The Vampire Empress.

Chapter 40. The Royal Demon Capital (2/3)

 

We soon reached the dining hall where a large dining table that stretched far towards the other side of the room came to view. Luxurious candles seated the table and every kind of delicacy that you could think of from chicken soup, turkey, and more.

 

“Didn’t I tell you that I don’t eat this much?” I looked at Helesta with a glare before she shook it off with a smile.

 

“If you can’t finish it then don’t, the servants will be more than happy to finish after the meal,” she looked at the maids and butlers that stood at the wall before asking in a deep and threatening voice, “Is that right, my dearest servants?”

 

All of them visibly shivered for a second before nodding in quick rapid succession, displaying their tearful eyes towards me which brought a bitter smile on my face. You could tell how they are forced to say so but asked to turn a blind eye to it.

 

“People of the rich really take things differently,” I chuckled before taking a seat over at my usual spot while Helesta sat at the other side as I took a look at the perfectly, well-cooked turkey and soup. There was also a bit of fried chicken, vegetable salad, and some staple bread but other than that, there is definitely one thing missing.

 

According to my taste buds, the best thing to have after this is probably mozzarella sticks. It may sound weird but that’s what my tastebuds likes. Some freshly cooked, hot mozzarella sticks or possibly French fries and burgers to pair with the fried chicken and chicken wings.

 

“Do you not like the food here?” Helesta asked before I shook my head.

 

“I was just thinking of how I will be able to recuperate my life once I go back without any of these luxuries…” I laughed while taking up my fork and knife, tearing a part of the turkey while grabbing some of the chicken wings and fried chicken.

 

Afterward, grabbing my spoon as I took a bunch load of vegetable salad and a few staple bread before slicing the bread into halves with the help of the knife as I scooped a bit of the vegetable salad on the base of the bread then covering them up with fried chicken mainly the boneless ones before repeating the same step one more time and covering it up with the other half of the bread.

 

It looked perfectly like a burger albeit a bit larger and less crispy which I can fix easily as I pointed my finger to the top of the bread and sparking a little fire using magic as I cooked the top a bit before flipping the thing as I cooked the bottom and the sides till it was perfect.

 

“What is that?” Helesta questioned with a curious look on her face, the servants also looked at what I had made curiously.

 

“I call it a burger but it’s not perfect. It’s something from my world and was a bit smaller than this and didn’t use chicken but another kind which is called patty. It’s something that is made with ground meat that is flattened and cooked,” I answered before she nodded but she didn’t look satisfied with only an explanation as she continued to look at the one I had on my plate which I understood the reason why.

 

With the knife, I sliced the ‘burger’ of mine into two halves before handing the other one to Helesta with a smile, “Take it as my way of saying that I want investors for this stuff.”

 

She looked at me before sighing with a smile as she responded, “You really are quite the capitalist, not that I hate that side of yours as well. Don’t worry, if this really tastes good as you think it is then I will pour some of my personal investments onto it.”

 

Afterward, she took her fork and smacked the ‘burger’ before placing it on her lips as she ate it without a single noise. The sound of her chewing the ‘burger’ reverberated around the place intensely, my heart beat nervously while I wait for her response before she swallowed the part that she was chewing with a bright smile on her face.

 

 “You seem nervous for someone who wants an investment from me, are you perhaps not confident with what you are presenting me?” she laughed while wiping her mouth with a towel, “I am pleased to say that this kind of food is definitely delicious but there is a bit of problem that you will have to face if you want this to succeed.”

 

“The first issue is ingredients. The bread is definitely cheap to purchase but there is no way to mass-produce chicken meat for this kind and whilst vegetables are cheap, their prices will definitely skyrocket with this until it reaches a calm point. If we want to produce this to the general public, we’d need to appeal to lesser quality but still of decent ingredients while being able to produce our own ingredients,” she spoke in a single breath.

 

I understood what she was talking about. It’s the price of making something that can twist the world upside down. The prices of vegetable increasing are definitely something I don’t want to happen since vegetables are necessary for the common people to live especially with how expensive meat is…

 

“As for the chicken, we can opt for ground meat in which we can produce at least four burgers for each pound. It’s a lot cheaper to use than chicken and we could even make smaller portions for the same price instead which allows us to sell more under the same price,” I suggested with my business smile as I sliced a piece of the burger in front of me before taking a delicious bite.

 

It may sound scummy, but it is what business is. A business holds profits in its heart and not fairness. If you want fairness, you can always go to non-profit organizations or charity but if you want your business to succeed, it must stand with profits and not fairness.

 

Besides that, fairness is defined only when the people know what is ‘fair’ about something and so, technically if we were to be the ones to define the ‘fair’ size of a burger then that means we are technically ‘fair’.

 

“You really have the black heart of a businessperson, Aya. Don’t you think that you should just give up on being a town leader and instead become one of the largest merchants on this continent?  It might be a far easier and faster path for you,” she giggled before smiling, “You convinced me over what you said, I will agree to it if you show proper results.”

 

“Sebastian, please write up a proper business contract under my name. The initial deposit will be a few dozens of platinum coins and if those platinum coins can turn back a profit of at least 50% then I will proceed to provide at least a hundred platinum coins a month and other demands that the other party will want,” she waved towards one of the butlers at the side who bowed down and walked away.

 

I was a bit surprised over the suddenness but understood that it might be her way of showing fairness to me as well. I understood a lot that Helesta has a deep interest in me and has always been afraid of taking her hand because the one who gives in to the devil will always be the one to be injured when everything falls apart.

 

But I like how despite her deep interest in me, her view was never clouded. She treated me in these kinds of negotiations, not as someone who she has her eyes on but rather a fellow person she could conduct business with which in itself shows how fair she is to everyone.

 

Many businesses in the world that I once lived in tend to have owners whose views would get clouded when in front of people they care for. They would offer jobs to their families and similar despite not meeting the qualifications, rejecting the ones who are desperate and more than qualified for it.

 

Without knowing it, the two of us continued to discuss a bit more about this new business that we were creating before time soon passed by as we sat in my room’s bed once again with Helesta holding an orb that showed Ayaka’s and the other’s smiling faces.

 

“Mama! I want to go there!” Ayaka demanded with her cheeks puffed.

 

“You’ll have to ask Helesta for that, Ayaka,” I smiled before she puffed her cheeks even more which made me giggle as I looked at Felice and Iona who looked fine over there, “How is the situation in the town, has anyone important person visited?”

 

“The situation in the town is fine as both Iona and I are handling it. As for important persons, there is one and that is His Majesty, but we informed him that you were conducting business negotiations with an important client without detailing anything about who the client is,” Felice answered.

 

His Majesty huh… I always thought of him as some kind of playboy that doesn’t have single care of his life considering how he dared to spread random rumors of me everywhere and with a decree as well. I always wished to rip his brain out of his skull for some reason but I understood it would only make my situation worse.

 

I may be strong but against several thousands of well-armed soldiers, I am far from being strong. I would be overwhelmed by such numbers regardless and the fact that I still have people I care for would only make things worse.

 

“Is there anything that I need to know?” I asked before the two of them nodded.

 

“Recently, businesses have been increasing over the town over the week which led to an increase of population, and we desperately need more land which we can only do if we forego a bit of our farming land and increase our livable territory, but we can’t do that without your authorization first.”

 

“Not to mention, we don’t know how to handle the taxation of the new businesses as the taxes of the businesses should be set by you, my lady…” Iona responded.

 

Taxation huh… I totally forgot about taxing for larger businesses since I’ve only conducted taxes for smaller ones which was only a tiny bit of their revenue. As for larger businesses, I need to prepare a new set of taxes for them specifically since that’s the standard of this world.

 

“For the taxes, you can tell them to wait for my arrival. Be sure to collect the registration fees and land purchase fees from them. As for the land issue, take at least twenty percent of our farmlands from all sides and use them for new houses.”

 

“To recompensate the twenty percent on all sides, we’ll be importing the vegetables from other territories instead to also make connections with them. I’ll try to find which ones are best and willing to conduct a long-term business with us…” I answered before the two of them nodded.

 

All of a sudden, Ayaka pushed the two of them away with her cheeks still pouting adorably, “Mama! All you talk about is work and work! How about Ayaka?!”

 

Hearing about her little fit of anger made me laugh a bit because of how adorable she looked, she seemed to have become a bit spoiled while I was away, but it was all good as I heard she also made some friends while I was away.

 

“Don’t you have your two little friends to play with, how about playing with them for now since I can’t come home right now?” I looked at the little pouting Ayaka with a smile before she frowned her eyebrows while looking at Helesta with a glare.

 

I wonder what made Ayaka spoiled while I was away? I am pretty curious, was it her friends’ influence, or did something else struck her? It isn’t her rebellious phase yet though since she is still pretty young and for sure isn’t puberty.

 

“Hmph!” she angrily puffed her cheeks even more, “Fine! The two of you can just keep making me a little sister!” before running away as both Helesta and I were left completely speechless before suddenly the little girl climbed her way back to the chair only to leave one last “BLEEEH!”