Click!

“All the merchant vice-guild masters have been selected,” I said as the man left the office.

“Now, only four deacons have remained,” said Ina.

We have finished deciding on the eight deacons. The last four are tough; there are so many to choose from. Many people are good, and many have great connections; striking a balance in selecting them is key.

Five days from today, I am going to announce the new members of the merchant guild. It is going to disappoint a lot of people, some I consider friends, but I need to do it for the prosperity of the city.

“What should I reply to the invitation from Lord of Riverbell?” she asked. “Tell them, we will send Robin,” I replied.

It is a birthday invitation. I wanted to attend it personally; there are some people, I want to meet, but leaving the city isn’t wise.

It had been six, and a half since the battles, and the city had started to make a recovery with all the construction and other stuff.

Some foreign investment had also started trickling in, which is helping a lot with the confidence.

It is such great news, but there is also a big bad news, that is looming like a sky over us. There is nothing we can do about it, but prepare. We are not strong enough to go and deal with them.

Though, one day, I would very much like to do that, but currently we are far from it.

“Has orcs reached it?” I asked Zela. She shook her head, “No, they are still two hours away,” she replied.

In the past two weeks, quite a lot of orcs have been coming. They are families of the Orcs that were imprisoned.

I had signed a mobility agreement with the Nakar baronies. Through it, they will let the orcs pass through the territory without harassing them. Even Ignatius hadn't resisted his people leaving the territory.

To both baronies and the Ignatius. It is good news. The orcs are trouble for them; I am taking that trouble.

It is good news for me too, with their families coming. The orcs would be more inclined to consider the city their home and fight hard for it.

These new orcs are also filling the job market. They are unskilled, but there is a demand for them too. Not only in jobs in the city but also in the army; I am recruiting anyone fit and willing.

It is not an ideal solution, but it is the only one, I have.

Fifty thousand people had left, and I barely filled a fraction of those numbers. They left a huge hole population and economics of the city.

I really wish we had time.

Two hours passed, and I walked out of the office. I have a meeting with the heads of various guilds.

I have replaced many of them but kept some.

The guilds are the lifeblood of the city. I need to have the best people leading them. I think, I am doing a good job, but will not know, how much my changes affected things, till a few months.

The meeting lasted for longer than usual, nearly two hours. They had a lot of questions, especially about admitting orcs as members.

Many are still resistant to that idea.

I didn’t go back to my office, instead, I sat in the carriage and a few seconds later, it moved out of the city hall.

A few minutes passed, and the carriage reached pinecrest. An area that is being preferred by the newly arriving orcs.

The humans are still in large numbers, but orcs have started to increase in numbers. This is creating some friction since most of the humans are from the empire and we were taught to hate other races.

The orcs wanted a different area for themselves; a suggestion, which I immediately rejected.

It is creating friction, which is to be expected, but I have already prepared for it. I have selected community leaders, who swiftly handle angry troubles that appear.

Still, more steps need to be done and I will take those steps, slowly according to the conditions.

I looked at the new things that are being built, including the schools. Which is a domain of the church in the empire, but I am making it the city’s business.

It would have saved me a lot of money if I could handle this to church. The bishop had met me many times regarding it, but I don’t trust churches and their education. Besides, education is a good way to shape the culture of the city and mold the people to its thinking.

Also, the education of the empire is crap. If there had been a scale of one to ten, it would be eleven.

The merchants’ states are better, but mine would be even better. I am spending considerable money on it, which once again many opposed.

Soon, the carriage the carriage moved out of the area, toward the establishment. It had been over two weeks since the work on it began, and I have to say those people are working fast.

Soon we reached the establishment, or rather the park. The whole area had been transformed in just weeks. Thousands of people worked on it, with many mages casting the spells on trees, that had been planted.

Many of the plants being grown, in those big temporary greenhouses, but a large number of them would also come from merchant states.

It took a few minutes before the carriage stopped at the establishment. The big walls of the tower had started building and every day, they were getting taller.

Click!

“Lord Silver,” greeted Edmore.

“Things are looking good,” I said, as I looked at the building. “We are moving on time,” he replied, and they are.

They had already built the first floor and moved to the second.

They need to build the tower within three and a half months. The interior will take two and a half more.

I walked toward the tower with him, while he informed me of things.

The tower is going to be big, not only taller but bigger, too. I wanted it to be within fifty-thousand square feet, but it is going to be over that. There was no option; the things I wanted couldn’t come in the area, I had in mind.

So, now the new establishment would occupy, nearly sixty thousand square feet. Of which, of which only half of the area would be covered in the power of the legacy.

It is not a big thing; I had talked with Miss Rolgath and asked her to make every inch of the establishment as efficient as possible. She had shown me her initial ideas and they are good.

Since she has only six months, she is working from the first day. Not just designing, but doing the other stuff, too.

“Miss Ulaxasys was saying, there are some problems?” I asked, to which he nodded.

“We are using a lot of magical stuff, and her plants are also magical, while they will absorb, the emotion mist and special fertilizer. They might go to for magical stuff the tower is made of,” she replied.

“This is a not unique problem,” I said, and he nodded. “It would not have been if it had been a magic tower or even a legacy; there are ways to deal with that, but this is something unique,”

“We are constructing the legacy, using different materials, that had never been used on such a large scale,” he replied, with a small smile.

“I hope, it wouldn’t delay the construction,” I said. “It will not. We are testing different methods, and Miss Ulaxasys and Lady Blackwell are also contacting people with expertise in it.”

“Keep me up, updated on it,” I said.

It is not a big problem, but it could turn serious. I had read about the mayhem; the magical plants could cause. They had destroyed the palaces and made the mage towers collapse.

The recent incident of that had happened, not long ago.

It is why, I had said, it is not a unique problem. There are many solutions to deal with it. Hope they find it, without delaying the timeline.

I would hate to see that happen.

Hun!

I was talking to the Edmore when I saw Lady Blackwell walk toward me with her sister. She had returned from the Amberhold today. Unlike her sister, she is not staying in the Greltheaven.

She stays a few days before returning to Amberhold. She is a Lady of Amberhold. She had duties.

It is already scandalous enough, that she is working on a brothel. It had created quite a wave Amberhold from what I had heard; it is, after all, a brothel.

If it was not for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; she wouldn’t have taken such an enormous risk.

“Lord Silver,” the sister greeted.

“Lady Blackwell, Miss Ulaxasys,” I replied and noticed the hesitation on their faces.

“Lord Silver, we would like your permission to send the data on the tower to one of our contacts. They are also asking for a sample of emotion slate,” said Miss Ulaxasys.

The contract is pretty tight; they could not divulge the information without my permission.

“You should know, Miss Ulaxasys; it is not the information, I want to divulge,” I said, and she nodded before her expressions turned serious, and privacy skill covered us.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help, but get surprised and the mist around formed a sphere, enveloping us.

“We have a collection of magical plants, including those that absorb the emotion mist, but it is not big. We had sent letters to the many who replied, and nearly all replied to us back, except for one,” said Lady Black.

“Could they solve our problem?” I asked, understanding what they were trying to say. The sisters nodded, a little too enthusiastically.

“For them, it is no problem. We should be more focused on the plants we could get from them. They have the biggest collection in the whole merchant state or even the continent,” she replied.

This time, my expressions turned serious.

There are extremely few people who fit into the category of what they have said, and all of them are extremely powerful.

“Who are they?” I asked and the expressions on the sisters became hesitant. “They are from Nova Alyra,” replied Lady Blackwell.

It is on the list of names; I thought. It still surprised me. I am not the only one, Edmore and the others too, turned serious.

“The hidden city?” I asked softly, and the sisters nodded.

That place is a reason, merchant states are still standing and could be said to be one of the most powerful countries in the continent and world. With them, no power on the continent could destroy the merchant states, not even all the hordes of Navr.

“Let me think about it,” I said, after a few seconds of silence.

That place is powerful. Those people are powerful. It is not always good to be noticed by them, especially with the secrets my legacy has.

Still, the opportunity they represent is also massive.

The problem we are having could be solved on our own and we could get plants from elsewhere, but they won’t be as exceptional as those people could provide.

The difference will be akin to planting a common mango and Alphonso.

Those plants will not only be the best in class but will also provide me with huge money.

The Alchemists will pay any price for them.

Click!

I talked to them for a few more minutes before sitting in my carriage. While it moved toward the establishment; I opened the diary.

There is a big meeting with the girls tomorrow. We will be discussing the establishment. It will be now bigger, with more area and floor, we will have to de

“Lord Silver,” said Zela, interrupting my thoughts. I turned to her and was about to ask, what happened when I stopped, seeing the expressions on their faces.

“So, finally they made a move?” I asked and she nodded.

“The undead ships had been spotted near the coast of Port Midlet and Ashton Harbor,” she informed.

“Any movement from Panar and Almin?” I asked, to which she shook her head. “Till now, nothing,” she replied, and for a moment, I felt relieved.

Since they have decided to show the ships. There will be an attack; I hoped, I had more time to prepare than this.

“Send the message; ask them to initiate, the seventh protocol,” I ordered and closed the diary in my lap. I won’t be opening it for a few days.

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