City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Thud Thud Thud!

The soldiers marched with heavy steps; these are the new recruits.

People are leaving the city, but we are still recruiting. Our efforts have become more aggressive.

“The numbers aren’t enough; we will need to choose the second plan,” said Stone. Yes, we are recruiting, but the numbers aren’t as high as we need.

Despite our aggressive recruiting, the numbers are the lowest in the past three months.

The number of orcs remained stable, but humans have slid. One of the reasons for that is that humans have options; they could move.

“First choice was just a blind optimism. There is always only one choice in front of us,” I replied with a mirthless smile.

Even with only one choice, our numbers didn’t look good.

It’s not like I didn’t try to recruit the people. I did, handing the army a large budget, but there is a limit to people, a city like ours could recruit.

The size of our army is greater than that of most cities in proportion to their population.

Still, we need more, and we are taking everyone we can.

I stayed there for over an hour before returning to the city hall.

Hun!

When I reached my office, I saw Carla waiting there.

“When did you arrive?” I asked. I knew she was returning in the afternoon. She had gone to the Inam two days ago for some work.

I thought she would go back directly to her office, but she came here.

“Just a few minutes ago,” she replied. I nodded and sat down in my chair.

“It wouldn’t be possible for me to attend the function at Fort Renin next month,” she informed. “Why?” I asked immediately, I was planning to send her, and one of the chiefs from the city hall.

“This had come,” she replied, placing the letter in front of me.

I took and looked at the seal. It’s of the Kalgha Dominion, the strongest kingdom of Mayhurst Island, that is resisting the undead hard.

I took out the envelope and read it.

It is a charity function hosted by the ambassador of the Kalgha Dominion—something we have to attend.

They have helped us with some intelligence regarding the undead. Now that the merchants are negotiating with the undead, their help will become more important.

We have to foster relationships. Intelligence is a vital tool in the battle, and we need it.

I don’t know if the intelligence from the merchants would continue flowing as it had been, after the negotiations, but we need to be prepared.

“Fine. I will get someone else to attend,” I replied. There is a Rutto; he will return with them.

Usually, I sent him with Jenna, but this time, he had a different mission. He will return by the end of the week, while the function is on the fifth day of the next month.

“I heard an interesting thing in Inam,” she said, and my eyes lit up.

I recognised this tone and expression well. She used it when she had found something really good.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Vanis Tavern is going to merge with another Grade III legacy,” she stated, and excitement appeared in my eyes.

I knew they were searching for a way to thwart the waning. I was even helping them with that in my own capacity.

Surefire way to do that was becoming a pawn of the legacy, but that is easier said than done.

Old man Vanis’s legacy is average. There is nothing impressive about it that would make throne make it its subject.

There is another option, which is to be swallowed or merged with another legacy.

Like Tranquill Bathhouse tried to do with me, swallow my core, so it will get another lease on life. It is slightly different, but the meaning is the same.

“They found the legacy?” I asked. She nodded.

Even the second option isn’t the easiest. Another legacy would need to be just as desperate to agree with that.

I looked at her for the answer. It’s clear she knows it and took her sweet time with that smile, before finally opening her mouth.

“Its Marihas Inn.” She answered. The name felt familiar; I heard about it, but there are thousands of legacies. Even my mental stats, I am not going to remember everything immediately.

So, I activated the instant recollection, and details about it flowed into my mind.

“It’s from Nezar, kingdom of Halih. It said. This legacy is also a few months away from waning,” she stated, before a frown appeared on her face.

“Is the threat of barbarians so great, to make them take such steps?” asked Carla while I was focused on the map of the kingdom and the recent news, which I had heard about.

Just yesterday, I had read through the thick booklet of international news.

“It is, those barbarians are very powerful. It is one big heritage army,” I replied, and shuddered as I remembered information about them.

They are an extremely powerful force, and they have started their assault on the kingdom of Halih.

Seeing Marihas’ Inn is in the border city and near the waning. The wise thing to do is to get as much from it as possible, as once they conquer it, the barbarians don’t leave for years.

Sometimes, they stay for a decade before returning to their hills.

I focused on the information about Marihas Inn. As its name suggests, it is an inn. A small inn, with only four rooms, if the information is correct.

It is below average in legacy size and output, but it has something that most Grade III and below legacies don’t.

Special legacy skill.

“Will it succeed? Those two legacies are so different,” asked Carla, and I could understand what she meant by then.

She isn’t just talking about Vanis’s legacy being Tavern, and the other one is an inn. There is an even bigger difference, which is the clientele they serve.

Vanis’s Tavern, even before turning to legacy, was a respectable business.

Marihas Inn, not so much.

It was born in the worst part of the city and served different kinds of patrons.

Things didn’t change much after it turned into a legacy. The king of Halih knew well how important it was for the legacy to follow its vision.

So, it continued serving the clientele, as it used to.

Though changes did occur, it is a legacy, rich and powerful, that could never stay away from it, and they didn’t. Instead, they revealed their nature.

It had created quite a choice in the city and outside, before the king stepped in and laid down some hard laws.

“Opposite nature isn’t always bad. Sometimes it works well,” I replied.

“As for success, it is always very risky. Even if they succeeded, there is a good chance. It might not be able to push back the waning at all,” I added.

Mergers and swallowing are full of risks, especially for the Grade III legacies.

Nobody could predict the result of it. Sometimes, one could want what they want and push, the waning back for decades and even for a century.

Sometimes, the core gets bigger, the emotional scales increase, but it doesn’t affect the waning. Sometimes, it just kills the legacies.

So, doing this is a matter of throwing the dice; anything could happen.

Still, people do it because legacies are one of the most important strategic assets. No lord or sovereign wants to lose it.

“I wonder what price Lord of Inam is paying for it.” She wondered. So am I.

“Whatever it is, it won’t be small,” I replied. It could be anything—percentage of emotional essence harvest, money, artifacts, or a mix of it all.

“Let’s hope it survives. I would hate to see the old Vanis die,” said Carla as she got up.

“Me too,” I replied.

Given his age. He will die if it fails. The same thing will happen to the master of the other legacy as well. That woman is not much younger than Vanis.

Carla left, and I worked for a while, meeting some people in my office.

When they left, I asked Jill to stop anyone unless it’s an emergency.

I took a couple of deep breaths, and after that, I began. Aura came out of me and formed a fractal. It is the same as that of the Bell, but didn’t project things like hers does.

Yesterday, I sat below the tree and even observed the leaves, but it didn’t help.

I dissolved it and tried it again and again and again, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t bring out the essence in it.

Finally, I gave up and did the control exercises.

Yes, they are still important, more than before.

Now, it takes me nearly half a minute to create a fractal, but if I want to use it in the battle, I would need to form instantly. Like I do with the skill.

If I use half a minute for the aura method. I would be killed ten times by my enemies.

Soon, it was evening, and I returned from my mounted combat training.

I resumed it after recovering, but now I do it every other day. I had now added other things on time, and I used to do mounted combat training.

If it were up to me, I would have continued with my daily training, but unfortunately, I don’t have the time.

‘Master Silver, Guildmaster is here,’ informed Jill. “Send him in,” I replied, and a second later the door opened and Soren Arryn walked inside.

“Lord Silver,” he greeted. I nodded and asked him to sit.

“How did it go?” I asked. He had gone to the merchant state. It was a standard visit.

“They had promised they would not suspend any trade agreements,” he replied, and I took a sigh of relief.

I am receiving bad news after bad news every day. It feels great to receive good news.

 The merchants aren’t suspending any agreements. A few cities in the empire are doing that. Even Namdar had done that with a few.

Usually, such things could be managed, but the condition is delicate. These changes could affect things drastically.

I am glad that merchants are not doing that. It would have been a terrible blow.

“Have you heard any whispers?” I asked. “The same, the negotiations with the Vris’alud are ongoing; nobody knows how it will go, but many merchants are hoping for success,” he replied.

“Of course, they would,” I replied with a mirthless smile.

It is not something we want, but we have no power to influence their decision.

I have written the letters and sent them to the people, but I doubt it will have any effect.

I only hope that if the negotiations with the undead were successful. It won’t have heavy consequences on the region and my cities.

I laughed as I thought that.

Of course, it is going to have an effect. It is why I am praying to every god that the negotiation will fail.

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