside me. "Yes, it is, but it has the legacy," I replied with pride. I had thought it was fake news when I heard the legacy still standing, despite exploding into the pieces. If not for my grandchildren swearing on their lives; I wouldn''t have believed it. Even now, I still have some doubts in my heart. The ship came closer, and I could see the port fully. It was not as bustling as it was when I came here a few months ago but looked better than I had thought. I have seen how cities turn after going through the battle. Especially cities like this which are solely dependent on trade. I turned my eyes away from the port and looked at the two children. The little girl is sleeping on her brother''sp, while the boy looks at the city with fear and trepidation. "Don''t worry. You will be safe here," I said to the boy and, as always, the boy''s expressions remained unchanged, but the emotions in his eyes changed. ¡­ Click! The carriage stopped, and I got out of it. I didn''t return to the city-hall and instead to the site. In front of me, over a thousand people are working. Some areying the bricks, while some mixing the cement and doing other construction work. Seeing meing, Ca walked toward me. "It is hard to believe, the progress they have made within a week," she said, looking at the things in front. "It is good speed," I said, pleased, and walked toward it with her. It is not the establishment, but the hostel, or rather the campus. It will be a ce for the girls to study and live. I am making it in the form of modern coges and reserved twenty-five acres ofnd for it. I had brought thisnd with my money. I had asked girls to go ambitious and added my own ideas to theirs. It might seem too much, but it is not. The new design isn''t a circle. The girls have decided to go traditional, but it would be no less amazing. It would also be much grander than the circle, with more facilities and space. Over a thousand people are working on it. Edmor is rapidly hiring people but has also taken help from the many construction firms in the city. These constructions are one of the reasons why, so few people are leaving the city. It had provided them with jobs and while it is dangerous. They are earning money, which is helping them feed their families, which for some people is a big enough reason to stay in the city. I strolled around for a few minutes and talked to a few people. Before sitting in the carriage with Ca and Z. A few minutester, the carriage reached another site. I decided to go with Valentina''s suggestion and agreed to build a park, rather than the garden that I had originally nned. It had increased the cost of the project, due to therge amount ofnd I needed to buy around the establishment. The bank had given a nk check, but the way I had spent in the past ten days would have definitely made them wonder. Thend is very cheap right now. I had got in less than 30% of what it had been before the attack. I used my authority to readjust the boundaries of districts. Especially the entertainment district and business district. Now, the establishment will be in the middle of both. Half of it will be in the market district while the other half in the entertainment district. This way, the establishment, as well as both districts, will be able to make full use of each other. Click! A minuteter, the carriage stopped, and the door opened. "My lord," said Davidson as I got out. "How is it going, Mr. Davidson?" I asked, looking at the fifty-some people working around the establishment. They are not working on the main ground of the establishment but around it. They had yet to find a partner for the construction of the establishment. So, the work couldn''t be started yet, but there is still a lot of work needed to be done. These people are sprinkling the crystalline powder around the establishment. It is to absorb the death energies of the surrounding area. A lot of undead had died here, making it dense with death energy. We will need to deal with that. If we want to build a park. It could be easily solved with spells from the establishment, but I can''t use them. Even if there was no fear of discovery, I wouldn''t have used them. It is costly and I wouldn''t spend essence on such things unless it is necessary. "Everything is going well, my lord," he replied and began to exin things to me as we walked around the establishment. "I hope, you will all start working on the building soon," I said to the old man, and he smiled. "We are nearly done choosing the partner, once that is done, and we get your approval, we will begin the construction immediately," replied the old man. It won''t be immediate, as the old man said. The agreements would need signing. Things and people will be needed to bring here, from a merchant state, and that will take time. Especially more, given the threat of the undead. Still, I want to start the work in this month. Thankfully, we are set on designing. I had a vision and Edmore helped me perfect it. In essence, it is still the same, but a new thing has been added to it, making it even more amazing. Edmor had thoroughly impressed me with the design, and it is far from finished, but it is finished enough, that we could start working on it. The old man left a few minutester; he also took samples, that Edmor had sent for the experiment. He is bringing different types of materials used in construction to test with the emotion mist. Every material reacts differently and while there are proven materials that work well with mist, they need to be tested as theposition of every legacy''s emotion mist is different. Something that works with other legacies might not work with mine. The construction had not started, but the work had begun. Edmor and his people are doing hundreds of such things daily. "Mr. Hendricks has arrived at the port. He wants to meet you as soon as possible," informed Z. The old man had been really unlucky. The journey, that is supposed to take a few days, had taken weeks. He had left Redfawn weeks ago, two days before the emperor''s death and only now reaching the Greltheaven. I didn''t think, the old man was exaggerating, when he said he had nearly died several times in messages. Serious things are happening in the empire. Till now, they have not affected us more than we had expected, and I hope, it will continue as such. The wastnd is not of the princes'' priority to conquer. If it had, they wouldn''t have just watched while the undead invaded. Though, that doesn''t mean, they are not keeping an eye on it. I have been contacted by the people of all princes and all those bastards are asking is emotion essence. Of course, I am not going to provide them with that. I even have a convenient excuse for a few months. I shook my head at those thoughts and focused on the old man. He hade, and he was alone. He had brought some people, he said, I would be really interested to meet. I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped for a moment. "Ask him toe here directly," I said. I first nned to meet him in city hall, but I think this will be the best ce. It had a ce where he had dropped me off and now, a yearter, so much had changed. The brothel he had dropped me off had turned into a legacy before sting into pieces, destroying thousands of undead. Now it is being rebuilt with a grand vision. I walked around the establishment with Ca with Z, and guards following at a distance. Since the battle, I had rarely had to spend time alone with her. We are both busy with our work. "How are you? Is it the work being too much?" I asked her, to which she shook her head with a smile. "No, work is good. I am enjoying it," she replied. There are a lot of responsibilities on her shoulders. She is not only working with Ed in selecting the partners, since the establishment is her responsibility, but also with the girls. We are sending the girls out. They are going to different ces, some to the legacies like Vanis Tavern, some to big hotels and ces. Some are going to the institute and teachers to learn special skills. A few, like Maeve are going out of the continent. The legacy that will open six monthster will not only be big and the epitome of luxury, but the girls working on it will be an on ss of their own. I am sending them to different ces to train. I have a vision in mind and to fulfill it, they will need to learn new skills and gain more experience. The ces I had sent them will provide those things for them. A few minutes passed when the carriage appeared and stopped a few secondster. Click! I turned to it as its door opened and a familiar old man came out. He looked tired but had a big smile on his face. Behind him came another man. He looked to be in middle age; he was handsome with a mustache that suited him well. He is a warrior; it is not the saber by his waist told me, but the way he held himself. He is also not weak; I could tell he was pretty strong; Z also thinks so as she took a step closer to me. He is an Otonian. It is easy to recognize with dark skin and pale violet eyes. I was looking at him, when my eyes fell on the two people, or rather the children, behind him. The boy looked to be eleven or twelve and had the same bronze skin as Jon and Stena. I turned to the child beside him. She is clearly heraldan with light brown skin and looks to be about four to five years old. Her hand is clutching the hand of the boy, while the other holding a stuffed toy. She is looking around nervously before those big dark brown eyes of hers meet mine and instantly; I get struck with an intense feeling of familiarity. I felt like I knew her, felt a connection to her but I could swear, I have never met her. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 361: Siblings Chapter 361: Siblings Emer I looked at the young man, whom I had heard about for years. He is so different from what she had described him to be. She had said, he was the most gifted person he had seen and likely had joined the imperial knights. It was his dream. She had said. When I reached the Rendfawn, three weeks and a half weeks ago. I heard different things. He is a merchant and adviser to a noble in the frontier city. And a host of the legacy. Legacies. The most dangerous things in the world. After Oton, I had to swear, that I would never step into one, yet I am standing in another one. Destroyed to every inch, but not dead. I could feel its effects and see the mist. I am, surprised that it didn''t fill my heart with dread immediately. It used to be for years whenever I felt the mist against my skin. Now, he is a lord of the city. The one, who had fought against the undead and gained an impressive victory over them. I looked at him, and the simrities with the women I know are striking. The same facial structure, the hair; the only thing he didn''t seem to get from her was the color of his skin and the eyes. Those silvery-grey eyes turned to me. I felt wisdom in them, that a man of his age should not have. They stayed on me for a second before moving to the children behind me. When suddenly his eyes became intense, and a faint mist swirling around froze in its ce. I followed his eyes and saw him looking at the girl. ''Blood recognizes blood,'' I thought and followed behind the old man with children. Soon, we reached the young man, who was still looking at her. Usually, she is shy and hides behind her brother, but now she is looking at a young man, without hiding. "Who is she?" he asked, without looking away from her. ¡­ "She is your sister," replied Hendricks. "At least, it is what this man is iming to be," he added, looking at the middle-aged man beside him. Strangely, I am not shocked or even surprised. "So, she is alive," I said after a moment of silence and looked at the carriage. I know it is empty. I am talking about my mother. The woman, I and everyone thought, to be dead. The young girl looked so much like her. "Mr. Emer saying she is," replied the old man. I turned my eyes to the middle-aged man. "Where is she?" I asked. "Masal Colosseum," he replied. The name is familiar; it took me a fraction of a second to remember all the information about it. It is shocking. Masal Colosseum is one of the twelve heavenly colosseums of Oton. It ranked fourth in the twelve. A legacy. "Is she, my sister?" I asked, looking at the girl. Though not before covering us with the privacy. I already know the answer, but I don''t want to let my emotions drive me. There is magic in the world, which affects these kinds of things and I want to be absolutely sure. "She is the daughter of Esa Raak," he replied. I didn''t say anything to that and turned to Z. "Do a test," I said to her. To which she nodded; I didn''t have to tell her the kind of test, I wanted her to do. "Give me your finger," she said, and I did. She touched it with her staff, and it lit up. I felt a sharp pain for a moment before a drop of blood came out of my finger. She took a staff back with the drop of blood and took a step toward the child. The boy immediately stepped in front of her protectively. "Don''t worry, it will only hurt for a moment," she said to him. He kept looking at her a moment, before turning to a middle-aged man, who nodded. He hesitated for a second before stepping aside but still remained close to the child. "Give me your finger, child," said Z gently. The girl obeyed after looking at the boy, and Z moved her staff toward her finger. She didn''t immediately take the blood, but first covered her palm with icy mist, before drawing out the blood from her hand. There was barely any change in the girl''s face as she took her blood. Seeing that, I felt relieved. I don''t want to see her hurt. Z closed her eyes and her staff lit up. A momentter, a shining watery string came out and pierced through the drop of my blood. It came out to the other side and moved toward the girl''s blood before piercing through it. For a few seconds, nothing happened, before the line of string between the two-blood turned red. Z opened her eyes and turned to me. "She is your rtive," she confirmed. "Call Bishop Merial. Ask her toe here as soon as possible." I said. She nodded, while I turned to the man with the mustache. "She had disappeared for over a decade. There was no message, no letters. So, why contact now and even send a child?" I asked, feeling really confused and a host of other strong emotions that I am barely containing in my heart. I am Remus, his soul had merged with mine. I am feeling all the emotions he would have felt if he had been in my ce. "Only she could provide an answer to that question, but this letter may shed some light on it," he said and handed me the letter. I took it, but didn''t open. Just kept looking at it. "I may not know all the reason for her action, but I could tell you one. Masal Colosseum; is different from what you had heard about it. The masters love secrets and they will use each one against you," "In over a decade she had been there, she had revealed very little. I got to know her real name, the day, I left the colosseum," he said, smiling mirthlessly. I didn''t say anything and waved my hand. Immediately, several chairs and tables appeared around us, surprising them. It will take a few minutes for Bishop to arrive. There is no use to keep standing, especially for the children. "Please, sit everyone," I said, took a seat, and they sat after me. Ca sat beside the children and took out the snacks from the vault. They are bar snacks, like nuts and chips, but the children could eat them. They looked at the middle-aged man and only when he nodded did, they take the bowls of snacks. "When did you leave, Oton?" I asked, the middle-aged man. "About three months ago," he replied, surprising me. "It was pirates; it took quite an effort to get away from them," he added. "It wouldn''t have been easy," I said. "It was not, especially for the children," he replied, turning to the children. I didn''t ask him anything further andid back in the chair in waited. There are a hundred questions in my heart, but no mood to ask them till, I am sure. Z had confirmed it, but there are magics in the world that could manipte such things. I need to be absolutely sure because I don''t think, that once I believe it, I will not be able to unbelieve it. I could feel the truth, but I don''t want to trust that too. Fifteen minutes passed when the carriage with the g of the church of dusk came. It stopped and an elf wearing a priestly robe walked out. "Lord Silver," she greeted. "Your Excellency, thank you foring at such short notice," I said gratefully, to which she smiled. "What can I do for you, my lord?" she asked. "I was hoping that you could do the blood test," I said to her. She seemed surprised and her eyes turned, before stopping at the child. "You and this child, I assume?" she asked, looking at the girl. I nodded and the drops of blood flew toward her from Z. Dusky light covered the blood drops but covered our bodies. It is strong and since it is dusk, her spells are at the strongest. The shinested for a couple of seconds before he wore off. Her glowing eyes turned normal, and she turned to me. "She is your sister. Half-sister, technically. She and you share mother," she said, confirming what Z had said. "Thank you, Your Excellency," I said to the woman. She smiled and walked away. The convention and divine magic had given the same answer. Now, thest one; the one, I trust the most. I turned to the drops of blood, enveloped them in a ball of mists, and sent them toward the center of the establishment. This test will be the hardest to manipte; Caena is going to test the blood with the core. It is extremely hard to mess with the legacy''s core. Even by those with higher leveled legacies. It didn''t take long, and I got the answer; it was the same as I had felt. "She is my sister," I said with a sigh. I don''t know, what to feel about it. I never had a child and while I had a sister, she was older. "Both of them are your siblings. Your mother adopted him, nine years ago," he said, dropping another bomb. ''Of course, she had,'' I thought. I looked at the boy, who had been very protective of the girl. I should have guessed it. It is clear looking at them; they have a strong bond with each other. "Hello, I am Remus," I introduced myself. I tried to be gentle, but it felt awkward. I had never been good with children and never had much contact with them, other than with neighbors'' kids. "I am Heron. This is a Josie," the boy replied, while the girl kept looking at me. "Are you, my brother?" she asked finally. Her voice is soft, that it is barely audible, and there is a nervousness and fear in her eyes, but also hope and expectation. "Yes, I am," I replied and for some reason, tears welled up in my eyes for this admission. "Mommy said we will need to stay with you," she said. "You will," I said to her and wanted to hug her, instead I turned to the middle-aged man. "Thank you for bringing them to me," I said. "It is the least, I could do to repay all the favors I owed to your mother," he replied, I smiled and turned to Ca. "Take them home," I said to her. They are clearly tired, and I don''t know what to say to them. It is better for Ca to take them home and let them rest. It will also allow me to process all this. "Come, kids," she said to them. They once again looked at the middle-aged man. "You shouldn''t look at me for permission anymore. You are at your brother. He is your guardian now," he said. The children didn''t say anything and went with Ca while I turned to the middle-aged man again. "I have so many questions, but am in no state to ask them," I said to the middle-aged man. "I will stay in the city for a few days. Call me whenever you are ready," He replied. I nodded at him gratefully. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 362: Siblings II Chapter 362: Siblings II "I had checked them personally. They are good," said Colonel Cardin. "I am d, those things weren''t cheap," I replied and closed the file in front of me. We had brought the mines from the merchant state. It is the third batch that came. Mines are important. It is not because of the damage they do. If the enemy leader is smart and has people with the required skills, they can avoid them easily. Their real use is the attention they capture. The battles are fought with mind as much as men and weapons. The mines are great against the undead and are a big part of our strategy to deal with them. They areing for us, and we need to be ready to face them. Still, I wish, they would take their sweet time. A few months at least, but obviously it will not happen. They mighte sooner than we might expect, and we will need to be prepared for that. Colonel Cardin left a few minutester. It had been three hours since I had returned from the establishment and that enormous shock. I have been busy; it is not intentional, but I didn''t resist the work. I don''t know what to think about those two new people, I am now responsible for. I don''t know why she sent them here. Children should be with their parents; siblings aren''t a substitute for them. I am feeling a host of emotions and the most intense among them is anger. She was dead. We thought she was dead. She had gone for the mission and never returned. There was no news of her. She was there and like a poof; she had disappeared. My father had hired people; the one with the investigative sses, but they weren''t able to find anything about her disappearance. He had straight up told me she had died. I mean, what else couldn''t be there? Mercenaries die, many in such corners where even their bodies aren''t found. Now she had turned from the grave. Her letter is still in my pocket, but I am not having the will to open it. Instead, I am getting more angry. If she had sent one like this a decade ago, it would have spared me the agony of years. I took a deep breath and calmed myself before focusing on the work. I stayed in my office till eleven, before walking out. A few minutester, I reached the mansion. Click! When I entered my suit, I didn''t find it empty as usual. A woman is sitting in a living room, with a bunch of files in front of her and one in her hand, from which she is reading. Seeing me, she put down the file. "How are you feeling?" asked Ca. "Fine," I replied, but she kept looking at me. "I am feeling a lot of emotions. Anger, betrayal, love, longing, and many more that I don''t know what to do with them," I said and sat beside her. "It is good you''re feeling those things. It means you care," she said, and it was my time to give her a look, but she just smiled. "I just wished she had sent a message. One message, you know. To tell me that she is alive," I said and once again tears welled up in my eyes and this time, I didn''t stop them from falling down. "Maybe she wanted to, but she couldn''t," she said, and I looked at her. "Have you read the letter? You should read it. It may have the answer, you seek," I didn''t reply to that, but I did take out the envelope from my pocket and tore it away, before taking out the letter. It is a single-page letter, smaller than I had thought. It made me angry once again. I mean, how you have only a page''s worth of things to say to your son, who had considered you dead, for over a decade. The first thing, I noticed was handwriting. It is hers. I recognize it. She used to send me many letters when she went on long missions; I have them in the safe. It is also written in heralden, instead ofmon. I calmed my emotions and began to read it, and before I knew it; I began to cry again. It was not even emotional, but it still made me cry. Soon, I finished reading the whole letter andid against her, thinking. "What did it say?" Ca asked. "Nothing and everything. It is kind of vague, so much so that she didn''t even mention my name." I replied. She didn''t even write my nickname. "Could it be written by an imposter?" she asked, and Iughed, before shaking my head. "No, it is her," I replied. The vagueness is not surprising. It is in format; she used to talk about her missions. Many are contractually bound the person to not reveal any detail, but some details could be revealed vaguely. She had written in the style, she used to talk to me. There are many things in the letter, apologies, excuses, and promises, but nothing that would give me any details. As if she feared someone might read the letter or try to divine the information. Still, it had said many things, that forced me to think. "Now that you know where she is, will you be contacting her?" she asked. To which I shook my head. "Masal Colosseum is dangerous. I wouldn''t do anything before I know all the details," I replied. It is a legacy, Grade V one and not a normal Grade V eighter, but a colosseum ss. The biggest ss. There is a reason, the ss is named after them, because they are the biggest and most dangerous. Two things make them dangerous. First is the sheer amount of essence they have emotions they harness, and second is the warriors they have. Even the weakest colosseum ss legacy of any grade produces at least ten times more emotion essence than an average tavern ss legacy. There are manyplexities in it, but it is true. The Colosseum harnesses far more emotions than any type of legacy. Nothing needs to be said about warriors. It is the ce, where people fight. There is no dearth to the powerhouses. It is why, each of the heavenly colosseums is strong as kingdoms. Nobody messes with them; it is they who mess with others. "That is wise," she said. Wey there without talking in each other''sfort. She rarely stays here, despite me giving her a suit next to mine. She usually stays in the room behind or office. She had an apartment and a suit in the circle, both of which had been destroyed. Even before that, she used to sleep in the room most nights or with me. "How are they?" I asked after some time. "They are good children. Polite and obedient, your mother had raised them well," she replied. I just stared nkly ahead, thinking. "I don''t know what to do with them," I said and sighed. "Don''t worry about it too much. Take a step at a time and it will be fine." She said. I nodded and hugged her. A few minutester, we went to the bed. It took me some time to fall asleep and it was without a nightmare. Since the battle, I have had them every day. I had woken up from a nightmare with a sword in my hand. I don''t want such incidents to happen, with Ca sleeping beside me. When I woke up, I was alone, which isn''t surprising She wakes up earlier than me. Though, this time, she had left behind the note. Reading it, I quickly got up from the bed and freshened up. After showering and changing into the suite, I walked out of the room. A minuteter, I was in the kitchen, where Ca was waiting with two children. "Have you been waiting for long?" I asked, to which she shook her head. "No, only a few minutes," she replied. I took a seat at the head of the table and looked at the two children, who were sitting quietly. They looked nervous, and enamored; I could see their sneaking nces looking around. The mansion may not be the grandest out there, but it is pretty big and opulent. Impressive to children like them, even to me. I had lived in a big home, but the mansion was still the biggest, I had ever lived in. The change can be overwhelming, but they seemed to be handling it well. "Have you two slept well?" I asked. "Yes," the boy replied, while the girl bobbed her head a little. Even now, she is still holding that stuffed toy in herp, with nervousness in her eyes. "If you need anything, you can tell me or Ca here," I said to them. "Ok," replied the boy, while the girl once again nodded. I wish I had a little more experience with children. It would have made the conversation, less awkward. Thankfully, the staff saved me from further awkwardness and began to put on a breakfast. I looked at dishes, before looking at Ca thankfully. There are more sweet dishes than normal, and the children like sweets. Even the boys, eyes lit up, seeing them. No matter how much, he tried to act like an adult. He is a child. Soon, we begin to eat. I also took a bite of some sweets. Usually, I control myself with sugar, but decided to eat today with the children. "I had called Selina for a nanny; she is sending one in a few days," I inform her. Selina is the only person, I trust. Rose had multiple nannies; she is going to ask one of them. If they don''t ept, then she will send several and I will ask Ca to interview them. "Also, see if any girls are interested in a job; they will need to be trained, of course," I said. "Will anye, seeing the state of the city?" she asked. "I am offering good money," I replied, to which she smiled. Money is a big motivator, and I am offering it enough to make a lot of them forget the danger of the undead. "I think a few girls will be interested in the job," she said. My position is such, that I need to select the people who work for me carefully. I rather have girls I trust to take care of my sister, than some unknown woman. However, they can''t simply start the job. It is a demanding job. One needs to be professionally trained for this. "I was thinking, whether it would be safe for the children to be in a merchant state. The city isn''t exactly safe," she said with hesitation. "It''s not like I hadn''t thought about it, and it will be an option, but they have traveled for months; they should stay in one ce, at least for a few weeks," I said. The city is a dangerous ce, but they are the safest people. Even if the enemies captured the city, they won''t kill them. They will be a leverage against me. It is why, I want to send them to the merchant state, but it wouldn''t be good for them. They need a stable environment and I think, I could provide that despite the state of the city. Still, if the conditions changed. I wouldn''t hesitate to send them to the merchant state. "Listen to Ca. If you need anything, ask her," I said as we finished the breakfast. I feel bad handling them to Ca, but she is the only one, I trust with them. She will be with them, taking them to her work. There are people in her office that would watch over them while she works. It is not an optimal solution, but only one I have till the nanny arrives. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 363: Ulaxasys and Blackwell Chapter 363: xasys and ckwell Step! I stepped out of the carriage and walked into the city hall. A few minutester, I was in my office. Looking at the list of people, I have to meet. Some, I really don''t like to see, but will have to meet. "Postpone Miller. I will meet him in three days," I said. I know why he wants to meet me. I am not going to give him, his job back. He is ipetent; he got that job because of his connections. The only reason, I am even willing to talk to him is because of his family. It is a big merchant house in the empire. A few minutester, I had my first meeting. It was with Winfred. Who gave me the progress report of ongoing negotiations with Nakar baronies and the hold? It is tough negotiations, especially when baronies and holds want to kill each other. He is handling it well. It will take another two to three days before we will have a temporary agreement. Nobody wants a long agreement, especially hold. Dane still seemed to be dreaming of conquering the baronies, even after suffering a humiliating defeat. To me, it is good. His focus should be on the baronies, not on me. After he left, I met with one other person. The appointment didn''tst for over ten minutes. It was also quite disappointing, but I didn''t let it affect my mood and continue working. Two hours passed, and I was in a discussion with Ina when the inte lit up. ''Master Silver, Miss xasys, and her associate are here,'' said Jill from the other side, lighting up my eyes. "Send them in," I said. I have been waiting for her for two weeks. I hope she will make up for that. I will also see the associate she had praised so much for her messages. Hun! The door opened, and she walked inside, and she was not alone, with her was a woman. Seeing her, my eyes couldn''t help but widen and I got up immediately. I never expected she would be the person, she is bringing. I thought it would be one of the partners in the firm, but not her. "Lady ckwell," I greeted. The woman beside Miss xasys is her elder sister. Lady of Amberhold. Ignatius''s mother. I wonder, how he had let his mothere. Seeing the city isn''t exactly safe. Both of the women share the same features; they are beautiful with forest green hair andke blue eyes, but the hair of Lady ckwell is longer, and she looks more mature. She is also slightly shorter than her younger sister. "Lord Silver," said the elf in her melodious voice. "Miss xasys," I said and asked them to sit. "You have surprised me, Lady ckwell. You should have informed me abouting," I said to the woman. She is a noble of the merchant state; there is a certain protocol I need to follow to deal with the people of her station. "I am here on a personal capacity, my lord. Not on an official visit," she replied. I smiled at hearing that but still decided to take all the precautions. She needs to be safe while here; it will cause huge trouble if anything happens to her. Her appearance had increased my worries, but it had also pleased me. There is a reason, she had brought her sister. It is not just to sightsee. Miss xis is andscape architect, and her expertise is in designing, while Lady ckwell is a gardener. Not a simple gardener, but a high-level one. She is an expert in the nts. I had seen Amberhold. Had been amazed by the work she had done there. "I am d, you hade, mydy. With you, will be able to move faster," I said to her. "You want to finish the job in six months, right?" asked Lady ckwell. "That''s right; I want to open the legacy as soon as possible," I replied with a nod. "Then we should start working as soon as possible," said Miss xasys, and I smiled. A minuteter, they walked out with the Ina. They will study the designs and discuss things with Edmore. I had made up my mind about the park, but the approach will be dictated by them. I went back to work, and in the afternoon, I made a short trip to the merchant guild. Everyone is nervous in there as most of them are going to lose their job. I had already informed them about the trimming of the merchant guild. It will be smaller, but more efficient. Currently, the merchant guild is quite bloated; it can''t work as efficiently as it needs to serve the city''s needs. I have already decided on the two vice-guild masters, and seven deacons, and nearly sure about the Guildmaster. In a week or two, I will decide on all the vacancies. It is not an easy job, especially when nearly everyone is lobbying for it. I know capable people, but I also need to give the position to those with power. It may not perfect solution, but no solution is perfect, especially when ruling the city. Even I need topromise on things. Soon, it waste afternoon, and I got out of my office with an excited smile on my face. Click! A minuteter, I walked into the conference room, which was already filled with people. Aside from Edmor and Davidson, there is also Miss Rolgath, Valentina, Ca, and Caena, along with Lady ckwell and Miss xasys. In the center of the table, there is a meter-tall model of a beautiful tower. It is going to be my legacy. "Mydy, Miss xasys, I hope you had time to go through the designs and all the notes?" I asked the sisters. "Yes, we did, my lord," replied Miss xasys. "What do you two think about it?" I asked and smiles appeared on the two sisters faces. "It is amazing, and we have a couple of suggestions, but before that, we have a question, my lord," said Lady ckwell. "Please ask, mydy," I said. "Are you nning on making it an urban park, one without restrictions?" asked Miss xys. "Yes, I had written that in notes," I replied with a smile. "We wanted to be sure," she said, apologetically, before her expression turned serious, like her sister''s. "The size of the park you want is too small for the purpose you want it to serve." "The legacies are the biggest attraction of any city, and you are designing your legacy to attract the crowd. It would have been enough if you wish to keep the numbers restricted, but you are making it like the public park," "We had read the numbers of people that came every day to see the legacy. It always had one thousand to fifteen hundred people. Even now, when there is nothing, there are three to five hundred people in there," "We were able to pull the numbers from other cities with legacies. Even in the smallest cities, thousands go to look at legacies and that is when it controlled, since most of the legacies are around the busy areas," "Our suggestion would be, if you want to create a park at the current size, then keep it as the private park or make it bigger, to keep it public," said Lady ckwell. I could see every head turning to me. Valentina even had a smile on her face. I want to smile too, but I thought about it for a while, before turning to them. "How big will it need to be public?" I asked slowly, fearing the answer might crush me. "A hundred acres, at least," she replied, and my expression changed as if someone had pierced a dagger in my heart. The smile on Valentina''s face bes bigger. Even a smile appeared on Ca''s face. First, I wanted a beautiful garden around the legacy. Where my patrons could walk around, but then it pivoted to the park, with its size quadrupling, thanks to Valentina. The idea felt good, and I had even brought and. Now, these two women want me to make it even bigger. To be honest, a hundred-acre urban park isn''t that big. Most urban parks are hundreds of acres long, and the big ones span over thousands of acres. Though she hadn''t said a hundred acres. She said at least a hundred acres, they want it bigger. Just thinking about the cost, made my head hurt. "Show me what you have in mind," I said to them, and the sisters smiled. The next second, the leaf bracelet on Lady ckwell''s hand lit up and beautiful colors came out of it. They gathered around the model of the establishment before spreading around it. It took over a minute before a circr park appeared with a tower at the center. "Wow," gasped Valentina. It is a gasp-worthy. She had not only projected the part but also added the things, that I wanted in the park including the figures of people. It looked so amazing, that I wasn''t able to think about it for a while. "Give me a few days to decide," I said finally. It is a really big decision and if I decide on it. It is going to cost me a lot, and the tower hasn''t even started. That''s what the bank is paying me for. "Let''s move on to the tower," said Miss xasys, and immediately, Miss Rolgath focused. It is her expertise, and she will be working with the sisters to fulfill the vision I have in my mind. "You every nt inside the tower an emotion absorption nt?" she asked. It is a category of magical nts; they are more expensive since they eat emotional mist to grow. "Yes," I replied. These nts are beautiful. Some release wonderful smells and some pleasing sounds. I have seen a few of those nts in the old man''s tavern, and I want them. "You want them on every floor, including on those, that won''t be covered in the power of the legacy?" she asked and once again, I nodded. "Given the size of the tower and number of nts you want; it is going to take arge amount of emotion essence; more than onefortable with it," said Lady ckwell. "As long as it is not more than a quarter of emotion essence, the standard grade I legacy produces, it will be fine," I replied, and her eyes lit up with excitement. "I think, it can be managed, but we will need to check," said Lady ckwell. I want emotion absorption nts, not only because they look good and smell good, but also because the resources they produce sell at insane prices. I mean, they are really expensive. Then why, hosts of legacies do not nt them around their legacies inrge numbers? Well, it is because of the vision; that the host of legacies follows their vision, and they don''t deviate from it. It is what makes their legacies advance. Not to mention, most legacies didn''t have enough space to do it, or sovereigns let them do it. My contract with the emperor had explicit instructions that I couldn''t have over twenty emotion absorption nts in my legacy. I also needed to take permission, before nting each nt. The emperor is dead, and the contract is null. I will do what I want. Like all the hosts of legacies, I have a vision for my legacy, and I will follow it. The discussionsted for two hours more before I walked out of the office with Ca. I went straight to the mansion. I usually don''t go this early, but I am having dinner with the children. After that, I worked from my office in the mansion. I think this will be my new schedule, working on the city hall till evening, beforeing to the mansion for dinner and working from the office here. It is also efficient; seeing I didn''t have any meetings after seven. Unless it is important or an emergency meeting. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 364: Partners Chapter 364: Partners Ashton Harbor The light on the staff muted, and the man opened his eyes. "The ships have left their ces," said the man. "With them, we will be able to capture the Port Midlet and have enough forces to attack the Owlspring and other cities," said Haiz. "We need to be careful, this time, Haiz. We cannot make the mistakes, we had madest time," said the man solemnly. "We will not,mander," replied Haiz with a big smile. ¡­ Scrach! My pen scratched across the paper as I signed before I turned the page again. I read it carefully, before signing again. I have studied the contract already; I had crafted it myself. Still, it is important, that I check every word; there are some nasty skills that I like to be careful of. The contract is pretty good. It gives me the power to fire them anytime, I want, without paying extra. They wanted a tougher contract, but I straight up declined. If they wanted the job, they had to agree to it and they did. They were willing to do the job for free, but I am paying them, what they would have gotten from the project. I don''t want anyone to say, they did the job on my legacy for free. I specifically mention that in the contract. Finally, with thest signature, the contract clicked. "I hope we will have a good partnership, gentlemen," I said to the two men and their teams. On my left is half elf in histe fourteen with deep blue hair that almost looks ck while on my right. He is Carmen Syl, vice-direction Tanarys Construction from Belnin. On my right is a human, who looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was of medium height with long blond hair and a handsome face. Hal Liow, head of liow construction material from Meldhorn. They are partners, that Edmor had chosen to build the establishment. Tanarys will provide men and skills, while Liow the materials. Both of thepanies are over two thousand years old and trusted in the market. "We sure will, Lord Silver," said the half-elf. A few minutester, I walked out of the conference room with a smile on my face. They have five and half months and seemed pretty confident, that they will be able to do it. That confidence would have been even higher. If not for the undead. Still, they didn''t seem unfazed by it; they do not same fear as the citizen of the city has for the undead. Their states have assured them, that they would try to save them if the undead had captured the city. The only thing, they have to do is not take part in any war-rted things. This didn''t surprise me; this is an opportunity of ages, and any city wants its firms to be part of it. As for the assurance, it will work. The undead don''t want to mess with the merchant stage too much or they wouldn''t have removed the blockade. It is also the truth, that they are working on legacy, that undead are also very interested in. It is very likely, that even if the undead captured the city. They will let them do the work on the legacy. The same protection isn''t given to the people of the merchant state working on reconstruction projects and other things. They came on their own, there is no big powerfulpany seeking assurances for them. Still, I think, if the undead attacked, they would also be protected by the aegis of the merchant state. Click! "Tabes had captured Tismit," said Z as I just sat down. I didn''t say anything and looked at the map of the empire. "Dawhall would be the next," I said. The victory over the Tismit will give the Tabes'' forces a clear road toward the Dawhall, the capital of the kalzan region. Nearly all the empire''s neighbors are attacking it. If I were one of them, I would have done the same. The empire is weak, right now, with princes fighting each other for the throne; it is an optimal time for them to attack. A few months ago, I had expected, the same thing to happen here after the emperor''s death, but it didn''t. The region got attacked, but not by the enemies, I had expected. A few hours passed. I met a few people and attended meetings, before walking out of city hall and stepping into the carriage. Soon, the carriage reached the ce where thousands of people were working. Just a few days ago, there used to be buildings in here, but now all of them have disappeared. They have been demolished. Now in this ce, there are only workers and mages here. The workers are over a thousand and around fifty mages; 90% of which havee from the merchant state. We do not have enough mages and most of them didn''t have spells and sses that require this kind of work. They are clearing the rubble and shaping the earth to make the park; it is really a massive operation, which is going over the budget. I had not given a budget to the bank, but I had one in mind, and I already spent more than it, before the construction of the establishment began. I had agreed with the xasys sisters'' suggestion and brought even morend. It is now big enough, that the establishment and campus of the girls are going to connect. I had brought all thend that was in between them. I am getting nervous about the cost, which has just begun. I can''t imagine the final cost and how long it would take me to pay for it. Now that I think about it; I could tell those at the bank had been smart. It is a big money, but the bank is also big. Financing it isn''t a big thing for them. I thought the bank would say something, but they didn''t. They just gave me the money without a word. Earlier, I was quite confident in paying back the money on time, but now with increasing cost. I am not and that will give the bank the leverage over me; I would need to give them the benefits. Those people have yed well. If I pay the loan on time, they will get a good rtionship with me. If I didn''t, they would get those leverages, that will benefit them a lot. ''Let''s hope; the construction finishes in time and Legacy earns enough, that I could pay back all the loan on time,'' I thought. The carriage reached the establishment, but it didn''t stop there and went back toward the city hall. I had talked to xasys sisters in the morning when she showed me the preliminary design of the park and it blew my mind. It was much better than the quick one, she showed on the first day. I signed the contract today. From tomorrow, the construction will begin. I am excited; not only about the construction, but for the help, it will give to the economy of the city. The construction will give the people jobs; the construction won''t requireplete high-skill people, and there are many low-skill people that would be needed. Like in the garden, over 70% of workers are from the city. The new peopleing from the merchant state will upy houses and hotels; they will eat food and spend the money. Thus, helping the economy of the city. We have signed many agreements with the merchant state, and many are investment-linked, but not much hase out. It had been only a few weeks and also because there was less confidence in the city. It will take time to build confidence in the city for investments toe. The establishment would be tremendously helpful in that and, if I could construct sooner, I could have, but six months is already quick; I couldn''t rush it, even if I want to. Soon, the carriage returned to the city hall, and I went back to my office. ''Master Silver, Mr. Emer is here,'' informed Jill. "Let him in," I said and prepared myself. The man had been in the city for a few days, but he was leaving tomorrow. I am far from ready to ask certain questions, but I would need to. Click! The door opened, and the man walked inside. "Lord Silver," he greeted. "Take a seat, Mr. Emer," I said politely. "Thank you, my lord," he said and sat in front of me. For a couple of seconds, nobody spoke. There are hundreds of questions, but none want toe out. I don''t want to ask them. Fearing the answers I might receive. The man seemed to understand, what I was feeling as he sat in front of me, without showing any hurry or impatience. Finally, I took a deep breath and opened my mouth. "How long my mother had been in the colosseum?" I asked. "Eleven years," He replied quickly as if expecting this question. It had been eleven years since she had disappeared. I still remember the day, she had left. She had told me a week before leaving that it was going to be a long mission and she would be out for about a month. "Did she tell you the exact date she appeared there?" I asked, wanting to create the timeline. "It is eleven eyes, three months, and fourteen days," he replied, and a surprise appeared on my face. "I am the first person; she had fought in the colosseum. I had lost that battle and thus be the property of her master ording to conditions of that battle," he informed, with a smile. Though there is not a hint of mirth in those pale violet eyes, only pain. There is a nearly two-month window between her leaving the Redfawn and entering the colosseum. Whatever happened, made her go there, had happened in those two months. "Is my mother a ve?" I asked hesitantly, and the man shook his head slightly. "No, a contract fighter, but those contracts are tough enough, that those signed it could be called ves," he replied and sighed. I had expected the answer but still shuddered in my heart. In a few days, I was able to get a lot of information and know how the system works. There are many types of people who fight in colosseums. ves, contractual and independent. First, are ves; they are ves brought by the masters to fight in the colosseum. The second is contractual. They entered into a contract with the colosseum and masters are the handlers. The contracts are tough, but masters are enticing; they offer such conditions to the desperate, that they couldn''t refuse. Some enter for the big money. The third is independents. They fought match by match and weren''t bound by any contracts. "A decade is a long time. Why hasn''t she been able to free herself?" I asked, and he smiled again and there was a sick mirth in it. "There is a saying in colosseums. If the master''s like you, then you will stay in the colosseum, even if you are a step away from freedom," he said, sending another shudder into my heart. I know too well how few words in the contract could make one ve. Most kingdoms have rules against that kind of thing, but in colosseums, they are the rules. They could do whatever the hell, they can. "If you don''t mind asking. You had not contacted the colosseum, have you?" he asked. "No," I replied, and he heaved a sigh of relief visibly. "One of the reasons your mother had sent the children with me was because she feared the colosseum would try to bury their ws into children," "The master had already started to take an interest in Heron," he said, and my eyes couldn''t help but sh in anger. "Your mother had asked me to tell you, to never contact her. If they get to know about you, they will try to tangle you in theirs." "Now, with you being the lord of the city and a host of legacy. It had be even more important, that the colosseum didn''t find out anything about you. If they did, it would be bad for you as well as your mother," he warned. "I will remember it," I said after a moment of silence. I didn''t contact her immediately when I found out she was alive and the information I had read made me even more careful. Now, this warning. I will need to deal with it extremely carefully. If I made a mistake, I would cause trouble for my mother as well as me. I might be angry with her, but I still love her. A few secondster, I opened my mouth for another question. This one is a little heavy. "Are you Josephine''s father?" I asked. I already know the answer to no. "No," he replied with augh. "Do you know, who it is?" I asked. "No, I don''t. Your mother never shared that detail with me," he said, and his expression turned heavy with deep anger and hate appearing in his eyes. People say that brothels are the filth of society. They should take a deeper look at the colosseums. Dealer of Desire Lv. 26 For more, Tap Below. Chapter 365: Deals and Delegation Chapter 365: Deals and Delegation "Lord Silver," greeted Hardt and others. "Wee back. I am d, all of you have returned safe and sound," I said to the group. It was supposed to take, two weeks, but ended up taking three. It is fine. They have gone to two more cities than we had initially nned and need to wait out in one city because of unforeseen circumstances. "It feels good to be back home, my lord," said Hardt. Hearing that, I smiled. The city is dangerous, and it could be conquered at any time, but it is home. "How was the trip?" I asked and the expression of all became serious. "We went to the cities and met all the important people, but didn''t get a singlemitment from them, not even from Namdar," he said, looking disappointed. "We already knew we wouldn''t get anymitments, given the state of our city. Our purpose, was to show our faces, tell them our city is ready for them, and you all did that job, exemrily," I said to them. It brought a smile to their faces. I talked to them for a few minutes before the team left. Leaving only Hardt and L behind. "Did they ask for it?" I asked, and the nod came from both. "Each and every one of them. They are willing to pay far above the market price for it," replied L. "We remained nonmittable but hinted that if they made enough investments. Selling them emotion essence and goods wouldn''t be out of option," Hardt added. The legacy is the biggest asset of the city, and I am going to use it for all its worth. I won''t mind selling them emotion essence and its products. To me, getting a city back on its tracks and making it prosperous is a number one priority and there are very things I wouldn''t do to achieve that. I had already made a n on emotion essence. Once the legacy opened and I got more emotions essence; I will begin selling it, but only to those who make the investments to my city. "Keep giving them hope, but don''tmit," I said to him so that he nodded. I could see the excitement in his eyes. I am given the opportunity to handle one of the most desired things in the world that everybody wants. Especially now, with conflict everywhere in the western part of the empire. A single healing potion with emotion essence could be a thing between life and death. They left a few minutester, and I went back to work. I stayed in the city hall, tillte after before I walked out to check the progress on establishment. What I saw there had made me happy; the construction of the establishment finally began. In the past three days, the ships have beening every day filled with the people and the material. It is not a construction material for the establishment, but also for the park. In a week, they will start seeding the ground. However, not every nt will be grown on the ground. Many nts would need to be brought whole from the merchant states. Whenever I think about the cost of it, my head starts to hurt. I had asked them to buy as much as things locally as possible. Valentina had even set up a team, but less than 10% of the things are being brought locally; our merchants do not deal with those high-level things. Still, many are making investments and Valentina had estimated that in a few months, our merchants will supply 20% of the construction material. I hope it bes true. I don''t want the merchant states to benefit from it alone. ''Master Silver, Mr. Ashav is here,'' said Jill, and a smile appeared on my face. ''Send him in,'' I said. Click! The door opened and Ethan walked in. He is smiling, but seeing Z and Ina, that smile has dimmed, before disappearing. "Lord Silver," he greeted. His posture is immacte, and his voice is smooth. It was a perfect greeting, but I could feel the teasing behind me. "Ethan, it''s nice to see you," I said. "You too, my lord. I wasn''t expecting, you would call me, so early," he said, sneaking a nce at Ina and Z. Usually, when I make a deal. Only Caena is present. I keep my guards and everyone out. Now, they are present, along with Ina. "I needed to," I said and my turned serious as I looked at Z. She seemed to understand what I wanted as she cast powerful privacy spells around the office. Ina added her skills to it, and soon Ethan and I joined. "Ina," I said and a momentter, she took a box and ced it in front of Ethan, and I could see the excitement zing in his eyes. However, the next second, a surprise appeared on his face. As Ina ced another box beside, then another, and then another. Soon, he has four boxes in front of him and he barely controls himself from opening them. "You can check," I said, and he looked at me hesitantly, before it vanished. Click Click Click He opened all four boxes, one after another. All of it contains colorful bottles of emotion essence. "God," he said as he looked at them with shining eyes. This is 75% of the emotion essence. It had been taken from a legacy in the morning by Caena. The core was nearly drained at the end of the battle but in these four weeks. It had umted quite a lot of it. It is a Grade II legacy and could harness more emotions, than before. I wish I could have taken some of the essence from a dying legacy, but Caena advised me to merge it will core. All the bottles in the boxes contain Grade I emotion essence. I could have put a few bottles of the Grade II emotion essence in there and I wanted to, but I controlled that urge. I need to do this carefully. I will add the bottles of Grade II before the establishment opens, but not this time. He was looking at the bottles when Ina put a list in front of him. He moved his eyes away from the emotion essence and looked at the list. "You want quite a lot of things this time," he said, turning to me. "I want them as fast as possible," I said, and I could see the same question appearing in his eyes, that always appeared in his eyes during the deal. The question of whether these bottles belong to me or the others, but he is smart. He kept that question to himself; that question could change things and he doesn''t want the things to change. He like what is happening right now. He is getting an emotion essence, that is helping him and his house. It is not his concern to know, where they areing from. "I will try to get them to you as fast as possible," he replied. A few minutester, he left, and I walked out of my office into the conference room seven. "The merchant state had repeated their warning once again; they had given the same to Port Midlet, Deerpond, Gailhorn, Riverbell, and us," said Stone as I sat down. "How are their preparations?" I asked. "They are good. Port Midlet and Gailhorn had brought a lot of defensive equipment from the merchant state, while Riverbell and Deerpond, seemed to be housing powerhouses from the Dustorn Fortress," he informed. "Bastard!" I cursed. I am cursing that bastard at the Dustorn Fortress. I have sent letters and requests, asking him to send a few of the powerhouses to my city. He had sent them to the Deerpond and Riverbell, but none to us. Always, there would be a vague answer to our requests. I really hate that bastard right now, but also understand the reason for their partiality. They had sent men to the Riverbell and Deerpond because if they captured those two cities; the undead would have a clear way toward the fortress. Unlike Greltheaven. If the undead captured it, then they will need to pass the Brimbale, to reach the fortress. He had sent soldiers there, along with a few Lv. 30+ officers. I would have liked some of them too. "The attack wille and this time, it will be more powerful. I hope we are ready to deal with it," I said, with my voice heavy with worry. "We are making every preparation we can. They won''t gain the victory, they want," he replied with confidence. "I hope, it held true," I said. We are not sitting in our ces, waiting to be attacked. We are making every preparation we can. The enemy won''t make mistakes this time and would be better prepared, but so would we. I stayed in the conference room for half an hour, before walking to another conference room. "Lord Silver," they greeted. "Ladies and gentlemen from Teveb, thank you foring to our beautiful city," I said to a group of people, that upied a long conference table. There are over twenty people sitting at the conference table, including Valentina, Arryn, Robin, and Hardt, but most are the others from Taveb. It is a delegation from the city of Teveb''s merchant guild. It is being led by a deacon; not even a vice-Guildmaster, but I don''t mind. It is already a big thing, that they epted the invitation to visit the city. I had sent to all the cities of state Belnin, Meldhorn, and Oksall, but only two had epted my invitations. I need my city to be visible. So, I am sending people letters, inviting them with the perks and promise of an exclusive tour of my legacy which is being built. It is the only thing, that interests them in my city. Only three cities had epted so far, with Taveb being the first toe. It may not seem much, but we had expected nobody to show interest. It was a surprise to use, when the three cities agreed to send the people. The meetingsted for an hour before Caena took them on a tour of the legacy. It is a choreographed tour; they will only know the details; we want them to know. The rest will remain secret until the opening. "How are the preparations?" I asked. "The merchants didn''t hold back at the expense. They want to impress the guests," she replied, hearing that I smiled. The merchant guild is throwing the party for our guests. They have the money for it. The idea of inviting these people hase for them. I heard there are already a few deals signed by the merchants between them. It made me happy since the trip was a no-expectation one. "Still, keep an eye on everything. I don''t want anything to go wrong," I said. She nodded and walked away. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 366: Undead Movement Chapter 366: Undead Movement Click! ¡°All the merchant vice-guild masters have been selected,¡± I said as the man left the office. ¡°Now, only four deacons have remained,¡± said Ina. We have finished deciding on the eight deacons. Thest four are tough; there are so many to choose from. Many people are good, and many have great connections; striking a bnce in selecting them is key. Five days from today, I am going to announce the new members of the merchant guild. It is going to disappoint a lot of people, some I consider friends, but I need to do it for the prosperity of the city. ¡°What should I reply to the invitation from Lord of Riverbell?¡± she asked. ¡°Tell them, we will send Robin,¡± I replied. It is a birthday invitation. I wanted to attend it personally; there are some people, I want to meet, but leaving the city isn¡¯t wise. It had been six, and a half since the battles, and the city had started to make a recovery with all the construction and other stuff. Some foreign investment had also started trickling in, which is helping a lot with the confidence. It is such great news, but there is also a big bad news, that is looming like a sky over us. There is nothing we can do about it, but prepare. We are not strong enough to go and deal with them. Though, one day, I would very much like to do that, but currently we are far from it. ¡°Has orcs reached it?¡± I asked Z. She shook her head, ¡°No, they are still two hours away,¡± she replied. In the past two weeks, quite a lot of orcs have beening. They are families of the Orcs that were imprisoned. I had signed a mobility agreement with the Nakar baronies. Through it, they will let the orcs pass through the territory without harassing them. Even Ignatius hadn''t resisted his people leaving the territory. To both baronies and the Ignatius. It is good news. The orcs are trouble for them; I am taking that trouble. It is good news for me too, with their familiesing. The orcs would be more inclined to consider the city their home and fight hard for it. These new orcs are also filling the job market. They are unskilled, but there is a demand for them too. Not only in jobs in the city but also in the army; I am recruiting anyone fit and willing. It is not an ideal solution, but it is the only one, I have. Fifty thousand people had left, and I barely filled a fraction of those numbers. They left a huge hole poption and economics of the city. I really wish we had time. Two hours passed, and I walked out of the office. I have a meeting with the heads of various guilds. I have reced many of them but kept some. The guilds are the lifeblood of the city. I need to have the best people leading them. I think, I am doing a good job, but will not know, how much my changes affected things, till a few months. The meetingsted for longer than usual, nearly two hours. They had a lot of questions, especially about admitting orcs as members. Many are still resistant to that idea. I didn¡¯t go back to my office, instead, I sat in the carriage and a few secondster, it moved out of the city hall. A few minutes passed, and the carriage reached pinecrest. An area that is being preferred by the newly arriving orcs. The humans are still inrge numbers, but orcs have started to increase in numbers. This is creating some friction since most of the humans are from the empire and we were taught to hate other races. The orcs wanted a different area for themselves; a suggestion, which I immediately rejected. It is creating friction, which is to be expected, but I have already prepared for it. I have selectedmunity leaders, who swiftly handle angry troubles that appear. Still, more steps need to be done and I will take those steps, slowly ording to the conditions. I looked at the new things that are being built, including the schools. Which is a domain of the church in the empire, but I am making it the city¡¯s business. It would have saved me a lot of money if I could handle this to church. The bishop had met me many times regarding it, but I don¡¯t trust churches and their education. Besides, education is a good way to shape the culture of the city and mold the people to its thinking. Also, the education of the empire is crap. If there had been a scale of one to ten, it would be eleven. The merchants¡¯ states are better, but mine would be even better. I am spending considerable money on it, which once again many opposed. Soon, the carriage the carriage moved out of the area, toward the establishment. It had been over two weeks since the work on it began, and I have to say those people are working fast. Soon we reached the establishment, or rather the park. The whole area had been transformed in just weeks. Thousands of people worked on it, with many mages casting the spells on trees, that had been nted. Many of the nts being grown, in those big temporary greenhouses, but arge number of them would alsoe from merchant states. It took a few minutes before the carriage stopped at the establishment. The big walls of the tower had started building and every day, they were getting taller. Click! ¡°Lord Silver,¡± greeted Edmore. ¡°Things are looking good,¡± I said, as I looked at the building. ¡°We are moving on time,¡± he replied, and they are. They had already built the first floor and moved to the second. They need to build the tower within three and a half months. The interior will take two and a half more. I walked toward the tower with him, while he informed me of things. The tower is going to be big, not only taller but bigger, too. I wanted it to be within fifty-thousand square feet, but it is going to be over that. There was no option; the things I wanted couldn¡¯te in the area, I had in mind. So, now the new establishment would upy, nearly sixty thousand square feet. Of which, of which only half of the area would be covered in the power of the legacy. It is not a big thing; I had talked with Miss Rolgath and asked her to make every inch of the establishment as efficient as possible. She had shown me her initial ideas and they are good. Since she has only six months, she is working from the first day. Not just designing, but doing the other stuff, too. ¡°Miss xasys was saying, there are some problems?¡± I asked, to which he nodded. ¡°We are using a lot of magical stuff, and her nts are also magical, while they will absorb, the emotion mist and special fertilizer. They might go to for magical stuff the tower is made of,¡± she replied. ¡°This is a not unique problem,¡± I said, and he nodded. ¡°It would not have been if it had been a magic tower or even a legacy; there are ways to deal with that, but this is something unique,¡± ¡°We are constructing the legacy, using different materials, that had never been used on such arge scale,¡± he replied, with a small smile. ¡°I hope, it wouldn¡¯t dy the construction,¡± I said. ¡°It will not. We are testing different methods, and Miss xasys and Lady ckwell are also contacting people with expertise in it.¡± ¡°Keep me up, updated on it,¡± I said. It is not a big problem, but it could turn serious. I had read about the mayhem; the magical nts could cause. They had destroyed the pces and made the mage towers copse. The recent incident of that had happened, not long ago. It is why, I had said, it is not a unique problem. There are many solutions to deal with it. Hope they find it, without dying the timeline. I would hate to see that happen. Hun! I was talking to the Edmore when I saw Lady ckwell walk toward me with her sister. She had returned from the Amberhold today. Unlike her sister, she is not staying in the Greltheaven. She stays a few days before returning to Amberhold. She is a Lady of Amberhold. She had duties. It is already scandalous enough, that she is working on a brothel. It had created quite a wave Amberhold from what I had heard; it is, after all, a brothel. If it was not for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; she wouldn¡¯t have taken such an enormous risk. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± the sister greeted. ¡°Lady ckwell, Miss xasys,¡± I replied and noticed the hesitation on their faces. ¡°Lord Silver, we would like your permission to send the data on the tower to one of our contacts. They are also asking for a sample of emotion te,¡± said Miss xasys. The contract is pretty tight; they could not divulge the information without my permission. ¡°You should know, Miss xasys; it is not the information, I want to divulge,¡± I said, and she nodded before her expressions turned serious, and privacy skill covered us. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help, but get surprised and the mist around formed a sphere, enveloping us. ¡°We have a collection of magical nts, including those that absorb the emotion mist, but it is not big. We had sent letters to the many who replied, and nearly all replied to us back, except for one,¡± said Lady ck. ¡°Could they solve our problem?¡± I asked, understanding what they were trying to say. The sisters nodded, a little too enthusiastically. ¡°For them, it is no problem. We should be more focused on the nts we could get from them. They have the biggest collection in the whole merchant state or even the continent,¡± she replied. This time, my expressions turned serious. There are extremely few people who fit into the category of what they have said, and all of them are extremely powerful. ¡°Who are they?¡± I asked and the expressions on the sisters became hesitant. ¡°They are from Nova Alyra,¡± replied Lady ckwell. It is on the list of names; I thought. It still surprised me. I am not the only one, Edmore and the others too, turned serious. ¡°The hidden city?¡± I asked softly, and the sisters nodded. That ce is a reason, merchant states are still standing and could be said to be one of the most powerful countries in the continent and world. With them, no power on the continent could destroy the merchant states, not even all the hordes of Navr. ¡°Let me think about it,¡± I said, after a few seconds of silence. That ce is powerful. Those people are powerful. It is not always good to be noticed by them, especially with the secrets my legacy has. Still, the opportunity they represent is also massive. The problem we are having could be solved on our own and we could get nts from elsewhere, but they won¡¯t be as exceptional as those people could provide. The difference will be akin to nting amon mango and Alphonso. Those nts will not only be the best in ss but will also provide me with huge money. The Alchemists will pay any price for them. Click! I talked to them for a few more minutes before sitting in my carriage. While it moved toward the establishment; I opened the diary. There is a big meeting with the girls tomorrow. We will be discussing the establishment. It will be now bigger, with more area and floor, we will have to de ¡°Lord Silver,¡± said Z, interrupting my thoughts. I turned to her and was about to ask, what happened when I stopped, seeing the expressions on their faces. ¡°So, finally they made a move?¡± I asked and she nodded. ¡°The undead ships had been spotted near the coast of Port Midlet and Ashton Harbor,¡± she informed. ¡°Any movement from Panar and Almin?¡± I asked, to which she shook her head. ¡°Till now, nothing,¡± she replied, and for a moment, I felt relieved. Since they have decided to show the ships. There will be an attack; I hoped, I had more time to prepare than this. ¡°Send the message; ask them to initiate, the seventh protocol,¡± I ordered and closed the diary in myp. I won¡¯t be opening it for a few days. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 367: Victor or Prisoner Chapter 367: Victor or Prisoner Click! The carriage stopped, and I got out of it, before walking toward the city hall. I looked around me and saw the people going on their ways,pletely unaware of the danger, they were about to face. They will be informed of the undead soon enough. Let¡¯s hope, things work smoothly than thest time. They should. We had time toy aplete protocol and put capable people in control. ¡°The horde hade out of Panar,¡± informed Z. I didn¡¯t even stop hearing the news; I had been expecting it. They are clearly going to attack the Port Midlet again, and they have enough undead tounch an attack on us. It would be a waste of opportunity if they didn¡¯t attack us. The question is, who else they are going to attack? They have spotted the ships at the coast of Ashton Harbor and Port Midlet, but not Gailhorn. I can¡¯t think of any other reason. That is the cost of a merchant state of Belnin. The merchant state possesses one of the most powerful navies of the continent and they guard their territories zealously. Click! Soon, I reached the conference room seven, and several people were already sitting there. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± they greeted. I nodded and sat down, ¡°Let¡¯s wait for everyone before we start,¡± I said, and nobody said anything. Everyone either bes quiet or begins to contact their sources. The people came in pretty quickly, and soon, the whole conference was filled. Everyone who needed to be here has arrived. ¡°The undead areing,¡± I said to the entire conference room, which had turned somber. For several seconds, nobody spoke, before Stone opened his mouth. ¡°The information merchant state had provided us, states that the horde is consisting of two hundred and fifty thousand undead, with six Lv. 30+ powerhouses,¡± he said and looked across the table. ¡°There are going to be obviously more. Thest time, there were ten Lv. 30+ powerhouses. So, we should expect more than that,¡± he added. ¡°Who is leading the horde?¡± asked Valentina. It is important to know themander. As everymander has style. Knowing it, we could strategies better. ¡°They were not able to find that out yet. Of the six names we got, five we have information on, and they don¡¯t have any experience in leading the horde,¡± he replied. ¡°Have we got any information on the type of horde it is? Any special units?¡± asked Captain Garzong. His rank isn¡¯t high enough to participate in the meeting, but he is acting representative of the orcs, like the other four, and like the other four, he is also a Lv. 30 powerhouse. ¡°No, as far as the information provided to us; it is a normal horde,¡± he replied, making many people feel relieved. The horde is already bigger, bigger than what we had facedst time. The hordest time, was made of a hundred and fifty thousand undead. After it merged with the second horde, their numbers swelled to one hundred and eighty thousand before the establishment sted it to pieces. The battle will be even more dangerous thanst time. The horde is bigger and there will be more powerhouses. And unlikest time, the undead will be more prepared. They will also have information on us, like we have on them. Most importantly, they won¡¯t make the same mistakes, they didst time. They absolutely wouldn¡¯t go closer to the establishment, which I could st again, and seeing new ones being built with magical material; the st would be even stronger. ¡°Are we ready to deal with them? I mean, our army?¡± asked Robin, and every eye became focused on stone. ¡°Twenty-two thousand isn¡¯t far from enough to deal with a horde of two hundred and fifty thousand, but we might be able to,¡± he replied. Many looked at him with questions, but he didn¡¯t borate. The n will be discussed in the strategy meeting. This isn¡¯t a strategy meeting. ¡°What about the city guards and new trainees we have recruited in the past two weeks? Will be going to use them?¡± asked the Shaman Trik. ¡°Unless we really have no choice, we will not,¡± he replied. The relief flooded into the faces of many Orcs. Most of the newly recruited people in these past two weeks are orcs. They are young and untrained; sending them to battle without training would be a suicide. We have an army of twenty-two thousand people, with mercenaries and volunteers. We will be able to take it to twenty-five thousand. It is still not enough to deal with the horde, ten times its size, but I have to believe in Stone. He clearly has the n. The meeting ended half an hourter, till only Stone, Colonel Cardin, Shaman Trik, and Lt. Col Azalea had remained. ¡°Can we really do it?¡± I asked. I had remained quiet in the meeting; only asking a few questions. ¡°There is a good chance we will,¡± he replied, after a moment of silence. ¡°Good, n it and if you need anything, don¡¯t hesitate to ask,¡± I said and walked out of the conference room. He needs to n a battle, while I need to manage the city. ¡°The citizens being informed about the dangers and all the guilds and offices started following the protocol,¡± Ina informed, me as I stepped into my office. ¡°Is there any crowd at the gates?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, but small, and most of those people are from the merchant state,¡± she replied. ¡°Ask the guards to follow the protocol without listening to the threats,¡± I said. Last time, I had let the people leave. This time, I will not. Anything could happen on the route; I am not going to take the risk. Even merchant states in their official capacity had asked me to keep their citizen in the city, in a safe ce. They were lucky, that undead did nothingst time, but they might do something, this time. I doubt it, it might happen. Though, I would have used this excuse, if their cities, hadn''t asked me to do it. I need them in the city. Feel the danger and our eventual survival. It will give them more confidence in the city and they will be messengers of what happened, propagating what they had experienced. I know, I am ying with their safety, but I need to do this for the city and its people. Everyone would be safe in the city. The only thing, I have to do is to win against the undead. If I did not, then my citizens would die, and even the lives of lives of my siblings and loved ones would be in danger. ¡°A big horde of about half a million undead, had left the Ashton Harbor; it is moving east,¡± informed Z, and again I am not surprised. ¡°So, the Deerpond,¡± I said. It could move to other cities or separate into small hordes, but unlikely. Stone had said they would attack the Deerpond this time and they are attacking. The size of the horde, they are attacking isn¡¯t small either. The Deerpond had increased the size of its army by recruiting. They also have the powerhouses from Dustorn Fortress. However, the biggest increase, the city¡¯s army got from the twenty-thousand experienced men came from the house of Summerfield. The viscount has his territory on the maind, and he brought the men from there. Viscount Summerfield is taking an enormous risk, or I, rather say, betting big on the Deerpond. To most, it may seem surprising, but intelligent people could already see the reason. His territory is at the edge of the empire and with the speed at, which our enemies are moving; they will probably conquer it. Currently, the legions are doing good, but without constant support from the empire. They wouldn¡¯t be able tost long. From what I am hearing, there is barely any support from princesses. The emperor seemed to have predicted it and had made preparations. Still, it is not enough. Those preparations won¡¯t be able to support them for long if our enemies keep attacking like they are right now. To say straight up. It is a clusterfuck in the empire and every day; it is getting worse. What I am saying is that Viscount Summerfield has an enormous army now of about seventy thousand men. It is big and with powerhouses from the fortress; it is a powerful army. Even for a horde of half a million undead, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to conquer the Deerpond. It made me happy, even though the bastard was eyeing me like a big fat piece of meat. However, it will be quite long before he will take any action toward me. ¡°They are here,¡± informed Ina, bringing me out of my thoughts. Click! I nodded and walked out of the office and for a minuteter, entered the conference room, filled with the people. They are merchant, officials, and everyone that is important. I spent fifteen minutes at the conference, mostly calming them and giving them confidence in our victory. Last time, I had spent a lot more time on them. Well,st time, I needed them to open their pockets and warehouses. This time, I don¡¯t. I had filled the strategic warehouses. We have potions, rations, and other things that we will need for the battle. We will only be in trouble if the undead were to siege the city. We wouldn¡¯t let that happen. We need to be finished with the battle as soon as possible. Which is a monumental challenge, seeing the size of a horde this time. Unlikest time, those bastards aren¡¯t going to deliver themselves to the legacy. It was two hourster; I stepped out of the city hall and what I saw couldn¡¯t help, but break my heart. The city is empty, aside from the city guards patrolling the streets. There is no one in there. I sat in the carriage and a few minutester, I saw arge number of people moving under the guidance of the city guards. This time, it is a lot more orderly than thest time. Soon, the carriage reached the establishment. There are thousands of people, most of them from the merchant state. Currently, tents are beingid out, and mages are creating temporary fortifications around the camp. There are a lot of mages, but they are not going to participate in the battle. It would have helped us a lot if they had. Click! ¡°My lord,¡± said Miss xasys and others as I stepped out. ¡°Everyone, I apologize for this inconvenience. I promise you, it will be over, before you will realize,¡± I said, to the crowd of people gathered around me. ¡°My apologies, Lady ckwell. For these circumstances,¡± I apologized as I got away from the worried crowd. Her son had contacted me. Asking me to protect her. My sources said that he hade to the Nakar Baronies. He wouldn¡¯te; the merchant state wouldn¡¯t let hime. They do want to draw themselves into the battles and also Ignatius is quite important to them due to that artifact. ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize, Lord Silver. I knew the risk, when I had decided to take the job,¡± replied the woman. I could see the worry and fear in the elf''s eyes, but there was also understanding. ¡°I promise you, mydy. That I will try my all to protect you and everyone,¡± I said, and the woman smiled. I talked to her for a few minutes before walking into the newly constructed first floor of the tower. Earlier, there was a building material all over, but now, in the center, there is a tent. ¡°Brother,¡± said a soft voice, before she hugged my leg. It surprised me, and I froze for a moment. In over two weeks, she had never called me brother or hugged me. Even the nanny seemed surprised by it. I crouched down and looked at the child. She is scared; it is clear in her eyes, but she is not letting it overwhelm her. ¡°Don¡¯t be scared. Nothing is going to happen.¡± I said to the little girl, who nodded, before hugging me again. This time, a proper hug. This time, I hugged her back. I still haveplicated emotions about her, but I care for her deeply and protect her with everything I have. ¡°Listen to Miss Bell and your nanny,¡± I said to the little girl and the boy. Ca isn¡¯t with them. I would have liked her with them, but she is needed elsewhere. Thankfully, there is Bell, with her aura and with her in the establishment. There are very few threats that will be able to harm them. ¡°I will listen,¡± said the little girl. I patted her head lovingly before getting up and turning to Bell. ¡°Take care of them,¡± I said to them. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let anything happen to them,¡± she promised. I nodded at her and the nanny, before walking out of the tower. The next time I wille here; I will either be a victor or a prisoner. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 368: Charging Toward The Enemy Chapter 368: Charging Toward The Enemy Ardan Wayne ¡°Bartram went forplex and ended up making a lot of mistakes. We will keep it simple. Let the horde do what it does the best,¡± ¡°Overwhelm the enemy,¡± said the lean man, looking at the model of Greltheaven. ¡°Bartram was also this confident, but he had lost and lost badly,¡± said the woman, with grief in her eyes. ¡°Bartram was one good fighter, but he could not lead. I will not make the mistakes he did, which alone gives us a better chance against our enemy, who didn¡¯t have even a tenth of our numbers,¡± he replied and grinned. ¡°We have to win the city. Themand wants control over the river route,¡± said an old woman with staff. ¡°Themand will have what it wants by dawn,¡± replied the man. ¡­. I turned and looked at the army gathered below me. The total twenty-five thousand, thirteen hundred and seventeen people. All armored to the teeth and ready to battle. Especially twenty-two thousand. All of them were in uniforms, standing in a neat line. Ready for the battle. I could see the fear and nervousness in their eyes, but there was also conviction and a will to protect the city. They will fight; they have been training for more than a month for it. They have be a proper army. I turned my eyes toward the mercenaries. Many had stayed; we also had neers. They are survivors from the other cities; they reached us after the battle was over. While many had left, nearly half of them have stayed. They had joined the army and mercenary groups, while few had picked up different professions. Now, they are volunteering themselves to fight. It would have been great. If those who left had stayed; it would have helped us tremendously. Still, the current army is much more powerful, than what we had pieced togetherst time. My eyes stopped on one mercenary. I had not expected her to join the battle and wanted to order her to go back, but I didn¡¯t. I need every person for the battle, even if that person is someone I care about. ¡°Is she really ready?¡± I asked. Barb is standing with her team. She is armored and has a red saber in one hand and a round blue shield in another. There are seven people on her team, all of them from Mayhurst. Unlike her, they are the veterans of many battles. Which is good; they will protect her, if she is in danger, which she certainly will. It is a battle, after all. Nobody would be safe in there; not even Stone or me. ¡°She is ready,¡± Hugo replied, sounding confident. ¡°She is talented and has been practicing nearly every hour, in the past month. I would be surprised if she didn¡¯t get thebat ss after the battle,¡± he added. ¡°She will need to survive the battle first for that,¡± I said, to that he said nothing. She is not powerless. She is Lv. 25, and while she doesn¡¯t have abat ss or skills associated with it, her attributes make her strong. Not to mention, the fire, she could breathe. I hope it will be enough to help her survive the battle. I looked at the rest of the mercenaries and volunteers, before turning back. ording to thetest information; the undead, would be here in an hour. We had made all the preparations we could. Even so, we could not say we could defeat the enemy. They are strong and bringrge numbers and this time, they will be prepared and informed. Hun! I was looking at the preparations when I saw Stoneing toward me. He looks a little funny wearing the oversized armor and that massive tower shield hanging on his back. I had ordered a size-adjusting armor and weapons for him, but they will take time toe. ¡°Is everything good?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes,¡± He replied before his expressions turned serious. ¡°Once again, I advise you not to take part in this battle. If you got caught, everything will be over,¡± he said. It is not the first time; he has said those words to me. ¡°I know, but my being in the battle would be helpful, too. They will be a focus on me; it will provide us an advantage,¡± I replied. It looked like, he wanted to say something, but he didn¡¯t. A few minutes passed and finally, I could see the army. If it had been a day, I would have been able to see it, minutes ago, but it is midnight and the one without any moon. Even the stars have been nketed by the clouds; the only light there is from the crystals and spells. Every minute the horde got closer and closer, bing bigger, till it was less than two miles away from us. ¡°Fuck, it''s huge!¡± said Lt. Colonel Hiren as he looked at the horde, which had finally stopped a mile away from us. Saying it is huge would be an understatement. It had more undead in it than we have people in the city. Everywhere I looked, I saw the undead and for a moment, my heart, got overwhelmed with fear. The horde stayed unmoving for a few seconds before the man walked forward. He is a slim man with a tall physic and long blue hair. He is handsome in a rugged way and has a ck army saber at his waist. It is the same design as mine, but unlike mine, it had three gems embedded in it. He is Ardan Wayne, a spell de and likely the leader of a horde. Three hours ago, the merchant state had informed us about him. We didn¡¯t have information about him being on the continent, but he is here, and he has experience in leading the battles. He had been doing that for the past two years, with a good record. The man is a good leader and an even better fighter. The information the merchant state had provided about him stated that he was about at Level 35. He had note forward alone; eight people came behind him. Six we were already aware of and two, I recognized immediately. Necromancer Trudell had fought in Riverbell, while Martin Bal was spotted in Panar. The eight aren¡¯t the only powerhouses. I am sure, there would be more. Even with such a big horde, they wouldn¡¯t bring only eight powerhouses. ¡°Lord Silver, I hope you have been well,¡± said Ardan Wayne. He spoke from the distance, but I could hear him as if he was in front of me. I felt a tap on my shoulder from the single hand of Lt. Col Hiren and a spell from Mage Osward. I nodded at them gratefully before turning to the enemy. ¡°Unfortunately, I had not been. Commander Wayne. Your people had damaged my city and killed my people; it will take us quite a while to recover from that,¡± I replied and could see a faint surprise in his face, which he quickly controlled. He hadn''t expected me to be truthful. Likely expected me to show fake confidence. ¡°We couldn¡¯t be med for your mistake, Lord Silver. If you had epted our generous offer. You and your city would have been far better conditions, than it is right now,¡± he replied. ¡°Bastard, we defeated you!¡± cursed the people around me. ¡°I will not hold that against you and will offer you the same conditions again. Surrender and we will spare everyone you love, your staff at the legacy and even your guards, including the elder-blood,¡± he offered. ¡°This, I cannot ept,¡± I replied. ¡°Then we will fight, and I promise you. The consequences of it would be so bad for you, that you will regret not epting my offer for the rest of your life,¡± he promised and took out his saber from his waist. ¡°Attack!¡± He roared, pointing his saber forward. The horde moved forward like a tide, but not a single one of us retreated, seeing such massive force. ¡°Attack!¡± roared Stone. Boom Boom Boom Immediately, the cannons begin to shoot the fiery death at the undead. We had reced most of the cannons. The new mounted cannons are good; better than the ones we had usedst time. Due to the big support, the wall provides; its cannonballs are bigger and thus provide greater destruction. Size isn¡¯t everything. There are cannonballs smaller than my thumb, which could bring a hundred times greater destruction. Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t have money, most of our cannonballs are standard. Still, they are creating quite a destruction. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Stone, and we climbed down the wall. Soon, Stone, Lt. Col Azalea, and me standing in front of an army of twenty thousand covered in a faint mist. Some even have their faces and hands covered in the paint. Not all twenty-five thousand going to attack the undead with us. Five thousand will remain to defend the wall. It is much less than we would like, but we don¡¯t have enough people. ¡°Three hours is all we have. If we don¡¯t defeat the enemy in three hours, then we will lose the battle, but we will not with the world''s bravest people fighting with us.¡± ¡°We had won the battle with a tenth of preparationsst time and we will win it again, without a doubt!¡± he said. Thud Thud Thud! The soldiers begin to hit their feet on the ground in the affirmation. Stone smiled and turned toward the gate, while I and Captain Azalea took our ce in the army. The gate is open, and we can see the undead areing. They do not care about the mines we hadid out or cannonballs and spells showering on them; the only thing they care about is reaching us. Seeing them so close; I wanted to run away. I took a deep breath and steeled my heart. There will be no running away, we will fight the undead and we will win. The n is rather straightforward. It was to kill their powerhouses and pirs, so one would remain to control the horde. It could either make them retreat or leave the horde on us, which we could deal with. If there is none one, to enhance and direct the undead. The n may seem simple, but execution of it will beplex. We will need to stop the undead from overwhelming us, which will be a difficult task, seeing their numbers are over ten times of us. We will need to give our powerhouses a chance and time to kill the enemies¡¯ powerhouses. There is no letting the enemy inside the city. That would be our defeat. The undead won¡¯t make the mistake ofing close to the establishment. That is the only thing we have that could wipe out arge number of them. So, this will be the only battle, and our chances of winning are thin, but we will be going to try our all. The undead got closer and closer. The mines are killing a lot of them, but there seems to be barely any effect on their numbers. It didn¡¯t make me feel good, but I didn¡¯t move my eyes away from them. I watched it all. ¡°Charge!¡± Finally, Stone gave themand, and we charged out of the gate toward our enemies, with only victory in our hearts. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 369: Mistake? Chapter 369: Mistake? Utsa ¡®Maybe, it was all a mistake,¡¯ I thought as I looked at the colossal horde, which could sweep through our tiny army within a minute. They are getting bombarded by cannonballs and sted by mines and spells, but it seems to be barely affecting them at all. They areing at us like a massive tide in the ocean, and we are helpless ants in front of it. Seeing it, I felt my resolve shake. I wanted to throw down the saber and shield in my hand and run away. I don¡¯t know why in the hell I had felt this was my calling. It is not my fucking calling. It is suicide, that not even a single person woulde out alive; the horde swallows the whole army, before swallowing the whole city. ¡°Calm down and control your thoughts,¡± said the familiar voice. I turned my head toward the young man. He is tall and handsome and barely twenty. He hade from a merchant state as five of the seven people on the team; they all knew Hugo from Mayhurst Ind. This young man beside me had been fighting against the undead, before he had even received a ss. ¡°It can be overwhelming, and it always will be, but don¡¯t resist it. Let them flow over you,¡± he said in his gentle soothing voice. His suggestion seemed counterproductive, but this young man had been my trainer for the past month, and I decided to listen to him. I stopped resisting this overwhelming feeling and let flow it through my breaths. To my surprise, I begin to feel better. I am still being overwhelmed, but it is not taking over my mind, like before. ¡°Feeling good?¡± he asked, so that I nodded. Feeling thankful, if not for him, those overwhelming emotions would have frozen me on my spot, which is a death sentence in a ce like this. ¡°Good, because we are about to sh,¡± he said and grinned. I turned my eyes ahead and to my surprise; I saw we were less than three hundred meters away from them. The mages from both sides have already started to attack each other. There are spells everywhere, not just Grade 1 or Grade 2 spells, but also a lot of Grade 3 and Grade spells, any of which could kill me in an instant. I barely noticed it with all the overwhelming emotions. Hun! Soon, there was only a two hundred meters distance between us and the colossal undead horde, when I felt the suppressive ancient power and the change begin to ur in the Commander Stone. ¡°Elder blood,¡± said Hosk with awe and jealousy as the bronze light burst out of Commander Stone¡¯s body. As it did, he began to get bigger, and those loose armor and clothes began to fill him. The enemy, seeing that, intensified their attack on him, and shields appeared around to protect him. Seeing those attacks from the enemy, my eyes widened. They are powerful enough to kill the thousands in seconds, but unable to harm a single one. There were so many spells, that Commander Stone had disappeared. It made me worried, while the surrounding people seemed unfazed; they were more focused on the undead. Hun! A few seconds passed, and the bronze arc of energy appeared. It cut through the spells and all, revealing Commander Stone. Seeing him, my eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen. Now, he is not a man, who is not even six feet tall. He is now a big man, seven feet tall with big muscles and a body shining in bronze light, that his clothes and armor straining to contain. He still has the tower shield on his back, but it doesn¡¯t look so big anymore. It looked small. ¡°Kill the undead!¡± He roared, pointing his halberd toward the undead before shooting ahead. He moved so fast, that he reached the undead within a second and swung the halberd covered in the bronze energy. It cut through them like butter, killing tens of them in an instant. That attack created a path, and he entered inside without hesitation. I knew it would happen, but still couldn¡¯t help, but shock me. There are two hundred and fifty thousand undead with hundreds of pirs and many powerhouses above Lv. 30. It was extremely dangerous for him, but he went inside and, in a few seconds, we will do the same. If we didn¡¯t, they would kill him and also, we needed to do to achieve our aim. I am part of the squad, and our target is to kill the pirs. We need to kill as many as them in the shortest time possible. Themander may have said, we have three hours, but we do not. Captain Hugo said, we have less than two hours and we will need to achieve our aim at that time, or we will all die. The spells on both sides intensified and soon, there was less than fifty meters of distance between us and the undead. I could feel numerous war buffs'' skills activating, providing me with different buffs. From strength to speed to rare as magical resistance and other things. ¡°It¡¯s your time to shine,¡± said Jon, and I nodded nervously, before controlling my emotions. I activated the stored sip, and bitter liquor appeared in my mouth. It is also hot. It is bad rum, but it is a magical liquor. It has a simr magical power as the twilights amber, but costs less than a tenth. In the past month, Master Silver had brought many liquors for me to test. In my tests, I found out, that the liquor doesn¡¯t need to be a work of art like the twilights amber, but it needs to have a magical element that is well fermented into liquid. The one in my mouth is called jorus. It is crafted by the dwarfs andes from the valbolder. It is not a famous liquor and was made by a small tribe of dwarves, who made it for their consumption and sold a small part of it. There are many other liquors with the same magical content, but I chose it. There are two reasons for that. First is of course it being cheap. If I use, twilights amber, it will be like burning money. I couldn¡¯t afford to drink it daily, even when I was a whore, there is no way, I could afford it while being a mercenary. Though I am not paying for it. Master Silver is sponsoring the bill, but I don¡¯t want to take advantage of him. Nor it is sustainable; it would be like using gold to paint the street. The second and biggest reason I have chosen to use this liquor is the root called phae. I looked at the undead and took a deep breath, before pushing the alcohol out of into my mouth with Powerful Breath. I lighted it up with Flint and used mytest skill, Wide Plum. Whoosh! A whooshing sound rang out as the alcohol burned and a straight stream spread into the wide plum, which was nearly twice as wide, that I had createdst time against the undead,st time. The fire is yellow, but one can see the faint whiteness in it. It took a second to reach the undead, and when it did; it enveloped over thirty undead and began to burn them. It is doing that, much faster, despite the undead being stronger and covered in a lot of buffs. Phae is a magical root, when fermented. It would absorb the magical energies around it and convert them into light energies. Jorus is a light elemental, liquor, and the light element is the anathema of the undead. ¡°Good,¡± said Ven, I smiled before I released another plum at the left and another at the right, burning all zombies and skeletons to ashes. I was able to release another plume before we reached the undead, and they got too close for me to release the fire. Our small army shed against the undead. My teammates, Ven, Hosk, and others move toward the undead roaringly, while I be slow in fear. The alcohol appeared in my mouth, and I want to spry it out, but that is not wise. I need to kill the undead with my saber and move with mypany. The undead aren¡¯t the target; it is pirs and the powerhouses. Raaa Raaaa Ra The undead surrounded me, and if I didn¡¯t deal with them, they would kill me. Rip Pachak Rip! I was thinking that the attack of the undead got too close to me, but before it could reach me. The undead got cut in two and several others beside it. ¡°Focus! I won¡¯t be able to save you next time,¡± shouted Hosk, before dealing with another group of undead. I looked at all the people in my squad and how they were moving toward our objective, everyone killing the undead, that threatened to swarm them, and they would, if everyone didn¡¯t do their part. I need to do my part, no matter how scared, I am. I looked at the group of undead, in front of me. It didn¡¯t even take three seconds for the new undead to take the ce of those who had been killed. I am scared. If I let it control me, I will die. I don¡¯t want to die. So, I took a deep breath and swung my swung my saber at the zombie. Rip! My saber avoided its rusted sword and cut through its neck cleanly, sending some fluid that smelled horrible, and I wouldn¡¯t have vomited if I hadn¡¯t felt the sharp pain across my shoulder. Rip! I moved with Madam''s Grace with another injury but stopped suddenly when I felt the attack at my back. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed and moved again and this time, I was able to dodge the attack, but another came and this time, it was able to injure me. I wanted to release the fire, but they were too close, and I didn¡¯t have enough control to not get harmed by the fire. I had practiced a lot in the past month, but that was far from enough. I do not have any confidence to do it, without harming myself badly. It is not fire breathers liquid; I am using, but magical liquor. A mistake and I will die. I don¡¯t want to die; there are things I haven''t achieved yet. Things I want to do. Ting! Another de hit me, but this time, I was saved by the armor I was wearing. It is a good thing because the attack came at my chest, and it would have killed me. Rip Rip! I was thinking about it when two attacks hit me back to me. I felt the overwhelming panic; there were undead everywhere, and they surrounded me. I could see the members of the squad. They were far; they wouldn¡¯t be able to help me before these undead kill me. It is a mistake; I shouldn¡¯t have joined the mercenarypany. I should have stayed in the establishment. I had respect there and authority. Most importantly, it was safe. I am not right now, and in the next few seconds, the undead will swarm me. There is nothing I can do about it, there is no help. They will kill me. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 370: Company Chapter 370: Company Rip! My rapier cut through the first zombie, and came at me, before cutting through another and then a skeleton, in a single attack. The horde is massive, and we have less than two hours to achieve our objective. If we don¡¯t achieve it, then this whole horde will swallow our army and turn the city into undead territory. Their victory will not only affect the city but also the other cities and merchant states. They have provided us with quite some help, but I still wish they would have done it more, seeing if the undead had control over the city. They will have control over the trade route, which is getting more profitable by the day. Before today, the number of ships was increasing by week; the parties in the empire were buying things really crazy rate. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the undead. Every attack of mine would kill, three to four of them; there were so many of them, that it felt like I was cutting the vegetables. I thought it would be a little difficult since I didn¡¯t practice at all in these past six and half days, but it is not. Well, I am against themon undead. They are not powerful, but they are in massive numbers, and they will tire me out soon, and once that happens; it will only take them seconds to swarm me up. It is why, we need to achieve our objective before that happens. Everyone has a role, including me. Stone had divided the army into different units from squads to divisions. I am part of thepany, and it has a special mission, because of me. I am a big target and Stone wants to use that, to lure the big fishes. It is a mission of the whole army. We have to kill the powerhouses; they are the legs on which this horde is standing. Once we dealt with them, dealing with the horde would be much easier. However, seeing the size of the horde; it seemed like wishful thinking, and unlike thest time, there was no final n. When I think about it; I feel like, we were better prepared to fightst time than this time. There will be only one battle and if we achieve our objective. We will win it. If we did not, the horde would swallow us whole. Rip! I was in my thoughts when I received a cut on my thigh. I was able to move before the de of the skeleton could deeper, but it was an injury. The undead are everywhere and in every direction. I may be talented with good attributes and a powerful ss, but I could not defend from all directions. Seconds passed, and I continued to kill the undead with mypany. Moving deeper into the horde, which in normal times is a grave mistake, as it would cut the avenues of retreat, but in these battles, there is no retreat. Eighter, it is a victory or defeat. Hun! I killed a few more undead when I saw them appearing in front of me. The bones spears, they are directlying at me. Bang Bang Bang The shields appeared above me and defended against the attack, while I continued killing the undead. There is no reason to stop when you can¡¯t defend against the attack. The attack didn¡¯te again, but a few secondster, the undead parted, revealing a group of fifty-something people. They were led by Necromancer Rydove and the middle-aged, curly-haired man. I am sure, he is also Lv. 30+ powerhouse. Seeing them, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. The danger had increased with their appearance, but it was our aim to begin with. Our mission is to kill the maximum number of powerhouses to break the legs of the horde so that it would copse on its own. We acted immediately. Shaun appeared and took the lead, with two orcs and one-half orcs. Surrounding them, is a two squad of men, both orcs and humans. Four other people with him, for the middle-aged warrior before the necromancer. Of the four, three are humans, and all of them are pre-level 30s. While the Orc is mid-level 20. He would have been more fit with Shaun, but the other orcs refused to work with him. Even to keep himpany, took a lot of threats from Stone. He is nning on grooming this young Orc. Stone had said he had one of the most enviable sses. A survivalist is a ss with great potential. If fostered well, he will be a great asset to the city. He already is. In thest battle, he had fought against two pre-level 30 and survived, but now Stone had given him an even bigger challenge. He will be fighting against the Lv. 30+ and it will be like fighting death, but he isn¡¯t alone. Of the four of them, two are mages and quite a good one. They all had fought well in thest battles. The two-level 30¡¯s aren''t the only ones that we need to deal with. There are also a lot of pre-Level 30¡¯s, they brought in their groups. Our mages and warriors quickly moved to deal with them. Others and I also moved to deal with the others. It is going to be a great challenge, seeing as we aren¡¯t going to have the protection like the Level¡¯s 30s and the pre-level 30. I was moving toward the enemies, with spells shooting from both sides, when I saw Necromancer Rydove bring out the six zombies. There are zombies everywhere, but these special zombies are big and armored. Three people around him moved to deal with them, while he attacked the Necromancer. She defended, beforeunching the attack of hers. Bang! I was watching the battle when a cannonball crashed not far away from me. We were getting support from the wall, but we couldn¡¯t count on it much; their main objective was to protect the wall. They will kill anyone moving toward the wall. We cut through the undead, while the undead parted on their own as our enemies came toward us. The intensity of undead attacks has also increased incredibly. They have be wild, attacking crazily. It was to be expected, seeing they have fewer numbers than us and using undead. It is overwhelming and we are killing a lot of undead, but they are stilling, in full force. ¡°Form circle,¡± ordered Captain Rans, and immediately, the people moved to form a rough circle to control the undead. A group of squads will handle the undead, while we will fight thoseing at us. We didn¡¯t do this before because we wanted to overwhelm our enemies with the numbers, but now with most upied with stopping the undead, we are right in nearly equal numbers. We have slightly less than our enemies. They came closer and our people went to them to fight. Soon, a brte with big muscles stopped in front of me. She looked to be in her early thirties, with the long sword in her hand. ¡°Lord Silver, there is a great prize on your head,¡± she said and grinned. She is happy, and she is not even trying to hide it. ¡°Dead or alive?¡± I asked back, and the smile on her face widened. ¡°Alive, of course!¡± she replied and came at me like lightning. She was really fast, and her sword felt like a blur. I had been prepared, but she still caught me a little off guard. Iunched the countered with de Of The Gale and retreated with the Blitz Steps, but the woman reacted fast and took a step forward with her speed skill. The speed of her attack increased, and her sword shed. It was a bright, too bright, and that light fell directly into my eyes. It hadsted only for a moment, but it had done the job. She had evaded my rapier and now her sword ising directly at me. Rip! Her sword cut my clothes and gave me a deep cut in my stomach. The blood came out immediately, before stopping. The scrips seemed to be working well. Thest time, I didn¡¯t get a chance to use Eudo¡¯s script. There was not enough time and limited ink. This time, I had made a preparation; the moment we found out about the enemying, Eudo began his work. The ink was expensive, but seeing how its enhancements were working; it was worth it. Though the scripts have stopped the blood, they didn¡¯t stop the burning pain. I hope it is injury connected skill. The pain will lessen as the injury heals. If it is touched based, then I will need to suffer this pain, till it hasplexly spent its power. ¡°You are as good as the information has said,¡± she said and attacked me again. This time, I responded directly and remained careful of the blinding light. In the day, such attacks are not very dangerous, but in the moonless like this, it is a very dangerous attack. I rather be careful against it. ng! The sword zed again, but I defended against it. Feeling the powerful blow against my hand. ng ng ng Right after it bother attack came and then another, each time, she would use that torch-like skill, and every time, I would defend against it, albeit barely. There are thousands of skills, and each one is different and some of these, get boosted by conditions like a dark night. I had practiced against such skills, but only in daylight. I should have done practice in the night too. Hun! A couple more seconds passed when I noticed something about her attack. They are increasing in power, which is nothing strange; the woman is increasing the power of her attacks. But the strange part is, that the power of attacks increasing constant, unchanged pace. She is using a skill like a Consecutive Strikes and me with constantly countering, letting her build the power. It is a good thing, I noticed it quickly. If I get, the attack, too strong, it would have cost me dearly. These skills get powerful too quickly, but they are also easy to break. Rip! Her attack came again, but this time, I didn¡¯t move my rapier to the counter. I didn¡¯t move my rapier at all, instead, I retreated with the Blitz Step, avoiding the attack. I wasn¡¯t able to avoid it fully. I received a small cut on my arm, which is a small price to pay to break the skill, that could really be powerful. ¡°You are smart,¡± she praised angrily. ¡°Thank you for the praise,¡± I replied, politely, making me angry even more. ¡°It wasn¡¯t praise!¡± she said with gritted teeth and came at me again. This time, she was much faster than before and her attack was more powerful. Seeing that, I didn¡¯t hesitate to activate the copied skill. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 371: Path Chapter 371: Path Barb ¡®That¡¯s my girl!¡¯ praised the man, and the little girl¡¯s eyes lit up. She was tired and wanted to give up, but hearing her father¡¯s praise, she swung the wooden stick even harder. ¡®You are doing good, my girl. So much so that I am thinking of asking the captain to let you join our mercenary group,¡± said the mustached man. ¡®Really, pa?¡¯ asked the little girl with her eyes shining. ¡®Of course, apple. Will your da, ever lie to you?¡¯ asked back the man. ¡®No,¡¯ said the little girl and hugged her father joyfully. Rip! The memory disappeared as another injury appeared on my body. I do not care about the injury, I want the memory that I had forgotten, but came in front of my eyes, when my death was near. It was thest memory of my father. It was the day; he left for the mission and never came back. I had forgotten this memory, but now I remember. I remember that dream, I had when I was a child; remember the pride, my father had for me. It helped me suppress the panic, and I looked at the undead, before taking a deep breath and releasing it with the alcohol in my mouth. I didn¡¯t use the Powerful Breath and alcohol that came out of my mouth didn¡¯te out as the spray, but like a stream. As I did, I spun while the flint burned it. I felt the heat of the fire as it burned the undead around me. I didn¡¯t do it before. It was too dangerous, but the entire battle was dangerous. I need to take the risks, or I will suffer. The fire is burning the undead, but because of how close it is. It is also harming me. Bang! So, I did, Rev had told me and used my shield to swat away the burning undead and moved fast with the Graceful Walk. It also helped, that fire had kind of stopped the undead. I was able to move far enough, that I would feel the heat, but not suffer from it. I looked at the undead around me. It is the reason, I had stopped. There was no other way. I started to feel the panic again, but this time, I didn¡¯t give it time to bury its seed in me. I acted and swung my saber at the undead. Pachak Pachack Khat! I decapitated two zombies and skeletons in quick session, without using a skill or the enchantment on my saber. I am barely trained and didn¡¯t have any skills, but I am at Lv. 25 in my base ss. A level, that very few could reach and have invested a lot of points into the physical attributes that give enough strength to kill these undead. The killing of three undead opened enough gap for me; that I instantly made the decision. Whoosh! The alcohol appeared in my mouth, and I pushed it out with Powerful Breath and burned it with flint. The stream moved through the gap and burned the undead, a lot of them, since they were all so close. Rip! I had just done that when I received another injury on my thighs, and it seemed deep. Once again, the alcohol appeared in my mouth and I streamed it out, burning all the undead around me, while getting some burns myself. Whoosh I moved with Graceful Walk, nearly falling because of my injury, before stopping and drinking a potion. I took out the liquor and started gulping it down. I first filled my stores, before drinking some. It instantly calmed the headache; I was feeling. I wanted to enjoy the buzz a little, but I released the breath before I smashed through the undead with the shield. It is a good thing, I had asked Eudo for the heat resistance script on Hugo¡¯s suggestion. It is helping me a lot. If not for it, my condition would have been much worse. I crashed through another group of burning undead and stopped, once again, alcohol appeared in my mouth, but I didn¡¯t spew it out. Instead, I swung my saber to finish them. They are far too close. Pachack Rip Pachack I killed undead after undead but also got injured. However, as time passed, the injuries lessened as I started to move around to dodge the attacks. In the month since I joined Hugo; I have been training at least fifteen hours every day. The training was intense, and Hugo and the others didn¡¯t show any mercy, with their weapons and words. A month is far from enough to learn anything, but it had given me enough skill, that I could at least defend against theing attack. ng ng Whoosh! I attacked and defended and whenever, I could see the gap. I would release the breath of fire. It was hard at first, but as time passed, I began to get better. I still get injured by the undead and some of the injuries are serious enough that I need to use the healing potion immediately. Still, I am learning and the most progress I am making is in my footwork, which is extremely important, in battles like these. Hugo made me practice it, but I barely used it the first, but now I am using Graceful Walk constantly to dodge the attack. It is helping me dodge, quite many attacks. Whoosh! I released another wide plum, burning the group of zombies, that were moving toward the two people of my squad fighting. One nodded gratefully, before moving to the pir where he was fighting with the mage. They are our target, not the undead. There are a lot of undead, we wouldn¡¯t be able to kill all of them before we get tired and they swallow us all. Its why we are targeting the pirs, but these bastards knew we hade for them and made it very hard to target them. If it is not for them being needed to stay in certain areas of the horde. We would have a very hard time finding these bastards. From what is exined to me; the pirs form a across the horde, with every pir controlling the undead within a certain area. They didn¡¯t have full control over them, but enough to make them do their job with no problem. Only the central pir has total control over the horde. These smaller pirs, control the undead within a parameter that central pirs have set. The pirs are not unprotected. They have massive undead and also warriors, not to mention they are mages with powerful spells. My squad had already begun engaging with the two pirs and their protectors, and also the undead that were madlying at us. Two members of the squad are already dead and others are fighting to achieve the objective. My responsibility is undead. Hugo had asked me to not fight directly unless I had a partner. ording to him; I am not ready to fight a powerhouse on my own. Seeing, how powerful these people are, he is absolutely right. Even with my stats, I am a match for any of them. It wouldn¡¯t take them long; I would be much safer in dealing with the undead. I am doing a good job at that, lessening the pressure of the undead on my squamates. Time passed, and I killed hundreds of undead, both my sabers and my breaths, mostly by my breath. I have be quite good at finding the gaps; that is helping me burn a lot of undead. I am also spending a lot of liquor. Thankfully, I had my whole purse filled with it. Enough tost through hours. A few seconds passed when I took out a healing potion again and took a sip of it. I think I will be able to drink a few more sips before I reach the limit and start suffering the burn. I have the two bottles of essence-infused healing potion. One was given to me by Master Silver personally and the other by Ca, a few hours ago. If possible, I don¡¯t want to use them. Every sip of those potions was worth huge money. A single bottle is worth more than I would earn with years working in the establishment, and even if I had money, I wouldn¡¯t be able to buy it. ¡°Barb, watch your back!¡± I put the potion bottle in my bag and was about to bring the bottle of liquor out when I heard the shout of warning from Ven. I turned immediately with my shield forward, as Hosk had taught me. ng! I heard the loud ng across the shield, and nearly threw it away as I took the step back, before turning to the man, that attacked me. He thin man with a long sword in his hand. He had short hair and a long scar running down his cheeks, which made him look especially menacing. ¡°You defended,¡± he said, feeling angry that I defended and attacked me again. He was fast and his sword was blurry before it turned into the multiple of it. I had practiced with such moves, but saw iting at me to kill me. I froze, which is thest thing, I should be doing. I forcefully calmed myself and moved my shield forward. At the same time, I had, took a deep breath. I only have one sip remaining; it is why, I was nning on drinking the liquor to fill my stores. If we were alone, I would have waited for a better opportunity to release my breath, but there isn¡¯t any right now. He is powerful and experienced enough that he will kill me within a minute, even before that, the undead will have me. I had seen it happen; my squamates that died were killed by the undead. I don¡¯t want to suffer the same fate as them; I will not. Whoosh! So, I released my breath and my enemy¡¯s eyes widened, but he seemed prepared for it and moved. Seeing that, I moved my head, taking the stream where he was moving, and did something, I had never done before, I moved while still releasing the breath. It is extremely dangerous, but I need to see the enemy is moving away. Hun! Suddenly, the man cursed while a smile appeared on my face. His advantage had turned against him, and my fire had finally reached him, spreading across him instantly. ¡°Ahhh¡­¡± He screamed loudly as he burned. He would have easily been able to escape my fire with his speed, but it was the undead that stopped him. They were everywhere, and he couldn¡¯t move fast enough through them. This gave my fire enough opportunity to reach him and once that happened, he burned, with no chance of survival. It is notmon fire, which he could bear with his stats. It is a magical fire, made out of magical liquor; it is powerful, and he didn¡¯t have defensive skills to defend against it. That is why I try to remain as careful as possible. A slight mistake, and it would end me. The most horrible way. Hun! I was watching burning, when suddenly a water bubble covered him, dousing all the fire covering him, before disappearing. If this was enough, I felt the water jelly-like substance cover him from head to two. It is clearly a healing spell. I felt his burned face turned toward me. I looked into those eyes, and there was a rage in them, enough to burn me to ashes. ¡°Iiii!¡± He screamed before he came at me. I took a step back, seeing his terrifying face, before I stopped myself. Running away isn¡¯t useful and besides, he is not at his full strength. He ispletely burned, and healing will take long. I need to finish him off, another breath would have done the job, but I don¡¯t have any alcohol, nor have time to consume it. I will do the job the old-fashioned way. So, I moved toward him. shing directly would be bad, I need to finish it as soon as possible and I am going to use a risky method, that Hugo told me to use when I am truly desperate, and right now, I am. Seeing meing, the rage in his eyes burned brightly, and it let out, that weird scream again. It took less than two seconds for us to reach each other as he did, I moved my shield forward and increased my speed as much as I could. ng! Its sword, its sword, and it shed against my shield. I felt the powerful blow and still kept going against it. If it had been at its peak. It would have used this opportunity to finish me off easily, but he is not. He is fully burned and can barely see through his eyes. The only reason he was able to project this power was because of the anger in his heart. Bang! A momentter, my round shield rammed against his body, sending him back. I followed without stopping, before swinging my saber with everything I had. It is the only opportunity I have; I could see the undead. They will swarm me, taking him away. I will not let that happen. Pachack! My sword reached his neck and began cutting through his neck. I felt my heart shake, seeing I was killing another being, but I kept going till my sword came out on the other side. I saw his burned head flying and shaking. I wanted to stop and sit down, but I couldn¡¯t. The undead areing from all the directions and if I didn¡¯t deal with them, I would also go to the ce where I had just sent him. I don¡¯t want to die so early. I had just found a path, I wanted to walk on it a little, before I embraced the death. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 372: Kill Chapter 372: Kill I activated the Focus, and immediately every distracting thought vanished from my mind. I focused solely on the enemy in front of me and hering attack and her powerful attacking at me. I moved my sword, changing its directions faintly. Moving it toward, her real sword, guided by my instinct. ng! Our des shed, and I felt a heavy blow across my wrist, but I bore it. I was able to stop the attack. If I had not; it would have taken my like, for it, I could bear some pain. ¡°Good attack,¡± I praised, but she wasn¡¯t in the mood as her blue eyes chilled in anger and she came again. ng ng ng I defended against the attack, and she moved left and attacked again, before appearing in front of me and attacked again. She is moving around, using the attack from every angle and skill. I defended, using only Focus, Gale of the de, Blitz Steps, and my passive skills. She is higher level than me inbat skill, around Lv. 25 with all her points moving to the physical attributes. I have not died by her hands, which is already a testament to my skills, but this is a battle, and it is not enough. I have to kill her and do it soon before she kills me. Despite knowing that, I didn¡¯t hurry. I am not fighting some novice, but a powerful, experienced warrior. If I hurry and end up making any mistakes. She will exploit that and kill me. She will need only one chance for that. So, the n is to keep her engaged, till I find an opportunity. It is going to be hard, and I am worried about my wrist, which is suffering quite a pressure, but I will need to continue with what I am doing. ¡°It will not work,¡± she said as she pressed me with her attacks. ¡°Whatever you mean,¡± I said. She didn¡¯t reply immediately and instead appeared in front of me like a ghost before attacking me. ¡°You are waiting for the opportunity; I will not give it to you,¡± she replied, to the question, I didn¡¯t ask. However, I am not surprised; she was able to tell, what I was doing. Quite a lot of information about me is out. Including my fighting style and half of my skill and given her experience, it is not hard for her to deduct that. Many people, in my ce would do the same, if presented with the same options. She knew what I was doing, and wouldn¡¯t be able to stop me from what I was nning on doing. I will search for the opportunity, that will aid me in killing her. Rip! Seconds passed, when her sword was able to avoid my de and gave me a cut above my stomach. It is a slight cut, harmless in itself, but with her pain skill. It has be very painful. The pain from an earlier wound had just started to lessen, and now I have received another one. It had brought tears to my eyes, before she attacked again, wanting to use the opportunity to finish up the job. This time, I was able to dodge it sessfully, before defending with my sword. I don¡¯t want to do that. Every time, her sword strikes against mine, I feel the throbbing pain in my wrist. It is worse than thest battle, but I need to do what I am doing. If I didn¡¯t use my de to defend and my speed skill to dodge. I wouldn¡¯t be as sessful. I have seen how she moves, and it is not an option, I would like to use until I have no other choice. Hun! Seconds passed, when I noticed something. That made me want to curse loudly. The undead have breached the circle and are nowing inside, with someing toward me. I knew this would happen, but didn¡¯t expect, that it would happen so soon. I am already having a hard time dealing with the enemy and now with the undead. It is going to be even harder to survive. She seemed pleased by the undead, and why wouldn¡¯t she be? I would have been too, if I had been at her ce. ng! I defended once again, before moving to dodge the attack of the zombie and the skeleton. They had finally arrived; there were three of them, two skeletons and one zombie. As I moved, the woman moved with me, to stop me from what I was doing. Rip! I was able to avoid the attack, but I took the attack of the zombie. I had controlled my body enough that I didn¡¯t let its de dig too deep, but still, it was injured. ¡°Hehe!¡± the womanughed seeing that and attacked me. I didn¡¯t move my sword forward and instead moved left, not only to dodge but also to get away from the undead, but I didn¡¯t go too far. There are several groups of undead and if I get too close, I might get one attracted to me. Rip! I dodged the attack and then another before the undead reached me and once again, I needed to take the attack from the undead to dodge the attack from the woman. This time, it was a zombie. ¡°You should surrender; it will save you a world of pain,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you for your advice,¡± I replied. She will need to beat me to make me surrender and I n to fight till the breath remains in me. She said nothing and came at me with the attack. Using a skill, she had not used before. A faint smoke released from her body, which made me feel sleepy. I had not expected her to have such skill. It is a rare skill, that usually Lv. 30 or above people have. Her information didn¡¯t say, she has this skill. It seemed like; she had been hiding it. Rip! She avoided my sword and gave me a cut across my shoulder. It was not a light cut either and would have affected me a lot. If it had hit my sword in hand. This time, she didn¡¯t activate her pain skill. Once again, it is not surprising; the pain will counterbnce the sleeping gas and she didn¡¯t want that. Rip Rip! I had just got the attack when I received two from the undead. They were lighter, but still the injuries. ng Rip! The next attack came right after and I defended with my sword, but wasn¡¯t able to defend the one that came after and got another cut shoulder. ¡°Give up. You have been defeated; there is no use in fighting anymore,¡± she said, and I grinned with sleepy eyes. ¡°I still have my sword in my hand,¡± I replied, and she attacked me again. Rip Rip Rip! Her attack cut through the cloth of my thought, but the next one after that, gave me a cut across my left before I received another one from the zombie. It was a new one; two more undead hade, taking their number to five. Normally, these undead aren¡¯t a problem for me; I would need a second to finish them off, but now, I am powerless to do anything against them. If I tried to attack them, the woman would finish me off. I would need a single attack to finish half of them, but the woman will not give me that opportunity. It is a good thing; I had added that attribute point, I had got from my recent level up into the vitality. It is helping me deal better with the injuries along with Eudo¡¯s scripts. Though, I will have to do something soon or she will end me. She is expecting me to do something in the next few seconds. She is alert, ready to deal with anything, I threw at her. Rip ng Rip! Seconds passed, and I received more and more injuries from the woman and undead, while the sleep in my eyes became so intense that I was barely able to hold it onto the bay. Still, some symptoms have started affecting me. Lethargy, tiredness, and irritation make things extremely dangerous. She hade close thrice to finish me off. If she had seeded, she would have brought me too close to death. I would have be her hostage, and the result of the battles would fall into jeopardy. While I had told the army to keep fighting, even when I got killed and captured. It couldn¡¯t be said, it will happen. I am the leader and even though I am weak. I am the most important person, whosemand they are following. It is likely, that they will surrender if I get killed or captured; it is quitemon. ng Rip! I defended against the attack, nearly losing my rapier, before getting injured by the undead. Nearly every part of my body is injured, my eyes are sleepy, and my mind is tired. I just wanted to give it up, but I didn¡¯t. Instead, I kept fighting every moment, irritating the woman who was trying to finish me off. She is using every skill to attack me and a lot of them have injured me, but she still has finished me made or forced me to surrender. Another minute passed, and I was barely holding on against her attacks. I don¡¯t think I would be able to hold her back for long; she thinks the same too as her attacks be daring. She wants to finish me off; wants the reward, that is promised to her and every person part of the horde. Seconds passed, and I received another injury from the undead, when she came at me, once again. She is fast and her attack is powerful, she is also very close to me. I didn¡¯t behave anything odd, instead; I moved my sword to defend against the attack as I have been doing, with lethargic movement. She tried to avoid my de like she always does, but I didn¡¯t let her, and it moved to sh. There was no change in me until our swords were centimeters away from each other. When my eyes sharpened and nearly all the tiredness vanished. Focus is an amazing skill. It lets me focus on a thing I want, but it also helps in dealing with skills like sleeping gas or other type of soul/neurological skills. I didn¡¯t fake the sleepiness. She would have noticed that immediately. Instead, I lowered the power of the focus, till the skill was barely active. Let the mist affect me and defend as I usually would. It was an enormous risk, but it was the only thing, I could do to make the enemy so confident of her victory, that she provided me a window to mine. ng! She noticed the change in me as our weapons shed, and I parried her sword, with Quick Parry. Even with the skill, it would have been hard to achieve this without resistance, but there is a thing called perception. Till now, I had gone from being a rtively strong opponent to the one barely able to hold against her. Add to that, a novel skill that she is pretty proud of, which made her even more confident. Making her lower her guard; allowing me to sessfully parry her sword. With her sword parried away, I moved forward, and her rm shed in her eyes. When she saw my speed, she finally began to retreat. She should have done that when I parried her sword, but she still had confidence in her ability to kill me. Now, seeing my speed, she finally understood the trouble she was in. I didn¡¯t reveal all my strength, including my speed. I kept 30% back, which I am using. Once again, against an opponent like her, it is not that useful, until it is used at the right time, right moment. I don¡¯t know if it is. I will know in a second. Hun! She begins retreating instantly, but my sword already reached her. It was about to touch her when her skin turned stony grey. For a moment, I thought it was a skill, but no; it is a fucking spell and a Grade III at that. I wanted to curse, but I didn¡¯t. Instead, I activated the Sharpness and powered the enchantment on my rapier to the max. Usually, I do not do that because it is unnecessary, especially after I have changed the core of the rapier. 25% power is more than enough to pierce through anything, also using full power damages the enchantments and the metal. Which will damage it without a doubt; the new core is too powerful for the rapier. I had been warned to not use over 60% of the power, but now I am using it. I love this rapier; it was my mother''s, but now to kill the enemy, I am going to damage it. There is no other option. If I didn''t kill her, that sword of hers would kill. Puch! With the full power of the enchantments and Sharpness, my sword touched her rocky skin covering her, before piercing through her head, killing her. The spells may be powerful, but these enchantments are made to break through spells. To give us a chance, against the monsters, that mages are. I wanted to copse to the ground, but I didn¡¯t. Instead, I removed my sword from her head and moved toward the undead, who wereing to do the job that the women failed to do. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 373: Commanding Chapter 373: Commanding Stone Rippp! The halberd cut through the fiery wave, and I ran toward the man with the fiery de. Suddenly, I sensed the danger and jumped. A momentter, the ce I had been spurted, the earth spikes. I barely nced at it and focused on the danger, thating at me. There are two spellsing toward me, in the air, where there is a little maneuverability. The Earth Laces and Astos Fireball. Both are powerful balls; the Earth Lances has a crystalline tip, while the Astos Fireball is big and burning with such intensity that it takes me out of the battle. I looked and brought out the bronze energy, covered the halberd more densely with it than before, and shed across the attacks. Bang! Loud bang round as the bronze wave shed against the attack, destroying them. Surprising both of my enemies. It was the first time; I used this attack on the battlefield. I had worked really hard to learn it and would have taken me months to master it without her help. I am really d Lord Silver had forced me to go to her. Thud! Inded on the ground, destroying the Earth Spikes and Fire Burst waiting for me, and turned to the enemies. The man with a fiery rapier is Ardan Wayne; a spell de, while the elf is unknown, but she is an Earth Mage. Before the awakening, fighting against one mage of the same level was a challenge, but now there are two against me. ¡°Surrender, and I promise you a full pardon,¡± he said, and Iughed. ¡°Well, I did what higher-ups have asked me to do and since you have rejected the offer, I am free to kill you,¡± he said and came at me with fiery steps and attacked, shed his rapier toward me, sending a powerful wave of fire toward me. At the same time, I felt the Fiery Burst from the ground and Earth Walls around me to contain me in my ce. It would have been a death sentence before, but now I pushed forward and swung my halberd toward him, cutting through the wave and moving at him. Bang Bang Bang The fire zes across his feet, and he avoids the attack. I tried to follow him but attacked with the Earth Lances, which I defended with the halberd. The halberd might be the broken artifact, but it is amazing. It is sharp and powerful. Most importantly, a great conduct of the bloodline power or any power. She had tested it, and it could use her power as efficiently as mine. Bang! I crushed the Earth Lances when ming Pir shot out of the ground. Immediately, I covered myself with dense bronze energy and moved, but still singed me and I needed to move again, avoid another pir, and defend against another bout of spells. There is a reason why, the mages are called monsters. They are monsters. If one is proficient enough, they could kill tens of warriors of the same level. I had seen it happen, many times. I was part of that offensive charge against a battle mage. She had killed eleven of us, before Jim, I, and Winter were able to put her to death. Like all warriors, I hate to fight mages, but I had been forced by fate to do it over and over, and I got quite good at surviving against them and even killed a few. The awakening had provided me with such power, that I could fight them on equal terms. I n to kill a lot of them with this power, starting with these two. ¡°We have given you such an excellent offer, but you are spitting on it. I will make sure, you regret it with every breath you take the rest of your life,¡± said Wayne and attacked again. I didn¡¯t reply and defended against his and Earth Mage¡¯s attack. It is what I am doing the most, with trying a few attacks now and then. I am not fully focused on this battle. More than half of my focus is somewhere else. This fight may be important, but it won¡¯t help me win this battle. Even if I kill, the leader and Earth Mage; it won¡¯t affect things much. I need to kill the powerhouses, central pirs especially. The necromancers are the most important part of the horde. They are the ones controlling the horde, along with pirs. I am guiding my forces toward them. More than half of them have already reached their targets and others will do so soon. Once that happens, we willunch the offensive. The equalizing hadn''t taken all my skill. It had left two; both of them were Commander Skills; they didn¡¯t affect my strength directly. It is the reason why, they have left. Offensive skills with the power of elder blood would make a terror. The great sky wouldn¡¯t give me such an advantage. I am d, I have those two skills because they will help me win the battle. Battle Awareness gives me a general sense of the battle. I could tell the number of people involved in the battles and the powerhouses¡¯ general location and with it, I was guiding my men through the Commanders'' Telepathy. The enemy, this time, had learned from their past mistakes. They had brought an even bigger horde, more pirs, and more pre-Level 30 powerhouses; it was the reason, they had lost. On top of that, they had brought fourteen Lv. 30+ powerhouses, a huge number. It is fourteen, I had sensed. I am sure, there are a few more that are hiding unless they reveal their strength. I won¡¯t be able to sense them with my skill. It is a force, that is capable of more than enough to deal with this small force. Still, despite the massive horde and fixing the mistakes, they will lose, because of one thing, they have not looked properly. It could be said that, we were sessful in hiding, the most important information; the number of powerhouses we have. A lot of people had leveled up after thest battle; I mean a lot. Six of the seven Stone mercenaries have breached Lv. 30. So have Miss Valentina and Miss Salt. Seven from the army had also breached Lv. 30. Of them, two were nobat personnel. Aside from them four mercenary captains also breached it. Two had left the city, two were still with us. There are also three refugees who breached it. Two had joined the army, while one became a mercenary and was still with the city. Four of the volunteers; three of them are still in the city, while one is left. There are two from the church of Dusk, the bishop and the pdin. Both of them once again part in the battle, along with a new people, that hade from the merchant state. The highest are from the orcs, a whopping nine of them. Four shamans and five chiefs. We have over thirty Level 30+ powerhouses and a lot more pre-Levevl 30 and Mid-level 20s. Twenty-two Level 30¡¯s are on the battlefield and only half of them have revealed themselves yet. Lord Silver had made a big fuss about those cracking Lv. 30. From throwing a party for them to publishing their names into the papers but keeping the advancement of others secret. It was hard when the enemy was trying to get information, they could about you. It sounds like we have a huge number of powerhouses and if we had them in the first battle, we wouldn¡¯t have needed to st my legacy. Unfortunately, for this battle, they are not enough. Seeing the size of a horde we are dealing with. It is massive, it won¡¯t take long for it to swallow it. We need to act fast, or we will be defeated by a horde. We are acting fast, but we are dealing with the freaking horde, which is trying to swallow us from all sides. Only a few battles haven¡¯t been untouched by the horde, including mine. Our strength is high enough, that if they bring the undead into the fold. It will be an obstruction to them instead of the aid. Unless of course, it is a special undead or the lich. I directed my men as I fought, including those on the wall. These bastards aren¡¯t only trying to swallow us; they also want to swallow the city. Sending tens of thousands of undead at the wall. I had expected it and had five thousand people to deal with it. There are also the trainees, ready to fight. I really hope they do not need to; it hasn''t been even two weeks since we recruited them. They have only learned how to pick up a weakness; it will take them a few weeks more of training before I could even think about using them in the battle. They are defending the wall well, with Cardin leading the efforts. I wished he hadn''t been restricted by his ailment. He would have been an even greater asset than he is to the city. A minute passed, and anotherpany had reached its destination and began engaging with the target. Our powerhouse hadn''t revealed its power, only defending against the attack. I had asked them to not do that unless it was absolutely necessary. There are no such restrictions on pre-level 30 and below. Many killing squads have reached their ces and started fighting the target. They have lost a number of people, but we have also lost many good people. We will lose more; the more we keep fighting. We needed to finish the battle as soon as possible, but we had barely started. I was talking with one of thepany leaders, who is being pressed hard by the enemy when I sensed something, that put a small smile on my face. Anotherpany had reached its destination. Though it is not the thing that put a smile on my face; it is Lord Silver killing the enemy. The difference in strength between them was considerable, but he was still able to do it. I couldn¡¯t have when I was at his stage. He is growing fast, and taking too many risks. More than I like him to take. I had seen people like him, advancing fast before burning to ashes. I tried to discourage him from joining the battle, but he didn¡¯t listen. If he is killed and captured; the entire army will copse. I may be amander, but he is a leader and a damn good one, which makes it definite. On the other hand, his presence also had benefits. The army¡¯s morale is high, seeing their leader fighting with them. The battles will also help him level up and gave the battle experience, which hecks. I had seen him fight. He is extremely talented butcks experience, which he is rapidly gaining. He will need it all and more to deal with the challenges that will keeping at him. The undead have sown their seeds into the region and it is clear they want to conquer it. Till now, they have barely used anything and already conquered half of the cities of the region. If they use more force, they won¡¯t have a problem conquering the entire region and leaders are not ready, but seeing him, I could see the hope. He is the kind of leader; I had hoped every city and region would have when I fought on the ind. Most were not. I pushed those thoughts and focused onpanies and fighting. These two could kill me; I am already taking a huge risk of being distracted and I don¡¯t increase it more, thinking about the things that are unnecessary right now. Minutes passed, and a faint smile appeared on my face. Nearly all the men had reached their targets. Only threepanies remained, and they would reach their target in less than five minutes, and we would finally be able to start on our real offensive. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 374: The Real Battle Begin Chapter 374: The Real Battle Begin Astur Kruabur ng! The saber of the man struck against my ax, sending me back, before the enemy came at me with another attack, wanting to cut my head off. Captain Vihra appeared in front of me, defended against the attack, and the enemy went for his head. The enemy is too fast, and I am a little farther, I won¡¯t be able to reach there in time. I moved to break the seal when the shield appeared. It didn¡¯t stop the attack; the saber tore through the stone shield, but it slowed down the attack enough for my ax to reach him and defend against the attack. It was nearly the twentieth time; I had nearly broken the seal. I wish themander would give the order as soon as possible. So, I could break the damn seal and fight with my full strength. I had breached Lv. 30 in thest battle; it was a shock to me. All who had advanced to Lv. 30 had fought against Lv. 30. I didn¡¯t, I had fought against pre-level 30. It was a shock all right, but a good one. I had dreamed about it for decades. I am in my early fifties; the chances of level-up lessened as one gets older. I had leveled up, but a few knew about it, before thest battle, every pre-level 30 was instructed to keep their level if they breached the Lv. 30. I did and informed only themander about it. Most Orcs were asked to inform one of nine shamans, but I am half-orc and the only one from my tribe. My tribe is small, and being a half-orc, I had been sent to a different tribe to work as a bandit. It was the only reason; the chieftain had kept me and my family in the tribe. I already brought my family to the city, which was easier than I had thought. I only needed to say to the chieftain that I would being back to the tribe, if my family didn¡¯te and he sent them without dy. I may be a half-orc, but I am more powerful than him. Had been for a few years that he had been trying to get rid of me, sending me into a more and more dangerous bandit group. My family has been living with me in the quarters. I have been provided by the army. The quarters are bigger than the hut, I had in my tribe, but they are temporary. My rank is a first lieutenant; it should have been a captain. The rank given to all the orcs advanced to Lv. 30. Themander promised me, I would be promoted after my power was revealed and would get back the difference in sry, that I should have got being a captain. Also, I would be given better amodation suited to my rank. I had received a sry a week ago. It was such arge amount; that I didn¡¯t know what to do with it. I asked Vihra and Darnall for suggestions and took my wife and the children shopping. It made them happy. ng! The attack brought me back to my thoughts. I defended before the spell came to save me from another attack and then it was Captain Vihra defending with his sword. We have been preparing for the second battle, within a day of the first battle. I have been teamed up, with Captain Vihra and Mage Darnall for a month. Practicing daily; we developed teamwork, which is what keeps us alive against the enemy. If we had been unprepared asst time, we would havested against an enemy as powerful as this one. Still, I wish I could break the seal and fight with my full power. Thepany is dealing with massive undead and enemy powerhouses. The addition of these two would help them a lot, but we need to follow the n. Keep it engaged, till I receive the order to go all out. I did not like the n, but I understood why they did it. It is the only way; we would be able to win the battle. I wonder, how many are there like me, who had leveled, but kept hidden. From what I heard, only fourteen people reached Lv. 30, which is a massive number of powerhouses. A single Lv. 30 is enough to make a tribe prosperous. Small tribes like mine didn¡¯t have any. I didn¡¯t like to fight. My dream was to be a traveling merchant, like the ones who used toe to my tribe, bringing stories of different tribes and ces along with the goods. Unfortunately, it was not a choice for me. I am big, even among the orcs. Half-orcs are usually smaller and slimmerpared to the orcs, but I am an anomaly. My size was only slightly smaller than the Commander before he awakened the elder blood. Because of it, there was no option but to be a warrior. I had once told my father about my dream of bing a merchant. He gave me such a beating, that it took me a week to recover from. Since then, I have forgotten about it. ng! The enemy sent Captain Vihra back, and I moved forward to defend against the attack with Power sh and Furious Parry. I defended, but the enemy attacked again, with more power than before. Thankfully, the Rock Shield appeared in front of me to stop the attack. Rip! His saber rips through the shield gave me a cut across my shoulder and came for another attack, which was stopped by Captain Vihra. I am not the only one who received injury. Captain Vihra has got more than me and half the elf isn¡¯t even giving us a chance to drink the potion. Every moment, we are getting barraged by its attacks. They are dangerous and, if struck, as they are intended to, they will reap our lives. I didn¡¯t want to die; I was with my family after a year and felt like there was a real future here. I like to see that before I close my eyes for the good. The enemy came at me with another attack, but the rock shield appeared once again. It gave me enough time to dodge the attack and defend one that came after that before Captain Vihra moved her shield forward to defend. Hun! Time passed when I noticed something; some undead had breached the circle. Mages quickly finished them, but it shows that the strain on our people increasing rapidly. I needed to free these two to help the others, but I couldn¡¯t do it without themand from themander. ¡°Fucking pests, why couldn¡¯t you just die already!¡± cursed the enemy angrily andunched the swirling attacks. ng Rip Rip! A fast attack came, and we moved to defend against them, but couldn¡¯t fight against all. Some hit us, giving cuts all over our bodies, including one on the corbone. If that injury had gone a little deeper; it would have been dangerous for me. I desperately wanted to use my new skills. The capstone one is really amazing; even the Commander praised it. Another minute had passed, and injuries on bodies increased. More undead had also started to enter inside. They are handling it, but soon, their number might increase enough that they mighte at us. I nced at the people fighting, there humans and orcs and in between. I wish there had been a healer. There are very few priests and mages with a healing spell. Ourpany didn¡¯t get one; in exchange, we got more powerhouses, still, I wished we had a healer. If we had, we might not have lost the people. Bang! The explosion rang out, bringing me out of my thoughts. The cannonball exploded not far away from me, killing the group of undead. Some of the torn pieces of them struck my back. I know they are helping us, but still, these cannonballs scare me. I wish they wouldn¡¯t shoot them so close to thepany. Thest battle I had fought as a bandit had cannons involved. Those nobles brought them out and started shooting at us as we attacked them. I had heard about them, but it was the first time, me seeing it. They had ripped the men''s apart, leaving only blood and gore. There are destructions as such, that seasoned warriors had a took steps back seeing them. They have that effect, especially on those who have seen them work for the first time. The cannons were the reason; we had lost against those humans. Their force wasn¡¯t that powerful, and if the cannons hadn''t taken so many of our people and scared them out of their wits, we wouldn¡¯t have lost so badly. At least we would have been able to retreat, but we had lost enough men and powerhouses, that humans hadpletely dominated us and forced us to surrender. The days in the human¡¯s dungeon were bad; worse than, I had imagined. They were cramped and filthy, and we were being fed only a few times a week. I had seen many people die of hunger. Some had even tried to eat each other and would have, if not for the guards stopping it. It was a hell. The three and a half days we had spent in the city¡¯s jail weren¡¯t much better. Thankfully, the undead attacked, and we were able to win back our freedom. Power sh. Furious Parry. I defended, the attack before Captain Vihra brought her shield forward and defense, giving me time to stabilize. ¡°Fucking hell. I have enough of you!¡± cursed the enemy with his face twisted in fury. Seeing that, all the hair on my body stood up. I knew it was going to do something dangerous, and it did. It appeared in front of Captain Vihra with the speed, he hadn''t shown before and attacked, with an air around the saber turning red. Rip! The saber turned blurry and the air around it redder, that it effortlessly cut through the Rock Shield, appeared in front of it, and went for her without losing the momentum. ¡®I cannot defend against it,¡¯ I thought. The attack is too powerful and fast. She is moving her shield forward, but it won¡¯t be enough. It will reach her through her body, like it did with the shield. ¡®Now!¡¯ I was moving toward her to help and about to break the seal when the familiar voice rang out in my mind and all the hesitation vanished. I broke the seal and immediately moved at the full speed; the Wind Legs could give me. It was amazing speed; I appeared beside Captain Vihra in an instant, surprising the enemy. I activated the Power sh, but this time, with full power. Still, it won''t be able to reach the saber in time, before it reaped Captain Vihra¡¯s life. So, I activated the most powerful skill, that impressed even the Commander. Burst Ax! As I activated it, my ax exploded with power and speed that I could barely control. I have been practicing the skill for a month, but even then, it wasn¡¯t enough to gain the control; I like to have over it. Commander said it is a very rare skill. He had seen only one person having it and that person is an S-ss powerhouse, leading an elite legion. ng! My ax reached the saber before it reached Captain Vihra and shed against it hard. Making me feel the power of the ax and heat, that is scalding my fingers. Though I am not looking at my fingers; I am looking at the enemy, who is looking at me with shock in his eyes. ¡°Leave him to me; both of you go help others,¡± I said to Captain Vihra and Mage Darnall without moving my eyes away from the enemy. Themander had given themand; the real battle had begun. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 375: Bladebound Officer Chapter 375: debound Officer Lt. Colonel Hiren ¡®Now!¡¯ I heard themand as my squad reached thepany of Mage Osward. It is in trouble; its leader especially. Mage Osward Is fighting the High-Mage Karlis and an Orc warrior, alone. She is barely surviving against them. I wasn¡¯t supposed to be here. My squad was to stay close to Lord Silver and move quickly if he needed any help, but the Commander had moved me here. It is a good thing he did because Mage Osward didn¡¯t look like, she would be able to hold against the two for long. ¡°Move. Help, thepany,¡± I ordered the squad and moved toward Mage Osward, breaking the seals over my power. I had been asked to keep my advancement secret, which was kind of frustrating for me. Seeing Azalea and Julian didn¡¯t have to. It is hard not to get envious of the respect and adoration they have for colleagues and people. Till a year ago, I cared little about these things, but seeing how people looked at me, seeing my one hand, made these things important, despite not being. It made me angry and irritated when I was asked to keep my level-up hidden, while many of my friends and colleagues had not. I wanted people to see, I am not less of a man with only one hand. Now, I have got the chance to prove it. I have been training for months and thest battle made me gain confidence and this one will give me the respect, I deserve. I moved toward the Orc. It is unknown. We didn¡¯t have information about him, but I could tell he was strong. It would be a great challenge to fight such an enemy, much less defeat it. Hun! I was halfway toward the orc when I saw a maning toward me. He is a tall man with a handsome face, with a rapier in his hand. He ising at me with a big smile on his face. I hate this smile; despite all the advantages it provides me. People see the hand missing and automatically consider me weak. Theypletely ignore any other factors, which would tell them, that they shouldn¡¯t underestimate me. ¡°Die cripple!¡± he shouted and swung his saber at me. For a moment, I didn¡¯t move at all before suddenly activating the Swift Legs, not to dodge or retreat from the attack, but moving forward toward the saber. Immediately, the man understood what was happening and tried to move his saber defensively. T The man was good, but he had underestimated me too much. If he knew my power or had been slightly careful. He might have had a better chance, but he had literally thrown himself at me and I would be an idiot if I didn¡¯t take full advantage of this opportunity. I avoided his saber with an inch, before moving and swinging my sword. The horror appeared on the man¡¯s face, knowing what was about to happen, but there was nothing he could do. Pachac! A momentter, the head flew up, while I moved ahead toward the Orc,ing at me. The orc is a grey orc, with a bald head, which is a kind of rare in orcs. The orcs love their hair, and it is also important to them culturally. It is quite rare to see a bald orc like him, which is intentional. ¡°Lt. Colonel Hiren. I had heard so much about you,¡± he said, eying the stump on my left hand. Even after a year, it still made me ufortable when they stared at the stump. ¡°All the good things, I hope,¡± I replied, and the orc smiled. ¡°Many good things. Especially of the time when you had both of your hands,¡± he said, clearly mocking. I had gotten used to hearing it, but it was still hurtful. I didn¡¯t show it to my face. Instead, I smiled. ¡°Many had said the same things before they lost their lives to my de,¡± I said, and sparks of anger appeared in the orc''s eyes before a big smile appeared on his face. ¡°You are quite confident despite being a cripple,¡± he spat and came at me like a viper. He appeared in front of me with his speed skill and attacked. His attack is fast and there is a weight to it. I reacted immediately and responded with the Power sh. I tried to avoid a direct sh. Tried to go for his body, but couldn¡¯t, with his sword blocking mine. shing directly isn¡¯t wise. His de is a big longsword, while mine is a light, short sword. I used to use, the bigger and heavier sword, but I changed the sword after I lost my hand. ng! Our weapons shed as I activated the Feather Parry. Swiftly diverting the force with the light skillful movement. One doesn¡¯t need to meet force with the force. Lighter, skillful movements are just as useful to deal with the heavy as the heavy force. In my case, they are much better. Myst level-up wasn¡¯t just a big advancement into Lv. 30. It was a transformational advancement. Even bigger than what mages go, though, when they gain the specialization at Lv. 30. It had been more than a year since I had lost my hand and after the initial three months, when I had resigned from my job and grieved for my arm; I had been training. I changed the weapon and training to amodate the changes that happened to me. I worked really hard and in thest battle; I had proved myself, but it was at the advancement, that I got the real reward. My ss advanced to debound Officer, and my skills changed and advanced for the single-hand fighting. The same with the new skills, I had got. ¡°Humph,¡± He harrumphed and attacked again, with greater speed and power. I countered, same as before. I tried to go for his body; I did not want to sh with it; I wanted to kill it. shing is a waste of time, but the bastard is skillful. He had brought, his sword in front of mine, giving me no chance to sh. ng! Once again, I used the Feather Parry to manage its sword, but this time, he was prepared. He tried to stop the parry, to make my arm bear the full force of the sh. He is underestimating me too much. The Feather Parry is the new skill I have got. I didn¡¯t have the parry skill before, and I had been training parry for a month. It is the best way to manage powerful attacks when shing directly. Now, I have got skills. It made me more efficient and skillful with it. ¡°You are good!¡± he praised and attacked. This time, he added another skill. It is showy with the arc, but it had raised all the hair on my body. I know the skill is dangerous and I shouldn¡¯t underestimate it. I attacked to counter Power sh and added Heavy de into it. ng! The weapons sh and, like before, I parried. It was a powerful sh. If I hadn''t used the Heavy de, it would have given my arm quite a powerful shock. ng ng ng It attacked immediately as I parried, and it attacked again and again, targeting my weak spot. He has forced me on the defensive. He is not giving me a chance to attack at all. Using different moves and skills to keep me upied. ¡°You are doing better for a cripple,¡± he mocked while pressing me harder. In the first few shes, I had gone for his body, and now he is trying to go after mine. Because of the big sword, he had power and reach, while the sword, put me at the disadvantage of that. Rip! Seconds passed when finally, it was able to avoid my sword and shed me below the chest. It was a deep cut and thankfully, there is no pain skill that seemed to be attached to it, but still, it is an injury, I need to be worried about. Thankfully, I had a potion in my mouth and drank it. It is an old soldier¡¯s trick; my father had thought of me. Many people couldn¡¯t do it because of the bigger taste, and some chose not to do it due to the focus it took, not to mention the efficacy it begins to lose outside of the bottle. I have no choice. I only have one hand. I didn¡¯t have another from which I could take out the bottle and drink it as fast as others with two hands. Especially, in the midst of battle. ¡°Hehe!¡± He grinned and came at me again, but this time, I defended and the attack after that. The one injury is more than enough, I don¡¯t want to give him a chance for another. A few minutes passed, and I could tell it was frustrating him for not being able to get any more injuries on me. A cripple, which he thought he could easily kill. He is more skillful than he looked and has greatmand over his skills. Many times, he was able to evade my sword, but I was able to dodge his sword. The only thing he got was my clothes and, one time, my hair. I am getting good at dealing with him and he knows that, as I could feel the slight impatience that he is expertly controlling. He is a veteran of the battles; controlling one impulse and emotions are the most important things in it, but it is the thing most people discard. Thinking it is levels and skills that make one win the battles. He had not. Another minute passed, and I once again dodged his attack. This time, he wasn¡¯t able to get my clothes. Hun! He came for another attack, but as I saw it. I begin to retreat immediately. Rip! Unfortunately, it waste, and I got injured across my corbone. Thankfully, I dodged quickly enough that it was a light cut. It was going for my neck, and it made him a little angry, but quickly controlled his expression and came at me again, and once again, I retreated. Dodging isn¡¯t ideal, but it is hard to counter him with him using that skill. Rip Rip Rip! Another cut appeared on my shoulder, as he flickered to the left. A secondter, another, as he flickered, behind me. Flicker is an amazing skill. The instant burst of speed could do wonders for one both offensive and defensively. If one is in all in power, they can forget touching young. The speed of flicker-type skills isn¡¯t something normal speed skills could manage unless one is at a far higher level. His sword begins to carve my body, cuts begin to appear in every part of my body. From my neck to my legs, I was barely able to avoid heavy injuries, but if I kept receiving such; it wouldn¡¯t be long before he would cut my neck apart. ¡°You should give up, cripple, with this skill. You don¡¯t stand a chance at all,¡± he said, grinning. I didn¡¯t reply and continued with the battle. A minute passed, and the intensity of flickers had lowered a little, but even then, it didn¡¯t provide me much effort. He would still injure me with every flicker. Hun! ¡°It is time for you to die!¡± he dered and immediately all the hair on my body stood. I knew he was going to use another skill; one that might kill me. From my left, he appeared in front and with his sword already crossing more than half of the distance. It was not just Flicker, he had used yet another skill, that made his sword fast. It ising for my neck directly. It takes seconds to reach my neck, till there is less than ten meters of distance between the de of my neck. The Orc is smiling. There is a surety in his eyes. This is my end. I watched the de as I tried to dodge it, but it was fast. The bastard had calcted my limitations well before using this skill. Soon there was a less than, five-inch palm distance between the de and my neck, and the expression on my face became calmed. All the fear and horror were suppressed back into my heart. Repel. I used the skill, that I could use only once a minute, with the attack needing to be less than ten inches away from my body. At the same time, I used my second skill. It is not a new skill, but an upgraded one. Whirlwind sh! I whirled fast and Orc realized the trouble, he was in and used Flicker. The Flicker isn¡¯t as fast as it was a moment ago, but it is still fast and if I couldn¡¯t go faster than it is, then I will lose him and lose the chance to kill him. Swift Legs. I activated the speed skill with full power and immediately the speed of the whirling increased before I reached him. ng! Though the flicker gave him enough chance, to bring his sword forward to defend. It stopped my sword, and I could see the relief flooding in his eyes as I whirled again for another attack. I turned toward him and attacked again. This time, he is much better prepared and moves his sword to defend. He didn¡¯t seem worried about my speed, confident, that he would be able to defend against it. ng! Our swords reached closer and closer, till they shed again. This time, I failed to parry and my sword flew away from my hand due to the sheer shock of the sh. It grinned seeing that, but the next moment, his eyes went wide, when he saw me still moved toward him. He was so engrossed in looking at the flying sword that it had let mee closer to him. He used the Flicker once again, but before he could take a step, he found my sword cutting through his neck. The sword, that had been flying away a moment ago. de Recall. To a one-arm person, a weapon is most important. Without it, we couldn¡¯t defend or attack. We didn¡¯t have another hand, with a sword or a shield, that we could use; we only had one hand and one weapon. Now, with this skill, it always will. As long as my sword is at a certain distance from me; it will appear in my hand, as I willed it. Pachack! My sword cut through the neck of the orc, and it went flying. I looked at the head till it crashed on the ground before I took out the bottle of potion and drank it, before moving toward Mage Osward. I had killed the Orc, but it¡¯s far from enough. We will need to kill over 70% of their powerhouses if we want to win this battle and we will need to do it before the horde swallows us. It is a monumental challenge, but we will conquer it. For more, Tap Below. Chapter 376: Kill I Chapter 376: Kill I Ardan Wayne ¡®Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,¡¯ I counted as more of the bastards have revealed their strength. ¡®I am going to kill the bastards at the intelligence department!¡¯ I cursed, seeing the number. One of the reasons for thest defeat was an intelligence failure. So, when I tookmand of the horde, I made sure to press for more intelligence. We didn¡¯t have the robust intelligencework here as we have on the ind, but we have money and we spent quite a lot of it. The department had told me that intelligence is solid and there would be only a slight variation in it, but there was no variation. There was a fucking difference. There are over twenty-five Level 30+ powerhouses, I am sensing. Twenty-two on the battlefield, while over five on the wall, and they all are fighting against our powerhouses. It is a good thing; I had hidden some of mine. I have one more than them. Twenty-three. However, it would be trouble if those on the wall decided to enter the battlefield. I am not going to give them a chance. I will keep them busy with the undead, till the battle is over. ¡°You have nned well,¡± I said to the elder-blood and swung my saber in the air, sending waves of fire at him. At the same time, he was attacked by Mage Darya, with the Mud field and Earth Lances. The attacks, he had crushed through with his halberd, covered in the bronze energy. ¡°Thank you. It wouldn¡¯t have been possible without your intelligence failure,¡± replied the Elder Blood with an irritating grin, and attacked with the bronze energy arc. The gem on my saber lit up and me walls appeared. Mage Darya had also put her Earth Wall in between for better defense. Fire is good at many things, but defense isn¡¯t one of them. Especially when defending against the attacks of the elder power. Bang Bang Bang! The bronze wave crushed through the shields by the time. It had reached thest shield; it had lost all its power, but right after, its halberd came and tore through it. Thankfully, I had already moved away with the me Blitz. I usually liked to sh directly against the enemies. It is why, I have be a spell de instead of a mage, but the elder-blood bastard in front of me isn¡¯t someone. I like to get close. I had read the information about him. The battles he fought on the ind and the enemies he killed. He knew how to fight mages and killed many of them. He is experienced in dealing with us and now he has awakened the elder-blood power, which made him a dangerous enemy of the mages. He is also controlling that power, far better than, I had estimated. We had elder-bloods, and I have seen the time it takes for them to control their power to such a degree. It takes months, and he did it in a month, despite all the responsibilities he has as themander. There is that artifact that makes him even more dangerous. Even though it is broken; it is still an artifact. It is why, I am not facing him directly, but he is going to die. I had nned for it before I entered the battle and started the n, the moment, I had begun fighting him. It is the reason why, I had chosen Mage Darya, instead of any necromancers. They would have been a much better choice, but she would be perfect for what I had nned for him. Nearly all the preparations are finished. I would need, less than ten minutes to finish up the rest. It will be a powerful attack; something even if it wouldn¡¯t be able to defend against, despite the elder blood power. I retreated once again as he moved for the attack and drank the potion, before sending another flurry of Mass Fireballs and cast the me Burst, but the bastard defended against them as he moved toward me. The Stone Wall and Fire Walls appeared to stop him, but he crushed through them. The spells dyed him enough to provide me with a safe retreat. I could see the frustration appearing in his eyes as he failed repeatedly to catch up to me. If it had been any warrior in my ce; they would have been killed already. Elder Bloods aren''t simple enemies; only the mages could deal with them perfectly. I didn¡¯t let these small victories get over my head. I know how dangerous, these elder bloods are, and he might be hiding his power. I need to be careful every moment, till I burn him to ashes. Minutes passed, and the battle continued without any change, when suddenly my expression changed. A smile appeared on his face. Krugak died, killed by a single-arm warrior. Anger couldn¡¯t help but ze in my heart. Krugak wasn¡¯t just one of the powerhouses fighting the battle. He was my friend. We had fought countless battles together, and I was the one, who had brought him here. Now he is dead. ¡®I will avenge you, my friend,¡¯ I swore and focused on the enemy ahead. Now, it bes more important, that I will kill him as soon as possible. Not only for revenge but also to finish the battle quickly. There are two people in the battle that could make the whole battle copse and provide us with a quick victory. First is Remus Silver, and second is Thaddaeus Stone. I had sent people to Silver, but there was resistance. They have nned it well; the Silver is well protected and what is going to be through the protection is being dealt by Silver. He had turned out to be more powerful than the intelligence had stated. It seemed like, thest battle had given him a bigger advancement than I had thought. It didn¡¯t matter. In the grand scheme of things, he is only a small ant. As long as I kill the elder blood and powerhouse, the victory will be ours. There is no question about our victory with the force we had brought, but there is a question of how many powerhouses I lose to attain it. If I lose too many, the victory won''t matter. It won¡¯t take long before we finish the battle. Our undead are pressing on their powerhouses. Currently, they are being protected, but they will get tired soon, giving the horde a chance, to go at powerhouses, which will be their end. Hun! I was thinking that when I had sensed another death. This one is more costly than the Krugak. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed internally. The necromancer had died. Killed by the Pdin. I hate those bastards. I had nearly died at the hand of one, nearly a year ago. They are one of the sses that could deal with us mages and spell des without any disadvantages. I looked at Mage Darya, and she nodded. We are moving our n forward. There is a chance, that it might get discovered, but I need to do it. Two of the Level 30 powerhouses have been killed, which has started to affect things. Especially the death of Necromancer Rivas. It will also put more pressure on other powerhouses. Like High-Mage Karlis, who is in trouble, asking for help. The one-armed man had joined the battle against her, and she was having a hard time fighting against two powerhouses. I wanted to send Lv. 30 powerhouses to help, but all of them were engaged in the battles. I had sent a group of pre-Lv. 30, but they were stopped by another group of Lv. 30 sent by the enemy. I do not like the direction where the battle is going and would like to finish it off as soon as possible. Time passed, and we kept fighting; the elder blood seemed to be getting better at dealing with our attacks. At first, he mostly fought defensively, but after his hidden powerhouses revealed themselves. He moved to the offensive, which was getting more and more intense every second. He is also getting closer to me, and Mage Darya than we liked. That halberd of his could cut through anything. We wouldn¡¯t want him to get too close to us; it would be a death sentence. A few more seconds passed and finally, the preparations wereplete. I didn¡¯t waste any time and acted immediately. The first thing, I did, was to give the order to the pir, hidden among the undead, before retreating with Fire Blitz and Haste. Thebination gave me an amazing speed that made me even elder-blood surprised. I am not the only one who retreated, but also Mage Darya who is already waiting near the undead. Our sudden actions rmed him, but it was already toote. As we retreated into the undead. Twelve undead moved forward; all twelve had red crystalline red tes on their chest, with runes imprinted on those tes. Those crystalline tes are Grade 4 me crystals and the runes on them will make them even more powerful for my purpose. The idea of this attack hade from the enemies themselves. Just, as they sted the legacy to kill more than half of the undead; I am going to use those Grade 4 me crystals to kill him. As we retreated, I activated the runes. At the same time, I activated another spell. I have beenying its groundwork since the battle began. As I did, the pirs of me shot out of the ground. The same, Mage Darya on the other side cast, Rysal¡¯s Dome. Covering the whole fiery space. The crystals had burst out with fiery power, turning the space inside the dome into a furnace. It is hot enough to turn the elder blood into the ashes. I had checked in with my master and she had said the n was more than enough to kill an elder blood. He will die. In that dome, there is powerful enough to heal and kill me within a second. All the fire immunity, the protection spells, and the tools I have wouldn¡¯t be enough to save me from turning to ashes. Barely a second, had passed, and the dome had already turned bright red. It won¡¯t be able to hold the fire for long, but it would be enough to kill him, long before that. I wish I could have made his death longer and more painful to avenge the death of my friend, but it is a dangerous enemy. The sooner it is death; the better it would be. As for avenging Krugak''s death. I am going there after the elder-blood dies. I will kill that, one-handed bastard before going after the rest. We have won the battle already; it would take me an hour at most, to wipe away, all of them. Bang! I was thinking with sweet thoughts while watching the dome when I heard a loud bang and saw the elder blood sting out of the dome. He is covered in mes with his skin burned, but I can also see the dense bronze energy, which is fighting the fire. He is injured, seriously, but he is alive, and he is moving extremely toward the Mage Darya, crushing through the undead, that came in front of him. She retreats and begins to throw spells at him rapidly, but the arcs of bronze energy are crushing through them all. me Blitz. Haste. I reacted instantly and activated the Haste along with my speed skill, before releasing the Mass Fireballs, me Arcs, and Fire Burst. I need to help her. If he reached her, she would die, and it would be terrible for the battle and me. He dodged and defended against my attack without slowing down. He seemed to deal with everything I threw at him before finally reached Mage Darya. The terror appeared in the woman¡¯s eyes as she cast more spells to save herself. ¡°Stop, you bastard!¡± I cursed seeing it, swinging his halberd at her and ordered the pir to st the undead around them. It is a useless spell in the circumstance given the time it took, but I want to do something to save her. The halberd zing in bronze energy moved swiftly and tore through the Earth Walls, before reaching the Mage Darya, who hadyers of Earth Armor covering her body. Pachac! It was not enough; the halberd cut through the armor, before cutting through her body, diving her into two. ¡°No!¡± I screamed as I stopped in my tracks. It wasn¡¯t long ago, I was thinking victory was minutes away and now, I saw him kill Mage Darya. I was watching when he turned and leaped toward me. I reacted instantly, turning in the opposite direction. I am not his match; I need to get away from him or I will suffer the same fate that Mage Darya had suffered. For more, Tap On Below. Chapter 377: Kill II Chapter 377: Kill II Captain Vandal ¡®Why, the fuck, do I always get the weird ones!¡¯ I cursed as I dodged the attack, which nearly decapitated me. The enemy I am fighting looked all normal, with a little bit of tattoos. I have some, not on the face like, but on my hand, chest and ass. Thest one is due to the bet. I was young and an idiot. Confident that I would win the bed against the wizened old man, but the bastard had beaten me thoroughly, and I had to tattoo his face on my ass. The man in front of me except for one fact. He doesn¡¯t have an arm; he has an arm, but not a normal arm, but a bone arm, which has a bone de attached to it. I had heard about them but had never seen one. They are rare, not only because they are expensive but also because they suit very few people. That bone de is at the level of an enchanted weapon, and it grows as one level-up, bing stronger. He had this arm for over a decade, and it shows, in the way, he is fighting. ng ng ng! My sword shed against its bone sword hard and fast. It had been over half an hour since we had started fighting and still doing. I am using everything I have, from Rapid Strikes to Lion Strength, but the bastard is powerful and skilled, defending and dodging, nearly every attack, I threw at him. Rip! I felt the cut across my stomach; a light cut, only a drop of blood came out, before it stopped, but there was a bloody pain. The bastard has a Pain Skill, and it is damn painful. Still, even with pain skill, it couldn¡¯t hide, the dose of poison, it had used on me. I was supposed to fight Har Scott, a warrior, but after this bastard had revealed himself, the Commander directed me toward him. Which is wise, because I am the only one, who has the arsenal to deal with him. I am a good fighter, not the best one, but I am the one who is very good at fighting and surviving. There are injuries across my body. Most of them healed, despite the poison. It had a poison skill and was a pretty powerful one if the information was to be believed, but I have a Poison Resistance. It is a skill that saved me many times. I also have a Fast Clotting and my newest skill, Twice Healing. It is a passive skill, that helped me recover from my injuries twice faster. I wish it had been active, like Rapid Healing; it would have been more useful. Still, with Fast Clotting, its effect is pretty fast. It is how I am still fighting. ng ng Rip! We continued to sh, and a minuteter; I was able to score a cut. It is a minor one, across his waist. I was able to give him, fewer injuries than what he gave. If I had, the bastard would have been dead already. ¡°You should ept my offer, Captain Vandal. The money is great and so are the benefits,¡± said the man, while leaping at me with another attack. The leaping enemy had a lot of weakness and I had made a mistake, trying to exploit them. The deeper, cuts I had got, is due to them. Now, I just bring my sword forward to defend against them. ng! I defended, beforeunching an attack of my own. As for his offer, I didn¡¯t even think about it. I detest undead. I want to kill as many of them as I can. They have killed my little brother. That greedy bastard went to Vris¡¯alud when the undead hadunched their invasion across the ind. He didn¡¯t return, nor did his body. The only thing, that returned was the news of his death. Every day, I regret not being there to stop him. He was recovering from the previous mission while I went for another. When I returned, I had not found my brother at home. Just his letter. Two weekster, I received the news of his death. He died in the first battle, along with everyone else. That battle had been brutal; the undead had killed every one of them. ¡°I do not join the losing side,¡± I replied after a long silence. A surprise appeared on his face before he arched his brown. ¡°Do your things, we will lose?¡± he asked, and I grinned. ¡°Without a doubt,¡± I replied, and that made him angry, and he intensified his attacks. I have been receiving the news. We have killed three of them, which is not a lot, since there are twenty-two of them, but it¡¯s a start and more will die. I know the people, who are fighting. I had practiced with them. Each one of them is powerful on their own, be it Mage Valentina or Garzong. The city had gathered a lot of powerful individuals, and they will win this battle. It is one of the reasons, why, I decided to stay in the city, despite all the risks, it has. The city might be small, but I feel like, staying would be a wise choice, despite many members of mypany wanting to leave for the greener posture and some did. The biggest reason for me staying is the legacy. With Silver being a lord, he hadplete control over, all the emotions essences, it would produce. That means potions with emotions, essence, and other things. That mercenary of my level wouldn¡¯t get their hands on it. I still have the emotion essence potion, that Silver had provided mest time. Despite the serious injuries, I hadn''t drunk it. There have been tens of offers for me to sell it and three attempts to steal it. I was not surprised at that; the thing is damn valuable and to buy them, money alone isn''t enough. There is a reason, why big mercenarypanies in big cities with legacies are well-equipped. The city needs mercenaries and mercenaries need their patronage to get things, like potions with emotion essence. Rare weapons and tools and political cloud to get out of troublesome things. I have a grand ambition and it is the only ce, that will help me fulfill it. Silver had already hinted, that as long as I remain loyal to the city, he would help me in every way, he could. It is a rare opportunity, filled with risks, but the rewards would be just as great. ¡®Roguz is dead,¡¯ I heard. It surprised me enough, that I had lost focus for a moment and nearly got gutted by him. I remember the orc; I had practiced with him a couple of times. He had died; the first of our powerhouse. It is a battle and there would be death, even the powerhouses aren¡¯t safe from it. ¡°One of you had died; the rest will die soon. I hope you will ept my offer before it is toote,¡± he said and attacked again. I dodged beforeunching mine. I cleared all my thoughts and focused on the enemy. I needed to kill him, but it wasn¡¯t easy; it had been nearly an hour, we had been fighting, and the bastard was good. Especially that de of his; he is using it like a limb, with finesse, I have seen very few people have. Still, I need to find a way to do it. I could see mypany was trying there is stop the undead, but many wereing inside, before getting killed. They won¡¯t be able to hold them sessfully for long. I know it all, but couldn¡¯t see a way to kill him. I have tried tens of ways already, but nothing worked; some attempts nearly killed me. There is only one way, I could think of currently, but that is not an option. We have only two hours and I need to kill it, before moving to help to kill other enemy powerhouses. Fighting until he gets tired and then finishing off isn¡¯t an option in this battle. Though, it is the one way, I am confident of winning. I am sure I couldst longer than him, my skills attuned to it. I have fewer offensive and defensive skills than the others on my level, but I have many skills, that help me survive andst long in the battle. It is how I fought and killed those special zombies and bone abominations in thest battle. Seconds passed, and I thought of different ways, but nothing seemed viable, till I saw his piercing attack and daring n came to my mind. It could kill me; it nearly did many times to my little brother. He was too dependent on that skill. It was the reason why, he was resting at home, while I had gone for the mission. In my advancement, I had got that skill of his, and now, I am going to use the way, he used to do it. I hated that, but now I am doing it. It is the only way; I could think of killing the enemy. I didn¡¯t wait. I could have, as heunches these kinds of attacks, a few times a minute, but I decided to act immediately. The decision was made, but there was no change in my actions. I moved my sword to defend as I was doing. The enemy didn¡¯t suspect anything. Our swords moved closer and closer, till they were about to sh, when he made a move and changed the direction a little, avoiding my sword, which he was able to do a few times. I moved to retreat with my speed, but he followed, and his bone sword swiftly reached my stomach to gut me. Puch! It touched my stomach and began to pierce through it. I could see a big smile appear on his face and itsted for a moment before it froze when he saw me suddenly stopping. Pushing his sword forward, it came out of my back. It hurt like hell, but I bore the pain and moved as I had nned. He sensed something and tried to retreat, but my hand moved fast as lightning and grabbed the bone arm. The bone arm has many advantages, but it also has many disadvantages. Like right now, if I had been in its ce, I would have abandoned my sword and retreated safely with my speed skill, but he couldn¡¯t do that, because that sword is his arm. ¡°Bastard, let go!¡± it screamed and tried to pull away the arm, but it was barely able to shake it. I am focusing on all the Lion''s Strength on it, while my left hand with the sword moving to kill him. He reacted fast and moved his other hand with a small shield forward. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my pain-filled face. I don¡¯t have a favorite type of sword. I could use nearly all aside from rapiers and great swords; I could use even those, but not with the expertise I like. I am d I had chosen the dius for today''s battle. The sword had a short range, but it gave powerful blows, most importantly. It gave me maneuverability; I needed it at such a close distance. Pachack! My sword moved fast and cut through the arm of the enemy. The blood spurted on me, but I didn¡¯t care for it and moved my sword forward. A terror appeared on his face as he finally released, death ising for him and there was no escape. Puch! Finally, it reached his neck and began to cut through it. There is resistance because of the defensive skill, but the enchantment red, and the sword came out from the other side. I looked at the flying head, before removing the bone sword from my stomach. It was extremely painful, but I bore it and removed the damn sword. I used Shift Injuries to avoid fatal injury to my internal organs and spine, but I was still seriously injured and this time, I didn¡¯t hesitate and took out, the healing potion before taking a very tiny sip. I closed the bottle before taking out another potion. It is a healing potion, in which I merged a drop of healing potion with emotion essence. I opened the bottle and took half of it in my hand, before applying it to my injuries. I felt my injuries closing and did the second most important job. Loot the enemy. I wouldn¡¯t be a mercenary if I didn¡¯t loot the enemy after killing it. For more, Tap On Below. Chapter 378: Kill III Chapter 378: Kill III Thaddaeus Stone Boom Boom Boom The undead explodes as I chase after Wayne. The bastard is fast and with all the undead, creating the blockades, it is hard to catch him. The explosions aren¡¯t a threat to me, and I am tearing through the blockades, but they are slowing me down. I have been chasing the bastard for ten minutes and I have yet to catch him. I wanted to give up and focus on other powerhouses. If I had done that, I am confident; I would have finished killing at least one, but doing that isn¡¯t wise. I cannot leave him, because if I join the battle. It will also join it and Ardan Wayne is no weakling. He will kill our powerhouses. So, whether I want it or not, I will have to keep chasing him. I waved the halberd, cleaving through as the group of undead came to stop me. There was a pir, but I didn¡¯t touch him. I could have easily killed him, but didn¡¯t. There is an understanding. I didn¡¯t touch his people, while he didn¡¯t touch mine. Like me, he could also be people below Lv. 30, and being a mage gives him a greater reach to do that. Though I could not kill them, I am moving men toward them, but it is hard because of the sheer number of undead. A minute and a half passed, and I was still chasing him when a smile appeared on my face. ¡®It was the right decision,¡¯ I thought, seeing Vandal killing Payne v. I was sending him toward Har Scott, but when I saw v, I sent him toward him. Vandal has the most envious skills, in one of the most demanding types. His skills focused on surviving. From Poison Resistance to Shift Injuries too fast healing; having one of these skills makes one person feel jealous, and he has more than three. Such people are especially sought in the armies; they could survive battles. This means they could gather more experience and level-up. Giving them a better chance of reaching higher levels, than others. I had ordered him to move toward Har Scott; the enemy, I earlier sent to fight, before sending him to fight v. Rasal is having trouble with him. With Vandal joining, the battle would end quickly. It is the fourth powerhouse we have killed, and we have lost one, but it is far from enough. We need to kill more. At least ten more, or all five remaining necromancers to affect the horde, and we only have a little more than an hour to achieve that. It is a tall task, but we need to aplish it to survive. Boom Boom Boom! Another group of undead exploded, shaking me. This explosion was more powerful than any other, I had experienced. They had gathered power from arge number of undead and focused on the small group. The moment I reached them; the pir sted them on me. My skin burned and death energy was trying to infiltrate my body, before being vanquished by the elder-blood power. These injuries are light,pared to what had suffered earlier. I really thought I would die and would have died, if I hadn''t used every bit of elder power, to protect myself from the fire. After the battle, I am going to thank her deeply. Without her help, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to control such power effectively to protect against the fire. Even with the bronze energy, I had suffered scalding injuries and needed to drink the potion to help them. The elder-blood gives fast healing, but it would have taken time to heal those heavy injuries. The potions make it faster. Especially to me; the elder-blood processes the magical things faster than normal people. Once again, the undead exploded. I bore the injuries and continued to chase him. Unlike me, there was no resistance or interference for him; as he moved, a couple of ways opened in front of him. He could move in any direction he pleases. I am chasing him, with all my speed, and would have caught up to him despite his speed. If not for this interference, st every minute. Hun! Another smile appeared on my face. It is a big smile as the most powerful mage in the army, had shown her worth. She had killed a powerhouse, not a normal powerhouse, but a necromancer. She was able to do that, despite the unsuitable element. The powerhouses of light, element, lightning, fire, and divine are best against the necromancers, earth is not so much. Valentina r is the most powerful mage we have. An Earth Mage and I called her most powerful because of her collection of spells. She is not as experienced as Z, but she could defeat Z. It was hard when they were pre-level 30, but after it, she gained a big edge over all the mages, that breached Lv. 30. She has the biggest advantage because of her spell collection. The mages are terror, but they have one weakness after they made big advancements. The spells collections: the mages receive spells from the great sky, but it is only one; it is rare to get two. The spells also rarely upgrade. It is why, our mages are purely on the defensive. I had asked them because they didn¡¯t have enough spells in their arsenal to contend against the enemy mages. Thankfully, they have only brought eight mages, with six being necromancers. We have already killed two necromancers and one mage. Unlike others, Valentina had studied Grade 4 spells, before she even became High-Mage. She has been doing that for years. So, at the moment she bes a High-Mage, she begins practicing those spells. In one month, she had an arsenal of six Grade 4 spells. Grade 4 spells are rare and expensive; it is not easy to get them. I don¡¯t know from where she got them, nor do I care. I am d she has those spells and killed the necromancers as now; I can do what I want. I gave them themand while smiling at Wayne, who was looking at me with a bad expression on his face. If I had been in his ce, I would have had the same expressions. Necromancers are an important part of the horde, and he had already lost two. A minute passed and then another, when Earth Lances and Dusky Arc came in front of Wayne. He was barely able to dodge them and turned to re before dodging another attack. I nodded at Pdin Carr and Mage Valentina before turning. I could see, a faint relief flooded into Wayne¡¯s eyes. With the three of us, we would have been able to corner and kill him with enough time, but he isn¡¯t the target. If we kill him; the battle would still continue as if nothing happened. The control of the horde is hands of the necromancers and pirs. Killing them is the key to winning the battle. He understood what I was nning to do, and his expression turned bad. He nearly stopped in its tracks, before moving to dodge the attack from Mage Valentina and Pdin Carr. Boom! A momentter, the undead around Mage Valentina and Pdin Carr exploded, but a secondter, both of them moved out of it, looking fine. These two are best to handle Wayne. They will keep Wayne busy, while I will be able to do my job without any worry. Some might say, I am making a mistake here. I should have sent the Mage Valentina and Pdin Carr to deal with necromancers while I kept chasing Wayne. It would have been a wise strategy. If I didn¡¯t think, I could do the job faster. They both are capable powerhouses, who had individually killed the necromancers, but I think, I will be able to do the faster. My abilities and the artifact in my hand will let me do that. Boom Boom Boom! The necromancer seemed to have sensed meing. As the undead began exploding left and right around me, I bore the explosion and soon, reached the necromancers, where the explosions were happening. Thepany of soldiers is being bombarded by them. It is a desperate move. Thankfully, there are enough mages that are protecting them from the st, but they won¡¯t be for long. I could see things getting desperate. I entered the blockage created by apany inside of its Bishop Merial, fighting against the Necromancer Carcyne. He is a tall elf wearing a grey ssic necromancer robe, holding a staff of wood with bone pearl on top of it. Aside from them, there are four pre-level 30 warriors who are dealing with special zombies and skeleton constructs. ¡°Your excellency,¡± I greeted politely, before leaping toward Necromancer Carcyne. Bishop nis isn¡¯t a fighter or Battle Priest. Her specialty lies in healing, but that doesn¡¯t mean, she couldn¡¯t fight. She had been fighting the Necromancer Carcyne for nearly an hour and there were barely any injuries on her. She had also stopped him from running away, which is much harder to do when there are undead exploding everywhere. Necromancer Carcyne seemed to be prepared for me as the tens of Bone Lances shot toward me. Bang Bang Bang! But before they could reach me, a light shield appeared in front of them, stopping them in their tracks, and giving me the clear way toward the necromancer. The necromancer seemed to be expecting that a dark, sharp spindle appeared over me and came at me with incredible speed. Even my expressions turned serious and was about to spin to deal with it. Bang When just an enormous sword, made of dusky light, appeared above me and shot toward the spindle and shed against it. The necromancers¡¯ expressions changed, and a fear appeared in his eyes. A field of big bony thorns around appeared him, covered with dense grey energy. It is not the thorns that are dangerous, but that deathly energy; I shudder in my heart whenever I think about it. I had had the curse of this energy and knew how dangerous it was, but it had been eradicated during the awakening. It is the reason; I was able to awaken or even use the elder-blood power. There are millions of giant bloods across the world, but less than 0.001% of them go through awakening, and even fewer survive. It was a curse that put the elder blood under enough strain along with other conditions, that it started to awaken. I was about to send an arc to crush the thorns, where the tide of dusky energy washed cover it, before freezing over, trapping the thorns within. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face. There are great advantages of fighting alongside people like Bishop nis; they pull more than enough weight. Thud! Inded and spent toward him. He attacked me again, with bonences and acid balls. He had even tried to cast the dark chains, but Bishop nis handled it all. Soon, there was less than a thirty-meter distance between us. He is trying to retreat, but the progress is slow; Bishop Merial has created walls and other blockades that have slowed his retreat. Hun! Suddenly, a change urred. The bone constructs that were fighting against the pre-level 30s moved toward me. Bang Bang Bang! Bishop Merial reacted, but they had crushed through her walls as dark energy covered them. ¡®He is burning their core,¡¯ I thought, looking at constructs. It is not something the necromancers usually wouldn¡¯t do. These bone constructs are hard work and expensive to make. Burning their core means they wouldn¡¯t be used again. They surrounded me. When there were fifteen meters between me and the necromancers. ¡°Die!¡± He said, with an angry smile and a bone wall appeared in front of him, blocking my view. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ I cursed and bronze energy burst out of my body. At the same time, dusky armor covered me and dusky walls around me; the bishop also understood what the necromancer nned to do. I thought it was nning to use them to stall me, but no; it was nning to make them explode. It is dangerous, more dangerous, than even the furnace, that Ardan Wayne had trapped me. Boom! The bone constructs exploded in a shower of bones and death energy. I felt the sharp bones tearing through the dusky walls and armor, beforeing at me. These constructs areid with many enchantments including this self-destruct, which is designed in such a way, that it will do maximum damage to the person, who is being targeted. Puch Puch Puch I felt the bone shards piercing through me. Even armor and the elder energy weren¡¯t enough to stop them all. Itsted less than three seconds, but felt like minutes, with tens of shards piercing into me, forcing death energy into my body. I looked at the Necromancer Carcyne, who had turned toward me while retreating and held a shock on his face. He thought I would die, but I didn¡¯t; I am seriously injured, but not dead. ¡°It is your turn,¡± I said through a bloody mouth and leaped with all my power, feeling the shuddering pain with every movement. It would have been wise to remove shards and drink the potion before moving at the enemy. I didn¡¯t want to give the enemy a second more, to think of ways to escape. I may not have drank potion, but powerful healing spells covered me, the moment I moved. I am grateful for it. Bang Bang Bang! Necromancer released the spells crazily. Most of them were defended by Bishop Merial, and those came at me, crushed by my halberd. Thud! Finally, Inded in front of the Necromancer, who had covered himself with dark armor and then a huge bone armor and sent a massivence with a crystalline tip, wreathed in death energy at me. It is powerful enough. If it hits me, it will tear through me. ¡°Die!¡± I screamed as I poured every bit of elder power into the halberd and swung it toward the massivence. Krrrrr! My halberd shed against it, before cutting through it. The halberd may be broken, but it is an artifact. Its edge is such, that it could cut through any magic, and it did. It didn¡¯t stop after cutting through thence and kept moving. I could see the horror on the necromancer''s face. Hisst gamble had failed. Now there is only my halberd and him. ¡°I su¡± He tried to say something atst, but I didn¡¯t listen. Pachak! The halberd cut through his armor, before cutting through the necromancer, killing him. Immediately, I felt the change around the undead. They stopped exploding and slowed down their crazed charge. ¡°Three dead, three more to go,¡± I said to myself and moved toward the fourth necromancer. There is no time to waste. The sooner we kill them; the quicker we will gain victory. Saving people who are losing their lives every minute fighting the horde. For more, Tap On Below. Chapter 379: No Choice Chapter 379: No Choice Ardan Wayne ¡®Wayne, that bastard is getting close!¡¯ Came the panicked voice from the Tasmid; they had killed four necromancers already and now it is Tasmid¡¯s turn. I have no doubt that if Stone caught him, he would be killed. Tasmid is powerful, but the elder blood isn¡¯t weak. He is a monster, more powerful than we had predicted. He isn''t the only one calling me Arnv, and Jenna is also insistently asking for help. After Tasmid, it will be their turn. I don¡¯t know what to do. It is a fucking nightmare. Powerhouses are dying one after another. They are not weak; they are stronger than average powerhouses due to their experience, but unable to do anything. I was about to reply to him when I suddenly paused as I felt another death. Har Scott is dead. They had killed him and now they were moving toward others. Every death of my powerhouses frees up enemy powerhouses, that could target more of my people. I recognize the slippery slope when I see one. I have been part of many battles where this strategy had been used, by us and the enemies. Most of the time, it failed against us due to therge number of undead and the strength of our powerhouses. This time, it might seed. It is solely on me, to stop them. There is no other choice than that. Defeat isn''t an option. Sup Sup Sup! ¡°Fucking hell!¡± I cursed as I dodged the sword''s arc and defended against the Stone Shower. These fucking bitches are not giving me even a moment of peace. Attacking me every moment, with all types of attacks. Especially that fucking Earth Mage, she wasn¡¯t supposed to be this strong. Once this battle is over; the one thing I am going to do is kill those bastards at the intelligence department. It is because of them, that I am in such a condition, if I had correct intelligence, I wouldn¡¯t be suffering as such. I calmed myself down as I dodged the attack. ¡®Keep running and send as many undead as possible to him,¡¯ I said to Tasmid, before addressing all the pirs. ¡®Start sting the undead. Kill every enemy, you see; I want everyone dead!¡¯ I ordered. I will kill their army before they kill our powerhouses, without it, they will be powerless. It is not a strategy we usually use, given therge number of undead we lose due to it, but currently, I do not see any option to stop the slide. I have to do it, or we might lose. That would be bad for so many reasons. It would immediately end my career and there would be punishment. Boom Boom Boom! A second after mymand, I begin to hear the sting sounds across the battlefield. They didn¡¯t waste any time in acting, which isn''t surprising seeing they have been targeted by the enemy¡¯s killing squads, and now they are responding in kind. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face. These explosions aren''t enough to kill the powerhouses, but they will kill the ones that are holding the undead back. Once they begin to get killed; the undead would easily be able to swarm the others. Sup Sup Sup! I dodged another group of spells and passed by the enemy squad. I could easily kill it and really wanted to, and nearly did, before stopping myself. If I killed them; the two bitches will bring death to every pir, we pass through. If it had been any other time, I would have been willing to suffer these losses, but now I don¡¯t want to. I want to preserve the pirs; they are the ones that heading the offensive since the necromancers are shit scared about their lives and running around the battlefield to save their lives. Hun! A minute passed, and a frown appeared on my face. I concentrated and the smile that had been on my face began to disappear slowly. ¡®They are defending,¡¯ I thought. The enemies aren¡¯t dying at the rate I had expected by the sts. I had expected thousands to die by minute, but not even hundreds are dying, despite us sting thousands of undead at them. They are defending. The mages are casting shield after shield to defend their people. They are also using the wall strategy to lessen the effects of the sts; it is clear, they have been trained for it. ¡®The bastard!¡¯ I cursed. The elder-blood knows us well. It seemed to have prepared for it, keeping enough mages and shield warriors in every squad andpany to defend against such moves. ¡®Wayne, he reached me!¡¯ I was thinking about how to remedy it when a panicked cry from Tasmid reached my mind. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed and I wanted to join the battle immediately, but stopped a momentter. That would be a mistake; the moment I did, the two behind me were able to do that as well. I am confident that I could contain them and, with enough time, might even be able to kill them. I need to do something. If I didn¡¯t, he would likely die and I would be left with only two necromancers, that are full of panic, and who are barely able to do their jobs. Hun! I sensed another death. Killed by the high-priority target, who I had specially chosen to kill her. Azalia was one of the prime targets in this battle. The intelligence stated Silver, had appointed her deputymander for this battle. If Stone had died, she would take over the charge. Rip! ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed visibly and turned to re at the bitches. Their spell hit me, and it was not a powerful spell, but Earth Thorn; one I could crush easily. Gulp! I took out the mana potion and drank it, before casting the fire armor. I don¡¯t want to use too much mana, before, but I can¡¯t take the risks. While the spells wouldn¡¯t have done any serious damage. Even if it had hit its intended target, I should take it as a warning. It might not kill, but those two have enough spells to kill me on the spot. I was speaking of killing when I sensed another death, and this one shook me. It happened, so fast. Tasmid is dead. Killed by that giant-blood bastard. Taking the number of deaths to nine. Four of them are necromancers, the most valuable powerhouses to the horde. ¡®Wayne. You bastard, you will pay, if I die!¡¯ came the threat of Arnv and I shuddered. This time, he hadn''t pleaded for the aid and instead threatened me, and I wish, it had no weight. There is a powerful faction behind the bastard, and they will be angry if he gets killed. It will be bad for me since I owe them a favor; they had lobbied for me to get themand of the horde. ¡®The battle is nearly lost; I think we should retreat,¡¯ said the calming voice of Jenna, who became visible to my senses for one blinking moment, before disappearing. She is good at hiding among the undead. If I couldn¡¯t sense her with my skills and spells; there is no way, Stone would be able to do it. It made me a little relieved. I had nearly convinced myself of those words when I had sensed another death, the tenth one. It made me feel like dying. It is not something, I wanted to happen, and it will get worse, with enemies joining against more of my powerhouses. ¡®Wayne, call the retreat. We might suffer, even greater losses if we didn¡¯t soon,¡¯ said Arnv. ¡®I fully agree,¡¯ said Jenna. ¡®Me too,¡¯ added Bennis. Hearing that, anger couldn¡¯t re up in my heart. It is not something I had throught. ¡®We have a fucking horde, and you are thinking of retreat?¡¯ I asked, with all the fury, I was feeling. ¡®It is not a desirable option, but it is the only option we have. If we don¡¯t retreat on time, then forget us. Even you will not be able to get out of here alive,¡¯ replied Jenna calmly, as always. Hun! Her words have made me even angrier, and I opened my mouth to reply when I felt another death. Killed by the second Pdin and the Orc. I stopped what I was saying. ¡®There will be a punishment and humiliation if we retreat now,¡¯ I said after a second of silence. ¡®Yes, there will be, but we will be alive with a chance of taking revenge on these bastards,¡¯ ¡®If we didn¡¯t retreat now, I am sure we will be killed. Even you will not be spared; that elder blood wille for you after he finishes with me,¡¯ replied Arnv. He is right. Jenna is hiding, and if he didn¡¯t find her, then the next target would be me. I don¡¯t want to die, but retreat didn¡¯t seem like an option either. I have seen the shame and humiliation of themanders go through. It is fine if one loses against the big odds, but here we had all the advantages, and retreating means, losing. I have big ambitions, but retreat will destroy it all and I don¡¯t want to do it, despite the cost. I still believe we could win, and the win wille. We only need to keep fighting for an hour more. ¡®You have thirty seconds to decide, Wayne or we will call the retreat!¡¯ said Jenna, shocking me. It is not something I expected to hear. These are the words that nomander wants to hear. ¡®You wouldn¡¯t. I am themander!¡¯ I screamed. They could do it. I may be themander, but they are the necromancers; all the pirs are under their control. If they did it. It would be a humiliation, that is worse than death. They didn¡¯t trust me enough to lead the army, so they took themand from me. Commanders have killed themselves in shame when such things have happened. ¡®We will retreat,¡¯ I said finally, unwillingly, angrily. ¡®Though, before we do give me a chance to try onest thing,¡¯ I added. There is no other choice in front of me; the enemies and my own men left me without it, before I retreat; there is one thing I want to do and these bastards, are going to help me. If it worked. Then this supposed retreat will turn into a victory. For more, Tap On Below. Chapter 380: Last Gambit Chapter 380: Last Gambit ng Rip Bang! My rapier shed against the enemy while the powerful explosion rang around me. The enemy is powerful, and his sword is so fast, that he is giving me cut after cut. There isn''t a single part, where I haven¡¯t been cut. The enemy was strong and fast; the only thing, I could do against his attacks was to defend. The man in front of me is a half-elf with short green hair and green eyes. He is handsome and tall, with his left ear being cut in half. He gets angry when I look at it. The battle is hard. Hardest, I had fought in the battle, and I am not saying it just because I am having a hard time. Every enemy, I had fought in here was powerful and I had to fight them with my life on the line, but this one was the strongest of them all. ¡°You should surrender. It will make things much easier for you,¡± he said,ing at me with another attack, using a different skill. ¡°Not interested,¡± I replied, as his attack gave me another cut. I won''t surrender. It is not an option for me, because surrender will kill over half of the people in my city, and I won''t have that. It is for this purpose; that I am fighting the undead alongside the brave souls. If I wanted the safety, I could have easily got it. I am the host of Legacy. They won¡¯t kill me even now. If I had surrendered before, I would have had the privileges that would have made my life a lot morefortable, but I didn¡¯t want that. I chose the hard path despite the cost of it because it is the right path. Things are going well, and there is a chance that we will survive out of it. We had killed a lot of their powerhouses and killed more. If we kept at such, especially with the necromancers, we would survive. Which is the aim of the battle. Seconds passed, and the battle intensified further. He begins to use more and more skills, and it bes difficult to fight against him. Still, I gave my all; it was the only thing, I could do. I am not the only one doing that, others too are doing the same. They are in worse condition than me, suffering explosion after explosion, and mages and shield warriors are barely able to protect them. I am d, there is a Shaun, who is not only fighting against the enemy mage but also defending the people with his shields. It is hard for him, considering he had only leveled up a month ago. He barely learned one Grade 4 spell and got one from the system. Thankfully, both of them are defensive-type spells. They are what kept everyone else in thepany alive from the explosions. Puch! I was fighting when one of the bone shards from the explosion hit my leg. The shard itself isn''t dangerous, but nearly allowed the enemy to kill me. I was barely able to save myself from getting killed. It is the danger of the sts. Even if the sts couldn¡¯t kill you; the things it sent might, and we don¡¯t have enough mages to protect every angle from which such things woulde. Ting! His sword shed against my chest in ce, knocking the air out of my lungs beforeing at me with another attack. I was able to dodge it, barely by a centimeter, but it came at me again. It was the hardest battle, I had fought, and I don¡¯t think I could survive him, if we continued to fight. I am aware of my limitations and this enemy is much stronger than me. It is already a miracle that I am fighting against him, but I won¡¯t be able to continue for long. I am getting tired and seeing I am already using every ounce of my strength. There is nothing hidden in the emergencies and that is bad because all of it would need one chance to finish me off. ¡°Retreat!¡± He was attacking when suddenly his expression changed drastically. A momentter, a loud retreat rang out along with a horn. ¡®Do not pursue the enemy, but don¡¯t let your guard down against them,¡¯ said Stone telepathically. ¡°You are very lucky. If we had fought for a few minutes more; I would have killed you,¡± he said, looking at me with disappointment and regret. ¡°That, I have no doubt,¡± I replied. There is no harm in telling the truth, especially under the Privacy Sphere. A surprise appeared on his face, but a momentter, there was a smile. He saluted me with his sword, and I did the same as I watched him retreat toward the undead. I took a deep rxing breath and moved to take out the potion. I am really injured and would like to heal those injuries. I took out the battle about to drink it when I felt all the hair on my body rise up. The next moment, I saw the bone walls rising around me, rming me and also those around me. I moved immediately to get away, but I felt an invisible wave pushing me back. Shaun trieding toward me, but the mage, against whom he had just stopped fighting, attacked him and others. The other enemies that had been disengaged had engaged again, and a few more came out through the undead. This is clearly nned. They don¡¯t want to retreat before onest try. If they have me; there is no need to retreat; the battle is good as won. It is a great gamble that might force them to lose more powerhouses, but if they seeded, they would win the battle. Failing, will make them retreat, a thing they were already nning to do. Soon, the bone dome enveloped me, and the woman materialized. She is a homely woman, who looked to be in her early forties. She has a slight plump figure with blond hair and kind blue eyes, but she is no kind woman. She is the most dangerous one among the necromancers and is also cruel. I had read things about her, that had made me shudder. She is Necromancer Jenna Arza. ¡°My lord, I would appreciate it if you surrendered without any resistance,¡± she said, looking at me with a kindly smile. ¡°You think it is enough to make me surrender? Do you think, we haven¡¯t prepared for this?¡± I asked, collecting my emotions. She smiled back and her smile was bigger. ¡°Are you talking about the little rogue hiding in your shadow, my lord?¡± She asked and the ck bone pearl shone; a momentter, hazy Jon appeared, who made himselfpletely visible a momentter. My expression stiffened seeing it. ¡°Please surrender, my lord, or I will kill your little rogue and make things very ufortable for you,¡± she said kindly and to be honest, I want to ept her offer. I know, what this woman is capable of. She will kill Jon and do terrible things with me. She cannot kill me, but there are many things she could do to me. Some are worse than death. ¡°Jon, kill her,¡± I said, and he moved, while the kindly smile vanished from her face and her real expression of twisted anger appeared. ¡°Come little rogue, I will give you death!¡± she said, and her staff lit up, not a one bit afraid of Jon. Rogue are only warrior-type mages like her fear, but there is no fear in her eyes. She had killed many rogues. Her information had said, she had killed a Lv. 30 rogues, before she had even reached Lv. 30. So, her confidence isn''t surprising, but I am not sending Jon to his death. He will kill her and of that, I am very confident. ¡°Vranalis,¡± I muttered, and the charm in my pocket activated. Immediately, surprise appeared in her eyes, before it turned to horror. The bone pearl which had lit up and about the release of the spell turned off. The charm didn¡¯t break her spell. She has just lost mana. The charm had just made all mana essible to her, inside and outside of her. The charm is powerful, but it couldst only a second against someone as powerful as her. There are also many conditions for it to work and the most stringent is that it only affects people and things within a four-and-a-half-meter radius. If she had been even a step out of the range; she would have beenpletely unaffected. Pachak! ¡°I surr¡± She took a step back and opened her mouth when Jon reached her. A momentter, her head flew up. Seeing her head falling, I couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved. It may not look like it, but I was terrified. If it had failed, she had not only killed Jon but also taken me, hostage. They have would killed my army and my citizens, while I would have watched in captivity. Hun! I was thinking of the horror when the charm in my pocket heated up. It bes a scalding hot. ¡°Fuck!¡± I cursed. This is not a thing, I wanted to happen, but it did. It will make things dangerous, especially after the incident with the lich, but there is no choice. I cannot let, people know, I have a witch. It might make me find out other things about my legacy, that I couldn¡¯t afford. I know very well. What would happen if the truth about my legacy came out. I took out a charm and looked at it. It is a beautiful charm, with precious gems, roots, and flowers. Though, the one thing that made it beautiful, is the translucent light around it. This is a prison charm, and it contains the soul of Necromancer Jenna. Unlike normal mages or necromancers. Her soul wasn¡¯t going to the divine but to the undead kingdom. She had a backup n to turn into a lich, in case of her death. If that had happened. She would have told them about me having a witch, that I wouldn¡¯t want to happen. Though, with her failing, it would attract the attention of the undead kingdom, especially after the incident with Lich. Let¡¯s hope, they considered it a normal failure. Seeing, there is less than a 50% chance of the soul returning to be a lich. ¡°Jon, take this and go to the city. You have less than a minute to reach the walls of the city,¡± I said as I handed him the charm. ¡°What about you?¡± he asked. ¡°It is more important,¡± I replied, and he looked into my eyes, before taking the charm. The charm needs to be within the city¡¯s gates as soon as possible. Once it does, Caena will sense it and collect the soul before dealing with it. Rip! The next moment, a ripping sound rang as Jon cleaved the dome in two with his dagger and moved out, but nobody saw it; he had turned himself invisible right after. People looked at me and the decapitated body of the Necromancer Jenna. They are shocked, especially the enemies. They looked for a second before they retreated into the undead, while mypany moved toward me, surrounding me from all sides. For more chapters. Tap On Below. Chapter 381: Undead Retreat Chapter 381: Undead Retreat ¡°They are really retreating,¡± said the man beside me, looking at the receding horde. They are retreating and like many, I had a hard time believing it. When I had seen the horde; I was pretty sure, that I would die in it, but Stone that bastard, had pulled a victory out of it. We are still careful with thepany keeping me in the center. The priest in thepany healing the injuries of people; everyone is injured, but he is focusing on the ones, who are most injured. The worse injuries belong to the albino orc, likest time; he had heavily injured himself and even then, standing tall, ready to deal with any attack that came at us. If not for those big cuts and body pale as paper, nobody would have guessed he was standing. I am dead tired and wanted nothing, more than to sit down, but I didn¡¯t. Instead, I remained standing with my back straight. It is necessary for my men to see me calm and resolute, and posture ys a big part in that. Finally, the horde had left us, and manypanies and squads began to merge together. While the gates opened, people came with stretchers and healers and began to take back those who needed immediate medical attention. There are a lot of dead among the thousands of bodies of undead, but they didn¡¯t touch them. The dead will be moved soon. They will need to move before tomorrow night or they will rise up. There is heavy death energy with all these undead; it is enough to make thousands of dead rises. I looked up and it was still night. It will be a little more than an hour before dawn. The battle hadsted for only one and a half hours. It was short and intense and killed a lot of people. It was a regret, that these people didn¡¯t even receiveplete training before we made them fight the battle. It will be another big funeral. Still, they were brave soul. It is due to their sacrifice, that city and people are safe. I turned to the horde, every second, it was getting further and further away from us. Making me, more and more relieved. Still, there is a fear in my heart, that it mighte back; it wouldn¡¯t be strange for it to do that. ¡°My lord,¡± Stone greeted as appeared by me. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked. ¡°Good. We havee out better than we had expected. The enemy had suffered a loss big enough that they won¡¯t being back soon,¡± he replied, and a frown appeared on my face. ¡°Why? I think the next twenty-four hours is the best chance for them toe at us?¡± I asked, to which he shook his head. ¡°They will note,¡± he replied, sounding quite confident. ¡°They have failed miserably. If they came back within a day, we will be ready to deal with them, with many of our powerhouses advancing in this battle,¡± ¡°Unless, of course; they bring out an even bigger horde and just release it at us,¡± he added, and my expression turned serious because they had done that, many times. The big horde is unlikely, the forces of the undead are tied up. We might have finished our battle quickly, but the battle at Port Midlet and Deerpond is still in full swing. However, I am more worried about what is happening at the Gailhorn. The third port city of the region. A small undead ship had suddenly appeared there an hour ago, and a few minutes after that, the city fell silent. There was no response from it; all the Shaun¡¯s messages were repelled. ¡°What do you think, happening at Gailhorn?¡± I asked, and his expression turned serious. He didn¡¯t answer for a couple of seconds, before opening his mouth. ¡°If I am not wrong, by morning, we will receive information that Gailhorn had signed some type of agreement with the undead kingdom.¡± He replied, surprising me. ¡°In reality, the city will be their puppet, controlled by them in all but name,¡± he added, and the confusion on my face became deeper. The small undead ship is far from enough to capture the city. If Stone is right, then they have been working on the city for a while and sent the ship there to hammer out the authority and as a signal to those watching. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t they just capture it? Doing it would be much easier?¡± I asked but immediately understood the answer. He didn¡¯t say anything other than nod. The answer is simple, with the city as its puppet, they will be able to do things that they couldn¡¯t with the captured cities. Nobody will have any rtionship with Vris¡¯alud, at least not this quickly. It is apletely different thing for the city, that only has an agreement with them. While everyone is aware of the reality, it is hidden behind the curtain. Maintaining rtions and even doing the trade, wouldn¡¯t cause a bacsh from the citizens and allies. Once they aplish their objective; they could always make it an undead city or keep it as it is to aplish their goals. The undead kingdom had done it many times in Vris¡¯alud and now they are doing that in the renwell region. It didn¡¯t make me feel good at all; it meant, the undead kingdom had serious ns for the region. I pushed those thoughts away and looked at the receding horde, which I could barely see in the dark. It is leaving, with many citizens on the wall cheering. I had made preparations before the battle, that if we won. I will bring a few thousand citizens to the wall to watch the retreating horde. It will boost the confidence in the city. Which is extremely important; I don¡¯t want people to leave like thest time. The city had lost many people; many were talented and experts in their field. The city needs such people desperately and doesn¡¯t want to lose them anymore. ¡°My lord, the preparations areplete,¡± said Shaun. I nodded and turned to Stone; he understood immediately, ¡°Return to the city,¡± he ordered, and the horns blew. A few secondster, the army marched back toward the city gates. Soon, we reached the gates and mounted on the horses that were waiting for us. p p p! Thousands of citizens apuded the moment, we rode through the gate. Surprising many people riding behind me; very few people were aware of the preparations I had made. Though they may have been surprised, they are happy. Ecstatic, seeing the big crowd cheering for them; showering them in petals. I rode ahead, with Stone slightly behind me. Behind him are Lt. Col. Azalia and Colonel Cardin. Behind them a Valentina, Lt. Colonel Hiren, Julian, Captain Vandal, and Shaman Trik. Behind them are even more powerhouses. Symbolism and theatricality are some of the most important tools in the hands of rulers. Throughout history, it has been used to enhance one¡¯s power and loyalty and shape public opinions. Every big leader from Alexander to Hitler used that, and the politicians of modern times have dedicated people to that. I rode without smiling or waving. I kept my face impassive, with Active Presence sting at full power. I didn¡¯t even move my hand to remove showing petals stuck to my face. Thankfully, the mages worked impably, and the gentle wind woulde and move those petals away from my face. It is not the only thing they are doing; they are also responsible for the beautiful swirl of petals around us. The people would throw petals at us, and they swirl around us mesmerizingly. It is beautiful to watch. It is also producing the illusion of grandness and divinity. Some of the priests are secretly casting divine spells, around the petals, making it look like, it is a blessing from the divines itself. While I kept my face impassive, many behind me smiled and waved. Some even kissed the hands of the woman who offered. Soon, the army reached the city hall, and I rode inside with some men, while Stone, took the rest of the army back to the barracks. The people will need to be checked by doctors and healers, and their injuries dealt with, before putting them to sleep. Sleep is very important, not only for the rest but also for the level-up. Thud! I dismounted from my horse and turned to the two women in front of me. ¡°Both of you did a wonderful job, with the arrangements,¡± I said to them. The parade was their responsibility, and they did an excellent job. ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± they said. I smiled and walked inside. I didn¡¯t immediately go to my office, but the suite I have in the city hall. Click! As the door closed. I sat down; I wanted to sleep on the couch as I did, but I controlled myself and instead just closed my eyes. The images of the battle shed in front of me. I got used to them seeing in my nightmares, but still, they affect me. A few minutester, I got up and walked into the bathroom, before activating the Cleaning. Immediately, all the wet and dried blood, along with pieces of skin and bones, stuck to me came down like a tide. I opened the tap and let wash into the drain, while I removed my clothes, which was a struggle. My injuries hadn''t healed and every movement I made sent a spike of pain through my body. I should have used maids. It ismon in many in my position to do that, but I am a little ufortable with it and even called prude by Ca. Finally, after much struggle, I removed my clothes and showered. It was another pain-filled experience, but by the time, I finished, I felt much fresher and a lot calmer. I changed into simple clothes, walked out of my suite, and entered my office, where Z was waiting for me. ¡°What is the update?¡± I asked as I took my seat. ¡°The battles are still ongoing at Port Midlet and Deerpond.¡± ¡°The merchant state had informed us that we should expect the change in leadership at Gailhorn by the morning,¡± she replied. It is the same as earlier; the only surprising thing is the change in leadership. I didn¡¯t like the lord of the Gailhorn much, but he was the man, I could work with. I don¡¯t know who the next leader will be and how he will be, but it is likely someone the Vris¡¯alud chose. I am worried about the rtionship with the Gailhorn. Before the undead invaded. We had a good amount of trade with the Gailhorn, but in the past month and a half, there was barely any trade. I had talked to the Lord of Gailhorn about it and nning on sending the delegation. We were supposed to talk tomorrow about it, but it seemed like with things changing, it won¡¯t be possible. I really wish Gailhorn hadn''t fallen. With it, they now control half of the region, more like a few days, if I exclude Gailhorn. It is a big deal considering the size of the region isparable to a small kingdom and undead control effectively half of that. They might control more in a few hours if they win any battle. I really hope not. Especially not Deerpond. The river is the only stable trade route I have left; I want nothing to happen to it. For more chapters. Tap On Below. Chapter 382: Victory Chapter 382: Victory Sin Lord 382 Victory Ashton Harbor Thud! The man hits the table hard with his hand, shaking everything that was on it, scaring the man in front of him, which he liked. Though he is feeling too angry to feel any joy from it for more than a moment. The retreat had already made him angry, but now, seeing the list of casualties, the anger in his eyes zed again. ¡°Twenty-one Pre-Level 20, thirteen Level 30, including five necromancers and nearly a hundred thousand undead. We have lost so much and didn¡¯t even attain the victory!¡± said the man with the staff. ¡°It is terrible. Wayne had messed up dearly,¡± said the armored man sitting in front of him. ¡°Do you want me to send him back to the ind for the punishment?¡± he asked a momentter, but the man with the staff shook his head. ¡°No.¡± said the man with the staff. ¡°He deserves to be punished for this failure,¡± said the armored man. ¡°He will be and the punishment. I have something in my mind for him that will be worse than anything he would get on the ind,¡± replied the man with a staff. The armored man wanted to ask him about it, but didn¡¯t. He will know when it happens. ¡°How are the things in Gailhorn?¡± asked the man with the staff. ¡°Very good. Our preparations were thorough; there was no resistance. Our man will dere himself as the lord of Gailhorn in a few hours and will start on our orders immediately,¡± replied the armored man. ¡°And the two battles?¡± he asked, and the armored man¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°There is a greater resistance than we had thought, but I believe our forces will prevail,¡± replied, the armored man. ¡°Keep me updated,¡± said the man with a staff. ¡­ Owlspring ¡°Well, it is surprising,¡± said the lord of Owlspring. Looking at the report in his hand. ¡°Yes, our men didn¡¯t have to move to aid them,¡± replied the man sitting in front of him. They couldn¡¯t let the Greltheaven or any city on the river fall into the hands of the undead. It is the trade route they require and while the undead had promised them, they wouldn¡¯t impede the trade with the empire, but undead are not to be believed. They would prefer to have the people they could control. The conflict in empire had provided great provided a great opportunity to his city and he will be damned. If he lets anyone, mess with that. The leadership had given him,plete freedom to act as he pleased. He had used that authority giving them aid and weapons and keeping his men close to step in if they couldn¡¯t deal with the problem. He read the whole report, before writing a few names down. ¡°Triple the offer; I want them with our city,¡± he said, pushing the note toward the man in front of him. There are a couple of names on the list, with the first being Thaddaeus Stone. ¡°It will be done, my lord,¡± said the man and bowed as he took the list. ¡°What is the progress of the other battles?¡± he asked after a second of silence. ¡°It is hard to say, but our men are ready in Deerpond to assist, if they need any help,¡± replied the man. They care about the Deerpond, not much about Port Midlet. They only kept their scouts there, not men to aid. Those privileges are only for Greltheaven, Deerpond, and Riverbell. ¡­. ¡°My lord,¡± The guards with the church of dusk emblem bowed as I entered the building. Inside, I saw rows and rows of beds with the priests and doctors caring for the patients. Including the bishops and the pdins, who were on the battlefield not long ago. There are a lot of injured and we need everyone we could. I had even sent Z to hospitals to help. This hospital is run by the church of dusk. It is temporary, till their church is built. They are building a big church with an in-house hospital and other things. They seemed to be investing more than what was wise, but I couldn¡¯t me them. Their condition in the merchant state isn''t that good. They need a new territory where there isn''t an intensepetition for the faithful. ¡°My lord,¡± greeted Bishop Merial. ¡°Your Excellency; thank you for doing this,¡± I said, looking at all the patients. ¡°You don¡¯t have to thank me, my lord. Helping people is our path,¡± she replied before she looked at me. ¡°You are injured, my lord, you should take rest,¡± she said, in a healer¡¯s tone. ¡°I will, your excellency, after I finished here,¡± I replied, and she looked at me, before sighing with the shake of her head. I talked to her, for a minute before I let her do her job. I walked around and talked to a few patients before walking out. Soon, the carriage took me to another hospital, where things weren¡¯t as good as the church¡¯s hospital, but all the healers and doctors were trying their all to save as many people as possible. I have made preparations, but I would have loved it. If I had more healers and doctors; potions aren¡¯t enough to save people. I tried to recruit more, but it was hard. Few people want toe to a ce, which could be attacked at any time. Let¡¯s hope, the second attack gives them enough confidence toe to the city. We really need more healers and doctors. This battle isn''t going to be thest battle; the next time, the undeade, they wille in an even bigger horde, and I need to be prepared to deal with every aspect of battle, they will bring to me. Soon, I finished all the hospitals and sat back in the carriage. It is not returning to the city hall, but moving toward the other destination. I wanted to visit since, I came back, but needed to do other things. Hun! Soon, I reached the empty area in the center of the city and was surprised to see people working. The tens that were herest night had disappeared and now there are only people working. It was not just the park when I reached the establishment. I saw the people had started to work on the tower too. Click! The carriage stopped, and I got out. Only to see, a small form in a ck dresse running toward me. ¡°Brother!¡± she cried and hugged me, but not as intensely as I had expected seeing her speed and the little girl seemed to be careful of my injuries. The child couldn¡¯t do this without knowing how. I sighed and patted her head lovingly. ¡°Why are you crying? I am fine, aren¡¯t I?¡± I asked her as I took her in my arms. It is a little painful, but I bore it. The girl didn¡¯t say anything, just hugged me with her little hands. ¡°Have they slept?¡± I asked Bell, seeing both children having red eyes. She shook her head. ¡°Barely, they have been worried about you,¡± she replied. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, to which she smiled. I talked to her, and the children for a while before handing them back into the care of their nanny. The guards will take them back home while I conclude the business here. ¡°There is a person in a hidden city of Nova Alyra, that wants to look at the emotion te of establishment before deciding whether to sell us the nts,¡± I said to Bell as we walked toward the sisters at a distance. ¡°Hidden City has one of the best magical knowledge and goods on the entire continent. If they are willing to trade with you, and the price isn''t big, then you should do it,¡± she replied. I had already made a decision before asking her opinion. Her answer just enforced that. Soon, I reached the sisters, who were talking about the group of people but quickly excused them after seeing meing. ¡°Congrattions on your victory, Lord Silver,¡± said Lady ckwell. It is not a victory; the enemy just retreated. ¡°Thank you, Lady ckwell,¡± I thanked. It is technically a victory, and I should ept, lest I sound like a humble brag. ¡°You have started the work early,¡± I said, looking around. ¡°We decided, is better to keep people busy with work, than their thoughts,¡± replied Miss xasys. ¡°Which is wise,¡± I said. I wouldn¡¯t want people to leave with their thoughts alone. It is a recipe for disaster. Keeping them busy will keep them away from their thoughts; it will make fewer people leave the city. We are already running on a tight schedule, and I don¡¯t want anything to dy it. I talked to them for a few minutes, before putting my hand in the bag and taking out a small box. ¡°This is the emotion te of the establishment. Please send it to your contact in Nova Elyra,¡± I said, and the eyes of the sisters lit up in excitement. ¡°I will do that, immediately,¡± said Miss xasys. She is too happy; it seems like, their contact in the Nova Elyra is big enough to make her act like a teenage girl. I watched her leave and turned to the elder sister. ¡°Lord Ignatius would like you to be in Amberhold as soon as possible,¡± I said, and the woman smiled. ¡°He worries too much,¡± she said, waving her hand. She didn¡¯t have any intention of leaving, which made me relieved. If her people saw her leave, many would have left as well; it is thest thing, I want to happen. A few minutester, I finished my business with her and walked toward Edmore. He had also joined the battle; he was on the wall, fighting alongside Colonel Cardin. They, too, had quite a battle. They had destroyed every undead who came for the wall, not letting even a single one pass through. The damage to the wall is also limited; it is lessst time. This is good; the wall is damn expensive to fix as it is not just the wall, but also wards; they are what cost the most money. It had been three hours since the battle was over, and he was here. He hasn¡¯t slept; more focused on work than anything. An hourter, I was in my carriage again, which moved toward the barracks. It was an hour and a half more when the carriage finally stopped in front of the mansion. I got out and wanted to go to the suite directly, but went to the kitchen and ate something light. It is not good to sleep on a hungry stomach. It messes up the sleep. Click! ¡°Don¡¯t wake me up, unless it is something important,¡± I said to my guards as I entered the suite. A minuteter; I was in my bed, sleeping. Praying that I wouldn¡¯t be woken up by any bad news. I had enough of them and don¡¯t want any more for a week or two. For more chapters. Tap On Below. Chapter 383: Valorous Lord Chapter 383: Valorous LordElder Blood Commander Lv. 32 Elder Blood Commander Lv. 33 ¡­ ss Gained: Soldier Soldier Lv. 1 Soldier Lv. 2 Soldier Lv. 3 {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Ax Warrior Lv. 27 {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Soldier Lv. 7 Soldier Lv. 8 Soldier Lv. 9 {Skill Gained: ¡­} . . . debound Officer Lv.31 debound Officer Lv. 32 ¡­ Mystic Shaman Lv. 34 {ss Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Fire Breather Lv. 10 {Skill Gained: Long Breath} {Conditions Met: Drunkard + Fire Breather- ze Imbiber} ze Imbiber Lv. 13 ze Imbiber Lv. 14 {Skill Gained: Minor Fire Resistance} {Skill Change: Stored Sip ¨C Stored Gulps} {Skill Change: Liquor Fragrance ¨C Intoxicating Fragrance} ss Gained: Warrior Warrior Lv. 1 Warrior Lv. 2 Warrior Lv. 3 {Skill Gained: Heavy Strike} {Skill Gained: Parry} {Conditions Met: Valorous Governor ¨C Valorous Lord} Valorous Lord Lv. 20 Valorous Lord Lv. 21 {Skill Gained: Laws of My Land} {Skill Change: Persuasive ¨C Silver Tongue} {Skill Change: Lords Mood¡ªMood of the Subjects} {Skill Change: Underhand Dealings ¨C Artistic Dealings} {Skill Change: Governors Presence ¨C Lords Presence} {Skill Changed: Weighted Strike¡ªMauling Strike}
ss Dealer of Desire Lv. 26 [Master of Legacy]
Valorous Lord Lv. 21 Trainer Lv. 08
Charisma 19
Intelligence 15
Vitality 16
Strength 16
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Instinct ¡¤ Solid Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Blitz Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Mauling Strike ¡¤ Silver Tongued ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ de Of The Gale ¡¤ Mood of the Subjects ¡¤ Privacy Sphere ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry ¡¤ Sharpness ¡¤ Active Presence ¡¤ Vision Projection ¡¤ Instant Recollection ¡¤ Artistic Dealings ¡¤ Copy Skill - Focus ¡¤ Telepathic Call ¡¤ Energizing Essence ¡¤ Gymnasts Control ¡¤ Lord''s Presence ¡¤ March Of The Braves ¡¤ Laws of My Land
Legacy Demesne of Desire II
Skills ¡¤ Master of Legacy ¡¤ Laws of Legacy ¡¤ Share Authority (5) ¡¤ Vault of Ru ¡¤ Demesne Expansion
Attribute Points 0
Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 384: Training Chapter 384: Training Click! I passed through the door and entered the indoor training space. It is big, with several sparring rings, big weapon racks, and other training instruments. I had been here a few times with Lancel. It was funny to see the people fawning over him, taking hits and even losing intentionally. I didn¡¯t me them, I myself did the same when he asked me for a spar. Lancel was a sour loser. He used to get angry when lost. I am here today because I am going to resume training. It will be the first time since the first battle. I have been trying to find time for training but have been extremely busy. Even now, I am, but that is no excuse. I need to be in shape and trained to face any challenges that woulde to me. Thest enemy I had fought had been very strong. If not for the retreat, he would have defeated me. I don¡¯t want to face such circumstances again. I didn¡¯t start immediately. Instead, I went to the center of the practice ring and started with the yoga. Hun! Within a minute, I was surprised. I shouldn¡¯t have been, but I am. It felt easy, too easy. The Gymnast Grace had already made it easy and now with Gymnasts Control, it had be easier. I stopped, took a deep breath, and concentrated on the skills. I breathed out slowly while doing that, I lessened the power of the skills. It is hard with the passive skill, but I have been focusing on learning to control my passive skills. Especially in the past three weeks, since I had got the Silver Tongue and Lord''s Presence. Those skills are very good and have a powerful effect, but there is a problem. Trustful Presence from the Dealer of Desire. The two skills work well together, but many times messes things up when I want to intimidate the person. I want them to fear me, but it is hard to achieve that when a Trustful Presence makes them feel peaceful in my presence. Trustful Presence is a skill that has grown powerful with the constant advancement of my primacy ss. Currently, it is as powerful as the Lord''s Presence. More, seeing a Dealer of Desire is at a higher level than a Valorous Lord. I want the message to be clear, not confuse people with mixed signals. It made me refocus on passive skills again. I have been spending considerable time learning to control them. My focus had been on mind-attributed skills, not the physical ones, but control is control. If I can control one. I would be able to control others, not nearly as well, but still with sufficient mastery. By the time, I had exhaled, the power of both of the skills halved by nearly half. Which is good. It is not as good as some girls, I know, who could reduce the power of their passive skills to 20%. Margaux and L could do it to 10%. A master could control it to 1%. I have one person, who had such precise control. She had been training me and it was because of her that I have been able to make such fast progress. Though, it would take me years or decades of constant practice to reach close to her mastery. Once again, I began the yoga, and this time, things are much better. To make it more challenging; I had gone for the harder positions. Some, I had never thought, I could do in my life. Thud! I fell, nearly spraying my wrist. I had underestimated the difficulty of the positions too much. It didn¡¯t disappoint me. Instead, there was a smile on my face. I would have been disappointed if I had achieved it easily. I stood up and tried again, but fell down once again and got up a secondter to try again. I kept failing over and over, but I kept trying again and again. Nearly an hour passed, and I hadn''t seeded at all. ¡®Let¡¯s see what happened, with the full power of the skills,¡¯ I thought and let the control over the skills go. The Gymnasts Grace and Gymnasts control came back at full power, and I tried again. Thud! Isted a few seconds longer before falling down once again. ¡®It seemed like, I had underestimated it too much,¡¯ I thought. People take years to master those positions, which I tried to achieve in minutes. I would need to put in some real work to seed in that position and several more, which are even more difficult than it is. The failure had made me happy and proud of the ce of I hade from. Happy because there is a challenge ahead and proud because I know, not all things can be surmounted with skills and sses. I will need to put in some hard work. If I want to seed in it. ¡°Major Petrus, let¡¯s start,¡± I said to a thin, tall man, standing beside Shaun. These two have be my permanent protectors, along with Jon and Z. There was too much pressure on those two, especially Z. She is a mage and as a new advanced High-Mage; she needs time to learn the new spells. So, now the guards worked in two shifts, giving time to both Shaun and Z to learn the spells. Speaking of spells. Those things are damn expensive. I have bought a couple of them from the merchant state, and they have cost me arms and legs. Those are far from enough; I need more spells for my mages. Not only Grade 4 spells, but also the lower-level ones. The man bowed and came toward the ring. He stopped at the weapon rack, before picking up a practice weapon. The man in front of me was tall and looked to be in his early thirties orte twenties. He is handsome with ck hair and pale blue eyes and would have been more if had been not so thin. He is Cardin¡¯s man; the only one to level up to Lv. 30 from the men whoe from the mirador hold. ¡°Shall we?¡± I asked as the man appeared in front of me and he nodded. I moved with the Blitz Steps and a surprise shed into his eyes. Till now, very few have been aware of my advancement. They know, I had leveled-up, but they don¡¯t know, how transformative it is. As I appeared in front of him. I attacked with de of the Gale, which had be even more powerful than before. He responded a momentter, and while he respondedte, his saber was fast but not faster than mine. ng! Our weapons shed, and I activated Quick Parry wanted to move at him, but to my surprise, he broke my parry. He didn¡¯t use any skill or superior force; he did it using pure skill. Stone had praised him for hisbat technique and control, and I could tell he was. He pushed me back and came at me. I reacted quickly to defense and was about to sh with his saber when he avoided mine smoothly and came at me. Phak! I retreated, but he was ready for it and moved with me. A secondter, the saber hit my chest sharply. ng Phak! He didn¡¯t stop with the attack and attacked again immediately, which I was able to defend before he hit me again. The spar continued, he kept attacking, barely giving me any chance to offense. I did find a few, but those were the exceptions. My strength had increased, but not enough to fight against Lv. 30+. They won''t even need a minute to finish me off, but I already expected that, and my purpose is not to defeat him, but to train. I need to get used to my skills, and learn to use them expertly and efficiently. ng! I finally got another attack, which he defended easily. He moved for another attack, but stop seeing me, stop. ¡°Thank you, Major,¡± I said to the man breathlessly. He nodded and bowed before walking out of the ring. I stayed there, feeling tired. We have been sparing for two hours non-stop. It had made me thoroughly tired and got my body aching. Though not as much when I train with Jon. Major had held back a little with his hits on my body. Jon and instructor David rarely do. It is such a regret that the man had left the city, he was really good. Hun! I walked out of the ring, only to see the children standing not far away from the ring. They didn¡¯t have their nanny with them; she was likely waiting outside. I had restricted this area when I was practicing. Only those very trusted coulde in. ¡°When you do youe?¡± I asked them as I walked out of the ring. ¡°Not long ago,¡± replied the boy. It had been over a month since they came, but the slight awkwardness had remained between us. It is disappearing slowly, but it will take time. ¡°Do you like it?¡± I asked, and the boy nodded. ¡°I will arrange the trainers for you,¡± I said, and his expressionless face cracked as joy appeared on his face. Seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. ¡°Did you train before?¡± I asked, and the boy nodded again. ¡°Yes, Mom had taught me a few things,¡± he replied, and I smiled. She had trained me, since I was a child till the day she left. After that, it was trainers that father had hired. ¡°And you, Josie, do you want to train too?¡± I asked the little girl. ¡°I don¡¯t like, fighting,¡± she replied. I was surprised at such a blunt answer from a child. ¡°Mom tried to teach her, but she didn¡¯t have any interest in it,¡± he said. Lovingly riffling her hair, for which she red at him. They may act perfectly, but they have their differences, which is normal for siblings. I was a little worried when I saw how perfectly they acted around each other. Siblings should have differences and rivalries. Love alone isn¡¯t enough for a healthy rtionship. ¡°That¡¯s fine, too. You need to focus on your studies,¡± I said to the child, before walking out of the training hall. As I had expected, their nanny was waiting outside for them. Soon, I went back to my suite, removed my sweaty clothes, and showered. I didn¡¯t apply numbing cream; it is still hurting, but not as much as before. In an hour, every pain will be gone on its own. Fifteen minutester, I finished with a shower and stepped out of it, and changed into a suit, before walking out. When I entered the kitchen, Ca and the children were waiting for me at the breakfast table, as always. ¡°Good morning,¡± I said and took the seat and soon the staff served us breakfast. ¡°Have you made all the preparations?¡± I asked, ¡°Yes, I have triple-checked everything,¡± she said, sounding faintly nervous. She is usually not nervous, but the ce she is going to isn¡¯t normal. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will not meet any elders,¡± I said. ¡°Even if you meet them, you won¡¯t be able to recognize them; those who came out of the hidden city are capable of casting a mor to hide their features,¡± I added, and she smiled nervously. She is going to Nova Elyra with Lady ckwell and Miss xasys for the business. nts to exact. She will not go to the hidden city. That ce is restricted, but Yaris. One of four cities of Nova Elyra. Of all the states of merchant states, Nova Elyra had the least poption. It only had four cities. It is also a restricted state; even the citizens of merchant states would need permission to enter it or rather enter its cities. Anyone could travel through the river route. Docking the ship is an entirely different question. ¡°I had read about that ce when I was a child. I had a book, which had a story about it. My mother used to say, that one day, we will visit this ce when we travel the world,¡± she said, with tears dripping from her eyes. She had told me, a few things about her mother. One of which was that she wanted to travel the world. ¡°You will be fulfilling her dream by visiting,¡± I said, taking her hand in mine and pressed it gently. She nodded and wiped her tears. ¡°These are happy tears,¡± she said to the children, seeing them looking at her worriedly. ¡°I will miss you, Ca,¡± said Josie. ¡°I will miss you too, dear,¡± she replied and kissed the cheek of the little girl. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 385: New Job Chapter 385: New Job Step! I stepped out of the carriage and walked into the city hall with the Lord''s Presence while keeping the Trustful Presence down as much as possible. The people turned toward me, feeling my presence, and bowed. I have to say, the respect and prestige of it is a little addicting. No wonder the lords desire this skill so desperately. Click! ¡°Master Silver, your nine-thirty appointment is waiting inside,¡± informed Jill. ¡°Thank you, Jill,¡± I said and walked into my office. Ina is already there, along with the appointment. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± greeted the handsome man. ¡°Locke,¡± I said as he sat in my seat and looked at my friend, who did not seem happy to see me. ¡°What can I help you, my lord?¡± He asked, there was a faint bit of anger in there. He tried to meet several times in the past week, but I didn¡¯t give him any time. I knew what it was about and didn¡¯t want to deal with that before it was time. Today is the time. ¡°I want you to resign from your job, Locke,¡± I said to him, and could see a surprise appearing in his eyes before the hurt took over. I didn¡¯t have to tell him, what job I was talking about. It is the job of the vice Guildmaster. There is going to be a meeting at twelve in the merchant guild, where the guild leader will ask the whole council to resign. The guild leader will also resign from the merchant guild, along with vice-guild masters, deacons, and leaders of sub-guilds. Tomorrow, the new appointments will be made. Many are going to lose their job, some will be demoted, some will be promoted, and a few will be reappointed back to their position. I was going to do this in the week of the second battle, but the undead attacked and things got dyed. ¡°I really like my job,¡± he said softly, after a few seconds of silence. ¡°I know,¡± I replied with a sigh. ¡°Am I now good enough for the guild?¡± he asked. I could see the hurt in his eyes and the usation of betrayal. It pained me to see it, but it needs to be done; I need him somewhere else. ¡°You are, but I have a different position that, I think will be more suitable for you,¡± I said, and a surprise appeared in his eyes and then curiosity. ¡°Which is it?¡± he asked. ¡°Education. I want you to head it,¡± I replied, and his expression turned strange, and anger shed in his. He opened his mouth immediately to say something, but closed it, before opening it again a momentter with a much calmer emotion. ¡°Apologies, my lord, but I am incapable of handling such a massive responsibility,¡± he replied, with clear sarcasm and anger. He felt disrespected, anyone in his ce would feel the same. I mean, what is education? Most cities didn¡¯t have that department at all. It is the church''s responsibility to teach the children. The state only takes responsibility for education after they reach fourteen when they can be admitted into academies and less than 1% of people go to the academy. There are only a few countries that focus on education. Merchant States, are one of them, but I n to go above them. I smiled and pushed a file toward him. ¡°At least read it before making up your mind,¡± I said. He didn¡¯t touch the file or even look at it. Instead, he kept looking at me. He was angry and considered this as a pity job, I am giving him, after taking It is not a pity. I genuinely feel he is the best candidate for it. If I did not; I would have kept him in a merchant guild; he was doing a good job, there. Finally, after over a minute; he looked down at the fire and opened. The file is my education n. What I had done, what I wanted to do, how much I was willing to spend, and others. It is far fromplete, but one could get a clear idea, of what I wanted to do. His expressions were angry at first, but soon a frown appeared on his face, before turning to surprise and then shock. On each page, he turned. His expressions turn intense before finally he reaches thest page, where his hands begin to shake. It took a while for him to calm down before he took a deep breath and closed the file gently. ¡°Are you in your right mind?¡± he asked. There was genuine shock and confusion in his voice. ¡°I am not actually,¡± I replied. ¡°Then why are you spending so much on things that church does for free?¡± he asked and the smile on my face disappeared, and my expressions turned serious. ¡°Education is one of the most important things there is. It is through which we could shape the future generation, the people who will be pirs of the city in the future. It is also one of the reasons behind the merchant state''s sess,¡± I said intensely. I had given a lot of thought to it. I could just hand it to church; it would save me a lot of money, which I could use for defense and other things, but education is important and I want to focus on it for the growth and prosperity of the city. ¡°The money; it is huge. I don¡¯t think the city has any,¡± he said, and I nodded. ¡°We didn¡¯t, but our condition is improving,¡± I replied with a smile. We are receiving the taxes from route as well as from the city; it is far from peak, but still better than anyone would have expected. The condition might improve in the next few weeks. Hardt and L are leaving for the negotiations tomorrow. If it worked, we would have another trade route and a source of ie. Robin is in a merchant state. If he seeded, it would elevate some of our financial worries. ¡°Still spending so much on education, didn¡¯t seem wise. When you could spend it on defense, it is a thing you should be focusing on most,¡± he said. ¡°I am focusing on defense, but other things education needed the focus. Even in a time like this,¡± I replied. We are still recruiting the people, training them, buying weapons and ammunition, and other things that are required for defense. It is taking an insane amount of money, but as Locke said, it is necessary. He looked at me before opening his mouth but didn¡¯t speak for a few seconds. ¡°I assume, a few of those buildings being worked on are for the schools?¡± he asked, and I nodded. I had the ns. I had created them for the count, but the bastard even looked at them. The moment, school came out of my mouth. The schools were part of a reconstruction package; not all were built. More than half of the buildings were repurposed as schools, which is much cheaper than building from scratch. It was a wise decision to buy the properties right after the battle. They came dirt cheap, seeing many willing to take, whatever they could before leaving the city. I had brought them with my own money and leased it to the city. Currently, I am not charging anything, but I will after the city gets out of the financial strain, which will take some time. ¡°Fine, I will take the job, but only because you are my friend,¡± he said finally and a big genuine smile appeared on my face. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. Locke is the best candidate for it. People might see him as a merchant, and scion of a wealthy family, but he is very educated. He is a student of the Imperial Academy and has two masters. He was pursuing a third when his family pulled him out of the academy and threw him into the business. ¡°It says here that you n to start the schools within a month?¡± he asked, opening the file again. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. ¡°That means hiring a hundred teachers and other staff. Buying all the furniture and the tools that are required, informing the parents about it, and other things. It is too much to do in a month,¡± he said, and I smiled. The buildings are nearly done, and I have done some work, but still much has remained. He had to achieve that in a month. ¡°I am confident, you will be able to do it,¡± I said. It is a big responsibility, but if anyone could do it, then it would be him. ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± he replied grumpily, but I could see, the faint excitement in his eyes. He already likes the job. ¡°I had prepared a space for your department in the city hall, including an office for you,¡± I informed. The education department needs its own dedicated ce, but currently; I am trying to save every penny, I could and not spend any money on things that could be managed. Ten minutester, he walked out of the office, and I went back to my work. The next couple of days are important. Tomorrow, the police will shift into their new headquarters and start to work in a way, that I had been training them for the past one and half months. All the new recruits and the old ones were being trained in a certain way. I had even taken help from the old woman to give them the etiquette training, along with a few other types. I want the city to prosper. The professional and approachable police will y a big part in that. ¡°Any message from Robin?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, he said, negotiations are going well,¡± she replied, and the relief flooded into my heart. He had gone to a merchant state for the aid. They have given us aid, but we want more. I don¡¯t like it, but I need it and am grateful for it. If it wasn¡¯t for the aid from the merchant state, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to recruit enough people for the second battle and buy the mines other armaments, and strategic resources for the battle. Every day the city is growing, and more people are returning. It is nothingpared to its peak, but it is happening. The activity was picking up, first, it was construction, but now the other business also slowly rising, creating jobs and attracting more people. Those who areing to the city know, that things are dangerous, but they have no choice. Seeing the empire isn¡¯t in the best state right now. The civil war is spreading, and our enemies are also making progress. Making many people leave their homes. Most of them escaped toward the Namdar. Currently, it is the safest ce in the whole empire. Everywhere in the empire, the prices of real estate are shrinking, but in Namdar are skyrocketing. The house of silver is raking in cash up there. Gerald had made a huge real estate investment; it was a risky bet, that if he had failed, would have cost him, his future as the sessor. He seeded, and the bed instead cemented his position further. If the undead hadn''t invaded, a good share of those people would havee to the Greltheaven, not only the peasants and poor but also the rich ones. We would have been further away from the conflict, but still in empire. It is also the ce with legacy and a few hours away from merchant state; where they could run, if conflict arrived in the region. The undead had messed it all up. Still, I have not given up on those people, and they wille, but to bring them, I will need to make the city attractive and there are two things, that will do that. Security and legacy. They need to feel the city is safe. We have won the two battles, but it is not enough. We need to do something more and I already have a n for that. It is Stone¡¯s n and overambitious, to say the least, but if we are able to achieve that. My god, the changes will happen. The legacy will bring even bigger changes. The amount of loans is increasing every day. Going far beyond the initial budget. Though, I am not scared of it. I know, I am on the right path, and I will seed. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 386: Merchant Guild Chapter 386: Merchant Guild Ina The guards bowed and opened the door to the merchant guild for me. I nodded at them and strode inside with my heels clicking loudly across the floor. I don¡¯t like wearing heels; the pain and ufortableness are too much, but I still wear them every day. I know what I am, and it will never change. Nor I am trying to change that; it may be dark, but it is what made me who I am today, and I am using what I had learned there. Beauty is a privilege. It makes a lot of things easy, and I used it every day to get things done like I did for the decades in the brothel. The merchant guild was filled with people, and I could see them looking at me. They are aware, of what I am here for today. Many nodded at me, but I could also hear their whispers calling me harlot and silver¡¯s whore behind my back. I got used to them a long ago, but they are still a little every time I hear them. Yesterday, the whole guild resigned to the order of Master Silver. Today, the new members will be chosen. Hundreds have lobbied for the positions; some were powerful and connected. It took us longer than we had anticipated, but we had chosen the members. As Master Silver said, the new merchant guild will be lean and mean. Its members have been cut in half, but it is good. Now, all the members will be able to focus on the job better, without interference from others. We have also cut many of the guilds'' powers. ording to Master Silver, the merchant guild doesn¡¯t need those powers. They make the guild sluggish and inefficient. I didn¡¯t ept it till he showed me the actual proof and I understood, how bad the condition of the merchant guild was. It is not just the merchant guild of the Greltheaven, but also the most merchant guild in the empire. Only a few merchant guilds, like the merchant guild of Namdar, work efficiently. Soon, I reached the conference room. There is no one aside from the two guards at the door. The conference room is empty, aside from the old man. Mr. Oakley, the legal head of the merchant guild. ¡°I have prepared the contracts,¡± he said and looked at the contract in front of each chair, which had the name of the people sitting at the table and the position they would be holding. We have already sent them their new appointment letters and asked them to keep it silent until this meeting is over. I picked up the contract and began to read it. The old man is trustworthy, but there is no harm in double-checking things. I especially check the uses that could mess things up. A few minutes passed, and I checked a few more contracts, before walking out of the conference room to check a few other things. Half an hourter, I returned and waited. Click! I didn¡¯t have to wait for long. The door opened, and the first person who came out was the old man. He was smiling when he came and the smile on his face became even bigger when he saw his name on the head chair. He had his eye on the chair since the merchant guild opened and in the past two months, he had sat on it as the interim head, but today the position became permanent. Soren Arryn is the head of the merchant guild from today. ¡°Adviser,¡± he greeted, ¡°Guild-master Soren,¡± I replied. He smiled and walked toward his head; he looked at the names on the table and his expression couldn¡¯t help, but change. He may have heard the rumors, but still, the man didn¡¯t expect them toe true. He had just sat down when the door opened, and another man came out. He is a short bald man in histe fifteen and when he saw his name with the vice-guildmaster below it, tears started to flow out of his eyes. ¡°Adviser Knox,¡± He greeted, before turning to Soren. ¡°Guildmaster Soren,¡± he said a momentter. ¡°Vice-guildmaster Reed,¡± replied the man with a smile. Beckett Reed was the deacon before one of the two, representing the small business. He was the deacon in name but didn¡¯t have much powerpared to other deacons, most belonging to mid and big business. When I met him after the battle, he directly asked for the position of vice-guildmaster when I had stated that half of the positions would be filled by the small business. I told him; he would be considered. If he was able to keep, the businesses from running away. I have to say, he did a much better job than I had expected. Not only he was able to persuade most of the small business owners to leave, but he was also able to bring some to the city, in the past two weeks. Master Silver has a high hope for him. A few secondster, the third person came. She is a woman in her mid-thirties; tall, beautiful, and savvy. She is the second person from a small business to get the position of vice guildmaster. She was nothing before the battle, where her husband died the strange circumstances. She took the reins of the construction business in her hand, and it was thriving, grabbing many constructs with the consortium of the business. She seemed to be hardly believing, it was all true. She is a few people who hadn''t lobbied at all for it; it must have been a real surprise when a letter arrived in the morning. Soon, another person, a woman again in herte forties. ¡°Adviser Ina,¡± she greeted with a familiar smile. ¡°Vice Guildmaster, Reija,¡± I said. I knew this woman well. She hade to the Navr with me many times; she is daring and ambitious. She had lobbied hard for the position and I, myself, had suggested her name. She will be a representative of a mid-size business along with the man, who came behind her. We had cut the positions of vice-guild master¡¯s in half. There are now, only four positions, two held by the representative small business and the other two held by the representatives of medium-sized business. After them, more people came. All deacons. There used to be twenty-four deacons'' positions. We had reduced it to half. Twelve, of which six went to small businesses, three to mid-size businesses, and thest three to big ones. It is the opposite of before when over 70% of positions were filled by the big businesses andst with mid-scale. The small bossiness had only two seats and it was nominal, without much power. Master Silver is focusing more on small businesses, calling them the lifeblood of the city. The same is going on with the woman. 40% of the seats here are upied by them. four times more than before, where they only have three seats; all deacons, of course. Now two women vice-guild masters. There are many like Soren who kept their jobs. Though it only happened with Guild-master and deacons¡¯ positions; it didn¡¯t happen with the vice-guild master. We had offered three former vice-guild masters the position of deacon, but all of them rejected, feeling disrespect. It might feel like it, seeing it is a demotion, but still, they should have epted it. I could see the great future of the city and the merchant guild under Master Silver. It wouldn¡¯t take the city long to reach the level, it had been before the attack and then go beyond it. ¡°Please, read the contracts in front of you. You all have fifteen minutes to sign them,¡± I said. They have got the positions, but it won¡¯t be official till, they have signed it. Some had started to read the contracts carefully, while others simply read for a minute before signing them. They might have signed without reading, didn¡¯t want to be seen desperate. Click! Soon fifteen minutes passed, and Mr. Wembley collected the contracts, when the door opened, and everybody got up. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± they greeted as he walked inside. I could see, some of the people faintly shuddering under the power of his skill. It is suppressive; it is a powerful skill. I wish I had something like this; I had presence skill, but it worked as Master Silver¡¯s other presence skill. It makes people see me more attractive and receptive to me. It doesn¡¯t suppress, like this new skill of Master Silver. I will never get it. It is a ruling ss skill. ¡°Everyone, congrattions on your new positions,¡± he congratted. ¡°Thank you for the opportunity, Lord Silver,¡± said Soren Arryn and others in unison. ¡°The merchant guild is now, smaller than before and it is not because of us losing a quarter of the poption,¡± he said, drawing theughs. ¡°It is because the old merchant guild was fat, with many responsibilities it could not handle. The merchant guild now is leaner, with focus responsibilities and people who are capable of achieving them,¡± ¡°I am confident in all of you. I know you will handle your responsibilities, exemrily.¡± Many nodded with the smile on their faces. Especially the new faces, the ones who never thought, they would sit here one day. Every one of them is capable and has something to offer. If they were not, we wouldn¡¯t have chosen them despite the massive lobbying they have done. ¡°I will not say much, other than wishing you all good luck.¡± ¡°I am sure, under the leadership of the guild leader, you all will do well and help the city, its people, and your fellow merchants reach the height of prosperity, they have never seen before,¡± he finished, and people apuded. ¡°We will not disappoint you, my lord,¡± said Soren Arryn, and Master Silver smiled, but his skill became stronger. ¡°I know, you will, Guildmaster Arryn,¡± he replied before the power of the skill went back to what it was. He didn¡¯t talk about a single word of the consequence of failing, but with that skill, he told them, there would be. The city is in dire condition, and everybody needs to do their best to move it forward. We will ept mistakes, but they will need to learn from the mistakes they make. Those who do not will find that cushy position gone. He didn¡¯t stay any further and walked out with his guards following behind them. It is a busy day for him. He is inaugurating the new police headquarters and a couple of police stations today. There are also several meetings with peopleing from merchant state. The door closed, and I sat in his seat, before turning to the merchants. ¡°Lord Silver is giving youplete freedom to do your job. That we will not select, who will do what job. It will be the responsibility of the guild master,¡± I said, and a surprise shed in the eyes of many. Though joy had lit up on the face of Soren Arryn. Some powers may have taken away from the merchant guild, but in exchange, they got the freedom. It was not the case before; the lord and the advisers used to decide on everything. It used to depend on lobbying and connections, which is one reason why the wrong people were responsible for the wrong things and small business representatives were just figureheads without any responsibility. ¡°Though we will provide some guidance,¡± I added and opened the file in front of me. Half an hourter, the meeting ended, and everyone left except for the guild master. ¡°Please thank the Lord Silver for giving me this responsibility. I will not disappoint him,¡± said the old man. ¡°Lord Silver knows that already, Guild master. It is why, you were chosen,¡± I replied, and he smiled. ¡°Though he did want me to tell you something,¡± I added. ¡°I am willing to follow any order, my lord has,¡± he said. To that, I shook my head. ¡°It is not an order guild master, just a suggestion,¡± ¡°He wants you to distribute the responsibilities on them based on their capabilities, rather than the gender and the wealth they have,¡± I said. ¡°I understand,¡± he said. I smiled and walked away. I have a busy day today; there are several meetings I need to attend, one with Bishop. I also need to meet Director Locke. He said he needed my help with something. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 387: Silent Chapter 387: Silent ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking. Why did you spend so much on the new headquarters, when our former ce would have been more than enough?¡± asked Commissioner Julian as stepped inside the building. We are walking toward the door of a five-story building with argepound. It is a square-shaped building painted in grey color. It used to be an office building, looking better than it is right, but the police headquarters didn¡¯t need to look good. It needed to look like, it meant business. It is why there is a big stone board with police headquarters carved on it. ¡°It is a symbol and perceptionmissioner. It is important for people to not only feel safe but also see the city as safe. The police headquarters will help a long way with that,¡± I replied. Click! The guards bowed as we entered inside, where people wearing grey and ck uniforms, men, women, orcs, and half orcs. I had hired orcs and half-orcs; they were not from the prisoners, but from new orcs that came to the city. Still, with many people, it looked a little empty, which isn¡¯t surprising. It is built to handle higher numbers than we have. If the city prospered; it won¡¯t take long for it to feel crowded. I checked every floor, till we reached the top floor, where his office was. It has a good view; I could see everythinging and going through the gate. It reminded me of the establishment. I was able to see the peopleing and going. It is why, the windows of his office, have the enchantment that gives them a clear view of the ground. ¡°How is the job?¡± I asked as I sat down. ¡°A lot moreplex, than I had thought,¡± he replied. ¡°There is a problem every day; the wars may stop, but crimes don¡¯t,¡± he added, with a smile. The job isn¡¯t as easy as he had expected, much harder than his previous job in the army, but the man likes it and doing a great job. ¡°How are the people from Owlspring?¡± I asked, and his expression turned serious. ¡°They are good. It would be great. If some of our people were able to gain those sses in a year,¡± he replied. I had hired a few detectives and instructors from the Owlspring to teach the police work. We had a few people with investigative sses, but those people left and they didn¡¯t train anyone. The people from the Owlspring are expensive, but they are necessary, just like this headquarters. The police are new; it is best time ingrain them with skills and professionalism and make it a culture. If I waited, and if they developed some bad habits. It would be hard to get rid of them. I asked a few more questions and looked at the files. Clean records are one of the things, I had demanded. It gives a clear idea of the state of crime in the city and the progress the police are making in dealing with them. Currently, it is manageable, but we could do better. I want them to do better; that is why, I am spending so much money on it. ¡°Let¡¯s go, check out the stations,¡± I said and walked out of the office. A few minutester, we were in the carriage. We didn¡¯t talk much, busy in our thoughts. I am worried about the merchant guild. I have taken a big risk; it had made many big merchants angry, some threatening to leave the city, but I needed to take the risk and I did. Now, I hope, it will pay off. If it didn¡¯t, it would be me and the city, that will pay the price. I was in my thoughts when the carriage stopped and we got out, with a smile on my face. In front of me is a tiny grey, single-floor rectangr building, with the police station written top of on it in big bold letters. It is small and only has a single room, with two desks and chairs. In those chairs are sitting six people; two orcs, and four humans. This is amunity police station inspired by those in Japan. It is a small, and friendly police station. It will take small reports such as idents, help the people with directions, and patrol the area among other things. The office officers in it are specially chosen and trained for friendliness and calm nature, but they are also strong and capable of handling criminals. Many of them are veterans of battles, while others are trained to fight and they also have to train every week. They also act as the reserve personnel, in case of a battle. In thest battle, I didn¡¯t use the police, nor did I n to, but I needed them ready to fight, in case we needed them. There are twenty-four of them across the city, with four central police stations above them. On the top is the headquarters, led by Commissioner Julian. ¡°Lord Silver, Commissioner,¡± they stood up and greeted. ¡°At ease,¡± I said, and they rxed. I walked inside through its big doors, which cover 70% length of the building. It gives the feeling of openness. The city guards didn¡¯t have the best reputation. I want to change that with the police. It will bring more trust to the city by the citizens, merchants, and tourists that I want to attract. ¡°How is it? Do you all like your new ce of work?¡± I asked them, suppressing the Lord''s Presence and enhancing the Trustful Presence. Still, the skill couldn¡¯t ease all the nervousness on their faces. ¡°It is good. Different from what we are used to, my lord,¡± said a man who looked to be in his early fifties. He is Conner Davis; he is a city guard, with nearly four decades of experience, retiring, only after losing a leg. He used to run a small business, but during the battle, he volunteered and fought well, even with the wooden leg. He joined when we opened the recruitment for the police. Handing the business to his wife and children. Julian had offered him a bigger position, head of one of the central police stations, to be exact, but the man rejected it. Saying he doesn¡¯t want to take too much stress. ¡°It is different, but I hope, all of you will work hard to make it good,¡± I said. ¡°We will, my lord,¡± he replied. I talked to them for a few more minutes before visiting another small police station and then going to the central police station. By the time, I had reached the city hall; it was afternoon. Ina had returned from the merchant guild and she had briefed me before my one pm appointment came. Click! It was six when I was free. Though not for long, half an hourter, the door opened again and Stone walked in with Colonel Cardin and Colonel Azalea. I promoted her after the second battle. ¡°Any news?¡± I asked. To which he shook his head. ¡°No, everything is silent. There is no movement,¡± he replied, and I nodded. ¡°It is good news, but I am not feeling as happy as I should be,¡± I said. Feeling I shouldn¡¯t get too rxed. It had been three weeks since the battle, and there was no movement from the undead. Aside from Gailhorn; they have lost all three battles. I thought they would be sent horde again, not letting us recover, but they are silent. ¡°It is wise; letting our guard down against the undead is a sure way to be a part of them,¡± he replied and I smiled. ¡°Still, it would be great. If we know the reason for the dy,¡± I said. ¡°It might be due to the new offensive they are pushing at Mayhurst,¡± said Colonel Azalea. ¡°It might be, it might be something else,¡± said Stone and sighed. It is really hard to know without concrete intelligence. The merchant state didn¡¯t inform us about it; they might not know it or they are not just telling us. As for the new offensive push in Mayhurst; I don¡¯t think so. There is always a new offensive push every few months, from the undead. They won¡¯t stop until they conquer the entire ind. I think, it is something else or it might be the offensive push. Seeing the sheer number of undead, those bastards use on the ind. It is a massive tide of millions of undead, where Lv. 30+ necromancers are the pirs, instead ofmand. I shudder whenever I think about those hordes. A single horde of such size is capable of sweeping through the whole region unopposed and those bastards have many of them. What they are attacking us is the weakest of their force, and I am d. We are no match for even slightly strong. ¡°Still, keep your ears open for any news. Until then, we will keep recruiting more people and prepare. They wille at us again, stronger than before, and we need to be ready to deal with them,¡± I said, and the three of them nodded. Fifteen minutester, they left. I stayed in my office for seven and a half, before leaving the city hall. I had dinner with my siblings, before going to my office, where I had a meeting with L and Hardt. They are leaving for the Gailhorn tomorrow night for the negotiation. It is dangerous, but we are desperate for the money. The trade Gailhorn could provide that to us. We are not the only ones negotiating, the people from Mirador Hold and Nakar Baronies are alsoing. It was past ten when we were finished, and immediately, I went to my suite and slept. I need to wake up early for practice. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 388: Yaris Chapter 388: Yaris Kairos- The Hidden City ¡°No,¡± replied the younger woman. Her answer was resolute, as always. ¡°Sometimes, I really wish you hadn''t been as stubborn as my dearest sister.¡± Said the older woman and sighed. ¡°Well, I am her daughter, aren¡¯t I,¡± said the younger woman, sarcastically, while the elder one sighed once more. ¡°It had taken me a long time to convince the council to seal the other half of your magic, not to remove it entirely. You should ept it; it is the best offer you are going to get,¡± she said, turning to the younger woman. Her crystalline eyes, to be exact. One is green, like the most verdant forest; the very life is emitting from it. She had inherited it from her father; the man she once adored. Her other eye is darker than the night. It opposes life itself. The death element. Cause of her nearly century of captivity. She had not inherited the magic from her mother, but she inherited her nature and that same headstrongness. ¡°I will not ept it. Death magic is magic and practicing it, I didn¡¯t break anyw,¡± replied the younger woman. She hadn''t broken anyw, but the practice of death element is aplicated subject. Especially given her mastery of it. Thest person who had gained such mastery of the death element had caused irreversible damage to them, and the younger woman was the one who suffered the most. Her house is destroyed. She is thest member of it. ¡°Fine, do as you always do, but remember, the council wouldn¡¯t let you out until you seal it,¡± said the older woman. ¡°Thanks, aunty,¡± said the younger woman, while the older woman just rolled her eyes. There was a silence of nearly half an hour before the older woman opened her mouth. ¡°I heard you are doing some business with a legacy in the wastnd?¡± asked the older woman. They may have held the younger woman captive, but they didn¡¯t stop her from doing business or her research. They couldn¡¯t stop her, even if they wanted to. Behind her is the tower, the magic tower of the high house. Grand enough to make even the archmage envious. It is one of the oldest towers on the continent. Even the Council didn¡¯t dare to bring her out of its domain by force. They don¡¯t need to; her captivity is symbolic. It will stop others from doing what she has done. Everyone needs her help; the high houses, the council, and powerhouses from the other states. As long as she remained in her estates and tower, they wouldn¡¯t do anything to her. ¡°Yes. It is interesting,¡± she replied, and a surprise appeared on her face. ¡°I didn¡¯t think, you would find anything interesting in the Grade 1 legacy, dear niece,¡± said the older woman. The younger one smiled and handed the emotion t to the older woman. The same one Silver had given to the sister. ¡°Tell me what you notice about it?¡± asked the younger woman. The older woman looked at the te. ¡°Aside from arge collection of emotions, I am not seeing anything special in it,¡± replied the older woman. She had already got information about it. Including the emotions present in it. Which has one of the greatest numbers of emotions she has seen. More emotions mean, the host could harvest more emotions essence. Still, it is not surprising for her. To others, it may be, but not to her. She had seen a few in her long lifetime. ¡°Look deeply, dear aunt,¡± said the younger woman and older one, looking at her for a second, before turning back to the te, and a momentter a huge purple magical circle enveloped them. A few seconds after that, another bigger one appeared and another one after that. If anyone were to see this; they would be shocked out of their lives. It would make even the Grand Mage shudder in fear and excitement. The older woman is the leader of the high house and a member of the council that rules the hidden city. She is one of the most powerful people in the merchant state and the entire continent. ¡°Witchcraft!¡± said the older woman after over an hour, before looking at her niece, who was smiling at her, which dimmed her smile. ¡°You still missed one thing, aunty,¡± said the younger woman. ¡°No, I did not,¡± replied the older woman. The younger woman didn¡¯t say anything. Instead waved her hand, and the te floated in the air, before arge green circle, with ayer of ck runes, enveloped it. The expressions of the older woman changed a little after seeing the ck runes, but she focused on the thousands of specks of emotions, that flying out of the te. A minuteter, those specks fall down back into te, but not all. There are three specks remained and, seeing them, a surprise appeared in the eyes of the older woman. ¡°Grade II,¡± she said. ¡°The legacy is less than six months old, and it has already, reached Grade II. There had been very few legacies that were able to achieve this feat,¡± ¡°It¡¯s interesting, isn¡¯t it,¡± said the young woman. ¡°The legacies are always dear,¡± replied the older woman with a smile. There was a silence for a few minutes before the older woman got up. ¡°Please, think about the council''s offer,¡± said the older woman onest time. ¡°You already know my answer, aunty,¡± the younger woman replied. The older woman just shook her head and hugged the younger woman. ¡°Sometimes, it is just too painful with you. You remind me too much of your mother,¡± said the older woman before letting go and walking away. The younger woman watched till the older woman disappeared, before turning back toward the tower. ¡­ Ca ¡°I have received a message; we have a meeting in three hours,¡± informed Miss xasys suddenly with a big smile. I turned my eyes away from the dress and turned to them. ¡°It had taken them quite a while to respond,¡± I said. Saying I am angry would be an understatement. We had been to Yaris for three days and there was no reply. My time isn¡¯t useless and while the city is beautiful; I would like to return home, there are hundreds of things I have to do. I also miss the children a lot. In just two months, they have be arge part of my life. ¡°It was worth it. We are not meeting the representative they have in the Yaris, but the person from the hidden city,¡± replied Miss xasys, surprising me once again. ¡°Is the person going to be?¡± I asked, feeling a little nervous and excited. It is the elder, I am talking about. ¡°Don¡¯t know, and I didn¡¯t ask. Our purpose is the deal; it didn¡¯t matter to us, who is making it and what race they belong to,¡± said Lady ckwell. I nodded, but still couldn¡¯t help, but feel excited about it. I have never seen the elder, I had seen the elder-blood, but Stone is giant-blood. The elders of the hidden city belong to a different race. We finished our shopping at the boutique quickly and went to our hotel room. There, I went over the preparations. Soon, we reached the ce. ¡°It would be my first time entering a mage tower,¡± I saw as I came out of the carriage. The name of the tower is Galegem Tower. It is very tall; ny-two floors tall, to be exact, and covered an enormous area. It looked like it was made of lustrous white tiles. It may look like a tile, but not a tile. It is a magical paint, that looked like tile. This is the third biggest mage tower in the city. The tallest one goes beyond the hundred floors. As I got close to it, I felt all the hair on my body stood up and I felt like I was entering the jaws of the behemoth. The mage towers are dangerous, many cities want them, but not every city afford them. They are damn expensive to build and maintain. Soon, we reached the door and entered inside. Into the massive lobby, which is a work of art. I mean, it is really huge, and there are people everywhere belonging to all races. Including those that are not native to the continent. I have been in the empire and hadn''t seen an elf or orc before I came to the Greltheaven and began to travel. Still, even after a year, I am surprised to see different types and races of people. We walked into the elevator and Miss xasys touched the floor number. The elevator moved, and it was very fast, but also smooth. Far smoother and faster than the elevator we had at the circle. Ting! We reached our floor and stepped out, before walking into arge hallway. A minuteter, we stopped at the room with the ss door. Miss xasys showed a small scroll and the guard standing by it opened the door. There was already a person sitting there, a handsome half-elf man with dark green hair. It is avishly decorated conference; our conference rooms palepared to these. They are not just look good, but they are also magical, if what Lady ckwell said is right. ¡°Lady ckwell, Miss xasys, Miss Ca. I am Daxyl Carl. I am the tower aid,¡± he introduced and informed us of a few things. He is a clerk plus a technician. He has the job of activating the tool and acting as the helper. Hun! ¡°It is time,¡± said Daxyl a few minutester and pressed her palm on the table. Immediately, lightning the whole room. The runes be visible, and they are everywhere from the walls to the table, even the chairs we are sitting on are covered by them. They shone for several seconds before they dimmed and when it was, I saw a masked woman, appear in the room. She seemed tall with green hair and green eyes. That is the only thing I think is visible with the in ivory mask. ¡°I am Janice Emerald, I will be negotiating the deal,¡± she introduced and looked at Daxyl, who immediately put the three stacks of papers in front of us. It surprised me, but I had opened the file. ¡°The deal is simple. I will provide you with nts without a charge, but in exchange. You will give me half of the harvest for the decade,¡± she said, stopping me in my tracks; the sisters were surprised too. There was nothing about the percentage in our correspondence. We hade with the intention of buying the nts with the money, not giving them a percentage of the harvest. ¡°My apologies, Lady Emerald, but we can¡¯t ept that,¡± I replied immediately. We are not going to ept it; I didn¡¯t even have to ask Remus to reject the deal. The woman said nothing to that and turned to Daxyl. He brought out the white crystal bar and tapped on it, immediately, it glowed, and a projection appeared over it. ¡°The bar contains the list of nts; all the nts here are beautiful as you require, but also expensive. Each one of them is in high demand from the alchemists and will sell at a high price,¡± she informed as if she hadn''t heard the rejection. We might have epted the percentage. If it had been 5% to 10%, but she was demanding 50%, which we could never agree. Hun! I once again opened my mouth to reject the deal but felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. ¡°It would be impolite to reject the deal before we fully look into it,¡± said Lady ckwell gently. I nodded gratefully at her. If it had any other merchant, I have dealt with it; it wouldn¡¯t have any problem, but the person in front of me from the hidden city. The most powerful ce in the merchant state and it isn¡¯t wise to reject the deal they are offering, without looking into it. The sisters turned to the crystal bar and began to operate it and within a few seconds, a surprise appeared in their eyes. That surprise bes bigger till they see the vine, which turns into a shock. As the mask women had said, all the nts are beautiful. The magical nts are beautiful, but the beauty of these nts is on a different level. There are also a lot of texts around them; some, I understand, but much of what was written, I had gone over my head. There are names of nts, many of which are the oldnguage that I couldn¡¯t pronounce properly. There is also efficacy value, which I know, but don¡¯t understand. It is things alchemists looked at when looking at resources. There are also many other things, which sisters are looking for. Seeing that, I decided to turn to the contract. It is what the masked woman had said but in muchrger details. ¡°These nts are really good. I think you should inform Lord Silver about it,¡± said Lady ckwell. I nodded and turned back. ¡°Lord Silver said that he will need some time to think about it,¡± said Aaron behind me. ¡°Lady Emerald, we will need some time to think about it, before we negotiate,¡± I said to the masked woman. ¡°There will be no negotiations. There is only, a yes or no to the deal. You have till six to answer,¡± replied the woman, and the projection disappeared. I felt irritated at her curtness but refrained from saying anything. Instead, walked out of the conference room. Half an hourter, we were in my suite discussing things with Remus, who was in contact with the alchemist. These nts aren¡¯t only for the show; Remus also wants to sell them. The resources produced from emotions essence are expensive, but they also provide strategic value. Remus wants to make the city strategically important enough, that others would be more inclined to help us, in these troublesome times. It is a double-edged sword. Seeing enemies would want to conquer us more, but Remus thinks the trade would be worth it. Seeing it will help the city prosper, which in turn will give us the ability to support a bigger army. At six, we returned to the tower and signed the contract. Remus had contacted many alchemists, and all of them were in favor. Those nts are extremely rare, and some even suggested, that we should agree, even if they demand 75% of the harvest. They have even offered us a massive amount of money, in exchange for resources, that hadn''t even been nted yet. Of course, we didn¡¯t ept. They are precious, which makes it even more important that we don¡¯t make any deal until we actually have those resources in our hands. It will give us a far greater leverage. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 389: Cartis Chapter 389: Cartis Cartis ¡°It¡¯s not good. You have made a mistake here and here,¡± I said as I looked at the chair, my employee was making. It is much easier working with only four employees, that I myself had trained, but now there are fourteen of them and some are not as good as I like them to be. They take longer to finish the product. Let¡¯s hope the five that arriving tomorrow will be good. I had received arge contract from the city to make tables and chairs. It is the biggest job, I have ever got, and I have to do it perfectly as possible if I want the contract from the city again. It is supposed to be for the schools that opening in the next month. The people from the city halle every few days to check on the progress and the quality of things we are making. The contract wasn¡¯t this big, but some had failed, and their contract was awarded to me. I didn¡¯t want to fail when I had made such a big investment. I rented a warehouse and brought tools and more employees, along with other things. If I am able to finish the contract, I will get good money. Most importantly, more contracts from the city. It is hard for people like me to get them before I could never dream of getting them. They go to the big stores and those with connections. Here too, I had the same thought, and the only reason, I had applied was because Beckett had asked me to do it. When I received the eptance proposal, I was quite shocked. I had never expected to get it. I checked the work of my employees before returning to my workstation. Every hand is required to finish the contract, including mine. I have been workingte every day; thest time, I worked so hard was during my apprentice day. I was fourteen and a half when I finally was able to get the apprenticeship. I knew, I only had six months before I got the ss, and I wanted the Carpenter ss instead of a peasant or serf. Hours passed, and I was working when I saw the carriage stopping in front of the warehouse with the g of the merchant guild. I stopped working and looked at the bald man that came out of it. ¡°Producing crappy work, as always, Cartis,¡± said Beckett as he looked at the small table I was working on. ¡°Says the man who sells the spoiled goods,¡± I replied dryly before a smile appeared on our faces and I hugged my old friend. Intentionally, pressing myself on him, so that sawdust would stick to his suit. I want him to take out his little brush to clean that. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± he said with a wave of his hand. A momentter, the sawdust falls down while I watch in surprise. The sawdust not only cleared, but all creases had also disappeared, and dirt cleared from suit and shoes. ¡°Quite a new skill, you got,¡± I said, and he grinned. ¡°Jealous, right?¡± he asked, and I nodded. Yes, I am jealous; I need cleaning skills; every day, I need to bathe after work to wash the sawdust and other things off. ¡°It had been quite a while since I had leveled up, much less got a new skill,¡± I said and sighed. It had been years. ¡°Complete, this contract well and you might level up and even gain a skill,¡± he said as he sat down on the chair after cleaning it with his handkerchief. ¡°I really hope so. It was one of the reasons I had taken this contract,¡± I replied. It might not be a reason, but I really hope to level up, but it is not easy, especially at my age. ¡°So, how is it going?¡± he asked, looking around the warehouse. ¡°Slower than I liked, but five moreing tomorrow. Jameson is sending them,¡± I replied as I sat beside him. Unlike him, I didn¡¯t clear the dust; there was no need to see it already sticking to every part of my body. ¡°Your brother-inw had good people,¡± he said. He does and his business is also big, at least bigger than mine, employing over twenty people, but he had started to feel the pressure, with the state of empire, that affecting his business. ¡°So, why are you here? I mean, you are not the person, who woulde to meet me in the middle of the afternoon,¡± I asked, and his expression turned serious. Beckett is an old friend; I have known him all my life. I am the one, who brought him here. It is why, I could tell, that it was not a usual friendly visit. ¡°Yes, I need something. Haydens, to be exact,¡± he replied and immediately two people two people came into my mind. They were neighbors; we had shops side by side. ¡°I want you to invite them to the city,¡± he said, and a frown couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°I am notfortable inviting them here, given the state of the city, and I don¡¯t think, they woulde, even if I had invited them,¡± I replied. I was leaving the city after the first battle; the only reason I had stayed was because Beckett had asked. He nearly begged me. Still, I had sent my wife to the children; I might risk my life, but I don¡¯t want to risk hers. I will not feelfortable inviting Haydens to the city, seeing it could be conquered by the undead at any time. ¡°They might,¡± he said, and worry filled by heart. ¡°Have you heard something?¡± I asked immediately and to that, he nodded. ¡°Yes. Two days ago, Edruin attacked several cities in the rohm region. Mavkal being one of them; they were not able to conquer it, but they had destroyed quite a lot of it, including borisne, where their shop was,¡± ¡°I heard they have lost everything,¡± he replied, and I shuddered. ¡°Are they fine?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, they are fine,¡± he replied, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I received their letter, three months ago. The business was going well, and they had even told me about the expansion they did to their store. Now everything had gone to ashes, including the savings they had spent on the expansion. ¡°Ask them, whether they are willing toe to the city. The city will fund their travel and even help them get a small loan to start their business,¡± said Beckett, and forwarded the pouch toward me. ¡°For message,¡± he said, and I was about to curse at the bastard when I stopped seeing the emblem of the merchant guild. ¡°I will ask them, but I can¡¯t guarantee it. Whether they will ept toe to the city,¡± I said finally, and he smiled. ¡°That is all I want,¡± he replied. For a few seconds, there was a silence. I looked at my friend, who was wearing a suit; it was not a new suit. It is an old one, I had seen him, many times wear it, but he never looked so confident wearing it as he is right now. He also seemed happier than I had ever seen him. ¡°It seemed like, you are enjoying your job vice-guildmaster,¡± I said, and he smiled. ¡°I am. I like it; I had dreamed about it,¡± he said, and I nodded. There is no one in the city who knows it better than I do. For years, he tried for the merchant, but he could never be more than a member. It is here, that he became a deacon. Though it was an empty position with no responsibility, which he hated. ¡°I am d,¡± I said. For a few seconds, he didn¡¯t say anything and just looked around before turning to me. ¡°Inform me, when they reply,¡± he said and walked away. Soon, his carriage disappeared, and I went back to my work. I will go to the messenger guild in the evening. I wanted to send a message to my wife. I will send one to Haydens too. I hope they don¡¯te here. I had stayed because I was desperate. The shop is my everything, and I had no savings. I didn¡¯t want to depend on the children, who had just started their own families. Still, I miss my wife, but I couldn¡¯t take the risk of her staying here. After the second battle, I want to call her back, but it is too dangerous. The undead have captured half of the cities of the region and they won''t stop till they capture all. It is pretty dreadful, but what I could do other than have faith in the city and the lord to protect the citizens. Hours passed, and soon it was five. I stopped the work and left the warehouse. I first went to my small apartment and showered before walking toward the messenger guild. I looked around and couldn¡¯t help, but get surprised seeing the changes happening around the city. It does not feel like the city is broke; it feels like the city has the money and being broke are rumors started by enemies. Even when Count Darrow was in charge; there weren¡¯t such big changes happening as it is right now or any changes in the city. Now, the roads are widening and the sidewalks getting built. The streets remained clean and there was proper security, even at midnight. Speaking of which, I nodded at the orc and the human man wearing a grey uniform passing by me. These city guards or the police they are calling themselves now are a lot more polite and respectful. It was the shock of my life when I heard them call me sir. The guards never refer to people like me, sir. They would shout and even hit if they were in a bad mood. These ones not; just yesterday, I had seen them bandage a small injury on a child, who had hit his head while ying. Soon, I reached the park and took a turn. It was an open space where young people used to drink, now, it is a children''s park, with slides and all. It had opened three days ago, inaugurated by the lord himself. Now, instead of drunk youngsters, there are children ying. Seeing them, I couldn¡¯t help but think about my grandchildren. It had been six months since I had seen my children; they hade to the city to visit me and their mother. We had gone to the Owlspring for a small family trip. It was a good trip. I sighed and pushed the memories away. It will be months before I will meet them, but first, I need to finish the contract and gain a few more. I need to have enough money to shift, along with my children. The ce, they are at is not that safe. Merchant State is safe and Namdar, but both of these ces require money, which I don¡¯t have. A few minutes passed, and I reached the messenger guild. There, I sent the message to my wife and Haydens. I told them about the help the city is willing to provide if they shift here and also the risks associated with it. Leaving, the decision to them. After I sent the messages, I went back to the warehouse and started working. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 390: Dropping off Chapter 390: Dropping off ¡°Are you excited, Josie?¡± asked Ca as our carriage left the mansion. ¡°Yes,¡± replied the little girls excitedly. I am taking her to school. Well, both of them. Today is their first day; they hade yesterday when I had inaugurated the schools and mingled with the children who would be their ssmates. Today would be a proper school day. I had spent massive money on the schools. I needed to since there are twenty thousand children in the city, of which over 90% had been admitted to the school. I had made itpulsory for every child of fourteen and below to attend the school. Only those who are being tutored by private tutors have been given the exception. A lot of wealthy people had taken that exception. Most wealthy didn¡¯t have children in the city. They have sent them to safe ces like Namdar and merchant states, but those that had only 10% admitted them to the school. Even they wouldn¡¯t have. If not for me admitting my own siblings. The schools are associated with poverty in the empire. Only the poor children went to the school. The wealthy ones have their tutors to teach them. I am not much worried. My target was themon people, and I achieved it. While I dislike the method I use, I am not ashamed of it. As for the wealthy children, they wille eventually. I looked at my siblings, both of them wearing the uniforms, which are perquisite. They will be going to schools, which I want to turn into most premier schools; I have spent more on those three schools than any other schools. A few minutes passed, and a carriage stopped in front of a big, beautiful mansion. It was one of the most beautiful mansions in the city. Designed by the man who had designed the city. It was a second home of Count Darrow, but now it had turned into Esanor Raak School. I had named it after my mother; the high school that Heron will go to is named after my father. The preschool after my grandmother. I got the thank-you message from my grandfather,st night, along with big funding from the house of Silver for all three premier schools. Some had suggested that I use silver as my mother¡¯s surname, but I didn¡¯t. The woman was quite proud of her name. She wouldn¡¯t like it. If she came to know, I had used Silver as her surname. She was never a Silver and didn¡¯t want to be one. Click! The door opened, and I walked out, with Josieing behind, with her little bag on her shoulders. ¡°Come,¡± I said to Ca, seeing her still sitting in the carriage. She was surprised, but soon a small, but radiant smile appeared on her face as she came down. She appeared by me, and we walked Josie toward the gates. There are many parents dropping their children to school, but manye through the school carriages. It might be a premier school, but not all admitted here are rich; half of the pupils aren¡¯t rich. Most of the children are human, but there are also orcs. Soon we stopped by the gate, and I turned to Josie. ¡°Be good,¡± I said to her, the young girl nodded and hugged me before hugging Ca and walking through the gate nervously. Both their schools are in the range, and I have made enough preparations for their security. It would be really hard to harm them. We watched till she disappeared, beforeing back to the carriage. A few minutester, the carriage stopped again, and we dropped Heron to his school. ¡°Thank you,¡± said Ca as we sat in the carriage. I smiled and turned toward the window. She does not need to thank me; she has been taking care of the children since the day they arrived. She deserved to be there at their important moments as I am. I looked at the city, and it looked so different from what it was three months ago after the first battle. It looked such, that it would be abandoned within a day. I thought it would, but many stayed in desperation and hope and since then helping in every way. After three months, the city has already started to look different, not only with the buildings and roads but also with people. First is, of course, the orcs, one could see them in every area; they are stilling every week. Now, the most areing aren¡¯t the families of prisoners, but those of different tribes. While most are stilling from the ckwell¡¯s territory, some areing from the cities of the merchant state. They are not citizen of the merchant state, but refugees from Mayhurst Ind. Even the humans who escaped from Mayhurst Ind areing. Merchant state is rich, but it¡¯s not easy to make a living there, while in my small city, there are a lot of opportunities to make a living. Still, it is not enough to attract people from the empire. One day, the city will. I am spending every penny, I am earning. The biggest share is going to the army and the sries of the employees, but the rest is for development. I am nting trees, adding fountains, and building parks, among other things and it is improving the city. These changes are one of the reasons why, the people are not leaving the city. I am aware of the people''s thoughts. Many want to make as much as money possible before leaving it. I want them to stay and it has started to work, but it will take a few months before I will know concretely. Every month, more and more moneyes to the city¡¯s coffers through the city and the river route. Today is important, the first batch of goods ising from Navr after three months of break. It is not us who brought it, but Gailhorn. It is basic goods, a very few among them are dual. Merchant state had warned about it and their representative was present at the Mirador Hold to check things. We also going to check them in the city; we don¡¯t want to empower the enemy, who wants to conquer us. Many of the goods will go to the undead without a doubt, but they will also provide us with taxes. They have brought a massive number of goods, and the number will increase even further. After all, they control half of the cities of the region, and a lot of people, still live in those cities. It is expensive to bring the goods from the Mayhurst ind. It is much easier to get them locally. This trade will provide us with a lot of money. Most importantly, it will force our merchants to do business with Navr. Till now they are careful, but they could see the profit, they could earn from trading with undead or rather Gailhorn. We will never trade directly with the undead. It is Gailhorn we are trading with, which is an ally of the undead. The merchants won¡¯t be able to resist for long. I think some will start trading within a week, seeing the number of inquiries the trade department is getting from the merchants. Soon, the carriage reached the open ground. It is not so open anymore. The trees are being nted everywhere, with a lot of artificial hills, ponds, andkes, which are yet to be filled with water. There is a massive excavation going around the edges of the establishment¡¯s estates. It is a new addition to the n. In these three months, we have made many changes to the ns, and we will make further. We wouldn¡¯t have, if had months or even a year, to develop the ns, but we did not. We didn¡¯t have a proper week before we started working on them. Especially the n of establishments estate. It had taken more money than the initial budget of the establishment, but seeing how it is going. I know, it will be worth it. I turned to the establishment; the tower had already gone over ten floors and its progress was getting faster every day. In a month, the shell will be finished, and other work will start at full speed. It had already started. Miss Rolgath had started even before the first brick of the tower wasid. She had needed to work immediately, seeing the timeline of the project. She is doing great. I heard there was quite a disagreement going on with her and the sisters. It is a vision dispute, and nobody seemed to be backing down. I am not going to interfere unless it affects the work. ¡°How is the proposal?¡± I asked Ca. She turned to me from the file she was reading. ¡°You will have it on a desk in three days,¡± she replied. The establishment won¡¯t take up all the space in the tower. Half of the space would be open for the other businesses, but not every business will be able to get the space. We will only give space to those with the capability to generate greater emotions for legacy to harvest. In Grade 2, the establishment can only cover half of the tower, but I am confident once it reaches Grade 3, it will cover the whole tower. It will take a few years, but it will happen, and I want to be ready for it. The carriage stopped, and we got out. In front of me, is the tower, which had more thanpleted. I could already imagine how it could look and can¡¯t wait for it to bepleted. I looked at it for a minute before looking around. There is a big garden being built around the tower. It was my original n, before it became bigger and bigger, before transformed into the park. The nts are beautiful, that I just want to touch them. Some even had flowers on them, that many people are admiring. Though they are nothingpared to magical nts, that areing from the hidden city. Currently, they are in a special greenhouse. Taken care of by the people sent by that person from the hidden city. Every week, I had to give them bottles of emotions essence to grow those nts. My heart bleeds with every bottle, but it is necessary. When I had made the deal, many wanted to me reject it, but all the alchemists I had talked to had asked to ept it. Even if I get 10% of the harvest, they said it would be worth it. Of course, I had not listened to them alone. Still, I got an estimate on the value of the nts from them andpared it to the other estimate, I had gotten from the sisters. The difference is massive. Even if I give 50% of the harvest; I would earn at least six times more. They also had a far bigger strategic value than other nts, I was going to nt. There is extremely high-demand for the nts grown using the emotion essence. Only legacies could grow them, and there are not many legacies that grew them in therge amount to satiate, the need to market. They couldn¡¯t satiate even 1%. The earlier estimate was conservative. The value could easily go above ten times. Alchemists are crazy about these things, and willing to pay any price. I have seen it, with the undead bones. Those mad bastards are willing to pay any price for them. There are also the hidden hands that want them. The bones turned out far more valuable than I had thought. Everybody is willing to pay a massive price for them. I am selling them every week in a small number, but sometimes, I want to sell them all, given the price they are offering. I needed money, and I could get a lot of it from it, but I did not. The bones value doesn¡¯t lie in only money. They offer a lot of more. Every week, I have been contacted by powerful people, not just alchemists. I was able to convince a few of them to make an investment in the city. The nts will have an even bigger effect. I will need to use those resources wisely for my benefit and the benefit of my city. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 391: Proposal Chapter 391: Proposal L His eyes fluttered open, and I nearly looked away, before smiling at his handsome face. We had sleptte, but I am used to waking up early. I also have the Rest Skill. I do not need as much rest as he does. He deserves the rest, after what he pulledst night. ¡°Like what you see?¡± he asked while caressing my lips gently, which sent shivers of desire through my whole body. ¡°Yes, very much,¡± I replied and leaned for a kiss. It was soft and gentle and sent butterflies through my stomach, as always. I let go of the kiss and moved on top of him, wanting to go for another round, but he stopped me, which surprised me. He never seemed to control himself with me, but now he stopped me with his expression bing serious. ¡°Marry me,¡± he said. It felt like lightning had crashed on me. The words froze my mind for a second. It was not something, I had expected to hear from him. I like him and even love him. However, I never let my thoughts go in those directions. Knowing that direction always causes pain. I looked at him and he was dead serious. I would be lying to myself if I said his proposal didn¡¯t make me happy. It made me ecstatic, but it also filled my heart with unbearable pain. I know what I am; a whore, this fact will never change, while he is a scion of a powerful merchant house and one of the heirs. The union is not possible. It won¡¯t be fair to him, and I will not be a mistress. ¡°No,¡± I said, and could see pain filling his eyes, but there was no surprise at my rejection. ¡°Is it because of the contract? I am sure, Remus will let you go,¡± he said, and I shook my head. ¡°No, it is not a contract. It is our worlds,¡± I replied with a small smile. If I didn¡¯t have the baggage of the past, I would have epted instantly. I would have done, if it were me two years ago; that me was selfish and impulsive, but current me love this man and marrying him, would be doing him a grave injustice. It will ruin him. His family would never ept me; they would disown him, than ept a whore into family. ¡°Then why?¡± he asked, with pain dripping through every word. The silly man understood I would reject the proposal, but didn¡¯t understand the reason. There are several, the first being him and the second me. I don¡¯t want to marry. I had just taken a step toward bing something more than a whore. I don¡¯t know what I want, but I know, I want to be something, reach the height where the whore does not feel an insult to me. I am not ashamed of my past. It is what saved me from the worse fate, I would have suffered, but whenever I heard the word ¡®whore¡¯ it hurts me. The day, it didn¡¯t. I will think about the marriage. ¡°Let¡¯s not ask why and enjoy ourselves. I have nned a lot of things for us,¡± I said and slid down on his member slowly and closed my eyes to forget everything else other than his love and pleasure. ¡­ ¡°They are fattening us,¡± said Colonel Cardin. ¡°Letting us grow our army and poption. So, when they attack this time, they will have a pretty good harvest,¡± he added. ¡°It is one possibility,¡± I replied, looking at intelligence files, which were telling us nothing. It had been four months since the first attack and two and a half months since the second and since then, there had been no movement from the undead. ¡°What else it could be? I have read what they have done on the ind, and it is ssic fattening,¡± he asked. Nobody said anything, but he is making apelling point. Every city in the region is investing in security. The poption had stabilized and, in some ces, growing. Undead like such things, especially trained and leveled armies, that they could turn. ¡°It would have helped us. If we had some concrete information,¡± said Colonel Azalea. There is a clear frustration in her voice. ¡°Whatever their reason is, we need to be prepared,¡± I said and turned to Colonel Cardin. ¡°How is the factorying?¡± I asked. ¡°Great, in two days, another delivery of toolsing from Namdar. If we are lucky, it should be finished by the end of the month,¡± he replied. We are building a cannonball factory. We use a lot of cannonballs and while they are not expensive, at least themon ones, we use them inrge amounts, and that costs a lot of money. It is an expensive project, but it will serve well in the long term. It is imperative that we have our defense production. We can¡¯t depend on others for our every defensive need. The cannonball factory is the best choice to start, seeing we have the most important material. It is avable quite cheaply for us. The energy crystals. We have a lot of them and the great thing about it, is that for themon cannonballs, we don¡¯t need to process them as long as they have a certain level of purity. Thankfully, we have crystals of the required purity. The meeting was over a few minutester, and I went out to inaugurate the hospital, before going to the establishment to check the progress. It was ten minutes to five when I returned. I have a meeting at five and important. I am going to do something that I had wanted to do in the past five months, but it was not the right time. Today is the right time. Click! ¡°Master Silver, Mr. Ashav is here for you.¡± Said Jill. ¡°Send him in,¡± I replied and a secondter, the door opened, and Ethan walked in. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± he greeted. He is smiling charmingly as always, but there is sadness in it. I wanted to ask the reason but decided not to; it is not my business. ¡°Take a seat, Ethan,¡± I said. ¡°So, have you brought it?¡± I asked. I am excited. Though more than me, the man behind me, I could feel his palpable excitement. ¡°I said yes to the messages, didn¡¯t I,¡± he said and began taking out the stuff, or rather books. He ced four stacks of them, on my deck and three wooden boxes; seeing them my eyes couldn¡¯t help, but light up. ¡°Fourteen Grade I spells, eleven Grade II spells, eight Grade III spells, and five Grade IV spells.¡± He said, looking at books, before turning to the boxes. ¡°The first box, had the potions, the second one had ink, and the third one, the other stuff in your list,¡± he added. I didn¡¯t check the stuff and looked at the man with a big smile. ¡°Thank you, Ethan,¡± I said. He is the scion of a powerful house and one of his sessors. I have him doing the deliveries like amon merchant. Even with emotion''s essence, it is beneath him. I know he is doing it to build the connection for future deals and has other priorities in the city, but I am grateful for him doing this and today, I am going to reward him for all the help he had provided. ¡°You don¡¯t have to thank me. You have paid for them,¡± he replied. I did, and quite handsomely, I might say. These spells are damn expensive. I cry whenever I pay for them. Theye from reputable sources, which makes them even more expensive. It is important for the spells to be from a reputable source, as the spells being the same are not the same. Consider a ssic fireball spell. If one buys from different sources, they will see the difference in spells. Some are efficient, but some use too much mana. In the worse case, some drizzle out, before they even hit the target. The spells from trusted sources are efficient as well as powerful. Not all mages are capable of making changes in the spells, and even that takes months and years and dangerous things, especially when done outside of the tower. I paid a lot of money for these spells. Yes, money, I wouldn¡¯t use emotion essence for the things that could be brought with money; that would be idiotic, but emotion essence does make things smoother. The spells of Grade IV and above are restricted, and the merchant state didn¡¯t easily permit to sell them. Especially to the citizens of the empire, the only reason I am getting them smoothly is because I am selling them the emotion essence. Ina walked to him and put away the boxes and books, before cing a wooden box in front of him. He was surprised to see a single wooden box as in the past two months, there had been five boxes, and a month before that was four, but now there is only one. ¡°I know, this month there would be less emotion essence since you are nting those magical nts, but still it is much less than I had expected,¡± he said, looking at the wooden box. I didn¡¯t say anything and watched him. He looked at it for a few seconds before taking out the white envelope on top of the box and opening it. A surprise appeared on his face soon enough and he turned to me. ¡°The essences in the box would be far from enough to pay for the things you want in here,¡± he said, as he ced the letter back in the envelope. I didn¡¯t say anything and kept looking at him. Click! His eyes became hesitant, and he finally opened the box. Immediately, his eyes went round as the saucers were in shock. In the box are tiny bottles of the emotion essence; like the emotion essence, I had sold him before, this is not mixed emotion essence. Here, the essence of every emotion is separate and pure. Mostly importantly, it is Grade II. He has helped me a lot. Now, I am helping him. There is a vast difference between Grade I and Grade II emotions essences. What I provide is also pure emotion essence, without the faintest contamination from other emotions, which is hard to see in emotion essence by Grade II legacy. Grade III legacy could harvest as such, especially the old ones with experienced hosts, but they didn¡¯t. I mean, why would they, when they could harvest Grade III, which is even more expensive. ¡°I think, it would be enough to get me those things,¡± I said, and he smiled brightly. ¡°Oh, definitely,¡± he said. There was silence for a couple of seconds as he admired those tiny bottles before he turned to me. ¡°Have you thought about what I had saidst month?¡± he asked, and I sighed. ¡°Ethan, I haven¡¯t even nted those nts yet,¡± I said. ¡°I know, but my house is bugging me every day. We want those things, and we will pay any price for it,¡± he said, and his eyes turned desperate. House of Ashav deals with magical materials. They are one of the biggest in Oksall. So, it is no surprise, that they want the nts I am nning on nting. He is one of the few people I had contacted, aside from the alchemists, before signing the contract. It would help, the house of Ashav tremendously if they were able to get a deal with me about those nts. ¡°Tell them, that I won¡¯t be making any deal about till I have the harvest in my hand,¡± I said. He isn¡¯t the only one, who has asked me about the deal; hundreds of alchemists and merchants have made the enquiries about it. ¡°Fine, I will tell that, but I hope, you will not forget me when the harvest came,¡± he said. ¡°I will not,¡± I replied. A few minutester, he left. The moment he did, Z turned to Ina, who without saying anything, handed her the thick book. ¡°Finally. I had wanted this spell for a long time,¡± said Z, as she hugged the book, before turning to me. ¡°Thank you, Lord Silver,¡± she thanked. Every month, I am buying spells. It is costing me a lot, but I need it. Last time, we were lucky, that we had enough powerhouses and the only thing our High-Mages needed to do was defend. The only High-Mage who killed the enemy was Valentina. The next time, our mages won¡¯t be this lucky, they needed to be prepared with an arsenal of spells. We have a big list of spells from Grade 1 to Grade 4. There are a thousand spells on the list, and we have only been able to get one hundred and sixty-two. ¡°I am d, you liked the spell, Z¡± I replied and focused on the work. At six, I got out of my office and toward the conference room where Ca and others were waiting for me. The proposals had got replies. Far more than we had thought. I thought not many would want to bet such huge money which could be attacked by the undead, but it seemed like, I had underestimated the allure of the legacy. The businesses from Namdar to merchant states want the space in the tower and are willing to pay a good price for it. Now we have to choose it and it is not going to be easy. I know a lot of people who want the store. Many of them won¡¯t like the rejection, but I will do what is necessary. It is my vision, that matters and nothing else. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 392: Eva Charles Chapter 392: Eva Charles Eva ¡°It does not look good,¡± said Cara as we walked out of our suites. ¡°The city had fought two battles. I say it is looking better than I had imagined,¡± I replied as I looked at the port. Thest time, I hade here was a little over six months ago; at the legacy¡¯s party. At that time, the city was growing with a lot of people and ships at its port. Currently, the number is half, which is better than I had expected. Though there are a lot more ships sailing through the river than before. Which isn¡¯t surprising given what is happening in the empire. I had seen, the cities of this size getting ruined by a single battle. It destroyed their economies, and it took them years for them to recover; some were never able to. Here it had been less than six months and the city seemed to be doing well. It is especially remarkable considering this is a wastnd with no natural resources. ¡°Mom, please think about it. Investing here is a risk; we have already suffered enough losses in the empire. We should focus on stores we have in safe ces and expand there,¡± ¡°Instead of investing in ces like which could be conquered at any time and cause us great reputational damage,¡± said Cara. It is not the first time; she has tried to dissuade me from it. ¡°It is the opportunity of a lifetime, darling. We are getting a space in the legacy,¡± I said, but the girl just shook her head. ¡°We are not getting a space in the legacy, Mother. We are getting space in the same building as the legacy. There is a vast difference between the two,¡± she corrected, using mother instead of ¡®mom¡¯. She does that when she is frustrated with me. ¡°Besides, the contract clearly states that he could remove us any time he wants. So, there is no chance of our store being part of legacy after it advances to Grade II and Grade III,¡± she added, displeased. ¡°Be that it may be, but I see a clear potential in the city,¡± I stated, and she just shook her head. ¡°We have to take the risks, dear daughter; everybody is moving to Namdar, and more stores are popping up, givingpetition to established businesses like ours. If we don¡¯t take risks, we will regress and I refuse to let that happen,¡± I said. I understand her worries, but I feel like this is a wise choice. Thepetition in the Namdar is heating up. Every business in the empire is moving there, giving us toughpetition. I am confident in our ability topete, but that is not enough. We need to expand, and there aren¡¯t many ces we could expand into the empire. Greltheaven had many risks, but it had enormous potential because of its close proximity to the merchant state and having our store in the same building as a legacy, which will give us recognition. ¡°Fine, mother,¡± she said. A few minutester, the ship docked in the port, and we walked out. There was already a familiar woman waiting for us. ¡°Wee to Greltheaven, Miss Eva, Miss Cara,¡± said the woman. ¡°Miss Cain, you didn¡¯t have toe to get us,¡± I said to the pretty redhead. ¡°I wanted to,¡± she said and took us to the carriage. Soon, stepped inside and it began moving through the port, which looked more orderly than before. It is not because of the smaller crowd I have been to sparse ports than this and there is always chaos. The best ports are those who could manage the chaos and they seemed to be doing that. ¡°How was the journey? Was there any trouble?¡± asked Miss Cain. ¡°It was a smooth. Though, every moment, I was worried about undead jumping on us from the water,¡± I said, smiling nervously. ¡°I know. We are living in the same fear, here,¡± replied Miss Cain. ¡°Yet, you are still here and investing so much, despite the risks?¡± asked Cara. The woman smiled. ¡°The city had given me everything, I have. I was nothing beforeing here and I want to return the favor. As for the risk, it is everywhere, and I rather die a sess, than live poor,¡± Miss Cain replied. I like this woman. She seemed pretty and fragile, but the woman had steel. Soon, the carriage passed through the gates and entered the city. ¡°The city has changed a lot since I had been here,st time,¡± I said, and the woman nodded. ¡°It has,¡± she replied. Ten minutester, the carriage stopped in front of the five-story building. It is a standard office building, with more security presence than average. Which isn¡¯t surprising, since it belongs to the lord of the city. We stepped out and walked toward the door. ¡°Miss Charles, Miss Cain, please follow me,¡± said a beautiful blond woman in her early twenties waiting for us at the door. We followed her, and she took us to the elevator, which stopped on the fourth floor. We stepped out of the elevator and walked into the floor, before stopping at the white door. Click! ¡°Please,¡± said the woman as she opened the door, and we entered the conference room, where there were already people waiting inside. One side had six people, while the other side had three. Of the six, I instantly recognize four. First is Ca Salt, who is responsible for Remus Silvers''s businesses, including the Legacy, the second is Madam Caena, the madam of Legacy, and the third woman Headmistress Margaux. The fourth man, I had known the longest. He was Silver Senior¡¯s assistant, and now working for his son. The other two are likely theirwyers. ¡°Miss Charles, Miss Cain,¡± greeted Sabastian, ourwyer. He had been here in the city for a few days, negotiating the contract, which he finished. ¡°Sabastian,¡± I said as I sat down. ¡°Thank you foring personally, Eva. It means a lot to us,¡± said Ca as she looked at me and Cara. ¡°There is no need to thank me, Ca. It is business; I never depend on others for it,¡± I replied. ¡°Miss Charles, Miss Cain. We have finished the negotiating; these are the contracts,¡± he said, motioning to two sets of contracts in front of us. The first contract is about the store space; the second is about our partnership with the velvet garden. Cara had reservations about the first; she had a little less about the second one, which I think is far riskier. The second contract is about us providing all the clothing, jewelry, shoes, and other things to the velvet garden. It took quite an effort to make Remus agree to it, and he agreed, only after the condition of non-exclusiveness was added. He could choose other stores along with ours. He is such a control freak. Many would have epted the offer immediately, seeing the deal was saving them a massive amount of money. He would have needed to spend on those items, which we will loan him for free. He is signing with us, but I heard he is also negotiating with three other stores from the merchant state. Though they may sign the contract, I am the one, getting the store in the building. I read through the contract of the store. Cara and Miss Cain beside me are doing the same. Miss is my partner in the store. It is why, I got the whole damn floor; I am the only one to get that. Remus put a condition in front of me. I could get an entire floor if I partnered with Miss Cain. If I didn¡¯t. I will get the small part of the floor of around ten thousand square feet. Which is enough for a city of this size, and I would have epted it. If not for Miss Cain being a partner. I have been selling her designs for the past few months, and they have be bestsellers. She is the fastest designer to reach it in my stores and I don¡¯t want to lose her, which I could. I know, the other store had approached her, including my directpetitors in Namdar and stores in merchant states. Her contract would end in a few months, and she had hinted that she would stay with me if I partnered with her for the store. Cara didn¡¯t think it was worth it, but I do. I have seen the evolution in her designs and am confident, that she could produce multiple bestsellers. I finished reading the first contract and signed it, before turning to the second contract. With this contract, nearly everything in our stores will be avable to Silver without any cost. The things will be on loan and will be returned to us after a fixed time. It is a risk, considering I would be associating myself with the brothel, with the things I sell would be worn by the whores. It could damage the store''s reputation that, I might need years to recover from, but if worked in our favor, it will also provide tremendous benefits to me and thepany. There is one entertainment type-legacy in the Namdar, and I have been trying to get a contract with them for decades, but it is damn hard. That is why, I decided to take the take the risk with Velvet Garden. Currently, the legacy is only in Grade 1, but I believe in Remus enough that, I am sure, in a decade or two, he will be able to take his legacy to Grade II and Grade III. That will be the time to reap the tremendous benefits of this partnership. I am so invested in it that I am designing a new collection of jewelry inspired by the velvet garden. It had been a long while since I had designed aplete collection. I nned to make thedies of Velvet Garden wear it first, before bringing it to the stores. I brought the designs, which I will be showing to the Angestel in the evening with my meeting with him. He is the head stylist and the man responsible for the wardrobe. From what I heard, even Silver didn¡¯t interfere with the department, handling him theplete responsibilities. Scratch! I read the contract and signed it. Felt their strong bindings before they vanished. ¡°I hope we will have great cooperation, Miss Charles, Miss Cain,¡± said Ca as we finished. ¡°We will, Miss Salt,¡± I said and shook her hands. Half an hourter, I walked out of the building with Cara and Miss Cain. Our destination is the tower; there will meet with Miss Rolgath. She is responsible for the interior of the whole tower, including the legacy and my store. I have my own interior designer, but Remus asked me to use her as the primary. Mine ising tomorrow and he will work with Miss Rolgath, in creating an interior that has the essence of both the Velvet Garden and Charles stores. As I had said, the man is a control freak. He is not giving me the freedom to decide my own store''s interior. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 393: Postpone Chapter 393: Postpone Rolgath ¡°Drink it,¡± said Amryn as she ced a steaming hot cup of tea in front of me. I looked at it before focusing on the designs; I have been working on. ¡°Stop, first drink the tea,¡± she insisted, cing her hand, on the design, I was working on. I sighed seeing, her acting like a child. ¡°There is a lot of work needed to be done, Amryn. There are only two weeks before the opening,¡± I said. There is a lot of work; I never thought I would have so much work in my life. I am responsible for the interior of the whole tower. Not just the legacy, but also every store, which is much harder than the legacy. Here, over half of the store owners have brought their interior designer, and working with them is hell, but it is also fun. I like the challenge and the different perspective, no matter how much frustrating it is. Though no one is as frustrating as the xasysis sisters. They are equal in authority; I can bully them into listening to me as I could the interior designers. I am d I had left the work of the headmistress¡¯s domain after a month of working. I was regretting it, but it had been a wise decision. ¡°We are on time, I heard Lord Silver is postponing the deadline,¡± said Amryn, and Iid back on my chair. ¡°I really hope so,¡± I replied. I had also heard whispers that Lord Silver was nning on postponing the opening of the tower by a few weeks. I don¡¯t know the reason, but the extra three weeks will instantly relieve a lot of the load off me. ¡°I will not believe it until I hear it officially,¡± I said. ¡°You might, at today''s meeting,¡± said the half-elf. ¡°I hope so,¡± I replied. I am confident that I will be able to finish the work on the schedule, but it would be great if I had more time. Seeing we haven¡¯t even started shifting the nts yet, which could only happen, after the affirmation from Irgal. Even the sisters, who are responsible for the nts couldn¡¯t do anything about it. I picked up the steaming cup and took a sip while inhaling the wonderful citric aroma of it. The tea is delicious; its vor is light, but filling. I gulped a lemony sip, which seemed to send a wave of rxation through my body. In the past few months, I have been waking up at dawn and sleeping atte night. I used to sleep for seven to eight hours, but in the past three months especially, I don¡¯t think, I had slept for over five hours. There is too much work. It is why, I slept here most of the time; the legacy gives the rxation of eight hours of sleep in the five. ¡°This tea is really good. You should ask Madam Caena for more,¡± said Amryn. I red at her but didn¡¯t say anything. The tea blend was a gift from Madam Caena. I had nearly finished it, which is quite regrettable as I really liked the tea. I emptied the cup and focused back on my work. Fifteen minutester, I was out of my office, or rather the tent, which I fixed on the sixteenth floor of the tower. As I walked out, the different sounds immediately hit me. I had covered myself with istion skills to focus on the work; it is hard to work under all the noise. ¡°Jorah,¡± I called the man responsible. The man was talking to the artisan working on the wall, but came as I called him. He is a middle-aged man with a decade of experience, in the field. ¡°These are the new changes; I want them done today,¡± I said and handed the design to the man. ¡°It will be a challenge, Sharn,¡± he said, without looking away from the designs. ¡°I am sure, you and your people will be able to do it,¡± I said, and he turned to me. ¡°It will be hard,¡± he said with a sigh, before turning back to the design. Jorah and his people are capable. It is the reason I had chosen them, among hundreds of other agencies, that applied to work. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, something that they could be proud of all their lives. They are also getting paid for every minute they are working. If Lord Silver had wanted, he could have made them work free. Top interior agencies were ready to do that, but he is paying everyone fairly, including me. He studied the design while I walked around the floor. Staying far from the white fluff devil,id in the corner on its little bed. When I looked at it; it red at me hard. I don¡¯t know why; it didn¡¯t like me. It lets many people pet it, but as soon as I try to touch it, it growls and scratches me with its sharp ws. I was d, that Amryn picked it up and took it away. This is no ce for cats, but it didn¡¯t like to leave its owner for too long; I still remember the mess it had made of the room, the first day, we kept it there. I pushed the thoughts of the devil cat and focused on work. The workers and artisans are doing the job with aplete focus. All of them are higher level. There is not a single person here, who is lower than Lv. 25. Jorah is over Lv. 30. I have known him since, my early days in the agency. He was one of the people nice to me and helped me learn the trade before branching on his own. Unlike me, who had nearly closed my business before the Legacy saved me. He had done well. I looked around and I talked to Jorah for a few minutes before going to the floor above. I checked the progress on each floor and talked to the supervisors, especially those behind the schedule. Most of those behind the schedule are those working in the spaces that businesses had rented. There, I need to work with the interior designer of those businesses. It was the most tiring thing, but it was work and needed to be done. By the time, I finished checking out all the things; there was less than half an hour to the meeting. Seeing that, I walked out of the tower quickly, adjusting my coat. The snow is still falling, but it is light. which made me relieved. If it had been as heavy as thest night, it would have taken me a few minutes more to reach the city hall. I didn¡¯t want to bete to the meeting; I had been at thest meeting, and it was embarrassing seeing everyone had arrived on time, including Lord Silver. ¡°Sharn, going for a meeting?¡± asked Ed, ¡°Yes,¡± I replied as I walked toward him. ¡°Come, we will go together,¡± he said, and I nodded. His carriage was already in front of him, so quickly stepped inside and it moved toward the city hall. ¡°How is work?¡± he asked. ¡°Stressful,¡± I replied, to that heughed. ¡°I am d, I moved out of that phase,¡± he said, and I wanted to re at him, and I did. For the four and a half months, he had felt the stress; I am feeling right now. He is rxed now that he finished building the tower. He still had a lot of work, but it was not as stressful as it had been. He had already finished with the most important job, which he had handed to me for the interior. ¡°When are you going to fill the water?¡± I asked after nearly a minute of silence. He is not responsible for it, the sisters are, but he is responsible for the tunnel, that will bring the water needed from the river. ¡°Three dayster, but it might change, depending on how the meeting goes,¡± he replied. ¡°Is, Lord Silver really postponing?¡± I asked, with some hesitation. If anyone knew that, then it would be him. He is friends with Valentina r and she knows everything. He didn¡¯t answer and looked outside of the window. We need to be quite careful with the words, seeing the contract we had signed. It is strict, and the consequences are heavy. I had felt the power of the contract when small confidential information slipped through my mouth. I was really d; Miss Ca was near and helped me to deal with it and also exined it to Lord Silver. I had thought the contract was excessively strict, but in these five months, I have made a few observations. One is most shocking; I am notpletely sure about it, but if it is true, it will shock the whole continent and the world. I didn¡¯t dare to talk about it to anyone, to even hint at it. Including Miss Ca, who was safe from all secrets; I won¡¯t receive the punishment if I utter the confidential information in front of her. Though, I don¡¯t n to. I don¡¯t want to do something, that willpromise this amazing job. It had changed my whole life. My business had gone from being broke to having the jobs, that I had only dreamed about. Since I started here, I haven¡¯t epted any job, but there have been hundreds of inquiries about my avability. Enough that for a few years; finding work is thest thing, I will need to do. It is all thanks to a legacy for which I will be eternally grateful. I looked outside the window and at the huge park. I couldn¡¯t help, but feel envy for the sisters; they are amazing. In just a short six months, they were able to build such a big park. ¡°Those sisters are talented, but I wish, they weren¡¯t so challenging to work with,¡± Iined. ¡°They said the same thing about you,¡± He replied, smiling. ¡°I am not challenging to work with, they are. You know, I need to argue with them for every little thing,¡± I said. ¡°I am not saying anything,¡± he said and looked out the window as the carriage passed over the beautiful bridge. The next week is going to be challenging. They were bringing the nts inside and there had been a lot of arguments about their cements and there would be more when they actually came to the tower, which I am responsible for. Minutes passed in silence before the carriage reached the city hall and moved through the gates, before stopping a few secondster. Click! We got out and walked toward the city hall, with barely anyone looking at me with an odd gaze. I still remember the first time; I hade to the city. I had to cover myself from head to toe; it was restrictive and slightly humiliating, but necessary given the politicalndscape of that time. Now, less than a yearter, an orc is no strange thing in the things. I could see, a couple of them going in and out of the city hall. Soon, we reach the familiar conference room. The guards standing there opened the door, and we walked inside. There are already people there, aside from Madman Caena and Headmistress Margaux, there are Mr. Hendriks and Miss xasys. Madam Ca isn¡¯t in the city, and Lady ckwell is returning in a few days from Amberhold. I nodded at Miss xasys and sat beside her. We have differences professionally, but personally, we are good. I talked to her others before stopping and getting up as Lord Silver walked in with Miss Valentina. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± we greeted. He nodded and sat down with sitting after him. ¡°I am sure all of you have already heard the rumors. They are true. I have decided to postpone, the deadline by three weeks, after looking at all the factors,¡± he said, and I took a visible sigh of relief. I am not the only one, Miss xasys also seemed quite relieved hearing it. I could finish the job on time, but an extra three weeks will give me a chance to do it better. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 394: Greenhouses Chapter 394: Greenhouses Ashton Harbor "Those bastards!" cursed the man with the staff. Though, he is relieved. It is a good thing. We had paused their secret mission, seeing the merchant state had started snooping. They seemed to find out that we were looking for something and sent their agents. "They are trying to catch the bastards. We might be able to do it," said the armored man, but the man with the staff just shook his head. "No use, but let them try," he said with a sigh. The agents of the merchant state aren''t easy to catch, but it would be great if they were able to do it. The bastards were able to find out, thest location, the secret mission, was looking into before the higher-ups paused it. The intelligence apparatus of the merchant state is powerful. Even on the ind, we kept finding their spies. The secret mission is the reason we havee here in this forsaken wastnd, and now we couldn''t even do that as well because of the damn merchants. I couldn''t release the horde at the cities to elevate my frustration. We don''t have enough undead. We have enough numbers to attack all the cities, but not enough to deal with unforeseen things, like interference from merchants or even empires. So, unless the higher-ups sent more. There won''t be any attack. It is frustrating to just sit and do nothing, but it is also had advantage. The cities are fattening up, filling with people, and recruiting more into armies. We need that; the resistance on the ind has slowed down our progress. The quality of undead made by the soldiers helps a lot; I hope they will buildrge armies because the next attack won''t be small. ¡­ Step! I stepped out of the carriage and behind me came Heron. It was his first timeing here, he wanted toe here before but was not allowed. I had brought him here today as a reward for doing good in school. "There is a lot of security," he said, adjusting his clothes to protect himself from the snow. "It is necessary," I replied as I walked forward. In front of us is a group of greenhouses. There are a total of seven of them, protected with tight security, including a Lv. 30 powerhouse. I don''t think nobody in their right mind would dare to do anything here. Not because of me or the tight security, but the person who has half-ownership over the nts in the greenhouse. They belong to me as well as that person in a hidden city and nobody with little of a bit of intelligence would dare to do anything here. We entered thepound with thick snow crunching under my boots. There was a heavy snowfall since the morning. I thought it would subside by the afternoon, but it did not. The winter was in its full swing, which usually slowed things down a little, but it didn''t this time. The city is not stopping and will not stop, till it achieves its rightful ce in the region and empire and the continent. We stopped in front of the central greenhouse, which is also the biggest greenhouse of the seven. There are guards at the entrance. One is the orc, and the other one is the elf. They aren''t my people, they belong to that person. The nts aren''t the only things that came from the hidden city. The guards bowed faintly and opened the door for us. I nodded and walked inside the greenhouse and instantly felt warm and humid, but I forgot all that when I looked at the nts and inhaled their mesmerizing smell. Every time, I looked at them. They mesmerize me. They are beautiful and their smell is enchanting. Gasp! A gasp of shock came out of the Heron''s mouth as he looked around with wide eyes. I couldn''t help, but smile seeing that. When I sent the request for the nts, my first point had not been they be nts, that would bring me money. No, I wanted them to be beautiful and release the smell that could mesmerize anyone. It is by vision. I want everyone who entered the establishment to have a time of life. Have an experience they could never forget. Every nt here is beautiful in its own way; even those that looked ugly at first sight are beautiful when one looks at them closely enough. There are also sorts of nts here, from flowers to fruits, and each and every nt will produce resources that will fetch a high price. "These nts are beautiful," said Heron breathlessly. "They are and they are still growing; they will be even more beautiful when they mature fully," I said. It is one of the reasons why I had dyed the opening. I want the nts to mature more. I was admiring the nts when a graceful half-orc man wearing simple white clothes came toward me. He is a half-orc, but his other half isn''t human but an elf. It is rare, but it happens. He is handsome with a slim physique of elves and looks to be in his mid-twenties. He inherited those enviable cheekbones that elves are famed for and had orcish brown hair, but they were soft and shiny like elves, not frizzled like most orcs. His skin is grey as the orcs, but vibrant, and has canines. They looked like they were carved by the artist. However, his eyes are his most prominent features. They are green with a faint crystalline sheen. He is the most dangerous man in the city; even Stone said, he won''t be able to defeat him. Like him, this is also elder blood and awakened it, but it is not the blood of the giant that he has. "Lord Silver," he greeted as he stopped in front of me. "Mage Irgal," "How are the nts progressing?" I asked as I looked at the nts around me. "They are growing at a speed that stated to you, Lord Silver," replied the man, without change in his expression. His expressions never really change. It had been two and a half months since he hade here, and I didn''t see them change even once. "It is a good speed, but I am wondering, whether they could grow faster? I want some of these nts to fully mature before the opening," I asked, and always there was no change in the man''s face. "These nts are extremely delicate, Lord Silver. Using growth magic isn''t wise. They needed to grow at their own pace," he replied, clearly rejecting what I was implying. I had postponed the opening by three weeks, but even by then. There are less than 5% of nts will reach maturity; I want at least 10% of them. Which won''t be possible. I have looked at the growth sheet; if I want the 10%, then I will have to wait for two weeks more, which I am unwilling to do. Even three are hard and if I had not felt it was wise, I wouldn''t have done that. "Mistress had asked me to give you this if you asked this question," he said suddenly as I was wallowing in disappointment. I looked at him and saw him extending the white envelope. Hun! I took the envelope and turned. Immediately, a shock appeared in my eyes when I saw the emblem on it. It was a struggle to not let my whole body shake. It had been nearly four years ago at the headquarters of a house of silver. Former headquarters. The new headquarters of the House of Silver had shifted to the Namdar, now. In the headquarters, there is a ce where only a core member of the house could work. Even they have to be invited by the grandfather. That ce had a secret library, which books, far less than even the personal library of my father, but every one of the books there was important, nearly a quarter of them were forbidden. In it, there was one book. It was about Kairos, the hidden city, and the people that run it. The high houses. Tear. I tore open the envelope with my nails using Sharpness and took out the letter. I unfolded it and saw there was only one line. When I read it, my whole body shook. ''Fucking elders!'' I cursed before taking a deep breath. I knew it was a risk, and I took it fully, knowing it. It is clear they know it and I hope they will keep it to themselves. They likely would. It is the reason why I chose to take the risk. However, from now on, I will need to be far more careful in dealing with them. More than before. I took out the firestone and burned the letter to the surprise of Heron. It burned to ashes, which I collected in my hand, before cing them into my bag, which finally brought a faint change in Irgal''s face. I can''t take the risk; there are spells out there, that could read what''s in their letter, with the ashes of it. I turned to Irgal and sighed, before taking out the seven bottles of emotion essence. He recognized them, but there was no change on his face; he likely knew what was in the letter. "I hope, these will fasten the process a little?" I asked as I handed him the six bottles of grade two emotions essence. "It will," he replied. I know it will. The growth sheet he had provided me had clearly started the effect on nts if Grade II or Grade III essences were used. ''For the fast growth. Use Grade II emotion essence,'' is what is written in the letter. Caena had said it would be extremely hard for others to find out it is a Grade II legacy from the te, but those people of the hidden city are notmon. They are the elders and are known as the masters of magic. It is very hard to hide things from them and I truly hope, they haven''t found out everything about my legacy or I could be truly fucked. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the man. I talked to him for a few minutes more, before exploring the greenhouse with Heron. There are seven of them, all of growing different types of nts; the simrity, they share is that they consume the emotion essence. Their appetite is ravenous, and since I want to nt them across the whole tower, it is going to consume a lot of emotion essence. Though, I will gain far more in return. Even with the half of the harvest. Finally, we reached thest greenhouse. The guards guarding it opened it for us and we walked inside. Immediately, a surprise appeared on Heron''s face. This greenhouse is different from the six others. It only had one n calledwork vine; it is a thin blue vine with crystalline leaves; it is beautiful. "This wine must be special to upy the whole greenhouse alone," said Heron, touching the leaves of the vine lightly. "It is the most important of all the nts," I replied, and he turned to me in question. "The tower is huge, but the legacy only covers a third of it. We want to n, these magical nts on each floor, but all these nts require emotion essence for sustenance," "This vine will absorb the emotion essence from the legacy and supply it to the nts outside the domain of legacy," I exined. "Amazing!" he eximed and looked at the vine with the shining eyes. It is amazing, this vine will act like a modern wire that supplies electricity to the appliances. It took a lot of emotion and essence to grow this vine, but it will be worth it. It is also the best among all thework vines, with a loss percentage of only 12%. It is very low, considering all the vendors we have talked about havework vines with the lowest 23% lows percentage. Supplying emotion essence isn''t the only it can do. Every part of it is valuable, especially the leaves, which are used in all kinds of potions and alchemical products. We spend a few minutes in the greenhouse before stepping out of it and walking toward the carriage. "When will I get to see the tower?" he said, looking at the tower. I didn''t reply to that. It is a littleplicated seeing the business I run. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 395: The Canal Chapter 395: The Canal "The preparations have finished. They are ready to release the water in two hours," informed Z. "Good," I replied. It was supposed to happen a week ago, but something hade up and we needed to dy it. Today was supposed to be the opening for the establishment, before it was postponed. It was a wise decision. Despite everything being on schedule, it was hurried. If we had gone with it, the opening wouldn''t have been as perfect as I wanted. We were already seeing many mistakes. The extra three weeks had rxed everyone. They are working with calm minds; it didn''t give me the feeling of impending doom anymore. ''Master Silver, Miss Maeve is here for you,'' said Jill through the inte. ''Send her in,'' I said. Click! A secondter, the door opened, and Maeve walked in. As I saw her, I couldn''t help but be surprised. She had changed, from her hairstyle to her clothes, everything was different from before. "Lord Silver," she greeted. "Miss Maeve, I had expected change, but didn''t expect the change would be this big," I said to the woman as I offered her seat. Her cheeks reddened. "I am saying as apliment; the new look suits you," I rified and could see, relief on her face, but her cheeks were still red. For the past five months, she had been overseas. At Nazhar, where she was training in the legacy spa. Her focus was on the management, while the others who went with her learned the methods and techniques. She had returned yesterday and even brought the few Nazarian staff of that spa. That spa is big and not everyone sees their future there and some were willing toe here when we offered them a job. We didn''t do it behind the back of the spa. They had given us the list of employees they are willing to let go, and we have approached those employees with the offer. "How was Elysian Serenity?" I asked, and a big smile lit up across her face. "Amazing." She replied. "Those people have created a heaven in there," she added with her eyes turning dreamy for a moment. "I hope, we will be able to make our spa as memorable as Elysian Serenity," I said. "Definitely," she replied, with confidence burning in her voice. There are only two legacy spas in the entire world. A few other legacies are doing, what I do by adding the spa, but those two are considered the best. I have asked for their help. The first one gave nothing, but Elysian Serenity was very helpful. They had initially helped me with the tips andter with training and other things. I had spent a lot on the spa, and Miss Rolgath had done a wonderful job in designing it. Yesterday, we added thest edition to the spa; it made it feel like heaven. "You have a lot of tasks ahead of you. I hope you will be able to finish them before the opening," I said. "I will not give you a chance toin, my lord," she replied with excitement filling in her eyes. A few minutester, she left while I focused back on the work. For the past two weeks, a lot of people have returned from various ces I had sent them. Including the new people; I had hired a lot of people, many having the experience of working on the legacy. "The storm tower has acknowledged that they have received the invitation," informed Z. "Did they say who they will be sending for opening?" I asked. "No," she replied. We have started the invitation to the opening a week ago. It is also my birthday. I am sending invitations to everyone important, from the princes to legacies to nobles and governors. It is a great opportunity, and I want to milk it for everything it has. I finished up the work and walked out of my office. When I stepped out of the city hall; the carriage was waiting for me. The guard opened the door, and I entered inside. Ca is already sitting there, along with the children. "Are you guys excited?" I asked. Heron nodded while Josie looked at me, turning her face cute. I know what ising. She had been doing that in the past week, in different ways. "Will I be able to see the flowers?" she asked in her most cute voice, and I shook my head. Her expression turned like a big bright balloon getting punctured by the needle. Ever since I took Heron to the greenhouses to see the nts. She wants to see them too, but she won''t unless she shows the result. "As I told you before, you need to do well in the school before I take you to see the flowers," "You only have a week. After that, they will go to the tower and you will see them with everyone else," I said, and the girl glowered at me before turning to Ca. "Ca, please. I really want to see the flowers," she said cutely; even turning her eyes misty. It is having an effect as Ca turns to me. "Let the girl see the flowers. She had been doing well in the school," said Ca. "Not well enough," I replied, looking at the girl, who had started ring at me. For the first few months, children had been closed and polite, but now nearly six monthster, they have revealed their real personalities. Heron is straightforward, honest, and hardworking, while Josie iszy and willful. She is smart but refuses to use intelligence, where it is needed, and focuses more on maniption to get what she wants. It is important, that I remain strict with her. She is my blood-sister and likely heir till I have children of my own. I haven''t made it official, but I will in a few months. I don''t want her to turn like someone like Lancel; he was smart but too obnoxious and susceptible to the influence of others. It is not just him. More than half of the people born with privilege are like that. I have seen it everywhere, here, on earth; in my own family and I will be damned. If I let my sister, turn like that. Ca and I talked as the carriage moved toward the destination while the children remained quiet. I could feel the angry eyes of Josie, but I didn''t look at them and focused on my conversation with Ca. "By the next week, all the girls will return to the city," said Ca. "Good, we will need them all here a week before the opening," I said. We are going to open the college a week before we open the tower. Yes, we are calling the residence college now; we can''t call it a circle, since there isn''t a circle anymore. It is like a coge, as it will be a ce. They will stay and learn and work. I n to do a soft opening of the tower a week before the official opening with a limited number of people. It is not only for businesses but also for the girls; I want them to practice in the ce before we open officially. It will also act as publicity. Soon, we reached our destination, and the carriage stopped. Click! A secondter, the guard opened the gate, and I walked out, behind me came Ca and the children. I am at the edge of the massive park. I could see the tower at a distance and in between them small hills of lush grass; trees and small gazebos, benches, and other things. Surrounding the massive park is arge, dugged ring. Covering the entire park, which is circr in shape with a tower at its exact center. It is massive and took a lot of mages, and workers, and now today, we will fill it with water from the river. The water wille through the tunnels, filling therge artificial canal. It is as wide as the grand canals of Venice; it is from which it had been inspired. The canal surrounds the whole park, and people will be able to ride the boats in it. They will be able to go to any section of the park through it. It will be beautiful. Thousands of people have gathered to watch it, and the heavy presence of police is keeping them back. I could feel their emotions with the Mood Of The Subjects; they are excited and curious, while the police are stressed. Josie got a little scared seeing so much people and got closer to Ca. She said something to the young girl and took her hand, before saying something, looking at the people, many of whom looking at her. Ca''s words seemed to Calm her down, and a few secondster, she looked at the people and smiled as she had been taught. I never took them inrge public, fearing their safety. The undead are quite apt in using assassins and they are not the only ones that want to harm me. If it was not under the legacy''s domain, where me and Ca could summon tens of spells in an instant; I wouldn''t have brought them out in front of such arge public. I was looking at them when I saw Miss xasys,ing toward me with her sister, Lady ckwell. There is also Eudo, Valentina, and Shaman Trik with them. "Lord Silver, we can start with yourmand," said Miss xasys, without wasting any time. "Good. Fill the canal," Imanded and used my skill Every Ear Listens To My Words, so the crowd behind me could hear them. Bmoooooo! Her ring lit up, and a momentter, I heard the loud horn. For a few seconds, there was nothing, before I heard a gentle tremor under my feet. Three seconds after that, I saw the watering out in arge force from the tunnel, not far away from me. There are several tunnels and all of them are pouring the water into theke. It looked amazing; it had attracted theplete attention of the children and the crowd. It was not initially within a n, but as the size of the park increased. We have decided to add it. It will mark the boundary of the park, presenting a beautiful scenery of blue water, boats, and bridges. I could clearly imagine how it would look. The people enjoying themselves in the beautiful evening. Minutes passed, and the level of water kept increasing, filling the canal. "Halt!" ordered Miss xasys, and a few secondster, the water stoppeding from the tunnels. Most of these tunnels will be closed or diverted; only a single one will remain open to fill the water in the canal. This is enough, seeing there won''t be any draining and refilling; the cleaning will be done through the spells. So, aside from evaporation, there will be no loss of water. "Would you like to be first, my lord?" asked Miss xasys. I nodded and walked toward the canal, where the boats were already waiting. The boats were ready. The moment the canal was filled, the boatmen ced their boats into the water. "Gently dear," said Ca when Josie excitedly tried to step into the boat and nearly stumbled. Soon we all sat in a bright, orias boat, a narrow and long type of boat, that bore a resemnce to gonds. As we sat down on thefortable seats, the boatman dipped the paddle in the water and the boat began to move. It is gentle and smooth, like the music, the musician started ying at the back of the boat. As I had said, I just didn''t want to make the city prosper, but turn it into a cultural powerhouse. I want it to attract people from all over the world, to experience its wonders. We are not the only ones in the boats. Behind us, there are a few with xasys sisters, Valentina, and others. "It feels good, calming," she said, looking around. Her gaze has stopped for a moment, at thousands of people looking at us. She is still not fullyfortable seeing me in public with me and avoids it when she can. "It is," I said, dipping my hand in clear blue water. Josie tried to do the same but was stopped by Ca. The anger in the girl''s eyes had vanished; she was now enjoying herself. Soon, the boat appeared in front of the coge. In the earlier ns, the coge and legacy were apart, but the park had be so big that it had enveloped the coge in it. The coge has its boat stands for girls to enjoy boating. A quarter of the canal in front of the coge is marked as being restricted. Only boats of the girls would be able to move through that area and no others. The boat passed through another stone bridge. The canal is wide. Bridges are necessary to cross it to reach the park. These bridges are designed with aesthetics in mind and are beautiful. It took thirty-six minutes for the boat to make aplete circle of canal, before stopping at where we started. I would love to go for another round, but there is a lot of work waiting for me at the city hall. "Thank you," I thanked the boatman and looked at the children, who also thanked him. "Miss xasys, you have done a wonderful job," I praised the woman. "Thank you, Lord Silver," she replied. "Now, only the smallkes have remained," I said. There are multiplekes in the park that would need to be filled. "We will finish them by tomorrow," she replied. I talked to her for a few minutes before stepping into my carriage with Ca. Children aren''ting with us; they are going back home with their nanny, while we are going to the city hall. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 396: Seamstress Chapter 396: Seamstress Rustle! "It''s done," said Miss Rolgath as she adjusted the vine with tiny red flowers covering it around the column. It was thest nt to be nted in the tower; they had been doing that for twelve days. It was aplicated andplex job that required extreme care. "Many of the nts are sensitive, Lord Silver; I hope, your patrons will keep their hands off them," cautioned Irgal. He will stay for a week more before leaving, but not all of his people are leaving. Half of them are staying here to take care of the nts. ording to the agreement, I will provide space and emotion essence while the person in the hidden city will provide the persons, expertise, fertilizers, and other things. They will also train some of our people. It is the only condition in which we had negotiated. I was pretty adamant about it. "You do not have to be worried about it, Mage Irgal," I replied and looked around. The nts have merged well with the interior, bing one. Creating not just a visual feast, but also an olfactory one with their fragrance. "I think we should see how it feels under the power of the legacy," I said, and the eyes of everyone lit up. The power of legacy which had been at 5% of Grade 1 started to climb up. The mist appeared and got denser, forming a cloud at the ceiling, while its effects began to affect us. Soon, the effects reached 15%, 20%, and then 25% of the power. It was what I had been showing to the world before. I had never needed to use the full power of the legacy, seeing I had charms, and they acted with precision. Its effects were at 25%, but to others, it felt 100% because of the targeted approach. I could see the change in the expressions of people. Some even had tears appearing in their eyes. Some lookedpletely lost in the sensory overload. Finally, I stopped at 50% of Grade 1 and the effect is stronger than I thought. The beauty and fragrance of the nts mixed with the power of the legacy had created an effect far more powerful than I had thought. It mesmerized me, who is resistant to such effects due to being the host of it. It is only a 50% power of Grade 1, not full. I didn''t even touch the power of Grade 2, which I felt, might make people lose their minds. Even if I kept it at such power, it would get stronger over time as the power of the nts and legacy mixes. ''Should I change my ns?'' I thought to myself, before putting those thoughts away. "My god; it is stronger than I had thought!" said Miss xasys, gripping the chair to stabilize herself. Some, like her sister, sat down, while Mage Irgal had taken out the floating blue scroll and started to write fast. "You are a visionary, Lord Silver. You have created something incredible," praised Lady ckwell as she got her emotions under control. "It wouldn''t have been possible, without your help, mydy," I replied, and the women smiled. It took them a few seconds to get adjusted to it before all of them started to look around, while I was thinking of what could happen when I took the power to Grade II. The effects would be far stronger. The difference between a Grade I and a Grade II is huge. It is not power, but quality that changes with the advancement of grade. I turned to the man, who was still writing rapidly on his scroll. It seemed like I would have to talk to him; not him, but his boss. They might be able to provide help with the questions I have. An hour and a halfter, I walked out of the tower. It is ready for the soft opening tomorrow. People from the city, empire, and merchant state would be part of it. Tomorrow is also the day, the girls will move into the college, which will happen in the morning while the soft opening will be in the evening. ¡­ Eliyen I walked out of the bathroom after taking a shower and immediately, other girl went inside. When I looked ahead, I saw a lot of girls waiting for their turn. I had never seen such a crowd, especially this early. The reason I woke up early was to avoid such a crowd. It is a habit I had developed in past brothels. It was the only time in a brothel, where it waspletely peaceful. I looked at the widow, and it was still dark, with the sun barely starting toe out. Usually, barely anyone wakes up, but now it is akin to the rush before breakfast. Today is special. Today, we are going to the college; the ce where we will live and work. I still remember the circle; I only got to live there for six days; five and a half, to be exact. My contract was brought, and three days before, the undead invaded the region and fucked everything up. My room was in the underground because all the space above was upied, but that room was bigger, and I only shared it with a person. It was a beautiful room with a private bathroom. The circle had everything. A library, a yroom, and sses, which I was never able to take in there. I had only filled out the forms and got the schedule for my sses, but could never attend them because of the undead. In the past six months. I have been to the four cities, learning different things, before I returned here a week and a half ago. Since then, I have been living here, sharing the room with four other girls. Click! ''Things are going to get better from today,'' I thought and opened the door of my room, gently. My roommate usually didn''t wake up for one and a half hours more, but now, I am seeing two of them woke up. Preparing for the shower, while the third one, I had seen in the line for the showers. "You should have woken me up!" said Coleen usingly. "I did, several times, but you said, let you sleep and even cursed at me," I replied. The human girl''s cheeks reddened, hearing that. Coleen is ate sleeper. Many times, she had to forgo the breakfast, because she hadn''t woken early enough. The breakfaststs only an hour, from eight to nine, before the training starts from nine and a half. Since I returned to the city, the sses had been paused. It is only training now, with the actors. We are doing that from morning nine and a half to nine and a half in the night. With only two bathroom breaks and two meal breaks. I had only heard about it in the past six months and was quite excited about it, but now, I little dread it. Those actors are sharp critics, and so is Madam Onaz. Every expression, every gesture, and everyugh needs to be perfect. We have been training for this for months and I thought I was good, but they have shown me, that I am not as good as I think, I am. Thankfully, they are helping. I am making fewer mistakes, than I did, on the first day of the training. Today, this training will shift from the rooms of the building to resplendent halls of the legacy. I had seen the tower from a distance. It is grand; it is the biggest building in the entire city. I wanted to see it from closer, but unfortunately, I could not see it, just like I could not see the college. Those restrictions are going to disappear today. I changed into my best dress before looking in the mirror. My skin is soft, and my hair is smoother than it had ever been. The elves had the advantage of beauty, but this is beyond our natural gifts. They have provided us with expensive beauty products that I could never afford, even after working a year, and dresses that I had only seen rich people wear. Speaking of dresses, we will get to try the dresses in the establishment. The current dresses we have are good, but Madam Onaz said, the new dress we will wear in the establishment will make the ones we are wearing feel like rags. It is not just dresses, but everything, every, shoes and other stuff; there is also the spa. Unlike us, madams aren''t restricted, and they share a few bits with us. They had taken my measurement two months ago in Owlspring. They have measured every inch of me; they have measured things, which I thought weren''t necessary. The dietician I met a week ago said that my weight remained the same. The dresses made for me, won''t need to be adjusted. Which he thought wasn''t surprising; our diet needs to be changed drastically to affect our physique and even then, the change is slow. It is much easier with humans and orcs. I sat on my bed and picked up the embroidery, I had been working on. It is not a fancy hobby as other girls have chosen, but I love it. I wanted to seamstress since I could remember. My grandmother was, but never got the chance. My fate had changed as such, that the first ss I had got was not Seamstress but Prostitute. I have a Seamstress ss now; I had gotten it five months ago and took it to Lv. 8 already. An incredible speed, anywhere, but not here, it is not special. The girls here level up at crazy speed; I have seen a couple of girls getting ss and reaching Lv. 10, all within six months. I have also been able to level-up my prostitute ss twice, taking it to seventeen. Both level-ups were a great surprise to me, seeing I haven''t fucked a single client since they brought my contract. I have made a lot of decisions about many things in the past few months, but one thing, I wasn''t able to decide. The magic talent; I have it. I have been learning the theory, but don''t know whether I want to peruse it. I heard they had built a mage suite, bigger with better facilities. Many girls are excited to learn magic, even those older than me. Everyone wants to learn to cast a spell, seeing Madam Margaux doing it. I can understand the appeal. Magic is a great elevator. Enough to wipe the make of a whore. Seven women, including Madam Margaux, could use the spells. Magic is great, but I want to keep myself focused on the Seamstress ss. Anything could happen; the circle was destroyed less than a week after I had arrived here. The legacy could also be destroyed. So, I want to keep my focus on the Seamstress ss. Learn as much as possible from the teachers. If I am able to take it to Lv. 15, then it will be enough to get hired by shops; it is high enough, that people will ignore my Prostitute ss. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the work I was doing. I am trying to learn the new embroidery technique and it is hard, even with skills like Steady Hands and Mend Threads. "Eli!" I was working on it when I heard my name called and looked up. "What?" I asked Ulban, the orc girl. "It is time for breakfast," she replied. Immediately, my eyes went to the clock. It is past eight. "Thank you," I said to her and put embroidery into my already packed bags before walking out of the room with her. Soon, we reached the cafeteria and picked up the tes before taking the food and sitting at our usual table. Two of our friends were already there, and we sat beside them. All four of us are new. Yani and I came two days before the undead invasion, while Uban and Sanja were after. None of us worked in the establishment. Though we will from the next week. All four of us have cleared our interview. The interview struck me as the strangest of all. These people had brought contracts, but if we wanted to do the job, we would have to do an interview and what is even stranger, is that we worked hard to pass the interview. The money is hard to resist. It is huge; I have seen the money, the old girls have, and it is eye-watering. If I had such money, I would have started my own business already. It is not just the money, but also the power. Forget Ca, the positions of Miss Ina, Miss L, Miss Andrea, and a few others were able to reach, were too hard to believe, and the story is that none except for Ca had slept with Silver. Which I find hard to believe, but most old girls seemed to be sure of that. "Today is the day," said Yani. "It is, and I am quite excited," said Ulban; she is the youngest; in her early twenties. "Fantasies are more beautiful than reality. Things we heard might not be as good as they seemed," said Sanja, cynical as always. "Shut up, Sanja." Said Ulban. "I am just saying when people stay away from the thing. They tend to forget the bad things and remember only the good ones," she replied with a shrug, making Ulban even angry. "You are a bitch, Sanja. I hope, you know that," cursed Yani angrily, before focusing on the breakfast. Of course, we know there are problems. No ce is perfect, but it is a thousand times better than where we had been before. Even this ce we are staying is a hundred times better than any brothel I had been to. So, even if the next ce is only slightly better; I would be ecstatic. Soon, we finished the dinner. On the way back, I picked up the newspaper from the stand as I always do. Forty minutester, I walked out of my room with Ulban with my bag in my hand. I had already sent my other bag yesterday. They said it will be in my new room, waiting for me. I hope nobody steals it; I don''t want to lose my things. They are the best things I had and losing them would be heartbreaking. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 397: Eliyen Chapter 397: Eliyen Eliyen "It seemed like, we are thest ones," said Ulban as we stepped out of the building and saw two hundred girls already there with their bags in their hands. Since the circle was destroyed; all the girls never stayed in the same ce. Madam Onaz said, there was no ce big enough in the city to keep us together. There is also, a thing about us needing different things. We have grouped here based on the hobbies we have selected, our levels, and a few other factors. Finally, the carriages came and stopped in front of us. Immediately, the girls rushed toward them. Forgetting all the lessons and discipline; they had been taught in the past half a year. "Don''t rush girls!" shouted Madam Onaz and a momentter, I felt her skill. I am not moving, but I felt the powerfulpulsion. It hit the girls even harder as they slowed down. They moved slowly and in order. "She is Lv. 25+, might even be level or two away from the Lv. 30," said Yani. I couldn''t help, but nod. Madam ss is hard to level-up, but every madam, I hade across here, seemed to be at Lv. 25 and above. The only one who is not is young Madam Gloria, but she is young. She is barely eighteen, but she has not only got the madam ss but is also able to take it to Lv. 20. It is extremely hard to achieve something like that. First and foremost, such young girls, don''t get such responsibilities, and even if they do, most cave under the sheer pressure of the job. I wanted to take my Prostitute ss to Lv. 20. It had many privileges attached to it, including the private room; Madam Onaz had said the rule that the private room would remain the same. The carriages filled one by one and the new ones took their ce. Finally, thest carriages came, and we walked toward it. I didn''t rush toward the carriages. I didn''t see the point of doing it. We all were leaving for the same ce; it didn''t matter if we reached there a few minutester. The eight of us sat in the carriage, and the driver closed the door. A secondter, it started moving. In the past few months, rapid changes have urred in the city. From bustling, a growing small city to nearly deserted after the battle, to the bustling again. I read the newspaper earlier and the headline was the city''s poption had reached to level. It had been before the battle. It shocked me because I know how hard it is. Cities like these get ruined and abandoned after the battles like those. It happened in my city. The name of the city was Ekri, and it was on the eastern side of the Oksall; one of the closest to the Navr. The undead attacked, and they had broken through the city like they did seven years earlier. I had lost them in that battle, I didn''t even remember them; I was three years old when it happened. Neen years ago, when I was ten. They attacked and broke through the city, once more. Oksall and the whole merchant state didn''t think the city was important and didn''t provide any reinforcement. The city and its people fought bravely but lost. The undead did what they always do; they took people. This time, it was my grandmother. I still remember as it was yesterday. The undead broke through our little house and dragged my grandmother away. I still hear her screams in my nightmares. The city tried to get on its feet after but failed and was abandoned. I had spent a few years in the orphanage and when I was fifteen. I had sold myself to the brothel. It is not like, I didn''t try. I did, for almost a year, do all kinds of jobs, including begging, but even in a ce like a merchant state, it''s hard. Especially two decades ago, when the war against the undead got especially bad. So, I made a choice between starving and a brothel. Soon, the carriage turned and entered the square. My expression changed and turned somber. "This ce," said a blond woman, whose name I can''t remember, but everyone nodded. The explosion is still fresh in my mind. When the undead attacked. We were moved to a safe zone; we were in that building on the left. I was terrified as it brought back the memories of what, I had suffered two decades ago. I was also cursing myself for not leaving when I had time. We were given the chance to leave when the news of the undead spread. Many girls left, but I was too terrified to make a decision and went along with what madams had said. Though, when I saw the undead through the window, I had decided, that I would leave the city. If I had survived. "It was glorious and sad. If I were to die; I want to die like that," said Ubal, wiping the tears off her face. I was terrified seeing the undead attacking the building, with guards barely holding them back. I thought it was about to end, when I saw, the familiar woman, being chased by hundreds of undead. The same woman, who had greeted me when I came to the city and brought me to the safe zone. She was leading the undead, attracting more. It was a horrifying sight, and I expected her to get swallowed by them when she stopped at the dead center of the square. She didn''t. Instead, she brought out hundreds of bombs and threw them all around her before activating them together. The st that was produced was so strong that it shook the buildings. When the smoked cleared, every undead died. She had sacrificed herself to kill them all, and it is because of her sacrifice, the thousands of people, including those orphan children for whom, she had sacrificed her life for alive. It was then and there, I decided, that I wouldn''t run away. Give a chance to a ce that forged a soul like her. The somber mood stayed for a few minutes before the vibrancy returned to the conversation and the girls became excited again. "The tower," "The canals," The guards called out as the carriage entered the mason road. Providing the view of the tower at the center of the park and the canal, which is beside it. I could even see the faces of people on the boat. "Did I tell you before that my father was a boatman. I could rove the boat," said Yani, looking at the boats excitedly. "Many times," replied Ubal and me in unison. It is especially true in the past two weeks since they filled the canal. Currently, only police and important people can boat, but in a week, it will be open to the public, like the park and the tower. The bright boats looked good, and I heard the whispers that we might be able to ride it. I don''t like water much, but I like to ride in a boat, at least once. The carriages moved through the road by the canal, passing the bridge, leading to the park. There are four bridges leading to the park. Three will be open to the public, while the fourth will be restricted. A few minutes passed, and another bridge came into view. Past it, is the coge. Soon, the carriage reached the beautiful stone bridge across the canal and moved toward it. Everyone moved their heads toward the windows, trying to see as much as they could. The carriage passed through the bridge and entered the coge. "Look, there is a huge garden around the buildings," said Ubal and everyone looked harder. I had heard about the garden and couldn''t help, but feel excited as I saw it. It looked even bigger than I had imagined. Click! The carriage stopped at the entrance of the garden surrounding the buildings. We nearly stumbled as I got out. "Thank you," I said to the driver in a hurry and moved toward the gate to the garden. Which is being guarded by the man and woman. They didn''t stop us as we entered inside, admiring the most beautiful garden I had ever seen. There were gardens in Oksall and other cities, but I never got to see one, other than the small one in Ekri. There are hundreds of girls, moving around the garden, looking at beautiful nts and flowers. Some didn''t even listen to signs and plucked the flowers. I wanted to do that too, but I controlled the urge. As I looked at the garden, I could imagine spending my days here. Studying, working on my stitching, under the shade of a tree or one of those beautiful benches by the fountains. It is truly beautiful and the more I look at it, the calmer, I feel. I looked at it for a few minutes, before turning to the buildings. "ssical Harsorthian mixed with Geasik. Architecture Amellus has really built a work of art," said Yani and I count help, but nod. There are four big buildings. I turned to the biggest one. It''s a seven-story building, and it is beautiful. It will take the breath of anyone, who would look at it. Especially those massive wooden doors. It will easily be able to hold eleven hundred and thirty-seven girls. It is bigger than the circle and will be our residence; the lessons will be held in other buildings. If I am not wrong, the five-story building of simr architecture is where the learning will happen. "It is a good thing; they have kept the residence and school separate. There is a need to be a space between them," said Yani. She is interested in architecture and has been taking sses. She had even gone to visit a couple of projects that r and Amellus were working on. "That should be a magic suit, right?" I asked. Looking four-story square-shaped building. It is the smallest of three big, but just as beautiful. "Yes," replied Yani. "I thought it would look more like a tower," I said. She turned and looked at me as if I had said the most idiotic thing. "The mage tower is only built when there are elemental pools. It is considered an affront to tradition, to build a magic tower without them. Mages took a great offense to that and destroyed such things," she replied. Her words left me bewildered. For a moment, I thought, she was joking with me, but she was dead serious. I turned to thest building. It is five stories tall and in the shape of a tower. It is the only thing, that didn''t follow the simr architecture as other buildings. It is a spa, and it is built nearly the same as the previous one in the building. Only bigger in size. There is a spa in the tower, but that is for the patrons. This one is only for us. I admired it for a few seconds before turning to the small buildings. There are several of them. I don''t know their purposes, but I will know soon. "There are pools, big swimming pools behind the building," Screamed some girl and many ran toward it. I didn''t move and explored the garden. I would have liked to enter inside the building, but the doors are closed. I explored the area and even checked out the pools; there are three of them and all of them are big. Far bigger than the ponds that used to be a small garden in the circle. Many girls have already removed their clothes and are swimming, not caring about the cold. The temperature may be cold, but the water is warm. I wanted to swim too, but I didn''t want to catch the cold. Especially not at an important time like this. It could derail my debut in the legacy. It is not a price, I am willing to pay for a few minutes of fun. Tap on the to read more than 15 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 398: Mena Horn College Chapter 398: Mena Horn College ¡®Girls, gather in front of the rose circle,¡± The familiar voice rang out in my mind, surprising me. It was the first time; I had heard it directly in my mind. The others seemed to have heard it too as they got out of the pool and dried themselves on the drying stations, before wearing their clothes. I didn¡¯t know about the rose circle is, but many did, and I followed them. It turned out to be the ce, where there was a thing covered in ck cloth, surrounded by rose flowers of all kinds. It turned out statue; they had not removed the cloth, but most girls are saying statue, and it feels like a statue. When I reached, I saw there were people standing by the statue. Important people, including Silver. I bowed as I had been taught before, standing in line and looking at people. It was not my first time seeing him, but it was the first time, I had seen him, so close and he was young. Though I heard about it, I still hard time believing it. Even now, I am having a hard time; it feels like he is an older man with high vitality. If it is high enough, it slows down, aging considerably. It felt especially true when I looked at his silvery-grey eyes; they looked older than he looked. He is talking to several people, including Ca Salt. The woman is responsible for all his business, including the legacy. She is also his mistress and the only whore he fucked, among all the whores, which I very much doubt. There is also the Headmistress Margaux, Madam Caena, Madam De, and two other women, I didn¡¯t recognize. ¡°Who is that blond and brte woman and middle-aged man?¡± I asked the short-haired girl in front of me. ¡°That is Ina Knox and L M,¡± replied the girl with an idealizing expression. ¡®So, they are the ones who are flying high,¡¯ I thought. I heard about them every day; the girls idolized them. More than Headmistress and Madam Ca. They are whores, that had reached high. So high, that even the ¡®Whore sses¡¯ had left them, bing something else. Seeing them, the admiration and jealousy couldn¡¯t help, but rise in my heart. ¡°And that middle-aged man?¡± I asked again, looking at the middle-aged in conversation with Headmistress Margaux. ¡°I think that is Commander Stone,¡± she replied, and a visible surprise appeared on my face. ¡°Isn¡¯t he supposed to be all muscly and big?¡± I asked. Giant-bloods are big; all giant bloods are big and tall. The middle-aged man was not even six feet tall, and I couldn¡¯t see any muscles through his clothes. I think I had seen Commander Stone once when Silver came and gave us a choice to stay or leave; he was his bodyguard at that time. He was a big man with a big sword on his back. ¡°I heard the awakening had changed him. Now, he is big only when he uses his powers,¡± the girl replied. I nodded and looked at other people, including assistant madams and even that young woman, Gloria. It seemed like everyone important was here. My eyes focused on the middle-aged woman,ughing as she talked with the madams. If I am not wrong, that is Barb Utsa; the woman who breathed fire. Many girls, had seen her breathing fire at the undead, burning. I would have seen it too. If not for being pushed away from the window. All I was able to see was burning undead. A few minutes passed, and everyone seemed to gather. Headmistress Margaux coughed gently, and everyone turned to her. ¡°From today, the new chapter of your life begins.¡± Said Headmistress, looking at every eye, looking at her. ¡°Many of use here without our will and in despair, but I promise you all that you will leave this ce, it will be with your own will and a great future,¡± Her words have lit up hopes in the eyes of new girls, while old ones nodded. They had benefits; they had the new sses and skills, that would help them live a respectful life and big savings for the twilight days. ¡°I hope, your time here will be joyful despite the nature of our business. We will make sure, you learn everything that will help you all live a respectful life, without the burden of our profession; it is our promise,¡± she said. p p p Immediately, apuse rang out from a thousand girls andsted for nearly a minute. It was not a great speech, but it told the girls what they wanted to hear. When it calmed down, Silver took one step forward, bing more regal. His presence bes heavy, but it also excludes the trust. It made me feel like, I could trust him to make my life better. I instantly knew he was using skills, and I wanted to resist them, but they were so damn powerful that I got swept into them. ¡°Our business is considered the filth of society, but I consider it the most noble. Without us, society wouldn¡¯t have the order, it has. It is us that keep this chaos of men and bury it in lust,¡± ¡°You all should be celebrated. Instead, get the scorn that you do not deserve,¡± he said and to my surprise, the man is believing what he is saying. He is truly thinking the brothel is a noble business. I have seen many delusional people, but not as much as him. People around me were shocked by his words, but I could see the admiration for him increased tenfold in their eyes. It is not just the brothel owner saying those words, but the lord of the city. ¡°The velvet garden is the best among all, not because it is a legacy, but because of you all. It is you all that turned into a legacy; it is you all that raised it to the height it is and for it, I am grateful to you all.¡± His eyes looked at us, and I saw none of the repulsiveness, I saw it from the men. They want to fuck us, but they are also repulsed by us. Sometimes, after finishing, they cursed themselves for falling into temptation and then med us for it. I can¡¯t remember the times I heard them cursing me, before hitting. A couple of times, it was really bad. ¡°It is from you all, that we got our finest; the ones that kept their self-respect in front of the mighty lord, the ones that stared down the undead. The ones that selflessly sacrificed themselves so others could live,¡± he said, and tears flowed down from his eyes. He wiped the tears and looked at Barb. She nodded and gripped the silk cloth covering, the statue, before pulling it hard, revealing the five meters tall ck marble statue of a beautiful woman standing bravely. It didn¡¯t even take me an instant to recognize, who she was. I could never forget that face and those expressions, she has on her face. Whoever made the statue, was able to bring out the essence of her. The essence of that moment. ¡°She is the finest of what velvet garden produced. Her courage and bravery will inspire generations.¡± ¡°Today, I name the coge after her. From this moment onward; it will be Mena Horn Coge,¡± he dered. p p p The resounding apuse rang out; the girls began to p, while tears flowed from their eyes. It is not just the girl crying, but also the Madams; they seem to be crying harder. Silver hugged them and said something, I couldn¡¯t hear, before walking away with Ca Salt and a middle-aged man. I wiped the tears from my own eyes and looked at the statue. It is big, beautiful and inspiring. ¡°Girls, there is one more important announcement,¡± said Headmistress Margaux, bringing our attention to us. ¡°De Web will be the resident director,¡± she said, looking at the older woman beside her Nobody seemed surprised. She had been second inmand of Headmistress Margaux in the circle and only with the position of Asst. Madam, who didn¡¯t work in the legacy aside from Madam Gloria. It is said, she had been offered but declined it. ¡°I am grateful for the responsibility; Master Silver, and you have bestowed on me. I will not disappoint you,¡± she said and turned to us. ¡°Girls, follow me,¡± she said and walked ahead. We followed behind the older woman. ¡°The rules are unchanged from the circle. If you have any problem, youe to me or any assistance madam in the residence,¡± she added. ¡°Have the rules about advancement and privileges remained the same, Madam De?¡± asked the girl from the front. ¡°Yes, they are the same,¡± she replied. ¡°Till you reach Lv. 20, you will share the room with another person At Lv. 20, you will get your own room, and at Level 25, you will get an upgrade of the interior and a prize,¡± she added. ¡°What will we get after reaching Lv. 30?¡± asked another, and the older woman stopped and turned. ¡°Reach Lv. 30 and you will know,¡± she replied with a mischievous smile, before turning back and resumed walking. Soon, we reached the resident building. The ce we will live. ¡°There is one more thing. Those who picked flowers will receive no dessert for today. Consider it a lighter punishment since it is the first day, but next time, it will be a suspension of bigger privileges,¡± she said. Immediately, the expressions of many girls changed. It is a good thing; I hadn''t touched those flowers. I like sweets; it would have been regretful if I had missed that. Krrrrrr! Soon, the older woman reached the enormous doors and pushed them with both of her hands, revealing the massive lobby. ¡°The envelope, you have received has the key to your rooms. The first number is the floor, the second number is the suite, and the third number is the room inside the suite.¡± ¡°I am sure, you are capable of finding it on your own. If you still have any problem, ask them,¡± she said, pointing at four teenage girls; wearing identical white dresses with name pin on the shoulder. I barely looked at them as I was busy being mesmerized by the huge lobby. It is beautiful, with murals on its domes and beautiful statues and paintings. There are also four elevators and stairs, with information boards everywhere. I took out the envelope and tore it open, revealing the key. Many had opened them yesterday when they received it, but I wanted to open a mine on time. I looked at the key, which had ¡®03-11-02¡¯ carved on it. It means I have to go to the third floor. I looked at the elevator; I loved them. The circle had them; on my first day, I had used them tens of times. I wanted to use one right, but seeing the crowd, I don¡¯t think. I would be able to. So, I took the stains, not immediately. I waited for a few minutes as they were too crowded, before walking on them. The stairs were beautiful marble, and I wanted to touch them with bare feet. They areden with art like in the lobby, and it is good. It brings the life to the whole ce. I looked at each one of them, till I reached the third floor, Each door is carefully marked, with many girls opening the doors of the suite, leading to their room. Soon, I reached the eleventh suite and saw a red-haired half-orc girl opening the door. I recognize her. She was in the same building as me, but we had never talked. ¡°Which room are you?¡± she asked. ¡°Second,¡± I replied, and the smile on her face became bigger. ¡°It seemed like we are going to be room partners,¡± she said, showing me her key, which is the same as mine. We entered inside the suite, and like thest time, each suite had four rooms with one private room in the middle. The suite is bigger than what was in the circle and has far more luxuries. From the quality of the furniture to the paint covering the walls, everything looks better. Click! This is our room, she said and opened the room, and we entered inside. ¡°Wow! It is better than I had imagined,¡± said the woman as she unlocked the room. It is amazing, slightly bigger than before, and has better furniture; there is also a window, providing a view of the park. ¡°You are from thetest batch?¡± I asked. She nodded as looked around the room and I looked at her. She is a half-orc, short of five-five, and has green skin, which is the same shade as the orcs, but she is slimmer like humans, with a round face and blue eyes. She is beautiful, especially when her caninese out. ¡°I am Eliyen,¡± I introduced. I know her name from the door, but an introduction is necessary. It creates familiarity. ¡°Batul,¡± she replied and shook my hand. ¡°Which side, do you want?¡± she asked, turning to beds. ¡°Anything is fine with me,¡± I replied. I don¡¯t have a preference. Though some like Ubal are particr about them. ¡°Then I am going to take the left,¡± she said and picked up her bags from the floor and put it on the table, before jumping on the bed. ¡°So, soft!¡± She cooed. I smiled, seeing that, and picked up my bag and ced it on the bed. I had just opened it when she turned to me. ¡°We can do thatter. Let¡¯s explore this ce first,¡± she said, getting up from her bed. I wanted to decline, but I nodded. ¡°Sure,¡± I replied. I am curious about this ce too and want to see everything it has to offer. Especially look for the sewing room, the circle has it; I hope this ce has it too. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 399: The Opening Day Chapter 399: The Opening Day Homers "Mom, I want toe too," said a young woman of fourteen. "You know, we can''t take you, honey. You have to stay in the territory till we return," I said to my daughter. She wanted toe, since we received the invitation; thest when I returned, she was shocked seeing me and wanted to go to the spa. We can''t take her, she is too young, also because she is the heir, and one will be ady of territory. She needs to be here to take reigns of territory in case something happened to us, on the trip. It is not Silver or Dane we fear, but the undead. They had turned such parties bloody, but we needed to go. It will be the first exchange with Greltheaven, aside from various negotiations, that had been happening in the past six months. A few tidbits have leaked over the week, and that made me extremely excited. I want to see it with my own eyes, while Elias does his business. Though, I hope, he will find some time for the spa. Thest time was memorable, especially the time after treatments; it had lighted up the fire in our sex life, that had been nearly dead. It will not be just a trip for pleasure. Elias and other members of the council are going to have a negotiation with Silver. It will be on many things, but one of the most important is emotion essence or rather potions with the emotion essence. Those things are lifesavers. We want them and have been asking Silver about it, but till now, he has not budged even an inch on that. We know his legacy is producing the emotion essence and selling them to merchant states for potions with emotion essence and other things. His army had used them in both of the battles; it is what saved many of his powerhouses from dying in the battle. We need them; the monsters are attacking regrly and also Dane. He had suffered a humiliating defeat in the battle against us and that only increased his resolve to put the Baronies under his thumb. Getting those things from silver will help our powerhouses against Dane. "Are you ready?" asked Elias as he walked into the parlor. "Yes," I replied. "Let''s go. We have to reach Lauryl in time," he said. A few minutester, the carriage moved out of the castle toward the Lauryl. Silver had invited all the nobles, but the council had decided to send only six. They have also decided to not send the most powerful ones, seeing the state of baronies where we are keeping a tight eye on the monsters and mirador hold. Of six three are council members. Including its leader, Baron Husk, Elias, and, of course, Baroness La. She is bing essential, one of the four pirs of baronies. She had be as powerful as the other three; unlike the three, she is a mage. She might be lower level than three, but equally powerful due to the spells. Silvers may be merchants, but they have produced two talented people. I heard Remus Silver was quite good at fighting too; he had fought both of the battles when he could have easily stayed behind. This is good news for us, the stronger these people are, the better our security of baronies will be. However, they shouldn''t be too powerful; we want baronies ruled by a council, not by a sole leader. Soon, we reached the Lauryl, and it was not the town it had been six months ago. It had turned into a city, with its poption going past fifty thousand people and increasing faster. "Silver is really good; the ns he made for it will turn Lauryl into a prosperous city," I said as I looked around. The council had made only a slight change in the ns, that Silver had crafted for the city. They are so good, that they couldn''t find anything better and just rebranded it in their names. "If we kept growing as such; it won''t take us more than three years to catch up to the Greltheaven," said Elias. I couldn''t help, but nod at that. The Greltheaven has its advantages, because of the river, but it is a city without resources. Unlike it, Lauryl had the resources from mines to agriculture to trade links between Oksall and Navr, which is growing every month. There is also the rising industry of tanning and monster part packaging. Monster''s attack and we have created an industry out of it. Earlier, we used to sell it. Semi-processed leather, meat, and other things came from the monsters, but now we process every part of it from leather, bones, blood, and others before selling. It had brought a lot of people to the city and gave them the job. Not to mention the money. Soon, the carriage entered the hold, and we exited. Elias went to his meeting while I went to the parlor, wheredies were already waiting, including Mrs. Silver. She ising. I heard she doesn''t like the bastard of her husband much. "Ladies," I greeted as I sat down. "What are you all talking about?" I asked, the eyes turned to Mrs. Silver for a moment, before turning back to me. "We are talking about the disrespect Lord Silver had caused us, sending his whore with the invitation. He should have sent, a foreign chief or a treasury chief or even the head of merchant guild," said Baroness Husk. Her husband, Baroness, is head of the council and also the least powerful member of it. Only he was in the council and became its leader because of neutrality; he didn''t swing toward any faction. "It is not a slight, since it is a legacy that invited us and not, the city. Miss Ca is head of legacy; I would say they have shown us appropriate respect," I replied. Many were surprised, but it is the truth. "Still, she is a whore, and he had sent her to our dominions," said Mrs. Silver and I could see the changes appearing in the eyes of many women. The woman is intelligent. Knows, how to y with the words. I remained quiet, while others nodded at her words. I don''t want to be seen favoring silver. Nakar baronies had broken away from Greltheaven. Like Greltheaven, we are an independent entity and will remain independent, till the chaos in the empire calms down and one emperor or empress emerges. The subject of conversation moved toward the other topics. An hour and a halfter, Elias returned, and we got out of the parlor and back to our carriages, which were being surrounded by a force. Only six barons are leaving for the Greltheaven, but many others are sending their representatives, mostly family members. More than half of those representatives are women, and they are excited. I had never seen any woman this excited about the brothel, but I can''t really me them, seeing I am excited myself. So, is Elias, though he isn''t showing it. It is all because of the spa; the invitation had a booklet, which had information on all the services the tower and legacy will be offering. Including a spa, which covers, the total four floors of the tower. I have seen the number of treatments they are offering. More than two ofst time. Most importantly, this time, they have people trained in Nezhar at the legacy spa and even brought the people who worked there. They have also brought tools and products, that will be used in the treatments. "I didn''t believe, I would be able to see one of Rosen''s ys again; I thought he was dead," said Elias suddenly. Rosen was a rising star in the business of theater two decades ago. He was an actor, writer, and director. He seemed unstoppable, till he cursed the prince in public and it all went downhill for him. Prince Mather is not a man to forgive a slight. No matter how, big a rising star, one is. He was in jail within a week and stayed there for five years and when he came back, he became a drunkard. There were rumors that he died, in some back alley, drunk. "It is such a regret what happened to that man. He is the reason we have met," I said, remembering the first time, I had met Elias. "Me too; you had kept staring at me, from your balcony," he said, and I rolled my eyes. "It''s because of your hair. They are glowing," I replied, with his cheeks reddened in embarrassment at the memory. I wasn''t the only one staring at him, nearly everyone was. If he wasn''t from the powerful merchant house. He would have thrown it out. "It was a prank from my cousins," he said, and I smiled. His cousins, still y pranks, even after decades. "Let''s hope, he has the same magic," I said. His ys were amazing; the tragedies were such that it had made even the cruelest people cry. I talked to Elias, before closing my eyes to sleep. When I woke up. It was a morning. Elias had already woken up and reading the documents. "We are just fifteen minutes away from the river," he informed. I nodded and activated Baroness Is Always Ready. Immediately, all the creases on my dress vanished and my hair fixed itself. I also felt refreshed, with not even a hint of sleep remaining in my eyes. I loved the Baroness ss. I got it, five months ago, and it upgraded nearly all my skills and gave me amazing new ones. Finally, we reached the river, and carriages stopped. Hun! When I got out, I couldn''t help, but be surprised. There is a pier in here; there was a pier before, but this one is much bigger, with boats carefully lined up. There are also uniformed guards that keep keeping eye on everything. I was looking when I saw the old maning toward us, with four uniformed guards behind him. He looked familiar; I felt like, I had seen him somewhere. "Hendriks, he was a personal assistant of Silver Senior," Informed Elias. "My Lords,dies, please," said the old man as he stopped in front of us, before leading us to the boats. The boats are beautiful, and one by one, we sat on it, before it began to take us to the other side. "It has been a while, Hendriks," said Mrs. Silver. "Exactly, two years, madam," he replied to the old man. A sh of guilt appeared in the eyes of Baroness Le''s eyes, while sparks of anger appeared in the eyes of Mrs. Silver. "I heard you are working under a whore. Quiet a fall from the job, you had," she said, shocking everybody. Immediately, all the conversation stopped, and the eyes turned to her. Even she seemed to realize, she had said something she shouldn''t have. It is fine if she calls Ca a whore in front of us, but she is calling her whore, in front of her colleague, in the dominion of silver. Ca isn''t just the business head of Silver, but also his mistress. I heard he is quite smitten with her. This woman despite being intelligent wasn''t able to control her emotions and said what she shouldn''t have. "Mother," said Baroness Le, and she was angry. There is a fire burning in her eyes. "My apologies, Hendricks. I misspoke," Mrs. Silver apologized. The old man didn''t say anything other than smile. It is wise for him to not say anything because it is not his ce to forgive. It is his ce to repeat what he heard to his boss. A good servant always reports to his masters. The rest of the ride went in silence. It was awkward. Nobody knew what to say. It''s all because that woman couldn''t keep her enmity at bay. Finally, the boat reached the other side of the river and what I saw couldn''t help but surprise me. The bustling port. I had heard it had reached its former peak, but still, I thought it was an exaggeration, but it didn''t seem like it. The port is far more bustling than its peak. I was here when it was at its peak and the port wasn''t as bustling as it is right now. "It''s likely because of the opening," said Elias. Even he and the other nobles were surprised by the bustle. We got out and saw three people waiting for us. The one on the left, I recognized immediately. Damon Hardt; the former head of the merchant guild and the new director of trade. On the left is the woman I didn''t recognize. She is young, in her early to mid-twenties, strikingly beautiful, with skin that seemed to glow in the morning sun. Every man, including Elias, had to struggle to move their eyes away from her. I looked at them focusing on the boy in the middle of them. He looks to be eleven or twelve with bronze skin; he is also quite handsome. Might even be able to beat Silver, when he reaches the age. Every eye had turned to him. "Wee to Greltheaven, dear Lords and Ladies," said the boy and bowed faintly with grace. If I am right, then he is Heron Raak, Silver''s brother, who came out of nowhere. I heard he is not Silver''s blood brother; the other child that came with him is his blood sibling. Nobody knows where they came from. Only Baroness Le seemed to know the answer. The council had asked her, but she replied it was a family matter. "Thank you, for greeting us personally, Master Raak," said Baron Husk, while Mrs. Silver, looked at him, like she wanted to bore a hole into him. The hate is evident in her eyes. Before them, if something had happened to Silver, everything he had would have been theirs. Likely Baroness Le''s, but now with them, the chances of it happening had disappeared. Silver had hinted in the past few weeks that he was thinking of making his sister his heir, till he had his own children. We talked to the four before they led us to the carriages waiting for us, which took us to the city. Tap on the Patreonbelow to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 400: The Park Chapter 400: The Park "The day is good," I said as I looked at the sky. I was worried that it was going to be another cloudy day as it had been for the past three days, but it was not. It is a sunny day, marking the end of winter. It is afortably warm day, enough to sunbathe. Which is good. If it had been cloudy, the experience of the park wouldn''t have been as good as it will now be. "I am leaving everything to you, Robin," I said to the man beside me. "Go, I will handle everything here," he replied. I nodded and walked toward the carriage. Today is the day of opening. I want to focus on my legacy and hand everything to Robin. The guests have already starteding in. The nobles of Nakar Baronies hade half an hour ago and more wereing every hour. There are multiple weing parties with Ca and Robin, along with Heron weing the most important people. Last night, I received the news of someone importanting. They were going to send the representative, but changed his mind at thest moment, likely because of his mistress who will be in Greltheaven in two hours. She ising to the spa. She hade to the spast time, a week before the undead attacked. She was thoroughly impressed, she had told me that personally. His appearance will bring a lot of confidence in the city. Except for the nobles of Nakar Baronies and him, everybody is sending their representatives. Even the princes have sent their representative; I had met onest night, and I wanted to punch the man. Click! I pushed those throught aside and stepped into the carriage. It got out of the city hall and moved toward the tower. Today, the city is feeling more vibrant. There are more people on the street than usual. I have been informed of the high number of people entering the city. They are from merchant states, but also from Deerpond and Inam. Even people from Gailhorn areing and not the only ones I had sent the invitation to. The rtionship with the Gailhorn is good. Trade with them is increasing every month; even our merchants have started to trade with Navr. Though nearly all things they are buying, they are selling outside. Mostly to the empire. The city and region are still not ready to ept the thingsing from the undead kingdom. Soon we reached near the park, and this area was most crowded. The circr area by the canal had be the prime real estate. The prices had shot past what they had been in the peak and after the opening; they will increase further. The girls have made a lot of real estate investment and it has already started giving them great returns. I could see the crowd of people by the canals, waiting for the park to open, while many passing the time by shopping in beautiful shops by the canal and eating in the restaurant. The opening will be in phases throughout the day. The first one to open will be the park; it will open at one and half an hourter at ten. At twelve, the five floors will open, along with the spa, and at six, the brothel, the theatre, and Eva''s store. At nine, the top three floors will open; it is where the opening party is being held. The carriage crossed the bridge and moved along the beautifully paved road. A few minutester, it entered a huge garden surrounding the tower, before stopping in front of its doors. Click! I got out and admired the tower; it was even more beautiful than the vision. One look and anyone would want to enter inside. There is also that faint fragrance that pulls one toward the tower. This is no normal fragrance. Ites from nts that consume emotion essence as food. Those powers of emotion essence, mixed with fragrance from nts, create a deadlybination. I have looked at it many times, but every time I look, I get mesmerized by it. I pulled myself a few secondster and walked inside. It was when the real thing hit me. Outside, it is a faint fragrance, but inside it is a wave, that submerges you, the moment you step in it. In this vast lobby, there are nts everywhere, but they do not feel crowded. Each of these nts is beautiful, so much, one would get enamored by them instantly. Initially, I wanted to have the stores in the lobby, but I have decided against it. Aside from nts, there is beautiful furniture, from sofas to tables to chairs. Its walls have beautiful paintings. There are statues and other art pieces. All of them are loaned from different people and my house. I can''t put cheap art in my legacy. Every piece is beautiful andplements the nts to increase the beauty of the lobby. It is good, but it still pales inpared to the legacy where the emotion mist is everywhere and so are the effects of the charms. With the nt, they create such abination. Once they entered there, they didn''t want to leave. It enthralls them. Providing them with such experience, that they had never got in their life. Here the nts are being supplied the emotion essence through thework vine In front of me, there is a long white stone desk attached to the wall. Behind it are three girls. Two are teens, while in the middle woman in her early thirties. That is Lorle; she had left the brothel and wanted to serve her contract in a different capacity. In the past six months, I had sent her to the hotels to learn. She hade back, learning a lot. "Master Silver," she greeted. I nodded and walked toward the elevator before entering the room. The elevator moved, and it was fast, but not enough. One could see what was on the floors, they were passing by. We had intentionally selected this speed for the elevator. We could have made move faster, but this is the best speed to serve our purpose. Ting! The elevator stopped at the top floor, and I stepped out into the velvet blue. I had changed it from Velvet Restaurant. It now covers three floors. One could enter the first, with reservation, but to enter the second floor, one would need to be on the Madam''s list, and for the floor, they would need to be on my list. We haven''t even opened yet, but the reservation list had be months long. We only opened the reservation yesterday. It is not special to the establishment, but all the legacies. There are a few in the world, and everyone wants to get into them. Even the people with good money need to wait for years to get reservations in legacies. I hope, that when it opens tonight, it will make a ssh big enough, that reservation list will stretch for years. I took a deep breath, controlling my emotions. This ce is enthralling; even I, who is resistant to the effects, am getting enthralled by it. It is at 50% of Grade I; Grade II gives a feeling of being in heaven. I looked at the preparations before walking toward my office. Click! When I entered. Caena was waiting in my office. The new office is big, with arge desk and an evenrger widow. Which gives me the whole view of the northern side of the city. The tower is the tallest building in the entire city. From the roof, I could see the whole city; it was amazing. "How are the preparations?" I asked. "Everything is moving ording to the ns," she replied. "I heard, there was a problem in the kitchen?" I asked. "It''s been fixed," she replied. I trust her enough to believe her words, but I will be looking forward to the report on the incident. I want everything cataloged, every little incident. A few minutester, she left, and I read the reports in front of me. ''Master Silver, Miss Eva, and Miss Cain want to see you,'' said Jill. They didn''t have an appointment, but I had been expecting them. I thought they woulde sooner. The moment, they found out. Click! ''Send them in,'' I said. A few secondster, two women came in. Miss Cain''s expressions are normal, but Eva is visibly irritated and angry. "Lord Silver," they greeted. "Eva, Miss, please take a seat," I offered. "Thank you, my lord," they replied. "What can I do for you,dies?" I asked as they sat. "The timing, my lord. We had been informed, that the sixteenth floor, will open at six, in the evening instead of twelve in the afternoon," said Eva, in clear irritation. "Ah, yes. There had been a slight change in the ns," I replied, without a hint of apology, which seemed to irritate her further. "May I know, why, My Lord?" she asked. With a smile on her face, all the anger and hesitation there had disappeared. She is a businesswoman with decades of experience. I saw anger and irritation because she wanted it to see me and now that I saw it, hid it in her heart. "I felt the six would be a better time to open than twelve," I replied, not really answering the question. Which irritated Miss Cain, but the woman was as well as Eva at controlling her emotions. "Please reconsider it, My Lord. Twelve would be a great time for opening. There are important peopleing for the spa," "It would help, the store''s reputation. If we got the patrons like them," she said. "You do not have to worry about that Eva. Six is better timing, believe me," I replied. She faintly opened her mouth to press, but closed it after seeing me expressions. I have made my decision, and I am not going to change it. "Thank you for your time, my lord," she said and bowed before walking out of my office. They might be angry, but in a few hours, they will be overjoyed. Click! Soon, an hour passed, and I walked out of my office and took the stairs to the roof. Ca and Caena were already there. I nodded at them, before turning to the city. From this ce, I could look at the entire city and the river. Even the dots on it, which are the ship. The city is smaller than almost any city, I have even been in this world, but it has great potential. It is my duty to grow it to that. Minutes passed and soon, there was only one minute to ten, when Caena twirled her finger and immediately, the things from far began to get closer. Now, I could see the canal, the bridges, and thousands of people, waiting for the garden to open. If I concentrated, I could even see their faces and excitement in their eyes as they looked at the garden that was a few steps away from them. They are not just people from the city, but also from outside; they alle for the grand opening of the legacy. They are going to bring a lot of ie to the city. Gong! Seconds passed and at exactly ten, I raised my hand up. The power moved around me, and a deep, sonorous sound rang out. It spread through the whole city. The guards also listened and finally moved away, opening the way for the people. Immediately, thousands of them rushed toward the three bridges across the park. There are four bridges, but one is only for the college. "They might crush each other if they move like that," said Ca worriedly. "They won''t. The guards have crowd control skills," I replied. The rush surprised me, but I had prepared for it. They are rushing, but there won''t be a stampede. I am looking at guards and they are doing a good job of managing the crowd. The crowd entered the parks and moved in different directions. Half of them walked toward the tower, while many went toward the boats. Some just found the spot and took out the nket from the basket and the day down by theke. The idea was of the garden, but it had turned into the park, before bing even bigger. Now, the whole park covers two hundred and fifty-three acres ofnd. It had everything, gardens,kes, hills, gazebos, and paved trails. There are also cute shops selling snacks and souvenirs. "It didn''t take even a minute, for all the boats to get into the water," said Caena. The people brought tickets so fast. That they got sold out, within seconds. There are a limited number of boats, for them to have a memorable experience. So, even if all boats entered the canal, like right now. It won''t feel crowded. "Those poor children; I wish, they coulde in the park," said Ca, looking at me. She wanted ess open to the children too, but I am opposed to it. The entry is fourteen plus. Though, the canal is essible to people of all ages, including children. I would have liked to give them ess to the park and tower, but I know, the business I am running. It might seem hypocritical, but I want to shield them. It is not the final decision. I might reduce the age by a year or two, but it won''t be lower than twelve. The rush continued for minutes. The people spread into every corner of it, that the massive garden begins to feel small. It made me happy, to see it is not overkill for a small city. We watched for half an hour, before walking out of the roof. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. The park''s opening was the easiest; the others won''t be as smooth as this one. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 401: Tower Chapter 401: Tower Click! The door closed, and the carriage began to move toward the legacy. There are ten minutes to eleven and we have an appointment of twelve-thirty at the spa. It is a little early, but we want to see things. We arrived in the city a few hours ago and held a meeting with a few people, but we were able to get one with Silver and his people. They do not have time till tomorrow. "Were you able to get anything from Gina Arryn?" Elias asked, and I shook my head. "That woman isn''t willing to let even a single word slip. She is my second cousin, and we had good rtions. I wanted to find out what the merchant guild is thinking about our proposal. We sent one to them a few days ago and there will be negotiations with a merchant guild of two cities a weekter. It is pretty important, and I hoped to gain some insight, but the woman isn''t willing to give even a single hint. "I didn''t have any sess either; they aren''t willing to talk business unless it is in an official capacity," Elias said, and I sighed. "Silver is running a tight ship," I stated. It wasn''t so difficult when the Count was in charge. You could pretty much know anything as long as you know who to ask. Since Silver took charge, he has reced nearly everyone, including those in the merchant guild, and now they aren''t willing to do something, that will cause them to lose their jobs. Many had lost their jobs due to the loose tongue. "Still, we need to try," said Elias, and I couldn''t help, but nod. There are people in the baronies providing Silver information. Not just the officials, but also the Barons themselves. Silver knows things he shouldn''t. It''s clear, that people are providing him with information. It had given him an advantage in the negotiations with us. We would like some advantages too and one of the objectives of this trip of cultivate the sources, that will provide us with that. Things are difficult, but we have several targets and I n to seed in at least convincing one. Minutes passed, and the park came into view. I have never seen it before, but there is only one ce in Greltheaven with a canal. As we got closer, I saw the boats moving on it. There are people sitting alone, couples, families and friends. They even have a musician ying the instrument and singing. "I want to ride on those boats," I said. "We will," replied Elias with a smile. Soon, the carriage crossed the bridge. "Stop," I said to the driver, and Elias looked at me in confusion. "Let''s walk," He nodded, and we walked out of the carriage. It moved toward the tower while we walked on a beautifully paved road. There are people everywhere, sitting on the small hills. On benches, pic tables, and nkets. There arekes, walking trails, and cute shops, selling souvenirs and snacks. People seemed to having fun, seeing how their faces were glowing. "We need a park like this," I said. We have built a few gardens, but no park. It would be much cheaper in Lauryl, considering its soil is fertile. There is no power, like a wastnd, that stops anything from growing. This means the maintenance would also be cheaper. "Such an enormous expense wouldn''t be possible before we build the wall," replied Elias, and I sighed. Council had ambition for Lauryl and the first thing, they wanted to do was build a wall. We have a wall, but it is of the wood. We need a real wall, like the one Greltheaven, and other cities have. We need it, desperately, not only to defend against the Dane''s advances but also against the monsters. If an especially powerful horde came, then Lauryl would be the only ce we could take shelter in. We need it as protected as possible. Hun! "What was there? It seemed to be protected," I asked and turned to the guards behind me. We have our guards, but there are two in ck uniforms, that Silver had provided us. "It is ake Baroness," replied the orc guard. The answer confused me. There arekes in the park, but they are not hidden. Some of thesekes are for show, not touched, while others have people ying in them. "Why it is protected?" I asked, and his cheeks seemed to redden. "It is an adultke, mydy," he replied, clearly looking ufortable. This confused even me further, because it is an adult park. Those below fourteen aren''t allowed here. "We should check it out," I said, and he opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, seeing his partner shaking his head. Elias, too, seemed curious and walked toward the protectedke, which is blocked by the veil of tall bushes, with guards at its entrance. Soon we reached it and entered the inside unopposed. Hun! As we did, we stopped. The cheeks of both of us flooded red, seeing the scenes in front of us. In front of us is argeke; one of the biggest in the entire park. In it and around it are people, like many otherkes, but unlike those people who are wearing proper clothes, these people here are walking around in their underclothes. Showing so much skin, leaving nothing to the imagination. Men, women, most of them are young. They are ying in theke, some are swimming deeper into it, while some are lying on peculiar beds, bathing in the sun. "This is human dominion for god''s sake, not and of elves!" I eximed, bbergasted, seeing the scandalous scene. Something I had never expected to see in thend of empire. I wanted to look away, but having a hard time averting my eyes away from them. They are having fun, without a care in the world. Most of them seemed to be mid-teen to mid-twenties. Some of these people seemed familiar, a few I had recognized. As I was looking at them, my gaze fell on the near corner of the pool, where two young couples were making out. As we were watching it, a group of two women and three men in theirte teens came from behind. They quickly went to the cute store by the pool and selected colorful underclothes, which they called bathing suits. They paid for them before going to the wooden boxes and came out wearing underclothes. A minuteter, they were in theke with a group of friends. "What in the damn world silver is doing?" asked Elias breathlessly. I could see the shock and worry in his eyes. Our daughter is nearly the same age as some of these people and I don''t know what I would feel, if I saw her with these people, wearing such clothes. If someone had asked me before, I would have told them I would use sticks, but seeing these young peopleughing and enjoying themselves, I don''t feel that same resolve anymore. "I think, we should leave or we will miss the time of our appointment," I said to Elias, who nodded nkly. The scene seemed to shock him; he wasn''t the only one. I am shocked too. It is something or even allowed anywhere in the empire. On the way to the tower, we were quiet. We didn''t even talk a single word. It was only when we reached the tower that we pulled ourselves out of our thoughts and looked at the marvelous thing. It is not the biggest building, I have seen. I have seen many, including the Mage Tower, some of which go over a hundred stories. This is smaller than many, but the most beautiful. The tower is twenty-one stories tall, with huge columns on every floor. Many of these columns have beautiful nts covering them, some have nts on them. The tower is beautiful, but one would instantly notice a w. The pale yellow color feels odd to the beautiful architecture of the tower. It is the color of the wastnds'' soil, but when looked at it is long enough with the nts. The w bes a be strength. The tower isn''tpletely covered by them. Some of its columns are covered so thoroughly that one couldn''t see even a small part of it, but some columns are naked. Some floors are densely covered in nts, but others are sparse It creates a contracting visual. It fills one''s mind so that one can think of nothing other than it. There is also the faint smell. It is a mixture of hundreds of flowery smells that affect every part of the body and pull one toward the tower. "Silver had really created something incredible," said the familiar voice. I turned and saw Baron Husk, with his wife. There is also Baroness Le and Madam Silver. She is looking at the tower with hate, but also admiration. "He has," said Elias, before we walked toward the door of the tower. Gasp! We stepped through the enormous doors, and I heard the gasps. Only to realize I was one of the people who had gasped. It is too shocking to not gasp in shock. Seeing the tower from outside, I knew inside, would be incredible, but what I am seeing is still beyond anything I had imagined. There are nts everywhere, beautiful nts like the work of art, releasing the smells that enthralled me. These nts, and the smells, released from them meld wonderfully with the amazing art pieces, that are ced around the lobby. "Luminous sylphwell, wyvern flowers, darkblo¡­" I was looking at them when I heard the faint voice. Only to see, Lady Husk naming the nts. The woman who only gossiped had effortlessly named these nts. I wouldn''t have been surprised if it was Baroness Le, but very much with Baroness Husk. It seemed like, she was not a simple woman. Seeing us, looking at her, she stopped, with her cheeks reddening. "All of them are extremely rare nts. They consume emotion mist for food." She said, before walking toward the tree with dark flowers. She was about to touch them when she stopped and moved her hand back. She seemed to have felt something, seeing how her expressions changed. I am not surprised to see that. These nts are precious and there must be protection around them. "Silver is going to earn a lot of money and influence from these nts," she said and began to look at the other nts in the lobby. Of course, we knew that, and it was going to be one of the topics for the negotiations. We want some of it. A few alchemists in merchant states have contacted us. They are willing to sell us potions with emotion essence and other restricted goods if we are able to provide them with the resources produced by these nts. It will be hard to get them from silver, but if we did. Baronies will benefit tremendously. We looked at every nt and wonderful piece of art. Many of these are popr, like the kavas portrait, in front of me. It is from the collection of a house of silver. Their name was written on the metallic que below it. There are many other pieces, and they are different sources. Including the House of Ashav and the House of ckwell. "He had turned this lobby into a freaking museum. Each one of these pieces is worth a fortune," said Elias, and I couldn''t help but nod. He is not talking about just the art, but also the nts. If anyone was able to steal, even a few of them; they would never need to work in their life. We looked at them before unwillingly walked to the elevator. We would have liked to stay further, but there''s only ten minutes to our spa appointment. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 402: Spa I Chapter 402: Spa I Rutto ¡°Greltheaven, once again,¡± I said as I walked down from the ship. I hade here nine months ago but needed to return immediately. Those bastards didn¡¯t even let me enter the city and sent me back from the port. It was embarrassing for me in the court. It had ruined my reputation and made me bankrupt. If not for that, fortunate incident, that brought me back to the good graces of his imperial majesty. I would have been still in that hellhole. Those months were the worst time of my life. Coming here is a dangerous decision. Seeing the undead could capture the city, but there was no future in the court. It is also not safe. Especially for me, who could barely protect himself. To me, this ce will be much safer than the court. Prince Grelt is dead. That bastard Darrow is also dead. Without them, the old man is no threat. I would have really liked it if the old bastard had been here. I wanted to take the revenge on him. I looked at the city and the barely visible tower. Soon, I will be its guardian and all that emotion essence will be under my control. So are those precious nts, that his majesty wants. Not to mention the whores. I didn¡¯t get a chance at themst time; time, they will be mine. ¡­ ... Homers Ding! The chiming sound rang out, as the doors of the elevator opened. We stepped out and immediately felt the familiar sensation of the legacy that filled our souls, and this time; it is far more powerful. I still remember the feeling ofst time and what I had feltst time palespared to what I am feeling right now. For a moment, I thought the legacy had advanced. Which is obviously not true. It is still Grade I, but more powerful than thest time. It is not just the power of the legacy, that overwhelmed me, but also the enthralling smells and beauty of the nts around me. I thought the nts in the lobby were the most beautiful, with the most wonderful smell, but I had been wrong. These nts are more beautiful and the smellsing from them had reached my soul. They have started to bring out emotions that I hadn¡¯t felt in a long time. I looked at the beautiful nts and the emotion mist covering them. They look so beautiful like the parts of heaven brought into the mortal world. I found tears had started toe out of my eyes. I looked around and saw nearly everyone had tears in their eyes. The only one among us, that felt less affected is Baroness Le. Even her eyes are misty. The woman is very good at controlling her emotions. I had never seen her show emotions when she didn¡¯t want to, but this ce had affected her, too. ¡°Wee to the velvet spa,dies and gentlemen,¡± said a young voice. Only to see a young woman in a white dress standing in front of us. She is a teen girl, of fifteen-sixteen years. She had short blond hair, barely reaching her neck, and pale green eyes, that highlighted her delicate face. She had been there from the beginning. We just didn¡¯t notice, as the feeling of legacy beauty and fragrance of nts enveloped us. ¡°Please follow me,¡± The teen led us through the beautiful hallway covered in nts, into the room with mats. Gasps! The gasps rang out around me as they saw the marvel in the center of the spa. ¡°Mistral Cascade; it covers all four floors of the spa,¡± informed the teen with a bright smile on her face. It is a spiral vortex rain waterfall, and it is notmon water flowing through it, but water, that is densely mixed with mist of legacy. It had turned every drop velvety, and the sound they made seemed to soothe my soul. ¡°Ah,¡± I moaned as my legs became weak and I sat on the mat. First, the spa had only overwhelmed my visual and olfactory senses, but now even my auditory senses were overwhelmed with this waterfall. These three together created such cadence that emotions rose out of me in bursts and began to flow out through the tears. I lost control over my emotions, and I didn¡¯t try to control them. Instead, let them flow out through the tears. The world is hard, and at every moment, I need to guard my emotions. I needed to do that every day after we became nobles and intensified when the barony separated itself from the Greltheaven. I had bottled all those emotions and now they areing out of me in a flood. Minutes passed when finally, the flood of emotions stopped. I felt calmer than I had never felt be. It felt like the mountainous weight that had been on my shoulders had lifted up. It felt so good that I couldn¡¯t describe it. Nor did I try to. I simply closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of peaceful emptiness, that I am feeling. I kept my eyes closed for minutes, before finally opening them with a gentle smile on my face. I looked and saw myself sitting on the mat with mist covering me. I looked around and realized there were people everywhere, sitting on mats covered in dense mist. I hadn¡¯t noticed them when I hade into the room. They had mist covering them and it was dense enough, that I couldn¡¯t see their faces, but through their bodynguage, I know they are also crying. I looked at my husband and saw him shaking. I could tell he was crying too, and I wanted tofort him but stopped myself. This is extremely personal, and even I don¡¯t have the right to invade this moment. I wouldn¡¯t have liked it if Elias hade when the emotions flooded out of me. I looked at him for a while, before turning to others. All of them are crying, especially the men; they are crying hardest. Which isn¡¯t surprising. Men aren¡¯t allowed to show emotions or cry. From childhood, they keep it all bottled up, rarely letting them out. Now, it is alling out. I saw a door opening and three more peopleing inside the hall. The mist had enveloped them as they came through the door. I couldn¡¯t see their faces at all and I don¡¯t think my ocr skill will be able to peer through it. Mist felt strong, and I didn¡¯t forget the suppression that I felt here when I activated my skillsst time. The three people shook as we did, but the woman helped them sit on mats before they could fall on the ground. Within a second, they begin to shake wildly. I was looking at them, when a woman in her middle age, with Nazarian features, wearing in spa uniform in fuchsia colors, stopped beside me. ¡°Mydy. If you are emptied, I could take you to the waiting room.¡± She said, in a most soothing ented voice. I nodded and even took her help in getting up, which I wouldn¡¯t have if it had been under any other circumstances. She opened the door without any sound and took me out of the hall to the waiting room. It is huge and beautiful with nts, and the waterfall, which I think connects to all the rooms. They have built rooms around it. ¡°What was that? The sensory outburst was sudden and controble,¡± I asked the woman. ¡°The legacies are ces that harvest emotions. When it mixes with things that overwhelm the senses. It triggers the flood of emotions,¡± she replied in a calming voice. ¡°It was extreme,¡± I said, and the woman smiled. ¡°That is good. I am sure you have started to feel the benefits of it already,¡± she said and I couldn¡¯t help, but nod. I am feeling calm as I had never before; even calmer than after the spa treatmentst time. She led me to a seat, and I sat down before handing me a catalog. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, and the woman smiled. ¡°If you have any queries about any treatment, please ask any of the assistants,¡± she said and walked away. I watched her leave and look at the assistants. The teen girls strategically stood around the different parts of the waiting room. I turned to the catalog and started to read. The first time when I came, there were only two treatment packages. One for men, one for women; each one offering four treatments. Now, there are over twenty packages, offering every type of treatment possible. Hun! I was reading it when I noticed a womaning and sitting by me. It is none other than Baroness Husk. She looked different; a few lines on her face seemed to have vanished, making her look a little younger. ¡°It had been a decade since I cried like that,¡± she said, with a small peaceful smile. ¡°But it feels good, right?¡± I asked, and the woman nodded. ¡°Like the load, I never knew lifted from my shoulders,¡± she replied. A few minutester, Baroness Le came, and then Madam Silver. Who, for the first time, looked calm sinceing to the city. I wonder how long that is going tost. I was getting worried about Elias when I finally saw himing, making me feel relieved. He sat down in front of me. Our eyes met before he turned to the catalog. We didn¡¯t talk, nor did we need to. I know he is fine, better than fine. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 403: Spa II Chapter 403: Spa II Homers Hun! I was studying the catalog when I noticed a striking half-elfing out of the room. There are manye out, including two elves, but this one is special. Not only because she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, but also because, as she came out, Maeve Hanson walked to her with a big smile on her face. The head of the spa didn''te to meet us, or even Baroness Le, but she had gone to meet this half-elf personally. I looked at my peers to ask. If they recognized her, when I saw a surprise, on Baroness Le''s face. "Do you know her Baroness?" I asked her and every head turned to her as she nodded. "Safmae Tylcharis. Mistress of Lord of Owlspring," she replied. Immediately, information about her flooded in. The woman is the bellowed mistress of the Lord of Owlspring. He is so smitten with her, that it is said, he had left his every other mistress. She also wields huge political power as much as his wife. More than her, seeing how much the Lord of Owlspring adores her. Which is quite surprising seeing, it had been barely three years since she had be his mistress. "Mistresses are the scourge. There should bews like the Kingdom of Sukar in the empire," said Mistress Silver, drawing a re from her daughter. Kingdom of Sukar, where infidelity is punished with burning one at the stake. I looked at the woman, who still had hate in her heart, despite the emptying of emotions a few minutes ago. "Have you chosen?" Elias asked. I nodded. It was a struggle, since everything looked good. Including the package I had chosenst time. I wanted to choose it again, but pushed that thought aside, no matter how enticing it looked. "You?" I asked, and he nodded too. Seeing that, I turned to the assistant, and immediately, the girl felt my gaze and walked toward me, while the other girl came out and took her ce. I had looked over twenty packages before choosing one. It is quite expensive, but I know it will be worth it. Ethereal Bliss 1. Luminous Facial. 2. Oruan Hand and Foot Ritual. 3. Dreamweaver Hot Stone Message. 4. Serene Scalp Treatment. 5. Hydrating Masin Bath. The teen girl appeared and gave a graceful bow. She did it better than most of my staff. "Have you chosen your package, mydy?" she asked, "Yes. Etherial Bliss," I replied. "And you, my lord?" she asked, turning to Elias. "Hydrating Farer," he replied. "You two share two treatments. Would you like to do them together?" she asked, and I looked at Elias, who nodded. "Yes," I replied. A minuteter, we changed into our robes and went for our treatments. Elias had treatment on the same floor, but I had needed to go floor below. As the girl had said, the waterfall did cover the entire four floors. We moved around it, before stopping at the room with a beautifully carved white door. Click! The girl opened the door, and I walked inside. The room is small but beautifully decorated. It has nts and shelves filled with different beauty products and tools. In the center is a ck spa chair and beside it is a woman. She is an elf with aqua-blue hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a fitting fuchsia spa uniform, with a name tag on her chest. "Wee, mydy. I am Yarwyn and I will be giving you the luminous facial," she said as I walked inside. "I will be in your care," I said and sat down in the facial chair. Her gentle hands moved across my face. I could feel her skills essing my face; they stayed there for a minute before she pulled back. "You have chosen well, mydy. Luminous facial is best for the skin like yours," she said, and tapped on the crystal water container attached to the wall. Immediately, the water came out, and she took it in her hands. The tap stopped automatically, and she separated her hands, but instead of falling down as water would usually do. The water formed two giggly blobs in her hands. "This is the water from Teran''s spring. It is a spring in the extreme region, of the kingdom of Naros. It is the best water for cleansing," she informed, and the surrounding mist moved. It funneled into a colorless blob of water, turning them colorful. "Kingdom of Naros; nezharian kingdom, right?" I asked. "Yes, mydy," she replied. A momentter, I felt those blobs against my skin. I wanted to ask questions further, but I stopped and closed my eyes as the water balls cleaned my face. It felt amazing to feel those water blobs sliding on my face. Clearing all the make-up, dead skin, and other things of it. I wanted to moan in pleasure, but I controlled myself. Though only for a few seconds. It was so good that I wasn''t able to resist it for long. It continued for a few minutes before she finally took away the balls. They were so dirty, that I couldn''t feel ashamed. "The cleansing is over; I will now scrub your skin, mydy," she informed and took out a small ss bottle from the shelf. From there, she took a handful of grainy blue cream. It smells good, but I am more focused on the bottle, emblem, to be specific. "I heard many of the stuff you are using is from Elysian Serenity?" I asked, and the elf smiled. "Yes. Over 50% of the products we are using in the spa are from Serenity," she replied, before applying the scrub over my skin with experienced hands. The mist had covered her hands, and I felt it across my skin. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling. Minutes passed, and her hands continued to move across my face. Itsted for a minute before she cleaned the scrub off my face. After that, it was a ck mask that remained on my face for fifteen minutes before she peeled it perfectly without any breakage. The massage after that made me moan every second, and I wish it continued for much longer. Unfortunately, it ended too quickly. In the end, she applied a cool moisturizer that made me feel as if my skin hade alive. "There is no mirror, right?" I asked, as the facial ended and the elf smiled. "No, mydy," she replied. I shook my head with augh and thanked the woman before walking out. As I did, I noticed the light mist covering me, like a cloak. "Mydy," the girl greeted, not one bit surprised to see a cloak of mist covering me and leading me toward the ce, where I would have a hand and feet ritual. A minuteter, I was there, and it was as heavenly as the facial; it left me moaning in pleasure and wanting more. Elias and I had a Dreamweaver hot stone massage together, but we hardly talked to each other during it. We were both busy enjoying the amazing massage. It was a serene scalp treatment at the next, which was heavenly, and after that was a hydrating masin bath. Ah Ahh Ahhh I moaned as the two women bathed me in a round stone pool, filled with water mixed with mist and covered rose petals. Elias is on the other side of the pool, with a velvety curtain of mist separating us. It was our second treatment together, but I had not seen more than a silhouette of my husband. I will see him soon, till then I will enjoy this bath. It is really good, that I wish, I could have a bath like this everybody. Unfortunately, I couldn''t. It is not a question of staff or money, I could afford it, but it is a damn legacy. It is what makes the whole experience special. The bathsted for an hour and I wish it would havested more. Two women brought me out of the pool and wiped all the water away from me, before coating my body with a cream. It seeped into my skin, making my skin even more lustrous and vibrant than before. "Thank you for allowing us to serve you, mydy," said the woman. "It is I who should be thanking you. It was a wonderful experience," I thanked and both of them smiled. I walked toward the door and saw Elias was doing the same and once again, he was covered in mist and so was I. Click! We got out of the room and the girl was waiting for us outside. "My lord, mydy, have the treatments been to your satisfaction?" asked the young girl. "It was an experience I would never forget," I replied, and the young girl smiled. "Do you want me to take you to the changing room, or will you rest?" she asked. Elias turned to me as I turned to him before we turned to the girl. "We will rest," I replied. Silver had created a spa, but he kept the roots of the brothel intact. It wouldn''t be a full experience if it didn''t end with that. The girls nodded and took us to the elevator. This one is small and hidden; have a space for only four people. The door closed, and the elevator moved above. Soon, it reached the upper floor of the spa, but it didn''t stop there and kept moving up. Ting! It stopped at the floor above. The door opened and walked ahead, while we followed behind. As we were going toward it. I saw the peopleing and felt a spark of fear, but there was also dark excitement, which surprised me. I had not expected I would feel such emotions. It would be embarrassing or even damaging if people recognized us, but that fear disappeared as I looked at them properly. The people are covered in the mist, and it is not light. One couldn''t even see their silhouette properly. I looked at Elias and saw the mist surrounding him had also turned denser. The mist was magical. Despite getting denser, it didn''t impede my vision, I could see everything clearly. Click! Soon, the girls stopped by the door and opened it. "Have a good rest, my lord, mydy," she said. I looked at the girl and entered inside the beautiful room. I looked at it, especially our clothes, which were hanging on a rack as if they were expecting us would be doing this. I was looking at the clothes when I felt an intense gaze. I turned to Elias, and my breath got stuck. All the mist covering us had disappeared. He looked handsome as the day, I first saw him, except for the glowing hair. He had that same intensity in his eyes that drew me toward him. Feeling those eyes, my cheeks reddened and my heart began to beat wildly. He kept looking at me for several seconds, before raising his hands up and pulling the sash of my robe, which fell to my feet. "I love you," he said breathlessly and took my lips for a kiss, making me feel like, the first time he kissed me. I melded into him, pouring all the love I have for him. A minuteter, the gentle kisses begin to get passionate. I moved my hand toward his robe and pulled it. It fell down, and we moved toward the bed, without lips leaving each other. Soon, we were on the bed, with our bodies moving in rhythm. Gentle moans escaped from our lips, as we made love as we did the first time on our wedding night. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 404: Store Chapter 404: Store Click! I returned to my office after checking things. It is five, already, only one hour before the store and theater open and four hours till the party. Everything is ready. Still, I couldn''t help but feel nervous, but also excited. I took a deep and sat on my chair, before closing my eyes. They remained closed for over a minute before I opened them. I am not in my office, but in a dark space, with a huge sun in front of me. The core is shining brighter than ever before. It is absorbing arge amount of emotions. I had it earlier and now it is even greater. The amount of emotions is nearly as much as the day legacy advanced to Grade II. Where the people were scared of the undead, giving core to massive emotions to absorb. The day after that, the legacy exploded. It was thest time it had harvested such essence before today. I had expected a good harvest from the spa, but not this. The crying hall really worked. It is sensory therapy, and I wasn''t trying to create it, because it is damn hard to create something, that will affect all three senses and trigger the floor of emotions. It had urred right after we opened the vortex waterfall. People begin to cry, inconsbly. Understanding what is happening. We removed what it was before and created the sensory therapy room. In that ce, people release their emotions in flood and give them peace. The legacy absorbs those emotions and gives me emotion essence. We have also found out that people release emotions after that are less, but far purer. It is why. It is a mandatory spa policy to take every patron to the sensory hall before they start with the other treatments. It couldn''t help but make me ecstatic, because this was from the spa alone. When the other twelve floors of legacy open. The harvest would double, at least. Which will be greater than what I had estimated. The sheer amount of emotion and essence I will get from it. Even after spending on the nts; I will have enough to achieve a lot of things. I might not even need to wait for several months to start that n. I looked at it, before focusing on thes. These are getting strengthened by the emotion essence, which is the core sharing with them. They had absorbed a lot of emotions'' essence, bing stronger. It is not only the emotion essence; the legacy harvested from people, that is strengthening them, but also the ones from two dead legacies. I wish I could have taken more, but I didn''t want to be suspicious. My legacy already is doing things that the normal legacy of Grade II couldn''t. A momentter, everything had disappeared. I need everything to go perfectly. The survival of the entire city depends on it. ¡­ Eva "Enough mom, everything is perfect!" said Cara as I adjusted the mannequin gently. I stopped and sighed. I always get like this whenever; the new store is close to opening. The store will open at six, less than an hour away. I am still a little irritated that it didn''t open at twelve, as they had said it would. "Where is Elese?" I asked. "There," Cara pointed, and I saw Miss Cain sitting on the sofa with her eyes closed. She is the opposite of me. Calm, with all worry and nervousness, buried in her heart. I looked away from her and looked around the store. We got the entire floor; the only ones who got that, and Miss Rolgath and Colt did a wonderful job of mixing Remus''s vision and mine. The Charles Stores are boutique stores, but this is Eva Cain, and it is a Couture Store. A level above. First, we decided to name the store Charles Cain, but I don''t want the store associated with the Charles brand. I had tried to venture into couture space before, but thepetition was brutal, and I had suffered heavy losses. I had promised myself to never venture into that space again, unless I was really prepared. I felt I wasn''t, but Remus had forced me. Remus said he would only give me space. If it is a Couture Store. If I decline, he will find Miss Cain another partner. It was the biggest reason. Cara had intense opposition to the investment here. Here, all the clothes are designs of Miss Cain, while the jewelry is mine. The stuff like perfume, shoes, and other things are from our best in-house designers and exclusive partners. Everything here has never been sold anywhere, including our stores. All the designs are new, as Remus wanted. The demands of Remus were too much. Not any sane person would have epted it. Especially in the city so small, that barely a hundred people could afford what we are selling here. Still, I had a gut feeling, and I took the risk. If it failed, it would cost me a lot. I am not worried about money, despite spending a substantial amount of it. I am worried about the reputation. I looked around the store and it felt like a piece of heaven. Our most beautiful pieces among the magical nts. It doesn''t just look like a piece of heaven but also smells like it, feels like it. No store of ours is as beautiful as this one. No, I have never seen any store as beautiful as this one, even the legacy store. Cara had gasped earlier when she looked at it. She arrived today in the morning, and it shocked her. I had never seen her as shocked as I had seen her in the morning. This had lessened herints. Since she appeared, she had never once called me a mother. Which she did,st time when she came to the city with me. I walked through the store, before stopping in front of the tree. It is not the silvers, but mine. Cara had brought it in the morning. It will stay here for three days before leaving with me. It is the centerpiece of our gship store. I created it after the undead incident. My nights were filled with nightmares of the undead. I used to sleep for two or three hours, at most. So, I started working. I had no inspiration for the jewelry. So, I moved to an art piece, which isn''t my specialty. These designs aren''t mine entirely. It was my mother''s; she was a carver and carved it from a big piece of wood. Inspired by the news of my birth. It used to calm me down. Hers was wooden, while mine was metallic, with a silver body, golden leaves, and gem fruits. It had taken an entire year and a fortune to make it. A few hours ago, Remus came and shamelessly asked for it to be ced in the lobby. I decline. I already gave him five of the most precious pieces in my collection. One of them is in the lobby, while the other four are on the floors above. The tree isn''t the only thing I am using. There are other pieces too in the store, but it is the one that shone brightest. I looked at it for a couple of minutes before I started walking around the store. Unlike Elese, I can''t stay in one ce. I looked at everything for any ws, but there were none. "Eva, only a minute had remained before opening," said Miss Cain, bringing me out of my chaotic thoughts. I didn''t even notice her getting up from her seat anding beside me. I looked at the wall clock; the very expensive one. Made by the most famous clockmaker of Namdar. I took her hands into mine while watching the thin needle move. Seconds felt like a minute before finally the needlepleted the motion and the big needle moved to six six perfectly. "Open," I heard the sound reverberating through the store. It is Silver''s, but he is not in the store. Gasp! I was thinking about the skill he might have used when I heard a gasp. It is from my daughter, and it was louder than the one she had in the morning. I looked at her to know the reason, when I noticed what made her stop. It froze me on my spot; shocked me so much that I felt my knees go weak. The only reason, I remained standing was because of Miss Cain. The emotion mist hase to the store, getting denser every second. I felt the power of the legacy covering me as it did in the spa. The smells from flowers begin to get stronger and moreplex. The nts also begin to look more vibrant as they start to consume the emotion directly from the source rather than thework vine. Ting! I was watching the changes in shock with Elese, Cara, and my staff when I heard the soft chime of the elevator. The door opened and two people walked out. "Do you like the surprise, Eva, Miss Cain?" asked Remus with a big smile on his face. I tried to bow hastily, but he waved his hand. "Is it permanent?" I asked. There is a use in the contract that states he has the power to remove us. If it ever got covered in the power of the legacy. "It is. As long as it brings the good emotions," he replied, and that turned my expression serious. To host of legacy. It is the emotions that matter, more than money. A sovereign could provide them money if they suffer loss, as long a host of legacy keeps providing them with emotional essence. "That won''t be a problem. Look at the store; it''s so beautiful," said Ca, rolling her eyes. I looked, and it is beautiful. Earlier, it looked like it was a piece of heaven. Now, it is a piece of heaven. Nobody would dare to argue with it. "Good luck. Eva, Miss Cain; I hope you both get all the sess you deserve," he said and walked out with Ca, while I remained on my spot. "A legacy store; I had never thought I would have it. Only dreamed about it," I said, making Miss Cain and my daughter smile. The legacy had turned the store into something out of a dream. It had enhanced the beauty of every piece in the store, making them look ever more enchanting. Especially my trees. The way the colorful mist moved around it, made it look more beautiful than before. The pieces in the store be more enchanting. They will be more as they absorb the mist. It is why everythinging from a legacy is precious. Especially the things that remained in contact with the mist for a long time. Justst week in Namdar. There was a spoon set that stayed in the legacy for two decades. It sold for exorbitant price; there was a bidding war for it. "Should we increase the prices?" asked Cara, understanding the value of mist. Both me and Miss Cain shook our heads immediately. Remus said it is an experience that he wants us to provide. Something people never forget. We have to follow that vision. He was not joking. When he said he would kick us out, it didn''t provide him with enough emotions. Besides, our prices aren''t low at all. He had asked us to set the prices of pieces as high as possible. Rejecting the prize charts twice before epting. Now, our prizes are among the highest of couture stores. "What about changing the invitation-only policy?" she asked, and I shook my head again. Couture Store, invitation only, were his ideas. He would have told us if we needed to change that. Ting! We were talking when the elevator rang, bringing us the first patrons. It is a group of five; someone I know, well. "Ahhh!" They were frozen for seconds before a loud excited scream rang out and the triplet of girls of seventeen years came screaming into the store. They begin to look at the pieces with bubbling excitement and desire. I know these girls, and they are a handful. Their parents simply shook their heads beforeing toward me. "Eva, you were so modest, when I had asked you about the store," said Waris. "Just a small couture store. You had said," added his wife as she looked around in marvel. "Well, I wanted to make it a surprise," I replied humbly, while husband and wife rolled their eyes. I knew Waris Scent in passing two years ago and didn''t like him much, but after surviving the undead together, we had be friends. "Your store is the most beautiful, thing I have ever seen in my life." "Looked at these dresses and these shoes, I don''t think. You are selling them in your store in Namdar?" asked Lori as she looked at the pieces. "They are couture designs; they are for this store only," I replied. The pieces aren''t just beautiful, but the material they are made of is expensive as well. Every piece had at least 25% material in them. "I had brought the dress, shoes, and everything from the city for the party, but they seemed palepared to what you have here," said Lori, enamored. "There is a time to the party. If you buy it within time, we can help you get ready." "The beauticians we have are capable of using the mist," I said, and women''s eyes lit up. It is there, Remus had interfered again. I had trained beauticians, but he asked me to take three more, saying they were trained in the legacy. They were his whores, but I epted it, seeing he presented it as a favor I will do to him. I thought he had sent them to learn in the store, but now I understand why he did that. Unlike the beauticians I have, his could use the power of legacy. He may have said it is a favor to him, but he is doing the favor to me. I am going to ask him to let my beauticians use the mist. While the store is part of the legacy. We wouldn''t be able to use the mist without his approval. It is not just staff; I will ask for myself too. I know things could be achieved with mist, and I want it. Ting! The elevator rang and three women walked inside. I don''t recognize them, but I know them; they are nobledies from baronies. One by one, the elevator kept ringing, bringing more and more people in within a minute. There were people in every corner of the store. The staff moved to amodate them while serving them with light liquor, which had aired with a mist of legacy. The invitation to the store had gone with an invitation to the legacy. This invitation is a membership card. There are three types of it: a single visit, a year, and a decade. One could also apply for them. They could get it within a day, as long as they satisfy all the conditions. The guests received the cards, but I had also sent them to the many people I know. A few came, but after today, I am sure many would. Some wouldn''t care about the undead. That could capture the city at any time. "How are things going?" I asked Cara. I am creative and good at conversations, while my daughter didn''t inherit even a hint of creativity, but she is good at business. "Great, our staff is barely able to keep up with the guest," she said, and I felt activating her skills. Shining Smiles. Spendthrift. I activated my own skills. I don''t think, I need to use it, especially Spendthrift, but I am a businesswoman and need to earn money. The rent isn''t cheap. "Still think, it is a terrible investment, daughter dearest?" I asked. The girl red at me, before walking away without a reply, but I did catch a small glimpse of a smile on her face. The girl is good at business, but she needs to learn to listen to her guts. It is not all numbers and stats. They are important, I looked at them, but I ced equal importance on my inner voice. It had yed an important part, in the sess I have today. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 405: Theatre Chapter 405: Theatre Rosen ¡°How is it?¡± I asked nervously as a beautiful woman in a red dress came toward me. She is Audrid, my assistant. ¡°Seats are filling rapidly,¡± she replied. ¡°Good,¡± I said and looked at the chaos in the backstage. Controlled chaos. I have seen, how quickly it could turn into uncontrolled and mess things up. Actors are getting ready, stagehands moving the stuff, production manager throwing the orders. It is all happening in a small space. Thank god, there are not many nts in here. A few are in ces where they couldn¡¯t be harmed. I would have hated it, if something had happened to the precious nts. I looked around and still couldn¡¯t believe, it was all true. A few months ago, I was living in a small room, working in a small town as a scribe. Nobody wants to hire the man, who cursed the imperial prince publicly and has imperial skill hanging on them. One had half a decade ago. I was one most recognized names in the theater in the empire, but one fateful night changed it all. I pushed the thoughts and looked at the performers getting ready for the y. That will start in half an hour. They had a smile, nervousness, and others¡¯ emotions on their faces. Some are reading their lines, while some ying with the mist. They are enamored by it, and I can¡¯t me them. I myself am enamored. It has been my dream since childhood to perform at Akanar Theater. It is the dream that every theater person. It is one of the nine spirits, after all. I was so confident that one day. I would reach high enough, that a call from that theater woulde for me until all changed. I had never thought, I would ever work in theater again. Much less in theater in the legacy. It is all because of Uncle Vanis. He sent me to Silver, once again saving me. I am scared. It would grand understatement to say I am not. I felt like I had lost my charm, and nobody would like my y. I wanted to use one of the old ys, but Mr. Silver had asked me to use a new one. I shouldn¡¯t have told him about them. I have new ys. I have written several in the past one and a half decades. There was too much spare time after I gave up the bottle. We have been rehearsing for one and half months, every day from morning to night. I had made sure every actor could recite their lines, even their dreams. Still, I am scared. If it didn¡¯t work, I wouldn¡¯t be able to work. People will know, I am not the Rosen, I used to be. I looked at them once again, before walking toward the small window, that gives the look of seats. Till now, I didn¡¯t dare to look, but I have to. So, I did and what I saw, made me take a breath of relief. Audrid had said, but I didn¡¯t dare to believe her, but now, after seeing my own eyes, I could. The theater upies three floors and is the most beautiful one. It was designed by the foremost theatre designer of the empire. It had a ssic imperial theater aesthetic; I am d, Lord Silver had chosen this one over the softer style of merchant state. I hate the empire for what it did to me, but I also loved it. Like all the floors of the tower, it had nts, which I didn¡¯t think would suit a theater, but they enhanced the beauty of it further. They are special nts; I am not saying they are special nts because they are magical nts, or because they consume the emotion essence. I am saying this because these nts release fragrances that are affected by emotions. They evoke them. Though not artificially. The fragrances wouldn¡¯t affect the people if they didn¡¯t already feel those emotions. If they were the nts that artificially evoked the emotions. I would have tried my everything to ask Lord Silver to remove them. No actor, or ywright worth their salt would use such things. Those that believe in their art, would shun those things. The theater is spacious withfortable seats. It had a capacity of one thousand and twenty with two floors of balconies. If Lord Silver wanted it; he could have easily added another two hundred seats and another balcony, but he didn¡¯t. I am d, he didn¡¯t. Unlike most of the theater owners, Lord Silver¡¯s purpose in building the theater is purest. It is not praise, but priorities. For most theater owners, they want to earn money, but Lord Silver does not need money. He said he could give them all free, and it wouldn¡¯t matter to him much. What he wants is emotions. He wants the y, that will evoke the maximum emotions, which align with our creed. Over 90% of the seats have already been filled. The rest areing in, guided by ushers. I was watching them when I heard the steps and saw a blond maning toward me. ¡°How are things?¡± I asked my old friend. The only person in the theater world who kept a contact with me came to meet me at jail and after. When Silver offered the job; he was the only person, I had asked to join me, and he did. We started at the theater the same day. We were barely ten. We didn¡¯t like each other at all for several years and even fought. A small smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face, remembering those fond memories. ¡°Fucking worse! Not a single person, could do their job well,¡± Zalis replied, with his usual expletives. This means everything going well. ¡°I am sure, you will handle them,¡± I said. ¡°Of course, I will. I can make babies fly in the emperor''s procession. These people are nothing,¡± he replied. Zalis is a stage manager. The best one; it was such a regret, that incident affected him too and destroyed his future. The best thing he could manage was the traveling ys. ¡°I am d, you are here, old friend,¡± I said. ¡°Me too. If you hadn¡¯t called me, I would have been applying balm to my bum to relieve myself from the damage the carriage did,¡± He controlled his words, seeing Audrid beside me. A momentter, a smile on his face vanished and his eyes turned serious. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Rosen. You had written a wonderful y and made them work their ass off. Now leave everything to me and be ready to receive a standing ovation.¡± He said and walked away. I took onest look at the window before starting to look at the preparations. When there were only ten minutes to y. I entered the private box; there were six people sitting there. Four teens, and two adults. I looked at a teen with raven hair. It is my third time seeing her. The first time was when she was born. The second time was two and a half months ago when I reached Inam. Today is the third. She is Alina Lindgren, Uncle Vanis¡¯s great-granddaughter. ¡°Thank you foring, Alina,¡± I said to the teen. ¡°Grandfather wanted toe. He said he is very proud of you,¡± she said, and my eyes couldn¡¯t help but water. ¡°I am d,¡± I said. ¡°He sent this for you,¡± she said and gave me an envelope. I took it but didn¡¯t open it. I nodded at her and walked into my own box. There are two people already there. Zalis¡¯s wife, Ota, and his nearly twenty-year-old son, Zale, who is still looking at everything with enamored eyes. ¡°Nervous?¡± Ota asked, and I nodded. ¡°It is strange seeing you like this. It felt like just yesterday when your shows would open and there would never be worry or nervousness on your face,¡± she said, studying my face. ¡°Those were the different days. I am a different person now,¡± I said, and she smiled. I was a different person back then. Had no fear for the world. Maybe it is why, I did what I had done. I am now, apletely different person than I had been sixteen years ago. Nervous, cautious, mature, the qualities, I used to hate in those days. Soon, thest person came. Now every seat in the theater is filled. Even those at balconies, it felt like, only our box has an empty seat. A minuteter, the lights begin to dim. I could see the anticipation in the eyes of people. Finally, the curtain opened with a sonorous tone. The live music. I always hated recorded music and never used it in my ys, despite the precision and control they offer. The live music is dynamic and engaging and gives a greater emotional impact. It is also expensive, and a mishap could ur, but budget here isn¡¯t a problem and I did everything I could for no mishap to ur. The curtain opened, and the actors came alive. The lights moved, and spells filled the stage, but the focus was still on the actors. Most of the actors are from the empire, but there are some from the merchant state too. A few we had hired from Greltheaven. Though their numbers are twice in the understudies. Lord Silver had asked to focus a little extra on the local actors. I had even hired a few orcs and elves. They will y their races, unlike in empire, when we needed to make a human y elf or orc. I interviewed each one of them myself and chose only the best. Minutes passed, and with every minute, I felt like my lost confidence returning. I didn¡¯t let myself getpletely engrossed in it. Instead, looked at it critically, for any ws that it might have, and it has none. Or at least not big ones; it is going much better than I had imagined. The mist and nts are magic; the way they are reacting to emotions is simply unbelievable. They are enhancing the entire experience. I had seen it working when rehearsing, but not at this scale. The rehearsals had less than a hundred people watching, but here, there are thousands of them. The numbers have created quite an effect. I could see how the mist was reacting to emotions, like the notes of music, while the smells of the ntspleted it, creating a surreal experience. I wish Lord Silver had been here. He had watched it during rehearsal, but it was apletely different experience now. Unfortunately, he is busy with opening, but he said, he will watch it this week. Minutes passed and soon everything turned blurry, and a face appeared in front of me. There is never a day when I don¡¯t think about her and wish she had been on that stage. She used to breathe life into the theater and bring out any emotions that scenes require. So, expertly, that one would forget anything but her. I left acting, seeing hers and focused on writing. Before I knew it, an hour and twenty minutes passed, and the y stopped for the intermission. I cleared my thoughts and looked at the people. Many are getting up to stretch and break, while others ordering food and drink. Soon, the break was over, and the y resumed. The second half is intense, and it affects the mist and smells heavily. The way it moves around the actors, and reacts to sounds with their emotions, is simply beautiful. What is even more amazing is that it didn¡¯t take the focus away from the y, but helped in attracting all their focus to the y. ¡°How were you able to make it past master of revels? Even with your abilities, it is quite a feat,¡± said Ota, seeing the scene, that would have been cut anywhere in empire. Even the merchant state, where they give little more artistic freedom, might not have beenfortable with this scene. ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything,¡± I replied, and Ota turned to me with wide eyes. The same, expressions, I had when I looked at the script returned from Lord Silver. I had asked for an edit book. The list of edits I have to make. The reply I got was shocking. They said there was none. To be honest, I had edits ready. I had diluted many scenes. Made them eptable. Lord Silver epted the script as a whole. They never do. I had given the script to a master of revels and they came back with edits. Here, I got none and even asked Lord Silver personally, to be sure. He even said, he liked the controversial part. Seeing that, I made the changes to the script. Made it more daring and, once again, it came back without any edits. There was only one suggestion. It was about historical uracy, where I needed to change the name of the year. ¡°Come again?¡± she asked. ¡°There were no edits,¡± I replied. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head, before focusing on the y. The y continued and soon, less than ten minutes remained before its end, when I got out of the box and walked backstage. I nodded at Zalis as the redemption arc yed out. p p p! As it ended, there was a silence for a moment. I heard a sound for a second before the apuse began. Seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. ¡°You did it, Rosen.¡± Said Zalis, patting on my shoulder. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have been possible, without your support,¡± I replied to my friend. Soon it was time for the curtain call. ¡°It was an amazing y. I hope I don¡¯t get assassinated for it,¡± said Marten, the lead. The man isn¡¯t joking. The scene was pretty controversial. A few actors had refused it before Marten epted it. Some might take offense and assassinate him. Things like that, aren¡¯t rare. ¡°I hope not. At least not before your understudy is fully ready,¡± I said, and the manughed before we stopped at the stage with other actors and bowed. p p p The people stood up and begin apuding loudly. My eyes begin to tear up. I didn¡¯t want to cry, in front of all these people, but tears kepting as the apuse continued. It continued for over three minutes, my longest ever, before it finally stopped. ¡®I am back.¡¯ I thought, before bowing again. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 406: The Opening Chapter 406: The Opening Ashton Harbor "I want every detail of the tower. Every n, every floor," said the man with the staff. "I have already instructed our people. You will havepleted the information by the morning," replied the armored man. He had received the message from higher-ups, and it made him excited. They are showing great interest in the legacy. More than before, which is good. The greater interest they show, the sooner, they send forces to attack. He too very interested in the legacy. The benefits he will get from it will help him a lot. Especially now with the nts, there have been many alchemists and other people from the ind who have contacted him. Promising the high price, they are willing to pay and favors they are willing to do. He might not get anything out of the secret mission, but he ns to get many things from the legacy. Let''s hope, he gets the order to attack soon. He is sick of waiting and wants to conquer this damn wastnd. ¡­ Eliyen "I want every one of you at your best behavior and remember you can always say, no," said the Headmistress to all hundred and sixteen girls. We are part of the night batch. There are two batches. A day batch and a night batch. The night batch is obviously the desirable, our work thrives in the night. There will be a total of nine hundred and eight girls working in the tower. Five hundred and eighty-two girls will work in the night batch, while three hundred and twenty-six will work in the day batch. I am in the night batch, while my roommate is in the day batch. The ces in it are subject to change, on our performances and the opinions of madams. Four batches of hundred and sixteen had already gone to the tower. Ours is thest. The tower may be big, and the beauty studio is massive, but not enough to make nearly six hundred girls ready in record time. At night nine and a half, we will open. It is only for today. From tomorrow, we will open at six. "And be prepared for the surprise," she added. It was not the first time; I had heard of surprise. I have been hearing that for a few days. They are saying there will be a surprise and asked us to tell our patron about it as if it is a big secret. It will be revealed at exactly ten. "Now go and make the establishment proud," said Madam De, and we walked toward the door. Not the one in the front, but the one underground. There is an underground tunnel beneath the building, leading directly to the tower. Soon we reached it, and the carriages were waiting there. We sat down and the carriage began to move through the lighted tunnel. I felt Yani''s hand gripping mine tightly; she also had her eyes closed. The human girl didn''t like tunnels; she had an unnatural fear of them. I gently messaged her hand, till the carriage stooped at the basement tower. Like the rest of the tower, this ce too had nts. A lot of them. I heard there are nts on the floors below. I took a deep breath and enjoyed the beauty of these nts before walking toward the elevator. The groups have already formed on the floor they are working on, and each group begins to enter the elevators by their group. The elevator isn''t big, but it could still squeeze nine people easily. Most importantly, it is fast, really fast. Enough that few people vomited on the first day. It is why, there is an operator there with skills. He is good enough, that nobody has vomited since he had started. One by one girls entered the elevator and soon it was my turn. There are only four of us. We are the only ones on this badge, going to the seventeenth floor. The fourth floor of the Velvet Red. There are five floors of Velvet Red, formerly Velvet Garden. They changed the name because the tower is the velvet garden. The velvet red upies the floor from the fourteenth to the eighteenth. The higher, one goes in velvet red; the more exclusive it is. Of five hundred and eighty-two girls, the top two floors will have only seventy-six girls. Twenty-four at the top floor, fifty-two at the second top, and the rest five hundred would be on the bottom floors. It was a shock to me today when I found out. That I would be working on the second top floor. I am one of only nine new girls, that will be working there. The rest will be experienced ones. Still, it is quite regretful; that I wasn''t able to get a slot on the top floor. There are only three slots for the new girls; I wasn''t able to get it. I will be trying, though. The higher, you go, the more money you will earn. There are also gifts. The older girls said the people on higher floors give more expensive gifts. The gifts that, the establishment never touched. The door closed, and the elevator moved. It moved fast, and in four and a half seconds, we were on the seventeenth floor. Ting! The door opened, and we got out immediately, after nodding. Old Samis; the old is an operator, and I heard, he had a good collection of skills. I looked around, at a space filled with nts densely. From below, this floor is one of the barren floors, but it is an illusion of clever architecture and mist. It is not barren, as it looked from below. It has as much as nts as on every other floor. I took a deep breath and smelled their beautiful smell but didn''t feel any power of legacy. Not every part of it is covered in the power of the legacy. On the floors of a legacy like this, only half of the area is covered in the power of legacy. Only half of the area on sixteen floors is covered in the power of the legacy. They have smartly used every inch to use the power of the legacy. I looked around for a few seconds before walking toward the crystal door, with beautiful carvings. Click! I opened it and went inside and into the most beautiful space. It is a dream of every woman, a heaven. There are dresses on the mannequins, shoes on racks, and jewelry that would make anyone want to never take it off. Each piece is worth a fortune, be it shoes or jewelry. The beauty-studio is big, but smallpared to those on the floors below, but it had the second most beautiful pieces. The level and beauty of pieces go higher with each floor. So is their price. The value of every single dress in here is more than enough to make a small family livefortably for a year. Never, in my life I had dreamed of wearing pieces as beautiful as the ones around me. They are even more beautiful than the ones, I had seendies wearing in the cities. "Eliyen, stop staring bumpkin and sit," said nezharian half-elf with a thick ent. There are only seven seats here, with seven beauticians and three helpers. Vernis is the leader and has a little temper. The beautiful nts around us that would calm anyone didn''t help her that much. I quickly went to the small room with the curtain and undressed quickly. I removed everything and ced it in the box with the name on it, before wearing a ck silk robe with my name monogrammed on it. I sat down on the chair and immediately felt the effect of the legacy. As I had said, they were using every inch of legacy expertly. Only around 10% of the studio was enveloped in the legacy''s power. The chairs are in the domain of legacy, and thus beautician could use the mist, in their work. "You have such a beautiful skin. You should have taken proper care of it," she said as she moved her hands across the skin. "Brothel isn''t exactly the ce where I could get expensive beauty products," I replied, not caring if she got angry. "They had done a wonderful job, in fixing these ws and bringing it to its natural quality," she said, as if she hadn''t heard me and begun working. Since I came here, they have started working on me. I had my skin checked on the second day and a few hours before the news of undead came, I received the skin care products. In the past few months, it happened regrly, with the spa doing the best work. Vernis might be a bitch, but she is as great as what she does. The control she has over the mist is simply incredible. Which isn''t surprising, seeing she had worked in the legacy for two decades. She started on my face, before doing my hair, while I watched quietly. "Get up and remove your robe," she said. I got out of the chair and walked on a circr stand, before removing my robe. It is embarrassing, but not humiliating. I know, it is for me. She took the lotion and began to ther it across my skin, along with the mist. Her hands are precious and experienced, but they still give me a shiver whenever they move over my sensitive parts. Soon, she finished and began to apply another lotion, a glittering one on my legs. She used a few more things, some in ces, that made my cheeks reddened. "The red lingerie from the sereh collection," she said, and immediately, the raven-haired teen girl moved and brought her what she wanted from many lingerie sets. The lingerie is a work of art with a beautifulcework. I am learningcework, along with embroidery and other things. I am incapable of such craftmanship; I might be able to do it after I reach Lv. 20+. I raised my leg and wore the lingerie. It is quite an experience that even after a week. I didn''t get used to it. I am used to being naked in front of men and women, but not them helping me wear clothes. When I tried to do it myself on the first day. I got pped on the wrist. "The magenta gown," she said, and a teen brought the most beautiful gown I had ever seen. I had worn it a few days ago to test the fitting. The clothes are tailor-made for me. The skills could adjust the fitting, but ording to them, the clothes tailored to one are better than those adjusted with the skills. It is a column gown of magenta color, that had high sleet. It is off the shoulder that highlights my breast. Made them look bigger than they are. I wanted to look in the mirror before she stopped me. The next article, I wore was the red shoes with four-inch-high heels. I hate them; they make my feet hurt, but I need to wear them. Beauty is pain. Thest was jewelry. It is a beautiful red diamond set with a ne, earrings, and bracelets. I heard Eva Charles had designed them herself and like everything I am wearing, the jewelry too belongs to her. We are just borrowing it. "You can now, look at the mirror," she said, and I turned to the mirror. A momentter, tears started toe out of my eyes. The woman staring back at me lookspletely different. If anyone from my former brothel looked at me now, they wouldn''t recognize me at all. Click! "Thank you," I said to the woman, before walking into the fourth floor of the velvet red. It is a piece of heaven with mist everywhere. There is a modern-style bar in the center, with chairs and tables around it, with beautiful ces of art on the wall and of course the nts. Some of the private rooms arepletely covered by them. They are everywhere, but they do not feel excess at all. I felt like, it would have been fine. If there had been more nts. The most beautiful thing about this ce is the chandelier. It is big with bright white crystals and a shining vine wrapped around it. I could see most of the girls were sitting at their tables. Seeing me, they smiled. "Don''t worry too much. If you are lucky, you will get someone who you will enjoy," said Calis. She has been here from the start. She came to the city with Ca and others. I nodded and walked to the bar. "Can you give me something to take an edge off?" I asked Jalir. "Sure. What do you want?" he asked with a smile. "Shimmering tide," I replied. I had tasted many drinks, but I loved the shimmering tide. Likely because it faintly smells like, the homebrew my grandmother used to drink. He began to make my drink, while I watched. He is a showman. The way, he yed with liquor and mist is mesmerizing. "One shimmering tide for you," he said as he ced the drink in front of me. "Thank you, Jalir," I said and took a shimmering blue drink into my lips. "Ahhh¡­" I moaned gently as I took a sip of a delicious drink. Its taste filled me while my emotions moved like a tide. Before I knew it, I finished the drink. I am feeling much better now and returned to my table. It is only a few minutes before we open. "To your ces, girls. We will open in ten minutes." Ordered Madam Jenna. She is a floor leader. Immediately, the girls who were not at their table moved back to their ces. "This is an important day, and I am sure, many of you are nervous. Hell, I am nervous," she said, and many of usughed at her admission. "Don''t let this nervousness get to you. You have a job to do. You have been trained for it and there is no one in the whole world is better than you at it." "So, conquer the night girls!" Her words rang through the hall, and they helped. More than the drink. I could tell, she truly believes in our abilities. Minutes passed, and we got closer and closer to the opening, till finally, the clock hit nine. ''Open The Gates,'' Themanding voice with the weight of authority filled the whole floor. For a moment, I didn''t recognize the voice at all. Madam Caena usually does not keep such authority in her voice. As hermand rang out; the whole atmosphere changed. I could see, the girls bing more confident and, the staff moving to their ces. Ting! Seconds passed, and a familiar ting rang out. Four human men, who looked to be in theirte thirties, came out. They are wearing fine clothes and have confidence in their eyes, but as they step out. A clear shock appeared in their eyes. The shock deepened when they looked at us before it got reced with ecstasy. They looked, drinking the beauty. I could see, the familiar lust and desire in their eyes as they looked at us, but I didn''t see the usual degust and hate, that apanied them. Instead, there is admiration and excitement. The emotions, I have never seen in the eyes of men for us whores. "Wee to the Velvet Red gentlemen," weed Madam Jenna, bringing them out of their thoughts. They entered inside and looked, before taking the seats with the girls. I am a little disappointed, seeing not one of them came at me, but I didn''t show it to my face. They had just sat down when the elevator opened again, and three people sat down. With the passing seconds, more and more people kepting. Sitting in front of girls; it took a while before a man appeared in front of me. Seeing him, I know, the wait was worth it. The man looked to be in his mid-thirties. with brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He is sporting a scruffy beard, that enhances his roguish look. "May I?" he asked, in a cultured imperial ent. Most people that came were from a merchant state; it is clear by their ent, but this man is from an empire. "Please," I said to the man. "Mathias," he introduced. "Eliyen," I replied. "You are a very beautiful woman, Eliyen," he said, looking at me up to down intensely, in a non-creepy way. "You are not bad yourself, Mathias," I replied, checking him out in the same way. A faint surprise appeared in his eyes before the smile lit up on his face. "Thank you. It means a lot from a beautiful woman, like you," he said, and my cheeks reddened despite the efforts. Minutes passed, and I found myself enjoying the conversation with the man. I didn''t even notice when the whole ce, waspletely filled up, nor did I care. I ampletely focused on the man in front of me and the good time I am having. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 407: Party I Chapter 407: Party I ''Open the Gates,'' Caena''s voice rang out and I felt the doors of the velvet red opening. The patrons starteding immediately. Soon, they will fill the five floors, where the girls will be waiting for them with their beautiful smiles. I had spent a lot on them. Their training, their beauty and they didn''t disappoint me. From today, they will use the knowledge, those skills, they have learned. I do not doubt that they will provide every patron the experience, they will never forget in their life. Just thinking about it made a smile appear on my face. I shook my head and turned to the core, where the harvest was lessening as the y ended. The store and theater are doing just as great. Many were opposed to the theater; at least didn''t want to be on legacy. Which is understandable. Of all the sixteen floors of the legacy, the theater will be the only ce that will be open for the shortest time. There will only be two shows, which means it is six to seven hours. Every other floor will remain open for at least eighteen hours. Including Eva and Miss Cain''s store. I created a theater, not only to give an unforgettable experience but also to bring a cultural shift to the city. Art is the greatest force of the culture. I might not have any interest in the theater, but I know, how effective it is in bringing the cultural shift. As for the emotions essence, I don''t think, we are not losing any. During the y, the harvest of emotions had tripled, while it was only for three hours. It is a lot; most importantly, it is not as bad as everything thought. The harvest of emotions was much better than any of us had imagined. Which made me relieved. The emotions essence is important and if possible, I don''t want to lose any of it. I moved my eyes away from the core and focused back on the most important floors. I may have added the other things, but the brothel will always remain the core part of it. It is what lighted the legacy. I could sense the guesting. Feeling them moving toward the girls, who are shining like the beacons. It is quite regrettable, that I couldn''tpletely focus on it today. I have a party to host. At nine and a half, the guests will start to arrive and at ten, I will have to make an entrance. It will be quite an entrance, that they will not forget in their life. "There is a message from the synods, representative," informed Z. I opened my eyes, and everything disappeared. I am back in the real world. "The same question?" I asked, and she nodded. "Reply to them with the same answer," I ordered. The smart ones have already realized, and now they have questions. They have been bugging since the afternoon as they realized the anomalies. They will get the answer to that question at exactly ten. "Any intelligence on anomalies?" I asked. "No, everything is silent from the undead," she replied, and it made me take a sigh with relief. There will be nothing worse than the news of the undead attacking. It will spoil the entire party. Click! A few minutester, I walked out of the office and stepped into the elevator. This elevator is a secret. It is for madams, a few important staff and me. I want to take a glimpse of the establishment before the party begins. Once it started, I wouldn''t be able to leave till midnight. Ting! The elevator stopped at the sixteenth floor, and I got out. I could staff moving around, some stopped and bowed, but I waved them away. I didn''t immediately check the halls. Instead, I went to the kitchen, which was very busy. The serversy down the orders and the chefs cook them. Drev is also here, tasting dishes and giving out the orders. With the legacy expanding, his job had also changed. He is now an executive chef; the man responsible for the food and every aspect rted to it. In addition to the development of dishes and menu creation which was part of his earlier responsibilities. Now, he has management, nning, budgeting, and guest rtions, in his kitty. There are two main kitchens on the five floors of velvet red and three floors of velvet blue, along with three satellite kitchens. All the staff had been either from the establishment or trained in the legacy. I had trained my people in the legacy, but also hired a lot of people, that worked in the legacy. It is why, they are so expertly using the mist in creating every dish. It is so mesmerizing that, I could watch for hours and not get bored at all. "Lord Silver," he greeted. "Seemed like, everything is going well," I said. "Everything is good, my lord," he replied. "I want you to focus more on blue, today. We have a lot of people to impress at the party," I said, and the man nodded. "I am aware, my lord. I had onlye here for a few minutes to check things out," he replied. I nodded and walked out of the kitchen, after taking ast look at Wanda, who had earned the ce among these chefs. I took the elevator and came out of the fourteenth floor. The first floor of the velvet red. I walked directly to therge window, which is one and a half meters long and one meter wide. It gives me a wide view of the legacy. They wouldn''t see me looking at them. Instead, they would see a beautiful painting. It is a very precious painting. From the collection from the house of Ashav. Though, he told me, not to ce a que on it; no art piece in velvet red had a que on it. Nobody wants others to know, that they have given the brothel the paintings. However, they are very particr about having a que of their name beside the art piece in every other part of the tower. The hall ispletely filled and despite being the one with most tables. It doesn''t feel crowded at all. Every table is upied, and so is every chair on the bar. I could see that the people were clearly having fun. The girls are making them have fun. They have been trained to engage with even the most boring person. They have been taught by the people with sses like ''Conversationalist'' and older girls have also shared their tips and tricks. The actors also gave them a good score. Only those who passed through various tests are working and this time, the passing score was quite high. Over 90%, which is highest till now. I looked for a minute, before walking into the fifteenth floor. It is more exclusive and with the open tables as well as the private rooms. It is also more expensive. The sixteenth floor is a tavern or made in tavern style. The bartenders working there used to work in Bloody Fork. A legacy tavern in the kingdom of Ataren. It died four years ago, and these people were working in other bars and hotels. However, the moment, I made an offer. They epted it immediately, without even discussing their sries. Some even said, they would havee. Even if I didn''t pay them a single penny. Nothing couldpare to the legacy. No matter how great it is. They do not need to worry about money; the sheer tips, they will get would be huge. Not that I am not paying them. I am matching or even paying more than their past job. I walked to the seventeenth floor; the truly exclusive one. Like the upper two floors of velvet red. Here, the reservation alone isn''t enough. You have to be someone to be here. Even then, it is up to madam to ept whether let you here or not. There are only fifty-two girls in here at any time. No more than that. I had spent as much on this floor as on the three floors below. Every piece of furniture, napkin, and porcin is expensive and crafted specifically for the legacy. So are the dresses and essories, the girls are wearing. They are not things, that even the rtively wealthy could afford. Even I would have thought about it a hundred times before buying them. Seeing how damn expensive every piece, the girls are wearing is. Thankfully, I didn''t. I signed a contract with Eva Cain. Everything the girls are wearing is a loan from them. It is good because I had amassed a massive loan. Whenever I think about the amount; I start to sweat. It is too much. I looked at it, before walking into the top floor. Where there are only twenty-four girls and a single soloist singing a beautiful song. The most exclusive floor. Every person, sitting there is someone. From assistant of Lord of Owlspring to the scion of the house of Gyliphor. My cousin, that bastard wanted toe here, but he is on the fifth floor. I wanted to keep looking, but less than five minutes remained, till the party began, I had to prepare. So, I took onest look, before going back to my office. Finally, the clock hit nine and a half and I gathered the power of the legacy around me. "Open," I said, and velvet blue opened. Today, the blue will host the party. Tomorrow, it will open for business. A minute had passed, and the line of carriages appeared. They would stop in front of the tower before moving away to the park. It is happening smoothly without traffic. Most of them are guests. They walked into the tower before taking the elevator to the Velvet Blue. There they are weed by Caena, Margaux, and Ca. Last time, I had used my family. This time, I am keeping the distance, while Heron and Josie are too young to wee the guests here. I watched the carriages for a few minutes, before changing into the suit. It is tailored for this asion and is quite good. It felt so soft and light, that I wanted to sleep in it. I didn''t and instead returned to my office, where Eudo was waiting for me with his things. I sat down and began to do his magic. "You are really a magician, thank you," I said, looking myself in the mirror. It is not over the top; he had just enhanced what I have. Still, the effects are big; I have never looked as handsome as I am right now. "You are wee, Lord Silver," he replied and left. Click! Minutes passed and when there were only five minutes to ten, Ca came in and I froze. She is blinding. So, much, I stopped breathing seeing her beauty. "You look" I wanted to say ''beautiful'', but that word felt insufficient to describe her. She seemed to like my reaction as a smile appeared on her face, making her look even more enchanting. She is wearing a shimmering back gown, made of all magical threads, and has work of thousands of tiny red rubies. It had a V-shape neck, that showed a glimpse of her bountiful breasts, but not scandalously. The dress was designed by Miss Cain and brought to reality by Eva''s people at the Namdar. Her heels were four inches high and if I had not been wearing shoes, she would have been as tall as me. I kept looking at her before walking toward her. I stopped, in front of her and took her lips into mine. The dress is beautiful, but I want to tear it apart and have her on my desk. Unfortunately, I will have to wait for a few hours for it; till then I will have to be content with her lips. "I have something for you," I said, and she arched her brow. A momentter, a beautiful jewelry box appeared in my hand, with the emblem of Eva Cain. Gasp! I opened the box and immediately a gasp rang out of her mouth. "It''s beautiful," she breathed out, before shaking and touching the beautiful ne. I had asked Eva to design it for Ca and she didn''t disappoint. The ne in front of big and borate. There are nine green diamonds in it, with the biggest one being as big as my thumb. "Let me put it on you," I said and took out the ne, before putting the ne on her and activating the mirror spell, so she could see herself. Tears appeared in her eyes as she looked at herself in the mirror. My own eyes were a little misty, seeing how beautiful and graceful she looked. She looked at the mirror for a while, before turning to me. "I took to have something for you," she said, and a small box appeared in her hand, with a familiar emblem. Click! She opened the box and inside was a brooch. It is rose-shaped, made with delicate white gems which are clearly magical. She took it out and attached it to my chest. "Happy birthday," she wished. "Thank you," I said as I looked at myself in the mirror. It really looks good; she understood my taste well. "It is time," she said as I was looking at us in the mirror. I looked at the clock, only to see there was only a minute to ten. We have to make an entrance at the ten. Immediately, we walked out of my office, and a few secondster, appeared by the door. "Ready?" I asked her as I took her hand into mine. "Yes," she replied. This time, there was no hesitation, like thest few times, when she asked to make entrance alone. She knows I want her with me. Click! I opened the door and stepped into the other onto the shimmering rainbow stairs of light. They are not physical stairs, but a spell. I could see the heads turning on all three floors. Feel their eyes, including that of the Lord of Owlspring. I didn''t move and looked back at them, with a smile on my face. ''Let''s give them something, that they will never forget,'' I said to Ca telepathically and took a step down. Immediately expressions of everyone changed. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 408: Party II Chapter 408: Party II ckwell Hun! I heard the sound of surprises as the power of the legacy increased as Silver and Ca took a step into the light stairs. I had doubts about my own and the insistent messages from a lot of powerful people and entities like Archmages City, had proved my doubts were right. Unfortunately, I wasn''t able to answer any of their queries. Nor I would have, even if I could. The contact is strict enough, that I couldn''t even discuss it with my sister or my husband, who looking at me with questions in his eyes. Hun! Thankfully, Silver took another step, and the power increased again. Making Ss, focus on him. It is not just the power that is increasing, but the emotions mist is also getting denser, which would create denser mist clouds at the ceiling. "What is happening?" asked Emmyth. Meria''s date. Both of us smiled and turned to Silver, who took another step, and the power of the legacy increased further. "Is legacy advancing?" Someone asked, and the intelligent one smiled. The legacy had already advanced. Silver is only revealing advancement now. In these past six months, I had seen enough to be sure, that legacy had reached Grade II. Currently, Silver is showing only the power of Grade I. "Its powerful, but still a Grade I," replied young voice. I turned and saw it is a young girl seventeen-eighteen years old girl. If I am right, that girl is the granddaughter of Inam''s legacy host. She hade to the tower several times, when it was being constructed. He took another step and then another with every step. The power of the legacy would increase. The people are watching. Even the lord of Owlspring had a great interest in his eyes. "It''s clear, that you know. You should have told your dear husband about it," said Ss, and I shook my head in regret. I really wish to talk to my husband about it. I rarely hid things from him, but this time I couldn''t. Not even a hint or a suggestion. It is hard. Weighing when speaking about the legacy, like walking on eggshells. "Contract," I replied. It is not a hint or suggestion, but the word, I am allowed to say, without facing the repercussion. Soon, Silver reached the end of the stairs and looked at all like he did on the first step before taking the step into the ground. GASP! I heard the clicking sound of their feet reaching the ground, when a massive change urred, that made all the people gasp in shock. The power of legacy took a massive jump. It is not just the quantity of the power that increased, but also its quality. Not to mention the mist, it got denser. Its texture was smoothened, and it''s seemed to have gotten heavier with the power. Still, all these changes are nothing in front of how it is making me feel. It is indescribable. "Grade II, legacy," said people in shock as its power filled the hall. It enchanted the people, and mesmerized them. Turning this already piece of heaven, more heavenly. I couldn''t help, but be proud seeing that. As I am one of the people, who had helped in making it. "This is what I call an entrance," praised Ss and sighed. I don''t think, I would forget this entrance. People are still shocked, while intelligent ones are in deep thought. I could already guess they were thinking about when the legacy had ascended to Grade II. There was no sign, not even a whisper of ascendence. It had happened less than a year after its birth. A feat, an extremely few legacies are able to achieve. If they are thinking that, they are quite wrong. It had reached Grade II in six months or less. I had started to see the clues. In the second month, I came here. On the surface, it felt like Grade I, a legacy, but the way Silver, Ca others talk about it, it didn''t feel like Grade I. I didn''t understand those hints and nces back then or I would havee to a conclusion a lot sooner. It is all bing very clear. With clear understanding, a thought came to my mind. ''What if it had advanced to the Grade II, within three months of its birth?'' I pushed the thought as soon as it came to my mind. "You have created quite something, love. It is looking even more beautiful, in the power of Grade II legacy," said Ss as he looked around. He is absolutely right; the Grade II, legacy has taken its beauty and the legacy to next level. "Forget the beauty, think about the emotion essence, he will get from all sixteen floors, not to mention the nts." Said Emmyth, making me sigh internally. "Meria, please, help, get some essence and resources from the nts. You know, how much it would help me," he requested. The man is a childhood friend. He can''t think past his profession. It is the reason why he is here; he had begged Meria to take him to the party, knowing she had an invitation. "Em, I had promised you an introduction, and that is the only thing I will do. Nothing more," said Meria, ring at him. He wanted to say something, but closed his mouth seeing her expressions and turned to me with pitiful eyes, but got the same look as her. "Fine," he said. Ting Ting! The sound of ss clinking rang out, and we turned to Silver. The handsome young man who sparked the legacy and whose heart is filled with wild ambitions and has the will to bring them to reality. Sometimes, I feel a little scared of the young man. "Thank you, everyone, for joining me, on this auspicious asion." "It is also my birthday. I am twenty today and I hope, I will stop hearing the word, so young from now on," he said, drawing out aughter across the hall. ¡­ "Seven months ago; this precious thing, has been sacrificed to deal with those who wished to harm us," "We had to build it anew, with a stronger foundation, but its purpose is the same. Which is to provide an experience that will remain etched in your heart forever," I said, looking at all the people. Some are still shocked by the changes, that they are barely listening to my speech. I could see their rings, bracelets, and staff lighting up as they sent messages. I had decided to reveal the advancement of the legacy, which I nned to do, since the moment I decided to build the tower. Though, the way, I was nning to reveal it ispletely different. I was nning to show it as a real advancement but changed my mind. I decided to go out and create a show of it; tell people, it had advanced months ago. It will create an effect and spread the news far and wide. Create more interest in legacy and the city. "It is a challenge, but my legacy and I will do our everything, to provide that to you," I said and raised my ss, and others raised it with me, before taking a sip. Many closed their eyes for a second. It is an expensive liquor, 27th of the top hundred, which had been aired with the mist of legacy. The music resumed, and I walked toward the most important guest of the evening. "Lord Verulus, thank you for gracing my humble city, with your honored presence," I said to a middle-aged man. Lord of Owlspring looks average. He has a medium height and build, with an average face. His hair is brown, and his eyes are pale green. Caelus Verulus is anything but average. He was quite a warrior, in his younger days. Lv. 30+, before he had taken the duties of Owlspring. His information said the man was close to Lv. 40. "The honor is all mine, Lord Silver. Your city, especially legacy, is worth making a trip," he replied. I smiled and turned to the beautiful half-elf. "Miss Tylcharis, I hope, you enjoyed our spa," I said to the woman, and a smile lit up across her face. "It was a wonderful experience, and I am hoping that Lord Caelus would join me tomorrow, in it." "He needs to stop caring about his people all the time and take care of himself too, time to time," she said, looking at him with frustration and love. Her is a nine-treatment n. She had five treatments today; she will have four tomorrow. "The spa is really good, my lord; I hope, you will try at least one treatment before leaving," I said to the man. He didn''t reply to that, but smiled. I talked to him, before moving to the second important guest. The Lord of Amberhold, Ss ckwell. He and his wife are talking to my sister and madam. Like the Lord of Owlspring, his appearance was also sudden. It was Ignatius, who was supposed toe. I nodded at my sister and madam, who had sparks of anger appearing in her eyes seeing me. I have been told by multiple sources that she had been angry since she had left the baronies. The woman was so good at controlling her expressions. I had never seen an ounce of enmity in her growing up, but ever since she came here, it had be more visible. So, much so that she is having a problem controlling it. Well, I don''t really care. I hope she didn''t cross a line, or I will have to do something, I really don''t want to do. "Lord ckwell, thank you foring," I said to the man. "I have to see it since my wife had praised it so much." He replied. "Is it good, as she said?" I asked. "She had grossly undersold it," replied the man. Hearing that, I couldn''t help but smile. "Your words mean a lot, my lord," I said to the man. "I hope, you would spend at least a day in the city, my lord. Explore what it has to offer," I added. "I very much nned to," replied the man. I introduced Ca to him and moved to the third more important guest. There are two people, who share that ce. "Lord Rutto," I greeted the pudgy man. "His majesty, Emperor Inkav wishes you a long and prosperous life. Lord Silver," said the man. "Please, thank his majesty for his kind words, Lord Rutto," I replied, carefully avoiding the title. He is crown prince and should be an emperor as he dered himself, but more than half of the empire is refused to ept him. I need to be delicate about this since I know a lot of people are looking. The man hade to the city before when the legacy was born but was sent away by the count. He came again and had the same intentions. Unfortunately, this time, too, he will not get what he wants. "I will, my lord," he said before he turned his expression serious. "The emperor had sent me as guardian of your legacy, my lord. It would be wise, to make it as formal as soon as possible," he stated, casting a nce at left at the old man. Well, he didn''t waste any time. He had been trying for a meeting since he stepped into the city in the morning. He wants to be a guardian of the legacy. Well, it is not going to happen. "All in good times, Lord Rutto," I said to the man and walked away. He wanted to say something, but closed his mouth, seeing me walking away. He could have followed me. If we weren''t in the crowd and many people, sneakily looking at us. Soon, I stopped in front of the second, most important people. An old man, a head full of thick green hair. "Lord Thorsten," I replied. Thorsten is what Rutto is to the crown prince. He is sent by Princess Orlene or Empress Orlene, depending on who you ask. He wants to be a guardian of the legacy, too. These two aren''t the only ones who came. Every prince and princess had sent their people, with the sole intention of bing a guardian. None of them will be. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 409: Night Chapter 409: Night Kadals "¡­that is Marshhunter isn''t it, Grandma?" said Maci excitedly, barely able to keep her voice contained. "Is it a Mistake to bring her?" I asked Linda. She shook her head. "It is her first seeing at such an opulent party. She is having a hard time controlling herself," said Linda. Not that we are used to it. We had only once attended a party, and that is also in this legacy, before it was destroyed. I didn''t think, Silver would invite me this time. It was a great shock, when my younger granddaughter informed me, that there was a beautiful woman at her door. This time, there were three invitations. Two by our names, one unnamed, but for only family members. There was quite a battle for it in our home. The little girl''s parent didn''t hesitate to pull their daughter down, even bribe her for the invitation. I was in my thoughts when I felt a pinch. I looked at my wife, who looked ahead sharply; I turned ahead and saw Silvering toward us, with the same beautiful woman, that was at our front door, a few weeks ago. "Lord Silver," I greeted, while Maci became dumbstruck, with enamored eyes. "Maci!" said Lina in a sharp whisper. The little girl immediately understood and tried to bow, but Silver waved it away with a smile. "Thank you foring Mr. Kadav, Mrs. Kadav," he thanked in a smooth voice. "Thank you for inviting us, Lord Silver. It is an absolute honor," I replied, and I mean it. Inviting us one time is more than enough, but he invited us a second time and it is not a small Grade I legacy, but a magnificent Grade II legacy. A lot of important people havee at this time, including our own lord and the lord of Amberhold, along with many important people from the merchant state. "You must be Maci. You look quite like your younger sister," said Miss Ca. When she hade, Maci wasn''t home. It was her, younger sister who had opened the door. "Y..yes, I am Maci," she replied, stuttering with crimson cheeks. "Please, enjoy the party," said Silver and walked away, while Maci watched, still enamored. I didn''t say anything and picked up a te of delicious-looking rolls from the tray, that waited brought, before taking a bite out of it. It is delicious like everything. I have tested it so far. It is the best food; I have ever eaten. While Linda is a wonderful cook, nothing could bepared to the food from the legacy. I had just finished when I saw a blond-haired maning toward me, before stopping in front of us. "My skill is telling me, that you are our member, but I do not think, we have met before," said the man and I nodded. "We have not, Vice-Guild Master Boyd," I replied, and a frown appeared on his face. The man is too high, that business owner like me could never meet him. The only reason, I am here, is because, of the few words, I spoke on that fateful day to a young man, who looked like, he was about to lose everything, but still standing straight. He reminded me of my dear mother. Of what she had faced when I was young. So, despite the hurry to escape, I went to him and spoke a few encouraging words before walking out. "So, how do you know, Lord Silver?" he asked, and isn''t the only person who had asked this question. "We had once met fatefully, and Lord Silver, hadn''t forgotten about it," I replied. He looked to exin further, but I didn''t and kept a smile on my face. "Here, this is the invitation for a party in the merchant guild. Please doe," he said and handed the envelope, with the emblem of the merchant guild behind it. He nodded and walked away, while I gave an invitation to Linda, who put in her purse with the other two. It is the third invitation we have received. The two were invitations to personal parties, this one from the merchant guild, and that party, that weekter, was very important. People like me could never get into those parties. Thest invitation helped me get some connections, which resulted in a few business opportunities. I hope, this one too will do the same. I was mingling, when I nearly froze when I saw the lord of Owlspring,ing toward me. "My lord," I bowed as the man stopped in front of me. "I heard about you. Your words are what helped Silver, light up a spark for the legacy," he said, looking at me with eyes, that made my knees go weak. It is the first time, I heard those, but him saying that is different. It could make Silver angry. "That is a gross exaggeration, my lord. My little words had no effect on the creation of the legacy. It was all Lord Silver," I replied with the same words as I do with others. Thought this time. I had pressed those words hard. They are also true. I do not think, I have done anything to help Silver spark the legacy. ¡­ Senar "This is my card. Please, give this to Lord Silver and tell him, we are willing to pay any price for the essences and resources," said a middle-aged blond man. "Of course, Mr. Tars," said Madam Onaz with a charming smile. The man nodded at her and me, before walking away, while his card disappeared into her purse. "Everybody wants the essence and resources," I said. We had received over twenty cards in the past two hours. "It isn''t surprising. The establishment has one of the rarest resources in the world." "Getting their hands on it would be tremendously useful to them," replied Madam Onaz, before walking toward the tables. I followed behind her with the other two. Watch her engage with patrons. Answer their demands and queries with a smile never leaving her face. It is not an easy job, considering the sheer number of patrons here. It is the first floor of the velvet red and there are over a hundred and fifty tables across the different sections. Madam Onaz is responsible for the floor, but it is temporary until the three of us learn. Three of us had been promoted to the assistant madams, but she was tier above us. She is Tier I, while we are Tier II. One of us will be promoted to her ce, who will be in charge of this floor. I want the position, but thepletion is heavy. I not only have two girls beside me as thepetitors, but there are seven more Tier II madams, working in floors and college. There are only three positions for the first three floors of velvet red. The top two floors will be handled by the tier-one madams. I looked around at the people. They are everywhere. Even after two hours of opening, every chair is upied. No chair remained unupied for more than a minute. I was thinking that when the table in front of me emptied. Rinen and the young patron walked toward the door. The staff came immediately and cleaned the table. Making it ready for the next patron. I walked toward the bar and stopped by the blue-eyed man, in his early forties. "Mr. Rayes, the table is open for you," I said to the man. "Finally," he said and got up. "I like them red-heads and younger," said the man, as I took him toward the empty table. "Of course, Mr. Reyes," I said and activated the telepathic skill. ''Una,e to table twenty-nine,'' I said to the girl sitting in the waiting room. The girl is a redhead, but not a natural one like Chief Ca. She had painted her hair red, but it was an excellent job. Most people wouldn''t be able to guess, even if they looked clearly. She is also twenty years old. Most importantly she is good at handling men like him. I sat him down in his seat and a few secondster, Una came, lighting up the man''s eyes. The maxim of the establishment is simple. Is to provide what patrons desire; give them an experience, they will never forget. We serve everyone, including men like him. Unless, of course, they crossed the line. Then they will be banned. "Have a good time, Mr. Reyes," I said and walked away from toward Madam Onaz. I could feel the gazes of many. Most of them are filled with desire, but there are some, who had a surprise in them and a tiny number, a faint disgust. I looked at a mirror made of water and the reason was clear as day. I am an orc''s blood, and it is quite visible. I could make this effect less visible with the ''More Human Skill'', which I used to use all the time. Did it for years, but it had been months since I used it. I am proud of what I am. Proud of blood, both human and orc, and I will never hide it, nor do I need it, especially here. I smiled at the mirror and stopped beside Madam Onaz. "Did you add Mr. Reyes, to the creep list?" asked Madam Onaz. I was surprised at her question but shook my head. There are lists, the creep list, best patron list, best-gifted list, good in bed list, and many other lists. These lists are important, especially for the patrons. These lists decide how quickly, you could get a reservation. The floor you could go to and the type of girls you get. If the person is high on good lists; the madam could add them to her list, which will give them ess to the exclusive fourth floor. Where only those on Madam''s list could go. "Why? He feels like a creep and his word choice is also the same?" she asked. "He feels like it and sounds like it, but he hasn''t done anything creepy yet and unless he does, I will not add him to the list," I replied. "Good answer," she praised before turning to the three of us. "The lists have power girls and I hope, you will add the names in it only after careful consideration," "The feeling is important, but so is the proof," she said, before moving, while we followed from behind. ¡­ "It''s going well and this time, we didn''t even need a show," said Ca as moved through the guests. "I told you, we do not need any show to impress people," I replied as I looked around the floor. Last time, there was a mage show. This didn''t, we didn''t have any, nor did we need it. Our preparations are more than enough. It had been three hours since our entrance, and the party was still going. Only a few guests like, Lord of Owlspring had left. He needed to, because of his mistress. She is pregnant. I don''t know. If she knows it; it is very early. Even spells weren''t able to discover it. Not to mention, the heavy protection, she had covered her. The only reason we did, is because of Naud. She is an expert in pregnant messages and used konis massage on her. A type of massage, where the steam of magical herbal oils is wrapped in legacy mist and sent into the body through waves. One needs decades of practice and appropriate skills to master the massage. She is one of the people we had, especially poached. I had to personally talk with the leader of Elysian for her and she is only here for a year. It is those waves that discovered, the faint-like. She is pretty sure, that Miss Tylcharis is pregnant. Aside from Linis, only three people knew about it. Ca, Caena, and me. Even Maeve didn''t know. Every therapist had been ordered. If they discovered something sensitive. They should report directly to that madam. We didn''t do anything, but tomorrow, we will tell Miss Tylcharis. Not Lord of Owlspring; it will be up to Miss Tylcharis to share the news. I pushed those thoughts and focused on the man and woman appearing in front of me. The man is in his early fifties, while the woman is in her mid-twenties. The woman isn''t his daughter or wife. "Lord Silver," greeted the man. "Vicount Maris, I hope you are enjoying the party?" I asked the man. I had met him earlier. He is a man sent by the Duke of Henar. "It is great, my lord," he replied, and I smiled. "I was hoping we could meet tomorrow?" he asked. "Tomorrow, I am a little busy, but I will have my office contact as soon as possible," "Don''t worry, my lord I won''t let you leave Greltheaven, without a proper meeting," I replied. The next two days. I am extremely busy. "That is all I want," he said. I talked to the man for a minute, before walking away. "Nearly everyone wants the same thing," said Ca with a sigh. "It is the most desired thing in the world. So, of course, they will want it. The question is, who we will sell?" I replied. Everyone wants the essence and the resources. From Lord of Owlspring of Lady of Storms. They are not above using political and economic pressure to get it. Which is good. I do not n to hoard them; not entirely, at least. I am going to sell it as there are a lot of things I want; things only these people could provide. An hour passed, and the people finally began to leave. Though a trickle. There are many people who want to stay till dawn, and I n to let them. I have even prepared a few things that will keep them entertained. "I am handing the party to you both. Take care of our guests well," I said to Caena and Margaux. It is mostly Margaux. Caena will retire soon. I have to wake up tomorrow for an early meeting with the Lord of Owlspring. "We will take care of everything, Master Silver," said Margaux and walked away with Ca. My heart began to beat wildly when I saw the ze of desire in her eyes. I really want to sleep, but I don''t think it will be possible. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 410: Morning Chapter 410: Morning Prodigies ywright Lv. 32 Prodigies ywright Lv. 33 Prodigies ywright Lv. 34 {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} Clerk Lv. 13 {Conditions met: Prodigies ywright + Clerk + Dung Carrier + Launderer + Laborer + Waiter¨CWorldly ywright} Worldly ywright Lv. 33 Worldly ywright Lv. 34 {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Change: ¡­} . . . I looked at the long line of texts, and tears began to flow through my eyes. It had been sixteen years since I had leveled up. Till a few months ago, I had no hope and didn''t think, I would ever level in my main ss. I did, and the advancement was greater than I had thought. Especially my main ss, eating all the other sses and bing Worldly ywright, which I think perfect ss for me. Prodigious ywright didn''t suit me anymore. It used to be, once upon a time, but not anymore. I looked at my sses, that had been eaten by the main ss. These are just a few jobs in the past sixteen years. There were many more; these are the ones I had epted. I had no choice. With Prince''s skill hanging over me, it was very hard to find simple employment. These are the ones who supported me in my most difficult time. Helped me from starving to death and I am proud of each one of them. Including the Dung Carrier. Now all of them disappeared. Eaten by my main ss; the Worldly ywright. It is a powerful ss, more powerful than the Prodigious ywright. It has given me new skills. Changed and merged, the sixteen of them. All of them are pretty good skills; they will help me be a better ywright. I looked at them before clearing the texts. There are attribute points, but I will think about themter. "I wish you had been here," I muttered. A face appeared in front of me, but I shook it away immediately. It is too painful. ¡­ Actress Lv. 19 {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Set Designer Lv. 28 Set Designer Lv. 29 {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Lady of Verdant Gardens Lv. 34 Lady of Verdant Gardens Lv. 35 {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Aesthetic Architect Lv. 35 Aesthetic Architect Lv. 36 {Skill Gained: ¡­} {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Prostitute Lv. 18 Prostitute Lv. 19 ¡­ Graceful Whore Lv. 23 {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Wall Artist Lv.28 ¡­ Dealer of Desire Lv. 27 Dealer of Desire Lv. 28 Dealer of Desire Lv. 29 {Skill Gained: Mark of Mist} Valorous Lord Lv. 22 Valorous Lord Lv. 23 {Skill Gained: Fast Reflexes} When I opened my eyes. I had texts in front of me. The advancement is better than expected. It had taken a long, but gave me a reward for it. I am not surprised, seeing my Valorous Lord had also leveled up. I had expected it. I had tied the future of my city to the tower. If I hadn''t done it as such, the fate of my city was dependent on it. I would have leveled-up in Valorous Lord months ago and would have higher levels in it, than right now. It is done with a purpose in mind. It is my first advancement since the advancement after the second battle. I was quite frustrated seeing everyone around me leveling up. I knew the reason, but that didn''t make it easy. I have leveled up thrice in Dealer of Desire and even got the skill. Mark of Mist. It is a good skill, that usually hosts of Grade IV and above legacies get. It lets the user put a mark on things or a person. Through this mark, one could get their location and, if one is high-leveled enough, their state. This skill is usually gained by leaders of arenas. I am going to use the skill on the art pieces. They are borrowed and expensive. It would be bad if even one of them got stolen. We have our own measures, but marks will provide, anotheryer of protection. The Valorous Lord advanced twice, reaching Lv. 23. It had also provided me with the skill. An extremely rare skill. It is a skill that every warrior desires. Especially like me, who uses light weapons and depends on speed. Fast Reflexes are a passive skill. It does what its name says. It increases the speed of reflexes. I will have to test how much; it will depend on my levels and attributes. I will be happy. If it increases my reflexes by 10%. It might seem small, but it is not. Even this small increase would help me tremendously. Thest are the attribute points. I have three of them. I thought about it for a while, before I added one to intelligence, taking it sixteen, simr to physical attribute points. The second point, I added to vitality; taking it to seventeen. Thest one is for the charm. I didn''t use it. I am going to meet a lot of people in the next few days and if I use the point on the charm; they will know. The charm is at neen. One more point is going to take it to twenty. Once that happens; its power will take the big jump. It might help me help me with negotiations, but reveal my strength to them. I don''t want that. I want to keep it a secret. I will use that point after things calm down. It will give me enough time to learn to control the power; the time that I don''t have for the next few days.
ss Dealer of Desire Lv. 29 [Master of Legacy]
Valorous Lord Lv. 23 Trainer Lv. 08
Charisma 19
Intelligence 16
Vitality 17
Strength 16
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Instinct ¡¤ Solid Contract ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Consecutive Strikes ¡¤ Blitz Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Mauling Strike ¡¤ Silver Tongued ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ de Of The Gale ¡¤ Mood of the Subjects ¡¤ Privacy Sphere ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry ¡¤ Sharpness ¡¤ Active Presence ¡¤ Vision Projection ¡¤ Instant Recollection ¡¤ Artistic Dealings ¡¤ Copy Skill - Focus ¡¤ Telepathic Call ¡¤ Energizing Essence ¡¤ Gymnasts Control ¡¤ Lord''s Presence ¡¤ March Of The Braves ¡¤ Laws of My Land ¡¤ Mark of Mist ¡¤ Fast Reflexes
Legacy Demesne of Desire II
Skills ¡¤ Master of Legacy ¡¤ Laws of Legacy ¡¤ Share Authority (5) ¡¤ Vault of Ru ¡¤ Demesne Expansion
Attribute Points 1
I closed the window and looked around. It was as bright as I expected. I looked at the clock and sighed. I had only slept for two hours; it was nearly morning when we had slept. It was a good, thing; I had the rest charm from Caena. It had given me rest as if I had slept for ten hours. It is not all just the charm, but also the power of legacy, which enhances the effect of it further. A simr charm is imprinted on it. I took a deep breath, smelling the fragrance of Ca and the slight musk of sex, that is lingering in the room. A smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. I could still hear, the moans Ca had madest night and if we both didn''t have important meetings in the morning, we would have continued making love. I sighed, before getting up from the bed and walking into the bathroom. I have a meeting at forty-five minutes with the Lord of Owlspring. It''s a very important, meeting. The fate of the city depends on it. So, I quickly freshened up and showered, before changing into the suit. I didn''t even eat the breakfast. Though I checked the core before walking out. It had put a smile on my face. Click! The carriage was already waiting for me when I got out. I sat down and it moved toward the city hall. I watched through the window and was surprised immediately. There are people in the park. More than I had thought. Some taking a stroll, while others are walking their pets and monsters. There are dedicated zones for that and with extra security. We wouldn''t want monsters getting out of control and harming people. There are restrictions; the monster needed a certain level of training and a certificate from the registered trainer to show it was trained enough. Soon, the carriage reached the canals, and I saw boats moving on it. I had even spotted a few familiar people on them. Fifteen minutester, the carriage stopped at the city hall, and I got out. Immediately, I felt a change. The people felt more respectful. They are bowing more deeply than usual. I don''t know if it is because of the skills whose power increased because of the level-up or the opening yesterday. I could also feel the increase in reverence and respect for me through the skill. Click! Soon, I reached my office. Ina was already there. She just nodded and put a file in front of me. When alone, she didn''t put a disy of respect. We both respect each other enough that she didn''t need to show it when we were alone. "All our inns and hotels are fully booked. Even the apartments are booked. We had to ce a lot of people in the tents," she added. I had spent quite money on the advertisement, and it worked like a charm. It had brought many people to the city yesterday. "I have received information that more people areing today. Both from the Owlspring and other merchant cities, but also from Inam and other close cities," she informed. It didn''t take long for the information to spread about the tower, and it was attracting the people. We have prepared for it, but it seemed like, we had underestimated the interest. Yesterday, there were 55% more people, than we had expected. More will being in the next few days. "Make the preparations and keep an eye on the hotels and stores. Make sure, they don''t overcharge," I said to her. I know very well how the cities could spoil a big opportunity like this. Earth is filled with such examples. Many cities get chances, like a big popstar concert or some viral festival attracting tons of people, but they can''t use that opportunity well. Some cities do it well and reap its immediate and following dividends. I don''t want my city to fall into the former category. "This is your itinerary for today," she said and ced a page in front of me after I read the file. Just saw the sheer number of meetings. I felt the great effects of sex and charm disappearing rapidly. The first meeting is, of course, with the Lord of Owspring. There is another with the representative from the state of Meldhorn and two more with the state of Oksall and Belnin. I also have to meet with a representative of Inam and Namdar. It is only for today and tomorrow it will be representative of the princes, baronies, other cities, organizations, and people. Everybody wants the same thing. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 411: Letting Out Chapter 411: Letting Out ''Master Silver, Lord of Owlspring is here for you,'' informed Jill. Click! A momentter, the middle-aged man came inside. He didn''t bring his guards inside or his assistants. Just came alone. "Lord Verulus," I greeted, standing up. "Lord Silver," replied the man. "Please, take a seat," I said as I sat. The man nodded and sat down with ease, while his eyes wandered around. Stopping for a fraction of a second on Ina, Z, and Jon. He was hidden, but the man was able to sense him rather easily. "I hoped, you had a good rest, my lord," I inquired. "I slept like I am in my own city," he replied. Hearing, that, a smile appeared on my face. "I am d and also happy, that you have decided to stay a few hours longer to enjoy the spa," I said, and a man shook his head with a smile. "Mae, I could not refuse her," he replied. "You won''t be disappointed, Lord Verulus," I said, and the man smiled before his expression turned serious. "Lord Silver, you know why I am here," he said and looked at Ina and others. A faint surprise appeared on his face, seeing me not asking them to leave. "Yes," I replied. "So, I will say it straight away. The city of Owlspring would like to buy the emotion essence and nt resources from you." He said,ing to the point directly. "We are willing to pay you, above the market price to get them," he added. It is expected, but I still took a pause of the moment, before speaking. "How much, do you want?" I asked, directly as well. "Emotions essence. Three hundred bottles," he replied, and Iughed. "My lord, you are asking for over half of the emotion''s essence. That legacy will produce," "As you might have seen, the representative from the imperial house had alreadye and they want me to sign the contract of guardianship." "It could be impossible to give you any," I replied, shaking my head. The man smiled. "ording to your calctions. It is fourth at most. As for representative of the princes, we both know you are not going to sign the contracts with them," he said. I could feel him using his skills. Not an active still, but a passive skill, over which he had such control that I could only dream. It feels like a feather, but its effects are as heavy as the boulder. I am starting to have a really hard in resisting it. "You might be right, but you are not the only one, who wants those things," "There are representatives from your state and also other merchants cities, and states. There are also representatives from the imperil cities." "I can''t give you that much," I replied, declining his offer. Three hundred is too much; not because it is a big number, which it is, but most importantly because there are many people who want it. There are a few like him, to whom I cannot say no. "You should make an exception for us, Lord Silver. We are your closest neighbor and have helped when you needed us and we will continue to do that," he said. There is not a threat or implication in his voice. He wants a good rtionship and so am I. It benefits us both. It was also true, that he had helped when we needed it the most. Giving us aid, intelligence, and weapons to defend against the undead. "It is why, you''re the first person, I am meeting, Lord Verulus," I replied. There was a silence for a few seconds before the man opened his mouth again. "So, how much you could give me?" he asked. "Hundred," I replied, and the man opened his mouth again. "Please understand my predicament, my lord. This is the most I could do. Though, I promise you; we will discuss it again in half a year," I added. The man looked at me, before sighing. "Fine, a hundred bottles a month," he replied. "Thank, you for the understanding, my lord," I said. The man nodded. "So, what do you want in exchange? You wouldn''t take money, would you?" he asked with hope. Money would be the easiest thing for him to give, but unfortunately, for him. I do not want money, in exchange for my precious emotion essence. I looked at Ina, and she ced the file in front of him. It had the list of things I wanted. He took the file and opened it, before starting reading. It didn''t take him long to finish the file. There are only several pages in it. "You want quite a lot of restricted things. For some, I would need permission from the state," he said, turning to me. "I am sure, you would get it," I replied. "I need those things to defend my city against the undead. It is to be a benefit of the empire and merchant state, that city to not fall into the hands of the undead," I added. The man smiled. "Fine, I will get you those things," he agreed finally. "Thank you, my lord," I said. "Now the nts?" he asked. "I am not very knowledgeable about them. I hope my people negotiate about them," I said, and the man nodded after a moment of silence. The nts are more precious, and I need to be careful with each one of them. "You have given me a lot of stress, Lord Silver. I hope, your spa, would be able to help me relive it," he said. "Have no doubts about it, Lord Verulus," I replied. A minuteter, the man left. We didn''t sign a contract, just shook our heads. The contract will be signed after our people negotiate. His people will be here tomorrow to negotiate, and it won''t be easy, but I am confident in my people. Sigh! I sighed and slumbered back in my chair, before closing my eyes to rest. It might not seem much, but it was tiring. The skill was extremely powerful. He only used one, and it was a passive skill. If he had used others; I wouldn''t have been soposed as I had been. "The man is powerful," said Ina. "He is, and he had only used a single skill, and not its full power either," I replied. If he had, I would have been able to resist it, but that would have the opposite effect. Here, both of us want to foster a rtionship. It is beneficial for both of our cities. Bulldozing me with power wouldn''t have had helped. "How much time, before I meet with the representative of Oksall?" I asked. "Fifteen minutes," Ina replied. A minuteter, I opened my eyes. Making a decision on which I had been sitting for the past six months. I cannot wait anymore. It is a heavy decision, and it will change a lot of things, but I need to do it. There is no other choice. "Send the letter to Masal," I said. I am sending a letter to the Masal Colosseum through Synod officially as the host of Grade II Legacy. Asking them to release my mother as a favor to me or to negotiate the price of her release. Whether they would ept or not. I don''t know, but I will need to try it. Children asked me about her, nearly every day and I don''t want to lie anymore. I hope they will agree. I am willing to pay quite a high price for it. She is my mother; the fact didn''t change despite the anger I feel toward her. Most importantly, I don''t want the children to face, what I have faced. I, at least, had the father. He was not perfect, but I know, he loved me in his own way. The children didn''t even have that. "Done," said Z. They will receive the letter within an hour. I hope to get an initial response by evening. ''Master Silver, Madam Silver, is asking to meet you,'' came a hurried voice through the inte. A frown appeared on my face. I didn''t have a meeting with Madam. I am not even meeting my sister. Though there is a family dinner to which she had been invited, along with Le. I wouldn''t have, but since Gerald and Selina are in the city. I had decided to invite them to, along with a few other family members, that came. Click! I was about to reply to her when the door clicked open, and madam walked in. ''I had tried to stop her, but she didn''t listen,'' said Jill. "It''s fine," I said, before turning to the madam. Showing clear irritation at her conduct, but the woman didn''t have even a hint of apology on her face. Instead, there is an anger in her eyes. "Madam," I greeted and offered her a seat. She might have forgotten her manners, but I didn''t. "Remus, you had not only not invited your brothers to the party, but you had sent back their representative," she said, with anger burning brightly in her eyes. "Do you, how humiliating it was for them?" "You have sent, nearly every important member of the family an invitation, except for your brothers." "It was the greatest humiliation, they have ever suffered, and it was caused by their own brother!" She used, with her voice reaching high. Ina and Z quickly walked out of the room, which was wise because now I was angry. I have nothing but polite to her. Not just now, but my whole life. Hoping to earn their eptance, which they never gave to me. I have been polite even when they had tried to kill me. Now, I had enough. The dam of emotions I had been holding back all my life had finally broken apart, and all that anger hurt, and other emotions burst out. "Humiliation? Do you know even know the meaning of humiliation madam?" I asked. "Humiliation is the maniption of your brother''s fate," "Those people you are calling my brothers had conspired to change my ss, made me a whoremaster. That was a humiliation! "The humiliation was to steal what is rightfully mine and send me to a dangerous ce with nothing but a brothel in my name," "Humiliation was finding than insufficient and trying to kill me!" I was screaming at the end. I had these things buried in my heart. They would bubble, whenever I saw their faces, but I always controlled them. Now, I am letting them free. Thud! "So, don''te here crying humiliation, madam!" I shouted and hit the table hard, while the woman watched in shock. She hadn''t expected such a reaction from me. I had never raised a voice in front of her, but now I am screaming at her. "Also tell them, they can forget about entering my legacy ever or even getting any benefits from it," I said, with an angry smile on my face. The woman opened her mouth but closed it seeing the anger in my eyes that was a hundred times greater than hers. Instead, she got up and walked out. Even hearing those words. There was not a hint of shame in women''s eyes or apology. "Message Baroness Le and tell her, I am rescinding the invitation of madam for tonight''s dinner," I said to Z as she returned. Her staff lit up, while I closed my eyes. It was an unfortunate incident, but I am d it happened. I wanted to say those words for a long time, and it felt good to say them out loud. "Baroness Le is asking about what happened," said Z, a few secondster. "Tell her to ask her mother," I replied. I have no politeness left toward them. Even for my sister, I still me her for what happened to me. It might be her fault or not, but my heart still mes her for what they did to me. A few minutes passed, and I started to take a deep breath to calm myself. There is an important meeting with the representatives of the state of meldhorn, and I need to be ready. Finally, I opened my eyes and saw, that only a minute had remained till I had to meet them. "Masal had sent the confirmation, that they have received the letter," said informed Z. "Any response to the letter?" I asked. "No," she replied. "Tell me immediately, the moment ites," I said as I got up, before walking out of the room. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 412: Esa Raak Chapter 412: Esa Raak Raak I closed my eyes, blocking every noise around me. Remembering the face of my child. It''s his birthday today. He had already celebrated it yesterday, in Zenid. The time in Oton is thirteen hours behind Zenid. It made me happy that Josie and Heron were with him. He would have his family with him on his birthday. I wish I didn''t have a fight today. Usually, I am lucky; I didn''t have any fights on this day, but today I am not. I have a fight. It is in fifteen minutes. "Anna," I heard the familiar voice calling my name and opened my eyes in irritation. "I had told you many times to not disturb me during my meditation before the battle," I snapped at Master Lar. The man might be my master, but he had no right to disturb me before the battle. Especially when he wants to win the battle on this day. "The match is canceled. Praefectus Prisca had summoned you to her office," he informed, surprising me. That is when I noticed. The uniform of two guards behind him. They are not usual colosseum guards, but Praefectus Guards. The most elite of all. Even I couldn''t deal with a single one of them, with the power of legacy supporting them. "Why?" I asked a momentter. "I don''t know," he replied. Sounding as surprised as I was feeling. Praefectus are the most powerful people in the whole arena, the city, and its dominions. There are only four of them with Grand Praefectus as supreme authority. I have never been summoned by one. For a moment, my heart skipped a head, before I pushed the thought away. It wouldn''t be about the children. It had been over nine months since I had sent them away. They wouldn''t be angry about it. Lar was angry about it, but couldn''t do anything other than be angry. Unlike me, they were free and could leave this dammed ce. "Follow us!" I was in thought when the guard ordered and began to move. I got up and followed them to Lar. "Why did they summon you?" asked the master. "Why are you asking me that?" I asked back. "You really don''t know?" he asked, looking at me suspiciously. This time, I didn''t even reply and walked behind the guards in the grand misty hallways. It is a beautiful ce. I hate it from the bottom of my heart. It has taken everything from me. My freedom, my children. Every day feels painful here. Sometimes I want to die. The only reason, I am living is my children. Soon, we reached the elevator and stepped inside. The door closed and it began to move up. I watched the views through it; the fight that is happening and the hundreds of thousands watching it. The number never lessened. Going over a million on the special days. One would expect it hard for hundreds of thousands of people to watch the battle in the colosseum every day, but it is not when it is a legacy. People do anything to experience the power of legacy. Peoplee from far, some from out of the continent, to experience the colosseums of Oton. Ting! The elevator stopped at the top floor, and we got out and walked through the beautiful hallways before we reached the end, where there was a big bronze gate. There are no guards guarding it. There is only one person, a middle-aged secretary. "Go in," said the secretary, without even looking at us. As she said, the bronze door began to open, but I couldn''t see what was behind them. There is something, blocking the view inside. "Only her, not you," said the secretary, surprising me and Lar. He is my master, the handler. Every decision, I take in the arena is his; I have no will regarding it. If he said it.; I will have to follow it. I remember the day; I signed the contract. I was extremely desperate; there was no option but to sign the contract. If I hadn''t, I wouldn''t have been standing here, but sometimes, I really wish I hadn''t. Death was preferable to the life, I had. I signed the contract, not to survive, but for my child. In hope, that I will see him someday. I passed through the door and entered the magnificent office. No office, even the head of the House of Silver couldpare to what I am seeing. I only looked at it for a fraction of a second before my eyes fell on the man sitting behind the huge table. It is not Praefectus Prisca, but Grand Praefectus Donatus. I had only seen him a few times, in over a decade. He rarely shows himself, preferring to do his work through the four Praefects under him. Grand Praefectus is a thin man with a schrly feel. He looks to be in his mid-thirties, handsome with gentle features. Nobody would think him powerful, much less dangerous, but he is a very dangerous man. The man responsible for the arena and the massive dominion. He is sitting there while Praefectus Prisca is standing beside him. Both of them are looking at me with unreadable expressions. "Grand Praefectus Donatus, Praefectus Prisca," I greeted and bowed. "Esanor Raak, you have hidden a lot of things from us," said Grand Praefectus. I shuddered hearing him take my real name. I had never told anyone about my real name. Even the contract, was signed in blood. I had not even told Emer my full name, on the day he left. I had told him where to go and who to meet. "Take a seat, Esanor," said Grand Praefectus Donatus. I sat down shakingly and turned to them. "How are you able to find out my name?" I asked after a moment of silence. "Your son, he contacted us," replied Grand Praefectus, before cing the envelope in front of me. I closed my eyes for a moment. He did what I had asked him not to do it. I had asked Emer to warn Remus to not contact me. The heavenly colosseums are dangerous; the further one remained, the better. I sighed and turned to the letter. It is simple, with two emblems. The one on the right was unfamiliar to me, but the other one was on the left, I know too well. It is the emblem of a house of silver; the variation of it. If I had any doubts, about his words; the emblem made it disappear. "He wants us to release you and I have said, his offer of owing us a favor is quite enticing," said Grand Praefectus, shocking me. Grand Praefectus is a powerful man. To entice him even slightly, one needs to make an offer of colossal proportion, and the man has found the promise of favor from Remus enticing. The whole house of silver barely could do the job. I know very well that the old man wouldn''t pay such a price for me. ''Has Remus made the princess fall in love with him?'' I asked myself. It is the only thing; I could think of. He is twenty years old. It''s his birthday today. At that age, he couldn''t achieve anything. It is either that or him finding that load of treasure. My heart shuddered when I thought about it and immediately controlled my emotions in everything I had. ''Has he found that?'' I couldn''t help being asked myself, before burying that thought could as deep as possible. "Please forgive my son, Grand Praefectus Donatus. He cannot offer you anything, that might interest you," I said, and the man smiled and so is the woman beside him. "Oh, you are very wrong about that, Esanor," he said, before tapping on the desk. The mist moved and formed an emblem. The same unknown one as the letter. "Do you know what it is?" he asked, and I shook my head. I didn''t, I had never seen it before in my life. "This?" he asked, and the mist moved again, forming a small tower of about twenty floors. Beautiful, with verdant flower nts around it. "You really haven''t even tried to find information about your son?" He asked, with his eyes intensely searching mine for whatever he was trying to find. "I know better than to do that, Grand Praefectus," I replied, and the man smiled "We are not the big, bad wolves, Esanor. We wouldn''t do anything to your son''s continent away," "Did we stop you from sending your children away?" he asked with a smile. The smile of the wolf. It was a wise decision to send the children away. If I hadn''t, they might have got them; I have seen it enough to not believe their flowery words. "You should have tried to look at the information about your son. At least in the past nine months," he said, making me frown in question. I looked at the emblem and the tower beside it. It is what they are looking at and likely the thing, that made even Grand Proetus interested. It is beautiful, but other than that. There is nothing special about it. "What is it?" I asked finally, and a small smile appeared on their faces. "This is a velvet garden." He said, pointing at the tower. Speaking an unfamiliar name. "The legacy. It was born nine months ago, and the host of it is Remus Silver, your son," he added, and my heart shook. I had expected many things, but not this. "It had advanced to Grade II," "Most are saying, he had achieved it within six months, which is shocking enough, but there is a whisper, that said he had achieved it in three months," "If it is true, he would be the first to achieve the feat, in this era," His eyes were searching, but I didn''t know anything. He wouldn''t find anything in my eyes other than sheer shock. ''Remus has a legacy,'' This sentence revolved around my mind. It took me a while before I was able to get out of it. "Are you going to release me?" I asked. I kept the hope to a minimum, but it couldn''t help, seeped into my voice. It had been over a decade since I saw my sweet boy. My heart aches every minute in his memory. I want to see him, hug him, never leave his side. "I thought about it and decided not to." He replied, crushing all the hope I had in my heart. "If it had been amon legacy, I would have, but the velvet garden was clearly a special legacy and that makes you an asset to us," he added. He wouldn''t have let me. Even if it was amon legacy. No mercy exists in the hearts of heavenly colosseums. "But don''t worry, seeing you are the mother of a fellow Synod member. We will promote you and give you ess to the things, you didn''t have before," "We are also suspending the Patrons Prize. So, you won''t have to sleep with patrons that sponsor you from now on," he said. The more I heard. The angrier I got, but I said nothing and drank down the emotions. "You can now even contact your son without any worry," he added with a smile, and all those buried emotions once again threatened to burst out. "Thank you," I said. Once again, drinking down everything I was feeling. "I am going to write to your son, the response now. He would be happy, seeing the privileges we are going to give it to you," he said. "Can I go now?" I asked. "Sure, and take this," he replied, before sliding a silver medallion toward me. A surprise shed in my eyes. I know what it is; every fighter, diator, and warrior longed for this thing. "You have the potential to earn it, but you are getting it early, thanks to your son," he added with a smile. The champion''s medallion. Only those of Lv. 40 or powerhouses of great prowess get it and he is giving this to me. It also means Lar can''t control me anymore. I am now directly under the prefect''s control. "You will have to add a drop of blood on it to bind it," instructed Praefectus Prisca. I nodded and took my dagger and pierce my finger with it, before dropping the blood on the silver medallion. Immediately, the surrounding mist moved onto the medallion, and the emblem of the area shed in it. A momentter, it came out of my card and stuck on the back of my hand. It shed there for a moment before disappearing. Click! A few secondster, I walked out of the office. Lar was waiting there, looking confused. "What happened? I felt the power of your contract taken from me?" he asked. "Fuck off!" I cursed, shocking the man. I had wanted to say those words to this bastard for a long time and now I finally said it. He was shocked, but the familiar anger appeared in his eyes. "You bitch! You dare to talk to me like that!" he screamed and raised his hands. p! A loud p rang out, sending him flying, crashing into the wall. I waited for the punishment from the contract, but it didn''te. I have the privilege of champion. Aside from Praefectus, nobody can do anything to me. "If you ever dare toy your filthy hands on me again. You will see the p with mercy," I promised. I looked at his snotty face, before walking away. I have things to do. First and foremost, find out if this is all true or one big nightmare. I am still having a hard time believing. It is all truth. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 413: Invitation Chapter 413: Invitation "Thank you, Lord Silver. Have a nice day," said the orc in his early forties, shook my hand. "You too, Lord Orag," I replied. The man smiled and walked out of the conference room with the rest of his people. Immediately, the vibrant smile on my face disappeared, and I nearly shook with deep tiredness appearing in my eyes. I became a balloon that lost all its air. The bastard did not show mercy. They wanted everything I had. I would have been grateful if they had behaved like a lord of Owlspring. "With two hundred bottles promised to the state of Oksall. The tally had reached seven hundred and eighty," said Valentina. A hundred bottles were promised to the Lord of Owlspring. Two hundred and fifty to the state of Meldhorn. One hundred and fifty to the state of Belnin. Two hundred to the state of Oksall, twenty to Amberhold. Sixty to the city of Inam. Except for the representative of the Amberhold. I met the representative of all of them. There are many more had remained. The imperials, the city of Namdar, houses like the house of Ashav. Alchemists, artificers, and many other people. Lord of Owlspring had estimated, that the legacy would produce twelve hundred bottles of emotions. Larger than most Grade II legacies. He had underestimated it. I had looked at the core and how much essence it had produced. I divide it in half and multiply it by month; the establishment would produce slightly over two thousand bottles every month. This is a conservative estimate, seeing a legacy opened in the afternoon, it was at night all sixteen floors were opened. From today, it opened in the morning, and while there wouldn''t be as much as patrons on the blue as there were the guests yesterday The patrons on the floors below it will remain the same or even increase. Still, seeing the number of people that want the emotions essence. Even two thousand bottles of emotions essence seemed less. I wish I could say no, but I couldn''t. I need things from them, as well as the support. I will need to give the merchant stage. The same for Inam; it could cause me serious harm. So, I need to keep them happy too. I had to give something to even Amberhold, because they have the trade route and orcs. In exchange, I am not only getting things. That merchant state keeps restricted but also the influence. That will trante into friendly policies and investments. To me, the merchant state is more important than even an empire. My survival depends on them. "It is slightly over what we had expected, but we will manage. I hope, all of you and your people will negotiate, the best deals for us," I said, looking at the people around me. Everyone is here. Valentina, Hardt, Arryn. There are also Ca and Margaux since it is the resource of the establishment. Today we have agreed on only the number of bottles of emotion essence. The teams will negotiate, what we want in exchange for them. It will be a busy week seeing the sheer number of parties. They will have to negotiate with. I wouldn''t have needed to be here. They are capable of handling the people on their own, but emotion essence is the most precious resource and I want to maintain control over it. It might seem like, I am controlling anything, but it is a start. Things will improve with time. That is why all the contracts have a validity of six months. After that, all of them will need to renegotiate. I stayed there for a few more minutes before walking out. I will return here for one more meeting. It is with the city of Namdar. It will be thest meeting before I retire today. I am thoroughly tired; couldn''t continue, even if I wanted to. I want to cancel thest meeting, but that wouldn''t look good. "Baroness Le, is waiting for you in the waiting room," informed Z. Le had been wanting to meet me since morning, but I dyed it till now. I didn''t want to meet with her, but also didn''t want to make dinner awkward. It is better to make things clear, before that. Soon, I reached my office and saw my sister waiting in the waiting room. "Le," I said, and she got up and followed me into the office, while Ina remained behind. Z and John followed. She isn''t a madam, who could only bark. Le could kill me easily, while she is my sister and I know she wouldn''t attack me. I rather not take risks. I don''t have a good experience with them and like to be as cautious as possible. "Please," I said, offering her a seat as I sat down. Nobody spoke, we just looked at each other. I don''t know what to say. It is not her fault for what her mother did, but I am angry. "Thank you for squeezing me in. I could only imagine, how tight your schedule must be," she said with a small smile, after a few seconds of silence. "You have no idea!" I said with a mirthlessugh. Once again, the awkward silence descended. We never had any idea of how to talk to each other, unless it was business. There was never a rtionship between us, despite being siblings, nor a trust. Our rtionship is past the healing point. "I am sorry for my mother. She had no right toe here unannounced to create a scene. Say those hurtful words." She apologized. She looked genuinely apologetic. "You do not have to apologize. You are not the one who did it," I said, shaking my head. "Still, it was my fault. I had brought mother here; I shouldn''t have," she said and to that, I didn''t say anything. I am still furious at that woman; the audacity at which she hade to me and said those words. "I hope your anger toward mother and, by extension, me, will not affect things at tomorrow''s meeting," she said, and I smiled. "Don''t worry, I keep my personal and political lives separate," I replied, and could see the relief flooding into her eyes. "Thank you, Remus," she said and got up, before walking out of the room. I watched her leave before turning to work I have. In a few minutes, I have to meet a really important person. He is the only personing today, who didn''t want anything for me. "Anything from Masal?" I asked, and Z shook her head. I nodded and focused on the file in front of me. It''s worth more than whenpared to a monthly supply of the emotion essence, but when it ispared to a year, it only is part. It will be half if war with the undead intensified, but if it didn''t, then third. The rest, I could use for the influence. These things are the tools of influence. Used not only in life-saving potions but also in reviving and recharging the artifacts, among many other things. If not for that, Sovereigns wouldn''t be crazy about them. So, what I need is time. The more time passed. The greater influence I will umte through these resources, will help me tremendously ''Master Silver, Great Mage Kralis is here,'' informed Jill. Click! A momentter, the door opened. I got up to greet the blue-haired old man. Kralis Wilmar is a short man, with a head full of blue hair which looked slightly unkept. He looked to be in his mid-sixties with dark eyes filled with knowledge. He is a Great Mage. A Lv. 40+ Mage, powerful enough that he would be wiping out every Lv. 30 powerhouse I have, including Stone, even if they attacked together. "Great Mage Kralis," I greeted the old man. "Lord Silver," he said and took a seat in front of me. "I heard, it was an eventful night yesterday," said the old man. "It would have been even greater if you had graced it with your presence, Great Mage," I replied, and the man smiled. They had a sent representative. A High-Mage named Gaston, but his appearance would have made the night even better. I am d he didn''t. The man is not just a Great Mage, but also a schr mage. He could have noticed things that I didn''t want others to notice. I created such a show yesterday because I knew he wouldn''t be there and also the hosts of legacies. They were barred by their leaders. The undead is close. If they had captured even a single host of legacy; it would have done irreceable damage to that entire kingdom. A momentter, a delicate wooden box appeared in his hand. It is carved by a high-level artist, with a familiar emblem on the top. "His illuminated majesty, the Archmage, and the Archmage Tower cordially invite you, Lord Silver, host of Velvet Garden, to the Archmage City for the decennial continental synod conve." He spoke and ced the wooden box down. His voice is practiced like he had said hundreds of times. Which he likely did. The invitation is to the continental synod conve. The biggest conve in the entire continent. It had happened once a decade in archmage city. The ce of the most powerful legacy on the continent. All the hosts of legacies on the continent are invited. Also, the head of state. Powerful organizations and high-level people. It is the thing where everyone desires to get invited. Last time, the hHouseof Silver had paid enormous money for the slot of a single person. "I dly ept the invitation," I epted. "We hope you will personallye, Lord Silver. The Archmage, had a desire to meet you," he said, and surprise couldn''t help, but appear on my face. The leader of the Archmage Tower is notoriously hard to meet. Even the head of state, fault for getting his appointment. "It is my honor, Great Mage, but I can''t promise personal attendance, given the condition of the region," I replied. "We understand, but we would still be happy if you came," he said. "I will try," I said, and the old man smiled. The great mage left a momentter, while Z''s eyes still following him. I could see the hope in her eyes, the desire to reach the height, he had reached. I didn''t say anything and turned to the box with a big emblem of the Archmage Tower. The spirit. It is for that reason alone; that many people want to visit it. I don''t n to go despite very much wanting to, but it is three months away and anything could happen. I could feel their eyes on the box. They are very curious, so I am. There isn''t only an invitation in the box, but also a gift. They send it with an invitation. It is only for the legacies. It could be anything, a rare resource, emotion essence, or anything else. However, it is said; that the archimage tower gives what one needs. So, I am quite curious, about the gift the box will have. Click! I clicked open the box and immediately the mist came out. Filled with such power, that I froze for a moment. When I came to myself, I saw the projection in front of me. The projection of Archmage. "Lord Silver host of the Velvet Garden. You are cordially invited to the continental conve of legacies." Said the archmage, before the mist dissolved and the contents of the box appeared in front of me. The first is the envelope. It was nk, but the moment I touched it. The emblem of the archmage tower, archmage city, and archmage appeared. As I opened it, I found the formal invitation. It''s so beautiful, that I want to frame it. Many do. It sells for quite a good price. It is a collector''s item. It is not only beautiful but also valuable. Everything is magical, from ink to paper; one could feel the power emanating from it. I ced the envelope down and looked at the other thing. It is a book. I could see Z shaking, seeing it. She had already guessed, what it was. I touched it and the beautiful cover revealed itself. "It is indeed a spell book, with the spell, you had wanted," I said, handing the book to her. It''s true what they say. I had been searching for a good defensive spell and they have provided me with one. The spell is Light Sphere. It creates a sphere of light around the caster or person, it is directed. It''s a Grade 4 light elemental defensive spell. A powerful defensive spell, especially against dark elemental spells. Z is a water elemental mage, but she is also perusing the light element. It will be a tough spell to learn, but if anyone could do it. It would be her. In the past few months, she had been focused on offensive spells. This spell will bring bnce to her arsenal. "It is a single learner''s spell," said Z, a few secondster. It means only one person could learn it. It couldn''t be copied or shared or sold once it''s open. "Good, you are a perfect person for it," I replied, turning to her. "Thank you, Lord Silver," she thanked with misty eyes. She doesn''t need to thank me. The more powerful she is, the safer I will be, and I need her to be powerful to face, the challenges that will soon being to our doors. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 414: Resign Chapter 414: Resign Click! The door opened and a handsome man walked in with an older woman behind him. I wanted to meet them in the conference room with others, but something hade up. They are busy dealing with it, while I deal with these people. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± said the handsome man in his thirties. ¡°Lord Szar,¡± I replied. He is Artur Szar, son of Helen Szar. He seemed a little displeased. Likely because I didn¡¯t stand up in respect. Why should I? He isn¡¯t Lord of Owlspring. ¡°Thank you for meeting us. I am sure you are extremely busy,¡± he said, with a faint hint of sarcasm. The expression on the woman behind him had changed a little and a momentter on, Szar¡¯s. A faint irritation appeared in his eyes for a moment before he controlled his emotions. ¡°I am, but there is always a time for you, Lord Szar,¡± I replied, which pleased him a little. ¡°I will get directly to the point, Lord Silver. We want the emotion essence and are willing to pay a fair price for it,¡± he said, and I smiled. ¡°Of course. How much do you want?¡± I asked him. It surprised him a little. They hadn¡¯t expected me to be so direct about it. Getting to the point directly is always great. Weaving flowery words to pass the time before getting on to the point is simply a waste of time. ¡°Five hundred at least, but we would be pleased. If you were able to give us more,¡± ¡°We will pay you handsomely for them, of course,¡± he said, and there was not the slightest change in my face. The smile remained hanging in there. Though my eyes turned serious. ¡°I don¡¯t think, I have that many, Lord Szar,¡± I replied, and the manughed. ¡°Come on, Silver, we know you have it,¡± he said, in a tone louder than what was polite. ¡°ording to our calctions, your legacy would produce thousand to thousand five-hundred bottles each month,¡± he added a momentter. ¡°You are correct, Lord Szar, but I have already promised arge number of them to merchants states,¡± ¡°There are also imperials that I will meet tomorrow,¡± I replied, in the same tone as I spoke before. ¡°You are giving essences to the bloody merchants, who are our enemies, rather than your countrymen. I didn¡¯t think, you were a traitor, Silver!¡± he said, nearly shouting at the end. He leveled such a grave usation, so casually. rming the woman behind him. I wanted tough, hearing this. I mean, the sheer entitlement this man has, it¡¯s really something. Even Lancel was smarter than this bastard. He was intelligent enough not to use such heavy words in the conversation. Especially against the people from whom he wants things. ¡°Lord Artur didn¡¯t mean to use you, Lord Silver,¡± rified the old woman. Even he didn¡¯t apologize for the insult. Yes, that was an insult. If I didn¡¯t need Namdar. I would have kicked him out of my office and banned him from the city for it. Unfortunately, I cannot do that. So, I drank my anger and only showed the displeasure on my face. ¡°Lord Szar, the merchant states for you are calling me a traitor for is the reason this city is standing right now,¡± ¡°They have provided the intelligence, weapons, and aid. We desperately needed it. Which we asked Namdar for, but didn¡¯t get any,¡± ¡°Most importantly. They are the reason why, the man in Ashton Harbor is staying there.¡± ¡°If he hadn¡¯t, the entire region would have been in control of the undead right now!¡± I replied without raising my voice. Yes. I had asked for aid, but didn¡¯t receive a single penny. Nor did I receive any intelligence or a single weapon to fight against the undead. They might have their own reasons for not providing my little city any help, and I did not begrudge them for it, but I won¡¯t stay silent when they disrespect me and the people who helped me. Merchant states are no saints. They are squeezing me for everything, I have, but their part in the survival of the city is also undeniable. Namdar is a powerful city but unlike merchant states or even Inam. They can not do anything directly. It would be fine if I didn¡¯t give them a single bottle of essence. They could create some trouble, but I can deal with the help of merchant states. As I said, influence and besides, they wouldn¡¯t do that. Artur Szar may be an idiot, but his mother isn¡¯t. She wouldn¡¯t do anything to the opportunity that could provide her with the resources, she wants. As for my family. She wouldn¡¯t touch them. House of Silver is rich, and it provides massive taxes to the city. If she harms the family because of me. Then it would spook the other houses, and they might start to find other ces for their wealth. I also want things from Namdar. It is the reason why the man is sitting in front of me. I am meeting him before the imperials because I also need things. It is not resources, some, but it is something more. Something, that will help me create a firm foundation for my city. The merchants wouldn¡¯t provide that, but the empire and the Namdar could. The man was angry, but a few secondster, he got his emotions under control. ¡°It seemed like, I misspoke a little,¡± he said, but didn¡¯t apologize, nor did he lessen the power of his skills on me. ¡°I am willing to provide for the city of Namdar. Seventy-five bottles of emotions essence a month, but I will need a few things in return,¡± ¡°Most importantly, I need agreements. Don¡¯t worry, they are minor agreements. They will help Namdar elevate some of their worries,¡± I replied. I could see the anger in his eyes ring again hearing my words. The idiot didn¡¯t seem to have heard anything besides the number. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh internally seeing that. I hate idiots; it would have been great if one of his sisters hade. I heard quite a lot of good things about them. ¡°Lord Silver, seventy is too low,¡± said the woman behind him, and I smiled. ¡°How is it low, Mage rd? I am offering you around a third of what Gale¡¯s Bar provides you,¡± I said, and a faint surprise appeared on the woman¡¯s face. My legacy is special. It is big. It harvests a lot of emotions. It has sixteen floors, which isparable to five Grade II, Tavern ss Legacies. They could harvest anywhere between one hundred to a thousand bottles of Grade II emotion essence. My legacy had advanced past that. It is now securely, a Theatre ss legacy. The Gale¡¯s Bar, one of three legacies they have, could only produce two to three hundred bottles of Grade II essences. It is quite easy to guess by its size and the number of people who go there. ¡°How about two hundred, my lord?¡± asked the woman, and I shook my head. ¡°Hundred. It is as far as I am willing to go,¡± I said firmly. I will not budge beyond I might have gone a little hundred and twenty-five, but now I will not. The bastard had spoiled their chances of that. The offer had made him angry, and he opened his mouth but stopped as the woman gently ced her hand on his shoulder, stopping him. ¡°It is less than Lady of Storm had expected, but we will take it,¡± said the woman. She had called the name, and I am scared of it, but I am not going to give them any more than that. ¡°What about nts?¡± Szar asked. ¡°There isn¡¯t much left of the nts, my lord. Half of it is going to Nova Alyra. The merchants want the other half, and I have promised arge percentage of it to them already,¡± ¡°Still, if some remained. You will have to get that from my men when you negotiate,¡± I said, which spoiled his mood further and made him angrier. He intensified the power of his skills, and they were powerful, but still weak,pared to what I had experienced throughout the day. It is why, I am maintaining my expressions, without any strain on my face. ¡°How much money do you want for the essences?¡± he asked after a few seconds of silence. ¡®Is he really an idiot?¡¯ I asked myself. ¡°I have need of a few things, but they are optional. I could get them from merchants; I am more interested in agreements,¡± I said slowly. The manughed, but the woman¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°What sort of agreements?¡± he asked. ¡°Nothing serious. Just an investment, migrations, and a few other types. You will get the clear details, during the negotiations with my men,¡± I replied. They will pay for the essences. The agreements will be the cherry on top. They will have to sign agreements, or they won¡¯t get the essence. If they go big enough, I might even increase the amount of essence, but they will need to go with the agreements. ¡°I don¡¯t think, it would be a problem,¡± said the woman after seconds of silence. ¡°I will send you all the requisite documents for negotiations in a few hours and we will start negotiating a few days after,¡± I said, and the woman nodded. ¡°Thank you for your time, Lord Silver,¡± she said. ¡°Have a nice evening, Mage rd, Lord Artur,¡± I said to them as they left. The man didn¡¯t even shake my hand. A minute after they had left, I left my office. I have dinner with the family, and I hope, it wouldn¡¯t be as stressful. I had enough stress for one day. Soon, I stepped out of the carriage and went directly to the suite. I want to shower first; I don¡¯t know how many times I was nched with sweat during the day. While the skill had cleaned me up, I still wanted to shower. No magic could make me feel fresh, as the water could. I stayed in the shower for only ten minutes. I would have more, but I amte for the dinner. Everybody had already arrived. It wouldn¡¯t look good. If I didn¡¯t go, there toote. I stepped out of the shower, and changed, before walking out of the suite. When I entered the parlor, there were people gathered there. Everyone had already arrived. Thankfully, there was Ca to handle things. ¡°Everyone, I am sorry foringte,¡± I apologized as I entered. Everyone is here, Gerald and Selina. There is also Granduncle Everette and his wife Marta. My sister Le and bastard Cousin Rowen. I had also invited Graham. He is a distant rtive, but I like the man. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We all know, you are busy,¡± said Selina. I smiled and sat down beside Ca. ¡°So, what are we all talking about?¡± I asked. ¡°Rehna region, we are discussing how long, Prince Den will be able to hold it,¡± replied Granduncle Everette. Renha is the southernmost region of the empire. Currently being held by Prince Dan and his ally Dutchess Sarin. ¡°I don¡¯t think, he even has a month. Both the Kingdom of Yressor and the Kingdom Geim, are moving lightning fast. Unless Princess Orlena acts, the region is good as gone,¡± I said, and a faint surprise appeared in his eyes. ¡°Le said the same a minute ago,¡± said Gerald, and I smiled. There is nothing noteworthy about the conclusion. It is simple when one looks at all the information. The conversationsted half an hour before we moved to the dinner table. The nanny brought the children, and we started to eat. Keeping the conversation light. ¡°The spa was a really great, idea, Remus. It made me feel alive all over; even Everett had enjoyed it,¡± said grand auntie Marta, while the old man''s cheeks reddened. ¡°I did not. I had only gone there because you had forced me,¡± he said, ring at his wife. Making everyoneugh. ¡°Remus, I have a youngdy, that I want to bring to the spa with me. Would you mind giving me an extra pass?¡± asked Rowen, always one to spoil the mood. ¡°Has the family found someone for him?¡± I asked, and they shook their head. ¡°We had tried to set him up, but he rejected her,¡± said Selina. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have. If she could talk more than reying to my words,¡± Rowen said angrily. ¡°I had told you, she is a silent type,¡± replied Selina. He didn¡¯t reply to her and turned to me. ¡°Will you give one to me?¡± He asked, turning to me. ¡°I had already given you two passes, Rowen. I am not going to give you, more. If you want more, make an appointment like everyone else,¡± I replied. It made everyoneugh. Though they tried to hide it. I wanted to give the bastard only one pass, but gave two like everyone else. It was a mistake. ¡°It is only a pass, Remus. It is not a big thing for you,¡± he said. I stopped and turned to him. ¡°It is not, but I am not going to give it to you, Rowen,¡± I said directly. He turned red but didn¡¯t open his mouth, seeing no support. Granduncle is even ring at him. There was a silence for a minute before the conversation returned. No family dinnerpletes without some drama. No matter how distasteful it is. Soon, the dinner is over. ¡°Remus, Le. Come, there is some family business to discuss,¡± he said, and we walked toward my office. I took Ca with me; she was a little hesitant but came. They looked, but no one said anything to her presence. Rowen followed but stopped at the re of the Granduncle. Soon, everyone except for children, Rowen and Graham, entered my office, and the doors closed. We were all seated, with Granduncle sitting. ¡°Le, Remus; the head wants both of you to resign from your house council seats,¡± said the old man. Everyone looked at us, with grave faces. There is always drama when things like this happen. It had happened when Grandfather asked Granduncle Roger to resign from his seat, to make space for Le. He had lost his shit. I heard, there was quite a scene. Though there was not a hint of anger on my face. Instead, there was a smile. ¡°It cameter than I had thought,¡± I said. ¡°I had expected it to happen three to four months ago,¡± added Le. There was a big sigh of relief and also surprise on their face. It¡¯s not that hard to guess. Le and me both are lords, and our decisions have consequences. It is the same as House; being too close to them will have an effect on us. It is only right to have distance. It will protect both of us. ¡°Both of you represent the future of the house of Silver. If something happened to us. We want your branches to survive and thrive.¡± ¡°You both represent a great future and being separate from the house, will give a great freedom to reach your potential,¡± added Gerald. ¡°I understand,¡± said Le. ¡°It¡¯s a wise decision,¡± I agreed. I have no hard feelings. I was already on the way to do that. Seeing how, I had kept the family separate from the legacy, during the opening this time. ¡°Le, give us a few minutes to talk to your brother,¡± said the old man. She nodded and walked away. ¡°Remus, the house would like some emotion essence,¡± said Gerald with a faint hesitation. ¡°How much?¡± asked. ¡°Fifty,¡± he replied. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem,¡± I said. I could see the relief on their faces. I am relieved too. I thought they would ask for a hundred and was willing to give it to them. ¡°You have received an invitation to conve, right?¡± asked the old man, and I nodded. ¡°We would like, to have two slots in your delegation.¡± He spoke. ¡°The slots are yours,¡± I replied. ¡°Thank you, Remus. Your help means a lot to the family,¡± said Gerald. ¡°There is no need to thank me. We are a family,¡± I had not said these words lightly. They are my family and they have yed a huge part in my sess. If I had not been a member of a house of silver. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do the business safely, nor would I have got the job in the guild. There were also many little helps they had provided. That helped me reach the height, I am today. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 415: Secret Agreements Chapter 415: Secret Agreements Rutto "Just keep your mouth shut and let me do all the talking," said the handsome man beside me as the carriage stopped at the city hall. He is Aubin Arledge, the fourth son of Count Arledge. One of the Emperor Inkav''s biggest allies. It was supposed to be my job, I was to be the guardian of the legacy, but it all changed swiftly when Silver revealed his legacy to the Grade II and Amphitheater ss. This man, who was in Inam, was quickly sent here to rece me to be the guardian of the legacy. The only reason, I had even been allowed toe with him, was because I had begged him to let mee. I don''t know why I did that. It is just more humiliation. I guess, I wanted to see the end with my own eyes for the position, I had spent all my fortune and favors for. Click! The door opened and he walked out. I looked at the young man in front of me and couldn''t help, but feel jealous. Aubin Arledge is young. Handsome. Ambitious. He is only twenty-six years old. Had a powerful house, that helped him in every way, he could. My house had been powerful once; only second to the imperial house. Over the centuries. We had lost everything; including the whole region of the empire we used to control. Now, we don''t even have a territory and the title had been reduced to mere Lord. The only thing we have is the name, Rutto. I looked at city hall as I climbed its steps and the faces of people. There are humans, but also a lot of orcs; I had even spotted a half-elf. It is still quite a surprise to me. In my forty-one years of life; I had never seen so many non-humans as once. I had once made a trip to the Namdar when I was young. I had the blood of a non-human in me. She was the most illustrious woman. Second only to her husband; the founder of House Rutto. I shook those thoughts away and focused on the people. They are vibrant, there is a vibrancy in them, that one wouldn''t expect from the city, and they could be attacked by the undead at any time. "The first thing, I will do after I take over the city is to throw all these filthy orcs out," said Aubin. He doesn''t just want to be the guardian of the legacy but also be a lord of the city. Which I think, is a thought out of the realm of reality. I mean, how he will do that? Silver won''t just hand over the city. Even His Majesty wouldn''t be able to make him. He is busy, with all his forces. Fighting siblings, along with neighboring kingdoms. He is having a problem controlling the nobles under the territory he is controlling. It would be farfetched to say, hismand would be enough for silver to hand over the city. I think it is a challenge to even sign the contract of guardianship. I didn''t say anything. I just followed behind. Soon, we reached Silver''s office; the doors were closed. Aubin turned to the secretory. She is the youngest secretary; I had ever seen. She didn''t even look eighteen. Though she is very pretty; it is why Aubin''s eyes turned lecherous. "I am Lord Arledge. I have an appointment with Silver," stated Aubin. "Lord Silver will meet you at nine," she replied with a professional smile. There are twenty minutes before time. We hade early. I had told him, but he was in too hurry to be the guardian to listen. I could see her words made him angry. He ced his hands on her table and leaned toward her. "I am Lord Aubin Arledge; envoy of Emperor and I want to see Silver now," he demanded before sting the poor girl, with his skills. I thought, she would squirm and sweat, but there was no change in the young girl''s expression, other than sparks of irritation in her eyes. It couldn''t help, but surprise me. Aubin isn''t weak. He is Lv. 20 and has a Lord ss. I was in my thirties when I reached the Lv. 20 in my Lord ss. That makes his skills quite powerful, but despite that, the young secretary seemed unaffected. "Lord Silver, will you see at nine Lord Arledge," she replied, and I felt Aubin move back, like he was pushed away. A shock shed in his eyes before it turned to anger. I could his hands reaching his saber, but stopped as guards standing, not far away appeared beside the secretory. Aubin''s guards had also moved a step closed. The stalematested for a second before he removed his hands from his saber. The guards returned to their ces, and I took a sigh of relief. It would have been bad. if he had unsheathed the weapon. I heard Silver is particr about such things and very protective of his whores. It''s how, he had gained, the legacy, they said. He would have rather had his business destroyed, than have his whores disrespected. He red at the young secretary before walking toward the waiting room. "She will be the first person to be punished after I take over the city. That makes whore get fucked by hundred people in public and thenshed till she is dead," he muttered as I sat down. I shuddered when I heard that. I had heard the things about him. The things he did in his territory, and I really hope, are not true. "Will you take any refreshment, Lord Arledge, Lord Rutto?" asked a pretty woman in her early twenties. "No, thank you," I replied while Aubin remained silent. She left, while I picked up the newspaper beside me. It had many pieces of news from local to international. Many things are happening, especially in the empire. His excellency''s state isn''t good, and this newspaper is stating that clearly without fear of repercussion. He controls the territory more than double that of Princess Orlene, but she and her allies are slowly chipping away at the terrify held by him. There are also neighboring kingdoms, conquering the territories of the empire from Kalzan to Renha. "Lord Arledge, Lord Rutto. Lord Silver will meet you now," said the young secretary appearing in front of us. I looked away from the newspaper and saw it was nine. I got up with Aubin and walked toward Silver''s office. The time didn''t soothe his anger, but instead increased it even further. I really hope. He didn''t mess things up. I really don''t want to go back to his excellency with nothing to show; it will ruin me, more than I am already ruined. I pushed that thought away and cast a spell. Connecting with Mage Bemelmans. He is the protector of Marquess Hass; the prime minister of his excellency. He had asked for the live updates of the conversation with Silver. Click! The door clicked open, and we entered the office. It is the biggest I had ever seen but isn''t the smallest either. Everything is neat and clean. There are two people there aside from Silver. One is his guard, a high mage, while the other is his assistant/adviser. She is also a former whore and is strikingly beautiful. I couldn''t help, but feel jealous of Silver. To be surrounded by beautiful women every moment. I was married once, but she had married me for my ancestors'' treasures. Unfortunately, there were none left other than a medallion, I am wearing. Which is useless to anyone other than blood. Most importantly, it''s forbidden for others to have it other than the head of the house of Rutto. Everything we had, had been sold by the previous generations. Not even our territory had remained. The little bit of fortune. I had umted through my own efforts. I had spent to get this job, but now it had also been snatched from me. "Lord Silver," I greeted the young man sitting at the table, who turned his piercing silvery grey eyes on us. He didn''t seem to be in a good mood. "Silver, you have to rein in your whore. If I were you, I would have fucked some sense into her,"ined Aubin. I sighed, immediately sending the recorded words to the person on the other side. I feared. He would do something like this. It is not the first time he did it and nothing will happen to him. His father will protect him. Count Arledge is powerful and has the ambition to be a Duke. Which he might have if kept he seeding in battles. p! I had sent the recording of the words to the other side when I heard the sharp sound. I saw Silver beside me, with Aubin looking at him with deep shock. It had happened so fast, that I wasn''t able to react at all. Hell, I didn''t even see it. He was that fast. Aubin''s cheek is all red and he is looking at Silver with deep shock before anger rages in his eyes. It scared me. I knew Silver was protective of his whores, but didn''t expect such a reaction. A rebuke at most, but not a p. Rubinis not a weak lord like me. He is the son of Count Arledge, who is one of the most powerful men under the emperor. Not to mention, he is an emperor''s envoy. You do not hit envoy. "I would bear a disrespect toward me, but I couldn''t bear it against my people," said Silver, and I felt his skill. It was powerful. More than, I had expected. I quickly controlled my shock and ryed it all to Bemelmans. ''Rutto, activate the Listening Link,'' I heard the second voice. The prime minister''s voice. ''Yes, my lord,'' I said and cast Listening Link. So, he could hear everything that was happening in the room. Immediately, I felt the eyes of the High-Mage. He sensed it and seeing the way, he was looking at me, he knew the kind of spell I had cast. I thought he would break the spell. He could, for all the spells, I know; I am not a High-Mage. To my surprise, he didn''t. he just kept looking at me. "You, bastard!" cursed Aubin, reacting finally. "Do you know who I am?" he asked angrily. "Lord Arledge, you came here sauntering. Didn''t show respect to my employees, you disrespected me. For it, I am expelling you from the city," said Silver, once again shocking me. It is an overreaction. Yes, Aubin''s attitude was discourteous, and his words were deplorable, but he didn''t need to be expelled. I pushed that thought and looked at Silver, was relieved to see, the words are only directly at Aubin. It feels like, there is something going on. That, I am not understanding at all. "You will pay for this. I will take my revenge for this disrespect, you have caused me," Aubin shouted. "Shaun, escort, Lord Arledge out," he said, and the mage moved, but Aubin didn''t give him a chance and left after one burning re at Silver. "My apologies. Lord Rutto. Sit, we have business to discuss," he said as he returned to the seat. I sat down, before taking out the imperial contract from my bag. I ced it in front of me, but Silver barely nced at it before turning to me. "This the guardianship contract, my lord, that you will sign with the Emperor," I said. I could have slowly eased into it, but after what happened with Auburn. I n to finish it as soon as possible. "My apologies, Lord Rutto. I am not going to sign the contract of guardianship. I will only sign it with the emperor of an undivided and unfractured empire," he replied. I didn''t expect him to agree readily, but didn''t expect to disagree directly. I waited for the instruction from the Prime Minister Haas, but there was silence "His Majesty Inkav is the emperor of an undivided and unfractured empire. The others are rebels, that he will deal with very quickly," I said. Even though I didn''t believe these wordsing out of my mouth, I needed to say them. The prime minister is listening. "No contract," he replied, withoutmenting on what I had said. He didn''t fall into the trap, that I hadid. ''Ask him for a thousand vials of essence,'' instructed Prime Minister. I feel relieved hearing his voice. I felt like, I was walking in a swamp here. A mistake and I will be the target of the emperor''s ire and I don''t think, I could survive that. "Thousands essence bottles then," I repeated, what the Prime Minister said. "That''s too much; I don''t have that many." He disagreed immediately with the shake of his head. "At most, I could give you two hundred and fifty bottles of essences," "Fifty will be actual bottles of essence, while the rest two hundred will be in the form of emotion essence potions and other things," He stated. "Tha" ''Agree with it,'' I opened my mouth to disagree when the sound of Prime Minister rang out in my mind. Shocking me. ¡­ "We agree," replied Rutto with shock. I kind of pity the man. He had be a puppet of the powerful. I talked with Marquess Hassst night. I had told him, I would not sign the contract. He asked for quite a lot of essence, but I shot that one down too. Finally, we agreed to two hundred and fifty emotion essences. Fifty with emotions essence and two hundred potions and other stuff with emotion essence. He wanted all emotion essence, but I rejected it. Unlike the parties like merchant state and Namdar. The imperials aren''t providing anything in return. It is tithe. I have to give it because this bastard could seed and be a true emperor. While they wouldn''t harm me due to my legacy, there are many ways, they could make me pay. This tithe will help in keeping things smooth. Crown Prince isn''t the only one, I needed to give it. I will also need to give it to Princess Orlena. She had a reach chance against the throne and was far more capable, than the Crown Prince. She will agree too, because if they went too hard. I might turn to the other party. Which they absolutely don''t want, seeing desperately they needed it. I needed to take the risk for the agreement. He asked me to humiliate Aubin. For his political purpose. I had thought about ways of doing that when he presented the opportunity himself. I was already angry by the letter of Masal Colosseum. His disrespect for Jill had fueled it. I had let my emotions guide me and p the smug bastard. To be honest, it felt good to act on the emotions for once. It is quite a risk, but I think it was worth it. The Prime Minister agreed to take two hundred essences in the form of potions, in exchange for it. It will give me leverage with alchemists and merchants'' states. It will also save quite many bottles. There are also the secret agreements we agreed on. For it, I will pay him extra. "Thank you, for your time, Lord Silver," said the man and got up. "Have a nice day, Lord Rutto," I said. The man smiled and walked away, with a faint bit of confusion in his eyes. He likely understood most things and will understand the rest soon enough. It''s quite a regret, that he will be a scapegoat for the Prime Minister, if things go wrong. Marquess Haas is too smart to let anything fall on him. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 416: Access Chapter 416: ess Ashton Harbor "Finally, they areing," said the man with the staff, with joy all over his face. He had just got the confirmation. They are sending the ships, filled with the hordes of undead and powerhouse. Their numbers are big, enough for not only sweeping the three cities but also the entire region. "The wait is nearly over," said the armored man. In a few weeks, when the time is right. They will send the horde; it shouldn''t take more than a month. If it had been six months ago. It would have been a lot quicker, but the imperial bitch had galvanized the imperial navy. It isn''t as strong as when the emperor was alive, but still strong enough to create trouble. There are also the bastards merchants. Their navy had heightened their presence. Those bastards aren''t weak; they had defeated the imperial armada of Harsoth, so badly that they weren''t able to recover fully, even after a decade. So, we will need to be very careful. I am still angry at higher-ups. They should have let me attack with the force we have here already; at least Greltheaven. If they had. We would have the legacy in our control and all the I had every detail about it, including the guess of essence it could produce each month and the value of the nts. I think it''s the reason why, they are finally sending the hordes. If they capture, the Grelheaven; they will have the biggest legacy by size under their control. We have legacies on the ind higher in grade, but smaller in size, than the velvet garden. ¡­ Eva "So, you are really staying?" asked Cara, and I smiled at my girl. She already knew the answer. It had been ten days since the opening, and we were still here. I will be here, but she is leaving. "I will miss, you, Mom," she said and hugged me. "Me too, sweet child," I said and hugged her back with tears dripping from my eyes. I am going to miss her, a lot. It is the first time; I will be staying away from my children for a long time. I didn''t like it, but I need to. It was a chance; I had been waiting for all my life. "You are going to ask him today?" she asked, and I nodded. "Will he agree?" he asked. "I don''t know," I replied. "There is also a question of whether he will be able to do it or not," I added, to that she nodded. Every legacy is different and has different rules. He might want to give me the mist, but will he be able to? The beauticians, the chefs, and the girls could use the mist, but they were part of the establishment when it became the legacy. A jeweler was not. Even if it didn''t happen. I don''t n to return. Since I came here, my mind is bubbling with inspiration. It had been a long time since I had been inspired as such. She turned to the store and sighed. It is full. It''s always full, even at midnight. Most of them were men at that time, unlike now when most patrons are women. More than half of our patrons are from the merchant state, but there are someing from Inam and other close cities of the empire. Many hade specifically to shop at the store. There are also more men than there are at the store like these. 90% of the things we sell are for thedies. We would have sold more for the men, but the designs aren''t good enough. It needs to be good enough, before we bring it to the store, especially now. I am searching for them and even trying to poach some designers from the other boutiques. I could see the look in the eye of customers; the same look when they see the prominent boutique stores. I wanted it. I craved for it. I had failed, but now I had seeded. It had be even more important, that I maintain the standard. Take it to a higher level, which is why, I need the mist. "We are going to miss it in Namdar," said Cara, looking at the tree in the center of the store. It looks more beautiful than it had been ten days ago. The way the mist moved around it and a very tiny fraction of it got absorbed into it. If it continues for years; it will bring a profound change in the tree. She looked around, before walking toward the elevator. Talking about some patrons before finally stepping into the elevator. I could see the floors as the elevator went down. These stores didn''t have mist, but they have more people than our store. I can imagine what would happen. If the whole tower is covered under the floors, the influence of the legacy. From what I heard. Remus is harvesting a lot of emotion essence. If five more floors are joined, there will be a lot more emotion essence. "I had never thought, I would say it, but I am going to miss this ce," said Cara, and a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. She was supposed to stay for five days, but she stayed for ten. If there wasn''t a business to run, she would have stayed more. "It is really a ce, one could never forget," I said, looking at the most beautiful ce, I had ever seen. Soon, we were out of the tower, where the carriage was waiting for us. We stepped in it. A moment,ter, the carriage moved toward the port. It is eight in the evening, and the park is filled with people. Local, but also foreigners, both from the empire and merchant cities. The opening day had created quite a ssh. Since that day, many peopleing to the city. It is not just tourists, but also settlers,ing in to find work and there is a lot of work. I had talked to Miss L about two days ago when she hade to the store with her friend from Oksall. She had said, there are a lot of investmentsing into the city. Especially in the hospitality sector. There are hotels built all over the city, as well as many inns and casinos. Making rates of real estate increase like crazy. Faster than even Namdar. After the emperor died, everyone starteding in there, searching for stability, shooting the prices of real estate through the roof. The primmest piece of real estate here is canal street. The whole circle. The rates of it increasing by the day, given the amount of space. Only 40% is in the hands of people, while 60% is in the hands of Silver. He is giving the space, only to those who are willing tomit the big projects. I have seen the amount of investment Remus wants for it. I Thought barely anyone would agree. It is a small city. A city, that could be attacked by the undead anytime. The people didn''t seem to care about that. There are hundreds of proposals. Not only from the businesses of the merchant states, but also from the empire. Including some of the people, I know in Namdar. They had contacted me, asking me to help them. Soon, the carriage reached the bridge, and I could see the canals and boats on it. It had be one of our favorite spots in the city. We hade here nearly daily, especially at sunset. I looked at my daughter and saw her smiling too, looking at the boats. Fifteen minutester, the carriage reached the port. Which is bustling. More than when I hade before the opening. There are more ships docked. More people moving around and more vibrancy. Click! The carriage stopped, and we stepped out of it. "Have a safe journey and take care of your brother for me," I said with my eyes turning misty. "Don''t worry about us, mom. Just focus on your work; I wille to meet you next month and even brother with me," she said. "That would be great," I said, hoping he would reallye. "Goodbye, Mom," she said. "Goodbye, sweet child," I replied and hugged her for thest time. I let go, and she walked toward the ship. I stayed there for fifteen minutes till her ship left, before sitting in my carriage. I watched through the window as it began to move. I didn''t look at the people. I am too upied with thoughts of my child leaving to think about anything else. I never stayed away from my children for more than a month, but now, I will be. I didn''t like it, but it is for the best. I signed and tried to clear my emotion. I have the most important meeting and I have to be prepared. The carriage stopped at the tower, and I got out, before waking inside. I reached the elevator that led to the top floor. There were guards there, but they didn''t stop me. The elevator is only for Silver and important people like Ca and others. Ting! The door opened, and I stepped out, before walking toward the office. Silver only stays two days a week in the legacy. The other five days, she stays in the manor with his siblings. Today is one of two days. I reached his office and turned toward the tiny but luxurious waiting room. As there are still ten minutes to the meeting. In the legacy, everything is a pure luxury, but the waiting room is clearly something. Miss Rolgath had done a wonderful job. Cara is in talks with her for renovation for our stores. We have an interior designer, but Miss Rolgath is better. "Miss Eva, you can go in," said the secretary, surprising me. There are still over ten minutes before the appointment. Click! I nodded and walked toward the office, before stepping inside as guards opened the door. "Lord Silver," I greeted, the young man sitting behind the table. I also nodded at Margaux and Ina, sitting there. "Eva," he said and offered me a seat. "What can I do for you, Eva?" I asked, with a faint smile hanging on his face. It made him look quite handsome. I couldn''t help but feel attracted to it. He is younger than my children by a good decade and I shouldn''t feel attracted to him. I never get attracted to the younger men, but I do toward him, I have been since that incident on the ind. I quickly pushed away thoughts and cleared my mind. It''s very important; I can not let myself be distracted by useless thoughts. "I was hoping. If you could give me ess to the mist?" I asked. There was no change on his face, not even a surprise, as if he expected it. "I want to work on jewelry; the mist will help a lot with the new ideas, I have in my mind," I added after a moment of pause, but there was no change in his expression. "The emotion essence is valuable Eva. I am giving so much to the nts. To a lot of people, that there barely remained anything for me," he said. I felt relieved. It''s not an outright rejection, nor did he say, he couldn''t. Now, I have to make him an offer, he can''t reject. Thankfully, I have prepared for it and it''s quite good. "I know, but I will make it worth it. I am quite good at what I do. I am one of the best in the whole of Namdar. Most importantly, you''ll get half of every piece sold," I said, looking. There was no change in his face. I opened my mouth to put up the offer. It is not something I want to do, but I need the mist. I am willing to suffer the loss if needed to be. I was about to speak when a smile appeared on his face. "I can give you the mist, but with conditions," he said. I just nodded and waited for him toy them all out. I hope they are not beyond, what I could give. "First, every piece, that you make will be sold in the store in the tower. Second, every piece will need to pass through us before being sold," "Third¡­" Heid out seven conditions. The way heid them out; it''s clear, he had already thought about them. "I agree," I agreed after a few seconds of silence. Some of them are tough, like every piece passing through his eyes before being sold, but they are not as harsh as I am willing to go. "Good. Give me your hand," he said, and I did. My body shuddered as his hand touched mine. It took all my will to keep my face straight. "Done, now you will be able to control the mist," he said, releasing my hand. It took me a moment for me to control myself before I bowed. "Thank you, Lord Silver," I said with joy. "You can call me Remus when we are alone, Eva," he said, and my heart fluttered. "Thank you, Remus," I said. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 417: Plans Chapter 417: ns Deerpond "Silver is growing his army at rming speed. Look at this information milord, these weapons, that merchant state providing him," said General Silva as they turned to Greltheaven. Everybody in the meeting turned serious. Greltheaven''s rise had be serious enough, that they had added them in a list of threats. "It''s all because of that damn legacy. He is selling the essences and getting those weapons from the merchants!" said Lt. General Ronda, who hates Silver the most. Lord of Deerpond didn''t say anything, but read the file in front of him, that had thetest information on Silver. His army grew at incredible speed in the past seven months, but it''s what happened in the past month, that made them worried exponentially. The numbers in his army grew faster, but it was weaponsing from the merchant state, that had made them worried the most. Weapons, the types of which the merchant had stated, had refused to sell to them. "It is indeed worrying, but there is nothing we could do, should do about it. At least temporarily." "The undead areing and we should be prepared for them, because this time; the attack would be more powerful than thest time," said Lord of Deerpond. Everybody nodded. "We are prepared to deal with them, my lord. When the division arrives, we will be in an even better position to deal with them," said General Silva. "We need them to reach the city fast. I need them here, before the undead attack us," said Lord of Deepond. They understood the hurry. The twelve thousand soldiers will be tremendously helpful to them in dealing with the undead threating at them. "We are trying, my lord, but the conditions are such that it is taking time," replied General Silva. They are using both diplomatic and financial means to smooth their journey, but it is hard to see what is happening in the empire. The meeting ended an hour and a halfter and everybody began to leave, till only three of them had remained. Lord of Owlspring, his son, and General Silva. He activated the privacy wards to their full power and added, their own skills into it. "How is the progress?" asked the Lord of Deepond. "In a week, our people will reach the load," replied General Silva. Hearing that, a smile appeared on Lord''s face. "Silver has a legacy, but so what? In a week, we will have something, that everyone needs. Merchants wille to us for it, and so will everyone else." "It will provide us with enough money, to fund a big army. Fend off the undead, and then move to conquer Greltheaven to get that legacy," said Darius. General Silva nodded. It''s their n. They want Greltheaven, want it for the legacy, and to control the river route. They only need Greltheaven for it. Getting, Riverbell wouldn''t be a problem. ¡­ Hun! My eyes flew open as I sensed something, I had never sensed before. Though it had been exined to me. "What happened?" asked Ca. Sensing me waking up. "A new legacy has been born," I replied. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Where?" she asked. "I think, it''s herald continent," I replied, before closing my eyes to sense it clearly. Soon, I got a glimpse of the ce. It is a small ce, intimate. I could see a raven-haired woman in her middle-age, looking around in shock. She had a paintbrush in her hand and a canvas with a half-finished painting. Around her are people, young and old, with paintbrushes and canvases in front of them. Some looked confused, while others were in shock. ''Master Silver,'' said Caena telepathically. ''In my office.'' I replied and walked out of the bed. Click! I opened the door and walked into my office, with Ca following behind and Caena,ing in a few secondster. "Lord Silver, there is a message from Synod," said Shaun with a surprise on his face. "Who is it?" I asked directly, knowing it was about the legacy. "Sarkis Mael. She is the owner of a painting club, in the kingdom of Seirnol, Herald Continent," he replied. I nodded "Send her the congrattions from me," I said, and a momentter, the core appeared in the office. Everybody could see it. I looked at the magnificent thing for a moment, before concentrating. Slowly, the tiny part begins to separate from it. It is a fraction of the core, filled with emotion essence as well as a small bit of the true essence. I have been waiting for it for months and kept the small part always reserved for it. I don''t have to give it; a legacy younger than one year had an exception, but I am going to. Not only because I want to but also because I could. I have been very lucky that I had ten months without a new legacy. Which is a long time without a new legacy. Usually, there were at least two new legacies born at that time, but there were none, while three legacies died. My legacy consumed part of that without getting infected by its vision. It made my core strong, and now, I am giving away a small part of me. Though one without any vision; it is just pure, true essence and emotion essence. The small part came out fully, and I pushed it toward the new legacy, which started to pull it. "Good night, everyone," I said and walked back into my room, beforeying on the bed to sleep. I have an important meeting tomorrow with the intelligence official from the merchant state. He ising, bringing secret intelligence that couldn''t be sent through the spell. I fell asleep and woke up four hourster, at my usual time. I looked at the widow and saw it was dark. Ca is still sleeping, and I didn''t disturb her. I went to the bathroom and freshened up, before taking the stairs to the roof. I walked into the center of the training circle and took a deep, slow breath. While I was doing that, I began to pull the power of the skills Gymnasts Grace and Gymnasts Control back. I used to practice yoga with them; the harder poses, but I discovered that it gives more benefits when I do it while lessening the power of the skills. It helps me gain more control over my body and skills. Helps me go deeper, and find more uses. In the past few months, I have made tremendous progress. I could now reduce the power of both of the skills to around 25%. Which is tremendous progress in just a short few months. My target is to reduce it to 20%, but it will be hard. I am finding my speed of progress has reduced greatly. It had be harder to take a single step, but that is to be expected. An hourter, I finished and saw my sparring partner was already waiting. He is looking at the view of the city from the top, enamored. It is his first time in here. Most of the time, we spar in the manor. "It''s a beautiful view, isn''t it, Captain Garzong?" I asked the man. "It''s breathtaking, my lord," he replied, turning. "It is," I said, turning to the city, bathing in the dawn''s light. I enjoyed the view for a minute before walking back into the circle. A training rapier appeared in my hand, while he picked up a great sword from the rack. A few secondster, we begin the spar. I didn''t hold back and used every skill and technique I had against the man, who didn''t hesitate to fight dirty. His skills are excellent, especially the bandit skills. His ss had changed, but many of those skills remained and he could use them skillfully. He is also a great fighter with a fighting style, different from humans. The orcs have the physical advantage over humans and their fighting style developed ording to it. The environment, they used to live in also had an effect on it. Making it more primal. It is why, more than half instructors, who teach the new orc recruits are orcs. They understood the physique well and the limitations. They also have humans and even elves instructors for the area, that that do not have expertise in it, which are many. ng! I dodged his kick, before parrying his attack. He moved for another, before stopping suddenly, as the bell rang out. Ending the practice. "Thank you, for your time, Captain Garzong," I said to the man. "The honor is all mine, my lord," He replied before walking away. I rested for a few minutes, before walking back into my room. There I showered, before having breakfast. Click! When I walked into my office, I saw that Caena was already there, along with Ca. I nodded at her and sat down, before opening the file in front of me. It is the daily financial report. It is a rough estimate; I get the urate one every week. This report didn''t just have the finances of the velvet red, but also the blue and other floors of the legacy, except for the store. A minuteter, I closed the file with a smile on my face. It''s expensive to run the tower. From the sries of the staff to food and drink. Everything costs a lot of money. "I will be submitting the first installment today," informed Ca. I nodded. A month had passed since the legacy had opened, and it was time for us to start repaying the massive loan we took from the bank. It is massive, but the establishment is also earning a lot. More than we had estimated, and that is excluding the essences and the nts. We are using only 5% of the monthly earnings to pay the loan. It will take me ten years to pay to pay off the massive loan. I could have used more, but why should I? Dept isn''t bad. Especially one of such low interest. Besides, I need money. Except for keeping some 20% for myself. I am loaning everything to the city. The city is still desperate for every penny. To run a city is a massive expenditure. Our tax collection has made a big leap in the past few months and so has the traffic of goods on the river, but also the expenses. It is not cheap to build roads, parks, police stations, and hospitals and maintain them with sufficient staff and resources. If it was all, everything would have been golden, but no. There is a defense. The true guzzler, There is a reason, the war bankrupts the countries. The sries, pensions, equipment, and other things cost massive money. I had spent as much as I could, but it was not enough. It never is, but I will keep trying. It''s the only thing I could do to keep my city safe from the clutches of the undead. "It''s time," I said as the nine ticked in. A momentter, everything turned dark, and a magnificent core appeared in front of me. It''s not alone, there is a colorful orbiting the core. It is said that the core bes what the host desires. Mine is the sun, charms turning intos, which Caena had stemmed from my desires. I admired it for a few seconds, before turning to business. A box of tiny bottles appeared in my hand before the bottles flew toward the. A momentter, the begins to shine, and colorful res begin toe out of the core like the sun and funnel into the. As it happened, the became more colorful. It continued for nearly half a minute before it stopped and the color it had gained began to drain from it, before stopping twelve secondster. The had turned back the same as it had been when I summoned it. I waved my fingers, and the bottles returned. They are not empty, anymore. All of them are filled with the emotion essence. They went back to the big box and, the second after that, we returned to the real world. "No matter, how many times, I looked. The process enamors me," said Ca. "It is an enamoring process," I said and looked at its architect. It wouldn''t have been possible without her. "How many hade?" asked Caena. "All of them," Ca replied. Yes, all of them hade for the essence, that I had promised them. I have the essence for all of them. I turned to the box in front of me. We have been harvesting, this amount of essence every day, for the past month. A hundred bottles. We have thirty-three hundred bottles of essence and we had only promised fourteen hundred of them to others. In a month, I had be sure, that my legacy could produce such an amount continuously. More than it. We are only harvesting a hundred bottles a day. That means, I could start on my ns, for which I am giving the essence to the Namdar, Imperials, and the other stakeholders. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 418: Not Good News Chapter 418: Not Good News Click! The door of the conference room opened and three people walked in, with a raven-haired half-elf at lead. It is rare to see ck-haired half-elves. It is not a natural hair color; it is likely he had inherited that from his human half. "Lord Silver," he greeted with a faint bow. "Mr. Marysel, I hope the journey has been well?" I asked the man. "It had been my lord," he replied, before sitting down. Everyone is present, Stone, Cardin, Izalia. It''s an important meeting; I had asked my top military brass to be present for this meeting. "What is the intelligence the silent forest got for us?" I asked. The silent forest is what the intelligence agency of the merchant states called. It is not an official name, but everyone referred to it as such, including their own people. "Not good news, I am afraid," the half-elf replied. Immediately, two people behind him took out the files and began to distribute them throughout the table. "We have a solid intelligence, that ships carrying hordes of Vris''alud will reach the Renwell''s shores within a week," he said, turning everyone''s expressions serious. We were already informed that they wereing within a month two weeks ago, but now that estimate has shrunk to a week. "How many undead they will have?" asked Stone. "One point five to two million undead," he replied. Turning the atmosphere serious. There is barely any surprise in the numbers. Stone had said since the undead didn''t send any undead in over half a year. We should expect high numbers of around two million; we would be powerless against such numbers if they came. There are already one and a half million undead in the region. More of such numbers will give the undead an absolute edge. They would be able to sweep through the three cities and, if theybine, the hordester. Might even present a threat to Marquess Gats. "What about the powerhouses, special undead, and other weapons?" asked Stone. "We know, they are at least sending at least forty powerhouses above Lv. 30. At least a hundred below Lv. 30." "As for the special undead and weapons. We do not have any intelligence about it, but we guess there will be some, at least more thanst time," he replied. There is a difference between themon undead and umon ones. If there are arge number of them, in the horde; it will be more dangerous. The same with weapons; yes, the undead use weapons, like cannons, catapults, and others. They do not use them as much as others, but they use them. "With such force, they could conquer every city in the region," said Valentina. "It is why, we have increased our naval surveince and even shared the intelligence with the imperials," he stated. Surprising a few. I am not. Most of the animosity merchant state and the empire disappeared after the death of the emperor. Now, the merchants only want profit, instead of revenge, while the imperials want goods instead of avenging the humiliation. If the undead controlled the renwell region, especially the three cities on the river. They would control the lucrative trade route and merchants'' states wouldn''t want that. Especially the Meldhorn and Oksall. As they will be dependent on the sea route through the Belnin. It will increase the expense and restrict their choices. These are the things the merchants hate the most. "We will not let them touch the zenid''s shore as easily, as they had before," he said. I had heard the same words from the other people of the merchant state. Theirnguage is vague and their response is measured when asked to exin it. So, we don''t really know. If they would attack the undead ships or just warn them. The merchants have no intention of having a war with Vris''alud, but they don''t want to lose the trade route and influence, it provides them. Letting the undead have a base in their backyard isn''t a good optics for the merchants. In the next few minutes, more things were discussed, before the meeting was over. "The city of Greltheaven thanks, silent forest for the intelligence," I said to the man. "We are neighbors, Lord Silver, and merchant state, always has the best in minds for its neighbors," replied the man, before walking out of the room. Click! "Start calling back our people from the merchant state," I ordered. Half of them have already arrived in the past week. I want the other half to return as well. They were at a merchant state training. Those new equipment aren''t easy to use. The merchant state forces have been training them in their use. It is part of the agreement; I had signed in exchange for the essences. "They will be here by tomorrow," replied Stone. "Are we ready to deal with the undead?" I asked, and a mirthless smile appeared on the faces of all. "Ready? No, but we can give them a fight, they will never forget," he replied. "It would have been great. If we had six more months, we would have been more confident in dealing with the undead," said Colonel Cardin. "The seven months were already more than we had thought. I think our preparations are good. We are in a better position, than we had thought we would be seven months ago," said Colonel Azalea. Yes, our state is much better than, we had estimated. Our army is bigger, better trained, and equipped. We have war resources and have built adequate hospitals, with enough healers and doctors. There are many things we have done. That made us more ready to face the undead. "Start preparing, but be silent. We don''t want to spook the citizens," I ordered. A minuteter, I was out of the conference room. "So, dy the proposal?" asked Ina. "Yes," I replied with a sigh. There is no other option. Just this morning, I had been excited about it. She had worked on the proposal hard, and we are going to make it public, sending it all over the empire. We could still do it, but the message would be muted by the undead attack. It would spread widely if we do it after it. The effect would be even greater if it is a grand victory, but chances of that are quite low, given the number of undeading. I hope we will survive the battle. It would best oue for us. All we need is the time; the more time we have, the greater preparations we will be able to make. We have done a wonderful job in the past seven months and the next seven months would be even more amazing, as we now have the essence. As I reached my office. I saw a few familiar people sitting in my waiting room. Click! I walked into my office, and a few secondster, the familiar orc entered inside. "Lord Silver," the orc greeted. "I didn''t think, you would personallye to collect it, Lord Orag," I said to the man. The orc is a representative of Oksall''s ruling council. "Two hundred bottles of essence aren''t a small number. I wanted to collect the first batch myself and also wish you well for the battle, you are going to face soon," he said. "Thank you, it means a lot. Lord Orag," I replied. The merchant states have helped a lot in the past month. They supplied me with the weapons and also trained my men, while we were still negotiating. They had given me the stuff before I had even paid them with the essences. "Good, because we are hoping, you would stop discriminating against us. You have only given us two hundred bottles of essence, while you gave the state of Meldhorn, two hundred and fifty," "We didn''t even count what you have given to the city of Owlspring and a few organizations in the state of Meldhorn," he said, looking at me usingly. I waited for his skills toe, but they didn''t. Last time, the bastard had nearly crushed me. This time, I want him to use his skills. I took my charm to twenty, which made it leap in power. I had tested it against people, but I wanted to test against him. Unfortunately, the skill didn''te. "It is not discrimination, Lord Orag, but distribution based on the reciprocation and supply," I replied, without a change in expression on my face. "To us, it feels like discrimination. Since we too can offer you, what the state of Meldhorn is offering you," he said, and I smiled. "It is not discrimination, my lord, but if you feel like it is. You will have a chance to make your point when we renegotiate in five months." I replied. "I will," he said, not pressing it further. He left a minuteter, and I met a few more people. All of them hade to the city to collect the essences. We are asking all the people we gave essence to send their own people to collect it. Emotion essence is precious, we cannot guarantee a safe delivery with our people, nor do we have a people. Soon, it was evening, and I walked out of my office. I went to the barracks to check on the army. Their numbers had swelled since the second battle. There are a lot of orcs in the army, but humans are still more than twice in number. Most of them are from the empire, but we have also recruited many refugees from Mayhurst Ind. They are experienced and have a fire of vengeance burning in their hearts. Seeing them, I felt the fear in my heart lessen. We have a chance. These people will fight and win against the undead. "The batch from Owlspring, will be in the city by ten," informed Colonel Cardin as he stopped beside me. "What about those in other cities?" I asked. We had sent people to different cities, to train. Merchant states usually do not offer such training to the forces that are not their allies, but there is always an exception. "All will be in the city, by tomorrow evening," he replied. It made me relieved. These people are very important. The enemy is strong this time and we will have to give our all to deal with them. "Did you get any response from your contacts?" I asked, and he sighed. "A few areing, but not in the numbers we want," he replied. Hearing that, I sighed too. When I say, I am trying everything to increase the city''s preparedness against the undead, I am not joking. Cardin''s had connections in the army. His whole life went there; his family also served in the army, his father, and grandfather. For a few months, he had been contacting his connection. Poaching people. He had had sess there, seeing he was able to get nearly four thousand soldiers. It has been especially good in the past month. He was able to bring two Lv. 30+ officers, seven pre-Lv. 30 and over a hundred soldiers of Lv. 20 and above. It''s his effort and legacy''s fame, that made theme here. It is why, we wanted the time. I was hoping, we would be able to poach a brigade. In peacetime, it is hard, but now it is very much possible, seeing a number of battles going around the empire. There are always soldiers willing to move for better pay. We are even trying for the prisoners of war. We had just gained some influence. If had more time, we would have managed that. Now we will have to do with what we have. It is not bad. We were able to make one fine force, which I haveplete confidence to show, the undead their ce. Valorous Lord Lv. 24 Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 419: Battle At Sea Chapter 419: Battle At Sea West Zenid Sea "Fucking imperials!" cursed an old man, activating the Reinforced Ship and Absorb Explosions. It was still enough as the cannonballs hit the ship, with wood flying everywhere. On top of that, enormous waves are crashing against the ships hard. making it even harder to control. The imperials weren''t supposed to attack them. There is no benefit to that. Attacking them is making another enemy. After the death of the emperor, the imperial armada had scattered. Princess Orelen had gathered what she could, but she only had a quarter of what it was. They weren''t supposed to be here, much less attack them. "It''s the merchant!" spat Captain Versuna. The tall, dark women, holding a saber, looking at enemies with anger and frustration. Her ship had sunk a few minutes ago. She was barely able to save her life but wasn''t in good shape. "Those bastards!" the old man cursed. They had seen the merchants'' ships earlier. They followed us but didn''t do anything. They didn''t enter the imperial waters as we had expected, but who would have thought the imperial navy would have been waiting for us? Till now, they have sunk eighteen ships and are still attacking. Theyare responding to imperials attacks with cannons and mages, but the bastards are prepared. They shouldn''t have been this prepared or willing. This is reeking of the smells of merchants. The bastards would never get their hands dirty. Instead, they would provide money and resources to others to do the job. They are doing the same ship on the ind. It is one of the reasons, why they had difficulty in conquering the entire ind. Bang! The cannonball hit the ship, not far away from the old man. Blowing tens of undead and people to pieces; the only reason, the old man survived was because of a shield appeared in front of him. Hun! The dust hadn''t disappeared when he heard another bad news; another ship had been sunk. This is the fourth submerged ship, that had sunk. It is much harder to achieve than those on the surface. "Another load ship had been sunk," informed Versuna., taking the number neen. "Were you able to find out, who is leading the fleet? Is that Anderson?" I asked, naming the Grand Admiral of the imperial navy. Though, I heard, he is with a Crown Prince. This is also not his style. He likes to fight bloody, ram the ships, upy them, and massacre anyone on the enemy''s side. The old man shudders whenever he remembers that battle. The one who attacked us didn''t get close. They are maintaining the distance. Bombarding us with spells, cannons, and ballistae. "They are saying, it is someone called Rear-Admiral Medeiros," she replied. Saying, an unfamiliar name, that he didn''t recognize. He was about to ask for details when he saw a huge ballista bolt appearing in front of them and immediately tear through the shield spells that appeared to protect them. A horror appeared in their eyes. He knew the ballista bolt well. That fucking purple tip tore through his superior six years ago and gave himmand of the ship. It''s from a merchant state, the purple tip is proof of that. If he focused, he would even be able to see the familiar emblem on it. It tore through all three shields and reached Versuna. She is directly in front of me; it will be my turn after it tore through her. "Water Swerve!" She screamed and the water came from the wave crashing against them. It formed a kind of slide, on which the ballista faintly changed its direction. Rip! He felt the sharp cut on my shoulder as the bolt moved past me. Boom! It crashed into the ship in the front, piercing it inside before exploding. Killing the undead as well as the people. The ballista had a powerful explosion effect. It will explode after tearing through the targets. "Fucking hell!" he cursed and looked at Versuna, who was bleeding through all her orifices. She is Lv. 30+ powerhouse, but the bolt put great pressure on her. Boom Boom Boom! He opened my mouth when another volley of cannonballs crashed against the ship. We had defended against the most, but some hit the ship, including the hull. Patched Recovery. He activated the skill; he had been holding back and focused it on the hull. Hull is important. If not fixed, it will slow down the ship and even sink it. ''Scatter!'' ''Command: Reach The Shores Of Renwell,'' Themand rang, infused with the power of the skill. I reacted immediately, changing the course of the ship. He had been wanting to do that since they had started to sink our ships. He doesn''t know, why that bastard had waited, till now for thismand. If he had given this before, we might have been able to save, more ships. Maybe, he thought, he would maneuver out of it, but that Real-Admiral Medeiros is a smart man. From the start, his ships maintained the distance and kept sting us with long-range attacks. Their numbers are smaller than us, they have only around forty ships, but those ships are fast and packed with an arsenal that they are sting us with. While all our ships are heavy with undead. There are enough defenses, but the energy hade well prepared. It''s clear, they had prior intelligence. Scattering is the best option; more ships will sink, but more will also survive. With the number of ships, they have; they won''t be able to follow us all. He was thinking that when another cannonball shot past me, hitting the water and exploding. Bang Bang Bang! Seeing us scattering, they upped their offensive. Sending the hair cannon balls and spells at us without care, that within a minute they had sunk three ships and damaged more. He could see many ships moving to chase them, including five,ing toward the group, he was leading. "Captain of stadhale is dead. I am moving to take themand," said Versuna. Before I could say any word. She leaped from the ship and moved toward the ship on the left. She was targeted before she evennded on the sea. Cannonballs came at her, along with arrows and spells. Everything was smoky and watery for several seconds, and I feared the worst when I saw her running across the water and heaved a sigh of relief. However, that sigh was short-lived as I saw an arrow sticking into her shoulder. The archer is really good at being able to hit her. Versuna is a Combat Captain. It is really hard to hit her, when she is at sea, even the ballista wasn''t able to hit, but this archer did. She reached the ship, and I felt her taking over themand. I gave themand to my group as I led them toward the continent. Our target is the Renwell region, preferably, Ashton Harbor. The second option would be Gailhorn or anywhere between the two cities. These bastards will make it hard, but there is no other choice. I led the group while bearing the attack from imperials. They have sunk one of my ships, but we are moving. We have moved further enough, that I could see no other ship. Even with the spyss. It made me relieved. I have to deal with five ships; they are dangerous but could be managed. They have used a lot of ammunition if I were to guess, nearly 75%. At least 60%, which gives us good options to survive. I like these options. ¡­ "The desumara nt forms an invisibleyer of energy around the flower. It will destroy the flower and absorb its nutrients if it feels a threat to the flowers," "It requires a special mana technique to harvest the flower," exined Mage Irgal as a human woman in her early forties, gently and cautiously plucked the flower. She ced that flower in a wooden box, in a specific mold, beside the other three flowers, before moving to pluck another. Today, we are harvesting four nts. These desumara flowers being one of them. I am watching it with Mage Irgal and a few other people. I love to watch. The experience and skill needed to do this is really something. It might not seem like it, but the woman who is plucking the flowers is a Lv. 30. Four of sixteen people are that level, while others are pretty close to it. ording to the agreement, half of the people, that will work on the nt will be mine. It will be their responsibility to teach them. The timeline is five years, as these skills couldn''t be easily taught and also because I couldn''t get them to take the timeline any lower. One by one, she had plucked all eighteen flowers. Half she gave it to me, while the other half went to Mage Irgal. He was supposed to leave, but he decided to stay or ordered to stay, I don''t know. I don''t want him here, given his power, but also d he is here, given his expertise. I looked at the flowers. They were beautiful. They are also expensive, but I am not going to sell them. I am only selling 20% of nts. The rest, I am keeping it for myself. These nts would y a big part in my ns. They were about to start two days ago, but got dyed by the intelligence brought by the merchant state. "Lord Silver," I was admiring the nts when Z called my name. I turned to her and the smile on my face vanished. "There is a news?" I asked, and she nodded.I sighed and turned to the man beside me. "Take care of nts, Mage Irgal," I said to the man. "Best of luck, Lord Silver," he wished, understanding what was happening. "Thank you," I thanked with a smile and walked away. Ting! Soon, I was in the elevator, going down. A few secondster, it stopped in the lobby, and I walked out. I could see the people around me. The lobby is the most crowded space in the whole tower. It is an art gallery, with many famous pieces. After the opening, many offered the pieces from their collection. Including those who had rejected my request first. Some bowed as they saw me and I nodded to them, before walking out calmly out of the lobby. There is no need to scare them. It won''t be long, before they know, what is happening. Till then, let them enjoy themselves. Click! The carriage was already waiting for me, and I sat down in it. "Have they reached the continent?" I asked. She shook her head. "No, they are currently engaged with the forces of Princess Orelen," she replied, surprising me. "Her forces are fighting against the undead?" I asked to be sure, and she nodded. This shouldn''t have been happening. She wouldn''t fight the undead; it didn''t suit her ns. It will embolden her in conflict, she could easily stay away from it. She wouldn''t do it to protect the region. She has bigger priorities. As for the duty? No. From what I know, the woman is pragmatic. She wouldn''t let her sense of dutye between her goals. Unless someone had offered her something, that would make her take such risks. She could do it for the essence, but I am not giving her enough to make her to do it. There is only one other reason, I could think of them. "Merchants," I muttered. They love to pull strings from shadows. They hate Vris''alud. Not because they attacked the neighborhood, but because they destroyed the trade with one of the lucrative markets for them. The mayhurst ind. The merchants love money and are rational, but they can be petty and vengeful, at times. I might be wrong, but I don''t really care. I care about what is happening in the sea. "Is it a big battle?" I asked. "The imperial navy had sunken twenty-three ships. That undead decided to split into several parts and move toward the region. "How many ships are there?" I asked. "They were saying, it was around hundred and fifty," she replied. If it had been people, it would have taken over a thousand or two thousand ships to carry numbers of the undead they are carrying. With the undead, it is much easier. They can be stuffed with any clothes; they do not feel difort or pain or anything; they are undead. If the necromancer is powerful enough. He could disassemble all the skeletons and assemble them after reaching the destination. It''s one of the things that makes these undead dangerous. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 420: Half Million Undead Chapter 420: Half Million Undead Click! The guard opened the doors of the conference room seven, and I entered inside. "Lord Silver," they greeted. I nodded and sat down. "What''s the update?" I asked. "The imperial navy is chasing the scattered ships of the undead," replied Cardin. "What is the number of sunk ships?" I asked, while reading the file in front of me. "Thirty-one. More might be sunk during the chase," replied Cardin. "This is the best news we could hope to hear," said Stone, and I couldn''t help, but nod at that. "It is, but the undead areing and we will need to fight them." "The imperials had made, things a little easy for us," I said. I liked to believe it would affect things tremendously and it would if enough of the ships sank. If not, it might not change things at all, given the sheer size of the horde, that ising. In the past seven months, I read a few things. History, strategies, and one thing, I had learned, is that I shouldn''t make huge assumptions. The help from the imperials is definitely positive, but how much it will help remains to be seen. Half an hourter, the meeting ended. We will meet once again, at ten. I returned to my office instead of going home; there will be no family dinner today. I contacted both the imperials and merchants, and thanked them first, of course, before trying to get greater rity. I may have tempered expectations earlier, but I did that. So, my people wouldn''t becent, but those words were also not a lie. Time passed, and soon it was a ten. I went back to the conference room. "The imperial navy had done the job; they are supposed to. They had attacked the undead, sinking thirty-nine of their ships," said Cardin. The numbers are better than we had thought. They had sunk, nearly a third of the undead ships. There is a problem with the undead. If you sink the ship, that does mean you kill them. They survive, but they need someone to guide them or a powerful undead. They also need to do it fast; the sea isn''t kind to undead. It whittles away their power. It''s short term, it didn''t matter to us. Even if they survive; they will take a week or more to reach the region and I don''t think, the undead would wait for that long to attack us. Or wait at all. "The ships have started to dock at regions shores. At Ashton Harbor, as well as the Gailhorn," "The intelligence said, that within the next hour, all the ships would reach the region," he stated. Nobody said anything for several seconds. Till a few hours ago, the undead were at the sea, but now, they had reached the shores. "The question is now about the attack. When to be specific. Will they attack immediately or wait?" I asked. "They are keeping an eye on the undead. We are getting updates on their every move," he replied. The meeting ended a few minutester and, once again, I returned to my office. I looked at the file in front of me; the top-secret one. It had information on the exact number of army and the weapons we have. It''s always with Ina. The numbers are good. So are the weapons, but it is undead we are dealing with; they will not make it easy. "The undead started moving," informed Z. "Where?" I asked. I knew where they were moving, but I still asked to make sure. "East," she replied. They areing toward us. These bastards didn''t wait at all; not that a day or two would have helped. "How many?" I asked. "Around three hundred thousand," she replied. A number slightly more than thest time. I have the confidence to crush them with my army, but the undead aren''t idiots. There would be more. They wouldn''t attack us with such numbers, knowing what our numbers are. "Wake me up, when they reached Panar," I said and walked into the suite. Yes, there is a suite in here, and Miss Rolgath had done a wonderful job on it. Iy down and closed my eyes. It took a while to fall asleep, as all my thoughts were upied by the undead, or rather than daring, thoughts. Stone had discussed it with me a few weeks ago. It would give the city a breathing space if we seeded in it. I pushed the thought down as deep as possible. There is nothing more important than dealing with the iing attack of the undead. I should first deal with it, before thinking about anything else. "Lord Silver," A gentle voice woke up; I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. It is ten minutes to four; I usually work around the same time. "Have they reached Panar?" I asked, and she nodded. "Colonel Azalea and Cardin are waiting for you. In your office," she informed. I nodded and got up from the bed. I went to the bathroom and returned in five minutes, before activating Get Ready; I didn''t even change my suit. Click! "Lord Silver," they greeted. "What''s the update?" I asked, and their expressions turned serious. "The undead had reached Panar, where they merged with two hundred and fifty thousand undead waiting for them," replied Cardin. As I had said. There would be more. "Slightly more than half a million," I said and took a heavy sigh. It is more than double than thest time. Much stronger; there is a report of special undead and weapons. It will be a tough battle I was really hoping the undead would be below half a million, but it seemed like, the undead, really wanted to conquer it, as they have taken the forces from Panar, making it venerable. It is why I controlled the jubtion of my people. We had expected the undead would attack us with such numbers. The imperials sunk their ships, but they just took the forces from another city. "Have we been able to find out, how many powerhouses they have?" I asked, and he shook his head. "There are only eight of them are visible. Five of them are from Panar," he said, sliding down the list of people; there are only six names there. Two are nk; only their descriptions are visible. Means we were not able to recognize them till yet. "How are preparations?" I asked. "Good. Commander Stone himself looking at the preparations," replied Cardin. A few minutester, they left. I stayed in my office till five, before walking into the conference, which was filled with people. Everyone is here, from mercenaries to orcs to priests. I waved my hand, asking them to sit down, but I didn''t. "The undead areing and this time, they are bringing the force more than double of thest time," I said, looking at the eyes of each one of them. "The estimated numbers are fifty-five hundred thousand. It is not just the numbers are greater, but the quality of undead is also better," "Not to mention the powerhouses; I am sure there would be more than thest time." They looked at me, with varying emotions. Some are scared, while others have a fighting spirit burning in their eyes. Whatever they are feeling, they are ready to fight. It is the reason why they decided to stay in the city. "It is the greatest challenge our city has faced till now, but I am grateful for all of you to stand against them with me," "I am not omniscient to tell you that we are going to win the battle, but I am going to tell you that we are going to give the undead such a battle, they had never fought before," I said. Thud Thud Thud! There was a silence for nearly ten seconds before they began to thump the desks hard. Seeing that, a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. Half an hourter, I walked out of that meeting and entered another. It is of the civilians, and they are scared, and worried, which is natural. I spoke with them, gave them hope; it''s the only thing I could do. It took me two more hours, when I was finally able to get out of city hall, only to see a deserted city. We have informed them of the undeadst night. At four, when the undead left, the Panar, we shifted them into a safe zone. It happened quickly and more efficiently. We had seven months to prepare for it. It pains my heart to see my city, like this, but there is no option. We can y around with the safety of our citizens; a safe zone is the best ce for them. Soon, the carriage reached the gates, where there wasrge activity going on. We had outfitted the walls with new cannons in seven months, but in the past month. We had got some restricted things, and we were outfitting the walls with them. They were expensive, and I had to use the essence to buy them. The bastard merchants weren''t willing to sell, them to me for money, nor did I have money. They have given me these in advance. I had only paid, the first installment two days ago. It is a trade many would do These weapons are hidden in spells and witchcraft. The spies and scrying spells will have a hard time breaching this protection. Click! I got out of the carriage and looked at preparations, before climbing on the wall. "Everything is looking good," I said, looking at the preparation. "It is, but the enemy isn''t weak. Especially that necromancer, leading the horde. He is good at dealing with the decapitation strategies," he replied, sounding faintly worried. Necromancer Methum. He is an experienced necromancer. Fighting since Vris''alud invasion. He has been leading for a few years and is quite good, especially against the decapitation strategies. The one we had used, in thest battle and nning to use on this one too. Fighting asymmetrically is the choice we have, given the enemy, has ten times a number than us. Wayne was overconfident, which gave us a chancest time. This strategist wouldn''t make that same mistake. "I have confidence in you. I am sure, you will bring our city to a victory," I said. The man didn''t say anything to that. He just looked ahead, where mine beingid out. I didn''t say anything and watched quietly for a few minutes before walking away. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 421: Undead At Gates Chapter 421: Undead At Gates Aston Harbor "Bring the glory to the Vris''alud,"manded the man with the staff. Immediately, the horde standing in front of the gates of Ashton Harbor begins to move. It is a massive horde. Containing a million undead and it is moving toward the Port Midlet. "It''s such a regret, that we couldn''t attack the Deepond," said the armored man beside him. The man with the staff didn''t say anything, but it''s clear, that he is angry. Not at him, but what happened yesterday that poured water over their ns. The attack was unexpected. When they came to know about it; they were shocked. They had not expected for imperial navy to attack their ships like that. Its merchants. The weapons the imperial had used to attack their ship hade from the merchants. For it, they will soon pay a price. "We will after, we conquer Greltheaven and Port Midlet.The victory here will give us the freedom to attack both Deerpond and Riverbell," said the man with the staff. "Then, we can make the merchants pay," he grinned with joy and anger. He has a reason to hate the merchants. Not because of yesterday''s attack, but for nearly taking his life; the sling is wearing is because of that. He was barely able to save his life from the assassin of the merchants. He had dared to take a risk, seeing there was no movement from merchants, but he was wrong and paid a price for that. "Do you think, Greltheaven will be conquered by the evening?" asked the armored man after a few seconds of silence. "Unlikely. They had made preparations and got some weapons from the merchants." "The elder-blood leading is also good. So, it should take around ten before we receive the news of the victory," replied the man with the staff. They have no doubts about the victory. Especially in the Greltheaven. All the powerhouses supposed to go there are there and so are special undead. Yes, they have lost ships, but the ones going for the Greltheaven only lost themon undead, which they had gotten from Panar. "I hope, they will do it sooner. I want the legacy under our control as soon as possible," said the armored man. The man with the staff didn''t say anything to that, but his lips had quirked up in a smile. ¡­ Wayne "Everybody understood?" asked Necromancer Methum after he exined the n in detail. "It''s a great n, Commander. Just like Hasit, here too, we willpletely dominate the enemy and force them to surrender within an hour." "If they didn''t, we will wipe them all out," said Xander, Methum''scky. He had been with him for years. "What do you think, Wayne?" asked Necromancer Methum. There is no mockery or ridicule hidden in his question; it feels like a simple question. "It''s a brilliant n. If you are willing to listen, I have a small bit of advice," I said. "Necromancer Methum doesn''t need some advice from a loose like you," Xander barked. I felt a deep rage for the bastard, but no word came out of my mouth. I had lost the battle and lost it badly. Since then, I have been suffering humiliation after humiliation and there is nothing I can do because it''s the truth. I had thought about the battle thousands of times and realized what an idiot, I had been. If I had used my brain. I would have conquered the city. "What advice, Mage Wayne?" asked Necromancer Methum. "The elder blood. Kill him as soon as possible," I replied. I still remember the bastard. How he had killed my powerhouses one after another. He was the biggest reason. I had lost the battle. Don''t worry, Mage Wayne. I will kill the elder blood myself," said the old man and grinned. I wanted to repeat my words, seeing the confidence in the old man''s face, but decided not to. He is an experienced man. He will do fine, especially with numbers. I will fight as I had been ordered. It won''t wipe out the mark of humiliating defeat, but it will help a little if I do well enough in the battle. ¡­ "A horde of million had left for the Port Midlet," informed Z. I stopped and turned toward her. "Not any toward the Deerpond?" I asked. "Currently, no, but they might," she replied. Lucky bastards! They have only been attacked once. This will be the third undead attack on us. The change might be due to fifteen thousand soldiersing from the Lord of Deerponds territory. This will take his army to over a hundred thousand. The number, if I had. I wouldn''t have been as worried as I am right now. "A horde of million. Even with the army he has; it will be a challenge for him to deal with such a massive horde," I said and resumed walking. The army in Port Midlet is big. Two and a half times bigger than us, thanks to his father, while he is facing the army, only bigger than us. His army is also better, and more diversified. He had a good mix of infantry and cavalry. His cavalry is also good and capable of causing massive damage. It is the reason he was able to defend against the two attacks of the undead. I sighed and walked toward my army. It had gathered, and it was huge. In the past seven months, I have been recruiting people for my army. Over 70% of these people are experienced. They have fought in at least one battle. It''s costing me massive money. I am using over 50% of the revenue of the city, for the army. Despite that, I want to recruit more. I will recruit more. If the city had survived the attack today. I looked at the army and a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. It is smaller than I like, given the size of the energy, but I am confident in their abilities. It is not just the army in here, but also the mercenaries. Some of whiche from the merchant state and Inam. This time, there are no volunteers fighting. I have gathered them, but they will not be fighting. They will be inside the city, supporting the army, that is, on the wall. Though, we do not think. They will need to fight, as long as we are fighting outside. Necromancer Methum wouldn''t make the same mistake as Wayne did. Wayne had used some of his forces to attack the city while he was fighting with us. Thismander will first finish us off; once he does, the city will be his for taking. Still, we need to prepare for that scenario. We cannot look inside his mind, or we have spies close to him. He might do what Wayne had done. Nothing could be said for sure. Hun! Suddenly, a horn rang out, and I turned toward the wall before walking toward it. The horn means the undead could be seen. I reached the wall and looked through the spyss. I could see the undead; they were in a small spot, which was getting bigger by the second. It won''t take long for them to reach here. "They havee," I said. "They have," said Colonel Azalea, bringing her spyss down. We watched theme closer and closer, till they started to look like the unending tide they are. "It''s time, Lord Silver," said Stone. I nodded and climbed out of the wall with him and the other officers. Soon, we are standing in front of the army of fifty thousand people. There are forty-nine thousand seven hundred and twenty-two people, to be exact. It took arge effort, but I am proud of what the city was able to achieve in these few short months. I took a step forward and looked at my army. "The enemies havee. They havee to take our city, our way of life. They want to conquer us, turn us into the undead," I said, using my skills at full power. "But we will not let that happen. We will resist, we will defeat them, like we didst time. That they will think about twice, before attacking our city again!" I was shouting at the end, but it worked. Thud Thud Thud! The next moment, every solider in the army begin to hit their legs hard on the ground. It begins to feel like the earthquake hase. It stopped a couple of secondster. "Follow me,"manded Stone and began to lead the army outside of the gates. In the past battles, we had charged out the gate when the energy came in front of the city. Now, we are more confident in our abilities, but also because the army is big will need some time to charge out. Which the enemy might exploit. It is hard, but there are many skills and weapons. We don''t want to take any risk, regarding it. Soon, the entire army stood in front of the gates, looking at the enemy, which was barely visible to the naked eye. "It is one massive horde," I said, as I looked unending horde through the spyss. "If it had been my first battle, my lord. I don''t think I would have the courage to fight it," said the half-orc beside me. The orc beside him snickers, but doesn''t say anything. "I don''t think, I would too, Major Kruabur," I replied. My heart is shaking in fear. My body would have to, if not me, control it. It wouldn''t look good to see the lord of the city scared. I put a spyss down and waited. I didn''t have to wait for long before I could see the massive unending horde with my naked eyes. It is massive and getting bigger by the second. I could see some of the people beside me shaking. Some even took a step back, when the enemy''s fear skills started to affect them. A momentter, waves of skills activated from our people. Resisting the fear skill of the enemy. We might have been able to resist it, but we were not able to wipe the fear from our eyes. Which is natural. If one is not scared of seeing such force, then they aren''t human at all. The massive horde came closer and closer, before stopping at a mile away from us. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 422: Encircled Chapter 422: Encircled Methum "Why waste time? He is going to reject it," said Xander and I smiled. "Because we are civilized people. We don''t want to fight when the job could be done with the words," I replied. I rode my skeleton horse ahead. The horde parted, for me, till I reached in front of it. It is dangerous in the front; they could try to snipe at me. A few did in my past battles, but they wouldn''t seed like those before they didn''t. It may not look like it, but there are invisible shields all around me. The enemy is a mile away, with the men, less than ten times mine. They be clear as I cast the Far Eyes. I could see the defiance in the eyes of some, especially the leader, but most were scared. It is a natural reaction, seeing there is a difference of over ten times, between the two armies. This is the highest difference in the number of battles, I had ever fought. The greatest difference I had was over six times, which I had won. I had won all the battles that had our numbers over five times. It is not hard. I don''t know why idiots leading the battles before me did not win. I am just talking about the Greltheaven, but other cities as well. I shook those thoughts away and looked ahead at the enemy. "Lord Silver, surrender, and you will be spared. Resist and there will be consequences," I said. I didn''t offer to spare anyone. Why would? We are going to win this battle and I had done this courtesy because he is the host of legacy. The higher-ups had ced great importance on him. Saying he could take the legacy to Grade III in a decade. Some are even saying it could happen in five years. "No," Came a reply to a momentter. It was curt. It irked me and made me angry. He could have used a few more words and a better tone to reply. I will make him pay for this disrespect. I heard he likes his whores; I will turn them undead. Especially his mistress. It will fit with what higher-ups want. They want to punish him for the resistance. No one should resist Vris''alud; they should bow and ept their fate. Because if they did not, we would make them suffer a fate worse than death. "It is war then," I said, and my staff zed. "Charge!" Imanded, and the horde of half a million undead moved forward toward the enemy. "Charge!" A vast roar came from the energy, and a tiny army charged toward us. Seeing that, a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. The horde would swallow it and it wouldn''t take long. The battle would be over, while still the sun shining in the sky. "They have made good preparations," said Wayne, looking ahead. "The mines. The bastards had spread them everywhere," said Xander. I couldn''t help, but nod. There are a lot of mines; more powerful than those ofst time. If we want to avoid them, we will need to move the horde through the narrow strip, through which the energy charging toward us. Why would I do that? The undead will sweep through them. We will lose some undead, but that''s fine. "Activate Anti-mine measures," I ordered and cast Yiran''s Dampening. I felt the skills and spells next moment, sweeping toward the mines. They will weaken the explosion, and some won''t explode at all. Boom Boom Boom Suddenly, the booming sound rang out. The cannons released the cannonballs. "Their numbers are five times more than thest time," stated Wayne. "Fucking merchants!" cursed Xander in response. The merchants had provided the weapons here as they did to the imperials to fight against us in the sea. The battle at the sea had really been terrible. The imperials were prepared. They not only had the weapons but also the powerhouses. There were a lot of mages on ships, that dealt with our attacks. "Shields on," I ordered. "Use them economically," I added a momentter. I know, I will win the battle, but I don''t want to take the risks. They need to have mana to deal with energy and also the mischief of merchants. I do not care little armying toward me. I will crush it without a doubt. What I am worried about is the bastard merchants. They scare me and here they might do something, seeing the Greltheaven control the major trade route. Bang Bang Bang! The cannonballsnded on the shields and a small surprise appeared on my face, seeing their power. I thought they would start withmon ones before moving to powerful ones. In thest two battles, they barely had any, but this time, they had started with it. I tried to look at the weapons again, but they were hiding them with the skills and spells "The enemy is really terrified. They are using powerful ammunition from the start," said Xander. "It didn''t matter. Our mages could defend against it," I replied. "They will need to be stronger than this, to strain our mages," he said, and I smiled. Soon, we reached the field of mine. There are thousands of them. I could use either spell to sweep through the undead. The undead are much cheaper. "Spread!" I ordered, and the horde began to spread like a tide. Without care of the minefield, which covers arge area. Bang Bang Bang! The mine began to explode as the undead moved through them, while cannonballs rained on them from above. A few of those cannonballs are hitting our forces. They didn''t harm any people, only the undead. I had expected the spells toe too. They had in the past two times, but not a single offensive spell hade toward us. ''The giant blood is smart,'' I thought. Soon, less than half a mile remained between us, and I could see and feel the army skills activated. They are less effective here since 99% of our forces are made of the undead. Still, every bit helps. Finally, there are only four hundred meters remaining, between us. "Envelope," Imanded. Immediately, the order followed, and my forces moved to envelop the little army. Yes, enveloping it fully; I would encircle it fully, before massacring it. There will be no escape, everybody will die with only a few exceptions. They had brought on themselves. They have created a narrow way with mines everywhere. The best option for them would have been to fight from the wall, which is considered a bad option against the undead. It would have dyed their defeat by a few hours. What did they expect whening at us like this? They should have known we would do this. I will do this; I am quite good at it. I had even brought a few things with me. That had not been used in this region before by us. They will make help me end the battle quickly. "Do you think, they will surrender in an hour?" asked Xander. "Unlikely," I replied. "I think, they will. I mean, look at their faces," said Xander. They were scared, but not a single one tried to run away, like I had seen in many battles. The elder blood had trained them well. "Xander, Wayne with me. We are going to finish off the elder flood first," I said to the two men beside me. Usually, I fight alone, but in this battle, I will have Wayne and Xander with me. You can not underestimate the elder bloods and seeing, that I had never fought one, I rather not take a risk. Wayne might have had a humiliating defeat, but he is powerful. Strongest beside me in the army, who also had experience with the elder blood. I would be an idiot, not to use him, despite the distaste I feel for him. ¡­ "They are enveloping," said Major Kruabur, seeing the horde bending toward us from the edges. Forming a semicircle, which turned into a circle Methum is doing what he does when he has a massive edge in numbers. It is not a unique strategy among the undead. They are known to use it, with murderous efficiency. They have ughtered whole armies with this strategy. We want them to use it on us because, like them, we too have a n. It was extremely risky, but we did not have any other choice. We could have fought from the wall, but that would have resulted in the victory of the undead. Here, we have at least some chance of victory. They are moving, and at every step, the circle bes more and moreplete. They are not caring about the mines, that are sting undead or cannonballsing from above. They only want to surround us. "Halt!" Ordered Stone and the army followed immediately. I felt relieved because it was important that the army stopped at this spot. The army had followed themand, they were trained to do so despite the emotions they were feeling. "Circle thorn formation," The secondmand came, and people moved, including me. T The undead had their n while we had ours. The circle thorn formation put our most powerful forward as the thorns. Theplete circle will bear the pressure, but the thorns will be bearing the most. I am not the thorn, but I am in the front. This formation will be able to help usst longer as we will be able to change ces, with those behind. Though, it is not the reason, we had chosen to use it. Encircling is a great strategy, but it has its ws, like the circle thorn formation we are using. The undead enveloped us from all directions. Everywhere I looked, I saw the undead,ing toward us through the sting mines. Finally, they stopped when there was only a ten-meter distance between us. Necromancer Methum, stepped forward with a big smile on his face. "Your lord had made a grave mistake. We would have given you a quick, painless death, but now you will have a painful death." "We will massacre you all, till not a single one of you survive," he said with a joy written all over his face. "Kill them all!" He roared, and the undead tide moved toward us from every direction. Hun! "It''s notmon undead anymore," said someone behind me as she noticed the umon undead among, the tide. Big zombies, huge skeletons. I had even spotted an animalist skeleton, at a distance from me. However, the things that attacked my gaze were the cannons. The undead had brought the freaking cannons with them. Fitted on the skeleton beasts. Methum is confident because it is arge number of undead, he had brought, but also the powerhouses, umon undead, and weapons. All these thingsbined will give him an absolute victory. If I had been in his ce, I would have thought that too. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 423: Encircled II Chapter 423: Encircled II Cardin "Should we begin, Colonel?" asked the Hewett. Seeing undead moving to attack the encircled army. "Orders Major, we haven''t received them yet," I replied to the man beside me. We could only begin after receiving an order from Commander Stone. Till then, we will continue with this normal barrage of cannons. "There are too many undead in there, Colonel. The army would be swallowed by them in a minute," said the blond man with a clear fear in his eyes. "They won''t be, Major," I replied. The man had never fought the undead before. He is a veteran of many battles and a brave man. He was my junior, and we had fought in many battles together; he was there where I got afflicted with that skill. He hade four months ago. An excellent officer with amazing skills. They are going to help a lot when we begin. ¡­ Orok Uram The undead came toward us in the tide. There was nothing but the undead. I had fought with them twice. Despite that, my heart couldn''t help, but shake seeing theming toward me. The Rhythm Of Wild begins to sing through my body as the earth shakes with the feet of the undead. It didn''t sing as loudly as it used to be in the forest, but I will take any advantage I have when fighting against the enemy, that could bury us with sheer numbers. Boom Boom Boom! I gripped my ax tightly and readied myself to face them when I felt as if the sky were ripped apart. Cannons mounted on the skeleton beasts breathed fire and fist-sized balls came out of them, shooting toward us at blurring speed, holding incredible power. I know very well what it could do to me. They had trained us for it. Showed us, the damage it could do to us if we were caught in its sts. I have a very good defensive skill, but it didn''t help in elevating the fear of the cannons. Despite the danger, I only nced at them. I am keeping my eye on them, but not focused on them. My focus is locked on the undead and the powerhouses hidden deep in them. As for the cannonballs, it''s not my responsibility, unless ites really close to me. The undead were less than five meters away from us when the mages acted. Bang Bang Bang! Their shields appeared in front of the cannonballs. Stopping them. It made me feel relieved, but I quickly focused on the undead in front of me. There are a lot of them, half a million. We could not kill them all and it''s not a n either. The undead had surrounded us as such, that we couldn''t use the targeted strategy, we had usedst time. If we tried. They will swallow us. They have enough numbers and a powerhouse this time. They could stop any group, no matter how big it is. We wouldn''t be able to move much deeper into the undead before they swallowed it. Fighting from here isn''t much better either; they will tire us out, before swallowing us. I really hope, Commander Stone has a n. I came to love the city; I don''t want to lose, the life, I had built here. The first time, in my life. I have a friend. People talk to me. "I am breathing," said the woman beside me and a momentter. The plum of fire released from her mouth. It went straight at the undead, before spreading. Covering over twenty undead. The fire burned brightly as it had covered the undead. It is burning them as if the undead are dried parjis leaves that burn brightly by even a touch of spark. She shouldn''t have done that. Now those fire-covered undead areing at us. They will cause more damage to us, than we have caused to them. I turned to her to admonish. I had been told she was important, but she was under mymand. She shouldn''t have done that. It puts others'' lives in danger. I had just opened my mouth when the zombies and skeletons covered in fire fell on the ground one after another. The fire had also quickly disappeared. "The fire has the light element," she replied to the question, I had in my mind. I only nodded and turned to the undead. They had arrived, and they were everywhere. Rippp! I exhaled and moved forward with my men and swung my ax. Cutting through six undead in a single swing, before swinging it again and killing the other five, which had taken their ce. My men did the same. They cut through the undead, including the woman. Though she had released another breath of fire, through the gaps among the undead. Burning the undead, that were behind. I have been ordered to look after her. Protect, if she is in danger. I didn''t like it, like how I didn''t like themand, that had been given to me. I am used to fighting alone. I have been promoted to the captain and with it given themand of thepany. I had never fought together with people. Never got a chance because of the curse. Condition as they are calling it here. The healers herepared it to the limp that some are born with, not a curse that I heard all my life. My family had been banished the day, I was born. My mother, left me, that same week. It was my father who raised me. I wish he had brought me here to the cities, but the man didn''t know anything about the cities. He never left the forest. He was born there and died there. I would have to suffer the same fate. If not for getting caught as the bandit. I was no bandit, but I decided to follow behind them. I was in need of a weapon. The one, I had been broken with my fight with the cktooth Tiger. I followed behind him, to catch any runaway and snatch their weapon. I had been doing that for years. Once I was lucky and able to get an enchanted weapon. I had used it till its enchantments wore off. That battle had been bad. I saw the bandits getting ambushed by the humans. They came at me too, and I had fought them off and nearly escaped before a woman appeared in front of me like a chilly wind. Her sword broke through my defensive skill and froze me. I thought I was dead, but when I opened my eyes. I found myself in a cell with orcs around me trying to maintain as much distance from me as possible. Rip Rip Rip! I tore through another group of undead and then another. I didn''t use any skills, nor do I need to. These undead aren''t worth it, not even the skills of the soldier ss. I killed the undead while keeping my eyes on mypany. It is doing well. It had been three months since I had got themand of them. All of them are humans. Not a single orc wants to work under the cursed like me. I heard shamans were against my promotions. The Commander and the Lord had gone through it. Not all people in mypany were mine. Twenty-one new people were added yesterday, including the woman. Thankfully, they didn''t have a problem working under the orc. A few had, the two lieutenants especially, both of them mid-level twenties, like me. Their problem wasn''t about my race or the curse, but about being on the same level as me. I had defeated them in a minute. We sparred hundreds of times since then and they had neversted over five minutes. Hun! I cleared my thoughts as Rhythm of Wild spiked. I looked and saw the group of undead, different from what I had fought before They are a group of skeletons and zombies. They are bigger and feel more powerful, than themon undead. "Careful," I said to my men. They gave me the space, and I stepped forward, clearing themon undead, till there were only umon ones around me. There are about fifty of them. Raaaa! I let them move toward me, before leaping toward them. They sensed me as they let out the strange noise. I didn''t care, I moved as Rhythm of Wild sang in me, and swung my ax, shing with the power of the enchantment. I am not using my skills, but I am using the enchantment on my ax. I could have done without them, but the enchantment would make it easier. Help me conserve my strength for the powerful enemies. I felt their attack through the Rhythm of Wild and saw there was no ce for me to dodge. So, I made the space. I kicked the dead undead I had decapitated and stepped into their ce before swinging my ax toward those who attacked me. The same thing happened, and I moved into the ce of the dead undead and killed them. It''s quite easy,pared to foes I had fought before. Freyis wolf pack is the most dangerous. They aren''t the most powerful of the monsters, I had fought, but they are the most difficult to deal with. In nearly every fight with them, I hade out worse. They are fast and have an impable teamwork. Their ws, sharp as these enchanted des, could tear through the flesh like soft y. The umon undead, on the other hand. May attack with the same physical power, but they are slow. They had moves and some finesse in them, but I had found monsters used them with more intelligence than them. Rippp Rippp Rippp! Finally, I crushed through thest of the undead and moved back to mypany. "Not even a single injury; you are really a monster captain," said the blue mustache man. "Focus, captain, we are in the battle," I replied as I killed another group of undead. They are everywhere, endless. Supported by the mages and the cannons, that are ringing non-stop. Our mages are defending, but they couldn''t defend against all. I saw the damage, that cannonball did; it killed a group of humans and orcs along with undead. They do not care about the undead; all they care about killing us. Hun! A minute passed and another. We kept killing the undead when the Rhythm Of Wild changed. Immediately, I saw the powerhouses emerging from the undead. Lv. 30+, pre-Lv. 30 and more. Warriors, mages, necromancers with special undead around. "Fuck!" cursed Captain Donil, seeing them. Therge number of the undead aren''t as scary as these powerhouses. There are a lot of them and the most dangerous of them all is the old man with the grey crystal staff. He moved toward the Commander Stone, followed by two men. One, I had recognized. He was themander of thest horde. Now, he is following behind the old man. Commander Stone moved toward him. He too, had two people behind him. One is a Pdin Carr, and the other is Garzong. I quickly looked away, when the song spiked again and saw five peopleing toward me. I opened my mouth to give the orders when I had received the message. ''Fuck!'' I cursed and turned to the enemy. All pre-level thirty, from what I could guess, with two mages. "Lieutenant Donal, you will handle the ck armored man." Lieutenant Azika, you will deal with the old man," "Lieutenant Hasid. You will fight the mage with the fiery crystal," I gave themands. I could see the relief in Mage''s eyes atmand. He only needs to fight one mage. "Commander, what about the Necromancer and Warrior?" Hasid asked, already guessing what I was nning to do. "Leave them to me," I said and moved toward the enemy. I have no choice, but to engage with necromancer and the warrior beside it. The message states, I won''t be getting extra mage to deal with the necromancer. I will have to deal with them with forces, I have. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 424: Target Chapter 424: Target Valentina ''Gently, gently,'' I repeated in my heart as I started to bring those things from underground. They are extremely sensitive and expensive. The slightest mistake and they will explode, and we didn''t want them to explode before they came out. I buried themst night and now bringing them out. Some would ask me, why we can''t just throw them like the cannonballs. Well, we can''t. They are extremely sensitive and need to be handled with extreme care. It also gets quickly discovered by the skills and spells. Especially the Dengersense, which would start ring in its presence. I had brought them close enough. That their skills should have started reacting, but they aren''t. ''It seemed like whatever Remus did to make it invisible to skills and spells is working.'' I thought. I have a few guesses; some seemed preposterous. A few are illegal and some are in the realm of reason. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the task at hand. Remus said, I will have around forty-five minutes from the army entering the range. I will have to finish the task in that, or the enemy will sense it. It had already been ten minutes. They have surrounded us, and we have around half an hour at most. Those four things are the most expensive weapons Remus had brought. I myself had gone to the Meldhorn to pick it up. We had paid a massive price of two hundred and forty Grade II essence bottles for them. I had only got these things, after handing over the essences. If I failed, all would go down the drain, but if I seeded. The chances of our victory would increase by a huge percentage. I have to finish it quickly. The longer it will take, the more casualties our army will suffer. I could see the enemies had brought their cannons and powerhouse. Their numbers are really high, that people are hard-pressed against them. I could hear cannonballsing down from above, stopped only by the shields. They are not only targeting those in the front, but also at the center. More cannonballsing at the center than the front. There are enough people protecting me, that I don''t need to worry about any threat. The only thing, I have to worry about is my task. ¡­ Orok Uram The enemies grinned at me, seeing me walking toward them. Especially the necromancer. She is a tall human woman with purple hair and a grey robe around her. There is a script on her robes. It is notmon, which I had learned to read, a few months ago. I don''t like mages, no warrior does. The mages are the most dangerous opponents for us warriors, our bane. A same level mage could kill ten of us. If skilled enough and have good enough spells. I had never fought mages beforeing here. I had heard about them from my father. He shuddered whenever he used to talk about them. I thought he was overestimating them until I saw their power myself. Now, I would need to fight one myself and it is not the only one. There is also the warrior; a bald, bronze-skinned human of medium height. Sup Sup Sup! I had not even taken three steps when Bone Spears materialized in front of the necromancer and shot toward me. There are ten of them; each one of them is sharp. So, much, they would be able to pierce through my body without any problem. I reacted immediately and activated the skill from my main ss. My speed increased with Wild Dash. Like all my skills, it is also suppressed in this environment, but this one is one of the less suppressed ones. I could use 80% strength of Wild Dash, which is the highest while only 25% of Rhythm Of Wild, the lowest. The speed is good, but spears are faster. I know I wouldn''t be able to dodge them all. So, I turned and activated another skill. Wild Swing. ng ng! The ax moved fast and tore through the three Bone Spears, one after another. Surprising the mage and the warrior. I have a practice of dealing with magical attacks. A lot of monsters have them. The necromancer attacked again and this time, with bolts of energy. Dark Bolts. Once more, I moved to dodge the attack, but they were fast and reached me before I could dodge them fully. I swung my ax with Wild Swing again and defended against four of the bolts when another attack came. This one isn''t from the Necromancer, but from the bald warrior. His green saber, moved swiftly like a wind, with the promise of death. It will give me death. If I let ite close to anywhere near my head. I didn''t retreat against his attack, instead moved my ax forward at an odd angle. Which would have broken the bones of anyone, unless there is a skill. It is not a skill, but a flexibility, I had gained through a lot of hard work and arge number of nonik fruits. ng! My ax shed against his saber, and I used Parry. The skill from my Soldier ss, but so has he, and his is powerful. My Solider ss is at Lv. 9 while his is the main ss which is close to Lv. 30. Despite, the powerful attributes, my parry isn''t as strong as his Parry. He parried the attack and came at me. Opening himself to me, which he didn''t think he had, but he did. The opening is big enough, that I could kill him with it. Hun! I was about to move at him when I saw Bone Spearsing toward me. I retreated immediately with the Wild Dash while moving my ax forward to defend against the attack. Rip! I defended against the bolt, but the bald warrior''s saber, cut through my arm. The cut is deep, reaching the bone. On top of that, there is pain skill attached to it, which brought tears to my eyes. "You have dodged it," said the bald man and came toward me with another attack. At the same time, the necromancer attacked me with another spell. I retreated to dodge the attack; there was no option. If I shed with the warrior, those bolts would have me. I rather not let that happen. The bald warrior isn''t the one to let me retreat easily. He followed me with his speed skill, which is fast. ng! I had to defend against its saber to not get decapitated. Giving the opportunity for two bolts to reach me. Survivors Protection. I activated my defensive skill, which covered me with the invisible protection. The next moment, energy bolts pierced through me. Giving me a sensation like, I had been swallowed by the dark cold water. I could see the necromancer grinning, beforeunching another round of bolts, while I moved my ax to defend against the attack of the warrior. The protection wasn''t able to stop the bolts fully. I could feel the damage they were doing and another of my skills moving to heal it. Survivor''s Healing. This is the sole skill, that kept me alive from the injuries that would have killed me, hundreds of times. Still, this is not a solution to my problem, which is the necromancer. I have to deal with her before she kills me, but she is a mage. There are also the four special undead she had kept around herself. As long as she kept attacking me. I wouldn''t be able to deal with the warrior and they will eventually kill me. I cannot let that happen. The necromancer hadunched another attack, at the same time, the warrior had swung his saber at me. His attack is much faster than before, with more power. I wanted to avoid it, but couldn''t. Seeing more than half of the Bone Spears will hit me. That will give the opportunity to the bald warrior to finish me off. ng! My ax stopped the attack, but the very next moment, those Bone Spears came at me. Puch! I moved my body, but the spears still hit me. My armor was able to stop the two, but one pierced through my lower back. Though not as deeply as the necromancer had expected, as the frown had appeared on her face. Hun! The warrior attacked me again, when the Rhythm of Wild spiked again, in familiar fashion. I leaped into the air to avoid it despite knowing, it might make me a target in the air. I dodged the attack of the warrior, but I didn''t leap for it. There is something more dangerous and painful. I have experienced it many times and don''t want to do it anymore. The moment after, I dodged; the sharp bones spurted out of the ground. If I had stayed there, I would have been porcupines. I remember well, what the spikes could do. Earless bone rats had the ability to create Bone Spikes from the earth. I had suffered so deeply from them; that rhythm of them had imprinted in my mind. The necromancer had failed in her attack, but now she had got me in the air. The ce that restricts my mobility. She didn''t waste any time and attacked me with the Bone Spears. They took all but a second to reach me, and I was ready. ng ng! I moved my ax to defend against them, but I know very well, that I couldn''t defend against all, and I didn''t. I only defended against those, that could strike undefended parts of my body. I didn''t defend against those that would be stopped by my armor. The armor alone isn''t enough to stop the attack, but there is also the defensive skill. The bone spears crashed against my armor. Dented it and hurt me, but wasn''t able to pierce through it. The necromancer frowned but wasn''t done. She had the Bone Spikes, ready on the ce, I am about tond. So is the bald warrior with his saber. It is a perfect trap that would be hard-pressed to get out of, but I am not without an option. I had taken the jump in the air, with all the options in the mind. Ariel Adjustment. I activated another of my skills from my main ss and was able to adjust thending spot. From in front of the enemy to behind him. Rip! The warrior reacted quickly and turned back to an attack, which I dodged with Wild Dash. Though not sessful, I received another cut. I would have been able to defend against it. If I had used the ax, but I didn''t want to. He isn''t my target; the necromancer is. As long as she is alive, I won''t be able to fight him. They will kill me, like right, the attacking at me. If I had moved to defend attacked them. Those Bone Spears would have skewed through me. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 425: Slaying Chapter 425: ying "No, you won''t!" Screamed the bald warrior as he came at me, while the necromancer smiled with mirth. She isn''t thinking of me as a threat, unlike the bald warrior. He attacked me from behind. It was swift and reached me in an instant, when my speed suddenly increased, and I dodged the attack, surprising the man. I used the full speed of Wild Dash and the top of activated Soldier''s Run. The speed skill from my Solider ss, while pushing my body hard. Which gave me a boost in speed. I had truly considered myself cursed, and the feeling hadn''t vanished even now. One thing, that reinforced that belief further in me is that I didn''t get the ss when normal people do. I didn''t get it at fifteen, I had got it at eighteen. It made me push myself hard. Depends on my body alone to face those monsters, always ready to kill me. I wasn''t the only one hiding my speed. He, too, was doing the same. He increased his speed to follow me but found himself slower than me. Every step I took me further away from him. Since he appeared, I had never considered him a genuine challenge. It was the necromancer I had feared and were wise to do that. He had attacked me again, with Bone Spears, and behind them was a grey wave. The attacks reached me quickly, and I reacted without stopping. I used the Wild Swing to defend against the Bone Spears and let the other be defended by my armor and Survivalist Protection. I had activated its full power, which barely let the Bones Spears touch me. They didn''t even dent my armor when they crashed against me. I didn''t have time to take joy in sessful defense when the ck wave hit me. It was weak when it hit me as 75% of its power, had been taken by the Survivalist Protection. The skill is all-epassing. It defends from physical attacks, but also elemental, shamanic, and mental attacks. I had been warned by Colonel Azalea to never speak about my skills to anyone. Especially two of them. She had called them inheritance skills when I informed her about how those two skills feel different from the rest. I didn''t even know their names or color; the names appeared in the past three months. When I learned to read, before that, they were in the form of feelings. It had turned out, some ancestor of mine had been a very powerful powerhouse. A Lv. 50 at least and these two skills are from them. It''s the reason, they are so powerful and will be more powerful in the future. The grey wave hit me, and the fear in my heart amplified suddenly. Just like, it used to when looked into the eyes of Grey Eyed Owl. I took a deep breath and controlled this fear and turned back to the enemy. Only a see-bone wall appeared directly in front of me. I activated the Lion''s Strength and swung my ax with everything, I had. Bang! A loud bang rang out and my ax tore through the bone wall, and I moved forward. Only to be attacked by the special undead right after. There are four special undead. Two zombies and two skeletons. Seeing them, I grinned as the Rhythm of Wild spiked. The special undead are powerful, as powerful as the warriors of Mid-Lv. 20. I have to finish them before the warrior behind me catches up, and the necromancer puts a distance away. She had already started to move away. Once she had enough distance between us; I could forget ever reaching her. She will swarm me undead, that I will never be able to reach her. So, I used the skill. It''s not an offensive skill, but more useful than one. It is thest skill; I received from my main ss. Predator''s Gaze. As I activated the skill, everything became clear and faintly slower. I could see the specks of dust and rm in the eyes of the mage. Her shining staff and the Dark Bolts released from them. I focused my eyes on the special undead and saw theming at me. I could see everything about them clearly. Including their speed, which is fast, but to me, it is faintly slow. ording to the Colonel Azalea. It''s because this skill is processing the information fast. It is also the reason why I get a headache when I use it for a long time. I moved my ax toward the zombie, which attacked me with a long sword. Its attack is fast and powerful. Have a finesse, that couldn''t be seen in normal zombies. It is acting on the memories of a person, it used to be before turning to undead. It has all that, but it is also dumb. Dumber than the monster. So, I moved forward, till its sword was inches away from my heart and moved left, before swinging my ax toward it. My ax moved like thunder, reaching its neck in an instant. Which is being protected by the thick metallic band covering it whole. I pushed the enchantments of the ax at full power and used Keen from Soldier''s ss on the top. Pachack! The ax cut through the metal like butter, before reaching the Zombie''s neck, which offered no resistance to my ax''s de. Its head flew into the air, but I didn''t have a chance to celebrate as the three undead came at me. Rip Rip! I didn''t dodge the two attacks and instead moved toward the skeleton with a ramming shield. I stepped aside and dodged, before swinging my ax at it. Khat! Its head flew high, while I moved forward and toward the zombie attacking me with a spear. I had dodged it before decapitating the undead. Rip! Its head flew high, and I moved forward toward the necromancer, not before receiving the wound on my back from the warrior who had caught up to me. I ran toward the target and a warrior chased me, with thest special skeleton, but I didn''t care about them. My eyes are fixed on the necromancer. The mirth had vanished from her eyes, reced with the rm. There is now only fear in her eyes as she tries to run away toward the undead. The big group had already appeared between her and me. I will have to cut through them to reach her. Pachck Khat Pachak! My ax moved as I cut through the undead without losing a moment. Getting closer and closer to the necromancer with every step. I have to get her before she goes too deep into the undead or someonees to support her. I had pushed myself with everything I had to after her. Cutting through the undead and every attack sheunched to stop me. Boom Boom Boom The undead began to explode, with their flesh, and bones woulde hurling toward me. Covering my whole body with the gore. It smelled extremely bad, but I bore it and chased after the necromancer. Bang! I broke through another Bone Wall and now, there is a less than five meters distance between us. Sup Sup Sup! When the rhythm spiked in danger. I saw three Bone Spikes materializing anding toward me. They are not Bone Spears, but Bone Spikes. They are shorter and thinner, but feel more powerful and have grey energy covering them. They were extremely fast and appeared in front of me like, they had teleported. ng! My ax shed against one, while the other two went at my body. Puch! They crashed through my defensive skills. One shed against my armor, cracking it, while the other pierced through my stomach. It didn''t go insidepletely in but is deeper than I like. I desperately hope that it didn''t injure my internals. That would be terrible. I wanted to remove it and drink the potion, but I didn''t. I moved toward the necromancer. I never stopped, I moved even with spikesing, despite knowing giving the opposite force to spikes would harm me. Finally, I appeared in front of the necromancer. She was waiting for me, with her most powerful spell. "Die, orc!" she shouted, and the crystal on her staff shone brightly. She hadn''t finished her shout when I felt the ghostly hands around me. They felt cold and made all the hair on my body rise up. It''s so different from the woman who had frozen me. I felt the dark frost covering me, slowing my movement, while the necromancer retreated. ''I can''t let her get away!'' I know, if she got away, this time, I won''t be able to chase her again. Instead, she will attack me, from the distance and kill me. I cannot deal with a mage while fighting the warrior, who had once again reached me. "Ahhh!" I roared and leaped forward, harnessing every ounce of strength I had from my body and my skills. Avoiding the saber of the warrior, which was less than an inch away from my neck. The leap took me to the necromancer, and I swung my ax at her. This time, I didn''t make the mistake of stopping attacking. She is no warrior, but a mage who should be killed without wasting even a fraction of a seconds. The rhythm roared in my heart, like it had never before outside of the forest, while the necromancer watched in horror. She might be scared, but she showed her experience in reacting quickly. She cast one defensive method after another around her and the bone wall between. Bam! My ax crushed through the bone wall and went for the other defensive spells behind. The enchantments on the ax burned with their full power as they moved forward. Cutting through one defensive spell after another before reaching her body. I looked at her terrified eyes, which were more scared than any monster, I had seen as the de of my ax touched her. She understood she was going to die and was terrified of it. Which strikes me strange. These are people who practice the death magic. They should be more understanding of it, instead of being terrified. Maybe Kalsar''s is right; the better understanding of death makes them more terrified of it. Pachack! The next moment, the head flew up, and I heaved a sigh of relief. "Bastard!" I heard the curse from behind and turned to see the bald man attacking me. I stepped forward toward him. He instantly understood what I was trying to do and retreated, but it was alreadyte. He shouldn''t havee so close, but in a bid to save the necromancer, he had ended the road for himself. Rip! I dodged the saber, not fully. It cut through my arm, but not too deeply. It is a price well paid, for the clear swing. He moved to retreat while bringing his saber forward, but he was slow, while my ax was much faster. Pachack! My ax reached for his head and cut through it like butter. I saw his head flying through the air but didn''t wait till it fell down. The undead begin to gather around me. I had to go back to my circle before the undead swarmed me. I didn''t. The first I did was to remove the spikes sticking into me and apply the potion to them before drinking it. I hope, no internal organs are damaged. If it is, it will affect me heavily, which I don''t want, before the battle is over. I threw away the potion bottle and sped toward the circle, toward mypany. Hun! I moved, cutting through the undead, and nearly reached the circle, when the rhythm spiked with danger, like never in this battle. It made all the hair on my body stand up. I didn''t have to turn to my left to see, that I had been targeted by a powerhouse; someone of Lv. 30+. I had been targeted by them in thest battle and barely came out alive through it. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 426: Powerful Enemy Chapter 426: Powerful Enemy Caena "People are fighting outside with their lives on the line, while these people are enjoying themselves," said Caena, looking at the hall filled with people. "You can''t me them, Onaz. They are scared and want to forget what is happening outside." I replied "Besides, it''s not like, they have not helped. They have helped, just by just staying in the city." I added and looked at the bustling floor of velvet blue. Like all the floors, it is packed. We have made several exceptions today. We had not only closed the legacy but also increased the seating, making it look like other legacies, which are always crowded. Despite the increasing seating, it is not crowded like Vanis''s Tavern or Brock''s. "You are right," she said and sighed. We mingled around the hall. Talking to patrons, providing them with such a service, that they would forget the battle raging outside. I am constantly receiving updates on the battle, and it is making me feel worried. The things weren''t good; the undead had surrounded the army and began attacking them. A minute ago, the powerhouses hade out and their numbers were greater than the intelligence had stated. It''s all up to Valentina now. I have woven a powerful spell to ward off their discovery, but they are against a lot of skills. They won''t be able tost more than an hour. Those things are really dangerous. When I saw that alchemical liquid in round ss containers with runes all over. I shuddered and took a step back in fear. Valentina would need to bring them out carefully, but quickly. It will give us a big chance of victory. I pushed those thoughts away when I saw Cathing toward me. "All the rooms are full. A lot of them are waiting for them," she said. I could see that, too. Usually, the rooms are around 65% filled at this time of the day and around 90% at night. There is always an empty room for those who want the private time. Now it is 100% filled. "Use the skill," I ordered. The next moment, I felt her activating her skills. Its name is Cordial Clearing. The power of these skills is enhanced in legacy. I also activated the charm, with a simr spell. It''s the first time, we have been using this skill in months as there is always room, but now with a horde attacking the city, many of them let go of reservation and started acting on their desires. It is not just the men, but also women. They will now feel a subtlepulsion to leave the room after they are done. I feel bad for doing this, but it needs to be done. I stayed on the floor for a few minutes before going to my office. As the door closed, the office disappeared, and the core appeared in front of me. Harnessing arge amount of emotions at thrice the rate of our best day. We will need these emotions, seeing how much we owe to the merchant state. A few secondster, I closed the core and sat down at my table. As I did, a couple of things appeared on it, expensive things, including resources from three nts we had harvested from the legacy. I am going to craft the charms. If things went as Remus wanted. He will need the charms, a lot of them. ¡­ Boom Boom Boom The cannons boomed continuously, while the enemy''s powerhouses came out of the undead. Their number repeatedly kept climbing in my head, till they reached above what we have. We have a good number of powerhouses, both Lv. 30+, pre-Lv. 30, mid-Lv. 20, but the enemy seemed to have learned the lesson from thest battle and brought out more numbers. They havee from not only Vris''alud but also from the Panar. They have not taken only the undead from Panar, but also a lot of its powerhouses. On whom, we had intelligence, and it''s a good thing; we had passed to our powerhouses. They now know their abilities and estimated strength, which will help them fight against them. Still, it would be hard to win against such numbers, when they are being supported by half a million undead and loads of cannons. Rip Rip Rip! My saber moved against the undead. Killing several at every attack, but they are everywhere. No matter how much, I had killed; there would be more of them. I would need to kill them without stopping or they would swallow me. Every person fighting in the front is facing the tides of zombies, while the thorns are fighting the enemy powerhouses. We will not be able tost for a long time in front of the unending tide of the undead. They will tire us out before finishing us off. Hun! A few seconds passed when I received the news of the first casualty. The officer died, a Captain. He was at Lv. 28 and joined the army three months ago. Now, he is dead, killed by the enemy. Unfortunately, he won''t be thest to die in this battle. It is why, we need to act fast with our n, but how fast we could act depends on only one person. Valentina. She has the most important job. If she seeded, we would get a huge leg up against the undead. I had spent a fortune to get those things. Two hundred and forty bottles of essences. I could have been able to buy a lot of things. Thousands of enchanted weapons and their servicing. Cannons and its ammunitions, and other things, but I have used those to buy four unstable things. I needed to because if it seeded. It will not only help me win this battle but also send a message to the undead. They would be really careful about attacking my city next time. I pushed the thoughts and focused on the undead around me. That my rapier is cutting through. It didn''t matter if it was amon undead or an umon one. It would be in by my de as it tore through it. I didn''t use the skills or even the power of enchantment. Using those against the undead would be a waste. ng! I was slow to dodge the attack and the sword of the skeleton hit me on my back. My armor had protected me from it. Despite all my strength, amon skeleton was able to hit me. This is the advantage of the numbers. If there are enough of them, then even the powerful would lose their life. I received news of another death; an LV. 25 officer. I am just receiving the news about the officers, not the soldiers, who are dying in much higher numbers. It is happening faster than I had liked. Our people are fighting hard. From warriors to mages, who had time to learn the new spells. They are now using the enemies who are veterans of many battles. It''s difficult to fight them, given the experience they have. Even Stone seemed pressed hard against the enemy. Necromancer Methum is just as good a fighter as he is amander.He has the support of Wayne and Xander, who are strong and experienced. Hun! A few more seconds passed when I saw the undead parting and a grey-skinned half-orce out of them. He is tall and buffed, wearing blue armor, and has a ck enchanted ax in his hand. Zagash Soribak I know him, had all the information about him. Including his level. He was stationed in Panar for the past few months and loves to hunt people, that try to escape the city. He is a pre-Lv. 30. Likely Lv. 28-29. He ising toward me, and I will have to fight it. There is no one else, everyone is busy. He will be the strongest opponent, I will fight. By level, we are simr, if I count my main ss. Even with the Lord ss, I am close, but my attribute points are more inclined toward mental rather than physical. If I had strength at twenty, rather than the charm. I would have been far more confident, in fighting it and even defeating it. Currently, I am not, but I will fight, and had been training for it. I have trained nearly every day in the past six months. I believe I have made good enough improvements to fight against the enemies like this. At least survive against someone like him. I have gained excellent control over my strength and skills. I will use everything; I have on him. There is no other choice but that. Soon, there were less than five meters of distance between us, when a faint change appeared on his face. At the same time, it appeared on mine and became bigger. ''Well done!'' I said. It is about Orok. He had killed a necromancer and the warrior, he was fighting. I am not one bit surprised about the warrior. In thest battle, he had fought against the Lv. 30 and survived despite being at mid-Lv. 20. He had killed a mage. A necromancer, which is notoriously hard to kill, especially when they are part of the horde, but he did while being a mid-Lv. 20, A feat even powerhouses of Lv. 30 struggle to do, given how slippery these bastards are. He should be proud of himself. He has two inheritance skills, but they are not the sole reason for it. Stone had called him the most experienced person in the army, despite being only twenty-two of age. More than him, Cardin, and others, as they didn''t fight for survival nearly every day like he did. It is why, despite having an average talent. He could defeat anyone on the same level and even above it. I have seen him fight and I don''t think I am his match, even when he does not use his inheritance skill. I pushed his thoughts away and focused on the enemy, who had entered the attacking range. I didn''t waste any time and activated Focus from the copied skill. It is still the best skill from the girls I could use in the battle. There is one other skill, that I wanted to use. It is an amazing skill but after much thinking. I decided to stick with Focus for this battle. "You are outmatched, and there is no one to help you. It will be a lot less painful if you surrender," he said with his words infused with the skill. It is mental skill, that amplified the suggestion. I could see myself outmatched against him and no oneing to help as he carved my body bloody. It is quite a rare skill. Very helpful in cracking the willpower of the enemy. "No, thanks," I replied with a grin. He shouldn''t use mental skills on me. My main ss and the lord ss give me good mental resistance, not to mention my high mental stats. There is also a charm from Caena, which protects me from such skills. "Then be ready for my ax, as it is going to carve your body bloody in a minute," he said. Putting a vivid picture in my mind, through his suggestion skill. It is also quite a good distracting skill. A few girls have a skill like that, but they are not suited for the battle. There is heavy resistance from them when used inbat settings. "I am and I hope, you are capable of doing, what you say," I replied. The half-orc didn''t reply with words. He grinned, before leaping at me in attack. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 427: Waiting Chapter 427: Waiting Methum ng ng ng The elder blood cut through acid balls, before defending against the attacks of zombie warriors. He is good. Fast as well as strong with good experience in dealing with the undead. "You have lost the battle; you should just give up. I promise; I will spare you and a few of your men," I offered before attacking him with Zorrin''s Lightning. He moved his halberd swiftly and cut through the lighting without any effort. I had killed many Lv. 30+ with this spell, but he had effortlessly neutralized the spell. The artifact, even if it is broken, is a powerful weapon. I don''t know what that bastard Bartram was thinking. He should have sent the artifact back to the ind the moment he found it. It should be in the hands of people who could use them. "Why should I? When we are going to win this battle," the big man replied and tried toe at me, but the zombie warriors stopped him, and I attacked him right after. "You have quite a confidence," I said, attacking him with another spell. He didn''t reply to that, instead grinned. I am aware that he isn''t using everything. There are powerhouses hidden in the circle. There is also a powerful ammunition they have not used yet. They may even have one or more surprises, which are to be expected, and I am fully prepared to deal with them. There is a powerhouse inside that is ready to fight against the powerhouses of the enemies and powerful ammunition, they might throw at us. I even have people with powerful danger-sensing skills. I am also casting scrying spells every few minutes. I have all the advantages, but I am being careful. Only, a fool bes careless in the battle. If there is a danger, I will know and will deal with it. I have enough forces, to deal with anything they could bring out. Even if it is another army. I have orders to conquer the city and I will do it. ng ng ng! He broke through my Bone Lances and leaped toward me. I cast Dark Frost Shields and Haste on myself. When he finished with the bone walls. The distance between us went back to the same. I have the confidence to defeat the elder blood, but that doesn''t mean, I will take the risks. I know how powerful these bastards are, especially the one, I am fighting. He is holding an artifact; that would tear through my defenses if I gave him the chance. Once dead. It might be truly over me. Aside from conquering the city and taking control of the legacy. There is another mission, I have received. It is to find out, how they are stopping the soul from returning to the ind. First, it was Lich Savais and then Necromancer Arza in the second battle. Lich Savais'' soul should have returned to its phctery. It didn''t. The same happened with Necromancer Arza. She had prepared to turn into a Lich after death. Her soul should have returned to the ind and prepared to go through the ceremony, but it didn''t. She had truly passed away. It scares me because I too had made a preparation. If I die, I want to turn into a lich. I have a body ready and everything. It cost me a fortune, along with other resources, but it will give me a greater chance of sess in the ceremony. That was why, I was so hesitant toe here, but since I had received the orders, I had to follow them. Hun! I felt the danger sense and saw him sending the arc of bronze energy at me. I immediately cast the Bone Shield and Dark Frost Sheild, before casting Zorrin''s Lightning to stop him from taking advantage to close the distance between us. The energy arc is as powerful as the spell and more damaging. Elder power is hard to deal with, once stuck to you. It''s better to not let it. He stopped the Lightning as my shield stopped his arc. I didn''t waste any time and sent Calidris Pulse and Bone Spikes The elder blood moved and defended against Calidris Pulse, before Dodging Bone Spikesing out of the ground, when I had hit him with another Calidris Pulse. Which he defended with his halberd before dodging the attacks of my zombie warriors. It''s frustrating to see him defending against all my spells. They are not even reaching his body; he is stopping them at his halberd. I looked at Wayne and Xander, both of them are busy. Both of them are stronger than the energies they are fighting, but Pdin and Warrior are capable enough to keep them busy. I thought about bringing other powerhouses to help me. Yes, I have not brought out every powerhouse. There are more, that are hiding. Like how they are hiding their own powerhouses. I don''t like to fight without support, but I will take the risk. The elder blood is dangerous, but I am quite capable as well. There are many spells, I haven''t used yet, powerful spells. I won''t use them till it is time. It would be great if I didn''t have to and if I need to sacrifice thousands of undead to keep them hidden, I will not hesitate to do that. The spells, the more hidden they are, the greater the effect they will bring. The enemy will not be aware of them. One could use them, at the right time to surprise the enemy and finish them. Over 90% of my spells are known; I am sure, the merchant bastards would have informed them about the spells. There are still some, I haven''t revealed. Hun! A minute passed, and I felt another of my officers dying. The fifth one. Till now, four had died on each side, but now, we had taken the lead. It was so different at the beginning of the battle; we had killed their two within seconds. I debated using my skill to enhance their strength but dyed it. It''s not time; I will use them when they be desperate. They will be desperate; it is inevitable with a horde covering them from all sides. Currently, they are fighting with zeal, but as time passes. They will get tired, while our undead keep attacking them without feeling a shred of tiredness. Instead, they will get stronger with every death on the battlefield. The victory is mine; it is guaranteed. The only thing I have to do is wait. I didn''t much care if my people weren''t able to kill the powerhouses. This zeal will continue for an hour, two hours, three at most before they will begin to get tired. After that, I will pull back my powerhouses and let the undead swarm on them. It is a tried and tested strategy, that worked almost every time. ¡­ Stone My halberd tore through the Dark Frost Shield, only to see two Zombies Warriors attacking me. ng ng ng! I defended against their attacks when I sensed something and retreated fast. Sharp bones spurted out of the ground, where I had been. If I had stayed there, even a moment longer, they would have torn me apart. I had barely stopped when I saw the Zorrin''s Lightning in front of me and moved my halberd forward to defend against the attack. The necromancer is the most powerful opponent, I had ever fought. Also, the most experienced one. He is barely giving me a chance to attack. Attacking me every second, with perfect timing. Stopping me before, I could even take a step toward him, and when I managed to close some of the distance, the spells would intensify. I would stop, while he would widen the distance between us once again. It is not even his full strength. He is not using, his most powerful spells. I had read about them in the intelligence, the merchants had sent us. It''s clear, that he is hiding his strength. If I had been in his ce, I would have done the same. I am doing the same. My strength is only 10% greater than when I had fought against Wayne, seven months ago. Since then, I have improved by over 10%. While others are fighting with their full strength, we are not. We are saving it for the time. Waiting, He is waiting till the army gets tired, before swarming us with the undead. It might look like, we are being swarmed by the undead now, but we are not actually. When the undead swarm. It''s really hard to stop them. Currently, he is maintaining the pressure. It is more mental than a marshal. He wants to make it seem like the horde is unending. No matter how many, we kill; it wouldn''t affect the horde. It works. I have seen the armies losing their morale. Throwing their weapons and running away. Even if one doesn''t run, morals affect energy, which affects the battle. It is a ssic strategy of undead, that rarely disappoints. Though he isn''t the only one waiting. I am waiting too. Waiting for Valentina. There is a massive responsibility lying on her shoulders. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn''t have even thought about it. I only agreed because it''s her. The woman has amazing control over her spells, and that is what it requires. She has a finesse even greater than Z and that woman is obsessed with it. The job requires a great finesse; a slight mistake and they will explode underground. Harming us more, than us undead. It might result in our defeat if that happens. It''s not my n to use those things, but it''s me, who had mentioned those things to Lord Silver when we were brainstorming. Though, I can''t fault his reasoning behind using it. If it worked, it would save a lot of lives and increase the chances of our victory by far. I have seen those things once used sessfully on the ind and could never forget the destruction they had caused. I also didn''t forget, the damage it did to our forces. I was barely able to survive in there. So, I really hope; nothing goes wrong with it. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 428: Succeeded Chapter 428: Seeded The half-orc came at me fast and swung his, lighting with enchantments. I could feel the skills behind the attack and knew it would be powerful. His information says he is a ssic strength fighter. Quite good at dealing with someone like me, who uses the speed and the light weapon. Hun! I moved to dodge the attack but felt the resistance. My eyes widened in surprise. I didn''t think, the bastard, have such skill. They are rare; it is hard to get them even after reaching Lv. 30. They are called battlew skills or battle restrictions skills or simply restrictions skills. He had used a skill like ''No Retreat'' on me. I could resist the skill, but not enough. It will slow me down, allowing him to strike at me. That would be bad. So, I did the opposite and swung my sword forward toward the enemy with de Of Gale. The grin on his face widened, seeing that. He has me, with such a distance, I can not even avoid his ax. I need to sh against it and braced for the powerful impact. ng! I activated the Quick Parry, the moment our weapons shed and to my surprise, parried his ax. He seemed to be surprised too, but reacted quickly by retreating, before moving his ax in front of him to defend. ng! He stopped my attack, before attacking me. His attack is faster and stronger than thest time. There is also heaviness in it, that I didn''t sense before. I countered, using the de of Gale. ng! Our weapons shed, and I felt the power of his attack. He had used that made his attack heavy. I didn''t let the heavinesse at me. It would break my bones, instead used the Quick Parry like earlier to redirect the force. He tried to stop but failed, and I moved toward him. Like thest time. He reacted quickly and defended against the attack. "The information had underestimated you," he said after a moment of silence. "It always does," I replied. It does, but this time it didn''t. It is kind of urate; I estimated my strength at the same level as they had said, but now, I am thinking, I might be a little wrong. "Still, you are weak, and I am going to make you realize it," he said and attacked again. Hun! I was hit by the mental skill. Not the one he usedst time, but a different one. Scatterthought or simr, that scatters the thoughts. Distract one from what they were focusing on. I wanted tough. This is the skill; he shouldn''t have used on me. Forget the high mental stats I have. I am using a skill that is the antithesis of what he had used on me. Focus. It neutralized the effects of the skill he had used on him. ng! I parried his attack, before going at him, but he was much better prepared and defended quickly before attacking. He changed his tactics and came from the left. I didn''t move, I just turned and defended against his attack with my rapier. Snort! He snorted and attacked again, with his ax being much faster than before. I used more power of de of Gale and defended against it. ng ng ng! Our weapons shed hard and fast. He attacked me from every angle and side with increasing power, but I defended against his attacks without a retreat. When I first saw his attack, my instinct was to retreat, but here I was fighting without a moving. At most, I am turning to defend against him. I am surprised and even shocked, seeing how I am fighting against him. Forget the injuries. His ax wasn''t able to enter my inner range. It was stopped by my rapier every time. It frustrated him and made him angry before questions rose in his eyes. "How are you doing this?" he asked, finally. "Skill," I replied, before defending against his attack. It is the truth, but not the whole truth. The whole truth had surprised, even me, even when I had realized it. It is training. I have trained nearly every day with opponents much stronger than me. It wasn''t just sparring, but training. I had trained to harness the true power of the skills. Used them against a different type of people I had fought. Humans, orcs, half-orcs, and even elves. All of whom I had spared were Lv. 30, and they showed no mercy. Pressed me till I couldn''t even get up by the end of the spar and it had helped me. Polished my skills andbat style to forge what it is today. This man is strong, but every opponent I had sparred been stronger than him, on both levels, skills, and technique. I had only fought them in the past month. Now, I am fighting against the enemy, which is considerably weaker than them. Our weapons kept shing as he continued with the barrage of attacks, with different skills and techniques. I only focused on defense, while I read him. Find his limitation. Now, I don''t just want to survive; I want to win, and I can win, but I need to be patient. As there is a huge difference between being able to defend and attack. "You should give up; you won''t be able tost for long," he said, using his mental skill. This time, he didn''t hold back. He hit me hard, with pictures of me tired and bloody appearing in front of my eyes. "Thank you for the suggestion, but I will fight," I replied. He gritted his teeth in anger, before appearing to the right suddenly and attacking. Hun! His ax turned shiny, before suddenly speeding up and its edge is also bing sharper. If I am not wrong, he used some sort of weapon skill. It might be even an ax skill. Whatever it is, I can not underestimate it. So, I reacted immediately and moved my rapier more defensively. I did it quite fast, almost immediately, as the change had appeared on his ax. It is all thanks to the Fast Reflexes. It is my best skill, and I am not saying it lightly. It lets me react at thought speed. If it were not for it, I wouldn''t have been able to fight against the enemy as I am right now. I would have been bloody and tired, as his skill is suggesting. It is a really powerful skill, and it became more powerful with the support of the Gymnasts Grace and Gymnasts Control. They let me move my body in every angle and side fluidly. It was really worth focusing on these skills. I am now getting a massive return out of it. ng! My sword shed before I parried. It was hard this time, and I felt the pressure on my hand. The weapon skill, he is not only making his attacks powerful but also helping to resist a parrying attempt. I didn''t go for him as I parried and instead moved my sword defensively to defend against another attack. Minutes passed, and he kept attacking, while I defended patiently. It''s not like, I didn''t want to attack. I do, but I know, I have to read the opponent well. See what he has before making my move. He is showing me everything he has, using mental, physical, weapons, and other skills. He has really good skills. No wonder, they had sent him for him. I would really like some of his skills, especially the distracting one. While we are fighting, others are fighting too. More intensely than us. A lot of people are dying. Soldiers and officers. Even Lv. 30s aren''t spared. ''It''s time,'' I said finally. It has been over twenty minutes since I have been fighting against him. Studying his skills and techniques, along with his limitations. It''s time, to use what I have learned and finish this battle. ng! I defended against his attack as I usually do, but this time, I didn''t move the rapier back to defend against another of his attacks, instead I stepped forward. I used the Blitz Steps. I moved left, to avoid his ax, but he isn''t weakling. Despite his surprise, he acted fast. Rip! I wasn''t able to avoid, his attack, and his ax cut through my arm. It had expertly avoided the guard and moved to cleave, my whole arm off. Unfortunately, his ax was fast, but not fast enough. I was able to move quickly enough, that I had received a deep cut and burning pain from his pain skill. As I avoided his ax, I hadunched my own attack. I didn''t hold back and moved my rapier with the full power of the de of Gale. Rip! My rapier tore through his chest to stomach. The cut was long, but not deep, and critical parts were protected by the armor. He opened his mouth to speak, but I didn''t give him a chance. I moved to his right with the Blitz Steps and attacked him again. ng! He defended with his ax, but I parried, going after him. He avoided my sword, by inches. "Die you bastard!" he screamed and attacked back, with all his fury. I grinned and swung my sword in repones. ng! I stopped his ax and parried it despite his efforts, before moving to attack. Rip Rip He responded immediately, and his ax cut through my stomach, while my rapier gave him a cut across his army. The battle became bloodier after that as we started trading injuries to finish off each other. Injuries begin to appear in every part of us. Arms, legs, chest, back, except for head every part of us had be bloody, but it didn''t stop us. It made the battle even more intense. "I have to say, you are quite strong, but you will lose this battle. As you can see my injuries are healing, but yours aren''t," he said and attacked. He is right about that. His injuries are healing, mine are not. Healing skills are really rare; in my army of over fifty thousand, only two people have healing skills. "We will see about that," I replied as I defended against his attack and moved at him, getting a cut on my chest, while giving another cut on his vicle. He attacked again, going for my chest, with enchantment zing. I swung my sword to counter. There is nothing special about it. It looked like, hundreds I had tried before, but the enemy was alert as always, to defend against my tricks. There were no tricks this time, till our weapons were inches away from each other. When I activated, my second offensive skill. ng! Our swords shed, as always, but this time, his eyes widened in a big surprise. I used Mauling Strike, which I have been saving, till now. I have a few offensive skills. Three to be exact, four if I count the Sharpness. Of the three, Consecutive Strike is nearly useless; that leaves de of Gale and Mauling Strike. I wanted to use it earlier, but I didn''t, because it was the only thing, that would give me a chance to kill the enemy. The enemy was surprised, by Mauling Strike. It sent his ax away, further than he liked. Seeing that, I smiled and sted him with the full power of the Lord''s Presence and moved forward with every bit of power, I could harness from the Blitz Steps, before attacking him. His eyes widened in rm as he tried to retreat and bring his ax forward to defend, but he was slower. The earlier attack had provided me with a precious fraction of seconds, and I was going to use them. My rapier reached his chest, and its enchantments red as it reached his chest. There used to be a chest ce, the enchanted one, but I had broken its straps, making it hang around his stomach. Puch! He looked at me in horror as my rapier touched his chest, before piercing inside smoothly and tearing his heart apart. "No!" he screamed, while I moved, dodging his ax. Rip! Though notpletely. It had given quite a big cut across my back. I stopped and looked at him, taking a step toward me, before stopping as the light in his eyes began to disappear. Even skill can''t heal the torn heart. Pachack! Seeing that, I felt relieved, but the next moment. I decapitated the body; I didn''t want him to rise as the undead in the battle. As I did with it. I quickly took out the healing potions and spread them across my injuries before dealing with one. Hun! I had just finished dealing with injuries and was about to move toward the undead when I felt all the hair rise across my body. I quickly turned and saw three Magic Boltsing toward me. Rip Rip Rip! I reacted immediately and swung my rapier toward them, cutting three of them. It immediately broke their structure and turned them into energy. The mages. I don''t like them. I had trained against them, but I rather not fight against them. Thankfully, the mage who attacked me was already fighting against our mage and used a moment of distraction to attack me. I looked at him, before moving toward the undead, when I nearly stopped. There is a message from Valentina. Message I have been waiting desperately for. It had the words I wanted to hear. She had seeded. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 429: Alchfire Chapter 429: Alchfire Valentina ''They are in the ce,'' I informed, Remus and Stone. It was an immense struggle, but I managed to do it. I had brought them to the ce. The ces weren''t decided. It was up to me; I had to do it based on the position of the horde. Now, all I need is themand to st those things. Creating such destruction, that no mage or weapon on this battlefield is capable of creating or stopping. ''Ten seconds.'' came the voice a momentter. ¡­ Stone ''Form sealed circle formation!'' Imanded. Immediately, the change appeared in the army. The soldiers and powerhouses begin to move from the circle thorn formation to the sealed circle formation. "What are you doing?" asked Methum immediately, noticing the change. He isn''t the only one who has the question. Even Carr, Garzong, and others have them, seeing the sudden change. In the entire city, only five people are aware of it. Lord Silver, Madam Caena, Miss Valentina, Cardin, and me. We had intentionally, kept the information to limited people. If it had been leaked to the enemy, it would have all gone down to waste. "You will know soon enough," I replied to Necromancer. He looked at me for a moment, before his staff lit up. I could see him casting spell after spell; I could also feel the investigative and danger-sensing skills activating throughout the battlefield. I used this moment to move toward him, but the bastard reacted fast. Attacking me with Bone Lances and Zorrin''s Lightning. Unlike my forces, I am not retreating. It is just a precaution; those things aren''t stable. One can''t bepletely sure, they will work as it had been intended. Hun! Five seconds passed, when I noticed the change in the undead. They moved to swarm us. The Necromancer is smart. He isn''t trusting only his skills and spells but also seems to trust his instinct as well. Unfortunately, he took the wrong decision. Sealed circle formation is good at holding the swarm. They would be easily able to hold it for more than a minute, rather than the five seconds we need. It will work in our favor, given the position those things are in. Most importantly, he had just made his undead denser. They were sparse before, but now they are jammed-packed to swarm toward us. Necromancer looked at my expressions, and a hesitant frown appeared on his face. "Whatever you had nned would not work, Elder-Blood." He said, and I said nothing. "I have half a million undead, without any powerhouse. I will be able to defeat your army and conquer the city," he added a momentter, but once again, I said nothing. There is no need for me to say anything. He will know about it soon. Two seconds. ¡­ Pachak Khat Pachak! A huge tight circle formed. I am one of the people in the first line, fighting against the assault of a massive number of undead, which are trying to swarm us. This is the best oue we hope to have. Tighter undead will cause greater destruction while providing us with protection. ''One second,'' I heard in my mind and prepared myself. I am scared. It is wise to be scared, seeing how those things go wrong. I wouldn''t have used them. If I wasn''t desperate. The condition of the city had improved massively since thest battle, but not enough to make the undead hesitate to attack. If I didn''t do something drastic, then even if we had defeated them, they woulde again and again with bigger forces. Eventually, they will defeat us. What I am nning won''t stop them, but it will make them question. It will make them hesitate, and most importantly, it will send a message. Not only to the undead but also to others, bring the name of the city to the lips of others. This will only first part of a two-part n. If it works, then I will execute the second one, which will have an even greater risk. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the undead in front of me. I will think about the second part, after dealing with the undead. Till then, I have to focus on the battle. ''st!'' said Stone, and I expected sted to ur, but it didn''t. Second passed, and there was nothing. My heart skipped the beat. It wouldn''t be the first time they wouldn''t be working. Sometimes, they don''t produce a reaction as one is expecting and simply turn to water or get vaporized. BOOM BOOM BOOM I was about to ask Valentina for rification when I heard a sound like heaven breaking, and everything turned green. ¡­ Methum I heard the massive explosions and saw the green fire covering us from all directions. I felt the undead vaporizing under the might of alchemical fire and also my powerhouses, that I had been hiding, behind. A few were able to summon the shields on time and even fewer were able to bear the might of the alchemical fire. It had covered the horde behind me. Hundreds of thousands of them, burning them into the ashes. I had expected many things, but not this. We should have sensed it. There were tens of people with investigative skills, Dangersense, and my own scrying spells, but I had got nothing. Everything was ck, without even the smallest hint. I had been in two battles, where these things had been used, and I felt my Dangersense ring madly as these things entered my range. Here, there was nothing. I was looking at the fire burning everything in its path, when I felt my Dangersense ring, with all the hair on my body standing up. I looked ahead and saw the elder blood covered densely in bronze energy,ing at me. The bronze energy covering is much denser than, I had seen in the battle. It is not for the show, the ring of Dangersense is enough for me to understand, that this elder blood could really kill me. He would kill me if I didn''t kill him first. I will kill him. My heart was raging madly at what they had done. Now, there will be no mercy, only death. I will not stop, till I have killed every person belonging to the enemy and I will start with this elder blood. ¡­ Cardin "Emperor, save me!" cursed Hewett, seeing the green fire, covering the horde from all sides. Burning the horde, turning them into the ashes. Valentina did an amazing job; she had sted it, near the middle of the horde from all four directions. This way, the fire burned the undead from both left and right. Along with the hiding powerhouses, which were in the middle. I have sensed many of them dying. Burning to death, very few were able to survive, mostly mages, and even they were in terrible shape. "Isss this?" asked Major, stutteringly. "Alchfire Orbs," answered High Mage Ravill, looking at destructions. "I had seen them only once when I was young and use of them was so wed, that we had suffered in it as much as the enemy did," "Here, the execution is textbook perfect," added the old man in a barely audible voice. "It is perfect," I replied. I had never seen them work. They were rarely used in the empire. They are expensive and unstable; empire rarely use such things. Those who use it are the private armies of the rich nobles. A few seconds passed, and the fire began to disappear rapidly. It didn''t evenst for ten seconds. It hadsted for six seconds, half a second, more than what the alchemist had told us. "My god!" Gasped the soldiers around me as they looked at the destruction, it had brought. It is massive. I looked at it before activating Casualty Estimator. A momentter, the numbers appeared in front of me. They started from the thousand and began to climb rapidly, reaching ten thousand a secondter. Hundred thousand a few seconds after that and soon reached two hundred thousand. Our most optimistic estimation was two hundred thousand, but we wanted to kill at least one hundred and fifty thousand people. The numbers have reached two hundred thousand, and they are still climbing up. It was only after reaching two hundred, and thirty thousand, did it slowed down a little, but still kept climbing till finally slowing down at two hundred, thirty-four thousand. It is still climbing, but by tens, not by hundreds or thousands, like before. I immediately informed Commander Stone of the numbers. ''Begin,'' replied Commander Stone, and I turned to Hewitt. "Major, begin," I said, and the man recovered his shocked expression and grinned. He had been waiting for this since the battle began. "Only cannons, Major," I added. "As youmand, Colonel," he replied, and themands began toe out of his mouth as well as the skills began to get activated. Ammunition uracy. I added my skill; the others did the same as the real powerful cannonballs began to enter the cannon. Boom Boom Boom "Shoot!" Hemanded, and the cannons spewed out the fire, before releasing the cannonballs. Tens of cannonballs shoot toward the energy, reaching them within a second. The shields appeared above the undead, but their numbers were less than earlier. Many mages had died; the alchfire had burned them to ashes. Bang Bang Bang They begin tond on the shields and the undead, before exploding in a powerful st. Seeing the destruction, a relief appeared on my face. "It seemed like, the Lord hadn''t spared any money in the city''s defense," said High Mage Ravill as he too started to release the spells. I nodded at that. He really didn''t spare any expenses. Buying the weapons and ammunition without caring for the cost. We haven''t even paid 20% of the cost of these things we are using. "Shoot!"manded Major Hewitt, and another volley of cannonballs flew toward the undead, who had begun to swarm our forces. Though unlike before, I feel no fear for our forces. The alchfire had wiped out half of their numbers, along with many of their powerhouses. Now it is up to the army and us to wipe the other half. If the enemy had any brain, they should have sounded the retreat. It is good for us, because now we can wipe them out. We will wipe them out. We need to wipe them out to send the message. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 430: Terror and Relief Chapter 430: Terror and Relief Methum ''Commander, we had lost a lot of our forces and powerhouses. We need to retreat!'' Wayne''s voice rang out in my head. He is right; we have to retreat. The enemy had wiped out, half of the horde with alchfire and took a lot out of our powerhouses. If that wasn''t bad enough, their powerhouses hiding in the circle hade out and they had also started sting us with powerful ammunition. It is not a wise decision to stay here, especially given the record, of the past, two, battles, but I don''t want to retreat just yet. I don''t want to retreat at all. The alchfire had given us a big setback, not a defeat. All I have to do is kill themander and capture the lord. If I kill the elder blood; I won''t have a problem catching the lord and victory will be mine. ''We will in five minutes,'' I replied and turned to the elder blood, who once again crossed more than half of the distance between me and him. It had be really hard to stop him since he had revealed his strength a few seconds ago. ''It seemed like, I need to stop holding back myself,'' I thought, and my staff lit up. Doom Bolt The spells shot out of my staff; it was a bolt of dark lightning. A single bolt. It looked simr to Dark Bolt but contained three times more power than the Zorinns''s Lightning. The elder-blood felt the power as well and realized the threat from it. The bronze energy burst out of his body and concentrated on the de of his halberd, which he brought toward the bolt for a direct sh. Bang! The explosion rang out, but a momentter, the elder blood burst out of the mist, bronze and ck. ''Good,'' I grinned in my heart. The next moment, the bonences materialized around him. The twenty-fourncer covered him from all directions, leaving him no space to dodge. These are nomonnces, that I used before. No, it''s apletely different spell. Thences are longer and denser, and most importantly, they have tips burning in necrotic fire. The spell called Farizan''s Lances; is a very powerful spell, hard to learn. I have used it for only two people and both of them died by it. "Die!" I said, and thences moved toward the elder-blood. Thesences are very powerful. They can tear through the shields of mages. He will stop them, but how many? Two, three, four, six at most, but there will be eighteen more that will go at him. Sup Sup Sup Thences moved toward the elder blood from all directions. I could see the fear of appearing in his eyes. The two of his allies, fighting not far away, tried toe to rescue him but were stopped by Xander and Wayne. There is nothing, that will stop him from getting killed. The only thing that could be is the artifact. I have heard that Bartram had used its defensive ability to protect him and powerhouses when the legacy had exploded. However, it is said that even he was surprised when it was activated. It is a broken artifact; it would be hard for him to activate, the defensive method. Thences reached him, and he didn''t make any move. He didn''t leap or anything that would have been useless. The spell is maneuverable; it would target him, no matter where he moves. They moved closer when I saw his lips curled up in a smile. The bronze energy around him rumbled and moved around him. Forming semi-transparent walls of bronze energy around him, including the top. My eyes couldn''t help but widen seeing that. It is definitely a skill, not from a great sky, but from lineage. They called him methods. ording to the intelligence we had. The elder blood only knew one method; the energy arc, but now he had revealed another one. It is moreplex than the arc attack. He shouldn''t have been able to learn that. The newly awakened elder-bloods take at least a year to learn their first method. He had two in less than a year. I had expected to see it as had learned method in a month''s awakening, but I didn''t expect it would be a defensive method; they far are moreplex. Bang Bang Bang! Thences crashed against the wall and sted into pieces, one after another. Thestnce crashed against it, but it was able to break through it. Though they had weakened it considerably; it didn''t matter. It would have mattered. If they had broken it. The shield disappeared, and it came toward me, with an even greater momentum. My zombies moved to stop him while I cast Bone Coil, to stop him and Haste on myself. The bronze energy covering him repelled the coil away, and he dodged the attack of another of my zombies, beforeing toward me. The swarm of undead, I am sending toward him barely affects him. Xalyn''s Nails. I activated another powerful spell, the soul type. Far from more powerful than the basic Soul Nails and Soul Spikes. They hit him, and he stopped momentarily with pain shing in his face briefly before he resumed moving again toward me. ''Wayne, Xander to me!'' Imanded and attacked him with another Farizan''s Lances. The spell is powerful, but it also takes a lot of manas. It is why, immediately, I cast Mana Harness and took the mana from the undead around me. The necromancer is a powerful mage archetype, but it bes more powerful when there is an undead to support us. The undead we could control, explode, and harness the energy from when we needed it. There is nothing that could bepared to a great ss. Bang Bang Bang! The defensive method materialized like thest time, and mynces crashed against it. This time, too, they were unable to break through his defensive method. Thankfully, it had given me enough time, to create a distance between us. Hun! I had just thought that when I saw him leaping toward me. He had never done that before, seeing it make one vulnerable in the air. Now, he had taken the risk. Giving me the big opportunity to finish him off, and I have perfect spells to do the job. I prepared the spells, but waited for a moment, for him to reach the sufficient height before casting Xalyn''s Nails on him. Immediately, the pain shed in his and he became disoriented when I cast the second spell. Dark Chains. The chains of dark energy materialized and began to wrap around him. As they did, I cast my third spell. Zorrin''s Cage. It''s the strongest containment spell in its ss. Anyone who had entered inside it had nevere out alive. A thorny bone cage, with thorns covered in dark fire, appeared around the elder blood and covered him fully, while he watched in rm. There was resistance, but the cage had crushed through it. I felt a little tired after casting three powerful spells, one after another. It had taken quite a lot of my mana and immediately harnessed it from the undead. Like mana potions, it too had restrictions. There is a limit to mana, I could harness, but it is more than a mana potion. There will be no retreat. I will kill these bastards as I promised. Aside from the lord, everyone will turn to the undead. They need to understand, the consequences of their actions. There is no resistance in front of Vris''alud. Only death. Bang! My sweet thoughts were interrupted by the explosion. The elder blood came out, and broke the coffin, with pieces of bones flying everywhere. I looked at him and saw him bloody, with blood and bronze ting around it. "It''s time for you to die, necromancer!" he roared and came at me while swinging his halberd releasing bronze arc after arc without stopping. He had not done this before. He would, at mostunch, in a single arc, before stopping. Now, tens of theming toward me. Bone Walls. Dark Frost Shields. I cast the Bone Walls and Dark Frost Shields one after another while casting Haste on myself and moved away. I am too close to the bastard. I should have moved when the coffin enveloped him, but I was too confident. Bang Bang Bang! The shields begin to st apart, one after another. I cast more of them whileunching the Bone Lances and Dark Bolts. The bastard is like a charging beast; it ising at me. Dispite the Haste, the distance between them is, shrinking, instead of increasing. ''Bastards! Where are you?'' I asked Xander and Wayne. I had asked them for help, but there was no sign of them. I would have asked others, but all of them are upied by the enemies. It wouldn''t have been the case. If those bastards, hadn''t burned powerhouse to death. ''I am tryingmander, but this bastard orc isn''t letting me leave!'' came the reply from the Xander. ''Same here, Commander. The Pdin and Mage, are keeping me upied,'' added Wayne. "Useless bastards," I cursed and cast Bone Spikes through the ground, but the bastard crushed through them. Bang! Seconds passed, when I heard the loud bang from the Bone Wall in front of me and elder-blood appeared in front of me like a phantom. "Shit!" I cursed and cast Xalyns Nails. It brought him pain and made blood leak out of his orifices. It didn''t make him stumble or unconscious, as I wanted it to happen. "Die!" he screamed and swung his halberd at me. Fear rose in my heart before my eyes hardened and I casted my most powerful spell. Spectral Scythe. I did, and a huge scythe materialized in front of me. It is spectral, but one could feel a dark cold radiating from it. It is cold enough, to freeze any normal person. It is also massive that it even dwarfed the elder blood, who is the biggest person here. "Ahhhhh!" The elder blood didn''t retreat as I expected, instead screamed loudly and poured more power into the halberd, making it stronger and faster. Seeing it, I felt scared for a moment, before controlling myself. I didn''t call it my strongest spell for nothing. It is really powerful, that casting it nearly drained me. I don''t use the spell unless my life is in danger. ng! The scythe shed against the halberd. Stopping it, seeing that I felt relieved, but the very next moment, the relief disappeared from my eyes and transformed into terror. Rip! The halberd begins to rip through the scythe, begin cutting through it, beforeing out the other side. To my horror, the elder blood didn''t stop. He moved toward me with his halberd. He wanted to kill me and wouldn''t stop till he made that happen. I cast the Dark Frost Armor with all the mana I had and retreated, but I could see the halberding at me even faster. ¡­ Stone Rip! My halberd touched the Dark Frost Armor of the necromancer before cutting through it. Unlike the scythe spell, it didn''t resist for even a fraction of a second and cut through it before reaching the body of the necromancer. Pachac! The flesh is cut like there is nothing. My halberd came out of the other side, dividing the necromancer into two. Hun! Relief flooded in my heart, but it onlysted for a fraction of a second, when I realized, I didn''t cut the body of the necromancer, but the undead. "Substitution skill," I muttered and turned back to the presence, I am sensing behind me. I saw the necromancer standing in a ce, a zombie warrior had been. Looking at me with the eyes filled with terror and relief. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 431: Dead Chapter 431: Dead "Damn!" I cursed. These bastards have really rare skills. I am a substitute is one of the most desired skills out there. It is like having a second life. Not like. It is having a second life. It is the only reason; the necromancer saved himself. After the alchfire, the undead had swarmed us, and we had let them. There was no resistance from us, as it was what we wanted. Now, they are everywhere, and our people are fighting for them. Not just the undead, but also their powerhouse. There are no enemy powerhouses, that are not engaged. We have moved everyone to fight, even Valentina, who had joined Pdin Carr against Wayne. The bastard is strong. Only Methum is stronger than him. I killed the undead while looking at the necromancer, whose eyes focused on the Stone. Our victory depends on the defeat of the necromancer. Until we have it, we will not stop. "Retreat!" Came out from the necromancer, surprising me. ''Bastard!'' I cursed. I didn''t want, the enemy to retreat. If we let them retreat; the same thing will happen again. I don''t want that. I want to wipe them out. If we let them retreat, we will fail with the message and ns after. We cannot let that happen; the undead need to die, every one of them. ¡­ Stone He shouted retreat and began to run. I could see, his horde already started to adhere to hismand. ''Stop the enemy''s retreat! Kill every undead!'' I ordered, and the reacted instantly. Lord Silver wouldn''t like the enemy retreating. He wants to wipe the horde and he might say, it is for the message. It is not, not all; there is a n and for it, the horde needs to be wiped out. I agree with him wholeheartedly. I knew very well how important the city was for the undead. The trade route, the legacy; they want it and wouldn''t stoping until they get it. I once fought in the city of Hedin. Important city with Grade III, legacy. The undead attacked it thirteen times. They failed twelve times from retreat toplete wipeout, but they kepting, till they attained victory the thirteenth time. The undead are like that. The n wouldn''t stop them, but it would create a small block in between. Most importantly, it will break their aura of invisibility. We are also fortunate, that we are not on the ind, where there is a constant supply of undead. They need to cross the sea toe here. If it had been an ind. I would have advised, Lord Silver to just surrender. The host of legacies are only people undead listen and give rtive freedom. Though, Lord Silver, here passed that. If they get their hands on the city, they will make him pay. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on Methum, who was running away. "Elder-blood, I am retreating. You do not have to go any further," told Methum as I followed after him. "Surrender, necromancer and I will stop!" I replied and cut through the Bone Lances, he sent at me. "Never!" he replied, eyes zing with anger. I didn''t say anything to that and pushed myself harder. The necromancer is a powerful opponent. I had spent more than half of my energy on him. Unlike him, I can''t charge fast. I could see him, sucking energy from the undead around him. Though, the rate of it is less than half of what it had been; it seemed like, he too reaching the limit. No wonder he is not attacking me with those powerful spells, anymore. They were really dangerous; the coffin and the dark chains had nearly killed me. ''Leave him, go to necromancers,'' I ordered Carr and Valentina. I want Wayne dead, but he is one tough bastard. The way, he is moving, even I might have a problem in stopping him from leaving. It''s better to let him leave and focus on more important targets. Necromancers. I begin to order, other powerhouses, mostly spellcasters toward the necromancers. Killing them is most important, more than any warrior or the mages. Bang Bang Bang Cardin is supporting well with the wall in dealing with the horde. Finally, there was less than five meters of distance between me and the necromancer, when the Bone Wall appeared in front of me. Bang! I brought my halberd and crushed through it. Only to see Dark Frost Wall behind. I could have easily crushed them with the arc, but I am conserving the energy. The necromancer is a powerful energy and I, rather conserve the energy and use it, when it uses those powerful spells. He won''t be using many of them; the necromancer is also within its limits. He isn''t using any draining spells on me. Bang Bang Bang! The shields appeared in front of me, one after another, and I crushed through them. It was frustrating, that I wanted to finish them with the arc, but I had to conserve the energy. It''s not like, the necromancer is getting away. The shields were only helping him maintain the distance; it was not increasing. I shouldn''tin. It is beneficial to me, considering the number of spells, he is using to stop me, while I am not using much of the energy. The artifact, despite being broken, is quite powerful. I do not need to provide it with much of the energy, to destroy the enemy''s attacks with it. Boom! A few seconds passed, and I kept chasing him when suddenly cannonball crashed not far away from us. I covered myself with energy, while the necromancer activated the shields. We didn''t suffer any damage, unlike the undead, who turned into pieces of bones and gore. These are no simple cannonballs; each one of them brings quite a destruction. I looked around me and saw cannonballs flying everywhere, killing arge number of undead at every blow. Even the mages had stopped defending against them unless it wasing to hit them. They are more focused on running away, seeing our powerhouses chasing them. Bang Bang Bang! I continued to chase the necromancer, crushing through any spells. He threw at me, till finally we moved out of the horde. I could see many enemy powerhouses running away, nearly all of them being chased by us. Many had already been killed, and some had surrendered. Only one moved out of our range. Wayne, that bastard is smart. The moment, retreat rang out, he ran out with all his speed. Unlike the necromancer, he didn''t have the support of undead or even skeletal stallions like many necromancers, but he had left them all behind. It wouldn''t have affected things. If I had, Valentina and Carr chased him. It is better to let him escape and have them focus on other enemies. Time passed, and there was now over a mile distance between us and the horde. The horde, that is getting sted, and undead killed. Our army is chasing it, killing the undead and doing better than earlier. As of now, the necromancers are more focused on surviving, than controlling the undead collectively. It is always like this. When the horde is strong, it is unbreakable, but once it is at a disadvantage, cracks begin to appear in it. I had seen it hundreds of times. Bang! I crushed through another shield, but one more was waiting for me. However, the shield is a little, further than usual, had been in the past few minutes. The necromancer is slowing down his spells. He had be more careful, with them. "Elder-blood, let me go or I will be forced to use the spells that I really don''t want to," he said angrily. I have no doubt, he had a powerful spell, but I am not without means as well. Bang! "You are wee to use them," I said and destroyed another shield and bore a soul spell that made me want to scream loudly. Some time passed and there was only a meter distance between us. Which he is desperately maintaining. I didn''t push myself too hard. I let him expand his energies; the less it will have, the more advantage, I will gain. A minute passed, when suddenly he turned, with a small bottle appearing in his hand. "You have forced me now!" he said, taking the bottle to his mouth. ''Shit!'' I cursed and sped forward, with every bit of elder power bursting out of me. It seemed like, I had made a mistake. I didn''t think, he would have a potion of emotion essence. I should have thought about it. He is a High-Mage Necromancer, who had won them a lot of battles; it is obvious, that he would have it. Now I have to finish him, or he will truly get away. Bang Bang Bang! I swing my halberd rapidly, releasing arcs of energy one after another, crushing every wall appearing in front of me. He also didn''t hold back and released the Doom Bolts, which made me shudder all over. My halberd crushed through them, but when I did, the necromancer with a big smirk waiting for me. "Die!" he said, and tiredness appeared on his face. That is the very moment. Three massive spectral scythes with the cold of the underworld appeared. Covering me from all sides, leaving me no way to escape. The necromancer didn''t wait around. The moment, the scythes came, he ran away. I barely nced at him. These scythes could kill me. I felt the power of itst time and now there are two of them. ''It seemed like, I really have to use it,'' I said and poured the power into halberd. I poured as much as I could before I moved, or rather spun. It is a second method; I had received from elder lineage. It is called the Severing Strand. As I did, a hair-thin bronze string/wire came out. It looked like real wire, delicate, that it would break away with the slightest tug. It moved and began to wrap around the scythes, till it had coiled around all three scythes, which were now inches away from me. I hope it works, or these scythes will tear me apart. Rip Rip Rip The scythes were less than an inch away from me when they tore scythes into pieces. I watched, shocked, before turning to the necromancer, who had a bigger shock in his eyes. Though he didn''t stop running, while I followed behind, weakened than before. The attack took a lot out of me. Leaving me with less than 15% of energy. For over a minute, the necromancer was faster than me, before I began to get faster, till our speed reached the same and a minute after, faster than him. I quickly began to recover the distance until less than ten meters remained between us when he summoned a bone wall in front of me once again. Bang! My halberd tore through it, only to meet with the attack of the zombie warrior. I didn''t engage and ducked its massive sword when suddenly all the hair on my body stood up. I felt a great danger brought out my energy and formed a basic defensive measure against it. I would have activated my defensive method, but I didn''t have the energy for it. Boom! I heard a boom as the zombie warrior exploded, hitting me with his blood and bones that had pierced into me, breaching the defense of energy. "Fuck!" I cursed but didn''t stop. It is a good thing, I am wearing armor, and a helmet. It saved my head and critical parts. The attack was able to dent the enchanted armor. They did it after breaching the energyyer. It was his special zombie, made by the body of the Lv. 30 powerhouses It''s hard to survive, their explosion while still able to walk. I had taken a few steps when I noticed two more warrior zombiesing toward me. ''Not now!'' I said and moved, curving my path a little, to avoid them, but a few secondster, my expressions turned back. "Shit!" I cursed when I saw the necromancer increasing the distance between us. Me diverting from the straight path to avoid zombies had given him an edge. "Fuck it!" I said and moved straight. The zombie warrior came at me immediately. If they want to explode, I will let them explode. I have survived one explosion; I will survive another. I wouldn''t have taken the risk, but I really don''t want to let this necromancer escape. I could see the necromancer ring at me. He didn''t want them to explode; it was due to them, that he was gaining distance, but if he didn''t, I would gain ground on him. Even these undead won''t be able to catch up to me. They appeared in front of me and attacked, but it was faint. I could feel the rumbling of energy, they were going to explode. Boom Boom! They did, and the explosion was powerful. More than the onest time, but the damage it did was less than thest time. Thest time, it had caught me by surprise. This time, I was prepared. I had activated the full power of my armor and also created a denseryer of energy. Still, I didn''te out unscathed. There was damage, with many bones sticking into me and necrotic energy trying to infect me. "Now it''s only you and me, necromancer," I shouted. I got no reply other than re and Dark Frost Wall in front of me. Every step, I took brought me closer to it, till we went back to five meters. I have pushed myself with everything, I have, crushing through every wall, and every spell, it throws at me. This time, I have not held anything back. Bang! Finally, less than three meters of distance remained between us, and I poured everything, I had into my halberd. It is time to finish off the bastard; the necromancer is thinking the same as he turned. Hun! What I saw couldn''t help, but surprise me. "I am d, I had held back this spell," he said with a bloody smile. In front of him was a spindle. It is ck with a golden tip. It didn''t look like a threatening attack, but it was. I felt all the hair on my body rising seeing it. It is as strong as the scythe attack but more targeted. "Now die!" he screamed and released the spindle toward me, with my heart as the target. "It will not!" I roared back and pushed my halberd with everything I had. I didn''t use any method or ability. Just pushed my weapon, harnessing every bit of energy, I have. My halberd got covered in dense bronze energy as it moved to meet the spindle, which will take my life, if not stopped. ng! The stake shed against the halberd, and I felt the immense power of it. "Ahhhh!" Seeing, that, I screamed and pushed, halberd forward, harnessing the strength from deep within, but the spindle was powerful. It started to shake, and a shudder spread through, I knew, it was about to explode and if it did, it would be terrible. ''Should I '' I was debating about using the final move when I felt the vibration running down the halberd. Rip! To my shock, the halberd which was stalemate against the spindle had torn through it and moved toward the shocked necromancer. He reacted quickly and tried to retreat faster, but this time, I did not give him the opportunity. I reached him with a halberd and cut through his defensive spell before reaching his body. Pachack! The de came out of the other side a momentter. Diving the necromancer in two. Unlike before, this time, no substitute had changed ces with him. It is a necromancer, and he is dead. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 432: Victory Chapter 432: Victory Ashton Harbor "Those bastards, merchants! It is them, who provided the alchfire making us lose the battle," said the man with a staff. Saying he was angry right now would be a grave understatement. He is beyond angry. So much, that he wanted to go there alone, but that would be beyond dangerous. Merchants might make him disappear before he even reaches the city. There is even a rumor of a few of the emperors'' dogs being in the region. He does not think it is true, but be careful against it. They have attacked the city thrice and failed all three times. They were defeated by the enemy, despite having ten times more numbers than them. The news had already reached the ind, and they were ming him for it. He will not deny his fault, but it is notpletely his fault. If they had sent the people, he wanted. There wouldn''t be such a humiliating defeat. He had told them that. Damn the consequences. "Should we divert our horde?" asked the armored man. "No, they had asked me to keep it on the way to the Port Midlet," he replied. There was a question in the armored man''s eyes, but when he looked at the angry face of him, he understood the reason. He didn''t ask about it. It''s wise; It''s above our level. If we had been on the ind. We have diverted our forces, despite it being nearly reaching the city. People need to know, that Vris''alud never stops. If you beat us once, we wille a second time. If you beat the second time, we wille third and keeping, till we conquer you. We havee here to conquer the region but have no intention of making it a dominion of Vris''alud. There is a different purpose. Something even he didn''t know; the only thing he knows is that it is extremely important. More important, than conquering the city with a legacy in it To them Port Midlet is important. It will give them control over the coast. From it, they could move deeper into the region to conquer the other cities. There are still half of the cities, they have yet to conquer. ¡­ ''Halt, retreat to the city,'' I stopped, before turning back toward the gate. It had been half an hour since I had killed thest undead. We had killed nearly all of them, that barely 1% of them had escaped. Five thousand from the five million, that came to conquer us. It took me a few minutes to reach the gates, thanks to the horse, that was brought to me. Thud! I dismounted and walked toward the stairs of the wall. Reaching the top, a few minutester. "How much ammunition did we use?" I asked, "Less than we had expected to use for such victory," he replied and then showed me a figure. It is around 30% less than we had estimated. "The alchfire orbs did their job too well. The quick retreat had also helped in saving the ammunition," he added, and I couldn''t help but nod at that. "It''s such a regret; it is a not weapon, we could use at every battle or reliable to be used," I replied, and I sighed, while the man smiled. I turned ahead and saw the destruction the battle had caused. The bodies of the undead littered everywhere, especially around the part where the alchfire had burned. It burned most of the victims to ashes, but seeing it hadsted for only six seconds. The are some at the end, had only half burned; it killed them, but didn''t burn them fully. The army is returning group by group. It will take some time, before the whole army returns. Hun! I was looking at all the bodies when over a thousand volunteers walked out of the gates. Not to fight, but to pile up the bodies of the undead. We had already gathered the bodies of our powerhouses and the enemy powerhouse, but the undead had remained. "Congrattions, my lord. It''s a great victory," congratted Mage Ravill. "It wouldn''t have been possible without your and everyone''s help, High-Mage," I replied as I shook the old man''s hand. We have achieved victory, and we did it in the first hour. It took double the time to kill the running undead. We have also captured quite a number of enemy powerhouses. Most of them surrendered on their own, and a few needed to be forcefully captured. There were some killed, like the leader Necromancer Methum, and a few like Wayne were able to escape. It is a great victory, that I am having hard believing. I thought the battle wouldst till the evening at least, but here, it had ended in the afternoon. "A meeting at five. Bring theplete information." I said to Cardin and walked away. There are two and a half hours to have and a lot of things to do. The carriage was waiting for me, and I stepped in. It didn''t take me to my office but to the hospital. When I reached the first hospital. I had seen the same scene I had seen after the other two battles, with a lot of injuries on beds, some lying still, some screaming. Though, there is also big a difference. There is a much greater order in the chaos. There are more healers and doctors, more resources, and the capacity to house the patients. I had hired a lot of people in the medical profession. Not just doctors, but also the nurses and other support staff, that will help save a maximum lives. I talked to the healers and patients for a few minutes before going to the church''s hospital. The church of Dusk has the second biggest hospital in the city, but for the battle, they had expanded it further. Thankfully, there are enough priests to serve the patients and also their in-house doctors. Bishops and even pdins are helping to heal the patients after the grueling battle. They had brought more of their people from a merchant state, a few days ago. To deal with the load of the battle. It is a massive risk. If we had lost the battle; they would have been the first to be killed by the undead. They are risking a lot for the city, but also receiving benefits. They are getting a lot of faithful, with many people converting to the church of Dusk. It is not just the humans, but also the orcs. "Milord, you should take the rest," said Bishop nis. "I am fine, your excellency," I replied. She looked at me for a moment but didn''t say anything. After a few words, she returned to the patients. I am really fine. I had a few injuries, but they were healed by the potions, and a few soldiers helped me bandage, which I could remove, but kept for the effect. When the carriage entered the inner range. I activated the energizing essence. It disappeared after getting out of its range, but it did take away a lot of my tiredness. The skill is amazing. If it is used in moderation, it could help in dealing with tiredness within a few minutes of use. If it is used for hours; it makes me so tired. , I couldn''t even stay awake for a minute after its deactivation. I had learned that lesson the hard way. It was around four, that I had returned to city hall. It is full; the employees were the first to allow out a safe zone along with healers stationed there. Click! I walked into my office and saw, Ina already there. "These are the numbers from hospitals," she said and ced the file in front of me. It is the thing; I had asked her to prepare before the battle. I opened the file and there were the approximate numbers of soldiers each hospital had. Their condition, their estimated healing time, and other details. I finished the file, and there was a relief on my face. The percentage of casualties was much less than in thest battle. The fight didn''tst long. Most importantly, the circle formations had kept over 90% safe, half of the battle. They fought only when the undead swarmed. That took half an hour before the undead retreated. Then it was a chase and kill. It gave me more hope for the second part of the n, but nothing is decided until I meet Stone and others at five. "Z, ask Mr. Marysel if he is free to talk to me?" I asked. She nodded and closed her eyes before opening it a few secondster. "He is," she replied and raised her hand toward me. I took her hand and within a second, I got connected to the intelligence officer. I talked to him for about ten minutes, and he provided me with the current intelligence. After I finished with him. I focused, I focused on the work; the intelligence confirmed, the intelligence we had earlier, there was no change in it. Which is a relief. I got busy with work and before I knew it; it was five. ''Master Silver, they are here,'' informed Jill. "Send them in," I said. Click! The door opened, and Stone, Cardin, and Azalea walked in. Stone and Azalea looked good. Stone isn''t pale anymore and there are only half of the bandages remain on Colonel Azalea''s body. "Lord Silver," they greeted as they entered inside. "Take a seat, you all," I offered. They sat down but didn''t talk. There was a silence that seemed to stretch forever. There are thousands of things to talk about, but all the people in the room are thinking about only one thing. "So, can we, do it? The important question is, should we, do it? Given the risks it has," I asked, and their eyes turned serious. I didn''t get a reply immediately. Stone stayed silent for a couple of seconds before finally opening his mouth. "If we had the casualties and injured as much as thest battle. I would have discouraged it," he said, and paused for a moment, before speaking again. "Now, I think we should do it. It is the best time. We have men in good spirits after the victory and our enemy is busy, fighting another battle," "Yes, it has the risks. We might bepletely routed, but if we seed, Panar will be ours and it will make the city more secure with it between," he replied. The first half of the n is to win a decisive victory. The second half is to attack the city of Panar. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 433: Preparations Chapter 433: Preparations Witch of Luminescent Legacy Lv. 28 ¡­ Warrior 16 Warrior 17 {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ ¡­ Soldier Lv. 10 {ss Change: Soldier ¨C Officer} Officer Lv. 11 Officer Lv. 12 {Skill Change: Soldier''s Run - Officer''s Run} {Skill Gained: Rallying Cry} Texts were waiting for me as I opened my eyes. Seeing, them, a smile appeared on my face. My Soldier ss had advanced to Officer. It upgraded my one skill and gave me another one. I would have liked to have an offensive skill, but Rallying Cry would be more useful, given my position. I am not in a forest alone, fighting the monsters, but in the army. I am an officer, with a people under mymand. I need such skills to effectively lead them. This time too, my main ss, Wilnder Survivalist, didn''t advance. It only advanced once since I came to the city in the first battle. Likely because it was wilnd to me; I had never been to the city, never fought against such people or undead. Colonel Azalea said it would be harder for me to level up my main ss. Its advancement would be very slow. It''s made for a different environment. The only way, it would advance smoothly, is when it would merge with the secondary ss. However, that would bring different troubles for me. The inheritance skills and future inheritance ss might be affected by that. I had gained those two skills because I had followed a simr path as my powerful ancestor. If I followed the path they had, I would gain more of their skills and even ss. The more I diverged from it; the lesser the probability would be for me to gain more. There is even a chance, I might even lose the two inheritance skills I have. I didn''t think about it, nor did I care as much. The only, I know, is that I like it here. I love the friends I have made, and the colleagues I have. The church, I go to weekly. I don''t want to be alone anymore. If I lose the skills, it will hurt me, and my strength will be reduced, but those things I could bear. What I couldn''t bear is to lose what I have here. ¡­ Sharp Cannoneer 23 {Skill Gained: ...} ¡­ Aquamancer of Brilliance Lv. 33 {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Shaman Lv. 8 Shaman Lv. 9 {Skill Gained: ¡­} ¡­ Valorous Lord Lv. 25 Valorous Lord Lv. 26 Valorous Lord Lv. 27 The text was in front of me as I opened my eyes. I had leveled up and three times, at that. I am not surprised by it. If I had my old Warrior ss, I might have. It''s hard to gain, three levels after crossing Lv. 20. It is especially true with Lord ss; the ruling sses are notoriously hard to advance. That doesn''t mean, they couldn''t be advanced fast. These three levels are rewards for the nning I did, and the efforts I had made in the past seven months, that resulted in the victory against the undead. I am not talking about the strategy. Here, that was the army''s department. I am talking about the things; I did as the ruler of the city. Politics. The officers and soldiers from the empire didn''t reach the city automatically after they epted Cardin''s offer. The same with alchfire orbs; essence alone wasn''t enough to get them. Get them as fast as we got. My contribution to the battle added to that. These are not the only things. There are also things, like running the city, which was not easy given its seven months ago. It is one of the reasons why, ruling sses are so hard to level up. They need so much, but they also provide so much. I didn''t get a skill, which is a little disappointing, and since it is a secondary ss, there won''t be any attribute points, but my power has increased, nheless. The higher leveled Valorous Lord had increased the power of the ss, skills, and attributes. I could feel, my physical attributes getting stronger. Valorous Lord gives greater weight to physical attributes than the Dealer of Desire, which is more focused on mental attributes. I looked at the notification for a few seconds before pushing it away and turning to the clock. It is a little over seven and a half; I had slept for two hours, but thanks to Caena''s charm. I felt like I had a regr sleep of seven hours. I activated Get Ready, before walking out of the room into my office. "How is Port Midlet doing?" I asked. "Still engaged in the battle with the undead," she replied. It made me feel relieved. A lot of it depends upon him keeping the undead upied. If the past two battles are any proof, he should be able to keep them engaged till the morning. I nodded and walked out of the office with Z and Ina filling me with the details. Soon, I reached, the manor and saw Ca waiting there was for me. "Ertis, call children for dinner," said Ca. The old man nodded and walked away, while I walked with Ca toward the kitchen. "You are doing it?" she asked softly, and I nodded. She is one of the few people, I had discussed my n for the Panar. Before the battle, it was just a n, but now, it had be a reality. "I wish you didn''t. It''s too dangerous. You might not return from it," she said, in a barely audible voice. "Don''t worry, nothing will happen to me. They won''t kill me; I am the host of legacy," I replied, to which she red at me. They didn''t have to kill me. They could just capture me, and it will be all over. I hope it wouldn''t and people would resist, but it would likely be. I sighed and took her hands in mine. "You know, I have to do this. If I didn''t, the undead would keep attacking the city." "Even if it is failed, it will send them and others a message," I replied to her. There are other results between the victory and the route. We won''t want anything other than victory, but the result in between would also be enough to send the message we needed to. It will also provide us with more time. The time is what the city needs. In the past month, since the establishment opened, the city has grown rapidly. At an even greater pace than its peak. A growing city attracts more people. Earns more money and has the ability to finance an even bigger army. "I only hope, that you will return safely to me," she said finally. "I promise, I will," I replied. Soon, we reached the kitchen, and the children came not long after. "Congrattions on your victory brother," said Heron and Josie in unison. "Thank you, both of you," I replied. The staff began to serve us dinner, while we talked. I kept the subject lite and focused on the children, about their school and other activities. "There is something important, I need to talk to you both," I said to them as the dinner reached the end. "What is it?" Heron asked. "I am leaving the city for a few days," I informed them. A surprise appeared on their faces hearing that. Since, they hade to the city; I had not left it, even for a day. "Where are you going?" he asked. "Panar," I replied, and surprised on his face turned to the shock. "Isn''t it upied by the undead?" he asked, to which I nodded. "Are you going to attack it?" he asked. "Yes," I replied. "I wish, I coulde with you," he said, surprising me. Even Ca seemed surprised by his words. He is mature for his age, even so, I had expected him to say something different. Even discourages me from going, but he wishes he coulde with me. Though he understood, he couldn''t. "Right now, you should focus on school and training," I replied. "I hope, you wille back victorious, brother," he said. "I''ll try," I replied and looked at Josie, who had been quiet. "Don''t go," she said with tears dripping down her eyes. "I have to, dear sister, but I promise you, I wille back before you even know it," I replied to her. The child didn''t say anything. Just got off her chair and came to before hugging me. "I will miss, you," she said. "I will miss you too, dear sister," I replied and petted her back gently. The rest of the dinner went silently. I talked to Ca and the children for a few minutes, before walking out of the mansion. I would have loved to spend more time with them, but I have things to do. A lot of them, seeing I will be leaving with the army in a few hours. The carriage stopped at the city hall, and I stepped out of it, before walking inside. There are still some people in it, and they stopped and bowed. Even now, many don''t have any idea what will happen in a few hours. There is martialw across the city, a very few people could move around. Even soldiers don''t know what is going to happen. They are currently resting under; I hope they rest well because it will be thest rest before the battle. "Lord Silver, Lord Janice is here," Jill informed. "Send him in, after a minute," I replied and walked. I had already spotted the man. I had called him, for a meeting. Click! A minuteter, a blond-haired man, who looked to be in histe forties, walked inside. "Lord Silver," he greeted. "Please, take a seat, Lord Janice," I offered. "Thank you, my lord," he replied. "Congrattions, on your victory, my lord. I heard that you had wiped out a whole horde of undead," he congratted. "Thank you, for your kind words, Lord Janice," I replied before turning my expression serious. I would have talked to a man more, but I don''t have time. "Have you brought it?" I asked directly. "Of course," the man replied and took out a blue scroll from his bag. He was in Owlspring in the morning. I had called him, right after the battle ended. I thought the man would send someone with a scroll, but he came personally. It isn''t surprising when thinking about it, seeing what I am offering in exchange. He ced it in front of me and took it in my hand. Feeling the power of ss and skill attached to it. It suppressed my ss. It''s not because the host of it is high-level. He is not even Lv. 20, if intelligence is to be believed, but his ss is high in the hierarchy. Here, in this world where you are born has a much greater effect on one''s destiny than on the earth. The one who provided the scroll got such a powerful ss just on the basis of birth. I opened the scroll and read it. It''s written exactly as I had asked for it; there is a not even word change. It seemed like, a threat of reducing price, had worked well. "I hope, it is to your liking?" asked the man as I closed the scroll. "It is," I replied with a smile. At the same moment, Ina ced a wooden box in front of the man. The man opened the box and his eyes lit up seeing the content inside it. "This is a half price; the half will be paid the next month," she said. "Certainly," replied the man and walked out of the office, a few secondster. I looked at the scroll for which, I had paid a high price. It won''t help me win Panar, but it will help a lot after. I had asked for it weeks ago after I discussed various things with Stone. I thought it would take me months or even years before I needed to use it, but if I seeded, I would use it in days. "Z, ask for the secure connection from Meldhorn," I said. A few minutester, I was talking with the Prime Minister of Meldhorn. The person right below Lord of Meldhorn. I informed him of my n to attack Panar. After him, it was Councilmember Yirstone of Oksall and the Foreign Secretary of Belnin. Finally, it was a Lord of Owlspring. It is important, that I will inform my unofficial allies about it. Given the help, they have provided and will continue to be providing. After that, I contact the office of Princess Orlena. I would have kept her on the list of people, I would contact, right before leaving, but she had provided instrumental help against the undead. Her intervention in the sea against the undead, which might be due to merchants, had helped me tremendously. If not for her, we wouldn''t have been able to achieve such a victory today. The response from all of them was measured. From Princess Orlena to merchants. They didn''t discourage me from the attack but also didn''t encourage me, either. I think, the merchants have a n for the city, but that n will onlye into motion after my defeat. They have a n not just for Greltheaven, but also Riverbell and Deepond. They will let us do what we want, but the moment we fail. They will act. I do not have proof, but I am pretty sure about it. They will not let the second undead kingdom take root in their backyard. The one that could obstruct the lucrative trade they were having with the empire. It is such a regret. They will do it after my defeat, not before it. Till then, they will provide help with intelligence aid and a few other things. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the work in front of me. I finished it quickly and walked out of the city hall. I went to barracks and then hospitals. By the time I returned to the city hall, it was ten. It is time I inform the people of my n. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 434: To Panar I Chapter 434: To Panar I Click! The guards opened the door, and I walked inside and saw people sitting behind the huge conference table. There is Stone, Cardin, Azalea. Along with four Lt. Colonels, Commissioner Julian, and Bishop nis. Port master ck, Valentina, Robin, Hugo, Captain Justine, and Shaman Trik. He is the only person from Orcs, who is invited. I wanted to keep the people to a minimum. There will be another meeting, at twelve, where all important would be invited. It will be held by Robin after I leave with the army. "Lord Silver," they greeted. "Take a seat, everyone," I said. They hesitated before sitting down while I remained standing. "I am sure, many of you have a question about the sudden summon?" I asked, looking at each one of them. The questions are apparent in their eyes. "We are going to attack, Panar. The army will leave for it in two hours," I announced, without wasting time circumventing the subject with flowery words. Immediately, the environment of the whole room had changed. They might have expected many things, but not this. "That''s what I am talking about!" said Captain Vandal. Smiling like a mad, while many others had much somber reactions. "Isn''t it too dangerous, my lord?" asked Shaman Trik. "It is, shaman, but we have no choice. If we don''t do it, the undead will keep attacking." I replied. "Even if you seeded, the undead won''t stop," said the man, and I smiled. "They won''t, but it will send them a message," I replied. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it a momentter. "If we go by the current numbers, the undead have in Panar." "Capturing it wouldn''t be a problem, but the undead won''t fight with such numbers. They will send more before you reach the city," said Valentina. She is aware of the intelligence and smart enough to guess what would happen if we attacked. "We know, we wouldn''t be that lucky. There will be more undead waiting for us in Panar than it is right now," I replied, with a smile. Of course, I understood the reality and nned ording to it. Panar had sent a lot of undead and powerhouses with the horde. If we were to fight, what is present in Panar; conquering it wouldn''t be a problem, but that wouldn''t happen. The undead have spies and they will know the moment the army leaves the city. They will be sent the reinforcement. The question would be how much? If it is beyond what we could handle. We wouldn''t hesitate to retreat. We want to conquer the city, not get wiped out by the enemy. "I think, it is risky. We should wait, before attacking them," advised Hugo. He is the one who hates the undead the most, but he isn''t letting his hate cloud his judgment and he isn''t wrong in his advice. "I wish we could, but this is a rare opportunity. We might not get another one," I replied. The opportunity is better than I had thought. In my ns, they weren''t using the forces of Panar to reinforce themselves, but thanks to battle in the sea, a lot of their ships had sunk, leaving them with no choice but to do that. A few minutes passed, and I answered, the questions others had. "Now, thest thing," I said, and Ina ced a box in front of me. "By my authority as the Lord of Greltheaven, I promote Thaddeus Stone to the General," I said. "It is my honor, my lord," replied Stone as he saluted me. "You earned it, General Stone," I said and pinned the stars and badge to his uniform. Themander is in the position of leader of the army of a single city, but now we are going to attack another city. We are expanding and thus require him to have a different rank. "Nicolle Azalea and Leonas Cardin, I promote you to Major Generals," I said and pinned the stars and badges on their uniforms. Their new ranks will show the forces they will lead and the new responsibilities, they will have. After them, it was Lieutenant Colonels. All of them got promoted to the Colonels. "Everyone, please keep the news to yourself for the night. The enemies might be aware of it, the moment, we leave the city, but I like to believe in luck," I advised, making everyone in the room smile. ¡­ Osward "Is it true?" I asked as I took my position beside Asit. Fifteen minutes ago, I received an order to gather the central barracks. I was in the northern barracks as I was ordered to stay there. Everybody could tell for hours that something strange was going on, but nobody knew what. Everywhere had been ordered to stay in barracks. Even those released from the hospital had been sent to barracks directly instead of their homes. "Yes, it seemed to be true," he said, looking around, at the army that was gathering around them. Over twenty thousand are already gathered, and more are gathered every second. "I didn''t expect it," I said. I still have a hard time believing it and wouldn''t believe, it until I get the official confirmation, but I wish, with every fiber of my being, that it is true. I still remember that day clearly, when we were forced to run away. The undead chased us at every turn. I had lost many people in front of my eyes. Friends, colleagues, lovers. I didn''t think, I would ever get a chance to take my revenge on the undead, that upied the city, I had spent years in. "I am worried. I felt like, lord is hurrying it," said Asit in privacy. "He might, but it is the only chance that we might get to take our revenge against the undead, that took our loved ones from us," I replied. There are not a lot of us and many left after the first battle, but we had stayed. It was in the hope of revenge for what we had lost, but soon, came to love it. I hade to Panar with the Lord Gower. I hated it, but had to stay because of the contract. I wanted to serve the period and get the hell away from wastnd to the greener opportunities in the empire. Everything had changed after the attack of the undead. Still, I would have left ande to take my revenge at the right opportunity, but this city and its lord had stopped me. They are paying me, what I would be paid in the empire. I have given spells, that I would get in any big force and, most importantly, potions with emotion essence. Even for us High-Mages, we have to do something really incredible or be really talented to get one. Here, every powerhouse of Lv. 30 and above has one. There is also the monthly ess to the legacy. This is not something high mages get to enjoy. Soon, around thirty-thousand men had gathered, and more were still gathering. "How many are they taking?" I asked. I thought, thirty thousand would be the most. We had an army of fifty-thousands and among its five thousand are not in condition to fight. Some had died, some couldn''t fight, and some were injured enough, that they would need more than twelve hours to recover. Commander Stone isn''t idiot enough to take the whole army. He would need to keep some in the city to defend against the threats, that mighte. A few minutes passed, and the people slowed down, to around thirty-three thousand. Thought people kepting for a few minutes more before finally stopping. "Thirty-five thousand," said Asit, and I nodded. It is big enough, but I would have liked it. If it had been bigger; the undead wouldn''t let their city get conquered without the resistance. ''At your positions,'' Amand rang out in my mind, and I moved toward the position, that was projected in my mind. I am Major and like most mages; I didn''t have a directmand. It is a warrior''s job. I could get themand if I wanted, but like most mages, I am satisfied with the rank and higher sry. Mages have higher sries than other people of the same rank. Most mages dislikemanding. We will fight, but won''t waste our time with other intricacies of it. We would rather focus on spells and research. We need to advance in our ss. We can''t simply fight the battle and advance. I reached my spot and stopped beside Major Garzong. I have been paired with the man since the first battle and I have to say, we worked well together. It did not feel strange to be in thepany of the orcs anymore, beforeing here in the Greltheaven, I had only seen orcs in cages. I nodded at the man and turned to Lord Silver, who had finally made the entry. He is wearing light armor and has a rapier at his waist. It seemed like, he nned toe to Panar with the army. I turned to Commander Stone behind him and was surprised immediately. ''The stars,'' I thought. It should be General Stone, now and he isn''t the only one, who seemed to be promoted. Colonel Azalea had been promoted to Major General, if what I was seeing was right. So, were the Lt. Colonels behind her. I didn''t see Colonel Cardin and Lt. Colonel Hiren, but it seemed like they were noting. I wonder whether they are promoted like these people. They stopped in front of us, and everybody became quiet. My heart started to beat wildly, and I hoped, the whispers I was hearing were true. "My people, you all have fought bravely today. Wiped, the enemy, that has over ten times more numbers than us," said Lord Silver, with his eyes moving around the army. "I wish this would be enough to stop the enemy," he paused. "Unfortunately, it is not. The enemy wille and keep oning, till we teach them a lesson, send them a message." "If they attack us, we will not just defend. We will attack as well." "Tonight, we will march toward Panar and conquer it. To make the enemy, understand, that there is a cost of attacking us!" he thundered. His speech filled everyone with purpose, even I felt all the hair on my body rise up. "So, who is with me?" he asked. Thud Thud Thud The group began to shake as our legs hit the ground hard. The response is stronger than even earlier. His speech had fired up everyone. It was not just the speech; it was also the belief in the young man. He had earned respect. That if he asked the army to jump into the fire. It will do so without hesitation, as they know, he will be there with them. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 435: To Panar II Chapter 435: To Panar II Ashton Harbor "He is attacking. He is attacking us!" said the man with the staffughing. It is funny to him. Also unexpected. He didn''t think, any city would dare to attack them, but it is happening. Heughed for a few seconds more, before quieting down and turning to the armored man. "Does he not understand, what he is doing?" he asked. "I believe, he understands well. It is why he is attacking," replied the armored man. The man with the staff didn''t say anything and turned to the map. "We can not send forces from Norke; they will intercept it." "If we do it from Gailhorn, the imperials might try something. After what happened in the sea, I don''t think, we should take a risk underestimating them," The man with staff nodded at hearing the words and focused on the city with green text. "We will send undead and the powerhouses from Almin to reinforce Panar." "At the same time, send the forces from Ashton Harbor to reinforce Almin. We cannot leave it, unprotected," said the man with staff, before turning to the armored man. "Rynra skill should be ready to be used again, right?" asked the man with a staff. "Yes, the cooldown had finished," replied the armored man with a smile. "Good, she will bury them in Panar, and then we will send our force to conquer Greltheaven after they finished conquering the Port Midlet," said the man with a staff. Making the smile on the armored man''s face wider. ¡­ Nakar Baronies Jarvis, Harrods, Lockridge Click! The door opened, and Baron Homer entered the conference room. Others of the council had already gathered there. Usually, three or four people of the council stay in Lauryl Town, but today, all hade. It was because of the battle at Greltheaven. They needed to be ready, in case, the undead conquered the city and moved toward them. Half a million, undead are no jokes, but Silver not just defeated them. He wiped them out and did in less than three hours. If their contacts are right, then they have attained the victory in one and a half hours; the other one and half hour was spent in chasing and killing the enemy. "Is it true?" he asked as he sat down in his chair on the council. "It''s true. We had received an official response," replied Commander Jarvis. "He really is attacking, Panar. I don''t know whether it is daring or foolhardy," he said. "Daring," "Foolhardy," He got the two opposite responses, while the only woman at the table, remained quiet. "It''s clearly foolhardy. The victories had gotten into Silver''s head. If he thinks, the undead won''t reinforce their numbers in Panar." "He had set himself for a huge defeat in there. The undead will wipe out his army like he wiped out theirs in the morning," said Baron Lockridge. He seemed quite pleased with his assessment. "I don''t know about victory or defeat, Baron Lockridge, but I know one thing. That man isn''t an idiot." "If he is attacking, then he must have some confidence in conquering the city," said Baron Harrods. Lockridge didn''t say anything to that other than smiling even brightly. "What do you think, Baroness Le?" asked Homer, to the woman who had been quiet. "I don''t know, but we need to be prepared for his victory or defeat," she said, and everybody nodded. Both will have effects on the baronies. If he wins, he might turn their eyes toward them. If he got defeated and the undead might use this opportunity to conquer the Greltheaven. Which they hope, wouldn''t happen. It is not just the danger that will increase, but the trade route will also close. That would be bad. It would make them solely dependent on the trade between the merchant state and Nakar. The trade with Greltheaven is not even a fifth of the trade between the merchant state and Nakar, but it is still something that gives them some leeway, and it''s been steadily growing in the past few months. Especially the past month, where it had taken a big jump. "It''s such a regret that we can''t make use of such a great opportunity," said Baron Lockridge and sighed. He didn''t need to exin what he meant. Everybody here is intelligent enough to understand what he meant. He is talking about attacking Greltheaven. They couldn''t do it; their forces were upied with defending against the monsters and their security. If they move the army from Lauryl. Dane will attack them without a doubt. The man has been looking for such an opportunity for months. ¡­ Mirador Hold "So, he left Cardin in charge of the security," said Harrison Dane, Lord Commander of the Mirador Hold. "Yes, my lord," replied Jenson. "Message to him. Tell him, I will make him Lieutenant General, if he gives me Greltheaven. If he proves his loyalty, I will give him themand of Mirador Hold," said Dane, shocking the man in front of him. The man shouldn''t be shocked. A city is far more valuable than the fortress. Especially the city with a big legacy. "Also ask our spies to keep an eye on rebel barons. If those bastards moved, we would attack those bastards," he added. "As you wish, my lord," said the man and closed his eyes. ''If only, I had a bigger army,'' thought Dane in his mind. In thest battle, he had suffered greatly. It took him months to bring his army to its former size. If he had a city under his control. It wouldn''t have taken so damn long. Mirador Hold doesn''t attract many people. They know, it is at boundary of Navr; they don''t want toe to such a ce. If he could get Greltheaven, his problems would be solved instantly. The legacy alone will solve most of his problems, but he is not greedy. He will be satisfied. If he got the baronies. From there, he won''t have any problem with conquering Greltheven and other cities. ¡­. Deerpond "We have to act, father; this is an opportunity, we might never get again. We have to act on it before the undead does, father," said Darius, with eyes burning with excitement. "Lord Darius is right, my lord. This is a golden opportunity. If we get hands on the legacy. Combining that with mine will bring our city tremendous fortune and power." "We will be able to build enough force to repel the undead and conquer the whole region," added Lt. General Ronda. The lord of Deerpond didn''t say anything for a few seconds before turning to his most trusted man. "What do you think, Silva?" he asked. "This is without a doubt a great opportunity, my lord. That we might note again, but attacking Greltheaven alsoes with risks. "If the undead conquered Port Midlet, there is a chance, they wille for us and we will need all our forces to defend against them," he replied and paused before opening his mouth once again. "Though I agree with Lord Darius, this is too big of an opportunity for us to ignore," he added. The lord of deerpond sighed. "It is a difficult choice and risky, but it would be idiotic if we didn''t use this opportunity that fell in ourp," he said, before turning to the people in front of him. "Silva, prepare for the attack on the Greltheaven," ordered the Lord of Deerpond. "It is a wise decision, father. You will not regret it," said Darius with joy lighting up his eyes. ¡­ I watched the city disappear from my view as I marched away with the army. I could barely see it with the binocrs. It had been over an hour since we had left the city and now are moving toward the Panar. Our speed is fast, but not too fast and we are using the marching skills. We don''t want to be tired when we reach the Panar. It is very likely, that we won''t be getting any rest tomorrow. It is a good thing; we have a lot of people with marching skills. Including me. I had activated March of Braves. It is an amazing skill and quite a powerful one, now that I have reached Lv. 27 in my Lord ss. It is one of the most powerful skills here. It would have been the most powerful. If I had been a Lv. 30. The skills from Lord ss are very powerful and they be more powerful, when I use them for lordly things, like leading the army. "Any movement?" I asked Shaun. Z had stayed back in the city. I wish she would be here, but she needs to stay in the city to guard it. She would have been more suitable here, but she is one of the people, I trust the most and would need to be in the city. It is for the same reason; I had also kept Valentina in the city when the Geomancer of her strength would have been tremendously useful in Panar. I had left Robin in charge of the city, while Cardin of the security. Z, Valentina, and a few others, I trust, would be a counterweight to them. I trust them Robin and Cardin. It is the reason why, I have left my city to them, but I am also being careful about it. "No, aside from Almin and Ashton Harbor, there is no movement," he replied. He isn''t just talking about the movement from the undead cities alone, but all the cities. That includes Baronies, Mirador Hold, and other ces. I am not an idiot to think, only the undead are my enemies. Everyone is and one of them or all of them might try attacking me. I hope no-one will attack, but if someone does, they will receive quite a rude surprise. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 436: Trap Chapter 436: Trap "We are making a good time," said Stone, looking at the dark sky above. It is near dawn, and we are just an hour and a half away from Panar. "The moral of the army is good. They are not tired," I replied. Mood Of The Subjects is an amazing skill. It helps me sense the mood of the public. "We will take a break in half an hour. Let the army rest and eat. It will be thest chance; they will get of that." He said, and I nodded. A few minutes passed, and we were riding in silence when Shaun came forward. "The army hade out of the gates of Deerpond," informed Shaun, and there was not a hint of surprise in mine, Stone, and Azalea''s faces. We had expected it, seeing the city had sealed off themunication two and a half hours ago. "They are really attacking," said Major General Azalea. "It seemed they are," added Stone. There is arge difference between expecting and seeing it happening. I am angry at the bastard. Instead of supporting me, he is attacking me. This attack, I am doing, will benefit him too, but instead of appreciating it. The ungrateful bastard decided to attack me. "What is the strength?" I asked, calming my anger. "Forty thousand, with Darius and Ronda leading it," he replied, and I heaved a sigh of relief. Deepond had an army of slightly over a hundred thousand. If they had sent over fifty thousand. I would have been really worried. Forty thousand is within our projections. "Our army will be able to manage it, right?" I asked Stone. "They should," he replied. He didn''t say it with finality, because even he wasn''t sure. A battle couldn''t be predicted well when the strength is close. The result would depend on the strategies and the number of forces used each. The powerhouses and weapons they have. I have left a good people in the city. There are also a couple of surprises that the enemies wouldn''t like. Still, I had hoped, no one would attack, but that is too much to hope, seeing how juicy pie the city is. "Did the Lord of Deerpond give any reason for the attack?" I asked. "No, they are silent about that," He replied. I want to see, what excuse? Those bastards give to attack my city. I asked a few more questions before riding silently. If I wanted. I could have ridden in the carriage and slept, but I wanted to march with my men. They have followed me in this battle, where many would lose their lives. This is the least I could do for them. Soon, the first light of dawn filtered in through the clouds and within a minute, the whole sky brightened up, showing the wastnd in all its glory. "Halt," Stonemanded. "We will rest for two hours before resuming the march," The ration is served within minutes. By then, the people are finished with their morning business. All of them ate quickly, before closing their eyes to sleep. "Arlievus," I activated the charms and felt their power spread across the army. Mixed with the resting skills, enhancing their effects. I have used all the resting charms; I have in one go. The attack on the undead willst for the day. If we don''t breach the walls by tonight, we will retreat back to the Greltheaven. We might do it even before that or slightly after. It all depends on how the undead act. I finished eating the ration and closed my eyes to rest. I too need a rest; the undead won''t make things easy. "Lord Silver," I woke up, as my name was called. I felt good. A little sleepy, but rested. Thanks to resting skills and the charms. The army is still resting. Many of them hadid on the rough ground, while some were sitting. One thing ismon with them, they are experienced in this. Over 70% of people here are used to such campaigns, where they need to operate on minimal rest. A few minutester, Stone woke up the army, and within a minute. They formed themselves in a neat formation. "March!" he ordered, and the march of the army resumed. I activated my skills once again as I rode with the army. In an hour, we will reach the Panar. I am feeling scared. It is a very dangerous campaign, that might get us wiped out. If I had a better option, I wouldn''t have done it, but unfortunately, I didn''t. It is the only option that will slow down the undead and give the city time. It needs to be powerful enough to defend against the undead. Time passed, and the army marched toward the undead. There is no sound of it, no song. Other than the rhythm, their feet made as they hit the ground. "It''s finally here," I said as I looked at the city of Panar through the binocrs. It was only a dot a few minutes ago, but now it is a full city. I could see walls and even people and the undead upying it. "Sometimes, I forget. Greltheaven is the oddest city in the entire region," said Stone as he put her binocrs down. I had been to Panar once. It was a short trip, but I still remember the city, which is much different, from what it is right now. Panar, like all cities of the wastnd, is on the green patch. It''s near the center of the patch, with farms surrounding it from all three sides. The farms weren''t enough to sustain the city, but they were enough to ease a load little. The city is bigger than Greltheaven. Its walls could hold half a million people rather easily, but had a poption of hundred and fifty thousand, when the undead attacked it. Most of them had professions as miners. The city has some good crystal mines in its territory; we had passed by one not long ago. "The intelligence was right. The walls are in a terrible shape," said Major General Azalea with a pleased smile on his face. The region had suffered a lot in the past few years. It had a good poption, but then the undead of Navr swept through it, not long after the empire attacked it. Saying it left the cities in terrible shape would be an understatement. The Governor of Panar didn''t fix them. He just patched it up and did a rather poor job at that. He too had the same mind as the Count Darrow, earn as much as possible and escape. Unfortunately, neither he nor Count Darrow were able to escape in one piece. It is the same with most of the cities of Almin, Bilgas, Brimbale, and others. Only Deerpond, Riverbell, and port cities had kept their walls in good condition. Though, since the undead attacked; they had brought their walls to top condition. Panar, Bilgas, and a few others didn''t get a chance, since they got conquered within a few days of the undead''s arrival in the region. The undead, on the other hand. Didn''t feel like they needed to fix the walls, thinking nobody would attack them. "That only makes things slightly easier. We still have to deal with three hundred thousand undead waiting for us," said Stone. The city of Panar had three hundred thousand undead stationed there. Till two hours ago, it was only a hundred thousand, but two hundred thousand, along with the powerhouses, hade from Almin as the reinforcements. Taking the strength of the horde back to three hundred thousand. It is a massive number, nine times than us, not to mention. The advantage of defending from the city, while we are in the open. I wonder, the kind of strategies they would use. We had discussed and nned for everything. Including the direct confrontation, but surprises coulde. They alwayse. ¡­ Rynra "They have arrived," I said and deactivated the spell. The enemy is less than ten miles away. It is a small army of thirty-five thousand. Far cry from the million strong, I had seen on the Ind, but this army had defeated our forces constantly. Including one yesterday. "I could see elder blood and pdin, but I did not see geomancer, aquamancer, and a few other people. They might be hiding, or they haven''t brought them here," said Wayne. I looked at the man, who had lost twice. He was supposed to leave for the Ashton Harbor but stayed because of the attack. I hate his guts, seeing how he lost so badly against the enemy, but also need him. He will be a big help in wiping them out. "How are the preparations?" I asked Yegson. He was responsible for the Panar until I took over two hours ago. He does not like it one bit, but epting the orders without much resistance, which is all I want. "Good, but I need two hours more before I finish with them," he replied. "That wouldn''t be a problem," I replied, before turning to the enemy. "Keep anti-scrying measure active. Shoot any animal or beast, that tries to cross the sky. I don''t want the enemy to see what is happening," I ordered. There are preparations being made to wipe out the enemy. I do not want a simple victory, but wipe them out, like they did with our army twice. Though, I would not let even a single person escape. Especially not that host of legacy. The higher-ups want him, and I will deliver. If I do well enough. I might be able to return to the ind. I had stayed long enough, in this punishment posting. They should have let me lead one of those battles. If I had been to their ces; I would have given them the victory, instead of defeat after defeat, they had got. It wasn''t truly my fault for what happened on the ind, but got med for it. The ones whose fault was that, had died. Leaving me to take the me. "It''s quite a n. You had thought, but I will give you the same warning as I gave Methum. Be careful, these bastards have a habit of springing out surprises," warned Wayne. "Don''t worry, no surprise of theirs would work, once I sprung them into my trap," I replied. Of course, I am being careful. They have won three battles, but their streak will end here. They will be defeated. Wiped out of thest man. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 437: Attacking The Wall I Chapter 437: Attacking The Wall I "Halt," Ordered Stone as we reached the mile away from the wall. I could see everything clearly. Thanks to the spell Shaun had cast on me. Even without it, one could see what was in front of us. The cracked walls, burned vegetation and people standing on the wall. Everything is clear. If they wanted to, they would have stopped us from seeing everything so clearly, but they didn''t. They seemed confident in their ability to ward us off. "Forces of Vris''alud, surrender and I pro" Boom Boom Boom They didn''t even let me finish beforeunching the volley cannonball toward us I didn''t move and instead turned to the woman, who had given the order of attack. The woman is d in ck armor, with a sigil skeletal de covered in a shroud. The woman is Rynra Throne from the knight order of Sable Shroud. The most powerful of the knight order in Vris''alud. She looked to be a woman from early to mid-thirties, with bronze skin. She had dark raven hair on her shoulders and pale blue eyes. Her ears are faintly pointed because of her elven heritage. She is said to be a one-sixth elf. Feeling my gaze, she smiled, and the smile was full of confidence. I couldn''t even see, the slightest worry on her face. The women had been in charge of Almin, but now she had been sent here. We have information about her, and I didn''t like what it said. The woman is an experiencedmander and a powerful fighter. She had fought an elder-blood before and killed her. If the information on her strength is to be believed. Then there is no one besides Stone who could fight with her. "Well, there goes our chance to make, the undead leave the city peacefully," I replied, making my army smile. Bang Bang Bang The cannonballs reached us and shields appeared below them. Stopping them from reaching us, but another volley shot out, right after. These aren''t the cannons undead brought; they are from the city. The forty-seven cannons kept shooting the volleys of cannonballs while we defended. Nearly a minute passed when the army parted in several ces and our cannons came out. Of course, we brought cannons and not only cannons but some other stuff too that our enemies would experience soon enough. "Cannons ready, fire!" Stonemanded, and immediately, a hundred and seven cannons roared in unison, sending arge volley toward the enemies. The volley is spread out. If the enemy wants to defend, then they would need to use a lot of spells to defend against them. If they didn''t. Then these cannonballs would fall on their walls. These are nomon cannonballs, we are using, special types that help break the walls. Over 50% of the supply of the cannonballses from the Prince''s catch, just like the cannons. Prince Grelt had brought a lot of things from the merchants for his efforts to gain the throne. Unfortunately, he was vaporized by his brother, before he could use them. Now, I have brought them here, to use them for the purpose they had been brought. I do not n to use only his stuff. I had brought some of my own, it won''t be long before we started to use it. "Any progress?" asked Stone to Shaun, who shook his head. "They are keeping it tight with any scrying spells and skills. We would be lucky if we were able to get even a glimpse of it," replied Shaun, shaking his head. "Eli?" he asked, turning to the young scout. "Mishka was barely able to dodge dark missiles a moment ago, but I will continue to try," he replied. "Keep trying. We need to know, if they have any nasty surprises hidden inside," said Stone. Minutes passed and a shower of cannonballs continued. We didn''t move from our spot, nor did they. We didn''t even use the spells, aside from defending against the cannonballs. The enemy did the same, but seeing our barrage and the power of our cannonballs, they were using three times more spells than us. "hey have no intention ofing out and fighting," I said. "They are likely not," said Stone with his expression bad. This means, they are nning something, and we are not happy about it. Direct conflict is easier to manage;plex things createplexities. For a few seconds, nobody said anything, when suddenly Stone''s eyes lit up. I didn''t have to ask, what happened. "Fire!" Stonemanded and a secondter, nine huge balls shot into the air. The balls are big, with each one being around a meter in diameter in diameter, weighing hundreds of kilograms. I would not say much about their power, but if they hit the wall, they will break it. If one looked back at our army; they would see nine, big contraption machines in the back. The catapults. On the earth, catapults be obsolete with the advent of gunpowder by the fifteenth century. Here they are not. In this world, they are more powerful. Thanks to material and enchantments. Theyplement cannons and create massive destruction. I had brought them, and I was going to use them in thest battle, but those damned alchfire orbs worked too well. So, Cardin decided to keep them hidden, which was a wise choice. The nine massive catapult balls went toward the enemy, with cannonballs as the cover. We have to make it hard for them to defend against it, the cannonballs will help with it. The first volley reached the walls, and shields appeared, defending against the cannonballs. Bang Bang Bang Finally, the catapult balls reached the walls, and they were defended, but the st had covered arge part of the sky. They needed to use extra shields to cover the st and protect themselves from nasty things, the st releases. They are defending well that not a single st was able to hit the wall. This is a little disappointing, but not totally useless, seeing they are using mana to defend against the cannons. The necromancers have the advantage over other mages. They could pull mana from the undead. This will help reduce that advantage. We are paying a massive price for it, but that war is for you. It is not cheap and I wouldn''t have done it, if not for the security of my city. A few minutes passed, and we continued with the barrage when a change urred. They have begun to let some of the cannonballs pass. Those that wouldn''t hit the walls; some did start to hit the walls, not in numbers that we would like. "Division ready!" Stone Commanded and immediately soldiers moved around. Within seconds, the lines of soldiers formed. With soldiers in the front holding the shields, while those behind holding the weapons. "Charge!" he ordered, and the force of twenty thousand moved forward. Our purpose is to capture the city, and it wouldn''t be possible to just fire the cannons. We actually would need to attack, and we are doing that now. I didn''t march with twenty-thousand. I followed behind with the twelve thousand. We won''t fight till ordered but remain close to support Stone. He is leading it; there is no one better than him. He had experience of these kinds of things. Most importantly, he will need to be there to deal with that knight. Without him, stopping her, she would ughter my officers. As they marched, siege towers began to rise up. For over eight months, they were soaking dust in the warehouse. Now, we are using them. I watched with my heart beating. It will be a bloody battle and I wish, I could be there, but I cannot. I will be a distraction. Soon, there were less than three hundred meters remaining between them when the enemy acted. They started attacking with spells and aimed the cannons at them. In response, shields moved forward, and defensive spells appeared in front of them. The most guarded are the siege towers anddders. They need to be protected. While there are spells, that could createdders and skill, that could make one jump into the wall. They are still useful and stronger than most spells. Most importantly, the physical thing brings more confidence than the thing made of magic. Seeing the enemy had started using spells, we also intensified our support. Sending the volleys at greater intensity toward the enemy. I looked toward the wall and saw it filled with the undead. Their numbers seemed to have increased. I couldn''t tell properly. They have started using skills and spells to ward off investigative skills. It is all blurry when we try to look at them. We are doing the same Shaun and others activated skills, that make the enemy hard to see us. Skills are really terrifying things. There are skills in the world that make the armies blind. Some make them fight each other. Though for such massive effects, themander needs to be really powerful, and the world has such people. Compared to them, we are nothing. Vris''alud is one of the forces, which had such people. If they sent even a single one of them; they would destroy us. There are some of those people in the region itself. In Ashton Harbor and Dustorn Fortress. The man in the fortress is really powerful. Even the two in the harbor won''t be his match. He had beenpletely silent since the death of the emperor. He didn''t make any move other than dealing with small attacks from Tabes. There is also a thing about him sending some reinforcement to Deerpond and Riverbell, but not to me. I didn''t dare to make any noise about it, but it displeased me greatly. A little bit of reinforcement would have helped my city tremendously. He is a factor that worried me as much as the undead, even more so sometimes. I tried to find out what his ns were. There are ns. I do not for a moment believe, that he doesn''t have ns. I only hope, that whatever his ns are, doesn''t intersect with mine. He is not someone, I could deal with in a few months to years. I sighed and focused on the army. It had reached the wall. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 438: Attacking The Wall II Chapter 438: Attacking The Wall II Rynra Throne Seeing siege towers rising. I couldn''t help, but get surprised. Ladders, I had expected, but the siege towers had caught me off guard. The intelligence didn''t mention anything about the siege towers. There were some whispers about them having catapults, but they had crossed that off, seeing they didn''t use it yesterday, but here, they have popped out. They didn''t use it yesterday, because they felt like, they could win without it. They were absolutely right. The siege towers will make things slightly difficult, and I asked my mages to target them. They are, but the enemy had good mages. They are defending against every attack; we are throwing at them. I took out my sword and swung toward the siege tower closest to me. Shadow Cleave! Immediately, a bronze arc shot out of the army in response. ng! It shed with my attack, destroying it. I looked at the elder-blood. There is a lot of intelligence about him. I also grilled Wayne for every piece of information, he had about him. He is powerful, but I feel like, I could kill him. I will kill him. It would make him second elder blood, I kill. I will definitely level up if I manage to do that. I really needed a level-up; it had been nearly a year since itst happened. I looked at him, while his army moved siege towers across the walls. The army came out, but we were ready for them. Our undead met them with greater zeal. The elder blood didn''t move to attack; he was standing with his eyes locked on me. If I attack, he will respond. Wayne had told me about his strength. I hate to admit it, but he will be able to kill as much of my people as I begin to target his. I am not in a hurry. I will get enough chances once he falls into my trap. Till then I will have to make sure, he doesn''t do any mischief. The whole wall was filled with bodies of men and undead, trying to kill and push each other off the walls. It is bloody and the enemy is dying by minute, but not without the cost of the undead. Seeing it, I wish I could begin with my n immediately. It would have helped us a lot if we got to know about their attack, but before their army got out of the gates. I acted quickly, within a minute, I received orders to march to Panar. I would have preferred if the orders hade sooner, but here, our intelligencework isn''t strong. The current preparations are enough to defeat them, but that is not enough. I want to wipe them out. The orders state the same. Minutes passed, and the enemy tried to push through the wall. They had even destroyed a good part of the wall, but my undead are keeping them in their ce. They are stronger than any walls and do not let the enemy move an inch forward. However, it is not without a cost. I am losing the undead every minute. The undead, I could have used in the trap. It is not just the undead. My mages are also losing a lot of mana in defending against the cannonballs. The enemy had brought greater firepower, than I had estimated. Especially those catapults. They are capable of huge destruction. Hun! I was thinking about the catapult when one of its ammunitions was able to move closer as the shields stopping it flickered away. The enemies cast disruption on them. Since they started attacking the wall, the catapults had targeted behind the wall, where the undead had gathered. They had not targeted the wall, since their own people were here. Bang! My shield appeared and stopped the catapult ball. It exploded in the air, sending shrapnel, that were to stop by my shield. Hun! The explosion had just subsided when a cry for help rang out in my mind. I saw an orc moving to kill one of my warriors. Immediately, the gem of my sword lit up and Dark Wall appeared in front of the orc, stopping him. The warrior retreated and drank a potion before rejoining the battle. I am not killing the enemies, but I stop them when they are about to kill my people. The elder blood doing the same. However, once I sprang my trap, nobody would be able to do that. I might lose some of my people, but it would be a loss, I would be able to bear. As the loss would be much smaller than the direct, battle. They want everyone dead. Especially the elder-blood. I had been contacted by several of the people, I know for the body of the elder-blood. It''s very valuable to the necromancer. A few minutes passed, and the battle continued. I have to say, the enemy is fighting well. They seemed to have experience in fighting the siege battle and the undead. I would have liked, it if we were killing more of them than we are right now. At least proportional to the undead, we are losing. Even the powerhouses are being contained. Even Wayne is being contained by Pdin and Orc. I too want to jump into the battle, but it''s not time. If I fought, the battle might get struck here or enemies might retreat. I don''t want that. It is for the same reason, I don''t want to do, what the high-ups had ordered me to do, but since it is an order, I would follow it, no matter how much I hate it. They have asked me to use that thing. To give them the taste of medicine, they had fed us yesterday. It''s not as good as the alchfire, but it will cause a massive loss to them. The alchfire is merciful in how quickly it kills. It does not; it gives a lot of pain before it kills one. It is wasteful to use such resources in this battle, which we will win without a doubt, but they want to send the message. For it, they are willing to waste the precious thing. ¡­ Stone Bang! My arc shed against, her defensive spell, crushing it. Letting Klein move at the enemy in the narrow wall. The battle on the wall is challenging, but we are doing good. It had been over an hour and a half since we had attacked the wall and we had killed thousands of undead. Though, we didn''t have much luck in killing many of their powerhouses and pirs. The battlefield is small, which helps the enemy leader to save her people whenever they are in danger. I am in little disadvantaged in that. I am not as versatile as she is with her spells. I could break her shields with my arcs, but I couldn''t put shields in front of my people as she could do it. Even sending arc is difficult in this crowded battle, while she could just materialize the shield. Despite that, we are doing well. However, we had yet to aplish our mission to break into the city, which would take hours. They are resisting with everything they have. Sending the undead toward us inrge numbers. Not letting us have an inch to move past the wall. Most orcs who are fighting this kind of battle for the first time, are visibly shocked. This a not open ground outside the city or forest, they are used to. This is a wall. In this thick battlefield. Enemy coulde from anywhere or explode. The necromancers love to st their undead. I had lost more men in an undead explosion than a direct battle. The mages are trying, but it''s hard to defend against every explosion, even with danger sense warning them. This is the wall battle. They aren''t called one of the bloodiest without a reason. I moved around the battlefield, with my eyes always on the enemy leader. We are the only two people on the battlefield, that aren''t fighting. We will. The battle won''t end, till we do it. Hun! A few minutes passed when I noticed something. The more, I looked, the surer, I became. ''Careful, they are trying to move us into the center,'' I said to the powerhouses before startedmanding them. Their powerhouses are pushing us, to a certain ce. It is not good, that means they are nning something, and I would be dammed if I let that happen. I begin to move the powerhouses, but the enemy is also good. It is responding, countering fast. I wanted to retreat immediately, but that wouldn''t be wise. We would lose the edge we have got; they would destroy our siege towers. Without them, it will be more difficult to breach the wall. That doesn''t mean, I will let my people die, needlessly. I moved my powerhouses, trying to spread them further to thwart whatever the enemy was nning. "It''s toote, elder-blood," said the leader, shaking her head. Speaking to me for the first time, before waving her hand. Immediately, a bone sphere with runes on it appeared in the sky. My eyes widened as I saw that ivory ball. It looks delicate and smooth, but it is extremely dangerous. "Fuck!" I cursed loudly without care. I know, what the thing. I have seen it many times and two times nearly got killed by it. The thing is called the bone bomb. One of the most dangerous weapons of the undead. It is made by necromancer alchemists. It''s very stable and destructive. Unlike Alchfire, which is unstable. Though it is not as powerful as it and its range is less than half, it is more than enough to cover a small area, we are upying. "Calm down. Shields Up!" I ordered my people. Controlling the panic, I was feeling in my heart. I was relieved that the army followed mymand immediately, with mages casting defensive spells, while the bone bomb lit up. In less than a second, it will explode, with its power covering arge area. I had not expected that she had this thing or she would use it here. It is not cheap and the undead is only used in important battles, but it seemed like after experiencing destruction by alchfire. They want to send the message to us and everyone watching. It is what they do. They put fear into the hearts of their enemies. So, they would never do anything daring against them. "Die!" said the leader, as retreated from the wall, along with her powerhouses. While the undead formed a wall of protection to defend against bomb power, that mighte at them. I didn''t even nce at her, all my focus on my halberd and bomb, which was about to explode. BOOM! Finally, it sted sending a dark shockwave and thin dagger-like shrapnel, burning in dense ck fire. These shrapnel look delicate, but they are capable of piercing through most Grade IV defensive spells. They have a powerful necrotic poison that will act, the moment it touches the blood. It kills the people within a minute and the death is horrible. The poison is so powerful. That normal potion is useless against them. It had killed many of my good friends. I too had suffered it, but survived, thanks to the elder blood inside me. Which kept them alive long enough to be fed an antidote. These daggers will kill a lot of my people. I can''t let that happen. So, I brought my halberd down on the stone floor of the wall, with all the hope in my heart. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 439: Capturing The Wall Chapter 439: Capturing The Wall "Bone Bomb!" said Shaun with a shudder, seeing the white ball appearing above the wall. As it did, the enemy leader and their powerhouses fell back, while the undead restricted the movements of our powerhouses. Without the support of their powerhouses. They won''t be able to stop us for long, but they only need to stop us for only a second. BOOM! The bomb exploded. Not giving even a chance for our people, to move a few steps. Its st immediately covered the entire area with the white wave, while we all watched in horror. I thought something would happen. Some skill would work and stop the explosion, but it didn''t. The bone bomb exploded as the enemies intended it to. "We need to prepare for immediate retreat. If Commander Stone and our powerhouses suffered, the fatalities," advised Azalea, rational even in horror. I didn''t reply to her and kept looking. Hoping they would survive. Seconds passed as Azalea gave variousmands, while I kept watching the wall. Hun! Finally, the white dust began to clear up, and I noticed something that made hope leap up in my heart. A second passed, and it became clear, and a big smile appeared on my face. ¡­ Wayne "Fuck!" The pirs cursed around me, seeing the bronze dome, covering therge area. Protecting the elder blood and every person in the dome. The protection is strong enough that not a single shard was able to pierce through it. It is a powerful protection, considering how easily those shards pierce through the Grade IV shield spells. The dome hade out of the halberd in his hand. The broken artifact, that Vris''alud had officially dered their property. I cursed with the people around me, but in my heart. I am relieved. I don''t want the enemies to suffer losses and be defeated. Till a few hours ago, I wanted the same thing, but now things have changed. I have received a message from my contact, that Carmen has been caught. Within an hour of that, I received a summon toe to Ashton Harbor. They might say, the summon is for punishment of losing the battle, but I know better. I can''t go there, once I did. It will be the end of me. I know, what they do to the spies. I would rather die than experience that, but before I do, I must try different routes of survival. Earlier, when I had received the message. I had been nning to escape. I knew Yegson had started keeping eyes on me, but I was still willing to take the risk, I had stopped, upon hearing the news of the enemying. Escaping during the battle is much easier. They won''t be able to dedicate much force to chase me while fighting with the enemy. Though, that bitch Rynra, is being careful. There is always Lv. 30s around me; even the position I got is with the Lv. 30''s. I have enough confidence, in my abilities, that I would be able to escape sessfully, but then what? I am surrounded by the enemies. It will be really hard to hide from them. Surrender is a better option, and it might work. I have information, they desperately need to win this battle. ''Let''s hope, it works,'' I thought and sent a secret message to elder-blood, with the hope, that he would believe me. ¡­ Stone ''It worked,'' I thought, looking at the bronze dome. There was less than a 25% chance, it would, but it did. I had been feeding it the energy for the past seven months. It had also drunk, a lot of emotion essence. It didn''t heal it, only the emotion essence of Grade IV and above could do that. It had helped it enough, to recharge one of its abilities, which was already working, barely. The cost was huge, but worth it, seeing the number of people, it had saved. "I thought I would die," said a lieutenant beside me, with tears streaming out of her eyes. She isn''t the only one, I too had thought, many would lose their lives. A second and a half passed when the dome flickered and disappeared. Hun! I opened my mouth for amand when a message hit me. I was about to push it away, thinking of being the strategy of the enemy; overwhelming one with messages is a strategy. It works well. I realized whom it belonged to and opened it. immediately, my expression changed drastically. ''It is enemy strategy,'' I thought, but didn''tpletely dismiss it and instead informed Lord Silver about it. It will be up to him how we will respond to the message. "upy the wall!" Imanded. Immediately, the army moved and began to upy the wall. There is no resistance. Most of the undead have got off the wall, the ones that remained were quickly dealt with. I looked at the leader of the enemy, who was staring back at me. There is a smile on her face, and it feels genuine. Like, she had wanted this to happen. I didn''t feel good about it. I pushed those thoughts away when focused onmanding the army when I received another message. It is not from the enemy, but allies. Though, it didn''t bring good news. It is bad news ¡­ I stepped into the wall from the siege tower. I could have gone through the door since it was in our control, but I wanted to try the siege towers. Our army had upied the entire wall, including the gates. It is a stage, where one again 75% of victory, but it didn''t feel like it. It seemed like, we were where the enemy had wanted us. Soon, I reached Stone, who was looking at the preparation. "Congrattions on taking the wall," I said to Stone, and the man shook his head. "There is no need to congratte me; the enemy wants us to have a wall," he replied. He felt it too; it was too easy. Even with the bone ball. If they wanted to, they could have given us a lot more trouble instead of handing us the wall. "They have nned something," I said, turning to the city. I have a good view of it, but I couldn''t spot even a single person. It looked deserted, but far from it. The enemy is hiding, and so are the citizens. It wouldn''t be wise to go inside without a proper strategy. "The two hords," added Azalia with a sigh. A few minutes ago, we received the intelligence from the merchants. The horde, that had reached the Almin from Ashton Harbor, is nowing toward the Panar. Norke had also sent the fifty-thousand undead toward us. They did it, the moment we upied the wall. It is not a coincidence. "It should be a pressure tactic. They would not leave their cities weak," I said. "It might be, but it might be not. There isn''t anything, that could harm their cities in the region. So, they could send, them to reinforce the horde here," Stone stated. My head started to hurt hearing that. "So, we have to decide quickly whether to retreat or attack," I said, and he nodded. "That leads us to Wayne''s offer," said Azalea. "Who we couldn''t trust," I added, but felt the eyes of the two of them on me. Wayne had offered us intelligence. Information about Rynra''s n, which he thinks would wipe us out. He is willing to give us intelligence, but in exchange. He wants immunity from persecution and also a few other things. The things are big, but we could provide them. The question is whether this is a n of the enemy or a genuine request. If we make a wrong decision, we might pay heavily for it. I thought for a few seconds before sighing. "Contact him, tell him. We agree with his conditions," I said. Stone nodded and moved to contact him. He had left borate instructions on how to contact him. Messages could be detected and read. Wayne is being extremely careful about this. It will take a few minutes. Seeing that, I looked at the preparations but didn''t dare to walk down the wall. We have taken control of the wall, and some areas close to it, but it is far from enough. The enemy is still capable ofunching a swift attack on us if they want to. They had been upying the city for over eight months and I hope, they had been as careless with the other parts of defenses as they were with the walls. The intelligence did say that everything was unchanged, but things might have changed in the past few hours. Nothing could be said when ites to the undead. Their massive numbers allow them to do anything. They did something. Even an idiot could see when looking at the city. Many had underestimated them, but I wouldn''t take such risks. I wouldn''t mind retreating. If I had felt like, we would not win this battle. Everyone is alert, doing the job they had been assigned. Like the group of people, trying to convert the space for the cannons. We would ce our cannons here if we decided to attack the city. Their support will be invaluable. Currently, only the arrangement is made for the cannons. If we decided to attack, they would bring the cannons to the wall, which had already been brought to the base of the wall. ''The reply hade,'' Stone''s voice rang out in my head. It is not leveled as it usually is; it must be really serious. "So?" I asked as I reached him. "ording to Wayne, they had created a across the city. If we attack, they will envelope us in hundreds of littles," he replied, and a frown appeared on my face. "This isn''t news. We had expected it," I said, and he nodded. "There is skill involved. A powerful one; it will give them a massive advantage," he replied. "What skill?" I asked, and the name rang out in my mind. As I heard it, my eyes widened. It is from the wish list of anymander. I wish Stone or I had such skill. It would make a huge difference in the battle. "Can we believe what he is telling us?" I asked. "It would be a mistake topletely believe it, but not believing it would be just as big a mistake," replied Stone. "It will make things a lot riskier than we had expected. Cutting any way of retreat; will be either victory orplete defeat," I said. He is a general. It is up to him to decide, whether to attack or not. "We should attack." He replied finally. "The skill will affect them as it would affect us. Now that we know about it, we will be better prepared to deal with it if she uses it," "Good, prepare then," I ordered. cing the full trust and lives of my army, into the hands of my general. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 440: Null Zone I Chapter 440: Null Zone I Cardin "Now, I am relieved," said Colonel Hiren, as he opened the crate of ammunition smoothly with his one hand. They had just been delivered from the port. We had ample ammunition, but Lord Silver had taken a lot of it with him to the Panar. The city still had enough to sustain itself, but we couldn''t take a risk when an army ising toing to conquer us. It is not just the ammunition, that hade, but a few other things that will help, in dealing with enemies. I checked every crate personally. Ammunition will y a big part in the battle and being careful about it is a wise choice. "Send them to the wall," I ordered and walked out of the warehouse before stepping into the carriage. "How far are they?" I asked. "About five hours," replied Mage Z. Lord Silver had kept his trusted mage and friend in the city. He is a smart man; not many would make such a decision when they are moving to conquer another city. "Any news from the Lord Silver?" I asked. To which she shook her head. It had been nearly an hour since they sealed offmunication after getting control of Panar''s wall. Themunication isn''tpletely cut off. We could still contact people, that they kept outside the wall, but could not contact Lord Silver or General Stone directly as before. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I walked out, checking the preparations. Everything is good. Now, we are waiting for the enemy, and I wish, they coulde sooner. After years, I willmand the army once again, and I want to prove to the world that I am still capable. My weakness won''t stop me from attaining the victory. ¡­ Rynra ''Everyone in their position?'' I asked. ''Affirmed,'' ''Affirmed,'' ''Affirmed,'' I got the reply one after another. I had spread the horde all over the city. People may consider this as the, but it is not. Every unit is independent and will have no connection with others. They couldn''t when I used my skills. Every time, I used my skills. I had attained the victory, and it is a reason why, I have received only a punishment posting, rather than actual punishment. Though what happened was no fault of my own. If that bastard, had listened, instead of undermining me, we would have seeded in that mission. My heart still burns in anger whenever I think about it. I pushed those thoughts away and looked at the enemy. They are ready. They could enter the city at any moment. It had been an hour since they had got control of the wall. Now, their soldiers are upying them, with the cannons pointing inside the city. The elder blood had spread the army across the city, covering all sides. If he had doubled the numbers, he had brought. It might have helped him survive, but with such numbers, not a single person would survive. I wouldn''t let them survive and wouldn''t care if I needed to sacrifice half of my undead. I had nned as such, that a lot of undead would be sacrificed. The higher-ups don''t have any problem with that, the only thing they want is absolute annihtion of the enemy. ''Is Wayne in his ce?'' I asked. ''Yes,'' replied the person from the other side. The higher-ups had asked me to keep an eye on him. Stop him, if he tried to escape. They didn''t provide the reason, but it is definitely not something about losing two battles. They didn''t order me to detain him, which means he shouldn''t know about their intentions. It is the only reason why he is not being detained. Which is good for me He is a bastard, but he is a powerful bastard. As powerful as Yegson or even more than him. He would y a big part in wiping out the enemy. ''Commander, the enemy has begun to move,'' came the message finally. ''Begin,'' I ordered and activated the skill. My target is elder blood. Once I killed him, dealing with the rest of the army would be a piece of cake. I didn''t activate that skill, but the other skill. I will activate that skill when the enemy reaches the ce, I want. They will in a few minutes. If they kept moving as they are doing now. The moment I activate it. Their fate of utter defeat would be sealed. ¡­ Stone "Forward!" I ordered, and immediately the army began to move inside the city from all twelve directions. I have divided it into twelve parts, which will be further divided as they enter the city. The battle in the city is far more difficult than the battle on the in. Here, energy coulde from any side, making it hard to deal with them. If Wayne is right, then if there is that skill involved. It is going to make things even more difficult. It is why, every unit will be independent. I had told them, to fight expecting no reinforcement in mind. They will have to deal with the enemy on their own or die. It is why, I have to deal with enemy leaders quickly. If she had skill, she wouldn''t be using it immediately, till we reached deep enough in the city. As then, she could cut all our roads of retreat. ''Elder-bloode. I am waiting for you in a central square,'' a voice rang through my mind, surprising me. The challenge didn''te with words alone, but also with the skill. ''She is confident,'' I thought as I felt the familiar skill. She used a ''Challenge'' type of skill. Leaders ''Challenge, Commander Challenge'', and many other''s skills, that one uses to challenge another. If I didn''t ept her challenge. I will suffer the suppression; it will reduce my strength. ''I ept,'' I moved toward her, with an army of two thousand, while the rest began to move away. She is waiting there with a horde of ten thousand undead. I didn''t need to ask anyone to know that. Her challenge skill had told me about it. "Check the central za?" I asked Joris. The skill may tell the truth, but it is not always aplete truth. There are many ways to circumvent those restrictions. "Anti-scrying stopping everything," he said but followed orders immediately. A momentter, a surprise appeared in his eyes. "The za is filled with undead, around ten thousand of them, with the Rynra Throne and two other people leading them," he informed. Joris is the mage we hired four months ago. He is from Mayhurst. I didn''t know him on the ind, but Shaun does. From what I had seen till now and his performance in yesterday. He is one capable mage. He needs to be capable because those two sides of the enemy leader are powerful. I moved deeper into the city, sensing undead at every turn, that had started to attack my people. Though they are attacking with a fraction of their forces. The enemy had nearly ten times our numbers. They could easily swallow us all. "These bastards! They are not even sparing the poor souls," cursed Pdin Carr. The undead are using the people of the city. Keeping the undead in the same ce as the people. It would make it hard for us to attack the undead directly, without harming people. Especially with the long rang spells and cannons. The leader had nned it well. She is using every advantage, she has. "The undead efficiency," I replied. Rynra Throne is a true member of Vris''alud. Using the cold-blooded strategies, that they are so famous for on the ind. Minutes passed, and I saw the undead moving not far away from me, but not a single one had attacked them. They didn''t even turn so much turn. Soon, the square came into view, and I could see the enemy leader standing in front of the horde of ten thousand. I walked into the za with my men, before stopping a hundred meters away. I hade to Panar once with Lord Silver. It was a bustling city, not prosperous, but bustling, thanks to the employment and ie provided by the mines. This za, which is cracked and ckened, used to be pristine. Filled with people. There used to be a big statue of Emperor Hamzas; the father of thest emperor, which seemed to have to have disappeared too. "Last chance, elder-blood, surrender," she said as she unsheathed her sword. I felt all the hair on my body rise. She is dangerous, more dangerous than Bartram, Wayne, and Methum. "No," I replied, and she grinned. "Now, I can kill you and sell your body to the highest bidder," she said and came at me. She was fast, much faster than the Wayne, who had been the faster enemy, I had faced here. I didn''t stay on my spot and moved forward with elder energy bursting out of my body. It took a near an instant for us to appear next to each other, and she swung her sword, burning with the dark mes while my halberd was covered in bronze energy. ng! Our weapons shed, deafeningly with shockwave ck and bronze spreading in every direction. A surprise shed in my eyes, not because of the sound or shockwave, but how her body didn''t even shake, with a direct sh with mine. Even Wayne didn''t dare to sh directly with me due to the massive physical advantage. My elder-blood gave me, but it didn''t seem to affect her at all. I didn''t use my full strength, but I am sure, she is not using her peak strength either. I had expected the battle would be hard against her, but now I know it will be. It would be hard to defeat her, much less kill her. She pulled her sword back but didn''t attack, instead looked at me with a smile. "You know, you have already lost the battle. The moment, you decided to enter the city," she stated. My heart skipped a beat, but I didn''t show it to my face. "I am alive, and so is my army. We are far from losing the battle," I replied. To that, the smile on her face widened. "Oh, you have, dear elder blood," she said, with voice bleeding with confidence. "Null Zone," she dered. I felt the power of the skill spreading from her, covering the entire city. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 441: Null Zone II Chapter 441: Null Zone II ''Null Zon'' Stone''s voice cut off before he could finish fully. "Communication down," informed Shaun, I looked at others, and they nodded as well. Wayne didn''t lie, after all. Rynra Throne activated ''Null Zone: Communication'', covering the whole city, in it nomunication spell or skill would work. She had made us effectively blind. Communication is one of the most important elements of the battle. With one skill, she cut it off. ''Null Zone,'' skills are extremely rare. They came in all types. Rynra Thrones ''Null Zone,'' is amunication type, but there are also magic, spells, and skill type. There are even some specific types, like nulling offensive skills or spells. It is powerful, but we didn''t have much information other than its name and what it could do. Wayne didn''t inform us, how long its runtime is and how it could be broken. It would have helped if he had done that. Still, Stone is expecting it tost for around three hours. As for breaking it, the most effective way would be killing the host of it or making her unconscious. We could also try to make her deactivate it on her own, but no way in hell, that would happen. I could see there was a faint panic in my people. Fear and uncertainty had filled their eyes. Communication is important. Especially in city battles, which are chaotic. The enemy coulde from any side and any number. Withoutmunication, it bes harder to ask, for reinforcement or inform allies. "Don''t be intimidated. We had nned for this," I said to mypany, with the Lord''s Presence enveloping them. It had be a powerful skill as my ss reached Lv. 27. Powered by the charm at 20. It had started affecting even those of Lv. 30. My words eased the worries, and we moved forward. Themunication is down, but other skills are working well. Dangersence, Enemy Presence, and every other skill is working fine. This will be our biggest advantage, a thing that will help us with this battle. The null zone had affected us, but also the enemy. This means, just like us, they will not be able tomunicate with each other as we could not. Not to mention, the skills advantage had lessened with us having prior information regarding it. That doesn''t mean, we won''t get wiped out if we are not careful and fight with everything we have. "Yellow House, seven o''clock, has fifty-seven undead with three pirs and five civilians," said Lieutenant Krygis, before noting down the numbers on the wall. We didn''t move inside to attack, nor did we cast any other spell. I could see many of my people want to go inside the house and deal with it, save the people inside, that are with the undead. They didn''t and instead moved forward with me. They are not the only ones who want to save the people. I wanted to barge into the house and kill all the undead and pirs controlling them, but we couldn''t. It will be deviating from the strategy. It will make us lose, the battle. We cannot lose the objective to save the few. We have to control our emotions to win this battle. Enemy is prepared. It wants us toe at them. Since we entered the city earlier, a few groups of undead had engaged with us. Most of them had remained hidden. We won''t be going to them. We will only attack when they attack us and they will because after the leader has used the skill, they are on the timeline like us. The two hordes may being for us, but skill is also running. It is also safer for people if the undead attack us. They won''t bring out the people out of houses. They will be a burden unless things be desperate for them. A minute passed and another, no undead, attacked us. We continued moving through the area assigned to us. Every unit, be toon,pany, or battalion, has an area assigned to it. We had to stay in our area and didn''t have to move unless we needed to. It is the most strategic battle we are fighting and, given themunication blockade, we won''t know whether we are winning or not until the end. A few units might defeat the undead, only to find, that the rest of the army have been defeated. I pushed those thoughts away and moved on with thepany. I took a turn a moment,ter and could see thepany led by Captain Lor engaged with the undead, a couple of blocks away. It is not the first battle we have seen. Many are visible, but there are more units like us, that are yet to fight. I want to fight, but I will not hurry. I will move ording to the n Stone had decided. Soon, over ten minutes passed and the undead had yet to attack us. "The undead moved from the houses 55, 56, 61, and 64 and gathered at house 59," informed Lt. Ross. I nodded and kept moving. This is our advantage, people. Unlike the undead, where less than 5% of the army is living. Our whole army is living, which means every person has sses and skills. Some of the skills are really useful in a battle like this. These skills are what will give us the edge, that we require to win this battle. We made a round of the area that had been assigned to use and calcted the number of undead in the area. There are a lot, but we would be able to deal with them. Stone had divided units such, that every unit would have people with skills, that would aid in the battle, directly and indirectly. It is so different from the other battles we had fought. Even during the first battle, when we had brought the enemy into the city, we had fought against them head-on. Here, it is a little different. More dangerous. In this city, there is no legacy to aid me or protect me. In every battle in Greltheaven, I always had the support of the legacy. I knew, I could run away and enter the range of Legacy, where I will be safe, with the spells, I couldmand through it. Since the first battle, we have imprinted a massive number of spells on the legacy. We didn''t discriminate and imprint, that is considered the most useless or the most illegal. We have prisoners, and we have madeplete use of them. We have a list of undead spells imprinted on the legacy. Now, another enemy ising to attack the city. I have enough confidence to know, that they will not be able to breach the city, but if they somehow did, they will bear the wrath of my legacy. "My lord, the enemy had started to gather on the streets," informed Shaun. "Be ready, they might attack us, this time," I said to my men. For a few minutes, the undead are gathering into the houses from the little tunnels they have made around them and now they have started toe out of the street. They first thought we woulde at them. Like a few of our units did, before the skill, but it was a ploy. "Their numbers have reached a thousand," said Shaun and a smile appeared on my face. "To the enemy," I ordered and led thepany toward the enemy. Our n is not to attack the enemy unless we are attacked, but that is when the enemy is hiding inside the houses with people and in small numbers. When they are out in high numbers. They are open game. This is a battle, after all, and we won''t be winning it by just moving around. It will be won by killing the enemy. Soon we crossed the street and saw the enemy. The undead, filing the street, with many streams of it joining them from the different houses. "Attack!" I roared, and thepany moved toward the undead. All of them had been waiting for it, and now, they got the chance, they were moving enemy battle spirit burning in their heart. It is not just the battle spirit; they have burning in their hearts. There is also hate and will liberate this city from the clutches of the undead. They have killed two-thirds of the city, nearly a hundred thousand people. Turned them into undead, some being family members of people fighting with me. Some of these undead might be them. I could see the trepidation and fear in their heart, but also know, if they see the person they know. They will not break down, instead kill it and free them. The skills activated one after another, covering me and the entirepany. However, their effect isn''t as big as it used to be. My strength is increasing faster and unless the buffs are from someone of my level, it didn''t affect me much. That doesn''t mean, I won''t take the buff. I will take, every bit of them, no matter how small they are. I may not have much experience, but even with a little, I have. I understood very well, how every bit of increase helps in the battle. The enemy reacted immediately. The pirs attacked with the spells, while the undead moved to envelop us. Coming from every alley and street around us. The only direction they are noting from is from back, but they are moving to close that off too. The undead are needlessly worried. We have no intention to retreat, not until we wipe them out and we will, despite the disparity in the numbers. I have two hundred and thirty-two people, while the enemy has over a thousand and more are gathering. I am scared, but we had expected it. It''s not like, we are facing such odds for the first time. We had faced, even greater odds and came out winning. This time, too, it will be no different. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 442: Inside The City Chapter 442: Inside The City Osward "It happened," I said as I felt my message spell breaking. I tried casting the spell again, but nothing happened. "We are blind. It has suppressed, even shamanicmunication," said Urag, seeing my efforts. I nodded and didn''t say anything further and moved toward the target. I had marked the enemy with the Seeker''s Mark and could sense his direction. He didn''t try to remove the skill, which means, he is prepared for me. General Stone was opposed to letting me fight him. I had to beg him to let me do it. He didn''t think, I could be able to deal with him and asked me to focus on containing him, instead of trying to kill him. Which will get me killed. I wish I could say he is wrong about that. We both may be a high-mages, but there is a difference in our abilities, not to mention, the levels, but I am still moving to fight him. I need to fight him. It is the only thing I want to do since I escaped from Panar. My heart pains when I looked at the state of the city, where I had spent years. It was never a prosperous city, but it was a lively one. The people here were hardworking and good-natured. Most of them have died. The ones that had remained are now hiding in their houses, with their hearts filled with fear. I could sense them with ''Detect Life,'' I could also sense the undead that is hiding with them. I wanted to barge into the house and kill the undead, but that would be a mistake. I had fought city battles before. The first one was a decade and a half ago when I was not even Lv. 10. I was still in the academy and needed spells, but didn''t have money to buy them. So, I joined the army, like many poor students like me, during the vacation. I had barely survived it and promised myself to never do it again, but did it the next year and the year after that. It was the quickest way I could get the spells and the money I needed. I pushed those thoughts away and moved with the battalion. Soon, barely a mile had remained between us, and I could already see therge numbers of undead gathering. "Form up!"manded Asit and the battalion became disciplined as we moved toward the undead before finally reaching Nadir Square. It is on the eastern side of the city, where most working ss used to live. It was the liveliest ce, with all types of shops and businesses. Now everything is either destroyed or shuttered. It felt painful to even look, but I kept looking, before turning to my target. Koris Yegson. The leader of Panar. He is the man who had led the horde to Panar and conquered it. He had not just captured but also sent his undead to capture the people who were running away. Many of my friends and colleagues were captured in front of my eyes. Asit and I were barely able to save our lives from him. I looked at him as he looked at me. He is a man, who looked to be in his early forties. Handsome in a rugged way and well-built like a warrior, despite being a mage. He is a wearing grey mage robe with an emblem of Vris''alud on it. Around him is the horde of undead. There are over five thousand undead behind him and a few thousand in streets and houses. He has been prepared. "It shouldn''t take much to finish you all off," he said, in a casual tone, without any hint of worry. "Don''t be too confident," replied Urag. To which he smiled. "Attack!" he ordered, and the horde moved toward us. Not just the horde, but also the warriors and pirs. The division only has two Lv. 30, warriors, but the enemy has three. Two are moving toward Urag while one is toward Asit. Yegson kept looking at me for a few seconds, before raising his staff at me. A momentter, a barrage of spectral needles came toward me. ¡­ Orok Uram "Kill!" I roared with a Rallying Cry as I ran toward over two thousand undead with mypany. The rhythm bloomed in my heart, more loudly than in thest battle. Its intensity had reached the level of the first battle, I had fought. It surprised me, but I didn''t focus on it. There are too many enemies to get distracted. They are everywhere, in this narrow street, on top of houses, and alleys, and I could see wanting to envelop us. We didn''t stop that. It is good for us. Whoosh! A few seconds passed, and I heard the familiar sound, and with it, came the stream of fire, that bloomed and covered over thirty undead immediately. A momentter, the undead began to fall down, but not before we reached them. I crashed through them. They are not harmful. The fire isn''t as hot as normal fire, but because of the light element in it. It is more harmful to the undead and kills them within a second. That doesn''t mean it won''t be harmful to us, but Barb is careful. She burned the undead in front of us because she knew me and others in front of her could handle it. "Remember our strategy," I said to thepany, before swinging my ax to the group of undead in front of me. Most of the units in the army are designated to a specific area, but there are a few, like mine. Which are givenplete freedom to operate anywhere we want. I am the only one among the freedom units, who is below Lv. 30 to get this, get this responsibility. I don''t want to disappoint. Khachac! My ax cut through the undead and I moved forward, with mypany. We killed every undead that came our way. It didn''t matter whether it was zombies or skeletons, it got cut and burned by us. The rey was immediate. The spells rained down on us, but our mages reacted immediately. Defensive shields came forward, to defend against them. We didn''t move on the offense. I had asked the mages to use the spells only for defense. They need to conserve their mana tost through the battle. The undead kept moving at us, trying to push us in a certain direction. The enemy wanted to press us in the narrow space. Contain us before finishing off, but it didn''t happen. We are moving, not stopping even for a moment. I have told my men to not stop. Killing undead is fine, but our actual target is those who are alive, warriors, pirs, and mages. We will stop only for them. My ax moved with every step, killing the undead as they came at me. I am not using any skill. These undead aren''t powerful enough to make me use them. I might have used them in the spells, targeting me, but my mages are stopping them. Hun! It didn''t take long. The wild rhythm spiked in my heart and a momentter, a group of Bone Spears tore through the mage shields. I grinned seeing them and stepped forward with Lion''s Strength coursing through my veins and swung my ax. ¡­ Karsa The undead had surrounded us from every side and it was horrifying. So, much, it froze me in fear. Maybe joining the army had been a bad idea. It had made me abandon my tribe and made the rtionship with my familyplicated. My tribe was opposed to me joining the army. They are opposed to any woman joining the army. Some of the tribes are letting their women join it, but most are still opposing it. I didn''t have much of a choice; it was either that or marry. It is my first battle, and I was quite excited till an hour ago, but now there is only a horror in my heart. Rip! Another attack hit me. I wasn''t able to dodge it, due to being frozen on the spot. "Focus soldier!" shouted a familiar woman. Next second, I saw Sergeant Dina, killing the group of undeading at me, before moving away. I felt relieved before shame filled me. Everyone is fighting. There is not a single person, who is standing frozen like me. I should be fighting. I have trained for it, but I am so overwhelmed in fear, that I couldn''t even move, much less raise my sword to fight. Seconds passed and undead kepting at me, but killed before reaching me. Till two of them came at me. I looked around but found no one there to help me, everyone was busy with enemies. I tried to open my mouth to scream for help, but whether it was in fear or shame, my mouth wouldn''t open. I watched skeleton and zombiee closer to me, till they were right in front of me. Unlike me, they had no fear in their eyes and attacked immediately. I tried to retreat but found my back hitting the wall of the house. In my panic, I pushed my hand forward, to save my face from the sword. ng! Rip! The handguard had stopped the zombie''s sword, but the skeleton''s saber had cut through my waist. The attack is deep and would have gone deeper. If I hadn''t dodged it on time. Gaaa! The zombie screamed and attacked again, this time, I wouldn''t be able to save myself. I have to act, be a soldier, that I had sacrificed so much to be. If not, I will be killed in this attack and be another dead body, that might rise to be undead. I don''t want to suffer fate, after I had paid such a big prize "Die you bastards!" I screamed with everything, I had and swung my sword toward the undead, channeling every bit of fear, I felt toward them. Activating, Strong Strike. The only skill, I have got from my Soldier ss. For a moment, everything was a blur, before I felt myself hitting something hard. It was the neck of the skeleton, my sword had cracked it, before started breaking through it. I had used the sword wrong. If I had used it right away; the way, I had been taught. I would have been able to cut through its neck smoothly. Khat! Finally, the sword came out from the other side. Seeing the head of the skeleton flying. A smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. I had done it; I had finally killed the undead. I wanted to jump into a job, instead, I stumbled to my left to dodge the attack of the zombie. Rip! It gave me a cut on my art, but it''s not deep. The armor saved my arm. If not for it, the zombie would have taken it whole; the attack was powerful enough to hack it apart. Gaaa! The zombie screamed and attacked again. Once again, my heart was filled with fear, but this time, it didn''t freeze me. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 443: Difficult Enemy Chapter 443: Difficult Enemy Margaux "It will be fine," I said, seeing my friend looking south, toward Panar. "I am worried," she said after a few seconds of silence. We have received a message not long ago. Lord Silver had entered Panar to root out the undead. "Me too, but there is nothing we could do. Here, we might do something, if the walls are breached," I said and looked toward Deerpond. In less than five hours, they will be in the city. She didn''t say anything to that, nor did I speak anymore. Instead, I turned to the beautiful city. The view from the tower is amazing; one could get an idea of how the city is growing. I have beening here every week and always see something new. If Master Silver had waited for a few months. He would have been better prepared, with the bigger army, but wouldn''t have had such a chance, Stena had said. "What do you think about his words?" I asked. Her expressions be serious, understanding what I am talking Before he left, he said something and asked for our opinions on it. It will shock, the entire city, the entire region, and even the continent. "He needs to conquer the city first," she replied. I didn''t say anything more and turned back to the city, with the hope, that it would survive, what wasing for it. It needs to, till its lord returns. ¡­ Stone ng ng ng! Our weapons shed hard as they met each other at the blurring speed. Rip! She is fast, and she is a mage. It is why, I dodged her sword at the cost of the injury and defended against the Bone Lances, before moving to defend against her sword. She was the most difficult enemy; I had ever faced. Also, the most powerful, but that is not important. I had killed those more powerful than me, but those difficult had nearly killed me. They are the dangerous kind, and she is the most dangerous, I had ever fought. "You are good. better, than the elder-blood, I had killed," she said and came at me with another attack. At the same time, two more attacks came from spectral hands, holding the bone swords. Rip! I dodged her attack and the bone sword but was cut by another bone sword. Which she controlled, finely enough, that it had cut the small, unprotected part of my arm. It hadn''t been even fifteen minutes since we had started fighting and she had already injured me all over my body. It is a good thing, that my elder-blood is good at dealing with magical injuries or it would have been troublesome to deal with. "I heard, you had some methods. Why aren''t you using them?" she asked as she came at me with another attack. "I will, it is not just the time," I replied and defended against the attack. Using this method would be a bad idea. Especially this early in the battle. I have to conserve my strength and use it as sparingly as possible. Unlike her, I can''t just take the energy from the undead around me. If I am drained, I am drained. There is nothing that will help me recover other than time. "It is time, my dear, elder-blood. If you don''t use the methods now, you will not get a chance to use them again," she said, attacking me again with a barrage of Dark Bolts. I had experienced them well, in thest battle and manipted my energy to create ater to defend against them. Ting Puch Ting! They were able to reduce more than half of their power before they hit me. I ground my teeth in pain and hoped my internal defenses would deal with them quickly. Hun I had just dealt with that when I found arcs of ck lightning in front of me. I swiftly move my halberd and distort. Rip! As I did, my whole body shuddered with a feeling of danger and I leaped back, but still got a bloody cut in my chest. She is Mage Knight, her ss is made of two powerful sses of their category. It gives her the might of the Knight and the versatility of the Mages. She is proficient in using both, unlike Bartram, who was a Knight, despite knowing spells. The intelligence said, her level is in her mid-thirties. It is powerful and with her ss, she is more powerful at that level. Warriors or even mages of the same level are no match for her. As she kept saying, she had killed an elder-blood before, which isn''t easy. Given our abilities, which make us stronger, move faster, and heal swifter. We are a nightmare, to our enemies, but someone like her counters us well. She is as strong as us, fast as us, and has more abilities than us in the form of spells and skills. We dread the enemies like her, who could counter our every advantage. If I had the option, I rather not face someone like her, even with a broken artifact in my hand. I am at a disadvantage, but I have to keep fighting. If I had lost; the entire battle would copse, and it is already under strain, and it is increasing every minute. I could sense it all. She may have silenced all themunication, but many other skills are working. My Battle Awareness is working. I could see my army. Most of them have already started engaging with the enemy, which ising at them on all sides. From houses to alleys to roads. There is so much, I want to do. I could direct the army, to deal with the enemy more efficiently, but now because ofmunication blockade, I couldn''t. A lot more people are going to die due to it and the sole reason for that would be the woman in front of me. My heart rages when I look at her; I want to burst out with all my strength and attack, but that would be the most idiot thing, I could do right now. Giving into my emotions is giving her what she wants. Currently, I am fighting. I am getting injured, but fighting. That is my strategy for the battle. I am confident, that I will get the advantage in the battle. If I burst out with full strength, it wouldn''t be enough to kill her. If it had been, I would have already done it. Killing the enemy fast is the best way to end the battle quickly and save a lot of lives, but I do not have confidence in killing her. The best course of action is to keep fighting as I am right now and survive. It won''t win me the battle, but that is what the army is for. I have trained them myself and chosen each officer for this battle. I know they are capable. The enemy might be suppressing them now, but it won''t be forever. Not again this enemy, which barely has any chance to prepare. If the enemy, like her, had even a day to prepare. It would have been terrible. I wouldn''t have attacked the city, even in my dreams. By attacking, in the twelve hours of fighting battle; at the time, they have least expected had provided us with an opportunity, that we might not have got ever. So, many things have lined up for this attack; that I couldn''t just say no when Lord Silver asked, despite the innumerable risks. Including leaving Greltheaven with less force, than we had brought here. Which made the people, who should be our allies, attack us. I clearly thought and focused on the enemy and needles she had attacked me. These needles aren''t normal. They are covered by the fire, her swording at me. The energy came out and covered me, while I moved my halberd to deal with her attack. Ting Puch Ting! The armor and energy saved me, but some still pierced into my body. I quickly pushed them out with the energy, but they had already done the damage. I proactively moved the energy into my body to deal with the damage. It is hard to control the elder energy, but I have an excellent teacher. It is because of her; that I have be so good at controlling the energy. She is the reason I was able to get more than one method in less than a year of awakening and was also proficient in using them. "I have fought many giant-bloods; even spar against an old one, but you are the most impressive one," "It seemed like, they are right, what they say about the bronze giants," she said and cast another group of needles. I didn''t say anything to that. I had heard a few things, but not enough toment concretely. I have just awakened and barely started receiving things. The elder blood provides a lot of things, but one needs to be worthy of it. More than half of the elder blood didn''t progress much, but some were able to reach, heights beyond imagination. It is just like the ss and levels. How high, one could go depends on her individuals'' efforts and luck. Hun! Suddenly, a shudder rang through my body, and I saw her swording at me, but I brought my halberd down, toward my legs. I cut the translucent binding moving to surround me and retreated. Rip! She used the chance to give me the biggest injury. A long cut across my chest, that runs bone deep. It is serious and painful, but better than the fate, I would have suffered. If I hadn''t acted on time and given that translucent binding opportunity. It would have slowed me down enough to give her the opportunity to push that sword into my chest and it would have been game over for me. "It''s the attack, I had used to kill the elder-blood; it didn''t work on you," she said. "It would have, if I had reacted even a fractionte," I replied, looking at my bloodied chest, which is throbbing painfully. She didn''t say anything to that, but came at me with a powerful attack. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 444: Survive Chapter 444: Survive Ronda "Four and a half hours more," said Lord Darius, looking at his watch. "Don''t worry my lord, we will reach there on time and conquer and nothing and no one could stop us from that," I said to the man, who was clearly nervous, but hiding it with skill. It is his first time leading the battle. However, he won''t fight, nor does he need to. He is a lord; his presence alone is enough. "Father is right, my lord. With the force, we are bringing; Greltheaven would have no choice, but to bend its knee in front of you," added Javier. Lord Darius nodded, with a pleased smile on his face. "Any reply on our newest offer?" he asked a momentter. I had told him, not to do it, after the first offer. Knowing it was useless, but the man didn''t listen. "Rejected," I replied. We had offered Cardin a deal. If he surrenders the city. He rejected it. "Have our spies found anything?" he asked with worry, returning to his eyes. I shook my head. There are a few things that have made me worried. The most being that bastard keeping, his trusted mages in the city. Especially that Geomancer, that brought out the alchfire. It is the thing we fear the most. If they have it; then it could wipe out our army. That would be terrible. We had asked the merchants about it, but the bastards are mum. They have stated directly; that they wouldn''t share any information with us unless it is about the undead. "I will keep asking," I replied after a few seconds of silence. It took quite an effort to ce the spies in the enemy''s army, but even they didn''t seem to know anything. Silver is good at keeping important information contained. We tried to breach it, but not a single person in his inner circle responded to our advances. "You do not need to be worried, my lord. Even if they have more alchfire orbs; we have made enough preparations to deal with them," "We have brought the geomancers with us and have people, with danger sensing skills," "With such preparations; they wouldn''t be able to blindside us," reassured Javier. "Let''s hope, so," replied Lord Darius and sighed. A lot of it riding on the sess of this mission. If they were able to conquer Greltheaven. They will get a legacy and control over the river route. It will be like controlling half of the region, which will provide them with wealth, influence, and safety. They wouldn''t be reliant on the one city alone. Most importantly, if I am able to give, the lord Greltheaven. He had promised me Riverbell. He said that, just before, I left the city with the army. I want Riverbell; it will make me a lord. I pushed those thoughts away and turned to Laris beside me. "Any news?" I asked him. "The battle in Port Midlet is still continuing. Silver''s army, had entered the Panar to fight the undead," he replied, and a relief flooded into my heart. That boy in Port Midlet is doing good. Keeping the horde of million undead at bay. I hope he will wipe them out, like how Silver did yesterday. It would be great if he was able to wipe out even 60% to 70% of them. The rest of them, even if came at us, we will be able to deal with them. As for Silver, it won''t matter, even if he retreated safely from Panar. As long as I got control of the city, he wouldn''t be able to do anything. Instead, he will have to do what we want. Since his legacy would be in our control. Just thinking about it, makes me want to smile brightly. I didn''t, of course. I am the leader of the army; I need to maintain myposure. ¡­ Undead came at us from all sides, roads, alleys, and roofs. Houses, some even broke the walls and windows toe at us. There is not a single ce, from where they are noting. I looked at them as I moved toward the enemy. The biggest cluster of them, with over a thousand undead pirs and other powerhouses. Rip! The first undead appeared in front of me, and my rapier moved. Cutting it into two without stopping. My men had also moved into the action and begun hacking the undead into pieces. It was smooth at first, but soon, the undead showed their greatest advantage and slowed our pace. The numbers. All they needed was seconds to slow our charge. Our speed had turned that of walking and more undead wereing, to slow us down further. They had enveloped us from all sides. There is not a single direction, in which they aren''ting. Hun! My rapier moved, and I hacked one undead after another when I felt all the hair on my body rise up. Bang! I opened my mouth, but an explosion urred before I could even form the word. A momentter, the ckness disappeared, and I began to hear the sounds again. I looked at the bloody gore, covering me. There is ayer of green energy protecting me. It is what saved me from the explosion; that would have torn the holes through my body. Bang Bang Bang I was looking at it when I heard more explosions around me. Undeads are exploding, wanting to kill us, before we could hack them to pieces. It is a proven strategy of the undead and now, with themunication blockade, it has be even more effective. Earlier, there used to be amunication covering all. The moment one senses the undead exploding. They would be sent out a message and a protection spell from the mage would cover them. Now there is nomunication. We have ced the mages strategically; they could sense the danger and cast the spell to protect our men, but this approach isn''t as effective as themunication. In our current condition, it is the best option we have. "Kill the enemies!" I roared and began hacking at the undead at an even greater pace. There is only one effective way to deal with it. Kill all the undead. When there will be no undead, nothing will explode. The explosions were urring on every side, but it didn''t stop us. We are killing the enemy as we move forward. We will not stop, till we reach the big group of undead and wipe them all out, including the powerhouse hiding there. A minute passed and then another, when we reached them. There are thousands of them, and they came at us like the tide. For once, I am grateful for the narrow space; it is creating barriers for them. Hun! I was killing the enemy when I saw a mass of powerful lightning appearing in front of me. The same lightning that Lich had used against me. I had a leveled-up, countless times since then, but even now, I am powerless against it. All Grade 4 spells are dangerous to me. Bang! The shield appeared and stopped the attack. "There are two Lv. 30; a mage and warrior," said Shaun, before leaping into the roof of the house and firing the spells at the enemies. The pirs also revealed themselves and our mages moved to fight them, while I and others hacked the undead as we moved forward. There are a lot of enemies, but we are killing them. Still, I could see my people were suffering. Getting injured and dying. The rate feels greater than in thest two battles. My heart pained, seeing that, but I controlled my emotions and kept killing the undead. Hun! Minutes passed when the warriors started toe out. Seeing their numbers, my expression couldn''t help but turn serious. "My Lord, I think you should retreat," advised Lt. Ross "Thank you, for your advice lieutenant, but I will stay," I replied. The man opened his mouth, but closed it, seeing the expression on his face. Retreat isn''t an option. I have to fight, for myself. For these people, I am leading. A few secondster, he walked ahead to fight against the enemying toward us. One by one, the officers moved to fight the enemy powerhouses, till only I had remained. Hun! Another minute passed when two more warriors came out of the undead and they wereing directly toward me. It''s clear; that I am their target. The officers noticed them instantly and tried to stop them, but couldn''t. The enemies, they were fighting held them back. The same happened with Shaun. He attacked them with the spells, but the enemy mage reacted and protected them with the defensive shields. He might have been able to do something. If he had been fighting with the mage alone, but he was also holding back a Lv. 30 warrior. A few seconds passed and the undead fighting me began to retreat. "You guys retreat," I said to the soldiers around me. "Lord Silver, the enemies are strong," said the young orc, looking at two peopleing at me. "Don''t worry about them; I will be able to handle them. You guys just make sure, that no undead woulde to disturb me," I said. Hesitation appeared on their faces, but they nodded and retreated. Leaving me alone. I turned ahead and looked at the enemies, who had entered the empty space. There are two of them. One is human, while the other is an orc. The human man looked to be in his early thirties. He is tall, over six and a half feet tall, wearing light armor and having a straight sword in his hand. He is an agility fighter; it is clear by his physique and weapons. The grey orc beside him is shorter, with a ssic orc physique. He looks to be in histe thirties. He is heavily armored, from helmet to shoes, and holding a saber thinker than my arm in one hand and shield in another. I would need to be really careful in fighting against him. These two are pre-Lv. 30. They were part of Panar''s forces and had been here for over six months. Saying fighting with them would be hard, would be an understatement. There is a good chance; I would be pinned to the ground within seconds. Yesterday, I had fought against one pre-Lv. 30 and barely able to defeat him. Today there are two of them. While I had gained three levels. They did not give me the confidence I would like to have, but it didn''t matter. They are the enemies, and I will have to fight them. If I did not, they would attack my officers, who were already busy fighting. So, dying or getting captured isn''t either; I will have to kill them, or at least keep them upied. It is the only way; my men and I will survive. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 445: Fierce Clash Chapter 445: Fierce sh "Little lord, any interest in surrendering?" asked the tall man, whose name was Guilo Falls. I didn''t reply and kept looking at them. "I guess, it''s no," he said with a grin and came at me with a speed skill. It''s not a normal speed skill. It had made, his movements sort of ghostly, which made it hard to track. Now, I am slightly regretting, removing the focus. I did it in favor of other skills, which I had thought would be more useful here. Till now, I didn''t get a chance to use it and I hope, I never do. His movement is confusing, but I could see it. My mental stats are high enough, that such skills couldn''t confuse me; not to mention, that I had leveled up and had an actual battle experience. It could be said that today I am in a much better position to fight an enemy like, him than I was yesterday. I would have been fearful of such a skill yesterday, but today, I am not. He stopped in front of me and attacked. His attack was fast, with mist covering his sword, made me feel like, my head was spinning as I looked at it. I didn''t look away and instead swung my rapier in response, with the power of de of Gale. ng! Our swords shed surprising, the tall man. Forget his sword hitting me, I didn''t even so much shake, which was surprising even to me. It seemed like the level-up had given me a greater boost than I had thought. I didn''t have time to enjoy the surprise as I dashed to my left with the Blitz Steps. Rip! I was able to dodge it, but an attack from Rolno Orac had torn my sleeve, with a de of his saber, nearly touching my skin. Thankfully, it had only cut the sleeve, not the hand he was targeting. Hun! I was feeling relieved when I saw another attacking toward me from the front, by the tall man and his sword had already crossed half of the distance. I reacted immediately, with a rapier whipping toward it without wasting any moment. I could feel his attack was more powerful than thest. It is not only fast, but there is also weight to it. ng! I was right, I felt it the moment, my sword touched his and activated a quick parry, to divert the force. That would have numbed my hand, at the least. He tried to stop the parry and press ahead but didn''t seed. Hun! It presented me with a golden opportunity to move at him and hack his neck, but I had to move to dodge the attack from the orc. "Bastard!" I cursed the orc as dashed left. If not for it; I would have a good chance to kill him. The confidence surprised me, but it is the truth. There is a good chance I would have been able to kill him or at least injure him seriously. The battle yesterday had given me the valuable experience of fighting the pre-Lv. 30. I had sparred with them, hundreds of times, but I didn''t have the confidence till yesterday. Yesterday''s battle had given me the confidence, and experience, to fight foes like these. Now, I am not just fighting with the intention of surviving, but to kill. The attack came from the front again, and I moved my rapier to deal with it while keeping an eye on the orc. ng! I shed, parrying the attack once again, before moving on to dodge the attack. Rip! I was a little slow at that and got the cut on my waist by the orc''s saber. It''s not deep enough, but deep enough, to draw out the blood. I had just dodged the attack from the orc when a human attacked me again. ng Rip ng! I shed against them every second. They didn''t want to give me even a moment of rest. I am constantly moving, my feet never staying in one ce for more than a fraction of a second. I am using my Speed Skill and passive skills to the best of their abilities. I have trained to use them at maximum efficiency, and I am pleased with how I am doing, despite the cuts appearing on my body. Rip! Another one appeared on my back, and a momentter, tears began to appear in my eyes. It started to burn, like someone had filled it with kerosene and lighted it with the fire. It''s really painful, that I want to scream. The pain skill. It was the first time he had used it. ng! I bore the pain and defended against the attack, parrying it, when I noticed something surprising from the corner of my eyes. I had been expecting the saber, but it was a shielding at me, with an obvious intention of ramming it at me. It is also fast. Fast as the saber he had been attacking me with. I had experienced enough ramming from Garzong and others to understand, how bad it would be. If the shield rammed against me. So, I moved to dodge the attack. There is not a single thought in my mind to stop the shield with my rapier; that would be an utter mistake. I dodged it, but he seemed to have expected it as he attacked me with the saber. I reacted immediately and brought my rapier forward to defend against it. ng! My rapier shed against his saber, giving me a shock in my arm despite parrying the attack. The attack might not be fast, but it was filled with power. Rip! I defended, but another came immediately, and I moved to dodge it, but the attack was fast, and it cut through my chest, right below the armor, giving me a bloody cut. "You bleed," he said with a smile, and came at with the orc, while I moved to dodge, before defending against his second attack and dodging another of the orc''s attacks. ng Rip ng! My de shed, and I dodged while getting cut on the back. They are increasing and the pain; they give brings tears to my eyes. I wanted to scream. Instead, I bore the pain and defended and dodged their attacks. Their teamwork is good, and their capabilities and powersplement each other. It is likely why they have been sent to deal with me. "You should surrender, Silver. It will only be more painful. If you keep fighting," said the orc and leaped toward me. It is definitely a skill. Seeing with the grace and speed, he had leaped toward me. I waited for a moment and crouched down, before moving right. Dodging his attack, before swinging my rapier forward to defend against the tall man''s attack. I will not surrender. If I had an intention of doing that; I wouldn''t have resisted the undead at all. "Not interested," I replied as I dodged another attack from the orc, which severed a few pieces of the tattered sleeve. Minutes passed, and the fight continued. Everyone is fighting. I don''t know how they are doing; I ampletely focused on the two enemies. They are so powerful, that I didn''t let myself get distracted, even for a moment. I cannot afford, to even look around for even a moment. Rip! I got another cut on the back by the orc. It is light like the most, but their numbers are piling up across my body and also the pain they are giving me. I wanted to kill the bastard, but Orc wasn''t the target, nor I could kill him with the tall man on my tail, who is attacking me constantly every second since the battle begins. Their n is good; they are attacking me constantly, not giving me even a single chance to attack. I do not mind it, to be honest. I like such battles. I thrive in it. A few more minutes passed, and we were still fighting. I could see the frustration and anger in their eyes, but they were experienced and kept it under control. They had not expected this; they might have thought about the two of them together, it wouldn''t take them more than a minute to finish me off, but it had been over ten minutes. Though, it''s also true, that I am bloodied and battered, while there is not a single injury on their body. Rip! Another cut appeared on my leg as I dodged the saber of the Orc when the sword-tall man came at me as usual. I moved my sword to defend against his attack, using de of Gale, which I had using since the start of the battle. ng! My sword shed against his, and I parried with a quick parry as I did hundreds of times. It is why, he already started moving, pulling back his sword for another attack, while the orc, attacked from behind. The attack, I would dodge and then move my sword to defend against the attack of a tall man again, but I didn''t do that. Instead, I move forward like a bullet, without care for the attack of the Orcing from behind. A surprise shed in the tall man''s eyes, but he reacted fast by retreating and bringing his sword forward to stop me. ng! My sword shed with his and could see a relief appeared in his slightly panicked eyes. I grinned at him and pushed myself forward. This time, I held nothing back. Immediately, my speed more than doubled, and appeared beside him with our shoulders touching and the sword locked. "Wha" He opened his mouth, looking at our locked sword, when his eyes widened and panicked, which had just disappeared, returned with a hundred times more intensity. Rapier isn''t the only weapon, I have. There is another one, that is moving toward him. I sparred with Jim the most; the third of the sparring, I had done was with him. So, it is obvious, I would learn some tricks from the rogue. The dagger reached him when I felt a defensive method activated on him. It surprises me, not the defensive skill, but the one it belongs to. It didn''t belong to a tall man but to the orc. That didn''t stop my dagger, it red with the power of enchantments, and I activated Sharpness on top of it, making the attack even more powerful. Puch! It touched the tall man''s neck and pierced inside despite the defensive skill, before tearing his neck apart with the power of Mauling Strike. Killing the man. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 446: In Cold Blood Chapter 446: In Cold Blood The warm blood sttered on me from a gruesome hole in the tall man''s neck, but I bore it as I spun to deal with the attack of the orc. "Falls!" Orc screamed as he looked at me in fury, while my eyes were on his saber. ng! My rapier shed with his saber. I parried it but still felt the shock in my arm. Making it numb for a moment. "It''s your turn," I said and whipped my sword toward him, without wasting any time. He didn''t try to defend it with the saber and moved his shield forward. The orc is furious, but he is experienced. He reacted pragmatically despite the grief he was feeling. He had seen my speed and, using a saber, would have given me a chance to kill him. It is why, he had brought forward his shield to defend against my attack. ng! My sword shed against his shield. Immediately, feeling the shock, that had numbed my arm. I bore the numbness and appeared to his left and attacked him once again. ng ng ng! He quickly moved his shield forward to defend against it. So, I moved behind him and once again moved his shield and defended against it. I rather not hit the shield and suffer the attack from the skill, but I need to do it to kill him. I begin to fight like a true agility fighter, moving around him. Attacking him from all sides and angles, and he defended against all attacks with his shield. "Why are you being a turtle? Fight me like a man!" I challenged, but there was no response from him. I wish I had a taunt; it might help against this turtle. I have a few strategies to deal with him, but first, I will have to know his limitations. I already have a pretty good idea, but I want to be sure. I continued with the attacks, testing his responses to different types of attacks. I even took the chance to drink the potion. The bastards have carved me up good and they are painful; the pain skill from the orc is still active. Hun! Over a minute passed, and I kept attacking when I heard something behind me. I turned and saw the house copsing. It is not the first house to copse, but the one close to me. The houses are fragile, in front of the spells and attacks, that are flying around. I was about to turn to the opponent when I saw something that turned my expression bad. People had started toe out of the house. Thest few came out, with the house copsing on them. Thankfully, someone cast a spell on them. Saving them from being buried, seeing that I felt relieved, but soon my expression turned bad again. There are thirteen of them, with two being children, not more than two years old. There were even three children, five to ten years old, and they looked scared as adults. One of the adult men had simply copsed on the ground in fear. It is horrifying for them, everywhere they look. They saw the undead. There is no way for them to get out. The undead surrounded the area, with them being in the near middle. I was distracted by them, and the orc used that chance and attacked. His fast and strong; he seemed to have used everything he had. Rip! I reacted quickly, but he was able to able to give me a big painful cut across my back. ''No more waiting,'' I thought and moved to orc with the attack. Those people will die if they don''t receive help anymore. Currently, they are in space, where I am fighting. There are no undead there, but some undead might slip through my men. Seeing how scared these people are, a single undead would be more than enough to kill them all. ng! The orc defended with the shield like before, but the very next moment, his eyes widened, when my sword slipped through his shield and attacked his hand. Rip! I gave him a cut below his armguard. It was not deep, but it drew the blood. I smiled at his surprised face and attacked again. ng ng Rip! This time, he was more careful and defended the shield with his shield. He did it with the second one, but the third one, hit again across his legs. The armor warriors are protected and have high defense, but they are slow. Rip Rip! Another cut appeared, and this time, on his shoulder, before one more at his le, where I had broken the strap of his leg guard. My sword begins to carve him up, like he did to me. Most of those are minor and he seemed to have skill, that stops the bleeding fast, but it didn''t matter as one of these attacks is going deeper than they are right now. That will be the end of him. He seemed to understand, that as well as he has be more cautious. A minute passed, and more injuries appeared on his body, but not a single one was serious enough. I could see the confidence in his eyes was returning. This, in turn, made him defend against my attacks better. In the past minute, the number of attacksnding on him reduced to less than the minute before that. Frustrations and anger appeared in my eyes as I intensified my attacks, while the orc defended calmly. Hun! It was when something happened, and an rm shed into the eyes of the man as my rapier, which was about to sh against his shield, moved up toward his head. He raised his shield immediately while attacking me with his saber, but my sword was faster. Cling! My sword reached above his shield and slid across it toward his face, while the dagger in my other hand stopped his saber, which nearly dislocated my hand. He watched in rm before turning his head, hoping the helmet would protect him. It would not. I have been fighting him for minutes, studying him. Testing him with my moves. The helmet is enchanted, but it will not protect him. My sword wouldn''t be able to breach the helmet, nor does not need to, as I am targeting the unprotected face He had to turn his head, but that won''t save him. He released that next moment as I smoothly took a step and moved the sword toward his face. It took a fraction of a second for my sword to reach his face, till it was only an inch away from my right eye. Hun! I was about to pierce my sword, through his right eye when suddenly all the hair on my body rose up. I felt the death woulde for me. If I didn''t move away from my ce, that would be forgoing killing the enemy, which I am so close to doing. It was a great struggle, but I decided to listen to my instincts. ''Fuck!'' I cursed in my heart, retreated instantly before turning. Only to see, seven frost spears with a really sharp tiping toward me. If I hadn''t retreated, four would have pierced through me. Even now, I am not out of the danger; there are two of them right in front of me. I could cut one with my sword, but that would be dangerous. Seeing the pieces of the spells would hit me; frost spears do not copse when they are broken. Not to mention, the second spear, which will tear through my stomach. ''It seemed like, it was a right decision,'' I said and activated the skill, I had reced the Focus with and swung my sword toward the spears. ng ng! My sword shed against the first frost spear, and it was repelled away; the same thing happened with the second spear. Both of them crashed into the wall to the right, destroying it thoroughly. The name of skill Graceful Repel. It is a Bell''s Skill, which she got after she had survived the assassination. It is a powerful skill, capable of repelling any attack. Though it wouldn''t have worked against the Grade 4 spells. Frost Spear is a Grade III spell, and they had pushed the skill to the limit. Its power, after all, is dependent on the host. I am not the host of it; I had just copied the skill from her. It was a decision, after all. If I had Focus, I would have been able to deal with one spear, but the second one would have had me. I do not me my mages for failing to protect me. There were several enemy mages who had attacked me seeing me about to kill their powerhouse. Most of them were stopped with the shields appearing around me. Only the frost spears were able to move past the shields. I turned back to the Orc. "You are one lucky bastard," I said, and he grinned in response. "I am and my luck, has just got even better," he replied and looked past me. A shudder spread through my body, and I turned, with my heart beating wildly in fear. I saw a bronze-skinned maning toward me, making my heart, stop for a moment. He is a raven-haired man of medium height and build. Wearing light armor, with a long sword in his hand. His pale blue eyes are focused on me, with his intentions visible in them. I know the man; his name is Curtis Orsini. He is a Lv. 30+ powerhouse. He was in Almin since they had captured it and came here with Rynra Throne. "Shit!" I cursed and heard a sharp whistle. He turned a little but didn''t stop. The whistle was a help whistle, since we knew themunication could go down. We had improvised, and the whistles were part of it. I hope, the helpes andes fast because I am not a match for a Lv. 30. The undead parted with his every step; a few brave officers tried moving toward him but were stopped. So, are the spells of our mages. I watched him and realized, to horror. That the group of civilians are in his way. "Move away," I said to them and half of them quickly moved, but the other half remained frozen. They were already scared, and the man''s suppression skill seemed to have affected them even more. Freezing them on their spot in fear. "Fuck!" I cursed and moved toward them, seeing they were not moving, even when the enemy had reached a few steps away from them. I moved with everything I had and soon reached close. That''s when the man, who was simply walking toward me, raised his sword and winged it. "No!" I screamed in horror. Pachac! A wet sound rang out a momentter, and the man in front of him split in two, with blood spraying everywhere. Some had sprayed on me as I stopped. He killed the man. A defenseless man who was frozen in fear and meant no harm to him, but he killed him, in cold blood. If it had been a soldier, it would have been within his right, but a defenseless man? "Why?" I asked. The man stopped, and confusion appeared on his face for a moment before the smile returned. "He was in a way," he replied simply, with his tone clearly stating, he felt he did nothing wrong. Seeing that, the anger, I had never felt exploded in my heart. "It seemed like me, killing an ant has made you angry," he said, seeing the burning anger in my eyes, which burned even hotter hearing his words. The grin on his face widened seeing that, and he raised his sword before swinging it again. Not toward me, but toward the woman frozen in fear, with a child in her arms. "No!" I screamed and leaped with everything I had. I pushed myself as I had never done. I havee to the city to liberate it from the undead. Save these people, but now, in front of my very eyes, the enemy had killed a person, I hade to save. Now, he had swung his sword to kill the defenseless woman and a child. If I had let it happen. I would never be able to forgive myself Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 447: Not A Good Feeling Chapter 447: Not A Good Feeling Osward Bang! Lightning arcs crashed against my shields, breaking one while the other one had cracked all over the ce. It had been over twenty minutes since we were fighting. The enemy is powerful. I had been expecting it, but he turned out to be stronger than my expectations. I wouldn''t have been his match half a year ago when I had be a High-Mage. The half a year had given me time to study the new spells. "I thought you would be a challenge, but you are only so-so," taunted Yegson. His words hurt, but I didn''t let them get into my head. I know how powerful, this bastard is, and I have to be careful every moment. The slightest mistake and his spells would hit me before I knew it. Forget me. He would even kill Asit and Urag. If I am not careful. I may be far away from killing him, but I am doing the job that had been assigned to me. Keeping him contained. I have been doing that for over twenty minutes. I have stopped him not only from harming him but also from harming others. He would attack others as well as me, and it is my job to stop those attacks. Like right now, he had attacked Urag with Bone Spikes and I had cast a stone skin on him. In case any of them were to pierce him. He had a powerful defensive spell cast on him by his shaman. Stone skin worked well with it. It is better than casting a shield, seeing the spikesing from the ground while stopping them with a shield possible, but it is a versatile spell. If the mage is good enough, then they could move it around it, and Yegson is good. I could see, he was getting angry, despite showing a smile on his face. A lowly, generalist, he nned to quickly finish before moving toward another battle is keeping him contained. I had asked General Stone for this, but he wouldn''t have given me. If I didn''t have the ability in me. He isn''t the man, who will listen to requests that are detrimental to battle. I have been training hard for the past half a year. I had studied countless spells and sparred with multiple opponents, including General Stone. That man is a monster; no spell could stop him. Hun! Suddenly, he used another spell. It is not targeted at me or Asit or Urag, but at soldiers. Drasis Wave. A variation of Necrotic Wave; will affect themon soldiers, who, like us have held the undead back, while slowly killing them. It would be bad. If the spell hit them; it would be terrible. This spell is a Grade IV spell; it will inflict them with weakness and ailments. Radiant Wave. I activated my spell and, to the surprise, of the enemy. The light wave was released from my staff and shed against the necrotic wave. I am one of the few people who could use the light elemental spells. Beforeing to Greltheaven; I only knew one light spell. They are rare and the one, I know, was small and nearly useless at my level. I kept the affinity secret; the churches hound those with such affinities. I had only revealed it to General Stone who had provided me with the light elemental spells. Mage Z''s help was also instrumental in learning them. Though I could use the offensive and defensive spells, but couldn''t use the healing ones. They are the most difficult ones and I found out, that I didn''t have much talent for them. Still, it is only half a year, which is not much for the conformation. The mages with the healing spells have great value. If I learn even a simple one, my sry will go up. I would also be a great help to the army. The Radiant Wave, hit shed against Necrotic Wave. It wasn''t able to destroy it all, but 80% of the power of the attack had been reduced. The 20% hit the soldiers, but it wouldn''t be as dangerous as it would have been at its full power. He didn''t attack me immediately, instead looked at me. He kept looking at me for four and a half seconds before he attacked again. Spectral des. My eyes turned serious, seeing the powerful spell. The spectral des are translucent, long des. It will be my end if those des hit me. Aeryn''s Wall. Garion''s Curtain. I didn''t hold back either, used the defensive spells. I had not used it before. Aeryn''s Wall is a light elemental shield and Garion''s Curtain is a green element spell, which I had cast inside it, not behind and in front of it. I had merged the spells. The generalist has many disadvantagespared to the elemental mages. Our spells are weak. We do not have expertise in one field, which makes it hard for us to advance, but we also have advantages of our own. We can use a lot of spells without restrictions. Merge the spells of different elements, making them stronger. Bang Bang Bang The spectral des shed against my shield, which held on against them. A sh of surprise appeared in his eyes before turning to irritation and his staff lit up again. A secondter, a huge bone finger, with its sharp nail burning in the ck fire, appeared in the sky. The spell immediately scared me. It''s a really powerful spell; it could kill me so thoroughly that people would have nothing blood and gore burning in a dark fire. First the Spectral des and now this, he isn''t holding back at all. Sup! The finger came down toward me. I shuddered in my heart, knowing full well, that even a small part of this spell could finish me off. I have to defend it and defend as such that not even the tiniest part of it could hit me. ''I''ll guess, I will be using that,'' I thought, and my staff zed with power. Azuro''s Sphere. Hundred tes of Azar. Larus Reinforcement. A sphere of wind appeared around me and a moment after that, white marble tes appeared inside it connected to each other by stone chains, which began to shine in a metallic light as Karus Reinforcement covered it. This is a Hatsal''s Defense; a famous defensive Grade IV spellbination. It is not only powerful but also hard to cast. I had practiced for over a thousand hours before I was able to master thisbination. I was alsopletely drained. My mana had gone below the 5%. I took out the potion but didn''t drink it as the huge burning bone finger had reached me. BANG! The finger crashed against Hatsal''s defense and immediately the cracks appeared on the te. The finger crashed, before spreading to the other tes. Soon, all the tes had cracks with ck fireing out of them, which were quickly being sucked away by spinning air element sphere I watched with my breath stopped. Crack Crack Crack! Seconds passed, and I saw the cracks appearing on the finger. Seeing that, I finally took a breath and drank the potion, which quickly began to replenish my mana. Bang! A few secondster, a loud sound rang out. The finger exploded, but also the shield. As it did, I saw the Yegson, closer to me than earlier, but I didn''t have time to think about it as the Spectral desing at me once again; they had already crossed more than half of the distance. Aeryn''s Wall. Garion''s Curtain. I immediately cast spells, and I was relieved to see, the spells materialized just as the des reached me. All that battle experience in my younger daysing to use. I had learned to cast the spells faster when I was still a student. I had seen mages, higher level than me getting killed by weaker enemies who could cast the spells faster than them. Here, in the battle. Even a microsecond could decide the life and death. Bang Bang Bang! The shield defended against the attacks, but another was ready. It was thences with a tip burning in fire; they came at me from all sides. I once again cast an omnidirectional defense, which is different from Hatsal''s defense. Snort! He snorted and sent another spell at me while taking a few more steps closer. Mages fight from a distance; it gives them greater freedom. The closer they get, the more that freedom shrinks, and the battle bes dangerous. I wanted to take a step back, but I didn''t. I stayed on my spot, which surprised even the enemy. He likely thought I would retreat seeing him advance. I may not be as strong as him and have as powerful offensive spells as him, but I am good at defending and casting faster. I will be able to defend against him. Most importantly, him being closer, might give me a chance to kill him, which I didn''t think I would have when he started revealing his power. I want to kill him, now, even more than before, seeing how strong he is. He is an enormous threat and would be even bigger. If left alive, but killing him isn''t going to be easy, there is a big chance of me dying, than him. Every spell, he is casting, he is taking a step toward me. It also forced me to cast the spells faster. I didn''t try to attack him at all and focused purely on defense. I have read the information and know how powerful his defensive spells are. I won''t attack unless I see the chance. Hun! Time passed as he continued attacking me with his powerful spells, while I defended, drinking potion after potion. He didn''t drink even a single drop, and why would he? When he could suck the mana out of the surrounding undead like he is doing right now. Hun! I defended against his spells and moved to another group of spells to respond to his attack when I noticed something. Asit and Urag are closer to me. They were quite far away from me just a few minutes ago, but now they are less than a hundred meters away from me and seem likeing even closer. They are noting closer to me on their own, but being pushed by their opponents. I looked at the necromancer, and he grinned. It''s clearly his doing; he is nning something, and it involves all of us. It did not give me a good feeling at all. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 448: Betrayal Chapter 448: Betrayal Yegson This bitch is too good at defending; nearly as good as the aegismancers. Her information had said she was an average generalist mage. In the past battles, including that of yesterday, she didn''t show any abilities as she is showing right now. If she had. I would have been better prepared to deal with her. BANG! My spell crashed against her shields and cracks appeared on them, but as always, it was unable to break them. She is good, a fast caster. As fast as me, responding quickly against my spells despiteing from so close. I cast another spell while taking another step forward toward her. She defended before gulping down a bottle of potion and casting shields again to defend against another attack. She is defending, but not without a cost. Every shield spell she is using is powerful, and she is casting at least two defensive spells at once to defend against each of my attacks. Those spells use a lot of mana. To supplement it, she had drunk four mana potions. They are the reason; she is even alive. If they were normal potions, she would have the mana burn, but they are not. The potions she is gulping down one after are not normal mana potions. No, they are mixed potions. Regr Mana potions with drops of mana potion of emotion essence mixed in them. Depending upon the quantity of emotion essence- mana potion mixed in them. She could easily burn two or even three times the number of normal potions before she would feel the burn. These damn potions of emotions essence are one of the reasons we have lost, the battles. Normal armies didn''t have those; only after earning a great merit were those bestowed. Here, nearly every powerhouse above Lv. 30, has them. I sent another spell to her and activated Mana Siphon. Immediately, the dark mana begins toe to me and fill my reserves. I have the skill to absorb mana from the undead. It is more efficient than the spell; very few necromancers of my level have this skill. The skill is one of the reasons, why I have survived tens of battles, while those stronger than me have died. It is fast and efficient, but it couldn''t provide me with unlimited mana. There is a limit to it and also the cost; the immediate one being, the undead getting weaker. I could see, enemy soldiers getting an edge over my undead as they got weaker. I am not too worried about it; I will deal with them after I deal with the mage and the orc. They are going to die soon. There is no way for them to survive. I am using a time-tested method to kill them. It has helped us win many battles and it will help us win this one too. ¡­ Osward BANG! Another big bone finger shed against me and nearly broke the shields. The finger was more powerful than the first one, but I was able to defend against it. However, there is no joy on my face regarding it. He had alreadyunched another spell while moving even closer to me. He is now less than a hundred meters away from me and I wanted to run away. His spells are so fast that I am at my limit. I am pushing myself, which is extremely risky. If I didn''t cast well, the spell would copse and that would be the end of me, given how powerful his spells are. As the spell crashed on my shield. I cast a nce at Asit and Urag, both of them havee close to me. There are less than twenty meters remaining between us. ''What is he nning?'' I thought, looking at the necromancer. It is a question I am asking myself repeatedly. He is nning something, and I wanted to move away and create a distance. That would be the wisest choice, but one wouldn''t consider me a wise person, seeing the questionable decisions I took in my life. I do not have a death wish. There are reasons for me staying. The greatest being, that I felt like; Asit and Urag would be safer with me closer to them than far away, despite Yegson nning something for us together Minutes passed and spells became faster as he got closer. I am casting the spells as the enemy attacked. There is no dy of even a fraction of a seconds. If it happened even once, it would cost me my life. "The bastard had nned something," said Urag as she reached me. He is dealing with two of his enemies; there are injuries all over his body, while his enemies look better, because of being two of them. One could drink the potion, while the other person fights. Though, one of them is pale with big hope in his armor. Urag had likely injured him. Asit is in much better condition than Urag. He seemed to have injuries, but nothing serious. The enemy is fighting ispletely blooded, but the injuries don''t seem to slow him down. He is a little further than me, but it won''t take him, long to reach me. Aeryn''s Wall. Garion''s Curtain X 2. Heunched the Spectral des again, but their numbers seemed more than doubled than thest time. I cast the spells as thest time but made the twoyers of it. Bang Bang Bang! It was a wise decision, as the spectral des had broken through the firstyer of the shield. The secondyer had stopped them, barely seeing the cracks that had spread all over them. He didn''t stop with those spells and attacked again and again. I kept summoning the shield to defend against his attacks, and soon, my mana had reached below 15%. Immediately, I took out the potion and drank it. It was my fifth potion. I had never drunk more than three potions in any of the battles, over two potions with drops of emotion potion. In thest battle, I didn''t drink any, but here, five are already finished. My heart pains seeing it; each potion is extremely expensive. People kill for it, but here, I am drinking one after another, without care. I have five more, but I could only be able to drink three more before I would start to suffer the mana poisoning. That would be bad. Another minute passed and Asit, too, had reached me. There are three enemies really close to me. All they would need is a single attack to finish me off. Warriors usually doe so close to the mages. It reduces their chances to dodge our spells, despite it being the only way, they could finish us off. I clearly have my thoughts and focus on the enemy, who is only ten meters away from me. I was ready to cast defensive shields as always, but a second passed and no spell came. "Last chance, surrender, Mage Osward," he said, the first time taking my name. His words have gravity, that I felt my heart skip; I knew he nned something and could kill me. One part of me wanted to ept his offer, but I quickly crushed that part. "I would never surrender to the undead," I replied. "Since it is the death, you desire. The death you shall have," he said and sighed dramatically. There might be a drama in action, but I felt like, the offer was genuine, and I had just lost the chance to save my life. It may that be, but I do not regret it. I detest Vris''alud and what they are doing in the Mayhurst Ind. I could never be part of that, even to save my life. The spell came, sooner than I had expected. It was those bone fingers; they appeared in the sky above once again. There are three of them and they are twice as big as before, and the fire burning on those sharp nails is also much denser. I shuddered as I looked at it and knew I could not let even kindle of it touch my skin. "Die!" Yegson said in a raspy voice; the spell is not without a cost. I did not care about that, instead I started to cast the spells. It is not just my life in danger, but also of the two people, beside me. The enemy seemed to n for it, as they jumped back a moment before the spell appeared. Asit and Urag didn''t follow. Instead, they came close to me. which is wise as there might have been a trap for them, and he would have tagged them individually. Closer to me, the safest, but also the most dangerous, ce. I cast as I never did in my life; I forgot all the precautions and cast as fast as I could, not caring about failure. Failure would kill me, but failing to defend would also kill me. So, rather choose the option, that gives me a chance of survival despite the risks. Hatsal''s Defense X 3. I was able to cast threeyers of Hatsals Defense before the fingers reached them. I know it is not enough, but nine spells seemed to be my limit, which is double my usual speed. It also made me extremely tired, that I wanted to copse and let myself fall in a sweet embrace of death. "Huge Shield!" shouted Urga and the shield he raised above us became bigger. Seeing that, I felt relieved, before turning to massive bone fingers crashing on my defensive shield. BANG. Loud bangs round out as the firstyer is crushed to pieces by the fingers. I could see pieces of tes and chains scattering around before dissolving. Though it was able to dim the fire covering those sharp nails. BANG! The secondyer shattered the same, but it made that dangerous firepletely disappear. It made me feel relieved. That fire was extremely dangerous; it needed six defensive shields to whittle it away. The huge bone fingers crashed into thestyer but unlike the twoyers. The fingers couldn''t shatter it immediately, but the cracks began appearing on tes and chains immediately. A moment passed when I saw faint cracks appearing on the massive finger. BANG! It pleased me, but the next moment, that feeling vanished as thestyer shattered, and the fingers moved toward the massive shield of Urag. I cast Stone Aegis on the shield. It nearly made me faint, but it least, I could do with the time I had. It is not as strong as a singleyer of the Hatsal''s Defense, but it will offer some protection. BANG! The fingers crashed on the shield, breaking the defensive spells I had cast. I could feel Urag shaking, nearly falling with the stone beneath his feet cracking and him bleeding through all his orifices. "Ahhhhh!" Despite that, he didn''t fall down, instead, he roared as bore the fingers. The cracks spread on the fingers, till they had fully covered them. I wanted to help him, but I didn''t. Instead, I turned to Yegson. Who looked as tired as me or even more. Despite that, he is alert, ready to attack me. BANG! A second passed, and the first exploded, seeing that faint relief appeared in my heart. BANG! The second exploded right after and when the third exploded a second after that. I finally heaved a sigh of relief and a small smile appeared on my face. The n of the bastard was amazing. He pushed us together and tired me out with constant attacks of spells whileing closer before finally using his most powerful spell. Thank the gods, Urag had excellent skills and enhancement from his shaman, or we will never be able to survive. I was smiling with relief when suddenly my Dangersense red. It red with such intensity; it had never been in my life. Not even when I hade close to death before. It overwhelmed me, but I controlled the feeling, looked at Yegson, and saw him with a smile when I felt the attack. It didn''te from his staff as I had been expecting but from the back. The sword had pierced through my chest and came out the front. I could see it, blooded with my blood. I looked at before turning and saw the man holding a de. A man I considered a friend, a man I had gone through life and death and trusted with my life. That man had just pierced his de through my chest. Tap on the below to read Advanced Chapters. Chapter 449: Why? Chapter 449: Why? "Why?" I asked Asit. My dearest friend and lover; the loss had brought her closer. Gave us the strength to move forward, but now all have shattered. "I want to live," he said, stone-faced. There is remorse in his eyes and guilt, but there is also resolution to live. He is going to do anything for that, including killing his friend. ''I had been so blind,'' I thought, looking at the de buried in my chest. I should have seen it. There were the signs, but I had chosen to ignore them. I shouldn''t have and it would have saved me this pain. Azure Arc. The spell materialized directly in front of him. His eyes broadened in shock. He reacted as fast as he removed his sword, but by the time he did, the arc had reached him. He might have some chance if he had removed the sword from my chest immediately. Even then, the chances were low given the distance and the spell being a Grade IV. It might not be as powerful as others, but it is enough to kill a traitorous bastard like him. Pachac! The wind arc reached his neck and decapitated him. I saw his head and shock in his eyes. Tears streamed down from cheeks. I wanted to, but I controlled my emotions. It is a battlefield, not my home where I could let go. I turned and saw the Yegson, who had a shock in his eyes. "I didn''t expect you to have a death-evading skill," he said, and I smiled. I wish. I didn''t have a death-evading skill. I would have really liked one, but unfortunately, I didn''t. What I have, however, is a heart on the right side of my chest instead of the left. Nobody knows about it, and I would rather not tell anyone. It''s the reason why his skill didn''t work. Asit had rare sealing skill; it would seal people''s power as long as he pierced his de into one of five vital organs. His de pierced my chest, not my heart. Making the skill useless. Still, the injury is serious and currently, the shamanic magic holding it back. It activated on its own as I received a serious injury, but it wouldn''t be enough. I would need to drink the potion to control it. Though it willeter; there are enemies to deal with. "No worries; I will finish the job," said Yegson, and his staff lit up. He is less than five meters away from me; it would be hard to defend against his spell, especially in my condition. However, I am not worried as much as I should be. My staff lit up at the same time and this time, I didn''t wait for his spell to reveal to cast an appropriate defensive spell. I had got the signal. This means, there is only one spell, I need to cast and hope it will hit. The necromancer''s spell is nearly ready when his expression changes, and I sling the spell at him. It is a spell, that usually does not work. It is the first spell mages are trained to guard against, and most mages can do it easily. Hun! Though, this time, it worked. The necromancer''s staff dimmed as the spell broken, while the man in all ck clothes appeared beside him with a dagger crossing half a distance toward his neck. There was fear in Yegson''s eyes, but not terror, and I didn''t take long to realize why. A thick protective armor of bone appeared on the man. Covering him from head to toe. It''s not something, he had cast. I didn''t see a spell scroll eighter; it''s likely a protection tool. The spell inside it triggered as it sensed the host''s life in danger. It seemed powerful, and the dagger might not be able to pierce through it. Which would be bad. Seeing Yegson had already started casting a spell. I am casting disruption, but it''s not working. Yegson isn''t surprised anymore. He is fully focused on his survival. I looked at the assassin and found him grinning instead of worried as his de touched the bone armor and, to the horror of Yegson, cut through it effortlessly. Pachac! A wet sound rang out as the head of the Yegson flew high, with shock and unwillingness in it. They were thest emotions in his eyes, before the shine abruptly disappeared. It happened slowly with most people, even when they got decapitated. Seeing that, I couldn''t help but wonder whether he would return as a lich. There is a saying among mages. Prepare for revenge when you kill a necromancer. I pushed that thought away and turned to the assassin, who was already moving toward the three enemies who had started to run away. I quickly moved and started casting spells at them, while drinking a healing potion. I am still shocked by the death of Yegson. How easily, he was able to cut his neck. That protection wasn''t weak; I had felt its power. It''s something, that might have been able to take the attack from General Stone head-on, but the assassin cut through it. I quickly pushed those thoughts away and focused on the enemies who were running. "Are you ok?" I asked as Urag got up. Those attacks weren''t easy to defend. If he didn''t have the right skill and enhancement from his shaman, he wouldn''t have been able to survive it. "I am," he said, casting a nce at Asit before moving toward enemy powerhouses. The undead begin to gather around them and those three got together. Defending against anything Mr. Jon throws at them. He is powerful, but not powerful enough to cut through that defense easily as he did. It is either a useful skill with a long cooldown or having some help. A shaman magic or something else. I nearly copsed as I cast a spell. Seeing that, I stopped and took out another bottle of potion. It is not a man or healing potion. As I drank it; I started to feel better and within seconds; the weakness had vanished. The weakness began to disappear. It''s the same as mana potion with the essence. I could have drunk, themon potion, but I needed a quick effect. There are three enemy powerhouses to kill. Tang! I was about to cast a spell as I started to feel better when I heard the bell. Someone rang it. I had heard it a couple of times in distinct sounds throughout the battle, but not from our battle. If I am not wrong, then it is like whistles we have. Each means different things. It could be informing the death of Yegson or asking for help or something. It''s better that we quickly finish these powerhouses and move. Pachack! The Azure Arc cut, the burly man into two while Urag stunned him with the shield. "I surrender," "Me too," said the man and woman, one after another. I am surprised. They might have kept fighting if there had been two more Urag''s, but with me and no mage of their own, they know how small their chances of survival are. Mr. Jon stopped. He took out a small dagger and cut it. They didn''t resist it. That would be utterly idiotic; they understood it. With me, there is no escape. Their veins began to turn dark purple, but I didn''t much nce at it. My thoughts were on the dagger, or rather, the things attached to it. I saw something. He tried to hide it, but that thing was big, and I had Clear Eyes cast on my eyes. It shocked me, but I controlled my emotions. If it is what I see it is, then it seems like, the young aren''t as simple as he seemed to be. He has secrets, big secrets. I put that information in the securepartment of my mind and closed it. Deciding to focus on the battle, which is far from over. More enemies decided to surrender, while some fought. They were killed within minutes. As for those who surrendered. Mr. Jon nicked them and made them unconscious, before throwing them into a house that looked to be in good condition. "The poison?" asked Urag as we gathered, and our men bandaged and healed themselves. We have a priestess with us; she is a young girl of around twenty. It was her second. She was scared, but held on and was now healing people. "It had a validity of eight hours after that. They will die if not fed the antidote," replied Mr. Jon. "What about enemies feeding them an antidote or using a skill or spell to heal them?" I asked. "Only we have an antidote and as for skill or spell, it needs to be powerful enough and very specific to deal with this poison," he replied with a faint inside smile appearing on his face. A momentter, he turned into a shadow and merged with mine. "It''s really a great skill; even I can''t sense him despite being so close," said Urag and I couldn''t help but nod. He had merged with my shadow, and I could barely sense him. That would be faint until I couldn''t sense him unless I concentrated. This is a skill that enhances stealth with passing time. Still, that wouldn''t have been enough to keep him undetected from powerful necromancers like Yegson; they are good at detecting life. It was because of my spells. That didn''t let even a single investigative spell touch me. "What''s the n?" I asked. The moment our people finish with healing, we will move. It will be Urags'' decision where we will move. He is the leader, now that Asit is dead. It hurts to think about him. He was a traitor, but also a friend, whom I am going to miss a lot. "To the closest whi" He was saying something when he suddenly stopped. I stopped, and everyone stopped as a feeling spread over us. Some shook visibly, and to some, it affected them so much that their knees started shaking. Two copsed on the group, while others looked in fear. Some seemed to understand what it is and the fear in their eyes amplified, but there is also a question in them. "It is what I am, thinking it is right?" asked Urag with his voice shaking. To that, I nodded. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 450: Awakening Chapter 450: Awakening Rynra "Bastard!" I cursed as I felt Yegson''s death. I do not like that bastard, but I do not want him dead. He is a powerful necromancer and one of the fastest casters, I had seen on the level. Its why, he would love to get closer to his enemies to finish them off. He had killed casters more powerful than him through that method. His enemies tried to use that, but he was good at defending, too. He could have said to be too confident, with that protection tool, he had. Even I wouldn''t have been able to break through his defensive tool within a single attack, but the hidden assassin had somehow done it. "How did you kill him?" I asked elder-blood. The skill told me about Yegson''s death and who killed him, but it didn''t tell me how. "How should I know? I am here with you," replied elder-blood. Though looking at the smile on his face, it''s clear he knew how. He is likely the one who nned it. Anger burned in my heart. I wanted to use the strongest attack and kill him, but that was not wise. He had proved to be a tough enemy. Since the battle began, I had used a plethora of spells and skills, but he defended against them all; not a single one was able to hit him. He is powerful as well as experienced; unlike the other elder blood, I had killed. They didn''t have much experience despite being older and were too confident in their abilities. The man in front of me is grounded and cautious. I have to be the same and find his limitations, before attacking him with everything I have. Until then, I will keep fighting as I have been doing. I moved at him and attacked him with my ming sword. He moved his halberd forward smoothly. ng I tried to avoid it, but he didn''t let me, and my sword shed against his halberd. The bronze energy shed against the necrotic fire, and they canceled each other, but a momentter, returned to my sword, and I attacked again. He defended it, but I kept attacking. These attacks are not only helping me gauge his limitations, but also making him spend his energy. Which will help me a lot, when I use my full power. Minutes passed, and I continued with the attack, using my skills and spells together. It keeps the expenditure of the mana low. I could absorb from the undead; it is the main reason I had kept them so close, but I would rather not absorb the energy until I needed it. I still have enough mana in me to fight and with the undead, I could fight for a long time. The elder-blood could not. Hun! The anger in my heart burned brightly as I noticed another three powerhouses disappearing from Yegson''s battle. He had died along with the pawn and now another of our powerhouse died, while the other two seemed to have surrendered. In the next few minutes, I felt many people below Lv. 30 dying or surrendering. It is not a small number, but still, every powerhouse we lose will affect the battle. My skill reduces that by the third, but still losing powerhouses isn''t good. I do not want a pyrrhic victory; it would be shameful for me. ng! Our des shed again, and I pulled it back and moved to attack again, this time activating the skill I hadn''t used before in this battle. Hun! I was about to swing my sword with enhancement from the skill when I stopped. Even elder-blood''s eyes widened in surprise before shock appeared in his eyes, which mirrored mine. A feeling spread through the city, disrupting the skills, everywhere. So, powerful, that it touched me, I shook in my heart, while people around me shook visibly. It shocked me. It is not something, I had expected to happen on this battlefield. I quickly calmed my emotions and thought about who it was. It spread so quickly that I wasn''t able to see who it was, but I knew the general area. There are three groups engaging in that area. It could be one of mine or the enemy. I don''t want it to be one of mine. With this, they will shoot high, but I don''t absolutely want it to be the enemy. It will affect this battle, not much since they will barely have any control over it, but if they survive and gain control; they will be a terror. Anyone who awakened it bes it. I looked at the enemy, who had the same questions and apprehension in his eyes. It made me relieved that even he didn''t know. I calmed my thoughts and focused on the enemy. The awakening had changed things. I can not afford to wait anymore. I have to kill the elder blood and find out who awakened it. If it is the enemy, I must kill them; killing them is most important. More than this elder blood. With that thought, I cast one of the most powerful spells in my arsenal and amplified its power with skill, before attacking the elder-blood. ¡­ ng! I stopped the attack with my rapier but felt like a hammer had crashed into my hand. I felt even some of my bones cracking and wanted to let go of my rapier. "You defended," he said with his voice of mirth and surprise. He might be feeling funny now, but my heart is filled with terror. I am fighting for a Lv. 30+ powerhouse, whose casual attack had cracked my bone. I had sparred regrly with Lv.30+, but not a single one of them had used their full power in the spar. Even in the restricted power, they were careful not to hurt me too much. Here, the enemy won''t hold back and have reservations. He wants to kill me, and he will; I do not have the strength to resist him. I should have epted Stone''s request and kept Jim with me. I wouldn''t have been in this predicament. Jim is more than capable of defending against an enemy like this. "Let''s see if you defend this one," he challenged and swung his sword again. My heart shuddered, and I wanted to dodge the attack, but that would make the frozen woman and the child behind her the target. The man had already shown his cold-bloodedness. He would kill those behind me if I dodged. So, I moved my sword forward with the de of Gale and Mauling Strike. ng! Our des shed hard, and I tried to parry the attack with Quick Parry, but the cruel bastard stopped it with a grin. Making me take all the brunt of the attack, that broke my bone. This time, I heard the crack, and the pain came visibly. The enemy didn''t wait for me to get used to the pain, instead; he moved to the left and attacked again, not me, but the woman. To him, this is all game. He does not care about life, and does not care about the dishonor that killing a defenseless woman and child would bring. The only thing he, cares about is toying with them and me. I pushed the Blitz Steps as I had never done and appeared in front of the man while pushing my rapier forward. ng! His sword shed against mine with even more strength, breaking another bone, and nearly sending my rapier ttering. It would have, if not for me, gripping my sword, like my life dependent on it and it is. He moved again right after the attack, appearing behind the woman, while I followed after appearing in front of him as he attacked. ng! My dagger shed with his sword, breaking the bone of my left hand. He seemed to have heard too as he attacked again, without changing his ce, but used the skill, that he hadn''t before. His sword turned to multiple swords; there were nine of them, all looked realistic. I didn''t think and moved my sword forward, trusting my instincts, which I do against such an attack. ng! I stopped with a rapier, feeling such pain that made me nearly throw my rapier. Rip Ting Rip! I was in those thoughts when I felt a cut across my body. Those eight swords, which I thought turned out to be capable of minor damage. Cry! That''s when I released something, and horror appeared on my face when I heard the cry behind me. I looked and deep cuts on the woman, but also her child. His back had turned blooded. The horror in my heart deepened and the rage that was already burning in my heart exploded. "You monster!" I roared and moved toward him without caring for anything. I cannot just defend or wait for reinforcement. He will kill them; those injuries they got are like threatening. If they don''t receive treatment soon, they will die. I have to kill him. It is the only way they will be safe. It is a monumental, nearly impossible task, but I have no choice but to attempt it. If I wasn''t able to save them, then how am I going to save hundreds of thousands of my citizens from the undead and other enemies? "Hehe, the little Lord got angry, but what can little lord do?" he mocked as he raised his sword casually toward my attack. ng! He defended easily against the rapier, breaking another of my bones, but I didn''t care and attacked with the dagger. ng! He repelled my rapier with sheer force and defended against my dagger, but saw my rapiering at him again. ng ng ng! His sword moved with grace, and he defended my every attack when suddenly a surprise appeared on his face. He moved to dodge it, but my kick still hit the bastard. Sending him a step back. ng! I tried to use this opportunity to attack when he moved forward with anger in his eyes. All the mirth and y had vanished. There is now only anger left in his eyes. ng! I was barely able to defend the attack with my rapier and dagger, which sent me back a couple of steps, hitting the wall of the copsed house. I thought he would use this opportunity to finish me off, but he didn''t. "You want to save them, right?" he asked, and a nasty smile appeared on his face. "Save them, then," he said and moved toward the woman and child. I pushed Blitz Steps hard and moved, but he had already appeared beside them and swung his sword while they watched in horror. "No!" I screamed as I released as I would be able to reach them in time. Some of my mages reacted but were quickly countered by heartless enemy mages. His sword kept moving closer and closer to the child. I pushed the Blitz Steps, harder than ever, and I felt its speed increasing, breaking fast at its limit, but that speed wasn''t enough. His sword had reached near the child''s neck, just a few inches away from it. I screamed in my heart as the helplessness filled it. If he killed them; I would not be able to live with myself. All the confidence I have will shatter into the pieces. Why it would not? When I couldn''t even protect a helpless woman and child, then how I am going to protect hundreds of thousands of people, I am responsible for protecting? I screamed in my heart in helplessness and pushed myself harder, while extending my sword, hoping it would reach there despite knowing it would not. Hun! That is when I felt something breaking out from deep within me. It flooded my body, before bursting out. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 451: Aura Chapter 451: Aura Orok "What is this?" I asked in rm, as the feeling that suppressed the very soul of me washed over me. It''s a power I had never felt before but understood deep in my heart that it was stronger than any skill I have. It had stopped mypany, which was moving to help those who asked for help. We have doing that since the battle begins. It''s a job that is assigned to us. "Aura!" said Rev. From Mr. Hugo''s mercenaries. "Someone awakened it?" asked Lt. Hasid, and he nodded. "Yes, I hope, it''s not the enemy," replied Rev with a heavy nod. "We should be able to know soon; it seemed to have originated from the direction we are moving," said Lt. Hasid. To that, I nodded. "Company move!" I ordered and moved, but stopped soon after when I realized some were not moving. Some are shaking so much that they sat down. "Give them some time; it is not easy to bear the aura," advised Rev. The man is experienced, and I decided to listen to the suggestion and waited for a few seconds when I felt movement from the feeling. It seemed to be moving back to its source, and within a second, it disappearedpletely. "Company move!" I ordered again and this time, people moved. We moved fast in a formation to deal with any attack that came at us. We got closer and closer, till we reached the battle; that made nearly everyone''s eyes widen, including mine. "Its Master Silver! He awakened the aura!" eximed Barb with joy as she looked at the battle. ¡­ My enemy froze as that feeling burst out of me. It took me a moment for me to realize what this feeling was. As I did, my eyes widened. If not for feeling every part of it; I wouldn''t have believed it either. It''s aura. I had awakened it in my moment of desperation. If it had any other moment, I would hop in joy, but now there is not a hint of joy in my heart, only the rage. I looked at the frozen energy and swung my rapier toward him, not caring about the pain, feeling in every fiber of my hands. He had frozen under the power of aura, but self-preservation and experience made him react quickly. ng! He defended before taking a step back. His expression recovered, but deep shock remained in his eyes. I looked at mother and child. It made me relieved to see them covered in dusky light. The priest had reacted quickly, sending the spell to heal their injuries. The enemies'' mages reacted quickly when the priest tried to target me. Stopping the healing spell from reaching me. It would have been a manageable problem if the priest had experienced it, but he hadn''t. It''s his second battle, with yesterday''s one being his first. I turned to the enemy, still shaking, when the aura began to return to me. It took a second for it to return to my body. "A..aura, you awakened it," he said with a shaking voice. As if I could not believe that I had awakened the aura. "It didn''t matter. You have just awakened it; you have no control over it," he said, more to reassure himself than to threaten me. His expression recovered with those words, and he came at me, with him being faster and stronger than before. Earlier he was ying around, now he is using every bit of his power to kill me. If I had been to a ce, I would have done the same. Those who awakened the aura be really dangerous. I reacted immediately and moved my sword forward. At the same time, I brought the aura out of me. I don''t know what to do with it. I could not control the aura, nor did I know how, but I brought out and covered myself with it. It is the only thing I could think of. It was hard as I felt it slipping, wanting to go back to my body. I didn''t let it and instead pushed some of it on my enemy and activated the Lord''s Presence. I might not know how to control it, but I know the aura is versatile. It could be used to suppress as well as strengthen. It bes dangerous when one gains control over it. The finer the control; the greater the power one would be able to project through it. There are also things like methods and arts that turned it into terror. I pushed those thoughts and looked at my enemy, who seemed to have gone slower, with strain appearing on his face. Aura is one''s extension. I had covered him with it and used the Lord''s Presence. The skill affected him a lot since his mind was already shaken and suppressed by the aura. Opening the gaps in his mental defense that attacked thoroughly. This is the one of strongest skills, I have. Stronger than Gale of de or Mauling Strike. It worked through the power of Charm, which is my strongest attribute. ng! My rapier shed against his sword, shaking him, despite him using his full power. I felt the blinding pain in my hands, but I bore it and activated another of my powerful skills. "I have awakened aura. You are dead already. There is no way for you to remain alive," I said with a Silver Tongue, another skill that runs on charm. Its expressions changed. Hesitation and fear appeared in his eyes. Though he seemed to have recovered a little a momentter. "Shut up!" he screamed, with a hint of panic in his eyes. "I am not wrong, and you know it. There is no chance you will survive; you will die like the enemies you killed," I said with a smile, hammering those words with Silver Tongue and attacking with the rapier. ng! His reaction was a little dyed, but the man was experienced and was able to defend. "You should ept the death. If you are alive, you will suffer a fate worse than death," I stated, and this is a truth. It''s why, it affected him the most, shaking him from up to down. This man will not receive mercy, even if he surrenders. He had broken the most sacredws of battle; he had not only killed a civilian but was unhesitant to kill a child. Such people would not be left alive. Even if he surrendered. ng ng ng! I begin to attack him while hammering his mind with thoughts of death to break him mentally. He is already at a near-breaking point; I would need to push him further. Normally, it wouldn''t be easy, especially with no control and difference in level, but the awakening of my aura had hit him hard. Not to mention with his experience, he would see many aura masters and their strength would be itched in his mind. Even if I don''t have such strength now; his mind would unconsciously associate me with it. "I am an aura master now; you should just give up. Fighting more is just prolonging your suffering," I said and attacked again. Hun! As I did, I heard themotion behind me. With the noises, I didn''t have to guess the reinforcement had arrived. I didn''t look back and focused on my attack, which had just avoided his sword and moved toward him. Rip! He tried to dodge but was not sessful. I was able to give him a cut. Injuring a Lv. 30+ powerhouse. "See that blooding out of the wound? It is just a starting, soon, it wille out from every wound of your body," I said and attacked him again. ng! This time, he defended. "What the fuck are doing standing like a fool? Come and help me!" shouted the man to the armored orc, who was not far away from us. The orc hesitated, and faint hesitation appeared in my eyes seeing himing, when I saw somethinging from behind. Orok came running from behind at amazing speed and swung his ax toward the armored orc wildly with incredible momentum. ng! His ax hit hard against the other orc''s shield, sending back a couple of steps. He didn''t give the enemy a chance and swung his ax at him before the other orc even stabilized from his attack. This young man is incredible. Stone had praised him like no other and those words had rung true in the battle yesterday, when he killed a Lv. 30. "See, there won''t be any reinforcement for you. You are alone and you will die. This is an undeniable fact," I said and attacked again. Rip! Another cut appeared in his arm, but it was small. The bastard dodged the attack on time. I have to kill him quickly as I feel the aura slipping through my fingers. I am having a hard time controlling it; a minute at most, before it will go back to my body. "Give up," I said and attacked again. ng! He defended by looking at me with fear and panic, but there was also an unwillingness to die. "I will not!" It roared and attacked while taking a step toward me. His attack is fast and powerful, and I want to dodge it. "You will!" I roared back and attacked while pushing as much as my aura at him. ng! Our swords shed, and I felt pain. That made me cry. It put a smile on the man''s face, but a momentter, an rm appeared as he tried to take a step back. Puch! He was slow as my dagger, on the other hand, reached him and pierced through his neck. I had kept him focused on my sword and rapier, that he forgot about the dagger, I held in my other hand. He opened his mouth, but instead of words, blood came out of it. Pachac! I removed the dagger and blood from his sprayed on my hand, but I didn''t care. Instead, I shed the dagger at him again, decapitating him. Destroying all the chances of survival of a monster like him. Some of the blood spread on me, but I didn''t care. I looked at Captain Orok, who had killed the enemy in four attacks, before turning to the woman. Only to see Barb taking her to the side. She had fed them a potion and bandaged their wounds. I took out the potion and drank it. Immediately, I felt it working on my injuries. I took out another potion and drank it. I felt my stamina recovering, but the tiredness remained. Likely because of aura. It couldn''t be recovered by any potion or spell. Only the rest could help in recovering it. I sat down on pieces of broken wall my men dealt with the enemy. Many had started to surrender, which we epted, but not without precaution. "Congrattions on awakening the aura, Master Silver," said Barb as she appeared in front of me. "Thank you, Barb," I replied tiredly, before getting up. The battle is yet to be won. I cannot rest until we do. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 452: Survive I Chapter 452: Survive I ss ng! "Do you know who awakened the aura?" asked Wayne and attacked me with mingnces. I shook my hand as I defended the attacks with the me shield before moving to attack him. It seemed like an actual attack, like his attack earlier, but it''s not. Though I am still careful of the bastard. The surrender could be a plot. Though it seemed less likely, given the information he had provided had been true so far. That doesn''t mean we could trust him explicitly. We could never trust me. Though we could be relieved after, we have him in our custody. The bastard had declined to surrender unless we won this battle. Till then, I will have mock-fight him, which is a kind of frustrating. I wanted to take part in a real battle, but here, I am babysitting this bastard, whom I can not defeat. I have made a good advancement in the half year and even got new spells. Courtesy of Remus, but it is still not enough to deal with this bastard. He is not only higher leveled but also more experienced and has a greater collection of spells. Since both of us are the de mages of the same element. It became much more difficult for me to stand against him. I would be hard pressed if he moved to kill him. Val had fought with him before and praised him to a tough enemy, that she cannot fight alone. She needed to work with Pdin Carr to effectively deal against him. "I wonder who it is? It must be a bastard with the tough will," hemented, defending against my attacks. The aura is said to be a manifestation of will. Only those of the strong will awaken it. I could see longing in his eyes; the same one was present in mine. Aura is an amazing thing; I have seen the aura masters do terrifying things. The warriors who usually see us mages be capable of fighting against us. Us mages benefit no less, especially the de mages like us. Which I think are the best users of aura, who could augment our spells as well as our des with it. He isn''t the only one having that question. I too thinking about the person who had awakened the aura. "I hope, it''s not Rynra or all of us are dead," he said, shuddering. I had read the information about her. She was a powerful dark spell de. She will be even more dangerous if she awakens the aura. I am not her match; I don''t know if I will be able to fight against her, even if I work with Val. I sighed internally as her beautiful ce came into my mind. Ever since that incident, we have been living apart. It is hard; I love her, but can''t live with the love of my life. We still go on date and most of the dates are in legacy. It helps to have a master of it as a friend. Thanks to Val, I have an open reservation in the legacy. I could get a table in restaurants any time I wanted and the same with the spa, to which I had be a kind of addicted. However, for the most exclusive top floor, I have to inform Madam Caena, a few days before. Val didn''t even need to do that. If there isn''t a table avable for her, they will add it. It had happened two weeks ago when we decided on an impromptu date after attending a meeting called by Remus. The top floor was full. Madam Onaz brought our table chairs out of thin air and covered us with a beautiful dome of mist, that no one could see through. That date was good, but it couldn''t bepared to the one we had a roof of legacy. It was magical. We had made the love under the open sky, at the top point of Greltheaven. "You shouldn''t daydream during the battle. You might end up losing your life," he said, attacking me fast. ng! I defended barely and red at him, but he was right. I shouldn''t daydream, especially not during the battle. "How is the battle?" I asked him and he smiled. I don''t have the skill, but he has. "The skill isn''t working with full power since I am notmander, but it is safe to say, the battle is tilting in your side." "If I am generous, I would even say. It had tilted to your side already," he said, and a smile appeared on my face. "Though nothing could be said. If Rynra killed the elder blood, then the battle would be good as lost," he added, wiping the smile away from my face. ¡­. Stone Her dark, lightning-covered sword attacked me, sending thick bolts toward me. I covered myself with energy, but those bolts tore through it and struck me. Giving me such pain, that I needed to grit my teeth to bear it. I could have brought more energy to defend against it, but I brought enough to whittle a third of the bolt''s power; the rest I bore with my body. I have no option. I couldn''t squander all the energy on defense. I needed tost in the battle where the enemy could recharge herself by taking the mana from the undead, who had finally started to fight. My men are fighting well, not only here, but also everywhere. The biggest surprise had been Lord Silver. That man is really something. I had seen many people awaken aura in battles, I had fought on the ind. He is not only the youngest but also of the lowest leveled. All who had awakened aura had been above that of Lv. 30 and also above the age of thirty. There are two more people who are amazing and have the potential to awaken the aura. The first one is Orok. He isn''t as talented as Lord Silver, but that young man has a drive like no other. He will aplish what he set out to do. The second one is Azalea. She is someone that everyone would underestimate. She is an above-average fighter, and her skills aren''t that powerful. Her strengths lie working together; it is where she shines. No one couldpare to her with that. We are doing good. It could be said, the battle had tilted in our favor, but we are far from winning it. The undead could resist us for hours. It would be bad if we let them do that. We have to kill them fast. If we let the battle continue till the reinforcement arrives; it is us that is going to be wiped out. Hun! Suddenly, all the hair on my body stood up, and I activated the method without a thought. The next second, the defensive method covered me. Bang Bang Bang! The thick tendrils with sharp ends struck against the defensive method hard, before he came across her de, covered in thick fire. Bang! It hit hard enough to make cracks appear on the shield. I sighed internally, seeing that. The woman is too powerful, and it was a wise decision, to fight against her defensively. I might have gone offensive if she didn''t have a tap of mana in the form of the undeads. If we were fighting far away from them, I would have attacked her as she is attacking me. I cut the energy for the defensive method right after her attack to save it as much as I could and attacked her. ng "So, you do know how to attack," she said with a smile. Though it''s without a mirth; all there is an anger. So, much of it, I am impressed that she is able to control it well; I wouldn''t have been able to if I had been at her ce. I didn''t say anything to that and just watched her. It would be hard for me to kill her. I am looking for the chance every second, but I know very well, it is unlikely that I will get it. It is why I am keeping her here. It''s my only job in the battle; the rest would be handled by my people. I have to trust them to do the job without me and till now; they haven''t disappointed me at all. Still, the battle is far from over. There are many powerful people in the enemy''s army that could change the fate of the battle. Including Wayne; It''s why I sent ss to handle him. She will not be able to defeat him, but she will be able to keep him contained. Thankfully, we have defeated the third most powerful enemy. Osward and Jon did a good job finishing him despite the appearance of the traitor. Currently, only one traitor appeared from the ranks of Lv. 30, but I had asked others to be careful. Seconds passed, and nobody moved when suddenly she turned into a puff of smoke and all the hair on my body stood up and I turned. There was nothing, but I swung my sword with everything, I had. ng! My sword shed: at the same time, I felt file tens of nails buried in my heart. It''s her first mental attack on me and it''s powerful enough to shake my soul and bring the tears out of my eyes. That is, after my elder-blood defenses whittled away quite a lot of its power. It''s a powerful attack. The most powerful mental attack I had expected from Lv. 30, but I had survived worse. The most terrifying had been an attack by Great Mage Lich''s area wide attack. It had made me fall to my knees and had blood run out of all my orifices. I really thought I would die. Many levels above me died, but I somehow survived It was at that battle; I reached Lv. 20. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 453: Survive II Chapter 453: Survive II Rynra Throne ''Piece by piece, they are taking my horde,'' I thought as I looked at things getting worse from bad. It didn''t happen suddenly, it was slow, and it''s why, I failed to notice it. Especially when many of my powerhouses surrendered instead of getting killed. Such things happened much less in a direct battle because of pressure and support. Here, every unit is independent, and I couldn''t direct them unless I break my skill. I need to do something quickly, and there is only one thing I can do, and that is to kill the elder blood. It''s the only way, I could win this battle, but it''s far from easy. I had been using my most powerful spells on the bastard, but he was defending against all. If one looked at him, light now; they would see he was near defeat with his body burned and ckened and him not using over a certain amount of energy. He is in such a state for over half an hour. Earlier, I had mistakenly thought, he was close to defeat, but he was able to defend against my every spell. That doesn''t mean, he couldn''t be defeated. He will be defeated; I will defeat him. With that thought, I cast my strongest spell. Ivory Reaver. I cast, and immediately ayer of bones covered my sword. The spell looks like a regr Grade I Bone Cover, but it is not. It is not shy like many of my attacks, but it is powerful andsts long. I moved toward him with speed skills and activated Mass of Hammer and Suppressing de. It was already a powerful attack, and it became even more powerful with enhancements from the skills. I have full confidence if the elder-blood had used his square defensive method. My de would be able to cleave through it. The Elder Blood seemed to have sensed the power of my attack as his expression turned heavy. He brought out bronze energy and covered his halberd with it. The energy he had brought was greater than he had in the past hour. He understood the power of the attack, but that didn''t mean he would be able to defend against it, even with more elder energy. ng! My sword shed against his halberd, and his eyes went wide. A momentter, blood came out of his mouth, and he started to take a step back. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face, and I moved forward with all the speed Knight''s Blitz could provide me and even cast Haste to make myself fast. I need to be fast and quick. He reacted fast despite moving back and brought his halberd forward in defense. ng! My sword shed against his halberd, sending him back again with more blooding out of his mouth. I moved for another attack and even cast Diasas''s Lightning on my sword. It is hard to cast, two powerful spells together. Also, have skills and spells like Haste and Mana Harvest active. ng! He defended again, with lightning covering my sword, moving to his halberd before covering his body. The bronze energy came energy and resisted, but not fully as lightning began to attack him while he took a step back. ng! I didn''t stop even for a moment, and once again cast Diasas''s Lightning. ng ng ng! My attacksnded on him one after another, tearing through his body, that even not his face was spared. Even the good part of my skin begins to disappear as my attack assaults him, but what I am hoping isn''t happening. The bastard is defending well. Moved his halberd to stop my every attack. I am faster than him, stronger than him, but he is stopping my attacks, despite getting injured. He is good and experienced, but still, if a normal person had been in his ce. They would have died by now, but he is still standing. This is the resiliency of the elder-blood. The giants are the most resilient among all elder races and these descendants of their had gained that ability. I still remember the sheer number of spells. I have to throw at the elder blood, I had fought before I was able to kill her. I will kill him, too, the same way. He might be resilient, but he could be killed. I did it before and I will do it again. "Surrender elder-blood, you are at the limit. You won''t be able tost for much longer," I said as I attacked again. He defended and grinned at me with a burned face. "It seemed like, you too are reaching the limit. Even with the mana from the undead, you won''t be able to throw such spells forever," he replied. I red at the bastard and attacked with even greater fury. He is right, the spells aren''t without a cost. I have potions, but those are not used unless it is an emergency. It is why, I desperately want to win this battle. These bastards have a lot of such potions, and I want them. I want the legacy. It would help me a lot with my condition if I defeated them here and conquered the Greltheaven. I will be called back to the ind, where the real challenge is. ng ng ng! I kept attacking without stopping, but the bastard kept defending. As time passes; a wee change begins to ur. The bronze energy that used to cover him densely now has formed only a thinyer around him. He is at his end; his reserves are nearly depleted. A few seconds passed and whatever bronze energy covering him had disappeared. Leaving him without any protection. ng! My sword shed against his halberd, and the lightning moved toward him. Seeing that, a smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. "Ahhhhhh!" He screamed as the lightning covered him, and began to tear through his body. If a normal person had been at his ce. He would have fallen dead already, but the bastard is alive despite screaming and even moving his halberd forward to defend against my attack. ''Victory is near!'' I thought as I moved my sword with another attack. ¡­ Stone "Ahhhh¡­" I screamed in pain as the dark lightning covered me and tore through every inch of my body. The lightning is powerful. It had charmed me from head to toe, drilling inside me. Attacking my blood is the thing that is keeping me alive. The elder blood power in my blood is resisting hard. It is the reason I am still standing, when all the energy, I had been spent. This woman had turned out to be more powerful than the intelligence about her had stated. I had seen many of the people of order fight but on her level. She is the best. The spells she has, and the way she melds them with skills and forges them in herbat style, are truly amazing. I fear such enemies from the bottom of my heart. It was really smart to be cautious against her. It had helped me survive this long, but surviving further is in doubt. My elder blood is resisting, but it has put it under a heavy strain and even burning it. Forcing it to harness more power from deep within it. Still, not every drop of elder blood is bringing out the power from deep within them. Some couldn''t. Those are getting burned like my skin had. ng! I defended another of her attacks, and more dark lightning covered me when still from the earlier spell covering. I screamed louder, while the faint blood fog covering me became denser. It is blood that is burning. I am in extreme pain, and my very blood is burning. Giving me such weakness that I wanted to let go, but I could not. My men are trusting me with their lives; the people of the city are waiting to be rescued. As I thought of reasons, the face of the woman appeared in front of me. She is the greatest reason, I can not die. So, I bore her attack even when she burned every part of me from hairs to nailed skin to my very blood. I kept fighting her. Seconds passed and anger in her eyes. She used that in her attack, channeling it to strengthen her attacks, but never letting it out of her control. ng! I defended once again, and lightning covered me. Going even deeper, reaching to my very bones. I could see it was affecting them, while the elder power present in them fought back. It is fighting back, but a lot of it is burning. Only those who kept harnessing more and more power are alive. I am alive right now, but won''t be forever. I don''t have to survive forever; I need tost longer than her. The way, she is using the spells, she won''t be able tost long. "You are the most frustrating enemy I have ever fought. It will be a big milestone to kill you!" she said andunched another attack. I defended while vomiting the blood, which burned away by lightning. Like the blooding out of my orifices are burning. The more blood came out, the weaker, I was getting, but I was fighting. There is no other choice than that. Giving up means death and I don''t want to die. If it had been a few months ago, I might have, but not now. I will not die. I will survive. I have survived far, worse, and I will survive this too, no matter what happens. Hun! Seconds passed, and her attacks kepting when suddenly a frown appeared on her face. I had also noticed it, and it brought a small smile to my face. ''I might be able to survive,'' I thought, but a secondter, that smile vanished. I turned to the enemy with fear as she attacked me with her most powerful attack yet. It feels so powerful, I fear it might be the attack, that finishes me off. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 454: Skill Broken Chapter 454: Skill Broken Rynra Thorn ''They areing,'' I thought, sensing two mages, a warrior, a shaman, and an assassining toward me. It is abination, that I don''t want to deal with. Especially when there is elder blood in the mix. It could make things really dangerous for me. With the speed they areing, I have a minute and a half at most. If I killed him, I would engage against them. It will be challenging to kill them with my reserves, but I will manage. I will also break the skill. The whole reason for it is to stop him frommanding the army. Once he is dead, I will be able to deal with the enemy, even with the diminished force. I looked at giant blood, burned with every inch of his life. There is not a single part of his body, that isn''t burned by the lightning. Others in his ce would have died, by a sheer amount of necrotic power in lightning alone. He is standing, even when his very blood is burning. I could see the crimson steaming out of him as lightning ravaged his body. I n to do what I have never done before to kill him. It is not something I had before, but I need to try it. It is the only way, I might be able to kill him. So, I cast the spells; it is not a unique spell. I had been using it against him, but this time, I am casting it in higher quantity. Diasas''s Lightning X 4 I cast Diasas''s Lightning one after another, with each cast covering me with more and more lightning. It is not amon Grade IV spell. Which I could easily cast, over five times in sleep, but one of the most powerful spells I have in my arsenal. By the time of the fourth cast, the blood had started toe out of my orifices because of the sheer pressure. It also drained me of mana. I do not mind it as I did better than I had thought. The pressure always pushes me further. It is why, I want to return to the ind and take part in battles of the conquest rather than stay in this wastnd. The four cast was beyond my imagination. I didn''t think I would be able to cast over three, seeing there are spells and skills active, but I did it four times. This will increase the power of spells tremendously, as he will feel the power of the four spells together. I couldn''t help, but feel proud of this moment, and sure, the energy will die. It is a big thing for me; something that will earn me a level. If I kill him and win the battle. Getting two levels would be set in stone. Not to mention the prestige. I will be able to go back to the ind. "Die!" I roared as I swung my sword at the elder- blood with everything I had. He moved his halberd forward defensively, as he did hundreds of times. One would not expect anyone in his condition to move, much less fight, but his halberd moved as fast as before as if he was suffering no injuries. ng! My sword shed against his halberd and all the lightning covering me went to him. It had covered him so fully, that he couldn''t even be seen in it. ¡­ Stone "Ahhhhhhhhhh¡­." I screamed as I had never done. Dark lightning had covered every part of me; it was so dense, that I could see anything. It is drilling inside me; a bolt had evene into my mouth and singed. Making my screams go hoars. I had never thought I would experience something like this. Something that will burn my very blood. Even the drops of elder blood that harvest the power are burning. Very few of them are resisting this lightning, which has begun to hit bones and internal organs. If there wasn''t elder blood. I wouldn''t have been able to bear it, but this attack had brought even that elder blood to the limit. I wanted to let it all go, but I didn''t. I have to survive only for a minute; they will be here soon. So, I held on and started to push the elder blood power actively against the lightning. I never did that. I did it with energy, but never with the power that brings out the energy, as it is very dangerous, but now, I had left with no choice. At most, I will burn the elder blood power thoroughly in me, that it willpletely disappear. I will be a normal person again with levels and skills without restrictions, but it is dangerous. Barely anyone survives it. There are very few over the years, who have lived to tell the tale. I wouldn''t have done that, if I had a choice. If I didn''t do it. It will burn my blood, destroy my internal organs, and shatter my bones, killing me effectively. I don''t want to die. I wouldn''t have had any problem a year ago since I had lost everything, but not now. So, I threw the elder blood power at the lightning, and it began to burn under the power, but some had started to shine brightly in bronze power and resisted it. It surprised me but didn''t have time to care as I harnessed more and more out of me and threw it at lightning. Let it burn or shine brightly. These are the only choices it has. Seconds passed, more burned, and more shone. At that same time, Jon and others came closer to me; they were now only seconds away instead of minutes. So, I have to hold on till then. They might be able to do something to her. This attack isn''t without a prize, she is sucking energy, but unlike the river earlier, it is a stream. She had sucked enough, that now she could barely do it. Even in her current condition, she is still very dangerous. I have kept my senses and skills focused on her every movement. Seconds second passed and more and more of elder power burned, but more started to shine brightly and with passing seconds, they got brighter. Still, with the way lightning is burning the elder-blood. It won''t be enough to help me survive, but I am not going down without a fight and bringing out the power from the deepest part of me. "It seemed like, even four Diasas''s Lightning spells aren''t enough, but they brought you close and now my sword will finish the job," she said and swung her sword at me once again. This time, there was no lightning covering her sword, but I could feel that bone spell covering it. It is stronger than the lightning; if it touched me, I am dead. I moved my halberd but found I didn''t have such much as energy as before. Still, I moved it forward, channeling every bit of desperation and will to live to move it forward. Hun! I was doing that when something surprising happened. A shield appeared in front of me, and then another, and then another. Rip Rip Rip! I felt joy, but itsted for a moment only before I saw her sword tearing through the shields. I am not surprised. She is really powerful; I do not have a single mage, that could contend against her, but there are several with potential, they just need time to grow. ng! Her de tore through all three shields before shing against my halberd, sending me back stumblingly, nearly sending the halberd out of my hands. Hun! She moved forward tounch another attack. This time, I might not be able to dodge, when suddenly she stopped. ¡­. Ranya Throne ng ng ng! I stopped the spellsing toward me with my sword. They are here, all five of them with fury in their eyes. I wanted to kill the bastard seeing how close, I was to killing the elder blood, but I retreated. I am nearly drained. I will not be able to fight them for longer and the elder blood looks like, he could still defend a few of my moves. Seeing he had moved his halberd to respond to my attack. That doesn''t mean is fine. There is a good chance he will die. "I hope you die, elder blood," I cursed and retreated. I also broke my skill and began tomand the horde. The losses are huge, but we have not lost the battle yet. I will be keeping an eye on elder blood. If I sensed he was dead or out of fighting; I wouldunch myst offensive. There is a still good chance, that will be able to win the battle. ¡­ Stone "Stone!" I heard my dearest friend''s voice as he appeared beside me. "Don''t touch me," I warned hoarsely, as the lighting was still moving around me. "I am going to kill that bitch!" said Jon, with deep anger in his eyes. "Don''t, you are not her match. Even in her weakened state, she can kill you in a minute," I said. I want to do nothing more than to kill her, but I know, how powerful she is. Even when she is drained. She can kill them. As I waited for mages to arrive, I started tomand the army. She had broken her skill, which meant themunication skills and spells could be used again. The first thing, I did was evacuate the forces from the southern gate. She will not retreat. Half of her horde is still standing, but I want to keep the door of retreat open for her. I want nothing more than to kill her, but it''s not possible. It is wise to let her have a chance to retreat, but to make that happen, I need to show her, that she can not win. She can not wait till the reinforcement arrives. I will kill her horde, her powerhouses till she will have no choice but to retreat. She understood that too andmanded her horde, while I had responded,manding mine in kind. Unlike before, we have an advantage now and I will exploit it to the fullest. "Stone," said Shaun as he arrived with the Osward and rest. "Jon, Osward, move east. Shaun, Kruabu go south, but stay clear of Rynra," I ordered while they watched in shock. "Shaman, Kremi, I hope you deal with this bloody lightning," I said to the man before turning four. "What are you all waiting for? Go!" I snapped. They were hesitant for a second before moving. Acting fast is important; I need to strike her weakness as fast as I can when I have a chance. There were still undead around me fighting, but my men could handle them. A few seconds passed and Shaman Oris threw purple powder with herbs mix on me. immediately, I felt it having the effects, while casting more shamanic spells on me. It is his area of expertise. It is a good thing; I had brought him here. His spells begin to rapidly eat away the powerful lightning. Not only the one, that covered me outside, but also the one harming me inside. At the end of the minute, all the lightning disappeared. "Thank you, shaman," I said to the man gratefully, before I took out a small pouch, hidden under my armor. It was painful to remove as the leather stuck to the skin, but I ranked it out and was relieved to see that the bottles were safe especially the green ones. It is the only bottle of Grade IV essence healing potion we have in the city. It was one of the rewards, Lord Silver had got as the host of new legacy. There are Grade III essence healing potions in a pouch, but I need to heal my injuries fast, and seeing how grave they are, Grave IV is the best option. A wrong move and the enemy will gain the chance to win, and I cannot let that happen. I took it out and opened it, before taking a sip of it and then another after some thought. Immediately, I felt turning it into a flood of energy and spread through my body. Healing my injuries at a visible speed. Within a second, charred skin began to fall down, and new pink flesh started to start to appear. The same is happening internally the damage to bones and internal organs healing. As it heals, I begin to feel the heavy tiredness. It is not healing tiredness but from the elder blood. It ispelling me to sleep. I resisted and took a Grade III essence stamina potion and drank it all. Minutes passed before, and finally, the power of potions disappeared. On the surface, I seemed healed. The only sign there about my injury is the loss of my hair on my body and the paleness of my skin. I am healed, but also not healed. I don''t know whether I will be able to recover from it. Nor do I have the energy to care right now. The only thing, I currently care about is the battle that I have to win. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 455: Retreat Chapter 455: Retreat Stone Thud! Inded on the roof of the house, which is in front of the gates of the city, on which Rynra is standing. I didn''t move any further. I just stood there, watching her, despite every part of me wanting me to sleep. Thepulsion is so heavy, that I would fall a speed standing if I kept my eyes open for more than a second. Her horde is around me, but so are my people. If they move toward me, my people will stop them. The only person who could stop me and that Rynra Throne. Also, Wayne, but currently, he did truly seem to break off with the undead. I hope she didn''t attack. My injuries may look healed, and they are inmon sense, but I am not capable of fighting her. Her conditions aren''t that good either. She ispletely drained of her reserves, and she has used that spell to the limit, absorbing mana from the undead. This means now, unless she drinks a mana potion of emotion essence, she will not be able to fill her reserve. She likely won''t do that. The potion of emotion essence is rare even for her and powerhouses drink it only when their life is in danger. It is a thing that could help them cheat death. Here, her life isn''t in danger, but if she uses that potion, she might have time to get her hands on things that produce key ingredients for that potion. So, it is hard to predict what she will do, and her expressions didn''t make it easy to see that. I also kept my expressions unreadable and looked directly at her with the halberd in my hand while my army fought against the horde. The armies are now concentrated on the southern side, both horde and my army moved the battle here. She had a good n. Cuttingmunication, hiding the undead in houses and sewers. I don''t want to say it, but if not for Wayne, we wouldn''t have been able to do so well. We might have lost the battle. It was the information provided by Wayne, that had helped us. Still, it didn''t seem to be enough to make her retreat. She is still fighting with us. It''s why it''s important to tell her, that she won''t win this battle. No matter what she does. Minutes passed, and sides were fighting, with people being killed every minute. A lot of people died already, not just soldiers, but also officers. Even the powerhouses of Lv. 30+ aren''t spared. A smile appeared on my face suddenly, while her expression turned bad. A level 30+ died, and it had been killed by none other than Orok. The young man is really good, despite his state and difference in level, he is killing them. He is heavily injured, but the priest is helping him as he kills the enemies. It was a wise decision to give his team a healer. I was not sure about the decision, seeing the few priests we have. We had an advantage in the battle, and the death of every enemy powerhouse increased that advantage further. I have divided powerhouses as such, that, it is harder to kill them. Setting them to fight against the enemies, that they could kill. It couldn''t have been possible before, but we now have the numerical advantage in powerhouses, with many of them dead or surrendered. I had just thought that when another enemy powerhouse surrendered, making her expressionless face twitch. The very next second, I sensed another thing that made the small smile on my face turn into a grin. ¡­ Rynra Throne ''I quit the undead kingdom,'' he dered before cutting the spell. Now, it had be so clear. It''s all because of that bastard Wayne. He betrayed the undead kingdom. I really want to curse those bastards at Port. If they had told me, he was a traitor, I would have dealt with him myself before the battle. Instead, they only summoned him and asked to keep an eye on him. The summons might have been for any kind of thing. From being a spy at worst to being the one able to provide information about someone or something or something else less serious. If they had been forthright about the information. I wouldn''t have been looking at the defeat. The bastard had been ying battle. I didn''t suspect him, till I asked him toe to me to attack the elder blood together. First, he made excuses. When I forced him, he replied directly with defection. Saying I am angry right now would be a great understatement of the emotions, I am feeling, but I controlled those emotions. It is a battle, and they have no ce in it. I looked at the elder blood, looking at me with a grin. I want to knock those out of his mouth. He seemed healed. There is not a single injury on his face, everything is healed. The only thing sign of injury is the paleness of his body. He must have drunk an essence healing potion, and seeing how quickly he began to move. It''s very likely a Grade IV. Even I don''t have a Grade IV potion. All three of my essence potions are Grade III. I want to drink them and attack him, but that is risky. I am pretty sure, that he had not recovered fully, despite drinking the potion. It might have healed him, but recovering his strength wouldn''t be easy. The strength of elder blood couldn''t be recovered from drinking potions. It needs time or those particr things, which are very hard to get. One needs to have specific connections to get to those people who could produce them. The thing is, he might have recovered his energy, but he might have his physical strength. He had defended against it with his physical body. I have potions, but not enough to be sure, that I will be able to kill him. With the traitor in the fray and the enemiesing at me, it will be hard for me to survive. Since I won''t have much mana to deal with them. Even now, my mana is very slowly recovering. Trickle by trickle, which isn''t enough. Hun! "Bastard!" a curse couldn''t help but appear in my mouth as I sensed the thing, the traitor did. The traitor had not only detected. He is now attacking the people that used to be on his side. He had just killed a Lv. 30 warrior. Something, I had not thought he would not dare to do. By doing it, he had crossed all the lines. The undead kingdom would not leave him alive. "Retreat!" Imanded. There is no other choice than to do this. The traitorous bastard joining the enemy, immediately made things dangerous. Not only for the horde but also for me. He is the only person aside from elder-blood, that could survive against me. Unlike elder blood, who will fight and survive. This bastard will run and survive. Though if he joined elder-blood. Things could turn tricky for me. The horde began toe toward me and the elder-blood did the smart thing I had expected. He made his army stop attacking, giving the horde a clear road to retreat. Shame filled my heart for calling a retreat, but I had no choice. Though I have good reason to me someone, and I am going to do it. The moment I got out, of thismunication, a blockade covered the city. It is not strong, I could break it, but I rather not waste mana on it. I will need it. Since I nned to return very soon. ¡­. Stone "I will be returning very soon, elder-blood," Her deration rang through the city before she humped from the gate. Her horde had already got out of the city, and she was thest one and that threat was very real. She could return to the city in a few hours with the new hordeing and I will have to make sure, to them see that it will be a futile attempt. Till then, I am not allowed to sleep. I hope I will be able to hold it back. Thepulsion from the elder blood is getting stronger by the minute, but I will resist it. I have to resist it for the Lord, the city, my men, and especially for her. "I asked them toe and also this is thetest intelligence," said Jon as he appeared beside me. I had sent him out of the city toward the mages we kept outside of themunication blockade. Something, I don''t want to remove, for at least an hour more. The first is to call our people. The healers, priests, administrators along with other people. We had brought them, but they were behind. They couldn''t fight and bringing them wasn''t wise. We had kept back, but now we defeated the undead. We need them. Especially healers. There are a lot of injured people; some are in serious condition. We are stabilizing their conditions with healers and potions we have, but we need them as, unlike the healers in the city. They are not tired and would be able to save a lot of lives. I turned to intelligence and except for one thing, everything else was within the expectation. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 456: Offer Chapter 456: Offer ¡°It was unexpected,¡± I said as I read the intelligence. That bastard at Ashton Harbor is still fighting the undead. I thought that battle would end by now, but it won¡¯t be seeing how things are going. ¡°Unexpected, but the best news we could hope for,¡± replied Stone. To that, I couldn¡¯t help, but nod. It is an enormous risk we have taken attacking the city and even now we are not out of danger. The hordes are still moving. If the undead horde, that attacking the Port Midlet, had joined it. Things could get worse. We might not even be able to handle, the joining of the three groups. The fourth one is as big as three, and right now would spell danger, we have no ability to handle. If that happens. We will have no choice but to retreat. There is also another problem and some even say, the thing I should be worried about. The attack on my own city. Deerponds forces would reach the city in a few hours. I am worried, but not as much as I should be, despite knowing that anything happens in the battle. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked Stone. I heard he had been heavily injured. He still is. He is showing the people he is fine. This is good because our enemies need to have the same perception. ¡°Tired, but I will manage,¡± he replied before a small smile appeared on his face. ¡°Congrattions my lord. Very few people across the years had awakened an aura so young,¡± he congratted. Yes, I look young, but I am old. Not that old, it is at that age that the talented awaken the aura. There is one person, I know, who had awakened the aura when she was even younger than me. ¡°It still feels like a dream,¡± I said while looking down at the steps. I am sitting on the steps of the city hall; one of the few ces they didn¡¯t fuck up. Looking at the state of the city. It¡¯s clear, they didn¡¯t care for it. Nearly all the essential services, like food, water, and medicine, are out. People struggled for them. It¡¯s so different from the ind, where they would properly manage the conquered territories. ¡°What do you think, they havee here for?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s definitely not for conquering, that¡¯s for sure,¡± he replied. It makes things difficult for us. If they didn¡¯t want to conquer, they wouldn¡¯t have toy waste to the city. They are already doing that, by not properly caring for the cities, they have captured. I heard the sound behind me and turned. ¡°We had inspected thoroughly, my lord. There is no danger inside.¡± Informed Major Das. ¡°Thank you, Major,¡± I replied but didn¡¯t go inside and turned to Stone. ¡°Will hordes attack?¡± I asked. To that, he sighed, ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure, but if they attack, we will be ready to face them,¡± he replied. We have already made preparations. We had put over twenty thousand people to sleep. When most of them wake up. They will be higher leveled, than when they were before sleeping. There are other preparations that are going on, like fixing the wall and creating other defenses that will help us fight against the undead. Let theme. We will face them with greater fury. Even if our numbers are less than before. This time, we have an advantage; we have a city in our control. For minutes, nobody spoke, before his expressions changed and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°They have arrived,¡± I had guessed it even before he spoke, but I was relieved to hear that. ¡°It¡¯s time to remove the blockade then,¡± he said and walked away, while I stayed on my face. A few minutester, the carriage stopped. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± Ina greeted. She isn¡¯t alone, behind her several officials. We have asked who would be interested in going to the Panar and these people volunteered. They barely had a few minutes to decide. I thought I would need an official order to take them, but there are smart and ambitious people, who would take any risk to advance their careers. They understood it was a great opportunity for them. It would take them away from the power center, but it will provide them with greater opportunity, that they wouldn¡¯t have gotten by staying in the city. They are right about choosing this dangerous appointment. They have shown they are loyal and willing to take a risk. Even if some of them arecking abilities. This action of them would help them higher than they would have otherwise. ¡°Deal with the things inside,¡± I said. She nodded and bowed, before walking toward the city hall. There are people inside. Some were officials who were working in city hall before the undead arrived. Some were brought here by the undead. They will provide her with all the information needed to start working. Still, it wouldn¡¯t be easy, but she is capable, and I would trust no-one other than her. I sighed when I thought about it. If hordes didn¡¯t attack us immediately, it wouldn¡¯t reduce our troubles but would increase them because this city is going to guzzle a lot of money. The money I don¡¯t have. The battles, and over six months of utter neglect, have left this city battered to every inch. To be honest, I knew it would be a big clusterfuck in here, but I still came, because it would create ayer of defense for the Greltheaven. I hope it doesn¡¯t happen, but if one day, somehow, the enemy captures the Greltheaven, and I was somehow able to run away, then this city would be my base tounch the counterattack. Unless, of course, it gets captured first and then Greltheaven. I am already thinking about from which departments I would cut money to finance this city. I would also be going to ask for aid from merchants. Even a little would help, tremendously. I wouldn¡¯t need much, because this city isn¡¯t that helpless. It has sources of revenue, the mines. There are a lot of mines, capable of generating enough profit to make the city stand on its feet on its own. ¡°Themunication blockade had been lifted,¡± informed Shaun. ¡°Let¡¯s contact some people,¡± I replied and the next twenty minutes, I spent talking to many people. Informing them of the battle and our victory, but also the dangers we face ahead. I still have a lot more people to talk to; I have only talked to the important ones, but I will do thatter. I got up from the stairs and walked ahead. ¡°Horse,¡± I said as the carriage appeared in front of me and walked to the horse and mounted it. It was a struggle. I am tired right now and injured. I rather do nothing other than sleep, but there are a lot of things for me to do and prepare if the horde attacks. I moved through the city with guards around me and the army patrolling the streets. There¡¯s a curfew, but I could see the people looking through doors and windows with eyes filled with hope. I wanted to talk to them and give them reassurance, but I did no such things. We have captured the city, but I still don¡¯t know whether we will be able to keep it or not. Unless I be sure of it. I will refrain from getting too attached. Soon, I dismounted in front big building. It used to be a merchant guild, but now it is a makeshift hospital. There is a crowd. We have already sent patients inside, but soldiers are bringing the stuff inside. Like beds and other things for the injured. We brought the priests, healers, doctors, potions, and tools, but we couldn¡¯t bring the stuff like beds. We are arranging that here. The city used to have hospitals, but all of them were shut. We are using the buildings that could be used and scavenging everything else from that we couldn¡¯t. If the city bes ours. I will send everything that, it requires from the Greltheaven. I walked through it and talked to injured and healers. I have spotted many familiar people. Including Francesca, who is assisting in healing. Ca had poached her from Norman and her luck was so good, that next day. The establishment ascended to the legacy. It was quite a surprise to me, that this woman chose to be a healer, rather than a madam of the legacy. Caena had offered her job to be a flood reader, but this woman declined to practice the healing arts. I didn¡¯t interfere with it and instead provided all the help. I need healers, and this woman could be trusted. A few minutester, I checked another hospital and then another and another. There are a lot of people injured with many dying. We have suffered the second-worst casualties in this battle. Right behind that of the first battle. When I finished with thest, I rode toward the wall. ¡®Its condition had be even worse,¡¯ I said, looking at the wall. It will be a thing, that I will be fixing first. We already started filling it with quick cement. It is a temporary solution. In a few days, we will bring the experts to fix the wall. I climbed the wall and appeared beside the stone. He is looking at soldiersying down the mines. It is a good thing we had brought them. I just wished we had brought them in a greater number than we had, but they were all we could bring. ¡°It will be finished by the time the undead came,¡± he said. Currently, the horde is stilling. They are less than two and a half hours away from us. ¡°Good,¡± I said and turned to cannons. We didn¡¯t use it despite pointing them toward the city earlier. It was just for intimidation, but we ordered them to use them as if there was a chance. There wasn¡¯t. The bastards moved around the houses. Nevering out in the open. ¡°There is a message from the undead. From Necromancer Irtis,¡± informed Shaun. Saying, I am surprised would be a statement. ¡°What does he want?¡± I asked. Irtis is a necromancer, who leading the horde. ¡°What does he want?¡± I asked, and a faint uncertainty appeared in his voice. ¡°He said, he will pull back his horde as long as we hand over those who had surrendered and captured. Especially Wayne,¡± he replied. I looked at Stone before turning to Shaun. ¡°Tell him toe and bring his horde. We are ready to face him,¡± I said. We are not going to hand over the prisoners and those who surrendered. Especially not Wayne. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 457: Relief and Worries Chapter 457: Relief and Worries Rynra "Apologies Dame Rynra, but I can''t do it. I have to follow the orders," said the bloody man in front of me. His tone was respectful, but I could see the hidden contempt in his eyes. This bastard should have been there; he wouldn''t have survived. They had killed Yegson; he had the same strength as him. At least Yegson had guts. This little bustard didn''t even have that. He is aplete coward. Still, I didn''t show that on my face and kept my expression and voice calm. "Once a horde from Norke merges with us. We will have enough numbers and experts tounch a powerful attack against the enemies," "They are tired and lost a lot of their numbers. They won''t be able to fight us; it will be an easy victory," I said and contempt in his eyes deepened. My hands moved toward my sword, but stopped halfway. Fear appeared in his eyes and even staff lit up. A momentter, embarrassment appeared on his face, and he cut off the spell, he was casting. A smile appeared on my face seeing. I have recovered quite a bit of mana, which would be enough to kill this bastard if I wanted to. "Dame Rynra, I am just following the orders. If you want me to lead my horde to Panar, then I will need an order from Ashton Harbor," he said, voice more polite than before. It also mmed all the doors. At least temporarily. It''s not like, I didn''t try to contact the higher-ups. I did, many times, but they didn''t respond after the first call. Their intention is obvious. They don''t want to attack Panar. At least not now, before the battle at Port Midlet ends. Still, I tried with this man, if he was willing to bend the rules, but he didn''t have that much of a spine. Instead, he contacted the enemy and tried to be a hero by getting the prisoners and traitors, but failed spectacrly, when the enemy asked him toe to fight. Which instead of making him angry, had made the coward more cautious. "I will be in my carriage," I said and walked away. The horde had turned. It is returning to Almin instead of attacking Panar. I wish they listen to me. I am confident of the victory if we attack them with the force we have, but unfortunately, they are not willing to listen to me. Though it''s not over yet. ¡­ Owlspring "Didn''t, I tell you, he will conquer, Panar," said the Lord of Owlspring to the old man in front of him. "Yes, he did, but I am concerned about the other thing," said the old man. "Aura, you mean?" asked the Lord of Owlspring, and the man''s expression turned serious. "What do our sources say? Is it true, my lord?" asked the old man. "Everyone inside had sensed it, including our person hiding in the city," replied the lord of Owlspring, confirming the intelligence he had received. "Awakening an aura for twenty years. He would be trouble for us if the empire was able to get itself out of this trouble," said the old man. Lord of Olwrping smiled. "I think the opposite because the empire is gone. It will never be what it was," said the lord of Owlspring and smiled. A smile is full of secrets. ¡­ Ronda "So, he won," I said as the Laris informed us of the news. "It will increase the morale of their forces in Greltheaven," said Lord Darius, with a big frown on his face. It clearly worried him, but not me. "It''s nothing to be worried about, my lord. We have twice the number of men as the enemy with numerous powerhouses," "I promise you; we will have Greltheaven, that is before the first light of tomorrow," I said. I am confident about the victory. All the men I had brought were trained and experienced. There are also numerous powerhouses, all of them are veterans of many battles. We will not lose. We will win and not just the Greltheaven. The Panar will also be ours. Once I captured the Greltheaven; I will move to Panar. Just thinking about it made my beat in joy. I hope thisst hour passes quickly and I attack the Greltheaven. It would be easy, seeing it is a cripple that is leading it. There are notable powerhouses that we will need to deal with, but I am not worried about them. I have brought enough powerhouses, and they are just as good as them and, if not better, and most importantly, they are greater in numbers. ¡­ "Both of the hordes have turned," informed Shaun, and the relief flooded in my heart. It had been worrying me a lot. If they had attacked, the battle would have been bloody. Even if we had gained the victory. It wouldn''t have been without a substantial cost. Still, it is not over. There is a still battle at Port Midlet; a lot of things will depend on it. Even then, we will not be safe, but I already knew about these things. I knew Panar would be a constant danger from the undead. Despite that, I came here, but it''s important for Greltheaven. "You should rest. We need you to be ready, the moment, they decide to attack again," I said without privacy skills. So, everyone could hear it. "Yes, I do rest," he said and walked down from the wall. People know Stone had a serious injury and needed rest. Enemies know that well too; we might as well them, that he is resting. Let them think about whether it is a trap or a truth. I may be smiling, but I am worried about Stone. He had told me the nature of tiredness and how hard it is bing for him to hold it back. He didn''t know when he would wake up once he slept or what state, he would be in when he would wake up. "You are in charge, till General Stone returned Maj. General Azalea," I said to the woman. "I will not disappoint you, my lord," she epted with a bow. I smiled and turned to the soldiers in front of me, working on mine and doing a few things. Undead might not being now, but they areing, and we need to be prepared for them. I turned toward Greltheaven. I am not as worried as I should be about it. I didn''te without preparations. The enemies are going to get a pleasant surprise when they reach the city. I would never leave my city unprotected. I stayed on the wall for half an hour more before climbing down. Once down, I mounted on the horse and went toward the city hall. Thud! A few minutester, I dismounted in front of the city hall and walked toward it. This city hall is big, bigger than the one in Greltheaven, and also old. Over a thousand years old; it survived, the empire''s attack and countless undead scourges of Navr. It is the only city hall. In all the cities of the region that had survived for more than a thousand years, where many city halls have been destroyed and rebuilt. The former governor may have spent little on anything, but he spent good money on the city hall. Not only did he repair the damages, but also renovated it. So, when I walked inside. I saw it as apletely different thing than the rest of the city. It is clean, without a speck of dust, and wallsden with art pieces on beautifully painted walls This man had good taste, unlike Count Darrow. The bastard was only attracted to ostentatious things. Soon, I reached the office of governor, which will act as my office, before I appoint the governor. Then this office will be theirs. The guards bowed and opened the door for me. "Master Silver," she greeted and bowed. I nodded and sat down. "How bad are things?" I asked directly. There is no need to sugarcoat this question. "Very," she replied simply. "Water, sanitation, health, food, waste management, and everything is down. The people here are not even living, they are barely surviving," she spat. There is great anger in her eyes. Even I am angry at seeing the state of the city and its people. "Any money?" I asked. "Surprisingly, yes. It is a share of Yegson and what he looted from people, before turning them into the undead," she replied, holding the anger in her eyes. "How much?" I asked, and she opened the file in front of me and pointed at the number written in big bold letters. I have to say, it''s not a small number at all. It is far from enough to deal with the city''s problems, but it is big enough. That we could start, with it. A lot of it would be needed to do, and the first thing would be starting those services. It wouldn''t be cheap, and I would need to bring a lot of people from the Greltheaven to aid with that. Including the police, who will be responsible for the security. I could send a few hundred of them here, withoutpromising the security of the Greltheaven. The first batch of police is graduating in a week. They are the first that have been formally trained as police officers. Some talented ones had even got the sses. "Grill everything from officials and ask our people to look at things with their own eyes. I need a detailed report of things by tomorrow," I ordered. "It will be done, my lord," she replied. I nodded and turned to the file. It is short, which isn''t surprising, given she didn''t have any time. She was able to gather this much in a such time is a testament to her abilities. Still, my expressions couldn''t help but turn bad as I read through it. The little bit of joy, I had about the money had vanished immediately after reading the information in the file. If I didn''t retreat from the city, I would need to spend a lot of money on it. Seeing that, I almost started to wish, that the undead attack us with a big horde and make us retreat from the city. A minuteter, I closed the file and shut my eyes, thinking. "Lord Silver, the enemies have reached the city," informed Shaun, making me open my eyes. "Finally," I said, with a smile appearing on his face. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 458: Enemy Attacks Chapter 458: Enemy Attacks Cardin "There is a clear order from the Lord Silver. Teach the enemy such a lesson, that they would never dare to attack us again," I said to the army of thirty thousand in front of me. Twenty thousand were our own forces, while fifteen thousand were the volunteers. We have no n to use them. It is just for the intimidation. We have an army of around fifty-five thousand. We had used the fifty-thousands of them in the yesterday''s battle. Five thousand were hidden. It is the most we can hide without letting our enemies know about them. It''s very hard to hide the actual army, especially the ces like the cities. Which are filled with the spies. Why did we hide it? It is always good to hide our strength. Even if it is a little. Still, we could have used them yesterday. If we needed them, but didn''t, given the type of strategy we were using; fifty thousand was a perfect number. "Lord Silver had achieved the victory in the Panar, and we will do the same here," I shouted. I didn''t have to with a Loud Voice, but sometimes, you can only express emotions through loudness. Thud Thud Thud! The army begins to hit their legs hard on the ground. The enemy is only ten minutes away, and we will be ready for them. We were ready now; the only thing had remained was shaman spells. The shamans are casting them around the army right now. These spells are quite useful. Their effects are not as pronounced as skills and spells, but they are terrifying with enough preparation. Lord Silver had paid a lot of prices for those resources they were using for the spells. I know it because I am responsible for the acquisition and logistics. It''s why I know we are going to win this battle. Those bastards will regreting here to attack us. Minutes passed, and the shamans finished with spells. "On your ces," I ordered, and the army moved toward their assigned ce. In a minute, the entire area bes empty. I turned and looked out of the city. I could enemy with Far Eyes. I could even see them with the naked eye. Every second they got closer and closer till they were only a mile away from us. It is when they stopped. A few secondster, a young man in his early twenties came forward with a milk-white horse. Behind him were Ronda and his son, with the protection of twelve mages and warriors behind. They stopped two hundred meters distance from their army and turned to me. "Commander Cardin, surrender. It will save your men from needless death and the city from unnecessary damage," "If you surrender, I promise you, I will not harm any of your men or citizens. We would peacefully upy the city without a drop of blood." "But if you resist us, I promise you, I will make trollmouth turn red with the blood of your men," said the young man. Hearing it smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. It''s not just me, Colonel Hiren and Mage Valentina beside me had also smiled. Herugh wasn''t quiet. She is quite loud; it has made the young man angry. "Greenhorn, who never seen a war, talking about blood?" I asked with a chuckle. They got angry but turned alert the next moment as I raised my hand. Immediately, the mages reacted, and the shields appeared around them, covering them from all sides. "Attack!" I ordered. Boom Boom Boom The mouths of cannons burst out with the fire as the cannonballs released from them. At the same time, catapults released the massive exploding ammunition. I have no interest in talking to them. I want to beat them and do it quickly. It''s the lord''s order. He wants to send the injured back to the city. He also wants quite a lot of stuff, which I won''t be able to send him to the enemies attacking the city. They may have conquered the city, but their work is far from over. They need supplies, men, and many other things. To be ready in case the undeadunch an attack on the city. Bang Bang Bang! The shields appeared across the battlefield. Defending against our attacks. Most they defended, but some hit creating powerful sts. I watched as volley after volleynded on the enemy, while they defended with their shields. Boom Boom Boom It took the enemy nearly two and a half minutes to respond to the attack andunch their own cannons. I thought, given Ronda''s experience. He would respond within a minute, but he took his sweet time. They brought a good number of cannons, but still less than ours. Lord Silver had brought a lot of cannons and ammunition, which I thought was excessive, but he wasn''t nning for one city. The cannonballs reached close to us, and our mages acted. Not our top mages; the mages of early-level twenty. Many of them are inexperienced, but this is the easiest task for them. They just need to use their shield spells. If they missed and the cannonballs got closer, the mages of mid-twenties with better experience would. If they passed, even that. Then it would be mage Valentina, Z and other High-mages would defend against them, but that is likely to happen. However, I have enough experience to not discard that possibility. Our cannons fired non-stop, while the enemy finally changed toward us. With their siege towers rising. "Battle Command: Target Siege Towers," I said, activating the skill. Immediately, a third of the cannons began to target the siege towers, but not a single one hit them. Which is also the purpose. It would be great if they hit and destroyed the siege towers, but we would be fine as long as they targeted them. The purpose is to make their mages use the spells. The ones protecting the towers are good mages. Making them use the spend the mana now will help us further in the battle. We are usingmon cannonballs to target the towers; only now and then, we would use special cannonballs that will create a st powerful enough to crack the mages'' shields. So, they would always use powerful spells to defend. The shamans'' spell also helped with that, obstructing skills and spells that could urately gauge the cannonball''s power. Stopping them from employing effective measures. This strategy is used by the orc kingdom or those who use tribal orcs and I have to say, it works well. Bang Bang Bang They came closer and closer to us. Protecting the siege towers, while at the same time defending from the mines. "They have brought quite a number of earth mages," said Mage Valentina. Mages are casting Earth Detect and Earth Wave to detect and remove the mines. Which again makes their mages use their precious mana "Mage, Archer''s attack!" I ordered. A momentter, they begin to attack. From the lowest to the highest level, they begin to shower the spells and the arrows at the enemy. This time, the enemy reacted fast. Though they were able to slow the army. Which is good enough; it will give cannons more time against the enemy. Making them, use more of their mana in dealing against them. Minutes passed, and soon the army had reached the wall. "Cardin, you have made a grave mistake by resisting us. You will pay for this with your life!" raged Ronda from below, but I responded with a chuckle. BANG! Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out. The ground below one siege engine exploded. Shattering it to pieces, while sending tens of soldiers and a few mages flying. Most of them above the explosion died. Only the mages who reacted in time survived, but most went out ofmission. They won''t be fighting this battle anymore. I looked at High Mage Valentina; she is really something. Her control over the spell is unmatched. I have never seen a mage of her age with such control over her spells. There had been enemy Earthmages scanning every inch of the ground, but they were still not able to able to detect the mine, she had been hiding with her spell. Unfortunately, she could do this with only one mine. She had even said, the chances of sess are less than 20%. Enemy mages could have detected and dealt with it, but they didn''t, and we seeded in blowing one of their siege towers. It didn''t matter if she won''t be able to do it again. The st had to create a magnificent scene of destruction. It will affect the morale of the enemy when the news of alchfire is still fresh. It didn''t stop the energy, and they continued moving toward us. They may have decided to attack in a short time, but they havee prepared, and I could see a good number of powerhouses. So, it is only wise, we would bring out our own powerhouses as well. The biggest surprise that Lord Silver had prepared for the enemies, that might attack the city in his absence. "Come out, you all," I ordered and immediately. Immediately, nearly a hundred people wearing mercenary clothes stepped forward. There are all sorts of people here, warriors, mages, rogues, and others. They are night seven people, made of eight mercenary teams. In them are neen are Lv. 30+ powerhouses, while the rest are Lv. 20+. All of them experience battles like this. It costs a lot to hire them. I had opposed the decision to hire them. Especially when our purpose is to use them when the army leaves the city. It''s not a good idea to have so many foreign mercenaries without an effective force to control them, but now I am d they are here. Ronda seemed to have sensed them, and his eyes moved up. A shock is apparent in his eyes. In the second, the bnce of powerhouses bes nearly equal in powerhouses and, since we are defending from the wall, we have the advantage. As the mercenaries came out, they began the attacks. The mages fired the spells, while the archers released the arrows. One was even able to snipe the mage. Piercing the arrow through the head, killing him in a single attack. Thud Thud Thud! A minute and a half passed, and the siege towers had finally crashed into the wall. It''s time for the actual battle to begin. I am slightly disappointed that it is going to end quickly. I wish I could take part in it. I can''t, I will have been satisfied withmanding. It''s good too; this way, the victory will be more enjoyable and painful to the enemy. They are going to lose to a cripple and going to lose it in the most humiliating way. Tap on the below to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 459: Enemy Retreats Chapter 459: Enemy Retreats Ronda "Board!" I ordered with General''s Orders. Immediately, the orders followed, as the soldiers and powerhouses moved into the siege towers. The battle had got a bad start and a few surprises, but it won''t stop us. I will conquer the city. We still have the numerical advantage, and we just need to show them, that we will win this battle absolutely and their biggest surprises will be useless. Mercenaries, especially foreign ones, will run like rats, they are. If we showed them; there is no chance that they will win. The mercenaries were a surprise. Merchant States had told us that their mercenaries and adventurers wouldn''t take part in the conflict of the region. Whether it is against the undead or people. They wouldn''t send their mercenaries in here, aside from a few exceptions. So, they must be from somewhere else, not that I am much interested. The only thing I am interested in is a victory. After I attain it, I will execute that bastard Cardin and all mercenaries remain in the city. I want to imprint the facts on their mind. That nobody should stand against Deepond. Those who do will turned to earth. The soldiers reached the wall with eleven siege towers and began to fight the enemy on the wall. Cardin is there, but the cripple bastard isn''t finding himself. I wonder what Silver thought by giving themand to a cripple. He wouldn''t be able to motivate the army properly, which is a good new for us. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the siege towers. I didn''t go up in there, nor did I let my son go in it. He wanted to, but it was too dangerous. I will not risk my son''s life or mine. I am themander, and my job is tomand, not fight the battle. It''s the job of soldiers and powerhouses. Still, I might have gone there. If Silver had been there; it would have been worth the risk, but since he is not there. I rather would not. Hun! Suddenly, I felt my Dengersense ringing up faintly, and a momentter; I saw a whole wall burning in a green fire. "Its Alchefire Run!" People shouted, and I could feel the panic spreading among the soldiers, with the morale depreciating fast. It''s bad, considering their morale had already dipped slightly because of our slow response to their huge barrage and explosion of the siege tower. It scared them so much, that many soldiers and powerhouses had jumped from the siege towers. Most didn''t know what alchefire was till yesterday. When it had wiped away nearly half of the horde of two hundred and fifty thousand. Seeing it even, I took a step back, before my eyes widened in realization. "It''s not Alchefire!" I informed through Army Telepathy. BANG BANG BANG! I had just done, and they started to react to the information. When suddenly my Dangersense buzzed, and I saw three siege towers exploding one after another. Laris cast a shield and saved me from splinters while I watched in shock. I quickly got control over my emotions, seeing the state of my army. "It''s not Alchfire!" I informed them again, but this time, it worked less as the enemy had intensified their attacks. Not just the spells, but also cannons and arrows. BANG! I swatted away the arrow, that pierced through Laris''s shield. Only to see another siege tower exploding into pieces. "Ram, the door open," Imanded. It''s not a strategy I would use. It''s expensive in spells and cannonballs, but the bastards have destroyed five of my siege towers. The seven alone wouldn''t be enough. So, I am targeting the door parallelly. Once it has broken, I will push my army through it. It will cause a lot more losses, but I have enough numbers to absorb it. Though I had already decided that once, I got to the city. I will kill a lot of people. They could have made things easy for themselves. It would have been a bloodless upation, and that crippled would have got the great wealth and rank, but he chose the difficult path, and he will pay the price for that. A few minutes passed and a massive battering ram out of the army. The enemy attacked with spells and cannons and even threw the burning oil from above, but my mages reacted and defended against them. General''s Armament I activated the skill on the battering ram. It will give a boost to the ram''s effect. BAM! The battering ram had rammed into the door, but it barely shook. The bastards are using the skills and spells on the door; I am even sensing a different type of magic. If I am not wrong, then the filthy orcs have also used their magic on it. These bastards will be the first people, I will expel from the city. I can''t stand them and their filthy faces; the emperor was right in removing them from the empire. BAM BANG! The ram crashed again, and at the same time, I saw another siege tower had exploded. A powerful cannonball had avoided the shields and sted it apart. ''How is this happening?'' I asked myself. If it had been one time, I would have epted it, but it had happened four times. ''Shamanic magic?'' I couldn''t help but ask myself. I had no experience with it. I had never fought the orcs; I had a few chances early in my career, but I declined those. Maybe I shouldn''t have. ''Father!'' I was thinking about how to save half of the siege towers that had remained when I heard the painful voice of my son. I focused on him and saw an arrowed pierced his shoulder. I looked up at the wall and saw the same bitch who had sniped at me. She has targeted my son. Rage built in my heart, and I wanted to use every mage under mymand to target that bitch, but I had controlled myself. Knowing the injury won''t kill him. I turned back to the battle, focusing more and more on the door as capturing the wall began to seem like a distant possibility. If we had the siege towers intact. We would have sent our army and powerhouses on the wall, which we did in the first few minutes before they had started blowing them. Now the door is the only option. Once we are inside, our powerhouses will fight their powerhouses. It is there we will show the bastards our mettle. ''Hartis, I want the door broken,'' I said to Colonel leading the charge at that. I directed the army and defended against spells and cannons. Which they seemed to have in unlimited numbers, seeing their pace had not slowed down since the battle. Minutes passed and the battering ram continued to ram at the door and, aside from small progress, they were able to move far, even with spell join. Bang Bang! I was thinking about diverting my army when I heard thest two back-to-back explosions. Two more siege towers have burst into mes. Leaving only the four. BANG! I was looking at the mes when I heard the explosion close to me. I was so powerful that, it had broken through two of Laris''s shields, even cracked the third one. I looked toward the gate and saw the battering ram burning. With the burned, broken, and bloodied bodies of my soldiers everywhere. Many are dead, while others screaming in pain. I looked at the severed hand, that had struck against the third shield before falling down. Bang! I was processing it, when I heard yet another powerful explosion and, without turning, I knew that another siege tower had been destroyed. The morale is down with many of the powerhouse injured and with few dead, while the enemy looks energetic. They looked like, they could fight for a long time. They barely suffered any casualties while we were reeling in them. Our numbers are not that good, that we could absorb it without suffering any consequences. "Retreat!" I ordered and immediately the army retreated, but the enemies didn''t stop attacking us. Instead, they have intensified their attacks. "We are retreating. Stop attacking us!" I shouted at the bastard. There was no reply from Cardin, other than that irritating chuckle and ¡­ Cardin I looked at the retreating army, and the burning siege towers before turning to Mage Z. The cannons that sted the siege towers were under her control. They were the only things that I had no control over, and they blew eight siege towers. The cannons couldn''t do that with really powerful cannonballs. They were powerful enough to destroy the siege towers, but they needed to reach there first. The enemy had capable mages and there were tens of shields, but those cannonballs broke through all and destroyed those towers. Feeling my gaze, she looked at me. "Should I inform the lord about the situation, Commander?" she asked. She didn''t have to ask me about it, but it felt good she asked. "Yes," I replied and turned to the enemy. They are retreating, but whether it is a temporary retreat or a full retreat, I don''t know. We will not be attacking with our soldiers. Given our numbers, it''s risky. It might look like they had suffered big damage seeing the destruction, but most of the enemy''s army is intact and they didn''t lose many powerhouses either. They could attack us again, but we were ready to face them and this time, their losses wouldn''t be small. Tap on the to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 460: Battle Ends Chapter 460: Battle Ends "The enemy is retreating from the Greltheaven," informed Shaun. Finally, I sighed. We won, but it had been an expensive victory. Those mercenaries cost a lot, but the witchcraft that Caena had weaved had cost more than that. Those cannonballs didn''t hit those siege towers because they were powerful, and our mages had cleared the way for them. No, it is because of witchcraft, that Caena took months to weave and cost a fortune to me. Those spells weren''t normal, and they were hidden in the twenty-four pirs of the grand witch spell, that bound me to the establishment. It''s why nobody discovered them. Even the witches, that mighte to Greltheaven, wouldn''t have discovered them. It costs a lot, but it''s worth it. It had protected my city. "Ask them to start loading the patients, I want them to leave the city within an hour," I ordered. We have been making preparations to send the heavily injured back to the Greltheaven to heal. We have found the carriages and modified them for the risky patients. It helps, that we had a few soldiers with Carpenter ss. There are even civilians with Carpenter ss in the city. We have announced that we needed the people of the certain profession and many people havee forward from the civilians. We found doctors, nurses, and people of needed professions. It''s not be clear yet whether we will be able to keep the city. It will all depend upon the battle at Port Midlet and what the undead do after, but we have started with our work. "Inform me as soon as goods and men leave the Greltheaven," I added. There will be soldiersing to the Panar, while the injured will leave. I had asked Cardin to send them as soon as he can. We need to have Panar well-defended. Though it woulde at the cost of Greltheaven, it''s a risk I have to take. If arge horde or army moved toward Greltheaven, I wouldn''t hesitate to abandon Panar. I have measures prepared, but these measures won''t be able to handle a horde more than of two hundred and fifty thousand. I pushed those thoughts away and got up. I walked out of the office and silently walked. There was a high security, but as I crossed the hallway, it had be even tighter. So much, so that even a smallmunication blockade is set up, and no one is permitted to even take a step out, for any reason. Click! Soon, I reached the door, and two guards bowed, and Shaun released his spell from the door before opening it. Maximum precautions needed to be taken. I cannot let the enemies get an air of this. I entered the room, and Shaun cast another spell, which made everything visible. Especially the man, sleeping on the bed with his eyes closed. Bronze energy covered him and with every breath he took, it would send a ripple across his body. The energy is suppressive, but I bore it. I still remember during the awakening process, it was hard for me to stay close to him, but now it only feels suppressive. It might be because of the level, but I think it''s aura. The bronze energy had covered him the moment he slept. It was fainter at that time, but now it had be denser. Stone had told me about his condition before sleeping and it was bad. Three-fourths of his elder blood had been burned in defending against the enemy. She was one terrifying opponent. If not for him containing her, we would have been retreating now or even dead or captured. He paid a great price for that. He seemed to be recovering, which is great news. There was the possibility of his elder blood copsing because of the damage he had suffered. It happens when such damage is suffered. Especially by newly awakening. Fortunately, it is not with Stone. Though, not everything is great. There is one bad news; we don''t know when Stone will wake up. He could wake up in a few hours, to a few days. He could even take a few weeks. I do not have much information and wish Caena or Bell had been here. I stayed for a few minutes before walking out with Shaun casting the spells. We are taking full precautions, with only four people having ess to this restricted area. "The goods and men are leaving for Panar," informed Shaun as we stepped out of amunication blockade. The preparations were already made. They were only waiting for the enemy to retreat, now that it did. They are sending the goods and the people. I stayed in my office till it was evening, before getting out. It is night, and the city is dark. There are a few lights; the undead bastards didn''t even maintain the lights. It''s quite cheap. They wouldn''t have needed to spend much on it. The city is silent, aside from the sound of steps made by the patrolling soldiers. There is no other sound in there. The civilians were in their houses, and teams of soldiers, along with a few officials, were surveying each house. They are looking for the state of them. How much food and water do they have? What are their physical and living conditions? I have also ordered my men to see. If there are people in serious condition and if they are, then take them to the hospital. We are also asking them about sses and the professions they have, among other things. Data is necessary for efficient nning. It will help me decide on the things I would need to focus on and how much, I should spend on it. I will have the data by morning. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I walked into the hospital. I hade here earlier, but I havee again. I am worried about my men, and I need them to heal quickly to face any challenges that mighte to threaten us. We had already sent our most serious back to Greltheaven. Those who remained will be recovered by tomorrow and will be joining the battle, if any, enemy attack. "How are you feeling?" I asked the bandaged young Orc woman as I stopped beside her. "There is no need," I said, waving my hand, seeing she was trying to get up. She is quite young and looking at bandages around, she had suffered quite injuries, but not enough to send her back to the city. "Good, my lord. The healers are taking wonderful care of me. They said I will be ready to fight again by tomorrow," she replied nervously. "There is no need to think about that. You only need to focus on your recovery," I replied to her and turned to a middle-aged human man beside her. I talked to a few patients and healers before walking out of the hospital and visited a few more before sitting in my carriage. On the way, I saw a few groups of soldiers and officials entering the houses. I even saw a few people moving toward the hospital on the stretcher. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I walked out and stepped into the city hall. Soon, I was in my office; I wanted to close my eyes, but I didn''t. Even now, I am tired and if I close my eyes for too long, I might fall asleep. I n to sleep early today, but before that, I have a few things to do. "Let''s talk to the rest of the people," I said to Shaun and talked to people from lords to governors and other people, I didn''t talk in the morning. I find it tiring, but it needs to be done and needs to be done now. I could make some calls tomorrow, but I want to finish today. Tomorrow, we might need to escape or there will be so much work that I won''t have time. It took over an hour before I finished speaking with all and focused on the things in front of me. I might not have theplete information, but I have some and that is enough to start. "My lord, the battle of Port Midlet has ended," informed Shaun, and my pen stopped on the paper. I gently put it back with my heart beating wildly and turned to Shaun. "What is the result?" I asked. "Port Midlet defended sessfully," he replied, and I felt relieved. I hate the bastards'' guts, but I needed him to win the battle. "What is the size of the retreating enemy?" I asked the most important question. Our next step would depend on the answer to this question. "They are saying it is less than a hundred thousand," I said and slumped on my chair hard, with relief flooding all over my body. If it had been more than three hundred thousand. I would have abandoned the city. Now with a hundred thousand. I didn''t have to worry. The undead are unlikely to attack me because I am not the only one here. There is also Deerpond and, to some degree, even Port Midlet. Though I know what their losses are in this battle. It is especially Deepond; it will try to attack the city if they sees the chance. They might not have before, but they will now that I have done it. They have enough forces to do it. They didn''t lose much in battle against us. ''Less than a hundred thousand.'' I thought. The bastard is good, reducing their number by nine hundred thousand. It''s not a small feat. "Call General Azalea," I ordered. Now that I am pretty sure, the city will be ours. It''s time we start. It''s going to take a lot of money, but I will forge this city into the shield. That will defend Greltheaven from at least one side. It took me two and a half hours to finish my meeting with Azalea and talk to a few people. By that time, I had finished; I was thoroughly tired. Thankfully, I am sleeping. Taking the rest, that I desperately need. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 461: Schemes and Politics Chapter 461: Schemes and Politics Ashton Harbor "I understand, I will not disappoint you," said the man with the staff respectfully. He had been talking since he received the news of their loss but in his eyes. There is not of speck of anger. Instead, there is a joy, which he has a hard time containing. A momentter, the spell was cut to the other side, and he turned to the armored man with a big smile on his face. "Have you seeded?" he asked and the man with staff nodded, with a joy on his face. After over half a year, he got what he wanted. "Yes. I now havepletemand of our forces in this continent," replied the man with the staff. Earlier, he was only in charge of the name; most of the importantmands were taken on the ind. Now, they have decided to finally give themand. Apletemand with minimal interference. There was no choice, seeing the repeated losses If they had given me apletemand from the beginning, they wouldn''t have suffered so many losses. Its good they fixed that mistake. Now that, I have themand and I will conquer this whole region and put under the foot of his deathless. "So, what is our n?" asked the armored man. "Organize our forces, make them akin to the hordes that had swept away everything in their on the ind, and wait for more numbers toe," replied the man with a staff. "That will take some time," said Armored man. "It''s fine; I rather hope, it takes time," he said with a mysterious expressions appearing on his face. The armored man wanted to ask about what he was thinking but thought better of it and remained quiet. ¡­. Damon Hardt "So, you have decided?" asked Sc, to which I nodded. "It will be hard to get it and even if you did; it will be very dangerous," she added. "I know, but it is also an opportunity to rise," I replied and looked out at window, seeing the tower distance away, bathing in lights. Even during the battle; the legacy didn''t close. I was there and one of the few people allowed on the roof to watch the battle. It was terrifying and mesmerizing; the enemy had no choice, but to retreat. It had been an hour since I had got the news of the undead''s defeat at Port Midlet. It made Panar safer than before. Silver won''t be there forever, and he will have to leave. This means he will have to keep there someone in charge of things, a Governor. I want to be Governor of Panar. It is dangerous and I might die, but I know, Silver will do everything to keep the city safe and there are always ways to get away before danger touches you. There is also one rumor, I heard about Silver awakening the aura, but I wasn''t able to verify it. Given they are keeping a tight lid on themunication. When Prince Grelt got the dominion here, the family was thinking about buying a barony, but I was opposed to it. It will separate me from the family and power. I didn''t want that and resisted that decision, but the Governor of the city is apletely different thing. It is a big responsibility with far more power than the tiny baronies. Most important; the condition of the family is different than it was seven months ago. Bing governor will help them and it will help me as well gaining more power in the family. There are only three people, Silver could give governorship and two had already said publicly, that they were not in the race for that position. First is Robin. In the meeting in the morning, some people asked him. Whether he would be bing the new lord of Panar if Silver had captured the city. He straight declined. So, People turned to Valentina r. Everybody knows, that aside from his whores. Silver trusted her the most; he didn''t even care about those things, that church had arrested her for. Thest is Thaddaeus Stone, but he won''t be Governor. He is the strongest powerhouse under Silver and his General. He would keep him in Greltheaven, his base. So, the three most probable out, which create a chance for me. I might be able to get it if I y my cards well. "Since you have decided, I will go meet Ca and Madam Caena," she said, and I nodded. She had a good rtionship with them. It would help me tremendously if I am able to get their support. It is a known fact, that Silver trusted his whores the most. A few minutester, we got up and walked out of the manor. There are two carriages waiting for us. She sat in hers; going to Legacy, while I was going to the city hall, for my meeting with Robin. There is a meeting, but it''s an hourter. I am meeting Robin before it. I am also meeting with Valentina ar, but she said, it will be after the meeting Robin called of all important people to discuss the events of today. If I can get the support of these two and the whores, my chances would increase tremendously. I sighed and turned to the window. The streets are empty; the curfew is still on, but they have announced it will end at dawn tomorrow. I had met some merchants earlier, who asked my help to end the curfew early, which I petitioned Maj. General Cardin. Usually, the security of the city is the police''s responsibility, but in war times. The security of the city was handed over to the military. Soon, the carriage entered through the gates of the city hall and stopped. I got out and walked inside city hall, before turning toward the Silver''s office. "Chief Robin is in the meeting, Chief Hardt. He will meet you after his meeting ends," informed the secretary. I nodded and sat in the waiting room. I didn''t have to wait for long. The door opened a few minutester and the detestable old man walked out of it. Soren Arryn. He looked at me and nodded with a smile, before walking away. The bastard had wanted my job and did everything he could for it. He finally got it, but I still have a better one. As for why the old bastard came here, there are multitudes of reasons since he is head of the merchant guild, but I can tell, it is nonofficial. The old bastard hade for the same reason, I hade here. "Chief Hardt. Chief Robin is ready for you," she said. I nodded and walked inside. "Chief Robin," I greeted as I entered. I nodded at L, who was standing beside him. Since Ina had gone with Silver, she had transferred from the trade department to here to assist Robin and also keep an eye on him. The woman is smart and one of the best, I have worked with, but she is also Silvers ears and eyes. He had ced, his whores in all departments, they worked well and hardworking, but also keep an eye on things for him. "Please take a seat, Chief Hardt," he said. "Thank you," I replied and sat down in front of me. "What can I do for you Chief Hardt?" he asked. I could already tell, he had guessed for what I hade for. I am sure, he must be contacted by a lot of people. "I wille directly to the point, Chief Robin. I want you to rmend me to Lord Silver for the position of Governor of Panar," I stated. "Sure, not a problem. I will write the letter of rmendation for you," he said and it surprised me before I wanted to curse the bastard. "How many people, have to agree to write the rmendation for, Chief Robin?" I asked and the man smiled. "I only agreed to rmend those who are capable," he replied before his expression turned serious. "Before leaving he discussed a few names with me for the position. The list had ten names and your name was one of them," he added. My heart filled with tion but soon calmed down. So, Silver had my name on the list, he was discussing, but there were ten other people''s names, he was discussing. It won''t be easy to get the job. "Who else was on the list?" I asked and the man smiled. He is not going to tell me. "Thank you for the rmendation Chief Robin and I hope, you will prepare that letter before midnight; I nned to leave for Panar with it," I said, and a surprise shed in his eyes. "You are nning to leave at midnight?" he asked. "Yes," I replied. I have noticed a few things about Silver in the past few months. He likes those who take initiative and risks. So, if I want the advantage over the others. I will have to leave for Panar and convince him personally for the job. "Thank you for your time, Chief Robin," I said to the man and walked out. L followed behind me. I had worked with enough, that we couldmunicate with expressions. I am going to ask her for a rmendation. She knows Silver well and I know he listens to her opinions. It would be helpful if I have her support. True support, not the one like Robin is giving. ...¡­ Ca "Thank you for your time, Miss Ca," said Harrison and walked out. He is going to leave for Panar soon. The old man is ambitious. Even tried for my job. I sighed and looked at the list of people, I had to meet. My schedule is full till midnight. Till an hour ago, I was nning to sleep early. Yesterday, I was barely able to sleep. I was all worried about Remus, but now that won''t be possible. Everyone wants to be a Governor. I wish, I could tell them, that Remus had already made up his mind. He didn''t say that directly, but I could tell when I met him before leaving. It would be quite a shock when he will make that announcement. Click! ''Sister Ca, I am sending Mrs. Hardt in,'' said my secretary telepathically, and a secondter, the door opened, and Sc Hardt walked inside. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 462: Valorous Lord of Courage Chapter 462: Valorous Lord of Courage [ss Gained: Soldier] Soldier Lv. 1 Soldier Lv. 2 Soldier Lv. 3 [ss Gained: ¡­] [ss Gained: ¡­] ¡­ Swift Officer Lv. 22 Swift Officer Lv. 23 [Skill Gained: ¡­] ¡­ Shaman Lv. 7 ¡­ Priest Lv. 7 Priest Lv. 8 [ss Gained: ¡­] ¡­ Mercenary Warrior Lv. 18 ¡­ [ss Gained: Traitor] Traitor Lv. 1 Traitor Lv. 2 Traitor Lv. 3 Traitor Lv. 4 [Skill Gained: ¡­] [Skill Gained: ¡­] I rejected it as I saw the texts appearing in front of me. I didn¡¯t ept Spy ss, nor I would ept Traitor ss. Seeing it appear as a ss, my mood worsened further. I was born in the undead kingdom, studied there, and became a mage warrior I am. I made good progress, and I had got chance to lead the horde. The battle which I had lost. The only thing, I did wrong was make a mistake. They were able to know it somehow and exploited it by ckmailing me. I had to be a spy, because if some powerful people got to know about it. I would have suffered a fate worse than death. Since that incident, I have been providing information to undead kingdoms'' enemies. The information that made it lose a lot of battles. I had never gotten caught when every month several spies did. There are two reasons for that, first I had never epted the Spy ss despite the advantages that it would have given me. The second, I had never considered myself a spy. If my handler hadn¡¯t been caught, I would have celebrated the victory with Rynra. I believe with my help; she would have had a good chance to win the battle. Now, I had truly be a spy and traitor. There is no going back. It¡¯s terrible, that some people will pay the price. My organization will be investigated, and the slightest fault will be punished to make an example. So, will I; there will be a huge bounty on my head, and they will send an assassin after me. From now. I will be in danger of assassination every minute. I hope those bastards will keep their promise. It will make things easier for me. Easier, but one without ambitions and dreams. I can never be able to show myself openly, in fear of the undead kingdom knowing my ce and sending assassins to kill me. ¡­. ze Imbiber Lv. 17 Warrior Lv. 8 Warrior Lv. 9 [Skill Gained: Stance] I looked at advancement and a smile appeared on my face. Three more levels and ze Imbiber will reach Lv. 20. One more and reach level 10; both of which will give me an attribute point. I need them desperately. Since I had decided to follow my heart. My main ss had advanced only twice. Which is a Suprise. I didn¡¯t think, it would level up at all, but it seemed like, the missions and tasks given by Master Silver, helped with the ss. Still, the level-up up is too slow. If I had been madam; I would have reached Lv. 30 by now. Others have already reached it. I do not regret my choice; I love what I do, despite the dangers of it. There is also another reason. I still have my madam privileges. It¡¯s like, I had never left. I could go to the Legacy without restriction and also the college. I still have a ce on madam¡¯s floor. I told Margaux, I do not need it. I have my own apartment. It¡¯s not rented either; it¡¯s my own. It¡¯s one of the properties, I had brought after the battle when its rates were dirt cheap. In just a matter of months, my investment had multiplied by several times. So, so much so that, I could live off on rent from them. Earning more, than I am at my current job. Whenever we meet; she asks me toe back. Its why, I avoid her. I sighed and looked texts in front of me. It would have been wonderful if these sses merged with my main ss. My strength is severely restricted despite the high attributes of Lv. 27. Once these sses merge with my ss; I will be really powerful, but it won¡¯t happen soon. I would likely need to take at least one ss above lv. 20 and a lot of luck, before that would happen. Till, then I will keep working hard, as I have been doing for the past seven months. I closed the window and opened my eyes. It¡¯s a good room. My team got better amodation, than most soldiers. Likely because of me. When people know who, I am, disdain and contempt appear in their eyes, but there is also jealousy and sometimes respect. Nobody wants to mess with a person, who knows the lord. Those who know better than others are even more respectful. They are aware, that I could talk to lord at any time, and he listens. Last night, Ina had asked me to stay with her in her suite, but I declined It took a lot of effort to make my teammates ept me. I am not going to throw it all way, showing privileges. ¡­ Valorous Lord Lv. 28 Valorous Lord Lv. 29 Valorous Lord Lv. 30 [ss Change: Valorous Lord - Valorous Lord of Courage] [Skill Gained: Public Works] [Skill Gained: Appointment (3)] [Conditions Met: Sharpness ¨C Razor Edge] [Conditions Met: Consecutive Strikes ¨C Rapid Strikes] [Condition Met: Solid Contract ¨C Lord¡¯s Contracts] There were lines of text waiting for me when I opened my eyes. I had expected it, but it still surprised me. It was two days ago; I had leveled three times and here, I did it again. People spend a lifetime, but never again at such a level, especially not most lords. Getting a single level up was a huge thing and I had leveled up six times in just two days. Though when I think about it, I deserve it. I had conquered the city against great odds while making enough preparation so that my people could defend against the twice as big and more experienced army. They did it with casualties of less than ten people. I had not only advanced in levels but also in ss. From Valorous Lord, it had be Valorous Lord of Courage. It is said that the more words there are in the ss, the more powerful it is, and the Valorous Lord of Courage is indeed a powerful ss. However, I felt it was too much. It¡¯s embarrassing, to be honest. I won¡¯t be stating my full ss to anyone. I don¡¯t feel like a courageous man. All the risks, I took because of desperation. If I hadn¡¯t taken them, I wouldn¡¯t have been alive at all, with my people turning into undead. I calmed myself and turned to skills. Immediately, my eyes went big as saucers as I saw them. They are great; the best skills, I could hope for and the ones, I need desperately. These skills are rare, even among the Lord ss. It¡¯s even rare to get them this early, given their tremendous effect. Especially Public Works. It¡¯s a skill, that every Lord hopes to get. Given how much help, it would provide them. Public Works is arge-area skill of ruling sses. It increases the speed, efficiency, and quality of public works happening. It affects all the public works, like roads, bridges, hospitals, and other things. It¡¯s a skill, that will be immensely useful in a ce like this. The public infrastructure of this ce is in dire needs need of repair. I didn¡¯t hesitate and activated the Public Works. Immediately, I felt it covering the whole city and the small area around it. Every public infrastructure, that will happen here now, will be slightly faster, more efficient, and better quality. Given the scales of the projects. It will save me millions of imperials every year. The greater the scale is public work the more money, will be saved. It took me a while to calm down and I turned to my second skill. Appointment. It is just an amazing skill for the lord. With this, I could appoint a person under me for the duty or the task. It increases the attributes of the appointee, and it is said, that this skill also helps them gain favorable ss and skill during the level-up. Lords desired this skill a lot. More than Public Works as it could increase the strength of their people and keep them loyal to them. If I am able to advance it. It will be even more amazing. Currently, I could appoint three people. Which might seem like less, but they more than one gets at this level. I already know, two people. I am going to bestow this skill on. It would have been three, but it would be useless against the third since he doesn¡¯t have stats. I have not only got two new skills, but my old skills have also been advanced. Sharpness had advanced to Razor Edge. I sat in my bed and activated the skill on my nail and used it to cut the nail. It didn¡¯t so smoothly, that it felt like it was not my nail, but butter. Seeing that, a smile couldn¡¯t help but appear on my face. However it was nothingpared to the smile, that appeared on me when I saw what my next skill had changed into. Consecutive Strikes is useless to me. It¡¯s not useless; it¡¯s just that, I have never been able to use it properly. Jon had snorted when Iined about that. Stating, ¡®This skill is useful in fighting weaker or simr strength opponent, while I always those stronger than me¡¯. I was a little disappointed, that I didn¡¯t getbat skills, but with it. I am more than satisfied. Thest is the Lord''s Contracts. It is just as useful a skill as the one above, if not more. Seeing, the sheer number of contracts, I sign. It would make them stronger. Harder to break. I looked at it all, before turning to thest thing. The attribute point. Since my ss had reached Lv. 30; I have got one. I had already decided on what I would spend and added it to intelligence. Taking it to seventeen. It might seem like a wrong choice given my current situation. Where I might need to fight the enemy, but it is a wise choice. Many of my skills run on intelligence. It will make them powerful.
ss Dealer of Desire Lv. 29 [Master of Legacy]
Valorous Lord of Courage Lv. 30 Trainer Lv. 08
Charisma 20
Intelligence 17
Vitality 17
Strength 16
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Goods Instinct ¡¤ Lord¡¯s Contracts ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Rapid Strikes ¡¤ Blitz Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Mauling Strike ¡¤ Silver Tongued ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ de Of The Gale ¡¤ Mood of the Subjects ¡¤ Privacy Sphere ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry ¡¤ Razor Edge ¡¤ Active Presence ¡¤ Vision Projection ¡¤ Instant Recollection ¡¤ Artistic Dealings ¡¤ Copy Skill - Graceful Repel ¡¤ Telepathic Call ¡¤ Energizing Essence ¡¤ Gymnasts Control ¡¤ Lord''s Presence ¡¤ March Of The Braves ¡¤ Laws of My Land ¡¤ Mark of Mist ¡¤ Fast Reflexes ¡¤ Public Works ¡¤ Appointment
Legacy Demesne of Desire II
Skills ¡¤ Master of Legacy ¡¤ Laws of Legacy ¡¤ Share Authority (5) ¡¤ Vault of Ru ¡¤ Demesne Expansion
Attribute Points 0
I looked at the table and couldn¡¯t help, but sigh. My secondary ss had surpassed my primary ss once again. It will bring some trouble, but I could take it. I need this level up. I looked at the table for a minute before gently getting out of bed. Aware of my increase in strength. I moved around the bedroom for a few rounds, before finally walking into the bathroom. Hun! When I came out; I noticed the clock and surprise couldn¡¯t help but sh in my eyes. ¡®It seemed like, I had been too tired.¡¯ I thought to myself. I had overslept by hours, but seeing my Shun didn¡¯t wake me up. There¡¯s likely won¡¯t be any new emergency waiting for me. It made me feel relieved. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter: 463 Elderblood General Chapter: 463 Elderblood General Click! I walked out of the bedroom and saw Shaun waiting outside. "Congrattion, Lord Silver," he congratted. "You too Shaun," I replied, and man the man smiled. I am not the only one who had leveled-up. He too had leveled, and his smile proves I am right. A momentter, my expression turned serious. "Has he woken up?" I asked. To which he shook his head and disappointment couldn''t help but fill my heart. Stone is important; the sooner, the woken up. The more relieved, I would feel. I hope the enemies didn''t get to know about it, but I won''t be able to hide it for long. I will be able to hide it at most for today before the enemy gets a whiff. "Any messages?" I asked, to which he smiled and handed me the stacks of it. I took the cards and began to read them one after another. The skill makes reading really fast and with the level-up. I could now, read even faster. Most of them are Greltheaven, but some are from the other cities. I read through them all and handed them back to Shaun, who burned them immediately and put the ashes in his bag. Click! With the messages read, I stepped out, but I didn''t walk toward my office, but instead to the wing where the stone was. The guards stopped as we reached the boundary, and only Shaun and I moved ahead. Click! A few secondster, he opened the door and cast a spell that made everything visible. Hun! As I looked at Stone. I couldn''t help, but be surprised. The bronze energy is covering him far thickly than yesterday. So, much so that not a single part of his body could be seen, only the bronze energy. I stayed there for a few seconds, before walking away with a sigh. Soon, I stepped into my office; Ina was already there, working. "Master Silver," she greeted. I nodded before turning to my desk, where there were a lot of files waiting for me. "We have gathered andpiled all the information on the state of the city and its people," "Two batches of goods have also arrived, and the third one will reach the city by the afternoon." "There are also, Mr. Hendriks, Chief Hardt, and others who havee from Greltheaven. They all are seeking your time," she informed. I am not surprised about theming. I was informed of their intension by Ca and Robin,st night. "I will meet them this evening, but won''t give them more than ten minutes on each of them," I replied after a moment of thought. I wanted to go out and check the things that hade personally, but I decided to look at the information first. It will give me a clear, idea of what I am dealing with. So, I turned to files. There are a lot of them, but I know, I have to pick the yellow on the top. She knew my priorities andid out the files that way. I picked up the yellow file and opened it. It had started with demographic details. The poption of the city is forty-eight thousand seven hundred and thirty-two. Which is less of than half of its peak. Among them, 34% are of the age one to five, 32% of them are of age six to twelve 18% of them are of age thirteen to eighteen and only 16% of them are at the age of eighteen and above. They have killed and turned over 80% of adults. It isn''t surprising. They only turn people to good physical states into undead, which only adults have. There are now forty thousand children in the city, with the majority of them in a terrible condition. Sick, starving, living in a terrible condition. I shuddered, just reading the information. I can''t imagine, how much those people had suffered. "The conditions were terrible. Many starved to death, while some chose to eat poison with their familiar and even hanged themselves to escape the misery," informed Ina. I could sense the rage in her voice that, she was barely controlling. Even I am feeling the deep anger, that I had nearly torn the paper, I was reading. I took a deep breath and controlled myself, before reading further. The undead give them food, but only enough to survive, not enough to live. I can''t imagine why there were so careless. They are not the ind. Keeping the poption healthy and fit are on their first priorities, but here they did the opposite. Many are suffering from the deceases. Especially children, most of them, are malnourished. I read page after page, controlling my emotions, beforeing to the section where there was information about people, professions, and sses. Most of them have a Miner ss, with the second being a Serf or Citizen ss. I have finished reading the whole file, before turning it to Ina. "This is not a ce for children," I said to Ina. "It''s really not," she replied. There are around forty thousand children in this city. With around thirty-two, thousands of them are of age one to twelve, need to be cared most. I want to send them to Greltheaven, but it does not have enough capacity and resources. They would need houses, carers, schools, and other things, which are not cheap and quick to establish. Currently, we can only manage a few thousand of them. We do not have the capacity for the tens of thousands. Taking them to Greltheaven isn''t possible, but keeping them here is bad as well. It''s really a huge problem and I am not seeing any solution to the front of me. "We do not need to do everything at once. We should do it step by step," advised Ina, understanding what is stressing me and, as always, right. "Shaun, message Locke and tell him, that I want to talk to him in fifteen minutes," I said to him. "Connect me to Ca," I added. I stayed in my office for nearly two hours. Reading the files and talking to people. Click! "Let''s go," I said, and walked out of the office with Ina. A minuteter, we were in the carriage moving out city hallpound. "This new skill of yours seemed quite powerful, Master Silver. What does it do, if you don''t mind me asking?" she asked after a minute of silence. I am not surprised that she could sense it. Anyone Lv. 30 could sense it and those who are working on public infrastructure, irrespective of their levels. "Its name is Public Works," I replied, and a shock appeared in her eyes. She understood immediately what the skill was and what could it do. "Congrattions, Master Silver," she congratted. I didn''t say anything to that, other than smiling. After a few minutes, the carriage stopped, and we came out and entered the warehouse building. There are tens of crates holding cannonballs and other ammunition. We used quite a lot of cannonballs. If the undead had attacked, we wouldn''t have been able to attack them as we did when we attacked the city. A few minutester, I walked out of the warehouse and checked other ces including the hospitals where more healers have appeared, along with resources that will help them heal better. Soon, the carriage had reached the main square of the city, where there was a long line of people with soldiers handing them the food. Most of them in the line are children. We have set up camps in all areas of the city to provide food. There is barely any food in the city. A few months ago, things were a little better, before the undead cut the food nearly every week; in the past month, most people ate barely once a day. "Lord Silver, Stone had woken up," informed Shaun suddenly cutting me from my thoughts. The tension, I didn''t think, I was holding disappeared from my body. He is the strongest powerhouse, I have, and I need him. Without him, it would be hard to hold back the undead. Especially here in Panar, where there are no hidden preparations that could save the city against the powerful enemies. I wanted the carriage to move faster, and it could, but I didn''t. The streets are bad, with holes and trash everywhere. In some ces, sewage is leaking through the streets. Amellus ising tomorrow, and he isn''ting alone. He is bringing workers and stuff, that will be needed to fix the city and its infrastructure. The first one will be the wall, obviously. I need it fixed as soon as possible. I wish I would be able to see it happening. See how my skills work with my own eyes, but it won''t happen. My skills will remain here, but I will leave. I am here for two days, three at most. I need to return to the Greltheaven. It is not wise to stay away from it for too long. If everything goes smoothly, I am going to announce the name of the Governor tomorrow. They will be responsible for all work and well-being of the city and its citizens. Finally, the carriage reached the city hall, and I got out. "He is waiting for you, in your office," informed Shaun. I was surprised but didn''t say anything and walked toward my office. Click! "Lord Silver," Stone greeted me as I walked into my office. I looked at the man and saw all the paleness had vanished. So is tiredness that was flowing out of eyes yesterday. I couldn''t even see the slightest weakness from him. He is looking vibrant like a fountain of youth. Even slightly younger, with a faint bronze sheening off his skin. "Stone, how are you feeling?" I asked. "Good, my lord. I havepletely recovered," he replied, and making me feel even more relieved. I had expected him to recover fully, but him saying, made it a truth. "Good, with you by me. I am confident to face any enemy," I said, and the man smiled. [ss Change: Elderblood Commander- Elderblood General] Elderblood General Lv. 35 Elderblood General Lv. 36 [Skill Gained: Generals Command] Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 464: Governor of Panar I Chapter 464: Governor of Panar I "I have been loyal to House Silver, all my life." "I have worked for your father since, he was even younger than you and was his most trusted man, and after his untimely death, I have been working for you." "I hope, looking at my serve, you will give me a greater opportunity to serve you, by making me governor of this city," said Hendriks. I kept my expression neutral as he pleaded his case to be governor. "I do not doubt your loyalty, Hendriks, but I have already chosen the governor," I replied to the man. My voice is gentle, but firm. Leaving no space for the doubt. His expression changed and disappointment appeared in his eyes, but the man had recovered it quickly. There is no anger or visible rage. The old may feel some, but he is good enough to hide it. He understood that this was just one opportunity, many woulde in the future. If he reacted badly and displeased me. He could forget about getting those opportunities. "May, I know, who it is, my lord?" he asked after a moment of silence. "You will know when I announce it," I replied. Less than five people know about the person, I had chosen. Even the person, I had chosen isn''t aware of them bing the Governor. He left a few secondster, and Hardt came. After him, another and then another; soon all six of them havee and met me to plead their case to be governor. "It had taken only half of the time," I said. I had given an hour; ten minutes each, but I had finished in just twenty-six minutes. I stayed in my office for half an hour more, before going out. The sun had set and there was a moon in the sky, but the city did not feel beautiful despite bathing in its light. It''s not a physical beauty, but a feeling. There is too much pain in the air. As the carriage moved through the city; I saw the lines of people for the food, like the morning. They will continue for a while till we make the ces for the children and provide the jobs for the adults. Arranging thetter won''t be a problem. There would be a lot of jobs in the most, that we would need to bring the people from the outside Nearly 70% of the adults here are miners. I n to open the mines in the next ten days. The other 30% could work in construction and other things. The problem is the care of children. It''s not an easy problem to solve. I checked the things that came from the Greltheaven, in the past few hours, before going back to city hall, where I worked till midnight, before sleeping. Hun! Once again, I waste when I woke up. I quickly freshened up and showered before walking out. "Any emergency?" I asked Shaun. "No, but there are a lot of messages," he replied and handed me the stack. I read through them one by one, before handing them back. He burned them before following behind me as I stepped out of the suite. Click! Soon, I reached my office, and Ina was there, but she was not alone. "Master Silver," greeted L with Ina. I had called L here. I sat down and looked at the box in front of me. It is a palm size, made of precious metals, which are beautifully entangled with each other. The center of the box contains the emblem of Eva Cain. "The box is really beautiful," said Ina. "Let''s hope, the thing inside is just as beautiful," I said and opened the box. It opened smoothly despite its intricacies, revealing the thing that was inside. "Beautiful," L breathed. I had asked Eva to craft it. It is based on design, I had asked her for myself before scrapping that idea. She didn''t disappoint. She did better than I had thought she would be. The disappointment would have been extremely costly since I put a drop of the core essence of legacy in it. The thing that runs the legacy, and the host is forbidden to take it unless it''s really important. Every drop of it is precious, but I had used it on it. To signify how important it is. It is not just Eva, who worked on it, but also Caena. Spending a lot of expensive resources for that spell. "Is this for Governor?" asked Ina. To that, I nodded. I admired the thing for a while before closing it. I wanted to keep looking, but I have things to do. So, I closed it and focused on the work in front of me. Hours passed, and I met a few people and even made a round of the city, before returning and kept working. It''s important, that I finish these things today before I hand over the reins of the city to the governor tomorrow. Today, I will announce the Governor. From tomorrow, they will be responsible for the city. ''Master Silver, Mr. Amellus, and Davidson are here for you,'' said the familiar voice through the inte. Click! "Send them in," I said. A secondter, the door opens and two people walk. One is Edmor Amellus; the other is architect Davidson. "Lord Silver," they greeted with a bow. "Both of you, please take a seat," I said to them. "Thank you, my lord," they replied, before sitting in front of me. "So, how bad it is?" I asked. They arrived in the city in the morning with L. Since then, they have been looking at the city. "To be honest, aside from the wall, which is in terrible shape. Everything else is good; it may look bad, but those things could be fixed with small repairs," replied Edmor. "Truly?" I asked surprised. Things seemed terrible, with sewer water flowing through the street and many other things. "In some ces, the damage is severe, but those things are few. Though, fixing it all won''t be cheap," replied Architect Davidson with caution, not letting my hopes go up. "What is the solution?" I asked after a few seconds of silence. "We will start what you had thought. We will select a few areas of the city and work on them." "As you feel more secure with finances and more peoplee, we will slowly expand the repair to the other areas." He replied, and it made me relieved. "Its good. Look at all things carefully and give me a quotation, but first start with the wall." "I need it fixed as soon as possible," I said to them, to which they smiled. "We will start on it in a few hours. We have brought the men and required material, tost us for a day. The second batch had already left the city," replied Amellus. I cannot stress the importance of the wall. Without the wall, it would be hard for us to defend against the undead if attacked. "Have you talked to General Stone and General Azalia, taken their opinion?" I asked. "Yes, we have discussed the things with them, they agree with our n for the wall," replied Davidson I already knew that; they had informed me earlier about it. "I hope, you will be able to finish it quickly," I said atst. "We will and with your skill; the repaired wall will be better and more powerful," replied Amellus. As I had said. People could sense it, especially like them. They are Lv. 30 and above and have sses sense these things easily. They left while I focused on the work. I didn''t walk out of my office, even when the sun went down. "Lord Silver, Kelgir had fallen?" informed Shaun suddenly. I stopped immediately and sighed. Kelgir is the secondrgest city in the Angeltar region and now it has been conquered by Edruin. They have been resting it, but now they couldn''t. "It is General Kalmazar, right?" I asked, and the man nodded. There are three huge armies of Edruin attacking the empire. Kalmazar is the most aggressive of the three and also the most powerful. It is not just Edruin capturing our territories. There are Tabes, Yressor, and Geim; all of them have aggressively moved into the territory of the empire and captured more and more territories by the day. "If they kept fighting among themselves; it won''t take long before our enemies capture half of the empire," I said. I am worried about it, but that danger is far from me. There is the Kingdom of Tabes, but Dustorn Fortress is handling it. There had not more than a few small incursions which were easily dealt with. Tabes didn''t care too much about the wastnd. It is more interested in capturing the juicier territories. Only when they are done with that, they will turn their eyes toward us. I didn''t say anything further about that subject and kept working. Click! The door opened, and L walked inside. "Master Silver, they have gathered," she informed. The important people have gathered. It is time, that I announced the Governor of Panar. "It''s time," I said and got up, activating Get Ready. Immediately, the wrinkles and dirt from my clothes disappeared. The tiredness from my face lessened, and I looked like, I just came out of the shower. I looked at myself in a small mirror on the wall and smiled before turning. It''s time I ask the question. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 465: Governor of Panar II Chapter 465: Governor of Panar II Senar "How are you, Mr. Kralys; I hope you are having a good time?" I asked the middle-aged half-elf, who was sitting with the lovely Lavani. "The best time, Madam Senar. The tower never disappoints," he replied with a big smile. It is its fourth time since opening. This means he is important. Only those important coulde to the legacy four times within a month. He belongs to one of the most powerful merchant houses of Belnin and is quite rich. He is also on the gifter list; the people who gift the most. This is also one of the reasons why, he gets reservations quickly. Those on the good lists are given priority. Over the same person with equal power and influence. "I am d," I replied with a smile and walked away from him. I looked at the clock. It was near eight. I have been looking at it constantly, since the meeting earlier. ''Master Silver will make an announcement in a few minutes, be ready for it,'' The voice of Madam Caena rang out through my mind. Master Silver was going to announce the Governor of Panar today, and Madam Caena had asked all the floor leaders to announce it to their floors. There will also be free drinks in the new governor''s honor. Which is an expensive expense, that is will be funded by our fund. 1% of our earnings goes toward that fund. It is for the welfare of the girls, and now Chief Ca, Headmistress Margaux, and Madam Caena are going to use that for their political purposes. Quite many girls were displeased by it, but didn''t say anything to their faces. Here, if one of three, leaders had presented it. Some girls might have objected. Those three take the criticism well, but since all three of them have made a decision, nobody dares to say anything against them. I am not pleased about it either, but I too remained quiet like the others. Though, I wonder, who Master Silver will choose. It is the main topic of today''s conversations in the hall. I heard there was betting going on there, with old Hendricks and Chief Hardt leading. I hope it''s someone good. I heard horrible things have happened there in Panar. Thousands of children have been orphaned, with their parents dead. I knew very well what happens to such children. I hope Master Silver and the new Governor will take wonderful care of them. "You, dirty whore!" I was in my thoughts when suddenly, I heard a loud shout. I turned and couldn''t help, but sigh as I walked toward it. The mercenaries that Master Silver had hired are a handful. Though it seemed like now, they have crossed the limit of what we could bear. I moved with Flowing Grace, with eyes turning to me. Within seconds, I was there and when I saw what he is doing, anger rose in my heart. The bastard is holding Sua''s hand tightly while she is trying to pull it back. I was going to be polite to him, but not anymore. He is holding her so tightly that marks have appeared on the young woman''s hand. "Release her hand," I said, with clear anger in my voice. The middle-aged mercenary turned to me with the heavy smell of alcoholing off him. He looked at me with anger before his lips curved. "What are you going to do, dirty orc-blood?" he asked and took a step toward me threateningly. I didn''t say anything and smiled as I had been asked to do. In circumstances like this. I may look brave on the outside; I am very nervous inside. I wanted to take a step, but controlled my emotion and stared directly at the man''s eyes. The man scared me, but I cannot let him see that. So, I smiled brightly, making him even angry. He moved his other toward me when suddenly a great rm appeared on his fac. He released Sue''s hand immediately and moved a hand toward a sword at the waist. "Ahhhhhh¡­" That is when lightning covered him and he began to scream hard as the arcs swam around his body while everyone watched in shock. Even I am shocked. This is out of my expectations. The lightning onlysted for three seconds, but it made him copse on the ground. There was an absolute silence. Nobody dared to make any sound. Even their breathing seemed to fall silent. "It was a simple disagreement. You didn''t have to go this far," said the voice. I turned and saw the man in his early fifties. The vice-captain of Akir Mercenaries; the biggest mercenary team, the city had hired. I was about to reply to him when I sensed the presence. It immediately made me relieved. Everything will be fine, now that she is here. "We have gone easy, Mr. Bak. Mr. Kell had broken the most important rule of the velvet garden, never touch our girls without their permission," "He had tried to force himself on her and, on top of that, disrespected a madam. If it had been anyone else, we wouldn''t have stopped at three seconds," said Madam Caena as she appeared beside me. "Are all alright, Sue?" asked Madam Caena. Sue nodded, still shocked by what happened. She is not shocked or even surprised by the man trying to force her. They are used to far worse things, but what shocked her was how we had reacted. It had brought tears to the girl''s eyes. "Yes, Madam Caena," the girl replied after a second of silence and hugged Madam Caena, who patted her head gently. "Good. Go rest a rest for today," she instructed calmly. Sue nodded and walked away, but not before taking ast nce at the twitching man. "I didn''t expect this from Greltheaven. We have protected your city, and this is how you treat us?" said the voice. I turned and saw a blond maning down from the floor above, with a group of people behind him. He is Land Akir, leader of Akir Mercenaries. As he came down, several people in the hall stood up. All of them are mercenaries. Seeing that, my heart couldn''t help, but skip a beat. I looked at Madam Caena, and there was no hint of nervousness on her face. Her smile even seemed to have be bigger. "And we have paid for that. Quite handsomely, I might say," replied Madam Caena with a faint surprise in the blond man''s eyes, before transforming into the anger. "This is quite disrespectful Madam Caena. It might make us leave your city," he said, a smile appearing on his face. I shook as I heard that. The mercenaries are one of the reasons why the city was able to defend itself so sessfully against the enemy. It would be bad if they left. "Then you or anyone else are wee to leave," replied Madam Caena simply, without change in her smile. "You are expendable, Mr. Akir. If you leave, we will hire someone else." "With the money we are paying, many mercenaries would be more than willing toe to us, in moments, notice," she added. It''s an insult. The man''s expressions were already bad and hearing that, it had turned worse. "I would like to see how your Lord would react to that statement, madam," he said angrily with gritted teeth, while madam let out a chimingugh, before turning to guard behind her. "Yarisa, dear, ask Master Silver what he thinks about that," said Madam Caena to the young mage. She closed her eyes and her staff lit up. She opened them several secondster. "My lord is saying the mercenaries are wee to leave if they want to," the mage stated. Shocking the mercenaries and many others, but didn''t seem shocked at all. Madam Caena looked at the mercenary leader, who was so angry that he was shaking. All the mercenaries seemed angry. I began to feel scared that they might do something in anger; they are known for that but when I looked at Madam Caena, there was not a hint of smile or fear in her eyes. "Mr. Kell, you have broken thews of the velvet garden and thus are forbidden from ever entering it," she dered, and I felt the change in legacy as she spoke. "Guards, take Mr. Kell out," she ordered. Immediately, guards moved and picked up the middle-aged man and took him away. ''Apologies everyone for the disturbance. Don''t let it mar your experience in the velvet garden," said Madam Ca and walked away. ''You did good; I am proud of you,'' she said telepathically a momentter. The mercenaries kept staring, shocked, before they recovered and sat down. Even those who came from the floor above returned there, including the leader, walked to the floor he came from. Not a single one of them had left in anger. Many seemed to be expecting that, including me, but they didn''t. People shook their heads, seeing the shameless of the mercenaries. If they couldn''t follow the threat; they shouldn''t issue it in the first ce. I was quite grateful mercenaries for protecting us, but now, I want them out of the city. I hope Master Silver will quickly return to the city and throw these bastards out. The legacy had been peaceful, even when the battle was raging outside. These mercenaries created a ripple, and I am kind of d they did. It reinforced the belief and confidence in girls'' eyes. They know, that if anything happens, the Madam and the Lord are with them. They will not throw them to wolves when trouble appears. In a few seconds, everything returned to normal. I began to make the rounds when I had stopped suddenly. Chief Ca''s voice rang out in my mind. ''Master Silver had dered the Governor of Panar; it is¡­'' she informed, leaving me shocked and frozen in my ce. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 466: Governor of Panar III Chapter 466: Governor of Panar III "Mercenaries," I muttered. I looked at the two, still shocked, before walking toward the door, with them following behind me. Mercenaries shouldn''t be trusted. There is, at least, a need for a weight to suppress them and keep them in the line. It''s another reason, I need to return to the Greltheaven as soon as possible. I took a deep breath and calm myself. I need to do this perfectly. There shouldn''t be a single voice against my decision. Soon, I reached the door of the conference room and the Lord''s Presence spread out of my body. It froze the guards at the door of the conference room. The skill is powerful, but not enough to freeze guards like it did right now. Lord''s Presence couldn''t do that, even at Lv. 30. It is the aura, I had spread out with the power of the Lord''s Presence merged in it. Making it focus on them absolute efficiency with natural suppress of the aura. Click! Seeing them like this, Jon bes visible for a moment and opens the door. I nodded at him and the guards before walking into the conference room. Spreading my aura through the entire room. Many had already heard about the aura. Those that had doubts, they had instantly disappeared. Stone, Bishop nis, and Azalea were the first to get control over their emotions. It had affected them for a fraction of a second. The others got up as they controlled their emotions in this suppression. "My lord," they greeted. "Everyone," I replied and pulled half of the power of the aura as I sat down. I looked at the name tent in front of me, which stated my name and position. There is another one directly opposite to me on the other side. It didn''t have a name, only the title ''Governor of Panar,''. I could see how people, casting a nce at it. Some even looked at each other. Gauging their expressions; they are very sure, that whoever the governor is. They are in the room; they are right. "Governor of Panar," I said. There is a no need to wait any further; it''s time, I reveal the person I had chosen. People began to look at each other, but soon some noticed the movement and shock appeared in their eyes. That shock spread into the eyes of everyone as Ina stood in front of me. "My lord." She bowed. The shock of earlier had disappeared from her eyes. So, had the tears; the only thing that remained there was conviction and belief in herself. L put the intricate box down and opened it, before taking out the brooch. The brooch is round and made of precious metals and gems. That is a crafted into floral shade with expert skills. In the center of the brooch is the crest of Panar. A red shield surrounded by a walled ring. On that red shield is an emblem of the House of Silver, not the mercantile house, but a noble house. The one founded by me. If one looks deep enough, they will see inside the crest of Panar and the emblem of the house of silver had misty liquid inside. It''s not a liquid, but the core essence of my legacy. I took the brooch in my hand and took it toward her chest. "By my authority, as the Lord of Greltheaven and Panar. I dere, Lady Ina Knox as Governor of Panar," I dered, Using Appointment, with ''Governor,'' as the appointment. The full power of my aura spread across the conference room with the Lord''s Presence; they also sensed the Appointment, which changed the expressions on their faces. Even Stone''s expressions changed, sensing the skill. As I dered, I pinned the authority brooch on her chest. "Thank you for the great honor, my lord. I will try to live up to your expectations," she replied, kneeling in front of me. "It is a great responsibility, but I haveplete confidence and trust in your abilities," I said, magnifying the effect of my words through Silver Tongue. She got up, and I turned to L. She opened the scroll, and shock appeared on the faces as they sensed the Imperial ss''s power from it. It''s a letter of appointment. In which imperial Prince Lamanov had given his support to whoever I appoint as the Governor of Panar. Prince Lamanov, is the youngest prince and a bastard, before the emperor legitimized him a few years ago. He is the weakest of princes. He had a small territory that the emperor had bestowed upon him, but he ran away from there before Geim captured it. It would have been fine without it too, but with this, it became more official. Most importantly. It will help her gain the ss sooner. It cost me a lot, but it''s worth it. I gave her the pen, and it scratched across the scroll as she signed it. "Congrattions Governor Knox," Stone congratted, before signing the document as a witness. "Congrattions Governor Knox," said Bishop nis with a big smile on her face and sign the scroll with the power of her ss in it. Then it was Aazalia. I had informed her of my choice yesterday and she agreed with it, after some hesitation. Her hesitation is not about Ina''s former profession, but about her abilities. She is going to be a leader of the second army, which will be based in Panar and would require her to work closely with Ina. Her former professions are going to make things difficult for her. I know people still call her whore and prostitute, along with other names. There is contempt for her, despite her achievements. This powerful position will not be easy with that baggage; it will be extremely difficult, but I am confident of her abilities. If I was not, I would have given it to Hendricks or Hardt. They would have been much safer choices. Making her Governor will not only make things difficult for her but also for me. There will be massive pressure, especially imperials, Namdar, and other ces. Even merchant states might show the reservations, but I am ready to bear it. Soon, everyone signed it. Some quite unwillingly, but they had no choice with me looking at them. They can voice their opposition to my choice. Especially in front of all these people. "Thank you for your support, everyone. I will work hard to win your trust," said Ina, and walked toward her seat, before sitting down. "There is one more announcement. I have to make it," I said and turned to Azaelia. She got up and walked toward me. L put another box in front of me that had stars, stripes, and medals in it. "I promote Maj. General Azaelia to Lt. General Azaelia for her bravery against the undead in battle of Panar and give her themand of the second army," "From today, she will be Defender of Panar," I announced and appointed her as ''Defender.'' With the Appointment. "Thank you for your trust, my lord," she replied with a bow. There were big smiles and loud congrattions. Unlike Ina, there is real support for her. It is going to be a tremendous challenge for her to win such trust and support, but if anyone could do it, then it would be here. ¡­ Senar "Sister Senar, are you all, right?" asked Denlin. Looking all worried, seeing me frozen in shock with tears flowing out of my eyes. "More than fine," I replied to the young woman and wiped my tears away, before walking toward the band with purposeful steps. Seeing the signal, the server came with a ss of golden liquid. The other servers moved swiftly and began to serve golden drinks. It was quite expensive, and I was displeased. They are using it instead of some cheap one, but now, I wish, they could have used the most expensive one. I wouldn''t have minded. If they had used all the funds. People were surprised seeing the drinks appearing in front of them.They sensed something and turned toward me. The band stopped as I reached them. I climbed the small stage and turned toward the hall. I looked at every person looking at me. I felt nervous, but I bore it down and smiled radiantly before opening my mouth. "Today is a wonderful day. The one that will be remembered for years," I said and paused for a moment. "Lord Silver, the lord of Greltheaven and Panar, had chosen the Governor of Panar." I informed and there is a barely any surprise. They already know he will name the Governor today," "I hope you will raise the ss in her honor," I said and raised my ss up. They raised it with me, with anticipation burning in their eyes. "To the Governor of Panar, Lady Ina Knox," I shouted and drank the wine, while the entire hall fell inplete silent. Some were confused and didn''t recognize the name. Many did were shocked, not willing to believe it. The most shocked are not patrons, but girls, themselves. They could not believe it. Even I couldn''t believe it. The girl who was a prostitute like them, till less than two years ago, had be a Governor today. The girls recovered quickly, and tears started to flow through the eyes, while they zed with light dreams, and ambition. Lady Ina, bing a governor, had lighted up dreams and ambitions they had buried deep in their hearts. They aren''t the only ones. I am feeling the same. The dreams that seemed impossible a few moments ago. Now felt like they were within reach. I feel like, I could just grab them as long as I worked hard enough. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 467: Governor Knox Chapter 467: Governor Knox Valorous Lord of Courage Lv. 32 ¡­ Hetaera of Lord¡¯s Will Lv. 33 Hataera of Lord¡¯s Will Lv. 34 [Skill Gained: Quick Execution] There was a text in front of me when I opened my eyes. I only nced at them before turning toward the table, where the authority brooch was lying. ¡°It¡¯s real,¡± I muttered. It all felt like a dream even after seeing a brooch. I am having a hard time believing in it. I am the Governor. I was shocked when he asked me, just a few minutes before the announcement. Saying I was shocked would understate my emotional state at that time. I epted the job. I didn¡¯t say it or ever show it, but I wanted it desperately. Whenever Master the job of Governor; I want to say, I want it. Despite wanting to say it thousands of times. I didn¡¯t, and even yesterday, I wanted to reject it. Because I understand the cost of it. There wouldn¡¯t have been any. If he had chosen anyone else but me, there would be. The imperials wille down on him. So are the merchants and the lords. He will be a subject ofughter and cities might also suffer financially. That I wished. I had rejected the offer, but I was weak. I could not resist it. So, I will do everything I could lessen the pressure on Master Silver. Repeating those words calmed me down from my worries and I turned to the texts in front of me. I had leveled-up and did it twice and even got the skill. There was no ss change, which isn¡¯t surprising given, that I had just got responsibility yesterday. It will take me months, if not years, to get the ss. I turned to my new skill and a smile couldn¡¯t help, but appear on my face. Quick Execution, as its name suggests. It will execute orders quickly. As for how quickly it will depend on the task, the people doing it and the difficulty they are facing. It is a wonderful skill, that Master Silver desire it. I looked at two new attribute points. I added one to the Charm, taking it to twenty-two, and one to intelligence, taking it to twenty. Immediately, I felt their effects., especially of the intelligence. Its power had increased by leaps reaching twenty. As the effect wore off, I got out of the bed. Freshened up and showered before looking at the closet. It is filled with new clothes and other essories. A crate hade yesterday. It was delivered to me after the announcement. It¡¯s from Ca. She had been aware of the offer and sent clothes. I had clothes, but she said, they were not suitable for the Governor. I need to look at the part to do the part. I couldn¡¯t help but agree more. My clothes had changed as my jobs. From the seductive when I was a whore to conservative when I be Master Silver¡¯s representative and then assistant and adviser. I looked at dresses before taking out a cream-colored one. I read the note attached to it, before wearing it. The dress is beautiful. It had clean lines and minimal embellishment. It fits me perfectly. ¡®There is no need for it,¡¯ I thought before taking out the thin green belt with a blue buckle, which the note attached to it said I should wear with it. The belts are the new fashion. Ca likes them, and I can see why as I looked in the mirror. I radiate authority with this dress and when I pinned the brooch on my chest. It seemed to solidify around me. I looked like the governor and not some imposter that I am feeling like. I adjusted my hair and did a small make-up from an expensive make-up kit that Ca had sent with the clothes. Once I was done, I looked at the mirror onest time, before walking out of the room. ¡°Mydy,¡± greeted Mage Osward and Astur Kruabur. Onwards expressions are neutral; it¡¯s hard to guess what she is thinking. However, one thing is clear; she didn¡¯t seem very pleased. Half-orc beside her had a polite smile on her face. Both of them had been chosen by General Stone and Master Silver to be my guards. ¡°Any messages?¡± I asked. To which the mage nodded. ¡°Yes, a lot of them,¡± she replied and gave me the stacks of cards. I took them in my hand and began to read them with Fast Reading. Most of them are from the Greltheaven. Many people I know have sent congrattory messages. Some are from Navr and merchant state. All of them are from merchants, that I did business with. There are very few lords who sent the congrattory message. Most came from the Baronies; nearly half of them sent the congrattory message, including Master Silver¡¯s sister. There is also a message from Lord and Lady ckwell. It¡¯s a beautiful message that put a smile on my face. Though, the one that surprised me hade from the Lord of Owlspring. It was a simple message, but it pleased me. Most of the merchant lords didn¡¯t send any messages. Him sending the message is a big thing. He is the lord of one of the most powerful cities in the merchant states and holds a lot of influence. I will have to reply to them. I nned to do that with handwritten letters. Once I read all the letters, I handed back the letters to her. She burned them and put the ashes into the jar before handing them back to me. Messages are sensitive, and it is standard protocol to hand ashes back to the Lord until one develops enough trust with their bodyguards to have them deal with it. Click! I walked out of the door, with guards ahead and behind me. I used to be the guard, but not this many or powerful ones. Soon, Ie across the first person. Two people are standing guard at the end of the hallway. They looked at me, and I could see contempt in the eyes of one for a moment before hesitation took over. He stared at me for a moment longer, before making a decision and bowed like the other guard beside him. I saw simr expressions in every person I had passed by. I am surprised. I thought more people would show contempt. Some might be openly hostile, like they were when I started representing Master Silver for his business. Soon, I reached my office, or rather, Master Silvers. It¡¯s his office, till he leaves the city. Click! ¡°Governor Knox,¡± said a familiar voice, and bowed. ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± I said to L. ¡°What? You are governor, and bowing to you is customary,¡± asked, and I just shook my head and walked toward my seat. ¡°Where are you going? This is your seat,¡± she said. Pointing to the seat behind the table. ¡°That¡¯s Master Silver¡¯s,¡± I replied. At least as long as he is here. ¡°You are the Governor; it''s yours,¡± she replied and looked at the namete, that was already on the table. I hesitated and walked toward the light blue-colored chair, before sitting down hesitantly. Master Silver had said yesterday that the office was mine and so are responsibilities. He said he would give meplete freedom to do the job my way. As I sat on the chair, I felt the weight of responsibilities and they felt so heavy that I started shaking. I wanted to give up. They are too much. I don¡¯t think I could do it. I was having a panic attack when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. ¡°Rx. The responsibilities are huge, but there is no one better than you to handle them,¡± said the reassuring voice. I felt my emotions calm down and my panic receded. Still, I could control my breathing. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to Master Silver and tried to get up from the chair. To that, she shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s your chair now,¡± he said and walked toward the couch before sitting down. ¡°What should I do?¡± I asked as I fully calmed down. ¡°It''s for you to decide. Though, I will advise you, to choose your staff first,¡± he advised. ¡°Assistant, especially,¡± he added a momentter. My eyes immediately went to L. My friend smiled before shaking her head. ¡°I am returning to Greltheaven with Master Silver,¡± she replied before I could even ask her the question. I could see that she would not stay. There is a raging fire of ambition in girls¡¯ eyes. It had broken the supposed scale, that she had limited it to. It is visible in her eyes that she wanted to be what I have be. It¡¯s so clear, and she is not even trying to hide it. Staying here, wouldn¡¯t help with that. It might to others, but not her, seeing she had reced me as Master Silver¡¯s assistant. ¡°Do you have any suggestions?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡¯s for you to decide, my governor,¡± he replied with a smile, before turning to the files, L had ced in front of him. I know he wants me to make my decision regarding the staff. Even so, I had hoped, he would help me. I calmed myself down and thought. Many names floated in front of me. Most of them are girls; I will have to think about them carefully and make an offer. I sighed and focused on the files in front of me. I had read through them already, but I am doing it again. When I did it yesterday, I was an assistant, but now I am the Governor. The position had changed and so was perspective. There are a lot of challenges in the city. Dealing with them will be far from difficult. From children to reconstruction to employment, and many others. I will have to handle them all and do a good enough job to be worth the risk Master Silver, had taken for me. Soon, it was nine; time for my first meeting as Governor and it won¡¯t be easy. ¡°Are you going to be attending the meeting, Master Silver?¡± I asked, hoping he would. ¡°No,¡± he replied without looking away from the file. It sent a shudder through me. Yesterday, nobody said anything, because he was there, but it won¡¯t be the case now. Even if he hade with me, he wouldn¡¯t be here forever. I will have to face them and prove myself to them. Force them to ept and acknowledge me from their heart with my abilities. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Chapter 468: Returning To Greltheaven Chapter 468: Returning To Greltheaven A few minutes after Ina left; I walked her out of her office. I could have eased her up and helped her a little, but it''s better, that faces these things head-on. I will be leaving in a few hours, and after that, she will have to deal with these things herself. So, she should start facing them directly while I am here. Whether I am in the city or out, no one will impede her work. They understand it''s a bad idea. If they went against her, then they will be going against me, but that doesn''t mean, they won''t create the roadblocks in front of her. There will be a small one, like not following orders as they should or doing itte. Such problems are more difficult to deal with than the bigger ones, but she can deal with them. I have a confidence in her. Soon, I got out of the city hall and stepped into the carriage. As the carriage got out of the gates. I saw people working; there were some constructions happening around the city hall. It''s the most important part of the city and needs to be repaired first. They are Amellus''s people, but soon, in a few days, we will issue the tender for the other works. There is a lot of work needed to be done, and giving it all to onepany isn''t wise. They will still do the emergency work, but the general work will be handled through the tender. I wonder how manypanies will apply for it. Soon, the carriage reached the wall, and I saw the train of carriages moving out of the city after a careful inspection of each one. We are sending the first badge of children to the Greltheaven. Most of them are small children of ages one to five. They need immediate care and we have made preparations for that in the city. It''s going to cost me a lot, but I can''t leave those children here. Currently, this city isn''t a ce for them to live. I looked at them before turning to the wall. They have already started working on it. The first thing, they did was remove the temporary fix we did. It was an expensive fix, but I didn''t regret using it. If the undead had attacked, it would have helped us tremendously against them. The damage to the wall isn''t small. It takes time to fix the wall andy out the enchantments. Which is going to be really costly and something which I cannot skim. "Lord Silver," greeted Davidson, as he stopped beside me. "How are the things?" I asked. "Good, my lord. Our people have started working. We have even called more enchanters today, to fix and embed the new ones on the wall," he replied. "We need the wall fixed as soon as possible. Use, your best people on it," I said, looking at the wall. "We are doing that, my lord," he replied. I talked to him for a few minutes before walking to the wall. A few hours passed, and I checked everything in the city, before going back to the city hall. "I wish you had stayed a few more days, Master Silver," said Ina as she hade to drop me off. "With you here, there is no need for me to stay here anymore. I trust youpletely to do the job well," I replied a little loudly, so everyone could hear. She smiled and looked at me gratefully. "Have a safe journey, Lord Silver," she wished. "Thank you, Governor," I thanked and mounted on the horse. A few secondster, a group of horses moved out of the city gates. I will be traveling by horse. I could take the carriage, but it will take time; the beasts are much faster. Stone is leading. He ising with me, but he won''t be staying in the Greltheaven. He will return to Panar after dropping me off safely in the city. Soon, we reached the gates and passed through it. As I turned back to the city, I found it was different from what I had seen a few days ago. The wall is about the same, but the overgrowth of the nts in front of it has disappeared. We have removed all of them. We will restart the farms, but that will take time. We have to make sure that we could deal with the undead, before they even reach the city, or we will be just growing them to get destroyed by the undead. A few minutes passed, the city got further and further, till it was nothing but the dot. Even that had disappeared after a few minutes. The beasts are moving fast; I will be able to reach the city on time. If we kept moving at such speed. As we moved. I thought about the things that I need to deal with quickly and will need to be quiet creative about it. This decision of mine put me under a lot of pressure and some people might try to take advantage of it. I need to be in the city to handle it. The pressure is greater than I had thought. I have been contacted by the ministers of both princes, and they told me, in straight terms, that their masters are displeased with my decision. They ordered me to change the governor. The same diktats were given other princes, Namdar, Inam, and other cities and even merchant states. There were even some threats mixed in it. I am not going to change my decision despite the pressure and bear it with the greatest shield, I have. My legacy. If it had anyone else, there would have been more than just a warning. Still, I would need to tread very carefully from now on. There are enemies everywhere and now with cracks emerging. Others might try to take advantage of it. Hun! Hours passed, and soon, I saw a group of carriages and the beasts with the familiar g. "They are not wasting any time," said L, riding beside me, looking at people from the church of dusk moving toward Panar. "They are not," I replied. Bishop nis arrived yesterday in Panar and today more of her people are going there. It is a great opportunity to convert the people, and they are squeezing it with everything they have. I didn''t do anything. It was the deal they had made with me in exchange for helping me and they have kept the end of their deal. They are going to build the church there, and it is good for me and the city. The city is in dire need of priests. Not only to deal with physical well-being, but also mental and spiritual. There are many people, that are broken mentally and near breaking limit. The church will be helpful in dealing with that. Though, I had asked L and Azalea to keep a tight eye on them. A church without restriction is not a good thing, despite how good the church is. The sun was beginning to get down when the city came into view. Seeing it, a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. Every second we got closer and closer, till we reached right in front of the gate, before entering it. "Hail, Lord Silver. The Lord of Greltheaven and Panar!" A loud shout rang out, announcing my entry as I entered the city, and flowers began to shower on me and party. There are people everywhere, held back by lines of police. They are cheering, throwing flowers, petals and even coins. "They said it was going to be a small parade," said L as she took her horse back. I led in the front, while others followed behind as people cheered. There are thousands and thousands of them on both sides of roads, on roofs of houses and stores, and they are cheering loudly. Robin said some preparations were made, and I had expected some, but not at such a grand scale. ''I hope they didn''t spend too much on it.'' I thought while waving and releasing my aura with Trustful Presence, with a small hint of Lord''s Presence. It awed them. I saw many familiar faces, especially the girls. They are quite easy to notice with my ss. The horse moved slowly, I moved street after street, waving at people non-stop, smiling at them. It took me over an hour to reach the city hall and by that time, my body was smelling like flowers. "Wee back, my lord," said Robin as I dismounted off the horse and bowed. The people behind him bowed as well. Including my siblings, Valentina and Z. "It''s good to be back," I said and walked with them toward the city hall. There are a lot of things waiting for me, including a meeting at night. Before that, I have to make a short trip to the legacy. Ca had asked me toe. Even if she hadn''t asked, I would have gone there. I miss her and miss my legacy. "Congrattion, on your victory brother," said Heron. "Thank you, Heron," I replied. It had been only a few days since I had seen him, but the changes seemed to have urred to him. He seemed to have matured. "I missed you, brother," said the small voice. "I miss you too, Josie," I said, petting her head gently. I had missed them a lot and had been really worried when the Deepond attacked. "You two go home. I will meet you tomorrow, at breakfast," I said to them, and I could see the disappointment appearing in their eyes. I felt bad, but I had a lot of things to do. I won''t be able to give them the time. Their nanny came and took them with guards following behind, while I walked into the city hall with others. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 469: Oath Chapter 469: Oath Ca Click! "It didn''t look crowded at all," said Margaux as she stepped inside through the door and looked ahead at the girls. All the girls are here, from those who work to those who are training. Even the teens and team leaders and the madams. Every girl who is present in the city is here. I gave her the look and her cheeks reddened. I know where she had gone. "I had told you. It might look small, but it''s space. Even if the number had quadrupled; it wouldn''t have been crowded," I replied, not teasing her about the person she had gone to meet. "I hope, Master Silver won''t mind it," she said, and I shook my head. "He won''t. A little embarrassed, he might, but he won''t mind it," I replied. I know him enough to say that with the confidence. "He had done so much for us. It''s time, we show, a small appreciation for it," I added. She nodded with her eyes turning emotional. ¡­ Click! The guards opened the door of my office and I entered inside with only Z, Robin, Cardin, and Stone following behind. There is also Jon, but he is hiding. "Many people contacted me. Some even suggested they would support me if I took over," said Robin as I sat down in my chair, "I thought it would take a few days before such offers were made," I replied. Though, I am not surprised. Such machinations aremon in politics, especially in cities like mine, which had a great treasure. The legacy. "Anyone powerful?" I asked. "They themselves are not, but those pulling the strings are," he replied, sending me a paper with the names of the people. I read through it, with some names surprising me "You have done a wonderful job, Robin. General Cardin. For that, I am grateful," I said to them. There was a surprise on their face, but soon it turned to a smile. They really did an amazing job in protecting the city, and I want them to know how grateful I am for it. "Thank you for the praise, my lord," said Cardin. "It is not a praise general, just a fact," I replied simply. In the next hour, they updated me on all things, before leaving my office. "You are leaving right away?" I asked Stone. "Yes, after I finish some business," he replied. "Be careful, there might be assassins of undead waiting," I cautioned. He has recovered. Even his strength seemed to have increased, but the undead had powerful assassins. They have killed a people far more powerful than him. "I will," he replied, before walking away. I stayed in my office for fifteen more minutes before walking out of it. There is a meeting in an hour and a half, but that''s more than enough for me to go and return from the legacy. Ten minutes passed, and the tower came into view. It looked magnificent, especially on this dark night. There might be no moons and stars visible, but the city is shining brightly. Especially the tower and the area surrounding it. Soon, I reached the bridge and saw people on the boats. The boats have be one of the most popr attractions of the legacy area. There is always a line for it; everybody loves it, especially couples. So much, so that we have brought special boats for them. Because of its poprity, there have been requests to widen the size of the canal. So, that more boats would be able to float in it, but I rejected the idea. It''s popr because of its size; it would lose its beauty if we expanded the canal without other changes. The carriage had entered the park, and I saw people everywhere. They are walking, sitting, eating, ying, and doing other things. I thought the park would be too big, but now I do not think it is too big. Soon, the carriage reached close to the tower. The structure shows the harshness and the beauty of the wastnd. Step! The carriage stopped, and I walked out of it, before entering the lobby. As I did, I nearly stopped as the beautiful smells hit me. They are better than any perfume and many peoplee here, just for the smells. I could see people turning to me, with some bowing. I nodded at them before stepping into the elevator. Like the lobby, there are people everywhere. They are browsing around the stores. The sales are high. It had broken our estimates. Many store owners had got big offers for their stores. Some of them are so big that many would have given up. If they could. They couldn''t. They have rented it and agreement as it as such, that they couldn''t transfer the lease without my permission. There are other heavy restrictions. I thought they would be stifling and prepared to loosen them. If they didn''t work as intended, they are working much better than I had imagined. Soon, the elevator reached the domain of legacy, and the fragrances became more prominent, and they affected me more thanks to the power of legacy. Hun! I was taking it, when I sensed something that had surprised me. ''What are they doing there?'' I asked myself. All the girls were on the roof. Not only madams and floor leaders but also those who should be working on the velvet red, training in college, and even the young girls. Every girl in the establishment is on the roof. ''What is going on?'' I asked Ca. ''You will know, soon,'' she replied. I could have pressed, but I didn''t. Soon, I reached the top floor, before walking the stairs toward the roof. Click! I stopped at the door and opened it. As I had expected, all the girls were there. Ca, Gloria, Senar, Eliyen, and every girl who is present in the city are here on the roof of the establishment. All of them are looking at me with expressions I had not seen anyone looking at me with, with such a weight. It''s hope. It felt heavy as a mountain and light as a feather at the same time. I wanted to look away, but I didn''t. I met their eyes and took the weight of their expectation. It started as a business to me with little humane and na?ve touch, but with time, I genuinely came to care about them. "Well, it''s a delightful surprise," I said, and theyughed. The smiles remained until Margaux stepped forward and everyone turned serious. "Margaux," I said, and the woman smiled a little before her expression to have turned serious. "Master Silver, you have done things for us, that no-one had ever done," she said. Her voice is soft but spread through the entire roof. "You have helped us gain a self-respect that we had long lost. Provided us ie, that will set us up for life and skills that will never keep us hungry at night," "Most importantly, you have given us hope. Hope to fulfill the dreams, we had long buried deep in our hearts. Dreams that we had never thought we were able to reach," "Those dreams that seemed impossible to reach now felt like, they are in front of us. We just have to reach for them to fulfill them," The girls listened to every one of her words and many had tears started to flow out of their eyes, while the hope zed in them. It is not just them affected, but also me "You all already had the abilities to fulfill your dreams. The only thing gave you all a little push," I stated, to which many shook their head. "You have done far more. Everything we are right is because of you," she said, and her eyes were extremely serious. "You have moved the mountain for us, shifted a river by making, took the wrath of all by making one of us a Governor. Something, even emperors and archmages, never dared to do," The air seemed to have gone still as she stopped and looked directly into my eyes like all the girls present. "Us, the whores, have little to give. The only we have to give is our loyalty." '' "From today, every girl of Velvet Garden will be eternally loyal to you, in both life as well as in death," she stated and kneeled in front of me. With her, every girl kneeled with such conviction in their eyes that it shook the legacy. Roiled the mist like a storm. Tears streamed down from my eyes as I looked at their kneeling figures. "I will take your oaths of loyalty and give an oath in return as well," I replied. "From today, you all are mine and I am yours." "I will protect you from every harm. Even if the one doing the harm, is the god itself. I will fight, him for you," I promised, with my voice reaching every ear and bringing the change in the faces of kneeling girls. At that moment, the legacy shook like the wrath of god, had felled upon it, hearing the sphemy from my mouth. Though there is no hint of fear in their eyes. Instead of trust as they looked at me. Hun! I smiled at them and was about to speak. When the tower shook again, making my eyes widened. This shake is different. Ca, Caena, and other Madams seemed to sense it as well as the shock appeared on their faces and their eyes widened before big smiles appeared on their faces. The other girls seemed to understand what was happening and smiles spread across their faces, till everyone was smiling joyfully. It is a joyous asion. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 470: Grade III Legacy Chapter 470: Grade III Legacy [Demesne of Desire: Grade III] [Legacy Skill: Instant Restoration] I was watching in shock, not daring to believe, when the words shed in front of me. This is not a dream. The legacy has truly advanced to Grade III. Something that took decades had been achieved in less than a year. A thing, that only happened once in this era. "The establishment had advanced," said Caena and every eye turned to me. I opened my mouth to respond when everything disappeared in front of me. For a moment, I was in absolute darkness, before the multicolored sun appeared in front of me and the moment after that, thes materialized in front of me. As all thes appeared, another change started. This one was expected. The tides of emotions came toward the core. The tide is dense with emotions and gets denser every second as the wave spreads from the legacy. There are massive emotions in the city. Since thest advancement. There had been four battles, and many different things that brought out intense emotions from the people. The tide contains much denser emotions than thest time. This isn''t surprising; a Grade III legacy is capable of absorbing more powerful emotions. The core begins to get bigger as it absorbs the massive emotions the tides are bringing it. Soon, it reached the size of a truck and began to pour the power into thes. They ate it like they had been hungry for years. I could feel the small changes happening in them. Caena had been making the changes to these charms. She could not make big changes, but an even smaller one was enough to upgrade them. It cost me a lot of money and I hope, the cost will be worth it. Till now, the upgrade wasn''t active as it needs enormous power. Such an amount of power could only be gained in advancement. If I took it from the core, it would weaken it and take years to activate all the upgrades, but a breakthrough could be done in seconds. Soon, the core had be as big as the house and still getting bigger, absorbing more emotions. The wave had only spread to the third of the city. It is spreading further and further. Hun! I was looking at thes when I turned to specific ones. The twenty-four especially. These twenty-four are absorbing thergest amount of emotions from the core They are the ones, that nearly broke my skillst time. The benefits it had provided had saved my life and the life of everyone in the city. If it wasn''t for that; I would have been killed by the lich and thousands of people would have died. The city might not have been standing as it is right now. It had created the outer range, which aided me in using the spells outside of the legacy. This time, I had asked Caena to make preparations. I want at least half a city to be covered by it, more if possible. Last time, it had nearly broken the skill, but seeing the tremendous benefits, the outer range provides. I took the risk, once again. The core seemed to have an insatiable appetite. It begins consuming a massive number of emotions. Far more than it should at this level. While it''s feeding the charms. It is also getting bigger. Finally, the wave reached the wall from all sides, absorbing all the emotions present in the city, and stopped. It made me feel relieved. It had really be huge, that I feared. Something bad might happen. Bigger isn''t always better. It had grown massive, as big as the tennis stadium. It remained at that size for several seconds, before it started to shrink. As it did, the emotion essence inside it began to thicken fast, bing more and more powerful. In just a few moments; it had shrunk to the size of the carriage, before stopping. The essence inside became powerful. More than the Grade II. It''s Grade III, now. Hun! I was looking at the core, when the skill activated and domain of legacy, begin to expand. Demesne Expansion. It begins to expand vertically and horizontally. I could feel the floors as they began to enter its domain one by one, while it spread, covering more and more area. Finally, the expansion stopped. I looked at it, with a big smile on my face. The legacy now covers all twenty-one floors of the tower, as I had expected. It also covers forty-four thousand square feet of the area of the tower. Sixteen thousand more and it will cover the entire tower. Hun! I was thinking about the essence, I could harvest with the bigger legacy, when the twenty-fours connected to the wall shone. Seeing them, my expressions turned serious, and I braced myself. A second passed and then another when I felt the pull from them toward my legacy skill. Demesne Expansion. The skill resisted, and thes increased the pressure. Till it had reached so much, it became painful, and the pain kept increasing, that it took all my will to stop myself from screaming. I bore the pain as I focused on skill, which is resisting the pull, but won''t be for long. It''s reaching its limit and once it does. There will be only two choices in front of it. A lot would depend on what choice it makes. Finally, it reached the limit, and I watched the legacy skill with the bated breaths. I am taking a massive risk here. If I failed, I would pay a horrible price. I would lose this skill and even damage my legacy. The damage would be so great, that it would never be able to advance again, but I need to take the risk. The enemies are everywhere. The outer range covering therge area of the city would help me tremendously to deal with threats that came for me and mine. The pull had reached so high that I felt the skill would break when the skill began to change. Like it didst time. Immediately, the soul-breaking pain disappeared, and twenty-fours began to pour a massive amount of essence into the skill. As they did, the outer range which covers a third of the city began to expand. It covered more and more stress and squares. Soon, it covered half of the half of city. Taking city hall into its domain. It made me feel relieved. With the city hall covered, it will make things much easier for me and also safer, than I would be able to use the spells from there. I thought it would stop at 50%, but it didn''t and soon, it had covered the lord''s mansion and kept spreading even further. Within a second, it had covered 75% of the area of the city, while I watched in shock as it continued to spread. Seconds passed, and it had finally stopped. I remained frozen with deep shock in my heart. The outer range had covered the entire city. This means I could use the skills of legacy from any part of the city. I could throw spells from any part of the city, including the wall. Hun! I was watching in shock when the twenty-fours hummed and suddenly increased the flow of emotion power into the skill. It made my eyes widen. Something like this hadn''t happenedst time. The skill resisted the power, but the twenty- fours shoved it into the skill forcefully. For a moment, I didn''t understand what was happening, when suddenly my eyes widened, and I saw the expansion again. It''s not the outer range, that is expanding, but the core domain of the legacy. It began to expand, spreading foot by foot, whiles poured more power into the skill. Itsted for several seconds before it suddenly stopped, and I heaved a sigh of relief. The skill had reached the breaking point, that I felt like cracks would start appearing on it. The legacy calmed down, and everything disappeared, but I didn''t react. I am staring at the legacy, not daring to believe, what I am seeing. The legacy now covers all sixty thousand square feet of area that the tower upies. It had also spread vertically, approximately five and a half floors. This means now, I could build five and a half floors more, but I won''t do that. I already have the five floors and with my intentions. Five underground floors were covered in the domain of legacy. As for the half-floor, it covered the roof. I could see the instant reaction from the girls as the colorful mist appeared on the roof. "Congrattions, Master Silver," said Caena, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Congrattions, Master Silver," the girls echoed. "Thank you all. It wouldn''t have been possible, without all of you," I said to them, and I mean every word of it. Such advancement is extremely rare. It is their belief in me, that made it happen. "Girls, go back to your shifts. Floor leaders, return to your floors and announce the advancement of the legacy. The rest, return to your dorms," ordered Caena and immediately, the girls began to leave. They looked unwilling but followed the order immediately and began to leave. Within a minute, only Ca, Margaux, Caena, Bell, and Z remained. "My lord, there are inquiries from the lords and the legacies," informed Z. I could have made the advancement silent likest time, but I let the other sense. I need others to know; it will help me deal with the pressure I am in. "Conform it," I ordered. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 471: Colosseum Class Chapter 471: Colosseum ss Owlspring Knock Knock! The knock rang out of the door, a smile on the face of the lord of Owlspring disappeared and he looked at the door irritatingly. He is on the top floor of Karon; his favorite restaurant. Its only two of them celebrating the special day. Mae''s birthday. There will be a grand party at the end of the week, but today, it''s only two of them. "I had told them not to disturb me unless there was a Level 50e to attack the city," I said irritatingly, to which Mae smiled. Her smile is beautiful. She is beautiful, but it''s her mind, that made me fall in love with her. "Open it; they wouldn''t have knocked. If it wasn''t important," she said gently. Click! I sighed and used a sliver of my aura to open the door and open a way through the aura dome. So, Nathil could walk inside. "My lord," he greeted. "It''s better to be something important, old man," I said, looking at him angrily, but the man smiled without a hint of fear. "It is, my lord," he replied, irritating me further. "Out with it," I ordered impatiently, and the old bastard smiled. He only takes his sweet time when the news is important. "Velvet Garden had advanced to Grade III legacy," he replied finally. I froze hearing that. So had Mae. She doesn''t show emotions when she doesn''t want to. She had great control over it; I have seen it only a few times, her losing control over it. "That''s not possible. It''s not even a year old!" I eximed, not daring to believe it. "It is truth, my lord. A few of our people are in the legacy; had sensed the advancement." "Lord of Grelthevean, himself had confirmed it," replied the old man and bowed before walking away, while I remained in my ce, still shocked. "Now, thank me," said Mae after a few seconds of silence. "Thank you. Your advice, wise as ever," I said with a sigh and took her hand and kissed it. Yesterday, I was angry, when I came to know. Silver had chosen his whore as governor. It felt like a p on my face. We have provided him with tremendous help. From intelligence to aid. So, when he chose the governor, he didn''t inform us beforehand and even chose his whore. I wanted to contact the bastard and curse him, but Mae advised me to do the opposite. Congratte the whore. I didn''t want to do it, but I had listened to her. It was a wise decision because now I will be able to get more benefits by leveraging that. ¡­ Namdar "It had reached Grade III and its domain had spread through the whole tower," said the woman, fifteen sitting in a stone chair. "Yes, mother," replied the woman, who looked like a younger version of the older woman. "At that size, it could be said to have the peak of theater ss or even colosseum ss," said another woman, bearing the simrities between the two women. The sses of the legacies aren''t recognized by great sky but were made for the people to understand. There are three sses of legacies, Tavern, Theatre, and Colosseum. The ss of the legacies is dependent upon their size. With Tavern ss being the smallest. Around 90% of the legacies are of that size. The next is Theatre ss. They are bigger at least three to four times bigger than average Tavern ss legacies and around 9% of the legacies are of that size. The rest of Colosseum ss. Most of the legacies of this ss are Colosseums, hence the name. They are the fewest in numbers and massive. Capable of hosting, tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands to over a million people. The size of the legacies is as important as the spectrum of emotions they could harvest. The bigger the size, the more people it will host and the greater the emotions it will harvest. Everyone wants Colosseum ss legacies, and they are equal to multiple Tavern ss legacies. "We will need to act quickly, especially about the threatening we did earlier," said the youngest woman, and looked at the lone man in the room, sharing simr features as them. He red at her, before turning to the older woman in the chair. "Mother, we should attack Greltheaven and take control of the legacy," said the man. Immediatelyughs escaped from the mouths of two young women, making the man re at them harder, while the older woman just sighed with a shake of her head. "Terenina, you are responsible for handling the Greltheaven now," said the older woman. The man immediately opened his mouth to object but saw the older woman had disappeared. Leaving only a tiny arc of lightning that traveled around the chair. ¡­. Inam "Congratte Silver for the advancement of his legacy. Also, send the congrattion to his whore for her ascension to Governor," said the man. His reaction was the opposite yesterday. He had threatened, but now he is congratting. Change is the nature of the politics. Those who can''t change are left buried in the ground with not even the history remembering them. ¡­. Ashton Harbor "Good, now conquering it will be more fulfilling," said the man with staff with a big smile on his face. He is not worried at all. He is happy; tremendously so. Despite the many losses, he never had doubts about his mind. They would conquer the region now that themand was in his hands. It will happen even sooner. A reward for that will also be great. A near Colosseum ss legacy. ¡­ Senar I watched the patrons looking at the dense mist in wonder. It was not just the mist that had be more radiant and denser, but the feeling of the legacy had increased by a lot. There is a change in the quality of it. I could see everyone was taking the new change. Including the nts. I could feel, the faint changes appearing on the smell of the nts. The notes are more prominent, affecting one or more deeply than before. It is happening in just minutes of advancement. It will be more noticeable in a few days when nts get a chance to absorb these higher levels of emotion mist. ¡­ "They have arrived," informed Z. I nodded, but didn''t turn. I kept looking crowd had filled the garden. It had been less than an hour since the legacy had advanced, but the news had spread like wildfire. The whole worldes to know about it and also the city. There is arge crowd of people gathered around the tower and more areing every second. The police had cordoned the area around the legacy. No one coulde inside, but that didn''t stop people as more and more of them crossing the bridge anding to the garden. I didn''t disappoint them and covered the whole tower with a thin nket of multicolored mist. I watched them for a few more seconds before descending from the roof. I had been here since the legacy advanced. Gave girls and Z orders after orders and even talked to the imperials and Grand Mage of Archamage''s Tower and representative of Synod. These are the people. I can not postpone talking and I wanted to talk to them. Especially the imperials. Click! Soon, I climbed down to the floor and reached the brown door. Jim became visible and opened the door, before disappearing while I stepped inside. The small conference room is packed. There is barely any space to walk properly. There is a Valentina Cardin, Hardt, Arryn, Robin, Hendricks, and others. There are only ten seats at the conference table. The ones in higher positions are sitting, while the rest standing behind them, with their bodies touching each other. Though, nobody seemed to mind it. "Lord Silver," they greeted, with a lot more respect than usual. I nodded and sat down. There was a silence as all of them looked at me. I didn''t speak immediately. I took a few seconds to calm down, to calm the hundreds of thoughts running into my mind before I opened my mouth. "The legacy had advanced to Grade III," I started by stating the obvious fact, which put a smile on their faces. "Congrattions, Lord Silver," they congratte. I nodded, before controlling my expressions. "It''s an important time for us and we need to use this opportunity to its maximum. I have a task for each one of you, I hope, you will be able to do it with maximum effort," I said to them. "Arryn,municate with your contacts." "Tell them the opportunity the city represents and offers we are willing to give it to them. If they invest in the city," I ordered and slid the page toward him, before turning to another person. "Hardt, contact the people, who are thinking of shifting; tell the advantages of moving to Greltheaven," I gave one order after another. It''s not like, I hadn''t tried this before, but unlike before, I didn''t conquer another city and didn''t have a Grade III legacy. There are tens of thousands of really rich people in the empire. Who wants to get out of it and diversify their business. They could safely move to Greltheaven. It is part of the empire and not in the jurisdiction of any prince. So, if they could move here without incurring the wrath of any party. Till now, Namdar has been the biggest beneficiary of this migration and I want a little slice. Even the little one would be tremendously helpful to the city, but achieving it would be difficult, with the shadow undead nketing the city. Still, now the chances are better than ever. "I hope, everyone will do their best to achieve the tasks they have been given," I said as I finished giving tasks to everyone. They are big, most will likely not be able to sleep today. Some, like Robin, are leaving the city tonight. They nodded and got up, before leaving. The one who didn''t leave is Valentina. "No orders for me?" she asked with an arched brow. "You already finished the task," I replied, and the smile on her face widened. She is a person, who knows me the best aside from girls. The moment she found out about the legacy had advanced. She acted, knowing this is what I would want to do. "How long will it take for them toe to the city?" I asked, and her expression turned serious. "Ed will leave Panar in a few minutes. Our construction partners from the merchant state will leave in a few hours. They will be in the city, before the afternoon," she replied. I had also called Miss Rolgath, Miss xasys, and Lady ckwell. We need to make changes to the tower. When the legacy was Grade II; it used to cover fourteen floors, but not the entire area of it. Just twenty-nine thousand square feet of it, in the middle. The rest were the domain of nts, but now at Grade III. The legacy covers every inch of the tower. So, I need to make the changes. So, I could use more than half of the area, that had been the domain of the nts till now and I have to do it in twenty-five days. Twenty-four since this day is nearly over. The next month is the founding day of the city. The same day, the establishment had opened two years ago. It is a massive change, especially for the legacy, and would have taken much longer than twenty-five days. If I had made the preparations for it already. When I was building the tower. I was not building it for a Grade II legacy, but for Grade III. However, I didn''t expect my legacy would advance to Grade III, just a little more than a month after the opening. I had expected it would take years or even decades. So, there is not as much as work, one would expect, but there is still a lot, and I would need to close all fourteen floors until it is finished. Thankfully, the whole tower wouldn''t close. Unlike the sixteen floors, the other five floors wouldn''t close. The lobby and four floors house the stores. Unlike the fourteen floors that are made for the legacy. The other five are using every inch of the space. Now that it has turned into a legacy, I would be able to harvest emotion from arge number of people whoe to visit those floors, making no changes to them. "The whole twenty-one floors of the tower are in the legacy. It''s really close to reaching Colosseum ss," said Valentina, and all of us smile. L, Z, and me. "What?" she asked, looking confused. "Twenty-six and a half floors, Chief r. The velvet garden had be a Colosseum ss legacy," replied L, shocking Valentina. It took her a few seconds to calm herself before she turned to me. "Are you building five floors?" she asked. To that, I shook my head. "Underground?" she asked, and I nodded. "What are you going to do there?" she asked, and I smiled. There are two options in front of me to use that space. I have to choose one and I n to make the decision before the sunes up tomorrow. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 472: Merchant of Desire Chapter 472: Merchant of Desire [Condition Met: Dealer of Desire ¨C Merchant of Desire] Merchant of Desire Lv. 30 [Master of Legacy] Merchant of Desire Lv. 31 [Master of Legacy] Merchant of Desire Lv. 32 [ Master of Legacy] [Skill Gained: Eyes of Master] [Conditions Met: Good''s Instinct¨CMaster''s Instincts] "Fuck!" I cursed out loud, with shock and joy. My eyes fixed on the single line. It is not the change of ss, nor it is the three levels I gained in it, but the skill. Eyes of Master. This freaking skill. It had changed everything. Eyes of Master is the skill that nearly every master of legacy has. Especially those with their legacies in Grade III and above. It is the mostmon skill. Along with the vault. The skill lets them see what is happening in their legacy. The masters do not like the skill much and prefer any other in its ce. Because if they concentrate enough, they can feel what is happening in their legacy, which is nearly as good as seeing. Unlike them, this skill is tremendously useful to me. Even that isn''t enough to describe it. I didn''t dare to think about it much and instead activated the skill. Hun! I tried to use it, but it didn''t work. I felt worried before hitting my head. "I am such an idiot," I muttered and powered the skill with essence. Immediately, the skill roared. With my will, I focused on the lobby, and instantly the lobby appeared in front of me as I was standing in there, but unlike watching from eyes, that only provided a limited angle. Here, I could see everything in the lobby, every corner and angle. There are heavy guards present in the lobby and outside of it to manage the heavy guards. Because of the advancement, everyone wants to visit. Before it was, only those with reservations could enter the legacy, but with the whole tower turning into the legacy, everybody wants to enter to experience the legacy. Many had been here, since thest night. We needed to up the security to manage the crowd, but it''s not a permanent solution. We need to find a better solution for it. A few advised to me charge fees to visit the store floors, but I shot that down. There will be no fees; the store floors will be open to the public, at no cost. I wasn''t able to do that with fourteen floors, but I will do that with the store floors. It is my wish that every person in the city takes the pleasure of legacy, but for that, a sustainable solution would be needed. I changed the focus to the first floor, and the first floor appeared in front of me. It''s crowded; more crowded, than the first day of the tower opening. I could feel the emotions they were generating. If I kept getting such an emotion. I will get a lot of emotion essence and it will be a Grade III. I looked at one floor after another. Till I reach the top floor, I am in. This is what every Eyes of Master could do, but now, I am going to do that only my Eyes of Master could. It is for this reason, that I got shocked by getting skill and became ecstatic. Some might even say, it might make me near omniscient. Though, I do not agree with it. I focused and immediately; the garden came in front of me. The quality of vision had lessened. From like 8k to HD, but it is still very clear. I could see everything, people eating, walking, smiling. I could see the crowd and faces of people as they looked at the tower with awe and longing. I willed it and the vision moved out of the garden. I could see streets, squares, and everything else. There is nothing that could be hidden from me. I could even see in the homes of people and other buildings. Though, in there, quality lessened. From colored to grainy ck and white. It depends upon what sort of building it is. If it is public and belongs to the city, the quality would be greater. If it is private, then the quality would lessen. I will have to see the intricacies of it, but one thing is clear. I could see everything in my city. Nothing is hidden from me. This skill is too dangerous. I can not let anyone know about it. If the news of it spreads; it will affect many things. Nobody wants to live in a city where a lord could see everything. Especially the higher leveled people. It is also in my best interest. If nobody knows about it, it is hard to hard to guard against it. I feel slightlyplicated with this skill but in this dangerous world. It will help me tremendously to protect me and mine. I only have one skill at this level-up, but I don''t mind. This one skill is equal to ten to me. I looked at the other skill, which had changed, and a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. The skill hadpletely changed. From Goods Instincts, which is a mercantile skill. It had be Master''s Instincts which works differently, more focused. It will work on all things rted to legacy. There is another skill I have received. A skill from legacy after it reached Grade III. Instant Restoration. It is, as its name says, it will restore the damage the legacy suffers. I don''t know the scope of it, but I n to test it as soon as possible. Many hosts like this skill. Especially those hosts with legacies at Grade III and below. Legacies are delicate at those grades, and they want to quickly deal with any damage, that legacy suffers. This skill lets them do that. I had advanced three levels in this level-up. My base ss had reached Lv. 32. A level higher than the Lord''s ss. I will need to keep it ahead. If Lord ss had not been ahead. I might have gotten another level and skill. I do not regret my choice. I needed that level-up. It helped me a lot in dealing with things in the Panar. The level-up gave me three attribute points. I added one strength and two to vitality. I would have liked to add them to charm and intelligence, but I need to keep physical stats bnced. If I fight again. My opponents are going to be Lv. 30 and above. I need to have good physical stats to fight against them. In thest battle, I was nearly killed. It is because of aura; that I am still alive. Aura is a dangerous thing. That helps warriors match the mages, but it is hard to control. It takes time and arduous practice, to gain sufficient control over it to use it efficiently in the battle. I shook my head at those thoughts and looked at the table that appeared in front of me.
ss Merchant of Desire Lv. 32 [Master of Legacy]
Valorous Lord of Courage Lv. 31 Trainer Lv. 08
Charisma 20
Intelligence 17
Vitality 19
Strength 17
Skills: ¡¤ Trustful Presence ¡¤ Master¡¯s Instinct ¡¤ Lord¡¯s Contracts ¡¤ Torch for Seeker ¡¤ Rapid Strikes ¡¤ Blitz Steps ¡¤ Insightful Reading ¡¤ Price Is Right ¡¤ Mauling Strike ¡¤ Silver Tongued ¡¤ Gymnasts Grace ¡¤ Sight Through Veil ¡¤ Every Ear Listens To My Words ¡¤ de Of The Gale ¡¤ Mood of the Subjects ¡¤ Privacy Sphere ¡¤ Command Projection ¡¤ Get Ready ¡¤ Quick Parry ¡¤ Razor Edge ¡¤ Active Presence ¡¤ Vision Projection ¡¤ Instant Recollection ¡¤ Artistic Dealings ¡¤ Copy Skill - Focus ¡¤ Telepathic Call ¡¤ Energizing Essence ¡¤ Gymnasts Control ¡¤ Lord''s Presence ¡¤ March Of The Braves ¡¤ Laws of My Land ¡¤ Mark of Mist ¡¤ Fast Reflexes ¡¤ Public Works ¡¤ Appointment
Legacy Demesne of Desire II
Skills ¡¤ Master of Legacy ¡¤ Laws of Legacy ¡¤ Share Authority (7) ¡¤ Vault of Ru ¡¤ Demesne Expansion ¡¤ Instant Restoration
Attribute Points 0
''There are really few skills from the Merchant of Desire,'' I thought, looking at the table. Which isn''t surprising. Merchant of Desire had been a single ss from the beginning. Unlike many sses, that made the Valorous Lord of Courage. I looked at the table for a few seconds before closing and got out of the bed. I had slept quitete, nearly an hour away from dawn, and had three hours of sleep, but I am feeling great and well-rested. Before sleeping. I had focused on the full power of the Rest Charm on me. With Legacy reached Grade III; its power had also increased tremendously. I quickly freshened up and showered before walking out. Click! Soon, I stepped into the office, and there were only L and Andrea. Since Ca and Hendriks are out; she has left Andrea in charge of her duties. "My lord," they greeted. I nodded and sat down, thinking. I already thought about it and made the decisionst night after considering the pros and cons of both choices. "Casino; the five floors underground will have the casino," I said, surprising them. There were two options in front of me. First is a casino, and second is sports. There are indoor sports simr to bowling and a few unique ones, that didn''t have simrities on earth. Both options bringrge numbers and greater emotions, but after thinking about it. I decided to go with the casino; it suits my vision better. It will also help with attracting new people to the city. A Legacy casino is always attractive, especially when there are only five of them on the continent. It will be four. I heard the master of one is near death and won''t even survive a year. "I will issue the notification," said Andrea, and I nodded. It will be issued in empire and merchant states. I will see the offer and make my decision. It won''t be ready by the founding day. We might not be able to get all the offers by then, much less select them and begin the changes to house the casino. I am not going to hurry. There are five floors at the stake, with a tremendous impact on the city. I need to make the best decision without bowing to the pressure of time or the people. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 473: Equalising Chapter 473: Equalising [Condition Met: Witch of Luminescent Legacy ¨C High Witch of Luminescent Legacy] High Witch of Luminescent Legacy Lv. 30 High Witch of Luminescent Legacy Lv. 31 High Witch of Luminescent Legacy Lv. 32 [Skill Gained: Upgrade Charms] [Condition Met: ¡­] [Condition Met: ¡­] [Condition Met: ¡­] Madam Lv. 18 Madam Lv. 19 Madam Lv. 20 [Conditions Met: Madam- Madam of Radiant Legacy] [Skill Gained: ¡­] [Conditions Met: ¡­] [Conditions Met: ¡­] I looked at the long texts in front of me. ¡°I thought this would be the time,¡± I muttered, looking at the lines of text. My main ss and the madam ss hadn¡¯t merged. I thought the chances were good this time, but it seemed like I hadn¡¯t satisfied all the conditions yet. I do not mind it much. I am getting more skills and extra attribute points, now that the second ss has reached level 20. Both of my sses were upgraded as well. My Witch ss had upgraded to High Witch, and I got the skill, that will make a really hard job slightly easier. I may have used a grand ritual, but my understanding of it is low. It was enough until Grade II but needed to upgrade it for Grade III. I will have to begin upgrading again. This time, it will be far more difficult. Grade IV wields significantly more power than Grade III. Whether it is witchcraft, alchemy, or spellcraft. It happened every three levels. A High Mage is significantly more powerful than the Mage. Thest time, I had six months to upgrade. It was easier, with the few responsibilities. Seeing the tower being constructed in that period. Now, that wouldn¡¯t be care with the whole tower turning into the legacy. Last night is an example. There was so much work that I had slept past dawn. There will be a lot of responsibilities. It will be a challenge to find time to study the craft and work on upgrades. Not to mention, really expensive. I don¡¯t know how much time I have. I thought it would take years for a legacy to advance to Grade III, but it had happened in less than a year. Most legacies take at least a decade to reach Grade IV from Grade III, but this isn¡¯t a normal legacy. I will need to work thinking it will take less. If someone hears my thoughts. They would call me mad. Every legacy could reach Grade III. Their vision that sparks the legacy is enough to take them to Grade III with sufficient time, but Grade IV is the real challenge. I have full confidence that it will reach Grade IV and it will do it in less than most legacies take. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. Click! I walked out of my office, crossed the former range of legacy, and entered the garden, which covers half of the fourteen floors. I walked through the thick nts and soon saw the grey-skinned man standing by the column overlooking the city. He is the most dangerous man in the city. Stone had said he had no confidence to beat him. ¡°Lord Silver,¡± he greeted as I stopped beside him. ¡°Mage Irgal,¡± I said to the half-orc and turned to look at the city. Usually, I looked at the city from my office¡¯s window or the roof. Very few times, from the edge of floors. This ce is forbidden to the most people. Even the girls are forbidden toe so close to the columns. Seeing, slipping means certain death. Now, the legacy had covered the whole tower. That policy will need to change. The scenery is amazing in this ce. It will invoke the heavy emotions of the people that we desire. Thankfully, I had prepared for it, or rather Caena did it with upgrades on thes. It is quite a solution, but we have yet to test whether it works or not. ¡°What can I do for you, my lord?¡± asked the man and my eyes turned to the garden surrounding the legacy. It¡¯s really beautiful. Not as beautiful as the one I am in right now, but still beautiful. ¡°Network vines,¡± I replied, and the man smiled. ¡°Yes, now that the entire tower turned to the legacy; there is no need for thework vines,¡± he said. Before turning to me with his smile wide. ¡°Thesework vines are well grown. We are willing to pay a good price for them. Will even offer you our share of some nts in exchange for them,¡± he offered. This time, it is my turn to smile before shaking my head. ¡°I have no interest in selling thework vines,¡± I said, with my eyes on the garden below. ¡°Then what are you going to do? W¡± he was mid-speaking when he suddenly stopped and looked where I was looking, and a big smile appeared on his face. ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s what you want.¡± he understood. ¡°How big?¡± he asked a moment, with the excitement shing in his eyes. ¡°About the same size as the garden below,¡± I replied, and a surprise appeared in the man¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t usually get surprised. ¡°It¡¯s going to need a massive amount of emotion essence,¡± he informed me, and I smiled. He is right. It will take a truly massive amount of essence because the garden below upies nine times more area than the tower. It might consume a third or more emotion essence that legacy would produce. To me, the emotion essence produced by the legacy is a tool. I want to use it at maximum efficiency to get material and political benefits. Emotion essence is always in demand. There is never enough supply or ever would be. What is even rarer than it is the nts grown using it. It had been a little over months since the legacy opened and we have harvested a few resources. There is a massive demand for it. Alchemists are crazy about them. As these things could be used in all sorts of things potions and medicines. I have done calctions and nts give me more money than the essence. It also gives political power. Especially in the merchant states, Namdar, and other ces that have high-level alchemists. I have been contacted by various kingdoms; not only from the Zenid, but also outside of it. Unlike the essence, the nts will take time to grow, and there are risks involved with it. Like someone destroying them with a spell or disease. ¡°I will contact the mistress, then,¡± he said. A few minutester, I walked away from him. A lot of things will need to be discussed, like the kind of nts that will need to be nted. The nts I nted in the legacy were to give patrons a sensory experience. Every n in the legacy is beautiful and releases wonderful smells that are better than even the most expensive perfume. The garden would be different. Here,merce will be a priority. The nts will be beautiful. Every nt is, especially those that absorb the emotion essence, but these nts will be nted with money in mind. I want to sell the nts to the alchemist, but I also need them for my own purpose. It would be incredible if I had seeded in it. Click! ¡°There is a message from Archmage City. They have upgraded your invitation,¡± said Z as I stepped back into my office. ¡°They acted fast,¡± I replied as I sat down. The grade of the invitation depends on the grade of the legacy. Now that the legacy had reached Grade III; they upgraded the invitation as well. The upgradees with many benefits. Including therger entourage. ¡®Master Silver,e to the roof, please.¡¯ I was working, when a familiar voice of Caena rang out. I was about to ask her reason, but hearing the gravity in her voice, I decided not to do it. Three and a half minutester, I finished what I had been working on and walked out of my office. Click! Soon, I stepped onto the roof, where there is only Caena was present. I looked at her, but she didn¡¯t reply. I felt her essing the most powerful and a momentter. A yellow fireball materialized in front of her, which rapidly started getting bigger. It only stopped, till it became as big as a gym ball. Made of dense fire. Siege Fireball. A Grade 3 spell. ¡°What we had expected had happened,¡± she said, and my expression turned serious. I hope it would not, but thews of the world couldn¡¯t be bent for long. ¡°Still a Grade III,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°Its power had been amplified and some could say, it has a weak Grade IV power, but it¡¯s still in the realm of Grade III,¡± she replied. ¡°Equalizing,¡± I muttered. Because of the grand ritual and power of legacy, we used to power. The spells used to jump the grade, but they couldn¡¯t anymore. The world had taken notice and suppressed the power of the spells. Their power is still amplified, but they cannot jump the grade like before. Caena had already told me it would happen. The world would take notice and bnce things out. ¡°What about Grade I and Grade II spells?¡± I asked. ¡°They can still jump the grade,¡± she replied. Those who can cast Grade III spells are mages, while those who cast Grade IV spells are high-mages. There is a huge power difference between them. In the first battle, we needed three powerhouses and a lot of luck to keep the high mages contained. The equalizing made me disappointed, but I am happy with the fact that the outer range covers the whole city and Grade III spells could still be amplified to near Grade IV. If we ever fall into a desperate state. We could use the spells from the wall. Bury our enemies with so many spells. That breaching the wall would be thest thought in their mind. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 474: Risk Chapter 474: Risk Everything turned dark, and a momentter, the core appeared. It is zing brightly with dense emotion power, while witchcraft while thes revolved around it. It''s really a beautiful scene. Though I had not summoned it to admire its beauty. A pack of bottles appeared in my hand A momentter, a dense mist came off from the core, entering the. Filling it with beautiful colors that I wanted it to continue, but unfortunately, it could not. It stopped after a few seconds. A moment after that, the color begins to drain. Within seconds, all the color got drained from it. Leaving it just as before. I raised my hand, and twelve bottles came flying. Unlike before, they are not empty. I looked at the mist inside them. It looked at such, that they are the building blocks of the world. Some say they are. It''s so dense that it feels like liquid, but it''s still a mist. It would turn to liquid in Grade IV. I sighed, and everything disappeared, including the twelve bottles as I appeared in my office. I smiled and resumed the work. It''s a new store-floors policy. Now that the whole tower had turned to the legacy. I have to make changes in the policy of operating them. There hadn''t been even a full day since the legacy started, and we have already seen stone owners increasing the prices exorbitantly. We put a stop to that immediately and closed two stores. They had crossed the limit. It''s clear that the existing policy wouldn''t work anymore. Thankfully, I know what I have to do. I have nearly finished with the proposal. It is a basic one; it will work till I create aprehensive one by the opening day. ''Master Silver, they have arrived,'' informed L. Hearing that, I had stopped and got up. Click! I was out of the door a secondter. L, standing in front of the conference room opened it for me. I nodded my thanks and stepped inside. "Lord Silver," They greeted and bowed; the only one who didn''t was Lady ckwell. I nodded at her, before turning to the rest of the table. Everyone is there, Valentina Amellus, Miss Rolgath, Miss xasyn, and our construction partners. "It wasn''t a long ago; I had told you all that I would like to see you all under my legacy''s roof once again. I thought it would take a few years for that to happen, but it happened in less than forty days," I said, and all of themughed. "I for one d for that," said Lady ckwell. "Congrattions on the advancement of your legacy, Lord Silver," she congratted. "Thank you, Lady ckwell," I thanked, before making my expressions serious. "So, will you all be able to do it by the founding day?" I asked the question directly instead of ordering them to do it. If they say, it''s not possible. Then I will postpone the opening. I want the changes to be perfect I don''t want the rushed work. "It will be challenging, but the interiors will be done by the timeline," replied Miss Rolgath. "So will be the nts," added Miss xasys. I turned to Amellus and the construction partners. "It will be done," he said finally. "Good," I replied. "You will begin the work immediately and will have ten more days to tell me. If it could be finished within a time," I n to send the invitation for the founding day/legacy celebration in ten days. "If it did not, then I will postpone it," I added after a moment of silence. I stayed there forty-five minutes more; telling them about the new requirements, before walking out. "Miss Eva wants to meet you," informed L. It surprised me, but I nodded. I am busy, but I could make a few minutes for a friend. Despite knowing what she wants. It''s not that hard to guess. Click! Soon, I reached my office and a few minutester, Eva walked in as beautiful as ever. "My lord," she greeted. "Eva," I said, offered her a seat. "Thank you," she thanked as she sat. "What can I do for you, Eva?" I asked directly, and she smiled. "I am sure you already know, but I will say it. I want another floor for my store," she requested. "I had already given you an answer to that," I replied. Refusing her request once again. It''s not the first time, she had asked for this. She had asked for it not long ago and I have declined her request. "Besides, why do you want it?" I asked, "With the legacy advancing, the space of your store has already doubled; it should be more than enough for you," I added. To that, she smiled, with a hint of seductiveness appearing in it. "Yes, but the workshop is going to take a space. We need a space, toplete the big order you have given us," she replied, looking at me with those beautiful blue eyes. Today we have given her an order. That would be wrong to say; that the order had already been given a few weeks ago. The timeline of it is just expedited; she will need to finish them by the end of the month. "Sixty-thousand square feet isn''t a small space. Many legacies don''t even have that much," I replied. "Half floor? Even Quarter will do in the underground?" she asked, making her eyes pitiful. "No," I refused firmly. I want to give her more space, I truly do. Seeing what she is doing is going to put the city on the radar of people, I wanted to be attracted to the city, but I couldn''t. "Fine, but when the legacy advances next time. I want two more floors," she said, with her boring into me. "Sure," I replied, and a surprise appeared on her face. If the legacy really did advance to Grade 4, one day, and expansion skill worked like it usually does on other legacies. Then, giving her two floors wouldn''t be a problem. "I will hold you on your word when the timees," she said and got up before walking away. I watched her leave, before focusing back on my work. ¡­ Ilden Kingdom "Mom, you have called me?" asked a man with silvery blond hair as she stepped into the parlor. "Have you heard about the news from Harsoth?" asked the woman sitting in a leather chair slowly. "Grade III, within a year. That man is really something," he replied. He was in the casino when he heard that. He didn''t want to believe it. It was too hard to believe, but his grandfather confirmed it. The woman shook her head. "No, about this," she replied and threw the note at him. The young man caught before reading and his eyes widened in shock. "Five extra floors and he wants to open a casino in it," he said, with his voice shaking. He knew the legacy had covered twenty-one floors of the tower, but now there are even five floors. The domain of it shocked him. He understood well how much the size of the legacy matters. They have the second biggest legacy under Grade II and the twelfth biggest in all the legacies of the continent. He didn''t say anything reading it, but the ring on his finger lit up as he contacted his contacts and information came soon. He digested it, before turning to his mother. "What do you want to do with the information mother?" he asked slowly. He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her. "I want us to apply for that space," she replied. I expected it, but it still shook me. We have a legacy, and we open many branches of our business. umting a lot of wealth and influence. If it had been any other ce. I wouldn''t have been surprised, much less shocked, but it is a legacy and one with a bright future. In the morning grandfather had that as long as Silver didn''t die in the next few decades. Its ascendant into the throne is all but guaranteed. "This offer is only for the merchant state and empire. I don''t think, Silver will not want to bear their wrath choosing us?" "He wouldn''t choose us, with conflict in vision for our legacy." "There is also a reason being Ilden allied with Geim, and they are attacking Harsoth. Not to mention, the undead, that could capture the city at any moment," "Most importantly, I don''t think it is wise. We are critical time, we should focus on grandfather and getting our hands on the most lucrative branches," "Uncles have already good, many of the good branches," Grandfather is dying. So is legacy; the moment he dies, the legacy will disappear as well. The thought is terrifying. The that brought us so much wealth and influence going to disappear, so suddenly. "I think, this is the right time, my son," she said and sighed with her head filled with worries. It had been for years. There was a hope, that our efforts will seed, and some throne will agree to make our legacy a pawn. It failed, just as it failed to make any of them its heirs. "The legacy is our shield. It''s going to disappear and with it most of our influence," "It is what protected us. Once the shield disappears, no one will protect us; the vultures will eat our flesh bit by bit, till nothing remains," She understood well what would happen to them. It had already started happening. Her father had been a merciless businessman. He had made a lot of enemies, not just of merchant houses, but also of noble, powerful nobles. They will not let us live in peace. She looked at her son, who was deep in thought. She too is having hundreds of thoughts, but she is clear about one thing. Ilden isn''t safe for them. They won''t die; the king will make sure of that at least. Not because he cares, but because he will need to for the other legacies in the kingdom. There will be restrictions. They won''t be able to do the business as they had been and many other things. It''s better to start a new one. Use Velvet Garden as the springboard to enter the new market. It won''t be easy and there will be danger to life, but it won''t be as much restrictive as it will be here. They won''t die a slow death. "It''s too risky Mom. There are undead and I don''t think it is viable, even if Grandfather somehow epts it. The kingdom won''t, nor would Harsoth or merchant''s states," "Even Silver won''t ept it," he said, and I smiled. "He might, because there is something only, we could offer to him," she said. He was confused for a moment before the understanding dawned on his face and his eyes widened. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 475: Policy and Access Chapter 475: Policy and ess Eltson "No, they should be on the upper shelf," I said to my son. He removed the shoes and put them on the upper shelf, where the blue and red mist floated, making one feel like they were in heaven. Everyone is here helping me. My son, wife, and two assistants. Usually, my son doesn''t like to work in a shop. He rather fool around with friends than help his old father in the store, but since yesterday, he had not left the store even once. He had even slept herest night. I am still shocked by what happened two nights ago. I had discussed with my family and friends about legacy turning into Grade III, but that should have taken at least a decade, not more than a month. Things have changed tremendously since it happened. Everything in my shop had been sold. Last night, I visited all the shoe shops and cobblers and bought their best stock. I had even ced an order in Owlspring, which will being by evening. I craft most of the shoes I sell in my workshop above my house. I had huge stock, that would havested me a month, but it didn''tst a day. It''s not just with my store; it has to happen with every store on the four floors. Ting! I was in the midst of adjusting the shelf with my assistant when the door opened. I was about to say we were closed. When I had stopped; seeing who had entered. It''s Irving and his daughter. "It''s time," he said, and my expressions turned serious. "Already, I said and looked at the clock. It''s only ten minutes till seven. Sana came toward me and touched my clothes. A momentter, the dust and other things rolled out of my clothes. "Don''t worry. Everything will be fine," she said. "Thank you." I really needed to hear those words. Lord Silver had called the meeting at seven, and I am fearing the worst. I really hope he didn''t remove the stores. "Rx, it isn''t going to happen," said Irving as I reached him. "Really? Did he say that?" I asked. He had been called to meet Lord Silverst night. He hesitated for a moment before nodding. "There will be a lot of changes, but no removal," he replied. Hearing that, relief flooded in my heart. "At least not now," he added. Immediately, a bit of that relief evaporated. I looked at him for an exnation. "I already told you more than I should," he said and walked out of the store, while I followed behind. Irving Gagarin is Lord''s most trusted man, among the store owners. He had earned that trust with his blood; he had fought in the first and second battles against the undead. Hun! We passed by his store. When I noticed something, and stopped in my tracks. "Is that a furnace?" I asked. There was a limited space in every store. We manage every inch carefully, but now I am seeing a furnace at his store. Right in the ss window, where everybody could see him. No store owners work in shops. They are workshops outside; every inch of space here had already been important, but now, it had be even more precious. "You will understand soon," he said. I am curious, but seeing his expressions. I know, he won''t tell me. Though he seemed to have told his daughter, as she, for some reason, looked very excited about it. Which is so unlike her. She can''t stand any ugly thing in her store. Ting! Soon, we stepped into the elevator. A few secondster, it stopped, and its door opened. We stepped out, in the most beautiful, I had ever seen. Everything is beautiful. The nts, the smell, and now the mist and feeling it gave. Not to mention the art pieces, which are what make this ce most beautiful. I admired them for a moment before turning to the lobby. The chairs had been set, with each chair having a name stand. Looking at it; It is clear that the ones with the stores on the top floor are in the first row, the ones on the second top are in the second, and so on. Most people have already taken their seats, including Landon and Vasa. Their stores have been closed yesterday. Many stores increased the prices yesterday, seeing the massive crowding to experience the legacy, and they were willing to pay anything to get things from the stores. Many had increased the prizes, and I wanted to do it too, but Irving had stopped me. It was a wise decision; not long after that. Madam Caena came down along with Mr. Hendriks. They sealed the stores of Landen and Vasa. They were the ones who inted the prize the most. Others got off with a fine and warning. Irving and my store were one of five stores that were not fined or given a warning. Hun! I was looking at people sitting in the chairs when my eyes fell on two beautiful women; one is older, while the other one is younger. "Miss Eva, Miss Cain; I didn''t expect to see you here," said Irving, and both of the women smiled. "Why Guildmaster Gagarin? We are store owners, just like you," she asked back. "Yes, you are," he replied with a smile after a moment of silence. They may be the store owners like us, but they are different from us. While we share the floor, with many other stores. They have the entire floor for their store. The goods they sell are very expensive and amazing, that I n to take my wife there on her birthday. She works tirelessly, and I want to show how much, I appreciate her for it. Most importantly, Miss Eva has a close rtionship with Lord Silver; I heard the rtionship go back to Lord Silver''s father''s time. I sat down and looked around while Irving talked to the two women. ''The crowd had grown,'' I thought. I had returned to the store at dawn, and there was a crowd, and now that crowd had grown evenrger. Everybody wants toe to the legacy. I had been asked by neighbors to take them to legacy. Even friends and rtives contacted me about it. Hun! I was staring at things while listening to the conversation around me when everything turned quiet. I looked and saw Lord Silver stepping out of the elevator. He is not alone; Madam Caena and Hendricks are following behind him. Behind the two are four people. One man and three women. We all got up as he appeared in front of us. "Lord Silver," we greeted. "Sit down everybody," he said, looking at all of us. I felt like his eyes and couldn''t help, but feel invisible pressure on me. Is it aura? I couldn''t help, but ask myself. I have never felt an aura, but I heard so many things about it. It is said, Lord Silver had awakened it in his battle in the Panar. "The whole tower had turned to the legacy, the policies need to be changed," he said. I felt relieved, hearing that. Irving had said, but hearing Lord Silver not talking about removing us had made me feel relieved. "The first thing that will change is policy on pricing. It needs to be in a certain range, and you all will need to follow it strictly." "Those who will disregard it will face punishment from fine to expulsion from the tower," he stated, looking at two, who looked down in shame. "The second, there will be a stricter oversight on the stores." "Mr. Hendricks will remain an authority on store floors, but now there will be the floor leaders," he stated, looking at the four people behind him. I felt relieved. I do not mind restriction and Mr. Hendricks is a good man. He does weekly meetings and many of his suggestions helped my business a lot. I looked at four people, behind him and couldn''t help, but wonder who would be responsible for my floor. "The third change will be ess. Those loyal will get ess to the legacy''s essence for their crafts," he said, and the earthquake went through the store owners. Every store owner is professional. They make and craft the things they sell. It is one of one of the requirements to get the store in the tower. I was confused about it, but now it be clear. The man nned it before the legacy had reached Grade III. No wonder he was able to advance his legacy so fast. He is something else. I turned and saw Miss Eva; everyone was looking at her. Only her store had ess to the essence. "Guildmaster Gagarin," said Lord Silver. I cleared my thoughts and looked at Irving. He got up and walked toward Lord Silver. "My lord," he said, before kneeling in front of him. Lord Silver looked at him, and at that moment, I felt something. I felt as weight as heavy as the mountain and light as a feather; it suppressed my very being. I looked at Lord Silver and felt him be tall andrge as a legacy itself. "Guildmaster Gagarin, you are the true son of the city and shed blood to defend it from our enemies. You are also a cksmith who had served his city faithfully." "For your service, I, Remus Silver. Master of Velvet Garden, grant you ess to its essence and hope, that you will take your craft to the next level and make your city proud," He dered with a voice that seemed in my very mind. I felt the change. I cannot describe it, but I felt it and I want it. I may be nothing but a humble shoemaker, but I feel the essence could help my craft reach apletely different realm. "Thank you for this great honor, my lord, I will not disappoint you," said Irving, with tears streaming from him. I now understood the furnace in his shop. He knew he was going to get ess to the essence, which he could only use in the legacy and thus, the furnace. "I know you will not," replied Lord, and helped him get up, while we apud. I could see the fire in the eyes of every store owner. Like me, they want what Irving has got. It''s going to be very interesting to see what they will do to gain it. That is the question, the lord didn''t exin. What will we need to do to get ess to the essence? Lord Silver had been vague about it. "There will be more policy changes in theing weeks till the opening." "I hope, you will follow them as sincerely as possible and not bring shame to Velvet Garden and me," he said and left with Madam Caena and his guards, while Mr. Hendriks stepped forward, with four people behind him. I felt relieved seeing that. There are a lot of questions I have to ask this old man. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 476: Offer Chapter 476: Offer "How about this, my lord?" asked Miss Rolgath as her assistant flipped the page on the board. Immediately, another interior design appeared. It is rough, without any colors, but as I looked at it. It begins to fill with colors and soon, the entire imagees out of the page. As it did, I did not see the image, but the entire fifteenth floor in these interiors. It''s an amazing skill. If I didn''t have a Vision Projection; I would have desired it. "It''s good. Add it to the list," I said after a few minutes. She nodded and turned to her assistant, who flipped the page once again. All the interior ideas are based on the current interior theme we have, but we are going to expand it to the whole floor and enhance it. It had been six days since the legacy had advanced to Grade III and every floor aside from the underground, lobby, and store floors were being renovated. Temporarily, most of the nts have been moved underground where Mage Irgal and his people taking care of them. A lot of things have been broken and are being remade. On every floor, people are working on different parts and among them, not a single person is below level 20. A third of them are over twenty-five. We need people with a good level for the fast and quality work. A week had nearly passed, and now there are only two and a half weeks before we open again. Looking at the pace, they are making progress. We will be ready to open on the founding day. One by one, I checked all eight designs and turned to Miss Rolgath. "Make changes to the sixth one; add the color scheme of the third and lightning of the ninth," I said to her. "I will ready the design by afternoon," she replied. A few minutester, she left, while I remained thinking. I stayed in my office for half an hour more before walking out. As I did, I immediately began to hear the sound and soon, saw people everywhere working on different things. Big changes are happening on the top floor and all around the tower. Including a direct elevator to the roof from the lobby. We are changing the entire system of the elevator. Bringing a more expensive, but efficient one. I didn''t choose itst time, because it was seven times more expensive to build and just as expensive to manage. We didn''t need that, but we need it now. I knew I would need it for Grade III, but I thought. It is years away. If I knew it was going to be a little over a month after the opening, I would have chosen this expensive one. The new system is going to be faster and will take less space. Most importantly, it will be able to ferry arge number without any problem. It is not just the elevator, I am changing the way peoplee to the legacy. Like before, the girls couldn''te through the underground floor. It is going to be a casino. So, we designed a different and more efficient route for them. I walked around, looking at the changes happening. The people looked at me but didn''t bow. I had forbidden it to the people working. Seeing how many times I came out through the day. It wastes a lot of time of these people and there has been even an ident. I could watch it with my new skills, but it didn''t give me as satisfaction as I get watching with my own eyes. "Master Silver, it''s eleven," said informed L. I nodded and turned toward my office. As I reached it; I saw seven people in a waiting room. I sat down in my chair, and L ced the file in front of me. I read through it quickly before turning to her. "Send the first one," I said to her. Click! A few secondster, a woman in her thirties walked in. She is a redhead with pale blue eyes and a round face, that anyone would fall for. She is a Ch Poots from Namdar. Eva had rmended her. "Lord Silver," she greeted and bowed impably. "Miss Ch, take a seat," I said to the woman. "Thank you, my lord," she replied and sat down in front of me. She sat straight, with a small professional smile on her face. It''s hard to sense what she was thinking, but I could see the faint nervousness in her pale blue eyes, which she is trying to hide. Her eyes are on me, but she also casted a faint nce at L from the corner of her eyes. "Your work is amazing, Miss Poots. In just a decade, you have taken your parent''spany to new heights." Her parent''spany was small, but since she took over. She had taken it to a new height; got the contracts, that the smallpany of her parents would never gotten. Eva had told me about this woman. How she convinced her to give herpany the contract. "It was a lot of hard work, a good team, and luck, my lord," she replied after a moment of silence. "You have good things going with yourpany and will rise even further. So, tell me why you want this job?" I asked her. She will earn a fraction of what she would at herpany. If she gets the job, she will have to give up all that. "Its legacy, my lord. A chance of a lifetime; I would be able to learn so much here," she replied with her eyes shining. "Make connections and then leave," I added with my expressions turning serious. A hesitation appeared on her face before she controlled her expressions. "Yes," she replied. Bing the first one to ept it openly. I have been interviewing people for a few days and asked the same question. All of them yed around with words. They never epted the fact. The interview is for the in-house event manager. I would need one now with a legacy upying the whole sixty-thousand square feet of space. So much could be done with such a huge space. I asked her more questions; rted to the field, my expressions turning serious with her each answer. "That is all, Miss Ch," I said to her as answered thest question. "Thank you for your time, Lord Silver," said the woman and left, disappointment shing in her eyes. "She is good," said L. "She is,", I agreed with a smile appearing on my face. She is honest and talented and glowing a rmendation from Eva. Soon, another person came, and then another. All of them are from the empire and came with great rmendations and experience. Soon, I finished the interviews and rested with my eyes closed. When the door opened, the guard handed L an envelope. "It hade," said L, cing the envelope with the emblem of Ranis Tavern. The old man contacted me two days ago. He kept the details short, even with the secure connection of the synod. ''Caena,'' I said to Caena telepathically. I would need her help, to decide on it. Tear! I took the envelope in my hands and tore it open with my nails before taking out the letter. The letter had apletely different emblem. They just used the old man to send the letter. Which is an offer for the five floors. I have to say it''s good. They stated what they wanted and what they were willing to give in exchange. I finished reading it and gave it to L. Click! A minuteter, Caena walked over and sat in front of me. L handed her the letter. "What do you think?" I asked. "We should take it," she replied directly. I thought there would be a hesitation or a few seconds of thinking, but there is none. "They will milk it before ites to us," I said, and she smiled. "They won''t be able to milk it for over 25%, which is the highest they could. The condition of the master isn''t good. He won''t be able to milk it over 15% before he dies," she replied. "The imperials and the merchants won''t be happy. They are already lobbying hard." I said. I am not overestimating their reaction. They really want those five floors for their business. There are casinos in the city, and they also want the space, but their business is not mature enoughpared to the best. The ones who sent the letter are the best on the entire continent. Onix Halcyon. Is the legacy casino in Ilden and unofficially, the empire considers them the enemy. They are allied with the kingdom of Geim and provide them arms and other others in their war against the empire. This is another factor making the negotiationsplicated, but they are offering a real prize. The core. When a legacy dies; its core is divided into hundreds of parts and goes to different legacies, but if the host willed it. It then goes to a specific legacy. It is called the first bite. The specific legacy can absorb the elements they want before releasing the core, which will then be divided into hundreds of parts, which will be divided into the legacies from the world. There is also milking. A humiliating process that fills my heart with rage. "Then we will give them so much emotion essence that anger is thest emotion they will feel toward us," she replied. Making L surprised. Now, she will know some secrets; that very few people are aware of. "How much we could harvest from it if we got the first bite?" I asked her. The core contains a true essence of legacy. It''s precious, but taking the true essence directly is dangerous. It has a vision of an original master, which could corrupt their own vision. It is why, even when one gets the first bite. They didn''t absorb over 1% of it. Extremely careful. That they wouldn''t don''t get polluted. It''s why many hosts of legacies don''t even ept the essence of a deal legacy. "If we made the right preparations. Then around 6% to 8%," she replied, and I nearly sucked a breath. Sup! L did. It might seem much, but it is massive. She hade to know about a few things. She understood well how much emotion essence the core contains. Even I didn''t dare to believe it and looked at her. "If we ept their offer, then we will not only take the essence, but the whole legacy, the casino. Absorbing their vision into ours. Which will make harvesting the core much smoother," she replied. ''Witchcraft.'' I thought. It is a concept magic. She exined it to me, and it is a dangerous thing. Because of her, I know a lot about witchcraft, and I would rather face a powerful mage, than a witch of the same level. They are terrifying. "So, we should ept it?" I asked once again. "Yes," she replied. I will need to send people for the negotiations. There are a few things that need to be sorted out. The question is who to send. Ca and Robin are unavable. So is Hardt. Arryn is busy with the task, and I would need Valentina in the city. I could have sent Andria, but she needs to handle the business side of things in Ca''s absence, and Varza isn''t good enough yet. That leaves Margaux and Hendriks. They too are busy with their responsibility, but they will have to do it since I don''t trust any other people that are avable. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 477: Daughter Chapter 477: Daughter Margaux Swan "Inam," said Hendricks, as he appeared by me at the railing. Looking at the city. I had passed by it a few times but never dared to take a step in it. There was always an excuse, but the real reason was that I wanted to keep her away from me. Not let the taint touch her in which she had grown. Today, I am going to meet my daughter after three long years. Every day had been unbearable, but now I will finally see her, hug her, kiss her, without fear of tainting her. I have be powerful enough to not let the taint ever touch her. I thought I would never aplish it, and I was fine with that. I just wanted her to be happy in her life, away from me and my shadow. Now, that fear is gone. ¡­ E Swan "Stop," said the guard as we tried to pass through the gate. "This is a reserved pier. Do you have permission?" he asked. "No," I replied nervously. "Mr. Guard is right. This is a reserved pier for the most distinguished guests of the lord. I think your mother made a mistake, El," said Magda. She is my roommate of three years and best friend. She is the only one, I had talked about my mom and what she does. I looked at the letter, and the number of the pier was written on it. "We will wait for a few minutes before going to another pier," I said. She wanted to say something but didn''t and instead sighed dramatically. "Fine," she agreed. A few minutes passed, and no ship appeared. I didn''t think, my mother''s ship would appear here, but I am staying, despite it might be a mistake in writing the pier''s number. I was thirteen when I left redfawn and now, at sixteen, I am going to see her finally. I miss her dearly and in two years. I wanted to go to Greltheaven to meet her, but she forbade me froming. "Step aside," said the guard suddenly, and moved us aside with his spear. "Rude," Magda muttered. A few secondster, a luxury carriage bearing the city''s g appeared and began to move through the gate. The carriage stopped not far from us, but no person got out. Minutes passed, and I was about to leave with Magda when a ship appeared. No, it''s not a ship, but a yacht. Far more beautiful than the one Magda''s father rented for her birthdayst year. "It''s beautiful," said Magda as it reached the pier. That is when the doors of the carriages opened and people walked out of it and went toward the pier. "Someone important must being for so many of them toe to wee them," I said, looking at an important-looking group of people. "Really important. See those gs on the yatch; the right one is the g of the city of Greltheaven." "The left is the g of the velvet garden; the legacy that advanced to Grade III, a week ago while the one in the center is the g of a noble house of silver," "So, whoever ising is pretty important. Might be a Lord Silver himself; I heard, he is quite handsome," he said, with a dreamy look in her eyes. Magda is very social. She knows about everything, that is happening. "The man in a ck suit is Laurence Fisk; he is an adviser to the lord." "The thin old man beside him is Rupert Madden, vice-guild master of the merchant guild," she introduced people like she always does. I recognize the thin man. I had seen him in a restaurant when I went to dinner with Magda and her family a few months ago. She had introduced that time well. I nodded absentmindedly while looking at the yacht. My mother works for the legacy. She doesn''t sleep with people anymore. She told me; she works in the background. I asked her more about it, but she was curt, as always, when it came to the work. "Mr. Guards, do you know, who ising from Greltheaven?" Magda asked, but the guards just grunted. "Rude," she said and turned to Yatch. A few secondster, the Yacht docked, and soon after people came out. They are so far away that I can''t see their face, but I don''t think any of them are my mother; they all look important, and seeing top officials of the city hade to receive them. She wille out after the important people left. Still, I wish I could see. I would have if I had added more points to my physical attributes.I didn''t have skills like Magda, that give better vision or know a spell. "I think Lord Silver didn''te. It is said he has silvery grey hair. Those that came out are older people." "Though the women are very beautiful, and they are wearing amazing clothes. They looked better than, the collection at Charles," she said, with her eyes shining. I let her words pass through me as always. I am more focused on the peopleing from the ship. Looking for my mother, but saw no sign of her. The group of three that came out of the yacht met the ground, waiting for them. A few secondster, one woman walked away from them, with a man walking beside her and four guards walking behind her. Soon, the green-haired woman got closer, and I felt a great familiarity with her when suddenly my eyes widened. "El, what happened?" asked Magda, worriedly turned to the womaning toward us. Soon, she walked through the gate and appeared in front of us, with a familiar smile appearing on her face. "Little Ellie, how big you have gotten. It feels like yesterday when you were barely up to my hip and now, you have be as tall as me." "Though you are still thin as before," said the woman and before I could say anything, she hugged me. "I missed you, kiddo," she said softly. "I missed you too, Aunt Cathy," I replied. She liked Cath, but I always called her Cathy. I really missed her and everyone. The only person I met was Aunt Ca. She let go after a few seconds and turned to the man beside her. "We have informed you about her and yet she is waiting outside," she said angrily with her voice dripping with authority. I had never seen her like this and feared for her. The man works for a city and so are guards behind her. "Deepest apologies, Miss Arga. We had sent the memo, to the port, but they said it was lost in paperwork," he apologized to my shock. She red at the man and turned back to me, with a smile returning to her face. "Come, your mother is dying to meet you. She woulde to get you personally, but she is on the job," she said and took my hand. I waved at Magda, who was looking at everything with great confusion, but followed quickly and this time, the guards didn''t stop us. We moved toward the pier where the ship at when I nearly stopped, seeing the woman talking with the group of people. She looked like my mom, but didn''t look like a woman I remember. She is very beautiful. Far more beautiful than I remember. Her make-up is perfect. So is her hair, and she is wearing a dress and jewelry that cost a fortune. I was looking at her, when she turned to me, and the smile on her face froze. Tears started to stream down her face, while the people beside her went quiet and turned to me. "My child," she said, and a momentter, she appeared beside her. Moving so fast that I only saw the blur. A momentter, I found her arms around me with her tears streaming down my dress. Tearsing out of my eyes too and they are falling on her expressive dress. She may look different and feel more powerful, but she is my mom. "I missed you so much, that every day had been painful without you," she said with a voice hupping. "I missed you too, Mom," I said, hugging her tightly. She may look different and wear expensive clothes, but she is my mother. The woman who sacrificed so much for me. We finally let go and he looked at me with her hand on my cheek. "You have grown taller, but you should eat more, dear. You look thin," she said, caressing my cheek gently. "I am eating, Mom," I said, with my cheeks flooding. She smiled and turned to Magda. "You must be Magda. Thank you for being so a good friend to my daughter," said Mom. Magda, who liked to talk so much, went quiet for a second. "We are friends," she replied nervously, in awe. Mom smiled, seeing that before she turned back to me. "Dear, give me a few minutes and then we will leave," she said, I nodded, and she went to talk to the people. "Who is your mother?" asked Magda in a whisper-scream. "I told you already," I replied, and she red at me. "You told me, your mother is, was a p-word. Does the woman talking with Adviser Fisk and Vice-Guildmaster Madden look a former p-word to you?" she asked once again in a whisper-scream. "I am as confused as you," I replied truthfully, looking at my mother. A few minutester, she walked toward me, with Aunt Cath and others. "Ellie, this is this is Chief Hendriks. He worked with your aunt Ca," she said, looking at the old man. "And this is Mr. Fisk, adviser to Lord of Inam and Vice-Guildmaster Madden of Inam''s merchant guild," she introduced. "Hello, I am nor nk," I introduced myself, biting down the heavy nervousness. They all shook my hand, before turning to my mother. "Miss Swan, you should have told us. Your daughter studies in our city. We would have taken better care of her," said Adviser Fisk. "She is a shy child adviser, and I wanted her to focus on her studies," he replied. "It''s such a regret that you won''t attend the party. Well, we will meet you at the venue," he said, and mother smiled. Soon, he left with others and Aunt Cathy. Leaving my mom with me. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 478: Daughter II Chapter 478: Daughter II Margaux Swan "You two have a pleasant time; I will meet you, both at the dorm," said the violet-haired girl and walked away, before I could say anything to her. E had written a lot about her friend a lot. She and her family gave her a normalcy I had never been able to give her. I feel bad seeing her leaving. I wanted to thank her, but also grateful that I will be able to spend some alone time with my daughter. ¡­ E Swan I watched Magda leave and couldn''t help, but feel bad. We are inseparable, but now she left to give me some alone time with Mom. "Let''s go. We have only a few hours and a lot of things to do," said Mom and walked toward the ck carriage, which had the gs of the city of Greltheavena and the velvet garden. Click! The driver opened the door for us, and we stepped inside. The carriage is a luxury one and feels better than the one Magda''s parents have. "What do you do, mother?" I asked as the carriage began to move. Mother didn''t tell me much about her job. Other than saying, she didn''t sleep with people anymore. Maybe I should ask around, but I didn''t listen much to anything that was happening around me. My only source of information about current affairs is Magda and her information most of the time is gossip. "I told you, dear; I am in charge of things that happen in the background. My responsibilities lie in managing the girls," she replied, smiling. "It''s like a Madam?" I asked. "Kind of," she replied, with a smile. "Enough about me. Tell me about yourself. How is school? Your studies? Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked one question after another while taking my hand in hers. Her eyes are inquisitive. She wants to know everything. "School is good. I only have one exam remaining in this academic year. I have prepared for it and won''t have a problem in clearing it," I replied. There is one more thing, but I am debating whether to tell or not. Telling her would be useless; it''s not like we can afford it, despite her new standing. "And boyfriend?" she asked, and a face appeared in front of me. I pushed it away quickly. "No boyfriend, mom; I want to focus on my studies first," I replied. "It''s good you are focusing on your studies, dear, but don''t always stay in your dorm. Enjoy the life a little," she said. "I am, Mom," I replied exasperatedly. It''s not the first time she has said something like this; she always says this in her letters. We talked for a few minutes when the carriage stopped. "We are there," said Mom and I was about to ask, where we were when the door opened, and I saw the familiar building. "Come out, dear," said Mother as she got out. I nodded and stepped out hesitantly. We are in front of Charles; one of the best stores in Inam. I havee here a few times with Magda, but never really brought anything. It''s far too expensive. Magda tried a few times to buy me something, but I declined. I was watching a beautiful building when Mother took my arms and we walked toward the store. Many people stared at her. She was beautiful before, but now had be even more beautiful. Like a blinding sun. Soon, we entered the store through the ss door. The store is huge, five stories tall. They sell everything here clothes, essories, make-up and other things. Every time, I came here. I couldn''t help but admire it. I turned to my mother and, to my surprise. There is no admiration or awe in her eyes. I was looking at her when I noticed someoneing toward us. A middle-aged man and a beautiful raven-haired woman, looking to be in herte twenties. I was surprised to see the man. I know him, Magda had said, he is the proprietor of the store. "Miss Swan, wee to Charles," said the with a fawning smile as he stopped in front of us. "Thank you. Mr. Lance," replied Mom, and the man''s expression lit up. "Chief asked us, to show you, our best collection only. It might not be as good as the one in Eva Cain, but it''s very good," he said, while I watched in shock. Thest time I saw him. He was rudely talking to someone and now he is fawning over my mom. The man turned to me, and a purple card appeared in his hand. "The chief asked me to give you this young miss. This is our most exclusive membership card; you can use it in any of our stores," he said, handing me the card. I took the purple card with a shaking hand and saw my name on it. I am shocked in my heart. I know the memberships of this store; Magda''s mother has, but hers is the second level, while this is the fourth level, the top one. She had told me how hard it is to get it. You need to be someone important. There are not over a hundred people in the city who have it. Now, I have be one of them. "Thank you," I said hesitantly. "Mina, here is our best sales staff. She will show you our best collection," he said, introducing the beautiful raven-haired woman beside him. He talked with Mom for a minute more before leaving us with Mina. She led us to the sixth floor of the elevator and into a beautiful private viewing room and sat us in the mostfortable chairs, before bringing the dresses. So beautiful that even Magda would feel jealous. She definitely would. Whenever she sees people, wearing beautiful clothes. "Go, try them, dear," said Mom. "They are very expensive, Mom," I said nervously. They are expensive. So much, so that there is no tag on them. Mom smiled at hearing that. "You do not have to worry about that, dear," she replied. "The dresses are free, miss. The chief had said, it would be her gift to you," added Mina. This is a collection that is not open to the public yet. It will be sold next month if what Magda said is right and she is telling me everything is free. There was barely any change in Mom''s face hearing that. "Choose any dress you want and don''t worry Miss Eva won''t be angry if you choose everything," said Mom, while the saleswoman smiled nervously at that. It''s a joke. I chose the first dress. The ck dress and went to the changing room, beforeing out. "It looks beautiful, dear," said Mom, and it does. It fits me perfectly and would be suitable for any formal asion. Seeing myself in it, a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. "Try another, dear." She said, and I did, and then another. One by one, I begin to try many dresses. There seemed to be never the end of them. There will always be more dresses to try. I finally stopped, and we immediately moved to the shoes. The shoes are just as beautiful as the dresses. "We have to go to the academy soon, Mom, before the visiting hours end," I said as the woman removed another pair of shoes from my feet. She sighed. "Which pairs do you want?" she asked a momentter. "The green and red one," I replied. A few minutester, we were walking out of the store with three dresses and two pairs of shoes. "I wanted to buy you everything, but there is no time," she said with regret. "It''s fine, Mom, this is already more than enough," I replied, and it is. "They will do for now; I will buy you more stuff when youe to the Grelthaven," she said and I couldn''t help, but be surprised. "Are you finally allowing me toe visit you?" I asked, and she smiled. "It is a wonderful city. You will love it," she said. I smiled joyfully. Finally, I will be able to spend days with my mother. Soon, we were in the carriage, and a few minutester. It reached the academy. I was about to ask the driver to stop and took out the visiting card Magda helped me get when I saw the carriage directly entering the academy. The guards didn''t even stop it. They let it pass through without even checking it. I looked at my mother with a question, but she simply smiled. Soon, the carriage stopped, and we got out. I begin to show my mom the academy. From the ssrooms too to the library to the garden where I like to study. People would look at us whenever we go. Some openly, some covertly. Mom seemed used to it. Seeing, she barely batted an eye. Finally, we walked into my dorm building, where everyone began to look at us. Some looked surprised, while some looked confused. Well, to them, I am an orphan girl who hangs around with Magda. I didn''t have any friends or talk to any people. Click! Soon we reached the third floor and stepped inside my room, and I finally felt relieved. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 479: Daughter III Chapter 479: Daughter III E Swan Magda was reading a book, or rather a magazine, as we stepped inside the room. ¡°You guys came earlier than I thought,¡± she said, with her cheeks flooding as she tried to fix her messy bed. ¡°I wanted to spend more time with her, but I have an important meeting in less than two,¡± replied Mom with a regretful sigh. Before she turned to us. ¡°Girls, go ready yourself. I will take you both to lunch,¡± said Mom. ¡°You guys can go. I have some things to do,¡± said Magda, making an excuse. ¡°Nonsense, you areing with us,¡± said Mom and her voice booked no argument. ¡°Ok,¡± Magda agreed after a moment of silence and took out a dress from her cupboard before changing behind the dividing curtain of the room. She came out, wearing a red dress. She looked beautiful, as always. I walked behind the curtain. A minuteter, I came out, wearing a ck dress and green shoes. ¡°Is that dress from the newest collection at Charles? I thought they aren¡¯t selling before twelve next month,¡± she asked, looking surprised. I sighed and took out the purple card from my bag and gave it to her. She looked shocked, as I had never seen her. ¡°Let¡¯s go girls,¡± said Mom and we were out of the door. ¡°How do you get this?¡± asked Magda in a whisper as she got control over her emotions. ¡°The owner is Mother''s friend,¡± I replied. This is what she said when I asked earlier. She seemed to have a hard time believing it. So am I. Everything feels like a dream. Soon, we got out of the dorm, and the carriage was waiting in front of the dorm. The carriages weren¡¯t allowed in the front, but this one did, and the guards weren¡¯t doing anything. The driver opened the door, and we stepped inside. ¡°Where we are going, Miss Swan? I can suggest a few ces. We can also go to the restaurant that El likes a lot,¡± asked Magda as she finally calmed down. ¡°It¡¯s a good one. We will go to Ellie¡¯s favorite one next time and stop calling me, Miss Swan. You can call me Margaux,¡± said Mother. Magda nodded when suddenly her eyes went wide and her whole body shook. ¡°Are you perhaps, Headmistress Margaux?¡± she asked a momentter with her voice shaking. I felt like, I heard that name before, but never really focused. Seeing how much, Magda talks. Mom didn¡¯t say anything, but she smiled. This is answer enough and conformation shocked Magda even more. ¡°Headmistress?¡± I asked Mom. ¡°It¡¯s just the title, dear, nothing else,¡± replied Mom. Knowing, I would not get a proper answer from my mom. I turned to Magda. She didn¡¯t say anything for a few seconds before opening her mouth. ¡°It is said that the triumvirate of women runs the legacy of Greltheaven.¡± ¡°Ca Salt handles the business side of it, and she is also said to be mistress of the lord of Greltheaven.¡± ¡°Caena Aris, is the madam of the legacy, it is under hermand and Headmistress Margaux handles the pros, girls,¡± she replied, not moving her eyes away from Mom. I turned to my mom in shock. I am not that clueless about the world. I know about Aunt Ca; we write letters, but she never told me about what Mom does. Whenever I asked, she told me to ask my mom. I turned to my mother, and she didn¡¯t say anything other than smile. I was about to press her when something came to my mind. Something I read about a few days ago, but wasn¡¯t able to make the connection. ¡°Then, Aunt Ina?¡± I asked. ¡°Is Governor of Panar,¡± finished Mom, with pride shing in her eyes. I am shocked. So much, that I couldn¡¯t even think properly. So, I slumped in my chair and closed my eyes to calm all the jumbling thoughtsing to my mind. I only opened my eyes when I felt the carriage and the door open. Mom walked out, then Magda and then me. When I saw where we were, my mind couldn¡¯t help, but freeze. ¡°I think, I reached the limit of shocks in one day,¡± said Magda with a sigh and followed behind my mom. We went straight for the door, while thousands of people came to see the legacy watch with envy and desire. Soon, we reached the door, and a middle-aged man was waiting there. ¡°Wee to Vanis Tavern, Miss Swan,¡± weed the man. ¡°He is Nilman Croft; head manager of the legacy,¡± whispered Magda. ¡°Has the party arrived?¡± asked Mom, and the man¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°Yes, they have arrived a few minutes ago. Lord Ranis had asked me to tell you, that meeting will start on time,¡± he replied and led the way. I followed behind, experiencing the enchanting feeling of the legacy, I heard so much about. It helped me calm down on the turmoil of emotions, I am feeling. While we walked, many people looked at us, but this time, I was too upied with the legacy to care. ¡°Margaux, I hope you have been well,¡± came a youthful voice and a beautiful young woman slightly older than me appeared in front of Mom. She is the most famous young woman in the city. Alina Lindgren. Granddaughter of Vanis Lindgren; the master of this legacy. She is also my upperssman at the academy. ¡°I am. Thank you for asking, Alina,¡± replied Mom, before turning to me. ¡°Alina, this is my daughter, E, and her friend Magda,¡± Mom introduced, and the young woman turned to us. ¡°Hell, I am Aline Lindgren,¡± she introduced. ¡°You two seem familiar. Have we met before?¡± she asked a momentter. ¡°We study in the same academy, senior,¡± I replied, and her eyes lit up and turned to Mom. ¡°Margaux, you should have told your daughter to live in the city and study in the same academy as me,¡± she said to Mother. ¡°It slipped my mind,¡± replied Mother while the young woman rolled her eyes. ¡°I won¡¯t waste your time anymore, Margaux. Croft, take good care of them,¡± she said to the manager. ¡°I will. Ma¡¯am,¡± he replied and led us. Soon we were walking to the stairs above. ¡°I heard the upper floors are good,¡± said Magda softly. She hade to the legacy once, when she was ten, and praised it a lot. I have to say, her praises pale in front of the real thing. We reached the first floor, then the second, and still kept climbing. I heard, higher on the floor, the most exclusive it is, and seeing, the tavern only has four floors. Soon, we reached the top floor, where there were only a few tables. The manager led us toward the table by the window. ¡°The server will soone to take your orders, man,¡± he said and walked away. For a few seconds. Nobody talked before I opened my mouth. ¡°Why are you here, mom?¡± I asked, and even Magda became alert. From what I had seen so far, it seemed like she hade for an important business. ¡°Its legacy business, dear. Very important,¡± she replied. I wanted to ask her further, but I knew I would not get an answer to that question. Soon the server came and took our orders before leaving. ¡°Margaux, is it true that the Greltheaven legacy has now covered the whole tower?¡± asked Magda. ¡°Yes, the whole tower is the domain of the velvet garden,¡± she replied. ¡°And there are beautiful nts there that release fragrances better than perfumes?¡± she asked. ¡°That¡¯s also true,¡± replied mom. She asked, questions after the questions and only stopped when our orders arrived. ¡°Wow, it''s really delicious,¡± said Magda, after taking a sip from a green drink. My yellow is also delicious; it gave me a ride to memories that responded with vors in the drink. ¡°Your aunt Cresa is a bartender now, and she makes mean drinks,¡± informed Mom, after taking a sip of her own drink. ¡°Really. I cannot imagine Aunt Cresa being a bartender,¡± I replied. Surprised, I really cannot imagine, Aunt Cresa, I know, being a bartender. She informed me of many things while we ate. The food is never eaten, each bite would emotion and memories. Before I knew it, Madga and I had cleaned the whole table. Including several bowls of different deserts. ¡°I think I have seen someone familiar earlier. I will go meet them,¡± said Magda suddenly and secretly touched me while giving me a look. She wants me to talk about it. I thought about a moment, before turning to my mother. ¡°Mom, there is something. I have to tell you,¡± I said and worry shed in her. ¡°What is it? Is someone doing something to you?¡± she asked, all worried. She was always worried about that and used to keep me hidden ce while she worked. ¡°No, nothing like that,¡± I replied, before taking out an envelope from my bag and cing it in front of her. She looked at the letter before a surprise shed in her. She took out the letter from it and the surprise turned into shock. ¡°Honey, congrattions,¡± said Mother, with her eyes zing with joy and pride. The letter is from archimage city. Its eptance letter from Archmage Academy; is one of the best mage academies in the entire world. I didn¡¯t think, I would get seeing how behind I ampared to students of a real magic academy, but I did. However, I wasn¡¯t good enough to be offered a schrship. ¡°I didn¡¯t get a schrship. The fees are too high, Mom,¡± I said, shaking my head. No matter how much, my mother is earning now. She couldn¡¯t afford to pay for a single year, much less the whole degree. It is the ce where the most talented, smart, privileged peoplee. It¡¯s verypetitive, that is less than 1% who applies gets the admission. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Your mother is here. She will pay for it,¡± said Mom, and tears couldn¡¯t help streaming down my eyes. I got off my and hugged my mom while crying. She had said the same thing when I got epted three years ago. The academy was nothing special, and I got a schrship, but money was needed. It was far more than what, she had saved, but she still managed to get it. ¡°Thank you, mom,¡± I said. I wanted to ept it, but I never could. Now my mom and made it possible, like she did years ago. ¡°Why are thanking me? I am a mother. It¡¯s my duty,¡± she replied. She had done so much. From changing my name to making me an orphan. I had seen the pain in her eyes when she saw my name and the orphan beneath it. She couldn¡¯t give me her name and have her as my mother officially. Nobody epts the daughter of a prostitute. Even amon academy would have rejected my application. ¡°This is cause for a celebration,¡± she said a few secondster the waiter came and a less than minuteter, he brought the cake. It¡¯s beautiful. ¡°It is a one delicious looking cake,¡± she Magda as she returned. She also saw the letter and mouthed congrattions. We ate the cake, despite being full and, as Magda had said. It¡¯s really delicious. Soon we finished it when mom took out something from her bag and gave it to Magda. It looked like an invitation. The most beautiful, I had seen. ¡°This!¡± Magda said, shocked. ¡°An invitation to celebration at velvet garden. It¡¯s for you and your family,¡± replied Mom. Tears appeared in Magda¡¯s eyes. It''s a big thing, I heard her talk about Velvet Garden and opening night one and half months ago. Even her father praised it a lot andmented that he could never invitation to function like that. Even to get a reservation there, he would need to wait for months. ¡°Thank you. My parents would be ecstatic,¡± thanked Magda, wiping her tears. ¡°This is the least I could do for what you and your family had done for my daughter,¡± Mom replied with her welling up. A few minutes passed, and Mom looked at the clock before sighing. ¡°I wish, I could stay with you with you more, my child, but there is an important meeting in a few minutes,¡± she said with a word filled with regret. ¡°We will meet after you finish, right?¡± I asked, and a faint hesitation appeared on her face. ¡°At least for a few minutes,¡± she replied after a moment of silence. ¡°That is enough. In two weeks, I wille to Greltheaven, and we will spend all the time together,¡± I said, and she smiled. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 480: Understanding Chapter 480: Understanding Aman Halcyon Click! The door opened and three people walked inside the small conference room. The man and woman are in front, while the second woman is behind. The man is Vaz Hendricks. He knew Silver from childhood and assistant to his father. He is loyal to the house and Silver said to trust him a lot. However, I have been advised to focus on women. It them Silver said to listen to most. He even made one governor of the city, he conquered. Both of the women are beautiful, as I heard. The older one is important; she is one of the three pirs of a triumvirate that runs the legacy. The younger is an assistant, madam, a position level down. "Margaux, Chief Hendricks, please take a seat," said old man Vanis. "Thank Lord Lindgren," the woman replied with a perfect bow before sitting down. "Margaux, Chief Hendricks, this young man, Aman Halcyon, is a grandson of my good friend Theus. The gentleman beside him is an honorable Lord Danis, the crown''s man," he introduced. "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Halcyon, Lord Danis," she said and shook hands with the Danis and mine. "Now, the introduction is over, let''s begin," said the old man and turned to me. Every eye turned to me. I felt a little nervous; it would have really helped if Mother hade, but she was handling the things on her end. "I want to start with the question. Does Lord Silver is interested in our offer?" I asked, and the woman smiled. "Lord Silver is interested. Though he is more interested in the casino than the core," she replied. "So, you have no interest in the core?" asked Danis, using his skill on them. I had hinted to him to let me the lead, but the dog of the crown wasn''t listening. His master wants to squeeze every drop of the legacy before it dies. Hendrik''s expressions changed, and he activated the skill to counter that, while the woman''s expressions remained unchanged. She didn''t even activate her skill. "We didn''t say that, Lord Danis. It''s just that Master Silver wants to be careful with the core." "Velvet Garden has a huge potential. I might even say it will be a Grade IV legacy one day and my lord wants to be careful, lest it taint his vision," replied Hendriks, a loyal dog. Though he is right. Grandfather had said, there is a good chance that the velvet garden will reach Grade IV in theing decade. There was a silence for a second before I opened the file. "We want the space in the legacy. We will prefer the upper floors and be willing to take even four floors," I said, and the woman shook her head. "Only underground floors are avable," replied Hendriks matter-of-factly. "Then we wantplete control over the five underground floors. From interior to staff," "We also want ess to the legacy''s essence for our games, machines, and food and drinks," I said with a poker face, while deeply nervous inside. Mother had staked everything on it. We need them to agree with it. "No, the velvet garden is the domain of my lord. Every change will need to go through him," replied Hendriks. I open my mouth to object and hint at the concession we will make when the woman spoke finally. "What Chief is saying is that we will see your ns and make necessary changes to meld the casino to Velvet Garden''s vision," "As for the ess to the legacy''s essence, you will have it under certain conditions," she replied, and I felt relieved. Them going through our n and making the modifications to them are to be expected. It is a legacy, and the master wouldn''t tolerate anything. That wouldn''t meld in his vision. Still, I hope they won''t change too much. We still want to keep our business to keep its identity. "What are changes Lord Silver will do?" I asked. She turned to the woman behind her. She took the file from her hand and slid it toward me. I opened the file and began to read, and my expression turned serious. He wants control over everything. Including the things like, the uniform our staff will wear. "These are too much," I said as I closed the file and Danis took it. "These are changes we could make. If we like something and it aligns with our vision, we wouldn''t change it," she rified. I knew this, but still wouldn''t want to ept it. I have grown in the legacy, and these people want to change it. I hate it, but the thing is, we don''t have any choice. As Mother had said, once Grandfather died, the wolves woulde at us. They have already started sniffing. "We want to keep our name," I said defiantly. "That is not a problem," replied the woman, surprising me. I thought they would have a problem with it and would probably ask to add velvet before our name like they did with some of their floors. We discussed one point after another. Some they agreed with, and some they disagreed. It is not negotiations, just an understanding. If we agree enough, we will move to the negotiations, which will happen in the Ilden. Grandfather himself is going to take part in it. Unlike them, we do not have much choice and are flexible on many things that we wouldn''t have. If we were not so desperate. Soon one and a half hours passed, and we finished with all themon points. "I will give you all some privacy," said the old man Vanis and left. Immediately, all the skills and tools were activated. Creating as strong privacy as possible. It might not be enough to stop him. If the old man wants to snoop; he is a lord of the legacy, after all. "The crown wants five thousand Grade III essence bottles to agree with this deal," said Danis as the door closed, pressing them with his skills. He is level 30+ and his lord ss makes his skill powerful. The strain appeared on the old man''s face and the woman finally activated her skill, without any strain. Even a smile appeared on her face. I don''t know whether it seemed confident or hearing the preposterous demand from Danis. "Master Silver will agree to give a crown of Ilden seven hundred bottles of Grade III essence," "Three hundred will be given the first year and the rest four hundred will be given the second year," replied the woman without any strain in her voice. "That''s too low. The crown will not agree with this," said Danis, declining. "Then it is regretful. That we will not being to the understanding." The woman replied firmly. Shocking me; even Danis looked shocked. "We will agree with three thousand," said Danis, but both of them shook their heads. "We havee here to discuss with Onyx Halcyon, because it is one of the best casinos on the continent, not because of its legacy." "A big risk for us given the rtionship between our countries," "The velvet garden could only afford seven hundred bottles. If the crown wants more, then please approach the other legacies, because Velvet Garden cannot give you what you had asked," said Hendriks. Tremor rang through my heart, hearing that. This bastard Danis is really too much. The standard rate of Grade III Legacy''s first bite is five hundred essence bottles, and he wanted ten times. The core is precious, but because of corruption, not many people take it. To them, a small part is more than enough. Even the dying ones wouldn''t absorb, as it will quicken the death of the host. It is why the crown had been focused on the miking and had kept a physician and augur in legacy. The moment they felt grandfather could die within a week. The crown will order for the milking. The silence stretched as nobody spoke. We may have the legacy, but this bastard master controls it. Whether to agree with it or not will depend on him. Our future depends on him. "Give me a minute," said Lord Danis finally greeted teeth and walked out. Click! It took five and a half minutes before Danis finally returned. He didn''t look good; there were even sparks of anger in his eyes. "The crown agrees, but we want all seven hundred bottles within six months. With a hundred bottles minimum per month," he stated. Hendriks looked at the woman, and a hesitation appeared on his face. "We agree," replied the woman without hesitation. Grandfather had said such an amount would be a problem for the Velvet Garden. Which had be the biggest legacy in Grade III and under. "We would like it if the velvet garden reduced the profit share to quarter instead of third," I said. They didn''t want the rent, but a third of the profit. Which isn''t strange. Seeing we are getting space in a legacy, not in somemon building. "No," she replied, and I sighed internally before moving next point. One by one, we have gone through all, before finishing. "Please state the points we agreed to, the Lord Silver. If he agrees, we can take the next step," I said. They are just staff; the decision to agree or not is on Silver. It made me nervous, and I hoped the answer woulde soon. "There is no need. Lord Silver agrees," she said, shocking me. ''Is it a skill?'' I thought. It likely is there is no way she would make such a big decision on her own, without getting permission from her master. "Then we will leave for Ilden by evening," I said, and she nodded. A few minutester, after talking to old man Vanis, I walked out, feeling a new hope. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 481: Panar Chapter 481: Panar Ina Knox "A week more and the wall would be fully ready to deal with any danger that came at it," said Architect Harrison. "Let''s hope so," I replied as I checked the wall. They are making progress fast, but I hope, they will be faster. Our patrols have spotted the undead, and that is making me worry. We didn''t attack. They have kept their distance. If they had got closer and crossed into the boundary of the city, we would have attacked them. Still, to be cautious, General Azalea sent the teams. Including the earth mages and a few specialized officers to check the underground. The undead are notorious for attacking through the underground tunnels. Getting caught off guard was thest thing I wanted to happen. I got off the wall and saw a few carriages leaving the city. They had minors in them. We are slowly taking infants and children out of the city. We are also making progress for the ones that are in the city, especially the schools. Seven schools will open at the start of next month, along with the three hospitals. It is far less than what the city needs, but it is all we can currently manage. I stepped into my carriage, and it moved, while I watched it through the widow. A lot had changed in the past twelve days since we had conquered the city. There is no trash on the street or sewage floating out in the streets. Unfortunately, it is not the state of the entire city, but we are making progress. We have chosen three areas for the reconstruction. The market area, residential area, and central area, that houses the city hall and other official buildings. Covering a fifth of the city. We have shifted 70% of the people into them and n to shift the rest of the 30% as well by the end of the month. Every day, more people areing to the city. Most are temporary, like workers working on the reconstruction. They will leave after their work is finished. Though some are here to stay permanently despite the risk. Like that group of orcs walking by the road. They are miners; they came here to work in the mines. We need miners, a lot of them. There are good mines in the city. The sooner we start them, the sooner economic activity will return to the city. Currently, the economy of the city ispletely ruined, but mines are things that could fix it. We are very close; I have a meeting with a man responsible for fixing the mines in a few minutes and I hope, he has good news for me. A few minutester, the carriage stopped at the city hall, and I got out. People stopped as I walked toward the city and bowed, but not as deeply as they would to the Master Silver, and many had contempt in their eyes. I could hear them whispering ''whore'' and ''prostitute'' now and then and it hurts, but I do not hold it against them. They are part of my identity and will be with me as long as I will live. The only thing I hold against them is they not doing their work. They may hate me, feel jealous, or have contempt, but they should do the work that had been assigned to them. Most are doing their work as they have been ordered, but a few are creating some problems. The warnings had been given. If they don''t listen, they will be thrown out. Master Silver had given meplete freedom to deal with them as I see fit, within a reason. Soon, I reached my office, and the guards bowed, before opening the door for me. I entered inside and nodded at Anika. Ca had sent her from her office. She is temporary, till permanent recementes. I would have liked to have Andrea or Varza, both of them are capable and I have trained them myself. Andrea is busy handling things in Ca''s absence, while Varza declines the offer. She would havee if I had insisted, but I didn''t. Seeing the new responsibilities she had got. She had gotten the promotion and taken the post that L used to have. She had already gone to the empire with Hardt a week ago. "Mydy," greeted Anika. I nodded and sat down, feeling the joy at the greeting. It had been nearly two weeks, but the novelty of my new position hadn''t worn off. I love my new position. It is stressful, and I am awake most of the time, but I love it. "Mydy, Mr. Artik is here," said h. "Send him in," I replied. Click! A secondter, the door opened and a man in his fifties walked in. His eyes roamed over me, with lust shing in his eyes for a moment before he controlled his expressions. "Mydy," he greeted. "Take a seat, Mr. Artik," I said to the man. "Thank you my,dy," he replied and sat down. He is a mine specialist from a merchant state. He and his people had been here for the past week, working on different mines. The months of neglect had made the mines worse, and animals were turning into monsters because of the high-energy environment of the mines. Though we have dealt with them. Monsters are bad, especially the vermin types. "I hope you have something for me, Mr. Atrik," I said to the man. "I have mydy, both good and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" he asked back with a smile. "Bad one," I replied. "The whole mine support system of the third mine would need to be reced," he said. I wanted to curse and bang my fist hard across the table, but I controlled myself. Changing a whole mine support is expensive work, and we can''t afford expensive right now. However, since it is rted to mine. I have no choice but to do it and that will mean cutting the expenses from something else. The budget is on the knife''s edge and this additional expense is going to make things even more difficult. "Can it be fixed temporarily?" I asked, and the man shook his head. "No, there is a good chance. If we tried to fix it temporarily, it would copse," he replied, and I sighed. "Then what is the good news?" I asked, hoping it would be best. "The other mines are good. They will require some repair, but they can be fixed quickly and cheaply," he replied, and the relief flooded into my body. I do not want to pay for any major damage. "The second mine is most undamaged. My men are working on it and if everything went well; it could be opened in two days," he added, and a smile lit up across my face. "You should have started with that, Mr. Artis," I said to the man, and he smiled. He stayed for a few more minutes before he left, while I added this news in the evening missive to the Master Silver. There are many mines, but we have people to support only one mine, two at most. We need more people and Master Silver is sending them little by little. Few people want toe here. Especially the humans; nearly 80% of miners who came to the city are the orcs. The humans too wille eventually as long as they see steady employment and safety. Orcs are good, they are hardworking people. Master Silver is negotiating with a few more mining tribes to move them into our cities. The conditions around Fort Renin and Nakar Forest aren''t good. They are managing it well and even constructing a fort to contain the monsters. There is a huge trade that goes through there, that ckwell and baronies do not want to get disturbed. However, the monster problem is increasing, and it is troubling the orc tribes closer to the extreme magic region. It is forcing them to move and many of the orcs and even the entire tribes are shifting. Greltheaven, Fort Renin, and Lauryl are benefitting a lot from this. All of them need the people to support their expansion and development. I pushed those thoughts and focused on the work. A few hours passed, and soon, it was evening. I have one more meeting and then I will have dinner with Barb. I have asked her to stay with me. It gets lonely, and thepany of friends helps a lot, but she is busy with her job and can only do one dinner weakly, which I cherish a lot. "There is a message from General Azalea. She wants to meet with you," informed Mage Osward, bringing me out of my thoughts. "When?" I asked. "Now," she replied, and a frown couldn''t help but appear on my face. She didn''t ask for an emergency appointment unless it was important. Thest time, she did, when our patrol spotted the undead. "Ok," I replied, wishing it wouldn''t be something serious. I will know when shees, and with that, I focus on the work in front of me. ''Governor, General Azalea, is here for you,'' informed h through the inte. "Send her in," I replied. Click! A momentter, a raven heard a womane inside through the doors. "Governor," she greeted with a bow. "General, please take a seal," I replied. Our rtionship isn''t warm, but it''s cordial. That''s enough for now. "What happened?" I asked. "Our people engaged in a small skirmish with the enemy," she replied, and I sighed internally. "What did the undead do?" I asked. "They crossed the boundary," she replied. We are adhering to the boundaries that the empire had drawn for the domain of each city. We had rified that to the undead. We had warned them we would attack if they were across the boundary, and now, we did. "Any casualty?" I asked. "No, but there are a few injuries," she replied. "Thank you for informing me, General. Don''t hesitate to ask, if you need anything," I said to her. The conflict with the undead is thest thing we want. We have a good army and even Commander Stone is in the city as a deterrent, but it might not be enough if the undead attack. Though we will respond to any aggression. Whether it is crossing the boundary or attacking the city. "Thank you for your support, Governor. I will send you the detailed report of a skirmish in a few hours," she said and got up to leave. "General, how is the response to the recruitment?" I asked the woman. We are recruiting people for the army. Today is the first day to receive the applications. "Immense, we have already got three thousand applications and more wille in theing days," she said with an expression on her face lighting up. There are a lot of young people in the city. We had hired many for different jobs. Not the heavy ones, Lord Silver is very adamant about it. Just like how he is adamant about recruiting only sixteen and above for the army. They will only see thebat after they reach eighteen. It is one thing General Stone, and the army disagreed with Master Silver. I am also with them, in that opinion. Fifteen is the norm in recruiting people for the army, some countries recruit at fourteen and send them to fight the battles at fifteen, but Master Silver vehemently disagrees with it. He loosened a little. Listening to his trusted people and seeing the needs of the city. Before the age of recruitment had been seventeen and above, but now it is sixteen. However, the recruits, won''t be sent tobat, till they reach eighteen. In that, he is inflexible as an iron rod. I finished myst meeting andpiled the missive before sending it to Master Silver. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 482: Aura Training Chapter 482: Aura Training Click! I opened the door of the roof and stepped inside. I activated the spells and charms, not only on the door but also on the mist roof. I don¡¯t want anyone to get a hint of what I will be doing here. It will be dangerous for me and especially for her. ¡°Bell,¡± I greeted the beautiful woman. ¡°My lord,¡± she replied. ¡°So?¡± I asked a little awkwardly, and she smiled, before walking toward the center of the roof and sitting on the square ck mat. ¡°Please sit, my lord,¡± she said, and I sat on the ck mat in front of her. For a few seconds, there was a silence, before she opened her mouth. ¡°Aura is a representation of will; only those of the powerful will be able to bring it out.¡± She said slowly and her aura gentle as the water came out of her. It''s invisible, but suppressive. I wanted to bring out mine to protect myself from it. ¡°There are many ways to understand and control it. My mother used to say, aura is an extension of self; it is a limb that could take any shape and give one a great reach,¡± As she said those words. Her aura became like a limb, and it carefully plucked the few leaves of the nts over twenty meters away. ¡°While to my father, it¡¯s energy that could take any form to suit one needs,¡± she exined, and a momentter, cast a water drizzle spell x 3 and water drops began to fall down. As it did, her aura turned into a massive saucer and captured all the water, while I watched in awe. I had read about the aura, and after I awakened it. I read it even more. The control she had just shown now is extremely high. People need to practice for decades to gain such control, while she had awakened it a decade ago and practiced in a ce where she couldn¡¯t be found out. If she had not been hiding and could practice without fear, her control might have reached a terrifying level. She might have even taken the next step. As her mother said, supposed to have taken and there are rumors that her father had taken that too. Her parents were one of the best aura users of the entire continent. Especially her mother. ¡°I prefer my mother¡¯s way, but I will teach both ways of my parents. You can choose the way you feel the most affinity with,¡± she stated, and I nodded gratefully. ¡°We will start with the most basic exercise,¡± she said. ¡°My lord, bring out your aura and swirl it around yourself like a wind,¡± she instructed. I did what she had asked. I brought out my aura and swirled it around myself. ¡°It may havee from you, but you do not know it well. You need to understand it well to control it.¡± ¡°It is where the power of aura lies; the control,¡± she exined. In an aura, control is everything. Aura is something that bes more powerful, the finer you control it. It is only when one gains sufficient control over it, that they could use things like aura methods. That only happens through understanding, and once it reaches the cusp. It transforms the aura into something greater. Currently, I am not thinking about any of that. My first aim is to gain the basic control over it. that I would be able to use my own skill with it, without getting tired too quickly. I am luckier than most people who awaken the aura. I have a teacher who had superior control of aura and deep knowledge about it. It is because of her Stone was able to learn to control the elder energies quickly. That he was able to use the methods with it. However, it would be far more difficult with the aura. Controlling the aura is more difficult than controlling the elder power. I have spun it only ten rounds, and I am already starting to feel tired. Like she had said, the aura is like a limb. I would need to train with it, regrly to develop the mental capacity to use it for a long time. I watched her, as she was doing the same. Swirling the aura around herself. Unlike mine, which looks like it could copse at any time. Hers is uniformed and swirling around her at an unchanging speed. Looking at her expressions. It felt like, she was not feeling any strain at all. Seeing her, I pushed myself, while trying to understand the aura, but as time passed. I got more and more tired till five and a half minutester. The aura had copsed and entered inside me. ¡°It¡¯s difficult,¡± I said, and she smiled. ¡°Beginning always is,¡± she replied. ¡°Take a minute of rest, Lord Silver, and start again,¡± she added and as she said, we started again a minuteter. I did it over and over again, pushing myself again and again, till I was so tired that I couldn¡¯t even bring out the aura. I slumped on the ground with sweat covering every part of my body. ¡°I couldn¡¯t even train for an hour,¡± I said, a few minutes of rest. Unlike me, there is not a hint of strain on her face, much less sweat. I hadsted for barely half an hour. ¡°You might not believe it, but you did quite well, my lord. Most people my mother trained didn¡¯tst over twenty minutes in their first session,¡± she informed. It did make me feel a little better, but I have no doubt she had used those words to make me feel better. As for how true they are, I don¡¯t know, nor do I care to think about it. Iy there for over ten minutes before finally getting up. ¡°Thank you, Bell. With you as a teacher, I am confident I will learn to control the aura sooner than I think,¡± I said. ¡°It is an honor, my lord,¡± she replied. I just shook my head with a smile before walking toward the door. As I did, all sweat, dirt, and creases began toe out of my body and clothes. After reaching, Lv. 30; this skill, had be even more powerful. It not only cleans but also helps a little with the tiredness. Click! I opened the door and walked out of it. Today is thest day, I will being for practice on the roof; some changes are going to be made here and would not be a ce for the practice. I do not mind it. There are a few more spaces that are more private. I came here today to practice because I want to start the aura practice in my favorite ce. Soon, I reached the top floors, where the people were still working. Their progress is visible, and I am confident that they will finish on time. I watched them for a few minutes before walking into my office. ¡°There is a message from Headmistress Margaux and Chief Hendriks. They are starting the third day of negotiation,¡± Z informed. It is the third of Margaux and Hendricks in the Ilden and they are still negotiating. They have been doing that for over twelve hours every day. The understanding is different from the negotiations. In understanding, we agree on rough points, but we deal with nuances in negotiations, and they are official. In the Ilden, they are negotiating every little thing. The old man, Halcyon, himself is taking part. He is one mean negotiator, ording to Margaux, but I trust her to not give up a single inch on our demand. There will be nopromise on them. ¡°Anything else?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, Prince Den says, he awaits your contribution,¡± she replied. Hearing that, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh and curse at that bastard. I really hope I will get enough benefits from it because I have already promised around five thousand bottles of Grade III essences to various parties who were displeased by it. The imperials, the merchants, and a few other people. I need to absorb enough essence to at least break even. Caena is quite confident of it. ¡°Tell him, we are happy to hear that,¡± I replied. Usually, I do not care about two imperials, but Den had joined his sister''s camp, and she was helping him defend against the forces of Geim and Yressor. Since Geim is allied with Ilden; the bastard had been asking for a contribution. I had to agree with it, despite already promising his sister a substantial number of emotion essences. I am sure it is her that instructed him to pressure me. It¡¯s a delicate bnce to manage the imperials. The civil war is helping me remain independent, but at the moment, one defeats the other. They will turn their eyes on my legacy. So, I need to umte enough power. To not get suppressed fully when they turn their eyes at me, have the power to negotiate. It¡¯s in my interest that they keep fighting, and I am doing my little bit to make that happen, by helping both sides. Though, I am being extremely careful. Traitors pay a heavy price, and there are ways to punish the host of legacies. I took a deep breath and focused on the work in front of me. I worked for about an hour and a half before I stopped and brought out my aura and swirled around me like Bell instructed me earlier. I am still tired, but I am pushing that tiredness away. I need to learn to control it as soon as possible and most importantly; I am very curious about it. This is the closest. I would ever get to shooting spells and I want to master it enough, that I would be able to do that. I practiced for about fifteen minutes before I stopped because of tiredness and to focus on the work. Throughout the day. I did it a few times; it made me exhausted, but I pushed that away and focused on it, till I became so tired in thete afternoon, that I fell asleep. When I woke up an hour and a halfter. There was good news waiting for me. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 483: Halcyon I Chapter 483: Halcyon I Margaux Swan "No, we cannot agree with this. There will be nopromise on it," I replied, and the power of the whole legacy bore down on me. It felt like there was a massive mountain over me, and if I even shook a little. It will crush me with every ounce of weight it has. I wanted to kill the old man as he had made my life hell. In the past two and a half days. Peoplee here to the legacies to rx, but since I came here, I have felt nothing but the stress from here. "Fine, we will agree," said the half-elf with a sigh. "With this, the negotiation concluded," said Chief Hendriks, sounding relieved. Only six people are negotiating. Theos Halcyon, his daughter, and his Grandson. On our side, it is Hendriks, Cath, and I. It was the third day of the negotiations, and it was hard. I am so tired, I have never been and don''t want to do this again, especially in the legacy. The old bastard had used the power of the legacy to press us. Made us tired; it was hell. "Please send the draft for approval to Lord Silver. If possible, we want to finalize the agreement today." "That won''t be a problem," I replied and got up with Hendricks and Cath. "Miss Swan, can I have a word with you in private?" asked the old man. He didn''t talk much in negotiations. He had let his daughter handle it, but he used the power of the legacy on us, and quite mercilessly at that. It was hard for us. It would have been harder, if not for the protection of our own legacy. I fared a little better. Since I had little extra protection with the appointment as ''Envoy'' which increased my stats further. "Ok," I said, despite not wanting to. He smiled and turned to his daughter. "I will give you some privacy," said the half-elf, and she left with her son. Hendriks and Cath had also left after giving me the look. Soon, the door closed, and the old man turned to me. "First, let me begin by apologizing for my conduct. It was beyond appropriate," he apologized. Saying I was surprised, would be an understatement. An apology would be thest thing I had been expecting. I thought there would be some outrageous demand from him. "I wanted to make sure. I would be handing my legacy to the right people," he exined, and his eyes kind of be lost. I don''t think the ''legacy'' he referring to is this magical building, but his name. "I don''t think, you have anything to worry about, Lord Halcyon." "Your casinos are the best on the continent. Even without the legacy, your business will thrive without a doubt," I said, to which heughed. It is full of mirth. The dark kind. "I have a been a sessful businessman man, Miss Margaux. I had used my legacy to build an extensive business empire. Which is the biggest w of business," "The legacy is base, the moment it disappeared. The entire business would start to crumble," he said in such a way, that it made me shudder. It kind of reminded me of something. Lord Silver had said a few months ago. It is about the business of the legacies. He said the influence of the legacy is so strong that the moment they die; the business built on it also starts to disappear. It is not the fault of business, but the privileges the legacy had provided them. Most heirs couldn''t handle the loss of privileges and end up making a lot of poor decisions. Along with external factors, the businesses sink. "The enemies I had made, will make sure, that will happen," he added and the smile on his face lost the mirth. "I think, you are being too pessimistic, my lord. Have faith in your children," I said to the man. "My sons are useless; they still don''t understand how bad things are going to get for them," he replied, shaking his head. "At least, my daughter is smart. She had got that from her mother. She was always good at recognizing the changing tides," he added with a sigh. I didn''t say anything to that. On the surface, everything is so great here, but looking deeply. Everything is shaky, at breaking limit, This old man holding it all on his shoulder, but the moment he dies. Everything wille crashing down. For a moment, there was a silence, before he turned to me. His eyes have be clear, and all the pessimism, regret, and disappointments disappeared from his eyes. At the same time, I felt the change appearing in the room. The surrounding mist got denser; I could feel privacy activating and bing powerful as it merged with the power of legacy. "When I die, I am going to do something. It will benefit your legacy tremendously." He said, with his eyes of conviction and defiance. "I only hope, that your lord would remember this favor," he added. I don''t know what to say about that, because I don''t know what he is talking about. Though, I am sure. Master Silver would. "I will repeat your words to Master Silver. It will be his decision, what he does with it," I said carefully, not promising anything other than being a messenger. "That''s all I want, Miss Swan," said the old man with a smile. Click! A secondter, the door clicked open, and I walked out. "What did he want?" asked Cath softly as she appeared beside me. "He just wanted to ask a few things about the legacy," I lied. Those words are only for the ears of Master Silver. Soon, we reached the end of the hall and stepped outside way, guarded by two Lv. 30 and the casinoes into view. It is the second most beautiful ce; I have ever seen. The first is the home. Old Man Vanis''s tavern is great, but it couldn''tpare to this grand casino. It''s luxury and opulence everywhere, with bright, and vibrant lightsing from the grand chandeliers. There is music ying and sounds of games running in the background. "I have seen their financials; is a gold mine. Velvet garden couldn''tpare to it," said Cath. They are showing us everything. How they work, how much they earn. The things they use and everything and it''s impressive. "They had decades, while the velvet garden isn''t even a year old," "We won''t need this much time to be so good. A decade would be more than enough for us," I replied. Saying Onyx Halcyon is a gold mine is a good analogy, but the velvet garden would be better. I am confident, that it won''t take us even a decade to earn more money than this casino legacy, despite it being the business of money. The n had already begun when Master Silver nted those nts and gave Miss Eva the ess to mist. His every action has a purpose; those seeing from the outside, may not see the connections, but to us, the purpose is clear as the day. Every nt we nted is expensive and sold for massive money. It hasn''t been two months, and we haven''t even harvested 15%. Over 70% of the nts hadn''t even matured. A year from now, it will be apletely different story. Master Silver does not want to sell nts and the resources they produce. He thinks that is the most inefficient; it is like handing the fruit of ourbor to others. It''s why only 30% of our share of the harvest had been sold, while the 60% is carefully stored. There is a n for them, a grand n. When I heard it, I was shocked. It''s the same for the ess of essence to Miss Eva and Guildmaster Gagarin. Everything crafted using the mist will be the property of a velvet garden. At least 50% of their sold value would belong to the velvet garden. It''s the reason every store owner in the tower crafts their own stuff. We could have chosen better stores; there were a lot of them in the city and outside, but we chose them. They are quite talented, and the n is to give them ess to the mist. Which they will have to earn. There is an outrageous demand for the stuff forged with the mist. People will pay any prize for those things, and we have already been contacted about it by hundreds of people. It will take time, years before what Master Silver had envisionedes out, and when it does. There will be no legacy of the same grade would be able topare us. This legacy is seven floors tall and upies an area of a hundred thousand square feet. It used to be the biggest legacy under Grade III before the velvet garden took its ce. We have already explored the legacy. So, we simply walked toward the bar, the most exclusive one to rx for a while. Any bar would have been fine, but we are on the top floor. Which is the most exclusive one and everything here is exclusive. Soon, we reached the entrance of it, and the guards opened the door. "Miss Swan and Miss Arga," Stanol greeted us at the door as always. He is a middle-aged man of about my age. He is a tall, handsome man with thick blond hair and green eyes. "Mr. Stanol," I said with a smile. "I believe, the negotiations areplete?" he asked as he led us toward our usual ce, while many people watched. Some sneakily, some openly. I could even feel some snooping skills targeting us. Wanting to hear, what we were talking about. "Thankfully, yes. Your lord had been a tough negotiator," I said, and the man smiled. "I heard that you were the tough one, Miss Swan," he said, and Iughed. I yed along with him as showered me withpliments while Cath watched in mirth. He is spending his effort on the wrong person. He should focus on Cath. He will have to convince her to be hired in the velvet garden. We are allowing them their staff, but it will be up to us to choose them. It is one of the points on which, we negotiated the most. Master Silver interviews every person. From the manager, to cleaner. He likes to control everything. Since he isn''t here, the job will fall on us, or rather Cath, and two more people, who will being tomorrow to help us. Over thousands of people work in this legacy, while only 30% will be hired. We have made only one exception. We have given them twelve slots; they can choose any twelve people and we won''t reject them. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon to One Advance Chapter and other stuff. Chapter 484: Halcyon II Chapter 484: Halcyon II "Please enjoy and if you need anything call me," said Stanol as sat us at our ce, before walking away. A few secondster, the server came, bringing our usual order of drinks. "Have you talked to Ca?" asked Cath. "Yes, just before I left my room in the morning," I replied. "How is she doing?" she asked. "Some sess, some failures," I replied. Ca is in the empire. To most, she is delivering the invitations personally, but there is another thing she is doing. It would help the legacy if they were able to get those things. "I wish, she had been here," said Cath, with her shoulder hunched. "You will not be alone. I will be with you and help ising tomorrow," I replied to her. Selecting the staff is a tremendous responsibility, but Master Silver had chosen wisely in sending her. The girl may not have the confidence in herself, but she is good. She will excellent job. We were talking when suddenly a raven-haired woman in her mid-twenties, wearing a maid uniform, appeared beside us. We stopped and turned to the woman. "Apologies, respectful misses, but my mistress wishes to talk to you both," said the raven-haired woman. "And who would that be?" asked Cath. "Countess Rochefort," replied the woman. Cath''s expression changed faintly, while curiosity appeared in mine. She looked at me, and I turned to the maid. "Sure," I replied. If the information I read is right. Then her husband is Count Tarum, and their territory lies in the east of Beyhelm duchy. They are one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom. The maid nodded and walked away toward the group of three men and two women. As the maid reached there, the older woman said to the group before getting up with the younger woman. Soon, they were beside us and we got up. "Countess, mydy," we greeted the countess and her daughter, while people watched, including the three they were sitting with. The Countess Rochefort is a beautiful woman in herte forties, with pale skin and coppery red hair. She had a delicate face, a small nose, and blue eyes. That seemed to hold more intelligence than one would expect from the beautiful woman. The young woman beside her was in her early twenties. She is taller than her mother, but inheritance her coppery red hair and delicate face and has a youthful charm. "Thank you for agreeing to meet me, Miss Swan, Miss Arga," said the countess in a husky voice. "It''s no bother, mydy," I replied as we sat down. "This is my daughter, Lady Karin, and the reason I wanted to meet you both." She said. We didn''t speak and just looked at the women. "In half a year, she is going to be countess of her right with her marriage with Count Darsil," she informed with joy lightning on her face. It''s a good match. We have heard it since we came. The territory of Count Darsil may not be as powerful, but it is big, and the man is rted to the crown. Everyone is rted to the crown in a kingdom like this, but his connection is closer. Count Dasil''s mother is a king''s illegitimate sister. "Congrattion, mydy," we congratted, and the young woman smiled shily. "My daughter is born with good looks, but I need her to look even better on her wedding day. So, I hope to book your spa, for her and the wedding party." "I hope, that would be possible?" she asked politely. I am not surprised. These nobles would talk, if they needed something and the things they need are in the legacy. "How big is a wedding party?" asked Cath. "Around the fifty people and we would want the best treatment you have; the best one will be for my daughter, of course," she replied. "The spa is booked for years," I replied, and their expressions changed a little and the woman opened her mouth when I spoke again. "But of course, we will make an exception for the beautiful bride." "I can''t promise you the booking, since it is not department, but I will put a good word to Miss Hanson. I am sure, you will be able to get the booking," I added. The spa is really booked for the years, but there is space open for people like them. They are rich, and they do not have any problem with paying for the most expensive treatments, but it''s not the main reason, we always have space for them. The main reason is their appearances provide the advertisements. I was confused when Master Silver told me that. Seeing we do not need an advertisement. We have the legacy and with years a long waiting line. That''s when he said something that made my perspective widen. ''It is not the advertisement for the legacy, but for the city,'' he said. Since he had be a lord of Greltheaven, everything he was doing was for the city and its people. Even the legacy had be a tool to make the city prosper. The legacy is the biggest reason. The city is still standing and growing so rapidly. If the city prospers, the legacy will prosper too and so will the people working in it. It is a big symbiotic rtionship where everything is rted to everything. "Thank you, Miss Swan, Miss Arga," said Countess and left with her daughter. "The woman and her good. There was no contempt and arrogance in her," said Cath after a few seconds. "The intelligent nobles are the most dangerous ones." "They will be polite and talk sweetly with you one day and burrow a knife into your back the next," I replied, quoting what Thaddeus once said to me. She shuddered at hearing that. The countess had made an effort because we had something. We are in this very ce because we are something. If we weremon whores like before. We wouldn''t have even been able to see the legacy from a distance like the tourists. The guards would have sensed us and shooed us away. Soon, we finished our drinks and walked into our rooms. There are twelve rooms in this legacy; only for the very special guests, we got three. It is an honor a few gets. Even for nobles, one would need to be sufficiently powerful to get room. Master Silver had no interest in making rooms on the legacy right now. Some had broached the idea, but he shut it down. Saying he would think about it if the legacy had ever reached the Grade IV. Click! I entered my room. It''s a normal size, with a beautiful bathroom attached to it. I stopped by the window and looked at the beautiful view of the city. Bayhelm. It''s the second most beautiful port city, I have seen after Namdar. The casino is on top of the till, giving a mesmerizing view of the city. I looked for a few minutes before I took out the tools. Soon, a canvas with an unfinished painting appeared in front of me. I looked at it before starting to resume painting it. I have started on the first; I came here. I usually do not do this, but the view is too beautiful, to not paint it. There is another painting at home; a nk canvas, to be more exact. I want to paint the picture, I have in my mind, but every time, I do my hands shake. If ever I am able to paint it. It will be my best work. Knock! Time passed and stars and moon appeared in the sky, while I looked at the beautiful painting in front of me. I finished it, and it looked look good. Knock Knock! I was looking at it when the knock rang out. Seeing that, I activated my skill and all the paint covering me. flowed out, along with dust, while my hair fixed itself and creases on my dress vanished. Click! I opened the door and saw Hendricks and Cath standing on the other side. I didn''t say anything and stepped out, with the door closing behind me. "Lord Silver had approved the contract. Lord Halcyon has epted it," he informed. Now, only the signing had remained. Soon, we reached the beautifully carved red-wood door. The guards opened it, and we stepped inside. There were four people inside. Three Halcyons and Lord Danis, the guardian. I thought there would be more, Lord Halcyon''s two sons, but it seemed like, he hadn''t invited them. We bowed before Hendriks took out the scroll. While Danis turned to me. I smiled before taking out the brown box and handed it to him. Click! He opened it and inside were fifty bottles of Grade III essence. "Silver is good. I thought he would hand over mixed emotions essence," said Danis, looking at bottles. Each of them holds the essence of a single emotion. "The control of your lord over his legacy is fantastic. Usually, it takes years for the host to gain such control to draw out the essence," praised Lord Halcyon. He took the scroll from Danis and read through it all before cing it down. He used the small knife to puncture his finger and draw out a drop of blood into the ink bowl and mixed it, before dipping the pen and signing the scroll. He passed it to his daughter. She read the scroll carefully, before signing it with the blood. The third was his grandson. Then the scroll came to us. I signed with my blood and also added the power of the velvet garden to it through the authority I have. It would have been fine. If I didn''t do that; the scroll had a drop of the core essence of the velvet garden in it. Hendriks signed the next and then it was Cath, before finally it went to Danis. The man took his sweet time in reading the scroll, despite already reading and approving it. It took a while before he finally signed it. "I will put in the legacy," said Lord Halcyon with his eyes bing watery. Seeing that, his daughter took his hand in hers and pressed it. The old man smiled, before everything turned dark, before a massive gambling chip appeared in front of us. I am not surprised; it is in the form of a chip. The core represents the legacy and since it is a casino; it''s a chip. The core of the velvet garden is the sun, and I still don''t understand what it means, but I felt the grandness of it. It is smaller and weaker because of being newly advanced, but gives a feeling like it could take the entire world. It''s likely why, velvet garden could do so much. Have a brothel, restaurants, and stores, and now it will have a casino, without any restriction, because its vision envelopes it all. The chip is massive with each color on its boundaries. They do not move or mix with each other, unlike what happens with the velvet gardens and sun. The colors are always changing, mixing, and merging. It''s amazing to watch. This core is also beautiful, but not as the core of the velvet garden. It is also the waning core. The faint greyness around the core means it will truly die. It cannot be a pawn of the throne legacies, nor it could merge with other legacies. It is quite sad to see it. The pain in the eyes of the old man is unbearable to watch as he looks at his legacy. "Miss Swan, what is the core of your legacy?" asked Danis. The man is really rude. This is one of the secrets of the legacy; the hosts don''t tell others. Especially not someone from a different kingdom. Even Lord Halcyon looked angry at that. "I will ce, the contract inside now," said Lord Halcyon with tears streaming down on his face. A momentter, the scroll flew away from his hand and entered the chip. A whole chip core shone, while a faint confusion appeared in the eyes of the old man as if he sensed something, but couldn''t put his mind to it. However, a momentter, he just shook his head and turned to me. "My legacy is in your lord''s hands now, I hope he will take good care of it," said the old man. ...¡­. "It''s done," informed Caena as the phantom scroll appeared inside the colorless. It''s an enormous risk with the scroll. It not only has a drop of core essence but also Caena''s spell. The whole scroll is a witchcraft spell. If found out, it would bring me a lot of trouble. I just hope that drop of the core essence would be able to hide it. Even from Halcyon, which is difficult considering the core has connected to him and he could sense all the changes. We wouldn''t have taken the risk, but it''s the core of the biggest Grade III legacy on the continent. It contains a massive essence, that will help me and my legacy tremendously. Madam of Grace Lv. 35 Painter Lv. 18 [Skill Gained: ¡­] ¡­ Merchant of Desire Lv. 33 Valorous Lord of Courage Lv. 3 Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 485: Intricate Chapter 485: Intricate Caena I stepped into the underground floors where people were working day and night. There is not even an hour of break. One shift ends and the other one takes over. These people are preparing the underground floors for the changes that are going to happen to it soon. The younger Halcyon ising tomorrow with his people, along with their interior designer. They will work with Miss Rolgath to fuse the style of Velvet Garden and Halcyon. It''s a good thing I had finished on time. I nodded at the people, and looked at me, while charms would appear in my hand, and I would activate them. Those spells would then fuse with this space. I have crafted the intricate spell; the mostplex I had ever done on my own. It involves two legacies and a lot of emotion essence and core essence. Yes, we are trying for that stuff too. Till now, we never did. When the parts of legacies core came, we would take only emotion essence. Which is a diluted core essence. This time, we not only want the emotion essence, but we want to merge the core essence of Onyx Halcyon into the Velvet Gardens core. It''s an extremely dangerous thing. It''s could corrupt vision and if one is not careful. It''s why, the intricate spell. I want to make Onyx Halcyon as a part of the velvet garden conceptually. Once that is done, Onyx Halcyon''s core essence wouldn''t offer any resistance, and the velvet core would be able to consume it smoothly. "I have may said, the target is 6%-8%, but I am aiming for 10%. 12% if possible. It would be very hard, and a lot of conditions needed to be met. The first one being the old man needed to be alive, till the opening of the casino. I would be satisfied. If he would be able to stay alive for a week after the opening. It will help my charms to absorb the concept of Onyx Halcyon through the casino. It would be best if he stayed alive for a month. Then, the whole concept would be absorbed. I climbed downstairs, before finally reaching the minus-fifth floor. "Madam Caena," greeted Miss Rolgath as she turned to me from the people she was talking to. "I am surprised to see you here, Miss Rolgath; I thought you would be busy studying the designs of the casino," I said, and the woman sighed. "I was. I came down here to check the progress," she replied. "It seemed to be going well," I said, and she nodded. "Yes, they will be finished by tomorrow," she replied with a smile. "Casino is good, Miss Rolgath, but the tower should take priority," I reminded her There are only eleven days till opening. The casino will take a little longer to open. "I know, Madam Caena, and I am not getting distracted," she replied. I know she is not, but words help. Eleven days is not much, there is so much to do. ...¡­ Click! The door opened, and five people walked inside. One is familiar, while the other four are unfamiliar. There are four men and one woman. They are not humans, they are orcs. They are wearing traditional clothes, with two having paints across their bodies. "My lord," greeted Shaman Trik, while others bowed awkwardly, trying to copy him. "Please, sit everyone," I said. "Thank you, my lord," replied Shaman Trik and sat down. The old man had learned the ways of the city pretty quickly. Learning everything, he needs to gain the maximum influence among the orcs and the city. I like him for that. Ambition is a good thing as long as it isyered in rationale. "I hope, the journey went well?" I asked. "It was my lord. We can now finally feel safe," replied the brown-haired orc, who looked to be in histe fifties. "Condition seemed to be growing terrible there," I said, and Shaman Trik nodded. "It is, my lord, and it will get worse." He replied. "Many tribes are still living there; fighting for their homes, but to it is a losing battle." "More and more monsters areing out of the extreme magic region. It won''t be a long before a big tide of them swept through it all," he added, making me shudder in my heart. I had fought with monsters, and it was a tide of a few thousand, but it had nearly killed us. Till then, three more tides of monster that hade. Along with many monsters, that areing out of extreme magic regions, they will move alone or in groups. "It''s sad, but now that you are here, you are safe. As safe as can be with the undead being your neighbor from two sides," I said, bringing small smiles to their faces. A momentter, my expression turned serious. "As the Shaman Trik had exined to you; you all would shift to Panar to work in the mines. Except for those, that want to join the army or have specialized skills that the city needs," "Do you have any questions?" I asked. "Shaman Trik had said that our people would be paid individually and not as a tribe?" asked the woman. To that, I nodded. "The city doesn''t recognize the tribes. Each person is for himself." "If you want to maintain tribal structure, it is fine, but you cannot force any of your people or take their sries or things forcefully," "It will be their decision whether or contribute or not to the structure or how much to contribute," I replied. A huge change had urred in orcs. Many tribes had broken, but many were still going and some bing stronger than before. Shaman Triks is the biggest tribe and one of the few that have grown bigger. The man was opposed to new rules, but was the first one to change. He learned fast from the countries around us and transformed his tribe into an organization. Where the members need to pay only a small fee monthly. With this, they will be able to enter the praying halls and take part in ceremonies and other stuff. They have removed a lot of restrictions, like inter-tribal marriages and other things. That helped them, get more members. "That will break our tribes,"ined the thin orc. "Not necessarily. You will need to adapt to it, like the Shaman Trik did. His tribe had grown stronger and wealthier sinceing here," I replied, and the old man smiled. A few minutester, the four left, and I turned to Shaman Trik. "What is the progress of the other tribes?" I asked, and I was not talking about just the mining tribes. I need people to work in the cities and join the army. The humans areing, and their numbers had increased rapidly since the legacy has turned to Grade III, but it''s not enough. I need more people. Especially now that I had conquered the new city. It is a city with the capacity to hold half a million and there are not even fifty thousand people in there. If I were to exclude the army. I need to fill the city with people. Especially miners. We have opened two mines already and, in a week, three more will be open. If I open all the mines. I would need around sixty to seventy thousand people to work in them. Even the dead lord of Panar wasn''t able to bring that many people, but I n to. If there are more people, I will open the new mines. The renwell region, might not have anything, but it sure has loads of crystal. It''s regretful that mining the crystals are notrgely profitable. Like the mines of other things. Especially when most crystals mined through them needed to be sent out to process. I am working on bringing the processing to the territory. I am in contact with a few businesses in the empires that deals in it. Earlier, my proposals failed as I didn''t have much to offer them, but now with the condition of empire worsening and mine getting better, those people are being receptive. I hope to convince at least one of them. Hours passed, and I focused on work and meeting people. I am meeting a lot of people, but I need to for things, I am nning. Click! Soon the evening came, and L walked inside with three men. "My lord," they greeted. "Take a seat, gentleman," I said, before taking the contract from L. She had been negotiating with them for the past few hours. I begin to read it. I even activated the focus. It is a really important contract and I need to see if everything is perfect before signing it. A few minutester, I had finished and turned to the three people. "I hope, both your businesses and the city of Greltheaven prosper by this agreement," I said and signed it, with my contract skill on it. These three are from a Belnin based luxury yachtpany. The agreement is about the transportation of high-worth patrons. If someone wants toe to Legacy, spend a big on limited time. Their yachts will be avable to them. I need this service for my patrons. Especially now, that legacy had be bigger with the whole tower as its domain. There will be more peopleing to visit the legacy. The travel of high-worth will increase even further after the casino opens. They loved it. As I finished signing. A tray with five sses filled with wine, and a swirling mist appeared in L''s hand. It surprised them, but they epted. Clink! "We will toast to that, my lord," said the blond man, and we clinked our sses before taking a sip, which made their eyes widen as a surprise. Since the outer range is covering the whole city. The vault could be essed from anywhere. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 486: Mist Work Chapter 486: Mist Work Eva Charles ng ng ng! The hammer, covered in the mist, hit the heated metal. Shaping into the shape, while infusing it with the colorful mist with each blow. He learned fast. It had been two weeks since Remus granted him ess to the mist and he is doing better than I had thought he would. The man is good, and now, with the mist, he will be even better. I turned to his daughter; she was also working. A week and a half ago, the lord had granted her ess as well. She is talented and I wish I could have her. I had made the offer, but she declined. She is not a cksmith like her father, but an engraver and a talented one at that. The way, she is infusing the mist into the engraving she is doing on the knife is amazing. A few minutes passed, and he stopped as he let the piece cool off and turned to me. "What do you this, Miss Eva?" he asked. "Guildmaster, you do not need my guidance anymore," I told him. Remus had asked me to instruct them. I have been doing it since the day, he got the ess. "Thank you, Eva. You have really helped us a lot," said Atil. "It was my pleasure to instruct you," I replied to his daughter. "Especially you, dear; it''s such regret, that you aren''t joining me. With me, you could work on metals better than the iron," I added, and the young woman rolled her eyes, with a smile. "Will Lord Silver give the ess to my students now?" he asked and the eyes of five people that are watching lit up hearing that. There are three men and two women. The woman in the ck dress is Silver''s. It''s one of his conditions. If you want ess, you will have to train his people. I have four with me; there were six, but two were not good enough. I had sent them back. "It shouldn''t be a problem," I replied, and a big smile appeared on my face. Remus had stated, that as long as he gains the basic mastery over mist. He will share the ess with his staff. The orders are big; a single person is far from enough to do that. He was about to say something when he closed his mouth and looked behind me. I turned and saw a blue-haired young man walking in. "I hope my order is ready?" he asked. One of his students got up and picked up the box not far away from him, before handing it to the man. "I was able to make extra Cocotte oven," said Irving, and the young man''s eyes lit up and he opened the box. "You are a lifesaver guild master. There had been a bloodbath in my kitchen for these things," he said, with relief palpable in his voice. I heard about the incident. There is even some blood involved. The young man is the chef de cuisine of the legacy. The food is his responsibility and everything that is being produced here is going to the kitchens of the legacy directly. His people work with mist. To them, having knives and other tools forged with mist is useful, just as it is to me in my work. "Miss Eva," he nodded and walked away. I didn''t stay for much longer and walked out of the workshop and then the store. Currently, it is hidden from the public''s view, but it won''t be after the opening. The store floors are crowded as usual, but thanks to the guards. I didn''t have any problem in reaching the elevator. Ting! The elevator reached my store and walked out. There are people everywhere around me. Since the legacy had covered the whole tower, the area of my store had more than doubled. It would have been amazing. If he had given me another floor. I would have been satisfied with the small area too. Me and my people wouldn''t have needed to work in a crowded ce. Click! I nodded at the few people before opening the door on the eastern side of the store and stepping in the most crowded workroom, ever. Even in my student days. I had never worked in such a cramped space, as right now. This is a space of five thousand square feet, and in it, fifty-eight people are working. We have even divided the floors into two floors, to make more space. We could do that thanks to the high ceiling of the floors of the tower. Every person working here is above Lv. 25, with fourteen being Lv. 30, and of them, a few are at Lv. 35. They are my and Miss Cain''s best people. They are jewelers, couturiers, shoemakers, and other people. These are people who demand big spaces and assistants at their beck and call. Are now sitting in a cramped space with smiles on their faces. Because all of them are working with the mist. Fifty-eight is far from enough people. I wish I could bring more, but unfortunately, I could not. Still, it should be enough for this store and orders from the legacy. I climbed the smalldder and appeared on the floor above, before walking toward the jeweler''s station. Others barely nced at me. I sat down at a small workstation. These had been specially ordered withpact space in mind. I didn''t have to work on the pieces myself. I could let the others work on it; they are working on it, but I like to work on them myself. The piece, I am working on is a little special piece. It requires skills that only, I have. Soon, I became so focused that I didn''t notice time passing. Even a small conflict urred when someone stepped on someone else''s work. When I came to myself. It is past six. Seeing that, I got up immediately but didn''t hurry. Learning from the past lessons, I moved carefully, through this cramped space. Click! Finally, I reached the door and opened it, when I froze in my spot. I saw my daughter in front of me, but she was not what froze me. It is my son beside her. I looked at him before leaping forward, taking him in my arms. "I miss you too, Mom," he said a secondter. "You should have told me, you areing with your sister," I said to him. I wanted to be angry, but it was thest thing on my mind, seeing my sweet boy. "It wouldn''t have been fun," he said, and I red at him. He had the qualities of his father, both good and bad. One, that brought a lot of pain to him. It hurts to see him so much in pain. "I hope you won''t leave your mother soon," I said to him. "I will stay for a while," he replied. I nodded, pleased, and turned to his sister. "You should have told me, your ship ising early," I said to her. "Devin didn''t let me," she replied simply, and I sighed. "This legacy is good. Feels stronger than, the brocks bar," he said, trying to touch the ribbon of mist. I waved my hand and a delicate ribbon of mist formed and twirled around his hand, surprising him. "It''s a lot stronger than the Brocks bar," I replied. They may be in the same grade, but they couldn''tpare to the velvet garden. Brocks''s bar is tiny in front of the velvet garden and despite being new, its power is much heavier. Currently, it is not even at its peak since most of the nts have been removed. When theye back, it will be amazing. Click! He looked around before opening the door to the workshop. "Sh, I didn''t think, I would ever see you working in such a small space," he said to my best jeweler. "I would have if you had the ability to turn your store into the legacy, little Devin," replied the other woman, without missing a beat. She has known him since he was a child, and they always make fun of each other. "Let me show you around," I said to him and began to show him around. "This space is enormous. Both floors of Brock''s bar could easily fit in here and leave some more space," he said, feeling enamored by it. "Both of the floors of Brock''s bar do not cover over forty-thousand square feet, but the tower is built in sixty-thousand square feet," I replied to him. A few minutes passed, and I took them to my favorite ce on the floor. After advancing into Grade III. It had be even better. "The view is amazing," he breathed as he looked at the city from the edge. The whole view of the city is visible, not just the city, but the river and the wastnd past it. "Don''t you fear I will jump from here, Mom?" he asked, turning to me. I red at him, and his sister walked a little closer to stop him, in case he tried. The memories of those years couldn''t help, but sh in front of my eyes. He had tried to kill himself. Several times. "You can not dear. There are powerful protections that will stop anyone who falls from dying," I replied after a moment of silence. Caena had said, there is an invisible. She didn''t exin whether it was an object or a spell, but said, nobody would die. They had tested it a few days ago. I sat down in the chair, and he sat opposite me with his sister beside him. A few minutes passed in silence. When the server came holding a try. One bar is open. Though not for the public. "Really Mom. Tea?" he asked, seeing it. "It''s an excellent tea dear, with good detoxing effects," I replied. I didn''t miss the alcoholic smelling from him. "Well, at least, it is made with mist," he said, taking the cup in his hand. I hope he will stay with me here. I am not going to force him. He does not react well to that. I just hope he loves this ce as Ie to love it. I could really use him here. My son is really talented and if it had not been for his difficulties, he would have made a huge name for himself already. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 487: Changed Chapter 487: Changed Aman Halcyon The ship stopped and a few minutester, the men begin to bring out the huge crates and load them into the cargo carriages. I didn''t have to be here, but I wanted to. Each of those crates contains the casino games. The very games that would be used by the Onix Halcyon are being brought here. Each of those games cost a lot and after spending decades in the legacy, had made them even more expensive. Every part of them contains the power of the legacy. There was resistance, not only from the kingdom but also from my uncles, who wanted these things for their casinos. Thankfully, Grandfather helped, and his words are thest, but still my uncles might to do something, and we have to be careful. It is not just the games we are bringing out, but also the art and other things that be a signature of the Onix Halcyon. Though this ship only brought the casino games. Mom is still in the Ilden, handling the things at her end, while I am handling the things here. There are a lot of things to do. That since I hade here, I didn''t sleep for over five hours each night. "I will handle the things here, Aman. Go to the legacy," said Carnes. The man had been working in the halcyon since before I was even born and is my mother''s most trusted man. "Ok," I said and walked to the carriage. I would have stayed, but I have a lot of work to do. A few minutester, the carriage reached the garden and moved toward the tower. Silver had really made something beautiful. The tower looks simple and even ugly at first nce, but the more one looks at it, the more one falls in love with it. It had rough beauty to it, that will remind one of the wastnds around us. The tower wasn''t fully visible; only the store floors looked visible, while the rest were covered in a mist. The mist isn''t dense, but it''s dense enough that one couldn''t see through it. The mist will thin and the whole tower became visible at the opening a weekter. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I entered inside. I didn''t walk through the lobby, but through the south side of the tower; the service entrance. As I entered inside, I felt its power, and it was amazing. I have been through too many legacies, but the Velvet Garden impressed me the most. It''s not the strongest of the Grade III, but the feeling it gives is better than any legacy. I will not say it openly, but it felt like, it was asprehensive as Thrones. If I am wrong; its emotion te must be quite wide. The feeling from it isn''t as strong as the most powerful Grade III legacy, but the legacy is new. It hadn''t been even a month since it had advanced. It will grow powerful in a few years. It might be as powerful as Onyx Halcyon. I wouldn''t have said those words. If it had been any other legacy, seeing the legacies take decades to reach that power. Most don''t. Onyx Halcyon had been the biggest Grade III legacy and one of the most powerful. It was special, but soon it was going to disappear. It made me sad, but I am also a little happy. That tiny part of it would be here. Merge with this legacy, which will soon be our new home and help us start a new. I sighed and stepped onto the minus floors, where I saw a lot of people. All of them are working on different things, with supervisors keeping an eye on their work. Greltheaven might be a small city, but it has an advantage that even Beyhelm didn''t. The close proximity to merchant state. It''s the main reason why mother had chosen to take this risk and because of it. Such close distance to it will bring the high-ie individuals, which the merchant states have more than any other kingdom on the continent. There are also the expert workers and artists. They have one of the best artists on the continent. The legacy had hired manypanies led by these people. They are one doing work on these floors, and their work is amazing. When it will finish, it might even dwarf Onyx Halcyon itself. The work of such a level isn''t cheap. The budget had already gone three times more than I had thought it would, and it was going to increase even further. I thought there would be an objection, but mother and grandfather simply agreed after looking at the proposal that the interior designers made. The work is going fast, but it''s going to take a lot of time. Around two months at least; the changes aren''t small, and they needed to be specific. Silver didn''t have a problem with the timeline, which made me relieved. However, we still want to finish it sooner. Grandfather didn''t have much time. He could die any day, and we want to finish it before he leaves the world. I hope he will see the new casino. That is a fusion of his and Silver''s vision. I am excited about it, even if it is the most frustrating thing in the world. In the evening daily, there is a meeting with the interior designers, gardeners, and the madams. It is frustrating, seeing how little theypromise. We need the fusion of both visions, but sometimes, I felt like they wanted Velvet Garden more and Onyx Halcyon less in the fusion. I am not letting that happen. I am fighting tooth and nail for every little change, which is like fighting a battle. At every meeting. I be so tired, that all I want is to sleep. Hun! I climbed to minus third floor when I saw a woman. She is familiar, about my age, with dark blue hair and blue eyes. "Madam Danelle," I greeted the woman. She turned to me with a smile. "Mr. Halcyon," she said. "I didn''t expect to see you, here," I said and the smile on her face widened. "I didn''t expect to see you too; I thought you had gone to the port?" she asked. The woman is on a negotiating team along with Madam Caena. She is a fierce girl. It would be a grave mistake to assume she is harmless seeing her petite figure and pretty face. I had paid a prize for that. "I just returned," I replied. She nodded and looked around slowly. She is a clearly using a skill. Another thing, that is frustrating is that. It is hard to sense when the madams are using the skills. The legacy hides it, like how the casino hides us using our skills. It also amplifies the power of the skills and suppresses the others'' skills. We used to do that to others, but now it is being done to us. It''s not a good feeling, I hate it, but there was nothing I could do about it. As I looked at her, I couldn''t help, but wonder whether my ss would change ording to the legacy. It will depend on Silver and my own efforts. Mostly on Silver. If he didn''t want us to be part of his legacy. Then, no matter the feat, we achieve, we will not gain authority. In the legacies, the will of the master is absolute. I stayed in the legacy for half an hour more, before walking out. I have work and a few people to meet. Soon, it was five, and I walked out of my office and went to the warehouse,pound, which was being guarded by the private mercenary group we had hired. There are also police, that are patrolling around. Keeping an eye on things. Silver had also said that few of his people were keeping an eye on it in secret. If someone tries anything, they will act immediately to deal with it. Click! The door opened, and I walked inside the warehouse, which was filled with crates. "Open them," I said. The men moved and began to open the crates. The first that opened had the card table and its parts. The second one had the same and so was the third. After several crates, it is a roulette and then other things. Hun! Another crate opened, and a surprise appeared on the faces of everyone, including mine. "As expected," I muttered. Instead of a slot machine which I had expected. There are blocks of wood. Someone had changed the things. "Keep opening," I ordered, and the crates opened one after another. The next five crates also had the wooden blocks, that game they were supposed to contain. Soon, thest of the crate opened, and Carnes turned to me. "What do you think?" he asked. "You already know," I replied, and he simply nodded. The best chance to rece the boxes would be at sea, but I don''t think that happened. We have trusted people here; some even Carnes doesn''t know about. The ship didn''t stop anywhere since leaving the port of the Beyhelm. That means only one thing. The boxes had been changed in Beyhelm. There are only two people who could do that, and we had already expected they would do it, but hoped in our hearts that they will not. They have got so much more than us; the entire business empire, but they still did this. "Carnes, inform my mother," I said and walked toward the crates. We had hoped, they wouldn''t do this, but since they did, we will act on our preparations as well. We truly didn''t want to make such moves, but they had left us no choice. Tap on to read 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a free member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 488: Invitation Chapter 488: Invitation Ashton Harbor "Yark, wee to Renwell," said the man with the staff. "Thank you, my lord," replied Yark, and bowed deeply. "How was the journey?" the man with the staff asked. " I wish, I didn''t have toe so sneakily," replied Yark, with a sigh. "It is temporary once we capture the region. Moving openly through the sea won''t be a problem," replied the man with the staff. His enemies are recruiting forces, but he is not standing still either. He is bringing people from the ind. People he trusts, while sending back those he did not. The third of the people he wants has already arrived and the rest won''t take time. It wouldn''t have taken more than a week. If they had a safe route, but the imperials and merchants are patrolling the sea like sharks. It was wise to not bring them together. One of the ships bringing a group had simply disappeared a week ago. There is no response from them. Itsplete silence. One didn''t have to guess for long to know what had happened. So, caution is necessary. It will only be a little longer, till then, I will let my enemies enjoy the little time they have. Who knows, the one in the Greltheaven might take his legacy to Grade IV. That would be wonderful. ...¡­ Ca Salt "I want to, Miss Ca," said the middle-aged man in front of me. It is the words I had heard from the tens of alchemists I had met in the past few weeks, but it is whates after, that makes me so angry and frustrated. "I mean, who doesn''t want to work with the emotion''s essence? It is a dream of every alchemist, but I can''te to Greltheaven for it," he said, shaking his head. I could see him ncing at the doors. Behind it are my guards, but also the person sent by the city to show me around. I have been dropping the invitations around the western empire while trying to poach the alchemists. It is hard because they want toe, but they can''t. Alchemists are war assets. The potions and other things they craft are instrumental to the wars. No, lord would let them leave, especially at a time like these. "Thank you for your time, Alchemist Nahil," I said and got off my chair. "If you change your mind, remember the doors of Greltheaven are always open to you," I added and walked toward the door. I am not surprised by the results. Remus had already told me to expect it. He said we aim to meet them. Tell them our doors are open for them. If somehow, they were able to slip through, they would think about us. It will also spread the news across their connections. Still, his rejection couldn''t help, but disappoint me. Especially when every single alchemist, I had met across the cities had said the same thing. Click! I opened the door and walked out of the, with my guards and Najin following beside me. "I hope, you had a good meeting, Ms. Ca?" asked Hejin. He was polite, but I could see the mirth in the eyes of the blond man. "It was excellent, Mr. Hejin; it went better than I had thought," I replied smoothly, and the man smiled. He is from the city hall. He is a guide, but in reality. He is the ears and eyes of them. He will report my every move, might even be reporting now. I am used to people like him; every city sends someone like him. At least, he isn''t boring like many others had been. Soon, we walked off the four-story building, into the evening night. I have a meeting in three hours with Lord Kanas Raul; son of Count Raul. Once than done, I will be finished here and my work. I will take the ship from Ertburn and return to Greltheaven. I might not have been able to bring any alchemist, but I have done my other job, and it went better than I had imagined. With those things, the opening would be even more impressive. I pushed those thoughts and looked around myself. I am in the alchemy street; there are alchemy stores everywhere. I had already met five alchemists and, like Alchemist Nahil; everyone declined my offer in not so many words. Right now, I am Ertburn; the city is as big as Inam. It is a prosperous port city, and the war has made its economy flourish. That now it is as rich as Mirstone; the capital of the Randav region, it''s part of. I hope Greltheaven will be as prosperous as this city. People wouldugh at such a thought, but it will happen. I am confident it will happen. He will do it. "No!" I was in my thoughts when I heard a loud scream. I turned and saw a woman and man in theirte twenties held down by the city guards, while other guards sealed the building behind them. "Yes, seal the shop. You should also jail them for years," said the middle-aged bald man angrily. "They deserve it and more, after what they had done to the face of my beautiful wife," he added and turned at the woman beside him, whose face had turned dark red. I first thought it had been burned, but it''s not. It seemed like a reaction. "What did we do? It''s your fault this happened. We had clearly told you, that the cream is only for those with oily skin, but the skin of your wife is sensitive," "You shouldn''t have let your wife use it," countered the raven-haired man beside the woman. The woman with a red face turned to her husband, with clear anger in her eyes. "You did not," he refuted with his face turned beat red. The man was clearly lying, everybody could see that. Even his wife; it''s why she had got even angry. "He must have brought it for his mistress," Someone quipped loudly, making the man turn angrily to look for the person. Feeling curious, I walked toward them to watch the fun. There is nothing for me to do. I had met the merchants and important people and made the offer to the alchemist. Now, I only have to meet Count Raul''s son, but that is two hours away. "Alchemist Sansa, Alchemist Kauns. This is your ninth offense, in the past six months," "You have left us with no choice but to seal your workshop and suspend your license for a year," said the man wearing the suit and stered a notice across the wall. Seeing it, the man and woman shook and tears welled up in their eyes. Like the notice is a mountain that crushed their hopes and dreams. "What is happening?" I asked Hejin. ''Those two are beauty alchemists. Quite talented, but uncontroble. Their wares had harmed a lot of people; the red face is a mild case," "One of their potions had left a people in pain for days and another woman paralyzed for a month with their salve," replied Hejin with a shake of his head. People began to walk away, and I wanted to do that too, but those expressions stopped me. I had been too familiar with it. Saw it far too many times on my friends and family, and experienced it myself. ''I shouldn''t do this,'' I thought, but sighed and walked toward the two. They are slumped by the wall of their workshop wall, with tears streaming down their eyes. I appeared beside them, and they turned to me. I took out a delicate scroll from my bag before handing it to them. "Think about it," I said to them and walked away, while they stared at me in confusion. That scroll was for the alchemist we have chosen. The ones we thought were skilled enough to use the emotion essence. I could have given them a card and asked them toe to the Greltheaven, but I gave them that scroll. I don''t know what I was thinking, but I don''t regret it. Hejin looked at me, but I didn''t say anything to him. Soon, an hour and half a passed, and I explored this beautiful city before my carriage entered the city hall again. I got out and followed Hejin. A few minutester, I reached the ce with golden doors and a beautiful waiting room.A little ostentatious, with too much gold, but it looks good. "Ca Salt, I have a meeting with Lord Raul," I said to the redheaded receptionist. She looked at me with contempt and jealousy I was too familiar with. That I had started ignoring it. "He will see you for fifteen minutes," she replied curtly. I nodded and walked into the waiting room. I sat down and picked up the weekly newsletter. I didn''t get a chance to read it earlier, with a busy schedule, I had since I came to the city inte afternoon. "Miss Swan, Lord Raul will see you now," said the receptionist. She was still sitting behind her table, but her voice felt like, she was right next to me. It is a skill; a few girls in the legacy have a skill like this. I got up and walked toward the golden door. Click! The guards opened the door as I reached, and I stepped inside the office. It is big and beautifully decorated. There are a lot of beautiful art pieces and tables, that Remus would envy. Behind the table was a handsome man, who looked to be in his early thirties. He is well-built, with a thick tinum blond and a piercing blue eye, that are now looking at me shamelessly with a clear lust in his eyes. He isn''t even trying to hide it. Seeing it, I couldn''t help but sigh internally. I havee across many people like him and know how to deal with them, but it is always tricky. Dealing with this one is going to be the trickiest. I heard a thing about him. Bad things that his house tried to suppress. It didn''t matter to me. I am going to hand him the invitation and get the hell out of here. Tap on to read Over 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 489: Assault Chapter 489: Assault Ca Salt "My lord," I greeted the man and bowed. A moment passed, and there was no reply from him, but I could feel his eyes on my body. They have be even more intense than before like he wants to see through my clothes. It made me feel naked. I used to do it, but I didn''t like it; I never liked it, but I bore it. Now, I don''t want to do even that. There is only one person who had a right to look at this way and this man isn''t him. Despite hating it from the bottom of my heart. I bore it; there was nothing, I could do other than that. "Sit," he said finally, nearly a minuteter. "Thank you, my lord," I replied and sat down in front of him, before turning to him. Seeing his eyes turning even more intense with lust. I hadn''t noticed it before, but this man was drunk. A faint smell of alcohol ising off him. ''I should hand it over and get out of here,'' I thought and took out the invitation from my bag and ced it in front of him. "This is an invitation for the founding day celebration. Lord Silver, hopes, that Lord Count and you will grace his city with your presence," I said. He didn''t even nce at the invitation. His eyes remained focused on me. I didn''t get a good feeling about it and opened my mouth to get permission to leave when he spoke. "Does Silver satisfy you?" he asked. Saying I was shocked by his question would be an understatement. I was so shocked by the question, that I wasn''t able to react at all. Many had looked at me as he did in the past few weeks, but no one had brazened as he is right now. "He young. He can''t satisfy a whore like you. Who had a habit of doing with tens of people every day?" If his earlier words had stumped me. These had brought rity into my mind. "Lord Silver, satisfy me a lot, my lord. Like no man ever did and no man ever could," I replied finally, looking directly into his eyes. He was surprised for a moment before he grinned and got up. "It seemed like, you''ve never been fucked by the real man. If you had, you wouldn''t have said that," he said, licking his lips. Hearing that, I felt fear for the first time and stood up without hesitation before running toward the door. I have seen that look countless times in my life and know, I have to get out of here. It had brought a stark realization to my heart. That I would never be able to run away from my past, no matter how much, I wish to do it. Sometimes, I forget, I was a whore, but people like these breaks that paper wall and bring me face to face with my past. This man didn''t just want to remind me of my past. He wants to make me relive my past. I had met thousands of people since I became head of Remus''s business, but nobody had been as brazen as this man. They may have called me a whore to my face and made an indirect suggestion that I sleep with them, but none had ever crossed a red line with words or action. Hun! I reached the door and felt relieved. I was about to pull it when I felt the hands on me. Making me shudder in terror. "Today, I will give you the pleasure of being fucked by the real man," he said into my ears with the heavy smell of alcoholing from his breath. I tried to push him away, but he gripped me such, that I couldn''t move even a step. "Let me go," I shouted with panic filling my heart. "Damn, you are strong!" he cursed. I struggled even wildly hearing that when I felt him grabbing the back of my dress and yanking it violently. Tear! I felt my dress ripping apart without offering much resistance under his callous hands. The horror in my heart darkened. There is no doubt what he nned to do with me. "You are one beautiful whore, and I am going to enjoy eating you up," he said,ughing in pleasure, while pulling my dress again, tearing it whole. I am now in my underthings, with his monstrous eyes looking at me hungrily. "Let me go or Remus will kill you!" I shouted in desperation, and he chuckled. Tore! "You are overestimating yourself and Silver, you whore." "No matter what I do to you, Silver will not say a word. He might even thank me for showing you what a real man is like," he said and tore apart my underwear with a yank. Terror gripped my heart, and I struggled harder, but he was strong and used his skill to suppress me. It is powerful, but I could bear it. I am higher level than him; he is not even Lv. 30, but his ss is powerful, and his attributes went to strength, while mine went to charm and intelligence. "Please don''t do this," I begged as I felt him removing the buttons of his pants. I was a whore, and I had sex with thousands of people in my life. Now my body is for only one person, but another person is trying to take it forcefully. It brought out every horror, I had kept buried in my heart since my childhood. They all came out like a mage''s moving picture. Making me struggle harder. p! "Stay still, you whore!" he shouted, and lifted me, before bending me against the table and pressing my head against it. "Help!" Tears started to stream down my face while I streamed and struggled with everything I had, but the bastard was too strong. Seconds passed, and he finally removed his thing and touched my back with it. I shuddered in terror as I felt it against my skin. I felt disgusted. Not with myself, never, but with this man of high position, who dares to do something like this to me. I can''t imagine, but wonder, what he must have done to the other women. The women were without any power or backing. "Please, don''t," I begged again, and heughed. "You are saying no now, but you will soon beg for more," heughed, and I felt his thing slide down his thing from my back. "Bitch, stay still!" he cursed as his thing slipped away. I struggled with everything, I used everything have. From Presence of Administratrix to Graceful Body, but it is not enough to get away from him. "You have really made me angry, you whore. After I am done, I will have all my guards have their way with you." "You will be fucked till thest breath of your life," he said and once again position his thing against my back, while pressing my face hard against the table. "No!" I screamed with every bit of panic and helplessness. I am feeling right now. Soon, it reached my behind and slid toward my folds. There is also vengeance. If I survive, I will do everything in my power to make this man suffer, the greatest pain he has ever felt in his life. I felt his thing reaching my folds, and I struggled with everything I had. I brought out power, I never had and more to push him away. Crack Crack Crack It was when I heard the cracks and thought, of my bones cracking apart, but no, it is something else. Boom! The cracks spread wide all over me before a loud boom rang through me and the power I never felt before bursting out of me, spreading far and wide. It froze the man, and I used the opportunity to get away from the bastard. I wanted to kill the bastard with the knife, I had in my bag, but even in this state, I knew, it was a bad decision. For me. For Remus. I am willing to suffer any consequence for it, but I am not willing to let him suffer any. I picked up my bag and took out the coat, before wearing it, while I typed the sash. The power, that burst out of me and returned to my body. Click! I opened the door with saw Hugo right in front of me, while my guards, were in front of his guard. He looked at me, before looking behind me, and a shock appeared in his eyes. "Red," I said. He turned to the mage immediately while I moved ahead, wanting to get away from the man and the city as soon as possible. I moved while people watched. They seemed to be frozen in their ces, with shock in their eyes. I felt like, I knew the reason for it, but it was at the back of my mind, and I didn''t think about it. The only thought I have in my mind is getting out of here as soon as possible. "Lord Silver wants to talk to you, Miss Ca," said Mage Cliff, raising his hand toward me. I didn''t want to touch any man, but I took his hand and immediately connected with Remus. "Ca, what happened?" he asked. I could feel the worry in his voice. It made me feel relieved, knowing that he would be with me. Even if the entire world went against me. I told him what happened, while people around me watched in shock. I could see the rage burning in Hugo''s eyes and he moved close to me but moved back, seeing the change in my expression. The emotion I saw in his eyes is nothingpared to what I am feeling through Remus''s voice. It brought relief to my heart. Instead of making me feel worried. Hun! I was talking to him when suddenly the connection cut off. "They have activated antimunication measures," informed Mage Cliff. I simply nodded and kept walking ahead before finally reaching the doors of the city hall, when I suddenly stopped seeing the lines of guards waiting outside. ...¡­. A man in histe fifties was talking to two people in front of him when suddenly something hit them. All three of them stopped in shock. "Aura," said a younger man with tinum blond hair, simr to the older man sitting in front of him. "It''s from the city hall," replied the older man as the powerful aura burst out of him. For a moment, there was a joy in his eyes. Thinking it was his son who might have awakened it, but a momentter, he shook his healing. Feeling it too different. Aura''s have personality, especially when they awakened, and the user didn''t learn to hide it. This one is gentle but strong as steel. Much different from the personality of his oldest. He was thinking, who might have awakened it, when it disappeared. The older man pulled back his aura as well. "Lord Count, wh" the raven-haired man opened his mouth to speak, when he closed his mouth, seeing the drastic change appearing on the face of the man in front of him. "Seal the city hall and take them into custody," ordered the Count with gritted teeth and got up. Click! A momentter, he turned blur and got out of the office. The two looked at each other before following the older man. Tap on to read Over 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for map and other stuff. Chapter 490: Anger Chapter 490: Anger Shaun Carter "Nothing gives more joy than a drink after a hard day of work," I said as I took a sip of my favorite drink. It is the only bar that is open in the tower. There are a few people aside from us, including Miss Eva''s son, who had be regr. "Hard, my ass. You do nothing, but lounge around every day," said my sister. Taking a sip from her own drink. "It is at least better than walking around the tower day and night," I replied. Hun! She red and opened her mouth to counter when suddenly the atmosphere of the whole tower had changed. The whole tower shook like an earthquake hade, before it roiled aggressively with the power of aura and volcanic anger. It''s was so overwhelming that it froze us while many people around us begin to fall unconscious. The anger is so intense, that it has overwhelmed people. Forcing their support system makes them fall unconscious to shield them from damage. It took me seconds to recover from it and shield my mind. A time, more than enough to kill me in ten different ways. I turned to my sister and saw her looking at me with her expression serious. Something terrible had happened. To make Lord Silver radiate such rage. I have been guarding for months and I know how good the man is at controlling his emotions. He rarely let his emotions out of his control. I didn''t waste any time and got off my chair, cast haste on myself, and moved toward the floors above with Stena beside me with her speed skill. "This is terrifying. He has amplified the power of his aura and spread it into the entire legacy," whispered Stena, shocked. She isn''t the only one. I had seen the aura work. This is not the strongest one I experienced, but the most terrifying one. Such power from an aura is rare. Especially from the person, who had awakened it less than a month ago. The most terrifying thing about it is that such power is felt across the entire legacy, targeting thousands of people in the legacy. Not a small area size of the room, with all of them feeling simr overwhelming rage as us. "That''s the masters of the legacy for you," I said to her. ¡­.. Senar "Madam, what happened?" I asked Madam Caena as I reached the top floor. There are already a lot of people have gathered. Assistant madams, guards. There is even Miss Rolgath and Lady ckwell. All of them looked at the door with deep shock and fear. The storm of rage and aura is pressing on me like a mountain. I am barely holding on again it. I have seen people fainting on my floor. I had asked those conscious to get those unconscious people out beforeing here. "No, idea, but it is something terrible," she replied softly while looking at the door. I could see the conflict in her eyes. She wants to open the door but is hesitating. ¡­.. "He doesn''t want to talk to you," said Z and the anger in my heart raged further. It wasn''t a sexual assault, but rape. Now, that bastard''s father isn''t willing to talk to me. I didn''t want to talk to him either, but he had taken Ca and others into custody. When it is his son whomitted the crime. "Since he doesn''t want the easy way. We will show him the difficult way," I said. I don''t want to do that, but there is no other choice. "Inform the imperials, that we are suspending the supply of emotion essence to the empire effective immediately, till we have Ca safely in the city," I said. Making her eyes widen in shock. "Lord Silver, it''s not wise to push them in such a way," said Jon as he became visible. He neverments on political matters, but this time he did. He is right, but I am going to do it. "They need to know, that emotion''s essence isn''t free. We are giving that to them because we expect something in return and they better give us when we ask for it," I replied. Every person pays for emotions essence in some form. Except for the imperials. It''s a tithe to them, but it''s not without conditions. Till now, I didn''t demand anything. If I did, I paid extra for that. I could have saved a lot of emotions'' essence by levering the tithe to get what I wanted, but I paid extra to get those favors. It is for a moment like this. When I need help, I damn well expect the imperials to help me. If they don''t, I will stop the flow of emotion essence, which they cannot afford. There are eight legacies in the empire. Excluding mine and my legacy produces more than double the emotion essence of sevenbined. Only couldpare to me and not because it is as big as mine, but because it''s the throne. This is not a threat, I had given to them, but a promise. I will do it. I wouldn''t have dared to do something like this before the legacy advanced to Grade, but now I am daring to. "Count Raul isn''t a simple man. He was able to remain neutral, even at such times," said Z, and I smiled. The man is powerful, personally and militarily, and still neutral, which itself spoke ofhis power, but that works in my favor. If he had been in the camp of either, it might have been difficult to pressure him. Now, it is slightly easier. He is not without enemies, and one is his neighbor and equally powerful. "Inform him. If he doesn''t release Ca within a day, then I will support Viscount Larnis." "I will start by giving him a thousand essence bottles within a month, and that will be just the beginning," I ordered, while they watched in shock. I am feeling powerless right now. If I had been powerful, his son wouldn''t have dared to do what he had done, and he wouldn''t have even thought about taking Ca into custody. I cannot go to Ertburn with the army to save Ca or do something to avenge her honor. He could crush me personally, and his army would decimate mine in minutes. His son will remain unharmed, despite the heinous crime hemitted against my love. "The prime minister, Haas, and Aralis want to talk to you. There is also Szar and Lord of Inam and Owlspring," informed Z. "Connect me with Haas," I said, and she raised her hand toward me. I took it, and around ten secondster, we connected. "Prime Minister," I greeted. ''Lord Silver,'' the man with a deep voice said from another end. There was a silence for a moment before I spoke. "I hope, you will help me. Prime minister," I said to the man. ''Of course, Lord Silver, but such things take time and patience. You cannot rush these things riding on your emotions." He replied. "You need to be patient, such things take time,'' he added a momentter. He even used the skill, but I resisted with my aura and the legacy. ''I am not in a patient mood, Prime Minister." "If they don''t release my mistress, and do it by the morning, I am going to contact Viscount Larnis and offer him theplete support of my legacy.'' I replied. I especially said legacy instead of Greltheaven or me. He should understand, I mean, the essences. Implying the emotion essence that I was going to supply to them will go to him. Viscount Larnis may be saying he is neutral, but he aligns with Princess Orlene. The Crown Prince wouldn''t want me to give my support to him. Especially when the man is preparing for another attack on Ertburn. There was a silence for a moment from the other side, before the man spoke again. "You shouldn''t make a hasty decision, Lord Silver," advised the Prime Minister, with a clear hardness in his voice. A warning and with it came the power of his skill. Much stronger than before. I resisted. "It is my decision, and I will do what I had said. I hope his majesty will support me for it," I replied with a voice even harder. I am not going to change my decision, and he better not press me. "I am only asking for my Mistress back, Prime Minister. I am not saying anything about avenging her honor, I understand it is not a time for that." I added, softly. I will avenge her honor. It will take time, but I will do it. "We will talk again in a few hours when you calmed down enough, Lord Silver," he said and cut the connection. He didn''t say anything about talking to Count Raul, but he will. He just didn''t say it, because if the man didn''t agree, it would look bad on him. "Viscount Laris wants to talk to you," said Z. "Set the call for an hourter," I replied. There are a few more people, I need to talk to first before I talk to him. He is myst card, and I don''t want to use him as there will be consequences. Currently, I do not have the power to bear them withouting out of it unscathed. Tap on to read Over 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 491: Threats and Offer Chapter 491: Threats and Offer Mardel City "Your majesty, he isn''t willing to listen. Saying, he will announce the support for the Marques Laris, tomorrow," said the old man in his sixties. In front of him is a woman in her early forties. Looking at the mess of papers in front of her. "Mother, I think we should let him support Laris. If he conquers Ertburn, we will gain one of the prosperous cities in the empire," said the man, in his early twenties, excitedly. The woman stopped as she heard that and turned to the young man. "And what about Silver?" she asked gently. "What about him? Isn''t he the one harping about supporting the Marquess Laris? We are just letting him do what he wants to do," replied the young man. The woman didn''t say anything and simply kept looking at her son. Seconds passed, and confidence from his face began to slip away, till the uncertainty appeared on his face. "Is it not wise, mother?" he asked. To that, she didn''t say anything, just kept looking at him. "Brother dearest, we need Silver. We need him more than we need, Marquess Laris right now," "The emotions essence, he had nned to supply us before it was suspended, would have been 60% of our emotion essence supply," "It is more than all the legacies in our control give us. Our powerhouses are dependent on the potions made from them," "If the supply is suspended, even for a month. It will affect us deeply," replied the young girl of twelve-thirteen. "He won''t dare to do that. He knows the consequences of that," said the young man angrily, but the teen girl only smiled and looked at her mother. "Call, Count Raul, and tell him to release Silver''s mistress," said the woman, before turning back to the papers in front of her. ¡­ Warsteel "That little bastard, I will kill him!" cursed a man in his mid-fifties, while his advisers watched silently. Keeping control of his emotions wasn''t the strong suit of the crown prince. "Haas, tell the bastard. If he didn''t give us emotion essence on time. We will dere him the enemy of the empire," ordered the crown prince. The advisers looked at each other in disagreement but stayed silent and turned to the man in his mid-fifties. "That would not be wise, Your Majesty," said the man, and the anger in the crown prince''s eyes intensified. "Why? He dared to threaten the supply of emotion essence. He had alreadymitted a grave crime by giving that traitorous bitch the essences," said the Crown Prince. "It is all true, Your Majesty, but we can''t do that. We are facing the enemies from all sides and forces are stretched." "We need to swallow our anger and call the traitor our brother. Once we have the empire in our control. We will deal with every one of them as they deserve," replied the prime minister. It had lessened the anger but didn''t make it disappear. "I propose we tell Raul to release his whore. It wouldn''t be wise to dy it. Silver might make a deal with Laris and that wouldn''t be good for us," advised the Prime Minister. "Traitors. All of them are traitors," cursed the crown prince, but didn''t object to it. He might be angry and not like it, but he understood the need forit. If he wasn''t that smart, he wouldn''t have been in this position. ¡­ Sansa Banes I watched as people carefully picked up the instruments and packed them in boxes. I felt tearsing to my eyes again, but I controlled them. The bank acted fast. Two hours after the sealing of the workshop and suspension, they appeared and began to remove the stuff and seal it. We had over eight months to pay for the dues, but they had invoked a ninth use. Which rtes to suspension of the license for six months or more. If that happened, they have the right to demand the full payment of the loan and if one can''t, then they can make recovery through seizing assets. Leo had gone to the few people we knew to ask them for help. I hope he seeds, and someone helps us; I really don''t want to lose the workshop. We are nning to appeal the suspension tomorrow. We might get some relief. I was thinking about that when I heard the steps. I looked back and saw Leo. For a moment, hope appeared in my heart, but it was dashed as I saw his expression. "Nobody agreed," he said, defeatedly. Tears streamed down my hearing that as thest hope, I had been crushed as well. He simply ced his hands on my shoulder and watched with me as they took out everything we had built here. It took them a while, but they had packed everything. They didn''t even leave the mats on the floor and would have taken out bricks from the building if it wasn''t rented. "Please, sign here," said the teller. I looked at the document in front of me, before signing it with a shaking hand. Leo did the same, after me. As we did, they put the stuff into the carriage and left, leaving us in an empty workshop. "This is the end," I said and sat on the floor with tears streaming down from my face. We had a dream when we started about two years ago. We wanted to research beauty products and sell their forms to other alchemists to mass produce. It turned out to be a much harder job than we had thought. The sheer number of resources that are required for such research broke us. That we had to take the loan and take private order to sustain us. Now, nobody would give us a loan to start over. They wouldn''t even hire us. Alchemists, like us, are the risk. Things are sensitive and a wrong move and we explode the whole workshop. No alchemist would take a risk with us. "There might be a way," said Leo after a minute of silence, and I turned to him. Only to see him, take out the familiar scroll from the bag. "Did you recognize the woman that gave us the scroll?" he asked, and I shook my head. The only thing I remember is her being beautiful. Earlier, I was so overwhelmed with everything, I took the scroll and gave it to him without even opening it. "It was Ca Salt," he answered. I shook my head. I don''t think I heard the name. "She is the mistress of Remus Silver. The lord of Greltheaven," he replied, and a surprise couldn''t help but appear in my eyes. I heard that name; a little too much in the past few months. A master of legacy, which he was able to take to the Grade III in less than a year. It is said that the velvet garden had be the biggest legacy, on a continent in Grade III and below. "What did she want?" I asked, looking at the scroll. She said, ''Think about it,'' but I didn''t know the context of things to think about. He handed me a scroll, and I opened it. Within seconds, a surprise appeared on my face. "Is this for real?" I asked as I finished reading. "It is, and while it is for the Grade IV alchemists. They were willing to give us a chance when I described the woman who gave us the scroll," he replied. I looked at him, before turning back to the scroll. Reading it again. The scroll had information about their offer, which is quite generous and also strict. They are providing the workshop with all the equipment and even the resources. There is even a line mentioning that they will give us an opportunity to work with emotion essence and resources grown in essence if we are good enough. In exchange, we will sign a strict contract with them. What made it interesting is that there is a special mention of the beauty alchemists. "What do you think?" he asked. "Greltheaven is far and dangerous. It had been attacked several times by the undead," I replied, to that he smiled. "We will not die. They do not kill alchemists," he replied. Not the undead or anyone would kill alchemists. We are strategic resources, everybody needs us. We might not seem like it, but both of us are Grade III alchemists. Making us more valuable than most other alchemists. That doesn''t mean we will be free. We will be captive, crafting whatever they desire. "We will need to decide quickly; there is only one position for us," he informed me, and I sighed, before shaking my head. "It''s not like we have any other choice," I replied. He smiled before his expressions turned serious. "Something rted to that woman happened in the city. I heard arge number of guards have escorted her earlier out of the city hall," he informed. "What happened?" I asked. "No idea, but the city is aggressively suppressing the news about it," he replied. Hearing that, a few thoughts rose in my heart, but I crushed them. As I had said, we do not have any choice. "Then we should get out of the city as soon as possible, while the suspension is still fresh," I said, and he nodded before getting up. If we want to leave. We have to leave as quickly as possible before they find a use for us. There is always a use for us. Tap on to read Over 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 492: Released Chapter 492: Released Ertburn "Are we really releasing that whore father after what she had done?" asked Kanas, not daring to believe what his father had just said. It hadn''t been even five hours since they arrested that whore and now, his father is nning to release her. He was nning to fuck the bitch after leaving this meeting before throwing her to the other prisoners to have their way with her. Father turned toward him, and there was a deep anger in his eyes. "I have told you many times to keep your cock in your pants, but you never listened," he said. "Now, you have made a needless enemy, as if we didn''t have enough of them already," he added with his whole body shaking in anger. "Have we be so weak that we are scared of the little lord?" I asked angrily. I am the heir of Ertburn and I had enough of my father treating me as a child. It seemed to make Father even angrier, and the aura burst out of him. Making me nearly kneel on the ground for a moment. "He is not a little lord, but master of Grade III legacy." "The biggest one on the entire continent and he had suspended the supply of the emotion essence to imperials," "Now both of them are pressuring me to release his whore," replied father. I was shocked, but soon, I controlled myself. "So what? He won''t be able to do that for more than a week. We can easily bear the pressure, till then," I said and heard my brother snicker, while same time, my father got even angrier. "Then what about Laris?" he asked, and I shuddered to hear the name of that man. "He threatened me. If I didn''t return his whore, he will support Laris with the full power of legacy." "Do you know what that means? He will use the essence of his legacy to support Laris. The legacy with the capacity to produce more emotion essence than all seven legacies," he said with gritted teeth. I shuddered at hearing that. I know how important; the emotion essence is. It is what saved my life, in thest battle. Powerhouses want them. Some leave the service, if the liege can''t provide life-saving resources like that. "He can''t do that. Talk to imperials. Tell them to stop him," I said with panic building in my heart. Silver is a minor lord. He didn''t even have an army of a hundred thousand, much less a powerhouse of father caliber. The only thing the bastard has is his legacy. Still, it shouldn''t be able to pressure us enough to release his whore. "Hahahaha¡­" Iughed derisively. So angry at this idiot son of mine, that I wanted to bring out my saber and cut him into two, but unfortunately, I can''t do that. He is my blood. "You have made a mess with a single action. How foolish can you be?" I asked, barely controlling the anger, I was feeling. "She is a whore!" he replied defiantly. I nearly took out my saber and hacked him. She was a whore, but she was on a diplomatic mission, and I had promised her immunity. Now my son had tried to fuck her, and Silver had paused all the supplies of the emotion essence to the city. I have been called by the imperials. Even Szar had called me and the lord of Inam. That little bastard had also threatened to back Laris. That would be terrible. He would pose a massive threat to us if Silver backed him with thousands of emotion essence. That is not, what I fear the most. My biggest fear is Silver. He is powerful now, but he will be more powerful in the future. He is barely twenty but awakened the aura. Those who do it so early, rise high in the level. That whore had also awakened the aura. There is the legacy, the biggest danger. It is the biggest one on the continent. Capable of producing more essence than all Grade III and below legacies on the empirebined. If it ever reached Grade IV and it grew as it did this time, then it would be terrible. Even if the legacy went is under imperial control by that time. He would still be able to create trouble for my house, as his legacy would effectively be one of the most powerful legacies on the continent. I am furious with my son. Not because he tried to fuck. He had been doing that for years, despite me trying to stop it. This time, he had made a move on the wrong person. No, not a wrong person. She is a whore. The mistake he made was, that he failed to gauge Silver''s affection for her. It surprised even me. Seeing it had taken less than ten minutes to suspend the emotions essence supply to the empire. I have to say, he had a good eye. That whore awakened the aura. Only those with the strongest will could do it. Once the news spread. It will shock the whole continent. I wanted to kill her as she might be a threat in the future, but I couldn''t. If I kill her, Silver might act on the threats he made, and it is a risk, I couldn''t take. Last time, I was barely able to stop Laris''s advance. If Silver were to aid him, it would make things difficult. "Father, don''t release that whore. It will not look good on our house," he said and the anger in my heart, reached the limit once again before I calmed it down. Yes, it will not look good, but there is no other choice. I had a cordial rtionship with Silver. He had invited usst time for the opening of his tower, two months ago, and I had sent my youngest. There was even discussion in the nascent phase about emotion essence, but now everything has gone down the drain. I can now forget about getting emotion essence from him. I might not be able to get even a few bottles from other legacies as well. These hosts of legacy are united in these kinds of things. Even if they hate each other. Thinking that, made me even angry, but also brought rity to my mind about the decision that I had been thinking about for years. Kanas isn''t fit to be heir. I thought he would learn, but after what he did today. I know he will never learn and might even bring bigger trouble than this. If he continued acting like, he had today. "My lord, this is the best I am able to achieve," said Nadim. Interrupting my thoughts. A momentter, a contract projected in my mind. "Only for a year and a half?" I asked after I read it carefully. Nadim sighed tiredly. "He isn''t willing to listen unless we agree to take a decade less for the house," he replied. I focused back on the contract and a few minutester. Turned back to him. "I agree," I said with a sigh, and he raised his hands toward me. I took it and a momentter, I felt the contract clicking. "Release her," I ordered. ¡­ "I agree," I said with gritted teeth and felt the contract clicking. The contract has the conditions for Ca''s release. I had been negotiating it for two hours. It is a humiliating contract, but I am weak. If I had power, I would have been to make them release Ca with just the word alone. The contract had many conditions, but three were most important. The first condition was that I could not intentionally take any direct or indirect action against House Raulim and the territory of Ertburn for two decades. They wanted it to be perpetual and then moved to five decades, but I didn''t agree. The second condition is that I couldn''t intentionally make a direct or indirect move against Kanas Raul. At first, I simply declined to agree with it, but they were too adamant about it. I had to agree, but I brought down the time to one and a half years. He is going to pay for what he did to Ca. There will be no escape, and the punishment would be such, that he will regret it for every second of his life. The third condition is silence. I could not talk about what happened, for a period of two years. This was the most humiliating contract I had ever signed, but I agreed. Without it, they would not release Ca. ..... Ca Salt The pen in my hand scratched across the paper, and the contract clicked as I signed on thest page. "You are free. Our people will escort you and your people to the port," said a balding man in his early fifties. He is Halis. Commerce adviser to Count Raul. I had met with him in the morning. He is one of the people from the Ertburn, that''s been invited to the celebration. I didn''t acknowledge his words, but got up and walked toward the door of the jail suite. I had been here since they arrested me a few hours ago. I thought I would be here for weeks if not months and years, but I am leaving within hours. I want to leave. I don''t want to stay in this city, even for a moment. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 493: Company Chapter 493: Company Rosen "Take a break. We will start again in ten," said Loughty as the scene ended. The actors moved to rest and read their lines, while the stage mages cleared their spells. "How was it?" asked Loughty, as he stopped beside me. "Good, they are nearly ready," I replied to the middle-aged man. "The performance would have been even better. If we didn''t abruptly stopst night," he said softly and shook visibly. The incidentst night was shocking and terrifying. The rage that I had felt had nearly brought me to my knees, but also reminded me of the worst time in my life, when I had felt such rage. "Don''t worry, we have enough time," I replied to him, and he nodded. I have distributed some of my duties. Like directing to others. Focusing on managing the theater and refining my ys. Like every part of the tower, the theater had also been expanded. It became bigger with its capacity reaching three thousand seats. The stage is also bigger now, which will help us createplex sets. The changes to the tower hadn''t been finished. Only the stage is finished. There is work happening everywhere, but it will be done before the tower opens. I hope it does. A lot is riding on it. Soon, ten minutes passed, and practice began again. They have time till twelve before actors for another y wille for their practice. There will be three ys ying in the legacy. Two of them are mine, while one is from the ywright of the merchant state. Usually, only two ys are performed in the theater in a single day, but the response for ys has been great, with long waiting lists that go over a year. The three ys are going to make a logistics hell.I wish I had a few weeks with aplete theater to train the staff, but I don''t have a single day. So, I am making my people work, while the work is being done in the theater. The good thing is that we have experienced staff; the new people we hire are at a good level. I am still amazed at how easy it is for the legacy to attract great talent. Even at my peak, it was hard for me to recruit the best stage mages or directors, but here, we only needed to post a single recruitment letter, and hundreds would apply. Soon ten minutes passed, and the practice started again. I watched for a while before walking away. Crossing the mist curtain, that is near the stage. As I did, I entered apletely different world. I saw people everywhere, doing jobs. Some are working on the seating, some working on the balconies, and some on the lights. As I had said, the work was yet to be finished. Soon, I walked out of the theater and entered the lobby, which had now be bigger, with a different waiting area for themons and the VIPs. There was a separate area for the VIPs before, but the newmon waiting area had expanded and swallowed it. So, they made it new, and it is bigger and much fancier than before. It now even has a bar. Most people in there are going to be snobbish bastards, but these people also have huge money and have the greatest influence in society. They also patronize the arts, which helps us artists a lot. It is not just the stage, lounge, and seating that got bigger, but also the backstage, the green rooms, concessions, dressing room, bathrooms, and many other things. A few new things were also added. Like the souvenir stand. I have seen what they are nning to sell. Those things are beautiful, based on the ys, and also expensive. Velvet Garden doesn''t need money, but they are nning to earn a lot. An hour passed, and I took the elevator. I have a meeting with Madam Caena. Ting! The elevator stopped at the top floor, and I got out. "Mr. Rosen," greeted a middle-aged guard waiting by the elevator and led me toward the Madam''s office. Click! Soon, we reached it, and he opened the door. I nodded my thanks and entered the room. "Madam Caena," I greeted the woman. I feel scared of this woman, as I have never been scared of any warrior or noble. Even the prince wasn''t as scary as this woman. I feel from my soul, that I should never wrong this woman, or I will pay dearly. The woman nodded and motioned me to sit down. "These are the showbill copies that came from the Owlspring," she said and waved her palm a little, and immediately, three beautiful booklets appeared in front of me. Hun! Seeing them, as a surprise, couldn''t help, but appear in my heart. All three of them had a beautiful painting drawn on them, along with the title and name of the ywright. "What are these?" I asked, confused. "ybills," she replied. ''This is not a ybill,'' I thought and wanted to say it, but controlled myself. ybill isn''tmon in most theaters and those who provide it. Didn''t do it in this form or this beautiful. It is just a strip of paper, with short information about the y. These booklets have at least twenty to thirty pages. All three of the booklets are the most beautiful I have ever seen. It''s clear, they have been crafted with care by experienced hands. They are works of art, and without a doubt cost a lot. I picked up the left booklet of "The Wayfarer." It had a beautiful drawing of a woman''s silhouette walking through the verdant forest. On the top, is the name of the y, and below it is the name of the writer, mine. Seeing that, a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. I turned the page and saw the introduction of the y. I read it and turned the page. On it, I saw the names of the writer, director, and cast, along with their pictures. ''So, this is why they had sent the mage,'' I thought. Two weeks ago, the order came from the tower. We have to pose for pictures. They didn''t tell the reason, but now the reason is clear. It is for this booklet. After that, is the information about the ys. From musical numbers to scenes and breakdowns. This is written by me. Once again, it was ordered. Then it was the cast names and their biographies. That includes the names of their previous work. After that, it was writers and directors'' notes. Hun! I flipped to another page, and a surprise appeared on my face. When I saw the long list of names, as I read it, I realized these are the names of people working on the y. From stage mages to make-up artists to backstage crew to stage cleaners. Everyone working in the y has their name written on it. This is shocking. Nobody does that, but here every name is present. I read it twice before turning the page, which had an acknowledgement and special thanks. There are five names. Including Uncle Vanis''s. After it, what seemed like an advertisement. I looked at it, before turning the page. Which has the information about the other two shows and one show that will start in two months. The booklet ended, and I saw its back. Which has a beautiful drawing of the velvet garden. "Will this be given at every show?" I asked. "Yes, to every person," she replied, and it couldn''t help but surprise me. The booklet isn''t cheap, but that''s not a problem. The ticket is expensive enough that they could bear it easily. Most importantly, it will help a lot. Not only to the audienceing to watch but also to the people making the y. Especially those working in the background. Having a name listed will help with their careers. "It will be loved by all," I said, and she smiled, but a momentter, her expression became serious. "It will, but it is not for this that I called you," she said, and I waited. "Master Silver wants to form a theaterpany," she stated, and surprise couldn''t help, but appear on my face. We already have a theaterpany in a semi-official capacity, but forming an official one will require a lot of funding and other things. Currently, half of our members are frencers, while the other half borrowed from otherpanies. "It will make the present thingsplicated," I said after a moment. "It won''t have to be. We will continue with the present system while forming our ownpany." "It will be focused on recruiting and nurturing the best talent. With 50% recruitment from Greltheaven and Panar," she replied. Sliding the file toward me. I opened the file and began to read the terms and conditions. Some conditions surprised me. Like no restrictions on the races. I have been given the freedom to recruit the best talent without thinking about the race they belong to. ''Wow!'' I said when I looked at the budget for thepany. It is huge, much bigger than I had thought. They are also giving us the building. It will be bigger and more official than the one we upy now. Currently, it is being constructed but will be ready in a little over a month. "It seems like Lord Silver''s ns don''t just involve velvet theater?" I asked, and she smiled. Our present system works just fine, but it''s clear the man had ambitions greater than this and is willing to spend huge money on it. It has also made me excited. It is something I had wanted to do, but bad things happened before I could. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 494: Return Chapter 494: Return The carriage stopped at the pier, but there was no ship there. It will be a few more minutes before it arrives. I had been waiting sincest night and had barely been able to sleep. Now, I am waiting again. Minutes passed painfully before the ship finally appeared in my view. Click! Seeing that, I stepped out of the carriage and walked toward the pier before stopping near the edge. The ship came closer and closer and soon, I saw Ca on it with her eyes searching. Our eyes met and the mask of expressionlessness on her face cracked and tears started to stream down from her eyes. Seeing that, I wanted to jump into the water and leap at the ship. I controlled myself and waited for the ship to dock, while not letting my eyes move away from her, even for a moment. It took a painfully long time for the ship to dock at the pier and ramp toe down. As it did, Ca came down running without care for the world. Soon, she appeared in front of me, and a hesitation appeared on her face. Seeing that, I took her in my arms. She froze for a fraction of a second, which she had never done before rxing into me. I hugged her tightly while she cried. Harder with every passing second. She is usually mindful of the public disy. Always maintains distance with grace and poise, but now it is thest thing she is thinking about. "You are safe now. Nobody could do anything to you," I said and patted her head gently. It took a while for her to calm down before I led her toward the carriage. Click! Soon we stepped inside, with Ca sitting beside me instead of the opposite. The carriage began to move, and soon it was out of the port and inside the city. Immediately, the tightness in her rxed. Now, it would be really hard to do anything to her. The outer range covers every part of the city except the port. It is out of the city walls, but Caena is working on a way to bring it under the city''s influence. Even if she seeded, the legacy would need to advance to Grade IV for that. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the woman. She is holding me tightly as if fearing I will leave her. I leaned closer, seeing that. "We aren''t going to the tower?" she asked, looking out of the window. "No," I replied. She looked like she wanted to say something, but didn''t and instead just watched the road quietly. Soon, they reached a mansion, before stopping a few secondster. Click! The door opened before I walked outside and raised my hand. She took it and stepped outside, before walking toward the mansion holding hands. "I am sorry for what you have suffered, and I promise you. I will never let it happen again," I said, with guilt in my hearting out with every word. "It''s not your fault," she replied, looking directly into my eyes. A momentter, she stopped. "Promise me one thing," she said with her voice strong as steel. "Anything," I replied. "I want you to avenge my honor," she demanded. "I know we do not have the strength right now, but promise me, when we have the strength, you will," she added, showing me her heart. I could see everything she was feeling right now, and my heart was pained seeing it. She is hurt. Vulnerable by what she had suffered. "I promise," I replied. She doesn''t have to ask for it. That bastard will get what he deserves , and nothing will stop it. She looked at me, before taking a step forward, till there were only inches between our faces. I looked into her eyes before taking her lips into mine. The kiss was gentle at first, but soon the passion and desperation filled it. "Make me forget it," she said as she broke the kiss. Before taking my lips with such desperation. That I had never felt from her. She is seeking love and trust, and she has it. I kissed her just as intensely before picking her up and carrying toward my suite, without stopping the kissing. It didn''t take us long for us to reach my suite. The moment I did, my jacket flew away and a secondter, the buttons of my shirt. A moment after that, the tearing sound rang out as I tore her dress apart. She usually doesn''t like it when I do this. Given how expensive her dresses are, but right now, she doesn''t care, nor do I. A minuteter, a moan rang out, and it kept ringing. Getting louder and louder. The first few sessions were intense before we started to make love gently. Kissing and exploring every part of each other''s body. I worshiped her like the goddess she is. Telling her, through the act, how much she means to me. We continued for hours, before finally stopping in the evening. Right now, she is lying on top of me with her head on my chest. It is peaceful, and I wish we could stay like this for hours. "Have you given the invitation to the two alchemists from Ertburn?" I asked. She turned her head from my chest and looked at me. "Yes," she replied, and I arched her brow. Those scrolls are for the Grade IV alchemists. It cost me a huge amount of money to build thosebs. For some of the equipment, I even had to buy using the mist. "Give them a chance," she added, and I looked at her, but she didn''t say anything further. Since she said it; I will give them a chance. They need to be good enough to use thosebs or I will demote them to the lowerbs I am building. Ilikely will not do that either. Thosebs are expensive and are only for the Grade IV alchemists. The moment the first Grade IIIb is finished, they will go there, but before that, they need to pass the test, to get employed by the city. It is a tough test. I don''t want to give thosebs to average alchemists. I have a grand n. For it, they need to be good enough to make it happen. A few minutes passed when Ca got off me. "Stay," I said, but she smiled and shook her head. "You have a lot of work. So, have I," she replied, and a piece of clothing appeared on the bed. "Work won''t run away," I said. "It won''t, but it will be burdensome. If we postpone it," she replied and began dressing. I watched her like I wanted to eat her up and I truly do despite hours of lovemaking. She looked at me, but I didn''t look away. "Get ready. You have a lot of work to do," said and kissed my cheeks, before walking out. I didn''t stay in bed for long. I have an important meeting in half an hour. Earlier, I had postponed all my meetings, but not this one. It is a signing. I will be signing an important agreement with a powerful merchant house. I activated Get Ready as I wore the clothes. Immediately, the sweat, dirt, and, most importantly, the smell of sex washed away from me. A minuteter, I am out of the mansion and in my carriage. "Master Silver," greeted L as I entered my office. I nodded at her and sat down. I could see she had a lot of questions. Except for Z and Jon, nobody here knows what happened. I had intentionally kept the news contained. However, I don''t think it will be long before the news spreads. It won''t be from me, since the contract forbids it. It is the same for the two; they too are contractually bound, as well as Ca and her guards, but there are others who know about it, and they aren''t contractually forbidden. "This hade from the merchant guild earlier," she said and ced a file in front of me. I opened it and began to read. Within a second, the smile on my face bes bigger. It was a wise decision to overhaul the merchant guild. Arryn and others are doing well. Better than I had imagined. A third of them are out of the city. Mainly in the empire, visiting big and small businesses. They have got many pledges from the businesses, and few have already started setting up. I need investment, a lot of it. Since the legacy advanced. The speed of migration had increased as well. A lot of people areing to the city, joining the workforce. We need people. The current pace is barely enough to handle the vacancies. I had sent my people to the empire to bring the workers. They had gone to big cities, mostly to port cities, and cities closer to the ports. It is much lessplex to bring people from there. It is hard; the lords are keeping a tight leash on the movement of people. I have been signing individual contracts with the noble territories. Usually, they hesitate to sign such a contract, but I have the most delicious carrot in the world for them. Negotiations are also going on with the imperials about it, but the chances of seeding are quite low. "Lord Silver. Mr. Hanson and Mrs. Hargreaves are here for you," said Jill through the inte. "Send them in," I replied. Click! A secondter, the door opened, and Rip walked in, beside him was a green-haired elf-blood woman in her mid-thirties. She is a beautiful woman with perfectly coiled hair and manicured nails. She is a type that uses every advantage she has. From her beauty to her intellect. With it, she was able to rise through the ranks in her house. She is from the mercantile of the house of Hargreaves. They are in hospitality. From hotels to casinos to bars; they have fingers everywhere. They are one of the top three yers in Oksall. They also have business in other merchant states and kingdoms. The city had already gotten investment from the mercantile houses, Raxtine from Empire, and Almas from Owlspring, but Hargreaves was a bigger yer than both. Their investment is also big. "Lord Silver," they greeted. I nodded and asked them to sit. "I hope, the journey has been well. Mrs. Hargreaves?" I asked the woman. "It was my lord," she replied with a professional smile. I smiled back and turned to Rip, who slid into two files toward me. I opened the first file and started to read it. It had already been read by city hall, but it didn''t hurt to double-check. I put the file down and picked up the second file and read it, before putting it down and signing it both. Immediately, three sses of mist-led wine appeared in L''s hand. Clink! "To sess and prosperity," I said, clinking the sses. They will build the biggest hotel in the city. We really need it. For the opening, everything had already been booked, even the empty apartment and mansions were not left unupied. The problem won''t be solved after the opening. Instead, it will get worse. We need more hotels; the current capacity is far from enough. After the tower opens; the daily traffic would be in the tens of thousands. Nine thousand would be brought by the theater alone and 150% of that by the store floors. We estimate the traffic of twenty-five to thirty thousand people. A shocking number for most legacies, but I had nned for such a number. More people mean more emotion essence. Still, the traffic would be huge. It would be around 7% of the city''s poption. People will being from all over, from the Empire, Merchant States, and even Navr. Theck of amodations will force many of them to leave within a day. I don''t want that and I''m working on fixing the problem as soon as possible. The longer they stay in the city, the greater the boost they will provide to the economy. I need to fix it before I open the casino, or I will not be able to takeplete advantage of it. I cannot afford to make that mistake. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 495: Dinner Chapter 495: Dinner ckwell ''You worry too much, my son. I will be fine,'' I replied to my son. ''I hope nothing happens, but if the undead move. You will leave the city. You will not stay there, like thest time,'' he said from the other side. "Fine," I replied. ''Take care, Mom,'' he said. "You too, my son," I replied, and cut the call. "He worries too much," said Meria, and all I could do was smile. "Speaking of calls. I got a call from my mother this morning. She ising for the opening; she asked me to arrange for an invitation for her," I informed, and Meria''s expression turned bad. "You have declined, right?" she asked turning to me. "As if I could," I replied, and she sighed. Our mother is something else. Meria looks for every chance to get away from her, even at this age, "I hope, she doesn''t bring any other man than father," she replied. I pity my sister. She had to suffer mother at home and work. It''s why, she liked it a lot when she came here. It gives her space from their mother. We walked in silence while watching our creation. The park isn''t the biggest, they had designed it, but it is one of the most beautiful and the one that brings the greatest joy to the people. There are people everywhere. They are always here from dawn when it opens tote at night when it closes. A few minutes passed, and we entered the restricted area of the garden. It is in the domain of college and its entrance here is highly restricted. It was the most secure area in the whole of Greltheaven, aside from the legacy itself. Soon, we could see the greenhouses; tens of them. Far more than they had been two months ago. Most of these greenhouses are growing the nts that will rece the garden around the legacy. The number of nts there will be far more than the nts in legacy. We had tried to keep a close lid on the news, but such types of news rarely remained hidden. I have been contacted by various people. From lords to alchemists to help them get these resources. Even the alchemists and businesses from my city had contacted me. Unfortunately, I cannot help them. Silver is keeping a very tight grip on these resources. It had be even tighter as he started to hire the alchemists. One didn''t need to use too much of their mind to know what he was nning with it. Our destinations aren''t those nts. It will be another month before we would start to nt them. We are here for the nts that we had brought here from the legacy. They were kept here, while changes were being made in the tower. Today, they are going back to the tower. Soon, we reached the big greenhouse and entered the house. There are all sorts of nts, but all of them have only one simrity. They looked beautiful and smelled great. "All the nts are ready for the legacy," said the voice as we were looking at the nts. "Mage Irgal," we greeted. The man, I couldn''t help but feel slightly jealous of. He is in the service of the house, which is more ancient than any kingdom on the continent. "When can you send them to the tower?" I asked. "Any time you want," he replied. Hearing that, a smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. Silver wants these nts to the tower as soon as possible. Every hour, they stay here. They consume more emotions'' essence. They do it in the legacy too, but there it is more efficient as it is direct. Here, it is done through the bottles of the emotion essence. "Please do," said Merial and sent the message to our people in the tower. We talked to him for a few minutes before walking out. We didn''t leave immediately and instead walked into the other greenhouses, where the fledgling nts were being grown. It had been two weeks since they had been nted here and many of them have started toe out of the soil. In another month, they will grow more. We would be able to start nting. We are still working on the garden''s design. It needs to be perfect, but beautiful. It is going smaller than most gardens we have designed, but seeing we are nting the nts that consume emotion essence, it will be most beautiful. Second to only legacy. We didn''t stay in the greenhouses for long. The carriages had already started to transport the nts, and we went with them. Soon, we reached the tower and shuddered as we stepped inside. "It''s hard to forget," said Merial, and I couldn''t help, but nod. We were on the store floors when it happened. The aura amplified by the power of emotion mist in the legacy had brought out such power, that made thousands of people fall unconscious. I had never seen such a scene in my life. We took the elevator, and it began to move up toward the top floor. Every floor is empty, including the store floors which had been closed yesterday. There are some changes, that are being made there. We reached the top floor and stepped inside. Where they had already transported the nts. "Lady ckwell, Miss xasys," greeted the familiar woman. She frustrates us the most, but we also respect her. "Miss Rolgath," I said. "Shall we begin?" she asked. "Yes," replied Merial and we began the most exciting and frustrating job. The disagreement started from the first nt. We had already agreed where we would put it, but there is a question of how we would put it, and at what height and angle. The vines are the mostplicated because of the way we could set them. Hours passed, and we set one nt after another and before I knew it, it was afternoon when we had finally finished. "Beautiful," I heard the voice behind me and saw Silver behind us, looking at the changes. He is with Margaux. It seemed like she had returned from Ilden. "It''s also smelling wonderful," said Margaux as she took a long breath. It smells amazing and with the mist. Its effects have amplified further, making one feel like they are in heaven. The people are going to get experience in their life. Even those who came to the legacy before are going to be surprised. As they had experienced the nts and their effects, in Grade II legacy. Now, it is a Grade III legacy, and it is going to blow their mind. "Is there any change, you would like, my lord?" I asked. I don''t think it requires any changes. "No, it''s perfect," he replied and looked at every part carefully, before walking back to the office, while we climbed down to the twentieth floor. We have all twenty-one floors to set and only three days. Twenty-two, counting the roof. We worked till it was eight before we stopped and went back to the top floor after freshening up and doing some make-up. We would have liked to return to the suite to get ready but asked to be casual for the asion. When we reached the top floor, the tables had already beenid out and many madams and assistant madams were sitting there, including the triumvirate. There is also Miss r, Mr. Robin, Chief Hendriks, and a few other people from city hall and guilds. "Lord Silver," I greeted. "Lady ckwell," said the man, getting up and inviting me and the rest to the table. As we sat, drinks appeared in front of us. It is our favorite drink. It is likely one of the madams who had used the skill. It is impossible to tell who it is in the legacy. Its power cloaks their skills. "As I was saying, with Geim and Yressor forces engaged," "It is giving Prince Den a breathing space. I think he will be able to engage with whoever is the winner and hold them back," said Mr. r. Chief Hendriks shook his head. "I think the prince will have a hard time doing that. Their armies are bigger, even with loss. One of them will still have enough strength to break through the walls of Bertown," counter the old man. The battle of the southernmost region of the empire is quite intense from what I had heard. The forces of the kingdom of Geim and Yressor are engaged in it, while Prince Den of the empire reinforces his position as the capital of the region. Those two kingdoms have already captured half of the region and would have to capture more. If not for Princess Orlena sending the reinforcements. A lot more of the region would have been captured by these kingdoms. "What do you think, my lord?" asked Chief Hardt and every eye turned to Silver. "The question is tooplex, and I didn''t have all the facts, but I will say one thing. It wouldn''t be easy, for Geim and Yressor to capture Bertown," he replied. "It''s enough for serious talk. Let''s have the dinner," he said a momentter before anyone could ask him to borate. It''s like the kitchen staff had heard his order. As he second after he spoke, they came in holding different dishes and began to set them on the table. The invitation was out of sudden. I had been informed in the morning that there would be a dinner at the legacy. The invitation didn''t mention the asion. Only an invitation for the dinner. Soon, the table to set with the most delicious-looking dinner. Its smell is so great that I am having a hard time controlling myself. The sommelier filled our sses with wine, and Silver raised his, with us following his lead. "To velvet garden," he toasted, looking at Ca. "To velvet garden," we repeated before taking a sip of delicious wine, which took me on an emotional ride. Still, nothing could have been prepared for me for the food in from of me. "This!" said Chief Valentina, with her eyes wide. My eyes are wide too and so are Merial''s and others. The taste was unlike anything I had experienced before, and I had eaten in Grade IV legacy and even it couldn''tpare to what I had eaten just now. The only one who didn''t look surprised was Mage Irgal. It took a few seconds more. I might have realized it early. If not, the taste overwhelmed my senses so much. "The chef had used them, didn''t it?" asked Meria. To which he smiled. The assistant madams remained confused for a while before their eyes lit up in understanding, while others watched in confusion. "It''s such a regret, we have them in a very small amount," said Silver. The nts that had been nted didn''t have just pretty flowers and vines. There were some herbs and spices as well. Some of them have been matured, which they have used in these dishes, which took them to different heights. I could already tell that people will pay any price to taste these dishes. Unfortunately, the number of them is small. Only a few people will be able to enjoy them. More such spices are being prepared to be nted in the garden, but it will not change things much. It will only be for a few people. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 496: Alchemists Chapter 496: Alchemists Sansa Banes Click! Laurance opened the door, revealing the shiny newb, where everything was new. It is the same size as the one where they tested our skills for the past three days, but a lot of the equipment is different. The different ones are specialized for the beauty alchemists. "This is your newb," he dered grandly, and theb is truly grand. Better than the one we had. Some of the equipment here is really expensive and hard to get your hands-on. "Remember, you two are on a probationary basis. If you don''t prove yourselves in this period, theb will be taken away and the contract will be terminated," he reminded. There are only four suchbs. Three for conventional alchemists and one for beauty alchemists. I heard they were building a few morebs. Those will be for Grade III alchemists. We got thisb because those were not ready, but now after seeing it. I don''t want to leave this ce. I want to kiss every piece of equipment and craft amazing things. "We understand and wouldn''t disappoint the city and Lord Silver," replied Leo respectfully. "Theb is the property of the city, but the velvet garden would be your boss. Impress them and you will have a bright future ahead," he advised. It had been three days since we hade here and while most of our time had been spent on tests, we did hear a few things. The first among them was that velvet gardens had an oversized influence in the city. People here say that you can get away with disrespecting the lord of the city, but not his whores. "We will," I replied. "You two look around till they arrive," he said and sat down on a chair. We nodded and put down the boxes in our hands and looked at the equipment. The more we looked, the more impressed we would be. "It is all new," said Leo, and I couldn''t help but nod. There is not a single piece of equipment I could see that looked old. More than half of the equipment in ourb was pre-owned; we couldn''t afford the new ones with our budget. With this shiny new equipment. We will be able to push ourselves even harder and do things we weren''t able to do before. The contract we had signed with the city is pretty strict, but it is also generous. The city will provide the resources for us, and we have to produce what they want. In exchange, we will get a certain percentage from every finished product. For Grade IV alchemist. The percentage is even higher, but unlike them, we are in a position to earn higher. We are research types ofalchemists. Our forms could be mass-produced by other alchemists. We might get a smallmission due to it, but the sheer scale will help us earn higher. "Don''t dream too much. Remember what happened to our dreams," Leo cautions. Throwing icy cold water in my daydreams. It made me calm down immediately. We had a simr dream when we had started, but they were crushed. Here, we need to focus less on dreams, and more on work. I looked around, checking every piece of equipment, before going out and bringing out boxes of our stuff. The bank took nearly everything, but there are a few things. Even they didn''t take. Our books, research, which was exempted from the loan agreement, and a sample of things we had made across the years. We were looking around when we saw Laurence getting up from his chair. A momentter, two women appeared in our view. Both of them are beautiful; one of the most beautiful I have seen. Of them, one is familiar. The curly red-haired woman is the one who gave me the scroll. I barely looked at her when she gave me the scroll, but now I looked at her, I realized the praise I heard about her beauty wasn''t an exaggeration. The raven-haired woman beside her is a few years younger, with her eyes essing us. Ca Salt will be our boss, but it is Maeve Hanson we will have to impress. She is the director of the spa and the person who will decide our fate here. "Chief Salt, Chief Hanson," greeted Laurence and we repeated. "I am d to see you both here," said the redhead. "Thank you for the opportunity, Chief Salt," replied Leo. It is because of her we are here. If not for her, we would still be in Ertburn. Picking up the broken pieces of our life. "This is nothing but a chance. It will be up to you both, what you do with it," she said, before turning to the woman beside her. "This is Miss Hanson, head of Velvet Spa. She will be your boss," she introduced. "Chief Hanson," we greeted. "I have read your file. It stated that you are proficient in all categories of beauty alchemy, correct?" she asked, and I nodded. "Leo specializes in oils and perfumes, while I am in skincare and body care," I replied. "Will you two be able to craft massage oils and salves as well?" she said. "That wouldn''t be a problem. We have done it before," replied Leo. "Do you have a sample?" she asked, and we nodded before we opened the boxes and took out samples. She looked surprised. Seeing the boxes'' worth of samples. This isn''t just two years of work. It has been seven years. We have been working on these things since our days at Alchemist Ferro''s workshop. "You seemed to have a lot of things," said Ca, with a surprise in their eyes. There are a hundred and eight things. These are my proudest creations. From perfumes to aromatic oils to moisturizers to scrubbers and much more. "What are they?" asked Maeve. It''s clear that she wants us to exin these things. "These seven bottles are perfumes. These five are the aromatic oils. These nine are scrubbing creams, these th¡­" he stated all, but she kept looking at us. It''s clear, she wants us to exin in detail. I smiled and took out a book and opened it, before handing it to her. "This is a moisturizer, number seven; it is strictly for dry skin. It could reach the outeryer of the epidermis gently, and its effectsst for a whole day," "It is best to apply at night," I exined and looked at her, before turning to a second moisturizer. "This is¡­." I exined the one-by-one order of the book, which she read while listening without any change appearing on her face. When I finished with my things, Leo took over and began to exin his. It took us a while to exin everything, while they listened without interfering even once. It made me and even Leo nervous. It is never a good thing when people stay this silent. "Almost all of your things seem targeted. Working on one type of skin, some are targeting subtypes?" she asked, and her words were the question that brought us on the road. People like things that work with everything. Ours are not like that; they are target specific. It brought us a lot of trouble. Including the sealing of our store. I didn''t answer immediately and even thought about lying, but didn''t feel that would be wise. "We did it intentionally," I replied and found no change in her expression. "Targeting gives our products greater effects. It might work on fewer people, but their effects are more powerful than most things on the market," I exined hastily, and still, there was no change. "Follow me," she said, while the guards behind them picked up our products. "Where?" I asked, not moving. "To test your products. I want to see whether they work as good as you imed them to be," she said and began moving with the redhead woman. We looked at each other before hurriedly following behind. Outside theb, a luxury carriage with the emblem and g of the velvet garden is waiting. The driver opened the door for them, and they went inside. After a moment of hesitation, we entered inside, and the carriage moved. "Are you going to test all our products?" I asked after a few seconds of silence. "Yes. We have girls of all skin types and subtypes needed to test those things and skills to handle any reaction that might arise from it," she replied. I don''t know why, I feel scared about it, but there is also excitement. All of our products are tested. We never tested on people, but augur strips, which give better data, than testing it on real skin. Testing on real people is expensive. A few minutes passed in silence when the carriage entered the circle street. Immediately, a surprise appeared in my eyes. Seeing where the carriage is going. "Are we testing them in the legacy?" asked Leo as the carriage turned to the bridge on the canal, where people were seen on beautiful boats. "Yes," she replied. His eyes lit up. So, has mine, hearing that. We wanted to go to the legacy like everyone else but didn''t get a chance. Our first day was spent with verifications and the next day. The store floors closed for refurbishment and would open with the rest of the tower on the founding day. Now, we are going there, and the destination would be a spa, obviously. I couldn''t help but be excited, not just about the spa, but the entire legacy. Soon, the carriage reached the tower cloaked in mist and stopped. The guard opened the door, and we stepped out, before walking toward its misty doors. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 497: Devolopement Chapter 497: Devolopement "We shouldn''t have dallied," I said with a sigh and madams sighed. We are in a small conference room. Discussing a very important problem on the agenda. "We thought we had years. We didn''t even have months," added Margaux, shaking her head. We are talking about the girls. We don''t have enough of them. Currently, the velvet garden has eleven hundred and thirty-seven girls. Of them, eight hundred and eighty-two are working. Which isn''t enough. We need more. We were nning to recruit the girls after the opening two months ago, but many things happened, like the attack and advancement of the legacy that pushed it back. "We will have to start recruiting after the opening.," I stated. "The same criteria?" asked Caena. "There will be a change in this time. We will recruit from the city and Panar, as well," I replied. A surprise appeared in their eyes. Till now, we preferred to get our girls from a merchant state and Namdar. There was a reason forpetition and spying, but we didn''t have to fear that anymore. Everybody knows our methods and how we work. As for spying, there is nothing we can do other than be careful. There are going to be spies. We have to find them and keep an eye on them. Like we are doing with the seven girls, who we identified as spies. We didn''t arrest them; that would be throwing away the wonderful assets. By keeping them, we are in control of the information they provide to their masters. Information is powerful and controlling it provides immense benefits. "Numbers?" asked Caena. "A round thousand," I replied. This time, we are going to select the girls carefully. Verifying information and background of each girl we select. We didn''t have the resources to do that before, but now we have, and we will use them. The meetingsted for twenty more minutes before it was over and the girls began to walk out of the conference room, before only Margaux and I had remained. "You said you needed something?" I asked. Before the meeting started, she had said she wanted something from me. "Yes, a favor," she said and put a file in front of me. I looked at her before taking a small file and reading it. In a few seconds, a surprise couldn''t help but appear on my face. "It''s an extremelyrge amount of money. Are you nning on investing in something big?" I asked as I closed the file. The file is a bank document. She wants me to act as a guarantee for the loan she is taking. It is not a small loan. She shook her head. "No, it''s for my daughter," she replied, and I arched my brow. That is a massive amount of money for the teen girl. "She got epted into the academy of archmage city," she replied proudly. I have to say, I am surprised. I had not been expecting it. The academy of archmage city is one of the best academies. It is considered the best academy in the world, with the most powerful magic tower. Which is also the most powerful of spirits. Just below the three titans. "Congrattions," I said, and a momentter, the file began to burn. "You do not need the loan. I could rmend her from my quota; her education will be free," I replied, and her surprise turned into shock. Archmage tower gives a quota to every legacy on the continent. It depends on their grade. Since I have a Grade III legacy. I could rmend three people. "Truly?" she asked, her voice thick with emotions. I nodded. "Though it wouldn''t be without conditions," I added, and she nodded a momentter. I have been contacted about it by many people. Including the imperial, but I had refused to even negotiate. The quota is for my citizens. I had asked someone to look for the best people to be sent to the academy. It is not without a cost; they will have to serve the city after they are done with their education. I am already doing a favor to Margaux''s daughter by favoring her daughter over other candidates in the city who might be more qualified than her daughter, but she will need to sign the same contract as others to get it. "I understand," she replied. A few minutester, I walked out of the conference room. I didn''t go to my office. Instead, I walked toward the elevator. I stepped inside and began to go down. I looked at the floors where thest of the work was being done. It will bepleted by tomorrow before we open the day after. Technically, we are opening the legacy tomorrow. It''s just the spa and Eva''s store to be specific. Important people areing to Greltheaven, and they need to be ready for the founding day. So, we are opening the store and spa for them a day early. The spa had been open for over a week, even when the changes were happening in it. We needed to prepare the girls for the opening. They need to be looking and feeling their best, and there is nothing like a spa that will make them do that. It costs a massive amount of money to prepare them. My head starts to hurt whenever I think about it. Ting! The elevator stopped, and I stepped out into the lobby, where a big change was happening. Everything is covered right now, but when it opens; it is going to blow people''s minds. I had worked really hard to get things. Especially that thing and needed Ca to go there personally before that man decided to rent us, the greatest treasure of his family. Well, he needed the money. Still, the bastard isn''t willing to sell it, despite his financial condition. He declined even when I had offered to buy it with the essence. It is a smart choice. I may have given him the essence, but the imperial bastards or his neighbors would snatch it away. The same thing had happened with this treasure I am now renting from him. It had been "borrowed" by his neighbor for over twenty years. I walked out of the tower and stepped into the carriage that was waiting for me. Soon it moved, while I looked out the window. Even now, in the morning, there are people in the park. There are always people. Halfe to rx and enjoy themselves while others half to watch the legacy. Their numbers will increase after the legacy opens. The carriage moved out of the park onto the circle road where construction was happening everywhere. Many buildings that were just built two months ago were being destroyed and, in their ce, bigger buildings were appearing. From hotels, and stores to casinos. It won''t take before the whole map of the circle road changes. Not just the circle road but the entire city actually. Construction is happening everywhere. It is happening fast. Every day, I would see noticeable changes. The city is developing fast, but behind this growth is the shadow of great danger. The undead and the other enemies; could destroy it all. I am preparing for it. Recruiting people in the army, while buying all the defensive equipment, I could. It is going well, with open recruitment in Greltheaven and Panar. We are also bringing experienced soldiers from the empire. Since the legacy advanced three weeks ago. We had recruited three thousand soldiers from the empire, and more wereing. There are also orcs. It is not just the miner tribes we are bringing to the city, but also the warrior ones. I would have been able to get more of them. If not for the baronies getting smart and recruiting the orcs into their own armies. There are also refugees from Mayhurst ind. Many are still escaping it, and we have opened offices in Belnin and Nereim to help bring those people into the city. Maintaining an army is a very expensive affair. It needs a massive amount of money. Money that could be used to fund more schools, parks, bridges, and other things, but it is necessary. Without it, we wouldn''t stand a chance against our enemies. Soon, the carriage reached the port gate and went through it. A few minutester, it stopped, and I got out. "My lord," port master ck greeted. "Port master," I said, before looking ahead. "It seemed to be going well," I said as I looked at the work that was being done in front of me. I am expanding the port as well as its staff, along with bringing new equipment to modernize it. "It is. In a month, it will be ready," he replied. I had hesitated for a few months for expansion because of the undead and other enemies, but the way the traffic was growing; I am left with no choice. I need to be ready to use every opportunity. Thates my way, despite the risks and cost. The revenue of the city is rising every week, but so is the cost. That the city is still bncing on the edge of bankruptcy. If the problem of one city wasn''t enough, I had gone and conquered another one. It had strained the finances of the city even further. It is a good thing the legacy had advanced to Grade III or the city would have been in even deeper financial trouble. "Ask your men to not be so zealous in their inspections. There have been someints from the merchants," I advised him. Two weeks ago, some unsavory things were found in the cargo of the ship. Hidden in the fruits. Since then, he has increased the inspections. "I will keep it for ten days more, before lowering it," he replied. A momentter. I thought for a moment before nodding. There will be a lot of people and thingsing to the city for the founding day and we will need to be careful. The gangs in the city are always looking for such opportunities to slip things in the city. The high growth is good, but it also has consequences. One of them is the gangs. The police have them on a tight leash, but we need to be careful, as always. They are like weeds. You cannot pull them out as another will grow in their ce. The best option is to manage them; never let them grow over a certain level. I stayed in port for half an hour before sitting in the carriage. I visited a few more ces before going to city hall, where I stayed till seven and a half before returning home. I had dinner with the children. Today is only me and them. Ca had gone to Owlspring a few hours ago. I wanted her to stay, but she wasn''t one to get dragged down by what she had suffered. Instead, it motivated her to work harder. "It needs your signature," said L as the file appeared in her hand. She put it in front of me, and I opened it. It is from Maeve, about two Grade III alchemists. I read it and couldn''t help but be surprised by her assessment. She had tested the samples from the two alchemists from Ertburn and they are good. Better than good. They are specialists. Many employers don''tlike such things; they prefer to have those that work with everything. Unlike others, we didn''t have a problem with that. Instead, we prefer it. The goal of the spa is to provide highly personalized care for our patrons and for that using things that are targeted to each of them specifically is the best. She is going to test those samples further and if they perform well, she is going to choose them for the spa. It seemed like they were really good. Maeve doesn''t praise lightly. If Maeve thinks some might make the cut, speaking about the abilities of those two alchemists and with the instinct of the woman who has chosen to give them a chance. Then the two might be worth it. The file isn''t just about the assessment, but also about the funding. There is already an amount earmarked for it, but she is asking me to increase it to the level of Grade IV. Which isn''t small. I have to know every detail before I can approve these funds. So, I contacted her. I spoke to her for nearly an hour and asked for every detail. "I hope they are as good, as she is saying," I said as I cut the telepathic call and signed on the file. Approving the funding for their research. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 498: A Day Before I Chapter 498: A Day Before I Magda "It''s bigger than I thought," said El nervously, looking at the city that came into view. "It''s growing fast. When I passed by it a few months ago. It wasn''t so big," said my brother from behind. "It''s the legacy. Its advancement is bringing businesses and people in front of the city," exined my father. The invitation from Margaux is for the whole family. My parents and even my brother hade. I still remember the day when I showed them the invitation. Father thought it was a joke and even contacted the Greltheaven to verify. Since then, I have found out a lot of things about El''s mom. She is one of the most powerful people in the city and has a lot of influence on the legacy. She is one of the triumvirates who controlled it. A few minutes passed, and the ship was finally docked before the ramp went down and guards came up, followed by a beautiful half-elf, who seemed to being toward us. She looked to be in her early twenties with really short sea-blue hair, that was even shorter than fathers. It is my first time. Seeing the woman with such short hair. She is tall, taller than me with those elvish cheekbones and blue eyes the same shade as her hair. She is wearing a beautiful cream-colored dress, hugging her body perfectly. Seeing how guards were following her, she seemed to be someone important. She stopped in front of us and smiled. "Miss Swan, Pearsons, wee to Greltheaven," she said to our surprise. "Thank you?" replied father. "I am Eryna. Headmistress sent me as your chauffeur," she said and looked at two guards behind her. Headmistress. El''s mom. They came forward and took the bags from my parents'' hands, while we kept watching in befuddlement. "Please follow me," She walked down the ramp with a grace I couldn''t help but envy. It was effortless. It looked like she was walking on the water. It''s not a skill. She had been trained for it. I have also taken the sses, but couldn''t manage such effortless grace. A moment passed, and we hurriedly followed behind her. The guards didn''t stop us or even asked to check our documents. The carriage was close to the ship. They do not let them park so close, but here, nobody is doing anything. Click! "Miss Swan, please," said Eryna as she opened the door for El. She hesitated. Overwhelmed by such service. Ever since her mom came, she found a lot of things about her, making her question whether it was all a dream. Noticing we all were staring at her, she quickly entered inside. We followed after and a few secondster, the carriage began to move. "Where are you taking us?" I asked. "First to your hotel, where you will rest for a few hours. Then to the velvet garden," she replied. Hearing that, the eyes of my parents and brother lit up. We already knew about the hotel. A letter from El''s mom had informed us about it, but there was no mention of the chauffeur and legacy. "I thought the legacy won''t open before tomorrow?" asked Father. "That is true for most people, but open to special guests like you," replied the half-elf. Hearing that, a big smile appeared on my parent''s face. Father wanted toe to the legacy. Even had a reservation made, but that is a year away. It is difficult to get a table. Even in a legacy as big as this one. I looked around and saw the port bustling, even in the morning. With ships docking and leaving the port, more ships are sailing straight past. Two years ago, the trade between the empire and merchant states was non-existent. Now it is growing every month. Breaking the records of trade before the conflict. Soon, the carriage passed through the gate and entered the city. There are beautiful buildings everywhere. The city has a strict building policy. Every house needs to have permission from the city and has to have certain aesthetics. It gave quite a charm to the city. Making it one of the most beautiful I had seen. "Construction is happening everywhere here," said my brother, looking around. "The scale of it is quite surprising," added Father, with a surprise in his eyes. I didn''t say anything and just enjoyed the view. There are all types of people here, not just humans, but also orcs, I even saw a couple of elves and dwarves. It is hard to see people of other races in the Inam or most of the empire. I had only seen them in Namdar, but here, their numbers seemed more. I had heard about it, but still had a hard time believing. The empire hadn''t changed the policies about the non-humans yet. Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the hotel. Click! The driver opened the door, and we stepped out. In front of the seven-floor building, with arge fountain in front of it. The Raxtine. They have hotels in Inam as well. Bigger than it. "Raxtine had made a huge investment here. They are building a hotel as big as their gship in Inam," said Father, and I couldn''t help, but be surprised. It is twice as tall as this one and at least five wide. It is an enormous investment to be made in such a small city. "It''s too big of a risk. The city isn''t big enough to handle it," said my brother and I couldn''t help, but nod. I may not have an interest in the business, but I understand it enough to know. That city needs to be big enough to handle a hotel of that size. Since it is a luxury hotel. It needs to have enough affluent people, which the city does not have. "The city didn''t, but the legacy will," replied father. It surprised us before we shook our heads. "We are talking about thousands of hotel rooms, Father," said George, and Father smiled. "Miss Eryna, can you guess the number of people that will enter the legacy daily?" asked Father to the half-elf. "It will be at least twenty-five to thirty thousand." "Nine thousand would be from the theater, ten to twenty thousand would be from the store floors and a few thousand would be from exclusive floors," "The roof and the casino will increase the traffic even further," replied the elf, surprising us all. The way she replied. It''s clear that she is aware of it, more than casually. "What will be on the roof?" El asked. I wanted to ask the same question, but she asked it before me. Since the invitation, I have consumed everything about the velvet garden. I know the details of each floor. The roof is said to be restricted. Only Silver and the madams are allowed there. "That you will have to ask your mother, Miss Swan," Half-elf replied. "Only Master Silver and the triumvirate are aware of its purpose. The rest of us could only guess," she added, looking at El, before stepping through the gates. We followed behind, entering the lobby. She collected our keys, and we stepped into the elevator. Soon the elevator stopped at the sixth floor, and we walked out. "Have a rest, dear guests; I wille to pick you up at eleven and a half for the legacy," said half-elf and handed us keys to our suites before walking away. The guards didn''t leave. Two of them positioned themselves at the door of the suite that El and I were going to share. It''s clear, they are here for her. My parents went to their suite, while my brother went to his and we went to ours. We stepped inside a beautiful suite with a great view of the city. El looked at the suite, before walking toward the window. "It feels like a dream," she said softly, looking at the view. "Well, it''s not," I replied. I still couldn''t wrap my head around El''s mom being part of the powerful triumvirate. "Will you be showering first, or will I?" I asked. "You go," she said. Twenty minutester, I returned feeling refreshed. All the tiredness of the trip had gone away. Afterwards, El went and came back. We rested a while before going to brunch with my parents. It was all paid for by El''s mom like the hotel. We came back and I took a small nap. It was hard, with all the excitement about the legacy, but I calmed myself and rested. El did the same. Knock! We had just woken up and freshened when a knock rang out our door. "Ready?" asked Eryna as I opened the door. My parents and brother were already beside her. "Yes," I said while El nodded and stepped out of the room. A few minutester, we were in the carriage. Nobody is talking, but excitement could be seen in everybody''s eyes. We are going to the legacy. The biggest legacy of Grade III and below and one of the biggest legacies in the whole continent. Since I got the invitation. I am dreaming about it and now, I am going to be in it. Soon, our carriage took a turn and the tower came into view. Surrounded by a huge park. The carriage took another turn to bridge on the canal, with crystal-clear water. "It looked empty," said my brother as we entered the park. "It is normally filled with thousands of people, but today, it is closed. There are a few things that are being added to the park," replied the half-elf. I could see a group of people in a few ces across the park. Working on things. Finally, the carriage stopped in front of the tower, and I got out. Immediately, smelling the most wonderful mix of fragrances I had ever experienced. If it wasn''t for the half-elf, I would have stayed and enjoyed these wonderful scents. I followed her and stepped inside the tower into the massive lobby. As I did, I stopped. More like, frozen in my ce. I knew immediately that Vanis''s Tavern couldn''tpare to it. The first thing I felt was the wonderful feeling of legacy and with it came the fragrances. The wonderful fragrances of the flowers I had smelled before seemed palepared to what I am covered in right now. These fragrances seemed to enter, my very soul, with the power of the legacy. It makes me feel like I am in heaven. I looked around and saw beautiful nts everywhere. In the lobby. They looked beautiful with colorful mist dancing over them. I looked at the nts, before focusing on the things that were covered in the dense mist. There are tens of such things, with the centerpiece being truly massive. I can''t even see the silhouette of it. "My god, look how big you have grown!" I heard and saw a beautiful woman behind a huge reception tform getting up and walking toward El gracefully, before hugging her. "Sister Lorle," said El to the raven-haired woman. "You have really started to look like your mother," said the woman. It made El smile before a slight disappointment appeared in her eyes. "Is mom here?" she asked, and the older woman shook her head. "No, she is at the college." "It is unlikely you will be able to meet your mom today. She is very busy with the opening tomorrow," she replied. The letter from El''s mom said. It would be hard for her to meet her, given the responsibilities she had. She has a lot of things to do for tomorrow. "Don''t worry, after the opening. You will have all the time in the world with you with your mom," she added, and El smiled faintly. They talked a little before she introduced us to the beautiful woman. "Miss Lorle, if you don''t mind me asking. Why are so many things covered in the mist?" I asked, and the woman smiled. "They will be revealed tomorrow," she replied with a mysterious smile. "Can you show us now?" I asked. "No," the woman replied simply. It made me a little disappointed, but I will see them tomorrow. We have an invitation to the party. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 499: A Day Before II Chapter 499: A Day Before II Magda "Go, you have an appointment, and you won''t want to bete for it," said Lorle. El nodded before following the half-elf. Soon we are in the elevator, and it begins to move up. Showing us each floor, covered in beautiful mist. They are beautiful, that I wish. I could go out and explore every one of them. I hope I will be able to tomorrow. We have an invitation, which came with ess to the entire legacy. "First floor to the fourth floor are the store floors. They sell nearly everything, from kitchen tools to ivory art," informed the half-elf. "What is the requirement to get space on these floors?" asked George and half-elf smiled. "There is no requirement; it is up to Master Silver, who wants to give it but if I were to say, then it would be loyalty," she replied, wiping the expectation out of his face. He shouldn''t have asked for it. We already knew that over 75% of the stores here are owned by the locals. Even among the remaining 25%. Half of them have be local. Soon, the elevator crossed the four floors and reached the fifth one. The theater looked incredible, making my heartbeat wildly. I want to be an actress. I have wanted to be since I was a child. I am leaving the academy this year and already started applying to the theaterpanies. My focus is on the Eckels, a theaterpany based in Namdar. It is one of the best ones in the empire and the oldest. It had sent many of its people to the spirit. It is difficult to get into it. So, I applied to the other theaterpanies as well. Including the few in the merchant states, who are epting applicants from the empire. I heard quite a lot of praise about the velvet theater and its director. He was quite famous before his fall from grace. Now, he has started to get famous again. His ys are wonderful; one of the best, that even my teacher had given an example of it openly. Which they didn''t dare to do before. The elevator moved up, and the store appeared. Not a normal store, but Eva Cain, that everybody is talking about. I wish the elevator could move slower, but it didn''t. It passed through it, before finally stopping. As the energy screen disappeared. Another type of fragrance hit us. They seemed more powerful but also had heavy calming effects. We stepped out of the elevator, and immediately, the effect amplified. I looked around and felt tears in my eyes. This is not a spa in front of me, but a freaking forest. I could see trees everywhere. From the flower trees to trunks of trees to greens and shrubs; there was greenery everywhere. So much so that they masked the walls of the spa itself. They seemed to have spared no expense in making it seem like a forest. They even created mini-streams. One of them is passing beside me. It''s so beautiful. I looked around and saw my parents and even El had tears in their eyes. One can''t help it. "Wee to the velvet spa," greeted the teen of the same age as El and I. "Please follow me," she said and led us to the changing room. Where robes are neatly ced on stone racks. I chose one of my sizes and changed into it. The robe is a cream color and light as a feather. It feels amazing against my skin. I looked at myself in the mirror one more time and came out and the same teen was waiting for me. "Miss Pearson, would you like me to lead you to the waiting room directly or through the memory sanatorium?" she asked. "Sanatorium," I replied, and she nodded and moved with me following behind. There is a huge article about the memory sanatorium of a velvet garden in the papers. The author expounded in great detail about it. I want to experience it. Just like the author it did. She stopped and opened the door. Leading me to the beautiful cove filled with heavy greenery. There are stone circles in between. Which are the straw mats. A lot of people are sitting there. I could only see a silhouette as they were covered in a light mist. I looked at them, before focusing on the massive vortex waterfall. Thousands of droplets filled with colorful mist are swirling, making a beautiful sound. I heard it earlier. It was faint, barely audible, but here it was louder. Hearing the sound, smelling a wonderful smell, and seeing beautiful scenery, a quake rang through my soul. I shook, before gently sitting on the round mat, beside the small stream, while tears flowed down my body uncontrobly as the memories shed in front of me. I am experiencing memories. Good and bad, some I had forgotten a long time ago. All of them are shing in front of my eyes. There is no control over it and I have not tried to control it. The memories are beautiful. I do not like all of them, but it is a blessing to enjoy them. I am relieved once again as I felt the same emotions near the same intensity as I felt in the past. I don''t know how long it hadsted, but soon the memories started to disappear. Soon, I gained control over my emotions and felt so light and free, like I had never felt before. I smiled and looked around. Hun! A momentter, the teen appeared in front of me through the mist. She didn''t say anything, nor did she need to. I got up, and she led me out. She gently opened the door, and I walked out of it. On the other side, Eryna is waiting for me. "How are you feeling?" she asked gently. "Better than ever," I replied. To which she smiled and walked ahead into therge waiting room. There are people everywhere, sitting in the mini forest. I am referring to it as a forest rather than a garden because it bears more simrities with the forest than the garden. People looked at me as I looked at them. I recognize some and those recognized are all the important people. Soon, she stopped, and I sat down beside my brother. He is drinking tea with a colorful mist enveloping it. "It was something else, wasn''t it?" he asked with a sigh, and I couldn''t help, but nod. I was about to pick up the treatment catalog in front of me. When a woman wearing a spa uniform came and ced a steaming tea in front of me. Tea that had mist inside and outside of it. "Thank you," I said to the woman. She smiled and walked away, while I picked up the cup and breathed an amazing aroma, before taking a sip. It looked hot but didn''t feel hot when I took a sip. It had a light, refreshing taste. When I swallowed the tea it seemed to transform into energy and spread that refreshing energy into my body and mind. I was enjoying the tea when El came in; she sat beside me silently and a few secondster, her own tea came. Usually, we talk when we are sitting in one ce, but now I am fine with silence. Nearly everybody is silent here. Even those that are talking are talking in whispers. It was a little over two minutes after El, my parents came, and they looked calm with their bodies rxed. Seeing that, I couldn''t help, but smile. They needed this. "Have you seen the people?" asked father softly as he sat down beside us. "A lot of important people from Inam are sitting here," replied George. "Not just Inam, but also Namdar and merchant states. There are even a few from the empire," he replied. He looked around before his eyes focused on a beautiful woman with silvery gray eyes. "See that woman? She is lord Silver''s sister, Lady Le. The elf beside her is Lady ckwell of Amberhold," he informed, before identifying the other people. He seemed to recognize nearly everyone here. Soon, their tea arrived, and they began to drink it while looking at the treatments. Every treatment is free. Thanks to El''s mother. It made me feel a little guilty seeing how expensive these treatments are. "Which package are you choosing?" I asked her after I looked over. "They all are very expensive," she replied. Hearing that, I couldn''t help but shake my head. This girl should understand by now how powerful her mother is and, while the treatment is expensive, I am sure her mother could afford it. She might not even need to pay for it. The top executive has many privileges, and her mother is one of the most powerful women here. I am sure, she has privileges too. "Don''t think about it too hard. Your mother wants to spoil you; you should let her do it," I advised. She hesitated for a moment before nodding. I smiled and turned to the book. There were many packages, and all seemed enticing. Hun! I was about to call the staff when I saw a man appear in front of us. A familiar man, seeing him, and father got up immediately. "Pearson, I didn''t expect to see you here," said the man and looked at us. "And with the whole family," he added. There is a clear curiosity in the man''s eyes. He is a bastard, her father does not like him, and not many people do, but he is a rtive of the lord of Inam. So, nobody could do anything to him, despite hating his guts. The raven-haired man is Jules Benil. A vice-guild master of the merchant guild of Inam. "It''s all because of Miss Swan. She is a friend of my daughter, and her mother is kind enough to give us the invitation," replied father. His expression is neutral, but mirth in his eyes. The man followed Father''s gaze and looked at El. There was confusion in his eyes for a second, before a spark of realization lit up. "Ah, Madam Swan''s daughter," he said. A contempt appeared in his eyes for a moment, before it disappeared, and a smile took its ce. He nodded at her and talked to Father for a few minutes before walking away. I shared a look with my family before moving to the catalog. It''s really hard to choose. There are all sorts of treatments for every type of skin. Everything looks great. I was looking at it in indecision when I saw a raven-haired woman appear in front of us, or rather, in front of El. What struck me was how respectfully Eryna was standing behind her. I also found people are looking at us, or rather, the women. It''s clear, she is important and feels familiar. "Miss E, I hope you have been having a good time," said the woman. "Yes," replied El after a hesitation. "Have you chosen the treatments?" the woman asked, to whom El shook her head. "It''s too hard. Everything is great," El replied in indecision. The woman smiled and raised her hand toward her, before stopping, seeing El, shaking a little. El didn''t like people touching her. "May I?" the woman seemed to understand that as she asked. El hesitated for a moment, before nodding and the woman took her hand. A few secondster, she let go. "You have the same wonderful skin as your mother. The most suitable for you would be the ardent radiance package," she replied. "Thank you," replied El. "There is no need to thank me," she replied with a smile. "Miss, can you help me too?" I asked. Before I could stop myself, and felt the eyes of my parents on me. "You must be E''s friend?" she asked, and I nodded. The woman smiled and took my hand. Immediately, I felt like I was naked. Different sort of naked, where I didn''t feel shy or ashamed. I felt like this woman could see every part of me, both inside and outside with those powerful skills. They are the most powerful skills I had felt used on me. A few seconds passed, and a woman withdrew her hands. "You have drier skin. Aqua rejuvenation would be perfect for you," she replied, before turning to El. "Don''t worry about anything and enjoy the spa," she advised El before walking away. "Do you know who that was?" asked my father in a hissing voice. "Someone important," I replied. I gathered as much. "That''s Maeve Hanson. Director of the spa," he informed me, and my eyes widened. "Oh," I said. I turned a momentter and saw her talking with important people. Including Lord Silver''s sister and elf from the merchant states. Soon my parents and brother chose their treatment as well, and the staff took us to the treatment. Hours passed, and I went through one treatment after another. It was a trip to heaven that I will never be able to forget in all my life. Click! "You seem happy," said El, as I entered a beautiful room. "I am. I don''t think I have ever been so happy and rxed," I said as I sat down beside her. "Me, too," replied El. "I will be sure to thank your mother for it," I said, and her cheeks reddened. It was amazing. I wouldn''t have been able to experience it so soon. The waiting line is years long and treatments are expensive. A few minutester, my brother came, while my parents took more than an hour to return. When they did, they looked kind of ashamed, with their cheeks red but their eyes were filled with joy and some other things I wasn''t able to tell. A few minutester, we all changed back into our clothes before stepping into the elevator. Ting! The elevator rang as its door opened, revealing the most beautiful store I had ever seen. It is also the most artful and opulent. It had nts, but it didn''t feel like a forest. Instead, these nts feel like they are here to make already beautiful stores even more beautiful. "Wee to Eva Cain," greeted the attendant as we stepped into the store. My eyes instantly got focused on the tree in the center. Unlike all the surrounding nts, the tree isn''t real. It seemed to be made of metal and had colorful mist dancing around it, making leaves on it chime beautifully. "Look at these dresses. Jewelry, they are beautiful," breathed Mom, nearly gasping. Everything is beautiful. Dresses, shoes, jewelry. I wanted to buy them all, but when I looked at the prices, I couldn''t help but get somber. They are expensive, really expensive, but people are buying them. There are a lot of people in the store despite it being a silent opening, and they are rich. My father is looking at them. Informing us about them with privacy. Hearing their names, it seemed like. We are the poorest people here. We are actuallypared to these people. We were looking at things when I saw El beside me freeze and I turned to see where she was looking. Someone ising toward us. Someone beautiful, with the air ofmand, that the very mist seemed to part as she walked. "Dear child," said Margaux and hugged El. "Mom," said El, with tears appearing in her eyes. She had been missing her mom. She thought she wouldn''t be able to meet her today, but she came. A few secondster, Margaux let go and turned to me and smiled, before turning to my parents. "Mr. Pearson, Mrs. Pearson, thank you for taking care of my daughter, all these years," she thanked, bowing faintly. "You don''t have to thank us, Miss Swan. nor is family," replied father. Making Margaux smile. "E is lucky to have you," she said, patting her head. "It''s not her, but us, who are lucky to have her in our lives," replied father. His words might be corny, but it is true. El is a friend that a few have a fortune to have. "I hope you have liked the spa?" she asked. "Yes, it was wonderful. Thank you for it, Miss Swan," replied Mom, with a big smile on her face. "I am d," said Margaux and turned to the store. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 500: Open the Gates Chapter 500: Open the Gates "The day hase," I said as I woke up. Today is the opening, and everything looks perfect. I know it. I could see it all. Every inch of the tower is visible to me. The work is finished. The only ce the people are still working is the underground. The work there is going on with full force. I watched it all before going to the bathroom to freshen up and shower. Usually, I train first before showering. Since I came back from Panar, this would be my second day of skipping practice; the first one being the day Ca returned from the Ertburn. I came out and changed into a new set of clothes before sitting down. Just momentster, a steaming breakfast appeared in front of me. It is a simple breakfast; it doesn''t have mist or any special ingredient. I cannot eat those daily. Once I finished. I walked into my office, where everyone was waiting for me, and they had serious expressions on their faces. "Why so serious?" I asked, but no one smiled. "Deerpond has released the news that they have opened the mine with Grade VI crystals," replied L. Immediately, the smile on my face disappeared, and serious expressions appeared on my face. "Grade VI, hun," I said and sat down. It is definitely bad news for me and the entire city since Deerpond is an enemy. If they had found the biggest mine of Grade III crystals and below, I wouldn''t have been worried, but above grade III, the energy crystals begin to get rarer with each level. Grade VI crystal mines are rare and expensive. They are going to boost the economy of the Deerpond, without a doubt. Which will trante into a bigger army, better weapons, and more powerhouses, among other things. They have attacked us once and with this, they could attack us again. I am confident they will attack us if they think they could win. Last time, they suffered a defeat, but didn''t lose anything important. Only a few people died; so that they hade out unscathed militarily. I will have to increase my forces and not just numbers, I would need more powerhouses and experienced soldiers. He has that advantage over me. Thanks to the forcesing from his territory in the empire. It is really unexpected. I had heard about the new mine and was aware of the experts he hired from the merchant state, but never in the dream, I had thought, the mine would be a Grade VI. At most, I thought it would be Grade IV. "They had done it intentionally. Releasing the news on the day of opening," said Hendriks. "It''s fine. It won''t affect the celebration," I said, and it is the truth. He might have done it intentionally, but it will not even dent the celebration, not even a bit. "Today is important. I want everything to go as we had nned. We have to make a grand impression, something they will never forget," I stated. "Everything will be perfect, Master Silver. We will make sure, it is," replied Caena. They stayed for fifteen minutes, before the meeting ended. I looked at the clock. There is less than an hour before the opening of the tower and thousands of people have already gathered around the legacy. People had gathered on circle street in the night. They had then entered the park as soon as its gates opened at dawn. Now, every minute, their numbers are increasing. I looked at the crowd for a minute before focusing on the pages in front of me. This is my speech. Today is a founding day and I am going to address my citizens in the central square. A lot of things have happened in the past two years since the city was inaugurated. Its ruler ran away, it got attacked by the undead and a neighbor that we considered an ally, but the city had faced through it all when many thought it never could. There are even greater challenges ahead, but I am confident that the city will be able to face them. I will make sure it will. I am sure it will weather them all. Soon, there was only a minute to eight, and I got up from my chair and walked to the window. The crowd had only grown in the past hour. Their numbers are more than quadrupled, that of two months ago, when we opened the tower. Which isn''t surprising givenst time that there was no legacy for themon people to experience for free. At most, they could see the beautiful nts and enjoy their fragrance, but not the sensation of the legacy, but today, they will and for it, thousands have camped through the night. "Open the gates!" Finally, it was eight, and Caena''smand rang out. It rang out, not only in the legacy, but through the entire city. At hermand. The guards opened the door and the people immediately came inside. We have made arrangements for them to control the crowd. From setting up guardrails to hiring a group of people that specialize in crowd management. Their services aren''t cheap, given their levels, but I could afford them. Soon, the first person came inside, and he stopped and gasped in shock as he saw the lobby. The power of legacy that fills it, the fragrances from the nts, and art pieces that would invoke a powerful emotion and the greatest of them is a centerpiece. It is amazing, incredible, mesmerizing, and scary. Just one look at them was enough to have a small emotion burst. People entered one by one and looked around the lobby, while many took the elevator and stairs to the stores. Currently, only the spa and stores are open, including that of Eva''s. In the afternoon, the theater would open, but I wouldn''t be here to see it. I will be in the central square. Addressing my people. At six, the door of the velvet red would open, and at eight, the velvet blue; it is where the party will be. I could have opened velvet red now with the stores. Hendriks and a few madams suggested it and it would have been wise, but with openings, we always open it at six. I am not going to change that. Despite some losses, we will suffer because of it. A few minutes passed and soon all the store floors were filled with people. Each store floor has arge area for people. I could have packed more stores if I wanted, but I didn''t. It increased the capacity of the floor, but despite that, floors became crowded within minutes. There are people everywhere, and they are enthralled. One could see the pure joy on their faces. They are experiencing the legacy, something they had never thought they would be able to in their life. To them, the legacy is for the rich, and powerful. Common people have no business in it. Here at Velvet Garden, this is not the case. In the tower, everyone could enter. Whether they are rich or poor. I have also reserved tickets and tables for regr citizens at the theater, spa, and Velvet Blue. There will be a need to pay a nominal fee, to be able to enjoy the things that the rich and powerful do at a fraction of the cost. With Legacy advancing into Grade III. I increased the number of those tickets as well. I am not losing much doing that. As it is not the money, I seek the most. I looked before focusing on two stores, Gagarin''s and Sagra''s. I have given ess to three stores. Eva''s, Gagarin''s, and Sagra. Sagra is a woman in her fifties and an ivory artist. Both her son and husband are in the army and have fought in all the battles of Greltheaven. That is her loyalty. So, after some thought and a few interviews. I gave her the ess and a few dayster, to her staff like I did with George. I could give ess to all stores, and it wouldn''t be too heavy on the core. It would also make me earn more money and gather more emotions essence, but I am not doing that. I will not sacrifice long-term benefits for the short term gain. They need to understand that ess is a privilege. They will get it through their work and loyalty. It is a lost opportunity in the short term, but it will provide an incredible windfall in the long term. Not to me and the legacy, but also the city. Soon, it was nine, and I had to leave for the city. I wish I could stay, but there are things I have to do. A few important people I have to meet. Including, Lord of Inam. He hade this time, and so had the lord of Owlspring and a few city lords of merchant cities and nobles from the empire. Click! The door opened as I was in my thoughts and Caena walked in. "How is it?" she asked, and she wasn''t asking about the flow of people. "Let''s see," I replied with a smile. Everything turned dark, and a momentter, the core appeared. As we took in the scene, both of our eyes widened. For a few seconds, nobody spoke. "You are incredible," she said, with wonder looking at the core. "It wouldn''t have been possible, without you," I replied. The core is surrounded by the great multi-colored flood of emotions that areing at it from the legacy, and it is absorbing it all. I thought the core would have a problem doing that. Even legacy cores have a limit. They could only absorb a certain amount of emotions, but it seemed like the limit of my core is greater than I had thought. Currently, it is having no problem with absorbing emotionsing from the thousands of people, These emotions are from only six floors. There are fifteen more floors that have yet to be opened. My mind began to contemte how much emotions there will be for my core to absorb, after all the floors open at night. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 501: Deals and Decisions Chapter 501: Deals and Decisions Arad Vaughn "Look at the sheer size of this crowd," said Samson in a near gasp as we came out of the carriage. My expression turned serious as well before I focused on the beautiful woman in front of me. She looked to be in herte twenties, with blond hair, and green eyes. She is standing there gracefully with a light smile on her face and wearing an expensive dress. It would be hard for anyone to believe that she was a whore. "Lord Vaughn, wee to the velvet garden," she greeted. "Thank you, Miss K," I replied. "I hope your journey has been well?" she asked. "It was, thank you for asking," I replied. "Shall we?" she asked, looking at the tower, and I nodded. We begin to walk toward the massive crowd, all wanting to get inside the legacy. I have never seen such arge number entering Grade III legacy, except for the Colosseums. Even then, those people have to have tickets, here they do not. These aremon people, and they are entering legacy without paying a single penny. There is not a legacy anywhere thatmon people could enter without paying. It happens with some on special asions, but it is not permanent to my knowledge. There is a huge crowd, but thankfully there is a special way for people like me. We could enter the tower directly without lining up in long lines. I reached near the door and smelled the nts I had heard so much about before stepping into the tower. I nearly stopped. It surprised me. I am the scion of a Grade IV legacy. Have visited tens of legacies of all grades. I didn''t think it would surprise me, but it did. The feeling of legacy is denser and affects one deeply when it mixes with the fragrance of those nts. It creates an effect that moves the very soul. I controlled myself and looked around. Before I knew it, I found myself being amazed. The nts are beautiful, and so is the art. The most amazing thing is the centerpiece. When it allbines with the power of legacy. It brings out a lot of emotions. That the legacy consumes. "Do you mind telling me, miss, how much your master had paid to get that thing from old Marcell?" I asked the woman, without taking my eyes off the centerpiece. Wyrm. It''s the skeleton only and it is magnificent. It''s massive, over fifty two feet long, but it is coiled with its mouth opened in a fiery roar. That would make anyone feel scared. There is a hole in its head and cracks in some parts. Those are not cracks of age, but injuries along with the hole in its head, the reason for its death. This is a beast of the incursion, a lesser dragon. It might be lesser, but it was powerful enough to chomp a Lv. 50 to death. It attracted the eyes of everybody who entered the lobby. Seeing it, I couldn''t help but be jealous. We had money to buy it too, but we couldn''t. The legacies have freedom, but also restrictions. Though Silver seemed to be excluded from them. "We didn''t buy it, my lord, but only are renting it," she replied, and I couldn''t help, but nod, in thought at that. People threatened that old man with a sword at his neck, but even then he didn''t sell it. It is the only thing that remained of his once glorious house. He is so weak that his neighbor had taken it, whileughing at the pittance of ten thousand crowns paid as annual rent. I couldn''t help but wonder how Silver had gotten it from him. That man has means and isn''t someone who would give it easily, but Silver isn''t someone without means as well. He had shown what he could do with the incident in Ertburn. "Bringing it here wouldn''t have been easy," I said. "It was a logistical nightmare," agreed the woman. I walked toward it and examined every part. It is not just the skeleton I examined, but also the other pieces. They were all wonderful art pieces, all of them famous, borrowed from many nobles from empires and merchant states. The names of the owners are written on beautiful name tes below them. I watched every piece, before taking the stairs to the floor above. It is crowded, but they are managing it well and my guards also made things a little easier. "Our store floors are unique. Every store owner is an artisan. 10% to 100% of things they sell are made by them," informed the woman. "And how many of them have ess to the mist?" I asked. "Currently, there are only three stores," replied the woman. "Looking at the crowd. Even if the core of your legacy absorbs emotion from 30% of people. It will be enough to support mist ess to all stores," "So, why didn''t he give it to them? It will bring him a huge fortune," I asked. "Master Silver is careful with mist ess. Wealth is important, but he prefers loyalty and trust the most," she replied, before informing about each of the stores. We visited some stores, climbing to the second floor and then the third floor. That is where I saw what I am looking for. Of all the stores on the third floor, the space in front of one store is especially crowded. We entered that store. It is an ivory store, and it is good, but I have seen better. I may have seen better, but few could be able topete with this. They are using the mist to craft the pieces of ivory. They are using it in every process. From cutting to carving to finishing. It is a beautiful process that I want to watch forever. It is why so many people are crowding outside the store; it is too mesmerizing to see mist merge within the art seamlessly. There are six people working on the pieces, including two orcs. They are working in assembly fashion. One person is focused on one task. "Casino chips. It''s likely for the casino below, right?" I asked the woman. "Yes," she replied. The chip is carved into its round shape by one person, the other would file it smooth. Two would do the delicate carving, while thest two would paint it topletion. Aside from its denomination, the chip had two emblems. One side had an emblem of Onyx Halcyon, while the other side had an emblem of the velvet garden. We watched it for a few minutes before walking out. "Silver is squeezing his legacy for everything it has," said Samson. His face had be serious as we entered the store. He understood what Silver was trying to achieve, and it had affected him. It also affected me, despite not looking like it. Samson went on.. "Every day, thousands would enter these store floors. In the lobby, they would see the beautiful art and wyrm skeleton that would invoke deep emotions in them." "Once they climb up, they would shop, and after reaching the third floor, they would see this show, that will bring even more emotions out of them," "I can''t imagine the sheer amount of essence. This legacy is absorbing right now," "Absorbing even half would be massive. It wouldpare to more than half of the Grade IV legacies of the continent," he added, with his whole body shaking. It is shocking and other legacies couldn''t do it. What legacies could do or not do is dependent on the vision. It is flexible and it could be bent, but one could break it as well. There are consequences. Many hosts say it is a shackle. It is why, despite seeing what Silver is doing. We can not copy it, because our legacy''s vision is different. It is the same for every other legacy. Vision is the most important thing, and its importance bes greater with every advancement. Especially during the ascension of legacy from Grade III to Grade IV, where it bes a throne. Most of the time, there is barely any change in the legacy except for the usual, but sometimes there is a big change. One could even gain an incredible legacy. I will kill to know what Silver''s vision is. Velvet Garden had started as a brothel, with a mix of an in-house restaurant, but soon, he had opened an actual full service restaurant. A few monthster, it had turned into a legacy. Within months, it advances to Grade II. There is a big disagreement between the hosts of legacies about the timing of advancement. Nobody knows when Silver''s legacy had advanced to Grade II from Grade I. Especially, whether it happened before or after the destruction of the legacy. Most believe it is after, as saying before would mean, he had advanced the legacy to Grade II, just three months after its birth, which few are willing to believe. Silver has never rified it. Many thought Silver was making a mistake by creating a tower and adding stores and a casino, which were not there when it was born as a legacy. They thought it was the end of the road for him, but it was far from it. Instead, he had advanced his legacy to Grade III. Soon, we reached the fourth floor and went to the cksmith store. Like the store on the third floor, this one too is the most crowded, both outside and inside. The people are looking at the cksmith through the window. Like the ivory store below, the wall is made of ss for people to look in. The ss is also special. It gives them a better view and if I am not wrong, there are a couple of skills used on it to enhance the experience. There are seven people working on the mist inside. Four are cksmiths, while three are carvers. They are doing a wonderful job. I stayed there for ten minutes before I took the elevator to Eva Cain. I have a meeting with Eva Charles and Elese Cain. It is not just for pleasure, that I came here to Greltheaven, but also for my business. Let''s hope Silver will give me what I want. ¡­. Rutto Mindstone of Memory I deactivated the skill as I wrote thest letter and also deactivated, Transcribing Quill and Quick Dry, a momentter. I looked at the book I had just written. Copied exactly from the original with my skill. I ced it on top of the two books that I had already transcribed. They are three volumes of a single book. That I had copied from a book stored in the skill. Not a regr skill, but an inheritance Skill. It had been centuries since someone from my family got inheritance skills. It is my most guarded secret. When I got it, I had not left the house for nearly a month. I was scared that someone would find out about it and then I would be captive forever. Being milked to copy spellcraft and other knowledge. If it had been any other inheritance skill. I would have even shown it to others, but this one is dangerous. It will make you a captive. Like a cow, to be milked of everything that the skill has. Mindstone of Memory; a skill of Lv. 60 powerhouse. It is not just an inheritance skill, but the skill that my ancestor chose to pass down to his descendent intentionally. It is also why it''s filled with knowledge, or rather books. It opens a new book on every level I gain. Until now I had twenty-two, twenty-three counting this book, one for each level. All the other books were of spellcraft. This one is rted to the aura. When I got the skill. I had promised myself to never reveal it, knowing the consequences of it, but now I am desperate. I do not have any money left. Everything I had was sold to get this position. The rent is up, and I am not getting any money from that bastard prince. Instead, I am hearing news that the bastard is thinking of recing me, once again. I don''t want that. It had been two months since I came to this city, and I liked it despite the dangers. It''s not like the maind was any safer. In some ces it is more dangerous than this city for me. Here, I have a standing reservation in the Legacy. I could go there anytime I want. I get invited to parties and all the important meetings in the city hall. Most importantly. I love the free spirit that this city is gaining. My future is here, and I could feel it in my bones. Leaving this ce wouldn''t be wise. Thus, the books. I am going to gift them to Silver, for the asion of the founding day. I had thought about it, long and hard before deciding on it. Even in my worst state, not once I had thought of doing this in the empire, but here, I felt like I could do it. Though, there is a chance. Silver might take me captive and milk me for everything I have. That would be terrible, but it''s not like I have a choice anymore. If I didn''t do this, I might be reced and would need to beg others. Seeing I have nothing but my name. I sighed and ced the books in the box and wrapped it carefully, before sticking the letter to the top. Hoping this wouldn''t be the worst decision I had made in my life. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 502: Founding Day Chapter 502: Founding Day Magda "I want to wear it now," I said dreamily, looking longingly at the purple-red dress. It is the most beautiful dress and most expensive dress I have ever seen. It is not only including magical material but is a mist-crafted dress; crafted using the mist of legacy and now it is mine. These dresses are really expensive and near impossible to get your hands on. I have seen people far richer than us asking for them, but not eligible to buy them. There is such a limited stock of these dresses, and very few people, like the sister of Lord Silver, would be able to buy them. I got it because of El''s mom. It is a wonderful gift from her. "You only need to wait for a few hours," replied El, as she came out wearing a beautiful green dress. Her mother had bought her an entire wardrobe of dresses. It is not just dresses, but also many essories. All of which were made for her. This is not possible for most people, but for her, it now is. Click! "Girls, are you ready?" asked my mom as she came inside with Eryna following behind her. "Yes," I replied. Looking at the mirror onest time. El''s mother had sent a person to prepare us. We are attending the founding day function at Central Square. Soon, we stepped out of the room, before getting out of the hotel and into the carriage waiting for us. "There is a lot of traffic," said El, looking at the lines and lines of carriages in front, with the central square as the destination. Nobody is surprised. There is always traffic with functions like this in a city. I don''t mind it, seeing I am getting to look at this beautiful city carefully. In just one night, they have adorned the city as beautiful as a bride. It looked beautiful yesterday, but now it is looking even more magnificent. "It''s like a festival," said George, and I couldn''t help but nod. It took us a while, but we finally drew near the central za, and it was packed. "It seems like the entire city had gathered here," said Mom, looking at the crowd as we got out of the carriage, which quickly moved away. There is no space to park here. I could only see a few carriages, which I am sure belong to important people, like our Lord of Inam. I heard he hade to Greltheaven to attend the functions. There is heavy security at every turn. We were led through the cordoned area before we reached the seating in front of the enormous stage. There are twelve rows of seats with the capacity to seat at least a thousand people. We were in the fifth row and when we reached there, we found a familiar person was sitting there. "Vice-guild master Benil," father greeted the man. "Pearson, it''s nice to see you again," replied the man, with only a small change in expression, before looking at El for a moment. We took our seats, with my father sitting beside Benil. It''s a good thing I am sitting on the other end. I don''t like that man. A few minutes passed, and more seats filled. Soon all the seats in my row had been filled, leaving only two beside me. I was in my thoughts when two people came. I turned and when I saw them, my heartbeat couldn''t help, but beat faster. There are two people; the woman looked to be in her early thirties and a young man, who is about my brother''s age, around eighteen. He is the most handsome boy; I have seen, and he is an elf. He is tall with high cheekbones that the elves are famous for. He had deep green eyes and blue hair that looked like it was made of water. The woman is no less beautiful. So much so that I couldn''t help, but feel a little envy. They came and sat down, with the young man beside me, and he turned toward me. "Asyren Vylisod," he said, in a beautifully ented voice that rang like chimes. I was so mesmerized that I couldn''t react for a moment. It would have taken me more. If not for El hitting me with her leg. "Magda Pearson," I replied, with my cheeks heating up. "It''s nice to meet you, Magda," he said. "You too, Asyren," I replied with a smile. I could feel the eyes on me, but I didn''t care. The man is too handsome. Not talking with him would be a crime. "Based on your ent, you seemed to be from the merchant states?" I asked. "Not by my race?" he asked back quickly, and I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I am from the merchant state Ishlynor.," he replied. I was surprised to hear that. I thought he would be from Belnin or Meldhorn. All the regions of the merchant states have elves, some more than others, but Ishlynor Forest is the region of elves. "You are from Harsoth Empire, right?" he asked. "Inam," I replied. "Well, that''s close," he said, and I smiled. "If you don''t mind me asking. Will you be at the party tonight?" I asked. It''s a little too forward, but I decided to ask it, biting down the nervousness I was feeling. "I hope you will be there too, or the party will feel pale," he said. I know he is ttering me, but I liked it. "You can bet on that," I replied, and he smiled. A few minutes passed, and the drum began to ring out, as the important people began to make entry. I barely nced at them. All my focus is on the beautiful man beside me. We were talking when suddenly, the drums began to y even louder than before. I turned from Asyren, catching the eyes of El and my brother. El is all smiles, while my brother is ring. He isn''t ring at me, but at Asyren beside me. Seeing that, I couldn''t help but sigh. He is too protective, scaring away half of the guys I date. I shook my head and looked at therge carriageing with the heavy guards. It stopped, and a strikingly beautiful woman came out of it. For a moment, I thought it was Ca Salt, but she said to have red hair. "Aunt Ina," said El softly. Governor Knox. The woman was more beautiful than she was said to be. I was looking at her when two more people came out, one after another. They are children, siblings of Lord Silver. Thest one toe out was Lord Silver. ...¡­.. Silver I walked on to the stage with Ina and the children. Wishing Ca had been here. She isn''t. She is in the legacy. I had asked her, multiple times, but she didn''te. I sighed internally and looked ahead toward the people. There are tens of thousands of them. More than double of thest celebration. So much so that there is barely any space in the central square, despite me expanding it a little after the first battle. A lot of important people havee to the city. Lord of Inam, Lord of Owlspring, and other nobles from empire and merchant states. Far more than thest time. I know that they didn''te out of their respect for me. Some might, but it''s not the main reason. Especially the nobles from the empire, who are busy dealing with civil war, foreign enemies, and other troubles. Their time is precious to them. They wouldn''t havee if it was not important to them. It''s the essence, and the tower is producing a lot of it, because of the sheer size. Those with even little brains understand that and they want it, and I am going to give it to them. A resource that can''t be used is useless. I am going to use the essence. There are a lot of things I want, and these people will give them to me. Till now, I have focused on the merchant states, the most, but now, I will focus on the empire as well. Grade II essence provided me with a level of influence, but not as much as Grade III could. They want the Grade III essence desperately, and I am going to fill that need. I am going to make them addicts. Something they couldn''t live without. They have a lot of things I want, and Grade III essence will give me the ability and influence to get those things. I need that level of influence. The incident at Ertburn had proven how much I needed it. I shook those thoughts away surveying my citizens and guests, I felt all of them looking at me, with eyes filled with hope and expectation. It made me scared. I don''t want to disappoint them. "My citizens, what a year it has been!" I said dramatically. At first, there was confusion, but a smile appeared on their faces beforeughter began to escape their lips. I didn''t want to give a serious speech today. They need mirth and optimism after the year it has been. "We have experienced things in one year that most do not in decades." "Our lord ran away. We got attacked not once, but three times, and recently even got stabbed in the back," Excluding thest sentence about the Deerpond where expressions soured,many were attentive and nodded along. "But we preserved! We fought tooth and nail and won when everybody expected us to fail," "It was not without cost, we lost many good people." "To them, the dominion will be eternally grateful," It is risky to use that word, but I have remained cautious enough. It brought immediate reactions. Many like the Lords of Owlspring and Inam smiled grinningly, while nobles of the Nakar forest and others turned serious. It is a calcted risk. It could go either way, but now, I have the power to bear the consequences. "Theing year will be even more challenging, but it will also be filled with prosperity," "I promise you, my dear citizens, I¡­." Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chaper 503: The Ship and The Forge Chaper 503: The Ship and The Forge Aston Harbor The man with the staff looked out with a smile as therge ship without masts rose from the sea. Water began to flow out of it like a fountain, and in a minute, all the water was out of the ship and his staff glowed with a spell. If anyone could sense it. They would notice a big movement on the ship. Inside the ship, the boxes begin to open one after another. The skeletal heads begin toe out of one box, the legse out of the other, and many other partse out of the other boxes. They begin to snap together. Formingplete skeletons at a rapid pace. A few secondster, the line of skeletons marched out through the ship''s rampand entered the port while the people watched. Today is special, and it''s why he showed the ship. If it was not, it would have been docked underwater and emptied their cargo there, before leaving the port just as sneakily as it came, without anyone knowing. "Our forces are steadily increasing," said the armored man. "It''s far from enough to capture the entire region," replied the man with the staff. Ships like this came many times in the past months, bringing more and more undead and powerhouses. Increasing their numbers. It is slow, but slow is fine. It is much better than rushing and getting destroyed by the enemies like thest time. A group of ships is easier to track. The intelligence about them spread much faster. On the other hand, it is much harder to track a single ship. In these two months, the merchants and imperials had been able to destroy only three ships. Little by little, their forces are increasing. It won''t be long before they umte the required forces, and then there will be reckoning. The entire continent will know the power of Vris''Alud. ¡­ Gagarin I stepped into the tower, and it seemed to be even more crowded than before. There are people everywhere, looking at everything, but most are captivated by the massive skeleton of the Wyrm. It is really something. Despite being dead for thousands of years, it fills the hearts of people with dread. I nced at it, before stepping into the elevator. I stepped out onto the fourth floor. It is crowded with most of the people around my store. "Guild master," Some people recognized me and greeted me. I nodded at them, but only spoke a few words before walking into the store. Six people, including my daughter, are already working there. Four of them are my disciples, while the fifth person is someone I hired. He is an engraver like my daughter, and we need them. My daughter and Baur aren''t enough. I nodded at them before walking deeper into the store, which was crowded like outside, with the lines at the two billing counters. The goods are selling like hotcakes. Much faster than we had anticipated. It made me happy, but also a little worried. Click! Soon, I reached the back of the store and opened the wooden door. In the morning, there was not any space for a person like me to enter; there was so much stuff, but now, half of it had disappeared. "We might not be able tost till the evening," said Mardes from behind me. "Send the message to the Madam, when less than 10% remain," I replied. He nodded, and I closed the door. Legacy makes a lot of things easier. There is a massive underground storeroom connected to the legacy where they had asked me to ce our things. Not me, but every store. If our goods are sold, they will transfer the goods to the warehouse here directly. It happens instantly. Saving us a lot of time and effort. I looked at the things before undressing. Carefully, putting the suit on the shelf. It cost me a lot, but it''s a good thing, I bought it. I need to wear nice clothes to look the part of a legacy store owner. I couldn''t always wear worn-out soot-covered clothes. The function at the central square had been good. I had met a lot of people, both unfamiliar and familiar, but now it was time for work. For it, I need to change. Lord Silver says, I am not just crafting things, but putting on a show for the people. I have to make it look good, and enthralling. It is not the word anyone would associate with cksmithing, but the one I had heard a lot, in the past few days. Thankfully, I have a cksmith''s clothes, and they arefortable. Though, if it were up to me; I would be fine, wearing only pants. Once changed, I came out and walked to the workstation. "How was the function?" asked Atil as I reached it and sat on my spot. "Good, a lot of important people hade," I replied and ced the bar of metal into the furnace and activated Fast Red. While the metal heated. I looked at my apprentices; they are my best people. However, the onesing to the interview are much better than them. One seemed even better than me. I am expanding my workshop in the city. For it, I have taken a loan. I had money, but the expansion was big, and I had brought a lot of fancy equipment. I am also hiring new cksmiths and apprentices from the schools and city. It is one of the conditions of Lord Silver. I need to expand. It had be necessary. Everything I had forged had been sold. Now, everything that is present in my store has been bought from the empire, merchant state, and some from the city. The Lord wants 75% products I sell should be from the city and thus the expansion. I am also opening a store in the city. Bigger than this one. This store made me famous, not only in the city but also in the empire and merchant state. I need to capitalize on that. It was Lord Silver who suggested that, and Atil agreed with it. To me, it is an enormous risk, but I trust the lord and my daughter. If it were not for her, I would still be forging weapons in a soot-filled workshop. The workshop will be ready in two weeks. I have till then to hire all the people. I have been taking interviews every afternoon for the past three days. Taking a break only today. I am hiring quite a lot of people. Many are interested and they areing, not only from empires and merchant states, but also from other countries. Among those people, some would work with the mist, after the store closed. Every space would be utilized, and we need to be smart about it. It is the same for the woman below, but she is still thinking about it. There is a massive order I have toplete. Everything we are forging is going to the legacy, but there are still many things we have to forge toplete the order. It is only the order of legacy we are trying toplete. There are other orders we have yet to take. I have been contacted by hundreds of people. These are big merchants, willing to make big orders and ready to pay instantly. Some offered to build me a bigger workshop with more expensive equipment. Everybody wants the mist crafted goods and are willing to pay a tremendous price for them. Far more than what legacy is paying for them. Some even hinted their willing to buy under the table. I shot down those proposals immediately. I understand very well. What I have is because of legacy and Lord Silver could take it away just as easily as he had given it to me. I am controlling my greed, but one of my apprentices couldn''t. I fired him, despite it only being a knife, that he tried to steal. I need to be harsh; I can not let anything happen, that will risk this ce. Finally, the metal bar is ready. I didn''t even look at it; I know it through the cksmiths Sense. I brought it out and put it on an anvil, before activating Malleable Metal. A momentter, I started hitting it with the hammer, activating Rapid Hammering. With every strike, the mist covering the hammer thickly would flow inside the metal, little by little. It is difficult, considering the more mist that enters inside the metal the harder it bes to forge. The first thing Miss Eva told me was to find the bnce with the amount of mist I need to use. If I use too much, I will end up tiring myself and the power of my skill, too quickly. Which is bad considering I forge for at least twelve hours every day. I need myself and my skills tost that long. I still remember how quickly I used to get tired. Even now, I still get tired, but I am learning to manage it. I am forging the skewer rods. I have to give twenty-four of them to the legacy by the evening, along with many other things. If only the seven of us worked, then it would take over a month to finish the order. Though it will change with the new people. Hours passed as hundreds watched us from the window. Some, if important enough, can watch from close up. Like the four people are doing right now. I recognize one of them; he is a vice-guild master of the enchanter guild from Namdar. I wonder if he will be the man. It is unlikely, given his position. Lord Silver is hiring the enchanters. With enchantments, the mist-crafted goods would be even more effective and valuable. Time passed, and I finished a skewer rod, one after another. I hope to finish the order of the legacy as soon as possible and hire more people to finish other orders. So, I can do those things I am thinking about. There is a particr type of forging I want to do. It is difficult and requires a lot of resources and training. I could afford those resources now and someone promised me the guidance as her field of work intersects with it. I had never thought this day woulde, but it did, and now I want to start as soon as possible. I only need to wait for a little more time before I can start it. The thought put a smile on my face before I focused on the work. Soon, it was five and a familiar woman appeared. "Is it ready?" she asked. "Yes," replied Atil, and handed her the box. It had the skewers they ordered, along with the other stuff we had crafted in the past few hours. She checked the box and nodded before walking away, while I focused on work. I want to finish the knife before I go home to get ready for the party. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 504: Worry Chapter 504: Worry The people started to arrive, just a few seconds after eight, as the gates of velvet blue opened. "Another ship; they are increasing their numbers fast," said Ina as she closed the file, and I turned off the skill and turned to her. "Yes," I said with a sigh. I may have shown bravado and optimism in my speech earlier, but I am worried. This is not the first ship that hade bringing the undead from the ind. It is only the first ship they are showing openly. They did it intentionally, and it is working. It''s not like I am unaware of them building up their forces. I know it very well, but them showing the ship so openly had made me more worried than before. It''s a signal to me and other lords of the region. That they are here, and they will conquer it all. Truthfully, their signal is working. "The recruitment is going fine in both of the cities. We are also getting experienced soldiers and powerhouses from the Empire and other ces," she said after a moment of silence. I nodded. I am working hard toward that and arge part of the next few days is focused toward making that smoother. "I wish it could be faster. I want to fight with better odds than we had before," I replied. All the battles had been hard, and we only gained victory because of an amalgamation of many factors. It is good. It showed our ability and resolve, but for once, I want to win the battle with the sheer number. It will be a long while before that happens. "I think the speed is good. Too many people at once and the city won''t be able to support them," she replied, and this time, I sighed. We need money, a massive amount of it. The army takes the biggest share, and it continues to increase every month as we recruit more people, but as she had said, the recruitment should be gradual. Our finances aren''t good enough to handle the sudden surge of numbers. Although, that might change a little from this month onward. "Let''s hope, the re-opening of the legacy will give an enormous boost to our economy," I replied. I have a big hope from the legacy to boost the economy of the city even more than it has. I need it to support the army, infrastructure, and other things. "How are the mines?" I asked. She had arrived just an hour before the function. After that, we went to the city hall and entertained and held meetings with important guests. We didn''t have any time to talk. Only now we could, but that is till the party starts. After it is ended, she is going to leave for Panar, not even able to stay the night. "Good, all but two have been opened," she replied. We have intentionally kept the two mines closed. We do not have people to work in the mines. Even the mines that we had opened are not running at their full capacity. "I need people," she requested. Her demand isn''t small. She doesn''t need a few thousand people, but tens of thousands. That''s how many we need to make the mines run at full capacity. Only after that. We would think about opening the other mines. Panar was a mining city. Its economy is dependent on it, despite the paltry profit it used to get from it, under the old governor. I am nning to improve that by building the refining business. A few refining businesses from the empire were interested in investing and had been invited to the party. The city will hold a negotiation with them, and I have prepared a few carrots for them. It is now bing even more important to have the refining business because of the Grade VI crystal mine of Deerpond. I need those businesses before it takes it all. Grade VI mines are rare and give the lord of Deerpond the advantage to demand the refining nt locally. He had already started to make a move. Just a few hours ago, we had been notified by businesses we have been in contact with that they were suspending the talks. I have no doubts about Deerpond being behind it, and this is just the beginning. They will make things even harder for me, as the mine developed further. "I am trying," I replied. She needs people, and I am trying to give it to her. I have sent people to the mining cities in the empire. Especially those that are amidst the conflicts. Offering them a job here. To sweeten the deal. I am paying for their travel. Housing allowance after theye and a few other benefits. I am offering the same to the orcs, who areing every week. I don''t want to say it, but monsters of the extreme magic region are making things easier for me. Their attack on the tribes is forcing many of them to migrate. It will cost me a lot, but it will provide me with the people which I desperately need. The sooner I get the city of Panar on its feet. The more it will help me, but it''s hard, considering its closeness to the undead, which makes many people hesitate to move there. "I need the skill here," I said, after nearly a minute of silence. Immediately, she shook her head. "Panar needs it. The help has been tremendous." She replied. "I do not want much, at least a few weeks more," she added. I am talking about Public Works. I have been holding back some of the non-urgent infrastructure, till I get the skill back, which is currently active in Panar. "Grealtheaven needs it too, Ina," I said with a sigh. "I know, my lord, but Panar has barely started to make a recovery. I only hope, you will give it a few more weeks, till we finish with all the urgent work, before taking it," she replied. "Three weeks, then I am taking it back," I said finally. I really need the skill. It will save me a lot of money here, more than it would save me from it being active in Panar, but money isn''t everything. The skill increases the speed of the public projects and improves their quality, by minimizing the mistakes. For now Panar needs it, more than Greltheaven, but three weeks will be all it gets. After that, I will deactivate it and activate it on Greltheaven. She opened her mouth to argue but closed it upon seeing my expression. "Thank you, Master Silver," she replied. For a few minutes, nobody spoke before, I opened my mouth for the most important question. "How are the undead?" I asked. She had sent me the detailed report, but I like to hear things from her directly. "They are trying to test us, but our men have pushed them back every time they have made an attempt," she replied. It didn''t make me feel good. The undead are ying with us, keeping us dancing and guessing at every move, which can be tiring and create a gap for them to exploit. "Tell them to be careful. The undead likes to use such tactics to create weakness in their enemies," I warned. "I will," she replied. We talked for a few more minutes before she left. Fifteen minutester, she is at the party talking to people, focusing on the merchants the most. She wants investments for Panar. I am also trying, but it was different with her. She is the governor of the city. It creates a different impression. "You can leave, L. I am sure you would like to enjoy the party," I said to her. "Thank you, Master Silver," she said simply, and walked away. She usually stays, but today is different. There is an hour more before I have to make an entrance. Till then, let the people enjoy the fruits of legacy. I focused on the work. Even summoned a few files from my office. Which isn''t difficult for me; the entire city is my domain. I have to focus on something, and the thing would enter the vault. From the vault it would appear in my hand. Things are bing chaotic in the empire. The civil war is intensifying, while the other kingdoms attack the empire with greater forces, which the imperials are barely keeping at bay. It is somewhat good news for me. Especially now, with the advantages I have. I am going to fish in these troubled waters. However, how well I do it will depend on the sess of theing days, when I will be negotiating with a lot of nobles from the empire and their representatives. Until now, I have only sold essence to a select few, but now I will sell to many more. It is the greatest weapon in my hand, and I want to use it. This time, I have enough power to bear the pressure from the imperials. Soon it was nine-ten, and important people starteding. The first one is the lord of Owlspring with his mistress. Ina is weing them, along with Heron and Josie. It is an important day for them. I got up and walked to my room before changing into a suit. It is from Eva Cain. They have included menswear, and this one was designed by their new chief designer of menswear. Knock Knock! "Come in," I said and Eudo came in. "My lord," he greeted. "Keep it simple, nothing too over the top," I said to him. "Noted," he replied and began to work on me, while I waited. It didn''t take him long, and fifteen minutester. He is done; making me look good. He is really something. It is why he is the highest leveled person, in the legacy. Just step away from Level 40. He didn''t tell me about it, but I could feel it. "Thank you, Eudo," I said. "It''s my pleasure, my lord," he said and walked away. I watched him through the mirror. Thinking about the gift, I had ordered for him. It cost me a fortune, but he is worth it. He yed a big hand in turning the establishment into a legacy. It is the least I could do for him. Click! Soon, there were only five minutes left for us to make our entrance when Ca walked in. When I saw her, I froze for a moment. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 505: Party Chapter 505: Party Magda "Wee Guests," said the man in his mid-tote thirties. Wearing an impressive suit; I could tell with a single nce that it was mist-crafted. I could tell that, because I am also wearing a mist-crafted dress myself. "Thank you, Chief Robin," replied Father. The man nodded, before turning to El. "Wee Miss E," he said to her. "Thank you," she said nervously before we walked inside into the most beautiful grand hall I had ever seen. We are on the neenth floor of the velvet garden. The first floor of velvet blue, where the party is being held. The hall is huge and has a heavenly garden in it. The beautiful nts are covered in colorful mist with the rapturous fragrance. The staff wearing high quality, tailored uniforms are moving everywhere, with trays filled with food and wine. It is shocking but all of the uniforms were made using the mist. I looked around and saw amazing magical nts everywhere andvish art pieces. There are huge paintings, statues, and other art pieces. Many of which are covered in the nts. The biggest and most eye catching piece is the beautiful statue of the orc woman. It is nearly five meters tall and in the center of the hall, that everybody could see. It''s so beautiful that I wasn''t able to take my eyes off it for several seconds. This is the case for most art pieces here; they all are enthralling. "I thought we had arrived early, but it seemed we were not," said Mom, looking around. There are people all around us mingling with smiles on their faces and drinks or food in their hands. Many eyes turned toward us, before focusing on El and me. They are focusing on our dresses; they can tell that they are mist-crafted. We were watching when a young woman came toward us with a big smile on her face. She is beautiful and looks about only a year or two older than us, but there is an air of authority around her. She was also wearing a mist-crafted dress, and her jewelry and essories also looked mist-crafted, seeing how the mist was acting with them. El seemed to recognize her. There was a surprise on her face before a huge smile appeared on it. "Ellie, I missed you so much!" said the young woman as she appeared in front of her, hugging El. "Me too, Gloria," El replied and hugged her, ''So, she is Gloria,'' I thought. El had told me about her. She is her friend and now, an important person in the legacy. Father had told me in the morning that this woman is a madam, the youngest. "Gloria, this is my friend Magda, and this is her family," she introduced us. "I have heard so much about you. Magda," she said as she turned to me. "Same here," I replied. "I hope you will stay in the city for a few days. I have to ask you about all the gossip on Ellie here," she said, and El red at her. I smiled at that. The academic year is over. So she is going to stay here with her mother, until she leaves for Archmage City. Her mother had told her that she was able to manage the finances for her education. I will be returning to Inam to prepare for the interviews. There are a lot of them. "It''s so nice to see you again, Ellie. We will talk more tomorrow," she said and hugged her once more before she walked away. Over the next few minutes, more beautiful women came to meet her. Most of them are madams and all of them were wearing mist dresses. We begin to mingle with guests. A lot of people from Inam had been invited here. Only a few recognized Father, but he introduced himself to them; nearly all of them were surprised and thoughtful to see him there. You needed to be someone to get an invitation. We were sessful, but nothingpared to the people who received the invite from Silver. I moved with my parents while my eyes roamed around. "I think he hasn''te yet," said El softly, and I red at her but kept looking. We were mingling around, when the people began to part as the two-woman appeared. Nearly everyone followed them with their eyes as they came straight to us. "Mr. Pearson, Mrs. Pearson, I hope you are having a wonderful time?" asked Margaux. "The best," they bellowed and bowed to the woman beside her before asking us to do the same. "Lady Knox," they said. The woman beside is none other than the Governor of Panar. Ina Knox. She nodded with a smile, before turning to El. "How are you, kiddo?" she asked. "I am good, Aunty," she replied. The woman smiled before taking El in her arms. "Please enjoy the party. If you need anything, tell me," said Margaux, before turning to El. "Come, sweet child. There are some people I want you to meet," she said to El. She hesitated and looked at me. "Go," I said to her. She didn''t need to hesitate. It is a good opportunity; she should take it. She nodded and walked away with her mother and Governor Knox. I was watching her leave when I saw the person I had been looking for. He was looking at me, seeing that I walked toward him. "Come back in a few minutes," said father. I nodded absentmindedly without stopping. Seeing me, walking toward him. He said a few words to his sister, who was talking with two elves I had seen in the spa yesterday. Thedy of Amberhold and her sister. "Hi," he said. "Hi yourself," I replied with my heart beating wildly. "I have found a pretty amazing ce here. Do you want to see?" he asked. "Sure," I replied and walked with him. My parents and brother stared at me. It would be good to get away from them. I would need to go back to them soon, but I decided to not think about that. For a few seconds, I was confused about where he was leading me, but soon, I saw we were walking toward the columns. Soon we stopped, and my eyes went wide. "Wow!" I said as I looked at the entire city. "It''s quite spectacr, isn''t it?" he asked, and I couldn''t help, but nod. I had gone to ces taller than this, but this is a legacy. The second tallest in the continent after the archmage''s tower. Looking at the view from the edge gives apletely different sensation. ¡­ Tamas I nodded at the person, who smiled at me, and walked ahead in the hall, and mingled with the guests. The first rule of infiltrating is belief. Believe you belong there, believe you are like them. It is that belief that keeps you from being found out. Especially in a ce like this, where the person has absolute control over the space. It is why I didn''t use any of my skills. This is a legacy; a host could sense the skill and feel the ss they belong to. Which makes many people use skills to block others from sensing things about them, but I controlled that urge and didn''t use the skill. That will give him and his people an idea about my ss or the job. It is the most exciting ce; I have infiltrated in the past few years. Making my heart beat wildly. I am also scared and that is what makes it even more interesting. There is a good chance I will die here or get captured and tortured after. Despite it being a diplomatic mission. Sort of. It is a risk of a job. The invisible scars across my body are proof of that, but it needs to be done and besides, I liked it. When the mission came. I epted immediately. I moved around, looking at the people. Most of them, I could recognize with a nce. I had memorized arge amount of information. I was good at remembering things, but Diplomats Memory makes things much easier. I ced an empty ss on the tray and picked up another. I have only one vice, and that is to drink. I loved to drink, and this ce had the best drinks of all the parties I had attended. The liquor is expensive and most importantly, it is mixed with mist. I had visited the legacies. The perks of the job, but this is one of the best. It is as good as the many Grade IV, I had visited. This means I need to do the job well. Make such an impression that he will think about the offer. Our gift had already made him think about us. The offer will make him think deeply. Though, there is no doubt in my mind. That he would reject it, but despite that, I will aplish my mission. "Eric Mercen," introduced the middle-aged man as he appeared in front of me. Clearly from the merchant states by ent; Manris city to be specific. "Lau Tamasin," I introduced myself in an imperial ent. "It''s quite a party, isn''t it?" he asked in a slightly tipsy tone. "The whores are also beautiful," I replied, and the man''s eyes lit up. The information of the man appeared in my mind. He is married but has two mistresses. He also likes to visit brothels every week. "It''s unfortunate that we can''t have them," he said with regret. Looking at the Madams mingling around the hall, with his eyes staying on Ina Knox a moment longer. "They might be untouchable, but there are more beautiful whores below and there are no restrictions on them," I replied, licking my lips. Mercen grinned, hearing that. "Let''s hope Silveres quickly. So, we can go to the floors below and enjoy the whores," he replied, and I nodded to that. We talked for a few minutes before I moved to meet other people. There are a few important people here that I have to get a sense of. We have information about them, but getting a sense of them personally is useful as well. Hun! Time passed, and I was talking to one of the important people when the mist around the hall began to get denser. I didn''t have to ask what was happening. It''s clear, Silver is about to make an entrance. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 506: Party II Chapter 506: Party II "You look," I said. I wanted to say beautiful, but it felt inadequate to describe her right now. She is wearing a beautiful white gown with a short rail, with a red brooch on her chest. A tiara would havepleted her, but there areplications with that. So, they used gemmed clips, and they looked, really beautiful. "Ready?" I asked, raising my hand. "Yes," she said after a faint hesitation. She had declined earlier; I would have loved it. If she had been with me, when I was addressing the citizens earlier, but I also understand her worries and hesitation. Click! I took her hand and kissed her gently, before walking out of my office with her. Soon we reached the hall. Covered in the dense mist, where people could only see the silhouette of each other. Last time, we had made a grand entrance through the shimmering staircase, but this time, we were straight walking inside. Though none of them were able to see us. I had not only made the mist denser, but I had also cloaked our presence and used a couple of spells. Only a powerful people like the Lord of Olwpring could sense us. I could see his eyes following us. There are a few more people like that and some surprised me. I noted them. Soon, we reached the ce, and I looked at Ca before facing people. I have sent invites to thousands of people. It might not look like it, but there are ten thousand people here across the three floors of velvet blue. All of them are important people. Not only from empire and merchant states, but also from other countries like Ataren, Nezdar, Tezir, and others. I have also invited the people from Navr, Tabes Edruin, Geim, and the city of Gailhorn. These people are empire enemies, but I had invited them. There are many reasons, but the foremost are the trade and diplomacy. The Greltheaven is a small city, but the legacy has been brought on the map of everyone. Because of that, it bes important that I establish rtions with them. These rtions foster trade, which we need. It had made many people unhappy. Imperials and nobles from the empire to be specific. As these are the people, that are attacking them, and I had invited them here. p! I looked at them for several seconds before pping. The p released the shockwaves that pushed the dense mist out in a beautiful wave. Revealing us to all. With my projection appearing on every floor of the legacy. I had hired the special mages for that and like all people with special skills and spells; they are expensive, but I could afford them. They are worth it, especially when we can copy their spells. "Thank you for joining me on a wonderful asion," I said, looking at all the people. "It is my honor, that you all epted my invitation ande to my legacy to celebrate its ascendence," "It g¡­." I spoke, looking at the faces of each of them through my eyes and skills with my voice spreading through all floors of the legacy. I could see people on every floor looking at the projection as I spoke through it. The speed continued for nearly seven minutes when a ss of golden liquid appeared in my hand. "To velvet garden!" I said, raising it. "To velvet garden!" they repeated, before taking the sip from the wine. "There is one thing," I added, and Josie and Heron appeared beside me. I also activated a few charms. The next announcement will ring through the entire city. "The heart of his Majesties is magnanimous. They have recognized my siblings as part of my house and granted them the lordship," "They are from today, Lord Heron Raak and Lady Josephine Raak." I introduced them. There was a surprise among the crowd, but they bowed. I had asked for the ''lordship'' for my siblings before, but both of the imperials had refused. I could have gotten them from other princes, but it wouldn''t have that weight. Now, I have got it from both princes. It was not free, but I don''t mind paying. It will give them a leg up when they receive their sses. Especially Heron. He is thirteen and in two years, he will gain the ss. It will help him a lot. If he gained the Lord ss. It is important for Josie too; she is my heir. If something happened to me; the title will make it easier for Josie to take over. Hun! I was about to move and mingle with the crowd. When a man stepped forward. Stopping a few meters in front of me. The guards moved immediately, but he used the skill that stopped them. Immediately, every eye fell on the man. Including mine. The man looked to be in the early forties. Human, with some orcish blood in his ancestry. Though, it isn''t noticeable unless one looks at him clearly. He is tall with brown hair and an average face, that one would forget a momentter after seeing it. "Vris''alud congrattes you on the ascendence of your legacy, Lord Silver," He congratted, while shock and surprise spread through the hall. I was surprised too, but quickly controlled my emotions and assessed the situation. The guards who were frozen, for a fraction of a second, moved as Caena broke the skills on them. They had reached him when I raised my hand. They stopped and took a few steps back, but didn''t move away from him. "Thank you, diplomat?" I replied with a question. "Regis Tamas," he supplied. "Diplomat Tamas, thank you, and you don''t have toe sneakily. If your masters have asked, we have allowed you into the city." "The city of Greltheaven will always wee the diplomats, no matter the rtions," I said to the man. A faint surprise shed in his eyes. It disappeared, just as it came. If I want, I could have him captured and killed or tortured for all the information he has, but I have no interest in doing that. It will not serve any purpose, while there is some hope, with the dialogue. "My apologies for that," he apologized. "Enjoy the party, Diplomat Tamas," I said and walked away. I didn''t give him more time. He made an impression, but I think I handled it well. Doing what he expected would have yed into their hands. I don''t want that. It also allowed me to send the message to the undead and others. While I walked toward the guests, I messaged the guards to keep an eye on his every movement. Never let him away from their eyes, even for a second. I also sent a message telepathically to inform him that he would get safe passage out of the city as long as he didn''t break anyws or do something harmful. Soon, I reached the most important guest. The lord of Olwspring. "Lord Verulus, Miss Tylcharis," I greeted the man and his pregnant mistress. It''s not visible yet, but she is also hiding it through powerful methods, including witchcraft. This isn''t surprising; the rulers may ban the witches but also use them secretly. "Lord Silver, Miss Ca," replied the woman. "Quite merciful of you, Lord Silver, to spare him." "If I had been in your ce. I don''t think, I would have spared his life, much less let him enjoy the party," said Lord of Owlspring. Looking intensely into my eyes, wanting to read what I was thinking. "I wanted to do the same, my lord, but it wouldn''t have served any purpose," I replied, sighing. "And diplomacy would?" he asked. "Likely not, but I could hope," I replied truthfully. I do not have much hope for diplomacy, but it is still more than nothing. Every time, I fought with the undead, I lost a lot of people. I understand that no amount of diplomacy will be able to stop the undead, but it could help us gain some insight about them. I am really interested in knowing why they attacked the region. There must be an important reason, or they wouldn''t have done it. I had asked the merchants, but they said they didn''t know. They might truly not know or not just tell me. I talked to him for two minutes more and moved to the other guests. There are over ten thousand guests in here and I have to meet and greet important ones at least. Thankfully, I know where each of them is. The absolute control of the legacy is helping me move smoothly without people stopping me. It also helps that Madams are here. Our least experienced madams are holding the floors below, while the known faces are handling the guests. Each of them has a list of people they have greeted. Not just madams, but everyone important. Me, Robin, Hardt, Valentina, Arryn, and others. All the important officials are busy greeting the people and talking with them. It is one of the reasons why, many wanted a shorten the invitation list, along with the amodation nightmare and expense. Still, I went on with a big list. The more people experience the legacy, the more will help us. Each of the people is important or they know someone important enough to get the invitation. Speaking of which, I had asked my people to find out how Tamas got the invitation. I met one important person after another. Lord of Inam, Szar''s daughter, other nobles, and powerful people. "Lord Silver, Miss Salt," greeted the middle-aged man. "Thank you foring personally, Mr. Havel," I greeted the middle-aged man. He is not as important as the other people, I greeted. Not as important as the representative that his house had sent, but I still kept him on my list. He is Jasper Havel; the owner of a liquor store in Jalrux, Navr. The first merchant from Navr, that did business with us. We still order some of our liquor from him. Two months ago, I had not invited a single person from Navr, but this time, over three hundred invitations were sent there. I need the trade, and Navr is a powerhouse. Till now, they haven''t done anything other than use some scare tactics. Speaking of it, I moved toward the most pitiful person. Who is ring at the pair, Baron from Nakar baronies passing by him. "Commander Shaw, I hope you are having a good time?" I asked the man. After suffering defeat. He had been silent. He is increasing his army, but not at a pace to be a threat to us. ording to our intelligence, which is pretty urate. He has an army of around fifty thousand. It had reached below thirty- five thousand after the battle in Nakar forest, but he recovered and increased it. A year ago, that army would have posed a threat to us or Nakar baronies, but now, it does not. Mirador Hold is raking money through the trade that passes between his fortress, and it is huge, but he has an army of fifty thousand, which isn''t cheap to manage. He has a fortress, but he has no cities from which he could revenue or recruit force. He tried to rectify that by attacking the Nakar baronies, but failed miserably. He then tried to set viges and towns in green spots, but that did not work too well. Most of the people living there are the families of soldiers. Quite a lot of their families are living in the city. He forbade that first, before dropping the opposition, seeing it was affecting his men. It all made him seem quite pitiful, because if he didn''t do something soon, within a year or two. The nakar baronies will eat him alive. They want the fortress, not because of its defensiveness, but because of trade. If they got it, they would haveplete control over that trade route. Which, of course, I will not let that happen. The baronies have huge potential, and they could be a real threat to me with a fortress in their hand. "I am fantastic," he replied with a smile. Though it didn''t reach his eyes. The man didn''t like me, and I don''t like him either, but there is business to be done. There is a reason he personally came. If we seed, it will benefit us both. "I hope, you liked my gift," I said and a smile on his face became genuine. I had sent a little something he wanted. He had been bugging me for the past few months. It was a gift after we agreed on the revised contract. "Yes, I appreciate it," he replied, and I smiled. "Please enjoy the party, Commander," I said to the man and walked away to meet the other people. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 507: Keeper of Secrets Chapter 507: Keeper of Secrets Merchant of Desire Lv. 34 [Master of Legacy] Merchant of Desire Lv. 35 [Master of Legacy] [Skill Gained: Keeper of Secrets] Valorous Lord of Courage Lv. 33 There were lines in the big bold letters as I opened my eyes. Seeing them, a smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. "It seemed like the party had the big impact I was shooting for," I said to myself, seeing I had leveled up twice in my main ss, which doesn''t happen unless it is an impressive feat. Especially now, after I crossed Lv. 30. I had also got a skill that made my eyes lit up. Keeper of Secrets. It is a very rare skill and an elusive one. It could do many things, but one of its greatest uses is giving a sense of the verity of secrets. A momentter, a stack of documents appeared in my hand, and I began to read them. As I read it, a smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. The skill couldn''t tell whether the information is true or lies, but it gives me a better ability to deduce that. This stack of documents had the information that the girls collected. We never stopped doing that, but we also never aggressively used that information. We mostly used it differently as research to spot the trends and moods of people. People talk a lot in thepany of beautiful women. Not everything they talk about is truthful, but there are many things that could be learned from it, even if it is a lie. It helps even more when our girls can carry on intelligent and engaging conversation. We have specially trained them to ask the right questions. Most people that visit the legacy are rich and many have important positions. They are what set the trends. Knowing the direction they are moving is very helpful. It had helped me tremendously in the decisions I had made. I am tremendously happy with my skill. It is going to help me a lot. I moved down from the skill to my Lord ss. Which, too, had leveled up. With the two levels, I have two attribute points. I had already used the one attribute point I had from myst level up on intelligence, taking it to eighteen. So, I used one attribute on strength, also taking it to eighteen, and one on vitality, taking it to twenty. ss:Merchant of Desire Lv. 35 [Master of Legacy] Valorous Lord of Courage Lv. 33 Trainer Lv. 08 Charisma:20 Intelligence:18 Vitality:20 Strength:18 Skills: ¡ñTrustful Presence ¡ñMaster''s Instinct ¡ñLord''s Contracts ¡ñTorch for Seeker ¡ñRapid Strikes ¡ñBlitz Steps ¡ñInsightful Reading ¡ñPrice Is Right ¡ñMauling Strike ¡ñSilver Tongued ¡ñGymnasts Grace ¡ñSight Through Veil ¡ñEvery Ear Listens To My Words ¡ñde Of The Gale ¡ñMood of the Subjects ¡ñPrivacy Sphere ¡ñCommand Projection ¡ñGet Ready ¡ñQuick Parry ¡ñRazor Edge ¡ñActive Presence ¡ñVision Projection ¡ñInstant Recollection ¡ñArtistic Dealings ¡ñCopy Skill ¡ñTelepathic Call ¡ñEnergizing Essence ¡ñGymnasts Control ¡ñLord''s Presence ¡ñMarch Of The Braves ¡ñLaws of My Land ¡ñMark of Mist ¡ñFast Reflexes ¡ñPublic Works ¡ñAppointment (3) ¡ñKeeper of Secrets Legacy: Demesne of Desire II Skills: ¡ñMaster of Legacy ¡ñLaws of Legacy ¡ñShare Authority (7) ¡ñVault of Ru ¡ñDemesne Expansion ¡ñInstant Restoration Attribute Points:0 Immediately, I felt the change. I felt like spring had opened inside me. It made me feel cool all over me in the mostfortable way. The feeling hadsted for a while before it had finally receded. I took a deep breath and could feel big changes had urred within me. The change happens when the attribute reaches the multiple of ten. Reaching ten in attribute isn''t a big feat, most do it. Twenty is a rare feat, especially in two attributes. If I am lucky, I might be able to reach that level in the other two attributes as well in my life. I decided to not think about it and look at myself. There is a change in me physically. When I looked in the mirror, I could see it. "I should have waited," I thought. It is a noticeable change. People will be able to sense it. I did not want that. It is rted to my strength; I do not want to share that. Sigh! I sighed and pushed the window away before getting up on the bed and walking into the bathroom. I sleptte after the charity auction ended. I had only slept for three hours, but I am feeling rested enough thanks to the legacy. I came out and changed into practice clothes and stepped out of my room. There are a lot of things to do. Hundreds of people to meet. Even so, I am not skipping the practice. I am skipping thebat spar, but not the aura training. It is the greatest personal tool I have, and I want to master it. It is difficult, far more than I had imagined, but I am making progress. It is slow, but progress, nheless. I wanted to show it off yesterday, but neither Ca nor I had brought out our aura. I have already shown it when I could not control my emotions hearing about Ca. Click! Two hourster, I returned. Feeling exhausted, I wanted to activate Energizing Essence. I didn''t, instead, I bore it. I need to get used to the tiredness that aura brings. I need to push through it as it is the only way, I will be able to use it to its full potential. I stepped into the shower and soon ice-cold water fell on my body. There is nothing like it to chase the tiredness away. Hun! When I came out, I was surprised to see Ca there. Like me, she too had a busy day. Here, in my room, at this time, is thest ce I had expected to see her. She is sitting at a small table with breakfast in front of her. She does it when she has something important to talk about. I changed into the clothes and sat in front of her. "You should at least think about it," she said after a moment of silence. She is talking about marriage. There are offers, a lot of them. Powerful nobles have hinted at a marriage alliance, several Counts and one Marquess. For people like me. Marriage isn''t for love, despite wanting it desperately. It is a political tool. "I will," I replied and ate breakfast with her. Once finished, I gave her the peck on her lips and wished her good luck, before walking out. The legacy is crowded. There are already people in the velvet blue, most of them are guests who came for breakfast. The same is true for the velvet red. We opened it an hour early today. Seeing the number of guests who wanted to visit. Its opening time is eight in the morning, and it closes in the morning the next day at six. A lot of people remained in the legacy by that time. The spa never closes, but stores have closing times. They close at midnight and open at six. It is a legacy, and keeping it closed is considered anathema. That''s why there is a n for it too. I am going to grant ess to the mist to more people. Not only more stores but also more people from each store. Gagarin''s store had seven Mist-Artisansbut I am nning to increase it by over ten or even twenty. There is no space for them to work in the store. They will work outside. Thanks to the vault, we could transfer the supplies anywhere from the city into the legacy. Though, stuff will be kept in an underground warehouse, under the park. These people will work after midnight, until a few minutes before opening. I will do this for many shops, till every open space is used in the legacy. Though it''s not free. For it, they will need to make an investment in the city and also take the apprentices from the schools. Which isn''t very risky for them. If they don''t act like idiots they will gain the benefits. Having a store in the legacy and mist ess, gives them enough fame, that they will be able to sell what they make inside and outside of the legacy. Gagarin epted and in two weeks. His new store and workshop will be ready. Along with expert cksmiths, he is hiring. There is no decision from the second store. I am not forcing them. If they can''t see the opportunity, then they don''t deserve it. Ting! The elevator opened, and I walked out into the crowded lobby.Though a path had already been made for me. I nodded at the people who greeted me, before walking out of the tower. Even in the morning, there is a huge crowd around it. All wanting to get inside the legacy. Twenty minutester, the carriage stopped in front of the city hall, and I got out. Click! Soon, I stepped into my office, with L already there. "Today is going to be busy," I said as I sat down. "That is the greatest understatement I have heard today," she replied. My first meeting is forty-five minutester. It''s not important, seeing as our people have already agreed, and I signed the deal yesterday, but the man is important. He will leave the city directly after meeting me. She had ced the files in front of me, and the first one was about the legacy. My hands shook a little before I opened it. This file is about the expense of the party. As I begin to read it, my expressions be worse and worse. There were over ten thousand guests. The food and drinks flowed freely, and there were also other expenses like the special amodation for some important guests, along with other minor expenses. "Those bastards didn''t hold back at all," I cursed at my guests. Seeing how much they drank and ate. The liquor wasn''t cheap and ran like a river at the party. "It was within our estimate," she replied coldly. Yes, we had expected it, but still seeing it made my heart bleed. We spent massively on it, and I hope it will be worth it. I closed the file and opened another one and then another. Reading through them fast with my skills. "Lord Silver, Lord of Inam, had arrived," informed Jill. Click! A momentter, the door opened, and the familiar man walked inside. "Lord Thorn," I greeted as I got up. "Lord Silver," said the man, and we both sat down. "I hope you had a wonderful time yesterday," I said. "It was more memorable than I had expected. Especially for my wife; she got enchanted with your spa," he replied. "I am d," I said. "I hope you could stay a day more, my lord. Let me host you properly," I added, but the man shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can''t. If it had been any other time, I would have jumped at the opportunity , but now, I really can''t," he replied. "The next time youe to the city. I hope you stay longer than one night," I said to him. I am just being polite, but I wouldn''t mind if he stayed for a few days, either. "Have no doubts about it, Lord Silver," he replied. For a moment, there was a silence, before he opened his mouth with a serious expression. "Lord Silver, I was hoping you would increase the quota of essences," said the man, and I shook my head with a hint of regret. "I can''t Lord Thorn. I had already promised you as much as I could," I replied. "I am at the limit, my lord. I had over promised and I don''t know if my legacy will be able to produce the essence that had been promised to many people," I added. He already received what we agreed on yesterday. "Fine, but if your legacy produced more essence than your estimate. The city of Inam will pay more than a fair price for it," he said. "Of course," I replied. "There is one more thing. My niece will being to visit your city next week. I hope you will give her your time," he said, with a smile appearing on his face. "It would be my honor," I replied. He isn''t the only one sending his rtive or daughter to the city. There are many of them. They have already inquired with Robin. He is responsible for it and currently, we are taking a nonmittal approach to most proposalsing toward us unless, of course, there is someone with enough political weight. I don''t want to marry, but I will need to for the sake of my people and dominion. Tap on to read up to 20 Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member on Patreon for maps and other stuff. Chapter 508: Route Chapter 508: Route Viscount Kasis Click! The carriage stopped at the central building of Greltheaven, and the door was opened. "Viscount Kasis," greeted a blond man with a bow. "Please, follow me," he said a momentter and led me into the building. I followed after him, into the bustling city hall. It is smaller than my city''s, but seemed more vibrant, despite having less than half of the poption. People could be seening and going, with each one busy with their own work. As I walked through the city hall, it looked average. There are barely any art pieces, paintings, or beautiful tapestries. Though, what it has is tasteful. Soon, we reached the office of Silver. It is easier to recognize, given the security. There is also that teen assistant of his, who I had seen following behind him at the party. "Viscount Kasis, Lord Silver is ready for you," she said, getting up. I nodded and walked toward the door. I am irritated with Silver. I wanted to meet him yesterday, the day after the party, but he didn''t give me an appointment. I havee personally. I could have sent my son, but I didn''t and hoped to get respect for that. And also, for those things. I need them, desperately. The guards opened the door, and I walked in. Seeing me, Silver got up. "Lord Silver," I greeted the young man. "Viscount Kasis," He replied. "Please, take a seat," he said. "Thank you," I replied and sat down in front of him. "I hope you are enjoying the city, my lord?" he asked, and a smile appeared on my face. I loved my time here, more than I had expected. Yesterday, I was in the legacy from the morning to the night. Tasting every fruit. From the spa to the theater and, most importantly, the red. I am really d now that I didn''t bring my wife. "Yes, your city is beautiful," I replied. I did a little sightseeing today, while I met some people in this city, and I have to say. It is more beautiful than I had thought. Beautiful buildings, gardens, wide roads without any filth and high security. "I am d," he said. A silence hung between us; it was not ufortable, but notfortable either. "I am sure, you know why, I havee here my lord. I would be grateful if you provided me with some emotion essence," I said finally. I wanted to use my skills, but I uncovered that Silver likes things discussed without skills. It''s not because he isn''t powerful enough. I had heard plenty of spection about his probable level. Though it would have helped. If he had showed off some at the party. "I do not have much essence, Viscount. Most of which I had, have been promised to imperials, Namdar, and others," he replied with a pained smile. My heart skipped a bear hearing that. I need emotion essence. I need it desperately. Some of the powerhouses under me had threatened to leave if I didn''t provide them with it. So, I opened my mouth to beseech him, with an offer that pains me, but for essence, I will not hesitate to sacrifice those things. If it had been a peaceful time. I wouldn''t have thought about it, but now it is not. Enemies aren''t far. I needed to be ready to defend my territory against them. "Still, given our family''s rtions. I am willing to spare some essence potions," he added, just when I was about to offer him some of my family jewels. I knew his uncle, but not deeply. He is just another merchant for me. Still, I nodded. "Thank you, Lord Silver," I thanked. Silver smiled before his expressions turned serious. "Though, I hope. You will be able to do a few things for me," he added. I am not surprised. Money isn''t enough to buy the essence of emotions. I will need to give him somethings more alongside it to get those things I want. "If it is in my power, I will," I said after a moment of silence. Hoping it wouldn''t be about Raul. I have seen how much he adores his whore. I have heard what happened in Ertburn, and I hope he won''t ask me to do anything against Raul. That man is powerful, I am not a match for him. Not personally, financially or martially. "It is nothing difficult. I only want you to give safe passage to soldiers, alchemists, or other people that are journeying toward my territory through yours," he replied. I wanted to curse the bastard. What he had asked wasn''t easy. It will create trouble for me. I have agreements with neighbors and other nobles to capture and return their people that came to my territory. Especially officers, alchemists, and other high-value people. Hun! So, I let hesitation show on my face and opened my mouth to refuse the condition cordially when a box appeared in front of me. The box filled with the colorful bottles of emotion essence potions. My Noble Eyes immediately told me that there were hundred bottles of potions in the box. Thirty Grade I, forty Grade II, and twenty Grade III. Seeing them, my eyes lit up. Ie asking for a few emotion essence bottles, but from the beginning, he is only willing to give emotion essence potions. Which is just as fine too. These bottles were worth more than the amount of essence I had been nning to ask for. Though, I would have preferred bottles of emotion essence. If it was raw emotion essence; I could have used it to make potions or do other things with it, but as I had said, I do not mind the potions. "I agree. We can sign the contract immediately," I replied, wanting to get my hands on these shiny bottles as soon as possible. It will solve all my problems. "There is no need, my lord. I trust your honor," he said, and I cursed him internally. The contract would have been much easier. It would have been binding, but there would have been loopholes, but without one, things beplicated. Now, it will be harder to reject his requests. If I did it, I might not be able to get these things again. These will be enough for now, but I will need more. Silver won''t give me more, unless I will do what he has asked. It is a predicament. I have no choice, but to ept it. I need the essence and will need it even more in the future. I just hoped the people he sends to my territory wouldn''t give me a lot of trouble with the others. "You can count on that, Lord Silver," I replied, and the man smiled. I left understanding that I can''t underestimate this young man. ¡­ "With him agreeing, a route from Marstern to Belis had be clear," said L, as the door closed. I am creating routes for people toe to the territory safely, but it is not just that. I have another motive for it, bigger than just bringing people. They will understand with time; some of those sharp-minded had already started to understand it. The desire for emotion essence resources is incredible. It is helping me do, within hours, what would have required others to meet powerful nobles, spend months or years in negotiations to achieve. Still, the work is far from being over. A single route is not enough, I am aiming for five, but need to create at least three. Thankfully, one route had beenpleted. The second one was near; one more noble and it will be done too. "Let''s hope, we seed in others too," I replied, before closing the file. I have thirteen minutes before my next meeting. Which is enough for the short practice session. "The Kingdom of Mahal has agreed to the safe passage," informed Z as I was about to close my eyes. I smiled upon hearing that. The archmage city had already made arrangements. I only needed to request the kingdoms from my end. The Baxzar Dominion had already agreed to the safe passage. So has Tazir, and now with Mahal, the road has been cleared. I would need to approach the individual lords and cities, but that won''t be a problem. I have decided that I am going to the Archmage City to the continental synod conve. It only happens once in a decade. It is for the hosts of legacies where every kingdom sent their representatives. It is not the right time for me to leave my dominion, but the synod conve is too much of an opportunity. The synod conve will be like a big trade conve on Earth. Where the who''s who of the continent and a small group of the other continents wille. A momentter, I closed my eyes, and an aura came out of me. It didn''t spread, instead, it remained around me, before it started swirling. It is slow and gentle, unlike a few weeks ago. My aura didn''t spill out of my control. At least not enough for a person to notice. Slowly, the speed of swirling got faster and faster, till it began to swirl very fast, like a storm. L quickly took steps back, while Z readied her spells. Not every time did the training go smoothly. There are signs around my office of things turning bad, which have been fixed, but one could still see them. If they looked carefully. Seconds passed and turned into minutes. I kept trying to spin as fast as I could. Sweat started appearing on my brow and soon my whole, but I didn''t stop and continued, till I couldn''t. It finally begins to slow it down gently. It is a challenge, given how tired I am, but I am doing much better than the first week. I wasn''t able to do what I just did now. It would have forced me into unconsciousness because of the shear strain. ..... Onaz Click! The guard opened the door, and I walked inside. The woman sitting behind the desk looked up and waved me at the chair asking me to sit. "So, have you decided?" asked Ca. Have I decided? It is quite a question that I wasn''t able to reply to it even now, despite knowing there are girls who would kill for the opportunity. The only reason she gave me time to think about it is because Ina wants me. There are others ready for it on one foot. Jenna and others would pack their bag instantly if given the opportunity. "I agree," I replied finally, steeling myself after a moment of silence. "You might want the city hall, but Panar is better. Here, you will need to start working from a much lower position despite your advantages." "There you will directly work for the Governor. That is a far more powerful position, and it will be more powerful as the city grows," "It will also provide you with experience. That will help you gain a better position in the future," said Ca. I know that, but I still wished I could work in this city. I am old, over forty-five, and a whore. I need to do everything to rise fast, so I can achieve my own dream. I have worked hard to be recognized. I focused on my lessons, I studied day and night and after bing an assistant madam, I worked even harder. Still, I know, I do not have much time nor the luxury to reject it. If I reject it, others will take it in a heartbeat. If I stayed and joined the city hall. It would be years before I might get a chance to work directly for Master Silver. I don''t know why I didn''t ept it right away when she asked. I had wasted precious days overthinking it. "Thank you," I thanked. "Pack your stuff, you will be leaving for Panar in the evening," she instructed. "Thank you for the opportunity," I thanked her once again and walked out of the office. Feeling grateful and extremely lucky for this and all the other opportunities, I have received here. I know this is the only ce in the world, such things can happen. Experience the journey before everyone else¡ªsupport me on and enjoy exclusive early chapters and bonus content. Chapter 509: Growth Chapter 509: Growth Paschal "Look at this city, it is depressing," said my son. Hearing that, I couldn''t help but sigh. He doesn''t like that we are investing here. He didn''t even want toe here. His opinion was that we should invest in the Deerpond, where there is a Grade VI crystal mine, but the offer was too amazing to decline. Silver is funding a quarter of the expense for the refinery and sweeten the deal with a personal promise from Silver himself. If the city is reconquered by the undead in two and a half years. He will return the invested amount with the interest. "It is looking much better than the cities that went through a harrowing war," I said, looking around the city through the window of my carriage. I hade here two days ago, while Jorus hade today. I had inspected the mines and the quality of crystals that wereing out of them, along with other things. Most of the crystals are average, except for one mine, which is producing the above-average crystals. "We should have tried, Deerpond," he said. This time, it made me irritated. "Do you know why, I didn''t try Deerpond?" I asked. I didn''t exin things before. Wanting him to learn from observation. It is how I learned the business from my father. Lester is smart, but his eyes are too focused on the Grade VI crystal of Deerpond''s mine. That he couldn''t think about anything else. "It''s because there a no benefits there," I replied.With unbelief on his face, he asked back, "It''s Grade VI, crystals father. How can there be no benefits?" To that, Iughed. "Because, my son, the lord had no intention of giving a slice of that pie to us." "He may have sent notice for interested parties to apply, but he is not going to give everyone that juicy Grade VI crystal. Especially not us," I replied, with a mirthless smile. "Only big yers are going to get a slice of that pie. The yers like us will only have a vague promise andmon crystals," I added. There is a surprised look on his face. These are the tricks of the nobles. My father had been burned by them, and nearly went bankrupt, when I was the same age as Lester. They were terrible days and required us years to get out of them. I don''t want my son to suffer the same things, I did. It is why, it''s important, that I be careful with my investment. Our refineries at, Jeril and Vastin are in trouble because of the advancement of the Tabes and Edruin. They are quite close and might capture those cities. I didn''t shut down the refineries, but I am cutting my losses. Silver had promised to help me bring the equipment and people from there, which had be a nightmare because of attacks from the enemies and ongoing civil war. "Still the investing here is dangerous. This city, Panar, could be reconquered by the undead at any time," he said, and to that, I smiled. "So is Deerpond, but it is the risk, we need to take," I replied. I could have invested in Greltheaven, but Silver was only willing to fund 15% of it and there was no promise, which wasn''t surprising, given it was his main city. If the undead were to take it, he would have nothing to give to me. Lester opened his mouth to say something but closed it. I didn''t say anything either and looked outside the window at the city. My experience tells me, it is not that depressing. Lestor hadn''t seen the cities ravaged by war. It is doing much betterpared to those cities. Some are scarred as such, that they never recover, but I think, this one will pull through. Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the city hall, and I turned to my son. "Behave yourself," I said to him, before getting out, with him following behind. Lester is a teenager and got his ss just a few months ago. The Governor is a beautiful woman. Her new assistant is also a beautiful woman. Like the governor, she is also from the legacy. It is hard for teen boys to control themselves in front of beautiful women. Soon, we walked into the city hall and moved toward the office, reaching it within a minute. "Rato Paschal, I have an appointment with the Governor," I said to the beautiful receptionist, that Lester was gawking at. "The Governor is ready for you," she replied. I nodded and walked toward the door. Looking at my son once more and hoping, that he wouldn''t embarrass himself. Click! The door opened, and I entered inside, and my eyes fell on the four people in there. The governor was sitting behind the table. Lester''s eyes focused on her and, once again, he began to gawk. To her left side is the orc. He is her geo-source adviser. There are two people behind her. The woman is heraldan, beautiful, and looks to be my age. The other is a man in his early thirties. They are the assistants. "Lord Governor," I greeted. "Mr. Paschal," she replied and cast a nce at Lestor. Thankfully, there is no anger or irritation. She simply looked at him, before turning to me and asked us to sit. "Thank you," I said. Lester sat beside me a momentter, which made me relieved. "How did you like that location?" she asked. "It was good. Great actually," I replied. I checked the mines and crystals yesterday and today; I have looked at the location they have allocated me to set up the refinery. It was a good ce. Close to the crystal storehouses. "Good. If it is to your liking, I could sign off that ce to you," she said. "That would be great," I replied. She smiled and the man behind her ced the file in front of me. I studied the contract with the Contract skill active. The format is standard and without any changes, aside from condition. If I didn''t start the refinery within six months, It would be returned to the city. I had already signed the other contracts, and after reviewing it, I had signed this one too. "I hope, the City of Panar and Pascal refineries will long and prosperous partnership," she said. "I am sure it will," I replied and shook her hand. ........... Ina "The first refinery. I can''t wait for it to start," said Argis with a hopeful voice. He is my new assistant, along with Onaz. He is good. He used to work in the city hall, before being sent to me. Master Silver wants to foster the talented and give them opportunities, despite their age or experience. "It will take two months at least," replied Gul. Gul Maknok. He is my geo-source adviser. The mining, refining, and selling of crystals is his area of expertise. He was a miner himself, when he was young, before working in a refinery and then trading. He had started his ownpany but failed. Still, Lord Silver hired him. The field is saturated, andpetition is tough. It is hard to carve a space in such conditions. It had been only a week since he joined. I don''t know, how good the man is, but I hope, he will be helpful. He left a few minutester after the discussion, while I focused on work. There is always more work. Keeping track of construction that is happening all around the city. The state of the mines, expansion, and movement of the army, along with many other things. I don''t mind it. I enjoy the work. I only hope that the city will truly stand on its own feet as soon as possible. The mines have started, and we are mining the crystals and selling them, but they are contributing only a fraction to offset the city''s expenses. It might be small, but it is a start. We need more. More people, more crystals, more refineries and we are making progress toward them. We do not have any intention of keeping any of these mines in our hands. We are going to sell them, but not now, not until we have the city on its feet and refineries active. It is when we will get more interest and a fair price. It is not just mines we have to focus on, but also trade. People might not expect it, but we are doing the trade. It stopped for a few weeks after we took the city, before resuming two weeks ago. Now, it is picking up speed every day. Lord Silver invited everyone. Even those we have an acrimonious rtionship with. Gailhorn, Deerpond. We had invited not their leaders or officials, but merchants. We did the same with Navr; invited hundreds of their merchants. It is through them that over half of the trade ising from, and it will increase every week. The orders are from Gailhorn. For the undead captured cities. They may be keeping the cities destitute, but those cities still have needs. Whatever food storage they had, the cities had consumed after a few months after their capture. If they desire to keep some poption alive they will need food, along with many other things. Many people have stated their opposition against trading with enemies, but Master Silver''s decision is final, and I agree with it. We need trade. Even if it is with our enemies. Time passed and it was nine when I had finished with thest meeting and got out of my office. I have a suite here, but there is an official residence for the governor. Along with city hall, it is one of the few buildings the undead took great care of. The carriage was waiting for me outside the city hall and I stepped inside it. Soon it was out of the city hall and into the big za in front. There is a heavy police presence patrolling, but also people. We have rxed the curfew until ten. In the next week, we are nning to rx till eleven. However, the n could change depending on the condition of the city. We are taking things slowly. We do not want to be hasty and make mistakes. All the buildings around the square had been fixed. Even one restaurant had opened. It is one of the four restaurants in the city. Three of them were opened by the locals with a loan from the city. All their owners were running the restaurant before the undead captured the city. We are providing aid to the many locals to open the businesses. From restaurants to stores to carriage repair shops. The businesses are slowly opening up. The money from the Velvet Garden charity auction is very helpful. We have got more than expected. There were thousands of guests and people from floors below had also donated. We are using that money wisely for the city. The investments areing from the Greltheaven too. I gotmitments from many at the party. Even if the fifth of them materialized, it would be tremendously helpful to the city. Slowly the city is standing up, but it is still far away from walking on its own feet, but every day, we are making progress toward it. Soon, the carriage turned and entered thepound before stopping at a huge mansion. I got out and walked toward it. "Mydy, there is news from outpost seven," informed my mage. "The undead attacked?" I asked. They are attacking several times a week. We have created seven outposts and ced apany of soldiers at each one of them. This way, If the undead crossed into our side from any direction, we could deal with them quickly and efficiently. "Yes, but this time their numbers are thrice that of usual," she replied, and I stopped in my tracks. Experience the journey before everyone else¡ªsupport me on and enjoy exclusive early chapters and bonus content. Chapter 510: Scout Chapter 510: Scout Eli Gest I finished my dinner, thankful it was not a ration again. For a week and a half, after this outpost had been setup. We needed to make do with rations. Things have changed in the past four days. We now have fresh food and three new soldiers, with Cook as a secondary ss. It had made things much easier. Though the danger is everywhere, it is my job to spot it and warn others. I am one of three monster scouts in the seven outposts. There were five of us, but the undead had sniped those monsters dead. The two scouts were now back at the Greltheaven, training with the new monsters that the army had got for them. It hurts losing the monster. Every time, I sent Charlie and Mishka out. I fear something might happen to them. I went to the roof and nodded at the people before sitting in my usual spot. I do not need to sit on the roof. I could sit inside safely, but I like the roof. Here, I felt a little more unrestrained, like I am with my birds. Especially when I activate the skill. As I sat down and activated Share Eyes. Immediately, an aerial view of the outpost appeared in front of me. I could see my little figure and the figure of the guards under the protective barriers. That is Mishka. She is keeping sentinel around the outpost. I am really d I got Night Vision. It had made things easier. Cloud Surfing Sparrows have good eyes, but they can¡¯t see through the dark. Especially from high up. I looked for a few minutes and scanned every inch for the undead. These bastards have dug tunnels in their territory, making things harder. Unfortunately, I do not have any skills, that would help me detect movement underground. After confirming there is no danger. I turned my vision to Charlie. Immediately, the scenery changed. The quality lessened, but I could still see the units of undead patrolling on their sides. I looked at the clearly and made notes in the file, under this hour, before focusing back on the undead. Charlie flew high in the sky under the protection of the Shroud of Limitless Sky. It is my inheritance skill, a very powerful stealth ability. It makes them hard to discover. An hour passed, and I once more noted the position of the enemies. Charlie is circling the whole boundary, the outposts share with the dead. She might not be the most powerful of the monsters, but she is the stealthiest one. She could get close to the undead, which no other monster could do without getting discovered. Another pass, and then Charlie flew back toward me, while Mishka moved to take her ce. There are other scouts in the area around the outpost, but not in the enemy¡¯s territory. It took some time before I saw Charlie and a few seconds after that, she flew to myp. Immediately, I took out a small can and opened it, before adding a few drops of thick green liquid to it, before giving it to her. This is a special diet made for cloud-surfing sparrows. It is expensive, but the army is funding it. I am the best monster scout the army has. I may not be the highest level, but I am the best and the best one requires nurturing. These birds deserve it. They are doing the riskiest job. ¡°That bird''s food smells so good. Sometimes, I want to try it,¡± said Sova from her position. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t. Even the strong digestive system of orcs wouldn¡¯t save you from heavy diarrhea, you will suffer from it,¡± I replied. Hearing that, she shook her head and looked ahead into her spyss. The foodes with a strict warning. People could die eating it. It is for the monsters and only monsters should eat it. Soon, Charlie finished eating the food and closed her eyes to sleep. Immediately, I activated the Double Rest. It is one of the most useful skills, I have. We do not have enough aerial scouts. So, my birds works hard and sleep barely five hours. They need more sleep. They are young, especially Mishka. She is not even a year old. ¡°Any sighting?¡± asked Jeb. ¡°Yes, but they are patrolling in their usual spots. ¡°I hope they don¡¯t attack today. I want to have a peaceful sleep,¡± said Jeb. They have crossed the boundary two times in the past two days. Not in our area, but in other outposts. Still, that made us stay awake for longer. They are crossing the boundary nearly every day. Half of the time, it results in battle. They are keeping us on our toes, and that is not a good thing. We need rest. If this keeps happening, our morale will suffer, and we won¡¯t be in our optimum state to fight. It is a good strategy, and they are using it well. I hope themand will send more people. They are nning to build three more outposts, but that is a month away. Till then, we are on our own. Cry! Time passed when suddenly I heard the familiar cry in my mind. Immediately, I activated the Share Eye. I cannot keep the skill active all the time; it is taxing for me and the birds. It¡¯s why the Distant Cry helps. It is a passive skill; it helps the birds to alert me. They only do it when they spot something. I have trained them, it is not easy. These birds may look cute and respond well to basic training, but the harder it gets, the more difficult it bes. I don¡¯t like to say it, but these birds are not the smartest of the monsters. Making training them hard. I have Efficient Training. It is an average training skill, but I like to believe I am an excellent trainer and along with my family¡¯s methods, which were passed down from my ancestor, I am doing a good job. The view appeared in front of me, and immediately my expression changed. I thought about it a while before activating Sky View and Enhance rity. Sky View increases the magnification and Enhance rity increases the rity of the vision. I don¡¯t use these skills unless it is necessary. It increases the risk of enemies sensing it since these skills are targeted at them. The Shroud of Limitless Sky offers great stealth, but its power is limited by level and there are a lot of people down below, making the chances of discovery higher. Immediately, the view magnified and became clear. I saw what I had expected and even saw the faces of a few people, which turned my expressions bad. I was looking at it when suddenly a man looked up and said something to the woman beside him. Immediately, Bone Bullets formed in front of the staff and shot toward Mishka. She is quite high, but Bone Bullets are not the Grade I spell. It is modified to Grade III, to a special undead elemental spell made to snipe the target in the sky. ¡®Mishka dodge!¡¯ I shouted. I didn¡¯t have to say it. She pped her wings fast and flew toward the clouds fast. It is where she is the safest and the stealth strongest. She was halfway to the cloud when the Bone Bullets reached her. The mage was good as they moved to target her while she pped her little wings to avoid them. Rip! She avoided all of them except for one, that scratched through her, cleaning a few feathers off her wings. I sighed, seeing the damage isn¡¯t big, but the danger isn''t over. More Bone Bullets came, along with real and energy arrows and other spells. Seeing the mage, they have reacted as well and are now attacking Mishka with everything they have. ¡®I shouldn''t have used the skill,¡¯ I thought, but soon crushed that thought. There are more undead than I had thought. Using the skills was necessary. It provided me with the necessary information, not only about their numbers but also about their members. There are powerful people in the group including a level 30. For those below; it is extremely hard to sense. That Level 30 must have the powerful sensory skill to sense her so quickly. Rip Another spell hit it, this time on the stomach. It is scratch too, but it had drawn out the blood. Cry! Mishka cried out but kept flying toward the clouds. This is the time; I hate the most. Here, I am powerless to do anything and wish I had those abilities of my ancestor, that would have made avoiding such attacks easier. I stayed with her, encouraging her to fly faster. It is the only thing I could do. Seconds passed painfully as Mishka flew with everything she had while dodging the barrage of attacksing at her. Now, I am really d. I had pushed her in the training. I had asked the mages to attack her while training her to dodge those attacks. My original n was to wait till she had finished with the phase of training she was going through, as I had done with Charlie, but I am d I listened to my heart and gave her defensive training earlier. It¡¯s the reason, she is still flying. Finally, after what seemed like hours. She had reached the clouds. The attacks kepting, but here she avoided them more smoothly, than before. She is in her element. There is a reason why Halmks are called the cloud surfing sparrows. She flew away from the danger while I got up and moved downstairs fast. Nobody asked me what happened, but all of them became alert. They will need to be more alert than they had before because the enemy is powerful anding inrge numbers. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me on by Tapping on Belowand enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 511: Bad Odds I Chapter 511: Bad Odds I Orok Uram "And their numbers?" I asked Eli as he came down to inform me he spotted the enemy. "Around two and a half thousand," he replied, and everyone turned serious. It is ten times our number. Usually, only six to eight hundred undead cross the boundary, but this time. The numbers are three times that. It seemed like they didn''t want to suffer a defeat again. "One Lv. 30 and four Lv. 20+ Mages?" I asked, and he nodded. "What are the orders?" I asked Hasid. "They have left that to us, but they are saying, we might not be able to reach the other outposts before the undead catch up to us," she replied. It is the same story for the arrival of reinforcements. The undead will arrive in about fifteen minutes here, while the reinforcement from the closest outpost will take an hour. If the officers rode beasts they could arrive sooner. However, they won''t be able to spare many as they must also protect their area. They can''t leave it unguarded. "Inform the neighboring outposts. Tell them to reinforce us as soon as possible," I ordered before getting up. It might not be much, but it will help. I nced at the book I was reading before walking out while the bell rang around me. When I entered thepound, the soldiers were forming ranks, and soon, two hundred and forty-six people stood in front of me. "The undead areing, and this time, they came inrge numbers," I could see the expressions on the faces of many changes. "We have fought such odds before and won, and this time, it won''t be any different!" I said and for a moment, there was silence before they began to hit the ground with their feet. Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face. A momentter, I gave a few orders before turning to my lieutenants. There are five lieutenants, two mages, and three warriors. Two are below Lv. 25 while three are above it. "The numbers are huge. We will need to use everything we have, including those things, we are hiding. It''s time, we use them," I said. I don''t want to use them, but the numbers are high enough that we will need them. I might not show it to my face, but the odds are bad. The enemy has four mages of Lv. 20+, while we only have two. They also have more mages below Level 20. More than us, without a doubt. "That is wise," replied Azika, while the rest nodded. "We need to end the battle quickly, given powerhouses and their numbers, but we will be on the defense. Only I and my group will go after the leader," I stated and hesitation appeared on their faces. "That would be very risky, Captain. There is a Level 30, as well as the mages; you will not survive dealing with both," said Hadis, while I shook my head mirthlessly. "Don''t worry, I am quite good at surviving," I replied with a knowing smile. My ss is Wilnder Survivalist. It is focused on survival. My ss is praised by both General Stone and Lt. General Azalia,but I still can''t use it at its full power. It is a specialized ss for a specific environment. Unsuitable outside of the wilnds. Such specialized sses are rare, but it is what makes them powerful. There is also a thing about me barely leveling up in it since I came here. They offered to send me to a ce that would help me level it up, but I declined. I don''t care about the ss, but the people. I love my new life. For it, I will sacrifice the ss without any hesitation. Soon, we finished the discussion and got out of the outpost. We didn''t go too far away and stopped at four hundred meters away. Usually, we fight miles away from the outpost. The outpost isn''t some fortress. It is a base made ofmon material without any strong defensive value, but today, we need all the help it can provide. I hope it will survive. I raised my spyss and could see them. They areing at us fast. "Fuck!" escaped my lips. Minutes passed, and soon they were only a mile away from us when they did something that made me curse. They separated into four parts. Three moved, while the biggest one came straight towards us. It''s clear, they want to surround us. "Separate!" I ordered. Immediately, thepany separated. Fifty-two stayed with me, while the other three groups of sixty moved away. Fifty-two of us will face a force of nearly a thousand, including the level 30, powerhouse. I have Predators Gaze active. It lets me see the enemy clearly and also helps me gauge their strength. Like all the skills of the Wilnder Survivalist. It''s not at its full strength and the enemies have also activated their skills to stop me from looking. Still, I was able to get some information, and when I added what I observed with the information Eli had provided. I got the picture that made me scared. The enemying at us has over fifteen times more numbers than us. The other toons have much better odds of the numbers dealing with the smaller groups. Such numbers could easily swallow us and other toons, but not before we kill them. The others will fight defensively, while we move for the kill. It is a suicide mission, but it''s not like, we could run away. It is hard to run from the undead. These bastards could move much faster than the living.If we had chosen to run away. They would have caught up to us before we reached the other outpost. Boom Boom Boom! I was in my thoughts when the sounds of cannons rang out. "Fuck!" I cursed. Immediately, the cannonballs begin to st out from the outpost. It was our big surprise, but the enemy had also brought out the cannons, negating the only advantage we had. Seeing that, I shook my head, before my expressions turned serious. "Charge!" I roared with Rallying Cry Just a momentter, I ran toward the enemy, with my men behind me. I wanted to wait till they got close and barrage them with the cannons, but seeing that they too have cannons. It is best to attack them as soon as possible. The undead canons are not only targeting us but also targeting the outpost. If we let that happen for long. There won''t be an outpost for us. Also, the cannons are ced there; it would be bad for us if they stopped. From what I could see, we have more cannons than them. It is providing us with cover and importantly keeping their mages busy. Soon, there were only two hundred meters of distance between us when their spells came. There are a lot of them. "Follow my orders exactly," I said. The spells came, and many of them wereing directly at me. I had ordered the Mages not to defend me from the Grade II spell or below, only defend the Grade III.All of the lower spells I will handle on my own. I only have two mages above level 20. The one with me is Lieutenant Sarsyr. The half-elf is the lowest leveled and also the youngest among the lieutenants. She looked as young as me. She is from Mayhurst and fought the undead. It is why, I kept her with me instead of Hasid. Hasid is needed with another toon. He is powerful and the only one capable of keeping his toon alive. The other two toons were led by Donil and Azika. The people I worked with the longest while I was here were Sarsyr and Dina. Dina is local and has been defending the city since the first battle. She is the second lowest level and is quite good, but it is not because of that I have chosen her to be in my group. I had chosen her because of her skill. She could form thework, which makes it much easier to give amand in the chaos. I may be going against the highest number of enemies with the lowest numbers, but it''s not because I am brave or a fool. Every person here was chosen by me. They have the talent and, most importantly, the skills required to make this daring strategy work. I knew such a thing would happen. Both themand and people from Mayhurst, that I have in mypany had warned me about it. I had prepared for it. Practiced it, and now, I am going to use the strategy to defeat the undead. My axe moved and cut through the spells. One after another. They are never-ending, but every single one of them is being cut by my ax. I am looking at the spells, but my focus is on the man in the middle of the undead. He is the target, and he is being there intentionally. He understood very well that I would need to kill him to end the battle. He is staying there despite the advantage of the levels. He is using our desperation well. Soon, the undead are on us, with less than a meter away. That is when I activated mytest skill from the Officer. Barrage of Steel. The skill that enhances the power and efficiency of weapons. Others also activated their army skills. Covering everyone with all kinds of enhancements. "Kill them all!" I roared with Rhythm of Wild singing in my heart. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me on by Tapping on Belowand enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 512: Bad Odds II Chapter 512: Bad Odds II Orok Uram Rip Ting Rip! My ax ripped through the undead. I took a step forward and killed another group of undead, while Rhythm of Wild sang in my heart. I didn''t stop and took another step forward, and then another, killing any undead that came into my path or spell moving to stop me. I could feel my energy men are moving behind me. Cutting through the undead, that areing to swallow us. Within seconds, the undead hadpletely swallowed us. Now, there is no way to get out, nor do we want to. There are only two options in front of us. One is to kill the leader and every enemy powerhouse or get killed by them. We are getting attacked from all sides, and my people are getting injured. It is why, we aren''t stopping even for a moment. We are killing everything thates our way. We will not stop and kill anything that wille to stop us. Hun! Seconds passed and turned into minutes when one spell avoided Sasryn''s shield. There are seven sharp bone spikes covered in deathly fire. I don''t know the name of the spell, but I know, it is Grade III, and I have to defend against it or it will kill me. I wanted to dodge it, but there were too many undead around me and the spell was too close anding too fast. I swung my ax toward it without hesitation, activating the Lion''s strength and Wild Swing from Wilnder Survivalist and Keen from the Officer. Immediately, the power of the strike increased exponentially. At the same time, the spells struck the undead around. Seeing that, I felt pleased to see the training was working. ng ng ng! The enchantment on my ax red, and it began to cut through the spikes one after another, till all seven of them turned to dust. I deactivated the skill and swung my ax again, killing the undead that had taken, the ce of those dead. We kept moving, and soon, there was around only five meters of distance between the Lv. 30+ and me. Seeing me, he grinned and moved away from his ce. While more undead came at us. "Coward!" cursed people from behind. I shook my head internally and followed behind. It is not cowardice He coulde at me any moment he wants, but the man is smart. I am sure, he had read the information about me as I had about him. It is why, he isn''t engaging against me. He wants to tire me out, before facing me. I kept following him, but he would simply move away whenever we got close to him. ng ng ng! Another group of Grade III spells came, and I destroyed them. They areing every few seconds and I am defending against them. Sasryn is working hard, but she is dealing with two mages. They are higher level than her. It isn''t just her, but others are also under immense pressure, with injuries piling around on their bodies. "Coward!" I screamed. Seeing him moving away once again, hoping the taunt would work, but it didn''t. Seeing the man grinning instead. I didn''t say anything further and kept following him. Another minute passed, and I reached where I had wanted to. ''Left!'' I said and a momentter, I leaped high toward the left. It is dangerous, but I am taking the risk. I looked toward my target. It is not a Lv. 30 warrior, but the mage. The blond woman is one of the two mages; she is powerful and has been harassing us. Taking her out would help us a lot. Seeing meing at her; there was no fear on her face. Instead, her lips curved in a smile. Which did not give me a good feeling at all. I am in the air, where maneuverability is limited, and the distance between us is small. Making defending and dodging the attacks hard. Mages don''t like when warriorse closer to them, but she is happy, seeing meing closer to her. It seemed like she hadn''t read about me or was too confident in her abilities. She seemed to understand what I was thinking, and a momentter, her staff lit up, and my eyes widened in shock. The spells she had released aren''t Grade III, but Grade IV. She is a High-Mage, not a Mage. She had been projecting as such until now. I am not the only one with the ns. The enemies have their own ns as well. Bang Bang Bang The undead below me exploded into the shower of blood and gore,ing at me. At the same time, the thick dark lightning roared toward me. Trap. They knew about me andid out this trap to kill me. I have been warned that these undead might target me. They target those specifically those they thought had the potential to turn into trouble for them. I didn''t take those words seriously. I am not special. If I had been special, I wouldn''t have been stuck in Lv. 26 for months while everyone I know leveled up. Many, weaker than me, had even crossed Lv. 30. I could feel it. The experience, I had umted. It is huge, it might be enough to take me to Lv. 30, but despite that, my ss isn''t leveling up. Something stopping it from doing it. Keeping me at the current level. My strength is increasing as I am leveling up in my secondary ss; Officer, reaching Lv. 16 in it, but the increase it gives is very small. It can''t give me the attribute points, and it isn''t as powerful as my main ss, but I still appreciate it. No matter what I think. The enemies had noted me as the trouble and they want to kill this trouble, but this trouble will be killing them. Because dying isn''t an option. If I died, they would kill others. I can''t have that. Survivor''s Protection. I activated the Survivors Protection the moment before all the flesh and bones of the undead hit me like arrows and needles. I felt it hitting me painfully, but I know, the Survivors Protection is capable of protecting me against it. What it could not protect me against the dark lightninging at me. I could see it thanks to Predators Gaze. She had exploded the undead, to attack me but also to obscure my vision. So, I wouldn''t be able to see the powerful attacking toward me, through the wet mist and bone dust, that is smelling terrible. I need to defend this attack, or I am dead. So, I activated Ariel Adjustment. It might be hard for others to maneuver in the air, but not for me. I adjusted my position and brought down my sword with Wild Swing toward the lightning that appeared in front of me. Bang! The axe struck the dark lightning, and I activated the magic-resistance enchantment on the axe at its full power. This is a new axe I got after the battle of the Panar. It is a triple enchanted weapon. That was made with magic-resistant material and has the same enchantment. Sarsyr had said three-enchantment weapons are already expensive, and those made with resistant material and enchantment are even more expensive. I am d themand gave me this. It suits me well. It''s likely why they gave it to me. The sword cut through the spells, but not all of it. Some of it hit me and gave me the massive pain that I needed to grit my teeth to bear. Finally, the axe tore through the dark lightning. Lessening the pain, I was feeling. If not for the Wild Protection. I wouldn''t have been able to get away with slight injuries and pain. I adjusted myself with Aeriel Adjustment once again and activated the Lion Strength, before activating the Keen from the Officer. I only have one chance, and I have seeded in it. If I failed, it would be really hard. A moment passed, and I appeared above the mage and brought down my ax. The mist and dust were still covering us, but the mage had noticed me immediately. Her entire bodynguage changed and her body head moved toward me. She reacted fast. Many of her spells activate one after another. The first seemed to be Haste. As her speed of retreat increased, the next seemed to be some kind of defensive spell as I saw the shield appear in front of her. Thest one is a massivence covered in denser fire. She is clearly experienced in the battle seeing how fast she has reacted, but it will not save her. She will die today. Bang! Rhythm of Wild spiked, and I moved my axe. shing against it as it materialized, before starting to tear through it, with the power of Sharpness, enchantment, and Keen skill. Like the lightning earlier, some of the mes touched, and they were even more painful, but I bore it and continued with my attack. Rip! My axe tore through it and I poured more power into my attack, as the shield was right in front of me. Bang! My axe crashed against it before tearing through it and moving ahead, but there was no mage. She avoided my attack by a few steps. I cannot let her get away. I could already see the undead moving forward. If that happens, it would be hard to capture her and it would be me that would be in danger. I could see the Lv. 30 warriors moving toward me. He is close and once he arrived, I could forget about killing her and him. So I leaped toward the mage Wild Dash as the Rhythm of Wild rang loudly. Immediately, two spells materialized. First are bone spikes, sharp spikes that would tear through me; it is a good thing, I leaped, not ran. My feet aren''t touching the ground. It is the second spell that raises all the hair on my body. It is a translucent crescent, and it appeared in front of my ax and passed through it before appearing in front of me and striking my head before I could do anything. "Ahhhhhhhh!" I shouted in pain, that is worse than the shock of silver-eyed cats. It felt like something was cutting the very soul of me. It made me powerless, as I had never felt before. I know it is a soul attack. The worst kind of attacks from necromancers. They are extremely powerful and warriors like me are powerless against them. My screams became louder as the pain increased even further. "No!" I roared. I cannot let this pain consume me. I need them to kill the enemy. If I did not, she would kill me and then kill my men. These people had trusted me with their lives. Walked into the jaws of enemies without a single word ofint. It is the first time someone ever did that, and I will let them down. Hun! So, I roared even louder and felt the crescendo of Rhythm of Wild breaking through the veil of pain. It came and became louder. Drowning the pain from the soul attack. My eyes became clear, and the first thing I saw was the relieved smile on the enemy''s face and then the Dark Lightning. I am air, not in the ground as I had expected. It might seem like an hour had passed because of the sheer pain, I felt, but barely a moment had passed since the soul attack struck me. Bang! I crashed my axe against the lightning. Making the enemy''s eyes go wide. My ax tore through the lightning. Reaching the enemy, this time. She will not be able to get away from me. Horror appeared on her face, but that didn''t stop her from reacting. The thick bone wall appeared in front of her. Bang! My ax tore through it. Only to see the enemy covered in bone armor in her midst of casting another spell. This time, I will not let her get away and pour everything. I have it in my store. BANG! The ax tore through another defensive spell, that was materializing, before finally crashing against her. The bone armor was strong, but it was only able to stop my ax for a moment before it tore through it. Reaching the body of the enemy while she watched with terror. Ripp! A sharp, wet sound rang out as my axe cut through her chest before I pulled it back fast and swung it again. The next moment, the head flew up. Killing her for good. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me on by Tapping on Belowand enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 513: Retreat Chapter 513: Retreat Orok Uram "You bastard!" I heard the loud curse and turned my eyes away from the flying head toward the next enemy. "Good, you areing. I thought you never would," I said. This made him stop short as uncertainty appeared in his eyes. Seeing that, I turned toward the second mage. This one is a Mage. Not a High Mage in hiding. He had attacked me several times while I had fought the High Mage, but all of his spells were Grade III, which, thankfully, Sasryn stopped. If he had been High-Mage, he would have attacked. He had a perfect chance to kill me. I grinned, seeing fear appear in his eyes before looking at my people. They had already formed a half circle around me and were moving to make itplete. The enemy''s eyes moved toward them for a second while thoughts spun in his mind. I kept my eyes on him; my axe moved ready to deal with any undead or spelling at me while the Survivors Healing recuperated my injuries. It is a powerful skill, that saved my life many times. It is an Inheritance skill. Not a primary inheritance skill like Rhythm of Wild, but one with a fraction of inheritance healing skills power. General Stone had said that there was a good chance it would advance to aplete inheritance skill if I leveled up to Level 30. It was healing my injuries, but I still drank the potion while moving my axe with one hand to kill a skeleton. The enemy seemed to finally make up his mind and walked toward me. At the same time, I sensed the change in the undead. They have intensified their offense. Skeletons and Zombies begin to move aggressively, with many exploding. Worry shed in my heart, but I controlled myself. I trust my men to do their jobs while I have to do mine. I need to kill the enemy; it is the only way they will retreat. He charged and in a few seconds, he was in front of me. He is a human man in his early forties orte forties. It is hard to tell with humans. The elves and half-elves are even more confusing. He is a tall man with a muscled physique and has a simr shade of skin as those of Mayhurst Ind. He has charcoal ck hair and even darker eyes. His nose is small, with a scar running through it. His name is Javar Neris. He is a native of Mayhurst, but not of the undead kingdom. He defected to them in the first year of the war. "You have made a great mistake killing Lilya. I pl.." He stopped midway as I attacked him. Javar''s eyes red in anger. I don''t have time to hear his bullshit. My people are getting injured, some have died. I cannot waste even a second; I have to deal with him as soon as possible. For it, I will not hold back anything. I used the Wild Dash to move at him and activated Wild Swing as I shed along with the Lion''s Strength and Keen. A surprise appeared in his eyes seeing my attack, but he reacted fast and swung his ck saber toward my axe. He tried to move his saber past my axe, but I didn''t let him. He is faster than me and stronger, but nearly every other Lv. 30 I had fought was. I am used to such power. It didn''t scare me now as it used to. Though, I am still cautious about it. I understand clearly how a single mistake could send me to the underworld. ng! Our weapons shed, and I shook a little under the force, which surprised him. It does to many. He had a strength skill with his attack skills. Many think that with such power, they would push me back, but it''s not easy. Even though my skills aren''t at full power. They are powerful; my body itself is powerful. They had tested it. I am 30% stronger physically than the average orc of simr strength and attributes, that is, after applying the weight of my ss. It is not something I was born with but something I gained unknowingly. Since I was born, I lived alone. First, there was only my father, he died. I ate what I could. Wild nts, monsters, and many other things. Add intense physical exertion due to the monsters that nearly killed me countless times. It all made my strength increase. Sinceing here, the people have taught me to use this strength with razor efficiency against people and the undead. It is why, despite barely leveling up in my primary ss my strength had increased. I controlled my body and attacked again. There is no need to stop or hold back. The only thing I have to do is deal with this enemy in front of me. He attacked again, and this time, his attack was stronger than earlier. Hun! He used the skill that made re from his saber shine into my eyes, obstructing my vision. It''s a good thing I have Predator''s Gaze. It didn''tpletely protect me against the re, but it didn''t leave me blind, either. ng! Our weapons shed, and I shook again, feeling the powerful shock against my body, but I bore it and attacked almost immediately after pulling my axe back. I have borne shocks worse than this from the monsters. This is one of the things they didn''t have to teach me. ng ng ng Our weapons shed again and again. I didn''t stop, even for a moment, and kept attacking, looking for gaps that I could exploit. The man is good. He is covering them well and those that aren''t covered are traps. Puch! Suddenly, I felt something sharp striking me on the back of my shoulder. Rip! The enemy in front of me had an opportunity to attack, and his saber cut through my enchanted armor. Giving me a long gash across my chest. Which started to give me a burning sensation, intense enough to bring tears to my eyes. I controlled my emotions and looked at the enemy that had attacked again. This time, using a skill that he didn''t use before. There is a heaviness in the attack that there wasn''t before. I swung my axe to defend myself and felt the burning sensation intensifying. The injuries aren''t deep enough, but still, they are injuries, and using Survivors Healing to heal them is increasing the strain on me. ng ng ng! I defended, but he attacked again and again, and I defended each assault while feeling the sharp pain at every movement. He knew his skill well and understood the movement would cause me even greater pain. Using that advantage, he begins moving around with speed skill and attacking me from all sides. Rip! I defended his attacks when his saber moved past my axe and gave me a cut across my leg. He grinned seeing that, and appeared at my back and attacking again. I turned back and defended the attack, but he once again appeared in front of me and attacked. Every movement I am making is painful, and now even my leg is burning. The pain I am feeling is intense. Worse than the pain I once felt from Tarmab leaves when I used them to wipe, finding out that they were poisonous. Rip Rip! Once more, he evaded my axe and cut me. I tried to dodge, but the enemy was faster, and he gave me another cut a second and a halfter. Increasing the pain. Making it even more intense. This isn''t my first time dealing with pain skill, but it is the worst one I have felt. It is stronger than the other pain skills at its level and might be a special skill or fused skill. Given how the pain increases with every wound he gives me. Normal pain skills aren''t like that. Rip Rip Rip! Time passed, and more cuts began to appear on my body. Seeing that, the smile on the enemy''s face begins to get bigger and bigger. The pain continued to increase with each cut, and it increased so much that I needed to grit my teeth to bear it. "How do you like my greatest skill?" he asked with a grin. "I am quite surprised to see you are still standing. Many Lv. 30 begged when they had started to feel the level of pain you are feeling," he added with a surprise in his eyes. "I had suffered worse!" I replied, gritted my teeth, and defended myself against his attacks. "Good, you still have a spirit. I liked to see how long it couldst!" he said with a grin and appeared to my left and attacked. Rip! Puch! Another cut appeared, and then another. When suddenly, a lightning bolt hit me. It hit the part that isn''t protected. Singing it, but also relieving me of the intense pain for a moment. More cuts appeared as the battle progressed, and the pain increased. I don''t think I would be able to hold it for much longer. It is why a mix of offensive and defense. I shifted toplete defense. Rip! His saber cut me across the stomach, and it wanted to go deeper, but I dodged with Wild Dash, and he moved forward and attacked again as he did so many times. His saber came hard and fast. Going for my chest. It had reached a few inches away from my chest and would surely cut across it like it did many times. This time. It didn''t. I dashed to my left fast. So fast, it surprised him. I have used all my offensive skills with full power. There was no choice against an enemy like him, but not this one. As I dodged the attack. I dashed forward, using the full power of Wild Dash as well as Officer''s Run. Holding nothing back. I had been waiting for this opportunity. Taking injuries and that immense pain. All of which, I am now channeling into my skills. I have him in the position where I wanted. He is not moving and has a lot of openings. Over 90% of the cuts on my body could have been defended, but I didn''t. I let him strike me. Use the skill he was so proud of that had made him kill countless enemies. Including five Lv. 30 on the record. This pride he had over his skill. Made him careless. It''s quitemon. I had noticed it a lot when I used to follow the behind bandits. Even out here, it ismon egotism. People feel prideful of their skills. If it is powerful, there is nothing wrong with that. What is not wise is losing cautiousness because of having it. He understood immediately what was happening and brought his saber toward me. It was fast, but I was faster and appeared before him and swung my axe with every bit of the strength I had while the rm on his face turned into horror. Hun! My attack was halfway to him when a protective boneyer appeared around him. The mages had cast the defensive spell, but it wouldn''t help him. My sword reached him and struck through the boneyer. Shattering it before hitting his armor. My axe pushed through it, before reaching his body. Bang! A ''bang'' sound rang out instead of a flesh-tearing one. He flew back instead of getting cut apart by my axe. He might have survived the death, but not without heavy cost. The attack had seriously injured him, which is a small price to pay, seeing it had saved his life. Such skills are extremely rare. I dashed forward, seeing him flying back broken and bloodied, but just as I did, the bone wall appeared in front of me. Bang Bang Bang! I crushed through the wall and another in front of me and then another, I crushed through five of them. As I did, I saw the enemy running away through only the gap that nearlypleted the circle my men had made. "Follow!" Imanded and moved toward him. He turned and looked at me with fear in his eyes. I am not the only one after him. My mages are also going after him while he is defending against the spells. I am going to kill him. Bang Bang Bang! Undead appeared in front of me and exploded. I moved through them. I didn''t care if the bones and other stuff stuck to me, all that mattered was killing the enemy. Only with his death will they retreat. So, I moved through the exploding undead while he ran away. I could see him drinking the potion, which isn''t good, but I have time. I don''t think it is essence potion. They are extremely rare and expensive. He wouldn''t have taken such a big gulp of it. Rip Rip Rip! I cut the undead. Moving closer and closer to him while my people protect me from the spells of mages that areing at me. I gain the ground. Getting closer and closer to him. Soon, there was less than five meters of distance between us. He turned, and there was a deep fear in his eyes. "Retreat!" He shouted, surprising me, but I stopped. I looked at him and looked at the undead. A momentter, the undead stopped attacking and began moving. Enveloping their mages and their leader while my men came toward me. "This might be a ploy," said Lt. Dina as they left us. "It is why you should drink your potions," I replied and took out potions of healing and stamina before drinking. These are normal Grade III potions. If I saw the undead returning, I would drink the essence one. Yes, this might be a plot, but I don''t have much choice. My people are injured, and some are dead. A retreat is the best choice for us, too. I want to kill the enemy, but I need to think about my forces too. If I had pushed, it would have been mutual destruction. Which I would not ept. I have already done significant damage to them by killing the High Mage. If he returns, this time, I will kill him. "The other groups are also retreating," informed Sasryn. I turned and saw other undead groups retreating, too. It was only when the pain disappeared I shuddered in relief. The bastard hadn''t deactivated the skill, despite retreating. "How is Azika and others?" I asked. "Currently stable, but they need medical attention," replied Hasid as he stopped beside me. He, too, had suffered injuries but stayed by me, keeping an eye on the undead. "Sevenpanies aren''t enough. We need more people to guard against the undead," said Donil, and I couldn''t help but nod. The undead had upped the ante, and we need to respond to it. The first stage will be increasing the forces on the boundary. "It is the first thing I am going to request," I replied. We watched till the undead disappeared from our eyes before turning to the outpost, which wasn''t in the best shape. A few cannonballs had hit it. Making a few walls copse. When I reached there, the first thing I saw was dead bodies in thepound. We have lost some good people in the battle. Seeing them, tears started to stream from my eyes. I controlled my emotions and sent a prayer to the Goddess of Dusk before walking inside to see the injured. Desiring, the healer to keep them alive till help arrived. Officer Lv. 17 Officer Lv. 18 {Skill Gained: Thunderous Charge} Battle Mage Lv. 23 Soldier Lv. 10 Soldier Lv. 11 {Skill Gained: Heavy Strike} Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me on by Tapping on Belowand enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 514: Sage of Thousand Blades Chapter 514: Sage of Thousand des Conference room 7 "The undead had escted, and we need to respond to it," said Cardin. We are meeting to discuss the skirmish that urred an hour ago. The undead came with unexpected numbers; it was a battle with the worst odds we had fought, but our people had repelled them, barely and not without a cost. "We will. I am signing off on three battalions and five morepanies," I replied, and the eyes of many lit up. We have only seven outposts, each housing apany, but within a month, twelvepanies and three battalions will be stationed at the boundary. One battalion will leave for the boundary before midnight from Panar. We discussed a few more things beforeing to the topic. We had postponedst time. "He did good. Killing a High-Mage, despite below Lv. 30. Even those of Lv. 30 and above couldn''t do it," said Cardin, and many nodded. I couldn''t do it. It requires specific skills and talent to go against the mages. Even with the aura, I am sure of my limit. "Well, we can''t hold it off anymore. If we didn''t give it to him now, it would be a disservice to his loyalty," I said. I am talking about his promotion. Which he deserved to get after the battle of Panar, but I held it off. I wanted to send him into the wild to advance his ss, but that young man wasn''t willing to listen. He wants to stay here with his men. It is quite unfortunate. He has a powerful ss and inheritance skills. I wanted to foster them. I could force him, but that would be counterproductive. So, I am going to give him his well-deserved promotion. Along with the thing. I had been nning. I could not think there was a better person for the responsibility than him, and the result of the battle proved it further. "I am signing off for the promotion of Captain Okor Uram to Lt. Colonel," I proimed, and they nodded in eptance. He deserves it. No one would refute it. "He willmand the seventeenth battalion," I added, and a shock appeared on the faces. Including that of Cardin. "My lord, I don''t think that is wise," said Colonel Vihra. "Orok is powerful and talented to lead, but he is young, and advancement to his ss is blocked. I think we should give this responsibility to someone experienced," added Major General Hiren. I smiled and turned to Cardin. "The orcs wouldn''t be happy with it," he said. To that, I smiled. Yes, the orcs wouldn''t be happy. They would have been ecstatic if any other orc were given this position, but they would not be with the albino orc. "They will have to deal with it," I replied. Lt. Colonels''mand battalions and nobody would have said anything if it had been any other battalion, but the seventeenth battalion is different. It is special because it doesn''t exist. It exists only on paper. It is an idea, a n. A n for an elite battalion. We formed the n for it after the battle of Panar. It is designed to be a force that could tear through the enemies to reach their critical targets and kill them. It will be the tip of the spear. The battalion will get more funding, better equipment, and greater training. A few names have been suggested for it, but they didn''t feel right. Orok feels right, despite his main skill suffering from the block. Elite armies are special, not only in name but also in power. Some could reach a height where they gain their own unique sses. Gaining those unique sses is extremely rare, and it needs to be very distinct and good to awaking that. It is hard to attain that gift. "My decision is final," I stated. Many still wanted to argue and even opened their mouths, but closed them, seeing my expressions. A few minutester, everybody left, leaving only Cardin. "That young man has huge potential, but he will need to unblock his ss," said Cardin. To that, I couldn''t help but nod. "He does," I replied, to the man. That man has the most powerful ss in the entire army. Even the sses'' of Stone and Azalia couldn''tpare to his. Even in the city. His ss is most powerful, after mine, Caena''s, and Bell''s. It has the same weight as the Lord ss but has a pure martial focus. It is why, despite being unable to use it fully, he killed the Lv. 30 High mage. However, if it is just ss, I wouldn''t choose him. Because of who he is that''s why I have chosen him. The ss is just a tool that he earned through his effort. If you didn''t know how to use the tools, then no matter how powerful they may be they wouldn''t be able to achieve what they could with it. "Get him a good adviser. That will help him forge an elite battalion," I ordered. "I will," he replied before cing a document by me. I quickly reviewed it. "They are moving smoothly through the territories. Except here," he said, tapping on the name on the map. "His forces went into Viscount Taris''s territory and captured them," he added. He is talking about the movement of people we have poached. It had been a week since the party, and the deals we have made in the past few days are already helping us tremendously. When we tell people about a safe route to bring them and their families here, they are quicker to agree and start to move. To those who are fearful of their families'' safety. We are offering them to stay in the Inam. I have signed the agreement with the Lord of Inam for that. I don''t like doing that, but I need experienced people. "Count Igd. Brother-inw of Count Raul," I said, looking at the name. His name was on the invitation list, but I canceled it after what happened in the Ertburn, and now the man is taking revenge for that. I had expected anger and a little payback, but I didn''t expect that he would go to the height of breaching the territory of other nobles and kidnapping. "I will deal with it. In the meantime, change the route," I ordered. It will cost us and take more time for them to reach here, but we have to do this. I will need to solve the problem with Igd. It is bad for me. If the news spreads, it will make for a more challenging time poaching people. A few minutester, I walked out of the conference room. I didn''t return to my office, instead I walked out of the city hall. I am usually at home by this time, but the news of the skirmish dyed it. Soon, I sat in the carriage, and it began to move toward the legacy. I stay here every other day; I would have stayed longer, but I have to take care of the children, too. They need a stable environment. "The meeting is set for tomorrow afternoon," informed Z. It is about Igd. My people will talk to him.I will only talk to him if it''s unresolved at their level. I would prefer to talk directly with him, but the nobles'' protocol needs to be followed. It is for that reason only that I am waiting. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I got out before walking past the lines of people endeavoring to enter the legacy. Even a week after the opening, there are lines of people outside the legacy. The most surprising thing is that half of those gathered are tourists. Their numbers in just a week have tripled. Seeing we achieve what I had wanted to achieve, a smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. I have signed contracts with tens of travel and transportpanies. Now we would be able to support therge trafficking of people. These people are supporting the economy massively. Still, when I think about how much I am losing. I couldn''t help but sigh. A lot of people areing, but barely 30% are staying. It is not because they don''t want to, but because there are not enough amodations for them. We are building the amodation fast. I have temporarily rxed some measures to improve construction speed, which is helping. Still, I couldn''t help but wish it would go faster, seeing how much the city''s economy is losing. Currently, thirty-seven small and big hotels are in the process of being built. In the past week since the legacy opened. The city hall permitted the construction of fourteen hotels and just today, I have signed an agreement with one of the big hotel chains from the empire. I wish it could go faster. I need these people to stay in my city and help its economy. In just a week, I have seen how much those people are helping the economy. Others have also noticed it, resulting daily in thousands of inquiries arriving from merchant states, the empire, and even other countries. The inquiries are about investment in the Greltheaven. I looked around the lobby before stepping into the elevator. A momentter, it began to move up. I watched the floors and found each one of them full. Ting! Soon, the bell rang out as the elevator stopped. I stepped out and walked toward my office while watching the people on the top floors. It is the best floor in velvet blue, and it is full of important people, including a few nobles and rich merchants. I will meet them a few minutester when I will make rounds. Click! I entered my office and sat on my chair, before closing my eyes and looking through every floor. Nothing is hidden from me. I could see everything. I opened my eyes a few minutester and looked at the files waiting for me. ''My lord, can you spare a few minutes?'' came a voice in my mind. ''Sure,'' I replied. I didn''t ask why she wanted to meet me, but I knew it must be important for her to ask to meet me suddenly. Click! A minuteter, the door opened, and Bell walked inside. "My lord," she greeted. "Bell," I replied and asked her to sit. "So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked. "These," she replied, and three books appeared. "Gifts?" I asked and she nodded. I had given the responsibility of the gifts to her. Given the number of guests, we had invited. There were a lot of gifts. They needed to be opened and ''thank you'' notes to be sent to the givers. "Are they special?" I asked, and she nodded heavily. There was a silence for a moment before she looked at L and Z. I looked at them. They both nodded and walked out, along with Jon, who was invisible. The door closed, and I turned to Bell. "As you might have heard, my house loved books," she said, in response, I nodded, it was well known. It would be an understatement to say, her house loves books. People used to say, her house fucks books. They love books more than their spouses and children. It is also said the leader of her house gets a ss that has an academic element. "We had one of the best collections of books on the entire continent," she added, with her eyes turning distant. She piqued my curiosity, but I waited. It took nearly a minute for her misty eyes to clear. "There were not many books we didn''t have, but there were still some we wanted. My parents had made a list of the books that they most wanted," "These books were on the list and very high at that," she replied. Hearing her words, I couldn''t help, but turn curious and look at the books. To be honest, they didn''t look very impressive or old. "What are these books?" I asked. "Basics of Aura Maniption by Arasin Kalid," she replied, and I was a little disappointed by the title. It is quite simple and has ''basic'' in it. The author felt familiar and when I used the skill to find where I read it, my eyes widened. "Yes, written by the sage of thousand des himself. It is considered the best book on Aura of our era," she replied. Sage of Thousand des. He is one of the greatest powerhouses of thest incursion. His power was beyondprehension, and he was considered the greatest master of aura of the era. "These must be particrly valuable?" I asked. "Extraordinarily valuable. We only know of seven people who have this on the continent," she replied. "Most importantly. It is a fountain of knowledge." "As for the word basic, it is for the sage. For people like us, it is a sea of knowledge. A few gulps of it would be more than enough for us to reach the pinnacle of the world," she said philosophically. I wanted to read them immediately, but instead, I turned to her with another question. The most important one. "Who is the one who gifted us such treasure?" I asked. My curiosity was palpable. "You would not believe it, but when thinking about it. It is believable, given his ancestry," she said and I kept looking at her. "Alex Rutto," she answered. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me on Patreon by Tapping on Belowand enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 515: Cartas Luskin Chapter 515: Cartas Luskin Cardin The door opened, and a handsome man in his thirties entered wearing a khaki uniform. "General Cardin," greeted the man. "Commissioner Julian," I replied and asked him to sit. "I hope you have been well, general," said the man. "I am wellmissioner," I replied with a professional smile. I don''t like the man. It has nothing to do with his personality. He has an excellent personality, but his jurisdiction irks me. His police haveplete control over thew enforcement in the city. Usually, the city guards are under the army, or the army has powers over them. Here, they arepletely independent, answerable only to the lord. The only things in the city we control are our barracks and the gates. Even the security of the city hall is under the police. In this city, the army is there only for support in case something happens. "What can I do for you,missioner?" I asked. When he asked for the meeting. He said it was important. He didn''t mention, what he wanted. Though, I could guess it, as there could only be a few things. He would need from me. "I need three level 30s. Two mages and one warrior," He replied. It surprised me, he was not asking for my help, but asking directly for three Level 30s. Usually, he requests one or two Level 30 powerhouses, but now he wants three with two mages specifically. The city police have Level 30s of their own. He is one himself and there were two more; one of them is a mage. That man was someone I had poached. Instead of joining the army, he joined the police. "It seemed serious," I said. "Yes. It is Ermes ''blue eyes'' Bilbo; a captain of the white crows'' gang, hase to the city and we want to capture him." He replied. "He is quite slippery. Evaded arrests tens of times," he added a momentter. The name of the gang felt familiar, but I can''t seem to remember more details about it. ''White crows, one of the biggest gangs of Belnin. Their leader is White Gyrge and they deal in narcotics, kidnapping, and extortion, the usual gang stuff,'' informed Kans, my secretary, telepathically. "He is a big fish," I said. "He is, and the gang sent him here to establish a branch. We want to crush their attempt before it even begins," he replied, and I couldn''t help but nod at that. The gangs are nasty business. I had seen them controlling the cities and lords. Greltheaven has gangs, but he and his people manage them well. I hope they will be cautious because those vermin grow fast. "You will have them," I said after a moment of silence. "The police appreciate the cooperation, General," he said, shaking my hand before leaving. "He is doing a good job, but I would have done better if the police had been under the army''s control," said Kans. I didn''t say anything to that. Instead, looked at the clock. Someone important ising today. Someone I know personally. "What is the progress on splinters of Bastiv?" I asked. "Still trying, but there is progress. We might be able to get two to three officers," he replied. Bastiv is the city in Rohm that Tabes had captured a few months ago. It had a strong army, most of which retreated after the defeat. The majority of the army was incorporated into the imperial army and the armies of many nobles, but a significant number remained independent. They are working in mercenarypanies and other ways. These are the individuals we target, as there are fewer consequences than trying to recruit from the imperial army or any nobles'' army. "Keep at it and spread the news to Marquess Ranvam''s army. Tell our recruiters to focus on them." "The moment Eldruin captured it. We want to snap up a few officers and a fewpanies of soldiers," I ordered. "I will inform them," Kans replied. More than half of the territory and even his city have been captured by the Edruin and I don''t think, he will be able to defend the rest, even with reinforcement from the imperial army. The moment, he loses his territory. The army will start breaking and it will be the best time to snap up people. In these past few months, we have created awork of individuals, that help us recruit and poach people. We are paying good money. A few had done well enough, that we gave them essence potions and spread that news. These rewards motivated the recruiters a lot. Despite our efforts, it is still hard. Most don''t want to leave the maind toe here. Where there is an even bigger enemy waiting for them. If they are defeated here, their fate will be worse than death. If we had faced a living enemy instead of the undead, it would have been much easier to recruit people. Difficult as it may be, we have to keep recruiting. The undead are increasing their numbers fast. It won''t be long before theyunch an attack before that happens we need to be ready for them. A few hours passed as I attended several meetings and finished other work. There is always a lot of work. It makes it even more difficult with General Stone staying at Panar. While I have the freedom to make most of the decisions. I need to consult with General Stone and get his permission before signing off on some. ''It''s time,'' I said as the clock rang four, and left my office. The ship will be docking at the port in ten minutes. I want to be there to meet him. I am a Lt. General. I do not go to the port to wee the people we poach, but he is important. I stepped into the carriage, that was waiting for me. Soon, it got out of the headquarters and moved toward the port. I opened the file and made some notes. It is an important n, expensive, but we need to. It is the most important one, considering the geography of the region. The man who ising will y a big part in it. Soon, the carriage passed through the gate, and I closed the file before looking out of the window at the bustling port, filled with people and ships. I examined the port until the carriage stopped, and my gaze fell on the ship with peopleing out of it. Soon, I saw him. It''s been a few years since thest time we met and he looks a little older, but the man is the same. Seeing him, a smile couldn''t help, but appear on my face. He and others are led by the liaisons from the army. People beside him went to the other carriages, waiting for them, while the man and his family came toward mine. Click! Seeing that, I got out. The man noticed me immediately, and a big smile appeared on his face. Soon, he was in front of me. A tall man in histe thirties with thick blond hair a bushy beard and a mustache covered his face. He is handsome and working in the army has made him rugged. "Lt. General, I didn''t think a looser like you would ever reach such a position, even if you fucked the emperor''s daughter," said the man. "Language!" admonished the woman beside him. "Let him talk, Vena. It is the only way he could hide his jealousy," I replied, and the man smiled before hugging me. The man is Cartas Luskin. My childhood friend. We joined the army together, but our paths were different. I chose the infantry, while he chose the cavalry. He reached the rank of Colonel. "It''s nice to see you again, old friend." He said as he let go. I smiled and turned to his wife. She too is an old friend. "You look radiant as always, Vena," I said as I hugged her. "You are still a sweet talker, as always. It''s a mystery to me, why haven''t you gotten married yet," she said as she let go. I didn''t say anything to that and turned to their children. The two are fourteen-year-old twins. They got blond hair from their father, and amethyst eyes from their mother. "Children, greet your, uncle," said Cartas to his children. "Uncle Leonas," they said in unison. It''s clear, they didn''t recognize me, which isn''t surprising seeing how long it had been since I saw them. "Yord and Nell, thest time I saw you two. You were barely five years old," I said. The children nodded awkwardly. "Come, let''s go. I am sure, all of you are tired from the travel and want to rest," I said and opened the door. They have been travelling constantly for over a week. I tried to make their journey asfortable as possible, but no matter howfortable, it was a tiring journey. Especially for the children. We sat in the carriage, and it began to move toward the city. "I heard so much about the city. Especially the legacy," said Vena, looking out of the window. "Is it true that it has arge skeleton of wyrm? And that it''s covered in exotic nts that feed on the essence? That anyone could enter inside it?" she asked showing her excitement. Even her tired-looking children looked excited, hearing their mother talking about it. "You will know when I take you all for dinner there in the evening," I replied and her eyes lit up, but soon they became somber. "You don''t have to, Leonas. I heard it is very expensive," she said, shaking her head. "It is expensive, but being a general,es with privileges," I replied, grinning at her husband. "You are only a lieutenant general, Nas,"said Cartas dryly. To that, I grinned even more widely. A few minutes passed, and we talked. My eyes fell on his leg, but I didn''t say anything. However, I will send him to the doctor tomorrow for a check-up. "How are things in the empire?" I asked. He was on the front lines until a few weeks ago. "Still bad, but better than before," he replied sombrely. Things were pretty bad right after the emperor''s death. The enemies were ready, and they attacked the moment he died. The emperor had prepared for it, and our forces had been more than ready to deal with any aggression from our enemies, but the civil war happened. It is still happening, but the princes and other nobles have started to get things under control. The enemies are still advancing, on more fronts than before, but their progress isn''t as swift as it was in the months after the emperor''s death. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me on Patreon by Tapping on Belowand enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 516: I Want You To Work For Me Chapter 516: I Want You To Work For Me Rutto The carriage passed through the gates of the city hall and moved toward it. Click! I looked at the box in my hand and opened it ever so gently. Not fully, even now, I am scared that someone might see it and kill me for it. People have been killed for far less. This box came three days ago, along with a handwritten ''thank you'' note for my gift. Throughout the week, I have been thinking about the gift I gave Silver at the party. Worried, but also disappointed that there was no reply to it. I knew they were worth something. If they weren''t, they wouldn''t have been in my inheritance skill, but never in my dreams, I had expected to see the things when the thank you note came. I looked through the small gap, and inside it were the tiny bottles. Filled with colorful mist. When I opened the box. I was expecting something good. Hoping it would be a mist-crafted thing, but to my utter shock, I saw bottles and bottles of emotion essence. I thought they were Grade I at first, but I realized they were Grade III and the shocking amount of a hundred of them. Their value is astronomical. I have people who are willing to pay a massive price for them, far above the market rate. I thought it was a mistake. He had mistakenly sent me these, but I didn''t contact him to correct it. I need this. It will solve all of my problems. Click! I closed the box in a hurry as my driver opened the door. The driver, I was barely able to pay this month''s sry by selling the celebration invitation from Silver. People were willing to pay a good price for that. The money will help me with this month, but I ampletely broke next month, without anything valuable to sell. I got out of the carriage and entered the city hall. I hope Silver didn''t call me to say it was a mistake. I am hoping this is not the reason for the meeting. I need them and the money they bring. Soon, I reached his office and could see a few people in the waiting room. "Alex Rutto, I have a meeting with Lord Silver," I said to the beautiful teen secretary. "Lord Silver is ready for you, Lord Rutto," she replied with a professional smile. It surprised me, but I thanked her before walking to the door. The guards opened it as I reached it, and I stepped inside. "Lord Silver," I greeted the young man and was relieved that he was alone. If read the atmosphere correctly he has some questions for me. I don''t think I would hide the truth. If I am forced. Though, I hope, if I am forced to tell the truth, it will be for his ears only. "Please take a seat, Lord Rutto," He said. "Thank you, my lord," I replied and sat in front of him. There was a silence, and I started to sweat. Especially when I saw him looking at me with a smile on his face. I don''t like to be in such a situation where others hold all the cards, but it has been the reality of my life. "Thank you for the gift, Lord Rutto," he said finally. "I should be one thanking you, my lord, for what you have given me. It was truly generous of you," I replied, but the young man shook his head. "I had paid you only a fraction of what they were worth," he said, it utterly shocked me. I expected them to be valuable but never expected to be worth a hundred Grade III bottles and now he is telling me, they are worth far more. I had read those books, and they didn''t feel any different from the other books on the aura we had in our library before my father sold them all. The only thing I found interesting about those books is the writer. "It was kind of you to say that my lord," I said diplomatically, with my heart beating. This man wants something, it is clear in his eyes; he isn''t even hiding it. Seeing me, looking. The smile on his face widened a little further. "I have an offer for you. If you have any rare books, I am willing to buy them above the market price inplete secrecy," he said and slid the scroll toward me. I looked at him, before taking the brown scroll in hand and opening it. Immediately, I felt the power from the scroll. It had the power of the legacy and skill attached to it. The material of the leather is also expensive. It is the quality used for powerful agreements. I read the texts, and my heart couldn''t help, but skip a beat. ''He knows,'' I thought. Though it didn''t surprise me. Anyone with intelligence and information about me will be able to make the connection by seeing the books. The contract is simple. He asked me to sell him books and him alone. Once I sell to him. I cannot sell them to anyone without his explicit permission. I read it over and over each word before I put it down and took the pen before signing it. When I looked at him, there was a surprise on his face. "You didn''t have to sign it immediately, Lord Rutto," said the man a momentter. "It was a fair deal, my lord," I replied. It is for this very reason that I sent him the books. I wanted money and the first books were a gift, I was nning to sell other ones to him. Instead, he provided a hundred bottles of emotional essence for the gift. It is a great opportunity for me. Silver isn''t forcing me and he is paying a fair price. Right now in my situation, it didn''t matter if he was giving a fair price or not. What mattered that he didn''t send me to the dungeon and tortured everything out of me? That would happen with other nobles on the maind and almost everywhere. For me, that hundred bottles are more than enough. I could live off them in luxury for decades. If I invested wisely, even for my whole life. So, I signed the contract, which will bind me to Silver. Now, he will be responsible for my protection. If someone came to know about the skill, it would be his job to protect me. "I have another offer for you, Lord Rutto," he said, breaking me out of my thoughts. ...¡­.. "I don''t think I could give you anything my lord," said the man to which I smiled. He is nervous but excited. I am excited too. The books are amazing. I am currently in the first book and haven''t even finished half of it as those are not the books you could read quickly. "You can, I said," I replied, and the man looked. "I want you to work for me, Lord Rutto," I stated my offer and the man''s face showed his shock. "I already have a job, my lord," he replied. Once again, I smiled. "You have it for now, but it won''t be yours for long, Lord Rutto. I have already been informed by your bosses about their intention to rece you," I informed. He seemed to be aware of that already, as there was no surprise, but anger rose to his face. "Though if you want to keep your job. I could request it from the Prime Minister. I believe he will listen to me, but I think, it will be a better choice to work for me," "I will give you a job on par with your standing. It is a respectful job with responsibility," I offered. He seemed stunned by it and took a while to calm himself down. "Can you give me some time to think about it, my lord?" he asked. "I will give you a week, Lord Rutto," I replied to him. The man nodded and got up before walking out of the office. I hope he agrees. I need him in my control. If he has the kind of inheritance skill that Bell suspects. Then he would be tremendously useful to me. A job will keep him in my control and will also give him opportunities to level up. If he epts, I am going to give him some responsibilities. The man is a little demure, but he can be spontaneous and has the guts to take risks. He demonstrated his spontaneity when he sold everything to get the guardianship job. The risks, he took with the gift of the books and the contract he signed instantaneously. It would be unwise to let go of such a person. Hours passed as I met a few people and attended meetings. "Connect me to him," I said to Shaun as the clock ticked four. It had been four days with my people talking to him, but nothing came out of it. Instead, the man went out and captured a second group of people. I am talking about Count Igd. I took Shuans hand, and after a few seconds, the spell connected with the other side. "Count Igd," I greeted the man. There was absolute silence from the other end. If I hadn''t been feeling the mana, I would have thought the spell had been deactivated. ''Lord Silver,'' spoke the man finally. "I hope you are well, Lord Count," I said. I wanted to move directly to the main point but decided to do a simple pleasantry before that. ''I am Lord Silver,'' He replied curtly. Hearing that, I sighed internally. This won''t be easy, but I need him to fall in line. "I hope you will release the people you have captured from Viscount Taris and Baron Lomivas'' territory," I requested politely. ''I can''t do that. They are runaways.'' The man replied. "They are not runaways, Lord Count. They were from the territories of two nobles whose territory had been captured. I am within my rights to hire them," I refuted. ''To me, they are runaways and I will deal with them ording to thews of the empire and my territory,'' he said. "Can I not do anything to make you release them?" I asked. ''Unfortunately, you cannot,'' he replied with a derisive chuckle. Hearing that, I sighed visibly. "Then you left me no choice, Lord Count," I said, and heughed. "What are you going to do, little lord?" he asked, insulting me. I am not angry. Why would I be? When I have something interesting nned. "Poach your men, of course," I replied, and heughed loudly. "Be my guest, but let me tell you, no men of mine wille to your territory. No matter how much money or emotional essence you offer," he said, with clear anger in his voice. He is fearful of that and already taking precautions. Keeping eyes on people who could leave. "I may not, but your enemies could. I am going to sell them a lot of essences and going to do it cheaply with the condition, that they poach your men," I threatened. "I am very sure, they will be more than ready to ept these conditions. Some had already contacted me about that on their own," I added a momentter. The reply came immediately. He cut the call. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me on Patreon by Tapping on Belowand enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 517: Churches and Politics Chapter 517: Churches and Politics nis "Wee to Panar, Bishop nis," greeted Fex as I stepped out of the carriage. "Thank you, Priest Sutton," I replied and looked at the building behind him, which was nowplete. We didn''t build a full church but modified the dpidated building. It used to house the offices of the miningpany, but now, it is our church. We would have opened it a few weeks ago, but I decided to expand it. It will be formally inaugurated at dusk with the sermon. "Mr. Amellus had done a wonderful job in the church," praised Fex as he led me toward the church. He opened the gates, and we entered the church. "Good space," I said, looking at rows and rows of pews with a lot of space behind them to stand as well. "It could house three hundred faithful easily," He replied, and I nodded and turned to the big altar. On it is a huge symbol of the goddess of dusk carved from the grey rock. It is carved by the Cardinal herself. To the left is a choir tform, and above are beautiful lights. That will create dusk even in the day. He showed me the other parts of the church before we walked to the hospital, which was a separate building beside the church but within a churchpound. "There seemed to be a lot of patients. I don''t think there had been a skirmish in the past two days?" I asked. A little confused. The injuries of these people didn''t seem that serious either. "They are the people of Lt. Colonel Uram," he replied, and I armed a brow. "His training isn''t for the faint-hearted," he added, shuddering. Orok Uram. One of our most faithful and also the highest ranked in the military we were able to get. It is hard to get orcs because of the shamanic belief system, but here we are, getting a lot of them. Especially those without tribes. We are even getting the people from tribes as well. We are also getting a lot of humans. It helps a lot, for being the only church in the Greltheaven. It is the first time something like this has happened to us. In other ces, there are always churches. "Despite the danger. It was a wise decision of us toe to Greltheaven," said Fex. "Goddess is wise," I replied with a smile. It is not like the other churches aren''t trying, but conditions toe into the Greltheaven are tough. Not everyone is as desperate as we are. Though, as the greltheaven grew. The inquiries had begun to increase. It won''t be long before other churches starting, but we have an advantage and will prove our worth to the city. It will take others a long time to achieve. As Fex said, it is a wise decision toe here, and we are seeing the benefits of it. The faithful are growing, and those who took risks toe here have benefitted as well. Both of the Pdins had gone past the Lv. 30. The priests have reached near it. Fex is quite close to Lv. 30. Normally, he wouldn''t get the responsibility of a church of this size. It is the reward of the risk he had taken ining with me. There was resistance to it from the higher-ups, given his age and experience, but I pushed his name forcefully, and the higher-ups had to ept. "Iing," said the loud voice. The next moment, the people came, holding men and women on the stretchers. They quickly ced the beds, and within seconds, nearly all beds were full. I looked at patients before walking to the one closest to me. Holy Scan. I activated the skill and the grey light-covered sleeping patients. Soon, everything became clear, and a shock couldn''t help but appear on my face. I have dealt with training wounds before here and in the merchant state, but these are extreme. I looked at the others, and they had nearly the same type of injuries. "Is he trying to kill them?" I asked. "It feels like it when you watch the training," replied Fex with a smile. Though it was without any mirth. There are muscle tears. Joint and ligament damage. Bone and skull fractures and blisters. It feels like these people had suffered some kind of torture. "Have you talked to him about it?" I asked. "Yes, but he is saying this will be the norm," replied Fex with a sigh. "He is working with alchemists and healers specialized in it to increase the resilience of those he had been chosen," he added. Which gave me some relief. He has been given a big responsibility, and I hope he does well and does not take things too extreme. It makes things worse than better. I cast Mass Heal, and their bodies got covered in dusky energy. Their injuries are not that serious; the spell would be enough to heal them. From the hospital, he took me to the cemetery. There are already graves there. Seeing that, I sighed and offered a prayer before returning to the church and walking into the office to meet the staff and look at all the details. There will be nine people here. Priests, deacons, and acolytes, along with administrative staff. We will increase or decrease it, seeing how the church does. Though, I hope it does well. Hours passed, and soon, it was a five. I changed into my priestly robes and looked at the preparation. Everything is good. Soon, a carriage with gs of the city stopped, and a beautiful woman stepped out of it. "Thank you foring, Governor Knox," I greeted the woman at the door. "It is my honor to be here, Bishop nis," she replied. I smiled and led her in. "I hope you are satisfied with the work our church is doing," I said to her. "Yes, very much," she replied. "But I hope you will increase the number of pdin and priests here," she added. "I am doing everything I could, Governor. For more pdins and priests, the church will need to do better," I replied, and the woman smiled. There are currently five pdins in Renwell. Two came with me, while three were sent here by the church. They are precious, and the church guards them zealously, but they sent the three, seeing how fast the two came with me had advanced. Pdins aren''t easy to make. One needs to have potential and faith to be one. We have around fifteen of them, with a third of them being here. It would have been easier if we had permission to recruit the holy force. We had that till a century ago, before the merchant state revoked it under the pressure of the other churches. Aside from Pdins, we cannot have any other force. I am trying to get permission for it from Silver, but he is resistant to it. Though he is loosening up. If we prove our worth in a few more battles and provide something extra, we might be able to get the permission. It will help us tremendously. Soon, General Stone came with Lt. General Azalea. I weed them personally before other guests and faithful began toe, including Lt. Colonel Uram. I will talk to himter, after the sermons are over. There are a few things I want to talk to him about. Finally, the whole church is filled with people. There is not a single seat that is unupied. Hundreds of people are standing in the area behind the pews. We have gained a lot of followers here after Greltheaven conquered the city. Those poor souls needed hope and support, which the church had provided to them. ''It is time,'' I thought and opened the holy book. I didn''t have to. I remember every word by heart, but it provides an effect and reassurance. Serene Voice. Glory of Dusk. Faithfuls Home. I activated my skills and began the sermon. "Brother and sister, we gather today in the soft glow of dusk as the sun surrenders to the embrace of night. In this sacred hour, we honor the Goddess of Dusk, She, who reigns over the threshold between light and darkness. "Dusk reminds us that life is filled with transitions. As the day ends and the night begins, so do we face moments of change¡ªsometimes quiet, sometimes uncertain." "Yet the Goddess of Dusk teaches us that these transitions are not to be feared. They are sacred pauses where we can reflect, release, and prepare for what lies ahead." I continued with the sermon while they listened. I could feel their faith in people like Orok Uram is shining the brightest. It is a wonderful thing to see, and made it all the hard work and sacrifice we made worth it. ....... Church of God of War, Inam. "Your Excellency, Archbishop Kraniz," greeted the old man as a red-haired, middle-aged man walked inside. "Bishop Song," replied the man and sat down before cing a note in front of him. He read it, and anger shed in his eyes. "Those whores of the goddess of dusk had captured Silvers''s heart with their dark arts," cursed Bishop Song. "They are growing in Greltheaven and opened another church in the Panar today," archbishop Krazis said, looking at the old man pointedly. He shuddered internally. "We wanted to bathe the Greltheaven with our lord''s merciful light. Purify the evils of his sin of the den had spread to his city, but the bastard isn''t even letting our priests enter his city," "And he even dared to ce wretched conditions on us to reestablish our church there," the old man replied and was seething by the time thest word came to his mouth. On the other hand. Middle-aged man''s expressions remained unchanged. "Agree to his conditions and reestablish the church as soon as possible," ordered the Archbishop. It surprised the old Bishop. No, shocked him. It wasn''t long ago that these people were cursing Silver and talking about finishing him off. "Your excellency, those conditions," said the old bishop hesitantly. "Yes, I read them, but Silver has shown potential, and his city is growing fast. Ignoring it would be a mistake," replied the archbishop. He is unwilling, but the archbishop''s word is final. "As you will it, Your Excellency," agreed the old bishop finally. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me on Patreon by Tapping on Belowand enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 518: Cavalry Chapter 518: Cavalry "By my authority, as the master of velvet garden. I grant Dranis Eltson ess to the mist," I said and ced the mark of mist on him, before granting him ess to it. Mark of Mist is an extraordinarily useful skill. I could use it on things as well as people. For me, it had be a lesser version of Share Authority. "Thank you, my lord, for your trust in me," replied the cobbler with tears streaming from his eyes. "You have earned it," I replied to the man turning to the second person and giving him ess to the mist, while thousands watched. We are in the lobby with store owners sitting on chairs while visitors observe with a vast variety of expressions on their faces. They beam with delight to witness this spectacle, adding to their emotions. "Best of luck, both of you. Work hard to make the legacy and the city proud," I said to them and walked away while others watched these two, with longing and envy. The rest will need to prove their worth and loyalty to gain ess to the mist. There are now five stores with ess to the mist, counting Eva Cain. They are doing remarkably well. Yesterday, I had given ess to the twelve new cksmiths. They are from Gregor''s store, which he opened yesterday in the city, along with the big workshop. From today, they will start working after the stores closed at night. I am especially excited about it. There are huge orders for mist goods. The legacy needs them and also others. Currently, we are not selling any. Every mist good that is forged in the store is destined only for the legacy. Though we have gifted a few mist-crafted items to others. We need them to produce more and, most importantly, we need enchanters. Only with the enchantments, will those mist-forged goods show their true power. I stepped onto the elevator, and it moved fast. Reaching the top floor within seconds. The door opened, and I walked out. I watched the patrons of the blue, it is always full. Every table has been booked for years; currently, there are two parties going on different sections of the top floors. The top floor is huge, covering over fifty thousand square feet. We have divided it into seven sections of different sizes and styles. The parties are happening in the two biggest sections. The people who booked it are from the merchant states. They havee here on their yacht and will return after the celebration. I opened the door and walked inside. Only to see that Caena is waiting there. "I finished the first one," she said, looking at the book. She had ced in front of me. It is not one of the books that Rutto had given. The first volume is copied into this book. Whose paper is made from a really rare tree and binding done by a bookbinder of Lv. 35+. The cover was painted by Margaux since I couldn''t hire anyone else because of the secrecy of the books. It is beautiful. Most importantly, the book had been heavily enchanted by Caena. This means anyone who reads it will remember the contents but wouldn''t be able to copy or narrate to others verbally or telepathically or distribute it through any other means. It might seem too much, but the books are really rare. I need to protect them. It is why they will not be brought out of the legacy. Till now, only three people have read it. Bell, Ca, me. All of us experienced a huge change in our expertise in our aura, and the thing is Ca and I didn''t even read half of the first book. Only Bell had. Those without an aura could read it directly, but they will have a problem. You need to experience it as you read it. "There is no need for this, then," I said, and the book appeared in my hand. It was a copy given by Rutto. Fire enveloped it and, within seconds, turned into ashes, which I sent all over the city. So, no mage will be able to bring its original state. "When will you be finished enchanting the other two books?" I asked. "It will take me another week," she replied. To that, I nodded. "Has Rutto finished?" I asked. To which she shook her head. He is here, writing another book with his skill. He hade in the morning, wanting to convey another book and, ording to the contract, he would have to do it in the legacy. It is the most secure ce. He had shared the name of books and it is just as rare as the book on aura. Which isn''t surprising. Seeing who his ancestor was. Though it is about spellcraft. Suitable for those who have just started learning about it. It might not be useful to me, but it will be useful to the girls. They are still learning magic. I didn''t forget my goal of having in-house show-mages. He has yet to give an answer about the job offer, but after meeting him earlier, I am sure what his answer would be. "How are the preparations going for tomorrow?" I asked. "That girl is good. She will manage it well," she replied. "Still, keep an eye on everything. We need it to be perfect," I replied. Tomorrow is really important. It is for this reason, I had waited for two weeks before opening the roof. If I opened it earlier, I would have earned a lot more essence, but I waited. I wanted to make sure everything works out smoothly. Run tests before opening. From tomorrow it will open and if it works, as I intend it to do. It will be the floor from which the legacy will be able to harvest one of the greatest emotions. Time passed as I focused on the work. "The ship has arrived," informed Z, and a big smile appeared on my face. Immediately, the view of the port gate appeared in front of me. This was a limit of what I could see; the range doesn''t go beyond the outer wall, but I found a way to look outside of it. From the edge of the boundary. I cast the spell. Eagle Eye. Immediately, the port appeared in front of me. I needed to adjust it a little before it focused on the ship. As I focused on it. I saw the ramp lowering, and soon, they started toe out. They have ck bodies with streaks of blue. They look majestic, and I wanted to get out of my office immediately, but I controlled myself. I will see them, but not now. I watched for a few minutes before focusing on the work in front of me. There is a lot of it. I am leaving in ten days for the conve in the archmages city. I need to deal with everything then, as I won''t be returning for a few weeks. One part of me doesn''t want to go, but I need to. It is important. Soon, it was two, when I had finally stopped and got out of my office, and a minuteter, I was out of the legacy and boarded the carriage. The carriage reached the barracks before entering inside and moving toward the area, which was empty, in the past, but not anymore. The carriage stopped, and I got out. "My lord," greeted Cardin. "Lt. General," I replied and walked forward toward therge fence. Inside it are the horses, which are being tested by soldiers. They are not horses, but horse monsters. They have a night ck coat with blue streaks. They are bigger than stallions on the earth and can move extremely fast. They are called Dustgale. One of the monsters that the merchant states use for its cavalry forces. From now on, Greltheaven will be using them, too, in its cavalry. I am in the wastnd, and cavalry is the best force for it. They could move on vast ground at their greatest speed with nothing to stop them. I have always wanted the cavalry but didn''t have a budget. The monsters the merchant state was offering were not that good either. It took months of negotiation, along with a lot of essence, for them to agree to sell these. They are not the best of the horses the merchants'' cavalry has, but they are not the worst either. These horses were better than most speed-type horses used in the empire''s cavalry. Today, a hundred and fifty horses came. It is the first batch; there will be six more to form aplete regiment of thousand troopers. "The real challenge in front of us now is recruiting the people," said Cardin beside me. We have two hundred people from the cavalry that we had poached around, but we need at least eight hundred more. "It is a good thing. We have a lot of young recruits," I replied. To which he smiled. "Young ones are best. It will take time to form the size of cavalry we need with them, but the result we will get would be much better," He said. We could use the experienced people we had, but their sses had already reached high enough and had skills suited for infantry. It will take quite a lot of hard work and time for those sses and skills to change to suit cavalry and they wouldn''t be as good as those with the cavalry sses from the beginning. "I take it the response is good?" I replied. We have already started the process of recruitment among our young trainees. "Better than we thought," he replied. "Lt. Colonel Luskin will begin aptitude testing and training in three days," he added. To that, I nodded and looked ahead. The cavalrymen, including Lt. Colonel Cartis inside the fence. Testing the horses with his men. These aren''t monsters they use in the empire. I hope he will be able to work with them. He better be. Maintaining a cavalry is damn expensive. The feed, the grooming, the training, the equipment, and everything else cost a lot of money on top of buying these damn horses. They aren''t cheap. A few minutes passed when Luskin came toward me. "Lord Silver," he greeted. "Are the monsters to your liking, Lt. Colonel Luskin?" I asked the man directly. "They are better than the ones we used in the empire, but also harder to control," he replied with his face serious. "I am sure, you will be able to manage it," I said, to which he smiled. "My lord," he replied. "I have been wanting to work with monsters like these for a long time. It is a dreame true," he added with his eyes shining. He stayed for a few minutes before walking away. Seeing him walk, nobody would guess, he had a prosthetic on one leg. "Have you taken the measurement?" I asked. "Yes, and had sent them to Belnin. The prosthetic will arrive by the end of the month," he replied. I discussed a few more things with him, before sitting in my carriage and going to the city hall. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 519: Event Manager of Dream Mist I Chapter 519: Event Manager of Dream Mist I Ch Poots "This is teal, I said we wanted emerald," said the man in frustration, looking at the stage. People say it is brides that turn into monsters at weddings, but the grooms are just as bad. "We will change it to emerald," I replied. "I want it the color of Sarkos emeralds, not amon emerald," He said. "We have that shade, Mr. Alister. It will be done," I replied with a smile. I could tell he wanted to say something. Likely an insult, but he controlled himself. "I hope you don''t make another mistake this time," he said snidely and walked with his bride and the guide from the legacy, which took them to the spa. "He controlled himself,"mented Yalis as they walked away. The snidement might seem like an insult, but in my profession, it is praise, especially from people like him, who have enough money that they couldn''t spend it all in their lifetime. He only controlled himself because it was a legacy. Here, his father''s influence didn''t work as much as it did outside. "How are carriages? Have they arrived?" I asked. "They are an hour away," I replied. There will be two and a half thousand guests, and we do not have enough special carriages to ferry them all. These carriages are distinct. They are expensive and used for functions such as weddings. I had given the order for them in the very first week I had joined Velvet Garden. They have been delivered in batches since the start of this month. They are expensive, but the legacy has money. They have made a huge order. It is not just the carriage, but for many other things as well. Today''s delivery will make it the fifth batch. It will be enough to ferry two and a half thousand guests for the wedding. I looked around me watching the nearly fifty people working on the venue setup on the roof. Some are working on the nts, while others are on the decorations, seating, and tables. This is a massive roof spanning over fifty-thousand square feet. With its redesign, it could amodate ten thousand people easily. The n is to have several functions at once here. Its open design allows many ways that it could be configured by moving around the nts and mist, which could form the walls. Currently, we are taking it slow. The Velvet Garden is a big enterprise with tens of thousands of people visiting it daily. So, every step needs to be careful. I am really d about it. If they had asked me to manage several functions daily, I don''t think I could have done it right now. I had done that in Namdar. There, I worked for pretty big clients, but still, the legacy is in apletely different league. I looked around and sighed. The ce is covered in colorful mist and nts that cover it in wonderful fragrances and looked like they came out of dreams. It had been a month since they had hired me, and even now, I am still enamored by it. It is a freaking legacy. It is hard not to get enamored by it. I don''t think I will get used to it or ever get bored by it. Beforeing here, I had only visited Legacies three times and was blown away every time, but those Legacies are nothingpared to the mammoth that is Velvet Garden. To be honest, I wasn''t much interested in the job because I knew I wouldn''t get it because of the sheerpetition. People more experienced and at higher levels than me came to interview for this job. I came in only because I didn''t want to disappoint Eva, who had rmended me. She had been my best client. Though, when I stepped inside the tower. I knew I wanted the job, despite running my own sessful business in Namdar. Though, I didn''t think I would get it. It shocked me that I had got the job, beating out those talented people. It is the ce to be, despite all the dangers, my parents had talked about when I was writing to ept the job. It is where I would learn things I couldn''t in Namdar. Make connections that will help me tremendously when I return to my business. Though, currently, that is thest thought in my mind. I moved around and checked many things. Nearly all the people are newly hired like me, and they have years of experience. Some are even higher level than me and had better sries beforeing here. Not that the Velvet Garden isn''t paying well. They didn''te here for the money. I don''t think any one of them would leave. Even if the Velvet Garden tomorrow says, they are not going to pay them anything. It is for the experience and connection they hade here. The experience they will never get anywhere else in the world. With this background, they would be able to get jobs anywhere or start their own business, and have clients running at them. "Mage Ajas, can you move those green vines a little higher," I said to the blond woman. She is not even my staff; she is not even the staff of Legacy. She is from the team of half-orc, who are responsible for nts, the benefactor from the hidden city of the merchant state. The woman listened and raised the flower vine higher. We do not have permission to touch or move around these nts. If I want to have them moved, I would have to ask these people. Thankfully, there are enough of them, and they are extremely cooperative. I watched the other things and, gratefully, how smoothly everything was working. Things are never so smooth in this business, but it isn''t surprising. Here, most of the things are being handled in-house. The flowers, the catering, the venue. These are the things that cause the most problems for vendors: dying or canceling the flowers that we ordered, getting affected by weather, or mismatch of skill. A few hours passed, and I got out of the legacy and appeared in front of the warehouse. "They are good," said Yalis as I looked at the carriages that came in not long ago. They are beautifully made with abination of metal and sswork. It was the only clog that wasn''t in ce. Now they appeared. I could truly feel relieved about the wedding tonight being perfect. "Ready them. I want them in front of the hotel at sharp seven," I said after I checked every carriage personally. One needs to be thorough. You can''t always trust others to do the job perfectly. I had learned that lesson painfully. The carriages are good, but they need to be cleaned so that not even a speck of dust remains on them. Then they will be covered in beautiful flowers. I had already looked at flowers beforeing here, and they are fresh. Came from Owlspring two hours ago. I walked out of the warehouse and sat in the carriage. I now have to look at onest thing before I will return to the legacy. "A problem had urred," informed Yalis. Interrupting my thoughts. "Please tell me it is not a big one?" I asked. Seeing his expression. "The groom had chosen a wedding suit from Eva Cain, and now the bride wants her wedding dress mist-crafted as well," he replied grimly. "Fuck!" I cursed loudly. "I have told my people to not let them visit the store," I said to him. These things happen as there are always better clothes than they have. The bride and groom had already brought their clothes. They were specially designed for them by one of the best designers from the merchant state, but now, they have gone to Eva Cain. Their designs are some of the best I have seen and made even better as they are mist-crafted. It makes the clothes from Eva Cain irresistible. That is why I asked my people not to let them get close to the store. "They tried, but someone from their party went there and raved about it," he replied while I massaged my head. The wedding has just six hours to go. This is thest thing I want. "Driver, go fast," I said to the driver. Immediately, the driver increased the speed of the carriage. I also attached my skills to the carriage. To Clients Need. We reached the tower in record time. I stepped out before walking through the direct entrance. Even at this time, there is a line to enter the legacy. I entered the lobby feeling the power of legacy and those wonderful smells. They calmed me, but not enough, to slow my rush toward the elevator. I stepped inside it, and a few secondster, its doors opened on the store floors. "No, I want the mist-crafted wedding dress!" I heard a loud cry just when I was about to ask the staff where the bride was. I rushed toward the store, heard the voice, and saw the bride. She is beside the groom. There are also the parents of the bride and the parents of the groom beside her. They are all focused on one person, Byron. The store manager. The bride seemed to notice me. She turned toward me, and hope seemed to light up in her angry eyes. "Harold chose the mist-crafted suit for the wedding. I want a mist-crafted wedding dress, too," she said with her pale green eyes boring on me. There is also the power of skill. It is familiar. I had seen many with Heiress ss. "Ms. Alda, you have a wonderful wedding dress crafted by the famous Lynavis. It makes you look like a princess," I said, activating the Pacifying Client. "No, I want a crafted dress," she insisted. Intensifying the power of her skill further. It didn''t affect me much because of her being lower level than me. Besides, its power is suppressed by something greater. The skills are suppressed when they are used against the employee of the legacy. Seeing her eyes. It''s transparent that she will not listen. So, I turned to Byron. "I have told them. We do not have wedding dresses," he replied simply. They do not have wedding dresses. Eva had told me that Miss Cain had designed some, but they won''t appear in the store for another two months. They haven''t even started working on them yet. I turned to the woman. "I want a mist-crafted dress," she demanded. ''This spoiled brat!'' I cursed in my heart, but a small polite smile remained on my face. "This is a big day for our daughter. Arrange a mist-crafted dress for her. We are willing to pay any price for it," said the mother of the bride. "I will see what I can do," I replied, before turning. An idea formed and I am hoping it would work, and the bride will agree. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 520: Event Manager of Dream Mist II Chapter 520: Event Manager of Dream Mist II Ch Poots "Where is Miss Eva?" I asked Byron, activating Privacy around us. "Her favorite ce," he replied after a few seconds of silence. Likely asking his boss for permission before answering me. I nodded my thanks and walked toward Eva''s favorite ce. It is a spot by the pirs, nestled in nts with a splendid view of the city. I reached there and saw her sitting in her usual ce. There is her son Devin and, to my surprise, Miss Cain. It is very rare to see her; she is always working. Beside her is another person, I am surprised to see here. Madam Cath. "Having a problem, Ch?"asked Eva with a smile. "Yes, the client wants the mist-crafted wedding dress," I replied to her. "The store doesn''t have any," replied Devin, and, as always. There is a drink in his hand. "Please help me, Eva. I don''t want to mess up my first job in the legacy," I requested almost begging. "This is the velvet garden. Their money will take them only so far. Here, we don''t have to ept their unreasonable requests," said Madam Cath. They are powerful people with all the money in the world. People like us are at their beck and call. Fulfilling their every wish. "Madam Cath is right, just tell her it won''t be possible," said Eva matter-of-factly. I am surprised to see them speak like that. I have been taught for clients like those, saying no isn''t an option. If they want something, you get that for them. It isn''t hard to get things if you know people and are willing to spend enough money. However, it appears I have a lot to learn. First is understanding that with the power of the Legacy, you can reject the unreasonable demands. Both Chief Ca and Madam Caena had told me to reject any unreasonable demands from the clients confidently. "I want to, Eva, but this is my first job. I want it to be as perfect as possible," I replied. In the future, I will certainly say no to the impossible demands of clients, but I do not want to do that in my first job. "Can you do something, please?" I begged, and theyughed. "Tell them to choose any dress. I will have June convert it to a wedding dress," said Miss Cain with a smile. It is not aplete wedding dress, but it''s something. "Thank you, Miss Cain," I thanked and thanked before walking back toward my clients. "Have you got the mist-crafted wedding dresses?" the woman fired the question as I reached her. Sometimes, these spoiled brats baffled me. They think the stuff just fell from the skies, and they just had to say the words to their servants to make it happen. "Unfortunately no. But, they are willing to convert any of these dresses here into a wedding dress," I replied, and her eyes shed angrily. "No, I want a real mist-crafted dress!" said the woman, stomping her foot on the floor like a child. "It won''t be possible," I replied firmly. If I had been home, I would have had to use more words to convince her, but as Madam Cath said. This is Velvet Garden. It is a privilege to have a wedding here. They could go to the other legacy with their money. They might be able to rent one for a few hours, but they will not get one simr to Velvet Garden in size and power. "Then I won''t have a wedding!" she snapped back. Immediately, I felt a couple of privacy skills activating. Enveloping those six. I can''t hear what they are talking about, but I can tell they are talking furiously. There seemed to be some screaming going on, with tears starting to stream down the bride''s face. I genuinely wanted to hear what was going on, but I stayed at a respectful distance without showing any emotions. It continued for a few minutes before the Privacy skill disappeared, and the bride turned to me. "I will take that red dress," said the bride. Pointing at the red dress with the golden borders. The choice isn''t a surprise. They are the colors of the church of the goddess of wealth. "It is a beautiful choice," I praised, while Byron looked at the store assistant. She quickly removed the dress and took it away while another store assistant ced another just as beautiful white dress in its ce. I stayed there for a few minutes as they shopped for jewelry and other essories before walking away to check on other preparations. Thankfully, they are all going well. Hours passed, and soon, it was seven. I am on the roof, looking at a beautiful venue that looks like paradise. "Tell the carriages to go ahead," I said to the mage and walked toward the man standing beside the stage. "I hope everything is to your liking, Priest Saros?" I asked the Priest of the Goddess of Wealth. He will be the one officiating the wedding. "Everything is perfect. I could feel the blessing of the goddess here," replied the man. I am not much of a believer, but if I was asked which church I like the most. Then, I would say it is the Church of the Goddess of Wealth. They are one of the least restrictive ones. Other churches might have a problem with officiating in a wedding at the top of a den of sin, as many call this legacy, but he seemed to have no problem with it. He is even enjoying himself. "I am d to hear that," I replied, and the man smiled as he looked around. "People were very curious about what Lord Silver was intending to use the roof for." "I have to say, I am impressed that he opened this space for people to celebrate their most joyful moments of life," he said. I didn''t say anything to that other than smiling. However, the intentions of Lord Silver aren''t that noble. I had met him again when he hired me. He told me to organize functions such that they would mesmerize people. Obtain the most emotions out of them. Since it is a legacy, those words could only mean one thing and one thing alone. Emotion essence. He wants to host these functions so that Legacy would be able to harvest maximum emotions. It is what legacy does and to my experience. People are their happiest at cultural and social functions. More than any simple parties or other gatherings. This is my opinion. I could be wrong. After a few more words, I walked away and looked at other arrangements. Everything is in its ce, with most of the staff bing invisible. Hidden behind the mist curtains. A few minutes passed, and I saw the lines of carriages entering the garden. They seemed endless, with everyone watching it. I could see people turning to watch the carriages as a shower of light began falling on them as they entered the garden. It is spells being cast by the mages that we have ced on the road of the garden. "It looks beautiful," said Mr. Mastin, with tears appearing in his eyes. "This is just the beginning," I replied to the father of the bride. They hadn''t entered the legacy yet. Soon, the first carriage stopped in front of the legacy, and four people came out and stepped into the legacy. Click! Seconds passed, and the door opened, bringing the people. As they did, the colorful mist parted in front of them, revealing the venue. "My god!" gasped the oldest woman in shock. The others were no less shocked as they took in the venue with eyes wide and beautiful music ying in the background. "Grandpa, Grandma. I want to be married here," dered the girl of around twelve as she looked at everything with shining eyes. Her grandparents smiled and walked ahead. Three secondster, another elevator opened and then another three secondster, bringing more and more guests to the venue, with all of them mesmerized by it. They didn''t sit on the chairs. Instead, walked around, mesmerized by the mist, the nts the view, and the beautiful art pieces. Minutes passed, and all twenty-five hundred and fifty-two guests arrived at the venue. Click! I opened the door, walked inside the room, and looked at the bride. She is a beautiful woman with dark raven hair and green eyes. Wearing that dress, she looked truly otherworldly, with a train and a golden veil. I thought the changes in the dress would be small, but they have transformed the dress with the mist seeming to add life to it. "You look beautiful, Miss Mastin," I said as she stood in front of a huge mirror. "I know," she said, with her eyes never leaving the mirror. She seemed so enamored by herself that I wanted to roll my eyes, but I did. "You will make entry right at eight, zero-five," I informed her once more. "I know," she replied. I nodded and gave a knowing look to the three of my staff to have her ready before walking out. Soon, it was seven-fifty-five, and we asked everyone to take their seats. The staff came and moved people to their seats and removed those who sat on the wrong seats, intentionally or unintentionally. There is a delicate bnce to that, but the staff is more than experienced. Soon, everybody sat down in their seats. There is not a single chair, that is empty. Finally, it is eight. "Sent the groom," I said and looked at the mist curtain behind the stage. This entrance is going to be amazing. Thud Thud Thud! A loud, shaking tread rang out like a giant walking when the mist parted, and truly, a giant made of mist stepped out of the curtain with a huge leg forward. People gasped, seeing it as the mist giant fully revealed itself with the groom standing proudly on the giant palms. He looked happy. Grinning excitedly as the people watched. The weight of the mist is light, but it doesn''t look like it, seeing how dense the mist is made of. The sound is also artificial, but one would have a hard time believing that. The giant took one step after another before it reached the stage, where it kneeled on the ground, cing its hand on the stage for the groom to step out. p, p, p! People pped loudly, and the groom soaked it in with a big smile on his face. I watched it, but my focus was on the clock. Soon, it is time for the bride. "Send the bride," I instructed and turned back toward the mist curtain. Seconds passed, but the bride didn''te out. I was about to move toward the curtain when I felt a powerful gust of wind. It attracted everyone''s attention, and they turned back. Only to see the bride in the sky with massive, colorful mist wings. As these wings p, arge amount of air is sent forward, but nobody seems to mind that, especially not the bride, who is gracefully flying toward the stage. Her face is hidden because of the veil, but anyone can feel her overflowing happiness. It took a lot of effort to manage it, with the Madam herself controlling this mist. The bridended on the stage opposite the groom, and the priest of the goddess of wealth stepped forward. The ceremony began a minuteter. I watched every little thing. If I saw any problem, I would have fixed it immediately, but there wasn''t any. Before I knew it, it was past midnight when the bride, groom, and immediate family and friends got out of the legacy and stopped at the canal, where they boarded the boats to circle the garden. These boats are beautiful. They were specially brought for the wedding. Covered in lights and with captivating music theypleted the circle, signifying their marriage ceremonypleted. "Miss Caleh, thank you. The greatest day of my daughter''s life went better than I had ever thought. I will never forget this moment, for as long as I live," thanked Mr. Mastin. This was the first time the man had spoken my name. Till now, he never referred to me by my name. "It''s our pleasure, Mr. Mastin," I replied. It is not just me, but the whole staff and, of course, the legacy, who helped create this memory that they will never forget in their life. The man smiled before walking toward his carriage. Seeing that, I finally rxed. "You did good," said the voice, surprising me. I didn''t sense her at all as she appeared beside me. "Thank you, Madam Caena," I replied as I turned to the woman. The woman smiled and walked toward the legacy. I walked beside her. There were a few things I needed to do before I could go to the apartment and sleep. Event Manager of Good Times Lv. 30. {ss Change: Event Manager of Good Times - Event Manager of Dream Mist} Event Manager of Dream Mist Lv. 31 {Skill Change: ¡­.} . . . Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 521: Bridge and Other Things Chapter 521: Bridge and Other Things "Thank you, Your Excellency. I am truly grateful for your support," "Please thank, His Majesty, the archmage for me," I said. ''I will. I hope you will use it well, Lord Silver,'' replied the woman from the other side before cutting the call. "So, what did she say?" asked Valentina as I let go of Z''s hand. "She agreed to support the proposal," I replied, and a big smile bloomed across her face. "So, it is happening," she said. "Yes, the bridge is happening," I replied, with the smile on my face bing as big as hers. We are building a bridge on the Trollmouth River. We need to. The trade with Navr and the baronies with the extension of the merchant state is increasing each week, and transporting goods through the river traffic bes inefficient. We need a bridge, but given the size of the trollmouth. The bridge will need to be big. This means it will cost a lot of money. More money than what even the tower had cost me. I built it using special materials, but the bridge will make up for the material cost with its sheer size. There are only two ways to finance it. Pay for it ourselves, which we cannot. It is not something small. Besides, even financing a small bridge would be hard for the city in its current state. The city is growing, earning it more taxes, but also increasing its expenses. It is not just one city I am in control of, but two. Making things doubly difficult. Which led me to the second option. Private financing. I went to the banks, that''s where the money is, but even after surviving so many dangers and proving our abilities so many times. They weren''t willing to finance it. None of the banks in Greltheaven, the empire, and even merchant states. So, I went to an unlikely source. Synod: Zenid Synod, to be exact. It is filthy rich It is rich, with all of us paying our membership, in essence, every year. There are over two thousand years'' worth of essence in the treasury of the zenid synod. It is spent on the well-being of legacies. From lobbying to giving grants to those who need it, among other things, but that costs only fractions of what it collects. It never loans them to kingdoms and territories. Synod''s constitution forbids it from doing that. There are a few exceptions, but I didn''t qualify for any. They just sit on it, and since it is the essence, not the real money. There is no pressure to invest. Seeing the value of the essence increases over time. The point is, that my territory couldn''t get it ording to Synodws, but I am not just a noble, but also a Synod member with a legacy. Two weeks ago, I was reading the constitution of the synod to prepare for the conve when I found something. A loophole. However, it is not easy to get it, even with loopholes It requires 60% of the votes of the council, and nearly all of them opposed it. Some of them don''t like me, while others are simply opposed to the idea of funding the infrastructure of a domain''s noble. Some were asked to oppose it by their kingdoms. Thankfully, I only needed to convince one member to get all the votes. It is the most important member. If they agree, then everyone would agree, no matter how much they hate it. It was the archmage of the archmage tower. The biggest legacy on the continent and the most powerful one after the three Titans. I was able to convince Grand Mage Asin. She represents the archmage''s tower and is responsible for all the decisions of the council. It took some convincing, but she agreed to support me. "It would be great if you were able to convince them to fund a few more projects in the city," said Valentina, and I couldn''t help but sigh with hope. "It would be difficult. She barely agreed to fund the bridge, but you are right." "It will help us tremendously. If we can get financing for other projects," I replied. With financing done. We could move on to the next stage, and thankfully, we had already started. We have issued the tenders and got the offers from interested parties, including Valentina''spany. Financing or not, we would have started on the bridge. It had be necessary, but construction would have been very slow. Now, we only need to choose the offer and start building the bridge. The sooner it is done, the bigger the benefits the city will receive from it. "Is your decision on the entourage final?" she asked. Looking at me usingly. "Yes," I replied with a sigh. "I genuinely want toe. Archmage City is heaven for mages," she said, and it is not the first time. She had expressed this to me. "I know, but I want and need you here," I replied. There is not a single mage that hadn''t expressed the desire toe with me to the archmage city, but I need them here. Especially her. It will be a very sensitive time, and I need as many of my trusted people in the city as possible. "At least help me get those things I want," she said finally. "I will," I replied. She might not being, but her girlfriend is. I would rather that she stay in the city too, but I need to think about my protection. While the fear of Archmage Tower keeps almost everyone in line. Once in a while, some fools take risks. Thest incident happened four decades ago. They had kidnapped a host of the legacy and killed him, even after the massive ransom had been paid. The archmage tower had found every one of them, and the punishment they gave had marked memories as such that no incident had urred since them. Still, I couldn''t take risks, given my enemies. Soon, Valentina left, and I didn''t stay in the office for too long either. I got out of the city hall and sat in the carriage. Reaching my destination ten minutester. Alyn Tylcharis School. It is a new school I am opening. It is named after the mother of Safmae Tylcharis. Mistress of Lord of Owlspring. It is the first of three schools she had promised to fund in the next three years. At the gates, arge crowd had already gathered. Click! I got out, and guards made way for me. I also activated Lord Presence with a faint power of aura mixed with it for the effect. "Lord Silver," greeted Locke and Principle Salvyn. The elf is the principal of this new school, but my gaze is on the half-elf beside them. "I hope the school is built to your liking, Mr. Tylcharis?" I asked the man. The man looked to be in his mid-twenties. He is very handsome and could also be called beautiful. Sharing many simrities with his sister. "She will love it," he replied. "It''s such a regret that Miss Tylcharis couldn''t be here," I said. To that, he smiled. She couldn''te because of security reasons, but promised that she would be here at the opening of at least one school. A lot of schools are opening, and I am selling the names to those who are funding it. To have your name on the schools, there are several conditions. The first is that you will not only need to pay to build the school and everything inside, but also pay for the sries of its staff for three years. It is not a big condition for most people. They are filthy rich and want to leave their name behind on anything. Having their name also helps a lot, because every year you could ask them for the money. Even if they die, you can ask their families for the money. That is why I am selling to the named houses with long histories. It will help these schools a lot in the long term. However, not all the names of the schools are being sold. Many schools are named after people who have done great work or made sacrifices for the city. One of the schools that will open next month will be named after Mena. I cut the ribbon and toured around the school. This is a big school, with a capacity of two thousand students. It will elevate the burden on other schools. The poption of the city is rapidly increasing. Many areing here bringing their families and children. To meet that demand. We are opening new schools every month. Soon, it was time to leave, and I walked toward my carriage when Locke said something to his wife and came toward me. "I will ride with you, I have some business in city hall," he said. "Sure," I replied. That is just an excuse. He likely wants to talk about that. We stepped into the carriage, and the doors closed before we began to move toward the city hall. "Have you made any progress on the proposal?" he asked, wasting not even a second. "Locke, we don''t have money," I replied with a sigh. "Remus, you should understand. We need the Academy. Talented young people are leaving the city, going to the academies in empire and merchant state," "We need to retain that talent. We need the academy," he said forcefully, with eyes filled with passion. He is the same man who didn''t want the job but is now loving it. "I know it, but the academy costs a lot of money," I replied. An academy is different from a school, which gives them basic knowledge and guides them toward their future path. In the academy, they walk on that path. It gives them sses and guides them for greater progress. Students of the academy get better sses than those without it, and I want to build it, but there are so many things to do. There is a military college, a second park, and even a mage tower. All of them are necessary, but we didn''t have money to build them, but we need to. Since I had got the funding for the bridge, I could now build the military college. Which we will have to fund ourselves. There is also the mage tower, which my mages, including Valentina and the old man, are badgering me about, but those things cost massive money. Though we need it. Magic tower helps mages advance faster. It will be tremendously useful to the city. It will help our mages. Make new ones and attract others. It is a ma for them. "Please think about it, Remus. The academy will help the city tremendously." "The old man had even talked to me about setting up a magic department in there," he said, with his eyes shining. "Our young ones might not get ''Mage'' as the ss, but the magic department will help them gain ''Schr'' or ''Magic Learner," "Which will be able to upgrade to the mage if they work hard enough," he added. I was about to stop him from pressing me further when I remembered something and an idea came to my mind. Valorous Lord of Courage Lv. 34 Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 522: Offer and Tribal Politics Chapter 522: Offer and Tribal Politics Ashton Harbor "Did they agree?" asked the man with the staff. He was activating all his privacy and non-interference spells. "A lot of money and a binding contract of protection would make anyone agree to do even the most unthinkable things," replied the armored man. It was hard negotiations and very secret. Even A hint of this spreading will have massive consequences. On their own, they wouldn''t have dared to take risks. It only happened because of the higher-ups. By doing this, they will be bending, at best,the rules of the most powerful legacy. Everything needs to work as nned. If they make the slightest mistake, they will turn the most powerful of the seven spirits into an enemy. Which even his deathless didn''t want. They are taking such risks because the stakes are so high. Personally, he didn''t think they were high enough to take such massive risks, but he wouldn''t be the one questioning those orders that came from above. His job is to follow them. ¡­ Garzong "Can I have time to think about this, Lt. General?" I asked the man in front of me. "You have till evening. Lt. Colonel," replied the man. It was much less time than I liked, but I nodded. "Thank you, Lt. General," I replied and got up and exited his office. Soon, I walked out of headquarters and sat in the carriage. It wasn''t the official carriage. Lt. Colonels don''t get the carriages. It is from the tribe, the privilege afforded to the leader. The carriage began to move while I evaluated the offer that Lt. General Cardin had said. It was unexpected. It was never a possibility in my mind when I received the summons in the morning. I thought it would be about my battalion going to Panar or something rted to the army, but it was something else. It is an offer, and it''s huge. Something I didn''t believe they would give to a former bandit, or even an orc, no less. They did, with the half-orc, but his condition was different. He was a supporter that the groups tolerated because of his power while I was the leader. It is a great privilege to be considered for it, but I don''t know if I want it. Knowing the thing, I have to give up to take it. I sighed, massaging my head. Soon, the carriage took thest turn and entered Scales Borough. This area is predominantly upied by orcs. Over 80% of the poption in the borough are orcs. Soon. the carriage stopped, and I stepped out of it. In front of me was argepound with a three-story building. The area also includes four more single-story buildings. Orcs could be seen moving around within while others came and went. All of them belong to my tribe, and the wholepound is the tribal ground. The tribe isn''t officially recognized, but we have registered ourselves as a social and cultural organization. This status provides us with certain privileges under thews of the city. We are the second one to do that after that old bastard Trik. "Chieftain," the guards greeted with a bow before opening the door. I walked inside, and many greeted me. Arge number of them are wearing their army uniform. I have brought my entire tribe to the city. There was no choice. Even the most stubborn had agreed toe, seeing the number of monsters that increased so suddenly. Most fighting-age adults of the tribe had joined the army. It''s a great job and pays well. We have even started to let our women join the army. The first tribe to officially do that. That bastard Trik followed right after that same day and started iming his tribe was the first one to do that. There was opposition to it, and there still is, with many tribes unofficially banning their woman from doing that, but I think it was wise. It provides them employment, keeps the tribe together, and fills their coffers. Since we had registered the tribe as a social and cultural organization, we could collect fixed membership fees. The fee isn''t a lot. It is about 5% of the monthly sry. With the rest, they are free to do what they want. We feared that freedom might stray the members from the tribe. Instead, it brought us closer. Yes, the distance had formed, and the tribe wasn''t involved in nearly every decision of their lives as it used to be, but many good things have taken their ce. Like participation in the tribes'' festivals and ceremonies. It is far more enthusiastic than it used to be, and I noticed it is bonding people closer than before. The shaman had also said that. His shamanic powers had grown stronger, with him leveling up a couple of times sinceing here. I reached the building, and the guards opened the door. I walked inside and saw my younger son waiting at the door. "Shaman had asked me to lead you to him," he said. I was nning to go there for advice. I nodded and walked toward the stairs with him. "How was school?" I asked. "Good. They had taken us today to the Beck''spany''s workshop," He replied, smiling. I still don''t understand things about school, but my children love them. However, I have a problem agreeing with the direction he wants to move with his future job. Within the tribe, there were only a few jobs. The most popr was the warrior, with shamans, healers, gatherers, hunters, and a few more. Here, there seemed to be no limit to them. He wants to work in city hall. To do that, he wants to continue to study in an academy after hepletes school. The academies aren''t cheap, but I will be able to afford it if I keep saving as I am. "Chieftain," Soon, I reached the top floor, which is the most restricted area in thepound. It is where the shaman lives. The guards opened the door, and I walked inside while my son stayed back. "Shaman," I greeted the old man. He isn''t alone. There is my oldest son, my wife, and my sister, who is also a shaman and will take over shamanic duties after the old man dies. However, the way the old man is leveling up. He isn''t going to die soon. I nodded at the rest and sat beside the totem, from which fragrant smoke rising out of. "What do the Lt. General say? Are they sending you Panar or putting you in charge of the elite battalion?" asked the old man while everyone listened attentively. I shook my head at that. "They have made me an offer," I replied, while a surprise appeared in their eyes. "What offer?" asked my sister. "To be a bodyguard of Lord Silver," I replied with a sigh as they watched in shock. The old man is the first to recover, and his eyes begin to shine like torches. "That''s the best news I could wish to hear," said the old man, to my surprise, with a big smile appearing on his face. "Old man is right. This is great news, little brother." "You are an excellent warrior but not much of a war leader. You wouldn''t be able to rise much higher in the army," said Jrana. I red at her. "Jrana!" the old man admonished her before turning to me. "Her words might be bold, but your sister is right. You are not much of a war leader, Vulvru." Being a bodyguard is a far better choice; you will be near the center of power." "It will provide us with a lot of soft power. Most importantly, thwart any challengers against your authority in the tribe," said the old man. It is one thing to be called ipetent by my sister. I have been used to it since childhood, but when the old man said, I couldn''t help but get angry. I might not be a good war leader as others, but I like to believe I am above average. However, he is right about the challengers. There are a few in the tribe. Two are very close to me; they have already be captains, and the way they are progressing. It won''t take them long to be Lt. Colonel like me. "There is a condition attached to the offer," I said heavily. "What condition?" asked the old man as his joyful eyes became serious. "He wants me to give up my position as leader of the tribe," I replied. "Fuck!" cursed my son and sister together. They are learning a lot of words from humans, many of them being curse words. The silence descended. It is a big predicament. If I leave as the tribe leader, others will swoop in. My son is in the army, but he is barely at Lv. 10. He couldn''t deal with those challenges. "There might be a way to ept it with minimal risk," said my wife. Making everyone turn to her. "We can make deals with challengers," she said slowly. "What sort of deal?" asked Jrana. "We will ask them not to challenge the leadership of Radba. In exchange, we will increase their privileges and admit them into the council," We didn''t have a council in the tribe, but we needed to have it in the social and cultural organization. "They will also get the opportunity to vie for the position of leader, but only at the totem festival." "Where, if they beat Vulvru, the position of n leader will be theirs," she exined while we listened dumbfounded. "It will be unofficial, of course. Since husband won''t be leader," she added with a smile. She is the smartest person in the tribe. It is why I married her when everyone opposed it because of her social standing. "There are problems with it." "The first is that the tribe wouldn''t ept it, and the second, they might go back on their words and challenge Radba for leadership when Vulvru isn''t present," said the old man, but she shook her head. "The tribe will ept as we are not stopping the challenges to the leadership," "Though we will need to change the rules of the tribe. That challenges to the leadership will be made only at the totem festival," "As for them going back on their word. We will tell them, if they do that, Vulvru will leave his job as Lord''s bodyguard and challenge them," "They are still not powerful enough to challenge Vulvru," she replied. "They are in the army, with dangers surrounding the city. There will be battles, and they will grow powerful," said Jrana. "So will my husband. Lord Silver fights in every battle, and so do his bodyguards. They fight the most dangerous battles, making them the strongest people in the city," she replied. Making everyone look at her. The old man sighed before nodding and turned to me. "What do you think? Do you want the job?" the old man asked. To be honest, I don''t. I like the army; I like to lead people, but epting the job is wise. Ites with risks, but it will also help the tribe a lot. Most importantly. I will be protecting the man who is responsible for the future of the tribe. I know very well how an empire sees us, and with the things happening in the forest, we have nowhere to go. The city is our only safe harbor. It is paramount that he remains alive as only under his shadow will my people have safety and live in prosperity. "Yes," I replied. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! chapter 523: Last Day chapter 523: Last Day "Lord Silver, thank you for giving us a spot in your entourage," said Baron Husk. "We are neighbors, Lord Husk. We look out for each other," I replied to the man who was sitting beside my sister. The time had passed too quickly, and the day had arrived. I didn''t want to leave, but I didn''t have a choice. Going there will help me and my city a lot. I couldn''t delegate this ce task to anyone. Not all things could be attended by my representative, like meeting an archmage. Every host of new legacy gets to meet the archmage. It is a great privilege. I gave the baronies two spots. I gave one to the Mirador Hold and two to the Dustorn Fortress. I didn''t want to give them. Seeing they didn''t provide me with support, which they did to the Deerpond and other cities, but rejecting their requests isn''t an option. They are the most powerful force in the region. If they wish, they could crush the undead. I also gave three each to both imperials and two to the family. Leaving only eleven for me, which is less than I like, but that is politics, which is less than I like. Seeing the things I have to do. Some of the merchant cities wanted it, and so did Inam and Namdar, along with other princes. "You are absolutely right, Lord Silver," agreed Husk, with a big smile. I am very well aware of the number of times they discuss the possibility of attacking me. They still haven''t shelved that n. They would attack me without hesitation if the undead made me too weak. I am thinking the same. I want their territory, too, but I have no n of attacking them in the short to medium term. I am far too busy with the undead to even think about that for more than a second. Only when I get a breathing space from them and arge enough army that I will do that, but that moment is years away. At that time, there was a very strong possibility that the undead would conquer the Greltheaven. "I hope you all have made the preparations. If you need anything, don''t hesitate to ask me," I said. "We will," replied Le. They stayed for a few more minutes before leaving while I focused on the work. There are a few more things that remain before I will be done with it. Hours passed as I read through file after file and met some people before finally, I finished it all in the afternoon. "I will be leaving the city in your hands, Robin. Take care of it," I said to him. I already did the formal ceremony in the morning in the presence of the Cardin and other important people. So, now I just handed him the seal and the keys. "I will," he replied simply. I smiled and got up before walking out of the office. Leaving him responsible for everything that wille after. I sat in my carriage, and it moved toward the legacy. There are a few more things I have to do in the legacy before I can leave the city. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I got out. I walked the guarded area as there was a still line to enter the legacy, even after nearly a month. I don''t think it is going to go away. I entered the lobby, and it was crowded, as usual, before entering the elevator. It didn''t move up. Instead down. A few secondster, the elevator stopped, and I got out of it and into the huge hall, where over fifty people were working on different things. "Lord Silver," I was looking around when I heard the familiar voice and turned toward the half-elfing toward me. "Miss Halcyon," I greeted the woman. "What do you think?" she asked, looking around. "It seemed to be going well," I replied with a smile. "A little slower with these guys, but we have time," she replied, looking at people who were working on walls carefully. Not just walls, but many other things, doors, ceilings, and columns. They are all artists, each one of them over Lv. 25, with nine of them being at Lv. 30 and above. They are not cheap, but from what I could. It will be worth it. Earlier, it wasn''t nned. We had different designs that would have taken less time, but I have decided to postpone the opening. It was going to open on the 12th of next month, but now, it will open on the 4th of the month after that. The dy is because of the problem we are facing. There isn''t any space for the guests. We don''t have enough hotels. Especially the high-end ones, for the high-spenders that I want to stay in the city. So, we have dyed it for three weeks. I am taking massive risks here, since the old Halcyon could die at any moment. If he dies before the opening. We won''t be able to get as big as the bite of his core as we want. There is witchcraft involved here. We want therge bite of core, but to have that, we need to have Onyx Halcyon running in the legacy. Essence is important, but my city matters the most. The first month is important, and I don''t want to create a culture where people enjoy the legacy and leave immediately. No, I want a culture where they will enjoy the legacy and stay to enjoy the city before leaving. It is already happening. People areing during the day, enjoying through the night, and then leaving. Opening a casino now will exacerbate that problem further. In the next month, a lot of hotels will open, and even more will start building. Smart people could see the potential of the city despite the danger. Many of them are willing to invest in it, and the pace at which is increasing instead of increasing, as I thought it would happen a few weeks after the opening. I checked through every floor. I didn''t have to. I looked at it every day, with my skill, but it was different. Here, I am not just looking but also asking questions of the woman beside me. Twenty minutester, I stepped into the elevator, and it moved up, while I watched every floor. Seeing the crowded floors. A smile couldn''t help but appear on my face. A few secondster, it stopped. I got out and walked into my office, watching the party going. It is from the carriagepany. Click! The guards opened the door, and I stepped inside my office. Caena was there. "Everything is in there," she said, looking at the stacks of files on my desks." I nced at them before turning to her. "These are the things I need," she added. Handing me another file, but the one that is protected with the witchcraft. I took it and opened it before starting to read a long list of things. The witchcraft had made my legacy unique. Capable of doing things that are not heard of, but it is not without a cost, and with every advancement, the cost is getting only higher. Not higher, it had jumped exponentially because of the witchcraft she had cast on the establishment before it turned to the legacy of the Grade III. So, as it advanced, she only needed to do some adjustments to them, but now for the Grade IV. It will be a full-on upgrade, and it is costing me a massive amount of money. She has already started because we could never know when the legacy might advance. I don''t think it will advance before the decade, but I don''t want to take a chance. I needed to be ready, which created a problem. I could handle the cost despite it being enormous, but it is the secrecy that is worrying me. I need to keep the witchcraft a secret. I have created a web of vendors for it. I have Ethan and my family to get some things, but now I have added Eva, as she deals in gems. There is also the alchemy department of City Hall, which buys the things for our alchemists. The n is to hide these things in exinable stuff, but there is some stuff here that couldn''t be hidden. Like the bones of saris frogs and other things, for this, I am taking a risk. Which is a buy them openly and not even hiding it is for the witchcraft. Let them think I have a witch. Since I have shamans, having a witch wouldn''t be surprising. Many cities have them, Inam has them, and so do Owlspring and other cities. Witches are powerful and tricky, but if others have it. You need to have it, too, to protect against the curses and other spells cast by them. It will be handled by the city hall. It is a huge risk, but we need too many things, and doing it secretly will arouse suspicion. However, there will be some things that we will buy secretly. That might give others a hint about what we are buying them for. Before I knew it, it was evening when the door opened, and Bell walked in. "I really wish I coulde. It''s a beautiful ce," she said as she sat in front of me. "I had heard a lot of things about it," I said, excitement rising in her eyes. "The things you have heard pale inparison to the real things. Since you are the master of legacy, you will see more than what others see," she replied, and I smiled. A momentter, my expression turned serious. "I had told Robin to see you. If he faced a problem, he couldn''t solve on his own," I said. She didn''t say anything to that other than smiling. I sought her counsel when I came across problems that I couldn''t solve. She is intelligent and, most importantly, understands how politics works. "I have a favor to ask," she said. Hearing the heaviness, my expression turned serious. "Find a person named Artin Kalos. He used to live in the archimage city. Should still be there," "Here is all the information you will need to find him," she said, forwarding a letter. "Just find him and nothing else?" I asked her. To that, she shook her head. "Yes," she replied, and I heaved a sigh of relief. "Ok," I said. I was worried that she would ask me to send the message. That would have been extremely dangerous. The legacy is powerful, but there is a kingdom of Lomeir on the other side and I have no desire to mess in its business before I be capable enough to bear its wrath. Even finding that person would be dangerous, but I decided to take the risk after all the help she had provided. "I am grateful for you doing this despite knowing the risk," she said, with her voice filled with gratefulness. She left, and another hour passed when I finally finished with the work. ''They have gathered,'' informed Ca a few minutester. I thanked her and got up, but didn''t move and instead looked at my office. It will be the longest trip since I came to the city and I am going to miss it. I looked at it for a moment before everything turned dark, and the core appeared in front of me with colorfuls revolving around it. Every second. It is consuming a massive amount of emotion essence that would shock even the host of legacies. There are over ten thousand people in my legacy. So, the supply of endless emotions isn''t surprising. I never thought the core would get such emotions before opening. It took me days to get used to it. The core absorbed it all, with a faint amount of it going to thes. They need to get powerful, too, as the core gets powerful. The legacy this core is powering, and the essence it is producing has be a fuel for the city''s growth. As long as it remains burning, nothing and no one will stop the city''s rise. A few secondster. I disappeared, and I returned to my office. I took onest nce at it before walking out. The next time, I wille here. It will be weekster. A minuteter, I stepped into one of the super-exclusive halls of the legacy. "Lord Silver," they greeted. All the madams and assistant madams are here, along with important employees of the legacy, like Rosen and Ch. I looked at them, looking at me with all kinds of expressions, the oddest being the ones that were crying. Though, it made me gratified. "I am leaving for Archmage City, but there is not a hint of worry in my heart because I know you all will do an excellent job in my absence," "I gathered you here to tell you to do your job without worry." "I may not be here physically, but I will be here in spirit," I said to them. Making many of themugh. A few minutester, I was walking toward the elevator with Ca. "It was nice to touch with spirit," she said as we stepped into the elevator. To that, I smiled before turning to her. "I wish you coulde with me," I said. "Me too," she replied with a sigh. While I may want her toe with me, she isn''ting. She needs to stay in the city to handle things. I have given herplete authority over the legacy and rted things. I am not worried about the legacy. I am fully confident of Caena, but Ca needs to stay here. She might not have an official position in the city, but her presence alone will give Robin the legitimacy to make certain tough decisions if ites to it. Her presence alone helps the city remain peaceful because of her connection to me. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 524: Journey Chapter 524: Journey The carriage entered the port and moved toward the ship, before finally stopping. Therge crowd had already gathered there. "Don''t focus too much on work in Archmage City. Enjoy yourself a little there," said Ca. "I will," I said and got out when she did behind, I took her hand in mine and walked ahead. There was resistance for a moment before she walked with her hand in mine. I looked at the crowd and smiled before reaching the people that gathered. Everyone important is there, including Robin, Cardin, and Stone. He returned yesterday; I won''t leave the city without him watching over. The army there is now bigger than before, and there are also many powerhouses with warded walls and a lot of cannons and other things. The city is now more than capable of defending itself from threats without Stone being there personally. "Have a safe journey, my lord," wished Robin and others. "Thank you all," I replied and walked toward the yacht while waving at the crowd. The others followed behind me. There are eleven people in my entourage. Twelve counting him. Each one is carefully chosen. First is Soren Arryn, the head of the merchant guild. Second is Mage Ravill, the head of the mage guild. Shaman Trik from the orcs and Mage Aldridge. There are two people from the city hall. Their help will be needed to coordinate with other lords and important people. I had invited Eva as I needed her help to get me a few things. Margaux, who I will need to deal with people of the other legacies. Eudo because he requested, and I found his request important enough. Though it will cost me a lot. Even if he hadn''t requested it. I would have brought him with me. I had prepared a gift for him, which I will give him in Archmage City. Varza ising into an official capacity; filling in for her boss. Hardt cannote, as he is busy with the important work. Thest is Z. There are more people, but these eleven are with special entourage ess. They will attend important meetings, markets, and other things. They have ess below mine, and it is a big thing. My family is going with the entourage of Namdar. The same with the other people I gave ess to. There is another person following behind me. He is not part of the entourage, but he has ess to a greater than them. It is nearly to my level. Alex Rutto. The head of the house of Rutto. Because of his ancestor, he has that ess and will be as long as the bloodline of House Rutto lives and the archmage tower remains standing. I had brought three of my personal guards, John, Z, and Garzong; there is also Lena. Along toon led by Lt. Colonel. I will also be hiring mercenaries from the countries we passed through for smoother travel. We are taking three yachts. The middle one is mine that Counts Darrow so graciously gave to me; it had returned justst week from the merchant state. I have made modifications to it. It cost me quite a lot, but now it is truly mine. The second yacht is the one I rented for others. The third one is rented by my sister and Baron Husk. I offered to take them with my yacht, but they refused. It is fine by me. I reached the ship and walked the stair-ramp with Eva, Eudo, Margaux, and her daughter following behind. Yes, her daughter is alsoing. She will be joining the Archimage Academy. I didn''t enter inside and watched the crowd as the ships began to move from the port. I kept watching till the city itself disappeared. "It will be the longest journey, I will have," I said, looking in the direction of the city. I have traveled further on the earth, but that was in and it was safe, but here I will be traveling through six countries through water andnd. It will take around a week before I reach the archmage city. "I have many times," replied Eva. "How was it?" I asked, turning to her. "Fun, but also dangerous," she replied, turning toward the Namdar. "I hope this journey will be fun. If there is a danger, I will have to depend on you to protect me," I said to her. To that, she rolled her eyes, before smiling. "Don''t worry, I won''t let anything happen to you," she replied. I am excited about this journey despite the reservations about the dangers I might face. Aside from the merchant state, I had not traveled to another country. Even in the merchant state. I had only traveled to the two regions. The ship will first go to Owlspring, and from there, it will move through the Vale River to the Oksall. From then, it will enter the kingdom of Tezir and then Mahal, where the yatch will stop. From there, we will travel bynd. I stayed by the railing for a few minutes, before walking inside and soon, stepped into my suite. It used to be the suite of Count Darrow, but now it''s mine. It is the same size as before but looks bigger; I have asked for aplete overhaul of it. Now there is soft paint and a few tasteful paintings with a beautiful bed and sofas. The most amazing is therge hundred-inch ss windows. Even in the dark, it gives a wonderful view. It is stronger than the wall of yatch and further reinforced by powerful enchantments. I watched for a while before lying down on the bed. It is as soft as my bed in legacy. A few minutester, I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths till I was calm enough, before bringing out my aura. I spread it slowly and gently. As I did, I felt the soft sheet and the thousands of threads it made of. I understood the design and could tell the work its maker had put into crafting it. The aura is a manifestation of one''s will, and it can do anything. Creating a sensory sphere is considered a milestone. I am far frompleting it, but I am making progress. Those books are helping me a lot. Even now, I am still studying the first book, and I don''t mind it because every page is a treasure trove of knowledge. Helping me tremendously with my aura. I am not just practicing it. I am also using it in the real scenarios. I am using it daily in my spars, and I have to say, it''s an amazing weapon. Even with limited control, it had increased my strength by a lot. Just thinking about what I will do once, I get greater control over it makes me excited. Soon, my aura fully covered the suite. I could feel everything: the vases, the sofas, and the bookshelf, everything. I felt it all before focusing on the book, the smallest one. I tried to take it, but all I was able to do was move it a little. still, I kept trying. Thud! I was able to take it out, but at the moment, I did. It fell on the floor with a thud. Bell could take it safely, a book much thicker than it and several at once without much strain, but she had decades of practice. I tried again and again and again. I kept trying till I couldn''t keep the aura the aura out. It went inside me, while Iy on the bed tired. Aura is powerful but tiring. That is why I need to practice it constantly. Till it bes effortless to use; it is hard but achievable. Bell is capable of that. Knock Knock! I was lying on the bed resting when a knock rang out. "Lord Silver, dinner is ready," informed Z. I nodded and got up before activating the Get Read. I am tired and sweaty. Immediately, my clothes straightened and dried sweat and dirt rolled down, while the glow returned to my face. I looked at myself in the mirror, before walking out of my suite. When I reached the kitchen, I saw everybody already sitting there, including my sister and husk. "Lord Silver," they greeted. I nodded and sat down. "The great journey ahead of us. An exciting one, where we will see new ces, experience new cultures, and many surprises," "It makes me happy that I have you all with me to experience it," "As I once read in the book. To travel is to live, and I hope we all live a lot on this journey," I said, quoting Hans Christian Anderson, before raising my ss. The dinner began, and it was great. I had brought a chef from the legacy who had experience in cooking on ships. However, the most interesting was the conversation. The dinner finished in an hour, but people stayed for another hour before they started to leave. Till only Le remained. "How are the things with the monsters?" I asked as we stopped at the railing. I have received the reports that they sent and also got my hands on the secret intelligence they had collected through my sources. Still, I like to hear things from her. "Bad and, from the way, things are going, they might get worse," she replied with clear worry in his voice. Monsters in moderation are good. It fuels their monster material industry, but too many, and it bes bad. Monsters are like waves. Small ones are enjoyable, but huge ones could crush you and everything thates in their path. It will affect everything. Most importantly, trade between merchant states and Navr, which is their lifeline. "You all have seemed to be managing it," I said, and she smiled. I heard she alone had gone into the forest to kill the leaders. Copse, the horde before it could form, but that only dyed it. The monsters had formed the hordes and attacked them. "We might need your help if things be bad," she said turning to me. They have asked for help. To let the adventurers and mercenaries in the city ept the jobs from them, which I had restricted. It''s not like I don''t want to help them. The halt in trade will affect me too, but I can''t. The undead have me on edge, and besides most of the mercenaries in the city, they are busy working for the city. "I will see what I can do," I replied, not promising anything. She didn''t say anything to that and stayed silent for nearly a minute. "Thank you for dinner, Remus," she said and jumped into the water. Ice formed under her feet as shended and began to walk on it. Her movements are graceful, making it look beautiful. I watched her, till she reached her yacht and jumped on it, before disappearing. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 525: Elite Chapter 525: Elite Karsa "Faster! Even toddlers could run faster than you lot!" shouted drill instructor Merxin as the sun rose behind him. His shouts and insults affected us the first day, but after that, we barely listened anymore. We all focused on running, which was the easiest part of the training. There are sandbags on our backs and metal tes attached to our limbs. I am dead tired. Every part of me is screaming to stop, even if just for a minute. I didn''t, if I stopped, it would all be over. I will not be able to get back up and run. I experienced it once, and I don''t want to experience that pain again. The consequences of that are worse than what I am experiencing right now. Hun! Suddenly, the person in front of me fell, and I avoided him by inches and continued running. When I first joined the army, it was rare to see a person falling after training, but here, it ismon. I have learned to avoid them. This training is much harder than the army training. It was like a breezepared to it. This is the training of the seventeenth battalion. The elite battalion of Lt. Colonel Uram. It had been nearly twelve weeks since it began, and thousands of tried. More were trying every day, but most of them would give up after the end of the day. Four days ago, nearly everyone who attempted had given up. The recruitment is still active. Anyone from the army could try, including their recruits, as long as they fit the physical requirements. The most important is the age limit. For humans, it is twenty-seven, orcs thirty, and for half-elves, thirty-five. Elves and giant bloods, it is forty. I have seen thousands struggle before giving up in an hour. Still, many others are trying. Arriving from Greltheaven, including arge number of orcs. I was one of the few forest orcs in thepany. Most of the orcs, with me, are from the ind. It didn''t matter to them what the color of his skin was. What matters is strength and ability. There is respect for the name "Elite." I have seen how the orcs from the ind talk about the elite armies. Just the mention of an elite group lights up in their eyes. There are additional allures of higher pay, better equipment, and the chance for faster level-ups. It had been eleven days since it had started. I am part of the first batch. Every day, a new batch would join and most would give up. They then would be assimted into another batch. No matter what one''s batch is, they will need to survive this training for thirty-two weeks. Only those who stayed by the end with adequate performance would get recruited into the elite battalion, and that would be probationary. The recruitment training time is long. It''s made even longer by the training hours. They train us for sixteen hours every day. It isn''t just endurance and fighting. There are also lectures and other stuff. The thing is, this is the first course of training. There are five phases, the first course being the easiest. "The bastard craizan, he wants to kill us!" cursed the orc beside me. ''Craizan'', the insult for Lt. Colonel. He is not insulting but cursing. Bakre is the best in the batch; we both joined the army at the same time and were part of thepany. I was surprised he stayed in thepany. He is from the biggest and most powerful orc tribe and also the scion. Shaman Trik is his grandfather. He curses but moves without stopping while others fall down. Seeing him moving, I pushed myself hard. Crushing any thoughts that want me to stop. I have to seed. I have sacrificed everything. My life, family, friends, everything. I cannot let it all go in vain. So, I pushed myself as the sun went up and lit up the whole sky. Pheeeew! Finally, the whistle of salvation rang, and immediately, we all began to fall like sacks of grain with all life sucked out of us. At that same moment, I felt the lock on my skills disappearing. There are locks on our skills. In the same way, the weights everyone carries are different. How much weight one would carry depends on your ss weight and attributes. So, no one could cheat with good ss and greater attributes. I pushed through the thoughts and began taking deep breaths. I only have a few minutes to recover before I have to get up. I wish I had rest or recovery skills. It would have made things much easier. "Get up, you maggots!" shouted the drill sergeant and all of us got up immediately. We didn''t want to get whipped; it was painful, and because of the skill, the pain didn''t go away for hours. I got up and walked to the barracks, where I quickly showered and changed into a new uniform before walking into the cafeteria. It is filled with several lines to the meal counter. I stepped behind one line and within a few seconds. It was my turn. The server looked at the number below my tag, and I felt his skill. As it turned off, he quickly filled my te and gave it to me. "Thank you," I said walking toward my usual table, with three friends sitting there. "James washed out," said Kiri. The human woman of my age. She is from the Panar. Had lived through the undead upation. Some of the things she had told me made me think about what made me shudder. "It is a good thing he did; I was tired of his boasts," said Bargu. A forest orc like me. He is a pitiful guy. Most of his tribe had been killed by the monsters. "He might be boastful, but he had great sweets," said Venson, the blond human young man. "Of course you would. You were the only one he used to share with," replied Kiri. James'' family owns sweet shops in Greltheaven. I didn''t like him. He was boastful and had a habit of looking down on everyone. He was also a speciesist. "If you all had been nice to him. Then, he might have shared them with you all too," he replied. "I would rather drink ten cups of this stuff than eat the sweets from him," I said picking up the ss with purple-green liquid from my tray and drinking it all in one gulp. It is bad, but everyone needs to drink it. It is supposed to help in dealing with wear and tear of the body caused by the training. We finished dinner in fifteen minutes before walking toward the ssrooms. There are lectures, which many consider boring, but I like them. In the Grelthaven, I regretted I was not young enough to attend school. My younger brother is in school, and the things he would tell me about it would always make me jealous. Soon, I entered ssroom 12 with arge table in front of us. Today''s ss is about military history; they teach us the history of various militaries. It is my second favorite ss after strategy. We stood at attention as the stocky half-orc woman with a simple bun walked inside wearing a uniform. She is a Lt. Akis Vram. "At ease," she said before turning the board. "Today, we will learn about the inception of iron fangs," she said as she wrote the name of one of the most famous legions of the continent. She started, and I listened while taking notes. When it was over, we moved again toward the weapons training. I entered one of the training rings, and opposite me was a man nearly twice my age. He is a human in his mid-thirties with a bald head and a scar running down his neck to his chest. He is holding a practice saber while I have a practice sword in my hand. "Begin!" The order came, and I moved toward the man with the Quick Steps before swinging my sword with my newest skill. Heavy Strike! ng! The man stopped it almost casually before swinging his saber at me fast. ng! I countered with my sword, activating Parry as they shed, but it didn''t work. The man countered the skill before swinging his saber at me. Pach! I was unable to dodge it, and he hit me hard across my shoulder with the back of the de before attacking again without wasting a second. I countered immediately, but the saber had hit on the other shoulder and attacked again. ng! This time, I was able to defend, but the next one hit me again. I didn''t focus on the pain and only fought him with the ultimate goal ofnding the hit. Which is very hard. Near impossible. This is the most painful training. They made us fight, people, of Lv. 20 or closer to twenty, and those people are merciless. They did not hold back, and by the time sparring was over. I couldn''t even sit without screaming in pain. Merciless this training might be, but it is effective. The whole training, not just this oneponent. I had observed that my stamina had increased while mybat style had be more refined. My skills have be more efficient than before. It is only a start. I don''t want to get washed out. I want to stay andplete the training. I want to join the elite battalion. The weapons trainingsted for two hours before the bell rang, and I sat down, with every part of my body screaming in pain. I only got five minutes of rest before I went to take the ice bath. After that, it was another ss. Then, formation training, field training, and obstacle course. All of them make the morning drill a breezy walk. After it was over, it was dinner time, and then an hour of study before sleeping at nine. I watched the lights go off and closed my eyes to sleep. I need to sleep fast to get as much rest as possible to repeat this hellish training. Which is going to get worse as the days pass. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 526: Yolmin City Chapter 526: Yolmin City Ashton Harbor "He will cross the boundary of the merchant state in a few minutes," informed the man in armor. "Good. The sooner we have him in our hands, the better it will be," replied the man with the staff. "Are the other preparations in ce?" asked the man with the staff. "Yes. Once we got him, we will whisk him away to a ce where not even the archmage tower will be able to find him," replied the armored man. "When he reappears again. He will be a loyal soldier of Vris''alud," added the armored man with a smile on his face. The man with the staff didn''t say anything to that, but his head bobbed faintly in affirmation. ...¡­ I looked at Marim, disappearing from my eyes, and turned to the fast-appearing boundary between the merchant state of Oksall and Tezir. We didn''t stay in any city of the merchant states despite getting an invitation from all the cities we had crossed. Though, I will make a brief stop at the Yolmin. The second biggest city of Tezir for a short time. Fifteen minutester, we reached the boundary. As we did, the nine mercenaries we had hired had left the boat and jumped into the one following behind us. Another group of mercenaries will join us soon in Tezir. The merchant state was pretty safe, with high-traffic boats and heavy patrolling, but I still hired them. I had hired the mercenaries in each kingdom. All of them are experienced and highly rated. It might seem unnecessary because of the number of guards I have, but I don''t want to take any chances with my or my people''s safety. The mercenaries will not only act as security but also as guides. Till we reach Mahal, there is no need for the guides since all we need to follow is a river, but having them isforting. The border guards talked to the captain from their boats but didn''t board us. We have immunity. They cannot set foot on our boats without our permission. The yacht crossed into Tezir while I watched from the railing. It is a kingdom famous for its four spices and heavy infantry. There are only two legacies here, which are about average. Merchant states, Baxzar Dominion, Navr, and Harsoth empires, have the highest number of legacies. The other kingdoms have around two on average. I watched it for a while before returning to my suite. There, once again, I practiced the aura. It was the only thing I could do here. Since I couldn''t spar and there was not much work. I had finished it all beforeing. After the practice, I had lunch before I came back to my suite and practiced the aura again. Took a small break and practiced again and then again. I usually snuck two or three short practice sessions during the day but never got a chance to practice as I am doing right now. It is a great opportunity that I will use wisely. Soon it was evening. I watched the river through the window while I rested from the practice. Today, I went out only once when we crossed the border at Tezir. There is no need to get out; the huge window of my suite could show me all. It also has a magnifying enchantment. So I could even see things from a distance. Half an hour passed. I opened my eyes. I sat down cross-legged and brought out the aura. I didn''t spread it instead, I covered myself with the thinnestyer possible. I stabilized it before forming anotheryer, which was far more difficult as I had to keep the firstyer in check. It took me quite a while to create the secondyer, and I moved to the thirdyer. It is where the real challenge is. I had many times but never seeded. Minutes passed as I worked on the thirdyer slowly. If I moved too fast, theyer would copse, and I would have to try again. My breath is even, and progress is extremely slow. Every breath is like a step where I would make a small progress. There is always danger, the faint shaking that threatens to be an earthquake and dissolve it all. I moved it slowly, and soon, I reached my neck. It is where I fail every time. I moved the aura steadily. I was smoothening any fissureing across as I moved the aura up. The thirdyer reached my temple when arge fissure spread out. It had nearly copsed theyers, but I was able to stop it from copsing. The shaking increased as I reached higher and higher before, finally, the thirdyer waspleted. I wanted to move to the fourthyer, but it was too hard. So, instead, I focused my will on keeping the threeyers stable. Creating theyers isn''t enough. I need to learn to maintain them, which is harder than one would imagine. Especially in my current state, when I am really tired. Theyers would be useless if I let them copse after forming them. Seconds passed, and it got harder and harder, but I didn''t let go. Instead, I tried to understand them. So, I will be able to control them better. Seconds passed and turned into minutes, but I held on to theyers. My head begins to hurt badly, and I begin to sweat from every part of my body. Still, I didn''t let go; I held on to it like my life depended on it. It was when my very consciousness began to shake. The control slipped away. Theyers copsed, and the aura returned to me while I fell to the ground, feeling tired in every fiber of my consciousness. I had strained myself so much that I had nearly fallen unconscious. I only pushed myself hard every night before sleeping, but not like this. I took deep breaths to recover, even doing that felt very strained, but I pushed myself. Slowly, I begin to feel better. I could have made it all easy by drinking the potion. I didn''t want to practice that way. In the same way, I didn''t activate Energising Essence during the practice, despite the fact it could make me improve my duration. I need to push myself, not only with the practice but also with the recovery. Click! I was resting on the floor. Still taking deep breaths when the door opened. "Lord Silver, we will reach Yolmin in half an hour," informed Z, before closing the door. I have been invited by Lord Galil. He is the master of the Legacy. A Grade III like me. To be honest, I rather not stop. It''s not because I don''t want to; I am genuinely interested. It is a unique legacy, but I also want to reach Armchamage City as soon as possible. There are so many things I have to do there. However, I must stop. Politically it wouldn''t be good. If I didn''t, at least visit one of Tezir''s cities. I stayed down a few more minutes before getting up shakingly and walking to the bathroom. I could use the skill, but I didn''t want to make myself more tired than I already am. Ten minutester. I came out of the shower feeling much better. I took out a suit from the cupboard and dressed before stepping out of the suite. Soon, I reached the deck and saw most of the others were out on deck. In a few minutes, we will reach Yolmin. "You looked tired, my lord," said Eva with a hint of worry in her eyes. "I was practicing," I replied in privacy. There was confusion in her eyes before her eyes lit up in the understanding. "I am excited, mom. I heard a lot of amazing things about the whimsical wonder," said Margaux''s Daughter. "Have you seen their shows?" asked Eva to that I shook my head. The whimsical troupe does shows all over the continent and outside it. They are considered one of the best in the entire world. Old Remus had once got a chance, but that idiot was too busy training. So, my father gave the ticket to my brother. "You?" I asked. "Once, when they hade to Namdar," she replied with a smile. It will be the only third legacy, I will see, after the one inJalrux and Vanis Tavern. I haven''t got out of the city since I became the lord. The only ce I had gone to was the Panar, but that was for the attack. So, saying I am excited, would be an understatement. A few minutester, the city was in front of us. We are technically in it since the river flows through it, like many cities we have passed through. It is a huge city. The second biggest city in Tezir, with over ten million poption. Finally, the ship docked at the port, and the ramp was lowered. The guards moved forward before I took a step toward it, with my heart beating wildly. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 527: The Pawn and The Throne Chapter 527: The Pawn and The Throne "Wee to Yolmin, Lord Silver," said the half-elf, who looked to be in his mid-thirties. He is a handsome man. Tall with blue hair and green eyes. "Thank you, Manager Ulfys," I replied to the second inmand of Whimsical Wondend. "The ringmaster is waiting for you," said the half-elf. "We shouldn''t keep him waiting then," I replied, and the man smiled before leading us to the carriage. Soon, the carriage moved, and in a few minutes. It was out of the bustling port. I didn''t talk to the half-elf much. I focused on the city. Yonlin isn''t the most beautiful or prosperous, but the city is well-managed with a good economy and a big part of it goes to whimsical wonder. I wonder whether I will be able to make my city as big as this one. It is a daunting challenge, but I believe the Greltheaven has the potential to be a city of this size or even bigger. The only thing it needs to do is survive against the undead and the other enemies. It is for that very reason I am going to the archmage city. Minutes passed, and the carriage turned. A few minutester, appearing in front of therge gate with a whimsical wondend written on it. The carriage entered inside. "The wondend is the most joyful ce on the continent. Here, you will find every oddity and act. From the fortune tellers to the exotic shops," the half-elf informed. I barely nodded as all my focus was on the vast carnival around me. It has everything the carnivals are known for. Jesters, jugglers, games of luck and chance, and everything else. Its scale is huge, and the quality seems much better than any carnival I could see from Remus''s memories. I am not surprised. This is a ce that is famous across the continent. People from all over ite here. "The whole carnival is tax-free, right?" I asked. It seemed to surprise the half-elf. It isn''t the question many would ask. "Yes," he replied after the moment of silence. The carnival is massive. It''s open year-round, like amusement parks, and has a simr scale and size. Forget the legacy; even the earnings from this carnival are enough to make one massively rich. It could hold around seventy-five thousand people. There are fifty thousand people here every day. In the weakened, it bes hard to get a ticket here. Soon, the carriage stopped, and I got out. "Lord Silver, please," said the half-elf and led me toward the beautiful tent, which was a few hundred meters away from the legacy. I kept looking at it, wanting to go there, but I controlled the urge and forced my eyes on the beautiful tent as I reached it. He opened the p, and I entered inside. I have to say, I am surprised. It is the most beautiful interior of a tent I have seen. There are beautiful carpets and sofas that I want to sit on, along with tasteful art pieces. I looked at it all before turning my gaze to the middle-aged man sitting behind the table. The man is good-looking. Albeit slightly overweight, which seemed to suit him. He has dark hair and deep blue expressive eyes. "Ringmaster Galil," I greeted the man. "Lord Silver," he replied. His eyes focused on me, and there was a surprise, likely because of my age. Many people are surprised to see me. They shouldn''t be. I am a decade older than I look. "I hope the journey had been well?" he asked. Offering me the seat in front. "It was, thank you for asking," I replied and took a seat in front of him. "I wish you could stay more than a few hours, Lord Silver. There is so much I want to show you in my wondend," he said with a hint of regret. "I want to, Ringmaster, but I am on a tight schedule," I replied with a sigh. It is not an act. I want to see the ce, every part of it. It is one of the most famous ces on the continent. It was famous even before it had turned into a legacy. "Then I will give you a show. That will make you stay longer when youe to our beautiful city next time," He said, and I smiled. "I can''t wait," I replied and grinned. "Ulfys, take Lord Silver to the grand tent," he said to the half-elf. "Yes, ringmaster," replied the half-elf with the bow. Soon, I was out of the tent and moving toward another tent. It is not a normal tent, but an extravagant tent. The biggest I had ever seen and also the most beautiful one. Covered in shining lights with dense mist swirling around. "It''s a unique legacy," I praised. "It is the first tent legacy in nine hundred years and is much bigger than thest one," replied the half-elf, with pride in his voice. The tent is indeed grand. Covering fifty thousand square feet and as tall as the ten-story building. Making it one of the biggest legacies in the continent. It''s truly mesmerizing. It wasn''t so big when it had turned into a legacy. Nor does it have the expansion skill. Not directly. It is the result of that. Soon, we reached the tent before entering inside through the entrance, which had no line. As we did, I felt the power of the legacy and it''s incredible. "It feels as powerful as ours," said Varza, surprised. She has visited more legacies than me and always says, that she hasn''te across a legacy more powerful than ours. "It is slightly more powerful than ours," I replied. Surprising her and others. My legacy is the most powerful of Grade III on the continent. It might even givepetition to those arenas overseas, but this one is slightly more powerful. Though not because of its own might. It is powerful but also different. Every legacy has a different emotion te and feeling. This one''s is joy. Which isn''t surprising. A circus is joyful. People tell me that my legacy is tooplex to pinpoint its feelings, but when they focus deeply, they can find the feeling, but it is different for everyone. "My god! It''s beautiful," gasped Baron Husk as he looked at the grand tent He isn''t the only one; even I couldn''t help but be enamored by the grandness of it. Every legacy is different, and I want to visit them all, but my position is such that I couldn''t. I feel jealous of my staff as they could travel and visit the legacies they came across. "There should be around ten thousand people," I said, looking around at the seating, which was packed with people. "Yes," replied half-elf. I could feel the gazes of the thousands of people as the half-elf took us to our seats. Some seemed to recognize me as I heard words like ''whorelord, ''silver,'' and ''master of legacy.'' Soon, we reached our seats, or rather the mini-tent or suite. "These are the best seats in the house. From here, you will be able to see every act," said Ulfys as we entered inside. "Amazing," said old Ravill as he looked ahead. Seeing every part of the stage. There are magic and skills involved. Without it, it wouldn''t be possible. "Thank you, Manager Ulfys," I said, and the man smiled. I sat in my seat, and immediately, I felt like I appeared in front of the stage. As I moved my eyes, the parts I wanted to see became clear. It is better than even the arena. Others gasped as they looked around. It is amazing, this alone impressed me. I would be fine if I didn''t watch the show at all. "I wonder how many of its abilities havee from the Master Legacy and how many from the throne," said Margaux, with Privacy covering us all. "The increase in size is from the throne. So is the greater emotion scale. I don''t think the abilities we are experiencing are from the throne," "Though their power had certainly amplified by it," I replied. I am the host of Legacy, and I could feel the changes well, especially when I bought out the aura around my skin. Sensing the things more clearly. I could feel what belonged to it, what was from their throne. "Lord Silver, apologies to be blunt, but did you get any offers?" asked Baron Husk. I didn''t have to ask him to understand what ''offers'' he was talking about. Margaux and Varza immediately turned to him with a not-so-friendly expression, but I smiled. "Yes, some," I replied. There is a reason why the legacies of Grade IV to Grade VI are called the thrones they have a subject, or rather a pawn, as most people call it. Here, one legacy submits to another and bes its pawn. In exchange, they get many of the throne''s abilities, from their skills to emotion te to a higher emotion absorption rate. The throne could also increase the grade of pawn legacy forcefully if they are powerful enough. They could also live as long as the throne. As long as the throne is alive, the pawn legacy will not die, either. It is the biggest reason why the pawn legacies ept to be the pawns. It''s a nearplete submission. The master of legacy will not be the master. It will be the master of the throne who will haveplete authority over it. The only thing they couldn''t do was remove the original master. Though they could remove the legacy as the subject. That would make the pawn legacy die, but thrones rarely do that. It cost them too. It is why this decision is big for the pawn and the throne. As I had, I had got many offers to be pawns. Including from the throne, whimsical wonder is subject to. Of course, I rejected it. Even when they promised to pull my legacy to Grade IV within a year. My vision has potential; my legacy will advance to Grade IV. All I need is time, and I don''t think it would be more than a decade. I am confident about it. Experience the journey before anyone else¡ªsupport me by Subscribing to and enjoy 20exclusive early chapters along with bonus content. Chapter 528: Prophecy Chapter 528: Prophecy "It''s starting," saidMage Aldridge excitedly, seeing the mist thickening. I am surprised, sensing the excitement in the old man''s eyes. He is usually stoic. Always serious, but now there is a smile on his face and childlike joy in his voice. I am not the only one surprised. Even Mage Ravill and others seemed surprised, too. It seemed like the old man had a soft side, too. Dum Dum Dum! For a few seconds, there was a silence when the loud drums began to ring out. They are loud but rhythmic and begin to affect my heartbeat. The drummers are, without a doubt, high-level, and with the power of legacy, their skills are even more powerful. As the drums rang out, the mist began to disappear section by section. One moment, it was there, the next moment. It was not. Finally, thest drumbeat removed the mist in the center. Revealing the ringmaster in his beautiful regalia. He is wearing bright red shoes, ck pants, and a red ruffled shirt with a ck tie. Holding a ck staff with a round red gem on top of it. However, what attracted the eyes of all was the colorful tailcoat and the top hat. They are made of the mist. "Is he flying?" asked Varza, surprised. He is standing in the center of the tent. In the air. "It''s too stable," replied the Mage Aldridge, shaking his head. "It is the string. The ringmaster is standing on the string," replied Ulfys with a smile. It surprised many, including me, and I focused. Soon, the strings be visible. It shocked me because these strings are very thin. Thin as the strings, my clothes are made of. The man is standing over them without any problem, like he is standing on the ground. With my skills, Gymnasts Grace and Gymnasts Control. I could walk on the rope easily, but I wouldn''t be able to do what the man is doing. Especially so high, where a fall could result in the death. He stayed there for a moment before a spotlight fell on him, and he made a round bow with a flourish. His movements were smooth, and there was not the slightest hint of imbnce. He looked at all the people watching, with his eyes staying in our tent a moment longer. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, wee to the most extraordinary spectacle on the continent! The greatest show under the big top!" He spoke with ir, with every word from his mouth, taking the expectation higher and higher. "Prepare to be amazed as we journey into a world of wonder, a realm where dreams take flight. Tonight, you will witness the extraordinary, the unbelievable, and the utterly fantastic." "From the highest heights to the lowest depths, our performers will defy gravity and bend reality. You will see feats of strength, agility, and grace that will leave you breathless. "So, let the magic begin! Let the curtain rise on a night of pure excitement! "Get ready to be amazed, astounded, and absolutely captivated!" he finished and jumped. BANG! A loud explosion rang out as he exploded into the bomb of thick mist, which once again covered the dense mist. I am watching with excitement. He has taken my expectations to apletely new height, and I hope he won''t disappoint me. The mist didn''t remain long, soon, it thinned. Revealing the twelve clowns. I don''t like clowns, but I watched with excitement as they began the act. For a minute, my expression barely changed before I let out a loudugh. From then on, my expressions never remained the same; Iughed,ughed, andughed till the act was over. The ringmaster returned and introduced the second act. The acrobats. "My god, I have never seen acrobats move like this," gasped Rutto. There is magic here, and these people have skills, but they also have skills, they have gotten through the hard work. Seeing them, I couldn''t help but feel inspired and a little ashamed. I have such amazing skills, but I am not using them to their full potential. If I had half the grace and control they have, my prowess would have been more than it is. I had already decided that I would work on that after I returned home. The third act was that of the animals or, rather, the monsters. It brought out the most gasps of shock. "It would be amazing. If Fang learns to do that," said Margaux, watching a group of fang-sized monsters dancing beautifully on near-invisible strings. There are all types of monsters, including nine carriage-sized red-scaled winged lizards creating rings of fire, covering the enormous stage. So powerful that we could feel the heat in the tent. In that fire, those twenty-four fang-sized monsters jumped, and lightning appeared on furs. Secondster, the massive rings of fire turned into the rings of lightning. The monsters were jrass. They could absorb the fire and create lightning. It would be hard to train Fang to perform such things. It would require a specialized trainer and years of effort. His current trainer didn''t have that ability. Speaking of trainers, my Trainer ss hadn''t leveled up in quite a while. I wanted to take it to at least Lv. 10, but I am so busy with work and other things. That I wasn''t able to do something about it. I really like training Fang and had dreams of fighting the battle with him as a partner, but I have to be pragmatic. I now have responsibilities for hundreds of thousands of people and don''t have time for hobbies. That is why I have handed him to Gloria. He liked her, and she was taking good care of him. Still, I will try to do something about the ss. Take it Lv. 10 and get an attribute point before it gets absorbed into the Lord ss. The monster act ended, and the ringmaster appeared again. "And so, the curtain falls on this extraordinary whimsical spectacle. We bid you adieu. Remember, the magic doesn''t end here. It lives on in your hearts." "Until we meet again, keep dreaming, keep believing, and most importantly, keep the wonder alive." "Good night, and thank you for joining us!" said the ringmaster before dissolving into the mist. Everyone got up, including us, and let out a big apuse. "I don''t think I will ever be able to forget it," said Varza with her voice filled with awe. "It is unforgettable," added Baron Husk with simr awe. This is legacy. It is not amon legacy either. If it had been amon one, the throne wouldn''t have chosen it to be its pawn. These decisions are extremely important and taken with great care. "The ringmaster had prepared a banquet for you and your entourage, Lord Silver. He would be honored, if you joined him," said Ulfys, formally inviting me. "It would be my honor," I replied. He smiled, and we walked out of the tent. It waste, but outside, the carnival was bustling as ever. The city might sleep, but this ce would not. At least for a few hours. Not far away from me, there is a big party going on with loud music and hundreds of people dancing. Thousands, as many who watched the show, had begun joining them. Soon, we reached the green tent. It is at least four times bigger than the one where I met the ringmaster. It had wooden doors instead of ps. The guards opened the doors, and I walked inside with my entourage. "Lord Remus Silver. Master of Velvet Garden and Lord Grelteaven and Panar," the herald announced before announcing Baron Husk and my sister. "Lord Silver, thank you for epting my invitation," said the ringmaster. He is wearing a suit, changed from his dazzling regalia earlier. It hadn''t been much long since the show ended, but he changed his clothes and appeared here. "It is an honor, Ringmaster," I replied to the man. The banquet didn''t start immediately.Instead, we mingled with people. They are merchants, the ruling elites, and the members of the legacy. Nearly an hourter, the banquet began, and the dinner was amazing with local specialties. I love to eat new food. It is one of the reasons I wanted to stop at every new ce, but unfortunately, I didn''t have time. Still, I enjoyed the dinner while talking andughing with my host. "I wish you could stay the night, Lord Silver," said the Ringmaster as the banquet was finally over. "Me too, Ringmaster," I replied with the regret. "Since you are leaving. I hope you will follow the tradition of this ce," he said. "Tradition?" I asked. I didn''t read about it in therge stack of information. I had got from the grey guild. "It is nothing much. Just a small patronage to any business in the carnival," he replied. "It is something that helped me when I had started over. I want to pass that on to others," he added with a genuine smile. "What do you have in mind?" I asked him as we got out of the tent. "It''s your choice, Lord Silver," he replied, to which I arched the brow in question. "You could ride on one of the rides or y a game to win the prize. Anything," he added. I looked around, and soon, I saw something and walked toward it with the Ringmaster and others. "Fortune tellers. It''s been years since the guests have chosen them," said the man, surprised. There is no reason for me to choose it other than that fortune-telling would be quicker than the rest. It will be finished in a minute. There are tens of fortune tellers. Some have big borate shops, while others are sitting behind a simple table, but all of them are looking at me with hope in their eyes. I looked at them, before my gaze stopped on the teen girl with curly green hair. She looked to be around fifteen-sixteen. She is sitting behind a simple table. Which only had one simple crystal ball and nothing else. I walked toward her. Seeing that, her eyes be excited but also nervous. I stopped beside her table. "Mind telling me my fortune?" I asked the young girl. "Sure," she said with nervousness, looking at Ringmaster and the other people around me. I kept looking at her and even arched a brow when she didn''t speak. "Please ce your hands on the crystal ball," she instructed hastily. I smiled and did what she had asked me to do. She ced her hands on top of mine hesitantly before closing my eyes. She was nervous. Her hands were shaking. It seemed like she had started doing it not long ago. Usually, those with Chatan sses have a little more confidence. Maybe it is because of me, the ringmaster, and other important people staring down at her. It didn''t much matter to me. I just wish that it would be over soon and I would return to the ship. I was thinking that when I felt her hands go warm. She opened her eyes, and they were white. They stared at me dead in the eyes before her lips parted. "Under the sun''s unyielding gaze, In green depths thick with woven haze. A brazen foe will make its stand, And fate shall turn in jungle''s hand." She said in a deep, hallowed voice that shouldn''te from a person so young. It sent a chill through me. I looked at the teen girl and saw her eyes turning to normal before she removed her hands while everyone watched in surprise and shock. "Wow," I said, and othersughed. The girl is good. Her performance was amazing. As for her prophesy, nobody believed it, including me. It''s not like they are not real diviners in the world. There are, but it is hard to divine my future.It is a known truth; the masters of legacies are harder to divine. I also have a Lord ss, which also produces a lot of resistance. On top of that, Caena had woven a witchcraft spell around me. Making such things even harder. Still, I would have taken things a little seriously if she had been a woman of sixty instead of sixteen. The girl barely got ss. She isn''t powerful enough to divine my future, even if she had been a Diviner instead of a Chatan. "Thank you, Miss," I thanked. I took out the money pouch and ced it on her table. I was only going to pay her a fraction of the money in the pouch, but she had impressed me a lot. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month of Advanced Chapters. Chapter 529: Land Journey Chapter 529: Land Journey "So obsessed," I said with a smile as I pulled my aura back inside my body. I had just finished the practice of aura and learned the lesson that the Sage of Thousand des mentioned over and over. The prophecy I heardst night affected me despite knowing it was an act. The teen girl couldn''t predict my fate. She is not powerful enough for that. What she is, though, is a very good actor. Good enough that she had put a fear in my heart. Not just me but also my people. It is why the security around me has be much tighter. It is for this reason. I hadn''t pushed myself intensely today, as I had been doing on the ship and in the city. I don''t want to get too tired. I want to be ready for any danger. To be honest, I shouldn''t have trained so intensely. This isn''t a vacation. Prophesy or no prophesy, I need to be ready to deal with any danger. I pushed those thoughts and smiled. I had learned the important lesson the sage of the thousand des was trying to teach in his books. The bnce. Since the morning, I have practiced moderately, never letting myself get too tired. To my surprise, I have found that I am improving, just as I improve when I push myself to the level of getting unconscious. Both of those things work and help with different aspects of the aura. I shouldn''t just use one way.It would be more harmful than helpful. I rested for a couple of minutes before walking out of the sun and stepping onto the deck. It is afternoon, and the ship is sailing through the river in the dense forest of Mahal. It is amon scenery. Unlike the Renwell, there is a greenery in other kingdoms. A lot. It made me a little jealous. "The leisure travel will end soon," said Eva as she stopped beside me. I didn''t say anything other than nod. One and a half hourster, the yachts will reach the town called Oble. It is where we will disembark. End our journey by river and travel bynd. "It won''t be that bad. The carriages are good," I replied. I rented the best carriages that would make the journey as rxing as possible. "It won''t be bad, but the carriages couldn''t bepared to yachts," she said, turning to me. "Very true!" I replied with a smile. There is nothing that gives as muchfort as the ship. It is big and spacious and also safer with the security we have brought. Unfortunately, we will have to leave itsfort soon. A few minutester, I returned to my suite and practiced before resting. I came out only when Z informed me that there were ten minutes to reach Oble. When I came out, nearly everyone was out. They all are looking at the town the ship is approaching. We could have stopped earlier in the city, but I found no reason to do that. It would have made the journey a few hours longer. I don''t want to waste even a single hour. The sooner I reach Archmage City, the better it will be. Minutes passed, and the town was in front of us. The ships were moving toward the small marina, where I could see a group of people. Soon, the yacht docked at the marina, and the ramp lowered. I walked out of it with my people. "Wee to Oble, Lord Silver," said the white-haired man in his sixties. "Thank you, Mayor Lents," I replied politely. I don''t like pleasantries, but I did it with a smile on my face. It is a part of politics. Also, it is an important tool where you make an impression on the party. If done well, it helps tremendously in the long run. "I will be leaving our boats in your care, Mayor Lents," I said to the man while seeing Jill handing a check to his assistant. It is a little contribution to the town to grease the wheels. Make the mayor take care of our boats proactively. They are expensive. Even small damage will cost me a lot. While Captain Perry and others are staying in the yachts, along with mercenaries, we hired to protect them. A mayor''s hand will help a lot. "Not a scratch will appear on them, Lord Silver," the mayor replied. I smiled before walking toward the carriages, waiting for us not far away. While we were talking pleasantries. My people checked every nook and cranny of carriages before giving the go-ahead. The guard opened the door, and I stepped inside, along with Jill, Eva, and Z. T here is also Jon, but he is invisible. The carriage is so enchanted that even if it moved through, the road filled with potholes. I will barely feel anything. The seats are also big andfortable. They recline enough that one can sleepfortably. There was an option to get long carriages where I could recline the seats as a bed, but I decided not to take them as they were slower than these. The carriage begins to move with the tight security of the guards. They have taken the prophecy seriously and be stricter with security. That they were not even letting the mercenaries we had hirede closer. "We should be able to reach Karzim by nine," said Eva. "Let''s hope so," I replied. Karzim is the biggest easternmost city of Mahal. Also, the fourth biggest. I am going to spend the night there and also attend the party in the merchant guild. I hope to reach there as soon as possible. So I could get adequate rest for tomorrows travel, which is going to be long. We will leave Karzim at dawn to cross into Baxzar by thete morning. The journey had been smooth and fast. The most expensive changes in yatch had been enchantments. Due to them, the speed of the yacht increased by 35%, which is huge. We didn''t hold back on the speed and sailed fast. It burned a lot of energy crystals and erosion in enchantment, but it was worth it, given the speed we traveled. Hun! Soon, I got lost in my thoughts when I sensed something familiar and turned. "You can liquify gems, too?" I asked in surprise. A ruby-red liquid is covering her hand, flowing around it beautifully. To my knowledge, I thought, she could only liquify metals. She used that ability to fight the undead on the ind. She was a terror with it. "My skill advanced after reaching Lv. 30,"she replied with a smile. I watched her as the ruby liquid moved her hand. It is not just ruby in there; I could also feel the power of legacy. She had infused the mist in there. I watched for a while before bringing out a faint stream of aura in my hand. It immediately distracted her, making ruby liquid nearly fall down before she solidified it. I felt the aura and tried to make a string of it. Not a fine string, I am still far away from such control. A thick string. It''s hard and takes a lot of concentration, but I have been training. I create a sting little by little and wrap it around my hand. It looked simple but extremely hard. I am fully focused on it, with a sweat dropping from my brows. It''s hard, but I have to do it. I needed to have at least an intermediate level of aura control before I could start learning the aura methods that Bell had promised. I pushed that thought as it came to my mind. I am far away from reaching that level. If I am being generous, then I would say my mastery is at a basic level. To reach an intermediate, people take years and more. I didn''t let myself think too much about it and focused on training. If I did it every day, I would reach that stage eventually. Until then, I will do other amazing things with the aura. Soon, the string reached my elbow, and I stopped before taking a deep breath. "How does it feel?" asked Eva, and I looked at her question. "The aura," she rified. I didn''t answer immediately. It is not the first time I have been asked the question, and I gave the simple, conventional answer, but Eva is a friend. So, I thought about it for a while before opening my mouth. "To me, it is like sand that is always slipping away," I replied. "Ca told me the opposite. She said it was like a vast sea," said Eva, and I smiled. She told me the same. Aura is different for everyone. To me, it is sand. To Ca, it is an endless sea, while to Bell, it is a gentle wind. Our perception of it told a lot about us. It represents my need to control everything around me. Thus, the sand. The more I try to control it, the more it slips away from my hand. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s worth of Advanced Chapters. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 530: Recruitment I Chapter 530: Recruitment I Nas Caskheart "Get inside fast, girls," said Bumi to the women streaming out of the ship into the carriages. There are eighty-two of them. All of them were selected in the first round. The final selection would be held at the velvet garden, or rather, the college. It is the first time they are doing this two-tier interview. Not that I mind. I have already been contacted by over ten brothels. Saying they would buy the contract of any girl that Velvet Garden would reject and are willing to provide triple the price. Velvet Garden is buying their contract at the market price. We will give them free, but they rejected the offer. Them being our clients, had helped our business tremendously. Since the velvet garden has be a legacy, our sales have skyrocketed. They increase with every advancement the legacy made. So, I want to foster the rtionship. It''s such a regret that Velvet Garden has rejected all our proposals. They have even paid for the travel expenses. There is also that strict contract. We had signed that with since Velvet Garden became a legacy, with thetest one being the strictest. One of the strictest provisions is that we can''t advertise them being our client openly. The girls sat in the carriages one by one till all the carriages were filled. "All counted and verified," informed Bumi with the board in his hand. I could see the check mark on every name on his board. "Good, let''s go then," I replied and sat in the carriage with Bumi. It is my first timeing to the Greltheaven. Also, to the empire. The empire before wasn''t so weing to the dwarves or any race other than humans. I heard a lot about the city and how silver is transforming it. Its growth is visible, with a lot of business from merchant states investing in it. The presence of a powerful legacy had made it all enticing, despite the dangers of the undead. Arge number of peoplee from merchant states every day to experience the legacy. It is only here that one can step into the legacy without paying a single penny. Something unheard of on the continent. Formon people, legacy is something out of reach, but there is an open entrance to the velvet garden and people are flocking to it. My friends and clients had told me how hard it was to get a hotel room because of this craziness. Though they said, the condition is improving slowly. I am not going to be staying here. I will leave with the girls that aren''t selected. "How many do you think they will select?" asked Bumi. "I hope, all of them," I replied to which, he grinned. Minutes passed in silence before the carriage took the turn. "The legacy," he said with a sigh as the tower came into view. We could see the legacy from our ship, but now it is clear that our carriage is moving on the road by the canal. I hope I will get to visit it. An hour would be more than enough. A minuteter, the carriage took a turn. Not toward the tower but to the group of buildings on the other side. The carriage crossed the bridge and entered the park. It''s beautiful, and unlike the side around the legacy, which seemed to be filled with people, the side of the coge was nearly empty. It is a restricted area from what I heard. Looking at the guard, they are keen to keep it that way. Soon, the carriage stopped by the gate. It is an innerpound, which is filled with beautiful gardens and buildings. I got out of the carriage and saw a beautiful woman in her early twenties, wearing a beautiful blue dress, standing by the gate with three guards behind her. She isn''t the assistant madam but might be one, seeing they have sent her here as supervisor. She is also one of mine. It took me time to recognize her, seeing how much she had changed. It had been less than two years since I had sold her contract to Silver, and she seemed to have turned into apletely different person. She used to be thin, with mousy hair and pale skin, but now the girl seemed to have gained weight. Her hair became radiant, and her skin felt as vibrant as the wives of rich merchants. "Miss Beka," I greeted. I feel a little displeased that women didn''t greet me first. "Miss Caskheart," she replied with a smile professional smile on her face. "Have you brought all the girls?" she asked a momentter. "Yes," I replied, pointing toward the carriages. "Rald, take Miss Caskheart to the chief," she said, and the guard stepped forward. "Take care of things here," I said to Bumi before following the guard inside. The guard didn''t move too fast. Giving me the opportunity to look around. Especially the tower; it is massive for the legacy. One could easily fit several average-size legacies in that size. Many people talk about the emotion essence he is able to harvest through it. Some people say it may not be higher than any average legacy. Having a bigger size alone isn''t enough; the core needs to have the capacity to absorb arge amount of emotions, too. Nobody knows how much emotion it can absorb. Silver signs the contract with everyone, he sells the essence. We have been contacted by people to ask our girls to spy for them in Legacy. The store refused straightforwardly despite being asked by the powerful people. We might have been cowered and enticed if it had been anyone else or even another legacy, but not this one. Higher-ups think Silver''s legacy has a huge potential. It could level up to Grade IV, which will help us a lot. If he went the same way as that woman in Belnin did, then it would be tremendous. Silver has ambition. He had opened a branch in Owlspring before closing it after his brothel turned into the legacy. Currently, he is upied with legacy, but eventually, he will branch out. The higher-ups are sure of it. We aren''t the only store he is buying contracts from. There are others as well. They are also nning to get the girls from their cities as well. A madam had mentioned that to me, but the n is still in the nascent stage. Even if they do it, they won''t use it to fill more than a fifth of their needs. Though, I would prefer it if they don''t. The more dependent they are on us. The better it will be for our business. Soon, we reached the three-story building, and the guard opened the door. I thought we would be going to be in the big building, but I was wrong. ''There are a lot of guards here,'' I thought. I saw them at every turn as I had. Soon, we reached the top floor, where a woman in herte teens was sitting behind the table by the door. "You can go in, Miss Caskheart," she said before I could say anything. As she said it, the guard opened the door, and I walked inside. At first, my gaze fell on the long table, with three chairs behind and one ahead. It is clearly for the interview. I turned my gaze away from the table to the three people sitting on the sofas. Two are women in their thirties, while the third one is an old woman who looks to be in her seventies. I had never seen her, but I had heard about her. She is one of two vice-headmistresses. The one who wasn''t a whore, but joined as a teacher. "Miss Ca, Madam Caena. Vice-headmistress," I greeted. "Miss Caskheart," replied Ca. Smiling as beautifully as ever, but now this smile didn''t feel harmless. There is a weight that was not before, and I don''t think it is because of the level. Maybe those rumors about her awakening an aura are true. It is hard to believe a whore of having an aura, but it has happened before. The one in Belnin awakened it. "Thank you, Miss Ca," I replied. "How was the journey?" she asked. "It was well," I replied, to that she smiled. "Are the girls rested enough for the interview?" she asked. "Yes," I replied. They have explicitly requested the girls to be well rested and even paid for better transport. "It''s good to hear," she replied. "Have you brought out what we had asked for?" asked Madam Caena. "I did," I replied with a smile before taking out stacks of documents. It is the background details of the girls. It is a little deeper than what we had initially provided them. Our customers usually don''t demand such things, but these people want them. It is a good thing. We keep detailed records. Better than ourpetition. They asked a few more questions before getting up and walking toward the table "Send the girls, Miss Caskheart," said Ca. I nodded and got up before walking out. Hoping they would select all the girls, it would help us a lot. We might not be allowed to advertise their name, but people are looking. Some had even followed us to the Greltheaven. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s worth of Advanced Chapters. Chapter 531: Recruitment II Chapter 531: Recruitment II Adul Karos "Come out," said the young dwarf as the guard opened the carriage door. The girls began to step out, and soon, it was my turn. I stepped out immediately, and my eyes fell on the most beautiful ce I had seen. I had heard so much about it. There is not a single whore in Owlspring that doesn''t know about the velvet garden. Every whore knows someone who is in the velvet garden. Six women I had worked with are in a velvet garden. They are who I am aware of; there might be more. I didn''t know any of them personally. Many nights, I wished I knew them. Some of the girls working in the velvet garden have brought their friends'' contracts and got them jobs in the city. "That''s Beka!" I was looking around when Tamsin nearly shouted in recognition. I looked at her before following her gaze to the woman she was looking at. A beautiful woman in a blue dress with the guards behind them. "Do you know her?" I asked. "Yes, we worked in the same brothel five years ago," she replied with a clear look of envy. "She changed so much that I almost didn''t recognize her," she added softly. I looked at the beautiful woman and not in any way; I could think that she was a whore. She looked like she was some rich merchant''s daughter. It is not just how she is looking and dressed but the very way she is standing and talking. There is a cultured grace that even the whores with Grace Skills didn''t have. Some other people seemed to recognize her, and a few even called her out loudly. She looked at them but didn''t respond. "Line up," ordered Bumi. A minuteter, we are standing in neat lines. "Follow me," said Beka and walked toward the gate. We followed behind, and soon, we stepped inside it. I looked around and saw the girls. They are the girls of the velvet garden. Looking at us from a distance, some girls recognized them and called them out, All of them looked beautiful, with radiant skin and shining hair. Their eyes didn''t hold the bleakness that is somon with us whores. Instead, there is a light. Like Beka, they looked but didn''t respond. Some opened their mouths but closed them a momentter. "Arrogant bitches. Thinking they are better than us just because they work for the legacy. They are still whores, like us," said Temsin angrily. I don''t think they are not talking to us because they are arrogant. Some seemed like they genuinely wanted to talk. Seeing how they had opened their mouths before closing them. But I might be wrong. Condition changes people. They are working for the legacy, earning the amount of money that we couldn''t even dream of; it is more than enough to change people. Soon, we reached the three-story building on the left side, and Beka opened the door. She stepped inside, and we followed. Soon, we appeared in the hall with cushioned chairs. There are also beautiful paintings in here and a bookshelf. "All of you sit," she ordered. "When will the interviews begin?" asked someone from the front as we all sat in the chairs. "At eight," she replied, and my heart started to beat in nervousness as there were only fifteen minutes to it. I need to get into the velvet garden, not for me, but for my child. It is hard. Seeing they have interviewed over a thousand before, selecting eighty-two of us. I am not as beautiful as the other others. Nor could Iugh like them; I didn''t even have a seduction skill, which is mostmon among whores after Lv. 10. The only reason I am still in a brothel is because some people prefer my body type. "A breakfast arrangement had been made in the other hall. There are also washrooms where you can all freshen up," "Read books from the shelves to pass the time. The interviews will probablyst till night," she informed. "Just don''t miss your interview. You won''t get another chance if you miss your name when it is called out," she warned and looked at Bumi. He moved and pinned the pages to the board. "This will be the order of interview," he informed before sitting on the chair beside Beka. I looked at it, but it was too far away. "Where is my name?" I asked Tamsin. She had an Eye Skill from her secondary ss. "Number twenty-eight. Mine is twenty-four," she replied, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I don''t want to be first. Last time, I was, and I was so nervous every moment of the interview, that I barely remember the questions they asked. However, I know what they asked as they asked everyone nearly the same questions. "Should we go to eat breakfast?" she asked. Several girls are getting up and walking out of the hall. "We should wait until a few girls finish with the interview," I replied. I am not feeling hungry. There is normally no breakfast in a brothel. We eat lunch primarily. "I hope it''s something good. It should be delicious; its legacy," said Tamsin, licking her lips. I didn''t say anything. It was five minutes to eight when the dwarf woman returned. She looked at us before sitting down and talking to the two. While I got up and walked toward the shelf before picking up the book. I love to read. Thest book I read was a year and a half ago. A patron forgot it and didn''te back for it. Not that he would have gotten it back. Once you forgot something in the brothel. You can forget about getting it back. Finally, it was eight when all three turned toward us. "Matty Smith," called Beka. Immediately, a woman in her early twenties got up nervously. "Gans will lead you to the interview," she instructed, pointing toward the guard. Exiting the hall a few secondster with her. I could feel the girls turning serious. All the smiles and curiosity vanished. Though mood had onlysted for a minute before the girls began to talk again. I listen to conversations around me while looking at the clock. I wanted to see how much time each girl takes. Before the interviews took around fifteen minutes on average. However, some took less than five minutes and more than twenty minutes. Minested just five minutes. I didn''t think I would be selected, but I did. The girl returned sixteen minutester, and immediately another one called out. "Zirva, question did they ask?" asked the girl behind me as the second girl returned. "Can''t say. They made me sign a contract," replied the girl. "Fuck, I was really hoping to get some information," cursed Tamsin while I sighed. The information would have really helped. "Let''s go," I said, putting a book back on the chair. Tamsin and I walked out of the hall and followed the directions. "Let''s freshen up the first," she said. I nodded and walked toward the washroom. We opened the door and entered the most beautiful washroom I had ever seen. There is a huge mirror, crystalline flowers emitting light, and pretty bottles. I think the contents are the reason why so many girls smelled amazing. It''s also spotless, without a speck of dust. A teen girl is standing there wearing what seems like a uniform that fits her perfectly. She is the attendant that the other girls were talking about. Every washroom has one. Though she looked far too beautiful to work as the attendant. I looked at her before walking toward one of the stalls. When I came out, I walked toward the sink. "There is no handle to these taps?" asked Tamsin. I looked, and there was nohandle to the tap. "Put your hand below the tap, and the water wille out on its own," replied the teen with a smile. We did, and the water came out. "Enchantment," I said. It could only be possible through enchantments, which made me sigh in wonder, given the money it has to spend on enchanted taps. I looked in the mirror and shook my head. Compared to Tamsin, I am average. My shoulders are too wide, and I have a stocky build because of the dwarfish ancestry. It is only one-eighth, but I still inherited the features. However, the dwarf blood isn''t obvious due to my tall stature. "Your ss has the same feel as us. Why are you working here?" asked Tamsin, confused. To that girl smiled. "I am not eighteen yet. So, I can''t work in the legacy," she replied to our surprise. "Besides, I don''t want to work in the business. I am learning magic. I want to be a mage," she added with her eyes turning dreamy. I had heard about them teaching magic but never heard about anyone being able to cast a spell. I heard it is very hard. "I hope you will seed," I wished, and the young girl smiled. "Any tips for the interview?" asked Tamsin as we were about to leave. "Be truthful. If you lie, they will know it," she replied. We thanked her before walking out and, a minuteter, entered the cafeteria. Seeing the food, my eyes couldn''t help but widen. There is a buffet of food staged beautifully. Everything I can think of is here. Fruits, bread, eggs, desserts, juices, and things I couldn''t even recognize. Additionally, two chefs are making fresh omelets, creps, and other things. "I don''t think I have been as hungry as I am right now," she said, looking at the food. A few minutester, we sat with our tes filled with every kind of food. "I wish Avi had been here," I said. My son, he is in Owlspring. "Don''t worry. If we get selected, this kind of food won''t be just a one-off thing," she replied. To that, I smiled. I don''t want much. Just not the life I and my child are currently living. We finished breakfast. It was the best thing I had ever eaten. I wanted to eat more, but I controlled myself. Overeating wouldn''t help with the interview. Soon, I returned to the hall and sat down in my chair with Tamsin. Hours passed as one girl went after another called out for the interview. I had passed the time talking to Tamsin and reading the book in my hand. Which is much better than thest one I had read. "Tamsin Veylis," Tamsin''s name called out. "Wish me luck," she said as she got up. "Good luck," I wished. I don''t think Tamsin needs luck. She is a beautiful woman with her secondary ss above Lv. 10. As long as she controlled her mouth. There is a great chance she will get selected. Soon, she disappeared with the guard. Minutes passed, and I waited for her. Soon, fifteen minutes passed, and there was no sign of her. I didn''t get worried. The interviews of some girlssted for half an hour. So, there is nothing to be worried about. It was nearly twenty-five minutester she came back. "I think I blew it," she said dejectedly as she sat beside me. It affected her a lot, her whole body was shaking. She might act tough, but she is sensitive and soft. The whole persona of toughness is to protect that side. I didn''t say anything; I just took her hand in mine. "I shouldn''t have responded so angrily to that old woman''s questions," she added after seconds of silence with tears welling in her eyes, which she tried to hide. Once again, I didn''t say anything other than press her hand against mine tightly. "Adul Karos," Time passed, and more girls went for the interview when my name was finally called out. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s worth of Advanced Chapters. Chapter 532: Recruitment III Chapter 532: Recruitment III Adul Karos "Best of luck," wished Tamsin. "Thank you. I will need it," I replied and got up. I followed the guard out of the hall like the girls before me and began walking up the stairs. Finally, the guard stopped at the top floor, where two more guards were by the door. There was also a beautiful woman sitting behind the table. "You can go inside, Miss Karos," she said with a smile. I am not surprised that she called my name; I am sure she has the name list, but I am surprised that she called me ''miss.'' It had been years since someone had called me that. Knowing I am whore. "Thank you," I said a momentter and walked inside. My eyes immediately fell on three women sitting behind the table as I entered. The one in the middle with curly red hair is the prettiest. I also know her as the most important one. Ca Salt heads all of Silver''s businesses, including the legacy. She is also said to be his mistress. The one on the right is slightly younger. Her looks are above average, which surprised me. I shouldn''t be. It is not the face of the madam that is important, but their ability to manage, and this woman manages the colossal legacy. She must have some real ability. The third is an older woman who looked to be in her seventies. She isn''t a whore, but she is the one I have to be more careful of. Tamsin wasn''t the only one. This older woman had brought many girls to tears. "Miss Karos, take a seat," said Ca. "Thank you," I replied and sat down. I felt three sets of eyes on me and started feeling anxious as if a mountain was weighing on me. I tried to control it. I need to be in control to ace this. Getting into the velvet garden is extremely important to me. It will help me give my child the future he deserves. "Miss Karos, tell me about yourself?" asked Ca. It was surprising to me. I had not heard this question, nor had anyone ever asked me. I was about to open my mouth and state my name and other details but stopped myself. They have this information, so they aren''t asking for it. "I am a woman in her mid-twenties with a child. Whom I am motivated to give a more stable life." "I am not pretty, nor do I have any seductive skills that aremon at my level, but I am good at talking and could hold the patron once he came to me and have been an above-average earner in brothels; I had worked with," I replied. It is not precisely the answer they might seek, but I could only think of this. I looked at them, but there was no change on their faces. "Why do you want to work in the velvet garden?" asked Madam Caena. "Money," I replied simply. Money is the reason I want the job. It will provide a better life for my child and me. "Why should we take you? Your face is average, and your skills are below average, and you don''t even have a secondary ss," asked the old woman. Her words sting and tears threaten to emerge before I calm myself. "You are right. I am not as pretty as others or have good skills, but I am hardworking, and if you take me, I will be forever loyal to the velvet garden," I replied. There was no change in their expression. They have likely heard it tens of times from the other girls. I am very serious about loyalty. That is why I rejected yesterday''s offer from the strange man. He had offered money in exchange for information about the velvet garden. The money was so substantial that it pained me to reject his offer, but I did. I didn''t want any roadblocks to getting into the velvet garden, but now, I regret it. I crush that thought as soon as ites to mind. "Can you tell me about the incident that happened three years ago? It says here you have assaulted a patron?" asked Madam, looking at papers in front of her. Hearing that rage burned in my heart. Whenever I remember that incident, my heart burned with rage. I took a deep breath and controlled myself. "That man has made a move toward my son," I replied, and the understanding shed in the eyes of the two women immediately. They might be in high positions now, but they are whores, who worked decades in the business. They have seen all kinds of people, including monsters, wearing the clothes of men. "Why have you entered this business?" asked Ca, and a mirthless smile appeared on my face. "Desperation." "My ma died, and father picked up the bottle to fill the void. I went days without eating, and with no other skills, I had sold myself to the brothel," I replied simply. It is not a unique circumstance. Most of the girls who enter the business have simr circumstances. More questions came. They got deeper and deeper. Ask questions about the things I had forgotten. I answered them to the best of my ability, but it didn''t seem to impress them, as their expressions barely changed hearing my answer. It made me feel like crying, but I controlled the urge. "Thest question. What can you add to the velvet garden?" asked Ca. I wanted tough hearing it. What can I add to the mighty velvet garden? I wanted to ask this question, but I stopped and thought deeply about the question. "Currently, I can''t add anything to Velvet Garden, but if you hire me. I will give my everything to the job; this is the only thing I can promise," I replied. I didn''t promise any grand things, and I don''t think they would believe me. So, I went with what I felt, and if they hired me, I would do what I said. "That''s all. Miss Karos," said Ca. "Thank you for the opportunity," I replied, getting up from my chair and walking out of the room. "Miss Karos, please sign here," said the girl behind the table, forwarding a page and the pen to me. I looked at the page and read its content. It is a contract that asked me not to disclose anything that had happened in the interview. I read it once again. You can never be too careful with the contract. After that, I am sure there is nothing hidden. I took the pen and signed. Just as I did, I felt an immense weight. It is crushing, and that god, it is only for a moment, or it would have killed me. The contract disyed the power of legacy attached to it. I didn''t think of it much, but now I know I can''t break the contract, or the consequences would be bad. She took the page while I walked out. "How was it?" asked Tamsin as I sat down. "Not great," I replied with a sigh. "Well, you will at least have me," she said, to that, I smiled. Soon, it was afternoon, and they announced the lunch. This time, I didn''t hold back. I ate everything I could. The interviews continued, even when the evening rolled around. Two hourster, they announced the dinner. I had just returned from dinner when they called thest girl''s name. ......¡­ Ca "Finished finally," Elme tiredly said as thest girl left the room. It has been a tiring day. This time, we have gone beyond the usual questions and dug deeper. The legacy has be big. We have to hire every person carefully. That is why we have done our own background checks and will monitor them after hiring them. We can not afford to be careless. These girls will be pirs of the Velvet Garden and the dominion of House Silver in the future, and if we choose the wrong people, it might shake the institutions, which is a mistake we can''t afford to make. "What about her?" I asked as I did after the interviewee left the room. "Yes," affirmed the old woman. "Yes," seconded Caena. I nodded as well and added her name to the list. "Now, the undecided," I said as I picked up the list of eighteen names. We have selected some girls and rejected others, but there are some we haven''t made up our minds about. We will discuss them before making a final selection list. "The first is k¡­." ¡­ Adul Karos Over an hour had passed since thest girl returned when the three came in. Immediately, all the girls fell silent. Beka and the other two got up and greeted the three. The three nodded before handing Beka the notepad. She looked at it before turning to us with her face serious. "The velvet garden has its decision. We have selected the forty-three among you. I will state the names of those selected," she informed. My heart started to beat wildly, and I began to pray to every god I knew. "Heriz Maz, Tamsin Reylin, Vel¡­" I turned to Tamsin as her name was called out and saw her shocked before a big smile appeared, and tears started streaming down from her eyes. "Congrattions," I said. Feeling happy for my friend but also envious. "Thank you," she said sobbingly. I smiled and focused on the names. She is calling one name after another. Already, she has spoken out twenty names. She was bringing reactions from shouting to crying from the girls. More names were being called out, and soon, the names reached thirty, but my name didn''t ring out. It started to make me really nervous, especially seeing how the interview went. My feelings begin to sink. ''There are still over ten names,'' I said to myself. As I heard, the names kepting out of her mouth. Soon, the fortieth name came out, and it wasn''t mine. My whole body shook, and tears started to stream down my face. I want to be selected, but now only three names remain. There is barely any hope; it is non-existent. The forty-first name called out, and my hope sank even further, and the forty-second took out all the hope I had in my heart. "Adul Karos," I was deep in sadness when I heard my name like a lightning bolt. I didn''t dare to believe it, thinking it was a hallucination. "Adul, you are in!" Tamsin said loudly. I believed it only then, and tears started streaming down from my face even harder. I calmed down and looked around. The girls'' faces showed different emotions, from bursting joy to deep sadness. I feel bad for those who weren''t selected, but there is nothing I can do about them. "For those who hadn''t been selected, we will grant you freedom and jobs if you wish to have them," Beka informed the girls, to the shock of the girls listening. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s worth of Advanced Chapters. Chapter 533: Jorston Fortress Chapter 533: Jorston Fortress "It''s enormous!" gasped Eva. "It is," I said as I looked out the window at the fortress epassing several hills. It is massive and imposing. Just looking at it would make most enemies give up on attacking it. However, the enemy it was made to defend against would not hold back. "It seemed bigger than even Mirador Hold," said Jill. Looking at it, awe-filled eyes. "No, it isn''t bigger than Mirador Hold." "It is about the same size. It looks big because of its height," stated Z, shaking her head. It surprised me when I thought about it and recalled the information I had read. It is about the size of Mirador Hold. The Mirador Hold is an over thousand-year-old fortress made to stop the undead of Navr. It had been destroyed many times and rebuilt, with many parts lying on runes. The empire had only patched up the wall and fixed the needed parts. It is a Jorston Fortress. It is the immense fortress of Mahal. It is at the boundary. I have to pass through it to cross to the other side. We had left Karzan before the sun had even risen. Thanks to the good roads, our journey had been fast. Now, it is only ten and a half. If everything goes well, I will be on the other side before the afternoon starts. Minutes passed, and soon, we were in front of the massive, dark gates of the fortress. The lieutenant colonel moved and showed them our documents. I could feel the eyes on the carriage and the skills they were using. I could repel them, but I didn''t. However, I moved instantly when the skills moved toward me and others¡ªrepelling them with the weight of my ss. Surprise shed in their eyes. Some even took a step back in bacsh. I am fine as long as the skill looks at the carriage, but targeting us is crossing a boundary. A few secondster, we got the go-ahead, and the carriages entered the fortress. At eleven, I will meet with the second inmand of this ce before leaving. It is a courtesy meeting that willst only a few minutes. After that, I will leave this fortress and move to the Baxzar. The carriages stopped, and I got out. Immediately, I saw the maning toward me, and when I saw his rank. I couldn''t help but get a bad feeling. ''It seemed like I might not be able to leave quickly,'' I thought as the man stopped before me. "Wee to Jorston Fortress, Lord Silver," greeted the man. "Thank you, Colonel Strack," I replied to the man. "Our General is having a small gathering and hopes you and your entourage will join him," he requested. "It would be my honor," I replied since declining isn''t a choice. The man smiled and led us to the main building of the fortress. I talked with him while looking around the stronghold. Mirador Hold and this might be the same size, but that is the only simrity. Unlike Mirador Hold, this fortress is very well-maintained, well-staffed and well-armed. I could feel the wards they had around the fortress. They are powerful. It must be robust to hold back the Baxzar''s armies and monsters. Dane would need massive money if he tried to take the Mirador hold to this level. He doesn''t have even a fraction of that money. Nor is he trying to. His immediate concern is building his army. Soon, we reached the red metal door, and the man opened it, taking us inside. "Lord Silver. Master of Velvet Garden. Lord of Greltheaven and Panar," the herald announced before announcing my sister and Baron Husk. The colonel said it was a small party, but over a hundred people were present, and one instantly caught my eye. I am surprised he is here. "Lord Silver, thank you for epting my invitation," said the blond man in his early sixties. He is a short man, and even a little thin, with an average face. He seemed to have a personality that no one would remember or forget after one nce, but that would be a grave mistake. He is one of the most powerful men in Mahal. "It was my honor, General," I replied to the man. I talked to him briefly and mingled with the other people. It is a good thing that I have read through all the information on essential people in Mahal. I glimpsed a few familiar faces and knew how to converse with the unfamiliar. "I have a mine that delivers very pure Grade IV Yrgus crystals. We are restricted from selling them for money unless we get something in exchange, like the essence," said the middle-aged man. "Of course, I am interested in Yrgus crystals. Please have your men contact my people to sort out the details." I replied to the man. Yrgus crystals are substantial, and I would like to get purified ones, but I will not say anything more about this now. Nevertheless, making a deal at a party, as this man suggests, is out of the question. He must talk to my people if he wants to sell to me. He pressed at that, but I handed him to Baron Husk and moved to another person. I had just finished with him when I came face to face with the man with pale blond hair and piercing blue eyes. I have wanted to meet him since I saw him. "Viscount Luran," I greeted a handsome man in his mid-thirties. He is the same man who had fought with Knight Commander Valra in a duel in Owlspring. It was a fantastic duel, and he has be even stronger since then. There is no public confirmation whether he reached Lv. 40, but if so, it would make him exceptionally powerful since the man is also an aura master. "Lord Silver, I didn''t expect you here. I thought you would take a sea route," said the man. "I wanted to see the world," I replied to him. "Travel is good. I traveled through the continent when I was your age," he replied. "If you don''t mind me asking. Are you en route to attend the synod?" I asked. "Yes," he replied, and I was about to ask him something when his expression changed. His eyes turned toward the door. I turned and saw the middle-aged man in dark blue entering the hall with his entourage. "Count Wathall of Corvir," the herald announced. The man looked around before his eyes spotted us, or rather Viscount Luran. He came with measured steps. People turned toward them. They were feeling the tension between them. The man strolling into the has is Count Wathall. one of the most powerful men in the Mahal. He has an enormous army and is personally martially powerful. He has proved his worth in the eleven-day war. He is a known Lv. 40 powerhouse. Session war isn''t only taking ce in the Harsoth Empire. It is happening in the Mahal, too, but it is being waged in the shadows. The king is still alive, but due to the unique tradition of the Mahal, he will have to abdicate after the thirtieth year of his reign, which isn''t far off. Viscount Luran is in the first prince''s camp, while Count Wathall is in the camp of the second prince. However, this exchange might be rted to an incident that happened a week ago. The man finally stopped beside the Viscount Luran, who looked at him without an ounce of fear. "You shouldn''t have done that, Marcis," said Count Wathall. Every word came out of his mouth slowly and dripped emotion. It was clear that he was really angry. "He challenged me," replied Viscount Luran with a shrug. Seeing that, the Count had finally lost it, and a powerful aura burst out of him. The pressure instantly made many people fall to their knees, while some took support from the walls and columns. The aura burst, surprised me, and it tried to suppress me before I released my own aura. I covered myself with ayer of aura I had practiced daily before extending it over my entourage. Most of them were behind me, but some were far away, and it was a considerable effort to cover them with it, but I somehow managed it. Immediately, their shaking stopped. Margaux, my sister, Z, and others were fine, but the rest were heavily suppressed. Margaux''s daughter would have fallen. If not for her mother stopping her. "He will be in bed for months!" said Count Wathall, taking another bold step toward the Viscount Luran, increasing the might of his aura. However, it didn''t seem to affect the Viscount. Unlike him, I am doing everything I can not to let my aura copse. I had born a weight more significant than it, but then, I only needed to protect myself. Here, I am protecting over ten people, and it is demanding. It is necessary to use every bit of my will to do that. "Good. It will be a lesson for him not to challenge his betters," replied the Viscount. It made Count Wathall so angry that he began to shake, but the next moment. He took a deep breath, and anger seemed to vanish with a smile appearing on his face. Though, he didn''t retract his aura. "Enjoy the week you have because you will suffer the same fate as my cousin," promised the Count, making Viscount Luran smile. "You are not that powerful," replied the viscount. Anger shed in his eyes again, but he didn''t say anything. Instead, I watched him for a moment longer before he turned and stopped with his eyes on me. "You are Silver, Master of Legacy," he said. "Count Wathall," I replied, looking into his eyes without any strain. Instead, there is a small smile, which seems to surprise him. Bell pressed me with her aura daily, asking me to keep my expression unchanged. She saysposure is a sign of a proper lord, and one should maintain it, even if walking on the des. On the first day, I sweated all over and nearly copsed. "It''s nice to see you. We will talk more in Archmage City," said the man, walking away. He looked at the whole hall before finally pulling back his aura. I did the same. I was feeling relieved, as it was very straining. He talked with the General for a minute before leaving the hall. "You have impressive control over your aura for someone who awakened it less than two months ago, Lord Silver," said Viscount Luran, his eyes serious. "Thank you for your kind words, Viscount," I replied. He had a lot of questions; I could see it in his eyes, but he didn''t ask them, and I wouldn''t have answered them. The party continues for another hour, but the mood has shifted. Now, more people are looking at me and speaking with much greater respect than before. I mingled with them before bidding goodbye to the host. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s worth of Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member for Character Arts and other stuff. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 534: Ambush Chapter 534: Ambush "All clear, go," said the guard leader. A momentter, the carriages moved out of the outer checkpost of the fortress of Baxzar. We didn''t enter the main fortress like we did in the Mahal. Instead, I took the route around it. The Baxzar Dominion is one of the most powerful and biggest countries in the Zenid. It could be called an empire, but a dominion is the best term to describe it with its political system. It''s a country with thick forests that would make anyone get lost, with 80% of its poption being orcs. The rest are humans, elves, and other races. Our carriages moved toward the thick forest. The whole dominion is like this. Filled with dense forests. It is not just because of the environment but also the primal nature of sses these people here have, which affects the things around them. It is why not even the Navr and its horde were able to go much deeper into the Baxzar. It is due to it that the Baxzar dominion is one of the oldest kingdoms in the continent. Even the incursions weren''t able to wipe them out. The carriages were at the edge of the forest. Lt. Colonel Zaris and Lena moved toward the twelve people waiting there. The leader was the orc with two humans, and the man seemed like a dwarf. These are mercenaries that we had hired to protect and guide us through the Baxzar. Before, there were only eight, but with prophesy, I increased their numbers. These people are from the Raxdar mercenarypany. It is one of the biggest in the Navr; they are highly rated. Zaris verified the documents before they got into some heated discussion. "What are they talking about?" I asked Z. "The mercenaries aren''t agreeing with the position Lt. Colonel Zaris wants them to take," "They are saying they need to be an inner circle to protect you better from the threat that arises from here, which they are more capable of handling," she informed. Seeing that, I smiled. Zaris would never agree to that. He takes his responsibilities far too seriously, especially after the prophecy. A few minutes passed, and the mercenary leader seemed to give up as he ced his men in an outer circle. A few seconds after that, we resumed our journey. The dominion may have primality, but it has good infrastructure, including great roads. So, the carriage moved fast. Our destination is Khulber the City. It is a small city under the territory of the Baris tribe. I have taken all the permissions from the tribes whose territories I will pass through. I do not need to do that since I got it from the supreme chieftain, but I wanted nothing to slow me down on this journey. Once I cross the Baxzar, it will take less than a day to reach the archmage city. "It reminds me of home; the ce I grew up has forests as thick as these," said Eudo, looking at things. "I heard it''s quite beautiful," I replied. To that, he smiles. "It is," he said before his smile turned sad. I sighed seeing that, but didn''t speak and turned to the forest. I watched it for a few minutes before practicing the aura and then reading the book before practicing the aura again. Before I know it, the sun has started to go down before it bes fully dark. Thankfully, there aremps. It is one of the main roads of the Baxzar. Well developed with all amenities. Still, I could see the guards be more cautious as their skills circled to look for any dangers. I am d they are cautious, but I don''t want to burn their alertness. It will happen if they continue in such a state. Hours passed, and soon, it was past ten when we saw the city lights. A few minutester, our carriage reached the gates of the city. They checked our documents before we let them in. There is no one to wee us nor any pleasantries exchanged. I like the orcs. They are big on pleasantries and formalities, like humans and orcs. When we told them that we simply liked to rest in their city and didn''t want any disturbance, they agreed. The little gift I had sent ahead had helped a little, too. However, when we reached our hotel, there was quite a tight security. It made me smile, and I sleptfortably. When I woke up, I wrote a letter to its governor and left something that he would appreciate before leaving. The carriages were out of the city before the sun hade out. We have a long journey today and won''t be stopping in any city until Qildur Vor. It is a big city with a legacy. We hope to reach it before midnight. Two hours passed, and I was looking at a map. We are taking a longer route, but the safer one. The popr and shorter one is a little closer to Navr. There had been incidents when the undead had made a move and captured the people on that route. While the chances of them doing that are low here. They won''t dare to mess with the Archmage City, but I can not take the chances. So, I listened to Cardin''s and others'' suggestions on a longer route. It is going to dy the journey by about four hours, but I will have to do it for my safety. Navr hasn''t done anything against me yet, but it is better to be careful of the undead. Soon, we reached the intersection, and the carriages turned toward the longer route, to the surprise of many, including the mercenaries. To others, we are taking a direct route. Only Lt. Colonel Zaris, Lena, and my sister were aware of it. Others would only know the moment we did it. "I wish I could do something like this," I said to Eva. Seeing her create a purple sphere of metal with green spots of crystals in between. I had seen her do it many times, and it mesmerized me every time. The way she melts those metals and gems and controls them is truly amazing. While traveling, she created many jewellery pieces. It gave me a lot of inspiration about my aura, and I am trying many things. One is helping me particrly. "It is a good ability, but you have better ones," she replied with a smile. I didn''t say anything about that because she was right, but I wanted more. Something like hers or Eudo''s. Telekinesis would be really helpful. Though, with enough control over the aura, I would be able to do what telekinesis could. I pushed those thoughts away and picked up the book from the stand. It is a good book. It''s about the legacies; it''s from old Vanis''s collection. I borrowed a lot of books from him, and one thing I am going to do in archimage city is to buy the books. Knowledge is necessary. There is never enough. It is about the legacy that had disappeared over millennia ago. It was a Grade IV legacy, a good one at that. Lasting for nearly two and a half centuries. It has information on its master and the legacy''s abilities. I read it for an hour before I put the book down and closed my eyes. I took a couple of deep breaths and started theyering exercise, but with a different mindset. I imagined myself standing on the sand and bringing the aura to my feet before imagining it melting into the ss. It''s hard but after a few attempts. I had understood the trick. The sand beneath my feet melted and turned into molten ss. As it did, I pulled it over me as thinly as possible. It moved and began to cover my body slowly. Soon, it covered my legs and moved up, reaching my waist and then the chest and neck before the head, covering me fully. Bell says the aura is about the perception. If you want it to be air, it will be. If you want it to be Earth, it will be. It is a manifestation of one''s will; it can be whatever one desires. I seeded in the firstyer before, and I want to do the second. I am not as tired as I usually am when I am using my old method. That used to make me a lot more tired, used to take a lot more time and used to take a lot of effort to maintain. I didn''t begin immediately. Instead, imagine myself radiating the cold. Making the liquid ss solid. As I did, I began on the secondyer. I moved it slowly, but this time, there was a greater strain, but less than what I feel when I do things the old way. Soon, the aura covered my legs, and I moved it around my waist. As it reached it. I moved toward my chest, then my neck, and finally the head. A big smile appeared on my face as I achieved that, and I really wanted to try for the thirdter, but I didn''t. Instead, I froze it like a firstyer and kept it as such for six minutes before letting go. I really wanted to push, but getting tired wouldn''t be wise. Hours passed, and carriages kept moving. Stopping only for the small bathroom breaks. Soon, it was afternoon with the bright sun shining from above. "I want to ride under it," I said, to which Eva rolled her eyes. "You can try, but you will hear the same words again," she replied. Earlier, when we stopped for the break. I wanted to ride, but both Lena and Lt. Colonel Zaris shot down my idea, terming it too dangerous. I shook my thoughts and turned my eyes away from the window to the book I was reading. I am nearly finished with it. In a few minutes, I will be done, and then I will practice again. I will work on theyers. I want to be good enough at them. It bes an instinct. "Ambush!" I was in my thoughts when I heard the loud warning ring in my ears. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s Worth of Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member for Character Arts and other stuff. Chapter: 535 Under The Sun’s Unwavering Gaze Chapter: 535 Under The Sun¡¯s Unwavering Gaze The serene atmosphere of the carriage broke like a ss ball falling on the floor. I felt myself getting covered by the spells of Z. At the same time, the two gemmed bracelets that Eva was wearing melted fast, and they began covering the carriage. As they were covering it. I heard the sound of arrows streaking through the air. The next moment, I heard different sounds, including metallic, as the arrows stopped. "I am going out!" I said. "Lo," Z opened her mouth, but stopped seeing my expression. She knows I will not listen to anyone once I make up my mind. Most importantly, she is one of the few people who are aware of my power. Since I leveled up to Lv. 30 and gained the aura. I had not fought publicly. I am now at Lv. 34, with a powerful Lord ss. I moved toward the door while Eva formed the protective enclosure of metal and gems to protect me. Staying in the carriage would be a safe choice. Since it is heavily enchanted, it could bear Grade III and even some Grade IV spells. I don''t want to. It is too restrictive. I can not do anything while my people fight. I stepped out of the carriage under the unwavering sun, and what I saw had shocked me. I saw the arrowsing at me from all directions. There are at least ten archers, and looking at the speed and power of these arrows, they are all over Lv. 20. They areing from both sides of the road, with my men defending against them with shields and spells. Lt. Colonel Zaris ismanding the men. Forming the two circles around me quickly, with mercenaries forming the third one. I looked around and saw my sistering out of her carriage with her sword in hand, from which the freezing mist wasing out. "My lord, you should have stayed in the carriage," said Lena as she appeared beside me with Garzong. "I a" I opened my mouth to reply when I saw enemiesing out of the thick forest covered in camouged paint with enchanted weapons in their hands. Their eyes were on me, and a momentter, I felt their skills. Immediately, I brought out my aura and merged with the power of my Lord ss before striking those skills hard. Destroying them. It brought shock to the eyes of the enemy, and some stopped in their tracks, feeling the bacsh. I didn''t just defend their skills but broke them as they touched me. The enemies areing from all sides, and their numbers are high. I could already count forty-one of them, including the archers they are forty. Our numbers are less than them. Thirty-nine, counting me, my guards, my sister, and the mercenaries. The enemies reached the mercenaries upying the first circle. I waited for them to engage. I want to see their strength. They might haverge numbers, but that doesn''t mean they will win. I have brought in pretty powerful people and am quite confident about my victory. Hun! These were the thoughts running through my mind. When unexpected happened, that sent a shudder through my heart. The mercenaries. Instead of attacking the enemies, they embraced them. The moment I saw it, the thought of this being a random attack vanished from my head. This is no random attack of bandits, as I had been thinking, but a premeditated one to target me. I should have understood from the beginning, but I thought the fear of Archmage Tower would stop anyone from targeting me directly. I had been wrong. I underestimated my enemies. They are targeting me, knowing full well who I am and what the consequences would be attacking me. Their mercenary group is powerful, but there is no way they would dare to take such a risk. There is only one way they could have done it. Someone had paid them for it and offered promises that were good enough to discard the threat of one of the most powerful legacies in the world. That will hunt them for all their life. There are very few forces that could do it, and I could imagine one that is doing this to get me. "Eva, you go protect others," I said without moving my eyes away from the enemies. They are moving slowly, with orcs with dark red hair as their leader. It is clear. He is giving the orders while others are following. I don''t know who that man is, but he is definitely a leader. It is clear. He is giving the orders while others are following. A few secondster, he raised his hand and stopped before turning to me. "Lord Silver, ask your men toy down their weapons and surrender." "It will be bloodless and quick. If you dare to resist, then we will kill every one of you, excluding you, of course," said the man, and I can tell he is telling the truth. About killing every person here. I could see it in his eyes. "No," I replied simply. "Then be ready to see a lot of dead bodies," He replied with a grin and moved, with a group following behind him. Our mages attacked, and they responded immediately, and not just with conventional spells. I looked at the Trik and saw him already starting. ''I hope he manages,'' I thought. The enemy has more than one shaman. I could feel their magic. This is their domain; it will make their magic even stronger. I muttered the activation word and activated the charms I had. Witchcraft and shamanic magic are different, but they offer protection against each other. Bang Bang Bang! The spells and arrows shed as the enemies moved toward us. However, the intensity of it is low. We aren''t rushing into the things. We don''t know if these are all the numbers they have or if there is more hiding. We need to be as cautious as possible. They reached the firstyer and attacked, and a momentter, their expressions changed. Not a single person we have brought is a normal soldier. All of them are Lv. 20+ with four Lv. 30 hiding among them. We have used the skills as well as the witchcraft to hide their powers. They have been ordered not to use their skills during the journey and, if needed to do it, do it in a lesser intensity. The leader barked orders, and I felt him activate his skill. Making his men attack harder. My people moved toward him, and my men moved forward to stop them with him moving forward, with a group of people following behind. Soon, he breached the first circle and moved to the second. Colonel Zaris moved toward him, but two people came from behind and stopped him. "It is not giving me a good feeling. Be careful, Lord Silver," said Lena and moved toward the enemy. Immediately, a thin man with a forgettable face came out with a dueling rapier and moved toward her while another one attacked from a distance. ''They had nned for everything!'' I thought. They might have been caught off guard by our strength, but they havee prepared to deal with any surprises, and they are doing it with masterful efficiency. He has our information and brought people ording to it. Seeing the way his people move to stop mine. He kept moving toward me without stopping, and soon, there were only ten meters of distance between us. When Z finally acted. Immediately, a man and a woman holding staff stepped forward. The man cast a shield while the woman attacked her. Leaving only three people behind him. That was when my sister shed in front of him in an icy mist and attacked. Once again, the man didn''t move. Instead, two people came out. Orc and Dwarf, holding a great sword and the hammer, with magic shing on them. They were spell des, and they attacked her. The enemy moved with his gait, bing even more confident. "Die!" Garzong roared and moved toward the man. As he reached close, thest man behind the leader. The huge orc stepped forward and attacked Garzong. While I watched in shock, seeing the level of preparedness they hade with. Gathering so many powerhouses isn''t easy. These aren''t justmon powerhouses. Each one of them is umon. It could be clearly seen in the way they were fighting. I gripped my sword tiredly as he took a step closer and closer to me until there were only two meters between us. It is when Jon finally attacked. ng! A momentter, I heard the shing sound, and Jon pushed back. A woman appeared out of thin air, holding a dagger, and moved toward me. Immediately, Jon leaped forward to stop her. "It''s not toote. Surrender, and we will leave as we came," he said. "No," I replied. Surrendering isn''t an option. I would have at least thought about it if they had attacked me anywhere else other than on the way to the synod. Here, it is not an option because they will not leave anyone alive. They will kill everyone and clear the battlefield of anything that could be traced to them. "Since you want to do it the hard way. I will do it the hard way," He said and moved toward me. Seeing his speed, a shock spread through my heart. I knew he was powerful. If he wasn''t so powerful, people wouldn''t have followed him in this daring endeavor, but seeing that power, I shuddered in fear. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s Worth of Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member for Character Arts and other stuff. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 536: In Green Depths Thick With Woven Haze Chapter 536: In Green Depths Thick With Woven Haze He shed in front of me like a ghost before swinging his dark blue saber at me. It is fast. Extraordinarily fast. I reacted instantly and swung my rapier toward it with a Quick sh and Mauling Strike. I even activated the Rapid Strike a fraction of a secondter. I needed every advantage I could make to fight the most powerful enemy I had ever fought. ng! Our weapons shed, and I tried to block his weapon with Quick Parry, but he broke my skill and shook me such that the rapier nearly flew out of my hand. Since I had leveled up, nobody managed to shake me like this. Even Garzong, the strongest of all my guards in raw power, was merely able to shake my hand a little. The thing is, I didn''t hold back as I do with my training. I know this enemy is dangerous. I threw everything I owned at him, but his attack broke it all. I quickly moved back with Blitz Steps to manage the force and looked ahead. Only to see him in front of me with his saber shing toward me. ''Fuck!'' I cursed but didn''t panic. Instead, I became calmer, and an aura came out of me. It didn''te out like a st, but gently. It constructed a dome, covering him within. As it did, I activated the Lord''s Presence and focused on its power on him through the aura. At the same time, I merged the aura into my offensive skills and swung my rapier toward him. My head begins to hurt from using the aura to enhance many skills. Suppressing him with aura or just enhancing my skills fighting him would have been better, but seeing the difference in power. I don''t want to take that chance despite the cost. Unlike thest enemy, I had fought. The aura didn''t stop him but changed his expressions and bodynguage. The bandit leader''s expression became serious, and his bodynguage no longer radiated confidence. ng! Our weapons shed, and I felt the shock in my hands once more, but not enough to force my rapier from my hands. "Aura is an amazing thing, but it is not going to save you," he said and attacked again. This time, he became more robust and faster, with his blue saber bing hard to follow. I leaned into the aura and pressed it for more power as I swung my de to defend. ng! I stopped the attack, nearly taking a step back, but that was just the beginning. Abruptly, he appeared to my left and attacked. Rip! I moved to dodge but wasn''t fast enough, and he was able to cut across my shoulder. The cut was small, but it began to bleed rapidly. This red-haired orc used anti-clotting skills during the attack. Seeing that, I attacked the skill with my aura. Immediately, the pain in my head jumped even more, but I didn''t stop and broke the skill. At the same time, I turned and moved my de to defend against his attack. This bastard is very experienced. I am sure he has fought against those with the aura. ng, Rip, Rip! I defended sessfully, but suddenly, the next strike cut me across the stomach and the next one below the chest, targeted where the armor wasn''t covering. I broke the bleeding skill with the aura before moving to defend against the attack. ng! I seeded and dodged the next one before getting cut on my left shoulder. My ss is Valorous Lord of Courage at Lv. 34. It provides me with fantastic power. With it, I could fight with those above my level. I would have done a little better if I had spread my attribute points like a warrior, but I did it as a lord. When I used my aura, even Jon couldn''t defeat me, but this man had injured me, which is enough to understand his skills and power. I could feel the power of his ss with my aura. It is as powerful as the general Lord ss. In a way, it is surprising to find a bandit with such a powerful ss, but also not. Given the kind of power, he is projecting. His every move is deliberate and without wasted movement. He is precise and fast and shows great control over his body and skills. I have not heard of him, but he is a formidable enemy who could kill me. He will not kill me. I am far too valuable for that. He wants to capture me, and that would be a fate worse than death. I would be a puppet, and I am not just saying that figuratively. There are skills, spells, and methods that could thoroughly brainwash someone. Suppose I am right about the people who hired them. Then, I cannot let myself get captured. It would be a fate worse than death, and I will die rather than let myself get captured. Rip, ng, Rip! I was thinking that when another cut appeared on my body. This time on my back. I destroyed the skill immediately. After doing it so many times, I could do it instantly. However, it hurts my head badly when I do it. I have no choice but to break these skills. If I did not, I would bleed out, that will lead to weakness. Which I absolutely can''t have. He appeared behind me, and I turned before swinging my de toward him. The aura may be straining, but because of it, I could see and feel his every movement, even the small movements that were indiscernible to the eyes. It lets me predict his movements before he even makes them. If I hadn''t had that, I wouldn''t have been defending and dodging the attacks that he had been making, but that is not enough. I am still getting injured, but without it, I would be dead. Still, I need to stop getting injured and start injuring this orc. When I heard my thoughts, I wanted tough. Our difference is huge, and it would be really hard for me to defeat him. I don''t have to defeat him. I only need to survive him. With enough time, my people will gain the edge, or at least make it costly enough for them that he will think about retreating. Mercenaries are like that. They will only fight until they think there is a chance of winning. They will not hesitate to escape if they see no chance to win. ng! I defended the attack when another attack came, not by the enemy in front of me but by a shamanic spell. Without caring about the strain, I pushed my aura against the spells. I know how nasty the shamanic spells could be. I had practiced a few times against them, and it was a good I did. Given the number of shamans, the enemy had brought. I can''t depend upon the protection I have. I need to be proactive and deal with them as theye. Rip! While I sessfully defended against the spell, I failed to protect against the attack of the orc in front of me. Another cut appeared on my waist. He attacked again immediately, and at the same time, I felt the shaman attack¡ªnot just one, but two of them. I defended against them, but it put so much strain on me. That I had started to bleed from my nose and also a new ce on my chest as the saber cut me again. I needed to grit my teeth to push the aura into it. I had just done that when I felt the shamanic spell again, and I defended and got cut across the stomach, and the cut was more serious, deeper. ''I need to do better!'' I screamed at myself. I am getting cut at every attack. If this kept happening, even if he didn''tnd a hit, these cuts would be enough to weaken me. That would be bad. I am fighting him because I am pushing myself every second. If I be weak, even so slightly, it will be the end for me. Rip, Rip, ng! Time passed as more and more cuts began to appear on my body under the intense attacks of the orc and the shamans. I could be doing better. I began to wonder how others were doing. I am so focused on my battle that I cannot look at any other fight. However, I see Jon now and then, and he doesn''t seem to be doing well. I could ask Margaux telepathically, but I don''t want to distract myself. ng! Finally, I was able to defend myself against the attack after taking tens of cuts, which are now covering every part of my body. ng! A momentter, I defended against another or three as the shamanic attacks were still targeting me. The headache had worsened as I used the aura more and pushed it further. I started to bleed out from all my orifices because of the sheer strain of it. But as the seconds passed. I am getting used to this strain and learning to use the aura better. It is hard, and I want to stop every second and let the sweet oblivion take me, but I can''t. If I stopped, the others would die, and the lives of hundreds of thousands would be in jeopardy. I understood clearly that once I was captured, the enemy wouldn''t have problems capturing my cities. I can not let that happen. So, I pushed myself more despite feeling the level of pain I had never felt before. It''s the only way I can do my duty to protect them. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s Worth of Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member for Character Arts and other stuff. Chapter 537: A Brazen Foe Will Make Its Stand Chapter 537: A Brazen Foe Will Make Its Stand Torug Yregh ng! He defended again, but I attacked again, pushing Strong Arms, Phantom de, Searing Strike, and Bane Eyes to their limit. He defended with his whole body shaking. Looking at him, he feels like he could drop dead at any moment. My cuts are covering every part of his body. Even his head felt the touch of my de. He is also bleeding from all his orifices, hisplexion turning pale as paper. Despite all that, he is fighting back with his aura, having me in its iron hold. It is suppressing my power. I hate aura. It makes the enemy unpredictable, but he shouldn''t have been this unpredictable. The information provided stated that the enemy is between Lv. 30 and Lv. 35, with a strong Lord ss but bnced attributes. There was also information about his awakening aura less than two months ago. I have also studied his past battles and understood he is a very talented fighter capable of fighting people levels above him. He is a talented fighter. He was more powerful than I had thought, but I could have dealt with him, and it wouldn''t have taken me more than a minute. I am Lv. 37 Gambler of des. My ss is powerful and bes more powerful when the stakes are high. It is as powerful as the Lord ss, and I feel it will upgrade and be a ss as powerful as this man before me. Still, it wasn''t enough to kill the bastard. "You have already reached your limit. Surrender Silver; it will save you a lot of pain," I offered, activating the Gambler''s Charm. "You should be the one to surrender. You might be able to save your life if you do it now," he replied, using a simr skill that is more powerful than mine. It nearly distracted me. Silver might have had a chance to attack if not for shamanic protection. ''Neverpete nobles with charm,'' I remember a famous saying before attacking again. Rip! He kept defending, and I attacked again until finally, I could cut him again at the ninth attack. It is a small cut on the back that has barely breached his skin. I could feel him destroying the Bleeding Edge as it activated on the wound. Before, it used to take a second, but now, it is almost instant. ''He is improving at a shocking speed!'' I thought with concern. He is not just destroying my skills with his aura but improving the use of his aura with his skills, which are bing powerful. Seeing it, I wanted to use my trump card. If I used it, no matter how good or fast he is improving, he would die, but I can not. If I use it, it is my life that will be in danger. The people that are fighting with me will kill me for it. Even the employer wouldn''t hesitate to use the contract''s loopholes to get it. Since I got it, I have used it only when I am alone. When I did, I killed the people and wiped out the traces of it. ''Haste, we won''t be able tost much in front of this bitch. Send us reinforcement!'' said Fodulir telepathically. I am one of many having problems with the mark. Others are having problems, too, and Fodulir and Strad face the biggest one. Two of them are fighting against Le Silver, and she is suppressing them. Those two aren''t weak; both are Lv. 35+ spell des with one focusing on defense. Those two are the strongest of the spell des, but that human bitch is beating them. From the information we had, we knew she would be the trickiest to deal with, but her strength was beyond what the information had said, just like the man in front of me. What is more concerning is that the two Silvers and the other enemies are doing better than expected. I want to curse my employer for providing the old information. We built the n on the information provided. If I had the urate information, I could have nned better and finished this already. ''Velha, finish off the rogue and help me here!" I told the rogue. ''I am trying, but this bastard is like a cockroach!'' replied Velha. She is suppressing the rogue but is unable to kill him. With Velha with me, I won''t need more than a few seconds to deal with Silver, but the bastard''s rogue is holding her off despite suffering massive injuries. Hun! Another minute passed, and I sensed the death. One of my people had died, making it five, while only two of the enemies had died, despite us having more than twice the numbers. "Stop the attack, and I promise you, I will match the offer my enemies made you," he said, bing even paler than he had been a minute ago. He won''t be able tost much longer. "No, you can not!" I replied, shaking my head. It is a massive amount of money¡ªan amount I will not be able to earn in my lifetime. Without that, these people and I wouldn''t have taken such a massive risk. It is not just the money but also the protection from one of the most powerful legacies in the world. Besides, even if I wanted to ept his counteroffer, I could not. The contract is unbreakable. If I tried, I would die. If I didn''tplete the contract, I would die. So, there is no choice but to finish the contract. A minute passed, and then another, and the bastard was still fighting. He had be even better than in the past minute, so I could notnd a single attack on him. He had be white as paper, but he was still fighting. I thought he would drop dead by now. He should have given his state, but he didn''t. I am using everything I have, including my best skill. de''s Bet, which increases the power of my attack by 25%. Hun! A few seconds passed, and I sensed the death. It is of the enemy; the third one died. It is a soldier, not one of the powerhouses. I only need to kill one of their powerhouses, and I will achieve my objective. Every person is locked in battle. If a single powerhouse dies, it will free my powerhouses. They will then help me finish off this bastard. That is not the case with general warriors. Two of mine had been freed after killing the assigned enemy. But another enemy, which had freed itself from a group of four, engaged them, and pressure increased. Once that group dies, the initiative will tilt in our favor. Then, I won''t even need powerhouses. That is why I ordered my people to finish off the group as soon as possible. Use everything they have, including the skills they are hiding, to do the job. Hun! I was thinking about that when another death urred. It made my expression turn ck. ''Yregh, she had killed Strad!'' said Fodulir, with panic unmistakable in his voice. She had killed my spell de. ''I need help now!'' he added, his voice reeking in desperation.''Just hold the bitch off for a minute!'' I replied. "Jruk. Help, Fodulir," I ordered one of the two mages fighting the water mage. ''He can''t. I can''t defend against her light spells!'' Yerad replied a momentter. This iplete information has made things tricky. We knew the water mage could use the light spells, but they were minor spells. Here, she is using a Grade 4 offensive spell. That was not in the information. Immediately, I asked others, but the reply was the same. All of them were busy with their marks and couldn''t move. ''Archers, support Fodulir!'' I ordered. It was not something I wanted to do. I kept archers on the enemy in front of me. So, mages would be busy defending him, but now I have to use them to help Fodulir. ''Give me a shaman too,'' said Fodulir a momentter. ''No!'' I replied directly. I need the three shamans to focus on Silver while the other three focus on the battlefield where the enemy shaman is fighting. That old orc is good, and some of my archers and mages were targeting him, but he was receiving protection. The one who is protecting him is most surprising. The jeweler has formed a dome of metal and gems where the shaman and non-fighting people are sheltering together. It is formidable, and one of my people told me they sense the essence of emotion within it. Mist Craft. There was information about her, too. They have said she could use her abilities inbat, but what she is doing is on an entirely different level. That dome defends them from Grade IV spells¡ªsomething the information never mentions. A few more minutes passed, and Silver looked whiter than the dead, but he was still fighting and fighting well. His control of aura is increasing by the minute. Now, I couldn''t even shake him. He is defending everybination of mine. Not a single attack is touching him. Worse, he is destroying the shamanic attack before they even touch him. He would destroy it the moment they touched his aura dome. ''How is he even standing?'' I keep asking myself this question. He should have fallen already, but he is still standing. He has to be very tired. His eyes are red, and he is bleeding from his orifices, but he is still fighting. I expected this man to copse at every moment, but he was getting more powerful. If this continued, he might be able to fight back, not just defend. ng! I had thought that when he defended against my attack before attacking me. It is the first time he did that. ng! I defended and felt his power. It shook my heart, and I wanted to put that thing and finish him off, but I controlled myself. I can''t do that. ''Yregh!'' suddenly, a painful voice rang into my head, and it was from Bror. A blood sh appeared on his chest; the attack by the leader of the guards, Zaris. ''Yregh, these bastards are too tough. It''s time; we should use the backup n!'' pleaded Fodulir as he defended arcs of ice and icy sword. I wanted to reject it. That is an essential tool. I want to keep it to myself as it could help me escape the danger. ''Velha?'' I asked the only person I trust. The others aren''t part of my group. They were hired only with a mission in mind. Only Velha and Fodulir were part of my group. ''Fodulir is right. We should use the backup n,'' she affirmed. I could feel the unwillingness in her voice. How much she hated to say that, but she said it based on how she could see it. The backup n will massively increase the chances of sess, but I get a heart attack when I think about using it. However, when looking at things, there is no choice. I don''t know how long the dead-looking bastards could continue. If itsted till the bitch killed Fodulir and that leader killed Bror and Tust, it will be very bad. We will die instead of our enemies. So, I gritted my teeth and leaped back before removing the scroll and unfurling it immediately. ...¡­ I saw him removing the scroll and unfurling it as he leaped back. Immediately, a bad feeling came over my heart. I understood; I could not let this enemy use the spell on me. So, I gathered all my aura from what I was using and attacked the scroll. "Ahhhh!" It gave me such pain that I wanted to scream, and I did, but I pushed the aura at the scroll; at the same time, it shone in silvery translucent light. The light moved and passed through the aura and covered me. It was a powerful spell. It resisted my aura. Seeing that, I focused on the spell. With only one will to change the destination. The scroll is a teleportation scroll; it wants to send me somewhere. I must prevent it before it sends me to their prepared ce. These are myst thoughts as everything bes dark in front of me. Experience the journey before anyone else. Support me by SUBSCRIBING to and enjoy a Month''s Worth of Advanced Chapters. Be a Free Member for Character Arts and other stuff. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!