City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

A contract appeared before me as it appeared in front of the man sitting across from me in the religious robes of the Church of the Goddess of Wealth.

All the chairs in Marson Hall at the city hall are filled, with many standing.

It is a historic moment for the city.

We took the pens at the same time and signed across the document, making the agreement final. I felt it clicking, and a smile appeared on my face.

“I hope Greltheaven and the Church of the Goddess of Wealth have a long and prosperous relationship, your grace,” I said to the golden-haired man in his mid-sixties.

He is Archbishop Erus, a high-ranking official of the Church of the Goddess of Wealth.

“It will. Now that the grace of the goddess will be covering the Greltheaven,” he replied.

The negotiations for their entry into Greltheaven began even before the undead came with the Great Horde, but they became serious after we defeated them.

Still, they had many conditions, like me accepting their goddess as the official religion of Greltheaven.

They also wanted the exceptions to the rules, which we made the other two churches follow.

Well, they didn’t get any, and negotiations stalled until two months ago, when they picked up the pace again. At the same time, I let some information about the new legacy slip.

There is also the population increase; a good number of them are coming from the merchant state.

So, it’s no surprise that they want their church in here, especially when the Church of the Goddess of Dusk is making rapid inroads in the city.

They didn’t get any exception or even a special provision that the Church of Dusk enjoys.

They will have to earn them as the dusk had.

“Welcome to Greltheaven Dominion,” I said and shook the man’s hand. Half an hour later, I walked out of the hall with Valentina, barely keeping my expression controlled.

“This is very big for the city and the whole dominion,” said Valentina, a smile bursting out of her serious face. “It is,” I replied with a smile cracking across my face.

The Church of the Goddess of Wealth is one of the biggest churches in the world.

It stands equal in grandeur to the Church of the God of War, yet its reach extends farther. The War Church governs conflict; the Church of Wealth rules over wealth.

Church of God of War is no ally of mine; I would even say that they don’t like me, and I am keeping them in my city only out of necessity.

The Church of the Goddess of Wealth, on the other hand, is an arrogant, high-nosed church, but it is an organization I could work with. Given the massive influence and wealth they possess.

They are the wealthiest church, wealthier than entire kingdoms, and it gives them a lot of influence.

That is what will help my city. The church has an extensive network of merchants and the wealthy, and even the church itself invests in businesses.

Whenever they go, they affect the city.

“With the Goddess of Wealth, the other big and small churches would come,” said Valentina, and I nodded. The more the churches, the better.

It didn’t let one church have all the power. That is a bad thing.

The Church of Dusk was not pleased by it nor understood, and agree with it, but this is my dominion, and I will do what is best for my people, not some church.

Besides, Dusk has its advantage, and if they continue playing their cards right, they will maintain it.

“Lord Silver, General Stone is waiting for you inside,” informed Jill as I reached my office.

The ceremony took longer than I thought. It is always the case with the churches. They invoke their gods in everything, not to mention the ceremonies.

They wanted the ceremony to be more elaborate, but we declined. They can do that in their churches, not in my city hall.

The door of the office opened, and I stepped inside. As Jill had said, Stone is waiting inside.

“This is a file on the latest tide,” he said. He didn’t greet or even nod. I asked him not to. I know, he respects me; he doesn’t need to show it.

I took the file in front of me and began reading it, activating my reading skills.

“The casualties were fewer this time, even with a higher number of monsters,” I said as I placed the file down.

“Since we have taken over, the casualties have gone down a lot. Equipment, potions, trained men helped as well, as did the strength of the commanders,”

“This time we have sent Axseer there; her command and abilities make her very suitable to fight the monsters or any other enemies,” he replied, and I nodded at that.

The monsters come at least twice a month, and they came in large numbers.

Many have fallen fighting them, yet what choice remains? We cannot let such creatures roam unchallenged. Left unchecked, their slaughter would claim a hundredfold more.

“She had also aided against the Grade-A monster,” I said. “Yes.” He replied.

Her abilities provide her with long and short-range attacks, and they are powerful.

She has also been training hard in weapon combat in the past few months, and it has made her even more powerful, as she can now use her aura quite effectively.

“The thing I am most pleased about is the monster infiltration. We have stopped nearly all the monsters’ encroachment in the vicinity of the fortress.” He said.

It brought a smile to my face; this is the most important thing.

These lone monsters not only invade nobles’ territories and cause destruction and death, but also attack merchants and their caravans.

So, it will benefit Dominion tremendously if I can contain the monsters to the Bram Valley.

“The net seemed to be working,” replied Stone, and I nodded. We formed a net of soldiers—denser than what nobles had done before, especially on our side.

It is of the special soldiers, fighters, trackers, scouts, and rangers. They not only stop the monsters, but also track and hunt them as quickly as possible.

Even with me reinforcing it, the net is thin, and many things still need to be done.

More soldiers, obviously, but other things like a sniper tower, a greater patrol area, faster communication, and stronger patrols.

All these things will not happen immediately, but they will happen. I finally got the baronies; I didn’t get the whole thing, but what I did get is enough for me to do what I want with it.

“Any latest news on Grimvale’s movement in the baronies?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“There is no suspicious movement, other than them reinforcing their vital points. It’s clear that they are waiting for the chance to attack,” he replied.

I smiled, hearing that; it is as we expected.

“How are our preparations?” I asked. “Good. Baroness is taking things very seriously,” he replied.

Leila was furious with Lockridge—angry didn’t even begin to cover it.

He had turned on the baronies when it was facing the most significant threat it had ever faced and even allied with the person who had once attacked the baronies.

“Do you think she is capable of handling such responsibility?” I need her to be capable, or I will replace her.

She negotiated for it, but I have put in enough exceptions that I could remove her, but I didn’t want to unless I had to.

The other barons have quite the trust in her abilities, and I don’t want to do anything to make them angry before the tax bill, for which I will need their approval.

“She had done very well until now. Our officers are impressed with her,” he replied.

“Let’s hope she will do well when Grimvale attacks. It is one thing to fight a straight battle against the monsters, but another to fight a complex one against people,” I said, and he nodded.

A lot is riding on her, and I hope she does well. I don’t want to lose even a single barony.

“We now have enough men to guard all three northern points. We should focus on the western ones now; the undead are filling their numbers fast, and they might attack if they sense they could win,” he stated.

In the past few months, since we got the fortress and baronies, we have been focusing on them.

Strengthening our position against Navr in the fortress. Grimvale in the baronies and monsters in Bram Valley.

“Good,” I accepted.

We need to strengthen our armies in Panar and Gailhorn now. The undead are growing in numbers. While there is no indication they will attack soon, we don’t want to take the chance.

Besides, the undead aren’t the only enemies. There is Summerfield, Zanav, and even Grimvale.

“The empire, do we need to be worried about it?” he asked, with a worried frown appearing on his face. Some things are happening in there; things that might give us sleepless nights.

“Right now, no, but we need to be prepared for everything. Things could change rapidly,” I replied.

He left soon, while I focused on the work. An hour later, I met people from Belnin and then practiced the aura for an hour before leaving my office for another meeting.

I was walking toward the conference room when I suddenly stopped.

‘Charis Mazarin died,’ informed Caena.

Charis Mazarin, a Grade III legacy from Nezar. It’s about seventy years old, and there was a chance it might have passed to the heir, but it died with the master.

Less than 10% of the Grade III legacies passed to the heir; most die with their owners.

Twenty-two seconds later, its core appeared over the legacy. A moment later, it got swallowed by the planet, and a few seconds later, we began to harvest its core essence.

It is the second core we are harvesting since we became the throne. We have signed contracts with over 20 legacies for their core, and the numbers are increasing every month.

We are doing it openly, now that everyone knows that swallowing the core of other legacies is our specialty.

It also helps legacies and kingdoms because they no longer have to undergo the milking process and kill it prematurely.

They could let it die naturally and humanely, which would give them more essence and have a legacy in the long run, with the hope that it might advance to Grade IV.

Our part only comes after it dies. Once that happens, we will provide the emotional essence and the core essence.

More than they could have extracted through the squeeze. It’s such a regret that Velvet Garden couldn’t get the same benefit from the legacies as it did when it was Grade III.

Now, Velvet Garden is a throne. If it consumes any legacy below its grade, it will only get essence.

It will not be able to get skills, the emotion scale, or anything else. It could only happen with the Grade IV and above legacies now.

Still, the core essence is a pretty good deal.

Ten minutes passed, and we had extracted half of the core when we stopped. Since we are now signing contracts with so many legacies, it wouldn’t be good if we take all of the core.

So, we are only taking 50% and releasing the rest.

Though not immediately. We didn’t want anyone to see our extraction speed, so we kept it for another ten minutes before releasing it.

Immediately, it divided itself into hundreds of parts and spread in all directions as I focused on the meeting in front of me.

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